Papyrus looks at him in confusion. "UH… WHAT MACHINE ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?"

"a time machine," Sans says excitedly, leaving the lab.

Undyne watches him go. "And he's gone… Hey Papyrus, why didn't you tell me you have a time machine at your house?"

"I HAD NO IDEA MYSELF!" he says.

"He keeps you in the dark about a lot, doesn't he?" Undyne asks.

"Sh- should we go catch up with him?" Alphys asks.

"Yeah, probably," Undyne says. "Let's go."

After a little packing up, they head out, letting the river person row them back to Snowdin. Meanwhile I notice I don't feel alone as normal. Ah. Gaster. About time you showed up again. Now what does he want, I wonder.

"You have something I need… is it possible you can give some of it to me?" he asks, once again as clear as mud.

"You're going to need to be a little bit more specific."

"DETERMINATION," Gaster says. DETERMINATION? Last time I checked, that stuff makes monsters melt. "My body is still incomplete. I am not fully in this world. But the power to influence it could make things considerably easier."

"Yeah, sure, until you end up in a big pool of Gaster."

He seems unamused. "I can handle a small amount. I don't expect to exist for long anyway. My death occurred years ago. That cannot be changed."

How sad for Sans in that case, that his little quest is in vain. I have no idea what Gaster will do, and I sort of doubt he can really explain it to me. Still… I did promise to help him. But how am I supposed to give up some of my DETERMINATION?

As though sensing my thoughts, he speaks again. "You agree? Then it is done. I will see you soon, fallen child."

I'm not really sure what that did… everything seems to be the same. As Frisk gets off the boat I make them turn around in a circle, so that seems to be working. It's a few minutes before I notice that Frisk's maximum health is now 19.

Everyone walks through Snowdin to Sans's and Papyrus's house. Sans is waiting for them out front, holding a silver key in his hand. "You got here fast," Undyne remarks.

"it actually took a while but i found a shortcut that still works," Sans says cheerfully. He waves the key around. "are you all ready?" he asks.

""TO GO INTO OUR STORAGE ROOM? AND I THOUGHT YOU LOST THE KEY, SANS."

"sorry, but this had to be kept secret. until now anyway." He unlocks the door and goes into the room. It's narrow enough that they have to file in one by one, and is lined with blueprints written in odd symbols and drawers and drawers, some filled with paper. In the very back corner is a large object covered by a white sheet, emitting a very muffled noise.

Sans pulls the sheet from the machine in the corner and a soft whirling sound fills the room. Frisk looks at the flashing lights and moving pumps and bellows and the odd readings graphs being tracked by a small screen before their eyes wander to a dusty glass door and small chamber within. Sans is looking at it too, a little amazed to see it running. He checks for any signs that it's been used, however it looks like it hasn't been touched since the last time that he worked on it before giving up on the project. He sighs and hits his skull lightly on the glass door.

"SANS, ARE YOU OKAY?" Papyrus asks with concern.

"yeah. fine. i just thought… maybe he… well it's nothing. alphys do you think you could use this to find any more doors?" he asks.

"Y- yeah, probably," she says, hooking up her computer and typing, examining the screen. "It might take a while though."

"I CAN PROVIDE SOME ENTERTAINMENT."

Sans shakes his head, looking over Alphys shoulder. "no, i need to focus on this. sorry."

"Yeah," Undyne says. "Well let's get out of here so those two can do their weird science thing." Frisk nods in agreement and they go with Papyrus and Undyne back into the main part of the house. Papyrus clicks on the TV to an MTT program. "Y'know I don't really get why Alphys likes that robot so much," Undyne says. "He's so overly dramatic."

"The first time you had a proper conversation with us, you were shouting about everyone's hearts beating as one from the top of a mountain," Flowey points out.

"Yeah, so?" Undyne asks.

Flowey rolls his eyes. "Nothin'. never mind."

"I LIKE METTATON. HE SAID I HAVE A LOT OF STAR POTENTIAL."

"Aw yeah you do, man," Undyne says, putting him in a headlock and rubbing his skull with her knuckles.

"DON'T NOOGIE THE SKELETON, AHH…"

"I don't understand them," Flowey admits. "I really don't."

Undyne grins. "What's not to get?"

"I don't know… Why are you two such good friends? Did one of you save the other or something?"

"UH… NO? BUT WHAT DOES THAT HAVE TO DO WITH ANYTHING AT ALL?"

