"Oi! Team Determination!" Following the morning roll call (and the announcement a second Time Gear had been stolen. At least that explained why Frisk had been feeling off ever since they woke up), Madjick suddenly called them over before Sans could even give them their assignment for the day. "You two have visitors, presto-chango. They asked specifically for you too!"
"Huh….I wonder who it is?" Monster Kid wondered aloud as the two headed upstairs. "Yo, you got any ideas Frisk?" The former human mulled it over for a few good seconds, before simply shrugging. "Aw man….I mean, same here. But I was kinda hoping you came up with something." Frisk had half a mind to point out that Monster Kid very much could've suggested someone as well, but kept it to themselves.
Besides, they were already at the gate.
Outside, to their surprise, stood both Pyrope and Vulkin, both of whom looking a great deal more upset when compared to yesterday. Pyrope especially had several new scratches across his body, including a rather nasty looking gash that still seemed to be oozing pale droplets of blood (although it looked more like oil, especially in the sunlight). He did seem to brighten up a small bit upon seeing them, while Vulkin kept their own sad expression.
"Hey, there you guys are! About time!" Pyrope called, bouncing nervously. "We've been waiting forever! Now c'mon, c'mon! We gotta get going, otherwise we'll be too late!" Frisk, quickly told him to slow down and explain, exchanging a confused glance with their friend in the meantime.
"Meanies!" Vulkin exclaimed, sounding as if on the verge of tears. "Took treasure. Won't give it back!"
"Yo, you telling me someone took that thing you guys were looking for yesterday?" Monster Kid asked. "I thought you found it though. What happened?" Pyrope stopped hopping in place for a moment, pulling out a small slip of paper (somehow not burning it to bits in the process in the meantime) and handed it over to Monster Kid. He carefully unfolded it with his tail, frowning as he began to read:
"The Burnt Pan from the beach is now in our possession! You want it back? Then come meet us in the centermost part of Old Home. Just try and get there all by yourselves! You brats won't even make it to the second floor, knowing how weak you are. Gonna cry? Why not get those Team Determination punks to help you out then!"
The two couldn't help but reel back a small bit, with Frisk even accurately calling it a ransom note, pure and simple. Pyrope nodded, looking to the ground almost in shame.
"Yeah….totally unhot….." He agreed. "Thing is though….I...actually tried to head to Old Home myself once we got it. We figured you guys would be busy yesterday and we didn't wanna bother anybody else around town."
"Friend went alone. Wouldn't let Vulkin help!" Vulkin piped up, sounding indignant for a second. "I want help! Vulkin very strong!"
"I didn't want to risk you gettin' hurt though!" Pyrope said, hopping to face his friend. "Vulkin, there were tons of Poison-type monsters there. I could barely make it through the first few floors. That's why…." He, almost sheepishly, turned to Monster Kid and Frisk once more. "We came to you guys for help. You managed to find Vulkin and save them a long, long time ago. And everyone knows you guys are super strong too! So...we thought you might be able to find it for us….y'know, as long as you guys don't have anything else you gotta do…."
"No worries, dude!" Monster Kid puffed out his chest, putting on the biggest grin imaginable. "No Mystery Dungeon is hard enough for us. We'll get that pan faster than you can blink!" The children looked taken aback for a moment, before thanking them. Vulkin even seemed to be on the brink of joyful tears, chirping happily rather than using their words.
Frisk gave a smile and reassured the two they'd be fine. Then they glanced to Monster Kid and nodded, before finally leading the way into town for supplies.
And from there? On into Old Home.
"You wanna know something, Frisk?" Monster Kid said as they reached the entrance of the abandoned town. It was quite a walk away from New Home, covered by a thick mist and swarm of black thunderclouds, making it difficult to see even five feet inside. Frisk simply supposed that was because of the town's status as a Mystery Dungeon.
"I honestly can't imagine what kind of monster would take something like that from a kid!" Monster Kid continued once Frisk nodded, lashing his tail angrily. "What a buncha bullies, yo! We gotta get that Burnt Pan back for them now, we just gotta!" Frisk gave a thumbs-up and a smile. "Let's do this, dude!"
The two headed inside, disappearing within the darkness.
