Chapter 10:
Before we found the River Person, we did notice that there was a huge white laboratory-like building to the east of the docks, which I already knew who was in there. "Keep on using that stopping time thing, Magenta, because that pizza needs to stay fresh and warm for the reclusive doctor," I said, her smirking at that.
"Of course," she smiled as the River Person then ferried us to the docks in Waterfall, where I then decided that I'd call Toriel to give her an update.
"Hello? Is this Frisk?" Toriel asked.
"Yeah, it's me... hey, I wanted to let you know that I've actually not only been sparing a bunch of monsters, but I also saved a couple that were trapped," I said, Toriel being surprised at that.
"You saved monsters? And they were trapped? Who was the miserable creature that trapped them?" Toriel asked.
"It wasn't a person who trapped them, but an alternate plane of existence," I said, Toriel being confused at that.
"Huh?" she asked.
"A place called the Void, where those who are trapped within are forgotten about. Very few people knew of the Void and, luckily, your friend that you asked to look out for me was one of them... I managed to go into the Void and used my strength to free all of them... including a certain Professor Gaster," I said, me hearing Toriel spit some kind of liquid on the other end.
"GASTER?! B-B-But he's been dead for over a century! You're saying you saved him and he's alive again?!" Toriel exclaimed in surprise.
"Yeah, and he's been helping me out ever since then... and I'm actually joined by a couple kids that decided to travel with me," I said, Toriel sighing at that, but contentedly.
"That's a smart idea to have safety in numbers... promise you won't get into anymore scrapes, okay?" Toriel asked, me nodding at that.
"I promise," I smiled as I then bid her farewell and hung up, our group then going to the house to see that something odd was happening... Papyrus and Undyne were standing side by side and they looked very worried.
"Excuse me... is something wrong?" I asked, the duo gasping at that and Undyne looking at Papyrus before then at me again.
"I need your help with something, human," Undyne said, me being confused at that. "As much as it pains me to admit... that flower was an outright liar... and now something's going on with my friend, Doctor Alphys... she called me on the phone and said... that she loved me... and that she's done some very bad mistakes... and then, before I could ask her anymore questions, she hung up on me," Undyne said, me being very worried about that.
"Dammit... that means that Flowey is trying to try tricking Alphys into doing something bad... but what could it be?" I asked before I then gasped as Chara gave me a bunch of images in my head... very disturbing images... each of them looking like deformed monstrosities that were dripping on their bodies and made up of various parts of other monsters I'd encountered in the Underground!... And it was then that I gasped at what they were... "The test subjects!" I gasped, Undyne looking at me in confusion.
"What about the test subjects again?" Undyne asked.
"Alphys became a complete recluse the moment that she hid away the test subjects, right? Maybe she has some things to hide... I need to call her right away to tell her about the pizza delivery," I said as I then called Alphys on the phone... and after about three rings, I managed to get her on the line... and she sounded like she was crying.
"W-What... w-who is this?" Alphys asked.
"It's the pizza delivery girl you called a bit ago, miss Alphys," I said, her gasping at that as she then fumbled her phone a bit before then getting back on, me hearing her voice break some more before she then sighed.
"R-Right... t-the pizza... um... i-is it possible to... refund it?" Alphys asked, me knowing I had to choose my next words very carefully.
"Alphys... there are some things in life that can't be refunded... whether it be pizza or mistakes made in the past... now, I don't know a thing about you, but just know that tons of mistakes were made by me in the past... but I never let them get me down. Do you want to know why they never got me down?" I asked, Alphys gulping at that.
"W-Why?" she asked with a snivel.
"They never got me down because, even when I felt my absolute worst, I knew that there are always a lot of things in the world worth living for. So even if I get hurt by a bully or lose all of my friends in a tragic accident... I keep pushing on because the world has more good in it than bad... besides, if I were to keep moping around and feeling miserable about myself, then what would my friends think of me on the other side? They'd want me to be happy, right?" I asked, Alphys sighing at that.
"R-Right... you're right..." Alphys said before I then heard a large inhale before she then exhaled. "I've made up my mind... I want to ask if you could bring the pizza to me directly... in the lab," Alphys said, me smiling at that.
"The one in Hotland, right?" I asked.
"No... not that one," Alphys said, me being confused at that. "My real lab... the one underneath the white one... I want to share it with the others... and I want you to help me do so... and to finally come out with the truth," Alphys said, me being shocked at that. My speech worked!
"Okay... how do I get there?" I asked.
