"FRISK! Wot if ur dad gets here?"
Mettaton froze once he heard the female 12-year-old sounding voice from before, eyes darting upward to be certain it was her. What he witnessed was Temmie twirling her head around and then pausing, eyes wide and directed on Mettaton, then turning back to Frisk in shock.
Frisk took a quick glance over at the robot as well, their neutral face quite present, and gave him a curt nod in greeting. This was followed by looking up at Tem.
"Frisk…" Tem muttered, though her voice was loud enough that the robot could easily hear her. "Is dat...HOOMAN!?"
"Uh…" Her roommate took a long look at Mettaton, glancing the robot up and down and throwing in a shrug for good measure. "I think that's a robot."
"...Oh."
During this, the robot had remained still, his breath being caught and only exhaling upon hearing Frisk's words. It did confuse him, but he figured that perhaps it was part of the "playing along," and that he'd be revealed later on, perhaps closer to the puzzles.
Though, after a moment, the living human frowned and turned back to Tem. "hey, look at his SOUL."
Tem's eyes then drew down to the lower abdomen, where a purple glow emitted in the shape of a heart. The light was dimmer than usual, though still rather bright, and if it weren't for the fact that it was purple, Mettaton might still be able to use it as a source to write in his journal. But purple light wouldn't do!
"Frisk…" she muttered to them. "Is...dat a hooman sOUL?"
When they nodded, her face lit back up nearly as bright as the SOUL and Temmie found herself bouncing with excitement. Her front paws were squished against the sides of her chests while her back ones continued to push off the pavement. "EEEEEEE! FRISK! FRISK FRISK FRISK FRISK FRISK FRISK FRISK!"
The human chuckled, removing one hand from the pocket to cover their mouth before letting their expression fall neutral once more and placing the appendage back into their coat. They then glanced over at Tem and tilted their head.
"I found...HOOMAN! I FOUND HOOMAN FRISK! An not frisk hooman either OH SKELE-DAD GUNNA SEE DIS N TEMMIE FINALLY GUNNA GET 2 BE IN ROYAL GUARD AN DEN SHE GONNA GET GUD MUNS!"
Tem turned back to the robot, placing her feet wide apart, one hand on her hip, and extending the other arm as far as she could to point to him. "HOOMAN! U shall not pass!"
"-gas," Frisk muttered, though it was either too quiet for Temmie to pick up on, or, the more likely option, she had chosen to ignore it.
"I," Tem continued, "da formitemble TEMMIE, will sTPO u!"
She brought in one foot so that there was less space between her legs, moved the arm that pointed out instead to her chest, and closed her eyes in a proud fashion. "I will capture u. U will den be sent 2 da Capital. Den, DEN-!"
Mettaton felt his breath hitch as his attention shifted to the human beside the tem. All he got in return was a small shrug and an expression of uncaring.
"...I dunno wat'll happen," Temmie said, opening up her eyes and letting her shoulders drop. It almost seemed like she was guilty about this, though with some thought, Mettaton decided that that wasn't the case. He wouldn't feel guilty, after all.
She shook her head. "N E WAY! hooman, continu ONLY IF U DARE!" With that, Mettaton watched her race up ahead.
Frisk chuckled. They, too, kept their eyes on their roommate for a little to make sure she was out of earshot before glancing back at the robot. "hey, don't sweat it. I'll be sure to stick to my promise."
They waved the same branch that had been attached to the end of the faux appendage before hurrying after their friend.
However, continuing along the same direction the other two had went down (after checking out the path to the north, of course...there wasn't much of interest), Mettaton had to stop again not too long from the spot he had been nearly assaulted at. A small clearing appeared to the side of him. Not as large as the one with the lamppost, no, but at least wide enough to hold...was that a dog bed?
*There's a little plaque on the bed, he heard Alphys say in an amused tone, though looking around, it seemed as though she was still not visible. Her voice then raised drastically in pitch, though only slightly more so in volume, in an attempt to mimic that strange tem.
