Chapter 14
Upon going forward once again, our group was now outside of a very fancy hotel that we saw Sans, Toriel, Papyrus, Undyne, and Alphys all waiting there outside of the front entrance, which I smiled at.
"Well, looks like the whole family came," I smiled as Toriel looked at Asriel and me with a smile.
"Mute... Asriel... please, come here and give me a hug..." Toriel said as I let Asriel in control and he rushed over and hugged his mom happily, me feeling his tiny tail in his pants start to twitch at that.
"I missed your hugs, mom..." Asriel said with tears in both of our eyes.
"I missed you too, my child..." Toriel said with a sad smile as I then looked at everyone else and they smirked at me widely.
"So? How did that fight go? Ya gotta tell me!" Undyne smirked.
"Fight? What fight?" Toriel asked.
"Well... you know how me and Asriel are now in the same body?" I asked, Toriel nodding at that. "Well... my old body got a new person to inhabit it... someone who you once knew, but had been filled to the brim with malice and hatred over the years," I said.
"Who would that be?" Toriel asked.
"Chara... the Fallen Child of Man," Sans said, Toriel gasping at that.
"Chara?... Wait... were they the one that you mentioned as being the one you needed a power upgrade to defeat? Which is why you now have three human souls in you, Sans?" Toriel asked.
"Hmph! I still refuse to believe my brother had anything to do with defeating anyone in combat!" Papyrus said.
"Really? Well, me and Asriel saw it for ourselves just how tough he is... see, Chara had gathered over 100 thousand human souls of Determination from numerous alternate timelines, all of them from those who found pleasure in genocide," I explained. "And they were going to attack me with enough force to erase the entire universe... but then, Sans grabbed every single one of the souls with telekinesis and rendered them completely helpless. He then shattered every single one in a single attack. Undyne, care to mention the words he said soon after?" I asked.
"Get dunked on," she smirked.
"But what happened to Mute's body?" Toriel asked.
"Mute and I destroyed it with our soul of purity... and when that happened, Chara's spirit finally was able to move on to the other side," Asriel explained.
"Poor Chara... she didn't deserve what happened to her on the surface... or any of this," Toriel sighed.
"Yeah... though it is sad, Chara still did kill entire universes in alternate timelines," Sans said.
"Um... alternate timelines? What are you talking about, Sans?" Alphys asked.
"Remember that machine I took after our falling out years ago? The one my dad made? It detects time abnormalities... and this is so far the only one of over 200 thousand timelines where there are no time abnormalities... mostly due to Mute's very presence with her soul of Purity and Chara having been finally defeated," Sans said.
"So, you say that you're powerful, Sans? Why don't you prove it?" Papyrus asked.
"Heh, fine, I'll prove it," Sans smirked as he then disappeared in a flash and then reappeared directly behind Papyrus... and then he did the same thing, only he appeared behind Undyne! And he did the same with Toriel and Alphys until finally with me and Asriel.
"Whoa! Teleportation?! There was only one monster before you that has mastered teleportation... daddy Gaster," Papyrus said in bafflement.
"So you're fine with letting people see your true power now, Sans?.. No bad times for me if I tell anyone now?" I smiled at him.
"Naw, you're cool, Mute. I just am glad that the loops have finally ended... there is only one thing we have to do whenever we get out of here, however," Sans said.
"I think I know what you're talking about... cutting off access to this mountain entirely, right?" I asked him.
"In a sense... just the areas where the void can be accessed," Sans said.
"Void? What's this void? Is it something I can punch?!" Undyne asked.
"It's something that, if anyone were to ever open the door to it, then the void would swallow up the entire universe... it happened once before when I opened the door to see what happened... didn't turn out good for Gaster, didn't turn out good for me either... I'm just lucky that the time loops reset that day, otherwise, the void would've succeeded in swallowing all of us in darkness," Sans said.
"Wait... Gaster is in the Void? Daddy Gaster?" Papyrus asked.
