Upside-down

"listen frisk i am serious! she's very dangerous!" Frisk rolled her eyes as Sans repeated himself for the eleventh time. She was sitting on his shoulder as they were walking towards the LAB. Sans hated that place and it was clear. He didn't talk much about his past but it wasn't hard to realize they must have had parents at some point and Sans always seemed fond of physiscs. They entered the LAB and the first thing that Frisk notices is the giant computer with a camera watching them. Frisk looks at it and then spost the camera at the door. She frowns. Sans however seems unphased. She did see a camera as she exited the Ruins in the bushes too. It was the same as this one. Kind of old if you ask her personally. Maybe a 2000's type of camera. But she won't shatter the poor human's dreams of high technology. They mostly work with the stuff from the dump.

They passed a desk filled with all types of papers. The one that caught her attention was one about gryphons. Frisk snorted. THAT wasn't how she worked at all. Oh my god...She snorted as she put a hand over her mouth. Sans saw what she was so attracted about. He rolled his eyes as he flicked her in the head. She whimpered and she shook his head chuckling. Frisk could feel how he was now more relaxed. Good...They walked forward and the light flicked on and a human with blonde messy hair and glasses came out with a stack of floders, from the bathroom. Frisk fell off Sans shoulder in surprise and he caught her by her tail. 

"o-oh my god!! I didn't expect you to show up so soon!! I haven't showered, bearly dressed, it's all messy, and..." She stops panicking and breaths in and tries to put on a smile but then realizes...there's Sans. 

"S-sans..." Alphys says. 

"sup alph?" She then sees the little gryphon hanging by her tail and swinging with her arms down. Sans chuckles and let's her go. She falls down with her butt up and slidses a bit on the tiled floor. She gets up and frowns with her squinted eyes at the human. He shruggs. 

"sorry pidge." Alphys comes closer to her with widened eyes and pushes her glasses up on her nose. 

"Y-you're a gryphon!! OH MY GOD! I didn't realize you were a g-gryphon this whole time! They were supposed to be extinct!!" Frisk backed away a bit at the dangerous glim in her eyes but Alphys fastly backed away and smiled to her. 

"s-sorry! Where ar my manners?? i-i am alphys! Dr. Alphys! Asgore's royal scientist." Frisk frowned. Something seemed wrong with her. She knew that glim too well. Interest. Thirst. She wanted something from her. Frisk hid behind Sans. Sans looked confused at her. 

"kiddo...? err..her name's frisk.." Sans said not looking at Alphys. 

"I-i'm not one of the 'bad guys'!" Frisk frowned and decided to hide her doubt. She came out and let herself grow in her bigger form. She was scared. Something just seemed off about her. She wasn't this scared by Undyne yet...here she was. Alphys eyes glimmered again but she pushed her glasses up again and went back to her friendly manner. 

"Actually since you've stepped out of the RUINS, i've, um...been 'observing' your ourney through my console. Your fights....your friendships...Everything!" Stalker much..? Even Sans tensed at that. Oh well she was the royal scientist...she needed to do this. She can understand this one. She'll let it slide. But she will be cotious. 

"I was originally going to stop you, but...Watching someone on a screen makes you really root for them." The glimmer was back. Every fiber of her being screamed danger. Alphys stepped forward and she tensed. Don't come closer! Don't come closer!! DON'T COME CLOSER!! Her retracted claws were digging in her paws. Her teeth were clentched but she managed to smile. 

"S-so now i want to help you!" 

"Remember, Frisk... people like me? Are liars of the lowest caliber. Genius minds waiting to manipulate and therir hunger for power and answears is dangerous. Listen to your insticts. If you have to act friendly to them, do it...But do not trust them...DO NOT TRUST THEM!! I won't lose you as well...I used to be the same...And i lost EVERYTHING!!"

"but why, %$#@!@..?" 

"you will one day experience it yourself..."

"i am glad you are at least thriving for better..."

