A week. That's how long it had been since the Messiah had taken over the city. Since the monsters had to go back to hiding after four years of uninterrupted freedom. Undyne's love for humanity had drained, to put it lightly. She'd hated them before she'd met Frisk, and that girl had made her rethink it all. Maybe humans weren't so bad? Turns out, Frisk was an outlier. An exception. Undyne had met very few humans that she cared to even remember, let alone trust. Chief Dowary had been one of the worst, but even he didn't need what came to him. And the girl who caused it all? Layla? Disappeared the day after. Nobody knows where she went. Vanished. Food was running low, she, Mosu, and Gerson (now with Frisk and Magnum frequently joining) found nobody else out there. Grillby and Terrence were still captives under the Messiah, if they were even still alive, and Catty and Bratty had yet to be found. Undyne assumed them dead, as did just about everyone else but Frisk. She kept insisting they look for those two, but that was a risk. They'd managed to conceal their hidey hole for now, but if the Messiah hadn't already discovered them, they would soon if they kept leaving and returning. It was either starve them out, or flush them out. The Messiah had everything in the palm of their hand, and monsterkind was at their mercy, quite literally.

The days were beginning to meld together. She was struggling to remember what she'd even done a few days ago, or even a few hours ago. This place was dirty, dusty, and it stank. Undyne found herself missing her life underground dearly. She'd had a purpose. She'd commanded respect. The place didn't stink the whole time, too. No matter what, though… the CORE would have destabilized. Alphys admitted as much in regards to not being able to decipher or understand the blueprints left behind by the previous royal scientist, the very same one who'd built the CORE in the first place. Alphys was probably the smartest person Undyne knew, so that old dead guy had to be one of the smartest people… ever. It would have been nice to have him here now, whoever he'd been. Or she. Undyne had a feeling it was a dude before.

Regarding Alphys, she'd recently updated Undyne on Mettaton's situation. He was apparently doing fine, just traumatized, as Alphys had put it. How the hell can a robot get traumatized? That thought still lingered on Undyne's mind.

Frisk and her friend group seemed to be getting along well. They'd all wanted to go get Rian and his dad yesterday, but Undyne only took Frisk and Sadie with her. They returned with the brawny kid, whose arm was cast in a sling, but he seemed healthy. Undyne had a few more run-ins with Trickster over the last few days, mostly ending with retreats on Undyne's end. She hated to do it, but Trickster was actually far more capable when Undyne didn't have back-up. Magnum had managed to avoid a confrontation with her, leaving Undyne with a sort of rivalry forming with the Messiah Lieutenant.

Undyne had been treating Magnum with a little more… respect lately. Especially after having worked on some runs with the girl, it became clear how much all of this meant to her. The things she was putting on the line, it was an extremely personal matter for her. Of course, the same could be said for all of them at this point.

Asgore was doing better. Whatever Frisk and he spoke about seemed to have turned him around. He was contributing in just about everything he could, and helping with cooking as well as making tea when he had time. Everybody loved his tea, even if he didn't have the right ingredients to make it how he usually does. He was even hanging out with Sans a bit, the two often sharing a few laughs. Sans had decided to stay for whatever reason, Undyne didn't know. He was lazy and slow but a surprisingly good worker even if he had terrible work ethic. His presence seemed to make both Frisk and Papyrus happier, as well. The younger skeleton managed to maintain his happy attitude over the course of the week, though he still wouldn't tell people where he was getting food from, telling people it was a 'special secret', something Undyne needed to follow up on soon. Well, now wouldn't hurt, actually. It's not like she was doing anything at the moment.

Brushing a strand of scarlet hair from her one good eye, Undyne pushed herself from the wall, slipping her hands into her leather jacket as her gaze swept the room. It was dinner time, and everybody was settling in for their food, smaller portions than the last few days. Muffet had told Undyne that the supplies they had would last a few more days rationed minimally. Troubling, sure, but she could lead a team to the supermarket… making sure the Messiah didn't follow them back would be the tricky part. It wasn't a huge deal. That's what she told herself, at least.

Papyrus happened to be gleefully passing out plates of actual meals opposed to pasta now. Breads, vegetables, fruits, and meat for those who liked it. He practically bounced with joy when he saw Undyne approaching. "UNDYNE! THIS IS FOR YOU!"

The plate he offered had been set to the side, and her food had been organized to shape his name. Haphazardly, but noticeable. Then, below it, 'sans' was written poorly in ketchup. Papyrus seemed to notice this the moment she did, and he scowled. "BLAST THAT LITTLE- SORRY, UNDYNE. I CAN JUST-"

"It's fine, Paps." Undyne replied, taking the plate from him. "I just needed to follow up on this 'special secret' of yours."

"OH, IT'S JUST A PLATE OF SPAGHETTI HIDDEN IN MY SPECIAL CLOTHES."

"I mean your other special secret." Undyne replied. Papyrus coughed at this. "OH THAT! WELL, SEE, IT'S A SECRET!" Undyne set down the plate and sighed. "I don't really feel like dealing with this right now, Papyrus. Can you just tell me where you're getting the food from?"

Several eyes were on them now, Papyrus' 'special secret' being one of the few things to keep people entertained down here. The skeleton coughed again, a little more nervously. "W-WELL… UM… CAN WE SPEAK IN PRIVATE?" He gestured to the storage room in the back. Undyne shrugged, and followed him there, where he shut the door behind them.

"OKAY, PLEASE DON'T BE MAD." Papyrus began, making Undyne raise a brow. "Uh… okay."

"I'VE BEEN SNEAKING OUT."

"WHAT!?" Unydne yelled, making Papyrus flinch. "YOU SAID YOU WOULDN'T BE MAD!"

"I-" Undyne quelled the superfluous amount of questions she was about to bombard him with, saving the lecture. "You're right. Sorry." She ran her hands over her scalp, pressing her forearms against her brow for a moment. "Why have you been sneaking out?" She asked, tapping her foot impatiently. "FOR FOOD AND INGREDIENTS OF COURSE!" Papyrus replied. "Bad wording. I mean how have you been sneaking out."

"OH, OF COURSE!" Papyrus moved to the back of the storage room, where he moved a crate that had been set against the wall. Behind it was a hole, just big enough for a lanky skeleton like Papyrus to slip through.

Undyne stared at it for a moment, mind racing as Papyrus looked back at her expectantly. Finally, she spoke. "This… is…" She was having trouble not shouting again. "Really irresponsible of you, Papyrus." She spoke through grit teeth. "Not just for your safety, but all of ours."

"BUT I CAN TAKE CARE OF MY… SELF… HOW WOULD THIS HURT OTHER PEOPLE?" He asked. "If the Messiah saw you coming through there, if they figure out we're down here and sneak through there, there's all sorts of possibilities! Where does that even lead?" She demanded. Looking ashamed, Papyrus held his arm tightly to his body. "UM… IT LEADS TO THIS UH… PLACE."

"Place?"

"YEAH. A PLACE. A PLACEY PLACE THAT'S IN A… PLACE."

"..."

"LOOK, I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT IT IS, BUT THERE'S AN ELEVATOR THAT LEADS RIGHT NEAR THE SUPERMARKET AND IT'S TOTALLY EMPTY! THE PLACEY PLACE I MEAN."

And there was the explanation, finally. It was probably another abandoned Messiah location, or something. At least it was abandoned, and at least it led directly to a supermarket, but still… it would have done Papyrus some good to confide than hide his secret. She knew he was probably hiding it to keep people from worrying about him, and he was going on those runs for a good cause, but he wasn't the best at thinking ahead.

"ARE YOU… STILL MAD?" Papyrus asked after a few moments of silence. Undyne looked back into his eye sockets for a moment, before she shook her head. "Nah. How could I be mad at you?" She replied. This seemed to make him happy, and he skipped from the room, humming that same tune he always hummed everywhere.

Shaking her head, Undyne turned back to the hole. Most people would be able to fit through there, Papyrus definitely wouldn't have been able to if he still wore his 'battle body'. Asgore was a definite 'no', but… perhaps it was possible this could be an alternate escape. It would be nice to have a way to go if their main exit was blocked off.

She'd need to explore it. Maybe later. She had things to attend to, like… Well. Nothing.

With that, Undyne ducked through the hole to get her bearings within.

Magnum was in her usual spot, which she'd unofficially claimed, staring at her notes. Words she'd written again and again, alongside other things. Primarily, she'd been trying to write a note to Trickster, but every time she wound up crumpling the note up and discarding the piece of paper. She couldn't figure out how to put her thoughts down on the paper. How to convince Trixie to leave the Messiah. Their last meeting was still eating the girl up, and she didn't want that to be the end of their friendship.

'Dear Trixie;

I know things are weird right now but I really miss you. There are a lot of good people down here, and I'm trying hard to help them out. They're starting to warm up to me now, even though they know who my dad is now. Wish you were with me.

Love, Mags'

Magnum frowned at the note, wrinkling her nose before tearing it away, crumpling it, and tossing it aside, where it landed beside a growing pile of crumpled paper. She was about out of paper, and a few of those were already taken with information she'd jotted down for Undyne. Locations of Messiah warehouses for supplies, most of which were on the docks, as well as any info she could provide on the surviving lieutenants and leaders, though that admittedly wasn't much. Trickster seemed to be the only remaining Lieutenant that Magnum knew of. Psycho and Warmth were dead, she, Truck, and Raptor had left. That only left Demon, but Magnum had never met the guy, let alone know anything about him. According to Frisk, though, he wasn't human. Did her dad know that? The Messiah's whole thing was human survival and domination above all others. Having non-humans within didn't seem at all their style.

Regardless, there was Mosu and Mióm, or 'Witch', the former having already betrayed the Messiah, the latter still with them, but she was another person Magnum didn't know. That meant there were probably already five new lieutenants who'd taken the spots of the dead and the betrayed. Admittedly, she hadn't taken much time to get to know pretty much any of the grunts, so she didn't have a clue who the hell the new five would be.

Undoubtedly the Messiah would be ensuring that these next lieutenants would be like Trickster and Witch. Loyal, and deadly, with a taste for strife and blood. As much as she loved Trixie, the older girl wasn't exactly a great person. Magnum hadn't personally seen it, but she knew a bit about her reputation. Decapitations to mark her assassinations, often playing with her victims, appearing as loved ones, or even killing loved ones beforehand. Trickster never talked about the work she'd done as a lieutenant, and Magnum had never asked, only hearing through rumors. Magnum herself hadn't done much as a lieutenant after becoming one. She'd always assumed her father was mostly keeping her out of that kind of stuff, even if she was already haunted by murdering all those people in the dead pool.

"Still can't find the right words?" Frisk's voice snapped Magnum from her thoughts, and she looked up to find the girl offering a small smile, one that Magnum returned. "Yeah…" She admitted. "I just… don't know what to say. I mean do I… I… nevermind." She shook her head. "Weird how we still haven't encountered any of the new lieutenants, huh?"

Frisk nodded, and slid down the wall to sit beside Magnum. "I feel like they're saving them for some kind of reveal." She admitted. Magnum had to agree, that tactic was something her dad would definitely pull. "How much longer do you think we'll stay here?" Magnum asked. Frisk bit her cheek, appearing thoughtful for a moment. "Hm… I'm not sure. We can't stay here forever, though."

