Coming Together
Hey guys! New chapter's up, and it's actually on time! And it's the longest one so far!
...
Frisk's sour mood was lifted slightly when she talked to the horse pawn monster from earlier and a blue Jigsawry who told her they had fixed a strange door for her and Ralsei that would take them back and forth between the forest and the field. At least with all the crap that happened, those monsters were kind, and Ralsei was still his smiling self as they thanked them.
They went down the east path, only to have a strange white rabbit blob that looked sort of like a dust bunny jump out of the bushes at them. Ralsei told her it was called a Rabbick. Thankfully, it was easily pacified by blowing some fresh air on it and went away happy.
They quickly ended up nearly literally bumping into Susie and Lancer as they continued on.
"Susie...! Lancer...!" Ralsei asked in shock.
"Heheheh." Susie laughed.
"Well, if it isn't the so-called heroes...!" Lancer crowed.
Susie grinned evilly. "Are you finally ready to see what happens..."
"When you try to act soft...
"Against a team that crushes ANYONE in their way?" Susie asked, showing all her teeth. Frisk stood there and didn't back down. In fact, she tried not to react at all, not wanting to show any sort of weakness.
"Dark Jack Lancer!" Lancer introduced himself.
"Violent Ax Susie!" Susie grinned. "Together we are..."
Lancer struck a dramatic pose and Susie brought out her ax, magic bubbling from the blade as she held it high. "The DARK $!$? Squad!"
"Um... So what's your, um, evil plan?" Ralsei asked hesitantly.
Susie jolted, a sweat drop forming on her forehead like she hadn't even thought of that. "Huh?" She frowned. "Dude, we JUST formed our team. We haven't done anything past our intro yet."
Lancer gave them a pleading look. "Have a little patience, please..."
"Oh, um, sorry..." Ralsei said awkwardly. "We're, um, looking forward to the rest!"
Susie smirked. "Heh, well, you won't have to look forward for long."
"Starting now... We're going to work CEASELESSLY..."
"Unstoppably..." Susie continued.
"To make an evil plan to THRASH you clowns." Lancer finished proudly.
"Watch your backs." Susie added.
"And your fronts!" Lancer put in as they ran away.
Frisk felt just a small bit better at this. It was more like Susie and Lancer were playing around than really trying anything, though they'd still have to be cautious.
"Well, that was weird." Ralsei commented.
Frisk nodded as they headed down the path. Avoiding another couple of Rabbick as they burst out of the bush, they took the east path and went up, coming upon a Rudinn who was relaxing in a corner and looking thoughtful. Frisk was slightly worried they would attack, but they smiled reassuringly. "Don't mind me. I'm on break. ...Say, help me. I need to get something for my friend Clover's birthday. Her only interests are sports, cute boys, and trees."
"Hmm, why not get her a big poster of the boys from her favorite boys' sport's team?" Frisk suggested. "And you could get her a pretty nature based card, or take a picture of her favorite spot in the forest, or one of you guys in the forest, and make it into a birthday card."
The Rudinn's eyes lit up. "That's a great idea, blue person! I'll get on it right away!" With that, he slithered off.
"Nice thinking, Frisk!" Ralsei said approvingly, making Frisk smile.
They went the other direction and once again came upon Susie and Lancer, who were standing over a cracked stump, eating something out of it with spoons.
"How's the evil scheming going?" Ralsei asked conversationally.
Susie looked sheepish. "Huh? Oh, that? We, uh, got bored. So we're having a snack."
"...I see." was all Ralsei had to say.
"C'mon! All I ate for breakfast was chalk!" Susie retorted, glaring at Ralsei.
"And I didn't eat anything!" Lancer piped in.
"Sorry. What are you two having, exactly...?" Ralsei asked.
"Just a daily treasure I hid in this stump's orifice." Lancer answered.
"And that is...?" Ralsei questioned.
Lancer grinned. "Feast for yourself, my main man!"
Ralsei turned to Frisk. "Frisk, do you want to, um, try it?"
Frisk hesitated, worried at first that the food might be spiked with hot sauce or laxatives, as she had been "pranked" that way before, but relaxed as she saw Susie take a bite. She nodded with a smile and thanked Lancer as he handed her a spoon. Glancing inside the stump's crack, she noticed what looked like a small honeypot filled with...salsa. She took a spoonful and ate it. Her eyes lit up. "Hey, this stuff is pretty good!"
"Mmm..." Susie agreed. "Hey, what's in this?"
Lancer grinned. "I don't know!" Ralsei looked slightly disturbed.
Frisk however had eaten more questionable things and didn't really care. "Whatever it is, it's good. Thanks for sharing, Lancer." she said with a smile, causing him to smile back. "C'mon, Ralsei, you should try it!"
He dubiously took the spoon. "Mmm... yummy!" he said with forced cheer as he pretended to stick it in his mouth.
"You just pretended to try it!" Susie accused.
"That's what I do too!" Lancer said cheerfully as Susie gave him a shocked, confused look.
Frisk giggled at Susie and Ralsei's faces and Lancer laughed too. Soon even Ralsei startled chuckling and Susie cracked a real smile. Frisk liked this. It felt warm and comfortable, like spending time with a big group of friends.
And then they all remembered that they were supposed to be on opposing sides and looked at each other awkwardly.
"Well? Has everybody had enough?" Lancer asked, clearly trying to break the awkward silence.
"Constantly." Susie joked.
"Well...we'll be seeing you." Frisk said awkwardly. "Um, thanks for the snack, guys." Ralsei handed the spoon back to Lancer and they headed off.
