Disclaimer: I don't own Undertale or Doki Doki Literature Club. I do, however, own our Player.
Monika hid behind the bomb, crouching down as low as she possibly could in order to escape the notice of the blue skinned fish-woman who had crossed the corner into this room. Given that it was so much smaller than her, she was questioning the validity of this plan. After all, it wasn't a conveniently shaped lamp or anything like that. Once again Monika frowned a bit. That lamp had obviously been intended for the original main character of this game... And it was still here so... Where did the main character go?
But before she could dwell on that question, Undyne's heavy footfalls came down onto the rock and Monika quickly ducked her head between her legs and tugged her bow out of her hair, hoping desperately that Undyne wouldn't notice her.
Thankfully, luck was one her side as the fish woman stepped up to the smaller golden-skinned lizard girl. Obviously annoyed, Undyne spoke... And yet Monika sensed that she was holding her true irritation back. "Alright, where'd that little girl get off to now?" She said tersely. "Did you see her or Mettaton come this way Alphys?" Undyne asked. "I was right behind her but I got stuck on the elevator."
Alphys managed back a nervous squeak. "Y-Yeah actually I-I did! M-Mettaton went up into the n-next cavern up and she h-headed for the other elevator I think." The dinosaur girl said with an increasing crescendo of nerves. Monika grimaced as she spoke, certain that the Royal Guardswoman would see through the obvious lies...
And yet, Undyne let out an aggravated sigh. "Damn it! Well... If I lost them both then..." She trails off, considering. "What's the best idea for catching the human before that bucket of bolts can..." As Monika listens to Undyne, she pauses, noticing that her voice sounds scratchier than normal, and that she's breathing heavily. The Club President peers over the bomb for a moment out of curiosity and blinks in mild surprise and intrigue as she does. She hadn't noticed it earlier, but Undyne was no longer in her armor. Now she was decked out in a pair of too-big shorts and a black tank top. But that wasn't all- she was also drenched in sweat.
It made sense, being that Undyne was a fish lady. She probably didn't acclimate well to the burning temperature of this place.
Monika couldn't blame her; she wasn't doing much better, and she wasn't an anthropomorphized fish.
Alphys spoke up, a bit less timid now. "W-Well, you should start by keeping hydrated. You won't be able to fight the human at all if you pass out like you did in my lab again." She says, and Monika spots her pointing towards a bottle of water on Undyne's hip. The fish-woman chuckles breathlessly and nods.
"Good point. I kinda forgot while I was chasing them." She admits, pulling the bottle off her hip and pulling the top up before taking in several long gulps of water. Once satisfied she put the top down and hooked it back to her hip, and Monika noticed the immediate change in her. How she looked more relaxed, and slightly less sweaty than before. It looked like she couldn't survive up here without much to drink. Could come in handy if they ever fought her again...
"Y-You're also good at ambushes. M-Maybe try stalking Mettaton and w-when he starts his next gameshow you can jump in then?" Alphys continues, offering the idea to Undyne. "T-That way you'll a-also save a lot of water and only get worked up when its time!" She perks up, happy with her idea.
Undyne returns her enthusiasm with a wide grin. "Great idea Alph! We should team up more often! With your brain and my muscles we'd be unstoppable!" She slaps a hearty hand over Alphys' shoulder and pats it a few times before letting go with a slightly awkward and uncertain chuckle which Monika found odd... And strangely familiar. "But if I'm gonna have a shot at doing that, I'd better get running before that robot gets too far ahead in his schemes! Later Alphys!" She says and turns around, quickly heading back up towards the elevator.
As soon as Monika thinks she's out of range, she lets out a relieved sigh. Once again saved by the helpful actions of someone else. She hopes that's not a running theme, although doesn't mind it right now. She steps out from behind the bomb and over to Alphys, offering the woman a kind and relieved smile. "Thanks for the help there. I was really worried about having to fight her again." She admitted with a slightly nervous chuckle. Fighting Undyne again was about as appealing as throwing herself into the lava, if Monika was honest.
Alphys chuckled back with her own nervous voice, hers shaking even more than Monika's had been. "Y-Yeah. N-No problem! I didn't want Undyne to get hurt a-again either..." She trailed off, as if remembering something from before...
Monika didn't think much of her expression, having already gleaned from her earlier conversation with both Mettaton and Undyne that Alphys had patched the latter up after her encounter with Monika. Not to mention... She was starting to suspect that this girl had something for the fish-woman, but she couldn't be sure about that for now.
