A Maelstrom's Tale
Chapter 3: Friend or Foe?
Naruto got up from bed with a loud yawn and stretched himself a bit before looking at the time on his phone to see that it read 8:00am in the morning, he used at how being in the Underground might be messing with his sense of timing before getting off and approached a still sleeping Frisk to wake her while Nika also stirred awake.
"Wake up Frisk-chan, it's morning…I think," said Naruto.
Frisk woke up with a loud yawn "Good morning Naruto and Nikan,"
"Same to you, go and freshen up. We'll take a look around the town for anything useful before heading out,"
"Okay," Frisk made her way to the bathroom to get herself cleaned up while Naruto waited his turn until she's done.
The duo were soon cleaned and dressed up before making their way out of the inn, Naruto led Frisk to the shop next door to stock up on supplies amongst other things but Nikan had to wait outside but assured they would return soon.
BGM start: Undertale OST; Snowdin Town
"Why hello there travelers, how may I help you?" the duo welcomed by a monster being a purple bunny wearing a tank top, small necklace around her neck, and a summer hat.
"Hello, we'd like to buy a few things," said Naruto politely.
"Why of course, we have several wares that would be of use to you," the vendor gestured to the shelves of materials and wares behind her. Naruto looked at the items carefully.
Tough Gloves: 50G
Manly Bandanna: 50G
Bisicle: 15G
Cinnamon Bunny: 25G
While he was planning over what to buy, Frisk decided to ask the vendor some questions out of curiosity "Um, what is there to do around here?"
"Well, Grillby's has food, and the library has information…,"
"Oh, but how did this town come to be then?"
"Hmmm, a long time ago the monsters used to live in the Ruins then we all decided to leave to head for the end of the caverns. Though some of the fuzzy folk decided they liked the cold and set up here, and that's how Snowdin Town was built,"
"But, are you okay here?" asked Frisk, wondering how they lived here for so long.
"Well life is the same as usual, a little claustrophobic…but we all know deep down that freedom is coming. As long as we got that hope, we can grit our teeth and face the same struggles, day after day…," the vendor smiled down at Frisk "That's life, ain't it?"
"Um, yes,"
Naruto then spoke up "Okay, we'll take the Manly Bandanna, 2 of the Bisicle, and 2 of the Cinnamon Bunny,"
"Coming right up, I'm sure you'll love the Cinnamon Bunny since it's my own recipe. That will be 130G,"
Naruto handed over the money and received the purchased items to put them into his waist pack then wrapping the bandanna around his neck for warmth "Thank very much,"
"No problem at all, be sure to come again," the shopkeeper bade them farewell as they left the shop.
BGM Change: Undertale OST; Snowdin Town
Naruto and Frisk were back outside with Nikan walking up to them then the latter spoke up with a question.
"Where do we go next Naruto?" asked Frisk, Naruto was about to reply when someone called out to them.
"Yo!" they turned to see a young reptilian monster with no arms, a tail, and spikes running along his head, and wearing a yellow shirt with brown horizontal stripes and a pair of brown trousers run up to them "Haven't seen you two around here before, so I guessed you must be new,"
"Yes we are, I'm Naruto Uzumaki and she's Frisk along with my lupine buddy Nikan," Naruto introduced himself and the others.
"Hello," Frisk waved in greeting and Nikan barked with the same intention.
"Well I'm Monster Kid but you can call me MK, you guys wanna hang out?" asked Monster Kid.
"We'd like to, but we're heading for the library to learn about a couple of things before heading out somewhere,"
"Oh," the young monster felt a bit saddened, hearing that.
"But we'll definitely hang out some other time," Naruto quickly assured him, not wanting to sadden him.
"That's nice to hear dude, guess I'll catch you two later," Monster Kid scampered off, stumbling slightly before regaining balance.
"Let's get going Frisk," said Naruto, getting a nod of affirmation from her.
They soon located the library and went inside with Nikan staying out yet again, Naruto and Frisk took a couple of books and began reading through them to find out more about the underground and its current residents.
