PLDN Chapter 16

"Chapter 16: Recovering Asgore and Dealing With Flowey/Balancing Work and Play"

Sub-Entry 151: "Volt's Offer.  A Hiatus For Frisk to Recover"
So quiet.

A bed of golden flowers at the center of the short grassy space. A lone circle of light peeked down the mouth of Mount Ebott, making the flowers at the center seem brighter and more colorful.

So quiet.

Quiet...except for the faint sound of sniffling and muffled sobbing. There, in the corner; in the deepest part of the darkness.

Frisk hugged her knees to her chest as she sat alone.

The way she was crying...this was all to familiar. It was a parallel to a little lost prince once trapped in the Void. So lost. So alone. So broken.

Oh, Frisk. What had become of you?

"...I deserve this." Frisk remained seated,  hugging her knees to her chest. "I...don't know if I have it in me...but I have to try...one more time..."

And despite it all, she did not notice the crackle of electricity and the massive energy discharge as the Phone Booth slammed down, just missing the edge of the flowers. I had returned barely seconds after the Delorean had departed.

How distracted you were, Eighth Fallen Child.

When Frisk finally did look up.

"Hey.  Don't you know how to greet a friend?"

"......."

"Sorry.  Too soon." I shook my head. "My apologies.  Having said that much.  I bet you thought I wasn't coming back."

"......."

"Oh come on.  Don't start with the silent treatment again.  I know you're not mute.  I know you can talk.  I know you're not blind, despite how you always look like your eyes are closed.  Furthermore I know you still have enough determination to keep existing in this world."

A low moan.

"Wow.  This run really did a number on you, didn't it?  I doubt you've even run into Flowey since the aftermath of--"

I broke off suddenly. The tear streams on her face were just too much to take.

"I get it.  You're tired.  But you can't quit.  You don't want to leave things as they are.  You have to go on and finish what you started.  It's hard, isn't it?  So very hard.  I know."

I sat down next to her.

"You're not alone.  I know what it's like.  I went through more lives than a planet full of cats when "Omega" Photoshop Flowey turned me to mulch at the end of Timeline UTPR-3224.  That's what it's like to load and reload over and over...when you died in past runs."

A slow nod. But she still wouldn't look at me. Not because she was afraid of me...but because she felt so ashamed of herself.

"It's strange.  You're so much like him."

"...?"  That look. It was inquisitive.

"You both cry in solitude in the same way.  It was like this for him when I found him in the Void, with Gaster."

"...?!"

I thought so.

"Then you DO know about the Man Who Speaks in Hands." I rubbed my chin. "But more than that...you know about...him.  The previous one.  The Lost Dreemurr--"

"Asriel." She managed to speak.

"Yeah.  Asriel."

"Do it for him...?" I said, accidently channeling a moment from one Homer J. Simpson.

"He deserves to be happy.  He deserves to be home.  But--"

"Yeah.  The other one." I shifted my gaze to the patch of flowers. "He got a far more raw deal."

Frisk slowly looked up at me.

"I know what you're thinking.  The others.  They're fine.  And they're completely unaware anything happened.  I...am a bit ashamed to admit it, but I wiped their memories without resetting the timeline.  It's...almost as bad.  But--"

"..."

"Yeah.  Both of us.  We're not above the consequences.  We tampered.  We played god.  We let our curiosity get the best of us."

"..."

"We can still make up for it.  I believe in redemption.  I believe in second chances.  And I believe even the worst person can change...they can do the right thing.  Even if they're never forgiven, as long as they keep trying to make things right.  Someone will recognize that.  Someone has to.  Perhaps...the most important person to recognize that...is your own self."

"Doctor..."

"Just Volt.  Let's leave the kid-and-grownups distinctions behind for now.  We're just two tortured souls, sharing a moment."

"Volt...why are you doing this?"

"You know why."

"I can't...I...I just can't go on..."

"I know.  And you're right."

"....I'm...right?"

"As you are, Frisk, you're in no shape to play this game.  You're like any other player that's been at it for so long.  You're burned out.  You're frustrated.  You've reached your limit and you've got nothing left to push past."

Another moan.

"But, that doesn't mean this is the end.  I've found that even a workaholic like me needs balance.  In the last five years, my wife and daughter haven't had to nag me much, if at all to take a step back...to rest up."

"What are you saying?"

"I'm saying, Frisk...you need  a vacation."

"Vacation?"

"Away from this."

Frisk looked confused.

"From this game...this world."

A slow realization set in.

"But...Volt...I can't leave here--"

"Can't?  Or won't."

"......"

I shook my head. "You're the "player" of this game.  And yet, like every "NPC" of this world...you've convinced yourself...that is...you've confined yourself to absolutes.  If there was really no way you could leave this place, then there is no way...he would have spent five years on an alien world...healing his heart, mind and spirt...growing up, growing wise, growing older..."

I looked off at the light piercing through the top of the area.

"I did so much that should have broken this game, but it went on with me...interfering, interacting...being what Sans probably still considers a dirty little hacker."

I put my hand on her shoulder.

"But I'm doing my best to fix my mistakes.  To defend this world from outside forces that want to make it part of their empire of chaos.  And most of all...even if he's our enemy...I have to--"

"Help Chara."

Perceptive little teen.

"I just can't accept that he's evil to the core.  He's just..."

"He might be a bad seed, but...you're right.  I can't let him serve the enemy.  He thinks he's just using the Followers of Chaopolis but...that's what the last few renegades and space-time terrorists thought before...my sworn enemy played every last one of them...and abandoned them to fates worse than death."

I was revealing a lot to Frisk that she probably shouldn't hear about. But then again...she had crossed him, hadn't she?"

"You thought he was--"

"I did...I was wrong...I can see now that you're--"

"Don't say anymore.  What's done is done.  It isn't the first time he's made my reputation suffer.  It probably won't be the last."

"We need to get back on topic.  I am serious, though.  You have to pause the game.  In a sense...you need to be reset."

Frisk looked at me with an expression bordering on horrified.

"Sorry.  That was a poor choice of word.  What I mean is...you need a change of pace.  A way to remember who you are."

I reached into my lab coat pocket and pulled out a large sunflower. It wasn't the same one Asriel gave me years ago...the previus Chara had crushed and killed it, while under the control of the Wraith.

Frisk hesitated.

"I promise.  It won't try to take your soul." I gave a faint smile. Maybe was too soon. "But...you and Chara did have some things in common, didn't you?"

Frisk reached out an accepted the flower.

"So.  Are you open to the possibility of stepping off world for an extended period while I clean up things int he Underground?  Fix everyone's memories?"

"...Volt...I...I don't know what to say."

"Say yes."

"....okay...I'll do it.  For them, I'll get better.  I'll get my mind right.  I'll remember why I'm so determined."

"That's the spirit."

Frisk held the flower close to her heart. "For him.  For her.  For them.  For everyone."

"And...?"

A sigh. "And...for me."

You owe it to yourself, Frisk. You have to take care of yourself before you're ready to take care of them.

"Where...where is it that I'm going to be going?"

"I have...a couple of places for you to visit that will be very therapeutic.  Game worlds similar to this one."

Frisk whimpered and shuddered.

"No, no.  There won't be any fighting and especially no killing.  These game worlds are just the thing you need."

I stood up and decompressed the parts and set up the portable cybergate. It was like the one back at the lab while Robin and the Teen Titans were...ahem...horsing around in the glassware lab. Yeah. Pun fully intended. Laugh it up, wherever you are, Beast Boy and Cyborg.

"I'm gonna get talked down to by Sanchez for this..." I said as I lit the activator torch. Yeah...I know game reference I was dropping with this.

As the blue flame ignited, the portal spiraled to life as the coordinates on the computer came up.

"...?"  Frisk looked at the readout. There were two options.

"I'm going to let you have your pick where to start.  Then at some point I'll come check on you so you can spend the second half of your vacation on the other world.

"Stardew Valley?  Animal Crossing?"

"They're your kind of places.  Trust me." I smiled.

Frisk hesitated...then looked up at me.

"You won't need anything to start out with.  Not even the stick."

With that Frisk emptied out her inventory.

"They'll be waiting for you when you're rested and rehabilitated.

Frisk hesitated again...then made her choice on the touch screen.

"Good choice.  Well then..."

A moment of silence...then I stepped closer and hugged her. She hugged back. It felt like the first time I had seen her embrace Toriel. With a little less of the Goat Mom having to kneel down to reach a much shorter human child.

"I'm here for you, Frisk.  You're going to do a great job.  You just have to stay determined."

Admit it, Lady Destiny. That was all you.

Frisk sighed deeply then quietly went through the portal.

"I'll come find you.  When the time is right."

Sub-Entry 152: "While Frisk is Off World, Volt Arcade Will Restore the Game"
KOMMAND recalled the booth at that moment.

It gave me a chance to collect my thoughts before I accessed my DATA SAVE marker back at New Home's Castle Dreemurr.

I thought back to the Void. For five years I racked my brain over it. When Gaster fell into his creation, he was erased from existence. From everyone's memories. From history itself. Yet, his echo remained in the Void. Proof that he did in fact exist. Now his existence was leaking back into this world. Hmm. Was this a blessing or a curse?

But that wasn't what was on my mind. I wondered...if Gaster fell into the Void and was erased...how did Asriel fall into the Void and remain in everyone's memories? How did he not share Gaster's fate and melt into an...Almagamate-like being?

I had a number of theories. One idea was that it was Destiny herself. Through devine intervention, our Asriel was the grand experiment. A Dreemurr that didn't lose his life or his soul. Which meant Destiny INTENDED for someone...namely her white knight--me--to find him. Quite an interesting game you're playing with your sister.

