Chapter 62: Deja Vu
Frisk woke up with a scream.
The last thing she remember was the writhing pain of her body being burned as she walked through the barrier hoping that she would get home.
She felt someone tap her shoulder.
"Hey! Pipe down, you're giving me a headache."
Frisk's ears perked up in familiarity and she turned to see Chara hovering behind her.
'Chara?'
"Wait a second, how did you know my name?"
'What are you talking about? You were with me when I was traversing through the underground.'
He glanced at her with disbelief.
"How could we have possibly joined together when the last I recall you dropped down here unconscious."
'Dropped here?'
Frisk looked around. All around her were tall white pillars detached from purple rocks. Looking up she could see the place where she had fell from.
Below her was a bed of golden flowers.
She was at the ruins? But how?
'How did this happen?'
Quickly she headed out.
"Hey wait for me," Chara shouted following close behind.
She walked deeper in the cave wondering if Flowey was still in the place she had seen him before but...he wasn't there.
'Why isn't he there?'
"Who?"
Toriel reappeared taking on the image of an old woman who was leaning forward with a hunched back and a gentle face. This was only for a brief moment.
'Fran?'
"Who's Fran?"
'Noone important. It must have been the shock.'
"You look like you've seen a ghost my child, are you alright?"
Frisk nodded, shocked speechless.
'She's alive?'
Maybe this time she could save her.
"I'm fine," Frisk choked out.
"I will be up ahead my child."
"What was that all about?" Chara asked. "What do you mean 'she's alive', you're talking like she's DEAD."
'That's because she did die and you don't remember it at all.'
"Why would I remember? When it never happened. You're talking as if we were old friends."
A look of disgust crossed his face.
"I think I would remember being acquainted with someone like you."
'What is that supposed to mean?'
"I mean look at you," he said with a smug smirk. "You look like one of those people that live high off the hog. Are you some pampered princess or something? You wouldn't last for a minute down here."
'Well you're dead so I don't see how you have room to talk. I mean wouldn't you still be alive if you were as tough as nails. I guess that says loads about your character if you die even after learning to fight though judging from this conversation I don't believe you even know how to do that."
He seethed.
"Wanna bet?"
Frisk smirked smugly.
'Why bet when I know I'd win. You are averse to the very idea of me fighting. You made that clear after I killed Toriel the first iteration despite the fact I had no choice. So don't give me flack about how weak I look. It makes you seem ignorant and hate me for no reason other than your childish preconceptions.'
Chara sobered.
'Unless the thought of attaching yourself to any human regardless of their ethical and moral alignment disgusts you that much?'
He frowned.
"Sorry..." he quickly stammered. "So we were friends then?"
Frisk snorted.
'Friends, is stretching it. You were accompanying me through the underground because of the player. They asked you to protect me. Does 'that' ring any bells?"
Chara's face turned red.
Frisk chuckled.
The two followed Toriel until they reached the room with a pile of red leaves that stood between two sets of stairs.
Frisk knelt down in front of the leaves.
"What are you doing?"
She dug through the leaves eventually uncovering a small grey mouse.
"H-How did you know I was here?" the mouse asked.
"Lucky guess."
"What are you going to do now?"
"Well you're free now."
"I see then maybe you could help me get back home."
"Sure."
She held out her arm and the mouse climbed up her hand.
The two walked further into the ruins finally catching up with Toriel.
She glanced at the mouse on Frisk's shoulder.
"Tiny, right?"
The mouse jolted in surprise.
"H-How did you know that?"
"I had a feeling that I knew your name so I tried to guess it. Was I right?" Toriel asked.
"Well yeah, actually," Tiny said.
'That was weird.'
"What's so weird?" Chara asked.
'How did she know his name?'
"That? It was entirely coincidence. People do that kind of thing all the time."
'Still she didn't do that last time.'
Toriel chuckled.
"I have a feeling that we are going to be good friends."
The four continued further, Toriel solving the puzzle and unlocking the door to the room ahead.
Frisk followed her to the north. The switches and wide streams of water were a familiar sight.
"I have a feeling you've already heard me say this before but in order to make progress here you will need to trigger several switches. Still do not worry if the puzzle is too hard. I have not removed the labels over the switches you need to flip."
