Chapter 3: Ghost in the Machine
When Flowey had tried to attack Papyrus with the souped-up suit he stole from Mettaton, Frisk was worried they might have to go through this day the fourth time. But their worries were allayed when a powerful laser stopped Flowey's attack. Frisk knew immediately that it must have been Sans who did it – and Flowey figured out the same thing.
"Ha!" Frisk said. "You got Sans to attack you! You're doomed!"
From the direction the laser that stopped Flowey came from, a voice called out. "Well, I'm not Sans, darling. But that thief is still doomed!"
In fact, it wasn't Sans that had stopped the evil flower from killing Papyrus – it was Mettaton, in a form Frisk had never seen. It was similar to Flowey's stolen prototype, but more advanced. He had giant glowing wings, and a cannon for his arm.
"You don't deserve that body!" Mettaton added. "The POWER OF 'NEO' is mine alone!"
"Oh, look, it's the showman himself!" Flowey said. "Are you doing this because you want to help anyone? Or are you just mad I took your body! Or maybe you just want to keep up appearances! Don't want them to see you for the coward you truly are? Abandoning your only family? That's a rough move, Hapsta!"
Upon hearing that, Mettaton NEO blasted another laser from his cannon at Flowey NEO. "It'd do you well to shut your mouth," Mettaton said. "Now, let's take this somewhere else."
Mettaton NEO picked up Flowey NEO, and flew off into the distance, towards Mt. Ebott.
"I HOPE THEY HAVE FUN!" Papyrus said.
"Wait! Mettaton's probably gonna kill Flowey!" Frisk said. "We need him captured, alive! Alphys, contact Mettaton!"
"H-his NEO form h-has the transponder disabled. It's meant to be unconnected to a-anything else. He's still broadcasting, though."
"Broadcasting?" Frisk asked.
"Yeah, on the 'net," Alphys said. "I'll send someone after him – I think Napstablook can convince him to stop, and they also can't be killed since th-they're a ghost, y'know?"
"Yeah, do that," Frisk said. "I'll tell you guys what's going on, but you gotta promise not to tell my parents. Let's all go to Sans's shed."
The group of Undyne, Frisk, Alphys, and Papyrus all went up to Sans's shed – in the move from Snowdin to the Surface, the shed and basement of Sans and Papyrus's house had been swapped, somehow. What was in the shed was in the basement, and vice versa. With a spear from Undyne, the shed was opened, and the group met up with Sans, who was waiting. Alphys set up a laptop tuned to Mettaton's stream, and texted Napstablook to tell Mettaton not to kill Flowey.
"so, what's going on now?"
"Mettaton's dealing with Flowey," Frisk explained, simultaneously using their phone. "And… I guess I need to explain a few things, since they're directly related to what we're about to do. I don't want Toriel and Asgore involved. You'll understand why once I'm done explaining. First of all… I can kinda… control time. I've heard there's more I can do, but the only thing I've been able to experiment with is the ability to SAVE and LOAD. Saving just means that – at certain 'save points', my determination lets me save, and when… when I die, it loads back to that save point. I'll be back to normal, nobody will remember what happened, it'll be like it never happened. Loading is just doing that on purpose to fix a mistake, and I've only done it twice – once after… accidentally hurting someone, and once after that flower that just attacked us messed everything up."
"S-so like a video game?" Alphys asked. "B-because I played this video game called… and.. oh, never mind."
"That's actually a good comparison," Frisk admitted. "Yeah, it really is. Saving and loading is my special power that got me through the underground. Without it… I'd have died, permanently, in the ruins, to a sad ghost. And if not that, then to Toriel. Or the Snowdin K-9 unit. Or…"
"SO WAIT…" Papyrus said. "ARE YOU IMPLYING THAT YOU'VE DIED BEFORE?"
"Yup," Frisk said. "Lots of times, actually. Around a hundred, I lost count honestly."
"What!" Undyne said, outraged. "That's messed up! When I find out who killed you, I'll make them feel my wrath from the end of my spear!"
