Once Napstablook's turn was done, Percy told the ghost a joke. "You're looking a little sad. Maybe you should get into an elevator... To lift your spirits!"

Napstablook looked just a little bit better. "heh heh..." During the ghost's turn, instead of crying acid tears, Napstablook said "really not feeling up to it right now. sorry." Napstablook then realized that was also a pun, and chuckled. These jokes seemed to have improved the ghost's mood again.

On Napstablook's turn, it looked like the ghost wanted to show him something. Napstablook said, "let me try..." And the ghost started crying acid tears again, but not down, up. They were forming into the shape of a hat on Napstablook's head.

"i call it 'dapper blook.' do you like it..." Percy felt like the shy little ghost might need some encouragement, and the hat was actually pretty cool, so Percy cheered.

The battle ended, and the ghost said, "oh gee... i usually come to the Ruins because there's nobody around... but today I met somebody nice..."

"..."

Napstablook seemed lost in thought, and then said, "oh, i'm rambling again. i'll get out of your way." The ghost then faded out of sight, leaving the path clear.

Man, defeating monsters this way was really satisfying! It was actually so nice to see that Napstablook felt a little better after that.

Smiling, Percy went to the room on the right. In there was a pair of spider webs, one bigger than the other, and a sign. It read: "Spider bake sale. All proceeds go to real spiders."

Percy checked his pockets, but found he had only four gold pieces, and it looked like he needed at least seven to buy anything.

Percy went back, and into the door on the left. In there, he found another sign that read: "Did you miss it? Spider bakesale down and to the right. Come eat food made by spiders, for spiders, of spiders!"

...

Percy wasn't sure what to think of that, or if he wanted to think of it at all. He decided he didn't particularly mind not having enough to buy anything.

He did his best to ignore the sign, and saw two Froggits standing to his right.

Percy talked to them, and the first guy talked to him about "F4," and a "full screen," and then started philosophizing about there being four frogs in the room.

The other Froggit said, "ribbit, ribbit. (I have heard you are quite merciful, for a human... Surely you know by now a monster wears a yellow name when you can Spare it. What do you think of that?)" Percy responded, "it's very helpful." He realized now that he could have just spared that Whimsun immediately instead of talking to it first. Oh well.

The Froggit continued, saying, "(it is rather helpful. Remember, sparing is just saying you won't fight. Maybe one day, you'll have to do it even if their name isn't yellow.)"

Percy thought about that. He'd keep that in mind. Who knows, it might be important.

Percy started walking again, but ran into a Loox. Percy just didn't pick on it, and the monster said, "finally, someone gets it." After dodging Loox's attacks, Percy looked at the monster's name, saw that it was yellow, and spared it.

Percy felt bad for these monsters in the Underground. Loox had been picked on earlier in his life, Whimsun was just terrified, poor little thing, and life is hard for Froggit, too.

He got another call from Toriel, and she said, "hello? I just realized that it has been a while since I have cleaned up. I was not expecting to have company so soon." Percy wasn't entirely sure what Toriel meant, but she then told him to leave some room in his pockets for things he might find.

After she hung up, Percy went to the next room. In here were six holes that he'd have to fall down again. Thanks a lot, world.

He tried the one right next to him first, where there was what looked like a pile of grass. Percy looked at it a little closer, and it came out of the earth! Turns out it was a carrot monster called Vegetoid.

Percy realized he hadn't eaten since before he fell down here, which was quite a few hours ago. His stomach rumbled, and Percy patted it. He felt embarrassed.

Vegetoid offered a healthy meal. "Eat your greens," the monster said. It started throwing vegetables at him, most of which were hard, and he took a bit of damage from that. A few of them were nice and ripe, though, and they filled him up nicely.

Percy was satisfied with his meal, and thanked the Vegetoid, sparing it, too.

He climbed up that hole, and went down the one below it, where he found a faded ribbon. Percy chuckled, and put it on.

The next hole he tried was on the bottom middle, and he found Napstablook down there. The ghost said, "i fell down a hole... now i can't get up... go on without me... wait, ghosts can fly, can't they... oh well..." Then the ghost faded away. Well, Percy was glad he was feeling a little better.

He then tried the top middle hole, where he found the switch! He flipped it, and climbed back up. The spikes at the end had retracted, and Percy went to the next area.

In here were three switches, but he didn't have to do anything with them yet, just move on. In the next room, which looked identical, he just had to flip the switch a sign on the wall told him to. The third and fourth rooms were just like the second, but with a different switch to flip.

In one of them, though, Percy ran into a pair of monsters. One was called a Moldsmal, and the other a Migosp. He looked at their names, and saw that he could spare the Moldsmal right away.

He did so, and after the Moldsmal went away, the previously angry-looking Migosp looked relieved, and started dancing. It seemed that Migosp was just with the wrong crowd. Percy spared the last monster, and went on.

In the next area he could go forwards or left, and he decided to go forwards first. In that room, he found a toy knife on top of a balcony, but since Percy already had Riptide, which he kept in his pocket, he left the knife there, and then went back, and in the room to the side.

When he entered, he saw a big black tree surrounded by leaves on the ground, and he heard Toriel saying, "oh dear, that took longer than I thought it would."

Toriel was somewhere behind the tree when he heard her, and now she walked to the side of the tree, and looked like she was about to call him on the phone when she saw him standing there.

She rushed over to him and said, "how did you get here, my child? Are you hurt? There, there, I will heal you." She held out her hands, and they started glowing green, and Percy felt fully healed again.

"I should not have left you alone for so long," Toriel said. "It was irresponsible to try to surprise you like this. Err..." She said, now blushing. "Well, I suppose I cannot hide it any longer. Come, small one!"

Percy followed her, and found himself at what seemed to be her house here in the Ruins. When he came inside, she said, "do you smell that? Surprise! It is a butterscotch-cinnamon pie! I thought we might celebrate your arrival. I want you to have a nice time living here."

At this, Percy felt a little awkward again, because he knew he couldn't stay long. His friends at Camp Half-Blood would be worrying about him.

"I will hold off on snail pie for tonight," she said. Percy wasn't quite sure what to make of that, either, but Toriel continued. "Here, I have another surprise for you." She walked to the right, expecting him to follow.

Percy walked over to her, into the hall, and she said to him, "this is it..." She took his hand, walked to a door there, and said, "a room of your own. I hope you like it!"

Toriel tousled his hair, and then said, "is something burning...? Um, make yourself at home!" Then she ran off, presumably to the kitchen.

Percy entered the room she called his own, and found in there a bed, a cabinet, a bookshelf, a bunch of old toys, and a lamp in the corner.

Percy felt happy, but also sad. This was a nice little place, much homier than Poseidon's cabin back at Camp. That made Percy feel even more torn about leaving, but he'd miss his friends, and he knew he'd have to go back eventually...

For now though, Percy lay down on his bed, and drifted off to sleep.