Frisk followed Toriel across the bridge.
Like the last time, the lever on the left was labeled with helpful arrows and instructions.
She flicked it and crossed the bridge finding another set of two switches.
Frisk smiled as Toriel's guiding arrows pointed to the switch on the left.
"So this happened last time huh? So I'm guessing you flipped the left switch huh?"
'Yeah of course I did...still makes me wonder why? Now that I think about it, that switch could have been a trap yet I still trusted her.'
"Have you ever tried flipping the right switch instead?" Chara asked.
'Why would I do that?'
"Aren't ya kinda curious what will happen if you do?"
A part of her was. Curiosity getting the better of her she tried to pull down the switch on the right.
"Rats!" Chara huffed. "All that effort and the switch don't even work."
"No, no, no," Toriel said. "You want to press the other switch. I even labelled it for you..."
Frisk shrugged and pulled down the other switch.
"See, I knew you could do it. I am proud of you, little one. Let us move to the next room."
Inside the next room, Frisk caught sight of a familiar worn dummy on the northern left corner of the room.
'Could this be the cousin of that dummy in Waterfall?'
"As a human living in the underground, monsters may attack you. You will need to be prepared for this situation however worry not. The process is simple. When you encounter a monster strike up a friendly conversation. Stall for time, I will come to resolve the conflict. Practice talking to the dummy," Toriel said.
Frisk walked up to the dummy.
"Hey!" she said. "Do you happen to have a cousin?"
The dummy didn't speak.
"I heard you left him without saying goodbye. He really misses you, ya know? You shouldn't abandon your family like that."
"Seems Toriel is happy with you."
"Ah very good! You are very good," Toriel said before walking to the next room.
The wide pink room with the lighter set of pink rocks on the floor in the shape of a 'c' was also a familiar sight.
"There is another puzzle in this room...I wonder if you can solve it?"
'So it's a part of a puzzle then?'
Frisk followed her down a narrow corridor when she ran into a froggit.
'What was his name again? Lumpsy? Sushi?'
"My, my look who we have here," the frog croaked.
"Why are you attacking me? It's not going to bring back your mother."
The froggit looked startled.
"That doesn't matter. I am more than strong enough to care for my family."
Pellets appeared behind him.
Chara glanced at the froggit carefully.
"It seems life is difficult for this enemy."
Suddenly Toriel appeared beside the froggit.
"Ahem."
The frog glanced to the side nearly jumping a foot in fright. Toriel was once again giving the frog a reprimanding look.
'Wow, now I have to know. How does she even do that?'
"You're telling me," Chara said.
Frisk followed Toriel until they seen a familiar room with a floor that contained spikes.
"Here take my hand for a moment."
She grabbed Toriel's hand as she guided Frisk through the spikes.
"Puzzles seem a little too dangerous for now."
In the next room, Frisk looked as the vast pink corridor that expanded with no end in sight.
"You have done excellently thus far my child however I have a difficult request to ask from you. I would like you to walk to the end of the room by yourself. Sorry about this," Toriel said briskly walking away.
"Wait!" Chara shouted.
'Relax, we'll be fine. Toriel hasn't left. She's still in this room.'
"How do you know that?" Chara asked as Frisk continued to walk.
'I've seen this before, remember. Have a little trust. It might just save you in the long run.'
As she neared the end of the room, Toriel appeared out from behind the pillar at the end of the hall.
"Greetings, my child. Do not worry, I did not leave you. I was merely behind this pillar the whole time. Thank you for trusting me. However, there was an important reason for this exercise...to test your independence. I must attend to some business and you must stay alone for a while."
"What if I run into trouble?"
'Like before.'
Her mind supplied.
"Just in case you run into trouble how about I teach you some magic."
The image of a green vine embedded in her bloodied soul appeared in front of her fading in and out.
'I can't afford to die, again.'
"Can you teach me how to heal?"
"Really, dear? It is very hard to master. It takes a lot of practice to become really good at it."
"Well I'm willing to try no matter how long it takes."
"What prompted this my child?"
