Previously: The journey through Waterfall continues with a tune is heard by Toriel for the first time in...quite some time, Monster Kid (along with Frisk) learns something about the situation that lead to what has happened in the underground, while they float down to the dump with the help of Deos' magic.
(Waterfall)
Deos, Frisk and Flowey floated down to the dump safely, it was partly flooded and full of humanity's refuse. Frisk didn't like the smell of it as they walked through it, Deos then crouched down and touched the ground, which resulted in a psychometry vision.
(Waterfall - Vision)
It was from someone with...yellow claws?! Was this Dr. Alphys...she was looking down into the abyss below, he could feel her despair and he knew why. But just as the despair was reaching its height, she heard a voice and looked at it "Hey, you might be Dr. Alphys, the new royal scientist that I heard about!" it was Undyne in her armor, he stopped the vision there.
(Waterfall)
Toriel in her astral form was worried "What did you see, Deos?".
"Dr. Alphys was considering jumping off from here" Deos said with some concern in his voice.
"What could she have done to make her think of..." Toriel said, unable to finish her sentence.
"It's something that Undyne saved her from doing, just by talking with her and later spending time with her. It might not sound like an obvious pairing, a tough girl and the nerdy type, but sometimes it's the unusual combinations that work better." Deos said, Toriel thinks about how she and Asgore got together on the surface, before the war...she was always the dominant one, she smiled briefly at that thought, better times...Frisk was pulling Deos towards the only way out. "Yes Frisk, there's nothing for us here, let's keep moving." They keep moving forward and then Deos stops again.
"Ugh, what now!" Flowey said in annoyance.
"Trouble is watching us." Said Deos in reply, they walked forward and they first caught a glimpse of eyes above the water and then a dummy appeared floating ahead of them, it was Mad Dummy, Deos readied the Magic Dampening Gauntlet in response to this, which made Mad Dummy drop to the partially flooded ground like the inanimate object that he's possessing.
"WHAT DID YOU JUST DO?! WHY ARE YOU PROTECTING THAT HUMAN?! STUPID! STUPID! STUPID!"
said Mad Dummy.
"It's because they're more useful alive and besides, there are better ways of dealing with anger caused by their friendly conversation to one of your relatives...actually that sounded wrong..." Deos said, embarrassingly.
"WELL, EAT KNIFE!" Mad Dummy said as he threw his knife, which Flowey deflected away, which made Mad Dummy explode with anger, it was unclear what he was trying to say, but it was clear that he was screaming due at how easy they made him defenseless, after he let it out, he calmed down..."This...This feeling...Eureka. Eureka! EUREKA!".
"You've become fully corporeal by becoming one with your body, haven't you?" Deos asked.
"Yes, finally! Just for that, if you let me go, I won't stomp you. How's that sound?" asked Glad Dummy. Deos stopped the dampening effect and let Glad Dummy leave, he and Frisk looked at Flowey.
"I need all of you alive, I wasn't starting to care about you!" Flowey said angrily.
"I know." Deos said, they then headed to the house that looked like an angry fish-head, "This looks like the right place." He walked up to the door and knocked it, the door was opened by Undyne, who is now in a black t-shirt and blue jeans.
"Good, I didn't think that you were gonna come" Undyne said, with a surprised tone in her voice as she moved back to let them all in.
"This was a good place to talk about what I'm here for or at least part of it..." Undyne closes the door for them. "You can come out now, Toriel."
She then came out of the Dimensional Pocket Amulet "You have a nice house, Undyne, not what I was expecting at all." Toriel said as she inspected her house.
"Yeah, I had to rebuild it as the last time I did some cooking lessons with Papyrus, that's the weenie that I'm training, I set fire to it and had to get it rebuilt after the fire was put out, it was fun though!" Undyne said, then she remembered something "Want me to make tea while you explain your story?"
"Yes, thank you...Asgore taught you that, didn't you?" Toriel said nervously, as it was clear that she has had regular contact with Asgore.
"That and how to beat him! Took me a while to get that good!" Undyne shouted with delight.
"Right...where to begin..." Deos said, as he proceeded to tell her the story so far...
(Deos' Apartment)
Cali was looking annoyed about something that she was hearing from Dr. Alphys "ALPHYS, STOP IT! I know what's happening!".
"S-Sorry, I can't help it...she's so..." Dr. Alphys said with desire in her voice.
"That's alright, I'm...actually a little jealous of the thing that you two have...I'm sorry for exploding at you like that." Cali said while twirling one of her pigtails around her finger. "Let me know when they leave, okay?"
(Waterfall)
Undyne was now aware of the situation and was surprised at what she's just heard, "So...lemme get this straight...this kid dropped down here because their parents are dead and the other orphans made their life..." she saw Toriel look at her in an angry way, so she didn't say the next part "Then they met you, Toriel, who wanted to adopt them. You were hiding in the ruins for a long time, while the underground was struggling to keep together and Asgore...where were you?!"
