The Call Of The Voidby JahbrazChaptersPrelude - Once Upon A Time...FIGHTs, ACTions, and Time Paradoxes - Part 1FIGHTs, ACTions, and Time Paradoxes - Part 2Prelude - Once Upon A Time...Mt. Ebott, 201X ONCE UPON A TIME, LONG AGO.... There lived two races that ruled over the Earth: HUMANS and MONSTERS. One day... war broke out between the two. But you already know this story. Many years later, a human fell down into the underground. Frightened and confused, they made their way through the Underground, helped and hunted by monsters along the way. At the end of their journey, they faced off against the broken mountain King. Having learned MERCY was better than FIGHTing, they spared KING ASGORE... only for him to be horrifically killed by the soulless being FLOWEY the Flower, who stole the six human SOULs and used them to overpower the human's DETERMINATION (overriding their SAVE file), and empower himself, transforming into a monstrous amalgamation of human, monster, plant, and machine parts called Photoshop Flowey. After a long, arduous, and terrifying battle, the human, FRISK, finally defeated Photoshop Flowey, with the help of the six human souls, who had rebelled against Flowey's control. To Flowey's seeming astonishment, they spared him, despite all the cruel and evil deeds he had commited. But this was just part of his plan. Flowey, enacting the second phase of his plot, advised Frisk to RESET, and SPARE monsters every time they got into a FIGHT. Frisk did just that, and more; not only did they SPARE every monster they came across, they befriended each and every one of them. Reaching the end of their journey for the second time, however, they came to a stunning realization; the First Fallen Child, CHARA, had been right beside them the whole time, having been awoken by FRISK'S determination. Upon reuniting with the friends they'd made along the way, Frisk and Chara were ambushed by Flowey, who, in a horrifying twist, revealed himself to be King Asgore and Queen TORIEL's deceased child, ASRIEL DREEMURR. In a climactic final battle in which both Frisk and Chara rescued their now captured friends and family, before it all came to a head as Asriel unleashed his full power as the God of Hyperdeath. But, despite being hit with attacks that by all means should have killed... ...Frisk REFUSED to die! Through sheer wit and willpower alone, the Seventh Child SAVED both Asriel and the monsters of the Underground with the push of a button, saving Asriel from himself. Remorseful over his actions as Flowey, Asriel freed the monsters he had captured and, in a great act of atonement, broke the barrier sealing the monsters inside Mt. Ebbott. Sadly, despite all the hardships everyone went through, Asriel could not stay long, as his true form was only a result of the souls of both the six humans and all the monsters of the underground. He would soon change back into Flowey, who could not feel emotion the same way others could due to not having a soul. In a tearful goodbye, Frisk comforted Asriel in his last moments before he reverted back into his flower form, before meeting with all the friends they'd made along their journey one last time before heading to the surface with their best friends Toriel, SANS the skeleton, the Great PAPYRUS, Royal Guardswoman UNDYNE, Royal Scientist ALYPHS, robotic entertainer METTATON, the ghostly NAPSTABLOOK, and the King of the Underground, Asgore, for a new beginning on the Surface. But the peace wouldn't last. Sans, a skeleton who once worked as a scientist in the CORE, a large power generator for the Underground, knew about the existence of alternate timelines and the power of SAVEs, LOADs, and RESETs. So when he woke up back in his house in Snowdin several days after Frisk freed monsterkind, he was understandably confused, noting that he had huge holes in his memory. It wouldn't take long for him to figure out what had happened when he began getting multiple unsettling reports of timelines everywhere jumping left, right, and center before being destroyed entirely. Unnverved, he set out to confront the Anomaly to find out more, and, most importantly, find out why. He didn't have wait very long to figure out that Frisk - or what seemed like Frisk - had gone on a rampage, killing every monster they came across. Dust covered their clothes, and their expression was disturbingly blank, as their Level Of ViolencE increased rapidly. Alarmed, Sans returned to Snowdin and warned as many monsters as he could, all while keeping a close eye on the human. Unfortunately, all of this multitasking meant he never kept an eye on his brother, Papyrus, who went to confront the human himself, trying to convince them to change their ways and that they could be good if they just tried. He'd soon find his sibling's dust-covered scarf laying in the snow near the edge of town. Numb with grief and disbelief, Sans would seemingly disappear from the Underground, not to be seen again for some time. All the while, the human continued to slaughter monsters as they moved through the Underground. Not even the strongest monsters could stop them, as their determination allowed them to prevail each and every time. Through it all, the human became more and more covered in dust... and began to become less and less human the more their LV increased. Horrifyingly, although no one knew it, Frisk and Chara both were still there, forced to watch as their body moved seemingly of its' own volition, killing all the friends they knew and loved before their very eyes. It was at the Final Corridor that Sans finally intervened, having realized that the Anomaly was getting very close to the point of no return. He'd gotten sick of seeing everyone be dusted before his eyes. In a battle never told, never seen by monsters, but silently observed by many from outside our realm, Sans broke a promise he made to Toriel and fought the human to a standstill. In the battle, he used his wits, intelligence, powers, and his knowledge of the SAVE system to frustrate the Anomaly, dodging when no other monster in the Underground could, dealing damage at high speeds with Karmic Retribution, and heavily injuring the human with powerful weapons known as Gaster Blasters. But, despite all of his efforts, Sans was cut down when the human turned his own tactic of breaking the rules against him by attacking twice in one turn. Not wanting to give the Anomaly the satisfaction of seeing him die a broken man, Sans walked away with one last warning, before turning to dust. Moving forward, the Anomaly slaughtered both Asgore and Flowey/Asriel in cold blood, before using the power of the determination it had gained to destroy the world as we know it. Horrifyingly, it seemed that that wasn't enough for the Anomaly... because it came back and RESET everything using Frisk's SOUL in a deal with Chara, who had been overcome with HATE over the course of the Anomaly's 'Genocide Route'. Massacres came and went, starting and stopping, until the Anomaly found a mysterious door, encountered once by Frisk and Chara, but not seen by the Anomaly. Curiosity struck them, and they turned the knob. A strange figure sat in the center of the room, glitch particles surrounding them. Motionless... but not dead. Trying to interact with the figure, the Anomaly got no response. Until it seemingly awoke, and called out the Anomaly for its' actions, calling it by its' true name: The PLAYER. Using their power, the figure rendered the human unconscious, and left the dark room. Finally released after being stuck in the Void for an innumerable number of years, the glitchy, unstable figure/entity roamed the Underground in search of allies. Gathering the Boss Monsters of the Underground, he brought them all to Snowdin, where he met up with Sans the skeleton. Shocked upon seeing his old friend's return, Sans spoke with the figure and his fellow monsters. The figure talked with them all about the human and the Player, and the genocides, massacres, and Resets the latter brought upon their world. At first, the group was skeptical, not understanding the powers the human held. But the figure from the Void then spoke not words, but experiences. With their memories of previous timelines restored, the Boss Monsters, now enraged at the Anomaly's actions, and worried for the safety and sanity of their human friend, began formulating a plan. Splitting into groups, the monsters prepared for battle, and set up an ingenious trap designed by both Sans and the figure. Evacuating the remaining monsters from their homes, the Royal Guard retreated back to the CORE, where the scientists and engineers of the Underground harnessed the CORE's energy for one last stand. Sans, who had sworn to his last breath he'd make this last chance count, acted as both a distraction and as the bait, keeping the Anomaly occupied until the trap was finished, using abilities gifted to him by the mysterious figure and its' own allies to stall them as long as possible. He'd then flee and lure the Player to the CORE, where the Boss Monsters would cripple the Anomaly's human puppet, and activate the Determination Extractor. Upon relieving them of their Determination, Sans and the figure would fight them one last time in an effort to get Frisk to fight back against the Player's control so they could destroy the Anomaly once and for all. But, outside of the knowledge of everyone, even the enigmatic figure, our world was on a collision course with another. This other world had different rules and principles, and this world's magic would throw a wrench into both the Player's