"...I know this is an odd thing to ask but don't you think if someone has some kind of special power that it's their responsibility to do the right thing?"
'It may not be my responsibility but if I have the power to fix my mistakes, I'm gonna do it. If it means risking my life to save more lives, I'll do it.'
"Ok, little one. Think of a white light, cold and hot but neither freezing or burning rather soothing."
Frisk closed her eyes trying to picture it in her head.
"It is okay if you don't get it the first time. It takes time."
She felt something warm and solid in her hands.
"Still that is very good for a first attempt."
Frisk opened her eyes and saw a tiny white ball of light had formed in her hand.
"That should be enough to heal the slightest injury. Just don't overdo it my child," she said. "So please remain here. It's dangerous to explore by yourself. I will give you a cellphone. If you have a need for anything, just call. Be good, alright?"
She handed Frisk a cellphone before heading out.
Immediately Frisk headed out of the hall and her phone rang.
She answered it holding it to her ear.
"Hello? This is Toriel. You have not left the room have you? They're a few puzzles ahead that I've yet to explain. It would be dangerous to try and solve them yourself. Be good alright."
Frisk clicked the phone off before heading to the room on her left glancing at the basket in the center of the room where a bunch of black twisted candies were wrapped in clear wrapper.
"It says, 'take one'."
In the previous timeline, Frisk had avoided taking anything from the basket thinking it was a trap.
'Still this is the only healing item I'm gonna get while down here.'
Frisk took a piece of the black twisted candy from the basket.
"Looks like monster candy."
'Oh? What does it taste like?'
"It has a distinct, non-licorice flavor if I remember right."
Frisk continued to walk until she came across the room with two sets of stairs on the left. She trudged forward.
'Isn't this the room with the cracked-"
"EEEP."
"Hey!" Chara called out to her.
"Ow," Frisk stammered, wincing as she got up and brushed her abused butt that had been dusted with red leaves.
'Ugh and I knew that was gonna happen too."
She looked up ahead and saw a creature that looked like an orange carrot barely peering from the ground.
"Excuse me."
The creature lifted it's head. It's eyes looked like upside down crescent moons. The creature had two nose holes and a large thin smile that reached the corners of it's eyes.
"Farmed Locally, Very Locally."
Large versions of white corn, white pepper, white tomatoes, white squash and white onion bounced around the room.
Frisk tried to skirt in between them to dodge but the pattern was erratic. Large corn pelted her on the back of her head and a tomato hit her back.
"Serving size: 1 monster. Not monitored by the USDA," Chara said.
The creature cackled softly as if satisfied by it's work.
More vegetables rained down. Still it was impossible to predict where the vegetables would land and more managed to hit her.
She felt bruises on her arms and back.
"Hey, can you please stop attacking me."
"Plants Can't Talk Dummy."
Frisk's legs collapsed underneath her.
'Move, d-mn it.'
More vegetables rained down but Frisk couldn't move at all. Pain leaked from every one of her bruises. The pain increasing every second with it's intensity.
Frisk tried to concentrate on performing the healing spell but to no avail.
One stray vegetable managed to hit her in the back of the head and she was out cold.
Frisk reawoke in the leaves outside the room where Toriel had left her.
She gasped, the pain no longer present in her limbs. She tried to move her legs relieved at the control she had over them.
"You look like you've run into death."
'It's cause I did.'
"You look surprisingly well despite that. I guess death is only just a minor inconvenience huh?"
'Not at all.'
The pain was still as real as the first time she had died. Echoes of her injuries still eerily vivid despite the fact there was no evidence of it on her body.
Still even after that Frisk didn't want to experience that again.
She continued forward managing to catch sight of the cracked floors. Frisk stepped across this time prepared to stick the landing.
She landed on her two feet this time.
Walking up ahead she found herself confronting the carrot again.
Frisk narrowed her eyes.
'I could try to damage him with my flames but it might kill him especially if monsters have weaknesses like those in an RPG. Still I have to do something or I'll die again.'
She conjured a bone in her hand and hurled it at the vegetoid.
'It's not even trying to avoid my attack. This is ridiculous.'
The creature managed to kill her again if the reset was any indication.
It was painless that time.
