Entering the next room, the Warners found a flower with a big smile on his face.
"Howdy! I'm Flowey. Flowey the Flower! Hmmm...You're new to the Underground, aren'tcha? Golly, you must be so confused."
Despite knowing him for only a few lines of dialogue, Flowey was too cheerful for the Warners' tastes and creeped them out.
"This flower scares me," Wakko whispered to Yakko.
"Yeesh," Yakko muttered, "it's like he came straight outta 'Baloney and Kids'!"
"Someone ought to teach you how things work around here!" said Flowey.
"I hope it's not him," Dot said under her breath, shuddering.
"I guess little old me will have to do."
She internally facepalmed herself.
"Oh, great."
"Ready? Here we go!"
The Warners felt an invisible force tug at them. They were pulled closer to Flowey and found themselves surrounded by a white box. They also felt a red glow resonating deep within each of their hearts.
"Feel those glows resonating deep within your hearts?" Flowey asked. "Those are your souls, the very culminations of your beings!"
"The more you know," said Yakko, slightly impressed.
"When somebody initiates an encounter like this one, they'll be active and any damage or healing goes straight to them. You'll also find yourself being pulled closer to whoever initiated the encounter. Your souls start off weak, but can grow strong if you gain a lot of LV."
"LV?" said Dot. "What's LV?"
"LOVE, of course!" said Flowey, still enthusiastic. "You want some LOVE, don'tcha? Don't worry, I'll share some with you!"
Flowey winked at them and stuck his tongue out. The Warners gave each other strange looks, finding Flowey's behavior untrustworthy. Something told them he wasn't as nice as he tried to make them believe.
"Down here, LOVE is shared through..."
He summoned five small white floating objects.
"Little white...'friendliness pellets'. Are you ready? Move around! Get as many as you can!"
The so-called friendliness pellets flew towards them, gradually going faster each second. Realizing what he was trying to do, the Warners decided to have fun with their new foil.
"Nuh-uh," said Dot as she effortlessly stepped out of the way and dodged the friendliness pellets.
Flowey gave her an annoyed look.
"Hey buddy, you missed them. Let's try again, okay?"
His face returned to his regular smile. This time, he aimed the friendliness pellets towards Wakko.
"Nope," he said, mimicking Dot's movement.
This time, Flowey got angry.
"Is this a joke? Are you braindead? RUN. INTO. THE. BULLETS!"
Yakko chuckled at this non-surprising giveaway. Flowey quickly realized his mistake and corrected himself.
"Friendliness pellets," he quickly muttered as he aimed the bullets towards Yakko.
This time, they went much faster than before. They were so fast that Yakko had to jump out of the way and almost ran into the boundary box.
"Whoa! Sorry, Flowey. But, uhhhhhhh...we'd rather stay alive."
Flowey's face changed into a creepier, somewhat forced smile. His voiced also deepened into a more demonic tone. The Warners cringed, finding it unexpected and intimidating.
"You know what's going on here, don't you?"
"Yeah," said Yakko, "we're not stupid."
"You just wanted to see me suffer."
A circle of white bullets surrounded the Warners and the boundary box was reduced to half its original size. Acting fast, the Warners took out their mallets.
"DIE."
He let out an evil laugh as the bullets closed in slowly on them.
"Come at me, ya little weed!" Yakko shouted. "Come at me!"
The Warners were not afraid, thinking they could easily whack the pellets with their mallets. Instead, they put on fierce faces, getting ready to hit them away. But before they could do so, the bullets were engulfed by flames and turned to ashes. The boundary box surrounding them also disappeared.
"Huh?" said Wakko.
Flowey was just as confused as his unusual victims. He looked to the side, only to get hit by a stray fireball. Out came a tall goat, wearing a purple robe. She looked like she was somewhere in her fifties or sixties. Wakko stared at her in awe as she spoke.
"What a terrible creature, torturing such poor, innocent youths..."
The Warners put away their mallets.
"Ah," she reassured, "do not be afraid, my children."
"What," said Yakko. "scared of a flower? Nah, he had nothin' on us. We were gonna hit those bullets away!"
She giggled.
"I am afraid your mallets would not have helped you."
"I dunno," Yakko shrugged, "they're pretty strong."
"Giant goat!" Wakko shouted as he snapped out of his trance, ran over to the goat lady, and hugged her.
"Oh!"
She stared down at Wakko, surprised, then smiled and picked him up.
"Hello, little one."
She pressed her nose against his, making him giggle, then had him perched on her shoulder.
