NOTES:
Since this is the first chapter, I'll explain my system. Changes or comments I make are marked in the chapter with a [(#)]. These correspond to the [#-] down in the NOTES section in the after chapter. Any canon breaks I make are 'usually' explained there as well.
Any questions you have should be answered in following chapters, but it will sometimes be difficult keeping the individual plot-things straight. Sometimes canon needs to be twisted a little to fit the plot, so expect a little of that - I'm not going to go crazy with that, though.
If you have any questions, please put it in the comments, and I may add a note to explain it for you (along with your name!). That being said, I am going to go ahead and update previous chapters every once and awhile, but, if I do, it will ALWAYS be when I update a chapter, and I will ALWAYS put something in the newest chapter's beginning note to reflect that change.
So buckle up, I'm about to take you for a semi-realistic but earnest attempt to blend these two properties together.
-0-
DISCLAIMER:
-only gonna say it once, though eventually I might make a 'cover chapter' with all of them-
I do not own Fallout nor Undertale. (Could you imagine though - Toby Fox writing fanfiction about his own game? No wonder Deltarune is taking forever!)
Also, no beta. Raise any editing issues in the comments and I'll fix it. I'm going to be continually updating as I go forward with the story until I feel satisfied with it, so you might need to read from the beginning whenever I update. It's already going to take a lot of time between uploads to write chapters out, so I guess people will need to refresh their memories anyways.
The quotes I put in the beginning/inside the chapters are meant to put you in a certain mindset, so keep that in mind when you see them.
Enjoy~
-0-0-0-
"Have you even seen a Deathclaw? They're taller than a man and far, far stronger and faster. And, there's a whole pack of them out there. You'd have to be the meanest, toughest, roughest bastard in the wasteland to have any chance against them, and I don't think that's you."
― Chomps Lewis, Fallout: New Vegas
-0-
"Why did you come here? Everyone knows the legend, right...? 'Travellers who climb Mt. Ebott are said to disappear.' Frisk. Why would you ever climb a mountain like that? Was it foolishness? Was it fate? Or was it... Because you...? Well. Only you know the answer, don't you...?"
― Asriel Dreemur, Undertale
-0-0-0-
DIAL CLICK
*static fading into upbeat music*
Long ago, two races ruled over Earth: HUMANS -KRTZ-
One day, WAR broke out between the two races.
After a long battle, the -KRTZ- were victorious.
They sealed the -KRTZ- underground with a -KRTZ-
-garbled noise-
*radio static*
-0-0-0-
Rin frowned, pushing up her sweaty goggles to stare at the rolling static of her Pip-Boy screen. Just when she found a station that broadcasted something other than some 'classic' or 'patriotic' station, her Pip-Boy glitches. All 'Boys flickered from time to time - no matter the level of care and maintenance, they were old machines. Glitches like this have occurred from time to time, but this static felt... different.
(She firmly ignored the ache in her chest the words on the radio drama caused. Sometimes she wished for nothing more than to be back in the vault, well protected from behind solid steel in her hermetically sealed, radiation-insulated underground vault. But she was an exile, and would never be welcome back to the isolated, innocent, and sheltered life the Vault offered.)
Regardless of 'feelings', whatever was wrong with it would have to wait until there was time. The open roads of the Wasteland were no place to fix her precious equipment. She'd crack it open to examine the components when she could, in a nice secure building after a scavenged meal, but she needed to be in a secure location first. Fortunately, for now, there was a simple fix.
With a liberal use of percussive maintenance (i.e., whacking the damn thing and hoping the static stopped; because sometimes mechanical engineering was NOT an exact science), the screen flickered back to normal. It sounded like she'd lost the radio signal anyway, or the story's broadcast was shorter than she'd thought, because now the station was playing yet another repeat of the Yankee Doodle diddy with a set of patriotic tin flutes. Turning off the radio with a loud click of the dial, Rin adjusted her goggles and the rifle slung over her shoulder before whistling sharply.