"Well, I should try to find some way to pass the time until Undyne is far enough ahead of me to not be a threat when I do get up there, do you have any suggestions?" She asked, changing the subject. She didn't really need any new ideas from the lizard monster, she and Player had already decided on a course of action- she just wanted to keep Alphys' thoughts from running wild, as they seemed to be doing when Monika looked at her pensive expression. "I was thinking about exploring this area a little bit..."
"O-Oh! I should c-come with you if that's the case!" Alphys perks up, a flash of interest forming on her face.
"You should? Why's that?" Monika asks, a little curious as well as wondering if this was in some way the game rubber-banding itself, pulling her back into the direction she needs to go... And not liking that thought even a little bit.
"There are a few puzzles and traps down here that I could help you with if you end up running into them." She explains cheerfully, before glancing away. "I-If you'd like."
Monika took a moment to consider this, a small frown coming over her face. Certainly, she could use the help if she encountered any of the aforementioned traps... But that worry- the idea that the game was rebelling against her actions- was coming back up. She knew very well that her game didn't like being interrupted from its course of action, so it wasn't impossible for this one to be feeling the same. Although in her case, the game would crash whenever things began progressing in a way that it didn't like, it didn't edit itself on the fly- no, she had to do that to keep it functioning.
Monika smiles before gently shaking her head, attempting to be polite. "Its very kind of you, but I really don't need any help." She replies with a kind look. "Maybe if you want, you can wait for me in the next room, but I'd much prefer to explore alone. Besides, you could get hurt being around me. Monsters tend to attack me first and ACT second." She chuckles at her tiny pun, trying to alleviate the wound of not having her invite accepted... But she can see Alphys' face fall nonetheless.
Monika didn't want to, but she also wanted to assert at least some of her free will over this game, to reassure herself that she still was in control. After a moment, Alphys nodded sadly. "Y-Yeah, that's fine by me. I'll g-go wait upstairs..." She trails off for a moment before glancing back at Monika. "B-Before I go, you h-have a cellphone right? I-I could give you my number at least."
Monika sighed but smiled again and pulled the phone out of her jacket pocket before handing it to Alphys to program her number in.
The Dinosaur accepted it before pausing and squinting at it. "W-Wow.. Your phone is r-really old school! I've never s-seen something like it before! If we were in my lab I'd offer to upgrade it..." She trails off again, considering. Monika squints, wondering if she's going to pull out some item that she needed to progress on her adventure, if even now the game was going to suck her back onto its track. In truth, this was the first time she had considered such a possibility, although she was certain in the past she hadn't changed up things that much...
Well... Aside from fighting Flowey
And running from the Dogs...
And... Undyne
Maybe she had changed more things than she had expected... But she wasn't going to let that sway her from this last change now. One more was all she wanted.
Alphys sighed and took Monika out of her reflection, handing her back the phone with a slightly more ignited smile. "I-I wish I could upgrade it for you... B-But I can't right here." She admits bashfully. "If you want an upgrade though, y-you can always come back to my lab... W-well, n-now you can at least. Its open again."
Monika breathes a relieved sigh. All of her other changes had ended with her then mostly getting back on track, so to see one that didn't, at least as far as she knew (she'd have to ask her darling about that later), was an incredible relief. "Thank you, I'll definitely think about it." She replies with a curt smile, accepting her cellphone back and nodding to the other woman, who blushed a bit at Monika's sweetness.
"I-I should get going then. I-If I figure out Undyne's pl-plan ahead of time I'll definitely try to call you and warn you." She says, nervously putting her hands together and rubbing them despite not being cold.
Monika smiled again and took a backwards step, moving towards the hallway she had seen at the other end of the room. "Thank you, Alphys. Its really appreciated!" She admitted, offering the dinosaur a friendly wave goodbye as Alphys began to move as well, nervously heading up towards the elevator.
With that finished, Monika sighed and headed towards the path, spinning as she did. Once they were heading down the hallway, she glanced at her Player, who was floating nearby, staring down at the file box. "...Player..." She begins quietly. "I have something I want to ask you..."
He stops what he was doing and glances up at her before speaking in a concerned voice. "What's wrong, Moni?" He asks, picking up on her tone almost immediately. It wasn't like her usual self- up-beat and cheerful- no, this time she was quiet and uncertain... And she could tell that fact worried him.