Another theory is that the old Frisk's code...the one that was annhilated with the Unstable Genocide Timeline. It had somehow altered him even back then. I couldn't wrap my brain around how Asriel absorbed the code. Did Gaster install it into him somehow? Did it seep into him through the Void? There were just too many variables of how it was imprinted upon him down to a quantum level. Maybe this was a mystery only Janet Van Dyne could solve...eheheh...too soon. Henry Pymm would not approve of bringing up the original Wasp so casually. That would be a case for another time.

"Hmm."

By all accounts and his lack of determination...he should have perished. But for 105 years, he thrived; a century in the void, five on VGM-098.

"You're getting distracted, Volt.  Mission first.  Theoretical physics later." I accessed my bracer and instantly teleported to New Home.

I found myself in the casket room. Seven coffins. Each marked with a different color heart. But the one with the Red Heart of Determination...it was opened...and empty.

"Why am I not surprised?"

I looked up, expecting to see Toriel again. But...I was just thinking of the past. Yeah...she would have no reason to come here. She wouldn't even remember. Honestly? I was going to have to do a lot of memory editing when it was time.

She wasn't the first on my list to restore...nor was she the last. No, for the sake of being careful...someone else would be the last on the list to restore to full memories.

I wandered the corridors of the Castle, going over the plan that I had now put some structure to.

I was going to traverse the Underground. But in reverse order. That meant starting with...

"King Asgore."

I thought back to my time in town, having made the first preparations.

The first thing I did was go off world to return to the agency I had a tour of duty with: the Men in Black. There was where I got the Neuralizer technology. And there was where I was going to get the De-neuralizer technology I'd need to patch everyone's memories. But it wouldn't be a simple cut and paste. I'd get to that, soon enough. The real problem was...making the technology portable.

The De-neuralizer I'd seen was the size of a denist's chair...recliner thing. Or a tanning bed. There was no way I could haul something like that around the Underground, let alone power it, and of course there was the problem that not everyone could fit into it. Asgore especially.

Luckily, I had Dr. Lynx help with some benchmarking nanotech. It wasn't the first time I brought her off world to deal with this sort of thing. The mission with Providence and its agents, for one. That little Alien Swarm problem in Bellwood involving Dr. Victor Validus. And yes, Dr. Shaggleford's little problem with one Dr. Phineus Phibe. I'd never look at Scooby-Snacks the same way again.

A briefing with Z, followed by a catchup with Agents K and L and I was on my way to R&D.

Mental to note to self. Be careful of who or what gets unfoot. One of these days I'm going to end up stepping on one of those coffee-addicted worms-with-legs and never hear the end of it. I think I'd rather face a "Bug" then have to deal with however many treaties I might end up violating.

I examined the new combination Neuralizer/Deneuralizer. Oh yeah. Leave it to M.i.B. They STILL make this look goooood.

"Men in Black.  Blaming blue alien goo on "gas leaks" since at least Roswell." I chuckled.

The next thing I needed to do was get extremely surgical with what memories I needed to preserve.

Thankfully, I had recognized the issue of de-neuralizing could be a future problem to overcome, so I had thought to re-engineer the existing neuralizers to function similar to how Save States worked on the Gamecube/Wii emulator, Dolphin. And to a similar extent the redundancy of Breath of the Wild's own data save mechanic.

In essence...always make a backup before you save/erase anything.

On that issue, I'd need at least one powerful psychic mind to assist with this.

Lucky for me...I managed to secure two.

"Thanks again, Major.  And you too, Dr. Brighton."

"I am duty-bound to assist in all matters, Commander."

"Co-Commander.  Miles is still active."

"I've read over the reports, and I've studied the neurarlizer and de-neurolizer technology.  It's blueprints, theory, schematics, and programming.  I understand it inside and out and I'm rather amazed by the neural image codec you and Violet invented.  A way to preserve a complete neurotransmitter map of a mind and compress it into a complex algorithm."

"Eliminating 99.99% of the signal noise and conflicting harmonics.  Violet took care of that part.  I impleimented it into the nanoware based on Dr. Lynx's specifications."

"So by neuralizing them, you kept an image of every one of their memories."

"Yes.  And now we're going to some intense memory-editting.  I want to remove all traces of Evil Chara's presence, her deeds, her plans, everything she did since this timeline began."

"I see."

Sparing them Chara's evil was my act of mercy. I could not let them know, in good concience, what a dirtbag the first-fallen child was. And how little Asriel meant to them.

"I want them to remember all our meetings, but I want to alter some of the content...carefully.  In essence, I want it so that they remember we've met and our experiences but they don't recall a human child entering the Underground.  I want to preseve that much so that when Frisk does start the game back up again...so to speak...I'm ready to nudge things in the right direction."

"Hmmmm..."

I think this one explained itself. I wasn't about to throw away all those experiences. Saxophone serenades, giving a skeleton a Skull Man model, martial arts and anime with a fish, the greatest show a robot-ghost ever put on TV, my confessions to a weeaboo lizard, and yup...a king cursed by wrath and cowardice.

Of all of the memories I had to tinker with...Alphys was the only one who was getting the complete, total, unabridged, uncensored package. If one of them was allowed to remember the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth; then I could live with that on my conscience.

Asgore and Toriel probably needed the most modification to what they could remember. With Chara being the closest to them...they were the most vulnerable to the pain and hurt. I wasn't about to let them suffer on behalf of Madam Fate, Allouicious Adonis, and Evil Chara.

By the time I had completely finished the meeting and we had rehearsed everything and everything that needed to be custom-tailored, Bunnie and Callie were hooked up and readied to the neurocomputer to help me direct the upload to the De-Neuralizer's external memory modules.

I had a list of details, both obvious and subtle; crude and fine. Things that had to make these digital alibis air-tight and rock solid. I couldn't afford a single discrepancy.

After a couple all-nighters in the lab...

"Here they all are.  Each labled, and ready, Commander." Callista handed me each one.

"Heh.  They look like Morty's Mind-blowers." Violet mused at the vacuum tube looking bulbs full of neon fluid. Each one seemed to have a unique color which matched each of the Boss Monsters perfectly.

Plus there was a batch for all of the mini-boss monsters and regular monsters. I'd have a lot of regular monsters to restore memories to, too. When I said I was thorough...I meant I was thorough.

"You undertand how they work.  Think of them like ink cartridge recharges." Nikita demonstrated with the mach-up model and an empty memory tube, plugging the micro USB plug into the new socket on the Neuralizer/Deneuralizer pen model.

"Once charged, it's ready to upload to the respective monster of the Underground."

"Perfect." I smirked confidently.

~

And that brings us back here...my path to the Throne Room. I had a 50/50 chance of guessing Asgore was on the throne or back in his New Home copy of Toriel's house.

As it turned out...I was right the first time. Asgore was there on the throne, alright. His attendants and guards were nowhere to be found, but I was almost convinced he wasn't completely unguarded...somehow. Either way...there doors leading into the room and the door leading to the hallway of the Barrier were closed. I guess it wasn't really a good day for him.

I could see his sullen look. In his privacy, he had dropped the facade of wearing a smile and being a big fuzzy pushover. The monarch loved by his people. I couldn't see his trident anywhere. FIguring, it was made of magic, it was probably a summon, like Undyne's spears.

I activated the SPECTRE function and snuck into the room, not even worried about he flowers. As long as I was outside time and space, none of them would be crushed under my weight.

Yet, somehow the SPECTRE function kept me anchored to a definitely plane with gravity; preventing me from falling through the floor. There was tech behind this I'd need weeks to explain how it worked. As Sans' answer for everything was "MAGIC"...mine was "SCIENCE".

"Seems the nose-nuzzle champion of 98' isn't doing much nuzzling these days." I mused, knowing Asgore wouldn't be able to hear me as long as I was in SPECTRE form.

I approached and got behind the thone. There was just enough space between it and the wall for me to work. I put on my dark sunglasses.

"Okay..." I fished out the Neuralizer/Denuralizer and the memory tube labled "Asgore". I plugged it in and the reddish purple fluid lit up with neon fluorescence.

I reached my arm around the throne, holding the device in front of his eyes.

"On my mark and not a moment sooner..." I set the delayed shut-off of the SPECTRE function to count down from 10 seconds.

The very precise second it hit zero, I clicked the device and unleashed the reddish-orange flash.

Sub-Entry 153: "Recovering Asgore":
Asgore was temporarily blinded for a second. "AHHH!!!"

I had startled him. This gave me mere seconds to get into position.

As he rubbed his eyes and the spots began to fade, his vision came back.

"What...where...oh!  That's right...I rmeember...!"

He looked upon where I was bent down one one knee, my head bowwed, fist over my heart in a act of reverence to the crown.

"My king."

"Oh yes...you are...Dr. Volt Alessandro Arcade...and...we're just now meeting, are we not?"

A lie. But a protective lie.

"Yes.  As I was saying--"

"Yes, you were a monster who grew up on the outside.  Descended from the few that were never found and placed inside the Barrier."

"Indeed...until I found my way back here.  Pursued by hunters and I fell into the Underground.  My family and friends were attempting to escape them.  I am sure they will eventually find me but...I suppose this is my home now.  I have to have hope I'll make it back out again."

"Yes, yes.  I see.  Well, doctor.  If you need citizenship in our kingdom, I will arrange it.  One more of us drawing breath is another drop of hope into the bucket."

That was an attempt to sound optimistic. He was trying. He was really trying.

He didn't need to know that I was aware of the six souls...or the deeds he had to get them. I'd get him to that point eventually. I had some work to do on him before he was ready to meet Toriel again. Waaaaay, waaaay down the road.

"Doctor...there are so many questions I have...we all have...about the surface.  Is it--"

"To be honest?  The grass is always greener.  From out there...this place seemed more legendary.  As an explorer/researcher trying to learn all he can about the outside world to prepare us for the changes we're in for since the last time we saw the sun...it seems I have much more to learn about the Underground Kingdom.  I'm a goldfish that's been taken from a lake and put into an aquarium so to speak."

"I see.  Forgive me then."

