Hey, here's chapter 18! not much to mention, so let's just get on with it!
As the group walked along the path to Waterfall, Badd was filling them in on his strange 'dream' that he had last night.
"Are you sure that we can trust this 'Gaster'? He may be trying to escape for a more sinister purpose."
"I don't think so. He has a pretty good alibi, and the way he spoke just gave me the feeling that he was being sincere, ya know?"
"If you say so. Do you know anything about this Gaster person Chara?"
The spirit shook their head.
"Nope. He must have come around after my time."
"Well, then I suppose we must go with Badd's gut on this one then. I guess we have a new goal now. find this 'legendary artifact' that is supposedly hidden in Waterfall, while also trying to avoid this Undyne character at the same time. Though something tells me that's easier said than done."
The group continued on in relative silence, until they came to a small clearing. True to the areas name, there was in fact waterfalls everywhere.
They spotted Sans asleep at a sentry station, to which they just rolled their eyes. All of a sudden, a monster kid came running up to them. Strangely, he didn't seem to have any arms.
"Yo! Are you going out to see her too?"
Zenko tilted her head.
"Uh, who?"
The kid was bouncing on the balls of his feet in excitement.
"Who? Undyne of course! She patrols this area every day. She beats up bad guys, and NEVER loses."
By this point, the kid had stars in his eyes.
"Man, she's so cool, I want to be just like her when I grow up."
Badd chuckled at the monster kid's enthusiasm, although he was slightly surprised to hear that Undyne was a female. Based on what he had heard of her, he would have thought her to be male.
"Heh, you must really look up to her, huh?"
The kid looked up to Badd with an expression that said 'duh.'
"Of course I do, practically everyone in the underground does. She's the second strongest monster around, after the king of course. But you guys should know that already."
Badd sweatdropped. He should really stop being so careless about the questions he asked.
"Uh, yeah. We actually have some business at the capital, so we're on our way there now. It's actually our first time in Waterfall."
"Really? Well, since we're both headed there, you mind if I tag along? My mom says I can only go out of Snowdin if someone's with me, but all my friends are busy today. I was actually planning to sneak out alone. Uh, please don't tell my parents?"
Before either of the older humans could respond, Zenko came up and smiled.
"Sure! it's always nice to have some company." Seito's eyes widened, before he shook his head, while Badd just smirked.
"Sweet! thanks dude!"
As the group headed further into Waterfall, they came across a patch of tall grass.
As they were making their way through it, they heard a familiar voice.
"HELLO UNDYNE! I'M HERE WITH THE REPORT OF MY FIGHT WITH THE HUMANS!"
As soon as they heard the captains name mentioned, they stopped in their tracks, although for different reasons.
The monster kid poked his head out of the grass, motioning for the others to follow suit.
"Come on guys, she's right over here!" He whispered. The others revealed themselves just enough to see what was going on.
Papyrus was conversing with a person in dark and intimidating armor, who was obviously Undyne.
"Yeah?" She said, her voice raspy and tomboyish.
"How'd you do? Did you capture them like I asked you?"
She spoke with authority, but not as much as they expected her to. Then again, Sans did say she and Papyrus were friends.
"WELL... NO, THEY WERE VERY STRONG FOR HUMANS, BUT! I PUT UP A VERY GOOD FIGHT! SEE FOR YOURSELF!"
Papyrus whipped out his phone, and played the recorded video of their fight.
"Wow, you actually managed to use your special attack! Great job Papyrus!" Undyne said.
"Forward this to my phone, I want to study the human's fighting style before I take them on myself. They'll be coming through here soon, and I'm going to be prepared to stop them."
"U-UNDYNE, YOU DON'T HAVE TO FIGHT THEM! YOU SEE-"
Undyne cut Papyrus off.
"Papyrus... did you become FRIENDS with the enemy?" She asked, stomping her metal boot onto the ground.
"U-UH, HERE, UNDYNE, I'LL FORWARD THE VIDEO NOW. GOTTAGOBYE!" The tall skeleton stammered nervously, dashing off.
"Papyrus, wait! Ugh, great, those humans are manipulating his emotions. When I find them, I'm gonna end them in the most brutal way possible!" She yelled to herself in anger, before stomping further into Waterfall.
The group watched the exchange with mixed emotions. The monster kid seemed exited, but nervous at the prospect of humans being in the underground.
Badd and Seito watched Undyne with anticipation. They had a feeling they would be running into her soon.
Zenko was sweating nervously. She knew that Badd and Seito were real strong, but she couldn't help but be worried about running into the warrior monster.
"Dudes, did you hear that? There's humans in the underground! We should probably be careful from now on. Maybe if we're lucky, we'll get to see Undyne beat them up!"
Badd and Seito facefaulted.
Does this kid seriously not suspect us at all?
"Anyways, come on, lets get going. Don't worry about the humans. With Undyne in the area, there's nothing to fear!"
Seito just shook his head, before the group continued into the marsh.
As the group of travelers continued into Waterfall, they came across a gap of deep water.
"Yo, I know what to do here! There's these things called bridge flowers. The seeds are right here. If you plant four in a straight line, they bloom into a bridge of flowers."
Seito examined the seed.