and the monster's plans, while throughout it all, one ALICORN and her PONY friends continued living their lives as normal, unaware that their world was about to be changed forever.... MY LITTLE TALE: CALL OF THE VOID Author's Note Hope y'all like this intro of sorts. I drew from the original Undertale intro sequence along with that of Undertale: Last Breath's. Don't worry, people, there's going to be ponies! This is just the Prelude, with the prologue detailing the fight between the Player and Sans as he springs the trap on them. We're not going to see Equestria for real until the third chapter (which will be the legit chapter one), although I'm planning to at least give it a short appearance at the very end of the second chapter (the prologue/fight sequence). I won't spoil too much (although with me, I sort of write things as I go along, so technically even I don't know what the fight will be like when I write it), but I will tell you all that the fight will incorporate elements from all 3 (4 if you count phase 2.5) phases of Call of the Void and Last Breath. I'll give it my all to write it as best as I can, because I haven't written all that many fight scenes, and the one I wrote in my older story 'The Hollow Vessel' wasn't all that good. SO! When I write it, I'll be sure to post a link to the unfinished chapter (along with the password you'll need to view it) so y'all can yell at me for my poor writing skills and then help me fix what I get wrong. The pictures are from Undertale, Undertale: Last Breath, and My Little Tale, respectively. FIGHTs, ACTions, and Time Paradoxes - Part 1Sans the Skeleton did not consider himself a very physically active monster. It was well known around the Underground that he was rather lazy, and took every opportunity he got to take breaks and nap for lengthy periods of time. However... He didn't have multiple jobs just so he could increase the number of 'legally required breaks' he had; Sans figured it may be somewhat of a good way to get some exercise in. Although he could (and often did) just take shortcuts to get to his sentry stations, the skeleton would sometimes take the long route and walk all the way to his station. It was exhausting at first, considering he didn't exercise at all before that point and as such was not used to exerting himself that much, but as he walked more often, Sans built up his physical stamina by a good amount. Something that was very much proving useful now. *WHIIRRR... CHOOM* Summoning a Gaster Blaster, the skeleton feinted backwards before turning around and running like his life depended on it. Which it did, anyways. A red slash of Determination energy went flying through the spot he'd just been in and into a brick-red wall of igneous rock. narrowly avoided that attack this time, Sans thought. He'd been running for the past hour or so as the human pursued him through the Underground after he ambushed them at the exit to the Ruins. While Sans was unable to save Toriel, he at least was able to send Papyrus to the CORE with the other monsters and Royal Guardsmen. While Papyrus was somewhat oblivious to what the plan truly was, he at least knew that this particular human was dangerous (not that he cared all that much; he would have approached them anyway) and that the Guard, with Undyne leading the charge, would be in Hotland where they'd lead the human to the CORE and then capture them. Not wanting to miss a chance to both see Undyne in action and impress her enough to get into the Guard, Papyrus hadn't wasted any time getting to Alyphs' Lab. He'd been briefed by their enigmatic friend, who only gave his last initial, G, on how to operate the Determination Extractor, which would be critical to the plan. Sans hoped the old machine would work; it worked fine when he and Alyphs had tested it several hours earlier. But somehow, he felt something was going to happen, and that it wasn't good. Spotting Doggo frantically waving him over, Sans figured he'd save some physical energy and shortcut over to the Guard. Vanishing with a 'snap-click', the skeleton reappeared next to Doggo. "C'mon! Undyne's heading into the Lab now! We need to get there, and quick!" the canine Guardsman said, an urgent tone to his voice. Doggo wasn't the brightest of monsters, especially with his visual disorder, but he sure wasn't stupid. He knew when he was outmatched, and when he saw Sans running towards him with the human hot on his heels, Doggo had sprung into action. However, Doggo also knew that with how closely the human pursuing the skeleton, who was undoubtedly tired by now, there simply wouldn't be enough time to charge the Determination Extractor before the human arrived. Someone would have to stay behind and buy time for everyone else. Reaching this grim conclusion, the canine skid to a halt, much to Sans' confusion. This wasn't part of the plan. Slowing down a bit, Sans turned back towards Doggo and called out. "hey. uh. this wasn't the plan. what are ya doin'?" the skeleton asked. "Someone needs to buy time. I may not know too much about that rickety old extractor thingamajig back down near the CORE, but that thing clearly needs time to charge up." the guard responded. Sans heard the response and immediately knew that Doggo's fate was sealed, but it didn't stop the skeleton from speaking up. "ya sure about that? you're not gonna make it outta here, ya know. i could cover fo-" Shouting now, the canine cut him off. "No! We can't afford to lose you, with how powerful you are. You die, this entire plan goes up in flames, and we all die for nothing. Go! NOW!" Getting the message, Sans continued running again, this time faster than before. He looked back, a sad look on his face, before refocusing on the path in front of him as the sounds of a FIGHT played out behind him. "Papyrus, please leave Mister G alone." An exasperated Undyne had been putting up with questions and accusations for over an hour now, alongside the antics of Papyrus as he asked question after question about their mysterious friend and if Sans would be okay. Once Papyrus had seen the footage of monsters dying to the human, he'd become very worried, and it had taken Undyne bribing him with the promise of cooking spaghetti to calm him down. Unfortunately, the idea of his favorite dish had only held him for several minutes before he asked about Sans again. Her patience was being whittled down little by little, and even though she truly liked Papyrus (He was one of her besties after all!) Mr. G's skeleton-like appearance had caught Papyrus' interest, and as such, had asked the mysterious man questions not-stop. Thankfully, G didn't seem to mind; if anything, he seemed rather amused. He'd actually answered all of the taller skeleton's questions, and even when he couldn't provide a clear answer, he'd answer to the best of his ability. He'd (apparently) been stuck in the Void for a while, after all; not every question he got asked would be able to be answered completely. Undyne hadn't quite trusted the glitchy skeleton at first. He did look rather... off... and there was a nagging feeling of something just being flat-out wrong with G. But G was actually the first to point out this fact and provided the reasons why he was that way (the Void felt wrong to anyone not used to it). He even admitted that there wasn't exactly a good way of proving he could be trusted, which is something most people wouldn't admit due to their own pride. Footsteps from beyond the open doors of the Laboratory alerted Undyne to someone's approach. Readying her weapon of choice (an energy spear manifested with her magic), she began giving orders as the other monsters began scrambling to finalize preparations. I just hope that's Sans that's running towards us and not that... thing... Undyne thought. Fortunately, the person that came barreling into the room was very much a skeleton monster. Skidding to a halt, Sans caught his breath, leaning against a wall for support. However, there was something else Undyne noticed that placed a seed of fear in her heart. Someone else is missing. Where's Doggo? "Sans! You made it!" Undyne called out, relief slightly tinging her tone. "Where's Doggo? I thought he'd be running in right beside you." Sans eyes hollowed immediately. "he stayed behind." With that morose statement, Undyne's heart sunk. Doggo was a good warrior. He didn't deserve to die to a snivelling, conniving demon like The Player. Undyne was about to have the remaining Guards of the K9 Unit begin sealing the doors when a completely new voice sounded out. "Weelll, well, well.... what do we have here?" Everyone's skin crawled at this. Sans whirled around, and found, to his horror, the Anomaly had already reached the Laboratory. What was truly frightening, though, was that the human had never, ever actually verbally spoken before. This was entirely new, and bode disturbingly unwell for what else the Anomaly could be capable of. Acting quickly, Sans shouted "alphys! quickly! activate the dt extractor!" The saurian doctor, snapping out of her terrified stupor, nodded and methodically mashed several buttons on her computer console, before grabbing her items and hightailing it out of the room. As she did so, Sans ported over a laptop computer of his own, and stood ready to monitor the DT Extractor's condition. The old machine had run well in the tests, but with how old the thing was, it was best that someone keep an eye on it's condition. He'd seen what happened when its' operators lost control of it. The Player seemed delighted by all the action. "Heh, all this