A Different Kind of Pacifist Chapter 4: Journey Through Waterfall, an Iji + Undertale Crossover fanfic

nightelf37: I heard that Iji's got a 1.7 version. After playing it, I decided that I cannot adapt (much of) the new content into the fic for 2 reasons. One, Passive Weapons will make the inevitable showdown between Iji and Undyne too easy. Two, part of the story involves Iji coming to terms with her flawed "pacifist" view, especially the "reflect kills" part, which 1.7 has retconned to counting as kills (again). Of course, she's had other indirect kills, but still.

I've also read about the Undertale Narrator theory, and I think maybe I'll implement that. It's just that an adult mind is too strong for them to make themselves known to her at the start. And even when Iji was sleeping, it's also probably because the Narrator was sifting through her thoughts and experiences prior to entering the Underground before 'doing their job', and had to take quite a lot of time to do so.

Now that I've read a further analysis regarding that theory, I'm gonna assume their SOUL had some strange effects on Iji's Nanofield, and with it explains how monsters work through the phone, having already cracked it (with magic or some shit). Or not, as the Checks (even the one on Loox) can still be explained by other ways, and Iji won't be using the Check option anymore now that she has the "monster_compendium" file in the Logbook. I named it "compendium" after the Demonic Compendium in the Shin Megami Tensei series.

Disclaimer: Iji belongs to Daniel Remar, and Undertale belongs to Toby Fox.

Trivia: When I was very young, Titanic, and by extension "My Heart Will Go On" by Celine Dion, gave me nightmares about ships sinking.

Phone Inventory:

Canteen, Spider Donut, Stick, Nice Cream, Spaghetti, Bisicle, Cinnamon Bunny, [Empty]

Satchel inventory:

Supplies, Canteen, Water-Purifying Pills, Tasen Logbook, Flashlight, Pen, Barbs of Wire, Bookmark, Toy Knife, Worn Glove (2), Manly Bandanna

Box Storage:

Beans Can, Butterscotch-Cinnamon Pie, Box of Raisins, Snowman Piece, [Empty], [Empty], [Empty], [Empty], [Empty], [Empty]

Tasen Logbook Records:

directions_to_snowdin, ascii_catgirl, color_tile_puzzle_guide, monster_compendium, temmie_village_directions, gaster_note, the_undertale, underground_compilation

nightelf37: In case you're wondering where the Faded Ribbon is, it's "equipped", tying Iji's hair into a ponytail.

After remembering to return the microwave in her inventory to Papyrus and Sans's house like she promised the former, Iji continued past Sans's new station and further into the area she would eventually come to know by the name Waterfall.

Along the way, she decided to give Papyrus a call and they talked about things like Sans' dirty room, how Papyrus hates Grillby's, about how Dr. Alphys is friends with Undyne, and the fact that Sans has visited the door to the Ruins. In return, Iji told him about life before the Alpha Strike, but couldn't bring herself to tell him about those events, and reminiscing on her old life made her really sad, and she felt it was best to share that story when she's ready, and when he and Sans are together. Papyrus was able to notice her sorrow and declared that he would do his best to cheer her up.

Once they ended the call, the first thing Iji truly noticed is a sign, a box (like in Snowdin and the forest), a waterfall just ahead where rocks rolled down it, and wooden paths to her right that led a bit downward. Upon asking him later, Papyrus would reveal that Undyne set the rocks up.

The sign next to the box read This is a box. you can put an item in or take an item out. Why would you, though? You can't use items when they're in the box! Sincerely, a box hater. Upon checking the contents, she found the stuff that she put in Snowdin's box. Looks like they really are connected somehow. And the Snowman Piece hasn't melted yet, just like the Snowman said.

First thing she did was inspect the river. To her right, the rocks fell. To her left, she noticed a blurry dark patch, almost as if there were something behind it. Entering the water (it wasn't even that deep, actually) she made her way to that dark patch, easily evading the rocks (and the ones that did hit her actually bounced off of her thanks to the Nanofield) and finding that the patch was a passageway to a small room.

This room as two glowing mushroom patches, just like in that one place where she encountered Glyde. There was also an old dusty ballerina's tutu, sized for a small child. It saddened Iji to know that other humans have fallen here and died. Ribbons, toy knives, gloves, and bandannas are one thing, but a tutu was a whole other story. Did these monsters truly deserve freedom? Maybe they have already suffered enough from their time Underground. Either way, with Earth still in need of much rebuilding, maybe the monsters can help this time around.

But there was one other thing she saw that she didn't expect to encounter in the Underground. Along with the tutu, but a few steps away from it, were blue balls of energy she has seen multiple times before. Blue balls that she has collected over the course of her journey to get the aliens to stop attacking Earth; Nano. (1)

What's this doing here? Did Tasen and Komato actually enter the Underground? She just assumed that was a plausible theory, but now there was proof right before her very eyes. And now she was wondering just how many casualties did the monsters suffer when the aliens presumably sent troops inside the mountain in search for survivors (humans for Tasen, Tasen for Komato).

Judging by how peaceful Snowdin and the Ruins were, it seems that the aliens have been successfully defeated (since none can leave the Underground because of the Barrier, though can Komato Assassins escape or not?). But since the Barrier has yet to be destroyed, it seems like neither Tasen nor Komato SOULs can substitute for a human SOUL for whatever reason, or the Underground's researchers are still finding the answer to that. Speaking of research, surely after the Alpha Strike they've been probing the Barrier for weaknesses, right? Why haven't any monsters appeared outside the Barrier; and if they have, why haven't the populace been informed?

Shaking off those thoughts and returning to the task at hand, Iji decided to pick up the tutu and store it in the box for a while, as well as pick up the Nano. While there're no Stations to upgrade her Nanofield here, or even enough Nano scattered for her to collect (if the Monsters had some way of picking it up for research), it's still useful.

Maybe, just maybe, she can find the keepsakes of the humans that came here before her and return them to the surface. But right now, she has to reach the capital and King Asgore.

After putting the tutu away, Iji went down the wooden path, which took her next to the waterfall, and led to an Echo Flower. The moment she approached it, it said, "I swore I saw something… Behind that rushing water."

Curious, and remembering all the cameras she's seen throughout the Underground, Iji approached the middle of the waterfall, the rocks falling down it, and indeed saw yet another one of them. She was half-tempted to try and use her Nanofield to crack it.

Normally, cracking only works between devices with Tasen and Komato Nanofields (and her own), Security Doors, and security boxes, but with the help of a Tasen cracker named Yukabacera (whom Vateilika still isn't happy with), she now has a prototype cracking program that can attempt to get inside foreign operating systems. Prior to the Tasen's Alpha Strike, Yuka had hacked into Earth's media network for entertainment reasons.

She considered cracking the camera, but then realized that unless her Nanofield displays images in front of her eyes, there was no real point, and while she may be good with computers, she was no elite cracker, and had no real idea on what to do with the camera if she did crack it. It's not like she knew what to do if she somehow gained access to the monsters' surveillance network. Besides, this was sidetracking, and she lost nearly an hour on Yuka's Hero 3D game; no way she can get distracted with trying this out.

Shaking her head, she returned to the main path, crossed the waterfall, and made her way to the next area.

Box Storage:

Beans Can, Butterscotch-Cinnamon Pie, Box of Raisins, Snowman Piece, Old Tutu, [Empty], [Empty], [Empty], [Empty], [Empty]

The next area consisted of a narrow-ish path with a patch of tall grass, enough to hide a small child standing, but not Iji (naturally). A cliff side was to her left, allowing anyone there to look down here. As she began to walk into the grass though, she then heard footsteps, and then a voice.

"H… HI, UNDYNE! I'M HERE WITH MY DAILY REPORT…"

It was Papyrus. And this Undyne lady was here, too! I sure came at a bad time!

"UHHH… REGARDING THAT HUMAN I CALLED YOU ABOUT EARLIER… …HUH? DID I FIGHT HER? Y-YES! OF COURSE I DID! I FOUGHT HER VALIANTLY!" Iji couldn't pick up whatever Undyne was saying to him in return, or maybe she was using gestures. "…WHAT? DID I CAPTURE HER? W-W-WELL… NO. I TRIED VERY HARD, UNDYNE, BUT IN THE END… I FAILED." Iji took out her Nanogun "…W-WHAT? YOU'RE GOING TO TAKE THE HUMAN'S SOUL YOURSELF…" She then heard her skeleton friend walk. "BUT UNDYNE, YOU DON"T H-HAVE TO DESTROY HER! YOU SEE… YOU SEE…" She then heard walking again. He must've approached Undyne, and then back away. "…I UNDERSTAND. I'LL HELP YOU IN ANY WAY I CAN." And then she heard him walk, the sound fading. It seems that Undyne was now alone.

Oh no. Where does his loyalty lie in the end? Iji wondered. She stayed still for a minute, waiting for Undyne to leave. Not hearing any footsteps, she couldn't tell if the captain was still there, or already gone. If Undyne was like a ninja or some other kind of light-footed monster, or even a flier or floater like a Whimsun or Napstablook, there was no way of telling. Deciding she can't wait any longer, Iji took a few steps forward.

And then she heard a gruff feminine grunt, as if having her attention grabbed by her noise. Immediately, Iji slowly went prone into the grass, and set her Nanogun from Shotgun mode to Resonance Reflector mode. She's yet to determine whether or not it can deflect magic attacks, so there was no way of telling. Then came the sound of steps clad in heavy armor approaching the cliff side. As Iji turned around to see what's above her, she saw a humanoid in armor varying in light and dark shades of gray.

From Undyne's left hand came a spear of light blue energy, ready to hurl it into the grass. But instead of attacking immediately, even if it might miss, she just looked to her left, then to her right, and then banished the spear before backing away and out of sight.

Just in case Undyne was making a ploy, Iji decided to wait for several minutes. Before two can pass by though, a familiar child monster approached her.

"Yo… did you see the way she was staring at you…?" they said. "That…was AWESOME! I'm SOOOO jealous! What'd you do to get her attention…? Ha ha. C'mon! Let's go watch her beat up some bad guys!" With that, the monster kid ran off, and then she heard a thump. Iji immediately got up to see the kid had fallen onto his face, but he quickly pulled himself back up and continued running.

