Underearth/Book 2/Chapter 4

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The Hotlands were sweltering. Frisk silently wondered why anyone would want to live so close to a river of lava. As he approached Alphys's laboratory, Frisk saw two additional guards wearing black armor walking up from the river that the Riverperson used.

"Hey Robert, hey Rafiq. It's time." One of the new guards, the one that looked like a cat, spoke to the two guards that were blocking off the way to an elevator.

"Oh, hey Linda, Larisa; you're, like, right on time. My feet were starting to get sore from all the standing around and all." the bunny-guard said.

The lizard-guard stepped away from where he'd been posted, inviting the bug-guard to take his place.

"Thanks, Rafiq." the bug-guard said. The lizard-guard simply nodded and waited for his partner to finish filling the cat-guard in on the assignment. Once finished, both Robert and Rafiq walked towards the river.

*Looks like the guard switched...* Frisk thought to himself, walking over and into the laboratory where he expected to run into Alphys.

The encounter within the laboratory before Mettaton appeared happened pretty much the exact same way. The lab was dark, Alphys appeared, barely dressed, and turned on the lights, then she explained how she wished to help Frisk in his quest. Though Frisk knew it was all lies, he did his best to hold in his hatred of Alphys and act like he needed her help. Soon after, Mettaton appeared, trapping Frisk and forcing him to participate in a quiz show.

"LET'S START WITH AN EASY ONE!!" Mettaton began in their overly confident, self-centered attitude.

**#1: What's the prize for answering correctly?**
**A: Money**
**B: Mercy**
**C: New Car**
**D: More questions**

"D" Frisk said as soon as Mettaton stopped speaking.

"RIGHT! SOUNDS LIKE YOU GET IT! HERE'S YOUR TERRIFIC PRIZE!"

**#2: What's the king's full name?**
**A: Lord Fluffybuns**
**B: Fuzzy Pushover**
**C: Asgore Dreemurr**
**D: Dr. Friendship**

"C"

"CORRECT! WHAT A TERRIFIC ANSWER! NOW, ENOUGH ABOUT YOU. LET'S TALK ABOUT ME!"

**#3: What are robots made of?**
**A: Hopes & Dreams**
**B: Metal & Magic**
**C: Snips & Snails**
**D: Sugar & Spice**

"B"

"TOO EASY FOR YOU, HUH?????????? WELL, HERE'S ANOTHER EASY ONE FOR YOU!"

**#4: Two trains, Train A and Train B, simultaneously depart Station A and Station B. Station A and Station B are 252.5 miles apart from each other. Train A is moving at 124.7mph towards Station B, and Train B is moving at 253.5mph towards Station A. If both trains departed at 10:00AM and it is now 10:08, how much longer until both trains pass each other?**
**A: 31.054 minutes**
**B: 16.232 minutes**
**C: 32.049 minutes**
**D: 32.058 minutes**

*No, not this question again.* Frisk thought to himself, trying to remember back to this exact moment in the previous World. Then, it suddenly hit him. Mettaton had chastised Alphys for helping him in the previous World. Sure, it may have been for just that question, but maybe, just maybe...

Frisk looked over at Alphys. Alphys had her hands shaped like the letter D.

"D" Frisk said, hoping it was correct.

"WONDERFUL! I'M ASTOUNDED, FOLKS!" Mettaton said, spraying Frisk with confetti. "DON'T 'COUNT' ON YOUR VICTORY..."

Mettaton's screen then switched over to a jar containing a bunch of flies.

**#5: How many flies are in this jar?**
**A: 54**
**B: 53**
**C: 55**
**D: 52**

Frisk looked back over at Alphys, who had her hands in the shape of the letter A.

"A" he said.

"CORRECT! YOU'RE SO LUCKY TODAY!!! NOW, LET'S PLAY A MEMORY GAME." Mettaton's screen then switched to half of a Monster's face.

**#6: What Monster is this?**
**A: Froggit**
**B: Whimsun**
**C: Moldsmal**
**D: Mettaton**

Frisk looked at the Monster's half-face.

"Hey, I remember this one. It's Froggit. A"

"BOY, THAT'S EMBARRASSING, HUH?" Mettaton said, shooting a bolt of lightning from their finger and hitting Frisk straight in the chest with it, sending him flying into the wall behind him.

