Lucas (
lovetheme) wrote in
boxfullofzeroes2016-01-13 04:58 pm
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wreck-it ralph au-nanigans
"Undertale" has been the talk of Game Central Station for a variety of different reasons, lately.
Oh, yes, the kids certainly did seem to have become thoroughly taken with the game already--it's only been plugged in for a few days, but nearby cabinets within view could readily report the piles of quarters it was already raking in. Chatter of "amazing music" and "cute characters" and "retro graphics" and "multiple endings"--it's been an instant hit.
But the days had ticked by, and the Undertale portal had remained inactive, and other questions started cropping up. Word had it the leading hero of the game was a kid in a striped shirt, but so far that was...still pretty much all that most people knew, about the game's characters. Because none of them had emerged to visit Game Central Station yet--and that was peculiar, to say the very least. What was going on in there? Were they shy, some wondered? Are they too good for us, others grumbled? A consensus had yet to be reached, but with every passing day the curiosity grew. And finally, talk of sending over an "ambassador" had started to form too.
Lucas still isn't entirely sure just how he'd managed to be picked for this, exactly. He doesn't think he's very outgoing nor particularly diplomatic, which seem like more ambassador-ish traits to have. But between the collection of fellow kid protagonists that had gotten together to decide this in the first place, they'd discussed "fellow striped-shirts" and how "people keep saying it's like the Mother series" and "Lucas ought to have more experience with this anyway" and things like that.
And now here Lucas is, entering Undertale's portal entrance for the evening. Instead of a train, he finds himself needing to step into an elevator for transport. Then, after a long wait, the elevator stops and opens and Lucas finds himself...on a pale path, surrounded by pale buildings and silence. Hm.
Hesitation, just long enough to glance back to the closed elevator door behind him, and then Lucas starts forward down the path. It's a pretty long one. So long, and quiet and empty, that Lucas begins to wonder if he did something wrong and has ended up somewhere he shouldn't be in the game--but then the path opens up to an equally pale house surrounded by leaves up ahead, and warm music begins to filter in softly, and that's a bit of a relief. Lucas pauses, blinking down at a yellow shining star-shaped something suspended in front of him here. Trying to examine it closer... "Lucas; LV ?; ???:??; New Home; Save/Return". Oh...Lucas backs away from the star-something--a save point, that must be what it is--and looks around uncertainly, trying to figure out what to do next. Still no sign of any characters, but...well, it's worth a shot, right?
"...Hello?" His voice feels a lot louder in such an empty place.
Oh, yes, the kids certainly did seem to have become thoroughly taken with the game already--it's only been plugged in for a few days, but nearby cabinets within view could readily report the piles of quarters it was already raking in. Chatter of "amazing music" and "cute characters" and "retro graphics" and "multiple endings"--it's been an instant hit.
But the days had ticked by, and the Undertale portal had remained inactive, and other questions started cropping up. Word had it the leading hero of the game was a kid in a striped shirt, but so far that was...still pretty much all that most people knew, about the game's characters. Because none of them had emerged to visit Game Central Station yet--and that was peculiar, to say the very least. What was going on in there? Were they shy, some wondered? Are they too good for us, others grumbled? A consensus had yet to be reached, but with every passing day the curiosity grew. And finally, talk of sending over an "ambassador" had started to form too.
Lucas still isn't entirely sure just how he'd managed to be picked for this, exactly. He doesn't think he's very outgoing nor particularly diplomatic, which seem like more ambassador-ish traits to have. But between the collection of fellow kid protagonists that had gotten together to decide this in the first place, they'd discussed "fellow striped-shirts" and how "people keep saying it's like the Mother series" and "Lucas ought to have more experience with this anyway" and things like that.
And now here Lucas is, entering Undertale's portal entrance for the evening. Instead of a train, he finds himself needing to step into an elevator for transport. Then, after a long wait, the elevator stops and opens and Lucas finds himself...on a pale path, surrounded by pale buildings and silence. Hm.
Hesitation, just long enough to glance back to the closed elevator door behind him, and then Lucas starts forward down the path. It's a pretty long one. So long, and quiet and empty, that Lucas begins to wonder if he did something wrong and has ended up somewhere he shouldn't be in the game--but then the path opens up to an equally pale house surrounded by leaves up ahead, and warm music begins to filter in softly, and that's a bit of a relief. Lucas pauses, blinking down at a yellow shining star-shaped something suspended in front of him here. Trying to examine it closer... "Lucas; LV ?; ???:??; New Home; Save/Return". Oh...Lucas backs away from the star-something--a save point, that must be what it is--and looks around uncertainly, trying to figure out what to do next. Still no sign of any characters, but...well, it's worth a shot, right?
