No One is Happy with This (Undertale)

86 ~ New Dance

For a long time, Gaster simply leans over the central control panels, flipping switches and hitting buttons. You and Alphys share a glance every now and again, but neither of you really know what he's doing.

And then there's a spark. A purple spark of Magic, running along some sort of channel in the floor towards the big window, where it disappears into the octagonal room of the center of the CORE. You see it beyond the window, jumping along one of the thin, gossamer cables, until it hits the wall, disappearing into the node from which the cable runs.

And then it explodes outwards. A brilliant, vibrant wave of Magic, running out from that one node, jumping across every cable it touches to light another point on the wall of the huge room. And as the Magic ripples outward, you see that the etchings in the walls of the room are runes- not unlike the ones Gaster carved into you not so long ago to save your life. But while there were a few hundred on you, there must be thousands- no, millions covering the walls of the octagonal room, each lighting with Magic an instant after the one beside it, until the entire room is lit up, Magic arcing along the cables and flickering and pulsing on the walls.

And then you hear it. A muffled thwoom.... Thwoom.... Thwoom.... like the huge blade of a fan passing by, somewhere deep in the CORE. And it gets faster, louder, until it sounds not unlike the pounding footsteps of a person striding along. And there's a humming noise growing, too, throbbing in your ears like a deep bass beat.

You peel your eyes from the growing radiance in the center chamber and look back to Gaster.

He's not so much leaning over the control panels anymore, he's standing upright. And he's controlling the entire room. Everything he does, every button pressed, every switch flipped, every dial turned, is done with his summonable hands. With his normal hands, he's making wide and grand gestures, presumably controlling his summonable hands. But he looks like a conductor of some great orchestra, or... or it maybe even looks like he's dancing, pivoting in place, swaying just a little, sweeping his arms around, sharp twitches of the wrist and fingers sending his Magic flying.

And, to top it all off, his eyes are closed, and his expression is totally relaxed.

Watching him is... kind of mesmerizing, honestly. You can't look away. And as you watch, the sounds of the CORE growing and working their way into your brain, you realize that the Royal Scientist's precise, graceful movements aren't in the slightest bit out of synch with the great machine's music.

And then the light of the Magic in the heart of the CORE suddenly washes out from the purple of Gaster's Magic to a brilliant white, and the glow is so bright you can barely see, until one of Gaster's gestures brings down some sort of tinted glass cover over the window.

And from there, he calms down. Ish. He's still rocking a little on his toes, and that big grin is back, but he's not... dancing anymore.

"Right!" He says, clasping his hands together in front of him. "That's the main conductor unit on, but we've still got to check on the secondary unit, and check the containment and distribution units and backup flood tanks. Also have to get the cooling system online again, since that wolf isn't in Snowdin anymore. Come on, no time to waste!"

And with that, he's already out the door.

You and Alphys hurry along after him, but you come to an abrupt halt on stepping out the door. If you thought the CORE was impressive in the dark, you are utterly awestruck now. It's all catwalks and girders and tubes and pipes and wires and air ducts elevator shafts and now you can see that the entire thing wraps around the huge octagonal room, and everything, everything is moving. Machinery is shifting and humming, and the magma turbines are spinning so much faster now, and it seems certain intersections of the catwalks can rotate to connect other catwalks, and there are several huge, clear tubes in which you can see magma or water or concentrated liquid Magic rushing through, and there are so many lights, dials and gauges and monitors and so many others you don't know the names or purposes of, and-...