PLDF Chapter 14

"Chapter 14: More From the Weird Group of Monsters Friends I Know and Love (Sub-Entries 131-140)"

Sub-Entry 131: "The Great Papyrus":
You know I did not go into nearly enough detail with my relationship with Papyrus. And while I was certainly risking some points on my driver's license with a drag race against him at the drag strip track...why we have one I never got a straight answer, mind you...I might as well set the record straight.

Back when I was fighting, back-to-back, with Frisk to save seven universes I'd made my own plea to an AU's Papyrus; one of the ascended Seven Absolute Gods that had entered our nexus point, offering to become one of his friends.

I'm not about to go back on my word. To me, every Papyrus was...or would be my friend. That was as simple as it got.

I was sure well on my way with this timeline's Pappy.

"Nyeheheheheheh!"

Come on. Did you really expect him to open up with anything else?

"Ahhh!  You have arrived, as agreed, Asgore Junior!"

You know...Asgore Junior still sounds better than Tiny Asgore or Mini-Asgore. And why should I be ashamed of being my father's son?

"As I live and breathe, the Great Papyrus in all his Captain of the Royal Army glory!"

He never gets tired of hearing that. Despite the fact that he's essentially just Dad's assistant on the job; watering flowers and inspiring him to cut hedges in his likeness. I will say, the one at school most certainly does look like a Cool Dude. But enough adulation for the taller Skele-bro. I can certainly talk the talk about us clicking but proving it means more than just a lot of back and forth compliments.

I think the thing that brings us together when we're not enjoying our sweet rides on the road is, of all things...puzzles.

Credit me as the one who imported Tetris to this world. And boy oh boy...did I get sooooooooo many people hooked on it. I just know I'm going to be punished for this somehow. But when you start a craze, enjoy the fame and the accolades while they last. If I learned anything about fads in Miranda, it's that they come and go. The latest Skrillex track on Aunt Vi's doorbell was old hat to her in two months. Pop culture is fickle. It's the best thing in the world...then fifteen minutes later, it's like using your hands to play an 80's game: "It's like a baby's toy." Mental note to self...convince Grillby's to host a "Cafe 80's" in his diner for a limited time. I think people in town would just eat up an era that they've never even seen; due to the fact everyone's been crammed inside Ebott during those decades. I know Mitzi would relish the idea...pun, fully intended...of a digital waiter on a TV screen portrayed by Michael Jackson. Though...maybe "Grillbz" should hold off on the ones of Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev...ehehehehh.

Volt probably still hates politics. Can't blame him.

Right. Back on point...

So, yeah. We obviously went head to head on a lot of rounds of Tetris & Dr. Mario. I'm sure Vi won't miss the SNES console I forgot to return years back. Wow, am I getting like Chara in my old age? That's pretty mischievous of me, y'know? Ahem. Focus, Asriel.

Somehow, however, it's just nice enough to unplug the console and sit down and help him with a 1,000 piece jig-saw puzzle. Recently he's been trying his luck with one of those giant 3D puzzles that look like something of epic Lego builds. You know, like an entire Hogwarts’s School of Wizardry, or a 1/18 th scale model of the Hook & Ladder 8 firehouse where Doctors Venkman, Stantz, Spengler, and Mr. Zeddemore work.

He's waiting day and night for Mettaton to release an official building block kit in his likeness. While, ambitious, I'm pretty sure official merch would disqualify him from one of those building competitions.

"It's coming some day.  You just wait and see.  Mettaton would most certainly not disappoint one of his die-hard fans!"

"You know it." I smirked.

But it was more than just puzzles and cars with us. Let's not forget...under Di-Di's training, this was the most ambitious skeleton this world had ever seen. And he didn't get that reputation by spending all day in his race car bed. No, sir. From early crack-of-dawn he'd be out jogging and doing his rounds.

"Saaaaans!  Get your lazy bones out of bed, this instant!"

...at least he wouldn't have to do it alone with me on the case.

"You'll have to forgive me, young prince.  My brother can be so aggravating."

"Yeah.  Siblings.  What can you do?"

I was laughing outside but a part of me was still crying. Missing her. You know who. That heart-shaped locket still means everything to me.

"Well, I hope it's not forward if I take his place as your jogging partner?  Sarge wouldn't let me hear the end of it if I made excuses why I'm not keeping up with my physical fitness."

"Nyeheheheh!  Now THAT is a proper attitude.  My liege, you are on your way to surpassing Asgore...though...in all fairness that's not the tallest hurdle to clear as he is now..."

I think I'm teaching him out how to pad criticism delicately. Granted, he was already good at it, but a few extra lessons in tact will make him all the more likeable, yes? The politically correct world we live in, eh?

"Dad's alright.  Really."

It was true, though. Asgore Dreemurr had really let himself go. I wonder what he looked like before he and Mom had me. Somehow the two of them had to be in some kind of shape to win that Nose-Nuzzling Champion trophy that's still sitting in his den.

I think some day I might think about continuing the family legacy and take the title back from Doggamy and Doggaressa. Err...when I find the right partner.

It's a darn good thing no one out there knows how hard I'm blushing right now--

Aww, crap.

In case you don't know, I'm face-palming so hard right now.

So of course we trained together; getting physical as Olivia Newton-John put it. That made me think of Glitter.EXE, you know.

"So you've obviously got steady employment as Dad's employee.  Even occasionally getting some assistance from me, part-time.  But are the rumors true that you're looking for a second job?  Don't tell me you're not a big enough breadwinner in the Skele-bros. Household?"

"No, no.  It's nothing like that.  It's not even about the money.  But...well...I've been thinking about it, young prince."

"I see.  Taking on more responsibility to earn your way to becoming a true hero like Undyne?"

"Nyeheheheh!  Captain of the Royal Guard is certainly a full time job but...perhaps going the extra mile would do me a bit of good.   Maybe with more physical demands I can reach a level where I can suplex heavy objects like Undyne and truly establish myself!"

"Powerful!  Popular!  Prestigious!  Yup, that's Papyrus." I couldn't help myself with that.

"Wowee!  You understand me perfectly!"

I just shrugged with a goofy grin. I almost let out a goat bleat for old time's sake but...it wouldn't be the same on this world. Gosh, I was really beginning to miss having my snoot booped. And...it would just be weird coming from Papyrus. But maybe from the right person--

Gah! Stop that, Azzy! You're getting distracted!

And soon enough our workout around town came to an end. Granted, I'm still not on his level in some ways, yet. That skeleton can JUMP, let me tell you. However, I more than hold my own thanks to the discipline I learned from the Martial Arts and from those many times on Sarge's treadmill.

Honestly, having to run on a treadmill with Lego pieces glued to the track while barefoot is STILL torture. But...if I can learn to do it without wincing or complaining, anyone can. Right?

Maybe not Antoine.

"Great workout!  And all that dedication to physical fitness has certainly earned a reward.

Taking the good and the great was easy as snail pie.

"Uh...?"

But then came the part I remembered...he still makes spaghetti.

Be still my beating tastebuds. It HAD to be lunch time at this point. *groan*

Actually it was still early so it was technically breakfast...brunch?

Either way the meal was right in between my other obligations.

Papyrus' mile-high spaghetti had at least become edible since Jon gave him tips and tricks long ago. But c'mon. What standards can you set for a guy who has no tongue, much less any vital organs. A skeleton is  skeleton, you know? How could I expect him to know what's delicious and what...could probably peel paint.

He learned from Undyne, after all. While his was barely palatable...hers was bordering on lethal.

Maybe not that bad. I'll get to that can of worms another time, but suffice to say when Undyne cooked...your luck was only good when she ended up burning her house down...again. At least that way the meal was too ruined to even recover let alone eat.

Chara. Violet. The both of you really taught me how not to mince words. I can't say I like it. I don't think I want to change my special attack to "Rude Buster".

I digress...

"Eat hearty, young prince!  Keep your strength up!   Bone Appetite--  NYAAAAAAARGH!!!  I DID IT AGAIN!"

Yeah...another thing...I still have to keep the puns under my hat. It's bad enough when he lets one slip out and loses it. Yikes. How can one skeleton have such a bad sense of humor?

"Don't wait on my account!" Papyrus said after downing his glass of milk. Really, it was about all I ever really saw him with after a workout. Have to maintain the calcium, right? Or...maybe he was doing it because it was an expected trope. Who can say? At least he was thinking healthy.

Which is why I NEVER brought up how many times Sans took Frisk and me to Grillby's and put it on his tab.

He likes to treat us to greasy food. But that's another story.

.....you can really tell I'm trying to delay the inevitable, can't you? *gulp*  Down the hatch...

So...I can only imagine I've tied Frisk for...most passionate expression. Either way. It's enough to ensure Papyrus is pleased with his work, thinking that my taste buds have been elevated to the heaven-side layer.

I think my tongue actually went the other direction but you know I never use THAT kind of language. Even if it's just the H-word.

Well. I hope this doesn't ruin my lunch with his brother. At least I'd have the opportunity to work off those non-existent calories with my next social obligation. But I was getting ahead of myself.

"Once you're situated, our training can resume."

"Okay, but don't overdo it.  I can't be late for meeting up with--"

"Oh yes.  That would be most unpleasant if I were to keep you from your royal duties, sir prince."

Easy on the prince stuff. The most I have to do with prince things is "1999" in my media player playlist. And because Vi slipped it in there..."Bat Dance" from the 1990 Batman movie.

Although my favorite song to focus to was still "Two Princes" by Spin Doctors. College rock is still awesome even out of my college years.

Well, training did resume but true to his word he did keep it short enough to give me a buffer to get to my next appointment. And to that, I had to head back home.

Pappy was the warm-up.

My day was about to get a far more challenging person to contend with...

"If you have time afterward, we can continue where we left off!  Nyeheheheheh!"

Sub-Entry 132: "Undyne":
As if I didn't have enough training to do...

"Hmph." I grunted as I tightened my black belt. The gi still fits like a glove.

"I don't know what the point of wearing pajamas into a sparring session is."

"Not pajamas.  Traditional martial arts uniform.  Though, you are right...it does resemble bottoms and a cut-off bathrobe."

"I still can't believe YOU'RE the teacher and I'm the one learning from you."

"Humility is a virtue, Di-Di.  Accepting limitations and overcoming them is a part of the discipline.  You know how I was when you first tried to get me to learn to fight."

"Fuh-huh-huh-huh-huh!  Yeah, you were totally a wimpy loser!"

"Hey, now." I wrinkled my snoot.

Okay, I wasn't really offended. I knew how rough around the edges she was. She didn't pad blows, she didn't hold back, and she sure didn't mince words. She said it to your face and she meant every word of it.

Though I suppose that was the sign that there was a bit of integrity in her. I still found it ironic that a master of Green Attacks that there could be any connection to the kindness virtue. Even nowadays when she fought for real...she showed NO mercy. I'd seen many an instance where she did not hold back when making a citizen's arrest. She's lucky that the charges against the perpetrator weren't dropped on account of assault and battery. But that was one less "purse-grubbing-puke" in the park at night, to quote one "Wayne Gretzky on Steroids" known as Casey Jones.

This quoting thing really has gotten habit forming. Give it another half decade and I'll have this whole town soaked in pop culture and trading references back and forth.

I was already getting flack from mom over my own take on headbanging in the Merv Mobile. Hey, I was every bit as worthy as Wayne and Garth, right? That reminds me, I should stop by and pick up some coffee and crullers for Burgerpants. That was another friend I was chomping...or was it champing...?...at the bit to tell about.

I was really piling up the allusions to DeltaRune. Apparently he and I are friends in that dreamscape world, as well.

Try as I might I haven't convinced Undyne to put on the uniform, much less take off her boots in the dojo. She didn't get it......yet. If she ever did, it would be a surprise. But oh well.

It was hard enough to convince her NOT to wear her old armor during kendou practice. Aye-yai-yai. Pretty sure she also didn't appreciate having to use wooden shinai swords instead of going with the real thing...rather her spear against one of my collections of yari, pole-arms, and naginatas. I picked up a trick or two about forging weapons from Bunnie. And that made me ALLLLL the more popular with Undyne. I was now her go-to when it came to forging all the swords and melee weapons she could ever want.

Sometimes I wonder if I learned TOO MUCH from the old life?

"Okay.  From the top.  And try not to splinter another shinai?  I can forge as many as I need, and wood may grow on trees...but it does dig into my wallet having to replace them THIS often!"

I was well-off. But even my finances had limits. I didn't have Aunt Vi's fortune to sponge off of. Not that I ever did but...she always pampered me without me even asking. So...this was definitely a test of not growing complacent much less entitled. Papyrus was right. Hard work was the way to earn your way in life; with a little competition to motivate.

Does this sound like I'm endorsing capitalism? Wasn't my intent. Ahem. Subject change. In fact, get focused, goat boy. You're the sensei. You have to be aware. Not rely on your student to grasp the lessons. That's on them. Like a parent, you can only give them roots...and wings.

Oh boy. Did she ever make me appreciate what Toriel and Asgore must've gone through to raise Chara and me. Though...we were probably NOWHERE near as rambunctious.

"Oh boy...that's another hundred Gold I'm going to have to add to the damages.  I don't think I'll be able to apologize to my neighbor enough.  Maybe I should have constructed a dojo on the outskirts of town instead of moving things to the outdoor DBZ-inspired tournament ring in the back yard because it was safer to my household than using the one I fashioned from my basement?"

I sighed. I was nowhere near as challenging a student to Bunnie as Undyne was to me. I guess we all got to earn our stripes as a sensei.

"Again.  From the top."

Undyne...didn't have much patience for katas.

For me...it was a test of my patience to see how long it would take before I could get her to...passable.

My eyes had changed to cyan the entire lesson, if that's any indication.

We did finally move on to something more her speed. After this much time had passed as my student, I'd finally bumped her up to breaking boards with a bare fist. Easy-peasy for Undyne.

So easy that she started to get carried away with umm...stronger material.

Is this how the bonus round in Mortal Kombat started?

* CRUNCH*

"Err...that's okay...I guess I'll be buying Burgerpants a new boom box... (After I made the mistake of borrowing it for this...)  Oh boy.

I wonder if he and I were friends in other AU's? If Undyne kept stuff like this up, we probably won't be for much longer.

Going through the drills went smoother. She had the knack for punches, kicks, and everything in between. It didn't even matter how many repetitions we went through.

"Uh...Undyne?  You technically haven't broken any rules to earn a punishment.  It's not necessary to do sixty push-ups on your knuckles--"

"NYAAAAAAAAAARGH!!!"

Don't facepalm, Azzy. She's learning. Slowly...learning...oh boy.

And then there was sparring. Yeah...

I'm not sure what got me worse...having to face off with someone who didn't hold back...

...or consistently defeating someone who didn't hold back; and have to stomach the intense frustration of losing to someone who used to hide behind his mother whenever he faced a confrontation.

They say you learn by doing it.

I know what she's supposed to be learning...but what am I learning from this? So far all I've learned is how much it feels like my sins are crawling up my back every time I see her flat on her face, pounding the ground with her fist and trying not to swear.......much.

I felt like this was NOT helping my friendship with my old guardian.

But then again...when it came to Volt's philosophy that friendships are best forged through cooperation versus Violet's philosophy that friendships are born out of competition and rivalry...I was having a tug-of-war between the both of them. I really didn't want either to be wrong but in this case, it would probably help if Vi were right for a change about something that wasn't mathematics, computers, or biochemical science.

"Y'know--"

"No excuses!  I'll run myself into the ground if I have to!"

"Dy-Dy, there's no shame in taking a step back and getting rest and trying again--"

"You better not be saying I'm weak!  I didn't stop to rub my boo-boos or take nappy-naps when I was trying to beat your old man!"

"Ehhhh..."

Okay...I definitely see a lot of Papyrus in her. I still can't figure out why she didn't. Every time I hear that story about how Pappy camped out in front of her doorstep in the middle of the night until morning to ask again about joining the Royal Guard...that is to say... ...I mean...come on!

...wasn't any of this remotely familiar, Undyne?

We kept going until the heat of this unusually warm October caught up to her and the Armor took its toll; apparently at a slower but definite pace compared to how she chased Frisk into Hotland...

"Armor...so...hot...!

And face-down she goes. I think she was actually drying out. Yikes.

It's okay. I know how this goes.

One bottled water poured out onto her head later...

"......how the Hell long was I out?"

"Long enough."

"Not again..." She grumbled, pushing herself up.

"You know there was a reason I offered you a training gi--"

Undyne wasn't listening.

"Bah.  I guess same time tomorrow?" Undyne growled, looking at the time on her watch.

"Yeah, I guess so.  You did well--"

"Save it, fluffy.  I'm not accepting anything but the best if I'm going to keep my title as Spear of Justice."

"That's what I'm worried about..." I muttered, hoping she didn't hear. Then again, she wasn't paying attention.

"Undyne?"

"What is it, Prince?"