*U upserve da cOOTE! sentry station. who couldve built dis, u punder?
I'm pretty sure I have an idea, Mettaton thought to himself with a shake of his head as he crossed his arms.
*I bet it wus dat reelly famus royal guardstem!
Alphys hesitated a moment, he could hear, and let out a slight nervous chuckle before continuing.
*(Note: Not yet reelly famus or royal guardstem)
The robot rolled his eyes, let his arms fall back at his sides, and continued on, only to be stopped again by another sign not so shortly after. This one, quite similar to Temmie's doggy bed, appeared to have handwriting scribbled on by a small child.
*Please move around, Alphys read as Mettaton scanned over the words. I can't see if you don't.
He then heard Alphys let out a small "Awww…" of touching sympathy, and he could just imagine her bringing her hands up to her chest. It was oblivious to him what was so endearing, but it hardly mattered. The robot simply carried on.
Well, that is, until he caught something from the corner of his eye.
Beside Mettaton stood a well put-together sentry station, unlike the one Temmie had built. He thought nothing of it at first, but glancing to the side, was able to see a small bunny child rising up from behind the counter with glazed-over eyes that seemed fixated on one point.
"Did...something move?" the bunny rabbit asked in a voice that only proved to reassure Mettaton of somewhere close to the kid's age. "Or was it my imagination…? Because I can only see things that move…"
The rabbit paused, leaning forward a bit. "And if something DID move, like a human…"
It was at this point that Mettaton turned around to examine the kid closer. Upon finding the child's eyes widen, he took a small step back. Oh, wait, he moved. It wasn't like the kid was going to do much though, was he? Probably not. The guy was just a kid, after all…
What he saw next was the child reaching for a wooden sword hanging along the station's interior before leaping over the counter in one swift movement and charging toward Mettaton full-speed.
"Mommy told me to make sure it NEVER MOVED AGAIN!"
Once again, Mettaton found his heart popping out of his chest and he drew his arm immediately to the 'ACT' button.
*Kiff blocks the way, he heard Alphys say as that heart made its way to the 'Check' option.
*Kiff- Attack 6, Defense 1
The little blind boy whose mother used to run the inn.
Blind? Mettaton turned around. Now, wait a moment. You can't just go dropping something like that in the middle of a bat-
"Ow!" Mettaton cried as he felt the child wack his leg with the wooden sword. He reflexively swung the appendage up to rub the sore spot while glaring down at the child, who bounced up in the air.
"Moving!?" he exclaimed and swiveled his head around. "I saw moving! I heard moving!"
*...Kiff is confirming the moving object.
With a small sigh, Mettaton brought his leg back down and reached out to pat the child's head.
*Kiff is...too suspicious of your movements, Alphys stated when the rabbit hopped back a bit and made another charge forward.
This time, however, Mettaton froze in place and watched as the child ran straight past him. A few more steps, and a confused expression wiped over him.
Now when Mettaton reached out to pet the child's head, Kiff stood still, though his eyes widened and he gasped. "Something pet me! Something pet me...and it's not moving!"
"I…" Well, he was still technically moving… though perhaps it only counted if his legs moved?
Either way, the rabbit child wrapped his arms around his chest and hopped back over the sentry station's counter, a look of terror written on his face. "Something pet me...and it didn't move…"
Mettaton then watched the child scoot down behind the counter and out of sight.
He shook his head, hips swaying as he moved forward and muttered to himself, "This place is so weird…"
"I-it gets better," Alphys assured, though he still was unable to locate her no matter how much his eyes glanced around. The pair made their way around a small set of trees, and he continued as a clearing came into view.
"Alphys, you really need to be visible if you want me to talk-"
"Who're you talkin' to?" a voice asked as the figure that was associated with it stepped out in front of him. A moment of deja vu washed over him, but only for a brief moment. The rest of the time was spent jumping backward, and then realizing that the person who had so rudely stepped in front of him was none other than the human from before.
"Frisk, Jesus… Do you really enjoy startling people like that?"
