Underearth/Book 5/Chapter 7

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Frisk descended the staircase that led down to the river. It was much cooler down here than it was directly at the base of Mount Hot. At the river, which was called the Acheron River by those of the Outskirts, Frisk saw Charon, the riverman of the Acheron.

"Tra la la." Charon said as Frisk approached. "I am the Riverman. Or am I the Riverwoman...? It doesn't really matter. I love to ride in my boat. Would you care to join me?"

"Sure. Love me some boat riding from time to time." Frisk said.

"Where would you like to go?"

"Could you take me to the Quiet Village?"

Charon waved a single rotted hand to the back of the boat. Frisk climbed aboard. In an instant, they were off.

Charon hummed a quiet tune along the way. Before much time had passed, the boat came to a halt at the port of the Quiet Village.

"Come again some time. Tra la la."

"Thanks." Frisk said, advancing into the village.

As he walked, Frisk's phone began ringing.

"HEY! WHAT'S UP!?" Papyrus asked after Frisk answered the phone.

"Not much. What's up with you?"

"WELL, I WAS JUST THINKING... YOU, ME, AND UNDYNE SHOULD ALL HANG OUT SOMETIME! I THINK YOU WOULD MAKE GREAT PALS! LET'S MEET UP AT HER HOUSE LATER!"

"I'm already one step ahead of you, Papyrus. I'm right outside her house now." Frisk said, entering the tunnel that led to Undyne's house.

"WHA— TRULY, YOU ARE THE MASTER AT FRIENDSHIP!"

"You bet. I'll see you when you get here."

Frisk stored the phone back in his pocket after hanging up. After a few minutes of waiting, Papyrus ran into view at the end of the tunnel.

"Oho! The skeleton arrives!" Frisk said as Papyrus entered the front yard. "Are you ready to hang out with Undyne?"

"H... HOLD ON!" Papyrus said, trying to catch his breath. "THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT I WAS GOING TO SAY!"

"Oh? You know, I'll bet you have a plan to make me and Undyne great friends, too."

Papyrus looked to be at a loss for words.

"Anyway, I'll stay behind you until you want to reveal me."

Papyrus stepped up to the door, still flabbergasted at Frisk's apparent foresight.

From there, things went exceedingly similar to how they went before. Undyne answered and was stunned to see Frisk standing with Papyrus. Inviting them both inside, Papyrus shot out through a window, giving Frisk and Undyne the chance to get to know each-other. After returning just long enough to mention a challenge, Papyrus vanished for good, and Frisk and Undyne got the chance to learn about one-another.

After talking for what seemed like a half-hour, the two got into cooking spaghetti, which quickly turned into a blazing inferno that finalized in the stove exploding and destroying the house completely.

"Ah." Undyne said, looking at the rubble surrounding them. "Man, no wonder Papyrus sucks at cooking."

The two dropped their magical shields which had formed immediately after the stove exploded, releasing the shrapnel held in place by the energy.

"It's a good thing you're so good at shield magic." she said. "Otherwise that explosion would have killed you."

Frisk and Undyne admired the wreckage of the house, which was completely unrecognizable from how it was before.

"So what's next?" Undyne asked. "Scrapbooking? Friendship bracelets?"

"You don't seem all that concerned about your house exploding." Frisk said.

"Why would I? This happens at least once a week. I'll just go pay the old man a visit eventually and ask him to fix it back up, good as new."

"Just fix it back up like nothing happened, huh." Frisk chuckled a bit. "Magic sure is a great thing to have."

At that moment, a piece of the roof, which was jammed into the ceiling of the tunnel, dislodged, and fell into the ruins. Undyne looked to where it had fallen, clearly thinking about something.

"You know, you remind me a lot of someone I used to train with. It's clear now that you aren't just some wimpy loser. You're a wimpy loser with a big heart!" she went silent again, retreating back into her thoughts.

"Listen, Human." she said after a few minutes of silence. "It seems that you and Asgore are fated to fight. But knowing him... he probably doesn't want to. Talk to him. I'm sure you can persuade him to let you go home. Eventually, some mean Human will fall down here, and I'll take *their* SOUL instead. That makes sense, right?"