Naruto was reading off a red book which seemed to be a school report of sorts;
Monster funerals, technically speaking, are as cool as heck. When monsters get sick and kick the bucket, they turn into dust. At funerals, we take that dust and spread it on that person's favorite thing. Then their essence will live on in that thing…
Uhhh, am I at the page minimum yet? I'm kinda sick of writing this.
"Like humans, monsters turn into dust upon death but it's instant compared to the long duration it would take for a human body to turn to dust," said Naruto thoughtfully.
Frisk was also reading from a blue book;
While monsters are mostly made of magic, human beings are made of water. Humans with their physical forms are stronger than us, but they'll never know the joy of expressing themselves through magic. They'll never get a bullet-pattern birthday card…
"So that's why they can use magic, their bodies are mostly made of it. Guess I won't be able to get Toriel to teach me how to use magic then," thought Frisk a bit sadly.
Naruto picked up an orange book to read after dropping yellow book which frankly didn't contain much of anything inside;
Because they're made of magic, monsters' bodies are more attuned to their SOUL. If a monster doesn't want to fight, its defenses will weaken. And the crueler the intentions of our enemies, the more their attacks will hurt us. Therefore, if a being with a powerful SOUL struck with the desire to kill…
Um, let's end the chapter here…
Naruto was now alarmed at this information "Had we gone along with what Flowey said without thinking things through, many monsters would have lost their lives out of our ignorance," he looked at his bandaged hands which were shaking before willing them to stop along with taking a deep breath and exhaling to calm himself, feeling ever more determined to not kill but defend himself and the others.
Frisk's next book to be read is a light-green one;
'MONSTER HISTORY PART 4'
Fearing the humans no longer, we moved out of our old city, Home. We brave harsh cold, damp swampland and searing heat until we reached what we now called our capital; 'NEW HOME'
Again, our King is really bad at names…?
"So, the Ruins used to be where all the monsters lived before moving away. But did Toriel remain there when they left or she went there after what the king started doing to the humans before Naruto and I?" thought Frisk.
Naruto was now reading a dark-green book which is the last of the heap on the table;
Love, hope, compassion…this is what people say monster SOULs are made of. But the absolute nature of 'SOUL' is unknown. Afterall, humans have proven their SOULs don't need these things to exists.
The young blonde knew well what this meant and was unable to refute as he is well aware that humanity isn't without a dark side, a side which never fails to make its presence known day by day.
Naruto and Frisk left the library, being a bit more aware of the Underground and the monster living within it. they figured that it was time that they left Snowdin Town to resume their journey to find their way out of the Underground and back to the surface. The trio had just gone past a house and reaching the town's border when they saw someone ahead of them, standing in their way.
BGM end
"Papyrus?" asked Frisk curiously upon recognizing who it is ahead of them.
Papyrus stood there silently for a few moments before finally speaking up "Humans and not so annoying dog, allow me to tell you about complex feelings. Feelings like; the joy of finding another pasta lover, the admiration for another's puzzle-solving skills, the desire to have a cool and smart person think you're cool too. These feelings…they must be wat you're feeling right now!"
"I think he's referring to himself," thought Naruto with a sweatdrop.
"I can hardly imagine what it must be like to feel that way, I am very great after all. I don't ever wonder what having lots of friends is like so you have my pity. But fear not for I…the great Papyrus will be your-," Papyrus suddenly stopped in midsentence with a frown appearing on his skeletal face.
"Is something the matter Papyrus?" asked Frisk with concern.
Papyrus shook his head "No…no, this is all wrong! I can't be your friend!"
Naruto quirked an eyebrow at that "What makes you say that?"
"You're humans and I am supposed to capture you both and deliver to the king! Then I can finally fulfill my dream; to be popular, powerful, prestigious! That is who I am, Papyrus…the newest member of the Royal Guard!"
Upon his declaration, Naruto and Frisk's SOULs emerged from their bodies to hover before them, signaling a fight.
BGM start: Undertale OST; Nyeh Heh Heh!
The duo started by selecting ACT and using Checking to get some info on Papyrus
[Papyrus. He likes to say "Nyeh heh heh!"]
Naruto reached to unsheathe his bokken but hesitated with the same going for Frisk and Nikan after everything about the monsters and their fondness for the goofy skeleton. Papyrus noted how the humans and wolf pup showed no signs of aggression.