for me? I'm flattered. This is something new... I like it!" Undyne immediately began corralling the remaining scientists to be evacuated. Meanwhile, the other Royal Guards formed a defensive line between the evacuating monsters and the human. G moved up next to Sans... with Papyrus in tow. That was to be expected, unfortunately; no matter how hard he tried to convince his brother otherwise, Sans couldn't get Papyrus to back down on fighting alongside him. "Human! You are going down a dangerous path. I... want to help you. I really do." Papyrus addressed the human. "But, unfortunately, you have caused too much trouble. Even when I tried to help you, you struck me down. I... may not be the smartest skeleton, but even I know that not everyone wants to try and be good." Sans was rather surprised at his brother's admittance. He knew of the younger skeleton's philosophy. Papyrus always believed that anyone, no matter how bad, no matter the deeds they did, could be a good person, if they just genuinely put the effort into being good. As such, during the Anomaly's 'Genocide Routes', Papyrus was always struck down offering MERCY to the human, truly believing there was still good in them. To see that even Papyrus of all people had realized that the Anomaly was unredeemable was a testament to how much G had helped them out here. If Papyrus hadn't seen the truth, things could have gone a lot worse. Turning his attention back towards the Player, Sans began his habit of making a speech before the fight that called out the human for their sins. "so. you've made it. you've finally found something new. was it worth everything you went through to get here? was it worth it to kill everyone here?" The Player simply laughed. "Yes. Yes, it was. You don't know how boring it was all this time. To find something new is exciting! There's so many new possibilities... It's such a shame you won't live long enough to see them all, skeletons." "you could have simply left us alone and found something else to do. this world's a game to you, right? so go play another game. heck, you could have fixed all this with the press of a button," Sans retorted. He didn't like the fact that the Player was only doing this for the sake of entertainment and curiosity. If the world of monsters and humans truly was a video game in another world, then one should simply play it, then leave it after completing it. Annoyed, the Player made to respond, but was cut off by an ominous cacophony of mechanical noises. Looking up, the Anomaly's face paled as they saw the DT Extractor begin to do its' job. They may not have known everything about the old machine, but they at the very least knew what it could do to them. "Y o u ' l l b e d e a d w h e r e y o u s t a n d," Sans spoke, his eyes hollowed, his voice quiet, but simmering with barely restrained fury. Author's Note Sorry if I took a while to get this out. As of this writing, my first week of school just finished up. I've only now taken the time to write anything new. Expect this to be normal. The word 'Paradoxes' in the chapter title is a misnomer, but I put it there because it sounds a bit better (I also don't know a better word for 'catastrophic fluctuation in space-time that tears a hole in reality'). EDIT 1, 8/15/2022: Don't have much time, my computer locks soon, so this is a small update. Finished 2 paragraphs. That is all. Expect this to be normal. FINAL EDIT, 8/26/2022: Made this into a two-parter. I don't think you'd like me holding this back for much longer, nor would you want this to be over 5000 words in length after the Prelude. Finished up today and posted. ENJOY! FIGHTs, ACTions, and Time Paradoxes - Part 2Music for this chapter (interchangeable, no one theme is the only one for this chapter) Now you'll never leave... THE UNDERGROUND, TRUE LAB, EARTH A terrible scream rent through the air as the Determination Extractor began to violently tear the Determination from the Player's host body. Writhing in agony, the Anomaly was just barely able to glimpse Sans and the other monsters looking on in satisfaction. Eventually, after several seconds, it was over, the Player left gasping and groaning in pain on the hard metallic floor. In just seconds, the Determination Extractor had done what took Sans almost a hundred tries to do with Flowey; diminish and destroy the enemy's Determination. Immediately, the skeleton brothers leapt into action; Sans activated his blue magic and began slamming the human into the walls of their SOUL's battlezone, and Papyrus sent a wave of bone walls and jumprope attacks to start shaving off health, with the Mystery Man using the energy of the Void to buff Papyrus' attack patterns. Disoriented, but still somewhat alert, the Anomaly attempted to dodge the sudden assault of bones, but with their SOUL already sapped of quite a bit of energy, and their host body being flung into the walls of the facility, their attempt was an almost comical failure. The bonewalls sent out by the younger of the two brothers plowed through the possessed Frisk's SOUL like a knife through butter, with G's buffs providing a healthy amount of Karmic Retribution. Already, the Player had been reduced to half their health. Recovering quickly, the Player used their turn as an opportunity to heal up, before jumping back into the fray as Sans began bringing his blasters into the fray. The older of the two brothers wasn't even quite paying attention to the battle, his eyes on the tablet he held. Presumably to monitor the condition of the DT Extractor, the damned thing, the Anomaly thought, before being quite literally yanked out of their thoughts as the Mystery Man launched a surprise attack with blue magic and... symbols? Caught off guard by the strange new attack, the Player failed to avoid the impact of several of the Wingdings and paid for it with some more of the health. The attack ending, the Player found it was their turn again. Seeing an opening, they lashed out with their knife at Sans, expecting for Sans to dodge. They did not expect for Papyrus of all monsters to raise a bonewall in front of himself and Sans for protection. "Not this time, human! You'll have to go through me to get to Sans!" Papyrus shouted. Sans seemed surprised by this too. He quickly reset his expression to his normal neutral grin. "thanks bro." With this new revelation in mind, the human leapt into the next gauntlet of attack patterns with gusto, dodging Gaster Blasters and hopping through gaps in bonewalls. Platforms came into play, and glitchy symbols were launched. Many times, the human vessel came very close to being shattered, with the skeleton trio's attacks being violent and ingenious enough to where the Anomaly was forced to use their ITEMS during their turns rather than attack. Eventually, there came a lull in the attacks, the skeleton trio taking a moment to catch their breaths. Seeing an opportunity, the Anomaly decided to try and attack Papyrus. As they (somewhat) expected, the slash was blocked, by a bone staff that Papyrus summoned from thin air. What was unexpected that time around was that the younger sibling seemed to be somewhat... frustrated? That's new, the Player thought. Never seen Papyrus get angry or even frustrated to a degree like this before. "You're beginning to test my patience, human! Give up now! Let Frisk go free!" Cheekily, the human replied, "But this route is so interesting! Why would I stop now?" "maybe because we'd like to have some semblance of peace?" retorted Sans. Tiring of talking with the Anomaly, who obviously wasn't going to listen, Sans summoned some more blasters, only for his younger brother to fling out a hand. "Wait! Let me deal with this, Sans. You may be powerful, but you tire quickly," Papyrus said. Relenting, Sans stepped back, but not before firing his already positioned blasters, shaving off another dozen health points from the Player's SOUL. "*sigh* Sans..." Papyrus grumbled indignantly for several seconds, then turned back towards the human. "Human! We have been fighting for a while now! It seems we shall have to settle this feud through 'different' means!" Papyrus shouted. "It's time I put my skills into full throttle!" Humorously, the younger skeleton's eyes bugged out as he goofily postured and snapped his fingers. "Wish me good luck!" "Oh?" queried the now curious Player. "Behold, my greatest attack yet... my SPECIAL ATTACK! (for real now)!" Papyrus bellowed, as a white light began to shine in the center of the Battle Box. Covering their eyes to avoid blinding themselves, the Player eagerly awaited the summoning of Papyrus' attack. A flash filled the room. Uncovering their eyes, the Player looked upon the glorious... bone? "what." Seems Sans shared their thoughts. "paps. what is this supposed to b-" The older sibling was suddenly cut off as the bone suddenly morphed into a rather familiar shape before resolving into a fully-fledged Gaster Blaster of Papyrus' own. "Say hello to my good friend FRANK! My very own Gaster Blaster!" Papyrus gleefully shouted. The newly dubbed 'Frank' was not too dissimilar from Sans' own blasters... but it seemed it took more after Papyrus, judging by its' comically bugged out eyes. Papyrus, satisfied with his successful (and uninterrupted) summoning of his special attack, turned back towards the human, singing Frank's praises all the while. "His ruthlessness is unparalleled, his strength stemming from my own!" The Player was so preoccupied by the hilarity of the blaster's appearance (read: laughing hysterically) that they almost didn't notice the blaster