The next room had several security Ponmen with whips they had to get through, leaving them with stinging bruises. Going up let them talk to a little ball and a stick monster that welcomed them to take a special scarf weapon called Ragger out of a nearby trunk to help them defeat the king. Frisk immediately gave it to Ralsei, who happily put on his new scarf before they made their way back through the Ponmen and to the next room, where there was a puzzle on the wall consisting of card symbol tiles they had to match to the corresponding password above, a club, a heart, and a club.
Susie and Lancer had gotten there first, and were studying some sort of blueprint, ignoring the puzzle. Curiously, Frisk went over to go talk to them.
"Then add a mustache over there..." Susie was telling Lancer as he scribbled something really complex looking that was hard for Frisk to see on the blueprints.
"Hee hee, like this?" Lancer asked.
Susie grinned. "Haha! Yeah! That's perfect!"
"How's the scheming coming along, you two?" Ralsei asked as he walked up.
Susie glared at him, quickly covering up the blueprint. "Hey, don't LOOK! Spoilers, dude!"
"Well well well... Look who it is! The Sweet Little Peas We Love To See." Lancer greeted them as he turned.
"Hey! Watch your language!" Susie scolded.
Lancer pouted. "Oh, sorry..." He looked up at Frisk with a smile. "Susie's trying to get me to swear more."
Frisk tried not to chuckle as she headed to the puzzle. After checking it for a moment, she fidgeted with the spade, diamond, and swap buttons, and got it figured out, sending the spikes that blocked the room away and causing Susie and Lancer to jump in surprise.
"Heh, thanks for doing the puzzle for us, losers!" Susie said with a grin.
"Hahaha! Thank you so much, losers! We were having trouble!" Lancer agreed. The two bolted off, forgetting their blueprint, then quickly came running back before Frisk could even think of looking at it.
"We, uh, need this." Susie said sheepishly as they grabbed the blueprint and took off again at the speed of light.
Frisk turned to Ralsei. "Well, it looks like they're having fun. I haven't seen Susie this happy since..." She paused. "I've never seen her this happy. Granted, I've only known her a few weeks though since I only transferred to her school recently."
"What was she like then?" Ralsei asked softly.
"Quiet." Frisk admitted as they continued along the magenta path. "A lot of the kids at school are scared of her. She pretty much kept to herself though. She never picked on me or anything, but we never really talked before, well, the incident that brought us here. I mean, I wanted to talk to her, but...I wasn't really sure what to say. It's...a new thing for me, having friends. I didn't exactly have any before I moved to Hometown." She looked down, fidgeting with her fingers a bit. "Honestly, I have no idea what I'm doing when I'm around other people. You and Susie were the first people that were easy to talk to."
"Well, I think you're a good friend!" Ralsei said supportively. "And Susie likes you too, even if she doesn't want to admit it. And I think even Lancer's starting to like us. Don't worry, Frisk! It'll all work out."
Frisk smiled. "Thanks, Ralsei."
After rearranging a Bloxer that was unhappy with itself, Ralsei and Frisk made their way down the next pathway. The puzzle there had no clues above it, but glancing around, Frisk found the solution. In two dead end pathways were three signs, a spade followed by a diamond and a club. After entering the symbols, the spikes blocking the north path withdrew and they headed upwards, finding yet another treasure chest with two blue blocky monsters standing nearby.
"Bow-Bow!(Break the Box for a Bracelet.) Bow- Bow! (It will will Boost your Befense.) the first monster said proudly. Frisk thanked them and did just that, pulling out a black and white bracelet covered in dice. She brought it over to Ralsei with a smile. "Here, you need some armor too."
Ralsei grinned as Frisk slipped it on his wrist. "Wow! It says, "Friendship!" Thanks Frisk!"
Frisk smiled. "You're welcome!" She then looked to the other monster there, noticing they looked sad. She frowned worriedly and walked over to them. "Hey, is everything all right?"
They shook their head. "The King wants to o-liminate Lightners, but... we didn't agree with that. We o-scaped, but the o-thers were o-rrested..."
Frisk frowned sympathetically. "I'm sorry." She tried to smile. "We'll try to find a way to get them free, okay?"
Ralsei nodded. "We will! We're the heroes of legend after all!"
The monster's eyes lit up. "You will?! You're o-wesome! We'll o-we you o-ur gratitude!"
"We'll do everything we can, all right?" Frisk said gently, hoping she hadn't bitten off more than she could chew. But she'd find some sort of way.
After saying goodbye to the monsters, making their way southwest, and helping rearrange a Bloxer that was unhappy with themselves, they found their way to the next big puzzle, which once again been vandalized. You could only tell what the color of the card tiles were supposed to be, but not whether it was a club, spade, diamond, or heart.
When Frisk and Ralsei wandered around, looking for clues, a white head with a black stripe across its nose, bright, cheerful purple eyes, and a wide grin popped out of a hole in the ground, surprising them.
The head smiled in a friendly way. "RK came by! What a hunk! He vandalized the puzzle to stop the Lightners... But WE know the answers!"
"Can you help us? We're trying to get to our friends on the other side." Frisk asked politely.
The head smiled. "Of course we'll tell you! Umm... The first symbol is a heart! Haha, just like love! Does that help?"
"Very much. Thank you." Frisk said gratefully.
They then came upon another hole and another head popped out, looking similar to the first, but with a shy, nervous expression rather than a happy one like the first. "Um, symbol puzzle?" they questioned when Frisk asked. "All the symbols were different... I think. You can, um, still see the colors they were too... Sorry I can't be any more help."
"Don't be, you were awesome. Thank you so much." Frisk told them and moved on.
The head that popped out of the topmost hole, a scowling, angry creature, was much more aggressive when they asked. "Huh?! Symbol puzzle...?! Why should WE care?! NONE of the symbols are clubs! AARRRGH, it's downright insulting!"
