PLDN Chapter 26

"Chapter 26: Chaopolis Strikes First, Strikes Fast, and Strikes Hard."

Sub-Entry 251:  "The Second Half of Frisk's Vacation":
Contrary to belief, I did not forget about Frisk. She was the very key to my master plan succeeding. At least one of them, rather.

I took great pains taking her off the chess table so Lady Destiny and Madam Fate's game wouldn't exploit her nor would Adonis attempt to manipulate her again. No more resets. I was going to put my theory to the test and bring about a True Happy end without a save/load loop by hook or by crook.

I needed a gauge of how much progress Frisk made off world. By her own choice she started off her vacation in Stardew Valley--a world not actually under my research but under the research of a trusted collegue in S.T.C.--Dr. Persephone.

On her same advice I bookmarked another world I thought Frisk could prosper in and remember what made her...well...Frisk.

She needed to be on her A-game. She needed to embrace what she must've felt so many timelines ago.

It was impossible for her to have the same experience she had when she first came to the Underground...but not impossible for her to remember what it felt like when everything was new. When she naive. When she had the same spark Asriel had finding a fallen human. This Frisk had the best chance of finishing the game. We just needed a way to break the game afterward and end the cycle.

Granted, according to protocol I couldn't set foot onto a world under another STC agent's jurisdiction; even if they were a friend. And I'm sure the council wouldn't approve of me asking a favor from Dr. Persephone to retrieve "the package".

So the bottom line was...I had to trust Frisk to make it back to the portal on her own. And really...I was hoping she would trust me enough to believe I'd open it for her.

"Well in the words of George Michael...I gotta have faith." I said as I landed the Time Train and jumped down the mouth of Mount Ebott.

I needed to consider another thing...under no circumstances could a monster--especially Toriel--be witness to Frisk arriving back in the Underground only for a transit to another world.

I was especially adamant of keeping Flowey away from this as well. By now he had to know the Eighth Fallen human had arrived long ago and mysteriously disappeared without a trace. He knew what we had kept secret from everyone else.

But most of all...I didn't want him tempted by an opportunity that Chaopolis...namely Adonis...could present him with to really screw up my plans.

So with that...a Chronoton Detonator would ensure time was stopped in the first room; sealing it off from everyone temporarily. I even considered it might not even be possible for W.D. Gaster to enter.

Either way. Frisk and I could use the heart-to-heart before saying good-bye again.

"Come on, Frisk.  Don't let me down.  I swear the same courtessey in return."

Once the room was isolated from the rest of the Underground's space-time, I set up the gate. Then I waited.

I wanted to peer through and see the world she spent so much time away from her own Undertale. But that was my own temptation to resist. If it was in the stars, I'd likely end up reading about it in the S.T.C. library archives or from what A.E.O.N. would allow me access to.

A heavy sigh.

"I know you didn't chicken out on me.  Where's yoru determination when we need it?"

Admittedly, the thought crossed my mind that Frisk wasn't coming back for one of two reasons. 1) She couldn't face the Underground again; implying that Evil-Chara had done a number on her heart, soul, and mind...or 2) She didn't want to leave because she enjoyed it too much in Stardew Valley.

Honestly I didn't know anything about the place so I couldn't just dismiss it with the thought of "well, what's so great about it, anyway" anymore than I could say "maybe it's a better world than this one". I had run with this vacation for Frisk at Dr. Persephone's recommendation. I was out of my element. Plus, as I said, I wasn't authorized to check it out. My assignment was Undertale. Taking Frisk out of the game wasn't the first time I bent the rules over this. Asriel was the first. On top of that I allowed the Chara Wraith to sneak off world.

But then when it seemed I would stand here for eternity...I saw the sillhouette. The clothes were different but...that was Frisk, alright.

And slowly but surely she came though. Arms down in front of her, with hands overlapped in a mousey nervousness.

"..."

"Well that's a fine hello." I muttered.

She looked up at me.

"Come on.  You really going to greet me with the silent treatment?"

"I...had to be sure--"

"That I'm me and not...HIM." I crossed my arms with a scowl.

"...yeah.  You're Dr. Arcade." There's a brief smile.

"You've improved, Frisk.  How do you feel?"

"Better but..."

"Not up to finishing your game?"

Frisk had a seat.

"Yeah."

A moment of silence.

"Nice sun-bonnet, by the way."

Frisk took it off, blushing.

"What?  It was an honest compliment.  You don't have to be embarrassed.  I'd swear you were taking lessons from Tsunderplane."

That got a brief chuckle.

"Don't show the flower flip-flops to Violet." Honestly...I didn't expect Frisk to find something like that on that world. But darned if it wasn't fitting. They did appear to resemble Golden Flowers on the straps.

You know it was weird...I felt like I had an image of Frisk in flip-flops in my head which somehow involved stubbing their toe on a coffee table while in Sans' presence came to mind...strange. Wonder where that came from?

"Huh?"

"Sorry.  Inside joke.  You haven't met her yet.  Consider yourself blessed."

I shook my head.

"Well.  Feel like a heart-to-heart while we've got down time?  I'd like to get to know you better."

"Not sure what I can tell you, Doctor.  So many versions of me have come and gone it feels like my life isn't even real any more.  I know I'm an amalgamation created by Lady Destiny for this...AU that you call it.  But..."

"You think there has to be something real underneath it all.  Something that ties you back to a point of origin where you weren't just a photocopy of a photocopy."

"Doctor...can you...read minds?"

"No, that's another member of my team.  Just...context.  Just chalk it up to experience and being a good scientist.  Speaking of which..." I looked off to the side.

"Yeah...him." Frisk knew I was talking about Gaster.

We decided to drop the subject. Too much as well as not enough to say.

"I have...a lot of questions."

"I have a lot of answers.  Just not all of them."

"Toriel?"

"Alive.  Okay.  In a better place.  Still...a sad, silly old woman who cares too much.  I'm ont going to be able to convince her to forgive Asgore on my own.  You're the other part of the equation, you know."

"Is that all I am?  An equation?"

"Your defensive response is reassuring.  Shows you still have determination."

A hesitation.

"Papyrus?"

"Spaghetti, puzzles, and a lot of "nyeh-heh-heh-heh".  What more do you need to know?"

A longer-lasting smile.

"Undyne?"

"The Boulder-Suplexing machine.  Still doesn't know how much of a crush Alphys has on her...yet.  Alphys doesn't know how much of a crush she has on her...yet.  She's really banking on the total anime experience when she gets to the surface."

"Mettaton?"

"Larger than life.  The sexy rectangle isn't going to change any time soon."

"...Mr. Dad Guy?"

"Asgore's...doing better.  But still..."

"I'm going to have to face him."

"Yes."

"............Sans?"

I sighed and paced.

"Complicated.  I guess...we're allies now.  But...I think the alliance is still shaky."

"I'm...scared of being judged again.  He knows what I...we've done in the past."

"As you should be.  Sans doesn't forget...but maybe he can forgive."

"And Flowey?"

"Out there somewhere.  Probably watching us right now."

"Chara?  I mean...the first one."

"Dead.  A spirit.  I've sent her to an afterlife where she can have a second chance.  She's...going to be a grim reaper of sorts...it's not as morbid as it sounds.  If anything she's more like a glorified samurai protecting the departed souls from supernatural creatures that feed off of the souls of the departed called "Hollows"."

"Uh...that's...a bit much to take in...but I...think I get it?"

"She's in good hands.  Let's leave it at that."

"New Chara?"

I turned away. "Escaped off world.  He's in the employ of...HIM."

"Oh...then..."

"Yeah.  It's not good.  He went after us on my homeworld."

Frisk gasped.

"No.  There were no casualities.  Just his pride when he failed.  He'll have to "earn" another shot at us.  Who knows how long that could take.  My nemesis doesn't exactly have clear, well-defined goals.  He's not really teaching anything...just acting on whims and chasing after whatever will provide him the most amusement...whether it's just ironic or outright sick, twisted, and...well...I think I'm going to get off this subject."

"I see."

This led the longest of pauses.

"Well...I guess this leads to the elephant...or rather the goat in the room.  Aren't you going to ask?"

"You...kinda already asked for me."

I nodded.

"He's happy.  But he's not ready.  He's not his own man yet.  And...quite frankly no one on this world is ready to receive him, yet.  WHich is why you need to play the game one last time and make this world ready for him...for him to make his own choice........"

I couldn't bring myself to complete that thought. I don't know if Frisk picked up on what I was avoiding. But...I guess I gave a good enough answer.

"So.  Here we are." Frisk said as she took out something from her inventory. Her other clothes and her striped jumper. But, obviously she didn't change clothes with me present. She just...wanted to remember, I suppose. She placed them back in her inventory.

"It feels like I've been gone forever and...now that I'm back, I have to leave again."

"You'll return to Undertale when you're ready to play the game again.  Your vacation is only half over."

"I...understand."

"Frisk.  You're gonna do a great job."

"I've heard that before."

"But do you believe it?"

"..."

I nodded. "I thought so.  When you can answer that question with a definite yes, you'll be ready."

I reprogrammed the gateway and lit the torch.

"You called this place...Animal Crossing?"

"Yeah.  It came highly recommended by Dr. Archimedes.  He's a trusted friend and...kind of a fanboy in the agency.  He wouldn't steer me wrong."

I issued Frisk a change of clothes. "Get changed into this once you're there and you'll fit right in.  Archimedes also said to say hi to someone named...Isabelle.  A member of my team met her during the last Super Smash Bros. nexus tournament.  She works in the Mayor's Office.  You'll know her when you see her."

"Okay...anything else?"

"Be sure to get the best deals you can get from Tom Nook and family.  Oh...and try not to tick off Mr. Resetti--"

Frisk looked a little pale at the name.

"...yeah, don't think too much into the name.  Touchy subject, right?"

Frisk looked dismally at her H.U.D. after depositing the clothes into her storage system before closing it.

"Really, that's all I can tell you.  Archimedes only gave me the basics.  Just like Dr. Persephone, I'll pass along any additional info if you need it.  Don't worry your pretty little head.  My team and I will watch over the Underground while you're still away."

A sniffle...a sob...then a glomp of a bear hug. "Thank you."

"Hey.  He's already saved."

"But...what about...?"

Yeah...Flowey. The current timeline's Asriel...

"We'll do everything we can when we get to that bridge.  But...you have to be ready for the possibility he won't be able to be saved.  I...don't like it but...I have to accept it.  That's why I screwed up the last timeline."

"No.  We screwed up the last timeline, Doctor.  And we let everybody down."

We hugged again.

"We learned from our mistakes.  Let's not make the same ones.  Let's try not to make new ones."

"Good-bye, Dr. Arcade.  I...I already miss you...I already miss everyone."

"I know you do.  You're a good kid.  You're worth saving just as he is.  Just as the first Chara is.  And maybe...like the current Chara might be if I can get through to him."

It was official. I was still going to chase what seemed like a lost cause at this point. But this one...I could tell wasn't NEARLY as much of a sure thing as the last one. And she was a case of trusting my heart, my soul, and my gut. This one...would be a leap of faith even I wouldn't be surprised might bite me in the butt in the end.

I waved goodby as Frisk stepped through the new portal and disappeared. I closed the gate and packed it up.

"Good luck."

The Chronoton Detonator expired at that moment and I arc-ed my way up to the mouth of the mountain, passing through the barrier again. I landed at the Time Train at the moment Toriel entered the chamber to water the flowers and...check for any fallen humans.

"Another day goes by.  Another day...all alone.  Is it foolish...or just cruel to wish for another to fall down?"

Keeping them all stable would be another tricky gamble. The chessboard was set up with the Goddesses out of the room...metaphorically.

I just had to make sure no one tampered with it all the way through Frisk's last run of this. With multi-fold cross-rift war on the horizon and the challenges of keeping up at home...my order was taller than than an orbital space elevator.

No pressure. Right. None...at...all...

Oh boy.

Sub-Entry 252:  "Still Ever so Humble, There's No Place Like It...":
I wanted to stick around and pop in on Dr. Gaster...but I decided I'd have to make a return trip if I wanted to do that.

"That was a quick mission out.  Is everything okay?"

"Yeah.  I'm good, Azzy."

"Well...I guess there are such things as in-and-out jobs.  Glad you're back in one piece and in a good mood."

"So  What's been up while I'm away."

"Y'know.  Valentine's Day."

"Oh yeah!  Thanks for reminding me!"

Azzy accompanied me back to the shop where I raided my wall safe and my fridge for my gifts to Lisa. A heart-shaped box of chocolates, a teddy bear that got Nermal's approval, and of course, Asriel provided the bouquet of flowers. A little cliche and a little overdone...but sometimes tradition gets good results. This was when I embraced "if it's not broken, don't fix it".

"What about you, Azzy?"

"Aww, don't worry about me.  I'm not looking for love.  I'm just happy that I can spread it around to everyone I care about."

"You know Violet would find a way to make that sound dirty."

"Eheheh...yeah, she would.  We both need brain cleaner, now."

"Don't think too deep into it.  You'll burn your mind."

"Subject change?"

"Very yes.  So.  Beyond that, how's everyone else spending the holiday?"

"Well, it's not really a holiday for sensei so...she's meditating and spending her time with the rabite trio.  I guess that's celebrating love in a way."

I chuckled.

"Aunt Violet...yeah...let's not talk about that."

"Anything to not be reminded of the time she got drunk off of carrot schnapps and put the jukebox at the bar on an endless play of "Love Stinks" by J. Geils.  Good lords."

"She gets...moody when Usagi isn't around."

"Sally?"

"You need to ask?"

"Going into D.J. Aelita overtime sounds about right." It occurred to me that for the last couple of years I'd overlooked that she did so to avoid unwanted attention from a certain coyote. That would come back to bite me in the rump in the next log entry.

"Hey, if she can't feel good about being a bachelorette, she can at least make other couples feel great with her music, right?"