Meanwhile, far back in New Home, Pyrope and Vulkin had travelled back to the shop, immediately telling both Dogamy and Dogaressa everything that had just happened. The couple were, naturally, extremely sympathetic with them, to the point where Dogaressa even offered the two an apple, on the house.
"If we didn't have a shop to run, I'd go after the scoundrel myself!" Dogamy promised them, slamming a paw on the counter. "I'm sure we'd be able to sniff them out right away, isn't that right sweetie?"
"Stop hitting things, dear. You'll scare the kids otherwise!" Dogaressa simply scolded, giving her husband a playful shove. "Besides, I'm sure Team Determination has everything under control, they're wonderful at their job." Pyrope jumped, as if to add something else in, but stopped as a small, whirring sound filled the area.
"Good morning, beauties and gentlebeauties!" The loud greeting signalled Mettaton's appearance, looking as bright and cheerful as ever. "Seems like things are a….hmm….how shall we say? Tense, over here? Did I miss something?"
"Oh! Mettaton, sir!" Dogamy returned the greeting, even waving a paw. "We were just continuing our discussion from yesterday. You remember, don't you?" A moment of silence passed between them, one where Mettaton seemed to be thinking before an exclamation point flashed across his screen.
"Ah! The Burnt Pan these children were searching for, correct?" He asked, gesturing to Pyrope and Vulkin. "Last I recall, it was spotted down near the beach, correct?"
"Yes, yes. But, it seems that there's more to the story…." Dogamy proceed to bring the robot up to speed, with Pyrope jumping in to add or correct a few details here or there. By the end of it, Mettaton looked rather thoughtful with his arms crossed clear across his screen.
"My, my….How absolutely dreadful. I am so very sorry for you two, my little darlings." He finally said. "I can hardly bear to imagine what kind of vile monster would dare to stoop so low!"
"That's what I said as well!" Dogamy growled, even baring his fangs a small bit. "Whoever they are, know that they are no longer welcome at our shop! Completely unforgivable!"
"Careful dear, calm down." Dogaressa said, patting his shoulder. "You almost accidentally set off a Hyper Beam the last time you got this angry." A small round of laughter was shared between the group, before Mettaton turned his attention to the two children.
"By the by….would you happen to know what happened to that Exploration Team you mentioned?" He asked, tilting….well, his entire body.
"Went to get treasure." Vulkin simply replied. Yet, it caused Mettaton to jerk back quite violently. The other monsters gave him a questioning look as he began muttering to himself, calculations flashing across his screen rapidly.
"At this date….during the current season…..factoring in the wind…." Several exclamation points appeared once more, although this time in panicked realization. "No! This is absolutely ruinous!"
"What? What's wrong, Mettaton, sir?" Dogaressa asked, clearly alarmed. He simply backed away from the shop, screen flashing red.
"I must leave for Old Home at once. Team Determination is in grave danger if I don't!" He explained, immediately turning and wheeling away faster than anyone had ever seen, even kicking up a cloud of dust as he left.
When it finally settled, he was completely gone.
"Dude...I think we made it to the center….." As the two walked into a clearing, thunder crackled overhead, making them both jump. "Wah! Yo, the storm here is intense! It totally looks like rain too, we might wanna find that pan and fast." Frisk nodded, taking a glance at the area and spotting something in the dead center of the clearing.
A small, black frying pan with a wooden handle. In the middle of it seemed to be a large, brown rust stain, one that you could probably still scratch tiny burnt particles off of. A small heart had also been carved into the wood, with a makeshift "K" in its center. Frisk tapped Monster Kid on his back, pointing it out excitedly.
"Yo! Nice work, Frisk! C'mon, let's grab it and get out of here!" He said, darting forwards. Almost immediately, the clouds above crackled with thunder once more, lighting up the sky for a split second. The area went dark, forcing the team to freeze in place immediately. "H-Hey man…..W-What's going on?! Why'd it get so dark all of a sudden?!"
"..." Something moved in the darkness, making a long, drawn out squelching sound as it passed. Monster Kid tried lighting the place up with a small jolt of electricity, only to hear violent hissing from something unseen. "...Guooooooh….."
