PLDF Chapter 17

"Chapter 17: New Year Brings New Promise of New Hope, New Dreams, and New Wishes (Sub-Entries (161-170)"

Sub-Entry 161:  "Following the White Rabbit Without a Red Pill":
It's time to get philosophical again. Once more I write in my journal, my never-ending thoughts on deep stuff.

Let me propose this question. Which is the more clever illusion? A prison for the mind you don't know about? Or a prison of the mind that's everywhere to the point of being a hidden meta joke?

You're probably wondering what brought this on?

Leave it to Violet to hide multiple encrypted compressed movie files in the NXS to self-extract after certain dates. The movie in question? Yeah. That one. The Matrix Resurrections.

I have most assuredly dabbled in the "meta" before. Heck, Undertale itself has walked the razors edge of meta while it was still a game. I've explained that before. It should be pretty understood knowledge by now. In fact many of us boss monsters are now starting to grasp just what that entails. And I think...we're finally getting to a point where even if we don't comprehend it...we accept it. Accept it as part of our past and our legacy.

A legacy that was woven by the Goddess Twins. A fate that condemned us to a self-sustaining loop of resets and erasures with save/loads mixed in between; the countless deaths that Chara and Frisk most certainly lived through but circumvented thanks to the power of Determination.

And the joke of it on them is...they weren't even the real authors. No...Undertale's maker is someone else out there. Some higher power than the goddesses. Someone who keeps using Annoying Dog as their avatar to check up on us millions of copies of his digital opus and asking the question, after seeing how many AU's its' spawned through the hands of beings like Lady Destiny and Madam Fate...what the * FLOWEY CACKLE * have you dirty little hackers done to my work!? Though...in all fairness I bet he doesn't even know OUR little variant of his Undertale even exists. But wouldn't it be something if he had something to say about that? Wishful thinking, Asriel. Wishful thinking.

So, back to Violet sneaking in movies that she'd somehow gotten a hold of before their release date (no doubt Volt was going to have a talk with her about her possibly breaching movie studio servers for her own amusement and benefit). What did I think of the movie? This is my opinion but I’d say it redeemed the last two. More so the third one.

No, I'm not going to discuss the many, many obvious religious allegories and metaphysics concepts and paradigms; though I have my own personal thoughts and opinions on those. But if I were to get into that, I don't think I'd like where my line of thinking would go and I'm sure I'd alienate at least some percentage of people possibly reading my journal at a future time.

But yeah. After the way the third ended, it didn't seem possible to pull a sequel out of nowhere with its main characters killed off. But then I remember the movie is subtitled "resurrections".

Just like John Wick...yeah...I'd say he's BACK.

Whoa.

So. An illusion that is everywhere and nowhere at the same time... I feel like I'm sounding like Master Splinter with how vague and cryptic his wisdom could be. Anyway...it's as simple as it is brilliant. With so many minds now aware there is a Matrix, how do you keep them under control? The greatest lie ever told is that lie itself being a lie. And what have I said about artists telling lies to convey the truth while politicians create lies to cover the truth up? I'm pretty sure you can draw your own assumptions about what percentage the "Suits" that oversaw the newly revised Matrix as the Analyst kept its two V.I.P. occupants well-subdued; cleverly through the use of psychiatric therapist played by N.P.H.

Okay that's about enough name-dropping.

What does this have to do with me? With Undertale's boss monsters?

I guess in a way...it helps me understand Flowey's perspective a little. There is...sort of a tragedy to being awoken from the flock of sheeple. It's one of many ways that innocence dies. Cipher said it best: ignorance is bliss. I can understand why he betrayed the team and wanted back into the Matrix, but I still can't condone it. That said...I know for a fact that Flowey was in that same position, once. Wanting to go back. Wanting what he learned about our world to just...disappear from his memories. To be back in his protective shell.

Yet...there was no going back. Not for him. Not for Chara. Not for Frisk. Definitely not for me. It seemed now that applied to ANYONE in UTPR-3235 who I'd let in on the big secret. And that was practically EVERYONE in Mount Ebott.

To put it very bluntly...Adonis ruined it for him forever. Now even if he wanted to go back...there is no going back. And he's not that crazy about going forward. So what do you do for the murderflower that's stuck in neutral gear? Back to the earlier point about the difference between us and them.

The difference between everyone in the Matrix Resurrections and we Undertalers is...that all those plugged-in believed the Matrix itself was just a game trilogy made by one Thomas A. Anderson and somehow produced by Warner Brothers.....golly...there's a meta-joke in itself. Hence my question about hiding in plain sight as the lie that is itself a lie. There's a cleverness to self-satire...to acknowledging what your "fanbase" have been saying for 20 years and then incorporating that into the illusion itself. Is it more brilliant that you know about the Matrix and dismiss it as a work of fiction...a work of fiction with emotional attachment...a work you recognize both its strengths and its flaws...as you go on with your comfortable reality than if you don't know about the Matrix and go on with your comfortable reality? Which is the truly more devious method of control? The cage you don't see? Or the cage you do see but don't think is even real?

As for us Undertale dwellers. We, on the other hand...know our world is a game. Or rather...was a game. We now know we were caged. Some of us still weren't ready to know the truth...I accept responsibility for spilling the beans to those who were happy in their comfort zone of being NPC's, unaware of endless loops.

I think I've spelled it out pretty well. It's the fear of the unknown. Many are like Volt; resistant to break out of routine. Routine is probably the easiest way to give us purpose; though that's a bit of its own tragedy. Do we keep the routine up because we enjoy it...or because we feel we have to keep it up? You don't always know who picks which motivation.

Right now I'm looking offhandedly at a calendar for this year. And I realize...the days are still going. Time keeps on slipping...into the future, as the song goes.

What was the point of that statement? Reenforcing what Sans has been trying to accept for a long time. That this world...is not going to reset.

If I want to get technical...then my question is actually flawed. Within the movie, Neo even says "this isn't a game". So...does that make my quandary any less valid to brainstorm on? Only if you miss the point I'm trying to make.

So why am I making this point at all? Why am I getting existential about my world all over again and again?

I think...because it helps me seek multiple perspectives. In those perspectives I find wisdom. That wisdom will serve me well and in turn I'll use it to serve my people well. I already accept the nature of my Undertale AU cube. I'll never stop seeking to understand it. Maybe...what it is I'm seeking...is establishing the right equilibrium. The right...harmony with all that's around me.

We're all free now. Free to remake our world over a nature course of time. Working with Mom, Dad, Alphys, Undyne, Papyrus, Mettaton, Grillby, Muffet...and Sans....and everyone else...I've already transformed our world by leaps and bounds.

Let me be clear. I'm not trying to make our planet into another VGM-098. Newest Home is never going to be Miranda or Neo Arcadia City. But...perhaps in time it can be like both. And yeah..once again I come back to my not-so-subtle goal for the future that I still can't bring myself to spell it out loud. The development of cyber gates. The design of magic-monitoring sensors. Me teaching all who want to know about my past life all they want to know about the other worlds and universes out there. With that many hints, I'm just chomping at the bit to just outright say it. But...

I can't. Not yet. Not yet...but soon. Very soon. I can see the top of the mountain and the mountain is calling for me to look over its peak to the other side. Once I'm at that point...it'll all come together and there will be no doubt where our end goal is.

All this talk about a fictional digital world where those that have freed their minds can bend the rules of reality...in some cases break them entirely. While I don't see myself being able to use Sally's bullet-time vision much less stopping bullets and missiles in their tracks...in a way I've become my own take on Neo. And if that's the case, I've certainly found my Trinity.

And Heck. Together, we broke our game and the illusion of choice for all of us became actual choice for one and all. Undertale now feels like the world...that Madam Fate didn't want us to see. It now seems like a world where anything is possible. Where we make our own choices; not as some "anomalies" but as people. People who should have lives all to their own.

I think this is also making me think of another of Aunt Vi's movies she had me watch before...Free Guy. Now there's a story about being inside a video game that I can relate to. But that would end up being a whole other journal entry so...if you understand the correlations and how I see myself as my own "Guy", then I need not go on further.

It's funny. At one time I thought myself in a better place once I even realized I ever was a prisoner in my own fate...that I had become free. But now...it feels like...it's not a big deal anymore. It's almost like I'm asking myself...was I ever really a slave to anything if I was created as Lady Destiny's big gambit? Was I...just made different from every Asriel from the very beginning? Or...did I...choose to be different?

I think back...to that moment I reached out...and took Volt's hand as we were inside Gaster's null space. What made me choose that path? Did I...really act because I thought it was what Chara would have wanted? Or was it...what I wanted? Or...did I even act of my own accord; was it all just Destiny's architecture in motion?

Nah. I have hope. I have dreams. I am me. And I want to believe that for whatever reason...I chose for myself and I made the right call. So here I am...and I have no regrets.

This is my wish come true. I'm unplugged. My mind is unlocked. My fate has been transformed into a destiny I'm carving out with all those behind me pushing me forward. What makes it even better is that my sister and my girlfriend are both along for the ride. This is what it was leading up to, wasn't it? We, the three musketeers of Undertale.

You know something...I suddenly feel the urge to fly. While I can't exactly do the...Superman thing like the One (or should I now say the Two)...who needs super powers?

I got an NXS Board hot off the charger.

If you'll excuse me...I have to pick up Frisk and sweep her off her feet.

Later, everyone. Glad we had this written talk.

Sub-Entry 162:  "Reaching Even Further For the Stars":
"...we have liftoff!"

I'm not normally one to toot my own horn but...I guess I kind of have to take credit for Undertale's space program now going full swing.

I sure had plenty to learn from the credo of "Get Me Off of the Moon" and how NOT to follow the example of the Bonne’s and the Caskets arguing over how to bring MegaMan Volnutt back from Elysium...it somehow feels close to 22 years since the Mother System shut down...but I digress.

I had plenty of notes compiled from many sources. Everyone from Crystal Kane of Sky Vault...to the Silverhawks on what it took to make proper space-worthy vessels that could get us to the moon and beyond.

No doubt our own take on the National Aeronautics and Space Administration all wanted to shake my hand for jumpstarting what seemed to be a belated space age.

Yeah, that was...pretty weird how our world never had a space program until Alphys and I stepped in.

Of course I heard the call...I felt the urge. I most certainly wanted to be among those selected...maybe even become the first Boss Monster (a title I still held on a technicality) to go into space...

...but...I think with maturity came the realization that there was a time and place for everything. My time had come and gone.

Not to say...I wasn't COMPLETELY abandoning the aspirations of going back up there and seeing how our galaxy was different than VGM-098's and countless others. I just decided...it wasn't the right time, NOW. But when that time DID come...I think this had the makings of a date to offer Frisk that no one could top any time soon. I mean...that is if she was willing to go along with it...would that not be the ultimate gift a boyfriend could give his girlfriend? A chance to go to the stars?

Oh yeah. I had NO shortage of wishes I wanted to make. And I knew I had the power to make them come true if I really, really wanted to put fort the energy and effort to make it so.

"Are you seeing this, Frisk?"

"Totally, Azzy!"

We were in a video conference call but both watching the TV. It was history in the making.

"Hold on, Alphys wants in."

Sure enough Alphys' image appeared in a split screen with Frisk and me.

"Your Highness!  Frisk!  Are y-you w-w-watching it?!  Are you s-seeing th-this!?" Alphys sounded more excited than ever.

"Watching it live, Doctor." Frisk confirmed.

"Papyrus' eyes have to be popping out of their sockets!" I joked. "I hope wherever Undyne is, she's watching...and refraining from suplexing anything expensive!"

Frisk giggled.

"So...you've really been up there before?"

"Sure have.  Different galaxy...different universe  But the stars are just as unique there as they are here.  Living the dream,  Frisk. Living the dream.  That dream is now living on as memories."

I sniffled a little. It was...cathartic...and saddening at the same time. I never forgot the feeling of that first space walk.

Nowadays in those other Earth realms, I think the big thing was "Space X" and probes going to Mars. That was their big leap for mankind, nearly a half century after going to the moon for the first time.

I picked up the model rocket I put together a while back from my desk and in a moment of being juvenile, pretended to fly it around while making whooshing noises.

Even though I was grown up, I was such a kid.

I saw Frisk grin ear to ear.

"You b-build that y-your-s-s-self?"

"I had spare time a week or so ago." I downplayed it. "Nothing fancy."

"It's so c-c-c-cool!  It's completely accurate, too!"

I didn't think I did THAT good a job painting and apply the decals, but...whatever. Alphys seemed easy to please. Maybe it was just me being a picky artist.

"I was thinking of 3-D printing a model Earth space shuttle, next.  You know...from when they were retired to make room for the new replacement rockets and such."

I'd explained that to Alphys before. I'd talked about the previous shuttles: Columbia, Endeavor. And...even the ill-fated one that still made me weep when I thought about it. I wasn't even from Earth but thinking about the Challenger...always felt like one of Undyne's spears straight through the heart. I had no right to talk like I understood. But I empathized. I truly felt for those poor souls.

Learning about this Earth story through Volt was a wake-up call to me and marked the end of looking at space though the eyes of a child. I understood...outer space was one of the most dangerous if not deadly places to be. Even with proper preparation and precautions.

"Azzy?  You look...a little misty-eyed.

"Just a sad thought that passed on through." I dismissed it. "Not thing to worry about."

While it was the end of looking at it as a child...I still got giddy about the stars and the planets and outer space when I thought about the triumphs that the space program also had. And of course...the miracles like the Apollo-13.

"So...a lot of these celestial bodies have...mythical names?" Alphys asked, interrupting my thoughts.

"Yeah, depending on your mythology. The Solar System knowns the planets by their Roman god namesakes.  Mercury, Venus, Mars, Neptune...just to name a few."

I had inadvertently named the first four of the Stardroids from Mega Man's fifth "Game Boy" adventure, by chance. At this rate, I was going to reach a Sailor Moon reference before long and have to clue Frisk in. Alphys was already in the know thanks to Violet's collection of DVD's that Rotor had given her.

Oh god. Stardroids...in Pretty Soldier Sailor fukus. Dear gods...this merits a thwapping to Aunt Vi. I hope sensei Bunnie is sensing that right about now.

I shook my head with a chuckle. Then just to clear things up with Frisk who noticed my sudden amusement: "I'll explain later."

"And that's just the planets. The stars themselves have names in the Milky Way galaxy.  Andromeda...Betelgeuse...Polaris...Sirius..."

I could go on forever.

"Ugh...it was bad enough when you guys had your heads in the clouds.  Now you have them stuck in space!?" Flowey groaned.

"Where's your sense of adventure, you old stick-in-the-mud?" Frisk jabbed.

"It died.  Same as me."

"Come on, Little Brother.  No need to get morbid."

"All my sham of a life, now, is morbid. You people just don't see it that way. How could you understand it--"

"And there's the song and dance again." I pinched my brow with my fingertips. "Get some new material.  It's depressing but it's not going to work at bringing us down."

"As if that were something I could hope to do with you good-two-sandals."

