Chapter 11

*ding

The sound of an elevator buzzer rang signifying that the elevator was on their floor. The four young ones waited for the door to open and entered the dark room that was the cab.

"Why's it so dark?" Ib asked squinting, trying to get a glimpse of anything, but to no avail.

The four walked in when suddenly dim lights flickered on. In the center of the room was Mettaton, face completely red and facing directly at them.

"What?!" Mary exclaimed "How did this dude even get in here?"

"He does whatever he wants," Chara answered vaguely. "Who knows, he'll never say."

"Oh yes. Here you are, darlings" Mettaton started. His mechanical voice echoed in the small room, each word felt like a seconds long. "It's time to have our little showdown. It's time to finally stop the 'malfunctioning' robot… NOT!"

"Aghh!" Ib cried out covering her ears

"Bzz, what is the matter darling?" Mettaton asked with a quesion mark appearing on his face.

"You're too loud! This room is to small and echoey. If you shout it hurts."

"Hmm, not used to loud sounds hm? Okay, I'll lower my amazing voice just for you." his question mark turned into an icon of a speaker with four curved bars that turned into two bars.

"T-thank you." she said lowering her hands.

"Now, where was I? Oh yes, Malfunction? Reprogramming? Get real. This was all just a big show. An act. Alphys has been playing you for fools this whole time. She watched you on the screen, she grew attached to your adventure. She desperately wanted to be apart of it. So whe decided to insert herself into your story."

"What?" Mary asked confused and wanting an explanation. "Dr. Alphys has been helping us this whole time."

"...Exactly! She reactivated puzzles, disabled elevators, enlisted me to torment you. All so she could save you all from dangers that didn't. All so you would think she's the great person that she's not. Now, it's time for her finest hour. At this very moment, Alphys is waiting outside this very room. During our battle, she will interrupt. She will pretend to deactivate me, saving you for the final time. Finally, she'll be the heroine of your adventure. You'll regard her so highly, she'll even be able to convince you not to leave…"

"No way!" ib stated firmly gripping her hands. "She's couldn't like that… could she?" Ib turned to Frisk and Chara in hopes of confirmation for her claim. Unfortunately nothing came out of their mouths.

"Or not!" Mettaton declared. "You see, I have had enough of this predictable charade. I have no desire to harm humans. Far from it, actually"

"What? What about the fire walls and bombs and that chainsaw?" Mary questioned.

"Again, all just an act. The bombs were fake, fire was fake, even the chainsaw was just a toy i found."

"...oh…"

"As I was saying," Mettaton "cleared his throat" and continued his monologue. "My only desire is to entertain. After all, the audience deserves a good show, don't they? And what's a good show, without a plot twist?"

Suddenly banging on the door behind them began to happen. Followed by Alphys' voice.

"H-hey! W-w-what's going on? The door won't open!" she shouted from the other side.

"N-no…" Ib thought, it seemed that Mettaton was completely correct. "Mary? Frisk? Chara? Aren't you at all phased by any of this?" she asked

"Nope, seen this plenty of times." Chara stated, with Frisk nodding in agreement.

"I'm just too confused to think right now." Mary said grinning like a ditz.

"Sorry folks! The old program's been cancelled!" Mettaton said. Raising his left arm into the air. Five large red circles lit up the ground and a disco ball hung from the now clearly visible ceiling. "But we've got a finale that will drive you wild!"

The ground shook as the elevator turned into a single platform. Said platform skyrocketed up at super speeds.

"Real drama! Real action! Real bloodshed! On our new show!"

"Attack of the killer robot."

The scene flashed black and the four were transported into the battle screen. Instead of red or blue or purple or green, their hearts all turned pure yellow, facing upside down.

"Okay, so yellow means gun, shoot things in front of you, be careful of bombs" Chara explained.

Mettaton attacks!

-ACT-check

Mettaton 999 DEF…

"So we can't hurt him? At all?" Mary asked.

