I'm back with another update!
Rmember when I said the next chapter would be shorter? Yeeaaah...that didn't work out too well. Deep thinking hit me and now we have this. I hope it's understandable for you readers, what's going to happen for our heroes in the future. I'll leave it to you to decided if I conveyed it right or not.
...So...Deltarune.
An anagram for 'Undertale'. I legit thought that it was some sort of sequel or prequel, but I was confused by how drastically different things were even though the characters we know and love are there. Then I realized that both words are an anagram for 'Unrelated'.
...Very sly, Toby Fox. Veeeerrrrry sly. I'd wager he saw all the AU's out there and eventually figured 'Hey, lemme give this a shot!'
For real though, Deltarune will most likely NOT have any impact on this tale of mine in terms of the story itself. Maybe a cheeky reference here or there, perhaps a certain trio appears, but I don't wanna force that if it's not wanted. With only one chapter out at the moment and already people have made a LOT of art, comics, fics, music covers and such out of it! It's amazing!
...Seriously, how do they do those so quick?!
Chapter Start!
"Rrrrrrrgh...!"
"Ngaaaaaaaaaaah!"
Wham!
"FUHUHU! I WIN!"
Undyne grinned and shot her fists up in victory as Dynamo sighed and face-planted the table in front of him, with Dyra looking at him in disbelief while Scythe smirked and simply shook his head. Warkie and Akai snickered and high-fived at their poor leader's loss. Sans, Parvos, Doggo, Muffet and Will, in the meantime, were collecting betting money from several humans and monsters who bet on Dynamo winning the arm-wrestling match...and are very much disappointed at the results. Alphys and Papyrus were sitting nearby, with the former sheepishly waving in approval while Papyrus reassured Dynamo that he put up a good struggle.
It was noon at Grillby's. This was how they chose to spend their time. Of course it was completely worth it, for at least half of them.
"That's right, boys! Bring it in!" Muffet cooed as all six arms gathered the gold before her and pulled it closer to her, her five eyes reflecting them slightly. "Alllll mine!~"
"You're utterly impossible, you know that?" Red sighed and shook her head. "And you too, Uncle Doggo! You're supposed to be better than this!"
"Hey hey, I don't make the rules of these bets. I just play em'. And I know a winning bet when it comes to the Captain." Doggo chuckled with a doggy treat in his muzzle. Red was still less than amused, hut could only sigh and accept it.
"How? How did you lose?!" Dyra nearly screeched while slamming her paws on the table in front of her.
"Sorry..." Dynamo muttered while rubbing the back of his neck. "Captain Undyne has me a bit outclassed in physical prowess, it seems."
"You're practically looming over her, not to mention you're more muscular in appearance and you have the strength to enforce them! How did she overpower you?!" Dyra pressed on, muttering in annoyance as Undyne reveled in her victory once again, flexing her biceps and kissing them while sporting her wide and cheeky grin. She then glared and pointed at Alphys, who 'meeped' at the sudden attention. "Your wife may have overpowered my step-brother, but this only the beginning! I'm yet to best you, Alphys my rival!"
"...O...Okay...?" Alphys smiled awkwardly, unsure of what else to say. Now our 'rivalry' is spreading to outright competing via our friends...their lack of minding is a bit troublesome.
Scythe raised a mischievous eyebrow. "Say, Al. At the party, Undyne seemed quite enthusiastic about taking you home...is there something you'd like to tell us? Did you two do anything of interest that night? Hm?~"
Alphys gulped and suddenly found her lap infinitely more interesting, lightly tugging on the hem of her skirt. "I...I can neither confirm nor deny what you are insinuating. Only that me and Undyne went home after the party. That is it, that is all."
"You totally did, didn't you?" He smiled cheekily.
"...Yes." Alphys muttered as a bright blush spread across her cheeks. She-almost-missed the days when lying came a lot easier to her. Too much time with genuine friends and a rather significant decrease of her social shyess had her becoming much more truthful. But she digresses. She'll take a little bit of embarrassment over the emotional torment lying so much brought her.
"Hahaha! I knew it! It's very subtle, but you two came in earlier looking very pleased with yourselves, Undyne more than you. But it was there!" Scythe chuckled. "And lemme tell ya, it's quite easy to tell what went down with looks like that!"
"Plus we sensed your souls; they've each gotten stronger and closer, they have a deeper connection than the last time we saw you, which really hasn't been that long." Dyra huffed while folding her arms. "It's quite clear to us what happened. And I must say...I can't believe you outdid me at something else!" Dyra slammed the table again. "Once again I'm feeling envious! How did you get to experience that before me?!"
This is apparently a conversation subject. Why? Who authorized it? BECAUSE IT WASN'T ME. Alphys mentally groaned, covering her eyes and turning more into a blushing mess. Undyne chuckled as she lightly hugs Alphys from behind and kisses the top of her head.
"Fuhuhuhu. Blushy Alphys is so cute.~"
"Undyne noooo..."
"Undyne yesss.~"
Dyra pouted while sitting a few feet away from them, cupping her chin in her paws. Envy. So much envy. Alphys has a loving significant other like Undyne, even if she is a bit...out there. She hummed while lowering her head, her eyes shifting to Scythe. I wanna have something like that with...
"DYRA." She jumped a bit as Papyrus moved behind her and patted her shoulder. She looked towards the lanky skeleton who gave her a rather patient smile. "YOU COULD QUITE POSSIBLY SPARE YOURSELF A LOT OF IRRITATION AND IMPATIENCE...IF YOU SIMPLY TALK TO HIM." He nodded. "YOU'D BE SURPRISED HOW MUCH TALKING CAN WORK BETTER THAN GLARING AT SOMEONE IN AN ATTEMPT TO TRY WILLING SOMETHING TO HAPPEN THAT ISN'T TELEKINESIS. I SHOULD KNOW, I TRIED."