Frisk fell to the ground, coughed up some blood then vomited onto the floor.

*Damn it... What...? How did I get it wrong...?* Frisk thought, his head fuzzy from the shock and pain.

"HURRY, GET UP, DARLING! WE'RE NOT DONE YET!"

Frisk looked up at Mettaton. He felt as though he was going to pass out at any moment.

"HMM, WELL I GUESS IT'S TIME TO BREAK OUT THE BIG GUNS!!"

**#9: In the dating simulation video game 'Mew Mew Kissy Cutie', what is Mew Mew's favorite food?**

Just like in the last World, before Mettaton could finish reading the question, Alphys interjected with the answer. After a minute, Mettaton stepped back in and began to scold her. Frisk, however, missed this part, as his consciousness finally faded.

Frisk's blurry eyes began to open, the blinding white of the lights around contrasting greatly with the darkness of his eyelids. It didn't take long, however, for his eyes to adjust to the bright light.

Looking around where he was, Frisk found that he was lying on a flat rock, above which was an array of what looked like heat-lamps, mercifully turned off.

Next to the rock stood a nightstand with a huge pile of letters on it. Getting up and looking at them, they were all addressed to "Dr. Alphys Aleulum" from a variety of Monsters. Snowy, Doggo, and so on. None of them were opened.

"Oh, you're awake." Frisk heard a voice coming from behind him. Turning around, he saw that it was Alphys.

"M-Mettaton left already. S-s-something about the show not 'having enough tension'." she said, though her eyes were not on Frisk.

Frisk, on the other hand, simply remained silent. Alphys started subtly shifting her feet.

"Oh, I, uh, upgraded you phone." She said, unable to bear the silence any longer. "H-here." Alphys pulled Frisk's phone from her lab coat and gave it to him.

Frisk simply took the phone without saying a word and shoved it into his pocket. Without pausing, Frisk then turned around and walked away from Alphys to a conveyer belt that led down, passing a Mettaton poster on the way. Something on the poster, however, caught his eye. Fancy pink writing decorated one of the corners; "Thank you for making my dreams come true." it read. He then went down the conveyer, the bottom of which being in the lab.

From there, Frisk exited the lab and continued through the area, running into Mettaton just before reaching the R1 elevator; though everything proceeded as it did in the last World. The mid-level of Mount Hot proceeded the same way, though just before Frisk ran into Mettaton's second ambush, he was stopped by the two Royal Guards that had replaced the other two back before the lab.

"Hey you! Stop!" the cat-guard shouted.

Frisk turned around to see who it was and what they wanted.

"You. You're the Human everyone's hunting, right?" she asked, somewhat out of breath.

"Yeah, what of it? You gonna kill me?" he asked.

"Well, yes. That is what we've been ordered to do."

"By who, Undyne? Didn't you hear, Undyne called off the hunt."

Both the Royal Guards looked at each-other.

"Well, isn't that just *great*." The cat-guard said. "Undyne's been mind-controlled."

*Mind-controlled! What? What the hell gave them that idea?*

Both the guards drew their swords.

"Sorry," the cat-guard said, "but now you *definitely* have to die, before you get me too."

She brought down her sword on Frisk, though only managed to smash it into the ground thanks to him dodging. The cat-guard then, with great difficulty, tried pulling the sword back out of the ground.

"Don't worry," the bug-guard said. "I got them!"

"Hmph, try not to mess this up." the cat-guard chastised her partner.

The bug-guard, affected by the chastisement, swung clumsily at Frisk, allowing him to take hold of her sword and start pulling it from her hand.

"N-no!" she said, pulling on the sword as well.

Stalemate. That is until the cat-guard finally managed to retrieve her sword from the ground.

"I'll take you down alone!" she shouted, running at Frisk.

*Crap!* he thought. *I need to disarm one of them, two-on-one is such bullcrap!*

Continuing to pull, Frisk noticed that the glove of the guard he was trying to disarm was getting loose. Taking advantage of this, he brought up one of his hands and pulled the glove with the sword, and kicking the guard in the upper leg, forcing her to let go.

