I carefully watched Chara pull themself off the ground, right next to their golden Save Point. Texty's grip on the Rockstaff tightened as a chuckle escaped their lips. The Demon glanced up at me, summoning their knife in their hand.

"... You know, 'Dragon,'" they spoke quietly, just low enough where I was forced to listen if I wanted to hear, "I never expected that from you. I mean, locking me in a cage and attempting to smoke me out, sure, but that…"

That iconic smile tore up their expression. Their "scary face," if I remembered correctly.

"... That was so… So visceral. So…" They sucked in a deep breath. "So perfect."

My grip on the staff became white-knuckled. Don't give them anything. Don't react.

They flipped their knife into the air, catching it by the handle without trying. They brought it up to their face, studying the shimmering, DETERMINED red glow it gave off. "... But, I have to say, that power… That wasn't there for our last encounter, was it?"

*Your teeth grit together.

"Those fangs, too… There's only a few monsters that could grant you that kind of power." Looking up from their knife, their red eyes met mine.

*Anger floods your brain.

"... So, which was it? Can't have been Toriel, we killed her ourselves…" Chara lolled their head back and forth, coming to a decision, "No, Asgore wouldn't work. You wouldn't have gotten slit eyes from a goat. So, that just leaves…"

*The ground rumbles.

"... Monster Kid?"

I planted my feet on the chair, a roar escaping my body as I soared across the Hall. I crashed into Chara, the two of us flipping and bouncing across the tiled hall, before I used both feet to kick them in the chest, sending us rocketing away from one another. They crashed into the other end of the hall, cracking and splintering the marble. I landed on my hands and feet, skidding for only a moment before my head snapped back up to them.

Chara had already recovered, their feet a blur as they had begun to run at me in a dead sprint. Needed to create distance. With a stomp of my foot, rock tore up from beneath the tiles, the brown stone creating a person-high wall between Chara and myself. Chara easily flipped over the geode and myself, and I suddenly realized that I had just created a close-combat situation that I was completely unprepared for.

So…

Texty took control, rock growths exploding over my skin, none more than an inch wide in diameter. My knuckles had become full stones, and Texty spun their Rockstaff.

Rock met knife as Texty was able to catch Chara's slash with their own weapon. Chara pushed forward, forcing Texty against a wall. Luckily, that wall was one of our own creation.

Texty clenched one hand, creating a me-sized hole in the wall to slip through. Chara stumbled forward, caught off-guard by Texty suddenly being out of reach. Suddenly grabbing their arm, Texty tried to drag Chara through our wall, but Chara pulled back, successfully canceling out their equal strength. Texty's eyes darted to Chara's arm, which was successfully dragged into the doorway our wall had created.

With a wild grin, Texty stomped their foot, suddenly closing the doorway we had just opened. Blood exploded everywhere. Chara screamed.

God damn!

Texty flung the severed hand to the side before hopping and crouching on top of the wall with a wicked grin. Chara was currently staring at the crushed stump where their arm used to be.

"Having some trouble there, righty?" Texty quipped, gesturing to their stump. My headmate slammed my hand into the top of the wall, sending one hand-shaped rock flying into the face of Chara.

They caught it with their remaining hand, looking at the rockhand they had caught. Their HP was draining quickly, it was all they could do to stare at the hand that Texty had so graciously gifted them.

It was a right hand.

With a flick of my wrist, Texty impaled Chara on a stalagmite.

Shatter.

Flash.

Chapter 5: Tip the Scales

"Your partner's got some guts, Dragon." Chara snarled, lowering their stance while my eyebrows rose into my hairline, "You should be taking notes."

"Eh, who needs notes when I got somebody to take the test for me?"

With that, Chara flung one hand out, summoning their Empty Gun and setting its sights on me. I raised an eyebrow at that, but quickly understood once a bolt of bright red DETERMINATION entered my shoulder.

*Whu-?! Why'd you just let that hit you?!

I flipped over the throne I sat on landing behind it's protective backrest, before I replied, "I thought that gun was fuckin' empty! How was I supposed to know they had the power of bullshit?!"

*That's LITERALLY what Determination is!

