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"Y-You're sure...?"
"I was sure the last four times you asked, wasn't I?"
Frisk stood alone near the centre of Alphys' lab, gazing up at the large machine stationed there. Alphys herself was positioned at a suitably short control panel several steps away.
Nearly ten years, and Alphys still didn't trust herself completely not to make something go wrong with her experiments.
Frisk wasn't about to say anything that might damage her monster friend's already minimal confidence. She knew better than nearly anyone how easily Alphys could lose the nerve to go through with her work.
Just a few months short of ten years ago, Frisk had finally achieved what she wanted. Even then, at just ten years old, her Determination kept her going through injury, death, and all manner of equally unpleasant experiences to finally free all her newfound monster friends from their former prison underground.
When she thought back now, the world had adjusted surprisingly fast, actually. Considering that the memory of the monsters had faded into the likes of legends, which many people considered nothing more than fiction, the truth about their existence and sudden re-introduction into surface society had gone almost unbelievably well.
Maybe it helped that they'd been led by a smiling young girl who refused to hear so much as a single word against them, no matter what the monsters looked like.
So, to today, Frisk had arrived at Alphys' recently renovated lab for an experiment the two had discussed for quite some time in the past few days.
The machine towering over her was familiar. She'd seen it, shrouded in strange mist, down in the sub-basement labs beneath Alphys' own back in the underground. It didn't look nearly so terrifying now.
Previously, it had been a machine used to extract the substance Alphys called Determination from human SOULs, but by now she'd long since repurposed it.
Frisk reasoned that the memories of what the machine had done in the past were the primary reason for Alphys' current hesitance to use it again.
The plan for this experiment was simple: Alphys would use the machine to identify and measure the precise quantity of the so-called "Determination" that Frisk's SOUL contained, and, with any luck, she would be able to use the data the analysis provided to develop a clearer understanding of the exact properties of Determination and how it might be utilized.
Ever since the day she fell into the Underground all those years ago, Frisk had gained the ability to SAVE and to LOAD. She'd never gone out of her way to talk about this with many of her friends. The monsters she considered family -- Toriel, Asgore, Sans, Papyrus, Undyne, and Alphys herself had been the first to know.
Frisk had seen the end of her adventure in the Underground more times than she could remember. She was never quite satisfied with the bittersweet result she'd achieved until she at last discovered what she was seeking. It nearly cost her her own SOUL, but she managed at last to save not only all the monsters living down below, but also two people she had become nearly obsessed with helping in any way she could: the monster she by now considered her brother, and another human whose SOUL was thought to be long-since lost.
Asriel and Chara Dreemurr were now as close to her as anyone else from the Underground. Naturally, both were also privy to the secret of her Determination.
Finished reminiscing, Frisk sighed.
"C'mon, fire it up, Alphys! Don't keep me waiting!"
Alphys muttered uncertainly off on her own, but she started up the machine all the same. Frisk shuddered, hearing the strange, almost ghostly noise the machine emitted.
A rattling wind of exhaust blew forth, ruffling her clothes and hair. Frisk had spent much of her teenage years growing out her brown hair, which she now wore in a messy ponytail.
She faced the machine, ready for anything. Even if something did somehow go wrong, -- though she doubted anything would -- she could easily just LOAD back to whenever she'd last made a SAVE.
"Activating... now!"
Alphys' voice was drowned out by a sound of great energy being expelled. The machine emitted a colourful glow, enveloping Frisk entirely and forcing her eyes shut.
Once the waves receded, Frisk stood upright, opening her eyes.   indicates the next chapter needs to be written. |
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