//------------------------------// // Chapter 26: The Good Captain // Story: Harmony of Heroes: Ultimate Multiverse Explorers // by Lucar //------------------------------// When Frisk and Papyrus came out of the room, the skeleton had the horror of hearing his worst nightmare. "why are skeletons so good at chopping down trees?" "Uh... I don't know." "that's because they are lumbarjacks!" Two laughs followed. "Ok, my turn! But first, do you have water? I'm a little horse!" "ah! classic! but sorry, i don't have water on me, i'm just made of bones." Two laughs followed again, and Frisk had to hold one. "OH NO... PLEASE NO... EVERYTHING BUT THAT..." "What do you call blueberries playing the guitar?" "uh... i don't know. what do you call blueberries playing the guitar?" "A jam session!" Papyrus ran down the stairs yelling, "STOOOOOOP!!! I DON'T WANT TO HEAR ONE MORE JOKE! PLEASE, STOP THIS TORTURE! I KNEW I SHOULDN'T HAVE LEFT YOU TWO ALONE!" "Come on Papyrus," Frisk began as she giggled. "Don't they tickle your funny bone?" "NOT YOU TOO!!! FRISK, DON'T BETRAY ME AFTER EVERYTHING WE WENT THROUGH!" "oh, so you finally learned the human's name. by the way, how did the date go?" "I got friendzoned," Frisk answered. "But that's okay." "I SADLY COULDN'T RECIPROCATE HER FEELINGS, BUT WE CAME TO AN UNDERSTANDING." "And at least, we had fun!" "QUITE! IT WAS AN ENRICHING EXPERIENCE." "And he gave me his phone number," Frisk said as she showed her phone. "THIS WAY, I WILL BE ABLE TO GIVE YOU MY USEFUL ADVICES EVEN IF I'M NOT PRESENT!" "And what do you advise us to do against Undyne?" Sweetie Belle asked. ................. "TO RUN AS FAST AS YOU CAN!" "Thanks. It'll be very useful," the filly deadpanned. "YOU'RE WELCOME!" "so, now that the date is over, how about we go to grillby's before i return to my post? on the house," Sans proposed. "I wouldn't mind." "Me too." "REALLY YOU TWO? YOU WANT TO GO IN THAT PALACE OF GREASE AND SALT? HOW ABOUT I COOK YOU SOME NICE PASTA INSTEAD? IT'LL BE MUCH BETTER!" "Uh... As much as I would like more of your spaghetti, I wouldn't mind going into a restaurant. I haven't been in one since forever," Frisk replied. Papyrus groaned. "AND OF COURSE, THE ONLY RESTAURANT AROUND IS GRILLBY'S, AND ALL THE OTHERS ARE AT THE CAPITAL. THEN I SUPPOSE THAT I CAN'T SAY ANYTHING AGAINST IT." "technically, grillby's is a pub, but i suppose that it still counts." They then went to Grillby's, and the following moments were filled with good laughs and bad food. The pub was managed by a monster entirely made of fire, and there was a small number of patrons, including the dogs who were all playing Poker (Lesser Dog playing by himself for some reason). Frisk then found herself sitting on a whoopee cushion that wasn't here five seconds earlier, to Papyrus' annoyance, before they ate some burgers (vegetarian for Sweetie Belle). The meal was filled with anecdotes about the skeletons' life, Sweetie Belle telling some about her life, and a lot of jokes and puns. Once the meal was over, they then joined the dogs and did a few rounds of Poker, Sans helping the children to learn. The smaller skeleton was clearly a master of the game, but he quickly found a rival in Frisk who revealed to have a perfect Poker Face, leading to some intense rounds between the two. Papyrus, however, was a victim, and Sweetie Belle did her best while learning. Eventually, they left Grillby's, and the skeletons let Frisk and Sweetie Belle continue toward Waterfall. Waterfall was a different ambiance from Snowdin. As Sweetie Belle and Frisk followed the river again, the snow disappeared, the temperature rose, there were no more trees, and the ground and walls became mainly purple colored. They began to pass beside waterfalls either coming all the way from the ceiling of the Underground or from cliffs, and where Snowdin had been somehow well alight despite being underground, the area here became somber. And to the children's awe, they began to see more and more gems in the walls as well as in the ceiling, the precious stones glowing, illuminating the dark cavern like countless