"Oho, so you won't fight eh? It would be disrespectful to not hold back on my opponents in battle," Papyrus waved a hand to make a triad of bones to rise from the ground and launch at them, Naruto and the others quickly jumped over the bones to avoid getting hit by them. Again, he launched yet another triad of bones which missed their targets.
"If we keep this up, we could wear him down," said Naruto.
"I hope so, I really don't want to fight him," said Frisk.
"Still refusing to fight? Then let's see if you can handle my fabled 'Blue Attack'!" Papyrus declared as he waved both hands to conjure multiple light-blue glowing bones of varying lengths from the ground and in the air then remotely sending to attack the duo.
Knowing avoid to avoid damage from this kind of attack, Naruto and Frisk stood completely still for the bones to phase through them harmlessly without any effect whatsoever. Suddenly the color of their SOULs turned from red to blue and a sense of gravity came over their bodies, almost taking their knees buckle. Nikan's ears perked up at the sound of something approaching and turned to see what it is before quickly tackling Naruto to the side right before a small bone whizzed past where he was standing.
"Thanks for the save Nikan," said Naruto gratefully with the wolf pup wagging its tail happily.
"What just happened to our SOULs?" asked Frisk, confusedly looking at her now blue SOUL.
"You're blue now, that's my attack! Nyeh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh!" Papyrus cackled with pride of his attack.
"I know Sans warned us about this, but we weren't expecting something like this. Kinda wish he could have given more hints," Naruto muttered as he made up his mind and unsheathed his bokken.
BGM change: Undertale OST; Bonetrousle
Papyrus summoned a series small bones and launched them towards the duo, Naruto positioned himself in front of Frisk with the bokken held in a stance, then his father's voice echoed in his mind.
"Listen son; a sword can do more than just slice and dice, it can be both a weapon of offense as well as defense. However, it requires guidance from you, you need to be calm and aware of your surroundings at all times, one's origin and destination are vital to decide whether to choose a path of attacking or a path of defending,"
Naruto's eyes narrowed along with a sense of calm as he channeled his inner focus then he swung the bokken with timing to deflect the incoming bone projectiles away from them, Papyrus launched several more towards them along with a few medium-sized bones in addition. Again, the blonde deflected the bones albeit applying more strength for the medium ones.
"I suggest you try jumping if you wish to avoid being hit by the might of my attacks lest you face defeat!" said Papyrus before making bones emerge from the ground and rush towards them.
"But can we really jump with how heavy we're feeling?" asked Frisk, feeling unsure about this.
"There's only one way to find out," said Naruto, Nikan crouched slightly in preparation to jump long with them.
They jumped over the first two small bones easily enough, the next three medium-sized bones required more effort but the next three were taller and larger which made them worry a bit but decided to chance it as they leapt into the air and were actually surprised that they were able to get over it before landing on the ground without hurting themselves.
"How were we able to do that? I never jumped that high before," Frisk was surprised at what just happened.
Naruto looked at his blue SOUL "It must have to do with what Papyrus did to our SOULs which affected what our bodies can do, best we use this to our advantage for now,"
"Okay,"
"So, you were able to dodge that, let us see if your luck will be on your side before I use my special attack!" said Papyrus boasted.
The trio jumped over a medium bone and quickly ducked below a tall bone approaching from overhead, Naruto rapidly deflected three small bones heading their way. They heard something rushing from behind and jumped very high into the air for a tall bone to pass underneath them to avoid a surprise attack. Papyrus really began mixing things up as the group were jumping over the medium bones and prepared to move when a light-blue bone rushed at them, taking the humans and wolf pup by surprise and knocking them to the ground.
"Ow, should have seen that coming," Naruto got back to his feet and turned to Frisk and Nikan "Are you two okay?"
Frisk got up and nodded in affirmation "It hurts a bit but I'm okay," Nikan barked to show he's fine too.
"We need to watch out for the blue attacks mixed with the normal ones, he may be a bit goofy but he knows what he's doing," said Naruto thoughtfully.
