SMU #2: Helpful Hints

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By the time Frisk could once again feel solid ground beneath their feet, they were fully convinced that out of every possible special ability, holding one's breath for extended periods trumped everything else. First order of business was several large gulps of air, no longer obstructed by dark fabric or excessive fur. The pleasant feeling of oxygen once again present in their body had an invigorating effect, re-energizing the child. Frisk took one more really deep breath, before finally taking in their surroundings.

It seemed like they hadn't really traveled a long distance, though time did feel compressed as long as they were also compressed in Toriel's grip. Speaking of, the outwardly somewhat sweet, yet slightly dubious goat lady was waiting by a set of unremarkable stone plates, her arms calmly folded before her waist. While her face didn't exactly convey anything openly malicious, the very obvious dark-yellow glow of her sclera, coupled with her already disheveled appearance did not exactly inspire a lot of confidence.

The human briefly glanced around, but couldn't see their newfound flowery friend, either. The realization came with a twinge of worry, but they did see Flowey duck beneath the soil even before Toriel attempted to blow him up. It was reasonable, or at the very least hopeful to assume the flower was crafty enough to evade such a sneaky magic attack.

"Welcome to your new home, little one." Toriel spoke up, grabbing their attention. She had a barely noticeable shiver to her stance, as if she could barely contain herself. "Allow me to teach you a few things you will need here, while you are still alive--I mean, living here."

The quick correction did not go by unnoticed, though Frisk chose to stay silent about it, memories of fire and flames still too close for comfort.

Without any obstruction, the monster took a turn towards the plates and stepped on several of them in a succession. Once the supposedly final one sunk into the ground, Toriel pulled a switch on the wall and Frisk perked up to a clicking sound. Almost immediately, the door leading to the next chamber opened up. They drew a sharp breath, eyes opening wide in wonder.

"The Ruins are full of puzzles similar to this." she explained, taking note of the rapidly increased interest the child showed. "They will open doors, clear obstacles and annihilate unwary visitors. Please, be sure to remember that, as it may save you a lot of trouble." she said, before heading into the next room.

Frisk had absolutely no intention of following her though, at least not until their boundless curiosity was satiated. The moment she was out of sight, the child zipped over to the stone plates Toriel previously activated. They grinned and stepped on top of the only two she ignored, arms crossed and waiting for a reaction.

But nothing happened.

Frisk frowned, rather puzzled by the lack of a reaction. Determination won out and they started trying to apply more pressure, but to no avail. Childish impatience and vigor took over shortly after and they started jumping up and down, putting all of their feather-weight into making the plate move just a little. Hopping into the air as much as they could, the human brought their knees up high and slammed down with all the weight gravity could support them with. Finally, after such a herculean effort, it budged.

And the sudden whistle through the air immediately made them regret butting their nose into this.

The child quickly gulped down the ball of fear in their throat. A ragged spear was sticking out of the wall, half-embedded into the positively ancient bricks. It seemed like Toriel wasn't exaggerating about the nature of puzzles here: a single wrong step could have killed them, though this trap in particular was designed for someone with thrice their height and weight. Still, the sight of the spear served as a very clear indication that caution was highly recommended.

Frisk carefully shuffled off the plate, which immediately readjusted itself. They weren't very keen on finding out just how many spears that little surprise could store. Instead, they finally decided to go after Toriel, only to come to a screeching halt by the entrance. Out of the corner of their eye, they saw a sign on the wall. While it may have been a warning or greeting sign to strangers time and the environment had definitely eroded most of it.

Pieces were crossed out, scratched off, chipped, burnt and even stained with something dark and splotchy, which Frisk refused to acknowledge. All of it mangled the original message to near-illegibility:

"Only... foolish ones... walk... the road." they read out loud, tracing the only intact letters by hand.

Frisk nodded, the clear and very valuable instructions filling them with determination.

-   -   -

Toriel's gaze meanwhile drifted into the far end of the room. She barely even realized she had been wringing her hands so aggressively that her fingers were starting to hurt. The room was unremarkable, just another part of the Ruins she had seen and traveled through a billion times already. The same old rocks, the same old walls, the same old path and the same old soul-crushing monotonous trek, bringing lambs to the inevitable slaughter.