Magnum nodded. "Knowing my dad, he already knows we're here, he's just biding his time for… something. Some kind of attack." She fell silent as she glanced down at her notes, now open on the list of warehouses. "Maybe there's others who could help us?" She asked, turning to look at Frisk. "Before Phase 1.1 initiated, a lot of the Messiah's warehouses were getting hit. Supplies went missing, even some experimental weapons. There's other people out there hitting the Messiah. They could help."

"I actually was thinking about something similar." Frisk admitted. "Remember that Layla girl? She seemed to really hate the Messiah, and she knew how to use her SOUL. Met one of her friends, a girl named Katherine, and there's apparently more. They're just… out there. I think maybe they could be the same as the people you're talking about."

Magnum thought about it for a moment. It wasn't a bad theory at all, and she had nothing better to counter it with. "Alright." She nodded. "So… we start looking for Layla or Katherine next time we go out?" Frisk nodded. "Yeah. Something like that. How are you doing?"

"Could be better." Magnum replied. "Buuuut, at least people don't give me dirty looks anymore." Frisk smiled at that. "I told you they'd warm up. You're a good person, Magnum."

"You can… call me Trinity if you like." Magnum replied.

Her real name, her birth name, was something she'd more or less replaced with her Lieutenant title. She wasn't sure where, why, or how, but she'd grown to the point where 'Trinity' was something of an exclusive name to refer to her by. Admittedly, she'd grown to trust Frisk way more than she'd expected to. The girl was so kind and sweet, and hella charismatic. Magnum got the feeling that Frisk genuinely cared. She trusted her.

Frisk was silent for a small moment, before she nodded. "Yeah, I'll do that."

"I'm just a little nervous about what comes after the German sector." Magnum added, feeling a little more at ease. There was another silence before Frisk abruptly turned to look at Magnum. "German sector?"

"Uh…" Magnum looked back, eyes widening slightly. "Shit, I thought you guys knew."

"Knew what?" Frisk pressed. Magnum scratched the back of her blonding scalp. "Well, y'see, when the Messiah caught wind of that USB drive you guys had, we all assumed you were aware of the other sectors." She paused, noting how Frisk's own slanted eyes were widening. "There's… seven in total. Well, six now. The Russian sect got nuked alongside the rest of the country during the Polar War by America. But there's this sect, Germany, the French sect, the Italian sect, the Chinese sect, the Brazilian sect and the American sect-but that one is getting pruned by the C.I.A. last we heard."

"I… wow." Frisk blinked, slumping against the wall, her shoulders seeming to sag with an invisible weight. "I didn't even realize it was that big."

"Oh but don't worry, the German sect is the head honcho. We bring it down, the others should follow suit." Magnum tried to assure. "Well… unless one has a competent enough leader who tries to rally the sects to follow their example, I guess. Maybe Songbird…"

"Songbird?"

"Oh, just some… uh… actually I really don't want to talk about her right now. Maybe… later…" Magnum bit her lip, feeling a plague of memories surface concerning the name and the person behind it.

"You're good, I just need to… digest this." Frisk admitted.

The feeling of someone else sliding down the wall on the other side of Magnum diverted her attention, and she saw the short skeleton known as Sans having seated himself. "Uh… hi." Magnum greeted. Sans nodded back. "sup." Was his reply. "couldn't help but overhear some… interesting things."

Magnum looked toward Frisk at this, but the girl didn't seem perturbed by Sans in the slightest. "About what?" Frisk asked. "about experimental tech, a vast network of cults, girls on the street who can use their souls and the connections between…" He paused. "pretty sure i have my own input for that."

"The Timeline Holder?" Frisk asked, leaning slightly in. Sans nodded. "yep. that's the one."

"Sorry, what?" Magnum interrupted. "Timeline… holder?"

"SOULs of Determination can alter, control, and manipulate time." Frisk explained. "I used to be in control until I had to help shatter the barrier and lost a lot of my power. Now someone else out there has control. Sans and Flowey have been trying to track them down."

Oh, well. That sure was a lot to take in but now she knew. Total reversal from that last reveal. Magnum was beginning to feel out of her element already in this conversation, still having no actual idea about how any of that made sense. Frisk used to control time itself? That felt like a stretch, even for SOUL power.

"flowey and i picked up a few cold trails, but most of them led to the messiah warehouses." Sans began. "so at first, we thought it was the messiah who had the new timeline holder. flowey did some flower stuff but couldn't find anything. the trail went cold there. so we continued on, picking up a few other trails, all of which led to dead ends. uh… sometimes there was actual death involved, too. we found a few bodies on some trails, turned to ash. their bodies had been disintegrated, and not by fire. by some kind of weapon, which i assume to be experimental tech belonging to the messiah." The skeleton scratched his skull. "one trail happened to lead down here. stopped by a few times to ask papyrus a few things 'till you convinced me to stay. flowey is still tailing some trails, but if it could be that layla girl and her friends, well…" Sans chuckled. "i'll see if he can tail them."

Magnum blinked, leaning back. She had nothing to contribute to this conversation, and it was just kinda thrust on her, but she supposed they thought her included due to her input on the warehouses, but all she actually knew was them getting hit. Not like she could offer much more. She didn't even know if the weapons could disintegrate people.

Frisk nodded at that. "Alright, good idea. When's Flowey supposed to appear next?"

"few hours soon, actually. he prefers to meet in the old train station instead of here, doesn't feel comfortable with asgore seein' him."

"Who's Flowey?" Magnum asked. "A flower. He's… complicated." Frisk informed, and Sans seemed to agree with a nod. "Okay. Well… uh… if you guys need to talk more I can go."

"nah, that's okay." Sans replied, climbing to his feet. "but thanks for that lead. really helped me out there." With that, he shuffled away. "Interesting guy." Magnum stated, eyes turning back down to her notes. "I didn't quite understand that whole conversation just now, but… is the timeline holder an ally or an enemy?"

"Don't know." Frisk said. "Sans and Flowey seem to be leaning more toward 'enemy', but… yeah. I don't know." With that, Frisk began to stand, clearly thinking pretty intensely on something, no need to guess what it was. "See ya." Magnum said as Frisk wandered off.

It was dusty, and dirty, and… well, not that different from where they'd been staying. Very noticeably, it was freezing cold. Undyne found herself shivering as she wandered down the dark halls, feeling a sense of unease. Like she was being watched. How could Papyrus stand this place? How had he even found an exit? It was like a maze, with halls branching every which way, doorways leading into rooms that had more doors leading elsewhere, and no signs to indicate a direction.

She was about to start smashing down doors or something just to keep track of where she was. This was getting ridiculous. Every hall and every room were bare and empty, and the place felt like an ice box. Unlike humans, monsters couldn't just run around to warm up. Monsters had no blood to pump through their bodies, being purely magical entities.

Shivering slightly, Undyne rounded a corner before realizing she'd already been here before, a familiar crack in the ceiling stretching about to look like the number 'three'. With a groan, she turned around- and froze. Not in fear, but in surprise. There was somebody at the other end of the hall she'd just come from. Or… something? It appeared human, but its hair, skin, and clothing were all stark white. It appeared feminine. Shorter than Undyne, with a frail yet curving body. The most noticeable thing, however, were its giant, purple eyes staring unblinkingly back.

"Uh…" Undyne wasn't sure what else to say. How the hell were you supposed to speak to whatever that was?

"Is she bothering you, Baena?"

This voice came from behind Undyne. Deep, masculine, but it sounded so… wrong. Slow, no inflection of emotion, just plain and bland, and… unsettling. Undyne turned, beginning to grow aware of what was happening. Blocking the other end of the hall was a much taller figure, about Undyne's height, with the same paper-white skin, hair, and clothing. He even had those same giant, violet eyes. Both were wearing just a plain button-up with jeans and tennis shoes. "The fact she still breathes is, Amphis." The girl, Baena, replied to what Undyne could only assume was her brother. Or… perhaps her lover? As long as it wasn't both.

Undyne wasted no time in summoning her spear, baring her fangs. "I dare you to come on and do something about it then." She hissed to them, though she was grinning from ear to ear. Messiah goons, obviously. Maybe even new Lieutenants. They didn't look so tough.

Undyne felt pretty certain that she was appearing ready for battle, but these two just continued to stand and stare, so that left the fishwoman to make the first move, hurling a spear down toward Amphis- but he faded, his body evaporating before Undyne's eyes, the spear ripping through the air and piercing the far wall, where it disappeared.

Confused, she turned to face Baena, only to find Amphis had somehow moved directly behind her, his arm raised. A blast of brilliant violet light filled the hall, a pain besetting Undyne. She could feel her body scrape against the ground before she regained her bearings, slamming a spear into the ground to bring herself to a stop.

Her face was stinging with a lingering pain as she glared up to find Amphis was standing in front of her again, his arm raised- the disorientation passed more quickly this time as Undyne felt her back slam into the wall at the end of the hall, and her focusing gaze made clear that Amphis had moved directly in front of her again. She acted faster, this time, her fist slamming forward- and hitting nothing as he faded once again.

Undyne let out something similar to a grunt, but it sounded weird coming from her. She had no idea what was actually going on, but it was clear that these two had a concise and functional tactic for her, whereas she was at a loss for how to deal with them.

It was pissing her off.

Amphis had reappeared at the girl's side, both of them shoulder-to-shoulder, or at least their equivalent, as he stood over a foot taller than her. The tingling sensation was fading quickly now, so Undyne decided she needed a plan for how to deal with these weirdos. Clearly charging in blindly wasn't an effective strategy, these two were fast. So perhaps…

A cyan light illuminated beneath both of the pale figures, and they looked calmly down to see the floor beneath them preparing an attack. Amphis stepped forward while Baena stepped back simultaneously, and the spears erupted to strike the ceiling- but remained, glowing a more intense shade of cyan. "Gotcha." Undyne smirked as another wall of cyan spears erupted behind Baena, trapping her in. Amphis appeared directly in front of Undyne, almost like a teleportation that she couldn't quite find the source of, his arm raised- something she was prepared for as well. Undyne ducked while snapping her finger, and the blast tore open the wall behind her.

Amphis was enveloped in a green light, and his eyes noticeably widened slightly as he realized he couldn't disappear. Undyne swung her fist up. The emerald aura faded as her fist slammed to Amphis' jaw, and he was launched down the length of the hall, pursued by a torrent of blue arrows while Baena was forced to dodge and weave through a series of spears launching from the walls, ground, and ceiling in her enclosed space.

Undyne began to approach Amphis as more arrows hurled his way, which he created a strange purple barrier for, and it seemed to evaporate her arrows on contact, but she could see he was being forced to take steps back, so her attacks weren't pointlessly useless.

Stamping her foot on the ground, Amphis was enveloped in the same sage aura again, forced in place as the arrows became more coordinated, Undyne making sure of that as she quickly fell into an old habit. Patterns. The arrows moved in at Amphis from all directions, some of them golden in color. Unable to simply disappear to safety, Amphis was forced to try and use his barrier against them, blocking most but a few- mostly the yellow arrows -slipped past him to strike hard.

