A Pure One Underground: A Semi-Novelization

by Ginger the Barn Owl

Sometimes, those who FIGHT must cast aside their battleclaws. Follow the story of Undertale through the eyes of Ginger Wingren, a young Barn Owl who ends up trapped within a human's pelt beneath Mount Ebott. As she adapts to her featherless form and new environment, she learns about monster history, interacts with the locals, and most of all, uncovers the hidden strengths of MERCY.

20. Chapter 18: It's a Small Jurassic World

"Tra la la...I hear spiders have a favorite food...It's spiders."

"Oh...Yeah. You're right. Ah...Have YOU ever eaten a spider?"

"I cannot say I have," the boat driver replied. "Have you?"

"Yes. In a donut, at least...The Spider Donuts aren't actually half bad, you know? They're technically dessert foods, but the bits and pieces of the spiders are sort of crunchy and savory, and it actually complements the sweetness pretty well. I got one in the Ruins before I came on out of there! Unfortunately, the doors only open from the inside, so I guess I won't be going back for more."

"Fret not. I also hear that there is another Spider Bake Sale location somewhere in Hotland."

"Yo, really!? Wow...Thanks for the info."

"It is a favorite thing of mine to do, giving people hints of advice...What has become of your cloak, might I ask?"

"It's in my pack; I doubt I'll be needing it where I'm going, you know what I mean?"

"Ah, yes...It'd be an enslaved oven in Hotland...And here we are."

The Riverperson's boat came to a stop just south of the lab entrance, and she stepped up onto the dry ground...Much dryer than the riverbanks of Snowdin and Waterfall.

"Come again any time you need. Tra la la..."

She gave them a grateful nod, then headed up the north path. Ginger found herself at an intersection; in the middle of it was a Save Point, and she ran up to it to brush her hand through the shimmering star.

*Hotland-Laboratory Entrance

*File Saved

Just north of the Save Point were two more burly-looking monsters, clad in armor and blocking off the path leading farther north. They perked up when they saw her.

"Hey, short stuff." one of them alerted her; he had long, furry grey ears, not unlike those of a hare, protruding from his head, though his face was hidden behind a helmet. "Just lettin' you know, the path to the elevator's off limits for now; Captain Undyne says there's a human in the area, and...well...even if the elevators aren't working right anyway, we gotta stand guard to make sure it doesn't get to New Home through there somehow."

"Uh...Right," she acknowledged, flashing a thumbs up. They were oblivious...And hopefully, they'd STAY oblivious.

"You're gonna have to go the long way," the other one, who had a more dragonesque look about him, added. "That's the way it is, right, bro?"

"Heh...Yep. Sure is."

"Just don't get heatstroke or anything out there, lil' dudette."

"Eh...Don't worry about me, fellas. Just passin' through the lab. Carry on!"

They maintained their position, and Ginger turned eastward again.

...Don't worry about me...Please. Not at all.

She sluggishly approached the giant, imposing lab, the heat tempting her to go even slower. She wasn't sure how well this would go over.

Most of what she'd heard about Dr. Alphys so far was somewhat obscure. Supposedly, she had a brilliant mind; the puzzle in Snowdin didn't exactly give a favorable outcome, but Undyne's "hot fridge" wasn't half bad an idea, considering the fact the monster food didn't ever spoil. No need to reheat, and no risk of burning or blowing up anything, like what happened not so long ago at her house...Maybe she was as clever as they said.

She knew that and the fact that the doctor supposedly watched kids' shows, that is.

But just because Alphys was smart and watched cartoons a lot didn't mean she'd be welcoming towards humans. And she wasn't exactly sure what she'd look like, as Undyne's description of her only said so much, seeing how much monsters varied in appearance down here. She was supposedly short, rotund, bright-eyed and buck-toothed. Upon picturing something with these traits, the first image Ginger formulated in her mind was...

Something akin to a porcupine.

Quite a few of the monsters did resemble animals to an extent; she'd seen goats, rabbits, deer, dogs, a wise old tortoise, and many more. Porcupines had been the next animal to pop into her mind with the description the captain had given.

One thing was for sure, though, the human was about to find out how close her guess was.

She drew ever closer to the automatic doors, and they slid open when she drew near enough, revealing the darkness of the lab inside.

Oh, boy...

Ginger cautiously stepped inside; it wasn't as dark as it was at the abyss in Waterfall, but it was still dark. The lab walls were some shade of green, and the quiet whirring of machinery filled the atmosphere with an eerie ambiance. She continued...

And she passed a very large, hard-to-miss monitor on the wall. And on the monitor screen...was her. She was being filmed.

She was being WATCHED.

She tightened her Tough Glove; it'd come in handy if she had to deliver any more punches, and she gave the monitor the "I'm watching you" motion with her fingers, shooting a poisonous glare at it. If the scientist tried to jump her with anything, she'd be ready, and she wanted her to know that she wouldn't hesitate to defend herself.