begin to move. Tensing, they prepared to dodge... only for their jaw to drop as the blaster maneuvered over to a nearby wall and began eating it. Is Papyrus' blaster that stupid!? was the somewhat hysterical Anomaly's thoughts. Papyrus seemed to share the Player's thoughts. "HEY! Pay attention, this is your time to shine!" Or not quite. It... didn't seem that intelligent, compared to Sans' blasters, which seemed like wolves loyal to an alpha... while this blaster seemed more like a lovable puppy of sorts. Still snickering, the Player readied themselves for the inevitable bombardment of laser beams as Papyrus moved his blaster over the Battle Box. Suddenly, the Battle Box elongated, and a pattern of bones emerged from the ground, as the Player felt their soul lurch and fall down into the floor. "heh. nice, paps. didn't know ya had a blaster of your own," Sans praised. "i wonder what yours is like." "You shall see in just a second, Sans." Papyrus replied, before returning his attention to the Anomaly. "Human! Prepare yourself!" Tensing, the Player watched the blaster above them. "GO!" The blaster began firing, but the Player was already ahead of them. Stopping, they expected the turn to end, but were given a shock as Frank continued firing instead of firing once and leaving like they expected. The beam passed through them, reducing their health to a mere third of its maximum value. The human groaned in irritation. It seemed that 'Frank" differed from his siblings in more than just appearance. Taking the opportunity to heal yet again, the Anomaly hopped, leapt, and ran through another gauntlet of bones and lasers, with Frank leading two of Sans' blasters (who seemed rather amused by their strange cousin) against them. This routine repeated several times, with Sans, Papyrus, and the Mystery Man sending out attacks, the Player dodging, then attacking or healing every so often. At one point, the enigmatic figure summoned some familiar equipment from the CORE - lasers, actual ones at that - to bring to bear against the Player. It was quite humerus to see the shocked expression on the entity's face from seeing what it thought were simply utilities being used as weapons against them. Of course, this couldn't go on forever; Sans and Papyrus both only had so much stamina and magic, and Doctor G was constantly expending energy just by simply existing and having a stable physical form, let alone attacking. The monsters had to hurry if they were to free Frisk. Sans was already starting to sweat profusely. Eventually, though, it seemed that a turning point was near. The Anomaly was at 1 HP and was out of healing items, enough for Papyrus to capture them so the DT Extractor could finish the job. "Human! You're weak now! Cease your fighting and allow me to capture you!" Papyrus shouted. Too exhausted to make a snappy retort, the Player simply resorted to glaring hatefully at the skeletons. "uh... paps? g? something's wrong with the extractor." Snapping his head over to look at his older brother, Papyrus frowned slightly. "Oh, dear." Sans, tapping at the tablet he was holding, looked back up with a grim, but determined look on his face. "we're just going to hafta make do with what we've got," he said. "W-Well, we didn't come here to give up, did we?!" Papyrus agreed. "Let's finish this!" he cheered, before dodging an errant slash from the now recovered (if still low health) human, his eyes bugging out in surprise. Sans, not amused by the blatant sneak attack on his brother, launched his iconic 'strongest attack', slamming the human into a bonewall, flinging them through a gauntlet of bones, and hitting them with a barrage of Gaster Blasters. Unfortunately, even that attack failed to land a single hit on the Player, who seemed to be very cautious and wary. A frantic beeping from his tablet caught Sans' attention. He looked down, trying to diagnose whatever new problem the DT Extractor had, when he heard another slash. He looked up, paled, and promptly dodged out of the way of a red DETERMINATION-empowered knife slash. *CRASH!* What Sans didn't mean to do was allow the DT Extractor to get hit. Paling further, Sans looked up at the old, now damaged and going haywire, machine with dread. The human, emboldened by their small victory, sniggered with glee. "What's the matter, Sans? Did I break your toy?" they said in a condescending tone, before trailing off as the critically damaged machine began to glow with an ominous blood-red color. "Ohhkay... that doesn't look good..." "we need to run. n o w," Sans said, fearfully. Papyrus was all too happy to oblige, and the Mystery Man was already gone before Sans had finished his sentence. The skeleton trio booked it with all the energy they had left towards the door leading out. But for all the speed that the monsters had, they were too slow to reach the exit as it slammed shut as alarms began blaring and the power began to fluctuate. "LET US OUT!" Papyrus shouted. "THE MACHINE'S BREAKING! WE NEED TO GET OU-" The younger skeleton sibling was cut off as the DT Extractor finally gave up the ghost and exploded violently. The blast then immediately reversed itself, imploding inwards and forming a singularity of nearly infinite power. The sound was deafening. Papyrus couldn't hear anything, and with the lights flickering so badly, he couldn't really see anything, either. Which meant that when the singularity began to pull him towards it, he almost didn't notice until he bumped into a desk in front of him, sending it flying into the wormhole. Shouting in fear, Papyrus attempted to back up, but his boots could find no purchase on the smooth metallic floor, and his scrabbled uselessly against the ground as he flailed about like a maniac. Spotting a railing, he grabbed onto it and held on with all of his might. He briefly caught a glimpse of the human being sucked into the singularity when he felt Sans fly past him. "SANS! NO!" Papyrus shouted, as the older brother was sucked into the wormhole. Unfortunately, although Papyrus had a good grip on the railing, he did not forsee the door into the lab slamming open and distracting him. Undyne and the other monsters stood there in shock as the tall skeleton went flying into the singularity, screaming his signature "NYEEEEH!" all the while. By the time his boots disappeared through the wormhole, it was too late for the Guards to do anything. "PAPYRUS!" Undyne howled. "NO!" The singularity, already unstable, began to collapse. A flash and an ear-shattering *BOOM* sounded out, forcing the monsters to brace themselves against the shockwave produced by the wormhole's collapse. Looking back up as the explosion subsided, Undyne mournfully surveyed the thoroughly trashed facility. The Skeleton Brothers were nowhere to be found. There was, however, a curious-looking object in the center of the room that raised her hopes - a portal. "Hmmm... they must have gotten sucked through that portal. We're going to have to go after them," Undyne muttered. Turning back to the remaining monsters, Undyne began ordering the Guards to start cleaning up the area and for the scientists to begin salvaging what they could and repairing the equipment in the lab. It was over... but at what cost? ELSEWHERE... It was peaceful and quiet in the Everfree Forest. The wildlife was content - no new disasters or outlandish events had occurred recently, so the birds and rodents it safe enough to run and frolic about as they pleased. One particularly enterprising squirrel had 'borrowed' a small burlap sack from the nearby settlement and was scooping bucketfuls of nuts into it, hoping to get a large haul for the winter, when they sensed something... off. Wrong. Looking up into the sky, they didn't see anything. Squinting, the squirrel stretched their head out of their little hidey-hole for a better look. Still nothi- *ZAP!* Squeaking in surprise and fear, the rodent leapt backwards in fright as a spark of electricity appeared out of nowhere and began to increase in size and intensity. Squealing in terror, the squirrel ran as fast as their tiny legs could propel them towards the only pony resident of the Forest. Had they stuck around, they would have seen the singularity deposit a short, bipedal skeleton on the grass, unconscious. A similar scene played out near a wooden hut deeper in the Forest. Meanwhile, back in Ponyville, a young lavender-coated alicorn frantically ran about as her magic sensors near the border of the Everfree Forest went haywire. "What is going on over there!?" Princess Twilight Sparkle cried as she flitted from machine to machine, attempting to narrow down the source of the surges of magic. "No, no, no! UUGGH! Spike!" The aforementioned dragon leaned into the room, having fled it the moment he noticed his adoptive sister's mane start to get messy. "Yeah, Twilight?" "Take a letter to Princess Celestia. Inform here that there's been a huge, anomalous, and potentially dangerous surge of magic in the Everfree Forest... and that I'm going to go investigate with my friends." Author's Note 1/15/2023: FINALLY started actually writing for this after... what... SIX MONTHS (correct me if I'm wrong). Got some decent progress done, about halfway, I'd say. Took some inspiration from Papyrus' Belief by Kassm (specifically his Papyrus's Special Attack, Frank the Gaster Blaster: Hilarious, is it not? EDIT 1/16/2023, 11:56 AM: I'm off school today, so more time for me to write! Hopefully I'll get this done today. (Spoilers: I did.) EDIT 1/16/2023, 1: PM: FINISHED THIS! Hope y'all like it, this has been in the works for a while now, I just never got around to doing it until yesterday.
