After waiting for about twenty minutes, everyone in our group had gotten changed into some of Alphys's clothes (with some looking better than others in girly attire) and we then got a phone each from the yellow dinosaur as well... including Asriel, who was still looking a bit upset. But I knew why, since he felt tons of guilt and shame for what he did as Flowey.
"Azzie?" I asked, him then looking at me with a sigh. "I know that you have a lot on your mind... but keep in mind, I'll always forgive you," I smiled, him smiling at me halfheartedly before then looking upset again.
"I know... I just... all these emotions in me at the same time... and that I can see my mom again... I'm just going through a lot in my head right now," Asriel admitted, that resulting in Toriel to put her hand on Asriel, who looked at her with a sad smile, a few tears coming from his eyes.
"I feel the same way, my child... not just you, but learning there are two versions of Chara at the same time as well as all the other children being rescued?... I'm trying not to become a crying mess myself," Toriel admitted.
"Regardless, we still need to get to Asgore's castle. If your hypothesis is correct, young Frisk, then maybe we will be able to see the sun in the next 24 hours," Stevenson said, me smiling at that.
"Let's get going, then. Besides, I doubt that the royal guardsmen would be too keen to learn that some humans are nearby and in this lab. We'll need to go the long way through Hotland in order to get to the CORE, and then finally to the castle," Purity said, me nodding at that.
"Yeah... um... c-can I come with you?" asked Noelle, me smiling at her. "I don't know how to return home, so I'd rather stick here, y'know?" she asked, me smiling at that.
"Of course... N-Noelle..." I said, blushing in the process. And Purity looked at me with a giggle.
"Wait... are you in love with Noelle?" she asked, that making the reindeer girl blush as well as her little deer tail went up at that.
"Oh!... Um... well, it certainly couldn't hurt to try... I mean, I don't know much about the relations of humans and monsters in this world, so I don't know how that would work..." Noelle said, me simply holding onto her hand and her looking at me with a bigger blush.
"I'm unsure as well, but I... you know... think you're very pretty," I admitted to her.
"Aw, young love! So cute!" Alphys smirked at me and her.
"L-Let's get going now, please? We don't have all day," asked Kevin, us then following him out of the lab to the east... and Noelle looked a bit surprised at how the heat in Hotland felt on her.
"O-Oh my... god, it's hot here!... H-Hey, mister Jevil? You have any cold-inducing powers? Only for me, though?" Noelle asked.
"Ueeheehee! I CAN DO ANYTHING!" he shouted before then enveloping Noelle inside of a small barrier made of chilly air, her then sighing in relief afterwards.
"Ah... much better... like a constant flow of A/C," she smiled afterwards. I then looked at the other humans in my group and noted they were okay, minus the fact that the boys were uneasy with having on girly clothes.
"Time to set off," momma Toriel smiled, all of us proceeding down the path as well as along the different conveyor belts. And along the way, we ended up meeting Vulkin, who loved that we were able to hug him.
"I'd hug him too, but I don't have hands. Same with Thorn," Barbie admitted.
"It's okay, friends! I'm already all hugged out for right now," Vulkin smirked widely. "But maybe Tsunderplane could use some hugs. She's sure to be even more in love with so many humans to choose from," he said, that making Chara and Whimsun confused.
"Tsunderplane? Isn't she an airplane monster?.." Whimsun asked.
"And one of the biggest members of the human fan club that Alphys founded... trust me, I know," Asriel said, me seeing he still looked a bit upset.
"Hey, prince?" asked Emily, her approaching the little goat kid and simply placing her hand on his shoulder. "I don't know what's going on in that head of yours... but I can tell you this. My ancestor did some bad things to good people in his time. But despite that, I try to do good regardless. You need to use your goodness to help out others. And if you ask me, your flower form and the form you are in right now are polar opposites. Just forget about what happened before and focus on the here and now, okay?" she said, Asriel looking like he was about to cry, but he simply hugged her instead.
"It Won't Be So Easy For Him To Forget What He's Done In The Past, Young Emily," Gaster said with a sigh, him currently being in my shadow.
"I know, but I'm trying to help him... I was good at helping people with their problems in the past... you know, before falling down here," she said with a smile. Asriel was still producing tears, though, which resulted in Lisa holding onto him and giving him a piggyback right.
"Huh, you're kinda light, kid... just rest there for a while, okay? Crying too much results in getting tired," Lisa smiled kindly.
"T-Thanks..." the prince said before falling asleep almost instantly. And it was then that I asked Gaster a very important question.
