Harmony of Heroes: Ultimate Multiverse Explorers

by Lucar

Chapter 30: Playing Along

And so, Sweetie Belle and Frisk decided to play along with Alphys and Mettaton's little play. If the scientist wanted to have her "moment of glory," then okay. As long as it didn't hurt anybody.

And once it was over, they may need to have a talk with her.

Before they left the lab, Alphys modified Frisk's phone, modernizing it and adding some features, such as texting, the possibility to open some kind of small pocket dimensional box to store items, two of them even, a key chain to keep keys, and some other stuff judging by the number of unknown buttons now present. Alphys also signed Frisk up for the Underground's No. 1 social network, UnderNet. When Alphys proposed to Sweetie Belle to make her a similar phone, the filly thought for a moment before accepting. She didn't think that she will be able to use it back in Equestria, but this could still work in other worlds with this technology and she could always give it to Twilight to study.

Once Sweetie Belle had her own phone with all the same features, Alphys returned into the room she had previously left when they had entered the lab, which was apparently the bathroom.

After that, the children left the lab to start their journey through Hotland, Frisk looking at her phone as she and Sweetie Belle began to receive requests from monsters to be their friends in the Undernet. And also to keep an eye on the status updates, which Alphys was already doing, and rapidly too.

As they advanced, they could see that Hotland really had a lot of technology here. There were lot of tower-like structures with parts that glowed red, and further in the path, they arrived at a part where the ground was covered by pipes linking conveyor belts going forward and backward. Left and right, in the pits, pipes shouting blue fire were present.

After the conveyor belt, they had an encounter with a volcano-like monster named Vulkin; an innocent, happy-go-lucky monster who thought that his lava could heal Frisk. Even if he was mistaken, the Vulkin was still trying to help, so while avoiding his attacks, Frisk and Sweetie Belle thanked him and assured him that they didn't actually need to be healed. The Vulkin understood and left, but not before receiving a warming hug from the two of them. The monster just asked for one with his personality.

After passing a second conveyor belt, longer and turning left and right, making it slightly more dangerous as it would be easy to accidentally fall into the pit below when it turned, they reached a Save Point that Frisk activated under the wooshing sound of steam and cogs.

And Alphys was apparently about to call either Frisk or Sweetie Belle to help them as she said she would but couldn't bring herself to do it as she hated using the phone.

The poor girl clearly was as good in social interactions as Twilight when she first arrived in Ponyville so they couldn't hold it against her.

The Save Point was at the beginning of an area with some small islands above the magma, each island having steam vents with arrows.

The kids had to use the steam vents to propel themselves from island to island. Getting propelled above boiling magma was very scary for Frisk, but she was reassured by Sweetie Belle telling her that she could catch her if she fell. Thankfully, the vents always were at the right power to propel them to the next island.

Also, on one of the islands, they encountered another monster: Tsunderplane.

A monster that looked exactly like a plane (that was actually the first time that Sweetie saw an actual plane), wearing a pink mob cap with ribbons on it, who acted tough but had apparently a secret crush on Frisk.

There really were weird monsters in this world.

It was even blushing, faintly.

It was funny, and kind of cute, to watch it act hostile toward Frisk to hide its feelings, and then become all flustered when Frisk approached. It reminded Sweetie Belle of some of Rarity's romantic books.

After they left the plane, Sweetie Belle and Frisk arrived to an island where they had to choose between two paths. A quick look from Sweetie Belle showed that one of the paths only led to a dead end where a frying pan could be found, so they took the other path.

Frisk then received a call, probably from Alphys, but the reptilian monster hung up before she could answer.

Further, as they arrived in another area where the ground was covered by pipes and was blocked by orange and blue lasers, Alphys called again, and this time, Frisk could answer.

«Uhh! H-hi, so, the blue lasers... Uhh! I mean, Alphys here! Hi!»

"Hello again!" both Frisk and Sweetie Belle said.

«The blue lasers won't hurt you if you don't move!» Alphys informed, which was actually obvious as the kids were now used to blue attacks, and the lasers were the same blue. «O-orange ones, um... Y-you have to be moving, and they... Um, they won't, um... Move through those ones!... Uhh, bye!»

And she hung up.

She needed to work her speeches...

At least, she gave them a nice info: when they saw something orange, attacks or whatever, they had to move to not be hurt, contrary to the blue ones. Without her, they would have eventually learned it the hard way.

So they walked through the orange lasers, which were immobile, and when they reached blue lasers, which moved back and forth on the path, they remained immobile to let them pass.

And Frisk laughed at one of Alphys' status update. When Sweetie Belle saw it, she laughed too.

It seemed that Undyne was reciprocating Alphys' crush on her, and the scientist had no idea.

Once they reached the end of the path with the lasers, they pressed a switch that deactivated them just in case before continuing. It wasn't long before Alphys called again, just before they reached a steam vent that changed direction so they could go forward, left, or right. However, the forward direction was blocked by a door.

«A-A-Alphys here!!!!» Alphys yelled in the phone, almost turning Frisk deaf.

"C-calm down, Alphys..." Frisk said as she put a finger in her ear.

«S-sorry! I guess I got a little too emotional... So, uh, th... The northern door will stay locked until you... S-solve the puzzles on the right and left! I... I think you sh-should g-g-go to the right first!»

So they followed her instructions and waited for the vent to point to the right before letting it propel them. They passed beside two monsters informing them that the puzzles had apparently been reactivated recently, blocking them here. As a result, they couldn't go to work, but they were glad as they could follow Mettaton's show, being big fans.

So the puzzles had just been reactivated, uh? Knowing what they knew, it didn't take long for Sweetie Belle and Frisk to understand that Alphys was probably responsible of this.

At least, she made these two monsters' day by doing that, but they weren't sure if every monsters were okay with that.

