Would you ever do a dub of the handplates fanfic "ASL Tutorial" (and its related short story collection)? It's a really good story, and your VA skills are through the roof, and I kinda just would like to hear the concentrated epicness filtered through your mic. And Merry Xmas from Nevada!
Oooh Nevada, I’m jealous of your warmth right now! Also funny story, when I originally went to Seigi about doing The Scientist, it was a loooooong time before it ever started. I mean I think he had like 5k subscribers at the time, and he had like 30k by the time I was actually ready to start. When I originally went to him about it, I actually proposed doing ASL tutorial first. But by the time I got closer to start, I discovered The Scientist, and decided it was a more reasonably-sized project to follow up FINAGLC and bring Seigi into.
BUT, now that I’ve established my friend @hatori1181 as the resident “handplates Gaster” around here, that may be something to explore in the future :3 I do like that story a lot. I was looking into doing a non-Undertale story after The Scientist, but the current story I’m looking at is HUUUUUGE (like 50% longer than FINAGLC word-count wise) and I’ll need to find someone who can pull off a very specific accent.
The experiment was to some extent a success. Audibly I've come back to my own consciousness, but since I am still missing pieces of myself it feels very lousy.
I've been in this plane before; I recognize the grey interiors close to the true reality. But I don't recall ever being in this place when so much of me was assembled at one time. Now that I can think clearly, it appears to be close to Hotland, if not in Hotland itself. Perhaps my experiment was in part a success due to being near all that familiar equipment.
I say that it was partially a success, but I can't really say for certain. There was an unknown variable, which skews the results.
There's a human in this plane with me. They have been sleeping for some time now.
Is it a girl? A boy? In truth, it doesn't matter. They appear small, however. I can estimate them to be a child, at any rate.
It's possible that if I was as far north as I believe, and I ran into them, they too were affected by the Core. If that is the case, then I'm impressed by their supposed stability. On the other hand, it seems natural, given that they are human, that their bodies wouldn't be affected by the Core in the same way as monsters. Now all I can hope is that they will not be like my "followers" in temperament. The last thing I need is to have somebody else trying to run off with a piece of me.
I may as well just leave them. There are other areas that I want to explore and have already stayed in this room for longer than I care to. But I'm hesitant.
This is a human, after all. If they are still alive, which I believe them to be, their SOUL is also here on this plane with me.
It is something that I'll need to be cautious about, but I do have an idea. If I can absorb their SOUL, would it be possible for me to have enough power to get back into the true reality?
Hmm...
It is unfortunate that there is only one here so that I cannot reasonably test this theory.
While I'm waiting for them to wake up, I make several observations on the human. They don't appear to be injured, upon closer inspection, but are instead only sleeping. They are quite small for their species. A child, then. There's a stick clutched tightly in their hands and a locket around their neck. Checking their pockets, I find mostly packets of ketchup, pie, a silver key, and a broken cellphone--the make of which is unfamiliar to me. Nothing of use, and nothing of interest.
It feels as if I may have come in contact with them once before. It's impossible for me to have met them before my departure from true reality, so they might have met one of my pieces perhaps? I am just as curious what they were doing here then as I am curious to know what they were doing here now. The humans that end up in the underground are rare.
As they don't appear very strong or holding many defenses, it should be a simple matter to extract their SOUL with an attack or two. I do try to summon a magical emitter for this purpose, only to find that my attacks are....missing. Not all of my pieces have come back together, or else they have been intentionally taken by the other monsters of the various planes. That's inconvenient.
My examination more or less complete I return back to the wall for now, to study the human at a distance.
They utter a sound when I do this; they seem to finally be stirring. Their head lifts and their eyes open, just a little bit, before picking themselves up.
They haven't noticed me yet when they examine themselves and find the broken cellphone, quickly growing distressed. It is a shame that it's broken, but I doubt it could be used to call anyone unless such a person stood on this plane of reality along with us.
When the human does turn in my direction, they utter another sound. I'm not eager to speak with them, assuming that we will have any avenues of communication at all, but they walk closer.
They are hesitant, as they should be. But that's good; I would prefer a hesitant human over one willing to give me a fight.
If Frisk was hesitant it was because she recognized the monster she found standing there when she woke up.
In appearance he was much like the phantom she had seen back then, so much so that Frisk was expecting him to disappear with a gasp like back then, too. A big black lab coat over a white turtleneck, and a slightly damaged skull. On further inspection, his form wasn't as...blobby as the phantom's, and his face was not as much a collection of gaping holes--the cracks cutting through his eyes were more under control, and the mouth was for once closed.
In this non-distorted for, his face actually looked, just a little bit, like Papyrus. He was more obviously... a skeleton.
This gave Frisk a bit of courage. She extended a hand to the monster, saying, quietly, "Hello."
