Nya

Toriel looks over at me and smiles.

"What a terrible creature torturing such poor, innocent youth..."

"Ah, do not be afraid my children. I am Toriel, caretaker of the ruins."

"I pass through this place every day to see if anyone has fallen down."

"You children are the first to come here in a long time."

"Come! I will guide you through the catacombs."

Alyssa is pulled out of battle and all the girls step towards her. She's still in flower form, her pellet sitting in front of her.

She uses her powers to pull the pellet over her head?(body? I'm not really sure) and her flower body turns white.

Everything turns dark and when the light is back, Alyssa is human again.

Toriel looks amazed. "My child, how did you do that?"

Alyssa smiles up at Toriel. "It's a looong story. We'll explain later."

"Why don't you explain when we get home? Now come. This way." Toriel walks off and all of us follow.

Toriel looks so pretty in person!

We enter a room with red leaves sprinkled on the floor, two staircases leading up, and an opening at the top. Also a yellow glowing spark in front of a big red pile leaves.

Toriel walks up one of the staircases and waits at the top.

Kennedy points to the spark. "Go to that. And Nya, you should save since we're with Toriel."

I step up to the spark, unsure of how to use it. After a few minutes of struggle, I finally touch the spark and a message appears that reads:

*(The shadow of the ruins looms above, filling you with determination.)

(HP fully restored)

There are two buttons that say SAVE or RETURN. I press SAVE and the message disappears. I turn back to the girls.

"Should we go now?" I ask them.

They all nod and we walk up one of the staircases. Toriel walks into the opening at the top and we all follow after her.

We walk into a small, purple room. Toriel turns to us, hands folded in front of her.

"Welcome to your new home, innocent ones."

"Allow me to educate you in the operation of the RUINS."

On one side of the room, there were 6 buttons on the floor. Toriel stepped on four of them in a specific pattern. Then, she walked to the end of the room and flipped a switch. A door at the end of the room opened up.

Toriel walked back more in front of us girls.

"The RUINS are full of puzzles. Ancient fusions between diversions and doorkeys. One must solve them to move from room to room."

"Please adjust yourselves to the sight of them." Toriel walked through the door.

Kennedy stepped forward. "Walk on the two buttons that are left."

We all walk on the buttons and go through the door.

We walk into a room with purple in it, a bridges over rivers, and down the room, there were switches on the walls and a door at the end.

"To make progress here, you will need to trigger several switches," Toriel says.

"Do not worry, I have labelled the ones that you need to flip."

Toriel walks across the bridge and we all follow, me leading the group.

We get to where she's standing and there's a switch up the road with arrows pointing to it.

Kennedy nudges me. "Go hit the switch," she whispers.

I nod and walk up to the switch. I flip it.

Toriel walks across the next bridge and we follow.

This time, there are two switches on the wall. One has arrows pointing to it, the other has nothing.

I walk up and flip the switch with the arrows pointing to it.

Toriel smiles. "Splendid! I am proud of you, little ones. Let us move to the next room."

Toriel walks into the next room. We follow after her.

We come to a purple, small room with a dummy on the right side.

"As a human living in the UNDERGROUND, monsters may attack you."

Ya think!

"You will need to be prepared for this situation. However, worry not! The process is simple."

"When you encounter a monster, you will enter a FIGHT. While you are in a FIGHT, strike up a friendly conversation."

Noted.

"Stall for time. I will come to resolve the conflict. Practice talking to the dummy."

Toriel walks over to where the door is and stands by it, watching.

I take a deep breath and step toward the dummy. Once I step close enough, I am pulled into a fight.

My soul is red and my breathing is heavy.

I think ACT is how I talk.

I press ACT and talk.

I try to talk to the dummy, but it doesn't seem up for a conversation.

I look to Toriel. She seems happy with me and the fight ends, though I don't gain any XP or gold.

The fight ends and Toriel smiles.

"Ah, very good! You are very good."

And so, we go to every other puzzle and fight. When we're done, we get to a room with red leaves, a door, and one of the yellow sparks.

"Go save," Kennedy whispers to me.

I walk up to the spark and touch it. A message appears that reads:

*(Seeing such a cute, tidy house in the RUINS gives you determination)

(HP fully restored)

I press the SAVE button and the message disappears.

We enter the house to a neat room with stairs leading down.

I instantly smell something delicious.

"Woah, what smells so good?" I ask her.

"Do you smell that?"

"Surprise! It is a butterscotch-cinnamon pie. I thought we might celebrate your girl's arrival."

I smile at Toriel. "Wow! Thank you so much!"

Toriel smiles. "I want you to have a nice time living here. So I will hold off a snail pie for tonight."

Snail?! No thanks! I've never tasted, it and I'd like to keep it that way!

"Here, I have another surprise for you."

Toriel walks down one of the hallways and we follow to a corridor with a yellow carpet, walls and floors. Also a door.

"This is it..." Toriel leads to the door and we all follow.

"A room of your own. I hope you like it!"

Toriel turns around. "Is something burning...? Um, make yourself at home!"

Toriel runs off.

"That was..interesting," I say.

"Whatever!" Annaka says. "Let's go inside the room!"

We enter the room and my vision is instantly filled with red. There's pretty much red everything!

"We have to go to sleep," Kennedy says.

I make a puzzled face. "How come?"

Kennedy smiles. "You'll see. Now, I think two people can take the bed, the rest find somewhere else. I think Nya and someone else should get the bed.

I nod. "Ok."

I sit on the bed and make room for another person.

"You should sleep here, Kennedy," I say. "You pretty much have guided us through this thing. You deserve some rest."

Kennedy shrugs. "I guess I could."

Kennedy shuts off the light and comes to lie down next to me as everyone else finds a place to sleep. Her warm body presses against mine.

"Hey Kennedy," I whisper.

She turns on her side to face me. "Yeah?"

"Do you think we'll make it out of here?" I ask.

Even in the darkness, I can make out a smile across Kennedy's face. "I know us. Of course we will. Now, you should get some sleep. Mainly because I'm tired."

I sigh and turn to my other side. I rest my head against the pillow and take one last sniff of the air, smelling a burning smell. I smile to myself.

Thanks, Toriel. You've always been there for me and we'll soon share about our powers. After a good night sleep. I promise...

Feeling as though this story has come a part of you, gives you DETERMINATION.

(Enjoy!)