Frisk nodded.

"Oh, and if you *do* hurt Asgore—"

"You'll take the Human SOULs, cross the Barrier, and beat the heck outta me?" Frisk interrupted.

"Y-yeah. How'd you know I was going to say that?"

"Because that's what friends are for, right?"

Undyne smiled. "Right. Fuhuhuh! Now let's get the hell out of this ruined house!"

The two carefully exited the house (if by "carefully", you mean Undyne summoned a spear and threw it at the door-hole, collapsing an already unstable section of wall). From there, Undyne stated she was going to go hang with Papyrus, then ran off. Frisk, on the other hand, started making his way back to the Hotlands.

"Hey Frisk." a familiar voice said as Frisk walked down the tunnel to the port.

Turning to face the speaker, Frisk saw Calibri standing in the tunnel that led to the bridge that Undyne cut.

"Hey Calibri."

Calibri stepped from the tunnel.

"Ah, nephew. Good to see you." Charon said from his boat. "I see you know this Human."

"Yup. Why not properly introduce yourself."

Charon stepped from the boat and removed his hood. Beneath the shroud was a heavily rotten-like head, with parts of his bones showing. His hair was black and messy, with most of it being on his face in the form of a mustache and beard. "I am Charon Courier Gaster, Riverman of the Acheron." he said.

"Nice to meet you, Charon. I'm Frisk Anendotos."

Charon's eyes widened. "Anendotos, you say."

"It's fine, Charon. He's good."

"And yet he carries the blood of that traitor."

"Who are you talking about?" Frisk asked.

Calibri shook his head. "It's not important. You're not him, and that's that."

"Would somebody just give me a clear answer!?"

Calibri sighed. "Later. Right now, we should see about continuing you along. I'll be back later, Charon."

"I await your return."

Frisk huffed as Calibri led him back up the tunnel.

"Do you know who their talking about?" Frisk whispered to Chara.

"No, sorry." she said glumly. "The only Anendotos I know besides you are Isokrates, Mānodōra, and... Kallias, but they can't possibly be who they were talking about."

"I see. Thanks anyway."

Frisk and Calibri entered the darkness of the caves ahead. After a few minutes of walking, light emanating from a fissure came into view.

"What the..." Frisk said. "This isn't the Hotlands."

"No, but it's a place you wandered to after failing horribly to follow me a number of Runs ago."

"I remember."

When the two reached the fissure, they both squeezed through.

Beyond was a well-lit tunnel, with stones all around the tunnel shining a bright cool-blue light. Within the glow, strange animal-like Monsters wandered around, with the most through-traffic centered around a small hole in one of the sides of the tunnel. Across from this hole was a much larger cut-out doorway. The end of the tunnel, far across from the fissure, featured a great stone statue depicting a Monster heavily reminiscent of the ones wandering around. The statue stood on a pedestal, which had the word "TEM" engraved in the front. All around the tunnel, sticking up from the ground, walls, and ceiling, were signs.

"hOI!! welcom to... TEM VILLAGE!!!" the sign nearest the fissure read.

"Tem Village..." Frisk said.

"Yup! I love this place, it's so unique and interesting. Managed to stay hidden from Asgore, or more specifically the Monster Kingdom, for a long time too, until relatively recently." Calibri said. "While we're here, you should check out the Tem Shop."

"The Tem Shop, huh." Frisk stepped further into the village. Nearing the cut-out doorway, he saw two signs standing out front.

"hOI!! u shud check out... TEM SHOP!!!", the first sign read. "yaYA!! i AGREES!! shud check... TEM SHOP!!!"

Frisk groaned as he stepped inside.

"hOI! welcom to... da TEM SHOP!!!" a Temmie within said, sitting within a cardboard box with the words "TEM SHOP" painted on the front, surrounded by stars.

"Hello." Frisk said, looking around the inside.