"Thanks for being my first student."

A growl. I hated it when I frustrated her.

"Ahhh, I can't stay mad at you!" She suddenly grabbed me in a one-armed bear hug.

"MPPH!!!"

Not another--

"Noogie, noogie. noogie!"

Watch the horns! Don't damage my horns!"

Truth be told I don't know how strong they were. I'd only ever had one of the cracked or broken off as...Ultimate Hyperdeath on that horrible day in Miranda City, when the whole world almost ended.

I was instinctively protective when I didn't have them retracted. Maybe I was channeling an Asriel that had gotten his horns broken off...?

Why was I protective of them, anyway? It's not like they're a status symbol. They get in the way a lot. And really...do I need them to survive? Though...I'm pretty sure if one got broken off, I'd probably bleed out. They weren't just dry calcium or ivory or...what the heck even ARE goat horns made of? You'd think that's something I would have looked up or figured out on my own all this time.

I gasped for breath once she let me go.

"Uh...that'll be all.  Err...dismissed." I tried to shake off the daze.

"You better not hold back next time because I'll be stronger than ever!  I'm gonna beat you and then you can call me sen...ku?"

"Sensei." I corrected.

"Whatever." Undyne headed off.

Oh boy.

She's really all right, y'know. Sometimes she's just too...butch for her own good. And mine. Oww. I hope that shoulder's not dislocated...

Sub-Entry 133: "Dr. Alphys":
"Alphys Institute For Advanced Research.  Seems like the biggest of step-ups for you, Doctor.  It may not carry the title of Royal Scientist...but being in charge of your own laboratory complex?  Yeah.  Good things happen to good people."

I looked at the elaborate sign before the industrial complex with awe and pride.

You really can't keep a good scientist down. You earned this, Alphys. No "deserving" here. You really earned this. It's yours and I'm happy to be a part of it.

While granted Undyne and Alphys being a ship was the best thing to happen to her, Undyne wasn't exactly the best partner to help out in a precision research facility. And not exactly the best mind to turn to, at that.

So...when she asked to be part of that research...how could I say no? Answer? I couldn't. This was absolutely perfect. And somehow...I felt it would be instrumental in achieving that goal of mine deep in the recesses of my heart and soul...in the back of my mind. I knew what it was I wanted...what it was I was missing... But I wouldn't say it outright. To do so would...admit sadness and longing. It would admit the one word I was trying avoid.......homesickness.

It was too soon to look back to the past. I had to press on through the present in the future. Only at a point of my choosing...only at a point I knew I had reached the plateau I was seeking...only then could I be worthy enough to turn and see where I came from. Not just my point of origin, mind you. No. Everything in between. That missing part of me that I can't speak of until I was ready. But no doubt...Frisk and the others would be feeling the same by then. I think...secretly we all longed for the goal. But until I got to a "halfway point" of some kind...I was not going to say it outright.

Until then...

I had ideas. Many ideas. I had a lifetime of research of my own. And I inherited someone else's. Plus more experiences than I could shake a Bunsen burner at. Yet, it all wouldn't be complete unless it was seasoned with multiple seasons of educational science programs from Mr. Wizard to Beakman to Bill Nye to juuuuuust a little bit of science fiction with science fact mixed in from Dr. Stone. Thank you, Senku for filling in the gaps of what Vi hadn't taught me about chemistry and what Sally didn't get a chance to explain in physics.

"P-Prince Asriel!  Y-y-you're constantly on t-time!  I can always d-d-depend on y-you."

"Alphys, I told you before.  No prince here.  No titles.  Just Asriel.  I'm a plain old guy.  Just like my dad.  Just like everyone around here.  The way of the kingdom is past.  It's a new day.  Though...with a noticeable lack of pancakes and Bootie-O's."

"Excuse me?"

"Sorry.  Old Pro-wrestling reference.   I almost expect Sans to show up with his own "Francesca"."

"Who?"

"Not a who.  A what.  Actually, a trombone.  You know...I'll explain another time.  It's more of a subject for Undyne, really."

I couldn't imagine Alphys getting into WWE stuff. It wasn't exactly...cerebral. But Undyne would eat it up. Papyrus and Mettaton, too. That is, once I explained it was all scripted. You know...the f-word that you CAN say but shouldn't around anyone who's a pro-wrestling fan or superstar.

I'm talking about the word "fake". Get your minds out of the gutter, will ya?

Huh...I was in a moment, there. Remembering all those sweaty, huge ego-ed guys and gals really spikes my aggression at times.

"Oh.  R-r-r-r-right.  She's uh...m-mentioned those b-before.  They're just so...intimidating...gladiatorial......and...mmmmn...dreamy--"

Alphys caught herself and covered her blushing face. "E-excuse me!  I've g-g-got to go to the b-bathroom!" She raced through the main entrances, leaving papers behind.

All I could do was scratch my head and blink. Maybe...she WOULD be into that kind of stuff. You never can tell with the quiet, introverts,  y'know. Though...in all fairness half of me was introvert, the other half extrovert. How does THAT work? I guess I just learned how to be flexible. Having a versatile personality sure made it easy to make friends and maintain friendships. That was always something I was good at...being able to push just the right buttons and get on people's good sides near instantaneously. Was I just that affable?

That was about the point I started to worry that I was too much of a Gary Stu again and......this would lead to the talk with mom and dad for advice I knew I was never really going to get. Just love and support. Really...wasn't that all I needed?

This takes me back.

At this point, I think she should be the one whose eyes turned purple. But...perseverance prevails, right?

Purple eyes are almost as unusual as orange ones, to be honest. And yellow ones made me feel like a cat or some kind of jungle predator. But these? Like I was in one of those magic anime with a dark, brooding, antisocial necromancer that's always frowning a dour frown and often teamed up with a flirty, ditz of an airhead that he keeps smacking over the head for being "annoying".

No doubt Alphys could name over fifty anime that used that trope.

I wasn't even sure why perseverance was manifesting. I sure didn't feel backed into a corner, trying to survive. But maybe it was more in tune with my scientific curiosity. My urge to study and learn. Granted, I still wore a pair of reading glasses from time to time when I really needed to hit the books...just coincidence I shared that in common with the Perseverance Soul. But y'know... Maybe there really isn't such a thing as coincidence in this world. Maybe it is all part of Destiny and Fate's plan...

Anyway. I did have more than one notebook which I felt honored that fallen child's memory.

"I'll show myself in." I shrugged and headed in.

I passed by Alphys' staff; human and monster alike. Everyone there greeted me, one by one with some form of welcome or small-talk. She was gaining notoriety in the science community and started to draw in slowly-improving amounts of funding.

Apparently the surface world wanted to hear what she had to say.

It was a chance from living in seclusion, haunted by her own "failures". And by now the Amalgamates were regular visitors. Alphys hadn't given up on trying to stabilize them further. Get them less...gooped up and zombie-esque but...

I guess even Determination-driven jumbles of monsters who'd once fallen down had limits to what could be done with them. They were at least alive and reunited with their families. That was the victory. And really...wasn't there a lesson against judging on appearance? Sure they were a little..."Wuzzled" up but...their hearts and souls were still pure, right?

But enough about the Amalgamates.

Alphys was focusing her research into other directions, now.

Mettaton always needed periodic maintenance and the occasional upgrades. Which of course allowed Alphys to continue working with robotics.

She had been approached by certain agencies interested in her take on surveillance; finding her camera systems in the Underground...fascinating.

She has yet to get back to them. Frankly...I feel Al Dente's shadow looming over us. And Aunt Vi's to a degree. The modern world we live in with gradually diminishing privacy. Oh boy.

"Alphys, you okay in there?" I knocked on the door.

Something told me it wasn't actually a restroom at all. Experience had shown that the little reptile's room back in her lab in Hotland was actually the entrance to the True Lab. Which meant it wasn't the bathroom she was frequently visiting...it was to hide away in her secret shame and try to retreat into her metaphorical shell when things got...too much for her to process.

I guess...she and Volt were similar with how they dealt with failure. I wonder why Volt hadn't burned down that shack full of his...how did Strongbad put it? "St'nanks"?

Oy-yoi-yoi.

"I'll be in the main lab if you need me." I finally gave up waiting. She...needed time, didn't she? She...still thought Asriel...not me, per se...but theirs, rather...still held a grudge over what she did to try to bring him back.

Okay, she might be right. Flowey avoided talking about her pretty adamantly. But as an Asriel, I knew while Flowey might not forgive her...we always would. We, the various Asriel variants of this cube full of timeline broom-straws would always be grateful that she tried to give us another chance.

Flowey, on the other hand...couldn't feel enough to be compassionate about it. No...he was always going to be passive aggressive in his self-pity and take it out on whoever irked his nerves. Even behind their backs.

"Well...let's see what we've got." I had a seat at the lab table I'd been assigned. I had some of my own works brewing. Right now...I was looking at quantum entanglement with small builds of working cyber gate models.

"We're a long way off; we just don't have the raw materials, resources, and the technology hasn't advanced far enough to catch up to Neo Arcadia City...to Miranda...to VGM-098 in general.  What I wouldn't give for an Interocitor from Mainland right about now.  I last heard they made one that could withstand 60,000 volts..."

I'd have to look up the inventor of that if I ever established a dimensional connection back to Cryptosmasher some day. What was that guy's name? Philo? I heard he worked at a TV station back when analog UHF was a thing. What was it again...? Channel 62...?

Nevermind. I'd figure it out another day.

"I'm a long way off from matching Aperture Labs..." I looked dismally at my miniaturized setup. I was also warned never to go to that guy, Sanchez for help. You know...the one with the grandson he dragged on weird scientific adventures?

Volt warned me to avoid that guy like the plague. He was pentuple-blacklisted in Neo Arcadia's science ministry for too many ethics violations. So many it could be considered well-beyond OBSCENE!

"Maybe I have some old ENCOM research still logged in the NXS memory core that can help.  I wish I had Aunt Vi's old laser prototype that came from their lab."

I'm pretty sure even if I could contact Sam Flynn or his father, the original programmer of C.L.U. it wouldn't help. He'd long since dove head-first into the research of ISO's.

There were just too many outside resources to draw inspiration from. And not enough tech or advancement on this world to make use of a single one.

I'd have to pioneer the raw materials here. One by one. Until I could start helping Alphys advance our technology.

"I wonder if the group in sector 7G have made progress with the static accumulators I gave them--"

There was an explosion from down the hall followed by coughing and hacking and general overlapping clamor and panicked voices.

I sighed. "Nope." I facepalmed. I felt like Data the Monkey on Terra when he was trying to explain to Roll Casket and Tron Bonne how to build a proper rocket to get MegaMan Volnutt off the Moon...or rather Elysium. But after going on almost two decades later...that was another adventure that was on indefinite hold.

Really, it would have been so easy for Volt and I to just warp him off of there. But...STC made it clear...don't interfere with the timeline. And Ultra Crew Institute made it clear...don't solve heroes' problems FOR them. Guide them when you can and let them overcome their own obstacles. Let them grow. Let them get stronger. Let them be masters of their OWN destiny. Not be NPC's with you being in the gamer's chair. That's not helping...that's making them puppets on a string. That's taking a shortcut. That's cheating to get a good ending.

Volt taught me better than that.

"Oh!  I s-s-see you're working with the t-teleportation t-technology today, your highness?"

Welcome back, Alphys.

"Yeah...I've been trying several different approaches to it.  The Dr. Wily Teleport System met with...complications."

I looked over on an auxiliary lab table where a miniature of one of Wily's teleport system capsule was wired up. The glass shield on it was shattered and it still reeked of burnt toast and feet wrapped in burnt, leathery bacon. Ewwww.

I didn't even have any organic components in there and it smells like microwaved hamster!? How does THAT happen?

Mental note to self. Don't show it to that Weird Ed Edison kid. The one with the blue skin and the mother who's a nurse that keeps a chainsaw in the kitchen and a father that talks to a radioactive meteor while strapping cheerleaders into a Zombie-Matic Machine. Jeeze. What a mansion of maniacs!

"You gotta stop doing that, Azzy.  References from the past have no place here."

"Huh?  D-d-d-did you say something, P-Prince Asriel?"

"No.  Nothing important." I lamented.

"O-oh.  Okay then."

I had slipped on my issued lab coat and began running down the checklist of experiment trials, pulling forth a very, very large beaker of machined screws. Each one would be a test subject.

"Test 1,045-B.  Now attempting to use a modified triac in combination with a set of precision amplifiers and prototype production alloy.  And a smart circuit board."

I've been slowly refining electronic materials here to advance them to Ultra Crew Institute grade. It's going very slow and with minimal success. But I've certainly made materials which blow a lot of the highest quality electronics on this world out of the water.

People are already calling me a prodigy and a genius.

I just can't take credit for what I'm only benchmarking. Really. Someone else invented all these first. I'm just...importing the knowledge and applying it. It's not going to feel right seeing my name on the patents if and when they're issued to us.

"Powering on...energization complete.  At least this time I have a planar vortex instead of...whatever the heck plasma thing erupted from the last trial." I rubbed the back of my head.

"Ooooh...!" Alphys was already enamored.

"Don't get too excited.  Just because it looks stable doesn't mean it's doing what we want it to."

I fired up the matching setup I had a few lab tables away. I'd moved them closer to each other, hoping that would improve the results.

I picked up a screw with a pair of laboratory tongs and slowly pushed it into what I hoped was a portal.

And on the other setup...!!!

A dilation...a ripple...the energy bulging out like a covering of electric slime around something...and then...!!!!

"WHOAH!"

"Get back!"

Sparks. Iron filings. Sprays of embers...and something molten and black plopping out the other size before sizzling a black burn into the table before eating through it completely.

I dashed to grab the fire extinguisher and hose it all down before the table nearly ignited.

I sighed deeply, clutching the bridge of my snoot between my eyes.

"Experiment failure..." I moaned.

"Ohhh..." Alphys had hunched over into that familiar apologetic pangolin stance.

"I'm s-s-so sorry."

"It's okay, Alphys.  You can't make an omelet without breaking a few eggs...or ruining some screws and lab equipment.  At least something got transported this time."

"But...it almost--"

"Word of wisdom, Alphys.  We learn more from a failure than we do a success.  You know a man named Thomas Edison could wall-paper a room with all his failures.  Yet when asked about it he said he didn't fail 200 times...he just found 200 ways that something does not work.  He only need to find one way that it does."

"Th-that's good advice, P-P-Prince Asriel."

"Nah.  It's just...Determination." I turned around with eyes aglow with red.

For some reason Determination always follows Perseverance. They must be closely related at a fundamental level. I mean...seriously. Purple is next to red on a rainbow color wheel, though they're complete opposites on the visible section of the Electromagnetic Spectrum.

"I'll have to tear down this set again and start over from scratch."

"Really...it's amazing!  I can't believe you're researching how to make viable teleportation portals."

"They're a convenience back on VGM-098.  They can easily go off world or farther.  But we're a long, long way from crossing space, time, and dimensional barriers, you know."

I think this was the biggest clue as to what my ultimate goal would be...once I formally said it out loud. I mean...anyone could figure out it wasn't much of a spoiler just by reading this journal and understanding my state of mind.

Could I give a bigger hint other than I was feeling like 18-year-old Christopher Thorndyke after Sonic and friends and Eggman and his robots went back home to their world?

What did become of the gateway they built to send them all back, originally? The one they had to use Space Colony ARK's Eclipse Cannon as a direct power feed?

Volt wasn't assigned to "Sonic X" but...he was more than familiar and he got me more than familiar with it. What better metaphor to describe what was on my mind whenever I came down with the...homesickness.

But...as my research was now...I wasn't going to risk building a prototype and stepping through only to end up in a 10-year-old goat hybrid body again.

"Y-you sure y-you're okay--"

"Alphys.  It's fine.  I got plenty of other projects to work on, unrelated to this.  C'mon.  I want to show you the workstation I build from watching Aunt Vi and Volt custom craft a good setup."

That, on the other hand, was cake compared to this. The parts I'd refined in the lab were leaving Undertale's current maximum computer specifications in the dust.

Heck, we didn't even have three-monitor rigs in our world until I started tinkering with Alphys. Vi would be so proud.

"Samantha just developed a new graphics card and I wanted you to be the first to give it a test run on the "Tri-Clops".

My nickname for the three-monitor setup.

You know in any other job, you could get fired for playing a Massively Multi-player Online Role-Playing Game on the clock. But here? It was a job requirement; pushing the new hardware and software to its limits. We just happened to pick video games as our testing grounds before we started them on something simple like office workstations and shared networks for work groups. Or even the next generation of server farm.

Yeah. Server farms were easy for Alphys now that I had spilled everything I knew about SciLab and the life's work of a scientist named "Dr.  Hikari".

I decided to leave her to her vices and check on the other research groups to see what they had come up with.

Hover Conversion was...not going well.

"DUCK!"

