The usual been a while, hah.
No, really, this time it's been rather serious. I was still around, but my will to actually write took a hard hit, once again due to major IRL stuff, especially within the family. Sister leaves for college here, parents divorcing there...it feels like we've been split down the middle, and then that split turned into several shattered pieces upon impact.
This has been a brutal and tiring year, and I didn't have the will to write much because of it, admittedly. This year, I thought I would pick up, but I actually got even slower. Which is shameful.
But I'm still here, and still pushing on. Just like a lot of other people.
And I intend on picking up the pace. For real, this time. I'll prove it, soon enough.
Anyways...
Chapter Start!
(Surripio)
"Ssssssso lovely..."
Cleo pleasantly hissed as she was nicely coiled up, sitting calmly within a spacious pool filled with various colorful lights. Swimwear was colored black with golden trims and surprisingly fit her quite nicely, despite the odds.
"Glad you're enjoying yourself, mother." Valerie hummed was she too was sitting idly in the pool on the other side with pink and purple swimwear, having butlers on either side of her in case she needed anything. She appreciated the gesture, but asked they focus their attention on the guests. "Alvina, Flowey. Are you finding your visit pleasant?"
"Uh, yeah, sure!" Alvina smiled, though understandably felt awkward being invited to Cleo and her family's home on such short notice, especially just to soak in a pool. Cleo could actually smell the strong sense of concern on Alvina for Frisk, and insisted that she come over and relax. She brought along Flowey as a playful housewarming gift.
"Nice place and all, but I ain't stayin' here." Flowey huffed with folded leaves, floating atop the water in his pot. "When's Levi gonna show up? He sure takes his time preparing to soak in his natural element."
"I'm right here, my flowery, sarcastic friend." On cue, Levi entered through the door, clad in swim shorts and little else aside from a goal draped over his arm.
"Oh my." Cleo leaned slightly in Levi's direction, her eyes lowering seductively. "You certainly look muscular today, Levi dear. I'd rather you not make it so difficult for me to keep my hands off you."
"Now why would I not want my life to be up close and personal with me?" Levi smiled as he handed his towel to another number nearby and casually enters the pool with a sigh.
Hissing lovingly, Cleo swam right up to him, then gently coiled her body around him, until naught but his upper body was uncoiled. She leaned in and smooched his snout. "You make a fair point, dear. How sssssilly of me."
"You're hissing again, mother." Valerie pointed out.
"I can't help it ssssometimes, ssssweetie. Aside from being a tactic of intimidation, it can also be pretty fun." Cleo snickered while lightly placing a hand on Levi's chest. "Especially when my beloved helps me relax. Such a strong and fit water dragon like myself will always protect me, right?"
"Obviously. Though you've already proven quite capable of handling yourself."
"Oh how right you are about that." She pouted and turned away a bit. "It's so reassuring to hear, even though I sometimes show up from an appointment with friends or clients or partners. And sometimes I have to come back so bloated and full from an early lunch or dinner. Sometimes even breakfast! Not always a pretty look."
Levi shook his head with a chuckle, hold his paw out. Snickering, Cleo rested her chin on it and looked him in the eyes. "Oh Cleo, you're so silly. Everyone knows you're beautiful, whether you're thin and trim, or have a belly filled with prey. The latter simply comes with the bonus of pleasant belly rubs that sometimes helps the occasional tummy ache that comes with your gluttony."
"True, I do enjoy those..."
"As do I your stupid sexy hips."
"Oh? Sssstupid, are they? Then why do your eyes always seem ssssssssoooo naturally glued to them, hm?"
"You use that hypnotic sway of yours to distract me from my ping pong focus! I would have won last time if you didn't pull out that dirty trick!"
"Weren't you losing badly by that point anyway, Daddy?" Valerie points out casually. Levi simply sulked and hung his head.
"I'll win a game these days. I swear I will..."
"How can someone be so ridiculously garbage at ping pong, anyway? Do you just naturally suck at such an easy game?" Flowey muttered. "Little kids that didn't even know how to play have beaten you in ping pong. Consecutively! How is that possible?!"
"I've been mocked about that before already! I'll get better someday, damn it!"
"In any case, it's a fun little pastime." Valerie smiled, and the trio all chuckled together at the thoughts. Flowey found their nonchalance to what Cleo was implying to be rather strange. Then again, very few friends of his subscribe to themselves as 'normal'.
By all mean, this could be normal for them.
Alvina chuckled a bit awkwardly at the implications. Though as she took her mind off of that, Alvina found herself staring at Levi's well-built chest. She also avoided looking and then getting entranced by Cleo's and how they had such buoyancy when they're in the water. No, she was focused on something across his entire torso, now that he has no jacket or suit to cover him up.
"Something you need, Miss Alvina? A drink or a snack? You should probably wait until after you're out of the water, and have taken a decent break away from it." Levi said and explained politely.
"N-No, I'm fine, honestly. I just, want to ask you something?" Alvina nervously pointed at his chest. "How did you get that scar?"
"Hm?" Levi casually looked down towards the vicious looking, long faded scar across his chest, briefly pressing his hand against it. "Oh, this? I've gotten into a pretty intense brawl with one of my biggest rivals, and he ended up goring me."
"What the hell?" Flowey gaped in awe.
"I got him right back, though. Made sure we were even."
"Daddy won that battle, but by a hair." Valerie said to Alvina while swimming through the water easily, like she was a part of it. "The monster's a Behemoth. Though his name tends to be Berry."
Alvina blinked. "Berry the Behemoth?"
"Mhm."
"I almost...no, I literally can't take that name seriously, but that scar is no joke. It's like you've been impaled by a giant tusk!" Flowey exclaimed, in which Levi nodded.
"That's indeed what happened."
"How did you survive?!"
"Because I was tougher than he thought I was, which helped me edge out a win." Levi hummed as he took his paw off the scar. "It still stings from time to time. He was no joke, despite his lack of intelligence. That's what happens when a monster of the sea clashes with a monster of the land."
