"I don't get it..." Missy scratched at her head as she scanned the tiny town once again. "Where IS everyone?"

A nearby sign had displayed proudly that the settlement was named "Snowdin," and she could see plenty of signs of civilization here. There was a shop, an inn, a restaurant called "Grillby's," and several houses, many of which still had the lights on. Every door they knocked on, however, was completely without response. It was empty. By the time they had checked every house, the cold had gone from refreshing to uncomfortable, and she was starting to shiver uncontrollably. She'd abandoned their makeshift ice pack, seeing as how it only exacerbated the cold when the wind would bite at her. Her clothes were NOT designed for anything more than the occasional autumn chill, and even slight winter breezes seemed to pass right through the fabrics. The best she could do was to pull herself tighter against Lantern's head, the ghostly flame inside giving off enough heat to help her get the involuntary response back under control.

"Did we miss the memo, or something?" She muttered as they continued floating down the main street. They passed a two-story house that had been just as empty as the rest, drawing up short when they caught sight of a flash of color in the snow. She let go of her grip on Lantern's neck and dropped down, thankful for the snow that cushioned her fall. Kneeling down, she couldn't help feeling slightly pleased at their find, even if she hadn't had any kind of hopeful expectations.

It was a blue hoodie, made with a thick fabric that seemed like it would certainly keep her warm. The hood and area around the neck was lined with a thick white faux-fur, and even brushing it briefly against her cheek was enough to make her feel like dozing off inside it. Picking it up, she found more of the strange dust they'd found in piles all throughout this underground world lining the inside, but it cleaned off easily enough with a few knocks and bushes. There was only one more problem: given the sore, stiff state of her wings, there was no way she could wear it properly as it was.

"H-Hey, Lantern... you mind helping me m-make some w-wing holes?" she asked, holding the hoodie up with the back facing him.

Lantern nodded, slipping off one of his gloves and exposing the craggy claws of his branch-like limbs beneath. With a single slash, a pair of slits had been cut into the back, and she easily slipped her wings through. She couldn't hold back a sigh of relief as she felt the wind being cut off and her remaining body heat being trapped inside.

"Th-Thanks..." She muttered. The two of them only sat for a few moments more as she fastened the zipper and pulled it tight. It was clearly too big for her, but that just meant it could cover almost all the way down to her knees. They each took a moment to look in the only direction they hadn't explored: a foggy path leading out of town and deeper underground. "Okay... if we keep going, there's got to be somebody around here, right? The people here had to have gone SOMEWHERE."

Lantern nodded in agreement, picking her back up and placing her carefully on his back as they pressed forward into the mist.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"You know... not being able to SEE the bottom REALLY doesn't help with being afraid of heights..." Penn whimpered.

"There's nothing to be afraid of! This is perfectly safe!" Sunset reassured him as she lowered herself further. "Trust me, I learned all about how to rappel at Camp Everfree!"

"And? How is 'I learned this at summer camp' supposed to make me feel more assured? I'd be terrified if there was a paid professional here!"

"Oh har dee har... You and I both know I've been trying to figure out how to get back into a workout routine on the road..." Penn muttered, and Sunset snickered slightly. Humor would help distract Penn from his fears as they descended further and further into the dark.

Sunset came to a stop, and was glad to hear Penn do the same only slightly above her. "Have you had any luck cracking it, yet?"

Sunset frowned at that. "Penn? What do you think? Should we wait for Isis to get through it before we continue?"

Sunset rolled her eyes. "Okay. Isis, we'll make sure to keep our phones on us. Let us know as soon as you can get a signal through, okay?"

"Good luck, Isis." Sunset took a deep breath as she let more of the rope slide past, slipping through some invisible barrier that sent a tingle through her body.

In a few minutes, the two of them had both reached the ground and were eagerly stripping off the rappelling harnesses. Out of the corner of her eye, Sunset spotted a familiar pink glow laying on the cave floor.

"Hey, check it out..." She whispered as she began to walk towards it. The glow moved towards her in response, glowing brighter and revealing Isis's drone, now acting on its own. It quickly climbed up onto her shoulder, and she gave it a quick scratch at the back of its head in response. "The drone didn't break! It's just been waiting for us down here!"

"Th-that's great..." Penn muttered. "Think we could maybe get some more light in here?"

The drone responded before Sunset could reach for her phone, casting a rose-tinted light over the area. Now that she could see him, Sunset realized that Penn was kneeling on the floor, examining what was beneath their feet more closely. Sunset raised an eyebrow as she moved to join him, dropping to one knee.

