- Game Over Area -
There is no one here this time. TT!Kathy struggles with the chains. She tries to use her powers in this strange void. It works after the 10th try. TT!Kathy uses Flareon's powers to blast fire on the chains. It miraculously failed! She then looks around a bit in defeat as her ears go away.
"Hello?" TT!Kathy asks the emptiness.
No response. TT!Kathy looks at her options. She chooses "Continue". This time the words "Give up" next to "Yes" appear. Maybe it would just be easier if she did.
- A few hours earlier in LittleTale -
ArcadeGaster is still flabbergasted by all of the puns. TT!Nick kept exchanging puns with the two Sans. ArcadeAhri is still trying to pinch all the cheeks. It turns into a game of tag for her and the tiny ones.
TT!Kathy watches her friend from a couch. She is reading to Little!Undyne and Little!Alphys. It is nice of Little!Gaster to let them crash at the Snowdin motel. Little!Gaster is probably the tallest person (maybe even taller than TT!Mettaton in his EX form) in the room and one of the few adults according to TT!Nick. He seems nice. He is currently treating ArcadeAhri as a kid. TT!Kathy kept a watchful eye on Little!Gaster.
"I can't go on like this. We need to find Luminous." ArcadeGaster pouts and sighs heavily.
"ArcadeAhri seems to be having a good time. You and I can go look for her." TT!Kathy suggests.
She places the book down. The two kids groan when that happened. TT!Mettaton helps TT!Kathy get two groggy monsters off her.
"I can help out as well." TT!Mettaton said quickly.
"Very well then, we should go. We won't be gone for long." ArcadeGaster said as he mutters something.
- Waterfall Area -
Time passed and yet the trio found nothing. TT!Kathy is somehow paired up with the guy that has a "crush" on her, also ArcadeGaster is nowhere in sight.
"Hey, Kat?" TT!Mettaton's voice broke her from her thoughts.
"What." her response sounds unemotional.
"Can we take a break?" TT!Mettaton asks with an unsure tone.
"We took a break five minutes ago." TT!Kathy reminds him.
TT!Mettaton collapses suddenly. TT!Kathy panics. She gets him to lean against some rocks.
"Come on man. Don't pass out on me! Tell me what is wrong." TT!Kathy asks as her worry increased by the seconds.
"Low battery. Must conserve." he manages to say.
His rectangular body did not move and fell backwards on the rocks. TT!Kathy is quick on her feet and uses Jolteon's powers to electrocute the robot. Perhaps he just needed electricity, she rationalized. TT!Kathy places her hand on his sides. Zap! No response. She tries again. This time with more power. Zap! No response. TT!Kathy is getting really scared.
"Don't die... I don't want to be alone." she softly whispers to herself.
TT!Kathy briefly relived the horrors of the island's deaths. So many good people died for a good cause. She did not even wonder why she suddenly care so much for this bot. That red SOUL and TT!Mettaton's SOUL must have heard her cause they were both outside. TT!Kathy did not think twice. She grabs them to be closer. Afterwords, she zaps TT!Mettaton with all her might. The two SOULs brightly shine. There is no response for the longest time.
"Mettaton?" TT!Kathy asked meekly.
"(Cough x2) Ugh... What happened?" TT!Mettaton finally responds.
TT!Kathy smiles with relief and hugs the robot.
"I thought you were a goner." she admits. She broke the hug after a while.
"I ...ummm... lost power... You must have restarted me." TT!Mettaton said blushing out of embarrassment, "I did not mean to scare you." His tone suggests that he genuinely cares about her.
"At least you are okay." TT!Kathy smile disappears as she gets up.
"Yeah. How-How did you reboot me?" he asks as she pulls him up.
"I used electricity. After that failed, our SOULs came out for the third shock." TT!Kathy recalls what just happened. Yet saying out loud make it seem a bit odd.
TT!Mettaton blushes again. He is not sure what exactly to say. He is glad to be back. In addition, he is brought back by someone who cares about him. Furthermore, his magic is restored and his electronic capacity has doubled.
"... Thank you, darling." he finally said.
"Why don't you take a break? I'll look around for a bit." TT!Kathy suggests.
She did not want TT!Mettaton fainting. She was about to head off.
"No!" TT!Mettaton shouts loudly and suddenly.
Awkward silence.
"... I don't want to be alone." he practically mutters. He began to fidget with his fingers.
TT!Kathy froze. Her yellow ears twitched. She sighs heavily after a few seconds.
"We can head back to the rendezvous point ArcadeGaster told up about." TT!Kathy said avoiding eye contact.
She begins to slowly walk away from TT!Mettaton. He follows her.
"... I don't like the silence." TT!Mettaton complains. He walks right next to her.
TT!Kathy glimpse at the rectangle. He did almost "die".
"Well... What do you want to talk about then?" she asked him.
"I don't know." TT!Mettaton said sheepishly.