"So... Gaster... where do I find the two remaining followers? I know one is Vaughn, but who's the other and where would I find them?" I asked him.
"Vaughn Is Most Likely At The First Elevator We'll Find. And The Other One Would Be Close To Muffet's Bake Sale Area, As He Likes Sweets," Gaster said, me nodding as we then continued to trek down the volcanic trail until we found Tsunderplane next to the first laser puzzle (which was currently off). And when she saw us, she looked at us in shock before then gaining heavy blush on her nose.
"U-U-Uh... h-hi... s-s-so many..." she gawked at us.
"Hi... um... h-how are you doing?" asked Stevenson, who I could tell was just as awestruck as the plane girl was.
"D-D-doing good... b-baka..." she gulped... somehow... and Stevenson then approached a bit, making the plane girl look to be panicking.
"I-If I may be so bold... you look... amazing... a marvel of engineering... are you really a monster?... Or a robot?" Stevenson asked, that making Tsunderplane look to be even further concerned.
"H-Huh?... I-I'm a... a mixture of both... w-w-why do you ask?" she asked as Stevenson then looked to be concerned on how to move forward.
"I sense that tensions of affection are filled in both of you. That's oddly adorable," Toriel smiled, that making the plane monster gasp at that, but then she looked to be panicking as Stevenson actually touched her... cheek?
"W-What are you doing?!" she asked in her panicked state.
"I thought you'd might want to be uh... consoled... you look a bit tense..." Stevenson said, though I could tell he was just as red in the face as she was. "Should I... stop?"
"N-N-No... i-it feels good... mm..." she hummed a bit as I then looked at the others, them looking just as confused at what was going on as I was.
"What's going on?" Kevin asked in surprise.
"Love. That's what," Noelle smiled, me holding her hand and her putting her tail up and tensing up, but then she saw it was me and then let it down.
"We should continue on. There should be little to no issues coming up, after all," Ashley stated as we continued down the path towards the split path to the door to unlock it, but they were opened up for obvious reasons. And after going over the vents afterwards, it was then that we saw that the whole room was dark... too dark. My phone then began to ring I answered it, as it was Alphys.
"Hmm... somethings wrong... hold on, I'll try to get the lights on," Alphys said on the phone... and when they came on? Chara, Purity, and I all slapped our faces at what was going on. The cooking show with Mettaton. "Oh no..." Alphys groaned as the hammiest ham to ever be a ham appeared from underneath the counter in a chef's hat and a kiss the cook apron.
"OOOHH YESS! Welcome, welcome one and all to the Underground's premiere cooking show, Cooking with a Killer Robot!" Mettaton said with his usual flair, making me look at the other humans and them not understanding what was going on, so I had to ask Alphys a very important question.
"Alphys... be honest with us... do you tell Mettaton to prepare for us before you go to the basement? Or after?" I asked into the phone quietly, as Mettaton was too focused on the flying camera aimed right at his face.
"U-Um... he's uh... before... dammit... j-just play along, okay?" Alphys said with her awkwardness appearing once again. I then looked at the others and they all heard her... but Mettaton did not.
"Tonight we have some very special guests! Please welcome the three-... um... hmm..." Mettaton said before looking at his with his giant calculator head and began to count. "Ahem... 12345678 9 humans!... And uh... 123456 7 monsters!... Um..." Mettaton said, being very weirded out, most likely at the sheer number of monsters and humans he was next to. He then called Alphys on his personal phone and she then answered it... while I was still on the line!
"Alphys, what's going on? I thought you said only 3 humans would show up with only 2 monsters?" Mettaton asked with concern in his metallic voice.
"W-Well... um... t-the others were uh... waiting in the wings?... In the castle?... eh..." Alphys said, me looking at the talking cube and deciding to play along.
"So, what's the special today, chef?" I asked, that making Mettaton end the call before then looking at us with seriousness before then pushing a button he had on his microphone, causing the camera to go to commercial.
"Listen, I know I have tons of adoring fans, but the show would get rather confusing with so many of you! So how about, we go ahead and do something... unique? Three of you at a time will parttake in my show. Two humans, one monster. And I shall let you all pass by if they succeed," Mettaton said, that making me smile widely.
"Any volunteers?" I asked the group. The first one to emerge was Paul, followed by Purity, and then Barbie, who had the biggest stars in her eyes when she stepped forward to the view of the camera.
"We'll just wait over here out of sight, then," I smiled at Mettaton.
