The first thing that Mettaton noticed when he stepped out of the Ruins door was the immediate cold that graced his metal skin. His hot pink boots crunched what appeared to be a few layers of snow beneath his feet, high heels digging into the ground and sticking. It'd take some effort to step considering how the heels stuck, though he'd much rather have that than his feet freeze…

The second thing he noticed was the sound of the heavy metal door behind him. You see, Mettaton was by no means a stupid person. He may appear vain, at some points unwise, but he is not dumb. Sure, he could probably handle what came up ahead, but just in case that 0.1% chance occurred and he had to flee, it'd be best to do so to a familiar place. Thus, he had intentionally left the door open.

However, it seemed that the door had continued closing from the moment he let go of it, and by the time the sound of its motion caught his ears, it was already too late to spin around and grab the divider. Just as his hand reached for the latch, it slammed shut. The latch proved pointless, and Mettaton's efforts to reopen the door were unsuccessful. It locked from the inside.

The protagonist let out a small sigh before shaking his head and crushing his heels against the snow once more. As he walked, Mettaton surveyed the area around him, being careful to note the woods to the left of him- empty, hollow woods, with trees that reminded him more of sticks, limbs bare- and what little wildlife took refuge in them. He couldn't even spot a single bug, let alone a bird or squirrel. Perhaps it was from the snow...on that note, how did it even snow? There wasn't weather under the surface last time he checked. No clouds to send down precipitation. This was real, right?

To his right, the robot was able to catch sight of a what appeared to be a very long, very wide, very steep cliff that jutted out of the side of the pathway. He noted a lack of fencing or other objects to stop oneself from accidentally (or, Heaven forbid, intentionally) falling to their doom. Or, so it seemed. This place was so strange and foreign that honestly the guy wouldn't be surprised to find some sort of invisible barrier...but he'd rather not test that theory.

Seeing as the only viable option lied straight along the path, our protagonist continued forward, each painfully silent step reminding him just how cold the air really was. He wrapped his arms tightly around his chest and shivered a small bit. Ug...why didn't he bring a sweater?

"Alphys…" the former-human muttered while still keeping alert. He watched his breath formulate a small cloud in front of his lips and recoiled a bit from the bitterness that nipped his metal. He was about to say something about being built without a sensitive nervous system when a light 'tap' from behind caught his attention. He paused. However, even after his feet were firmly planted in the snow, there was still a single 'tap' of a footstep that echoed after.

Mettaton glanced over his shoulder and scanned his surroundings for any possible sign of movement, but found none.

"Hello?" he cried out into the deafening silence.

There was no echo.

Cautiously, he turned back to the direction of his travels, stepping carefully over a stray branch that made its way onto the path. The thing seemed freshly-fallen, as all its limbs were still attached and not a scratch was present on it. The tapping...that could have been it, though it was probably his imagination...this place was so creepy.

The robot shook his head. "Ah, you're letting the stress get to you. It's al-"

He cut himself off at the sound of a loud 'CRACK!' and then proceeded to whip his head around. No matter how long his eyes searched, all that stuck out was a broken stick.

Mettaton continued onward, passing several more trees and even a few that had been growing from below that long, deep cliff, each step closer to sending his mind into panic, breath becoming more uneven the farther along he traveled. At one point, he caught a shadow dart behind him- it was just a sliver of a glimpse from the corner of his eyes- but decided that that, too, was just his mind playing games with him. There was nothing to worry about… Chara was wrong. He wasn't going to die...not so soon after leaving…

Deep breaths, the robot thought to himself as his pace came to a slow and the sound of his heart pounding soon began to drown out what little outside noises were around him.

Soon, however, his eye caught sight of a small bridge. It looked...fairly sturdy...no handrails, and it seemed quite possible to slip off and fall to one's death (again), but fairly sturdy at least… No, what was more intriguing were the wooden bars that settled over top of it- two on each side of the bridge, four in total, two of which were attached to the very edges of the wooden crosswalk. With a large gulp of air, Mettaton mustered up the courage to approach said contraption and examine it.