"No, no.  Curiosity is a good thing.  All good things in time.  And we all have plenty of that."

"Yes.  Freedom is...seeming less likely these days..." Asgore's gaze drifted to the door leading to the Barrier hallway.

"But we will attain it some day.  Right?"

Asgore attempted a smile, but it started to fade.

Well...I was hoping to prolong it but it looks like it can't be helped.

"You understand--"

I lowered my gaze, my eyes disappearing under the shadow of my bangs.

"What...or rather who must be sacrificed for that to happen.  Seven souls.  I'm familiar with the Prophecy.  I know.  It's a terrible burden, is it not?"

A moment of silence.

"Do you know of Alchemy, dear Doctor?"

No.  No, he couldn't remember--

"Do you know there is a Law that states...to obtain, something of equal value must be given up in exchange for it.  That is the law of equivalent exchange."

He does...he does remember the old timeline. I just restored memories from this timeline. How does he remember things from UTPR-3224?

"But that law is not absolute.  How does one put an equivalency on a human's soul.  Or a monster's soul.  The former may be far more powerful than the latter...but would it be in error to say one has less value than the other?  The family...the friends...the people who enrich the life of one soul...how can you weigh that against those of another soul?"

Oh gods. Not only does he remember, he understands, completely.

"My hands...have grown so heavy.  I do not wish to speak of it but--"

"Some sacrifices are best left unsaid.  For it is the sacrifices made by those against their will which makes them significantly less noble acts.  As a father...while I understand the why...I can only find myself questioning the how.

Logically...it has been said once by a great scientist, the needs of the many outweight the needs of the few."

Bringing Star Trek in this to try to pad the blow you were delivering to Agsore? You are a piece of work, Volt Arcade. I have a lot of forgiveness to ask after this.

"What a cold and heartless philosophy." Asgore's eyes were dull and sullen. "Logic treats them as just numbers...not as unique lives...each with something to live for.  You only live once in this world.  Monsters become dust.  Humans become corpses...then eventually dust like us."

Yes, Asgore was far smarter than his goofy nature implied. Right now his heart and soul were bleeding. And try as I might to have sympathy for the Devil, no matter what I said, I was twisting the knife.

"I am no longer fit to call myself a father." Asgore looked me dead in the eyes. "I want to give my people the hope they desire...that they deserve...  I want to make their dreams reality.  I want to make our most precious, most shared wish come true.  Once we are free from our prison...from there on out...once we have our freedom...it doesn't matter."

"Your highness.  You know leaving this world before your time by your own hand is a sin that the Queen will not forgive."

"......"

Ouch. The same low blow. But I wasn't about to risk him being tempted the way Alphys was.

"Whatever punishment...admonishment she has for you...you face it like a man, my liege.  Don't keep running from what you know is true.  No one is above the consequences.  But abandoning life won't allow you to escape them.  That's not how you make amends."

By now I had made it clear that I could not forgive the deaths of the children. But I had also made it clear that unlike Toriel, I had not given up on him. There was good in him. There was a future for him if he would strive for it and make up for his sins, one act at a time for the rest of his life. Was there a future with Toriel? In UTPR-3224, it seemed like that would have been the case. If it could happen once, it could happen again. While I would certainly try to guide things in the right direction.

"To redeem myself...?  I don't know it it can ever happen.  I just want it all to go back to how it was..."

He is so much like Asriel. And Asriel is so much like him. But our Asriel learned what he has yet to. What Toriel has yet to.

"I'm sorry.  There is no "back".  Only forward.  Make the most of what you can, your highness."

I presented him with a cup of tea I had brought. Bunnie had brewed it from the Golden Flower tea I had brought back from Undyne's.

I sipped my own cup. "You should try some.  You'll feel better."

"...you are...a very kind man, Doctor.  Perhaps it is...just luck but...you seem to like my favorite drink." He sipped.

"It is good."

"Everyone should have the smallest act of kindness given to them.  Even if they do not deserve it.  Or merely...think they do not."

"My friend...you seem too good for this world."

I've said that about someone else. What a thought! Being compared to Asriel. With all I've done wrong in my immortal life...can I really have a spark of cinnamon roll in me?

Well. I might as well get to the point. As much as I hated ruining the moment...as much as I hated to go there. I had to test his resolve.

"I understand it has been some time since the last one...fell into the Underground.  What will you do if another falls into our Kingdom some day?"

"......."

No anwer.

Maybe he wasn't ready for this question--

Hmm?

I noticed a small drop on one of the flowers below us.

There was a red glow in one eye and a blue glow in the other...but it was under each that I noticed...

"Tears?"

Asgore wiped his eyes on his arm. Yeah. That Dreemurr method of weeping. I knew it all too well. Anyone could dry their eyes on their arm, I suppose. But there was a very specific style...a very identifiable way all three of these goat monsters did it that was unique that only seeing it for yourself could properly describe it. Words just failed.

"I see."

As I had looked briefly into his eyes, while I definitely saw plenty of pain, fear, and self-hatred...I also saw fire and ice.

Yeah. His resolve was there. He was ready to do what he had to do. But I knew that it wouldn't go the way he thought it would. With his mind firmly narrowed on seeing an outcome of "it's either them or me"...he couldn't see that I was going to do everything I could to get that third option. A resolution where no one has to be sacrificed. Enough lives had been sacrificed as it was. This world was overdue for a miracle. One where everyone can win...just once. Just this once...a true ultimate happy ending.

Your thoughts and feelings are still clouded. But you're making progress.

"Your highness, I want to belive it really is simple as not needing to fight.  That mercy is not out of the question.  So much has been taken from us.  We don't need to take from them to level the playing field.  This cycle of revenge really should end.

Think about what I said for as long as you need to. But...don't run away from the choice you have to make. If you're going to do this...go all in. When all is said and done...maybe the best thing in the end is to start anew and find your way from there."

My audience with him was finished and so was our tea. Maybe next time I would be able to speak with him about his family. About Toriel. About Asriel.

But not Chara.

Until that brat realized the error of his ways...until he reconciled with the Dreemurrs. Until the day he can say he's sorry to all of them and ask for forgiveness...Asgore, Toriel, and Asriel/Flowey did not need to remember him. Not until he was READY to be remembered--

"...!!!"

That was it. That's why Gaster's presence is returning. He's ready to be remembered. He wants to be remembered. If the former Royal Scientist can be redeemed...why not an evil teenage human boy?

This was going to be a far, far more uphill battle than Chara-Wraith. Besides...he'd have to be our enemy first before I could even think about making him our friend. Heh. I guess I was more like Asriel than I gave myself credit for. But in all seriousness...yeah...who could say when he'd come seeking revenge on us? We'd probably never see it coming if Adonis had anything to say about it. Well? Challenge accepted.

"I've taken up too much of your time, my liege.  I should return to my exploration and research.  Get to know more our people."

"As you wish." Asgore gestured for me to show myself out.

"I'm sorry for stirring up such painful memories."

"Do not be.  I fashioned these memories myself..."

My eyes wided as I stood, back facing the goat monster king in all his 7 or 8 feet of glory.

What a moment of deja vu I had just experienced at that moment. He subconsciously remembered the last thing I said to him in our very first meeting.

I headed out into the Judgement Hall...sure enough...there was no Sans the Skeleton.

But I was keeping on guard for someone else to appear. I was hardly surprised when they did.

Sub-Entry 154: "A Flowey Encounter.  He Seems...Too Cooperative":
"Wow.  What a sob story.  What a real tear-jerker.  You really got the old fool bawling like--"

"Like a certain crybaby?"

"Ouch." Flowey mused, barely phased by it. "I think you'll find bringing him up doesn't sting as much as it did."

"So you accept it, don't you?"

"Accept it?  Reject it?  What is...is.  Can't change reality.  Not without one of those things the other guy was talking about...Infinity Stones or something?  Sounds pretty interesting..."

"Flowey, don't get any ideas.  You already know too much.  And the other guy, as you call him is dangerous.  He's a real nutcase.  If you hang out with him, you're gonna be in biiiig trouble."

"Ohhhh yes sir--"

I pointed at the weed.

"You've got a real attitude problem, Flowey.  You're a slacker!" And then I stopped myself when I realized Flowey had just gotten me into a moment of quoting Principal Strickland from Hill Valley HIgh. He had given the same riot act to Marty McFly.

"Gotcha."

"He's really getting his jollies leaking those kind of references into this world.  He's already got you doing it.  As well as Sans."

"Smiley Trashbag's twisted song and dance really raised some eyebrows." Flowey smugly grinned. Also the "twisted" comment was definitely hinting at Twisted Sister, the authors of the song that Sans had somehow picked up on.

"I know when I do it, it's unintentional...habit that's hard to break no thanks to years of being with Violet...but he's polluting the timeline on purpose.  You KNOW that don't you?"

"Whatever, fuzzball.  It's making things more interesting around here, hee-hee-hee..."

"Floweeyy..." I scolded.

A scoff. "Fiiiiiine.  You're more a killjoy than the bonehead."

"You know how this timeline is supposed to end.  You know that this is a shot at everyone finally being happy."

"Not everyone." Flowey's smugness faded. "It'll reset again and we'll all be playing these dopey roles again and again."

"It doesn't if we can get an ending happy and final enough to break the game...give the Goddesses a reason to stop playing it."

"A 100% completion isn't a guarantee, battery breath."

"Look...Flowey...can you please just stop buying whatever Adonis is selling.  Whatever he promised you, you're not going to get it.  He's going to cheat you out of this."

"..."

"What?" I raised an eyebrow.

My eyes wided. "You KNOW he's going to betray you, don't you.  You're counting on it?  To what ends?  Do you think you're going to cheat a cheater?"

There was no way he believed he had any shot at coming out on top. So why?

"He told you specifically NOT to trust him, didn't he?" I furrowed my brow.

