Chapter 13
"So... how do you feel right now, Malory?" Frisk asked me as we bid farewell to Alphys and started our trek through Hotland. And honestly, it was a very good question.
"I feel... odd... I have tons of power in me, just waiting to be used and expelled... but I also have the knowledge of every instance of anything that has happened in this world from here and outside the barrier... I can feel every thought and emotion of every living thing, and it's kind of overwhelming to have all of this knowledge in me," I admitted to her.
"That sounds kind of terrifying... so that includes bad ones?" Chara asked in concern.
"Indeed... and I don't really feel too much like my old self, y'know? Especially after seeing tons of memories of bad things in this world... but even though it's not nearly as bad as my world, it's still a lot," I admitted with a forced smile as we then saw that a particular bean of adorableness overheard us and looked concerned for me, it being in the form of Vulkin.
"Um... hi there," Vulkin said, me smiling at him.
"Hi... so... how much of that did you hear?" I asked him with a small sigh.
"I heard enough to know that Mettaton lied..." he said with a frown.
"No, he didn't lie. He was just given incorrect information from a bad guy that fears us and wants us dead," I said, him looking at me, Frisk, and Chara before speaking.
"Then what was that thing about one of you having a monster soul?" he asked.
"Well, that's because a monster decided to give me a second chance, as I was nothing more than a conscious mind without a soul... the monster, his name being Gaster, managed to get my soul from the other side and, in order to allow me to have my own body, combined his soul and body with my soul... and now, I'm who I used to be... just colorless," Chara said, Vulkin's eyes going wide at that.
"So cool..." he said, me smiling at him. "So, should I spread the word that you're not dangerous?" he asked, me nodding.
"I'd never be caught dead trying to hurt or kill anyone. I'd also not want the humans to be killed off just because of the actions of a few," I said, Vulkin smiling at that.
"That's what I've always thought, too. I love human culture, human food, all of that. I routinely go to the dump and get some of the food that gets dumped from the humans above," he said, me being confused at that.
"The dump is from humans dumping trash?" I asked.
"Yeah, and most of it is biodegradable, but the food is almost always expired," Chara smirked.
"Again, much different than my world, where pollution is a global issue," I admitted.
"And what do you mean when you talk of you being from another world?" Vulkin asked.
"It's complicated, but Gaster brought me to this world because I was the one mentioned in the prophecy. And my world is one that's got a lot of similarities to this one, but this one is much nicer with more good things than my world ever had," I smirked.
"That's even cooler! I gotta get going, just to let people know you're nice," he said as he ran off towards the conveyor belts ahead of us and we then followed after, before we then got a call on my cell phone from, who else, Toriel! And when she called me, I knew I had some explaining to do and I did not want the flower to listen in, especially since, when I gave all of Chara's family to their respective monster hosts, I gave them something else in case Flowey did catch on.
"Hello, you've reached Malory's Motors, how can I help," I said, trying to feign innocence. And Toriel didn't bother playing along.
"I need answers and an explanation, Malory. When did you manage to find Chara's mother and give her soul to me? And what exactly is going on? I feel an immeasurable power in the Underground right now!" she said, me then protecting me and my group in a soundproof shield so that Flowey couldn't listen in, me doing the same to Toriel so no one could listen in.
"I already explained it to you, but I guess you'd like me to elaborate, hmm?" I asked, her simply saying one word.
"Please."
"Fine... I managed to find this bit of armor in the Temmie Village that had the soul of the only human that fought in the war on the monsters' side, King Charles IV. And then, when I touch the armor after Chara puts it on, it-" I was about to say before she gasped.
"CHARA?! THEY'RE ALIVE?!" she shouted, me wincing at the volume she shouted with.
"Yes, and it's because of Gaster... would you like to talk to them?" I asked.
"YES!" she shouted, me then giving the phone to Chara and her simply speaking.
"H-hi mom..." she said shyly, most likely talking to both her mom in human and monster in Toriel, the one to respond being both at the same time.
