Ruins
Frisk, with Chara by his side, entered the Ruins which started with a large purple room. There were also two sets of white stairs which led to the second floor with Toriel standing to the right of the doorway that should see them progress further.
The fallen teen proceeded up to the second floor where Toriel nodded. "Welcome to your new home, innocent one." She turned towards the doorway. "Please, follow me."
Despite not knowing what to make of this, there wasn't much he could do but follow. As such, they passed through the doorway and entered another purple room with pressure plates on the ground. There was also a lever by a lighter purple door.
"Now, allow me to educate you in the operation of the Ruins." Toriel walked over four of the pressure plates before flipping the lever to open the door. "The Ruins are full of puzzles. Ancient fusions between diversions and door keys."
"No matter how history slices it, having a way to potentially keep Humans out is smart." Frisk thought. "I mean, I can't imagine the Monsters don't know how to work these."
"The next time you want to think, try concentrating on not sharing it with me." Chara thought. "I want to help you, but I think the two of us constantly talking to each other like this could eventually end up having the opposite effect."
If Frisk had thought about it, he'd have remembered Chara seemingly hearing what he was thinking in taking Flowey's attack.
"That's a good point as well as possible." Now that he was truly aware of it, Frisk could feel when they were sharing thoughts and not. "I'll have to remember this going forward."
Naturally, Toriel had no idea Frisk was talking to another. Beyond the fact that they had just communicated mentally, she couldn't see or hear Chara given his current state of being. Frisk's face didn't portray emotion given his current state.
"One must solve them to move from room to room." Toriel continued. "Please adjust yourself to the sight of them." She nodded before starting to move into the next room. "If you would like, feel free to read that sign on the other side of the door before joining me."
Frisk did approach the sign. "Only the fearless may proceed. Brave ones, foolish ones. Both walk not the middle road." He shrugged. "Considering I don't feel anything, I guess that would by essence make me fearless, huh?"
Despite having a hundred years to contemplate his life, being confronted with Frisk suddenly made Chara keenly aware why her adopted family had been so concerned about her in the beginning.
"Hey Moron, just remember that you aren't alone now." Chara has already realized he didn't need to speak internally, but he might as well keep it up to help Frisk remember. "Even if you don't think I'm approachable, I'd here for you."
"Yes, I believe you've already shown as much considering I'm standing here now." Frisk noted. "Though, you saying as much is appreciated…I suppose. Then again, I can't feel that either, but I guess that's just been par for the course. Anyways, let's proceed."
He walked through the doorway to enter a long corridor with what looked like aqueducts within the ground. They were interspersed down the hallway with little wooden bridges over the top. Now that he was here, Toriel proceeded, so he followed.
"Given what you've recently experienced, you should now know that Monsters may attack you." Toriel informed. "As such, you'll need to be prepared for this situation. Worry not, for this process is rather simple."
They now entered another room which had another doorway forward. There was also an orange dummy within this room.
"When you encounter a Monster, they will likely wish to fight." Toriel continued. "Rather than fight back, know that monsters are rather receptive to non-violet means. If you are with me, I will intervene to help keep you save as well."
"Mom never was one for conflict." Chara thought to Frisk. "If her desire isn't enough to dissuade you from killing, then please try your absolute best not to do it for my sake. I don't want you to kill any Monsters."
In the moment, Frisk couldn't drum up an ounce of care concerning encounters with monsters. He knew prior to this he'd have never entertained killing, but it currently didn't seem off the table. Considering Toriel and Chara were asking, he could try to uphold who he was.
"Don't worry, I'm used to not even really hitting anyone." Frisk would like to think he had been relatively good in Kendo, but no one really said as such after the initial lessons. "I'm more about dodging anyways."
He had plenty of practice dodging almost everyone in his life, so not even attempting to hit anything shouldn't be difficult.
"For practice, why not attempt to speak with this dummy?" Toriel offered before moving to stand by the doorway.