Speaking of which...I think I'd started making sandals a trendy fashion statement among the monsters that could feasibly wear them. Mostly among the ones who weren't bothered by the fact that it's still January and thus still deep into the Winter season. No snow on the ground, right now, mind you but...y'know. Seemed like it was going to blow up once we were into sunny and seventy degree weather. Heck. I once noticed Mom even try a pair on...and she liked them. I just dismissed it as Doggamy and Doggaressa were way ahead of the curve before I started wearing them. But...I somehow get the credit for starting a new tend. It feels undeserved. And also I'm really trying to take the high road before I start thinking of ways Violet would be amused.

Even Frisk had a pair of sunflower flip-flops she said she wanted to dig out as soon as spring was here. I'd have to learn about this Animal Crossing place and this Stardew Valley place some time soon. What a reversal that'll be...Frisk telling ME about a place I haven't been but she has! I'm totally GEEKING here! Maybe I'll get a pair of beach-flip-flops for summer...

What have you started, with me as your proxy, Aunt Vi?

Back on topic....whatever the topic was before I interrupted my own thoughts.

"Come on.  Don't you have even a little interest in the stars, anymore?"

"Overrated.  Hard pass."

Flowey turned away and crossed his petals. He was starting to emote more like an anthropomorph than a plant. Though I'd never call him out on it. I didn't want to sour his mood any more than it already was.

"B-b-but how could you d-dismiss it when you've never even s-seen it?"

"I don't have to see the real deal to know that it's not going to be any better than those fake glowing rocks int he ceiling of Ebott."

"You don't know that." Frisk wrinkled her nose.

"And I'm glad.  Glad, glad, glad, glad, glad, glad, GLAAAAD!!!" Flowey pulled himself underneath the soil.

"I wonder if he's glad?" I couldn't resist, following the script of Spaceballs the movie. Joan Rivers be proud, heh heh heh.

"He's just gonna be a stick-in-the-mud." Frisk pouted.

"You get used to it.  Doesn't make it any less of a downer, but you get used to it.  And you make sure it doesn't spoil your mood."

"You're right."

"Man...all this talk about space..."

By now the footage of the rocket launch had cut away, now that there wasn't even any of the rocket booster exhaust and smoke left from where the ship had left the confines of the sky and achieved geosynchronous orbit.

"...but no talk about the empty space in my stomach." I grinned.

I heard Frisk's stomach rumble over her laptop's microphone.

"Was that Undyne in a bad mood?" I joked.

Frisk laughed, good-naturedly, on the other side of the screen.

"I guess we should break for lunch."

"Lunch...or launch?" I winked.

"Oh you!" Frisk giggled.

"Well.  I d-d-d-don't know about you two, but I'm b-b-blasting off for s-something to eat!"

"Not ramen noodles again.  You know how unhealthy those things are?" I smirked.

"G-g-got me again, y-your highness."

I sighed.

"Whatever makes you happy, Doctor. You do you."

"I think I could go for a hot dog or two right about now." Frisk mused.

"I was thinking twenty-nine."

That made her laugh.

"It's weird you know about the hot dog stacking when I never even told you that story yet."

"Don't look at Sans.  He didn't say a word.  Sorry.  I keep forgetting I have a lot of Volt's research to show you on our world. Honestly, at times...it starts to look like a video game walkthrough."

A moment of silence before we both chuckled. It was great we could laugh about our world and how it used to be a video game played among the goddesses. Now it was just...well. Normal......ish. Normal-ish. Yeah. That's the word. Normal-ish.

"Well I'll talk to you both later. I think I'm going to dig into something of the more pizza persuasion.  At Mettaton's urging, Grillby released a frozen pizza in stores that's just as great microwaved or baked as when he makes it fresh in his restaurant.  Believe me, after working with Mitzi, I can attest that making GOOD frozen pizza and packaging it is NOT an easy task to do.  But I'd say he nailed it.

"I'll take your word for it. And I'm going to ask you to treat me to one next time I'm over."

"Hey, as a backup plan we'll have to make it a pizza party for as many Boss Monsters and friends who can make it!" I winked. "My treat."

"You're too good for this world, Azzy."

"Right back at you."

"Sayonara, your highness!"

"Sayonara, Alphys-hakase." I bid her farewell before her screen disconnected.

"Later, Azzy.  Love you!" Frisk blew a kiss just to seal the deal.

And with that disconnection I smiled and shut my laptop.

Sub-Entry 163: "The Virtual Reality of Innovation":
Okay, if you made it through the title of this entry without cringing then I can at least give myself a A for effort and a B-plus for creativity. But, I guess that's why science has marketing teams to come up with catchier buzzwords, phrases, and ways to sell innovation to the consumer that leaves people say...yeah, that's pretty cool.

I'm not writing this to sell anyone on anything or even try to sound half slick and in-the-know. I'm just putting my thoughts down in what might be the cheesiest and corniest journal a goat kid has ever had.

I'm going to first say...I'm not actually at home, physically writing this right now. In fact I'm on my smart-phone tapping this out with my thumbs as each of my thoughts turns to words. Yeah. I'm that quick. Enough bragging.

* sigh*

"Okay.  Power is on and the last diagnostic came up green.  Safeties and kill-switch are active."

I looked up at the mechanical gates leading into the room I'd spent several months on, going on a year, now. A sizeable mystery to you, my unknown reader or readers (I always hope I'm lucky enough for that to be plural some day. Though having even ONE would most certainly assure me I'm not wasting my time with this self-reflection and reporting on my life.  Yikes. That sounds a bit like a chink in my self-esteem armor.)

Ahem. Back to the point at hand. Under any circumstances, if I were to tell anyone this was an invention that was going to change the world, I'd be overselling it, and probably be giving myself a reason to worry that I'm approaching the hubris that all scientists need to be wary of.

But this time, that's EXACTLY the case. It is an invention that is going to change the world. The world around me. You see...!

"Access Key accepted.  Login Entry: Asriel Arcade.  Password: THESIXTHANOMALY."

Yes, yes. I'm using Violet's old password for my entry into Computer Valhalla, which those in the know recognize as a HUGE Matrix reference. And with me doing a bit of commentary about the Matrix Resurrections a couple entries ago. There are no coincidences...only the illusion of them. I suppose it's fitting I should use the world, illusion.

"Opening shutter doors." I watched as the gates slide apart with a fwoosh of steam from inside and some bright lights pouring out.

"Wooooooow...!" Alphys put her hands to her cheeks and just GAWKED.

I...probably should come clean and tell her about the dry ice in buckets inside and a few well-placed strobe lights and such I'd set up just for theatrical effect. But...I did kind of want to show of for her. I'd take all the flashy display out later.

Jeeze, I think I'm getting to be like Emmett Brown with my need to do things with "style". Or maybe drawing from Mettaton EX. Heaven forbid.

I'd asked Frisk and Chara to stand by for a future date, provided this sucker actually worked in its first test run. For now, my favorite pangolin with the passion for Pocky and popcorn anime was going to be my witness.

And if all went well, I was going to blow her mind.

"I've s-s-seen your p-practical use of 3-dimensional optronics but...!"

"Yeah.  It's not quite the scope and scale of that other thing I was telling you about--we're a LONG way from the quantum mechanics and quantum computing we'd need to make a full reproduction of THAT, mind you---but it's going to serve my needs beautifully."

"I'm s-s-s-still a little un-c-c-clear about what it is y-you're going to u-use it f-for."

"Don't worry.  It works out, I'm sure Papyrus and Undyne will be chomping at the bit to get a lot of mileage out of this little gem.  Frankly I'm entertaining the notion that Gene Roddenberry would approve of this."

"Who?"

"Oh, right.  I forgot to explain Star Trek to you.  Technically Star Trek: the Next Generation.  Though it also borrows heavily from Charles' Xavier's training facility..."

I think I'm going to end up spoiling it if I clarify that thought. But a true X-Men fan is probably already mouthing the words "Danger Room".

Okay. Cat's out of the bag. If you know what I've invented, then save all comments for the end of the presentation. Ha ha. Expecting a way for anyone to actually respond to this goofy thought? I crack myself up.

"Well, Alphys.  Hang on to this for a bit." I slipped out of my lab coat and set aside anything loose that might get shaken off or get thrown or kicked off.

"Yikes...didn't expect the floor to be that cold but...I did make it out of sheet metal." I made fists with my toes, instinctively. What, am I John McClain, now?

I stepped inside to the center of the room. turned around and gave a wave that segued into a thumbs-up.

Alphys nervously tried to return the gesture. I could tell she was losing her mind and afraid something would go wrong.

The doors shut before me and sealed me in; magnetic locks doing their thing.

Pretty sterile-looking now that I look around. Walls and ceilings covered end-to-end, corner-to-corner with conspicuous glass bubble domes in an oversized LED-matrix. Like if someone blew up a computer monitor so you could see ever pixel stacked up on top of one another.

Inside each bubble; a complex array of machinery.

"Loading framework.  Access to profile, Dr. Alphys granted on Modal SCF7."

On the main workstation monitor, a window popped up with the message MetaCortex Software version 2.01.22.33.99, revision 9 with a bevy of text and "Matrix" code raining upward. Of significant interest was Alphys' login information along with the virtual URL "terminal.0068//00-00-35.131 on DEVICE 0", "code: 009052010", and some context in a weird blend of pseudocode.

"Deus Machina?" Alphys still questioned my naming our operating system.

"An inside joke between me and Aunt Vi.  It's a double reference.  A nanomachine god in the third of her favorite movie trilogy...now it's a quadrillogy, long story.  And also a reference to an old "Greek" term for the God and the Machine; a method of using a crane to raise an lower actors in theatrical plays as a way of representing deities.  I know it's a bit arrogant, but Aunt Vi wouldn't let me rest unless I passed on some of her quirky spins on computer science."

"Is that why it also contains th t-tag, Thomas A. Anderson?"

"I...might have put too much of Aunt Vi into this.." I dodged the question. Holy schnikees...I'm getting to the point where I think even my practice of being a geeking fanboy is starting to become self-aware, in itself.

Artificial intelligence jokes aside...let's fire this puppy up.

"Alright.  Loading the construct.  Framework is up...now."

And like that the whole room's very...reality felt like it had been slid right out from under, around, and above me by a pure white, sterile...emptiness.

"Whoah."

I almost expected there to be racks of guns and weapons to be slid in with the same speed. But no. This was an empty space. A clean file. Nothing to it.

"Alright before we get on with the test, I feel it prudent to reflect on the ethics of this.  As they said in Neo Arcadia City...conscience before convenience."

"U-understandable."

I cleared my thought, reflecting on the duality. First...the downside.

"Billions of people...living out their lives...oblivious." Yeah...I knew that antagonist line. As much as it made my skin crawl, it wasn't completely false. Which reflected what this could be the first building block in what could become our future decades or even centuries down the road, if unchecked."

It was only a test but...it could evolve into one of billions of scenarios in time. Things I'd experienced before. Stories I knew in all of the forms and iterations. Stories I've read and watched a thousand times before. Just with different...names...and faces.

"Alphys.  I've stayed optimistic throughout the development of many a things.  But it would be folly if I didn't acknowledge there's an underlying pessimism.  A seed that may well have been co-planted with the seed of hope at the beginning of all this.  That danger that I foresee even this early on in the development of a technology our world considers so new it doesn't yet exit."

"Prince?"

"Do you understand what I mean when I say...It is so much simply to bury reality than it is to dispose of dreams?"

"I...don't quite--"  Alphys broke off and looked down and bit her lip for a bit...then looked back up the monitor and as my surveillance feed inside the room. "Yes...I think I understand, now."

I think it brought to mind how...she tried to bury herself from the world. That it was easier to hide the reality she'd created with the Amalgamates. In her mind if she came clean...that would be the death of everyone else's dreams of getting their loved ones back; that science wrote a check it couldn't cash...and Alphys would be responsible. Maybe that was just pressing something into a mold to give an example of what I was getting across but...yeah. I did foresee a possible world where everyone was addicted to the virtual reality that was being born at this moment. Our own "Oasis" of people being their own Player One. We we...ready for that?

And long-term? What happens when our construct...becomes our prison? Mind prisons are the hardest confinements to escape from. Especially when we have deep attachment to what comprises them.

"I don't want this to be our fate if what we're bringing online could one day...be the norm.  We've already seen it happening with social media.  If this is the next evolution...?"

"Your highness...take a page from yourself.  Conscience before convenience.  We won't let that happen."

"Easier said than done.  But...I'll put my faith in you.  Thank you, Doctor.  That's just what I needed."

Now...onto the other side of the coin.

Alphys rubbed the back of her head, only taking a moment to glance at the rubber duck sitting by the keyboard. As Aunt Vi can attest to...yes, this is a very real programmer's reference.

She took another look to see if all the modules were in place. The "trinity" of our three server cores in another remote part of our lab complex--as such named: Sabebay, Obstacles, and Luminate.

Darn it again, Aunt Vi.

Ahem...all in operating condition.

"On a different note, Prince...do you really thing we can get a viable exomorphic particle codex?"

"One thing at a time, Doc.  Let's crawl before we walk...or start making a hive-mind collective of electromagnetically hovering nanobots that can do that Terminator Genesys thing."

"Another r-reference?"

"Did it again." I shook my head.

"So...what words of wisdom to you have to impart, oh great Prince?"

I chuckled at her playful attempt to poke the bear with how much I was so over being royalty...like a couple decades ago. Well played, Doc. You're finally loosening up.

"Well...I wish I had something as profound to say as the bad heads of Two-Face's coin but...I guess all we can do is show the world what we've always wanted to give it.  A world...where anything is possible; not bound by limitations while guided by responsibility.  Just because can doesn't mean we should.  Conscience...before convenience.  While it's true...this tech is a Pandora's Box?  Let's not forget the Genie's Lamp.  Wishes often are trouble...but even wishes have their good side.  There are some wishes that SHOULD come true and shouldn't come with drawbacks and baggage.  Sometimes...it should just be a simple wish.  Sometimes it should just be that simple."

Okay, I made that sound a lot more profound that it sounded in my head.

"Well said."

"And with that said...go ahead and hit the ignition switch."

"Three...two...one..." And there when Alphys hand over the big red "Janine Melnitz alarm switch".

We got one.

And like that my world was transformed as I now found myself in a shiny, metallic mix of technology...this was...a version of Dr. Light's lab and hovering before me were four Stage Select window frames. Each one had one of the four colors--red, blue, green, and yellow prominent inside among their robot master silhouettes.

"Training program is in place, your highness."

"Been a while since I did this. Hope I can still do this." I flexed and stretched and got warmed up.

"Load up the music track, "Select-Bubbleman-Heatman-Woodman-Airman Medley from Rockman 2" by TEAM Entertainment off the exclusive 25th Anniversary Rockman ROCK Album and sync play with the moment I step off the starting line."

"Acknowledged."

I took my track runner position before the hovering holographic starting line.