Another awkward silence.
"Okay... How did you become the head of the Royal what-its?" TT!Kathy finally thought of a question.
"Royal Guard." he corrects her, "I was forced to become the leader. Undyne was the leader before me." TT!Mettaton pauses.
TT!Kathy is a bit curious, but did not want to pressure him.
"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to." she tells him in a kind tone.
"No... I want to." TT!Mettaton responds before beginning his story.
- TT!Mettaton's POV -
Undyne was the head of the Royal Guard. Her job was to train the other members for war. You see... humans trapped us in the underground. King Asgore was furious and wanted vengeance. He wanted to kill all humans. Especially after his son and Chara died. Queen Toriel, on the other hand, wanted revenge to be done in a different manner. She convinced her husband that they should put any human in a cryogenic chamber. The king agreed. Our scientists built these chambers to hold the humans.
When Undyne heard of this, she was furious. She felt that the king and queen were taking the easy way out of the situation. She fought the king one day and broke one of his horns in the process. Undyne was fired and had to be replaced by someone quickly. Word of this spread like wild fire. Many monsters came to the castle with hope of becoming the next leader of the Royal Guard. However, all of them were not what the king and queen were looking for. So Alphys, the person who made me this body, suggested me.
"What?" TT!Kathy looks puzzled.
"Darling, I am a ghost that is possessing this body." I explained.
"So, does that makes you some sort of killer robot with a vengeance for blood?" TT!Kathy jokingly asked. I stop and look at her with disbelief.
"I'm joking." she quickly adds. It is rather cute of her trying to be funny.
Oh. I said no. I was a star. I had a good life. But Alphys forced me to join. She even kicked me out and told me to not come me back. I was accepted shortly after. Becoming the next head of the Royal Guard took a toll on my stardom. I had to get monsters to do what I used to do. I ended up having to lead both the Guards and my shows.
- Author's POV -
The duo made it back to the rendezvous point. It is at a small sentry post. ArcadeGaster is there waiting.
"Anything?" ArcadeGaster asks upon seeing the duo.
"Nope." TT!Kathy said as she shacks her head.
"(Sigh) I guess we have to look somewhere else." he said in defeat.
"We will find Luminous eventually." TT!Mettaton said encouraging the sad-looking skeleton.
"Perhaps you are right. The underground is rather huge. Especially if it is one we have never been to." ArcadeGaster gave a soft smile.
They decide to go back to the others. All of the sudden, TT!Nick is racing towards them.
"No! No! Nope! Nah-uh! Not doing that! Nope!" he yells as Little!Gaster chances him.
TT!Nick can to a screeching halt. He uses TT!Kathy as a human shield.
"I just want to preform several experiments to see how it is possible for a human to live without a SOUL." Little!Gaster said out of breath.
The two Sans and ArcadeAhri managed to keep up with the old man.
"You don't have a SOUL?" TT!Kathy tries to turn to TT!Nick in disbelief. She can't for TT!Nick is hiding very well.
"I don't want to explain right now." TT!Nick replied from behind.
TT!Nick is not out of breath like the others.
"Interesting. You are not tired." ArcadeGaster said as he writes something down on his clip-board.
"I am young." TT!Nick is quick to reply.
TT!Kathy could tell that TT!Nick is hiding something. And it wasn't his age.
"Just let me do some experiments and you can go on your merry way." Little!Gaster said as he slowly advances.
"I am sorry, but the guy clearly said no." TT!Mettaton changes into his fabulous form. I mean his EX form.
"Get out of the way you pesky robot." Little!Gaster demands.
"Make me." TT!Mettaton said fiercely.
The two are inches apart from one another. ArcadeAhri runs over to them.
"I am pretty sure we can find another way of solving this." ArcadeAhri butts in.
She did not want to see any fighting. She even separates the two.
"Out of the way, human. Or face my wrath." Little!Gaster makes himself intimidating.
ArcadeAhri holds up her hand to stop him in his tracks.
"Look, we just came here to find an evil person here. We just need to find her and we will be on our way." ArcadeAhri did not back down.
TT!Kathy started to get nervous. And she is not sure why.
"Why you little." Little!Gaster raises his arm.
He looks like he is about to hit her. TT!Kathy did not hesitate. She rushed over to Ahri. She was sent into a battle with the old skeleton.
(Gaster's Theme [LittleTale ver.] plays)
"What!? You dare to challenge me human?" Little!Gaster said angrily.
Something is off. He was not acting like this earlier. TT!Kathy saw Little!Gaster's SOUL above his head. It is corrupted! The sisters must have been the cause of this. TT!Kathy shows no sign of fear upon this new discovery.
"You are not yourself, Little!Gaster. Your SOUL is corrupted." TT!Kathy said in hope to prevent the battle.
She choose the "Act" button in order to reason with him. It fails.
