Harmony of Heroes: Ultimate Multiverse Explorers

Chara retreated into Frisk’s mind after that and wouldn’t come out no matter what the others said. After a few minutes, Kris sighed in sadness.

“Let’s give him some time. We should go.”

The others agreed.

As soon as they left the room, they received a call from Toriel asking them if they left the room, warning that there were puzzles ahead and that it could be dangerous to try to solve them by themselves.

Kris reassured Toriel that they will be alright before the call ended, then approached the Froggit in the room at their left.

Then she began to talk to him with perfect ribbits, having no problem understanding in return what the Froggit was saying.

Reminder, Kris didn’t have a translator like all the members of the Alliance now had, and she didn’t have Chara to translate for her.

Frisk was very surprised.

Sweetie Void grinned. “You became very good in Froggit, you were still struggling when I left.”

Kris smiled back at her, then giggled. “I still have some difficulty, like differentiating ‘ribbit’ and ‘ribbit’.”

“You will get it eventually.”

Frisk approached the Froggit to try to talk to him, however, he couldn’t understand his ribbits, and Chara in his head wasn’t even translating for him. He sighed.

“So many RESETs and I never bothered to learn Froggit.”

“Once you settle on the surface, it will be part of your education,” Kris reassured.

“Eh, there’s another Froggit approaching,” Phantom warned.

She did right, because the Froggit attacked them. revealing Apple Death and Phantom’s SOULs to be respectively an Integrity blue and… a mix of Bravery orange and Justice yellow.

Phantom shrugged. “I’m a being born from the merging of two others. The orange is probably Scootaloo’s while the yellow would be Infinite’s.”

A couple of ‘ribbits’ from Kris were enough to convince the Froggit to stop while his whole face became red.

Sweetie Void gasped. “Kris! What if Chara heard you? You would be so grounded!”

Kris stuck out her tongue. “What she doesn’t know won’t hurt.”

Phantom burst into laughter, and Apple Death facehooved.

Of course, poor Frisk was left out of the loop, but he could swear that he heard Chara chuckle in his mind. He pouted.

They went to the room behind the first Froggit to take some monster candies, then went to the exit. On the way, Frisk and Kris both saved, having the exact same level of Determination. Then, they encountered a Whimsun, a moth-like monster, that they scared away to tears without meaning to.

“No matter what I do, they always fly away in tears,” Frisk said.

They reached a corridor with cracked floor and two holes in the left wall. Kris used her magic to create a bridge over the cracked floor with her vines, passing this ‘puzzle’.

In the next room, which had a rock and a switch before a row of spikes, they got a call from Toriel asking if they preferred cinnamon or butterscotch. The children answered one or the other before ending the call. Surprisingly, Toriel guessed that Frisk preferred cinnamon, as if remembering getting this info in the previous timeline.

“Yeah, these déjà vu happen when I don’t do a TRUE RESET,” Frisk said.

“A TRUE RESET?” Kris asked.

At this moment, Toriel called again, asking if they wouldn’t mind having whatever they didn’t prefer. They all answered that they didn’t mind before ending the call.

Frisk then answered Kris’ question.

“Yeah. You see, a normal RESET leaves some traces, as you could see with Toriel remembering my taste from the previous run. However, when I manage to free the monsters and RESET, everything is forgotten. Even Flowey doesn’t remember anything. I call these TRUE RESETs. I don’t know why this happens.”

“This power should be studied,” Phantom said.

“It would be very hard once we reach the surface. Beside RESETTING, it pretty much disappears,” Frisk informed. “No Save Points appear there. We would have to return to the Underground, but with the CORE turned off, nothing would work anymore down there. We would need to bring our own generator.”

Kris shook her head. “I went to look after a while, the Save Points in the Underground eventually disappear. I don’t know when exactly they disappear however.”

“Darn,” Apple Death said.

“So we would need to study this power before freeing everyone, which may take a while,“ Sweetie Void said.

“Which may mean living down there in the Underground for who knows how long, avoiding Asgore and his Royal Guard,” Frisk said.

“And who knows how many monsters would fall down before we find every secret of this power,” Kris said. “Let’s just forget about that.”

All the others agreed, and with that, Frisk pushed the rock onto the switch to lower the spikes blocking the way.