"Seriously?"
"Levi dearest was categorized by others to belong to a ssssspecial group of monsters." Cleo hissed as she gently placed a hand on Levi's scar. "He's a Beast of the Sea, Berry is the Beast of the Land, and a third monster, Zizzy, is the Beast of the Sky."
"Okay seriously, what the hell is up with these names? Levi the Leviathan? Berry the Behemoth? Zizzy the Ziz? You'd think Asgore or Asriel named these guys." Flowey deadpans. "And I should know how bad their naming game is, I'm a prime example!"
"I like my name..." Levi lowered his head in mock dejection, Cleo sweetly kissing his cheek to cheer him up.
"Your name is at least sensible. The others are ridiculous."
"Due to the utter destruction they're capable of when they use their full power, especially against their who dismissed them as 'mere monsters' they've once been coined 'The Chaos Beasts.'" Valerie added in. "Or Beasts of Chaos. Whichever you prefer."
"I-I see..." Alvina blinked, there was so much to take in from the origins of a single scar.
"Granted, I don't think I'll be besting the likes of Tamotsu in a straight one on one fight, and fortunately neither of us wants to fight each other. But it goes without saying, we Chaos Beasts are pretty powerful." Levi hummed. "Sort of a cut above the rest even compared to other powerful monsters, whether we asked to be or not." He looked up towards the ceiling. "I do wonder how Zizzy is doing, though? Is she still aimlessly blowing away whole mountaintops simply because she can?"
"I really don't like how casually you just said that." Flowey shivered in his pot. It was clear that they knew what they were talking about. These Beasts of Chaos were extremely strong, and from what he just heard, Levi is the only genuinely friendly one of the trio. Extremely lucky the gang met him first, but still, it would really suck if his friends and family on the expedition ran into one of them. They would be in for a bloody battle. He actually hoped-having a soul allowing him to do such a thing was still taking some getting used to-that they don't run into either not these Beasts, for their own safety.
...Which, now Flowey thought about it, was extremely likely to happen anyway, given everyone's track record. And Flowey being the knowledgeable flower he is, only just realized that he might be jinxing it right this moment.
"...Shit." Flowey muttered, his head hanging in utter dejection.
He most likely did jinx it.
(Gustus)
Toriel could feel it, long before the enormous monster came into sight.
The earth shifting beneath the, the ground-shaking rumbling, the slight sense of dread that accompanied their every thought as they felt Behemoth get ever closer to them. The wisps and streams of sand floating in the air before the source could even reach their location. It was intense, the magic in the air massive, to the point where several bystanders could barely gather the strength to stand underneath it's might.
It was a very similar feeling, like with Levi. The most glaring exception would be that Levi didn't make his own feel intimidating a all when welcoming a new friend. No, the feeling this monster was giving off was akin to a walking disaster heading their way.
She grit her teeth, her fangs being bared. Gustus was evacuating it's civilians into shelters that would hopefully be able to withstand what's surely to come. She had thought about telling Frisk and Faryn to join them so they wouldn't be more hurt than they already were, as she herself hadn't fully recovered yet. But she decided against it, as she would need all the help she could get. Plus, they'd probably do something that will allow them to get out and help fight anyway, despite Frisk's reluctance. He especially didn't want his mother to fight alone after the vicious defeat she suffered at Revan's hands.
It was for the best that they stick with her, where she could see and sense them.
"H-He's coming...!" Galen could be heard quivering from where he hid, yet able to see what was going on.
"That's some pretty intense sand magic this guy's got. Like, super insane!" Danielle exclaimed while sprouting up near Toriel in a gentle bloom. "This is seriously bad. That amount of sand, he's probably going to absorb the life out of all the plants in the kingdom, and the citizens will be next."
"J-Just like he tried to do l-l-last time..."
"He's going to turn Gustus into a dessert wasteland. He has the power to back that feat up." Frisk muttered with barely repressed hesitation.
"Whaaaat? He's gonna kill all the precious greenery?!" Faryn gasped, before she glared and shook her head, her eyes turning a menacing purple. "No way that's gonna happen! Not on my watch!" She snarled viciously as the fur on her ears and tails grew frenzied with righteous anger. "Jerk can't go ruining people's beautiful flora, it's all so gorgeous here! We've gotta stop him in his tracks!"
"Already on it. Me and my fellow dryads are, like, not going to let him inside without a fight." Danielle hummed as she placed her hands on the ground. "A lot of our magic's gonna be put into this, we ain't having a repeat of last time!"
A large rumbling soon ensued throughout the kingdom. Faryn gasped as several trees begun erupting around Gustus. Her eyes widened in shock as they grew and expanded, taking a wall-like form that surrounded nearly the entire Kingdom.
"Amazing...!"
"Yeah we know. But, likes this isn't going to hold him back for very long if we don't focus." Danielle pressed as she focused on the wall she and her comrades were building. "It'd be much better for all of us if this guy was beaten before he can even touch the walls but we're not counting on that being an easy feat.
Toriel was not undeterred, however.
"See to it that your people get to safety, as soon as possible." Toriel requested as she turned towards the approaching sandstorm, her eyes narrowed and her body heating up with flames. "I am going to confront this new enemy. Frisk, Faryn. Come."
"Okay!"
"Got it!"
Both children nodded affirmatively at her order. Toriel was still extremely reluctant to bring them along with her, but the truth is that they'll get better results handing together than her trying to handle this on her own.
With their minds made up, the trio took off with a jettison of flames, with Danielle and Galen watching them soar off with concern clear in their eyes.
"Your Highness. I for real get what your feeling, but we gotta focus on our people first. We'll entrust them to buy us time to do so." Danielle untrusted as Galen reluctantly turned his head away and descended from his spot, in order to reassure and ease his people so they can orderly get themselves to safety.
