Chapter 18

At Sunset

Kris and Susie snuggled between the blankets on an outcropping of rock that jutted into the sea. The sun was setting, painting the sky above in wonderful lines of blue, purple, red, orange, and gold. The breeze was nice, somewhat calmer than it had been in the morning when they drove Asgore's truck up to the beach. It was the perfect setting for what Kris and Susie had hoped for when they had planned their escape the day before. Coming to the beach with friends was fine and all, but while the others finished their ice cream and began growing tired, the couple shared a moment.

The sounds of crashing waves drowned out the sounds the teenage human and dragon made as they made out. The upper blanket rippled and shifted as their bodies moved underneath. Susie broke off the rough kiss to gasp and moan. She shoved Kris' head down and under the blanket. Their mouth tickled her chest.

She glanced back as best could over the rocks, hoping that no one walked in on them.

"You know, everyone definitely knows what we're doing."

Kris' voice was muffled. Susie wrapped her legs around them and crushed their midriff, ensuring that their ecstasy would soon end.

Finally going limp, Kris rested against her. Susie rolled back the blanket and looked into the flushed face and half-closed, red eyes. By now the couple knew the difference between making love in the Dark World and here in the Light World. In the Dark World, much like eating food, sex had substance but didn't fill quickly. It was strange, like eating cotton candy and expecting to feel satisfied. That didn't mean it wasn't good or that it didn't require exertion, but here was different.

Still, Susie felt unsettled.

"You know, it doesn't feel like we actually won."

Kris agreed. The Dude had escaped, and it felt as if he was waving some unspoken victory over them. The Dark World they had traversed had been so different from all the others they had visited. Way more despondent and prone to fatalism. It was hard to tell what good they had managed to do.

"When we got stuck in the Christmas Dark World, I wondered if that was going to be the end of these sudden adventures," Susie said, her claws grasping for her bikini. "I'm not really complaining, but this… Sorry, Kris. It must not have been-"

Kris cut her off with a kiss on the mouth. No, they had both had fun. This moment, it was still beautiful and what they had planned. The day as whole might have been another matter, but that just meant they would need to be vigilant. Just as Gerson Boom's echo had told them more than half a year ago, there were others who had learned the secrets to open up Dark Fountains. The Dude was another one of them. They would have to be careful and work with their friends to put a stop to other incursions like this.

They held Susie's hand and with the other passed her the bottom to her bikini. Kris smiled.

Susie snorted a laugh and nipped them playfully on the shoulder. "Thanks, dork. You're right. I think we're all just a little shaken by what happened. And I can't stop thinking that overall today should have been better. And now I feel kind of dumb leaving everyone alone so we could head over here to fool around."

Post-nut clarity. Yup, they were still two dumb teenagers doing many dumb things as they explored their relationship.

Kris pointed out that at least they we were being dumb together. They put back on their own clothes and together the two folded up their beach blankets. Hand-in-hand, they descended back to the beach.

Kris and Susie had pre-selected the outcropping of rock based on a sly recommendation rom Asgore and Undyne, both who confirmed that many kids went out this way to make out and fool around without being immediately caught. The climb was over slick, sharp rocks and required careful movements to not get cut to ribbons. But if a couple was successful, the view was amazing and privacy was assured.

Sans had even checked it out for Kris ahead of time, teasing the kid that he had taken Toriel there just to be sure that it lived up to its reputation.

The others were packing up now. Embarrassed, uncomfortable expressions told Kris that Susie had been right. Thankfully, no one pressed them about it. Berdly for his poart looked absolutely sick. He had gorged himself on ice cream to drown his misery at failing to save Temmie and getting himself, Noelle, and Catti caught. Jockington was shedding his sunburned scales. Monster Kid was lamenting that he didn't have his awesome battle robot but was elated to have found a lost toy robot in the sand.

It made Susie wonder if they should dig through the sand to find more of the Darkeners that they could take back to Ralsei's kingdom. But digging through the sand would be just like looking for buried treasure. Fun in concept, but usually lacking in results.

"You two… Took your time…" Catti mumbled in Kris' ear as they helped pack up the empty ice boxes.

Kris apologized, finally blushing appropriately for abandoning their friends for a not-so-quicky with Susie. Snowy tiredly caried the umbrellas back to the truck. Noelle beat the sand out of their blankets and towels against the lowered tailgate. Temmie was a good scout and cleaned up all the small bits of trash they had left in the sand.

"Soooo, uh, are we going to talk about what happened back there?" Monster Kid asked as they gathered around the truck. "Back in the Dark World, I mean."

"Yeah, it looks like others have learned how to open Dark Fountains," Susie said.

"Duh," Snowy replied, earning him a punch on the arm from Noelle.

Susie and Kris shared a look before she continued, "It's possible that all those Gerson Booms we met, that you guys were with, Snowy and Monster Kid, were not a mistake. Old Mr. Boom wrote all kinds of stuff into his books. He shared too much information in his fantasy series that could lead super nerds to figure out how to make their own Dark Fountains. Kris and I think we might be dealing with some super fans."

"You could have told us about these villains sooner," Berdly groaned, rubbing his stomach. He still had plenty of ice cream stuck in his blue feathers.

Kris admitted that he had a point, however, they had hoped that a more private adventure back in December had been the last of it. Today was supposed to be a fun day with friends on the beach before going back to school. Before they all entered their senior year.

"Well, it was a lot of fun, even our adventures in the Dark World," Noelle said. "Minus getting captured and stuff like that! But this was a nice idea! It's no one's fault that this happened, but The Dude's. No one here should be angry with Susie or Kris about not telling us about their other adventure into the Dark World. I guess you two thought that was the end of it?"

"Yeah," Susie said, rubbing the back of her neck awkwardly. "There wasn't anything suspicious for so long! I don't know what The Dude's deal is, but he wasn't like the last guy we fought."

Kris explained their Christmas adventure and even shared what Gerson had told them. Kris did leave out the fact there was a book with even more secrets about the worlds and timelines that could be threatened with this information. It wasn't that they didn't trust their friends and classmates, but there was a time and place for such a heavy conversation.

"We're hoping that you can join us in patrolling Hometown," Susie implored. "Whoever is after Gerson's secret knowledge is now targeting you guys as well. And it could escalate to them targeting our families and neighbors."

"I didn't think the day would end on such a dower note," Berdly grumbled.

"Temmie iz ready!" the small monster suddenly declared. "We beet the Jabilisk! We saved the Dark World! We cauhn win again!"

"Now that's what I want to hear!" Jockington said. "That's a winner's attitude! Look, today was fun, no matter what The Dude did. We survived, we saved the world together, it ROCKED! And now we're all on the same page about what to do next."

"I'll start… Getting information… On strangers in town," Catti volunteered. "We can also… Explore more of the… Dark World…"

"Let's sleep on it, and we can draw up a plan tomorrow!" Noelle added happily.

"What if The Dude attacks us tonight? You know, divide and conquer and all that," Snowy asked.

"Wow. Way to be a downer, dude," Monster Kid said with a scowl.

Kris suggested that they all spend the night at Noelle's place.

"That's fine with me! But no sneaking off," Noelle said, shaking a finger under Kris' nose. The message got through.

Soon, they were all packed up and driving into the sunset and back towards home. As they went, Susie spluttered, "Wait! We weren't supposed to pick up anything for Onion were we?"

TO BE CONTINUED AT HALLOWEEN…