When the three humans reach the next area, they see Sans at another sentry station. They are also approached by a monster child.
Monster Kid: "Yo! Are you two sneaking out to see her, too?"
Ben: "Uh, see who?"
Monster Kid: "Undyne, of course! She's the coolest!! I wanna be just like her when I grow up..." He gets a bit nervous. "Hey, uh, don't tell my parents I'm here. Ha ha."
Frisk: "Don't worry. We won't tell anyone."
Monster Kid: "Thanks!" He runs off. "See you later!"
Chara: "Hey guys, come here." She points to a blue flower. "Have a look at this."
Ben and Frisk go over to it and stand there for a few moments.
Ben: "So, what does it do?"
Echo Flower: "So, what does it do?" It sounds just like Ben.
Frisk: "Woah! That's cool!"
Echo Flower: "Woah! That's cool!" It sounds just like Frisk.
Ben: "So, this is some kind of Echo Flower."
Chara: "That's it's name actually."
Frisk: "That's cool." She walks over to Sans with the other two. "Hey Sans. What are you doing here?"
Sans: "what? haven't you seen a guy with two jobs before?"
Ben: "Yeah, but why do you have two jobs?"
Sans: "it's so i get twice the legally-required breaks."
Chara: "So you're just being lazy more efficiently."
Sans: "yeah. anyway, i'm going to grillby's in a little bit. wanna come?"
Frisk: "That actually sounds really nice right about now." Her stomach quietly grumbles. "We are pretty hungry."
Ben: "Besides, we definitely need somewhere to sit down for a bit."
Sans: "well, if you insist. i'll pry myself from my work." He gets out of the sentry station and starts moving to the area on the right. "over here. i know a shortcut."
Ben: "What kind of shortcut would be in that direction?"
Sans: "just trust me, okay?"
Ben: "Fine." He shrugs. "Let's get a move on."
The four go with Sans into the next area. They all, minus Sans, feel woozy as they close their eyes. When they open their eyes, they are suddenly in Grillby's. There are only a few patrons there, but most of them seem drunk.
Frisk almost pukes, but she keeps herself from emptying her stomach, though she still feels a bit sick. Ben pats her back as she starts to recover from the sudden teleportation.
Sans: "fast shortcut, huh?" He starts speaking louder. "hey everyone."
Teeth Monster: "Greetings, Sans."
Drunk Rabbit: "Hiya, Sansy~"
Chara: "You're pretty popular here, huh?"
Sans: "you could say that."
The three humans and Sans go up to the bar, where two bird monsters start talking to him.
Bird Monster 1: "Hey Sans, weren't you just here for breakfast a few minutes ago?"
Sans: "nah, I haven't had breakfast in at least half an hour." He winks. "you must be thinking of brunch."
The patrons erupt in laughter while Sans basks in the laughter.
Sans: "here." He points at three stools. "get comfy."
Ben, Frisk, and Sans sit down at the stools while Chara floats above them. Ben is sitting between Sans and Frisk.
Though, the moment they sit down, Ben and Frisk's stools let out fart sounds. They are both quite embarrassed as Chara starts howling with laughter.
Sans: "whoops, watch where you sit down. sometimes weirdos put whoopee cushions in the seats."
Ben just glares at Sans while Frisk looks down, still embarrassed.
Sans: "anyway, let's order. whaddya want?"
Ben: "A burger." He turns to Frisk. "What about you Frisk?"
Frisk: I would like a burger too, please."
Sans: "hey, that sounds pretty good." He turns to the bartender. "grillby, we'll have a triple order of burg."
Grillby doesn't say anything, and he just goes into the back room of the bar. As Grillby gets the food, the three humans see that Sans is using a comb on his head.
Sans: "so, what do you think of my brother?"
Ben: "Well that came out of left field. But I'd say he is pretty cool, but he is a bit eccentric."
Frisk: "I'd say he's cool, too."
Ben: "of course he's cool. you'd be cool too if you wore that outfit everyday. he'd only take that thing off if he absolutely had to." He chuckles. "at least he washes it."
Chara: "So he would only take it off when in the shower or when it's dirty?"
Sans: "actually, he kills two birds with one stone there. he wears it in the shower and cleans it and himself at the same time."
