Chapter V: The Pacifist Route (Part I)

(Queue 'Undertale - Once Upon A Time' by Pennoink)

"Long ago, two races ruled over Earth: HUMANS and MONSTERS..."

Trace was shocked to suddenly find himself staring over a vast, green landscape; Forestry and mountainous ranges filled the landscape, with birds twittering and the wind blowing softly through his hair. A bright, shining sun threw its golden hue over the magnificent landscape, creating glimmers in the water, bathing everyone in a refreshing light.

"I'm going to lose my mind if we keep changing locations..." Eric muttered, groaning as he held his head in confusion of how they had gotten here.

"One day, war broke out between the two races..."

The others began to re-orient themselves while they gauged their surroundings; The Templars had immediately assumed battle mode.

"Yet again, we've been sent somewhere!" Brahn muttered in anger. "I'm tired of jumping around!"

Meanwhile, Trace had noticed a small child hiking up the hill, seemingly without a care in the world. Oddly enough, it was difficult for Trace to tell what the child looked like exactly, but he could tell it was a female; Her skin was cartoonishly yellow, and her face was covered by her long, ruffled hair. She wore a blue and magenta-striped shirt with similarly-colored shorts, and child's shoes.

"After a long battle, the humans were victorious..."

Trace curiously watched as the child made her way into the ominous entrance of a mountain-

"Woah, where is she going?" Trace asked in concern. Ralsei's eyes glanced from him to the mountain.

"Where she never should have gone..." Ralsei mumbled ominously, much to Trace's worry.

"I hope we're not getting thrown to the dogs." Evals muttered nervously. "This place is too nice for the menacing warning that goat boy gave us."

Ralsei began making his way towards the interior of the mountain, following the child. Trace and the others followed suit, loosely trailing behind one another as the tunnel they were entering began to narrow.

Darkness encapsulated the inside of the mountain... it was difficult to see anything...

"Huh!"

Trace was suddenly assailed with the sight of the young girl tripping over a root, then falling out of sight.

"What the-!"

"Ope, there she goes." Sirus remarked.

"DID SHE JUST DIE?!" Kathrin screamed in horror.

Trace, feeling the instinctual desire to help, rushed after the girl-

And tripped over the same vine.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

WHOMPF!

Trace slammed into the ground, groaning in pain.

"TRAAAAACE!" Flora screamed from the top of the hole. "ARE YOU OKAY?!"

Slowly, painfully, Trace got up from the bad fall, rubbing his side, where he'd landed the hardest.

"YEAH! I'M FINE!" He shouted back up the hole.

Hearing his shouts, Sirus looked to Ralsei.

"We're supposed to go down here, right?"

Ralsei nodded depressively, and Sirus immediately took a dive down the hole, sliding down the steep slope, before landing gracefully at the bottom. Trace felt a pang of annoyance as he watched Sirus.

One at a time, the others made their way down, until finally Kathrin slid down the hole; And they continued on. It wasn't long before they ran into the girl again; This time, however, she was standing in front of something.

Trace was about to approach the girl with intent to check up on her, when Ralsei tugged on his shirt.

"I told you, this is not real." He muttered.

"O-Oh. Right." Trace stuttered; He was starting to realize that he couldn't trust everything he saw with his eyes here.

"Hi, my name's Flowey, I'm your new best friend, welcome undergrouuuuuuuunnnddd!"

"The hell?"

The group looked towards the girl, and just now saw the outline of the flower she was staring at-

"Is that thing... talking?!"

As they found out, the group was collectively horrified as they watched the talking flower sing ominously to the child, who stood listening to it without any caution.

"What kind of bizarre world have we stepped into?" Brahn uttered in dismay.

The flower continued singing to the child, who was swooning to its words; It seemed to be harmless, though only Sirus noticed its hidden, malicious intentions.

"Catch all that you can!"

The group watched as the flower suddenly manifested several bullet-like pellets around itself, then launched them at Frisk, who dodged them with suspicion in her eyes.

"Damn, this is boring." Mike remarked, sighing as he watched the seemingly-playful musical carry on.