Once he was gone, Iji decided it was no use continuing to wait and decided to follow the kid, stowing her Nanogun once more. A feeling of dread hung over her, but she stayed determined. (2)

The next room consisted of a narrow path, some space to the left in the distance, and a small pool blocking her from the next area. There was also an old sign to her immediate left, embedded in the stone. She turned to read it. When four Bridge Seeds align in the water, they will sprout.

Perplexed, she continued on, and saw what looked like flower buds with closed petals. So those are the Bridge Seeds. She picked one up, and let it flow into the pool. Despite the current, the Seed moved straight into the other side. She also noticed in the pool two protrusions of land, as if telling her these are where the Bridge Seeds should be aligned in. After repeating the process three more times, upon placing the last Seed, their leaves spread out and the buds bloomed into flowers.

Iji wasn't sure if they could hold her weight, and didn't have some way of checking the water's depth level. She decided to place her foot on it. Besides, she can jump the gap anyway. One shoe landed on the sprouted Bridge Seed. It seemed to hold, and quite well, too. She put another foot on it, and prepared her arms to catch the shore in case she fell through.

They held surprisingly well, so Iji balanced herself as she crossed the "Bridge Blooms" and into the next area.

The first thing she saw upon entering was another monster, and her SOUL was now glowing; another battle.

It was a brown muscular merhorse (or rather a sea horse) with a long, winding green tail and a twelve-pack. According to her monster_compendium file, this monster was named Aaron. According to her phone, her options were to Shoo him off, or Flex like he's doing.

His smug demeanor implied that he won't be easily shooed away, so Iji decided to humor him by flexing in response. While her Nanofield has increased her strength, she does work out without activating it; keeping healthy is always good. At the very least, she's exercised enough to be able to carry the (moderately heavy) Nanogun with one hand without any boost from her Nanofield, though her arms still weren't that muscular.

Aaron didn't seem to mind, and flexed twice as hard. And for some reason, both of them felt a little stronger.

"Flexing contest?" Aaron asked. "Ok, flex more!" He then winked at her as his attack began. Flexing biceps emerged from right behind and started approaching her. Iji sidestepped these attacks as they made their way towards Aaron before disappearing.

Seeing him still flex, she decided maybe more flexing is required. Aaron flexed thrice as hard in response. "Nice! I won't lose tho." Another wink, and this time, sweat began to shoot out of his body. Since they looked like monster attacks, Iji did her best to evade them. One hit her, though, and it reeked of the boys locker room for a moment before becoming bearable.

Maybe just one more flex… Iji tried once more, and Aaron replied with an even harder flex…and he floated out of the room as he tried to do so. He also somehow dropped a pouch of Gold. Having gotten used to these encounters, Iji picked up the pouch and pocketed it, intending to ask another Aaron if he can return it to its owner.

Finally taking in what was right past Aaron, Iji beheld a wooden bridge leading to the rest of the room, which comprised of four Bridge Seeds, four glowing mushrooms, a sign in the middle of a waterlogged area, a plant-like golden bell, and a sign next to that bell. A river flowed way to the left, emerging from a waterfall, flowing all the way under the wood bridge and taking a left turn, passing the waterlogged sign, under another patch of land, and off into the distance. Past the little waterfall, was the entrance to the next area.

Curious on what's in the other path, as well as knowing she can jump the other path where a child would have use the Bridge Seeds to cross, and seeing a wooden dock there leading to another patch of land, Iji took the Bridge Seeds and let them flow into the dock's direction. Once they bloomed, she made her way across the flowers and to the dock, where she saw—

"Ansaksie?"

Indeed, the Komato Assassin was there, sitting on a bench, and inspecting a quiche in her hands. To her left was an Echo Flower, and her legs seemed to be wet.

"Hello again, Iji. I was just scouting the area," she greeted. Iji understood that Komato Assassins create mental maps of the area they're in, because teleporting into an unfamiliar place can have them end up teleporting into walls and floors. The Assassin named Asha lost his arm this way. Teleporting into a wall, that is, while fighting a couple of Tasen Elites, and it hadn't cut down his ego even a bit.

"Hello again, Iji. I was just scouting the area," echoed the Echo Flowers.

"I see."

"Oh, a piece of advice for you." Ansaksie put the quiche down to the side. "Watch out for that short skeleton Sans. I was prowling around this Waterfall area (yes, that's the name of this area) when I glimpsed him and you walking, and then you just disappeared all of a sudden." It seems that she had witnessed how Sans took Iji to Grillby's. "Thank Zentraidon you're all right."

Iji made no comment about that. Komato and Tasen have used that word as a stand-in for what one would normally say their religious deity. According to one logbook, Zentraidon is a taboo word coined by the extinct race the Komato discovered, meaning self-annihilation through rapid technological advancement and arrogance. Many mysteries still surrounded their species and the remains of their homeworld, and the Komato have been reverse-engineering their technology for galactic conquest. It's also considered treason to suggest that the Komato will be headed the same way, which the Tasen believe.

"You saw that?" The human went to the bench to sit down as well, the quiche between her and the Komato.

"Mm-hmm. Got worried for a bit when he teleported like that, wondering if I should just leave or try and do your mission for you."

"I don't think that's a good idea. I'm sure you know this already, but I saw Nano here. Your kind have been here, and likely attacked the monsters and died. There's also their captain of the guard, Undyne, and she's on the prowl. I don't want her to see you. If she has fought Komato and Tasen, she might kill you on sight. True, she'll likely do that to me too, but I think your kind is fresher in her memory than my kind."

"True. Fortunately, I still have plenty of teleportation charges left. I will have to be more careful, though. And don't worry, I haven't killed any monsters since you asked me not to."

"That's good."

"Oh, and for the record, before I got here, the Echo Flower said, 'I just wasn't ready for the responsibility.' I think whoever was talking was referring to this." Ansaksie gestured to the quiche. "Wanna take it?"

"I'm not sure," replied Iji. "Who knows how long this has been out here? But if I remember correctly, when I was in Papyrus's house (Sans is his brother and lives there, too), he mentioned Sans baking a quiche 'recently'. This could probably be it." She picked it up, produced her Phone, and opened the inventory. "I should probably keep it just in case." After storing the quiche in her phone, Iji found Ansaksie staring at the phone in stunned bewilderment.

"Whoa." was all she could say.

"I got this phone from Toriel. You don't have these types of storage systems in your world?"

"Not for food items and stuff like that. Only for ammo, and that's how our Nanoguns came to be."

"I'll try and find some way to get another one of these for you. I just realized we had no means of communication. You guys do have some form of radio, right?"

"Of course. Let me transfer it to you." Ansaksie gestured for Iji's hand, which she raised for her, and tapped a finger onto her hand, letting their Nanofields connect. Too much contact between different Nanofields can prove dangerous, as Iji can attest to when bypassing Tasen and Komato soldiers. "You really were planning on doing this alone, weren't you? Surely your brother planned for you to have a communicator with you."

"It seems like the Barrier around here prevents wireless communications through it. Their 'UnderNet' hasn't even been able to connect with our internet…when we still had it."

Yet another reminder of what the Tasen did just to escape the Komato. It didn't really bother Ansaksie a bit, but if Iji were to continue reminiscing on the things that are gone because of the Alpha Strike, it will really start to get to her.

"Done," said the Assassin as she pulled her finger away. "Just place your fingers to your right ear so you can talk to me."

Iji mimicked the position. "Like this?"

Ansaksie did the same. "Yeah. Well, I'll be staying here a while longer. You should get going."

"Right." The human got up from the bench. "Be seeing you. I'll try and describe the areas I've been to for you."

"Good luck!"

After jumping the small river and just before Iji made her way to the next area, she got a call from her phone and answered it.

"HELLO! THIS IS PAPYRUS! HOW DID I GET THIS NUMBER…? IT WAS EASY! I JUST DIALED EVERY NUMBER SEQUENTIALLY UNTIL I GOT YOURS! NYEH HEH HEH HEH!"

Iji palmed herself in the face. "Sorry I forgot to give you mine after you gave yours."

"THAT'S ALL RIGHT! SO… WHAT ARE YOU WEARING…? I'M… ASKING FOR A FRIEND. SHE THOUGHT SHE SAW YOU WEARING A RIBBON. IS THAT TRUE? ARE YOU WEARING A RIBBON?"

"Does this friend's name happen to be Undyne?"

This seemed to catch him off guard. "UHH…UMM…"

"I heard you talking to her earlier. You can be honest with me. I wish to talk with her too. Just describe everything about me to her. I haven't changed clothes since you last saw me."

"GOT IT! WINK WINK! HAVE A NICE DAY!" And the call ended.

Shaking her head, she continued to the next area, which consisted of a dark-ish room lit by tiny glowing gems in the ceiling. There were also several Echo Flowers and a sign that says "Wishing Room".

She checked each flower, making sure to stay quiet so as not to overwrite the 'messages'.

"A long time ago, monsters would whisper their wishes to the stars in the sky. If you hoped with all your heart, your wish would come true. Now, all we have are these sparkling stones on the ceiling…"

"Thousands of people wishing together can't be wrong! The king will prove that."

Before she could check more, a monster walked up to her and Iji's SOUL started to glow. It appeared to be a living bathtub or washing machine with a round green head (and green turtle legs) bearing a blank expression, and a small bird sitting in its water-filled body. According to the compendium, this was a Woshua. Judging by his demeanor, he seemed to be a clean freak.

"Your SOUL is unclean," it said to her before launching a soap bar from its tub, which began to bounce around in the room, always trying to ricochet towards Iji. The soap also left a sparkling trail in its wake that disappeared after a while, and they proved to sting like antiseptic on an open wound. (3) Once it was gone, she asked for a cleanup, playing to his likes.

"Green means clean" it said before ejecting large white water drops in her direction. A few of them were green, and—remembering the Vegetoids—she moved over to these drops, and not only did they actually feel refreshing, any filth she had on her was gone. "Work is done" It then shuffled away from her, making its way to where she just came from, but not before launching a pouch of gold into her hands.

"Thanks!" she called at Woshua as he left before storing the gold with the rest of her money. She then got back to checking the Echo Flowers. Thankfully, neither she nor Woshua were close to any of them during their fight.

"C'mon, sis! Make a wish!"

"I wish my sister and I will see the real stars someday."

The hopes and dreams of the monsters are recorded in these flowers. It's time they rejoined us, and rebuild our world. Together.