This quickly revealed to be the case as they reached the first puzzle. Here, a monster looking like a fox head complained about the door being closed and stopping him from going to work, and he wasn't able to complete the puzzle so he was stuck here.

And yet, the puzzle wasn't hard. They had a ship, and the goal was to fire at the opposite ship. However, they had a limited number of ammo (two here), and blocks blocked the path between the two ships, so the kids had to move the blocks so that only one remained on the path. Thus, they could use one ammo to destroy the block, and the second ammo to destroy the other ship. The difficulty, however, was that all the blocks moved at once. At least, for this first puzzle, it wasn't problematic. There were just two blocks, one at the top and one at the bottom. All they had to do was to make the bottom one move up, then left or right, or vice-versa for the top one, and they were done.

After that, they went to the left path, only to be blocked by an immobile blue laser. And Alphys called again.

«Alphys! Here! Th-that blue laser seems totally impassable! B-b-but! As the Royal Scientist, I h-have some tricks up my sleeve! I'll h-hack into th-the Hotland laser database and take it out!»

And in an instant, the laser was deactivated.

"... Yup, if she can do that that easily, she's totally the one who reactivated all this," Sweetie Belle said.

Two monster schoolgirls that had been blocked by the laser, a purple one wearing a cap and one that seemed to be of the same species than Grillby's but green, confirmed it. The laser had suddenly reactivated, much to the purple monster's joy as it meant that she could skip school, only to remember that it was the summer vacation anyway. The fire monster, however, was glad that they were finally free.

Then, it was time to solve the second puzzle, and compared to the first one, this one was more difficult. It took a few seconds, but they eventually were able to put all the blocks out of the way excepted one. They then destroyed the block with the ship before destroying the opposite ship.

With the two puzzles solved, the northern door opened, letting them continue.

They received a call from Alphys at this moment, the scientist finally attempting to explain to them how the puzzles worked, but she realized that she was too late and hung up, embarrassed.

Then, after a series of steam vents, they reached a building. When they entered it, it was all dark, and Alphys called.

«H-hey, it's kind of dark in there, isn't it? Don't worry! I'll hack into the light system and brighten it up!»

It was done in less time that it takes to say it, and the lights were turned on, revealing that they were...

In a kitchen.

There was even a window with a fake cloudy sky.

Seeing the cameras present here and there, they immediately understood what it was.

«Oh no.»

And Mettaton rose from behind a table, now wearing a chief hat.

"OHHHH YES!!! WELCOME, BEAUTIES, TO THE UNDERGROUND'S PREMIER COOKING SHOW!!!"

And a giant sign magically appeared with "Cooking with a Killer Robot" written on it before disappearing.

Sweetie Belle blushed. "Mmh... I'm not sure I'm good enough at cooking yet to participate at a cooking show..."

"Me too. I never cooked," Frisk said. "Excepted with Undyne, but..."

"Yeah, let's not talk about it."

While they talked, Mettaton continued his speech. "PRE-HEAT YOUR OVENS, BECAUSE WE'VE GOT A VERY SPECIAL RECIPE FOR YOU TODAY! WE'RE GOING TO BE MAKING... A CAKE! MY LOVELY ASSISTANTS HERE WILL GATHER THE INGREDIENTS. EVERYONE GIVES THEM A BIG HAND!!!" He applauded, a clapping sound effect activating as confetti rained on Frisk and Sweetie Belle. "WE'LL NEED SUGAR, MILK, AND EGGS. GO FOR IT, SWEETHEARTS!"

Sweetie Belle and Frisk glanced at each other before giving a shrug. Something was going to happen, that was obvious, but they should as well enjoy it for now.

The three ingredients were already prepared on a counter, so they took them and put them on the table.

"PERFECT! GREAT JOB, BEAUTIFUL! WE'VE GOT ALL THE INGREDIENTS WE NEED TO BAKE THE CAKE! MILK... SUGAR... EGGS... OH MY! WAIT A MAGNIFICENT MOMENT! HOW COULD I FORGET!!! WE'RE MISSING THE MOST IMPORTANT INGREDIENT!"

"Flour?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"NOT AT ALL!" Mettaton's lights then became all red as he took out, of all things, a chainsaw. "A HUMAN SOUL!!!!"

Mettaton then began to advance toward Frisk, chainsaw activated, and the human and the pony grabbed eggs, ready to throw them at the robot and to start a food fight.

Ring...

Mettaton suddenly received a call, and he answered.

"HELLO...? I'M KIND OF IN THE MIDDLE OF SOMETHING HERE."

They then heard Alphys' voice. «W-wait a second!!! Couldn't you make a... Couldn't you use a... Couldn't you make a substitution in the recipe?!»

"... A SUBSTITUTION? YOU MEAN, USE A DIFFERENT, NON-HUMAN INGREDIENT?... WHY?"

«uhh, what if someone's...... Vegan?»

"... VEGAN."

«Uh well I mean-»

"THAT'S A BRILLIANT IDEA, ALPHYS!! ACTUALLY, I HAPPEN TO HAVE AN OPTION RIGHT HERE!!! MTT-BRAND ALWAYS-CONVENIENT HUMAN-SOUL-FLAVOR-SUBSTITUTE! A CAN OF WHICH... IS JUST OVER ON THAT COUNTER!!!" He pointed at a counter with a red can on it just beside the exit of the building. "WELL, DARLINGS? WHY DON'T YOU GO GET IT?"

Sweetie Belle and Frisk gave Mettaton a suspicious glare before they moved toward the counter, Sweetie Belle keeping an eye on the robot. But then, when they approached it, the counter suddenly rose high into the air, turning into a tower.

"What the-?!" Sweetie Belle shouted.