The Tem Shop looked like a mess, with strange objects scattered around everywhere. All in all, there were only two places within the Shop that could be said to be of a relative order. The first, closest to the door, was a shelf holding three cardboard boxes filled with what looked like shredded pieces of colored construction paper. "Temmie Flakes" were written on the front of all three boxes; the second box specifically marked "ON SALE,", and the third marked "expensiv". At the end of this shelf stood what looked like a short hat-tree with five prongs pointing out. A ring with a singular red rhombus-shaped gem decorated each of the five prongs. The second was a stack of cardboard boxes with a photo of a small white dog in a plain picture frame placed on top.

*Why did Calibri tell me I should check this place out?* Frisk thought. "So, um, what's this place?" he asked the clerk.

"Is... da TEM SHOP!!!"

"Yeah, I can see that. Anything... interesting you guys sell or something?"

"TemFlakess!!!"

Frisk looked back at the boxes filled with shredded paper. While looking at them, he caught sight of the pronged stand again.

"What's that?" he asked, pointing to it.

"tem armor! replicated from da armor worn by TEM!!!!!!!!!"

"Tem?"

"TEM!!!!!!!!!"

*This is going nowhere fast...*

"How much is it?"

The clerk looked over at the pronged stand.

"750G."

Frisk reached into his pocket and pulled out the dimensional pocket Sans had given him. Reaching inside that, he pulled out the massive coin purse within. Spending the better part of a quarter of an hour, he carefully picked out 750 coins and handed them to the clerk.

"thanks PURCHASE!" she said, taking the coins and placing them in a lockbox.

Frisk, pocketing everything, grabbed the five loops, and exited the store.

"Ah, there you are." Calibri said when Frisk exited. "You were in there for quite a while. Get anything?"

"Yeah, this." Frisk held up the five loops.

"Ah yes, the Temmie Armor. Highly advanced magical armor from what I hear. Try putting it on."

Frisk looked down at the rings. "How? Where?"

"Try placing one on your head."

Frisk placed four of the rings into his jacket pocket and brought one up to his head. Upon getting close, the ring expanded to the circumference of Frisk's head.

"Whoa."

"If I remember right, the other four go on the ends of your limbs."

Pulling another ring from his pocket, the ring expanded to slip over Frisk's hand, contracting around his wrist. The other one he did this with did the same. The last two did the same, though with his feet instead.

"Now what?"

"Focus magic into the five pieces. If you need a point on them to focus on, make sure it's the gem."

Frisk took a deep breath. Eyes glowing red, he focused magic into the gems in each ring. After a few seconds, all five gems began glowing red, and a red wave of energy shot over Frisk. A few seconds later, the energy vanished.

"What just happened?" he asked.

"You summoned the armor. Looks good."

"You look like a metal lizard." Chara said.

"A lizard?"

Calibri pointed at a grand painting decorating one of the walls. "You look kinda like like." he said.

Frisk looked over at the painting. A great seawyrm rose from a dark sea. A white Temmie rode its tail. The seawyrm possessed a long, dark snout with terrible horns stretching out of its head. Its menacing eyes sent chills down Frisk's spine.

"Huh..." Frisk looked back to Calibri. "Say, do you know what this 'rich history of Tem' is?"

Calibri sighed. "Unfortunately, no. Temmies always seem to be open to talking about it, but only mention that there's this deep and rich history, never going into any depth. The most answers you'll get will be from deviants, but even they will be vague in their own way."

"Deviants?"

"Temmies that don't follow the ways of Tem as closely as their society would demand. They'll be the only Temmies not named 'Temmie'."

"I see."

Calibri walked back over to the fissure. "Anyway, we should get you back on track. You were heading to the Hotlands, right?"

"Yeah."

"Well, then let's go."

Frisk and Calibri stepped through the fissure and back into the darkness ahead. While enroute, Frisk focused magical energy back into the gems, which caused the armor to recede away. After a few minutes of walking, they arrived at the crag. Once there, Calibri said he had things to do elsewhere, and parted ways, while Frisk continued on ahead.

Once within the Hotlands, Frisk managed to make it just in time to see the changing of the guards outside the Lab again. Entering the laboratory, Frisk followed the right wall through the dark. Near the end, the sound of an elevator door opening caused Frisk to stop in place. This was quickly followed by the lights flashing on, revealing a large yellow lizard-Monster, about Frisk's size.