Frisk called out for whoever was there, ordering them to reveal themselves at once. All that followed was another, closer "Guooooooooh", sounding much more angrier this time. Clenching their paws, they tried firing an Ember at...well, anything at this point. The small bolts of fire seemed to light up the area for a split second, revealing piles of green slime practically surrounding them.
Lightning lit up the area once more, confirming the fact they were completely and utterly surrounded by slime monsters. There was one that seemed to be much bigger than the others, swaying in place from side to side. A single eye glared out from under the green goop, focused solely on the two monsters in front of it. It let out the same roar as before, prompting the other slimes to do the same.
"Y-Yo! What are these things?!" Monster Kid yelped, taking a step back (nearly stepping onto one of the slimes as well). "D'ya think they live around here?" Frisk simply shrugged, already preparing another Ember in case they tried to attack. "Aw man….I really hope then that-"
"GUOOOOOOH!" The biggest slime raised its head to the sky, as the smaller ones followed suit. All of a sudden, Frisk felt something wet smack their back, followed by a stinging pain. Frisk fired off Ember, spinning around just in time to bat away another slime flying right for their face. The sudden crackle of electricity told them Monster Kid was being attacked as well.
The Slimes were all rather fast, with each of them seemingly able to use quite a variety of Poison-type moves. The leader of the group also seemed to be able to use Energy Ball, a Grass-type move if Frisk's memory served them right. They were relentless, but the duo weren't slouches either. Frisk's Rock Throw and Monster Kid's Thundershock seemed to be rather effective in putting the smaller ones down for the count at least.
The leader, however, wasn't about to go down as easily.
Instead, it hit them hard with its Energy Ball or Acid, easily able to avoid their attacks on the flipside. It wasn't until Monster Kid matched its speed using his Quick Attack were they finally able to stop it. At least, for a moment.
"GUOOOOOOOOOOH!" The slime reeled from the attack, before another Energy Ball began to form right in front of its eye. Frisk and Monster Kid shared a worried glance, while also looking for some way of escape. "Guoooh…..GUOOOOH! GUOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH!" Before either could make a move, the monster let loose its biggest Energy Ball left. Lightning flashed at the same time, blinding them all for a split second.
"That's enough, Moldbygg! Stop!"
A loud clang shook the area a few seconds afterwards, followed quickly by the light finally fading. In front of Team Determination stood Mettaton, his body smoking slightly but he seemed otherwise uninjured. Did he jump in the way of that attack? Frisk asked themselves silently, looking up at the robot with their heart in their throat.
The slime, Moldbygg as Mettaton called it, tilted its head, letting loose a low hiss at this new intruder. Mettaton merely moved forwards, holding up a single hand in a sign of peace.
"You must forgive my intrusion, darlings. I am the great explorer, Mettaton, and I mean you and your tribe no harm, Moldbygg." He said in a steady voice. "Believe me when I say these two did not mean to upset you either. They intrude, yes, but not with malice! We only came to retrieve an item that had been stolen from us!" Moldbygg only gave another hiss in reply, looking as if it was about to start attacking once more. "I beg of you, darling! I offer my sincerest apologies, both for what has happened to you and your tribe in the past as well as our intrusion on your sacred grounds!"
Moldbygg stopped dead in its track, its eye trained on Mettaton intently. The other slimes surrounding them had begun stirring, slowly inching towards their leaders side once more. After a moment of deliberation, Moldbygg finally gave a gurgle, directed at its underlings while nodding to Mettaton. The group finally departed, leaving behind the Burnt Pan, which still sat in the very center of the clearing.
"Woah….What just….even happened?" Monster Kid said in awe, as Mettaton turned back to them. "That….was totally awesome! Thank you so much, Mettaton, sir!" The robot only wearily laughed, trying to wave it aside.
"I've only bought us time for now. I'm sure they'll be back before long." Frisk asked what he had meant when he said "for what has happened to you and your tribe in the past" and how he knew the monster's name in the first place." Hm? Oh, that? Well, that beautie there was the leader of a Moldsmal tribe that originally lived in this area, long before these ruins actually. You see, this area gets rain frequently, which slime monsters enjoy quite a bit. Unfortunately, other monsters drove them out in order to build a town."
