<[RĒBØØT]>

[38]

In the morning, Jay woke up along with the dutchies and later headed over towards the Lab, curious as to if Dr. Gaster and Alphys needed help or assistance.
Before he got near the entrance that led to Waterfall district, he remembered something. [Oh, right! I have to check on Sans and Papyrus to tell them I'm ok. Wait...nah...the dutchies must have already told Papyrus that I was with them. Still...I'll visit them just to make sure.] Jay thought as he changed direction and headed towards the house of the skeleton brothers.
When he arrived, Jay found the door unlocked. Inside, it seemed as if no one was in the house. "Hello? Anybody here? Sans? Papyrus?" Jay called out. A moment later there was the sound of clattering dishes that came from the kitchen
"JAY? IS THAT YOU?" Papyrus asked before he stepped out from the kitchen room. The gaster skeleton was preparing a batch of hard/straight spaghetti in a large cooking bowl.
"Yep, it's me. Have the dutchies told you that I came to rest with them last night?" Jay asked Papyrus. "YES! OF COURSE THEY CAME BY TO ASSURE US THAT YOU WERE SAFE! WHY ARE YOU ASKING?" Papyrus said as he set down the bowl on the table. "Oh, I was just making sure so that you didn't have to worry about me going missing." Jay replied to the gaster skeleton. "ITS FINE TO WORRY! I DO SOMETIMES OVER LITTLE THINGS!" Papyrus assured as he went over to the kitchen and brought back a can of tomato sauce.
Jay nodded before asking, "Oh, and have you seen Sans? Is he around? Just to make sure he's okay". "HE ACTUALLY LEFT A COUPLE OF MINUTES AGO! SANS HAS A JOB AS A SENTRY, HOT DOG SELLER AND A COMEDIAN IN THE HOTLANDS! MOSTLY HE LAYS AROUND SLEEPING IN HIS SENTRY POST..." Papyrus said with a little grumble as he mixed the pasta and the spaghetti with a spoon.
"Ok, got it. I'll go check for him. See ya soon!" Jay said as he walked towards the door. "YOU TOO, JAY!!" Papyrus called out before Jay closed the door and walked away towards the path that led to the other side of Snowdin town.

Minutes later, Jay was walking along the path until he saw movement far to his left. His eyes adjusted and focused on whatever the movement was, aiding him.
What looked like an ordinary flower turned out to be Flowey, with his face peeking through the trees. When he saw Jay, Flowey got startled and sunk into the ground. [What is he up to now? And why is he spying on me?] Jay thought as he began to follow in the direction where Flowey went.
As he went deeper into the woods, Jay had an uneasy feeling that someone was watching him. Of course it was Flowey, but the feeling was very intense as if he was being watched by not only the talking flower. Later he noticed another glimpse of Flowey watching him and sinking back into the ground. Jay followed the general direction of where the flower went, the feeling of multiple unknown beings watching him intensifying a bit.
[Is Flowey leading me somewhere? Is he going to set a trap for me? If so, I gotta get out of here! But how am I going to know how many "things" are out there?] Jay thought as he turned his head in all directions to see if there was anyone hiding in the trees that was waiting to come out. Like all the times that it felt Jay tense about something, his system activated something:

[AD PRESENCE RADAR]

[AD presence radar? What does AD mean?] Jay wondered. His eyes suddenly went color-inverted again and his chest began to glow, the same helmet from before transforming and covering his face again. Then, his body began to make a sort of low vibrating sound that went on and off. Jay's eyes began to see where the vibration waves went. Each time they came back, he saw that this radar was picking up what was watching him. It didn't show what exactly, but he was certain that it wasn't Flowey as he was on another part. The flower was seen sinking into the ground and fleeing from the place instead of moving to another place. The presences, however, began to increase in numbers, ranging from three until there were dozens of them.
And they were surrounding him.
[Oh...no...] Jay thought as his vision went to normal and saw what his presence radar has picked up. As his eyes returned to normal and protective helmet transformed back, several floating things appeared from behind the trees. The "things" were actually gaster skeleton heads, floating above the ground and approaching Jay from all directions. There was a howling noise that filled the air, but a more deeper version than that of wolves back on his home. The way that the floating gaster heads were looking at Jay with their glowing eye sockets told him that they did not look friendly. The head that came close to him at front began to open its mouth, a glow growing brighter and brighter inside it.
[I think....TIME TO DODGE!!!] Jay thought suddenly as he realized what the head was about to do. With no time to waste, Jay threw himself out of the way as the gaster head fired.

BWAAAAAA!
KAAAAAAAAAAA!!!

The beam streaked past Jay, missing him by mere inches. The shot hit a couple of trees behind and nearly grazed the other heads. Jay stood up quickly and faced the other heads, ready to dodge if the others fired. And they did without a doubt. The one on the left charged its beam while the other next to the first head was ready to fire. It was a cross fire, so Jay thought quickly and opened his wings to jump. The beams pierced the air below Jay as he hovered, missing. When that was over, Jay landed on the ground and looked around to see the where the next attack would come.
"BWAAA!!!" the first head roared at Jay. It didn't immediately begin to charge a beam to fire. It just floated there, waiting for Jay to move or do something. "Look! I don't know if you can understand me or not, but I am not a threat to you or your buddies! I don't want to fight any of you!" Jay spoke out to the gaster head. He felt that his body was beginning to switch into battle mode like he did with Flowey' first attack, but he thought hard to force that mode from activating.
"BWAAA!" the gaster head snarled and opened its mouth to fire again. Jay dodged the beams that the gaster heads fired at him. After that pattern, the lead head stopped and waited for Jay to act.
[Let me think...what are my remaining options? Run away? They'd follow me for sure. Fight.....no, I don't want to..........Wait...petting? Sounds weird and risky, but I'll give it a try.] Jay thought as he straightened up and began to slowly approach the floating gaster head. It snarled at Jay as he approached, beginning to open its mouth. "It's okay. I am NOT gonna hurt you." Jay said in a calm but firm manner.
Slowly, he held up one hand to the floating gaster head and placed it forwards. His hand made contact with the bony surface of the gaster head's snout and he smiled a bit. The glow on the head's eye sockets stopped glowing bright and dimmed a bit, seeming as though it has calmed down. Suddenly it opened its mouth and lunged at Jay, scaring him. At first he thought it was going to bite him, but then he realized it just licked him with a glowing blue tongue.
"See? I'm a friend(gross, I don't know if this can be cleaned completely)." Jay said as he wiped the glowing saliva off from his face and looked back up at the gaster head. It barked in agreement, nudging his shoulder. It then lifted its snout and howled, the other heads around them joining it. Then, in a bright flash of light, the gaster heads vanished.

.....

[Glad they got the message. Now, to continue on towards the lab.] Jay thought with an exhale of relief, wiping the last portions of saliva off from his shirt and heading back to the trail that would lead him towards Waterfall district and the Hotlands.