Papyrus was feeling confident about his eventual accomplishment "I can almost taste my future popularity; Papyrus the Head of the Royal Guard and Unparalleled Spaghettore! Undyne will be proud of me, the king will trim a hedge in the shape of my smile, my brother will…well, he won't change very much. I'll have lots of admirers, but…," he looked at the human with uncertainty "How will I know if people sincerely like me? People like you two are really rare, I don't think they'll let you go after you're captured and sent away," then he shook his head to clear away the reluctance niggling at the back of his mind "Urgh, who cares! Give up!"
Things got a bit more hectic as Papyrus was now making the bones shoot out from the at where the trio stood, they could only tell when they felt the ground shaking underneath and jumped away before the bones emerged to attack them. Series of bones from the ground and overhead rushed towards them, Naruto and co took note of the narrow gaps in between them and used their enhanced jumping ability to go through it and landed just as a blue bone rushed up to them but managed to stay still for it to phase through them.
"Give up or face my…special attack!" papyrus let out a warning.
"No can do, Papyrus," Naruto responded.
He saw Papyrus summon multiple white and light-blue bones above his head and launched them like spears, the blonde positioned himself in front of Frisk and focused deeply. He deflected three white bones in rapid succession with his bokken then had Frisk and Nikan become still for the light-blue bones to pass through them harmlessly before quickly deflecting more of the white bones following after them.
"This is your last warning until I use my Special Attack!"
Naruto simply smirked in response "Bring it on! We can take it!"
"In that case, behold my Special Attack!" Papyrus dramatically announced with a wave of his hand, the group braced themselves for what's to come only for nothing to appear much to the confusion of everyone especially Papyrus. They heard the sound of chewing and looked to see a small white dog chewing on a bone behind Papyrus.
"Where did that dog come from?" asked Frisk curiously.
"What the heck? That's my Special Attack!" Papyrus glared at the dog "Hey you, stupid dog! Stop munching on that bone!" the dog realized it's been noticed and ran off with the bone "Where are you going!? Come back here with my Special Attack!"
"Now I get why Papyrus was so tense around Nikan, guess this isn't the first time either," said Naruto with a sweatdrop, Nikan tilted his head at what just happened.
Frisk nodded "I feel bad for him,"
Papyrus let out a sigh of resignation "I guess I'll have to use a cool regular attack, here it comes,"
Two pairs of small white bones approached from the front and the back, the group were quick to jump over them with proper timing before ducking under a couple of tall bones swooping in from above and stood still for a light-blue bone to pass through then took to the air when a pair of tall bones came in with a pincer attack from both sides. Suddenly the white dog ran past them as if being chased and they saw a cluster of bones spelling out the words 'Cool Dude' which they jumped over before avoiding…a bone riding a skateboard. They looked further ahead to be surprised upon seeing a large crowd of bones heading their way.
"I'm not sure we can jump over these ones," said Frisk unsurely.
"I know we can, we just have to believe in ourselves," Naruto held Frisk's hand in confidence as Nikan jumped to his shoulder "We go on the count of three, ready?"
"Okay,"
Naruto crouched slightly at the ready as the bones approached them, again is unaware of the flash of white light from his left eye "We jump in 1…2…3!" he and Frisk took a running start and leapt into the air higher and farther than what they had done before. It looked like they were going to make it when Naruto noted that Frisk wasn't going to land properly so he quickly pulled her close to hold her in a bridal carry with the girl yelping in surprise and blushing as he landed on the ground with a skid before letting her off, they looked to see that Papyrus was panting quite a bit.
"Well *Huff*, it's clear…you're incapable of *Huff* defeating me! I can see you all quiver in fear, but worry no more for I, the Great Papyrus have decided to spare you humans and dog. Now would be the opportune moment to accept my mercy," said Papyrus.
"Okay Papyrus, we surrender," said Frisk with a soft smile.
"Yeah, we're no match for you," Naruto added.
BGM End
Papyrus nodded in acceptance but then turned around with his shoulders slumped and let out a sigh of depression much to the surprise of the others "Nyoo hoo hoo…,"
"What's the matter Papyrus?" asked Naruto.
"I can't even stop humans as weak as you two are, Undyne's going to be disappointed in me. I'll never join the Royal Guard…and…my friend quantity will remain stagnant!"