"What... the hell?" Chara said, seeing the lizard-Monster.

The lizard-Monster, despite wearing a lab-coat and looking professional, had little else on besides it, leaving precious little up to the imagination. Besides the sleek white lab-coat, the Monster wore a bra, panties, and glasses.

After turning on the light, the Monster turned towards Frisk, though hadn't noticed him due to being distracted by something on the clipboard it held. After a few seconds and a few steps, it finally looked up and spotted him.

"Oh. My god." she said, dropping the clipboard to the ground. "I didn't expect you to show up so soon! I haven't showered, I'm barely dressed, it's all messy, and..." she turned away and went silent for a moment before turning back, her lab-coat now fully buttoned, obscuring what lay beneath. "Ummm... H-h-hiya! I'm Dr. Alphys. I'm Asgore's Royal Scientist! B-b-but, ahhhh, I'm not one of the 'bad guys'!" She stuttered horribly as she spoke, tripping over her words awkwardly. "Actually, since you stepped out of the Citadel, I've, um... been 'observing' your journey through my console. Your fights... your friendships... everything! At least, um... at least when a clear picture would come through."

Frisk looked back at a large monitor he'd passed by the door he'd come in through.

"Wow, she is quite odd, isn't she." Chara said.

"Just wait, it gets better." Frisk whispered back. He took a deep breath and approached Alphys. "Nice to meet you, Alphys!" he said, extending a hand.

Alphys was taken aback at this gesture, but slowly extended her own hand and grasped Frisk's. Upon taking his hand, Frisk shook her's somewhat violently.

"You know," Frisk said, letting go of her hand. "you look like the kind of scientist who makes evil robots that have anti-Human combat features. Is one lurking around here, by chance?"

Alphys stepped back, her jaw dropping agape. "I-I-I..." she mumbled.

A loud banging sound suddenly erupted throughout the laboratory.

*Excellent.* Frisk thought.

Another banging sound, quickly followed by a few more. Alphys continued to try and find words to speak, but nothing came as the banging continued until an explosion erupted from a nearby wall, causing the lights to go out.

"OHHHH YES!" a new, robotic voice said. "WELCOME, BEAUTIES..." a spotlight turned on, revealing a rectangular metal box on a singular wheel, four dials, and a large screen situated just above. Two arms sprouted from its sides, one holding a microphone to a line of wire-mesh situated between the dials and screen. "TO TODAY'S QUIZ SHOW!!!"

Music began playing as lesser spotlights lit the rest of the lab in colored light.

"OH BOY! I CAN ALREADY TELL IT'S GONNA BE A GREAT SHOW! NOT ONLY DID ALPHYS MAKE A TERRIBLE MISTAKE WHEN REMOVING MY ANTI-HUMAN FUNCTIONS, WE HAVE A WONDERFUL HUMAN CONTESTANT. EVERYBODY GIVE THEM A BIG HAND!"

The robot gave Frisk a big round of applause as confetti fell from the ceiling onto him.

"NEVER PLAYED BEFORE, GORGEOUS? NO PROBLEM! I, METTATON, HAVE MADE IT VERY SIMPLE! THERE'S ONLY ONE RULE. ANSWER CORRECTLY... OR YOU DIE!!!"

"Wow, this guy is quite the up-front kind of person, huh."

Frisk chuckled a bit so not to draw attention from Mettaton or Alphys. "No, no he's really not."

"LET'S START WITH AN EASY ONE!!" Mettaton began.

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

"D" Frisk said.

"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**

Frisk looked over at Alphys, who'd had her hands shaped like the letter D.

"D"

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

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

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

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

"A"

"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**

The screen, Frisk recognized, showed half the face of a Monster from the Citadel, Froggit. Having answered this way before, Frisk looked over at Alphys instead of relying on his own seemingly flawed knowledge. Alphys had her hands in the shape of a D.

"D" he said, doubting.

"I'M SO FLATTERED YOU REMEMBERED!" Mettaton said as the Monster's face zoomed out to reveal Mettaton wearing a shirt with a Froggit design on it.

"What? How is *that* even fair?" Chara said, watching with disgust.

