Flowey and Lara wandered through the tunnels and caves. The flower was an expert in navigating trough the biomes of the Underground and so the two of them were able to sweep quickly trough Waterfalls caves. But they couldn't find the ghosts.
"Where could they be?", Lara wondered.
"Good question. We are almost at the end of Waterfall. They have to be there. Otherwise I couldn't imagine what would make them leave towards Hotland, without giving us any form of info."
But that makes me wonder… what would lead Emma, Klyde and Emily to the end of Waterfall and keep them there, Flowey wondered in his head.
Finally they reached their destination. The duo arrived at an enormous cave. The walls were lost in the darkness. The ceiling stretched so high that a church could easily have fit under it. It was supported by several stagnates, stalactites and stalagmites that have grown together over time. Instead of a real floor, there was a narrow wooden bridge that led over a chasm. At the other end of the bridge was a tunnel that lead towards Hotland.
And in front of the bridge floated the ghosts, all of them looked very beaten up.
"Guys?" The ghost kids looked towards the approaching Lara and Flowey. "What happened to you?"
Emily raised a hand. "NO! Stay back!"
Before either human or flower could ask, a crackling sound filled the air.
A gray projectile made from magical electricity shoot towards the group. Flowey quickly grew several thick vines from the ground and intertwined them, creating a wall of protection. The bullet hit the wall and exploded in a flash. Torn plant matter flew trough the air, dust was kicked up. Lara coughed, her ears ringing slightly from the bang of the explosion. As the ringing grew quit and the dust settled, she looked up.
Neither she nor Flowey had noticed in their haste an another person standing on the other side of the bridge.
It was a child, but not a human one, definitely a Monster. Their skin was covered with gray scales and they had a small lizard snout on their face. The body was largely human in anatomy, but with a short tail. What was strangest, however, was that the Monster's underdeveloped shoulders had no arms.
They regarded the humans and the flower with a blank, lifeless expression.
Lara´s attention was once again brought towards the ghost trio, when Klyde was loudly groaning in pain. His form was covered the most in magic induced injuries. It was even flickering slightly.
"What happened? Who is this guy?" Lara asked worried. Klyde raised his head toward her with difficulty.
"This... this guy is, ah my arm, that guy is really tough." Emily looked at Lara worried.
"We were scouting, just like Flowey asked us to do. When suddenly Goner Kid appeared and attacked us."
"Goner Kid?"
Emily nodded to the gray figure, "That's what the guy calls himself all the time."
"We thought it was a good idea to lead him away from you guys and take care of him. But like Klyde said: He is tough. His magic exceeds ours", Emma said, while clenching her left shoulder that was covered in burns.
"Did he say why he attacked you?", Flowey asked. He never let the stranger out of his sight. Even though he looked like Monster Kid, the rigid stance, the blank eyes and lifeless gray sent a shiver down on Flowey's stem. In all the routes and resets he had gone through, he had never seen anything like this. His discomfort and confusion only increased when the gray monster child teleported in front of the group with some kind of glitch and answered Flowey's question.
"Souls. I need your souls." His voice sounded absolutely monotonous and devoid of any emotion. "With their power, I could be free. I could... I could..."
The stranger's head slowly turned towards Lara. She backed away a bit as those white, empty eyes stared at her. "The more the merrier I guess."
The gray monster child, Goner Kid if Emily was to believed, created another electrical bullet and shoot it towards Lara.
Because of the close proximity towards her, it would have hit her, even when she started to move, but luckily Flowey was there.
A vine grabbed the young human and dragged her sideways, the projectile barely missing her. Several thorny vines shot out of the ground towards Goner Kid. But the gray child just teleported away with another glitch and reappeared on the other side of the bridge.
"It appears that getting the souls has become difficult", Goner Kid noted to himself almost roboticly. For a short moment his entire appearance flickered and he took a sharp inhale of air. Then his body regained its false solidity.
"It doesn't matter. I can still use this opportunity to get them. No matter… what… I have to do."
The air crackled with electricity as Goner Kid attacked.
Several lighting bolt shaped projectiles flew towards the group. Lara and most of the ghost were ready to dodge, while Flowey readied some counter attacks. But Klyde clenched his teeth, as he fought trough his pain, and focused his magic. He summoned a large hand that swatted the lighting bolts away with an explosive result.
Flowey then used his already summoned up `friendless pellets´ to shoot them at Goner Kid in a machine gun like manner.
A wide wall of lighting cascaded down in front of the gray Monster child and swallowed the friendless pellets. Some of them appeared around Goner Kid, creating a circle that slowly closes around him. But he simply avoided the attack via teleporting. He reappeared close to Lara and Emily and shot more of his electric projectiles at them.
The girls tried their best to dodge the attacks a good as they could, but it was clear they had a hard time.
While Emily had the advantage of flying, she was already worn out from the previous battle with Goner Kid. With her ghost body her soul was also completely exposed and thus more vulnerable to attacks.
