Chapter 2: Honeycombs
Instantly, I met a froggit.
We had a staredown, the silence between us only broken by its croaky breathing, neither us moving. As the frog finally opened its mouth my dinosaur phone vibrated and rang suddenly, making me automatically take it out. I kinda felt cool flipping open the phone, it was kinda like flicking out an assassin blade.
Always keeping my eyes on the frog, I slowly brought the phone to my ear and spoke, "Hello?"
"I hope you haven't left the room, there is a few puzzles ahead that I have not explained yet. It would be dangerous by yourself."
"Tori-"
"Be good, alright? I'll come get you soon, do not be afraid." She hung up on me. A spark of frustration shot through me at not being listened to, quickly fading at her promise.
"I'm not afraid of nothin... I work in a haunted house every year, for the goddess's sake... I don't even have any nightmares..." I grumbled to the froggit.
"Ribbit, ribbit." He replied, and for some odd reason my brain translated it into, "Excuse me, strange human... Everyone is afraid of something. You may come across monsters whom wish to fight you. If you act a certain way, or beat them up enough, they may not want to fight you anymore. If that happens, please... show some mercy."
"For only a couple of ribbits, you sure can say a lot..." I muttered, "I can't beat up nobody, really." I grinned, "But I'm an expert in pissing others off." I frowned, "It sounds rather counterproductive, really." I decided to trust that the talking froggit wouldn't attack me and passed him by, eyeing a pile of red leaves. I poked a leaf with my foot. With my wonderful luck I ended up being surrounded by three froggits who hopped out.
I did the rational thing and ran for my life, froggits hopping excitedly after me. I cursed my sense of adventure as I sprinted into a random hallway, hiding quickly behind a bowl of candy on a pedestal. I was the self-proclaimed master of keeping still and hiding my presence due to pretending I wasn't real, but those frogs has the audacity of knocking the bowl of candy onto my head and then knocking me into a pool of water nearby with a two-team effort. The bowl shattered on the wall behind me. The pool was shallow, and I sat up, spluttering and covered in candy and soaked to the bone.
"I'm gonna kill you all!" I shouted angrily, and they retreated back at the force of my voice. I stood up and stomped on the ground, trembling with anger and stomping towards the nearest froggit. It was frozen in place as the other two hopped quickly out of the room and my vision was practically red I was so annoyed.
Memories of a cowering cat, a crying child and yelping dog made me freeze, and I could see my uncaring younger self staring at them without pity. No... I needed to control my anger. I couldn't turn into THAT again.
I knelt by the giant frog and tried to offer it a piece of candy. "Leave me alone, okay? I don't wanna fight."
The froggit chomped on my entire hand, making me scream in surprise. I twitched as I restrained myself from throwing it into the wall nearby. I noticed with a sense of relief that the frog's mouth didn't have any teeth, and besides feeling like a disgustingly tight bracelet, I didn't feel any pain. I let go of the piece of candy and the froggit let go of my hand, glancing up at me one last time before hopping away. I looked at my hand and felt queasy with the amount of saliva oozing off it. I quickly swished my hand in the pool of water to get it off.
Standing up, I felt slightly beaten-up and soaked to the bone but well... I was still alive at least. I looked at the pieces of candy and started gathering up the mess, putting it on the pedestal cause the bowl was unusable. Kinda wet sweets, but it was just water. I took one as the pedestal instructed, exited the candy room and speed-walked through the room full of froggits. They didn't bother me, luckily.
I came across a place where a strip of unsteady ground greeted me. I tested it with my foot, and some magic force collapsed the ground and pulled me through.
"AAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIEEEE-OOF!" I landed in a pile of red leaves, blinking and then laughing because I was so relieved that spikes weren't waiting for me at the bottom. I wasn't sure what was and what was different from the game, and just freely throwing my trust into the game's strategy sounded like a death wish. I looked at the abundant strip of the giant leaf pile and laid on it, looking at the hole above. I was somewhat reminded of the room where I fell as I saw the single hole above in the distance. What happened if I did survive here? How did I 'save'? Did I have the power to 'save'? The only one who could answer that was Flowey, and he wasn't exactly trustworthy...