"Spot on." I fist-bumped the goat teen.

"Lupe...well, you know.  No one loves Mother Nature and her children more.  And that's embracing the holiday.  I guess."

"She loves all life with heart and soul.  I guess it's fitting one should be shaped liek the other, huh?"

I smiled briefly.

"Rotor's gone fishing with Skeeter.  Family love is heartwarming in its own unique way."

"True that." That reminds me. Pick something up for the kids.

All around town everyone was celebrating in their own ways be it love for family, friends, lover, or life partner.

To put it another way...everything was awesome.

"So.  How should we spend our part of the day, best friend?" I asked.

"Why make a plan, now?  Let's just roll with what comes our way."

"Yeah.  Sounds good."

We reached the fountain where Pit was already playing his golden lyre harp. Around this time, he got a lot of attention; being often mistaken for Cupid and all.

But I informed him that the bow and arrow stayed holstered, lest we have to answer to a lot of angry people who'd need medical attention.

"Glad to see you're feeling better, Pit."

"How are you, my loyal archer-scout?"

"My memories are still muddled from the Nexus Tournament...but I feel like I can talk about them in at least a little more detail."

"Do so on your own time and when you feel comfortable.  This is a happy holiday."

"Yes, Commander."

"I'm glad I came home during good times.  It just feels right."

"Be it ever so humble?"

"There's no place like it."

A pause.

"You know...Violet has a tribute to the Wiz--"

"Yeah, no.  Let's not open Pandora's Box." I brushed it aside.

"Sure.  So...how bout' Movie Night this week?"

"You remember the Christmas Light CG movie we saw?"

"Yeah, Volt?"

"It...has a sequel."

"Oh boy..." Asriel rolled his eyes. "Violet can find some stinkers to make fun of, can't she?"

"It's what she does." I shrugged.

We stopped and got some hot dogs. Thankfully Sally wasn't around to voice her displeasure at our lunch choice.

"You know it's more so to hide the fact that they remind her of--"

"Yeah...that guy.  We know his name.  Let's not rub salt in the wound, in case she's around and within listening distance."

"Good man, Azzy."

"So...Al Dente's in the dog house again."

"What did he do this time?"

"I can't say.  Not without washing my mouth out with soap."

"Drew often asks how Violet isn't in prison...how the heck is he not?  How the heck is he not on a watch list by an intelligence agency, for crying out loud?"

"Subject change.  Please.  I don't like speaking ill of people, but Mr. Dente is one person I'll make an exception for."

"Okay.  How's the car holding up?"

"Amazingly well.  Ed built a beast.  A beast that's built to last."

"Still needs regular--"

"Maintenance and emissions checks among other things.  A car wash and a coat of wax pluse an air freshener doesn't hurt, either.  I'm even making the insurance payments on my own now."

"You're amazing, Az.  Amazing."

"Well...above average." Goat son said with a blush.

"Modest, too.  I swear, you're practically Neo Arcadian.  Maybe not born or raised, but you could fool anyone back home."

"There times I even believe I've always come from here...and not......"

Uh-oh.

"Hey.  I know."

"Volt...I don't want to lose my past.  It's fading and I don't know how to hold onto it.  I mean...those who forget their past are doomed to repeat it, right?"

"Right."

"But those who can't let go of it, can never have a future, right?"

"Right."

"So..."

"Listen to you have worries, Goat Son.  ANd I thought there was a world of difference between us when it came to that.  You jumped out a Providence air ship without a second thought."

"That stuff's easy.  It's the complicated stuff that's...well......I'm still learning to accept this situation with my dead sister coming back to me in this...unusual set of circumstances.  I mean...I still don't quite get what a Soul Reaper even is."

"Yeah...it's complicated.  Bunnie and I still don't quite get it but here we both are...substitute Soul Reapers.  Some day we'll tell you the story once we can process all the details and explain it to you.  I don't think either of us would be able to as things are."

"I get it." Asriel shrugged.

A moment of silence.

"So...your new power?"

"I think I got a handle on it." Asriel's eyes lit up shiny green and the pizza cutter manefested.

"Still...a weird thing to be armed with." Asriel looked at the cutter blade. Flat enough to work as a shield. Sharp enough to work as a sword. Pretty sizable range."

"Did you know it can telescope to some degree?"

"Huh.  Adjustable range."

"It takes a lot of concentration to do so, but...yeah...that could be useful in case...well..."

"Let's ignore the elephant in the room for now."

"Well...in other news...what about this war that's coming?"

"Asriel...I hoped I'd be able to raise you in an environment that you'd never learn what war is...what it actually is.  War is gruesome.  War is scary.  War takes away friends, family, total strangers, even enemies.  There's no feeling good about war.  It's horrible.  They say it's for some noble cause; that it accomplishes a bigger picture.  I've rarely seen it come to pass.  There's a momentary peace...and then it just starts all over again."

"Wow...that's...really depressing.  But really...I know it's one of the truest things you've ever told me.  The dictionary definition, according to Mega Man X, is that it's a method of imposing one's will upon another.  I guess a better definition is a method of resorting to violent means when diplomacy fails."

"Right on all counts, Asriel.  This conversation sure got real pretty quick, didn't it?"

"So...how soon do you think it's going to come to us?"

"It may already be here.  We might not see it coming.  Who can say how it'll go down.  But...we will face it together, won't we?"

"Yeah.  We'll face the day together." A complicated handshake comeplete with a bro-fist sealed the deal.

"Heh...you've come so far, and you're only going to go farther."

"Careful building me up.  Pride comes before the fall.  The higher the pride, the greater the fall.  Let's be on our guard, too."

"Now you're talking like a Neo Arcadian, Asriel." I gave a thumbs-up.

"Conscience before convenience."

"Right on."

We both stood up and looked at the setting sun.

"Let's get to living that dream some more."

"Dream's are forever, Volt.  Dreams are forever."

Sub-Entry 253: "Forgetting Antoine's Birthday":
It's official. We suck.

It's not that we're intentionally cruel to Antoine. It's just that...to be honest he can be quite forgetable.

When he's not actually drawing attention to himself...he just doesn't really stick out any more.

I think part of the reason is that Asriel's been working with him to make him a little less...well...pathetic. And...succeeding to some level.

Without his epic fails and tendency to be whiney and needy...he's just not as recognizable. He doesn't stand out as much. And quite honestly...he's been leaving Sally alone.

While this is a good thing...I can't help but feel like Violet's saying to herself "What have we done...?".

Asriel looked on as his pet rabite, Spot woke up and hopped out of his miniature doghouse in back of Scott and Callie's place.

"I think we did a bad thing, Spot."

"Chuu?" Spot inquired, flitting an ear.

"We forgot Antoine's birthday...it was on Valentine's Day and none of us remembered.  Not even me."

"Chuu..." Spot's ears drooped.

"I know.  We're awful, aren't we?"

Chances are, Violet would be cruel enough to say she didn't forget. She actively ignored it...though whether she was kidding or serious...that could be a flip of the coin. She could be almost as horrid to Antoine as she could to Al Dente.

Like I said. Alfred Dente deserved it. Antoine didn't.

Asriel picked up Spot and placed him on top his his head, careful to avoid his small horns.

"Well.  Let's go for a ride, little guy."

So, he set out for UCIAT H.Q. By now he had his own full-fledge UCIAT I.D. and registration. He was as official as it got. He pretty much had an all access pass to the whole building. While he was only A-Class rank in S.T.C., he was my equal in Ultra Crew Institute, despite still being a high school senior......wow, had it been that long already? He was driving and about to apply to college. He was only fifteen when I restarted these logs from my temporary early retirement.

"Rumor is that Violet had him committed again.  And he was making so much progress, too.  I wonder what set him off?" Asriel muttered, with his hands in his jacket pocket.

"I'm sure use forgetting his birthday hasn't helped.  I'm so disappointed in myself...if I would have done this to Chara back in the day...?"

Asriel shook his head.

"I wonder what the others would be thinking if it occurs to them they forgot?  Volt wouldn't be very chipper.  Bunnie would probably ask Antoine's forgiven in the most formal of Jangese manners.  Violet...well...Aunt Vi probably wouldn't do anything.  Jon would probably be more concerned we didn't make him a cake.  Pit would be a bit broken up over it.  Lupe would be sad.  Rotor would be kicking himself...and Sally?  Well...Aunt Sally would be the hardest to read.  She obviously doesn't like the guy much but...she doesn't HATE him..."

"Chuuuuu..." Spot whimpered.

"I know.  I'm being hard on myself...on all of us.  It's just that...we should know better.   But we didn't.  Antoine's kind of a mess...some might say a hot mess...but he's our mess.  Our responsibility.  An Ecotorpian refugee deserves better, y'know?"

"Chaaaa!" Spot nuzzled as best he could from his vantage spot.

"Yeah, you get it.  Imagine that...a rabite understands more than anyone on the team."

Asriel, not wanted to waste gas and gas money when he didn't need to...and of course to do his part to cut down his carbon footprint, continued his walk to H.Q.

"I've explained to you why I feel for him.  I mean...I know what it's like to feel all alone.  Better than anyone, sometimes.  Even Aunt Vi.  I just...know he can do better.  He can be better.  He can be a better person if he only tried.  I mean...I hate to sound arrogant but...I hardly try at all at that sort of thing and everyone tells me I'm a great person."

Shades of Papyrus, man. Shades of Papyrus.

"So...I hope Aunt Vi's willing to okay visitation hours."

Asriel entered the foyer and went through the usual security checks and of course said hi to the receptionists.

By now everyone who he ran into around HQ knew his name and his reputation. He was on a first-name basis with nearly everyone in the security staff. He had earned that much trust among us. And we had proven ourselves to him several, several times over.

Even Spot was welcome by this point.

"It's like a second home around here...well...third home...heck, who's even counting anymore?" Asriel joked.

It was a joke but...honestly he shouldn't have to joke about his first home. It still bothered me. I wondered if he really wasn't bothered by it after all this time?

Asriel took the elevator down and made all the security checks to get into the main lab before seeking out Violet.

"Hey, Alf." He low-fived.

"If anyone asks, I claim the fifth amendment over the missing perishables."

"What missing perishables?" Asriel asked.

"Forget I said anything.  Good talk.  We'll do lunch.  You might have to chip it a bit...I'm thinking a percentage over 99.  I found out the painful truth that they don't accept Melmac currency."

"Imagine that..." Asriel said with a sweat drop. "So...Gizmo?"

"Gizmo!" The mogwai waddled out of the room, still wearing the headband and sunglasses.

Asriel knelt down and petted him. Spot even hopped off long enough to nuzzle a bit. Gizmo petted the rabite in return.

"I think there's a market in charging for mobile petting zoos." Alf pondered.

Asriel just chuckled. "Keep out of trouble, you two.  And don't forget the three rules or Violet will make a doily out of your hide, Alf."

"Call me crazy.  But I think it would be unwise to test her to see if that's an idle threat."

Asriel shrugged and went on his way after Spot hopped back onto his head.

Once in Vi's lab.

"I see you've already got Finn Balor's entrance music up, Vi."

"Volt wouldn't let me put up a theme that involves a guy doing his "favorite pose"."

"Since when is mooning a crowd a pose?" Asriel crossed his arms. "Okay, enough about the sweaty wrestlers."

"Well you didn't come to continue your curriculum or to enjoy a jam session.  And I'm pretty sure it's too early for another session in LYOKO."

"Actually...I'm here on Mr. Antoine's behalf."

"Huh?  What about our little croissant and the embodiment of Cervantes' works?"

"Oh, right.  The Don Coyote joke.  That never gets old."

"Classics are classics." Vi shrugged.

"Seriously, Aunt Vi...we...forgot his birthday."

"Oh, is that all?  I thought you were going to ask him the recipe for French Bread."

"Viiii...come on.  Easy on the stereotypes.  You rip on his nationality enough."

"Okay, okay.  No more not-quite-low blows."

"Well...is he able to have visitors?  I did pick up something for him...though it is a bit late for his birthday."

"Ah, what could it hurt.  I took him off the shock therapy so he should be good."

"...please tell me that was a joke."

Vi just grinned.

"You're terrible, you know that?" Asriel put his hands on his hips. Spot gave a disapproving look.

Violet chuckled and led Asriel to the medical wing and took him to the psychiatric ward. Antoine was actually the only patient there. For Violet, having a psychology degree was more of a fringe benefit than an actual job requirement.

After a walk down the hallway of padded rooms, Vi led Azzy to room number 13...huh.

"Arbitrary or an obvious jab at his bad luck?"

"Yes."

"You really need to stop answering with that on conditional questions." Azzy shook his head.

Violet opened the door and there was Antoine, in a straight jacket, barefoot and muttering in VGM-098's equivalent of French.

"Mr. Antoine?  Are you okay?"

Antoine looked up. "Oui...monsieur fils de chèvre?"

"Ugh..." Asriel rubbed his brow. "You know I don't speak your language.  But...I'll guess that it was something having to do with me being a goat hybrid so...listen...we all owe you an apology."

"...?"

"We forgot your birthday the other day and...well, I feel terrible about it."

"Excusez-moi?"

"Your birthday?  February 14th?  Valentine's Day?"

"He might still be a little lucid from the sedatives.  He's been having nightmares about Ecotropia.  And calling out Sally's name in the night.  It's gotten to a point I had to straight jacket him so he wouldn't be a danger to himself.  He really does have serious mental issues and the worst P.S.T.D. I've ever seen."

"Poor guy...he has it bad for her...even after all this time."

"Yeah, if we don't break him of this habit, Sally's going to take further legal action."

Asriel shook his head. "I know how super-annoying it is for her, but she could try to be a little more understanding."