They dropped into Gustus battered and broken, and now they're up fighting for us. I...I just don't get it all that much. But I'm glad that they care.
Toriel eventually reached her target and destination, stopping just before the sandstorm that raged before her. Wind billows her dress and flailed her ears about, but her eyes remained steeled and focused. Frisk and Faryn were by her side, mostly unsure how to proceed but being prepared to act when necessary. Toriel took a deep breath, pushing her paws together, before she thrusts them upwards.
A line of flames splits down the sandstorm surrounding the monster within it, and tears it in half.
The two children gazed in awe as the large wall of flames tore apart the sand surrounding them, and camouflaging the monster being coated in it. With only streams of sands remaining,.Toriel clenched her fists as the sand was fully pulled away, making way for her to look her enemy in the eye. What she saw was a large, red-orange eye with a black slit pupil gazing right at her. The other eye looked like it's been gouged out.
"Haaah...? Who are you?" The enormous monster questioned while turning towards the trio.
"My name is Toriel Dreemurr, Queen of all Monsters. You must be the Behemoth I heard about." Toriel declared aloud with a voice harder than steel. "You are an active danger to the Kingdom of Gustus. You seek to do it harm. I implore you to reconsider and turn back."
"Haaaah? Why in the world would I do that? I came here to destroy this Kingdom. And maybe find something to eat. But I didn't know what, exactly." The larger than life monster voiced, which was loud enough to echo throughout the area without trying. "So, I decided since I couldn't decides I would just eat everything. I'm not up to feeling picky today."
"You shall do no such thing. I will not allow it." Toriel narrowed her eyes, her fists ignited with fire. "Reconsider, and turn back immediately."
"Hnnn...I'd rather not. I came a long way out here to do what I came to do, so I'm just gonna go ahead and do that." The giant monster resolved, as Toriel could sense the sand beginning to swirl around the both of them. He was likely on the cusp of attacking her, so she kept up her guard. "Anyway, what was your name again? Toree Dreemy? Why are you all the way out here, anyway? This isn't your Kingdom, you don't..." The monster blinked, and he stood up straight scratching his head. "...uh, wait, what was I talking about again?"
"I don't think he's very bright." Faryn pointed out with a raised hand and a flick of her tails.
"Not by much, anyway." Frisk deadpanned. Even he couldn't help but see that this one wasn't all too smart. Toriel had clearly introduced herself and he had forgotten how to properly say it almost immediately. And his genuinely confused tone made it clear that it wasn't malicious discarding.
"Well, whatever. Just stay outta my way." The Behemoth raised his paw.
The trio then found themselves buffeted by a storm of sand. Faryn's eyes widen as she had several roots wrap around herself and Frisk, as she clutched onto him as the force of the suddenly summoned sandstorm. Faryn kept Frisk close to her and kept them both rooted to the ground so they wouldn't be blown away. Toriel surrounded herself in a barrier of heated flames, briefly checking to make sure that the kids are fine. She swiftly turned as the sandstorm began moving again.
"You shall not progress further than this, I'm afraid. I cannot allow it!" Toriel declared as she raised her paws, and a wall of flames erupted around the Behemoth, and she noticed him stop in place as the flames were actually intense enough to stop him for a bit.
"Are you kidding me right now? You're seriously still gonna keep trying to stop me?" The giant monster questioned softly while turning his eye towards Toriel. "Alright, you want to fight? I'll give you one. But you're not gonna like how I start things off."
Toriel narrowed her eyes and prepared for the worst, her flames growing ever more intense by the moment. Though she noticed that the sandstorm was growing with intensity as well. And at a concerningly faster rate than her flames. It was then that she felt herself being buffeted by sand, and she attempted to keep herself protected behind her fire barrier. She felt herself being pushed back and overwhelmed.
Then her eyes turned icy blue.
She pushed her paws outwards as ice-fire flared all around her, and all of the sand began turning solid ice, with the glowing blue frost trailing and attaching itself to nearly every particle of sand around her, and stopping a majority of it from getting past her or the ice-fire barrier she set up to keep it all from getting past her. After she managed to freeze up nearly all of the ice, she closed her paws as all of the frozen sand shattered into pieces as they fell harmlessly into the ground.
The large monster blinked owlishly. "...Huh. That's the first time that's happened to me. I don't think I've ever seen frozen fire before, either."
"Whew. We almost got blown away." Faryn sighed with relief as she and Frisk managed to keep themselves from being swept up by the brief sandstorm by holding onto the roots that Faryn created. "Are you okay, Frisk?"
"Y-Yeah, more or less." Frisk gazed up at the currently confused monster that glared at the three of them. "I don't think he's going to make things any easier for us. If anything, I think he's just about starting to get irritated."
"Okay, alright. Let's try this." The giant monster huffed as the earth surged around him and erupted, forcing the trio to jump away from him in order to avoid the destructive aftermath, whole chuckle of earth being lifted out of the ground. All of those chunks were soon thrown towards the trio at various speeds.
Toriel's eyes widened as she had to herself dodge before any of them could reach her. Faryn and Frisk were both much swifter, having moved out of the way of the upcoming debris. Frisk surrounded them both in a green barrier after switching to Green Soul Mode, gritting his teeth as some of them were large and sturdy enough to cause several cracks in the barrier he set up.
"Frisk, I think he's building up to something. And it's going to be big." Faryn noted with caution, her tail and ears getting uneasy with several twitches as the fur on them stood up.
"I've had this feeling before. We should stop him as soon as we possibly can." Frisk noted, a chill riding through his soul as he and Frisk made their way towards the large monster, who seemed to be gathering strength for something. He kneeled down and placed one paw on the ground.
"Alright, I'll admit. You all are a lot tougher than expected. I'm already super late. I'll get this out of the way, name's Berry."
"Berry? As in fruit?" Faryn blinked with a tilted head, suddenly having a craving for berries. She shook her head in order to remain focused.