"...Hello?" His voice feels a lot louder in such an empty place.
i hope u do not mind shorter world-establishing posts
Just within the small house's doorway, there's a thing that looks like a ghostly frog. It stares at him with wide eyes (on its stomach) before leaping back out of sight.
If Lucas ventures forward, he'll hear two strange voices tripping over their words, confused and on the edge of frightened.
"A long time ago, a human fell into the RUINS."
"Injured by its fall, the human called out for help."
Every monster in New Home knows what a human looks like, but there's been no news of any human that came through the Barrier, not for years. This one is a complete surprise.
It's custom to tell the story of why to those who fell. Why they were being killed. The rule long since decreed by ASGORE himself, that even humans deserved to understand their plight; and so the monsters of the capital will do their best for their king.
not at all!! this is lovely aah
He does venture forward, curious and a bit confused, pausing at the doorway and then edging just enough inside for his head to poke in. Lucas blinks around, at the two strange voices, frowning faintly.
"Oh...that--doesn't sound like it was very pleasant." It's a very tentative venture, at length. Lucas honestly isn't entirely sure how to respond; this isn't exactly the sort of greeting he'd been expecting, from the game's...NPCs? Probably? He steps further into the house, properly inside. "...I didn't fall in, though, it's okay. I just--I'm from another game? I got sent here. Is your main hero around today?"
This is a cozy house. The setup reminds him just a bit of his own house in his game in Tazmily...if not a bit bigger. And with more things--like stairs, apparently. That catches his attention first, and he draws forward to take a closer look at the stairwell. Is that a chain strung across it? It's probably a bit rude to go snooping around too much in a game that isn't his, but...well, snooping tends to be ingrained in every player character's code. It's a hard thing to shake. Still, Lucas keeps an eye out for more frogs and voices, too.
\o/ on that note i have no idea how long frisk might be rip
"ASRIEL, the king's son, heard the human's call."
"He brought the human back to the castle."
It almost seems like they're entirely ignoring what he says, and they nearly do. But before he can do anything with the chain-- "The only hero here is Undyne," blurts the Whumsun before it flies off and seems to disappear, clearly on the edge of tears.
as long as it takes for a protag to be fashionably late tbh
It's rather confusing, to say the least--are these guys just barebones basic programming after all, running through dialogue? Lucas might have almost concluded as much, but then the sprite blurts out one more entirely unrelated thing before it flees, leaving Lucas blinking in its wake.
"Undyne...?" So they did hear him after all. But they're just...well, Lucas isn't sure what everyone here's doing yet. 'Undyne', though, okay--that must be the protagonist's name. He should remember that. Lucas looks back down to the chain in front of him, frowning a bit at the two locks and the note attached. The instructions are surprisingly polite, and outright state where the keys are...if the owner of this house is very concerned with security, they're certainly not trying very hard. Lucas hesitates, but--the chain is pretty low. Just low enough, in fact, for a mildly lanky twelve-year-old to very carefully step over and around instead...which is what Lucas does.
"Um. Sorry. But, I need to go..." Yeah, this is definitely rude. He feels sort of bad. But things have been quite strange in this house so far, and he'd very much like to find the game's hero before he travels much further, if he can. Navigating games that aren't your own is so tricky without a guide...he makes his way down the set of stairs and blinks into the basement(?) hall below, more and more unsure of what to expect.
no subject
There are more NPCs down there, but they don't continue telling the story; Lucas will catch an assortment of monsters from buglike things to things made of ice to a massive knight shifting out of his away, talking amongst themselves about whose turn is it, what part was I supposed to say again?
Eventually, he'll reach a golden hall--but it's entirely empty. Certainly bright, though. Then another of more drab grey.
And a deep voice, humming to itself inside the 'Throne Room'.
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It had been a nagging notion before, a bit of a doubt, the moment he's stepped into the house and tried to talk to NPCs seemingly able to respond, but unwilling to. That'd been a bit unsettling to start, but the rest of this...the way the music begins to shift, as the basement stretches into a hall of its own. The way more NPCs don't even bother greeting him, anymore, but draw away and murmur among themselves in confusion. As if they don't know what to do with him, there. As if...well. About halfway, Lucas stops trying to speak to them, because he now has so many questions that it'd probably take forever to garner any answers from these guys anyway.