"Really? How?"
"KEEPING SANS AWAKE FOR MORE THAN SIX SECONDS."
"Oh..."
"I KNOW, NOT QUITE THE SAME THING, BUT THE CONCEPT ITSELF USUALLY WORKS!" Papyrus looked to the side. Besides, they'd rather get straight to the point, he was sure. And Dynamo secretly nodded in agreement.
...I suppose it won't hurt to just ask him. Later, though. I'll just have to suck it up and keep my cool. Yeah! It shouldn't be so hard to put away my envy for the time being. As she thinks this, Dyra looks again towards Alphys...remembering that despite her slight chubbiness, she was also a bit curvaceous as well. Mostly around her hips; though her bust, while not quite around her lover Undyne's or Toriel's, was still...very noticeable. ...Okay, envy's back.
"Dyra? Is there something that catches your interest? Or perhaps your envy?~" Will playfully stuck his tongue out, only to gasp and duck as a small bolt of psionic lightning shock over his head. "Sorry! Sorry! Just kidding around! No need to get psionic elemental on me!"
"Hmph..." Dyra huffed, and Dynamo couldn't help but chuckle deeply at Will's sigh of relief.
"That's what you get for poking your nose too deep while disregarding the consequences." Red scoffed. "Don't you know that 'curiosity killed the cat?'"
"But 'satisfaction brought it right back!~'" Muffet chirped.
"...Why. Why do you feel the need to do that to me?" Red glared tiredly at her. "And if you say 'I don't know what you mean', I am seriously going to punch you."
Muffet stayed quiet for a bit. Red nodded and turned back to the others, before the spider girl cheekily says: "Muffet no understand Rude Baby Red's puppy talk.~"
"Grrrrrragh!" Red snarled in embarrassed anger and repeatedly punched Muffet's shoulder, who's main response was to laugh. "Stop laughing! Bark bark! Arf arf! Ruff!"
"And now we see the baby puppy side of you in all it's cute glory!~"
"Shut your stupid mouth, Muffet!"
"Oh! Right back to rude!~"
"MUFFET!"
"The poor pup makes it too easy." Scythe quipped, causing the other members of his group to laugh alongside him, including Sans and Parvos. Even Dynamo couldn't help but chuckle a bit. She still hasn't learned. Red takes things so seriously, not allowing flippant behavior when she feels it won't fit...so of course Muffet would go out of her way to be as flippant as she possibly could, just to see her annoyed/embarrassed reaction.
Dynamo wasn't fooled though. He heard about the lengths Red went through to protect Muffet, and vice versa. Best friends without a speck of doubt in his mind, regardless of how often the latter drives the former barking mad. Shiny sparkles waved over his head at his mental pun, and he nodded in approval of himself.
Good one, Dynamo. Good for you. Great pun.
As the gang was fooling around in such a manner, a new arrival pushed through the doors of Grillby's. Gerson tipped his hat to the other patrons with a cheeky grin. "How ya doin' folks? Don't mind me. Old veteran out of retirement comin' through."
"Geezer Gerson?" Undyne smiled.
"That's right, and I've brought some company who couldn't resist the chance to see ya. Come along, little lass." Undyne was briefly confused by this, until she saw Nikon strolling in...with the little girl that Undyne saved.
"Squirt...?" Her eye widened in surprise. The girl she rescued in Surrpio, it was indeed her. And by the looks of things, she looks much better off. No longer dirty, with messy hair, blank eyes, and tattered clothes. Now she was much cleaner; with her brown hair nicely conditioned and straightened, her much happier hazel eyes lightly reflecting the lights in the room, and a blue woven full-sleeved dress with the design of numerous bubbles all around.
"Go on lass. She's right there.~" Gerson chuckled. She nodded quietly as she ran over to Undyne and held her arms out to her. She blinked briefly, before she smiled and picked the child up and set her on her lap.
"Well well, look at who we have here! You came all this way to see me?" Undyne grinned, even if she wss blushing quite a bit. That...was actually quite flattering, if she were being honest.
"You should have been there. Once she finally gained enough of her nerves to talk, she did indeed talk." Nikom chuckled while moving over to them. "She couldn't help but go on and on about the 'strong, beautiful fish lady' that saved her when she had nothing else left."
"Beautiful...?" Undyne chuckled while lightly scratching her cheek. "Well, I dunno anything about that..."
"But...but...you ARE beautiful, Ms. Fish Lady..." She heard the girl hum, which she caught onto immediately.
"Oh! You're a lot more talkative this time around! I appreciate that!" Undyne beamed while lightly patting her head. "I know that I'm technically a Ms. Fish Lady, but you can just as easily call me Undyne, ya know. And since we're giving out names, how about yours?"
"N...Nadine!"
"Good to meet ya, Nadine! And speaking of meet, did you really come all the way here just to see me?"
"Mmhm..." She lightly pressed her fingers together, which had Undyne tilting her head. She did have more confidence to speak to her, but was obviously a tiny bit shy about it. "I...I just wanted to say...thank you for saving me. I...I wasn't able to do so properly the other day..."
"What, that? Don't worry about it. You've been through a lot more than you should be allowed to." Undyne said while lightly patting her head again. "But as I said before, you're alright now. Safe, sound, and much happier, right?"
"Yes..."
"Well then, I consider that to be a success!~" Undyne said while flashing her signature smile. Usually some people would be a bit intimidated with how many sharp teeth she had, though all it did was make the young girl smile as well.
"You have a very pretty smile."
