Underearth/Book 1/Chapter 16

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As Frisk made his way down the long corridor, the glowing stones embedded within the walls started to become more and more numerous. Further down, Frisk eventually came across Sans standing next to a telescope.

"Hey Sans." Frisk greeted.

"Heya," Sans responded, "I'm thinking about getting into the telescope business. It's normally 50,000G to use this *premium* telescope," he gestured to the telescope next to him. "but, since I know you, you can use it for free. Howzabout it?"

Frisk looked at the telescope for a minute. "I'm... gonna have to decline."

"Well, come back whenever you want."

Frisk continued onward, seeing quite the spectacular pattern of gems in the wall. Across from the pattern was the type of doorway you'd see in a mineshaft. Frisk went on through. On the other side was a dark corridor, though the end was well lit. When Frisk got to the end, he found the same Nice-Cream Vender he saw in Snowdin Forest.

"Hey, how goes business?" Frisk asked.

"Well, I relocated my store, but there are still no customers..."

"Oh, well, sor-"

"Fortunately, I've thought of a solution." the rabbit interrupted. "Punch cards!! Every time you buy a Nice Cream, you can take a punch card from the box. If you have 3 cards, you can trade them for a free Nice Cream! They're sure to get customers to come back!"

*Yeah, that is if you can get customers...* Frisk thought.

"So how'bout it, want a Nice Cream? It's the frozen treat that warms your heart!"

Frisk looked down at his pockets, then back up at the rabbit. "Sorry, still no money."

"Well then... Tell your friends..." He said, a bit disappointed.

Frisk walked past the rabbit to look at a massive plaque on the wall, though any writing on it had been painted over with a list of 21 different flavors of ice cream. It looks like the paint is still wet, however. He decided to backtrack out into the hall, as there didn't seem to be anything more in the room. When he got back out into the hallway, he saw a body of water that seemed to be glowing. As he approached the water, he passed a Monster that looked like a cloth bag, which spoke to him, though Frisk couldn't understand what was being said. Down the path a bit, he found a bridge stretching over a section of the glowing river onto another patch of land. He continued onto the piece of land he was on up until he came to the end of a mini peninsula, surrounded by the same glowing water. Across a small strait was another mini peninsula. Frisk looked down at the glowing cyan water. The distance between the two peninsulas wasn't that far, looking to be only fifteen feet, but every instinct Frisk had told him not to get near this water. As there seemed to be only one way forward, Frisk backtracked to the bridge and crossed it.

The bridge seemed to descend as Frisk crossed, and when he made it to the other side, the soil seemed to collapse under his weight. The alluvia of this chunk of land was a very dark color, the bright glow of the water only enhancing the darkness of the ground. Frisk continued deeper along the dark marsh, the only light coming from the water surrounding him and the various plant life that was glowing the same color, the largest of which was the echo flowers strewn everywhere.

As Frisk continued along the path, he approached a couple of waterfalls of the glowing water. It was there where his phone began ringing again.

"HELLO! THIS IS PAPYRUS!!! REMEMBER WHEN I ASKED YOU ABOUT CLOTHES?"

"Yeah, what about it?"

"WELL, THE FRIEND WHO WANTED TO KNOW... HER OPINION OF YOU IS VERY... MURDERY."

*You don't say!*

"WELL, WORRY NOT DEAR HUMAN! PAPYRUS WOULD NEVER BETRAY YOU! YOU SAID YOU WERE NOT WEARING A GROSS BANDAGE. SO OF COURSE I ACTUALLY TOLD HER... YOU WERE INDEED WEARING A GROSS BANDAGE!"

Frisk couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"IT PAINED ME TO TELL SUCH A BOLDFACED LIE. BUT SINCE YOU AREN'T WEARING A GROSS BANDAGE, SHE SURELY WON'T ATTACK YOU! NOW YOU ARE SAFE AND SOUND."

"Thank you." Frisk worked out in a very forced sort of way before hanging up the phone.

Once the phone was disconnected, Frisk stopped for a few seconds, anger building up inside him, before he threw the phone at the ground at full force, yelling as he did so. After a few more seconds, the anger mostly subsided, and Frisk went to grab the phone. When he picked it up, he noticed there wasn't a single scratch or dent on it anywhere. He continued investigating the phone as he continued down the winding path. Eventually, he came into an area where the water wasn't glowing, and the cavern opened up. There was a long isthmus that lead further into the claustrophobic cavern. As Frisk crossed the isthmus, the water around him began moving, as though something was swimming in it. Frisk stopped where he was and looked around at the water. While he was looking, a bright yellow tentacle rose from the water, followed by a few more. Frisk then began running down the isthmus as more tentacles appeared. Finally, Frisk made it through the rift, away from the tentacle Monster.