Frisk thanked them yet again and typed those in, unlocking the spikes. They started to head north, but suddenly a cat-like creature, white with three heads, the heads she recognized that had helped them, came charging at her. "Heyy! It's my birthday today!" the cheerful head said.
"And you didn't even say HELLO?!" the angry one asked.
"T-That's fine, actually." the shy one said.
"Stop and say hi, folks!"
"Shut up! They don't deserve us!"
"H-Hey, calm down, you two."
Frisk's head was spinning and she moved protectively in front of Ralsei as the three heads argued, the cheerful head wanting to celebrate her birthday with a battle, the second wanting to make them hurt, and the poor shy head apologizing for the whole thing.
"Oh, you must be Clover! Happy birthday!" Frisk said cheerfully. "C'mon, we don't need to fight! Let's talk instead, okay?"
Ralsei nodded. "So we heard you, um, like sports?"
"I've always wanted to eat a football!"
The three heads continued to happily talk about sports, mostly about eating various types of sports equipment, except for the much saner third one who was just happy their interest was being talked about, but they also still wanted to fight, and Frisk and Ralsei dodged as Clover shot out club shaped bullets that separated into threes. Thankfully, they were pretty easy to dodge.
Ralsei then brought up the next topic, though it clearly made him feel awkward. "Umm... What kind of "boys" do you like?"
"Cute ones! Hmm Hmm-"
"NICE ONES, like I AM!"
"None... Um, I mean all." The poor shy head looked nearly as awkward as Ralsei did right now.
"Glasses are cute!" the cheerful one added.
"Fluffy! Glasses! That's it!" the angry agreed, though her voice was calmer and softer now.
"Like Ralsei?" Frisk couldn't help but tease.
Ralsei turned bright red. "Friiisk!" he whined, covering his face.
"HIM?" the shy head blurted out, before looking embarrassed as the other two heads looked at her. "Err...sure."
Still, they sent out more club bullets, though less violently than before, enabling Frisk and Ralsei to easily dodge without getting hurt.
Thankfully, when Frisk asked them about the forest, remembering that they loved trees, the three were finally happy and calmed down, backing away from them and letting them go, the cheerful one saying a happy, "Bye!" and the angry head grumbling but clearly mollified. The shy head apologized yet again and dropped a bunch of coins in front of them before the hydra left.
...
A sore and tired Ralsei and Frisk sighed with relief as they entered the next room, Frisk grateful to see a waiting Save Star. She quickly saved and felt the healing magic rush over herself and Ralsei.
She didn't see Susie, sitting at the furthest bake sale counter with Lancer, jolt as the healing magic rushed over her too.
"Wow, there's a lot of bake sale counters here." Frisk commented as she looked them over. The items were cheap and for a good cause(it looked like) so she bought a Choco Diamond and a Hearts Donut. "Tina will love these." she said, smiling.
"Your sister?" Ralsei asked.
Frisk nodded with a smile. "She loves sweet things, but I can't aff...I mean, we don't get them very often. This will give her a good treat for when I pick her up from school. I just hope I'm not late... I don't want her to worry."
"Don't worry. We'll seal the fountain and you guys will be able to get home soon." Ralsei said encouragingly, though he looked a bit sad.
"You okay?" Frisk asked him.
He nodded, smiling. "Yeah..." he told her, then looked down. "I'll just miss you. It's really nice to have a friend."
Frisk put a hand on his shoulder, smiling reassuringly. "Don't worry! If the closet stays open, I'll come visit often! And I can bring Tina too."
"I'd like that." Ralsei told her, smiling.
There was an exaggerated gagging sound and Frisk and Ralsei turned to see Susie and Lancer sitting behind a blue bake sale counter. "Can you two please take the mush elsewhere? People are selling food here!" Lancer complained dramatically. "No one wants to be put off their appetites!"
Frisk rolled her eyes as she walked up to them. "Hey, guys. What are you two doing anyway? This part of your evil plan?"
"Nah, we're selling stuff." Susie shrugged.
"May we interest you in a Lancer Cookie?" Lancer asked with a grin. He held out a rather adorable cookie shaped like his face.
"All proceeds go to kicking your ass." Susie added, grinning as well.
"It's a mere $40." Lancer cajoled.
Frisk shrugged, seeing no harm in it. Tina would get a kick out of it. "Sure, I'll take it." She handed them forty Dark Dollars.
Susie grinned. "Heheheh, thanks..." She handed Frisk the cookie. "For getting CHEATED by us!"
"Now we may fund our illicit plans!" Lancer crowed as he and Susie jumped up. They immediately ran off...
...And bought a Hearts Donut from the stand next to theirs.
"So how should we split the doughnut?" Susie was asking Lancer as a very confused Frisk and Ralsei walked up to them.
"You get the blood, I get the skin!" Lancer said cheerfully.
"If I may ask, how does a donut fit into your plan?" Ralsei asked.
"All real plans allocate for delicious treats." Lancer said matter of factly.
Susie grinned. "Sounds like you need to go to Plan School, Dr. Toothpaste."
"Hoho! Yes! Earn a second doctorate, Smart Genius!" Lancer added.
"Am I being made fun of?" Ralsei whispered to Frisk as Susie and Lancer decided to just split the donut in half.
"They're just jealous." she whispered back as they walked away, not wanting to hurt his feelings.
They ended up going the wrong way, but this wrong way led them to the Smith Malius. It turned out he could fix anything, and when he noticed the broken piece of cake in Frisk's bag, he was surprisingly ecstatic.
"Huh-! That cake is seething with energy! You must let me fix it!" he pleaded.
Frisk blinked. "Okay?" She handed it over and watched in disbelief as he slammed a mallet on it, and it somehow became a beautiful top shaped cake that practically sparkled.