Frisk shrugged and approached it. "Hey, hope you're having a day…"
Frisk recognized this was awkward, and he couldn't even feel it himself.
"Wonderful, my child." At least Toriel seemed happy. "Let's progress."
Frisk followed Toriel as they entered the next corridor and began down it. Suddenly, a green frog monster jumped into his path.
"This is a Froggit." Chara informed, "They won't understand what you are saying, but can see the intention. Complimenting them is usually the fastest route to make them leave."
This was a living being, so compliments were more natural to Frisk than doing it to some dummy. "I suppose you look a nice shade of green."
Froggit did indeed not understand, but they were flattered enough to depart peacefully.
"You handled that well." Toriel was smiling before directing him to continue following. "Now, there is a sign on the wall to your left. It will tell you the western half of the room is the eastern half of the room's blueprint.
What that means is you could solve this coming puzzle by looking back at the prior room." They came to stand before a spiked path, surrounded by water, which led to the next doorway. "Of course, I am here now, so all you must do is carefully follow along behind me."
"Right." Frisk stated.
He followed Toriel figuring the spikes would lower, as they in fact did, if they were on the right path. Soon enough, they reached the other side and the next doorway.
"You have done excellently thus far my child." Toriel informed as they entered another corridor and proceeded down it as well. "Now, I must ask that you remain in this room because I have business that must be attended to. I promise that I shall return for you."
Again, Frisk's understanding of what his mental state should have been told him he shouldn't be left alone; however, he still didn't want to die now. There wasn't even a second's thought about it. It was still abundantly strange, but he supposed it did mean he could be alone.
"Even then, it's not like I'd be alone given Chara is here." Frisk nodded. "Guess that's fine."
"Since I wish for you to remain in this room, I'd like to give you something just in case." Toriel passed him a cellphone. "With this, do not hesitate to call should you need anything. I will drop my business to come running back here."
"Right." Frisk stated.
With that, Toriel took off.
"You should just head to her place on your own." Chara informed.
"Really?" Frisk asked.
"I wish you could stay here but given who mom is, you're not going to get much practice with the puzzles." Chara responded. "Considering you don't know what you want to do from here, I think it's best you get this practice in now."
"I suppose that's a good point." Frisk admitted. "I don't really have much of an opinion in favor for either, so I might as well just do what you think is a good idea."
That's not to say he'd go ramming himself into walls or jumping off cliffs at Chara's behest. Then again, she hadn't been there to make him plunge down a hole, that'd been all him, but the point still stood. He wasn't going to needless endanger his life NOW because Chara said to.
Pressing on, with a ghost that likely knew this place about as well as Toriel, seemed relatively on the safe side. If nothing else, Frisk was at least curious to see what was around here. As he'd just agreed, Frisk walked into the next room.
Rather than continuing, this new corridor had two paths, one up and the other down. The upward way led to a room with what looked like a bowl of candy within a solitary room. Considering there seemed to be no way forward in there, the way down was likely how to progress.
"You should head up first to collect some candy before continuing." Chara informed. "All food down here is made by Monsters who imbue it with magic. Due to that nature, it isn't going to be as filling, but it makes up for it with healing properties."
Frisk now started walking that way. "I assume that would mean the size of the food and what kind it is would determine how good it was at that job. For instance, candy would be better than nothing, but a hamburger would be amazing."
"Pretty much." Chara informed.
Upon entering the room, Frisk saw that the pedestal holding the bowl of candy was surrounded by two aqueducts. There was a sign on the pedestal that said to 'take one'. That made sense if someone left it out for anyone to get a quick heal. Frisk shrugged and took one.
Frisk's Inventory:
0g
Redwood Bokken(Equipped)
1 Monster Candy
The candy seemed to be a sort of taffy. Since it was contained within a secure wrapping, Frisk could just shove it in his pocket. Considering the assumed intent of this bowl was to help anyone get a heal, Frisk was fine just taking one.