Prelude - Once Upon A Time...Mt. Ebott, 201X ONCE UPON A TIME, LONG AGO.... There lived two races that ruled over the Earth: HUMANS and MONSTERS. One day... war broke out between the two. But you already know this story. Many years later, a human fell down into the underground. Frightened and confused, they made their way through the Underground, helped and hunted by monsters along the way. At the end of their journey, they faced off against the broken mountain King. Having learned MERCY was better than FIGHTing, they spared KING ASGORE... only for him to be horrifically killed by the soulless being FLOWEY the Flower, who stole the six human SOULs and used them to overpower the human's DETERMINATION (overriding their SAVE file), and empower himself, transforming into a monstrous amalgamation of human, monster, plant, and machine parts called Photoshop Flowey. After a long, arduous, and terrifying battle, the human, FRISK, finally defeated Photoshop Flowey, with the help of the six human souls, who had rebelled against Flowey's control. To Flowey's seeming astonishment, they spared him, despite all the cruel and evil deeds he had commited. But this was just part of his plan. Flowey, enacting the second phase of his plot, advised Frisk to RESET, and SPARE monsters every time they got into a FIGHT. Frisk did just that, and more; not only did they SPARE every monster they came across, they befriended each and every one of them. Reaching the end of their journey for the second time, however, they came to a stunning realization; the First Fallen Child, CHARA, had been right beside them the whole time, having been awoken by FRISK'S determination. Upon reuniting with the friends they'd made along the way, Frisk and Chara were ambushed by Flowey, who, in a horrifying twist, revealed himself to be King Asgore and Queen TORIEL's deceased child, ASRIEL DREEMURR. In a climactic final battle in which both Frisk and Chara rescued their now captured friends and family, before it all came to a head as Asriel unleashed his full power as the God of Hyperdeath. But, despite being hit with attacks that by all means should have killed... ...Frisk REFUSED to die! Through sheer wit and willpower alone, the Seventh Child SAVED both Asriel and the monsters of the Underground with the push of a button, saving Asriel from himself. Remorseful over his actions as Flowey, Asriel freed the monsters he had captured and, in a great act of atonement, broke the barrier sealing the monsters inside Mt. Ebbott. Sadly, despite all the hardships everyone went through, Asriel could not stay long, as his true form was only a result of the souls of both the six humans and all the monsters of the underground. He would soon change back into Flowey, who could not feel emotion the same way others could due to not having a soul. In a tearful goodbye, Frisk comforted Asriel in his last moments before he reverted back into his flower form, before meeting with all the friends they'd made along their journey one last time before heading to the surface with their best friends Toriel, SANS the skeleton, the Great PAPYRUS, Royal Guardswoman UNDYNE, Royal Scientist ALYPHS, robotic entertainer METTATON, the ghostly NAPSTABLOOK, and the King of the Underground, Asgore, for a new beginning on the Surface. But the peace wouldn't last. Sans, a skeleton who once worked as a scientist in the CORE, a large power generator for the Underground, knew about the existence of alternate timelines and the power of SAVEs, LOADs, and RESETs. So when he woke up back in his house in Snowdin several days after Frisk freed monsterkind, he was understandably confused, noting that he had huge holes in his memory. It wouldn't take long for him to figure out what had happened when he began getting multiple unsettling reports of timelines everywhere jumping left, right, and center before being destroyed entirely. Unnverved, he set out to confront the Anomaly to find out more, and, most importantly, find out why. He didn't have wait very long to figure out that Frisk - or what seemed like Frisk - had gone on a rampage, killing every monster they came across. Dust covered their clothes, and their expression was disturbingly blank, as their Level Of ViolencE increased rapidly. Alarmed, Sans returned to Snowdin and warned as many monsters as he could, all while keeping a close eye on the human. Unfortunately, all of this multitasking meant he never kept an eye on his brother, Papyrus, who went to confront the human himself, trying to convince them to change their ways and that they could be good if they just tried. He'd soon find his sibling's dust-covered scarf laying in the snow near the edge of town. Numb with grief and disbelief, Sans would seemingly disappear from the Underground, not to be seen again for some time. All the while, the human continued to slaughter monsters as they moved through the Underground. Not even the strongest monsters could stop them, as their determination allowed them to prevail each and every time. Through it all, the human became more and more covered in dust... and began to become less and less human the more their LV increased. Horrifyingly, although no one knew it, Frisk and Chara both were still there, forced to watch as their body moved seemingly of its' own volition, killing all the friends they knew and loved before their very eyes. It was at the Final Corridor that Sans finally intervened, having realized that the Anomaly was getting very close to the point of no return. He'd gotten sick of seeing everyone be dusted before his eyes. In a battle never told, never seen by monsters, but silently observed by many from outside our realm, Sans broke a promise he made to Toriel and fought the human to a standstill. In the battle, he used his wits, intelligence, powers, and his knowledge of the SAVE system to frustrate the Anomaly, dodging when no other monster in the Underground could, dealing damage at high speeds with Karmic Retribution, and heavily injuring the human with powerful weapons known as Gaster Blasters. But, despite all of his efforts, Sans was cut down when the human turned his own tactic of breaking the rules against him by attacking twice in one turn. Not wanting to give the Anomaly the satisfaction of seeing him die a broken man, Sans walked away with one last warning, before turning to dust. Moving forward, the Anomaly slaughtered both Asgore and Flowey/Asriel in cold blood, before using the power of the determination it had gained to destroy the world as we know it. Horrifyingly, it seemed that that wasn't enough for the Anomaly... because it came back and RESET everything using Frisk's SOUL in a deal with Chara, who had been overcome with HATE over the course of the Anomaly's 'Genocide Route'. Massacres came and went, starting and stopping, until the Anomaly found a mysterious door, encountered once by Frisk and Chara, but not seen by the Anomaly. Curiosity struck them, and they turned the knob. A strange figure sat in the center of the room, glitch particles surrounding them. Motionless... but not dead. Trying to interact with the figure, the Anomaly got no response. Until it seemingly awoke, and called out the Anomaly for its' actions, calling it by its' true name: The PLAYER. Using their power, the figure rendered the human unconscious, and left the dark room. Finally released after being stuck in the Void for an innumerable number of years, the glitchy, unstable figure/entity roamed the Underground in search of allies. Gathering the Boss Monsters of the Underground, he brought them all to Snowdin, where he met up with Sans the skeleton. Shocked upon seeing his old friend's return, Sans spoke with the figure and his fellow monsters. The figure talked with them all about the human and the Player, and the genocides, massacres, and Resets the latter brought upon their world. At first, the group was skeptical, not understanding the powers the human held. But the figure from the Void then spoke not words, but experiences. With their memories of previous timelines restored, the Boss Monsters, now enraged at the Anomaly's actions, and worried for the safety and sanity of their human friend, began formulating a plan. Splitting into groups, the monsters prepared for battle, and set up an ingenious trap designed by both Sans and the figure. Evacuating the remaining monsters from their homes, the Royal Guard retreated back to the CORE, where the scientists and engineers of the Underground harnessed the CORE's energy for one last stand. Sans, who had sworn to his last breath he'd make this last chance count, acted as both a distraction and as the bait, keeping the Anomaly occupied until the trap was finished, using abilities gifted to him by the mysterious figure and its' own allies to stall them as long as possible. He'd then flee and lure the Player to the CORE, where the Boss Monsters would cripple the Anomaly's human puppet, and activate the Determination Extractor. Upon relieving them of their Determination, Sans and the figure would fight them one last time in an effort to get Frisk to fight back against the Player's control so they could destroy the Anomaly once and for all. But, outside of the knowledge of everyone, even the enigmatic figure, our world was on a collision course with another. This other world had different rules and principles, and this world's magic would throw a wrench into both the Player's and the monster's plans, while throughout it all, one ALICORN and her PONY