"Temmie Bake Sale?"

Mettaton tilted his head, his magenta eyes trailing over to where his companion's own were gazing, legs pausing in their walk.

Alphys nodded. "I-it says it's made by temmies, for temmies, of temmies-"

"Wait." Now those legs were briskly returning to where the sign stood so that he, too, could get a look at this slogan. "They make their food out of their own kind?"

Alphys then blinked. Oh, he...kind of just cut her off… "...flakes."

"Flakes?" This was the point at which the robot would furrow his brows in confusion.

"Temmie flakes," she replied with a small smile. "They're, um...here, I-I'll show you."

Mettaton shook his head, spinning around on his heel to return on their path. Come on, now! He barely had any gold as it was. You honestly think he was going to go to bakesale for some stupid...what were they called? Temmies? "Alphys, dear, we have much more important things to worry about than whatever strange foods the monsters are selling."

"B-but, um," Alphys took a glance over at the nearby froggit, as if it would give her some sort of aid in continuing the conversation, "they're actually really cute, and um…"

Mettaton, of course, would wait patiently, watching as his companion buzzed her eyes around the room and rubbed her feet against one another. He sighed and unweaved his arms from across his chest. "You really want to see them, don't you?"

"Well, uh... " She still didn't make eye contact, however, and when it was noted that those orangish-brown eyes moved upward towards the ceiling, the robot shook his head.

"Fine, fine. We can go, but don't take too long."

The woman practically radiated with cheerfulness, a wide smile brimming what was usually her shy, nervous wreck of an expression. She nodded happily, clasping her hands together and (almost) skipping south, straight towards a wall.

"Alphys?"

Just as Mettaton reached his hand out with a small gasp, he watched her figure disappear through the purple bricks. Oh, right. Ghosts can do that, apparently. Gotta mark that down when he gets a chance.

"Alphys, I don't think I can…" He paused, approaching the wall and gracing his hand against the cold, muddy structure. Its material felt cold and damp. "I don't think I can phase through there…"

It didn't matter how long he waited, though. The robot stood there for at least a minute before sighing, turning his head once more to the sign by the froggit. Where did it say the bake sale was? Down and to the left...something like that. So, with a deep breath in, the metallic human would pick up his pace. Right, just gotta be quick. It shouldn't take too long, right? It was only a bake sale.

What he was met with, however, was far from what he had been expecting.

To be honest, he wasn't entirely sure what it was his mind had assumed would be waiting for him, but whatever it was, it sure as heck wasn't this. A cardboard stand immediately caught his attention, several barely-readable words scribbled out in yellow and blue crayon along the box (at least, Mettaton assumed that what indeed stood before him was nothing more than a crudely-decorated cardboard box). One of the strands of whatever passed as words that could be made out said something along the lines of "tEM bake sell - Al proseeds go 2 REEL tems!"

Behind the counter stood three white-furred cat-dog things with smooth, black hair that made them almost seem human. They each bore a blue shirt, as well as a matching collar with the word "Temmie" engraved in it. Lying on top of the stand were several colorful boxes that looked like a five-year-old had scribbled along the outside with whatever color marker had happened to be nearby. The top one was open, and he could very visibly see several equally-colorful circular objects inside of it, each of which almost reminded him of a doughnut. There was also an iced tea gallon beside it, however it was filled to the brim with shredded pieces of construction paper.

Alphys stood off to the side, hands clasped together while her attention was absorbed by the tems that seemed to be too busy playing with each other to really notice.

"Excuse me," Mettaton cut in, to which each one's head perked up and their eyes practically sparkled. All at once, they let out a very cheerful, "CUSTUMER!" and scrambled for their spots.

"hOI!" the first one exclaimed, starting on the right while she stared up at the protagonist. "Welcum 2 temmie bakesale!"

"We haz lots of guuds," the middle one continued as her eyes danced between the poorly-shaped doughnuts and the galloon of paper. "Iz sure 2 make smile, ya ya! 2 HP in evry bite!"

To this, the third one would finish while jumping onto the table with her front paws, "is made BY temmie, FOR temmie, OF temmie! ...flakes."

"Right…" Mettaton glanced at the goods for a moment before looking over at Alphys. "Are you ready to go now?"

When the three tems realized where his gaze was heading, they all turned their attention in that direction as well, causing the ghost to blink and her eyes to widen. "Oh! I-I, um…" Oh, th-they saw her now, um… "I-I'm just going to, uh…"

Mettaton groaned. "Alphys, darling, you can't keep disappearing whenever someone sees you."

It was too late, however, and he followed this up with a sigh at seeing her outline vanish. Oh, wonderful. Now he'd have to deal with these weird monsters all by himself.

"Alphys, I swear, some day…"

"IZ ONLY 7 GOLD!"