Their voices were but distant chimes in her memory, but she still recalled the trusting look in their eyes, when they had just fallen down. Before they got to know just how the Underground worked and what role they would play in its survival and future. A wild, unhinged grin flashed across her face. It had been such a long time since the last and finally, the seventh has arrived. Things were about to get so much more interesting, for everyone involved. Perhaps with a bit of effort, she could finally--

A loud splash and a distinctly childlike cry quickly tore her from delirium and back into reality.

The monster glanced back, only to see Frisk pulling their leg out of the stream cutting through the room. She raised a brow, finding this near-impossible, as there was a decently maintained and fairly wide bridge connecting the two sides, spanning across right next to them no less. And yet, the child was soaked right up to the knees and was still trying in vain to shake the water out of their shoe.

"What happened to you?"

Frisk stumbled over to her on one leg, before setting their waterlogged foot down with a dreadful squelch. "I think I listened to the wrong sign."

Toriel shook her head and immediately took their hand as they got close. "This is why you should not fall behind like that. The Underground is not just fun and games, little one. You could have gotten injured, or worse. Not to mention, you shouldn't just blindly follow signs like that."

Her grip was a little too firm, and her pace too quick, but Frisk did their best nonetheless to keep up. They took a quick detour to the wall on the left, where Toriel flipped a switch inexplicably littered with arrows all around, pointing straight at it. A loud click signified pulled the goat monster from her straightforward approach and stop.

It took a couple seconds for her to catch on, but she soon ended up groaning with annoyance, realizing her mistake. This was meant to familiarize newly-arrived humans and they wouldn't learn anything if she just huffed and did it on her own. Nonetheless, she pressed on with Frisk in tow, making sure they didn't veer off the newly-activated bridge this time. She stopped by the entrance to the next chamber, which was blocked by a series of rather intimidating spikes.

"Do we jump? Climb?" Frisk asked. The passage was narrow enough, but they couldn't quite imagine Toriel climbing across, especially not in those baggy robes. Then again, they were slightly torn on several spots and Frisk found it safer not to make assumptions. There was also another, even more hopeful and potentially amazing possibility. "Fly?"

"Neither." Toriel shot down all their suggestions in one. "Remember, the Ruins are full of puzzles you need to figure out to progress. For instance, look by the wall."

She pointed to the side, bringing their attention to the two switches on the wall. As before, they were of a simple, overly large design, but only one of them had the arrows pointing at it. Frisk had no trouble grasping the implication and as Toriel's grasp eased up, they took a few tentative steps towards the wall.

"Just be sure to pull the right one." she added.

The situation was supposed to be fairly simple. Two large switches, both identical to the naked eye. However, one of them had a couple dozen brightly painted arrows pointing at it, while the other was missing any decoration. The suggestion could not have been more obvious. Judging by Toriel's remark, pulling the wrong switch would also bring severely undesirable results.

That little remark was more than enough to instill that bit of doubt Frisk really did not need.

They eyed the switches for a few seconds, before turning to face Toriel again.

"Did you mark the switches?" they asked.

"I may have." the monster said and raised a brow.

"And did you also write the signs?"

"Most of them, yes." Toriel sighed, the pool of her patience quickly draining.

"Then I can't pull the switch."

"Why." Toriel couldn't even compose herself enough to formulate that into a proper question.

"You just said not to listen to all the signs..." Frisk mumbled sheepishly.

That pesky little vein in Toriel's head was threatening to pop any second. "Child, you are making this a lot more difficult than it needs to be."

"I'm just not sure which advice to follow." Frisk said, spreading their arms in slightly overplayed confusion.

"Oh, for the love of..." The goat monster's hand smacked against her forehead.

She sighed in frustration and stepped forward, heading towards the child with a look that could just about melt the walls. Frisk swallowed and retreated a little, thinking they might have gone over the line. However, the monster merely stormed right past them, all the way to the ominous switches. She grabbed the marked switch and turned towards Frisk, her red eyes burning holes through all matter, including clothes, skin, flesh, bone and SOUL.

"Look. This is all you had to do." she said and with one firm movement, pulled the switch.

