Chapter 1
Beach Fun
A whole day of fun at the beach. That was the plan. Kris and Susie led the way down the sloping shore towards the water's edge, leaving Asgore's truck back in the parking lot. Kris had borrowed it to bring everyone here today. They had followed the forest road and followed the lake's tributaries to a fork that eventually led out to the sea.
Kris wondered if Onion was going to make an unexpected appearance. Probably not since they were shy and didn't like talking to others.
"Anyone need some sunscreen?" Noelle asked, fiddling with the overly large basket in her hands.
"Nah, I'm working on my tan!" Jockington said as he slithered with the group's watermelons.
"I think the only the only person in our group who needs sunscreen is Kris," Berdly said, adjusting his glasses.
Susie and Kris shared a smirk. Kris was already lathered up thanks to her help much earlier that morning. For a pasty kid, they needed Human SPF 100. Susie had used some on her scales as she was unsure of how badly she might burn, if the sun really affected her at all.
Monster Kid spoke up. "Hey! I'm going to need some! Kris, could you help me put it on?"
"I'm also going to need some suntan lotion. I don't feel like melting!" Snowy said.
"Coming right up," Noelle said, stopping to go rummage through her basket. She had a lot of their snacks and some of the blankets for setting out their eventual picnic. Catti came with the large beach umbrella and shaded the reindeer monster as she searched. "Got it right here. Catch, Kris!"
Kris deftly snatched the flying can out of the air. However, Susie swiped it from their hands and approached Monster Kid. "I've got you covered."
"Oh! Uh, thanks Susie," Monster Kid said nervously. Though they were all friends by now, Susie still had a domineering presence about her that got the anxious monster sweating bullets.
Susie carefully rearranged Monster Kid's full body swimsuit in order to spray sunscreen where the sun would eventually get to and burn. No one likes having the crimson line of pain. She quickly completed her task and moved onto Snowy. Temmie passed by, dragging two ice coolers in the sand with Eg on top.
Kris laid out some of their larger blankets and towels before hurriedly retrieving the poles and net they would need for beach volleyball. They had scrounged up the supplies from the gym closet. They hadn't done real PE games for a while. It was a shame to let it all sit in there and collect dust without any use. They were sure that the unseen Darkners were happy to once again be of some use to the Lightners.
There were not many people on the beach, even though it was a Saturday. A shabby tackle shop laid up the beach a ways, selling questionable snacks and fishing gear, as well as renting out tubes and surfboards. There were some faded beach umbrellas stuck haphazardly in the sand. A tall tower where a lone lifeguard languished overlooked the abandoned sandcastles that dotted the shore. And out in the distance, where the waves came rolling in, were bright orange pontoons warning swimmers of riptides beyond that point.
With everything they had, the teens were ready for a full day in the sun, doing all kinds of lazy and silly things to enjoy themselves. Kris eyed an outcropping of rock that rose above the sands and struck out in the water. It was a special lookout point. They smiled to themselves, thinking about the conversation they had had with Susie and the plans they had made.
"Come on, Kris! Don't just stare out at the sea! We've got setting up to do!" Berdly complained as he helped Temmie drag the coolers in place.
Catti planted their large umbrella and Noelle dove under it. She cracked open the cooler and enjoyed a quick blast of the cold aura within. She sighed contentedly. Kris shrugged, already having sone some of the work, and helped finished setting up the beach volleyball net. Susie came to hang up the net, seeing as she was easily the tallest in their group.
"Alright! Who's ready to jump into some waves?" Susie roared excitedly. "Last one in the water is a rotten, slowpoke loser!"
She tore off her shirt and practically jumped out of her jeans, revealing the purple bikini underneath. It had a wonderful floral pattern splashed across the fabric. The guys all stared for a moment as she dashed off. Noelle coughed and hurriedly stripped down to her one-piece swimsuit. Kris was already taking off. They had their swim trunks and would keep their shirt on, too. No reason to freak everyone out with how pasty pale they were underneath.
The rest of the teens hurried to catch up, most of them overtaking Kris. They huffed and puffed through the sand. How come the seafront always made it so difficult to move? Dirt back at home didn't act this way!
