I'M BACK!

Well, it sure has been a while. I'm very sorry about that, I was super busy and then had a bit of writer's block. Lovely.

But that's over now, so I should hopefully be able to get back to my sort of regular update schedule. No promises, though.

Anyway. This chapter's a bit longer than usual and, guess what...

More exposition! Yay!

Chuck had calmed down a bit after his freak out at the lab, and had taken the River Person down to Snowdin, shivering upon arrival. He'd forgotten how cold it was here; he rarely visited.

After summoning a small magic flame to keep him warm – and then making it larger, because it wasn't enough to warm him properly – he headed over to Papyrus's house. Along the way he waved to the monsters he encountered, some of which he knew, some of which he didn't. He had to suddenly brace himself, however, when he heard Undyne charging up to him from where she'd been standing in front of Papyrus's house. It was hard not to notice her, honestly.

"NNGGGAHHHHH!" She yelled, the other monsters surreptitiously turning away and covering their ears before starting to leave. As much as they loved Undyne, they all knew how feisty she was, and that it would be wise to get out of her radius as to not become collateral damage.

The two of them quickly fell into the normal routine of Chuck dodging Undyne like a matador, except instead of a bull attacking him he was just trying to dodge Undyne's noogies. Of course, no mortal could avoid her forever, so it was only a matter of time until she caught him.

"Nooo, Undyne! Stop it!" Chuck yelled, half laughing as Undyne noogied him. Papyrus watched from the sidelines with a slightly worried, slightly relieved expression – relieved that he wasn't the one being noogied and worried about Chuck's fire going out. What a guy, always notices when his friends have problems.

"UM, UNDYNE? PERHAPS YOU SHOULD STOP NOW. CHUCK SEEMS LIKE HE'S GETTING COLD." Papyrus asked after what seemed a suitable amount of time. Undyne immediately let up – she knew how cold it was in Snowdin for someone without large amounts of fur or immunity to the cold.

"Woah, punk! Why didn't you say so? We need to get you warmed up!" She immediately threw Chuck over her shoulder and hurried back to Papyrus's house, with him muttering something along the lines of "wouldn't be cold if you hadn't thrown me in the snow."

"Hey, Undyne? How come you didn't let me know your house was on fire?" He asked as soon as they got him warmed back up again. Sniffing the air, he noticed the smell of something burning. What a surprise. He healed some of his cuts and bruises he had received from their tussle with his magic while waiting for an answer.

"Oh yeah, that's why I'm here… I forgot." Undyne explained with a sheepish expression.

"How could you forget something like that? I had to go and ask Alphys what was going on." Chuck was slightly annoyed.

"Well, I was having so much fun here!" Papyrus beamed at that. "Me an' Papyrus have been hanging a lot – Sans hasn't been around too much, I dunno what he's been doing… maybe his job, for once – oh! We've done loads of cooking, wanna see and have a taste?"

So that was what that smell was. "Uh, no thanks. Not right now."

Luckily, Undyne seemed to drop it as she began to talk about something else. "Speaking of cooking, that's why my house was on fire. You should've been there, punk! It was great! Me and the new human, Frisk, we had loads of fun!"

"Yeah, they said something along those lines when I saw them at the Lab earlier today. They're the one who pointed me in your direction." He paused for a second before he remembered something. "Hey, did you know Chara has a crush on Frisk?"

"THEY WHAAAAAATTTT?!" Papyrus yelled. And, as you all know, a Papyrus yell has the power to break all glass in the vicinity. That's why Sans always buys plastic cups. Shame there's no such thing as a plastic window (probably.)

Undyne and Chuck cringed, covering their ears, as well as everyone else in Snowdin. While it was an understandable reaction (Chara never crushes on anyone,ever), no one likes hearing a Papyrus yell – including Papyrus.

"AH, WHOOPS… SORRY. I WAS JUST HAPPY THAT FRISK FOUND SOMEONE OTHER THAN ME TO DATE." He apologised. "SO, UH, YOU WERE SAYING?"

"Yeah, Chara was watching all of Mettaton's shows that had the new human in them, and now they've been sitting around freaking out for ages. Well, that's what they were doing when I left." Chuck explained as soon as he had recovered.

"Woah. That's really weird…" Undyne commented.

