Shady Tale

Disclaimer: Undertale and its characters belong to Toby Fox. This fanfiction is free of charge!

Chapter 1

Frisk woke up with the ringing of his alarm clock. It was around 6:30 am. He was very tired, because he was up late for his high school graduation ceremony. He wore a blue shirt with red horizontal stripes on it. He turned off his alarm clock. He turned the lights on in his room. It was a spacious room. It was very clean and tidy. He lived separately from his parents. His parents were drug addicts and he was abused for a long time. He moved out of his parents' place when he started high school. He got a job as a waiter in a small restaurant. And he has been living in an apartment ever since. He could afford his living expenses with his waiter job. "What am I even doing?" Frisk thought as he looked around. He was so out of it. So, he went back and lay down in his bed once again. And then, he fell asleep. He woke up again, this time because his phone was ringing. He picked up his phone.

"Dude!" Jack yelled on the phone. "Where are you? I have been waiting for you for ages. You still haven't shown up here! You better not be sleeping!"

"I was not sleeping" Frisk answered calmly. "I had an urgent business to attend to. Sorry about that."

"You sound sleepy. You were definitely sleeping" Jack replied with a disappointed voice. "Come to the bus station near the noodle place. Don't be late or else!"

Jack hung up the phone on his side right after saying that. "Oh no, I totally forgot about my hiking trip with Jack today." Frisk thought. Frisk forgot that he had made plans with Jack on their meal after their graduation ceremony. "I feel tired, but I will never go back on my word." Frisk muttered to himself. He changed his clothes, got his phone and all the other things ready for the hiking trip. As soon as he was done getting ready, he took off. He walked all the way to the bus station. He saw Jack standing near the bus station. Jack looked very annoyed.

"You're finally here." Jack sighed. "I have been waiting for you for ages. As punishment, you must buy all the refreshments for our hiking trip."

"Sorry I am late." Frisk replied. "Well, there goes my money. You always punish me with money. You never change, do you?"

"Shut up." Jack said. "Anyways, let's go and buy some refreshments. Who knows how long it will take before we get back to the town."

They went into the convenience store to buy refreshments. It was a well-known convenience store in their town. Both Frisk and Jack are frequent customers t that store. The store is quite big and spacious, with a lot of items. They mostly buy food from there. So, as they are frequent at that convenience store, the store staff are friendly with them. They often give the both of them discounts. Their classmate, Rachel works there. As Frisk and Jack entered the store, they saw their classmate Rachel at the cashier's counter. Rachel was the same age as them. She had brown hair with a light-toned skin and a normal top and a skirt.

"Hey guys." Rachel said in a cheerful voice. "What are you two going to do today? Are you going somewhere?"

"Yeah, we are going hiking today." Jack replied. "Too bad you can't come. It will be me and Frisk going. I bet you are jealous because you can't come with us."

"Oh gosh, Jack." Rachel giggled. "Stop bullying me. You know how much I like going to places and stuff. If I didn't have work today, I would have definitely tagged along."

"Don't worry about it, Rachel." Frisk said softly. "We will definitely invite you next time. Sorry about this. We have to go really quick. Catch you later, Rachel."

And so, they bought the things that they needed and set out for their hiking trip and then set off. Their town, known as Rancaster was a small town that was located near a huge forest. They set off into the huge forest that surrounded their town. It was given the name of Prairia forest because of the amount of mysteries that the forest had. And somewhere within the forest, there was a huge mountain named Prairia Mountain. Frisk and Jack finally reached the entrance to the forest.

"We are finally here, Frisk." Jack said in an excited voice. "We are finally going in the forest. Did you hear about the legend of this forest?"

"Oh yeah" Frisk answered. "It's the one where it says that monsters used to live here, right?"

"Yeah, that's right." Jack replied as they went into the forest. "But yeah, a legend is just a legend. Not reality. There is no actual proof of monsters existing. Even though monsters exist according to our history books, no one has seen a single monster for hundreds of years now. History is a twisted subject. And nor does it provide any evidence of monsters existing. History can be written in the wrong way. Historians could be lying about the existence of monsters. And the 'monsters' that they talk about in history books might as well be human."

"Well, it is true that there is no proof of monsters actually existing." Frisk said. "And yes, they could be trying to cover something up, saying that humanity fought monsters. I don't believe in monsters either."

"Anyone who believes in monsters is stupid in my opinion." Jack said. "You should not believe that anything exists without proof. It's what stupid people do."

"Well, even though I don't believe in monsters, I would like to find out who the historians were referring to, and confirm if monsters really exist or not." Frisk stated. "That's why I want to join the special forces. Since they go to investigate different places and things, and they are adventurous. I want to be like them."

"How many times have you told me that, Frisk?" Jack asked while laughing. "I get how badly you want to join the special forces. And I already told you that I am aiming for the Special Forces as well. I will be your biggest rival, Frisk."

"Yeah I know I have told you this a lot of times." Frisk laughed. "But it is my dream. So, ofcourse I would talk about that frequently. I am thinking of enrolling the Special Forces training programme this month. They are taking new recruits. I must participate in it no matter what."

"Oh I forgot." Jack said. "I will definitely join it too. You can count on that. I think you must have enough soul strength to join the Special Forces."

