A/N: Well, it's about time I return to writing this. I'm sorry I've been away for so long, school kept me out of writing fanfiction for a few months and I also kind of lost the drive to keep going. But it finally came back to me, so it's time to finish what I've started. And since I'm the kind who works on one project at a time, this can help me get to other fanfic ideas I've had for a while. Anyway, enjoy this chapter.
Taking a good look at the horizon, the Warners felt Hotland was very futuristic...and hot. Conveyor belts were everywhere; they would become a major component in the puzzles to come.
"Somethin' tells me we won't have to do a lotta walkin' around here," said Yakko.
They stepped on the first conveyor belt, which operated as if it was an escalator. However, they stumbled upon impact.
"Whoa!" said Dot. "Hey, we're goin' kinda fast!"
Suddenly, a Vulkin strolled in, causing an encounter to begin and the conveyor belt to stop moving. It resembled a living volcano and looked like it came from "Adventure Time". Taking a good look at it, the Warners figured it probably mistakenly thought its lava could heal people. Wakko took pity on Vulkin and gave him a hug. It warmed his heart...and his whole body. He jumped back after a few seconds and let out a small whimper. Despite not being hurt enough to lose HP, his defense dropped.
"You ok?" said Yakko.
"Yeah," said Wakko.
"Ahh..." said Vulkin, his eyes becoming hearts. "So...LOVEY!"
He accidentally shot out lightning-bolt shaped heat bullets.
"Waah!"
The Warners ran around, trying not to get hit, but came to a realization that they had to make small movements for it to be possible. Meanwhile, Vulkin's cheeks started glowing with a bright heat. He left behind 40 pieces of gold once the Warners spared him.
"Poor guy," said Dot.
The conveyor belt moved again, causing the Warners to fall down. They rolled onto stable ground.
"Can't believe we didn't nail the landing!" said Yakko.
They got onto their feet and brushed the dust off their clothing.
"Those are pretty big blowtorches," said Dot.
As soon as they started moving again, Alphys posted yet another update.
*gonna call them in a minute! =^.^=
"Just when I thought it was over," said Yakko.
The next conveyor belt went in a zigzag pattern, mixing things up. Upon getting off, they found a bridge made out of white pipes; it led them to the next area of Hotland marked by a twinkling star, returning Wakko's defense to its normal level. The wooshing sound of steam and cogs filled them with determination, but they groaned when Alphys updated again.
*I HATE USING THE PHONE I DON'T WANT TO DO THIS LMAO ^.^
"Jeez," said Dot, "will it ever stop?!"
"This looks new," said Wakko, looking at a platform with an arrow on it. Yakko stepped on it to see if it was safe; a burst of steam came out and caused him to jump to the next platform.
"Yipe! Actually, that wasn't too bad. Come on!"
His siblings followed him. Before they could step onto the next platform, however, Tsunderplane bumped into them! Not on purpose or anything. She seemed mean, but did she secretly like them? Yakko approached Tsunderplane, but didn't get too close.
"Eeeeh? H-humanfolk?"
Several planes dropped bombs from the boundary box, but some were green. Yakko touched the green ones four times, making Tsunderplane blush bright red.
"Ya have nice turbines," said Yakko, wiggling his eyebrows.
"Ah...is that true?"
"Of course!"
She let the Warners spare her, leaving behind 60 pieces of gold. They continued onward, coming across a burnt frying pan. It seemed useful, so Yakko put it in his belt. He did this for the rest of the weapons except for the tough gloves, the torn notebook, and the ballet slippers; those were meant for Wakko and Dot respectively. They reached a dead end, so they returned back the way they came from. Alphys updated again.
*omg ive had my claw over the last digit for 5 minutes
*omg i'm just gonna do it
*i'm just gonna call!
Right then and there, Yakko's cell phone rang. He was about to answer it, but whoever was calling hung up before he could do so.
"I feel bad for her," said Yakko. "She's a nervous wreck!"