The first one slammed her paws against the table, very much so like her sister. From this new position, Mettaton could notice her tail wagging quite rapidly, like she might take off with it as her propeller. The temmie's tongue hung limply from her mouth, a small amount of drool dripping off of it. Ew...and they work with food.

Mettaton reached his hand into the boot without his glasses case and pulled out a very small sack of gold coins. Seven gold...and he only had nine. Really, he should have at least attempted to grab the money off of his decaying corpse back near the start of the game. "I'm really sorry darlings, but seven gold for some origami doughnut just seems a bit-"

"-cheep?" the middle one finished, nodding her head. "We no, but we gotta make muns somehow an Ruins munsders don't have lot of muns."

"Pweeaaaaase?" the two on the outside chirped, their eyes sparkling to a degree that made Mettaton sigh.

"Alright, alright, fine. One doughnut."

"You meen temnut!"

The robot rolled his eyes as he dumped the sack of money on the table, quickly stuffing two leftover pieces in his bag and shoving it back into his boot. Well, at least the boot didn't look so lumpy now… "Yeah, whatever."

When he saw one of the tems reaching for a doughnut with her mouth, he quickly cut in and grabbed one. "That's alright! I got it."

"Tank you, mrs. robot!"

"Dats not mrs.!" the third one yelled at the first, head swiveling around to face her sister. "Dats mr! Robot!"

The middle one could only sigh and do her best to ignore the other two as she locked eyes with the metallic human. "Tank you, valued custumer."

"Yes, yes, you're welcome. Now, Alphys?"

Mettaton glanced back over to where he had last seen his companion while placing one hand over his hip and tapping his foot once or twice. When not even an outline appeared, he rolled his eyes, spinning around on his heel and speed walking in the opposite direction. "Fine, whatever. I'll be on my way then."

It stayed that way, too, as he walked along the hall that Toriel had been sleeping beside several minutes before. The protagonist took a quick glance over at the pile of red leaves, allowing his eyes to linger there for a moment or so, and then swiftly continued onward. No, he had to keep going. There was too much lying ahead of him (hopefully plenty of answers) to stop now. That woman...that ghost woman might be mysterious, but perhaps he could meet up with her again sometime. Or maybe Alphys would know. Perhaps Chara? Out of everyone so far, he trusted Chara the most. Not only did they save him from a talking demon fish, but they also weren't dead, nor were they a monster. Toriel said Chara was nice, so she must have some connection to them. That's a good thing to keep in mind. He made a mental note.

Unfortunately, physical notes weren't quite possible at the moment. He really didn't feel the need to consume the construction paper treat, nor did he wish to set it down. There was a voice nagging at the back of his mind to hold onto it, and though it was just a voice, it was there for a reason. You better believe he wasn't going to leave his notebook behind, torn as it may be, so unless Alphys had installed some extra limbs he was unaware of (and which he'd be very greatful for), Mettaton, unfortunately, didn't have much room for more items. He used one arm to squeeze the notebook against his chest, tilting it at an angle so that it would trap the doughnut between himself and his book, however it was still a bigger load than he'd prefer.

When he had made a turn right, Mettaton was slightly surprised by the dinosaur figure that was waiting for him in the corner. It was a corner behind each of the three frogs, just within an arm's reach of the sign. He hadn't honestly noticed her at first, and so a small jump was completely understandable when she had whispered, "Psst...over here."

There was in fact a small jump, accompanied by a gasp, however Mettaton quickly recovered and turned towards the source of the sound. "Alphys? What on Earth are you-?"

"SHHH!"

She was shaking, he noted after observing the ghost for a few moments. It was very violent shaking, too. What on Earth had her so frightened? When she reached a hand out to wave him over, he followed, though not without being lost in his thoughts. Was there something here he couldn't see? Was it those frogs?

"Alphys, is there a reason why-?"

"SHH!"

Her eyes darted quickly over to the three froggits along the side of the road and she let out a small whimper before turning back to Mettaton while whispering, "We're not safe here."

"What?"

"W-we're not s-safe here…Don't you hear them?"

"Hear them? Hear what?" Now this was catching his intrigue. Meckenzie had always had a very curious mind, which was likely the main reason he had fallen down in the first place. Curiosity and his cousins.

Alphys trembled even more so now than she did when Mettaton had first returned to this room. Those same orangish-brown eyes from earlier were widening dramatically and the ghost let out a small gasp. "W-we have to kill them!"

"Kill them?" This Mettaton would blink at, leaning away slightly. "Kill who? The frogs?"

"We have to kill them!" she exclaimed before backing further into the corner. If Mettaton hadn't known any better (as already proven, he really hadn't), he would've thought that Alphys was hyperventilating, but ghosts can't- ...y'know, from all the weird things that have been going on, he decided against assuming that.

