VOXISTALE: Novel Edition

Chapter 2

There were many familiar landmarks Frisk witnessed during the ride from her home to school. First was Aaron's Crossfit Flexing, though the monster mostly liked to flex in front of anybody who walked through the door. Surprisingly enough, business actually did fairly well for him. Then there was Dreamhope Elementary, Toriel's workplace. Frisk took notice that Toriel's car wasn't parked outside, but didn't think much of it. Perhaps her adopted mother had decided to go to the store and pick something up, or . . . nevermind.

Next, came a McOswald's. Sure, Voxis had many, but this one was different because of one of the employees, the depressed and sometimes exuberant Burgerpants. Nobody was actually sure if that was his real name or not, but the monster tended to avoid the topic of his name with desperate fervor.

Then there was Catty and Bratty's Beauty Salon. Originally they'd started their business at a landfill just outside of town, but when Mettaton took notice of their work, they'd been given employment under him and were actually quite successful. That didn't stop them from dumpster diving still, however.

After that was Asgore's, and it wasn't too different from Toriel's house. Despite their ruined relationship, the both of them had shared tastes in just about everything. The major difference was the over-abundance of flowers. That was when they moved past the residential area and began making their way into the heart of the city.

The first thing they passed was the Monster Integration Office, something run by Asgore after he'd taken over Frisk's ambassador duties. Originally, the integration program was met with a lot of resistance, but over time, it became accepted. Its job was to find monsters jobs, homes, and a safe place to go.

Then there was Obatech Industries, a massive office building run by the richest and most powerful man in the city; Jonathan Obaseki, who also happened to be Asgore's boss. After that, they turned a corner, passing by the police station where Undyne worked. Unfortunately, Undyne couldn't get much higher in the ranks due to a supposedly racist boss. She was easily his best cop, but who she was seemed to affect his decision of a promotion. Asgore was working himself into office, one of the acts he planned to pass was the Monster Integration Act, which disallowed employer interests from treating monster employees any differently from human employees. It wouldn't fix all their problems, but it'd be a start.

Then there was Voxis Middle School, which Frisk had attended for a couple of years before graduating to High School. There, she'd met her two closest human friends; Terrence Anoma and Gregory Favian.

Terrence had been and still was the 'popular' kid. He was both charming and handsome, not to mention easy to get along with and mature to a degree (though his humor might have said otherwise). It was no surprise when he'd asked Frisk out back in Freshman year. Frisk, of course, said yes. The relationship didn't last long, the two deciding to remain as friends and possibly try again another time. She'd be lying to herself if she said she didn't maintain feelings for him.

Gregory was always the shy, quiet kid who stuck himself in the back corner of class, got his work done before anybody else even knew what they were doing, and placed his nose in a good book for the remainder of the block. He'd come out of his shell a lot more since he'd become friends with Frisk and Terrence, but sometimes felt third-wheeled around them, especially when they started dating. He's always had a very low self-esteem, and despite their close friendship, adamantly believed he didn't deserve friends like them.

Next to pass was Muffet's—that was what it was called. The spider monster had been inspired by the homey simplicity of Grillby's that she opted to copy the style with her own. Sure, her meals were a bit pricey, and while she had learned to lower her prices, Muffet's was still the most expensive place to eat in all of Voxis. That didn't go without saying that her meals were very high in quality. She and her spiders could cook basically anything you wanted, and fast, too. Service was exceptionally good, as well. In the end, a $100 meal was sometimes worth it. Sometimes. Frisk, fortunately, got discounts and sometimes free meals due to her friendship with Muffet. Still, there were the reviews that would creep in about dead spiders in coffee from time to time. At least the motto "made by spiders, for spiders, of spiders!" hadn't stuck around.