They chuckled, offering him a shrug in response and stuffing their hands into their coat pockets. "I just wanted to warn ya of something. A little advice to freeze your mind."
Mettaton assumed that was supposed to be a pun on "ease your mind" and simply rolled his eyes. "Yes, yes, what is it?"
"Blue attacks. They won't hurt you if you don't move. Kinda like what you did back there with that kid. Did you notice his sword was glowing a bit blue?"
The robot blinked a few times, tilting his head to the side. "You saw that?"
Frisk nodded and allowed a smile to make its way onto their face while leaning inward a bit. "Cute."
"Excuse me?"
"It was cute," they explained. The human then began to make their way past Mettaton, reaching out a hand to pat his arm as they passed and stopping momentarily to do so. "I gotta go catch up with Temmie now. See ya around?"
"See me around? Darling, you spoke to me for two seconds. Is that all you wanted to tell me about?"
Frisk's eyes trailed upward. They leaned onto one foot while shoving their hands back in their pockets, but then shook their head. If there was something important, they could just come back. It wasn't like there were many places for Mettaton to get lost.
With a small sigh, the robot shook his head. "Fine, fine...but if Temmie is behind me, I'm not backtracking just to "play" with her."
"She's not behind you," they replied, and hurried off before Mettaton could get in another word.
The robot decided not to pursue the cause. It seemed like a pointless effort, judging by Frisk's nonchalant attitude towards most things he's witnessed. Instead, he continued onward, though a few steps more and Mettaton found himself slipping on solid ice, which had switched quite suddenly from the soft snow he had found himself accustomed to. The heels on his shoes disagreed with such a switch and the robot was then flung forward after a few moments of attempting to balance himself, and those were followed by his arms flying out in front of him to stop him from falling on his face. Those were the only things that prevented such a collision, as the rest of his body had already fallen and Mettaton let out a small groan while attempting to stand.
That attempt simply caused him to slide along the slippery surface more, all the way to the end of ice. His arms were flailing about at his sides as he slid, though it did work to some degree, as our protagonist was at least able to keep upright for that time.
Upon reaching the snow once more, Mettaton stumbled into it, spreading his legs apart to keep from toppling over.
"A-aren't you gonna read the sign?" he heard Alphys ask from somewhere nearby, but Mettaton shook his head.
"Oh, you mean the sign back there? The one I'd have to traverse such a harsh terrain to reach? No thank you, I think I'll keep my balance."
"Uh...o-okay…" Alphys rubbed one hand along the other as she continued forward, though winced when she heard a loud "FRISK!"
Mettaton didn't jump this time (something he was somewhat proud of). He frowned, lowered his head a bit and scampered forward in the direction of the noise.
It wasn't long before two figures came into view: one being that of a short human in bulky coat, the other of a white cat-dog anthro that appeared to be somewhat upset, though if Mettaton was reading her correctly, she seemed less so than when he had first met her. The two were facing each other again, and the human, as usual, didn't appear to care in the least.
"How dare u make mee nap all night in dat STOOPID DOGGEE BED! I MAde da sentret station 4 a raisin!"
Frisk didn't even move as far as the robot was concerned. They simply stared at the anthro with a blank look and spoke with a dead tone. "I think that's sleeping."
"I DUN CARE WAT IT I-!"
Mettaton cleared his throat- or what he could, anyway, and was honestly a bit surprised he could still do that- causing the two to glance over in his direction. It was quite obvious when Tem's face lit up upon noticing his presence, and she proceeded to let out a small squeal.
"HOOMAN!" Her eyes practically glistened in the little light that was available underground. "U HERE! yaYU! Frisk n I made Frisk n I made PUZZLEZ 4 you 2 solve!"
Her eyes turned down to the open area in front of her...well, it would have been open, had it not been for the fencing that encased it. The robot noted that it appeared to be a maze of some kind, though one that looked rather simple for someone of his intellect.
"Dis is dee INVISBLE FENCES! U have 2 go threw dem!"