Lara meanwhile was a complete novice in the topic of battle, be at magic or otherwise.
To their luck, before Goner Kid managed to get some serious hits, Emma made her move.
She had waited for the right moment, when the gray Monster child had his attention elsewhere. She conjured an energy knife in her hand and struck the groups attacker.
Her knife pierced nothing as there was no one to be stabbed at. And yet Goner Kid tumbled, his form flickering in and out of existence. Everyone looked at him confused, halting their attacks.
"What the… what the hell was that?", Klyde asked.
"Didn't something like this happened before in your fight?", Flowey questioned the orange ghost. He shook his head.
"No. This was the first time any of us managed to get a hit on him. Emma, do you know if your magic could have some side effects?"
The ghost girl didn't answer. She just looked at the flickering Monster child, who has started to chuckle in a bitter way.
"None of you understand." Despite the monotone tone, Goner Kids Voice was laced with venom. The flickering stopped and he looked around. "None of you understands. What it feels like to be gone from the world."
"You mean to be dead? Well sorry to pop your bubble but most of our group knows how it feels to die", Klyde said in an unimpressed voice. However, this caused Goner Kid to smile. Even if it was just a faint twitch of his mouth.
"No. To die… means to be part of the cycle of life. To be a part of the world. It means you can still be there. Look at all of you, having returned from the dead. Well, and one whose life remains untouched. You are all here while I am… not."
"What are you talking about?" Lara pointed a finger at the gray Monster child. "You ARE here. We can see you right now. Heck, you ATTACKED us!", she yelled towards Goner Kid. The faint smile on his face disappeared, was replaced yet again by the blank expression. Seconds, that felt stretched out to hours, passed by, before the gray child answered.
"Have you ever thought about a world where everything is exactly the same… except you don´t exist. Everything functions perfectly without you. Ha, ha… the thought terrifies me. Because it isn't just a thought. For me it is the truth."
Everyone had different reaction to that statement. Emma and Emily looked mortified. Klyde furrowed his brows, not sure what to make of this. Lara opened her mouth but didn't seem to know what to say. And Flowey seemed to be deep in thought, while also paying close attention to Goner Kid.
"But if I take these souls. With that power… I may be able to return. The truth would become just a thought again."
"Are you sure that this would work?" Goner Kid turned to Flowey. "Human and Monster souls together are powerful but what makes you sure that they could `remake´ you into existence?"
"The combination of magic and determination can even bend reality. You should know this, Asriel."
Flowey flinched at that. He opened his mouth to ask how Goner Kid knew his identity, but the gray Monster child interrupted him.
"No… this isn´t right. I am not right. I should be getting these souls and not talk to them, to become right."
And with that the fight continued.
Goner Kid summoned lighting. The humans managed to dodge more or less successfully. Flowey burrowed under the ground. He popped up behind Goner Kid and tried to strike him with a thorn vine, but the gray child teleported to the other side of the bridge again.
Flowey send the vine towards his enemy, made it grow longer and bigger. The thorns sharpened to the point of being like organic knifes. Flowey hoped with a devastating enough attack that Goner Kid would completely fade away.
But it didn't come to that.
Before the vine could reach Goner Kid, several lighting bolts stroke down on the plant arm and tore it to pieces. Flowey wanted to summon more, but Goner Kid was faster. More lighting appeared and hit the ground around Flowey several times. The flower wailed and screamed in pain.
"Flowey, whats wrong?", Lara yelled in concern for her friend.
"That little… he burned all of my roots and severed my connection to my plant network in the underground. It will take a while to regenerate and reconnect with it."
"You can no longer interrupt me in this state", Goner Kid stated. Flowey looked at him with a mixture of a sneer and a smirk.
"Oh really? Aren't you forgetting something?"
The flower shoot friendless pellets at Goner Kid. He destroyed them with electricity.
"Why are you interrupting my harvest? Of all these people you should know the most of how it feels like. To be wrong."
Goner Kid sent lighting towards Emily, but she ducked under it.
"To be a shell of your former self."
Lara barely managed to escape six electric projectiles.
"You even wanted these humans souls and tried to become `god´. Did the fight with Frisk change you really that much?"
Several lighting bolts hovered over Flowey. But he didn't pay the magical projectiles any mind. He just looked at the gray Monster child.
"You know… maybe you're right. Ever since I broke the barrier, I was concerned about causing havoc. But I shouldn't be able to care about that, right? And yet…" The flower looked at Lara and the ghosts. "… it took hurting one of my friends to realize that, all this time, there was something resonating inside me. So maybe there is some hope for me. And maybe there is some for you as well."
Gonder Kids eyes widened in surprise. "What?"
"From what you were saying, I gathered that you were erased from existence. Having once controlled a time anomaly I do believe you. I know some thing here and there and maybe I could help you. Lara was right you know: You being here means that you aren't entirely gone."