He froze, however, when the light 'tap tap tap' in the snow turned into a loud, agonizingly slow CRUNCH, CRUNCH, CRUNCH, from behind him. With each footstep that wasn't his own, Mettaton felt his heart pump faster and faster, or at least, the rhythmic pulsation in his chest increased. Whether or not that was from an artificial heart wasn't his focus at that point in time. Instead, his ears had trained on the sound that approached while the rest of him tried its best to appear confident as ever, even he didn't feel like it one bit.

When the noise stopped, there were no words. A hand graced the top of his shoulder and nearly caused him to jump, but he didn't. Mettaton held firmly in place. He took a deep breath in, legs about ready to give way, and slowly turned around.

What he saw was another figure- human, presumably, though it was difficult to tell with the large winter coat that was wrapped around them- and at least a foot or so shorter. Even with the height difference, the shadow cast over the stranger's eyes more than made up for whatever intimidation points had been lost.

The figure removed its hand from Mettaton's shoulder and held out the opposite one toward the bot. He glanced down at it, but, upon finding nothing worth noting, reached his own metallic one toward the outstretched glove and grasped it. However…

"OH MY GOD!" Mettaton screamed and immediately let go of the hand when he had noticed it disconnect from its host and now watched in horror as the thing fell limply to the floor.

It didn't take long for him to realize that no blood was coming out of this detached limb and that, more importantly, its "arm" seemed to be nothing more than a wooden stick, now being outlined in cold snow. This was the point where small giggles could be heard from the figure in front of him and Mettaton's breathing began its rapid decrease in intensity.

The figure removed its blue hoodie to reveal the face of (in Mettaton's eyes) a child. Their hair was a shade or two darker than Chara's, eyes more of a hazelish-brown than red and skin giving off a definite Asian appearance as opposed to Chara's Caucasian, but otherwise, the two were practically mirrors of each other, even down to the stripe. Two purple ones on a blue coat rather than a single yellow on top of green robes, but still…

"What's so funny?" Mettaton asked. His hands fell over top of his hips as he leaned forward ever-so-slightly, chest puffing out and back straightening.

The figure only shook their head and bent down for the glove. It was as if they didn't even care about a tall, threatening robot hovering over them! ...Mettaton was threatening. Definitely.

"You didn't even tell me your name yet and already you feel the need to prank me." The robot shook his head and let out a small huff. "How rude."

The teen followed up with a few final laughs before wiping their eyes and nodding with a broad smile on their face. They glanced up at Mettaton and waved. "Hi."

"Hi?" Mettaton blinked. "You nearly scared me to death and all I get is a 'hi'!?"

The figure blinked in return, the smile dropping. They shrugged, took a few steps forward, and waved. "Bye."

In honesty, this person probably would have walked right past the weird robot thing if it weren't for the fact that he was blocking their path, and they, too, would rather not test to see how far down the cliff fell, so they waited patiently for him to move. When he didn't, they frowned further.

"No no, that isn't going to fly. You're going to apologize to me if you want to get through."

This made the stranger scrunch their nose up like a small child that was being scolded by their mother. You don't need to be such a stick-in-the-mud, jeez… "Frisk."

Mettaton squinted, tilting his head to the side. "What?"

"My name is Frisk. Now you know my name."

The robot nodded. "Right...Frisk." Slowly, Mettaton loosened the grip he had around his own arms and allowed them to move closer to their natural resting position. "And you're...human?" They certainly sounded like it…

Frisk nodded and their smile popped back on their face. "Yup! And I have to ask what a fine piece of metal's doing all the way in Snowdin. Last I checked, the fashion shows are in the Capital."

"Capi...oh my." The former human blushed as he caught the wink Frisk threw in with what he could only assume to be a compliment. Alright, this was getting very strange… He was pretty sure being hit on wasn't one of the things Chara had warned him about. However, Mettaton quickly regained himself. He was Mettaton, after all. Why not show off what the person was complimenting?

