Chapter 67

Meanwhile, the starting gate finally opened to much fanfare so Undyne and Papyrus walked through.

"It's about damn time," Undyne grumbled angrily while walking through the gate.

"Apparently, Frisk stalled Mettaton for a little bit longer," Papyrus said looking at his phone while he was following behind her. "Sans said he threw a water bottle and hit Mettaton in the face…"

"Oh, my God! Really?! That's hilarious!" Undyne said not even trying to conceal her amusement.

"Undyne, I don't think we should be encouraging violence," Papyrus protested. "The psychology book I read said that's bad…"

"Pfft. If it's against Mettaton, I say he can be as violent as he wants. Maybe he'll knock him out long enough to run away. Hell, I don't care what he does as long as he leaves something for me."

"But Undyne, that's not nice. Besides, Frisk doesn't want to watch anyone else die. He can't..."

"Frisk isn't going to. He isn't going to watch any of it if I can help it. The poor kid has dealt with enough already. That's why I'm going to do it for him."

"What?"

"Well, me and Sans are. We've discussed it already. If Mettaton doesn't cooperate once he and this Toriel chick do whatever it is they're planning and get Frisk back for good, we are going to end him together. Sans asked me not to tell ya, but it can't be helped now. Me and my big mouth."

Papyrus couldn't believe what he was hearing.

He put his phone away, ran next to Undyne while she walked forward facing straight ahead, and said, "Undyne, you can't do that. It isn't right. There must be another way. Maybe, we could ask him sternly to leave us alone."

Undyne stopped and glared up at him. Papyrus froze nervously, and his demeanor immediately fell as soon as their eyes met. Despite her smaller stature, Undyne still managed to intimidate him.

"Papyrus," Undyne said in the scary, quiet tone she used on the beach. "You know what a royal guard's duty is? It is to administer justice in this world however you can. I used to think that justice meant kicking ass and fighting humans, but now, I know it means kicking ass and fighting the real bad guys. In almost every timeline, I and everyone else have treated Frisk like shit, just because he's a human. I've done him wrong too many times, just because I couldn't see past what he was. That was screwed up, and if I can help it, I'm not going to let myself or anyone else treat him like that again. Do you understand me?"

Papyrus opened his mouth, and nothing came out. He helplessly tried to search for words, and for once, he couldn't find anything to say.

Undyne looked forward, walked past him, and said, "I don't expect you to help, but God dammit, you better not get in our way."

Suddenly, over some kind of intercom, they both heard Mettaton announce, "IF YOU LOVEBIRDS ARE DONE FIGHTING, LET'S START THE SHOW!"

Mettaton's theme music came on as a flying robotic monitor receiving the broadcast from the studio flew over to them.

Undyne grimaced when she saw Mettaton's face and asked, "What? Are you too scared to face us in person?"

"No, it's just that I have a son who can't be left alone for long periods of time without wandering off, so I decided it would be best if I stayed at the studio with him until later."

"My God, you're even more annoying on camera. You better not hurt Frisk, or I'll make your death twice as painful, ya pretentious ass!"

"My, my, you're in quite the sour mood, Undyne, but it's okay," Mettaton replied with a hair flip. "Fortunately, I, for one, am above such petty name-calling. You don't need to worry. I wouldn't dream of hurting a hair on my little darling's head, but you, on the other hand, should calm down or you might get locked up like you know who."

Undyne materialized her spear, but Papyrus quickly put her hand on her arm and whispered, "Undyne, don't. He's trying to make you mad on purpose."

Undyne glared down Mettaton's smug face and imagined how badly she wanted to impale a spear through it, but reluctantly, she relented. She knew she had to, for Frisk.

"I ain't gonna let you toy with me, pretty boy," Undyne said. "Now, stop wasting our time and move on with the damn competition."

"Well, if you insist, for the first trial, you will be facing a quiz show hosted by me," Mettaton said as a podium with a buzzer and confetti came out of nowhere. "Depending on how you answer, you will either get to continue or you will get zapped until you get it right. What do you think?"