"Not unless you have a really big wrench and screwdriver."

"Goody"

Then mettaton spoke. "Yada yada yada hiring to kill yada yada yada do it myself"

MERCY-spare

"Yada yada ASGORE will destroy humanity"

Finally something happened. A large number of hollow white boxes flew down from the top of the bullet box trying to smash into the SOULs. Luckily, four bullets every fraction of a second was the best thing available and very efficient.

*more monologuing… something about saving humanity

A different attack appeared. Two white boxes and a long hand shaped object aligned themselves so that the blocks would have to be shot. They were, then another attack, a line of arm with a yellow box strafing.

"Shoot the yellow box"

*pew *dink

The arm was gone. The attack was over.

MERCY-Spare

*more monologuing

*more arms, more yellow,

"Wait don't shoot the b-" before Chara could finish, Ib got a faceful of explosion knocking off four HP.

*MORE MONOLOGUING

Finally something different happened. From seemingly out of nowhere, a walkie talkie slid to Mettaton's left side. Alphys' voice came from it.

"U..uh… I can't see what's going on in there but. D-d-don't give up. Okay!?"

"Dr. Alphys!" Ib shouted.

"I-Ib, okay, you guys are still alive, listen. Th… there's o-one l-l-last way to beat Mettaton."

"What is it?"

"Okay, you know how Mettaton always faces f-f-forward? That's because there's a switch on his backside."

"A… switch?" Mary inquired.

"It-it's a work in progress, or was at least. So if you c-can turn him around, and press the switch, he'll be um, vulnerable. Well! Go-gotta go!" and she stopped talking.

ACT-Turn

"Hey Mettaton" Frisk said, surprising and catching the attention of Mettaton. A chance to hear this one speak was like a super exciting and exclusive story for him.

"Yes?"

"There's… a mirror… behind you." Frisk said quietly.

"Oh! A mirror! Right, I have to look perfect for our grand finale." Mettaton did a 180, on a single wheel somehow. On his back in big letters was the word "Switch" with an arrow pointing down at a flip switch.

"Hm, I don't see it. Where is i-"

*flick

The switch was flipped.

"Did you… just flip… my switch?.."

Mettaton's body swung back around as his arms clung to the sides of his head. His face blared random colors and dials spun rapidly. Finally, an explosion. The room filled with a bright flash and smoke

"Oh~ yes~!"

The music changed, two spotlights dropped from the ceiling and shun on a cloud of smoke, within the smoke was a humanoid figure posing awkwardly.

"Ohhh my~. If you flipped my switch. That can only mean one thing." Mettaton began. "You're all desperate for the premiere of my new body. How rude. Lucky for you, I've been aching to show off this for a long time. So… as thanks, I'll give you a handsome reward"

"Letting us go?" Ib hopelessly suggested.

"Nope, I'll make your last living moments… ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL"

The smoke cleared revealing Mettaton's new body. The arms were the same, but everything else changed. He somehow grew a pair of legs with high heels, a face and head with hair covering one of his eyes, a torso with a heart on the lower half, and shoulder pads.

Mettaton EX attacks!

Within the bullet box, a large number of legs dropped from above them,

"Shoot them and dodge!"

Frisk demonstrated, firing at the first leg. The leg began moving from left to right. Frisk fired a second shot when the foot was just barely in the box. They did the same to the next leg and the next five legs.

Once the attack finished, Ib and Mary noticed a box to the top left of their field of vision. The box showed three different colored lines. One was jumping up and down. Above the box was a label spelling "ratings". Under the box shown in green text "violence +20, 25, 20"

"What do we do?" Mary asked confused.

"Get the ratings to 10,000. Frisk, get to it." Chara answered.

ACT-pose

Frisk posed dramatically, somehow bringing the ratings up to 250.

"Drama! Romance! Bloodshed!" Mettaton declared while doing the splits.

"The underground has a really wierd demographic" Ib said staring blankly as the ratings increased.