"There's bound to be other kinds of food around here anyways." Frisk thought.
He moved back down and towards the only doorway forward. He didn't get far before some roughly circular white Monster with wings flew in his path. From the looks of it, he was rather timid.
"This is a Whimsun, and I don't think you need me to tell you how to handle this." Chara commented.
Beyond the name, Frisk really didn't need her to tell him how to handle this. "If…"
That's all he got out before Whimsun took off crying. Admittedly, that was meeker than he even assumed that monster would be. Regardless, the way forward was clear, so he might as well continue. He just got to what looked like unsteady ground when his new cell phone rang.
Frisk looked to see that it was Toriel calling, so he answered. "Hello?"
"Innocent one, you have not left the room, right?" Toriel asked genuinely. "There are a few puzzles I have yet to explain, and it would be dangerous to solve them yourself."
Frisk remembered a time when he couldn't have brought himself to lie, but he just didn't care right now. "Nah, I'm still there."
"That is good." Toriel stated relieved. "Before I leave you to continue waiting, I have a question. Which do you prefer? Cinnamon or butterscotch?"
"I never really tried either before." Frisk responded.
"You have not." Toriel spoke in a way that she wasn't surprised by his answer, and since the likely reason for that was now with him, it made sense. "Have you not tried anything sweet?"
"When my sister was still around, she'd sneak me sweats." Frisk answered. "It was mostly vanilla and chocolate. Beyond that, anything sweet was…frowned upon."
Frowned upon was putting it lightly…extremely lightly.
"I see." Toriel brightened up once again. "Thank you for speaking honestly with me, but I must be going now."
Frisk found her asking about that out of the blue weird but Chara, despite not really being able to hear her mother, knew what was asked. She thought Frisk deserved it, and he likely wouldn't be disappointed. Still, far be it for her to ruin the surprise.
"Anyways, what do you make of this floor?" Frisk asked. "To me it all looks unsteady."
"Monsters aren't typically unfair, so there must be an answer." Chara reasoned as this was a new trap. "Stay here for a moment while I go take a look."
Chara phased below. There were patches of leaves around barren ground, and he noticed a sign which read, 'please don't step on the leaves'. That seemed rather clear cut, so he took a moment to memorize the path before floating up.
"I thought I recognized this as there should be ground like it further along." Chara voiced. "There's a way to climb up, so you're typically supposed to fall. From there, a sign will direct you to not step on the leaves meaning you memorize the pattern to take a safe path up here."
"You got the path, right?" Frisk asked.
Chara nodded. "Yeah, just follow after me like you did Toriel."
Chara floated along the correct path with Frisk following which led them off the unstable ground and into another aqueduct corridor. The only way across was another wooden bridge but there were spikes up at the halfway mark. There were also three rocks and three switches.
"This is easy." Frisk thought.
Didn't take a genius to figure out that moving the rocks onto the switches was likely the answer. Frisk moved the first two with no issues, but the moment he attempted to move the third, something happened…
"WHOA there pardner!" The rock spoke which likely made it a Monster. "Who said you could push me around?"
"Sorry." Frisk shrugged weakly. "I didn't think you'd have an issue with it, but perhaps I should have since things are different here. Look, all I want is to cross the bridge. If you could move onto the switch and stay on it until I cross, I'll leave. Deal?"
"It sounds like a mighty fine deal, pardner." The rock moved onto the switch lowering the spikes. "Alright, you're good to go."
Frisk approached the bridge but stopped where the spikes were before looking back at the rocks. He ultimately shrugged and crossed safely. Beyond that, there was what looked like a bedsheet ghost sleeping on a bed of leaves in the path. He was currently saying the letter z repeatedly.
"Considering Chara is a ghost; this isn't all that surprising." Frisk thought with a sigh.
He didn't have the energy to deal with this fake sleeper, so he'd just let the Monster go on thinking he was fooling anyone. Frisk took several steps back.