"thank you..."

"Using my knowledge i can easily guide you through Hotland! Both you and Sans...I know he doesn't know that much about the puzzles and how this place works! I know a way to Asgore's castle no problem." Sans almost snarled at her. He shrugged. 

"she's right." She needed the info. 

"we've got a deal then." Frisk said. Alphys came forward outstretching her hand. Frisk immediately backed away and almost hissed. Sans looked even more confused at her. Her eyes were franatically changing color. Alphys looked at her fascinated with the same dangerous glow in her eyes. 

"fascinating..." The she went back to her shy self. Alphys backed away. 

"s-sorry. you must really like personal space...hehe..." Alphys then fidgeted. 

"well...actually, umm, there's just a tiny issue. A long time ago i helped a dying human...by making him mostly robot...His name is Mettaton." Frisk remembered that name. Napstablook's cousin! 

"h-he wanted to be an entertainer...s-so i did exactly that! And entertaining robot! Like a robotic TV star...B-but recently i decided to make him more..useful..." The dangerous glim apperead on the last word. 'Useful'..?

"Useful could mean either helpful of harmful depending on the type of person you are talking to Frisk. Do not take it for granted. It can even have both meanings depending on what it is. I learned that the hard way and i am sure you did as well..."

"Useful..? In what meaning..?" Alphys and Sans both froze at the question. It was a direct hit in a subtle way. Smart move. Sans smile stretched a bit at how sharp her mind was. Heh...that's Frisk alright. Alphys fidgeted more. 

"You know...J-just some small practical adjustments...l-like...anti...Anti monster combat features..?" Frisk's and Sans color drained from their faces. OH HELL NO. A deadly Head of the Royal guard was enough, THANK YOU! 

"So there's a killer robot that wants my head...great..."Sans snorted at her sarcasm. 

"b-but i tried to get rid of them!!"Frisk sighed in relief. Alphys wasn't done. 

"But...It just m-made him more bloodthirsty..." Sans face-palmed and looked at Alphys through his fingers. 

"damn it alph...you always do this type of shit don'cha.." Alphys looked down but then looked up hopeful. 

"I am sure if we avoid h-him it will be f-fine!" They stayed in awkward silence for a second until they heard a loud rumbling sound. 

"Did you hear something..?" Frisk face-palmed as the rumbling got louder and louder. It sounded like banging in the wall. 

"Oh no." Frisk knew she shouldn't but she pushed the human in a lab coat out of the way as the wall turned to rubble. The two rolled on the ground and Sans backed away. 

"you ok??" The scientist nodded as the dust was now letting them see the culprit. 

 "OH YESSS! WELCOME, BEAUTIES.." Beauties..? the fuck?? Suddenly a robot with a yellow and red flickering screen came forward. It had one wheel. His gloved metallic hands were holding a mic. 

"oh god...not this tin-can.." Sans grumbled as an non-existent stage-light shined from the ceiling. She helped the weird scientist up and they all looked at the robot. He started speaking:

"WELCOME TO TODAY'S QUIZ SHOW!!" Frisk and Sans were confused. From the ceiling fell a sign with game show and colorful lights and confetti were now everywhere. It was chaotic to say the least. The robot was jumping up and down on it's wheel. 

"NOW LET'S GIVE A BIG ROUND OF APPLAUSE FOR OUR CONTESTANT!!" Suddenly a stage-light shined on Frisk as she covered her eyes with her arm and confetti rained down on her. Sans eyes widened as he watched. 

"oh no no no--" But Mettaton didn't even think twice as he grabbed Frisk and brought her close. He leaned forward as she leaned back. He chuckled, a mechanical laugh, as he looked at Frisk up and down. She could feel it. 

