26 THE FIERY GETAWAY (ACTION!)
Note: Silly you. You thought this was turning into a slice of life. Lets get back on track shall we ;3
After the sandwiches, Alcina took Frisk over to a phone store, for: Safety Reasons. You might need it. They joined back up with the group. They all looked pretty tired considering they'd been walking around for a few hours.
Halle was stuck to the table: This has all been pretty fun, but I kinda just wanna go home now and sleep.
Arie: We probably should wrap things up, honestly. You've got work, right?
Enyo: Yeah. I was wanting to take her to see the Rock man but we should be heading back.
Frisk: My feet do hurt a little bit. But this has been a lot of fun! Thank you so much!
Alcina gave Frisk a hug: You were a wonderful excuse to get coffee.
Arie: Alci!
Alcina smiled: It was really nice to get to know you, Frisk. You're a good kid.
Halle gave a big smile as she meandered over: This was pretty fun, and I don't mind the walk really.
Arie: Yup. Your cool. So- Uh- Enyo?
Enyo's behavior was nothing normal. Her spine and ears were perfectly straight, her eyes wide and locked on something. The others followed her gaze to see a glint of silver flickering through and over the crowd.
Frisk: Are those suits of armor?
Arie's breath drew thin: Knights?!
Enyo: Everyone stand around Frisk!
Alcina: Oh I see them.
Frisk: What's going on?
Enyo: Shh! We gotta get out of here. (quietly begins to lead the girls away, lowering a little, looking left and right, sniffing and listening.)
Halle: What? How'd they track us?
Enyo: Probably the bus. There were a lot of people there. Maybe one of them was a Knight. We weren't cautious enough. We've been here too long.
Alcina: Enyo… the Great Hound is here!
Enyo: Shit. Come on, we're outa here. Sorry Frisk! This was not a part of the plan!
Frisk: What's going on?! (spies the Knights wheeling through the crowd, raising their helms as they seemingly sniffed the air, and bustled all the more to the place they had been a moment before. Monsters parted around them and stared in worry. Some of them towered over the monsters by a few feet.)
Enyo: Don't slow down. Those guys are out to get you.
Frisk: Y-yeah I see- but why?
Enyo: You're human, and we've got to protect you from them.
Alcina: We shouldn't be talking they could hear-
Enyo: Not through all this static. And nobody can beat my ears. Not even them. (she said with a hint of disdain)
Enyo led them in a speedwalk to the entrance, but there were too many people to go around to go at a consistent pace.
Arie: It's a good thing you're shorter than the average monster, or they might have spotted you already.
Enyo passes the corner to see them and spins on her heel back into everyone else: Not that way, not that way! *exhales*
Alcina: More Knights?
Enyo: More knights. New plan. Al. Whatchya got?
Alcina (turned and led them away down another series of halls): There's a back entrance. (Alcina guides them along, Enyo beside her watching) But how are we getting home? Making a dash for it? I mean it would probably be dangerous to wait for the bus to leave, and considering they probably found us through-
Sans: I could arrange something. (walks up beside the group out of nowhere)
Alcina jumped and exhaled through a hiss when she realized who it was.
Halle and Arie sprang forward with a yelp: Gyaaah Sans you! Don't- dooo- that!
Enyo: How? (she hadn't seemed bothered by the skeletons sudden appearance.)
Sans: Follow Al. She knows where to go. I'll meet back up with ya in a sec. (strides into the crowd)
Enyo watched him suspiciously): Okay. Be careful.
Sans waved over his head: Worry for the dogs. (he disappeared between two monsters in a flash of light)
…
Sans poofed out of the blue of the bathroom onto the backdoor entrance, bringing a phone to his ear.
Sans: Hey Grillbz, what's cookin'?
Grillby: the usual.
Sans: perfect. Hey, think you could whip up something special to go?
Grillby: Oh? Going somewhere?
Sans: Yeah, me and five others were thinking about the mall… you know, we were gonna take the entrance, but its too "stuffy", so we'll be taking the back door.
Grillby: Understood.
Sans hung up, spied through the mass of people to see the entrance.
Several powerful looking Knights stood before the doors, unmoving They wouldn't let anyone leave. They'd go as far as to shove people back and draw their swords a little. Some of the monsters went flying with a single bat of an arm.
Sans: Hoo, yeah, that's not smart. That's her squad though. (rests his back on a curve, opening a game on his phone.) Good ole tetris. (waves a hand over his phone screen, a blue flash of magic swirling to life) You guys are pretty strong, but lets see how fast you are in that armor. (he flicked his hand across the screen, launching the blue light across the hall, letting it swirl and manifest between the confused crowds until it took the form of a human. An exact blue copy of Frisk.)