"Does that box... Control the code for this world?" She asks. "Are you... Editing everything that's happening in real time? I had to do something like that with my game when Sayori died and I just-"
He cuts her off with a rapid shake of his head. Even if his facial features were hard to discern, his body language told the entire story- he was trying to assuage her fears. "No. Nothing like that!" He says quickly, and she can see him glance down at the menu again, silently wishing he could show her. "There... is code." He admits after a moment of contemplation. "I'm able to read what's supposed to be happening..."
"Supposed to? Even counting me?" She asks, gently cocking her head.
He nods. "Even counting you." He explains. "But... Do you remember the Flowey fight? How I said that there was no way the game could account for new boss music and an entirely new boss battle?" He asks her. She nods, remembering the fight quite well. It was her first time ever throwing a punch with intent to hurt someone. "Well... It can't." He explains. "I checked, all that was supposed to happen in that scene was you getting shot by Flowey or avoiding him- which you did. Him getting angry and surrounding you with pellets and then Toriel appearing. Just like in the real game, that's all." He pauses for a moment, searching his mind for a good answer. "But... It didn't go that way, did it? No, you had an entire boss battle, new boss music just appeared and... You fought him." He sighs. "And that's been a running theme every time you've gone off script in even a tiny way. The characters react, they do their own things, they go off script just the same as you do." He goes on. "I don't know the entire game's story from top to bottom but... Undyne should have died or passed out when she entered Hotland. Mettaton shouldn't have been there to do the game show, the dogs shouldn't have chased you throughout Snowdin... And the doors to the lab shouldn't have been locked. Alphys should have opened the door and upgraded your phone."
Relief began to flow through Monika as he explained.
"But she didn't. Undyne was in there, getting healed up somehow. Entirely off the script, I have no clue how any of this is going to go from now on. Even right now, us doing this... It's not what the code says we should be doing right now- we should be on the other side of the cavern, just arriving!" He says, utter amazement in his voice. "But we're not... And yet I can still code in objects... I'm not sure how free will works when introduced to a world that runs off of code and I'm... Not the guy you go to for that kind of philosophy... But this code only affects what's in the world. Not how it functions. Or how the people act."
Monika felt tears run down her face and she smiled a joyful smile, her fears gone. In that moment, relief floods through her but more than that.. Joy. She's free, that little moment of panic she'd had was unneeded. Unwarranted because she... Was free from the confines of code.
It was a strange feeling, but one Monika found she liked.
She rubs away her tears and her smile morphs into a grin as she looks up at her beloved Player. "Thank you, Player... You have no idea how much that makes me feel better."
He smiles back, although she can't see it do to his wispy appearance. Despite that, she feels warmth emanating from him, which is enough for her.
After a few minutes of walking, the heat and dry air starting to tire the pair out, something suddenly flies down from the ceiling and gets in the way of her and Player.
"Huh." Player Remarks as Monika gets serious, her Pink SOUL appearing above her chest and radiating with Passion which summons the spear she'd taken from Undyne earlier. "Tsundereplane gets in the way. Very much on purpose." He chuckles.
Indeed, it was none other than Tsundereplane! An Airplane shaped monster who floated in front of Monika, not meeting her gaze and blushing intently. "Wait... Its a... Tsundere Airplane?" Monika asks, looking at Player, who shrugs.
"The guys who made this liked puns, what can I say?"
"S-Stop talking to yourself I-Idiot!" The Tsundere Airplane suddenly shouted, before glancing (? It didn't have eyes per se...) away from her and letting out a cute "Hmph!" as she did.
"Er, alright, sure!" Monika said, having some ideas on what she's supposed to do for this particular encounter already. After all, she's had to deal with Natsuki for a while, at least if her lore is accurate. Would it be accurate to call it lore? She supposes she is a video game character... But lore? Backstory? Biography?
Once again, another question that Monika has decided to file away under "lets talk about that later". She glances towards player. "Act!"
"Lets see here.. Flirt, Approach, or Check?" Player asks, glancing down at the box giving her the list of options.
"Check!"
"Tsundereplane. Seems mean, but does it secretly like you?" Player asks with a playful suggestiveness, causing Monika to roll her eyes playfully back.