"Why are you even here?" she asked the creature during her third reset.
The creature had managed to bruise both of her arms and her legs.
'I just wish I could quit.'
"Plants Can't Talk Dummy."
Frisk sighed in frustration.
"You don't think I know that. At least tell me your name."
"It's Shane."
"You know how frustrating it is fighting you like this. I'm going to die again and there is nothing I can do about it."
Shane frowned.
Frisk patted her stomach.
"If only I had some more monster food."
Shane's eyes lit up.
"Eat Your Greens."
More vegetables rained down from the ceiling. Among them were a couple of green vegetables.
Frisk barely managed to dodge them all.
"You know how earlier you told me to have a little trust. You might want to try taking your own advice," Chara said. "Looks like Vegetoid's here for your health."
Frisk's eyes widened. Now that she looked at the creature, the soft pensive smile and worry present in it's hollow black eyes could hardly be mistaken for anything other than concern.
Frisk patted her stomach once more.
"Eat Your Greens."
Frisk ran towards the green vegetables in attempt to absorb them. As she touched them, the pain in parts of her body began to fade away.
Vegetoid gave a mysterious smile.
Frisk smiled back.
"Thank you."
Shane tossed some gold coins at Frisk before he burrowed back underground so she could pass.
Frisk managed to make their way up the stairs on the other side.
Once they headed to the next room, Frisk got another call.
"Hello, this is Toriel. For no reason in particular which do you prefer? Cinnamon or Butterscotch? Wait, do not tell me. Is it cinnamon?"
"Erm...yeah," Frisk said.
"Wait, how did she know that?" Chara asked.
'Still think it's a coincidence?'
"Heeheehee, I had a feeling," Toriel said. "When humans fall down here strangely I often feel like I already know them. Truthfully when I first saw you I felt like I was seeing an old friend for the first time. Strange is it not? Well I thank you for your selection."
Frisk hung up the phone. She saw a row of spikes blocking the path ahead as well as a large rock next to a dug out trail leading to a grey floor plate. After pushing the rock to the floorplate, the spikes receeded.
Continuing on her way she saw the next room had another staircase to the left. Frisk looked to the right. The path zigzagged to the north and was covered with cracks much like the last time.
'There's a sign downstairs saying not to step on the leaves. I don't think I remember the tiles though. Can you tell me which ones aren't covered with leaves?'
"Why?" Chara asked.
'Isn't it obvious? This is another puzzle. If I take one wrong step on the cracked floor I'll be sent plummetting, is that what you want?'
"Is this like one of the puzzles where you have to avoid stepping on the leaves? How ridiculous."
'Are you going to help me or not?'
"Fine."
With Chara's help, Frisk managed to make her way through the room.
In the next room was a series of three large rocks that lead to three grey floor plates. A spike bridge was ahead lodged between two bodies of water.
Frisk ignored the first two rocks on the left opting to push the third rock instead.
'I bet that's the real plate that triggers the switch.'
"WHOA there, pardner! Who said you could push me around?"
"Sorry, can you please move over then?"
"So you can be polite? Who would have thought?" Chara said.
HMM? So you're ASKIN' me to move over? Okay, just for you, pumpkin."
The rock moved several inches forward.
"Can you move some more?"
"HMM? You want me to move some more? Alrighty, how's this?
It moved to the right several inches.
"That's the wrong direction."
"HMM? That was the wrong direction?"
"Yes. Move on the switch."
"Okay, think I got it."
The rock moved onto the plate.
"Can you stay there?"
"Certainly, pumpkin."
As Frisk continued across the bridge, a froggit appeared in front of her.
"Hey! I heard you killed my brother. What's the big idea? You think just because you're bigger than us that you're special. You have some nerve."
"What are you talking about? I haven't killed anyone," Frisk snapped.
The froggit began shooting flies out of it's mouth. The flies flew towards her as though she had a target on her back.
Unlike last time however they seemed to follow her more quickly.
Her body absorbed the brunt of the flies.
"So stop attacking me."
"How do I know you aren't trying to decieve me?" the froggit asked.
More flies began to shoot from the froggit's mouth. Frisk managed to dodge a few but was hit with several stray flies.