"I appreciate the flirting, darling, though I think I might be a bit old for you."

"I am sixteen," Frisk replied in a rather deadpanned voice. Jeez, just because they're short, everyone assumes…

"Oh." Well that's, uh… Mettaton blinked a few times before clearing his throat and delivering a decisive nod. "You wouldn't happen to know how to get to Hotland, would you?"

To this, Frisk shrugged, taking a quick glance over the robot's shoulder and frowning ever-so-slightly. "Well, I can probably help you a little, but...if that's a human SOUL in there-" They nodded to his lower abdomen. "-you might wanna hurry up a bit. I'm supposed to be hunting for 'em."

The robot tilted his head once more while shifting weight from one foot to the other and bringing one hand up to rest on his hip. "Hunting them? But aren't you human?"

"I'm a legal human. There's only two. We're supposed to capture humans. I don't really want to, but my roommate on the other hand…" They paused, letting out a small chuckle and continuing, "...or, maybe I should say, tem-mate."

This only caused Mettaton to further wipe his face with confusion. "What?"

"That pun'll make sense in a sec. Uh...go through the bars. Just through 'em. They're not narrow enough to stop anyone."

"Okay...if you say so." The bot shrugged before letting his arms fall back at his sides and turning around. He'd nearly forgotten about the cold by now and instead found himself squeezing through the rather wide passage. For a gate, it was pretty wide. Whoever made it must be a complete freakin' dingus or something; he certainly wouldn't allow such an error to be made.

Once the pair had made it to the other side, the woods gave way to a small clearing, of which Mettaton could clearly make out what looked like some kind of wooden table with a roof covering the top of it. More of a counter than a table, he supposed, but what on Earth was it doing in the middle of the woods? Was this supposed to be a park of some sort?

Beside the table was a rather thick lamppost just about the size of Mettaton. When Frisk pointed to it, he wasted no time in hurrying over. It wasn't the most intriguing light source by any means. What was so-?

"FRISK!"

A shrill voice made Mettaton freeze in place, his eyes fixated on the...cat...dog...thing that came scurrying down the pathway. It was standing on its hind legs like a human or...what were those things called? ...furries! The thing matched the definition of furry almost perfectly, with its shoulder-length black hair and blue-and-yellow striped shirt, as well as grey collar. Hell, the only thing that could possibly not classify it as one was the fact that it looked like a dog and cat got together for a little fun time. Considering Mettaton knew next to nothing of furries, this could mean absolutely nothing. Considering the internet, it probably didn't.

" 'sup, Tem?"

"U no was "sup," Frisk! Is been liek, 4eveh an u still haven't. Recalberated. Ur. PUZZLEZ!"

Mettaton noticed this "Tem" (who looked an awful lot like the temmies in the Ruins) glance over at him and he tensed, however she quickly looked away, as if a fuchsia-and-purple colored robot standing next to a lamppost in the middle of a forest was nothing out of the ordinary.

"Sorry, Tem."

"Sorry? Sorry!? Ur dad is gunna be here n e minute an look wat hes gunna find! Not-recalberated puzzlez!"

Frisk shrugged. It appeared as though they really couldn't care less, and Mettaton wasn't entirely sure why they even stayed around. So...this was their roommate? It's just puzzles… Puzzles are nice, but nothing to get worked up about. If he were in Frisk's shoes, he'd walk right past that Tem.

Unfortunately, that wasn't an option at the moment.

"Ug! Why does sum tem like me have 2 do so much 2 get into col leg?" Temmie turned around to face the cliff, stomping her foot onto the pathway and wagging her tail in the process (that tail was not helping differentiate between a feline and a canine by the way). "I will be da 1! I MUST be da 1! I will capture HOOMAN N DEN I GET IN2 ROYAL GUARD!"