"Aren't you paying attention, Arcade?  I'm screwed no matter what I decide.  Do you know how long this has been going on?"

"As far back as the UTPR-3224, hasn't it?"

"For Chara and Frisk?  Who can say.  But but me?  Oh yeah.  I had a taste of a better Chara in that timeline and I could have gotten her back...until the both of you interferred.  He just got to me first and made the better sounding deal.

At first I didn't believe him and I kept away from him. But there he was after every reset. Every timeline. Every fallen child. Every DEAD fallen child. Pacifist run after pacifist run. Oh you didn't think that you arrived in UTPR-3224 in its original run, did you? It's been stuck on replay far more times than your Council could ever track. Well before they discovered it and sent you.

I finally accepted things after I learned to abuse loading the timeline over and over. After it started getting stale and even after seeing the True Pacifist end get True Reset. The timeline remained but our memories didn't...at least I thought they didn't until I learned that your enemy has been tampering; using backup data like it was nothing. Until Chara and I both got endlessly tired of it.

After so many times resetting the timeline with her Determination and then again with his Determination in this timeline...his deal did stave off the bordom. It made things a lot more interesting."

"How did that work out for you?" I crossed my arms.

Flowey's grin faded.

"So if you're worse off this timeline, it's only logical that keeping with him will only make things worse."

"Yeeeeeeeah...I guess you're right." Flowey suddenly reciprocated. He gave up too easily. It was too suspect.

"Flowey...don't tell me what I want to hear just to get me off your back...er...stem."

"Look at this adorable face..." Flowey shapeshifted it to resemble Goat Son's. "Would I lie?"

I deadpanned.

"Fine, fine.  If you REALLY think you can make a better offer and get this timeline back on track, I'll break things off with him.  But you know...you give yourself too much credit if you think you can protect people who turn against your enemy."

"So I've been told." And the harsh truth was...with my track record, he wasn't wrong.

I sighed.

"How and when?"

"You're a smart guy, Arcade.  You should be able to answer that."

I felt like I collapsed a little at that.

"From the very beginning.  In the True Lab where Alphys' experiment awakened you in the last timeline." I shook my head. "So if you don't count my nightmare with you in it...our meeting at the end of it all...Omega Flowey...you were waiting for me for a very long time."

"And what a hoot you were...at least until you decided to just give up and stand there.  You rolled over and just took it.  Do you have any idea how boring that was?  How much of a middle finger that was to me?!" Flowey turned quite angry.

"Remind you too much of Chara?  Both of them?  What was it you used to say... 'please stop doing this and just let me win' or something to that effect?"

Flowey actually hissed at me.

"I struck a nerve, didn't I?"

"This is no way to win me over in your little game with him." He hung his flowery head, petals all drooping like he was wilting. He was seething.

"Word to the wise, Flowey.  A game is meant to be fun and challenge people.  What the Twin Goddess have me and my archnemesis involved in is a wager for the destiny or fate of everything in the UltraVerse.

Not just your world but every world in this AU. And we're just two specks in the whole InfinityVerse...this Axis of Realities. If you keep serving Adonis...the game will end. But it won't end the way you think it will."

"Whichever way gets us out of these endless time loops within a time loop."

The way he put it was a scary kind of self-awareness. Yeah, the resets...the timelines-replacing-timelines situation was just one time anomaly in an endless cycle of war and peace; good and evil; order and chaos. The Sisters constantly unbalancing and rebalancing things. No wonder he was so bored.

Practically every villain I'd faced that had a plan to reset the world in order to create paradise; whether actually resetting a timeline or killing half the universe's population to free up resources for the rest of the surviving populace to usher in a golden age...yeah.

There was a mentality of being weary of seeing endless struggle after struggle. Decades of 'staying in line, being kind to all, and refusing to evolve'. This very idea had been carried by the likes of Sigma, Dr. Weil, Serpent, and Master Albert. I was seeing sparks of it in its embryonic form through Flowey. I had yet to find a way to put an end to this cycle. All I, and others like me, could do was be the people to try to save the world and oppose those who were trying to destroy it.

"I'm serious, Flowey.  Don't play the player.  You'll dig yourself far deeper than your vines can tunnel back out of."

A groan and a scoff. "Fine.  You're making this meeting a lot less fun than I was hoping it would be.  I'll lay off the old goats and all the other monsters if that'll keep you from harping on me.  But don't ask me to promise anything.  I've seen what those are worth."

"Because you've already broken yours."

"You're pushing it again, Arcade."

"Just telling it like it is."

"I hope your Asriel can live with his broken promise better than I can."

This was definitely a fragment of this Asriel speaking.

"The previous Chara released him from his promise.  There's nothing to live with now."

"You're just trying to tick me off, ain't ya?  What a rose-tinted world he must live in."

"Jealous?"

"No.  ...........maybe just a little."

"Keep your nose clean...oops.  I guess you don't have--"

"Just.  Go." Flowey growled. "For what you're putting me through, this plan of yours better be worth it."

I started to leave.

"Arcade.  Do you know how he lives?  And what advice he gave me?"

I turned.

"Live your life expecting everyone to betray you sooner or later...and you won't be disappointed.

That was a scary recent reference from a galaxy far, far away. And he already learned it. I bet if I waited around long enough he'd chastise me about telling him the odds.

"I'm counting on you to make a miracle as impressive as his disasters.  One way or another I'm going to be very entertained.  Go make that miracle and end the resets...if you can.  Again...I'm counting on it.  We all are.  But some of us will find our own answer to this if you fail."

Flowey disappeared underground.

"You're not the only one counting on that..." I turned and decided to make sure all was squared away around here. I didn't trust the weed...but I trusted Evil Chara and Adonis far less. I had to make sure this place was secure.

Sub-Entry 155: "A Last Look Around New Home"
I activated the SPECTRE function immediately and started roaming the castle and worked my way through New Home.

"By now I should think I'm used to the deja vu." I said, hands in my lab coat pockets. As I reversed course through New Home, toward the Core, I took a headcount of every monster around just to make sure everyone was accounted for. And of course to systematically restore memories; carefully minding how each person's account of the timeline fit together.

Bunnie and Callista had collaborated with me to scrutenize every spark of thought, every mental image, everything that would contribute to the future of this timeline. It was like numbering every drone in a beehive, as Bunnie put it.

And of course, we had to filter out things that were better off left unknown. As far as they were all concerned, only seven children fell in the Undergound. Frisk hadn't arrived. Evil Chara never rose again. And some things like Mettaton's greatest show ever had to be edited. It was okay...he'd do an even better show down the road. I had a good feeling about it.

"Okay...let's see who we've got..."

In no particular order I catalogued Pyrope, Vulkin, Knight Knight, Madjick, Woshua, Moldsmal, Astigmatism, Loox, Whimsalot, Whimsun, Froggit, and Final Froggit.

As I explored, I scrutinized the castle and surrounding areas, leading up to Asgore's New Home copy of Toriel's home in the Ruins.

It seemed to fit the palace archetype almost too well at times. Everything that came to mind when I thought of the word "monarchy", "royal", "castle", and "kingdom"...it was all here. The brick. The marble. The red carpets. The hanging paintings. The pillars. The spectacular view of the endless cityscape was still as mesmerizing as ever. I drew comparisons to places on Earth that New Home reminded me of; places like St. Petersburg, Russia. Or parts of Paris, France or London, England.

The mix of towers, castle spires, and domed-buildings. Some even resembled specific monuments and buildings. The Old Bailey in England, for example.

"It's uncanny.  It's a completely different world...but it still has so many things that are all too familiar."

You'd think I'd be used to it after putting the Sliders theory to the test over and over during my career in S.T.C. I practically depended on things being familiar. So...why was I always that surprised when they were on different worlds...in different timelines...in AU's?

I kept going.

As I explored the castle, I found my way back to the coffin room.

Stop expecting her to be there, Volt. It's not going to happen in this run. As far as Toriel's concerned, she's never left the Runs.

I took a closer look at Chara's. I opened it and sure enough it was empty.

"How did you do it, Allouicious?  How did you do it?" I pondered. I sniffed for clues, scanned with my equipment. I had definite conformation of his genetic data. Did Adonis actually call in a divine favor from Madam Fate? Nothing short of a goddess should be able to revive a dead human...and with his soul intact.

The results beyond that were inconclusive. Somehow he got him out of there and gave him new life...a second shot to terrorize the underground...and by extension, us. My crew and I.

I wrapped up my research and combed my way back through the maze again. At some point I found, of all things, a very large aquarium. A very large, OVERCROWDED aquarium. Didn't Onionsan mention this? I'd never seen it before. Chances are none of the fallen children, nor Frisk had, either.

"Hmmm..."

I did finally find my way back to Asgore's basement corridors. I felt like the monsters present were primed and waiting to tell the story of Asriel and Chara...the parting ways of the Dreemurrs...just...everything that fell apart in this Undertale.

"Never gets any less depressing and tragic to think about...let alone hear again." I finished uploading the last memory to a Froggit and went back upstairs. I phased through the locked chain across the stairwell, in SPECTRE form.

I consulted my checklist.

"Not a speck of dust.  Everyone's accounted for."

I'd carefully reconstructed the scenario. Everyone was ready to play their role when the time would come. I couldn't help but feel like we were all still in for some unexpected surprises. I was prepared for the possibility that Evil Chara could terrorize this place again. Or...

"Final checks are done.  I guess it's time." I clicked on the beacon and waited for KOMMAND.

ANd sure enough, the phone booth dropped in exactly where it needed to. I set a Data Save marker for the route back to the Core. Then I stepped in the booth, dialed in the number, hung up the receiver, closed the door and put on my shades.

A crackle of blue lighting, a shaft of blue light...and I was out of here. Next time I returned, I'd be talking to Alphys and Mettaton.