"Then you'll have to throw that spear at yourself," Frisk said smugly, putting away their phone.. "Since 13 of those deaths were your fault."
"W- HUH!" Undyne said. "But- I'd never- WHY!"
"Hey, I'm not mad," Frisk said. "Though I was pretty frustrated when I couldn't get past you. But, since I could keep trying, I learned the exact order, the exact patterns you'd attack in, and just dodge them. So yeah, that's my 'battle strategy' – if I lose, I just keep on trying. And honestly, you gave me the most trouble out of anyone, especially when I add on the royal guards that you hired to kill me… yes, that includes the dogs."
"Really? The DOGS? They're not even fighters, they were hired for search and rescue!" Undyne said, laughing rather loudly.
"Look, can we move on?" Frisk said, checking a notification on their phone, and smiling.
"The reason I bring this up is because I died today – you accidentally weakened me because you thought I was a burglar. Some human who hated me for bringing monsters into town finished the job, and before I went back, I was visited… by Chara. They told me I could possibly bring them back to life, along with Asriel, the other six humans who fell, and W. D. Gaster. That's why this machine-" Frisk gestured towards the machine in the room, covered by cloth "-is important. Flowey – who is actually Asriel by the way– caught on to this, and destroyed the machine while we were distracted by a meeting with the President – yeah, and then he killed me. Now, I just postponed that meeting by a week – that also keeps him away from town so Flowey can't mess with him – which means all we have left to do is… find a way to recover W. D. Gaster."
None of the others responded.
"I'm sorry," Undyne said. "That's a lot to take in…"
"I-I see why you didn't want to tell your parents now," Alphys added.
"WELL, LET'S START BY FINDING OUT WHAT THIS MACHINE DOES!" Papyrus said, starting to remove the cloth.
"papyrus, no-" sans started, but it was too late. Papyrus had unveiled the machine. It looked like a very old school computer/control panel. It had a holder on the side that could fit a capsule big enough to hold a large person. On the screen was a branching chart – Sans quickly pressed a button that hid the chart.
"What is this…" Undyne asked.
"this is a time machine. i use it to keep track of timelines and resets. i've been trying to find the anomaly behind the branching, but it turns out it was frisk all along, heh."
"Aren't time machines supposed to let people travel through time?"
"theoretically, yes. but there's not enough power to actually send someone to another timeline. the only time that's been attempted, this machine was absorbing all the energy from the CORE, for over a month, and that was enough to send someone… but not for them to complete their journey. so they got lost in time and space, never to be seen again… crazy, huh?"
"That's how… the previous royal scientist disappeared, isn't it?" Frisk asked, already knowing the answer. Sans didn't need to respond. "Well, let's jump start this thing!"
"D-did you not listen? All the energy in the core isn't enough to power it!"
"I'll need to use time travel to recover Chara, Asriel, and the Six," Frisk explained.
"You're gonna USE that machine?" Undyne questioned. "Sans just said it made someone disappear!"
"yeah, this is new territory. we don't know what could happen. plus, we still don't have enough power."
Frisk thought for a moment. "What if… we used the six souls to power the machine? Would it use them up?"
"I d-don't think so," Alphys said. "In my r-research, human souls can generate near unlimited energy. B-but where would we even find the six souls?"
"Let's see how Mettaton's doing with Flowey," Frisk said. "If we capture Flowey, he can help us for sure!"
On the laptop screen, the two robots were in a fierce battle taking place in the CORE. They were blasting lasers at each other, and striking each other. Napstablook was helping Mettaton by using acid rain attacks on Flowey.
"Yeah, go Mettaton!" Undyne cheered.
"I DON'T LIKE THIS," Papyrus said. "WHY MUST FLOWEY AND METTATON FIGHT? THEY'RE BOTH MY FRIENDS? THIS IS UNSEQUINOCHAHBHLY CRAZY!"
"that's not a word." sans said.
"YES IT IS! AT LEAST, IN THE PAPYRUS DICTIONARY! IT MEANS 'REALLY'."