I furrowed my brow...counted down...and took off like a shot as the music began. I skidded to a stop before the four windows as I cycled through them...before choosing Bubble Man's water-themed water purification dam. The square frames broke off their hovering holo-screen monitor and circled around me a few times before the blue one opened up into a window for me to charge through as the music segued from "Stage Select" to "Bubble Man".

I felt myself falling before landing in a crouch on those familiar platforms overlooking a roaring waterfall. I got busy speed-running my way across them, fighting back against the Kero frogs and diving through the water; swimming me way past Bubble Man's defenses before beating him and getting swallowed up in a spiral of water bubbles from an air jet in the floor.

When the bubble cleared away my world had transformed around me into the arid, hotter-than-you-know-where geothermal vent of Heat Man's brick-filled magma tunnel.

Across the platforms over oceans of bubbling magma, over the disappearing-reappearing yoku blocks and into Heat Man's gates. I pierced through him as my clothes had turned grey and white and the Bubble Lead surrounded me in a foaming spiral.

I barely saw his explosion as I was catapulted into a realm of green and brown.

Wood Man's Silicon Jungle forest.

My clothes were now red and orange; the color of Heat Man's Atomic Fire.

Through the grass and trees, and into the wooden tunnels of a massive tree before actually MELTING through his gates as by that time my speed picked up even more. My sandals were leaving goat hybrid foot prints of pure flame; magma filling their impressions.

Wood Man turned to a cinder before he could even turn around as my combustible flames exploded in a sudden oxygen flare.

And the yellow backwash turned to blue sky surrounded by puffy clouds. I was on the metal walkways of Air Man's meteorology air base and jumping from Air Tiki Goblin to Air Tiki Goblins; dodging Puti Goblins and hitching a ride across Thunder Chariots after knocking their Kaminari Goro riders off.

My clothes were now green and white. Leaf Shield, now.

Past the Matasaboros and Pipi bomber birds and I sliced through Air Man's gates with my Leaf Shield. Before Air Man's fan could rev up to full tornado gale force, I'd lacerated them in place; pinning them inside his frame with the steely leaves of the shield and clogging his vents in the process. One explosion later and I was headed toward the goal in mid outer space as the blackness set in around me and the "crawling" sea of stars drifted past me.

Briefly, my colors were blue and white; Air Shooter selected. But that gave way as I eventually reset to Mega Man's default cobalt and cyan combination.

"Oh...m-m-my...g-g-g-g-gawwwwwd!" Alphys was completely floored by my performance. Like what I was doing wasn't even real.

Well...half right. The world around me wasn't real but my moves were VERY much real.

By the time I heard that familiar segue of The Theme of Rockman (Mega Man) played first by synths then echoed by an electric guitar, the checkered goal was coming up fast.

I crossed the line by the time the last note and last beat sounded.

I went through a fancy barrage of tumbling rolls, flips and twists in the air before landing in one of Sally's Iron Man landings...but with a spin-out; my final pose being Speed Racer's iconic anime pose from the intro of his original anime series.

* CLICK*

The sound of the stopwatch echoed through the virtual cyberspace before the flash tore away the fake reality, leaving only the unimpressive bubble-projector room underneath as the simulation ended.

"I'm thinking I'm back...*pant pant pant* ...yeah...I'm DEFINITELY back..."

Score one for the goat version of Baba Yaga? Ohhhhh...maybe I shouldn't go that far.

The doors hissed open as I stepped through the gates in time for Chara to toss me a towel with the smart-alecky scoff of "Showoff."

Frisk applauded, eyes wide open and smile bright as the sun.

"You were MAGNIFICIENT, AZZY!" She suddenly tackle hugged me.

"You really think so?" I blushed.

"Is...is this the kind of training you did on the other world!?"

"Heh.  And mom was always worried that crybaby Asriel wouldn't last three seconds without crying over a skinned knee." Chara crossed her arms as I wiped my brow with the towel.

"I came a long way." I smugly retorted to my sister. "Jealous?"

"No." She protested, a little too quick. "...maybe." She grumbled when she thought I couldn't hear.

"Well...I completely rebuilt the holo-simulator from Ultra Crew Institute Head quarter’s Main Lab. Now...I have a place to keep my skills in check without putting myself in real danger."

"What skills--"  Chara, tried playfully to bop me over the head before she found herself unceremoniously flipped in midair before finding her gigai body flat on its back.

"Sorry.  Reflex." I shrugged...before adding one little insult to injury. "By the way...I STILL know kung fu."

Laugh it up, Aunt Vi. Laugh it up.

Sub-Entry 164:  "A Skate Date in Cyberscape":
So, now we have practical Holo-Deck virtual reality. Now...what to do with it?

Well...obviously I'm going to use it for special training; both as a way to keep one eye on the past and one in the present...little bit of Spike Spiegel there.

But beyond that...I guess there's no real application, yet, outside of our prototyping phase. In time, I'm sure Mettaton will market it to the world and have more than a few ideas for applications. I'd say, let the engineers come up with uses for it but...uh...Alphys and I kind of are the engineers.

Right now just the people in the lab were the only ones who knew about it; counting Frisk and Chara. But if I had an exact date and time, I'd be able to set my watch by the moment it went viral on our world.

Undertale was evolving, day by day. It...wasn't the same place within a game...rather spawned off of an infinitesimal number of copies of a game.

Destiny was ours for the taking and honestly we were all getting a little less nervous about the future. I think...thanks to me...we were moving toward embracing it. It was obvious that those of us in the know had Ultra Crew Institute fever and we wanted to catch up to where VGM-098 and worlds like it had already reached. Progress was looking more and more enticing.

Not since the rekindled hope of going to the surface and being free again had Monsters had so much to aspire for. Our world had expended...and shrunk at the same time.

It already started with cell phones and our own network within Ebott. That connectivity blew up once we were all on the surface and living in our own town. We were looking to the stars in outer space...we were looking toward qubits and quantum computing in cyberspace...

Some were scared. Some were against moving forward too fast. Some were hopeful. And some couldn't wait to get to wherever we were going. But overall...I think the approval rating for the direction I had taken us all was beyond incredible.

Which calls to mind that worry in the back of my mind. When things are going great; it's never a good idea to lower your guard. It's never wise to get complacent. And it's never in your best interest to be overconfident that nothing will go wrong.

Contingency is the defense against it. And hopefully everyone in my circle, especially Alphys, was striving to make sure those contingencies had overlapping redundancies. We needed a safety net in case of the unexpected...in case of the disastrous. In any case...we'd brace ourselves for setbacks if any. But right now...all lights are green. Full speed ahead!

"You really are amazing, Azzy."

Also...Frisk would always be my strongest supporter. That said...it was nice having your hopes and dreams in stereo; what were mine...were also hers. It was like we shared the same soul at times, but I knew better. We were still different. We were still worlds apart...and yet we had come together so synergistically...I guess that's why the credo of my long-term goal had become the project's unofficial working title:  Project: Bridge 2 Worlds.

Yeah...the Chris Thorndyke allegory was strong and only getting stronger.

So I have no idea what we're going to do with this technology five to ten years from now.

This issue at hand...what to do with this technology now...?

Well...I'm totally going to use it for personal game during working hours. Ha ha ha ha.

Okay the second part isn't true. It's actually after hours and I've been given Alphys' blessing. I'm kind of the co-boss here, anyway so...it's not like I'm abusing the technology for anything sinister.

I just happened to be using it to impress Frisk while on a date.

Don't judge me. Tell me I'm the only one that wouldn't pass up an opportunity like this if there was no real risk but plenty of reward!

"You know our town has many things but one thing it does not have is a pond.  That kind of made it hard for Onion-san to move into town." I made last minute adjustments on the console.

I customized my avatar accordingly.

"That scarf looks familiar."

"It should.  Volt wore it when he was helping Mom through tough times.  Not sure where he got it, specifically but...he always stuck to the story that it was left behind by one of the children that..."

I broke off.

"Azzy...it's okay.  Mom and I have come to terms with that, long ago. They're in a better place now.  I just have to believe that."

"I know but...crossing over is just so final.  Their souls were tied to our world.  Our game. They were the McGuffin game mechanic. Six of seven.  And ever Monster wanted to get their claws on them to break the barrier.  I wonder how many of us actually gave any thought to the great power that would come from taking a soul?"

"I know you didn't.  Well...he didn't."

I curled my lip over my teeth in a grimace. Flowey would absolutely tear into us for talking about this.

"Sorry.  Is it Flowey?"

"Yeah.  You know he'd freak out over this.  He'd give us the standard lecture over how naive he was and how he'll never do anything out of the kindness of his heart again if it's just going to backfire. And Adonis put him through Hell...can't believe I just dropped an H-bomb...so now he doesn't know which will burn him first: acting altruistic or acting selfishly.  Either way just seemed to leave him with unresolved baggage."

"It's not right that one of us has to continue suffering."

"Yeah...but a lot of that is his own choice.  I'd say it was him serving a penance but if I even implied he could feel remorse, he'd hiss and act up.  The one thing I can't talk to my own brother about is being soulless.  I never lost mine so...I can pretend like just isolating myself in Gaster's subspace gives me room to talk but...it's just not the same. He'd say it's completely different but...is it?"

"It's not my place to judge, Asriel. Even though it seems pretty obvious that the two of you are fundamentally the same in those lines. Self-exile...self-punishment...all that guilt over things going wrong?  The two of you are completely the same."

"Yeah.  Yeah, we are.  Good luck getting him to ever admit it or accept it.  All he sees is the immeasurable happiness, fortune, and success that's just heaped onto me.  But...I didn't ask for handouts.  I didn't expect any of those things.  In many cases I could have just refused them but...that wouldn't be very kind to my benefactors.  The say one of the purest qualities of being a child is to accept gifts without any skepticism, hesitation, or feeling like there's a catch.  Let's not forget, many of these things I am and have now I also worked my tail off for.  I earned my place where I am now.  And I'm not about to get complacent about them.  I'm not going to start throwing out the word "deserve".  That's not what Millennials like us should be known for."

Frisk sighed.

"It's a good measure of innocence; banking on trust reflexively.  We should all be able to go back to that.  It should be a reflex not something we have to take risks on.  And yet...now we feel a vulnerability when we wonder if we are being deceived."

"That's what faith is for, right? That the best part of us expects others to be acting on the best parts of themselves, y'know?"

"You really are amazing, Azzy." Frisk beamed with joy.

"Well.  What amazing thing are you going to have your greatest invention do for us on our date?"

"Greatest invention as of now.  I intend to top myself in the months to come." I smirked, enjoying a rare moment I could be smug without being obnoxious.

"Listen to you!  Overachiever in spades!"

"I had a lot of help getting to be this good.  Credit were credit is due but...it just doesn't sit well with me talking nice behind people's backs when I want to say these things to their faces." That made me melancholic. A reminder that the homesickness still reared its ugly head.

"Hey.  It's okay.  We'll discuss that in time.  That is what you're aiming for.  Slow and steady wins the race!"

"So...again...what are you going to have your invention do?"

"Remember how I said our town doesn't have a pond...?  And it is the middle of winter..."

We had already stepped inside and I'd just finished rigging a pocket-sized remote unit complete with touch screen commands, voice commands, and if necessary a kill-switch should anything get out of hand.

I scrolled through the package presets I had put together and found the one I thought would work best.

And like that...we were now standing in the middle of my take on Snowdin Forest.

"Ohhh!  I remember this place!"

"You and me both.  Though, I grew up with it.  I did modify the geography a bit but only for the expressed purpose of..."

And we were suddenly standing before a good-sized lake...completely frozen over. A nice sheet of very thick ice.

"Nice and thick.  It can support the weight of a lot of people.  And now for my next trick..."

I scrolled through options and check marked the presets I wanted...

And suddenly our clothes went through an instant metamorphosis.

"Ohh!"

We were now bundled up for a snow day...AND...each of us grasping a pair of ice skates.

"Can you skate?"

"Sure."

"Good.  Because this date would go downhill very fast if one of us couldn't."

As a final touch I sorted through Violet's mass library of multimedia and found the Christmas special I was looking for...and the soundtrack to it.

"A Charlie Brown Christmas ought to do it.  How about we go with that nice opening number while the kids are playing on the ice?"

An acapella ballad can sure set the mood.

"Shall we?" I got my balance and outstretched my hand.

"Delighted, my liege."

I almost chuckled at that. But then again...if I was going to be addressed as a prince...it might as well be her prince.

Well then. Come with me, my princess.

And we skated out onto the ice and took it slow and steady at first before we could sense each others' confidence. Then we took it up a notch...and again until we were looking like skating veterans.

"This is so wonderful, Azzy."

"It's the simple things in life, Frisk."

"It even feels real."

"Yeah.  Piezo-electric transducer network to alter the air pressure and temperature coupled with a humidity control to get it to that right feeling of outdoors during winter."

Even our breath was visible. It was kind of like being in a cold storage locker...only it looked like a frozen lake in Snowden forest while a choir of children were serenading us with soothing acapella melody.

And not a kite-eating tree in sight. Good grief!

"You know if you're feeling adventurous I can activate the EMF reverse telemetry framework."

"Neat.  Uh...what is that, exactly?"

"Essentially a training tool with full-range movement assist.  It electromagnetically tethers a person's body in order to guide them to learning more advanced steps, techniques and moves.  It can be applied to anything from Olympic figure skating to kung fu."

"That really IS neat!"

"It's just a tool, though...some might consider it essentially puppeteering.  And being made a puppet for any reason can raise ethical concerns."

"Hence why you don't want this falling in the wrong hands?"

"Especially that.  My conscience would tear me apart if anything went wrong because of what we're making in the lab."

"You can count on me, to keep tight-lipped, Azzy.  I can keep a secret."

"Yeah.  The world's not ready for it to become leaked to the public.  It's barely ready for the private sector as it is. It's a prototype and all.  It still needs lots of testing and refinement."

"Well, I'd sure like to volunteer to help out and see what it can really do."

"Thanks, Frisk."

"Any time, my steady boyfriend."

That was a phrase I was not ready for. It almost threw me for a loop. Maintain your concentration. If your head gets out of sync with the program, it won't be good.

So I dialed up our skill level and let the computer guide us through a figure-skating program. Part of our quick success at it was the computer teaching us to do it right the first time and learn that over and over, correcting mistakes before they're even made.

Truly an amazing algorithm Alphys and I devised.

"I feel light as air!"

"Like sky dancing when we're off the ground."

I was trying to ease us into it but we got to the point where we were doing sow cows and a triple lutz or two.

"Also...it's a good thing this is only restricted to the holosimulator.  I imagine less reputable types would use this as a cheating method in competition." I frowned.

"You definitely have worries.

"Yeah...learned it from Volt.  I guess that's the part of me that switched off my innocence.  Being on guard means a spark of my ability to unconditionally see the good in everything fizzled out.  That...upsets me a little."

"Yeah.  I guess it's part of life.  Part of the world we live in.

"As I can attest...a part of EVERY world we live in." I felt a depression over this universal truth. No other detriment to hopes and dreams like seeing things from Flowey's perspective.