Finally, he had a sword. Bringing it up, he blocked the oncoming strike long enough to slip away.

"My glove...!" the bug-guard said, hiding her exposed hand with her other hand.

"Why do you care about your stupid—" the cat-guard started to say, but then stopped upon looking over.

"Larisa... is that...?" the cat-guard started to say.

"Yes, Linda. It is." the bug-guard said defensively. "Go ahead. Laugh at me." she sounded like she was on the verge of tears.

"No, I..." Linda went silent. She then dropped her sword on the ground and removed her glove as well. "Actually... I still wear mine too."

"Our friendship bracelets from high school." Larisa said.

"Larisa, I'm sorry. I thought you hated me, after what happened... We did some pretty nasty things to each other, because of..."

"That old drama? Forget about it. To tell you the truth, I requested to be partners with you. I wanted to become friends with you again... But I didn't know how to breach the topic."

"Larisa! After this... Do you want to get some ice-cream?"

"Salmon-flavor?"

"You know it!"

The two guards were beaming. Frisk took this moment, while they were distracted, to silently slip away, dropping the sword on the ground as he left.

*Don't let me rain on your joyous reunion.* he thought to himself.

Frisk continued through the Hotlands, making it through Mettaton's second ambush and reaching the L2 elevator. From there, he traversed the metallic summit-platform until he reached the Home Memorial Hall, where the legion of spiders nested.

Frisk looked up at the Hall with great contempt. The first time he went through here, he'd become spider-food.

*If only the spiders here were as nice as the ones in the Citadel...* Frisk thought to himself as he approached the structure. The Home Memorial Hall was completely caked in spider webs, giving it a very unique smell.

"Ahuhuhuhu..." Frisk heard soon after entering the Hall. "Did you hear what they just said? They said a Human wearing a striped shirt will come through."

Frisk saw a few massive spiders crawl away as he walked through.

"I heard that they hate spiders."

"Where'd you hear that?" Frisk asked the darkness around him. "Because I don't know about you, but I like spiders."

The darkness gave back no answer.

Frisk looked around. Not a single spider was in sight, and the mysterious voice he'd been hearing had stopped.

*Guess that worked.* Frisk thought to himself, turning back towards the exit.

As Frisk started walking again, he felt a tug at the base of his legs. Looking down, he found that his legs had been tied together with silk. Upon looking down, Frisk also started feeling strands landing on him all over his body. Looking around, he finally noticed that he'd been surrounded. Massive spiders were shooting web at him from such a long distance. It wasn't long before Frisk was completely covered in the immobilizing web, only a head sticking out of a cocoon.

Quite a few spiders came up to him and turned him towards a pit in the Hall. Upon getting rotated, a massively great web lowered itself from the ceiling, landing above the pit level with the walkway.

"Lie all you like Human, it won't help you." a slender, six-armed Human-looking Monster said. "I know your kind. You think your taste is too refined for our pastries."

"I-I-I have n-no idea what you're talking about." Frisk said, struggling to even speak as the haunting memory of being eaten by these creatures encroached upon him. "I-I love your pastries. Honest."

The Monster stepped off the web and onto the walkway, saliva dripping from her ajar mouth.

"W-w-w-wait. P-p-please, I-I can prove it!"

The Monster, seemingly ignoring Frisk, brought her six hands up and stuffed them into the cocoon, placing them onto his warm body and scouring his skin. A few hands were placed on his chest, tearing through his blue sweater to get at the skin beneath, scanning his chest until one of her bristly hands stopped just above his heart. Her upper two hands were then brought up to his head, her hands exploring his skin there, too.

Once the Monster began salivating even more than before, Frisk knew the end was near. He was going to die again unless he thought of something fast that would get him out of this situation.

The Monster brought her upper hands down from his head to his neck and pulled his head one way. She then brought her mouth over to the highly exposed flesh on his neck.

"Wait!" Frisk pleaded. "Before you kill me, could I get something from my backpack? Please!?"

*Brilliant.* he then immediately thought. *Nice one there, Frisk. You’re a dead man.*

"Something from your backpack?" she asked. "What is it? Something to try and kill *me* with~?"

Frisk moved his eyes to look at the Monster.

"No, not at all. It's just a donut I got back in the Citadel is all."