I froze when I heard croaking above me. In an impulse, I started digging through the red leaves and buried myself in them, with enough space for me to peek out. A rain of four frogs flopped into the leaves after me. They didn't see me this time, and I tense up and slowed my breathing until one got closer... and closer.
I burst out of the leaves and scream-growled at them, their croaks reaching a volume and pitch that could break glass and harmonizing with my outburst, scaring fairy-like Whimsuns from their hiding places into a near frenzy of trying to escape the room. I stepped out of the leaves as some Froggits and Whimsuns fell through their own trap in their hurry and watched the chaos with satisfaction, cackling. I ran out of there before they could find their bearings and get mad at me or something, getting sucked up into the other tube and deposited out onto the ground. I rolled on the ground and got to my feet, sprinting away to meet a rock puzzle in the next room.
My phone rang again as I panted like a happy yet tired dog. I took it out of my pocket and flipped it open, leaning on a wall and bringing it to my ear. "Hello~?" I sang.
"Hello? This is Toriel." Who else would it be? "For no reason in particular... Do you prefer butterscotch or cinnamon pie?"
"It depends..." I said thoughtfully, "If it's like a cinnamon roll, than it's pretty good. If it's like hot tamales, then... ugh. Sugar and spiciness do no go together. Butterscotch isn't something I have too often... I'll go with butterscotch!"
"Oh, I see, thank you!" Click.
"Oh... the almighty classic butterscotch-cinnamon pie. Will the flavors balance, I wonder? The sharp cinnamon and the buttery brittleness will be at war... but then converge into a kingdom of a lifetime. Hehe, maybe a metaphor for Asgore and Toriel?" I monologued to myself as I kicked and stomped the rocks onto the pressure-sensing platforms. I'm really going off the deep end, aren't I?
"Hey! Watch where you're kicking, you romanticist!" A rock protested, making me yelp and retreat away from it.
"Ah! Sorry!" I said. An awkward silence followed. "Um... could you please move onto the platform?"
"Eh... since you asked nicely." The rock moved about a foot away from the platform. Suddenly impatient, I quickly charged and kicked it into place before bolting across the spikes in a mad dash. The spikes almost stabbed through my foot on the other side and I yelped, hopping on one foot. I look at my shoe to find my shoes and sock had been cut through. My foot was bleeding, and the gravity of the situation hit me. I wasn't dreaming. I could die here. Finding myself desperate, I carefully took off my shoes and then took off my unbloodied sock. I wrapped into tightly around my injured foot. It was a bit of a deep scratch but manageable. I put my unmangled shoes back on my bare foot and carried my mangled shoe in my other hand. This is karma for scaring everybody, isn't it?
As I approached another place with unsteady-looking ground a black jello-like creature greeted me, wiggling around in a almost hypnotic fashion. I slowly wiggle-danced back with an uneasy grin despite the throbbing in my foot. There were these white spore-things that came out of the creature, which I avoided touching. Wiggling enough, the moldsmal accepted my presence and oozed away, leaving golden coins behind. I picked them up and put them into my pocket.
I faced the puzzle, coins jingling in my pocket, and within the first very light tap of my foot against the uneven ground I was sucked into a hole. The red leaves crunched below me as I yelped. I stood up using the wall as a support off my hurt foot, looked at the clue the paths between the leaf pathways gave me, and limped back up to the doorway to get sucked up a tube and deposited surprisingly gently on the floor.
With my bad foot in mind, I tried my best not to do any crazy stunts through the puzzles I came across. I was thankful for the leaf piles for breaking my falls in the pit mazes. I fled as many monsters as I could, I didn't feel too confident about confronting them with a hurt foot. There were these demonic carrots with faces trying to beat me up in the process of healing me when they saw my foot, but I managed to limp away in time. Some of these monsters were too nice for MY own good.
Munching on one of the glowing green carrots I managed to snatch out of the air to quell the monster's need to be devoured, I came across a napping ghost blocking my way.
"Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz." He zizzed between his... teeth? Did ghosts have teeth?, "Zzzzzzzzzzzzz-"
"Gosh... that looks like a comfortable bedsheet." I drawled, and his Z's became more nervous as I moved closer, "I'm gonna lay on it~"
Napstablook sat up, blinking widely at me.