As we skated and talked and laughed and enjoyed ourselves...the time just ticked away until we realized how late it had gotten. People would worry.

Parting is such sweet sorrow.

So we got off the ice and I shut down the program. It was like we never left. It even felt like indoors all of a sudden.

"Wow...now I understand why it's called virtual reality.  If you didn't know better you could get lost in an artificial world forever."

"Yeah.  That's going to take a lot of responsibility."

"We'll face it together."

"You are the wind beneath my wings, Frisk."

"Awww....that's so sweet."

I thought it was kind of corny. But...if it works...then it works. I got my girlfriend's approval. That's all I need.

So Frisk headed home. I wrapped up in the lab and left a note for Alphys along with a lab report.

Not to sound like Dad but.......nice day.

Sub-Entry 165: "When Queen Attacks, We Will, We Will Robot Rock You!":
"Noelle Honey Become My Willing Peon And I Will Free You!"

Uh. Head's up. We're back here again.

"All You Have To Do Is Hit Yes On The Peon Release Form"

Queen was up to her...well, I can't call it old tricks as I've only just met her. But yeah...classic villain crud.

"I...I'm scared..." Noelle was still trapped in the electro cage.

"Oh Have You Never Signed A Form Before"

"No!  It's everything else that's scary!!"

"Please Abort Your Sadness Protocol." That smug smile. Like nothing is remotely wrong. Like she was enjoying this. "I Told You Being A Peon Will Be Cool"

And this is where we made our entrance. Kris, Susie, Ralsei and me...um...yeah, still going by Asta Arcade. I guess I'm a Black Bull of a different breed.

"Noelle!" Susie was not having this.

"S...Susie?  Kris...!?"

"Don't worry.  We won't let your face get roboticized."

You know somewhere Julian Kintobor, alias Dr. Ivo Robotnik is cackling wickedly.

"THAT'S...SOMETHING THEY'RE GOING TO DO!?"

"Whoops.  Thought, uh, you knew that." Susie backtracked...slightly. What's...with that goofy look? Like she was amused over breaking wind?

"Oh Dear That Was Supposed To Be A Surprise Oh Well"

Why did it feel like whenever she talked...she ignored punctuation and capitalized every letter of every word? Weird.

With a wave of the hand Noelle's cage flew off like it had rockets in it; causing her to scream.

"W-wait--!!" Susie was not prepared for this. Were any of us?

"It Is Quite Troubling A Peon Must Be "Willing" To Assist Me In World Domination"

At least that wiped the smug off her face.

"If Only She Had Fellow Peons To Encourage Her"

"...So?" Susie wrinkled her crocodile/dinosaur snoot.

...darn it, Susie. Don't you know when you've walked RIGHT into a trap?

"So Like...You "Guys"..."

Oh HECK no.

"Are You Like...Doing Anything Right Now"

I was about to say "Never going to happen but Ralsei cut in.  And for the first time I actually saw him angry.

"We aren't going to help you!!!"

Whoah. Is that what I look like when I'm mad?

"Understood  Mind Changing Protocol Necessitated"

I suppose we set ourselves up for what happened next. What appeared to be a black...crow monster with a white mask over its face...wearing a very red power suit and tie...with the most triangular, pointed shoulders I'd ever seen...dropped in on us, cutting us off from confronting Queen. A butler?

It raised its arms and caught what appeared to be a silver covered fancy dinner platter and set it down on the ground...before uncovering it and revealing an oversized arcade cabinet video game that shouldn't have reasonably been able to fit in there.

He gave a graceful bow before rocketing off into the sky.

"A giant arcade game!?" Susie's surprise was...warranted. I wasn't expecting this.

"Curious." I rubbed my still human disguise chin. Kris was still looking at me funny and I was worried that Ralsei would figure out something was off about my overwhelming "Lightner" energies. Or he'd pick up on one too many similarities I was trying to hide.

"I Shall Humiliate You At A Simple Children's Diversion"

...good grief. Her big plan is to embarrass us at video games? That's...definitely not a typical villain plot.

"With Your Self-Esteem Eradicated There Will Be No Choice But To Serve Me"

"The Hell!? I've never played this one before...!" Susie freaked.

"But Kris is quite good at games, aren't they?"

"Oh yeah.  Kris, forgot you were a nerd.  Show her!!"

I noted that...

"You [Kris] tried to use the arcade machine.  You weren't tall or strong enough to use the controls..." Kris slipped and collapsed trying to reach them. Wait a minute...that was the trap, wasn't it?

"Self-Esteem Eradication Complete"  Queen gloated. "Running Laughing Protocol"

And of course.. "HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA"

Someone knows how to kick when we're down. But we're not down!"

"Uh...umm...it's OK, Kris...err...I'm short, too..."

"Kris!  Wait, I have an idea!" Ralsei and I said in unison. Oops. Jinx.

"Uh...!"

"No, you go ahead." I yielded.

"Kris if we can combine our powers..."

I know where this is going...

"Look!!  I'll show you what I've been practicing!!" And he suddenly started to glow before a flash of light overtook us followed by the sound of an explosion--

...when it cleared...!

"Magical Stool Forme R!!!" He had gotten down on hands and knees and let Kris climb onto his back. Like a stool. Like I was about to suggest. We do think alike. Yeah...he's definitely some kind of variant of me.

"Now we're talking!  Aright, Kris, leave it to me!!  Put your arms out!!" Susie prompted.

Oh snap, we're doing the second half of my idea, too?

A transformation sequence as only an anime could do, later and Susie was holding up Kris like a puppet master but not one that used string...just moved the puppet's arms directly.

"Power Beast Forme S!  Move your arms and I'll move them with ya!  Let's go!"

I had a role to play in this...but I'm not sure what, yet--

And with a jump, Susie, with Kris, landed on Ralsei...squashing him unceremoniously but...he was still giving them enough height to reach the controls. And Susie had enough strength to work the industrial-grade joystick and switches.

"Incredible  Your Transformation Is Combining All Your Weak Points Self-Esteem Crushing Efficiency At 300% and Rising

Commence Virtual Combat"

Virtual Combat...?

I got in close enough to look over their shoulders...and I couldn't believe what  I saw.

It's...it's...!

"It's vector graphics Punch-Out...?" I cocked my head.

Seriously. It was all black background with two characters in boxing stances...characters in plain wire-frame vector graphics...no rendering, nothing physical between the lines. It was like seeing Capcom's C4 chip in action for the likes of Chop Register, Shurikein, or the Sigma Virus.

The one in blue...definitely resembled Suzie. The one in yellow? Totally Queen.

"ROUND 1!"

I furrowed my brow. I'd watched enough footage of Little Mac to understand how boxing was 90% mental. I understood tells and telegraphs. I knew how dodging punches and counter-punching was supposed to work. I understood the strategy of footwork. And I knew all the ins and outs of playing my way all the way past Mr. Dream (or Mike Tyson depending on which version we're talking).

"Press A Or B If You Dare"

"Shut up!!!"

"If you're going at this alone, then every fighter needs a good trainer in their corner." I cracked my knuckles. "Hey, c'mooooon!" I said in my most accurate impression of the coin-insertion prompt from the obscure Taito Legends game, "Growl"; yes, the side-scrolling beat-up-up where you play as Indiana Jones and Hulk Hogan saving animals from poachers in the early 20th century while using weapons that weren't invented until the late 20th century.

"Whatever, old geezer.  Just don't distract me!"

"I know what I'm doing." I uncharacteristically bragged. Mostly to gauge her reaction. She brushed me off and I got started.

I sparingly rattled off some Doc Louis advice at points where her focus as at its least intense. At points even Susie didn't have to strain her brain to think about it.

Hope that's not too cruel of me. I don't want to sound like I'm ripping on her unnecessarily.

"Dodge With Left Or Right" Actually the words weren't left or right but Tetriminos pointing left or right...I don't know how I knew that, though. Weirdly meta.

With a timer counting down at the top from 99 seconds, it was going to be a shorter battle than the 3 minutes per Punch-Out round I was used to. But let's just call this...a lightning round.

It was pretty standard with virtual Queen going through a pretty average enemy AI routine of attacks.

"Stick and move, stick and move." I urged, making sure the rhythm was obvious enough for even Susie to get it.

I was getting vibes of Great Tiger when his ruby flashed every time Cyber Queen geared up for attack. It became a rhythm of "ding", "whoosh", "smack-smack" as the trio dodged her punches and counterpunched in regular succession.

"Whoah!  Since when can you KICK in boxing?!" I protested at the sudden Mettaton-esque can-can dance kick.

Kris was ready for it, though.

And then suddenly what looked like circles...or hubcaps tried to  trip us up from both sides, crisscrossing as we ducked, letting them pass overhead.

"This match is dirtier than Koopa Castle." I furrowed my brow.

And then suddenly Queen feinted out as a freaking meteor rocketed toward Cyber Susie!?! What the heck!?

Luckily our heroes landed a punch right in the sweet spot and obliterated it to triangles right out of Asteroids.

By the time the timer reached about 50...we'd drained our enemy's HP down to its last.

"She's down for the count!"

And like that...Cyber Queen's head a-splode to quote the vector-graphic Strongbad.

One cartoony explosion on screen later...and the whole arcade machine was swallowed up by a follow-up cartoony explosion!

It lay before us as junk.

"Heh.  Thought you could beat US!?" Susie taunted, with a toothy grin.

And Queen responded with [Regal Laughter]. Really. Just....imagine what that probably sounds like. You'll probably be accurate enough.

"Oh My That Was Actually Quite...Amusing

You Lifeform(s) Have Exceeded My Expectations

I Will Offer A  New Exceedingly Benevolent Compromise"

That's code for trying to weasel her way out of this, isn't it?

"Assimilate Into My Cyber-Army And There Is Only A Fifty Percent Chance I Will Reprogram Your Face

Please Select  Your Choice:

Perish In The Chill Of Absolute Destruction

Or

Flourish Under The Warm Bosom Of My Hellish Reign"

I'm sorry. But I can't take a villain seriously who casually uses the word, bosom.

Kris picked "PERISH".

Wait...

"...the hell did you say that so enthusiastically!?" Susie snapped at Kris.

"Err, Queen. Aren’t there any other options?" Ralsei asked.

C'mon...even I know this one.

"Yes...You Can Also Mega-Perish"

"...pretty close to what I was thinking.  *sigh* Aren't villains like these so predictable?

"Yeah, uh, no. Perishing...bites."

"You Could Say It Mega-Bytes "

* snrk*

Okay I let the chuckle slip out. That was a funny pun, and you know it.

"WOULD YOU GET OUT OF HERE ALREADY!?" Susie bellowed, super-pissed.

"Understood.  Preference Settings Set To "Perish"."

Oh, brother.

And like that she turned heel and walked off, briskly and overconfidently.

"C'mon!  Let's go after her!" Susie urged.

A save-star later and I noted the following:

"The video game is wrecked.  You are filled with the power of videogame violence."

By gods that sounded SOOOO wrong to me.

We were still traveling this maze of Spark Mandrill power plant-colored "Cyber Field".

The next room over was the entrance to the club, Sweet Cappin' Cakes...wait a minute...how did we...?

No matter.

There were the boom-box headed robots I'd seen before...somehow. I think my memories of the last few times in DeltaRune were a little muddled. Nothing to be alarmed over. I hope.

"Yo, (snicker), it's hard work being the Queen's minion, ain't it?  Why don't you take a break and grab a snack?  Ultra seedy CD Bagels, only $400 each!"

A bit steep to say the least.

At first Kris said no.

"C'mon, you can't survive off the air she breathes!  Believe me, I tried......what?"

After some rigamarole over buying one bagel for $400 or 400 bagels for $80...um...yeah...

We managed to get a CD Bagel. Weird.

There were some of those pink citizens from earlier out front, too.

"I heard there's a rebel team resisting Queen...So far all I found are overpriced bagels."

Also...there was a lone doorframe. But...for some reason we couldn't see through it.

We'd come back to this place later. It looks like access to the path ahead was denied. Wasn't long before we ran into some Virovirokuns and we got into another fight that...wasn't a fight, per se. But with skillful use of "TakeCareX", we donned our doctor and nurse outfits and treated the enemy with tender-loving-care. And all the enemies felt great afterward!

Because that makes sense, right?

Once healthy they were spared and our ranks grew some more.

Up ahead...another password puzzle. Wasn't hard to figure out. "AGREE2ALL"

And wouldn't you know it...Queen left us a message

"Thank You For Agreeing 2 This Peon Release Form

Now You Are Legally My Minions And I Can Use Your Likeness For Funny Statues"

Susie deadpanned. "What if we just...don't do what you say?"

"In That Case I Would Be Force To Use Another Guy Probably"

"Uh.  Better get started on that, then."

"Okay But I'm Still Going To Use Your Likeness"

I just shook my head.

We backtracked and recruited another pair of Virovirokun, filling our quota of four of them.

We noticed the electric arc barrier keeping us from advancing had died out so...onward and northward.

Another of the Sweet Cappin Cakes crew. This one with a sub-bass speaker for a head.

I couldn't be sure but it felt like I had advanced knowledge of this...but the clues seemed to indicate that Susie and Kris were meeting these guys for the first time. What was this weird memory echo? Maybe I was linked to Ralsei, somehow? Nah. Too convenient an explanation. Besides...I don't think he'd encountered the Sweet Cappin' Cakes bots before, either.

"Heh.  Good luck finding out which ride to take."

After some debate we took the one farthest to the right of the three teacup rides.

And we walked into another trap by another of the Sweet Cappin' Cakes crew. As he flew beside the path on a flying D.J. set of turntables, we ended up dodging his bars...like actual cylindrical bars, not rap lyrics.

This prompted the path to open up as he continued to retreat--

..and tumble off his ride, faceplanting.

"D-dead end!" Yeah. No where to go. Where was that funky beat coming from now? His turntables flew off.

"Alright!  What's the deal, twerp?!" Susie demanded to know.

"Who's a twerp?  The name's Sweet!"

"Oh, like 'Suite'?" Ralsei whispered as Susie retorted "Oh, like 'sweets'."

And all I could think of was "You mean like the goddess statue that B.E.R. called upon to defeat the dragon during the Night Begins To Shine?"

Wait...why was I referencing the Teen Titans GO at a time like this? Besides...Ralsei, Susie, and Kris gave me the weirdest of blank stares. Yeah, of course they wouldn't get the reference.

Oh wait. It just hit me. He's probably the leader of their group.

This feels like a battle scenario incoming...

"Don't tell me you haven't heard of the Sweet Cap'n Cakes!?!"

"Umm, doesn't ring a bell."

Okay. Ralsei never met them confirmed.

"G-Guess our act's still a bit underground...  Sweet Cap'n Cakes!  Not only are we Cyber Field's BEST musical trio...  We're also the last resistance against Queen and all her crew."

Well. That was unexpected.

"And that starts with resisting YOU!"

That wasn't.

"What!?  We're fighting Queen too!" Susie snapped.

"Nuh-uh-uh!  Cap'n saw you help kidnap some girl!  Hey!  Hey, Cap!"

