Chapter Five: Sink or Swim
Frisk continued into the caverns, always careful and watching his every step and every shadow. He knew he was being stalked, and was tense. He came to stop near a gap, and some fast-flowing water. A sign next to him said to use the special "Bridge Flowers" to cross. Curious, he took one of the folded flowers, set it on the water, and watched as it defied the current and floated across the water. He put down three more, and was surprised when they opened like waterlilies and formed a bridge. He smiled and gently crossed. He walked further into the caverns, and marveled at the subtle beauty to them. Some of the rocks gave a soft, gentle glow. As he walked across a small, wooden bridge, there was a gentle splash, and a monster appeared.
"Hey, kid. You're new here, aren't ya?" asked the odd monster. His voice was clearly male, but if that wasn't enough, his muscles left little doubt. Frisk stopped and nodded. The monster stood up from the water, revealing himself to be an odd horse-headed mer-being. "I'm Aaron, the Master of Muscles!" he said as he flexed. Frisk wasn't sure of his attitude yet.
"You sure are. You must have worked really hard to have a physique like that," said Frisk, smiling gently. Aaron winked and nodded.
"You bet! I work out every day! Takes a lot of work, but totally worth it!" Aaron flexed again.
"It shows." Aaron smiled at this.
"No magic to it. You can look like this, too, kid, if you try! Come on, let me see you flex! Show me what you got!" Frisk smiled and shook his head as he tried to flex like a bodybuilder. This was so silly, and fun. Aaron smiled and flexed harder. "Not bad, kid. You got a good body to start with! You work out every day and eat good, and you might look like me one day!" Aaron winked as he flexed harder. Frisk smiled at him.
"Well, if everyone was as built as you, you wouldn't be as special." Aaron stopped and looked at him.
"Aw, thanks, kid! Shucks, you're nice. Most folks think, because I'm big, I like to hurt people," Aaron said, sounding sad. Frisk came closer to the water and sat down by the edge.
"Hmm, well, sadly, people do judge by appearances. Not right, but it's true."
"Yeah . . ." Aaron sounded dejected. Frisk smiled.
"Why don't you use your muscles to help people?" Aaron perked up at this, his ears pricking.
"Help?" Frisk nodded.
"Yeah. You're so strong, you could help a lot of monsters. Not everybody is as strong as you are. I'm sure some monsters would be really grateful if you, for example, helped them carry home their groceries, or helped them clear some rocks. Helping others is its own reward." Aaron's eyes lit up at this.
"That's a great idea! I'll put these beauties to great use! Thanks, kid!" With a splash, Aaron swam off. Frisk smiled and felt warm inside. Helping didn't cost a thing. He stood and continued on.
Frisk used more of the Bridge Flowers to cross some water, when his phone rang. Frisk answered it.
"Hello!" Frisk was surprised to hear Papyrus' voice. Frisk tried to keep his voice even, while in his mind, he recalled his meeting with Undyne.
"How'd you get my number?" Frisk asked.
"Oh, I just dialed every number sequentially until I got yours! Nyeh heh heh!" Frisk stared at the phone. "So . . . what're you wearing?" Papyrus asked. Frisk blinked. That was out-of-the-blue.
"Uh, why?" Frisk had a feeling he knew, but was testing Papyrus.
"I'm . . . asking for a friend. She thought she saw you wearing a striped shirt. Is that true?" Frisk didn't like lying, but he knew who he was likely talking to, and wanted as little trouble as possible.
"Uh, no. I found a chainmail shirt and put it on. Fits good. Nice and heavy."
"Ah, so you aren't wearing a striped shirt, but a chainmail one. Got it. You're my friend, so I trust you one-hundred percent. Have a nice day!" With that, Papyrus hung up. Frisk sighed heavily as he put the phone away. He had a feeling that this was going to bite him. Frisk was more than a little hurt, and part of his mind wasn't surprised at being stabbed in the back again. His more rational mind, however, reminded that Papyrus was easily manipulated, and his desire for friends and to get into the Royal Guard also were factors, and it likely wasn't malicious.
Frisk looked up as he stepped into a new room, and saw it was full of Echo Flowers. He walked close and touched one.