This place has some strange plant life.
Badd and Seito planted the seeds in the water, and true to what the kid said, they bloomed immediately.
"Huh, it actually worked. Nice job kid." The monster kid beamed, but then he realized something.
"Yo, I just realized we haven't given each other our names yet. My name's Sid." He said, looking at the others expectantly.
"I'm Zenko, the guy with the bat is my big brother Badd, and the handsome looking one is Seito."
"Cool, now that that's out of the way, let's go!" He said, running ahead, before falling face first into ground.
"Whoa, you alright?"
"Yeah, that happens all the time, one of the downsides of not having arms to balance you."
They continued walking for a bit, before Badd's phone went off.
"Hello?"
"HELLO, HUMAN BADD!" Papyrus said from the other end.
"Oh, hey Pap, what's up?"
"SO, UH, I HAVE THIS FRIEND... HER OPINION OF YOU IS VERY... MURDURY. SHE CALLED ME AND SAID SHE THOUGHT SHE SAW YOU WEARING A BLACK LEATHER JACKET. I WOULD TAKE IT OFF IF I WERE YOU."
Badd rolled his eyes.
"Dude, whether I'm wearing my jacket or not, she'll still know who I am."
"I SUPPOSE YOU ARE CORRECT. JUST BE CAREFUL OK?"
Sid looked up at Badd curiously.
"What was that all about?"
"Just a friend checking up on me."
"Oh, ok then."
The group entered another room, this one filled with glowing blue flowers.
"This is the wishing room. You look up at the sparkling gems on the roof of the cave, and say your wish into one of the echo flowers. My history teacher said monsters used to do the same thing with these things called stars when we still lived on the surface. Man, I wonder what that was like, Looking up and seeing so many of those 'stars'. I hope I can see them one day."
The humans looked at the little monster with pity. Hearing this just made their resolve to free the monsters all the stronger.
Badd walked past one of the flowers, and to his surprise, it spoke.
"I wish my sister and I will see the real stars one day..."
It was then that he realized that all of the flowers were saying different things, all records of monsters wishing for freedom, to see the surface.
Badd clenched his fist, Determination burning in his eyes.
They're all so desperate, I can't let them down!
Sid ran ahead of the group, and down a pathway.
"Yo, this way! It may look like a dead end, but there's a hidden compartment with a switch in the wall!"
True to his word, there was a switch in the wall, which opened up a previously hidden passageway.
Upon entering the next room, they came across a wall full of plaques with a language that they couldn't decipher.
"This room is supposed to tell a story about the human-monster war, but it's written in our ancient written language, so I don't know what it says."
"I can decipher it for you if you want." Chara said, speaking for the first time since they entered Waterfall. She was still thinking about her conversation with Sans earlier.
"Sure, if you don't mind."
"Uh, who are you talking to dude?" Sid asked, giving Badd a weird look, making him stiffen.
"U-uh, I just talk to myself sometimes! Yeah, weird, I know."
"Yeah, you're right, that is weird." The monster kid deadpanned, but he didn't press the issue further, which the humans were incredibly grateful for.
Seito looked to the panel and began to read, Chara translating for him.
"The war of humans and monsters. Why did the humans attack? We had done nothing to provoke them. Human souls are incredibly powerful. It would take the power of nearly every monster soul, just to equal the power of one human soul. However, monsters too have a strength, in that of their overwhelming magic and physical prowess. The war was hard fought. Both sides lost many lives in the pointless battle. However, in the end, the humans had a trump card. They had seven powerful mages who had the power to seal the monsters away. They lured us into the caves beneath . Then, the mages appeared and sealed us underground with a barrier so powerful that not even the strongest of attacks would have any effect. It was only after we had been sealed away, that we realized why the humans had attacked. Human souls are powerful enough to persist even after death. They feared an ability we didn't even know we possesed. To absorb human souls. A monster with a human soul: A terrible beast with unfathomable power."
As Seito finished reciting the tale, he was shaking with rage. His eyes had turned red, and his viens were popping out on his neck.
"Utterly despicable..."
Badd was also visibly upset, the veins in his eyes red with anger, although he was doing a better job at containing it.
Zenko just looked sad, while Sid just looked confused.
"Lets... lets move on."
"Yeah. good idea."
The group came across an incredibly long bridge, a pathway filled with pillars sitting adjacent from it.
They went to traverse across it, when suddenly, a teal spear, seemingly made of energy, struck through the bridge with incredible force, splintered wood flying everywhere and creating a massive gust of wind.
Looking frantically around, they spotted an armored figure on the pathway across from them, already preparing more spears to throw.
"Shit, it's Undyne. Zenko, Sid, stay far behind us, we're gonna make a run for it!"
"W-wait, why is Undyne after you guys!? Did you do something bad?" Sid asked, confusion and fear written all across his face.
"We'll explain later, now get back!" Badd yelled, before he and Seito made a mad dash for the end of the bridge.
"Oh, you're not getting away THAT easy!"
"Come on, lets go after them, we need to make sure they're ok!"
"I'm so confused yo..." Sid said, before chasing after Zenko.
And that's the end of this chapter! Be sure to review, and I'll get the next one put as soon as possible!
Edited 3/16/20