"Very well then!" Mettaton said happily as we then went to the far left of the room and the ham then pushed the button on his mic again, the tv turning back on. "And we're back, ladies and gentlemen! Please give a warm welcome to our three lovely assistants!" Mettaton said as he then clapped his hands with a bit of confetti falling down over the three kids. "Today on our wonderful show, we are going to be making... a cake! My assistants, please gather the necessary ingredients of sugar, milk, and eggs!" Mettaton smirked as Paul then tilted his head.
"What about flour?" he asked, that making Mettaton do a laugh track by pushing one of the buttons on his face.
"Oh, what a funny joke! Now go and do it, come on, chop chop," Mettaton smirked as the trio then went to get the ingredients and Toriel whispered in my ear.
"So... what's going on here, Frisk?" she asked me.
"Nothing dangerous, mum. Just enjoy the ham sandwich that is this robot," I smiled at her. And once they got all the ingredients, Mettaton then smiled.
"Splendid, splendid! All the ingredients are here!... Well, minus one!" Mettaton smiled before Barbie then decided to do a silly joke.
"Yeah, talent!" she smirked... and after that?
"Wha-wha-wha!" the trombone-playing skeleton appeared from the fridge just to make his stupid contribution to the bad joke. And Toriel was about to laugh before she get elbowed by Noelle.
"Shh, don't give us away," she said with annoyance.
"Oh, really? Well, the last ingredient we'll need is..." Mettaton said before he then produced the weapon... the very fake one in the form of a cardboard chainsaw. "A human soul!" he shouted with aplomb, making mom look concerned before realizing the false danger... then, Barbie looked at Mettaton and then at the others.
"Couldn't we use something a little less... dangerous?" Barbie asked.
"Less dangerous? You mean use a non-lethal, non-human ingredient?... That's a brilliant idea, little one! In fact, I have just the thing right here! All organically made human-soul flavor substitute! It's over on the desk right there," Mettaton smiled as he pointed the camera to the desk in question. "Well, go on then, don't be shy," Mettaton smirked. But before the desk could fly into the air, Purity simply jumped onto the desk beforehand as Mettaton then looked surprised.
"Oh... hmm... you managed to get it... well, I sure hope that my... 1 thousand fans won't be disappointed in the next show! See you after our commercial break, everyone!" Mettaton smirked as he then flew off before then returning. "Oh, and by the way, I don't like being mocked on live TV, darlings. So maybe don't do that next time? It's very distasteful," Mettaton said before then flying away again. And Toriel then simply looked at Barbie and then started to try to hold in her laughter.
"Am I... hrk... safe to laugh now?" she asked with a muffled squeal.
"Yes, go ahead and yuck it up," Asriel smiled for the first time, making the former queen laugh like a lunatic at the bad joke that Barbie made, which made me approach her and give her a good pet on the head for that.
"That was perfect timing and perfect delivery, Barbie. You might want to take up some classes with Sans at some point, huh?" I smiled at her.
"Oh god, please, no? We don't need more punsters around here," Chara groaned.
"I agree with that too... I like jokes, but not bad ones..." Whimsun said afterwards in shyness.
"Anyways, now to move onto finding out where the next of the Gaster Followers is at... it should be close, right?" I asked with seriousness as we then walked to the east... and then the jester in my shadow spoke.
"Why yes, yes! In fact, I can create the door for you to find him!" he smirked before then snapping his fingers as we got to the elevator, the door to the void simply hovering over the lava-filled lake below us.
"Be careful in there, Frisk. I don't know much about Gaster's followers, but I do hope that you can convince him to come out with you," Clam Girl said, me nodding as I then went into the door and saw the room of the Void once more. And this time, I saw complete darkness, much like with when I found the alternate version of Chara... and then I heard a voice.
"So... you finally managed to find me?" asked the voice of a very depressed-sounding monster before a shadowy figure emerged in front of me, being grey in skintone and looking like a bird that had a very droopy neck and very small wings. "Suffice to say, I am impressed... but things this time will be slightly different for how you are to rescue me," the guy said, me then asking him a question.
"Are you Vaughn, by chance?" I asked, him then nodding at me.
"Yes... I was one of Doctor Gaster's most indulgent pupils. I worked with him on many of his experiements... and sadly, I was offed by the first and last attempt of using a Gaster Blaster on a monster... My entire body and soul were sent to the Void... but it also made me filled with Determination..." he said, that making me gulp. That was not a good thing. "Now, if I go back out to the real world, my body would be a puddle instantly, molding my shape to conjoin to whomever I were to touch after... permanently... not even your jester friend could stop it," he said, me looking at him in concern.