"Long ago, monsters would whisper their wishes to the stars in the sky. If you hoped with all your heart, your wish would come true. Now, all we have are these sparkling stones on the ceiling," said the voice of a male monster, spoken who-knows how long ago. Frisk stood back, and looked at all the other flowers, stopping to listen to each one.
"Thousands of people wishing together can't be wrong! The King will prove that."
"C'mon, sis! Make a wish!"
"I wish my sister and I get to see real stars someday . . ." Frisk listened and heard many more voices and wishes. Frisk walked through the room, noting a telescope. All of it made him sad. The monsters really wished for freedom. They wanted to see the stars, the sun, the clouds, rain, things humans took for granted.
He noticed another Echo Flower, and listened.
"I wish . . . I wish . . . For a friend . . ." Frisk didn't know why, but this flower, and the message it played, it tugged a heartstring.
It was the voice of a child, a little boy.
It sounded so sad, so lonely. For whatever reason, this single flower, and its message, renewed his resolve. Frisk looked around, but, oddly, there seemed no way forward. He crossed his arms and huffed lightly. He guessed he would have to backtrack. Before he left, he decided to take a look through the telescope and see what the glowing stones looked like through it, since he likely wouldn't be back. He looked, and was awed at how beautiful the stones were. It was then that he noticed what looked like an arrangement of them that seemed for form an arrow. He rubbed his eyes and looked again. It seemed to be pointing at the wall at the far side. He looked up, and walked to the wall. It looked like it had been plastered over. Frisk stood back and gave it a good kick. The plaster shattered, revealing another passage. He smiled and headed through.
The next room had wooden planks on the floor, but what got his attention were plaques on the wall. He stepped close and carefully read the first one. They detailed about the War between humans and monsters; the Imprisoning War. Frisk frowned, bordering on a scowl. He knew this tale already, having read it in the books at Toriel's house. The humans had attacked the monsters unprovoked, out of fear. Fear that a monster might steal the soul of a human, and gain their power. It rankled him, the arrogance, ignorance and injustice of it all. Not a single human was killed, so it hardly could be called a war. To him, it was much more akin to a slaughter.
Frisk took a deep breath of the cool, moist air, and sighed. He knew very well how evil humans could be. He turned and headed deeper into the room. He noticed a drawing of a strange creature, one with wispy-looking wings, detached arms with huge claws, no legs, and dark, dead eyes. Frisk stopped and stared at it. Something about it held him there. Next to it, the plaque said how a monster with the soul of a human would be a beast with unfathomable power. Frisk shook his head and walked to the end of, what turned out to be a dock, a small raft waiting silently in the water. Frisk glanced around, and was thankful he didn't see anyone. He rode the small raft across the water to the other side without incident.
As Frisk walked into the next room, a sense of foreboding came over him. As he walked, his eyes glanced around, watching for any movement. He saw nothing, but the hair on his neck was standing on end. He knew enough from experience never to doubt this feelings authenticity, and was on guard, eyes darting to every shadow, every source of a sound. The attack was so sudden, he almost wasn't able to react, jumping back with as much power as he could muster in his legs. He felt the air cut by the blade of the glowing spear as it impacted and stuck in the boards. Frisk landed and glanced to his left. Across the water, behind stone pillars, Undyne appeared, along with a slew of those glowing, magical spears. Frisk darted forward as three spears hit the boards just where he had been. He could hear growling and hissing from Undyne as he ran as fast as he could, the spears missing him often by an inch or less.
Frisk saw the docks wove around ahead, and followed. That is, until Undyne started to throw her spears ahead, where he was going to be. Frisk leaped over a gap, past where several spears were stuck in the wood. The second time he did this, she almost hit him, the spear just barely grazing his shirt on the back. Frisk put as much energy into his legs as he could, dashing ahead and diving into some reeds as more spears flew at him. He crawled through the reeds, and a few more spears imbedded themselves in the ground nearby. Frisk tensed, and tried to move as quietly, but quickly as he could. He could hear her heavy, armored footsteps behind him. He squirmed to the edge and stayed still. If it came down to it, he could dive into the water. He could hear her, closeby. He could see her armored form between a few reeds. She looked in his direction, and he tensed, ready to run, jump or dive. This close, he was fairly certain he could evade. She moved closer, raised her armored hand. He readied to run.