"I mean… you're just… so… close?" Flowey says, trying to make sense of their relationship. It's funny, I had almost forgotten he doesn't have a soul. I wonder if he forgot how these things work. With Frisk and fond memories of me being the only exceptions to his coldness, maybe he doesn't really know how friends act anymore.

Undyne shakes her head. "Just don't worry about it, little chrysanthemum."

Flowey glares. "I don't even look like a cristant- crisanthun-um…. I don't look like that."

Undyne's expression softens considerably. "Awww, you can't say it."

Flowey grits his teeth. "Shut up. And stop looking at me like that!" Undyne laughs. "You're so stupid and annoying and just… Stop smiling!" A few bullets fly at her, which she swipes away with her spear. Most of them ricochet off and embed themselves in the walls. One knocks a rock off of a plate. Sprinkles fly everywhere.

"OH NO! SANS'S PET!"

Undyne grins. "What, you wanna fight or something, chamomile?" She puts a fist over her heart. "You wouldn't win."

"Oh please, I could kill you in my sleep!"

"Yeah sure, in your dreams maybe," she quips.

Who's side do you take?

*Undyne's side. Flowey's side.

Undyne's side. *Flowey's side.

*Undyne's side. Flowey's side.

They keep going back and forth uncertainly. Papyrus, meanwhile is trying to calm Undyne, to little effect. She has a competitive gleam in her eye and Flowey is seething in rage. Frisk eventually decides to disregard the choice box options, walks over to Flowey, picks him up, and puts him upstairs.

"Oh c'mon…. Frisk, seriously?"

"Ha, I win!" Undyne says.

Whatever. *It's not always about winning.

Undyne frowns a little. "Eh… I guess."

Flowey still looks annoyed. "I'm not a christanthum." Frisk sighs and pats his head. They look down to Papyrus, picking sprinkles off the floor. "Can we go outside, Frisk?" Frisk nods, probably figuring it's a good idea to let him cool off and takes him out.

Flowey is quiet for a little while before sighing. "I'm uh… Sorry, I guess."

It's okay. *How come you only get along with me?

He looks down. "I don't know. You're just… different, you know?"

*Not really. I guess.

"Huh...? You don't think you're different from them?" he asks. Frisk shakes their head. "I… I think you… well you are. Because you're not stupid. But you are but… you aren't but… I don't know, you're just not the same, okay?"

Because I'm human? *Because I saved you?

Flowey frowns. "I don't know… Maybe. Maybe I just know that I have to make sure you're okay to make everything right again…"

*And that's why you care? So you don't really care?

Now that's an interesting question to ask. I push for Frisk to change their response and I must catch them off guard because I manage to influence them into asking the second option.

Flowey looks taken aback. "I… I… No. No, I mean… That isn't what I mean, okay? Why would you ask that?" He looks somehow both sad and angry and not entirely sure what his answer should be. "I mean… I don't… know. I just know I have to make sure everything is set right again, okay?"

… *…Okay…

Flowey frowns. "I… I'm sorry… Look I really think you're great I just… I think I care about you but…" He grows quieter. "I just… don't know if I even can." Frisk frowns a little but turns at the sound of a door shutting. Alphys is approaching.

"Frisk, uh… Flowey. We've located another disturbance." She turns and goes into the house, probably to tell Undyne and Papyrus the same thing.

"We should probably go look," Flowey says quietly.

Frisk nods and they walk back to the little workshop. Sans is sitting on the counter, swinging his legs and looking over readings on the machine. Frisk stands to the side and waits for Alphys to return.

"alright kiddo, me and you are going in there," Sans says.

"Why you and Frisk?" Flowey asks.

"Well, it's mainly because they're both, uh… small. If we sent Papyrus or Undyne, they'd have to go on their own. And you and Frisk have the most experience with these out of time zones."

"Is that what we're calling them?" Flowey asks. "Sigh… well I guess that makes sense."

"yep. besides, i built the thing, i get to try it out. it's only fair," Sans says.

"I still can't believe you had a broken time machine," Flowey says.

"yeah yeah. you ready to go, kid?"

*Yes. No.

"right this way then," he opens the door to the machine and squeezes in. Frisk follows, placing Flowey on top of Sans's skull. "ah. payback i see." Frisk smiles a little and nods.

"Alright," Alphys says. I'll be monitoring you all from here. Good luck everyone."

Frisk nods and looks up at a flashing light above them. It blinks a few times before a blinding light fills the chamber and they shut their eyes tight. When they open them again, they're back in the world of darkness. Hm, so that's all Sans's machine managed to do? They could've just asked me to stick them there.