Frisk had to shield their eyes from the brief flash of light. An uncomfortably loud buzz filled the air, followed by an incoherent stutter from Toriel. The noises died as quickly as they came, but by the time the human opened their eyes again, it was quite obvious something was off. The monster's matted fur was pointing in every possible direction, increasing her mass to at least twice its normal size. Her eyes still appearing to be spinning wildly in their sockets and her hand was shaking wildly once she pulled it off the switch.

"I ch-ch-chose p-poorly." she uttered after a couple tries, her voice trembling from the high voltage released from the trap. Frisk didn't dare say anything and just watched in worried silence as she reached for the other, unmarked switch. "R-remember, d-don't t-trust the s-signs. Any of them."

The second flash filled Frisk's vision with pure, achingly bright light.

They frantically rubbed their eyes, spots clouding their vision. Both the buzz and Toriel's stuttering were once again audible, though both seemed to go on for slightly longer than after the previous switch. Frisk blinked rapidly, their sight returning to normal. They peeked up, only to reel back in abject horror. Toriel was standing before them by now, but rather than the humorous fluff, there was a layer of soot all over her fur. Dark, frazzled and still twitching from the aftershock, her face was quite possibly the scariest sight the child had seen, since they fell down.

"Let's proceed, my child." she said, a trail of smoke streaming from her mouth.

Toriel reached out to take them by the hand again, ignoring the brief yelp of pain as a little leftover shock pricked their hand. They've already wasted a lot of time on just this and they were still some way from home. The spikes that previously blocked their path have receded into the ground, allowing them to traverse through.

The next room was almost unnervingly innocuous. No water, no bridges, no spikes and no switches, just a plain old room with a solitary occupant: a ragged old training dummy standing in the middle. Toriel's motor functions were back to relatively normal. There was still a little twitch to her face, but it was hard to tell whether it was from the jolt, or just natural creepiness. Despite the distinctly motherly vibes, the unsettling look in her eyes continued to leave Frisk just a little bit wary.

Stopping near the dummy, she let go of their hand once again and backed away. She took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. A smile found its way back onto her face, despite the rather frazzled features.

"Alright." she said, more to herself than to Frisk. "Besides the puzzles, there is something important that you must remember. As human living in the UNDERGROUND, monsters will attack you. They will not hesitate to pester, assault and ambush you, every opportunity they can. This is unavoidable and the best you can do is be prepared for when it happens."

Frisk swallowed, their throat swelling just a little bit with discomfort. Even if they somewhat expected this, it still wasn't relaxing to be informed so openly.

"When a monster attacks, you will enter a FIGHT." she continued, though her words sounded a bit hollow, like she was reciting them more out of memory than anything. "You can stall for time, you can try to talk them down, but if I'm not around, you will surely be fighting for your life."

None of this served to make Frisk feel any better about the situation.

"Now, let's practice on this dummy over here." she clapped her hands together, her smile growing wider. "Show you have no fear and punch it with all your might!"

The child approached the dummy, surveying it for any signs of electricity, first off. With no electrodes, wires or bolts abound, they were free to observe the rather scuffed bit of equipment. The cloth turned dark from what Frisk could only assume to be a combination of time, dirt and burns. Stuffing welled up from the number of unstitched cuts. If anything, they almost felt sorry for it.

A cut-up heart and a button eye. You two might not see eye-to-eye.

Frisk shook their head for a moment, setting their briefly clouded vision right. The little rhyme chimed in their head like a melody. Puzzlingly familiar yet still like a distant memory; a shadow of a lingering thought. Still, it promised with more success than the signs so far. They gazed right into the eyes of the dummy, only to reel back right away.

Nothing in those eyes could be described with kindness. Despite being simple button eyes, the two plastic orbs emanated a dark malice unlike anything Frisk has ever seen before. In contrast to its body, the eyes lacked anything resembling softness and instead housed a shadowy void; an endless dimension of hurt and unpleasantness.

"There's something wrong with this dummy..." Frisk uttered, pointing at the cuddly avatar of agony.

"It is a bunch of cotton sewed together." Toriel groaned, rubbing her temples. At this point it seemed obvious this child in particular would prove to be a difficult case. "There is nothing it can do to hurt you."