The monster didn't seem to want to shake hands. Frisk stuck her hands back to her side and stared at the monster intensely.
The monster returned her stare for a while, but then she heard, "🕈☟✌❄📬"
"Um." This certainly gave her room for pause. Although she didn't want to seem rude, she couldn't respond to something she didn't understand. "What?"
The monster went silent for a moment and then spoke again, "💧❄✌☼✋☠☝ ✌❄ 🏱☜⚐🏱☹☜ ✋💧 ☼🕆👎☜📪 ☟🕆💣✌☠📬" this time, as he spoke, two more floating hands appeared behind him. While the girl watched, the hands began forming various words in what she vaguely recognized as sign language.
Fighting social awkwardness, Frisk rubbed the back of her head. "Umm...I'm sorry, but I don't actually..."
".....I don't really know sign language," she said
The monster paused for a longer time, putting his normal hands over his face with a sigh. Finally he removed them, and then without the floating hands he said, staring right at her, "✋🕯💣 ☝⚐✋☠☝ ❄⚐ 😐✋☹☹ ✡⚐🕆 ✌☠👎 ❄✌😐☜ ✡⚐🕆☼ 💧⚐🕆☹📬"
Honestly, Frisk was beginning to worry that this monster didn't speak English at all.
"☠⚐✍"
She tilted her head. "Uhhh..." How many different ways could she say she didn't understand what he was saying?
"🕈☟✡ ✌💣 ✋ ☜✞☜☠ 👌⚐❄☟☜☼✋☠☝📪 ❄☟☜☠✍"
"My name is Frisk," she tried again, pointing to herself. From the monster, she heard another sigh and then finally silence. But she didn't need this monster to introduce himself, because she already had an idea of who he was. She looked over his form carefully, yet again, and rocked back on her heels. "And are you… Supposed to be Dr. Gaster?"
She could tell that that startled him. So maybe he at least understood her a little. She kept going, "You probably are, right? You match his description anyway. So..." She gave him a big smile. "That's great! That means that I've already found you! And I wasn't even trying!" This should make Alphys happy. ... Can't… Call her though.
That wasn't a problem. "I'm going to go away for a second," she told him. "But now that I know how to get to you, I'll come right back." It wasn't really necessary to tell him that, since few people seem to actually remember when she reloaded. But since she couldn't understand a word of this monster, for the first time it felt as though it was up to her to do the talking.
"🕈☟✌❄📬"
All she would need to do is access her SAVE file so that she wouldn't end up with the destroyed phone.
You tried to access your SAVE file.
Corrupted SAVE file. Can't access SAVE file 2.
".....?"
Her pulse quickened. It had always worked before, except for that one time when she was in a fight with...
Corrupted SAVE file. Can't access SAVE file 2.
Your SAVE file has encountered an error.
But it was the same messages every time she tried, until finally the child was beginning to get a headache. She looked over her surroundings, wondering if anything had changed in the crash. She didn't even know where she was, come to think of it. All the walls were gray and didn't look like anyplace that she had seen during her time in the underground. Except maybe once.
"Uhmm...." Frisk's breathing hitched. She backed up, seeing out of the corner of her eye the skeleton watching her intensely. "Um, um...."
Corrupted SAVE file. Can't access SAVE file 2.
Corrupted SAVE file. Can't access SAVE file 2.
"Stop it..."
Corrupted SAVE file. Can't access SAVE file 2.
Corrupted SAVE file. Can't access SAVE file 2.
Corrupted SAVE file. Can't access SAVE file 2.
Frisk began running. This blank room only had one door, which she threw open and dashed out of.
What she saw was a grey world of lava and cavern rock.
The monsters that had fallen into the core, in reality, were not trapped in the core so much as trapped outside of the real world. Even know it was more so for humans, both monsters and humans existed within reality. Somehow falling into the core trapped those like Gaster outside of reality, to varying extents. It had something to do it magic, Frisk didn't understand the explanation when it was told her.
What she did understand was that in order to rescue them, the Core would again play a role. Alphys was supposed to tell her what to do in order to help bring those monsters back into reality.
It was fine--by the child's understanding, she had an infinite amount of times to get this right.
Even so, the Core was more intimidating that was the last time she had been here. It was starting to look derelict, beaten up, and the lights were much dimmer now. They winked as she, Papyrus, Sans and Undyne all left the former-hotel walkway behind, as if welcoming them inside begrudgingly after the long absence. There were no more monsters left to roam its hall, but it still felt as if there was something there.
Ring... ring...
The phone rang. It was Dr. Alphys.
"Hey, Frisk. How are you guys doing? Have you reached the Core yet?"
"Is that Alphys? LET ME TALK TO HER!"