"I tend to get that a lot. My biters are apparently much prettier when put into a smile." Undyne chuckled, as such she opened her maw to view her many sharp fangs, slightly surprising Nadine, though not in the horrified way, merely fascinated; fascination turned into another giggle fit when Undyne leaned in, closed her mouth and gingerly kissed her nose. "Fuhuhuhu~"
"Fuhu!~" Nadine giggled. Then she gasped; she briefly hopped off Undyne's lap and scurried back over to Nikon, briefly confusing the fish. After Nikon chuckled and handed a piece of paper to her, Nadine hurried back over to Undyne and spread the paper before her. Undyne gently tilted her head, before looking surprised.
A picture of Nadine holding Undyne's hand. Of course it looked like something a child drew, with stick figured, squiggly lines and such, but considering that someone drew a picture of her in the first place, it took her by surprise. She even kept her trademark smile. Clumsily drawn but with a lot of adoration behind it.
"Did...did you draw this for me?" The fish woman asked tentatively. Nadine nodded readily. Undyne blinked slowly, before she slowly smiled and looked towards Nadine. "I...I love it. Thank you."
Nadine nodded softly, before pressing her fingers together. "If...if you don't mind...can I hug you...?"
"I don't see why not." Undyne smiled as she picked the child up and pulled her into an affectionate hug. Nadine hummed and nuzzled into her neck, before she slid her arms around her waist and further nuzzled her bosom. The fish woman shrugged as she gingerly pets the top of her head with a smile, not minding much at all.
Eventually Nadine pulled away, quickly leaning to kiss Undyne's cheek, then hopped off her lap. "Fuhu!~" She giggled before scurrying back to Nikon, who kindly pets her head with a smile. Undyne watched her go with a smile of her own.
Soon afterwards, the Dreemurrs finally came into view, with Alvina in casual clothes...and Mettaton in tow.
"Hello hello hellloooo! Darlings! It's been a while, hasn't it?~" Mettaton cooed.
"Why did you let him follow us?" Chara deadpanned towards the sheepishly shrugging Frisk and awkwardly laughing Asriel. "I would have been able to bear this if you didn't explicitly invite him to hang out with us."
"We couldn't exactly say no. That would have been rude, and it would have hurt his feelings." Frisk weakly defended. "He hasn't had much to do lately, he feels neglected."
"I literally couldn't care less about that today."
"Chara..." Asriel tried to intervene.
"Could. Not. Care. Less."
"Boys, please..." Toriel sighed while massaging her forehead. Her expression relaxed a bit once Gerson was in view. "Afternoon, Gerson. As you can see, our trip here has become rather...interesting."
"Bah, that ain't a problem, Tori." Gerson waved off. "We're all mostly here. Now all that's left is-"
"Present." Gaster stated, surprising nearly everyone present, Mettaton and Will jumping back.
"Woah!"
"Geez, G-Dude! You nearly scared us outta our skin!" Will gasped while holding his chest.
Gaster merely tilted his head at everyone's reaction. "I did? Hm. Am I perhaps ahead of schedule?"
"i don't think that's the problem, g..." Sans muttered with his eye sockets awkwardly dark.
"Oh. So I'm fortunately on time, then?"
"MORE LIKE YOU APPEARED WITHOUT WARNING. WE HAVE ENOUGH OF THAT HABIT WITH SANS, WHO CLEARLY WASN'T AS PREPARED FOR IT AS I WAS." Papyrus hummed. If anything, it seemed likr a habit that Sans picked up from Gaster.
Asgore laughed sheepishly while waving his paws downward. "Now now, everyone. We're all here, so we should get ourselves situated and begin our friendly little meeting. Emphasis on 'friendly'." Asgore beamed. "Oh! We should call this a Companions Consultation!"
"That name...is...well..." Toriel smiled supportively, trying to decline the name gently.
"That name stinks!" Dyra shut that down ruthlessly, prompting an irritated glare from Toriel.
"Oh...okay..." Asgore lowered his eyes and head with a saddened pout.
"Uh...maybe we should call it an Affable Assembly?" Asriel raised his paw.
"No." Chara deadpanned.
"Oh...okay..." Asriel pouted while hiding his eyes behind his ears.
"Several odd years and yet ya both still haven't improved on your naming skills! Wahaha!" Gerson cackled, only further worsening their blushes. It seems that would be one of the more stubborn constant of their lives, quite unfortunate for them. Everyone soon seated themselves in various nearby booths and tables so they would be within earshot. "So then! How are we startin' this?"
"Oh, I may have something!~" Mettaton beams while pulling some papers out and setting them on the center of the table! "Speaking of names, quite a few of you have already made some for yourselves with all of the meddling you've been doing!~"
"Names for ourselves...?" Asriel wondered as he and the others looked at the differenting papers. Several of them were actual posters of sorts. "Hey, they're pictures of us..."
"Mmmhmm~"
"And...they have details about our exploits...?" Asgore pointed out.
"That's right, darlings!" Mettaton points dramatically. "You all are becoming the talk of the continent, and arguably a few of the other continents as well!"
"Of course. When you manage to get three Kingdoms that make up a continent to reconcile and agree to an alliance mostly under your banner, that is not going to go ignored. Especially since they've been at each other's throats as a consequence of some malevolent indiviuals machinations, as well as a certain degree of apathy." Gaster deduced. "Take away a majority of the bad influences, bring citizens up from their apathy, provide everyone something hopeful to unite under, and you have left something quite incredible in your wakes."
"I really don't feel like we did anything particularly amazing, though. We were just reaching out for help, to help." Asriel said with his muzzle hidden behind his scarf. "Is it really worth this much attention...?"