Sub-Entry 156: "Back Home to Miranda":
KOMMAND tried to stay out of the limelight, what with the Council still keepng her on the most wanted list, despite orders from Daimyou. You'd think that it would make it really hard for her to inform us when things are going on in the InfinityVerse; logically someone in the agency would discover her activity and follow the virtual paper-trail.

Yet, she had her ways of getting messages to where they needed to go. In this case, Asriel was the first to be informed I was returning home. Then he told Bunnie. In turn, Bunnie would tell the UCIAT only the essentials of what they needed to know. Then before you knew it, my crew was just waiting for me return at certain coordinates.

Asriel brought the car to a stop at the coordinates. He, Bunnie, Violet, and Gadget exited the car.

Asriel walked over and drew an X on the ground with a piece of chalk then got back as the timer on his bracer began to beep as it ticked down.

"Here he comes!"

The timer experied and the sky started clouding up and chasing rings of crackling lightning cirlced around a centerpoint of the thunderhead. With that, the sky was pierced by the blue shaft of light as the Phone Booth dropped out of the Circuits of Time and slammed down to the ground with a mighty crack and a static shockwave.

"Damn, he can make an entrance." Violet mused.

"Aunt Vi!  No swearing!" Gadget protested.

"Okay, okay.  Strange things are afoot at the Circle K?"

"Finished amusing yourself?" Bunnie crossed her arms.

"I'm good."

I stepped out of the booth and closed the door. KOMMAND recalled it immediately.

"Commander." Bunnie bowed.

"My maaaaaaaaaaain maaaaaaaaan!" Violet greeted with her best Richard Prior impression...again.

"Big brother!" Gadget tacklehugged. I mussed her hair a little and gave her ears a gentle stroking. She liked that. It reminded her of when she was an ordinary lab mouse.

"Howdy, best friend.  You weren't gone very long.  Mission go okay?"

"Yeah.  I'm good.  The mission went fine.  It's just a big one and I'm breaking it up into more managable parts.  I can't say anything more than that."

You'd think that Asriel would put together, as an unofficial S.T.C. cadet...or...whatever...he would get the idea to try to access my data. But, as I had long since learned, he was willing to go that far to respect my wish to keep it under my hat until he was at least legal age.

"Well, you're home now and you can relax.  It's good that you're not overworking yourself like you used to."

That was something I'd been working on. For eons I'd let my tendancy to be a workaholic dominate every facet of my pre-immortal life and currently-immortal lifetime. Only the last five years did I finally start getting a handle on it. Asriel just made the impossible possible. It was a good feeling, really.

Bunnie gave me a nod, indicating we'd discuss matters further and whether I'd need backup going into the Core and Hotland.

Oddly enough, Asgore was probably the easiest to restore. The other boss monsters and regular monsters were going to need a little more effort and a little more delicate touch.

Plus...there was Sans. I was chewing on it in the back of my mind. If I continued the pattern as is, Toriel would be the last person I'd have to restore...but...that would mean restoring Sans. And...that was a risky move. His memories were the hardest re-tailor. I know he'd REALLY take issue with anyone messing around with his memories...poking around in his head...er...skull. And it sure wouldn't help my case in trying to win him over. Two timelines and I had yet to make an ally out of him.

"I can see the gears turning, boss man.  I'm going to expect the dish to be delish--"

"Violet.   Don't poke the bear." Bunnie warned, speaking in metaphor.

"Isn't he a wolf?"

"Don't be a smarta**, Vi." I wrinkled my nose. "You of all people know where the line is with things.  Respect it and don't cross it." I warned.

"End-of-line, my valentine!  Do-ron-ron-ron-ronnie-roooooooooooooh!" Violet said with a silly grin. Her quoting the Junkion leader, Wreck-Gar, was just her way of letting me know she got the message.

"Anyway.  Why don't we pop in to Mitzi's.  My treat." Asriel offered.

"Yay!  Rock-Afire Pizza!  Cheese pizza, here I come!" Gadget said, bubbly as ever. Even at the end of teenage years, Gadget still seemed like such a kid. It was okay. I liked that about her. I really hoped I could keep that part of her going for the rest of her life.

And eat hearty we did.

It's the simple things in life. Honestly, while as a werewolf I survived off a lot of beef, chicken, pork, and other meats...I could see myself living off of pizza for an indeterminate period of time. Especially Mitzi's. It was just that good...at the risk of quoting WWE Superstar, Triple-H.

"Looks like you've found a good pace to work at."

"I haven't polished and perfected this ongoing operation's routine...but it's a lot more manageable than five years ago.  And that's all I'm going to say about work."

"That's cool.  So what about your other work?  Shop going okay?  I haven't dropped by in a while.  Not since the old days when I'd cling to you as a little lost goat kid."

"I assure you my finances are in order.  The shop's in no danger of going under any time soon, regardless of how much or little business I pull in."

It was good to see him taking an interest in the metaphorical rat race. While he was now doing part time work at Mitzi's Rock-Afire Pizza and at Lupe's nature preserve, the idea of a permanent career was something that graced my thoughts in the past. He was still two years or so away from legal age so, the usual restrictions about hiring a minor still applied.

"How about school?   I haven't asked about--"

"Azzy's doing great!  He might make it into advanced math and advanced science with me and Miss Violet teaching." Gadget assured.

"Hey, let's not get ahead of ourselves.  It's still additional responsibility and I want to test the waters before I end up spreading myself thin."

"Good foresight.  Good thought and planning.  You're more organized than me." I smiled.

"As long as you remain diligent with balancing all aspects in life, you will be master of your own destiny." Bunnie assured.

"As you said, the key to controlling the universe can be found in which finger?  The correct answer is to choose your own finger, not any of the ones your teacher holds up.  Right?"

Huh. That advice sounded familiar. Indeed. I believe it was a Willow moment. I really should discipline Violet about getting many of us in the habit of always drawing a comparison to some pop culture or movie reference. And then I'd have to spend some time figuring out how to break that habit. I still ran the risk of bringing too much to the Underground with that sub-conscious reflex dominating my behavior. Oh well.

"So.  What's next on the agenda."

"Rest.  Plan  Prepare.  And depart again.  The mission goes on.  No rest for the weary." I turned serious.

"Work and play.  The universal cycle in the circle of life." Asriel acknowledged.

Knock on wood, but this may have been the smoothest transition between home, the Underground, and back again yet. So before I jinxed it, I'd better keep calm and ponder the variables before we ended up hit by Murphy's Law and something unexpected dropped in our laps. I just knew Madam Fate was scheming and her black knight was biding his time. And with that in mind, so was Chara.

One extra-large pepperoni, extra sauce for Azzy and myself and Bunnie,  and one cheese for Gadget and the others, later...

"Well, I'd better check in on the family."

"And I'll let mom and dad know I've had dinner already.  I should head home and get to my homework, anyway."

"Another time, then?"

"You know it."

And we all went our separate ways.

Sub-Entry 157: "Back to Old Business":
Well. Put this off as long as I could. It was time to find out just how big the Undertale collective of AU's had gotten in five years since that last update I left dormant five years ago.

I had a feeling my mind was going to be blown.

Maybe I should be worried that my mainframe was going to blow. But the idea of overloading a supercomputer. That's just...improbable...right?

"Okay, Teletran-1...I'm giving you a heads up before I power you on and find out if I'm going to live to regret my decision.  You break on me, I'm going to see it coming.  And I'm going to have KOMMAND on speed dial.  Violet, at this point in her life, is not ready to know about all my secret reseach."

I took a deep breath and began the power up sequence.

"Let's see what we'll see." I channeled a little of the late Richard Prior's character in Superman III at that moment. Where did THAT come from?

"Three...two...one..."

And ignition.

Now let's see what--

My eyes just swelled and my jaw hit the ground. This...this is impossible. How...how many?!? Just...how...many?!?!

"There's no way!"

I was starting to get memory warnings, forcing Teletran to self-update with a download of firmware memory doubler. And then again for a memory quadrupler. By the time it stopped, my mainframe supercomputer had increased its memory capacity 16 times over.

I'd never catagorize them all. I decided to enable the filtering options.

"Why is it so hard for me to stay organized?"

No greater truth. As a packrat, I'd never been able to keep organized. I had plenty of tools to assist with that...but it still didn't always get the job done.

I'd need a refresher course before I got to the meat and bones.

I started with the classic AU's.

USPR-001. The "Swap". The guardian of the ruins. Blueberry. The orange-hoodied smoker. A little goat monster who forgot to have sleeves added to his striped shirt. An axe-wielding, reptilian captain of the royal guard. A fishy, red-headed royal scientist. And a meloncholy queen who the blueberry had a crush on.

Still classic. But still breeding more alternate universe spinoffs than I could count. Now it seems like there was a very where the "Error" had taken its Blueberry far away, leaving a depressed skelly to mope and worry about the most important thing...the most important person in his life.

UFPR-013. The "Fell". A place which had grown darker than the humans that trapped them underground. A place where kill-or-be-killed really took off. A place where that black, wool-coated, gold-toothed skelly was constantly taking abuse from the boss; the Terrible Papyrus. Where monsters would eat each other alive if they saw weakness. I noted at least one parallel version of this AU that had been visited by Cross. The X-Event is something I'd have to research further into some day.

"Things go on.  Crossover events are still going on.  It must be keeping Ink very busy trying to keep Error under control.

I adusted the filter to browse over the batches of flip-side alternates. SSPR-050 (StorySwap), SFPR-026 (SwapFell), SSPR-0090 (StoryShift), SSPR-0360 (StorySpin). And others, which I'd find new an unusual ways which everyone's roles were shuffled around. Spaghetti pie, indeed.

"Mental note to self...pack some pepto-bismol and tums for my next encounter with Papyrus."

I adjusted the filters again. The first batch of unique AU's. So familiar, but each with its own twists.

