Chapter 6
We found Papyrus and Sans shortly after the encounter with Ice and I could tell that Frisk was looking around in confusion as she and I were eating our Nice Creams. And Papyrus looked at us with his usual enthusiasm.
"HUMANS! I HOPE YOU ARE READY FOR!... SANS! WHERE IS THE PUZZLE?!" Papyrus asked in annoyance.
"it's right there on the ground. trust me, they won't get past this one," Sans smiled as I looked at the ground and saw that the puzzle happened to be a paper of Junior Jumble, which was super easy. And Frisk smirked at it before then looking at me.
"Um... do we need a pen or-" she was about to say before I simply took the paper, crumpled it up, and then rolled a bunch of snow on it. I then simply sent it over the side of the cliff face and we both watched in amazement as the ball of snow and paper proceeded to gain size as it rolled down the hill before turning into a large, human-sized ball at the bottom, it being next to a tree house as it stopped completely on flat ground.
"Now THAT was fun!" I smirked widely as Papyrus had his mouth agape.
"SANS... NOT ONLY DID THAT DO NOTHING, BUT THEY'RE IDEA FOR IT, I'D ARUGE, WAS BETTER THAN MY PUZZLE AHEAD OF US!" Papyrus shouted in both annoyance and jealousy.
"whoops, i guess i should've used today's crossword instead," he said with a smile.
"CROSSWORD?! I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU JUST SAID THAT! IN MY OPINION, JUNIOR JUMBLE IS EASILY THE HARDEST!"
"what? that easy-peasy word scramble? bro, that's for baby bones."
"UN. BELIEVABLE! HUMANS! SETTLE THIS DEBATE FOR US! WHICH IS HARDER?" Papyrus asked as I looked at Frisk and we then spoke our answers. But both of us said the opposite of what was to be expected.
"Junior Jumble," Frisk said.
"Crossword," I said. Yeah, I did love Papyrus, but I didn't like lying to anyone. And I didn't know if Frisk was being honest or not.
"AH! I SEE THAT THE HUMANS DON'T AGREE ON EVERYTHING! BUT I SHALL ADMIRE THE ONE IN THE STRIPED SWEATER FOR SAYING THAT JUNIOR JUMBLE IS HARDER! I AM EVEN MORE DETERMINED TO CAPTURE YOU NOW! NYEHEHEHEHE!" Papyrus snickered before running off, me looking at Frisk and her looking at me.
"Why did you say crossword is harder?" she asked me.
"I don't like lying," I admitted.
"well, that's alright. means you've also got integrity in ya. by the by, i happen to have something at our house that used to belong to her. if you can get there in one piece, i think i can give you her ballet slippers," he smiled as I nodded.
"Depends what her size was," I smirked.
"10 wide, children's."
"Huh, that's my shoe size exactly," Frisk admitted, me smirking at that.
"What a coincidence!" I smiled widely. We then moved forward once again and we found the next room was with the snow pile due south and three conifer trees to the east.
"I have a feeling that something is hidden between the trees," I said, Frisk looking at me in confusion.
"Why do you think that?" she asked.
"We're dealing with a skeleton that loves puzzles. That area due south of us has a bunch of snow moved onto it. And there's a blockade of spikes preventing us from going forward. I think that we need to find a hidden switch. And hiding a switch in between plants is the oldest of puzzles," I smiled, me then simply going over to the trees and then pushing the switch on the ground, it being covered up with a small assortment of twigs and branches. I then joined back up with Frisk... but I also felt something breathing down my neck, me then turning around and seeing that it was Lesser Dog, who was panting before then sending our souls out for a fight.
"Bark bark!... arf?" she barked as she checked my soul and then her tail went between her legs. And I knew why. It was the same reaction as Ice Cap had.
"Easy, poochy, I'm a good girl, I promise... how about we have a good pet?" I asked, that immediately piquing Lesser Dog's interest as she then bounded over to me and I proceeded to put her behind the ears, each pet that I made making her head extend longer and longer, which made Frisk surprised as I then continued to pet her relentlessly for a good thirty seconds as her tail turned into a propeller from how excited she got.
"I think you might have a serious problem," Chara frowned at me, which I could tell made Lesser Dog surprised, but I then petted her again and made her ignore the voice she heard. "Okay, that's enough pettings for today. I'll give you some more later, promise," I smiled at her.
