Previously: Deos was able to (mostly) deal with Mad Dummy peacefully and then he, Toriel, Flowey and Frisk spent some time with Undyne as he explained to her what they've been doing so far, while also showing the device that he and Cali were working on earlier, which was a device that can shatter the barrier without using the souls up, he also revealed that he had Dr. Alphys help with some of the data, as well as delivering "Rewind Orbs" to potentially undo the deaths of the other six Human children, before they left that part of Waterfall, they paid a brief visit to Blood Acres and Toriel met Napstablook for the first time since her self-imposed exile.
(Waterfall)
Immediately on the way to the next section of Waterfall, they found what appeared to be a shop with an elderly tortoise monster, Toriel knew who he was and yet she was afraid of what would happen if she was seen. Frisk, Deos and Flowey went into it and were greeted by this monster "Woah there! I've got some neat junk for s..." He looked at something that he couldn't quite believe "Toriel?! Please tell me that's you!"
This made Toriel come out of the Dimensional Pocket Amulet "Gerson! I see that you are keeping good care of yourself."
"I'm not dust yet, your majesty, but...where have you been?" asked Gerson.
"In hiding, a mistake that I'm heading towards the capital to rectify." Toriel said, with some regret in her voice.
"Are you two?..." Gerson asked Deos and Frisk.
"Yes, we are...this is Frisk, they're here because there was nothing for them on the surface and no, I don't know what gender they are and don't ask...it's a sensitive subject and I am Deos, a member of the Order of Seven, a group of magic users, specifically the one who created the barrier to...officially it was to imprison your kind down here, unofficially it was to keep you safe from those who wanted to finish the job, I'm here to protect Frisk, get Toriel to actually DO something about the situation down here, generally improve the lives of monster-kind down here (living is a requirement for that) and to break the barrier...among other things. Deos explained, Gerson was silent after that...
"I guess some things aren't as black and white as they appear, but how did you get past Undyne, she's not as forgiving as I am with this, she doesn't listen that well either."
"Basically, I used my determination to protect Frisk, they're quite a pacifist, to give myself the strength to slowly overwhelm her, in the end, I borrowed Toriel's pyromancy to overheat her into unconsciousness and then have Toriel bring her fear to 'change my underwear' levels for even trying to threaten her child. Don't worry, she'll be leaving us alone, now that she knows why I'm here and that I already have a soul from someone that died of natural causes." Deos explained further.
"I've found out that at least three of the human children weren't killed by Asgore's hand, is he?..." Toriel asked.
"He's at the end of his rope...the only thing preventing him from turning to dust is his duty as King, he's a man who doesn't have a lot to lose...You want to give him a reason to keep him from doing that? You must do, otherwise...you wouldn't be out here now." Gerson said, Toriel tried to hide an expression that told him that she agreed with him, but she could see that there was no point in doing that.
"This isn't just about him, it's about me as well, we both made decisions that ultimately caused more harm than good, although his was more selfless, mine was more selfish." Toriel said, she could lie to herself about that, never mind one of her oldest friends.
"I think that these two pieces of junk belonged to one of them". Gerson said as he pointed to the Cloudy Glasses and the Torn Notebook, Deos paid the 85G for both, he had a look of distaste on his face that couldn't be seen.
"Distasteful or not, it's needed to find out what happened..." Deos said as he touched the two items and received a vision of the Purple Soul child's past, he was the nerdy type...which appears to be what many of that soul trait is and was treated badly, both by his classmates and even his parents, they apparently valued physical prowess above mental aptitude and by those standards, he was an embarrassment to his family. This caused him to climb Mt. Ebott, thinking that no-one will miss him, he met Toriel as he fell down and was initially fearful, but then he calmed down and for a time, he lived with the friendly
boss monster, although he eventually felt a prisoner and he left the ruins, he took a more defensive role to travelling through Snowdin and through most of Waterfall, he was killed right at the way leading to Hotland by what appeared to be an aggressive relative of Dr. Alphys, He then snapped back to reality.
