Previously: Toriel has a short reunion with Gerson, an old friend who's been around about as long as she and Asgore, then after she, Deos, Frisk and Flowey had a brief visit to Temmie Village, they stage an encounter with Undyne for Monster Kid's benefit and then they finally reach Hotland and meet Dr. Alphys in person. After a briefly terrifying confrontation with the former queen, Cali was finally able to let out the anger that she's been keeping in about Deos' hasty decision and then proceeded to tell Deos what she did...
(Hotland - Lab / Deos' Apartment)
Deos was silent during this explanation and a little after it, that an action that had good intentions had a devastating consequence, it explained why she was angry about his hasty exit and some of her less stable moments, he realized that she's been keeping this in since that day, just before she was part of the Order of Seven...
"Deos?...Are you still listening?..." Cali sounded worried.
"So you were the one who did that,..I and the others suspected that those people were like that due to an exorcism that went wrong, I didn't know that it was you who did that, we've been looking for whoever did that to this day." Deos said without any hint of emotion giving away how he feels about this.
"Why is that?! So you could punish me?! Well, you're too late! Apparently, I've been doing that to myself for a while now!" Cali said in a sarcastic tone.
"No...so we could get you involved in helping them, we've been working on freeing them from their comas, but so far, all we've done is stop the nightmares that they're trapped inside, I've even asked Dr. Alphys for her opinion on the situation." Deos said in a compassionate tone.
"You've...been working on this?..." Cali said with a shocked expression "Even Dr. Alphys, even though I was..." The tears started pouring out of her eyes, they were tears of joy, brought on by the happiness that they've been standing with her and she didn't even know it, until now, Deos waiting until she's stopped crying before he spoke next.
"Feeling better, Cali?" Deos asked.
"Much better...thank you." Cali said, she was unsure if he could handle what was coming next. "Have you ever wondered why I kept visiting you and staying for longer than I needed to? How I've been friendly towards you...in my own way."
"Where is this going, Cali? I know that we've been good friends, even though you can be immature at times, I've accepted that as wh..." Deos said
"Ugh...I'll just say it, I'm in love with you!" Cali interrupted with a tone of annoyance, this stunned Deos into silence. "You might be irritating sometimes, you might have a gigantic capacity to deny reality...that's Determination for you...but I've become attracted to how you're able to keep it together, unless you're pushed too far, how you listen to me when I talk, even though I don't know if you understand me and you make sure that you keep your apartment well stocked on tea for when I visit you." Cali said this with a tone of affection with a hint of worry "Deos?"
"It all makes sense now...I've been struggling to make sense of these feelings that I have for you, it's all there in black and white thanks to you, Cali." Deos said, speaking as if he had previously been blind and could now see again.
"Are you sure about that? I can be pretty nerdy at times, I was sure that you were being bored to death by my complex explanations." Cali said with a hint of hope, laughing nervously at that thought.
"When you say it, it sounds more like poetry..." Deos said with increasing affection.
"I'm not exactly...eye catching and feminine." Cali said, she twirled one of her pigtails in anticipation.
"You're eye catching enough as you are and as for feminine...you be who you want to me, Cali!" Deos said with increasing passion in his voice, this excites Cali "Nerdy, immature and modestly dressed...that's who you are and I think we could be closer than we currently are."
"Deos!" Cali said with a big smile on her face as she's found out that he feels the same way about her. "I want to kiss you, right now...sadly we can't do that yet."
"That's something that we can look forward to...I know this good restaurant that we could go to, after this is dealt with." Deos said with a hint of excitement.
"Let's start with lunch in this nice cafe that I know of, I have...something that I want to tell you about, how I solved this string of errors on this server which..." Cali said, she wanted to nerd out on Deos right now, knowing that he likes that, while around him, she will not hold back on that again.
"Save it for our first date, Cali, I really need to get back to the mission...and something else...something darker..." Deos said, Cali was nervous at what he's implying.
"I hope it isn't what I think it is..."
"Based on the 'worst case scenario' that I've seen, it looks that way and it has the puppet that none expected, which is the root cause of all that is wrong in the underground, can you make sure that the others are ready to be brought to the throne room when the time comes, I don't want to take chances with this one." Deos said with a concerned tone.
"Just tell me when you're ready...bye Deos, he he." Cali said.
"Bye Cali." Deos said, as he shouted to Toriel and Dr. Alphys "You can come down now."
They did so and they appeared to have been listening in on him, Dr. Alphys has an amused look on her as Toriel waved Frisk and Flowey in. "So, you like the nerdy type..."
"Before you say anything more, One - I'm not sure exactly how that would work and Two - You're taken." Deos said, this made Dr. Alphys nervous.
"The root cause of the all that is wrong in the underground?...I-I will trust you to bring them here when they're needed." Toriel said and then looks at Dr. Alphys "Keep her informed of our progress." Frisk and Flowey came back in without being told, this made Toriel smile.
"Y-Yes, Toriel" Dr. Alphys said, as they walked across the hall, a rumbling occurred and Toriel went back into the Dimensional Pocket Amulet to hide from this, Deos wasn't surprised as he knew this was coming, Flowey was surprised and Frisk had a neutral expression, it went black and then a voice oozing with charisma boomed in the blackness. "Oh no.".