stars. The result was breathtaking. Absolutely beautiful. And gave a feeling of absolute peace. Sweetie Belle could simply lie down here and watch the 'stars' while listening to the river and the waterfalls for hours. Eventually, the river turned left, but they had to continue forward in a smaller path. Here, they found Sans behind another sentry station somehow covered in snow, as if it was the sentry station from Snowdin somehow transported here. He wasn't alone here as there were two other monsters. One of them was one they had briefly seen back at Snowdin, a yellow, reptilian, armless monster about as tall as Frisk that had been present beside the decorated fir. The little monster was currently looking at an abyss, at the waterfalls disappearing in it. The other was a red fish-like monster beside a tall blue flower that seemed to be whispering something. The monster explained that the flower was what was called an Echo Flower, a flower that repeated the last sound it had been exposed to like an echo. And indeed, when they listened, the flower repeated what the monster just said again and again. Sweetie Belle was now thinking of taking some seeds to bring back home. Frisk rapidly activated a Save Point before they approached Sans. "You have two stations?" Sweetie Belle asked. "what? you've never seen a guy with two jobs before?" "What is surprising us is that you have two jobs," Frisk said. "oh, but i have a good reason to have two jobs. having two jobs means that i have twice as many legally-required breaks." "Figure!" both children said with a giggle. "well, don't mind me. continue your adventure. but be careful. my bro has gone to give his report to undyne, and they should meet further ahead. if you decide to continue now, you may need to hide, unless you want a close encounter with a few dozens spears of energy. i don't want you to be spearited away." "You know we won't," Sweetie Belle replied. "true, but isn't it normal for a friend to say that kind of stuff even if there's no reason to worry?" It was with some giggles that the kids left Sans and continued. They passed beside a box and reached a river with rushing water, between two waterfalls. They carefully avoided the boulders dragged by the strong water as they traversed it, and they reached a patch of seaweed. Once they entered it, they stopped as they suddenly heard Papyrus' voice from the top of the cliff at their left. "I'M SORRY, UNDYNE, FOR BEING SO LATE. I WAS SOMEHOW CONVINCED TO ENTER GRILLBY'S AND TO PLAY SOME ROUNDS OF THAT INFERNAL GAME THAT MY BROTHER AND THE DOGS LIKE TO PLAY." They couldn't hear Undyne's answer. "SORRY FOR WORRYING YOU. IT WASN'T MY INTENTION." ... "YES, I FOUGHT THE HUMAN. I HAD TO CALL SANS FOR HELP BECAUSE FRISK WAS HELPED BY THAT PONY I TALKED ABOUT. BUT... WE FAILED." ... "B-BUT YOU DON'T HAVE TO! YOU SEE... YOU SEE..." ... "... I UNDERSTAND. THEN, I'LL HELP YOU IN ANY WAY I CAN." After that, everything became silent, so Frisk and Sweetie Belle supposed that Papyrus and Undyne were gone. However, as soon as they moved, causing the grass to rustle, they heard a metallic sound from the top of the cliff, followed by what seemed to be metallic footsteps approaching, so they immediately stopped again. Through the grass, they saw a being entirely clad in armor partially hidden by the shadows come to the edge of the cliff, looking down at the grass. Taking a threatening position, the being in armor, Undyne, then materialized a blue spear made of energy, clearly staring at Frisk. Buck! I guess I have to act! Sweetie Belle thought before she flew out of the grass. Taken by surprise, Undyne stepped back, letting the pony land in front of her. From up close, Sweetie Belle could see more features. The armor looked pretty normal, in various shades of grey, but the helmet looked very scary, possessing a fanged mouth, and because of the shadows, only one eye, glowing through the darkness, was visible. The helmet also had another opening at the back through which a red ponytail was coming, probably Undyne's hair. "So, you decided to come instead of remaining hidden