"Meet Mettaton." Frisk mumbled back.

"BUT CAN YOU GET THIS ONE???" Mettaton said.

**#7: Would you smooch a ghost?**
**A: Heck Yeah**
**B: Heck Yeah**
**C: Heck Yeah**
**D: Heck Yeah**

Chara and Alphys stood speechless at this question as a tiny smirk made its way across Frisk's face.

"Heck Yeah!!!" Frisk said.

The gaze of both Alphys and Chara fell upon him, disapproval practically oozing from their demeanor.

"GREAT ANSWER! I LOVE IT!!!!!!!" Mettaton said.

"You answered that with *way* too much enthusiasm." Chara rebuked.

Frisk chuckled a bit as Mettaton continued.

"HERE'S A SIMPLE ONE."

**#8: How many letters are in the name Mettaton?**
**A: 11**
**B: 6**
**C: 8**
**D: 10**

"C"

"OF COURSE THAT WAS EASY FOR YOU! 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?**

Before Mettaton could finish reading the question, Alphys jumped in and began gushing the answer.

"OH! OH! I KNOW THIS ONE!!!" she shouted. "IT'S SNAIL ICE CREAM!!!!!!!! IN THE FOURTH CHAPTER EVERYONE GOES TO THE BEACH AND SHE BUYS ICE CREAM FOR ALL HER FRIENDS BUT IT'S SNAIL FLAVOR AND SHE'S THE ONLY ONE WHO WANTS IT!!!!!! IT'S ONE OF MY FAVORITE PARTS OF THE GAME BECAUSE IT'S ACTUALLY A VERY POWERFUL... message... about... friendship, and..." Alphys began slowing down, looking extremely worried over at Mettaton.

"ALPHYS, ALPHYS, ALPHYS." Mettaton said. "YOU AREN'T HELPING OUR CONTESTANT, ARE YOU? OOOOOOH!!! YOU SHOULD HAVE TOLD ME. I'LL ASK A QUESTION YOU'LL BE SURE TO KNOW THE ANSWER TO!"

**#?: Who does Dr. Alphys have a crush on?**
**A: Undyne**
**B: Asgore**
**C: You, the Human**
**D: You don't know**

Frisk pulled out the pocketwatch and pressed the button on top. SAVED displayed across its face, and Frisk stored it back into his pocket.

"What are you doing?" Chara asked.

"Experimenting." he whispered back.

Frisk stepped forward and, with utter confidence, said "Alphys has a crush on Asgore Dreemurr."

Both Chara and Alphys shrieked in horror as both brought their hands up to their face, Chara to cover her mouth, and Alphys to cover her shame.

"WHY WOULD SOMEONE OUTFIT AN AMUSEMENT ROBOT..." Mettaton began, "WITH BRUTAL COMBAT CAPABILITIES? SIMPLE. TO IMPRESS MR. ASGORE DREEMURR, OF COURSE! OR AS ALPHYS CALLS HIM... 'MR. DREAMY'. THOSE STRONG ARMS... THAT LUSTROUS BEARD... LIKE ALL THOSE WHO CREATE WEAPONS, SHE CRAVES THE TENDER EMBRACE OF A BURLY MAN. CAN SHE TRULY BE BLAMED?"

Frisk pulled out the pocketwatch and twisted the top dial. LOAD? appeared on its face, and Frisk pressed the button.

"WHO DOES DR. ALPHYS HAVE A CRUSH ON?" Mettaton asked again, restating the four options.

"Whoa, what just happened?" Chara asked.

"I went back to before I answered the question."

"How did you know you could do that?"

"I... I don't really know. If I had to guess, I'd say the Timepiece basically... transferred that knowledge to me, I guess."

"Huh, interesting."

"TAKE ALL THE TIME YOU NEED, HUMAN." Mettaton said. "IT TRULY IS QUITE THE HEAD-SCRATCHER."

Frisk stepped forward. "Oh, don't you know? Alphys has a crush on me, of course. But can you really blame her? I mean, who wouldn't."

Alphys gave Frisk the stink eye again as Mettaton stood, for the first time ever, somewhat speechless.