The human kept going, passing by the vague image of a cluttered work desk, what looked like a refrigerator, and some sort of large bag sitting next to it. She turned around as she went on, walking backwards to the other side of the lab. If she kept her eyes and ears open, a surprise attack would be hard to pull off for the scientist. Ginger might not have been an owl anymore, but her senses were still sharp; she practically had eyes on the back of her head.

The loud sound of another metal door opening caught the human's attention, and she whizzed around forward again to face its source. The door on the wall opened, and a dark silhouette emerged from the shadows of the other room.

Is...is that her?

The shadowy figure definitely looked short and stout, and she saw the shape a hand fumbling around the wall in search of a light switch. And then, it stopped, and Ginger heard a clicking noise, to which the faint amount of light in the lab grew brighter.

The monster had found a switch, and the lights turned on in segments, leading from the entrance to the lab from which she came, all the way to the opposite side, where the two of them stood. When the last set came on, it fully revealed exactly what was standing at the door.

That wasn't a porcupine. It was...

...A Velociraptor?

She blinked to right her deceitful eyes, now thoroughly convinced she had Jurassic Park III too heavy on her mind. But this was real. The monster looked very much like one of the cunning pack hunters; her snout and hands were covered in smooth scales, as was the long, lizard-like tail that flowed out from behind her and just barely hovered over the floor. Her pointed toes stuck out from the bottom of her white lab coat, the innermost ones sporting the distinctive, curved sickle claws that the raptors were most well-known for, and her brown eyes, accented by the large glasses on her face, were very round, and possessed an impressive, almost owl-like spark of intelligence.

That was about as far as the similarities went, though; the monster was indeed quite short, only about a meter tall as opposed to the six-foot therapods, and she was a solid shade of sunny yellow, lacking racing stripes or spots of any sort. The short crest of feathers on her head was fully fledged out, unlike the underdeveloped quills on the male movie raptors and complete lack thereof on the females, and it had a slight downward curve to it. Furthermore, the monster's eyes did possess the dinosaurs' keen intellect, but not their primitive aggression; they were gentle, and made her look somewhat shy, timid even. Her flat buck teeth, clumsy gait and pudgy build starkly opposed the snapping jaws, impressive speed and streamlined form of what she'd come to know of the ancient animals.

This is the most pathetic excuse for a Velociraptor I've ever seen, she thought. But it looks...cute?

The fact that she WASN'T so fearsome turned out to be a pleasant surprise. She just hoped her demeanor didn't betray her appearance.

The monster turned to face the door again, then fiddled with a controller she had in one of her small clawed hands until the metal door slid shut. She sighed deeply, put the device into the pocket of her coat, adjusted her glasses, then turned to make her way down to the lab entrance.

And the human was standing there, right in front of her.

Ginger saw her jump, gasp, and throw her scaly hands over her mouth.

"Oh. My God," she uttered, completely mortified.

"Um...Are you Doc-"

"Aaaaahhhhh, I didn't expect you to show up so soon!" she exclaimed, very nervously flitting around where she stood, the small claws on her feet making light tapping noises against the tile floor. "I haven't showered, I'm barely dressed, the place is all messy, and..."

Ginger simply stood there and watched as the creature fussed to herself about how she should have been ready for company far earlier, what was wrong with the lab and reprimanding herself for not having had everything done first thing that day, her high-pitched, nasally voice making her sound all the more nervous and all the more pitiable.

A voice that made the Pure One's eyes narrow.

...Wait a minute.

Something clicked inside the human's head, and she realized...

She knew that voice.

She'd heard it once before. No, not once...TWICE, actually, now that she thought about it, if not more than that, even. The first time was in Snowdin, when she received a mysterious phone call and that odd text, and the second time she heard it was at...

Waterfall.

The Trash Zone.

The stranger she'd spoken to, who the human had engaged in conversation with, who had told her about the theories she had about where the abyss lead to...who had cried onto her shoulder about how useless she was, and who had said that the human had just unwittingly saved her from ending it all.

Everything was adding up.

Her brown, avian eyes.

The spectacles.

The scientific theories.

And there was absolutely NO mistaking that voice. This was her.

That'd been...?

"Um...H-hiya!" the monster greeted with a small wave, having ceased her panicking and straightened herself out, though she was still jittery. "I-I'm Doctor Alphys, the Royal Scientist!"

That troubled stranger had been the Royal Scientist everyone spoke so highly of? She was surprised; for someone of such great importance, she couldn't imagine why she thought of herself so terribly.

"But, ah...I'm-I'm not one of the 'bad guys'! I promise! Uh...you see, e-ever since you came out of the Ruins, I've been, heh...observing your trek through the Underground th-through my console. Your plans, your fights, y-y-your friendships, all that. Originally, I was g-going to try and stop you, but...Heh...Turns out, w-watching someone on a screen really makes you root for them, you know?"

So she'd been the one who had those cameras set up around the Underground. But as smart as she was, Dr. Alphys was oblivious to the human's significance on her.

"It's...It's really nice to finally meet you in person," she told her, stooping down to her height as not to intimidate her. "I've heard a lot of good things about you."