Running up to her side from behind, her faithful companion Dogmeat chuffed happily at her. In a blue bandana, custom leather armor, and goggles, her canine companion was the only one who stayed by her side when she left the Capital Wasteland, and now remained as her sole companion on her trudge throughout the shithole that was once known as the east coast of the United States. Patting his head fondly, the one known as the Lone Wanderer continued down the broken and crumbling asphalt road of the highway.
Meanwhile, the overhead traffic road signs were unreadable static, flickering black and white with occasional flashes of letters. The sign suddenly flickered slowly to a stop.
Ebott, XX miles.
-0-0-0-
A radio transmission broadcasted out on the airwaves, received only by a radio in a metal room filled with feral ghouls who scratched at the walls.
*Many years later...*
-0-0-0-
Sitting up with a start, Rin pulled her pistol out from under her moldering pillow and pointed into the empty room. After several moments of aiming her handgun, she lowered her weapon with a sigh. Setting the gun on the mattress, she yawned before rubbing her eyes tiredly. She sat up on the somewhat-clean yellowed mattress (totally clean beds, that were complete with actual sheets and everything, were a rare luxury even in communities), and stretched her back.
Checking the time on her Pip-Boy, it seemed as if she still had about forty minutes till seven a.m., which was when she had set her timer. She idly switched it off with a frown. Her alarm was the only thing that could wake her, so what made this time any different?
The room shook with the sound of an explosion outside. Swearing, she grabbed her gun and snuck to the window.
The empty roads of the cul-de-sac shook as the large, horned lizard beast raged. It was at least twelve feet tall with wicked black horns that jutted forward from its skull and curved back into a sort-of halo.
Pacing the streets, the grey-colored deathclaw suddenly picked up a flaming car with a single hand. Letting out a thundering roar, the beast threw the chunk of steel into a house, demolishing it instantly as the fusion core within detonated. Her Pip-Boy hummed on her wrist and identified it as a rated-skull legendary - which meant that even if she managed to knock its health down, it'd just heal right back up when it mutated and became even stronger. (1)
How wonderful. What a great start to her day.
The neighborhood was at the base of a large forested mountain (which were brown and dead, as most all trees were nowadays) with an inactive satellite tower atop it. An empty house was a convenient place to sleep for the night - after clearing out the infestations of bugs and mole rats, the serene feeling of the valley was almost idyllic. She had intended to scavenge what she could in the neighborhood before trekking up to activate the tower and then head to the city, though, judging by the rampaging deathclaw outside, she would have to rethink that plan.
Watching from the second story window as it circled the neighborhood, Rin grimaced as it threw a rusted chunk of metal, formerly known as a lawnmower, at an empty building, putting a large hole through it and (from what she could see in the hole) partially collapsing its second floor. She needed to leave without taking on the beast outside, because she was desperately low on ammo. What few rounds she had left for her rifle and handgun had no chance in hell for taking that monster down, and using the last Mini Nuke round was a last-ditch measure: if it didn't kill it in one shot, it would mutate it, making it much, much stronger, which would be a disaster. (2)
(And probably result in her insides becoming outsides)
The deathclaw chucked another car, roaring angrily as it detonated and collapsed a house two doors down from where she was. She decided she needed to leave now, or else the beast would bring the building down on top of them.
Rin shouldered her satchel and went down the stairs, and was met by Dogmeat panting anxiously. She shushed him softly as she continued on to the back door. Grabbing the handle on the back of his armor to keep him close (and so he didn't run off to attack the Deathclaw, because he absolutely would, if given the chance), she opened the door quietly and moved with him across the yard.
They ducked behind the white picket fence line right before the building behind them exploded: the deathclaw charging through, destroying the house in seconds. Temporarily hidden by the dust cloud, they ducked through a large gap in the fence boards.
Sneaking along the fence line with Dogmeat, Rin ran her free hand through her grenade pouch to check her supply. With a quick distraction, they'd make it into the mountain's tree line, but it would also leave her with only three grenades.