friends continued living their lives as normal, unaware that their world was about to be changed forever.... MY LITTLE TALE: CALL OF THE VOID Author's Note Hope y'all like this intro of sorts. I drew from the original Undertale intro sequence along with that of Undertale: Last Breath's. Don't worry, people, there's going to be ponies! This is just the Prelude, with the prologue detailing the fight between the Player and Sans as he springs the trap on them. We're not going to see Equestria for real until the third chapter (which will be the legit chapter one), although I'm planning to at least give it a short appearance at the very end of the second chapter (the prologue/fight sequence). I won't spoil too much (although with me, I sort of write things as I go along, so technically even I don't know what the fight will be like when I write it), but I will tell you all that the fight will incorporate elements from all 3 (4 if you count phase 2.5) phases of Call of the Void and Last Breath. I'll give it my all to write it as best as I can, because I haven't written all that many fight scenes, and the one I wrote in my older story 'The Hollow Vessel' wasn't all that good. SO! When I write it, I'll be sure to post a link to the unfinished chapter (along with the password you'll need to view it) so y'all can yell at me for my poor writing skills and then help me fix what I get wrong. The pictures are from Undertale, Undertale: Last Breath, and My Little Tale, respectively.
FIGHTs, ACTions, and Time Paradoxes - Part 1Sans the Skeleton did not consider himself a very physically active monster. It was well known around the Underground that he was rather lazy, and took every opportunity he got to take breaks and nap for lengthy periods of time. However... He didn't have multiple jobs just so he could increase the number of 'legally required breaks' he had; Sans figured it may be somewhat of a good way to get some exercise in. Although he could (and often did) just take shortcuts to get to his sentry stations, the skeleton would sometimes take the long route and walk all the way to his station. It was exhausting at first, considering he didn't exercise at all before that point and as such was not used to exerting himself that much, but as he walked more often, Sans built up his physical stamina by a good amount. Something that was very much proving useful now. *WHIIRRR... CHOOM* Summoning a Gaster Blaster, the skeleton feinted backwards before turning around and running like his life depended on it. Which it did, anyways. A red slash of Determination energy went flying through the spot he'd just been in and into a brick-red wall of igneous rock. narrowly avoided that attack this time, Sans thought. He'd been running for the past hour or so as the human pursued him through the Underground after he ambushed them at the exit to the Ruins. While Sans was unable to save Toriel, he at least was able to send Papyrus to the CORE with the other monsters and Royal Guardsmen. While Papyrus was somewhat oblivious to what the plan truly was, he at least knew that this particular human was dangerous (not that he cared all that much; he would have approached them anyway) and that the Guard, with Undyne leading the charge, would be in Hotland where they'd lead the human to the CORE and then capture them. Not wanting to miss a chance to both see Undyne in action and impress her enough to get into the Guard, Papyrus hadn't wasted any time getting to Alyphs' Lab. He'd been briefed by their enigmatic friend, who only gave his last initial, G, on how to operate the Determination Extractor, which would be critical to the plan. Sans hoped the old machine would work; it worked fine when he and Alyphs had tested it several hours earlier. But somehow, he felt something was going to happen, and that it wasn't good. Spotting Doggo frantically waving him over, Sans figured he'd save some physical energy and shortcut over to the Guard. Vanishing with a 'snap-click', the skeleton reappeared next to Doggo. "C'mon! Undyne's heading into the Lab now! We need to get there, and quick!" the canine Guardsman said, an urgent tone to his voice. Doggo wasn't the brightest of monsters, especially with his visual disorder, but he sure wasn't stupid. He knew when he was outmatched, and when he saw Sans running towards him with the human hot on his heels, Doggo had sprung into action. However, Doggo also knew that with how closely the human pursuing the skeleton, who was undoubtedly tired by now, there simply wouldn't be enough time to charge the Determination Extractor before the human arrived. Someone would have to stay behind and buy time for everyone else. Reaching this grim conclusion, the canine skid to a halt, much to Sans' confusion. This wasn't part of the plan. Slowing down a bit, Sans turned back towards Doggo and called out. "hey. uh. this wasn't the plan. what are ya doin'?" the skeleton asked. "Someone needs to buy time. I may not know too much about that rickety old extractor thingamajig back down near the CORE, but that thing clearly needs time to charge up." the guard responded. Sans heard the response and immediately knew that Doggo's fate was sealed, but it didn't stop the skeleton from speaking up. "ya sure about that? you're not gonna make it outta here, ya know. i could cover fo-" Shouting now, the canine cut him off. "No! We can't afford to lose you, with how powerful you are. You die, this entire plan goes up in flames, and we all die for nothing. Go! NOW!" Getting the message, Sans continued running again, this time faster than before. He looked back, a sad look on his face, before refocusing on the path in front of him as the sounds of a FIGHT played out behind him. "Papyrus, please leave Mister G alone." An exasperated Undyne had been putting up with questions and accusations for over an hour now, alongside the antics of Papyrus as he asked question after question about their mysterious friend and if Sans would be okay. Once Papyrus had seen the footage of monsters dying to the human, he'd become very worried, and it had taken Undyne bribing him with the promise of cooking spaghetti to calm him down. Unfortunately, the idea of his favorite dish had only held him for several minutes before he asked about Sans again. Her patience was being whittled down little by little, and even though she truly liked Papyrus (He was one of her besties after all!) Mr. G's skeleton-like appearance had caught Papyrus' interest, and as such, had asked the mysterious man questions not-stop. Thankfully, G didn't seem to mind; if anything, he seemed rather amused. He'd actually answered all of the taller skeleton's questions, and even when he couldn't provide a clear answer, he'd answer to the best of his ability. He'd (apparently) been stuck in the Void for a while, after all; not every question he got asked would be able to be answered completely. Undyne hadn't quite trusted the glitchy skeleton at first. He did look rather... off... and there was a nagging feeling of something just being flat-out wrong with G. But G was actually the first to point out this fact and provided the reasons why he was that way (the Void felt wrong to anyone not used to it). He even admitted that there wasn't exactly a good way of proving he could be trusted, which is something most people wouldn't admit due to their own pride. Footsteps from beyond the open doors of the Laboratory alerted Undyne to someone's approach. Readying her weapon of choice (an energy spear manifested with her magic), she began giving orders as the other monsters began scrambling to finalize preparations. I just hope that's Sans that's running towards us and not that... thing... Undyne thought. Fortunately, the person that came barreling into the room was very much a skeleton monster. Skidding to a halt, Sans caught his breath, leaning against a wall for support. However, there was something else Undyne noticed that placed a seed of fear in her heart. Someone else is missing. Where's Doggo? "Sans! You made it!" Undyne called out, relief slightly tinging her tone. "Where's Doggo? I thought he'd be running in right beside you." Sans eyes hollowed immediately. "he stayed behind." With that morose statement, Undyne's heart sunk. Doggo was a good warrior. He didn't deserve to die to a snivelling, conniving demon like The Player. Undyne was about to have the remaining Guards of the K9 Unit begin sealing the doors when a completely new voice sounded out. "Weelll, well, well.... what do we have here?" Everyone's skin crawled at this. Sans whirled around, and found, to his horror, the Anomaly had already reached the Laboratory. What was truly frightening, though, was that the human had never, ever actually verbally spoken before. This was entirely new, and bode disturbingly unwell for what else the Anomaly could be capable of. Acting quickly, Sans shouted "alphys! quickly! activate the dt extractor!" The saurian doctor, snapping out of her terrified stupor, nodded and methodically mashed several buttons on her computer console, before grabbing her items and hightailing it out of the room. As she did so, Sans ported over a laptop computer of his own, and stood ready to monitor the DT Extractor's condition. The old machine had run well in the tests, but with how old the thing was, it was best that someone keep an eye on it's condition. He'd seen what happened when its' operators lost control of it. The Player seemed delighted by all the action. "Heh, all this for me? I'm flattered. This is something new... I like it!" Undyne immediately