Chapter 3 The RUINS

"OOF!" Flowey squeaked as what looked like a ball of fire knocked him aside into the ground. Out of the shadows, a tall figure walked. It-she- was around 7 feet tall. She was wearing a purple dress with a strange symbol on it. She had soft red eyes that gave me a sense or relief.

"What a horrible creature, torturing such an innocent youth." She said, glaring at the spot Flowey was before he disappeared into the ground. I looked up at her, trying to scramble to my feet. I was sure that she didn't want to hurt me, but I couldn't be too sure after what Flowey just did. I yelped when I pushed up with my arms, remembering the pain. The monster quickly grabbed me before I fell.

"Do not be afraid, dear child. I am Toriel, caretaker of the RUINS. I pass here everyday to see if anyone has fallen down. You are the first human to come here in a long time." She inspected my arm. "Are you alright? I can heal you if you wish." I shook my head and pointed at Skyler, who was laying on the floor, still unconscious.

"My sister needs it more. I-I don't know if she's okay, she's alive, but very injured." The words rushed out of my mouth. A healed arm and head sounded great, but I refused until Skyler was alright. Toriel went over and scooped Skyler up with her left arm. "Oh dear. Well, do not worry. I can heal you both." She reached with her hand, and a green light appeared all over Skyler, and it bunched up to splotches around her legs and arms, with one or 2 green splotches on her head.

I watched in amazement as the bleeding parts closed, and her limbs straightened out just a little bit and looked stronger. "Now, are you injured?" Toriel asked. I nodded. "My arm really hurts..." "I see." Another big green light circled my arm. I winced, I could feel my arm pop back into place as it straightened out. Toriel noticed the blood dripping down my head. "Oh, dear, you have a nasty scrape right there. I'll get it." She healed my head, then stepped back. "Is there anything else?"

"No, that's all. Is Skyler okay?" I asked.

"Who- oh, that must be this child's name. Yes, she is just sleeping. We should let her rest." Toriel said. "That reminds me, what is your name?"

"I'm Frisk, Skyler is my sister." I said, looking at her in Toriel's arms. I had always thought of Skyler as someone who is indestructible. But seeing her like this, weak, powerless... hopeless, made her seem so fragile.

"Well, it is very nice to meet you, Frisk." Toriel said. "Come, you both at my house deeper into the RUINs." She extended a hand, and I held it as she led me to another room. There, the room was lit up with torches, and strange glowing lights in the wall. Monster magic, I assumed. There were 2 sets of stair cases, both looking like quartz. The shadows of the RUINs loomed above me.

Yet as I looked up, it felt like the ruins were challenging me. Daring me to come in. Saying that I don't have the guts. And inside of me was a feeling that desperately wanted to prove it wrong. It came out of nowhere. I didn't know how to describe it.

Toriel led me up one of the sets, and led me into a room with 6 buttons, each in rows of 2. At the end of the room was a door shut tightly. "Allow me to educate you in the system of the RUINS. The RUINS are full of puzzles. Ancient fusions between diversions and doorkeys. One must solve them to move from room to room. Please adjust yourself to the sight of them." She walked in a pattern, stepping on every row but the middle one. The door swung open. We walked through.

The next room was a LONG hallway. "My child. In order to make progress here you will need to trigger several switches. Do not worry. I have labeled the ones you need to flip."

Oh great. Just amazing. "But-" It was too late to object, Toriel was already walking down. I sighed. I didn't trust that monster with my sister. But I had no choice. She was the only friendly monster I have seen so far. I started to walk down, and saw words around the switches.

'Please press this switch. -Toriel'

KERCHUNG

The next switch had a copy next to it. The writing said 'Please press this switch too. -Toriel'. It was clear which one was the right one to flip. But I kinda wanted to flip the other one. I grabbed the handle and pulled it. "No no! You want to press the other switch." Toriel said. I laughed a little and pulled the other switch.

KURCHUNG!

"Splendid! I'm proud of you little one. Let us move to the next room."

In the next room was a corner, and in it was a fighting dummy. It looked like it was old enough to have seen the dinosaurs. It was torn, and patched up. "As a human living in the RUINS monsters may try to attack you." Toriel said.

"Wait, a human LIVING in the RUINs? What do you mean? I'm not-" I tried to object.