"To reiterate: Three Kingdoms united under the Ebott Alliance, and by association, swore fealty to the Dreemurr Faction." Gaster raised a brow. "No amount of modesty is going to take away from how major and important this is, young Prince. What has been accomplished has not been done for years, as no one found it worth the effort to try. You all changed that quite drastically."
"I...I see..." Asriel cocked his head. "Or...uh...maybe I don't. Not as much as I'd like to."
"You're telling me, kid." Alvina sighed while shaking her head. "I hadn't expected to be involved in something this huge, but here we are. And the people are totally fine with it."
"probably tired of gettin' targeted with no one comin' to help us." Sans shrugged.
"Yeah, that might have something to do with it..."
"Oh wait, darlings, there's more!" Mettaton beamed while picking out several pictures that were more emphasized. "They've went the extra mile and some have given you epithets!" He winked. "Granted I did a bit of touching up myself, but I see them working out!~"
"Epithets?" Alphys blinked as she read off her own with a surprised gasped.
'Magitek Witch', 'Spark of Genius' (Alphys)
'Skull Knight', 'Skeleton Sentinel' (Papyrus)
'Karmic Reaper', 'Smiling Joker' (Sans)
'Spider Princess', 'Greedy Arachnid' (Muffet)
'Little Red Slicing Hood', 'Silver-Eyed Warrior', 'Sword of Justice' (Red)
'The Undying', 'Spear of Justice', 'True Heroine' (Undyne)
'The Gallant', 'Hammer of Justice', 'Warhammer Titan' (Gerson)
'Ghost of the Void', 'The Doctor' (Gaster)
'The Untamable Animal', 'Mayor of Ebott' (Alvina)
"sheesh. they really went to town." Sans shook his head. mettaton definitely had a hand in at least a third of these names...
"Wait, what the?! Why am I on this?!" Alvina sputtered in shock.
"Apparently, a tiny flower has been talking and letting people know that it was YOU who used your Beast Magic to beat Aindreas, one of Surripio's bigger underworld participants, to death when he tried killing your brother. Plus furiously refusing to let your family bring you to heel before that." Gaster proposed. Also interesting to note that some are actually aware of the Void besides ourselves...this will require a bit of investigation. Bookmarked for later.
"WOWIE! SUCH FLATTERING TITLES!~" Papyrus beamed.
"Flattering? Embarrassing is more like it! Why am I a witch?!" Alphys bemoaned while slamming her forehead on the table.
"My epithet is more or less the same. Then again, it's all I need! Fuhuhu!~" Undyne grinned.
"As for me, considering that you crazy kids riled me outta retirement, I guess that works." Gerson shrugged with a casual grin of his own.
"Even me...?" Red blinked. Sword of Justice. That indeed felt flattering...but it didn't feel earned. Not yet, at least.
"Oh my! They're not too far from the truth with me!~" Muffet smiles proudly.
"And last but not least, the Royal Family themselves! Their titles are especially curosity inducing.~" Mettaton hummed.
'Great King of Monsters', 'Lord of Fathers' Wrath', 'Mighty Monarch Uniter' (Asgore)
'High Queen of Monsters', 'Lady of Mothers' Fury', 'Tenacious Tyrant Conqueror' (Toriel)
'Hero Prince of Monsters', 'Radiant Royal Prodigy Prince', 'Shining Star and Savior' (Asriel)
'Child of Calamity', 'Guardian Demon Prince', 'Crazed Claw of Chaos' (Chara)
'Child of Peace', 'Cheerful Bright Prince', 'Determined Defier of Despair' (Frisk)
"Hero Prince...?" Asriel blinked in confusion.
"Demon Prince." Chara curiously tilted his head.
"Bright Prince..." Frisk whispered in surprise.
"A few of these...they are...something." Toriel said quietly, wishing to hide her face from everyone at the moment.
"Indeed..." Asgore hummed while stroking his beard. No doubt about it, Mettaton influenced some of these...
"They have even brought about an epithet for the Faction as a whole." Mettaton points out.
"Seriously?" Undyne wondered as she and the others took a look at the epithet in question.
The Dreemurr Faction: Shepherds of Hopes and Dreams
As impressive as that sounded, it didn't quite click with them at first, so they placed a pin on it.
"Okay, this is quite a bundle. All these names. They're quite a handful. And people came up with these from their impression of us?" Asriel wondered.
"It seems to be that way. Either from exploits, the people we saved or protected, or enemies we've defeated or haven't encountered yet." Asgore hummed, still stroking his beard. "It would seem that we've left our impression on many, whether or not we actually lived up to those names. They might expect us to live up to them in the future."
"that seems pretty likely." Sans scratched his skull. "some of these are really out there. says wonders for how much we're either admired by peeps or we freaked our enemies out that badly. and by the looks of it, a majority of it is gonna stick..."
"Y-Yeah. This seems to be what we're stuck with. Ehehehe...hehe...heh..." Alphys pursed her lips and puffed her cheek, before she sighed and lowered her head, glasses flashing briefly. "...How did this happen...?"
They didn't know it at the time, but that was the question registering on everyone's mind. Not the names themselves. Everything. The silence around their space was very telling, as each of them were wondering the very same thing. Thinking back to the very beginning, when all they wanted was to simply live their lives on the Surface...now they were involved in a continent-wide alliance. Safe to say none of them could have forseen this. Except possibly Gaster, but he doesn't consider his time in the Void to be a reliable reference; he still suffers from brief flashes of repressed madness from his time there.
"...INDEED. NONE OF US COULD HAVE REALLY SEEN THIS COMING." Papyrus said while scratching the back of his skull, sighing from it all.