It was a little more exerting, challenging two people with different patterns, but not at all impossible for the Spear of Justice. Her own blue spear appearing in her hands, Undyne charged forward as the last arrow struck Amphis, his aura fading. She slashed, but he vanished. Undyne launched a kick behind her, and struck the boy. She'd guessed he'd try appearing behind her, and her guesswork had paid off as he was once again launched along the length of the hall. Wasting no time, Undyne brought down the barriers around Baena and charged in. She slashed once again, unsure if Baena could teleport as well considering she hadn't when trapped, but it was confirmed when the spear cut through thin air. She launched a kick behind her, hitting nothing.

Turning on her heel, Undyne was facing the two again as they stood side by side now at the other end of the hall, both appearing a lot more beat than just moments ago. Maybe they hadn't accounted for their opponent to be Undyne. They'd probably been expecting Papyrus. The thought managed to twist Undyne's gut into uncomfortable knots, realizing they would have reduced him to little smiling shreds.

"Ready to run?" Undyne asked, noticing how heavy they were panting. She hadn't even broken a sweat yet. The two said nothing in reply as Amphis' eyes flashed their purple color, and his companion disappeared, appearing closer, leaping from a wall. Amphis flashed his eyes again, and Baena was now to Undyne's left, slamming her knee into the monster's face.

Stumbling a few steps back, Undyne grit her teeth, realizing how their teleportation worked now. It was based solely on one another. One had to transport the other, and they were clearly in-sync enough to wordlessly coordinate attacks like this, but could they only do that with a line of sight on the other, or could they do it indefinitely?

Undyne would have to worry about that later as she raised her spear to block a kick from Baena, the boot inches from Undyne's face. She smirked. "You're gonna have to try-"

The fishwoman didn't get to finish that sentence as a burst of violet energy exploded from Baena's boot tip, and the spear shattered from the force, Baena's boot cracking into Undyne's face. She didn't even realize her head was halfway lodged into the adjacent wall until a few seconds later as she began to regain her bearings, growing more annoyed- until she felt herself be ripped from the wall by another disorienting blast from Amphis, who had moved in front of her with his raised hand.

So clearly, Amphis used his arms, Baena used her legs, and both were needed to do their teleporting trick, but the green SOUL technique managed to negate this temporarily. Tumbling to the ground, Undyne slammed her elbows against the floor, hearing it crack as she was propelled up in a back flip, going airborne for only a second before slamming her feet to to the ground, sliding to a stop, now scowling down the hall at the pair. They clearly had no more words to share, so Undyne wasn't going to waste time with any battle banter, instead winking her one good eye. Baena was enveloped in the green aura, frozen in place as arrows began to hurl at her from all directions, lacking much of a pattern, undoubtedly making it much harder on her to continually block them all.

With her distracted, Amphis was left without the advantage of teleportation. Undyne propelled herself down the hall, ignoring the stinging pain to her chest and face. Amphis raised his arm, and a beam of purple energy shot out. Undyne leaped to the wall on her right, avoiding the blast, and kicked off, launching herself at him. He couldn't fire off another attack as Undyne rammed her body into his own. They both went tumbling, Amphis attempting to grapple with the fishwoman, but it was a losing battle. Barely anybody could match her strength. Her hand grasped his wrist, and she was back on her feet, flinging Amphis into the far wall, which he had already broken a hole through. His body created an even larger hole into another hallway. Of course it was another hallway.

With a march in her step, Undyne approached Baena, who still showed no emotion, or even seemed to register Undyne approaching as she attempted to continue blocking more arrows. The arrows and the aura faded as Undyne's hand slammed into Baena's skull, but not as a punch. Her claws dug into the girl's skin as her head was slammed into, and through, the wall beside her.

Frisk wasn't here. She didn't have to know. Undyne raised the spear in her hand, malice glaring through her eye- and she felt the stinging blast hurl her off her feet, tumbling down the hall. With a hiss, Undyne dug her claws into the wall to stop her momentum, possibly breaking a talon in the process, but as she looked up, she found that both Amphis and Baena were no longer alone. Men wearing masks were beginning to make their presence known, equipped with various weapons that they promptly started aiming her way.

She was fast, but she couldn't dodge bullets.

Undyne sprinted against one of the walls, breaking through into another empty room as the sound of gunfire filled her head. Thinking quickly, she ducked as bullets began spraying through the wall behind her. Gritting her fangs together, she shifted her gaze to the hole in the wall she'd just made, imagining the hall within enough to summon an array of spears to hurl at the men. Shouts could be heard, and the gunfire ceased. Undyne proceeded to charge through another wall into another empty hall within this pointless maze. Fighting off Amphis and Baena was no longer her goal. The Messiah was down here, with how many numbers she didn't know, but she had to find her way back to the others before them.

They'd need to evacuate.

Magnum hated being left to her thoughts, or her notepad. It was growing tiresome. It fueled her with a stress she simply could not alleviate. She desperately wanted this conflict over, she desperately wanted Trickster. She never actually realized how reliant, emotionally, she'd been on her friend. Trixie had always been there for her, after all. She'd always been an unmoving wall Magnum could lean on for support. Now, it was like she was trying to break down that wall, and it hurt.

Magnum was standing at the mouth of the tunnel, leaning against the wall as she anxiously tapped her fingers against her biceps, arms folded. Sans and Frisk had gone down a few minutes ago to meet with Flowey, and she'd almost joined them, but got the sense that her company wouldn't be as appreciated. The three of them had something going on, and she'd only been introduced to a part of it due to her knowledge on the warehouses, though she was fairly certain Asgore had known about the warehouses as well, having previously been a valued employee at Obatech Industries.

So why was she just lingering around here, waiting for them to return? Well, the answer to that was embarrassingly simple. She had nothing else to do. Nothing better. Dinner was over, dishes were washed, people were settling down, getting ready to turn in for the night, and she couldn't sleep. She hadn't slept much since that night. Trixie's pained eyes were still burned into her skull.

"Anything you do to them, happens to me too. Hurt them, I hurt."

The words she'd spoken had come from the top of her mind. Trixie was a savage lieutenant, capable of just about anything, but their bond, at least then, had been too great. Trixie couldn't have harmed Magnum at that time. But was there a limit? Could Trixie come to terms with their opposition? Could she follow through on killing the girl who loved her so deeply?

"Kill them… I die."

Trixie's tears had spilled to the ground as she realized the situation in full. Magnum made her new commitment official. It hadn't been direct, but it had been a sign of new allegiance. Magnum wasn't going back to the Messiah. She was going to fight them… even if it broke her heart.

A strange gnawing sensation in the pit of her stomach still hadn't faded after that night. She'd just learned to ignore it, though sometimes it grew too painful to ignore, like now. Suddenly, out of the darkness of the tunnel emerged Frisk, who was sprinting. This was enough to yank Magnum from her thoughts, giving the younger girl a look of confusion. "What's going on?" She asked. "Follow me." Frisk huffed hurriedly as she raced by. Magnum obeyed, falling into step behind her as Frisk wound her way through the base, making her way to Asgore, who was laughing at a joke that Rian had told. Probably his spaghetti one.

"Dad." Asgore ceased his laughter at hearing his daughter's urgent voice. Concerned, he looked toward her. "Are you alright?"

"They're here."

Frisk's words were enough to make that gnawing pain expand tenfold in Magnum's innards. Everyone here had known this day would come, but now that it was here… A moment of silence hung in the air at Frisk's news, and she continued. "Where's Undyne?"

"I'm not sure. But… are they at the entrance?" Asgore asked, brow furrowing. Frisk nodded, and the king's jaw set. "I see."

"Sans and Flowey are trying to head them off. I don't know if it's working, but…" Frisk's voice trailed off. Conveniently at that moment, Undyne stepped out of the kitchens, appearing worn, a few cuts along her face, and some blackened scales that seemed burned.

"The Messiah are coming." She declared. "We know, Frisk just told us." Asgore replied, and Undyne's eye widened. "Wait-" She looked toward Frisk, then toward the exit tunnel. "Damnit! There's a hidden tunnel through the kitchen storage room, they're coming in through that way, too. I had to fight off a few of them."

"Then what do we do?" Rian asked.

"We fight our way out." Magnum stated. Everyone's eyes turned to her, but hers landed on Undyne. "It's the only way. If we try to stand our ground, they'll flush us out a hundred different ways. Gas, bombs, hell, even acid waves. Staying here now is suicide. We have to fight our way out, and if Sans and Flowey are distracting them, we stand at least a chance to make it out."

A silence befell them all as everyone attempted to digest the suggestion. Come to a consensus. Everyone appeared worried, a worry that wasn't misplaced. The rest of the base had begun to gather around, their faces more panicked.

"It's the only option we have." Undyne decided, nodding to Magnum. "Asgore and I will helm the frontal break, try and keep any at bay. Magnum, Frisk, you two lead the others to safety."

"But where?" Frisk asked. "Where are we going?"

"I… may have a destination in mind." Asgore cleared his throat. "An ancient monster kingdom. It is in ruins, but still stands several miles on the other side of Ebott. If we can make it there, we can try and regroup and plan." Magnum felt it was sudden, and she'd never heard of it, though perhaps it wasn't an accommodating place. Something of a last stand.

"Fine. Works for me." Undyne replied. "No time to spare. Let's get to work."

There were a lot of things he told himself he hated. He hated liars and tricksters, so long as they weren't him. He hated the smell of freshly mown grass. He hated paper. He really hated the skeleton. He hated himself. But no, not truly. He had become somewhat of a method actor since being turned into a flower. The empty void of emotion within him left little to be expressed, so he simply expressed how he deemed appropriate for the situation. Shock where it was required, anger when necessary, sorrow when due, but did he ever truly feel those? No. He hadn't felt anything in a long time.

As he watched Frisk race back into the mouth of the tunnel, he told himself he was supposed to care that she reached the others. That he was supposed to care about what happened to them all. That wasn't true at all. He really didn't care who lived or who died. Acting like he did care, however, seemed to make her happy. So in a sense, maybe there was some feeling inside him if he made this much of an effort to appease the girl.

He glanced upward at the smiling trashbag, otherwise known as 'Sans'. His dark, voided eye sockets watched her retreat for a few more moments. Flowey had told himself he hated the skeleton for past timelines, and yet they were allies against the new timeline holder, as well as the Messiah. Speaking of, they were coming. Flowey had been the one to track their movements, large masses of them positioning themselves in locations with the clear intent of strategically herding monsterkind, and their allies. It would probably have flawlessly been executed, if not for the flower. He knew what they were planning, and he'd be taking down their operation. It was going to be a lot easier with Sans at his side to maybe pick up a little slack, though Flowey wasn't sure how the skeleton operated against multiple enemies, considering he usually excelled against one.

The ground trembled. Becoming a plant had given Flowey certain abilities or aspects, like being more aware of his surroundings. The vibrations of the ground were so sensitive to his stem, and his roots. They were awkward at first, but over time he'd learned how to utilize them, like now. He could feel the footsteps of at least thirty people marching their way here through the forest on the other side of the ditch, opposite the city, which slept soundly.

"They're almost here." Flowey stated. "let's get to it. try not to kill anyone." Sans replied, and when Flowey turned to face him… the skeleton was gone.

He hated when he did that. "I'll try to spare one." The flower spat.

Flowey sunk into the earth, burying himself under the dirt before sliding through the ground, more acutely aware of the tremors provided by the men now. Enough so that he stopped once directly below them, allowing them to pass overhead, before popping out of the ground.