"Yeah, but all Ecotropians went through the same if not worse Hell than Antoine.  Some were experimented on, you know.  Antoine was one of the few, like Rotor, who made it out without a scratch.  I can't just dole out preferential treatment.  There are Ecotropians back in Neo Arcadia's medical wing that are beyond worse than this."

"Physical scratches, yes.  But emotional and psychologic wounds run deeper.  You of all people should know that."

"Who's the one with the psychology degree, goat son?"

"I get it.  But can we not be so awful to him in the future?  He's still a living being with intelligence and feelings."

"I hear ya, Goat Son.  At least...some of that is true."

"Hey." Asriel wrinkled his nose. "Listen...I don't know what's appropriate and I really tried not to perpetuate any offensive stereotypes of your country of origin but...I got you some clothes in your size.  Jon helped." Asriel handed over the box.

"At the very least I hope you like the berrette cap.  The striped shirt was my idea...because...well...as a kid I wore them all the time so...it was precious to me so maybe you can apperciate it as well?"

Antoine looked up with those blue eyes.

"Hey.  It's going to be okay." Asriel knelt down and hugged him. "Everyone deserves a bit of happiness when they're in a bad place.  Just keep telling yourself...those horrible times are in the past.  They can't hurt you any more."

Antoine's face scrunched up...and then he started weeping and rested his head on Asriel's shoulder, letting him pat his back.

"I'm here for you, friend.  I'm here for you.  Again.  I'm sorry.  And...Happy Birthday."

So I guess Antoine's birthday wasn't...totally forgotten. At least one of us was willing to celebrate it.

We really do suck. But...maybe Asriel will teach us to suck less and be better people when it comes to those of us we could do a little better at treating a little better.

Sub-Entry 254:  "The Early OGPX Racers Get the Gold.  Or Rather the Crystal Trophy":
I really should have put this log entry before the last two...but, you know...things get in the way, sometimes.

Anyway...while I was transporting a much-less broken Frisk to the second half of her vacation, Bunnie was hosting the annual Setsubun celebration in Miranda.

This made it a total of 8 years of these that Asriel has been witness to. Eight...years.

How did it ever get to this point?

The usual program ran its course. Bunnie brought her Jangese alumni exchange students to town and played the role of Toshiotoko for Clan Rabbotou to make "Seasonal Division" official.

And of course Wrench, now accompanied by Asriel's new pet rabite, Spot, feasted upon roasted soybeans as he enjoyed every year. Another bountiful meal and another heaping helping of good luck for a new year.

But that wasn't the focus of this log entry. I just wanted to get that out of the way, because time never stops for anyone. Even time travellers who...well...actually stop time on another world in another timeline. Even yearly events like this that are so commonplace by this point...at least deserve a footnote before I move on. Setsubun still meant a lot to Bunnie; and by extention a lot to all of her students. Especially Asriel Tobias Dreemurr-Arcade.

That said...what was the focus, now...? Well...

"Isn't it a bit early for you to dig this contraption out?  I mean the OGPX season doesn't start until June, Sally.  Heck, there's still snow on the ground."

"No excuse for being lazy.  We prep early, we keep our skills in shape, we push ourselves to be even better than last season.  We keep up with the Joneses and we don't accept anything less than our best.  That's how you win." Sally fist-pumped.

"But, Sal...the giant orbital mini Saturn trainer?" I looked at the massive sphereroid with the combination matter-wave and compressed magnetism hybrid track in the huge open area cleared out in town.

"It puts on a show and generates hype for the coming season.  But more importantly...it gives the girls and me a challenge." Sally looked at the super-massive monstrosity. An artificial micro-planetoid that required so much of my electrogmagnetism to superconduct off the ground. While that part I kinda got...I still questioned why it needed to be revved up to the sounds of the Asteroid Coaster theme from Gravitron Park.

This was a rare moment for me to bond with Team Acorn after a long time. But little did I know it would lead to a conversation about something I'd put out of my mind--my previous assignment before the Undertale project, more than eight years ago. Even before I was moved to exploring the unstable timelines, I was researching the countless near-identical stable copies of our AU's timelines. Those ones which were almost perfect clones of Undertale Prime. It was those that I researched redundantly to even become familiar with the names, faces, events, and places of everything I knew about Undertale.

Ooops. I'm rambling again. My previous assignment before the Undertale world...ACM-001. That Mobius AU which so much of my crew was counterpart to. That which the Council hid from me until a clerical error on their part botched it up and I found out the truth for myself.

"It gets us super PUMPED!" Was Willie's answer. As a rock star, of course she needed loud music to get her hyped. This coming from the level-headed member of the group?

"It's flashy as heck and shows off our stylish......style."

Right. No way THAT was a redundant statement, Honey. For a quick-witted cat, she sure could say a-dork-able things that made my head hurt. Her sent of humor was something else.

"But most of all...it's FUN!" Sally assured me.

You know, I just now got it. They were like the Seville Brothers...only female. Sally the cocky one, Willie the smart one, and Honey the goofy but loveable one. Maybe that made them more like the Miller Sisters, Brittany, Jeannette, and Eleanor?

"Okay, okay.  You don't need to convince me anymore.  Besides, Arlene will approve of me getting exercise in any manner.  Even if that manner is exercising my electromagnetic powers.  You girls have NO idea how much of a strain this is on me to maintain your regimen for that many laps.

"Heh.  I guess that means we're welcome?"

"Did you just backwards thank me?" I shook my head. "You're letting Violet become a terrible influence."

Asriel and the others showed up to watch.

"Of course you know, after this we're spending it inside Rabbot Dojo's lodge area in front of the fire place."

"Sure.  As long as Vi doesn't scare us half to death with another story and tossing her alcoholic drink onto the fire, almost blowing the chimney apart."

Violet would tell her to let it go. Then torment us with that infamous song from Frozen before Bunnie whapped her.

"Take your marks, girls." I got situatated at the main energy conduits, as I hacked and cracked.

"Annnnnnd...contact!  Energizing!"

I gave it every volt I had. The electricity raced down the conduits of the launching framework, the chaser lights flickiering into existence in sequence until they reached the circular cradle where the planetoid was seated.

It gave me flashbacks to Little Planet back during my ACM-001 days. That was so old school, a certain pink hedgehog went by "Rosey the Rascal".

"And the undersized dwarf planet becomes the world's largest drone." I watched as the energy rapidly built and the crackling electromagnetism worked its magic. One by one loops of matter-wave constructs encircled, widening into a common planar mass...namely rings.

"You know I've always felt this weird connection to rings.  Can't explain it." Sally shrugged as she and her team primed their OGPX gear.

"I...might have theories."

"Do they relate to those AU counterparts of ours?  You know you haven't brought them up in ages.   Everything okay?"

I looked down at the ground.

"Commander?"

"I get it." Willie shrugged. "You can't go back there can you?"

I shook my head.

"You mean...their universe...?" Honey was starting to catch on.

"Why didn't you tell us?" Sally asked.

"I...just couldn't un-complicate things, in the end."

"Don't bother telling Bunnie.  I have feeling she's already figured it out." Sally crossed her arms.

I nodded.

"I hear another AU opened up recently.  But...I don't think any of you save for Miles and...your long-lost friend have counterparts.  It doesn't matter anyway...I wasn't assigned to it.  It's Dr. Escher's jurisdiction, now."

"Hey, boss man.  You know they're still with you...with us; in spirit and memory." Honey pounded her chest, over her heart a couple times. Sometimes she really did know what to say...though usually she tended to wisecrack.

"Knowing you, you left them in a good place with a good foundation for a future they can make on their own.  Now they don't have to worry about those time terrorists and corrupt council members, and anomalies that threatened to destroy the space-time continuum.  Even if they did cease to exist, they went out peacefully with a happy ending you no doubt helped make possible." Sally assured.

Eeesh. Which one of those anomalies? Worlds Unite was the one that most often came to mind and really...it was resolved by exploiting a time-loop. Sigma never saw it coming, the Zeti never made it off the Lost Hex, and well...a lot of cross-over ended up never happening. Plus it set in motion the events for Mr. X--the real one--to exploit Dr. Wily's genius. At least until Wily usurped him and sponsered the First Annual Robot FIghting Tournament...

"Hey.  Let's get back on topic.  Training waits for no one."

"Right." I refocused my energies and kept building the charge until the micro-planet...orb lifted off the cradle and into the air, with the rings that had formed a circular track around it. Sally and the others took their marks at the starting point.

"Same difficulty level as last time?"

"Hope you juiced the A.I. of those Motobugs.  I had a harder time body-checking in a mosh pit.  We need real obstacles on the track if we're going to adapt." Willie mused.

"You may be sorry you said that." I grinned. By now my fur was standing completely up and I was really outputting the gigawatts keeping the planet airborne, spinning, and maintaining the lights, display, and that rockin' soundtrack.

"Take your marks, girls.  And make it real flashy.  We got an extra big crowd to watch this time!"

Asriel waved a Team Acorn Penant as Pit just waved and cheered.

It was a short log entry. But what more did I need to say?

Team Acorn's got this.

Sub-Entry 255:  "A Beat-Up Bird Cage, a Flush Toilet victory, and Chalk..."
Darkness. There was something echoing around me that was fading out. It was impossible to make out.

I struggled to force my way out of the darkness.

Eventually something gave away and I smacked into something...familiar.

"Huh...what's this?"

Cloth. Fabric. Something hanging up. A closet.

Oh boy...not something to share with Violet. I'm sure she'd torment me with a joke about Tom Cruise.

"Just...no...no, Vi."

I definitely located the door and was about to open it when I heard someone stirring.

I quickly hit the SPECTRE function and dropped out of space and time. Smart move.

I decided intstead to look through the key hole. It was dark but...I could make out two beds. One empty. And one with an occupant, completely covered up.

I could see two nightstands, each with its own lamp. The one closest to the closet had a clock radio and a calendar standing up...I think. But the bed had been made and clearly hadn't been slept in for some time. In fact I was certain the closer part of the room hadn't been slept in in some time.

Attempting to see more of the room, I tried to learn more about the surroundings. My night vision adjusted eventually.

A computer desk with a desktop computer and a cup full of pencils and pens.

Both beds had a set of shelves above the headboard. The closer set had plenty of trophies stacked on them as well as a framed award of some kind. There were glow-in-the-dark stickers in the shape of stars and a crescent moon around it.

There was a framed picture on the wall......of a golden flower that seemed overly famliar. But there was no face on it. No sign it was...animated. Yet it still reminded me of--

Get a hold of yourself, Volt.

The center of the wall between the beds had a window with curtains closed.

The other side of the room had its own set of shelves, as I said. But these were completely empty. In fact...despite the fact I could tell this side of the room was still being used...much of it actually looked...duller and more faded.

I could just see around the first bed and caught sight of the large mat or rug in the center of the shag carpet...

"A Delta Rune?" I muttered to myself. With the SPECTRE function I didn't need to worry about being discovered. Heck. I could just drift through the door and get a closer look.

That was when someone entered the room from the doorway.

"Kris!"

I almost gasped. I recognized that voice.

"Toriel?"

I peered through the keyhole. That was Toriel Dreemurr alright. But those were not her ceremonial robes. They looked...similiar. But they looked more like something I'd expect a school teacher to wear.

Still barefoot as a jaybird. I could easily make out her bifocal spectacles.

"Kris, if you do not wake up, we will be late for school!"

Kris?

I thought about that for a moment. It sounded similar to Frisk...in fact, ALMOST an anagram. But...something didn't feel like Frisk...in fact I wasn't getting a familar vibe from them at all. It almost seemed like...someone else was inhabiting them.

How could I tell this without laying eyes on them?

Toriel drew open the curtains and let the morning sunlight in. I winced as my night vision was assaulted by the change in brightness. Even through the keyhole.

A chill went down my spine.

"I will wait outside for you, alright?"

And Tori left the room.

"Hmm..." I pondered this. Was I back in the Underground? I don't remember leaving for--

The covers pulled back and the person in question climbed out...fully clothed.

My eyes widened as I almost gasped. "Ch...Chara?"

The yellow and green striped jumper. The brown pants. The hair that covered the eyes. They were clearly knocking on teen years.

He...she...they got up and explored the room...like it was the first time they'd been here? I'd question that later...this was a prime opportunity to gather intel. I drifted through the door--

They suddenly looked in my direction!

Oh crap. Were they as extra-perceptive as Frisk? Could I be seen? Could--

They looked in the other direction. Then went back to their business, first exploring the night stand on the unoccupied part of the room. The drawer was mostly empty...except for a school cross country shirt with a tear in it.

Their own night stand? Just a clothes drawer.

But then they happened upon something that unnaturally drew my interest. A red wagon...with a rusty birdcage in it. Looks like it's seen quite a few crashes.

How strange...there wasn't actually a bird inside it. It was empty. So...why keep it around?

A look under the bed and they discovered a number of music CD's...really?......music CD's of various genres; classical, jazz, and...religious ska? Also there was a game console underneath with one normal control and one knock-off one.

The computer desk had many boxes underneath filled with old books.

I noted it was a beautiful day outside. The sun was shining. The birds were singing. The flowers were...oh gods. Stop, Volt. Just stop.

Kris looked around a bit then left the room. I followed, keeping my distance and sticking close to the ceiling.

Outside in the hallway...

They stopped to look at the bookshelf. The titles rang a famliar bell. Tales of Snails - A Story Book. Snails Do Not Have Tails - A Scientific Refutation. Can Snails Help Your Garden? Not Really. And a signed copy of The History of Humans and Monstered...by Gerson Boom?

"Huh.  So the Major was right.  That really IS his last name."

As they went through the hall...

A cactus? Not much to say about it. The drawer in the table held faded crayons with no label

"What?  No green?" I frowned. Yeah, green was still my favorite color. Well, next to gold and silver.

The mirror? It's only you. At least that's what I figured they were thinking.

The last door in the hallway was locked.

I followed Kris downstairs once they were satisfied.

