Arana: Hi guys!
Flowey: (grumbling again) Do we always have to greet the readers?
Chara: Well, it's to show that we're here.
Flowey: Well, can we just get on with the chapter?
Arana: Good idea!
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Chapter 3- Puzzling Matters
Chara was almost glad to see the mostly purple colors of the Ruins. Almost being the keyword, because it was a little sickening to see so much of the same color. However, when she spotted a twinkling star, she quickly went over to test something.
She put her hand over the star, earning a questioning look from Frisk, and a sigh from Flowey. Soon enough, her efforts were rewarded, but not how she expected. The "file" screen popped up, but it was a little different than she remembered.
"File: Chara & Frisk, LV 1," it read.
"Angel above," Chara muttered. "I'm sharing a save file!"
This got a few odd reactions from the others. Toriel, however, brushed it off as an odd thing that Chara talked about, and waited patiently at the top of the stairs for Chara, Frisk, and Flowey to follow.
Flowey, however, groaned, and hissed under his breath about how he wished he still had control of the Time Line, which Chara heard thanks to her now enhanced hearing~a side effect from Asriel absorbing her soul all those years ago. He must have had enough determination to RESET, but Chara didn't remember seeing any signs of the accursed power when she first noticed him.
Frisk just looked confused, but Chara was sure that she could see the save screen. She would explain it to her in private, later.
Quickly, Chara hit the SAVE button, which was about a few inches away from the RESET button~Chara made a mental note to warn Frisk to never press that.
"File saved," the screen stated, then faded away.
"What was..." Frisk said, but then got interrupted by Chara.
"I'll tell you later," was all she said before climbing the stairs, motioning for Frisk to follow.
Frisk hesitantly moved on.
The next room was just like Chara could remember it~it was probably only twenty years since the green soul passed through here, though~with its buttons, locked door, and switch.
"Do you remember how this puzzle works, Chara?" Toriel asked her, a grin on her face.
Chara always loved solving the puzzles in the Underground, after all. Though, at the time, when she knew that the humans couldn't hear her, Chara had tried to give them advice for passing these puzzles.
"'Only the fearless can proceed. Brave ones, foolish ones, neither walk the middle road,'" Chara qouted, not even glimpsing at the sign that was place besides the closed door. She then, practically skipping, stepped on four of the six buttons, (bottom left, bottom right, top right, top left,) before pulling the switch. She then turned around with a bright smile on her face.
Frisk looked confused, making Chara hastily, explain what she did.
"The Ruins are filled with puzzles," she said. "Most of them are ancient fusions of buttons and door keys, though some require a little more effort than I did with this one." She then pointed to the sign. "What I quoted is written on that sign over there. It's actually the answer to the puzzle for those who don't quite get them. At least one of every type of puzzle has one, those some are harder to spot than others."
"Oh," Frisk said softly, then looking at the sign to memorize it.
"Come now, my children," Toriel said, certainly including Flowey in the saying, (though both Chara and Flowey could say that they've actually seen more years than the goat monster would realize, although they don't know how old they really are at this point,) which got a small, but almost unheard, groan out of the flower. "We must continue onward, and when we get to my home at the end of the Ruins, I'll make some butterscotch-cinnamon pie to eat while we talk about how we are going to stop Asgore from trying to take Frisk's split soul."
Frisk visibly paled.
"Hey, don't worry about it," Chara said, gaining her ghost tail and floating over to her. "Once he knows I'm around, and that Flowey is Asriel, he'll probably stop the whole war on humanity thing and adopt you into the Dreemurr family, like he did with me!"
"Until he proves that he is worth being my husband," Toriel said with an angry sigh. "You three are going to be on my side of the family. He has taken the souls of six human children after all."
Frisk looked confused. Flowey groaned about the whole matter.
Once again, Chara decided to explain. "Mom was married to King Asgore when I fell," she said. "That was before Asriel and I died. However, when Asriel died, King Asgore swore war on humanity for killing his son, and deemed that all humans who fall into the Underground be killed for their souls so that monsters could break the Barrier."
"How do you know this, my child?" Toriel asked.