It was dark, but that was hardly an issue. Flowey didn't require eyes to see them, when he could feel them.

"HEY!" His shrill voice barked out. The group stopped and began to look around. Men and women wearing ski masks, armed with heavy weapons. They clearly weren't looking for a talking flower, as their gazes flitted about through the trees in search of something taller. Good enough for Flowey, who grinned, his face splitting into a look of malice and eagerness.

A sage-colored vine ripped out of the earth, adorning furious red thorns that barbed its surface. It was thick, nearly a foot in diameter, and stretching on from ten feet to twenty to thirty. While the goons failed to notice Flowey, they definitely didn't fail to see the vine stretching out of the earth.

They opened fire, spraying bullets upon the vine, which retaliated by slamming against the ground, and sliding roughly toward them at bone-breaking speed. Like a leg sweep, it knocked over the entire group, toppling them over one another as more, smaller vines began to erupt out of the ground, a series of which wrapped cruelly around one woman, and dragged her screaming under the dirt.

Flowey let out a cackle, becoming engrossed in his play. This was FAR better than terrorizing farm boys and school bullies. Actual threats he could toy with… it had been too long. Weapons continued to fire, but proved mostly pointless in dispatching the amount of vines that continued to replace the ones that were shot to uselessness. With more gunfire came more empty weapons. These idiots were relying so much on their tech, they probably forgot they had SOULs to use.

The flower's mouth contorted, baring fangs as his laughter heightened into a craze as goon after goon was dispatched. Four vines began to tug at the limbs of one man, threatening to tear him apart as another vine dragged a man through the forest, slamming him into trees as he went.

The fun ended before Flowey could finish off… how many were there left? Only three? He was really out of practice, it seemed. A burgundy light filled the forest, emanating from a pair of sizzling blades wielded by a woman sporting long, violet hair and eyes that flared with raw emotion.

Sans had filled the flower in on the kind of people he could expect, so he was aware of who this was. 'Trickster'. Allegedly one of the most powerful the Messiah had to offer.

What a joke.

Immediately, the greatest of his vines swept its way through the forest floor again, but Trickster leaped over it, plunging her blades into the extension. "Ow." Flowey hissed, slightly reeling back. He hadn't been expecting that to actually hurt…

Scowling, his vines left the dead or broken bodies of the goons he'd been toying with, but she was proving her reputation, practically dancing through the air as she hacked and slashed apart vine after vine, the blades slicing through them almost effortlessly.

With waning patience, a series of pellets appeared around Flowey, before flinging through the air like bullets of their own. Most missed her, but she raised her blade to block the ones that came close. This tactic succeeded, for the most part, only one or two pellets actually making contact against her forearm. The pellets weren't exactly designed for physical abuse, as they targeted the SOUL directly, draining the life force of their target. Getting hit with enough at once could even deliver a paralyzing shock to an opponent.

The great vine rose with her still standing on it, but she leaped from it directly toward Flowey, who growled under his breath and popped into the ground, barely avoiding her blades as they plunged into the cold earth.

Flowey reappeared a dozen meters away, the large vine wrapping around the base of a rather large pine tree. Creaking and cracking split through the air as the vine tightened its grip, before tearing the tree from its trunk and proceeding to swing it at Trickster like a bat or a club.

Her blades pulsed brighter as she slashed them through the air, which seemed stupid at first until energy fired through the open space before her in the pattern she'd made with her weapons. They ripped through the tree, and once the rest of it was close enough, she cut through the remainder, her eyes turning to land on Flowey, who was beginning to doubt he could come out on top of this battle.

Where was Sans?

Attempting to use the vine like a whip, Flowey sent it toward Trickster again, who simply tore it apart with a flurry of her blades firing more of her SOUL energy to mince the vine into pieces.

Then she returned her sights to him. He dove back into the ground as she lunged, but narrowly avoided her blades as they sliced through the ground around him, severing a few of his roots in the process.

It wasn't often that Flowey could feel a semblance of emotion within. Nothing positive in his experience, but negative emotions he could feel more of. Like his pleasure at killing his first victim. Or now, the fear that began to grip him as he tore through the ground, popping up out of her way only to find she was already lunging at him.

Just before she could turn him into shredded ribbons- she stopped. Flowey opened his eyes slowly, not having even realized he'd closed them in the first place. Trickster was scowling at him, though her eyes were registering shock. Her blade was inches from the flower's face. A faint blue aura had enveloped her body, freezing her in place.

Ah. There he was. Fashionably late as usual.

Trickster was flung violently through the air, her back slamming into a tree with a gross crack before she collapsed onto the ground. Sans stood in the clearing, lowering a hand as he grinned toward Flowey, though the smile was far from genuine. "i can handle her. there's another group approaching south of here, handle them."

Flowey wasn't left with many options, and he realized goons sounded better than Trickster as he watched her climb to her feet, placing her arms behind her back and shoving. Another crack sounded as she popped her shoulder back into its socket.

If Sans wanted to toss himself at this chick, the flower had no qualms.

Trickster's eyes rose to glare at the skeleton standing before her, that shit-eating grin plastered over his face. "You." She said. Her voice sounded rougher than it felt. This was the one responsible, she was sure of it. Alphys could be blamed, but this creep was behind it all. "You're the one who captured Magnum." Her mixture of emotions boiled within her like a pot of stew, making her blades pulse even more violently with stronger magic. "You should have just let her kill you. At least then you wouldn't have to experience this."

With the slash of her blade, magic propelled outward, and struck the ground where the skeleton had been standing, but there was no scream of agony. Only dirt exploding outward in a shower. Her eyes darted this way and that, searching for where he'd dodged off to, but…

"not a bad experience, all things considered." The voice behind her chuckled, and when she whirled on her heel with another slash, she only cut down a tree. How the hell was he doing that? She whirled again, testing a theory that turned out to be correct, catching sight of the skeleton standing in the crater she'd formed just earlier.

"you look lost." Sans winked at her, and somehow she found that threatening. "need help finding the way? you should try over there." He stuck his arm out to his side, the whites of his eyes diminishing in a flash, a blue glow shining through only one of the sockets. Simultaneously, the blue aura surrounded her again, and she felt her body being flung through the air only to smash into a tree. The bark tore away at her flesh, and another crack sounded.

She tried to struggle out of his grip, but couldn't figure out how. The blue aura lingered. "sorry about that." Sans chuckled. "i meant this way." With the movement of his arm, she was once again flung into another tree. She could feel her own arm bend completely backwards on impact.

Tears stinging her eyes, Trickster grit her teeth as the aura disappeared, and she collapsed to the ground for a second time. This skeleton was turning her into a complete joke, why hadn't she been warned of this before? How had the Messiah missed labelling him as a threat? He'd only been put on the list for Magnum to take out because he was well-liked in the community. His death would have been a blow to their morality. Now he was suddenly deadly?

Her blades still pulsed, glowing so brightly one might even be able to see them from orbit. Like hell was about to get pushed around by this clown.

With a yell, she slammed her arm into the tree, cracking it back into place. "Stop talking." She growled at him, before leaping for him, slashing with an intense ferocity. He stepped calmly to the side, winking as he tossed up a shrug. Trickster continued to throw attacks at him, but it was as though he was anticipating every single one of her moves, casually ducking, dodging, and weaving his way through her attacks as though she wasn't even a challenge. "STOP DODGING!" She screamed, and slammed her blades into the earth. A shockwave of burgundy energy burst outward, ripping apart the ground for meters around her, tossing debris through the air, uprooting trees.

Her chest heaving, Trickster pulled the blades out of the ground, their glow beginning to dim- but she froze when his voice hit her ears.

"stop dodging or stop talking? you can only have one, pal." She spun on her heel to find he was completely unharmed, hands sitting in the pockets of his crimson hoodie, staring lazily at her, his expression… bored!? With a scream of rage, her own body began to shake with the emotional power she was surging into her SOUL, her blades igniting again. Sans simply gave her a quizzical look at this. "well, i can see you're getting tired. hope you don't mind if i put you to sleep."

Bones sprung from the ground at her, but she put a stop to that with a single slash that carved them apart. He had plenty more bones to spare, apparently, as she was forced to slash several more waves of these bones, before one actually managed to stop her slashes. A blue bone had blocked her attack, her blade unable to carve through it.

Barely able to register this, a second blue bone spun through the air, slapping across her face. Trickster stumbled back, feeling her rage build as she made to rush the skeleton again, only for one of the blue bones to swipe her feet out from under her, causing her to fall right into another bone that slugged under her chin with enough force to launch her back. Blood filled her mouth, but that was hardly the end of it. Still, she wasn't given the opportunity to gain her bearings, a third bone slugging into her gut and slamming her into the ground.

All five of the summoned blue bones then lined up and launched at her in quick succession, the lieutenant barely managing to dodge out of the way with a roll, the fabric of her jacket getting caught by one. It was ripped away.

Just as Trickster was about to spin to her feet, the blue aura grabbed hold of her again, and she felt the ground leave her, wind rushing in her ears. He'd launched her skyward. Trickster turned her gaze to where she was headed, ready to block any bones, but instead, she was met with the grinning face of an animalistic skull, which glared down at her with a strange sense of victory, its jaw widening at her approach, a light appearing within.

She tried to block the attack, but it met her too quickly, a beam of magical energy surging against her, then through her, and past her. Her body felt like it was in a furnace as Sans' gravity magic held her in place, taking the full brunt of the laser.

Once it finally ended, the aura faded, and her smoldering body began to drop. Trickster could barely keep her eyes open, unsure of how this fat, lazy skeleton had ever managed to gain the upper hand against her. The ground neared, and everything darkened as she hit it with a wet thud.

Sans stared at the limp body of Trickster for several moments, narrowing his sockets. With the snap of his fingers, several bones shot out of the earth with enough force to impale her body through. Satisfied, the bones faded, and he waited for her SOUL to appear- until Flowey popped out of the ground beside him. "Hey idiot, I could use a little help!" He screeched, making Sans slightly wince at the sound right next to him. Annoyed, the skeleton shrugged. "sure. was just finishing up here."

No SOUL appeared. She was probably still alive. Another bone pierced through her body for good measure before the skeleton disappeared into the woods, Flowey popping back into the ground.

They were alone as the trees swallowed them, and they were concealed beneath the double blanket of the cloudy night sky, as well as the canopy of thick leaves and branches overhead. The ground was ripe with fallen leaves, dull oranges and yellows in the darkness, barely noticeable. The air was chilly. Freezing, almost, but Magnum's blood was pumping. She could barely notice it at the moment.

Eventually, they managed to catch up with the rest of the group, who'd all slown to a walk, allowing Magnum to catch her breath while also trying to strain her ears to hear anything. That was basically an impossible task, however, as hundreds of feet rustling through dead leaves was basically like a siren. She had no idea if Sans and Flowey had been successful, or if they'd failed, or if Asgore and Undyne had succeeded. The group was still moving further away, so clearly somebody had done something right along the way.

There were plenty of 'ows' that rang out through the long night as people ran into trees or tripped over roots, but their progress never dwindled. It was a little while before the group slowed to a stop, and people began to sit around, speaking in hushed whispers. Magnum moved among them, trying to find somebody she needed to speak with, or at least be assured was still alive. Fortunately, she nearly ran into Frisk. After they both apologized simultaneously, Magnum engaged the conversation.