"NEVER PLAYED, GORGEOUS?? NO PROBLEM! IT'S SIMPLE! THERE'S ONLY ONE RULE! ANSWEAR CORRECTLY..." Sans was steaming with rage. How dare that stupid robot just act like he owns Frisk and he even has the audacity to ignore him. But then Mettaton stopped flickering like usual and his screen fully changed to red. His grip tightened on her arm. She flinched and Sans froze dead in his tracks. 

"OR YOU DIE!!" Frisk gasped and wanted to get out of his grasp but all four of them were now in the encounter. Frisk was trapped in the white box. Sans and Alphys were behind Mettaton. Sans tried to attack Mettaton but he was restrained by really long pieces of confetti. He struggled to get out but couldn't. 

"AH AH AH! OUR LITTLE CONTESTANT NEEDS TO DO IT ON THEIR OWN!" He snarled. 

"that's bullsh--" Mettaton put a little party horn and smiled. 

"FAMILY FRIENDLY PLEASE~" Sans spat the party horn with an annoyed face and shut up. Alphys was shaking in anxiety behind the robot. Frisk tried to move around and finally the robot addressed her.

"NOW, BEAUTIFUL. LET'S START WITH AN EASY ONE." Frisk nodded. She couldn't possibly do anything else. Fleeing would mean leaving the killer robot here with Alphys and Sans. She sighed as he started flickering in excitement. 

"WHAT IS THE PRIZE FOR ANSWEARING CORRECTLY!" Sans saw that Alphys was trying to tell her where to go, however the tiny monster didn't care. She weighted the options and chose D. 

"SOUNDS LIKE YOU GET IT DARLING!" Frisk rolled her eyes, even if it wasn't clear under her squinted eyes. The next question was about the King's real name. When Sans saw Lord Fluffybuns he roared with laughter.  Frisk started snickering but chose C. 

"ENOUGH ABOUT YOU..LET'S TALK ABOUT ME!" Egoistic much..? The question was "What are robots made of?". Frisk frowned at the answers. It was clearly B. This show was for children.....OH MY GOD THEY THOUGHT SHE WAS A KID!! When it occurred to both her and Sans, they started snickering. 

"TOO EASY FOR YOU, HUH???" Frisk shook her head solemnly. Sans rolled his eyes as he struggled trying to get out of his colorful binds. 

"HERE'S ANOTHER EASY ONE FOR YOU!" Both humans fell silent. Alphys was thinking about the question. It was about two trains...something about speed and time. Frisk didn't even flinch as she looked down a second then chose D. The other three fell silent. Mettaton slightly turned towards Alphys. She looked asshocked as him. Sans smile grew in size with smug satisfaction knowing she nailed that from their looks. That's his girl! wait...his..? Oh god what was he thinking. The show however must go on.  "How many flies in the jar?". What was this, a festival rip-off? She looked at the flies who seemed to be flying around chaotically and the numbers. Alphys looked at the jar in thought as Frisk reached for A. She was right again. The next question was a trick one. She almost fell for it, until she remembered this guy was a total prick. No wonder he left Napstablook... Unless this was a scene-personality type of thing. Scenes...she hated lights and attention, colorful confetti and balloons....She never like flashy thinsg like other girls. She preferred simple. As girls were seeking dresses she would seek a quite place from where she could star gaze. Weird, huh? 

"You don't like this equation huh? Here! We can simplify it. Now...isn't it more interesting?" 

"woah!! it's so fun looking now!"

"see Frisk..? Sometimes, simpler is better. Don't be fooled by flashy and long presentation. Think of like as an equation. Make it BIG! Beautiful. Make it matter!"

"But girls seem to want pink toys that are really expensive and stuff like that. I don't feel like a girl..."

"And who are they. may i ask, to tell you how you should live..? You are perfect the way you are. Come along now, it's quite late."

"Heh...you're the best teacher!"

"thank you, Frisk...Who thought such an intelligent little girl will be picked up from the streets, huh?" 