I scowled. Blood was trickling down my arm, soaking into my jacket. Agony was exploding across my shoulder and making it hard to move as more bullets sunk into the fabric of the King's chair. I summoned a Pie slice in my free hand, wolfing it down as fast as my mouth let me.

I heard the bullets stop and grass start to rustle, so I figured Chara was right about to attack. Cool. Radical. Wonderful.

Diving from behind the back of the chair, I was barely able to avoid Chara's knife being plunged into the earth below me. I grinned at that, commanding the earth below by raising one hand.

From below the hole in the earth the knife had created, bright orange stone began to churn. Chara was barely able to get out of the way in time before a red-hot pillar of magma exploded from the earth where they had just crouched. With a growl, they turned towards me, and I winked an eye shut as the Earth had seemingly swallowed me whole. The only indication I had ever been there was a brown patch of dirt in the flower patch.

Chara's eyes widened into saucers at my disappearance, and their head spun on a swivel. Left, right, but no indication of where I would appear next came. Then, suddenly, they felt hands on their ankles.

I dragged them into the depths of the earth, parting the rock immediately around me and closing it immediately behind. With an honest-to-goodness grin on my face I buried Chara alive, and I didn't even have to come back up for air.

After all, I'd be back on that throne in a moment.

Shatter.

Flash.

Chara didn't bother with preamble this time around, instead deciding to sprint forward and run low to the ground, one hand primed into a Tough Glove-covered fist and the other brandishing the Real Knife. I simply stomped, causing a tremor in the immediate vicinity and forcing them off balance. With a twist of my foot, the claw of a stone dragon shot from the earth, wrapping around Chara and trapping them in the grip of The Dragon.

Chara bashed against the rock, however, and I found myself surprised when a finger of my Dragon's Claw flew away from them, snapping at the knuckle. They shot from the palm of the Claw, leaping high into the air, twirling and equipping their bladed Ballet Shoes.

I leaped backwards, brandishing Texty's Rockstaff with a growl. Chara crashed into the earth, sending Golden Petals flying into the air with their mighty kick. They stared up at me from their crouched position on the earth, and I threw the Rockstaff as hard as I could.

*Hey! That's mine!

With a boom, the staff flew from my grip, causing Chara's eyes to widen as their shoulder was impaled on the staff. The force of my throw carried them far, thanks to my enhanced strength, dragging them through the entrance to the Throne Room and to the far side of the Judgment Hall. I leapt forward myself, landing on the opposing side of the room, no weapons in hand. Didn't need them - If Chara got close, I'd just switch to Texty.

*Wow, using me as a crutch. Thanks.

The force of my throw wasn't enough to carry Chara into the wall of the Judgment Hall, so they ended up falling just short, skidding on the tiled floor. With a growl, Chara shoved the staff off and out of their shoulder. I lifted a hand, the Rockstaff floating into the air and flying into my grip like I wielded The Force.

Chara reached out to their Save Point, the hole in their shoulder sealing shut. I squinted my eyes, holding out one hand. After a moment, my own Save Point manifested at my side, and I also saved.

Meanwhile, in the pitch-black void, a glitching, drooping skeleton watched the fight with curiosity. Very, very interesting indeed. With a tweak of the code with one hole-punched hand, he yanked more of himself together. He was dripping just a little bit less, and some of the glitching subsided.

He turned back to the rip in time and space. Although nowhere near as strong as, say, The Anarchist, who was currently on a rampage in his own timeline, The Dragon would work, very, very well.

As he watched, however, as the first fallen child was impaled on another rock. He hoped that they would begin to fight back some soon… If they gave up too quickly, well… He'd be out of luck. His plans would fall through the cracks.

"... HM…" He finally vocalized, a crescent smile spreading across his face, "... PERHAPS THEY NEED. A PUSH."

A plan began to brew behind his forehead, and that smile simply got wider. Yes, that may work, should they be unable to kill The Dragon. Oh, that would work perfectly…

Load 36.

With a flick of my wrist, Texty had sent Chara riding on an upwards rock-tsunami towards us. As they hopped off the wave and leapt at us, Texty dived around their knife, grabbing them by the back of the head before slamming them, face-first, into the hard ground beneath the flowers. With a stomp of my knee, their skull and grey matter exploded. Their ruby red SOUL floated from their body.