"... SERIOUSLY?" Mettaton said after a minute of processing. "MY MY... HOW CONCEITED CAN YOU GET...? I LOVE IT! AND WHILE YOU ARE COMPLETELY WRONG, YOU DESERVE SOME CREDIT. I'VE SEEN HER WATCH YOU ON HER COMPUTER SCREEN, SMILING WHEN YOU SUCCEED, SHRIEKING WHEN YOU FAIL, AND ALWAYS, ALWAYS, WHISPERING 'NO! WRONG! YOU HAVE TO GO THAT WAY!' IN ITS OWN WAY, IS THIS NOT LOVE??"

Frisk pulled the pocketwatch from his pocket again and went back to before he answered.

"I dunno." he said upon returning.

"CORRECT." Mettaton congratulated. "DR. ALPHYS HAS A CRUSH ON... THE UNKNOWABLE."

Alphys went from giving Frisk the thumbs-up to looking reprehensively at Mettaton.

"YOU SEE, ALPHYS BELIEVES THERE IS SOMEONE OUT THERE. SOMEONE WATCHING HER. SOMEONE SHE THINKS IS 'CUTE' AND 'INTERESTING'. HELLO, THEORETICAL PERSON. DR. ALPHYS LIKES YOU. TOO BAD YOU ARE NOT REAL." A derisive laugh track then played from Mettaton's speakers.

"H-hey, I've done research about this!" Alphys said. "There are alternate universes out there! S-someday, maybe, I could meet them..."

"YOU SAID THE EXACT SAME THING ABOUT 'MEW MEW KISSY CUTIE'. BUT I'LL GIVE YOU THE BENEFIT OF THE DOUBT. PERSON, IF YOU'RE OUT THERE... HOW ABOUT GIVING US A SIGN, RIGHT NOW?"

Everything in the laboratory went silent for about a minute. Nothing.

"THAT SETTLES THAT, DOESN'T IT?"

Frisk pulled the pocketwatch out one last time and went back to before he answered the question.

**#?: Who does Dr. Alphys have a crush on?**
**A: Undyne**
**B: Asgore**
**C: You, the Human**
**D: You don't know**

"Dr. Alphys has a crush on..." Frisk paused for dramatic effect. "Undyne! The captain of the Royal Guard!!!"

Alphys gave a shriek as she covered her face in horror.

"SEE, ALPHYS?" Mettaton said. "I TOLD YOU IT WAS OBVIOUS. EVEN THE HUMAN FIGURED IT OUT. YES, SHE SCRAWLS HER NAME IN THE MARGINS OF HER NOTES. SHE NAMES PROGRAMMING VARIABLES AFTER HER. SHE EVEN WRITES STORIES OF THEM TOGETHER... SHARING A DOMESTIC LIFE. PROBABILITY OF CRUSH: 101 PERCENT. MARGIN OF ERROR, ONE PERCENT."

Chara's face contorted somewhat as Mettaton rolled back over to Frisk.

"WELL WELL WELL. WITH DR. ALPHYS HELPING YOU... THE SHOW HAS NO DRAMATIC TENSION! WE CAN'T GO ON LIKE THIS!! BUT. BUT!! THIS WAS JUST THE PILOT EPISODE!! NEXT UP, MORE DRAMA! MORE ROMANCE!!! MORE BLOODSHED!!! UNTIL NEXT TIME, DARLINGS...!!!"

Mettaton's arms and leg retracted into the larger box-section, which was quickly replaced with the scream of a rocket as steam erupted from the bottom of the metallic shell. Mettaton rose, blasting off through the roof of the lab.

Alphys shifted awkwardly in place after Mettaton left. "Well that was certainly something." she said.

­"Sure was. Say, Alphys. You made that robot, right?"

"Uh, y-y-yeah."

"Great! Think you could upgrade my phone as well?"

Alphys's face brightened up. "Of course! I'll do it right away!!"

Alphys took Frisk's phone upon being offered it and ran up the nearby escalator. Mechanical noises sounded from the floor above before Alphys finally re-emerged and handed his phone back.

"Here," she said, offering it back to Frisk. "It can do texting, items, it's got a key chain... I even signed you up for the Underground's #1 social network! Now we're officially friends!"