"Corrupted!? The only thing corrupted here is you! You think you can save everyone. You think you can protect the ones you love. They don't love you. They never cared about you, Frisk!" Little!Gaster said darkly.
He launches four Gaster Blasters simultaneously. TT!Kathy barely dodges the move.
"In fact, once your family and friends get the chance... they will leave you." Little!Gaster said as his eyes turn red.
TT!Kathy held her tongue. Talking to him may not work. She has to press the "Fight" button. TT!Kathy mentally calms herself. She then uses Umbreon's Dark Pulse.
"Ha. It will take more than that to kill me human." Little!Gaster smiles in a creepy way even after losing 80 HP.
His eyes then turns blue. Little!Gaster uses various blue and white bone attacks. TT!Kathy sees that it will be hard to dodge them all.
"Don't move a muscle kid!" TT!Sans cries out. He and TT!Mettaton joins the battle.
"What?" she replied but did not listen.
She did a good job at dodging the bones. At the end of Little!Gaster's turn, TT!Kathy's SOUL turns blue.
"... Oh no." TT! Mettaton looks very worried.
TT!Kathy's SOUL is now a bit harder to move. On top of that, she feels like curling up into a little ball.
"Kat, you got to be careful. I know you are new to the rules here, but you have to listen to me." TT!Sans said in a commanding yet kind tone.
"Okay? This SOUL is blue. I have to follow rules. Plus, I have to listen to a skeleton I just met." TT!Kathy summarizes.
"When you say it like that, it sounds like a bad thing. But, please listen." TT!Sans admits.
"It's our turn. What do we do?" TT!Mettaton asked the trio.
"Blast Little!Gaster with that light cannon thing of yours. His SOUL is corrupted." TT!Kathy said as she tries to turn to TT!Mettaton.
"With pleasure." he said with a crazed look.
He blasts Little!Gaster with all of his might. Little!Gaster yells in pain, but did not give up so easily. He then uses a combination of bone attacks and Gaster Blasters. TT!Kathy can not dodge all of the attacks due to her blue SOUL. Her SOUL shatters at the end of Little!Gaster's turn.
"Darling!" TT!Mettaton shouted as he can only watch TT!Kathy die in front of his eyes.
- Game Over Area -
Which brings us to this point. This SOUL easily shattered. She should still have health. Thinking about this will not help. So she turns to what Little!Gaster said. TT!Kathy knows that Little!Gaster is corrupted by dark magic. However, the things he said did hit home. even if he meant it for Little!Frisk.
TT!Kathy's family kicked her out of the house upon turning ten. She is a Pokemon trainer, but something about that day was just wrong. She recalls wanting to be roommates with TT!Ahri, TT!Rosie, TT!Chihiro, and even TT!Gabby. They had other plans. Ever since the girl group started dating, they have been hanging out less and less. Even less when the gang disbanded. TT!Kathy still has school and the responsibilities. Thankfully, TT!Nick is letting her crash at his place.
TT!Kathy does not have to worry about getting a job. TT!Nick said he would take care of everything just until she gets a job. Until then, she can help out at their home. Thinking about this makes TT!Kathy feel like she will -static- Persevere.
- Waterfall Area -
ArcadeAhri is really worried that TT!Kathy will never wake up.
"Come on. Wake up." ArcadeAhri said as she gently shakes TT!Kathy.
"5 more minutes." TT!Kathy groggily said. She slowly opens up her eyes.
"Katie!" ArcadeAhri bursts into a ball of happiness. She hugs her friend fiercely.
"Air." TT!Kathy manages to say.
"Oops! Sorry. I thought you weren't coming back." ArcadeAhri said sheepishly.
She looked so glad that ArcadeKathy is breathing. ArcadeAhri than scolds herself mentally.
"Who is Katie?" TT!Kathy asked as she slightly tilts her head.
"Ummm." ArcadeAhri blushes out of embarrassment.
ArcadeKathy is called by Katie back in ArcadeTale. TT!Kathy pulls herself off the ground.
"We did it!" TT!Mettaton cheers.
He and TT!Sans were able to turn Little!Gaster back to normal. Unfortunately for the old man, he fell asleep as soon as he is cured.
"Where is Nick and the others?" TT!Sans questioned ArcadeAhri.
TT!Kathy stretched herself. She got off the ground. How odd... Nick was not there this time. And this SOUL for a brief second was purple and not broken.
"They saw Luminous. I stayed behind in case someone got hurt. I know a bit of healing magic." ArcadeAhri said with a soft smile.
"We should go find them." TT!Sans said.
Now knowing that TT!Nick has no SOUL means that he can die easily. Right?
"Got it. I am going to heal up this Gaster. You three go on ahead. I think they went to Hotland." ArcadeAhri tells the group.
"Got it." TT!Kathy said with a nod, "Which direction is that in?"
"Just go straight. Hurry! I'm scared that the others may get hurt." ArcadeAhri said with urgency.
And with that, the trio went towards Hotland.