//------------------------------// // Spear of Justice // Story: The Multiverse in a Nutshell // by Pennington Inkwell //------------------------------// "Okay, try THIS on for size! Come on out, Dullahan!" Alphys had been watching the battle over her cameras, and her heart was practically in her throat. The angel and the human had come face to face, the one thing that she had been praying wouldn't happen. The human had snuck up behind her and struck a critical blow, but the angel was barely hanging on in the face of what would have been a mortal wound to most monsters. Whatever kind of magic she was using, it seemed fundamentally different to anything that she had ever seen. Her strategy seemed to center around summoning up other monsters to fight for her. Some would cast spells of their own, others would charge straight across the center of the battlefield to attack the human directly. Some monster's magic could turn into a reflection of themselves to attack, but she seemed to be calling up entirely separate entities. Meanwhile, she seemed mainly focused on supporting her summons, sometimes calling out her own spells that protected them, other times instructing their attacks from the rear. It seemed like powerful magic, but just like every other monster, she seemed to have a weakness in her abilities. In her case, it appeared as a heads-up warning to her attacks, displayed as trading-card-like signs that appeared beside her. Unfamiliar attacks were dangerous, but as soon as she had used an attack once, the human never fell for it a second time. She reached out and pressed several buttons on the console, activating the "Check" function. "Watch out for her friends... Why does it keep saying that?" she whispered. Everything else had changed, her stats were dropping as she grew weaker, her "friends" had all shown up. As near as she could tell, Missy had exhausted all of her options, she'd started repeating her attacks some time ago, albeit in different combinations. Why would the "check" function keep giving the same warning? There was a soft beeping noise, drawing her eyes back to the screen. "She's... getting stronger again? How does that make any sense?" Alphys whispered. Even as she did, another flicker on the console caught her eye: her motion detectors. Two different signals from different parts of the underground.One was coming from the edge of Hotland and into Waterfall from the other direction, moving fast. She already knew who THAT was, only two monsters in the underground could move like that, and one of them was helping coordinate the evacuation under her lab. The other was from the edge of Snowdin, just crossing over into Waterfall. That could only mean one thing: either both the evacuation AND the human had missed someone, or "Missy" had been followed. She hated to look away from the ongoing battle, but... from a purely objective perspective, her observance could do nothing to help. If something else was coming their way, she needed to know. She took a deep breath, promising herself she would come back to the battle as soon as she can before pressing the button to change cameras. "Deep breaths, Sunset... Are you okay?" "I don't know. You're sure there's nothing back there? It REALLY hurts, and if it's not me, then..." "Then we need to move faster." Alphys stumbled backwards, her hand flying to her chest in fear. Humans. Two more humans. One with fiery red hair was knelt on the ground, clearly in pain while the other was holding her shirt up and examining her back. "If somebody hurt Missy..." the redheaded girl let the threat trail off as she rose to her feet, smoothing down her shirt. "You're gonna have to get in line," the other one finished her statement. After a nod to each other, they ran out of the camera's sight. Alphys stopped, her panic coming to a pause in favor of confusion. These humans... were looking for Missy? More importantly, they were worried about her? She didn't exactly want to trust humans right now, but if they wanted to protect Missy, that meant they had a common enemy. She didn't have a way to contact them, but they were moving in the right direction... in fact, judging by the order in which her motion detectors were going off, they were moving as if they were already familiar with the path. They didn't seem to need her directions, they just needed to hurry. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Missy panted for breath, trying to catch even a few seconds for a break. This kid was relentless, and the throbbing pain from her injury wasn't doing anything to help her focus. Alucard had taken to the front lines for the moment, drawing the child's attention to himself, but the two were far from evenly matched. It was all he could do to stay ahead of the human's blade, unable to even consider launching a counterattack. If I just had a chance to summon him properly with some Xyz materials, his ability could do some damage... She shook her head, dispelling the thought. She hadn't even been able to spare a single card to equip to herself, there was no way she could have put together the materials for a proper Xyz summon. Her friends were forcing their way through the dimensional boundaries just to help keep her safe, this was no time for "if only." She had to work with the hand she'd drawn. Speaking of which... She reached down into her hat to see what else she could draw for the next turn. She could only feel a handful of cards left inside. That, combined with the hollow feeling in her stomach, confirmed what she already knew: they were running out of time and energy. Her friends were exhausted, and she was fading fast. She swallowed and drew her next card, praying for a miracle. When she looked down, however, she felt her heart sink. Ghostrick Mansion. A field spell. It could halve all of the damage she took, but it felt like it was made of lead, not paper. She didn't even need to try to activate the spell to know that she didn't have the power to manifest a field spell into real life right now. She could try to attach it to herself as an Xyz material, it WAS a "Ghostrick" card, after all, but being one tenth of the way to her win condition wasn't going to help. She winced as the child finally managed to get ahead of Alucard, their knife nearly slicing the specter in half vertically. In an explosive shower of particles, Alucard was forcefully sent back to the world of spirits, leaving Missy once again on her own. The human locked their eyes on her, clear in their intent: she was next. She stepped back. They stepped forward. They stepped forward again. Missy couldn't move, any more. Her knees were like jelly. She couldn't fly. She was so scared she could barely think straight. She wasn't sure what would happen if she was destroyed here. Would she simply go home, just like the others did when their physical forms were destroyed, or... is this it? When the human raised their blade, she could only think one thing: This isn't the fun type of scare, any more... Missy's eyes widened as a burst of wind flew past the side of her face. A glowing blue light flashed by in the corner of her vision, striking the human and sending them reeling backwards. She could hear the clattering of boots stomping towards her as someone approached from deeper in the mountain. More blue light began to shine from the ground in front of her, forming up into a wall of spears separating her from the human. "HEY, KID!" The boots came to a stop, and a heavy hand placed itself on her shoulder. "You alright?" Missy looked up at her savior, the edges of her vision blurring. It was another monster, dressed in heavy silver plate armor. She looked humanoid, but a glance at her face made it more than clear she wasn't. She had blue skin, a pair of red-striped fins on either side of her head, huge, moray-like fangs, and blazing red hair pulled back into a ponytail. "I- I..." she stammered, unsure what to say. The other monster stared at her with her one yellow eye, the other being covered up by a black eyepatch. She glanced at Missy's wound across her back, then the disembodied wing laying on the ground. Her already-fearsome visage turned dark, glaring at the human with blazing fury. "Do you think you can move on your own, kid?" Missy tried to push herself upwards, but her legs refused to obey, and her head started spinning in a way that made her violently nauseous. "N-no..." The fish-like monster seemed to ponder the situation for a few seconds before stepping past her. Another of those blazing blue spears materialized in her hand, and she pointed it threateningly at the human. "Then wait there. I'll deal with the hu- with whatever that thing is, and then I'll take you to Doctor Alphys. I just need you to hang on a little longer." Missy nodded, clutching one hand against her head to try and steady the world as her dizziness increased. "No more monsters are going to die today, not if I have anything to say about it!" She pounded her fist against her chest, directly over her heart. "As Captain of the Royal Guard, I, Undyne, will strike you down!"