Yup. Down to the floor I go as I open the door...and just miss getting clobbered up-side the head with a flying car wheel with a fully-inflated tire.

"Maaaaaybe we should start with something smaller than trying to make this world's first flying car?" I suggested.

"Your highness!"

"Prince Asriel!"

"Oh stop with that.  It's just Asriel.  But if you REALLY have to be formal, Dr. Arcade will suffice."

I can't believe I've inherited that mantle.

"Yes, Doctor!"

Really. I did have a PhD from VGM-098. And I guess everyone just accepted it here. I felt like I was being overprivileged being given all my credits and credentials; keeping them intact like this without having to earn them academically proper on this world.

The research into BioCort was going well. I had gotten Dr. Velaska Benikov's blessing on the insistence that I keep her name on the patent when the first clinical trials were successful and we got FDA approval. Making a version that was based on magic instead of science was brilliant by all accounts. And really...I think it met Alphys half-way on her goal to bringing monsters back after they had...fallen down.

Now we could keep a lot more of them from falling down in the first place when they received HP-critical injuries.

This was the development that Alphys couldn't thank me enough for.

"I'm just glad I could bring something here that's practical...and...helpful."

All around the lab I had, doled out pieces of UCIAT's research and put my trust in Alphys' teams to develop them into something our world could make use of. That our world could advance on our terms. Something...that could change the world for the better.

I wonder if I should worry about having lofty, idealistic thinking like that. I'd seen many a person who'd said the same thing about changing the world......when in reality they ended up intending to destroy it. Serpent. Master Albert. Andross. Dr. Ivo Robotnik. Neo Cortex. Good grief...how does a dream turn so dark so fast and create supervillains at the flip of Lady Destiny and Madam Fate's coin?

I'd do a lot of rushing around, trying to keep up. Supervising projects in Alphys' stead while she...dealt with her anxieties and issues. She...still didn't know if she should be forgiven for all she had done. I reassured her time and time again and had to remind her to listen to Undyne and Papyrus...Toriel and Asgore...and yes...even Sans had something to contribute. We were all behind her.

Gods, I could not think of a better person to accept an assistant head scientist position from than her. And really...was this really only part time and earning this much of a percentage of my finances?

Life was too good to me.

Don't take it for granted, Azzy. And don't take her for granted. She's a mind worth admiring and a friend worth having and respecting.

"Hmm."

You know...I'd focused so much on Alphys, professionally, that I didn't really get into her personally.

What really was there to say?

She was good-intentioned. She lacked self-confidence. She spent a long time beating herself up over failures while guilt-tripping herself over all her unethical choices.

Yes, Alphys. You made some bad decisions. You lied. You hid things.

But, despite all that...you weren't as corrupted and horrible as you thought. You are your own worst enemy, my friend.

I will condone, you did know better and did all that you did for the sake of your own hopes in dreams...but really, weren't your own hopes and dreams to make everyone else's come to pass? Wasn't it all for the kingdom? So much pressure on yourself. Dr. Alphys, you were harder on yourself than any of us could have ever been. Maybe not Flowey, per se...but don't doubt our forgiveness.

You tried to do the right thing. It backfired and you let it defeat you. You...were really to throw yourself into the abyss in Waterfall because you thought the world would be better without you.

That I could never accept.

This is no justifiable reason to cut your own life short, now matter how much pain you're in. A brave person would face it head on. As I say this, my eyes had turned orange. I just know it.

Really. I was in your non-existent shoes at one point. I wanted to run from my problems. I wanted to self-punish for what I had done. Nothing good ever comes from that path. You have to fix what you've done and...well...I think you did a good job, in the long run.

"You need to give yourself more credit, Doctor." I muttered.

So what about the Alphys that wasn't wallowing in the failure of being the Royal Scientist? Well...I do know she was a big sister to Bratty and Catty growing up. She must not have come from much, either.

I know she was passionate about her likes and loves; often treating them more as a guilty pleasure rather than embracing them as something not to be ashamed of.

Vi was right. She was the Weeb Lizard. A true "Old-taku" in the ways of Anime. Yeah. The demographics that appealed to her had since become mainstream and accepted by many in these few decades--half of which I wasn't even alive for when they were becoming popular. From Robotech, Project A-Ko, Voltron (GoLion, that is), and many more out of the 80's all the way up to Demon Slayer and Yashahime: Half-Demon Princess these days...

I had to agree with her. Anime was so very cool. Thank Aunt Vi for introducing me to it.

While she wasn't up front about becoming the Royal Scientist; fooling dear-old-dad Asgore into thinking she built a robot with a soul rather than let Hapstablook inhabit a "sexy rectangle" until she could make a proper body for him to haunt...she did everything because she cared so much about her hopes and dreams, but more importantly everyone else's hopes and dreams. She was a better person than she thought. Just someone whose conscience spoke a little too loudly when she really started to regret her choices.

Maybe she just needed us. Undyne in particular.

Really, I'm still working out how I fit as a puzzle piece in the grand scheme of things, but I'm glad to know her.

"Thanks, Doctor Alphys.  For everything.  And...on Flowey's behalf...thanks for trying to give him...Asriel the second chance he...probably should have gotten, whether he deserved it or not.

Then again...I was given a second chance and even I don't want to debate whether or not I deserve it. This is life. This is my life. I'll do with it as much as I can with it; as you should with yours, Alphys.

I eventually clocked out for the day and bid everyone farewell. It was good to finally get people to start agreeing to a first-name basis and less reflexively addressing me as "prince" or "your highness".

We're still technically working on that.

Oh well. Next stop...some place where that hard-earned money went to disappear.

Sub-Entry 134: "That Greedy Spider...":
I admit...it's a guilty pleasure that I love sweets and pastries so much. I guess I was spoiled by many a trip to Hestia's to sample the best desserts in Miranda City.

Well, I didn't have a Hestia's here.

Instead, we had...

"Ah-hu-hu-hu-hu-hu-hu..."

Yeah. Muffet's place.

I always felt like I could feel Grillby's gaze burn through me from across the street whenever I popped in here for a rare treat. I know I said that there was no beef between the two them (even if you put a hamburger in the street.  Hahahahah.  I'll show myself out...) but...

Competition does things to friends or...acquaintances when it became necessary to compete to pay the bills and keep your financial status situated. I think I understand what Volt's problem with competition is. Yet...he has no issues with the very concept of capitalism. What a strange dichotomy. At the same time he values cooperation greatly.

But, wait! This isn't about Grillby. This is about...her.

"Hi, Miss Muffet."

And nary a tuffet to sit on or curds and whey to eat. What a strange nursery rhyme to somehow incorporate her name.

"Greetings, Prince.  I take it the day finds you well."

"It's been good to me."

"Ah-hu-hu-hu-hu-hu...splendid!  Do step into my parlor!"

Said the spider to the fly, or so the saying goes. Why does that make fur stand on end?

Nevertheless.

"I think I will."

Spoiler warning, if you didn't read my sub-entry's title? I'm about to lose a lot of Gold.

Granted I was only out to buy a few treats to take home buuuuut...

"Would you care to try our special?  It's only 100 gold."

That's...a bit steep--

"Well, I--"

"All the proceeds go to our Save-The-Arachnid-Fund!  For spiders, by spiders!"

"I uh--"

"You don't mind if I've already pre-charged it to your tab, do you?"

D'oh. This is a record for being cheated out of my money. It was already gone before I walked into the place, wasn't it?

Before I could protest, I was given a tray, containing a mug of spiced spider cider and a tall frosty double-chocolate-chip Frappuccino; no coffee ingredients, like I like.

Double Chocolate-Chip Frappuccino’s...they were basically milk, ground ice, flavored syrup, chocolate chips by the heaps, some chocolate syrup and topped with whipped cream and drizzled with more chocolate syrup. Basically it was a smoothie. They used to have these at the coffee place Vi always took me to back in Miranda. The one with the weird mermaid logo? It'll come to me some day. Expensive stuff.

It was the first time I learned what a "barista" was. I didn't even know that there was a specialized word for a coffee clerk/server until then.

And of course some obligatory spider donuts.

You know...I tried putting myself on a diet once, figuring that these weren't very healthy. Heck, knew more than 3/4 of a baker's dozen equaled the same sugar in a single can of canned cola.

You'd think the method of speculating what "spider cider" and "spider donuts" were made of would put me off of them for good.

You'd think that would be a Pandora's Box not to open when her slogan was that they were made for spiders, by spiders...and in really tiny text below that... "of spiders". Try and try again to hope and pray that she wasn't serious about, I thought that knowledge alone would ruin my appetite.

Turns out...something it me was just indifferent to it.

Oh boy...does this ever remind me of Endsville and that cookie recipe Grim (as in the Grim Reaper) used from his Aunt made with chocolate chips and dung beetles.......urgh...

That was the first and LAST time I would ever see Billy and Mandy.

But yeah...enough about gross topics. Otherwise, raising the question of "what do you think's in Barth's Burgers" would come up. And I'd immediately swear I'd hear him say "D'aaaaaaaaaaaah I heard that..."

Right. Back on topic. Boy, has hanging around the Ultra Crew Institute made me ramble about unrelated topics that somehow relate to my current situation. I guess that's the UltraVerse's defining characteristic. Constantly bantering about nostalgic things.

"Uh...thanks." I accepted the setup and had a seat.

"You know, I was only coming here to pick up my usual--"

"Of course.  It's already on your tab." Muffet muffled a giggle as her spider friends carried the bag of pastries out of the kitchen and straight to my table. I leaned down to pick it up and set it on the table next to my spread...which suddenly had a few more items on it.

Obviously...a few more billed to my tab.

Darn it, Muffet. She knew how to make a buck.

"You know I might have to take some of this home." I alternated between the hot cider and the cold chocolate smoothie.

"Oh, please do and tell your friends about them."

Oh great. Now I'm being used to drum up free business. How does one "kumogami" among eight-legged find so many ways to exploit her customers?

"Muffet, really.  This is too much.  I--"

"And of course your meal show."

"Meal show!?" I almost choked on the donut when the spiders came out in full force and began a synchronized dance to the music I recognized as her own personal theme, "Spider Dance".

How exactly DO spiders clap their hands to the music when they don't really have hands, per se?

Also...that's a lot of spiders to carry around things to and from tables.

"Er...it's very lovely, Muffet...!"

"Please save all applause until after the show, ah-hu-hu-huh-hu..."

I just can't win with her. Nobody really can.

For that brief moment, I was tempted to get up and thank her for the sweets and say I really had to run...but then I felt the presence of her "pet" behind the chair, looming behind.

Gulp.

Nothing like a "captive" audience, am I right?

Oh boy...my puns are lousy when I'm this nervous, aren't they?

Just swallow your pride, Asriel.

Eventually they went through every last verse of her extended mix of the song.

Oh boy, she's really keeping me here.

"Muffet, I appreciate all of this.  Really I do.  But I--"

"Refills on your cider?  Of course!"

Hey, now!

I'm going to be sloshing my way to the next stop from all the water...cider retention. And boy oh boy...I'm going to be looking for the little goat's room pretty soon.

What did I do to deserve this?

Yet...my wallet is going to have more of a right to say that than me...

Eventually, she did finally finish with me and presented my bill.

My jaw dropped when I came to the realization...she charged me by the minute of the floor show. Good gravy, does anyone have ANY idea how long a song that was!?

I think Tiemtiaren, the black wyrmling and leader of what was once Rainbow Wing, would most certainly approve of her methods. The lesson he'd try to teach? Greed is good.

Not to the eye of the beholder before losing a good chunk of his salary...

I reluctantly busted out the credit card, as I had learned to do from Vi. Hey, if I was going to pay up, I wasn't going to give her the pleasure of seeing actual cash. But to a greedy spider like her? It was all the same in the end. It just ended up in her bank account, straight out of mine. Out of anyone's who ate here.

"Have a nice day, dearie!  Ah-hu-hu-hu-hu..."

It was.

It really was.

Until now.

Oh boy.

This is one way to ruin my dinner. Papyrus had already pushed my luck with lunch.

Sub-Entry 135: "Monster Kid...Actually, Just 'M.K.' Now":
Before he met me, I was pretty sure Monster Kid considered Frisk the closest thing to a bestie.

Now that I'm old enough and mature enough to understand that friendship is shared, not monopolized, I'd say the three of us are pretty tight as friends.

I look back at who I used to be and I remember there was this meek kid who felt like...he didn't have even one friend. It never occurred to him his parents could be his friends if he'd let him. But...he'd convinced himself that no one understood him. No one but the first fallen human. Why did I believe Chara really knew me better than I knew myself?

Loneliness is such a bitter poison, isn't it, Aunt Violet?

Maybe...maybe in a way she did. That's...why, the Wraith was able to manipulate her into manipulating me. Had the plan gone through, she probably would have used my naivety like all the other Chara and Asriel matchings throughout the timelines. I get it. Iterations of Chara used my kindness against me; getting me to believe they only wanted to talk to the humans and negotiate for them to find a way to break the barrier.

But somehow...somehow every Asriel was blind to their intentions to instead invoke our power...and slaughter them. It still pains me to think that other Asriel's were pressured into taking lives and absorbing souls.

My moment of solace? Realizing that, at least in this AU, no Asriel ever did willfully take a human life and know what they were doing. Had any of us understood before hand that Chara's poisoning would mean we'd lose them anyway? Maybe each Chara would still be alive. Maybe we all would have known that there was no bringing her back; that her death was permanent. As if we'd even be able to give a soul back to its lifeless body. Pretty...stupid thought of us Asriel variants. Wasn't it?

But this wasn't about Chara. I'd moved on from that era. And...I knew mine was in a better place.

This entry is about my friendship with Monster Kid. And I've said very little about him so far. Silly me.

By now Volt should have made it clear he's a little yellow dinosaur-looking reptile...maybe a dragon without wings? He's got fins running down the back of his head, looking a little like a mohawk. Buck teeth, striped shirt. And...let's address the elephant in the room...no arms.

Let me make this perfectly clear. I would NEVER call him disabled, handicapped, or deformed in any way. He was born that way. He's survived that way. He's certainly never let it hinder him and I don't think it's something anyone has ever made light of. The fact that he can do so much without those limbs is inspiring and I would never, ever pity him in any way. He's a brave soul and I'm glad he's my friend.

That's cleared up, yes?

So...the sensitive issue out of the way; what about the boy himself? Well...

I guess the word to use is "enthusiastic". Possibly excitable, energetic, earnest...y'know. A cinnamon roll like me. And yes...I would say he's definitely a chaser of role models. That one kid who at one time hadn't learned the lesson...don't meet your heroes. I guess Undyne ultimately left an impression, which is why he no longer idolized her. I don't think she noticed. Frankly, I'd come to the conclusion Dy-Dy always found him to be in the way. So...yeah. It's not surprising he realized she was a little mean. But hey...he's got a new person to hero-worship. Nyeheheheh!

One more for Pappy's fan club. Yeah, I'd say the bone man is definitely climbing up the charts in popularity once people get to know him. We cinnamon rolls just have to stick together. Hah! I made a funny!

So...yeah. He's still a bit naive and a little clueless; not that Frisk would ever use those words to describe him but...yeah. I got what she implied while trying not to be rude about it. Hey, imperfections make us better...or least more tolerable people. I've certainly got a "Gary Stu" thrown at me more than once. I can't help it if I'm talented, and It's not like I'm strutting like a peacock over it. Sometimes talent and luck just...manifest. If anything I've tried to downplay it. Is it ironic I get that from Aunt Vi of all people, despite how MUCH she flaunts what she has (yet downplays her talents and abilities so that her enemies underestimate her greatly; writing her off as a buffoon.)?

Back to Monster Kid. Actually...nowadays he prefers to be called--

"Just M.K. now!  It sounds way cooler!"

"You got it, dude."

Obviously he'd gotten me something really nice for my birthday last month. Can't thank him enough for early access to that mobile game. It is the bomb-diggity! I should only be so lucky to have a friend like him. Yet...it makes it kind of hard for me to repay the kindness and favors. What do you get him on his special day that wouldn't be an insensitive gift? How much does it limit what you can get a friend who doesn't have arms or hands and still be meaningful?

I'll worry about that when his birthday actual does come around again.

"So, you seen Frisk lately?"

"She visits regularly."

"Dude!  You have to totally ask her out!"

"A-A-Ask her o-out?!" My face flushed.

"Like on a date, dude!  She's totally your type!"

Okay I was hesitant. We'd been friends ever since our first connection in Mount Ebott...saving the other me. Saving this world's Hyperdeath from himself. And the other Hyper-Gods, too. And I'd been pacing it to care for that friendship ever since we were reunited. But...a date? Taking THAT big a step? That's when the worry I inherited from Volt kicked in. That's when I was terrified I'd wreck a friendship by doing something stupid.

"W-we're just friends!"

"Naww, man.  You gotta take it up to the next level."