"What is it, Deos?" Toriel asked.
"What just happened?" Gerson asked.
"He has some kind of psychometry ability, it's how I knew how the other three were killed." Toriel answered.
"The Purple Soul child was killed by a nastier relative of Dr. Alphys, punished by a society just for being nerdy, let us hope that they aren't still alive..." This child's story made him barely able to contain his rage.
"The more I learn about how they died, the less I am able to justify my hate towards Asgore..." Toriel said "Let us continue to Hotland, I would like to talk to this Dr. Alphys as well."
"Well...I'll be seein' ya, Toriel. I hope that the two of you can smooth things out between the two of ya!" Gerson said.
Toriel then entered the Dimensional Pocket Amulet and then Deos, Frisk and Flowey continued to the bio-luminescent mushroom field...
(Deos' Apartment)
Cali is quickly pacing up and down, feeling restless, Dr. Alphys couldn't stay silent any longer. "H-Hey, Cali...what's h-happening?"
"I'm pacing up and down, because Deos is almost at your lab and then I'll be able to t-talk to him, t-tell him everything!" She then looked and sounded nervous towards the end of that sentence.
"I know how you feel, we can't keep hiding from this, you taught me that!" Dr Alphys shouted in an unusually strong tone, it's her opinion of Mew Mew Kissy Cutie 2 all over again, this surprised both of them.
"Yeah, you're right Alphys! I just wished that they'd get here quicker!" Cali said in a more frustrated tone as they both waited for them to get to Hotland.
(Waterfall)
After visiting the Temmie Village, a village populated by Temmie, Temmie, Temmie, Bob, Temmie, Temmie and a mushroom. They finally navigated the dark marshland and then they moved towards the only way that they could see, which slowly went dark and it lead to an echo flower that they found when they walked into it, which said in a familiar voice "Behind you." Undyne appeared, blocking the way and walked a few paces forward "Seven." She spoke in a grave tone "Seven human souls, with the power of seven human souls, our king...King Asgore Dreemurr...will become a god. With that power, Asgore can finally shatter the barrier. He will finally take the..." Then Deos will wave it off.
"Is this monologue going to take much longer, I'd much rather you get on with it because we
die of boredom." Deos said.
"Fine!" Undyne made a spear appear, ready to use it "Give me your soul or I'll tear it from your body." she charged at them and then from the seagrass, Monster Kid appeared between them, stopping just as she was about to stab him.
"Undyne! I'll help you fight!" He shouted and then looked back and forth between Undyne and the group that's cornered. "YO! You did it! Undyne is RIGHT in front of you! You've got front row seats to her fight!"
Deos facepalmed at Monster Kid's apparent ignorance of the situation "Isn't it obvious who she's fighting?..."
Undyne then dragged Monster Kid away, "H-hey! You aren't gonna tell my parents about this, are you?"
Toriel in her astral form understood what was happening "You wanted to put on a show for that child by having Undyne appear in front, didn't you?" she asked Deos.
"Yes, she wouldn't tear try to kill Frisk while you're watching, but I didn't want that child to know that. There's a prophecy that says that one who has seen the surface will either free the monsters from the underground or free the monsters of their lives, liberator or executioner...this 'angel' is capable of being both, Gerson could probably give you the long version, when we have time, it's what the Delta Rune on your robe repressents" Deos replied, as they proceeded along the now revealed path. They then crossed a wooden bridge and Undyne appeared instead of Monster Kid, this was a significant deviation from what he's seen.
"I've made sure that he got back home and that I'd deal with the humans, I gotta go now to watch Mettaton's show with Papyrus, this had better be good or I'm after a rematch with ya'!" Undyne said.
"Don't worry, it will..." Deos said, as they travelled down the linear path with a couple of twists and turns with a large sign with scrolling letters that spell out 'WELCOME TO HOTLAND'. "Finally, now we can make some serious progress." Deos said.
"Yes...progress..." Toriel seemed more subdued than usual, she didn't know why.