"O-oh, y-you have? Um..."

The raptor timidly shuffled closer and extended one of her small hands to shake, to which the human met her halfway.

"Well, i-it's nice to meet you, too, uh...uh, s-something like a plant, you said it was...?"

"'Ginger?'"

"Yes! That's it, thank you! I-I'm sorry, I'm...I'm terrible with names."

"Ah, don't sweat it."

"Eheheh...So, as I was saying, I just so happen to know a way r-right to Asgore's castle from here! Using my knowledge, I-I can easily guide you through Hotland and assist you with the puzzles, a-and I can navigate you to the capital so you can go home!"

"...You'd do that?"

"Yeah! O-of course!"

"Don't you know how much a-"

Ginger stopped short. If, by any chance, the monster was blind to the value of a human SOUL, she didn't want to make it plain.

Fortunately, it wouldn't have made a difference if she had.

"Oh, no, no, no. I know what a human SOUL is worth. B-but it's okay, really! I'm happy to help! A-and so are your friends!"

Ginger smiled; she liked the Royal Scientist so far. Ever since she'd left the Ruins, Dr. Alphys had been one of the only monsters so far that hadn't tried to fight against her and/or claim her SOUL at some point, and it didn't look like she'd be trying anytime soon. Besides, after what happened at Waterfall, she actually knew the monster more than she realized.

"You're sure it's not a problem?"

"N-no, of course not! We'll have you b-back on the surface in no time! No problem!"

And she just seemed so sweet and eager to help, let alone the fact that she was positively adorable; how could she not like her?

"Heheh...erm..."

The dinosaur monster forced a laugh, and she began to twiddle her thumbs nervously.

"Well, actually...Th-there might be one teensy, tiny issue...Y-you see, a handful of years ago, I, uh...I made an entertainment robot named 'Mettaton,' and-"

"Wait, wait, wait. You BUILT Mettaton?"

"Um...yes? Y-you know who he is?"

"The star of Underground T.V. The guy that hosts literally every. Single. Show broadcasted down here, INCLUDING the news? You built that guy. Is that what I'm hearing?"

"Y-yeah, but..." she stammered, the bright yellow scales on her face developing a rosy tint. "I-it was nothin', I-I mean-"

"I'm going to be totally honest with you here," the human continued. "I'm not the hugest fan of his programs. But most of the other people down here LOVE 'em. You're responsible for one of the only things that can take monsters' minds off of the fact that they're all trapped down here. That wasn't 'nothing.' That was the work of a genius."

"Y-y-you really think so?" she questioned, the pink tinge on her face having intensified.

"I don't think, Doc, I know."

"Oh...well...th-that's awful nice y-you think that...B-but as I was saying about him, uh...When I f-first saw you coming along, I-I decided that I should make him more useful."

"How so?"

"Oh, you know, j-just some small practical adjustments, like...uh, heheh...anti...antihuman c-combat features, and the like?"

The blush on her face had faded, and was replaced with sweat beads forming along the sides of her feathered brow.

"...Oh," Ginger replied. She realized where this was going, and she didn't like it.

"O-of course, when I saw how much everyone was getting to know you, a-and growing to like you, I decided that, well...I had to remove those features. Unfortunately, uh...I-I might have made a small mistake during the r-removal process, and...now he's, uh..."

"What happened?"

"Now he's an unstoppable killing machine with a thirst for human blood?" she spouted. "Eheheheheh..."

"Ah...heheh...heh..."

They both stood there, laughing nervously. Ginger genuinely feared for her life; she could fight her way through flesh and blood, but not so much a block of steel.

"Heh...But...H-he's usually pretty busy with all of his shows, so if we have a-any luck on our side, the odds of him finding you aren't very high!"

Her claim eased Ginger's nerves a bit...just a bit. She was honestly surprised that the killer robot hadn't come to destroy her a long time ago, seeing that he knew about her. She hoped he would stay in the news studio where he belonged until she was in the clear, or else she'd-

*bang*

The faint, yet sudden sound made her thoughts stop short. Even the human's breathing ceased momentarily.

"Doc...?"

"Something wrong?"

*Bang*

It sounded again, louder than before. This time, it was enough for the scientist to hear.

"Did...D-did you hear something?"

*Bang*

*BANG*

*BANG*

*BANG*

*BANG*

The sound was far more intelligible now; the distinct, heavy sound of metal on metal, like two enormous chunks of pure cast iron being hurled into each other, over and over again.

And it was getting closer.

Ginger felt her heart stop.

"Oh, no," Alphys squeaked.

Not good. Not good, not good, not good, not good. She scrambled to desperately pull her bow out of her pack, along with two of her arrows; her fists might have been useless, but the power of a metal arrow tip might just be enough to deal enough to ward him off...she hoped.

And just when she had it pulled out, the lights in the lab went out, just like that.

The sound of something crashing through the wall caught her attention, and she pointed her aim at the source of the noise, whatever it was.

"OHHHH YES!"