"Gotcha!" she boomed, and held up . . . The monster kid. When did he get there? She put him down, grumbled something, and left, stomping quite angrily. Frisk sighed and crawled out of the reeds, the monster kid coming out just after. He looked so excited, he was ready to burst.
"Dude! Didja just see that?! Undyne just . . . touched me!" he sighed, sounding like a boy who had just been talked to by his first crush. "I'm never washing this face again!" The monster kid looked at him. "You, your are so unlucky! If you'd been standing just a little bit to the left . . ." Frisk sighed.
"Congratulations," Frisk deadpanned. The monster kid seemed to entirely miss his sarcasm.
"Don't worry, yo! I'm sure we'll see her again!" Once again, he ran off, tripped, fell on his face, peeled himself from the floor, and scampered off. Frisk sighed heavily, his legs burning.
"That's what worries me," he muttered as he walked on.
Frisk passed through an odd room with a piece of cheese inside some kind of crystal, and was not too surprised to find Sans in the next room after.
"Hey, Buddo! I'm thinking of getting into the telescope business. It's normally fifty-thousand gold to use this premium telescope, buuut, since I know you, you can use it for free. Howzabout it?" Frisk tried not to roll his eyes, and nodded. Frisk looked through the telescope, and all he could see was pink. He pulled back, and noticed ink around the eyepiece. He felt his eye, and sure enough, there was ink around his eye. He looked at Sans, who grinned. "Not satisfied? I'll give ya a refund," he chuckled. Frisk snorted and shook his head.
"Nah, but thanks, anyway," said Frisk, patting Sans on the back. Sans grinned and turned to leave, never seeing the sign on his back: Give a Dog a Bone. Frisk quietly laughed to himself as he went the other way.
Along the way, Frisk made a few more friends. Like elsewhere, the monsters mostly didn't want to fight. Indeed, Woshua was concerned about his dirty clothes, and cleaned him off. Frisk couldn't help a gentle smile when he thought how nice most of the monsters were. He was startled when his phone rang. He answered it.
"Hello! It's Papyrus!" Frisk tried not to sigh, or sound angry. "Remember when I asked you about clothes?"
"Yeah?" Frisk tried to be as careful with his tone as he could.
"Well, the friend who wanted to know . . . her opinion of your is very . . .murdery." Frisk couldn't help a groan at all of it. "Well, worry not, dear human! Papyrus would never betray you! You said you were not wearing a striped shirt, but one of chainmail! Since you're not wearing the striped shirt anymore, I told her you were! So, you surely are safe now, and she won't attack you!" Frisk slapped his face. "Wow, this is harder than I thought! I just wanted to be everybody's friend!" With that, Papyrus hung up. Frisk sighed and out the phone away. Papyrus did sound genuine. Despite the situation, Frisk couldn't be mad at him. It really wasn't his fault. Frisk continued on, listening to more conversations from the Echo Flowers as he went, and reading a few more plaques of monster history.
As he walked along a narrow path, surrounded by water, he saw a disturbance in the water. When they were revealed to be very large, yellow tentacles, Frisk couldn't help his hair standing on end. He whirled as the water moved, and something rose out of the water. He readied to run, but was surprised when what appeared was not a dangerous beast, but the oddest-looking monster yet. Two large, shiny eyes stared at him as the large monster revealed itself.
"Hey, there. Noticed you were there, and thought I'd say . . . hi." Frisk blinked and waved gently. "I'm Onionsan!" Frisk stared for a long moment.
"Konnichiwa," he deadpanned.
"What?" Frisk rolled his eyes.
"Never mind." Frisk moved to continue on.
"So . . . you're visiting Waterfall, huh? Pretty nice here, huh?" Frisk stopped and looked at him.
"Actually, I'm just passing through, really."
"Oh. Yeah, the water's . . . getting a bit shallow down here. And, all my friends moved to the city. To aquariums. But, more room for me! Well, not really true, since the water's so shallow, I have to sit down." Frisk listened. Onionsan smiled as best he could. "But, Undyne's gonna fix everything! I'm gonna get out of here and live in the ocean!" Frisk stopped again and looked at him.
"You might want to rethink that. The ocean can be very dangerous, and some of the things living in it are meaner than you imagine. There's a good reason there's legends about sea monsters, and I'm not talking about your kind." Onionsan stopped and looked at him. Frisk smiled at him. "You might consider living in a lake, more. Safer, nicer weather, and you'd get to meet more people." Onionsan's eyes were huge.
