UnderHappened

19 - Monster Kid

Finn looks back at the umbrella sheltering the statue. The sign next to the umbrella stand says "PLEASE TAKE ONE", they know. They've already taken their one. But the monster, by the laws of the universe, should be allotted one as well. And Finn is perfectly allowed to hold that one umbrella for them, considering they can't hold anything themself.

They realize it's kinda silly to be wasting time puzzling this out.

"Yeah, of course!" Finn agrees. "Let's go."

The monster grins and falls into pace beside Finn as they move into the next cave, stumbling slightly as they attempt to balance themself without the use of arms. Finn selects another umbrella - green, this time - and together the two head down the cavernous pathway, Finn carefully holding the umbrella so that it covers both of their heads. Rain soon begins to fall from some unknown source, splashing against the umbrella's top, and large puddles begin appearing on the ground, which both Finn and the monster kid happily splash through. It's peaceful, quiet except for the steady drum of the raindrops, the haunting tune of the music box soon put well behind them.

Should we really be bringing the kid with us?  the dummy asks skeptically, ruining the moment.

That was something Finn had already thought about, and they'd decided that the monster kid was far safer traveling with them then pursuing some empty alternative path on their own.

"It'll be fine," they whisper.

"Yo, did you say something?" the monster asks, looking at them.

Finn blushes. "No. Well, yes. But. It doesn't matter."

The kid seems perfectly happy with this response, and immediately moves on from it. "Yo, Undyne's soooooo cool though. She beats up all the bad guys and she never loses. If I was a human, I'd wet the bed every night knowing she was gonna beat me up."

"Bad guy" and "human" seem to be synonymous with each other in the monster's vocabulary, and Finn completely understands why.

"She sounds powerful," Finn replies, choosing their words carefully.

"She is!! Yo, you gotta see her in action!!"

Finn nods, not knowing what else to say, and the two turn a corner, heading down a new section of tunnel.

"One time, we had this school project where we had to take care of a flower, and King Asgore gave us his own flowers to use for it," the kid chats on. "He ended up coming to school and giving this giant speech on responsibility and stuff. I've been thinking... how cool it would be if Undyne came to school!! She could beat up all the teachers! I mean, she wouldn't beat up the teachers," the kid adds hastily. "She's far too awesome to ever hurt an innocent person."

Finn considers this quietly, unable to come up with something to say. From what the kid is saying about her, Undyne sounds like a pretty awesome person. A true defender of the Underground. Chances are, she won't sit by and watch while innocent monsters get slaughtered by a remorseless human child. Finn guesses she's probably going to end up attacking them. And if she's as powerful as the monster seems to think.... a warrior, Captain of the Royal Guard... she might actually pose something of a threat. She might even be capable of bringing the demon down. 

Finn can only hope.

"Yo, there's the Palace!" the monster kid chirps as they emerge from the tunnel out onto a wide stone bridge.

Finn blinks and looks around, wondering what they're talking about, then stops in their tracks, staring.

The bridge is completely open to the cold underground air, with a cave on each end, bored into great cavern walls rising up, up, up to merge unseen at a dark height. Tiny stones glint in the stone hundreds of miles above them, spelling out constellations of circles and wings and mountains. To the right, the bridge drops off at a sharp cliff and meets an ocean of dark, faintly luminescent water, a dark expanse beneath the equally dark expanse of the cavern ceiling. It stretches on and on, rippling gently with some unseen force, until it collides with the far-off bank of an enormous city, glowing like a beacon in the dark. Out of this city, a tiny collection of lights and fuzzy shapes from this distance, gleams a giant, beautiful, turreted structure, rising out of the land in towers of stone and majestic beauty.

A palace.

"I always like to just stop and look at it when I pass, you know?" The monster kid is speaking in a hushed whisper, staring at the distant palace in awe. "It's kind of awesome."

"Yeah," Finn breathes, marveling in its calm beauty.

"It must be so cool to be the King and live in that thing. Yo, have you met Mr. Dreemurr?" the kid asks suddenly, turning back to them.

Finn shakes their head, and the monster's eyes widen in disbelief.

"No way!! He's like, the nicest guy ever. Nowhere near as cool as Undyne, of course. But I've heard he's beaten up a couple of humans himself, haha! Though it's honestly hard to imagine him beating anyone up," the monster adds as an afterthought. They shake their head. "Yo, we're gonna miss out on all the cool stuff at the speed we're going! Let's go!"

They break into a jog, then promptly fall on their face.

"Are you okay?" Finn asks again anxiously, catching up with them, but they're already back on their feet. They grin and look at Finn, then fall back to walk beside them as they cross the bridge and enter the cave on the other end, wondering what lies ahead, and if it has anything to do with a fight between a demon and a certain Captain of the Royal Guard.