Wealth, Fame, and Power! W. D. Gaster, The King of The Pirates, had all those and the rest of what the world had to offer! Through many battles and trials, he had reached the pinnacle of the world's virtues and had nothing left but an illness that plagued him.

He brought himself in and was held at a worldwide public execution. Before he was executed, a man from the crowd asked:

"Where did you hide all your treasure?!"

To which the King of Pirates smiled and said:

"You want my treasure? You can have it! I left the most important treasure in the world on an island! Go and find it! 'For the next pirate that finds the UnderPiece, will be claimed the new King of The Pirates!"

Those were his final words before he was executed. He smiled to his death.

With those words, the world was flipped upside down as he created The Golden Pirate Era! People and already existing pirates from around the works started to sail the seas in search of the treasure that W. D. Gaster claimed to be-

The UnderPiece!

It had been Twenty Years since, and people have yet to find the treasure he was talking about. Except for one girl, who is now going to change the world by storm for the sake of her people.

This is the story of Muffet D. Baker and her way to becoming Queen of the Pirates!

Susie growled at Cassidy, which made Cassidy frown. She knew that ten out of ten times, she would lose to Susie.

Undyne was a different story. However, that being said, Undyne was her higher up, but she was easier to defeat in her case.

It was a game of rock, paper, scissors.

The cowgirl sighed as she jumped down from her branch. She tugged on the sniper's leather strap so that it stayed over her shoulder. Her twin flintlock revolvers were on each side of her waist along with her twin sawed-off shotguns.

Undyne gritted her teeth.

"So you freaks, what do we do now?" Cassidy said with audacious authority.

This only enraged Undyne a tad more.

"What is stopping us from beating the shit out of you right now?" The fishlady said in quite a hiss.

Cassidy fan'd her nose as if blatantly insinuating that Undyne's breath smelled of something foul. Undyne backed up to smell her own breath out of self-consciousness.

It smelled alright.

"What is stopping you, is the fact that I have Intel on my boss that you'd be so grateful to have the access to." She said dusting herself up and realigning her black and red cowboy hat.

Susie walked up to her and exhaled out her nose, a rush of steam leaving her nostrils.

"Then tell us." She said sternly.

Cassidy just blew a raspberry in her face as if she found something hilarious.

"Oh? And why should I tell you? What's in it for me?" Cassidy said crossing her arms and leaning against one of the jungle trees. She angled her head upwards since Susie and Undyne were much bigger than her.

"Your life," Susie said, again, sternly.

Cassidy only got up in her face and laughed.

"I'm a Logia, all I have to do is just leave," Cassidy said.

Susie was the one who laughed this time.

"What's stopping you?" She said with her arms folded. Cassidy only peered away from her.

She blushed in frustration.

Surprisingly, Undyne was the first to put two and two together.

"Wait...you're lost aren't you?" Undyne said in suppressed hope, trying to get her to show a sign that she was right before she laughed.

Cassidy gave her just that, her eyes grew worried bags of stress and disbelief, the face of someone who has been caught and is cornered.

Susie and Undyne just proceeded to cry tears as they were busy laughing. Cassidy's whole face was flushed red before she angrily took out her sawed-off shotgun and shot it at them.

Susie effortlessly, deflected it as it was a sneak attack and continued to laugh at her. Only ending up giving her more Justice to use.

She just crossed her arms and pouted as she turned 180 degrees away from them. Cassidy is the shortest and youngest one present, she almost felt as if they were already not taking her seriously.

She had just finished almost annihilating their entire crew, she had heard their screams of pain. So why...

Why were they taking her so lightly?

Susie got up from her laughter.

"Ah, man. You've been serving Hydra for so long, little kid can't do anything without supervision, is that it?" Susie said knowingly trying to push her buttons.

She almost budged.

"It's weird, you said you wanted freedom, and this is your chance, however, you still act like you're in a position where you take orders. What good will that do you now? The only solution is..." Susie patted her on the head condescendingly, "You don't know what to do besides kill."

Now she did.

Cassidy turned around quickly to angrily elbow her in the face. However, as if not learning her lesson, Susie slapped her lightly but with enough force to stop her in her tracks. She fueled her Justice more because it was a sneak attack.

That smack...

Cassidy knew that Susie could have done a lot more. But she was still...looking down at her.

What changed within the last 30 minutes that made her not a threat to her anymore?

"I know how to do other things besides kill and take orders!" Cassidy said with a face flushed with anger.

Undyne gathered herself and stood next to Susie, they stood there together with their arms crossed.

"Then tell us, let's say Hydra's plans were flawless from the start and we all died. You got to have your freedom, but what is that freedom to you? What did he promise?" Undyne said with eyes devoid of compassion.

Cassidy stuttered in her beginning words before speaking.

"He promised me that I'd get to have a whole island to myself with the gluttonous men on the higher part of Constricta as my slaves."

Undyne only looked at Susie.

"Justice Form Number Nine! Sins Scanner!" Susie said as Cassidy was covered in yellow Justice.