She looked down and saw her chest was bleeding.
"Look instead of attacking me why don't you use that energy to find the real killer?"
Frisk took out the monster candy from her pocket and plopped it in her mouth.
Suddenly her body began to feel very hot. She looked at her hands, the corners of her vision covered with fog.
It looked as though her hand was growing smaller.
'What the-'
"You're shrinking," Tiny said.
Frisk looked up and the froggit suddenly seemed bigger.
"We need to get out of here."
"Hey! Where'd he go?" Chara stammered looking around in confusion.
'I'm down here, Chara. We're heading to the next room so try not to get lost."
The froggit looked around unable to pinpoint where she was.
"Where you at? You can't hide forever."
Frisk ran past him through the spiked bridge to the next room finally reaching the mouse hole and the small wooden table with a triangular piece of yellow cheese on it.
"I guess you're home now," Frisk said.
"Yeah but still I'm a little worried. You can't possibly be thinking of traversing the underground shrunk like you are especially when they're other monsters around who will now be much larger than you."
"Still I can't remain around here forever."
"Look I still owe you for rescuing me. The least I could do is show you around the mouse kingdom."
"I couldn't possibly impose."
"I insist. Follow me."
Frisk followed Tiny into the mouse hole.
Inside was a cave of about 2 feet high and six feet wide. Still the cave seemed to expand outward for miles. A bunch of buildings stood about 1 foot off the ground with doors small enough for a mouse to slip inside.
A white mouse scurried up to them.
"Tiny, you're here. The king was looking all over for you."
"I got ambushed on my way here."
"You must tell the king at once."
The mouse glanced at Frisk.
"Say Tiny, who's the boy with you?"
"Oh."
"My name's Frisk," she said.
"I see."
"Without him I wouldn't have got as far as I did. Frisk, this is my friend, Barry."
"Nice to meet you," she said holding out her hand.
Barry eagerly took it.
"Well I better talk with the King. Will you be alright by yourself?" Tiny asked.
"If it's alright, can I come with you?"
"Sure."
Frisk followed Tiny as he led the way through the town. They passed by an item shop, an inn, several houses and a couple of farms before standing before a large pink castle composed of the same rock from the ruins that stood a half a foot from the ceiling.
A couple of mouse guards stood by the door.
"What's your business here?" One of them asked.
"The king is expecting me. My name is Tiny."
"Yes, his majesty has been expecting you. What about your guest here?"
The mouse guard glanced at Frisk.
"He's with me," Tiny said.
"Alright."
The mouse guard pressed a switch by the door that caused the door to open for them.
"Go right in."
Tiny and Frisk stepped inside the castle.
Two lines of mouse guards stood outside the red floor that lined the way to the mouse king who was sitting comfortably on his crystal throne.
"Tiny, you're back. I see you're well. What's the news?"
"The spiders are planning to attack us from all sides by barring us inside."
The mouse king looked grave.
"This is awful. What do you think we should do?"
"I guess split up our army and hope we don't get ambushed."
"Not a bad idea," Frisk supplied. "It would be flawless if the spiders couldn't disarm an army's flank in a matter of seconds."
The mouse king looked surprised at the new company.
"Tiny, who's this?"
"This is Frisk. He's the one who rescued me earlier in the catacombs."
The mouse king gazed at her with wonder.
"What's he doing here?"
"He ingested a piece of monster candy."
The king shook his head.
"Oh all the stupid things...I'd think it would be such an obvious trap considering who built it."
Frisk glanced at him in confusion.
"Who built it? The trap I mean?"
"The old queen did. Some humans who were foolish enough to fall down here were killed by some monsters much to her dismay. The candy was put there so that any monster ingesting it would shrink giving any human who fell down an advantage over a much smaller opponent and giving the monsters down here a dose of humility. Why do you think it says 'Monster Candy' on the wrapper?"
"Oh, I thought it worked the same way as monster food."
"Well it does but it also shrinks the person who eats it. The queen was worried that a human might eat one so she placed a note next to the basket in the middle of the room to warn off other humans from eating it."
"Wouldn't that negate the point?"
"She didn't write it in our native language. Instead she wrote it in the human language."