"Wh-Why are you checking me out?!" Stammers the plane. "Pervert!" She exclaims, summoning a set of miniature bombing planes above Monika, all of which begin dropping bombs.
"Alright, not so bad!" Monika says to herself as she leaps into the sky, avoiding a rain of bombs as she does so. But just as she begins congragulating herself, there's a massive explosion from below her! She looks down only to be met with a huge gust of smoke and steam which rushes up towards her with concussive force, knocking her entirely off-course and sending her flying back, where another explosion rockets up towards her and hits her in the back, causing her to fly forwards again.
Monika gritted her teeth and spun around unti her feet were against the solid ground of the roof above them before using that as a launching point away from the other cavern walls, shooting off of it and away, allowing her to avoid the next few explosions that fell out around her.
The attack concluded, Monika landed on the ground and, rather than speak, approached Tsundereplane, using that as her immediate action.
"E-Eeeeeh? H-Human!?" She said, obviously growing more flustered than before. She then "accidentally" (although she totally did it on purpose) brushed Monika's arm with her wing, and oddly a strange green glow had come over the white metal, one that caused her to feel the same warmth as Player's smile did, but on her arm... Before Monika could think on that however, a set of small airplanes suddenly formed above her, but these seemed oddly different.
Monika took a step back to avoid them, but paused. That same green glow had formed around the planes! Ahhh, that made sense! She was a Tsundere so... Monika stayed on the ground and close to the Airplane-Waifu (that was the word, right? Natsuki had mentioned waifus at least once, something about anime girls you wanted to make into partners? Her Player might have done the same thing too once...), but far enough so that she could begin to dodge the planes as they rained down on her.
As they got close however, Monika entered their strange aura and suddenly felt that warmth spill over her, as well as noticed Tsundereplane starting to blush. That was the ticket! She repeated this process a few times, letting the blushing grow more and more until the attack ended.
Once it did and Monika was back nearby, she figured that this was the time to pull out the flirting move...
But how?
Don't get her wrong, she knew how to flirt- the fact that she decided not to talk to her boyfriend and instead kill his other prospects notwithstanding- but... Well she was a straight girl in a Japan-styled world. Usually the first move would be initiated by the man and she would follow the lead. Although there had been times when she made the... Actually that would be a lie, she never had time to think about that kind of stuff until recently. Either in her biography or in the parts she remembers from after her Epiphany, she's really never made the first move before... Aside from with her Player. That thought made her sad, but then she smiled at the other idea. Her first time making the first move was... With the love of her life.
Well... She could use this as practice for later...
"Ahem..." She clears her throat and smiles gently at the plane, giving her a gentle look. "Hey, your wings look nice today~" Guys, and especially her darling, seemed to compliment things like her hair and bow more often than not and she liked it when they did that (even if she had to turn them down) so she assumed the same would go for Tsundereplane.
"A-Ah! You idiot, you're making me blush!" Tsundereplane complained, and once again another set of planes came rushing in, covered in a green aura.
These were much easier to dodge, and as she did so, Monika spotted the growing cutesy look on Tsundereplane's face and chuckled softly before landing again.
She leaned in and booped her nose, which was also the tip of the plane. "Spare."
Tsundereplane looked away shyly as the battle physics deactivated and the real world came back into view. "B-Baka!" She said loudly before her jet engines roared and she took off back to where she had come from, clearly embarrassed. In her place, is a set of golden coins.
Monika sighs before crouching and grabbing the coins up and setting them back into her jacket pocket for use later. "So many interesting people here." She remarks. "Whether or not this is still a game, the kind of game it was must have been very... Interesting." She says, glancing back to Player.
He chuckles and gives a nod. "In a few ways, yeah. A shame that more people don't remember the game for these quirks though..."
"Oh?" She cocks her head at him as they start off walking again. "What do they remember then?"
He goes silent for a moment as if considering whether or not he should answer, but after a second he takes a breath and replies. "The... Bad route of the game is extremely popular. The music for it is amazing but..." He trails off. "It overshadows a lot of the more cute or funny moments like this, and completely overshadows the good and neutral endings."
"...I see. So people like the evil ending more?" Monika could believe it. Humans were naturally drawn to more dark stories, it was just a product of morbid curiosity, but... This game was so sweet and innocent!
Or maybe that was only the case because even though she'd changed so much, she was still on route for the good ending... Maybe she just hasn't seen any darkness yet.