Toriel looked ashamed briefly, but then had a serious look "That was a terrible mistake of mine to leave him alone and not try to stop him! A mistake that I intend to rectify."
Undyne can see that she's not messing around with that and she intends to do that "Yeah...then we had you..." she looks at Deos "Part of an Order of human magic users who've been trying to break the barrier that they made to trap us down here, to stop the others from finishing us off, pretty crazy...just how did you plan on doing that?"
Deos takes out the device that he and Cali were working on earlier, he presses a few switches and revealed in front of them is a Red Soul, this makes Undyne's mouth open wide, Flowey was surprised by this development and Toriel looked at him with suspicion "Where did you get that Soul, Deos?"
"From my predecessor, voluntarily, she died of cancer...something that was unable to be treated." Deos said with some sadness.
"Yeah, that's the back-up plan, in case his original plan for me fails, once he's done using that as part of the 'barrier breaker', it's why I haven't stabbed any of you in the back, why do that when I know that you'll deliver on your end of the deal" Flowey said.
"Yes, basically it'll amplify the Soul power and allow the barrier to shatter without using up the souls, unfortunately it can only be used to break the barrier from the inside..." Deos said.
"Why's that?" Undyne asked.
"Because it's still not known why, but the barrier is actually stronger on the outside, it's suspected to be because the Human rulers tampered with it to be that way, so the only way for it to work on THIS side of it...it also needs the other six Human Souls." Deos replied.
"How do you know that the barrier is weaker on the outside?" Undyne asked.
"Yes, that would require someone to be on this side...I had some help...first I had a custom-made communication device that can pierce the barrier to be dropped down here in the hopes that there was someone who could figure out how it worked, it was successful and I was able to talk with Dr. Alphys." Deos replied.
"You know that nerd?! Undyne said.
"Yes...she was initially nervous with talking with humans on the surface, but we were eventually able to gain her trust and her assistance, not just with knowing how strong the barrier is on the inside, but with something else...I asked her to put some magical devices of my own construction: Rewind Orbs, the intention is when the barrier shatters, it releases a wave of energy, this energy will be used by them to rewind the corpses of the Human children to when they were alive, while also drawing their souls back into their bodies, undoing their deaths." Deos explained.
"Yes!" Toriel shouted "I had my suspicions about you, Deos, I was unsure about what your intentions, but no longer...I'm sure that will bring a heavy weight off both our shoulders"
"Him for giving the order in the first place and you for not doing anything to stop him, I can see how you'd say that. Well, we really need to get going and as for the cooking lesson, you might want Toriel to teach you at some point, she has a lot of experience." Deos said, while making Toriel blush.
"Yeah! I heard Papyrus made something edible today, was that you?" Undyne asked.
"Yes, it was...Deos thought that it would make him happy and would give him a reason to let them go, it would also give Sans a reason to stay at home to eat more often" Toriel replied.
"Well, I'll be seein' ya, sorry about the window...Papyrus uses that to get in, rather than the door like someone normal." Undyne said with a hint of annoyance.
"Oh and you might want to pay Papyrus a visit and tune into Mettaton's quiz show, trust me...there's something in that towards the end that you'll want to see." Deos said, mysteriously.
"O-okay" Undyne thought this strange.
"Also, can you?..." He whispers something in her ear.
"I can do that! I don't know why, but I'll make it less borin'! How did you get so bada..." Undyne shouted, Deos blocked her mouth before she could complete that sentence.
"You know those different timelines, different chains of events? Well, in the 'worst case scenario'...let us just say that I got the idea from that version of you, I have my suspicions, but I'll talk to Dr. Alphys about that."
They made their goodbyes (Toriel returning to the Dimensional Pocket Amulet) and then they investigated two different houses and a enclosure that has snails in it labelled "Blook Acres Snail Farm" this is familiar to Toriel and the others noticed this "You've been here before, haven't you?" Deos asked.
"Yes...I came here often to restock on snails, at least this hasn't changed." Toriel said.
"Yeah...you were my best customer, oh...was I interrupting you?" behind them was Napstablook, the ghostly propietor of this business, who noticed them approach his snail farm.
"Oh...you're wondering where I was all this time? Well, I was hiding from the rest of the Underground, that's why I haven't been...well, once I've sorted out my unfinished business, I will be sure to come back here." Toriel said, glad to have met someone familiar from before her self-imposed exile.
"Well...uh...if it's convenient for you." Napstablook said, awkwardly.
"How did you see her?" Frisk asked.
"She must be within his perception...I'll talk to your cousin about making time for you, at some point on our journey." Deos said, as they left, getting closer to Hotland and the Lab.
Will any other faces familiar to Toriel be met and how will Cali react to Deos when she is finally able to talk with him? Find out in Chapter 17: Heating Things Up.