"In this world, it's kill or be killed-"

"Uh..."

The group was suddenly thrown off by the flower's drastic change in behavior; Its face contorted into a malicious grin, its eyes dilated and staring menacingly at the girl, who cowered as it began to summon several pellets to surround the girl.

"What the- STOP THAT THING!" Kathrin shouted in worry.

"Did you forget this is an illusion?" Euchre responded in annoyance. "All we have to do is watch this, so let's skip the theatrics."

Kathrin's face became noticeably red with anger, though they were soon distracted when the flower was suddenly blasted with a ball of fire; It receded into the ground before it could fully burn, leaving only the charred outline of where the fireball hit.

...

A moment passed; Then, a cow-human hybrid with floppy ears and a strange symbol on her purple robe came from the shadows of the dimly-lit cavern. She seemed to be comforting the child, who looked to her with grateful eyes. Through song, she revealed her name to be Toriel.

From there, the group followed the journey of the girl and Toriel as they made their way through the underground.

Further into the story...

"DAMN, THIS HAS BEEN A WASTE OF TIME!"

Ralsei jumped as he heard one of the group members, Evals, suddenly speak up loudly. For much of the journey, he was the most 'vocal' in his resistance against the journey they were going on.

"We've been walking for hours now," Evals pointed out in frustration. "Following this stupid little kid and goat monster!"

"And tell me, what exactly are we accomplishing by sitting here, bitching about it?" Brahn rasped, staring down Evals. "Let's get this the hell over with."

Evals closed his mouth, stifling his complaints for now.

Ralsei looked back towards the path, relieved for peace once more.

"I am only protecting you, do you understand?"

At this point, they were watching the confrontation between Frisk and Toriel, standing in front of the large door that led out of the Ruins.

"Uh oh, this gives off bad juju energy." Euchre muttered, much to Kathrin's confusion.

"What's juju?"

By this point, Toriel and Frisk were fighting; The group watched in awe at the battle between Toriel's magical attacks and Frisk's almost-unnatural physical capabilities. For a small, young child that seemed no older than 9, her ability to dodge and move about exceeded that of famously agile animals like cheetahs and tigers.

"How is she moving like that?!" Flora asked in complete shock. In truth, she was feeling a small sense of inferiority as she watched the intense fight- it reminded her of the battles she'd gone through with Trace. In most of those battles, she was always the 'damsel-in-distress'; Rarely had she found herself fighting as an equal next to Trace. Her paws balled into fists with extreme frustration.

Maybe this journey, she could work on her fighting ability, for Trace at least...

Finally, the fight came to an end. Neither was dead, yet both stood with serious exhaustion outlined in their bodies.

"That was... intense." Sirus remarked idly. For the pitched battle they had just watched, Trace was more than disturbed by the stoic look on Sirus' face during the entire fight. Often enough, people who reacted in such a way were experienced in such endeavors.

Trace decided it would be best to avoid any conflicts with him.

"Trace..."

Trace was stirred from his deep thought as he felt one of Flora's paws bump into his hand, desiring to hold each other. He looked up at Flora, and was a bit taken aback by the concern on her face.

"What's up, Flora?" He muttered low enough for only her to hear. She seemed hesitant to respond for a second.

"Well... I-"

"The door has opened up!"

Ralsei's sudden announcement cut through her words, and she lost the nerve to tell him her worries.

"Nevermind, Trace. I'll tell you later."

Although worried for her, Trace nodded in understanding, and they turned to walk back through the large door that would take them out of here.

The door opened up- light flooded through, accompanied by cold, biting winds. The group uneasily made their way through the door...

Into a snowy landscape. Ralsei took a few steps forward, then turned his head back, sorrow in his eyes.

"Stick with me more closely through here. The safe paths are more narrow and winding here."

"Where are we?" Natani asked curiously. Ralsei fixed his gaze on the rolling, snowy hills that spanned beyond the one they stood on- In the distance, a town could be seen on one of those hills.

"Snowden." Ralsei replied. "Everything will begin to make sense from here."