Frisk: "That's pretty gross."
That is when Grillby comes back with three burgers. He sets them down in front of the three, with Chara practically drooling, before going back to cleaning a cup.
Sans: "here's the grub." He takes out a bottle of ketchup from his jacket. "want some ketchup?"
Ben: "Uh, sure." He takes it. "Do you just keep condiments on you?"
Sans: "sure do, kiddo." He exposes his jacket, revealing several bottles of condiments. "you never know when you might need one."
Ben: "Huh. Okay then."
Ben takes the top bun off of his burger and is about to put some ketchup on it, but something doesn't sit right with him. He checks the lid of the ketchup bottle, and sees that it's loose. He looks at Sans with a smirk on his face while tightening the lid.
Ben: "Nice try."
Sans: "thanks. i try."
Ben pours the ketchup onto his burger. He hands the bottle to Frisk, who also pours some ketchup on her burger, before giving it back to Ben. Ben then gives it back to Sans.
Sans: "thanks for leaving some for me."
Sans then drinks the entire bottle of ketchup, with the three humans looking at him in bewilderment as he does. Ben, Frisk, and Sans then start eating their food.
Sans: "anyway, cool or not, you have to admit that papyrus tries really hard. like how he keeps trying to be part of the royal guard."
Ben: "Yeah, he does try pretty hard." He sets down his food. "But what is the Royal Guard?"
Sans: "basically a group of people supposed to capture humans, but through directly fighting them. you probably already met most of them, which were the dog monsters roaming snowdin." He chuckles. "one day, he went to the house of the head of the royal guard and begged her to be a part of the royal guard."
Chara: 'Her? I guess the last head resigned.'
Sans: "of course, she shut the door in his face because it was midnight."
Frisk: "Really? I couldn't imagine being up that late for anything."
Sans: "but the next day, she woke up and saw him still standing there."
Ben: "He stayed there all night?"
Sans: "yeah, he really did. seeing his dedication, she decided to give him warrior training." He scratches the back of his skull. "it's, uh, still a work in progress."
They sit in silence as Ben and Frisk finish their food, with Chara still practically drooling at the sight of the food.
Sans: "oh yeah, i wanted to ask you something."
The rest of the room loses light, with the only light surrounding the humans and Sans. The humans also notice that time has seemingly stopped around them.
Sans: "have you ever heard of a talking flower?"
Ben: 'Wait, Flowey mentioned that a "smiley trashbag" stopped him when he had the Reset. Could that be Sans?' "Uh, yeah. Why?"
Sans: "so you know all about it. the echo flower. they're all over the marsh. say something to them, and they repeat it over and over."
The three humans are a bit shocked that Sans seemingly stopped time to talk about the echo flowers.
Ben: 'He knows more than he's letting on.' "Okay, but what about it?"
Sans: "what about it? well, papyrus told me something interesting the other day. sometimes, when no one else is around, a flower appears and whispers things to him. flattery...advice...encouragement...." He pauses for a bit. "predictions. weird, huh?"
The three humans look at each other, having a pretty good idea what this flower is.
Chara: "Yeah. That's pretty weird."
Sans: "yeah. someone must be using an echo flower to play a trick on him. keep an eye out, okay?"
Ben: "Yeah, we will."
Sans: "thanks."
The room lights back up, and time resumes as if nothing had even happened. Sans then hops out of his stool, having finished his burger.
Sans: "welp, that was a long break. i can't believe i let you two pull me away from work for that long."
Ben: "You would've been here just as long if we weren't here."
Sans laughs, before realizing something.
Sans: "oh, by the way, i'm flat broke. can you foot the bill? it's just 10,000 G." The humans practically choke on air and are about to protest. "I'm just kidding. Grillby, put it on my tab."
Frisk: "If I may ask, how much is your tab."
Sans: "you don't want to know." He starts walking towards the door, before turning around. "by the way....i was going to say something, but i forgot."
Sans leaves the bar, leaving the humans with some new info. They get up and start leaving.
Ben: "You know how Flowey mentioned a "smiley trashbag" when we last saw him?"
Frisk/Chara: "Yeah, why?"
The three leave Grillby's and start heading back to where they were before.
Ben: "I think Sans is that "smiley trashbag" he was talking about."