"You get used to it."

Another attack, a number of bombs and small mettaton shaped troops that fired out hearts. Ib ate a starfait. The ratings rose by 200

"Eating food boosts ratings? How the-"

"Don't question it. Listen, when his heart starts floating around, shoot it, that's how we win."

"Won't that hurt him? Her? it?"

"No, just shoot it."

More attacks flew by as the ratings increased more and more, standing at 9940 and Mettaton's limbs were all gone. With one last pose by Frisk and dodging of more attacks, the battle came to an end.

"This is the most viewers I've ever had!" Mettaton exclaimed. "We've reached the viewer call in milestone! One lucky viewer will have the chance to talk to me! Before I leave the underground forever! Let's see who calls in first!"

The four watched as a phone popped out of a small hole in the ground. One wonders how it got there to this day...

*ring *ring *ring

"Hi, You're on TV! What do you have to say on this, our last show?"

Then the music changed to a piano solo. Slow, somber, the caller spoke.

"Oh… hi… Mettaton… I really liked watching your show…" the caller continued to describe the impact Mettaton had on their life. "Oh, I didn't mean to talk so long…"

"No wait! Bl- H… they already hungup." Mettaton said frowning.

"Hey" Mary whispered. "Was that who I think it was?"

"Probably" Ib whispered back.

"I'll take another caller." Mettaton decided seeming cheered up.

Multiple calls came in simultaneously, each one showing nothing but love and admiration to the host of the Underground's most popular show.

"Ah, I see… thank you everybody. Humans already have stars and idols. But monsters, they only have me. If I left, the Underground would lose it's spark. I'd leave an aching void that can never be filled. So, I think I'll have to delay my big debut. Besides, you all've proven to be very strong. Perhaps… even strong enough to get past ASGORE. I'm sure you'll be able to protect Humanity. Haha. it's all for the best anyway. The truth is, this form's energy consumption is inefficient. In a few moments, I'll run out of battery power and… well. I'll be alright, knock 'em dead darlings."

The battle ended and color returned. Behind the four, the door opened and Alphys slowly walked in. Ib looked like she was about to cry thinking Mettaton, despite being their opponent, was dying or already dead.

"I've managed to open the lock, are you all… oh my god!" Alphys rushed to Mettaton's body to inspect it.

"Mettaton! Mettaton… are you?" after a second of silence, Alphys turned to the four. "Thank god, it's just the batteries."

Ib sure felt stupid at the moment, almost tumbling over like a cartoon character. Alphys continued to look at Mettaton's body as they continued on forward. Onto the real elevator. The hallway looked very advanced, lights glowing with red details and blue walls. The ground was a metal net-like structure. Behind them, Alphys followed to tell them something.

"S-sorry about that, let's keep going."

The now five walked more, and then Alphys continued.

"So so, you're about to meet ASGORE huh? You must all be, pr… pretty excited about all that, huh? You'll finally get to go home."

Frisk pressed the button and the doors opened. Before any of them could step on, Alphys had one last thing to say. "Wait!"

Everyone turned their heads.

"I I mean uh, I can't do this anymore. I lied to all of you. A human SOUL isn't strong enough to cross the barrier alone. It takes at least a human SOUL and a monster SOUL. if you want to go home. You'll have to take his SOUL. you'll have to kill ASGORE. I'm sorry" and Alphys walked away with her head hung low.

"Wait! We have t-to kill?" Ib said. "But Chara, I thought you said we had to not kill anyone no matter what."

"Yeah, forgot that we have to fight da- I mean ASGORE. Don't worry, we'll be fine, it won't be permanent. Mary, do you still have that palette knife?"

"Huh? Oh, y-yeah, I have it still." Mary took out her small knife out of her dress' pocket.

"Good, double the damage. Let's go."

They entered the elevator, and descended.

END

It's coming to an end, almost at least. They will be facing some real fights this time. If you like the series, be sure to fav/follow and review.