"Yeah..." Penn muttered with a dark look on his face. "I think I know where we are, now..."

"Well... It could be fine. As long as Missy didn't leave the first area, she should be perfectly safe." He dusted himself off as he rose to his feet. "But there's really multiple ways this universe can go, it depends on which timeline we're in..."

"Come on, let's get moving. I'll explain on the way." His hesitation seemed to be melting away as he led the way deeper into the mountain, and Sunset hurried to catch up to him.

"So, first things first: If I'm right, this world is from a video game called Undertale. Think like... a subversion of classic RPG games. The main character is a child who falls down THAT hole and gets trapped down here, and winds up in this underground world where races of monsters were imprisoned... a LONG time ago. I'm not sure how long, honestly..."

Penn nodded. "The big selling point of Undertale was that you didn't HAVE to fight the enemies. There's ALWAYS a way to pacify them, or make peace with them! The monsters were only monsters in name, they're mostly pretty reasonable once you can talk them down from their initial attack..."

"The problem is that Missy isn't the main character, that title belongs to a kid named 'Frisk.' And if THEY got here first, there's generally three paths a playthrough can follow."

The two of them emerged from the dark cavern into some kind of tunnel of purple bricks, vine-covered and obviously in need of repair in places. Penn walked up to the open door in front of them, examining the symbol carved into it before nodding in confirmation. The two of them walked through and further into the ruins, and Sunset could feel the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. Penn's voice was the only sound to be heard as it reverberated down the hall and off the walls.

"There's the Neutral route, where Frisk only fights in self-defense, but still kills a few of the monsters when they try to kill them. There's the Pacifist route, where they refuse to fight and ALWAYS calm the monsters down before anyone gets hurt..."

Sunset glanced around, trying to spot any signs of anything living here, but aside from the plants, this place seemed completely devoid of life. She had a sinking feeling she knew what the third option was, but she still waited for Penn to finish.

"And then there's the Genocide route. This is what happens when you decide to play the game like a traditional RPG and do things like farming EXP, collecting powerful gear, and as the name implies... Frisk goes out of their way to kill every single monster they can find, reducing them to dust." He stopped in place, running a finger along the ground and examining it closely. After a second, he wiped it against his pants and continued walking. "Generally, fans of the game are divided into two groups: Pacifist players and Genocide players."

"Well, it's the only way to get to fight the hardest bosses in the game, for one. You and I both know gamers are always looking for a challenge." He shrugged. "The writing is fantastic, so it's a good way to see sides of the characters that you never knew existed. Completionists who want to see every ending need to do it to achieve their goal. Or, in some cases... they just do it out of sheer boredom. You can only play a game the same way so many times before you get tired of it."

"Well, it's easy to judge now that it's all real!" Penn raised an eyebrow as he gave her a critical look. "Are you trying to tell me you've never enjoyed doing things in a video game you never would in real life?"

Sunset felt her argument die in her throat as he pointed out her hypocrisy. "Okay... fine, you make a good point."

He shrugged. "I even tried to do a Geno run, myself, but I just didn't have the heart. Toby Fox did a REALLY good job writing it. When I was finished with the tutorial area, I just couldn't bear the guilt, so I reset my save file."

Sunset smiled at that, giving him a light elbow to the ribs. "THAT'S the big-hearted pizza guy I know..."

The two of them continued on, the levity quickly being swallowed up in the stifling silence around them.

It took more time than Sunset liked for them to make their way through the ruins. Penn had thankfully memorized all of the puzzles, allowing them to move more quickly than most, but the entire time she couldn't stop thinking about the possibility that they had landed themselves in the least pleasant timeline. This was only encouraged by the fact that in the entire time, they didn't encounter a single one of the monsters that he claimed were supposed to live in this underground world. The only signs of life they had encountered was a bowl of what looked like Halloween candy, each helping themselves to the recommended single helping.

Finally, the two of them encountered what looked like a cozy house at the end of the pathway, made up of the same material as everything else in the ruins. Penn's eyes widened and he rushed past the bare-branched tree in the front yard. Sunset hurried to catch up, seeing the same bad sign he had: the door had been left wide open. For the first time, he raised his voice above a murmur, cupping his hands around his mouth.

Sunset watched him dash out of the foyer, only to return a few seconds later, flinging open each of the doors in the hallway, each time looking more disappointed when there didn't seem to be anyone inside.