"Uh, Tem, I don't think they are…" Mettaton turned his attention to the human beside her, whose eyes appeared to be covered by a shadow, their hands buried in their pockets. Their neck was crooked to the side and their body stiff, though despite this, it was believed that their gaze was centered on the robot in a less-than-friendly manner.
"Dun believe wot?"
He paused for a moment, bringing his hands up slightly and shaking his head. "It's nothing." He really didn't feel like dealing with an angry Frisk for simply disproving the tem's claim.
Tem's smile returned, though. She bounced a bit, paws thumping against the floor as her body vibrated with excitement. The human beside her allowed a smile to pass over them as they saw this display before turning their attention back onto the robot on the other side.
"Say, Tem," Frisk asked while their back slumped a small bit. "How do you think he'll be able to get past this maze?"
"WEEEELL… U cant get a round it an u cant go streight threw fence..."
Temmie narrowed her eyes when they had caught sight of Mettaton once again after focusing on the wooden barriers. "NU! NU HINTS! But I tell u wat happen if u dun make it!"
By this point Mettaton was practically straining not to roll his eyes. Honestly, if it weren't for that odd intimidation Frisk was capable of, he probably would anyway. ...Not because he was scared or anything! And certainly not of someone who appears ten, no less! But he still would rather avoid making them upset, if only to prevent them from potentially crying. Yes, that's why, obviously. Mettaton was such a nice guy.
There was a moment of silence. The two human SOULs held their gaze on the vibrating tem patiently. When she simply smiled at the robot and continued to rapidly move in place, said robot would frown even further and place a hand against his hip while shifting to the side. "Well?"
"Well wot?"
"What happens if I don't make it?"
"OH!" Temmie then leaped into the air, her front paws leading as she sprung over the gate and into the maze. "U just gotta get thru da maze n den u win!1!"
Mettaton would then groan.
Don't facepalm. Don't facepalm. Don't facepalm...
"OKEE! U can go now!"
Our protagonist decided to ignore Frisk's chuckling as he lifted one leg up over part of the fence. Honestly, he could probably solve this himself, but his legs seemed to be a lot more flexible lately, and with how easy it was to simply step over them, why bother?
It didn't take long to get close to the end, and when he did, Mettaton could hear a loud gasp come from the temmie's gaping mouth and immediately after she let out a cry of, "WOAH! U got thru da maze!"
His gaze soon met hers and he mimicked the audible breath of air once it was noted that her eyes had quite literally popped out of her skull. Not hanging from a strand of nerve tissue like in horror movies, no (though it might as well be from one), but instead, they had inflated like balloons. It was nearly enough to make Mettaton cringe. Only sheer willpower could keep him from appearing so weak in front of others, and considering how Frisk barely even shifted their weight, he was certainly glad to have caught himself.
"CONGRA-TEM-LATIONS!" Temmie exclaimed as she glomped the robot. Unfortunately for her, her weight wasn't nearly enough to knock over the metal man, and unfortunately for him, he was too busy returning the gesture (once proven safe, of course) to notice Frisk tense. It was a bit hard to read them as it was, so even if he was watching them, it might not have mattered anyway. They seemed fine once Temmie had let go, however, and even smiled again as their temmate returned to their side.
"U iz 2 smurt 4 da maze," the temmate said with a small giggle. "But wait 4 next puzzle! Is reeeeelly harder!"
"I'm sure it will be." This response was accompanied with a small raise of the eyebrows, Mettaton's hand falling back onto his hip. Harder, sure. Definitely. He wasn't honestly that concerned with what this thing threw at him at the moment. She seemed a bit too...ah, what was the word?...unintelligent to actually do much that posed as a challenge.
Temmie nodded. "Frisk designs it! Is gunna be soooooo hard! I dun even no wat it is!"
"Oh?" The eyebrows shifted from one being half-raised to both climbing up his forehead as far as they could go while his eyes took a quick glance over at the human before settling back down on the tem beside them. "Frisk made it?"