"Just feels a bit more proper to let you know my name before I go on ahead and barge through you. Though, I did manage to understand or remember something important about me." Berry continued, as magic surged all around him in ethereal yellow glow. There was a demonic going in his eyes followed by a malicious snort. "Always start off big!"
Toriel's eyes widened as she turned and dashed to Frisk and Faryn as quickly as she could, sensing something big incoming. Sensing the same kind of raw, terrifying power that also welled within Levi. Except this time, it was being targeted entirely towards them.
Though she barely managed to get to them in times as Faryn sensed the same thing as she did, and formed an entire sturdy tree around them as shelter, with Frisk reinforcing it with a larger green shield around the entire thing. They braced for the worst, as Toriel instinctively knew even she couldn't stop what came next.
Berry had summoned a sandstorm. Multiple sandstorms at once. Each appearing as an ever increasing tornado of sand, at least five if them spread across the Kingdom of Gustus and began devastating it along with much of it's hard earned crops. Those that were caught outside without any shelter were caught up in the sandy destruction, while those who managed to make it to the shelters could only grit their teeth and make sure their zones of safety held.
From an outside view, the ever large sandstorm appeared as several tornados that were devastating the land, slight wisps of sand flowing even miles away from where the storm originated. One wisp briefly passed by a certain trio, and they were suddenly motivated to go a bit faster.
It was ten minutes before the sandstorm finally died down. The shelter that Frisk and Faryn tried to hold up for themselves has been destroyed, but it held up enough for the damage to them to be drastically reduced. Toriel was the first to try and get up, only to briefly scream in agony as she crashed back into the ground, an intense pain igniting in her back. She grit her teeth as she sees her back beginning to bleed, the heavy storm having agitated and reopened some of her wounds.
I still have not fully recovered...curses...!
As Toriel struggled to stand, Frisk was already on his way to her. But not before he saw the state the Kingdom of Gustus was in. The sand has managed to cover nearly everything around them, with only several bits of plantlife miraculously remaining untouched, and only the Great Tree Palace was completely undamaged. In the distance, he could see Danielle and Galen emerging from a giant rose bud she created, both of them falling forward on their faces. Both of them looked absolutely shocked, and Galen had tears brimming from his eyes in streams as he knew all too well what had just happened. Frisk turned towards Faryn, who looked onward with a distant expression, her ears folded against her head. Frisk quickly ran up to her.
"Faryn, how bad is it?"
"...I can barely sense most of the greenery anymore." Faryn noted lifelessly as her tails drooped to the ground. "And anyone who was still caught outside is..." She didn't finish the thought, as Frisk knew right away what she meant. And he also saw for himself, dried up human corpses having a frozen look of fear and desperation on their faces, and he knew he wouldn't be able to tell between sand and monster dust that happened amongst the carnage. He clenched his fists as he shook the aggravating sand out of his hair.
"We weren't able to keep our promise..." Galen muttered as he allowed tears to fall tongue ground, with Danielle gently hugging him.
"Our barriers were totally useless..."
Toriel gritted her teeth as she glared up towards Berry, who finished his sandy carnage and gazed upon his handiwork.
"Aha, there. That should make things a bit easier for me." He said nonchalantly as he took an earth shaking step forward. "Now then, I'll be feeding on the remains, then be on my merry way."
"You...shall...not..." Toriel snarled as she tried to push herself to her feet, but ended up collapsing on her side. She cursed her current state, refusing to stay down but simply not being capable, the storm having sapped most of her strength when she tried to protect the kids.
"I shall what? The heck are you saying?" Berry shook his head in annoyance, as a spear of sand formed in his hand. "Well, not like it matters all that much, I guess. I think I'll put you out of my misery." Frisk and Faryn immediately jumped in front of Toriel with frightened yet defiant tears in their eyes as he prepared to attack the three of them. "You two are really gonna try and stop me? You're literally about to cry."
Faryn looked slightly more distraught than Frisk, though only because he himself was distraught at seeing his mother so terribly hurt, and even more that she probably won't be able to get back up on her own despite all her rest and healing. So all he could do was stand defiantly in Berry's way with an ironclad refusal to move out of the way.
"Maybe we are crying!" Frisk declared with gritted teeth and tear-filled eyes. He quickly took up Green Soul Mode and defended against an onslaught of sand attacks from the hulking beast before them. "But it doesn't matter, because we're not going to let you hurt anyone else!"
"Frisk..." Faryn muttered quietly, as Berry moved forward for the attack. Then she remembered how much of the greenery was suddenly destroyed, and how many of the citizens have died without warning. Then to the seriously inured Toriel, who probably would have been less so if she hadn't been protecting them. Again. The second time she's been seriously injured trying to protect the both of them.
The feeling of uselessness was weighing on her mind, despite what she and Frisk promised Galen and Danielle.
How can she become a capable or reliable Queen of her Kingdom one day, if she simply allows something like this to happen, when there's absolutely nothing she could do to help the situation or protect those she cares for? How can she protect her Kingdom one day if she can't even protect her friends? How can she protect her friends if she couldn't even protect herself?
Her father encountered these obstacles, and he grew stronger to compensate, until he could surmount them. First he grew strong enough to protect himself, then grew strong enough to protect his friends that he didn't make entirely willingly, and then goes on to be strong enough to protect and rule Astus. The one time it horrifically failed him was with the death of her mother and his beloved, which was why he grew so utterly protective of his only daughter. She understood this, and did not blame him.
But now, she was on this dangerous journey to prove she could handle herself without his protection. TO prove that she could one day be strong enough to protect the Kingdom she's to inherit. And yet so far, she was swept aside by someone dangerously out of her league, and now this happens not too long after. And there was not a speck of remorse from those responsible for either.
