Aftertale
Chapter 6: Combative Confrontations
Disclaimer: I do not own Undertale or any of the characters involved except Arin
Sans was still flicking through channels when a scene from downtown flashed on the screen. Sans wasn't paying attention and kept hitting the button when Arin shot up from the floor.
"Wait! Go back a few!" He shouted.
Sans stopped and pressed the other button, flicking back until they were on the scene from downtown again.
"-You can see here, the destruction is massive. The police are already on the scene and are encouraging civilians to stay. away. From the downtown area," A reporter said.
"What's going on downtown?" Arin asked.
"Beast me kid, but the police have got it under control. Let's leave it to th-" Sans stopped as he went to hit the channel button again.
The inky-black substance was fired from one of the skulls summoned by The Figure and Sans began to tremble.
"Sans? You ok?" Arin asked, seeing the smaller skeleton shaking.
"Kids, stay here," Sans said as he slid off the couch and put the remote down.
"Wait, what? But you just said we shouldn't go?" Arin asked.
"Something's up, I'm going to investigate. Stay here," Sans repeated.
Arin reached for him as he began "Wait a second-"
In a flash, both of them were gone, leaving Frisk alone in the living room. Papyrus and Mettaton entered and looked around, confused.
"Now where did Sans and the Other Human go?" Papyrus asked Frisk.
She pointed at the TV, and the two monsters' jaws dropped as they saw the carnage.
"We have to go immediately!" Papyrus shouted, "As an officer-in-training, I should be going to the scene!"
Mettaton produced his keys and jingled them "Come along then darlings, we can take my car."
Meanwhile, Sans and Arin appeared near the scene.
"Well Kid, you certainly picked a bad time to go for a hug," Sans told him as Arin was gasping for air.
"How do you do that!?" Arin asked him.
Sans shrugged, "Just something I can do," he said.
The two were interrupted as another blast echoed to them, and a large dust cloud began to rise out of the downtown area.
"Well, we're here. We should help," Arin said as he began to walk toward the destruction.
Sans put a hand on his arm to stop him, "No offense kid, but you're just going to get in the way there," He said.
"What? But I can help! I've got my magic now," Arin turned to face Sans, but the smaller skeleton looked up at him, his one eye was beginning to glow with a small blue flame.
"Trust me, kid, stay outta this," He said as he began to walk past Arin.
Arin went to say something, to stop him, but he realized that Sans was right. He dropped to the ground, his body stiff with anger as he tried to fight the urge to rush after him.
"Am I that weak?" he asked himself.
Sans entered the area and looked around, then disappeared in a flash as a blast of inky darkness destroyed where he'd been standing. He reappeared further up the street and spotted The Figure.
The Figure now appeared as a more distinguished figure. A tall skeleton, as tall as Asgore, but sickly thin. He appeared to be wearing a white turtle neck under a black jacket, his hands bore the same two holes in the palms.
"Well, well, well. Didn't expect to see you again," Sans said to him.
The Figure aimed a hand at him and another skull appeared before firing a shot. Sans closed his eyes and teleported out of the line of fire before reappearing behind The Figure.
"You could at least say hello y'know," Sans told him.
The Figure turned on him and held up his hand again, another skull appeared, but this time Sans didn't teleport. His eye began to glow brightly as he lifted his hand, a similar skull appeared and the two fired their blasts into each other, causing an explosion.
As the smoke blew past them Sans chuckled, "Wherever you've been Boss, seems like you were busy getting strong," Sans told The Figure.
The Figure glared at Sans, "Boss…?" It asked.
"What? You don't remember? We used to work together… unless, you're not Gaster?" He asked.
The Figure raised a brow in confusion.
"Ah, that explains a lot… how you doin' kid?" he asked.
'Gaster's' brows shot up in surprise, "You know?" it asked.
"'Course I do, Gaster's not one to go rampaging randomly throughout a city, and no one's seen him in a while. So when he shows up randomly and starts attacking, it kinda narrows down the possibilities of what's going on," Sans explained as he shrugged. "So, you can come quietly and leave him out of this, or you can give yourself a bad time."
'Gaster' paused, considering his options, then turned to Sans and raised his hand again.
"Bad choice Kid," Sans said as he disappeared.
Meanwhile; Mettaton, Papyrus, and Frisk were speeding toward Downtown, they rounded a corner when Frisk pointed to something on the side of the road.
The car screeched to a halt as the trio spotted Arin sitting on the grass.
"Arin? What are you doing here?" Mettaton asked him.
Arin looked up at his voice and saw the three looking down at him.
"I got warped here with Sans, he said to stay back… that I'd only get in the way."
Papyrus shook his head as he climbed out of Mettaton's car.
"Nonsense! Someone with your skills would be greatly appreciated in helping evacuate and protect the citizens!" Papyrus said.
"They've already been cleared out Papyrus," A voice called to them.
They all looked to see Undyne rushing towards them.
"Undyne! You say the citizenry has already been evacuated?" Papyrus asked.
"Yeah, we just finished getting the last of the stragglers out. Sans is fighting that thing now and keeping it pretty busy."
"So, that's it then? We just leave it to Sans?" Arin asked as he stood up.
"For now anyway. Word was sent to Asgore a while ago, something about this attacker is vaguely familiar, and we thought it best to let him know," Undyne explained.
Arin sighed as he dropped to the ground again.
"Don't worry kid, once Asgore gets here we'll get this sorted out. For now, stay back. You're still too early in your training and we don't want you getting hurt," Undyne laid a hand on his shoulder to console him.
Arin nodded, "Yeah… I guess,"