"Hello?"
"Hey, Pap-...Oh. It's you." Ginger groaned, realizing that it wasn't the skeleton on the other end, rather the Royal Guard captain she'd grown to dislike.
"Yeah, it's me, nerd. What's happening?"
"Passing through Hotland; met Dr. Alphys, exchanged a few words, almost got killed by a sadistic T.V. star, you know. Typical."
"Oh-ho, ha, yeah! We saw that part! It was being broadcasted live, don'tcha know? I was on the edge of my seat the whole time; I'd pay anything to see you get fried! In fact, after what you did with that last question, I might just go ahead and do that myself."
"You think I enjoyed that? If anyone should be fried, it should be that stupid robot. Papyrus said that you don't like him, and I can see why now."
"Why didn't you just say you didn't know? That WAS an option."
"Not the right one. And I'd rather not get burned alive...At least you know who to set her up on a blind date with now, huh?" the human teased. "Do you think the king prefers the smart type? Ha!"
"What!? NO! That's a terrible idea! YOU have terrible ideas! I would NEVER do that to her!"
"Ghee wiz, it's just a joke. You don't need to get all defensive about it."
"OH! IS THAT THE HUMAN?"
Papyrus's voice sound like it was coming from another end of the room instead of right by the phone.
"How is he hearing us?"
"I have it on speaker, mud-for-brains; how do you not know what that is? Have you been living under a rock you're whole life?"
"Actually, yes. I've been living inside of one taller than Mount Ebott itself."
"When you have an entire surface world to live up on? You expect me to believe that bullcrap?"
"Oh, you'd be surprised."
"Get outta town..."
"BUT, UNDYNE! SHE'S BEEN OUT OF TOWN FOR A GOOD LONG TIME NOW!"
"No, Papyrus..."
Ginger stifled a laugh; the things he said. So naïve, always taking things in the most literal way. It was hilarious.
"Ugh...Take over for me, Papyrus, I gotta bone to pick with Sans."
"NOT A PROBLEM! HELLO, HUMAN! SO! UNDYNE LEFT TO LOOK FOR MY LAZY BROTHER UPSTAIRS. YOU AND DR. ALPHYS HAVE FINALLY MET, I HEAR?"
"That we did. It was an, uh...eventful episode."
"MOST CERTAINLY! ONE OF THE MOST TENSE EPISODES I'VE EVER SEEN! TELL ME; WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON THE ROYAL SCIENTIST?"
"I don't normally think things are cute, but the way she stutters and blushes over everything is just adorable! She's like a squeezable Velociraptor, huh?"
"NYEH! GOOD TO KNOW THINGS WENT WELL BETWEEN YOU TWO! YOU KNOW, NOW THAT YOU MENTION IT, SHE DOES KIND OF LOOK LIKE ONE OF THOSE CRAFTY CREATURES, DOESN'T SHE? AND SHE'S SMART LIKE THEM, TOO!"
"Oh my gosh, I just had a thought. Can you imagine her popping up out of nowhere and saying-"
"ALAN! OH MY GOD!"
Laughter rung out between the two parties.
"THAT'D BE HILARIOUS! I CAN SO IMAGINE THAT!"
"She's nowhere near as intimidating as those guys, though."
"YES, QUITE RIGHT. YOU KNOW, I WON'T TELL HER ANYTHING, SINCE IT'D BE LIKELY TO EMBARRASS HER, BUT SHE WOULD PROBABLY FEEL VERY HAPPY TO HEAR YOUR THOUGHTS ON HER; SHE'S VERY MILD, AND...I DON'T BELIEVE SHE THINKS OF HERSELF VERY HIGHLY."
"You won't tell her? Ha! She already heard all that!"
"YOU TOLD HER THAT? WOWIE...NOT WHAT I'D EXPECT FOM SOMEONE OF YOUR TYPE, I MUST SAY!"
