The New Saturday Morning Underfell Adventures

Also on AO3, if you prefer that!
http://archiveofourown.org/works/6263374/chapters/14351107

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The landing could have gone better.

Frisk extracted their face from the ground, spitting out half a dozen golden petals and assorted dirt. They climbed on their knees and frantically wiped their cheeks to appear at least halfway respectable. The fall left a very nice imprint; childish features neatly accentuated by the squashed golden flowers. This crude, yet beautifully simple art of nature was enough to lift their spirits after the long and hardly survivable fall.

With motions trained over many falls, trips and slips, Frisk jumped to their feet and pat themselves down, checking for any very notable 'ow' spots. They grimaced over a couple of minor bruises, but other than that, the flowers seemed to have broken their fall remarkably well. The bandage on their leg was still secure as well, providing additional defense against any looming infection.

Once done with the safety checks, Frisk peeked around to observe their surroundings for a moment. The fall must have been a sizable one, as they couldn't quite even see the top of the cavern. Their eyes refocused on one particular item above all else, one that had been waiting just for them. The human skipped over and picked up the stubby stick by the flowers, briefly examining nature's fine craftsmanship. It was sturdy, balanced and had a good swing to it.

Armed with this new-found weapon, they left the bed of flowers and headed towards the only possible direction; deeper and deeper into the bowels of the infamous Mt. Ebott.

The child grinned and twirled the stick around, proud of their trusty armament. It immediately slipped their grasp, but a quick grab for it saved them the embarrassment. They wiped their brow, getting slightly flustered from the almost-mishap. Then again, there was nobody around to see it, anyway.

Nobody, save for a little yellow flower with a face, steadily tilting to the side as it kept watching them.

"Oh no..." it gasped, taking in the sight of Frisk. "Oh no, this can't be happening. Y-you shouldn't be here at all!"

The flower was surprisingly animated, eyes darting around the dark cavern. Their tiny resting spot was the only point with even the bare minimum of light in this area, but it seemed like it knew every inch of this place already. They looked not only afraid, but scuffled up from whatever encounter they might have previously had. Small chunks were missing from the otherwise bright yellow petals and even their stem appeared to have a few more bruises and cuts than one would normally expect from a plant.

None of that mattered to them at all though.

"Talking flower!" Frisk cried and darted forward in a flash.

They sped towards the rather confused flower and dropped to their knees for the final stretch, sliding right over to the plant with a dragging motion any self-respecting mother would have fainted over. The flower shuddered and instinctively closer their petals up for some meager form of protection, only to find a pair of hands downright cradling them as much as possible. Still under a slight shock, they opened up again, only to find a very bright and cheerful grin mere inches from them.

"My name's Frisk! What's yours?"

The flower was dumbstruck. They were quite used to most monsters opting for a 'kill and/or maim on sight' approach, so to find any sort of creature, even more so a human approach them with such unbridled enthusiasm was a welcome first. So much so, that they were ready to drop their guard altogether.

"I-I... I mean, howdy! I'm Flowey! Flowey the Flower." the flower introduced himself, his voice slightly higher-pitched from the surprise. His features darkened right after, once realization sunk in. "And we need to get you out of here, right now!"

"Why?" Frisk asked. They dropped to a sit before Flowey, letting their head rest in their hands as they observed him.

"Well... this will sound pretty scary..." Flowey tried to mince his words as much as possible, seeing how completely innocent the human appeared to be. "But monsters are pretty bad. If they find you, they will try and hurt you, sometimes pretty bad. You have to be ready to fight back, maybe even..."

The flower swallowed the end of his sentence. Frisk tilted their head; they were good listeners, but Flowey was unsure whether they really got the message at all. He sighed, putting it into the simplest and yet most bitter words he could.

"In this world, there is one rule above all." he said, glancing firmly at the ground. "Kill or BE killed."

"That is a really stupid rule." the human quipped with a pronounced frown, without missing a beat.

Flowey blinked once, blinked twice, and felt no less confused. He had just explained in the briefest forms possible, that the child's life was very likely in mortal danger from the moment they fell down, that they would be hunted to the ends of the Underground and that murder may be necessary for their survival and their reaction to it was as if these were just malleable playground rules at best.

"Y-you know, I guess it is." he chuckled nervously, but couldn't hold back a smile. He perked up again quick, a decision formulating in him already. "Alright, here's something you'll definitely need to know. This might seem scary for a moment, but don't be alarmed."

Flowey sighed and engaged the human, who suddenly experienced the most peculiar sensation. It was a light, but noticeable tickle around their chest, accompanied by a mercifully brief sense of displacement. By the next time Frisk blinked, a bright red heart was pulsing a couple inches from their chest. Almost without thought, they tried to touch it, but just bringing their hand close amplified the previous tickling feeling.

"That's your SOUL. It's the culmination of everything that you are." Flowey continued, his smile fading. There was something about that bright, radiant SOUL that soothed and at the same time unnerved him beyond simple words; something almost distantly familiar. He shook off the brief stun.

"And it's also the reason you can't stay here. Monsters are drawn to human SOULs, and they will not hesitate to hurt you to get it."

Frisk continued to stay silent throughout the explanation, but nodded. Flowey leaned forward a bit and called upon his powers, conjuring up several blinking white projectiles around them.

"These are--don't touch them!" he called, noticing the curious glint in Frisk's eyes. "So, these are my, uh... 'nastiness bullets'. If I wanted to attack you, I'd try to hit your SOUL with these. Other monsters have similar attacks and you need to be dodge them."

Another nod.