Hearing the thundering footsteps coming close, Rin pulled the pin and threw behind her as far as she could. Six. Sneaking along the fence line until she was as close as possible, five, she paused and started to think.
Four. The tree line was at least 70 feet off. Which was bad.
Three. The beast would definitely see them running in the time it took to cross. Even worse.
Two. They would just have to run very, very fast then, wouldn't they?
One. The grenade detonated, attracting the raging beast's attention. It charged towards the site, ground quaking beneath its feet.
Go. Rin ran for the treeline; Dogmeat needed very little encouragement to sprint beside his master. But, even at a full sprint, they were still only halfway through the tree line before she heard the deathclaw discover her.
The trees would hopefully stop him. Judging by how intent the deathclaw seemed to eat her face, however, she guessed that this was not the case. They would just have to keep ahead of it, and it would hopefully lose interest in them... probably.
-0-0-0-
The old jukebox's lights flickered as it played the transmission to a decaying room filled with ancient skeletons of a long gone era.
*Mt. Ebott*
-0-0-0-
Coming to a stop in the shade of a tree, Rin put her hands on her knees and started to gasp for air. Catching a glimpse of the Pip-Boy screen, she groaned. She had been trying to escape that bastard for five fucking hours. After her initial escape, the grenade distraction method unfortunately never worked again (and did fuck-all damage, when she tried to hit it), which left her with only one grenade and one very pissed off ten-foot-tall lizard monster.
This particular deathclaw seemed dead set on killing her. Every time she hid, it tracks her, destroying everything in its path to get to her. She needed to dodge flying trees more than once. It didn't help that the tree trunks became increasingly thick the further up the mountain she went, to the point that it forced her to go along a single trail.
'Which about describes my life right now.' She snorted at her own joke, causing another harsh coughing fit. As it subsided, she decided that she needed to keep moving - it was probably ridiculous to assume the deathclaw was still hunting her after getting away, but she would rather be safe than dead.
What she really needed to find was a way up the mountain to get to that radio tower. There had to be some kind of maintenance path up to the top of the mountain, though she had not seen any during her escape. Her best shot was probably making her way to the base of the mountain to look there. And, with her luck, it'd probably be on the other side of the mountain entirely.
Looking for her dog, she found him a small distance ahead, panting tiredly on the clay of what looked like an obvious trail leading up the mountain. Rin looked at Dogmeat blandly, to which he thumped his tail on the ground happily. Crouching down, she rubbed his head fondly before grabbing her canteen and taking a long, heavenly drink.
Cupping her hand and pouring water into it to let Dogmeat sit up and drink, she stiffened slightly when she heard crunching footsteps and rustling from the bushes further up the path. Out of the corner of her eye, she glanced and saw a head of hair disappearing behind some tall grass. If this was what she thought it was, then she was probably in a lot of trouble - it would not be the first time she had literally, and unknowingly, stumbled into some sort of ambush. But this time, she wouldn't let them act first.
"Hey boy," she whispered softly at her dog, who looked at her intently. She nodded slightly toward the bushes, "Fetch."
Dogmeat got to his feet in record time before sprinting at the bushes, jumping into them and knocking over whoever was there with a satisfying squeal of surprise followed by a whump. After securing her canteen while shaking her other hand dry, she then loosely aimed her handgun and started to approach the shuffling brush.
Pushing aside the dry foliage, Rin found Dogmeat standing over a child, snuffling around their face with an occasional lick. As amusing a scene as it was, she was simply stunned. It had been a long, long time she had encountered any friendly people... well, friendly as in anyone who wasn't trying to kill her, at least. But a child, especially since they were in the middle of what was essentially nowhere, was concerning
Especially with the deathclaw in the area.
With that thought in mind, she shook herself out of her stupor. Holstering her weapon, she went around the bush and snapped her fingers sharply. "Dogmeat, come!"
Her faithful companion literally skipped to her side, before bounding excitedly back over to the child, knocking them over again as they attempted to sit up. She sighed, rubbing the bridge of her nose. She supposed she couldn't have expected anything else, really. Her big, strong, and dangerous dog loved children.