Jeeze. If there was ANY subtlety to the path toward where the two of us were headed before? M.K. certainly used that subtlety on a metal grinder for a good hour until it was a pile of iron dust.

It's getting harder and harder to avoid just outright saying how I feel but...this many journal entries now with a distinct pattern? Yeah...thy word was "inevitability". The truth is...I wanted to feel that way about her but...

So many issues. And at the top of the list was...if she even felt the same? I man...it would be completely awkward and embarrassing if I confessed such a thing and she just saw me as a brother or cousin. And then I'd have to only find solace in the fact that Violet couldn't tease me about it.

And then there was the obvious one. She's a human. I'm a hybrid. Granted, I'm all for being the bridge between two worlds but...if I dug too deep into this subject, I'm sure I'd tunnel to some place inappropriate that I couldn't escape from no matter how fast I backtracked. I...just wanted to keep this pure and untainted. I mean...sure they say love knows no bounds but...

Do I really want to ask if interspecies relationships could work? Yeah. There's door with the jolly roger on it. A gateway to controversy, rumors, and possibly those who'd object to it. We'd make very good progress between relations between humans and monsters thanks to Frisk being our ambassador. But...was the world ready for this? Was it progressive enough for the first...! It seemed like only recently that non-binaries and those identifying as the other gender or even gender neutral was accepted. And before that even gender preference had become more open and honest in this world. You didn't have to feel as shamed about things as you once were.

Holy crap, how did I get so far off topic? Gosh. My mind IS a beehive and I just can't stick to one worker drone out of the hive. And I've gone into some material some would be touchy about. You know...it's really the fear of offending that's more destructive than being actually offended. If I can't remember that much how can any of us?

"Jeeze, dude.  I was just yanking your chain.  You didn't have to brain freeze up like that!"

"S...sorry.  I...guess I just lost my head for a moment.  Frisk and I are in a comfortable place right now.  Let's not rush into next level stuff."

"Yeah.  You’ll figure it out, dude.  You'll figure it out."

I hope so. I've lost one friend to death. One to leaving one home for another. I don't want to lose a friend over messing up a relationship that might not go anywhere. I know. I get a lot of reassurance from people, pointing out "Look at the way she looks at you, Prince.  She's TOTALLY into you.". Reading the obvious signs doesn't always point you to an obvious truth. Just misread once and you've stepped on a landmine you'll regret the rest of your life.

I'm so pathetic around girls. *sigh*

"Let's...er...change the subject.  So...we still on for--"

"Dude!  We're totally there!  Icecap and Snowdrake are ALL IN!"

Before you ask...no. Not poker night or some form of gambling. Volt sure made it clear how much he disapproved of gambling and games of chance, and I sure as heck didn't see the value of risking real money or possessions over even calculated mathematical probabilities when playing cards.

Nah...it's more like remembering our high school years. Now that we're grown up and employed and building futures we don't have as much time to horse around like we used to. Betting that's as true here as it was in Miranda City.

Recently...Shyren has been trying to crowdfund actual venues for Karaoke Night. As a regular thing not just every once in a while. And we might as well have the scratch to make sure we have the snacks, the tracks, and a place where we're not bit by the property tax.

Francine Manx back in Edoropia would have been proud of that rhyming triplet. I do impress myself sometimes.

Kidding aside...while movie night was easy enough to swing with renting the local theater; a tradition I brought over from Miranda City thanks to many a night in the VARS Lab's media center run by the VARS sisters...I'd always toyed with expanding our horizons with a karaoke night. Even way back before I hit my teens in UCIAT. Now it looked like we had enough monsters to take a passion to it to make it actually happen. Sure we could just drop in on a place with a karaoke machine but...chances are it would be some sports bar or pool hall. I thought we could do better with a cleaner, more reputable place. Plus having an actual crowd-funded budget would mean we could do it professionally and not have to worry as much about cancelations and such. We could set up the rules. We could be masters of our own environment. We could party all night long if we felt so inclined.

But only if we didn't have major responsibilities the next day. Coming into work in...less than perky shape would probably be unwise.

"Well, name the time and place we can get it off the ground and we'll give it our first go."

"You got it dude."

As for what we were doing right now? We were on our way to Alphys to beta test something she'd offered on the grounds that M.K. might actually make use of.

"O-oh!  You came!"

"Hi ya doc dudette!"

I never stopped being reminded of Marty McFly.

"Are they ready, Alphys?"

"J-j-just finished the last diagnostic.  They sh-should work."

Addressing the earlier issue about not having arms...

I'd many, many times come across AU's in Volt's research where Dr. Alphys variants actually HAD invented prosthetic arms for M.K. I did concern myself that we were just trend-following if we went this route. Like...it wouldn't be our idea. It would be unoriginal. I sure didn't know if some other deity or higher being out there would take offense and consider what we were doing in this AU some form of plagiarism.

So...to that end, Alphys and I came up with a slight...twist to it.

All other incarnations of M.K. that gained bionic arms had them physically attached to them by harness or grafting or some other use of physical contact with wet wired connections.

Alphys and I were going to one-up those AU's with something I'd been inspired by studying everything from Mavericks on X's world to ReaverBots on MegaMan Trigger's world. Plus I was inspired by my own experience with my NX Gear's use of the A.R.M.S. configuration. And our solution was...

"...and...the unit is online."

"A-a-are you sure the wireless links will hold?"

"Positive.  Fasters and more stable than 5G and Bluetooth symbiotically parallel processing each other, piggyback.  Full duplex sensory and motor controls."

"What about the--"

"Electromagnetic tethers?  Oh believe me.  The bond between emitters and receivers will be stronger than titanium.  It'll take a lot to snap the magno-link connections between them.  It'll be as if they were physically bonded."

"You guys sure are saying a lot of big words and smart stuff.  Is this really going to...?"

"Hey.  I wouldn't test this out on anyone if I didn't think they could make them work.

"Alright.  We're a go!  Go ahead and--"

Before Alphys could finish, the arm on a lab table suddenly launched off like it had been yanked on an invisible tether before it stopped from where M.K.'s shoulder blade would have connected to a limb.

And at the same time on an opposite lab table a matching arm did the same; both linking to the module M.K. was wearing like football shoulder pads. And they remained "docked" without any physical connection; floating by an invisible field.

"It worked!"

"Th-this is s-s-so cool!" Alphys was giddy.

"Duuude.  I've got...!"

"Try them out.  Can you feel anything?"

We were checking sensory first.

"Y....yeah.  Is this...is this what touching is?  Is this...what it's like to feel?" He pinched the fingers together.

"We extrapolated the look and shape based on your morphology.  So...it's an educated guess.  Right now it's not covered with any outer coating; artificial scales or painted or anything like that so...you're really pulling a Jax from Mortal Kombat right now."

"What's Mortal Kombat?"

"I'll show it to you something."

I hope his parents don't object. Even at his age, he was still a bit of mamma's boy. Then again, who was I to talk?

"How about movement?"

I'd already seen the fingers were operating but the rest of the motors and such? Alphys and I had only recently developed a new kind of electro-stimulated artificial fiber bundle; basically a cross between fiber optics and solenoids. Very much based on the structure of real muscles. Like bundles of ferro-fluid filled bladders of sorts to get technical. But they were quick, strong, and smooth like real muscles so...this would be a real heck of a patent once we refined them.

The wrists, the elbows...the link between the virtual shoulders...yeah. Everything was working great.

"Can we test the other feature?  Please?"

"I-I-I-Indoors!?" Alphys put her hands on her checks.

"We can step outside you know."

"Nah!  I can't wait that long."

"M.K.!" I protested. But it was already too late. He activated the thing that would definitely trump other versions of Monster Kid with bionic arms.

The arms began to orbit him in rapid succession like...helicopter rotor blades. And before we knew it.

"WOO-HOOOOOOOOO!"

Yeah. He was flying.

"Oh golly!  Oh no!  Watch the lighting!"

"BEST THING EVERRRRRR!!!"

What have we unleashed?

Then again...that was what the others said when Violet and Nikita built me my NXS hoverboard upgrade to Marty's pink Mattel version from his world's 2015.

"Okay, Ace McCloud.  You've had your fun.  Bring it in for a landing.  A successful test doesn't mean it's ready, yet.  Just that it has several more before we can safely confirm it's ready for an actual road test."

"Awwww..."

And down he came before the arms locked back in place by his sides. Well. We invented the lizard-copter. Inspector Gadget be proud, I should hope.

I think Alphys and I just made our own real-life take on a Blue Yoshi. Though he wasn't exactly blue and he didn't exactly have wings. Eheheheheheh...

I'm starting to laugh like Alphys when I get nervous.

"Well, I hate to spoil your fun but we still have work to do on it before we're ready to give you the keys to the car...er...arms."

While I was tempted to make them combat capable...I was also still a pacifist and I didn't want M.K. going looking for fights or getting into ones if he could help it. Though...I was certainly ready to install the feature to make them like Spring Man's or Min-Min's. But...on this world it was unlike we'd end up in those kind of adventures...like days old.

I really missed those times.

Yup...caught myself with another pang of homesickness.

Once we shut them down and packed them up in the metal briefcase so we could resume our research and development on them at a later time...

"Man...I was just getting used to them."

"Don't worry.  When they're officially ready, you'll get to keep them for real.  Promise, buddy."

"Dude.  You're the best!"

He leaned in for a hug but forget he wasn't wearing the arms.

"Easy on the P.D.A." I was joking about the public display of affection. But...I think Alphys and I earned it this time.

I give him a quick man-hug and Alphys gave a more personal embrace.

Yeah, I think we'd all gotten pretty tight now.

"Well...I gotta head home.  Let's keep this a surprise.  Don't tell the parents, okay?"

I zipped my lips.

"It's a p-p-promise."

I didn't even flinch at that word anymore. It felt like we could actually keep those now. Both of us.

We went our separate ways.

Well. The day sure got away from me. And my growling stomach told me, despite Muffet nearly spoiling my appetite...

It was time for dinner.

Sub-Entry 136: "Eat at Grillby's":
I'd never admit to Papyrus just how addicting certain greasy foods were. With Monsters, it wasn't an issue but...I was a hybrid so...I wonder how much I was shorten my lifespan with a daily regimen like this. A burger and fries a day for dinner? I was asking for it. I was living dangerously.

Though with Monster Food being made of magic, was there REALLY any risk?

I guess I'd find out at the end of my lifespan.

Boy that got to be a dark topic.

Enough about breaking the heart; and not in the love sense. Let's not talk about what will kill you but rather make you feel alive.

And that's fast food that tastes homecooked.

I'd only begun to get to know Mr. Grillby.

The son of a previous restaurant owner. Carrying the family business. Keeping it small enough to be between pub and family restaurant. You know. Just the right size for a town like ours. In a sense it was kind of like a sports bar though with a lack of TV sets.

No, actually...it was more like the modern take on the 1950's Malt Shop. Yeah. Like in Happy Days. All I needed was my own version of Ralph and Potsie and I could be the town's Ritchie Cunningham. I wonder if Ron Howard would let me play his part if Mettaton ever made a reboot for our world? Though...It would be up in the air who'd be our Fonze. I don’t' think I was cool enough for that. Mettaton might attempt it? Papyrus most certainly would think he'd be Cool Dude material. But honestly...I get the feeling somehow everyone would elect Sans. One thing's for sure. I'm sure he'd be able to turn the jukebox on and off in a snap. Eyyyyyyyyyyyy...!

Anyway...

Grillby always seemed mild-mannered, cool-tempered (despite him being a literal man of fire). And honestly I don't know how he put of with Sans continuously adding to his tab. When did he ever pay that thing?

Me, on the other hand, I never kept a tab. If I didn't have the money, I didn't buy. I think I had just enough after my stint at Muffet's. I could almost feel Grillby giving the stink-eye over seeing the take-out bag from her place.

"Asriel!"

"The Prince is here!"

Yup. The usual crowd and I was instantly recognized.

The former royal guards; Doggo, Lesser Dog, Greater Dog, Doggamy, and Doggaressa were all playing poker again. Why does that always seem so meta to me? Was there like a painting or something depicting this, or what?

And of course the other patrons. Honestly I still wasn't sure of these were their actual names or...just descriptions that Sans conveniently dropped in my lap as a prank but...

Drunk Bun. Looking kind of like a rabite with extra long ears and constant spiral-eyes; constantly bored with their surroundings and wanting new drinks and "hot guys". I see them flirt with Sans every time the skelly pops in. And I've most certainly gotten a proposition or two...eeeeesh. Thanks, but no thanks.

Big Mouth. This toothy monster provides insight on the way monster food works, the differences human food has to it, and their general opinion of it. I guess Big Mouth would come in handy for out-of-towners who'd never encountered monsters before much less the cuisine. He always seems to be the first to notice when Sans doesn't show up for some reason or Papyrus doesn't show up to drag his sleeping bag of bones back home.

Ugly Fish. I understand he had a fishing rod back in Snowdin Forest in the Underground with his cell phone number attached to it. I could ask Frisk some time if they wrote it down and just call them up out of the blue. That wouldn't be weird, would it? Though...I might end up getting their voice mail jingle, the "Wrong Number Song"...

Red Bird. Usually when Grillby isn't in the mood to talk, this guy steps in to "translate". Though...translate what is beyond me. Maybe it's an error in our copy of the "game" that Grillby speaks perfectly normal? Either way...I notice he orders espresso coffees. He always orders a second when he feels like something's really bad. Last time that happened there was a pretty bad fire in town. I get the feeling his "dialogue" is linked to a Genocide Timeline...

Punk Hamster. It's my understanding they had issues with overcrowding back in the Capital. New Home was a pretty big but cramped place, somehow from what little I remembered of it. He would always go on, about how he worried people would start moving to Snowdin, and express displeasure, saying that it will result in the erasure of the local culture. They did, however, say they would like to see "some city slickers slip onto their butts!" To each his or her own... Though watching people fall on their hind quarters doesn't exactly appeal to me.

"Hey, everyone."

I made my way over to the juke box and found Mitzi's discography. It was one piece of home that I was glad was still around for me to enjoy. It really scratched that itch when I needed something to suppress how much I missed them.

Normally at this point I'd order one of Grillby's new small size pizzas but...it was a day for burgers, I felt. Besides. I knew for a fact someone would be dropping by any time.

And no, I didn't mean Frisk.

I had a seat at the bar after picking of Mitzi's favorite songs; a cover of Venus by Bananarama. That got the place jumping pretty quick. I think it was everyone's favorite around here.

Really if I had to pick a signature song which defined Mitzi, it would either be "Venus" or "Mickey". Possibly "Fire" (which I know went over great with Toriel). I've even seen the place be moved to tears from her renditions of "The End of the World", "Desperado", and "Tomorrow". Oh! Can't forget "I Saw the Signs", "Talking in Your Sleep", "Don't Hang Up", and "Our Lips Are Sealed"......

I'm gushing again, aren't I?

I can't help it if I'm geeking over her best cover songs! She was the first semblance of family I had besides Volt and Bunnie!

It was then I also noticed that there were more than just the usual patrons. Business had picked up and I saw a lot of unfamiliar faces--both human and monster.

"Good crowd here today, Grillby."

"I'm doing well.  Business has picked up with each menu expansion.  The pizza is really popular.  You up for your usual?"

"Not today, Grillby.  I'm actually kind of waiting for someone.  I think you know who."

"I'll have his usual, ready."

"I don't know, yet, but I'm leaning toward your famous burger.  Just a heads up."

"You are one of my best customers."

"And always glad to leave a glowing endorsement on social media." I finished updating my review on our version of Yelp.

"Much appreciated."

Hey, support your local business, am I right?

"You've rolled with the punches of moving out of the Underground.  Though, I'm certainly nobody to talk.  I lived outside of the Underground for years and...well....I can't possibly know what it's like."

"Your empathy is appreciated, though.  You really are a best friend to everyone."

"Some day I hope to be in Sans' league." I shrugged.

Speaking of which.

The bell rang as the door opened and who should step in...

Sub-Entry 137:  "...sans..."
Like Thanos, this was inevitable.

Why do I always default to comic book references by reflex?

Look. It's not that I have a problem with Sans. Quite the opposite. He was a pun machine. I loved and respected that. He was on good terms with Mom, but not new boyfriend material like in so many other Undertale AU's. I guess in this universe "til' death do you part" means exactly what it says. Apparently mom and dad were merely "separated", not  so much divorced. That...kinda makes them the minority in this world where marriages don't last, on average.

Plus I think Mom was the bigger person for not taking half of what dad owned. At least custody of the kids wasn't an issue..........I'll show myself out. That was dark. Eheheh...oh boy. Chara's right. I'm terrible at this.

Moooooving on to something more comfortable...at least marginally, the issue at hand was Sans'...perception into beyond the veil of reality.

