Chapter 101

Soon, Undyne was done wiping the makeup off Calibri's and Burgerpants's faces, and they all went to the stage.

"Did you have to do it so hard?" Burgerpants complained as he rubbed his face where Undyne had wiped off the makeup.

"I got it off. Didn't I?" Undyne responded authoritatively. "Quit your complaining!"

"Are you feeling alright, my son?" River asked as he walked to the stage gently wiping off his face with a makeup removal wipe. "You're being more quiet than usual. Te he he…"

Calibri smirked at his father with his face now devoid of makeup except for around his eyes and signed without subtitles, "ARE YOU KIDDING, DAD? YOU CHOOSE NOW OF ALL TIMES TO MAKE A DAD JOKE?"

"I was only removing the tension, Calibri," River replied. "I've never seen you so withdrawn."

"I'M JUST PICTURING IT IN MY HEAD, DAD," Calibri signed. "I'M PICTURING THE LOOK ON THAT ASSHOLE'S FACE WHEN HE SEES WHAT WE'VE DONE."

"Me, too," River replied with a smile in his voice. "Me, too."

Calibri then looked at Frisk and smiled.

On the way there, Frisk was riding on Papyrus's shoulders and listening to Calibri's phone as carefully as he could through Napstablook's headphones to make sure he had memorized all the lyrics. He kept his eyes closed to force himself to concentrate.

Frisk was a bit nervous because he had never tried using his determination to remember the lyrics to a song he had just learned before, but the anger and excitement overcame his fear.

Frisk would finally get to stick it to Mettaton, as a pacifist, and not as a killer. He prayed for strength and felt his courage rise enough to finally take off the headphones.

Napstablook flew next to Frisk and asked, "Are you done with these?"

"Yeah," Frisk said before whistling to Calibri and tossing his phone back to him. "I know the song lyrics, or at least, I think I do…"

"Don't doubt yourself now, Frisk," Napstablook said with a smile. "You have no reason to. Your determination got you this far. It's strong enough to do this something this simple."

"Yeah!" Papyrus squealed jumping up in the air. "You got this, little brother!"

"Papyrus…" Frisk chided before Alphys interrupted.

"Everything's set up, you guys," Alphys said. "The crowd's all here. The cameras are out. Mettaton's heading over. It's gonna be great! Frisk, do you have your phone?"

"Yep," Frisk replied confidently pulling out the phone from his pocket. "I'm ready."

"Good!" Inferno said flying over next to Alphys. "Everyone's routing for you, Frisk. Break a leg. We're ready when you are."

Frisk nodded silently as Papyrus set him down on the floor ahead of him.

"Frisk, you want to offer up a prayer," Burgerpants asked.

"Oh, uh, okay," Frisk said feeling pleasantly surprised as he bowed his head. "I've barely done this out loud, but God please help us kick Mettaton's ass but not literally and let us offend the audience as much as possible. Amen."

"That was short," River said.

"I LIKED IT," Calibri signed. "SHORT, SWEET, AND TO THE POINT."

"Amen," Napstablook added. "Now, go kick my cousin's butt."

River, Calibri, and Burgerpants walked ahead to the stage to get their equipment set up.

Undyne set her hand on Frisk's shoulder and said, "We're going to guard the stage. Kick that robot's ass."

"But not too hard," Papyrus added.

"If possible," Napstablook chimed in.

"Please," Alphys said begging Frisk with her eyes as she had done many times before.

Frisk smiled understandingly and promised, "I'll do my best."

Then without another word, Frisk walked to his spot on-stage and waited for the curtains to rise.