"So... what do we do?" I asked him.
"We must engage in a FIGHT. You must endure my attacks, all fueled by Determination, all while siphoning the essence from me with your soul," he said, me being confused at that.
"I... I could do that?" I asked as I held my soul in hand.
"Yes. It would not have worked if I am conjoined to another monster... but in the Void, rules are different... your soul can become even more powerful, though mainly as DEF and not ATK. Withstand my powerful attacks and then Act accordingly to which ones you see me use... I'm counting on you, Frisk the human," Vaughn said, me then preparing for the first attack as I saw that he was going to unleash a flurry of green attacks at me, paired with some orange ones.
"Bring it," I smirked as he then proceeded to turn my soul blue and then, while under the effects, I kept on dodging the green attacks he threw at me while staying still inside of a moving laser of orange whenever it passed me by. And after absorbing a hefty amount of the orange stuff, I gawked at how, indeed, I felt my DEF boost big time! And now it was my turn, as I saw that he was going to be preparing an attack with a purple soul and RED attacks! I didn't know what it'd do, but I simply decided to hold my soul and focus... absorb the attacks he'd send at me as I inched closer.
He then unleashed the purple spell onto my soul, making my movements limited to left and right on three different placements of invisible purple string for ground. And what was the atttack that came afterwards? Multiple knives of red color rushing my soul! I braced for impact, not knowing what would happen by getting hit by them... and I gawked at how, when I stood still through the red attacks, they actually made my Max HP go up! And if I moved while getting hit by any of them, I got my Max HP get reduced! I simply absorbed as many as I could until I had roughly 50 HP and 40 DEF. He then smiled as he then showed that he was going to make a finishing move... one that would get the rest of the gunk out of him. And it would consist of EVERY type of colored attack I'd learned thus far! Making half my soul blue and the other half purple, meaning I'd only have one single string to move on.
"I'm ready, Vaughn! Give me all you got!" I smirked as I then began to use my soul's new powers to gain the different boosts that it would allow! In this combined state of blue and purple, I learned that white attacks would only heal the blue side, I could rotate my soul around to grab the different pieces, and I also had to make sure his red attacks hit the purple side only! And when he began using YELLOW attacks, I gawked at how I could abosrb them as well, but ONLY if the attack hit both of the souls' halves within half a second of opportunity! And after about a minute of careful and precise absorption, I gasped and panted at what my stats were. I now had 99 HP, 100 DEF... and 30 ATK. And Vaughn then smiled at me with his small beak and sighed.
"There... that should be all of it... now, may you escort me to the door so I may continue work with my teacher?" he asked, me smiling and nodding as both of us exited together, shocking everyone at how this particular monster from the Void exited the door without the need to go inside my soul!
"Whoa! What happened in there? You were in that door for so long, I was starting to get worried!" Nicole said with concern, me smiling at her.
"Well... he had tons of Determination in him... to the point that, if he left the Void, he'd become a puddle the moment he hit the floor. So, he taught me something awesome. That my soul has a different function to it... the power to absorb excess Determination... but only if it's from another opponent who has it. And it can only work on a single soul, so it wouldn't have been possible if he were an Amalgamate," I said with a smile.
"You just keep the surprises coming, coming! Ueeheehee! Now onto the next floor, and further to the king's castle!" Jevil smirked happily as I then looked at Vaughn... only to see that he had already teleported away... and then, I got a call from Gaster.
"Hello?" I asked into the phone.
"I See You Rescued Vaughn... He Wants To Continue Working As My Pupil In The Art of Magic And Has You To Thank For It... Now Only One Monster From The Void Remains... Blanko, Who Helped Me In Designing The Core. He Should Be On The Same Floor As Muffet's Bake Sale, At The Entrance Elevator. You Still Have Another Floor Inbetween, However," Gaster said into the phone.
"Thanks for the information, Gaster... we're going to keep going now, okay?" I asked.
"See You Soon, I'm Sure," he said before hanging up, the others in the group then looking at the small elevator and frowning.
"Do we uh... take turns, I guess?" Emily asked, me nodding.
"The elevators can only hold up to 300 pounds... so I think we'll go up in teams of three," I said, us then deciding that Paul would go up with Asriel and Chara, followed by mom, myself, and Jevil, and then the rest followed soon after. It took a good 3 minutes of waiting, but we now had everyone we needed to have in our ragtag team. We still had a bit of Hotland to trudge through before we finally got to the CORE, and I had to hope Mettaton's shows would just be playful and not at all dangerous.