"This is truly a tremendous cake. Use its power wisely..." the smith said quietly.
Ralsei's eyes widened when he checked the cake. "Frisk... This cake restores 140 HP to every member of the party. We should save it for only our most important battles."
Frisk nodded.
She knew exactly where they'd need it.
...
Frisk now knew it. Bloxers had to be the most annoying monsters ever, and paper dancers were extremely painful to get through and seemed to enjoy crashing into you if you were even a little too slow, and poor Ralsei ended up tripping over his robes and took the worst of it. Thankfully, a Darkburger from their inventory was able to clear up the damage, and they reached the next area to see Lancer standing there, without Susie this time.
"Hey, Lancer. What's up? Where's Susie?" Frisk greeted him.
Lancer put his hand over his head dramatically like a damsel in distress from one of Tina's fairy tales. "Oh, woe! Woe is me...! Rows and rows of woes and woes! If only a hero would help..."
"Lancer...? Is everything alright..?" Ralsei asked.
Frisk sighed, knowing Lancer was once again messing with them. "What are you two up to now?"
Lancer turned, revealing that he was wearing a mustache that looked like it was made out of donut jelly. "Oh, I'm not Lancer! I'm just a sweet little boy!"
Ralsei rolled his eyes. "Why does a sweet little boy have a mustache."
"As a disguise." Lancer answered cheerfully.
"Obviously." Frisk muttered.
Ralsei shook his head. "...so what kind of help do you need?"
Lancer pretended to look shy. "See, I have this evil plan that I need to make..."
"And why does a "sweet boy" need an evil plan?" Ralsei pressed.
"To impress his cool friend Susie!"
"Frisk, if it's for friendship..." Ralsei whispered before speaking louder again. "Well then, we'll gladly help. What shall we do?"
"It's all on the paper, you delicious little apple!" Lancer said with a smirk, throwing a blueprint on a tripod in front of them. and Frisk and Ralsei walked up to it. "Just fill it with the most evil thing you can imagine! Ho ho ho! Let the Clown-Generated-Content begin!"
Frisk had to admit, "Create a machine to thrash your own ass," by Lancer Industries," was pretty cute. She discussed the design of it with Ralsei, though she was clearly more into it than he was, then drew a laser head for the cool factor, a round wheel body for mobility and just because it made it look cute and round, and more wheels for the tires, coloring the whole thing in shades of soothing blue. She wondered if Susie and Lancer would actually build it, and this should have worried her, but, for whatever reason...
She didn't feel like Susie and Lancer would truly hurt them.
Lancer grinned. "Wow! Looks nasty! Are you sure you aren't evil!?"
Frisk shrugged. "I just thought it looked neat."
"Err, no, I suppose we just have a knack for it." Ralsei answered.
Susie then jumped out of the bushes with a loud crash. Somehow, Frisk was expecting this. The dragon girl looked incredibly proud of herself despite being covered in leaves. "Haha, tricked you, idiots!" she crowed. "NEVER do something someone else can do FOR you!"
"Um, we just picked three things from your and Lancer's blueprints..." Frisk answered, but was summarily ignored as Susie went to look at her handiwork.
"Heheh, it even looks kinda cool! Not bad, Frisk." Susie praised her before turning to Lancer. "Anyway, great job, Lancer! They were sitting ducks!"
Lancer grinned. "Hahaha, Yes! And it's all thanks to our enemies!" He smirked at Frisk and Ralsei. "Thank you very much! Thrash-you-later!" They bolted off with their blueprint.
"Okay." Ralsei said, clearly weirded out. He glanced at the Susie shaped hole left in the bush. "It's nice Susie finally found a place she fits in..." Ralsei joked, and they continued on. "...And she's getting along with Lancer, too!"
"Yeah, it's actually kind of cute." Frisk said, then froze. "NEVER tell her I said that."
"Don't worry. I won't."
They were chased by a weird bird that shot stars at them until they ran into the next room, where there was a revolving puzzle that involved them walking in a circle in the center while avoiding a Ponman's whip to let them see a tree with a hidden switch. They found and pressed it, and went into the next room, where there was a SAVE star. Lancer and Susie were reclining on lawn chairs and being fanned by Rudinns. Frisk let them be for the moment and Saved.
Once again, she didn't notice as the healing magic washed over Susie.
...
Susie jumped as she felt the warm healing magic from Frisk's little star healing powers surround her once again. What the hell was going on? She wasn't even in the dork's party any more!
Why was she still being healed by her?!
She pushed this aside, deciding not to dwell on it, as she saw Frisk and Ralsei talk to Lancer.
"How's the thrash machine we designed going?" Ralsei asked conversationally. Geez, they were on opposing sides, and those two were still as sickeningly sweet as ever. They didn't even take their plans seriously!
"The WHAT machine?" Lancer asked, playing dumb. He was a smart kid.
And Ralsei clearly fell for it, the idiot. "The machine...? You know, the one you tricked us into designing for you?"
"Oh, that. Yeah, we'll make it at the last minute." Susie said casually, pretending she and Lancer HADN'T been working on it this whole time. Lancer surprisingly was good with mechanics, though they couldn't work out an issue with the laser head and eventually got bored and decided to get a bunch of Rudinn soldiers to fan them while they relaxed.
"You two should REALLY start working on it earlier..." Toothpaste boy complained, sounding like he was Miss Alphys trying to get people to finish their assignments, not like she ever dared to talk that way to Susie.
"WHAT'S with the lecture?" Lancer complained, rolling his eyes. "I didn't come here for a second dad!"
"Heheh, yeah, you tell him!" Susie cheered. Damn she liked that kid.
Frisk smiled as she passed her, the same little smile she always gave her in class or in the hallways if their eyes met. She didn't know why the hell the wimp felt the need to do that. No one smiled at Susie.