He was one of the very, very few who knew right from the start our world was a game. I can't imagine how many iterations of Frisk managed to get that last 999,999 HP hit in on him just by somehow moving the action box...whatever that was. The end result is when they slash and Sans teleports...he lands right dead center of the Real Knife. Seeing it replay on my computer monitor over and over...knowing that that's a human with Frisk's face...but not their mind and heart...some variant of them could be so merciless...

I made myself shudder.

Right. The point. The point, being that I honestly didn't know how he had that sight beyond sight...Lion-O be proud...that awareness of the nature of our world. How did he do it? How did he know? How did he keep track of all of Flowey's resets? How did his memories carry over into the next "LOAD"...into the next timelines even after resetting? What made him special?

I could ask the same of Gerson but that's another story.

I knew how Flowey was connected to the "game". All that determination finally made him self-aware. Super-aware. He gained a SAVE file like anyone else who fell into the underground. But only those with Determination had the will to continue and not let their soul be harvested so easily.

In Chara's case...we all know how that ended. For both of us...well...for Chara and Asriel of every timeline but mine.

Volt may have set the foundation, but I was continuing the research...or trying to.

The fact was I just didn't have the resources, even with Alphys' Lab, to properly investigate our world. I couldn't figure out how the code manifested throughout our world...how it was part of us. Much less where it went Frisk and I destroyed our save files and crashed the pseudo-code programming embedded throughout every molecule, every atom...

When I considered that...every copy of "Undertale" was its own self-contained super quantum-computer, running its own simulation. From the junk data files Volt still had left over, Violet was able to pick out random pieces of numbers, operands, and partial sub-routines. Of curious note was something called a "FUN Value". She wasn't sure but...it was one of the few times she got dead serious and super-focused about something. The vibe she was giving off was...that she theorized this "value" was key to our universe. When super-imposed over Volt's own research into Undertale, it correlated to a lot of unique happenings in each and every timeline. The one he had pinned to the board was the one where Gaster's door appeared. I'm sure if he had more time, more opportunity, and more resources, he would have found a way to reproduce that.

Somehow I felt like Sans always knew things like this.

Somehow I felt like if Volt and Violet HAD tampered with things like that to try to manipulate our world...Sans would be there, telling them that they were dirty hackers. And while this is just a guess...they'd probably get kicked out of Undertale and back to their own world. Somehow.

I think that's why Volt never attempted it with S.T.C. resources. He knew the consequences. And while I don't necessarily know them with certainty, myself...I theorize they exist. And a "character" within our former game trying to hack the code? Who could say what consequences awaited. In a way I think Flowey was one such result. It made sense. Multiple-save files, restoring his life on the fly, crashing reality around Frisk and reloading it under his rules? Yeah...even for a not-quite-final boss, that was above and beyond and most certainly crossing the line of what was fair for the "player". Heheheheh...I gotta remember that rhyme.

There I go using that word again. Fair. Contradictory in every sense when reality is concerned. So why does it keep coming up again and again?

Right. Back to Sans.

Back in Ebott, when we were exploring...I did peek into Sans' shed in back...I did see the notes, the photo, and the covered up machine. Strong indications that maybe HE was trying to do the same; trying to research what our world was.

And there was his connection to Gaster. Son? Research assistant? Something else? Sans wouldn't say. Not even to me and especially not to Flowey. Even Frisk was in the dark. If Chara knew she sure never told me while they were still in my life. And while I was still in her afterlife.

"Join me for Grillby's, Goat Son?"

"Always up for it, Dunkle Sans."

"Heheheheheh!   Listen to you pilfer that name off the kid!"

"Hey, they didn't have their NAAAAME on it." I was coy.

"If they did, that sure would make them en-title-ed to it."

Oh, you.

How did a lame pun like that constantly make me laugh so hard.

"You are your mamma's boy."

"And perfectly comfortable with being A mamma's boy." The implication being that I wasn't embarrassed about Toriel reminding people whose son I was. Let her take pride in me. She was cheated out of 100 years of parental pride. What's a little humility on my part looking like I was still living in her basement and getting my cheek wiped off with a wet napkin and told to stand up straight?

Okay, she wouldn't actually do that NOW at my age...at least I don't think she would.

This was fine. Though if Chara were here and knowledgeable in half the trivia I soaked up, she'd tease me with something dark like calling me "Norman Bates". Now THAT was a mamma's boy reference I would NOT be okay with. Even from sister dearest.

Boy, Aunt VI sure succeeded in tainting me with dark humor. Chara would be so proud.

Getting back to more pleasant things..

Sans and I would hang out every time opportunity knocked. Most we'd banter back and forth and try to one-up each other with puns. It was the up side of the Schwartz, so to speak.

But...there was also this...unspoken side of us. While usually never said out loud, it was like we were holding a psychic conversation. Kinda like those moments in anime; like the dual-reality of Trigun where on the surface, one of Knives' assassins was seeing Vash be a complete spaz. But piggy-backed onto the other side of that reality was a darker, more sinister truth as a more serious, more focused Vash was leaving them off with a few profound words and a confident gaze.

In this case, I think the shadow of both of us was having serious man talk about...things. And that was an accomplishment without breathing a word.

Things like...The RESET. A little, yellow murder flower I was keeping as a "pet brother". The First Fallen..and not just mine but this timeline's. Alphys' role in the Amalgamates--which I might add, some of which that didn't go back to their families were still hanging around Alphys' lab complex. More on that later. And of course...Volt Arcade and friends.

We gave each other our solemn oath that we were square with one another. He understood I wasn't the same Asriel that became a flower and tried many, many times to kill him only to have more than his fair share of RESETS before finally leaving it an unresolved grudge. I understood exactly what my worse half put him through. What the other Eighth Fallen variants had put him through. How many times he had his hopes and dreams crushed and discarded over something so simple as wanting to play the game again and again and again.

So why did it never feel like it would be over?

He knew that projecting that was putting an unfair burden on my shoulders; making me do time for something I, specifically, never did...never got the chance to, he'd probably say. But who could say I WOULD have followed the same path as every other Asriel? With Lady Destiny intervening...we'd never know.

"Hey, Grillz'  A bottle of catchup and two orders of burg'.  And put it on my tab."

That tab is going to cross into triple or quadruple digits if I had the bone man figured out.

"........"

His silence left me with more questions. Hard to say if he was okay with it or losing patience with it. Sans carried an air around town that made him instantly popular. He was well-known, and well-liked and he didn't even have to do anything but just show up. Papyrus had to work for it. A lot. He had to struggle in the Underground just to gain even one fan/friend. And really...the difference in daily mail in their two mailboxes...that could really trounce ANYONE'S ego after a while.

"Add two orders of fries with that." I chimed in.

"Makin' me pay for it, huh?"

"Put this on the tab, and I'll tell Papyrus you finally picked up your sock."

A bribe? How shameless was I? Darn you, Aunt Vi for teaching me such bad habits.

"Now who'd be lazy enough to pass up a deal that sweet?" He said with a wink.

And darn it, all. Her bad habits were WORKING around Sans. I think they made me even more popular with him. While I was industrious enough to keep in Papyrus' good graces...cutting a corner or two was now I stayed in Sans'. Just as long as it was around him and only him. I didn't want to get a reputation, myself for this. He may be Frisk's and my crazy Dunkle...but one Sans around town is plenty.

Back on topic, again...

"So...you been hanging around Alphys' lab a lot.  Learn anything new?"

"Well, I did borrow a book of hers on gravity.  I've been trying not to let it distract me but I just can't put it down..."

Wink.

"If it's the physics book I'm thinking of, then I second that MOTION."

Touché.

"Well, if you're going to keep this pun war going, the know in mathematical battle like this, to the VECTOR belong the spoils."

This went back and forth for a while before we finally got back on topic.

"You haven't by any chance...discovered anything about the barriers between our world and...?"

Serious talk now.

"No.  That...realm between realms seems to have been closed off.  Even if we could open it back up...even if the FUN Value were the right number...you know we wouldn't find him inside."

"I see..." He was sometimes creepy when his eye sockets squeezed shut like that.

"He made a pretty big sacrifice for us all." I nibbled a fry.

"...hmm..."

"And that doesn't make things square with you, does it?"

"Some subjects shouldn't be brought up so casually." The air got heavy with that. I was hugging a line, right there.

"I...won't pretend I know or understand what baggage you're carrying.  I do know you want to keep Papyrus out of it.  He probably doesn't even remember...him.  Probably for the best.  But...if you want me to respect your wishes,  you don't even have to ask.  Curiosity is a difficult thing to hold back but...I know where lines are and why you don't cross them."

"Wise beyond your years, Prince."

"Invoking his name also invokes the name of--"

"The brat."

I winced at that. I didn't like Chara being referred to as a brat. Even if it wasn't my Chara. A Chara was a Chara was a Chara when it came to what was in the very epicenter of their soul.

They couldn't help the nature that they were imbued with. That our unknown creator out there whom the Goddesses imported his creation from...that creation, of course, being our world and us in it... That our maker wrote them into a cast-iron role; the details of which changed with every copy of his magnum opus...it was frustrating carrying the mantle of a tragic character.

An infinite number of versions of me knew THAT all too well. To this day, Flowey didn't like talking bout it.

"Yeah...them."

"......." Sans' silence rattled me. Pun NOT intended, for once.

"You don't forgive them."

"One good deed doesn't erase multiple lifetimes of Hell they put us through..."

"Yeah.  Yeah, I know.  And, yet, we're still owing our peace to him getting his revenge on...that guy."

The gravity in the room seemed to increase as all the light felt like it was sucked away. The intensity Sans had up to then suddenly spiked. For him, it was a nerve that just grazing was a trigger, let alone touching it or smashing down on it. Our UltraVerse AU was unique in the fact that it had spawned someone who Sans hated far worse than Flowey. Far worse than Evil-Chara. Far worse than the Genocide Frisk variants...far worse than Gaster at his worst...

A fact of life. Adonis was irredeemable. And that was confirmed.

I saw but for only a brief moment...that glowing cyan eye. And for that moment I noticed the ketchup bottle vibrating. If we kept this conversation going much longer, I'm sure it would shatter under Sans' powers.

I think Sans actually noticed because I had paled a little and stifled a gasp.

"Relax, did.  It's all in the past, am I right?" And like a rubber band snapping back, it was like we were never in this conversation to begin with. All was bright and sunshine and rainbows again.

"Yeah, I'd hate to accidently step on the wrong toes with a slip of the tongue.  I have a future to think of.  Not just for me but everyone around me.  I don't think Mom and Dad would take it well losing a prince a second time."

"Easy there, fluffy.  I know better than the make a move on someone who doesn't deserve it."

"There's that word again..." I muttered.

"Tori would make a xylophone out of me if anything happened to you."

"You as a musical instrument?  Now that's a rib-tickler."

And the boisterous laughter let me know all was forgiven.

And just as quickly...silent again. Was it lack of conversation material or--

"You haven't stopped thinking about them have you?"

Right on the nose.

"No.  Letting go is something I have to do but...it just gets harder to do as time goes on."

"That's how it is, Azzy.  That's how it is."

"Lupe used to say absence made the heart go fonder.  But...I don't want it to become overwhelming.  I have so much here that I've barely scratched the surface on.  And...if I start admitting that I...miss them all...then...it's going to be a lot harder to stay tethered to this world.  To my home.  And that's going to be made worse by the fact...I don't have any way off of it."

There's the meat and bones of it. Yeah. Homesickness is like the common cold you don't want to admit your catching...a sneeze here, a sniffle there... Then you realize it.

The moment I spoke it out loud...heck, I technically already had...was the moment I'd be on the fence, comparing grasses to see which was truly greener.

Like the song of the James Bond film goes...I know when to talk, and I know when to touch. No one ever died from wanting too much...

The world was not enough.

One of those last two lyrics was a bold-faced lie. The other was true.

* sigh*

"I know, kiddo.  I know.   Believe me...while no one will say it outright...we all can't forget them.  We all never thanked them proper.  We're in a debt that can't be repaid and here we are in our fool's paradise."

"Nothing foolish about living a peaceful life with no RESET's, Sans."

"I used to think so but..."

"The world has expanded.  Our world has expanded.  We can't put the genie back in the lamp.  We can't forget what changed everything.  We can't forget WHO changed everything...and slowly we're all going to have a homesickness bug.  The difference is...I'm the only one who've ever been to that world I'm homesick for.  For everyone...it's just like going to the Surface again."

"Right to the point, Asriel.  I ain't the best guy for advice, but I think you admitting that is the first step in working toward that goal you haven't even set for yourself.  And y'know...all this being a responsible dunkle is tiring.  I think I want to grab forty winks."

"Heh.  Papyrus will never know about your mid-day nap."

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

"Nah.  This world is too good for me."

"Which is why I think you know what the next step in your life is.  Why settle for one world...?   Nah.  I've said to much.  Later, Fluffybuns Junior."

And Sans was gone leaving only an empty catchup bottle and uneaten fries.

"More for me.   Be still my beating arteries." I joked. "But something so bad for you just has to taste sooooo gooood." I shrugged. I think Grillby heard every word. And smirked a bit.

I'm not going to say YOLO. There's too much to live for to make quantity of lives a factor. It's all about quality, right?

I digress.

Later, Sans. This was helpful.

Sub-Entry 138: "Everything is Super Awesome"
A lesson I've been learning is the tremendous sacrifices your family makes for your sake. When you come of a certain age, there comes a moment when you feel like they sacrificed everything for you and got nothing in return but old age, aches, pains, and memories of an era you never lived through. But they do receive something; the greatest gift of all in you. That they live on in you. Their hopes and dreams are your inheritance to do with as you will...make them your own, if that is your wish. Or guide you to have hopes and dreams unique to you and only you. It's everything to them to know you've grown strong, brave, and kind. That you have everything you need to brave the generations that will come beyond them and yourself. It will one day be your responsibility to pass that onto them; to your kin.

And realizing that really is super awesome.

I had to sit down to take all this in.

"Well.  Here I am."

There's really nothing I can do or say at this point. I'm...in the calm of the storm that is my life.

There was once a song in the 1980's that kind of applies here. And...while it is arrogant to purport to be a hero, per se; when you're just an ordinary guy...okay NOT so ordinary...but just a guy making a living...

Really. It actually takes a bit of effort to remain humble when everyone around you says you're the greatest Monster hero. But...while I may have done a lot of heroic things in the past...that was then. What have I done today?

What is it I do that even remotely measures up to what I've done?

What can I be EXPECTED to do now days? There's no world to save. No lives to rescue. No great evil to stand against.

This is what normal is...right?

And yet...what makes it normal is what makes it...completely not.

Right.

About that song...

When I think about it, this song would have been an anthem for someone more appropriate than me...someone like my godfather, Dr. Garfield Powerhouse Arcade.

Y'know...it feels like it was a song made for him. I'm sure he'd understand if I borrowed it.

Who was it that wrote that song again? Oh yeah...Joey Scarbury. It was for some kind of superhero TV show back in the 1980's. Something about a teacher who got an alien suit that gave him super powers but he never got the instruction manual. And had to work with a government agent. The name escapes my memory...

But that theme song...

I think it went something like this.

"Look what's happened to me.  I can't believe it, myself.

Suddenly I'm up on top of the world; it should have been somebody else.

Believe it or not I'm walking on air. I never thought I could be so free.

Flying away, on a wing and a prayer. Who could it be? Believe it or not, it's just me.

Yeah. This is totally YOUR song, Garfield Arcade. I was just renting it.

"Just like the light of a new day, it hit me from out of the blue.

Breaking me out of the spell I was in, making all of my wishes come true!

Believe it or not, I'm walking on air. I never thought I could be so free.

Flying away, on a wing and a prayer. Who could it be? Believe it or not, it's just me."

Even I couldn't suppress a little bit of my own disbelief. As my eyes fell upon the photo of Frisk...

"This is too good to be true.  Look at me.  Falling for you..."

...oh...I set myself up for that one. How long am I going to keep denying this?

"(Believe it or not!  Believe it or not!  Believe it or not!  Believe it or not!  Believe it or not!  Believe it or not!  Believe it or not!  Believe it or not!)

Believe it or not, I'm walking on air. I never thought I could be so free.

Flying away, on a wing and a prayer. Who could it be? Believe it or not, it's just me."

Yeah. It is just me.

My name is Asriel. Prince Asriel Tobias Dreemurr-Arcade the First...actually...in this world? Prince Asriel Tobias Dreemurr-Arcade the one and only.

Sure, I'm not the only Asriel...Flowey was still an Asriel in this world. Just...not "complete".

And I was sure not the only Asriel in the InfinityVerse.

And surely out there…there was an Asriel besides myself that hadn't...well...lost himself.

"Oh!  I know of an alternate me that hasn't!"

It occurred to me...I hadn't thought of her. Not since I made the choice to endanger my sanity with Aunt Vi's rule 34 fanfictions. Maybe...I'll ponder that another time in another journal entry.

"Oh...!"

It was at that moment...for the first time in years...

I was having a good cry.

