Nemo cracked his knuckles as he examined the puzzle before him before walking to the control panel and getting to work. One of the first things he noticed was that he only got one shot. So that meant a little more precision would be required. It took some fiddling. More so than the last two versions. But eventually he was able to fire his shot straight through and into the opposing ship. Nemo twisted his head to the side, causing the joints in his neck to make a cracking sound. "Alrighty then, time for the southern puzzle." He said.
"Right." Said Frisk as the duo exited the puzzle room. Nemo looked at the two monsters with very uniquely shaped heads.
"Say Frisk… were those two here when we went in?" Asked Nemo.
"I don't think so." Said Frisk as they looked between them.
"Hm… weird…" Said Nemo as they walked past the monsters. "Doesn't look like they're interested in fighting, so I guess it's fine." The duo made their way through the arrows before reaching the south side. Nemo expected to see a doorway to a puzzle room, but instead he just saw conveyor belts. His gaze then moved over to see lasers. He let out a sigh. "Right… let's just get this over with."
"Yeah." Said Frisk. They stepped onto the conveyor belts, and after some trickiness with the lasers, they were able to get past and found themselves in front of the doorway to the next puzzle room. Just then their phone began to ring.
"Ohoho… that'd better not be who I think it is…" Said Nemo as he answered the phone.
"Hey!" Said Alphys. Nemo had to take deep breaths to resist the urge to smash that phone to pieces. "This um, doesn't have anything to do with guiding you… but… uhh, hey, would you like to watch a human TV show together? Sometime? It's called, um, M… Mew Mew Kissy Cutie…"
"...No…" Growled Nemo.
"Um! Well! That's okay! Said Alphys nervously. "Just thought I'd! Ask! B-but I think you'd really like it! If you gave it a chance!" Said Alphys.
"The problem Alphys, is that I don't like you. And you already lost your chance" Said Nemo, who was doing his best to keep his composure.
"O-oh…" Said Alphys as she hung up.
Nemo jammed his phone into his pocket. "Let's go Frisk." He said as he entered the puzzle room, with Frisk close behind.
Nemo glared at the puzzle in front of him for a moment, analyzing it. He solved it almost instantaneously. He scoffed before turning on his heel and exiting the room. "That was impressive." Said Frisk as they followed him, trying to cheer him up. Nemo just responded with a grunt and stuffed his hands in his pockets and kept going. He stepped onto the other conveyor belt and rode it straight back to the arrows.
After some brief arrow antics, Nemo and Frisk were on the right side and were standing in front of the double doors that were not glowing since their puzzles had been solved. They slowly opened and the duo stepped inside.
One of the first things that they noticed was the glowing star. Once Frisk placed their hand on it, causing that feeling of warmth as the duo's injuries healed, Nemo noticed that it wasn't nearly as hot here as Hotland. He proceeded to untie the scarf around his torso and put it back on his neck. He then peered to the far right of the star, and saw that the patch continued into some sort of building. Nemo took a deep breath. "Alright. Let's see what insanity that robot has in store for us next." He said as he and Frisk walked into the building.
Once inside, the duo looked around and saw that the place was covered in webs and had spiders everywhere. "What genre is this?" Nemo asked aloud.
"Scary movie maybe?" Suggested Frisk.
"Ooh, maybe it's a documentary about spiders?" Suggested Nemo as he looked the room over with tired eyes.
"Maybe…" Said Frisk as they continued to walk, making sure not to step in the spider's webs.
"Ahuhuhuhu…" Came a feminine voice, causing both of them to jump. "Did you hear what they just said?" It asked. The humans continued to walk. "They said two humans, one in a striped shirt, and the other in a scarf would come through… I heard that they hate spiders." The humans stopped when they saw that the remainder of the path was made of densely packed spider webs.
"Oh geez… this is totally a trap isn't it?" Asked Nemo.
"Probably." Said Frisk as the duo stepped onto the webs and started making their way across, their progress being slowed down since the 'path' they were on kept sticking to their feet.