(Hotland)
They found Sans at his sentry post at Waterfall / Hotland border and he was asleep, he woke up when he noticed the group "Hey Tori! What's the matter?" Toriel noticed that her mood was obvious.
"I am feeling troubled, Sans..." Toriel replied.
"I advise you to say in there, with that fur, I doubt that you'd be able to take the heat" Deos said, groaning at this unintentional pun as all but him and Flowey laughed.
"I hate it when that happens!" Flowey shouted
"I actually like it, it makes Goat Mama happy" Frisk said.
"You would..." Flowey said quietly.
"Dr. Alphys is just ahead, she doesn't get a lot of visitors, I don't ask about what happens in there, it's not up to me and I don't wanna be on the receiving end of Undyne." Sans said, still terrified of what happened last time that happened.
"I guess she had something to spear...not again!" Deos said as all but Flowey laughed again. "Well, we'd best not keep her waiting, we'll be seeing you up ahead at the next guard post."
"Yeah, thanks for reminding me!" Sans said.
They then walked up to the huge building that says 'LAB' on it and walked through the doors, they are then greeted by a small yellow lizard monster in a lab coat.
(Lab)
"Dr. Alphys, we meet at last." Deos said, this made Dr. Alphys nervous.
"Y-Yeah...You muse be Deos, Cali is..." Dr. Alphys said, before being interrupted by Toriel appearing in front of her, seeing the former queen in person terrifies her more than seeing her appear the first time on one of her cameras. "Y-Your majesty!"
"Just Toriel will be fine...You are the Royal Scientist? I require answers, what is your connection to Flowey?!" Toriel asked in an authoritative tone.
"She made me what I am, that's what!" Flowey said.
"I did?!..C-Could that have?...Oh no..." Dr. Alphys said.
"Could WHAT have? ANSWER ME!" Toriel said in anger, this terrified Dr. Alphys, they were both interrupted by a loud voice coming from the speakers.
"Hey, Queen Terroriel, leave her alone! She's been slowly been killing herself for a while now! She's doesn't need you to make her feel worse and besides, she's going to tell the whole underground AFTER she's told Undyne, because if there's anyone who needs someone to back them up, it's her!" Cali said, she was listening to the whole conversation.
"Y-Yes, I am sorry Dr. Alphys, I can wait." Toriel said, ashamed at how needlessly mean she was.
"As for YOU, Deos...I have some words for you." Cali said.
"Frisk, can you wait outside? Some bad words are about to be spoken." Deos said.
"Yeah, Frisk, Toriel won't want you to hear that." Cali said with a much happier tone of voice, Frisk nodded and waited outside and took Flowey with them.
"Now Deos...WHY THE F*** DID YOU NOT WAIT FOR ME?! YOU INCONSIDERATE B*****D! I THOUGHT WE WERE A TEAM AND YOU DECIDED TO F****** GO DOWN THERE ON YOUR OWN WHILE I WORRIED ABOUT YOU WITH ONLY A TEXT MESSAGE TO TELL ME..." Cali said, she was out of breath at the end of her rant.
"There was no time to wait, I barely got to Frisk in time to stop Toriel from trying to scare them away with pyromancy, I barely had enough time to leave that text message." Deos said, this calmed down Cali.
"Oh...I guess I can forgive you, it's also why she's there with you. Dr. Alphys has been keeping informed of your progress, she's also been telling me some things that explains how she is now...we've also talked about a few other things" Cali said in a more friendly tone while twirling one of her pigtails with
one of her fingers.
"It sounds like you're both friends now, doesn't it?" Deos said.
"Yeah...I guess I got the wrong idea about her, there's something that I need to tell you, Deos" Cali said, sounding more serious towards the end.
"Toriel, Dr. Alphys, can you two wait upstairs, please?" Deos said, they nodded and went upstairs.
"What is it, Cali?" Deos asked with some concern, Cali paused as she hesitated with her explanation...
How will Deos react to what Cali has to say? What will happen afterwards? Find of in Chapter 18: Spectral Entertainment.