"Yes! Yes, a lake sounds great! I'll have to tell Undyne I wanna live in a lake! Thanks!" with a splash, he was gone. Frisk smiled and headed out.
In the next room, he saw more small waterfalls here and there. As he walked, he saw a monster, huddled in the corner. He noticed it was shivering. Concern pinched his heart as he came closer.
"Are you okay?" he asked. The monster flinched, but remained silent. It looked a bit like a mermaid, its face hidden by its hair. There was a sad whine. From the voice, he guessed it was female. "What's wrong?" There was another whine. Frisk stood a few steps away, watching, and wondering how he could help. She said something to soft, he had to strain to hear.
"I . . . can't sing," was the soft reply. Frisk blinked.
"Many people can't. It's nothing to be ashamed of." There was another whine, bordering on a sob.
"But . . . I'm a Siren. What good is a Siren who can't sing?" Frisk frowned. He thought, and smiled softly as he hummed a sad tune. She looked at him over her shoulder, and hummed with him. "Si re, si re si mi si mi," she replied in kind. Frisk smiled wider, and hummed a slightly happier tune. She turned towards him fully, showing her face, and hummed along. He saw the soft smile, and hummed more. Her smile grew as she began to vocalize. Frisk smiled and sang himself, a gentle, uplifting song, that the greatest adventure was what lay ahead. Siren was truly smiling as she sang with him. Frisk smiled at her energy and happiness.
"What was that you can't sing? That sounded very lovely. I know what it's like to doubt yourself, to be shy. But those inhibitions can hold you back. Make no mistake, you have a lovely voice, and could make a lot of monsters happy." She smiled radiantly.
"Thank you. I will," she said shyly. He smiled as she left, looking happy. He felt warm inside, and felt his resolve strengthen.
As he moved on, he found more history plaques, and read them. What these ones said was interesting. They noted how, while a monster could take a human's soul, the reverse was not so, as they vanished from this plain as soon as they left the body. It would take an incredible power to take the soul of a living monster. Frisk frowned as he read that. He read the next plaque, and it said there was an exception, and that the souls of "Boss Monsters" were strong enough to persist after death, if only for a few, brief moments. It said it was possible for a human to absorb this soul, but it had never happened, and that it never would. Frisk knew, somehow, this was important. He took note of it and continued on to the next room.
The first thing he noticed was a statue, sitting in a pool of light with drops of water falling down on it. Something about it gave a feeling of sadness. Frisk walked into the next room, and noticed it appeared to be raining. In fact, it was droplets from the waterfalls, but it was very wet. He noticed a sign, next to a tin full of umbrellas. Frisk took one, and was about to head on, when he stopped and looked back. He opened the umbrella, walked back to the statue, and gently placed it in the hand of the statue. He stood back and smiled, seeing it not dripping with water. He was surprised when a music box began to play a song from inside the statue. Frisk stood there and stared. He didn't know why, but something about the simple, but beautiful tune touched something in his heart. He felt warm tears run down his cheeks. He wiped his face and headed out. He grabbed another umbrella as he went, the tune echoing behind him in the cavern.
He passed by several large waterfalls, rain pattering on the umbrella.
"Yo, you got an umbrella?" said the monster kid. Frisk gave a light start as he turned and saw the yellow monster run up to him. "Awesome! Let's go, dude!" Frisk smiled and shook his head. The two continued on through the rain. "Man, Undyne is so cool! She beats up bad guys and never loses!" The monster kid was grinning as they walked. Frisk listened to him while paying attention to where they were going. "If I was a human, I'd wet the bed every night, knowing she was gonna beat me up!" Frisk flicked his eyes at him, then back.
"And, you think all humans are bad?" Frisk asked as they walked. The monster kid looked at him.
"Well, yeah! I mean, dude, they trapped us all down here, and did all sorts of mean stuff!" Frisk didn't look at him as he walked. Frisk thought on what he said.