"We just wanted to chill on the surface. Then one thing happened, we dealt with it. Another thing happened, we dealt with that. And...it just kept escalating from there." Undyne sighed while twirling a hit of hair in her finger. "I don't really think we can overlook how much things have escalated anymore. This was a mighty huge jump from how many of us might have started."
"Doesn't help that at this point, it's not going to stop." Chara grumbled while scratching his head. "Not only are enemies locked onto us now, but our hearts have gotten too big to just ignore other people's problems. It's become a habit...no matter how much I wish it wasn't."
"Throughout our time on the Surface, it's been made quite clear that those who are trying to pick on us or stamp us out are never going to leave us alone. A difficult thing to accept, but it's true." Muffet hummed with one leg crossed over the other. "And with that, our resistance began to intensify."
"Coupled with how Ebott was almost destroyed completely or wiped of life nearly three times in a semi-short amount of time. Of all of us, Frisk was very much the closest to dying during the first two. Quite obviously, that made us furious." Red added. Everyone nodded. Frisk, while far from helpless at this point and technically the same biological age as Asriel, was still the youngest overall among the main group, thus they are highly protective of him. Toriel especially takes this into practice with the utmost passion.
"And thus, the intensity of our retaliation slowly grew with each attack towards those we care for." Toriel pawed her chest while looking at everyone. "I'm sure you all feel it too. The slight shift within our hearts and souls. Just a little bit, but enough to be noticable...we've...been hardened Done things we probably wouldn't have even thought about when we were back in the Underground. So much has happened. That time seems so far away now..."
"It truly has. Ever since our emergence from the Underground, our struggles have only grown." Asgore sighed while pinching the bridge of his nose. "The strangest part of it all to me...is that it has nothing to do with human-monster relations. If anything, for the most part, things have been fine between the two races, at least in regards to Ebott. I had thought that would be the sign that things would only get better...and then we have peeks and whispers of the world beyond Ebott's borders..."
"THERE HAVE BEEN GOOD INSTANCES...THERE HAVE BEEN BAD INSTANCES. AND THE MORE WE DISCOVER, THE MORE THE LATTER SEEMS MORE PREVAILANT THAN THE FORMER...THAT IS NOT A GOOD SIGN." Papyrus shook his head. "EVEN WHEN HUMANS AND MONSTERS GET ALONG, THEY STILL FOUND A WAY TO FIGHT EACH OTHER SO HARSHLY AT THE SAME TIME..."
"somethin' like that was buildin' up for years. monsters that survived and were scattered due to the war had to change their outlook. toughen 'em up. be more vigilant. lessen the benefit of the doubt." Sans shook his head as well. "as a result, many of them are much stronger...but just as many aren't as kind as they probably used to be."
"A multitude of factors from both humans and monsters over the years has led to the world we are currently occupying on the Surface..." Gaster frowned.
"And with that, we came out of the Underground just in time to get caught up in it all...what a mess." Gerson hummed while closing his eye.
The silence took over again, with half of them wondering how to take this, and the other half wondering what to do next. They've already made their decision, but actually going through with it was quite daunting, if they were being honest with themselves.
Then Undyne took a deep breath, and lifted her head to meet everyone's gazes. "I don't think this changes what we have to do that much, aside from having a slightly better understanding of things."
"What would that be, lass?"
"We're just gonna have to keep fighting."
"that figures." Sans chuckled.
"I'm serious." Undyne narrowed her eye. "All these things happening one after another. It's a certainty now. We've already accepted that the ones who antagonize us are not gonna stop. And we've also accepted that the world outside is much worse than we thought it'd be. Seriously, from our viewpoint in such a seemingly insignificant city, it feels like the world is genuinely out to get us. The sadly messed up part about that is that it might not be entirely wrong, and they're just too busy fighting each other or even themselvesto completely focus on us, which provides several windows of opportunity."
"Sounds about right to me." Chara grumbled.
"Comfort and power has brought forth feelings of complacency and apathy in certain places..." Asriel lowered his eyes. "Some comfortable with their own power will feel no need to change or propel themselves onward. And some who have grown comfortable and accepting of how bad their situation is will soon grow to be apathetic to some things...they don't have enough power to change things themselves...which leads to said apathy." Asriel lightly clenched a fist in his paw. "I don't wanna accept that as the current state of the outside world...there has to be something better than that. And it doesn't necessarily need to be fixed by constantly throwing hardships at people who don't deserve them, or already have enough to deal with..."
"By what we heard and what we experienced, several parts of the world seems to have forsaken it's chances of improving...and forsaken themselves." Chara muttered.
Forsake.
For numerous reasons, Toriel found that to be her least favorite word, especially after her clash with Faust. She connects that word far to easily to what she's done in the past to keep her own worldview safe. To think that there are many who have emulate that attitude, perhaps to a more enhanced and expanded degree...
She clutched onto her skirt, a flash of fire igniting within her eyes.
"We will not accept this..."
No one disagreed.
"well that much is obvious, tori. what will we do about it, tho?" Sans cocked his head to the left.
"Like I said, we fight." Undyne said. "And not just 'beating bad people up' kind of fighting either, though I really enjoy that part of my job. I mean fighting for change." Her eye narrowed. "We gotta crush complacency in order to make room for change. And to have change, we gotta adjust, as well as fight for it. If we don't fight, nothing will ever change. We gotta be more proactive, really push for that change. If we don't fight, we can't win. And if we don't win, the people we love and protect are going to be the ones who suffer the consequences more than us..."
"...Through victory over our enemies, we protect and save. And through protecting and saving others, that is also a victory." Asgore said quietly, which got a rough and supportive nod from Undyne. "To put things to very basic levels, the world is seen by many as half-empty. Even monsters on the Surface before us returning from the brink over the years is somewhat bittersweet because of what many might have needed to do to survive. They were really struggling out there, and likely still are."