"But you saw what happened when that girl tried to attack me. What didn't happen. I´m not really here. If I want my life back, I HAVE to do this." For the first time there was a strong emotion to be seen on the goners face. He looked sad. And apologetic.
"There is no hope for me."
Lighting was thrown on them. Klyde, having gotten some recovery during Floweys and Goner Kids talk, created a pair of hands that formed a protective layer around the group. Just like he did in Snowdin to protect Lara from the snowstorm.
The orange ghost was heavily panting, the light of his soul getting dimmer.
"I don't think I can go on like this any longer."
"Don't worry, I got this." Flowey summoned more friendless pellets. While he meant what he said, about wanting to help Goner Kid, he also wanted to protect the humans from harm. Unlike back then, were he failed to protect Chara from herself.
The flower shoot out his rotating projectiles. Emma helped him out by also throwing some white energy knifes as well.
Goner Kid retailed with lighting bolts. But while he was focused on the attacks of the cyan ghost and the soulless flower, he didn't notice the magical energy conjuring above him. Emily, not wanting to stand helplessly by the side, when she could do something, decided that now was a good moment to act. She summoned a giant ballet shoe above Goner Kid and send it down towards him. The gray Monster child sensed that something was wrong and barely managed to dodge.
When Lara, who was standing further behind the group, saw that, saw that, she tilted her head in confusion.
Wait, why does he bother to not get hit? Emmas attack wasn't able to do any damage. No… it didn't hurt him, but it had some effect.
Lara remembered how Goner Kid was flickering in and out of existence when he had gotten hit by the attack.
Judging from the stuff he and Flowey said, Goner Kid was erased from existence but is somehow able to manifest himself in a physical body. Maybe with enough hits he fades completely away or has at least not enough energy to create magic attacks.
…
I… I don't want this guy to be completely gone. But… Lara looked at the ongoing battle …everyone is fighting. Protecting their lives and also mine. And I do nothing but standing here. I couldn't do anything when Frisk was taken but maybe I can do something now!
Lara noticed Klyde just floating there, doing nothing but looking disgruntled and tired. An idea formed in her head. Slowly walking towards him, trying to not gain any attention from Goner Kid, Lara approached the orange ghost.
"Hey Klyde" the girl with the white soul said.
"Hm?"
"I know that you are tired, but maybe you could help out one last time? I have a plan. Well sort of."
Lara told Klyde her theory. While she talked, a small, hopeful smile appeared on her face.
"So what do you think? While everyone else keeps Goner busy, you try a sneak attack."
"I don't know" Klyde doubtfully said, causing Lara's smile to disappear. "Look, I hate to be useless in a fight like this, but I´m just so tired. I don't know if I have the strength to do this."
"I… I know where you coming from. But please give it at least a try? I don't want anyone else close to me get hurt. A-and I want to see my sister again. I want to believe that there is a possibility of getting out of here and seeing her again."
While Lara was saying all of this, for a brief moment, so brief none of the two humans noticed it, her white soul appeared and shined its light on Klyde.
And while he hadn't seen anything, the orange ghost felt suddenly less strained and more motivated.
"Alright, you know what? Who am I to at least not try."
Using his ethereal body, Klyde floated into the stone walls of the cave and disappeared out of sight.
Lara turned her face towards Flowey, Emma, Emily and Goner Kid. She hoped that her plan would work and this battle would soon be over.
Goner Kid dodged a wave of friendless pellets and used all his focus to create some counter attacks. He didn't notice the orange glow when Klyde slowly raised from the ground behind him and coated hist fist in a magic aura. He shot said fist forward. Goner Kid noticed something was aloof and turned around.
But it was to late.
The fist connected with nothing as there was nobody standing there to be hit. It stillcaused Goner Kid to flicker and tumble around in disorientation and weakness.
The others stopped whatever attacks they were planing, tough Emily flew forward and, similar to Klyde, coated her legs in magic, and gave the flickering Monster a firm kick. Even tough there was no one to be kicked at. This was enough to cause Goner Kid to fall on his knees. He took shaky breaths while trying to maintain a stable form but did nothing else. He couldn´t do anything else, unless he wanted to completely fade away.
It was over. The fight was done.
Everyone sighed in relief. Emma flew towards her fellow ghosts.
Lara wanted to pass the bridge, when she suddenly stopped.
"Flowey? What are you going to do without your roots?"
"Oh don't worry. While I was focusing mostly on the battle, I still managed to regenerate. I am almost done and will pop up on the other side in about a second or so."
"Ah. That sounds… convenient."
"Yeah… Hey, did you and Klyde said something while me and Double-E were busy?"
Lara snorted at the nickname the flower had given the two blue ghost girls, but she quickly became serious. She explained her and Klydes plan. Flowey nodded.
"I had the exact same plan before the kid burned my roots. Basically weakening our enemy until they couldn't fight. Good thinking Lara."
The girl with the white soul smiled and blushed at the compliment. "Thank you."
And with these words she went towards the ghosts.