There will be spoilers (if I even bother to continue this).
This is essentially my note page, so no shit there's gonna be spoilers. Also, I do curse. I can't imagine that I'd do it a whole lot on a notes page, but it most likely will happen. If you're offended by that...wait, I cursed in this story before, right? Right. If you can ignore it, all the power to you.
If you haven't already noticed, this is going to have a very conversational tone. I don't know who that would offend, but I guess that's another warning. So you know what to expect or whatever.
THIS WILL BE VERY LONG. I MIGHT DIVIDE IT INTO TWO PARTS OR, Y'KNOW, IT'LL JUST BE SUPER-FUCKING-LONG. I DUNNO I'LL PROBABLY DIVIDE IT.
And for the love of God, please send me prompts! I really do like writing EquationTale! I just don't have motivation to keep going along the same plot that UnderTale does. I want to, but it's boring. We all know what's going to happen. Following the same formula as the original game means that the only story you're telling is character development and whatever you can fit into the sub plot.
You know those Tumblr prompts that give you like a line or a starter or something? Yeah. Those could work. I really don't use tumblr, so please, by all means, feel free to submit a review with them.
Did you know that you can add multiple reviews by simply signing out of your account and leaving an anonymous review? Or you could PM me. Or you could contact me on another site. I don't care, just...please. I love writing things. It helps to have feedback from people about what they'd want to see.
Spoilers start here
Let's start with something simple. The formula.
What's funny is that another AU almost used the exact same one to figure out what their roles are. Not saying they copied me (that AU probably existed before mine; honestly I have no idea). I think it's called History Recast. They used ShiftSwap, whereas I used SwapShiftSwap. I wish I knew this existed before making EquationTale. Oh well.
The formula goes as follows:
Character A shifts to Character B, Character B swaps with Character C, Character C shifts to Character D, therefore Character A is Character D.
For example:
Sans shifts to Asgore, Asgore swaps with Toriel, Toriel shifts to Undyne, therefore Sans is Undyne.
Of course, I had to add some characters to the shift/swap lists, as to my knowledge, Annoying Dog doesn't have a shift or swap. Then again, maybe he does. I really don't pay that close attention to other AUs. I just like the designs and the music, heh…
The list
Note: The SOULs were not tampered with. I don't know what the hell I'd do if, say, the Green SOUL ended up as Asgore. And who would go in the SOUL's places? How would we know that they were in that place? It's just best to leave them as is.
Also, as you'll note, Muffet's Spider Babies were supposed to shift to Papyrus, but I have no idea how the fuck that's supposed to work, and I figured that the Tem Shop Owner had a right to be a bit more special than the rest of the tems, so I made her Papyrus instead. I also messed up on Bugerpants and Nice Cream Guy (they should technically be swapped than what I originally had them as), but they were already so interwoven into the story that I decided to just leave it as is.
Dogamy, Dogaressa, Doggo, and the Snodiwn bunnies just swapped with each other 'cause I didn't know what the heck to do with them.
On the original list, there were arrows to make it easier to read. Fanfiction doesn't allow that, so have fun reading each one individually.
Alphys to Chara
Annoying Dog to Temmies (Doggy Village)
Asgore to Mettaton
Bratty to Guard 01
Burgerpants to River Person
Catty to Guard 02
Chara to Toriel
Dogamy to Snowdin Shop Owner (Samantha) (vice-versa)
Dogaressa to InnKeeper (vice-versa)
Doggo to InnKeeper's Kid (Kiff) (vice-versa)
Flowey (Asriel) to Asgore
Frisk to Sans
Fuku to Fuku
Gaster to Nice Cream Guy
Grillby to Catty
Guard 01 to Muffet
Guard 02 to Grillby
Mad Dummy to Mad Dummy
Mettaton to Frisk
Monster Kid to Monster Kid
Muffet to Bratty
Napstablook to Annoying Dog
Nice Cream Guy to Gaster
Papyrus to Alphys
River Person to Burgerpants
Ruins Dummy to Ruins Dummy
Sans to Undyne
Muffet Spider Babus to Papyrus
Temmies to Muffet Spider babus
Toriel to Napstablook
Undyne to Flowey
The Timeline
I'm absolute shit at keeping timelines straight in my head, so to help, I laid everything in plots A and B out.
sta. sh/06fpqddr2ss (mind the spaces)
Again, this is only the main pre-story plot, plus a hint of sub B. None of the other character arch.