It was weird how the sepia tones of the place felt creepy...but somehow I felt simultaneously at home. I mean...it was Tori's place, right?

Downstairs, instead of heading to the kitchen, Kris headed straight for the bathroom.

Ooookay...I could call it scientific curiosity and all in the name of the job...but there was no sugar-coating it if I followed them into the bathroom. This was a little over the line.

"KOMMAND would tell me it would only be creepy if I followed them and didn't feel BAD about it.  Then...we'd have to have a long discussion."

Don't make it awkard. You can't let the kid out of your sight. What if they were like Evil-Chara or Chara-Wraith? I didn't want them finding something they could use as a weapon and suddenly go on an unexplained genocide run.

"Here goes..." I phased through and watched them explore the sink's cupboard. There was a can of Ice-E's Cool Boys Body Spray. "Spray for the Boys," inside. Flaming Hot Pizza Flavor...........wait, WHAT?

It seemed to be almost entirely full.

"Umm...it's a toilet." I shrugged as they stared at it. Without warning Kris flushed it...and for some reason I could swear I heard the victory noise from Ball Game sound out.

In the shower there was a small container of apple-scented shampoo...and a gallon-sized container of pet shampoo. Well...that made sense when you consider a six foot goat monster lived in the house.

Why did I get the feeling that Toriel had scolded Kris over flushing bath bombs down the toilet...and what even made me think of something like that? I had the weirdest inkling that if Kris made a habit of flushing it repeatedly, they'd be paying the plumbing bill...

Back to the kitchen. The fridge had a photo of it it. A family picture of Kris, her mother and brother. Yup. That was  Kris, Toriel, and--"

My eyes widened. "Asriel?"

At first I was stunned...then scared. Did he...suffer the same fate on this...wonky timeline, too?

Some white fur was stuck in the drain of the sink. Cinnamony batter caked on the stovetop. Cookie cutters for gingerbread humans and gingerbread monsters. And a trashcan...that...despite being intangible, I could swear I could smell a pleasant floral scent. I thought crossed my mind.

"Asgore?"

I'd think about it later.

"Landline phone?  Who uses those anymore?" I wrinkled my nose.

I noted "Chairiel, the beloved living room chair.  An oooold school TV.  It wasn't even plugged in anymore.  And lastly a book of hyms.  Huh...I'd never known Undertale worlds to have religious elements in them before.  This was new.

I followed Kris outside where Toriel was waiting by a red family van.

"Kris!  There you are!  We might still be able to make it!" They got in and the car started and rolled off. The last thing I heard Toriel say was "Kris... It is a beautiful day today, is it not?  I hope it stays this way when ASRIEL visits next week.  But I wonder...after the excitement of the University...  Will he still enjoy coming home to this little town?"

I felt myself getting misty-eyed...and for only one reason.

"He's alive..."

Finally...an AU where he was alive. Monsters were living on the surface with humans. Was this...the future? No...it couldn't be. Too many things conflicted. Something just wasn't right about all this...but so much felt so right about it.

I followed the car by skating the powerlines. As I did I was treated to a plethura of familar sights and people. THat was...Catty...and a husband? Was that...Bratty in the next house over...in flip-flops? Was that a Froggit?

Wait...that bear...I'd seen him before in Snowdin. And the Rabbit...the shopkeep?

I wasn't prepared to see Undyne...in police officer blues...and with BOTH EYES INTACT?!

Oh. The Librarby. Some things never change.

And there was the school. Even the doors had the Delta Rune on it. Toriel took Kris by the hand and went in. I followed.

I wasn't really sure this was an AU by this point...it almost felt like its own self-contained world. It just...didn't feel like Undertale...and yet it did. What was this?

"Oh...!" I gasped as I watched Toriel hug her daughter...son........child and head off to her own classroom while Kris headed toward homeroom.

"Well.  I wonder what other familiar surprises I'm in..."

I drifted through the door. "...for?"

"So, does everyone have a..."

"Alphys." I just stood there and blinked. "Alphys is a professor here?  Definitely a change from Royal Scientist."

"Oh...K-Kris...!  We thought you weren't coming today!  We're doing group projects this month!  Uhhhhh...so walk around, and find a partner, okay?"

Same old weeb lizard. It was hard to get used to seeing her in a pea green shirt and red tie, and tan skirt, with a dark turquoise jacket instead of that 1800's era lab coat.

Kris headed toward the lone empty seat as he/she passed by...

Wait...I recognize those frills.

"Yo, Kris!  Show up earlier next time!  I ended up having to partner up with Snowy, haha...  Now he keeps turning to me and saying 'Howdy, Partner!' like a cowboy...

The orange shirt was new...as was the holy cross chain around his neck. Huh...the religious symbols were new...but not unnerving.

A chat with Snowy... "Partn'er?  I hardly know'er!  Ha ha ha!!  What do you think of that one!?  Funny, right???  ...no?  Well I got NEWS for you, PAL!  I already GOT a partner!!  SCRAM!!"

Some things never change...but even I admit...some things...should. Oi. I don't think Azzy would even laugh at that joke.

A Temmie in class? Sure, why not?

"KRISP!  awa..  ver sorz... tem already have partner..."

WIth a stretch limb it placed a black-and-white hardboiled egg on the desk.

I rolled my eyes.

A chat with Berdly went about as well as the others.

"Ah, Kris.  Late again, I see."

My assessment of Kris was slowly beginning to point to...outcast. It was too easy to say...well, clearly they're the only human in the class. But that's what leads to racial stereotypes. Maybe there was another--

"Hmm?  You need a partner?   Sorry, I'm already partners with the second smartest student.  Though...  wait!  Kris, now that I think about it...  Your unique skillset might help a LOT on this assignment..."

Hmm?

"Pffft, NOT!  I actually want to get an "A"!"

Harsh. You know what? Hold that thought...I may actually come back to it when I no longer feel like slugging that creep in the beak.

That left the reindeer and who I thought might be Catty's offspring as well as the snake in the shades and backwards ball cap.

"Hey, Kris!  What's up?  Didja lose your pencil again?  Here, you want the candy cane one or the one with the lights on it?"

Okay. True friend, possibly. I'd watch Noelle closely in the future...wait a minute. Was her name a Christmas pun?

"Huh?  You want to be partners?  Umm... sorry... Berdly already asked me...  But I could ask Ms. Alphys if we could make it a group of 3!  I'll ask if you're sure!"

Go for it, Kris.

"Yeah... I'm sure there's someone else you could ask..."

Aww. Where's that determination, Kris?

The cat proved antisocial, nose stuck in the smart phone textining. A single reply of "Taken." Was all they said.

And of course the snake...

"Kris, you KNOW Jockington and Catti are ALWAYS partners!  We're the ultimate academic duo, Ever since our first gym class!  It was hula hoop day and theyran out of hula hoops, for us...  She used me instead!  That's our origin story!"

I noticed Alphys watching anime on her cell phone. Heh.

So engage operation ask Alphys for permission...which didn't quite work out. I think the problem started when--

* SLAM*  The classroom door opened and the class went silent.

"Hi... Suzie..." Alphys squeaked.

Purple-skinned crocodile creature in torn jeans, white shirt and leather jacket with long as heck hair.

"...am I late?" The tone was calm...but surly. The kind of surly that made you swallow hard and pray that wouldn't come after you.

"Ohh, n-no!  You're fine!"

Excuse me? She was VERY late.

"W-we were just uh... Ch-choosing partners for the next group project, and... Umm, Suzie, you're with Kris."

"......great."

I think I felt the gravity in the room increase...figuratively, but it felt like literally.

"N-now that everyone's here, I'll write the assignment."

Oh brother...

Alphys looked around the blackboard a bit.

"...  Uh...H-has anyone seen the chalk...?  This is the third time it's gone missing and...  Y-you all know I can't start class without some!  H-How about this?  If nobody speaks up... E-everyone gets in trouble!  A...anyone...?  P...please?"

"Hey, there might be some in the supply closet...  Miss Alphys, why don't Suzie and I--"

"G-Good idea, Noelle.  Suzie, since you came in last...  Why don't you get it for me...?"

".......whatever." She turned and slammed the door shut.

"And K...Kris... Can you go with her and make sure she...  Um, actually gets it?  And um, stays out of trouble...?"

Seriously, Alphys? Are you a teacher or a coward......forget I asked that.

"Thanks, Kris!  See you later!"

Kris left the room. I followed, feeling like I was about to regret it...and oh boy. I regretted it.

The moment we stepped out into the hallway I couldn't quite see it...but I heard it. A snap-crunch of something being bitten down on.

Something...white in Suzie's hand.

Oh come on...really...she's EATING the chalk? I think I might retch.

"Kris...didn't see you there." She suddenly turned around. "You didn't see anything just now, did you?"

Silence.

"Hmm...you can't even say..."

Suzie approached...and Kris backed away until they were up against the locker. Oh boy. I knew what this was.

"Glad Azzy isn't here to see a bully in action..." I hovered up with superconduction, still outside of time and space.

"Hey.  Let me tell you  a secret." Suzie put her hand on Kris' shoulder...and squeezed a little...before SLAMMING them into the locker, rag-dolling them.

"Quiet people piss me off.  You think just 'cause you don't say anything... I can't tell EXACTLY what you're thinking...  'It's OVER!  I caught Suzie eating ALL the chalk!  This was her last chance, now she'll FINALLY be expelled!'

Ha ha... Come on, Kris. Don't act so shocked. You know it's true. Everyone's waiting for it. Everyone wants it. So congrats, Kris. You got me. I'm done for.

...Just let me say one thing. Seems like a waste to just get expelled just for having a snack. So, Kris... If I KNOW you're going to pull the trigger... Heh heh heh... Why don't I get expelled for some REAL carnage?

Kris...how do you feel...about losing your face?"  That look...that sadistic, bloodthirsty look...

I held my breath.

"Nah." She dropped the human child on their rump.

"You got a good mother.  It'd be a shame if she had to bury her child."

That made me swallow hard. Full-on GULP!

"Alright.  Let's get this over with." Suzie headed off toward the supply cabinet. "We'll get more chalk.  Mosey back to class.  And then, Kris...  YOU'LL do our project.  How's that sound?"

"Say bad, kid.  You know a raw--"

Kris indicated that this was--

"Don't bother answering.   If you haven't gotten it by now... Your choices don't matter."

I gasped hard. It was coming back to me. I was beginning to catch on.

"Let's go, freak."

"Wait...!" I realized they were already off.

Kris tried leaving the school but of course that didn't work out. Kris got a drink from the water fountain...Suzie chastized them about how people put their mouth on the spout.

And attempt to go to Toriel's class of course got more chastizing as well as a joke that Suzie would find a better partner in the kiddy class...but then immediately reciprocated, turning serious again. No escape. Yeah...choices DIDN'T seem to matter.

I caught up.

"Well, here's the closet.  Too bad.  We were just starting to have fun."

I prayed for karma to bite that crock in the butt. I shouldn't have. I really shouldn't have. Be careful what you wish for.

The moment those doors opened...the whole school seemed to darken..everything seemed to get colder.

"Hey, Kris...is it just me...or is it REALLY dark in there...?" Suddenly Suzie's facade melted away and I could see her for what she was. And while I was thanking the stars for granting my wish...I shouldn't have.

"What's the holdup, Kris?  Are you going in or what?"

Kris actually backed away. Okay. Scared. I think this was an instance they had every right to be.

"Fine!  If you're going to be a WIMP, then I...we'll both go in at the same time!!"

Something felt like it was...pulsing around the door. And each time it did, more of the light...or lack thereof...around it was swallowed up.

Once inside...pitch black. THe only thing visible was the light coming in and the trail of...papers leading down the path.

"See?  Why are you so scared?  There's nothing in here but old papers.  Let's try to find a lightswitch."

After a bit the trail of papers ended...and just pitch black. Something was very wrong. I listened to the echoes in the room...and...there weren't any. This meant...there weren't any walls to reflect the sound...no ceiling...wait...

"That's weird... I can't find a switch.  Guess it's further in..." A bit further in... "Uh...kinda big for a closet, huh...?  You'd think we'd reached the end now."

Definitely not normal.

"Hey, Kris...I think this closet's uh...broken.  There aren't any walls." Welcome to two or three seconds ago, Suzie.

"Well, we've worked hard enough.  If Alphys wants chalk so bad, she can get it herself.  Let's split."

We turned back and headed toward the door...and just then it slammed shut.

"Wh-what the...!?  Hey, this isn't funny!  LET US OUT!  LET US--"

Suddenly the floor started rumbling. Uh-oh...

Suzie backed up until she was about to crash into Kris.

"The floor...it's...!"

Suddenly the tiles and the papers pummetted with them, getting swallowed up as if the floor suddenly started collapsing in a wave...wait, that was EXACTLY what was happening!

And suddenly Kris and Suzie plunged into total darkness! Falling...falling...falling...!

And they weren't the only ones! My superconduction gave way all of a sudden, without explanation!

"Holy schinkeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeees...!"

* THUD* was the last thing I heard...

"GAH!!!" I lurched up,  finding myself in my cot in the back of my shop.

"Volt?" Asriel jumped back. "I was going to wake you up before you overslept for......um...are you okay?""

I sighed deep and hard.

"Yeah, I'm okay.  Just going to lay of pizza before bed again."

"Okay...but...you didn't have pizza last night.  You went straight to bed after a hard day's work."

"......right. Well...let me take a bit to freshen up and get going.  Don't wait up for me."

"Sure...if you're sure." Asriel scratched his head. "Anyway...we should probably be exploring college options for me soon.  I don't really want to move out of town but...I do want the best academic resources I can get to tap my full potential."

"R-right.  College.  How could I forget?"

"Don't take too long!" Asriel headed out of the shop.

"Once bitten, twice shy.  This dream...what if it isn't a dream after all?" I considered that it wasy echoes of the last time I had a prophetic dream. But that time...it was driven by the dust of an Undertale timeline. The same thing Robin went through with the dust in Slade's mask.