Mettaton approached. "BY THE WAY, OUR SHOW RUNS ON A STRICT SCHEDULE. IF YOU CAN'T GET THE CAN IN THE NEXT ONE MINUTE, WE'LL JUST HAVE TO GO BACK TO THE ORIGINAL PLAN!!! SO... BETTER START CLIMBING, BEAUTIFUL!!!" After that, he then flew up.

And Alphys called. «Oh no!!! There's not enough time to climb up!»

Well, I could simply fly or teleport, but let's see what you have cooked up, Alphys, Sweetie Belle thought.

«... F-f-fortunately, I might have a plan! When I was upgrading your phone, I added a few... features that I also put in your phone, Sweetie Belle. You see that huge button that says... "JETPACK"? Watch this!»

"It was hard to miss it, but could she really turn a phone into a jetpack?" Frisk wondered as she looked at her phone.

"She did manage to put two storage spaces in it," Sweetie Belle reminded.

"Good point." Frisk then pressed the button, and before their eyes, the phone turned into a jetpack that Frisk quickly put on, scared but also excited.

And it still worked as a phone!

«There! You should have just enough fuel to reach the top! Now, get up there!!!»

Without waiting, the two flew up (Sweetie Belle using her wings, not her own jetpack). As they flew, Mettaton came and began to drop eggs, milk, and sugar on them, attempting to slow them down.

Sweetie Belle grabbed some of the ingredients with her magic and threw them back at the robot.

"How about we bake a robot-flavored cake?" the filly asked with humor.

"I FEAR THAT THIS WOULDN'T WORK, DARLING," Mettaton replied as he got himself rid of the eggs, milk, and sugar on his 'face'. "RARE ARE THE MONSTERS WHO CAN BITE INTO METAL. IT WOULD HAVE A LOT OF IRON, VERY GOOD FOR YOUR HEALTH, BUT IT WOULD BE A FLOP."

"Too bad."

While Mettaton was busy with Sweetie Belle, Frisk was able to reach the top of the tower without problem.

"MY MY," Mettaton began. "IT SEEMS YOU HAVE BESTED ME. BUT ONLY BECAUSE YOU HAD THE HELP OF THE BRILLIANT DOCTOR ALPHYS! OH, I LOATHE TO THINK OF WHAT WOULD HAVE HAPPENED TO YOU WITHOUT HER!!!"

Oh Celestia... They could see that it was an act from a mile away. Also, Sweetie Belle had dozens of replies in her mind against what Mettaton just said.

"WELL, TOODLES!!" Mettaton then shouted before he left, only to return. "OH YES! ABOUT THE SUBSTITUTION... HAVEN'T YOU EVER SEEN A COOKING SHOW BEFORE? I ALREADY BAKED THE CAKE AHEAD OF TIME!!!!! SO FORGET IT!!!" And he flew away, for good this time.

"Aww, I wouldn't have minded helping baking a cake," Sweetie Belle said.

"Me too. And then, I could learn to bake a snail pie," Frisk said.

"Eww. It will be without me."

They landed back on ground and left the building, and after a congratulating call from Alphys, they continued their journey, wondering when they will meet Mettaton again.

They reached a Save Point from which they had a very good view of an ominous structure in the distance. They had seen it here and there, but not as well as now.

As they were wondering if they should call Alphys to ask her what that structure was, she called them.

«S-see that building in the distance? That's the CORE. The source of all power for the Underground. It converts geothermal energy into magical electricity, by... Uhh, anyway, that's where we're going to go. In the CORE is an elevator directly to Asgore's castle. And from there... You can go home.»

And she hung up.

"So that's our objective," Sweetie Belle commented. From where they were, they could see the path leading to it, further up. And knowing their luck, it will take time. There was an elevator not far, but Sweetie Belle already guessed that it will not lead them to the top floor. "I should ready some cooling spells. I imagine that it will be very hot in there."

"It's already very hot here..." Frisk complained. "But at least, it's manageable."

At this, they approached the elevator, named R1, and entered it.

And Sweetie Belle had been right. Beside the R1 button, only two other buttons worked: L1 and R2. It had already been kind of obvious from outside, seeing the shape of the towers and the paths linking them, but this elevator could not only move up and down, but also in other directions following said paths, which was cool.

So they went for R2, reaching the second floor of Hotland.

They passed beside a fire-monster named Heats Flamesman and reached another sentry station managed by Sans. And he apparently used this one to sell hot dogs judging by the monsters holding said food around.

And like always, there was snow on the roof of the station, as if it was Snowdin's station that had somehow teleported here, never mind the fact that the snow somehow wasn't melting despite the ambient temperature.

Sans also still had the fake glasses and mustache Sweetie had drawn on him, and he was now wearing a top hat to go with them.

"How many job do you have?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"a lot," Sans answered with a wink. "and thanks for the new look. and for bringing paps so i could show it to him."

"What did he think?"

"well..."

---

"SANS!!! I HAVE TWO WORDS FO... WHY THE HECK DO YOU HAVE A FANCY MUSTACHE AND GLASSES DRAWN ON YOUR FACE?"

"uh, that's fifteen words. and to answer you, i wanted to try a new look. what do you think?"

"I THINK THAT YOU NOW LOOK LAZY, ANNOYING, AND WEIRD."

"thanks! you know, people say that everything is cooler with a moustache."

"REALLY? DOES THIS MEANS THAT I SHOULD GET ONE TOO?"

"yes."

"THEN I SHALL GO AND DRAW ONE ON MY FACE! BUT WITHOUT THE GLASSES!" Papyrus shouted before he left.

"uh, he forgot to yell at me for sleeping on the job. well then, i will just sleep a little more."

---

Both Sweetie Belle and Frisk were now laughing, imagining Papyrus with a moustache drawn on his face.

"I can't wait to see this!" Sweetie Belle said.

"Me too," Frisk said.

"eh, frankly, me three. i'll be ready to take a photo. anyway, wanna buy a hot dog? it's only 30G."

Frisk accepted and gave 30G.