Frisk had to struggle to keep Undyne at bay now while she held the phone to her ear. "Hi Alphys! We just---got inside---"
"O-oh! That was fast!" Speaking over the phone miles away and above ground, Alphys' voice was a little bit faint and hard to hear. "Okay, you guys just have to make it into the center maintenance room---there sh-should be a setting somewhere on the elevator for you guys. Since the Core is still operating, t-the elevator should be too."
"Hey Alphys!"
"OH TELL HER HOW COOL I WAS WHEN THAT PART OF THE CAVE CEILING ALMOST FELL ON ALL OF US!"
"yeah. if it weren't for you we would have suffered a crushing defeat."
Frisk jammed a finger into her ear. There was too much screaming going on in the background. "...So if you just put it in that order, then it should reverse the negative readings from the.... Of the device."
"Could you repeat that?"
"U-um, okay--"
But the shouting kept going on. Frisk turned around and hissed at the three others, "Quiet!" She was beginning to think that she should go on alone. To Alphys, she said, "Let me get inside the elevator first..."
"HUMAN, WAIT! THE GREAT PAPYRUS SHOULD ASSIST YOU!"
"Ummm...." Frisk stood up, shaking her head. "I think that maybe I should do this part on my own?"
Papyrus' expression fell. "NYEH-HEH?"
"Oh, it's just that--I'm afraid with too many people in the elevator, it might break and fall."
"WHAT? YOU'RE WORRIED THAT WITH TOO MANY PEOPLE IN THE ELEVATOR IT WILL BREAK?"
"Um yes." Frisk scratched the back of her head, hoping that Alphys didn't mind being put on hold for so long.
"BRILLIANT! I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, WILL STAND GUARD OUTSIDE THE ELEVATOR FOR YOU."
Frisk nodded, smiling. Looking to Undyne, she then heard her say, "Well if you're going in alone, ugh, I'm going back up to the surface to cool off. You have my number, call me if you need me."
And from Sans, she heard, "i'm gonna take my break. have fun, kid."
"Thanks everyone!" The child smiled at them, before turning and walking into the elevator. The doors closed.
And Frisk went down all alone following Alphys' instructions, aiming for the center of the Core.
I almost feel like myself again even though it's still dark
And it's impossible to see
I can still feel
Where am I anyway it's so dark
It's like being stuck inside of molasses. If I work hard enough maybe I can
Like before when I could touch something
But ideally this time I will not just touch something, but bring myself into this world again.
I remember that much.
As I am right now I'm drawn to something
It feels unfamiliar.
Something that's unfamiliar in this nothing world is extremely interesting to me.
It also might be a way out if I can keep myself together long enough.
But if it's not the way out then it might on the opposite hand be
that
anomaly
Which is not a good thing.
Its getting darker.
I wonder.
I can feel it moving.
If I reach out I can touch it.
This was not the good idea that I believed it to be at first.
WARNING!
ELEVATOR MALFUNCTION!
Something has shorted the power for the Core Elevator of the Core. We hope you have a good day as you plummet down to your death!
"!!!"
The lights flashed once and then went out.
"Frisk!" Alphys' voice came out over the phone, drowned by the rattling and screeching of the elevator. "Frisk, wha--what--what's happening? H-h-h-hello?"
But no response came.
"F-frisk? Hey! Um!! Frisk?"
The floor of the elevator disappeared as Frisk stared, bathed in white. The whiteness spread, turning grey as it moved through the space of the elevator. It enveloped Frisk too, turning grey the stripes of her shirt--and then her shirt. And then her skin, her shoes, her eyes, and then her.
Alphys' voice became clear as the rattling elevator grew silent, but then even that faded away.
The reason why four people came to Mt. Ebott on the fourth year of the new monster calendar, on April 4th was threefold.
The first reason could be called nostalgia. After all, it had been over a year since they had had reason to visit the underground. Before, it had been a matter of coming in to help relocate those that were still in the old towns and capital city. Construction on the capital monster city above ground, which was stuck right next to the human one and titled "New New Home" by the king, was quick by human standards but slow by the standards of the monsters that were eager to leave the darkness. But after about two years, everyone that wanted to leave was successfully moved aboveground and resettled in forests, in lakes, in the city, and in small towns--even one at the top of Mt. Ebott itself, Snowdout.
So there was no reason to go down below. Surely an environment that was once heavily populated and now abandoned would change over a year. Those four people were curious about how it would look now.
But more importantly, the second reason would be because not everything was dismantled and moved from the underground. Almost everything was moved and improved upon in the surface world, but one thing in particular was difficult to relocate. The energy source of the entire underground, the Core. The fact that it couldn't be easily moved up to above ground was a shame, because as it was the monsters in the capital were having to pay an exorbitant amount for electricity from the human city.