"One could say Gaster has actually become one with the Void. It happened after he fell into the CORE. His entire existence was erased due to the CORE's high energy levels of radiation in the reactor. Gaster was destroyed and his body scattered across the entirety of the Void... there are only a few areas where the Void can be accessed, all of them in the Underground, but only once a year do they appear... that was before the time loops happened," Sans said.
"Yeah... Sans saved my life from one of those doors earlier, believe it or not. I was just about to open it and Sans stopped me and destroyed the door, which made it and the hallway it was in completely vanish, almost as if it had altered space itself to appear," I said with a frown.
"Oof... that sounds tough to swallow..." Toriel gulped... and then I saw something appear behind her that made me gasp... it was a completely grey version of Monkid with pure white eyes with no pupils.
"You... have... no... idea..." the monster said, me getting in between Toriel and this strange creature and Sans simply walking to my side.
"Goner Kid... rare to see this guy anywhere..." Sans said.
"Who's Goner Kid?" I asked with worry.
"Yeah... who?" Asriel asked.
"He's also part of the Void, but unlike Gaster, is able to manifest as an entity once in a few years... it's very rare that he appears and that anyone sees him," Sans said as Goner Kid then simply moved forward towards me... without moving anything. Almost as if he were a ghost!
"I'm... a Monkid... from... another timeline... one where Frisk... killed me... with a stolen Gaster Blaster... please... don't do anything... like they did... the Void is... unforgiving... to killers..." the ghostly apparition said before, out of nowhere, they turned into dust and then disappeared into nothingness soon after.
"Whoa... that's definitely a spook I would not want to sing with... like, they looked very creepy... especially when they moved forward without any part of their body moving at all..." I admitted.
"As far as I'm aware, Goner Kid is actually a completely harmless part of the Void. Gaster is the one to watch out for... the other parts of the Void, which only appear very infrequently, appear as warning signs to those who know if it..." Sans said. "I should know... I see them all the time whenever the time loops reset."
"Yeah... that sounds pretty freaky... the fact that a ghostly figure of Monkid exists in the Void..." I said with a shudder... but then I gasped as I heard a small ringer on my watch. It was my alarm! It was 5 o clock even!
"Dammit! We wasted too much time talking! We need to get going to Asgore and the barrier! I need to make my promise to my mom true!" I said with seriousness, everyone nodding at that as we then rushed forward through the resort, but I then got stopped by Alphys when we were passing a burger joint.
"Hold it, before we go on, I have a feeling Mettaton might appear and get in our way during our journey through the CORE. If he challenges you to a battle, you'll need to get a bunch of stuff from this burger joint. Trust me, we'll need it," Alphys said.
"Okay, but this better not take too long," I said as I went into the burger joint to see a guy working the counter who had a wide smile on his face.
"Hello, there, welcome to MTT Burger Emporium. What would ya like?" the guy asked.
"What do you have available?" I asked.
"Well, we have different items, almost all of them being endorsed by Mettaton... well, except these items. They were left behind by the only two humans to make it to Hotland," the guy said, him showing an apron, a frying pan, a revolver, and a cowboy hat. "For you, fine customer, I'll sell these items to you as a bundle for 100 gold," he smiled. Asriel then handed over the stuff and he wore the stuff on him and mom looking at me and him with a smile on her face and a bit of laughter.
"Yeah, I know, we probably look like a big dork, don't we?" Asriel smiled.
"Well, it'll help out if we get into anymore fights down here. The more clothes you wear, the better your defenses," Papyrus smiled.
"He's not wrong on that," Undyne said as I then looked at the food items and then bought a Starfait (which was a rainbow-colored milkshake with sprinkles made of glitter), a Glamburger (a hamburger... made of sequins and glue), and a steak shaped like Mettaton's face... which I smelled and knew immediately that it was actually made of veggie byproducts and not meat.
"Thanks for that... so, what are ya buying all that junk for?" the burger guy asked.