Even the reindeer monster that gave her that candy cane pencil on her first day at school didn't dare to look into her eyes any more...
And yet even when she had nearly beaten Frisk up the first time they talked, even when she betrayed her, the idiot still smiled at her.
Still believed in her.
Why?!
"So, er... ready to be a good guy again, Susie?" Ralsei asked, the furry dork just as pushy as always.
"Nah." Susie replied casually. "Gotta say being a bad guy is pretty sweet. Not only is it WAY more fun than being "good," but MY teammate's PROUD of what I do."
Lancer nodded happily. "Earlier, Susie ate a pinecone off the floor. It gave her a terrible stomach-ache. It was VERY brave and cool."
Susie noticed that Ralsei looked weirded out, but Frisk barely reacted at all, except for to look stupidly worried when Lancer said she had had a stomachache. Then again, the girl ate questionable salsa out of tree trunks, just like she did, and didn't even blink, and she had seen her also, after she tripped and fell once at lunch, just pick up everything off the ground and start eating like nothing happened, even though some of the other students looked at her weirdly.
When it came to food, Frisk was just like her.
She pushed the odd ache in her heart away and grinned. "SEE? Finally, some RESPECT!"
"Being a bad guy sure is relaxing!" Lancer said with a grin.
"Frisk, if you're jealous, you can be a bad guy too..." Susie coaxed with a grin. Honestly the girl needed to be a little more bad. It'd be good for her. Maybe then she'd actually develop a spine and stop fretting so much about what other people thought.
"Frisk isn't jealous of your evildoing lifestyle...!" Ralsei answered before Frisk could. He whispered something to Frisk Susie couldn't make out, though the girl just shook her head.
And there it was again. Frisk hadn't even WANTED to be a hero in the first place, but Ralsei had definitely pressured and guilted her into it with that whole, "The world will end without you," crap. And Frisk was so desperate for friends, or love, or something, that she just did what he wanted. And hell, she had even tried to befriend Susie despite that Susie had been rude to her almost the whole time.
Susie was glad she had snapped herself out of that phase years ago. Not like trying, no matter how hard, had ever gotten her even a bit of acceptance. And eventually Frisk would learn this cold truth too.
But it didn't make any sense to worry about Frisk's little issues. Not like Frisk actually ACCEPTED her help in the first place. Frisk was probably happy being with goody two shoes Ralsei and being some big hero. She had no need for mean, dumb Susie after all and was probably happy to not have to constantly mediate arguments between her and Ralsei.
And speaking of Ralsei... "Hey, move it, Captain Toothpaste." Susie complained when Ralsei just stood there in front of her. "You're blocking my reverse-tan."
"The shadow's flares are making us as pale as a horse." Lancer sighed happily.
Yeah, she would just enjoy hanging out and being the villain with the awesome kid who actually liked her for who she was, not because she was supposed to be some namby pamby storybook hero.
"By the way, beware yourselves of the forest maze." Lancer called out to the Duo Of Clowns as they started to leave.
Susie grinned. "You'll probably get COMPLETELY lost... Without someone who knows the way through, that is."
"Yeah! I know the forest like the back of my head!" Lancer said happily. As the two left, Lancer stood up. "Gonna go mess with them."
"Have fun." Susie said as she turned over onto her stomach. He nodded with a grin and disappeared down the wooded path.
She waited for a while. He didn't come back.
Then she started to get worried. Despite Lancer's boasts, the kid actually had no sense of direction.
She guessed it was up to her to go look for him.
She jumped to her feet and started searching, hurrying through the winding pathways that seemed to all look the same with a walk that bordered on a run and was certainly NOT desperate.
And then she found herself in a narrow path, just as Frisk and Ralsei walked up. "Hey, losers!" she greeted them, feeling a bit better. If they were here, Lancer was probably right behind them.
Except he wasn't. "Wait, a sec. Where's Lancer?"
"Err, well, he wasn't going the right way, so..." Ralsei stammered. Susie glared at him. So much for him being a hero if he left a kid in the woods by himself!
"You let him wander off BY HIMSELF?! You KNOW he's bad at mazes, right?!" she yelled. "He's probably lost and confused right now!"
"Ho ho ho! I'm lost and confused!" Lancer called from somewhere.
"Sorry Susie. We didn't mean to make you worry about him." Ralsei said. He was probably smug, the self righteous asshole. Just like when he cooed about her caring about Frisk! Which she did NOT!
Even though her soul was telling her that that was a lie.
Susie just pushed those feelings away and gave Ralsei a glare. "Huh, no, I'm not worried about him! Bad guys gotta look out for each other, is all." She didn't sound convincing even to herself. "Anyway, get out of my way! I'm gonna find him!"
"I'll help." Frisk told her.
Susie shook her head. Frisk had the same bad sense of direction as her and Lancer, which made sense considering they had never been here before. "Don't bother, you're just as bad at getting lost as he is and I'm certainly not looking for you." She rushed down the path before Frisk could even answer.
Susie ran through the woods, getting more frantic every minute, and it didn't help that Bloxers and Rabbicks kept attacking her. Where the heck WAS he?! There was a bunch of monsters in here she had to beat the crap out of, so what if Lancer was hurt? She knew he could hold his own in a fight, but damnit, he was just a kid!
Do you get why Frisk tried so hard to protect him in the beginning now? a voice in her head taunted as she ran, calling out for him.
She shook her head. "Damnit, how was I supposed to know then that I'd actually like the guy?"
She ended up running into Frisk and Ralsei again. "Any luck?" Frisk asked worriedly. At least SHE was concerned for Lancer, unlike SOME people.
She shook her head. "Damn it, I thought he went this way."