"What are you doing?" Chara asked.
"This." Frisk responded.
He sprinted forward and effortlessly cleared the ghost, ending up on the other side of him.
"Whoa, you can really jump!" Chara exclaimed as she simply joined him.
"I had a lot of practice getting up trees." Frisk retorted simply.
Climbing a tree high enough was an effortless way to avoid the bullies. No matter how determined they were, Frisk always seemed to have more. He could wait them out before climbing on down and leaving the area.
"Hm, I tended to find places I could hide to wait them out." Chara thought to himself.
There were another two ways to go again. If Frisk went across, he'd end up in a room with what looked like two varying in size spider webs and a sign. Considering that was all that seemed to be in there, it was likely that up was the way to go.
"That room across must be a spider bake sale." Chara noted.
"A spider bake sale?" Frisk asked.
"Yeah, their main place is out near Hotland, but they'd sometimes set up webs in other parts of the Underground where they'd sell various goods. They are good." Chara explained. "While there doesn't seem to be anyone in there, spiders are watching."
"Well, I don't have any money." Frisk responded. "So, I guess I should just move on."
"Not necessarily." Chara stated. "Back when I was alive, Monsters would do a sort of collection. If you had something extra, you tossed it in for a Monster who might not be doing well. When anyone who needs it dips in, take a reasonable amount. Half if you need it."
"If this collection is still here, where would I find it?" Frisk asked.
"Every area has their own place for it." Chara responded. "Here, you'll want to go to just the right of the doorway into the room hosting the bake sell. and see if the fifth brick from the bottom can pop out. If it can, there should be a tan sack inside with a number on it."
Even though it's been however long since Chara was alive, the collection was there. The tan sack within had 100g on the front and was impressively bulky with what seemed like coins given how the pouch bulged.
"The number on front magically updates with what's inside the bag." Chara informed. "It looks like there is a 100 gold in there."
One hundred gold?" Frisk asked. "Is that just what the Monsters call their money or is this actual gold?"
"Actual gold." Chara responded resulting in the fallen ten looking at her. "Monster kind has an abundance of the stuff, so it's the currency down here."
Frisk supposed something had to be used. As for what he intended to take, he didn't have any gold to his name, but taking half seemed like overkill even in this instance. He was just going to turn around and spend some at the bake sale. Ultimately, he settled on 35.
Frisk's Inventory
35g
Redwood Bokken(Equipped)
1 Monster Candy
Upon taking out his desired amount, the number on the bag read '65g'. Frisk nodded before then putting everything back. With his gold in hand, he decided to see what he could afford at the bake sale. After all, food was healing and sustenance.
He first approached the sign and read it. "Spider bake sale. All proceeds go to real spiders. Leave seven gold in the smaller web for a spider donut and eighteen gold in the larger web for spider cider."
Considering his current funds, he figured one of each would do while leaving him a tidy sum. So, he put the seven gold in the small web and took a packaged donut. He then put the eighteen gold in the larger web and snagged a carton of spider cider.
Frisk's Inventory
10g
Redwood Bokken(Equipped)
1 Monster Candy
1 Spider Donut
1 Spider Cider
Once everything was tucked away, he'd probably need to find a better way to carry things, Frisk went back to the prior room and took the path up. It was another corridor which led to a room with six areas of softer ground, a sign saying there's one switch, and spikes blocking the way.
"Considering I'm not seeing a switch up here, I can only assume its below one of those six areas." Frisk stated.
"Like before, I'll go check them out." Chara responded.
Chara did just that checking out all six of the lower areas before reporting back to Frisk. "The very bottom right has a Vegetoid which is a monster too enthusiastic about feeding beings, and the space above it is empty. The top middle has the switch while the bottom middle has nothing. The bottom right has nothing while the top right has…a ribbon."
