Chapter 6
After going through the next part of the area and deciding to skip getting a bit of Nice Cream, I then saw Papyrus and Sans waiting on the other side of a simple crossword puzzle, me smirking at that.
"HUMAN! I HOPE YOU'RE READY FOR-" Papyrus said before he looked around and seemed confused. "SANS, WHERE'S THE PUZZLE?" he asked.
"it's right there on the ground, see? trust me, no way they'll make it past this one," Sans said, me smirking at that and deciding to look at it... only for me to be shocked at what happened when I inspected it... it had the Nightmare part on it, which could only be seen with a specific FUN value. But that wasn't the spooky part. I saw that time had frozen completely again and then the word search then started to speak in Wingding speak again as the picture of the snowman then turned into Gaster's image.
"HOW ARE THINGS GOING AS OF RIGHT NOW, INDIE?" Gaster asked, me still feeling a bit spooked by his powers.
"You know, you really need to give me a fair warning whenever you happen to appear, G-man. It's a bit spooky," I said to him.
"AH, APOLOGIES... BUT I WANTED TO REQUEST SOMETHING FROM YOU, HUMAN," Gaster said, me being confused at that before he then spoke again. "I WISH FOR YOU TO MEET WITH ME IN THE HIDDEN ROOM OF MY SONS' HOUSE UNDERNEATH THE SINK... I WANT YOU TO TEST YOUR SKILLS AGAINST MYSELF," Gaster said, me looking at Chara and her shaking her head no. I looked at him and frowned.
"And what kind of skills do you wish to test on me? Because, like I said, I'm a bit distrusting of you," I said, Gaster making a couple of wingding laughs before then speaking again.
"I DON'T EXPECT YOU TO TRUST ME, INDIE. I JUST WANT YOU TO PROVE TO ME THAT YOU CAN HELP MAKE THIS WORLD BETTER... JUST MEET WITH ME. IT'S VERY IMPORTANT FOR YOU, ME, AND MY SONS. I PROMISE THAT NO HARM WILL COME TO YOU OR YOUR FRIENDS," Gaster said. But before I could chat with him any further, he then disappeared from the puzzle altogether as it then had the stuff appear on it again that normally were on it and I saw that time flowed freely once again. I then simply took the paper, crumbled it up, and tossed it over the edge of the cliff before then moved closer to the duo.
"SANS! THAT DIDN'T DO ANYTHING!" Papyrus exclaimed.
"whoops. i knew i should've used today's crossword instead," Sans said.
"CROSSWORD?! I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU JUST SAID THAT! IN MY OPINION, JUNIOR JUMBLE IS EASILY THE HARDEST!" Papyrus smirked.
"what? that easy-peasy word scramble? bro, that's for baby bones," Sans smirked.
"UN. BELIEVABLE! HUMAN! SETTLE THIS DEBATE BETWEEN US!" Papyrus exclaimed as I actually could see the options available pop up to me. I then pushed my soul against the option of Junior Jumble and I then was surprised as I then began to speak it!
"I think Junior Jumble is harder," I said, me being surprised that I spoke it without meaning to, but I kept it hidden.
"NYEH HEH! I SEE HUMANS MUST BE VERY INTELLIGENT IF THEY ALSO FIND JUNIOR JUMBLE A WORTHY CHALLENGE! NYEH HEH HEH HEH!" Papyrus sneered as he ran off ahead again and I then looked at Sans with a small smile.
"thanks for saying junior jumble just to appease my bro, indie. last week he got stumped trying to 'solve' the horoscope," Sans said, Chara snickering at that.
"How can someone try to solve a horoscope?" she giggled.
"Sans, when I inspected that paper, your dad spoke to me again," I said, Sans sighing at that.
"another void hotspot, huh? what'd he say this time?" Sans asked.
"He said that he wanted to meet with me in a secret area in your house... I'm a bit conflicted on what might happen if I were to do that, though... you know what I mean?" I said, Sans sighing with his eyes closed.
"he probably wants to test your strength and durability. my pops is always hoping for some kind of hope, even before he fell into the core. he helped make a bunch of stuff underground, all with his scientific curiosity... and he probably wants this world to survive by the end of it all, even if it means he might not get a happy ending himself," Sans said, me about to ask him a question before he then teleported away with the blackout effect. I then looked at Chara and she sighed at me.
"I'm just as confused as you are, Indie. Why would G-man, as you call him, be so interested in you, a Player, anyways? Especially since you haven't committed a single murder down here," she frowned.
"Does he have something to do with that?" I asked her.
"Something to do with it? Yes... whenever it's the end of a Genocide route, he's the one who appears in my image to confront the Player at the end... he never destroys the world at all, but actually traps Frisk in the Void instead, regardless of the choice... though if they refuse, the doctor always does that scary jumpscare thing to spook the player," Chara said, me frowning at that.
"So... who was the one to constantly talk to Frisk and the Player in red text during Genocide? Was that you or him?" I asked her in a hushed voice as we moved past the place with the spaghetti after I made a save spot there by simply touching the yellow light, it turning blue shortly after.
"The one to us red text? That would be a combination of both myself and him... just so you're aware, I've been through these scenarios countless times... or, at least, I'm aware of the instances that these have happened. I could never hate you, Indie, because though I couldn't see you, I knew that you never once committed a single murder down here in this world... so how did you know everything about the Genocide path and the doctor before coming down here?" Chara asked.
"A website that had everything to know about both this place and Deltarune... which was the other world G-man knows of. It has the same characters as this world, but it has a completely different story... also, it wasn't even finished whenever I arrived down here," I said, Chara smirking at that.