The trio felt sad for the skeleton then Frisk spoke up "Well we can be your friends if you'd like us to,"
Papyrus turned around to look at them in surprise and a bit of hope "Really, you want to be friends with me?"
"Why not? You're a great guy to hang out with," said Naruto with a shrug.
"Wow, I have friends! Who knew that all I had to do to make them was to give them awful puzzles and fight them?" asked Papyrus happily.
"Pretty sure that there are other ways to befriend people other than that," thought Naruto with a sweatdrop.
"You both have taught me a lot, so I hereby grant you permission to pass through and even give you directions to the surface,"
"We'd like that," said Frisk gratefully.
Papyrus pointed at the pathway behind him "Continue forward until you reach the cavern, then you will arrive at the capital where you'll need to cross the barrier,"
"Barrier?" asked Naruto with a quirked eyebrow.
"It's the magical seal that traps us all underground, anything can enter through it but nothing can exit…except someone with a powerful SOUL like you! That's why the king wants to acquire a human, he wants to open the barrier with SOUL power then us monsters can return to the surface,"
"I see," Naruto recalled the warning Toriel said about Asgore which could relate to this but wondered why she didn't tell them about the barrier before they left the Ruins.
"Oh I almost forgot to tell you, to reach the exit, you will have to pass through the king's castle and past the king himself,"
"What's the king like?" asked Frisk curiously.
Papyrus hummed in thought "He is…well…he's a big fuzzy pushover! Everybody loves that guy, I'm certain if you just say 'Excuse me Mr. Dreemur…can I please go home?'. He'll guide you right to the barrier himself,"
"Sounds like a nice guy," said Naruto but frowned mentally "I guess we'll meet with the king no matter what and there's still so much that we don't know as of now,"
"Anyway, that's enough talking. I'll be at home being a cool friend, feel free to come by and hang out! Nyeh heh heh heh heh heh heh!" Papyrus practically floated over their heads and made his way back to the town.
"What do we do now, should we keep going?" asked Frisk.
"Hmmm, guess we could head back to rest a bit while I use the SAVE Point. You can hang out with Papyrus while I do so," Naruto suggested.
The trio made their way back into town where Naruto dropped Frisk off at Papyrus' home and headed over to the SAVE Point with Nikan and accessed it. they were making their way back when they came across Sans who was leaning on the wall of the Grillby's Pub and greeted with a lazy wave of the hand.
BGM play: Undertale OST; sans.
"Hey there kiddo, where's your girlfriend?" asked Sans.
Naruto took a step back with a blush on his cheeks "W-What do you mean by t-that!?"
"Exactly what I meant…she's a girl and she's your friend," the skeleton winked, clearly showing that he knew how he was asking the question.
Naruto let out a groan "Ugh, and I thought you were…Frisk-chan is hanging out with Papyrus and I was on my way there after checking on something,"
"That's pretty swell, I'm actually going in to have a bite to eat and was wondering if you'd like to join me," said Sans.
Naruto thought for a few moments before responding with a shrug "Sure, I can hang with you for a bit,"
"Alright then, let's get inside,"
Naruto and Nikan followed Sans inside the pub where they saw the canine monsters which Naruto and co had met in the forest. The canine monsters save for Doggo greeted Naruto and Nikan with affectionate licks and nuzzles before resuming their card games while Sans greeted the other patrons with a skeleton joke to amuse the before calling out to Naruto.
"Come over here kiddo, get comfy," Sans went to sit on a bar stool, Naruto went to sit on the other next to him only for a loud fart to be heard much to his surprise and embarrassment "Careful where you sit, sometimes weirdoes put whoopee cushions on the seats,"
"Yeah, who would have expected that," said Naruto sarcastically, already knowing the culprit.
"Anyways, let's order. What would you like? Fries or burger?"
"I'll take a burger," said Naruto.
"Sounds pretty good," Sans called out to the bartender at the other side of the counter who appears to be a humanoid monster made entirely out of red flames "Hey Grillby, we'll have a double order of burg,"
Grillby nodded in affirmation before walking to the kitchen while Sans uses a comb on his head for who knows what reason before deciding to ask Naruto something.
"So, what do you think of my brother so far?" asked Sans.