Just where in this game did that elevator drop him off, anyway? It feels sort of...important, here. It's a feeling that Lucas recognizes--because every protagonist knows it, somewhere deep in their code, even if they've never experienced it before. The last stage in a game, the lead-up to the very last boss before the ending. Lucas passes through a golden hall, its color startling after the paleness left behind, a bit on edge and half-expecting something to happen with the sheer length of the walk. ...But nothing does. And then here's another corridor, and a sign saying 'Throne Room', and somebody in there. Deep humming--a king? Does this game have one? (His game never did. Only a princess, who wasn't really a princess of anything after all...)
Lucas hesitates outside the doorway a bit longer than he should. A king couldn't be the hero of this game--that was a kid in a striped shirt, after all. But all the same...he really hopes he can ask for some help, here. Because he feels like he really needs it, right now.
He takes a step inside, blinking as more vibrant colors greet him--filtered sunlight and golden flowers. And a towering figure in a purple cape, up ahead. "...Hello? Excuse me, but--may I come in?"
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Asgore kneels to gently part the flowers, claws working their way through the dirt to carefully uproot a small weed. He would dispose of it soon. Unfitting work for a king, some would say, but it's always peaceful, calming work.
He takes his time to turn. But when he does--well, many would say the noise he makes is very undignified for a king.
"How--?"
Panic flares on his face briefly, but he pushes it down quickly.
"...I was not informed a human was coming," he says, slowly. That could mean...a few things. It could be that this child slaughtered everyone who could on the way. Or this child is stealthy. Or...no. No, he cannot think of this right now. Not head-on.
"If you made it here...well." He turns away. "You know what we must do."
The flowers rustle against his feet.
"It is a beautiful day outside."
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"--Y-Yes, we didn't really send any word, since--since nobody was coming out, to say anything. I'm the first one to come in here. But I--wait..." Asgore begins moving away, and Lucas steps forward a bit, frowning. 'What they must do'? He doesn't know, he's pretty sure--not in the slightest. "What do you mean? I'm...I'm not sure I understand. ...Are you the king of this place?" It's pretty obvious that the guy likely is, of course, but still...it never hurts to check. (And maybe stall a little bit, too--)
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"You do not know."
They likely wouldn't have expected monsters, anyway.
"My people have been trapped under this mountain for millennia. Your kind feared us for our magic and our ability to take SOULS. The war they fought against us was brutal. Countless monsters turned to dust."
Asgore does not want to tell this story. He has too many times before. But it's clear this child has never heard it.
"They sealed us in with a barrier. It cannot be broken by us alone. Seven human SOULS will save my people."
If this child got to him, then perhaps...there was more ability hidden here than with the rest.
"Six have been gathered. It has been a long time since the last was taken." His head bows. "If you truly wish to leave...you must go past me. And I," here his words waver, just a little "will fight for all of monsterkind to take from you what I must."
Asgore moves away towards the door behind his throne.
"If...you are ready...come meet me beyond this room."
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But the king is deadly serious in demeanor. It's not a joke, or really even a test; this is a script, Lucas slowly finds himself realizing. A boss's script, no less--he can feel that distinction too, somehow. But the king is also reacting to him being here, which means that the king isn't just a basic AI either, same as the monsters from before. They could all tell he didn't belong, but they'd been--confused. As if they were expecting somebody else to be there, and something else to happen. As if...they don't know, that--
--But that can't be--
"...Ah." The king finishes speaking, and that's all Lucas can muster for a moment. He can practically feel himself paling a little bit, frozen in the throne room entrance. The guy's moving to a doorway know, talking of fighting and souls, and Lucas doesn't know what to do. Nobody had ever warned him about something like this. This sort of thing is--unheard of, really, and yet...
"I-I'm sorry. But I...I can't..." If you die outside your game, you die for real! It's a frequent announcement in Game Central Station for a reason. A deeply apprehensive feeling settles somewhere in the pit of Lucas's code. "I'm not sure if this is right. ...Could you--" Is it even possible, this far into the evident prelude of a boss fight? It is in some games, if the fight is going to be hard enough. Maybe... "Could you wait, for a bit?" It sounds much less brave and sensible out loud than it had in his head.
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Asgore does not look back at the face he has to kill, but he does stop to reply before going any further.
"I will be at the barrier no matter how long you take. And you may take as long as you like. Nothing is too small. Take a walk, read a book. Prepare yourself." His voice is gentle.
With that, he heads to his final destination, cloak lightly swishing over the ground.
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"...Thank you. I'll do that."
Geez. Oh, geez...