Chara: "I mean it makes sense. No offense to Papyrus, I doubt that he could stop him."
They eventually reach the sentry stand, and see Sans sleeping there. They walk past him quietly, and they see another box with a sign next to it. They also see a small waterfall with large rocks going down it.
* (This is a box. You can put an item in or take an item out. Why would you though??? You can't use items while they're in the box! Sincerely, a box hater.)
Ben: "My god, is this just what people do all day? Write about how much they like/hate boxes?"
Chara: "Considering that they're all trapped down here, they've probably exhausted all options."
They open the box, with the tough gloves all that's in there. They then move past the waterfall, with some difficulty. Frisk almost got hit by one of the rocks, but Ben pushes her out of the way, sending Ben into the area below. This also deals 1 damage to Ben, leaving him at 20 HP.
Chara: "OH MY GOD!" She flies down. "Are you okay!?"
Ben: "Yeah, I'm fine." He gets up, seeing the echo flower. "Go tell Frisk. I'm gonna be up in a bit."
Chara: "O-Okay. If you're sure you're fine."
She flies back up to Frisk while Ben walks over to the echo flower.
Echo Flower: "I swore I saw something behind that waterfall."
Ben: "Hmm." He looks up. "Hey Frisk!"
Frisk: "Yeah!?"
Ben: "Check the waterfall! This echo flower said that there might be something behind it!"
Frisk: "Okay!"
Ben: "Be careful!"
Frisk: "I will!"
Ben then starts walking back, but he notices a small red light in the waterfall. Upon closer inspection, he sees a camera. It looks just like the one outside of the Ruins.
Ben: "So someone is watching us as we travel. Let's hope that it doesn't lead to our capture."
Ben makes it back up and past the waterfall and he sees Frisk wearing a tutu.
Ben: "I'm guessing that's what you found?"
Frisk: "Yup!" She does a little twirl. "Now all I need is the shoes!"
Ben: "They're probably somewhere up ahead, so let's keep moving."
Frisk nods as the three humans continue their trek. They eventually reach and go into some tall grass, and they stop when they hear a familiar voice.
Papyrus: "H...HI, UNDYNE!" He says nervously. "I'M HERE WITH MY DAILY REPORT. IT'S, UHH...REGARDING THOSE HUMANS I CALLED YOU ABOUT EARLIR."
Another voice talks to Papyrus, but it's too quiet for the humans to hear. Chara flies up and watches the conversation.
Chara: 'So that's Undyne, huh? Not gonna lie, she looks pretty badass.'
Papyrus: "HUH? DID I FIGHT THEM?" He poses heroically. "Y-YES! OF COURSE I DID! I FOUGHT THEM VALIANTLY!"
Undyne says something again, which makes Papyrus more nervous.
Papyrus: "WHAT? DID I CAPTURE THEM? W-W-WELL....NO." He hangs his head low. "I TRIED VERY HARD, UNDYNE, BUT IN THE END I FAILED."
Undyne says something.
Papyrus: "W-WHAT? YOU'RE GOING TO TAKE THE TWO HUMANS SOULS YOURSELF?"
Frisk is about to gasp, but Ben quickly covers her mouth in order to keep her quiet.
Papyrus: "BUT UNDYNE, YOU DON'T H-HAVE TO DESTROY THEM!" He approaches Undyne. "YOU SEE...YOU SEE..."
Undyne merely looks at him, glaring at Papyrus through her helmet. Papyrus quickly backs up and hangs his head low.
Papyrus: "I UNDERSTAND. I'LL HELP YOU IN ANY WAY I CAN."
He then runs off back to Snowdin. Ben takes a slow step forward, but the sound of the tall grass in the quiet air sounds like a needle dropped in an empty store. Undyne heard the sound, and starts approaching the ledge above them.
Chara: "Duck down! She's coming!"
Ben ducks down, holding Frisk close. Frisk buries her face in Ben's chest in order to keep herself calm and quiet. Undyne reaches the ledge and looks down. She summons a blue spear and looks right at the humans, before looking around. She then unsummons the spear and backs away. She then disappears into the shadows. Chara quickly checks up there, and finds her gone. She flies back down to the other two.
Chara: "Okay, you two, it's safe."