Undyne and Papyrus froze as they remembered the same thing at the same time.

Mettaton's face twisted in confusion as he saw Frisk react about the same way, but like always, he maintained his composure.

"Well, by your stunned silence, I'd say that you're ready to begin," Mettaton said as a giant question and multiple answer board materialized, and the music changed to the quiz show music Frisk had heard many times.

The music was enough to bring Papyrus and Undyne back to reality.

"Alrighty, Mr. and Mrs. Skeleton, are you ready?" Mettaton asked.

After exchanging quick glances at each other, Papyrus said, "Yes! The missus and I are more than ready. Bring it on!"

"Okay!" Mettaton responded gleefully as the first question came up.

"I still can't believe you told everyone we were married," Undyne whispered to him.

"I was trying to disguise our identity," Papyrus whispered back.

"Papyrus, everyone in Snowdin and Waterfall already knows who we are."

"Oh…Well…At least, we're fooling some people in Hotland."

"Enough whispering among yourselves, lovebirds," Mettaton teased. "For the first question, let's start with an easy one. First question, what is the prize for answering correctly? Is it A, Money? B, Mercy? C, Frisk? Or D, More Questions?"

"It's almost exactly like before," Papyrus whispered to Undyne.

"What was that, Mr. Skeleton?" Mettaton asked.

"I said the answer is D for More Questions," Papyrus replied hitting the buzzer.

Mettaton's eyes flashed in surprise. He thought for sure they'd choose the wrong answer. He added C just for that reason.

"Right! Sounds like you two get it!" Mettaton said clapping his hands along with the audience on the other end. "Here's your terrific prize! What's the king's full name? Is it…?"

"It's Asgore Dremurr," Undyne replied hitting the buzzer impatiently. "Duh."

"Correct!" Mettaton replied. "What a terrific answer, Undyne!"

"Don't patronize me, pretty boy!" Undyne yelled back while Papyrus was sending a text message to Frisk.

"My, my, what a temper…" Mettaton teased back.

Frisk received the message back in the studio and checked it. Papyrus was asking if Frisk could remember the answers to any of the upcoming questions since Mettaton seemed to be asking the same questions as in the other runs.

"I'll try," Frisk replied. "I remember that if Mettaton asks you to identify which monster fought me you have to choose him, but I don't remember the rest."

After he sent a message, Frisk shut his eyes, leaned against the couch, and prayed he would be able to summon enough determination to access his memories.

In the meantime, Mettaton moved onto the next question.

"Enough about you, let's talk about me!" he said.

"Joy," Undyne said sarcastically rolling her eyes.

"What are robots made of?" Mettaton asked. "Are they made of A, hopes and dreams? B, metal and magic? C, snips and snails? Or, D, sugar and spice?"

"B, metal and magic," Undyne replied with a hit of the buzzer. "God, you're insulting my intelligence."

"Too easy for you, huh?" Mettaton asked playfully. "Fine then. Here's another easy one for you. Two trains, Train A, and Train B simultaneously depart Station A and Station B. Station A, and Station B are 252.5 miles apart from each other. Train A is moving at 124.7mph towards Station B, and Train B is moving at 253.5mph towards Station A. If both trains departed at 10:00 AM and it is now 10:08, how much longer until both trains pass each other? Is the answer, A, 31.054 minutes? B, 16.232 minutes? C, 32.049 minutes? Or, D, 32.058 minutes?"

Undyne and Papyrus stood there absolutely dumbfounded.

"What? I can't do that type of math in my head!" Undyne protested.

"Neither can I," Papyrus replied while sending a text message to Frisk.

"Not my problem, dears," Mettaton said in his annoyingly flamboyant and passive aggressive tone. "Choose an answer or you can't continue."

Frisk tried as hard as he could to think, but to his terror, he remembered something else.

"Papyrus," Frisk replied through tears. "I never got this question right. I'm so sorry."

"That's okay," Papyrus texted back. "We'll just guess."

"Are you going to answer, or are you going to keep texting my son?" Mettaton asked impatiently.