Sans looks around. "it's… really dark."

"Yeah, that's kind of how this place is. So where's the door?" Sans shrugs and gestures around vaguely. "Oh. Great. You have no idea. Why am I even surprised?"

"i don't know. it really shouldn't surprise you, heh…"

Flowey sighs as Frisk walks around with them. It doesn't take too much searching before they come across a large brick wall. "I guess there might be a door in this somewhere," Flowey guesses.

"sounds good." He leads them along, walking next to a wall. After several minutes they spot a gray door embedded within it. "think we found it. hey frisk, care to do the honor?" he asks. Frisk nods their head and steps forward, resting their hand on a doorknob for a moment and looking at the door before slowly turning it.

They start to open the door, though this time, they do not even need to go through. A gloved but clearly boney hand grabs the door frame and pushes the door all the way open. A tall, gaunt figure with disproportionately long limbs steps out. Sans stumbles backwards in surprise and Frisk moves back slowly as they look up at his face. It looks strikingly similar to the first figure that Undyne saw, though more detailed and complete. His cheekbones are defined now, as is his nose. Cracks run down either side of his face. Though he doesn't seem completely together as he's missing his lower jaw entirely, and in its place is only swirling darkness.

"b- bro…" Sans starts, though he still looks shocked. "ha, we… we found you. and you're alright mostly! what'd you do, finally talk your jaw off?" The skeleton looks at him silently. "uh… that was bad sorry. but i can't believe you're-" Gaster suddenly lifts an arm, his right eye glowing a violent red. Sans gasps in surprise as he's frozen in place. "w.d. …what are you doing!?"

"I'm sorry, Sans." he makes a motion with his other hand and Frisk stares in horror as a blue energy is drained outwards from Sans. Sans goes completely limp as Gaster takes the energy, seeming to consume it. After a moment his left eye glows to match his right, this one a cold blue. Gaster touches his face and makes an odd garbled sound. It takes Frisk a moment to realize that he is laughing. They take their knife and try to attack.

The battle ends before it can even start. Gaster holds them up with ease, and their toy knife floats away from them.

You can't kill them. You know that right? That's my only avatar in this world. I'll reset if you kill them. You had better be listening to me.

He seems to be, though he doesn't look concerned. "Their purpose has been served. So too has yours." Once I decipher what he says, I'm somehow both offended and terrified. What does he mean our purpose has been served? This wasn't going to be my reward for helping him. I direct Frisk to attack, but Flowey beats me to it, sending a barrage of bullets at Gaster's arm. He drops Frisk and Sans, flinching in pain, and turns to Flowey before seeming to decide against further conflict, fading out of existence.

Flowey breathes a sigh of relief and looks at Frisk, who's pushing themselves to their feet and retrieving their toy knife. They turn to Sans, looking fearful when he still doesn't move. "He… isn't dead is he?" Flowey asks. "There's no dust anyway. He's alive." Frisk shakes Sans a little and he coughs, turning on his side and batting them away weakly. Frisk shakes him again.

"i'm up… quit." He pushes himself up onto wobbly legs and looks around. "…so he's gone. that's a shame…"

"What did he even do to you?" Flowey asks.

"i have no idea," Sans admits. "but we need to get out of here and let the others know what happened."

Undyne, Alphys, and Papyrus are silent as Sans recounts the encounter. He sounds more tired than normal as he speaks. Papyrus is the first to say anything to him. "ARE YOU HURT?" is what he asks.

Sans shakes his head. "no, i'm ok. i'm not hurt anyway." Papyrus nods.

Alphys speaks up. "W- when you were uh… in the time vortex, the readings for anomalies went off the charts… we aren't s- sure where to go from…. Here."

"the core," Sans answers. "that's where he'll be going."

"Y- you're sure?" Alphys asks. Sans nods slowly, without even a shade of doubt in his eyes.

Undyne looks at him. They might not see eye to eye, but she looks a little concerned nonetheless. "So what are we doing to this jerk once we find him?"

"Absolutely nothing," Sans says seriously, apparently threatened by her tone. He takes a breath to calm himself then continues. "w.d. must have a good reason for what he's doing. he must. we just need to see what it is and what he's planning next."

"And what, you're going to help him?" Undyne asks.

Sans is quiet for a moment before shrugging somberly. "i just don't know."

This isn't what I wanted… This isn't what I wanted at all. Why is this Gaster even more of a rogue agent than Flowey is? Well… it doesn't matter. All I have to do is make sure they all catch up to him. Then I put him exactly back where I found him.