And in came another member. Cap, I presume? Boom box for a head. Gloves. High tops.

"We won't let anyone lay a finger on madamoizels..."

Really missing Antoine's company right about now.

"Except us!"

"That's not the point, Cap'n!" Sweet faceplanted from a faint of disgust.

"It's like half the point. 60%? 55..."

"We're rebels, not players."

Oh brother. This feels like a Vi moment.

"We're rebels that play."

"We don't play!!!  We don't play!"

Okay...they're arguing with each other...and I think there's confusion of the definition of the word, "play". One's definitely G-rated. The other...I think someone needs to thwap Aunt Vi from afar.

"That's it!  K_K!!!  Get over here!"

And the tallest member, in green, with a boom box for a head and what I confirmed to be DeeJay's flaring pants from Super Street Fighter 2...at least they looked like them. Couldn't quite make out if they said "Maximum" along each pant leg...

"K_K, are we players?"

Yeah definition of players being machines for playing music...which they were vs. definition of...promiscuous males? Yeeeeeeah. We're riding the border of taste here.

"..."

"I'm a CD Player."

It was like I was predicting the joke.

And like that the three of them started playing music and hip-hop dancing.

Susie gave a blank look like "this is stupid". And at her silent urging we all turned tail and started to walk off.

"Wait!  They're getting away!"

"Sweet, chill.  There will be other bad guys!"

"No, this is our chance."

What we have here is a case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time and being accused of the wrong thing.

"Are you ready?  Let's fight!"

"...K_K?"

"Yeah?"

"Play some battle music!"

"OK!"

And here we go...

I got to narrating the battle.

"Sweet Cap'n Cakes block your way!"

From my scanner glass' observation...I could tell all three were NOT DANCING. ...oddly specific analysis from my device.

A quick huddle and we decided if you can't beat em...join em...or get them to join us! And if they weren't dancing. Maybe we should encourage them to. Not sure how this makes sense but...what the heck.

So we went with our only recourse: DANCE X.

As Kris performed what I could only guess was the Russian Cossack Mamushka from the Adams Family movie, Susie was engaging with what I called the shuffling locomotive dance. Which left Ralsei to do...umm...that...funky hung shoulder shuffle dance from a Charlie Brown Christmas...!? What the...

Oh well. If you're going to make a fool of yourself...

A super-cut of the Macarena, the M.C. Hamer slide, the Elvis hip-shake,  the Michael Jackson heel-spin with 45 degree lean, a bit of the Robot, and some epic dabbing it was. ......maybe I overdid it.

Don't ever let Chara see Alphys' alpha wave capture of my dreamscape; which was being sampled in real-time in the waking world as I narrate this.

"Everyone danced with Sweet! They're totally lost in the groove!"

And their responses?

"Hey, I love this song!"

"Ring-a-ding-dong."

"Isn't this mix...schway?"

Wait. Aunt Sally used to use the word 'schway' all the time. And really...she was channeling Batman Beyond. Funny coincidences stop being coincidences when you know Lady Destiny is being...perky and quirky.

"Perhaps if we can get them all to dance, we can win?"

"I was just thinking the same thing, Ralsei." I blurted out. Then wished I hadn't. But it looked like he didn't read into it much if at all.

So we tried again with K_K.

"Hey, I love this song!"

"Dance!  Dance!  Everybody Dance!"

"Hey, don't touch the hat."

Two out of three were dancing as we dodged their musical attacks.

But Sweet snapped out of the dance trance.

"Wait!  I don't dance with bad guys!"

"Kris, just keep trying to dance."

This was reminding me of Dance Energy...that thing the space pirate Shadow was obsessed with when he confronted that reporter from Space Channel 5...what was her name again? Ulala?

"Feel the beat, feel the beatdown!"

"Dance, dance!  Everybody dance!"

"What, you want to see my moves?"

We kept trying to overlap our dances as each alternatively snapped out of it and pressed attacks.

"Umm, maybe if we tried ballroom dancing?"

"Hey, why the hell do we need Kris to ACT?"

"B-Because that's Kris' unique talent, so..."

"You think I'm too stupid to dance by myself...!?"

Just what we don't need. In-fighting.

"Susie learned S-Action! She can now ACT from her MAGIC menu." Again with the meta.

"S-Susie, I-I don't think you should--"

I winced as Susie took charge.

"Happy feet, dumbass!"

"Susie made Ralsei learn R-Action...(even though he didn't want to...)."

"I'm sorry, Kris!"

Well. This could work. Each of us partnered up and danced...well...save for me just dancing solo.

And by then...all of us present on both sides of the field were dancing. Annnnnnnnnnnnd scene.

Somehow...this became a choreographed music video done to a catchy chip-tune.

"BATTLE WON!" I proclaimed as I landed in an electric slide on my knees.

"Hey, losers!  Wrap it up.  Battle's over."

"Over?"

"In other words..."

"We lost!?"

Silence.

"Does that mean we can be friends?"

"K_K!!!  No!!!"

"Fighting's not really my style anyway."

"Yeah, because you're a coward."

"...I mean it was fun dancing but..."

"Sweet, don't worry.  I think our dancing beat them."

"Beat them...?"

"Yeah, all mercy-like."

I rolled my eyes.

"See, when we danced with them, it convinced them that we're cool."

"Now they're on our side?

You know what? This works.

"Yes."

"HEY!  You three!  Welcome to the good side!"

"We ARE the good side..." Susie growled under her breath. "Just go with it, Suzie." Ralsei encouraged.

"Let's ronday-voo at our junk shop!"

"We jammed the door shut, but we'll kick it open."

"Alright, everyone!  Let's go."

And like that...we wrapped up another part of this adventure. But the adventure continued on. Longer than the previous ones of these. I hope this isn't something that I should be concerned with.

Sub-Entry 166: "Roller-boaster":
"He's i-i-into a d-d-deeper sleep th-than usual." Alphys looked on as she checked the wiring on the alpha capture brain-scanning colander on my head.

"Oh no.  Asriel...!"

"His v-vitals are fine.  Nothing else s-s-s-seems out of the ordinary b-b-bbut...his trip into DeltaRune has him pretty f-f-far into his own subconscious."

"Hold on, Azzy.  Hold on..." Frisk watched over me before planting a kiss on my forehead.

Meanwhile...

We found ourselves skating down a checkerboard slope...without skates per see. How were we doing this? Maybe it was like how the Samurai Pizza Cats hover glide with those Paw Cruiser boots that look like waraji sandals over top tabi toe-socks?

And as we did, it was very...musical, somehow.

A conveyor belt ride at the bottom briefly took us past the city-scape in the background. It was night. And fireworks were going off?

Before long we'd doubled back to the four-way intersection we bought the CD Bagels from.

And going north, which we couldn't do before...we arrived at Sweet Cap'n Cakes' shop. Very...boom box themed.

The pink citizen told us what we suspected. "I heard that this unassuming store is the rebel base...  But then I realized I don't really know how I would help them..."

A save star later... "Crash! Boom!  Bang!  There's a terrific noise coming from the building nearby...  You are filled with the power of noise music."

At least it's not predictable like when Frisk and Chara were filled with Determination each time they used one.

So...inside was exactly as they said. A shop selling...junk I guess. CD Bagels, GlowWrist, ...MechaSaber?...and AutoAxe...? Weapons?!

Uhh...I was hoping to have less conflict and even less need to actually use weapons. Come to think of it...I hadn't ignited my NX Sabers even once. Not that I was complaining. I don't know how I'd use them without someone getting hurt. Although...if I did lower the output gain enough...I suppose I'd have the world's most epic neon beat sticks. Like that virtual reality game on Occulus. You know the one where you're swinging light sabers to the beat kind of like Guitar Hero or D.J. Hero...man, I can't remember what it was called.

We got into a conversation, all the same.

We of course got introductions...not that we needed them at this point, but it was only polite and gave us a chance to introduce ourselves.

"We used to work the sound in this town."

"...until the Queen came around."

"...K_K is short for Cakes."

"She made music against the law."

"Unless you make a song she likes."

"But the only JUNK she enjoys...are reverse diss-tracks, where the vocalist puts themselves down and praises the queen."

Ugh. And Volt thought he had a problem with Vi's obsession with Epic Rap Battles of History.

"Or noise music..."

What's the difference?

"But even if Queenie tries to put a limiter on us..."

"You can't STOP!  THE!  MUSIC!"

"Hear that?  We'll just go underground!"

"Crash! Boom!  Bang!"

Uh...be mindful about what you say about going underground. My people stayed under Ebott for generations.

"That's why made this junk shop!"

"We'll fund our musical rebellion!"

"Can we make noise music, too?"

Kris of course asked for a performance. Well...we got one. To a funky beat. ...for four seconds. Apparently all their songs are four seconds long.

But it was when I asked about Queen...things got interesting.

"Queen wasn't always so...harsh."

"No, she WAS!  She just got WORSE somehow!"

Worse?

"It wasn't until that DARK FOUNTAIN showed up.

"Aha......" I muttered, furrowing my brow. The plot thickens.

"That she started going into overdrive."

"It was "Knight" this..."Knight" that, "FOUNTAIN" that..."

My gaze sharpened. Did they mean...the knight from the previous "chapter"? The one that corrupted Lancer's dad, the Spade King?

"Like what does that Knight even have going for it that I don't!  C'mon!"

"But like I said.  She wasn't ALWAYS so bad.   She used to give me sweets.  For being so sweet."

"H...huh?  I never got candy!"

"You kept calling her a "hot mama", Cap."

Wait.....I'm getting flashbacks of the flirting that Frisk supposedly dropped on my mom, Toriel back in the RUINS...

"Yeah?  Is that wrong?  She looks like a mom and she tends to overheat."

Oh brother.

"K_K help me out here!"

"K_K, what do you think?"

"Huh?  Me?  ...I like candy."

"Yeah, you're right, K_K.  We got to focus on what's important!"

"If the band fights, we'll get outta tune!"

"Anyone have any lemon drops...?"

We learned a little more about their junk work and it really made me think back to big little sister, Gadget. How she also liked to make machines out of scrap.

But beyond that nothing much other than the clientele. Mention of a weird guy who wanted them to sneak into Queen's palace. And mention they'd gotten hired by a real-high-class-client. A "man of taste" who had a way with words. And K_K couldn't even understand him.

Hmmmmmmm...

Well...after that, we stepped outside, upgraded our weapons and armor that we had bought and we were on our way.

Further down the way we encountered more familiar--a WereWire, a Tasque, and a Virovirokun. It was easy enough sparing and recruiting them.

A treasure chest ahead held a "TensionBit".

We encountered a floppy diskette with arms and legs doing a constant pirouette. He asked us if he should help us save...then told us he had no idea what that even was. Irony.

Further into the Cyber Field maze yielded more encounters with traps and such we'd been through before plus darkening rooms which exposed our souls, making them easy targets for sniper enemies we couldn't beat or spare. We just had to get out of there.

The holowindows depicting black-ball bombs with lit fuses was...unnerving. It was like an allegory for a mal-ware-ridden dark web.

Up ahead...a barrage of tea cup rides...with nasty press traps if we didn't disembark to the next ride in time. Yikes...getting crushed by one of those? No thanks.

Another treasure chest along the way held a "Ragger2"  Apparently a weapon of some kind?

The LED panel on the side...wall...read 70.

By now we had ascended pretty high in this digital city and we'd come to a building...with Queen's likeness on the side and a pair of yellow caution triangles on each side of the doorway.

"Hey!  What the hell are these things!?"

"Hmm...looks like if we ride them...they might bring us over to the fountain!"

All this while a crop of random noises were going on around us in the darkness.

"Really?  Then let's get on!"

And out we popped from the doors on the side of the building...riding personalized roller coaster cars on our own separate parallel roller coaster tracks?

As we sped along...who should greet us but...!

"Queen!" My expression doured. This was a trap, wasn't it?

"Enough You Foolish Children

I Have Been Merciful To You Thus Far But Now It Is Time For:

Your Unwilful Imprisonment (Capture)

Drop The Capturing Capsules"

And sure enough multiple catches rained down on us...and each one missed its target.

I blinked only briefly.

"Er...you missed..."

"That Was Not A Miss

It Was A Tactical Calibration"

Right. So a miss.

"So.  Are you gonna try it again?" Susie asked dryly.

"No I Only Have Like Four Cages

Four...?

"OK Wait

I Have A Small Plot Twist For You

Come Forward My...Peon"

And coming up from the opposite direction was...Noelle in her own personal roller coaster car?

Oh this is low...

"U...um...s-sorry, I couldn't say no."

"Noelle?" Susie was reasonably flabbergasted.

"H...hi, Susie.  Um, how are you?"

"Umm, okay I guess."

"Your ...um...roller coaster is, um...I like it!"

"Uh...yours too?"

"Th...thanks!"

"..."

"Okay This Isn't Working

Bring In The Next Guy"

Next guy?"  I then realized...there was someone ELSE we hadn't seen.

And like that from behind, something rear-ended Noelle's car off the track into parts unknown.

As far as I could tell...it was a roller coaster car that resembled a blue duck...and driving it was.

"Berdly!?" My jaw dropped. Not because the fact he was the peon that Queen had sicked on us...but the fact that his outfit looked...a lot like Falco Lombardi from Star Fox, down the mono-visor.

"Fear, not my beloved Noelle! This valiant warrior of brave intelligence will be your knight in glow-in-the-dark armor!"

"BERDLY!?  YOU ASKED BERDLY TO BE ON YOUR TEAM!?!" Susie practically exploded.

"(I Did Not Ask Him I Did Not Ask Him I Did Not Ask Him)"

"That's LORD Berdly to you simpletons."

I crossed my arms and wrinkled my snoot. I think this world was going to his head.

"And soon...SUPER Lord Berdly."

Okay, he has gone bye-bye.

"...the hell does that mean?"

"(I Have No Damn Clue Just Go With It)"

"You see, thanks to our wonderous Queen--"

Stockholm Syndrome much?

"WE...will soon RULE the WORLD! And turn this land of fools into a Smartopia!  A true Scientocracy where the geniuses of the world can bathe freely in pools of fresh fruit and ambrosia.  No longer held back by protozoans like you!  And the key to that?  Is US. Noelle and I!!!  Our power...The "Light Nerd's" power...

"You mean..."Lightners"?

"Uh...no.  Queen said Light Nerds."

Queen laughed. "I Actually Did"

Someone sure rehearsed his pompous villain speech.

Ralsei frowned.

"Berdly, Queen is just manipulating you."

"Heh.  That's just what she SAID you'd say to me."

Oh you...you...IDIOT...!!! Yeah, I said the i-word. I'm definitely not happy with him.

"I Actually Did"

"Now, Kris.  I actually must admit, I feel pity for you.  Unlike Susie, I always saw some potential in you.  Join our side and I might let you scrub our royal toilet."

Kris of course decided...no. Not happening.

"Ah, Kris.  I suppose I knew you'd never amount to much.  Well if you're dead-set on proving your inferiority..."

