Chapter 8

The tunnels began to grow hotter and more humid as they grew closer to Hotland. Piper hated her choice of shirts now, and given up on modesty and had taken off her Mr. Dad-Guy sweater to keep from baking alive.

Her phone rang again, and she answered it quickly. “¿Alo? This better be important. I’m startin’ to bake here.”

[“Are you alright…?”]

“Oh! Grillby! Hi!” Her mood brightened instantly. “I’m fine! We’re just about to reach Hotland.”

[“I see… Do you need me to come an-”]

“No, I’m fine.” She wiped sweat from her forehead. “Crap, it’s hot…”

[“Well, it is called Hotland for a reason…”]

“Oh, hardee-har-har. How’s the diner?”

[“Busy as usual… Sans fell asleep at the bar… I’ve had to call his brother to come get him…”]

Piper couldn’t help but laugh. “Really now?”

[“Yes… I don’t know why he does this to me…”]

“Ah, well.” She looked up when Undyne called to her to catch up. “Gotta go. I’m starting to fall behind.”

[“Alright… Piper…?”]

“Yeah?”

He paused, as if wanting to say something, but instead said, [“... be safe…”]

“Yeah. Call you later.” She hung up and ran up through the tunnel to catch up to Undyne.

“Was that your boyfriend?” the monster asked.

“In your dreams, fish stick.”

“Aw, c’mon! I totally ship it! The fiery gentleman and the spicy punk!” She wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her close. “It’d be great!”

“Yeah. Sure.” She rolled her eyes. “Are we almost there? I need a towel or something for all this sweat.”

“Oh, it’s just up ahead!” Undyne led her out of the end of the tunnel to a crossroads. Piper looked over the edge on the path and paled at the sight of the lava below. Her attention was immediately pulled from the lava when Undyne suddenly stopped, making her bump into the fish monster. “We’re here!”

“What?” She looked around her and saw a giant metal building that reached through the cavern ceiling. “Alphys lives there?”

“Yeah. She does most of her sciency stuff here.” She knocked on the door. “Alphy! It’s me!”

“D-Door’s open!” came a feeble call from an intercom speaker. “Human can come in too, if she wants…”

Undyne grinned and opened the door. The inside of the building was significantly cooler than it was outside. The place was obviously a lab, though the amounts of clutter were a tad concerning. Piper’s attention was turned to a short figure that only came up to her ribs scuttle over. This monster must’ve been Alphys, since they were wearing a lab coat. They were a hunched over yellow lizard or dinosaur. She wasn’t sure what, but she’d decided that questioning things down here would get her in.

“Alphy! I’ve missed ya!” Undyne scooped up the lizard and hugged her. “I brought a friend. They know Frisk!”

“R-Really?” Alphys looked at Piper in surprise.

Piper shrugged. “Yeah, but that’s unimportant. Ya know where they are?”

“O-Oh! Of course!” She wiggled until the fish monster put her down. She waddled to her giant computer and bade the taller girls to follow. “I-I have cameras set up all over the Underground. I should be able to find them with them.”

Undyne leaned over her shoulder and nuzzled her. “Yer so cute when yer sciencey.”

Alphys giggled and blushed.

Piper rolled her eyes at them and turned her attention to Alphy’s desk just to look at anything else. She was always annoyed with gushy couples. Almost anything would be better then watching them be disgustingly adorable.

Her eyes fell on the mouse pad. It was a sparkly pink with some sort of design and wording on it. She moved Alphys’s hand to examined the cutesy drawing and colorful Japanese writing.

“Why do ya have a Mew Mew Kissy Cutie mouse pad…? That show is ancient.”

Both of them turned to stare at her with wide eyes. “You… know about Mew Mew Kissy Cutie…?”

“Yes…? Why are ya lookin’ at me like that…”

“Ya like anime?” Undyne practically tackled the human as she embraced her. “I knew I liked somethin’ about ya!” she practically sobbed, her eye glittering with joy. “Yer just like me!!”

“No, I’m not! Get off, ya fish stick! ¡Déjame en paz, que los peces estúpidos!” She kicked the fish monster ff with a growl and got up. “I’m surrounded by weebs! I’m not here to watch any anime with ya! Have ya find Frisk or not!”

Alphys jumped and shook her head. “N-Not yet. They seem to be moving through the Core.”

“What’s that?”

“It’s this giant m-machine used to convert geothermal energy into power for the whole Underground.” The lizard sighed. “It’s a maze of path ways.”

“What’s beyond the core?”

“New Home. The castle will be there.”

“And the king guy? Asgore?”

Undyne nodded. “You’d have to get past him to leave here. Think you can handle that?”

“I handled you, didn’t I?” Piper smirked. “Should be easy.”

She shook her head. “That was a tussle. This’ll be a boss fight. Yer SOUL will be on the line for this.”

“For real? What’d he do with it? Shoot people?”

“Take down the barrier.” Alphys said. “He needs seven human souls to get it done. What SOUL color do you have?”

“Um… It’s yellow…”

“Th-then it’ll be even harder… each color has d-different abilities. Yellow can shoot blasts, light blue has spinning b-blades of magic, purple uses books and words, blue controls gravity, green heals, orange d-delivers powerful punches, and red… from what I u-understand, red can RESET time… “

Undyne frowned. “Frisk is red…”

“Yes… they may have done this a hundred times by now…” Alphys looked at Piper. “You can’t fight the king alone. You’d only g-get one chance…”

“Wait, what do you mean, ‘they've done this a hundred times?’”

“Well… they reset either willingly, or they die…”