Frisk continued down the path. As he turned a corner some ways down the path, he ran, literally, into a Monster who quickly backed off after the event, but then just stood there. Frisk and the Monster stood there, staring at each-other. The Monster eventually began humming, but very weakly and timidly. Frisk lowered his fist a bit before finally deciding that this Monster wasn't a threat and walking past it. Behind the Monster was a pathway that lead off to Frisk's left, down which was a piano, quickly followed by a dead end, so he decided to walk past the tangent.

As Frisk continued walking down the cavern, he began to hear the sound of rainfall. Continuing down, he eventually came to a dark grey, worn statue that was being rained on. Further down was a basket full of umbrellas. Seeing that further down the cavern there seemed to be a deluge, Frisk took one, and continued down the cavern. The rain made its ever so iconic sound as it hit the umbrella.

As Frisk continued down the drenched corridor, he came to an alcove, where a familiar figure called out to him. It was the Monster Kid.

"Yo, you got an umbrella?" the Monster Kid asked, perhaps before seeing the obvious umbrella Frisk had with him. "Awesome!"

The Monster Kid then walked out of the sheltered alcove to come under Frisk's umbrella.

"Um, excuse me!" Frisk protested in vain, as the Monster Kid ignored the objections.

"Let's go!"

Seeing that there was no way to convince the Monster Kid to leave, Frisk just let out a sigh, and continued walking down the corridor, staring down at the large puddles on the ground. The puddles seemed to reflect very effectively, even though they were being rained on and were situated in dirt. As Frisk walked, the Monster Kid started making side-talk.

"Man, Undyne is sooooooo cool." the Monster Kid stated. "She beats up bad guys and *NEVER* loses. If I was a Human, I would wet the bed every night knowing she was gonna beat me up!"

The Monster Kid's side-talk did little to ease Frisk's mind of Undyne, and he wanted nothing more than for him to shut up.

As they continued walking, they soon turned a corner that put them on a path that ran between a steep cliff wall on their right, and a deep-black lake on their left. While walking past a great many cattail, the Monster Kid took special notice to an echo flower on a tiny patch of land just off shore. He then began talking once again.

"So, one time, we had a school project where we had to take care of a flower. The king - we had to call him 'Mr. Dreemurr' - volunteered to donate his own flowers. He ended up coming to school and teaching the class about responsibility and stuff. That got me thinking... 'YO! How COOL would it be if Undyne came to school!? She could beat up ALL the teachers!!'"

Frisk continued suffering in silence as the Monster Kid rambled on. They both continued down the path, up to a corner to face a wall of crystal with a small door-sized hole in the middle. The Monster Kid then made remarks about Undyne again.

"Ummm, maybe she wouldn't beat up the teachers... She's too cool to ever hurt an innocent person!"

*Then why do I feel as though my life is in danger, you annoying pest!!!* Frisk thought as they continued.

They both passed through the crystal barrier to arrive at something of a clearing, which was mostly just a pathway with a lake on either side, the one to Frisk's left glowing that distinct cyan some ways down. Far, far to Frisk's left, he could see a palace far off in the distance.

*Is that where this king I'm so often hearing about lives?*

The glow coming from the far-sides of the left lake made it impossible to see anything else. Frisk eventually made his way to another crystal barrier, which Frisk just as quickly past through. On the other side was a continuation of the path, only to have it end in a steep cliff. Frisk saw another basket with a few umbrellas in it. The Monster Kid then rushed over to the cliff-face, looking up at the pinnacle of it.

"Yo, this ledge is way too steep... Hmm..." The Monster Kid said, still staring up at the top.

Frisk looked on at the cliff. *It was a mistake to come this way...* He thought as he turned around and began walking off.

"Yo, you wanna see Undyne, right?" the Monster Kid then asked Frisk.

Frisk looked back at the Monster Kid. "Umm... Sure?" he didn't know what else to say to this kid.

"Climb on my shoulders." he said, kneeling down a slight bit.

Frisk gave the Monster Kid a strange look, then looked at the cliff. He could potentially make it up if he did just this. Frisk complied with the Monster Kid's suggestion and managed to climb to the top of the cliff.

"Yo, you go on ahead. Don't worry about me. I always find a way through!" the Monster Kid yelled up to Frisk just before running off again.

Frisk proceeded down the new, dark path. The comparatively little amount of rain he was in wasn't much, but Frisk was feeling chills come over him. He had to hurry.