Even without the goat monster outwardly doing anything, Frisk noticed a sharp rise in the room's temperature. Since they had no interest in getting cooked, the child mustered all their courage and approached the ominous dummy. They raised and tried to crack their fists to intimidate the cotton fiend, but ended up doing little more than rub their knuckles a bit.

Toriel's eyes widened as the human's SOUL answered the call for battle, emerging from their chest in a brilliant flash of red. The color made her throat dry, as memories buried by countless years surfaced again. This was not the first time she had seen a SOUL like this. The thought weighed on her heart with uncomfortable familiarity. She swallowed and clenched her fists, burying the thought deep under the folds of her current priorities.

As Frisk stood before the unmoving pillar of evil, the darkness emanating from their eyes grew in strength. The way their SOUL glowed with a perky red glint reassured them and steeled their resolve. If this dummy was truly just the first obstacle out of many, they had to tackle it with one determined blow.

They settled into an awkward, but somewhat cool-looking stance and faced down the infernal cotton demon as it glared at them with hellish rage. Frisk exhaled and balled their hand into a tight fist, eyes sharp, focused and determined. As the tension mounted to a crescendo, they let the punch fly with all the power they could muster. Toriel couldn't help grinning to the sight. Despite their apparent habit of second-guessing everything, they didn't seem to lack the will to fight, at least.

Too bad they were rather bad at it.

The dummy was thrown back by the force of the sloppy hook, but the punch wasn't enough to topple them over. The stand reeled back without tipping over, allowing the cotton creature to ride the impact. They returned to face Frisk with a vengeance, using their own punch to build up speed and careen around in an expertly calculated motion. The human was still stretched out from the punch and didn't expect any kind of retaliation.

As the dummy spun around its axis, it met with Frisk again at the halfway point, slamming into the child's upper body with tremendous, otherworldly rage. The hit sent them flying straight past their attacker and almost land face-first in the nearest wall. They barely even felt the deep impact with the ground, their body opting for a rapid shutdown instead. The world drifted into a mash of shapes and colors, voices drowning and awareness fading as their consciousness drifted to parts unknown.

They briefly felt another very sharp temperature spike in the room, before everything went dark.

-   -   -

Flowey reeled back as the intense heat radiating from the room threatened to incinerate him on the spot. He stifled a scared gasp, his fragile flower body shivering all over. Sure, he still had a certain amount of magic to augment his power, but Toriel was a terrifying beast, when enraged. He had first-hand knowledge regarding that and wished never to experience it again. However, this brought him back to the most pressing question at hand.

Why bother?

The Underground was a bad place full of bad people doing bad things. If going purely by that logic, the human must have been a bad person as well for falling down here of all places, but he found that theory extremely difficult to believe. The second, more depressing option was that the human wasn't bad at all, and was facing a world full of terrifyingly powerful monsters, all of whom would not hesitate to slay them.

That option left an uncomfortable, bitter taste in Flowey's mouth.

Flowey peeked out again, even his petals briefly shriveling up a little, minimizing the chance of Toriel noticing the odd bit of yellow spying on them. His gaze shifted from the flaming dummy to the human, who was still lying motionless on the ground. When the goat monster approached them, even he was surprised by the mix of desperation and anger that caught him for a moment. Their SOUL wasn't visible remained firmly within their body, signaling they were just unconscious.

As Toriel sauntered off with Frisk in her uncharacteristically careful hold, he sighed and glanced briefly at the stick he's been carrying since. It seemed like such an ineffectual weapon, yet Frisk was ready to leap into action and defend him with it. It was an unfamiliar gesture in this world, to say the least. His eyes narrowed, remembering the peculiar glow of their bright red SOUL and the odd emotions that stirred in him just from seeing it. Frisk was an energetic little bundle of enigmas, perhaps the most

One of his conjured vines reached out, grabbing hold of the stick again amidst his still conflicting thoughts. Was a bit of gratitude and a massive amount of curiosity really enough for him to throw caution to the wind and play hero, despite the very real chance of a painful death along the way?

If nothing else, he was curious to find out.