Flowey wakes up not long after Undyne arrives at the lab. "Frisk… you're okay…?" he asks weakly. Frisk nods and smiles at him. "Heh… good. I was worried sick you know."
"meh, don't sweat it prince flowey."
Flowey rolls his eyes then freezes. "What did… you just… call me?"
Sans smirks. "flowey."
"No, no I mean… I mean before that and… oh golly…" He looks flustered, which if anything, only intrigues Sans more. Flowey puts on his scariest face. "Stop looking at me like that!"
"nah."
"No playing around, kids," Undyne says. "Alphys says we've got another door to find, and it's all the way up near MTT."
"Yes… It's a pain since… T- that's so far," Alphys says.
"They'll be fine," Undyne says, "and by 'they' I mean… they will. I'm staying in here away from that awful heat. Last time I nearly died, I swear."
Alphys looks concerned. "Oh no…"
"OOOOOOOHHHHHHHH YEEEESSSSSSSS!" There is another crash, and a large, rectangular robot creates a second hole in Alphys lab. "YOU ALL MISSED MY WONDERFUL DEBUT BUT NO MATTER! THE SHOW MAY HAVE BEEN PUT ON HIATUS BUT IT ALWAYS MUST GO ON! LIGHTS! CAMERA! ACTION!"
Alphys runs to the robot, waving her arms. "No no no no no no no no… not now!"
"HEY, YOU SAID THE CUE WORDS, AND I DELIVERED MY LINE BEAUTIFULLY!"
"Ch- ch- change of plans, not impressing the h- human today," she says, trying to shoo him.
"BUT THE HUMAN IS RIGHT THERE!" He points at Frisk dramatically.
"Yes, I know, the human is-" Alphys turns. "AH! Human, stop watching!" Frisk just stares in utter confusion.
"THE QUIZ IS STILL ON, IS IT NOT? WE'RE LOSING VIEWERS AS WE SPEAK!"
"geez, this guy is louder than papyrus…"
Papyrus looks at him in a scolding manner. "SANS, THAT'S THE UNDERGROUND'S NUMBER ONE ENTERTAINER YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT! METTATON!"
"WHAT'S THAT?" Mettaton asks. "COULD IT BE, WE HAVE A FAN IN THIS VERY AUDIENCE? NOW THIS COULD MAKE FOR SOME QUALITY PROGRAMMING! LUCKY FAN, COME ON DOWN, YOU'RE THE NEXT CONTESTANT ON THE QUIZ SHOW! EVERYONE GIVE THIS LOVELY CONTESTANT A ROUND OF APPLAUSE!" Sure enough, rainbow spotlights begin to circle around Papyrus as the crowd cheers. Confetti falls from the ceiling.
Papyrus puts his hands over his ribcage. "OH MY GOSH, THIS IS THE LUCKIEST DAY OF MY LIFE."
"Where the heck did the confetti come from," Undyne asks, looking perplexed.
Sans is pushing Frisk out the east door. "c'mon kiddo, we'll let papyrus have his spotlight and find that door ourselves, alright?" Frisk nods, looking back to Papyrus enthusiastically introducing himself to the audience.
Sans joins the party!
"Never a dull moment with you people, is it?" Flowey asks.
"nope," Sans replies. "now then, we need to get to mtt huh? Luckily for you i know a shortcut."
"How many shortcuts do you know?"
"all of them. it's this way." He walks with them a room over, then stops and looks around when they unsurprisingly end up in the next room. "…this isn't right. ok, we'll try again. this way." He leads them back where they came from, and predictably for everyone but Sans, they end up back behind the lab. "…this way?" He walks east again, and is, once again, in the very next room. "…why isn't this working?" He walks back and forth between the two rooms a few times before staring around himself in confusion. "it's not working…"
"What's not working? Walking?" Flowey asks.
"no, my shortcut. …you know what, you two go ahead a bit. i'll meet you at the elevator on r2, ok?"
*Ok. No way.
"great," Sans says, going to walk between the rooms a few more times.
Meanwhile, Frisk and Flowey are left to traverse Hotland without him. They move from room to room, doing puzzle to puzzle without Alphys help, since she's presumably dealing with Mettaton, though that doesn't seem to impede them much at all. After a few more rooms of hot air vents, lasers, and tsundereplanes, they arrive at the R1 elevator and step in. "He said R2, right? Not L2? Yeah R2, definitely. I mean I don't think this elevator even goes to L2, so we'll have to just walk there ourselves, I guess. Ha what a pain, why can't the elevator just take us all the way to the top? I mean that's the whole point of elevators right? Some kingdom Asgore is running, the elevators don't even work. Weird right?"