Not a scared cry. Not a lonely cry. Not an upset cry. Not a hissy-fit cry.

These were tears of joy. The last time I remember crying like this......was the moment I discovered I was no longer a Monster...but  a Hybrid.

* sigh*

Just like Faye Valentine said...belonging is the greatest thing in the world.

It was all amazing and incredible.

But it wasn't complete yet.

For it to be that Ultimate True Happy Ending you dreamed of, Volt...I'd have to do my part to make it come full circle...

Time would tell when that would happen. How long it would take. And...if it WAS everything it was cracked up to be.

I had learned the wisdom of setting your expectations too high. It went hand in hand with "don't meet your heroes"; because if you do, on the expectation that you'll meet them at their best...you'll catch them at their worst.

Similarly...what could be our greatest triumph could also stand to be a catastrophe. It could be opening a Pandora's Box that we'd never close. Who could say what  unforeseeable horrors the best of intentions could bring. Like the saying goes...the road to failure is paved with good intentions.

When I officially declared my wish as a true goal...that's when I'd proceed with caution and wisdom. Hopefully together we could at least prepare for the unexpected. I was going to especially count on Alphys to be my partner and co-engineer.

I may not be all that subtle about what I wanted and what I was intending...but I wasn't going to say it outright, just yet. I had a lot of living to do. My long term goals weren't my priority.

Living in the now. That was priority. It wasn't a matter of becoming complacent. Far from it.

It was a matter of establishing roots in more than one place. If I was like Volt...a bridge between two worlds...then I had to be master of two worlds. A bridge wasn't a bridge if it didn't have support on both sides.

I had my people's love and trust. But what I needed to do...was prove myself to be more than that. I had to take the next step if wanted to deserve the title of Prince of this World's Future.

Everything was awesome.

So what could I do to KEEP it awesome?

Well...no easy answer. I'd just have to keep searching.

If you're reading this you must think the solution is obvious. Don't just bridge our worlds metaphorically...bridge it literally.

A simple plan but it's trying to balance a 100 ton weight on the head of a single needle.

You just don't do it alone. And you don't just have one plan. And for that matter...even if I succeed...there are A LOT of things to consider. Especially one in particular.

I'd unknowingly made a sacrifice to become what I am. If anyone followed where I was headed...they'd have to make a choice to do the same, knowingly. I'd have to tell them what they would lose with no guarantee they'd gain in exchange; it may have been the fundamental rule of alchemy...but life isn't alchemy. Life isn't that dreaded word known as "fair". Sometimes...you got nothing for your troubles. And I had to make sure every person that I lead understood that much.

So. Once again, the wish goes onto the shelf until it's good and ready to get started on.

I guess if that's that...then to summarize once and for all...

Everything really is awesome.

Until next journal entry.

Sub-Entry 139: "DeltaRune Continues...!?"
I suppose glossing over this little footnote in Volt's research was bound to catch up to me. I was there for the moments it reached its finale for him...I still remember how hard we were squeezing each other's hands when we saw that last vision before he woke. It left us both with more questions than answers. But more than that...it was left unresolved.

Volt always felt like...this other world wasn't done with him. For the longest time he watched with one eye open before falling asleep every night. Until he finally started to accept that the door to the dreamscape wasn't going to open any time soon...if at all.

Seven years later...we both forgot about it.

"Another day down.  Not like I'm counting down to anything."

I did feel like I needed something...a goal to head toward. Not just go through the motions and live one day at a time with no real direction. Sure, I was making progress...but to what, was anyone's guess; even my own. I just felt like I was lacking something to give my life...narrative? Something that wouldn't just be another collection of pages in my journal, someone could thumb through and dismiss as "one entry being exactly like the last". Really...I didn't want to have a book full of "Nice day today" written on every page, like Dad supposedly did in the Underground. Honestly, I'm going to find that diary of his some day.

But even I didn't feel like this was what I wanted. In truth...I don't think I was expecting this.

He was right. It would continue...but...just not with him at the helm of the dreamscape.

Was it really possible a dream could not only be continued but bequeathed? Passed on? Was this Destiny and Fate's little twist in their boredom in between their Ultimate Games of Good and Evil?

I'd fallen asleep like normal.

And then, without warning, in my own dreams...I was greeted to a shocking, horrifying opening to something big on the horizon...

"Wha...where am I?  Where's...where's my body?  Why is my consciousness just floating in this darkness.  What IS this darkness...why is it so...familiar...?"

I had vibes of the VOID...of the nothingness space in Gaster's crack in our reality. That infernal place I wasted a century of un-aging life...

But this was different. This didn't feel like home. It felt more like home's estranged cousin.

There would be no warning for what came next.

"Kris...?"

That was mom's voice! Toriel, I mean.

"Kris, honey... Are you awake...? ... W...wait!  Is that a...  A knife!!"

My heartrate skyrocketed as I felt my eyes had tripled in size. Oh gods...oh gods, no...why does it always come back to--

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!"

And everything was swallowed up by a bright white light...!

I almost screamed out as I dropped into a dark space. A door...and behind the door was---!

I was in a room. A kid's bed room. Morning; everything was awash with orange-yellow. Tinted amber by the sunlight peaking in through the curtains of the window. Or...maybe the carpet was just dingy orange with pale yellow walls. Whatever.

There were two beds. One empty. One with someone...covered completely up.

I then realized I hadn't opened the door but phased through it.

"What?  My bracer?" I thought I had most of the features deactivated save for the  Unitrix with the human DNA archetype still in it. Strange...the SPECTRE function seemed to be on and stuck that way.

I stood up and hurriedly scanned the room. The bed on my left looks like it had been made and not slept in for ages. There was a shelf above it...packed with trophies. And awards. A diploma maybe? A night stand with a framed photo and a lamp. In front of the bed, across the room ...a desktop PC. In the center of the room...my family crest, the Delta...Rune--

"Wait.  I know what this is...!" DeltaRune, indeed. But wait! Mom! What happened to--

Suddenly Toriel entered the room, carrying a plate and wearing a disappointed frown.

"Kris, did you eat all the pie!?" She glared at the person still in bed.

Wait...whaa....?!

And then she suddenly facepalmed with exasperation. Never had I ever been so relieved that the tragedy turned out to just be pilfered pie.

"It is YOUR knife in this empty tin, is it not!?"

I was getting really strong vibes of Chara. This is EXACTLY something she would have done and blamed me for back in the day. Hey, I never said she was an angel. Far from it. Every Asriel said it best...Chara really wasn't the best person. Or maybe it was she really wasn't a good person. Whatever the case, I guess the line that's supposed to be hardwired into me was muddled when Destiny crafted me as a variant. Something was lost when I didn't live out my scenarios.

"Oh, Kris...am i going to have to lock the oven again?"

* snrrk*  Okay, this suddenly got too much. The overwhelming feeling of relief was welcome after the child in me had just been borderline traumatized with old memories.

"Well, hurry out of bed.  It is time for school."

And out of the room she walked with the empty pie tin.

And moments later, the covers were pulled back and there was "Kris".

Well...it wasn't Chara. But it looked more like Chara and Frisk combined. Older. And those eyes were hidden under the shadow of her...his...? Umm....their bangs. You'd think as a millennial I'd have a grasp on a-gender pronouns, by now.

Immediately Kris headed over to the drawer of the nightstand on the other side of the room.

"Huh.  There's five dollars in your brother's drawer."

What? How did I know that...? This is...like what Volt described. A narration in my head."

"This must be this world's Asriel." I looked at the photo. It was like looking into a mirror but...

"Well...save for the horn-rimmed glasses and the red horns...he looks just like me."

That was when I saw Kris snatch the five dollars from the drawer.

"Oh no...come on, man..." I felt my heart sink. "You don't have to be worse than Chara." I sighed, feeling a little betrayed. I mean...it wasn't my money, per say but it did belong to AN Asriel.

I felt like Kris must've terrorized him in ways I couldn't imagine. Why did I feel like he was witness to seeing her play that video game about the guy in the overalls that rode that green dragon thing. Every time someone would jump off the dragon sidekick and let him fall down a bottomless pit just to reach a flagpole, my stomach twisted into a knot. How could anyone be so cruel!? Darn it...what was that game...Super...something Brothers...Smash......World...I don't know.

I hope I'm not getting old by forgetting my own video game trivia. Vi would never forgive me.

Underneath the bed, I saw a cartridge peeking out labeled "Cat Petters RPG"...I could make out the names "catti" and "catty" written on it. Waiiiiiiit...

I arched an eyebrow, remembering Catty and Bratty back home in the waking world. That's what this was, right? A dream world?

I hope Freddy Krueger wasn't prowling around. I don't think I could withstand that many uses of the B-word. Though I will admit the guy knew how to make good puns out of awful situations. But I'm never going to get over that much blood on the ceiling or seeing someone pulled into his waterbed. And don't get me started on the TV set in the psychiatric hospital.

My gaze was suddenly drawn to the little red wagon with an empty...very beat up bird cage in it.

I looked at the PC.

"Epic Games Stuff?" Oh boy. Apparently this Asriel inherited Dad's inability to name for beans. And...there was a poorly-drawn design for a game. The last boss was...a creature....with......rainbow wings.

I felt Hyperdeath stir in me for a moment...then went back to sleep; almost out of derision for how lame he considered the likeness.

Kris left the room at that moment. I followed, drifting through the door. Apparently there's still gravity for me so I'm not a total ghost. But...this is kinda spooky. Into the hallway, I guess.

Passing by the mirror...

"It's what they call "you".

Next to it...the door was locked.

Past Kris' door...

A cactus. There's not much to say about it.

Down the stairs...

As we went through the kitchen.

"Huh..." I looked at the phone on the wall. "It's a landline phone.  But...I bet Kris already has a cell phone so..."

Hmm. One of those old 50's giant TV sets. It's plugged in but...it's all dusty. I don't think it's been used in ages.

I sighed. I wanted to explore this house a lot more for answers but...I didn't want to lose sight of Kris. Or...not-my-Toriel.

Toriel got in the driver's side of the red soccer mom van. Kris got in the passenger's side seat.

I should follow but...did I even have...? *scoff* C'mon, Azzy. It's a dreamworld. Remember Ray Stantz's advice about dealing with dreams? It's just a dream. It's just a dream. It's just a dream. Now...i should be able to have some form of control over it? Yes?

Conveniently...there was my NXS board. Pay homage to Marty McFly, Goat Son.

I attached a magnetic tether with an NX JoyCon to function as a makeshift waterskiing tow line.

"That's the power of love!" I couldn't help it. It was right there, y'know?

One weird...jump-cut...?...later.

The door opened and Kris stepped into the classroom--

"Alphys!" I don't know why I sounded surprised. Volt told me all about this. In this...world, Toriel and Alphys both taught at the school.

Back in my Undertale, only half of that was the case. Alphys had her own research lab complex in my reality.

"Kris!  There you are!  (Even Suzie showed up before you, eheh...)"

I rolled my eyes. Wait...Suzie. I'd heard the name Suzy in our Undertale. Different spelling, maybe? Coincidence? No? Maybe the prank of an annoying dog...

Whatever.

Kris took their place a their desk behind a purple crocodile...oh. That must be Suzie--

* THUMP*

Did she just...kick Kris' desk from behind?

"(Hey, Kris.  ...If I knew you were going to be late...I wouldn't have shown up on time.)"

Eesh.

"Suzie, please don't kick your desk." Alphys meekly scolded. "Treat school property like you'd treat people."

It was MY turn to facepalm, because I knew EXACTLY how this would play out. And it's bad once I was seeing things through Chara's point of view...

"..........okay.  Next time I'll aim for the vitals." Suzie's smug grin told all. Which was immediately followed up by boisterous laughter.

Umm...with friends like her, who needs enemies. *gulp*

"...th...that's not what I..."

Give it up, Alphys. Just don't open this can of worms.

"In any case, good morning, Class!  We have a lot to go over today...  First, we're starting the reading from page 142!    Any...Any volunteers...?

"Umm...I...I guess I could read the--"  Started the reindeer looking girl. Oh, hey. That must be Noelle. She seems nice. Demure. She must be the--

Without warning the blue, bespectacled bird in front got up and cut in. "Ah, trouble yourself not, Noelle..." He flashed a cocky grin. I shall valiantly take this blow of humiliation!"

I think my jaw just dropped. Who did this kid think he was?

Also...was he STANDING ON HIS DESK!?

Oh wait. This is Berdly, isn't it? Volt had some...things to say about him. Mostly involving variations on the phrase "smarty-pants".

"Umm...t-that's okay...I can--

"A-HEM!  Page 142...'It was the best of times, it was the worst of times  Times-a pretty good.  Time's-a pretty bad.  Mediocre times, Iffy times.  So-so times..."

Listening to this long-winded speech was too much for Kris. Their eyes began to close automatically......

And how did I know this when I couldn’t even SEE their eyes...?

While paid attention during the whole thing...before I knew it...

"Have a nice day, everyone!"

The door slamming shut and Alphys' goodbye shook me out of the doldrums. Kris was still there...?

And P-PLEASE! Remember your group projects...! Oh...um...Kris? Are you okay? You were, um, sleeping all class... D-don't worry, I'm not mad. J...Just concerned. (Usually you only sleep through the start.)  Good luck and rest well tonight, okay?"

Kris headed over to Alphys' desk.

"Kris...  This whole partner thing..  You didn't lose sleep over it, did you?"

I didn't quite catch what Kris said but I assume it was something to the effect of.. "Lost sleep from being Susie’s partner."

They said with no negative intonation at all... Umm. Yeah.

"Kris, as your teacher, there's umm, a...  A limit.  To the advice I'm qualified for.  But if you're interested, I do have a recommendation.  There's an FPS game podcast that helps me sleep..."

A pause.

"No?  Okay."

Awkward.

Back outside the classroom, guess who was leaning up against the lockers, arms crossed, but the long-haired, purple crocodile in the torn up jeans

"...well, look who it is.  The school zombie.  You were sleeping like a corpse all class.  What's the matter?  Having trouble going beddy-bye last night?"

Suzie started down the hall and stopped dead in her tracks, back to Kris.

And well...me, too though...being an invisible goat hybrid in a strange high school doesn't really count I guess. But I was watching this.

"Heh..." Suzie laughed it off for all but one moment...then suddenly turned around and charged at Kris; grabbing them by the shoulders and shaking them with a wild-eyed look.

"ME TOO, KRIS!!!  Like I could SLEEP after yesterday!?"

So, confirmed. This was one day after the dreamscape that the ended...that Volt left on in that...disturbing end note. And somehow I was inheriting it?

"Just waiting for today felt like...years!!  Did...all that stuff really happen." Then came the name drops that hammered it home.

"Lancer, Ralsei, everyone...are they still...  ...Look.  You've been wondering the same thing, right?  C'MON ALRIGHT!"

And without warning she dragged Kris into a dead run down the hallway and toward the school supply closet. I gave chase without thinking.

And there we were before the double doors.

I subconsciously tried to grab onto Kris' shoulder as I practically hid behind them. So I pulled my hand away, realizing what I should already know.

"Alright, Kris.  This is it.  Moment of truth.  Everything we've been waiting for is just behind this...  ...  If we, uh, open this and there's nothing inside...  Will, uh, we still be..."

Friends?

"SCREW IT!  LET'S JUST OPEN IT, ALREADY!" Suzie rushed the doors--

That was when we were interrupted by a familiar but meek voice.

"Umm, S...Suzie...?"

Caught in mid-whirl...I don't think I'd ever seen a look like that on the once-school-bully. At least...bully to Kris from Volt's account but...now she was different. And very caught of guard just now.

"YEEEEAH????"

"Noelle?" I cocked my head as I watched the reindeer walk up. I envisioned a very...charming music theme that seemed to play whenever she was around. Oh, I get what this was. She was their world's cinnamon roll. She was the sweet girl who you wanted to see protected. Much the same as my friends and family went out of their way to safeguard me. My well-being, my innocence, every aspect about me that they wanted to keep pure...

"Noelle...hey...  What...  the HELL...are you doing here?"

"Umm... s-sorry to bother you, but, ummm, I...  Well, I just... Berdly and I are going to the Library to...  Do some r-research for our group projects, and...  If it's OK, umm... would you...want to come too...?"

A pause.

"Oh, Kris, you can come too I mean!"

I was physically covering up my goofy smile, despite knowing they couldn't see it. This was cute.

"Uhhhhhhhhhhhhh...I mean...  We're like, uhh....busy, with, uh...  (Kris, help me out here!  What do we say!?"

Kris had two options I could think of...and really I couldn't possibly think of a reason WHY I even suggested such a thing but. Either "hanging out alone in the closet"...which was true......or..."crime".

Let's not go there.

"Y'know...chillin' out all alone in the closet.  Just two friends, chillin' out in the closet, like normal.  Touchin'...brooms and stuff.

My jaw physically dropped. So blunt...and so awkward. It would have been what I'D suggest as a snot-nosed kid. Chara would have went with "crime".

