Undertale: Taking The Underverse

Sans sighed quietly, grabbing the married swords of the fallen royal guardsman and placing them in his inventory, mourning silently even if no one else would. Watching such a promising young SOUL shatter to dust would never get easier. Cross had been a tiny, artificial monster made by a mad half baked copy of San's own father who left their sanity behind in the name of progress.

He looked up and met the disinterested eyes of XGas-… No. This thing didn't have that name anymore, it was just pretending, lying to everyone, and itself. There was too much taint inside it for there to be a separate ego from that abomination outside of worlds XGaster studied to build the Overwrite project's components, this was an Outsider now. 

"Was it worth it?" He asked, watching the facsimiles of his friends shut down spiritually, leaving only that thing's influence. Sans, no. He had to act as Origin now, smiled sympathetically as their SOUL's cried out for one of their own on the inside. "Was everything leading up to this one moment worth it?" He leveled his eye lights back onto the Outsider again, hoping to find any kind of remnants of his father in the alternate.

"It will be." The Outsider's voice held that same echo of his father, it hurt to hear it on something so broken down. "When the universe is in the palm of my hand, it will be."

The thing wearing his father's face glitched, revealing a large red eye looking through a crack in the universe in undisguised glee. The abomination laughed and laughed as the crack grew larger, letting more of itself inside as the battlefield shuddered ever so slightly, its authority over dimensions growing by the second.

Sans gave it a hollow smile, his eye lights disappearing."I don't think there's anything left to say…"

"THEN FALL!!!!!"

PAUSE.

ANALYZE…

ANALYSIS COMPLETE.

Space had become static, beyond Sans reach to manipulate, Sans would be stuck with his own speed for once. Physical attacks would have no effect on any of the imposters, so bones would be used to control the field and for defense. The Outsider's SOUL was spread too thin among its subordinates to use blue magic on, indirect manipulation of gravity recommended.

RESUME.

BOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!!

The ground shattered beneath Sans as Undyne was teleported above him to strike where he had been only a beat ago. Asriel was at his throat in the next with his twin blades wreathed in flames, a blaster materialized behind the goat monster and tearing a hole through his spine only to be cut in half by a ragged Chara, who fell to the ground in the next moment, the magic sustaining both former princes rapidly falling apart. 

The first beat had passed.

TWOOM

A large bone as wide as Sans erupted from the ground, blocking the hit but shattering in the next as Frisk came at him with dead purple eyes. The knife flashed black and hundreds of red slashes materialized around them all, boxing them in. 

The second beat had passed.

PEWPEWPEWPEWPEWPEWPEW

They all reached the targeted area at once, imploding the flat area as Sans ducked under Asgore's trident and pointed a finger at the old goat's chest. Gravity began to contort around his finger tip as a miniature black hole came into existence, consuming the boss monster in an instant and leaving his crown to fall on the ground. 

The third beat had passed.

Sans looked up and met all eight of Gallet's eyes as she tried to skewer him with her spindly legs. Webs and magic wrapping around him and locking him in place for a second, just long enough to unravel both. 

The fourth beat had passed

THOOM

Only to strike a half formed blaster and freeze herself, blue bones erupting from the ground and piercing her in all directions, sealing her movements. Toriel had been moved to Sans' back, and launched an ocean of green tinted flames at his back while Undyne came at his front with her monumental spear yet again, the tip glowing with enough of her creator's magic to drill through an entire AU. Sans grimaced and kicked at Gallet's chest as his bones disappeared, using her body as a meat shield while grabbing Undyne's armored hand in a BLUE deadlock, driving the spear off course and into the back of her dusting ally as the tarantula monster was incinerated by the heat. 

Or she should have been.

The fifth beat had passed.

Grillby appeared in the flames, consuming them all before Sans could react, and grew to the size of Mt. Ebott above them all. The silent flame elemental came down with both fists raised and broke the void through pure brute strength beneath them, sending them all flying through the air.

The sixth beat had passed.

BOOOOOOOOM

The strike cratered the void for miles, the shockwave almost catching Sans in its wake as another blaster materialized before him. The humans were at his back again, both their knives flashing red as Chara coughed out a few liters of blood, and twin waves of Determination cut through the windless void to reach for his neck.

The seventh beat had passed.

Sans fell backwards, allowing the blades of DT to pass over his face by a hair, slicing the still form of Toriel two ribbons behind him. He got his hands under his body and threw himself upwards, diverting Undyne spear a few degrees to the right as she was Overwritten to be above him, sending her flying into the floating form of Alphys, who'd stuck to the side of the battle in an effort to collect more data.

PAUSE.

ANALYSIS COMPLETE.

The Outsider hasn't reformed Asgore, Toriel, or Gallet yet, two options present themselves; either they can't be reformed so soon after erasure or the Outsider chooses to withdraw them.

CONCLUSION.

The Outsider's current purpose is the physical forms of his creations to be destroyed.

QUERY.

For what purpose?

THEORIES.