"You are right, but it is not that hard to attain the soul strength that's needed to join the Special Forces" Frisk replied. "I heard that they would be assessing our skills through an entrance exam."

"Yeah." Jack agreed with Frisk. "It's pointless to just chase something that is not proven yet. I already told you that multiple times, Frisk."

"It may or may not be true." Frisk replied. "But I will try to find out the truth even if I have to do it myself."

"Well" Jack sighed. "Do whatever you like. Live your life in a way that you won't regret it."

At this point, they reached the base of the Prairia Mountain. It was a huge mountain that had many types of vegetation growing on it. And, it was very tall. It was around 7000 meters tall. This was the first time that both Frisk and Jack had a good look at the mountain. However, there was a sign at the base of the mountain that said "Danger! Keep out!". But, neither Frisk nor Jack paid any attention to it and started climbing the mountain. At some point, Jack stopped. Frisk went ahead and noticed that Jack stopped. Frisk turned around and looked at Jack. Jack looked very frightened.

"Jack?" Frisk asked in a voice filled with worry. "Are you okay?"

"Well." Jack replied. "I have heard rumours about this mountain. It's not safe. So, I am not sure if we really should do this. This is off-limits you know."

"Why would you just change your mind like this?" Frisk asked. "You were so thrilled about this last night. What has gotten into you?"

Frisk could tell that Jack was trembling. He looked like he wanted to get off the mountain as soon as possible. Frisk did not know what to do. Frisk was very excited to finally climb the mountain. But, Jack was not willing to do that. There was a brief silence for a moment.

"I changed my mind." Jack answered. "This place… This place…"

Jack was stuttering, and could not speak properly for a short time. Frisk was getting worried and disappointed. He did not come this far to turn around and go back home.

"This place is where 'he' disappeared." Jack was shaking uncontrollably. "I don't want you, me or anyone to disappear again."

"You don't know if he really disappeared at this place, Jack." Frisk said. "I am so sorry. But if it was bothering you so much, then why did you agree to come with me?"

"I felt adventurous, I guess" Jack replied. "I am sorry, Frisk. I can't climb up the mountain after all."

At that point, Frisk knew that he had to get Jack down the mountain. "So much for our hiking trip." Frisk thought. Frisk was completely disappointed. Thankfully, they did not climb up too high. So, it did not take much time to get back to the base of the mountain again.

"Well, here you go." Frisk said. "Shall we go back to the town?"

"No, we should just find a clearing near the forest." Jack replied. "I am sorry about this. My cousin got lost and never came back. And so did many others."

"No, it's okay, I understand." Frisk said. "Yeah, many people have disappeared and not returned after they disappeared. Now let's-"

Frisk saw a bright flash of white light on a higher point of the mountain. It immediately caught Frisk's eye. And he wanted to check it out. Even if he had to do it himself.

"Did you see that?" Frisk asked with an excited tone in his voice. "That was cool!"

"Huh?" Jack was confused. "What do you mean? There wasn't anything there."

"Oh I see." Frisk said. "Well, I am going to check it out. Stay here, I will be back in a bit."

Frisk hurried towards the place where he saw the flash of light. The light flashed again at the same place. But this time, it was brighter. Frisk kept getting closer to where the light was. When he reached there, there was nothing there. He moved around the place, there was nothing there. After a few moments, the rock under his feet glowed in white and then made him fall through it.

Frisk was falling. Frisk was still confused about what was going on. It took him a while to realize what was happening. "Oh the ground there was the flashing white light. It made a hole through the ground which made me fall." Frisk thought. Frisk was scared. He did not know what to do about his situation. He was worried about Jack as well.

On the base of the mountain, Jack was waiting for Frisk's return. "Please be okay, Frisk. I hope you didn't get lost like the others." Jack thought. Jack felt very uneasy. He could not shake this feeling off no matter how hard he tried. "I have a bad feeling about this." Jack thought.

So, Jack mustered all his courage and went in the same direction as Frisk went in order to look for him. Jack was still shaking, but he endured it because he wanted to find Frisk. He searched a lot of parts on the mountain, but no avail. "Did he get lost like the rumours said?" Jack thought to himself. Jack did not know what to do about it. He stayed a bit longer to search for Frisk, but he was still unsuccessful.

After a while, Jack gave up on searching for Frisk and turned back. "I can't find him on my own. I need to let the Special Forces know as soon as possible." Jack thought. He started walking to the exit of the forest. He was scared that his best friend might be gone forever. He could not stand that feeling. He did not want to lose anyone like he lost his cousin. "Frisk… Please be safe." Jack muttered to himself.

He reached the town after a while. The first thing that he did was run to the Special Forces Police branch to report the missing person case. It was a tall, blue building with 6 floors. It was near the center of town. There is good security in the building. There was one officer outside of the building on duty. Jack knew that guard personally.

"Oh hey Jack." The guard said, noticing Jack's distress. "What's wrong?"

"My friend…" Jack stuttered. "My friend… My friend…. My best friend got lost on the Prairia Mountain. I have come to report the case."

"Okay, go in, Jack. I am sorry to hear that." Replied the guard. "I hope you find your friend. Good Luck."

Jack went into the building. There were both officers and commoners there. "Just wait, Frisk. I will find you no matter how long it takes and no matter how hard it is." Jack thought.