As "Frisk" simply walks out of the crowd and looks up at a sign, the Knights spot her fairly quickly. No sooner as they surged forward, the human dashed away back into the crowd. It didn't take long for the small creature to dash between the monsters, but for the bulky knights, they were much slower. Even given how many monsters were flung aside or jumped from their wake.
The blue human "unlocked and opened" the door of the stairwell, followed a few paces behind by the Knights. So they weren't really too slow. No matter.
Once all the knights had gone down, the door handle lit with blue, slammed shut and locked.
A confused crowd meandered away, Sans scribbled away at the screen, utterly owning tetris.
The girls rounded the corner ten minutes later, some of them panting and shaking in fear. Halle was shaking, Arie's was hunched over with her ears back against her head, looking around her slowly. Enyo towered over them, listening and watching. Frisk just huddled between them, entirely confused. Surprisingly, the human seemed more composed than any of them. She looked more confused than scared. Well, next to Enyo. But her flight or fight response was pretty serious and methodical anyways. Panicking didn't make sense to her.
Sans: What took you so long? (Slides phone away into hoodie)
Alcina: They're an infestation. (hisses) so many detours…
Sans: Kiddo don't realize how dangerous it is to be here right now, huh?
Frisk: Kiddo? (looks at Sans with an odd mix of insulted confusion on her face) No. Why are Dog Knights looking for me?
Sans phone buzzed, and he checked it: Time to go. We'll explain in the ride.
Bursting with questions, the group followed the skeleton out the doors as a long black vehicle in Snowdins normal snow treads rolled onto the curb. The passenger's side black tinted window rolled down and a soft red candle light peered through- with shades on his -face? Wait- that was a person on fire.
Sans: Right on time.
Grillby: Hello! I hope you enjoyed your time at the mall.
Alcina: It was wonderful, aside from having to dodge the knights.
Arie: Grillby? (her shoulders slouched and she tilted her head in a confused way) You know its really weird seeing
you out of the bar.
Frisk: What is going on?! Thinks: The skeleton had a fire monster Sheaffer?
Sans: A fiery getaway. Now hop in before some grumpy knights getchya. (slides open the side door with relative ease, and leans on the side.)
(Halle and Arie piled into the back, Alcina and Frisk to the front row. It took guts for Frisk to step within arms reach of the skeleton. She expected him to grab her or something but he kept to himself and just gave her something close to a reassuring grin. She slid next to Al and hefted her backpack onto her lap.)
Enyo gives Sans a high five: Thanks man.
Sans: Anytime.
(Enyo climbed in, and sat beside Frisk while Sans rolled the door shut.
(Frisk noted that the vehicle roof though was a good foot above Enyo's head even sitting down, and there was still room enough between them all on the seats for another person. Frisk reclined a little. Ooooh the leg room… and the chairs were pretty comfortable too.)
Grillby: Buckle up.
Sans slid into the passenger seat: Better listen to him, (buckling) Under these cool glasses is a fiery road rage monster.
Grillby moved the car forward: Don't smother my reputation, Sans. How rude of you especially when we have a new guest.
(vehicle cruises through the parking lot)
Sans: Pff. Oh yeah, Frisk, this is Grillby. He's a fire monster chef at a chill place on the other side of town. Grillby, this is Frisk… She's a human being kidnapped by her friends.
Grillby: It is a pleasure to meet you, Frisk. You must stop by sometime and say hello. I will prepare a fantastic dish.
Frisk: You too? And yeah… maybe sometime. Thank you for picking us up.
Grillby: Not a problem at all, miss. (pulls right onto the main road, and floors it)
Halle clung to her seat: Aaaah!
Enyo: Uhm… isn't this unnecessary?
Grillby: Not when you have five hungry Knights waiting for their orders for over 20 minutes. They tend to get quite cranky. Its bad for the tables and chairs. I do hate having to replace everything when they arrive.
Sans: Oooh, really? They are an infection like you said, Alcina.
Alcina: I think I'm going to be sick…
Sans: So Frisk! (Sans unbluckled and propped himself over his seat to look back at you)
Grillby: Really? Honestly, Sans, you don't have to get up.
Sans rolled his shoulders and eye lights before continuing explaining to Frisk: You have mean scary Dog Knights chasing after you. Do you know what that means?
Frisk: … No. (annoyed)
(The vehicle jerks and weaves through traffic, and while everyone sways a little, Sans is a little more composed over his seat.)
Sans: Reasonable. So first: Why are there Knights?
Frisk: This place has a monarchy system here?
Sans: Yep. Do you know what that means?
Frisk: There's a King and Queen?
Sans: There's a King Asgore. (he held up a corrective finger) He's a scary lion monster dude with a red trident.
Frisk: Okay. Who's he?
Sans: The King.
Alcina: Sans. (she gave a weary laugh) Please.