"Ah… seems my horoscope is the same as last week's…"

After checking that last flower, Iji backed up a bit and looked to her left. There was a dead end there. but she was certain there was more to it than that. To her right was a telescope. She decided to check the telescope first. It pointed to the gems in the ceiling. She looked around, hoping to find some clue as to how to proceed further. Just as she looked at a large cluster of gems, she saw that the lens had the following written.

↑ CHECK WALL

Pulling away from the telescope, Iji checked the dead end from earlier. Approaching it, she wondered if she'll have to use up a rocket to blast it open. Reaching the wall, she was about to touch it and warn anybody behind it to get out of the way when a hidden door in it opened up. Well, that solves that.

The next area was a room with a wooden bridge and dark water in which many water sausages (a.k.a. cattails) grew. On the north wall were many ancient glyphs. At the end of the wooden dock was a raft small enough for her to stand on, but large enough for her not to lose balance and fall into the water.

Iji first approached the glyphs and read them.

"The War of Humans and Monsters." Why did the humans attack? Indeed, it seemed that they had nothing to fear. Humans are unbelievably strong. It would take the SOUL of nearly every monster just to equal the power of a single human SOUL. But humans have one weakness. Ironically, it is the strength of their SOUL. Its power allowed it to persist outside the human body, even after death. If a monster defeats a human, they can take its SOUL. A monster with a human soul... A horrible beast with unfathomable power.

Remember. This is just their side of the story. Iji reminded herself not to take this at face value before she could add this to her empathy on the monsters. Why exactly did humans and monsters fight in the first place? And why is that legend so little-known? Hmm…I wonder how long a human SOUL can persist after death?

The last glyph was an illustration of a strange creature. Despite facing Komato Annihilators and Tor, something in the drawing managed to unsettle her. Continuing on, Iji decided to board the raft, which seemed to move automatically as soon as she set both feet on it. Aware of a possible attack, Iji took out her Nanogun and made sure it was on Resonance Reflector Mode. She was approaching another wooden bridge, and prepared to drop herself off there. Once the raft made contact, she stepped off and continued walking.

For some reason she cannot fathom, the current area was dark in that the only light Iji could sense was right behind her. She continued walking for a couple of seconds when suddenly—WHAM!—a blue spear of energy landed right in front of her. Seeing where it came from, Iji turned to the left.

Amidst a long hallway of giant stone pillars, something emerged from the shadows.

"You must be Undyne," the human greeted. While she held no illusion that this might end up like when she tried talking to Krotera, Sentinel Proxima, and Tor—that is, the person she's talking to would prefer to fight regardless—she had to try anyway. "My name's Iji, and I'd like to talk with you." As she was saying that, more spears emerged in the air just above the guard, and just as she finished, the spears went flying right at her direction.

Hoping it would work, Iji pulled the trigger. A yellow force field pulsed around her, catching the spears…and sending them in the opposite direction they went, right above Undyne's spot. (4) It surprised Iji that it even worked at all, but she sort of expected the spears not to go straight to Undyne herself; the reason her Nanoweapons can reflect straight back is because the Reflector also reprograms the projectiles, which also explains why the strength of it is determined by her Attack upgrades.

"If you would just let me speak…" Iji tried again, but Undyne already had another volley of spears ready. Because of the Resonance Reflector's slow recharge time, she ducked this volley, and then she jumped straight to Undyne's location. (5) Returning her Nanogun to its holster, she then made to grab Undyne by the wrists. The captain pulled away before bringing her head forward to headbutt the human.

Both skulls collided, but the armors protecting both of them prevented any grievous harm for either. Iji had been slightly worried there; melee damage on Komato and Tasen was usually thanks to everybody's Nanofields violently reacting to each other. Looks like she's impervious to melee damage after all.

Undyne reeled back and prepared to throw a punch, but Iji caught the fist, then turned into a grip on the wrist. The captain then summoned a spear in her other hand and thrust it onto the human, but her target parried it with her other hand, her SOUL blinking as she took damage from contact, though less so than if the pointy end had hit, and then she slid her hand across the shaft to grab Undyne's other wrist.

"Can we please stop fighting for just a minute and talk?!" Iji shouted as she grappled with the taller-than-her-by-more-than-a-foot monster. Undyne didn't answer and continued to try and overpower her, in which Iji turned the monster's force against her and threw her over her and into the ground. "I'm here to speak with the king. Aren't you supposed to take me to him?"

Undyne got back up and was ready to summon her spear before Iji was onto her and landed her foot, delivering a kick straight into the body armor that sending her flying straight into the lake, but the captain managed to hurl her spear straight for Iji, grazing her side and doing quite a bit of HP damage. Taking this moment of reprieve, bearing through the pain, Iji started running; she can't waste time throwing down with Undyne. She's headed to King Asgore, with or without Undyne taking her there.

Jumping back to the dock and running along it, Iji can already hear Undyne presumably leap out of the water, and then sprinting straight for her. She was pretty fast despite her armor, but Iji's cyborg enhancements meant the captain can't catch up as fast as she wanted to.

After a while, Iji reached a patch of grass like the one she passed upon first seeing Undyne. It looked tall enough for her to hide in…if she lay down, and so she dove in, took out her Nanogun, then turned to lay on her back and had her weapon ready in case Undyne were to follow her in, which she expected her to do.

Except Undyne stopped just short of touching the grass…before heading in anyway. She heard the captain lumber in, stopping just inches from Iji's current position. Undyne raised an arm, and then thrust down to grab…not Iji, who had to resist the urge to fire, as she realized it was somebody else who was grabbed. Undyne's hand pulled its catch from the grass.

It was that armless monster kid! But what was he doing in the grass?

in any case, Undyne dropped them and went the other way, seemingly giving up the chase for now. Iji decided to wait for two minutes just in case before peeking out of the grass to make sure that Undyne was really gone. once she confirmed that, she stood up and made her way out of the grass in the opposite direction. As she glimpsed a short dock to her right as she passed, she heard a rustle from the grass and saw the monster kid rush out, looking not at all the worse for wear and very excited.

"Yo… did you see that!?" they said. "Undyne just…TOUCHED ME! I'm never washing my face ever again…! Man, are you unlucky. If you were standing just a LITTLE bit to the left...! Yo, don't worry! I'm sure we'll see her again!"

Before Iji could get a word in edgewise, the monster kid was already running off, but not before falling onto his face for a bit, which he was very quick to get up from. Also, because of the damage her HP endured, she decided to take out the Bisicle and consume it, one pop at a time. They tasted…sweet, no salt in them (6), or any other flavor, not even vanilla for that matter.

The next area was comprised of a small room containing cheese inside purple crystal (and stuck to the table it's on), a mouse hole, and an Echo Flower that has recorded a mouse squeak.

She bypassed that to enter the next area. Ahead was a storage box, as well as Sans with a telescope. She approached him first, and he greeted, "i'm thinking about getting into the telescope business, it's normally 50000G to use this premium telescope, but…since i know you, you can use it for free. howzabout it?"

Seeing as it was free, Iji decided it couldn't hurt. Maybe it was pointed to something special. Before putting her eye into the viewing lens, she rubbed it with her thumb…and found it was smeared in red paint. She immediately gave an accusatory look at Sans before wiping it clean, wiping the other lens because she wouldn't put it past him to do that too, and then looked through the telescope.

Aside from showing a pretty good view, there was nothing of interest in sight. She went to the box, noticed an entry way just ahead and to the left, and took it. It led to a medium-length hallway that took her to a small room with a box, vandalized glyphs, glowing mushrooms, and…the Nice Cream monster.

Remembering the damage her HP had endured during her tussle with Undyne (and Aaron and Woshua), she decided to eat the Nice Cream in her phone. Opening the wrapper, she took a bite, and felt her energy return. She also saw an illustration of a hug in the wrapper.

After finishing the Nice Cream and pocketing the trash to properly dispose of later, she was greeted by the vendor.

"I relocated my store, but there are still no customers," he said. "Fortunately, I've thought of a solution! Punch cards! Every time you buy a Nice Cream, you can take a punch card from the box. If you have 3 cards, you can trade them for a free Nice Cream! They're sure to get the customers to come back!"

"That's one step, sir," she replied. "Another is to set up a sign that will lead customers to your location. I didn't even know you were here; I was just exploring the place. Three Nice Creams, please."

After purchasing the food items (and noticing the price difference from Snowdin Forest, she went over to the box, and saw two bugs playing a card game. Upon showing the Nice Cream bars she purchased, they gestured to three cue cards with punch holes in them. Iji picked them up, and looked at them, reading what was written on it.

please… please come back…

Wow. he sure sounds pitiful. I don't want to see him go out of business. She then returned to the Nice Cream vendor, and surrendered the "punch cards", getting a "Hey! You have 3 Punch Cards! How about redeeming them for some Nice Cream!? It's free!" as well as a fourth Nice Cream from him.

"I actually like your Nice Cream, but I think you could use a little more help."

The vendor blushed a bit. "Wow. I have such a dedicated customer."

"If you follow my advice, you could have more."

After giving more commerce tips to the vendor (like asking about other areas in the Underground), she continued on, turning to the left to see a white drop-shaped monster with legs.

"What's a star? Can you touch it? Can you eat it? Can you kill it? ... Are you a star?"

Disturbed by its questions, she deigned not to answer it and went onward, finding herself on one end of a chasm of bright blue water. On the other side is a small yellow bird. While Iji can jump across easily, she noted the area to her right as she made her way here. She's always one for exploring every nook and cranny she could find, even back at the D.C.M.F.P.R. Research Facility, with its vents large enough for even one as tall as her to walk in upright, so she turned back and headed to the bridge leading deeper into Waterfall.

The next area was full of glowing rivers, pathways, and bridges. After taking a left turn and across a bridge, Iji came across an Echo Flower. She approached it to hear that it had picked up a passing conversation.

"So? Don't you have any wishes to make?"

Another Echo Flower ahead seems to pick up the next bit.

"...hmm, just one, but... It's kind of stupid."

Before she could proceed anywhere else, she encountered two Moldsmals. She knew what tp do to Spare them and get some Gold and did so. As she explored the area, she also found one small patch of tall grass with four patches of glowing mushrooms. Iji decided to check if there's anything in there, judging the layout as suspicious, and found a pair of ballet shoes, another reminder of the human (children) before her that fell here.

Storing it in her satchel, she continued traveling when she received a call.