"Agh, my ears…!" John winced, covering the aforementioned body parts as he hopped off of the River Person's boat, which didn't have the animal head on currently. He'd had to wait for a while in Hotland for it to arrive, but he would've been happier if he'd had to wait a little longer. It had been a long time since he had heard one of the mythical Papyrus-yells, and it was even worse than he'd remembered.

Aaren, who had stayed on the boat a second longer before getting off after John, tied their ribbon around their ears in a foolproof solution. The yell seemed to be over by now, but it didn't hurt to be prepared for another one.

"You look like an idiot." John commented as soon as his ears had stopped ringing.

"Takes one to know one." Aaren replied with a straight face.

The friendly insults continued as they headed into Snowdin Forest, until they reached the converging path right before the Ruins. They headed north past the magic box instead of continuing east to the Ruins.

As expected, there was a wide river in front of them, still with the fishing rod stuck in the ground in front of it. With a wave in the river's direction, Aaren froze over the part in front of them and gestured towards it.

"You first." But when John started to walk towards it, Aaren stopped him. "Actually, I don't want the whole thing to melt and for you to fall in; you'd evaporate the whole river. I'll go first to solidify the foundations."

"Very funny. I'm not that hot, though." John replied, pretending to look into a mirror.

"Well, I did see a lot of steam coming off you the last time you fell in, but no. I didn't think you were. Your hot-headedness makes up for it, though." Aaren stepped onto the thin ice on top of the river and underneath them the water froze down to the river floor. They walked forwards and, upon reaching the other side, turned around to watch John cross.

John was looking at the ice suspiciously. "If you unfreeze it underneath me again…" He began.

"I won't do that; it wouldn't be as funny this time." Aaren assured. After a second more of waiting, John stepped on the ice, sliding across to get to the other side rather than walking. As soon as he was over the ice melted back into water and the bridge was gone. They continued on a smaller path through the woods.

Eventually, they reached a small building with a big fenced area out in front of it. Inside the fenced area were some training dummies and targets for ranged and close combat practice, and some marked areas for other activities. They built the area themselves.

Inside the building were a couple other pieces of equipment and some food, along with a bookshelf, a couch and a TV, a table with two chairs, a bunk bed, and a toilet in a room to the side. When they weren't staying at New Home or with their other siblings, this is where they were. (It took a long time to convince Toriel to let them live in the middle of nowhere, but they had Asgore's help, so that made it easier.)

"So, do you want to train first or just go in and read? Maybe see what's on TV?" John asked.

"We're always out training. Either that or doing the other 'training.' Why don't we sit down and watch something on the television?" Aaren suggested.

"Okay, sounds good." John opened the gate into the fenced area, holding it open for Aaren before crossing the area quickly to enter the house. He summoned some normal magic flames to light the fireplace and a couple of the torches that were in wall brackets where the light didn't reach, before flopping down on the couch in front of the TV.

"Speaking of training, your orange attacks have been getting really good recently. Good job." Aaren complimented as they entered the building, closing the door behind them.

"You think? I've been trying pretty hard to improve." John replied, looking fairly pleased with himself. "Your blue attacks have been getting better too, you know. Not that you weren't already pretty good with them."

"Thanks. Hey, what do you want to eat? We've got some cinnamon bunnies and some crabapples and… oh, some of mum's pie, too." Aaren's voice was slightly muffled from being inside a cupboard.

"Is it snail pie or butts pie?"

"Butterscotch-cinnamon. Stop calling it that, by the way. You've been hanging with Chara and Asriel too much."

"I'll have a slice of that then, thanks. And I'm not going to stop unless mum is around, cause it's hilarious."

"Okay, one slice of butterscotch-cinnamon pie coming up." Aaren pulled the slice out and onto a plate before grabbing a crabapple for themselves and heading over to sit down next to John on the couch.

"Thanks for the butts pie, Aaren." Aaren looked at John with his signature "I'm not going to rise to that bait, you know" look, before they both cracked smiles and started eating.

"What do you want to watch? Should we see if anything's on, rewatch some recorded stuff, or look for a movie?" John asked, picking up the remote and turning the TV on.

"Why don't we have a look at those shows Mettaton was doing with the new human? He'll probably be showing them again until he does a new show. I didn't see some of them, so it should be interesting." Aaren decided.

"Sure thing. Wonder what Chara sees in them." John commented offhandedly.