I guess? *Are you alright?
"Me? Oh… gee… um… yep," Flowey says. "Why?
You look nervous. *You're talking a lot.
Flowey sighs. "I am, huh? Alright I'll stop. Just push the button for L2, okay? …R2, I mean." Frisk looks at him silently and doesn't push the button. "Uh… Frisk. Go on, push the button. …Please?" They shake their head. "You're keeping me here until I say what's wrong, aren't you?"
*Yes. No.
"Seriously?" Flowey asks, looking annoyed. "You know I saved your life right? And this is the thanks I get?"
Sorry. *How did you do that?
Flowey falters. "I… I don't know. I've never done anything like that. …Well… Not without… a lot of extra, uh… soul power. Anyway…"
*What do you mean. Sans called you a boss monster.
He looks even more nervous. "I… uh… I did some weird things in the last few timelines. Can we just leave it at that, please?" Frisk nods, though they still look curious. "Great, thanks pal."
What do you mean? *Sans called you a boss monster.
"So he did see then…" Flowey looks down. "That's… not great. Do you know what boss monsters are?" Frisk shakes their head. "Well… generally white, fluffy, long ears, horns."
*Like Toriel? Like a jackalope?
"…Yeah. Just like her." He frowns a little sadly, looking almost homesick. "Anyway, they live a long time, and their souls linger for a little while after death. And… have generally made up the royal family of monsters since we were banished to the underground. So… I guess you know what that means?"
You're royalty? *You're Toriel's son.
"Yes," he says solemnly before he realizes what Frisk said. "Wait… No, I mean no… well yes but… wait no, no! I'm not, seriously. Frisk, I'm not. Okay? I'm n- you… you're shaking your head. You don't believe me do you? …Crud!" He hits his head on the side of the flower pot. "Look… don't… tell the others. Okay? That was a different life… literally." Frisk considers, then nods. "Thanks," Flowey says. "So can we get to R2 now?" Frisk nods again and presses the button.
After a quick ride up, they exit the elevator. Frisk looks around the area, but there's no sign of Sans. "Do… we… uh… wait for him?" Flowey asks. Frisk shrugs but sits down. "Wonder where he's at," Flowey says. "You know, it's weird, but he isn't quite as scary anymore. …Then again, he hasn't done that thing with his eyes in a while. Eesh…" Frisk shakes their head. "Oh come on, you know it's cree-" Behind them, there is a dinging sound. They both turn to see Sans exiting the elevator, looking a little defeated. "I take it you didn't find your short cut," Flowey says.
"yeah, no. let's just keep going," Sans replies, strolling to the left. He seems more than a little bothered by his loss of a short cut. "the rest of them had better be working," be says quietly.
"…Hey Sans," Flowey says cautiously. Sans looks over to him. "I know… you… lava good shortcut, but I think you met your… match in Hotland."
Sans is completely silent for a few moments before he chuckles. "…heh… keep working on your timing and you could be an awful comedian yet."
"Thanks?" Flowey says uncertainly. Sans shakes his head but smiles a little bit as they continue through Hotland. It takes a while but after fighting many monsters, solving a few more puzzles, and stupefying a certain Heats Flamesman due to remembering his name, they eventually reach the top. Ahead of them lies the MTT Resort. And just beyond that, Home. It's almost unfortunate that that's not where we're going at the moment. "So where's the door?" Flowey asks, looking around.
"we couldn't quite pinpoint it, but it was around here…" They look around the outside of MTT. Eventually the run into the two back alley shopkeepers, who when asked if they saw an out of place, gray door, "Like, totally didn't." "Yeah, totally didn't see, like, a door."
"Maybe it's inside the resort," Flowey suggests.
"hm… it could be," Sans says, thinking. "i guess all we can do is check it out."
The inside of the MTT Resort is lavishly decorated. Opalescent chandeliers hang from above, well kept ficusses line every corner, and a large, golden water fountain stature of Mettaton takes the center stage. It's spraying water just a little bit left of the rest of the fountain though. Most of the monsters inside the lobby are crowded around the elevator in the far right corner of the room though another few are lined up at the MTT Brand Burger Emporium, where an overstressed worker is trying to keep up with everyone's orders. "oh boy," Sans says as he walks forward, checking the perimeter for a door.