"HELLO! THIS IS PAPYRUS! REMEMBER WHEN I ASKED YOU ABOUT CLOTHES?"

"Uh-huh."

"WELL, THE FRIEND WHO WANTED TO KNOW… HER OPINION OF YOU IS VERY… MURDERY."

"You don't say," Iji's voice was dripping with sarcasm. "And no need to hide that it was Undyne. I already met her."

"UMM…"

"Don't worry. I'll be fine. I made friends with you, and I hope to make friends with her too. Or at least get her not to kill me."

"PERHAPS I SHOULD MAKE MY WAY OVER TO YOUR LOCATION, AND HELP YOU CONVINCE UNDYNE NOT TO TAKE YOU AWAY."

"No. I don't want you to lose any favor with her. This is between the two of us. Please have faith in me."

"OOOKAY." Papyrus wasn't too sure.

"Is there anything you know about Undyne's combat skills? It can help me stop her. Without killing her, of course."

"I DON'T KNOW. I FEEL LIKE BETRAYING HER IF I DO THAT. I JUST WANT TO BE FRIENDS WITH EVERYONE."

"I understand. Please don't involve yourself. I promise me and Undyne will make it through alive."

"…ALL RIGHT, IJI. I'LL TRUST YOU."

"Thank you. Bye."

"BYE!"

And with that, she ended the call. What am I doing, making that promise? Wow. Papyrus is really getting to me. Why do I feel like it's somehow wrong to hurt his feelings? She shook her head. Well, a promise is a promise. Now I'll have to find some way to make Undyne see reason, but how?

Her thought process was interrupted when she ran into a Woshua and Aaron. The sparing process was the same for the two of them, though she noted that Woshua seemed to have no issues with Aaron's sweat attacks, given his mysophobia. She came out of the battle 55 Gold richer.

As Iji continued, she encountered another Echo Flower ("Don't say that! Come on, I promise I won't laugh."), as well as a small corridor to the next area, which also has glyphs to read on the right side ("The power to take their SOULs. This is the power that the humans feared.").

Phone Inventory:

Canteen, Spider Donut, Cinnamon Bunny, Nice Cream, [Empty], [Empty], [Empty], [Empty]

Satchel inventory:

Supplies, Canteen, Water-Purifying Pills, Flashlight, Pen, Tasen Logbook, Stick, Barbs of Wire, Bookmark, Box of Raisins, Toy Knife, Worn Glove, Worn Glove, Manly Bandanna, Ballet Shoes

Box Storage:

Beans Can, Butterscotch-Cinnamon Pie, Snowman Piece, Old Tutu, Spaghetti, Abandoned Quiche, Nice Cream, Nice Cream, Nice Cream, [Empty]

The first thing Iji noticed was that the area was mostly water, with only a small patch of land that made a sharp 90 degree turn to the right. As she walked the path, she heard the sound of something surfacing from the water. It was a chiffon yellow…tentacle? She took out her Nanogun just in case, and just as she walked little more, another tentacle surfaced from the other side of the path. The tentacles followed her as she walked before suddenly deciding to submerge once more, And then something large began to surface from her left.

From the looks of it, the tentacles belonged to this monster, whose body resembled an onion and whose face looked like it came straight from an animé. They also looked extremely happy. "Hey… there… noticed you were… here… I'm Onionsan! Onionsan, y'hear!"

She couldn't help but answer in the same disposition. "Nice to meet you Onionsan. I'm Iji."

"You're visiting Waterfall, huh!" Onionsan said as the two traversed the area together.

"Just passing through."

"It's great here, huh!"

"I guess…"

"You love it, huh!"

"Uhh…" Memories of her recent tussle with Undyne flash in her mind.

"Yeah! Me too! It's my Big Favorite." Onionsan then sunk their face into the water, prompting Iji to stop a bit. "Even though, the water's getting so shallow here… I, have to sit down all the time, but… He-hey! That's OK! It beats moving to the city! And living in a crowded aquarium! Like all my friends did!"

This struck Iji a bit as the two continued on. To be cramped underneath a mountain for so long can have debilitating effects even on a society. And she couldn't think of anything to say to the water-dwelling monster; they seemed to just want someone to let out their thoughts to.

"And the aquarium's full, a-anyway, so, even if I wanted to, I… At least I wasn't there when it was attacks. I think a lot of my friends died that day."

Iji felt a pang in her heart. More proof that the aliens have attacked the Underground.

Onionsan changed their mood immediately. "That's okay, though, y-hear! Undyne's gonna fix everything, y'hear! I'm gonna get out of here and live in the ocean! Y'hear!"

Wow. So much faith in Undyne. I wonder how many aliens she slew.

Before long, Iji could see the entrance to the next area. Onionsan could see it too as they reaised a tentacle. "Hey… there… That's the end of this room."

"Yeah. I guess this is where I part ways. See you around, Onionsan."

"Yeah. I'll see you around! Have a good time!" They then began to sink slowly into the water as they said, "In Waterfalllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll"

The next area was a small room with two waterfalls flowing in the distance to the right. There was a hole in the middle, two pathways leading forward and left respectively, and glyphs on the path to the latter.

As Iji continued onward, her SOUL began to glow. Knowing a monster has encountered her, she looked around, and found someone in the corner.

At first glance, she looked like some sort of mermaid-styled monster, but in reality the "head" and "body" were two separate beings. According to the compendium, the "head" was Shyren (and was a tiny green fish with blue hair and and angler fish lure), and the "body" was her talent agent (a larger fish with thick lips). According to the UnderNet, there were actually more like her in the city, all with their own agents, but the one right here in Waterfall is reported to be in a slump as of late.

Iji could easily leave her be, but after interacting with several other monsters before, she decided helping Shyren out would be a good idea. The Phone suggested Smile, Hum, and Conduct. Iji decided to hum a melancholic tune she used to sing to Mia to sleep.

Shyren began to follow her tune, turning to face her as she did, and inadvertently sent note-shaped attacks in Iji's direction, which she successfully dodged. With these mentalities, in the inevitable negotiation terms with Asgore, a lot of rules and restrictions will have to be mandated in order not to spark another war between them and humans (and Tasen).

She decided to continue humming, and Shyren followed suit. All of a sudden, other monsters were drawn into the area; it's become a concert, and Iji could swear she saw Sans selling tickets made of toilet paper. Which doesn't make sense since monsters don't defecate.

After some more humming the crowd begun tossing clothing. Socks, to be specific. By then, Iji was on a roll, and so was Shyren, as they continued their tune. For some reason, thoughts of tours and groupies came to her mind (7).

Before long, the song was coming to a close and Iji let Shyren know that as she hummed the coda to the tune. And then came the applause, the farewells, and then the area was empty once more, even of socks.

Whoa. What just happened there? Iji wondered as she realized what she had just done with Shyren. I should hurry to Asgore.

Putting the entire incident behind her, she approached the glyphs and read them.

The northern room hides a great treasure.

Suddenly interested in that, Iji proceeded there, and saw a dead end with a sign with glyphs on one side and a piano on the other side. Above the piano are a circle, four arrow keys, and a X - QUIT. She checked the sign first.

A haunting song echoes down the corridor… won't you play along? Only the first 8 are fine.

Turning to the piano, Iji thought, So the solution to this puzzle is to play a specific tune. Judging by the sign, further ahead is a hint to how I should solve this.

Exiting the northern room, Iji continued to the other corridor, where she found two more signs. They read as follows:

This power has no counter. Indeed, a human cannot take a monster's SOUL. When a monster dies, its SOUL disappears. And an incredible power would be needed to take the SOUL of a living monster.

There is only one exception. The SOUL of a special species of monster called a "Boss Monster." A Boss Monster's SOUL is strong enough to persist after death, if only for a few moments. A human could absorb this SOUL. But this has never happened. And now it never will.

Well that's oddly specific. And now it never will. This implies they once had a chance. Now I'm wondering what Tasen and Komato SOULs look like.

Proceeding onward, Iji encountered a statue of a horned figure beneath a spotlight, water dripping from above onto its head. She took note of that as she continued.

The next room bore a sign saying Please take one. and a bucket of closed-up umbrellas. Iji decided to follow the sign, taking a red one. Remembering the statue from earlier, she decided to go back there, and place the umbrella on the statue to cover it. And then music began to play from the statue.

…Oh!

Immediately returning to the northern room, after committing the music to memory, Iji began to play the notes she recalled. True to the sign's word, after the eighth note, a secret passage opened, and she entered it.

In front of her was a red spherical object on a pedestal with glyphs behind it. It looked like it was being played off as a legendary artifact, and she thought it was too until she got a closer look and saw it was just an ordinary red rubber ball for dogs to play with.

Iji thought it wouldn't be bad to take it, but for some reason, she keeps getting the notion that she's carrying too many dogs, and it somehow overrides her desire to get the ball. (8)

Irritated by the urge, Iji took out her phone and accessed her inventory. And among the bubbles that contained her items, she found a white dog similar to the one that messed with Papyrus twice, if it wasn't the same thing. It looked like it was sleeping.

How the hell did this pooch get here? Iji thought. Suddenly, the dog awoke, pounced out of her inventory like it was nothing, and jumped into the ball, somehow absorbing it into its fur, and then floating right into a wall and phasing through it. Okay…that's the weirdest thing I've seen today. Iji then checked her inventory once more and saw what looked like a dog-shaped empty husk of fur.

Phone Inventory:

Canteen, Spider Donut, Nice Cream, Cinnamon Bunny, Dog Residue, [Empty], [Empty], [Empty]

"How do I use this?"

As if in response, three other items appeared out of nowhere inside her inventory; a few glowing crystal shards fused together, an unfinished jigsaw puzzle, and what looked like salad with a tennis ball in it. They were identified as Dog Residue, except for the salad, which was identified as Dog Salad. The Phone was convenient in that it gave names for every item in the inventory, and allowed her to name items it didn't know, like the canteen currently inside.

"What? Now what do I do with these?"

Meanwhile, elsewhere, in an unknown location…

"fhsdhjfdsfjsddshjfsd"

The monster in front of Ansaksie resembled a species in Origin called cats, with Origin dog ears on the side of their head as well as their "normal" cat ears, shoulder-length black hair, and a blue t-shirt. She (if voice was any indication) was also slightly larger than its surface counterparts.

