Toriel silently stood there, and Percy capped his sword. Oh, right, whoops. He had forgotten to start a friendly conversation.
When Percy walked forwards, she continued on.
Percy saw a sign on the wall. It read, "the western room is the eastern room's blueprint." Alright. He walked towards what seemed like the eastern room, which had spikes all across the floor.
Percy walked near the spike pit, but Toriel was standing in the way. He talked to her, and she said "this is the puzzle, but... Here, take my hand for a moment."
She grabbed his hand, and walked him through the eastern room as the spikes retracted under their feet. Did she really have to baby walk him though?
When they made it to the end, Toriel turned to him and said, "puzzles seem a little too dangerous for now," and then she walked into the next room.
Really?
When he walked through, Toriel said, "you have done excellently thus far, my child. However... I have a difficult request to ask of you..." Percy listened, wondering how bad it might be.
"I would like you to walk to the end of the room by yourself. Forgive me for this." Toriel ran off to the right.
Percy was just confused more than anything, even though his subconscious registered that the music in the background got all suspenseful for some reason.
Percy calmly walked to the end of the room, where he saw a pillar. He walked past it, towards the door, but Toriel stopped him when she came out from behind the pillar. Percy was disappointed.
"Greetings, my child. Don't worry, I did not leave you. I was merely behind this pillar the whole time. Thank you for trusting me. However, there was an important reason for this exercise... To test your independence." Alright then...?
She continued, "I must attend to some business, and you must stay alone for a while. Please remain here. It's dangerous to explore by yourself. I have an idea. I will give you a Cell Phone." Percy felt an immediate red flag here, because if a demigod has a cell phone on him, it broadcasts his location to monsters all around.
Percy had actually started to believe that Toriel might have been a good monster, albeit an annoying one, but if she was trying to give him a tracking device like this, clearly he had misjudged her.
He didn't want her to know he was aware of how cell phones would broadcast his location to them, so when she handed him the phone, he took the it politely. He'd deal with it once she was gone.
Toriel continued, saying, "if you have a need for anything, just call. Be good, alright?" And with that, she walked off.
Percy knew she wanted him to stay in the room, but there was no way he'd stay where she asked him to after what just happened. Who knew what kind of ambush she was planning?
Percy peeked his head out of the room, and just then, the cell phone rang. He answered the phone, and said, "what?"
Toriel sounded a little upset about his sharp tone, but she said, "hello, this is Toriel. You have not left the room, have you?" Shoot. She could already tell he had left the room? He didn't think it was that specific.
Toriel continued, saying, "there are a few puzzles ahead that I have yet to explain. It might be dangerous to try to solve them yourself. Be good, alright?"
Well, Percy was sure not waiting around here to get ambushed or anything, and he had to get rid of this phone, quick. If Toriel could tell from the signal that the phone wasn't moving, though, she'd know something was up. Was there anywhere he could put it that would move irregularly? Ah, perfect.
Percy spotted another one of those giant frog monsters to his left, but it didn't seem to be aggressive at the moment.
Percy walked up to it, and was about to ask if he could leave the phone with it, but the frog monster interrupted his thought, and said, "Ribbit, ribbit," though Percy felt like it was saying, "(Excuse me, human)."
Percy let it speak first, and the monster said, "(I have some advice for you about battling monsters. If you Act a certain way or Fight until you almost defeat them, they might not want to battle you anymore. If a monster does not want to fight you, please... Use some Mercy, human.) Ribbit."
Percy wasn't sure how he got so much out of the frog's croaking sounds, but that didn't matter much. He has gotten chills from how human the frog sounded... And how worried it was for it's kind.
Percy started to really regret acting rashly and killing that other frog monster. These creatures in the Underground weren't the same as the kinds of monsters he had fought in the past. And even among those monsters, there were some really good guys, like Bob and Damasen...
Percy sat down next to the monster, and was silent for a moment. Then he said to the monster, "I'm sorry." The frog looked at him and croaked, "ribbit. (be careful.)"
Percy sat there for a minute, then pulled out the cell phone from Toriel. These monsters weren't the same. For all her babying him during the puzzles, Percy felt like Toriel really did genuinely care about him. And if she cared, she would be doing her best to keep him safe.
Maybe he should just give her a chance, and risk keeping the phone. He'd still keep his guard up, of course, but Percy decided he'd keep the phone for now. She might call him with something important to say, like a funny joke.
Percy said to the frog, "thanks. And, I will. I promise." They sat in silence for a while, then Percy asked, "what should I call you?" The monster said, "(Froggit.)" Percy said, "alright. Thanks, Froggit." He stood up, and put the phone back in his pocket. Percy Jackson took a deep breath, and walked into the next room.