'So I guess someone must have caught on and removed the message then because I didn't see it.'
"So is there an antidote then? You must have some idea how to counteract this."
"Tell me then, you seem to have your own ideas how to win this battle. What do you think we should do against the spiders?"
"From what I gather the spiders down here seem to attack from a distance so your best bet would be to have them come to you and plan defensive measures in case they breach this area. If you can I suggest you put them in a situation where you can attack them one on one or two on one."
"Sounds like a plan."
"Now what about me?"
"Well there's an inventor who lives right next door to the item shop. He might be able to help you though he might give you a little trouble."
"Tiny, can you hand me a quill and some parchment?"
Tiny scurried up to a room to the side and came back a minute later with a scroll of parchment and a quill.
The mouse king jotted something on the scroll before handing it to Frisk.
"This should be enough to convince him to help you."
"Thanks a lot."
With that, Frisk left the castle running into Barry again.
"Hey!"
"Oh hey, did you just finish talking with the king?"
"Yeah."
"I can give you a tour around town if you like."
"I'm supposed to see some mouse inventor that lives around here."
"Oh you're talking about Darrell aren't you? Follow me, I know exactly where he lives."
Frisk followed Darrell to a house in front of town. It was boarded up and covered with green plants making it look worse for wear.
Barry knocked on the door.
"Darrell?"
No response.
"Come on, Darrell. Open up. Someone wants to see you."
The mouse, Frisk assumed was Darrell opened the door.
He was a mouse with brown disheveled fur with an eyepatch over his right eye who dragged a short stubby stick in his left hand.
"I'm here. I'M HERE ALREADY."
He glanced at Frisk before he narrowed his eyes.
"Can I help you?"
"I was told you could help me with my problem."
He scrutinised her with shrewd eyes looking up and down her body.
"You can forget about it. I don't help just anybody y'know."
Frisk unrolled the scroll and shoved it in his face.
"What about now?"
He swiped the scroll that was in front of his face.
"Hmph, you think a silly piece of parchment is gonna change my mind."
He tore it into pieces.
"Hah, as if."
"That was a letter straight from the king," Barry said.
"So who cares? I don't take orders from that old fool."
"Why not?"
"I've worked for him all this time and what do I have for it? A load of nothing," Darrell said. "He's just upset that he can't call on me after he got me fired."
"Why'd he fire you?"
"Darrell was working on some illegal experiments against the king's orders."
"It was all for the sake of science."
"What were you working on?" Frisk asked.
"Enlargement and shrinkage of objects. I started doing it with toy cars, I'd take off the wheels and try to enlarge them. Only inflating wheels beyond their greater capacity caused it to explode. The king thought something similar might happen if I tested it on actual mice," Darrell said. "But I wouldn't have tried it on actual mice until I determined that it was actually safe. Honestly that king has no trust in my abilities."
"What if I do?"
"You think I'd try conducting my enlargement research on you. A mere human? It is a waste of my resources. I will not be mocked and made an old fool by that mouse."
Frisk folded her arms glaring at him.
"Listen here. I don't care what beef you have with the king. You'll unshrink me this instant or I'll be wiping the walls of you."
Frisk pounded her fist into her open hand, her bloodthirsty eyes trained on Darrell.
"If I do that, they'll be no one left to do your research so take your pick. Wanna be a messy corpse or a living, breathing mouse who's actually done something productive in their lifetime?"
Darrell coughed in his hand.
"Alright, you needn't resort to threats. Follow me."
Frisk followed Darrell inside his home.
The inside of his home was a complete mess with plants in pots strewn everywhere around the room.
"Watch your step."
Eventually the two reached his kitchen which was surprisingly the cleanest room in the house.
"So have you really done research on enlarging objects?"
Darrell turned to her with a raised brow.
"You don't believe me huh?"
"I didn't say that."
"Then feast your eyes on this."
Quickly Darrell set to work mixing chemicals and ingredients.
"It's absolutely important to put the right variant of chemicals and magic to make it work."
Darrell set the concoction on the table. At this point it appeared to have the consistency of dough that was ready to be rolled out into a pastry.
He began kneading the dough.