UTPR-002. The first recorded branch off of Undertale Prime. A "continuation" of events as I had intially dubbed it, but there were a number of AU's which could make the same claim. I doubt we'd ever see a true successor to Undertale Prime any time soon. But this one...it still gave me hope after all this time.

OTPR-321. Outertale. It was the story I had come to know...but in space.

FFPR-022. Flowerfell. My heart went out to the Sans of this world. Cherish your "sweetheart" and the fate that befell her.

OLC-100. A different take on an adult-ish Asriel. After so many resets, Frisk had finally brought about one with a different ending. But without any other fallen children and all monsters still stuck underground, a Prince who hadn't died was not necessarily in for a happy life. Nor did it mean that that Omega Flowey and Chara were gone for good.

Another alteration to the filter. Another batch of AU's. These I was still keeping up with.

ADR-015. A personal favorite AU. Perhaps it could have been the inspiration for my plan to save Asriel, had I been aware of it prior to discovering UTPR-3224. In essence, after a pacifist run, after reset after reset, Frisk became determined to save Asriel. So much so they made the ultimate sacrifice and gave him their soul. The challenges the awaited a "spirit animal" who now had determination and a human soul would put them to the test against a lot of challenges that would extend from childhood to adulthood.

AFAC-009. An interesting after-story AU like Uppertale that's evolved into something far greater than anyone could have anticipated. With the "askers" and the six fallen child souls shaping the events of this world where the fourth wall was paper thin if even existent at all. The recent data seems to show that Asriel and Chara have returned, somehow, the "Soriel ship" was real, and a lizard propsed to a fish woman. On top of that, Burgerpants of all people turned out to be the best Mettaton-impersonator in the world. I was intrigued.

HTPR-666. Horror Tale. I knew Aliza's creepy tale. I knew of the one-eyed flower. I knew of the comedian with a chunk of his skull busted out. And I knew of the horrible things that Toriel had done to Aliza. What a I didn't want to know was what went into Papyrus' spaghetti. Or the nicey-spicy hot dog. Also..."head dogs" still made me unspeakably nervous. I just couldn't bring myself to find out how this AU ended...if it actually ended.

BTPR-9001. Burst Tale. Turned out the villain wasn't who I thought it was. And while I was rooting for Epic Sans, it didn't end how I thought it would end. Bruh. But then again...I'm not entirely sure it's really over. As long as there's a reset...

HSPR-8527. Hell Siblings. A newer AU. And one that ends in tragedy. This was one of those worlds that didn't give me hope for iterations of Gaster. I guess Queen Chara should have read more into his prophecy; a human would take everything from her.

I made yet another adjustment to the filter. This list was short. But for good reason.

Two AU's in particular stood out.

SOF-011. Seed of Flowey. After the barrier was destroyed, Frisk and the monsters were free to go to the surface and a happy ending should have followed. But a 'plan' was still in motion, and the humans were not that open to monsters just yet. Frisk would be facing a challenge she couldn't expect from her kind, Asriel returns with a new power and a warning, and another human is determined to see things through the end. Will it all end with a better happy ending, or will the plan succeed and will ignite the flames of both sides' genocide?

This AU may one day require a more in-depth study.

LOTFK-075. Legend of the Fallen Knight. Iteration after hopeless iteration. The denizens of the Underground are clueless of their involvement in the grand scheme of things. Caught in the center of an infinite war between conflicting concepts. But now? The timeline was once whittled down to it's base and used to feed a being beyond everyone's comprehension. Something that stares us in the face everyday yet we never give it a thought. And it is up to a single hero to help return existence to it's former glory. A tale of inspiration and obsession, born of inspiration and obsession.

I had started studying this one prior to SOF-011. But the five-year span had caused me to become slipshot in studying them both.

I updated again.

A batch of new ones that I didn't recognize. But I picked one at random. Then I'd pick another. And then another.

CTR-018. Dubbed "Caretaker of the Ruins". Frisk's struggle underground has an unusual twist with an adult-ish Chara Dreemurr in place of Toriel. Several deadly encounters and resets leads to a narrow escape that has her running into a very alive, adult-ish Prince Asriel Dreemurr. Now taken prisoner, the eighth fallen promises that this isn't over. I'd started to roll back the timeline though AEON to see what led up to this, and the look into the Dreemurrs' past was enlightening.

GRSP-025. I'd come to know this AU as Growth Spurt. You'd think Asriel getting a second chance at life would be a blessing. But no. With plenty of issues, both self and family plaguing the prince of all monsters, an adultish Asriel has things to come to terms with between his separated parents and his vastly weakened magic. But at least he has Frisk to help him through it all.

CHTL-444. Choco Tale...I think? An interesting plot that revolved around Gaster and his creation, Alloy, attempting to undermine the Underground by getting monsters addicted to chocolate. With Chara being an unlikely protagonist, contending with a Sans with chocolate for eyes and teeth, an Asriel that won't stop swiping her chocolate bar, and Undyne as a unformed cop...this AU was never short on suprises and quirkiness. The satellite tag seems to indicate it's been around for a bit.

GLTL-404. Glitch Tale. Even a pacifist ending can have permanent consequences when you've abused the reset enough to glitch your save file. With human distrust of monsters coming to a head with a very personal revenge going back to the fallen child bearing the Integrity Soul; one human woman's alliance with the villainous Bette Noir and her familiar, Akumu threatens human and monster alike. Frisk is about to discover they are not above the consequences but there's still hope to save everyone from the eighth human trait known as hate.

"Enough." I rubbed my eyelids. I had only hoped to come back another time to study each AU a little more in depth when I had the time...but now I'd seen each one had grown and evolved far beyond mere copies and equivalents of fan games made from ROMS, as Violet would put it. Each one was self-sustain, self-expanding, and becoming as emersive as the original UTPR-001.

If i kept at this for much longer, I'd be swallowed up by a pounding migraine, trying to keep them all straight. I had a whole immortal lifespan to index and analyze them all, in addition to future missions and assignments that weren't Undertale.

I decided to skim over as much as the list as I could. After a while AU's felt like they were starting to blur together.

"...ABTL-4364 (Abyss Tale).  UNSD-8855 (Under Sand), UTG-3333 (Undertale Green), HTPR-4253 (Hope Tale), RFTL-1111 (REFUSE Tale), DOFP-2222 (Dogs of Future Past), UNSC-???? (Under Source)..."

I couldn't tell how many more entries I scanned...but by the time I finished getting a general assertation of how many AU's I was dealing with...my eyes were starting to hurt and the muscles around them were cramping up.

"I'm never going to hear the end of this if the Council discovers this research.  Time to quit while I'm ahead."

I'd run down a list of AU versions of a different Monster at another time. I'd already done lists of Sans, Toriel, and of all people...Temmie. Who would it be this time? THat's a question I'd have to ask when I wasn't so burned out.

"You did it again, Volt.  You overdid it again."

Oh well. A guilty pleasure and secret hobby needed to be pursued with passion some times. I'd certainly put a dent in it. One day I'd probably need all this research. Just not at a point when the Council would hold a witch hunt and trial for me if they came to know about this. Most employers would applaud going above and beyond...taking on more work for yourself. Mine despised the idea of overstepping my duties.

Oh well. A nice long sleep and then I'd get back to semblance of a social life.

Sub-Entry 158: "The Month of May Birthdays"
Sally had already celebrated a birthday on the tail end of last month. But the "taurus trio"--what Sally, Bunnie, and Lupe became known as behind closed doors--still had two more birthdays. And Asriel of course wasted no effort to make sure both were celebrated in special fashion.

Bunnie, while quiet about it, didn't seem to object too much about making a fuss over hers. As long as it was within reason. Violet tended to test her limits with her own birthday celebration extravaganzas, so her tolerance to big parties and indulgience was pretty high.

Lupe, on the other hand, softspoken, preferred that we keep things calm, quiet, and subtle. Mpt for any other reason than that's how she prefered things.

May 5th. Boy's Day. Kodomo no Hi. Still a favorite holiday of both sensei and student.

"The Koinobori seem to get more and more colorful every year, sensei."

"I'm not one to rule out that their energy stacks with every year you and my other students celebrate it with me."

Bunnie looked up at the colored carp-shaped windsocks. A tradition that she'd been celebrating for decades now. But the last five years were far more special than any she'd ever celebrated. The older and more mature Asriel got, the dearer it became for both of them.

"So.  How does the birthday girl wish to celebrate?" Asriel looked coy.

"Blunt and to the point.  How surprising of you." Bunnie looked just as amused.

"Come on.  We've been friends for half a decade.  I think our relationship outside of teacher and student has blossomed enough to be informal and personal; I can afford to be a little blunt.

"Well don't you sound like an adult." Bunnie was actually enjoying this.

"Nah.  I have ways to go." He blushed, rubbing the back of his head. "But you didn't answer my question."

"Well." Bunnie mused as she quickchanged into something more...rustic. Between the cowboyish tan, leather jacket, the hat, and the cowboy boots, she was the spitting image of Anna May Fields-Rabbotou. "I think we could do with a little horseback riding."

"You mean taking Hinohoshiko out of the stable?"

"Indeed.  My loyal steed has not gotten the proper workout this spring, going on summer.  And horse-riding is better with a friend."

"Sounds cool.  I think I could enjoy it a lot." Asriel beamed with joy. "Plus...you can get in a lot less trouble on a horse than in a car." He practically sensed that Bunnie hadn't forgotten his drift race in Jang.

"Careful.  You're going to end up a delinquant if you keep following Violet's and Sally's example.  No disrespect to my best friends."

"Of course not.  It's all good."

"So you would not object if I invited Lupe and Sally along?"

"I'd insist.  The more friends the merrier."

And so...

Bunnie had Hinohoshiko. Sally took a mustang. Lupe rode a palimino. Which left Asriel a black stallion.

"You know, this would remind Violet of a movie--"

"Let's not go there." Bunnie warned.

"I meant the one about the Black Stallion.  You know...stranded on an island after a ship wreck."