Ah. I see. Faryn thought to herself as her eyes sharpened and her fur began to stand, her fox ears flicking as she glared up at Berry, who was pushing Frisk back with almost little effort, despite how valiantly Frisk stood against him. She saw the intent in his eyes, eagerly and utterly intent on wiping out Gustus and devouring everything and everyone simply because he wanted to. Those are the kind of people we'll be dealing with in increasing frequency. I already knew, but this makes it more certain. Then...
"You think that green barrier thingie is gonna protect you?" Berry huffed as he swiped his arm sideways, causing a massive wave of sand to crash against the barrier, shattering it and sending Frisk away with the wave. Before it could completely consume him, Faryn went and pulled Frisk out of it near effortlessly, and extended one of her tails around Toriel's waist to pull her out of the way. Toriel barely contained her wince of pain, bearing it since Faryn was saving her. She landed on a leaf platform that managed to stay intact, setting them both down separately.
"Are you okay, Frisk? Ms. Toriel?"
"Y-Yeah. Thanks, Faryn."
"I am, ngh, grateful to you, Princess Faryn."
Toriel still seemed heavily injured, as the bleeding was getting worse. Frisk was already at work desperately trying to heal her back, though anxiously glaring back at Berry while doing so. The large monster was making their way towards them, sand gathering around him more and more. Faryn glared harshly towards him, standing up and walking towards him with her hair shadowed by her eyes, her tails completely still. Berry noticed her slightly and scoffed at her.
"Hah? What do you want, fluffy thing?"
"...A lot of Gustus's people died just now, along with much of it's beautiful flora. You did both of these things, and yet you don't even care a little bit." Faryn muttered, without raising her head just yet, though the air around her did grow a bit tenser with her words.
"Wha? Why would I care about something about that? You can't do anything about it anyway, you're just a small fluffy thing." Berry scoffed as multiple spears of sand manifested around him. "Besides, you're completely terrified of me. You can't beat me like that."
"...You're right. I'm really scared right now." Faryn admitted with genuine honesty. It was then that he noticed her tails swaying about with an increasing speed, almost appearing as blurs. Then when they slowed down, a brief glow flashed, and he was surprised at what he found as a result.
A third tail.
Faryn eventually lifted her eyes, her usually green eyes having turned a vicious violet. "So what?" Then, Faryn pounced.
Berry huffed as multiple tendrils of sand were sent Faryn's way. Though his unimpressed look turned into one of surprise as Faryn proceeded to dodge most of the tendrils by using multiple enlarged leaves to jump off of. The tendrils would pierce the leaves but completely miss her. Until she finally closed the distance between them.
It was then, she completely surrounded herself in an orb of fox fire, consisting of immense fire and lightning. Without missing a beat, she launched herself right into Berry's face before he could react to it, setting off a great fiery electric explosion that had him howling from the intense pain of it. He staggered back a few feet while grabbing his face, until he fell on his back, making the very ground quake due to how large and heavy he was.
The recoil from the blast sent Faryn spiraling back towards the ground in a daze. Gasping, Frisk stopped what he was doing and jumped over to where Faryn was set to land, barely managing to catch her in his arms as they both crashed into the ground. Regardless of that, Frisk managed to land on his feet as they skidded across the ground until coming to a stop. He breathed a sigh of relief as he looked Faryn over.
"F-Faryn! Are you alright?!"
"I'm fine, Frisk. Thank you for catching me." Faryn expressed her gratitude as Frisk set her on her feet. "I managed to knock him down, but I don't think I did enough damage to the jerk." Faryn snarled, and Frisk immediately understood that she was hellbent on fighting Berry now. The fur of her ears and tail were standing, her nails were sharpened, and she could see her canines also sharpening a great deal as her eyes shifted to match her currently fierce appearance.
Berry was trying to get back up and retaliate in time, only for four large trees to emerge from the ground and roughly wrap around him, keeping him pinned to the ground and surprising the two teens.
"Y-You...you...Y-You..." Galen stuttered, unable to voice his thoughts very well at the sight of his parent's killer. So Danielle stepped up for him.
"You're not going anywhere, not if we can help it!" Danielle declared as she closed her fist, causing the trees to tighten Around Berry to keep him from moving. Other fellow dryad monsters have risen from the soil that wasn't buried with sand, and strengthened those trees for extra security.
Finding moving to be a hassle at the moment, Berry stopped and simply stated at his supposed captors in annoyance. "You're all beginning to get on my nerves."
"Tell someone who cares." Faryn snarled, and Frisk was now absolutely sure that Faryn has lost all patience with Berry. She raised her hand and closed it, as a series of tree trunks wrapped even further around Berry, restraining him and keeping him from moving too much. A brief purple glow surrounded the wood, and Berry could feel his magic being slowly sapped away.
"You're tryin' to feed offa me?: That's not how it should work!"
"I don't care for your view of things, since you've just devastated this Kingdom without a care." Faryn narrowed her eyes as the wooden trunks tightened even further. "I'm not letting you off so easily."
"Letting me off? Like I care about that stuff." Berry narrowed his eye as the earth surged around them, as stone pillars shot up from the ground and pierced the wooden trunks one by one, setting himself free and sending the ones casting the spells flying, aside from Danielle and Faryn both able to stand their ground. "I'm just gonna consume all that I can, because I want to and was given the okay to do so."
"L-Like you d-d-did...with Mom and Dad...?" Galen stuttered as he was held in Danielle's arms,
Berry gazed towards him for a moment. He smelled something familiar about him, and recalled when he came to this Kingdom a long time ago. "...You smell like those two morsels that fought with me the last time I came here. Huh. Wonder if you're as tasty as they were...?"
He doesn't regret it at all, Frisk could instantly see that. He didn't even see it as something regrettable at all. He was speaking as if he were talking about an everyday snack he had eaten, rather than a boy's kindly parents, who were also the King and Queen of Gustus. A lack of empathy for the boy who's parents he nonchalantly took away, to the point where he could barely remember doing so. And when reminded, it was treated with overall nonchalance.
Frisk didn't know how he felt about increasingly meeting these kinds of people and have them as enemies.