began corralling the remaining scientists to be evacuated. Meanwhile, the other Royal Guards formed a defensive line between the evacuating monsters and the human. G moved up next to Sans... with Papyrus in tow. That was to be expected, unfortunately; no matter how hard he tried to convince his brother otherwise, Sans couldn't get Papyrus to back down on fighting alongside him. "Human! You are going down a dangerous path. I... want to help you. I really do." Papyrus addressed the human. "But, unfortunately, you have caused too much trouble. Even when I tried to help you, you struck me down. I... may not be the smartest skeleton, but even I know that not everyone wants to try and be good." Sans was rather surprised at his brother's admittance. He knew of the younger skeleton's philosophy. Papyrus always believed that anyone, no matter how bad, no matter the deeds they did, could be a good person, if they just genuinely put the effort into being good. As such, during the Anomaly's 'Genocide Routes', Papyrus was always struck down offering MERCY to the human, truly believing there was still good in them. To see that even Papyrus of all people had realized that the Anomaly was unredeemable was a testament to how much G had helped them out here. If Papyrus hadn't seen the truth, things could have gone a lot worse. Turning his attention back towards the Player, Sans began his habit of making a speech before the fight that called out the human for their sins. "so. you've made it. you've finally found something new. was it worth everything you went through to get here? was it worth it to kill everyone here?" The Player simply laughed. "Yes. Yes, it was. You don't know how boring it was all this time. To find something new is exciting! There's so many new possibilities... It's such a shame you won't live long enough to see them all, skeletons." "you could have simply left us alone and found something else to do. this world's a game to you, right? so go play another game. heck, you could have fixed all this with the press of a button," Sans retorted. He didn't like the fact that the Player was only doing this for the sake of entertainment and curiosity. If the world of monsters and humans truly was a video game in another world, then one should simply play it, then leave it after completing it. Annoyed, the Player made to respond, but was cut off by an ominous cacophony of mechanical noises. Looking up, the Anomaly's face paled as they saw the DT Extractor begin to do its' job. They may not have known everything about the old machine, but they at the very least knew what it could do to them. "Y o u ' l l b e d e a d w h e r e y o u s t a n d," Sans spoke, his eyes hollowed, his voice quiet, but simmering with barely restrained fury. Author's Note Sorry if I took a while to get this out. As of this writing, my first week of school just finished up. I've only now taken the time to write anything new. Expect this to be normal. The word 'Paradoxes' in the chapter title is a misnomer, but I put it there because it sounds a bit better (I also don't know a better word for 'catastrophic fluctuation in space-time that tears a hole in reality'). EDIT 1, 8/15/2022: Don't have much time, my computer locks soon, so this is a small update. Finished 2 paragraphs. That is all. Expect this to be normal. FINAL EDIT, 8/26/2022: Made this into a two-parter. I don't think you'd like me holding this back for much longer, nor would you want this to be over 5000 words in length after the Prelude. Finished up today and posted. ENJOY!
FIGHTs, ACTions, and Time Paradoxes - Part 2Music for this chapter (interchangeable, no one theme is the only one for this chapter) Now you'll never leave... THE UNDERGROUND, TRUE LAB, EARTH A terrible scream rent through the air as the Determination Extractor began to violently tear the Determination from the Player's host body. Writhing in agony, the Anomaly was just barely able to glimpse Sans and the other monsters looking on in satisfaction. Eventually, after several seconds, it was over, the Player left gasping and groaning in pain on the hard metallic floor. In just seconds, the Determination Extractor had done what took Sans almost a hundred tries to do with Flowey; diminish and destroy the enemy's Determination. Immediately, the skeleton brothers leapt into action; Sans activated his blue magic and began slamming the human into the walls of their SOUL's battlezone, and Papyrus sent a wave of bone walls and jumprope attacks to start shaving off health, with the Mystery Man using the energy of the Void to buff Papyrus' attack patterns. Disoriented, but still somewhat alert, the Anomaly attempted to dodge the sudden assault of bones, but with their SOUL already sapped of quite a bit of energy, and their host body being flung into the walls of the facility, their attempt was an almost comical failure. The bonewalls sent out by the younger of the two brothers plowed through the possessed Frisk's SOUL like a knife through butter, with G's buffs providing a healthy amount of Karmic Retribution. Already, the Player had been reduced to half their health. Recovering quickly, the Player used their turn as an opportunity to heal up, before jumping back into the fray as Sans began bringing his blasters into the fray. The older of the two brothers wasn't even quite paying attention to the battle, his eyes on the tablet he held. Presumably to monitor the condition of the DT Extractor, the damned thing, the Anomaly thought, before being quite literally yanked out of their thoughts as the Mystery Man launched a surprise attack with blue magic and... symbols? Caught off guard by the strange new attack, the Player failed to avoid the impact of several of the Wingdings and paid for it with some more of the health. The attack ending, the Player found it was their turn again. Seeing an opening, they lashed out with their knife at Sans, expecting for Sans to dodge. They did not expect for Papyrus of all monsters to raise a bonewall in front of himself and Sans for protection. "Not this time, human! You'll have to go through me to get to Sans!" Papyrus shouted. Sans seemed surprised by this too. He quickly reset his expression to his normal neutral grin. "thanks bro." With this new revelation in mind, the human leapt into the next gauntlet of attack patterns with gusto, dodging Gaster Blasters and hopping through gaps in bonewalls. Platforms came into play, and glitchy symbols were launched. Many times, the human vessel came very close to being shattered, with the skeleton trio's attacks being violent and ingenious enough to where the Anomaly was forced to use their ITEMS during their turns rather than attack. Eventually, there came a lull in the attacks, the skeleton trio taking a moment to catch their breaths. Seeing an opportunity, the Anomaly decided to try and attack Papyrus. As they (somewhat) expected, the slash was blocked, by a bone staff that Papyrus summoned from thin air. What was unexpected that time around was that the younger sibling seemed to be somewhat... frustrated? That's new, the Player thought. Never seen Papyrus get angry or even frustrated to a degree like this before. "You're beginning to test my patience, human! Give up now! Let Frisk go free!" Cheekily, the human replied, "But this route is so interesting! Why would I stop now?" "maybe because we'd like to have some semblance of peace?" retorted Sans. Tiring of talking with the Anomaly, who obviously wasn't going to listen, Sans summoned some more blasters, only for his younger brother to fling out a hand. "Wait! Let me deal with this, Sans. You may be powerful, but you tire quickly," Papyrus said. Relenting, Sans stepped back, but not before firing his already positioned blasters, shaving off another dozen health points from the Player's SOUL. "*sigh* Sans..." Papyrus grumbled indignantly for several seconds, then turned back towards the human. "Human! We have been fighting for a while now! It seems we shall have to settle this feud through 'different' means!" Papyrus shouted. "It's time I put my skills into full throttle!" Humorously, the younger skeleton's eyes bugged out as he goofily postured and snapped his fingers. "Wish me good luck!" "Oh?" queried the now curious Player. "Behold, my greatest attack yet... my SPECIAL ATTACK! (for real now)!" Papyrus bellowed, as a white light began to shine in the center of the Battle Box. Covering their eyes to avoid blinding themselves, the Player eagerly awaited the summoning of Papyrus' attack. A flash filled the room. Uncovering their eyes, the Player looked upon the glorious... bone? "what." Seems Sans shared their thoughts. "paps. what is this supposed to b-" The older sibling was suddenly cut off as the bone suddenly morphed into a rather familiar shape before resolving into a fully-fledged Gaster Blaster of Papyrus' own. "Say hello to my good friend FRANK! My very own Gaster Blaster!" Papyrus gleefully shouted. The newly dubbed 'Frank' was not too dissimilar from Sans' own blasters... but it seemed it took more after Papyrus, judging by its' comically bugged out eyes. Papyrus, satisfied with his successful (and uninterrupted) summoning of his special attack, turned back towards the human, singing Frank's praises all the while. "His ruthlessness is unparalleled, his strength stemming from my own!" The Player was so preoccupied by the hilarity of the blaster's appearance (read: laughing hysterically) that they almost didn't notice the blaster begin to move. Tensing, they prepared to dodge... only for their jaw to drop