The Monster froze. "A donut?" she asked.

"Yeah. In a silk bag."

The Monster immediately let go of Frisk, went around to his back, and ripped the backpack through the web right off its straps. She then opened it up and pulled out a slightly crushed silk bag that held the donut. The Monster then looked Frisk right in the eyes, her own eyes narrowed to slits.

"Where did you get this...? Did you steal it?" she growled.

"What? No! I told you, I bought it from the spiders in the Citadel."

The Monster walked over to her giant web and talked to one of the giant spiders on it in a language Frisk didn't understand. She then turned back around.

"I hope you don't mind if we verify this story of yours~." She said, walking around to behind Frisk and collapsing her weight onto his shoulders. Once there, she began licking at his neck.

Frisk suddenly made an indescribably surprised and disgusted noise.

"What are you doing!?" he shuddered.

"Don't you know? I'm pre-tasting~. I'm certain you're lying; the Citadel has been sealed for hundreds of years. I doubt someone like you could have gotten in. Which means that you stole that little donut there."

"Wh-what if I got it from a friend?" Frisk asked, his mind racing through all the failures that were alternate escape plans.

"Because you would have said that first, dearie~. Not that conjured story of getting it from the Citadel nest."

A spider approached the two of them, holding a paper in one of its claws, and started to climb up Frisk. Once it had gotten to just below his neck, the Monster behind him took the paper and read its contents.

"What!?" she said, lifting her weight from Frisk. "They're saying that they saw you, and... you helped donate to their cause!"

She gave the paper back to the spider, who climbed back down Frisk.

"Oh my, this has all been a big misunderstanding~. I thought you were someone that hated spiders~. The person who asked for your SOUL... They must have meant a *different* Human in a striped shirt~. Sorry for all the trouble~. Ahuhuhu~."

Frisk was avoiding eye-contact with her, his brows curled.

"Tell you what, I'll make it up to you~." she said, setting her weight back onto Frisk's shoulders. She then began whispering in his ear, her lips ever-so-slightly grazing his skin. "You can come back here any time... And, for no charge at all... I'll wrap you up and play with you again!"

Frisk went completely red in the face.

"Ahuhuhuhuhuhu~. Just kidding~." she said, taking enjoyment out of Frisk's embarrassment. "You can go now." She said, tearing the cocoon off his body with the help of the many spiders around.

"What about my shirt and bag?" Frisk asked, looking down at the large tears in his shirt and the pulverized bag lying on the ground.

The Monster looked at the damage she'd done. She then walked over to the giant web she was on and talked to another spider. About a minute later, a few spiders came back with a purple-white shirt and bag.

"Sorry for the damage." she said remorsefully. "I hope you can accept these replacements and an apology."

"Um... thanks... errr, what's your name?"

"Muffet." she said.

"Ah... well, thank you, Muffet." he said, taking off the green jacket (undamaged, thankfully) and blue shirt and putting on the new shirt he'd gotten. The new shirt was cool, soft, and smooth, like clear running water over his skin. "This is amazing. What is it?" Frisk asked, admiring the smoothness of it.

"It's silk~." she said, her airy voice back. "Mine, to be exact~. I made those two things a long time ago."

"It's amazing."

Frisk put the green jacket back on and picked up the bag that had been brought to him.

"Anyway, I must be going. Goodbye."

"See you again, dearie~!" Muffet said as Frisk left.

Once outside the Hall, Frisk felt a cold chill rise up his spine and goosebumps appear all over his body.

*What the hell is with that Monster... Muffet...* Frisk thought to himself. *So weird.*

Frisk continued through the Hotlands, running right into Mettaton's third ambush set up right outside the Home Memorial Hall, where everything turned opera and Frisk got thrown down a hole to do a puzzle that had no real danger to it. Once Alphys "saved" him again, Frisk ascended the staircase to the MTT Resort. From there, he ran into Sans, who took them inside through one of his "shortcuts" again and talked about something he'd found while on patrol. Once Sans had finished his story, Frisk attempted to bring up the strange behavior he displayed before fleeing Grillby’s earlier, though Sans just dodged the question, then left. After Sans left, Frisk moved on straight to Helios Station.