"Go into t-the bathroom... it's a secret elevator... I-I'll wait for you outside of the doors... in m-my real lab..." Alphys said, me nodding at that.
"Okay, I got it... stay safe, Alphys, okay? I don't want anything bad to happen to the Royal Scientist, after all," I said, her sighing at that.
"Yes... nothing bad will happen... I feel... safe with you..." Alphys said before she then hung up and Undyne and Papyrus looked at me in surprise while the duo of kids looked with worry.
"Whoa... you actually managed to get her to let you into her real lab, huh? She's closed off all access to that place, saying that it was unsafe... whatever she's hiding down there, it's got to have something to do with her recluse lifestyle as well as those missing monsters," Undyne said, me nodding at that.
"I'd also like you to spread word about the talking yellow flower that tried to convince you I was a mind controller... because he also tried to convince Papyrus that I was a ruthless killer and I have a good reason to believe that he's also the one to cause Alphys's recent course of actions," I said, Papyrus gasping at that.
"THAT NO GOOD WEED DOES HIS DIRTY TRICKS ONCE AGAIN! THAT TEARS IT! UNDYNE, WE MUST HELP OUT OUR DEAR FRIEND FRISK AND SPREAD WORD OF THE EVIL FLOWER!" Papyrus exclaimed, me smirking at that as Undyne smiled widely.
"Friends? Maybe, but only if you can get Alphys to tell the truth about the test subjects. If you could pull that off, you'd be an amazing friend to have!" Undyne smirked widely, me smirking at that.
"Done deal," I smiled as I then held out my hand and she shook it with a smile. "By the way, I didn't actually expect that I'd be that strong when going all out on you... but my soul is strong enough to destroy the barrier on its own... but I'm not telling how until I do so," I said, Undyne smirking at that.
"I already know. Papyrus told me that your soul is actually as strong as a billion human souls combined into one! And this kid here next to you? The pink one? I never thought it at first, but now I see it clear as day. That's Goner Kid, ain't it?" Undyne asked, me smirking at that.
"How'd you know that?" I asked.
"Because I could actually see her spirit appear out by the marsh on a scant few occasions," Undyne said, Magenta smiling at her.
"Yes, that's me. But just call me Magenta from now on, okay? I decided that my princess's name choice would be my preferred name from here on," Magenta said, me smirking at that.
"Princess? You trying to flatter me?" I asked, Magenta giggling at that as Spike giggled as well.
"Okay, get going. You don't want to keep Alphys waiting," Undyne said.
"AND IN THE MEANTIME, WE SHALL SPREAD WORD OF THE LYING FLOWER!" Papyrus exclaimed as we bid each other farewell and I then went to the River Person and they got us to Hotland in a snap. Our group then went into Alphys's lab and we saw that she actually had a television screen... that was tracking my every movement. I knew she was a spy, but geeze, this was a bit much. We then followed the instructions and went to the elevator that was hidden behind a bathroom sign... speaking of which, I did need to use the bathroom at some point. I felt the urge to pee and had no idea how girls held them in, since I was a boy before Chara took up residence in my body.
"It's very hard, yes," Chara said as we then went down the elevator and, upon reaching the ground floor, we then exited with me taking out the pizza and us seeing what looked like a yellow reptilian monster in a white lab coat standing near the elevator, but with her back turned to us.
"Miss Alphys, I take it? Your pizza has arrived," I said, the dinosaur creature sighing and turning around... but when she saw me, Spike, and Magenta at the same time, Alphys gasped at that.
"O-Oh no... y-you're... t-t-the human?" Alphys asked, me smiling at that.
"Yes, I am... My name's Frisk," I said, Alphys fidgeting as I handed her the pizza and she breathed in and out as the fumes of the tasty pastry went into her nostrils.
"Yeah... Frisk... as well as the first human... Chara... right?" Alphys asked, me gasping at that as Chara immediately took control.
"How did you know of me being in control of the other soul in Frisk's body?" Chara asked in surprise, Spike being very confused as Alphys then sighed.
"I'm the Royal Scientist, keep in mind... and Sans did work with me for a short amount of time after I became one... we inherited a lot of Gaster's inventions and there was one in particular that he kept on him, though it is broken now... a machine that detects abnormalities in the time flow. And it was caused by the ones on the outside world... the one that dictates the outcomes of this one... the true world, as Sans called it," Alphys said, me frowning at that.
"Wait a minute... the first fallen human is inside of you? And they have that ultra-powerful soul?" Spike asked, me nodding at that.