"a papyrus dictionary? that must be ancient," sans jokes.
"OH MY GOSH, STOP!"
Meanwhile, in the CORE….
"It's over for you, Flowey!" Mettaton NEO said.
"Really? I think you've barely made a dent!" Flowey replied.
"But you haven't done anything to me either!" MTTNEO said, firing another laser at Flowey. "We can fight for all eternity! And nothing will change!"
"I'm USED to that!" Flowey said, launching missiles at Mettaton NEO, which simply bounced off him.
"Now that's a new one! Still not enough to stop me, dear! 'NEO' is known for its high defenses!"
"do you think this will end soon… i'm getting tired of this… but i dont want to leave you…" Napstablook said.
"It'll be fine, Blooky," Mettaton said.
"did you just call me… blooky?"
Mettaton quickly realized his mistake. "No, I didn't! I said 'looky'. Because you should look at how… weak.. Flowey is."
"never mind… it's just… my cousin used to call me blooky… sadly they're gone… i still miss them. at least i have you…"
"Oh…" Mettaton said. "Well, let's keep fighting. I need to think of weaknesses the prototype had that this updated form lacks. Maybe it's BOMBS!"
Mettaton fired a bomb attack at Flowey NEO, which did basically nothing.
"Haha! Well then I guess I'll have to use stronger bombs!"
Mettaton summoned a large bomb, which he threw at Flowey NEO. It detonated, damaging the room, but doing nothing to Flowey.
"UGH! Napstablook, you could really be helping!"
"i only have one attack, and it's tears," Napstablook said, as Flowey blasted a laser right through them.
"Nothing productive will come of this battle!" Flowey said.
"That doesn't matter! I won't let you leave the CORE!" Mettaton said heroically. "We'll both be here forever! The CORE's energy is keeping us both charged!"
"An endless cycle? Please, I'm used to this!" Flowey said. "I've been doing this type of thing fo of years! Welcome to my special hell, you stupid ghost."
"That's it…" Mettaton said. "Napstablook, help me get to the core of the CORE, so to speak!"
"Uh, okay," Napstablook said, flying through the walls of the core and keeping track of a pathway through the CORE. They then flew back to Mettaton. "Okay, follow me," Napstablook said.
"One more thing – is anyone else here?"
"it's just us… and flowey," Napstablook said, before floating down various hallways, Mettaton following close behind. As they turned a corner, they found Flowey there, waiting for them.
"Who said you could leave!" Flowey said. "I am NEVER gonna stop fighting you! You still want to be the hero, dontcha? Well you're nothing but an ego-tripping superstar! Didn't you desecrate the royal memorial in your useless fancy resort? Y'know, the one dedicated to the dead children of the king and queen?" Flowey saw the look on Mettaton's face. "Oh what's that? Mad I'm airing out your dirty laundry on LIVE TV? Guess you should've cut your cameras!"
Mettaton ignored Flowey, and blasted through the wall, bypassing Flowey altogether, and entering another room. Flowey kept chasing Mettaton and Napstablook as they went throughout various rooms of the CORE. They arrived at Mettaton's stage that he fought Frisk on near the end of their journey.
"Y'know, this is where I fought the most amazing human," Mettaton explained, still trading laser blasts with Flowey NEO. "They helped me realize that I'm the star monsterkind needs. I know monsterkind is watching us right now! And now, so are the humans…"
In Mettaton's house, Shyren and the amalgamate known as Lemon Bread, that included her sister Shyra, were watching Mettaton's stream on the TV.
In Toriel's house, Toriel and Asgore, who were originally meeting to discuss (technically for a third time) getting Toriel a teaching job, decided to check out Mettaton's livestream.
In Grillby's, the TV screens in the bar were tuned to Mettaton's show. Everyone was watching it, including the K9's, Monster Kid and Goner Kid, as well as Leo and Suzy.
In Sans's basement-turned-shed, Frisk, Sans, Papyrus, Undyne, and Alphys were watching Mettaton's stream attentively.