Where it says "Frisk's timeline resets to here," I'll get to that when I start talking about Frisk.
The Plot
Let's start with what I wanted to actually happen in-cannon, then I'll get to backstory. MTT falls down Mt. Ebott. Why was he climbing it? The forest around Mt. Ebott was the last known place his three cousins had been to. None have returned from that forest. He misses them, especially Nathan (Nabstablook/Blue SOUL). Nathan was his best friend. Now he has no one. He decides that either he finds them, or he dies trying.
Same logic applies to jumping down some random hole. He's...kind of emotional at that point, and really doesn't think it through.
Then he wakes up and almost pukes because ew that's his dead fucking bod- wait he's dead? Alphys had fixed him up. She did used to be the Royal Scientist, and she did work with human SOULs. She knows what they're capable of, and she needs protection. She NEEDS protection. The Ruins has been a great hiding spot for a while, but they'll...they'll find her eventually. It's just a matter of time…
Alphys is a ghost, so her ability to pick things up is...limited. But she can do it, if only for a little while. She gathers some scraps from around the Ruins and builds a robot body. It's not...amazing...but it functions, so it'll do (actually, many areas are exposed- the hot pink boots were specifically chosen because there wasn't enough scrap metal to finish Mettaton's legs).
Then Chara finds Mettaton. Chara is lonely Demon Mom and needs lots of hugs. I haven't specifically stated this (my rule of writing is that if it isn't necessary, don't include it), but while I was writing, I started getting the impression that Chara liked Mettaton. I have no idea why. I guess the way I was writing body language or something. Either way, she may or may not have the slightest crush on the robotoo. It at least gives her a reason as to actually try and make him stay.
Also, before you go ballistic on me for calling Chara a 'she', it's just easier for me. She and Frisk both identify as non-binary. Frisk would prefer you to call them a 'they', but won't get upset if you don't. Chara will calmly tell you one time that they want to be called a 'they'. They'll remind you once if you forget, maybe twice, but not very happily.
A human being born without genitalia, however, is next to impossible, so they do have biological sexes, much to their dismay. Chara, in EquationTale at least, is female, while Frisk is male, mostly to preserve as much of the Sans/Toriel relationship as I could. You don't have to see them as this, and if you don't want to see them dating, I really don't care. You can call them whatever pronouns you want; I. Don't. Care. They're fictional fucking characters. So please don't kill me.
ANYWAY!
Chara tries to convince Mettaton to stay. She has a mental freak out since the last person she loved that came through was her mother. I'll get more into that when I talk specifically about Chara. Long story short, they feel horrible.
Toriel also lives in the Ruins with Chara. Toriel tells MTT to stay as he is, at heart, a human child, but naturally, he doesn't listen.
Then he meets Frisk. Frisk just kinda goes with shit. Temmie is extremely annoying to MTT, as most of you could probably tell, but she was a good lesson in being gentler on people. He had never seen anyone cry from his words, so her outwardly display of emotions was...unexpected. A well-needed slap in the face of how powerful his words actually are (and he's the Purple SOUL, so they're pretty powerful).
Sans, being leader of the Royal Guard and wanting very desperately to protect his family, naturally goes after Mettaton. This isn't even about getting to the surface; he just wants his family to survive. And the king. Already had a problem with that once. But then MTT proves that he's actually just an asshole and not a real threat to monster lives, so Frisk convinces Sans to let MTT drop in on his usual lessons with Temmie. Then Temmie leaves. Because friendship.
And then the training ground burns down. Because Sans is a lazy a- I mean friendship.
Moving on.