"Wonder what I see in you."

"Rude."

After the yell had stopped echoing around Waterfall, Charlie decided it was time to take her hands off of her ears and keep moving back to her house with Macy, who had decided to come and stay with her for a while.

Speaking of Macy, she was standing there watching Charlie amusedly. She hadn't bothered putting her hands over her ears – probably to impress anyone who might be watching.

"How did you manage to listen to that without dying?" Charlie asked as she started off along the path again.

"It's not that bad, you know. Well, not after the first few echoes." Macy replied.

"Not for you, maybe. You've got balls of steel." They both laughed at that as they stopped at Gerson's shop. They had just got off of the River Person's boat, the one with the animal head, when they had heard the yell. It was a shame; if Macy had taken a little longer packing her stuff when they'd stopped by where she lived with Catty and Bratty, they probably wouldn't have been too affected by the yell. But, there's no point in wondering what could have happened anymore, since it was already done.

The two of them bought some crabapples and sea tea from Gerson before continuing on through the big room next to the dump and the snail farm, stopping to have a look at Undyne's house in amusement before taking a ride with the duck.

Just as they were about to enter the part of Waterfall that was generally just called the "glowing water place," a strong gust of wind containing a strange blurred figure blasted past them. Before either of them could ask what was going on, there was another gust of wind and the new human appeared before them.

"Sorry, I didn't see you there! I should probably start looking where I'm going… it's a good thing I didn't bump into anyone this time." They commented.

"How are you able to go that fast without killing yourself?" Macy asked immediately after she'd gotten over the shock. "Actually, how are you able to go that fast anyway?"

"Before you answer that, can we get your name? I don't think anyone's told us what it is." Charlie added.

"My name's Frisk. You're… Macy and Charlie, right?" They both nodded in confirmation. "And I can go that fast because of a… condition? One that also means I won't die from it. Yeah."

"Sure, that makes perfect sense." Charlie decided to drop it. "So who was it you hit the last time you did that speedy thing?"

"Ah, that was Chara. They're the one who told me your names." Frisk replied with a sheepish look. "They should be around Waterfall somewhere, we were hanging out a bit, but they seemed to want to be alone, mostly."

"Yeah, that sounds like them. Well, it was nice to meet you properly. See you around, yeah?" Macy had already started to turn around as she waved goodbye, but stopped when Frisk spoke up.

"Oh, wait, before I forget… Do you know what that sound was from earlier? It really hurt my ears." A pained look appeared on their face as they recalled it. Macy and Charlie laughed.

"That was the infamous Papyrus yell. It's so loud that once it even incapacitated a monster. Don't tell him about that, though. He'd feel really bad." Charlie informed them.

"Wow. Okay then. Anyway, like you were saying, see you around!" Before either of them could reply, Frisk was gone again.

The two of them stood there staring at where Frisk had been, before Macy shrugged and started back along the path to Charlie's place. They walked across the tiny bridge connecting Sans's telescope area to the glowing part of Waterfall, and started talking to each other again.

"I wonder what's up with them." Macy commented as she wandered along the black grass and had a look at all the glowing plants. It had been a while since she visited Waterfall, and this part in particular was very pretty.

"Probably something mysterious about their condition. I bet that's why Chara likes them; they could always tell when something was up with people. And they love spooky mysteries." Charlie joked.

After a short while of walking, they reached a split in the path and they headed along the eastern way, coming to what appeared to be a dead end with just some seagrass growing in the centre of the ground.

Macy gestured towards the wall that they were facing. "Well? What are you waiting for?"

"Alright, alright. You could do with some more patience. Maybe you should be staying with Aaren and John instead of me." Charlie suggested as she waved her hand to open the hidden door out of the black stone and dirt that formed the wall. As a matter of fact, the door was made out of the same materials, just carved into a door outline and detached slightly so it was possible to remove it. Possible for Charlie, at least, and any others who might be able to manipulate dirt and stone.

After both of them had entered the house through the doorway, Charlie slid the door back into place. You would have thought it to be dark, but there were holes from which air could come through, and so to an extent light. Of course, there wasn't that much light coming through those, so Charlie also had lots of the glowing plants in pots around the place, and even had part of the floor that was made of glass and had the glowing water underneath that. Aaren had helped with that bit.