In Washington DC, President Xander, who had canceled a meeting, was watching Mettaton's stream live – and the VP, First Lady, and Secretary of State were with him.
Many others were also tuned in – Napstablook's other cousins, the two Dummies, were watching and rooting for Napstablook, the Amalgamates were watching, the Royal Guards were watching while cuddled on the couch. Even Muffet, So Sorry, and Glyde were kickstarting a watch party together. Secretly, the crazy man who hated monsters (and killed Frisk in another timeline) was watching the stream by Mettaton, as were the others who attacked the Nice Cream Guy's house. Even they could appreciate good entertainment.
And in the deepest void, spectating with no way of interacting with reality, Chara Dreemurr was watching as well. And she was with someone else…
"You know, Flowey… It Was here where I became a better person. It was always my dream to be a star, but I'm not just doing this for myself anymore. I'm doing this for everyone. And my dream came true… I became a big shot. A superstar."
Mettaton flew downwards, crashing through the stage, into into the deepest part of the CORE. Flowey and Napstablook followed him. The room they were now in was the central energy storage of the CORE. This is where freshly generated electricity would be sent out to the Underground. Thousands of wires and tubes outstretched from a central battery.
"But… I guess it was too good to be true," Mettaton said, smiling.
"what are you doing?" Napstablook said.
Mettaton used a new attack – a magnetic ray – and drew Flowey close.
"Really, a magnetic ray? That's not gonna work!" Flowey said.
Mettaton opened a panel on his chest, and entered a keycode, opening another panel. There were two buttons – one pink with a yellow caution outline, and one red. Mettaton pressed the pink one, then the red one, then jammed his arms and legs into the batter. His Arms and Legs seemingly vanished, as he merged with the energy storage, and the CORE itself.
"Mettaton…" Napstablook said warningly.
"I've merged with the CORE!" Mettaton said. "I can feel so much energy coursing through me…"
Flowey started to try to escape, but the doors shut behind him. He tried to blast the doors, but it didn't work.
"Oh no, darling, this room is blast proof. Though… the blast that's coming soon will be enough to destroy us both!"
"WHAT!" Flowey said. "You're supposed to take me alive, arentcha? Killing me won't do anything!"
Now that Mettaton had full control of the CORE, which had so many moving parts it was essentially just a giant robot, Mettaton could finally stop Flowey. A large cylinder of glass-like material fell from the ceiling, and trapped Flowey within. These cylinders were made out of a near-indestructible, transparent material, and were designed to be used as escape pods if the CORE malfunctioned. A worker would simply have to get inside the escape pod, and they would be able to survive the destruction of the CORE, and float safely on the lava until rescued.
"You'll be fine now, dear," Mettaton said. Flowey didn't respond. Or maybe he did. The cylinders were also soundproof.
"good thingink, metaton… well, now it's your turn to get in one," Napstablook said. They didn't need one, since they were a ghost, but Mettaton would need one for sure.
"No can do," Mettaton said. "I can't unfuse from the CORE now, my body's already been absorbed. Plus, I've already activated self destruct…"
"Nononononono…" Napstablook said.
"Sorry," Mettaton said, with a feeling of acceptance towards what was about to happen.. "It's the end of the road for Mettaton. To all my fans watching right now – remember me. And maybe… be inspired to do what you want to do. Special shoutouts to Alphys… for everything, and Frisk, for helping me become a better person." Mettaton started to smile, with a soft chuckle. Gosh… I only have 20 seconds left." He turned to his ghostly partner. "Napstablook… I'm sorry for what's about to happen. You and Shyren. I pass the torch down to you…"
"y-you cant!" Napstablook said beggingly. "don't… leave me. i don't want to lose anyone else…"
Mettaton smiled grimly. "You'll still have Shyren," He said. "Now's your chance to be a… 'big shot'."