Frisk sighed as she kept answering his stupid question. The next question was if she'd smooch a human and she pressed Heck Yes. Sans looked away at that. She shrugged. The next one was another one that was supposed to be a trap. It's letters kept growing and the numbers were growing as well. She picked C, to everyone's surprise. Alphys eyes met hers as a dangerous glimmer passed them and Frisk flinched. What could she possibly want...Her soul..? Was this whole thing a play..? No, if she wanted her soul she wouldn't have went out of her way to do all of this...Why...why? The next song was about an 90's dating sim called 'Mew Mew kissy cutie'. When Alphys saw it, she started spurting out the whole damn story of it. Mettaton got mad at that. 

"ALPHYS, ALPHYS, ALPHYS...OOOOOH! YOU SHOULD HAVE TOLD ME! I'LL ASK A QUESTION THAT YOU ARE SURE TO KNOW THE ANSWEAR TO!! WHO DOES ALPHYS HAVE A CRUSH ON??" Frisk looked at her. Sans snorted and mouthed A. She chose A and Alphys flushed, covering her face. 

"SEE?? EVEN THE HUMAN KNOWS!! WELL WELL WELL...THIS IS NO FUN IF YOU KNOW ALL THE ANSWEARS...WELL..TOODLES!!" The robot left, lunching himself off like a rocket and finally, the encounter faded. Frisk sighed in relief. Alphys turned to her and pushed her glasses up. 

"Well that was certainly something...U-umm let me give you my phone number! Th-then if you n-need help then..." Alphys eyes widened as she saw the little flip phone. 

"wh...where did you get that?! IT'S ANCIENT!!" Frisk looked at the flip phone. 

"i guess you could say that..." She threw the flip phone up and caught it. Alphys gave her a smart phone. She raised and eye-brow as she inspected it.

"hmm...2010..? Seems like it." She said as she swiftly unlocked the phone to take a look. She snorted as she saw they used Monstergram. She opened an app called 'inventory' and saw she could store stuff in there. She then heard a loud cough as the two were exchanging numbers and making her an account. She immediately giggled and rush to Sans side. 

"i appreciate the bonding but im in a tight spot..." He said. Frisk giggled. 

"i'll help ya." Sans sighed in relief as she started pulling on the confetti strings. 

"thanks sweetheart.." Frisk and him both froze. Alphys eyes widened. 

"i-i didn't mean i just-- err--" Then he tripped and fell right on top of her. Alphys took a picture quickly and snorted. 

"lmao. Otp." She said looking at her phone. The two started at each other before they started laughing. She took out some confetti from his hair and he chuckled. 

"don't fall for me now, ok..? and i liked that...'sweetheart'...heh..i'll call you...starlight. Because you like stars." Sans was flushing deep crimson. She slid from underneath him and got up. Alphys had her mouth covered and squealed. The two looked at her with raised brows.

"..."

"..."

"i-i'll just go to the bathroom real quick heh..." And Alphys disappeared behind the bathroom door...Well, no actually you could still see her feet. Frisk and Sans ligered just a little and went up to the second floor where Frisk found out about the 'history books' Undyne was talking about...So the hentai was a 'biology book' or what..? Frisk picked it up and flipped through a few pages then closed it fast. 

"what's that..?" Sans asked as he put down a volume of Demon Slayer. It was monster hentai...

"let's not...look at that shall we..?" Frisk put it on the shelf and looked away. Sans shrugged and let it slide. They also found Alphys room and posters. They decided it was time to leave the LAB. They stepped outside and Frisk's phone wouldn't stop vibrating. 

"man she always does that. just mute her." Frisk sighed and muted the apps notifications. The two walked a bit until he looked at her and asked. 

"so, what now sweetheart..?" She smiled at him. 

"We'll keep moving and if we are lucky, we'll get to that Resort by nightfall." Sans smile stretched. 

"lead the way, mi'lday." 

"why thank you, kind sir. So i shall." The two laughed and continued their adventure. 

Who knows what the Underground has in store for the monster and her human companion?

*I   do...Because i make the rules...*