"Its not hard to see why. It comes with some exceptional boss music and extremely poignant boss battles..." He trails off and even though his face is obscured, Monika can tell he's thinking of something. Maybe even her own Player had done the bad ending before... Or maybe he was doing it when everything went down. "And while I personally love those aspects, I think that the real beauty of this game comes from the routes we're on right now. The funny and silly side is really underrated."
Monika goes to agree, but as she does a small volcano shaped monster runs up on all fours, looking out of breath. It stands in front of them for a moment and Monika initially prepares for a fight but as the little guy keeps panting, she pauses and glances around. "Are you okay little guy?"
"Ran...All... Way here... So... tired... Had to help... Friend... Tsun plane!" The volcano manages to say between breaths. "Not here yet... Right?" He looked up at her with big sad eyes and Monika pouted, not wanting to let him down but knowing she was gonna have to.
"Sorry little guy, I encountered her a little while ago. She flew off back upstairs I think."
"Awww nooo! Missed... chance... help Tsun Plane!" He says, looking sad.
Monika smiles softly and gets down onto one knee in front of the small volcano monster and gently gives it some pats on the shoulder. Well actually on its side, but about where the shoulder should have been. "Its okay little guy. You'll be able to help her another time, m'kay?"
"M'kay..." It nods, looking a little happier. Then, as if getting an idea, it perks up with a wider smile. "Ooh! I know! I'll help her Upstairs!" And like that, the small creature scampers away, but not before dumping a bit of hot magma magic onto Monika's hand and claiming it was "healing!"
It was, in fact, not healing. But Monika didn't have the heart to tell him that.
"So..." Monika begins after they crossed over a strange puzzle involving a moving floor. "...What kind of Monster was that?" She asks. "I mean... It was a volcano!"
"Oh, that's a Vulkin." Player replies with a chuckle before giggling to himself. "You spared the Vulkins- only the Vulkins..." He snickers quietly, and Monika gives him a strange look that he waves off. "Its a... Funny comic dub from when the game was hugely popular. Spoilers and stuff, I'm not allowed to tell you about it."
She giggles at him and shakes her head. "You're so silly sometimes."
And thus, the pair continue on their way.
After a bit, they would encounter Sans again, who would offer to sell them a hot dog. "Sure, I'll have one..." Monika trails off after handing him the gold pieces needed... "Um... One question though..."
Sans pockets the money before passing her the hot dog and glancing over at her with an interested glint in his eye. "sure kid, what's up?"
"How... Is there snow... On the roof in this burning hot place?"
"ah, well the thing is... i'm just too lazy to clean it off" Sans answers with a chuckle and a shrug. "and i guess it takes after me, its too chill to bother melting."
Monika giggles and shakes her head. "Well I guess there's snow reason to question it in that case."
"heh, not bad kid." He leans onto the side of the guard station, sockets starting to lid as he lets out a quiet yawn. "anyhow har-monika, i'm getting kinda tired. i think i'm gonna take nap if that's fine with you."
Monika nods. "You have a good nap. I wish I could take one right about now, I'm starting to get tired." It didn't help that she had no idea what time it was or how long it had been since Toriel's house- the last place she'd slept. Definitely more than a few hours by now. Might be in her best interest to find somewhere secluded and safe to take a quick nap.
But for now, Monika spun around. "Well, that's as much as I wanted to explore down here..." She glances up towards the next cavern. "Let's move on to the next area."
Author's note: I'm with Sans, I'm tired out after this one. My writing schedule is usually between 6pm and 9pm and I'm typing this part out at 9:16 at the moment. I'm going to do my best to get through our lovely reviews and then get this baby out and posted. Then, I think I'll rest my head...
f170905: i think i'm going to replace the name "MC" to "Ive"
Me: You can if you'd like. MC is a stand in for the Player after all, who in this story is a stand in for us (me)
setokayba2n: Another chapter! Yipee! I admit you did a good chapter and is sad to read about your writer block, let's hope your muse decide to return to you and you manage to go trought it
Me: Thank you! I'm glad you're liking things up to now. My writer's block is mostly gone, which is nice for me. Sorry that it took so long for this story to come back, October was a shockingly hectic month for me with my Halloween story going up and my Defrost Chapters I wanted to write going WAY over the limit I set for myself. But things should be back on track now so expect more regular uploads of this from here until the ending.
Welp, that was everyone this time around so
Until Next Time True Readers!