Then, everything exploded. All at once, the entire CORE – every tube, every interface, everything electric – blew up. This created a gargantuan fireball that vaporized the entire structure with a deafening boom, expanding until it hit the ceiling of the cavern. The abandoned resort burst into flames, as the lava started to rise in the upper chambers of the hotland. In the capital city, located directly above the CORE and connected only by elevator, a strong rumbling could be felt, as if there was an earthquake. The rumbling could be felt in the western reaches of Waterfall, though it was hardly felt in Snowdin, and the RUINS were completely unaffected. As the fireball spread out, it started to fade away.
Back in Sans's basement-shed, the spectators were shocked. Papyrus was straight-up-crying, Alphys started to have a mental breakdown, Undyne was staring blankly, and Frisk was really getting mad at Flowey for all he'd been doing.
"NONONONONONO!" Papyrus wailed. "THIS CANNOT BE HAPPENING! METTATON…"
Alphys was holding her head, curled up, and muttering something incoherent. Undyne tried to comfort her.
"I'll have to go back…" Frisk said. "I should have fought Flowey, I could have won, he didn't even have the souls this time…" They grabbed their worn knife from their Dimensional Box.
"frisk, what are you doing."
"I'm gonna go back," Frisk said. "Stop Mettaton from dying. Redo this day a fourth time… sorry Chara."
"okay, but what's the knife for?" Sans asked hesitantly.
"Never figured out how to load my save without dying," Frisk explained. "Soo, y'know… I gotta…"
"...put the knife down, kiddo," Sans said.
"Mettaton's dead!" Frisk said. "Look at the screen-"
The screen was showing a dissipating explosion, fading into a cloud of smoke.
"He just blew himself up! Do you think that's fine?"
Frisk kept watching, as the explosion faded completely, leaving just Napstablook floating in the air, and an escape pod in the lava.
Back in the core…
"No… mettaton…" Napstablook said. They looked down at Flowey, trapped in an escape pod in a damaged mech. They couldn't retrieve him – someone else would have to. They watched as grey ash fell from the ceiling – and noticed something odd. Among the ash was something heart-shaped. It was a monster soul, surrounded by a slight pink wisp. "what the…"
Suddenly, as if it noticed Napstablook, the pink wisp floated toward them – and the pink wisp started expanding around the gray soul, forming a blob-like shape that revealed something – a ghost-like figure, similar to Napstablook. It was pink, and it had 'hair' covering one of its eyes.
"H-huh?" Napstablook said. "B-but… you…"
The second ghost started to talk. "Blooky… I never said I was going to die. I just said it would be the end of Mettaton. It's me… I'd never be able to be a star like this… and I'm sorry I left you…"
"H-hapstablook?" Napstablook said. "y-you were mettaton all along?"
"I guess my secret is revealed," Mettaton's ghost said. "I always dreamed of being corporeal, of having a body like… Mettaton, but… that was only a dream. Until Alphys showed up… and she had a plan."
"Wait… WHAT!" Undyne said, watching what was unfolding on the screen.
Alphys, who had calmed down from her panic, was about to panic about something else. "H-he's gonna expose me, isn't he?"
Frisk, who had now put the knife down, chimed in: "You already came clean about the Amalgamates, though?"
"It's not the Amalgamates…" Alphys said.
"Alphys and I were both nobodies. She wanted to be Royal Scientist, and I wanted to be a robot star. So, she made a robot body for me to inhabit. She told Asgore she made a fully artificial robot monster – a lie – and got the position of Royal Scientist. Now, don't take this as me saying she's a fraud – she's not, she's done great work. If anything… I was the fraud."
"But… why didn't you tell me?" Napstablook asked. "I would have accepted you…"
"I saw how you seemed… resentful… towards Maddy for leaving," Mettaton's ghost explained. "I was too scared to tell you I was leaving… I was cowardly, it was wrong, but it's what I did. I hope you aren't too mad, but… I understand if you are."
Napstablook smiled. "i want to be mad… but i can't be. i thought i lost my cousin, and i thought i lost my co-star and idol. but i lost neither. this doesn't have to be the end. we can build you a new body… if you wan't."
"Maybe…" The pink ghost replied. "I can't really do too much as a ghost. But that body I just trashed took years to build, since it was another form of the same body I've used all this time… building a new one would take so long… who knows, maybe I can be a star like this."