Retrieval of embedded Overwrite codes? 

Reconfiguration of self upon convergence?

Psychological warfare?

Expenditure of physical stamina?

Measuring threat level?

Testing creations semi-autonomous actions?

BEGIN TESTING.

RESUME

Undyne's spear pierced through Alphys bubble, decapitating her and throwing the fish monster even further away, and into the awaiting maw of a titanic blaster that chomped down on her torso, crushing her skull and armor into fine dust before vanishing.

The eighth beat had passed.

Sans continued his journey, rearing back his fist glowing with orange magic that flooded his body, meeting Grillby's knuckles with his fist. BRAVERY wasn't like the other SOUL traits after all, it had to have meaning behind its predetermined actions, and what could be braver than facing your enemies attack head on.

KKKKSSSSSHHHHHHKKKK

Sans was sent flying like a ragdoll from the collision while Grillby's right half vanished, the void shattering to glass all around them for miles. The elemental fell apart at the seams, leaving behind his broken glasses among the dusty armor and debris.

The ninth beat had passed.

Frisk and Chara were at his throat once more, knives glowing white and purple this time instead of red. A step back kept them just out of range as he observed the Outsider's magical constructs.

The way reality was bending around the knives didn't affect the two humans in any way, didn't even affect the handle, but the blade's edge was overcharged with… Malice…

"So that's how you did it…"

Sans eyes flashed back into existence, two red eyelights cutting into the artificial SOULS of his last two dance partners.

"The first component is ENVY…" A light gray SOUL served as the base, something XGaster provided the infrastructure for himself.

Sans snatched the five foot bone that sprouted from the ground, slamming one end into Frisk's knee and shattering it when Chara finally collapsed under his own weight, sending the little puppet sprawling next to his brother.

"The second is FEAR…" A pink SOUL was the catalyst for change, drawn from the negativity amassed throughout the multiverse.

BLUE bones sprouted from the ground trapping them both on the ground beneath him.

The tenth beat had passed.

"And the last is… AGONY…" A black SOUL acted as the glue that held it all together, formed from the remnants of the beast's endless torments upon his multiverse.

These were the absolute basest of components for the OVERWRITE project.

PAUSE.

ANSWER.

That was what XGaster bargained from the beast outside reality, the building blocks of the OVERWRITE project; he'd created three new SOUL traits and fused their ORIGIN SOUL's into his own, similar to Sans' innate connection to the SIX HUMAN SOULS but much more perverse in nature.

QUERY.

What are the properties of these new SOUL's?

What are their intentions for this multiverse?

Are they extensions of that abomination, or are they separate entities?

BEGIN TESTING.

RESUME.

"They lasted longer than expected, though you did refrain from any pointless overt displays of power, so perhaps that should be expected."

Sans eye lights faded back to white, stepping over the two humans, the Outsider musing to itself idly as it sipped on a glass of wine.

*Sans calls out, offering his aid…

***But no one answered…

Sans stopped the minute grimace from affecting his poker face and kept his eyes on the Outsider, waiting for what came next, trying his best to reach out to the tortured young SOULS in its possession, but they seemed almost comatose. There was intelligence he could quite literally feel in each fragment, but it was more instinctual than even the most basic animals the skeleton had met.

This would take more than his own expertise, and like his fishy little sister said, asking for help is something he needs to get better at.

*Sans calls out, asking for help for someone else's sake…

*Patience awaits the first opportunity to help…

*Justice demands immediate action…

*Perseverance will offer his knowledge…

*Kindness desires to heal the innocent newborn SOULS…

*Bravery is ready to fight for what's right…

*Integrity asks to help save the other children…

The SIX SOULS were willing to offer their aid, eager to usher in three new ORIGIN SOULS like themselves and Sans. Even he was curious as to how these new beings would influence their little multiverse, so Sans could understand how eager they were. It would take some time for the SIX SOULS to gather and make the trip to the void. Time Sans needed to buy.

He grinned a bit, slowly making his way towards the Outsider, two blasters materializing behind the skeleton to gather the broken humans in their mouths gently and flood their bodies with enough green magic to keep them alive, for the moment. It was as Sans plastered on his usual smile that fooled most of the underground for the last fifteen or so years, and got ready to TALK with his enemy that he felt something that almost sent him back into shock.

*Both halves of DETERMINATION demand retribution…

He almost fell flat on his face.

Fucking great, so he's gotta deal with those two on top of this now?

*Kindness offers her sympathy, calling for you to hold on…

*Justice laughs at your situation…

*Integrity giggles quietly at your silliness…

*Patience awkwardly comforts you…

*Bravery refuses to acknowledge the new allies…

*Perseverance stands in quiet solidarity with you…

*DETERMINATION calls out for help traveling to the void…

*Sans tells them exactly where they can shove their…

This was gonna be the longest conversation of his fucking life, wasn't it?