"I can't believe it... how did you get alive again?" Toriel asked while Chara's human mother (her name was literally Mary Sue, no joke) said something different.
"She's very confused right now, mainly because of the strength she possesses with a human soul in her body," Mary said with a smile, Chara smirking at how Toriel sounded confused after.
"I.. I am..." Toriel admitted after.
"It's simple, miss Toriel. When we died, we followed after Chara to this Underground place, but when we did, we decided that our conscious minds and souls would need to reside in the armor because we didn't trust anyone... same with the relatives of most of the other children that arrived minus Flower," Mary Sue explained.
"And then, because of Malory's magic, she was able to salvage my parents' and my brother's souls from the armor and, before she could send dad's away to a new host, she touched it so she could get the rest of the memories back in her body... so that overwhelming power that's also protecting you from any kind of sensory interference from the bad flower? It's because of Malory, as she now has the powers of the prophecy," Chara explained.
"T-The prophecy?... I didn't even think it was real... she's the angel of the prophecy?" Toriel asked in shock.
"Yes... so can we ask if you'd like to do something while we go through Hotland?" I asked, her being confused at that.
"What do you want me to do?" she asked in confusion.
"I want you to do me a huge favor. The flower in question is making our journey more difficult by telling one of the most popular monsters in the Underground to spread the word of me, Frisk, and Chara being terrible people that want to kill. But he also convinced a spider girl of this, one that I know is trying to rescue the spiders that are trapped in the Ruins. I need you to gather all of them together carefully and then give me a call so I can teleport them to my location in Hotland," I said, Toriel smiling at that.
"Well, okay, then... I still don't understand what exactly is going on, but I'll do anything to see Chara in person again! Oh, I'm just so excited! I can't wait to see the look on Asgore's-" she was about to say before then stopping and sighing.
"Mom, it's okay. The moment that he sees my face, he'll immediately halt the plans. That much is a guarantee. Remember, he thought me as the hope of the Underground... when he sees me enter the throne room, he's going to be so elated, even more so than you," Chara smirked at her.
"Y-You're right... the wounds are still there, but if it makes you feel better, I'll be as cordial as I can with him... okay, I'll get to the spider bake sale in the Ruins, then. You stay absolutely careful, okay, Malory? Keep my princess safe," Toriel said sternly.
"That goes double for me, Miss Wares. Don't let anyone lay a finger on her," Mary Sue said to me.
"Some monsters don't have fingers," Frisk smirked as she pointed to the distant Tsunderplane, who was blushing and trying to sneak up on us from afar with heavy blush on her eyes... and I saw that she moved almost like a cartoon airplane as opposed to a real one, complete with her eyes being on the windows and her even having a mouth. Imagine the designs from the Cars movies, but much sleeker and more realistic.
"Good point, but still, be careful... gotta go now, bye," Mary Sue said as Chara then smirked back.
"Bye," Chara smirked as she then had the phone hang up and handed it to me. I then ended the soundproof barrier around us and, upon doing so, I heard Tsunderplane speaking from behind us.
"-can't they hear me?! I've been chasing them for so long now, you'd think they'd give me the time of day! I'm just about to kiss all three of them right now!" Tsunderplane said aloud, me then looking at her with a smile.
"Do what to all three of us?" I asked, her then gasping as she stopped in place, and she began to blush and emit smoke from her thrusters.
"U-U-Um... kick you?" she said in embarrassment as Frisk then smirked.
"You don't have feet to kick with, though," Frisk smirked.
"I-I could kick you if I wanted to... b-baka..." Tsunderplane said with an annoyed blush as I simply smirked at her.
"It's okay, we heard what you said. And I'd reciprocate," I said, the plane looking at me in confusion before Chara spoke.
"Are you flirting with a plane?" she asked me, me smirking at that.
"Maybe? Can't hurt to try, right?" I smirked.