"I find the most effective way for the concoction to have it's full effect is to make it like any monster would a typical confectionary dessert."
Darrell got out a cake pan and rolled the dough into the shape.
"I still haven't ironed it out entirely, so the entire concoction might backfire. I'll be honest I've only ever succeeded with this recipe once so don't blame me if you combust or something."
He set it in the oven.
"When it gets done I suggest you eat it outside or you will be dead from your upper body crashing into three feet of solid rock to compensate for the amount of room you need to grow."
Frisk patiently waited in the living room glancing at the plants.
"Say, where did you get these plants? I've never seen them down here before."
"There are a lot of plants that grow down here. Some good for eating, others good for other things. During my travels though I have yet to come across a frosty white flower that I've read about in one of the old library books. I heard it's located outside the ruins in a town called Snowdin."
"Why are you looking for that flower?"
"Well the king wanted me to research into making potions with status ailments. He figured if we could incapitate the spiders, we wouldn't have to kill them. Instead we could force a stalemate and the queen of the spiders would have to come talk to us."
"I see."
"There's no way I'd ever get a hold of a flower like that in time to stop this war though. By the time I make it past the ruins if I'm not eaten by spiders, it'd take me about a week or two. By that time everyone would be dead. I'm more useful here."
Darrell sighed before checking on his work.
"Looks like the croquet roll is done."
He took it out of the oven batting the smoke away.
"Just have to wait until it cools then you could try it out outside. Best way to do so is to use a mallet and hit it in your mouth."
"Wouldn't that break my teeth?"
Darrell rolled his eyes.
"I've made it a tradition. I'm hoping it catches on."
It was about five minutes before Darrell handed Frisk the croquet roll with a pair of wooden tongs.
"There ya go."
"Thanks."
"Take the mallet too."
Frisk took the mallet from him.
"Alright, thanks again."
"Don't mention it. Try not to die now, ya hear me."
With that Frisk left his home and decided to check out the item store curious about what was there.
Inside was a brown and white spotted mouse with a yellow ribbon by their left ear.
"Can I help you?"
"What do you sell here?" Frisk asked curiously.
"Well we got stoic onion, pumpkin rings and puppydough icecream."
"What the h-ll is puppydough icecream?"
"Don't know. I heard it was a favorite amongst dogs."
"How much for the puppydough icecream?"
"How about 7 g."
"Sold," Frisk said.
The mouse gave her the ice cream which was wrapped up in foil like wrapping.
"Thanks a bunch."
Their eyes seemed pinned on something in her pocket.
"Is that a croquet roll?"
"Yes."
"Did Darrell give that to you?"
"Yeah."
The mouse sighed.
"Do you really think that will help you return to the way you used to be?"
"I know it has a high chance of failing but it's my only option at this point. Besides he's said it's worked before."
The mouse sighed.
"He's a liar. The last time he ever made that croquet roll was on my sister and it killed her."
"Your sister?"
"Yeah, after she ate that croquet roll she disappeared and I never saw her again. I just don't want to see that happen again."
"It won't happen trust me."
"You can't be certain of that."
"You're right but what if it does work. What if it did work? Maybe the reason why your sister never returned is because she never could. You will never know either way if you keep holding on your anger towards him."
"I can't help it."
"Look, what if I live? I can look for your sister. She has to be somewhere down here. That old mouse seemed to think one of his subjects was still alive. Maybe he was referring to your sister."
"Maybe."
"So what's her name then? Maybe if I see her I could let you know."
"I forget."
"Well at least tell me your name."
"It's Valerie."
"Then I can call you if I suspect someone."
Frisk handed over her cellphone to Valerie who input her number in the phone.
"Well nothing's gonna get done with me just staying here. Keep it together alright."
With that Frisk headed out. She opened up the item app teleporting the puppydough icecream onto her phone before stepping outside.
"Ah, there you are," Chara said. "Took you long enough."
Carefully Frisk took the mallet and the croquet roll out of her pocket before hitting it into her mouth.
Frisk forcibly swallowed.
A cool feeling filled her inside and quickly she began to turn back to normal size.
'That was certainly interesting.'
"So what happened?" Chara asked.
'Long story.'