"O-oh...?  Umm, well...er...that sounds, um, just...   Have fun, you two!  I'll, umm, be at the library!  (Kris, if you could bring her by later...It would mean a lot to me!)"

And she was gone.

"Wait, Kris! What the HELL was that!???!" Suzie suddenly grabbed Kris again and shook them. "Why would Noelle??  Ask ME???  To do HOMEWORK??  With HER?!??"

Don't read between the lines, kid. Just take it at face value--

"Deathwish much?  Does she WANNA fail!?" Okay, Suzie definitely acknowledges that she's not the best student...to pad the blow of the rather brutal truth.

"...  ...wait a second...WAIT a second.  Kris, did you notice how NERVOUS she was...?  And like blushing and stuff?"

Kind of like Frisk and myself when we're around each other. The writing's on the wall for us. You should be able to connect the dots--

"Kris, you don't think...she...uh..."

My gaze sharpened.

"SHE'S ONTO OUR SECRET IDENTITIES!?"

I about anime-collapsed. What. No, seriously. WHAT. Violet would say her brain shifted gears without the clutch. How could she be THAT dense? Okay, Azzy. No need to be cruel. I'm sure it's just a simple mistake. Don't put her down, even in your own head--

"Yknow, this Dark World stuff.   Damn, we gotta keep this under wraps, Kris.  This is OUR thing, y'know?  Anyway, enough waiting, alright?"

I shook off the moment of being flabbergasted and prepped to follow them in.

"Let's go!"

In they went as the doors opened and...!!!

I wasn't sure what happened next but we were falling down a black void with the rectangular white outlines...the silhouettes of the door coming up around us in a lengthy tunnel to...who knows where...

As they fell I saw...something happen...something "particle-ize" around them sweeping upward. Their clothes were slowly replaced by something different. Kris' complexion turned completely blue-ish while their outfit turned into a plated knight's armor from the neck down...with a magenta scarf. Suzie's outfit turned into darker black leather with spiked wrist and shoulder bands, reminding me of Bowser Koopa's.

As they tumbled through the darkness, I swore they curled up into Mobian homing attacks before accelerating straight down. You know this was probably not the smartest plan I had.

And touchdown. Kris took the lead--

"Hey, Kris, uh, you really gonna walk everywhere so slowly?  I know you're kinda, uh, taking it in, but y'know you can run, y'know?"

And like that I remembered something about the "circle" button--  ...wait, is this game/dream becoming meta all of a sudden?

And off we went down the street of the very black kingdom down. A town of black buildings...shaped like arrows; bent and leaning toward the city street.

I know what this place was from the descriptions and shared visions. I was prepared for this. I was prepared for who might meet us but..........

...I was NOT prepared.

"Kris!  Susie!"

That voice. Familiar. The same as mine but younger. Significantly younger. And there...there I was. But it WASN'T me.

A fluffy white goat monster. Barefoot. Dressed in a green-ish robe...skirt...tunic thing...black heart on the front...with long sleeves and a magenta muffler. Green glasses and red nubby horns like mom...

"It's been ever-so-long!"

"Yeah, yeah.  It's been what?  A day?" Susie scoffed.

"Oh.  That is...short, isn't it...?  It's just that, I've never had friends before..."

Okay this was hitting close to home. He was more and more like me in my youth by the second. How is he a Darkner? So I've never waited so long to see them again, either!"

"Fine.  I guess we'll TRY not to let you die of loneliness.  I bet Lancer wants to see us, too, right?"

A long awkward...and mysterious pause.

Uh-oh.

"Hey....wait a sec.  Where IS Lancer?  Where's EVERYBODY!?"

Huh? Susie brought up a good point. The town was abandoned!

"Worry not, Suzie!  You'll see them in a moment.  Just wait here, alright?"

"...okay.  (Hey, this better not be some kind of prank or something!)

Ralsei faced Kris.

"(Kris.  I have something to ask you.  I need you to return to the Light World...And go to the old classroom to the EAST of the closet doors.  Inside, gather everything on the ground...and bring it back here.  Could you?)

I scratched my head at that...

Kris headed past the two of them to the castle. And there before it was something familiar. A SAVE star.

By gods, this place DOES have a save file system! Then...this is a game like our world once was. But...

I'd have to finish that thought another time.

"You look upon the castle you first saw yesterday...  You are filled with the power of immediate nostalgia."

Huh? Where'd THAT come from? Why did I almost say that out loud?

No sooner did Kris finish saving their file when...my slumber began to end and I was yanked back to the world I knew.

Back in my own bed.

I gasped upon realization.

"It's happening again, Volt.  You were right all along."

Only this time I didn't have you or the others to lean on as you had me and the others to lean on when you went through this.

I was going to need to clear my head.

I was going to need support.

I needed someone over here, fast.

Sub-Entry 140: "Support from Frisk After My Nightmare":
I don't want to admit it but...I'm this close to using the L-word when describing her.

It's said that love forces people to change. In order to be loved, we must become what those want us to be. Dutiful child. Best friend. Fateful...*gulp*...lover. *ahem* Loyal protector. It must be difficult for people to realize they have to be all of those things. I think in this moment I understand Hyperdeath's motivation more than I ever have before; especially in their desperation to be loved they're forced to change into someone completely different.

These words echoed those of one Maxwell Maddison Junior--heir to the Maximum Inc. conglomerate in Metropia; year of 2040. A world, mind you, guarded by the 24th in a line of costumed heroes known as...the Phantom. And no...he doesn't hang around operas and play pipe organs. Different Phantom. Might also want to clear up he's not one of Copy X's generals in that dystopian future of X and Zero's though who'd default to that right away, huh?

Right. Don't let your mind wander, Azzy. Hyperdeath.

I was always afraid that I was going to change into him. Adonis sure realized that fear in one lifetime. No one should have more than one life but...thanks to Aunt Vi's use of Return to the Past...we were ALL granted one.

Now I see that he was afraid of becoming me. Losing something irreplaceable. He isn't some mere alter ego born out of a scribbled drawing from when Chara and I were kids. He's taken on a life of his own inside me.

I think the lesson to be learned, as the rite of passage said by the 24th Phantom was the hardest one of all--seeing the world through the eyes of your enemies. Sometimes...you might learn that they were never your enemy to begin with. Just...misguided by their own goals...their own..........Determination.

So...how does all this connect to DeltaRune? I...guess I'm trying to figure that out.

But how it connects to Frisk? We've always been connected. Every Asriel is connected to every Frisk...whether it's as Asriel for a short time for the longest hug that he wished he could never let go. Or...a little yellow Murderflower who regained the part of Asriel he wished he could let go of...fear. True fear when his sins finally caught up to him and...the iteration of Frisk that was a sick, twisted murder-child finally decided...their "partner" was no longer useful to them and therefore...in their way. Whether or not Flowey deserved it or not...there was no justice that day. Only revenge. Revenge through the part of Chara that awoke that I still dread to this day. A part that who could say what percent was theirs...and what was the influence of the Wraith. Assuming there even was a Wraith in other Genocide Timelines. Regardless...where there is an Asriel or a Flowey...there's always been a Frisk. It's only fitting I should have my own to console me.

It was a simple call to their cell phone. They weren't even angry or upset that I called at such a late hour in the night.

I guess seeing each other in our pajamas was...equally embarrassing. Though...that was hardly the thing on our minds.

"Frisk.  We've got to talk."

So. She had a seat. Next to me. On my bed. D...don't think deep into it, Azzy! W-w-we're just good friends...good, good friends."

* blush*

Get a hold of yourself.

So...I explained it all. From the top. DeltaRune.

She found it so unbelievable but...she gave every tell...every sign that something made her believe it was true. Like there was a connection to Kris..to Susie...to Ralsei...to Lancer...to everyone.

It wasn't hard for be to believe. I'd seen AU's of my own world with my own eyes. But...was DeltaRune even an AU of Undertale? If not...what WAS it? Why did so many versions of us exist in a parallel dream world in...similar but alternate iterations of where we are now?

Was it even really a dream at all? I had this...feeling it was something more. But...at my current level of scientific advancement on this planet...even with all my knowledge and inherited research...I don't think I could ever prove it.

If Volt never found a physical manifestation of DeltaRune given ALL of his resources...what chance did I have of ever discovering it?

"I don't know what to say."

"The thing is, I don't know what I'd even ask of you, Frisk.  If I don't know what my next step with this is much less where I am on the fence with it...how can I seek out help if I don't know what it is I'm even asking for."

"Well.  Talking about it is a good step.  And..to tell the truth I wasn't having that much luck sleeping tonight, either."

"You don't say."

"I guess we both have plenty of time to discuss this place and its people in thorough detail."

"I'm up for staying up past the midnight hour to the crack of dawn if you are."

We talked about so much, to that effect.

From Mom and Dad...to people that didn't exist on our world like Noelle and Jockington. Obviously Susie. Berdly. Catti. So many and so little time to index them all even with how late we were staying up.

"This Kris...they're an enigma.  So much like you and Chara put together and...yet they seem like something more...or maybe less than the two of you combined.  They way they rip their own soul out and toss it in that bird cage.  The Real Knife?  How does it exist in that world and...why do I sense this incredible fountain of darkness with it?  Or maybe...like it's a key to a fountain of darkness."

"In the Lightner World?"

"Sounds hard to swallow but...I don't know.  Past experience with the likes of Hyrule and Koholint...and don't forget Aether.  I've seen things from one side of a mirror realm affect the other."

"Okay, I don't quite know what Hyrule, Koholint and Aether are, but I follow."

"Yeah, I'll tell you about my off world research in due time."

"Hmm."

"The fact that I have inherited this dreamscape from Volt..." I lightly bit my lip. "He didn't know what to do with it then and I don't know what to do with it now."

"You've only had one of these dreams so far, right?  Maybe it's just an isolated incident."

"No...this is just the beginning.  Don't ask how I know.  I just know it'll happen again.  I don't know when but..it will be during a dream or nightmare."

"You are okay, though, right?"

"Yeah, I'm going to be fine.  But...there is something that rattled him just as it rattles me now about DeltaRune."

"What's that?"

"The over arc-ing theme of DeltaRune, the first time around...was that no matter what choices Volt made...no matter how the story would have progressed?  None of their choices mattered.  That's...kind of a sobering realization."

"I don't want to believe something like that is true."

"Neither do I but...Volt was relegated to an accidental tourist...narrating the adventure somehow.  And that's what I did as well.  Like I was a point-and-click cursor with a text-to-speech assist."

I was at least glad Susie didn't tell me to shut up. She intimidates me.

"Well...I know one thing that can at least help."

"What's--"

And before I knew it I was hugged.

How...red were my cheeks right now? I don't think they noticed.

You know...this seems like something Ralsei would do. The answer for everything, handsome mirror?

Heh heh heh. Now where did THAT come from?

"Frisk...can I count on you to be there for me when this happens again?"

"But how do you know it'll happen again--"

"It will.  I know it will."

"..."

Frisk looked unsure at first.

"Okay.  I'll be there for you.  You have my cell number."

"And I have yours."

"Do you...think you have a role to play in this...second chapter?"

"I don't know.  The dream ended before anything really came of it.  Just a return to the Dark World."

Volt had told me that Ralsei was instantly aware of his presence. Like he was a "Super Lightner" or something. Almost overpowering by comparison to Kris and Susie.

If that was true...then there was no doubt I'd be discovered at some point. So...I guess I'd better work on a plan for my return trip. Who could say when it would be at this point but...I'd better be prepared.

"Well, since we're both up...how about I make us both some hot cocoa and we watch an awful late-night movie together?"

Th-this isn't a date! I swear, this isn't a d-d-date!

"Okay.  I could use the company."

And something to cover up my thumping heart right about now.

You know...back in the day Chara and I used to get hot chocolate all the time. She loved it. That love for chocolate carried into the afterlife.

Me? I guess I grew accustomed to it but...I wouldn't say it's a favorite. I wouldn't say I didn't like it. Chocolate in any form always had a pleasant taste, even the bitter dark kind that Chara practically put on an alter about how good it was and that white chocolate was a tasteless abomination.

I never really got it.

* sip*

But it sure is good. And it sure warms you up even when you're covered in fur.

Thanks, Frisk. You are a...true friend.

Some day maybe...maybe we could be more--

And one jump scare latter followed by popcorn on the floor and an empty bowl on my head.

"Sorry, Azzy."

"It's okay..."

Awkward. At least she helped me clean it up afterward.

I probably should have turned down the movie. I know how bad Frisk is with scary movies.

But...one resumed movie later...

I can't say when we fell asleep but I can tell you when we woke up. Most assuredly because the first thing I realized was...I opened my eyes to a human girl using my chest as a pillow as we were both uncomfortably draped over the couch. And that woke me up with a start and cause both of us to tumble off the couch in an awkward heap.

Oh crap. We were so going to be late to our day jobs.

Overlapping cries of "Sorry!  Sorry!  I didn't mean to!  Are you okay!" pretty much distracted both of us from asking if anything happened last night.

Yeah. We're just going to pretend this never happened...we are, aren't we?

"Listen...I'm sorry about--"

"No, no, no!  You're fine!  It's not like--"

"Yeah.  Nothing happened.  Just two a friend helping a friend and falling asleep from a terrible movie...on the couch...in our pajamas.  Ehehehehehh...ehhhhhh..."

So...we were both out of the house and headed off in separate directions...hopefully our faces would stop blushing by that point.

"........."

How in denial am I?

I care about her but...do I care about her in THAT way? Is she really my first lo--"

My cell phone went off.

"I'm on my way, Mom.  Yeah.  Sorry.  Overslept.  Restless night.  No, no.  Just couldn't sleep that's all.  Yeah...I'm okay.  Sure.  No problem.  I'll be there, soon."

And that was that.

Well...it's a life.

Bonus Sub-Entry XXX: "Bringing Halloween to Newest Home":
Since returning to my birth home I've spared not a single moment where I can find out how my world differs from every other world I've been to. Sure enough our history is different from the many Earth templates out there. As it turns out there's just as many things missing from our pages as there are things that Earth history would say didn't belong. And yet without living on our world long enough you'd probably never be able to tell from the current era; what everything let up to. But for simplicity's sake, I'm just going to get right to the point and explain what Holidays never happened. Starting with the one that would have just rolled around back in Miranda City.

I know Jonathan Talbain wouldn't let me forget. What other werewolf did I know that also had a birthday on All Hallows Eve?

Not to say that Halloween was exclusive to VGM-098. In fact I’d come to know its existence on many a world; most notably the world of Volt's mentors, the Ghostbusters. No, not THOSE guys...I mean the REAL Ghostbusters. Sorry for setting THAT joke up.

Joking aside, it was no joking matter when Volt and I were back to proton pack with them all during the "Halloween Door". What a predicament. Ecto-1 destroyed, the Containment Unit exploded and only a short window to Midnight in which the deal between the Druids and the Spirit World would have been permanently broken that to an ignorant old man who'd stolen a P.K.E. meter out of the firehouse to complete his creation to end Halloween Night forever. Who would have ever believed that the one night could be saved by a little shoeless  toddler girl wearing a vacuum cleaner on her back? I guess when you got down to it the contract's wording was the saving grace. In the end...it didn't matter how Halloween was celebrated as long as the spirits were REMEMBERED. And low and behold a miracle happened and it became like the whole disaster never happened.

Which was a relief to me because...I don't think I could take it knowing the Wraith had escaped with everything ELSE in the Ecto Containment Unit. I'm sure it did during the whole affair but...it never found us.

Just to be safe, afterwards, we checked to make sure it was still in there. It was. Thankfully, the whole thing was almost like just a bad dream making me wonder if it really happened.

Well. The past is the past, now. I don't want to look back if I don't have to. But...I felt it to be better safe than sorry and honor the Halloween contract by importing it to my world. Though...we never had such events which spawned ole pumpkin head, Sam Hain or an agreement between spirits and druids...yet we had no shortage of monsters and monster history and lore. It was just a matter of figuring out how to adapt our heritage to it.

I think in the long run I ended up combining a few different worldly traditions and celebrations under one house. Obviously, for the Skele-bro's that mean bringing Mexican Día de Los Muertos (Day of the Day) to our world. Papyrus was tickled pink that we now had a holiday that honored the skeleton monster.

I feel kind of unoriginal that this was also something that happened in other Undertale AU's. It's actually hard to do something unique when your world has so many variants to its universe and infinite numbers of timelines.

In the end I ended up combining it with the main Halloween Night celebration and got a few other things mixed in, as well. A little Chinese New Year, a little Mardi Gras, a little of this and that...

In the end I ended up establishing a pretty unique composite. From there...it was up to monsters and humans to figure out what to do with it.

And before long, after a couple years of testing the waters...we had kind of an answer that drew from everything I'd taught the world about the worlds beyond.

