Figuring there's not much left to do in Snowdin, Frisk heads out the east gate of the town and moves on into the shadowed, cool depths of the Underground, far from the warm rays of sunshine dotting the Ruins and the cold winds blowing across Snowdin. One name rings in her mind as she walks. Undyne…
The river's rushing echoes around the close walls, running a dark, almost black color in the dim light of the narrowing caverns. It widens abruptly, and she hears the sounds of numerous monsters scattered throughout the space. Hearing a familiar voice, she curiously thinks to herself. Is that…?
Approaching closer, her suspicion is confirmed. It's Sans, snow-covered sentry booth and all. Ignoring the other monsters, she heads straight for him, an inquisitive look on her face. When she arrives, she cocks her head to the side in question. Sans, in a course of action completely opposite his brother, understands her perfectly.
"What? Haven't you seen a guy with two jobs before?" he replies with amusement. "Fortunately twice as many jobs means twice as many legally-required breaks. I'm going to Grillby's. Wanna come?" he asks.
Frisk nods, and he leaves the booth, heads the wrong way…and they arrive at Grillby's. That's definitely not normal, she thinks, startled. "Fast shortcut, huh?" he teases, points of light twinkling in his eye sockets. Deciding not to pry, she listens to the sounds of the building. The dogs are playing cards in the corner, and a handful of other assorted monsters sit around the booths. Grillby stands cleaning a glass behind the bar, his head floating in the flames rising from his body. Sans greets the crowd, then takes a seat on a barstool. Frisk follows his lead, taking a seat next to him. A fart rings out as she sits, and Sans innocently turns to her. "Whoops, watch where you sit. Sometimes weirdos put whoopee cushions on the seats. Anyway, let's order. Whaddya want?"
Frisk decides she doesn't want to hold things up too much. "Fries would be great."
Sans nods with enthusiasm, turning back to face the bar. "Hey, that sounds pretty good. Grillby, we'll have a double order of fries." Grillby heads to the back, and Sans looks over at Frisk. "So, what do you think of my brother."
Not wanting to offend, Frisk makes as honest an answer as she can. "He's pretty cool."
"Of course he's cool," Sans returns, smirking. "You'd be cool too if you wore that outfit every day. He'd only take that thing off if he absolutely had to. Oh, well. At least he washes it. And by that, I mean he wears it in the shower."
Grillby comes in from the back, carrying two orders of fries, and sets them down in front of Sans and Frisk. "Here comes the grub," announces Sans, then continues. "Want some ketchup?" he asks, holding out a bottle. Anticipating another prank, Frisk shakes her head. "More for me," he says with a wink, before he drinks the whole bottle. "Anyway, cool or not, you have to agree Papyrus tries real hard. Like how he keeps trying to be part of the royal guard. One day, he went to the house of the head of the royal guard and begged her to let him be in it. Of course, she shut the door on him because it was midnight, but the next day, she woke up and saw him still waiting there. Seeing his dedication, she decided to give him warrior training. It's ah, still a work in progress."
I can imagine, ruminates Frisk. He seems like he has a lot of untapped power.
"Oh, yeah," he says suddenly, as if remembering something. "There was something I wanted to ask you. Have you ever heard of a talking flower?"
Her blood runs like ice for a moment as a chill traces her spine. He can't mean…
"Yes, I have," she affirms.
"So you know all about it. The Echo Flower," he says. Taken aback, Frisk waits for him to continue. I remember, someone back in the cavern was talking about Echo Flowers. If the name is anything to go by, I have a pretty good idea of what they do.
Sans hasn't stopped talking "They're all over the marsh. Say something to them, and they'll repeat it over and over…what about it?" he says, as he notices Frisk's inquisitive look. "Well, Papyrus told me something interesting the other day. Sometimes, when no one else is around, a flower appears and whispers things to him. Flattery, advice, encouragement…predictions. Weird, huh?"
Frisk nods. Definitely weird…but is it an Echo Flower or Flowey? And either way, what could anyone want with Papyrus, she muses as Sans continues. "Someone must be using an echo flower to play a trick on him. Keep an eye out, ok?"
Frisk nods, and Sans lets out a little sigh of relief. "Thanks."
He straightens up, stands, and turns to leave. "Welp, that was a long break. I can't believe I let ya pull me away from work for that long. Oh, by the way…I'm flat broke. Can you foot the bill? It's just ten thousand gold."
Frisk hesitates, then nods. She'll figure it out, somehow. Sans has other plans, however.
"Just kidding," he says. "Grillby, put it on my tab," he calls to the bartender, then starts walking out. "By the way…I was going to say something, but I forgot." He walks out the door, leaving Frisk a little confused. That's not how a tab is supposed to work…
Making her way back into the caverns, she bypasses Sans sentry post, and wades through a broad, shallow waterfall, dodging chunks of ice that flow down from Snowdin. As she walks further into the darkness, the light of Snowdin casts a long shadow on the floor in front of her. She pushes her way through a clump of tall grass, stopping when she hears a familiar voice from above.
"H…HI, UNDYNE! I'M HERE WITH MY DAILY REPORT…UHHH…REGARDING THAT HUMAN I CALLED YOU ABOUT EARLIER…" shouts Papyrus, his usual enthusiasm muted.
A quieter voice, filled with gravel and menace, sounds. It's too quiet to make out, but it's clearly Undyne's.
"…HUH? DID I FIGHT THEM? Y- YES! OF COURSE I DID! I FOUGHT THEM VALIANTLY!"
More of that low, grating voice…
"…WHAT? DID I CAPTURE THEM…? W- W- WELL…NO. I TRIED VERY HARD, UNDYNE, BUT IN THE END…I FAILED."