"... WHOAH IT'S NOT A BEDSHEET!" I exclaimed dramatically. The ghost jerked and started crying, the tears floating about. I shifted and backed up. "Sorry, man, I gotta get through. Shouldn't of yelled at you." I said sheepishly in a quieter voice, but yelped as the teardrops shot at me. I ducked and curled up, one of them hit my head and burned like acid for a few seconds, "Urgh, you look like a nice bedsheet... a cute one, with those big eyes and headphones and stuff uh..."
Napstablook didn't seem as tense as I rambled.
"not really feeling up to moving now, sorry..." He said in a voice barely louder than a whisper.
"Nuh uh, you can do it!" I said as I dodged more of his tears. They weren't moving very quickly, but I didn't like getting burned too much.
"eh... maybe..."
"Um... You like music, right?" I was not good at this, "I dunno if they exist but I could recommend some songs?" I took deep breaths as the ghost's tears continued to increase, those could kill me right? How much hp did I have left? "I... like this genre called electro-swing, have you heard of it?"
"not in... particular..." Napstablook said sheepishly as he lifted his head to look at me properly from the corner of my eye as I carefully shifted to avoid the tears, they weren't really aimed at me but I couldn't let my guard down. "what's it like...?"
"Kinda like old music, but with an-ouch-!" I winced as a teardrop hit my hand "... -uplifting beat." I was feeling tired after that hit, this couldn't good. "It really makes me wanna dance."
"i'm a fan of... scary-ambient-techno myself..." Napstablook didn't seem to be crying that much anymore, "i guess we are... opposite fans of music...?" He closed his eyes at my nod, ending the teary stream
"Techno-buddies?" I suggested.
"ah... maybe... I met such a nice person in the ruins today, usually this place is so empty... this spot is just so relaxing... ah, I'm rambling, i'll get out of your way." He faded away, along with his tears. I hobbled through the little corridor he had taken up, the leaves squishing and crunching underneath my feet. It did feel like a nice place to lay down... The idea of a nap safely hidden under leaves seemed like a better and better idea as a wave of tiredness swept over me as my adrenaline faded out. I forced myself to keep going, using the wall as support. There was... a merchant somewhere ahead right? Maybe if I ate something, I would feel better.
A crinkling in my pocket reminded me of the candy I took from before. I took out the colorful candy and pulled it open. The wrapper was stuck to the candy from it being wet. I limped down a random corridor as I worked it open, and help up a jolly-rancher-like circular candy to my eye. It was yellow. I wondered if this world was like that realm of the underworld where if you ate something, you would be stuck there forever. I don't remember such a concept in this game through my playthroughs, so I decided to carefully touch it with the tip of my tongue...
It tasted... lemony. I put the whole thing in my mouth and felt some of my energy ebbing back as I sucked on it. It wasn't too bad. Like lemonade.
The room I entered was covered in spiderwebs. I paused as I saw a bunch of movement, spiders were clearing the way so I wouldn't squish them. I went up to a web and watched a dozen spiders look back at me with a lot of black, beady eyes. They waved hello with one of their legs, and I waved back, smiling as I recognized doughnuts and cakes deep in the webs. This had to be the spider bake sale, right?
I walked deeper into the room and read the signs on the webs. 7 gold was the cheapest I could find, and I shifted around in my pocket to count out how much money I had... 8g. Running away from monsters most of the time didn't really add up a lot of money. I quietly admired Frisk's courage as I deposited the majority of my cash into a little web-pouch. The spiders went to work, a lot of them working together and carrying a doughtnut over to me. I took it as gently as I could. Some of the spiders stuck to the doughnut and had to jump off of it.
It looked like a doughtnut, if a bit sticky and spiderweb-y. I didn't have a place to put it, so I just carried it in my hand.
"Thanks, don't kill me later!" I said cheerfully, waving to the spiders and skipping out of the web-covered cave, shoe in one hand and doughnut in the other. I paused in the doorway when I realized my foot didn't hurt anymore. I looked down and saw a yellow... glow surrounding my foot. It tingled slightly. I sat down, and looked at my torn shoe... it was mending as well. I put the doughnut onto my head and untied my other sock. The sock was still bloody and sealed to my foot, but I watched with a morbid fascination as I saw my cells glowing with yellow light and stitching back together... like spiderwebs, or needles and thread.