"I woke up as a ghost when Asriel absorbed my soul," Chara said. It wasn't a lie, but then again, it wasn't the full truth either. "When Asriel died, I followed where my body went, and overheard you guys arguing about the matter. Which means that I followed you while you took my body to where it's grave is now."
Toriel seemed both shocked, and mildly confused about this, but pushed now further.
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The next puzzle was too easy, even for Frisk, as Toriel had labeled the switches needed to be pulled, and Chara's comment on sticking to the path. Though, the whole "press X to read signs" thing was a little weird and, of course, new to Chara.
Frisk had commented, "This isn't a game..." to that silly sign.
Still, now Chara hovered over Frisk's shoulder. Toriel had explained the basics of deal with monsters peacefully. But, "Strike up a conversation and wait for me to stop the fight" didn't always work, as Chara reminded her that she had left half of the six other children on their own to go through the Ruins themselves while she bakes pie for them.
So, now Chara was going to teach the more advance things. Thankfully, they had found an old slide show on the subject, nestled in a hole in the wall.
The first slide was a Froggit. "These guys don't understand English or normal monster language," Chara stated. "They have their own language, which I happened to learn so don't worry about needing a translator. Froggits usually only need you to compliment them before they stop attacking and show MERCY, which is something you need to show back."
The next slide was of a Whimsun. "These guys attack you because they feel the need to try to have courage. However, trying to console them about their fears usually fails upon you uttering the first letter of your first word. Sometimes half of the first letter."
Next, Loox. "The Loox tribe are one of the smallest, at least in numbers, category of monsters. Thanks to their one eye, they often get bullied. The best way to spare them is to not bully them."
Vegetoid was next. "I don't know much about these guys because all they do when you try to talk to them is say that veggies don't talk. However, if you rub your belly and ask for a meal, they'll gladly share some of their veggies, which are the green bullets that you need to catch. Those heal you by the way. After that, you can spare them."
The next slide was of Migosp. "These guys are easier to take alone than in a group with other monsters. Normally, by themselves, they just dance and enjoy life. This is why you want them to be the last monster you spare in a group fight."
The last slide was Moldsmal. "Um… These monsters are barely monsters at the best times, and they're spare-able straight away. You can talk to them by wiggling your hips, which is a weird thing to do even in monster society. I suggest not doing it."
Then, the dummy floated by. "O-oh, I'm sorry Miss Toriel!" the dummy cried, clearly inhabited by a ghost. "I-I'm late! And there are humans here!"
Chara recognized the voice. "Hi Patstablook," she said with a smile. "It's me, Chara! I'm a ghost now!"
The dummy seemed taken aback. "Ch-Chara?! How'd you become a ghost?" it asked.
"I died," Chara stated. "But now me and Frisk here are sharing a soul, so I have a physical form now."
"Well, that's good to hear!" the dummy said happily. "Oh, by the way, Napstablook comes around here often, so keep an eye out for him. Every since Happstablook disappeared, he's been kinda down in the dumps."
Chara took that suggestion and made a mental note of it. She hadn't known that Happstablook had disappeared, and would see if she could get more information on that later.
"Come along, my children," Toriel said at last, walking towards the door. "Chara, do you remember how to do the next puzzle?"
"It's the spike one right?" Chara said. After she got a nod, she answered. "There are two ways of solving it. The harder one is taking the whole "western room is eastern room's blueprints" thing seriously and going on that random path a couple of times. The easier one is just testing which spikes retract and which stay firm in their stance."
"Good, just making sure since that one is the most dangerous puzzle in the Ruins..." Toriel said softly.
"Retracting spikes?" Frisk asked.
"We're going across a bridge of spikes in the next room," Flowey grumbled.
"Spike bridge?!"
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Arana: And that's the chapter! By the way, I totally came up with Patstablook's name while writing this.
Flowey: You could have just left the dummy nameless…
Frisk: (still scared/confused) We're going to walk on a bridge of spikes?!
Toriel: Do not worry my child, I shall hold your hand the entire way through.
Chara: Trust mom, she and Asriel did that with me my first five times before I figured out that the signs were the answer keys.
~Arana and crew