"Well...I better monitor this closer.  See if there's a point to all this.  Maybe this...DeltaRune thing has answers about my current Undertale?  Or maybe..."

I got up and began my day.

While I should have made a note to ask about this to where I was going next...it completely vanished from my mind and memories before I had a chance to fire up the Delorean.

Still...I'd have other questions to ask when I went back to to see him...

Sub-Entry 256: "An Overdue Visit With the Man Who Speaks in Hands":
I couldn't help but worry about the Underground. I had seen Frisk off without incident. But I had gone all the way since being put back on the Undertale AU case since I last spoke to W.D. Gaster.

How much his realm had changed between timelines!

I wonder what it must look like now.

I landed the Delorean in Snowdin and made my way to that place and hoped that I could find the door that sometimes and sometimes didn't appear.

"Well.  Now I have to wonder if you're as psychic as Callie Brighton, Doctor."

That answers that.

I worked up the nerve and opened the door and stepped in.

"Holy schnikees!"

I really should have put on my ray ban sunglasses.

"Why the Hell is there so much light?!" I slipped my shades on, belatedly.

Gasters's realm wasn't the same as I had left it. Where had I seen something like this before?

Three-dimensional, wirethin...golden-white light contrails akin to circuit paths traced through the air before fading out in complicated, choreographed patterns.

There was still now ground under me but somehow there was a sheen and the faintest of shadows where I somehow walked across something solid.

"Exactly on the dot, Dr. Arcade."

"I aim to please, Dr. Gaster." I'd say my tone had progressed quite nicely from "lukewarm" to a lot of effort to sound affable.

"You still have doubts about me.  While disconcerting, not unwarented.  I have a lot of trust issues to overcome."

"My ears are burning.  Are you actually apologizing for my rudeness?"

"Synergizing makes better progress than protesting."

"Agreed."

I looked around.

"Your research looks like it's going swimmingly."

"Have you ever come to a point in your life, dear Doctor, when you realize that everything you know is wrong?"

"I could ask you if you've ever heard of a Talking Flower."

"Your sense of humor is reassuring."

"I try."

"I spent so much time believe the absense of photons was the answer and it led to being consumed by my own creation.  But now as I'm here on the pinnicle of success...I wonder if I'm headed in the opposite direction and about to make the opposite mistake.  Is it possible that my research may lead to something...worse?"

"If I may share some details about my archer-scout.  He recently returned from a Nexus Tournament of sorts after some sort of ordeal that left him temporarily disconnected from his own spirit...soul...and brought him back home with amnesia.  But he mentioned something about a world of light...and a world of darkness.  Some names came up we haven't been able to index in the master database...Galeem and Darkhon.  I'm thinking that you might have something.  If the answer isn't darkness and the answer isn't light.  Then what is it?"

"It seems almost too obvious to say balance.  If that were the case then we're already living the breakthrough.  My research me be all for nothing."

"Or for everything.  Second-guessing is normal.  If you think you're about to go down the wrong path, you're experienced enough to recognize the danger before it begins."

"Seems like the most basic of advice."

"We're the type, Gaster, who overthink things when the solution is so simple we'd dismiss it without a thought."

"You really are older than you look."

"I'll take that as a compliment."

"Well.  You must know that I am aware of all that goes on in the Underground.  Therefore you are not hear to provide an update."

"I suppose that is true."

"There isn't much you could tell me about the first fallen that I cannot already deduce."

"Got me there."

"And no doubt the Prince has made great progress in only what I presume is a couple years time."

"He will be 18......118 this year."

"What your world no doubt considers legal adulthood."

"Technically...yes."

"But you did not come to me for advice on that.  You have reservations that you know very well I would be unable to assist you with."

I put my hands on my hips.

"One might come to the conclusion you enjoy being the smartest person in the room."

"As they say in ther vernacular...don't knock it until you try it."

That's when Gaster turned around. He was completely solid, anchored to the ground--not at all floating. He looked more skeleton-like than ever. But the cracks in his face remained.

Also...every moment or so I could swear he was wearing glasses but...I was wondering if that was a trick of the overabundance of the light in the room. I wasn't even sure his unusually sparkling white attire and lab coat were real or manefesations of his photon research.

"Your surprise is evident."

"Well.  If your research is in error, it's definitely benefited you for the better."

"Yes...but I wonder what it's building to?  I've long since reconsituted.  And yet I am still......I have no description I can give."

"To put it crudely...still evolving."

"It's an undeserving word for what I'm going through."

"Understated or overstated?"

Gaster didn't answer.

"No.  That's okay.  It's better if I don't know.  It's your research."

"I regret...I am still of no use to the world inside of space and time.  By now my existence is near restored in the Underground.  But I wonder--"

"If it follows suit with your evolution that it may go from existence to...for lack of better wording...to super-existence..."

"Your mindset is admirable, though your diction--"

"Yeah.  Bedside manner, Doc."

A long moment of awkward silence.

"There is something on your mind though."

"Hmm?"

"Something, Dr. Arcade, that you can't shake."

"..."

"The micro-glitches."

"So you do know about them."

"You're sure they carried over into this timeline, somehow."

"But I haven't seen any per say.  This timeline...this instance of Undertale seems way too stable to be an Unstable Timeline within its AU."

"Yes...it does seem puzzling.  I regret I do not have an answer to that.  But you're also wondering about the...I believe you'd refer it to as a "quantum code"...specifically the Fallen Children's code."

"So every fallen child HAS wielded it.  The power of save, load, fight, act, item, mercy, erase, and reset?"

"It seems...unlikely that only the first and the eight have really figured out how to use them.  But you can see what good it did the first.  All iterations of them."

"Yeah...I'm pretty sure Evil-Chara has his own, but he's so bull-headed to do things his way, he has yet to turn to it.  I'm worried he'll remember he has it.  The question is, will it work outside of his Undertale."

"You've already seen the Prince use it.  By all means a Monster should not be able to use this ability."

"But he does use it.  And so does Flowey.  And there's one thing the two of them have in common besides the obvious."

"Neither of them are a Monster just as neither of them is human."

"Correct."

I paced.

"Could Chara...use the Reset on our world?"

"I don't know.  Even if he could...it would be in conflict with the Prince's reset.  Which I no doubt you've disabled?"

"I can't take the chance.  It's not a trust issue, it's a risk issue.  Even good intentioned people could accidently cause something they didn't intend.  I sure know that better than anyone else."

"Your nemesis."

"Painful to admit that it's true."

"At this point I do not believe the current First realizes."

"Blinded by his thirst for revenge."

"Yes."

"Which means remembering his powers may be an inevitability.  Great.  Another thing I have to worry about.  Plus it'll also cause problems if shows off this power to Asriel."

"Just when it seems you think you have the situation under control, Doctor..."

"I find out how much worse it actually might be."

"Indeed."

"What should I do, Gaster?"

"Obviously not what you did the last time."

"Obviously." Not helpful, Doctor. Not helpful.

"I trust that you will not fall into the same predicament when last you failed?"

"It would behoof me to show some level of maturity now that I no longer have a pico-machine virus in me, holding me hostage before my friends, forcing them to alienate me until they came up with a cure."

"Then I would say you are as prepared as you can be for the coming war."

"I never told you about a coming war..."

"You didn't have to.  Let's just say...familiar forces are clamouring about it."

I narrowed my eyes.

"There are more Wraiths that the CORE is holding back."

"It is only logical.  After all...where there is one...there are obviously more."

"How...many more?" I arched an eyebrow.

"Is that a question you really want an answer to?"

I felt my stomach knot.

"That's what I was afraid of.  Madam Fate has quite the formula for an End Game just perculating on the stove, doesn't she?"

"And yet it may not be a card she might be able to play so easily.  Consider it a...feeling...but I do not think it is something you'll have to worry about any time soon."

"Cryptic."

"Being exposed to what lies beneath the CORE has been a well spring of insight...and warnings to me."

"I see." I paced some more. "So...I should focus more on her Black Knight than her "Legion"."

"What more is there for me to say, Doctor, without really saying it."

"Then I suppose this meeting is adjourned."

"I suppose so."

A lengthy period of silence ensued.

"Goodbye, Dr. W.D. Gaster."

"Goodbye, Dr. Volt Alessandro Arcade.  And..."

"Good luck." We said in unison before going our separate ways.

Sub-Entry 257:  "Teen Titans vs....Teen Titans?"
The dawn of the Crossover Wars began in an unexpected time and place. Looking back at these logs now...I have to wonder if this predicted the future in another dimension outside of the UltraVerse.

I didn't think it could ever hit close to home but in this case...it hit the bulls-eye ont he dartboard and landed right in our H.Q.

I was working in one of the sub-labs when I heard the commotion.

At first I wasn't sure, but then...

"That sounded like Robin's voice...and wait...is he fighting?"

A crash.

"Robin?!"

I ran out into the hallway and followed the noise.

Definitely the sound of his collapsible bo staff hitting something metal...almost like it was hitting something made of the same material.

Yet there was something off about ther reverberation. For lack of better description it sounded...well...a little more whimsicle if not...cartoony? Did that even make remote sense?

I eventually found my way to the cyber portal research lab.

The first thing I saw was Violet seated on top of a lab table, munching on a big bowl of popcorn. Ugh. FIgures whaterever was going on she'd take great amusement in.

"What?!  I would NEVER say something like that to Batman!" I heard him shout at Violet. At least I was sure it was him...but something about the tone sounded more...worked up. Almost out of character...or maybe TOO in character, if that made sense.

I saw the Robin in question and I didn't think I had to read much more into it. I was about to speak up when I saw--

"No way..." My eyes widened.

"GRRRRR!!!  I DO NOT HAVE BABY HANDS, YOU STUPID RABBIT GIRL!"

"Thank you for NOT exacerbating the situation, Violet..."

"Any time!" Vi just shrugged it off.

It was another Robin alright...but...my earlier assessment of being "cartoony"...was more on the money than I thought.

"An explanation is--"  I started.

"Save it." The Robin that I knew wasn't in a mood for levity. "I'd give you one if I had one."

"OKay...so you're fighting another Robin--"

"A pale immitation, I'd say.  When he showed up in the Tower I thought he was Larry at first--"

"Ah yes.  Nosyard Kcid.  Extradimensional being from the 5th Dimesion.  Your version of Bat-Mite and Mr. Mxlplct."

"Riiiiight."

"But...?"

"At first he wouldn't shut up about how much cooler I looked than him."

"Yeah, try wipe the smug off.  You got a little of it on your cheek by the corner of your mouth." I crossed my arms.

Robin narrowed his eyes before his opponent charged in again.

"But then...!...without warning he suddenly demanded who sent me and rattled off a number of our enemies before attacking me without warning.  And the more he pressed it, the more he was sounding like a conspiracy nut."

"Yeah, I can see he might be a little...bent." I mused, jabbing a little at Robin's obsessive nature. Yeah, I wasn't going to let the stick-pin diagram of Slades past activity go; not after how brooding and shut-in he was around his own team.

That was when the other Robin got in my face, practically using my chest to stand on to shout at me.

"I AM NOT CRAZY!  I AM IN A PERFECTLY RATIONAL FRAME OF MIND!"

"Yeah...clearly..." I muttered.

"Can we...get this...contained...before I have to forward the bill to umm...*ahem*..."

Non-cartoony Robin narrowed his eyes, knowing I was implying a certain billionaire father-figure. Yeah, he was definitely the Robin I know. He wouldn't outright say Batman's name or name-drop his secret identity.

"...preferably before it--"

I realized the Cyber Portal was still open.

"...red?" I knew what this was. "Chaopolis..." The plot thinned.

At that moment Victor "Cyborg" Stone went flying backwards out of the portal and slammed into the wall, cratering it.

"It just got worse." Robin narrowed his gaze yet again.

"Vic." I crossed my mind.

"Not in a good mood right now." He said dryly.

"BOOYAH!" Came the yell from the other side of the portal. "AWW YEAAAH!  I WAS LIKE POW!  AND YOU WERE LIKE BLAMMO!!  THAT'S WHAT I'M TALKIN' ABOUT!"

"Using my own catch phrase?  Now that's just wrong." Cyborg smoldered.

"Jeeze!  That sounds like--"

"Just think.   You could be chasing a farting donkey right now!" What the heck was Violet referencing right now.

"I'm not in the mood for your goofy riddles, Violet!" Cyborg pulled himself free, shifting his arm to his Sonic Cannon form.

"Hey.  No reason to get all Crazy Jane on me." Vi shrugged and downed another handful of popcorn.

By now the noise level had definitely doubled in the room as "other Cyborg" came through the portal.

"I THINK YOU COULD USE A LITTLE BIT OF SHA-BLAMM!"

"A little wha--"  Cyborg made the mistake of asking before his cartoony dopplegangler's back panel opened up and HOLY COW THERE'S NOW WAY THAT INSANE-SIZED ROBOT SLEDGEHAMMER CAN FIT IN THERE!!!

"SHA-BLAAAAAAAAAM!" Cyborg went flying as other Cyborg's piledriver beast cratered a perfectly circular hole in the floor. Less like it had been pounded and more like it had been cut straight through.

"This is really happening isn't it?" I pointed to Robin.

"You tell me." He grunted after sliding back from a heavy impact   "Our imperfect copies have a lot more power than they look like they have."

"Yeah!  And they won't stop yelling and running around and acting all crazy!" Cyborg blasted back with his Sonic Cannon.

"HEY!  Take it easy!  You're shooting up a room full of dangerous active portal genertors!"

It was at that time the noise levels tripled as Starfire flew through, tackling another Starfire into the room and smashing a hole in a large section of wall.

"You will cease attacking and surrender now!  Though you are clearly my doppleganger, I do not wish to fight you."

