Alphys nearly tripped over her own feet almost three times in the last minute. Aside from the fact that she was wading knee-deep in cold water and carrying only the best of the best of her anime, her thoughts were currently occupied with something else. She was going to spend the whole day with Undyne. She sighed dreamily at the thought. Undyne had walked in on Alphys re-watching Mew Mew Kissy Cutie (only for the twelfth time mind you! The ending was heart-wrenching!) and she had to come up with an excuse fast. She ended up telling her that she was studying human history. Just the word “human” got her riled up. What got Undyne really interested was the sword fight she happened to see during the season finale.
So she said she wanted to watch some more with her.
Just recalling it gave Alphys a skip in her step. The water was freezing today, the bottom of her lab coat was getting wet, and her life was shit but a day watching anime with Undyne made her forget her troubles. A not-so-well-placed foot made her trip. There was a lot of garbage around here, she should be more careful. All her DVD cases were scattered and wet. She desperately clawed at them, trying to work around the slippery plastic on the casing. She eventually got them all back, most likely, and went on her way.
After she made her way past the garbage dump, avoiding the Aarons and Temmies in her way, she finally made it to the quiet area in front of Undyne’s house. The nature of this area betrayed the actual nature of Waterfall’s most popular inhabitant. Undyne was fiery and always on the move, scouting for the final human soul that would set monsters free. While the calm waters shone with the reflections of the crystals on the cave walls, Undyne’s spirit shone with the determination to bring the humans to justice. And that’s what Alphys loved about her.
Alphys walked up to Undyne’s house. She took a deep breath and knocked. She hoped Undyne liked what she picked out for them to watch. Though Mew Mew Kissy Cutie would probably take all day to watch on its own, she also brought over Clorox, Red Death Slayer, and Pirates vs. Ninjas.
Her thoughts were interrupted by someone screaming. “Useless. Useless. USELESS!” Alphys flinched and turned to see an angry looking dummy. “If you’re looking for that fish lady, she ain’t here.”
Alphys looked at the dummy. They had cotton coming out of rips on their torso. Looks like they had been thoroughly punched and even pierced through the body, but they seemed fine enough to yell at her and move around animatedly. She wanted to ask where she went, but the angry glare they were giving her made her change her mind. She muttered a quick apology and went back, keeping her head down.
How come she wasn’t home? Did Undyne even want to hang out with her? Maybe she was just being nice so that she wouldn’t hurt her feelings? Of course she wouldn’t care about some dumb anime. She was about to run back home and crawl up under the covers and never come out for 1,000 years until she saw the usually calm waters of the quiet area stirring.
“NGAAAAAAAH!!” Undyne roared as she jumped out of the water. Alphys got startled and fell back, dropping her anime DVDs. Rubbing her head, Alphys looked up to see Undyne wearing… oh my. She was clad in a black two-piece swimsuit. Freshwater rolled off her biceps and she gave her tiny lizard friend her signature smile.
“Hey Alphy!” She said, wringing the water out of her hair and putting it back in a ponytail. “You ready for a day of action?! She picked Alphys up off the ground and put her securely on her feet. It took a while for her words to register to the tiny lizard, but when they did, Alphys managed to tear her eyes away from the totally hot boss monster standing right in front of her to her anime DVDs.
“Oh no! They’re getting wet!” Alphys yelled out, retrieving them from the water. She opened a few of the cases and saw that the insides were wet. She sighed and piled up the wet cases. These were her favorites.
“Oh shit, I’m sorry! These were important for your research, right?” Undyne looked at her with the face of a kicked puppy. Oh god, she couldn’t handle seeing her so sad. Alphys decided to laugh it off.
“Oh, haha, don’t worry about it. I, uh, have them saved on my computer back home.” But she knew how much Undyne hated going to Hotland. The heat dried out her scales which made it hard for her to breathe. “How a-about we, uh. We could just… Um. How about we roleplay instead?”
All she heard was a small gasp before she was being lifted and carried into Undyne’s fishy house. Before she knew it, Undyne was wearing her impressive and intimidating Royal Guard armor. She summoned a blue spear and took up a heroic stance on her kitchen table.
“I am Undyne the Undying.” She said in an overly dramatic voice. “Kneel before me, mortal, or face my wrath!”
Normally seeing someone hold out a spear to her in dramatically lit armor would scare the hell out of her, but now it was just cool. Undyne summoned and threw spears in a dazzling display. They shattered against the walls or each other. Some were strategically placed to play a few notes on the piano off to the side. She showed blatant disregard for her own home, but a great appreciation for aesthetics. Undyne had her eyes closed, not even needing to see what she was doing. She just did it, and it felt right. Spears erupted from the floor as Undyne showed off her proficiency. She was so into it! Maybe a bit too into it…
A row of spears later, she heard a startled yelp. She opened her eyes and her dazzling display disappeared. She turned quickly to see Alphys laying on the floor, completely separated from her tail. She stared, one eye wide, as her yellow appendage turned gray. The scales flaked and crumbled until it was a mass of dust on her kitchen floor. Her breath was caught in her throat. She looked at Alphys. Her stump of a tail turned the same silvery color.
Tears caught in Undyne’s eye. ‘Why the hell did I just do that?!’ she thought. Being around Alphys made her so goddamn nervous, she just had to show off. She couldn’t stop the flow of tears. She leapt off the table and cradled the lizard in her arms.
Alphys looked up at her and looked shocked. Her clammy hands found their way to Undyne’s face. She wiped away her tears. “I-it’s okay! Don’t worry, I’m fine. It’s just my tail.” Undyne looked confused as Alphys got up. She wiped the remaining dust off what was left of her tail. “My tail can grow back.” She smiled sheepishly.
Undyne slowly got to her feet. She looked down at Alphys, who was awkwardly trying to hold her cute buck-toothed little smile. She was ok? She was still trembling though, and just a bit wobbly. Soon enough she fell forward onto her hands and feet.
“I h-have a hard time keeping balance without it, though. Whenever it happened, uh, I stayed in my lab. Not moving. Walking on all fours until it grows back is, um, it’s embarrassing.” She looked away from Undyne and rubbed her fingers on her palms, likely trying to get rid of the sweat. The height difference between the two had increased and Alphys found herself even more embarrassed.
Undyne looked down at her, still shocked from the incident. She released the breath she didn’t know she was holding. Her wide grin returned to her face and she picked up her shy little pal and put her on her shoulders.
“Then I’ll just have to carry you everywhere!” She knew what it was like adjusting to a missing body part, except her eye never grew back. She’s just glad Alphys will never have to go through something like that long term. “C’mon, let’s go watch some of that history you promised me.”