Frisk bit their lip to hold back a small laugh at the sight of this and nodded. They've heard this dialogue about a million times before. Seeing Temmie slip back on her cheerful smile was all too common for them, and it brought a warming sense of familiarity down onto the human.

"Den," Temmie continued, clasping her hands together and turning her attention toward the sky, eyes practically sparkling with what little light could be seen. "I, da formidtemble tEMMIE! will get paid gud muns, send it 2 family, an use rest 4 col leg! Is everything Tem could wish 4!"

The teen gave a small nod in reply, their hands flying into their coat pockets and glancing over at the dead human. "Hm. I think this lamppost could help."

Mettaton, in turn, felt his "heart" skip a beat. What was Frisk doing!? Were they trying to get him caught!? Now he knew what Chara meant about the monsters outside of the Ruins...traitors! All of them!

"FRISK!" The temmie growled and stomped her foot once more. "Dat is NOT HELPING!"

"Ah, c'mon, Tem. You know the col leg could never kick out someone as cute as you."

Temmie huffed in reply. "Of course nut! But! I have 2 get in 1st! An u lookin at a lamppost isnt helpin!"

"Eyyyyy." The human leaned to one side, head now resting on their own shoulder as they lifted up their elbows, though not near enough to remove their hands from the coat pockets. "Lighten up a bit, would ya? I wouldn't want you getting post-partem depression."

"FRISK I WAS NEVER PREGNANT!"

The human, however, chuckled. "Aw, c'mon. You know you're smiling."

"I no," the tem replied, her eyes beginning to water a bit and she sniffled. "But I hate it."

The human then approached their tem-mate and placed a hand gently onto the slightly-taller one's shoulder, offering an apologetic look as comfort. "Please don't cry."

Temmie turned around, sniffled once more, but held a smile on her face as her tail wagged. "Awwww Frisk-"

"I told you not to fur-get how beau-tem-ful you are."

To this, the tem growled, completely ignoring the wink she received in favor of shrugging the hand off of her shoulder. "FRISK!"

When she noticed her roommate chuckling, Temmie huffed and crossed her arms. "Fine. I will go 2 work on puzzles so u dad dun come home to bad 1s. Okee?"

Frisk nodded. "okee."

"An u…" Tem's eyes gazed over her roommate while a sly smirk made its way onto her face. "...shouldnt leave skele-ton of work 4 ur dad."

"You stole that one from him," they replied, though didn't bother to hold back a laugh and pressed their hand once more onto Temmie's shoulder as they did so.

Temmie let the hand fall off of her with a confident smile and then hurried off down the pathway, stopping not very far along to turn around and shout, "bOI!" but then scurried off the direction she came.

After watching the strange hybrid scurry down the pathway and making sure it had dove out of sight, Mettaton stepped away from his spot behind the lamppost and made his way over to the human, who was just standing there expectantly. While Frisk's face seemed to hold a rather neutral expression, Mettaton's...certainly did not.

"What was THAT!?" he cried, stomping his heels into the snow as he walked. One fist was curled, the other flew out to gesture in the direction that thing had gone.

"Temmie," Frisk replied. Their facial expression remained neutral, however, the robot could tell quite clearly that they wanted to show off a smart-ass grin. ...He was pretty sure.

"Not that. I meant that!" he then gestured to the lamppost that he himself had hidden behind but moments before. "You nearly got me caught!"

Frisk, however, shook their head, that smile poking into view, if only slightly. They kept their hands in their pockets while turning back to Mettaton with eyes that read a lot more wisdom than one might expect. "She's harmless. Temmies in general are pretty harmless, and Tem is just trying to make end's meat for her family. Dude, tems find humans adorable. I wouldn't be worried."

"But I don't look human." This was the point where Mettaton's anger drastically dropped from rage to minor discomfort as one hand made its way for the scorch mark on his cheek. "I still have a human…SOUL…" That was a weird thing to think about… "...but I don't look human."