The other one just screamed before eye-lasering her across the room and knocking over an un-powered portal ring.

"I WILL NOT BE DOING THE SURRERNDING!  NOW SAY THE APOLOGY AND I WILL NOT BE GIVING YOU THE CAN OF THE WHOOPING OF THE BUTT!"

"I do not use "the" that often..." Starfire climbed out of the wreckage and charged with another battle cry.

Face-palming would be almost redundant by this point.

"Guys..and gal...listen!  They're not clones made by a super-villain--!"

You ever try to diffuse a situation akin to self-sustaining nuclear fusion chain reactions?

Who should come out of the cyber portal next but--

* SMASH*

"Hey, B.B." Violet waved as Garfield Mark Logan A.K.A. Beast Boy landed upside-down onto the lab table next to her.

"Is it just me or are we getting our butts kicked?"

"It's just you." Robin and Cyborg fumed in unision.

"AWW YEAH, BOY!  THAT'S WHASSUP!  YOU JUST GOT WRECKED, FOOL!  I'M BOUT' TO GO BUCK WILD ON YOU!"

"Dude!  Why do you talk like that?!  I don't sound anything like that!"

"So how's Season 3 treatin' you?  I'd say like an Outsider the way you've fallen...outside...of your world."

"What are you talking about, Vi?!" Beast Boy climbed off the table and tried to match his opponent animal-transformation-for-animal transformation, first going to of all things a grizzly bear only to be greeted with.

"THAT THE BEST YOU GOT, FOOL?  I'M A FREAKIN' T-REX!"

Bear-Beast Boy's eyes widened as he went running for cover only to be headbutted and knocked out of his transformation.

"You can talk while you're an animal?!  That's so unfair!" Beast Boy huffed after landing in a heap.

"Well, the party's not complete without--

Rachael "Raven" Roth, sure enough, flew out of the portal in the form of a black, ghostly raven spirit before reforming and raising her psionic barrier as her doppleganger slowly floated in with the most disinterested of expressions I'd ever seen. While she wasn't moving a muscle, her black spirit raven talon swipes and fist manefestations seemed to be doing the fighting for her. And yet...they looked really phoned-in.

"You seem pretty lax compared to your...associates."

"Eh.  I'm not super into this."

"Maybe we actually have more in common than they do." Raven stood her ground, waiting to get a counter attack in.

"Maybe.  You like Pretty Pretty Pegasus?"

"..........we're done here." Raven deadpanned.

"Wow the DC Universe has sure let itself go.  I remember when people got up in arms over digitally removing a moustache." Violet trolled.

"Start marking some sense or give us a hand, girl!  Prefereably both!" Cyborg yelled.

"We've been trying to do that for years!" I interjected. "Listen!  This is all just a big--"

* CRASH*

"...misunderstanding." I moaned.

By this time, Asriel had run into the room, bringing Bunnie, Jon, and Felicia.

"What in blazes...?" Asriel gasped.

"Fashionably late, you guys.  I could have used your help getting this under control a while ago." I tried breaking up the fight between Robin and...Robin.

Bunnie aimed her arm cannon and selected something non-lethal. A wind/cyclone type that Nikita was working on and fired off a spiral cylinder of wind, trying to separate Raven from other Raven.

In the process, other Raven's cloak blew up, revealing her legs. And for some reason that was enough to get other Beast Boy's attention.

"DEM' LEGS!" He dropped into a wolf morph and howled.

I thought I saw other Raven crack a smile.

Original Beast Boy's jaw dropped when it became obvious.

"...me?...attracted to...Raven?!"

"Ouch.  My pride.  I feel sooooo insulted." Rachel smoldered. A hesitation before whapping Gar.

"Oww!  What was that for?"

"Gaaah!" Jon's nunchaku swung but at that moment, other Cyborg's head detached from his body and flipped onto its wires, using them for arms and legs. "NOW THAT IS JUST RUDE!"

".....that's really messed up right there.  How the heck is he doing that?!" Victor looked aghast.

We all tried breaking up the melee to no avail until Asriel got kind of a weird idea, spying the boom-box that Violet had nearby.

Felicia made the mistake of trying to break up the Starfires.

"KITTY!!!!!" Other Starfire soon had her in a squeezing bearhug. "OH!  YOU ARE THE ADORABLE!  I HAVE BEEN LONGING FOR THE KITTY SINCE MR. SASSYPANTS RAN OFF!!!"

The other Robin kinda half-coughed turning to the side, rather embarassed.

"...I don't want to know."

"Violet, where's the Archive of Prophecies?" Asriel asked.

"Second drawer down, Lab Table 6."

"Why is that tome in the dimensional lab, Vi?!  Furthermore...how is that going to help us?"

"Eheheheheh...I can explain."

"Whatever you're planning, Azzy, better step it up." Jon backflipped away as other Beast Boy got a little too close for comfort, having transformed into a wooly mammoth. "Blimey, does he change into anything besides dinosaurs?"

Bunnie helped him search the lab table in the room.

"This is it." She found it first.

"Let me find the right one." Asriel read through it. "Let's see..........Triplets born, the throne awaits, a Seer tells of a deadly fate.  Give up your children, separate, bide your time, lie in wait..........no that's not it.

Umm.......when the twin dragons rise soar above the sky and angel will.........no, that's not it, either.

.....If a person in which the three virtues are in balance lays their hand on the Golden Power, their wish will come completely true....no, that's not it, either..."

Asriel flipped through pages.

"Ahah!  Here it is!  When the night shines no more and the glory of the land has fallen, only then will the night begin to shine."

He immediately searched his pockets for a USB dongle and plugged it in the socket that Vi had added, then quickly got out his smart phone and found the app he was looking for and cued up something on his playlist.

And that was when the least likely thing happened as the boom box immediately began to play B.E.R.'s  "The Night Begins to Shine".

"Huh?"

"What?"

"That song...!"

And that was when the "other" Teen Titans stopped fighting and started dancing.

"Awww yeeeeah, baby!  That's what I'm talkin' about!" other Cyborg reunited his head with his body.

"Okay, I'm calling bull crap." Jon wrinkled his snoot. "There is NO way that should have worked.

But that wasn't even the WEIRDEST thing.

"THE NIGHT.  BEGINS.  TO SHIIIIIIIIIIIINE!" Other Cyborg declared before a shaft of light enveloped him and spread through the room.

"What's...happening to them?"

"Did they just transform into less doorky versions of us?"

"Stranger things have happened to us...just not in this way before." Rachel deadpanned. Again.

"You know...it is a pretty catchy song original Robin admitted.

"Yeah!  This is my jam!" Victor was starting to get into it.

"Goat Son...have you been watching cartoons instead of studying?" I turned to Asriel.

"Not instead of studying...per se.  Violet's been tweeking the curriculum.  Eheheheh."

"Yeah his next lesson is in the art of Niht Repap!  He'll learn from the masters and the masters' master."

"Niht Repap?" I questioned.

Bunnie motioned me closer and whispered in my ear.

"...............oh." I smoldered.

"You know, other Titans...I had you pegged wrong.  I thought you were just some supervillains' plan to distract or destroy us.  But I can see now you're our counterparts on the up-and-up."

"I totally agree!  Anyone who likes the cosmic combination of 40% Carl Burnet, 40% Franklin Enea, and a sweet, sweet 20% of William J. Regan can't be all bad!  You more serious Titans are alright!"

"I could have told you that if you guys would have listened to me." I crossed my arms.

"You are being the grumpy grump, strange doggy person!  You must join us in the celebration of the Night that does the Shining!"

"It is rather...enjoyable, other Starfire."

And before it was all over...

"This is by far the most cliched resolution to two AU's fighting it out then making up in the history of crossover events." I rolled my eyes.

"Come on.  Admit it.  You enjoyed it, partner." Asriel one-arm hugged me.

"At least it's--"

You know it only figures that the moment would be broken up by...of all things...a record scratch.

"HEY!  WHAT HAPPENED TO OUR TUNES?!" Other Cyborg protested as the suddenly backlash of the 80's music suddenly stopping reverted him and the others back to their more toony selves.

Red Cyber Portals had opened up at opposite ends of the lab and out stepped.

"Slade..." Robin narrowed his eyes at his nemesis.

"SLADE!" the other Robin  point at the other Slade from the other portal.

"Oh COME ON!" Other Slade protested.

"Well.  This would appear to be an interesting turn of events.  The darker Slade mused.

Both TItan teams rallied.

"Your Slade is...really intense...and scary."

"And yours...sounds like Will Arnett...?"

I facepalmed. "Of course it's not over."

"It wouldn't be a true crossover without a team-up, Volt." Asriel grinned.

"You're enjoying this too much."

"What do you say we take this battle off world?"

"Your place our ours, other me?"

And low and behold came the united... "TITANS, GO!"

I think I'm going to stay away from Jump City for a while...

Sub-Entry 258: "Blindsided.  The Gauntlet is Thrown, the Detonator is...!"
I had taken Asriel to Phados, a planet within our circle of alliances for some time now. It had changed quite a bit since the Ivan Ooze incident. Now that it was no longer home to the Great Power, it no longer needed to be guarded as adamantly. The Ancient Ninjetti Clans lived on as long as Dulcea was around to be the guardian of their legacy. With that in mind, their secrets were taken off world to a new place to entrust the secrets of the ancents.

It had grown into a more evolved civilization after terraforming and such. But it was still a dangerous place if you weren't famliar with it.

"You seem like you're in a better place now that that hullabaloo is over." Asriel smiled.

"This was just a skirmish, Asriel.  You may be looking at it with a sense of levity, but it's clearly more serious than it looks."

"You're right.  The Followers of Chaos instigated this between two Jump City alternate universes.  Was it completely by chance that they both ended up in our lab?"

"Or something else?  It seems unlikely since KOMMAND rewrote our very dimensional coordinates to elsewhere on the Axis of Realities."

"Which not only means the Council won't find us again any time soon but Chaopolis won't track us down that easy again, either."

"And more than that.  Our Chara impersonator won't be coming back in the foreseeable future unless it's completely by chance.  I think the enemy is searching dimensions akin to a codebreaker used for hacking electronic locks."

"Ah yes.  The flash method.  Running though ever possible combination in a blur."

"Even if the Flash were to use that method, it would take his entire life-span hundreds of thousands of millions of times over.  The InfinityVerse may not actually have a limit to how big it is."

I feel like Asriel had more than enough clues to draw his own conclusion about his own world. By now it probably should have occured to him that his world might have alternate dimensions. Maybe it already had. But if that was the case...he wasn't telling me any more than I was telling him. How hard was it for him to keep patient about our promise?

Cyborg had contacted me with Robin present and we all debated how Chaopolis orchestrated this...and if there was any danger that they found our new Space-Time-Dimension coordinates.

"...I think when they opened gates into each of our dimensions, they did it by brute-force method.  Just like code-cracking.  My guess is they just picked a random world you had an alliance with and searched for an AU they could exploit into turning against us."

"It wouldn't be the first time in my career that divide and conquer was used to incite war.  The Maverick Hunters and the Repliforce, for example."

"Is there any danger Chaoplis knows our new location on this...Axis of Reality thing that makes up every multiverse?  Even our own UltraVerse?"

"I can't say for sure.  When they opened up a gate into Titans' Tower, they likely infected the gate we use to warp to the UCIAT lab."

I pondered that.

"I shut it down after scrubbing the memory boards and complete recoded it afterward and re-encrypted both of our Titan Communicator relays so we should be safe."

"I asked my outside contact to start re-shuffling the STC identities and coordinates of all our allied worlds and their parallel universes where applicable.  But as many of them as there are...it's going to take a lot of time.  And quite frankly there's a likelyhood they'll strike at another world before we have a chance to relocate it."

"This Chaopolis is some bad news, Doc.  If we're tangling with these dudes in some kind of war..."

"Yeah.  I know, Vic.  I know."

"You patching up the lab, right now?"

"No.  Off world at the moment.  It's better if I don't say where and when.  Less chance of agents of Chaopolis discovering us."

"Good luck man.  You got two sets of Titans on your side, now....thooooough, the others guys are kinda weird.  You have any idea why their Starfare keeps popping up in a creepy mask and telling us not to mess with "the Jeff"?"

"Don't think to deep into it, Cy.  Your brain will thank."

"Keep frosty, Spark Wolf."

"To borrow a catch-phrase....booyah."

I checked on Asriel. He gave me a thumbs-up where he was entertaining some kids with a soccer ball.

Good. Now all that was left was to--

* POOOOW!!! *

"Volt?!" Asriel's voice was muffled...or maybe my senses were failing me.

"VOOOOOOOOOOOLT!!!"

I barely had time to process the fist that clocked me between the eyes before everything faded to black, semblance of a red Cyber Gate--

* CRYPTOSMASHER LOGGING INTERRUPT. *

* SUBJECT UNCONSCIOUS. *

* SPACE-TIME-DIMENSION TRACKING DISABLED. *

RECOVERED DATA FRAGMENT FROM THE RESEARCH LOGS OF SPACE TIME CONTINUUM (STC) AGENCY FIELD AGENT IN TRAINING ASRIEL TOBIAS DREEMURR-ARCADE

"...oh my gosh...oh my gosh...is this thing on?  Hello?  Hello?  This isn't happening...this isn't happening.  Okay...calm down, Azzy...okay.  Like he showed you."

I guess you could consider this my first log entry but I'm going to treat it like a continuuation of Volt's, so here goes.

I was just witness to what I'm sure was his sudden kidnapping. I know this is going to sound strange but...

It looked like...he was kidnapped by...himself. It's just too unbelievable that I'm seeing double but...wait...something's coming back to me...yeah...the other Volt was wearing a lab coat...with the insignea of the Followers of Chaopolis on it. Oh...fiddlesticks! How did we get caught off guard by something like this?!

I paced about a bit before doing the sensible thing and trying to get a hold of KOMMAND.