"Uh, well, you know...Things down here have been sort of an, uh...influence on me, but you know, like, whatever," she stammered. "It, uh...It was a good thing I did, though; she was a, uh...a little emotional from everything once Mettaton left. But she's okay now! I was there!"
"He's not up there; maybe he got smart and high-tailed it." Ginger heard the fish monster announce as she returned to the conversation. "What'd she say about Alphys?"
"SHE SAYS THAT DR. ALPHYS IS A 'SQUEEZABLE VELOCIRAPTOR'. NYEH HEH HEH HEH HEH!"
Ginger held back another laugh.
"Hey, back off, pal!" Undyne practically yelled from the other end of the line. "She's mi-...friend. My friend."
"UH-OH. SOMEONE'S JEALOUS, EH?"
"Shut your mouth, Papyrus!"
"What the sprink's gotten into you? You're even more obnoxious and loud than usual, and NOT in the good way, like Papyrus. Is the water over there making you salty?"
"You and I both know that's freshwater!"
"Then you should probably cut back on the tea; it's turning you into a caffeine-fueled nutjob."
Undyne inhaled sharply, as though trying to hold back some very nasty words, then released her breath in a drawn-out sigh.
"...Whatever. Just...don't do anything to make her upset, you hear? It was enough having to learn about her love interest being announced for all the Underground to see."
"Chill. I've been doing just the opposite."
"Well, keep it up, or ELSE. Now...Uh...Question, Papyrus."
"YES?"
"What the heck is a 'Velociraptor'?"
"OOOOOOHH, YOU AND I SHOULD WATCH THAT MOVIE! SHE LEFT IT HERE! ERM...HERE'S THE CASE!"
"'Jurassic Park III'...Isn't that the one you had on the T.V. when I came to look for her?"
"WHY, YES! THE HUMAN FOUND IT AT THE GARBAGE DUMP! I DON'T KNOW WHY ANYONE WOULD HAVE THROWN IT AWAY...IT'S A BLAST! YOU'D PROBABLY LOVE IT!"
"Oh, yeah. She'll definitely like all the death scenes. I gotta keep goin' Papyrus. You go show fish-face a bunch of people getting eaten by prehistoric bird-lizards."
"WILL DO! IT CERTAINLY SEEMS UP HER ALLEY! BYE FOR NOW, HUMAN!"
"See ya."
She ended the call and looked ahead. Before her lay what was essentially the Death Valley of the Underground. Hotland was far different from the cold, cheery Snowdin and the peacefully cool and quiet Waterfall. It was dry, it was barren, and the place definitely lived up to its name.
It.
Was.
HOT.
Even without her cloak and sweater, it was like she'd walked right into a furnace.
But even so, she couldn't just sit and suffer; she had to keep going. So she headed still east, an eager bounce in her step, despite the heavy atmosphere. The sooner she got out of this place, the better.
And just when she stepped forward, her cellphone beeped. She took a look at the phone screen; the phone didn't snap shut anymore, rather it was just one big screen. She'd gotten a notification...from Undernet.
-ALPHYS updated status.
*just realized i didn't watch undyne fight the human ˘. ˘
Oh. Alphys. She posted. Oh, well...She kept going.
And the phone beeped again.
"Huh?"
-ALPHYS updated status.
*well i know she's unbeatable i'll ask her abt it later ^. ^
The question Ginger wanted to ask was what the little symbols at the end of the texted speech were. She guessed they looked like...Faces? Maybe to add some personality into her writing? Sounded about right to her.
One thing was for sure; when she did ask the captain about the fight, she'd be in for quite a story.
The human turned north...
-ALPHYS updated status.
*for now i gotta call up the human and guide her =^. ^=
It was surprising at how much more talkative the monster seemed to be on Undernet as opposed to what she'd seen in person. Maybe it was easier when she wasn't face-to-face with anyone? She didn't know; the whole concept of the Internet was still fairly new to her.
She did know, however, that she wasn't the only one receiving the notifications...which meant that a lot of monsters knew about her presence underground. And probably even more had just learned about her, too.