Chara had contemplated leaving out that last bit since he didn't know how Frisk would react to it. If he didn't know, he surely would upon eventually rediscover his emotions. Ultimately, he decided on honesty in hopes he'd understand.
"A ribbon?" Frisk asked himself.
That wouldn't be strange since at least Toriel wore clothes, so it could have belonged to a Monster. Given Chara's current face of uncertainty, he doubted that was the case. Regardless, Frisk decided to go claim the ribbon first.
He stepped on the ground, which immediately gave way, and he fell the short distance. There on the ground he saw a faded red ribbon. He also noticed Chara had joined him and was rather transfixed on it.
"Chara, something you want to tell me?" Frisk asked.
"There is." Chara nodded. "Let's wait to do it when we're somewhere safer."
"I'll hold you to that." Frisk stated before tucking the ribbon away.
Frisk's Inventory
10g
Redwood Bokken(Equipped)
1 Monster Candy
1 Spider Donut
1 Spider Cider
Faded Ribbon
He then found the ladder to climb up, took it, and fell where the switch was. After flicking it, Frisk came back up to solid ground seeing that the way forward was clear of the spikes now. Before he could enter the new room, a green gelatinous monster entered.
"That is a Modsmal." Chara informed. "Unless you engage with them, they won't engage with you."
That meant Frisk could simply press onto the next room without worrying about it. The next three were simply rotations of one another with the same layout from different angles. The first of the three just seemed designed to show what the layout was.
The entrance to the next room was already open. The current room currently contains three pillars with a blue, red, and green switch. The next two rooms were blocked, but the signs told him what buttons to press. All he had to do was find them by looking around for a few minutes.
Ultimately, he was out rather quickly. This brought him to a corridor that seemed different from anything prior, and it wasn't due to the two lines of greenery. It also didn't have to do with the usual red vegetation leading to the left.
Something about this area seemed a little more homely in comparison to everything prior. Before he could press on, a short, one-eyed monster suddenly came out from the area directly across to confront Frisk.
"Loox care a great deal about not being picked on." Chara informed.
"Don't pick on me!" Loox declared.
Suddenly, a small barrage of white rings formed and were launched at Frisk. He swiftly moved through them drawing close to the monster. Upon reaching him, the barrage stopped and Loox shook as he was intimidated now.
"I spare you." Frisk muttered before pressing onto the room he just came out of.
That was all the Monster needed to simply leave heading down the way Frisk just came from. The fallen Human then entered a small hallway with a Froggit. Before he could attempt to compliment it, the Monster spoke English.
"Between you and I, Toriel came through here from the market place." Froggit informed clearly quite the little gossip. "She was carrying bags of groceries back to her place that's the next right coming out of here."
"Seems Toriel needed food." Frisk figured. "Perhaps she was simply doing her usual rounds of checking that place and simply never expected another Human to fall. When I did, it put her plans on hold."
He simply shrugged and entered the small doorway. As he figured, there was a staircase leading down to what looked like an ancient town off in the distance. That didn't tickle his fancy, so he decided to leave until noticing Chara staring at a toy knife like she had the ribbon.
"Must be tied to that explanation, huh?" Frisk asked.
"It looks like it." Chara responded.
Frisk simply scooped it up and tucked it away on his person before moving back to the last corridor without another word.
Frisk's Inventory
10g
Redwood Bokken(Equipped)
1 Monster Candy
1 Spider Donut
1 Spider Cider
Faded Ribbon
Toy Knife
With that finished, he took the only path onward by heading up.
Frisk is still a soul of determination; however, it's rather low currently. That said, it is a sufficient level to at least be on par with the soulless Flowey. With two beings of equal determination, neither can see the save points. This does mean the last save Flowey did, the one he did before the next day arrived, currently stands. Given he was looking for something new by letting time progress, he's not going to kill Frisk here for similar reason to Undertale proper.
Hollowz: It will continue, but I can't guarantee updates will be fast like this one.