as the blaster maneuvered over to a nearby wall and began eating it. Is Papyrus' blaster that stupid!? was the somewhat hysterical Anomaly's thoughts. Papyrus seemed to share the Player's thoughts. "HEY! Pay attention, this is your time to shine!" Or not quite. It... didn't seem that intelligent, compared to Sans' blasters, which seemed like wolves loyal to an alpha... while this blaster seemed more like a lovable puppy of sorts. Still snickering, the Player readied themselves for the inevitable bombardment of laser beams as Papyrus moved his blaster over the Battle Box. Suddenly, the Battle Box elongated, and a pattern of bones emerged from the ground, as the Player felt their soul lurch and fall down into the floor. "heh. nice, paps. didn't know ya had a blaster of your own," Sans praised. "i wonder what yours is like." "You shall see in just a second, Sans." Papyrus replied, before returning his attention to the Anomaly. "Human! Prepare yourself!" Tensing, the Player watched the blaster above them. "GO!" The blaster began firing, but the Player was already ahead of them. Stopping, they expected the turn to end, but were given a shock as Frank continued firing instead of firing once and leaving like they expected. The beam passed through them, reducing their health to a mere third of its maximum value. The human groaned in irritation. It seemed that 'Frank" differed from his siblings in more than just appearance. Taking the opportunity to heal yet again, the Anomaly hopped, leapt, and ran through another gauntlet of bones and lasers, with Frank leading two of Sans' blasters (who seemed rather amused by their strange cousin) against them. This routine repeated several times, with Sans, Papyrus, and the Mystery Man sending out attacks, the Player dodging, then attacking or healing every so often. At one point, the enigmatic figure summoned some familiar equipment from the CORE - lasers, actual ones at that - to bring to bear against the Player. It was quite humerus to see the shocked expression on the entity's face from seeing what it thought were simply utilities being used as weapons against them. Of course, this couldn't go on forever; Sans and Papyrus both only had so much stamina and magic, and Doctor G was constantly expending energy just by simply existing and having a stable physical form, let alone attacking. The monsters had to hurry if they were to free Frisk. Sans was already starting to sweat profusely. Eventually, though, it seemed that a turning point was near. The Anomaly was at 1 HP and was out of healing items, enough for Papyrus to capture them so the DT Extractor could finish the job. "Human! You're weak now! Cease your fighting and allow me to capture you!" Papyrus shouted. Too exhausted to make a snappy retort, the Player simply resorted to glaring hatefully at the skeletons. "uh... paps? g? something's wrong with the extractor." Snapping his head over to look at his older brother, Papyrus frowned slightly. "Oh, dear." Sans, tapping at the tablet he was holding, looked back up with a grim, but determined look on his face. "we're just going to hafta make do with what we've got," he said. "W-Well, we didn't come here to give up, did we?!" Papyrus agreed. "Let's finish this!" he cheered, before dodging an errant slash from the now recovered (if still low health) human, his eyes bugging out in surprise. Sans, not amused by the blatant sneak attack on his brother, launched his iconic 'strongest attack', slamming the human into a bonewall, flinging them through a gauntlet of bones, and hitting them with a barrage of Gaster Blasters. Unfortunately, even that attack failed to land a single hit on the Player, who seemed to be very cautious and wary. A frantic beeping from his tablet caught Sans' attention. He looked down, trying to diagnose whatever new problem the DT Extractor had, when he heard another slash. He looked up, paled, and promptly dodged out of the way of a red DETERMINATION-empowered knife slash. *CRASH!* What Sans didn't mean to do was allow the DT Extractor to get hit. Paling further, Sans looked up at the old, now damaged and going haywire, machine with dread. The human, emboldened by their small victory, sniggered with glee. "What's the matter, Sans? Did I break your toy?" they said in a condescending tone, before trailing off as the critically damaged machine began to glow with an ominous blood-red color. "Ohhkay... that doesn't look good..." "we need to run. n o w," Sans said, fearfully. Papyrus was all too happy to oblige, and the Mystery Man was already gone before Sans had finished his sentence. The skeleton trio booked it with all the energy they had left towards the door leading out. But for all the speed that the monsters had, they were too slow to reach the exit as it slammed shut as alarms began blaring and the power began to fluctuate. "LET US OUT!" Papyrus shouted. "THE MACHINE'S BREAKING! WE NEED TO GET OU-" The younger skeleton sibling was cut off as the DT Extractor finally gave up the ghost and exploded violently. The blast then immediately reversed itself, imploding inwards and forming a singularity of nearly infinite power. The sound was deafening. Papyrus couldn't hear anything, and with the lights flickering so badly, he couldn't really see anything, either. Which meant that when the singularity began to pull him towards it, he almost didn't notice until he bumped into a desk in front of him, sending it flying into the wormhole. Shouting in fear, Papyrus attempted to back up, but his boots could find no purchase on the smooth metallic floor, and his scrabbled uselessly against the ground as he flailed about like a maniac. Spotting a railing, he grabbed onto it and held on with all of his might. He briefly caught a glimpse of the human being sucked into the singularity when he felt Sans fly past him. "SANS! NO!" Papyrus shouted, as the older brother was sucked into the wormhole. Unfortunately, although Papyrus had a good grip on the railing, he did not forsee the door into the lab slamming open and distracting him. Undyne and the other monsters stood there in shock as the tall skeleton went flying into the singularity, screaming his signature "NYEEEEH!" all the while. By the time his boots disappeared through the wormhole, it was too late for the Guards to do anything. "PAPYRUS!" Undyne howled. "NO!" The singularity, already unstable, began to collapse. A flash and an ear-shattering *BOOM* sounded out, forcing the monsters to brace themselves against the shockwave produced by the wormhole's collapse. Looking back up as the explosion subsided, Undyne mournfully surveyed the thoroughly trashed facility. The Skeleton Brothers were nowhere to be found. There was, however, a curious-looking object in the center of the room that raised her hopes - a portal. "Hmmm... they must have gotten sucked through that portal. We're going to have to go after them," Undyne muttered. Turning back to the remaining monsters, Undyne began ordering the Guards to start cleaning up the area and for the scientists to begin salvaging what they could and repairing the equipment in the lab. It was over... but at what cost? ELSEWHERE... It was peaceful and quiet in the Everfree Forest. The wildlife was content - no new disasters or outlandish events had occurred recently, so the birds and rodents it safe enough to run and frolic about as they pleased. One particularly enterprising squirrel had 'borrowed' a small burlap sack from the nearby settlement and was scooping bucketfuls of nuts into it, hoping to get a large haul for the winter, when they sensed something... off. Wrong. Looking up into the sky, they didn't see anything. Squinting, the squirrel stretched their head out of their little hidey-hole for a better look. Still nothi- *ZAP!* Squeaking in surprise and fear, the rodent leapt backwards in fright as a spark of electricity appeared out of nowhere and began to increase in size and intensity. Squealing in terror, the squirrel ran as fast as their tiny legs could propel them towards the only pony resident of the Forest. Had they stuck around, they would have seen the singularity deposit a short, bipedal skeleton on the grass, unconscious. A similar scene played out near a wooden hut deeper in the Forest. Meanwhile, back in Ponyville, a young lavender-coated alicorn frantically ran about as her magic sensors near the border of the Everfree Forest went haywire. "What is going on over there!?" Princess Twilight Sparkle cried as she flitted from machine to machine, attempting to narrow down the source of the surges of magic. "No, no, no! UUGGH! Spike!" The aforementioned dragon leaned into the room, having fled it the moment he noticed his adoptive sister's mane start to get messy. "Yeah, Twilight?" "Take a letter to Princess Celestia. Inform here that there's been a huge, anomalous, and potentially dangerous surge of magic in the Everfree Forest... and that I'm going to go investigate with my friends." Author's Note 1/15/2023: FINALLY started actually writing for this after... what... SIX MONTHS (correct me if I'm wrong). Got some decent progress done, about halfway, I'd say. Took some inspiration from Papyrus' Belief by Kassm (specifically his Papyrus's Special Attack, Frank the Gaster Blaster: Hilarious, is it not? EDIT 1/16/2023, 11:56 AM: I'm off school today, so more time for me to write! Hopefully I'll get this done today. (Spoilers: I did.) EDIT 1/16/2023, 1: PM: FINISHED THIS! Hope y'all like it, this has been in the works for a while now, I just never got around to doing it until yesterday.