"thanks, kid. here's your 'dog. yeah. 'dog. apostrophe-dog. it's short for hot-dog."

Upon verification, the sausage was actually a water sausage, resulting in Sans getting a deadpan look from Frisk while Sweetie Belle chuckled.

"what? it's still a sausage. that counts. and it satisfies even the vegans."

Frisk couldn't hold in a giggle at this.

They left Sans and continued.

Eventually, Frisk saw something in her phone and fell on the ground in laughter.

Papyrus had just posted an image of himself flexing in front of the mirror, wearing sunglasses, giant muscular biceps pasted onto his arms, and a mustache drawn above his mouth. And the biceps were also wearing sunglasses and had mustaches drawn on them.

Sweetie Belle joined Frisk on the floor, and even the voice was laughing.

It didn't last long however as a new monster, a Pyrope, came. The Pyrote had a body made of rope with two feet and a burning head with a mischievous smile, and he had the particularity of being the first monster they encountered to use orange attacks. It was a good occasion to get used to them.

After the Pyrope, they reached a fork where the path going to their left led to a dead end with a cute apron that Frisk took as it apparently raised her defense and even healed her. At the same time, Frisk received a friend request from Napstablook, but before she could accept it, Napstablood had already rejected themselves. So Frisk decided to send herself a friend request to them, and Sweetie Belle did the same, and Napstablook accepted.

Taking the other path, they then reached another conveyor belt, the one moving forward passing below three switches, and the path at the other side was blocked by a force field.

Alphys called again.

«H... hi...! It's Dr. Alphys. This p-puzzle is kinda... um... timing based. Y-you see those switches over there? Y-you'll have to press all three of them within 3 seconds. I'll t-try to help you with the rhythm!»

And she hung up.

"Uh, shouldn't she have continued the call to help?" Frisk wondered.

"Yes, she should have. But you saw her. She doesn't seem to have thought things through..." Sweetie Belle answered.

Frisk then went on the conveyor belt and was able to press the first two switches before Alphys suddenly called as she had been about to press the third switch, getting her to jump in surprise as she had been focused. Sweetie Belle quickly corrected this by pressing the third switch in her place.

«OK! Now press the third one!!!»

Frisk glared at her phone with a pout.

Alphys quickly understood what she did wrong. «Uh... Oops.......... Sorry,» she said embarrassed before the force field disappeared. «At least, Sweetie Belle was here to, uh, c-catch up.»

And she quickly hung up.

Only to call again when they reached a scary-looking steam vent-puzzle.

«Uh, h-h-hey! i'm going to the bathroom, so I'll be MIA for a bit. I'm... I'm sure you can handle this puzzle yourself!»

And she hung up.

"And she leaves just when we may actually need her help! This puzzle looks way harder than the rest!" Sweetie Belle complained before she sighed. "Well, no use to wait. Let's try to solve it."

The puzzle consisted of seven pillars of steam vents with floor panels on four of them plus at the starting point, the panels having for effect to change the position of the vents. When they used the vents, they were propelled right on the center of the pillars, where the panels were placed, meaning that they couldn't avoid stepping on them.

Again, this looked scary and complicated, but the solution actually revealed to be very stupid. While doing the U-turn to reach the last pillar containing the only steam vent leading to the exit of this puzzle, once they reached a pillar without a panel, they had to return to the previous pillar that contained a panel, and then continue the U-turn to the last pillar. It took them a few tries to find out about it, but once they understood, they facepalmed hard. They could have also continued to the pillar before the last, which contained a panel, then return to the previous pillar which didn't have one, and then return on the pillar before the last before continuing to the last.

It was really the kind of puzzles that Sweetie Belle didn't like. The complicated-looking ones that had a very easy and stupid solution. They made her feel dumb.

At least, they were able to continue, reaching a Save Point beside a mouse hole and a safe that apparently contained a cheese.

They really loved torturing mice down here...

And while Frisk activated the Save Point, Alphys went on a rant on the UnderNet about an anime named Mew Mew Kissy Cutie 2 that people loved but she thought was trash.

Not minding it, they continued, only to be stopped by a familiar voice shouting, "Hey! You! Stop!"

It was none other than the Royal Guards from the beginning of Hotland, the rabbit and the other one, that blocked the path to the elevator L1. The two approached them rapidly.

"We've, like, received an anonymous tip about a human wearing a striped shirt accompanied by an equine. They told us they were wandering around Hotland right now..." the rabbit guard said. "I know, sounds scary, huh? Well, just stay chill. We'll bring you two to someplace safe, OK?"

And the two guards began to move away, expecting Frisk and Sweetie Belle. The two exchanged amused glances before doing so, until...

The other Royal Guard suddenly stopped.

"... Huh? What is it, bro?" asked the rabbit.

The other guard murmured something.

"The shirt she's wearing? And the animal beside her?"

"Hey!" Sweetie Belle yelled in indignation.

"... Like, what about them?" the rabbit asked, not minding Sweetie Belle. The two guards then looked intently at them before the rabbit continued. "Bro... are you thinkin... What I'm thinkin?" The guard then turned his back to them embarrassed. "Bummer. This is, like... Mega embarrassing." He then faced them again. "We, like, actually totally have to kill you and stuff."

And start of the encounter, but it was hard to take the guards seriously after what just happened.

The voice in Frisk's head only called the rabbit Royal Guard 01 and the other one Royal Guard 02, and informed that 01 had a shining, polished armor while 02 had a stuffy one. With a closer look, Sweetie Belle and Frisk could see that 02's armor had dirt, and they could also see sweat pouring from it.

This gave them an idea. They weren't sure where this would lead, but that was a good try.

Avoiding the guards' team attacks, they began to clean the armor of RG 02, making it all shiny, but also very hot.

"... Can't... take it... Armor... too... HOT!!!" the second Royal Guard shouted before he took off the chest plate, revealing his muscled scaly torso. "... Much better."