XXXXXXX

"Alphys! Get me in there!" Undyne called out to her amazing and adorable yellow dinosaur shaped girlfriend as she finished tying up what was life of the robotic douchebag, his arms and legs made for excellent and strong handcuffs when flattened and bent the right way. He hadn't lasted long after the blue scaled woman figured out that he was using SOULS as a power source and started targeting those exclusively. She threw him next to Muffet's fake, the poor thing had her legs broken by Undyne's vengeful sister. 

All of her legs…

"I'm trying!!!!" The former royal scientist yelled behind her as she fiddled with an old machine that Undyne had dragged out of Sans' underground laboratory, and into the clearing where her older brother and all those fakes vanished. Time with friends and lots of dates had erased most of her anxiety when working, but this was a special case. "Sans' notes said this thing was never supposed to be used again, let alone as some kind of… interdimensional taxi!!!!!!" 

Undyne grimaced, realizing that hurrying the poor lizard monster wouldn't do any good, turning back towards the most important woman in her life with a fond smirk. "You've got this babe." Just to make sure Alphys knew she meant it, the captain gave her the biggest thumbs up she could, absolutely delighting in the stutters and blushes she could draw out from her girlfriend with such small gestures.

"AS MUCH AS I ADORE WATCHING TWO OF MY MOST FAVORITE PEOPLE GROW CLOSER TOGETHER, PERHAPS WE MAY FOCUS ON THE SITUATION AT HAND?"

And here comes her baby brother, with a large scratch going across one eye that was sure to flip Sans the Faust out later on, with a beaten up bleached copy of himself over his shoulder. He didn't look particularly exhausted, if a bit winded and unfocused, but Undyne was still proud of how far her pacifistic lil Skelebones had come in handling actual combat.

Walking to her second favorite skeleton, she took the copy off his hands and threw him with the other two, taking care with this one because he was Pappy's copy, giving the slightly taller skeleton a noogie on her way. "Good job Paps."

"NYEHEHEHEHE!"

"Can't a girl get any peace and quiet around here?!" Muffet snarled from atop a sturdy tree branch beside an utterly bemused Gallet, covering her few bruises in a special compound Alphys had whipped up a few weeks ago to numb them, thousands of small spiders covering the tree and ground beneath her in a carpet that would give anyone outside of their little family a heart attack.

"My child, I know this isn't the best time…" The queen's voice managed to travel over to the small family, from where Toriel kneeled before her two daughters and Asgore stood beside them. Undyne looked over, choosing to ignore the fuck off huge screen in the sky showing Sans kicking thecollective asses of hat amounted to the combined might of the entire underground, and watched the royal family she was still duty bound to protect above all others. She'd have to quit the royal guard after this, it was mostly obsolete considering the whole peace thing between monster and humans anyways, and she got to give her girlfriend a proper introduction to the rest of her family.

As Muffet always said, a two for one deal is always better; Undyne got time to honeymoon with her Alphys and got to go back home with her doofus brothers and bitchy little sister.

"You're right, it isn't the best time."

And apparently, both of the dead royal children were alive! In a way. Being a SOULless flower and a ghostly apparition didn't seem all that pleasing, but Undyne's new/old memories told her they could both be fixed! Everything would turn out peachy, as soon as this was over. 

Frisk stood frozen and stiff behind the transparent form of Chara, and Asriel/Flowey(weird as fuck) was off gathering the SIX HUMAN SOULs for some reason. Did he think becoming a tv monster kaiju and stealing all their SOULs again would help, or something?

"Later, mom!" Chara snapped, trying and failing to reach out toward the other SOULs, reaching out for the stands of DT inside of Sans to guide the way to him and only finding a blunt refusal and wall of spite that enraged her more than it concerned her. "We've got bigger things to worry about!!!"

"She's right mom." Frisk said, keeping an eye on the one sided battle raging up above on the screen, recoiling slightly when she saw Sans shatter her Other's knee and pick him up with one of those scary blasters of his. "We can make this right when we finish this, but right now? Sans can't do this alone, no matter how hard he tries."

She opened her eyes willingly for the first time, and met the loving yet fearful brown red eyes of the only woman to have ever called Frisk her own daughter willingly. "Please, mom." She implored, "Trust us this one time."

The goat woman bit her lip, her hands fretting over her only tangible daughter, smoothing out her hair and hugging her close with teary eyes.

"I've got them!!!" Six SOULs popped out of the ground followed by the most annoying flower in existence, prince Asriel the talking flower himself. "What'd I miss?" 

Chara slammed her face into her palms and pulled at her hair in frustration as she was metaphysically told to fuck off yet again by her least favorite best friend. "GOD DAMN IT AZZY!"

"I'M SORRY!!!!!!"

Just as this little shit show began to fall apart, the machine started up, drawing everyone's attention with its shaking and sputtering. "I don't know if it should be doing that." Alphys admitted, taking several steps back, quickly followed by Asriel and Asgore.

The SIX SOULs floated before the strange machine, each dancing around the other in some strange ritual, before slowly vanishing one by one. Until only KINDNESS was left to shake at them in some parody lf a goodbye before vanishing as well.