There wasn't any doubt as to who it was. She only had to hear a ten-second snippet on his flamboyant, mechanical voice and it had forever embedded itself into her head.

"WELCOME, BEAUTIES..."

The light directly above them flickered back on, revealing the robotic T.V. star in all his rectangular splendor.

"...TO TODAY'S QUIZ SHOW!"

Music sounded, colored lights blared across the lab, and the robot approached.

"OH, BOY! I CAN ALREADY TELL IT'S GONNA BE A GREAT SHOW! EVERYBODY, GIVE A BIG HAND FOR OUR WONDERFUL CONTESTANT!"

Ginger lowered her bow a tad, giving the sentient machine a very odd look.

"...Quiz show," she echoed. Was this his idea of an attack?

"NEVER PLAYED BEFORE, GORGEOUS?"

"No. Why would I-"

"NO PROBLEM! IT'S SIMPLE! THERE'S ONLY ONE RULE! ANSWER CORRECTLY...OR YOU DIE!"

The lights were dimmed just enough to increase the tension, and Ginger suddenly felt as though eyes were all over her, though from where, she couldn't tell, and she doubted she wanted to know.

"LET'S START OFF WITH AN EASY ONE, SHALL WE?"

The host stood before her, and a large monitor opened up behind him.

"HERE'S YOUR FIRST QUESTION: WHAT'S THE PRIZE FOR ANSWERING CORRECTLY?"

And on the monitor behind him, the multiple choice answers appeared.

"A: Money"

"B: Mercy"

"C: New car"

"D: More questions"

The human quickly got her thoughts together, and took a good look at her options; she immediately ruled out "A" and "C." If the robot was out to kill her, she doubted he'd be willing to gift her with anything. She was about to go with option "B," but she realized that it didn't seem that plausible that he'd let her go so easily, either. So...

"I'd say 'D: More questions'."

"RIGHT! SOUNDS LIKE YOU GET IT!"

Great! Good; all she had to do was examine her choices carefully enough and she should be fine...right?

"HERE'S YOUR TERRIFIC PRIZE!"

And Mettaton displayed the next question on the screen, along with her answers.

"WHAT'S THE KING'S FULL NAME?"

"A: Lord Fluffybuns"

"B: Fuzzy Pushover"

"C: Asgore Dreemurr"

"D: Dr. Friendship"

Now this was an easy one; so easy that she hoped it wasn't a trick question of some sort.

"Isn't it 'C'?"

"CORRECT! WHAT A TERRIFIC ANSWER!"

Ginger carefully lowered her bow and arrow some more; she decided to only use it if she was faced with an impossible answer. Besides, this time around, she'd noticed the timer on the screen, rapidly ticking down as she thought about her answer, as well as what looked like a zapper of some sort having emerged from Mettaton's head that was pointed right at her. If she couldn't answer quickly enough, she would have to resort to fighting back.

"NOW! ENOUGH ABOUT YOU; LET'S TALK ABOUT ME!"

And the next question was displayed.

"WHAT ARE ROBOTS MADE OUT OF?"

"A: Hopes & Dreams"

"B: Metal & Magic"

"C: Snips & Snails"

"D: Sugar & Spice"

My hopes and dreams are resting on my own brain power...Good thing these are so easy.

"I say 'B'."

And sure enough, she was right.

"OHHH, TOO EASY FOR YOU, HUH?"

"Is that all you got, bolts-for-brains?" she scoffed. "I could do this all day."

"OHHH, HOW PAWKY! WELL, DARLING, HOW ABOUT ANOTHER EASY ONE FOR YOU?"

The next question appeared.

And it made her wish she'd just kept her mouth shut.

"TWO TRAINS, TRAIN A AND TRAIN B, SIMULTANEOUSLY DEPART STATION A AND STATION B. STATION A AND STATION B ARE 252.5 MILES APART FROM EACH OTHER. TRAIN A IS MOVING AT 124.7 MPH TOWARDS STATION B, AND TRAIN B IS MOVING AT 253.5 MPH TOWARDS STATION A. IF BOTH TRAINS DEPARTED AT 10:00 A.M. AND IT IS NOW 10:03, HOW MUCH LONGER UNTIL BOTH TRAINS PASS EACH OTHER?"

"A: 31.054 minutes"

"B: 16.232 minutes"

"C: 32.049 minutes"

"D: 32.058 minutes"

Ginger began to panic; the timer was going down fast; no way she'd have enough time to figure this one out, and she wasn't willing to see what kind of "antihuman combat features" the Royal Scientist had equipped him with. The timer reached 10, and she was just about to raise her weapon when she noticed something.

Dr. Alphys was trying to get her attention from behind her rogue creation, waving her arms at the human.

And as soon as Ginger had her eyes on her, she made what vaguely looked like a letter "D" in her stubby-clawed hands.

She would have nodded if there wasn't the risk of Mettaton seeing her signal and arrousing any suspicions.

"I'm gonna go out on a limb and say 'D'."

"OH, HO, HO, HO! TODAY'S YOUR LUCKY DAY, ISN'T IT?"