Apparently, RG 02 was a reptile.

And RG 01 now looked bothered as he stared at the other's torso. He was shaking, sweat was coming out of his helmet, and he was stuttering, losing all focus over his attacks.

Sweetie Belle and Frisk understood and glanced at each other, giggling. Sweetie Belle then flew to RG 01 and whispered to him to let out his true feelings.

"I... I..." The guard remained like that, undecided, for a few seconds as he continued to attack, his attacks now being easier to avoid. Then... "D-dude... I can't... I can't take this anymore! Not like this!! Like, 02! I like... I like, LIKE you, bro! The way you fight... The way you talk... I love doing team attacks with you. I love standing here with you, bouncing and waving our weapons in sync... 02... I, like, want to stay like this forever..."

RG 02 looked back at RG 01 in silence, not saying anything and giving no visible reaction.

This made RG 01 nervous again. "Uh... I mean, uh... Whew, bro! That human put me under, uh, mind control! What was I just saying? It's all a blur, dude!! Whoops!"

"... 01," RG 02 eventually said.

"Y-yeah, bro??"

"...... Do you want to... get some ice cream... after this?"

"Sure, dude! Haha!"

And they left, leaving behind a pile of gold in thanks.

"Aww..." both Sweetie Belle and Frisk said.

"These two made my day," Sweetie Belle added.

"Mmhmmh," Frisk agreed with a nod. "But... Who do you think gave them that tip about us?"

"Not sure. I don't think this is Alphys. Contrary to Mettaton, these guards weren't acting, and she wouldn't want to risk our lives like that. Whoever gave them this tip actually wants your SOUL."

They both thought for a moment before Frisk took her phone and called Papyrus.

«YES, FRISK? YOU WANT MY ADVICE ON SOMETHING?»

"Uh, I actually need to talk to Undyne. Can you pass me to her?"

«OF COURSE! UNDYNE!!! FRISK WANTS TO TALK TO YOU!»

«Really now? Give me!» They heard Papyrus giving the phone to Undyne, and then, «Yes? What do you want, punk?»

"We just had an encounter with the two Royal Guards you warned us about. The rabbit and the other..."

«Oh yeah, these two! For your information, 02 is a dragon. So you were able to survive against them?»

"Yeah, we helped them find true love," Frisk said with a giggle. "But uh, the problem is that they said they received an anonymous tip about us. This is how they found us. Do you know any monster who would be that hostile against me?"

«Strange. Trust me when I say that, as far as I know, I was the most hostile monster against you. Nobody wanted you dead more than I! And beside the guards, I really don't see who else would actually attempt to kill you. Well, this may simply be a civil wanting to help us getting your SOUL to destroy the Barrier. Now that most of the Underground knows about your presence, it is not impossible that some monsters would decide to act. And if that's the case, then I can't tell you who it could be. It could be anyone. And of course, I don't personally know all the monsters of the Underground. Whatever the case, be cautious, they may try again.»

"I will be. Thanks, Undyne."

«Anytime, kid! By the way, I saw the shows with you and Mettaton! You two and Alphys sure showed him! I can't wait the next one!»

"Uuhhhh... Speaking of... About what happened during the quiz show..."

«... Yeah, I so want to turn that stupid rectangle into a can! How dares he embarrass Alphys like that?! And in front of the whole Underground! She already has enough insecurities! And don't worry about your role in this. If you had answered wrongly, he may have zapped you. You had no choice. I think. Anyway, I don't hold it against you. Just, let's stop talking about this.»

"Okay."

Undyne then hung up, and Frisk gave Sweetie Belle a shrug. "At least I tried."

"I suppose we will eventually find out who is this anonymous hostile monster. Let's continue."

And so, they advanced, until they reached another darkened area where Alphys called.

«Okay, I'm back! A-another dark room, huh? Don't worry! M-my hacking skills have got things covered!»

And in an instant, the lights were back.

This revealed the presence of a bunch of objects (and a dog) around them, and a large screen where they could see Mettaton as a news reporter inside what seemed to be a news room that also had a screen showing Frisk and Sweetie Belle.

«Are you serious?»

"OHHHHHH YESSS! GOOD EVENING, BEAUTIES AND GENTLEBEAUTIES! THIS IS METTATON, REPORTING LIVE FROM MTT NEWS!"

"Well, this will be interesting..." Sweetie Belle muttered.

"AN INTERESTING SITUATION HAS ARISEN IN EASTERN HOTLAND! FORTUNATELY, OUR CORRESPONDENTS ARE OUT THERE, REPORTING LIVE! BRAVE CORRESPONDENTS! PLEASE FIND SOMETHING NEWSWORTHY TO REPORT! OUR TEN WONDERFUL VIEWERS ARE WAITING FOR YOU!!"

So they had to choose between the six objects (and dog) present around, uh? So there was the dog, a ball, a glass of water, a present, a movie script, and a game. What to choose?

Well, Frisk was already decided as she went for the dog, petting it. Sweetie Belle just shrugged before following the human.

"WHAT A SENSATIONAL OPPORTUNITY FOR A STORY!" Mettaton began to comment. "I CAN SEE THE HEADLINE NOW: "A DOG EXISTS SOMEWHERE." FRANKLY, I'M BLOWN AWAY. SO YOU WANT TO REPORT THIS ONE? AND PLEASE, STOP ATTEMPTING TO MURDER MY VIEWERS WITH OVERCUTENESS."

Frisk nodded, wanting to report the dog.

"ATTENTION, VIEWERS! OUR CORRESPONDENTS HAVE FOUND... A DOG!"

There was then a sound effect of an audience awwing.

