Chapter 14:
After our group saw we were getting closer to the CORE, we then went up the next elevator to floor 3 and we were met with the ground changing color to purple carpeting with spider shapes on it, which kind of reminded me of the nice spiders that I met in the Ruins and got a donut from. And after moving forward just a little bit more, I saw a creepy, yet cute female monster that was manning what looked like a kiosk that was selling donuts, cider, and biscuits.
"Be cautious, Frisk. That's the monster I warned you about... those fangs could drain your body of everything if she were to snap," Chara said as the spider lady looked at me, Spike, and Magenta and immediately narrowed her 6 eyes at me.
"Welcome to the parlor, dearies. Could I interest you in a spider pastry? All proceeds go to real spiders," the girl said, me sensing animosity in her voice.
"Um... no, we're good. I already got one on me," I said, presenting the pastry that I was keeping in my backpack in a special zippered compartment that held the different food items I'd gotten on the journey. And the spider girl looked at it in surprise.
"You... you didn't steal this, did you?" she asked, me shaking my head no at that.
"No, someone bought it for me back in the Ruins... and to be quite frank, I'd probably buy a pastry at this parlor too... but the price difference between the two shops is... um... yikes," I said as I noted that all of the pastries and drinks were 10 thousand gold in price.
"What do you mean price difference is 'yikes'? Are you trying to tick me off?" the spider girl asked as she folded her top arms across her chest while forming the other four on her side in an annoyed manner.
"I mean that the spiders in the Ruins were selling their pastries for 7 to 13 gold... and you're selling them for a price equivalent to a house," I said, the arachnid lady looking at me with a frown before then sighing.
"Hmph... well, if you prove that you helped donate to our cause in the Ruins, then answer me this. Who is the one that cares for the Ruins? I know if you're lying, since I can speak to my spider darlings telepathically," the girl frowned.
"Toriel. Former queen of the Underground. Goat mother with white fur, purple smock, and a very gentle personality," I said, the spider girl gasping at that.
"Then that proves it, then... apologies for thinking that you were a spider killer, miss human... someone offered me a hefty sum of money for your head on a platter, but I'm not going to accept it if you're kind to spiders," she said, me smiling at that. "I'm Muffet, mother of all spiders in the Underground. And what's your name, sweetie?" she asked.
"Name's Frisk... and if you're trying to flirt with me, apologies, but I'm already taken to this lady here," I smiled as I hugged Magenta close and she smiled with a blush.
"Ahuhuhuhu! I just like to be flirty with those I deem as friends... and prey. But I'd never consider spider lovers as my prey, sweetie," Muffet smiled at me as I looked at the biscuit on the stand and simply held out the coin bag that 01 gave me.
"Um... I don't know why you have the prices set this high, but could I possibly have a biscuit for the contents of this bag? I want to help your cause in some way, after all," I said, Muffet smiling at that as she took the money and proceeded to count it, her gasping at something I didn't notice.
"Oh my word! My darlings! This is the money we've been waiting for!" Muffet said, the spiders near her cheering happily at that and me being confused. "This is enough for us to rent a heated mode of transport for the spiders trapped in the Ruins! Thank you, Frisk! You saved my babies from death by frostbite!" Muffet smiled at me happily as she hugged me to her with all six arms and I felt a bit strained for breath because of the strength in her arms.
"M-Muff..et... choking... not breathing..." I gagged as Muffet then ended the hug and I inhaled tons of air shortly after, her smiling at that.
"Sorry, darling. I guess you aren't used to spider hugs, huh?" Muffet smirked at me.
"Well... most spiders I know aren't as big as a teenage human," I said, Muffet smirking at that and giggling.
"Well, I'm not the only one of my kind down here, darling. I have a couple relatives that live in my pad to the east. Would you like to join me so we can give them the good news?" Muffet asked, me smiling at that.
"Sounds fun! What do you two say?" I asked Spike and Magenta.
"Yeah, I agree!... Just promise not to bite me, please?" Spike smiled.
"Oh, don't worry, sweetie. I'd never harm a monster, especially ones as young as you," Muffet smiled at the duo and Magenta smirking at that.
"Well... technically I'm over 3 thousand years old, but you probably wouldn't believe that, huh?" Magenta asked.
"I know already, because I met Doctor Gaster earlier. He explained quite the tale of how he, you, and his followers were trapped in an alternate reality while this world was in a time loop for over a million days straight," Muffet said, me nodding at that.
"Yeah, pretty much," I said as Muffet then led us down the halls and I then got a call from Alphys as we entered a room that looked like it had some more of those pressure vents.
"Okay, I've managed to hack into the puzzles and make them solved, so the doors should be opened now... what all happened while I was busy?" Alphys asked in my phone as I then smiled at her.