"Alphys, calm down." Mettaton reached out his only free arm while still trying to balance the doughnut between his chest and his notebook, however the ghost jumped away from it and began to become transparent again.

The protagonist sighed when he noticed this. "Fine. If you won't let me help or tell me what's going on, then I'm going ahead." Honestly, what was there to be afraid of? Those frogs looked just about as menacing as the bricks in the walls, and he certainly didn't hear anything. Come on, now. If Mettaton couldn't hear it, who could? It's not like he wasn't dead already. Sure, he might have a body now, but he was still dead, so he should be able to hear it, too! Obviously, Alphys was just crazy. Maybe he should have gone with Toriel instead…

"Ribbit, ribbit."

The protagonist's attention had been caught, however, when he heard a strange sound just as he passed the third frog. He jumped slightly, mind still having been focused on Alphys's words up until that point.

"You're Mettaton, aren't you?"

Mettaton nodded, taking a quick gasp of air and a glance down at his chest. Alright, the food was still intact, so that's good.

"Chara said they had a present for you."

This made the robot blink. A present? For him? He tilted his head to the side, leaning forward ever-so-slightly. "Oh?"

The frog nodded, reaching behind him to pull out a lavender-colored bag. Across it was the same insignia that Mettaton recognized as the one printed on Toriel's chest. Our protagonist gingerly reached his hand out to grasp said item and tore it open, sticking his nose in. "There's nothing inside."

"The bag, Mettaton. The bag is your gift. They said that there are plenty of items around the Ruins, and your hands are already full as it is with your notebook. They told me to tell you that it's not much, but it's what they had on them at the time and that they meant to give it to you when they asked about the chocolate." Whatever that means. The froggit hadn't been in any mind to prod.

"Oh, well…" He set his notebook down on the floor with the doughnut on top of it before sliding the straps around his shoulders and taking a glance behind him. Just like a backpack. Huh. "...tell them I said thank you."

The froggit chuckled. "Chara already left. I think-" He cleared his throat. "-I believe they said something about only carrying so much in that bag, so not to pick up anything you don't need."

"Right." Well, of course. Mettaton may not like throwing things away, but that was only because the things that he had were the best things, of course! He was very picky with what was his. It shouldn't be too hard to keep the bag under its carrying capacity.

He squished his origami doughnut into his new sack before slinging it over his back once more. Ug, the colors really didn't match...but they weren't atrocious, either. Perhaps if he found a necklace or something…

"One more thing," the froggit added as Mettaton reached into both boots, pulling out his glasses case and the small sack of gold.

The protagonist paused briefly to look at him, signaling he held his attention.

"I heard that you were quite merciful for a human."

He then stuffed the two items into his new bag, finishing by lacing his other arm through the string and bumping it on with a quick nod.

"Then surely you know by now that a monster wears a yellow name tag when you can SPARE them."

"Yellow?" Well that's a rather hidious color, but oh well. No, he hadn't actually noticed, but that was definitely something he was going to mark down in his notebook when he found enough light source to see the pages.

The froggit nodded. "Indeed. We each have a yellow name tag to show that we do not want to fight any longer. What do you think of that?"

"Uck, yellow?" Mettaton's hand then moved to his hip, his voice laced with disgust in each syllable. "It's disgusting. Who'd want to wear yellow?"

"I see…" The frog monster frowned, his eyes narrowing at the floor. "...well, what about pink?"

Mettaton blinked. His smile slowly peeked its way back onto his face and he nodded. "Yes, pink is an excellent color! Pink will do just fine."

"Alright, then. Pink it is. I think everyone still has their name tags from last year, so I'll see what I can do."

The protagonist chuckled a bit, bringing his free hand up to his mouth, which was now holding a much broader smile than before. His notebook in hand, he spun around, ready to make his way for the door before the froggit cleared its throat.

"Remember, we wear those name tags when we're willing to be spared."

"I realize," Mettaton replied without looking back. He opened his mouth to continue, but found himself being caught off.

"Sparing is just saying you won't fight. Maybe, one day, you'll have to do it even if they're name isn't pink."

Sorry for the shitty chapter. I need more inspiration, honestly.

Also, I love replying to reviews! It's weird. After chapter two or three there started being less and less...is it because I answer them? Because I really like replying to you guys and knowing your ideas! It's fun talking with people who enjoy your stuff!

I'm going to start posting pictures on the EquationTale tumblr soon. Already working on a picture of Chara. If you want to follow that, either watch my DeviantArt, KuraiTsukiMajutsu, or, the more preferable option, follow the EquationTale tumblr. ...just google EquationTale Tumblr. I checked this morning. There's only one. It's, uh...it's not the most exciting Tumblr out there... I'm still trying to figure out how the site works, so...sorry.