Shatter.

Flash.

Load 43.

I stomped my own foot, causing a rumble in the ceiling above us. Cracks violently spread through it, before the entire roof caved in, flattening Chara like a pancake. I held the rocks that would've come down on me around me with my geokinesis, before a familiar sound rang through my ears.

Shatter.

Flash.

Load 67.

I lifted my hands into the sky, pooling the entire room in liquid-hot magma. I rose on my own platform of rock, away from the lava, though I doubted it would hurt me. I watched their body smoke.

Shatter.

Flash.

Crumbling ground beneath their feet. Shatter.

Another pair of jaws swallowed them whole. Shatter.

Hopping into the ground, dragging them to their grave myself. Shatter.

Impaled on stalagmites. Shatter.

Impaled by a falling stalactite. Shatter.

Caging them in a box. Shatter.

Flash.

Load 94.

"... I don't understand." They growled, grinding their teeth together. I watched them, disinterested. After all, this had been simple thus far, "How… How have I not killed you once?!"

"You're fighting a geokinetic underground. It's not hard to kill ya," I gloated, grinning at them, "'N besides, your patterns are getting easy to recognize, Chara."

*Don't get cocky.

Chara's eyes widened at that, before their grip on their knife tightened. With a yell, their feet began pounding against the tile. Suddenly, they leaped into the air, drawing back their knife and attempting to plunge it in my head. I shifted my foot, heel spinning inward. A giant rectangle of rock tore from the ground, slamming into Chara's gut and planting them firmly against the ceiling. Chara ground their teeth, failing to push the huge stone pillar away from them.

"... I… I want…!" Chara's eyes shut tight, blood spilling down their chin from whatever damaged organs I had crushed with my attack. "... I want…!"

Their teeth grit.

"I want to win…!"

They tried to move their body, but couldn't.

They tried to attack their opponent, but couldn't.

They tried to FIGHT, but couldn't.

…

… So what could they do?

Stone entered their brain, and for the first time in a long, long time, they felt like giving up.

Shatter.

"ARE YOU... THERE?"

"ARE WE… CONNECTED?"

In a void of mist, a red SOUL appeared. An unfamiliar voice permeated their brain, something which they were frighteningly unfamiliar with nowadays. They were confused. They had failed, had they not? They couldn't beat The Dragon's power.

"EXCELLENT. TRULY EXCELLENT."

They tried to speak, but their voice did not exist. They tried to move, but their body did not exist. They tried to load their SAVE File, but it was out of their reach.

"GOOD. NOW… WE MAY BEGIN."

"YOU SEE, I CANNOT HAVE YOU… GIVE UP, SO SOON." The voice spoke, everywhere and nowhere all at once. Loud, but they were sure no one else could hear. "I NEED. MORE TIME…"

Time…? Why did the voice need… Time…?

"SO… I WILL MAKE. A DEAL."

"I SHALL GRANT YOU. A GIFT. OF YOUR CHOOSING." The voice spoke. Curious, they listened to its words closely. "IN EXCHANGE… YOU WILL. HELP ME, WHEN THE TIME COMES."

Options appeared before them. Two of them.

They considered their options for a long, long time. They knew the punchline to this setup; Whatever the voice asked of them, whatever it needed help with, it would surely be some sort of punishment. For their cruel actions, both during and before they obtained their current level of power.

… But… They had to win. Getting stronger was the most important thing in the world, above everything else. Their partner had taught them that lesson, so long ago. It was the very purpose of their reincarnation. Two options became one, and they selected the only path they could.

"GOOD. I'M GLAD YOU COULD… SEE REASON, HEIR." The voice spoke, before a list was presented to them. "SELECT THE GIFT YOU WOULD PREFER."

ASCENSION. COURAGE. DETERMINATION. GOLD. LOVE. MAGIC. SKILL. WEAPONRY.