"I... I need to get going now," Tsunderplane huffed before then flying off, me smirking as I sensed that she was still in earshot... or... antenna shot? Regardless, she could still hear us where she was, it being down by the lava part underneath us.
"Why was she asking to kiss us?" Frisk asked.
"She's a tsundere. She really would like to tell us to our faces how she feels, but she's either too embarrassed, too annoyed, or too prideful to do so, kind of like Kagami when she had to deal with Konata's flirts," I smiled, Frisk nodding at that as I could feel it in Tsunderplane's heart. It was beating very fast when I mentioned Lucky Star.
"Then why'd she fly off like that?" Chara asked.
"She flew off, yes, but she can still hear us. Right, miss plane?" I asked, that making the plane girl squeak from below us before then flying upwards with even more smoke and blush coming from her cheeks.
"H-How did you know I was there?!" she asked in confusion.
"I'm sure you saw the broadcast, right?" I asked, her frowning at that.
"Fine, I did. And no, I don't believe a word of it, especially since you saved my best friend in Susie! She said you'd never be that nasty if you managed to save her and everyone else from whatever hell they were having in Alphys's labs. What's your point?" she asked in annoyance.
"Well, I managed to get the memories of a 7th soul, meaning the prophecy is me," I said, Tsunderplane looking concerned when I said that as I smirked. "I'm not the angel of death, though, because if I were, all of us would be dead by now. I want to save the monsters by destroying the barrier and letting us go free... but in order to do that, I'll need to make sure nobody down here wants to kill me. And right now, because of a bad guy that fears me, he's told Mettaton that we're dangerous and plan to kill everyone... and because I have the 7th soul in me, I now have the memories of everything in this world, as well as being able to hear the thoughts of every monster in the Underground, including yours," I said, making sure that, when I said that whole sentence, no one else could hear us. And we'd also gotten to the area with the numerous vent tiles that led you to Mettaton's cooking show, me staying in place as Tsunderplane spoke.
"Y-You saw my memories?... P-Please, I'll do anything you want, just don't share my secrets!" she said, me smirking at that. The only secret she was speaking of was that she was another of Alphys's experiments, but she didn't want anyone to know that it was caused by her being the prototype for Mettaton.
"Anything at all?" I asked.
"Y-Yes, anything."
"Then how about you join us and we start to talk a bit more? Get to know each other and stuff, wink wink," I said, Tsunderplane blushing at that.
"I... I hate you now," she said, it being an utter lie. She was blushing the whole time and she felt it in her heart. She was overwhelmed with excitement and love at me saying that.
"Naw, your heart tells me all I need to know," I smirked as we then moved forward and Tsunderplane only then squealed in delight before then flying next to us happily... and then, we were in the dark room.
"Why is this place dark? Isn't there supposed to be light from the lava here?" Frisk asked.
"Don't worry, I'm going to turn the lights on," Alphys said on our phone, me seeing she'd caused my phone to answer on its own when she called me. And when the lights flickered on, we saw that we were on a set for what looked to be a game show?
"Oh no..." Alphys groaned as Mettaton then appeared from behind the counter with a smiley face on his screen.
"OH YES! Welcome, beauties and gentlebeauties, to the Underground's number 1 game show, Make-a-Match!" Mettaton said in excitement, me blushing myself at the numerous cameras that appeared out of nowhere. I'd never been on TV before, so I ended up suddenly becoming camera-shy. "Let's give a warm welcome to our human contestants!" Mettaton said as he then clapped his hands with confetti flying down at me, Frisk, and Chara. "Do you know how to play the game, darlings?" he asked.
"No, I don't," Chara said.
"S-Same..." both me and Frisk said bashfully.
"Oh, it is quite simple! You just need to reveal the tiles with this nifty gizmo on the table! If you fail to win the game within a total of 45 seconds..." and then, a slew of flames appeared from the left and right of the stage. "You'll be incinerated with flames of a thousand degrees!" Mettaton said in seriousness.