A huge part of the next room had the floor cracked. Thankfully, Frisk knew the way by heart and guided them through it, Kris complimenting a Froggit on the way to stop her from attacking.

Next room had three rocks to push on switches.

To the fillies’ surprise, Kris went to the rightmost rock and began to talk to it.

“Excuse me, can you go on that switch over there and remain on it, please?”

“Since you are asking so nicely, pumpkin,” the rock answered before it moved on the switch by itself.

“What the fuck?” Phantom almost shouted.

Sweetie Void giggled. “Rock monsters.”

Phantom eyed the rock in the middle, then approached it. “Hey, can you move to the switch, please?”

…

Frisk put a hand on his mouth to hold back a laugh. “It’s just a rock!”

Phantom threw up her arms. “Oh come on!!!”

Everyone else burst into laughter, making Phantom blush and cross her arms before she turned her back on them.

After that, they pushed the two remaining rocks, lowering the spikes.

As they passed the spikes, they encountered two Moldsmals, slime-like monsters, and both Frisk and Kris wiggled their hips, followed by Sweetie Void. Apple Death and Phantom looked at them as if they were crazy.

The Moldsmals wiggled back, and that was the end of the encounter.

Then Sweetie Void began to move her hips with her hands above her head while music blasted from her horn. Everyone stared at her before the Moldsmal began to wiggle at her sides. Kris laughed and joined her, then Frisk and Apple Bloom both shrugged and joined too. Phantom hesitated, then rolled her eyes, smiled, and joined in the end.

One by one, monsters passing by the room joined too, finding it fun, although the Whimsuns hesitated a lot before joining.

After a few minutes of that, Sweetie Void couldn’t hold it anymore and fell on ground in laughter, the music stopping. The others all laughed too, some sitting down to recover their breath. The monsters, once they calmed down, gave to them a lot of gold before they went on their way.

And yes, Frisk really heard Chara laugh this time.

“What the hay was that?” Apple Death asked.

“Well, Discord showed me this dance with this song and… when we wiggled our hips, it reminded me of that and suddenly, I wanted to do it.”

“You are becoming as random as Pinkie Pie,” Phantom said.

“Thanks.”

With that, they left the room and entered a corridor with a Save Point, a table with cheese on it, and a mouse hole. They SAVED and continued their way.

Next room, they found Napstablook on the ground, lying down on the ground. As soon as they saw them approaching, they began to repeat ‘z’, wanting to make them believe that they were asleep, but it wasn’t working because their eyes were open.

Kris approached the ghost and smiled at them. “Hello. You are Napstablook, right? I heard that you make nice music. Can I hear it?”

Napstablook blushed. “ooooh….. my music isn’t that good. but… if you want to hear it…” They revealed a CD player. “i have my latest creation on me.”

“Yes, please!” Kris said.

The others all agreed. “ooooh…….. okay.”

At that, Napstablook pressed the start button, and the player began to play music.

“Hey, it’s very good!” Apple Death said.

“oooh… thank you.”

Sweetie Void then began to accompany the music with her voice. Apple Death and Phantom exchanged glances at that, then the latter materialized an electric guitar while the formed sprouted bones that she made form a xylophone, and the two began to play too.

Seeing the fillies having fun, Kris became sad. “Aww… I wish I had my flute now.”

The next instant, a flute materialized in front of her. Gasping, Kris grabbed it and began to play.

Now, it was Frisk’s turn to be sad, having never learned to play an instrument. Then, he heard Chara say something, and he left his place to him.

“Can I have a piano?” Chara then asked, and a piano materialized right away. Chara sat down and began to play.

This music section thus turned into a real concert, with monsters entering the room and listening to the performance. In just a few minutes, the majority of the population of the Ruins was gathered here.

After a few more minutes, Sweetie Void estimated that it went long enough, the music getting repetitive, so she nodded to Napstablook who turned off the player, ending the concert.

The monsters cheered and applauded (or wiggled excitedly in the Moldsmals’ case), throwing gold.

The children bowed, except Chara who retreated inside Frisk’s mind, so Frisk was the one bowing, starting after the others.

“that was very good,” Napstablook said.

Frisk smirked at them. “What are you still doing over there? Come bow with us. It is your music that they love.”