"THAT'S RIGHT, FOLKS! IT'S THE FEEL-GOOD STORY OF THE YEAR! LOOK AT ITS LITTLE EARS, TINY PAWS, FLUFFY TAIL...... WAIT A SECOND. THAT'S NOT A TAIL! THAT'S... A FUSE!!!"

And suddenly, the tail of the dog lit!

"What?" both Sweetie Belle and Frisk asked.

"THAT'S RIGHT... THAT DOG... IS A BOMB!!!"

"WHAT?! But how-?!" Sweetie Belle began to ask only to be cut by Mettaton.

"BUT DON'T PANIC! YOU HAVEN'T EVEN SEEN THE REST OF THE ROOM YET!!!"

And suddenly, the giant screen broke apart, revealing that Mettaton had been behind it, and that the news room had been a fake. Also, the movie script and the box of the video game opened to reveal respectively a round, black bomb and a bunch of dynamite.

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me..." Sweetie Belle said.

Frisk was not reassured at all as she looked at the bombs.

And Mettaton made it worse. "OH MY! IT SEEMS EVERYTHING IN THIS AREA IS ACTUALLY A BOMB! THAT PRESENT'S A BOMB!" And the present opened to reveal a bomb. "THAT BASKETBALL'S A BOMB!" And part of the ball broke apart to reveal a bomb. "EVEN MY WORDS ARE...!💣💣💣" As he talked, words literally came out of Mettaton from his voice module before they dropped and exploded! "BRAVE CORRESPONDENTS... IF YOU DON'T DEFUSE ALL THE BOMBS..." Mettaton then flew to a giant bomb that HADN'T BEEN HERE EARLIER! "THIS BIG BOMB WILL BLOW YOU TO SMITHEREENS IN TWO MINUTES! THEN YOU WON'T BE REPORTING "LIVE" ANY LONGER! HOW TERRIBLE! HOW DISTURBING! OUR NINE VIEWERS ARE GOING TO LOVE WATCHING THIS! GOOD LUCK, DARLINGS!!" And he flew away.

And the objectsbombs were now all over the area, moving by themselves.

"I went through some crazy stuff, but here, he's blowing my mind," Sweetie Belle commented.

Alphys then called.

«D-don't worry! I installed a bomb-defusing program on your phone!»

Oh! what a coincidence! Sweetie Belle thought sarcastically.

«Press the 'defuse' button when the bomb is in the defuse zone! N-now, go get 'em!»

Well, at least, they could now work on the bombs, starting with the dog who was now sleeping beside them. Then, they followed Alphys' instructions to defuse the remaining bombs one by one. They went for the game, after a few lasers. Then, next was the movie script on a conveyor belt. The gift came after, on an island accessed by a steam vent. Finally was the basketball, beside the big bomb.

The last one was the glass of water, but it was flying around at a ridiculous speed. Thankfully, Alphys used her talents to make it stop in the center of the area, and it was easy to defuse it from there.

And Mettaton came back.

"WELL DONE, DARLINGS! YOU'VE DEACTIVATED ALL OF THE BOMBS! IF YOU DIDN'T DEACTIVATE THEM, THE BIG BOMB WOULD HAVE EXPLODED IN TWO MINUTES. NOW IT WON'T EXPLODE IN TWO MINUTES! INSTEAD IT'LL EXPLODE IN TWO SECONDS!"

"Oh, come on!!!" Sweetie Belle yelled.

"GOODBYE, DARLINGS!"

Sweetie Belle put a powerful shield around both her and Frisk, waiting for the bomb to explode.

But it didn't.

...

"AH. IT SEEMS THE BOMB ISN'T GOING OFF."

«That's b-because!!! While you were monologuing... I...!!! I f... fix... Um... I ch-change...» Alphys began to say only to not find the words.

"OH NO. YOU DEACTIVATED THE BOMB WITH YOUR HACKING SKILLS."

«Yeah! That's what I did!»

I should have guessed this would happen... Sweetie Belle thought with a facehoof.

"CURSES! IT SEEMS I'VE BEEN FOILED AGAIN! CURSE YOU, HUMAN! CURSE YOU, PONY! CURSE YOU, DR. ALPHYS, FOR HELPING SO MUCH! BUT I DON'T CURSE MY EIGHT WONDERFUL VIEWERS FOR TUNING IN!!!"

"Is it me, or we're losing viewers?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"No, that's not you," Frisk replied with a giggle.

"UNTIL NEXT TIME, DARLINGS!" And at this, Mettaton left.

«W-wow... W-we really showed him, huh?... H-hey, I know I was kind of weird at first... But I really think I'm getting more... Uh, more... M-more confident about guiding you! S-so don't worry about that b-big d-dumb robot... I-I'll protect you from him! A-and if it really c-came down to it, we could just t-turn... Um, nevermind. Later!»

Click!

"Glad to hear that at least all this farce is helping her," Sweetie Belle said.

Frisk nodded. "She needs self-esteem, and by helping us, she's gaining some... Even if she's the one who came up with all this."

After that, they continued, reaching another area with a good vie of the CORE, which they were now closer.

Then, they reached the elevator L2, direction L3.

It led to a totally artificial area, a path entirely metallic, surrounded in darkness. Here, they could see many spider webs, and a little further, a spider-monster-girl was selling some pastries made of spiders (fake ones, thankfully)... for 9999G!!!

And she was giving them a really creepy look...

Well, they didn't have enough money to buy anything, so they had no choice but to continue and they could only look in pity at the poor monster who had been... "convinced" to buy one of the pastries, ruining himself.

They then reached a steam vent maze that led to three directions, which was none other than another case of "solve two puzzles to open the door."

Alphys confirmed this as she called, and she affirmed that they could count on her to give the solution of the puzzles if they needed. She proposed then to make them friends in the UnderNet, only to remark that it was already the case since she signed them up, understanding that they (mainly Frisk) have been reading her posts all this time.

«Well! I hope! You agree with me! About Mew Mew 2!»

