A/N: Sorry for the wait! Long chapter of 2909 words, not including this note. Enjoy!

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Chapter Four - The Plan

Author: Flake

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   "Who's there? We're discussing something important!" Undyne yelled at the door. She walked up to the round doorway and kicked open the door with a loud "NGAHHH!", resulting in Starsoul getting a foot to her face [-1 HP] and a broken door. Cold sweat ran down the fish monster's face. She grinned nervously. "H-hey Starsoul. How's it going?"

   "Not so well," she deadpanned, "and even more so because of that kick." She licked a paw and rubbed it down her muzzle.

   "Sorry."

   "It's fine. We have a more important matter to discuss."

   "i guess you could say that we have to go to great LENGTHS to resolve this large problem we have since the FOOT to your face made your day worse." Sans shrugged and winked from inside of the house. Undyne shot a look at him before turning towards Starsoul.

   "Come in. We have a lot to discuss and decide on, and fast. You too, human." Both nodded and followed Undyne into her house, leaving the pieces of her door outside. Sans was seen at the table, already seated. Frisk, Starsoul, and Undyne joined him and sat down. The fish monster suddenly slammed the table.

   "WHAT IS GOING ON?? THERE IS AN UNFAMILIAR MONSTER AND A GHOST OF A HUMAN THAT HAVE PAPYRUS?"

   "yep," Sans replied.

   "But how? And why? One is a ghost, and the other looks like Starsoul here. How would they be able to capture such a tall skeleton like him?"

   "There were red and black tentacles that grabbed him from behind when he was about to greet me," Frisk said. Starsoul nodded.

   "Octopus?!"

   Frisk looked at Undyne in a concerned way. "No, a cat. With tentacles."

   "A cat with tentacles... An octopus with cat ears and whiskers that has the ability to change its colors."

   "No. A cat with tentacles that does not look like an octopus."

   "A cat with eight legs like an octopus? And a beak?"

   "No, not like that. A cat silhouette. With tentacles."

   "How does that work?"

   "Just imagine a dark colored cat with, uh, things growing out from behind them."

   "Then what's with the tentacles? I can't picture that at all."

   "Don't ask us," Frisk said. "By the way, my name is Frisk. You're Undyne, right?"

   "Yeah, but how did you know? I don't recall anyone ever saying my name earlier." Frisk mentally facepalmed at their own slip-up and tried to quickly come up with an excuse, but they were interrupted by another question.

   "Wait why aren't we trying to take your soul right now? We only need one more human soul to be free." Blue magic spears appeared around the room. Frisk braced themselves.

   Sighing, Starsoul said, "The human knows about the ghost and says that they will not threaten monsterkind. Also, I think Sans told Frisk about you and how you are the captain of the royal guard." She looked towards the short skeleton. "Right?"

   "yeah," he stated, nodding. Undyne sighed.

   "Fine. In any case, we should let the others know. That pair of weirdos might be up to something." They all nodded and thought for a moment.

   Starsoul lit up. "How about we all go to Dr. Alphys and see what she has to say about this? There's a chance that she knows a little more than we do." Everyone agreed. They all stood up and walked to the door, stepping over the white remnants of Undyne's door and leaving the fish-shaped house to cry alone once again. As the group navigated through the tunnel between Waterfall and Hotland, Starsoul hung back a bit and took a look at her soul. It glowed a beautiful azure, the light resonating with brilliance in the warm air and orange surroundings.

   "It seems like it's not just determination that's missing," she mumbled, "although my soul looks perfectly fine... Why do I feel different?"

   Sans looked back. " hey starsoul. something on your mind?"

   "Nothing much." She flashed a hasty smile before hurrying to catch up with the rest of the team. They emerged from the tunnel to see the all-familiar Hotland and its puzzles. Undyne took a look at the black steam tiles and sighed.