Susie sucked in her teeth as if preparing her next words.

"She isn't entirely lying, but isn't telling the truth either."

Undyne laughed.

"That's what he promised you, but is that what you want?"

Cassidy, yet again, stuttered in her own words.

"Not exactly. But I still work my ass off for him because he is at least showing me results of where brute force can get you!"

Susie slammed the butt of the ax down.

"Projecting? You said a little more than you needed to there."

"And? What are you going to do? Psycho-analyze me? I've had enough of this chit-chat, I'm leaving."

Cassidy tried to magma jet herself away, but as much as she wanted to, she couldn't

Undyne scoffed.

"Short fuse?"

Cassidy sighed.

"...I have nothing to gain by killing you two, but you two have everything to gain by effortlessly killing me. I don't get it, are you two stupid and do not want to take opportunities when you see them? I'm under the whim of that dino-chick, so what? Are you guys gonna try and talk me into joining your side? Use me as a hostage? Torture me for torturing your friends?!" She said desperately trying to find out what they wanted from her.

However, Susie and Undyne just walked past her, not batting her an eye.

"Of course not, we've chosen to let you figure out your mess. Whatever decision you land on, we don't care." Susie said.

"Yeah, you didn't actually kill anyone in our circle, so although you did harm us, Susie has already beaten you enough times for all of us. So we are even, and frankly, we don't care what happens to you, even if getting answers out of you is a good option." Undyne continued.

Cassidy just stood there, posture losing confidence, mentally broken, just choking on her words in disbelief.

"That being said, if you don't wanna give us information, fine by us. You can go back to your master once you manage. We'll find a way to get back and kill him, our animal instincts are off the charts and we've been able to perform miracles." Susie said.

At this point, they were almost out of speaking range from her. Cassidy's mind was moving at a hundred miles per second.

"Yeah, but if you want to survive out here and learn a thing or two as to what a peaceful route can get you, then I suggest dragging your feet. It's going to be night soon."

"The choice is yours, Cassidy, you wanted freedom, so this is your first independent choice. Either go back to Hydra, complete the mission, and always live a life where you have to lie and deceive and kill to get by...or you can do everything in the first option, but start off with a clear conscience. Our score is settled, and frankly, our Captain would have given you the same ultimatum, that's her thing."

They both did a backward wave of goodbye as they left speaking range.

Cassidy's hair became more unmanageable as they spoke, her pupils dilating smaller and shaking.

What was with those two? They weren't real.

She listened to their thoughts carefully and on repeat in her head. They had just suffered a crushing defeat, got split up three times and into smaller segments each time, their friends don't know how each other are doing, they are now lost and even strapped on resources. Most of all, their captain was nowhere to be seen.

But without their captain, they have already learned how to act independently and they seem fine as if nothing happened once they were together. A bond built on trust and comfort...not orders and distancing.

Hydra was always treating her like his Ace in the hole instead of an actual person, no matter how sweet he talked to her and treated her, she couldn't move on from the fact that she only existed to be a weapon.

However, she would rather die than work with the enemy, and plus, Hydra wasn't necessarily not looking for her, she was only missing and not reported dead. If he found out she was with the enemy, then she'd be slaughtered by him.

A game of Rock, Paper, Scissors.

Cassidy rethought her options a thousand times. There were about 65 possible outcomes this could play out for her.

57 were bad.

7 were decent.

1 was a dream.

However, unlike being told and forced to pick and under a timestamp. She had all the time in the world, she had a free choice this time. No pecking order, no stress.

She inhaled and exhaled. Her hair realigned, and her pupils were back to normal. She took another deep breath and went over the options in her head.

She dug deep into her best pocket and took out a locket. She opened it.

The locket was given to her by Hydra when he had picked her up from her previous family. The locket was made out of this crystalline substance, and it had a timer on it that she wasn't necessarily too sure as to what the countdown on the ambiguous timer meant. However, on the inside was a photo of Hydra giving Cassidy her Devil Fruit with a slip of parchment labeled:

" Best investment ever."

This somehow made her warm inside. She then clenched her hand with the locket in it and looked down at the ground.

She glanced up and down before turning her legs to magma. She then shot up towards the sky.

Susie and Undyne heard the sounds of something exploding just to see that it was Cassidy's magma burst exploding to give her a jet boost in flight.

Undyne shook her head.

It had turned nighttime officially.

"Damn, the poor girl is being used as a pawn. Though, I've chosen to respect the resolve of whatever she chose." Undyne said looking around as she calmly walked for useable wood to pry off and use for a fire.

Susie was doing the same but also looking for berries.

When she was with Kris before they went to Yetera. They had trained in the wilderness against giant beasts that rivaled Sea Kings. Scavenging for food is something she isn't new to.

"Yeah, I'm honestly surprised you didn't want to deck her. You being you and all."

Undyne didn't even contest that jab at her.