"I heard that they love to stomp on them." Came the voice, causing the humans to look around nervously. "I heard that they like to tear their legs off."
"Ugh, I don't know what sicko you're talking about, but it's not us." Muttered Nemo as he continued to slowly walk.
"I heard…" Came the voice. Then from the shadows they saw that spider monster from before, as well as a small army of spiders. "That they're awfully stingy with their money."
"It's you!" Said Nemo in surprise. Then his expression became annoyed. "Wait, did you just call us stingy?" He asked.
"Ahuhhuhuhu…" Laughed the spider girl. "You think your taste is too refined for our pastries, don't you, dearies?"
"Refined!? No, we just couldn't afford your pastries! Those things cost a fortune and a half!" Argued Nemo.
"Ahuhuhu… I disagree with that notion. And I think your taste… is exactly what this next batch needs!" Said the monster.
This caused Nemo's expression to become one of concern. "Wait, what?" Then the souls of the humans manifested in front of them. Nemo and Frisk started to struggle in an attempt to escape, but to no avail. The spider covered her mouth and giggled at them.
"Don't be so blue, my dearies~." She said. She then splashed their with the purple liquid in the teapots she was holding.
"What the…?" Asked Nemo in confusion before he and Frisk were suddenly pulled into the air and placed on thick, purple spider threads. There were three of them in a row. Nemo then noticed that his and Frisk's souls were purple. "Soul magic?" Nemo certainly wasn't expecting this.
"I think purple is a better look on you. Ahuhuhu~." Said the spider girl from her own thread. Nemo growled in frustration as he tried and failed to find a way down, which made the girl laugh and clap her hands. "Why so pale? You should be proud~"
"Nemo look!" Said Frisk as they pointed at one of the other strands. Nemo turned and looked, and saw large spiders crawling on the front thread. He then looked and saw more on the back thread. He looked to his left just in time to see a group heading their way.
"Jump Frisk!" Said Nemo as he leapt to the front thread just in time to avoid the attack. He then jumped back to the middle one to avoid another spider from his left. Nemo then glared at the spider before leaping to the front strand and punching her.
"Proud that you're going to make a delicious cake~ Ahuhuhu~." Laughed the spider, barely flinching from his strike. Nemo jumped back to the middle to avoid a spider from his right, and then to the back to avoid another from the right. He had to jump between two coming from his right and stay still to avoid spiders on the other two webs. He looked and saw that Frisk was avoiding the spiders easily enough.
"Let us go!" Said Nemo as he jumped to the front and punched the girl again.
"Let you go? Don't be silly~." Said the girl. Then came more spiders, which Nemo and Frisk had to continuously jump from thread to thread to avoid. Nemo used the momentum from his jumping to increase the power of his backhanded punch he did to the spider girl. "Your soul is going to make every spider very happy~~~." She said.
"Uhhh, no thanks. I really don't feel like being spider food." Said Nemo as he did his best to keep his balance. He looked over and gave Frisk a flat look. How they were able to keep their balance so well was beyond him. Nemo then jumped around a few spiders before having to move out of the way of… doughnuts? "You weaponized your pastries?" Asked Nemo flatly. "I fail to see how that could be effect- oof!" Then one of the doughnuts hit him in the side of the head. It felt like a rock. "Owww…" He whined as he put a hand on the spot that was hit.
"Oh, how rude of me! I almost forgot to introduce you to my pet~." Said the girl. "It's breakfast time, isn't it? Have fun, you three~"
"...Pet?" Asked Nemo in confusion. He didn't have to ponder it though as he and Frisk had to jump back and forth to avoid more spiders.