   "Here we go, guys. Follow me," she said, pointing to herself with a thumb. She wielded an evaporating cup of water on the other hand, in which she quickly downed and threw off to the side. Frisk watched the cup slowly turn into thin air and remembered how they could not bring that one cup of water into another area in Hotland. They put their hands together and silently prayed, whispering, "Rest in peace, cup."

   Sans formed an "F" with hot dogs and placed them on the ground near where the cup vaporized. He also silently prayed. Starsoul sat down near Frisk and put her forepaws together. Undyne looked at them in a weird way before deciding to ignore this.

   Then the hot dogs vaporized. They prayed harder. Frisk scratched an "F" into the ground with a stick. The fish monster tried desperately to ignore this yet again. "What's wrong with them? Evaporating stuff in Hotland is normal..." She wondered. Undyne took a deep breath and yelled, "Hey, guys! You coming or not?" She had cleared the puzzle while the others were meme-ing. To her disappointment, it continued.

   Frisk looked over. "Guys, we should catch up."

   "Yeah, we should." Starsoul turned to the puzzle and thought about being flung around by steam tiles before looking at Sans. "Can you teleport us over there?"

   "sure can." With a snap of his bony fingers, they appeared next to Undyne.

   "Why can't you just teleport us to Alphys?" Frisk asked. Sans shrugged.

   "too lazy." The group of four continued through Hotland until they reached Alphys's house. Frisk pogged. Stasoul and Sans both wheezed. Undyne just walked past them and knocked on the door.

   "Alph? You there?"

   "I-I'm here! Give me one s-second!" A monster yelled from behind the door. The fish woman replied with an "Okay!" and dedicated all of her focus to the white, durable door in front of her. Behind her, Sans had somehow found a final froggit and was telling it to try to ride a unicycle he made with bones, hot dogs, and magic. Frisk and Starsoul cheered.

   There were a few crashes, screeches and screams that came from the lab before the small yellow dinosaur opened the white door to her lab with her signature lab coat on. "Come on in!" she said, chipper. Starsoul, Frisk, and Sans waved goodbye to the confused frog and shuffled into the lab behind Undyne. The doors closed, and there was an awkward silence.

   Alphys took it upon herself to break the quiet environment. "So. Uh. What's going on? Isn't that a human?"

   "Yeah, I'm a human. My name is Frisk." Frisk said politely.

   "And why are you here with the others?"

   "There's a big problem, and this human is willing to help," Starsoul stated.

   Sans nodded. "two figures kidnapped my bro. one is the ghost of a human, and the other is a cat monster we've never seen before."

   "Do you have any idea on what is going on?" Undyne finished.

   Alphys thought for a bit before saying, "What does the cat one look like?"

   "OCTOPUS CAT!" the fish warrior yelled.

   "W-what?" Alphys tried to picture a cat with an octopus head and legs. The result was an awful image.

   "Undyne, it was just a cat that looked like a red-tinted me and had a few red and black tentacles," Starsoul said, holding in a laugh.

   Alphys thought some more before shaking her head and frowning. "I don't know about any monster that looks like that. The closest monster I can think of is Onion-san, but they are definitely not cat-like. Sorry." She looked at the group of people. "Are we the only ones that know about this?" They nodded. The yellow monster started panicking. "Oh gosh, we need to tell the others! Muffet, Asgore, the Queen, Mettaton... they're all in danger!"

   "yeah. have any suggestions on how to get to them quickly?" Sans asked.

   "I think splitting up would be the most efficient." Alphys hurried up the escalator and grabbed a map of the Underground before coming back down. She rushed to the cluttered desk, putting down the map before shuffling around the papers and clearing out some space. Then she spread the paper out on the brown surface. Readjusting her glasses, she pointed at the two paths going away from her lab. "One group will go toward New Home since the capital is quite big, and the other group will go toward the other main areas of the Underground. Let's see..." She glanced around at the people here; Undyne, Frisk, Starsoul, Sans, and herself. "Starsoul and Sans can go towards the ruins. Undyne, Frisk and I can go to Asgore and make sure the six souls are alright. Is that okay with all of you?"