"Mmhmm! An Tem dun even no solushun, so u gunna have hard tem!"
She then turned around, dropping onto all fours and trotting happily down the snowy path.
"hey."
Mettaton turned his attention away from the strange cat-dog abomination over to the human that had been standing beside her. His expression fell from a mix of surprise and confusion to match the neutral one being held on Frisk's. Their smile appeared to have vanished, though they didn't seem too upset either. He was starting to think that this blank look was the norm for them. Strange coming for someone who turned half of their sentences into flirting during the first meeting.
"thanks."
How strange. Frisk seemed to have gotten quieter than before, and it left Mettaton to tilt his head. Sure, they might need to talk a bit louder with Temmie around just to be heard, but this was different. Their voice was...softer. Less dull, even. It was quite a change, enough to make Mettaton pause for a moment.
"Oh, you're welcome, darling," he replied, though blinked. "Might I ask for what?"
They let a small smile tug the corners of their lips, just barely enough for the other to make out. "for playing along. she seems so happy...it's a nice change."
"Oh!" He nodded. "You're quite welcome. I'm happy to help!"
Well, that was only partially true. He was happy to get to Hotland, and Frisk promised to help if he'd play along. So, he supposed, that could be considered to be happy to help.
Frisk moved their hands about in their pockets and spread their legs out a slight bit more, the smile creeping further onto their face. "You see Tem's collar?"
"Huh? I guess."
"She said a guard gave it to her." They glanced to the side. Just more giant cliff… They'd rather not lean on that. "He made one for all of her family in return for her teaching him her secrets of trade. Isn't that cool?"
Secrets of trade? Oh boy. He wasn't sure how well Tem could run a shop, but if it was anything like how she made puzzles, he wasn't sure he'd care to. So he simply shrugged.
Frisk's smile dropped at this, however. A shrug could mean anything… Was he saying Tem wasn't cool? Because that's not cool. He better chill out.
With a small sigh, the human shook their head. Fine, fine. Everyone has their own opinion, even if it's wrong.
"Right, well…" Mettaton took a look over at the narrow pathway hanging above the cliff. Jeez, he was supposed to cross that? "...I'd better get going. Don't want to be unfashionably late."
Frisk nodded. He waved them goodbye, but they still watched him. He backed away, and they still watched him. Crossing the pathway, still watching him. The only time Mettaton was certain he had lost their gaze was when he had made his way around a group of trees, and even then…
"They sure are strange," he muttered to himself as he brought his arms up to his chest. Maybe he should ask Frisk if they knew where to get a spare coat. The former human was starting to worry that his metal might crack.
Those thoughts were ripped away from him at the sound of a small sigh. He turned his attention to what appeared to be an...ice cream cart? In the middle of a snowy forest? What kind of person would have an ice cream cart in the middle of- ...is that a skeleton?
He took a few steps forward, leaning out with his arms tucked tightly against his chest, and examined the skeleton that stood in front of such an unusual business practice. "Um, hello?"
"I don't understand why these aren't selling…" he heard the man mutter, watching as his shoulder(bones?) drooped. "I could have sworn our catchphrase would have attracted some people, even if it is just ice cream…"
This man, from what Mettaton could remember of anatomy class, appeared to be in the skeleton equivalent of late forties, though it was rather difficult to tell when all you had to go off of was the shape of the bones.
Speaking of which, our protagonist might not be an expert on the human body (even less so now that he had none), but he was fairly certain that people didn't have gigantic holes where their palms were. Yet, here he was, his eyes being drawn down to this man's lack of palms. Just two gaping holes… He wasn't sure if there were any others, as most of this stranger's figure was cloaked in a long black robe. The only things visible were the hands and the head, the latter of which was pointed at the floor.
"Excuse me?" Mettaton called again as he took a small step forward and reached his arm out. That was quickly retracted, however, when the head from before perked up with a sudden energy and he heard in a deep, stern voice,
"Oh, a customer! Hello, would you care for some ice- er, Nice Cream?"