Ben and Frisk release a deep breath that they were holding. They get up and get out of the tall grass, and are approached by Monster Kid, who was hiding in the same tall grass.
Monster Kid: "Yo...did you see the way she was staring at you? That....was AWESOME!" He starts hopping around. "I'm SOOOO jealous! What'd you do to get her attention?"
Ben: "I...I don't know. It just sorta happened."
Monster Kid: "Cool! C' mon. Let's go watch her beat up some bad guys!"
He starts running, but falls face first. He quickly gets back up, despite having no arms, and runs off.
Chara: "I don't thing he realizes you guys are humans."
Ben: "Yeah, I don't think so either."
Frisk: "But why didn't she attack us? There's no way she didn't see us."
Chara: "Maybe she saw Monster Kid and didn't want to hurt him."
Ben: "Maybe."
They all start moving into the next area, with Frisk hugging Ben's arm again. They a sign, with some small plants sitting nearby.
* When four bridge seeds align in the water, they will sprout.
Not questioning it, they do just that. It forms a bridge and they cross it, going into the next area. When they reach the next area, they take a few steps and a battle commences.
* Aaron flexes in!
Ben: "Okay, that's weird. Even for down here."
He hits ACT, then Check.
* AARON - 7 ATK 2 DEF
* This seahorse has a lot of HP (HorsePower).
Chara groans, with Ben and Frisk giggling at her annoyance.
* All of his attacks are harder to dodge at the bottom of the box.
Ben: "Wow. We've never gotten a warning before fighting someone."
Frisk: "Yeah, it must be pretty difficult."
Aaron: "CHECK all you want." He winks.
They ignore him as Ben and Frisk get ready for the attack. Large water droplets start coming down, which are likely sweat, and the two pretty easily dodge the droplets.
* Aaron is admiring his own muscles.
Chara: "What a meathead."
Ben: "Yup."
Frisk hits ACT, then Flex. She then starts flexing her small arms. Aaron flexes twice as hard, his muscles throbbing.
* ATTACK increases for Frisk and Aaron.
Ben: "Oh, that's just great."
Frisk: "I'm sorry!" She whines. "I didn't know!"
Ben: "It's fine, Frisk." He pats her head. "As you said, you didn't know."
Ben stops petting Frisk's head, who was enjoying it, and focuses on the fight. Chara pouts, wanting her head to be pet as well.
Aaron: "Flexing contest? Ok, flex more." He winks again.
Chara: "Okay, now that's just weird."
Big muscular arms, that are flexing, start coming from behind Ben and Frisk. They have to go back and forth from the left and right side of the battle area to avoid the arms. Luckily, they are able to avoid them.
* Aaron is ready for your next flex.
Frisk tries to pick Shoo, but Ben stops her.
Ben: "Wait. What if the way to stop the battle is by flexing with him?"
Chara: "How would that work?"
Ben: "I don't know, but it's worth a shot. The attack is pretty easy to avoid anyway."
Frisk nods and she hits ACT, then Flex. She and Ben both flex, with Aaron flexing thrice as hard.
* ATTACK increases for Ben, Frisk, and Aaron.
Aaron: "Nice!!! I won't lose tho." He winks yet again.
He sends out the same arm attack, which Ben and Frisk avoid pretty easily.
* Aaron is waiting for your next flex.
Without saying anything, Ben hits flex, then he and Frisk flex. Aaron flexes as well, so much so, that he flexes himself out of the room. The battle ends.
* YOU WON!
* You earned 0 XP and 30 Gold.
Ben: "Well, I didn't expect that."
Frisk: "Doesn't matter. We got out of that, so let's get a move on."
They move up to another patch of bridge seeds, with a sign and bell next to it. Next to that is also a waterfall that is making a river, blocking their way.
* If an error is made, the Bell Blossom can call the Bridge Seeds back to where they started.
Ben: "Cool. Magic bell, and magic seeds."
It takes the group a minute, but they eventually find a way across the water. When they cross the bridge, Frisk suddenly gets a call from Papyrus. She picks up the phone.
Papyrus: {HELLO! THIS IS PAPYRUS!!!}
Frisk: "Hey Papyrus! Um, how did you get my number?"