And out came a green bird-themed pole-arm.

"Allow me to assist you!"

I called to the others. "All in favor of whapping this guy upside the beak to get his head on straight?"

"Damn right!" Susie agreed as Kris raised their hand. Ralsei was...reluctant to reply.

A battle on rollercoaster cars. I was not liking the setup. But as much of a featherbrain jerk he was being...I still didn't really want to hurt him. It was more obvious that Ralsei didn't either. So what to do if we can't go weapon to weapon...

Wait...what if we bumped him of the track like he did to Noelle? With any luck she landed somewhere soft. I really hope.

But...at least this way he has a chance of surviving this battle rather than walking away with Susie's axe in his skull.

"Commence...Bump X!"

And like that we sped up our cars to all try to bump into him in rapid succession. And sure enough, one by one we each smashed into his car; each impact sending him to the next person's rails until he managed to reset back to center track again; having sustained about 18% damage.

"Kris, I get why you're getting in my way!  You're jealous, aren't you!"

And his car started spitting tornadoes from its beak.

"Berdly gives the secret sign. But Queen is busy with a coloring book."

Huh. Why not?

Another attempt at Bump X.

Another 18% damage. Closer toward mercy. Yeah, we were still going to spare him; provided we didn't send him careening to his demise. Really hope we don't do that.

"Kris, you're tired of being the class number 3, gazing distantly at Noelle's and I's fruited figures."

Fruited figures!? Who talks like this! Really...this guy is making me channel my inner Chara. I have so much I want to diss him with...

"What the...!" I gaped as he tossed a flurry of math tests with A+'s stamped on them into the air. Oh that's not showing off--!!

We dodged as best we could, trying not to let them cover our faces and blind us.

"Berdly called Queen for help. But Queen pretended to be on the potty--"

Wow. That's just cold.

Another Bump X and his car was now smoking.

"So rather than STUDYING, you'd enlist Susie to take us down!"

He pointed his pole-arm's spiked end, grabbing hold of the trigger on the axe end and opened fire with sine-waves worth of arrowheads.

Too close for comfort.

"Berdly asked what snacks they have at home.  Queen nods. She has earbuds in."

There's having a short attention span and deliberately throwing her peon to the wolves.

Another Bump X and his car was looking to be in bad shape.

"Kris...you truly are depraved...playing in the mud with the class hellion."

"Berdly summons Queen.  Queen calls in sick."

While Ralsei healed us, Kris and Susie rammed Berdly's car.

"But, Kris, I am a kind and brave hero.  If you come to our side...you may be a slightly less distant number 3...hahah...slightly."

By now he was repeating his attacks. And by now...his coaster car looked...sick for lack of better word.

"Oh shut up." I finally had enough before I led the charge of all of us bumping into him one last barrage.

And that did the trick.

"W-what?  My coaster...it's...!  Wh-what...?!  That's not fair!!  M...My Queen...save me!"

And then the car exploded, tossing him over the roller coaster track to parts unknown down below.

"Oh crap..." I gasped. I certainly didn't want THAT to happen!

And Queen drifted in on her rocket throne...several moments after his fall.

"In A Minute Dear

Hello Everyone I Have Some News Updates

You See

This "Roller" "Coaster"

It's Not Actually...'Finished' Yet.

I wish I could say I saw that coming. But I can't say I'm surprised, either. This HAD to be the cliche she'd go with.

"WHAT DOES THAT MEAN!?"

"It means we're in for a sudden, unpleasant stop..." I muttered.

Queen simplified it.

"Pain"

She hovered off with boisterous laughter, leaving us to our fates.

"NOT COOOOOL...!!!" Was the last thing I hollered before we rocketed off the unfinished track and into the abyss below...

And while I started losing my anchor in this world in mid-flight; starting to wake up in the real world... As much as this would have been an ideal cliffhanger...

...I didn't wake up fast enough to not experience the unpleasant landing--

* SPLAT!!! *

...in a giant mound of garbage.

"Well.  This must be how Frisk fell when Undyne sent her off the pier in Waterfall and into the trash yard below." I climbed out of the mangled car. Fortunately it was sturdy enough that I didn't suffer any injuries...not even any bruises. Lucky break. By that time Kris and the others were emerging.

"L...looks like this trash saved us." Susie deadpanned.

"C'mon." She grumbled.

Once free..

"Haha.  Who's king of the trash pile now?"

I didn't want to gender-correct her. Besides I think none of us wanted to be compared to Queen.

Oh boy--

Before I could think of something smart-alecy I wanted to say, Susie tripped over a tire and fell from the pile and landed in a gruesome squat.

I could tell she landed badly and there was an injury.

"O...ow..."

"Susie, are you alright?"

"Heh, it's nothing.  I just.."

Liar. You're in pain. And darn it, me without a medical kit or a spark of my old magic. So much for Dreemurr family healing.

"Ow...."

"Sure you don't want me to look?"

Wait. If Ralsei is my variant...then...!

"'L-Look at what?  I'm fine!"

And a sudden hug from behind Susie wasn't prepared for...! And then a flare of magic energy...!

"There.  Feel better."

Did she...rise up and turn around and bump into a ki--

Actually I couldn't really see.

"FEEL BETTER!?  AFTER YOU JUST CAME UP AND--"  Susie broke off. "Umm...doesn't feel worse, I guess.."

And she calmed down. "How do you do that, anyway. That...healing...thingy..."

"Oh, healing magic?  It's simple.  Anyone can do it."

Not anyone...for some of us...not anymore.

"I could even teach you, if you're interested."

Don't push it, alternate me.

"Heh.  Ask me again when it's like blood explosion magic." Another awkward pause. "But if you wanted...I guess I could learn it. Then you wouldn't have to y'know, annoy me with it anymore..."

"Sure, Susie.  Next time we have a break."

Kris and I just looked at each other. And it was the one time we did that Kris wasn't staring holes through me like they knew something that I did...but they shouldn't.

"Let's just go already, Kris..." Susie trudged past us.

It was quiet...and the...incidental music was gone, replaced by ambient wind sounds.

We took a moment to acknowledge the eggplant shaped like a trash bag...or...was it the other way around? And a living garbage can named Trashy. And...was that Nubert? Apparently everybody loves him....that's why he lives in the trash?

I was kind of hoping for a Save Star by that point but...we weren't so lucky.

In fact...we ended up coming to a fork in the road. And it looked like...we had to make a decision.

Should Kris and I go with Ralsei to scout north...or with Susie to scout east...?

What to do...what to do...what...to....doooo.....

That was when my consciousness gave out and...!

I found myself being hugged tightly by Frisk and what sounded like her covering up the fact that she was sniffling.

"I'm so glad you're back, Azzy."

"Y...yeah...me too.  Things got a little...dicey in there toward the end. And unfortunately I left of in a place that didn't exactly have good resolution.  A literal fork in the road with no decision being made which path to take."

I hopped off the medical table.

"It'll just have to wait until next time.  I have to say...these adventures are getting more intense...and longer."

I hoped...that didn't mean that I could be headed to a scenario where I could be...permanently stuck in DeltaRune. I have a life here! I have a girlfriend! I have family and friends. I can't abandoned them all just for the sake of...a world I didn't understand. A world that it probably wasn't my place to interfere with but...

I'm too kind-hearted to leave well enough alone. I have to see this through.

"The alpha-capture recorded everything up to that point, your majesty."

"Thanks, Doctor.  Archive it and make sure no one else sees it but us."

"By your orders."

"Do you...need some time to decompress?"

"Just a little, Frisk.  But...check in on me.  I might be needing the company once I've got a grasp on things."

"Sure."

The rest of the night was uneventful...and I unfortunately made very little progress with making sense of it or figuring out my next move. Oh well. Another month later and I'll see if I'm better equipped for this.

Out of everything I experienced...my biggest take-away was:

"I am SO glad that the stench of garbage didn't follow me back to the waking world."

Wah-waaah.

Sub-Entry 167:  "We Are The Masters of Space.  Now We Crack the Science Of..."
My excursion into DeltaRune had left a sour taste in my mouth. There were a heap of things unresolved and...it wasn't the cliffhanger ending I would have left off on if I could have helped it.

What happened to Noelle? Was she okay?

Annnnnd...I guess I should hope Berdly wasn't hurt either...though he was kind of a jerk. This place had gone to his head and he was brown-nosing Queen hard-core.

Actually...it felt more like he was overstepping his bounds. As much as Queen ignored him...I had a feeling there was reasoning behind it besides short attention span. If Berdly was this annoying to us...just thing what he must be doing to Queen behind the scenes. He was...really up on this science-topia...thing.

Senku, I feel like you can relate. But alas, my dear Dr. Stone....pretty sure you'd be ten-billion percent not interested in his take on a kingdom of science. If anything...he was taking one too many pages out of plenty of other villains I'd come across. Many from different Mega Man universes. Seriously...I bet if you reworded it...it would be the same speech as Miss Vega; whose own motivation was right out of the story of Orihime & Hikaboshi. Using the power of Le Mu to wipe out the world of "fools" and making a utopia where only the competent and intelligent survive and thrive? Yeah. All too familiar with Berdly's take on it.

But...I had to REALLY try hard to take Berdly seriously compared to a woman scientist who was this close to smashing a floating continent down the ground, using the power of a "Wave God". Wave as in electromagnetic energy pulse spread through the air. Radio waves, not surf waves. Thouuuugh...thinking about surfing was giving me ideas down the road, closer to summer. I hope Frisk likes what I have in mind. But...can't say more. Spoilers.

Ahem.

Pretty sure I have a lot more about this adventure to draw from. But I can only go on for so long before it becomes long-winded.

Anyway. For today?

Back to the lab again. Yeah, I'm spending a lot of time here during the winter months. By spring and summer, I'll probably be returning to City Hall to serve as deputy mayor. I think I have Calico "Callie" Briggs of Mega Kat City to thank for a crash course on how to carry a political leader's duties while he/she shakes hands and kisses babies or tees off with important diplomats on the golf course. Or of course partakes in the proverbial ribbon-cutting ceremony.

While all the while I hang back and do paperwork. So. Much. Paperwork. Did I say deputy mayor or over glorified secretary? I think I understand now why Aunt Violet despises being a figurehead and spent so much of her time blowing off her royal duties while driving Al Dente insane.

"Prince, every one of these tests gets more and more elaborate."

"We have to make this tech flawless. I don't want to end up Croneburg-ing some poor soul that uses this to get to the airport on time."

"Er..."

"My advice, Doc.  Don't EVER see the remake of the movie, The Fly with Jeff Goldblum if you have a weak stomach for body horror.  That's the ONLY definition you need for someone who got "Cronenburg'd. On a lesser note I suggest never checking out Earth C-137. There's a scientist there by the name of Sanchez that's pentuple-blacklisted for too many ethics reasons to list."

"Uhhhhhhhhhhh..."

Yeah, I lost her.

"Look.  I just don't want this technology hurting or killing someone in a freak accident.  If you think I have too many redundancies and fail safes, then I probably don't have enough."

I watched my "mid-air" 3-D maze of mini-portals as I let a small stream of metal marbles drop in and out of them in crazy, gravity-defying  drops before eventually reaching a trough at the bottom.

"It is m-m-m-mesmerizing to watch."

"Yeah.  I'm thinking when I get it perfected we can donate it to the children's museum and put it on display as a means to encourage kids to get into science."

"That's a WONDERFUL idea!"

I checked each of the other set-ups.

One of them was an actual toroid donut; separated by two portals. Thus when the ball dropped out of one the inertia carried it into the other one, making it disappear once it completed 180 decree arc around the vertex of the circle in a perpetual cycle.

And each set-up used different gravity tricks and uses of portals with different degrees of tractor beam pull or push to them.

Ideally, I wanted to create portals that had no gravitational force. While I admit a portal with suction to it had its advantages, in practical teleportation...not a desired effect.

In another set up I had constructed the classic Dr. Wily capsule, on a severely miniaturized scale.

I pulled open the glass shield and set a can of soda into it before sealing it up.

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

And the can collapsed upon itself before turning into the classic Mega Man blue streak of light before the last of the particles of light flickered out. At the other end of the room, in a matching cylinder...!

* BLIP*

Yeah. I knew that sound. I headed over and confirmed the can was reassembled.

"Reassembled with the liquid still in the can, this time.  Always a good thing."

Like any good scientist I had a bevy of tests to run on it before I even think of cracking it open let alone drinking it.

"No radiation spikes, no latent energy fields.  No molecular complications.  All tests normal.  Spectrographs are identical."

"W-wow."

"We're really innovating now, aren't we?"

"I never would have imagined this was possible."

All I could do was smirk as I twirled a 300 to 75 ohm transformer with "Devil's Forks" connectors. Now that was a throw-back.

These were nice calibration tests. But...if we were to make progress...we'd...have to test them on living matter. And...I'd been hesitant to even think about this step let alone actually do so. But...

...the lab mice were grown and raised for this. May the gods have mercy on my soul.

"Forgive me, big little-sister Gadget, wherever you are." I took a deep breath, holding back a tear as I prepped the cage.

I didn't want to do this. But I had to do this. Or we'd never be able to make use of this technology.

I attached the clear pipe to the flaring clear plastic flange that covered the portal to the other set up at the opposite end of the room.

"Alphys...which her luck."

"G-Good luck, little m-mousey."

I pulled the barricade window up, dividing the cage's chamber from the entrance to the pipe and let nature take its course.

I waited and eventually the mouse caught the scent at the other end of the pipe and started following until it reached the portal.

"C'mon, girl..." I watched and waited as it stopped before the portal, sniffed around a bit and looked up at it before rising up on hind less for a moment.

Then came...THE moment. It scampered in and I swear my heart skipped a beat.

"It's through, your highness. And...it's alive!  It's still moving!  She's okay!"

Alphys' words drove it home.

I collapsed backwards into my swivel chair and pulled off my reading glasses.

"Oh gods..."

This. Was. Big.

"I'll put her in isolation to continue the bevy of tests.  Make sure there aren't any lingering effects...any dormant side-effects.  I have to make sure she's not going to develop cancer or something like that down the road."

As far as I could tell, there were no sudden spikes on the Geiger counter and no unusual radiation outside of the portal's usual ionic field. A few weeks and we'd know for sure. And during that time we'd double and triple down on tests on other subjects to make sure the factors were constant.

"You okay, Asriel?  You...seem kind of--"

"Spooked?  Yeah.  I was...taking a risk with life itself.  I...don't know what I'd do if...if..."

I sniffled. My inner Lupe was speaking loud and clear.

"There, there...  I know.  With science there's always risk.  Especially with life itself.  You've...you've definitely made me understand a lot about ethical practice. It's...helped me come to terms with the Amalgamates."

"Glad I could help."

"Not...to excuse the fact we are playing god and...dancing around the concept of hubris...but these are lab mice. I know it doesn't help that they don't have a choice; that they can't possibly understand how they're helping civilization...but...yeah...we're not giving them a choice.  They're volunteers...and yet they're not."