"Oh my gosh, thankies!" Lesser Dog SPOKE! She then proceeded to run off into the distance after retracting her head, me seeing that Dogamy and Dogaressa were surprised by how fast she ran past them. Me and Frisk then moved towards the duo, but I made sure we rolled in the snow beforehand. Why would I do this?
"Huh? Smell, find the smell..." Dogamy said.
"puppy smell detected... no threat at all... i think..." Dogaressa whimpered with shyness, me smirking at her as I then proceeded to pet her behind the ears. "w-what?! p-pets from a puppy?!"
"Don't leave me out!" Dogamy smirked as Frisk then pet him behind the ears and even scratched his neck, the duo of dog lovers then doing the same to each other.
"Amazing. Dogs can pet other dogs! A new world has been opened up to us! Thank you, weird puppies!" they smirked before then rushing forward, me knowing by the constant giggling and petting that they were going to be flirting for a good while. Also, the hearts above their heads was more than enough to let me know that.
"You're smart. Smarter than I thought you'd be. Tell me, how much did you know about this whole thing?" Chara asked me.
"Too much. Researched up and down and all around. And that includes anything fan-related that wasn't canonical," I simply thought to her.
"So what was?" they asked.
"Well, Asriel would've been attacked by the humans, you would only be able to appear if Frisk gained an LV of 20, and we couldn't use magic."
"LV... of 20? As in, World Ender material? If a human gets that high in LV, they could destroy a universe!" she gawked. "A-And I only know of that because of mom's history class. The humans that went to war with the monsters were told to kill at most 10 monsters each, as they didn't want to become too deadly."
"Yep. And Sans, the lazybones? The one who makes jokes? He's the final boss, the toughest boss, and gives the most EXP of any monster in the Underground."
"I believe that last part. Mainly because of how he can teleport and the sheer power I feel whenever we fist bumped him," she admitted.
"What are you thinking about to Carly?" Frisk asked, me smirking at that.
"Just explaining how I knew to roll around in the snow. And the answer is that dogs are strong sniffers, so we needed to mask our scent when we encountered them," I smirked.
"Even then, they probably wouldn't try to hurt you with your tough soul. E-Even I am scared of it," Frisk admitted.
"Where I come from, this kind of soul is normal," I admitted.
"Where you come from?" she asked.
"Yeah, that's the weird thing. According to Sans, who is smarter than he lets on, I come from a different universe that has extreme similarities to this one," I said, Frisk gawking at that with eyes of wonder. "The only big differences between the two is that this world has monsters, magic, and human souls can survive after the body expires... oh, and souls are different in general in this world than mine," I smirked.
"How are they different?" Frisk asked.
"Well, in my world, nobody even knows if anyone has a soul. We just form different religions to think of where we go after we perish. Some are better than others, however," I said.
"Would one of them be Scientology? Because they believe in pretty bonkers things," Frisk frowned.
"Yes, and they do bad things to a lot of people," I frowned.
"Not anymore. They were disbanded when a group of people rebelled against the owner and took him down, finding that his soul had an LV of 19," Frisk said, Chara gasping at that from my mouth. "Yeah, and that he planned to destroy the world when he got to LV 20, but only if the world refused to convert when he declared war on all," Frisk frowned.
"Well, that's a relief that he's been dethroned, then. In my world, Scientology is so wealthy, that they can hold family members hostage, break every law in the book under the guise of religion, and they only became a religion because they relentlessly sued individuals in the IRS and won because my world is not good," I said.
"Huh... quite the opposite of this world. People are normally not allowed to get too strong or powerful, no monopolies are allowed to flourish, and the president has tons of restrictions to him so he can't make laws on the fly."
"Honestly? That sounds like the TRUE American dream," I smiled.
"It's been the American dream since the Revolutionary War, no issues at all from anything since," Frisk smiled.
"Then the world is way different than my own. In fact, it's BETTER!" I smirked. We then moved to the next part, me getting past the next puzzle by turning the x's into circles and Frisk then pushing the button. And Papyrus was waiting there with his back to us, me then about to throw some snow before Chara stopped me.
"No, no, don't do that. I've got a better idea," Chara said, her then going behind Papyrus with barely a sound before then doing one thing. 'RRRAAGHHH!" Chara roared like a horror movie creature, which Papyrus jumped and screamed before then turning around and then looking at me in annoyance.
"OOOGH! HOW DID YOU GET HERE SO QUICKLY?! I WAS JUST ABOUT TO SET UP ANOTHER TRAP FOR YOU AND NOW YOU RUINED IT!" Papyrus said as I then looked at where he pointed and I saw he was about to finish a plate of spaghetti, but the scare managed to make him spill it on the ground.