Napstablook blushed. “oooh… oh gee…”

Hesitantly, they approached the children, then faced the public of cheering and applauding monsters and bowed.

“Napstablook! The one who made the music you just listened to!”

The applause intensified.

“oh gee… th… thank you everyone... i didn’t think you would love it so much… or that you would love it at all…”

“Of course they would love it,” Sweetie Void said. “What is not to love in your music?”

“w-well… it is not… good…”

“Well, this public seems to think the contrary.”

“oh gee… i don’t know what to say…”

“Have more confidence, dude,” Phantom said.

“i… will try…”

With that, the monsters began to disperse, leaving the children alone with the ghost.

“i usually come to the ruins because there’s nobody around…” Napstablook then said. “but today, i met nice people, and i found out that monsters love my music… it was… fun. thank you, my f… oooh…”

“Ya can call us yer friends,” Apple Death said. “We consider ya our friend now.”

“really?”

“Yeah!” Sweetie Void shouted before she hugged Napstablook.

The ghost blushed. “oh gee…”

Frisk and Kris giggled.

“i guess it’s time for me to return home. if you pass by waterfall, come visit me, if you want… i-it’s ok if you don’t… i won’t mind… that’s if you want… no pressure…”

And with that, Napstablook disappeared.

“I never thought of making him play his music to make him move out of the way,” Frisk said.

“Yeah, Napstablook really loves music,” Kris said. “Easy way to become friends with him.”

The group continued, Frisk entering the room just in front of them where he bought a spider donut.

He showed it to the others with a smirk. “This will help us pass Muffet without fighting her.”

“What? Really?” Kris asked.

“Yeah. You will see.”

And so, they continued through the Ruins. Thanks to the concert, they didn’t have to fight at all. Whenever they encountered a monster, they wanted an autograph instead. Thanks to that, they traversed the Ruins much faster, only having to deal with the puzzles.

Down a hole under cracked floor, Frisk found a ribbon that he put to his hair, even if he didn’t think that he will need it. Through the RESETs, he became very good at dodging, as long as he wasn’t facing Undyne the Undying and Sans. As for the others, Kris proved herself in her fight against Chara, and he didn’t think that he had to worry about the fillies.

But just in case, he still took it.

Before reaching Toriel’s house, Frisk looked toward the corridor leading to the balcony over the ancient capital, Home, where he knew that the toy knife could be found, but he decided against going there.

He will not fight.

Finally, they reached a large black naked tree where they found Toriel as she was about to call them. She was very surprised to see them here, but when she saw that they weren’t hurt at all, she was very impressed. She then guided them to her house.

When they entered, there was a delicious smell, and Toriel said, “Do you smell that? Surprise! It is a butterscotch-cinnamon pie. I thought we may celebrate your arrival. I want you to have a nice time living here. So I will hold off on snail pie for tonight.”

The fillies looked disgusted at that.

“Here, I have another surprise for you,” Toriel then continued before she moved toward the hallway at the right. There, she guided them to the first door at the left. “A room of your own. I hope you like it! I sadly have only one bed, so I had to do some makeshift ones until I can buy new ones. And I guess that five in the same room is too much, but I thankfully have a second room that I am not using. Once I finish renovating it, it will be to whoever will want it. Until then, please, be patient.”

At that, she rubbed both Frisk and Kris’ hair.

Then, she smelled the air. “Is something burning…? Um, make yourself at home!”

And with that, she ran to the kitchen.

“She really considers this place as our new home,” Phantom said.

Frisk sighed. “She is very lonely, and she wants to protect us. Beyond the Ruins, the monsters will actively hunt us for our SOULs, so she thinks that keeping us here is for the best, and for good reason considering that the six humans before me all died. She will need to be convinced to let us go. I never found a way to avoid a fight.”

“Well, together, I’m sure that we will find a way,” Kris said before she opened the door so they all entered the room where they sat on the makeshift beds made from a king-size mattress and covers placed on the floor. They then began to plan how to convince Toriel to let them go without a fight.

After a few minutes, Frisk told them that they should pretend to sleep. This way, once Toriel enters the room, she will leave plates with pieces of pie and leave them alone for several hours so they will have more time to plan.

Frisk let his counterpart take the bed.