"Well, I made two Royal Guardsmen very happy, Mettaton now knows Flowey is a liar, and I managed to make a certain spider lady very happy by giving her a hefty donation... yet I still haven't gotten my biscuit yet," I said, Muffet stopping in place and gasping at that.
"Oh my! I'm terribly sorry, darling! Here you go," Muffet smiled as she handed me the biscuit in question, me seeing that it was fresh and pretty warm... and it had a spider motif to it. I then ate it and smiled at how the spider bit tasted like licorice and how the biscuit itself was buttery and soft, me cooing at the taste it provided.
"How is it?" Spike asked with a smile.
"Very tasty," I smiled widely, Muffet giggling at that as we then went through the door ahead of us and we got to an area that led to a very purple-looking cathedral coated with spider webbing. We proceeded a bit further into it and Muffet then clapped her hands in a certain fashion for a bunch of other spiders to appear from the different webs coating the interior... as well as another female spider and a male one that was actually just as tall as I was, roughly 3 feet tall.
"Muffet? Who are these visitors? And what's with the sack?" asked the male spider as I saw that he kept a good distance from the two female spiders.
"This human and these monster children are our guests... and this sack contains the loot we need to free the spiders in the Ruins!" Muffet said, the other female spider gasping at that as I noted the three's appearance.
Muffet had her black hair done into dual pigtails and she also had an average teenager's body in terms of human standards... she also had 6 arms that could move independently as well as wearing a purple and red dress that covered her purple-gray body. She also had 6 red, compound eyes that opened and closed like normal eyes, while still making her look creepy.
Meanwhile, the other female spider had her hair much longer, down to about her chest, and her hair was colored red. She was dressed in similar attire to Muffet and had the same eyes, but her attire was green and yellow and her eyes were colored green. And the male of the trio had slightly smaller eyes that were colored black, his skin was colored brown, and he had his blue hair done into dreadlocks. He also had a more respectable attire on that consisted of a black shirt and pants with a red bowtie and some black dress shoes.
"Oh my... this is the quota we need! 40 thousand gold will be enough to rent a heated mode of transport!" the other female spider said, me frowning at that.
"Well, if it's actually 40 thousand... can I get a cider and two donuts for my friends, then?" I asked, Muffet giggling at that and giving me the items in question shortly after. "Thanks... so who are these two? Relatives?" I asked, Muffet giggling at that.
"My name is Tuffet, and yes, I am Muffet's older sister," the female spider girl smiled.
"And I'm Tuffet's mate. You can call me Spout," then male one said with a smile.
"But don't male spiders usually get eaten when they mate?" I asked, him smirking at that.
"Why do you think I'm keeping my distance?" he asked, me smirking at that.
"Oh, don't worry, hon. My bites are only a little venomous," Tuffet smiled at him and him smirking and backing up slightly at her word choice.
"So... do you know where Mettaton might be at? We need to meet with him in the next 10 minutes or so," I said, Muffet smiling at that.
"Yep, he's currently in the room ahead of this one. Apparently he's preparing a musical performance for a certain special guest. You may be able to get a front-row seat if you're all lucky," Muffet smirked, me smirking at that as our group went forward again and saw that we were now on some kind of stage with a fake sky and building. The sky had a good representation of the moon and stars, which I pointed at it to Spike and Magenta, them seeing it and looking confused.
"What are they?" Spike asked.
"That big circular prop is what the moon looks like... and those smaller diamond things are what stars look like from super far away. Like, trillions of miles away from us," I said, Spike gawking at it.
"Wow... so cool!" he smiled widely as we then moved a bit more until we heard a voice.
"Oh my!" I heard from above us. It was a higher-pitched voice coming from the robot himself... he then appeared and he... was in a blue dress. "That human... could they be... My one true love?!" Mettaton asked, obviously trying to sound like a girl. Then some music played as he proceeded to move down the stairs and I had to wonder how hammy he was about to become.
"~Oh my loves...
Please run away...
Monster King...
forbids your stay...
Diff'rent souls...
You're two in one...
One swift strike...
And this world's done...~" Mettaton sung, me being confused as to why he was singing this until he got to the next part.
"~Killers can't...
Be forgiven...
Even though...
You haven't killed, not yet...
But if you...
kill just one thing...
Everything...
Will just cease to exist...~" Mettaton sung. And now I knew that either he was putting on a show to please Flowey... or he had been convinced to kill me again.
"So, apologies, my love, but I can't let you roam free!... Well, toodles!" Mettaton said as he then pushed a button on a remote and I gasped as I fell down into a trapdoor and I landed on my face before getting up and seeing that I was at the start of a very hard version of Papyrus's tile maze. Only this one was obviously much tougher, as it included every single color in it.