"Asgore and Undyne?"

"With us. Sans and Flowey, whatever they did, kept the Messiah off our backs." Frisk answered. "And are they with us?" Magnum asked. "Not yet." Was Frisk's answer. They were silent for a moment, barely able to see each other in the darkness. "Will they be able to find us here?"

Magnum hesitated, unsure of how to answer that. She knew that the Messiah had a lot at their disposal. It wasn't hard to believe that this group could be pinpointed even now, even though she wanted to convince Frisk, and those around listening, otherwise.

She went for the honest route. "Definitely. We're sitting ducks. My dad's got drones and all sorts of military-grade tech. We'll need to keep moving just to ensure distance, because the only reason they're not on us now is because this forest is too thick to drive through."

Frisk was silent at this, and Magnum hugged her body, the biting cold now being felt in full. "Then… we'll keep moving."

And so they did. The group pushed on, tramping through the forest well into daybreak before stopping again. People were growing exhausted, most notably their older members who were beginning to fall behind. They still had a ways to go, and people were beginning to get hungry. This wasn't going to work, surely.

Magnum noticed Mosu had joined them at some point, keeping pace with Gerson as he went. She wished she'd taken the time to get to know him before. He seemed cool. Well, both of them, but Mosu had been at the base for a few years. She'd seen him around before. Truck's massive form could be found trampling through the underbrush, trying to search for berries with Papyrus on Undyne's orders.

People were freezing, mostly. Some seemed less affected, and some had fur. Magnum leaned against a tree, pursing her lips and trying to calm that gnawing in her gut that refused to go away.

After a breather, they moved on again, but couldn't keep the pace they previously had. People were tired, hungry, and getting cranky. The berries that Truck and Papyrus did manage to find weren't even a fraction of enough to feed everyone. There were simply too many mouths to feed, though Asgore assured that the Kingdom of Hopes would have something. This, Magnum doubted very much. What did some old ruins have to offer? It was when she voiced this to Frisk that the girl told her that monster food didn't spoil, and could lie safe to eat for thousands of years. That sounded both gross and awesome, in Magnum's opinion.

It had been so sudden. Leaving their hideout. Now here they were, a mile or two into the wilderness. Magnum couldn't deny that she was starting to have doubts. Second thoughts. Maybe this had been a terrible decision. Maybe staying with the Messiah would have been for the best. She could be warm in the base right now, enjoying a hot meal, and spending time with the woman she loved…

Magnum shook her head. Violently enough that a dog monster looked at her in concern before moving a little further away. Magnum ignored that, inwardly cursing at herself for thinking about it all. If these people had to suffer, then she would too. She'd made a commitment, and she wasn't going to go back on it now. This was too important.

Eventually, the forest cleared, making way for a small lake that led into a river, fed by a waterfall. The cliff was high above them, and the water was roaring. Magnum couldn't help but feel awed by the waterfall, staring at it in wonder. "Wow." She muttered to herself. "It's so pretty."

She was definitely gonna come by here again some summer. She had never really spent much time out of the city most of her life, and this was her first true experience out… here. In the wilderness. Outside of the concrete jungle.

"It is, isn't it?" The voice that spoke beside her turned out to be Fuku, who was hugging herself tightly. "I can't help but wonder if I'm wasting my life."

Magnum frowned, looking at the lime-colored fire girl. "What do you mean?"

Fuku looked back for a moment, before her cheeks noticeably darkened in embarrassment. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't be bothering you with it."

"That's okay." Magnum replied. "I could use a distraction."

Fuku stared back for a moment, before she nodded and turned her attention again to the waterfall. "My dad wants me to take over the family business. Run a bar & grill. I bus there, wait tables, the only help my dad has. His only successor, I guess. It's not glamorous, and it's something I don't want to do, but I'm good at it."

Her father was Grillby, if Magnum recalled correctly. There were a few other fire monsters, but they were all tiny. She could remember Frisk talking about Grillby being captured by the Messiah, like Terrence. There was no chance either were still alive. She didn't know if Fuku had come to this conclusion, but she seemed to be holding herself together alright either way.

"I've been studying to become a marine biologist." Fuku stated. "I know, weird thing for somebody like me to be into, but I love the water, and everything under its surface. Now that all this is happening, I guess I just feel like… it's a waste. I should have just done what my dad wanted me to do."

"Look, I'll be real with you," Magnum replied. "Your dad, from what I've heard, is way cooler than mine. Nicer, too. Everyone's nicer than him though, but that's not the point. I've spent almost my entire life living the life he expected me to lead, and it got me nowhere. Well… nowhere good. My dad will never understand why I'm doing this. Why I'm helping monsters, but I do. Because it's what I want to do. Because I feel like it's the right thing to do. Kind of a poor correlation with your problem, but like… we'll get out of this."

Magnum felt like that was an awful pep talk, and she felt like she'd just lied. Coming out of this alive was beginning to seem nigh impossible. Nevertheless, she continued. "When we do, you should keep pursuing your dream. If your dad's as cool as I've heard, he'll understand. Maybe not right away, but I'm sure he loves you enough to accept it."

The fire girl didn't have a mouth outside of talking, but Magnum got the feeling she was smiling. "Thanks." She replied. "You should try motivational speaking."

Magnum laughed at that, unable to determine whether or not that was a joke. "Ha! No, not at all. Crowds make me nervous. If we… When we make it out of this, I'm thinking of… going to school, I guess. Or trying to. Not really for anything, just to go and see what it has to offer. Maybe not. We'll see."

Eventually, the group was moving again after drinking some water, finding more berries to eat, and while thirst was quenched, many people remained hungry and tired. Fuku returned to her boyfriend and her other friends while Frisk fell back to check up on Magnum, who didn't have much to say, though she did learn from Frisk that monsters didn't need real food to survive, but magical food. It was a strange concept to Magnum, but apparently humans and monsters could survive on each other's food, humans just needed to eat more than usual to satiate them, and the same could be said for monsters. The magical energy coursing through their bodies would dim and slow without food, and monster food gave the right amount of magic to completely rejuvenate an individual, or at least somewhat.

The sun trailed through the sky as they walked, taking their frequent breaks, before finally coming to what Asgore claimed to be as 'the last leg of their journey'.

What came next wasn't unexpected, but it was most certainly unwelcome.

A ravine sat between them and a distant chute made of stone, barely noticeable, sticking out of the trees on the other side. The Kingdom of Hopes. It was so close now, but this rip in the earth seemed to stretch on for as far as the eye could see in either direction. The simplest path would be climbing down the ravine, then back up it to the other side. There was only one issue. There were people staring up at them from the ravine, wearing ski masks, holding automatic weapons.

Undyne narrowed her eye at the sight before exchanging a glance with Asgore. His old, sad eyes looked even more sad than usual in that moment. "Do they know where we're headed?" Undyne asked. "I'm not sure…" Asgore began, but Gerson stepped between them, glaring down at the sight before letting out a chuckle. "Nah, they're clueless. If they knew, they'd have been waiting there."

"I concur." Mosu nodded from behind them. "I can't recall any records of the kingdom in our databases."

"Then the Kingdom of Hopes remains our destination." Asgore nodded. "We'll just need to find a way around the ravine."

"Sorry, but your journey ends here." All heads whipped about to see a girl with dark skin standing several meters on their side of the cliff ledge, with black hair styled into thick dreadlocks, and deep black-set eyes. Her torso was adorned with a maroon bomber jacket, her accent thick with something Undyne couldn't recognize, though she assumed it to be of an American sort. She seemed to be alone, but that was doubtful. Undyne's eye flitted about the surrounding trees, but she couldn't see anybody. Not right away, at least.

"Could say the same to you." Undyne fired back, moving from her place beside Gerson toward the girl, cocking her head slightly to the side. She glanced back at Asgore. "Keep everyone moving. I'll deal with this one."

The human seemed humored by this as she raised a brow, watching coolly as most of the monsters disregarded her, following Asgore's lead away. She looked down into the ravine, and gave a nod. How those down there saw that nudge of her head was anyone's guess, but they began to walk along the ravine, keeping up with the group.

Or they would have had a wall of spears stretching nearly twenty feet into the air not shot out of the ground in front of them, not going unnoticed by the girl, whose amusement of the situation seemed to lessen. "Cute. You're the one that gave Raptor and Warmth a run for their money, ain't ya?"

"And you're nobody special." Undyne replied, narrowing her eyes as the group began to distance themselves from the scene. "Danica's the name." The human stated. "After we're finished here, everyone'll know me."

Almost immediately, a spear slammed into her cheek, knocking her a pace back. Danica stumbled to a stop, a light cut on her cheek. She'd nearly tumbled off into the ravine. "Keep dreaming, kid. I'm way out of your league."

Danica scowled at this, wiping the small amount of blood drooling from her wound. "Maybe." She replied. "Maybe not."

She whipped a sidearm from behind her back, firing three shots at Undyne, who slid out of the way of the bullets just in time to avoid getting a serious injury as Danica took off into the trees. Undyne tossed her spear after the girl, lodging it into the side of a trunk before it faded.

Realizing she was a sitting duck, Undyne summoned another spear and readied herself to dodge again, risking a glance into the ravine to find the group below trying to climb along the sides to get around her spears. She summoned a few more along the wall to completely cut off their path, climbing or no climbing.

There it was. The crack of a twig underfoot. Noise enough for Undyne to dive forward as three more gunshots rang out. None hit their mark. Her eye swiveled to find Danica retreating back into the cover of the thick brush.

"Not this time." She grinned, sprinting into the treeline, and-

BOOM

The spraying of earth and the debris of the forest disoriented Undyne. The whole world was upside down and spinning all the same. She was in the air for some reason… Then it all came crashing down. Undyne landed hard on her back, knocking the wind out of her. Her ears were ringing something fierce. What in the world had just happened? Everything appeared hazy and doubled, but through the disorientation, she could see she was in the epicenter of a crate, surrounded by wet, damp dirt.

She shook her head, forcing the disorientation to pass more quickly as she realized what had happened. Danica had been counting on her to charge blindly into the trees. She'd set traps within, and that… that had probably been a mine.

With that thought, Undyne quickly looked herself over. She was still intact and alive… that was good. She'd seen the damage a mine could do, so either she was tougher than she'd expected, or that had been one punk mine.

Shaking her head again, Undyne rose to her feet, spitting some dirt out of her mouth. "Neat trick, brat, but now it's my turn." With the conclusion of her sentence, the ground around Undyne began to shift blue, stretching on for twelve feet in all direction, before a sea of azure arrows fired up into the air, then began to shoot off in random directions all throughout the surrounding forestry, ripping apart even more of the forest and anything within.

Through the sound of striping bark and ripping leaves, she tuned her still-ringing ears as best she could- and heard the cry of pain. Immediately, Undyne tossed a spear in the direction of the noise.

Another cry, then the 'thunk' of her spear impaling a tree. Shaking her head a third time, Undyne marched in that direction once her sea of arrows had dispersed. Danica had been pinned to a tree, the end of the spear sticking out of her shoulder, a hole in her leg leaking blood and staining her ripped blue jeans. Her gaze upon Undyne, however, was defiant and full of rage.