"Such strange mannerisms," the Komato wondered to herself. "I haven't seen something like you bef—" She was cut off by a device embedded in her left arm part of her suit. She checked it. "Oh. My scanner is picking up that you're a race found underneath the surface of Origin, subspecies Temmie."

It seems that while the monsters' UnderNet were unable to reach beyond the Barrier's expanse (which she heard from Toriel), Komato transmissions could, which explains how she got this info. As for why Tor's fleet didn't do anything about the lost Troopers and Berserkers they sent down here, like send Annihilators or Assassins, that was because the General in charge of the area Mt. Ebott was in was uncharacteristically conservative for a Komato when it comes to his troops, and figured the Alpha Strike will just wipe them out all the same. And even if the Barrier somehow managed to protect against that, the rest of the planet would've been doomed from acid rain and other side effects of the Alpha Strike.

Ansaksie quickly set those thoughts aside; she wasn't part of the Komato Empire anymore. She turned her attention back to the Temmie. "Heheh, you're pretty cute, though you vibrate a lot."

"hOI! i'm tEMMIE!"

After deciding to toss out all the Dog Residues except the "prime" one, Iji returned to the umbrella bucket, picked up another umbrella, a green one this time, and continued onward, and opened it just as she entered the next room, which was a waterlogged corridor that had many waterfalls and reflective pools within it.

As she continued to traverse it, she found an alcove to her left, and in it was the monster kid.

"Yo, you got an umbrella?" they asked.

"Um, yeah," she replied.

"Awesome! Let's go!" And with that, the kid trailed right behind Iji, staying under the umbrella's area of protection.

The corridor was relatively long, so they began talking. "Say, I never got your name. Mine's Iji."

"My friends call me Kid. (9) So do my parents."

"Oh. So tell me, are you a boy? Or are you a girl?"

"Boy, Why'd you ask?"

"Well, I didn't want to assume what your gender was. If you had been a girl and I was assuming you were a boy, that would be awkward for both of us, don't you think?"

"Yeah, that's true."

The two striped-shirt wearers reached a right turn, where the left wall kept going in its original direction, leaving what was in front of her open.

Just as they got there, Kid then said, "Man, Undyne is sooooooo cool. She beats up bad guys and NEVER loses. If I was a human, I would wet the bed every night, knowing she was gonna beat me up! Ha ha."

"Aheh, heh, heh, heh." Iji laughed nervously, remembering her previous encounter with the Royal Guard.

The two continued walking, and Iji noticed the cattails growing on the left, as well as a patch of ground with an Echo Flower. Kid stopped for a moment to look at it, then faced Iji once more to say, "So, one time. We had a school project where we had to take care of a flower. The king - we had to call him 'Mr. Dreemurr' - volunteered to donate his own flowers. He ended up coming to school and teaching the class about responsibility and stuff. That got me thinking. YO! How COOL would it be if UNDYNE came to school!? She could beat up ALL the teachers!"

Iji felt she had to nip this notion in the bud. "That's not a very nice thing to say, Kid."

"Yeah, you're right." Kid replied as he caught up with her. "Maybe she wouldn't beat up the teachers. She's too cool to ever hurt an innocent person!"

The unusual duo managed to make it out of the cavern system and into a very long straight path. In the distance, she could see that the ceiling was very high, and was littered with glowing crystals that substituted for stars. Patches of them were gone, probably from the earthquake that shook the Underground as a result of the Tasen Alpha Strike. There was also a castle far to their left with blue roofs on its towers.

Kid ran ahead for a bit to look at the castle before Iji caught up with him and they resumed walking after that. Before long, the two reached another bucket of umbrellas as well as a ledge ahead. It was too tall for Kid, but Iji has leaped onto much taller ones before.

"Yo, this ledge is way too steep…" Kid commented as they reached the ledge.

"That's nothing," Iji couldn't help but boast as she opened her Phone's inventory, stored the Umbrella inside it (10), picked up Kid ("Whoa! What are you—") and leaped onto the higher ground before gently putting him down again.

"That! Was! Awesome!" cried out Kid. "I bet you could impress Undyne with that and join the Royal Guard! I'm going on ahead and tell her about you!"

"I don't think that's a good—" But he was already off, and for once he didn't trip and fall onto his face. Iji immediately pursued him, catching up quickly just before he could bypass the glyphs to his left, grabbing him by the head and keeping him in place. "—idea."

"Why not?" Kid asked as he turned to the tall female after she let go.

"I…" She couldn't bring herself to tell him the truth. "…kinda peeved her one time and she said that if I ever showed my face around her again, she'd beat me up."

"What did you do that can make Undyne so angry?"

"I'd rather not talk about it, if that's all right."

"Okay."

Iji then looked at the glyphs and read them before continuing on.

The humans, afraid of our power, declared war on us. They attacked suddenly, and without mercy.

In the end, it could hardly be called a war. United, the humans were too powerful, and us monsters, too weak. Not a single SOUL was taken, and countless monsters were turned to dust...

More bias. But just how long ago was this war? Iji wondered before she and Kid continued forward to a network of wooden bridges that seemed to bend every which way. There also seemed to be a bridge right below them.

After twenty seconds of walking, a light blue circle appeared in the middle of their path.

"Uh-oh."

"What's wrong, Iji?"

Two more circles appeared right behind them.

"She's found me."

"Who?"

Several more appeared around them.

"It's Undyne."

"How'd you kno—"

Kid was cut off when spears emerged from the circles before both disappearing.

"We gotta go!" Iji picked up kid and placed him around her arms as she began to run along the bridge as more circles appeared on it and spears emerged from them.

"She seems really, really mad at you, it's almost like that one time she fought that one bad green weirdo. He practically exploded after she killed him. So awesome!"

Seems that Kid had witnessed Undyne kill a Komato Berserker when they invaded the Underground. "Now I really need to know! What did you do that's riled her up this bad?"

"I really, really don't want to talk about it right now!" Iji replied as she strafed spear attacks as she traversed the bridge. "Too busy trying not to get killed here!"

"Undyne doesn't hurt innocents. Maybe I can convince her to stop and listen."

"I don't really think so. Maybe it's better if you get away from me so you won't get caught in her attacks."

"Now i'm really worried." For the first time, Kid showed an expression other than 'fanboying'. "You look like a really friendly person, so I don't understand why Undyne would want you beat up."

"It's for your own good." Iji brought Kid to her face as they made it to a large square area. "Just get out of here for a bit. I'm sure we'll meet again later."

"Wait, wha—" The little monster was tossed away from her and the attacking spears, and then, no longer having to carry Kid, Iji began to run faster, soon leaving his field of vision.

Under a minute later, Iji found herself running out of bridge to run. As she reached the edge, she looked down to see what was below her, and found that it was a long drop leading to a mildly flooded area with a small patch of flowers, and piles of garbage. Not willing to go there just yet, Iji backtracked, only to find Undyne blocking the way. Not even drawing out her Nanogun, she raised her hands in surrender.

"All right, Undyne. You caught me. Now can you please take me to the king? I really need to talk to him."

Undyne said nothing as she summoned three spears in the air, and then brought them down…through the bridge between them.

Feeling it start to lose stability, Iji immediately jumped up to the other side, only for Undyne to jump as well to intercept her. The captain landed both of her legs onto Iji's stomach, and then pushed her down and out of the bridge's safety while landing herself back onto the bridge.

Like any other ordinary person would in this situation, Iji yelled all the way down before landing in the area below. Normally, this distance would be nothing, but Iji landed those drops on her feet, the Nanofield best cushioning the fall impact there. In this instance, she landed headfirst. Thankfully, her Nanofield prevented this from being lethal, but she still fell unconscious from the impact.

In the realm of her unconscious mind, Iji was seething at Undyne's stubborn unwillingness to negotiate. It reminded her of Krotera, Asha, and Iosa. But the monsters seemed to look up to Undyne and have positive things to say about her, so she should be more reasonable than those three.

Just then, she heard voices she was certain wasn't from her memories.

"It sounds like it came from over there…"

It was a young male voice.

"Oh! You've fallen down, haven't you?"

"Are you okay?"

"Here, get up…"

"Chara, huh?"

Chara? Iji knew of nobody by that name. What was going on here?

"That's a nice name."

"My name is—"

Before she could find out more, Iji immediately awoke, finding herself on a bed of flowers, just like when she first entered the Underground. Immediately getting up, she found herself in the garbage dump she saw earlier. To her left was a waterfall that flowed from the ceiling of the cavern? Just how deep was she underground? Mt. Ebott wasn't that big.

Looking around, she saw that the flower patch was on some fallen wooden planks. And the water wasn't deep at all around here. Stepping in, Iji proceeded forward, bypassing the piles of garbage, which had brands she recognized.

The next area has two more piles, and it made her feel a little filthy, with the occasional piece flowing through and into the bottomless abyss to her right, where the water continued falling.

Thankfully, her satchel was waterproof and had spare clothes. And then she chided herself for not asking either Toriel or Papyrus if they had a washing machine so she could wash her clothes. Looks like she might have to switch to her third set. Thankfully, the Nanofield also seems to block liquids unless she presses against her body with intent to rub, allowing for bathing and showering to still work in cleaning her up.

The area after that was an enclosed tunnel that contained more garbage. Seeing a few items of interest, she considered salvaging a couple of items. As she explored the area, she saw a rusted bike, an empty beat-up desktop computer, a fresh-looking cooler with a couple of freeze-dried space food bars (which she decided to leave be), a DVD Case for the animé Gundam Reconguista In G with claw marks on it, and a dummy just like the one in the Ruins. She went back to the other piles and found other tidbits. She took out a garbage bag from her satchel to put those stuff in before returning it to the satchel. (11)

After checking the garbage dump, Iji faced the dummy. Remembering Napstablook, she had to assume there might be a ghost inhabiting this Dummy. Come to think of it, maybe there was a ghost inside the other Dummy as well. Wanting to be considerate, she decided to speak to it.

"If there is any ghost inside this dummy, either evacuate this vessel or make yourself known to me. I am about to kick this dummy on the count of five." No response. "Four. Three. Two. One."

And then the dummy came to life, its 'eyes' opening and its body turning red in fury as it began to levitate. "GYAAARGH!" it responded as Iji backed away a step. "You wanna Fight, you got one! For my cousin which you scared off of their dummy with your words!"

And then her SOUL began to glow; this mad Dummy is really asking for one. "Quick question: if you're a ghost, then that means destroying your vessel won't kill you, right?" she asked.