   "Actually, may I go to the ruins with Sans and Starsoul? There is something I want to make sure of there," Frisk said quickly. Alphys looked a little unsure.

   "W-well, I said you were with me and Undyne because I'm not very s-strong, and can't do much to help Undyne, but I guess you can go with the other group." She sighed.

   Undyne flinched and yelled, "Hey! I can take care of us, since I'm the captain of the Royal Guard! I am determined to protect you and the whole Underground!" She flexed her biceps and lifted up the messy table with a wide smile, her sharp teeth clearly showing. Everyone in the room slightly backed away from the table to avoid the small shower of papers that fell off of the desk. A pair of white gloves picked one up.

   "Darling, you should put that down before you drop any more papers~" a robotic voice sounded out. "Oh dear. Could this be fanart by our favorite scientist?" Alphys started sweating.

   "H-hey!" the yellow scientist shouted frantically. "That's private! Don't touch that!" The glove-wearer waved it around in the air. Alphys ran after it, following the robotic voice up the escalator.

   "quick! behind that conveniently-shaped lamp!" Sans said to Frisk while the chase was on, pointing toward a lamp that should have been in the snowy region of the Underground. Frisk ran behind it and stood still right before Alphys and the newcomer went down the other escalator. The remaining monsters turned to see a square robot on one wheel. The square of lights on its face formed an "M" in red squares surrounded by yellow ones. It suddenly turned into a heart.

   "Oh, Alphys dear! My favorite scientist! Here is your art back" it exclaimed, rolling toward her at an alarming speed. It stopped right before her and bowed with the two arms it had extended out to her with the paper.

   "Mettaton," Alphys said, nervous as she took it. Undyne looked at the robot, dumbfounded.

   "Is that the robot you mentioned over our call once?" she said. Alphys nodded.

   "Hi Mettaton! What are you doing here?" Starsoul greeted him.

   "Oh, Starsoul! Salutations! I am merely here because I sensed something that made me want to take my chainsaws out!" Mettaton spoke, shrugging.

   "And what might that be?" the cat asked, flicking her tail.

   Mettaton pointed toward the conveniently shaped lamp with flourish. "The human behind that lamp!"

   "Yep! Thaaaat's me! I'm Frisk, nice to meet you, Mettaton!" Frisk exclaimed, shooting finger guns at the robot and winking. Alphys sweat-dropped. The robot's lights went back into an "M" shape as it suddenly whipped out a microphone. Lab dimming in brightness, a spotlight shined on the robot. Somehow.

   "Well, I guess it is time for a quiz show!" Mettaton ushered Sans, Starsoul, Undyne, and Alphys toward the door with the bathroom sign above it and rolled over to Frisk, near the messy table. "Question one!

   "Who am I? A: Mettaton. B: Mettaton. C: Mettaton. D: Mettaton." The robot spun on its single wheel and bowed. Frisk peeked at Alphys, but only got a confused face as a reply. The human yelled out the first letter that came to mind out of the four.

   "Correct! Fabulous!" Mettaton swiveled to a stop and gave an applause, confetti from the sky falling onto Frisk. They looked up to see a whimsun showering the small colorful papers onto them, a large basket of them being carried by a whimsalot nearby. "Question two!" The voice brought Frisk's attention back to the robot.

   "What type of monster is this? A: Aaron. B: Snowdrake. C: Final Froggit. D: Knight Knight." The large screen to the left suddenly flickered and showed a shadow of a certain monster. It had a horse-like head and a tail. Frisk thought for a moment, knowing that Mettaton would add trick questions into his quizzes. They looked to Alphys with a questioning look. She signaled a "B" with her hands. Beside her, Starsoul was nodding. Frisk glanced at the screen. How was that a snowdrake? That was an aaron, wasn't it? The horse and seahorse combination of a monster was really hard to forget. The flexing and sweat attacks were all quite traumatizing. Remembering the encounters with an aaron made them seem like horsing around in comparison to the problem they had now with Chara and the new enemy. They decided to take the chance and say what they believed.