Lucas takes another step backwards, two steps--and then he's out of the Throne Room and its yellow flowers (if they were a bit taller they'd almost be like sunflowers, something in the back of his head muses). His breath is tight in his chest as his apprehension begins to mount higher, though--what is going on in this game, anyway? Did he do something wrong, in arriving here? Maybe he did...maybe....starting back down the hallway, Lucas breaks into a run (imagine a B button in your head and hold it down), grubby sneakers clacking strangely on polished floor as he sprints his way into the golden corridor.
He hasn't felt this unsettled in awhile. Maybe even a little bit scared, if he were being honest with himself. Lucas is fairly confident in his own fighting ability, sure; he's as strong as his last player's save lets him be, outside his game, and today he'd been on his way to New Pork City before the arcade had closed. A relatively high level to be, pretty high stats and plenty of PK skills at hand. But a boss fight is still a boss fight, all the same, and Lucas has no idea if he's even equipped for the kind of battles this game might have. And if everybody in here doesn't even think it's a game...
That's the most unsettling thought of them all, actually. Ah, he's...he's really not prepared for this. He should find that elevator and head back. Tell everyone what's going on, and find out what to do...and why does this golden hallway have to be so long?
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In deepest SOUL, he hopes another takes that life before he can--but that's a terrible thought.The hall is still empty. (Distantly, a skeleton wakes up in a cold sweat and doesn't know why.) As is the house at the end of it, mostly; Lucas will be able to hear monsters shuffling around out of sight, but none of them step forward to continue telling the story. Perhaps they've figured out that ASGORE already explained. Perhaps their code is what's telling them that it's unnecessary, now. Not that they realize that.
New Home is silent except for his footsteps. At first.
Before he can make it to the elevator, he'll catch a distant echo of another pair of feet racing around, apparently in the pitch blackness over the edge of the path.
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He's in the house and out, guiltily stepping over the chain again, and it's back to the pale path and the pale buildings, and silence. And the elevator up ahead, with any luck at all. But, even as a twinge of relief filters through at that thought...Lucas still manages to pick up the sound of steps tapping separately from his own. It's impossible to miss, with how quiet the area is otherwise--and, despite being deeply reluctant to stop moving at this point, Lucas pauses anyway. Blinks around...but the path is empty both ahead and behind. Though the sound seems to be coming from--the side...?
Lucas stares over at the distant buildings standing in blackness. It--just looks like background scenery...and he walks up to the very edge of the path uncertainly, just to make sure. But no--coming up against the side, his shoes press against what seems to be an invisible wall, and he can't step further. Not without trying really hard. To keep the player from wandering off or falling off, of course. Those steps, though--they're definitely coming from here...Lucas's earlier alarm clashes against that in-grained inquisitive code, again, and it's a tense fight between the two. ...But his code wins out, in the end, and Lucas tries to lean forward, peer harder into the blackness.
"Hello?" What could even be over there, if it's an off-limit area? Maybe something even worse than a boss. But there's no way of knowing unless... "Um. ...What are you doing down there?"
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Undertale's popularity has already gotten a few players all the way to the endings, and several had watched their friends and gave hints to find secrets.
Frisk is pretty sure they know every voice in the game. But this one? This one is different. It reminds them of a player--or rather, an actual human. And nobody's ever up there except for end-game, either.
They keep pressed against the stone, just in case. "Hiding," they reply. "What are you doing up there?"
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But the person asked a question, either way. Lucas frowns. "Well, this is the path. I--I was on my way back, since...but wait, why are you hiding?" More frightened NPCs? Another pause, as he casts out for something else reassuring to say. That feels like the best way to go, here. If the stranger's friendly... "My name's Lucas. What's yours?"
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Back? Back where? They open their mouth to ask before his next words interrupt that thought.
"Lucas?" Surprise colors their voice--that is definitely not name they've heard of. "I'm..." not sure if they can tell him. The monsters aren't supposed to know until endgame, after all. "That's a secret."
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Ah, would this person even know how to answer this? Especially with how everybody else around here has answered so far...Lucas doesn't expect much different here. But he supposes he might as well try one more time, and he pushes past the pause.
"I'm looking for the hero of this game. Somebody called Undyne? But I don't know where they are..."
i consistently think i've already replied here when i haven't gdi
"Undyne's...a boss, actually. Not a Boss Monster, just a boss. You know what that means?" They can't keep a thread of hope from their voice. They don't even know if they want to.
They might not be as alone in this as they'd thought. Well, Flowey seemed to know, but he tried to kill them or tried to entirely avoid them, no exceptions, so that didn't matter.
grips your shoulder IT'S OK, ur tags makes the wait worth it hehe c:
"A boss? Oh--yes, of course I know what that means. They're the bigger challenges in a game, aren't they?" 'Boss Monster' is unfamiliar, but the general idea seems to be the same. And now there's a thread of hope in his voice to match Frisk's too. After everyone else's reactions, hearing somebody finally use such normal terms is more relieving than it probably should be.