"Like I said, kid." Undyne smirked. "Out of your league." She reared her fist back, and slammed it into the girl's face. After the dull smack of skin against scale, Danica went limp, knocked out. Undyne yanked the spear from her shoulder, and the girl slumped to the ground. The monster was given little time to savor her victory, as a rustle in the brush caught her attention, and quite suddenly, a fist slugged into her own face. Rather than the noise from before, this time it was a 'crack' that split the air, and she felt the ground leave her feet again.

Undyne sailed through the air, dispensing from the line of trees as she slammed her spear into the earth, catching her from descending down the ravine.

Planting her feet against the ground, Undyne stumbled to a halt, rubbing at her sore jaw. It was like she'd just been slugged by a jet condensed into the size of a fist. The owner of said fist emerged from the trees a moment later. He had shoulder-length black hair swept back, strands hanging in his face. His face was mishaven and sloppy with facial hair, a white scar running from his jaw and up his left cheek to his eye, both of which were a dull blue in color. He was wearing a red button-up shirt beneath a black vest, that too covered by an even blacker trench coat. A cigar hung loosely from his lips, smoke drifting from both it, and his slightly parted mouth. The look he gave her seemed indifferent. His movements were calm, deliberate, comfortable. He either felt no fear, or was incapable of it.

"Who are you supposed to be?" Undyne spat, still rubbing her jaw where he'd hit it. He simply gazed back.

She was about to attack, when a giggle escaped the trees behind the man, and a familiar face, though unwelcome, emerged from the forest as well. Mióm. Or "Witch", as she had proudly declared her title on occasion. What she'd done to earn that title was anyone's guess.

"I'd be a little scared if I were you, fish lips." Witch winked, placing a hand on the man's shoulder with a certain fondness a lover might do to her boyfriend when showing him off to her friends.

He addressed this touch with a turn of his head to look at Mióm, who caught his gaze and awkwardly removed her hand before continuing. "Nikolai Vaspetin. The Spirit. The Wendigo. One of the Messiah's triad."

Witch appeared to believe this would either impress Undyne, or scare her. It did neither. So this man was one of the big three. Krashna, who had been handled by untrained kids, Jonathan, who seemed to be hiding his rear, and Nikolai. She'd heard about him from Magnum and Mosu. About his past accomplishments within the Messiah. He was greatly feared and respected, not to mention ruthless.

"You all look the same to me." Undyne replied harshly, spreading her legs, pointing her spear forward, ready for battle. "Funny." Witch smiled. "I was going to say the same thing. Don't think you're good enough to fight me-let alone Nikolai. You already beat a few of our newest lieutenants, but this is far from over."

It was at this moment that a third figure marched from the forest, earning an eye roll from Undyne. Were they all just hiding in there to make an entrance? What if they accidentally set off more of Danica's traps? Or had that mine been the only one and Undyne had been dumb enough to step on it?

This third individual had a mane of shaggy, flowing, vibrant, fiery red hair. Her eyes were sage, and her clothing skimpy, for lack of better terms. She wore a black ribbon around her neck, and a black shirt, the front having been tied to her collar, covering only her chest and her shoulders now. The jean shorts she wore rose up to just below her belly button, and brown boots are what covered her feet. Her gaze upon Undyne was almost as impassive as Nikolai's, and her face and body were full-up with countless freckles.

"Ember doesn't talk much." Witch stated. "But damn if she isn't a born killer. Go ahead, earn your title." She urged Ember, who tilted her head slowly to the side, locks of red hair sifting over her face as Undyne braced herself, not really sure why she was just standing idly here while all this happened.

Ember took a step forward. Undyne's grip on her spear tightened. Quite suddenly, she felt something slug her gut. Nearly doubling over from the force, Undyne decided that whatever the hell this was, she was putting an end to it. With the toss of her spear, Undyne let it sail toward Ember, just a blue blur in the air- and suddenly, it was zipping back at Undyne. She barely managed to side-step and catch it by its handle in time. A second too late and it would have impaled her face.

This was the strangest stand-off Undyne had ever experienced. The girl was barely moving, but her sage eyes were glowing as they flitted about, as though she were seeing many different things the monster could not. That's when something slugged her stomach again.

With a growl, spears began firing toward the red-head, whose head twitched, and the spears all began to hurtle back at Undyne, who was quickly catching on to this girl's tricks. Her entire thing was mentality. She probably failed miserably in physical combat, then.

Before she could suffer more attacks after making her spears vanish, Undyne dashed forward, throwing a fist at Ember, who calmly tilted her head to the side and avoided the attack. Undyne threw kicks, hits, and punches in all the styles she knew how, but this Ember chick was making her look like a fool. It was almost as though she was predicting Undyne's attacks before they even happened.

Ember flicked her wrist, and Undyne felt her body practically crumple against the ground as she was tossed aside, much to the delight of Witch, who jumped and clapped at the scene. "It's basically impossible to beat someone with a Pneuma SOUL!" She informed Undyne cheerily. "She can predict your attacks, project her spirit to battle, and can see into the future. She's basically unbeatable!"

"Predict this!" Undyne yelled, spears firing out of the ground under Ember's feet, who'd already stepped out of their way, then stepped aside again as the spears plunged into the earth where she'd just been standing. She hadn't even looked at them.

This was incredibly frustrating. She couldn't take down this lady by brute force alone. She needed to think smart here. She needed a strategy.

"You ever seen that anime?" Witch asked, catching Undyne's attention at the last word. "The one with ORA!? That's basically Ember." The Lieutenant giggled as she punched her fists in the air, mimicking 'ORAORAORAORA'.

She had indeed seen that anime. Now she knew what to do. Not because she'd seen the anime in question, but because Witch's ramblings were enough to give Undyne some time to formulate her next course of action.

First, to get Ember into place… A wall of spears erupted from the ground, separating Ember from Witch and Nikolai, the latter of which held no reaction, though his companion ceased her rambling for now as the spears slowly began to move along the ground, forcing Ember onto a shorter and shorter path while simultaneously having to deal with Undyne releasing a barrage of kicks and punches, meant only to distract her.

Ember looked bored as she ducked, dodged, and weaved through Undyne's flurry of strikes- that is, until Undyne leapt over her wall of spears, summoning several more in the air. They thrust down, plunging into the ground, and too late did Ember realize how close to the edge of the cliff she was. The spears sent the rock she clung to hurtling down into the ravine. Just like that, she was gone from view.

"Who's ne-" Undyne began, turning boldly to face the other two, only to receive another blow to her face, sending her spiraling off the cliff as well. She was getting real sick of this Nikolai guy, and he still hadn't said anything.

Undyne blinked through the tears welling in her eyes from such a powerful hit to her face, and looked at the fast-approaching wall of the canyon on the opposite side she was careening toward. Without really anything to slow her approach, Undyne positioned herself to ram shoulder-first into the ravine's side.

An 'umph' escaped her lips as stone cracked, and earth shuddered, failing to send an entire rockslide falling upon her as the canyon held, then she began to fall. Her shoulder felt numb, but she was alive. Her eye glared up at Nikolai on the other side of the ravine, up at the top, and took note that Mióm was sliding down the ravine to probably meet her. Her eye then darted down into the ravine to find Ember lying in a pile of rubble, unmoving. Dead or otherwise, Undyne didn't much care. She was quickly starting to realize somebody was gonna need to die if this madness were to ever end. If not Danica, or even Ember somehow, then it would be Witch. Then their precious one-third of their triumvirate.

Using a spear to wedge into the earth, Undyne slowed her descent before dropping and landing somewhat awkwardly on her feet at the bottom of the ravine, knees buckling under her weight. Witch still had yet to join her, and she glanced once more to Ember, who was still not moving, then down the other side of the ravine, where the group of goons remained, trapped by the wall of spears, still unable to pursue the others. Those spears, and the time they were remaining up was beginning to drag on Undyne's magic. She was tough, but not invincible. It was up to her to deal with those guys as well.

Just as she was about to sprint toward them, an explosion burst at her feet, sending Undyne spinning into the air. It was a lot less disorienting than the earlier mine, enough so that Undyne managed to twist herself like a cat, landing back on her feet, eye darting back to Mióm, who was hurling another of her explosive sticks.

Undyne leaped toward the canyon wall nearest her, avoiding the ensuing explosion, before pushing off with her legs, bursting off like a bullet. Witch hadn't even seen it coming, and reacted all too late as Undyne's knee slugged into the deranged woman's stomach before she'd even fully reached the ground. Undyne proceeded to grab Mióm by her middle, rising her rear into the air, before piledriving the lieutenant into the ground beneath them with enough force to kill most people.

Yet even as Undyne let go and took a few steps away, Witch still moved, though not as lively as usual. Her face was full of red earth, and she was clawing at the ground as though to crawl away. Undyne summoned a spear, raising it to finish the job- before bullets began whizzing through the air, one piercing through her hand, another grazing her side, tearing through her black tank top.

With a hiss, Undyne whirled about, spinning her spear so violently it could have been a helicopter blade. It was enough to ping away a few more shots that would have otherwise hit her, and she pushed off the ground with her legs, ready to spring toward these goons and finish the job- until yet something else interrupted her. For a split second she was airborne, failing to notice the form from the top of the ravine hurling down, and by the time she had taken off the ground, a pair of boots slammed into her back, before they kicked off.

She didn't have the time to prepare as she was slugged into the earth so violently, she thought she might have burst into dust on impact. She prevailed, miraculously, but the goons were closing in on one side, Nikolai marching slowly toward her on the other.

Undyne tried to stand, ready to fight, before a horrible realization struck her. She couldn't feel her legs. Undyne moved and wiggled out of the earth she'd been planted like a seed into, breaking free, but her legs remained entirely unresponsive. Her eye widened in horror, her enemies closing in around her from all sides, as she realized she was paralyzed from the waist down.

Still, she couldn't give up. Summoning spears in the air, Undyne sent them hurtling toward the goons, but Nikolai ended her stand against them, grabbing her by one of her legs, and proceeding to sling her into the ground opposite him like she was some kind of ragdoll.

Spitting out the red dirt she'd just practically inhaled, Undyne got ready for a counter attack- until she was spun through the air and slammed into the earth again, the wind blowing out of her body, her chest burning as her body felt on the brink of breaking.

A third time, he swung her through the air and into the ground, like a dog playing with a chew toy. His strength outclassed her in every regard, she was sure of it. If she couldn't stand a chance against this guy, then who could? Frisk, maybe, considering she'd taken on Demon where Undyne had failed.

The monster was still struggling even as Nikolai stopped flinging her around, only to find he was flipping her around, placing a knee against her throat. She couldn't see through the dirt packed against her eye, but knew what was coming. A fist plunged her head into the ground by several inches. She could feel her bones breaking as another hit came, then another, and another, all pounding endlessly against her, rearranging her features into a grotesque mess, and finally, his fist plunged through her skull.

...and she was home. Undyne hadn't even noticed a transition, but here she was, in her house in the underground. Everything was intact, nothing was burnt, or completely gone. She was standing at the front entrance, feeling confused. What had just happened? Was that all a dream? Or was this a dream?

She nearly jumped out of her skin when a piano began to play. A gentle melody coming from the piano on the other side of the room that Undyne wasn't accustomed to, as she would normally jam her fingers against the keys when she played. No, this melody, the playing of the keys…

Her gaze landed on her mother, whose hands were drifting over the keys, playing a haunting, yet soothing melody, the same melody Undyne had gone to sleep to so often when she was little. She felt like a kid again, hearing it.