"Sorry, that was my other side that did that," I said, him looking at me in confusion. "It's another person in my head basically. Her name is Carly, I'm Malory. I planned to throw another snowball at you, but she decided to scare you instead. So I think she's got something to say," I said, me then pinching my arm and her then taking control.
"Awright, awright, GAWRSH!" she groaned in an accent, me seeing that it was... an accent I'd never heard before. It sounded like a texan accent mixed with an Italian mobster accent. "Ah'm sawrry fer scarin' ya and ruinin' yer spaghetti," Chara frowned.
"It's okay, I already forgave you!" Papyrus said, Frisk simply smiling at that as Chara then retreated into my mind in surprise.
"He... already forgave me? That... that's so nice..." she gawked.
"She's surprised you forgave her so quickly, Great Papyrus," I smiled.
"NOW THEN, I ALSO SET UP ANOTHER PUZZLE AHEAD!... BUT AFTER THE MUTTS RAN PAST, THEY ACCIDENTALLY ACTIVATED IT... SO, I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, SHALL OBSERVE IF YOU CAN DEFEAT THE NEXT PUZZLE WITHOUT OUTSIDE ASSISTANCE!" Papyrus smirked before running off and me then asking a question to Chara.
"What kind of accent was that anyways?" I asked her.
"My original accent, it being that of the Blackfoot tribe... and before you ask, no, I was not an original member. My original family came to the area and integrated with the Blackfoot tribe. I was born shortly after they integrated and was taught English by them... but I still have that accent. Consider yourself lucky. Not even the Dreemurrs have heard me speak that way before," Chara explained in annoyance to my head as I held Frisk's hand and we walked forward, only so she could hear them.
"I never heard that accent before... so that's what the Blackfoot Natives' accent sounds like? It... sounded pretty cute," Frisk smirked.
"Um... are ya flirtin' with me?" Chara asked from my mouth.
"Maybe?... I like to flirt with people I trust, even if it's just platonic," Frisk smiled.
"Sorry, but you're not old enough for being in a relationship with a 20-year-old," I smiled at her.
"But uh... the legal age is 13," she said, me then gawking at that and facepalming.
"Oh god... in my world, only Japan had the age of 13 being legal..." I groaned.
"Not this one. 13 all over, but we need to be mature about it. None of the 'fun' things until 18," she pouted.
"At least that's consistent..." I sighed in defeat as we finally caught up to Papyrus and we then proceeded to push on the different x's until we had all circles, me then hitting the switch and the spike trap being lowered.
"WOWIE! YOU ACTUALLY SOLVED IT! NOW... DO NOT MOVE FOR AT LEAST FIVE SECONDS! NYEHEHEHEHEHE!" Papyrus sneered as he rushed ahead and I simply stayed put for the total 5 seconds, Frisk smirking at me.
"You were right. He is adorable," she smirked as we moved forward, and we saw the next puzzle in the form of the electronic floor tile puzzle.
"HUMANS! THIS IS YOUR NEXT PUZZLE! THE DREADED FLOOR TILE PUZZLE! ALLOW ME TO EXPLAIN THE RULES!" Papyrus shouted, me nodding at him. "RED TILES ARE IMPASSABLE! YOU CANNOT STEP ON THEM! BLUE TILES ARE FULL OF WATER! IF YOU STEP ON A GREEN TILE, IT SOUNDS AN ALARM AND YOU MUST FIGHT A MONSTER! ORANGE TILES ARE ORANGE SCENTED! IF YOU SMELL LIKE ORANGES, THE PIRANHA IN THE WATER WILL ATTACK YOU! YELLOW TILES ARE ELECTRIFIED! YOU CAN'T STEP ON THEM EITHER! AND IF THEY ARE NEXT TO A BLUE TILE, THE WATER WILL SHOCK YOU TOO! PURPLE TILES WILL MAKE YOU SMELL LIKE LEMONS AND ARE SLIPPERY! BUT THE PIRANHAS HATE LEMONS! AND PINK TILES DO ABSOLUTELY NOTHING! STEP ON THEM AS MUCH AS YOU WANT! DO YOU UNDERSTAND THE RULES?"
I nodded, Frisk simply shrugged her shoulders. As for Chara?
"Ugh... too much information... I didn't catch all of it..."