"He's a pretty nice guy, someone you'll never regret befriending," Naruto responded with a smile.
Sans chuckled "That's my bro alright," Grillby soon returned with a platter of two plates of burgers and a bottle of ketchup "Want some ketchup on your burger?"
Naruto shook his head "Nah, I'm good,"
"Well, more for me," Sans went on to drink the entire bottle of ketchup in one go with Naruto and Nikan looking at him silently before the blonde broke off a piece of the burger and gave it to the wolf pup to eat "You know, my bro tries really hard like how he tries to be a member 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 since it was midnight. But the next day, she woke up and saw him still waiting there,"
"Whoa, gotta give him kudos for being persistent," said Naruto.
"Yeah, after seeing such dedication, she decided to give him warrior training. It's, uh, still a work,"
"If you say so,"
"Oh yeah, I wanted to ask you something,"
"What is it?"
BGM Change: Undertale OST; Premonition
"Have you heard of a talking flower?" asked Sans.
Naruto immediately thought of Flowey and wondered if Sans was talking about him "Yeah, Frisk and I have,"
"So you know about it, the echo flower," the blonde blinked, realizing he misunderstood the question but Sans continued however "They're all over the marsh, say something to them and they'll repeat it over and over. Well Papyrus told me something the other day, sometimes when nobody's around, a flower comes and whispers things to him; flattery, advice, encouragement, predictions. Weird don't you think?"
"I see what you mean," said Naruto with a small frown.
"Someone must be using an echo flower to play a trick on my brother, be sure to keep an eye out okay?" said Sans, receiving a nod of affirmation from the blonde.
BGM play: Undertale OST; sans.
Sans got off the seat "Welp, it's been a long break and I gotta be heading back to my station. Oh, by the way, I'm kinda broke so can you foot the bill for me? It's just a 10000G,"
Naruto sweatdropped at the request "I would love to but I'm kinda short on cash myself,"
"I was just joshing with ya, I'll have Grillby put it on my tab," said Sans with a playful wink, he made his way to the door then stopped to turn to Naruto and Nikan "By the way…I was going to say something, but I forgot," then he left the pub.
"He can be quite random at times," Naruto shook his head in amusement before frowning in thought "But what he said raises a lot of questions, is someone really using an echo flower to trick Papyrus? Or is Flowey pretending to be echo flower to manipulate him? Flowey is obviously up to something, I just don't know what it is,"
Naruto snapped out of his thoughts and hopped off the bar stool "Oh well, we'll figure it out along the way. Let's go pick up Frisk-chan and head out Nikan," the wolf pup barked in response before they proceeded to make their exit from the pub. They just came out of the pub when Naruto heard his phone ring much to his surprise and immediately answered it.
"Hello?"
{Hello! Can I speak to G…Wait a second, it is the wrong number?}
"I…think so, but who ar-" Naruto was interrupted by the caller suddenly singing
BGM play: Undertale OST; Wrong Number Song
Oh it's the wrong number
The wrong number song
We're very very sorry
That we got it wrong
Oh it's the wrong number
The wrong number song
We're very very sorry
That we got it wrong
BGM End
The caller then ended the call with Naruto looking at the screen with no phone number and felt nothing but confusion "What the heck was that all about?" Nikan tilted his head in response to the question "Never mind, let's just go and pick up Frisk," they resumed their walk towards Papyrus and Sans' house to pick up Frisk.
This is Hussbek online with the latest chapter, Naruto and Frisk woke up the next day and made preparations for their journey out of the Underground and back to the surface, they also obtained information about the monsters which gave them a slightly clearer vision of things around. At the outskirts of town, the group encountered Papyrus who albeit was reluctant steeled himself to fight them but eventually ended with neither side being truly hurt or captured with the end result being friendship. Upon learning about the magical barrier along with its vague and eventual encounter, Naruto went on to have a one-on-one chat with Sans who told him about the echo flowers but the blonde suspects foul play and decided to keep an eye out as things are vague enough as they already are. PS Naruto is 14 years old while Frisk is 13 years old, for those wondering. Be sure to read and review as always.
This is Hussbek from Ghana.
Signing out and staying alive.