Susie noticed Kris lagging behind and dashed back. She tucked them under one arm and got back into the race. Soon, everyone was splashing in the waves, besides Catti. Shae stayed under the umbrella and took pictures of everyone with her phone.
"Figures the cat wouldn't get in," Susie grumbled.
"So who got in last? Susie or Kris?" Monster Kid asked.
"If we go by football rules, Kris came in last. The ball is carried by the forward foot of the one who has it. Susie was carrying Kris, ergo, she came in before they did," Berdly said smugly, giving Susie an odd look as he explained his reasoning.
"Um, which kind of football are we going by?" Jockington asked. "Because in one game Susie wouldn't be allowed to carry a ball or Kris!"
"That means Susie is disqualified!" Snowy proclaimed.
"This was a race!" Susie snarled. "I was going to accept co-slowpoke loser status with Kris, but the rest of you are being real dumbasses! Better last than-!"
"It's okay, Susie. It was just a race for fun," Noelle said, cutting off her tirade. Kris gave Susie the affirming thumbs up. Noelle splashed them both with water. "Anyways, you're now both soaking slowpoke losers!"
"Oh yeah?" Susie cried, heaving waves with both arms at everyone else.
Artificial and natural waves crashed together, soaking everyone. The friends all laughed and enjoyed swimming. They had races out to the pontoons. They went diving for seashells. Snowy found an amazing conch shell. Berdly and Temmie scrounged up a number of unbroken sea dollars. Noelle was wowed by butterfly clam shells. Kris found shells still full of hermit crabs and slugs. Susie laughed at them before tripping on some seaweed.
Catti had gone over to he tackle shack and bought some fruity popsicles. The gang rushed out of the water to eat them before they got too mushy. Kris was the first to notice that stupid jokes and puns were written on the popsicle sticks.
Snickering, they asked Susie, "What is a knight's favorite fish?"
"I dunno."
"A sword fish."
Susie groaned. "Oh, that's almost as bad as a joke from Sans or your mother."
Kris winked. That was kind of the idea. The friends all read their sticky jokes and shared them to an equal measure of groans and barks of laughter. They gathered the trash and washed their hands in the waves before climbing up the shore. They took a moment to dry off and relax a little on the beach. Kris snuggled up to Susie, drawing attention from everyone else and a few jealous glances.
"Let's et the wutermeloon," Temmie finally said.
"Sounds wonderful! But first, we should play the watermelon game. It should only be appropriate given that we're at the beach," Berdly said, readjusting his glasses with a flash.
Noelle produced a blindfold from her basket. Susie asked, "Did you just pull that out now? What else have you all got in there?"
"Whatever we might need for a fun day at the beach," Noelle answered, trying to not be flustered.
"Hang on! I left the bat in the trunk," Jockington called and quickly slithered off.
"I guess I'm the one left out on the plans for today," Susie grumbled. Kris assured her that she wasn't entirely. Everyone had brought their own ideas together to make this day happen.
Once they were armed with a blindfold and bat, everyone had a try at smashing the watermelon. Monster Kid obviously had a hard time using the bat. Snowy missed and made a lame joke. Berdly tried to be a samurai, but Kris spun him so well that the blue jay went hacking and slashing in the opposite direction. Noelle got very close to hitting the watermelon. Jockington didn't bother hitting the watermelon, but smashed an empty can against his head, screaming like he was at a game. Kris tripped and faceplanted in the sand. Temmie gave the play-by-play while Catti took all the embarrassing photos.
Finally, it was Susie's turn. Kris had fun getting her as dizzy as possible. Once they were done spinning her, Susie took a moment to collect herself. She spread her legs a little, feeling the sand. Her nostrils flared, trying to smell that sweet watermelon.
"Found you," she growled, swinging down with tremendous force.
WHAM!
The watermelon was pulverized, flinging bits of green rind and red watermelon flesh in every direction. All the teens were covered in the sweet, sticky mess.
"I think I got it," Susie said, breathing heavily. She lifted up her blindfold and laughed. "Yes! I did it! In all your faces! Hahaha! It is in all your faces!"
Once again, they all retreated to the waves, Catti reluctantly joining them to get cleaned. Oncer they were washed up, they returned and started preparing their lunch. Before they had food on their stomachs, the teens took some time to also play a few rounds of beach volleyball. Kris played at the setter, being too weak and too short to really help right up at the net. This fitted their teammate, Susie, just fine. She was tall and strong enough for the both of them. Kris set up the shots and she took them.
