VOXISTALE: Novel Edition

Chapter 102

A week. That's how long it had been since the Messiah had taken over the city. Since the monsters had to go back to hiding after four years of uninterrupted freedom. The longest stinkin' week in recent memory. Undyne's love for humanity had drained, to put it lightly. She'd hated them before she'd met Frisk, and that girl had made her rethink it all. Maybe humans weren't so bad? Turns out, Frisk was an outlier. An exception. Undyne had met very few humans that she cared to even remember, let alone trust. Chief Dowary had been one of the worst, but even he didn't need what came to him. And the girl who caused it all? Layla? Disappeared the day after. Nobody knows where she went. Vanished. Food was running low, she, Mosu, and Gerson (now with Frisk and Magnum frequently joining) found nobody else out there. Grillby and Terrence were still captives under the Messiah, if they were even still alive, and Catty and Bratty had yet to be found. Undyne assumed them dead, as did just about everyone else but Frisk. She kept insisting they look for those two, but that was a risk. They'd managed to conceal their hidey hole for now, but if the Messiah hadn't already discovered them, they would soon if they kept leaving and returning. It was either starve them out, or flush them out. The Messiah had everything in the palm of their hand, and monsterkind was at their mercy, quite literally.

The days were beginning to meld together. She was struggling to remember what she'd even done a few days ago, or even a few hours ago. This place was dirty, dusty, and it stank. Undyne found herself missing her life underground dearly. She'd had a purpose. She'd commanded respect. The place didn't stink the whole time, either. No matter what, though . . . the CORE would have destabilized. Alphys admitted as much in regards to not being able to decipher or understand the blueprints left behind by the previous royal scientist, the very same one who'd built the CORE in the first place. Alphys was probably the smartest person Undyne knew, so that old dead guy had to be one of the smartest people . . . well, ever. It would have been nice to have him here now, whoever he'd been. Or she. Undyne had a feeling it was a dude before.

Regarding Alphys, she'd recently updated Undyne on Mettaton's situation. He was apparently doing fine, just traumatized, as Alphys had put it. How the hell can a robot get traumatized? That thought still lingered on Undyne's mind. He'd awoken without warning, but was keeping to himself, "processing", as Alphys put it.

Frisk and her friend group seemed to be getting along well. They'd all wanted to go get Rian and his dad yesterday, but Undyne only took Frisk and Sadie with her. They returned with the brawny kid, whose arm was cast in a sling, but he seemed healthy. He'd come willingly with the idea of helping, while Jerry, Rian's dad, was put in charge of Sadie's young sisters. It had been agreed that they'd be relatively safe as bystanders in this conflict.

Undyne had a few more run-ins with Trickster over the last few days, mostly ending with retreats on Undyne's end. She hated to do it, but Trickster was actually far more capable when Undyne didn't have back-up, especially the kind that Layla had provided. Magnum had managed to avoid a confrontation with her, leaving Undyne with a sort of rivalry forming with the Messiah Lieutenant.

Undyne had been treating Magnum with a little more . . . respect lately. Especially after having worked on some runs with the girl, it became clear how much all of this meant to her. The things she was putting on the line, it was an extremely personal matter for her. Of course, the same could be said for all of them at this point.

Asgore was doing better. Whatever Frisk and he spoke about seemed to have turned him around. He was contributing in just about everything he could, and helping with cooking, as well as making tea when he had time. Everybody loved his tea, even if he didn't have the right ingredients to make it how he usually does. He was even hanging out with Sans a bit, the two often sharing a few laughs. Sans had decided to stay for whatever reason, Undyne didn't know. He was lazy and slow, but a surprisingly good worker even if he had a terrible work ethic. His presence seemed to make both Frisk and Papyrus happier, as well. The younger skeleton managed to maintain his happy attitude over the course of the week, though he still wouldn't tell people where he was getting food from, telling people it was a "special secret", something Undyne needed to follow up on soon. Well, now wouldn't hurt, actually. It's not like she was doing anything at the moment.