"I... I wanted to tell you at some point, Spike, but I didn't know if you'd be okay with that," I said, him being a bit surprised as his tail wagged slightly and Alphys then spoke again.
"I... I feel like this might be a good thing... come with me... we need to get the others after all..." Alphys said, me looking at her with seriousness.
"The Amalgamates, right?" I asked, her stopping in place at that.
"She told you... didn't she?" the dinosaur asked.
"Yeah... only because of you being in that bad a state when we were on the phone last... tell me, what happened?" I asked, Alphys gulping in at that and sighing.
"T-The flower... the one that I experimented on... he appeared to me in my lab... and told me that he was going to tell everyone about what I did... the families of the test subjects... and that no one loved me at any point in any timeline..." Alphys said, me sighing at that and going over and hugging her, Alphys sobbing slightly as we then continued forward to a room filled with hospital gurneys as well as three different sinks.
"Alphys... I want to help you out... so let's find those guys and take them back home, okay? And this time, the happy ending will stay in place. No more loops," I said, Alphys sighing at that.
"I know... I knew of the loops existences as well... but while Sans kept getting his same personality and memories with each one... my memories remained, but I always reverted back to the same as I was before... a nervous wreck and a complete loser..." Alphys said, me frowning at her words.
"You aren't a loser, Alphys. You just made a couple mistakes, it's not the end of the world," I said... but literally right as soon as I said that, something happened. The area to our right started to have some odd noises coming from it as the sinks then turned on all on their own to show three different puddles of white liquid pouring out of them... before then forming into a mis-mash of different monsters' heads all fused together as a single head. Spike, understandably, was very scared by this point... as was I.
"This... this is why I'm scared to show everyone what happened to the test subjects... each of them were filled with too much Determination concentrate... monsters turn to dust instantly upon death while a human takes ages to turn into dust, due to them having a high amount of physical matter... so, after the subjects got too much Determination in them, they were whole and ready to go home... but then... they lost their physicality and melted together into a combination of different monsters..." Alphys said, me looking at the three nearly-identical Amalgamates and seeing that they were eyeballing the pizza intently.
"Hmm..." I frowned as I decided to be daring and poke one to see what would happen... and what happened next was something none of us expected. The moment I touched the Amalgamate, I felt some of its Determination enter my body... and the three heads then disconnected and... their bodies reformed as their old selves! Granted, they were still all black and white in color, but they were back to normal to reveal that they were all different monsters from Snowdin. One was an Ice Cap lookalike, another was a bunny creature, and the last was a bear creature... and all of us were dumbfounded by this.
"Oh... my... god... it's... i-it's..." Alphys said in shock, utterly lost for words.
"A miracle..." Magenta said as I then poked the other two and the same exact thing happened with them. And each time, they formed into the same three monsters, just with slight color and body type differences.
"Um... I don't think we'll have enough pizza to feed everyone when we finish up down here, Alphys... maybe we should get some takeout from an actual pizza place?" I asked, Alphys smiling at that as she got out her cell phone and dialed it to someone.
"Hello? Is this the pizza place?" Alphys asked. She waited for a bit and then smiled. "I'd like to order 5 extra large pizzas, please. One white, one pepperoni, two extra cheese, and one with water sausages... and can you please deliver it to my lab in Hotland?" Alphys said, the person on the other end being surprised at that and Alphys smiling.
"It's for a celebration... the time? In about half an hour... yes, it's for all the test subjects... yes, I'm finally going to let them go home... I'll explain to all the family members during the party," Alphys said, me smirking at that. "Okay, thanks.. bye," Alphys said before hanging up and our group looked at the 9 monsters in front of us and they looked at us as well.
"So... we're finally diffused?" asked one of the bunny people, her actually being no older than I was.
"Yes... you go ahead and wait in the lab house above this one. The elevator is to the south," Alphys said, me smiling at that as they all three rushed off to that location and we then smiled at each other.
"Let's go find the other Amalgamates... I still can't believe how powerful your soul is to be able to diffuse them like that..." Alphys gawked while Spike smiled.
"Remember when I said I thought Undyne was cool?" Spike asked, me smiling at that. "Well, I changed my mind. Frisk is my new hero!" Spike smirked as he got close to me and I smiled at him nuzzling his head against my side. But our work wasn't done quite yet. We still had a total of 5 more Amalgamates to find, each one in my mind after Chara gave me their images.
"Just so you know, I'm not gonna take control unless Alphys has chocolate in her lab, got it?" she said, me smirking at that.
"It's always chocolate with you, huh?" I smirked at her in thought.