To this, the human just shrugged. "Still, though. Just act human. It'll make her day- I guarantee it."

The robot rolled his eyes. "I'm not looking to make her day. I'm looking to get to Hotland."

"Please?" Frisk pleaded, and now that mostly-neutral face morphed into a typical child's, complete with puppy dog eyes and quivering lip. "For meee?"

"Darling, you said you were sixteen."

"That doesn't mean I can't be cute."

Mettaton sighed, bent over, and shook his head in defeat. "Fine, fine. I'll play along, as long as you can tell me how to get to Hotland and it's not too far out of the way."

To this, the sixteen-year-old perked up almost instantly and nodded in enthusiasm while clasping their hands together. "Okee!" They turned to the path up ahead, the one Temmie had just gone down, and shoved their hands back into their pockets. "Just head down there. There's some puzzles. All you gotta do is play along."

"Are you certain it's safe?" the former-human asked, cocking his head to the side and placing both hands on his hips.

Frisk nodded. "Like I said, temmies don't hurt people. She's just trying to feed her family. Seeing a human other than me for once would make her day, and she hasn't seen too many before, sooo...you'll do fine."

"If you're certain," he muttered, turning around to continue onward. This place was so strange… though he had to admit, it was a lot less dangerous than Chara had made it out to be. If most of the "monsters" out here were like that weird cat-dog thing (temmie?), there wasn't much to be afraid of. Maybe having his ears bleed, but otherwise, nothing to worry over.

"Thank you!" Frisk called out after Mettaton and then turned back the way they came, making way for the Ruins door.

As soon as Mettaton has spotted another reflective stone that gave off enough light to write with, he sat himself down beside it and began jotting down everything that he had experienced up until this point, sparing no detail from his well-loved journal.

*The experience with the lamppost...it rekindles your perseverance.

Lotta stuff.

I'm sorry to the person (a guest) who said that Frisk was Mettaton. Especially if it felt like an attack or something. I dunno. It did to me. Thing is, misinformation is one of the things I hate most in the world. I do what I can to correct mistakes and misunderstandings as quickly as possible so that people are correctly informed. I hope you're not hurt.

I know some people had been looking forward to Hapstablook and Napstablook as Papyrus and Sans. Sorry, but...there's no hostless Hapstablook. The equation put Mettaton (Happy-poo) as Frisk, and, well, I needed to find a way to make it work someone. Since the SOULs weren't inputted into the equation...those are my liberties.

There's going to be a crap-ton of stuff going on in my life. School starts tomorrow, I'll be getting my learner's permit for driving soon, still gotta deal with emotional stuff on top of stress from school work, I may be starting a martial arts class soon...ug. But I'll still try to update on Sunday evenings (around 18:00 - 20:00 EST). Keyword is try.

Reviews!

Oh my gosh, you guys make me so happy~! Chapter seven I'm pretty proud of, so you guys enjoying it...yay! Chapter eight was a rather sudden change in atmosphere, I know... switching muses is difficult. Tempyrus is a good muse, but not as good as Demon Mom. Still, though, hopefully my writing style will adapt for some "Temtrousle" and "frisk." Thank you guys so much for sticking with me for eight chapters, and thank you for all your kind words. Those are the main things that keep me going.

Guest who reviewed on ch. 1 saying that Alphys is Chara: Well...you're not wrong!

Aria: Only be spared when they have low health? Are you referring to Asgore? Because I've played through the game before, and he's the only one I actually had to fight.

NoItsBecky: Already talked about YTT in a PM, but as for the rest...the personalities are the fun parts! As for Fishy the Fish... ;3

CK: Well, I already talk to you on the forum, but it's still impressive to see that much thought poured into a comment. Thank you!

Tatzebea: What's wrong with Chara x Mettataticate? ;3 ...well, the fact that it'd most definitely be a crack pairing. But! Other than that! They're both nineteen. I approve. AndmaybesodoesCharaalittlebitshhhh.

Teh Esprite: ;3