Alphys' serious tone had even managed to hold back her stuttering.

I nodded. I didn't feel bad for the control subjects. Heck, Gadget started as a control subject mouse. She was never meant to be experimented on but...the freak accident changed her destiny.

I found myself wondering...wo]]uld this successful test change this mouse's destiny in any way?

Maybe...maybe not. But...let our records show the serial-number/nickname of the one that braved the portals through space we had created.

"CHL-002". I mused. "Chell".

Let the Aperture Science jokes begin. I can just imagine the bevy of sarcastic, witty commentary from GladOS.

"Welcome to your fifteen minutes of fame, little gal.  You might not understand this...but you've become legend." I smiled.

I took only the time I needed to come to terms with all this.

Alphys headed over to her workstation to type up her report.

"Alphys.  We're now veterans with manipulating space.  I think...it's time we took it to phase 2."

"G-Great!" Alphys replied happily...then paused...then got a strange look before asking "Uh...wh-what's ph-phase 2?"

I didn't respond with words...I just set something large and boxy onto her desk, right in front of her.

"...!!!"

"Th.....this is...?"

"Just a mach-up...but I think you've seen this before."

Alphys' eyes bulged as her jaw dropped and she could only stare longingly through the glass panel on the box. The words "Shield Eyes From Light" on a red label stuck across the lower left of the glass. But above the glass on the upper metal frame...the words: "Disconnect Capacitor Drive Before Opening"

I left her completely speechless. But I just had to add a few more explanation points to it when I dropped a notepad with a reproduction sketch.

Two sets of formulae. One read: "65/X100x 4" x 4W over lamda 44 + 1000 / 1 ohm" and

"X x Y x X squared over R13141 over 1614 = "

And two words, "Flux Compression".

But in the midst of it all...the image of a Y-shaped tube...like an upside-down three-bladed propeller with connector blocks on each end and pipes connecting to each terminal.

Alphys was in a catatonic state before she finally spoke. And she said the one thing that made this moment perfect.

"Great...Scott...!"

So I had to make it even more perfect.

"I know, it sounds pretty heavy, doesn't it?"

End. Scene.

Sub-Entry 168:  "Chilled to the Bone":
Winter. I didn't mind it.

But Volt would be in a living nightmare if he saw how much snow we got lately.

For a hybrid like me...still going out in sandals wasn't weird. Having fur from head to toe made things tolerable. Then again I was never sensitive to temperature. I'd played in Snowdin Forest, barefoot all the time when I was about 7 up to when I was 10 (with Chara).

I'm told on a lot of other worlds, there were places where the announcement of snow made people go into panic mode and start flooding supermarkets to horde a large amount of groceries and such.

Here...we were a little more lax about it. Monsters (and in my case, Hybrids) kept our heads on. Snow was snow. Sure there was the possibility that we'd get enough of a blizzard to keep us "snowed in"  (as in Snowdin, hahahah)...but even if it ended up being serious enough to keep us stuck in our homes, it never felt like something that would have us all screaming that the end times were here. It was just...an inconvenience, and we actually tended to plan ahead for it, even well before weather reports started giving us notice that things were going to get cold, wet, and icy.

I could tell you it didn't bother the Skelebros.

In fact...that's the point of this entry. To spend time with my favorite bone boys.

"Greetings and welcome, my prince! I trust the day finds you quite well!"

"Howdy, Pappy.  Yeah, I'm good."

"Nyeheheh!  Every days is good when you are in the home of the Great Papyrus! As the lone Royal Guard (still watering flowers and trimming hedges, mind you...) I must make it my duty to always provide the greatest in hospitality to all who are my fans and friends.

"Good philosophy."

What was my strategy for handling the skeleton brothers?

Fire and ice. Hot and cold. Or in this case...industrious and lazy.

Handle Pappy like you just down a case of Red Bull and always refrain from sitting down.

With Sans? You just have to chillax. Plop on the sofa and slip your sandals off. Watch some TV. Get into a back-and-forth pun contest. And you know...just be you and prove that you're still a fan of the Great Papyrus. Nyeheheheheh.

* knock knock knock*

The door was opened promptly. As if Pappy would ever make a guest wait out in the cold.

"Ahhhh!  Welcome, Prince!  It is good for you to come over."

"Thanks, Papyrus.  I always believe it's a sow of good faith if I have some face-time with my people."

"And that's quite a feat for a pair of boneheads without faces!"

"SANS!" Papyrus protested at Sans' humor.

"Nah, it's okay. "  I downplayed it.

"Really, your highness.  You are too lax about my brother's indecent behavior."

I could have said I've been around much worse but...that would probably make things worse. Let's not get Paps irate, okay?

"Ahh, but where are my manners. It's been five seconds and I haven't even offered you my customary spaghetti."

Drat. I forgot to visit Grillby's before I came here. No use to use the 'I just ate' excuse. Oh boy...

Down the hatch.

If I had been just a little more clever, I would have asked for a glass of ice water and used the ice to numb my tongue without him noticing.

Hey, it worked in an old Encyclopedia Brown novel.

That said...

"Ahhh, your expression grows ever more passionate."

Yeah...passionate...is the word. Ugggggh...

Subject change, very quickly. Please.

"Prince, you must update me. Has the good doctor come across any new puzzles for me to try?"

"Sorry, Papyrus.  Been too busy with work."

"Oh.  That is unfortunate."

"HOWEVER...Alphys and I DID find some time to work on the 3-dimensional printer and we fabricated the pieces to something I think you're going to love.  I didn't have the time or resources to make a proper packaging but I did at least print out a graphic to glue to the top of the box."

I handed a wrapped gift to Papyrus.

"You'll have to provide your own model cement, paints, sandpaper, and X-acto blade to trim off the excess plastic."

He graciously opened the box without even hesitating. Just like a little kid. There's the innocence of the town's other favorite cinnamon roll.

"A model kit?"

"Indeed.  A new one, in fact.  I'd been going over the designs for your two Skull Man kits and I compiled some until Alphys and I agreed on a new concept.  A new theme for a skeleton robot with a twist.  This one is a skeleton, an animal, and a robot in one. Presenting...Skull Warthog!"

"Oh my!  He looks incredibly strong!"

"If Captain Skull Man is the leader and Skull Man EXE is the lieutenant, I guess that makes him the sergeant?"

"It's absolutely perfect!!! Nyeheheheheheh!"

How does he do that teary-eyed thing when he doesn't have actual eyes? And yet somehow he has bulging cartoony eyes when he's filled with emotion?

But...I'm one to talk when my eyes can be one of eight colors. And right now they were pretty green. Being a friend means being kind to your friends. And sometimes you just have to let them know you appreciate them.

"Please assemble it on your own time."

"I most certainly will!"

"I guess with his collection complete, you got him the whole--"

"Sans...don't start."

"...kit and kaboodle?"

"OH MY GOD!!!"

A simple one. But I really had to hold back the chuckle.

"I'm going upstairs to put this in its proper place so I can assemble it proper, later.  Brother, try to stay out of trouble.  And do not bother the prince while I am taking care of matters!"

"Sure, Paps.  I won't do anything to get his goat."

"SAAAAAAAANS!!!"

Oh, you slippery snail, Sans. You are bad.

"You know where to find me later, prince-y.  Tell your mom 'don't be a stranger'."

Okay so he still had a thing for her. But he knew just to keep it the briefest of flirts. Though...even if he wasn't subtle, I doubt Asgore would ever catch him in the act of being a little mischievous about it.

So of course Pappy and I started our regimen outside. Proper training. Proper exercise. Proper sparring. Things we could do that Papyrus didn't have to hold back in one case...and felt like he did in the other. You know how he is. And...I admired that about him.

A bit later we came inside. Neither of us were bothered by the snow, ice, and cold. I had a built-in fur coat. He was a skeleton without skin or nerves. Nuff' said.

So was Pappy went to chase after the Annoying Dog after once again he lost his special attack...

Up to the room with the rainbow flames coming out from the bottom of the door.

"Got the password?"

"You're a doo-doo butt?"

"That was last week's password.  Try again."

"I know it's not supreme fartmaster."

"Good guess.  But that's strike two.  One more miss and you'll have to come back next week."

"Well...is it...Papyrus is the coolest?"

Boisterous laughter.

"Ah, sure.  Why not."

And the door opened.

There was the perpetual tornado of trash. Lovely.

There was the bed, not made. There was the usual furnishings. His room was a pig sty as always.

I of course plopped down on the bed.

"Make yourself at home? Sure.  Go ahead."

He was riffing on me but...he would have done the same at my place. So we were even.

I laid back and just chillaxed.

"Eh." Sans shrugged as he just laid down on the floor.

"Taking a cue from Napstablook."

"You know, not enough people take the time to stop and feel like trash."

Never stopped feeling wrong...but who am I to complain? Weirdly enough...being trash in Undertale was hardly as bad as it was on other words. It was like the insult was watered down and then watered down again. It lost any meaning or sting. Even the humans were starting to use it colloquially as informal speak. It was becoming as common as "dude" or "man" or "buddy", or "homie".

Still...it would never sound right to me. But...I guess we're all Undertale trash on this world. So...are we even insulting ourselves anymore? I...want to say no. It's a word that's completely lost its meaning. How did something so derogative get to be so...well...bland like water? It had a pH of 7.0; totally neutral. Neither flattering nor insulting. I don't get...and I never will.

Though, let's face it. I'm never going to call someone trash. Even on my home world. Obviously, off world it WOULD be insulting. And on this world...it would always feel so wrong to say it.

I'm getting off topic.

"I think you seem...less out of sorts than ever before."

"You think so, prince?"

"Yeah.  I know you've had to...keep things from your brother over the years. I know...about the dark parts of your life.  The things you've had to do for the greater good.

I'd say you know something about having heavy hands, too. Huh?"

"Kid, I could go on and honestly, I don't think you want me doing that."

"No.  I think you're right.  Let the past stay buried int he past.  At least...the past you've learned from but...don't want to experience let alone remember on a daily basis."

"Good advice, kiddo."

"Sans...I'm serious. You've...gotten a spark of optimism underneath all the jokes.  You...have something to live for besides being the best brother...even though you keep telling him he is.  Truth be told...you've sold yourself short over the years.  Not a rip on your height, before you ask."

"Nah.  I've never been one to complain about not...measuring up."

"Oh, you!"

A round of chuckles before...

"So.  You and the kid."

"Frisk..." I sighed, sounding like I was swooning.

"It's great, y'know.  You two deserve each other."

"Let's steer clear of the d-word. Though...that is so true. We...we're soulmates.  I think we've been around these timelines so much it was...inevitable.  It was...a ship that someone no doubt had in mind.  Maybe not our creator in his infinite wisdom when he created our prime dimension.  But...you know...I guess he would have objected by now if this were some kind of travesty. Most I can figured...he'd probably say something backhanded about knowing exactly what the faceless deities and entities have done to his creation.  Destiny and fate, most certainly have a lot to answer for. But...I really want to believe we're FAR from the worst iteration.  Though...it's wishful thinking hoping that we're the best."

"Listen to you poke holes in the fourth wall."

"Yeah, getting meta got easier.  You of all people knew how to comment, subtly about what's behind the curtain of our world.  Flowey sure knew."

"Yeah, give my worst to the weed."

"Sans.  That's not fair.  You know who he really is, right?  By that logic you are kind of insulting me by extension."

"Well pardon my little old peaches."

"Nah.  I'm thick-skinned."

"And I've got no skin to speak of so..."

I shook my head with a silly grin.

"It's been working out for a couple months between Frisk and I, though.  Nothing to do but stay the course.  Let  it happen organically.  Then...cross that bridge when we get to it."

"You're a good kid.  In both senses of the word."

"Yeah.  Never get enough goat jokes."

Silence. We couldn't think of anything to say.

"Sans.  It really is reassuring that you don't have any more axes to grind. I know...you of all people had every reason to.  I've...seen the other timelines in Volt's research.  I know the nightmares you've been through...and...I have no right to speak of them like I can understand."

"Heh.  You have a talent for selling yourself short.  Funny thing.  You ARE possibly the other person who can understand.  You lost a sibling, too."

I looked away for a moment...looked back and nodded.

"Were they technically lost or...just misplaced?"

"What do you think?"

"I think...for me, Chara would go on. This new...soul reaper form of hers is...almost like she never died but...there are quirks.  Their are differences.  There are...reasons she can't stay in our world any more than any other but the Soul Society.  It's her penance.  It's...how she's paying her debt for her role in the grand scheme of things."

"And I used to say kids like that should be burning in Hell.  Well...joke's on me."

"Water under the bridge, Sans. Though if I know you, she's still on some kind of probation."

"A loose probation.  But, if I ever see that Real Knife of hers out again..."

"Yeah.  Rest assured, she won't wield it at any of us.  It's only meant for hunting Hollows, now."

"Hollows, kid?"

"Corrupted souls with giant hole straight through their chest.  They have an insatiable hunger for the souls of the departed that haven't turned. Their belief is that it can fill the emptiness in that gap and they can be whole again."

"Sounds like nightmare fuel."

"It is.  I've seen one for myself.  They're not to be trifled with."

I looked around the room, spying the decorative sombrero Sans acquired from his experience with Dia de los Muertos; the Hispanic holiday I had integrated into Halloween when I imported the traditions to Undertale.

"Eager to change the subject, kiddo?"

"Kind of.  I was just thinking if I ever needed a Mariachi Band, you and your brother could be the perfect Day of the Dead musicians."

"Now that strikes a pleasant chord."

"The kind of thing to make a...note of?"

"Heh heh heh...!"

I got Sans to laugh. Actually laugh. It's a good day.

So after a long session of us having some deep guy talk...

I checked up on Papyrus and...

"That was fast." My eyes widened as he was putting the final brush stroke on a fully assembled model kit of Skull Warthog. Quite the reploid/maverick I'd come up with a design for.

"Nyeheheheh!  My collectable skeleton army grows all the more great! As great as me!"

I let him have that one. He's good for some self-adulation for as awesome as he was.

"Nice, Paps."

So after a long day with my favorite skeletons...

"Well. Until we meet again. Thanks for having me over!"

"Always a pleasure, Prince."

"Yeah.  You're always welcome here.  No need to be baaaaaaa-shful."

"Saaaaaaaans..." Pappy scolded.

A joke about a goat's bleat? Yeah. Let's go with that. Let's go there.

I smirked then bid one last goodbye before heading off.

You know...time with Sans most certainly did leave me...chilled to the bone. In a good way. The way that means to just relax, mind you.

Yeah, I probably ruined the joke. Oh well. There will be others.

No bones about it.

Sub-Entry 169:  "You Are Still Filled With...De-Temmie-nation"
I can't believe it's been so long that I haven't checked in on the Temmies recently. After re-integrating into the surface world and finding their niche in Newest Home, it was only a matter of time before we saw a new Temmie Village rise up in a low-key section of town.

To be honest...how does one even describe a relationship with the Temmies? What were they to us? Who were they to us?