"well, i'm not gonna force you to do anything," Nasptablook said. "but nobody wants you to quit."
"Maybe you're right. Well.. be it as… Hapstablook, or as Mettaton… maybe my road to stardom is not over yet."
"i'm glad you think that," Napstablook said.
"I guess I'm a 'happy ghost' now," Hapstablook responded, joking.
The two ghosts noticed a yellow bird flying low above the lava. It picked up Flowey's pod, and left the Underground with it.
Napstablook chuckled. "remember that bird?"
"I sure do! It dropped Shyren into the swamp one time!" Hapstablook added. "Well, let's end this show for today… we gotta go find the others."
The camera's turned off, and thes stream ended.
Back in the shed, the group were feeling… emotional, after that whirlwind of a show.
"I THOUGHT HE WAS DEAD FOR SURE!"
"But he was Napstablook's cousin?" Undyne added, shocked.
"I KNEW HAPPSTABLOOK WAS HIS NAME!"
"Um, it's Hapstablook? With only one P?"
"POH-TAY-TO, POH-TAW-TO, PO-TAH-TO" Papyrus said, grinning.
"Guess you were right, Sans, maybe I shouldn't have been too hasty," Frisk said, putting the knife back in the dimensional box.
"T-the nerve… to expose my s-secret on TV!" Alphys said angrily.
"maybe you'll have-to-look back on that decision, eh?" Sans said. That caused Alphys to crack a smile.
"Honestly, this went pretty well," Frisk said. "Now time to scope out those souls…"
"What's the deal with the souls, anyway," Undyne asked.
"WELL, THERE'S SIX DIFFERENT TYPES!" Papyrus said. "AND I KNOW EXACTLY WHICH ONES THEY ARE!"
"Yah, there's Cyan, Orange, Blue, Purple, Green, and Yellow," Undyne said.
"THAT'S NOT WHAT THEY ARE! THERE'S THE TIME SOUL, SPACE SOUL, AETHER SOUL, MIND SOUL, REALITY SOUL, AND SOUL SOUL!"
"No, that's infinity stones, from a movie," Alphys said. "A good one, though…"
"aren't they flavors?" sans asked. "blue raspberry, mango, blueberry, plum, apple, and lemon?"
"The souls represent certain traits," Frisk explained. "Patience, Bravery, Integrity, Perseverance, Kindness, and Justice."
"I DON'T GET WHAT THAT MEANS! I LIKE SANS'S EXPLANATION BETTER! MAYBE I'M JUST HUNGRY!"
Suddenly, the door was knocked on. Hapstablook, Napstablook, the Bird that Carries You Over A Disproportionately Small Gap, and Flowey NEO were there. Papyrus opened the door.
"WELCOME! WE SAW YOUR SHOW!" Papyrus said. "IS THAT FLOWEY IN THERE?"
"He's in his mech," Hapsta said. "But he can't do anything from in there. Just use some electricity to disable the mech or something."
Alphys scampered across the street to her lab to grab something. The bird flew away.
"anyways, we have stuff to do, but we figured we'd drop by," Napstablook said.
"COME ON, STAY A WHILE!"
"maybe don't," sans added.
"We're on a secret mission," Frisk said. "You guys just fought someone trying to stop us."
"Oh, a secret mission? Can I join? What are you doing." Hapstablook queried.
"It's a secret…" Frisk explained. "And no offense, but I can't see you keeping a secret very well."
"I kept… this a secret, didn't I?" Hapstablook said.
Frisk sighed. "Fine, you two can join in for now. Welcome to Operation: Hyperdeath! I just made that up, and it doesn't make any sense! We're trying to turn this thing-" Frisk pointed at Flowey "-back into Asriel. And bring back 7 other dead children as well for good measure."
"Well, that sounds interesting. I'll keep careful recordings!"
"No, this is supposed to be SECRET!" Frisk said, getting more aggravated.
"Just for record-keeping," Hapstablook explained, "It'd stay private, of course!"