"Penn, I-" he didn't seem to hear her, practically leaping over the banister to get to the basement stairs. She rushed to follow him, descending the stairs swiftly and finding herself in a long hallway. At the end were a large pair of double doors leading to a snow-covered landscape... and Penn, kneeling beside a pile of gray dust. He looked devastated, tears rolling down his cheeks as his hands hovered over the pile of dust, too scared to actually touch it.

"Th-they killed her..." he whispered. "She wouldn't have hurt them! She SAVED them at the beginning! She just wanted to protect them... And now she's-" he gestured to the pile of dust, "She didn't deserve THIS!" He took a deep, shuddering breath, seeming to collect himself after that and wiped away the tears from his eyes. "They killed Toriel... they killed Goat Mom. Nobody who knows what they're doing kills Goat Mom unless they're on a Genocide route."

Penn looked out the door towards the snowy landscape, and his face settled into an angry scowl. He pushed himself back up onto his feet and pointed out.

Sunset brushed her hand against her belt, double-checking that her saber was still there. "Changing the timeline? I like the sound of that."

Sunset paused as a new sensation nearly overwhelmed her. Her saber was in her hands before she was even conscious of the action, and she vigorously searched from side to side in an attempt to track down the source of the chill running up her spine.

They weren't alone. She KNEW it, but there was no one else there. It was some kind of presence diffused around them, an invisible miasma watching their every move. It was practically suffocating with its pressure. She reached for her geode with her other hand, trying to see if her magic could help her, but whatever it was seemed to be just beyond her grasp.

"Like... someone's here. Like we're being watched..." Just like Missy said before she left!

Penn paused for a moment, looking around them for a few seconds before shaking his head. "I don't feel anything, Sunny..."

"Well, we DID just confirm we've been walking through a mass grave, so..." Penn shrugged and they both grimaced for a moment before she returned her saber to her belt.

"Sounds good to me, Sunny..." He muttered, stepping out through the door and into the snow.

"Look, I recognize the council has made a decision, but given that it's a stupid decision, I have elected to ignore it!"

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The next area was warmer than Snowdin, allowing Missy to unzip her new hoodie and wear it open. This place was like an aquatic paradise, starting with a roaring underground waterfall and only getting better. Lakes and ponds were everywhere, framing the pathways and creating sparkling rivers that finally filled the eerie silence with the sound of rushing water.

The two of them continued on, past fields of glowing flowers and long grasses. It was lucky that Lantern could fly, because there were numerous places without a clear path across the water, or some winding pathway ten times longer than simply crossing the water. Above and around them was dark-colored rock, punctuated by flecks and peeks at glowing gemstones still stuck inside the rough-hewn stone. From here, in the low light, they almost looked like stars... once she could actually reach out and touch, this time.

They stopped once. A gray door had appeared in the rock wall, looking oddly out of place. Missy had tried knocking, and could have almost sworn she heard hushed voices on the other side, but no one answered. Trying to open it herself had been fruitless, and she and Lantern had simply let it be after that. Something about it felt... off. It set her teeth on edge.

She had nearly jumped out of her skin when, for the first time, a voice called out to her. Thankfully, she'd managed to avoid THAT embarrassing reaction, but it still gave both of them a thorough startling.

Missy released her grip on Lantern's neck and slid down to the ground again. The stranger was another kid, one who clearly couldn't be much older than herself. They looked like some kind of dinosaur-esque creature, with scaly orange skin and plate-like protrusions running down their spine and a short reptilian tail. They were dressed in an orange-striped sweater, one without sleeves to match the fact that they appeared to have no arms.

"Well, if you need help, I'll take you to go see Undyne! She's the Captain of the Royal Guard and, like, the coolest monster ever! I'm sure she can help! Come on!" The kid interrupted her before she could finish, turning back down the path and nodding for her to follow. Missy felt Lantern's arms grip her waist before tossing her into the air, where she landed on his back.

"So... did the human do that to you? Everyone keeps telling me they're really dangerous, but I don't think it's true! They're just a kid like us!"

"Wha- a human? No, this happened when I fell down the hole at the top of the mountain. We've been looking for help for a while, but everything seems abandoned! Is that what happened?" Missy adjusted her grip to stare over Lantern's shoulder.

"Well, I dunno, Doctor Alphys is calling for everyone to evacuate to Hotland... But the Royal Guard is still out here, so this could be my chance to see Undyne in action!"