"But that doesn't mean struggling is an entirely bad thing." Toriel lifted her head. "Just like many of those same monsters and occasional, we had to struggle and fight to get where we, and that gradually makes us stronger. Back then, monsters were mostly alright with how things were, no struggle was necessary. Cue many years after the war, monsters are nowhere near as weak as they used to be. Now they can give humans a true struggle. They dug deep into their potential so they could find the power to reach their goals, and advance to the next day. I do disagree with how this progressed...but it progressed. There's some positives to this mess."
Undyne nodded along with this especially. Complacency in peace greatly crippled monsterkind. While things aren't very ideal at the moment, monsters were significantly stronger. So some good came out of it, at least. Chara lifted his head and nodded as well. "We can give them all credit for one thing. Despite the world giving them a really hellish time...they didn't give up. With that in mind, don't really see why we should give up. We came this far."
Asriel folded his arms with gently lowered eyes. "There are many people out there. Some of them will be friends. Some will be enemies. Maybe a few will be neither. And a couple might fight amongst themselves as well as fighting us when it comes to how the world should be. The world itself might tell us to step aside and force us to do what we're told...or tell us to just disappear outright." Asriel clenched his fists again. "Earlier in my life, I might have done exactly that just to avoid trouble. Now? Something about that just makes me wanna resist even more...every time I see a positve path for something and an obstacle tries to tell me that I can't reach it, a deep part of me wants to shout 'I refuse!' with all the fire in my soul...I think Undyne rubbed off on me. Just a bit." Undyne's immediate gleeful grin practically cheered 'that's my boy!' at that. Toriel could only sigh, and Asgore sheepishly smiled.
Frisk looked down, gently holding his Golden Locket, his eyes gently opening. "...There's going to be plenty of struggling regarding our actions going forward. A lot of people might push against us, people who would rather keep the world the way it is no matter how horrible it seems. They'll do whatever they can to keep things the way they are, even if it means hurting good people. The immensity of our strain that's likely to build due to our future endeavors...but we seem prepared to face that."
Another bout of silence, yet this time it seems a lot lighter than before. Then they both looked at each other once again, then back towards their given epithet as a group:
Shepherds of Hopes and Dreams
"...Are we seriously gonna go through with this?" Chara spoke up.
"Hmmm...quite possibly, yes." Muffet smiled, swinging her feet back and forth. "What do you all think, hm?~"
"I...I don't know what to think of this..." Alphys mumbled, pushing up her glasses.
"I do." Undyne said while lightly slapping the table before her. "We've each got something that motivates us to keep on going with this particular path. We know we each have at least one. So let's just put them out in the open, without judgement, not an ounce." Undyne nodded roughly, starting first. "Me...I will be a Hero. Not just for monsters...and not just for humans. A hero for both their sakes. The only way we're gonna get them to get their acts together is to keep showing them that it can be done. I'd like to think I'm starting out nicely." She says, briefly turning over to Nikon and Nadine playing along and drinking orange juice, a small smile gracing her.
The others paused briefly, unsure on how to follow. Then Papyrus, her oldest student, placed his own hand on the table. "I WISH TO BE THAT KIND OF HERO AS WELL."
Sans sighed, then leaned back a bit with a grin. "well if i were to really choose something...i'd say try and improve the world so that heroes like you have more free time kick back and be lazy. so they have time to kill like anybody else."
Red blinked, realizing they were actually going through with this, before she shook her head, slapped her cheeks once, then straightened up in salute. "I want to be the Sword of Justice that defends the innocent and smites evil...and prove myself worthy to be Asriel's Knight, his Champion." She said the last part with closed eyes and a clearly embarrassed blush, which Asriel sheepishly imitates.
Alphys swallowed, before she patted the table as well. "I-I want to improve my knowledge in magic and science so that I can better help my friends...and maybe help improve basic living for citizens..." Gaster turned to her and nodded in approval, lightly patted her shoulder.
"I'd like to unravel the mysteries of this world, so I can rediscover what made it this way, and how to make things better. Uncover the truths of how things got to this point, if I can."
Gerson hummed while smirking at the others. "I suppose the Hammer of Justice could use a bit of reforging so I can better live up to it, even more than I did in the old days. Better be thankful, I gave up retirement for this! Waha!~"
Muffet lightly hummed while sliding her upper arms around Chara's neck and kissing his cheek. "Why why, I'd like to make more money, of course! Oh, and I suppose I'll add improving my food serving skills. Good meals can make people happy too.~" Chara had a sneaking suspicion that she was already working on drawing Faryn into her personal web.
Alvina blinked, awkwardly scratching the back of her head. "I guess I can just keep doing what i'm doing, which is ensuring the wellbeing of Ebott however I can. I dunno, I might be bad at this..."
"No no, that's just fine, Alvina." Toriel lightly patted her hand while turning to the others. "I hold onto my previous desire, which is to be a teacher. But now, I can add restoring my family honor and protecting my family to that list. I want to build a reputation in which the Queen of Monsters does not abandon those who need her."
"Ah. Then I shall be the one who further pushes for the restored honor of our family name, as well as unite other monsters out there so we can form a better future alongside humanity, together." Asgore said while lifting a cup of tea. "I wish to build a reputation that our family, and the ones who follow us, can be depended on. Anyone who reaches out for our help, we can reach out our paw and lend it them. We won't ignore someone in need, and we'll have the power to strengthen that belief."