"Good. Now, sometimes monsters will-"

The words got stuck in Flowey's stem though, as a very familiar hum echoed off the walls. He whipped his gaze around in pure panic, momentarily losing control of the projectiles. They all slammed into the ground without much harm, save for one that shot by far too rapidly for Frisk to react. The very edge of the bullet grazed their SOUL, causing barely even notable damage. A light graze appeared in their hand, albeit the surprise was infinitely larger than the damage.

"Oh no, oh no, oh no..." Flowey whimpered. Their fear was amplified by the child's brief cry and as he looked back, he also let out a startled gasp as Frisk backed up a bit. "Oh god, what have I-I'm so sorry! It was an accident!"

"Fire, walk with me."

He gasped again, noting the sharp change in temperature. The air heated up almost to a boil as several pillars of elemental fire rose from the ground, illuminating the rest of the cavern. A figure emerged in the newly-revealed ornate gateway by the far end of the cavern. The shadow cast by it was tall and sturdy, with a pair of horns that quickly reduced Flowey to a stammering mess. He turned around to face Frisk again, forgetting all forms of subtlety that instant.

"Run! Hide! Don't let her catch-"

The flower once again found himself silenced however, as Frisk stood up, facing down the slowly approaching figure. They pulled out the stick previously sheathed in their pocket, applied their best mildly threatening frown and settled into a stance Flowey could only describe as somewhere between a ballerina's starting position and a person with really aching toes. More important though was the SOUL he had just grazed.

It burned bright with DETERMINATION.

"What a foul creature."

The approaching figure's voice was feminine, but filled with contempt. Her pace was slow, but deliberate and rather threatening, at least to Flowey. She spread her arms and fire burst out of her palms, forming into a pair of spheres. The additional light illuminated her a little more, the sight making even Frisk falter just a bit.

The closest equivalent the human could find was a bipedal goat, but significantly taller than most people they have ever met. She wore a long, dark robe over her matted, grayish fur. The robe was adorned with an almost glowingly red collection of symbols Frisk had never seen before, but her face concerned them more. Her eyes were wide open, red irises beaming within a sea of slightly bloodshot yellow. Her eyes were unfocused, perhaps even a bit twitchy, but always returning with full attention towards the child.

"Torturing such a poor, innocent..."

"Frisk, please, I can grab her attention, just run while you can!" Flowey begged the completely battle-ready Frisk, sweating profusely in his panic. The fact he could even do that was rather amazing for a flower, but discussing botanical oddities would have to wait for another time. He also had some of his own suspicions about the human's potential special qualities, but had not intention to test them out now. "You have no idea what she's-"

"...human!"

"Huh?"

Flowey blinked and ducked by pure instinct, burrowing deep within the soil. His suspicions were confirmed as one of the spheres blew a small hole just where he had been a second ago, almost searing Frisk along the way. The attack immediately broke their proud little stance, especially since the very tip of their trusty weapon had caught on fire as well. The waved the stick around till the flame faded, but the delay left them wide open.

The monster closed the gap between them at a speed Frisk barely even registered. She wrapped her arms around the human and pulled them up and into the most crushing hug they had ever experienced. Frisk was mashed against her so tightly they were convinced Flowey was better off with the fiery explosion. Suffocation would take a while longer. Their thoughts did go back to their newly-met flower friend though, hoping he was alright.

"Poor little baby, I know I should have come check on this place sooner." she said. Her voice softened up quite a bit from the earlier approach, though there was still a bit of an unstable edge to it, the way some syllables and sound had more or less emphasis, than necessary.

"I am Toriel, the caretaker of these Ruins." she introduced herself, loosening the grip just enough to give them a chance to breathe and assess roughly how many ribs were broken. Signs pointed towards all of them.

"Hi, I'm-" they paused to take another deep breath, only to find themselves sinking into her embrace again.

"Well, do not worry now, child. Everything will be fine." she announced, smiling in a way that was both comforting and somewhat disturbing. "I will take good care of you. I shall guide you through these catacombs, and I already have a room, food and a study schedule all set up..."

Frisk made an effort to extract themselves from Toriel's crushing grasp as she turned to leave, but only managed to succeed in sliding a few inches lower and getting their crushed this time around, rather than just the spine. They weren't quite sure just what the monster was planning to do with them, but for better or worse, they did sounds like very long term plans.

Flowey cautiously peeked out from his hiding spot within the cavern's soil. One of his petals got a little singed, but otherwise the monster's attack hardly left a mark, thanks to some finely honed survival skills. He turned around, only to see Toriel dragging Frisk off past the ornate gateway.

"Oh no..." he whimpered, spirits sinking within an instant.

Although he didn't know precisely what fate would await Frisk, he knew Toriel was dangerous and could not be trusted. He scarcely attempted to linger in her presence at all and had even less of a drive, now that a human has fallen down. He pondered upon what to do, the image of the child's innocent smile etched into his mind. He groaned and twisted around in frustration, only to notice a peculiar object left behind nearby: Frisk's sturdy, if slightly singed weapon.

The sight of the stick filled Flowey with DETERMINATION.

A mere twinge of magic was enough for him to apply the little bit of necessary shapeshifting. His tiny and frail flower body was not exactly combat-proof, but there was definitely more to it, than just being a houseplant. With a bit of exertion, he sprouted a pair of vines and grabbed the human's makeshift armament. He swung it around a couple times, quickly getting the hang of the necessary motion.

"Hold on, Frisk." he said, mostly trying to bolster his confidence a bit. The vines retreated just enough that he could balance the stick over his petals and glare at the entrance to the Ruins he disliked and feared so much.

"The cavalry is on its way."