"Eating someone's parents isn't nice."
Frisk got a clear picture of how furious Faryn was once he saw yet another enormous ball of fox-fire strike Berry in the chest, blasting him a few feet away and badly scorching him. He turned towards her and saw that she briefly collapsed on her knees, breathing heavily but keeping her friends glare bones on the monster she attacked in anger.
She's tiring out. She won't last long at this rate, and Frisk wasn't any better. Toriel can't stand up on her own right now. The Kingdom of Gustus was halfway buried in sand, and the one responsible was barely winded by everything so far, despite appearing and sounding genuinely hurt by what was thrown at him so far. Even at this very moment, he was recovering from being blasted in the chest, appearing briefly winded but not majorly slowed down.
"That seriously stung. How long are you all planning to keep this up? Because, uh, this isn't very fun."
"Ngh..." Galen winced as he hurriedly stood in front of the exhausted Faryn, who had her eyes trained on Berry, though was distracted by Galen stepping in front of her. Frisk in the meanwhile, was briefly snagged and brought back to them by Danielle, who set him down gently next to him.
"He's as bad as he was last time. Seriously, look at him just not care." Danielle muttered as Berry finished brushing himself off and headed their way again, looking genuinely irritated for the first time during the whole encounter. "We gotta come up with something quickly, because he's just tearing through us."
"More of my people will die if he continues at this rate...including my new friends." Galen muttered to himself as Toriel briefly lifted her head and saw the brief shift in his eyes. She gritted her teeth and attempted to force herself up again, despite her injuries. Things were about to get significantly worse, she could sense it within her soul and the area around her. She wanted to stop it before it could happen, desperate to shield the children from any more harm.
Yet despite her putting in her utmost effort, she could not move her battered body beyond where she lay.
The previous battle with Revan took a bigger devastating toll than she thought, and it was stalling her at the worst possible time, especially when agitated by the attacks she just endured on top of it.
"Curses...!" Toriel's paw dug into the ground, the only limb she could still reasonably move.
"Getting tired of this. You're all getting on my nerves." Berry growled irritably as sand swirled around him, harsher than the other times he summoned it. Danielle formed a barrier of trees around the gang and rooted them deep into the earth to keep them place during the sandy onslaught. Though it was proving difficult for the defenses to hold for extended periods of time, as she had to keep providing her own nutrient to keep them standing and not dry out into nothingness due to the new sandstorm.
"We can't handle another sandstorm. Gustus can't handle another sandstorm of this size!" Frisk shouted above all the turbulent sand, everyone trying to shield their eyes as the onslaught grew more and more merciless overtime. "Everything's going to be consumed by sand at this rate!"
"I think that's the idea!" Danielle shouted over the whirlwind of sand as her tree shields continued drying up faster, and she was beginning to tire from trying to keep them from withering to nothing. "This isn't good! I can't hold this for long!"
"Hang on, we can do it!" Faryn assisted with her own magic, baring her fangs as her tails wrapped protectively around Galen, who was next to her and scared beyond belief. "Galen, it's okay to be scared! It's alright to be afraid! Just remember that I'm right here, and so is Danielle and Frisk!" Faryn focused her eyes forward as she pushed more of her magic onward, despite her exhaustion quickly increasing. "You're our new friend, so we're going to help you no matter what!"
"Faryn...?!" Frisk and Galen both exclaimed.
The Fox Princess continued baring her fangs even as she felt her magic failing against the might of the sandstorm, yet she refused to falter despite that. "I'm not going to let this big jerk ruin this beautiful Kingdom any further! I'm making this promise as the future Queen of Astus! Astus and Gustus will be friends one day, and that can't happen if Gustus is destroyed and you and your people die!" She pushed forth with everything she had, the trees quickly reforming and drying up due to the intense onslaught. "I've made my stand, and I'm going to stick to it!"
Frisk watched as Faryn pushed herself to her limit and beyond, before he wiped his forehead and pushed his own power onward, manifesting a green shield around them. "Right, Faryn! We can't let him win!"
Faryn's Perseverance against the odds heavily stacked against her, filled Frisk with Determination.
Galen watched the duo push themselves for his sake with great resolve, despite having not known him for very long. Every word was sincere and full of fire. A warm comforting, yet energizing one, not one that would destroy the greenery that they admired so much. With this, he stood up and wiped his tears, before pushing forward and channeling his own magic through the trees shield them, as they began forming five times faster than before, and became more durable.
"I...I need to protect my Kingdom! I have to!"
Toriel could sense the fire in Faryn's soul blazing, as she gritted her teeth and tried once more to force herself to move. This time, even though she still didn't budge an inch, she didn't stop trying. I cannot let the children fight alone! I must assist them!
"You're all so damn persistent!" Berry roared, now well and truly enraged, as the sandstorm increased in intensity. Everyone was battered by the intense waves of stand, yet they stood their ground, despite being unable to retaliate.
Whatever.
It didn't matter.
None of it mattered.
He was thinking about all of this too much.
He simply needed to do what he did best.
"I'll bury this entire place." Berry muttered as he raised his paw, his eye filled with an intense, endless sea of gluttony. "Then, I'll eat all of them...I'll consume everything here!"
Frisk and Faryn were feeling pushed to the brink, their arms feeling like they were burning from within from the effort they exerted. Frisk felt himself collapse to his knees as the sand grew more and more violent.
We can't hold it back anymore!
At one point, Berry blinked, and turned his head. "Uh? Something smells like sushi."
Frisk and Toriel's hearts skipped a beat.
"What the heck? I'm smelling fish all of a sudden. And it also smells really angr-"
Frisk could feel himself tearing up at the sight, having not felt so relieved all day. Toriel herself could not help but feel like everything just changed all of a sudden, as the swirling sands have suddenly stopped, with many of the grains falling harmlessly to the ground.