"Oh.  Well that's different."

"Why, what movie did you think I meant?"

"One I should thwap Violet for..." Bunnie narrowed her eyes.

"Let's just enjoy the trail."

A day of horse riding led to a night of camping.

"...and the tents are up."

"It really reminds me of my days in the scouts.   Makes me glad I paid attention and earned a bunch of merit badges.  Those skills all came in handy." Asriel admired his and the Ecotropians' work.

"You're a fine survivalist, Asriel." Lupe complimented.

"Our favorite cinnamon roll's grown up so much." Sally grinned.

"H-Hey!  Don't noogie the goat son, Aunt Sally!"

"Admit it.  You like it, doncha?" Sally kept it up for a bit more until Azzy cried uncle. It was true. He was starting to enjoy it. He'd be ready for his eventual reunion with Undyne at this rate.

With camping skills well established, the group consensus was to go fishing for their meal.

Bunnie watched as Asriel waited calmly, knee-deep in the river...

His eyes snapped open moments before thrusting his hand into the river current with blinding speed. He reached out and clutched his prize.

"Well done." Bunnie admired, not much farther down river.

"Yeah, you really got your Mulan on!" Sally fist-pumped.

Fishing, oriental style, was a skill that all four of them had mastered at some point. Who needed a rod and reel?

That night the quartet enjoyed the view of the stars by their camp fire. Asriel had one last detail to take care of.

"Mitzi packed it special." He said, producing the small sized strawberry birthday cake. There was just enough for all four to each have a piece. "Happy birthday, sensei."

"What a thoughtful gesture.  Thank you." Bunnie took a moment to blow out the single candle and the celebration commensed before everyone retired to some shut-eye.

One week later it was Lupe's turn to celebrate a birthday. And her choice of celebration involved...

"...and just like that." Asriel covered up the roots of the sapling.

"Planting trees is so great!  I feel like I'm making a difference."

Lupe wiped a single tear with a happy look. "I feel great joy giving back to our planet in small ways like this.  With the help of friends like all of you, nature has a fighting chance to last well into future days."

"We've got a few more trees and some more park clean-up to do before we're done for the day."

"Then we'll hit your nature preserve and help tend to the fauna.  Sound good?" Sally gave a thumbs up.

A soft-spoken "Mmm-hmm." accompanied by a gentle nod.

"I'm glad you're enjoying your birthday." Asriel cleaned up and gave Lupe a hug.

A while later...

"...I've never helped clean a lion's teeth before."

"Do not worry.  Shi-Shi trust you." Lupe assured as she prepared the cleaning mixture and the brush and tools.

"It would behoof him not to bite the hand that feeds him." Sally smirked with a grin.

A light chuckle.

"You'll have the makings of a lion-tamer in no time."

"Now there's a memory.  The visit to the circus as a kid." Asriel mused as he worked. "I'm finally old enough to appreciate the meaning of the word, nostalgia."

"Welllll..." Sallly prodded.

"You're learning." Bunnie assured.

And before long...

Asriel finished up and then assisted with the rest of Shi-Shi's health and grooming.

"You're ready to face the world, my friend." Asriel stroked his mane before helping him get down from the table in the nature preserve's medical lab.

While most of us knew Lupe as our faithful druid, it was here that she reminded she was many things under UCIAT's employ, including a veternarian, horticulturist, geologist, and over-all environmental scientist. It was different on the days we didn't see her in her one-piece, wide cloth belt, and sandals with knee-high criss-crossing leg straps. Even  more different seeing her with a lab coat on.

A day that slowly waned into dusk topped off with Lupe's favorite white mint chocolate chip ice cream and birthday cake hammered it home.

"To another year of life and another year of protecting and caring for life." Asriel toasted with the sparkling white grape juice.

"I'll drink to that." Sally mused.

"Cheers." It sounded a little out of place coming from Bunnie.

"Thank-you all.  It has been a wonderful birthday." Lupe sniffled. She was deeply moved and really touched by everyone's dedication."

"The Taurus Trio is good for another year round, girls and Asriel."

Asriel beamed. He was glad that for this girl's-night out, that he was allowed to be the special exception. And even more glad he could show his appreciation for his heroines.

"Until next year, girls."

And soon they went their separate ways for the night.

Sub-Entry 159:  "A Quick-ish Off World Adventure"
Memorial Day. The early part of this morning was spent at the cemetary, remembering our loved ones, no longer with us. Even on VGM-098, this day of rememberance was universal. I had come across few worlds where it wasn't a practice. A few where it wasn't celebrated in May.

All of us had at least someone to think of that were no longer with us. It was somber. But a part of the healing process.

The O'Conners had secured plots for their headstones when their time came. They had one gravestone erected for Chara. Asriel approved. It did him some good to have a tangible reminder of the finality of Chara's death. It was no longer about accepting it. Now it was a place where Asriel could visit to draw strength from. To be comforted during the hard times. And most of all to never forget how much his sibling meant to him; how much he loved her and she loved him.

Chara was never really gone. Just eeking out an existence in the Soul Society. And now she was going to try to become a Soul Reaper.

Asriel wasn't sure what to think of that...but he was supportive, nonetheless. Even at his teen age, Azzy still had some things that he hadn't figured out yet. The concept of "shinigami" Reapers was something Bunnie had explained but it still confused him. I guess the difference between his world and ours maintained a strange divide.

Moving on, with all rememberance affairs taken care of, Asriel and company were invited to multiple barbecues. His popularity was still at an all time high and not losing speed. It seemed like he was always hitting his stride. Who could say when he'd peak?

He made no promises.

I knew what he needed. A brief change of pace. An adventure to clear his head.

But I wasn't about to be satisfied with that. I had a proposition for him. If we go on this off world adventure, he had to agree to whichever barbecue...or barbecues of my choice I wanted him to accept the invitation to. That's right. Possibly barbecues as in plural. Jon would owe me bigtime if Asriel could get him and a few others of us invited. What a role model I am...mooching off of Azzy's popularity. Am I trash? Eh...I can live with that.

"So.  Where we headed, Volt?"

"It's a surprise." I smirked as KOMMAND sent me a special care package.

"The General Lee?"

"I figured we'd go in style.  There's definite class to be found in a Dodge Charger."

"Juts as long as we're not making moonshine delivery runs."

"Yup.  Violet certainly introduced you to all the details of the show." I folded my ears back. "No alcoholic adventures.  Promise."

I loaded up the Cyber Gate after we enjoyed ourselves getting into the car, through its windows. As I had explained before, it was a racing car so its doors were welded shut. Meaning there was only one way into it.

"Yeeee-haaaa!"

Now based on this setup, you'd think we'd be headed to Hazard County, right?

Good guess, but oh so very wrong, if I were to channel my inner Papyrus. No, we were headed to catch up with an old friend of ours.

Funny thing...his name had come up during the Providence adventure.

We drove out of the Cyber Gate on the ouskirts of town. As we did, we passed by the sign that read "Welcome to Bellwood."

"No.  No, way!" Asriel's expression brightened.

"Yes way."

"Noooo waaaay!"

"Waaaaaaay!" We both managed to channel both Bill & Ted and Wayne & Garth.

"Thought you'd approve.  It's been a while since you two met."

"This is awesome, Volt.  Do you think we're dropping in on him at a good time?"

"What are the odds we didn't drop in on him at a good time?"

One hour later...

"...Azzy.  I retract what I said."

"I guesss our reunion got a little complication--"  Asriel zipped out of the way on the NX Switch Board.

"Little?!" I heard the protest.

"Okay so it's a big problem." I conceeded. "Well just have to squash it flat." I ducked the sudden lashing of the grossly mutated frog's tongue.

"You know I could have sworn you've already been through this misadventure." I wrinkled my nose before looking up at the genetically twisted super-frog and its rider.

"Uh.  I know it's not the time, but uh...it's good to see you again, Ben.  Let's catch up later.  Umm.  You know, when we're not fighting for our lives?"

"Sure.  We'll hit Mr. Smoothie after we serve up a beatdown on Animo."

"I end up trading one Allouicious for another..." I grumbled, narrowing my eyes at a stark-raving mad Dr. Allouicious James Animo; laughing maniacally and stroking his ego.

More like giving his ego a full massage. How could anyone spout this much self-adulation about his "genius"?

"A little help here, Tenneyson!" Came an irate voice.

"On it, Kevin!" Ben cycled through alien archetypes in the Omnitrix.

"I still can't wrap my head around it.  Ben is friends with Kevin Levin?  When did that happen?"

"It's...complicated." Came the response of red-haired Gwen Tenneyson, Ben's brainy cousin.

"Yeah, because last I heard, he was gene-spliced with different alien parts from the Omintrix after trying to absorb its power."

"Why didn't you just put it on the six o'clock news, Ben?  I just love living down my past choices." Kevin's sarcasm could cut steel.

"It's not like I just suddenly dropped that info in conversation.  You know, you did kind of get the attention of more than just your planet--"

"Guys?  Less arguing, more cooperation?" Asriel cut in.

"Huh.  Usually it's my job to get us on the same page."

"Oh cool!  You know magic?  I used to know magic.  When I used to be a monster and a kid."

"So that would have made you a Monster Kid?" Kevin wisecracked as he skidded backward, reaching out and touching a lamp post to absorb its metal content and asymilate it.

"Uh...wrong Monster Kid..." I muttered under my breath, thinking briefly of the armless dino...lizard...whatever Monster type he was. I wonder if he was in the same reptile family as Alphys? Nah. Probably not.

"Fools!  You continue to underestimate the power of Animo!  Go my minion!  Destroy them!"

"Sooo...did he just raid the villain's book of over-used cliches and catchphrases?" Asriel asked.

"Silence!" Animo commanded as he forced the frog to spit up something nasty.

"Look out!" I shielded with a magnetic barrier.

"Acid?!" Asriel looked freaked out.