Papyrus: {HOW DID I GET YOUR NUMBER? WELL, IT WAS EASY!!! I JUST DIALED EVERY NUMBER SEQUENTIALLY UNTIL I GOT YOURS!!! NYEH HEH HEH HEH!!!"
The three humans are flabbergasted, but Frisk breaks out of her shock in order to respond.
Frisk: "O-Oh, cool. Is there a reason you were trying to call me?"
Papyrus: {AH...YES! I CALLED TO ASK WHAT YOU ARE WEARING!}
Frisk: "Uh, why?"
Papyrus: {I'M...ASKING FOR A FRIEND. SHE THOUGHT SHE SAW YOU WEARING A DUSTY TUTU, AND SAW THE OTHER HUMAN WEARING A TATTERED BANDANA. IS THAT TRUE?}
Frisk looks at Ben and Chara, and they both are shaking their heads.
Frisk: "N-No, we aren't wearing that stuff."
Papyrus: {SO YOU TWO AREN'T WEARING THOSR CLOTHES? GOT IT!!! WINK WINK!!! HAVE A NICE DAY!!!} He hangs up.
Chara: "Why did he say "Wink Wink"?"
Ben: "I don't know, I just hope it's nothing bad." He looks at Frisk, who is upset. "Are you okay?"
Frisk: "Yeah, I just didn't want to lie to him." She puts the phone away. "Let's go."
They all go into the next area by walking through a doorway, and it's full of echo flowers. There's a sign that says "Wishing Room" in front of them. They go to each echo flower, one by one.
Echo Flower: "A long time ago, monsters would whisper their wishes to the stars in the sky. If you hoped with all your heart, your wish would come true. Now, all we have are these sparking stones on the ceiling."
Chara: 'Oh, I remember doing this with Azzy. It was nice, even though it wouldn't have done anything.'
They move to the next echo flower.
Echo Flower: "Thousands of people wishing together can't be wrong! The king will prove that."
The next echo flower.
Echo Flower: "C' mon sis! Make a wish."
They turn to the one next to it.
Echo Flower: "I wish my sister and I will see the real stars someday.
Ben: "Hopefully, with our help, they will."
Frisk: "Yeah. The entire underground will get to see the real sky soon."
Chara looks guilty, but she hides it. They all take another step, but a battle commences.
* Woshua shuffles up.
Frisk: "Aww, it's pretty cute."
She hits ACT, then Check.
* WOSHUA - 7 ATK 1 DEF
* This humble germophobe seeks to cleanse the whole world.
Woshua: "Scrub a dub-dub." The little bird in it also chirps.
It sends out a soap attack, which leaves a small trail that disappears after a little bit. The two dodge it, but whenever it hits one of the walls, it gets faster. Ben is big, dealing 3 damage, before the attack ends. This leaves Ben at 17 HP, and Frisk at 20 HP.
* Smells like detergent.
Chara: "That moved pretty fast."
Ben: "Yeah. I gotta be more careful from now on."
Ben hits ACT, then Clean.
Ben: "Hey, could you clean me up."
This gets Woshua really excited, and it jumps around.
Woshua: "Green means clean!" The bird chirps again.
Woshua sends out a water attack that sends out water droplets all around the area in a spiral. Some of them are slow and green, and Ben is able to get one.
* Woshua is looking for some clean fun.
Ben: "Do you still want to see what the other options do, Frisk?"
Frisk: "No, we can't waste anymore time."
Ben: "Look at you. You actually matured."
Frisk: "Oh, shut up!" She pouts. "Jerk."
Ben laughs as he hits Mercy, then Spare.
* YOU WON!
* You earned 0 XP and 25 Gold.
They go to the next, and last, echo flower in the room.
Echo Flower: "Ah...seems like my horoscope is the same as last week's."
Ben: "Well, that's all of them. Let's see what's up ahead."
Frisk and Chara nod, and they start going to the next area. Frisk stops at the telescope and looks through it. Ben and Chara reach the way to the next area, and it's blocked by a wall.
Ben: "What the? Why's there a wall here?"
Chara: "I don't know. Maybe it was put up when they heard humans were coming through?"
Frisk: "Check the wall." She comes up. "I looked through the telescope, and it said to check the wall."
Ben and Chara look at each other and shrug. Ben and Frisk start checking the wall, and it suddenly opens up.