Undyne sounds irked, but finishes with a fierce, almost determined growl.
"…W-WHAT? YOU'RE GOING TO TAKE THE HUMAN'S SOUL YOURSELF…"
There's a short, quick response.
"…BUT UNDYNE, YOU DON'T HAVE TO DESTROY THEM! YOU SEE…YOU SEE…"
Undyne snaps back at him sharply.
"…I UNDERSTAND. I'LL HELP YOU IN ANY WAY I CAN," Papyrus says, cowed, then leaves, walking more slowly than usual.
Frisk pauses, listening for the sound of another set of footsteps leaving, but is disappointed by silence. Choosing to continue forward and hope to be ignored, she begins moving through the grass once more. Dry and stiff, it crackles noisily, and Frisk hears armored boots clanking above. A humming, powerful sound fills the air, and she braces herself for the painful touch of a powerful magic attack. Holding perfectly still, she hopes not to be found, and after a few interminable seconds, the humming vanishes and the boots clank away. Letting out a sigh of relief, she continues on her way. The grass rustles behind her, and a light-footed patter echoes off the walls.
"Yo…did you see the way she was staring at you…? That…was AWESOME! I'm SOOOO jealous! What'd you do to get her attention…? Haha, let's go watch her beat up some bad guys!"
The young monster's pattering footsteps continue past her, before a skid and a thud as it apparently trips, then gets up and keeps running. A feeling of dread hangs over Frisk…but she stays determined, sparks of light flashing inside her mind. Somehow, she feels like she can make out tiny points of light…but maybe it's just her imagination. She continues into the next room, and scans a sign. "When four Bridge Seeds align in the water, they will sprout."
That seems straightforward. Placing the seeds in the water, she steps out as they link into a frail but stable bridge. She's interrupted by the appearance of the darkroom as a muscular monster with the face of a horse and a long, snakelike tail flexes in. She decides to see if she can get it to leave by appeasing it, and rolls up her sleeves. She flexes her small arms, and the monster seems pleased, as it flexes back hard. She flexes harder, and it compliments her. "Nice. I won't lose, though!" Flexing with all her strength, the monster flexes one last time, and…flexes himself out of the room. Well. That was…very strange, she thinks as she continues, using Bridge Seeds to easily navigate the rest of the room. Near the end, her phone rings.
"HELLO! THIS IS PAPYRUS! HOW DID I GET THIS NUMBER…? IT WAS EASY! I JUST DIALED EVERY NUMBER SEQUENTIALLY UNTIL I GOT YOURS! SO…WHAT ARE YOU WEARING. I'M…ASKING FOR A FRIEND."
For Undyne, you mean, she thinks.
"SHE THOUGHT SHE SAW YOU WEARING A GROSS BANDAGE. IS THAT TRUE? ARE YOU WEARING A GROSS BANDAGE?"
Seriously, why is the only thing anybody notices the bandage. I'm wearing a freaking striped shirt and pants. And why is he calling it a gross bandage. Jeez… "Yes," she says. I can just take it off, you know…not that I'm going to bother. Better to meet this 'Undyne' character head on.
"SO YOU ARE WEARING A GROSS BANDAGE. GOT IT! WINK WINK! HAVE A NICE DAY!
Walking through a narrow tunnel, Frisk hears the Echo Flowers whispering their endless repetitions over and over. Coming to a dead end, she touches her hand to it…and the carefully-painted canvas falls to the floor, revealing a jagged-edged doorway. Stepping out onto a boardwalk, she passes several signs and feels the texture of the floor change, before the platform begins to move under her feet. Feeling around the edge, she can't find any railing or other platforms within reach, so she sits and waits for it to stop. Eventually, there's a clunk, and she continues onto another boardwalk. As she heads forward into the darkness, there's a humming, and then a blast of concentrated magical energy punches a hole in the boards of the path. Barely an inch in front of her, the energy buzzes, then fades. Hearing the clanking of armored boots to her left, she begins to run, barely managing to avoid the bolts of energy while staying on the path. Eventually, she runs out of boards and collapses into tall grass as it crackles beneath her. Scrambling deeper into hiding, she waits for Undyne to approach. The spears of light stop flying, and the only sound left is the clashing of armor as Undyne, metal faceplate shadowed and menacing, stomps into the grass. Stopping only feet from Frisk's hiding place, the armored hand rises, reaches out…and picks up the childish monster hiding next to Frisk. Letting out a disappointed growl, Undyne turns around, dropping the monster and stalking off. Letting out a sigh of relief, Frisk walks out of the grass onto solid ground, followed swiftly by the positively bubbling monster kid.
"Yo…" he says. "Did you see that?! Undyne just…TOUCHED ME! I'm never washing my face ever again…! Man, are you unlucky. If you were standing just a little bit to the left…"
Frisk let out a slight shiver as the monster continued. "Yo, don't worry! I'm sure we'll see her again!"
His pattering footsteps ran ahead, stopped with a thud as he tripped, then continued out of the room. As Frisk continued, following at a slower pace, she found a strangely placed table with a crystal on it. Oddly, there was a scent of cheese emanating from it. Knowing the mouse squeaking in a hole near the table might one day free the cheese from the crystal gave her a surge of inspiration, and fresh determination flashed in her soul. Sitting down for a moment, she closed her eyes and drifted off for a brief nap…
Phew. There we go. I know I said I'd get this to y'all yesterday, but writer's block is a mofo. I'll try to do better in the future. I was hoping to get all the way to the Undyne battle in this chapter, but I figured I'd give this to you folks now.