in that patch of seaweed. You have guts, I must admit. You know, if you had remained in the seaweed, I wouldn't have attacked you. The seaweed is used for scientific study, so I could have done nothing." Sweetie Belle stared at the knight for a few seconds before facehoofing. "Seriously? Well, drat..." She then looked down at the grass. "Hey, you heard that, Frisk? Remain in the grass and she won't hurt you!" "I don't need to hurt the human anymore, anyway," Undyne said before she engaged a battle with the filly, making her black SOUL come out. "I can already tell that your SOUL is a special one that may be even more powerful than the one of a human. Taking it will be as much a ticket to our freedom than the human's." "No need, I intend to destroy the Barrier, so nobody will have to die." "Don't screw with me!" Undyne shouted. "You? Destroying the Barrier?! As if this can happen! Nobody is THAT powerful!" "But-" "Shut up!" Undyne suddenly swung her spear, sending a wave of energy toward Sweetie Belle that had for effect to turn her SOUL green. She then took off her helmet, revealing that she was a humanoid fish-like monster with blue skin, and that she possessed an eye-patch covering her left eye. "No more losing time blablating nonsense! I will take your SOUL and bring it to the king!" "Oh my God!" someone who wasn't Frisk suddenly shouted from the grass. "Undyne is gonna fight?! I want to see it, but I can't see anything from down here!" Undyne looked annoyed. "What is that kid doing here? Ugh! No matter! Oh, I almost forgot." A small spear of energy suddenly appeared in front of Sweetie Belle. "You are lucky I'm an honorable warrior! I give you a way to defend yourself!" "Uh, no thanks. I have my own way of defending myself," Sweetie Belle replied before she materialized her weapon that she divided into the ten parts before materializing the ten double-beam swords. Undyne's jaw dropped. "Lightsabers? Actual lightsabers? And double-bladed ones! Like that red-skinned guy!" Her expression then morphed into an excited one. "Aww yeah! I will be able to go all out from the start! Take that!" Dozens of spear then materialized a certain distance around Sweetie Belle and approached her. The filly discovered at this moment that, because of the green SOUL, she couldn't move around anymore, so she was forced to use her swords to parry all the spears, some of which circled the filly to attack her from the opposite direction after a first faint attack. "Ngh... You seem well trained," Undyne noticed. "Yeah, I guess that I haven't introduced myself, Undyne, Captain of the Royal Guard. I am Sweetie Belle, formerly second in command of King Dedede from Dream Land, and now Queen of Floralia and, I guess, Alicorn and Princess of the Void!" "What?! You're telling me that someone as young as you managed to become the right hand of a king before becoming yourself a royal?" Something then clicked. "Wait! I'm currently fighting a magical warrior princess from another dimension?! Ngaaaaahhh!!! Now I'm pumped up!!! I'll give myself at one thousand percent!!! This is the fight I have been waiting for!!!" The number of spears suddenly tripled, and their speed more than doubled, rapidly overwhelming Sweetie Belle despite her ten weapons, forcing her to teleport. "And you can teleport?! Now, I KNOW that I can go all out!" Circles of blue energy appeared on the ground under and around Sweetie Belle, and she teleported again before spears came out of them. She had to continue to teleport as more of these spears continued to come out of the ground wherever she appeared. "You know, this fight isn't as intense as it could be with you not attacking back!" "Are you sure this is what you want?" Sweetie Belle asked. "Yes! Give me a true fight!" "Okay," Sweetie Belle replied with a shrug. Then, with a roar, she forced her SOUL out of the Green mode, sent a powerful shock wave that destroyed all the spears around her, and charged toward Undyne. The Captain readied her spear, but Sweetie Belle sliced it in two with her own weapon before she knocked her on her back. Sweetie Belle