But hm, that being said...Undyne is a boss character, then? Lucas audibly pauses himself, then, considering this.
"...I'd asked somebody in that--house, up ahead from here? And they said there was only one hero in this game, named Undyne. But I guess...bosses can also be heroes too. I must have asked wrong..." Well, he certainly feels rather silly now. Maybe that's what he's been doing wrong this entire time. At this point he's almost leaning against the invisible barrier like he might have an actual wall, heartened and quite curious now. "What I mean, I guess, is I'm looking for the main character? Of the game. Because, I'm one too...and I wanted to meet them, today. If they're around?"
wow i have the most garbage sense of time in the world
"You know!" they exclaim when they pop over the wall. And then they stop and stare, because...look at this. Another human character--that isn't Chara. An unusually strong rush of shyness overtakes them, just for a second, and their voice goes back to its usual level of quiet.
"I'm...I'm the main character, here, sort of. Undyne's the monsters' hero, though, 'cause they don't know what a main character is."
omg...im so glad tbh also PREVIOUS SUBJECT LINE STILL APPLIES :V
But the words confirm it, and his own demeanor brightens even more. Lucas smiles, staring back in turn--though he's a bit less in wonder, and a lot more plainly relieved to see them at all.
"Oh--you are? You are..." The relief is in his voice too, and he trails forward again. "Gee, I'm--I'm really glad that I found you! I've been looking, for a little while now. I thought--I thought maybe I'd broken something, since..."
The fellow kid's words properly sink in now, belatedly, and his smile fades marginally. "...Yeah, they didn't--they didn't know why I was here at all. Do they not know the arcade's been closed for awhile already...?" His voice trails off, bemused and more than a little concerned, but other thoughts catch up to him. Lucas steps up to the edge, offering a hand to Frisk--albeit a bit uncertainly, suddenly unsure of the invisible wall's status now. "Um, but also, do you...need help getting up? From there...?"
OTL
"Didn't--didn't know there was a way out of Undertale, or into it. I can't really go around to look where the monsters could see me, though. You didn't break anything," they reassure him quietly. "They...nobody...they think the game's real. Everybody, I think, or just about. 'Cept me."
Re: OTL
He sounds audibly relieved about this, too. Fighting had never been part of the plan, here--but apparently he'd scraped closer to genuine danger than he'd actually realized, as Frisk's explanation sinks in. Even if he'd suspected it already, Lucas's eyes still widen at the words.
"But wait...so they really do? They all think it's--not a game?" He draws forward a bit, glancing around uncertainly and voice hushing. "...I don't think I've ever heard of something like that? But that doesn't make sense...why's it only just you, do you know?" Lucas pauses, looking back down the long empty path he'd come now. "There's definitely ways in and out, yes...every game has them. Should have them? I got here through an, elevator--that one over there?"
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They lean forward and hush too, even though they know they don't need to. Lucas already triggered the New Home speech.
"...he won't remember next time. Nobody does. Every new player, every reset, everyone forgets everything again. Even Sans, and he--he's programmed to know more than everyone else," Frisk whispers. Ironically, he'd been their best hope after their first No Mercy run, saying what he did, seemingly talking to the players and dropping hints.
They circle around until they're standing beside him. "I don't know...why. I was...starting...to wonder. If it was normal."
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"That's--yeah. That's...definitely not normal, I don't think. I'm pretty sure? My game's been plugged in for about ten years now, but...never seen a game where the people in it don't--know."
Unbidden, he tries to imagine himself being the only one knowing it's just a game in his own game--while everyone else, all his friends, kept playing out the script like a real thing, unaware, and he doesn't even know how to leave. It's an unsettling enough thought that he quickly pushes it out of his head again--but he can't help a visible wince of sympathy, all the same.
Now that they're standing right beside him, Lucas offers a very light and tentative sort of shoulder pat. "...Must've been...something else, being the only one to know." His voice has dropped almost to a mumble by now, but after a moment he steadies it a bit. "Everybody in the arcade's been wondering about it, actually--why nobody was coming out of here. Lots of people thought maybe you guys were shy? Or, um, too good for us...since your game's been doing really well." Lucas shakes his head quickly. "But I never thought that. Our games are sort of alike, though, so they decided to send me in to visit. See how things are going. But I guess--things are actually going...not very well, huh?"