"Uh, I don't know, I haven't seen Mew Mew Kissy Cutie. Neither the 1 or the 2."

"Me too," Sweetie Belle said.

«Oh my god! I must repair this! At the first occasion, we will binge watch the whole series! And then I will show you an episode or two of the second series so you can see how the first series is the best one!»

And she hung up.

Reaching the puzzles wasn't hard. Solving them was much harder, especially the North one. However, to reach the South one, they had to pass blue lasers while being on a conveyor belt, meaning that to pass the lasers without being hurt, they had to walk in the opposite direction of the conveyor belt to remain immobile the time that the lasers passed.

Once they solved the two puzzles, they passed the now opened door and reached another Save Point at the beginning of another place with lots of cobwebs.

The room after a small passage was especially full of them, and of spiders hanging from threads from the ceiling.

And then, they could hear the spider-girl from earlier giggling and talking as they advanced, sometimes stepping on webs.

"Ahuhuhuhu... Did you hear what they just said? They said a human wearing a striped shirt accompanied by a pony will come through."

"Oh... Drat..." Sweetie Belle said.

Frisk remained close to Sweetie Belle.

"I heard that they hate spiders. I heard that they love to stomp on them. I heard that they like to tear their legs off."

At this point, the floor was filled with webs, and Sweetie Belle began to cut them. However, there were so much that Frisk eventually helped by creating a bridge with vines made with her magic. However, when they arrived in the middle...

"I heard..." The spider-girl then appeared from the darkness while countless spiders surrounded Sweetie Belle and Frisk, stopping them. "... that they're awfully stingy with their money. Ahuhuhuhu... You think your tastes are too refined for our pastries, don't you, dearies?"

"Nope. We just don't have enough money. Sorry miss, but we barely have a few hundreds gold," Sweetie Belle said.

"And how do I know that this isn't an excuse to escape our punishment? 9999G is not that much. Ahuhuhuhu... Also, someone offered me a lot of money for your SOUL. I can't refuse. I need this money to rescue the spiders stuck in the Ruins. Sorry dearies, but at least, you will be happy to know that you will certainly do fine pastries."

And suddenly, the SOULs came out as she began to attack, starting by using a purple liquid from her teapots to turn their SOULs purple and create purple strings for them to be stuck on. So, now, they could only move on the purple strings, and could jump from string to string.

From there, it was mainly a game of dodging the attacking spiders and pastries coming down the strings from the left and the right, the donuts moving diagonally and the croissants having a boomerang effect. Frisk quickly used her magic to destroy some of the attacking pastries to make it easier, but she avoided to hurt the spiders. Sweetie Belle followed her example by destroying the remaining pastries.

But then, Muffet (the spider-girl) sent her pet, a giant muffin-spider that attempted to eat them, forcing them to quickly jump from string to string while avoiding the spiders. The pet eventually stopped following them, but every now and then, Muffet sent it again.

They gave Muffet some of their money in an attempt to appease her, but this only calmed her down a little. a few dozens gold or so was nothing compared to the amount she was promised in exchange of Frisk's SOUL.

But then, eventually, a spider came with a telegram from the spiders of the Ruins informing Muffet about Frisk buying some stuff from them and being very nice.

Understanding that Frisk wasn't the person she thought, Muffet decided to let them go, thinking that the person proposing money to her had been talking about another human in striped shirt.

Sweetie Belle and Frisk quickly left.

Leaving that whole experience with the spiders behind, they then reached a urban area, with a brick wall with a poster on it, about a stage performance of Mettaton that was about to start.

"I don't know what to think about that," Frisk said.

"Let's just think that it will be another occasion to have fun, and that we don't risk anything anyway," Sweetie Belle said.

They then arrived at the stage, at the bottom of a structure.

"OH? THAT HUMAN..." they suddenly heard from above, and they looked at the top of the structure to see Mettaton looking from behind a wall. "COULD IT BE...?" Mettaton then fully showed himself, revealing that he was now wearing a dress. "... MY ONE TRUE LOVE?"

A music began to play, and Mettaton rolled down the stairs to join Frisk and Sweetie Belle.

And once he was near Frisk, he began to sing while moving around her.

"Oh my love,
Please run away.
Monster King
Forbids your stay."

Frisk... was very creeped out, and embarrassed.

And Sweetie Belle was having the time of her life, and she had a hard time holding her laugh to not interrupt.

"Humans must
Live far apart.
Even if
It breaks my heart.

Sweetie Belle wiggled an eyebrow at Frisk before giving her a bouquet of flowers. "Go on, prince charming."

The human glared at her in return, blushing.

"They'll put you
In the dungeon!"

Suddenly, cherry blossom petals began to rain over the stage, adding to the romantic ambience.

"What are you waiting to go dance with him?" Sweetie Belle whispered to Frisk.

She answered by throwing the bouquet of flowers at her face.

"It'll suck
And then you'll die a lot.

"Wait what?" both girls said at this. He knew about Frisk's power?

"Really sad!
You're gonna die!
Cry cry cry!
So sad it's happening."

And the song ended, along with the rain of petals.

"SO SAD. SO SAD THAT YOU'RE GOING TO THE DUNGEON," Mettaton then said.

And he took a remote control with a big red button.

"WELL, TOODLES!"

He pressed the button, and two traps opened exactly under Frisk and Sweetie Belle.

They fell right on a pillar with a conveyor belt that led to...

To the same multicolored tile puzzle than back at Snowdin, excepted that this one was much longer and was already prepared.