"You will need to be prepared for this situation. However, worry not! When you encounter a monster, you will enter a FIGHT. When you are in a FIGHT, strike up a friendly conversation. Stall for time, I will come to resolve the conflict." Toriel explained. "Try it out on this DUMMY!"

I walked to the DUMMY, a little concerned about what Toriel had said. What did she mean by living here? I didn't plan on staying. I wanted to make sure Skyler was okay, and get out of here. Even though this was my lifelong dream come true, it wasn't a dream anymore if someone got hurt.

"Hey there. My name is Frisk... uh..." The DUMMY stared at me. This was awkward. "FRISKy weather we're having, am I right? Hehe..." It didn't seem much for conversation, but

"Ah, very good! You are very good." She led me into the next room. After a hallway, there was a platform with spikes all over. "This is a puzzle but... Here, take my hand for a moment."

She started to walk into the spikes, but to my surprise, the puzzles retracted as she walked on a certain path. "Puzzles seem a little too dangerous for now..."

She guided me into the next room. "You have done excellently thus far my child. However, I have a difficult task to ask of you."

I hated how she was calling me her 'child'. It's like when your teacher calls you 'Dear' or 'Sweetheart'. It made me want to be everything but that just so she would stop calling me that. "I would like you to walk to the end of the room by yourself." Toriel walked faster than I've ever seen anyone walk. Down a long. Long. Long hallway. Ho boy. This is gonna be fun. I started to walk down. I swear I heard some music. Okay, yeah, that is definitely music. I whipped around to see a Froggit with a radio right next to him.

"Could ya stop it?!" I lashed out at him. He clicked off the music. I was about to continue walking, before he clicked the play button again and ran. I sighed and just kept walking. 'He is going to regret that.'

At the end of the room was another doorway, and a random pillar. I nearly walked into the next room before Toriel walked in front of me from the pillar. "Greetings, my child. Do not worry, I did not leave you. I was merely hiding behind this pillar the entire time. That you for trusting me. However, there was an important reason for this exercise."

'Yeah right. You sound like my gym teacher. It's probably going to be a stupid reason that I wont need in the future.'

"To test your independence."

'Called it!'

"I must attend to some business, and you must stay alone for a while. Please remain here, It is dangerous to explore by yourself." She thought for a moment. "I have an idea. I will give you a CELLPHONE. If you have a need for anything, just call."

She left the room as I stared in shock and happiness at the phone in my hand. My very own phone! A very VERY old phone, but still a phone! My mom said I couldn't have one until I was 16! I could get used to the Underground.

I waited for what seemed like an eternity (Or just 3 minutes according to the CELLPHONE) and decided. I'm not going to sit around. 'It's dangerous' She said. HA! I've done so many dangerous things, that this is like finding a small thorn. I've gone straight into blackberry bushes looking for the perfect batch! And it totally wasn't because Skyler pushed me in. I walked into the next room, and immediately got a call on my phone. I picked it up, and Toriel was on the other end. "Hello. This is TORIEL. You have not left the room, have you? There are a few puzzles I have yet to explain. It would be dangerous to deal with them by yourself." I stayed quiet. Maybe she didn't know that I can respond on this. "Be good, alright?"

"Um, sure." I said. Toriel hung up. As I looked up, I saw puzzles. And levers. And buttons. My heart sank.

*One eternity later*

I finally got to the next room. "Excuse me human." A voice said. I looked down to see what looked like a frog.

"Oh, hello... Um, can I help you?" I said, crouching down.

"I have some advice about battling monsters." The frog said.

"Really? Can you tell me? I'm bad at fighting." I said.

"If you ACT a certain way or FIGHT them until their almost defeated, they may not want to fight you anymore. If a monster doesn't want to fight you anymore, then please human, show some mercy." It said.

"Oh... Thanks." I said. I continued to walk. The leaves crunched under my feet. I couldn't help but laugh. I began to stomp and jump around, spilling leaves everywhere. Doing this reminded me about one autumn with Skyler. As a prank, we'd taken a bucket of leaves and rigged Ms Johnson's door. Ms Johnson was a cranky teacher who needed to learn to laugh.We didn't succeed, but we had a fun laugh ourselves. The memory gave me a strange feeling. Like everything would go my way if I just kept doing what I was doing.

It was kinda like...

DETERMINATION