Not sure if that's a good or a bad thing, she wondered.
There were two conveyer belts not far ahead, the left one heading forward and the right one backtracking. She immediately opted for the belt that lead forward, and the minute she stepped on it, she found herself being carried forward.
Convenient. She didn't even have to move her legs! She grinned widely...
And would have kept grinning if not for what was at the very end of the contraption.
"Hi!" the monster squeaked. But Ginger was too startled to acknowledge the friendly greeting.
"Gack!" she exclaimed, and, not realizing she'd made it to the end of the conveyer belt, fell clean off her feet beside the strange creature, right onto her face, into the hard, dry, scorching ground.
"Uuugh..."
"Ah! I'll help! Healing magmas!"
"What...?"
She rose her head just in time to see a series of flames shoot out at her from both sides, and the sight of it was more than enough to get her back onto her feet in a hurry.
"AUGH!"
One of the fiery bullets clipper her before it could be sent back to where it came from, and it left a nasty burn on her unprotected arm, to which she let out a hiss.
"Ahh! Does my best! Helping?"
Her eyes narrowed at the tiny, walking, talking volcano.
"No! It's not! You just frickin' burned my arm! That's not helping!" she snapped, frustrated by the wound it'd caused. The smile on the monster's face faded.
"Ahh...Not...helping? Okay..."
It ceased fire and turned away, its form slumping.
"Uh..."
The human sighed.
"...Why'd you do that, huh, little guy?"
"Magmas...not healing?"
"No. They...They don't. They burn, see?"
She showed off the wound the flaming attack had caused, and the monster shamefully shrank back at the sight of it.
"Ahh..."
"White magic doesn't heal. Green does," she informed it. "If you're looking to heal people, you'll have to go green, you know what I'm saying?"
"Green...? Ahh...So, if magmas are green...Magmas will heal?"
"That's about right."
"Ahh...But...Vulkin don't know how to use green magic..."
"Uh...Well...Vegetoids know how to use the stuff. Know any?"
"Vegetoid...Ahh..." it realized, the smile returning to its face. "Will go find Vegetoids and try my best!"
Vulkin marched off in search of the one who could help it master the healing arts, though not before leaving 40G in its wake.
"Well...I guess that could have been worse...Eesh..."
The burn on her arm made her flinch as she scooped up her prize. She examined it; the skin there was pretty badly damaged, but it was nothing a bit of monster food couldn't fix, right?
"...Except I don't have much of that, do I?"
She could get her hands on better food supplies than Papyrus' first(and not very impressive) batch of spaghetti, right? And she tried not to think about the butterscotch pie.
If monsters lived in Hotland, surely there was a place that sold food.
The path extended further north beyond the twin conveyer belts, and she passed a few odd, vertical blowtorches on either side of the narrow bridge of ground, periodically spitting out tall streams of intense, blue flames.
-ALPHYS updated status
*gonna call her in a minute! =^. ^=
Wonder if I can figure out how to work this Undernet thing for myself...?
It would definitely spice things up a bit...She chuckled to herself.
"...Spice things up...Heh...cause I'm in Hotland...Oh, well. Maybe later."
And when she reached the end of the path...
"...What the sprink is this!?"
She thought the first two conveyer belts were neat, but THIS!? There were tons of them! It was almost nauseating to look at...
Fortunately, it looked like they would carry her across without her having to walk much anyway, seeing which directions they were going in. She stepped onto one of the belts, and it took her along...
A bit more quickly than she'd expected. And the sudden turns of the moving path carrying her as opposed to her own two feet made her somewhat dizzy. It was a good thing that it didn't last very long, with the speed they were going. But Ginger had to admit, by the time she made it to the other side, her appetite had been as good as quenched.
The path ahead looked to be constructed from several lines of metal piping, which was, to her relief, sturdy enough to walk across.
A muggy, hot blast of air began to rise from above, and the whooshing sound of steam and cogs filled her ears. The place even SOUNDED hot. Ginger approached the Save Point in the corner of where the path turned.