Slowly, Undyne approached the piano, unable to take her eyes off her mother. She was just as beautiful as Undyne remembered. Her green hair tied back into a ponytail, exactly as Undyne had always styled her own, her mother's scaly skin so black, it appeared purple, and her golden eyes, with that touch of magenta inside. Undyne appeared far more like her father. The deep blue skin, the red hair… Vivra was her mother's name, part of another family of fish monsters. Most of those had been wiped out during the Fallen Down disease, but her mother had died years before that painful event.

Undyne continued to watch her mother play the piano, engrossed in the tune, and the sight of the person she'd loved so dearly growing up. It was strange, seeing her again, yet at the same time… it felt right.

Finally, the song ended, and Vivra's hands fell into her lap, her golden eyes drifting up to look toward her daughter, who stiffened, unsure of what to expect. Vivra smiled, that same gentle smile Undyne could barely remember. "What are you doing here?" She asked. Her voice was smooth and sweet, like honey. Undyne blinked, and here she realized she had both of her eyes. No patch to cover the bad one. She was walking. No dirt covered her body. "I… don't know." Undyne replied, frowning. "Am I… dead…?"

"You don't have to be." Vivra replied gently. "Not yet. There's so much more to your story. You deserve to tell it."

Undyne absorbed this, unable to tear her gaze from her mother's. "Is… dad here? And Ravin?" She asked. Vivra nodded. "We're all here. Everyone you've ever lost. We come here when the dust is let free." Finally, Undyne looked away from her mother, gazing about at the house. "...sorry I burned down the house." She offered, earning a giggle from her mother. She sounded so young. She'd been younger than Undyne was now when she'd died. "It's alright, dear." Vivra responded. "It's just a house."

Undyne then turned her gaze out of the window to find her brother was outside. Ravin. His scales were a shade darker than hers, his hair as well, which he always kept short. He was building a puzzle, something that had been his passion before his life had ended too short. With him were many other monsters she could recognize. Friends and neighbors from her youth, all that had been claimed just like Ravin and her father. They were laughing, talking, and enjoying each other's company.

Undyne turned her gaze back to her mother, still uncertain of what to do. "I don't know what to do." She admitted. "What do you want to do?" Vivra asked. Undyne stared back for several moments, eyes searching. "They still need me…"

"Then go back to them." Vivra urged. "Fight for them. We won't go anywhere. You'll always have us to return to in the end."

Undyne glanced back outside to find Ravin and the other monsters had disappeared, gone off somewhere. She wasn't sure. Ravin would have loved Papyrus. That was one of the reasons she loved that silly skeleton so much. He was so much like her brother. Obsessed with puzzles, fun-loving and innocent. Ravin was nothing like a Dhelaron should have been, and she'd always admired that, even if her father had despised it.

After a few moments of silence, Undyne gave a slow nod, and smiled at her mother. "It's good to see you." She stated, her voice sounding smaller than usual. Vivra responded by wrapping her arms around her daughter. "We'll see each other again." She assured. "We will."

Undyne's internal decision took effect. Just like when she arrived, the transition was seamless. Even as she felt her atomized body reconstructing itself, she could feel her mother's arms around her.

The dirt was gone, but the pain returned. It felt like she was being torn apart by thousands of tiny knives, cutting so deep within. But beneath that all was a burning sensation. A fire erupting deep inside of her. Inside of her very SOUL. So fierce and powerful… she latched onto it, feeding it with her will. The stronger the burning became, the less pain she felt.

The Messiah wouldn't get rid of her so easily.

Finally, she opened her eye, staring down at her body for a moment to find it was like a hazy fog, dust trying to disperse, yet slowly being forced back together. She was defying death itself. "You're not going to stop." Her eye lifted to face the primary threat. Nikolai. Emotion finally showed on his weathered face. Shock, expressed so clearly through his widened mouth, the way his jaw hung slightly open. Enough for a lit cigar to drop to the ground from his lips as he watched, Witch at his side looking even more dumbfounded than him as Undyne's body struggled to rematerialize.

A crack boomed through the air, though not a cloud hung in the sky, even as it darkened around them, a great power emanating from the fish monster. Like thunder, more cracks rumbled through the sky, a gust of wind breezing through the small valley.

"You're going to kill everyone, aren't you?" Undyne continued. "It doesn't matter if they're humans, monsters, whatever. You'll keep trying to rule your reign of terror."

Feeling her body come back together, the power inside grew stronger and stronger with each second. So much power physically manifesting as her expelling energy generated the gusts of wind.

For better or worse, she felt pretty certain she'd just become anime.

For some reason, it was… difficult to focus. Not on her building determination, but on Nikolai. It was as though she believed she ought to be looking at someone else.

"Everyone's hopes. Everyone's dreams… vanquished in an instant!"

Undyne glowered upon the young Frisk, whose gaze back lacked any and all emotion. The dust-covered knife in the girl's hand gleaming in the light of Undyne's new-found power.

"But I WON'T let you do that!"

It was as though thousands of images were flashing across her mind, and through her eyes. Frisk, her adversary, in every single one. Every. Single. One. The scenario played through her mind. A battle with the girl. Winning so many times, and losing so many others…
These weren't illusions. These were memories…

Shaking her head, Undyne bared her fangs as she glared at Nikolai. Those memories would be dealt with later. Frisk would be dealt with later.

For now, she would focus on the enemy in front of her.

"You stand in the way of our hopes. Our dreams." It was like repeating a line she'd said a million times before. Like reading off a script. This was far from the first time she'd tapped into this power. Somehow… somehow things like this had happened before.

"So I stand in your way." Undyne asserted, her body forming fuller and fuller as Nikolai began to regain himself, a glower besetting his face as he took off his trench coat, tossing it aside, to roll up his sleeves. "And I. Won't. Move." With that last word, a final crack thundered out, and Undyne's body was complete. A flash of crimson seared through the sky above, signifying her transformation.

This power… it was impossible to grasp. And impossible not to use every ounce of it. Round two had just begun.

With a burst of raw power, Undyne shot forward, invisible to the naked eye as she slammed her fist into Nikolai's gut. It was almost like watching in slow motion as his body rippled from the blast, crumpling, before hurtling into the wall of the crevice, cracking the stone and shattering the earth.
Witch had no time to register this as Undyne's hand grabbed her by the face, before giving a simple shove that sent Witch spiraling away, crashing with equal force into the other side of the small canyon as Nikolai had.

Power like this… was intoxicating. Nothing could stand in her way.

Then how could I lose to Frisk in those timelines?

This thought made her sneer. Maybe she'd been holding back in those timelines. She knew that wasn't the case, she'd been giving her all, but it was nice to convince herself otherwise. Stamping her foot against the ground, a horde of cyan arrows appeared behind her, hovering in the air, crackling with the raw energy she was outputting into them. Witch wasn't standing back up, but Nikolai was, his face almost unreadable aside from the glint of excitement hidden in his dark blue eyes. With one hand, he proceeded to rip off his shirt. Undyne actually felt a chill run down her spine at this, her grin widening. Hell, if he had a power-up of his own, this would be a straight-up anime battle and she was living for it-literally.

His body was basically just scar tissue from what Undyne could see. His muscles rippled and flexed as he pulled a small flask from his back pocket, which seemed pretty bent out-of-shape.

"YA dolgo etogo zhdal." He spoke, voice echoing through the canyon, before he ripped off the top and took a swig. Undyne, of course, allowed this to happen. Her confidence in her newfound power was staggering, leaving her to assume she'd wipe the floor with him regardless.

Nikolai threw down the now-empty flask, wiping at his face as the veins bulged all over his body, and a dark aura surrounded his fists. "Pretty sure my transformation was cooler." Undyne taunted, before she snapped her fingers, and the torrent of arrows all simultaneously propelled themselves at the Russian like bullets, whistling through the air.

He slammed his own fist against his chest, a thunderous crack echoing through the air, before he puffed himself up- and the arrows struck, all bouncing harmlessly off of his body. Undyne summoned her own spear in her hand, glowering at her opponent.

They met head-to-head, faster than any of the Messiah goons could see. Her spear clashed against his left forearm as his right fist struck her in the gut. She staggered back as he ripped her spear out of her hand, and pummeled his fist into her face.

Reeling back, Undyne surged the power through her fingertips, a storm of spears lashing up from the earth to begin ceaselessly pummeling Nikolai. His skin was tough, tough enough to block most of the spears as he used her own spear to swipe away at others.

Summoning a golden arrow in her hand, Undyne tossed it up, before twitching her wrist. The arrow struck forward. Nikolai made to swipe at it, before it boosted behind him, slugging into his back, lurching him forward- right into Undyne's own fist. Her knuckles stung his jaw as he was launched skyward, but she was far from finished. "Get over here!" Undyne yelled, grabbing his ankle as he was launched upward, before she slung him around just as he'd slung her, pummeling him into the earth.

With equal speed, she leaped upward, spinning into a backflip through the air, before driving her heels into the back of Nikolai's skull, then leaped off, driving him deeper into the compact red earth. Landing on the other side of him, she scowled as he climbed to his feet, dusting himself off, his grin opposite to her. "YA vpechatlen."

"I don't speak Russian." Undyne replied, and for a second time, they rushed toward each other for a clash. A test of strength this time, each one trying to push the other back. Somehow, despite all of her power, he was still stronger… her heels were digging into the dirt as he was forcing her back. Step after step.

Undyne's eyes flared, and her body shuddered with another boost of power. Crystals cracked around her fingers as she then began to slowly push him back. Step after step.

"You WON'T win." She growled, the scarlet crystals growing over her fingers.

"I tebe ne vyzhit'." Nikolai growled back, before his knee rose up and rammed into her gut, making her double over as his fist slugged into the side of her face, grounding her, if only for a moment. Swiping her legs about, she knocked his feet out from under him as she spun up, body surging with power as a crimson spear materialized in her hands, and she brought it down with the intent to kill.

Nikolai rolled out of the way, his own hands surging with dark energy as he made to strike at her. She blocked his blow with the spear, but he was quick on the offensive, releasing a flurry of blows that forced her to step back with each strike, blocking hit after hit after hit, gritting her teeth at their matched power. Nikolai seemed to be exerting himself now, letting out a shout with each throw of his hand.

The crystals engulfed Undyne's hands entirely, though she'd failed to notice them until now. The momentary distraction allowed Nikolai to land another hit to her face, sending her spiraling back. Before she could crash into the earth, she spun, and planted herself against the ground, red dirt spraying up around her as she snapped her fingers, and a storm of arrows hurled themselves at her opponent.

The crystals inched further up. Undyne stared at them incredulously, trying to peel them off- to no avail. They crawled past her wrists. Shaking her head, she realized this probably wasn't good. Nikolai had to go down now.

Launching herself forward, Undyne was now on the offensive, a crimson spear in either hand as she began to unleash a flurry of powerful blows against her opponent. He raised an arm to block each one, but once again he was the one being forced back. Her speed only continued to increase, her power only continued to grow, he was quickly becoming outmatched.