"In case we run into Mettaton and he impedes our journey to meet with Asgore. Just look at what we have in store," I smiled as I showed the guy mine and Asriel's combined soul and he gasped.
"My god... that soul is shiny! Almost like a rainbow!..." the burger guy gawked as I then put it back in our body... and not a moment too soon, because there was a sudden other person nearby... one that looked even CREEPIER than Goner Kid and the same color scheme of gray! This one looked like a monster that had a gray body and a skull in the top of its head within an open clam shell... and the burger guy looked just as freaked out as me and Asriel. And Sans entered soon after this creature appeared.
"Okay, this is problematic now..." Sans frowned at this creature and it looking at Sans afterwards. "First Goner Kid... and now you, Clam Goner. Is there something going on?" Sans asked them. The monster then responded... with sign language! I interpreted the sign language by speaking it out as they signed.
"The Void knows the cause of the infinite time loops no longer exists... it plans to attack the entire world at midnight tonight..." I gawked at the signing.
"Dammit... the Void is aware of this situation, then... this is problematic..." Sans frowned.
"What do we do?" Asriel asked. Clam Goner then signed again at Asriel and me before making a heart shape.
"Okay... they're saying that the only way to combat the vile of the Void is with a pure heart... like ours... so you're saying we have to defeat Gaster and the Void itself?" I asked them. They then signed again and I gulped at what they were signing. "If I accept to do this... there would be a good chance I'd be trapped in the Void for eternity... and that if I want to do so, then Clam Goner will take me to the door in Waterfall and warp me inside of it..." I said with a gulp.
"On a scale of 1 to 100, how good are the chances that... they'll come back in one piece? Asriel and Mute, that is?" Toriel asked. Clam Goner then signed again and I frowned.
"About a 1 out of 20 chance... well, that's still not going to get me down. If our combined soul could be powerful enough to send Chara to the afterlife, I'm sure we could find a way to defeat Gaster!" I said with confidence.
"Yeah... we need to. If we don't, then the whole world would suffer... okay, Clam Goner... take us there," Asriel said, me nodding as the creature then had us warp through a tunnel directly to the door in Waterfall. The one that Sans supposedly destroyed. And it was back again. "Okay... here we go," Asriel said as the Clam Goner then threw us directly at the door and we gasped as we entered into it while it was closed! And we were in a completely white room that looked like a box with a very creepy looking creature right in front of us. One that looked like a skeleton with a black body of ooze underneath him and having a head with different cracks in the eye sockets.
"Whuh?" the creature asked as Asriel and I then held our ground against this creature. "Visitors... to the Void... before the time came?... How very... interesting..." the creature said as it then gained small, beady white eyes in its eye sockets and it opened its mouth slightly for a bit of black ooze to come out. "I was going to wait... to have the void... consume the world... but it seems... this next experiment... will be... interesting..." the creature said, me now knowing this was Gaster without a doubt.
"Asriel and I are going to defeat you, Void," I frowned.
"Ah... the songbird from before?... Ah well... I guess this is fate... time for you... to be swallowed... by the call of the void..." Gaster said as he then tried to send a whole slew of Gaster Blaster attacks at me and Asriel, but I shielded them all with my power of kindness, as they all aimed from the front! I then ended that and aimed for Perseverance, rushing up to Gaster and him trying to connect an attack via sign language at me, but upon me and Asriel getting hit by it, we felt just a tad bit weaker as we rushed forward with willpower and connected a blast of purity directly at Gaster, him hissing as he then backed off and looked to be injured from that attack.
"Hmph... a soul of purity... dastardly... too bad for you... the Void knows of your murder..." Gaster said, me frowning at that as I saw a bunch of black tendrils appear from the ceiling and they tried to grab me and Asriel... but not quite, as I used the power of Bravery and me and Asriel rushed out of their grasp and dashed right into Gaster to connect another blast of purity at his black body along with some lightning-fast punches from our gloved fists, Gaster hissing again as he then slapped us away with a bunch of magical bones, me and Asriel noting that Gaster looked to be hurting as I saw the room start to crack a bit.