Galen, being the youngest one there, didn't quite know how to process the sight of a red haired fish woman landing a vicious punch across the face of the Behemoth that's attacking them, and actually managing to send him off his feet and crashing hard on the sandy ground he created.
Said fish woman landed right on one of the tree platforms that remained. She grunted and lightly tapped her boot.
"Stupid irritating sand got in my boots. Sand Magic of all things. Tch."
Frisk definitely knew his eyes were getting blurry with tears as soon as he saw her, and heard her rough and gruff feminine voice. He sniffled and briefly shook his head before speaking up. "U...Undyne..."
Seeing as he was on a whole different platform, Undyne leaped all the way across towards where he was, landing squarely on her feet with a loud thud. She lifted her head, pushed her hair bang away from her face, and greeted everyone with her trademark smile.
"Everything's gonna be fine now. Why? Cause I am here!"
Frisk could tell by the proud glint in her eye that she's always wanted to say that, and he didn't mind in the slightest. "UNDYNE!" Frisk pushed himself enough to leap forward and land in her arms. Undyne caught Frisk and held him close, letting him weep tears of relief in her bosom.
"Hey, hey. You did good holding your own here with the others. From what I heard, you came off of a pretty brutal fight, yet you still managed to stand your ground here despite the odds." Undyne soothed as she lightly caressed the top of Frisk's head. "You're getting tougher every day, punk. I like that."
"Miss Undyne...?" Faryn blinked as her fur smoothed out and she was currently sitting on her knees, blinking owlishly.
"Oh, I didn't forget about you. You're coming into your own so quickly." Undyne nodded to her. "You're quickly coming along as a strong and reliable woman. Definite Queen material in the making. Pops is gonna be so proud of you."
"Really?!" Faryn's tails briefly wagged a bit at the praise and the thought.
"B-But..." Frisk lifted his head to meet her eye, his own tear-filled and slightly swollen, both from aforementioned tears and all of the sand. "Gustus...it's people...it's all..."
"Yeah. I know." Undyne frowned as she turned her head to survey the damage herself. "I came here expecting a greenland paradise as advertised, and some dipshit comes and turns half of it into a desert wasteland. He's not getting away with that." Undyne gritted her teeth and clicked her tongue. This was a consequence of Adira stalling and humored herself with Undyne and her friends, so they couldn't interfere beforehand and suppress this disaster.
Even if Adira was a friendly enemy, as well as a somewhat honorable one, she was still a dangerous enemy. Her amusing herself with the trio kept them from making it to Gustus in time.
Undyne will remember that. She owed her a broken jaw at the very least, because innocent lives paid for that distraction.
"Reinforcements?" Danielle blinked as she was gently holding the shocked Galen close to her after things began calming down. "They seem like they're friends."
"More friends..." Galen blinked idly at the thought, though also at the thought that he and everyone might have just been saved. With things calming down briefly, he couldn't help but tear up and cry himself. Yet much more openly than Frisk.
"Oh, Galen! Like, it's okay! You're totally okay!" Danielle cooed as she snuggled his crying form close to her, and he immediately returned the embrace. "You're okay, you're okay...eh?" She turned towards someone approaching them, with her yellow scales, circular glasses, and similarly chubby frame. Though she admitted that this person was also really cute.
She was baffled as the yellow lizard pulled a fresh apple out of her pocket and hands it to Galen. He blinked idly at the fruit as the giver warmly smiles at him.
"Brave little Kings like yourself deserve a treat for your hard work and dedication." Alphys smiled positively. Taking another moment to examine the fruit, Galen gently takes the apple out of her hand, as she clasped her paws and bowed to him. "Sorry for coming in unannounced, but it seems like you really needed some help. We're sorry for now getting here much sooner." Alphys turned to the side with a flinch. "There was...a sword in our way..."
Finally, Gerson was upon Toriel, who upon seeing him, sighed with relief. "Gerson. And Alphys and Undyne...thank goodness. Is it just you three?"
"Yes, m'lady. It is just us." Gerson answered her dutifully, but couldn't help but gaze upon the many painful knife wounds pierced into her back from Revan's attack on her. Seeing it for himself made him feel like a failure for not being there to prevent such a thing. It might have been too much for her, even when she spent some time healing. Yet she bared it and tried her best anyway.
"These? They're nothing, Gerson." Toriel smiled softly, even though it contained a wince of pain. "I was protecting my child. Though I do regret that he had to witness it. I was truly trying to do better than that." She sighed with a pained grunt. "Alas, here I lay on my front, unable to move my body."
"Our phones were destroyed, so we couldn't contact anyone, nor access our Dimensional Storage and the items within it." Frisk piped up to inform them. "I don't think we'll be finding them within all this sand stuff, though."
"Don't worry about that, making new ones is child's play for me." Alphys waved it off, before she accessed their storage and began handing out magic food. "Quickly, eat up and restore your strength and stamina. We're going to need it really soon, I feel."
Everyone was in agreement on that. When Undyne knocked Berry down, multiple enlarged roots came to restrain him once more, making sure to restrict him in any and all movement of his limbs so he couldn't try anything right away. Fortunately, Undyne's blow through everything off balance, so he didn't regain focus right away. But the brief break wouldn't last all too long.
Everyone ate their share of magic food and felt a majority of their wounds slowly close and vanish, and their stamina slowly but surely returning to them in droves. Toriel took the longest to recover, but she was alright as well. Aside from the fact that the only wounds that didn't fully heal were the knife marks on her back, which silently frustrated Gerson to no end. Revan did a lot of damage on her. But they couldn't focus on that, as they were all having a quick debriefing.
"..Adira. I see." Toriel muttered with her thumb briefly on her muzzle. "First Revan, now Adira. There is no doubt about it, they are still out there alive and well. And now we also know that they have been observing us for quite some time. This is quite pertinent information."
"Another one..." Frisk muttered to himself. A brief flash of Revan's malevolent glare flashed threw his mind, and he instinctively shivered. In response, a nearby Alphys pulled him into.a hug.