"that's actually a good idea." sans said. "In case this all goes wrong."
Alphys re-appeared, holding a technological gizmo in her hand. She zapped Flowey's canister with it…
And the lights on the damaged NEO suit went off. Upon noticing this, Flower burrowed out of the suit, revealing himself to the others.
"Alright Flowey," Frisk said. "Time to talk. Where are the seven souls."
"'Dunno," Flowey said. "Probably gone."
"Flowey," Frisk said. "You used 6 human souls and all the monster souls to break the barrier. The monster souls survived, so the human souls did too. Where are they."
"Not tellin!" Flowey said. Suddenly, Flowey's indestructible pod burst open with blue energy, and the talking flower was lifted to the ceiling.
"that's weird," sans said. "you're supposed to answer me."
"SANS, YOU'RE HURTING HIM!" Papyrus protested.
"Fine!" Flowey said. "The souls are in the Underground, right in their matching coffins!"
"Thanks," Frisk said.
"This isn't gonna work, you know," Flowey said. "There are so many ways you could fail!"
"Hang on, let me go grab something," Frisk said, running back to their house. Outside, there was a random potted plant – Frisk uprooted and discarded it, and took the small pot of dirt with them back to Sans's shed. "Put Flowey in here."
"NO! YOU CAN'T!" Flowey said, clearly offended at being put inside a put. But Sans did it anyway. Frisk put the potted Flowey in their backpack, ignoring his cursing.
"Well, I guess one of us needs to go back to the underground and get the souls…"
"not it," sans said.
"Can't you teleport?" Frisk asked.
"don't wanna," sans said.
"Whatever, I'll do it myself," Frisk said. They set down their backpack, first. "Make sure Flowey doesn't get into any trouble, okay?"
"AND I'LL GO WITH YOU!" Papyrus added. Frisk, begrudgingly, decided to let the skeleton join them. "IF SANS DOESN'T WANT TO DO IT, THEN I'LL DO IT FOR HIM! LIKE I ALWAYS DO!"
Papyrus and Frisk took thirty minutes to climb back up Mt. Ebott, and walked back through the main entrance, where the Barrier used to be, and found themselves in Asgore's throne room. Frisk grabbed six jars from there. Further past that was a basement room… with seven coffins. They were closed again.
"WHAT IS THIS…" Papyrus said.
"Coffins," Frisk explained. "For the seven human children who died. When humans die, their body stays intact, until it rots away. They were preserved in these coffins, but Toriel took them to give them a proper burial – Chara many years ago, and the others only recently."
"...OH." Papyrus said empathetically. "SO, WHAT HAPPENS NOW?"
"Well…" Frisk said, climbing over the coffins. "We open them, and collect the souls."
Frisk tried to open the coffin with the purple heart on it, but couldn't. "Papyrus, can you-"
"SURE THING," Papyrus said, before lifting the coffin lid with a great heave. Inside the coffin was nothing… but a floating purple heart. A human SOUL. Frisk grabbed it, and quickly put it inside one of the jars, before closing it. Frisk and Papyrus then repeated the process with the dark blue, light blue, green, yellow, and orange souls.
"Alright, that's everything," Frisk said.
"WHAT ABOUT THE RED SOUL?" Papyrus asked.
"Oh, that one's mine," Frisk said. "Anyway, let's get out of here."
As quickly as they arrived, Frisk and Papyrus left the underground, awkwardly carrying soul jars with them, and arrived back at the shed.
"Welcome back," Undyne said.
"I got… the things," Frisk said, as they tumbled out of their hands. Sans caught the soul jars with blue magic and set them gently on the ground.
"Really," Flowey said. "You're just bringing these right to me? Yo what I can do with these once I get my vines on them!"
"We're not bringing them to you," Frisk said. "We're trying to activate this time machine so we can resurrect the dead!"
"Wait, did I miss something?" Hapstablook asked. "I feel like I should be worried…"
"DON'T WORRY, BE HAPPY!" Papyrus joked.