"Game mechanics are still active, huh? Or maybe all food does this?" I muttered to myself, suddenly getting an idea from a manga I previously read, "Hmm... menu, open." ... Nothing happened. I tried to reach deep into my soul and bring out the secrets of 'Save' out into light. A glowing red heart floated out of my chest instead, and I blinked at it as I felt something akin to seeing my heart in the open but still pumping blood through my veins. This is my soul, right, um... go up. I thought, and it rose up. Go down, I thought, and it obeyed me. ... Do the Macarena. The heart waved around wildly and spun around. I noticed some monsters looking at me rather attentively, whispering. I had a bad feeling about this. Get back inside! The heart went back into my chest. ... I need to have somebody teach me how to take less damage, the mechanics of this game is weird... I put my socks and shoes on, and since the doughnut was sticking firmly to my head I left it there. I could hear some words the monsters were ribbiting or gurgling, and my brain translated it into, "Did you see her soul?" "It's soul was colored?" "Why did she bring it out?" "Isn't that a human?"
"I am the d-doughtnut queen! All tr-tremble before m-my sugary wrath!" I announced to the monsters gathering at the other end of the corridor, flinging out my arms in a false bravado. Messing up the spiderwebs in a fight would mean Muffet would kill me later, probably. I was going to be dirt broke at the rate I was going. I strut towards them, and the majority backed off. "I-I am obviously not a human s-since I have the doughnut on my head to prove... it?" A blush formed on my face.
The monsters were transfixed by my crumbling display, giving me enough time to sprint the heck out of there into another corridor.
"If you're not a human, then why are you running away from us?!" A giant eye with horns and legs yelled, and to my horror I realized there was a stampede of monsters behind me.
"I AM VERY SHY LIKE NAPSTABLOOK!" I yelled, running past three sleeping frogs and finding another pit trap, "LOOK I CAN EVEN DISAPPEAR!" I slam dunked myself into uneven ground and fell with a scream as my body was yelling that falling such a distance was going to get me killed. I landed into a pile of red leaves and buried myself in them. Fully covered by leaves, I tried not the squeak as a mound of froggit fell in after me then hopped off. I held my breath and covered my face. I was dead, I was so dead, I was dead.
"You should really eat your veggies." A voice whispered in my ear, and I turned around to find myself face-to-face with a Vegetoid. I was so dead!
"AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!" I screamed, sitting up and finding myself surrounded by monsters, all of them cackling evilly at my expression, and I realized that this world did not anything slip by, I was going to have consequences for my every action. I was kinda stunned into silence.
"Y-you got me... You can l-l-l-let me go now..." My voice was getting softer and higher as I pleaded for mercy, "Pleeease?"
"You have leaves in your doughtnut." One of the Loox commented, and a ripple of croaky laughter echoed throughout the room. I forced my brain-hindered brain to think, and then a small hopeful smile formed on my face.
"If you don't leave me alone... I'm gonna call Toriel." I warned, taking out my flip phone and dialing her number as I spoke.
"Oh, hello? What is it, young one?" I heard her say, and at the sound of her voice the monsters froze and scrambled the heck out of there.
"Ahhhh, connections are nice." I said in blissful relief, crumpling onto the leaves besides a rock, before realizing Toriel was still on the phone, "Uh, hi Toriel, I was just calling to see what's up?"
"Oh... um, well, the house is a bit messy, so I need to clean up a bit. Didn't think I would have a guest so soon! You're still in that room I told you to stay in, right?
"..."
"Right?"
"Nope, I'm almost to your house. I think there's one more room after this."
"... Oh... please do be careful..."
"Yeah, I'll be home soon." I said casually. There was silence on the other end as she processed that. Wait... did I just call her house my home? I hung up as a blush rushed to my face, saying out loud, "No, wait, this isn't my home! My home's in another world... Ugh, I'm going to have dream-syndrome..."