"I-I don't remember this being part of the show... c-can I opt out?" Tsunderplane asked.
"Sorry, but these humans need to be dealt with! Better get started, the timer is now running!" Mettaton said, me then getting onto the machine and proceeding to go to the match game, seeing that the game was quite unfair. Why? There were 24 total tiles and every time a match failed, the cards got shuffled! But I then looked into Mettaton's soul and smirked. He had the knowledge of where the tiles went to each time! With 30 seconds remaining, I proceeded to get match after match, Mettaton being shocked and trying to speak.
"W-What?! How are you doing it easily?! This isn't according to the script!" he said in surprise as I then made the final match and, the moment I did so, the flames died down and Mettaton looked at me, Frisk, and Chara with seriousness. "Well, it appears you managed to best me. But now, the audience grows bored of your monotony! I need to take care of this myself!" Mettaton shouted as he then forced all three of our souls outside of our bodies for a Soul Fight, Tsunderplane gasping and speaking out.
"STOP! Don't hurt my girlfriend!" she shouted as she then tried to ram Mettaton, but he simply withstood the blow and tossed Tsunderplane to the ground, me growling at that.
"LEAVE HER OUT OF THIS, METTATON! She's innocent!" I shouted at him.
"Ah, but that's because of you controlling her mind! Or maybe because of her being controlled by another?" he asked, me smacking my face at him.
"I have yet to kill anyone in this adventure and I helped to rescue the test subjects from Alphys's lab. Remember? Mrs. Drake, Shyster, Greatest Dog, Rudie Holiday, Fribbit, Susie... shall I go on as to all the different headlines you SHOULD have focused on instead of the false narrative from someone who fears me?" I asked, Mettaton looking at me in confusion before then looking at me and simply pushing a button on his body. He was calling someone important.
"Hello? Who is this?" asked the voice of Alphys.
"Alphys, this is Mettaton. Is what the human saying true? About the test subjects?" he asked.
"Y-Yes... it is... if not for them, then the same one that told you they were dangerous would've... he... he told me he'd tell everyone what happened... and I almost did something... the coward's way out..." Alphys said, Mettaton stopping moving in place and then looked at me with seriousness.
"Wait... that flower... He tried to convince you to do THAT?..." Mettaton asked, Alphys sighing with a waver in her voice.
"I was a witness. If it weren't for the fact that miss Malory can teleport, then Alphys would've done something terrible... using these," Frisk said as I then showed off a couple vials of Determination in my bag, but only because, by this point, the cameras were all turned off.
"Then it appears that I may have been tricked, conned, even... bamboozled!... I deeply apologize, darlings! I didn't know I was supporting clickbait! I need to do something to atone for this past mistake... but a lot of people saw that news flash in the Underground... how do we fix this mess?!" he asked, me smirking at that.
"I have an idea," I said as I then halted all time for everyone but our group and Tsunderplane, me then going to his antenna and sharing the plan to him with whispers while sharing the rest with the others. And when they heard the plan, opinions varied. Tsunderplane and Mettaton were super hyped for it, Frisk was concerned and Chara?
"That sounds so stupid," Chara pouted.
"Have you watched anything on TV lately?" I asked.
"You know the answer is no," she frowned.
"Well, sometimes, you gotta be a big ham to make things happen. And I'm willing to ham it up BIG TIME," I smirked widely.
"If this works, then I'll be deeply indebted to you for sure, beauties! I'll go get prepped for it at the CORE right away! Until then, be sure to stay on the down low," Mettaton smirked as he then jetted off into the distance, me then going to Tsunderplane and seeing she was hurt on her tail and it was a bit bent.
"I don't like him anymore, but I know he only did so because he thought I was under your control... thanks for talking sense into his thick head," Tsunderplane said as I then proceeded to fix her tail with some healing magic, aka, green attacks. And she gawked at how her tail had gone back to normal after only two hits of thought bubble magic attacks, her smiling at me with blush again.
