VOXISTALE: Novel Edition

Chapter 17

"What do you mean 'drop the case'!?" Undyne was filled with absolute fury.

Her boss sat calmly behind his desk, raising his smug brows at her, watching as she questioned his decision. "You heard what I said, Officer Dhelaron. I won't repeat myself. There is no case. Random attacks that happened to monsters that you're stringing together into nonsense."

"Random attacks? Four attacks in two weeks on a specific demographic of people! You think that's a coincidence?!" Undyne demanded, not willing to let this go without a fight.

"Yes, I do," her boss replied simply. "Four monsters is nothing in comparison to the number of humans being killed every day."

"So you're just going to let it go?! Let the killers roam free because more humans die than monsters?" Undyne questioned.

"I apologize, Officer Dhelaron. Perhaps if you'd asked sooner-"

"I've been asking for weeks!" Undyne interrupted, fists clenched tight.

"Dhelaron, get out of my office."

She glared wide-eyed at her chief with half a mind to show him what she'd rather do, but after a silent second of this, she turned with a huff, throwing open his door and marching out, slamming it behind her. The doorframe cracked.

"I'm guessing it didn't go—"

"Can it," Undyne snarled at her partner, storming past him.

Officer Carl Stanton was her partner. He was an older guy with wisened eyes, frizzy gray hair, and a massive white mustache, though his eyes were a piercing yellow, signature of his SOUL. Justice. Perfect for law enforcement.

Quietly, the old man followed Undyne toward her desk, where she began riffling angrily through some papers. "What do you plan on doing?" he asked her cautiously.

"I'm . . ." she grit her teeth, finding a few files before opening her filing cabinet. "I'm taking the case, still," she told him, voice lowering.

Carl raised a brow. "Going rogue?" he asked, just as quietly.

"You can't stop me, Carl," Undyne informed, snagging a USB drive from deep within the filing cabinet and stashing it in her pocket.

"Stop you?" Carl chuckled, "I'm coming with you."

"Coming with me?" Undyne nearly scoffed at that. "Why do you want to come with me? This case is none of your concern."

"If I recall correctly, you've been asking the Chief for help on this case for weeks now," Carl replied, "and now that you've finally got it, you're declining. You're a strange one, Officer Dhelaron. I know I'm no Dowary, but I'm not a useless side asset."

Undyne narrowed her eyes, staring at the man for a moment, before sighing. It was better than nothing, but not by much.

"Just don't get in my way, Stanton," she ordered.

"Wouldn't dream of it," he replied simply, folding his arms as Undyne finished up, before exiting the building, far more calm than she had been moments before. Carl followed her silently as they made their way to a police cruiser.

"Now . . . where exactly are we going?" Carl questioned as they got into the police cruiser, Undyne taking the driver's seat.

"We're solving this case. I need to find a pattern in these attacks, other than just the victims being monsters. I was planning to meet up with Asgore today, anyway."

"Something to do with that drive?" Carl asked, climbing into the passenger seat.

Undyne glanced at him with her one eye, before nodding, "Er . . . yeah. Everything, actually," she hadn't had the time nor privacy to crack open the drive yet and see what was contained within, but now, finally, she'd get to see, and maybe this case would be closer to being solved.

Undyne gave Carl one more glance. She was admittedly skeptical of his sudden desire to help in the case. He'd shown little interest in it for the past few weeks (though in fairness, he'd been swamped with paperwork), so the sudden change in attitude aroused suspicion. In fact, what if the boss was having him keep track of her? Undyne's career could very well end if word got out that she'd 'gone rogue,' as Carl had put it.

—But she couldn't focus on that at the moment. For now, all that mattered was solving this messed up mystery once and for all.

They soon arrived at the meeting place, Undyne parking the cruiser outside of Catty and Bratty's Beauty Salon, which was funded by Mettaton. The place may be called a beauty salon, but all it did was try to make people look like the robot celebrity.

Undyne got out, Carl following suit, and the two moved down the back alley of Catty and Bratty's to the rear, where Asgore could be found with his back to them, face tilted up at the clear blue sky, his eyes closed. It was a little silly to see the king of all monsters down some dank back alley staring at the cloudless blue sky.

"Asgore," Undyne greeted, prompting the monster king to shift his gaze, looking at her and her fellow police officer. When he saw that Carl was present, he looked a bit confused, having not been informed by Undyne that they'd have additional company.

"Undyne. You . . ."

"I know. He insisted on coming," the fish monster said, refraining from sighing. "Asgore, Carl. Carl, Asgore."