"I see," Chara said as I then went up to the top right part of the area we were now in and I flipped a switch hidden between some rocks, which caused the spikes down below to retract into the ground. And once I did that, Lesser Dog appeared and he looked at me happily with his bone spear in hand. I immediately went over to pet the dog and he barked happily at me as my soul left my body. He then proceeded to try and pounce on it, but I simply let him try and I was surprised by what happened afterwards. My soul actually made a small expulsion of energy that made the dog fly off the soul soon after and onto the ground, him being very confused soon after.
"Huh... that's new," I said in confusion as I then found a stick on the ground and waved it in the air, the dog barking at it happily and me smirking. "Go get it!" I smirked, throwing the stick and Lesser Dog rushing after it before then bringing it back with his tail wagging a ton and his head rising as I went to pet him for a bit until I couldn't see his face anymore.
"Good boy," I smiled as I then spared him, Lesser Dog then rushing off to the southeast down the path and me then following after him... only to be jumped by Dogamy and Dogaressa. They then sniffed the air before then looking confused.
"Hmm? Weird smell detected," Dogamy said.
"... find the smell..." Dogaressa said, her voice really shy as they then moved around a bit before then touching their noses to my cheeks.
"Haha, that tickles," I giggled at the touch of their noses and the dogs then looked confused.
"Um... honey? This smell is odd," Dogamy said.
"... yeah... unknown smell..." Dogaressa said.
"Well, I can tell you that I am a very nice person regardless of what I smell like," I smiled as I then pet the duo behind the ears and they smiled at that.
"Ooh, yeah... I like pets," Dogamy smiled.
".. i do too..." Dogaressa said shyly.
"Well, why not pet each other?" I said, the duo looking at each other and looking a bit confused.
"Pet each other?... Is that even possible?" Dogamy asked.
"Only one way to find out," I smirked, the duo then timidly taking their paws and petting each other behind the ears, them gasping and giggling soon after.
"Amazing... dogs can pet other dogs!" Dogamy smiled widely.
"... thank you, weird smell... you've opened our eyes... take this for your journey," Dogaressa smiled as she then gave me 100 gold and I smiled at her.
"Thanks," I smirked at them as they then went down the path and Chara smiled at me. "Gonna be honest, I didn't expect my FUN value would also help out when encountering those dogs," I admitted with honesty.
"It's almost as if your soul is an anomaly in and of itself. It can create a shield of energy, it makes monsters wary of you, and it makes you smell unique... though I wouldn't know about that last part, since... you know... me being dead and all," Chara said, me smiling at her.
"Not for much longer, kid. By the end of this adventure, I'm gonna have everyone be alive, happy, and have the best ending ever," I smiled at her.
"I believe you, Indie," Chara smiled as I then proceeded on again and managed to get past the next puzzle with ease, me seeing Papyrus was just finishing up rearranging the puzzle ahead to look like his face.
"THERE! FINALLY READY!" Papyrus said with a smile.
"What's ready?" I asked, Papyrus gasping at that and looking behind to see me.
"OH MY! YOU MANAGED TO SURPRISE ME, THE GREAT PAPYRUS! VERY IMPRESSIVE, HUMAN! I JUST FINISHED REARRANGING THIS PUZZLE SO THAT IT LOOKS LIKE MY FACE!" Papyrus smiled as he then turned around... and accidentally stepped on the switch, it activating instantly. "AND... NOW I CAN'T GET PAST EITHER... AHEM! WORRY NOT! IF YOU ARE GOOD AT PUZZLE-SOLVING, YOU CAN EASILY SOLVE IT FOR ME!" Papyrus smiled as I then inspected the puzzle and proceeded to solve it on my first try, since it was one of the easier ones to solve, if you knew what to do. I then hit the switch after making all the x marks turn into o marks and the spike trap then lowered. "GREAT WORK, HUMAN! NOW STAY STILL FOR ABOUT FIFTEEN SECONDS SO I CAN GET A HEAD START!" Papyrus smirked as he then ran off ahead of me and I simply waited, Chara looking at me with a sly smile.
"What?" I smirked at her.
"You really like Papyrus, don't you?" she asked me.
"Of course I do. He's the most innocent and happy person I've met down here. He's almost like a little kid in a grown-up's skeletal body," I smiled, Chara smiling at that.
"I like him too, but he can get annoying at points," Chara said.
"Naw, if anyone's considered as annoying, it'd be a certain yellow lizard encountered later on," I said the last part in a hushed manner, since I didn't know if there were cameras watching me right now.
"Oh yeah... she's annoying at first, sure, but keep in mind what her real deal is... how are you going to do that obstacle down the road, anyways?" Chara asked me.
"I don't know... I think I may have to get the letter from Undyne first and then give it to Alphys after Mettaton leaves us alone... but I don't know how she'd react at all, to be quite honest... I know I'd be the same way as her if I did a mistake that big," I said with honesty, and with just breath leaving my lips.
"Yeah... so, you going to get going now? The skeleton bros await you, as well as G-man at their house," Chara said, me nodding at that.
"That's the one part that I'm the most uncertain of... I mean, there were no fights with him in the game, just AU fights made by others... where most of them resulted in a bad ending... mostly because the doctor is usually depicted as someone who will do anything it takes to escape the void, even if it means hurting and killing... that's why I'm so distrusting of him... he never interacted with Frisk during the game at all and learning anything about him just hurt the files," I frowned... but then, I could feel something happen. I could feel a tiny bit of rhythmic beating in my heart... in my soul. I immediately shut up then and there, Chara looking at me and nodding.
"Shh. The flower is nearby," Chara said, me nodding at that as I then moved forward to the next area, hoping to learn more on the way.