"You are the cutest thing, are you not?"
"I don't think so," said Dot, making puppy-dog eyes.
The elderly goat woman merely smiled at Dot.
"I am Toriel, caretaker of the Ruins."
"Nice to meet ya," said Yakko, shaking her hand. "I'm Yakko!"
"I'm Wakko!"
"And I'm Dot, the impossibly cute one!"
"We're the Warner Brothers!" said Yakko and Wakko in unison.
"And the Warner Sister!" Dot joined in.
"It is a pleasure to meet you," said Toriel.
"So," said Yakko, "what brought ya here?"
"I pass through this place every day to see if anyone has fallen down. You are the first children to come here in a long time. In fact, you are the first humanfolk to fall down. In case this confuses you, we use the term 'humanfolk' to describe non-human creatures from the surface."
Wakko jumped off her shoulder and stood next to his siblings.
"Come!" said Toriel. "I will guide you through the catacombs. This way."
The Warners' souls deactivated as Toriel walked away. Looking down, Yakko found a sturdy looking stick. He put it in his pants, then joined his siblings and followed Toriel through another door-shaped hole and into a purple room. Toriel made her way up some stairs as the Warners found a small, glowing star by a pile of red leaves. The shadow of the ruins loomed above, filling them with determination. They followed Toriel up the stairs and found a new room.
"Welcome to your new home, innocent ones."
"Oh, please!" said Dot. "Yakko's anything but innocent!"
He playfully elbowed her as Toriel continued.
"Allow me to educate you in the operation of the Ruins."
She walked to the side, where six grey buttons were attached to the ground. Stepping on them in an orderly manner and pressing a switch on the wall, she opened the door to the next room.
"The Ruins are full of puzzles," Toriel explained. "Ancient fusions between diversions and doorkeys."
"Puzzles?" said Wakko.
The trio's eyes widened.
"Oh, boy!" said Yakko.
"Alright!" said Dot. "I love puzzles!"
"Then I do not think you will have much difficulty solving them. As I was saying, one must solve them to move from room to room. Please adjust yourself to the sight of them."
As she walked through the door, the Warners took a moment to read the sign on the other side of the wall.
"Only the fearless may proceed," Dot read. "Brave ones, foolish ones. Both walk not the middle road. Huh, how profound."
They caught up with Toriel. The next room was similar to the previous one, but had green vines on the walls and two rivers, each having a wooden bridge over them.
"To make progress here, you will need to trigger several switches. Do not worry, I have labelled the ones that you need to flip."
"Aw," said Yakko, putting his hand out, "ya don't need to treat us special."
"Oh, but I insist."
She smiled at Yakko and walked to the second bridge. The Warners read the next two signs, the first being planted in the ground.
"Press [Z] to read signs! This really is a computer game," said Wakko.
He and Dot walked across a wooden bridge over the river, but Yakko stopped to read the sign on the wall.
"Stay on the path. Well, I would've if there wasn't a conveniently placed sign right here!"
Toriel tried not to laugh at Yakko's little outburst. He followed his siblings, Wakko already having pressed the first switch. Toriel walked to the end of the room, standing in front of a row of spikes that blocked the way. Dot, ahead of Yakko, pressed the second switch, removing the row of spikes from the ground. Yakko would've pressed the third switch, if it wasn't for it not having been labelled or if the spikes hadn't been removed. Besides, it was broken.
"Splendid!" Toriel cheered. "I am proud of you, little ones. Let us move to the next room."
They followed her, arriving in a small room with a training dummy.
"As humanfolk living in the Underground, monsters may attack you. You will need to prepare for this situation. However, worry not! The process is simple. When you encounter a monster, you will enter a fight."
"We'll beat 'em in one hit!" said Yakko.
Toriel became concerned about his smart remark.
"I would not recommend that; not all monsters want to fight you and their bodies are much weaker than those of humans and humanfolk. Surely they would die and turn to dust."
Yakko took back what he said, as it was below his and his siblings' moral code to kill anyone.
"While you are in a fight, strike up a friendly conversation. Stall for time, I will come to resolve the conflict. Practice talking to the dummy."
They encountered the dummy, which caused that invisible force to pull them closer to the enemy once more. Checking the dummy, they could tell it had a cotton heart and a button eye. They were the apples of its eye. After the examination, it looked like it was gonna fall over. Yakko, being the most talkative, took the lead and entered rapid fire mode.
"Hiya, dummy! How ya doin'? Where ya from? Did ya ever wanna be more than just a dummy or are ya happy with how ya are now? Don'tcha think there's more to life than being just a training dummy waitin' for somebody to beat ya up?"