"She threw a giant sword down on me like it was a meteor. Took all of my power to stop it, but I still got stabbed in several places." Undyne clicked her tongue. "I gotta close that wide gap, in case she stops being friendly and starts fighting for real."
"Though for now, we've got bigger things to worry about." Herein gestured a hand to Berry getting up at last, breaking through his restraints with an agitated roar. "Really big."
"What's...urrrgggh...who the hell sucker punched me?!"
"Fuhuhu. That would be me, big guy." Undyne pointed her thumb towards herself with a grin. "You gonna do something about it, punk?"
"Stupid sushi punched me in the face. The world's gone stupid." Berry muttered as sand gathered around him. "Well, doesn't matter. I'm gonna kill you."
He launched a large wave of sand towards the ground. Everyone tense up, though Undyne glared as she spun her spear and stabbed the end of it into the ground. On cue, a wave of water rushed around her and moved towards the wave of sand, where they collided. Though in no time, the water not only overpowered the sand wave, it managed to wash away a majority of the sand in the area they were standing in. And what wasn't washed away was made much harder to manipulate, due to it being made heavier.
Berry's eye widen, and for the briefest of moments, he trembled. "W-Water...did she really just use..." A flash of a vicious water dragon's face crossed his mind, the rival who not only survived being gored by him, but returned the favor and took his eye. "Water...?!"
"S-She easily countered all of that sand?!" Galen exclaimed in utter awe. Frisk and Faryn were in a similar boat, the latter's tails having gone still.
"Sand Magic can be very powerful, especially when it's in it's home territory, like deserts. This guy practically made his own with his barrage of sandstorms. However, three magic types can counter Sand Magic." Alphys informed with folded arms. "Ice can turn sand solid. Enough fire will turn sand into glass. And water, being the most obvious and powerful counter, will make sand heavier and harder to move." She pushed her glasses up with a glint. "In essence, our greatest counter to this sandy menace is Undyne!"
"Really?! Sweetness!" Faryn cheered, feeling a bit more relieved. The battle seemed much less one-sided now, but there was still a high hill to climb.
Undyne grinned as she twirled her spear and balanced it on her shoulder. "Fuhuhuhu! Oh, you don't like water all that much, do ya punk? Too bad! I'm feeling quite splashy today!" She cackled as she moved forward. "You all take a breather. Alphys and Gerson, take care of em'. I'm gonna knock this bastard down a few pegs, and then some!"
Undyne... Toriel muttered quietly as the heroine marched forth to confront the monster that nearly killed them. Her gratefulness to the warrior was grand, and she felt an immense desire to repay it. She briefly gazed at her tattered robes, before narrowing her crimson eyes as the burned with great passion. She clenched her fists as she stands on her feet, having been revitalized thanks to everyone's efforts.
Gerson already knew what she was aiming to do, so he pulled something out of his phone's Dimensional Storage and tossed a jacket to her, a long-sleeved hooded one with her family's emblem on the back. "Here's to preserve your modesty, m'lady. Thanks to the damage from your back, it doesn't look like it'll manage for much longer."
"Thank you, my friend." Toriel nodded as she slides the jacket on, zipping it up to her neck before she proceeds to catch up with Undyne with great haste. "Undyne! I shall be joining you for this battle!"
"Eh?" Undyne raised an eyebrow. "You've done quite a lot already, Toriel. Sit this one out, I've got it covered."
"Like heck you do!" Gerson scolded from the sidelines, surprising both women in the process. "Remember the last solo battle you just had, Undyne! I'd rather you not take a chance at another one so soon!"
"R-Right. Ahem!" Undyne cleared her throat and huffed. "Alrighty then, you can give me a paw, Toriel. Are you sure you're up for it?"
"Absolutely."
Toriel pounded a fist into her balm as both ignited with flames, with one being hot with normal flames and the other being cold with ice flames. Toriel was capable of covering two bases. Fire and Ice will make Sand solid enough to break. While Undyne's water will make it tougher for sand to move around. Working in tandem means almost completely nullifying sand magic, which he appeared to be most proficient and destructive with from Berry's arsenal.
They were ready for him.
"You're all...so annoying! Annoying!" Berry howled as more sand, bits of earth, and what appeared to be crystals emerged from all around him as he glared strongly towards the two women prepared to face him.
"...Undyne. Time and time again, you continue proving yourself a capable and reliable knight." Toriel quickly took the time to say, turning towards Undyne. "As such, it shall be an honor if you will allow your queen to fight by your side."
"Fuhuhu. Sure thing, 'Your Highness'. This knight will be more than happy for her asskicking queen to back her up." Undyne grinned as she pointed her spear towards the Behemoth in front of them. "This chump's a dumb brute, but he's also a remorseless bastard through and through."
"Indeed. We have no choice." Toriel and Undyne nodded to each other before turning to glare down Berry with resolved glares, as their friends stood by prepared to assist whenever needed.
Toriel briefly remembered how beautiful Gustus looked upon her arrival, how much it flourished, only for this behemoth to wipe half of it away within moments. Undyne had caught a glimpse of people barely hanging on due to being nearly buried in sand, and how some didn't make it out despite their efforts. Lives were lost, and their home was devastated, with a young monarch feeling utterly powerless to do anything about it, to the point where he cried from the sheer helplessness.
The resolve within their souls grew stronger, and angrier at the thoughts. Toriel's eyes blazed with fury as her flames infensified, while Undyne pushed her eyepatch aside, magic surging and her hair flowing wildly once more.
"There shall be NO forgiveness for this!"
"This bastard is going DOWN!"
Here's something scary.
Two of this story's most powerful women glaring down upon you with full intent on beating the crap out of you out of righteous rage.
I wouldn't want to be on the other end of that, either.
Anyway, that will do for this one, currently working on the next one.
For those that celebrate it, Happy Halloween!