Grabbing his armor handle, she pulled him off. Now that Dogmeat wasn't hovering over them, the kid sat up and gave her a wary look. She gave them a smile - and internally grimaced in concern. They were maybe eight or nine, and their dark skin had a sickly-looking yellowish tint. Though the large dirty blue-and-purple striped sweater hid most of their frame from view, judging by their thin, slightly-sunken face and eyes, they were definitely starving, and probably dehydrated. This kid's condition may exceeded all of her medical supplies, but she could help them until they got to a doctor.
Holding Dogmeat firmly behind her (he whined pitifully and struggled), Rin crouched and offered the kid cautiously watching her a smile. The kid looked like they were about to run at the slightest hint of trouble, so she had to approach this carefully.
"Hey sorry kid, my dog here just ran away from me suddenly. Guess he was really excited to meet'cha, huh?" The kid nodded with a slight smile as they got to their feet. "I was kinda surprised to see him run of like that. He didn't hurt ya, did he?" A hesitant shake of the head. "That's good then! I'm... well, you can just call me Rin, and ya might have heard that this dork's name is Dogmeat." She said fondly, shaking him lightly by his armor. "He's not usually that much trouble, so I'm real sorry 'bout that. But between you and me, he's really just-" Dogmeat suddenly pulled.
Crouching while keeping hold of a dog is, upon reflection, a very bad idea. Off-balance, Rin tipped sideways into the brambles of the bushes that the child had originally hidden behind. (3)
Swearing under her breath, she finally stood out of the uncooperative foliage, she started to pull loose branches out from the chinks her armor as she found Dogmeat wagging his tail happily. The stood next to him, petting his neck softly. Feeling her anger melt away, Rin huffed and glared playfully at her dog. "I was going to say attention hog, but I can think of a couple of other things to call you right now. You're really proud of yourself, aren't you?"
Dogmeat whuffed in agreement, making the kid laugh as Rin scowled at her rather intelligent companion. Her dog usually seemed to understand what she was saying, and followed any orders he was given given - but he was also extremely mischievous. But he also had a big weakness.
"That's fine then," Rin said with exaggerated distain as she turned away. "Just for that, I'm going to have to share my extra deer jerkey with someone else."
The canine whined pitifully as the kid giggled softly, consoling Dogmeat by petting him.
Suddenly, an angry, echoing roar shook the forest, scattering the mangy ravens in the trees with a shower of dirty black feathers. Dogmeat was instantly on alert, standing in stoic silence as the small child hugged his neck tightly.
Rin froze in place as she started working the problem frantically in her mind. From what she could tell from her earlier run, the path she was on was probably the only path that led further up the mountain. And until she got to the mountain top to check, she would just have to assume this was the only way up - and the only way down.
However, judging by the two answering roars echoing from downhill that shook the earth, going up was going to be their only option.
Grabbing her rifle from off her back, Rin crouched in front of the crouched again. "We don't have much time, and we're going to need to move fast. Think you're up for a piggy back ride, kid?"
They looked surprised before nodding. Running around, they jumped and latched their small arms around her neck in a death-grip. Standing, she helped the kid adjust with a wince - they had a surprisingly strong grip. Then, she started to run, Dogmeat faithfully at her heels.
After a few minutes of running in silence, Rin cleared her throat. "So, uh anyways, I just realized I forgot to ask you your name back there. I won't be able to get away with calling ya 'kid' or 'hey, you!' forever." She joked.
She felt them giggle before becoming quiet. She waited a long moment, and was about to break the silence when the kid whispered their name softly. "Frisk, eh?" She said with a small smile. "I think that's a very nice name."
-0-0-0-
A long-forgotten screen on the wall of a hidden lab filled with abominations flashed as it registered a new variable.
*22XX*
-0-0-0-
They had been on the trail for about an hour or two, and had been making good distance away from the encroaching monsters. At least, that was until the trail hit a dead end.