Asriel nodded softly while narrowing his eyes. "In my case, I'd like to ensure the restoration of our family name as well. Not just to bring it back up from the brink, but to make it even better. Build our reputation and improve upon it, as someone known for doing good for goodness's sake, and to live up to the standards we hold ourselves to. Two of the epithets placed on me are ''Hero Prince', and 'Star and Savior'. I want to prove that I'm worthy of them. I'm prepared for the hardship that comes with that. The struggle will make me stronger, both in power and as a person ...so that I can eventually reach the goal that I seek. Which is of course, reborn reconcilation between humans and monsters."
Frisk tilted his head as his fingers tapped the table. "Well...I want to continue improving my credentials as an eventual ambassador. And since I'm kind of a High Prince myself-adopted of course-maybe my voice can reach even farther. To go with the Ambassador goal, I'd also like to see the world for myself. To ensure that this world can truly hold the reconcilation between humans and monsters, I want to learn more about it, so that I can understand it better. And if I can understand the world better...I'll be able to do more for those who live in it, and reach the same goal as Asriel's." Neither Asriel or Chara missed the fact that Frisk's motivation feels somewhat similar to Faryn's in terms of execution...
Speaking of the latter, he realized that he was the only one left. He looked towards everyone, who also noticed this. Then he looked towards Asgore and Toriel, then finally Asriel and Frisk. After some pondering, he sighed. "I don't really think much has changed in regards to what I want. I have to keep protecting the happiness of my family, and ensure their wellbeing."
"admirably simple." Sans interjected.
"Not finished." Chara shook his head. "My parents, and especially my brothers...their selflessness is a bit annoying. While I'm not exactly against going out and adventuring to discover new things and how to improve our situations...I'd also much rather stay home and simply be with them. But since they're gonna go out anyway, it falls upon me to help them get their objectives done quickly so that we can get home just as quickly. It's also people striking out at us, thinking that hurting the people that I care for is in any shape way or form a good idea...that makes me want to live up to my first given epithet, and bring it down on them. Relentlessly."
"oh. uh...that does sound pretty intense. gonna live up to that second epithet quite nicely, huh?"
Chara shrugged. "Honestly? It doesn't really matter to me at this point if I'm a demon or not. But if people can gain strength from that, then I'll be the Demon that Guards Hopes and Dreams." Chara narrowed his eyes. "And I'll face anything the outside world throws at me in order to protect mine. You can count on that."
...one thing's for sure, no one outside our circle is gonna expect that... Sans thought while carefully looking over Chara. It was getting more and more difficult to associate this adolescent with the malevolent child he hatefully clashed with so many times before...
"Hey hey. That's all nice and all always putting your family first." Muffet pouted while blinking her five eyes at Chara. "But what of me? Don't I have a bit of room in your hopes and dreams, Dearie?"
"I...of course you do." Chara blushed while looking aside. "Even if I somehow didn't, you'd find a way to crawl in and make room. You're stubborn like that."
"And you love that about me.~"
"...Big deal." Chara murmured, his mouth a thin pouty line. Muffet simply giggled and kissed his cheek again.
"So I guess we're gonna continue doing this. Once our resting period is done, of course." Gerson hummed.
"Indeed. And during our resting period, I shall be checking in with Levi and Cleo from time to time. Eventually information will come up on the perpetrators of the Seloms Archipelago destruction." Toriel nodded. "Eventually we'll find them, and they'll be pursued."
"It might also be a good idea to infer with Lunar, Tempest, and Darkness about the layouts of the Potestas Continent. Since we live on the Scelus Continent we had to figure the layout for ourselves. This time we can gather a bit more information ahead of time for when we embark our next expedition." Asgore nodded. Indeed, they would like to be more informed about what to expect next time, and they have three reliable sources capable of doing so. But that can wait for a little while as they rest and explore a bit of the lands closest in their downtime. Get a feel for them and their allies homes, build a stronger connection, and stronger network of support.
"Well well then, that's quite an important thing. Let's not take too long, yet we also shouldn't rush. Gotta pace ourselves properly for better prep time." Gerson nodded. "Alrighty then. Anything else to add?"
"Indeed. I simply wish to say how grateful I am to be a part of something like this." Asgore said solemnly while gracefully bowing his head. "With this, things shall most certainly become more difficult once we're back out there. Our meddling will draw more attention to us, we will struggle. And that will be painful, yet it will also make us strong. I wish to continue working with you all to reach these dreams of ours. And...to keep having hope for better futures."
"Tch, that's why we can depend on one another. There doesn't need to be one single person to bring hope, the weight would just be too much." Undyne beamed and lightly slapped his shoulder. "That's what a support is for. We build each other up so that none of us falls apart feeling alone. We won't let anyone feel alone in this. Am I right, boys? And Red?" She said, turning to Papyrus, Asriel, and the pup in question.
"AYE AYE, UNDYNE!"
"Yes, Ma'am!"
"Affirmative, Lady Undyne!"
"Fuhuhu...very good."
"Indeed. The more we support each other, the less likely that our enemies can tear us down. Unfortunate that we have enemies at all...but this is still better than no support at all, and facing them alone." Toriel said as she lightly caressed Asgore's paw. He squeezes it in return, and they gently nuzzle noses for a bit, followed by a light kiss.
"Ah boy." Gerson rolled his eye. "Anything else?"
Frisk and Asriel did. He hopped off his chair, skipped their away over to the elder Dreemurrs, and held their arms out to them. Both parents chuckled, before they came close to their sons and pulled them into their arms. Asgore gently rustled Asriel's fur while lightly touching his horns, feeling likely as happy as he was that they've grown a bit bigger. Toriel meanwhile had Frisk well wrapped in her warm and maternal embrace, his head nestled against her generous bosom as she affectionately pets his hair, closing her eyes. Muffet would reluctantly let go as Chara would go and go over to Asgore, who chuckled as he lifted him up so he could hug him as well.