"heh, good one," sans said.
"I thought you hated puns," Frisk said.
"ME? I LOVE PUNS!" Papyrus said. "GOOD PUNS, WHICH I KNOW HOW TO MAKE!"
"So, are we gonna do this, or just sit around talking," Undyne said.
"W-wait, we're just gonna do this?" Alphys said.
"there's no point waiting," Sans said. "nothing will change whether we do this now or later. No sense getting our hopes up if this just… blows up or something."
"Well, I did save just before we gathered the souls," Frisk said.
"that's reassuring," sans said, hooking up some wires from the machine to the soul jars. "just gotta jury rig this."
"M-maybe don't?" Alphys suggested nervously.
"relax, alphy, this thing's got universal power adapters. just gotta doop the floop, turn down the gigahertz, reverse the polarity, and… bang. Should be up and running."
Colored energy was visibly flowing through the wires from the soul jar into the machine. The screen began to light up with all sorts of bars and graphs, including an 'energy' bar that was green, and read 'OVERCLOCKED'. A message was on the bottom of the screen. It read 'travel in progress. Do not cut power.' in big letters.
"Why does it say travel in progress?" Hapstablook asked.
"because this time machine was already in use when it lost power. i guess now that it has enough power from the SOULs, it's finishing whatever it was doing."
There was a button on the side that read 'RECALL'.
"SANS, SHOULD I PRESS THE RECALL BUTTON?"
"yeah," sans said. "we'll need the time capsule back if we want to send frisk back in time – that is what we're doing, right?"
"Yeah," Frisk said. "I need to find… something, and I don't want to do it in this timeline. So Chara told me to go to some other timeline and… acquire it. I don't want to do it at all, but… it's what I have to do to bring everyone-"
"ALRIGHT, I PUSHED THE BUTTON!" Papyrus said. "IT SAYS IT'LL TAKE THIRTY SECONDS ONLY!"
The countdown read 23 seconds, and it was counting down quickly. Sans seemed nervous about something, though the others seemed more neutral. Frisk understood why – Gaster attempted to go back in time using this machine, but it shut down, leaving him stranded in time and space. But now that the machine was working again… would Gaster return? Frisk hoped so. Chara made it clear that Gaster's recovery was needed for the success of the mission. Yet they already had the machine working… couldn't Frisk just go back now? Why was Gaster important to all of this? Frisk's thoughts were interrupted by a ding, and a computerized sound effect. "RECALL COMPLETE! PRESS 'ACCEPT' TO CONFIRM! PRESS DENY TO CANCEL!"
Sans took a deep breath through his nonexistent lungs, and pressed accept. A person-sized metal time capsule appeared in the slot that would fit one. It had a small window that was fogged up.
"welp," sans said. "let's see what's inside."
The capsule opened on its own. And inside the capsule… a tall, slender man stood. He wore an all-black suit, and had a white scarf on. He was skeletal, and his skull had black cracks on it. His hands had holes in the middle of them. Wordlessly, the man stepped out of the time capsule.
"Well, that was less than ideal," he said. Actually, he didn't speak. Floating hands appeared around him, making incomprehensible gestures, yet somehow that translated into understandable, audible english. "But no matter. Run the experiment again. Maybe this time I will be sent to my destination properly."
The man – Frisk was almost certain this was Gaster – then noticed Sans and Papyrus.
"What…" Gaster said. "How are you both so grown…" He turned and looked at the others. "Who are you all."
"Dad…" sans said mournfully, as if he couldn't believe what was in front of him. He didn't cry – he physically couldn't produce tears – but that didn't stop his sorrowful joy.
"WAIT, THAT'S…" Papyrus added. He ran up and hugged Gaster tightly, and unlike Sans he had no aversion to crying.
"My children…" Gaster said. "What has happened?"
"You've been gone for so many years, dad…" Sans explained.
"That… that cannot be…" Gaster said. "This experiment has been running for only a few minutes…"
Frisk opened the doors to the shed the ever-larger group was now in.
"Welcome to the Surface, Gaster."