"GOOD! AND ONE MORE THING! THIS PUZZLE... IS ENTIRELY RANDOM! ! ! ONCE I PULL THE SWITCH, IT WILL MAKE A PUZZLE THAT HAS NEVER BEEN SEEN BEFORE! NOT EVEN I WILL KNOW THE SOLUTION! GET READY! HERE WE GO!" Papyrus sneered as he then activated the puzzle and the tiles then started to flash all of their different lights, me and Frisk looking away from it until we knew the lights died down, us looking at it and smirking at how, unlike in the game, it wasn't a straight line of pink. It was an entire floor of pink with only one tile being blue! And Papyrus looked dizzy as he stumbled ahead in a sort of daze! We then moved forward and spoke to Sans, who simply stood there without a care.
"y'know what? that spaghetti my bro was gonna make? it wasn't that bad. he's been improving a lot since he's started getting lessons. maybe one day, he'll make some spaghetti you could actually eat without stomach troubles," Sans smirked.
"Uh... what exactly does he put in that spaghetti?" I asked.
"the usual ingredients. sauce, noodles, pickle juice, red peppers, cardboard, and sprinkled with feta cheese," Sans said, me getting grossed out the moment he said pickle juice. Now I knew why the taste made Frisk's mouth scrunch up when going on the date with Papyrus.
"Oh my gosh... I need to teach him how to make a proper spaghetti. I don't want to die young," I joked.
"Same," Frisk smirked.
"eh, good to know you'd be willing to help him with something. so, how about you get a move on before he gets impatient?" Sans smirked.
"Only if you can tell me how to teleport," I smirked.
"you mean my shortcuts? you already can, you just haven't tried it yet," Sans smirked, me looking at him in confusion. I then decided to test it out by teleporting to a different part of the Underground, that being the bedroom of Asgore in Old Home, me seeing that I'd managed to do so effortlessly! And that Asgore's room was actually very run-down and had some memorabilia of their marriage like old gifts and presents... but that Toriel had recently been in the room in the past. I then teleported right back to Sans and smirked widely at how I did it effortlessly! And the best part, Flowey wasn't spying on me during this time!
"SWEET!~ I can shortcut!" I smirked widely, but Frisk simply poked my back and pointed something out to me. My shirt had been turned backwards during the second trip. "Oh, hushies, Frisk, it's just a minor setback," I smiled... but then I also looked at my feet and saw that my fuzzy socks were missing.
"first time teleportation always has some hiccups, but i'm surprised how good yours was for a first-timer. most of the time, those who learn it happen to lose all of their clothes and food in their stomachs."
"Well, that's a relief. I just have to make sure that I get it down pat," I smirked as Frisk and I then moved forward again, finding the ice puzzle and pressing the switches on it before activating the bridge. It was much easier if we got down on all fours so we wouldn't slip as easily, unlike in the game. We then went the rest of the way across the bridge and into the path of a certain reindeer. But it wasn't Gyfftrot. It was... another reindeer. And she had an adorable red nose, wore a white dress, and had a bunch of stuff on her antlers, which were way longer.
"O-Oh my! Y-You're uh... h-hi there, h-h-humans..." said the extremely shy Noelle Holiday when she saw us, me seeing she took our souls out for a fight... and she then sweat a lot when she saw that my soul was hidden in stats. "J-Just as scary as he said..." she said with concern.
"Who said what about us? Because we're just innocent bystanders hoping to leave the Underground... and freeing the monsters in the process," I smirked, her then looking at me in surprise.
"I-I'm sorry... I can't believe that... the flower said you were dangerous... a single attack of magic would kill the world..." Noelle said, me simply rolling my eyes and causing a specific magic attack in the form of forcing the snow on the ground to blow into a blizzard, which Noelle gasped at in concern as I then simply told the blizzard of snow to go to her antlers and remove all the things attached to her antlers. And when I did, she gasped as she saw that she was taking no damage and that I was removing the junk off of her most prized asset, which included a photograph of Snowy's family, some Mettaton cologne, a string of lights, and a bit of barbed wire. "I... I..." she stuttered as I smiled.
"See? No danger at all," I smiled before she then ran over to me and gave me a hug, which I was surprised at how nice it felt.
"Thank you so much! Everyone just kept giving me pointless gifts instead of removing that junk from my head! B-But then why would that flower say you were nasty and dangerous?"
"Because he fears me and my soul. He wants me dead because my soul being here is preventing him from hurting others. He wants me dead so he can take my soul and become stronger. Strong enough to destroy the world," I frowned.