"Still trying to save Lancer from being lost...?" Ralsei asked, the smug bastard.
"No way, he can save his own damn self." Susie grumbled, pretending like she didn't care. But the fact was she did, and the next words out of her traitorous mouth were, "But, uh, tell me if you see him..."
"We will." Frisk promised. It was one thing she liked about Frisk. She didn't push or make a big deal of it when Susie acted nice like Ralsei did.
It took a long while of searching for her to find Lancer. He immediately brightened when he saw her though. "Phew, thanks Susie! I thought I'd be trapped in here forever." he sighed.
"Nah. I woulda found you. Us bad guys gotta stick together after all." she said, and couldn't help but smile.
"Yeah! The Dark $!$? team will never be brought down!" he cheered, and Susie grinned.
"Now, c'mon. Let's get out of here and set up our Thrash Machine before the losers get out of the woods." Susie told him with a grin, rubbing her arm where a Bloxer had hit her hard before she knocked it out.
"Susie? You okay?" Lancer asked, worried.
"I'm fine. Bastard just got a hit in before I creamed it. But you can bet your ass that demented Lego looks a lot worse." Susie said confidently. She didn't like seeing Lancer worried.
Something about the kid made her want to only see him happy.
Damn, Ralsei was right about something. She WAS getting soft.
But thankfully, Lancer, like always, didn't judge. "Still, that looks like it hurts! I'm not good at healing magic, so let me get some..."
And then Susie lit up with Frisk's weird star magic once again and the bruise instantly disappeared.
Lancer's eyes were wide. "Whoa! Cool! How'd you do that?"
"I didn't." Susie admitted. "Frisk must have found one of her dumb star things."
"Huh?"
"Oh, she's got this weird ability to see these invisible stars, and when she touches them, it heals her and everybody in her party." Susie explained.
Lancer gasped. "Clown number one's a Star User?!"
"Dunno what that means, but probably. I have no idea why her freaky ability's still healing me though. I'm not even near her."
Lancer was quiet for a moment. "Susie, Star Users are supposed to be super strong healers. I heard they can heal anyone in their party, no matter how far away if they touch one of those stars."
"But that's the thing! I'm NOT in her party anymore! I'm with you! We're supposed to be her enemies or something! Why in the HELL is she still healing me?!" Susie yelled.
Lancer's voice was uncharacteristically soft as he fidgeted a bit like he was about to say something he was worried about Susie hearing. "Because she obviously still sees you as part of her party, Susie."
"WHY?!" Susie shouted. "I was a total jackass to her! WHY on earth would she still see me as part of her party?!"
Lancer shrugged. "Weren't you guys friends or something?"
"No, we only even knew each other a few weeks! I mean, she'd say hi to me and smile when we passed in the halls or whatever, since she's new and didn't have the common sense to avoid me like everyone else, but the first time we actually TALKED, I practically threatened to beat the crap out of her. And yet that goody two shoes was STILL happy to see me okay when we fell into the Dark World. Dumbass even tried to HUG me." she added with a dark laugh. "I don't know what's wrong with her messed up little brain. Not like I gave her, or anyone else for that matter, any reason to like me." She clenched her fists and looked down at the ground, hating herself for caring. Hadn't she learned better?
"But I like you, Susie!" Lancer said brightly as they finally found the right path out of the forest. "You're REALLY cool, and scary, and fun to hang with!"
And damn if Susie didn't feel a lump in her throat when she heard that. "Yeah, whatever, guess you're all right too." she muttered, feeling her face heat up.
Lancer, like Frisk, could annoyingly see right through her, and he grinned even wider. "Hey, I've got a good idea! Why don't we just bring Frisk and Ralsei into the DARK $!$? gang?"
"Huh?" Susie asked in confusion.
"We should make them become villains like us!" Lancer said happily. "I mean, Frisk isn't as cool as you or me obviously, because we're the best, but she's still pretty cool! She likes tree salsa and Lancer Cookies too, and she and Ralsei designed a pretty awesome evil Thrash Machine, even if we couldn't get the head to fire right. Plus, Frisk likes you, and she steals cake, and you said during our first fight that she almost got expelled! She's gotta have a LITTLE bit of villain in her! You should have seen how much fun she had making our Thrash Machine! She was really into it! Plus, she's a Star User and Ralsei's a smarty pants! We gotta get them on our side! We can all have a bunch of fun together, and beat up bad guys, and Frisk can steal cake for us, and..."
Susie gave in. Lancer looked too freaking happy not to, plus, that damn soft spot she couldn't quite eradicate wanted Frisk (The only one besides Lancer that actually cared about her) back on her side. Plus, it would be hilarious to push Cinnamon Bunny Ralsei into doing "bad" things. He needed to get that stick out of his butt anyway.
She sighed dramatically. "All right, you've convinced me. We'll give them a good thrashing and MAKE them join our side! Now here's the plan..."
Lancer listened happily and grinned. "That's awesome!" He then gave her puppy dog eyes. "But can we still blow up the Thrash Machine?"
Susie fist bumped him. "Hell yeah!"
...
They quickly got the Thrash Machine set up and then hid, waiting for Frisk and Ralsei to get their dumb butts out of the forest. Soon enough, she spotted Frisk's new dark hair and bright blue skin coming through the trees, and the two's eyes widened as they spotted the machine waiting for them.
"F... Frisk! Isn't that the machine we designed...!?" she heard Ralsei say quietly.
"Looks like it. You DID kinda tell them to finish it." Frisk replied. She approached cautiously. "Damn, this thing looks cool. Too bad it's built to kick our butts."
"She likes it!" Lancer told Susie brightly.
"Shush!" she scolded as the two got closer.