I was really refraining from considering them like pets. No, that was too undignified. They may talk in a cutesy way and have both dog and cat-like tendencies. But...in the end, they were people like us. Just...with...stretchier limb and a strong fascination with money and hording. To a fault. So much of a fault that one tended to be in conflict with the other. Do they get more "muns" or did they have to have that one object they begged you to sell them?

Let's start from the beginning, because I'm certainly explaining things out of order.

So.

The Temmies?

Well, as I write this on my NXS in tablet form, I passed by an oriental restaurant, on the way to Temmie Village 2, called "Chang's"

Hmm...why did the name "Chang" feel like it somehow went with "Temmie"? Is this another meta reference snuck into our now-nonfunctional game?

I feel...it could be a clue to our real maker. The person who created the original of our Undertale copies. Other than getting passing clues like Mettaton thinking that he probably has a "sexy name"...I felt myself in the same boat as Bob the Guardian from the Supercomputer, who made his living in Mainframe...and...for some reason had a voice that reminded me of voice actor, Ian James Corlett. Something very "Goku" or "Cheetor" about it...

Ahem. Getting off topic again. How'd I go from the Temmies to a reference to Beast Wars and Dragon Ball Z after a brief stop in ReBoot? Triple reference? Not a personal best but far from a personal worst at name-dropping these things by pure reflex.

Back on topic. I had passed by Chang's Chinese Restaurant and turned the corner down the path to where Temmie Village had tucked itself away in the seemingly least noticeable part of town. And yet...it did tend to go noticed by some.

"Hmm."

I of course had plenty of "muns" and lots of knickknacks if I stopped inside the Temmie Shop.

"hoi!"

"hoi!"

"hoi!"

"I'm Bob."

Some things never change. Maybe with the Temmies...they shouldn't.

"Tem is prouder parent!"

Okay. Now the number of soft-boiled eggs had doubled. Still not sure how that mechanic worked. Is this how Temmie's reproduce or...did they perpetually have one of the most cliche school activities wired into them; that is...caring for a raw egg for a week in one of those classes...what was it again? I forgot.

I could only respond with two thumbs up and a smile.

The old mural of a Tem riding a dragon had found a new place on the brick wall of the building.

"They just keep going.  Like a power plant on four legs; that can stand upright when it wants to.  Kind of like a teddy-bear....or...teddy cat...teddy dog...huh.

How DO you go about describing a single Temmie?

Well...they were small, yes. They were white-furred. They had attributes of both cat and dog; even having two sets of ears; cat ears on top, floppy ears on the side. And the black, human-like hair.

Their eyes were...beady but cute. And as far as I could tell, they were always weren't a pull-over sweater. Like a for-pets sweater.

Volt had said that trying to neurolize one only got him a ampule cylinder filled with...swirling rainbow confetti. Temmie flakes?

I really hoped Temmie flakes were some kind of breakfast cereal in equivalency. Should they turn out to be something else, like dandruff or the like...I'd have a reason to go running for the hills or at least contact poison control.

Hahahah. My humor's a little dark today. But yeah. It's best not to think deep into something so trivial.

"Hungry, fellas?" I asked casually as I dug out the sugar-free cookies I'd baked. "There ya go."

Really, Temmies gladly ate up sweets. A mistake I’d made before in the early weeks of adjusting to Newest Town. I found out the hard way what happens when Temmies get high on sugar.

"Live and learn." I muttered, thinking about it.

Oh! I'd also forgotten, at least one of them had gone off to cool leg....er...I mean college. I was glad to have an er...intellectual among the masses. Though...really, did they use it for anything else besides making the Temmie Armor?

Ahem.

Temmies are the most adorable of puppy-cats. They often didn't play by the laws of physics' rules. They often made up their own in smaller ways. But still ways that made you double-take.

While a far cry from being the most normal of monsters...they were also not the strangest. They ranked up there...but I'm sure I could find a sub-species that topped them.

Though...I often wonder how a Temmie's body can slide out of frame while leaving their faces hovering in place...

Yeah, reading it out loud doesn't make it make any more sense than it does saying it out loud.

You had to see it to believe it.

"You know...I really have to bring Frisk around some day."

Though...I have to wonder if Temmies were still allergic to humans? I know at least one can break out in "hoivs".

At least they're not allergic to me. Which is good because sometimes I had to give in to the urge to pet them.

"Yayayayaya!"

"Awawawawa!"

This could get addicting in its own right.

I sighed, quite content.

I know there isn't much to report on here. But...sometimes you just don’t' have much to work with for a journal entry. Maybe that's a good thing. Some of these entries could get a bit long-winded.

I am pretty harsh on myself in those lines. But...make that's a trait of artists and dreamers. To be critical of their own work, whether or not they expect anyone to see/read/experience it. And really...I had no idea who'd ever read these entries. I had no idea if anyone would even care. But...they were mine to make and right now I was talking about the Temmies.

No shame in that.

Well...after a day or at least half of one, it was time to move on and bid the Temmies goodbye.

I'd come back another day.

I guess you could say I'm filled...with De-Temmie-nation, after all!

In the words of a certain YouTuber.....I'll get my coat...

Sub-Entry 170:  "Looking Toward the Times That Lie Ahead":
It was a quiet night. Frisk had come over to do some star-gazing with me. And she brought a telescope from the university; which she was still attending in order to get her next degree.

I wished that our academia would coincide so we could take classes together.

But...I guess it really wasn't written in the...stars.

Okay, I'll stop before I get myself into a perpetual loop.

That said...

"Is it really okay for you to take such expensive equipment off campus?"

"I did have to sign a waiver and other paperwork ensuring that any damages or loss will come directly out of my pocket. But...I think they trust me enough with it."

"It's really something, you know. I don't recognize a single star in our own sky."

"Does it...bother you?"

"No.  It's just...when you grew up under the stars of a different galaxy...when you memorize constellations that don't exist around our world...you realize you have to memorize new ones.

In time...they'll feel right and..." I paused for a moment.

"And...you feel like the memories of the old starry sky with fade since you can't look at them anymore?"

"You...really do get me, Frisk."

It was becoming less and less surprising how she could almost read my mind. Granted, she wasn't anymore psychic than I was. But...it sure did remind me of someone who was. A couple of someone’s, really. But...

...only one of them raised me as her own.

"You know...you seemed reluctant to talk to me about...things you worry about..."

"Up until now.  Now that...I understand part of you thinks the same way. And...yeah...there is some worry."

I adjusted the telescope and swept its gaze across the sky, trying to make sense of the star patterns and the planets that were unique to our galaxy.

"Is...one of those worries...the new golden age we're entering?"

"Yeah.  Peaceful times are good...but they come with the side-effect of complacency over time.  It was a lesson that the Mirandians, especially Ultra Crew Institute had pre-emptively learned before it became a problem."

"You mean with "Evil Chara", right?"

"Yeah.  This world's Chara.  The others knew he'd be coming for us after he escaped Undertale.  After Adonis pulled him into the Chaos Realm following Sans darn near beating the crud out of him.  At the time...I just thought he was some poor shmuck Adonis yanked out from under a rock and brainwashed.  I thought his claims of being the Demon that comes when you call his name was just disrespecting my sister's memory because...psychological warfare, I guess."

My gaze fell.

"I didn't know the truth about him until...until Adonis revealed it before...."

I squeezed my eyes shut with a painful grimace.

"Oh, Azzy..."

I shook me head, having gotten misty-eyed. "You never get over seeing a human head being crushed within someone's bare hand.  It was so...gruesome.  It was meant to make a statement of how far he'd go. Even...ending his own apprentice."

"And things like that are still in the corners of the dark recesses of your mind?"

I nodded.

"It actually makes me realized something I hadn't understood before.  Back when...Chara-Wraith had been defeated and...Volt and sensei separated them.  It was the first time I used my HUD in the same manner you did."

"...the way I did...?"

"I'm talking about the [SAVE]. You'd always known it to mean "save" as in save your game but...in that moment when you were against Hyperdeath...it took on a second meaning.  You gained the ability to "SAVE" your friends.  Save their souls.  And...you saved his soul, too."

"A lot of good it did...he ended up losing it again.  Without everyone else's soul combined to form that angel soul...that soul ceased to exist and.....he ended up becoming Flowey again."

"Remember what he said, Frisk. Remember him...as someone who got to be your friend, even for a short while."

Frisk sniffled at that.

"It's never going to feel right even though he is right.  There isn't room for two Asriel's in this world.  And...being the only one, right now...weighs heavy on me."

Frisk patted my shoulder.

"But going back to that power we both had...I finally realized what using ACT option and the power to [SAVE] them really did.  It severed the strings that Madam Fate had on her.  It gave her back her destiny.  It took her off the chessboard the same way Volt managed to take me off the board."

Frisk smiled. She did most certainly get it.

"And yet...the goddesses weren't finished with me." I frowned. "They still found a way to have a tug of war over me...in an attempt to script my future...my destiny or fate."

"And...that's why you’re worried about?"

"Frisk.  Our world is unplugged from the Goddess' game of fate.  We crashed its code irreparably and set us free.  We severed its strings from the Goddess. It's no longer another copy of this game played by unseen entities like the sisters.  Countless "players" across the cosmos. It's like how Neo unlocked peoples minds...set them free in the Matrix.  Not just the "kid" but also like Agent Smith; though inadvertently."

By now she was a little more up to speed on some of the movies I'd described from my time off world.

"And yet..."

"You don't think they're finished with us?"

"Volt spent immeasurable numbers of lifetimes crisscrossing worlds and undoing their tethers to the Goddesses, in the hopes of giving them their paths in life back.  So they wouldn't be dancing to Destiny and Fate's back-and-forth scripts."

"And yet those worlds still managed to find trouble.  Trouble in the form of being and situations that would have never juxtaposed under normal circumstances.  Right?"

"Yes.  Transformers in New York.  Pirates of Dark Water in Agrabah.  Turbo Teen in the world of Knight Rider.  Some might say this happens because Volt attracts trouble of world while others would say he brings worlds together."

"King of Crossovers does sound like a neat title, Azzy."

I smiled then turned serious again.

"My point is...if the goddesses keep putting those worlds on the shelf, only to dust them off every so often to cause more trouble...to pit chaos and order against each other...then why should our world be any exception?"

Frisk sighed.

"So...it's only a matter of time before Fate gets new ideas for ways to mess with us."

"Right.  And to those ends, we...really should be prepared."

I looked at my hand for a moment.

"In retrospect...maybe getting rid of our greatest power may have set us up to be more vulnerable in time."

"...yeah.  But you know we can't rely on save/load and reset as a crutch. Not anymore.  I went through many timelines to learn such a harsh lesson. Sans was...a pretty effective teacher."

In that moment, I could almost hear "Megalovania" in the back of my mind, even though I had never once crossed Sans to the point of incurring his wrath...his REAL wrath. But...seeing it first hand in Volt's archival footage made me truly understand how dangerous he was when he didn't hold back.

"So...besides bridging the path between worlds.  You...think we should all prepare for the next unexpected threat.  If there is one any time soon?"

"Yeah.  It may not even happen in our lifetimes but...eventually, everyone and everything becomes a target for Fate's amusement .  Even...VGM-098 was in that position.  A position that almost ended with its death and the death of its entire population."

Frisk bit her lip for a moment.

"And that's the rub.  We don't know how to do it without our greatest power."

"I don't even have my virtue powers. At least not in any awakened form. It's hard to say whether they are just dormant or...permanently gone."

I did want to add that it felt like Frisk had helped me...awaken something. Maybe it was my powers? Maybe something else?

"We'll just have to research everything.  Dig up every book in the library."

"Well, I guess this is us forming a pact.  While we will give strong consideration to ideas on how we can at least not be caught completely off guard..."

"We're not going to let this interfere in our own lives.  Every day we live it to the fullest is another adlibbed page in the script to frustrate Fate with.  Something that makes her realize her disarray is slipping through her fingers and sister dearest is winning."

Frisk nodded.

"Well.  I think for now...let's just focus on some stargazing." Frisk checked through the telescope...hesitating for only a moment.

"Frisk?"

"Sorry...just an old memory of one of Sans' pranks."

How did I miss that one? The gag telescope with the "black eye" trick.

"Heh."

I was hoping that Frisk an I were just paranoid. But as time went on, it seemed more and more like the good times were going to last. Had we really frustrated Fate that much into a rage-quit?

Frisk, now sure she wasn't going to get pranked, looked through the scope, adjusted the focus and the magnification.

"Oh wow...that's so pretty."

The little kid in me was eager to say "Let me see!"

But if I could see myself in the mirror, I'm sure my eyes had turned cyan. Let your steady girlfriend gaze as much as she wants and sooner or later, she'll pass the scope on to you, Azzy.

All things come to he or she who waits. And Frisk did not disappoint.

"Anything interesting?"

"Look and see, Azzy."

She stepped aside and let me have a turn.

"Golly....!" I said in my most Gadget-esque moment of wonder. "So many nebulae.   I'm pretty sure I can see a planet or two."

I'd learned how to tell the difference between a star and a planet thanks to Vlad Stoker's many science lessons.

"Monsters spent so many generations, watching and wondering about the stars.  They seem closer than ever now.  And that's coming for someone who's been on a space station...actually done space walks.  Rode in shuttles and other space-travel craft.  Even traveled through hyperspace aboard a starship."

I turned to Frisk and looked her in the eyes.

"I want to take you there some day. Somehow, someway."

"Oh, Azzy..."

"What other boyfriend can promise you the actual stars?"

Maybe I was being presumptuous that I actually could get us to space but...at this point in my life it no longer felt impossible. It felt...like it was something I could actual do. Like if I put forth enough time, effort, money, and asked for enough help from my contacts... ...we would get to space. In a shuttle or a rocket or a...something.

All night we looked at the stars. As we did, I mapped out what I saw on paper; I planned to use the sketch to make a digital star chart. Maybe turn it into a poster or something...maybe a holo-projection. Maybe even fill my room with it from a modified planetarium sphere for those nights I could use help drifting off the sleep.

Maybe it was my imagination but I could swear I saw Flowey extending himself from his pot to steal a quick peak into the room.

Maybe...part of the Asriel that he used to be longed for the stars, too?

Maybe.

He'd never admit it but...it was something to think about.

By the wee hours of the morning.

"Oh boy...we overdid it."

"It's okay, Azzy.  It's my day off today.  I can sleep it."

"Sans will approve of that."

Frisk chuckled. "He is my favorite lazybones dunkle."

"Tough act to follow.  We know Pappy's going to raise cane over it, y'know?"

"I'll smooth things over with him."

"You're a peach, Frisk."

"What about you?  You going to be okay?"

"Well...I'll be a little tired...but I’ll make up the time when I can...get a nap in there.  It wouldn't be the first all-nighter I've pulled.  And probably not the last."

"You take care, now. Okay?"

"Sure."

"Bye, Azzy." And she kissed me on the snoot. D'awwwwwwwwwww...

You know. I think, going into this year...things are going to be oookaaaaaaaaay.

Chapter 18

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