   "A?"

   "Wrong! It was B, snowdrake!" Mettaton announced. The shadow image lit up to show a bunch of mini images of snowdrakes forming a shape that seemed like an aaron. Frisk mentally facepalmed. Of course it was a trick question. "Now for your punishment, darling~" The human braced themselves. A large beam of energy from... somewhere was fired at Frisk, dealing lots of damage to their small amount of health [-7 HP]. They reached for any type of food in their pocket, only to realize that they haven't picked up anything that could help them recover. They ran to the fridge, but only got a few steps forward before Mettaton blocked the way. "No instant noodles from Alphys' fridge allowed. Question three!

   "How are you still alive? A: You had enough health. B: Your defense was enough to help you survive that energy beam. C: You were so determined that you managed to stop yourself from dying. D: I didn't use my best shot of energy." Frisk looked toward Alphys and the others. They signalled D. The human looked back at Mettaton and opened their mouth to say their answer, but was interrupted. With crossed arms, the square robot asked, "Alphys, are you giving our contestant answers?"

   "Uhm... maybe?"

   Mettaton let out a robotic sigh. "Oh dear, looks like our quiz show is ruined. The only thing that will entertain our audience now must be the prize, so congrats, human! You won!" He clapped his hands with glee. Frisk let out a sigh of relief. They wouldn't be burnt to death today.

   "Here it is!" The quiz host shouted! Reaching behind him, he whipped out a chainsaw. Frisk made an "of course there's a twist" face and started running away, Mettaton rolling closely after them. "Come back here, darling! We need your organs for the cake, which is your prize!" The human continued running for their life. Rounds and rounds they made around the lab, Frisk's shouts for help and Mettaton's laughter filling the air.

   "how long do you bet they'll be at this? I bet one minute with all of the G i have," sans said, smiling at Starsoul, Undyne, and Alphys.

   "I bet 50G that they'll be done as soon as I join the fray!" Undyne flexed her... everything.

   "I bet 10G that they'll be done in a few seconds," Starsoul suggested.

   "I bet nothing and will not participate in this bet," Alphys snickered. They waited a moment before Mettaton abruptly stopped on the escalator on the left.

   "As much as I want to spill your blood all over the place, human," Mettaton said, looking around at the monsters present, "why isn't anyone else doing that already?"

   Starsoul smirked. "I win." Undyne handed over 50G, a disappointed look on her face ("I didn't even get the chance to stop them..."). The cat monster looked to Sans. "How much do you have?"

   "i'm flat broke," Sans commented, shrugging.

   "Wow, that's a FLAT statement." Starsoul winked.

   "no need for it to be SHARP," the skeleton said, his smile widening. Both of them giggled.

   Mettaton watched in silence. "Erm, excuse me?" They looked up. "Like I said, why isn't anyone killing the human?"

   Sans rose his hand, just like a student in school. Mettaton pointed at the skeleton. "You! In the blue sweater!"

   "so basically..."

...

   One explanation later, the robot stood there, thinking. "I see. I can go with Alphys and Undyne, and Frisk can head to the Ruins with Sans and Starsoul. That good?" Everyone nodded. They got in their groups, said their "see you soon"s, and headed off in the directions they were assigned to.

   Undyne took one last look at the other group, ready to announce the loudest "SEE YA SOON!" in the world. She immediately turned back and quickly walked toward the door. "Alphys, Mettaton? Let's go."

   "What's wrong? Aren't you going to say bye?" Alphys asked.

   "No... they're too busy memeing."

Blizzard: Psst here's a bonus comparison image. No need to thank me XD