Frisk, better than anyone, knew how mean, how heartless, how evil humans could be. At the same time, he had known a few who were kind. Frisk reflected how, once, not long ago, Frisk himself thought the same as the monster kid beside him. So . . . when did that change? "So . . . like, one time, we had a school project where we had to take care of a flower. The King, well, we had to call him "Mr. Dreemurr", volunteered to donate his own flowers. He came to the school and teaching the class about responsibility and stuff." Frisk looked down at the young monster, listening to his story. "That got me thinking . . . Dude! Wouldn't it be so cool if Undyne came to school?! She could beat up all the teachers!" Frisk stopped and looked at him, fixing him with a slightly stern look.
"Is that what you want? To see people who've done you no wrong hurt?" The monster kid took a step back, looking surprised. He lowered his head and looked a bit ashamed.
"Umm, well . . . No. Undyne's too cool to hurt an innocent person." Frisk looked at him.
"What about you?" The monster kid looked up at him.
"Huh?"
"You think all humans are bad, but how many have you ever met? How can you think a whole race are evil when you have never met a single one?" The monster kid lowered his head. Frisk smiled gently and put his hand on his shoulder. "Therein lies the seeds of prejudice. And that has been the cause of more pain, suffering and hate than you can ever possibly imagine, my young friend. There are some bad humans, yes. As I am certain there are bad monsters. Did you know there are some humans who hate other humans for having a different skin color?" The monster kid looked shocked.
"That's crazy, yo!" Frisk nodded, looking grim.
"Do you want to be like that? Would Undyne be proud of you hating others, for no other reason than they are different?" The monster kid shook his head. Frisk smiled. "Take each person on his or her own merits. Judge them not by their race, or color, but the color of their deeds. Does that make any sense?" The monster kid looked at him with wide eyes, and smiled.
"Yeah! It does!" Frisk smiled and motioned for them to keep going. The monster kid looked like he was skipping.
They walked past a huge underground lake, across which, was a huge city with a great castle. Frisk couldn't help a soft gasp as he stared at it. The monster kid looked with him. "That's New Home, where the King lives. Pretty neat, huh?" Frisk nodded. He had not seen a castle like that in so long. After a few moments, Frisk continued on, but was still awed by what the monsters had built.
The two came at last to a small cliff. Frisk returned the umbrella to the can of them, stood with his hands on his hips, and glanced around. It wasn't very high, but he frowned, wondering how he could get up there without a rope or something.
"Hmph, dead end, it seems," mused Frisk. The monster kid came up and looked up at the ledge.
"Maybe not, dude! Here, climb on my shoulders!" Frisk looked at him.
"You sure?"
"Yeah! Come on!" Frisk climbed on the monster boy's shoulders, and was just able to clamber up. He looked down at the young monster. "You go on ahead! Don't worry about me. I always find a way to get through! See ya later!" With that, he ran off. Frisk stood and headed on. Frisk found more plaques about the history of the Imprisoning War, and guessed this was one of the early places the monsters had lived, after their exile. He found a bridge at the edge of the cliff, made of wood, and noticed another bridge below it. He glanced over the edge, and wondered exactly where the other bridge led to, but put that aside. He headed across.
As Frisk crossed the wooden bridge, that same sense of foreboding came over him. He stopped and glanced around. There were no cliffs he could see where Undyne might be hiding, no place she could see him. He looked back behind him. Nothing. Forward was clear as well. So what, then . . .? Frisk saw the glowing spot on the boards just a millisecond before a spear suddenly erupted through. He jumped back, narrowly avoiding being skewered. More jabbed up behind him. They almost surrounded him, but he managed to dive through at the last second. He could hear Undyne's heavy, armored footsteps on the bridge below. Frisk darted and wove through the gauntlet, once feeling a spear take off a lock of hair. A solid wall of spears erupted where he had been standing, and Frisk leaped backwards in an impressive backflip.
He landed and darted forwards just as spears shot up from where his feet had been a few seconds earlier. He feinted, darted, bobbed, anything he could to try and throw her aim off. It worked most of the time, and the few it didn't, he narrowly avoided the spears. He could see the other side, doubled his speed, when he heard a heavy thud behind him. She was on the same bridge with him now. He glanced back, saw her rearing to throw a spear. He wove to the right, and had to jump when the boards exploded in a spray of splinters. He jumped to the other side, perilously close to the edge. Suddenly, he felt a sharp pain in his right side, heard the tearing of fabric, felt the warm feeling of blood. He gagged, blood flowing from his mouth and nose, the force of the impact carrying him over the edge of the bridge, and down into darkness.