Author's Note: I couldn't help myself with the title, I'm sorry. But anyway! Welcome back one and all to MoniTale! I'm ready to push forward into Snowden and later into Waterfall. Don't worry, Snowden shouldn't take long to finish. Two chapters with Ness- Er, Skeleton Monik- er.. Sans and Skeletor- Papyrus, and then one with Frisk and Pals at the end. With that said, Let's Go!
Oh! One more thing! Y'know how in UnderTale certain character's do that thing where the letters of words are separated? Well Fanfiction doesn't support me doing that, so when that happens I'll do it L-I-K-E T-H-I-S. Sorry if it's hard to read, but that's the best I can do.
Disclaimer: I don't own Doki Doki Literature Club or UnderTale, however I do own the plot of this story and our Player.
Monika quickly rubbed her eyes, unsure as to why they were tearing up. Player might think that this is all real but... The File Menu, how could it exist in a supposedly real world? She thought. As much as I hate to say it, none of this is real. And even if it was, I shouldn't be this affected by it!
With that thought finished, the young woman approached the door, eyes dried, and pulled it open. Player quickly followed her, lazily floating by with his hands behind his head; he seemed to be content. "Proud of you." He said, lifting a wispy hand to, or attempt to anyway, boop her nose. "You did a good thing, Moni, you spared her despite everything saying that it was impossible."
Despite everything, Monika felt a small smile cross her face. Moni had been a bit of a pet name he gave her, she liked the idea of him shortening her name, it was something other couples did. He hadn't called her it in a while, and it was good to hear that things were returning to normal again. "Thank you, my love. It feels nice to hear you be proud of me." She replied, feeling a bit of warmth rise in her chest.
However, was it just her or was it getting colder?
"Oh but, my dear, didn't notice how...Familiar Toriel was acting back there?" Player asked, floating in front of her as to stop her movements, or at least pretend like he was, because if she wanted, Monika could just walk right through him.
But she was more interested in what he meant. "What do you mean, Player?" She asked, not quite understanding what he was asking.
"Oh come on, Moni, you can't be serious! She was trying to keep you somewhere even though you had someone to get back to, she was trying to keep you from a loved one. Sound familiar?" Player asked, tossing his hands up in the air.
Monika rolled her eyes. "No, you can't be serious! What I did was totally different than what she did! You were free to get up from your computer at any time!" She replied, crossing her arms.
"That's not what I mean, Monika. She wanted desperately to keep you all to herself and went to great, even violent lengths to do it. If that doesn't sound like you, then you might need to get your ears checked." Player replied crossing his own arms. "And sure, you never attacked me personally, but you did Delete, which kills, all the other girls and proceeded to stand firm in your choice to not ever bring them back!" Player was getting rather...heated in his dialogue.
Monika backed down slightly. He was right, in a way. Theoretically she did go to very violent lengths to keep him all to herself, even though she didn't physically attack and kill the others, the majority of their deaths were incredibly violent. And they were her fault.
Monika's face fell and she backed down completely.
Seeing the saddened look on her face, Player backed down too. "Hey, uh... Just because I said all that.. It doesn't mean that I'm not still proud of you! I'm not going to spoil anything, but you're starting to learn the lesson I was hoping you would." Player was worried he said to much, but the worry melted when he noticed how happy she rapidly became. "And to that end I have a gift for you!" He said, gesturing for them to start walking again.
"Oh right! What was it?" She asked, following behind him as he pulled out the File Menu. They walked for a bit before she started shivering and rubbing her arms. Perhaps ditching my Jacket wasn't a good idea after all.. She thought.
To her surprise, just before reaching the door, Player turned around holding a scrap of green cloth in his hands. "It's a jacket! Made with your favorite color! Emerald Green!" He laughed, holding up the beautiful jacket.
"You spent all that time on a jacket?" She asked, sounding condescending...
"AND YOU MADE IT FOR ME?!" Her change in tone was immediate as she grabbed the green piece of fabric and slid it across her shoulders.
Player smiled. "It's not just a normal jacket either. Do you feel that? The Jacket will change how warm or cold it is depending on how warm or cold you are!" He said, pride oozing from his voice.
Monika settled into the jacket, feeling the sudden and wonderful flush of heat that came from it. "Thank you my love, it's great!"
"And not just that! It's also a great piece of armor that will last you basically the entire time we're down here! It has a nice Fourteen Def! Think of it as my way of protecting you." He said.
Monika smiled. "I wish I could hug you right now, my love. I suppose by hugging this, it's like I'm hugging you." She said, pulling both ends of the jacket tighter around her to mimic a hug.
Player smiled too. "So do I, Moni." He whispered, not loud enough to truly be heard. "Anyway, it's time to continue." He gestured to the next room.
Monika nodded, and stepped inside. Though the room was dark, when their eyes adjusted both she and Player were immediately defensive when they saw who was in the room with them.