I stood back up and found a lever, so I pulled it down. I heard a click. I let myself be sucked back up into the tube and was spat out onto the floor, which I rolled like a log to recover from.
The monsters mostly left me alone, which I was grateful for. I wondered if not becoming friends with them would put me on a neutral run. Am I going to have to face that abomination of Flowey? Strange letters on a sign translated into english in my head, directing me to which switches I had to press as I became immersed in thought. Why am I continuing like this? I should just have someone destroy my soul and then see if I respawn, and then I can get to the menu and quit. Maybe that'll get me back to my world. But what if I don't respawn? I don't want to die. I don't want to disappear...
"You look stressed, friend!" A monster piped up, dancing towards me.
"I don't really wanna disappear when I die." I blurted out, and covered my mouth.
"We all disappear when we die! For now, let's dance, dance!" Misop retorted, dancing more insistently. I reluctantly bounced with it... him? I couldn't tell. "A cha cha cha!"
"Charmin..." I echoed at the end, it was too good of an opportunity to miss one of my inside jokes.
"I'm charming, I'm charming!" Misop sang with a huge grin on his bug-like face. He was ugly in looks, but...
"You're definitely charming!" I chuckled, bouncing with more enthusiasm. I looked ridiculous, but there wasn't any humans judging me around.
"If you're sad, just remember to dance dance, miss charmin'!" Misop laughed, frolicking away. I grinned at that and skipped away towards the last switch, patting it. With a click, I spotted a haze in the air in one of the corridors, and skipped towards it. Before my eyes, space shifted to reveal vividly green vines covering the ground. I stepped over them carefully, nearly tripping as one rolled underneath my foot. I found a pile of red leaves and basically frolicked through them, kicking them up and pretending I was in a windy field. No, I was the wind!
Eventually I got tired of my spinning. I picked up one of the pretty red leaves and headed towards a pitch-black dead tree that was absolutely surrounded by the red leaves. I wondered if it was hibernating, and if it grew red leaves... Seeing them fall would be a sight to behold. I stared and imagined the leaves falling like rain among the giant tree, the sunlight peeking from a hole in the ceiling making them shine and throwing sunbeams through the branches-
"Oh dear, that took longer than I thought it would." Toriel's voice brought me out of my fantasy. I tiptoed through the leaves and hid behind the tree as she brought out her phone. She paused at the sound of crunching leaves, and looked around the tree. I suppressed any laughter as I tiptoe-crunched out of sight.
"Young one?" She called, walking after me. We circled the tree a couple of times. I couldn't help but start chuckling at this point, and held my breath as I approached Toriel from behind. She suddenly twisted around and said, "Boo!"
I yelped and backed off, only to trip over a tree root. I rolled back into a crouch, doughtnut sufficiently squished against my head and a bunch of leaves sticking to my head like a hat. I laughed, "You got me, you got me!"
"Are you hurt?" Toriel's amused look became worried.
"I'm good, I ate some candy." I replied, standing back up and touching my head with some amount of disgust as spiderwebs and leaves coated my hand.
"I shouldn't have left you alone for so long... how irresponsible of me. I just wanted to surprise you... Well, there's no use hiding it. Come!" Toriel lead me into her little purple house, and I paused when I saw something shining. Splitting away from her side for a moment, I crunched through the leaves to examine it. It looked like a glowing floating cartoon star. Hope surged in my chest. Was this a save point?! Maybe I could access the menu with it! I reached out and touched it. A warm feeling went through with me, I was going to go home! No matter what! To my true home! I felt myself glowing with what I could only call determination, invigorating my energy and taking any sores or aches away.
I took my hand away and stood up tall and proud, only to slump as I realized I saw no menu whatsoever.
"Hey, this was fun but I want to quit, little star thing." I said hopelessly. The star only shined blindly, "I got Frisk's ability... but I need the player ability." I quietly concluded, "Wherever I get that from..." I was going to hunt down that flower and shake him until he gave me some answers at this point.
Disheartened but somehow still feeling determined, I entered Toriel's home.
A/N:
Guest ROBIN: Yeah, thanks for being patient with me! ^-^
PenNinja1300: I'm having a lot of fun with this story; hopefully you WILL get to read more! :3