*Hotland-Magma Chamber
*File Saved
She turned right; the next puzzle was a series of steam vents, the air pouring out of them strong enough to send her careening all the way to the other side of the breaks in the land that they marked. The vents were emblazoned with arrows, pointing in the direction the air was meant to take its riders.
Well, if the monsters used these, there was no reason she could, and she tried to ignore the giant pit of magma below. If she paired her ascent with a good, hard jump, she could surely make it to the other side...right?
She hissed nervously at the sight of the molten rock below; it was a very good thing it was so easy, because there was absolutely NO room for error.
-ALPHYS updated status
*I HATE USING THE PHONE I DON'T WANT TO DO THIS LMAO ^. ^
"...'El-Mau?'" she tried to pronounce, obviously confused. "...Whatever, I have a puzzle to do."
She stepped onto one of the steam vents, waiting to be thrown across...And sure enough, a gust of wind as strong as a scupper in a cyclone sent her flying over the gap and onto the other segment of ground, and she braced her landing unsteadily, surprised by the quickness and thoroughness of the steam vents.
"Ha...Wow..." she marveled. "Well...At least I know what to expect now!"
There was another one pointing north; she readier herself, and just like last time, was flung to the other side. This time, however, she managed to stick the landing.
"Hah! This...is actually kinda fun."
Being practically thrown over a sea of boiling lava through the air onto the next patch of earth sticking up out of it; the mere thought of it sent a rush of adrenaline up her spine. And the brief sensation of her feet being picked up off the ground made her feel, even if for only a second or two at a time, like she was flying.
"...Flying."
She looked down at her arms and feet, remembering that in their place, there were once a pair of tawny wings and a set of strong, hook-clawed talons...It was funny, she realized, how seldom it was that she was bothered by this. Any other owl to have had this happen to them might have given up and taken their own life in sheer desperation and despair by now, if not sooner.
"Heh...Sometimes, I still wish I had those wings."
"What!? Y-you sicko!"
"HUH!?"
The voice came from just to her, and belonged to a...a...
An airplane?
With a hat?
And strangely expressive front windowpanes?
"...What even...?"
This place just keeps getting crazier and crazier.
"You can't have these wings!" she piped, her voice surprisingly small, despite the entity's size being a good FIVE TIMES that of the human. "I-if you want them, you're going to have to get them the HARD WAY!"
And the plane stooped her port wing down into a turn as she began to glow green and white with magic energy, threatening to collide with her head-on. She ducked to the side, just barely clipping the green energy of the plane's aura...It was a good thing it was green, as it healed her burn wound.
"Phew...Hey. I wasn't talkin' about you, you know."
"What!? Why...Why not? A-are these wings not good enough for you!?"
"I, uh..."
She dodged the plane's wing again as she grazed her with her green magic.
"...prefer to have the feathery bird wings over what you've got. No offense."
"Hmph! I don't believe it!" the plane huffed.
"Why are you getting yourself so tied up in a knot?"
The airbus' "face" turned pink.
"Me? In a knot!? That's ridiculous! I would never get myself tied up in a knot over someone like YOU. Stupid human..."
"Hey. I might be a human, but I ain't stupid. If you wanna see stupid, tune in to the television for it in rectangular form. That I can assure."
"Hmph! Well, if you'll ex-CUSE me, I think I will! Stop wasting my time! Unless...you really want to, so...Oh, forget it!"
And with a loud, whirring "NEEEEOOOOOOWWWWWWRRRRRRR," she was gone. And she left 45G in her wake before the bewildered human.
"That was...weird," she mumbled as she scooped the gold up to stash. "...Hope that one doesn't come back. Almost got turned into runway-kill."
She kept at it with the air vent puzzle; slowly forgetting about the lava underneath her, even though it came into plain vision as she flew over it with every vent of steam.