Sans: Okay okay. (he waved a hand) So long story short, all the monsters underground are stuck here. Right?
Frisk noted that Sans liked to make a lot of hand movements while he spoke.: Yeah..?
Sans: But you've seen we got a lot of your surface stuff. Right? (he waved his hand at her)
Frisk: Yeah…? (Thinks: That hand waving is a little distracting…)
Sans: We got all that from the dump and the internet. We can't leave the underground. Its not as simple as digging a hole and climbing up.
Frisk: … But I fell through a hole to get in here…?
Sans: Nope. You didn't.
Frisk: I did.
Sans: Trust me. We're way down. (he pointed down) If you'd fallen from the surface… (he pointed and looked up) Do you have any idea how very dead you would be? You'd be as flat as a pancake, kiddo.
Frisk: (Thinks: Well… I guess he has a point there. It might have looked like I fell, and technically I did, but not the way I think I did… I guess?) How did I get here then?
Sans: Magic.
Frisk: (Thinks: That smug grin stays on your face when you say stuff like that is kinda annoying… oh. Magic. That's how I fell. There's the gap in the fall. Somehow that makes sense.) … Oh.
Alcina: Oh?
Sans: heh. What?
Frisk: Magic. I've been talking to a skeleton and a fire monster. I don't think that can exactly be explained scientifically.
Sans: Lots of things are scientific. Magics just unexplained to human science because its forgotten or unknown territory. But trust me. There's a science to it. You guys just haven't figured it out yet.
Arie: My brain hurts! (calling from the back seat) Agh! (leans forward) Sans was explaining we can't leave. The reason we haven't busted out of this place yet is like he said: Magic. There's like a wall of it all around our world that keeps us from passing. But for some reason you guys can pass through- along with items and the internet, but not that often. Especially humans. You. I mean.
Sans: Stop confusing the kid, Arie! (he chided her jokingly)
Arie: (guffaws, and sits back) Me confusing her?
Frisk: So I fell through a magic wall to get here. And my being a human has something to do with why your king wants me?
Enyo: Sort of.
Alcina: Its kind of like… (waves hands, as though trying to grasp how to say it) Humans are the key to breaking that wall. Like- supposedly if there are enough humans here, the wall will shatter.
Frisk: … How does that work?
Everyone: Magic.
Frisk nodded in silent acceptance of that.
Sans: Doesn't matter. What does matter is that it pretty much destroys all your freedom, and we go to the surface.
Frisk: … Are you saying I'd die?
Sans shrugged, and looked away: Hmm… pretty much. Yeah. Although you humans are pretty weird, because your souls linger around for quite a bit.
Frisk: What's so different between human and monster souls?
Sans: Eh. That's a lesson for another time.
Frisk: Alright. So how about this: What's so bad you're freed from the underground?
Enyo and Alcina: Very bad.
Alcina: We get along pretty well, right?
Frisk: Of course!
Alcina: Now you're just one human… "invading" our territory. We don't have to shove over much room for you. But if we were to go to the surface… the thousands of us down here… we'd… be quite imposing. Even with as much bigger the surface is. New neighbors can always be something hard to deal with no matter where you are.
Frisk: uhm…
Sans: Y'guys are too complicated. (waves a hand) If we go to the surface it'll mean a fight for the land. Nobody wants a war. But that's what Asgore has resolved himself for. That's what all the Knights are training for. You see how tough they are?
Frisk: I saw them throw people. (she cringed) I hope I'm never that person in their claws.
Sans: Nobody wants to go fight; but again, Asgore plans to attack your world. And for anyone who'se left behind here, if humans were to launch an attack on us, we'd be isolated and in a hole already we'd be screwed.
Frisk: That… sounds really scary.
Sans: Yeah. Thing is, Monsters do have an upper hand here- although whether or not it can overcome your technology- and believe me, we do have our own technology. Regardless, its just better to not use it because it got us down here in the first place.
Frisk: The magic?
Alcina: The magic.
Sans: So, now you know. Don't get caught by the Knights, or it will be war. We'll do our best to keep you out of the way. Oh, and as extra incentive to keep yourself hidden: You're the last one they need.
Frisk: H-how many are there?!
Sans: You're the 7th.
Frisk: You guys really haven't had that many, have you? (sigh)
Sans: We've seen them come and go, actually… in our lifetimes. In that past 5 years, we've lost 6 kids. Rachel all her kids watching out for you humans because the first one that came got along well with em. They're all looking out for you, understand? Trust em. They're your family now. You protect them, they'll protect you. Got it? We don't want to loose anymore kids…
The sound of the tracks tearing over the snow was really loud after that; because the cab was full of silence and pain now.
Frisk stared at her shoes, realizing how much she really meant to these people. Thinks: Am I really that important? I've… really gotta keep myself safe. For them. And us.