"Clever. Verrrrrry Clever. You think you're really smart, don't you? In this world, it's Kill or Be Killed." Flowey said, leering at them. "So you were able to play by your own rules, huh?" His face twisted into his true, evil face as he spoke. "You spared the life of a single old goat-woman, hee hee hee. You must feel so proud of yourself. Your imaginary friend must be anyway. Oh yes, I heard you talking to yourself. You must be just as crazy as me, huh!?" He mocked, laughing Maniacally as he did.
Monika felt her chest burn with anger. He was mocking her and her Player's conversation. Even if he only heard one side, it was enough for that weed to mock her with. "As a matter of fact, I am quite proud of myself, little weed. But only because the Person I Love would be too if he saw what I just accomplished!"
"Oh sure! I bet they'd just jump with joy about the fact that you survived an old woman who was holding back." He hissed in reply. Such an amazing accomplishment right there!" Despite his feigned friendliness, both Monika and Player could tell that he was mocking her. "Ohoho! But that does bring me to a very...interesting line of thought." Flowey chuckled, now glaring directly into Monika's green eyes. "I wonder just what you will do when you run into a relentless killer? Will you try talking them down? Hee hee hee. I doubt it. You'll quickly learn the truth to my words, little girl. Kill or BE Killed! Ahahaha!" He laughed at them before suddenly growing his stem-face out several times what he should have been able to do. "Though I must admit, you are making things much more interesting then you're Predecessor ever did, using just the right amount of threat to get what you want? Fr!$k could never, would never, have done that!" For some odd reason, the name of whoever Flowey was talking about was indecipherable to both Player and Monika. "AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" He added, before disappearing beneath the dirt.
Monika was taken aback completely by the Flower's sudden use of body-horror. Yes, she knew that he could change his face but... "Player?" She asked.
"Yeah?"
"What is that thing?"
"A very disturbed plant."
"Understatement of the decade, my love."
With that conversation over, both she and Player moved toward the big purplish colored door on the other side of the room. Monika quickly pushed it open, moving-
"Hang on, hang on!" She said, stepping out of the door and letting Player come with. "Why is there snow? Aren't we Underground right now?"
Player shrugged. "I believe the official reason is.. Ok, time to get lore heavy for a moment" Player said. He turned to face her all the way and did one of her poses, lifting his right hand up and putting his left hand on his hip. "Am I doing it right? Ah doesn't matter." Player said, shaking his head. "So essentially, there's this really cool power-source called the CORE that we are going to explore eventually, and it creates different weather biomes along with powers all the different and interesting things that you may find down here. That I'm not going to spoil."
Monika nodded at his explanation. "But how does this..Core thing work?" She asked.
Player shrugged. "It's unclear, but the leading fan theory is that the previous Royal Scientist, Doctor-" Player suddenly shuddered, as though he wasn't meant to be talking about...him. "Err, never mind that part. M-magic is the answer." He said, dropping the pose.
"My love are you OK? You seem scared." The concern in Monika's voice was obvious, but Player waved her off.
"J-just cold. I d-don't have a jacket like you, Moni." Player said, rubbing his arms. "Let's keep going!" He said, leading her through the woods.
He's definitely scared, I don't know by what but...Player's essentially a god with that File Menu, there shouldn't be anything to worry about. Monika thought, following behind Player.
They walked over a stick, Monika was surprised at how sturdy it was; she had stepped on it and it hadn't even bent, a stick facing with it's back out should have at least bent from her weight. Not that she was heavy mind you, but it was a stick! It should have bent!
SNAP!
Both she and Player snapped their heads back toward the stick, Player even jumping as he heard it. But Monika was scared for a different reason: The Stick had broke.
"Should I be worried?" She asked, looking at Player.
"Considering that I probably just caught a certain someone's attention, maybe. It's unlikely but...be ready to fight, just in case." Player shuddered. "I'm..probably wrong honestly. Let's keep moving."
Monika couldn't agree more.
They kept walking for awhile until they came up to some kind of gate, though the gaps in the bars were too large to keep anyone in or out. Though that wasn't the first thing that caught her attention.
No, that honor went to the sound of snow crunching behind her.
Monika held a tighter grip on her knife, glad that she had chosen to keep it after the encounter with Toriel, and prepared herself.
The sound stopped inches behind her, and the teenager prepared for the attack.
"H-U-M-A-N. D-O-N'-T Y-O-U K-N-O-W H-O-W T-O G-R-E-E-T A N-E-W P-A-L?" A low, raspy voice asked, one that sent shivers crawling down Monika's back. "T-U-R-N A-R-O-U-N-D A-N-D S-H-A-K-E M-Y H-A-N-D."
Slowly, Monika turned around to face the shadowed figure, who held out a hand. Unsure of whether or not it was a trap she didn't take it at first. Slowly though, she accepted the hand.
BFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFTTTTTTTTTTEEEEEee!
She immediately jumped back, not expecting the noise, but both the shadowed figure and Player burst out laughing. Though, Player seemed more relieved than anything.
The figure however.. "heheh... the old whoopee cushion in the hand trick. it's ALWAYS funny." The man stopped talking a moment to catch a look at her, and she finally got a good look at him.
He was a skeleton.
And she didn't mean a skeleton like a really thin guy. Nononono. He was an actual skeleton!
In any normal situation, Monika might have had the normal reaction that a teenage girl might to seeing a talking and walking skeleton: Scream. But by this point, nothing really phased her anymore.
Said Skeleton was wearing a blue hoodie with a white shirt underneath, and a pair of black shorts to go along with a pair of black sneakers. He also wore a constant grin. Though his eyes betrayed confusion."huh, wouldja look at that. it's even funny on different humans." He said, shrugging. "anyway, i'm sans. sans the skeleton."
Monika looked at him weirdly. "So what was with the creepy act if you were just playing a prank?" She asked.
Sans shrugged again. "it adds to the joke a bit, y'know? anyway i'm actually supposed to be on watch for humans but, y'know, i don't really care about capturing one." He winked. "now my brother, papyrus, he's a human-hunting fanatic." Sans chucked, before lazily pointing over her shoulder. "hey, actually, there he is now."
Monika glanced behind herself, and noticed an incredibly huge skeleton making his way towards them.
"i have an idea, come through this gate thingy. my bro made the bars to wide too wide to stop anyone." He said.
Monika, without much of a choice, obeyed and followed him through, listening to the music that played as they quickly walked toward some kind of guard post and... a lamp.
"quickly, behind that conveniently shaped la..mp... huh." Sans said, suddenly realizing the massive height difference between her and the lamp. "err, sorry. i'm just feeling out of it today, uhh... oh i know, get behind my guard poste and lay down. don't worry, there's no snow in there behind the wall, just ketchup." He said.
"I'm Monika by the way." She said, quickly getting behind the Guard post and laying down. True to his word, there was only ketchup. Bottles and bottles of it in fact.
On the bright side, they were all empty, so she could lay down without staining her new coat.
"sup bro." Sans said.
"YOU KNOW EXACTLY WHAT -SUP- BROTHER! IT'S BEEN EIGHT DAYS AND YOU STILL HAVEN'T RECALIBRATED YOU'RE PUZZLES!" Another voice, this one higher-pitched, said in a way that wasn't quite angry, just annoyed. The voice was also filled with the same kind of energy that Sayori's voice had. "YOU JUST HANG AROUND OUTSIDE YOUR STATION! WHAT ARE YOU EVEN DOING?!
"staring at my guard post, it's really nice, do you want to look?" Sans replied.
Is he ratting me out?! Monika thought, but before she could act on it, Papyrus continued.
"NO! I DON'T HAVE TIME FOR THAT! WHAT IF A HUMAN COMES THROUGH HERE!? I WANT TO BE READY! I WILL BE THE ONE I MUST BE THE ONE! I MUST CAPTURE A HUMAN! THEN, I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS... WILL GET ALL THE THINGS I UTTERLY DESERVE!" Papyrus said, sounding incredibly excited for what he might gain. "RESPECT... RECOGNITION! I WILL FINALLY BE ABLE TO JOIN THE ROYAL GUARD! PEOPLE WILL ASK, TO, BE MY, -FRIEND?- I WILL BATHE IN A SHOWER OF KISSES EVERY MORNING!"
"hmm... maybe my guard post can help you."
I see, his brother must not think he's very h-
"SANS YOU ARE NOT HELPING! YOU LAZYBONES! ALL YOU DO IS SIT AND BOONDOGGLE! YOU GET LAZIER AND LAZIER EVERY DAY!" Papyrus replied, now starting to get irritated.
"hey, take it easy. i've gotten a ton of work done today." Sans said, before adding. "a skele-ton."
There was a sudden cacophony of laughter and snorts from the guard post as both Monika and Player absolutely loved puns, and had no real defense against them.
"SANS! WHAT WAS THAT?!" Papyrus asked.
"i dunno bro, but it looks like someone thinks i'm-"
"DON'T YOU DARE!"
"pretty punny."
"ARRGH! SANS! I DON'T HAVE TIME FOR YOUR INCESSANT PUNS! I HAVE OTHER THINGS THAT NEED TO BE DONE!" Papyrus stated, seeming to forget about Player and Monika's outburst of laughter.
"c'mon bro, you're smiling."
"I AM AND I HATE IT!" He shouted. "UGH, WHY DOES SOMEONE AS GREAT AS ME HAVE TO WORK SO HARD JUST TO GET SOME RECOGNITION?!"
"wow, sounds like you're working yourself.."