Correct again. The monster flashed her a relieved thumbs up; Ginger reminded herself to give the dinosaur a hearty thanks after this whole thing was over.

"HERE COMES THE NEXT ONE! DON'T 'COUNT' ON YOUR VICTORY!"

Seemingly out of nowhere, the show host pulled a jar out from behind him. Ginger made a face when she saw just what was in it; an unsettling number of flies were buzzing around inside.

"HOW MANY FLIES ARE IN THIS JAR?"

"A: 54"

"B: 53"

"C: 55"

"D: 52"

Something told her to divert her attention back to the scientist; she was signaling an "A," an she answered accordingly.

"NOT BAD, DARLING! I WAS RIGHT TO HAVE OVERESTIMATED YOU!"

"You overestimate your attractiveness, that's for sure."

Alphys gasped; Ginger's comeback was nothing short of a nasty burn.

"OOOOOOOHH, TESTY, TESTY, TESTY! WELL, YOU MAY KNOW HOW TO SNAP BACK, BUT JUST HOW GOOD IS YOUR MEMORY?"

And the next question made itself visible. There was an image accompanying the text and Mettaton's speech.

"WHAT MONSTER IS THIS?"

"A: Froggit"

"B: Whimsun"

"C: Moldsmal"

"D: Mettaton

Ginger recognized the image as half of a Froggit's face, and she double-checked with the scientist in the background just to clarify. But to her surprise, she was signaling a "D" instead of an "A." Strange, but...

Well, I trust her more than him...

"Is it 'D', metal-head?"

As to answer her selection the image on the monitor panned out to reveal...

Mettaton.

Wearing a shirt with a Froggit on it.

"You fox," Ginger retorted. "If only you were half as gorgeous as you are sly."

"YOUR HARSH WORDS FALL ON DEAF EARS, HUMAN. SHALL WE SEE IF YOU'RE AS SLICK AS YOU THINK YOURSELF TO BE?"

And he displayed her next question.

"WOULD YOU SMOOCH A GHOST?"

"A: Heck Yeah"

"B: Heck Yeah"

"C: Heck Yeah"

"D: Heck Yeah"

...what.

Even Alphys was giving the screen a glare.

Ginger wouldn't let herself be pulled down, though; she was one step ahead of him.

"What? There's no 'All Of The Above' option? How disappointing."

"OH, NOT BAD! I ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT!"

If Napstabook had seen that, he probably would have been flattered. In a way, she kind of wished he had; his reaction probably would have been priceless.

"HERE'S ANOTHER SIMPLE ONE FOR YOU! I'LL BE WILLING TO BET OUR CONTESTANT WILL BREEZE RIGHT THROUGH THIS ONE, FOLKS!"

And the next question came up.

"HOW MANY LETTERS IN THE NAME METTATON...NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN..."

As the word got bigger, so did the numbers composing the answers. But his maker was apparently prepared for this one, as well, and flashed the human a "C," and Ginger answered correspondingly.

"OF COURSE THAT WAS EASY FOR YOU!" the robot praised, though his words were really quite empty. Ginger could care less whether he meant it or not; she just wanted to get this whole thing over with.

"NOW! TIME TO BREAK OUT THE BIG GUNS!"

I hope he doesn't mean that literally... she thought, eyeing the electric zapper.

Fortunately, he didn't, and the next question to be presented to the human was displayed.

"IN THE DATING SIMULATION VIDEO GAME "MEW MEW KISSY CUTIE," WHAT IS MEW MEW'S FAVORITE FOOD?"

"Racdrops," she muttered to herself, knowing she would definitely need the doctor's help for this one, and she diverted her gaze towards her.

Immediately, she got her answer.

"OH! OH! I KNOW THIS ONE! IT'S SNAIL ICE CREAM!"

But she hadn't expected her to be so loud and obvious about it. Which wasn't a good idea, considering the situation.

"IN THE FOURTH CHAPTER EVERYONE GOES TO THE BEACH, AND SHE BUYS ICE CREAM FOR ALL OF HER FRIENDS! BUT IT'S SNAIL FLAVOR, AND SHE'S THE ONLY ONE WHO WANTS IT! IT'S ONE OF MY FAVORITE PARTS OF THE GAME, BECAUSE IT ACTUALLY HAS A VERY POWERFUL...MESSAGE ABOUT...friendship, and..."

She stopped her bantering, realizing her folly. Ginger stared the raptor in the eyes, and her expression conveyed her thoughts so perfectly, the communication might as well have been telepathic.

Shouldn't have done that.

"ALPHYS, ALPHYS, ALPHYS," the robotic show host reprimanded. "YOU WEREN'T HELPING OUR CONTESTANT, WERE YOU?"

The monster shook her head "no," but they all knew what the truth was; including him.

"OH, HO, HO! YOU SHOULD HAVE TOLD ME! I'LL ASK A QUESTION...YOU'LL BE SURE TO KNOW THE ANSWER TO!"