At some point in Waterfall, MTT runs into Napstablook again, and finds out that holy shit, that's his cousin Nathan dude wtf. Nathan tells him that he's helping him get through the Underground, but then a red artifact comes into sight and- oh shit that's a ball bruh WE GOTTA GET THE BALL BRUH!
Nathan exists stage.
Actually, Nathan/Nabstablook is an extremely important character, as he's practically Mettaton's guardian angel. I imagine that, out of the six human SOULs, the purple one (perseverance) has the greatest amount of DETERMINATION. Not enough to reset, so even though Alphys helps, Nathan is a huge part of that whole process. Nathan's a huge part of how MTT doesn't die half the time. Without his cousin, Mettaton probably wouldn't have made it past the rabbits in Snowdin.
At another point in Waterfall, MTT would also run into Mad Dummy, Matthew, the Orange SOUL. Another cousin. He talks about how they were lucky to all escape, and he's not sure why MTT would want to go back to that hell hole of a lab. But, y'know, that's his choice.
Remember the Ruins Dummy with the Cyan SOUL? Yup. That was the fourth cousin.
Ah, then we arrive at Hotlands, with Papyrus as the Royal Scientist. Papyrus is his normal dorky self. His design is...basically his normal outfit, only with a lab coat and a pair of lensless glasses taped to his skull. He thought glasses would make him smarter. His lab is coated with action figures and Bill Nye the Science Guy tapes that people chucked in the dump (who throws away Bill!?). He says that he's supposed to be stopping Mettaton? But his brother let MTT go, so clearly MTT is okay. BUT HE'S STILL SUPPOSED TO BE STOPPING METTATON! So he...gives Mettaton an upgrade. Because that makes sense.
No seriously. "I don't think it's very fair to have a robot face a robot when one robot is only half a robot."
After MTT gets all the customs and what-not squared away, he's off to face...Asgore. Asgore apparently runs a news channel and a...kid's show. A kid's puppet show. And a documentary show. Like, this is okay.
The puppet show replaces the cooking show, and before it starts, he's complaining about how the ratings stink. Then MTT watches him go through some of the puppet stuff and responds with, "No wonder your ratings stink. Take a lesson from the pro, darling. Everyone knows that in showbiz, you need a little drama-"
*Cue top lights*
"-action-!"
*Cue bottom lights*
"-BLOODSHED!"
*Cue sparkly purple chainsaw*
Asgore recoils into himself, pressing the puppets against his metal chest, and shrieks, "WHERE IN THE UNDERGROUND DID YOU GET A CHAINSAW?! THIS IS A FAMILY FRIENDLY PRODUCTION!"
Asgore refrains from harming Mettaton in any of these circumstances because Papyrus had specifically set up an area for them to battle more "fairly" in. Asgore is a-okay with fair fights.
Right after a quick run-in with River Person- or, uh, Burger Person, as he's known- Mettaton enters the CORE, where he must confront Asgore. Asgore then gives some winded speech about how he doesn't want to do this, but he has no choice. They already have five SOULs, and only require two more to be free. Even after death (yes, he is a boss monster SOUL that was stuck inside a robotic suit in order to stay preserved), he must follow his son's law and take Mettaton's SOUL. Then Papyrus knocks on the door, yelling, "WAIT! STOP THE FIGHT! IT'S LOCKED! SOMEBODY OPEN UP THE DOOR!"
Asgore sighs, lowering his trident ever-so-slightly. "I knew he would do this. Papyrus is such a kind soul. Unfortunately, this is not something that can be solved through a simple cup of tea. If it could, I would have more than happily set up a table."
Then they fight, Asgore gets his limbs blown off, you know this story. The caller was Toriel, whom Chara hurriedly motioned over once she saw what was happening on the television. Toriel was very...displeased.
"Asgore!"
Asgore's eyes widened. Was that who he thought it was? She'd be the last person he expected to call in… "T-Tori…!"
"Don't call me that. I have been trying to call you since I saw your weapon and I swear, if you so much as touch that child, I'll-"
"Tori, the fight's over."
She very angry ghost mama. Veeeeery angry.