"Oh! And then they moved closer to the coast after a while, right?" Monster Kid piped up, jumping in place. "That's why this place is called Old Home while the town is called New Home!" Mettaton nodded, a thumbs up flashing across his screen for a moment.
"Indeed! Once Moldbygg and his Moldsmals were able to return to their home, they were determined not to lose it again. They migrate to this area right around this time every year, making this place rather dangerous actually." Mettaton continued. "As soon as I heard of what had happened, I absolutely had to come running. You two little darlings may be strong, but Moldbygg isn't exactly easy to take down." He clapped his hands together, a smile appearing on his screen. "But that's enough on the history lesson. Let's get what we came here for darlings!"
"Right, right!" Monster Kid ran ahead, leading the way to the Pan. "Er….this is the Burnt Pan we're looking for, right, sir?" Mettaton seemed to inspect the object, nodding after a while. "Awesome! Oh man, Pyrope and Vulkin are gonna be super excited to hear!" Frisk nodded their agreement, saying that they should hurry back as soon as possible.
"Just a moment there. I'd like to know how this treasure exactly ended up here." Mettaton said, turning around to face the empty space behind them. "Wouldn't you three little dears care to explain?" The two friends turned, just as a strong gust of wind nearly blasted them off their feet.
Loox and Migosp crawled out from one of the houses, cackling like mad while Glyde descended from the clouds, a huge grin on his face. Frisk immediately felt the fur on the back of their neck rise while Monster Kid let out a low growl.
"Team Skull! So you guys set this whole thing up, didn't you?!" He yelled, only to get snickers from the three bullies. Frisk even accused them of waiting for the perfect moment to strike, which was why they chose here of all places to lead them to.
"We were only planning on cleaning up once Moldy boy there finished you lot off. Easy pickings and a fantastic way to get our revenge!" Loox sneered.
"Yeah, yeah! But we sure weren't betting on anyone stepping in and ruining all our plans." Migosp added. Mettaton held his arms out, lights flashing as if they were readying something big.
"Well, there's certainly nothing stopping you dears from "cleaning up" now." He pointed out, most likely smirking if he had a normal face. "Shall we settle this now?"
"Heh, y'know?" Glyde returned the imaginary smirk, although it was clear he was at least slightly nervous. "Normally, I'd love a good fight. And the chance to pound those twerps into the ground? I'd take it no questions asked! But….fighting against the great Mettaton himself?" A ball of silver energy had formed right in front of Mettaton's screen, growing larger and larger rather quickly. "...Well boys, looks like it's time we split!" Loox and Migosp didn't need to hear him twice. The three retreated through the exit, just as Mettaton let loose an extremely powerful Flash Cannon, just barely missing Glyde's wing by a hair.
"Hah! Take that, you big bullies!" Monster Kid yelled after them, lashing his tail. "Try that again and we'll pound you!" Frisk couldn't help but laugh, trying and failing to muffle it with their paws.
"My, my. They sure do know how to make a getaway, don't they?" Mettaton said, clearly amused. "I'll have to get notes sometime, I suppose! Now then…." The three turned back once more to the Burnt Pan. "Grab that pan, won't you darling? We'd better be on our way, lest we incur Moldbygg's wrath yet again." Frisk nodded, grabbing the pan by the handle.
And, following quickly after Monster Kid and Mettaton, they left Old Home.
Oh Lord, it's been forever since I updated this story. Don't worry, I plan on uploading a lot more now, or I plan to at least. But I do apologize for such a long hiatus. I seriously plan on finishing this and anything else I have uploaded on this account.
It's fun getting back into writing this too, I'm super excited to get to the bigger plot points for this. Like I said when I uploaded the first chapter, Explorers of the Sky is literally one of my favorite Pokemon games ever. I love the plot, I love the story, and I love the game in general. It's been forever since i've written Undertale stuff too, so excuse me if I'm a bit rusty too. But, like always, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter and that there are still some people who stuck around. For those people, I'm super sorry I made you wait for so long too!
And as for that Danganronpa SYOC? I hope to update that sometime soon too, just in case anybody who reads this reads that too. See you all next chapter!