"Yeah, why?"

Iji replied by blowing it apart with her Nanogun's Shotgun option. However, it seemed to be able to hold its pieces together instead of becoming splinters or something.

"Foolish. Foolish! FOOLISH!" taunted the ghost-possessed dummy. "Even if you attack my vessel, you'll NEVER hurt me! I'm still incorporeal, you DUMMY!" It then muttered to itself, as it pulled itself together. "Wait, is DUMMY a compliment...?"

Okay. Shotgun's not working. Could use the Velocithor or something to vaporize it, but I can't risk killing any monsters here.

"Pitiful. Pitiful! PITIFUL!" Mini-dummies out of magic spawned from the water and began launching fluff-shaped attacks straight at her. She evaded these attacks, and then she noticed one wave went straight for what her Phone would identify her as the Mad Dummy, and they flinched from these attacks as a result.

"OWWWW, you DUMMIES! Watch where you're aiming your MAGIC attacks!" It then looked nervous as it realized who heard it. "... Hey! You! Forget I said anything about MAGIC!"

A smirk then appeared in Iji's face. Looks like this guy's attacks can be directed back to it, meaning it can end up killing itself. But surely it'll know to flee before then. She'll have to remind it of that so it won't have to throw its existence away.

"Nope," she replied. "We're gonna keep at this until you give up."

"RRRRAAGH! I'll defeat you and take your SOUL!" The Mad Dummy continued ordering his dummies to attack.

Each time, thanks to experience in directing attacks towards enemies (though in those cases, she had to tank the hits in order to hit them), Iji directed their fluff attacks to it, inflicting more damage.

"I'll use your soul to cross the barrier!" it said as it began to do an armless ska dance and move around, making directing its attacks difficult.

So one can cross the barrier with one human SOUL. Iji kept that in mind as she dodged more mini-dummy attacks as they hit their owner.

"I'll stand in the window of a fancy store!"

"If there are any left," the human couldn't help but snark, the first time she tried making humor out of the ruined world she now lived in.

"THEN EVERYTHING I WANT WILL BE MINE!"

Another volley, another self-fire barrage. They were also heralded by dummies that flashed red and flew in a straight line, making redirecting attacks difficult.

"Huh? Yeah, I guess then I'll avenge my cousin."

The same song and dance. And more damage to the Dummy. And some to Iji as well.

"What was their name again...?"

"…What you can't remember who you're 'avenging'?" she replied. She still had enough HP left.

"Whatever. Whatever! WHATEVER!" After another round of dummy attacks, the Mad Dummy seemed to realize his folly. "HEY GUYS!" The mini-dummies resurfaced all around the area. "Remember how I said NOT to shoot at me? Well... FAILURES! YOU'RE FIRED! YOU'RE ALL BEING REPLACED!" The mini-dummies then sank into the water once more, and Iji could swear she saw their faces express disappointment. "Hahaha. Hahaha! HAHAHA! Now you'll see my true power: Relying on people that aren't garbage!"

Mechanical whirrs began to fill the room, and Iji prepared herself for whatever smarter attacks might be coming her way, switching her Nanogun to Resonance Reflector mod.

"DUMMY BOTS! MAGIC MISSILE!"

Five robotic versions of the mini-dummies surfaced from behind her and launched homing missile projectiles that zeroed in on Iji. Knowing what to do, she went straight for the Mad Dummy, moved around it, and let the missiles hit it while trying to reach her. She also saw that the red circles in the missiles shrank as they homed in on their target.

"DUMMY BOTS! TRY AGAIN!"

Nine dummy bots appeared from all sides, and Iji did the same maneuver as before, but she noticed that when the red circles in the missiles disappeared, they lose their homing capability. As such, she didn't get to have all the missiles hit the Mad Dummy, especially since it began to wise up to her tactics.

"DUMMY BOTS! You're awful?"

The next wave came in four, then five, then four again, then five again. Iji had to take a few hits in order to maximize the number of missiles that hit the Mad Dummy. She took the time to eat a Nice Cream (Love yourself! I love you!) in case of any stronger attacks.

"DUMMY BOTS! FINAL ATTACK!"

Instead of starting with dummy bots, more red dummies appeared on the walls and threw themselves to the side opposite them, leaving Iji with very little room to maneuver as dummy bots snuck in attacks in hopes of landing a hit. After a while of this, a multitude of dummy bots spawned and launched their missiles, but by that point, Iji has approached the Mad Dummy, grabbed on to it, and used it as a shield against the missiles, even as the ghost made its vessels parts move so erratically.

Tired of this whole thing, Iji told the Mad Dummy, "Call off the attack! There's no need for you to die here!"

"N… no way! These guys are even WORSE than the other guys!" it whispered to itself, then yelled, "Who cares. Who cares! WHO CARES! I DON'T NEED FRIENDS! I'VE GOT KNIVES!" From its body, perhaps a hidden cavity, came a solid-looking knife (as in not a magic-based attack), which was somehow floating perhaps thanks to magic. It then tried to drive that knife into Iji, only for it to harmlessly bounce off her Nanofield and fall into the water. "I'm… out of knives. BUT IT DOESN'T MATTER! YOU CAN'T HURT ME AND I CAN'T HURT YOU! YOU'LL BE STUCK FIGHTING ME… Forever. Forever! FOREVER!"

The Mad Dummy began to laugh out very loud as its parts flew in crazy motions. Throughout her Fights against the monsters, not once had Iji needed to flee. If there was some method stronger monsters that that prevented her from just walking away, it seems that she'll have to carry the Mad Dummy around.

Thankfully, that issue didn't need to be answered, as teardrops made of magic began to rain down on the two of them, doing HP damage to both of them.

"Wh… What the heck is this!? Ergh! Acid rain!? Oh, FORGET IT! I'm outta here!" and the Mad Dummy wrested itself free from Iji's grip and down the path ahead of her.

And then, from above came a familiar face.

"Hi, Napstablook," Iji greeted.

"…sorry, I interrupted you, didn't I?"

She shook her head. "Not at all, actually."

"as soon as I came over, your friend immediately left... oh no... you guys looked like you were having fun..."

"Actually, I'm glad you came. He was after me in revenge for his cousin. Thanks for getting him to leave."

"oh… well… i'm going to head home now… oh... umm... feel free to "come with" if you want... but no pressure... i understand if you're busy... it's fine... no worries... just thought i'd offer..." He then floated down the same path. Iji immediately went and followed.

The next area consisted of a long lake with six paths (including the one she just took). Napstablook was in the center.

"hey... my house is up here..." he said. "in case you want to see... or in case... you don't..." The ghost then moved up the path straight ahead of Iji.

Before deciding to follow him, she decided to call Papyrus. When he picked up, she described her current surroundings as well as her position. It took an instant from him to figure it out.

"HEY! YOU'RE NEAR UNDYNE'S HOUSE! THAT'S TO THE LEFT-UPWARDS. LUPWARDS. ALL THE OTHER DIRECTIONS GO TO THE WRONG HOUSE. NORTH: GHOST HOUSE. EAST: TURTLE HOUSE. SOUTH: TRASH HOUSE. WEST: BIRD HOUSE."

"Ghost House" probably meant Napstablook's place, and "Trash House" meant the garbage dump she just left. That reminded her of something. "A bird? Is that bird yellow?"

"WHY YES! IF ASKED, IT WILL CARRY YOU ACROSS THE WATER!"

"How much weight can that bird carry. I saw it before, and it's rather small."

"WELL, FROM WHAT I REMEMBER, IT'S STRONG ENOUGH TO CARRY UNDYNE WHEN SHE WAS A KID."

"That strong, huh? Even at its age, assuming Undyne ages as much as humans. I don't know any birds of that size capable of carrying anything bigger than it is."

"THE BIRD IS A TECHNICALLY A MONSTER JUST LIKE UNDYNE AND ME, SO PERHAPS THAT MIGHT EXPLAIN IT TO YOU."

"I see. What about the "Turtle House"?"

"THAT IS WHERE GERSON LIVES! HE SELLS STUFF JUST LIKE THE SHOPKEEPER IN SNOWDIN!"

"Thanks. I have to go now."

"TALK TO YOU AGAIN, IJI!"

With their call concluded, Iji hopped across the small lake and nearly made her way to Napstablook's house before deciding to check two other areas first.

The first place she checked was the bird, and she found out it was just the same place as where she met it the first time, only from the other side. She will not be needing its services anytime soon.

The second place she checked was Undyne's house, which appeared to be a massive angry fish with the door resembling the mouth, a fish-bone pattern welcome rug in front of it, and the windows resembling the eyes. To her left, there was a carpet with a fish-bone pattern, where the Mad Dummy is currently standing.

"What. What? WHAT!? It's a living." was all the Mad Dummy said, seemingly putting its revenge plot behind it.

After that, she decided to go to Napstablook's place, and found two houses side-by-side. One was blue, and the other pink. The latter was locked, and breaking in was rude, so she (after knocking to see if anyone was home) checked the other house, knocking as well.

"oh… come in…" Napstablook's voice can be barely heard from inside.

Interpreting it as an invitation, Iji stepped inside.

The inside of Napstablook's house consisted of a single room, and it looked worn-down, too. As she stepped in, she saw a fridge, a television, a computer just like with Papyrus, three CD cases with crude titles on them, and a spider web with a piece of paper.

"oh… you really came…" Napstablook turned from the computer to face her. "sorry, i... wasn't expecting that. it's not much, but make yourself at home." As his guest walked further inside, he then said, "uh, do you wanna… listen to some tunes… or something...", and then gestured to the CD cases with his eyes.
Iji checked out the CDs, which read Ghouliday Music, Spooktunes, and Spookwave, which were played on Napstablook's computer upon requesting him to (currently, it has an internet browser opened to a music-sharing forum). They were all simplistic tunes that didn't seem to be at all that scary, but she feels that prolonged exposure will definitely have an unnerving effect. She told him he has potential to be a great musician, and he took the compliment with his usual enthusiasm.

She chose not to check the fridge, as much as she wanted to see what ghosts like him ate, and she didn't check the TV because her Undernet search showed that aside from a few others monsters, Mettaton was the only TV celebrity around.