"Oh, no...No, no, Mettaton, please don't-"

Too late. The monitor displayed Ginger's next question.

"WHO DOES DR. ALPHYS HAVE A CRUSH ON?"

"A: Undyne"

"B: Asgore"

"C: The Human"

"D: Don't know"

"Aw, man..."

Was he really making her do this? Well...might as well get it over with, for everyone's sake. She turned to look at the scientist in question; instead of giving an answer, she was waving her hands out at the human and breaking out into another nervous sweat, silently pleading that she not say.

She flashed the scientist a sympathetic frown and remorsefully shook her head; she was going to have to if she was going to make it out of this whole shebang in one piece.

Ginger honestly had no idea what the answer was, so she began eliminating answers. If she picked "D," it would probably earn her an unpleasant experience, despite Alphys' pleading. And she immediately ruled out "A" and "C" for reasons she saw as quite obvious.

"Mettaton, you're disgusting in more ways than one," she sneered at him. The mere thought of either of them being correct made her develop the urge to yarp.

So, by her process of elimination, Ginger found herself left with...

"Uh...The king, I guess?"

The dinosaur's nervous smile turned upside-down in an instant, and she hid her face away in her hands, a bright, scarlet blush covering its entirety, and whimpered.

"LET ME PRESENT TO YOU A QUESTION," Mettaton began. "WHY WOULD DR. ALPHYS OUTFIT AN AMUSEMENT ROBOT, SUCH AS I, WITH BRUTAL ANTI-HUMAN COMBAT CAPABILITIES?"

"...To increase the chance of breaking the Barrier more quickly?"

"NO, SILLY! IT'S REALLY QUITE OBVIOUS: TO IMPRESS MR. ASGORE DREEMURR, OF COURSE! OR, AS ALPHYS LIKES TO CALL HIM...'MR. DREAMY.' OHOHOH, ISN'T THAT RIGHT, ALPHYS?"

His inventor's bright red flush grew even redder, tears burned in the corners of her eyes, and her legs caved in, letting her crumple to the floor in sheer humiliation. Ginger turned to witness this, and she began to wish she'd answered "D" just to spare the poor creature from what she was being subjected to now, not caring how harsh her wounds may have been.

"THOSE STRONG ARMS...THAT LUSTROUS BEARD. LIKE ALL THOSE WHO CREATE WEAPONS, SHE CRAVES THE TENDER EMBRACE OF A BURLY MAN."

"I hate you..."

"THANK YOU VERY MUCH! EVERYONE DOWN HERE LOVES ME, SO IT'S NICE TO SEE SOME VARIATION FOR ONCE!"

The monitor displaying the questions turned black and folded into itself, and the host wheeled over to scoop up the small bundle it'd become.

"WELL, WELL, WELL. WITH DR. ALPHYS HELPING YOU, THE SHOW HAS NO DRAMATIC TENSION! WE CAN'T GO ON LIKE THIS! BUT. BUT! THIS WAS JUST THE PILOT EPISODE! NEXT UP, MORE DRAMA! MORE ROMANCE! MORE BLOODSHED! UNTIL NEXT TIME, DARLINGS! TOODLES!"

The sadistic robot's arms retreated back into his body, and the wheel at the bottom of him was replaced with a roaring, flaming jet engine, which propelled him directly up towards the ceiling, sending him crashing through the lab roof. He was gone.

And she hoped he would stay gone for as long as possible.

"My Glaux..." the human muttered, wiping the sweat from her brow in relief as she slid her weapons back to where they belonged. "Was that a nightmare."

"Y-you have no idea."

The raptor was huddled in the corner, finally starting to show her face again. But it was still just as red as a burning coal, and there was still sweat beading on its sides.

"Dr. Alphys!"

The human rushed over to her, bending down to her height.

"I-I'm okay. Just...it was all so sudden, a-and now everyone knows what's going on in m-my head, and-"

"Wait. What do you mean 'everyone knows'?"

"Uh...well...What just happened. That all...kinda...sorta...went on public television f-for all the Underground to see?"

Ginger gasped, absolutely appalled. She had no idea that every monster underneath Mount Ebott had witnessed the human spill the contents of the Royal Scientist's heart out; she just thought that the whole "quiz show" thing was just a setup!

"My gosh, I...I-I'm so sorry, I had no idea! I...Are you sure you're okay?"

"Yeah..." she fibbed, turning her eyes away from the human. "D-don't be sorry. This was my fault. I should have expected him to show up. I should have installed more security systems. I-"

"No, no, it's okay, none of this was your fault," she reassured. "Hey. Really, I owe you one. Big time. If you hadn't done what you did back there feeding me some of those answers, I'd probably be toast. BURNT toast."

"...Y-you really think so?"

"Of course! You're the Royal Scientist; you're probably one of the smartest monsters down here. I doubt anyone else would have known the answers. And..."

Her fists suddenly clenched.

"...That sadist...The next time I come across him, I swear, I'm gonna take three of my arrows and shove them right up his sorry metal-"

"No!"

...No?

