As Woona continued to carefully make her way west, she noticed a few status updates from Alphys regarding something Chara identified as an anime, and decided to ignore them as she had no real basis on which to judge. As she continued, however, someone called out to her, "Hey, you! Stop!"
Confused, she turned around, seeing two black armored, bunny-eared royal guards racing up to her. "Uh...is there a problem, officers?" she asked worriedly.
"We've, like, received an anonymous tip about a human wandering around disguised as a pony," the vocal guard replied. "They said they were wandering around Hotland right now." Noticing Woona getting worried, the guard shrugged. "I know it seems scary, but it's nothing to worry about. We'll take you someplace safe..." He paused as his companion gestured towards Woona. "What? A pony...you think she's the human in disguise-"
Woona stared as two holes in reality closed where the two guards had been. "...I did not know I could shortcut other people..." she murmured. "Or that shortcuts looked so scary from the outside..."
Where did you send them? Chara asked worriedly.
"Well...I thought they needed new orders, so..."
At the border between Waterfall and Hotland, Undyne slowly rose to her feet, lifting two figures off of her. "01...02...care to explain why you landed on me?!" she roared out. She blinked as she noticed something. "02, why are you out of uniform? And 01, why are you staring?"
02 shrugged helplessly. 01 began to stammer, unable to tear his eyes away from 02's exposed muscles. "Well, er, I was, uh...well..."
Undyne facepalmed. "Urg! Just make out already, you two!" she snapped.
02 promptly saluted and turned to his stammering companion. Undyne's jaw dropped as she watched the result, before the pair went off for ice cream. ...is this what it feels like to be the protagonist in the human histories? she thought to herself.
...I'm not sure how to react to that, Chara murmured as Woona pulled her head back out of the shortcut.
"Yeah," Woona agreed. "I never knew Undyne was such a good matchmaker for everyone except herself."
...I don't know how to react to that, either, Chara admitted as Woona turned north, and then east.
Woona was somewhat unsurprised to discover she had entered yet another darkened room. Sighing, she waited for the lights to come on.
Alphys updated status:
Turning on the lights for Woona.
As the lights came on, Woona found herself in a large brown room with various items scattered around...and that she seemed to be on TV. Somewhat upbeat, intense music began to play.
"GOOD EVENING BEAUTIES AND GENTLEBEAUTIES!" Mettaton greeted, his voice altered as it came through speakers. "THIS IS METTATON, REPORTING LIVE FROM MTT NEWS! AN INTERESTING SITUATION HAS ARISEN IN EASTERN HOTLAND! FORTUNATELY, OUR CORRESPONDENT IS OUT THERE, REPORTING LIVE! BRAVE CORRESPONDENT, PLEASE FIND SOMETHING NEWSWORTHY TO REPORT! OUR TEN WONDERFUL VIEWERS ARE WAITING FOR YOU!"
Smiling happily, Woona sat down to watch the 'correspondent' do some investigative reporting. She wondered what that was.
"UMM...BRAVE CORRESPONDENT, YOU DON'T SEEM TO BE DOING ANYTHING..."
Woona's eyes widened. "But...but I don't know how to investigative report! I don't even know what it is!"
"...JUST WALK UP TO SOMETHING OUT THERE, AND I'LL SAY SOME STUFF ABOUT IT."
"Okay, I can do that!" Smiling, Woona began wandering around, looking for something to investigate. She gasped as she spotted a familiar figure, and rushed up to the little white dog.
"WHAT A SENSATIONAL OPPORTUNITY FOR A STORY!" Mettaton proclaimed excitedly. "I CAN SEE THE HEADLINE NOW-"
Mettaton stopped talking as Woona cuddled the white dog.
"...WE NOW HAVE 27 VIEWERS! INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER WOONA, DON'T STOP SNUGGLING!"
Woona paused as she felt something strange. "Wait...this isn't a dog. It's not a dog at all!"
The tip of the dog's tail ignited.
"It's a bomb!" Woona screamed out.
"THAT'S RIGHT!" Mettaton proclaimed. "EVERYTHING OUT THERE IS A BOMB! AND IF YOU DON'T DEFUSE THE BOMBS IN TWO MINUTES, THE BIG BOMB TO THE NORTH OF YOU WILL BLOW YOU TO SMITHEREENS IN TWO MINUTES!"
Woona's phone rang. "Don't worry, Woona!" Alphys told her quickly. "I can help you! On your phone-"
"Can you give me coordinates to a part of the Underground in need of expansion?" Woona asked curiously. "Relative to my current location?"
Alphys was silent for a time. "Umm...sure I can. Let me just find them..." After a time, Alphys rattled off some coordinates.
Grinning, Woona sent her magic through her horn. The bombs all vanished into shortcut holes.
"WHAT?!" Mettaton demanded. "THIS IS AWFUL! DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT THIS SORT OF OVERPOWERED NONSENSE IS GOING TO DO TO OUR VIEWERSHIP? ...IT WENT UP. I GUESS I'LL JUST SAY GOODNIGHT TO OUR 37 VIEWERS!" The speakers cut off, and the forcefields locking Woona in shut down.
That was rather cheap, Chara chided.
"That was s-so cool!" Alphys proclaimed over the phone. "W-well, as long as I didn't look into the shortcuts..."
"Thank you, Alphys!" Woona interrupted. "If not for you, I'd have been blown to bits!"
"A...all in a day's work!" Alphys stammered, laughing nervously before her signal cut.
Woona moved out to the east and north, continuing deeper into Hotland. Knowing she was getting closer and closer to so many of her goals and keeping her promises filled her with DETERMINATION.