Previously: Two Royal Guards (who had feelings for each other) were convinced to have some Nice Cream together rather than fight Deos or Frisk for their souls, then they and Flowey participated in Mettaton's News Report, which had a not-so-explosive finale, meanwhile Cali and Dr. Alphys were talking about something else that they were hiding from Deos...

(Hotland)

Frisk, Flowey, Deos and Toriel (in her astral form) exit the elevator to find a spider-like monster having a bake sale up ahead, a monster wearing a bright yellow suit is looking at his Spider Donut in disbelief, Deos speaks quietly to the others "That's Muffet, she's a little unstable, especially towards ANY who are cruel to spiders, she is selling her wares at ridiculously high prices, an amount that would trigger Dr. Alphys because she's an Otaku and it's in one Anime series that I sent her...Frisk, do you have that Spider Donut?"

Frisk nods. "Good, that should make things slightly easier when we meet up with her later".

"What will she do later?" Toriel asked, worried.

"Nothing that can't be talked out of doing" Deos said, as he looks at Flowey, which makes him nervous.

"We'd best go ahead, this is the only way to the Capital". Deos said.

"Will we find out what happened to the last human that was killed, Deos?" Toriel asked

"I guarantee it, in fact the last items are quite close to MTT Resort, a place conceived by a terminally vain ghost in a metal body...with some rewording, that could be a decent Anime title, in fact it probably is..." Deos said.

"Can we please get on with this? I'm eager to get this over with!" Flowey asked with some annoyance in his voice.

"We shall, since you asked nicely." Deos said, which annoyed Flowey further as they proceeded closer to MTT Resort with Toriel worried about what she'll find out and how that will affect how she reacts to seeing Asgore after all these years...

(Deos' Apartment / Lab)

Dr. Alphys is nervous at what Cali explained to her, she remembers what is in the True Lab "Are you insane, Cali?! Do you really think that I'm going to risk Undyne for something that could help against whatever this is, I can understand Mettaton as that's just recalibration as well as improving his defence, so that he isn't taken down in one hit, but THIS?!"

"I wouldn't be talking about this, if I didn't think that it could be done without it backfiring. Did you just go through with the Determination experiments quickly without checking for the side-effects?" Cali asked, much calmer than Dr. Alphys.

"No...I guess I was too excited by the r-results that I didn't t-think of them, until I saw s-some of them melt." Dr. Alphys said, with regret in her voice.

"Well, we'll check through it this time, make sure that it's safe enough for Undyne to use, make sure that she can turn it off, when it's nearing 'melting point'" Cali said.

"Y-yeah, I w-wouldn't have thought of asking for help with this, I'm glad that you're willing to help me with this." Dr. Alphys said with a smile on her face.

"That's okay, Alphys, we might be able to help each other...we might even find a way of using this to separate the amalgamates into their parts without killing them." Cali said with a smile on her face.

"Let's make s-sure this works first." Dr. Alphys said, her voice having a hint of caution, as eager as she is to work on this, she doesn't want to make the same mistake twice...

(Hotland)

They had to deal with a steam vent maze and a similar puzzle lock to earlier, they then find a purple doorway, Deos stops them from proceeding further. "Frisk, I advise you to get that Spider Donut ready." Frisk nods as they move through the doorway into a chamber with spiders and cobwebs, as they move through it, spiders climb up their webs and a voice is coming from the shadows

"Ahuhuhuhu...did you just hear what they just said? They said a human wearing a striped shirt will come through, I heard that they hate spiders..."

"Those that have a phobia of them, not this one." Deos said.

"I heard that they like to stomp on them, I heard that they like to tear their legs off." said that voice.

"Those with emotional issues that have no better way of dealing with them, this one isn't that bad." Deos said.

"I heard..." then the source of that voice revealed herself to be Muffet, whom they passed by earlier. "...they they're awfully stingy with their money."

"You cannot be more wrong, Muffet! Frisk, why don't you show her that you aren't." Deos said with tempered anger, Frisk then takes out a Spider Donut and eats it "Oh and before you say anything, they got it from the bake sale in the ruins, if you wait long enough, a telegram from the ruins carried by one of your spiders will confirm this.

"What?..." Said Muffet, confused by this statement.

"Oh, and besides, is it possible for us to steal any of them without you or any of your spiders knowing about it?" Deos asked.

"No..." Muffet replied, as she then noticed a spider carrying a piece of paper, she picks it up and blinks with all five of her eyes in surprise.

"Well...Does that confirm what I just said?" Deos asked.

"Sorry for all the trouble...there was this person who asked for this human's soul, they must've meant a DIFFERENT human in a stiped shirt~" Muffet said, slightly embarrassed by this misunderstanding.

"Just let us past without any further incident and as far as we're concerned, that'll be the end of it." Deos said.

"Ahuhuhuhu...I can do that, see you again, dearie! Perhaps under friendlier circumstances." Muffet said, more cheerfully.

Once they were at the other said of the other doorway, Deos looked at Flowey and it terrified him "W-what's that look for?" Flowey said.

"You hired her to take Frisk's soul, didn't you Flowey?" Deos asked, in a darker tone, Toriel looked angry with Flowey. "You wanted her to do your dirty work, so that you didn't have to deal with Frisk directly".

"I set all of this up before we made our deal! I didn't have enough time to stop it before you two came downstairs." Flowey said, looking in Frisk's direction. "Besides, you wouldn't let me out of your sight for too long, didn't you?!"

"Yes, I also didn't trust you to stop them and then come back, we needed to keep an eye on you." Deos said, he then noticed that Toriel is looking at a poster.

"What is this? A stage performance involving this Mettaton...a tragic tale of two star-crossed lovers, kept apart by the tides of fate...that sounds quite entertaining, I would much like to see that."

"I wouldn't say that, Toriel, Frisk is one of them..." Deos said with increasing dread in his voice.

"Oh dear..." Toriel said, sharing this dread.

"Good, it's nice and humiliating!" Flowey said.

"Even you won't like what's coming next..." Deos said with the same dread as before, this made Flowey feel uneasy, how bad could it be? They moved onwards to the stage, it appears to be outside, with a balcony connected to some stairs, once they walked far enough forward, they heard Mettaton's voice from the balcony.

"OH? THAT HUMAN..." Mettaton peak from behind a wall "COULD IT BE?..." he then revealed himself in a blue dress! Flowey is speechless from the shock of it all, he can't say anything about this. "...MY ONE TRUE LOVE? THEY HAVE BROUGHT WITH THEM A RED CLAD BODYGUARD!" he then moved down the stairs as the music started playing, Deos decided that this needed some modifications as Mettaton started singing.

"# Oh my love, Please run away, Monster King, Forbids your stay! #"

"# They cannot, Stray from their quest, That option, Is not their best! #" Deos sung

Mettaton was annoyed with this last-minute alteration to the script, yet he carried on regardless.

"# They'll put you, In the dungeon, It'll suck...and then you'll die a lot! #"

"# Let them past, let them go by, then you'll not...have all the good times die! #" Deos sung, This left Mettaton barely able to contain his rage.

"IT'S SO SAD...THAT YOU ARE GOING TO THE DUNGEON." Mettaton said, as Deos rolled his eyes at Mettaton as the trap door below them opens up and makes them fall down...

What awaits them in the dungeon? what are Cali and Dr. Alphys working on that ties into what is in the shadows? Where are the final human child's items? Find out in Chapter 25: The Final Pieces.