"Alright! This will be tough, but let's try our best!" Ralsei said in that annoyingly bright voice of his as he moved closer to join Frisk. "Oh. That's... not good actually." he added nervously as he got a better look at the machine.
And that's when it was time to make their dramatic entrance. They jumped out from the bushes, sticking the landing, and sauntered over. "Ho ho ho! You think THAT'S bad, just WAIT! ...and see what happens when it STARTS!" Lancer crowed. Kid was getting better at being scary all the time. Though she would never admit it, she was proud.
And now it was time for the master plan. Lancer hit the button and the machine exploded in front of them. Ralsei jumped about a mile and Frisk caught him.
Susie smirked at the look on Frisk and Ralsei's faces. "Your design sucked, so we blew it up."
"Ah, I see." Ralsei said. He looked relieved and Susie inwardly smirked. He wouldn't be for long. "...So.. now what's your plan going to be?"
"Turns out we didn't need a plan. Just a rule." Susie told him.
Lancer nodded, giving the evil grin she had taught him for maximum intimidation. "Anyone that gets in our way..."
"Gets crushed into dust." Susie finished.
"But Susie, you need us to return home." Ralsei pointed out, the smug bastard thinking he was right as always. "Doesn't crushing us seem a little counterproductive?"
"Nah, see, that's where you're wrong." Susie informed him. "Ya see, I KNOW I can't get back without you guys. But being a -heh- "good guy" REALLY isn't my style. So I thought of a little way we can just... settle this." She swung her ax menacingly to scare them, though privately had no intention on using it on either of them.
Especially Frisk.
"If you win, I'll come back to being a "good guy." she told them. Ha, like that'd happen. "But if you LOSE...YOU guys will have to become bad guys with us...And do WHATEVER we say."
"Ho ho ho! Our wish is your command!" Lancer added happily.
Susie smiled. "So, whaddya say..?" She didn't let them finish. "Eh, don't bother answering. We were just gonna thrash you anyway, so... See ya!"
She charged at Frisk, dropping her ax. Much as she wanted to "thrash" the girl into submission...she couldn't bring herself to really hurt her. Frisk's HP was low, and if she hit her with the ax, she might end up taking her head off. She wanted the girl on her team, not hurt or dead. So the plan was basically to knock Frisk down, sit on her, and force her to listen and stop acting like an idiot who was gonna get herself killed.
She threw a punch, though found herself using much less force than she normally would. But her fist hit nothing anyway. Frisk had dodged her blow with a simple light sidestep.
"Frisk! Don't worry! I'll use my lullaby!" Ralsei called.
Uh oh. That lullaby got her every time. She rushed at the dumb goat boy, wanting to stop him before she got knocked out(And couldn't protect Lancer) and swung, only to have her fist blocked by a shield as Frisk leapt between them. Lancer rushed to help her, but somehow, Frisk blocked his attack too.
Damn it! How was Frisk this fast?!
Ralsei opened his mouth to sing and put her to sleep, and Susie braced herself, hoping she could force herself to stay awake, but Frisk stopped him before he could.
"No. I want this to be a fair fight." Frisk said firmly, her eyes glinting with determination. "I got this, Ralsei. You handle Lancer."
Susie stared at her in shock, then laughed. "You think you can handle me?! I'll kick your ass!"
"Frisk! You're going to get hurt!" Ralsei told her.
Her gaze was steely. "I'm not weak, you guys. And I'm going to prove that." She stared at Susie. There was no fear in her expression. "Fight me, Susie. You and me, one on one. I'm going to prove myself to you. I'm going to make you see I'm strong."
Susie blinked in shock, then laughed loudly. "Yeah, right! I've seen you "fight." You won't even hit anyone!"
"And I'm not going to hit you either. But I'm still going to win." Frisk was completely calm, almost expressionless, but there was fire in those bright brown eyes, like she was desperate to prove something. Susie didn't know whether it was to her or Frisk herself.
And Susie wasn't going to back down from that challenge. So she took another swing, only to miss once again as Frisk lightly leapt out of the way. Susie growled and rushed forward, feinting to the right to try to trick her, then quickly aiming for the left, only to hit nothing but air as Frisk slipped past her.
Susie grinned. 'Okay, you're good, but I'm still better!" She charged once again, preparing a punch, but aimed a kick at Frisk's slender form, trying to trip her up. It connected slightly, but Frisk didn't even yelp, turning the slight tumble into a roll. She landed with a crouch and lightly leapt out of the way again, causing Susie to strike nothing but air.
"Damn, hold still!" Susie yelled.
"Yeah, like that's a good idea in a fight." Frisk said dryly.
Susie had to admit she had a point.
She snuck a glance to Lancer, just to make sure he was okay. She noticed Frisk do the same with Ralsei, though wasn't going to attack her when her back was turned. That was a coward's move!
Lancer and Ralsei were pretty much just standing there, talking and watching the fight. When he caught Susie's glance, he looked embarrassed and threw a clearly half hearted spade attack at Ralsei, who dodged and then said something to Lancer, which made him hesitate once again.
She'd deal with that problem later. Right now, she had a fight, and since Lancer was watching...
She might as well show off a little.
So she just increased her power, fighting with the wild joy of having a worthy opponent. She managed to corner Frisk so she couldn't dodge, and thinking she'd won, threw a punch for the midsection, though tried to be careful to only knock Frisk down and knock the wind out of her.
Only to have her punch blocked and deflected by Frisk's slender arms as the girl took a defensive stance. If the punch had hurt or Frisk was scared, the girl didn't show it on her face.
Her second punch was blocked once again, and Frisk simply ducked under the third. Susie growled and attempted to grab her, only to have Frisk slide right over her arm, now out of the corner. She charged after her and lunged, not about to let her get away that easily.