"OHHHH YES!...WELCOME, BEAUTIES..." This was Mettaton, a mix of an anime protagonist, a video game robot and a make-up wearing male entertainer...in one form, in his current form, he's a rectangular box on wheels with red and yellow lights that display his mood, along with arms to hide his microphone, the form which is revealed when the lights turned on. "...TO TODAY'S QUIZ SHOW!" he appeared with a sign saying "Game Show" lowering above both of them with disco lights on either side of it. "OH BOY! I CAN ALREADY TELL IT'S GOING TO BE A GREAT SHOW! EVERYONE GIVE A BIG HAND FOR OUR WONDERFUL CONTESTANTS!" Fake clapping is heard around them.
"You've GOT to be kidding me..." Deos said in a deadpan voice.
"NOT ON THIS SHOW, GORGEOUS! NEVER PLAYED BEFORE?" Mettaton asked.
"I'm guessing that you'll kill us, if we get it wrong, we're toast?" Deos replied.
"CORRECT!...NOW, LET'S GET STARTED!" Mettaton said as the quiz show started proper, "LET'S START WITH AN EASY ONE! What's the prize for answering correctly?" Deos and Frisk pressed D for More Questions as Dr Alphys was helping them, although Deos already know the correct answers from looking ahead. "RIGHT! SOUNDS LIKE YOU GET IT! NECK AND NECK SO FAR!" He said.
"Was he always like this?..." Deos said to himself quietly.
(Deos' Apartment)
Cali is overhearing everything while keeping her mike muted, as she in the middle of a conversation with Neil "He's there in the Lab in Hotland, being subjected to trials by Mettaton, urgh...that narcissistic attention hog! Deos might be irritating at times, but even he doesn't deserve that!"
"Frisk is also there, didn't you say that Mettaton was threatening them with death?" Neil asked, worryingly.
"Yeah, let's hope Deos can help them out until they get to the end" Cali replied.
"Is he sure that there's a demon down there?" Neil asked.
"Unfortunately, yes...he asked me to make sure that we're ready to come to him when the time comes" Cali said.
"Thankfully, I have someone else covering the night shift, so you don't need to worry about me not being available." Neil reassured her.
"Yeah...Deos told me about how you were treating and also trying to cure a group of people in comas." Cali said.
"I don't know how they were like that, but we do know that they were enslaved by a demon and they were left like that." Neil said.
"I know who did it, Neil" said Cali, as she began her explanation.
(Lab)
The quiz show was going well, partly due to Dr. Alphys' help, but then she slipped up with a question involving a Mew Mew Kissy Cutie dating sim, she stopped when she realized that Mettaton noticed her giving away the answer "ALPHYS, ALPHYS, ALPHYS. YOU AREN'T HELPING OUR CONTESTANT, ARE YOU? OOOOOOH! YOU SHOULD HAVE TOLD ME. I'LL ASK A QUESTION...YOU'LL BE SURE TO KNOW THE ANSWER TO!" Mettaton said, this caused Dr. Alphys to be unable to speak, due to how nervous she is. "Who does Dr. Alphys have a crush on?" Deos pressed A for Undyne, Frisk did the same, this caused Dr. Alphys to brush with embarrassment and hide her face. "SEE, ALPHYS? I TOLD YOU IT WAS OBVIOUS TO BOTH HUMAN AND MONSTER. YES, SHE SCRAWLS HER NAME IN THE MARGINS OF HER NOTES. SHE NAMES PROGRAMMING VARIABLES AFTER HER. SHE EVEN WRITES STORIES ABOUT EACH OTHER...SHARING A DOMESTIC LIFE." Mettaton said in a way that emphasizes certain words.
"Yeah, we get it, she can't stop thinking about her...is this quiz show over?" Deos said with a slight tone of annoyance.
"WELL, WITH DR. ALPHYS HELPING YOU...THIS SHOW HAS NO DRAMATIC TENSION!" Mettaton replied.
"So you might as well move onto the next part of your schedule." Deos said, eager to get on with this.
"YEAH, THIS WAS JUST THE PILOT EPISODE! NEXT UP, MORE DRAMA! MORE ROMANCE! MORE
BLOODSHED! UNTIL NEXT TIME, DARLINGS!" Mettaton said as he blasted away from the lab, thankfully Dr. Alphys installed a door on the ceiling that opens automatically, things have calmed down somewhat.
"Well, that was something?" Dr. Alphys said.
"Yeah, something torturous...do you know what was the best part of that?" Deos asked
"W-what was the b-best part?" Dr. Alphys asked.
"Undyne was watching the whole thing!" Deos replied, this made Dr. Alphys turn red with embarrassment and curl up on the floor, Deos looked at the others "I'd give it a few minutes to sink in."
"Whatever, I just want to see Dr. Alphys squrm!" Flowey said.
What awaits them in Hotland? How will Dr. Alphys cope with what has just happened? How will UNDYNE cope with what has just happened?! Find out in Chapter 19: Incandescent Tension