When they made it to the next area, there were a few lasers ahead; some were light blue and some were orange. Yakko's phone rang again, so he made sure the caller couldn't hang up this time and successfully answered.
"Hello?" said Yakko, putting it on speakerphone.
"Uhh!" said Alphys. "H-hi, so, the blue lasers...Uhh! I mean, Alphys here! Hi!"
"I knew it! I mean, I saw your updates, so..."
"O-oh, sorry about that."
"It's fine. Just try to calm down a little bit with all that, ok? Anyway, how's my favorite lizard lady doin'?"
"I-I-I'm good. A-about the puzzle i-in front of you, the blue lasers won't hurt you if you don't move! O-orange ones, um...Y-you have to be moving, and they..."
"Don't hurt us?" said Yakko.
"Move through those ones!" she choked out.
"Gotcha. Thanks, Alphys!"
"You're welcome."
There was a moment of awkward silence.
"...Uhh, bye!"
"See ya later."
They hung up. Yakko put his phone in his pocket and looked at his sibs.
"Did ya get all that?"
"Yeah," said Dot.
"Good."
They took one step forward, only stopping because of Alphys updating again.
*OMG I DID IT! claws haven't shook like that since undyne called me to ask about the weather... v.v
"That's adorable," said Wakko.
They walked through the first two lasers, but when Alphys updated again, they stopped themselves from passing through the blue one.
*WAIT THERE'S NO WEATHER DOWN HERE WHY DID SHE CALL ME
The Warners laughed at this one.
"Can't believe she just noticed!" said Dot.
"Girls," said Yakko. "They'll do anything to get their crush to notice them."
They walked all the way across the lasers. Conveniently, only the blue ones seemed to move. At the end of the puzzle, there was a switch. Wakko pressed it, causing the lasers to deactivate.
"That was easy."
They continued onward, finding a path that led to their left. Before they could reach it, Alphys updated again.
*Oh My God i Forgot to Tell THem Where To Go
This was followed by a photo of a garbage can with several pink, glittery filters over it.
*CUte PIC OF ME RIGHT NOW ^.^
They pressed their "like" buttons. Yakko commented "LOL XD". Then they continued to see the arrows that shot them into the air, but they rotated in a circle. Alphys called again, this time reaching Wakko's phone.
"Hello?"
"A-A-Alphys here! Th...the northern door will stay locked until you...S-solve the puzzles on the right and left! I...I think you sh-should g-g-go to the right first!"
"Oh...ok!" Wakko enthusiastically responded. "Thanks."
"N-no problem!"
She hung up, letting them go. They went to their right, finding a green cow with sunglasses and a purple business suit and a black flame-like monster.
"How's life for ya?" said Yakko.
"The way to work is blocked, so I had time to catch Mettaton's show on my phone...The special effects were amazing today! Those toon celebrities almost looked REAL!"
The Warners looked at each other in an annoyed way. They let out courtesy chuckles.
"Ehehe...right," said Yakko, turning his attention away from the cow. "So, do you know about Mettaton?"
"Mettaton? Yeah, he's the most popular star in the underground! His fan club probably has at least two...no, THREE dozen members!"
"Oh, really?" said Dot. "Looks like that robot has some competition."
They started to enter the door on their side as Alphys updated again. This time, they checked and walked at the same time.
*wonder if it would be unfun if i explained the puzzle...
They entered the room and saw a cat with a business suit and sunglasses, a shoot 'em up arcade-like machine, and a note with the directions. All they had to do was shoot the opposing ship and move the boxes with the joystick to achieve their goal. But first, they talked to the cat.
"Whatcha doin' over here?" said Dot.
"The door leading through the area is closed? So I tried the puzzle? But it kept running out of ammo, and it kept restarting?"
The cat bounced as he talked.
"Hey," said Yakko, "you're a bouncer, aren't ya?"
They all bounced with the cat.
"Boingy, boingy, boingy, boingy!"
