Chapter 9
Hotland, arguably the most realistic part of the underground, a see filled with lava and steam vents, and many rock platforms. In front of them was an intersection, to the left were two heavily armored monsters standing as guards. To the right was what looked like a doorway to a dock. In the middle was a save point and ahead was a huge white building with the word "LAB" plastered on it.
"What's is this place?" Ib asked
"The home of Dr. Alphys, the one who made that color puzzle in snowdin. The one that made Mary throw up."
"Hey! I thought you said you wouldn't bring it up"
"Ya thought wrong."
"Rrrg."
After their small talk the four walked into the large white box. When they walked in through the automatic sliding door, they noticed the room was pitch black, save for the spotlight shining down on them individually.
"It's so dark in here, where's the lights?" Mary asked.
"Follow me" Frisk commanded quietly. they continued to walk forward. Through the darkness, the hallway felt larger, more like a room. there was more room, but Ib fell over something, a book.
Ib gasped as she stared at the book.
"What is it?" the others asked.
"This is, a limited edition 涼宮ハルヒの憂鬱 Vol. 1!" (1)
"...a what?"
"A 涼宮ハルヒの憂鬱"
"..."
Considering three of the four had spent a VERY long time isolated from society, they had zero idea what Ib was talking about.
"And that's a こなた泉 figure, she's so cute!" Ib was holding a small figurine on a stand, about 10 cm tall, in a weird pose. It looked like it had blue hair, odd.
Suddenly the lights flipped on, followed by a fifth voice. Dr. Alphys, a short, yellow skinned Reptilian monster with a lab coat and glasses.
"Y-You like 幸運の星 too!?" (2) Alphys exclaimed
"Yes! These are my favorite series."
"Eeek, someone else who also loves Anime!"
"An.. ime?" Mary asked.
Alphys walked over to mary and looked at her analytically, silent,
Thud
Dr. Alphys, fell on the floor. She half fainted mumbling "They're real… anime's real…"
A few minutes later
Alphys cleaned herself off and cleared her throat.
"S-sorry about that, um, I'm Dr. Alphys ASGORE's royal scientist. I'll be honest, I hadn't expected you all to show up so soon. I've been, uh, observing you all since you left the RUINS. I was going to stop you at first but… watching someone on a screen makes you want to root for them. Now I want to help you. With my knowledge, I can easily guide you through hotland. I know a way right to ASGORE's castle no problem. Actually, there is just a tiny issue."
Alphys started explaining the problem with Mettaton, and his "Killing machine with a thirst for human blood" thing.
"But ummm, hopefully we won't run into him"
Then the ground shook.
"Speak of the devil" Chara said.
"And he shall appear" line finished by Alphys, who hung her head down.
The rumbling grew and grew, then an explosion.
"Ohhh yes! Welcome beauties…"
The room went dark, a spotlight shined down upon a hole in the wall, and a robot with hands and a wheel to move on.
"...to today's quiz show!"
Numerous flashing lights and confetti filled the now dimly lit room.
"Oh boy! I can already tell it's going to be a great show! Everyone give a big hand for our wonderful Contestants!... Never played before? No problem! It's simple! There's only one rule; Answer correctly… or you die!"
The room went monochrome. SOUL's lit up. Alphys stood in the background looking nervous. Mettaton stood in front of the three with a microphone
"First question! What's the prize for answering correctly?"
Within the Bullet Box, four small green boxes, each holding "A" "B" "C" and "D" with corresponding answers.
Frisk pulled their to the bottom left, "D: more questions"
"Right! Sounds like you did it! Next question."
A few questions later
"Now, Two trains, Train A and Train B, simultaneously depart from station A and station B…" the jumble of words flew right through their ears and out the other side, waiting for Alphys to give them the answer. However, a second after Mettaton finished reading off the question. Before Alphys even knew, an answer was chosen.
"Wonderful! I'm astounded folks"
Ib had used her SOUL to answer the question.
"Wait, Ib, how do you know that?" Chara demanded.
"I was the number one at my school in math and science. I could to 10 digit math in my head. Unfortunately, I'm pretty much useless at anything else like English or Japanese. "
More questions later
"Alphys Alphys Alphys, You aren't helping the contestants are you? I'll ask another question, You'll be sure to know the answer; Who does Dr. Alphys have a crush on?"
Alphys looked extremely nervous for some reason, then again, most would be uneasy about a question like this.
"Umm, is it A?" Mary asked.
"Yep,"
Frisk pressed "A"
"See Alphys? I told you it was obvious!"
Alphys was blushing in embarrassment.
"Well Well Well, with Dr. Alphys helping you, this show has no reason to continue. However"
The four looked at Mettaton confused, normally, Mettaton would leave to set up more puzzels or something. There was more this time?"
"One more question: Who does the blonde human have a crush on?"
Frisk, Chara, and Ib stared at their friend silently and curiously. Mary's jaw was hanging.
"I-I-I uh, I don't know what you're talking about um, I-I don't really like a-nny one haha!"
The four answers appeared
"Human in blue"
"Human in green"
"Human in red and white"
"Metteton"
The three stared at the answers, facepalming at the last, but they genuinely didn't know. Alphys didn't, Mettaton was the only one who did, and of course Mary.
Frisk picked at random and hit "C: Human in red and white" meaning Ib. A moment of silence, and a drum roll, then confetti.
"Correct! However, This was just the pilot episode Next up. More drama More romance More bloodshed. Until next time darlings!"
The battle was over, Mettaton flew away like a rocket ship, the room returned to color. Mary, had a new shade of red, moreso than Alphys had.
"M-mary?" Ib asked.
"I uh, I don't know what you're talking about, I don't like you or anything like that Ib I just… Just…" Mary couldn't control her speech anymore
"Mary like I-B Mary like I-B" Chara started singing sarcastically, Frisk smiling.
"Chara! Stop that!"
"Mary," Ib said grabbing Mary's arm and holding it tightly, catching her attention. "It's okay if you like me, I like you too." she said smiling.
"R-r-r...eally?"
"Yeah, You're all my best friends, irreplaceable. I'll always like you too. C'mon, Frisk is already walking away, let's go."
Mary and Chara stood there while Ib and Frisk talked to Alphys. Alphys took the phone and upgraded it, giving it three times the size of inventory using some type of warp ability. After that, the two walked up an escalator to the left.
"Best… friends..." Mary said. One couldn't see them, but anyone could feel the tears pouring out of Mary's eyes.
"You just got friendzoned buddy,"
"I'll… I'll never give up, I'm going to get her to like me too!"
"Good luck with that, Best friend."
"Chara!"
After a little exploring, and Ib getting excited over the anime stuff, the team left the lab, and into more hotland.
MANY! FREAKING! SHOWS LATER! Also MTT wearing a dress
Ib, Mary, Frisk, and Chara came to a small island, Sans was standing behind another sentry station across from a Vulkin with a hotdog in it's head.
"Sans? What're you doing here?" Mary asked, it seems that Sans has more than two jobs, wonder how many breaks he gets now…
"Hey kiddos, wanna buy some hotdogs? It's only thirty gold." he said with a smile.
Considering they had over a thousand G, they decided, "sure, why not." They had one free inventory slot open anyway. Sans wasn't kidding, as they forked over 30G.
"Heh, watch this, Frisk order another" Chara commanded.
Frisk asked for another, because they already had a maxed out inventory, Sans placed the second hotdog on Frisk's head. Ib and Mary just staring. They continued to do this 29 more times, a huge tower of hot dogs was erected from Frisk's head.
"What is this?" Ib asked
"A tower of weenies."
END