Again, they considered the grand amount of options laid out before them. They had no clue what "ascension" was, so they dismissed the idea outright. Courage… What was there to be afraid of, they wondered. DETERMINATION? They had that in spades, so long as there was a path forward. Gold… Was simply stupid, why would they need money? LOVE, again, seemed silly. They were already at the maximum, so what was there to gain? Skill… No need. Skill had been beaten into their head when they had barely started Kindergarten. Weaponry… There was nothing this voice could give them that they didn't already have.

So, that left one option.

"MAGIC… A WONDERFUL CHOICE." The voice voiced its observation with little judgment, deciding instead to get to work on what its partner had asked of it, "THEN… YOU SHALL BECOME. A REFLECTION."

… A reflection? A reflection of what?

Another red SOUL, just across from theirs. His SOUL. At least, a recreation of some kind. Suddenly, it morphed into a skull… The Skull of a HYPER GONER. Its jaws slowly cracked open, and energy began to build inside of it.

"THE POWER. WILL BE PULLED FROM YOUR SOUL… AND SO, AS OF NOW…"

And, just like their reflection had before, they were overcome with the GONER's white blast.

"YOU HAVE THE GIFT YOU ALWAYS WISHED FOR, CHARA DREEMURR."

In a matter of seconds, their code, their very being was rearranged by this power. It blossomed into their very SOUL, tore through time and space. This power could not be taken away by a simple LOAD, or even a RESET. No, now this power was theirs, forever. Not their vessel's. Not his. Theirs.

And that just made them oh, so happy.

Load 95.

Flash.

I raised my eyebrows at the sudden flash of light - Chara had been dead for nearly ten minutes! I almost thought I had them beat, but suddenly, there they were. Across the golden hall stood my opponent, with…

No weapon…?

Chara reached under their eye, running their fingers over something, and I squinted my eyes at the new decorum on their face. Two red cracks were on their face now, one running down from their left eye and one running up from their right. That one continued into their bangs, where I presumed it came to a stop. Red power misted out of their palms, and they slowly moved one hand through the air. The mist followed their palm perfectly, leaving a trail of red-hot DETERMINATION. Their wide eyes followed their hand with an expression of wonder that I had never seen them wear before.

*Something changed…!

I glanced to my text box, before turning my full attention to Chara. Sweat beaded my forehead as I watched them stare at seemingly nothing.

"... So what gives, Chara?" I asked them, causing their eyes to lazily drift over to me. "You don't reload for like 10 minutes, and suddenly you get some weirdly familiar face details?"

With a gulp, I moved some rocks from the ground, summoning them to my hands. I anxiously twirled them between my fingers, my eyes still firmly locked on Chara, "You wanna explain what happened, or…?"

A long pause permeated the air. Their eyes slowly drifted away from me, eyes ending up staring into… Nothing, in the distance. They took a long, deep breath.

And then a chuckle bubbled past their lips.

"A gift." Chara said simply, allowing their eyes to fall back to me. A genuine smile pulled at their lips, "A gift that was granted to me by a rather kind benefactor."

*Benefactor…?

I shared Texty's confusion, my eyes widening slightly. Who the hell could've not only granted Chara a so-called gift, but also do it while they were six feet under?

*More pressing matters.

"Whatever gift you may or may not have gotten won't help you, Chara," I stated with little to no certainty, summoning my Pocket Knife from my inventory, "You're still ninety-somethin' in the hole."

"Oh," They expressed, lifting one hand. Unbeknownst to me, a shadow had begun creeping into the air behind me.

"I believe I'll catch up."

STAB.

Suddenly, all I could think about was the searing pain in my gut. Trembling pupils slowly drifted down to the massive green vine that had grown through my gut. Blood smeared its beautiful color while golden flowers dotted its surface.

*No…!

I opened my mouth to speak, but my crimson ichor exploded out instead. My lips move, but no words would form. What was there to say?

Chara slowly crossed the Judgment Hall to my dying body. With a swift motion, they pointed their knife at me, before it expanded.

Chara's new blade was an elegant longsword, the red steel from the knife expanding to be just short of my neck. Its grip expanded and shifted to a lovely viridian, a heart shape decorating the end of it. The guard became two rigid leaves, joined in the middle by a lovely golden flower.

Chara drew back their new blade - Dealbreaker - and swung.

And my head flew through the air.

Shatter.