Player and Monika, already expecting the joke, covered their mouths to stop any laughter from escaping, whether it would prove effective remained to be seen.
"down to the bone." Sans said, giving a wink.
"UGH! I WILL ATTEND TO MY PUZZLES! AS FOR YOUR WORK... PUT A LITTLE MORE..-BACKBONE- INTO IT! NYEHHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHE!" Thankfully, Papyrus' laugh covered up Player and Monika's laughter.
He left for a moment, before returning to add a "HEH!" Then Papyrus left for good.
"alright, you can come out now." Sans said as soon as his brother was gone.
Monika and Player stepped out from behind the guard post and approached the skeleton. "That's pretty funny actually." She said, approaching him with a wide, amused smile. One that Player mirrored, not that Sans could see.
"heh, thanks. you should probably get out of here though, he might come back. and if he does than you'll have to try not to laugh at my jokes, an impossible task i know." Sans replied, shoving his hands into his pockets.
"Yeah, I'll see you later then."
"Oh, before you go I have a question for ya." Sans said, causing Player to freeze in his tracks and stare back at Sans, worry immediately crossing his face.
Monika didn't see this as she was still looking at Sans. "Yeah?"
"what's your favorite instrument?" He asked, giving her a wide grin.
"The Piano...?" She said questioningly.
"really? i thought it would have been the har-Monika." Though Sans couldn't hear it, his own laughs were supplemented by Player who, if he could touch the ground, would be rolling on it with laughter right then.
Monika was less-than-amused however. "That's...less funny for me than you'd think." She said, not exactly annoyed- it was a good pun after all- but not exactly pleased with it either.
"alright, alright. you can go now." Sans laughed, waving her on.
But just as Monika was about to leave the skeleton... "actually, hey...hate to bother you but can you do me a favor?" Sans called, causing her to look back at him. "i was thinking...my brother's been kinda down lately. he's never seen a human before. and seeing you might just make his day. don't worry, he's not dangerous. even if he tries to be."
Monika nodded. "Sure, Sans, I'll help make his day." She said, smiling.
Sans grinned wider, if it was possible, and said. "thanks a million. i'll be up ahead." He then turned and walked the other direction from where 'ahead' was.
As Monika and Player left, it took her a moment to realize that. "Wait, ahead is-" She looked back to where Sans went, only to find nothing. No-one was there...
Author's Note: Aaaand done! I hope you liked the chapter, and I have an important question for you guys. How is my characterization of Monika in this story? Am I pretty good at getting her dialogue and personality correct? How much should she actually like puns? And finally what do you think of her redesign? Giving her a neat new green jacket to replace her previous grey school jacket, a pretty cool idea, eh? Oh! and what did you think of Sans' interaction, however brief and canon sticky it was, with Monika?
(Oh, btw I had a scrapped joke that I couldn't fit into the plot, so uh... here it is:
MONITALE
By Toby Salvado and Dan Fox.
Wait a minute...)
So, review time!
Jack54311: Aww man, it's a really short chapter?! Nani?! Oh well, you did say that it was mainly setup. I hope the next chapter continues this. But I'll just have to wait and see. Regardless, it was fun seeing Frisk struggle to manage Monika's hectic school day. I'm a bit curious as to why you simply went with MC, rather than choosing a name for him.
Also, I personally wouldn't mind if you released your own Libitina work if it still isn't out yet. As for the other fourth wall breakers, I always just relegated that to ingame tutorials or, in Asgore's case, symbolism for there being no escape or chance to spare. Only Sans, Flowey, and Chara seem to directly break the fourth wall, at least to me. But I could be wrong though.
Me: That chapter might have been shorter than you would have hoped, but I think I've more than redeemed myself with this one, eh? Unfortunately FFLC episodes are going to be few, spread out inside of each individual area. That way I can get the narrative to stretch out over the whole MoniTale season one! My choice to keep the name MC rather than give him a name is twofold. One, it's to keep Player completely nameless and faceless, a true clean slate for my readers (both male and female despite the fact that Player is male, he's meant to be able to represent ALL Monikans) to insert themselves into. Two, it has to do with a minor thing related to my potential Project: UNDERGROUND.
If it isn't out yet, I will do a sequel to MoniTale called Project: UNDERGROUND, because I have a very interesting idea for it, unless Dan delivers on his promise to have it out in 2018, which is something I read once. I've always thought the same way, especially about Asgore's move of breaking the MERCY button. However I believe that are four Fourth Wall breakers. I just didn't mention him because...well, It's rude to talk about those who are listening.
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AliceCullen3: LOVE IT!
Me: THANK YOU!
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RandomPlayz: OOOOH! I can't wait for more! Keep up the great work!
Me: I'm glad you love it!
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Nyanlight: Dis is great
Me: Thank you!
Well that's it so
Until Next Time True Readers!