Of course we'd have beggar's night. Of course the humans would still dress as ghosts, goblins, monsters, superheroes, and such. We Monsters considered it flattering on the whole that there could be a night where humans could walk a mile in our shoes...those of us that actually WORE shoes, of course.

So what about our side of things?

Well in the end...we got the idea to dress as mostly human celebrities and human characters from movies and anime. Both from our world and from several I miiiiiight have told about.

"...who are you again, Azzy?"

"This year I'm going as actor, Keanu Reeves.  It's kind of an inside joke Violet had for a while."

"Sounds like a hunky guy."

"Yeah, I'm not sure who he resembles more...Ted Theodore Logan of the Wyld Stallyns, John Constantine from the DC universe, Thomas A. "Neo" Anderson of the Matrix or that Wick guy wit the codename "Baba Yaga".

Okay, I'd later figure out the connection between them all at a later day when combing through more of Vi's old junk data but for now...let me appreciate the unspoken irony.

That said, maybe using the Unitrix to actually pose as human was cheating. Much less tweaking its DNA archetype cells to modify the physical form to look like Mr. Reeves; a practice I'm sure would have Asmuth breathing down my neck if he ever knew. But really...the reveal to show I was really Asriel Arcade was too priceless to pass up.

"I thought I told you two idiots I didn't want to participate in your stupid holiday."

Flowey was a little sour I managed to dress him up as Audrey II from Little Shop of Horrors. I think he only allowed it because it was his favorite movie thus far; especially the one with the bad ending where Krelbourne gets eaten and the Mean Green Muthah from outer space ends up taking over the world after his spawn all rise up.

"You'll thank us some day." Frisk booped him on where his snoot would be.

"Grrrrr..."

Too frustrated to even retaliate.

"C'mon, lil' bro.  I'll save you a quarter of my candy stash."

"Make it a third." Flowey muttered after a moment to think.

"Deal."

At least it got him to clam up about how I'm too old to be "trick-or-treating" as I described it. But what we'd established...age wasn’t even close to a restriction. Heck, I even saw Gerson out and about, doing his best impression of Master Roshi. How ironic a turtle monster would play a turtle hermit?

I did leave out Roshi's more lewd, lecherous traits when I described him.

I had some time to kill before the festivities got under way in the evening. Thinking about Halloween made me recall a lot about the celebrations in Miranda City. But also...I remembered that I had a lot of archived video data from my time off world dealing with...the related subject at hand.

Whether it was proclaiming "Let's go, Ghost Busters!" or "We're ready to believe you!  Because we're the REAL Ghostbusters"...I had plenty to get nostalgic over.

But...as I perused the old footage, I came across our time in Summerville, Oklahoma.

Immediately...I noticed something was off. When Volt and I dropped off the things that Dr. Spengler wanted left in the old farmhouse and the secret underground laboratory...I could have sworn what we left in the sliding panel floor was a PKE meter. But checking the footage again... ...we had somehow left a ghost trap instead. And weird enough...it looked like the red light was blinking.

Why...why would Dr. Spengler ask us to hide a ghost trap? And a loaded one at that.

Was this...the Mandala Effect in action? Maybe...maybe Aunt Vi was having fun with photoshop and one of her other fancy editors just to mess with our heads?

"Hmm?" I shuffled around the papers and the VCR tapes and such...and then I found it.

"No way." I lifted up the P.K.E. Meter that we'd supposedly left in Summerville. What was going on!?

I switched it on just to be sure it was working.

No valence. Why did I think I'd be surprised? Maybe I'd get a reading from Napstablook or Mettaton. Possibly Mad Dummy if he ever left Ebott.

Easy, Azzy. The temptation to contact Volt was running high but..

I realized...I didn't have any way TO contact him. It was my hope he had an archival copy of what I inherited and he'd figure it out but...

"Hmmm."

I'd...noticed the more time went by, the moodier he got about it. Being a time traveler, he had to have seen a lot of people...come and go...to put it as delicately as possible. I think...it was inevitability that was creeping toward him. Chances are...what he was afraid of was losing his first mentor to mortality.

I understood fully, by this point, how much of a drag being immortal was for him. Just realizing I could have had the capacity for that if I'd stayed on Undertale and had remained monster like everyone else...if I never got married and just...lived like I am now.

If none of this Undertale adventure had even kicked off and I'd never met Volt in the first place...

Yeah.

What a naive little boy would've probably bragged about...wasn't looking like such a great deal now.

I think Volt considered me lucky that I wouldn't have to say a permanent goodbye to anyone I'd met, including the Ghostbusters...and the Ghost Busters. You know what I mean. Whether the Lou Scheimer universe or the Columbia Pictures universe...or maybe it was the IDW universe...or the D.i.C. universe?

Now I know why Volt gets frustrated over multi-dimensional theories.

"There's nothing I can do about it." I decided to hold onto the meter. All these things related to professional paranormal investigation and elimination was dragging me down and depressing me when I couldn't help but see things through Volt's eyes.

"Come on, now.  You have all day for Halloween.  Tricks, treats, and the usual hype...only you're kind of introducing it to a new world that's never had it before."

As much as I did want to explore more about Egon Spengler and Summerville and what the afterlife was like on other worlds...no good could come about chomping at the bit to uncover answers I might not like any more than Volt would.

So...I got all my ducks in a row before leaving the house. And before Flowey started harping on me to figure out what got me all bent out of shape. Like I'd give him ammo to tease me about.

Anyway...I'd already stockpiled plenty of Monster Candy to give out during the two hours of Beggar's Night. That was ready to go.

After the witching hour, I just had to drop in on Mettaton and Napstablook's haunted house. Granted to the sexy rectangle and even sexier dance-a-tronic android from it was a little cliche if not a total trope of ghosts to host a Haunted House...

But he just could not ignore the charm of staring in the equivalent of a B-movie which would inevitably become a cult classic in 20 years; hence why he was recording the footage for posterity. Also...now that he was famous...he had a budget, so I couldn't exactly call it B-movie material.

Lastly, Frisk and I had to attend the Halloween festival in the square with of course...a costume contest. I hope I picked out a good one. I wonder what she's coming as?

"Just thinking about this is making me giddy!"

"Yo, horn head.  You can stop talking to yourself any time now."

Oh pipe down, Flowey. You're not killing the vibe.

Will all prep taken care of, I headed out to take care of the daily matters before the time came for awesome.

Of course that meant the Papyrus workout...

"NYEHEHEHEHEH!  MOVE THOSE LEGS!  PUMP THAT IRON!  TOSS THAT ANNOYING DOG!!!"

Yeah, you heard right. It's not like A.D. would be harmed from it as many times as he trolls us. I get the feeling he's more than he appears...plus there was that room back in Mount Ebott which seemed to belong to him that hosted a lot of...questionable clues about our world?

Just who ARE you, Annoying Dog? And why do Frisk and I keep finding...Dog Residue in our inventory? Before you ask...it's not what you think. Though...I don't have a straight answer for what it actually is.

And of course Undyne's martial arts lessons waited for no one. Though...I'm sure the neighbors probably could wait forever if it meant they'd stop racking up property damages from Undyne's overzealousness with breaking stuff.

Today wasn't a teaching day at mom's school so that was good. Dad had enough additional part-timers to cover today. Though, he would miss my company.

Which of course left the visits to Grillby's and Muffets...this time in reverse order to make sure I had less money going in and I'd get that much less ripped off when I picked up my pastries.

I only stopped by Alphys' lab to pick up a few bits and pieces to give my homestead a spooky upgrade or two.

Being that the Boys in Beige were on my mind, when thinking about Volt's mentor...I wondered if it was okay if I borrowed some inspiration of the...Gozerian kind.

Do you think an animatronic "Zuul" Terror Dog jumping out of the bushes was a bit much?

Nah. If I had Undyne cosplaying as Gozer and demanding to know if every Trick or Treater was a god then scaring them off with a command of "THEN, DIIIIIIIE!" while raising her spear? THAT would be too much.

"D-D-Dr. Arcade's robotics research really c-came in handy.  I've got a million ideas for M-Mettaton alone."

"Take a deep breath.  Take it slow, Doc.  Don't overdo it all in one go.  Too many upgrades could be a disaster, you know."

"R-r-right!"

"The fewer things that can go wrong the more you can rely on Occam's Razor."

"Occam's Razor?"

"Oh right.  You haven't heard that theory.  It's basically the practice of science to always search for the simplest explanation or solution.  In essence, it's a calculated speculation that the simplest answer is usually the correct one.  But be careful.  It has its exceptions."

"Hmm..."

How did a world like Undertale never have its own version of Occam's Razor?

Okay. Lunch eaten, errands run. A little free time to k-word. Come on. You know I don't like saying the word, "kill". Don't kill and don't be killed, y'know?

Being a pacifist isn't as easy as it seems sometimes. If anything...it's one of the hardest things in the world even it it's who you are. Practicing it just comes with its own complications and I don't mean talking Undyne down from suplexing the guy in the drive-through window for getting her order wrong.

Off on another tangent, again, Azzy. Oh well.

Haven't busted the old NXS board out in a while...let's not let those lessons Gadget gave me in skateboarding go to waste; getting rusty now would be a crying shame even at my age. I mean...really. How old is Tony Hawk now?

"A little fresh air while catching some air." I mused as I pulled a backflip; board and all, right out of the Super Back to the Future 2 game on Super Famicom. Chibi versions of big name movies in Jangese are an acquired taste. I know I got Alphys sold on it. Especially since she easily recognized the Delorean in the game...and asked how Volt got the Time Machine in the first place. I think she's interested in reverse-engineering a Flux Capacitor.

Patience, Doc. Let's master space before we even THINK about time. Once we have working cyber portals when we can worry about the Circuits of Time. Then lastly crack dimensional travel across the Axis of Reality.

...I'm not exactly being subtle about my long term goals, aren't I?

But those are long term. I have to make up for a lot of time here. And...maybe figure out what I'm going to do with my life on a more permanent basis rather than just...this little niche I'm in. Part time work here and there. An occasional temp job at City Hall. And of course helping the parents in their respective jobs.

You know for the first time in a while, I picked up my old soccer ball and thought about starting a Ninja Soccer league here...

"Easy, Azzy.  Don't lose track of time or forget what holiday it is or you'll miss the good stuff when it rolls around."

I had gotten back home in time to do my thing and rummage through my closet.

And...I kind of got lost in a deep blue funk for a moment finding one of Volt's old neckties among my things. I...thought about wearing it to the lab one day. Since it goes well with a lab coat and all..

That was when I caught my mind wandering again. I know. It's been some time since but...it's still hard to remain focused on what's here and what's now. What's in front of me.

The bonds that we forged can't be severed but...I can't let homesickness be all-consuming.

My eyes turned cyan at that point. I would give it more time. Time will help things make sense. Not that I'm actively TRYING to forget about the past...it's just that I'm trying hard to adjust to the present. I want this to work.

They took all the time they needed to cultivate me so I'd be ready for this world. I can take as much time as I need to ready myself for when I'm ready to no longer belong to any one world...mine...or theirs. When that day comes I'll have worked out the details and how we'll all make this work.

Halloween, Azzy. Focus on the candy and hope you don't get a lot of tricks. Burgerpants has already had one or two...paper bags set on fire in front of his doorstop.......ewwwwwww.

And so the hour came...

"Trick or Treat!"

And out came the candy.

"I've always wanted to do this." I mused as I readied the big bowl of king-sized stuff I'd gotten. Beggar's night deserved S-Rank stuff. I'm sure a lot of monster kids would be getting their fill of apples and boxes of raisins. And believe me no one wants to get a toothbrush and toothpaste from a dentist on Halloween.

"Hope you're having the biggest, baddest birthday cake, Uncle Jonathan."

Yeah. I haven't forgotten this is still his big day back in Miranda City. There's just something fitting about a werewolf being born on October 31st.

Two hours shoots by before you know it. And I was off to Mettaton's

"I wish I could say I was surprised..."

Less...spook and more of Mettaton's likeness. Yup. His narcissism still knows no bounds. But Volt was right. He somehow makes it charming rather than obnoxious. When you're vain as a peacock, that's a hard thing to pull of and still be a likeable guy or gal.

"...ohhhhhhh...you're here...."

I smirked without even having to look behind me. I could say that I could hear his headphones but...he had them muted so he could hear. Just intuition this time, I guess. Nice to see you again, Napstablook.

"Got a hug for the ghost.  Free of charge."

I did so, bringing a smile to his ghostly face.

"Oh hey!  It's the return of Dapper Blook!"

Gotta love it when he's Puttin' on the Ritz. Add a monocle, and you're ready to remake Taco's 1980's music video of the same name. White spats and Arab collars, white shirts, and lots of dollars.

And so I headed in to be bombarded with the sights and sounds of Mettaton's house of fabulous.

Thus...

"How long was I in there...?" I said as I finished bidding everyone goodbye.

"Sheesh!  Better put turbochargers on it.  I can't be late to meet up with Frisk in the town square!"

A quick change with the Unitrix, a wig and the proper clothes...and voila! I was Mark Hamill's Luke Skywalker. The classic version not the sequels. I'd explain to Frisk.

Speaking of...her costume of choice turned out to be the idea I'd dropped a while back. A full-sized cosplay of a rabite walk-around.

"Chuu!"

And I got a peck on the cheek. Walked right into that one. Both the sound a rabite makes and the Jangese onomatopoeia for being kissed.

Oh god. I'm blushing. I'm blushing hard and wrapping my ears around my face like I used to do.

Frisk is just eating it up. Giggles and all.

"Are you done embarrassing me, yet?" I tried not to whine.

"You know you like being babied.  Boop."

Right on the snoot.

She...is just a really good friend. R-really.........(ahem)...really.

Can you tell I'm trying to cover up my voice cracking with an attempt to sound macho and manly? Probably not the best move just saying my thoughts straight out. If I hadn't written this down, you'd probably never know.

I'll just stop talking...er...writing now.

Off to the square where humans and monsters alike were in full costume.

While most of the celebrities and human cosplays the Monsters were pulling off were from this world...I did catch a few that they'd have never know about if I hadn't told all.

Like Mettaton as Elvis. You had to see it to believe it. Dad makes a surprisingly good Bob Ross.

Mom coming as the Goddess of Life gave me a bit of a chill, thinking back to that one Undertale A.U. I came across...the one where Sans was Death and Chara stole his scythe...and Undyne was the Goddess of War...and.......yeah...another AU where another Asriel meets a terrible fate.

Moving on before this gets too unpleasant...

Of course I had to address the almost TOO subtle elephant in the room. Then...there was Sans with a torn piece of paper taped to the front of his parka that simple read "sans". Really...spared no effort, huh?

"Saaaaaaaans!" Papyrus protested.

Okay, he picked an obscure one from my list of references. Jack LaLanne? The TV workout instructor from waaaay old times. Even before Mitzi's!

I guess Frisk talked him out of being Richard Simmons. Probably for the best. I don't think we'd want him to try to simulate the innards of the human body when you don't have skin to paint it on. Which made some of us wary he might try to substitute the parts from Alphys' visible human body that was donated to her from some children's science museum after some group got up in arms about it being "indecent". I helped her hook up the robotics and the interactive video. She found it very informative but...Toriel insisted that they put clothes on it whenever Frisk visited the lab.

Violet has to be laughing it up.

Back to Pappy's costume; Jack LaLanne, that is...what was bugging me about it was...it felt like a reference to something I'd heard of before. I think it was in...the Neitherworld where Beetlejuice was from. And that reference had me thinking of stripy shirts and French accents. Which in turn made me think of Antoine.

"I could swear that there was something that was extra fitting about his choice...maybe it had to do with bones?"

You know I had never seen him successfully pull off his Special Attack, because Annoying Dog would always play fetch with it...minus the part where he y'know...actually brought it back its owner?

Then there was Undyne. She could have won last year's contest...if it hadn't been for the Chief of Police showing up and demanding she not only return police property and the uniform...but also refrain from impersonating an officer of the law without actually going through the Police Academy.

"Mental note to self.  Invest in a goldfish some time."

I was thinking of Commandant Lassard. I trigger too easily when I bring up these references.

Granted...it wasn't the same when there was nobody to celebrate a birthday today but...it was still fun.

Bobbing for apples, scary ghost stories, and showing old horror movies with an old-fashioned projector? Yes. Yes.

"Having fun, Asriel?"

"The most I've had in a while, Frisk."

Like all good things All Hallows Eve had to come to an end.

Frisk and I went our separate ways and I ended up taking home WAY more candy than I really felt was my fair share.

I just knew Flowey would try to horde as much of it as he could.

It wasn't that I objected...I just didn't want him making himself sick. Could he even GET sick?

As a last thought before turning in for the night, I brought the Jack O'Lantern back inside and put a punctuation mark on it by blowing out the candle inside.

"Guess I better start writing a Thanksgiving Day speech..."

But that's another story for another journal entry a month later.

Happy Halloween, all!!!

Chapter 15

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