Besides, she remembered; if she just so HAPPENED to fall into the magma below, she could always just Load, right?...She was a bit unnerved by the thought, though. So far, she'd avoided succumbing to the hands of death in this vast subterranean world of dangers, but she wasn't out of the woods yet. What would it be like to just die, and then come right back? She wasn't so sure she wanted to find out, so she reminded herself to keep being careful.
Soon enough, though, she'd made it to the north end of the vent puzzle; it looked like there was another path leading south, but from what she'd seen, it looked like a dead end; besides, she didn't think the high-air steam vent transportation would mix very well with conveyer belt movement side-by-side; it would definitely be cause for a stomach ache.
-ALPHYS updated status
*omg ive had my claw over the last digit for 5 minutes now. omg i'm just gonna do it i'm just gonna call!
"Any second now..." the human said to herself as she headed north.
The next puzzle was composed of blue and orange lasers lined up across the metal pipe path ahead; the orange ones stayed still, and the blue ones moved across the path in between several different points. This one would require some additional knowhow in order to get past it.
The phone rang.
Perfect timing!
"Hello? Alphys?"
"Uh, y-yeah! Howzit?"
"Just made it to the lasers. Mind offering up a little more info? Don't wanna get fried today."
"Uh...Well, th-the blue lasers won't hurt you as long as you stay still wh-while they pass through you!"
"Like blue magic attacks?"
"Yeah! Exactly! Now, o-orange ones, um...Y-you have to be moving, and they...Um...they won't, um...J-just move through those ones, o-okay?"
"Blue ones, don't move. Orange, move. Got it. Thanks for that."
"Oh, uh, y-you're welcome, uh...G-gotta go! Bye!"
And she was gone.
The first two lasers were the still, orange ones.
Just...don't stop walking when you pass through them and you're good, right?
She was just about to proceed when...
-ALPHYS updated status
*OMG I DID IT! claws haven't shook like that since undyne called me to ask about the weather... ˘. ˘
Ginger audibly laughed at the thought; she would probably be at unease too if an aggressive, distasteful fish woman called her to ask about something so strangely mundane.
She passed through the first two orange lasers, as was instructed; sure enough, they did nothing to her except cause a peculiar tingling sensation upon physical contact. But she barely had the time to process it; she knew the sensation might become something far less bearable if she stopped in the middle of them.
-ALPHYS updated status
*WAIT THERE'S NO WEATHER DOWN HERE WHY DID SHE CALL ME
"Wait, but...isn't there?"
What about the snow in Snowdin? The light rain in some sections of Waterfall? The occasional breeze? Strange...Maybe she just meant Hotland by itself? Hotland didn't seem to have any weather; the conditions weren't right for precipitation, and the only wind she felt was the hot air rising from the magma below. Not exactly what one would call 'weather.'
The blue laser zipped further away; it looked like she could keep walking, as long as she paused whenever it drew close enough again.
It was a tedious and somewhat nerve-wracking process; the last two blue lasers went especially quickly across the pathway, and she just barely managed to keep from keeping still as one of them went past. At least the orange lasers didn't require quite as much timing to get past. All the while, she feared what might happen if she goofed up; which made her all the more determined to get it right the first time.
But she made it out in one piece, much to her relief. The human confidently brushed the dust off her arm...
Then noticed a switch on the metal wall; it looked like it could be flipped to the right. She did so...
And immediately, all of the lasers were deactivated.
"Oh...Well, now if I decide to come back for some reason, I don't have to hassle with those anymore," she remarked as she continued across the metal piping.
She decided it was about time for a break, so she sat down where she was; the heat was getting to her again, and the metal pipes, surprisingly, didn't conduct very much heat as opposed to the dry, dusty ground. What kind of metal was it? Maybe it was enchanted metal? Whatever the reason, she was grateful for it being reasonably cool.
She tapped the Undernet icon in the top left corner of the screen and got down to business; Alphys had left most of her profile blank; even her username, which was simply "YouCanChangeThisUsernameAnyTimeOK?", to which she did.
