XTale IX

## XTale IXXTale

"SINCE I CAN NO LONGER USE MY POWER AS BEFORE, I SPEND TIME WATCHING THIS WORLD IN SILENCE."
— XGaster in one of his entries
**XTale IX** is the tenth and penultimate episode of *XTale*. It takes place over the course of Timeline IX of *XTale*.

## Summary

Ink revisits his friend to see how he is doing, and sees how tired he looks. XGaster states that he overdid himself, and that the first phase of their game is complete. He worries that there will be consequences for everything he did in the past, and gives Ink a vial containing half of his soul for safe-keeping. Ink is shocked at first, and XGaster tells him he can live with Chara's determination. He tells Ink to play along with what the experiment is doing during Phase 2.

Meanwhile, Frisk and Chara are exploring the new timeline, with Chara sick of how similar the new timeline feels to the previous ones. Frisk comments that at least XGaster is happy with it, while Chara argues that XGaster has been visiting the main universe. A fight breaks out in the crowd nearby, and Frisk is trampled over. Chara insists for Frisk to kill them all and end the timeline, until Papyrus shows up and breaks up the fight. He sees Frisk, and asks if he's alright, however Alphys shows up to bring Frisk back to XGaster. After they leave, Papyrus finds the heart locket of the timeline broken on the ground.

Papyrus repairs the heart locket while Sans sells pies. Sans asks about the heart locket, with Papyrus responding by saying he needs to find the owner of the locket. Alphys and Frisk return to a place in the woods where XGaster is residing, and Alphys covers for Frisk saying that the two of them were inspecting the data of the timeline while on a walk. Suddenly, Papyrus shows up and crashes into their fence, riding on XTale version of Greater Dog, and returns the taped-up heart locket to Frisk. He notices the broken fence, and leaves to come back with more tape. When he returns, he finds the fence already fixed, and encounters XGaster, who orders him to leave. XGaster tries to convince Papyrus to leave by saying he could be dangerous, while Papyrus' counterargument is that XGaster is old enough to know if he is evil or not.

XGaster mainly spends the timeline watching from afar, and learns to see the world in a different light. Papyrus returns many more times, and manages to befriend XGaster in a way. Later, Frisk tries to force the heart locket onto Papyrus, noticing the pattern that the one who receives the heart locket in each timeline is the one who helps them fight against XGaster. After Papyrus is uncooperative (mainly because he was uncomfortable from being yelled at by Frisk), Frisk decides to tell him about the other timelines of XTale.

Papyrus and Frisk go to confront XGaster. Rather than trying to fight it out, Papyrus just asks XGaster if what Frisk just told him was true. XGaster confirms it, and goes on to ask the X-Event what happens next. He continues to taunt them, saying they ruined the timeline with their attitude, calling their heart locket stupid, and after Frisk declares his hatred towards him, he just states that he most likely fears him. Frisk summons both the OVERWRITE and RESET buttons at the same time, preparing to use either of them. Papyrus interrupts the two, realizing the somber mood of the timeline is just a reflection of its creators, and that next time, not to give them real feelings. XGaster sees another vision, while Frisk resets.

XGaster and a child version of Alphys wake up in Snowdin, with Alphys confirming that Frisk's reset changed both time and space. XGaster finds child Sans and Papyrus hiding behind a tree, and confirms that the long wait is finally paying off towards his desired future. Meanwhile, Frisk has fallen down from the surface, with Asriel finding him.

## Trivia

* On one of Jakei's animating streams where she was working on the scene where Sans sells pies, she accidentally misspelled "Pumpkin Pie" as "Pimplom Pie", which has since become a meme in the Underverse community.
* The final scene of the episode is labeled as part of XTale X in the movie version.