No One is Happy with This (Undertale)

23 ~ Progress Continues

Sans says the new blueprints are "in accordance" with the machines already built. When you ask him what that means, he says that it means you don't have to build a whole new machine, you can just modify the space machine and the time machine into one spacetime machine.

"That's good!" You say. "Then it won't take as long!"

Sans just shakes his head. "the time difference will likely be marginal. not enough to really make much of a difference."

"So how long do you think it will take?"

He shrugs. "i've built the other two before, so i have a pretty alright idea of what we were doing. but this? never done it before, so i'll not only be doing something new, but i'll be double checking my work because of that, and that means i'll be going slower and more carefully. so, most optimistically... a few months. pessimistically, more than a year."

Your shoulders slump. "But I have to go back to school!"

Sans laughs a little and ruffles your hair. "yeah, you will. don't worry, though, you can still come here on weekends, and i promise i won't start it up without ya. after all, i'll need you in order to reset, in case anything goes wrong!"

His tone is light, but you can see the seriousness in his expression.

"in the meantime, though," he grins at you, "we've still got a few weeks of summer left, so let's get all we can done."

You nod and agree.

And you get to work.

Sans insists at testing every single little thing anyone builds, and it's a good thing he does. There are a lot of explosions. Usually just small ones, little more than sparks and a loud pop, but you can't imagine what would happen if you didn't test something and it blew up the whole machine. That would be bad.

But that's also why Sans has you around, because Annoying Dog knows you're no help in building the machine.

Time speeds by, and gradually, the new machine is built from the carcasses of the other two.

Only days before you have to return home for the first day of school, Dr. Gaster gets in contact again. He gives Sans a few pointers on building things, then proceeds to generally poke fun at Sans via sarcastic, sassy remarks until it gets too painful for him to keep going.

You decide you like Dr. Gaster, very much.

Flowey does, too, apparently. When you tell him about the things Dr. Gaster's said, he bursts out laughing. It's the vicious, cruel laughter he does, but laughter nonetheless.

The school in Ebbot Town isn't completely set up yet. They say that next year will probably be its first year. As it is, Toriel has to drive you to the school in the nearest human town. It's about a thirty five minute drive away.

Your first day back goes pretty well. You meet your teachers, say hi to friends from last year. Your first year in school after you freed the monsters, there had been a few kids who had bullied you. But they quickly learned that someone strong enough to take on the king of all monsters and win isn't someone who's gonna crumble under a few mean remarks and shoves in the hall. They learned you can shove back just as hard.

Of course, as soon as they stopped and asked to be your friends, you said yes. You understand that sometimes you have to be firm, that politeness and pleading doesn't work, just like with battling Asgore and then Flowey, but as soon as you have the option, you always grant mercy.

Having an angry, snarling, Soulless flower riding in your backpack all day also helps to deter people with ill will towards you.

One of the things your teacher has you all do on the first day is stand up and tell the class what you did over the summer. When it's your turn, you tell how you learned that the last Royal Scientist was erased from existence, and now you and all your friends are building a machine to save him.

One kid in the classroom shouts "aw, man! Frisk always gets all the cool adventures!" Everyone laughs at that. You can't tell if the kid is just joking, or if he's subtly saying he doesn't believe you. You've spent so long around monsters that you have a hard time reading human emotions.

When you get home, you have a little bit of a headache, but after a few glasses of water, you realize it's just from dehydration. You were so busy at your first day back at school that you forgot to stay hydrated. But, in the end, it's a problem that's quickly solved.

The week passes quickly, and then it's the weekend. Sans picks you up and takes you to the brothers' house on the mountain. Undyne and Alphys arrive there minutes after you. The five of you test the machine.

It blows up. Big time. This time, Undyne takes the brunt of the explosion, and is dusted immediately on impact. Papyrus gets pretty banged up, too.

When Sans looks at you, that panic in his eyes, you just nod and reach for the reset button.

This happens three times before Sans and Alphys figure out what's wrong.

But still, in the end, they figure it all out, and progress continues.

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A/N

So I honestly never really understood the whole "Frisk is bullied at school and needs intervention from Sans" type thing. I mean, Frisk can handle photoshop Flowey, practically the very definition of a soulless bully. I think they can deal with a few idiot kids. I guess maybe it's just an excuse for people to have Sans beat up a few idiot kids? But that doesn't really make sense, because, I mean, he doesn't beat up a kid unless they're literally gonna bring about the end of the world. So yeah, I just never really understood that.

Anyway, thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoyed it! Comments and votes are my Favorite Things, and every notification I get makes my day!