"RGH... The Void will consume all! I will not allow a couple of CHILDREN to stop my quest of DESTROYING HUMANITY!" Gaster exclaimed as he then tried to rush at the door, me and Asriel using the power of Integrity and focusing it directly at Gaster. What was the reason for this? Simple. We did the same thing to his soul that Sans did to all of Chara's. We stopped him in place and slammed him to the ground and against the walls of the void numerous times, the walls cracking some more as light started to come from them. "ACK! THE LIGHT! IT BURNS!" Gaster exclaimed as we sent him in the path of one of the lights and we then got an idea.
"You don't like lights? Then prepare for a fireworks show!" I smirked as me and Asriel then pelted the entire room with fire, Gaster gasping as I noted that he was getting weaker from the flames. Asriel then rushed forward with the power of our soul and the yellow button on our cell phone pushed. We then connected shot after shot to him, managing to eat away at the black glob of a body he had and also getting his skull to crack and crumble with each hit! And while he was on death's door, I then looked at him and Asriel did just what we wanted. We zapped him with a blast of purity once again, Gaster gasping as we saw his soul shatter and turn into dust, me and Asriel knowing to gather it up and put it in a to-go container with the powers of Bravery. And then we booked it right out of the door we were in... and barely in time! The entire door almost crushed us when it collapsed in on itself! The room then disappeared and we were now in the room with the glowing water!
"We... We did it!" I gawked.
"Yeah... we did..." Asriel puffed soon after.
"Yep, ya did good, kids," said the voice of Sans as he appeared in front of us and looked at our to-go container with a smile. "So... this is all that's left of papa Gaster, is it?" Sans asked.
"Yeah, it is... so what do we do with it? We only got the dust out of there so that the Void wouldn't try any last-minute tricks on us," I frowned.
"Smart move, kids. If you would've left these ashes in there, then the Void would've reformed in roughly 500 years... so long as you managed to get at least 80 percent of the ashes, then we're good," Sans smiled.
"We didn't allow a single spec to remain in there... and we only barely escaped soon after... I feel that we dodged one of the biggest bullets of our entire life..." I said with a sigh.
"Hehe... indeed... alright, now let's get back to Hotland. I'll take the ashes and spread them somewhere safe in the meantime," Sans said. We nodded and handed him the ashes and Sans then snapped his fingers, letting our group back to the hotel and us seeing that everyone was there, minus Sans, as he was taking care of the ashes.
"OH! You're okay! Oh, I was so worried about you!" Papyrus and Toriel both said in different parts as they then rushed in and hugged me and Asriel, me smirking at them widely.
"It was a tough fight, but I think it's safe to assume we took care of the Void," I smiled.
"Yeah... by the way, where's Sans at? He disappeared for some odd reason and then you appeared soon after," Alphys asked.
"He teleported right to us after we got out of the Void. He's going to find a safe place to put Gaster's ashes," I said.
"And I did..." said the voice of Sans as he appeared from the area to the right of us, to the hotel rooms.
"Where'd you put them?" Undyne asked.
"I put 'em underneath Grillby's wine cellar. No way anyone's gonna disturb them down there. After all, when he was still around, pops loved Grillby's," Sans smirked.
"Even after all this time, you still remembered the tradition of monster funerals..." Asriel smiled, me looking confused at that.
"What's that?" I asked.
"Basically, whenever a monster dies and turns to dust, their loved ones spread their ashes on or in an area that they were very fond of. Like how Gaster's is under Grillby's and my preferred place would be in the Waterfall," Undyne smirked.
"I see... okay, now that we are completely sure that there are no more issues to spark up, we need to get going... what time is it?" I asked.
"Well... uh... it's 5:15. We don't have too much longer until dusk, so we gotta brick it if we want to get you home and keep your promise," Alphys said.
"Then let's get going!" I said, all of us then rushing forward to the CORE, wondering what could possibly top me and Asriel defeating the very essence of the Void itself in terms of adventure.