"Nice Cream?" Now that was just a strange name. Being out in the middle of a snowy forest, though, that was probably one of the lesser oddities.
"Yes." He cleared his throat. "It's the frozen treat that warms your heart, and for only fifteen gold."
Fifteen gold? Jesus, that was more than the doughnut those Temmies sold him! ...Never mind the fact that it was made of paper. "I'm afraid I don't have the money for that."
"Ah, I see…"
Seeing this man's shoulders droop again caused the robot to frown (again...he really should stop doing that; it might freeze that way) and lean forward. "I have to wonder, why are you selling it all the way out here?" Y'know, Hotland seemed like a nice place to sell ice cream in. He was assuming that it fit the name trend of being overly-blatant, anyway. Though the ice cream might melt, too…
The man rested one hand against the cart, looking at it for a but a moment before turning back to Mettaton. "Oh, I'm doing this for a friend. He always wanted to sell ice cream and make some kids happy. I believe he used to live around here…"
"A friend?" That's awfully sweet of him. ...Ignore that pun. Mettaton is. He's more focused on the current conversation. "Who?"
Though this seemed to cause the man to tense. He took a step back and leaned away while pressing his (lack of) palm harder against the container's metal top."Who?"
A few blinks followed. Little white specks in the middle of his eye sockets danced about while those sockets widened slightly. If he could breath, he'd probably be doing so a bit faster now, though a skeleton wouldn't need such a thing. This stranger merely locked his jaw in place. It was as if Mettaton had just asked him about something invasive, such as cheating on a spouse or allowing something important to slip from his memory, though neither of the two were quite sure of what.
"I don't remember."
Well, I think I'm at least getting a bit better at this.
It's still difficult switching muses, but... I think I'm getting the hang of it! And I looked a bit more into characterization and how characters can compliment each other, so maybe if I pull off Alphys right...hopefully her and Mettaton will feed off of each other. If only she stays in a frame long enough for that to happen...
So, I have a poll on my profile. Feel free to check that out. Relevant to everyone, I can guarantee you that. The question itself is just a simple yes or no question asking whether or not you listen to music while reading fanfiction. I want to see if recommending more songs while reading EquationTale would be beneficial or not.
I'm thinking about opening an EquationTale ask. Ah, my last ask actually did quite nicely! That was, um...that was for FNaF, and that's closed now, so you don't need to worry about it. But now I want to know if I should open one again, perhaps? It'd be on both the EquationTale tumblr and my Deviantart, KuraiTsukiMajutsu. What do you guys think?
Nooooow for reviews!
EveeFan: That...would certainly be interesting. Don't worry, though. I tried to make as much sense of their positions as I can. While technically not random, it certainly seems that way...but I think I managed to tie them together alright, even if I had to take some liberties, such as the Blook cousins being humans. So, uh, the creature in Temmie's place can in fact multiply...kind of. Guess I got lucky there...
As for character connections, yes, most of them are the same. Alphys still built Mettaton, Chara and Asriel are still adopted siblings, Toriel and Asgore...well, their relationship is already pretty complicated, isn't it? Guess that didn't change either. Pap and Sans are still brothers, Pap still looks up to Undyne...or, well...used to... And Undyne and Alphys, heh...
Tatzebea: Niiiice. To be frank, I think writing this story made me kind of sort of ship them a little bit but kind of only a little heh!
Are you satisfied with Temmie's reaction?
Aria: Of course you know something! Otherwise, would you have even commented? Besides, it doesn't matter much anyway. I won't be focusing too much on the random encounters. Really only enough to effectively get Alphys's, uh, "problems" across.
Doctor Papyrus...we'll have to wait and see ;3
NoItsBecky: Hm...interesting.
Frisk x Temmie = Tisk.
What's wrong with Tisk?
TiskTisk.
Thatmightbeareferencenowcookiestothepeoplethatspotit.
TO THE PERSON THAT REVIEWED 'MLG' SEVERAL TIMES ON THE FIRST CHAPTER:
Please don't.