It was a simple enough process; she had to fill in a bit of personal information, but with the option given to make everything except her username cryptic, she didn't mind much, and there were a lot of spaces that were marked "optional," so it didn't take long to complete everything.
Before long, she had set up her online persona under the cleverly given title of "DefinitelyNotAHuman", and she posted her OWN status update; the texting controls were somewhat fiddly, much to her surprise, but she managed to get everything she wanted down.
-DefinitelyNotAHuman updated status
*Hello, people of Undernet. Just a quick word of warning: Do NOT do the puzzles in Hotland on a full stomach!
It wasn't long until the comments started rolling in, and she took a peek to see if she recognized anyone, ready to respond to them.
"Let's see who we got here..."
COMMENTS
BrattyNOTCATTY: ikr? like, i know it's tradition, but still
- CattyNOTBRATTY: ya with u 100% gurl
- - DefinitelyNotAHuman: It's tradition to lay out puzzles like that for people to solve? They're not just to stop humans?
- - - BrattyNOTCATTY: ya like how'd you not know that? its common knowlege
- - - CattyNOTBRATTY: ya like have u been living under a rock your whole life?
- - - - DefitinelyNotAHuman: Yes, actually, my home does happen to be a very large rock structure.
- - - - - CattyNOTBRATTY: so wait. you've srsly been living under a rock your whole life?
- - - - - - DefinitelyNotAHuman: That's correct. And I'm not just talking about Mt. Ebott itself.
- - - - - - - BrattyNOTCATTY: wow
- - - - - - - BrattyNOTCATTY: also don't sweat grammar, this is undernet. capitals and speling r boring
- - - - - - - - CattyNOTBRATTY: ya grammar iz 4 chumpz
- - - - - - - - DefinitelyNotAHuman: What? Grammar isn't for chumps. It gives a sense of professionalism!
- - - - - - - - - CattyNOTBRATTY: ok boomer
- - - - - - - - - - DefinitelyNotAHuman: What?
- - - - - - - - - - - BrattyNOTCATTY: you wouldnt get it
COOLSKELETON95: GOOD ADVICE! THAT HAPPENED TO UNDYNE ONCE...WHAT A MESS!
- DefinitelyNotAHuman: Papyrus? Is that you?
- - COOLSKELETON95: YES, INDEED! HOW'D YOU GUESS?
- - - DefinitelyNotAHuman: Just a hunch.
- - - - COOLSKELETON95: WELL, ONE WHO IS NOT A HUMAN...HAVE A NICE DAY, WHOEVER YOU MAY BE!
definitelynotsans: ey kid. nice username
- DefinitelyNotAHuman: You did the same thing? That's awesome. Is that how you troll your brother without getting caught?
- - definitelynotsans: don't give my secrets away ya hear
- - - DefinitelyNotAHuman: Your secret's going tibia okay with me! ^. ^
- - - - definitelynotsans: kid i can't even right now that's hilarious
"So, Sans and Papyrus are on here, too..." she remarked. At least there were some people she recognized; she didn't think she was familiar with...The people apparently named Catty and Bratty, who seemed to make it clear they didn't want their names mixed up.
The human shrugged, then got up to continue.
-ALPHYS updated status
*Oh My God i Forgot to Tell HEr Where To Go
"Don't sweat your stuff too much, Alphy, I should be fine," she said aloud, approaching the turn north the path made.
-ALPHYS posted a picture.
*CUte PIC OF ME RIGHT NOW ^. ^
Ginger took a look at the image she posted...
And immediately raised a confused eyebrow.
"...Is that a trash can? Alphys, what's...? Oh, man...Alphy...Alphy no. You're not trash."
What's a person gotta do to pull a Velociraptor monster out of the dumps? Literally?
She headed north, and found herself at a four-way intersection; the steam vent right before her switched between different direction every second.
And the phone rang again.
"Hello?"