If these three people could find the Core, it would not only be a boon for monsters but for the humans in that city as well, who would be given a renewable energy source. It was, in fact, the promise of the Core helped smooth some of the initial friction between the humans and the monsters. That was why they were coming to find it.
It was difficult to relocate for a reason that related to the third reason that this group was going into the underground. Alphys hadn't wanted to shut the Core off for one reason only.
There were monsters in it.
Only a small handful of people... So few people that most of the underground hadn't noticed. In fact, they really hadn't noticed. But there were a small handful of monsters that didn't quite forget. Alphys was one of those people.
In order to get the Core, those monsters would have to be rescued first.
"Now that we're free..." the good doctor had relayed, before their climb, "I started doing more work to try and find a way to help them. It was… Uh… hard! Because… You know, nobody remembers them... Or that they even existed.
“So I ended up having to do everything myself, at least mostly...But!" She had handed to Frisk a folder of documents. "This is the result of all my research. I think as long as you stay determined, there might be... a chance to bring them back."
Frisk was one of those four climbing Mt. Ebott that day, with the folder in her pocket. She had looked through the folder for a while, but evidently it was too complicated for her to understand. Alphys told her that when the time came, she would explain the necessary parts as they went over the phone.
Although Alphys hadn't told her this in particular, Frisk had a feeling that Sans was coming along because he knew something about this too. But it was just a hunch. She had asked him about the work room once before, and he hadn't given her any definitive answer. Just pointing out that it was rude to snoop in somebody else's drawers, steal their keys, and visit their private work rooms.
"Sorry not sorry."
That was all they discussed about it, and aside from making puns all the way up the mountain he hadn't said anything else. That was fine; Frisk was used to him not telling her anything.
"NO NEED TO WORRY!" She heard from behind. "WITH I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, HERE TO HELP WE WILL COMPLETE THIS MISSION IN RECORD TIME!"
"yep. s'nowdout about it."
"...OUR MISSION IS GOING TO BE A FAILURE."
There was a small entrance in the mountain that, according to Alphys' instructions, would lead down into the core. Not wishing to run into that flower again, or any of the animals that might have...moved in after the evacuation, Frisk was happy to take any route that required as little backtracking as possible. It should be around here somewhere.
She stopped and looked up from the map.
She couldn't see anything of note. There were many rocks around, obscuring the view.
"Hey! What's up, kid?" In her armor, Undyne looked plenty intimidating. Although she wasn't worried with Papyrus and Sans along, Frisk was glad to have yet more muscle.
"It's too rocky. I think there's supposed to be a door here."
"No problem!" She summoned a magic spear, and only in minutes the rocks were reduced to rubble.
After that, the door was easily in view, a deep blue with the same emblem in view as she had once seen all over the Underground.
Frisk smiled big, "Thanks Undyne!" and she ran forward.
She opened it up, and the familiar heat of Hotland blew into the faces of the four standing there, Undyne uttering a groan. "Ugh, I forgot we'd have to go down there. This is going to suck!!"
Taking a step into the cavern, Frisk looked back. "Don't worry," she said, taking the folder of documents out of her pocket. "We won’t be in there for that long."
"Yeah, let's get this over with!"
Undyne was the first to march inside, even in that sweltering armor. Sans was the last, giving a yawn. "you guys go ahead. i'll catch up after my break."
From entering Hotland, it wouldn't take much time for them to reach the Core. And then from there....something. Alphys would have to tell them. Things could get unpredictable when it came to a magical energy source.
But Frisk believed that she would make a difference.
She had already seen some of those faces of the people that were lost. The grey monsters that were there one moment, speaking, and then gone the next. And that gastly shape...
Black coat, over a white shirt. Huge gaping holes for eyes, with cracks up the left eye and down the right, each with sparks of light and life deep /deep/ within. A gaping hole for the mouth, which had gasped and gotten even wider when she touched the being. He had holes in both skeletal hands.
She had described all of it to the others and then Alphys, and only Alphys understood.
"Yeah! Holes in his hands, that's uh, that was the previous royal scientist. Dr. Gaster."
"Blobby? ...Yeah, I guess, um, being, uh, scattered across time can deal you some damage. And, uh, distort your body a bit. Probably."
"Uh, don't worry though. He's not, uh, bad? I d-d-don't know how he is now, though."
"B-but...he's the smartest monster there is. It's because of him that the Core even exists."
"Frisk, i-i-if you can get him back...I think it would d-do a lot of us good up here in New New Home."
Dark here.
I feel as if I am forgetting something.
But sometimes I start to remember.
It was over a long period that my pieces had begun to reassemble in one place.
I wonder why that is actually.
The effort is so successful that I've even begun wondering again.