Frisk jump off her back as she came to a stop, though Rin felt it over the growing pit of icy dread her stomach had become. When they had been running the path, she noticed that the mountain had many more cliffs and sheer drops than she had expected such a mountain to have. While the path had led to further up the mountain, the trail ended at a rock wall with a cave entrance.
However, it seemed to be a dead end, and, instead of leading to a cave entrance like she'd expected, there was nowhere to go other than the dark pit in the ground that even the light of her Pip-Boy could not pierce. Strangely enough, there was also a giant hole in the cavern which seemed to carve straight through the top of the mountain, and she could see the sun from shining down from the sky.
They were trapped. And, judging from the angry bellows, they were still being hunted by a bunch of fucking deathclaws who were absolutely determined to fuck her up.
Swearing, she quickly searched her Pip-Boy for anything that would help, but came up with only one option. Equipping her seldom-used mini-nuke launcher, Rin rolled her shoulders and took a deep breath in and out.
While loading her launcher, she decided to address her temporary charge. "Alrighty then kiddo, I'm gonna tell ya what's about to happen." She looked up. "We're gonna move back-" Her throat suddenly closed.
Standing at the edge of a hole inside the cave, Frisk stood precariously close to the edge of a large hole. It had been hidden in the dark shadows, the perilous, pitch black hole in the ground. They stood unnaturally still for a moment before starting to sway forward.
Dropping her weapon to the ground, Rin suddenly moved. Running over to the hole, she slid and grabbed Frisk around their waist and pulled them into a firm hug. The kid struggled fiercely in her grip as she used her legs to push them away from the hole. When they were a good distance away, she stopped and held the struggling child and waited.
When Frisk stopped struggling, she slowly started releasing her firm hug. Rin sighed and held them in a regular hug for a moment before releasing them completely. Grabbing their upper arm, she picked them up and placed them on their feet before spinning them around (so they could no longer see the hole). Grabbing their shoulders, she shook them firmly.
"What the hell, kid? You can't just do that, ok?" Frisk's glassy eyes blinked up at her for a moment before they shook their head. Rubbing at their eyes, they offered a quiet apology. Rin frowned in concern and hugged them to hide her grimace.
Dogmeat growled angrily from the mouth of the cave, startling both of them. She cursed - out of time. Feeling the approaching footsteps, Rin stood and whistled for Dogmeat who quickly jogged over. Ushering him next to Frisk, she had them place a hand on his back handle.
She gave them a tight smile at their confused look. "Whatever happens, just... keep him right behind me, ok? Can I trust you to keep my dog safe?" They nodded, and she ruffled their hair. Grabbing the launcher, Rin placed herself between her two charges and the cave entrance and shouldered her weapon.
If she missed her shot, hit the cavern wall, she could kill them all in the warhead's blast.
Their tension as the earthquake-like footsteps outside stopped suddenly. Rin cautiously moved the group a couple steps backwards (unfortunately towards the hole, but there was nowhere else to go) and braced herself for the rocket's kickback. After a couple moments of silence, long fingers snaked around the rock and curved around the mouth of the cave. Rin held her breath as the deathclaw who had started the chase started to slowly round the corner as well
Without warning, the wall of rock on the either side of the natural doorway exploded inwards. Two deathclaws barreled through the solid rock, running straight towards the small group.
The next moments felt as if they were in slow motion.
Rin re-aimed the launcher even as the ground beneath them started to crack with the force of the deathclaws' steps. As she pulled the trigger, she felt Frisk grab her jumpsuit and pull as the stone crumbled beneath her feet. Off-balance, the launcher lifted as it fired, narrowly grazing the head of the deathclaw - and instead hit the ceiling. The sharp crack of the rock was almost inaudible above the sound of the blast.
The shockwave hit her like a punch to the skull and knocked her into the inky blackness of unconsciousness as the Deathclaws screeched and bellowed.
-0-0-0-
A being who may have once been a man tilted his head as something unusual occurred.