"A-Alphys here! Uh, calling with some more i-info on the puzzles! See, th-the northern door will stay locked until you solve the puzzles on the right and left, so you gotta do those first! Uh...I-if I may make a suggestion, I think you sh-should g-g-go to the right first, got it? I-it's the easier one, a-and if you do that one first, you might be...uh... more, uh, p-prepared for the harder one to your left?"
"Got it. Thanks again for that."
"Oh, n-no problem! Uh, bye!"
The call ended, and Ginger diverted her attention onto the path; the one arrow was still changing directions. She'd have to time her step carefully.
Cautiously, she approached the rotating arrow, and then stepped fully onto it just as soon as it pointed in the right direction. As sure as the last several times she did it, she was carried through the air by the steam and onto the next segment of land. There was what appeared to be another entry into a room up ahead, and two other monsters were parked outside, chatting amongst each other.
"Yeah, I caught Mettaton's show on my phone. Didja see it?"
"Yeah...The special effects were amazing today! That human looked so real!"
"And the Royal Scientist has been crushing on the king this whole time?"
"How she was just trying to impress him and it wasn't just for us? Plot twist, am I right?"
She tried her best to ignore them; something told her that they had better things they could be doing than sitting around talking about the robot's quiz show.
-ALPHYS updated status
*wonder if it would be unfun if i explained the puzzle...
"I'll have to see just how it works first, and then we'll see."
She turned into the room; the walls were dark, but it was still well-lit, and she caught sight of a piece of paper lying on the floor to her left. She picked it up to read it.
"Shoot the opposing ship!
Move the boxes to complete
your mission."
"...Okay?"
There was a controller on the panel before her. Upon meddling with it some, she discovered that it moved the boxes around, and there was a red "FIRE" button on the panel, which corresponded with the color of the two bullets displayed on the right of the screen. Two simple-looking arrows pointed at each other from opposite sides of the puzzle, one yellow, and one white; she figured they were the ships the paper was talking about, the yellow one closest to the human being hers.
"Don't you think it's kinda difficult?"
She whizzed around and faced the right wall; in the corner of the room, there was a monster...who appeared to be nothing more than the somewhat disgruntled floating head of an orange tabby cat wearing a pair of sunglasses.
"Yeah, I tried the puzzle, but I kept running out of ammo? And it kept restarting? And my two co-workers won't help me? It's almost like they don't even wanna go to work?"
"I knew they had better things to do," she remarked. "Here, let me give it a go..."
She moved one of the boxes on the dashboard until it was to the side. Now there was only one blocking the path to the enemy ship. She tried to get it out of the way, but every time she tried, the other box moved along with it to block the path again. And when she tried to move that out of the way, the other one did the same. It seemed that no matter what she tried, there was still one box blocking the path.
"Wait...But I have TWO ammo, don't I? What would happen if I-"
She fired one at the box, and it broke and dissipated. With the one off to the side, she now had a clear shot, so she fired again. The enemy ship split, then disappeared.
"CONGRATULATIONS!" the word flashed across the screen; an obvious indication that she'd done everything correctly.
"That was actually pretty good?" the cat head stated. "I guess that means we'll be able to go to work again soon? Isn't there another one you gotta solve?"
"Pretty sure there is."
"Well, at least we're part way there, I guess? You're pretty smart, huh?"
"Heh...I've trained among the best of the best, where I'm from," she informed him before turning to leave.
The human made a mad dash for the intersection again and flew over to the left...Only to notice that the path was blocked by a blue laser.
"Well, no worries," she said to herself. "I'll just wait for it to..."
Wait...
The blue laser was stationary; it didn't move along the path in each direction like the last two did. So if she tried to walk through it, it wouldn't...
The phone rang.
Alphys. Maybe she'll know how to deal with this.
"Hello?"
"H-hey! Uh...Just a quick word of warning. Th-the blue laser to the left, it's, uh...Impassable. Y-you can't go through it without h-hurting yourself, s-since it's blue.
"Yeah. Figured as much."