Frisk was right. A few minutes later, Toriel entered the room with a tray full of plates each containing a piece of pie. Seeing them asleep, she placed the plates on the floor, then turned off the lamp before she left the room. After a few seconds, once the children judged that Toriel was far enough, the children opened their eyes, took the plates, and began to eat while they continued to plan.

Frisk and Kris eventually really felt tired, so the children went to sleep for real, empty plates beside the beds.

A few hours later, Sweetie Void was the first to wake up. She silently left the room with her empty plate in her hand and went to the living room where she found Toriel reading a book on a chair beside the chimney.

“Up already, I see?” Toriel said.

Sweetie Void nodded. “Uhuh. I don’t sleep a lot. Jackie should be up soon too. She lives on a farm, you see.”

“Ah, I see, yes. Farmers wake up very early to do their tasks.”

Sweetie Void nodded again, then presented the plate. “It was very good. Thank you for the pie.”

“You are very welcome, my child.”

Toriel took the plate and went to the kitchen before she returned and sat back on the chair.

“I will do the dishes once the others wake up and give me their plates.”

“Ok.”

“Um, I want you to know how glad I am to have someone here. There are so many old books I want to share. I want to show you my favorite bug-hunting spot. I’ve also prepared a curriculum for your education. This may come as a surprise to you… But I have always wanted to be a teacher… Actually, perhaps that isn’t very surprising. STILL. I am glad to have you and the others living here.”

Aww… Sweetie so wanted to hug that woman.

“Hey, do you want to know what we did yesterday on the way to your house?” she asked.

“Oh? What happened?”

“We encountered this ghost, Napstablook, who looked very sad. Then, they made us listen to music they made. It was very good, and I couldn’t stop myself from singing along. Kris had a flute with her, so she began to play. This turned into a concert with most of the Ruins monsters present. When it ended, they all applauded. Napstablook couldn’t believe that their music was so appreciated. They then returned to a place called Waterfall. Hopefully, they will have more confidence in themself after that, and it was really fun. The monsters were constantly asking us for autographs after that.”

“Napstablook. Yes, I remember them. They have a snail farm. If there is one monster that wouldn’t hurt a fly, it would be them. So they come to the Ruins? I’m so happy that you helped them. So you sing?”

“Uhuh.”

Before more could be said, Apple Death arrived.

“Howdy.”

“Ah, hello Jackie. I hope you had a nice sleep despite the makeshift beds.”

“Ah slept like a rock.”

“Glad to hear.”

“Meh, I wouldn’t use that expression. You don’t have a sedimentary life. Sleeping like a bear would be better. You are as strong as one, and you give the best bear hugs.”

Toriel suddenly snorted before bursting into laughter.

Apple Death rolled her eyes, but still snorted. “Ah’ll show ya a bear hug, it’ll be spine-breaking.”

“I still want to use my legs, thank you.”

“Anyway, how about we make breakfast before the others wake up?” Apple Death proposed.

Toriel calmed down and nodded. “You are right. The others should wake up by the time I finish. Wait, “we”?”

“Of course. Ah’m good at cooking. And it’s not something as simple as a breakfast that’ll give me problems. Ya don’t mind?”

“Oh! Not at all! I would be happy to have someone prepare breakfast with me. What about you, Elize?”

Sweetie Void shrugged. “I can make breakfast too, but three in the kitchen would be too much. I can wait here. I will just read a book.”

“Very well.”

At that, Toriel and Apple Death entered the kitchen.

During the following minutes, Phantom, Kris, and Frisk woke up and entered the living room, going to the kitchen to give their plates. Soon after, they ate breakfast. There weren't enough chairs for everyone however, so some of them had no choice but to eat while standing.

“I will get more chairs as soon as possible,” Toriel said.

“That’s okay, we won’t be here much longer anyway,” Phantom said.

Toriel stopped eating, staring at Phantom. “Why do you say that?”

“We have to return home. Everyone will be worried.”

“...It is your home here.”

“It is a nice place here, but not really home material for children. The Ruins aren’t very big, there isn’t much to do here, we would get bored quickly. Even your home isn’t made for so many of us at once. And like I said, we have our families and friends waiting for us. Do you know how to get out of here?”

Toriel was silent for a moment, then got up. “I have to do something.”

Then she walked toward the stairs leading to the ‘basement’, at the entrance room.