"You're welcome. Now, are we going to keep going, or are we going to wait around?" I asked.
"I say we start moving again," Frisk said, me nodding as we then proceeded to step forward... only for us to then end up stepping in a lot of... spider silk?
"Um... why is there spider webbing here?" Chara asked.
"I think that means that someone is expecting us soon... most likely when we exit the elevator at the top... time to make a mental call," I said as I then contacted Toriel with my brain. "Tori? Do you happen to have the spiders now?"
"Yes, I do. They're very excited to meet their boss, who they call Muffet," she smirked.
"I'm going to teleport them to my area, then," I said, her then agreeing with a hum as I then teleported all the spiders to my location. And I'd FINALLY gotten it down pat as none of the spiders were harmed when we got them in Hotland.
"Yay! Thank you so much," said another spider, me seeing it looked almost like it could be Muffet's little sister, her looking to be about 7 years of age.
"And what's your name?" I asked her.
"My name is Itsy," she smirked... and then after?
"I-Itsy?!" I heard a voice say from above us as a whole slew of spider silk came down from above us followed by Muffet repelling down on one of them. "What are you doing here with these humans and... wait... all of our spider darlings?..." Muffet asked in absolute confusion before Itsy hugged her sister tightly and happily.
"I owe it all to them, sis. They helped teleport us right here from the Ruins!" Itsy smirked as Muffet looked at us and then at Itsy.
"Um... okay?... I didn't expect you to be so... nice..." she admitted bluntly.
"Let me guess. A talking flower told you we hated spiders, right?" I asked.
"How did you know?!"
"Because he also told Mettaton that we were dangerous killers. He wants us dead, so he's spreading lies like a rumor weed," I said.
"Literally," Frisk frowned.
"Ahuhu... maybe I got you humans all wrong, then. May I ask what your names are?"
"I'm Frisk, this is Chara, and this is Malory," Frisk introduced us for a change, much different than her being shy as a mouse when we first met.
"I think that I should thank you dearly for this... oh, but I don't have anything to offer," Muffet said with a blush.
"Well... maybe I could uh..." Frisk said, me smirking at her thoughts. She was very in love with Muffet and how she looked adorable and nice.
"I think Frisk wants you to be her girlfriend," I said, Frisk gasping at that before she then pulled on my hair, me yiping at her doing that before Muffet giggled.
"Ahuhu, it looks like she didn't like you telling her deep dark secret," Muffet giggled.
"Ugh... c-can we?... Please? You look... hot," Frisk smirked as I then finally got to work on inspecting my hair to make sure that it wasn't all gone. It wasn't, but it felt like my scalp was going to need some treatments when we were done down here.
"Of course we can. Anything to repay you for rescuing my spiders," Muffet smirked as she then made some spider silk from her bottom and pulled Frisk closer to her with it for a close-up kiss, Frisk smiling at it. "I'll hold off on biting you and draining your veins, missy. Don't want to rush things too far," Muffet giggled.
"Aw, sis, stop teasing her, she might run away," Itsy giggled.
"And thanks for saving my little sister, too. She went to the Ruins to try and save my darlings, but she almost died on the way through Snowdin because of the terrible cold. I'll be going on ahead, need to count up the donations after all. Ahuhu," Muffet smirked before then retreating up the thread above with her spider family and her kid sister and then Chara looked at me with a smirk.
"You are a big cheater, and I'm starting to like it," she smirked at me.
"I'm indifferent, to be frank," Gaster said.
"But you're not frank. You're Gaster," I smirked. Chara then groaned and rolled her eyes while Frisk booed me. But Tsunderplane giggled, meaning I did have one audience member that liked it.
"Now let's go up this elevator. Hopefully we won't have anymore interruptions," I smirked as we then went inside of said elevator and I decided to go to left elevator floor 3, the elevator then going up by one floor, then left, and then up, it making us discombobulated at the feeling. We then exited... and we went out of the frying pan in into the fire.