*Ancient legends say that those who climb the mountain never return.*
-0-0-0-
-0-0-0-
NOTES:
1- Inspired-inspired by an actual Fallout event I experienced. Cleared out a neighborhood, went to sleep on second floor, and boom- hardass deathclaw outside, and I woke to the shaking the ground of angry deathclaw... who threw several cars when I first tried to run. Why he hadn't triggered the previous day, I don't know. Maybe it didn't trigger properly until sleeping let it, but it was typical Bethesda wonkiness. I eventually killed him with literally all of my grenades, rarely-used explosives, and bullets I had on me, but was mostly out of spite at that point.
2- Honestly, if this was true, people would have to stop killing Deathclaws that way. Personally, if i see a Big Boi Deathclaw like that charging at me, i just distance myself, pull out my Fat Man launcher, aim, *wa-funk *, BIG BOOM, dead. So, it's a bit of a headcannon. Besides, legendary enemies in 4 always 'mutated' if not killed in the first couple shots (explained in my AN).
3- A very bad idea. I can still feel the almost-rugburn the cement gave me as I held onto my dog's collar. He had something in his mouth, I grabbed his collar, crouched to grab it, and continued to hold onto him as I looked at it. And when he tried to run around me to get to whatever-it-was, I fell rather hard. An unfortunate experience, but... Ehh... Knowing is half the battle I guess? Not going to do that again.
-0-0-0-
A.N.
The Wanderer is based on a mixed setting survivalist mode: needs to sleep, eat, and drink, altered carry weight, and a similar repair system from 3, though Other Things are still being internally debated and decided later. The whole Fallout element will be a mix of 3 and 4, if only because I liked some things they did in 4 than in 3 and vice versa. Basically, a pretty reasonable survivor who travels lightly because of [REDACTED]... reasons.
And yes, she had a mini nuke launcher. If you want it justified, then A) you CANNOT tell me that you have never done the same thing, and B) they will also kill you about 20% of the time you use it anyway. I've kept a launcher and all the nukes I've come across for special occasions like when a particularly insane boss/enemies are absolutely flippin destroying me. It's always a last-resort type of thing, and has honestly saved my sanity when i get situations such as the "oh shit, I've walked straight into a boss fight and he's super strong" or "I've been destroyed by these (insert enemy/enemies here) for literally an entire hour and I'm going to go insane".
The incredibly motivated to kill you Deathclaws featured here are also inspired by New Vegas, in which I, the low-leveled and incredibly unlucky bastard, literally stumbled into two (when another came out from behind a pipe to became three) and, naturally, quickly died. Quicksave then brutally screwed me over by saving extremely close. In the end, only one saw me and ended up chasing me. I saw a little broken shack in the middle of nowhere with an Interior, so I entered it to escape. It was actually pretty well stocked, so I went around and started to loot.
Then I heard the door open. Guess who followed me in and saw me immediately. After that death (because I stood zero chance in my tiny gladiator ring), I loaded inside the building and immediately prepped it for a fight - aka minefield galore. And then, of course, that fucker never came in that time - because deathclaws don't use doors, except apparently when they do.
Frisk will be kept gender neutral, mostly because I'm just not gonna head into that rabbit hole. On that note, I am also looking for some gender neutral descriptive terms for them, because I can't keep using child and kid every time. It's boring.
Everything should become pretty clear after awhile, too. Though I haven't quite decided the level of Awareness that they have on [REDACTED], though I believe that [REDACTED] and [REDACTED]- *FNAF 2 static*
...*cough*
Ah right. The rules. Sorry, but such spoilers are against my programming, and Reactions are harmful to my systems! But do not worry, because my normal hueman functions well be online shortly.
Ah speaking of!
ADDITIONAL DISCLAIMER:
And to all those who look at odd crossovers and shake their heads - whatever! I like odd crossovers, so long as they're done well. I'll try to keep it pretty realistic and true to form, though you really cannot keep everyone happy if you want to be sane.
They're two different types of games fer fucks sake, not even the same graphics. You gotta expect some differences.