"And my two co-workers won't help?" the cat continued. "It's like they don't even wanna go to work?"
He stopped bouncing and so did they.
"Well," said Wakko, "nice talkin' with ya."
"Step aside," said Yakko to the cat, "we'll show ya how it's done."
They went over to the machine. Dot moved the joystick while Yakko pressed the shoot button.
"Go left!" said Wakko. "No, right! No, left!"
Yakko shot one of the boxes, then Dot moved the remaining one over to the left. Yakko used his final shot to hit the ship on the other side. The screen went green, an "accomplished" sound played, and the text read "CONGRATULATIONS!".
"Faboo!" said Wakko.
They headed out, the cat staring at them with wide eyes. Anyone who saw the three toon kids could tell they felt good about their accomplishment, holding their heads up high. Using the arrow platforms to jump to the other side, they came across something similar to their previous stop. A blue laser blocked the way to another room; a purple bull with a skateboard and a teenage green flame, possibly the daughter of Grillby and wearing what looked a school uniform, waited outside. Before the Warners could figure out how to get across, Alphys called Wakko.
"Hey, Alphys!" Wakko answered.
"Alphys! Here! Th-that blue laser seems totally impassable!"
"Yeah," said Dot, "we don't have our plot holes anymore. It's like they vanished into thin air!"
"That's too bad. B-b-but! As the Royal Scientist, I h-have some tricks up my sleeve! I'll h-hack into th-the Hotland laser database and take it out!"
"Thanks," said Yakko. "You're a real help."
Alphys hung up and deactivated the laser, just as she said she would. This gave Yakko and Wakko some time to actually check out the flame girl. They panted like dogs.
"Helloooooooo nurse!"
They tied to jump for it, but Dot held them back by their tails.
"Boys."
Meanwhile, the flame girl seemed to talk to herself.
"Finally! Someone turned off that laser! Now that we're free we can...Well, uh, I guess we'll just keep standing here."
The bull approached the toons.
"We were just hanging out when suddenly, a buncha puzzles reactivated outta nowhere."
"Sounds pretty suspicious," said Yakko.
"This is a huge problem...It rules! They've GOTTA cancel school over this!"
"Now that's how to react in this kinda situation!" said Dot.
The Warners went inside the room. It was completely empty and the puzzle seemed more complicated.
"Looks like a game of Tetris," said Yakko, taking control of the joystick.
Dot gave out directions while Wakko pressed the button to shoot.
"Move down...right...shoot!"
Wakko shot one of the boxes.
"Go up. Now left! Wait, no, right!"
They kept shuffling until the blocks were out of the way. Wakko's bullet made it to the other side, getting the same reaction from last time.
"Boom," said Yakko.
They left triumphantly and bounced their way to the locked door. It ceremoniously opened.
"Let's keep venturing into the unknown, shall we?" said Yakko.
"We shall!" said Dot.
The three of them held hands and continued onward, only to be stopped briefly by Alphys updating her status.
*whatever! i'll just explain it!
"Yeesh," said Yakko. "Will she ever shut up?"
"She needs to see a p-sychiatrist," said Wakko.
Just then and there, Dot's phone rang.
"Y'ello?" she said, slightly annoyed.
"Uuuh, I think...Umm...Hey! About the puzzles-"
"Alphys, for crying out loud! We already solved 'em!"
The other line went silent for a moment.
"O-oh...sorry for bothering you..."
"It's fine. Just try to give us some space, okay? I get ya wanna help us, but it's overkill. Ya don't need to worry about thing, so take a chill pill and relax for a bit."
This made Alphys feel better.
"Okay. Thanks, Dot."
She hung up. The Warners continued onward, stepping on an arrow that launched them into the air onto another arrow and onto another arrow.
"Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!"
They landed on a different ground; it was light blue with green circles.
"For a moment I thought we were flying!" said Wakko.
They headed into darkness. None of them could imagine what was coming next...or could they?