They take a turn down a hallway where a squidlike janitor is cleaning up… and spitting. Frisk decides they look too busy to talk to. Sans looks around for a gray door, but the only doors to be found here are requesting room service. They cross the lobby again and check the dinning area. There are a few monsters eating here, and one licking a plant in the corner, but there aren't any doors. "Maybe Alphys got it wrong?" Flowey suggests.
"no, it's gotta be somewhere here," Sans says. He snaps a boney finger in realization. "upstairs."
He quickly leads them back to the lobby and back through the crowd. "Hey, no cutting in line," a bespectacled white dog in red heels protests. Sans apologizes, but proceeds to elbow his way to the front of the line anyway, pulling Frisk and Flowey with him.
"c'mon elevator… c'mon…"
"It's busy," a small green dragon says.
"busy… hm… well i can fix that…" He raises his hand up and his eye glows a bright blue, then he lowers his hand slowly. The elevator dings and opens, and a small white dog runs out of it and out the front door. "there. easy as pie." He steps onto the elevator, and the other monsters in the lobby are too busy wondering where the little white dog showed up from to follow.
"Useful power," Flowey says.
"yeah," Sans agrees, rubbing his head with his eyes shut in mild pain. "anyway, the door must be up here."
They get off at the next floor and search around before going back to the elevator. It takes a few tries to find the right floor, but eventually, after getting off the elevator and turning down a hall, it's finally within their sight. Sans goes to it quickly, smiling a bit. "you two ready?" he asks.
Frisk nods and Flowey tells him, "Yeah, go ahead and open it." Sans does so and all three of them step into the darkness.
Just ahead of them, a tall figure, taller than the one Undyne encountered is mumbling to himself. He's dressed completely in black, and his clothes in places reveal an almost skeletal physique. Granted, with being Sans's brother and all, that would make a lot of sense. Sans is approaching him, seeming to understand perfectly what he's mumbling to himself. It takes me a minute to decode.
"Harnessing the power of the core… it would allow us to break through the barrier… I've begun storing power, but the problem is that it needs a vector. A living vector through which the barrier could be stepped through and broken. But that amount of magical energy would surely destroy the soul of any monster…"
"w.d." Sans calls out holding a hand out to the figure.
The figure gasps and turns, looking at him. "…Sans?" But before he can say any more, he's gone without a trace.
Sans lets his hand drop, staring after where his brother disappeared. "w.d. don't go… again…" Frisk goes to him and puts a hand on his shoulder. "i… i'm ok kid… sorry. i'm ok. don't worry." He stands up, stretching slightly. "heh, he just… keeps disappearing. …where's he go? i don't know."
Me either. *We'll find him.
"yeah… maybe," Sans says. "well… think that the robot is done quizzing papyrus? we should probably get back to the lab." Frisk nods and takes his hand. "what… do you know a shortcut or something?" he asks in mild amusment. Frisk nods again. The three of them step through the gray door and it disappears behind them. Frisk leads Sans to the R3 elevator, past the still stupefied Heats Flamesman, and they take the elevator back to the lab.
When they arrive, Undyne is helping Alphys sweep up confetti. Papyrus is staring off into space and grinning. "SANS, METTATON SAID I HAVE GREAT TV POTENTIAL! HE CALLED ME A CHARACTER."
Sans is still a little subdued. "that's… great, bro."
Papyrus is concerned. "HEY SANS ARE YOU ALRIGHT?"
"yeah, yeah just uh… homesick. …i guess."
"WELL WE CAN GO BACK TO SNOWDIN SOON, DON'T WORRY!" Papyrus says, smiling reassuringly. He stops smiling when from Sans's expression, it becomes obvious that that wasn't what he meant.
Alphys looks over to them from her computer. "Well, uh… we might need to go there. Soon, I mean. …There's a weird little… ripple by your h- house actually. It isn't the same as a door but it's uh… you know… there, so…"
"where, exactly?" Sans asks.
"A… few feet from your front door," Alphys says. "W… why?"
Sans thinks silently for a few moments. "no… no it didn't work. that couldn't be it, unless… could it be working?"
"BROTHER, WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?"
"the machine in my workshop," Sans answers. "this might mean… it's started running."