"I know, but the damage to her has already been dealt. And I refuse to fight someone seriously who isn't at their best and doesn't deserve it. Aside from what she has already done, isn't she somewhat forced to work for him? Through like a debt system or a promise? I can tell she has been mentally broken and I refuse to hold a grudge against someone like that. She needs to grow." Undyne said.

Susie smiled at her.

"That's your mother talk kicking in. Heh!"

Undyne smiled at her.

"Thanks but, it comes from experience too, I was working with the Navy because of a debt my mom left. It made me do things I didn't want to do, which is why I gave her that chance. Maybe, I don't know, she knows she's in the wrong, like how Muffet showed me to be independent with someone else. Sadly, I guess Hydra got to her hard."

Susie nodded solemnly. They had given her a chance for them to show her a life she could be living if she just simply chose to do things without having to kill to get it.

Maybe it was in her blood.

Regardless, the problem at hand was to make a fire, but the surrounding bark was either too thin or wet, it wouldn't either produce or make a good fire.

"Man, this sucks, we don't even have night vision."

"Yeah, but maybe there had to be one tree that can provide us with a good enough fire to last us the night," Susie said.

Suddenly, a light flickered in front of them, it was bright and warm. They squinted their eyes through the darkness and the flame and saw a figure producing the fire.

They approached the fire, and to their surprise. It was Cassidy.

"Hey."

That's all she said. She had used her magma powers to catch up to them and to use her magma to make a well-fueled fire. This time, she was aware of the fuel she was putting in and was happy with the result.

Undyne and Susie just smiled at each other and didn't say a word. They all sat in a triangle around the fire.

"I also hunted a deer." She said promptly before gesturing her head to the deer that was dead beside her. They had thought that it was the grass or a log.

"Woah, dude! When did you do that, we didn't hear a shot go off?" Susie said.

Cassidy just shrugged.

"I specialize in hunting and assassination, I've been trained to make silencing shots by using my magma to encase my barrel, liquid is a good sound insulator." She finished in a tired exhale. They had to acknowledge that this was all the same day. They needed rest.

Undyne had prepared everyone the deer and they were all enjoying the fair sustenance.

.

It was after the meal. Cassidy took a deep breath and exhaled.

"You know, I thought this over plenty of times..." Cassidy said as Undyne and Susie slowly looked her way with a lazy but interested eye.

"And...honestly, I'm still on the fence about it. I'm lost and don't know how to get back to Constricta? Yes. Do I want to try the feeling of being free to do what I want? Yes. The pros and cons of both options rattled in my head for quite a bit. Most involving the ending result in me either dead or brutalized. But, the final question I asked myself, was, is sacrificing my whole adventure, worth getting to the dream?"

Susie and Undyne pondered that with her. That question hit them harder than it should've.

"Your captain wants to be Queen of the Pirates, but if she had to erase you guys from existence to get the title and power, would she? Or would she rather die than see everything she work towards disappearing only for a bitter end? What kind of life is worth living when everything is done the easy way? Is it fun because you get everything, or not fun because you get everything easily. They're paradoxes. The only thing you can really trust at times like these isn't a rational thought, nor, is it bias."

Cassidy unbuttoned her red vest, lowered her pants to expose her V-line, and took off her hat.

Susie and Undyne widened their eyes and gasped at what they saw.

Cassidy sat back down with her hands under her chin to show she was thinking about this.

They watched in awe as they saw her...she wasn't human...

She saw cat ears and a cat tail on her. She was a catgirl this entire time.

"Times like these you have to rely on instinct. Hydra, is a human at heart that inherited a will of a beast, but he'll never understand...but...you two will understand...help me understand. However, don't think this means I'm pulling a cliche 'switching sides' trope. I'm only doing this until I get a good idea as to where Constricta is, then I'm leaving."

Undyne and Susie smiled at her.

"Yeah, we'd want to fight you at your best. Despite that fact that you probably still have a bedtime." Susie said with a laugh.

Cassidy puffed her cheeks and her brown cat tail whipped around angrily.

Undyne laughed for a bit before composing herself to ask a question.

"On the off-chance, Muffet ends up defeating Hydra, what happens to you?"

Everyone went quiet

Cassidy had to think hard about it.

"I guess I'll most likely become a bounty hunter. There is this royal family with bounties on their head that I have...less than unfavorable ties with that I want to cut."

Undyne and Susie nodded.

"That being said, heh, that same kingdom does have one of my favorite fairytale books that I always read before falling asleep. There's this character that I always liked that just reminded me of me. And apparently, it's somewhat based on a true story so I'd want to go check that out, but the adventure in that book may seem a little above my pay grade if it is somehow real."

Undyne and Susie smiled at how innocently cute that was.

"What was the book, maybe I've heard of it?" Susie said wanting to read as much as she could.

Cassidy picked up her hat and searched around in it before pulling out a decently thick but short book in terms of length.

She tossed it in between Undyne and Susie and their eyes widened. Their hearts stopped in cold fear and they both broke out in a sweat.

Cassidy saw their expression and reflexively felt scared too.

They all read the cover of the book.

The Legend of Deltarune: Chapter 3