In the end, Asgore powers off, and Papyrus finally gets the door unlocked. Alphys had checked Asgore to make sure that he was still alive- it's fine, just the battery- which Mettaton relays to Papyrus. Papyrus happily thanks him and hugs Asgore before dragging the body and limbs back to his lab.
He doesn't mention that Mettaton would need to take a SOUL from a monster to cross the barrier. Either he does this earlier, in a casual conversation, Nathan mentions it at some point in Waterfall, or Alphys tells him that he'll need a SOUL at the same point she does in Classic UnderTale. I'm leaning mostly towards the last choice, maybe the first, most likely not the second (but it's still an idea). I love the idea that Alphys still lies and uses people, even after being dead. She lied to Mettaton, pretending to be guiding him toward his own self-interest, when in reality she just wants to use him as a shield. Getting to the Lab was less about customizing his outfit and more about outfitting him in proper gear, making sure everything functioned, etc. Yes, this would also benefit him, but she intended on keeping him in the Underground with her. He hoped to leave, even though the longer he stayed down, the more he realized that it'd be impossible to just return to his old life. Frisk also mentions in the date at MTT Resort (renamed; haven't thought of the new one yet) that they were given a choice to stay, too, and felt like they had to keep going, but realized that there was no way they could leave everyone behind. Of course, it's a bit different for Mettaton- you think the humans would let a robot be a part of their society? Nonetheless, Mettaton is anything but static.
Alphys changes too. By the time they defeat Asgore, it's clear that Mettaton has no intention of staying Underground. She couldn't stop him, and he'd find out eventually that he needs a SOUL of some kind to keep going. I'm still leaning towards her telling MTT this after defeating Asgore, which would give a reason for him not to try taking any SOULs up until that point.
Then he faces Frisk. Frisk warns the pair once more about what'll happen above ground and shoots a few questions at the two: Did anything down here matter to him, and whoever was traveling with him? Clearly he had an extra set of hands to guide him, although Frisk still wasn't sure of whose they were. What was the purpose of being down here? What lessons had been learnt? What would they do once they made it to the surface? And for the helper especially: Is there anything you would've done differently, if you knew how?
Then Mettaton is forced to face King Asriel. King Asriel is strong, he is determined, he is...easily defeated, and reduced to a trembling mess of fur curled up on the hard floor, whimpering with wide, fear-stricken eyes, "Please don't kill me."
Mettaton sighs. He kneels down to the child and reaches out a comforting hand, only his finger tips managing to grace the fur before the boss monster's body is annihilated in a mere second. The trajectory at which the pebbles descended upon him sends dust scattering, and before Mettaton has time to even lean back, its SOUL is taken, and crushed.
Here enters Fishy the Fish. I was contemplating having Fishy steal Chara and Frisk's SOULs, but that just sounded a little...unnecessary, I guess. Since Nabstablook has two SOULs (Nathan's blue SOUL and the puppy that he fused with), as long as Fishy can collect the three that escaped containment (the cousins), then everything's good. Or bad. Depends on whether or not you're Fishy.
Flowey fights you because he thinks you're Chara. Fishy fights you because she doesn't know what else to do. Just as Flowey becomes single-minded after death, so too does Fishy, or Undyne. You can see this in the Undyne the Undying fight in Classic UnderTale- literally all of her energy is going to taking you down. She can't do anything else. To say she's one-track-minded after death is practically canon. Her one track to be on is finding Alphys. You're something new. Maybe, just maybe, you can help. I mean Mettaton. Except I do mean you, because if any of you read the summary of the story, the player is still essential to the plot. The player is the whole reason that any of this ever occurs in the first place.
Anyway, blablabla, shit happens, you defeat Fishy, you go free, but Alphys is still following you because she's scared, and then she tells you about how you need to go back and finish the game and free everyone or...something. Seeing Undyne like that...she didn't even know Undyne was dead! Yeah, this weird fish thing occasionally would talk to her, but...she didn't know that was Undyne. It...it never told her.
Maybe it couldn't bring itself to face her in the emotionless state it was in.
To be continued in part two.