"But d-don't worry! As the Royal Scientist, I've got a few tricks up my sleeve! I-I can hack into the Hotland laser database and take it out for you, okay?"
"Hack into the database?" she echoed.
"Yeah! I know all of th-the software details, a-and I can manipulate some of the puzzles to an extent. In fact, I think I got it...! H-hold on just a sec-!"
She looked up at the obstacle...
Just in time to see it switch off.
"Okay! That should do it!"
"How long's it gonna stay like that?"
"I-it should stay deactivated until I put in the command to t-turn it back on again, a-and I, uh...don't plan on doing that. Not for a while, at least, t-trust me...Heh..."
"Aww, you're the best, pal. Well, I got a puzzle to solve, so see you 'round."
She ended the call herself this time, then entered into the next puzzle room. The problem she was faced with looked similar to the last one, except...
"Oh...Oh, wow..."
It looked like there would be a few more steps involved. Dr. Alphys was right to suggest trying out the easier one first.
Once again, she only had two ammo, and the boxes were a bit more confusing to manipulate with the control panel. At least she knew she could get away with having one box blocking the path to the enemy ship, seeing what happened with the last puzzle.
"...Maybe if I moved this one down, and then used the space there to..." she muttered as she tried to figure it out. "And then...A-ha!"
Two shots were fired, and the next thing she knew the enemy ship was no more.
"Ha! I'm gettin' the hang of this..." she congratulated herself as she passed back out and towards the intersection again. When the arrow pointed north, she stepped onto it, and was sent onto the island of ground in the corresponding direction, and she found herself standing before a large, advanced-looking metal door.
The gateway rumbled, causing the ground to vibrate as it opened up, allowing her to proceed. She turned a right corner, and saw a good straight line of steam vents leading across three islands and onto the continuing path into an open doorway ahead of them.
-ALPHYS updated status
*idk if she gets those shooting puzzles what if she gets stuck? oh whatever! i'll just explain it!
And it was just then that the phone rang yet again.
"Alphys?"
"Yeah! Uuuh...A-about those two p-puzzles, they're a bit difficult to explain, but-"
"You mean the ones where I had to shoot at the enemy ship?"
"Uh-huh! Th-that's right. The controls might be a bit confu-"
"Oh, no, it's fine. I already solved them both actually!"
"You...uh...already s-solved them? W-wow...Awesome!"
Her acclamation seemed a bit...forced, she noticed.
"...You wanted to help me out there, didn'tcha?"
"Uh...Heh, uhh...M-maybe?"
"I think I'm gettin' the hang of this," she answered, riding the string of steam vents over the sea of molten rock as she spoke. "But stay in touch; you're the one who knows the gist of everything here, and I never know what else this place might decide to throw at me next. You're really helpin' me out here, Alphys. In fact..."
She continued along the next segment of path and entered into a lightless room. Her weak human eyes couldn't even see her hand a few inches away from her face.
"...I might need your help now. This room's as black as pitch."
"O-oh. I-I think I see where you're at. Here, let me hack into the light system and see if I can brighten things up!"
"See? What'd I tell ya? You're a big help."
"Heh heh, th-thanks...Uh, here, just hold on...one...second...Aaaaand...Got it!"
And that was when the lights above flickered on.
And they revealed that the human was standing in the middle of a very large kitchen setup, bigger than any she'd ever seen.
"Um...Did I just walk into someone's house?"
"N...N-no. Th-there are no houses i-in this part of Hotland. The only explanation for this would be if...Oh...Oh, no..." she squeaked.
And that was when Ginger saw a familiar-looking rectangular figure rise up from behind the counter.
"Oh, no..."
"OHHHH YES!"
A/N: Gonna leave this one on a bit of a cliffhanger! We'll just have to wait and see how she fares with Cooking with a Killer Robot!
I feel like this chapter was sort of filler, but we've gotta progress the story somehow without too many things out...The next one should be more interesting with the cooking show and whatnot, I promise.
That's all for now, peeps. Laterz! :D