Percy Jackson fell into a deep hole, one that lead deep down into the Underground.

Thankfully, he landed on a bed of flowers, which broke his fall. Percy stood up, holding his head, and looked around at his surroundings.

There was the bed of yellow flowers that he landed on, in the light of the sun shining down through the hole. The rest of the room was in darkness, but seemed to be mostly empty anyways. He saw a tidy little hallway though, which was strange. Was something living down here?

Percy uncapped Riptide and cautiously walked down the hallway. There was an open door at the end, leading to the left. He peeked in, and saw a single golden flower in a pocket of light like the one from the hole he fell down.

The flower smiled at him. It had a face! Percy leveled his sword at the strange monster, and the flower said, "howdy! I'm Flowey. Flowey the flower!" Percy swore a happy little tune started to play in the background. "And golly, there's no need to be rude, put that big knife away."

Percy kept his sword where it was, and Flowey continued. "Hmmm... You're new to the Underground, aren'tcha? Golly, you must be so confused. Someone ought to teach you how things work around here! I guess little old me will have to do. Ready? Here we go!"

Just then, a red heart flashed in Percy's chest, and then lit up. Startled, Percy let down his guard, and looked at it in wonder. "See that heart?" Flowey said. "That is your Soul, the very culmination of your being! Your Soul starts off weak, but can grow strong if you gain a lot of LV. What's LV stand for? Why, LOVE, of course!"

Confused, Percy looked back up at the flower. "You want some LOVE, don't you?" It asked. "Don't worry, I'll share some with you!" Flowey winked, and then said, "down here, LOVE is shared through..." Five little white pellets came out, all spinning dangerously fast in place. "Little white... 'friendliness pellets.' Are you ready? Move around! Get as many as you can!"

The little white "friendliness pellets," as the flower called it, started slowly flying towards him. They were still spinning really fast, and Percy didn't want to get hit by them, whatever this weird flower said. He instinctively jumped out of the way, and he could swear the weird music got weirder, and creepier.

Flowey, looking at him funnily now, said, "hey buddy, you missed them. Let's try again, okay?" Five pellets came at him again, and Percy dodged out of the way again. The music got even creepier! He wasn't just imagining it, there was music in the background somewhere, and something strange was definitely going on.

Flowey looked like he was losing his cool now, and he said, "is this a joke? Are you braindead? RUN. INTO. THE. BULLETS!" Five more bullets appeared, and Flowey quickly corrected himself and said "friendliness pellets."

After Percy dodged these bullets, the music slowed down and stopped. Flowey made a creepy smile and said to him, "you know what's going on here, don't you? You just wanted to see me suffer."

Percy had no clue what was going on here, and he didn't particularly want the flower to suffer, as it said, but he didn't want to die or anything so-"Die." Flowey made a giant circle of his pellets completely surrounding Percy, and they started converging towards him.

Percy quickly used Riptide to slash some of the bullets away and towards the flower monster, and Percy dodged out of the way of the others just in time. Flowey obviously wasn't prepared for that, as he got hit by his own bullets and fell out of view.

Percy looked to the right, where a female goat monster now stood, holding a fireball in her hand. She quickly extinguished it, and said, "What a terrible creature, trying to hurt such a poor, innocent youth..."

Percy looked at the goat monster warily, and held up his sword in defense. He didn't know who this goat monster was about to throw that fireball at, and Percy wasn't taking any chances.

He felt in his subconscious that the music had changed again when the goat monster appeared, to something actually nice this time, but it faded into the background.

The monster continued, saying, "ah, no need to fight anymore, my child. I am Toriel, caretaker of the Ruins. I pass through this place every day to see if anyone has fallen down. You are the first human to come here in a long time. Come! I will guide you through the catacombs."

The red heart, his Soul, went back into his body now. It seemed like that was a battle arena. Percy said, "um, no offense, but I think I'm fine on my own."

Toriel smiled at him sadly, and said, "please, my child, come with me. Let me guide you safely through the Ruins."

Percy wasn't sure what this monster was trying to do, but he decided to play along, at least for now. It might help to know how these monsters think, because he could tell they were were different from most monsters. At least these creatures weren't just mindless minions of the dark.

Percy sighed, and said, "fine, I'll come. But first, tell me where we're going at least."

Toriel smiled, and said, "of course, my child. We're heading to my house in the ruins."

"How big is this place?" Percy asked.

"The Ruins are quite small, once you get used to them." Toriel responded.

"What's right outside the Ruins?" He asked.

Toriel looked pointedly ahead, and said, "come, let's get going to my house."

Percy didn't like that she avoided his question, but he let it go for now.

They walked into a room with buttons on the ground, all near a little path. "Welcome to your new home, innocent one," Toriel said. What did she mean by "your new home?" And did she really have to keep calling him "innocent one?" Percy knew he had done many things in his life, not all of them good, and it made him feel awkward when she kept calling him that.

"Allow me to educate you in the operation of the Ruins." Toriel stepped on the four buttons to the side of the little path, and pressed a switch on the wall. The door to the next room opened, and she said, "the Ruins are full of puzzles. Ancient fusions between diversions and doorkeys. One must solve them to move from room to room. Please adjust yourself to the sight of them."

She stood by the door, waiting for him, and after a moment Percy walked to the next room.

Toriel continued to instruct him in the next puzzle, basically just outright giving him the answer without letting him even try it first. The switches he needed to flip were just labeled with big yellow arrows...

When they walked into a room empty except for a training dummy, Toriel turned to him and said, "as a human living in the Underground, monsters may attack you."

Yeah, Percy had figured as much. First because of Flowey, and second because it was hardly unusual for monsters to just attack demigods like himself. He did notice she said "living" in the Underground though, not passing through. He'd have to be careful about how he eventually left.

"You will need to be prepared for this situation, and it seems in a way, you already are. But the best way is simple. When you encounter a monster, you will enter a Fight," Toriel continued. Alright, got that part.

"While you are in a Fight, however, you should strike up a friendly conversation. Stall for time. I will come to resolve the conflict. Practice talking to the dummy." Percy wasn't sure what to make of this conversation. When he enters a Fight, he should talk? In a friendly conversation? If it's a Fight, don't you fight?

Well, Percy approached the dummy anyways, and his soul appeared again.

"Hello," Percy said.

...

The dummy doesn't seem much for conversation. Toriel seemed happy, though.

Percy got the feeling he had won, so he stepped out of the battle.

"Ah, very good! You are very good." Toriel said. Then she just walked into the next room.

Okay...

He followed her into the next room, and Toriel told him to try and see if he could solve this puzzle.

He glanced around, then walked to the hallway. As he was walking through, a giant frog monster jumped into a fight with him, and he instinctively slashed it with his sword, turning it into dust.