Frisk: "Told ya." She walks through. "Come on, slowpokes."
Ben and Chara quickly walk through, and they see a ton of signs. Prepare for a lot of reading.
* "The War of Humans and Monsters."
Ben: "Ooh, this sounds interesting."
They continue to walk down as they read the text.
* Why did the humans attack?
* Indeed, it seemed that they had nothing to fear.
* Humans are unbelievably strong.
* It would take the soul of every monster just to equal the power of one human SOUL.
Frisk: "Wow. That's powerful."
* But humans have one weakness. Ironically, it is the strength of their SOUL.
* Its power allows it to persist outside the human body, even after death.
Ben: "Interesting, but how come we don't see that on the surface."
Chara: "It probably has to do with humans not using magic like they used to. With you two in an area with a lot of concentrated magic, it makes your souls able to appear."
Ben: "Oh. That's pretty cool."
* If a monster defeats a human, they can take its SOUL.
* A monster with a human SOUL, a horrible beast with unfathomable power.
Ben: "That's probably why humans attacked. They feared that their SOULS would be harvested, so they forced the monsters underground and sealed them up." He scoffs. "And, of course, our legends made it out that monsters were evil. Typical."
Frisk: "Yeah. Humans can be really trashy."
The next one isn't text, but an illustration of a strange creature. The image unsettle the three.
Ben: "Let's just go."
Frisk/Chara: "Agreed."
The look to the right and see a small platform, floating on the water.
Ben: "So, how will this work?"
Chara: "It will take you across, but it won't fit both of you." She pouts slightly, knowing what's gonna happen. "So you two need to figure something out."
Frisk: "Well, I have an idea. You can just pick me up." She smirks. "Unless you don't want to~"
Ben rolls his eyes and picks up Frisk, and she wraps her arms around Ben's neck while he holds her like a princess.
Frisk: "Onward we go!"
Ben gets on the platform, and it starts moving across the water. Chara follows beside him, pouting, her face slightly red.
Chara: 'It's not fair that she gets to be held by Ben.'
The little platform eventually reaches the other side, and Ben gets off. He then tries to put Frisk down, but she quietly refuses. Ben sighs as he continues to walk, still holding Frisk in his arms.
As they continue walking, they feel and uneasy feeling in the air. Then, suddenly, a blue spear lands right in front of Ben. It was only about an inch away from hitting Frisk. They look up and see Undyne, who is prepping more spears.
Ben: "Time to go!"
He starts running, and he has to do some weird maneuvers in order to dodge the spears. He has to run, stop for a moment, then run.
Frisk: "It didn't take her very long to find us. Has she been following us?"
Ben: "Maybe, but we've got bigger fish to fry right now."
This continues for a little bit, until the three eventually make it into another patch of tall grass. Undyne continues to shoot spears, that go over the grass. Ben crouches down and quickly catches his breath.
Ben quickly covers his mouth as Undyne approaches. Undyne slowly looms over them, and she slowly raises her arm, and quickly shoots it down and grabs something. But when she raises her arm, she sees that she has grabbed Monster Kid's face, and he's smiling a lot.
Undyne puts her arm back down and lets go of Monster Kid's face, then walks away in the direction she came. The three humans, and Monster Kid, get out of the tall grass. Ben also sets Frisk down. Monster Kid is also hopping around, incredibly happy.
Monster Kid: "Yo...did you see that!? Undyne just...TOUCHED ME! I'm never washing my face ever again! Man, are you unlucky. If you were just standing a LITTLE bit to the left!"
Ben: "Yeah. Very unlucky."
Frisk: "I wish she grabbed us too."
Monster Kid: "Yo, don't worry! I'm sure we'll see her again!"
He runs, and then suddenly trips. Monster Kid quickly picks himself up and runs off.
Chara: "Yup. That kid doesn't realize you guys are humans."
Ben: "He'll likely figure it out sooner or later. For now, let's keep moving. Maybe we'll get lucky and Undyne won't find us again."
The three humans continue their trek, preparing themselves for any other possible dangers that lurk ahead.
(Ben's Items: Pie, and Cinnamon Bun.)
(Frisk's Items: Pie, Spider Donut, and Snow Piece.)
That's the end of the chapter. See you in the next one!