The human was about to ask why not, but then she remembered; Dr. Alphys was the one who built Mettaton in the first place. If she destroyed the robot, she'd be nullifying Glaux-knows how much time and effort she put into her invention, let alone eliminating one of the only escapes the monsters had from their bleak outlook. Even if the show host had completely humiliated her on public television, Ginger could tell that the monster really did care about what happened to him.

She sighed, regretting having said what she did, and to whom.

"I...I'm sorry."

She took one of her scaly hands and got her back onto her feet.

"I-it's okay. I ap-p-preciate the thought, though. Really I do. E-even though we barely know each other, it...it seems like you really care."

Should I tell her why?

The human felt that it was a good idea; maybe to give the Royal Scientist a little more reassurance, seeing what had just occurred with Mettaton. But she would have to dance around the subject for a bit and see if the monster could figure it out herself with that big brain of hers before dropping the bombshell. The last thing she wanted was to overwhelm her.

"Are you sure we don't know each other from somewhere? Your voice sounds awfully familiar."

"Ah, I don't...uh...Y-you know, now that you mention it...I-I feel like I've heard yours somewhere, too. I just...don't r-remember where."

"Hm...So, off-topic question."

"Yes?"

"I assume you've been to the Trash Zone in Waterfall? There's a lot of stuff there that might peak your interest."

"A-actually, I...was just there n-not to long ago."

"Ever see the abyss there?"

"Y-yeah! I actually spoke to someone about it there l-last time I went! She was asking me what it might be, o-or where it might lead to, and I told her a couple of my theories about how might lead to-"

"An alternate dimension?"

"Yeah! That's right! One where, if it really did exist, then-"

"The slightest anomaly could cause the events to be completely different from ours?"

"Exactly! How'd you guess all that? It's almost like...It's...It's almost like you were...there..."

Realization at what the human was insinuating swept over her like a tsunami over Japan.

"Yep. That, ah...That was me."

"Oh...My...God."

"...Too soon?"

"I-I-I had no idea! I-h-how did I not recognize your voice earlier, I'm so sorry! Th-that was you!? I-I thought it was a-another monster! This is so crazy, I...I-I-I'm sorry about what happened back there, I-I was such a mess! I can't believe I'm so stupid, I-"

"Hey."

"...Yeah?"

"It's okay."

The raptor monster's expression stilled. It initially conveyed shock and shame, but as she collected her thoughts again, her large eyes began to show gratitude, remembering the reason she'd been at the dump, and what the human had prevented.

"Did...did you really mean all of that? Wh-what you said back there?" she asked, nervously clutching her own hands.

"I wouldn't have said any of it if I didn't."

"Y-you...really care about me that much?"

The human nodded reassuringly, and the corners of the Royal Scientist's mouth turned up as her vision went blurry.

"Um...Dr. Alphys? Are you-"

"Th-thank you," the scientist choked up, gratefully shaking her hand, yet at the same time clutching it as though her life depended on it. "Thank you, thank you so much for all that. I-I really...I just can't thank you enough. I-I've been through so much over the past several months, what you said and wh-what you did really...it really means a lot to me. It really does. I don't..."

She uttered something incoherent through her blubbering as her tears began to spill again.

Oh, what have I just done...? the human lamented.

"Doc? C-come on, don't cry," she said to her, resting a hand on the creature's shoulder. "Everything's going to be okay."

The Royal Scientist dabbed at her eyes with her coat, emitting weak apologies.

"I'm sorry, I...I'm just sort of a wreck w-with everything I've b-been going through, and, I know I should really be acting more professional right now, and..."

Ginger reached out her arm and wiped away one of the tears streaming down the side of the dinosaur's face with her thumb, and she stopped her rambling to process this, looking the human in the eye.

"...Dr. Alphys?"

"H-huh?" the creature sniffled, the nostrils at the end of her blunt snout running as much as her eyes.

"Can..." She sighed. "Can I give you a hug?"

"...O-okay," she croaked, still trying to wipe her face dry.

She knelt down to match her level and rested one hand on her back and one on top of her head.

"It's...a small world down here, i-isn't it?" Alphys remarked, suppressing anther sob. "O-of all the people I thought would e-ever help me out when I..."

She emitted somewhat of a squeak as the human held her just a bit more snugly, but upon processing it, she hugged her right back, tightly shutting her eyes, trying and failing to stop the flow of tears. Ginger sighed.

"...What's going on?" she asked. Surely there had to be a reason behind the Royal Scientist's distress. "What happened that was so bad, and...How can I help?"

"I...I can't tell you...I c-can't tell a-anyone, I'm sorry...Th-there's nothing you can do..."

Ginger looked the tiny creature in the eye; she was so scared, so hopeless, so upset. And what was worse was that she had no idea what she could do for her...

A familiar exchange of words came back to her.

"I'm not supposed to be this...thing! And how am I going to get out of this place!? I fell down a three hundred foot hole, and I have no wings! How am I going to get back home!? What am I going to do!?"