"An... evacuation? That sounds really serious... are you sure YOU should be out here?"

"Pfft, like I said, Undyne can handle it! I just wanna watch!" The kid shrugged nonchalantly as they approached a rope bridge. "Come on, the Royal Guard's telling everyone to come this way!"

Missy and Lantern followed them out onto the bridge, the monster kid walking casually across as Lantern hovered just above the floorboards, giving the appearance that they were using the bridge.

All three of them stopped, however, when the bridge shook from a new weight. All three of them turned around, and even nestled in her new hoodie, Missy felt her blood run cold.

It was a human child, dressed in a blue-and-purple sweater. They had stepped onto the bridge behind them all, cutting off any way of going back. The child seemed to be perpetually squinting, but Missy could make out a faint red glow behind those eyes to match the malevolent aura they were radiating. Clutched in their hand was a knife, and Missy could see a thin coating of the same dust she'd been seeing all over the underground on their clothing. Something about this child stuck her deep with fear, an instinctive worry that reminded her of seeing dangerous animals in the zoo pacing their habitats, clearly anxious to be on the hunt.

The kid pushed past Lantern, placing themselves between the two of them and the human.

"Y-yo. Undyne told me to stay away from you... She said you... You hurt a lot of people. ... But, yo, that's not true, right?" The human turned away for a moment as if they were ashamed, and Missy watched the color drain from the kid's face. When the human looked back at them, Missy could see the beginnings of a smile tugging at their lips. "Yo... Why won't you answer me? A... a... and what's with that weird expression?"

The human took a step forward, and the three of them all moved back out of reflex. Emboldened by their response, the human continued walking forward. By the time they were halfway across the bridge, the group of three had reached the land on the other side.

"Kid... I think we should get out of here..." Missy whispered. The monster either didn't hear her or ignored her, planting their feet in a wide stance.

"Yo... Y-you'd b-better st-stop r-right where you are!" The human ignored them, continuing across the bridge. "Cause if you w-wanna hurt anyone else... you're..." Missy could see the kid beginning to tremble as the human drew closer and closer. "You're gonna have to get through me, first! A... an... and..."

This wasn't going to work. Intimidating someone was like scaring them, and you couldn't scare someone who knew you were afraid of them in a million years.

When the human lunged forward the rest of the way, their blade flashed in the dim light, and for a moment it seemed as if all the false stars had been captured in its polished surface. Missy was ready.

Lantern disappeared from underneath her, rematerializing between the kid and their attacker just in time to catch the blow with his own body. Missy hit the ground on her strong leg, rushing forward and giving the kid as hard of a shove as she could in the opposite direction.

"B-b-but-" the kid stammered, trying to find some argument. Missy spun around, grabbing them by their shoulders and looking them straight in the eye.

"You said there was a Royal Guard, right? Go GET THEM! Get that 'Undyne' person you keep talking abo-"

Missy felt a heavy blow strike across her back. The time between the attack and the pain was just enough for her brain to register what was coming.

A single piano-key wing fluttered to the ground on its own, its end a bloody stump.

And then the world exploded with searing, burning pain. She knew she screamed, but she only heard the echoes of it once she had run out of air in her lungs. She squirmed, she writhed, she collapsed to her knees as the world began to spin.

She'd been "destroyed" in duels before, but this was different. That was always over in less than a second, and then she'd be back home with her friends with a thrilling tale to tell. This wasn't stopping. This was constant, beating, throbbing agony raking through her body, unlike anything she'd ever felt before. She could feel it threatening to rip her apart, her strength sapping away in the hot red liquid pouring from her back.

When the initial wave of pain had passed, she could feel the aftershocks coming, but her ability to think returned to her. The kid was gone, hopefully to get help. She forced down the urge to vomit and breathed heavily through her mouth to try and mitigate the pain. She wasn't sure whether it was the shock or the lighting, but it seemed as if the world had gone black and white, the only two beings left in existence being herself and the human. She forced herself to her feet, feeling adrenaline beginning to pump through her veins and force strength back into her limbs.

The duel wasn't over. She'd been challenged, and as the ace of the Ghostrick Archetype, she had to answer.

She reached up on top of her head with a trembling hand, retrieving her hat and feeling inside for her cards.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

> ACT
> CHECK
> MISSY

ATK: 20 DEF:12
One-Winged Angel of Mischief. Out of treats, only tricks.
Watch out for her friends.

The Multiverse in a Nutshell

by Pennington Inkwell

DeTermination