In rapid succession the dynamic duo steamrolled Jockington and Cattie, Berdly and Noelle, Temmie and Eg, and Snowy with Monster Kid. To be fair, Noelle and Berdly were very distracted by Susie's swimsuit. Kris was too, which was another reason for being the setter. It gave them more opportunities to watch Susie's body in action as she ran, jumped, and dove for the ball.
With their sweaty tournament complete, they enjoyed their lunch. They took the time to apply more suntan lotion as they ate watermelon slices, enjoyed sandwiches, drank slightly chilled sodas, and plucked out fresh fruits coated with condensation.
The gang became lazy and started milling about. Monster Kid and Snowy got Jockington to teach them how to surf. Temmie still tried to feed Eg an egg salad sandwich. Catti and Noelle buried Berdly in the sand, sculpting a fine woman's body for him. His screams of how undignified the treatment was followed Kris and Susie as they picked through old sandcastles across the beach. They found an elaborate one that had been partly kicked down. There were small plastic soldiers buried in the sand, along with an old toy construction truck.
"This is why I would never bring any toys to the beach," Susie said, picking up the soldiers and putting them in a pile. "I know I'd lose them. At least this gives us something to play with, right Kris? Now, if only we had some good shells to use, we could make a pretty sweet castle."
She suddenly realized how childish she sounded and added, "And then we could jump on it! Unleash Susiezilla and burn the whole damn thing down!"
Kris laughed and agreed. They found a discarded plastic bucket a little ways off and carried it over to her. They suggested they head closer to the water and dig a moat. It would be nice to have a castle surrounded with proper water. And this way they could try to make the structure last against the waves.
"It'll make Susiezilla's devastation more tragic," they said with a wicked grin.
"Now you're talking!" Susie said excitedly, ribbing them hard. "Let's get going!"
The two friends worked hard to pile up the sand and make turrets with the bucket. Susie put her back into it to shape gigantic walls to ward off the waves while Kris did their best to dig a deep trench around the island that would become their castle. The incoming tide already threatened to collapse their budding structure.
"Hey, would you like some help?" Noelle asked.
"Sure!" Susie said happily.
"Hey! Don't leave me here!" Berdly squawked. Catti took a picture of his pitiful plight before joining them. Temmi also arrived, bringing a very dirty Eg in tow. Together, they worked hard to form a large castle. Utilizing their memories of the Dark World and Ralsei's own town, they made their sandy magnum opus.
Berdly eventually wriggled his way free and grumpily joined them. The others soon washed up, knocked off their surfboards and also lent wings, feet, and tail to the construction effort. Combing their skills, personalities, and a collection of seashells, they made a monstrous Atlantis.
The waves crashed and lapped at their feet. Water began filling the trenches. Susie was getting excited. They'd see how the castle fared against the tide before Susie delivered the final blow. Kris watched her growing enthusiasm and couldn't help but beam, their red eyes shining through their messy bangs.
Berdly fashioned a small flag. It was a banner with everyone drawn on it, the magnificent artwork completed by Temmie. The blue jay clambered up and planted the flag on the top turret, declaring, "With this flag, we claim this island kingdom our own! And it shall henceforth and forever be known as Not Smartlandia!"
Noelle cringed. "No, it should be the Friendship Fiefdom."
"That makes it sound like we're all slaves," Catti muttered. "Name is Castle Town."
"We already have one of those," Susie grumbled. "Let's call it the Palace Meant for Smashing!"
"What!? You want to destroy all our hard work?" Jockington sputtered.
"Well… Yeah. Isn't that what you're supposed to do with sandcastles?" Susie said.
Monster Kid shrugged and said, "Since we made it together, we could call it Fortress Friendship. I think that would go well with the flag, too."
Kris mumbled under their breath, "Fun Town."
But before they could make up their minds, something incredible and awful happened. A Dark Fountain burst from the top tower, throwing the flag sky high. Blackness covered the beach and waves, consuming them all and swallowing the friends. They were thrown into the void and flew in different directions.
"Kris!" Susie shouted as they vanished from sight, and she too was lost in the Dark.