Underearth/Book 1/Chapter 20

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Further down the tunnel, Frisk once again came upon a few more waterfalls, though through the sound of the pouring water, he could hear the sound of a thousand whispers, all of which overlapping each-other, reducing anything being said to unintelligible chatter. Frisk waded through the two miniature rivers that overlapped with the path to continue onward. Further down, Frisk came to what appeared to be a dead end.

*This can't be the end of this path...* Frisk thought.

Upon closer inspection of the area, Frisk eventually found some bioluminescent grass that lit up when moved. He then followed the grass, hoping it led him to where he was trying to go. After about ten minutes of this procedure, Frisk eventually found the pathway forward. The glowing path he followed finally deposited him into another waist-deep pool of water. Wading through, he once again found himself at a dead end on a spot of land at the end, the only other features being some more of the tall grass that helped him earlier, and a sole echo flower. As Frisk approached the echo flower, it seemed to say something to him.

"Behind you." the flower said slowly.

When Frisk turned around, he saw the massive tower of metal. Undyne.

"What do you want?" Frisk shouted at them.

"Seven." Undyne finally spoke to him. "Seven Human SOULs. With the power of seven Human SOULs, our king... King Asgore Dreemurr... will become a god."

Frisk stepped back. "W-what!?"

"With that power, Asgore can finally shatter the Barrier. He will finally take the surface back from Humanity and give them back the suffering and pain that we have endured."

Frisk couldn't believe what he was hearing. This is the reason he was being attacked?

"Understand, Human? This is your only chance at redemption. Give up your SOUL, or I'll tear it from your body."

Undyne summoned her spear and approached Frisk, ready to attack. As Undyne drew near, the Monster Kid from earlier shot out from the tall grass, standing between Frisk and Undyne.

"Undyne!!! I'll help you fight!!!" he shouted as he came out.

He then looked around, seeing Undyne, then Frisk.

"YO!!!! You did it!!! Undyne is RIGHT in front of you!!! You've got front row seats to her fight!!!"

The Monster Kid then took another look around.

"Wait... Who's she fighting???"

Undyne then grabbed the kid and began dragging him off.

"H-hey! You aren't gonna tell my parents about this, are you?" he shouted as loud as he could while being dragged away, eventually out of Frisk's sight.

Letting out a sigh of relief, Frisk began looking around again, this time finding a path of the glowing grass that he'd not taken before.

Up this path was another pool of water, filled again to the brim with echo flowers, causing the entire area to hold the ghostly whisper from before. It wasn't long before Frisk was out of the water again, marching endlessly towards Mount Hot. Some ways down the path was another narrow bridge with visible stalagmites at the bottom of the area. As he was crossing, he heard a familiar voice from behind him.

"Yo!"

Frisk turned around to find the Monster Kid again.

"Yo, I know I'm not supposed to be here, but... I wanna ask you something."

He then paused for a moment.

"Man, I've never had to ask anyone this before... Umm... Yo... You're Human, right?"

Frisk just gave the Monster Kid a blank, annoyed stare before finally answering. "Yeah, that's right. I'm a Human."

The Monster Kid then got visibly excited. "Man! I knew it! Well, I know it now, I mean... Undyne told me, um, 'stay away from that Human.' So, like, ummm... I guess that makes us enemies or something, but I kinda stink at that, haha. Yo, say something mean so I can hate you? Please?"

This was a golden opportunity for Frisk. "Alright. I find you aggressively annoying, and if I was an absolutely evil monster, I'd shove you off this cliff as we speak." It was clear by now, even to the Monster Kid, that Frisk found him rather annoying.

Something about this seemed to hit the Monster Kid in the chest; perhaps it was the seemingly sincere look in Frisk's eyes as he said it. Whatever it was, the Monster Kid began stepping backward. "I'm... I'm gonna go home now."

When the Monster Kid turned around and began running back down the bridge, his foot caught on one of the planks, and he began falling off the bridge, but he managed to bite into the side in the nick of time.

"Yo, w-w-wait! Help! I tripped!" he shouted, mostly muffled from the mouthful of bridge he had.

Frisk looked back at the Monster Kid.

*Even if he is annoying, that doesn't mean he deserves death either.* Frisk thought as he began approaching where the Monster Kid was, but as he started moving to help, Undyne walked in from the other side, causing Frisk to freeze. *If I move to help this kid, that would leave me wide open to an attack.*

Frisk and Undyne stared at each-other, both making sideways glances at the Monster Kid.

"Wh-what are you standing around for? Get over here, dude!"

Frisk wanted to help, but with Undyne inching closer and closer, this dissuaded him more and more. Eventually, the Monster Kid couldn't hold on any longer.

"I... I'm slipping!" Once finished saying this, he slipped off the bridge, falling into the spiky abyss below. Seconds after, Undyne jumped after him. A few seconds more saw a strong gust of wind coming up from the abyss. Soon after, Frisk heard the clanging and crunching of metal, followed by the voice of the Monster Kid. "Undyne... you saved me? Yo, I thought I was a goner, haha... Wait, are you okay? It looks like you fell pretty hard... Th-this is my fault. I should have stayed away from them, like you said. They just stood there... Watching... Waiting for me to fall."

This couldn't be farther from the truth, as Frisk wanted to help, but was afraid that if he did, he'd be attacked by Undyne.

"I was so scared, and you... What? You're gonna go fight them now? But you look hurt... You should rest."

Silence then befell the area. Frisk then turned around and walked off back down the path. They were nearing Mount Hot, they could feel it. But first, there was one more obstacle that needed to be cleared. Undyne