"you know…" Napstablook began again. "after a great meal i like to lie on the ground and feel like garbage… it's a family tradition... do you want… … to join me…"

Despite sounding demeaning, Iji decided to humor him. Maybe he might give something good or earn his favor enough to be of help later on. Or maybe it's just a friendly gesture to the ghost. She shrugged her shoulders, then said, "All right."

"okay... follow my lead..." The two of them moved to the center of the room/house, and when the ghost did his equivalent of lying down, the human followed suit, after adjusting her holster so that it doesn't press against her back. "here we go… you'll lie down as long as you don't move. so... only move around when you want to get up, i guess."

Now that she was resting, Iji felt the fatigue crashing down on her, despite having 'rested' when Undyne knocked her all the way down to the garbage dump. That Mad Dummy sure gave her quite the dodging workout.

And then she saw it. Suddenly, the room began to fade from view and be replaced with a view of the entire cosmos. There were stars as far as the eye can see, and she can see a couple of galaxies, too. Not wishing for this to go away, she made sure to not move as much as possible, to marvel in this unforgettable sight. And then she remembered of life beyond the stars, of alien life, of the Komato Empire still out there. As well as her mission, and her hopes to establish peace between humans, Tasen, and monsters.

This relaxing feeling also had the side-effect of putting her into dreamland (in spite of her determination). Napstablook would wake up a few hours later, only to see her asleep, and would leave her be while he continued to compose music on his computer, checking on her every once in a while.

While Iji wouldn't call herself a lucid dreamer, she was currently finding herself in one, and she was sure she had been dreaming regularly prior to this. Well, her surroundings were more like a black landscape, but she knows she's feeling currently aware. And right in front of her was a human she's never seen before.

It was a child barely ten years old, stood at four feet seven inches, and their gender was indeterminable. They wore a lime and cream colored striped shirt, red-brown pants, and shoes. They also have fair skin, medium-length brown hair, and rosy cheeks. Their face looked solemn, and like they have gone through severe emotional trauma. She also had the weird illogical notion of an evil vibe coming from them.

"Curious…" a voice came from the child. They were speaking slowly, as if trying to make sure what they said was registered clearly. "You look like a kind soul, with a desire for peace. Yet, your recent past is filled with killing. And yet, you have killed no monster since coming here. So confusing. What do you really want?"

Iji awoke with a start after that and found herself back in Napstablook's house. The words that child said still rang in her mind. But how did they know this? She didn't even know them. What was happening? Who was that child? Why is she getting the feeling that they have some involvement with the monsters?

Either way, she can't think on that now. She still had to find a way to reach the king, break the Barrier, and negotiate peace between monsters and humans (and Tasen, given they've likely entered this mountain, too). Undyne was just one obstacle to this goal, and Iji held no illusion that she would be the last.
Judging by the time on her watch, it was already morning of the next day. She then turned to face her host, who was still at his computer. Or maybe he left in the meantime only to be back here by the time she awoke. "Thanks for letting me sleep here, Napstablook."

The ghost turned to face her. "you looked like you were having so much fun feeling like garbage… i didn't want to ruin your fun. i'm sorrry I left. …oh, you were sleeping?"

She rubber her nape as she smiled sheepishly. "Yeah. I didn't think that that was actually going to feel great."

"thank you for joining me… uhhhh… i'm gonna keep working on that mix cd."

After leaving Napstablook's house (but not before asking for Ghouliday to be played), Iji took a left turn and encountered the "Blook Family Snail Farm", also run by Napstablook. There was also a betting game called Thundersnail there for 10 Gold, and she did a few races, only winning 9 Gold upon winning a race, which she chided the ghost over when she bet another 10 Gold, winning 30 Gold when her snail barely made it to second because Napstablook didn't want to disappoint the snail.

After that, she bid goodbye to the ghost and continued east, which would take her to Hotland. Like Papyrus said, there was a store nearby. And there was also one of those boxes for item management. After putting some stuff in there, she entered the store.

The shopkeeper, Gerson, was an elderly looking olive green tortoise-monster. He wore archeologist attire, bore a pointed beard, held a large magnifying glass, and his head was topped by a tan pith helmet. His teeth were crooked and yellow and his shell was a dark brown color with a pale cream rim. He also seemed to be unable to open his right eye.

His store seemed to be fairly plain compared to Snowdin's. It was just a small cave with stalagmites, stalactites, glowing crystals all over the wall, and the Delta Rune in black on the back.

"Woah there!" he greeted. "I've got some neat junk for sale."

His wares consisted of an apple that somehow resembled a crab, a cup of tea that was made from glowing marshwater (wait, where did she come to that conclusion?) (12) that also grants a speed boost in addition to healing HP, a child's pair of glasses that increase the "invulnerability period" that comes after taking a hit on the SOUL, and a torn notebook that does the same thing.

After buying one of each item, Iji asked if the last two needed to be worn or held on hand to 'use their effects', in which he replied "yes". These two were going to the satchel along with the others, the glasses going to the box for the time being until she can find a proper case. After seeing the glasses were too small for her to wear (and were highly graded), and checking the notebook's contents, she deduced these two items were also left behind by the human children that came here before her.

She then decided to talk with Gerson about stuff, starting with where she can sell stuff.

"Ha!" he scoffed. "I'm trying to get RID of my junk, not get more of it! Though, I've heard if you want to sell stuff, the Temmie Village is your best bet. Where is it? …I don't remember."

"I see. Anything you can tell me about yourself?"

"I've been around a long time. Maybe too long. Studying history sure is easy when you've lived through so much of it yourself! Wa ha ha!"

She noted the Delta Rune on the wall, and asked Gerson about its meaning.

"That emblem actually predates written history. The original meaning has been lost to time… All we know is that the triangles symbolize us monsters below, and the winged circle above symbolizes… Somethin' else. Most people say it's the 'angel,' from the prophecy… "

"The prophecy where the Angel frees the Monsters?"

"That's right! I'm glad to see someone who knows this."

"What do you know about King Asgore?" Iji asked next.

"King Fluffybuns? He's a friendly, happy-go-lucky kind of guy… If you keep walking around long enough, you'll probably meet him. He loves to walk around and talk to people."

"King 'Fluffybuns'? Why do you call him that?"

"Eh? Oh, that's a great story! …I don't remember it. But if you come back much later, I'm sure I'll have remembered by then."

"Okay." After promptly adding a reminder for that in her Logbook, she then asked about Undyne.

"Undyne? Yeah, she's a local hero around here. Through grit and determination alone, she fought her way to the top of the Royal Guard. Actually, she just came through here asking about someone who looked just like you… I'd watch your back. And buy some items… It might just save your hide! Wa ha ha!"

"I certainly will. Thank you, Gerson."

"Be careful out there."

After leaving Gerson's shop, Iji headed for the corridor its entrance faced, and found nothing except for a river. And judging by minute details she can't explain in words, it looks like a stopping point for a ferrying service that takes people across the river. She then left that area and continued back east, only to run into another Woshua and Aaron. But they weren't eager to attack like last time.

"…what the HECK is that music?" Woshua asked. Looks like Napstablook's tunes was reaching their ears.

"I-I DUNNO, DUDE BUT IT'S SPOOKIN ME OUT!" Aaron replied.

"…this is worse than Shyren."

"No way, Shyren is way less scary!"

"…if you're so scared, why do you keep winking?"

Indeed he was, despite his current mood.. "THESE ARE WINKS OF FEAR!"

"Forget it. This beat is too… …filthy." And the tub monster began to waddle away.

"Wosh! Wait! Don't leave me! Is this creepy music my punishment for being creepy? Please… stop… I'll never creep again Wahhhhh!" And the merhorse followed suit.

"…Okay." Iji said to herself before, after managing her inventory, continuing on.

Phone Inventory:

Canteen, Spider Donut, Cinnamon Bunny, Dog Residue, Dog Salad, Crab Apple, Sea Tea, [Empty]

Satchel inventory:

Supplies, Canteen, Water-Purifying Pills, Flashlight, Pen, Tasen Logbook, Stick, Barbs of Wire, Bookmark, Box of Raisins, Toy Knife, Worn Glove, Worn Glove, Manly Bandanna, Ballet Shoes, Bag Of Misc. Junk, Torn Notebook

Box Storage:

Beans Can, Butterscotch-Cinnamon Pie, Snowman Piece, Old Tutu, Spaghetti, Cloudy Glasses, Abandoned Quiche, Nice Cream, Nice Cream, Nice Cream

The next area consisted of a long corridor that also had two waterfalls and several Echo Flowers out of reach. There were also glyphs, which she of course read.

Hurt, beaten, and fearful for our lives, we surrendered to the humans. Seven of their greatest magicians sealed us underground with a magic spell. Anything can enter through the seal, but only beings with a powerful SOUL can leave.

There is only one way to reverse this spell. If a huge power, equivalent to seven human SOULs, attacks the barrier… It will be destroyed.

But this cured place has no entrances or exits. There is no way a human could come here. We will remain trapped down here forever.

The next area lji entered was a very dark place, lit only by glowing mushrooms, strange 'trees' that also glowed, and a path of grass that also glowed. Seeing she cannot rely on the bio-luminescence, Iji took out a flare from her satchel and lit it. While the had a flashlight, she needed something brighter in this case.
The flare's light revealed that the area not covered by grass were bordered by short ropes half the height of a child to prevent falling into the black water surrounding the rest of the place.

Unfortunately, the flare has also caught the attention of all the monsters in the area as she walked, and a few began converging to her location while others just contented themselves with watching her. Or perhaps the light from the flare was mesmerizing, seeing as they've never seen something like it before.
The first monster that approached her (and triggered a Fight) was a four-foot tall feline monster with dog ears on the side of their head as well as their "normal" cat ears, shoulder-length black hair, and a pacific blue t-shirt. Their bodies were also vibrating, as well as their faces separately. Somehow. According to the monster_compendium file Iji saved, this was a Temmie. Unlike most monsters, Temmies seem to love petting cute humans, who unfortunately have a high chance of being allergic to them. Fortunately, upon it jumping up to her body in an attempt to glomp her, it seems that she doesn't bear this allergy.

"hOI! i'm tEMMIE!"

"Hi, Temmie," she replied. "I was told you have a village somewhere. Can you take me there?" She did have a document with directions, but that was just a precaution. If a Temmie can take her there, why not let them?

"yaYA! I'll taek yU there! Follow mEE!"