The children immediately followed her.

They quickly caught up to her.

“You wish to know how to return “home”, do you not? Ahead of us lies the end of the Ruins. A one-way exit to the rest of the Underground. I am going to destroy it. No one will ever be able to leave again. Now be good children and go upstairs,” she said before she walked.

The children silently followed her.

“Every human that falls down here meets the same fate. I have seen it again and again. They come. They leave. They die. You naive children… If you leave the Ruins… They… Asgore… Will kill you. I am only protecting you, do you understand?... Go to your room.”

“Then what? You will keep us trapped in this prison for the rest of our lives?” Phantom asked.

Toriel missed a step, then looked at Phantom in horror. “This… This is not a prison! It is just… the only safe place in the Underground. Outside, you will be hunted. There will be no respite. There will be no safety. And it will only end badly for you.”

“We managed ta reach yer house without a single scratch. This must count for something,” Apple Death said.

“I admit, this is impressive, but the Ruins monsters are among the weakest you can find in the Underground. Outside, it will not be as easy. Especially against the Royal Guard.”

“But there is one thing that we have that the previous humans didn’t have: number. The previous humans were alone, right?” Frisk asked.

“Well, yes, but…”

“But we are five. With all of us working together, I’m sure that we can traverse the Underground and remain safe.”

“And we managed to befriend the monsters here, so I’m sure that we can befriend the monsters outside too,” Sweetie Void said.

“Even if you somehow manage to traverse the Underground and avoid being captured or killed, you will still have to fight Asgore,” Toriel said. “He is the most powerful monster, you will never be able to defeat him, and he will WANT your death.

Sweetie Void looked sadly at Toriel. The reality is so different…

“Maybe if we befriend enough monsters, they will be able to convince him to not kill us?” Kris proposed.

Toriel became thoughtful. “I guess that it could work, but it would be very difficult… I… I guess that I should tell you. There is a Barrier keeping us trapped down here. The only way to destroy it is to collect seven human SOULs. By now, they have six SOULs.” Toriel stared at the children with a deep frown. “Your plan means that you will have to convince the monsters to not kill you, and so, to remain trapped here. To give up their freedom, which they have been longing for so long.”

“Then… Maybe we can find a way to destroy the Barrier without us having to die?” Sweetie Void said.

At this moment, Toriel looked very tired. “There is no other way. Seven human SOULs, or nothing.” She then looked pleadingly at them. “There is one last thing. If you wish to return to your home, you can’t traverse the Barrier by yourselves. You will need to absorb the SOUL of a monster, and only boss monster SOULs remain long enough to be absorbed, and only two boss monsters remain in the Underground: me, and Asgore. Even if you kill both of us, three of you will remain trapped.

“Well, we don’t want to kill anybody, not Asgore, and especially not you,” Phantom said. “I guess that's more reason to find a way to destroy the Barrier.”

“I want to believe that we can find a way,” Frisk said. “They have scientists, right? Maybe if we let them study us.”

Toriel sighed, then knelt in front of the children, staring at them in the eyes. “You really are set on leaving.”

“Or at least, make it so we can explore the whole Underground without having to remain trapped in the Ruins,” Kris said. “And if we can help the monsters, all the better.”

Toriel got tears in her eyes. “Oh, my children.” She hugged all of them. “You have such good hearts. V-very well. I will trust you. But please, be careful. I… I have a friend who will keep an eye on you. H-hopefully, with him, everything will be alright.”

After that, Toriel led the children to the door leading out of the Ruins, opening it.

Sweetie Void stared at her. “You know, if you are worried about us, you can come with us.”

Everyone looked at her in surprise.

“W-wha-?” Toriel began.

“I mean, if you come with us, then you will be able to protect us, and you will be able to help convince the monsters to not kill us.”

Toriel hesitated. “I don’t know…”

“Come on. I’m sure that it will be better than remaining here all alone.”

Sweetie Void then gave Toriel her best puppy dog eyes. Kris quickly did the same, followed by Apple Death and Frisk.

Toriel sighed. “Very well.”

The children without Phantom cheered.

Phantom rolled her eyes. “Alright, but please, give us some space. We don’t want you to scare the monsters like you scared away that Froggit, or we won’t be able to make friends, even if they attack us.”

“I will try, my child…”