Frisk's face twitched for a second. "Thanks. I'll see you around!" he said before exiting the lab.

"You seem uncharacteristically not hostile to her." Chara said a bit up the path.

"She's trying. In many senses. Plus, being an ass to her right now isn't gonna help anybody."

"I see..."

Frisk continued across the base paths, quickly reaching Mettaton's second appearance: Cooking with a Killer Robot. Clearing this challenge easily, Frisk continued onward to the R1 elevator.

As the two walked down the pathway, they were chatting up the interesting encounter they'd just emerged from with Mettaton. Approaching the elevator, Frisk pressed the call button. Almost immediately, the doors opened, but instead of the welcoming cabin of the elevator car, within was a completely alabaster white room, a tall headless figure standing near the doorway holding a head in its arms.

Frisk stepped back, shocked by the appearance of this entity.

The Monster stepped from the elevator towards the pair.

"H... hello?" Frisk said, his throat feeling awfully dry.

"Alphys might work faster." the head in the Monster's arms spoke. "But the old royal scientist, Doctor W.D. Gaster? One day, he vanished without a trace. They say he shattered across time and space." the head then laughed. "How wrong that thought could be. We suffer in endless agony."

As the head finished speaking, a blast of darkness engulfed the area, which cleared just as fast. When it did clear, the Monster, the head, and the room behind the now closed elevator doors were gone.

"Wh... what the hell was that?" Frisk said.

"I... I don't know... Didn't that Monster say something about Gaster?"

"Y... yeah. Doctor W.D. Gaster. Can't say I know them, the only times I've heard 'Gaster' is with Serif, Charon, Sans, Papyrus, and Calibri."

"There's another... the one that Monster spoke of..."

"Who?"

"I... I don't..."

Frisk sighed. "I understand. If you feel up to it later, you can talk to me."

Frisk pressed the call button for the elevator again. Almost instantly, the doors opened, this time to the proper place. Stepping inside, Frisk pressed the "R2" button and turned to watch the doors slide closed.

Upon the doors opening on the second level, Frisk sped through the mid-station as fast as he could, heading for the L2 elevator. Roughly half-an-hour later, with numerous puzzles, the Royal Guards, and finally Mettaton standing in his way, Frisk finally made it.

Approaching the tower that the L2 elevator was inside, Frisk noticed a grey snake-like creature wrapped around the walkway, it massive head resting on its belly. Stepping close to the creature, its wicked eyes snapped open and its head rose.

"I understand why Asgore waited so long to hire a new Royal Scientist." the snake-Monster said. "The previous one, Dr. Gaster, his brilliance was irreplaceable. However, his life... was cut short. One day, his experiment went wrong, and..."

The snake uncoiled from the walkway and fell out of sight. Looking over the edge, Frisk could only see the boiling magma below.

"What is going on?" he asked.

Chara remained silent.

Sighing, Frisk walked over to the L2 elevator and stepped inside, heading up to L3. Upon arriving, he stepped onto the Summit Platform.

"It makes sense why Asgore took so long to hire a new Royal Scientist." another voice sounded as soon as Frisk arrived. Looking over, this Monster looked almost Human, but heavily leathery. "After all, the old one... Dr. Gaster... What an act to follow! They say he created the CORE. However, his life... was cut short. One day, he fell into his creation, and..." the Monster sighed. "Will Alphys end up the same way?"

Before Frisk could interrogate this Monster, it approached the edge of the Platform and leapt off.

"Chara..." he said, horrified by this strange display. "Who is Dr. Gaster?"

Chara took a deep breath. "As those cryptic Monsters said, he was the old Royal Scientist. He made many fantastical objects, like that phone you have there, and many more. I do not know what these Monsters speak of regarding his death, nor do I know what the relation he has with Sans, Papyrus, and Calibri, but I do know that Serif and Charon were his brothers. I can also say with ease that his name was Wing Ding Gaster, apparently after his father."

"I see. Thank you."

With at least *some* questions regarding this entity answered, Frisk continued along the Summit Platform, towards the true summit of Mount Hot.