The Temmie jumped off and walked down the path, Iji following it every step of the way. An Aaron got in the way, whom Iji asked to go away…which he quite easily complied to for some reason.

Another Temmie made to attack, but the first Temmie convinced her (judging by voice, these Temmies were female) to tag along as she escorted Iji to the Temmie Village.

And then a pair of Moldsmals blocked their path. Knowing how to take care of them back in the Ruins, Iji did the same thing she did before, and that got…one of them to leave, along with two Gold. The other…grew taller, generated a crude mouth and eye on its top, and revealed that it wasn't a Moldsmal at all but what the compendium file described as a Moldbygg.

"Guoooh!" it said in response to the hip shake as it spawned tiny versions of itself around Iji, which fired three ring-shaped projectiles each. Avoiding them was easy, even as the Temmies cheered for her in the back.

The compendium advised unhugging Moldbygg to Spare it, but how can she unhug something she wasn't hugging in the first place?

The second Temmie decided to run forward and said, "hOi, MoldBygg! We're taking CUTE human to TEM VILLAGE! And no worri! No hugging herr!" Moldbygg stood still there before finally nodding its head, then schooched away, leaving a pouch of coins in its wake. The Temmie then collected the coins by rolling over them, not minding the slime that stuck to her body along with the coins. "We gO!"

Deciding to set their antics aside for when she finally reached the village, Iji left the coins on Temmie as she took the Moldsmal's coins and followed the two cute monsters as they eventually diverged from the grass-covered path.

The next area was considerably more lit than the previous area. The three females passed the narrow corridor before it opened up to reveal a hollowed out place that opened up to her left. A sign was at Iji's immediate left, which read hOI! welcom to… TEM VILLAGE!. The two Temmies that escorted her immediately left as they went deep into their village.

Past the sign were four Temmies, all standing next to a poster with a Temmie on a sea serpent's back. As Iji approached them, they said the following:

"hOI! im temmie! and dis is my friend… temmie!"

"hOI! im temmie! don forget my friend!"

"Hi. I'm Bob."

"Hi, Temmies, Bob," she greeted them in return, then continued looking around. The next thing she noticed was an entrance with two signs in front of it that said hOI! u shud check out… TEM SHOP! and yaYA! i AGREES! shud check… TEM SHOP! in addition to a sign with an exclamation point on top of the entrance.

Huh. I wonder if you can really sell items here? But I feel like I'm exploiting them if I do that.

Past that was a Temmie statue with the word TEM inscribed beneath, three more Temmies, and a blue mushroom. Past the statue was also a crack in the wall, with a Temmie peeking out of it. The Temmie closest to the sign was gushing over Iji's…human-ness, the middle one was watching a (hard-boiled) egg like (it thinks) a parent would, and the furthest was somehow allergic to themselves and hives broke out of their skin after pointing out the fact.
as for the mushroom, which called itself Ragel, it had this to say as it danced. "Mushroom dance. Mushroom dance. Whatever could it mean." Its cap then lifted itself, revealing its eyes. "It means you've lived a life of sin." (13)

And to her right was a small collection of houses with plenty of Temmies faring well and doing ordinary villager things. (14) She had no reason to head there, anyway.

With that, she then decided to enter the store, but not before checking her inventory and moving her stuff around to see what she can sell.

When her thoughts diverted to the Dog Residue, it multiplied itself once more (as much as it could, anyway) into various items. Oh dear. I'm starting to feel guilty already.

Phone Inventory:

Canteen, Cinnamon Bunny, Dog Salad, Nice Cream, Nice Cream, Nice Cream, Dog Residue, Dog Residue

Box Storage:

Beans Can, Butterscotch-Cinnamon Pie, Snowman Piece, Old Tutu, Spaghetti, Abandoned Quiche, Cloudy Glasses, Crab Apple, Sea Tea, Spider Donut

Expectedly, Iji found a Temmie manning the shop. However, unlike other Temmies, she had light gray instead of black hair as well as a different hairstyle, and a sky blue and yellow striped shirt instead of a solid Pacific Blue shirt.

The Tem Shop itself shelved a branch with a leaf, a bone, a glowing purple potion, and two single socks, both very different in size and design. On top of a couple of what seemed to be cardboard boxes was a framed photo of a certain white dog. The shop's "counter" was also just a cardboard box with the words "TEM SHOP" on its side facing Iji, matching the colors and clothes of the Tem Shop owner.

"hOI! welcom to… da TEM SHOP!" the vendor greeted.

"Hi," she greeted. "What are you selling?"

"We have tem flake, tem flake (ON SALE,), tem flake (expensiv), and…" Her eyes began to quiver a bit. "tem pay 4 colleg?"

"Me pay your college tuition of 1000 Gold? Maybe another time."

"fdshfg"

"Gerson says I can sell items to you. Is that true?" Iji asked as she opened her Phone's inventory to reveal her stuff.

"WOA!" the Temmie vendor gasped. "u gota… Canteens!"

"Huh? That?" She nearly forgot about the canteen she put in her Phone. Now it looks like the shopkeeper wants it. At least Iji has a second one.

"hnnn…I gota have dat Canteens…but I gota pay for colleg, hnnnn….! tem always wanna Canteens!…! tem buy Canteens for…501G!"

Iji was unnerved by how much enthusiasm this Temmie has for a simple metallic container for liquids, especially since she wasn't sure. "Umm…I'm not sure if I should."

The shopkeeper then went for the classic "cutey trick" everybody knew but only some can successfully pull off; the puppy-dog eyes trick. "b…but… p! tem buy Canteens for…628G!"

Falling for it, she relented and handed it over, receiving a humongous pouch of Gold from the shopkeeper, who looked really happy to have. And after seeing that look, she can't bear to just rip her off with all these Dog Residue and instead reached into her satchel for the bag of miscellaneous junk she got in the area where she met the Mad Dummy. She made sure to look for something that was actually useful (or at least for a Temmie) before pawning it off to the shopkeeper. She also asked for the other items the shopkeeper has on display, but was told only the Tem Flakes are for sale, and that the potion was just her favorite juice.

Once she had more than 1000 Gold from pawning off items (and the Dog Residues the shopkeeper wanted to have), Iji then realized the shopkeeper probably had the money all along to pay for college and was too stupid (if she was willing to buy from the "cute human" in the first place) to realize it.

"Um, miss?"

"YaYA?!" replied the Temmie.

"I think you had the money all along," Iji said as she handed over 1000 Gold. Monsters beyond the Ruins had coins for different denominations; they just happened to call their currency Gold regardless, so she wasn't as weighed down by her money as she thought.

"WOA!" gasped the shopkeeper. "thas ALOT o muns… can tem realy acepts…"

The human couldn't help but nod.

"OKs! tem go to colleg and make u prouds!" And then, she zipped out of the store like a cartoon character. (15) And an afterimage of her face seemed to be left behind, looking at her still and not fading away.

Deciding to ignore this, Iji decided to open her Tasen logbook and began using the information she gathered to create a draft proposal covering peace terms and advised regulations regarding every species of monster so that war won't break out between monsters and humans (and Tasen) again. For example, the Vulkins from Hotland—which is the area after Waterfall—can be disastrous with their obliviousness to why their 'lava' is painful.

While she still doesn't know much about King Asgore yet (the Undernet doesn't have everything on him), she can update her proposal once she meets him. She just has to get past Undyne first, and get everybody to stop hating on humans, mainly because they don't need to worry about territory issues what with the Alpha Strike and all.

Iji sighed upon realizing how morbid her thoughts are for thinking of the Alpha Strike over and over and making light of it. She then decided to return to working on her proposal.

nightelf37: Sorry for ending the chapter right there, but I didn't want to make the chapter too long like with Chapter 2, which covered the last of the ruins, the entire Snowdin Forest, and part of Snowdin itself while Chapter 3 covered more of her time there, the battle with Papyrus, the date with Papyrus, a brief entering of Waterfall, and hanging out with Sans.

Okay, maybe it was established in canon that humans cannot use magic, so perhaps I screwed up a bit with Toriel asking Iji about that. Or maybe she's wondering if they can use it in the years since the monsters imprisonment (and likely knows that the humans of old used equipment like artifacts).

(1) The reason why only Nano can be found is because Nanofields come with a self-destruct mechanism to prevent their technology from being stolen.

(2) Iji technically Saved here, but she doesn't know that.

(3) Looks like despite a Pacifist Run, Woshua can sense the Tasen and Komato Iji had indirectly slain.

(4) The Resonance Reflector reflects mass-based projectiles, and so for story purposes, I decided that magical attacks had mass in them in order to maintain their shape, and ergo can be reflected. Besides, if it can reflect energy-based projectiles like the Shocksplinter, I figured magical attacks were no different; magic is just another kind of energy. That, or Yukabacera cracked it to be able to do that.

(5) Remember, Iji's a (reluctant) fighter, so yeah, she wasn't going to just run like the Child did.

(6) I miss Kingdom Hearts. It's what led me to fanfic writing in the first place.

(7) Using the Narrator theory, I believe they're just swept up in the moment. In fact, they are responsible for the whole 'concert' sequence. In reality, Iji and Shyren just hummed together alone (with Shyren's agent) in the room, the agent appreciates her help, and they left.

(8) The consequences of trying to implement a game into a fic where plenty of game elements are part of the world. And the Narrator might have something to do with it.

(9) According to Toby Fox, their name really is Kid.

(10) The Child probably never thought of that, and if the Phone can store a Microwave, an Umbrella should pose no problem.

(11) I know this looks like a case of New Powers As The Plot Demands, but…that's technically true; who knows what Iji was thinking of packing for her trip there? I don't either, and so I end up presenting it like this. She was Crazy Prepared enough to blast herself over and over with the MPFB Devastator just to reach a poster and Banana Gun.

(12) The Narrator's in action here. Unlike the child, whose thought process is up to the Undertale!player, Iji has her own thought process, albeit shaped by the Iji!Player's actions. As for who the Player is, that would be me, the author, and there will be no exploring that path to the 4th wall.

(13) Just like Woshua, Ragel (that's the mushroom's name) senses the metaphorical blood on Iji's hands.

(14) Just because we don't see it doesn't mean it doesn't exist. And writing liberties.

(15) I figured I'd put something different in this instance. And coming back so soon didn't feel like something I liked to put in this fic.

Up next: Iji finally throws down with Undyne, exchange blows, and then become friends. How? You'll see.

See ya on Third!