"NGHAAAAAAA!" Undyne roared, driving her spear downward. Nikolai slid backward, before driving his elbow into her throat. The monster stumbled back several paces, choking for a moment as the crystals edged up her own elbows. It became impossible to ignore now.

They traded blows, cracks echoing through the canyon with each exchange like thunder. This battle was undoubtedly legendary, and the only witnesses happened to be a few lame Messiah goons, clinging to the walls of the canyon in terror.

With each movement Undyne made, the crystals crawled further and further up her arms, engulfing her shoulders before she and Nikolai leaped back from each other.

The crystal was hardening. Undyne was struggling to move her arms, she couldn't even move her fingers anymore. Huffing, she grimaced toward Nikolai, who appeared as out of breath as she felt. "I'm… ending this…" She growled, her spear pulsing brighter and brighter, before she lunged forward.

The exchange was a blink and you'll miss it moment. The tip of her spear was on the other side of Nikolai, his stomach impaled. He let out a cough, blood dribbling down his chin, before he raised a hand toward her left arm- and shattered her entire arm.

Undyne let out a cry, her spear vanishing as both she and Nikolai dropped to their knees. Her eye widened in horror at the sight of her missing arm. Attempting to rise, she looked up- and Nikolai shattered her other arm with a chop.

Undyne screamed, feeling the immense power edging away from her as Nikolai rose to his full height, stumbling for a moment, blood pouring out of the gaping hole in his middle. He took a step toward Undyne-before he collapsed in a heap on the ground.

Undyne herself wasn't in any good shape, feeling her head grow light as her vision began to blur. A few distant cries made her eye sluggishly turn to look toward the Messiah goons, who collapsed as Nikolai had, and several figures began to approach her. She couldn't make them out, her vision so blurred at this point. With a last grunt of pain, Undyne's eye rolled back, and she felt her body relax as the world faded one last time...

Magnum felt awful. Sure, Undyne had told them to go, but she felt she should have stayed. Maybe. Or maybe she'd have died too. It was a common consensus that Undyne had just sacrificed herself for them to get away. To take down whoever she could. It felt like a life wasted. She could see it in Frisk's eyes too. The kid didn't want to just leave Undyne there, but considering the fact the fish monster hadn't come back and then there was the… weird thing that happened. The sky seemed to flash a brilliant red for the smallest of moments, and Magnum felt dizzy. That passed quickly, and she found that everybody else had suffered the same weird dizziness she had, though most were recovering slower than her.

She'd been next to Frisk at this time, and to Magnum's surprise, blood was running down the girls nose. "Whoa, hey, Frisk, you okay?" She asked. Frisk's eyes appeared distant, and she used her sleeve to wipe away at the blood as hundreds of eyes turned on them. Magnum felt a shiver run down her spine as she looked from her friend to see everybody staring at her. No… at Frisk. Their gazes seemed mostly conflicted, but there was plenty of malice to many. The sense of unity that had burned through this group had entirely shifted. The air felt hostile, as though everybody was about to start mauling each other.

Frisk was staring back with that same, distant gaze she'd had since the crimson flash. Something had happened, and Magnum had no clue as to what. She wasn't alone, as there were a few others appearing confused at the change in the environment. Magnum couldn't disregard the fact that only monsters were giving Frisk those death glares. Not a single human.

"W-what's going on?" Magnum managed to stammer out, feeling suddenly very vulnerable as she looked toward the younger girl. Once again, Frisk didn't reply. Instead, she turned… and walked away, disappearing into the thicket.

All eyes watched her leave. The hostility that had been vibrating in the air died down. It had felt like at least five minutes, but the entire event had only taken no more than a few seconds. Frisk was gone now. She'd left. Unsure of what to do, Magnum clung to the outskirts of the group, holding her arm to her chest as she silently spectated a grave murmur that buzzed among them. Among the monsters. The humans were being disregarded for the time being, leading them to congregate together, Magnum being among the last to shuffle her way to them.

Nobody said anything. All of them were as equally put-off by this as Magnum was. It had something to do with that flash of red light in the sky, there was no other explanation at the moment. Had it been some sort of secret weapon made by her father? Could it… make magical beings hostile? No, that sounded stupid. Besides, Warmth was dead, so there weren't many scientific minds in Germany's Messiah division left, if any.

Additionally, the monsters only seemed to have changed their disposition on Frisk, not the others. The tension in the air was suffocatingly thick. Magnum found herself shuffling toward Mosu, who was watching the monsters with an inspectful gaze. He acknowledged her with a glance.

"What's going on?" She asked. He shook his head. "I am not sure… Gerson disappeared, where to is anyone's guess. Whatever's going on, we can't linger. We're sitting bait out here."

She agreed, but felt incredibly awkward. A small sense of ease returned as Papyrus squeezed his way out of the collective of monsters and made his way toward the humans. He wasn't his usual cheery self in any capacity. There was a sadness to him that Magnum hadn't actually considered the skeleton capable of.

Papyrus approached Rian, Sadie, and Gregory specifically, who appeared as confused and concerned as Magnum felt. She and Mosu made their way to them to hear the exchange.

"What's happening?" Sadie asked. "ERM… IT'S DIFFICULT TO EXPLAIN." Papyrus answered awkwardly. "SANS WOULD BE BETTER AT IT. BUT… NOBODY IS VERY… HAPPY WITH FRISK RIGHT NOW."

"What did she do?" Rian asked, his arm still in a cast. Papyrus scratched his skull at this. "...THAT'S ALSO DIFFICULT. SHE… WELL… I DON'T KNOW, HONESTLY. SHE'S…" Papyrus looked away toward the other monsters for a moment. "EVERYONE SUDDENLY REMEMBERS HER… UM… KILLING. US. ALL OF US. A LOT… MYSELF INCLUDED."

That made no sense whatsoever. Frisk had killed them 'a lot'? That was completely ridiculous, they were all alive, so how could she have done that? But even as Magnum tried to convince herself the notion was silly nonsense, she knew she didn't believe her excuse. Somehow, some way, it was true. She didn't know how, but it was. The monsters loved Frisk, and she them… up until a few moments ago. And there was that talk of Frisk controlling time...

Finally, Asgore spoke up, calling all eyes on him. He voiced Mosu's concerns. They were in the open here. They still had to get to the kingdom. So they continued, but there was a clear distance being kept between human and monster now… and she was having trouble distinguishing who were the ones avoiding who.

"They know."

Frisk could be found somewhere within the forest, her knees brought to her chest, arms wrapped around her legs as she rested her face against them. The being known as Chara that only Frisk could currently see was seated beside her, legs stretched out, the spirit leaning completely against the tree, staring at Frisk, who didn't respond.

She was already aware that everyone knew, she didn't need Chara to tell her that. In fact, she only felt worse with that confirmation. How in the world had they found out about it? About all the timelines? Had that flash in the sky done that?

"I did warn you." Chara continued, and at this, Frisk turned her head to look at the spirit. "Really not in the mood for an 'I told you so'."

Chara merely cocked her head to the side. "I told you that you cannot truly escape your actions. Reset, Erase, those are just words. Those timelines remain canon to ours, and a deep enough wound can open up the memories to all who experienced it."

"I can't go back to them." Frisk meekly grimaced, burying her face in her arms again, at which Chara shrugged. "Sans tolerates you, and he remembers everything you've done."

"He's one guy. Now everyone I know hates me."

"You deserve it." Was Chara's response. Frisk had no counter for that. It was true. She did deserve it. Her happy ending only could have lasted so long. The past nearly two months, her entire life had slowly been ripped to shreds. This had just been the nails in the coffin. There was no recovering from this.

She wanted to Reset. Frisk was ashamed at the thought, having convinced herself, as well as Sans and Flowey, that if she regained her power she wouldn't Reset again. How was she supposed to deal with this? Or get out of it? Resets were such a simple solution to an impossible problem.

"I can't believe you're actually still convincing yourself that you deserve happiness." Chara scoffed. "The things you've done… you're more of a monster than any of them."

Once again, Frisk had no counter. It, too, was true. She couldn't deny it.

Then… she realized a solution.

"Then I'll kill the Messiah." She stated. This time, Chara was silent. Frisk continued; "I'll bring them all down, raise my LOVE. If they still won't accept me after that, then I'll grow my LOVE until I'm strong enough to Reset again."

"Don't." Chara responded. "The Messiah deserve it, but the corruption of Determination is dangerous. Not just on this timeline, but all others. You've been through this once. Do you really want to do it again?"

No. She didn't. It was a stupid idea, but she had nothing else. Slowly, Frisk shook her head as she felt deflated. "What am I supposed to do, then?" She asked quietly.

"Own up to it." Chara advised. "Only you are responsible for your sins. Make a case for yourself. Show them that you're not the girl from their haunting memories. Be responsible." Frisk thought about that. It was obviously the right thing to do, and probably the noblest, but… it would be hard. It was hard already, just thinking about it.

"...just let me… sulk for a little longer…" She said to Chara, who rolled her eyes. "Sure, and in the meantime, the Messiah will kill our friends and family, then the new timeline holder will save over their deaths, then I dunno, maybe the person about gaining LOVE already will commit eidocide that even you can't stop."

"Fine. Point taken." Frisk replied, and slowly climbed to her feet. She felt incredibly drained at that moment. Physically and emotionally, but… Chara was right. No one else could own up to her mistakes, and she couldn't afford to run any longer.

It was time to face up to her past. Once and for all.

"Leave us." Mióm looked about to protest, but decided her life was valuable enough not to, and silently slunk out of the hospital room. Jonathan watched her leave, before turning to the operating table, where Nikolai lay, his eyelids fluttering every few seconds. The gaping hole that went through his middle still bled, even as the doctors tried natural, medical, and magical means to seal it up. Something kept it supernaturally open, so he'd just been bandaged up to keep his blood and entrails contained. His face was incredibly pale. Had he been recovered even minutes later he may have bled out.

He prevailed. This was satisfactory. It was clear that the monster threat had been underestimated far too many times. Krashna and Nikolai were two of the most powerful people within the Messiah. Both had been defeated now. Not dead, fortunately, dealing with the politics of a new leader could get stressful.

Leaving Nikolai to pass between the conscious and unconscious realm, Jonathan found Trickster in a bed on the opposite side of the room. She was sitting up, legs dangling over, the holes in her body patched up and sealed. Fortunately, hers weren't supernaturally kept open.

"How are you feeling?" Jonathan asked. Trixie seemed to contemplate that for a moment. "Fine. I guess." Was her answer. "We grossly underestimated them. All of them." Her eyes flitted toward Nikolai. "We lost a lot of people today."

"A tragedy, to be sure." Jonathan replied apathetically. "Will you be combat-ready soon?"

She gave a nod. "Yes, sir."

"Good. There's something I need to discuss with you."

If Bastette had anything else on her mind, she stowed it as she provided her undivided attention to The Father. "Of course, sir."

He glanced back toward Nikolai, who was still out of it, before looking at Trickster. "Nikolai and Krashna will die. Nobody will take their place."

Shock and surprise registered on Trickster's face, but she said nothing. "I will die." Jonathan continued. "Or at the very least, fall. I want you to take my place when I am gone. Lead the Messiah. We need more heroes like you."

Trickster still said nothing as she blinked a few times, digesting this news with as much grace as she could muster. The Father said nothing more as he turned, and left the room, leaving Trickster to stew in this development, and her future.