Mettaton then flew down. "OH NO! WHATEVER SHALL I DO? MY LOVE HAS BEEN CAST AWAY INTO THE DUNGEON WITH HIS LOYAL STEED. A DUNGEON WITH A PUZZLE SO DASTARDLY, MY PARAMOUR WILL SURELY PERISH! O, HEAVENS HAVE MERCY! THE HORRIBLE COLORED TILE MAZE! EACH COLORED TILE HAS ITS OWN SADISTIC FUNCTION. FOR EXAMPLE, A GREEN TILE SOUNDS A NOISE, AND THEN YOU MUST FIGHT A MONSTER. RED TILES WILL... ACTUALLY, WAIT A SECOND. DIDN'T WE SEE THIS PUZZLE A FEW HOURS AGO? THAT'S RIGHT. YOU REMEMBER ALL THE RULES, DON'T YOU?"

"I have them noted!" Sweetie Belle shouted as she showed the notes, only for Mettaton to burn them with a bolt of electricity from his finger. "Hey!"

"GREAT... THEN I WON'T WASTE YOUR TIME REPEATING THEM!! OH, AND YOU'D BETTER HURRY. BECAUSE IF YOU DON'T GET THROUGH IN 30 SECONDS..." A firewall suddenly appeared at the end of the platform. "YOU'LL BE INCINERATED BY THESE JETS OF FIRE!! AHAHAHAHAHAHA! AHAHA... HA... HA! MY POOR LOVE! I'M SO FILLED WITH GRIEF I CAN'T STOP LAUGHING! GOOD LUCK, DARLINGS!"

And at this, the timer started, and Mettaton began to sing again as Frisk and Sweetie Belle ran on the conveyor belt, the filly looking left and right at the tiles to determinate the path to take. No blue tiles beside yellow tiles... No blue tiles after passing by an orange tile... Unless that was after the purple tiles? No, the orange tiles! However, after orange tiles, they had to pass by a purple tile before going into blue tiles!

But darn it! That was impossible to find the right path in only 30 seconds! They would need, at least, one or two minutes! Just the time to determinate the right path!

And before they knew it, the timer reached 0.

"OOOOH, I'M SO SORRY! LOOKS LIKE YOU'RE OUT OF TIME!!!" Mettaton exclaimed before the firewall at the back approached, as well as another at the front, trapping them. "HERE COME THE FLAMES, DARLINGS!" The walls approached again.

And cue Alphys saving the day again.

The walls then stopped before restarting to advance, but slower, regularly stopping.

"THEY'RE CLOSING IN!"

They approached again, getting rather close...

"GETTING! CLOSER! OH MY!"

Now, the walls were just beside the girls.

"ANY MINUTE NOW!!!"

But the walls stopped approaching.

.............

"......... (ROBOTIC COUGH)"

"*Cough!*"

"*Cough!*"

FINALLY! Alphys called!

«Watch out!! I'll save you!! I'm hacking into the firewall right now!»

And the firewalls disappeared.

"OH NO!!! HOW COULD THIS HAPPEN??? FOILED AGAIN BY THE BRILLIANT DOCTOR ALPHYS!!"

............................

"THA-"

«That's right! Come on, Mettaton, give up already! You'll never be able to defeat us... Not as long as we work together! Your puzzle's over... Now go home and leave us alone!»

"PUZZLE? OVER? ALPHYS, DARLING, WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT...? DID YOU FORGET WHAT THE GREEN TILES DO? THEY MAKE A SOUND, THEN YOU HAVE TO FIGHT A MONSTER. WELL, DARLINGS... THAT MONSTER... IS ME!!"

And he started an encounter.

"THIS IS IT, DARLINGS! SAY GOODBYE!" But before he could attack, Alphys called again, this time through Frisk's phone. "IS THAT YOUR PHONE? YOU'D BETTER ANSWER IT!"

«H-hey!! Th-this seems bad, but don't worry!! Th-there's one last thing I installed on your phone...! You see that yellow button...? Press it!»

Frisk and Sweetie Belle quickly did so with their respective phones, and the next instant, their SOULs turned upside down and yellow. Having a feeling, they then grabbed them and used them as guns, firing little yellow projectiles at Mettaton.

"OOOH! OOOOOOOH! YOU'VE DEFEATED ME!! HOW CAN THIS BE, YOU WERE STRONGER THAN I THOUGHT, ETC. WHATEVER." And Mettaton left.

By Void, he wasn't even trying at the end...

«L-looks like you beat him! Y-you did a really great job out there.»

"All thanks to you," Frisk said.

«What? Oh no, I mean... You were the ones doing everything cool... I just wrote some silly programs for your phones... Umm, h-hey, this might sound strange, but... c-can I tell you something?... B-before I met you, I d-didn't really... I didn't really like myself very much. For a long time, I f-felt like a total screw-up. L-like I couldn't do a-anything w-without... W-without letting everyone down. B-but...! Guiding you has made me feel... A lot better about myself. So... thanks for letting me help you... Uhh, anyway, we're almost to the CORE. It's just past MTT Resort. Come on! Let's finish this!»

When she hung up, Sweetie Belle and Frisk smiled at each other.

"That was definitively the right thing to do, to play along," Sweetie Belle said.

Frisk nodded. "And Mettaton must really like Alphys to play along too. To play the role of the big bad robot."

"Yeah... Although, I think that he's starting to have a little enough of this."

...

"Wait. Did she say there's a resort?"

Comments

[Spellflame]

... sweetie is going to axadently make a multiversal civilization

[The Kelduo]

Good grief... I still can't believe the amount of cross-dressing and same-gender romance in Undertale...

"... A SUBSTITUTION? YOU MEAN, USE A DIFFERENT, NON6HUMAN INGREDIENT?... WHY?"

You accidentally added a 6 to "NONHUMAN".

[Justalad 45]

10722858
I think that was kinda obvious at this point.

[kuroi-me]

I could easily imagine the cmcs if they were each in one of three different runs.

sweetie belle: pacifist
PHANTOM: neutre
appel bloom: genocide

[Windy0]

10724210
There's no way any of them would do a genocide run

[kuroi-me]

10728609
it's just something going through my head