"KOMMAND!  KOMMAND!  HELP!  COME IN, PLEASE!"

I remembered Volt provided me with this multi-enryption layered connection to his secret allies, including KOMMAND.

"Yo...you sound a bit young to be--"

"KOMMAND!  Thank the stars!  I need your help!  I think Volt's been kidnapped by Chaopolis."

"Say again...?"

"He was knocked unconscious and dragged through a red Cyber Gateway.  Can you get some kind of...trace on it?"

"I'll start scanning for residual energy signatures.  I'm picking up your bracer signal on...Phados?  Seems a bit out of the way, Goat Son."

"It was supposed to be a secure location, but--"

"Nevermind.  I'll get back to you once I have something.  Stand by and don't go anywhere."

"You don't have to tell me twice...as it is...I'm pretty stranded."

"If you're on Phados, I'll contact Dulcea and have her watch out for you.  Be careful.  Phados is a harsh environment and once the location of the Great Power."

"Yeah, Volt's started to brief me on the Zordon-era files.  We were planning a visit to Angel Grove, but..."

"He's got a lot of history there and a lot of standing alliances.  Anyway.  Sit tight.  And...try not to worry."

Don't worry? For the first time...it felt like a difficult thing to ask of me.

I really hope Volt is okay...who knows what's happened to him and what horrible person has him?

Little did I know...

* CRYPTOSMASHER LINK OFFLINE. *

* LIFE MONITORING SYSTEMS OFFLINE *

* INVENTORY SYSTEM ERROR. *

* TACHYON LINK MALFUNCTION *

* A.E.O.N. UPLINK NOT FOUND *

* ACTIVATING EXTERNAL PERIPHERAL MEMORY STORAGE DEVICE *

* LOGGING MATRIX UNSECURE. UNABLE TO AUTHENTICATE SPACE TIME CONTINUUM SIGNATURE. *

"Ohhh..." I moaned as I confirmed getting splashed in the face with something hot and caustic...oww. Acid, maybe? My regeneration was slow. Something was interferring with...

I was definitely bound to a chair--legs, torso, and arms. Furthermore...something around my neck.

"There is a sad truth to species of the canine variety...how they've been domesticated by man.  The greatest proof that an animal has been broken is none other than the very collar man puts around his neck.  It is in this that truly freedom is dead.  The symbol of rules, authority, and order.  Perversions of the natural order."

"You..." I managed to gasp.

"What's with that face?  All this time apart...and hostility is all you have to offer.  I have to say...I rather like it.  You're finally getting it."

"Do you know what you've done?  Do you understand what you've put me through?  What you've put ALL OF US THROUGH?!"

"It's just like you to snipe while my back is turned.  What a strange and violent being you are."

"Don't take the high-road on this.  You've--"

"Murdered pentillions upon pentillions in the name of my beliefs.  That is what you are going to say, isn't it, Volt?"

"I really should have expected to to come out of nowhere without warning and do this yourself.  If anything deligating your loyal followers was yet another smokescreen.  Something I wouldn't question, considering you don't make your own plans."

"Volt, Volt, Volt...we just never talk anymore."

"What's there to talk about?"

"Now that really is a lie.  You have hundreds of questions you've been wanting to ask me for over seven years.  And more than that over the course of your immortality.  What?  No 'why did I use the Titans to leave a calling card'?  'How could I treat Evil-Chara worse than my own enemies'?  Or perhaps...'what's my fascination with dear, sweet Asriel'?"

That made me lunge out of my chair.

"I'll answer only one of those because it should prove amusing."

My vision was starting to clear...and I was seeing someone very familiar. I hadn't stated it outright for over seven years...but now it was time to just up and say it. I had stated everywhere and everywhen that my plans had been derailed, he was behind it...but only implied clues to what he looked like. By this point...it was obvious.

"And for a bonus...I'll say it face..." Adonis turned around and got too close for comfort. I could see him. And what...and who I was seeing...was me.

"...to face."

That overly pleasant smile with the winking eyes, all anime-like.

"Absolutely no interest in him whatsover."

This had to be a lie.

"Come now.  You must appreciate the irony of this cliche.  Your big, bad boogieman has your face.  In fact...it's been a little...buzzing in that head of yours for some time.  That question you keep yourself up at night with...how do you kill a man who has your face?"

"Cut the bull, Adonis.  You're a mound of lies, but no greater lie than the one staring me in the face."

"Oh?   Come now, you want to discuss little tit-for-tat pieces of insignificance like that when you could be asking plenty of questions about Chara?"

"Phony!  Faker!  Imposter!" I was't thinking straight and desperately trying to get under his flesh and fur. Granted...that wasn't a wise move.

"At the risk of being juvenile...should you be putting yourself down so harshly?"

"You try to sound like a deep visonary with this abstract concepts and mysterious allusions and metaphors, but you're just pretentious, Alloucious.  And for that matter, this?  All of this?  THis kidnapping doesn't make sense."

"Of course it doesn't.  Did you think there was a point to it?  You and Chara are so entertaining in that light...rationalizing behavior to fit in your own perspective.  That's creating rules, you know."

I narrowed my eyes. "You don't even have the guts to come after me as you really are.

"Again you seem to be kicking the dog, hoping to hit a sore spot.  You of all people know what this will lead to."

"Adonis.  Cut the crap.  Impersonating me won't work anymore.  You've tipped your hand.  So out with it."

Adonis stepped back. "You don't really want this.  You know what you're asking.  As a Scorpio, who's incredibly guarded, that's so unlike you...throwing your caution to the wind.  I mean...how are you going to cope without Asriel to read your complicated emotions, right now?"

"Stop showing false concern.  Even now you're doing it.  You're poking me, trying to bring out my worst until I snap and come at you with ever bit of rage and emotion I have just so you can play the victim and spring that nasty surprise on me I know you're hiding.  It's not going to work.  I'm not taking the bait.  Get over yourself and move on."

"I'm hurt that you wouldn't tell me to turn myself in and reform.  Not even bothering with a speech over how far gone I am.  Is this about Universal City?"

Low blow. Low, low blow.

"It's not happening, Adonis.  I chose him.  He chose me.  We're best friends.  You're forever alone.  And that's your fatal flaw; the one thing he overcame that you never did.  He learned to let go."

Adonis sighed. "You had to go there."

In trying to tick me off, I succeeded in royally ticking him off. And that's when it happened.

He clutched at his sides, grunting in discomfort.

"And...*pant* *pant*  ...now you've...pissed him off..."

The moment he addressed himself this way was the moment...I realized I screwed up. This...was going to get...very...ugly.

I heard the cracking of bones and the bubbling of flesh and the stretching and tearing of fabric. The slobbering and animal grunts and snarls as the werewolf before me contorted, distorted, and swelled in size, quickly towering over me.

By now I had realized we were in some kind of minature log cabin or...a really large storage shed...somewhere in between.

It was about that time the rest of my senses came back as Adonis was transforming before my eyes.

I compared his metamorphosis to that of the Scooby-Doo Movie's Scrappy Cornelius Doo after absorbing the power of hundreds of souls to become this...almighty abombination. Like a mutant pug on steroids if the steroids were on steroids and injected into nuclear waste and then struck by lightning.

But even that was too kind a description for what he was becoming. Patches of fur were either dropping off or burning off.

I heard his sandal straps snap and the remains of his shirt and tie tear apart. About the only thing that survived was most of his pants...and even they were in bad, ripped shape by the time his tranformation was complete.

"You wanted to face your inner beast...your demons...your....monsters...well HERE THERE ARE IN ONE PACKAGE, OLD FRIEND!" Adonis threatened to snap his jaws around my head.

As I was about to speak he picked up a crowbar and SLAMMED me hard in the ribs, knocking the chair over and a ways across the room.

I coughed up a lot of blood...but still stayed alive.

"I knew...you couldn't...do it..." I wheezed. "Even when you stop lying...you're...still--"

Another blow with the crowbar.

He bent down to my left and shushed me. "Shhhhhhh." I thought he said something else like...spoilers...but by the blows were coming several at a time, now.

He let up giving me a moment or two to recover enough to speak my mind.

"There's not...an original...bone in your body, Adonis...everything you ever do...is stolen from another villain...that's what you hate about yourself...isn't it?  You don't even have an identity.  You're just evil...stitched on evil...stitched on evil..." I glared at the parts of him that actually seemed to be grafted on with stitches.

"Quoting Mary Shelly's Frankenstein.  What an ironic way to counter being unoriginal...by being unoriginal, yourself.  How does it feel to be a hypocrat?"

"I can live with myself...I don't know how you can live with--"

He cold-cocked me without warning. What a contrast to the cold manipulator he was to Chara.

"Well...since I guess I'm the biggest hypocrat in the room..tell me how you feel about me borrowing this source material...tell me...which is better...Hamill...or Dimaggio?" He smashed my ribs with the crowbar, first underhanded...then overhanded.

I suddenly recognized what he was doing.

"Ah...you do recognize classic material.  That's right...I'm totally Jason Todd-ing you right now!  You should be smelling it by now..."

* sniff sniff*  Oh no...C4 explosive.

"Tell me...which do you prefer...Ledger...or Leto......or maybe you're into...Jerome?"

For me to describe the beating he was giving me now? No...too graphic to even say. It wasn't...good...plus...definitely...getting lightheaded...

"...you just couldn't be you in the end..." was the last thing I had the strength to say.

Adonis sighed and rested the crowbar over his shoulders, channeling a little of the Walking Dead's Negan.

"Well.  I guess it's too late to ask if you put on your sh--(FLOWEY CACKLE*)-ing pants."

...make that...completely ripping off...

"Hmm?  Ah.  Right on schedule." Adonis checked his device. "The Prince comes to the rescue.  I wonder if he'll make it in time?"

In the darkness I finally saw the L.E.D. readouts of the detonator timer.

"Well, I'm going to pay my respects to Junior and break the bad news to him.  But on the off chance he gets here in time...just be sure to tell him I said......(FLOWEY CACKLE) you...heh heh heh heh..."

And then Adonis walked out, doing a compilation of Joker laughs before locking the door.

I saw the numbers...oh...so there's...that much time left......heh...darn it...all...

* EXTERNAL LOGGING SYSTEM POWER LOW. CRITICAL DAMAGE TO POWER CELL. *

"...come on, don't cut out on me now!  Okay, good...I'm logging.  Any information I can bring back to KOMMAND can help in the long run.  Okay...which way to go."

That's when I felt the hand on my shoulder and I instinctively slipped out of its grasp and got the H-E-Hocky Sticks away before turning to face--

"I was wondering if Bo Peep had finally found you.  She's been looking a looong time."

I tensed and scowled, dismissing the jab.

"You!  Who are you?!"

"Hmmm...yup...you are a Millenial, alright.  No time for conversation...nose stuck in a smart phone, posting to social media while watching cat videos...and entitled to everything."

"That's incredibly close-minded of you.  Answer me!  Who are you?  Are you one of Volt's kidnappers."

Adonis chuckled.

"I love this location.  It's out of the way.  It's off STC's books.  It's almost as secure as Phados."

I grew more defensive.

"Oh-ho...what is this, now?" Adonis approached. "Well...where have you been all this time..."

In a surprising burst of speed he lunnged and grabbed my wrist, exposing the Bracer.

"So he gave it to you.  Looks good on you.  But honestly...It looked better on me."

"...?!?"  It was becoming clear to me. No...no, it can't be. Volt said he was dead.

"You lie.  Volt gave me this; it belonged to his old partner.  If he were of sound mind and body--"

"Hmmmmmm?" Adonis grinned, dripping spittile from his fangs.

"...of...sound mind...and body."

It hit me. Volt didn't lie...he was just vague about the truth. I wanted to ask him why he'd lead me on like this...but this was clearly a moment right out of Star Wars. Oh yeah...this was the big bad Darth Vader who "betrayed and murdered Anakin Skywalker". That meant he was the S.T.C. traitor...he was--

"I never introduced myself.  Dr. Allouicious Adonis.  I assure you, that's a pseudonym.  I've LONG since lost my real name and identy to the ages.  Your best friend was a good partner...until...well...he abandoned me.  Now you're his partner...tick-tock-tick-tock..."

I was incredibly offended by the implication. "If you think that he'd abandoned me--"

"You know...there's something just so satisfying about double-entendres...especially when they're not even anything dirty or obscene."

"What are you--"

My eyes widened as I immediately spotted the log cottage behind Adonis.

"A nice little page out of a comic book's villain playbook, wouldn't you agree?"

I connected the dots. Volt was in trouble. Explosive trouble!

"I will have to reward Dr. Rasputin for his contribution...or maybe I'll just snap his neck.  His plan's technically mine now.  But what's a villain's plot without a little bit of the Shamalayan touch?"

Of course there's a twist.

"You know...it's amusing you said that he'd never abandon you.  I wish I could have seen the face you made almost 6 or 7 years ago when you told him that you shouldn't be friends...and handed that bracer right back to him..." Adonis grinned devilishly as his eyes bulged widely.

Oh no he didn't... For the first time that I could remember...my...temper...FLARED.

"YOU--"

"Ah-ah-ah.  Think long and hard about this one.  You can either bring me to justice.....or..."

"Why do you never assume I can do both--"  I started. Then reality set in.

The explosion rocked the whole forest as the ground even tremored a little.

"Whoopsies!"

I whirled and looked aghast at the fiery wreck in horror, too horrified for the words to come out.

"Good talk.  And...uh...Chara says...well...you don't want to know what he said.  Oh that's right...he is after all...just someone I hypnotized into believing he's your brother, right?  I mean...it's not like a liar can tell the truth...can he?" Adonis grinned ear to ear as he casually stepped backwards, shrinking back down to the spitting image resemblance he stole from me.

"Well then...I guess the last thing to tell you is to...uh...stay detemined." The portal closed.

He was gone. He did it. He really did it.

"VOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOLT!!!!"

Sub-Entry 259:  "Recovery.  Regret.  Resolute."
* CRYPTOSMASHER LOGON... *

* USER IDENTIFICATION CONFIRMED. *

* LIFE SIGNS: WEAK *

"Uh...where...where am..."

I can only assume I've again taken over the logging. What must Asriel have gone through in my absence? Oh gods...every part of me is screaming in pain...I should be...well......but I'm not.

"Volt!  You're awake!  Thank the stars.  Thank Lady Destiny!" Asriel clearly wanted to hug me...but he bandages definitely told a story.

"Dad...you gave us such a scare.  When Asriel showed up, carrying your broken, burned body...I was worried Lady Destiny's contract might have actually--"

"Hey, Eldest Daughter...it's gonna take more than that to..."

Then she slapped me. FRICKIN. OWWWWWWWW. When my eldest daughter's temper got the best of her, only she'd slap her own father even when he's a burn victim.

"What were you thinking?!" She was about in tears. "I thought you said--"

"Elektra...it was beyond my control."

"The S.T.C. Council is going to answer for this.  I swear I'm going to get Queen Brooke--"

"Elektra?  Could you not.  I can smell your doctor's coat start to smoke.  Your elemental powers?"

Elektra begrudingly took a step back.

"I'm sory, Volt...I let you down...I..he got away and--"

It was the first time in a while Goat Son tasted bitter defeat...at least he considered it defeat.

"Asriel...I owe you an apology.  I told you that--"

"I know.  I understand.  I get it.  I fully grasp what...and who you were protecting me from."

A bit of silence.

"You don't have to be sorry, Asriel.  He's...he's beyond either of us.  I barely come out on top with him whenever we clash.  Morbid to admit, but this isn't the worst thing he's done to me."

"I don't want to think about it.  I just want you to get better." In that moment Asriel's 10-year-old self was peeking through again. Yeah...even now at the age of 117 1/2...he was still a kid at heart and worried about losing his best friend.

"Just give me time on this plasma coil you got me hooked up to...and I'll be off the injured list by tomorrow."

"No way!  Out of the--"

"Elektra.  Let your father go."

"But how can you--"  Elektra started to protest to Lisa.

"I've accepted it.  And...I saw what he's had to stand up against.  I know about Universal City."

"When are you going to tell me about it?"

"That's not the kind of thing you should ask to know.  The less you know, the better."

"But we're family."

"We'll...talk about this later." Lisa kissed me gently on the nose. That part of me had regnerated but I could still smell fire and charring in my nasal pasages.

"You're going to be the death of me."

"Don't even joke about that, daughter." I scolded.

"Please don't." Asriel agreed.

"Look...I'll keep watch over him over the night.  I should have watched out for him better.  As his partner I should have been more responsible.  Golly this whole speech I'm giving sounds like a cliche from every action comedy ever spoken by every protagonist feeling guilty he landed his partner in the hospital."

"Hey...you still got your sense of humor, Azzy."

Lisa bid goodbye and Elektra left me to recouperate.

"So...I guess this is the part where I pledge to get this guy for you?"

"Asriel.  Out of the question."

"I thought you'd say that.  And honestly...I'm glad you did.  He pushed my buttons back there.  I was so close to doing something I'd probably regret.  Something that wouldn't end well for me."

"So you understand how dangerous he is.  How powerful he is.  And the lie that he's been living across the InfinityVerse."

"No wonder the Council has a stick up their...well...you-know-where.  They can't tell which one's the real you."

"Few people can when he's...like that."

"How many people must he have hurt while he was disguised as you?  If...this relates to...Universal City, it's no wonder you don't want to talk about it."

I nodded sadly. "We will talk about it.  But...I'm not ready to.  I have...a lot of demons to exorcise."

By now more patches of my fur had grown back in. In that short of time with Asriel, I was starting to get feeling back that wasn't just pain and regret in both physical and emotional sense.

"Man...you took and explosion.  And you're this stable afterward.  I don't want to meet the crazy person that looks good after going through that."

"I think I'm going to get some rest."

"Yeah...me too." Asriel sat down in the chair and covered up with a blanket. "I'm here for you.  Any time you need me and..."

"You don't need to apologize for anything.  But..."

"Yeah.  I do need to stay resolute."

"You mean...Determined?"

"Yeah.  That."

THe lights went off and we both drifted off. Tomorrow would be a new day and I'd be back on the job.

If only we hadn't let our guard down...

Sub-Entry 260: "The Other Sandal Drops. Volt and Asriel Lost in the Axis of Reality..."
If you haven't already picked up, we were about to learn another harsh lesson about expecting the unexpected.

Sure enough we were both back on the job and investigating the last known coordinates that Adonis had taken me to. But sure enough the zone had closed up and the dimension had erased from existence.

Backtracking to Phados turned up nothing.

On top of that, the chaos across the UltraVerse was building. I was even starting to get calls for help from old names and faces...which Asriel and I had even recently been in contact with.

"...what kind of a problem with Ecto 1-B are we talking, Peter?  ...did you justsay...Ectotron?  Hold on...incomming transmission from our allies on Arus...now we got incomming from...this can't be right...how is the Phoenix Foundation still...and why were we getting calls from two sides claiming to BE the Phoenix Foundation?  One's from Peter Thorton and the other from...I've never even heard of a Matilda Weber...  I've got two Magnum P.I.'s on hold..."

Asriel finally yanked the plug from my system.

"Volt.  You're starting to overwork yourself.  You're going to far, too fast, too soon.  Let's just take a step back and try to analyze this."

I begrudgingly admited Asriel was right.

"I'm nervous to set foot off VGM-098...but we can't lead Chapolis back here again."

"And that's what they want.  To get you too paranoid to act." Again Asriel's keen powers of perception served him well as did his deductive reason and well-spring of wisdom.

"Glad you're the voice of reason...he's definitely got me wound up like a spring."

"He's poking us both to bring out our worst."

"And then ready to play the victim card when either of us snap; strengthening his cause over a lie he orchestrated."

"How...how did he...he's not your--"

"No.  I have no twin brother.  But you are right.  He did steal my very physical appearance."

"So that beefed up...abomination....that's his true form?"

"Yes...well...no...maybe...I don't really know.  He was my protegee and I knew him inside and out...but...now I don't know him anymore."

"Oh.  I'm...sorry."

"All in the past, Azzy.  All in the past."

Asriel and I were of course called into STC to answer to the Council. Bordering on an interrogation, we both offered what little we could. But in the end...our contributions ended up being woefully unsatisfactory. And they grilled us about it until Daimyou stepped in.

"Well that was certainly something." I walked out of the building to get some fresh air. Asriel was behind me.

"I'm starting to see why you hate your day job."

"Yeah, but my night job sure has its perks."

"I know, right.  Why would you ever give up being UCIAT's Commander?"

"Time makes fools of us all.  You start realizing you've made your dream come true and then you find a new dream when you realize you've dreamed the first dream too long.  You slow down.  You're not in the same capacity.  You pass the torch onto Miles Prowler.  You seek out your mentor that taught you everything about chrono-science and help him make his dream come to pass.

You share the dreama and make something greater. You wake up one day and you realize the Goddesses of this UltraVerse deceptively convinced you to sign one of two contracts making you the White Knight of their game. Suddnely you're immortal and realzing that moment that a Black Knight is chosen, your life will be HELL. So you and your friends that you let in on the big secret agree to lesser contracts under the code name Genie's Lamp and Pandora's Box and form a council to oversee time, space, and dimensions and enforce the peace, law, and order that the Goddess you pledged to."

"Then mistakes were made.  The dream turns dark." Asriel reasoned.

"Not just quoting Iron Man 3, are we?"

"I'm too young to understand yet, but I get the gist.  When I experience it for myself then we can talk as equals.  Right?"

"Right."

"So...that's how the Council became...what they are."

"THey followed the money trail and recognition...and grew to like it when our organization was revealed to the UltraVerse's multi-galactic federation government.  They say Samus' own Galactic Federation even threw their chips in.  Suddenly...they stopped seeing their power as a burden and became intoxicated by it.  Their morals began to erode, they stopped listening to me and...here we are."

"This is why the word betrayal his us so hard, isn't it?"

"Naevity isn't the same as innocence.  Hard lesson to learn from experience."

I looked off into the endless artificial geoscape. We were outside of space and time and known dimension. Between worlds and eras, as it were. This facade gave us semblance of normalcy and familiarity.

"Well.  I think we've taken a long enough coffee break.  And I don't even drink coffee." I stood up and stretched. "What say we go back inside, Azzy?"

No response.

"Azzy?"

Silence.

"Come on, man don't leave me--"

I turned around and my jaw dropped.

"Aren't you going to finish the pun?" Adonis grinned in all his towering glory as he held Asriel bound at his wrists by a rope.

"Volt!  Don't worry about me!  Get help!"

"Shh-shh-shh-shh-shh-shhhhhh!  The grown-ups are talking." Adonis grinned condescendingly. "I'll meet you on the playground after school."

"You stole that from Dennis Hopper's President Koopa in the Super Mario Bros. Movie!" Asriel growled.

"And I want to thank yoooooou for recognizing it, "Weegie"."

"Let him go, Adonis."

Adonis looked at me and grinned...then stuck a squeaky toy I recongized from Holly's Dog Pound into his mouth and gave it a few bites, emitting a few squeaks before taking it back out.

"You want him, boy?  You want him?  You want the goat?" He was definitely mocking me as a canine.

That was when a Red Cyber Portal opened.

"No...no....no!" I gasped.

"You want the goat son, little pooch?  Well then..." Adonis wound up. "Goooooo FETCH!!!!!" He slung Asriel through the portal.

"You psychopath!!!" I shouted at Adonis.

"Don't bother calling for help.  I mean...you never know when a..."

I figured out what he had done. He'd isolated Asriel and myself from STC HQ's plane of existence in a pseudo-dimensional bubble. There WAS no calling for help. But worse...I knew how he did it. I knew what he used to do it with. How...how did he get access to...THAT?!

"You slime.   Julian Kintobor's Ultimate Annhilator should be in a million irreparable pieces in the--"

"In the Z-Vault.   The room of confiscated dangerous materials.  It's fun making new things out of old tech.  You know...your traitor on the council was fun to manipulate.  Getting him to hand over dangerous technology to Julian "Ivo Robotnik" Kintobor and getting you a death sentence for a handful of minor infractions..."

"You...you...!"

"It was cute how you almost gave ACM-001's Bunnie Rabbot her life back, only to doom the Freedom Fighters.  And how you scrambled to get history back on track after your blunderous mistake with correcting history that didn't even need correcting.  But was it REALLY a mistake or...a choice?   After all...you comforted yourself by telling yourself that at least...now had a choice in getting one arm and two legs roboticized."

"Keep talking...just keep talking...I dare you."

"Dare accepted.  And then there was his End Game.  You really tried hard to save their Princess Sally's life.  You even went so far as to put her soul into the body of your own Terrain Master as a carrying case while her comatose body healed in that faux casket right out of Snow White.

But you REALLY crossed lines when you turned around and did the same thing in infamous entry ACM-001-203. Wow...Iron Dominion really ticked you off, didn't they?"

I was about foaming at the mouth.

"And poor, sweet Nicole...turned into Iron Nicole by the Iron Queen's nanotech...the things you did after the home invasion...storming into Neo Robotrpolis....heheheheh...the very reason you imposed self-exile from New Mobotropolis for a year before you snuck back in past Nicole's awareness just to share a short moment with Bunnie...or should I call you the closest thing she's ever had to a father figure--"

"You're beyond out of line."

"But enough about the fate of a dimension that no longer exists.  Let's talk about ANOTHER dimension that no longer exists."

"Don't you dare."

"So who do you miss more?   Naturewing...Goldenheart...or maybe that detective--"

I suddenly slugged Adonis in the snout. He took it without a second thought...then revealed the horror that my punch didn't even faze him let along bruise or scratch him.

"You don't even realize what you've done at this moment.  What a horrible friend you are...forgetting about the goat you so wanted to save just moments ago."

My eyes widened.

"Well what will it be?  Stick around and make me pay?  Indulge a terrorist traitor in good old fisticuffs?  I mean...if ya' want a whuppin', I'll be glad t' oblige." He suddenly did his worst impression of Mark Hamill's Joker.

I didn't give it another thought and dove into the portal.

"So predictable.  So sad.  Oh well.  Out of my fur for a while.  I guess Claw put it best...lets do some EVIL..." Adonis chuckled as he closed the portal on us.

As he resumed his shape and form, quick-changed into spare copies of my clothes and then quickly peeled off the Chaopolis emblem, revealing the S.T.C. logo underneath.

"Volt!  The Council's getting a little hot under the collar.  You better not keeping Daimyou waiting.

"I'll be right there!"

"Hey...where's Asriel?"

"Oh, he had to head home.  College applications."

"Right.  Well...hurry up."

A moment passed after the door closed.

"And now a bit of fun before returning to Chaopolis.  I'm sure...Chara will have words for me.  No doubt he already knows about me being...heheheh...in the words of a certain unhinged barber named Fred......naaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaughtyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy..."

Yeah. He went with a Courage the Cowardly Dog reference. Go figure.

Oh boy, oh boy...I screwed up. Asriel had a huge head start on me. All because Adonis got in my head.

I was hurtling down an unknown portal, chasing after him, headed to cordinates I didn't even know.

I thought that once I caught up to him and we landed, I could spend a couple hours triangulating where in the UltraVerse we were.

Little did I know...Adonis had banished us from the UltraVerse into some...other univese, entirely. Somewhere in the Axis of Reality I didn't research. Somewhere that the Goddesses's reach didn't extend.

We were outside of the Undertale AU. We were far away from VGM-098.

In short...

We lost twice...and now we WERE lost.

TO BE CONTINUED...

Chapter 27

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