Papyrus and Frisk froze fearfully. The latter looked at Mettaton who was looking back at him.

Frisk trembled and expected some punishment as the audience murmured in anticipation, but Mettaton only said, "Don't worry, Frisk. I told you earlier I didn't care if you texted your friends. You can relax, darling. You don't have to hide things from Daddy."

The audience gave a collective "Awww!" while the ratings rose, Frisk rolled his eyes, and Mettaton went back to the competition.

"Anyways," he said turning back to the camera. "Do you two have an answer?"

"Yes! Nyeh heh heh!" Papyrus said confidently. "I, the Great Papyrus, say the answer is A, because it's number one, like I and my wife are!"

Undyne rolled her eye while waiting for Mettaton to reply.

"That was a great reply, darling," Mettaton said while Papyrus smiled proudly. "But unfortunately for you, it is WRONG! WRONG! WRONG! And now, you get punished."

Papyrus smiled confidently and said, "Nyeh heh heh! I, the Great Papyrus, can handle anything you throw at…" before he got zapped with a laser from that emerged from the top of the floating monitor.

Papyrus collapsed as his HP fell by half.

"NO!" Frisk yelled as he watched helplessly from his seat.

"PAPYRUS!" Undyne yelled as she ran over to him and held up his head. "PAPYRUS, ARE YOU OKAY?! PAPYRUS, GET UP!"

As Papyrus slowly regained consciousness, Frisk ran over to Mettaton, grabbed his arm, and screamed at him, "METTATON, YOU HAVE TO STOP THIS! YOU'LL KILL THEM! PLEASE!"

Without even flinching at the touch, Mettaton turned to him, pat him on the head, and replied, "Calm down, darling. I don't intend on killing them. It's only for the show. You don't need to worry…"

"WELL, IT'S WRONG!" Frisk screamed while smacking his arm away. "STOP HURTING THEM RIGHT THIS SECOND!"

"I'll stop if it gets to 1 HP," Mettaton said showing a touch more annoyance behind his voice. "And after this stage, I'll give them all they need to heal before the next stage. Alright? Now, get back to your seat or sit down next to me, Frisk."

Frisk narrowed his gaze and yelled, "Like hell, I know better than to trust you!"

At the swear word, the ratings fell by ten points.

Mettaton felt a flash of panic inside, gave Frisk a more serious look, and replied, "Frisk, sit down and shut your mouth, so we can continue the show. If I have to tell you again, you will be put back in timeout. Now, for the next question…FRISK!"

Undaunted by the threat, Frisk had pulled the key on his necklace out of his shirt and knocked over the video monitor.

On the other end, Papyrus and Undyne were frozen in shock.

"RUN, GUYS!" Frisk screamed into the monitor. "GET AS AHEAD AS YOU CAN! GET OUT OF THERE AND FIND ME!"

Frisk then stabbed the screen causing the feed to stop on their end.

Unfortunately, that was all he could do before Mettaton picked him up and said, "Bad boy! You're going back to timeout, young man! I think it's time for you to do something else for a while. Excuse me, my lovely audience! We'll be taking a short intermission while I take my son to see his doctor."

"No!" Frisk yelled squirming as much as he could in Mettaton's arms while the latter carried him off-stage. "I won't let you brainwash me!"

"I'm not taking you to that type of doctor, darling," Mettaton said stopping in place and creating a trapdoor with his feet. "I'm taking you to your pediatrician for your physical examination. Maybe after that boring ordeal, you'll feel like listening to your Daddy."

Mettaton jumped through the trapdoor while back on the obstacle course Undyne was helping Papyrus stand up.

"You heard Frisk, Papyrus," Undyne said as she helped him to his feet. "That bucket of bolts is probably gonna hurt him for this. We've gotta go save him! Can you still run?"

"Of course," Papyrus said confidently before he picked up Undyne and carried her in his arms bridal-style while he bolted away from the malfunctioning quiz show. "Frisk is depending on us! Let's go, sweetie!"

"Papyrus! Put me down! Did Mettaton zap your brain?! We're not married!" Undyne yelled.