Frisk, the slippery bastard, once again dodged, causing Susie to get slightly off balance. Just then, a tiny foot hit her ankles at just the right angle and the trip and Susie's own momentum caused her to hit the ground hard.
It wasn't actually a defeat; Susie could still just get up and continue the fight as she wasn't wounded since Frisk hadn't actually hit her, but she was still impressed that such a small girl could actually knock her down.
"How the hell did you do that?" she asked Frisk, who had gotten a distance away and was watching her warily as she sat up.
"Let's just say down here isn't the first time I've gotten into fights I didn't ask for." Frisk responded with a calm quietness that was kind of unnerving.
"You're not bad, I guess." Susie admitted as she got up.
"Lots of practice. Granted, I'm lucky you didn't have Lancer sneak up behind me and hit me in the head with a spade attack or something. You probably would have had me down by now."
"What?! That's a fucking coward's move!" Susie yelled, offended at the very idea of Frisk having expected her to do that. The only type of asshole that would do that to their opponent was someone who was too weak and cowardly to handle themselves in a REAL fight! And Susie was not that type of person. And neither was Lancer!
Frisk smiled. "I know. And that's how I know neither of you are like THEM. I wanted this fight to prove two things, Susie. One, to prove that even though I don't like fighting I can still be strong. And to prove to you that you AREN'T a villain."
Susie's brain shorted out as she stared at her in shock. "What the hell are you talking about?!"
Frisk took a deep breath, a tired, sad look in her eyes that looked far too old for someone so innocent. "I know bullies, Susie. REAL bullies. I've dealt with people who wanted to hurt me. A villain would pull any cowardly trick to cause someone pain. But you're different. You and Lancer. You never ONCE tried to attack me and Ralsei from behind. And don't think I didn't notice that during this whole fight, you were pulling every punch to not badly hurt me if you did hit me." She gave that stupid smile again, and Susie mentally cursed her for doing that. How the hell could that girl always see straight through her?! "I know you're not a bad person, Susie. I...I just wanted you to see that. I just wanted you to understand..."
And Susie looked into her eyes, and she DID understand. Frisk's past mirrored her own. Frisk had been an outcast too. And she remembered Frisk's soft-spoken statement of "It doesn't always matter who started the fight. People only hate who finishes it." That, Frisk telling ashamed of how she had been nearly expelled, her desperate stealing of food...
Frisk understood.
And knowing that, Susie's will to fight drained. She couldn't hurt Frisk. She couldn't cause one of the only two people to like her, to understand her, any more pain.
She opened her mouth, wanting to say something, anything, but all words eluded her. There was nothing she could say that wouldn't sound totally stupid. So she just looked away, then noticed Lancer was both watching wide-eyed and talking to Ralsei animatedly with a smile. He caught her gaze, looked embarrassed, and waved her over.
She went over calmly, knowing neither Frisk or Ralsei would attack while their guard was down. They were too damn nice to after all. "What's wrong, dude?" Frisk too came over, and Susie noticed a concerned look on her face that mirrored her own.
"I accidentally started liking the enemies...!" Lancer shrank a bit like he thought Susie would actually be mad or disappointed in him for it. "Frisk's cool and Ralsei's nice, okay? Now seeing them makes me feel round and soft. Bad atmosphere for battle though." He looked at Susie pleadingly. "Do we HAVE to fight them?"
Susie gave in, pretending that she hadn't already decided she couldn't fight any more, just out of sheer pride. Though she knew that even if she hadn't, she would backed down regardless with Lancer giving her that look. "Fine, kid. If you don't want to, there's no point, I guess. Battle's over!" She turned to Frisk and Ralsei. "Well, you didn't technically beat us, but since Ralsei decided to manipulate Lancer..."
"it wasn't manipulation, it was kindness!" Ralsei argued.
She knew this now, but refused to admit it. "...I might as well just go back to your side. But don't expect me to do anything but FIGHT." Susie made her scariest face, but somehow Frisk and Ralsei weren't intimidated.
"Well, we're happy to have you back, Susie." Ralsei said genuinely, and Frisk nodded with that stupid smile of hers that CERTAINLY didn't make Susie feel soft, damnit.
"Yeah, yeah, let's just hurry up and go home." she muttered.
"Umm... Susie? Does this mean we... aren't a team any more?" Lancer asked softly.
Susie froze at the fact that Lancer thought this, and tried to make her mouth work. "H... huh..? Umm, I mean, uhh..." Lancer looked down, and she finally found her voice. "Of course we're still a team! You can, um..." She looked to Frisk and Ralsei, who both nodded with wide smiles. "...be part of the The $!$? Squad!"
"Wow! Me...!? In the The $!$? Squad!?" Lancer asked with his eyes wide, then paused. "Wait... If I hang out with the good guys, then... Can we still have monogrammed track jackets?"
Susie grinned. "Yeah! Ralsei will make them!"
"I'll help!" Frisk piped up, clearly just as excited about it as Lancer was.
"H... Huh!? ...Okay, sure!" Ralsei agreed.
"Ahahah! Lancer joins the team!" Lancer grinned, running over to them. Despite her best efforts, a smile crept onto Susie's face. Damn, she WAS getting soft.
But as Lancer and Frisk started talking track jacket colors, with Ralsei joining in, all of them smiling, she decided that maybe, just maybe, that wasn't so bad after all.
...
Hope you guys liked seeing Susie's perspective for once! And don't worry, her inner monologue about Ralsei isn't how I feel about him, it's just Susie being an untrusting tsundere who is suspicious of (almost) anyone, minus Lancer and Frisk.
I hope you liked the changes I made to the Lancer and Susie fight! Now that the story's reaching the climax, having a vocal protag will cause even more changes!
Please review and let me know what you think!