"Dear child..." the motherly Boss Monster had soothed as she held her tenderly. "Everything will be alright. You're safe here."

She couldn't help it; the bittersweet memories were too much. She squeezed Alphys tightly and smoothed down the feathers on her head with one hand as she kept her other arm wrapped around her as she buried her scaly face away in the human's embrace. Anything to console her. Anything to help her feel better.

Despite what Dr. Alphys said, it was something she could do.

"This is a small world, isn't it?" she agreed. "At least...in a world as small as this, you know there's always gonna be at least someone who'll have your back."

As on cue, the human rubbed her hand up and down the little yellow monster's back and patted it a few times. She heard her emit a shaky sigh.

"Th-this is the e-episode at the garbage dump a-all over again, isn't it?" the scientist mused. "E-except it's not so a-anonymous this time, huh?"

"Life's funny that way, isn't it?"

"Heh...I-I never would have expected you t-to be the human, you know?"

"And I never expected you to be this adorable lil' dinosaur-type thing."

"Wh-M-me?" she stuttered, turning pink in the face again. "You think-GYACK!"

Ginger practically squished her, almost lifting the raptor clean off her claws as she pulled her into what was no less than a bear hug and giving the fuzzy plumage on her head a friendly nuzzle.

"I, uh...You know, I...F-from the camera footage I saw, I...didn't think you'd to be one to like g-giving hugs," she mused.

"Well, if you ran into me three days ago, you'd have been right about that. You could say I, uh...changed my mind about them. I used to think they were too close for comfort, but now they feel...warm. And secure. Which is what you needed, it looks like."

"D'oh...Th-that's awful sweet of you."

"Thanks, Doc."

...Thanks, Toriel.

"I-I think I'm okay now," the monster assured, to which she was put down. "Th-thanks for that."

"No problem. Now...Let's do this thing. I've got a castle to get to and a king to negotiate with."

"Oh, yeah. W-we better get the ball rolling before Metatton decides to come back."

"Okay! Let's move out!"

Ginger headed for the back door; they'd have to be quick if they wanted to keep the killer rectangle off their tail.

"W-wait!"

"Hm?"

"B-before you leave, let me give you my phone number!"

"You gonna stick around here?"

"I-I, uh...I've got some work I need to tend to here; this way I-I can do my job and help you out if the need arises!"

"Oh. That makes more sense. Here; catch!"

She practically chucked the flip phone at her, but she still managed to catch it.

"Great! Now..."

She stared at it, her already large eyes having gotten bigger.

"What is it?"

"Wh-where did you get this thing!? It's ancient!"

"Really?"

"Are you kidding me? I-it doesn't even have texting!"

Dang...Toriel, how long was that thing just sitting around?

"Here, j-just give me a sec!"

She proceeded up the escalator leading to the second floor of the lab. The human could hear her doing...something. The sound of buzzing machinery lasted for about a minute before the dinosaur returned down the other stairway. The device in her hand looked drastically different from what it had once been.

"Here! I upgraded it for you! It's got digital item storage, texting, a keychain...I-I even signed you up for the Underground's number-one social network! N-now we're officially friends...Heheh..."

"You did all that in under a minute?! Doc, this is incredible!"

"Y-you don't need t-to call me 'Doctor,' you know. Just my name's fine. S-some of my friends even skip out on the 's' at the end."

"'Alphy'?"

"Y-yeah," she confirmed, blushing a bit again. "I-I always thought it sounded kinda cute."

"Heh...Suits ya; I'll stick with it."

The raptor nearly buried her beet-red face again, obviously flustered by the compliment.

"I-I'm flattered you think so..." she squeaked.

"Alright, let's get this show on the road," the human continued.

"Oh, yeah! I-if you need anything just call!"

"Got it! Nice seein' ya!"

Ginger exited out the back door of the lab. Ahead lay the floors and floors of puzzles, waiting to be solved. But with someone as bright as the Royal Scientist on her side, she'd have everything done in a snap.

And the assistance she'd be providing just might help the monster feel a little bit better about herself.

---

A/N: People can't seem to decide whether Alphys is a lizard or a dinosaur, you know? At some point when I was trying out different styles of drawing her, I found myself interpreting her as a scientifically-accurate Velociraptor monster. I mean, she IS a clever girl, and IRL, Velociraptors WERE pretty small, so I thought it fit.

Don't look at me like that! It's not wrong! It's just my headcanon!

I'm pretty sure you could figure out from this chapter that I think Alphys is fRiCkIn' AdOrAbLe!1! I was kinda surprised to find out a lot of people don't like her; I guess I get the status update thing and that people think that sort of character type is cringey, but I think the status updates are funny and the character type IS my cup of tea...Asgore might like that one, but he won't appear for another several chapters, I'm afraid. XD

Special thanks to artfully for helping me pick out a name for the chapter! Fun Fact: It's also named after one of the music soundtracks for the movie it's based off...I think Michael Giacchino was listening to the wrong John Williams score while writing that. Have a listen and you'll see what I mean. XP

As always, remember to leave a review! See you next time! :D