"How horrible! I'm going to spread the word that you two are incredibly nice and that you are not at all evil! I'll see you in a bit!" Noelle smiled as she then ran ahead of us and towards Snowdin, me smirking at Frisk.
"She was cute and pretty," Frisk smiled.
"I agree. I wonder who she was," I said, playing dumb.
"Tell me, you know her, don't you?" Chara frowned in my head as I then answered in thought only.
"Noelle Holiday... I think. That was her name in this game's sequel, which was basically another continuity. Where humans are rarer than monsters and the Dreemurrs are just normal people with Toriel being a teacher and Asgore being best dad," I smiled.
"And who was Noelle?"
"The daughter of the mayor of the town. And her father in the hospital with some kind of disease."
"I wonder if that's the same for this world?"
"No flippin' clue," I admitted as we then moved forward and saw that Noelle was actually speaking with Greater Dog, who was barking back at her.
"Yes, yes, I know that you need to hunt humans... but these two are planning to free us on their own! And the one with the gloves and ribbon happens to have a super strong soul! I bet she could free us peacefully without hurting others!" Noelle smirked as I then walked closer and Noelle smiled and noticed. "Oh! There they are! Greater Dog, these are the ones I was talking about," Noelle said, Greater Dog barking and sniffing us before then sniffing me closer.
"Bark bark! Strong bark!" he said in adorableness before then walking back to Noelle.
"By the way, I don't think we were properly introduced, were we?" I asked.
"Oh, how silly of me! My name is Noelle Holiday. And who are you?" she asked.
"This is Frisk and I'm Malory. Malory Wares," I said, that making Noelle gasp and look at me in shock.
"O-O-Oh my god... it can't be! I KNEW IT! I knew you were special! But the fact that you're the prophecy?! I NEED TO TELL EVERYONE!" Noelle shouted before rushing off.
"N-Noelle, wait!" I shouted, but she was already running across the bridge and out of earshot.
"Prophecy? Confusion! Weird smell is prophecy?... See soul?" Greater Dog asked, me then rolling my eyes and doing so, him looking at it and sniffing it, him barking afterwards. "It true! Super strong soul! Soul of Smarts! Absorbs memories and grows strong! Strongest with many memories!" Greater Dog smirked. "You may pass." He then finally left down the bridge and I looked at Frisk and she shrugged her shoulders.
"Don't look at me, I'm just as confused as you."
"Maybe I should go to the library and look it up?" I asked.
"Ah think we should doodit too," Chara said in her accent as we walked across the bridge towards Snowdin, me sensing that Flowey was watching us after the halfway point and we saw Papyrus and Sans at the end.
"AHA! HUMANS! THIS IS YOUR FINAL PUZZLE! BEHOLD! THE GAUNTLET OF DEADLY TERROR!" Papyrus shouted as he then lowered the different weapons. Flames, blades, a cannon, a spike ball, and the annoying dog himself. "WHEN I PRESS THIS BUTTON, THE CONTRAPTION SHALL ACTIVATE! FLAMES WILL BURN, BLADES WILL SLICE, AND CANNONS WILL FIRE! ONLY THE TINIEST CHANCE OF SUCCESS SHALL REMAIN! ARE YOU READY?! BECAUSE I! AM! ABOUT! TO DO IT!" Papyrus shouted as he then looked at the button and I then spoke.
"Um... isn't this a bit too extreme?" I asked, Papyrus looking at the puzzle before gawking.
"YOU ARE RIGHT! MY PUZZLES ARE UNSCRUPULOUSLY FAIR! BUT THIS METHOD IS TOO DIRECT! NO CLASS AT ALL! I AM A SKELETON WITH STANDARDS! AWAY IT GOES!" Papyrus said as he then deactivated it and we walked across the bridge with no fears. "WHAT? THIS WAS ANOTHER DECISIVE VICTORY FOR THE GREAT PAPYRUS! NYEH!... HEH!... HEH..." Papyrus said in concern before running ahead and Sans simply looked at us.
"i dunno what he's gonna do now. if i were you, i'd remember how blue attacks work. he specializes in a special variant," Sans said.
"Okay... do you happen to know of a prophecy per chance?" I asked him.
"heh, yeah, i do know about it, malware," he smirked at me. "and that's the truth. the name of the angel is called malware. that's your name shortened up, and that's why pops brought you here. you're the one to save us... if ya want to learn more, go to the shopkeeper, bonnie. she's the resident expert on the subject," he said, me nodding as we then went forward. It was time for the nicest place in the Underground, Snowdin Town.