Speaking of Aaren, Macy was responding to Charlie's suggestion. "I'm fairly certain they only have two beds, and I don't especially want to be sleeping on a couch. Even if it might be only a little worse than what I have at my place."

"Well, they probably just share one of the beds most of the time anyway. You know, to 'conserve heat,' as they would probably put it." Charlie snickered a bit before deciding to go and check the UnderNet on her computer.

"That's another reason, though. I don't want to be around them when they're being all… you know. And I highly doubt they'd want me around for that either. Plus, they're always training." Macy argued.

"Okay, good point, I suppose." Charlie let out an annoyed sound. "Ugh, looks like my electricity's down again. I guess that's the downside of literally living under a rock. Think you can help me with it?"

"Yeah, sure. Let's take a look at your generator. Good thing I'm here, huh?" Charlie nodded as Macy followed her into her generator room. It consisted entirely of, surprise surprise, her generator. Everyone in the underground had one, for in case the CORE was down for maintenance or something else happened to it, or they were like Charlie and lived somewhere it was hard to get a connection to the CORE. Alphys and Betty were working on improving the connection, though. Mostly so they didn't have to listen to Charlie complaining about her generator not working all the time. Speaking of Charlie complaining…

"It's out of power again! It isn't supposed to run out at all!"

"Calm down, it just needs a jumpstart, like usual." Macy walked up to the generator and put her hand over it.

"I know, but it's just so annoying. Sometimes it turns off while I'm in the middle of something on the computer."

"Yes, you've said. Many times." Before Charlie could reply, Macy sent a shock into the generator through her hand. It whirred back to life and she looked up at Charlie with a smug grin.

"Don't look at me like that. It's only easy for you to fix it because you have lightning magic. I always have to get Alphys to come over here and start it up with her own lightning when it breaks. Honestly, it's been ages. She and Betty should've finished designing an upgrade by now."

"Yeah, well. We can't do much about it cause no one else can make heads or tails of anything they build." Macy tried to reason with Charlie. It failed and she kept complaining as they left the generator room.

"Which means they should be more responsible, because everyone's waiting on them for it. I bet they just sit around watching anime all the time rather than working."

"Okay, that may be slightly true, but not completely. You know that. And try not to say these things too much around Alphys, her self-esteem isn't much better than it used to be."

Charlie grunted. "I bet they're watching anime right now."

"Hey, aren't we supposed to be working on something right now?"

Alphys didn't take her eyes off of the anime playing on the screen when she replied to Betty's question. "Uh. Probably. We can do it another time. We're almost at the good part, I can tell."

Betty shrugged and leaned back down on her expanded easy-to-describe bed. Alphys was sitting on her own one. Both of them were pushed together and there was a tablet where it was easy for the two of them to see the screen.

Alphys was right, anyway. It was just getting to the good part.

After a while longer of watching anime Alphys asked, "Hey, could you grab some soda from the fridge?"

"Yeah sure, just let me…" Betty concentrated on the fridge door, opening it with her magic and pulling out two bottles of soda. She floated them upstairs and dropped them in front of herself and Alphys.

"Awesome. Thanks."

"No problem."

"You're doing well."

Asriel jumped in shock as he heard the voice come from behind him. He turned around to see Chara smirking.

"Well, you were." They added. He turned back to his game to see that he had gone from first to last place.

"Chara, I told you not to do that anymore." He whined, while trying to get back into first.

"I know, but it's funny."

"It's also rude. Where have you been, anyway?"

"I went to Waterfall to relax. Where's everyone else?"

"Mum and dad are at the castle working, Betty is with Alphys at the Lab, Chuck went to find Undyne, Macy and Charlie left to stay at Charlie's place, and Aaren and John are all the way back at their house." Asriel counted them all off on his fingers. "That's everyone."

"Right. Well, have fun with your game. I'm going to rest."

"See you around."

"Mm."

Beast Tale Chapter 24, featuring lots of magic and lots of gay. Magical gays. Beautiful.

It seems that Chara and Frisk are the new gossiping topic for the Underground. I'm sure they're delighted.

I know the last couple of chapters have mostly been just worldbuilding, but hang in there (if you're still here after that impromptu hiatus). We should be getting to the "good" stuff soon.

Don't ask my why that was in quotation marks.

(Hint: it's because nothing good happens to anyone in the "good" parts.)