"Oh no! Whatever shall I do? My poor love has been cast into the dungeon! A dungeon with a puzzle so dastardly, they surely cannot escape their demise!..." Mettaton said in worry and falsetto as I looked and started to move forward, Mettaton being surprised at that as I saw what looked like numerous fire jets appear all over the place that made some of the pathways impassible during their short bursts of flames that they made every few seconds. "You have until the end of the number or the flames will incenerate you all at once! AHAHAHAHAHA!.. Haha! Oh, my poor love! I'm so filled with grief that I can't stop laughing!... Good luck, darling!" Mettaton said as he then performed another song, this time still in falsetto, but in a deeper tone than before.
"Oh my loves... have fallen down!
Now they find... they're gonna drown!
Colored tiles... and fire streams!
Will make them burn... and make them scream!~" Mettaton sung as I managed to get to the end very easily while he sung, thanks to Chara helping me in thought and me knowing not to move when the flames spouted onto me.
"~Well that was... impressive, child!
Now it's time... to get wiiiiild!~" Mettaton sung as the flames died down and he then did something surprising. He landed directly in front of me and proceeded to send my soul out for a battle, me getting a call on my phone from Alphys shortly after.
"I-I don't know what's going on... but I know a surefire way to get Mettaton to back off! Just tell him his makeup is smearing and he'll leave you alone for a bit!... Yeah!" Alphys said, me looking at Mettaton and him already attacking me with a couple of bombs in his hands, me dodging out of their way as I then spoke to him.
"Mettaton, your makeup is smearing," I said, him gasping as he then felt his face of multicolored dots and he gasped.
"You're right, human! Those flames have ruined my makeup! Apologies, but I'll need to reapply it before the finale! Do not worry, my lovely viewers! I will be back for the finale of a lifetime! You'll all get to see me... in my absolute strongest form! It will be the Human Eradication Robot versus the dangerous human child! See you in a bit, darlings!" Mettaton said to the cameras as he then zoomed off in the distance and I saw that Alphys was still on the line and I had to ask her something according to Chara's memories.
"So... what form did he mean when he said that, Alphys?" I asked, her sighing at that.
"He... he's going to turn into Mettaton Neo... I have no idea what he'll do to you if he changes to that form... when he took that form, it was always to try and stop the genocide players... but by that point, the players were no longer humans, so he went down in a single hit... who knows what he'll have in store for you as a pacifist... be absolutely careful from here on out... and when you fight him, push the yellow button on the phone so you can use Justice attacks. They won't be dangerous to him, it'll just fire stunning shots at him from your soul," Alphys said, me nodding at that as I then moved up some stairs to see that Spike and Magenta looked at me in worry.
"Frisk! Are you okay?" Magenta asked in worry.
"Yeah, I'm fine... but Mettaton got convinced to join Flowey once again... he's certainly a very stubborn little weed," I frowned.
"Yeah... so what happens now?" Spike asked.
"We need to stay vigilant and keep on the lookout on the rest of the way to the castle. Mettaton's going to try and kill me in his most powerful form and I'm sure he'll try to pull out all the stops in our battle... so, for safety's sake, I'll have you two be looked after someone I trust until I can get Mettaton to trust me again, okay?" I asked, the two looking at me with a nod.
"Okay... but who would we stay with?" Spike asked as we moved forward a bit and we saw someone I trusted standing right outside of what looked like a large hotel called MTT Resort.
"Sans. Sans can look after you," I said, the skeleton looking at me with a smile.
"hey there, frisk... so what was that about me lookin' out for the kids?" Sans asked.
"Mettaton wants to battle me in his most powerful form... something that Alphys calls Mettaton Neo... I feel that his attacks would be very dangerous to nearby civilians, so I wanted to know if I could ask you to look out for my friends and have them join us only after we get to the castle," I said, Sans smirking at that.
"hehe... that is a very easy task for me to do. i'm a big hit with kids. you could say that i've got... real 'skulls' in babysitting," Sans said, me smirking at that while Chara groaned in annoyance.
"Can I get a tomato? Anyone? I need a tomato right now," Chara said as she got in control and Spike and Magenta simply giggled at that comment.
"hehehe... anyways, before all that though, i wanted to know if you'd like to join me for a bite to eat. i got a table reserved and everything," Sans said, me smirking at that.
"Sure, I wouldn't mind. I am getting a bit hungry, after all," I smiled honestly.
"great, thanks for treatin' me... over here, i know a shortcut," Sans said as he went to the northwest alley and we all followed him... only for us to appear directly at a table in the corner of a restaurant. One that looked very fancy and with tons of Mettaton-styled furnishings and even a stage for live performances. "welp, here we are... now let's go ahead and talk a bit," Sans said, me wondering what he would say.