then dropped on Undyne's belly, and she crossed two of her swords so that Undyne's neck was between them, and she did the same with all of Undyne's limbs, forcing her to remain immobile. "I win." "What... The..." Sweetie Belle then released her as she flew away, landing back on the ledge above the seaweed. "You still want to continue?" Undyne quickly got up and materialized a new spear in her hands. "I can't stop! For all the monsters' hopes and dreams!" She then charged toward Sweetie Belle who sighed before she only took one of her swords and parried the spear. After easily parrying a few more attacks and jumping above a group of spears coming out of the ground, she then kicked the spear out of Undyne's hands before stopping her sword beside Undyne's neck. "I win again." Undyne immediately jumped backward and sent dozens of spears at the filly who destroyed them with beams excepted one that she took with her magic before she teleported in front of the Captain and pointed the stolen spear at her neck. "That's three for me." Undyne materialized another spear in her hands and used it to knock Sweetie's spear away from her neck. The two then used their spear to fight again. "It seems like Frisk isn't the only one who is determined. You really will fight to the end to get that SOUL, uh?" "Yeah! I can't give up!" But eventually, Undyne ran away, only to quickly come back with a huge boulder that she then threw at Sweetie Belle. But the filly punched it, and the boulder was turned into dozens of stone bricks that perfectly fell around her, building a small house. Sweetie Belle smiled innocently at Undyne through the entrance of the little stone house. Undyne roared in rage. Undyne was on her knee, breathing heavily, spear planted on the ground in front of her. "I can't... give up..." "As much as I admire your resolve, Undyne, it is clearly a fight that you can't win. Not now that you're out of energy," Sweetie Belle said, the filly sitting just in front of the fish lady. "If it can make you feel better, you lasted very long. How many times did I defeat her?" "117 times," another Sweetie Belle answered, the second filly holding a notepad with 117 "V" written on it, each "V" representing a victory of Sweetie Belle. "Thanks. You see? And despite this, you want to continue for your fellow monsters. It's really admirable." Undyne just gritted her teeth. "Listen. This is going nowhere. Just let us go, and you will see, once we reach the capital, I will destroy the Barrier." Undyne growled. "It's not like I have a choice anyway... But as strong as you are, I still can't believe that you could destroy the Barrier." "Let me try, at least," Sweetie Belle replied. Undyne didn't answer and, instead, began to get up, but with a lot of difficulty as she used her spear as a support. "Mmh..." Sweetie Belle looked at Undyne, then walked back toward the ledge. "Hey! Frisk! Call Papyrus! Undyne may need his help to return to her home!" "Okay!" "No, I don't!" Undyne shouted at the same time, but to no avail as Frisk called the skeleton. Meanwhile, the monster kid looked up from the seaweed. "Woah... I couldn't see much, but that seemed intense! You must be very strong if you managed to defeat Undyne! But Undyne still managed to fight that long so she's still incredible! I can't wait to tell this to my friends!" And the kid ran back to Snowdin. On the way, he tripped and fell on his face, but he got up and continued as if it didn't happen. Papyrus then came barely one minute later. "HELLO AGAIN! FRISK TOLD ME EVERYTHING! SO YOU TWO HAD A FRIENDLY FIGHT TOO, UH?" "Yup! And it was very fun! But now, Undyne is too tired to return to her home," Sweetie Belle said. "I CAN SEE THAT! COMING FROM UNDYNE, I AM NOT SURPRISED. WELL, DON'T YOU WORRY, UNDYNE! WITH MY HELP, YOU'LL BE BACK HOME BEFORE YOU KNOW IT!!! AND YOU WILL TELL ME EVERYTHING ABOUT YOUR EPIC FIGHT!" Undyne simply sighed. "Very well..." As Papyrus put one of Undyne's arms over his shoulders and led her back to her home, Sweetie Belle waved at them before she flew back to Frisk, ready to continue their adventure.