Suddenly the other two strands of web disappeared before multiple thick threads appeared above them, creating a sort of ladder. "This doesn't seem good…" Then Frisk screamed and pointed at something below them. Nemo looked down to see a freaky spider/cupcake monster crawling up and towards them, it's jaws open wide and ready to eat them. "Geez! Climb Frisk!" Said Nemo as he grabbed the thread above him. He and Frisk started climbing, unfortunately, nothing is easy, which Nemo learned the hard way as another spider hit him in the face. He quickly shook his head to get it off before resuming climbing. He dodged most of the other spiders. He got hit one more time before the cupcake/spider stopped chasing them. Then the thread ladder, except for the strand they were on, disappeared, and a thread appeared in front of , and behind them. The spider smiled as she poured a cup of spiders.
Nemo was too tired to bother attacking her. "The person who warned us about you…" Said the girl. She paused her sentence as more spiders and doughnuts came at them, but the humans were able to evade them easily enough. As the spider girl tidied up the web around them, Nemo took the opportunity to kick her. "They offered us a lot of money for your soul." She explained as she rubbed her cheek, which looked like it was going to bruise.
"Good for you." Groaned Nemo. He and Frisk were able to avoid the spiders easily enough and while the girl was tidying the web, he kicked her other cheek. He could tell by her glare that she was getting annoyed with him. He didn't feel bad. At all.
"They had such a sweet smile~ and… ahuhu~" Said the girl. More spiders and donuts. Plus a boomerang croissant at the end. Nemo struck them again. "It's strange, but I swore I saw them in the shadows… changing shape…?"
Nemo was interested by this. "I wonder what kind of monster that was?" He thought. He and Frisk then dodged some more boomerang croissants before he landed another punch.
"Oh, it's lunch time, isn't it? And I forgot to feed my pet~." Said the spider.
"Ah crud." Said Nemo before he and Frisk jumped away from more spiders. Then the threads went back to ladder mode and her pet started chasing them. Nemo got hit by two more spiders before the girl's pet stopped chasing them and things went back to the three thread style. Nemo put his hands on his knees and panted for breath.
"With that money, the spider clans can finally be reunited~" Said the spider girl. Nemo and Frisk were fast enough to avoid her smaller spiders. But it seemed like they were getting faster. "Haven't you heard? Spiders have been trapped in the Ruins for generations!"
This made Nemo think back to the spider bake sale. "Oh yeah, them…" He thought. Then the donuts came flying, two of which pelted him.
"Even if they go under the door, Snowdin's fatal cold is impassable alone." Explained the girl. Then came the boomerang croissants, which were easily dodged. Nemo ran up and kicked the spider in the ribs. "But with the money from your soul, we'll be able to rent them a heated limo~" Said the girl.
Nemo did his best to avoid the spiders, though one managed to snag him. While she poured a cup of spiders, he took the chance to strike her. "And with the leftovers...? We could have a nice vacation~" Said the spider girl. "Or even build a spider baseball field~" Nemo and Frisk did their best to avoid the attacks, but a donut managed to blindside Nemo. He got another strike in as retaliation though. "But enough of that… It's time for dinner, isn't it? Ahuhuhu~."
"Here we go again." Said Nemo. He and Frisk then managed to avoid a storm of spiders by jumping around before the threads went to ladder mode. Nemo got struck by two more spiders before the pet stopped and the ladder vanished beneath them. The humans descended to the web bridge below, both exhausted.
"You're still alive? Ahuhuhu~" Laughed the girl. "Oh, my pet~ Looks like it's time for dessert~" Suddenly a small spider carrying a piece of paper came running in. "Huh? A telegram from the spiders in the Ruins? What? They're saying they saw you both and… you helped donate to their cause! Oh my, this has all been a big misunderstanding~ I thought you were someone that hated spiders~"
"We're not! In fact I really like spiders!" Exclaimed Nemo tiredly. "I think they're cool…"
"The person who asked for that soul…" Said the spider girl. "They must have been referring to different humans wearing those clothes~ Sorry for all the trouble~ Ahuhuhu~ I'll make it up to you~ You can come back here any time… And, for no charge at all… I'll wrap you up and let you play with my pet again! Ahuhuhuhuhu~ Just kidding~. I'll spare you now~"
"I accept your Mercy…" Groaned Nemo as he laid his head on the ground.
Page 26 End