Noticing that it was a plethora of hugs, Papyrus would volunteer to hug Gaster and Sans, who didn't resist the advances and simply smiled.
"Fuhuhu...I wanna get in on this." Undyne cackled softly as she pulled Alphys into her arms and cuddled her wife to her chest, much to her surprise.
"W-We're all hugging now as a way to end this meeting? I-It seems to be a bit too simple..." She says that, but also has no interest in abandoning this embrace for a reason as silly as that. She finds far too much comfort in it.
"Such a calm and comfortable end to a meeting! I'll give it five stars! Aren't I generous?~" Mettaton beamed. "Alphys dear, is there room for me?~"
"No." Undyne said bluntly.
"B-But I was talking to-"
"Nope." Undyne repeated casually while pouting at Mettaton, hugging Alphys tightly. "Mine. All mine."
"That's not fair!"
"Who said anything about being fair?"
"Bwwaaaah?!"
"C-Come on, guys..." Alphys smiled awkwardly.
"Oh! Are we doing a hug fest? How super, I'm also part cuddle spider!~" Muffet beamed as she latched onto Red with all six arms, nuzzling her cheek gleefully. "Ahuhu, so happy.~"
"Muffet..." Red grumbled with a blush, but couldn't help but smile nonetheless.
Alvina blinked as she soon turned to Gerson. She smiled awkwardly while scratching the back of her neck. "Um...this is a bit of a thing, huh...?"
"Waha! Just hug this old tortoise, will ya?~" Gerson laughed. Alvina smiled softly as she would lower herself to his level and hugged the short tortoise, which he returned while gingerly patting her back.
Observers from around would see the scene and smile warmly. The Pack, especially the Dogi, would soon begin nuzzling each other. The Pride-minus Parvos, who simply sipped his coffee milk-would do a bit of nuzzling as well. Dynamo would smile calmly as Dyra would hug Warkie and Akai, which Dynamo would proceed hugging all three of them due to his size. Scythe chuckled while simply patting his shoulder.
"...Scythe." Dyra murmured. She recalled Papyrus's advice from earlier, and she looked towards Scythe with a slight blush. "D...Do you mind if we...spend some time together...?" She turned away. "Ya know, like a date sort of thing. Course it doesn't have to be seen that way if you don't want it to..."
"Huh? Oh, sure thing."
"I figured as much, I unders-wait really?!" Dyra sputtered.
"Sure. Just say when and where, Dyra. I'll be there no problem. I'm punctual like that.~" Scythe flashed her a sharp smile. Dyra smiled gratefully with an excited wag of her tail and a bright blush.
"D'aaw. Look at them. Komodo dragon monster and Iguana monster finally willing to entangle tails.~" Parvos chuckled while aiming camera fingers at them. "I guess they're cute in a way. I mean, if someone as chill and handsome as Scythe is willing to put up with someone as unattractively aggressive as Dy-"
POKE
"AGH!" Parvos clutched his face and fell backwards, tail waving rapidly. "My eye! Right in the eye...!"
"Mind your own damn business, you filthy furball." Dyra deadpanned with her finger outstretched.
"He was asking for it." Scythe chuckled.
"Yeah." Dynamo, Warkie, and Akai nonchalantly agreed in unison.
Meanwhile, a bit outside of Grillby's, Flowey and Temmie were able to see the whole thing. They were able to hear just about everything. After a nod of confirmation from Flowey, he lowered himself back to the ground, while Temmie cutely landed on her butt, her tongue sticking out slightly.
"I'm sorry I made you waste some of your day off like this." Flowey sighed while shaking his head.
"Tis FiNe, prEtTy fLoWeR!~" Temmie beamed, vibrating slightly. Though after a moment, she stopped shaking and grew a bit more serious. "You didn't want to share the moment with them?"
"Nah. I may have a soul now, but something like this still isn't exactly within my taste. Besides, they know where I stand." Flowey shook his head. "Anyway, I guess we're done here. I just wanted to be hear them out. I'm fine with this for now." He turned to Temmie. Then he blushed while lowering his head. "Um..."
"Hm?"
Flowey blushed a bit, then made eye contact with Temmie. Swallowing his anxiety, he leaned forward and quickly kissed her forehead, before pulling back and sheepishly looking away. "There. A thank you for putting up with my ridiculous request."
"...U...U...Uwah!~" Temmie chirped, before falling on her back and wiggling her long limbs about.
"Easy! Easy!" Flowey sputtered while looking around quickly, before extending his vines to hold her in place. "Sheesh. Can't go several moments without something random?" He sighed while he loosened his grip and gently patted her head. "Hey."
"H-Hoi!"
"You take good care of Alvina, who did her best to care for Frisk before we eventually met him." He hummed while thinking slightly on that. Come to think of it, I don't think we've ever heard their FULL story...that's something I'm interested in pressing her for. Another day, Flowey. Another day. "I'm grateful for that. So, uh...keep doing it."
Temmie, having been switching from Tem-Speak to Normal Speak several times at this point, decided to end it on the latter, with a very warm smile.
"Of course I will, Flowey. Definitely."
Okay. Thinking about it, kinda like this chapter now that I look at it. NOW I can do shorter, more comedic chapters. Plenty of downtime to come, as well as worldbuilding things before the main plot starts up again.
Whaddya think of the epithets/nicknames? Remember that Mettaton came up with a few of these and touched up upon others and people happily agreed. Heck, some have come from the enemies they bested during their expeditions. A few he chose to leave alone. But yeah, to agree with Gaster, three Kingdoms that make up a continent are better off due to their influence, and the leaders swore fealty to the Royal Dreemurrs. Of course people are gonna talk about how impressive these are!
And it's only gonna progress from here...
Until next time!