"Violet would so hang this guy by his--"  I started before Gwen ascended her staircase of hovering magic platforms. It was like the Mana equivalent of the Magnet Beam from Mega Man's arsenal.

Between Kevin trying to pound it with literal metal fists, Gwen shocking it with mana force bolts, and me trying to zap it with lightning, that left Azzy and Ben trying to rally to take it down.

"C'mon, there must be something in here, I can use."

"I don't recognize any of your aliens.  Also...the Omintrix looks...smaller."

"Eh...bit of a long story.  I kinda had to reboot it and it reconfigured I guess.  Probably to scale accomodate me now that I'm older.   And speaking of older, I see you got your horns."

"Yup.  Oh, and Rex says hi.  And he called you 'alien kid'."

"Oh he did, did he.  I'll have to drop him a line sometime." Ben mused.

"I don't mean to pressure you or anything, but our friends are on the losing end of this."

"I know, I know!  This dumb watch just never seems to throw me a bone when I need it the most--"

"Hmm?  Wait...isn't that?"

"Hey, I remember this one.  I didn't think it was still in there.  You up for a blast from the past?"

"Am I ever?!" Asriel's eyes lit up.

"Then let's have a reunion with...!" Ben slapped the plunger down. "...GOATORCH!"

"Alright!  Goatorch!" Asriel fistpumped.

"Thought you might like this one." Goatorches flame horns burned a little brighter.

"Now...let's roast us some frog's legs!"

"YEAH!"

And not to cut the action short but...yeah. I'm gonna be "that guy" and cut the action short.

"...you'll pay for this, Ben Tenneyson!"

"Put it on my hero credit card."

"Uh.  Really?"

"What?  It's a classic zinger."

"Your comedy needs work." Kevin crossed his arms.

"Oh, like you could do better?"

"I could....if I wanted to."

"Sure you would."

"Hey.  I can be witty, too." Kevin protested.

"Says the guy who's middle name is Ethan."

"Wait...your name is literally Kevin E. Levin?" Asriel gaped.

"Starting to reget ever telling you that, Gwen."

"Grump all you want.  Ben's still buying the smoothies."

"Hey!  Harsh, cousin!"

I rolled my eyes as I encased Animo's unconscious beast under an electric forcefield. I signaled for the Plumbers to make a pickup and then piled into the General Lee as Ben and company loaded up in Kevin's car, still bantering.

After a round of smoothies and some catchup.

"...it was great seeing you again.  And good luck with finding Grandpa Max."

"We know where he is, it's just a matter of getting him out of the Null Void."

"Don't worry.  You'll take down the DNAliens soon enough."

"What?  Me worry?  I never worry."

"Eh-heh.  Right." Gwen looked smug.

"You're not going to call me a doofus like old times, are you cousin?"

"Hah.  Doofus.  Classic."

"You do and I bust out the mega-dweeb insults." Ben mused.

"I thought maturity came with age." Asriel whispered to me.

"Growing old is mandatory.  Growing up is a choice." I shrugged.

"Well, we got to get going.  Hopefull we'll do the team-up thing again."

"Hail to the King of Crossovers." Ben gave a playful salute.

"Now cut that out!" I protested.

"Don't be a stranger, Arcade."

"Him or me?" Oh yeah. That's right. Technically, Asriel took on my last name. Though to be fair it was actually Dreemurr-Arcade. But who's nitpicking?

"Both." Gwen followed up.

"Until next time."

And so we left Bellwood for Miranda through the Cyber Gate.

Sub-Entry 160: "Asriel's Training Continues in the Simulator":
Screams a plenty, military issue weapon fire, tank shots, explosions and overall bedlam. The city blocks lay in ruins, a path of destruction carved all the way from the next city over...and the one before that...and so on.

CRASH! CRASH! CRASH!

The giant, meaty, fur-covered fist slammed through the windows and framework of the skyscraper as its giant mutated attacker kept pounding it before climbing the battered structure.

Hanging, from the roof's ledge, the beast kicked off the side of the building before letting the pendulum motion accelerate its mighty feet into the side, smashing the skyscraper with double kicks; kicks potent enough to actually warp the building for a moment from the impact. Each kick sent out a shockwave of dust and granular pieces.

The whole thing began to shake as the air raid sirens began to sound.

The white beast, sensing the imminant collapse before jumping off of it and crashing to the ground, feet-first; cratering it.

WIth that the whole building came tumbling down before the entire city block collapsed with it.

"TOTAL DESTRUCTION!" Came the mighty bellow of the beast before pounding its chest.

"Aunt Vi?"

"Yo!" Vi's voice rang through the simulator.

"I don't see the appeal of this game." The 50-foot mutant goat beast rubbed the back of his head.

"What's to get?  Sometimes you need a little destruction in your curriculum.  Like the wrestle-man says...you're on a Rampage!"

"Well...that's fine an all, but could we switch to another game?"

"What?  Rampage not your thing?  I bet when I told you what you were going to be playing, you  thought you'd be in the role of the bald, beefy monkey expert just trying to save his friend, an albino gorilla named--"

"Yeah, I get the movie reference.  But that's not really why I'm complaining."

"What?  Did you want to have some two or three player action?  I can call Skeeter and Gadget down here--"

"No...it's just that my character model is...er...well...kinda...indecent?"

"What?  It's animated sitcom logic as well as cartoon logic.  For one thing you're covered in a ot of fur.  You can't see any of the naughty bits--"

"It's still embarassing." Asriel was actually blushing deeply.

"Well if you're going to insist on snubbing the classics..." Violet mused before saving Asriel's high score and killing the simulation; everything around Asriel going to wireframe and his character model morphing back into Asriel's normal self; clothes and all.

"You know sensei would pound you into the ground if you actually convinced me I had to be naked to play this simulation."

"Not to mention getting my furry rabbit tush in the slammer for what could be considered child po--"

"Let's not go there.  I'm grown up but I still keep a clean mind." Asriel looked uncomfortable.

"Okay, okay.  You get to pick the next game for your training."

"I just don't see how turning into a giant mutant animal and physically beating a city into the ground is a useful skill in my UCIAT training..."

"Don't question the curriculum and I won't tell you any lies."

Asriel rolled his eyes.

"I'm starting to see why you drive Volt a little crazy. And also, could you stop playing Fortnite long enough to actually mentor me?"

"Don't be ridiculous.  I drive EVERYONE crazy.  Their reactions are priceless and stave off my boredom. And really....you know I was playing Fortnite on the mainframe?  You know I gots to get my T-pose fix.  Ocean Man got it goin' on."

The fact she said that so matter-of-factly with a smug grin did not assure Goat Son.

"Ocean Man? I thought it was Megamind's minion."

"Nah, you're thinking of a color-swap Klaus from American Dad. Also Ocean Man sounds like an unused Mega Man 9 robot master.  Right up there with Plasma Man and Weather Man."

This could go on for a while.

"Aunt Vi. Seriously."

"Okay.  What'll it be?"

"Didn't you have a stack of space shooters I could cut my teeth on?"

"Now who's being ridiculous about valuable skills." Vi taunted.

"Careful, or one of them might be a recruitment sim that will get you into an alien race's intergalactic war--"

"Yeah, I know the Last Starfighter reference."

"Oh.  Darn.  I'm running out of references to catch you off guard with."

"Couldn't you at least have picked something out of Star Wars?"

"Heh.  The odds of you not recognizing a reference from there are seven-milllion--"

"Never tell me the odds." Asriel said with a smug smirk.

"...touche.  You got me with one.  Okay, Han.  Let's skip the carbonite bath and go straight to what I call...Space Shooter shooters." Violet said with a wink.

"Was that an alcohol reference?" Azzy lowered an eyebrow.

"Maybe." Vi awesomfaced.

"Volt wouldn't like it."

"What Volt doesn't know--"

I cleared my throat.

"Oh...!  Er...hey, boss. Been there long?"

"Long enough.  You're taking liberties with Azzy's training again.  Is this simulator practice or an excuse to let him goof off in the big-budget arcade?"

"Why not? He spends plenty of our budget hanging around an Arcade--"

"Oh.  Hah.  A play on my name.  Very funny.  Seriously, Vi.  I want your assurance that he's learning valuable skills that can one day be applied in the field.  Useful things.  Not romps through old robot master and maverick stages."

"I kinda enjoy those." Asriel cut in.

"Noted.  You crushed it on your rematch with Quick Man the other day."

"Yeah.  Did you really tick him off by moonwalking into his room and pretending not to notice him before doing the Generator Rex bash-a-guy-in-the-face-from-over your shoulder trick?"

"Which I still suspect you or Sally put him up to." I put my hands on my hips. "I don't approve of him showing off and getting cocky.  You know how Bunnie and I feel about keeping your ego in check."

"What?  A little style every now and then isn't going to spoil Scott and Callie's humble bundle."

"Aunt Viiiii!  You're embarassing me!"

"Agreed.  Stop picking on goat son and get back to his training."

"Right, right.  We'll be leading off your marathon with Gradius III before segue-ing into R-Type III: the Third Lightning.  We'll throw in some Iridion 3-D and some Axelay and Nanostray before we close out on a bit of U.N. Squadron."

"But U.N. Squadron isn't a space shooter.  It's a fighter jet shooter."

"You KNOW you like the huge weapon system variety."

"Well..." Asriel rubbed the back of his head.

"Anyway, once we're done, you'll be so sick of lasers, options, and vulcan rounds, you'll be seeing them in your sleep."

"Ohhhhh, is that a challenge?" Asriel showed a toothy grin. "Bring it."

And so I looked on while Asriel got his game on. Literally.

I really enjoyed Halcyon Days like these. It was just the thing to gear me up for what was coming.

While I promised I wouldn't get complacent, time really tried to make fools of us all.

Hopefully we wouldn't be caught off guard when Fate showed her hand.

Chapter 17

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