Toriel laughed at Yakko's antics while Dot rolled her eyes. The dummy didn't seem much for conversation, but Toriel was pleased with them.
"Ah, very good! You are very good at talking."
"They don't call me Yakko for nothin'!"
Yakko beamed with pride. Toriel entered the next room, the Warners following and staying close together.
"There is another puzzle in this room...I wonder if you can solve it?"
They continued walking down the hallway, eventually finding another sign of stone. The Warners stopped for a minute to read the sign.
"The western room is the eastern room's blueprint..." Wakko read.
"Looks like we gotta solve riddles too," said Dot.
They kept walking, catching up with Toriel and finding a large lake. It also had a wooden bridge for them to get across, but it was longer and covered in spikes.
"This is the puzzle, but..."
She stopped for a moment, considering that the Warners' lives would be in peril if they didn't know how to solve the puzzle.
"Here, take my hand for a moment."
"I have a better idea," said Yakko, winking at his siblings.
Getting the idea, they winked back and jumped on Toriel. She let out a yelp as she was pinned to the floor. Then she got up on all fours as the Warners perched themselves on her back.
"Pony ride! Pony ride! Pony ride!" they chanted.
Toriel giggled, finding their playfulness quite pleasant.
"How adorable!"
Letting her playful side out, she pretended to neigh like a horse and galloped her way through the puzzle. Then she had the Warners get off her back as she stood back up.
"Puzzles seem a little too dangerous for now."
"Don't worry," said Yakko, "we don't mind a little danger."
"I can tell. I am sure you will be fine, but I worry."
Yakko admired Toriel's motherly behavior towards him and his siblings, thinking of his own mom. They entered the next room.
"You have done excellently thus far, my children. However, it is getting late. I must take you to my home; you three must be exhausted from your journey here. Luckily, I know a shortcut."
They walked down a long hallway and went behind a pillar. Toriel knocked twice on the wall, revealing a passageway to her home. Toriel noticeably walked slightly faster than the Warners, as if in a hurry. After walking for a while, they entered a kitchen.
"Welcome to my home," said Toriel. "Please excuse me for a minute, I just remembered I have to do something. It has been a while since I have cleaned up, as I have not expected company so soon."
She speedwalked away, not giving the Warners enough time to respond, so they decided to look around the kitchen. It was neat and clean, despite some white fur stuck in the drain of the sink. The stovetop, on the other hand, was very clean. Toriel must've used fire magic to cook instead.
"I wonder what's in the fridge," said Wakko.
He opened it up. For some reason, there was a brand-name chocolate bar in there. Wakko was about to take it out and eat it, but noticed Toriel coming back, so he quickly stuffed it in his mouth and swallowed it down before she could catch him in the act.
"I am back! Sorry if I took long, but I wanted you to have a nice time living here, my children. So I have a surprise for you. This way."
She walked off with the Warners following her. They passed through a living room and a set of stairs.
"Nice place ya got here, Toriel," said Yakko.
"Thank you, Yakko."
After passing the stairs, they arrived at a long hallway with a carpet over a wooden floor.
"This is it..."
She took Wakko's hand, as he was most fond of her, and led him and his siblings to the first room on their left.
"A room of your own. I hope you like it!"
She affectionately petted Wakko's head.
"Oh dear, it is much later than I thought it would be. You must go to bed and get some rest. I will see you tomorrow."
She hugged the Warners.
"Goodnight, my children."
And with that, she headed off. The Warners walked into their room, which was slightly small. Three beds were there, one for each sibling. The room was also red, which contrasted greatly with the yellow living room walls. Yakko walked over to his bed, which had a chest by the foot of it.
"Hey, sibs! Check out these cool toys!"
He stood there for a moment.
"They're not very interesting."
He closed the chest and walked to the closet, which was empty.
"I'm gonna change into my pj's. Be right back."
He got inside and closed the doors. Wakko approached a shelf and found an empty photo frame. He coughed as dust was spread around him. Dot stumbled upon a box of kids' shoes in many different sizes, none matching hers or her brothers'. Yakko got out of the closet, having changed into a purple onesie. Wakko went in next and changed into a blue onesie, but still kept his hat on. Finally, Dot put on a pink nightgown and had hair curlers in her ears. They yawned and tucked themselves into their beds, tired from their journey to the Underground.
"Goodnight sibs," said Yakko.
"Goodnight, brother sib," said Wakko.
"Night, Yakko," said Dot.