Chapter Text
"Ugh.... Goddamnit what was that last code again?"
"Hm... One, one, one... One."
And the shelter door unlocked. Dess very carefully - the door was fucking noisy, okay? - opened the door and slipped inside, taking off her helmet.
Why could she hear Super Smashing Fighters playing?
The last time she checked, Kris was at school, Gaster didn't play, and Friend hated the CPUs. Sans didn't come in the shelter (smart guy), and her mother was only there on very specific occasions (i.e. Not playing Super Smashing Fighters).
Silently following the sound, Dess made her way to the couch where she found Friend, Gaster, and an unfamiliar figure sat around the TV.
She spectated the match between Friend and the figure for a decent amount of time before she interrupted.
"Yo, G. Who's the new guy?"
The... Person? It was unclear - their body was bipedal, something vaguely humanoid based on both Kris and the depictions she'd seen, but translucent and largely featureless, aside from the glowing, red heart directly in its centre.
"AH. THIS IS THE ANGE-"
"Would you believe me if I said me and Gaster were roommates in college?"
...
What?
She answered "Not in the slightest."
The figure audibly sighed - it doesn't even have a mouth how did it do that? - "Didn't expect so. It's complicated, okay? I kinda... got summoned to Gaster's university in the first year of his Master's. Then he just let me crash in his dorm while he experimented on me. And now we're friends but I went 'out of town' for a little while and he summoned be back last night. Then I realised he had Super Smash Bros and I couldn't resist."
Dess carefully parsed the information in her mind.
"It's Super Smashing Fighters."
"That's what Gaster said, but I've always called it Super Smash Bros and its the same exact game just legally distinct so I'm keeping my name for it."
"Legally distinct from what?-"
"THE ANGEL IS VERY STUBBORN, DECEMBER. I'D ADVISE YOU TO JUST LEAVE THE CONVERSATION FOR ANOTHER DAY."
Another huff came from 'THE ANGEL', as Gaster put it, "Please just call me a Soul or something I'm not unique enough to get a 'the'."
"NONESENSE. YOU ARE A HIGHER DIMENSIONAL BEING. YOU DESERVE A 'THE'. AND A COOL NAME."
Dess put her face in her palms, "Okay, Soul-Angel-Thing. You've still not explained why you're in here, instead of... Not In The Shelter?- Gaster, is this guy in on the Roaring or not?"
"THE ANGEL DOES NOT CARE FOR THE ROARING, BUT WON'T STOP IT. HE'S JUST HERE BECAUSE HE COULDN'T BUY A TV ANYWHERE ELSE. AND BECAUSE I SUMMONED HIM HERE." Gaster gestured to an incomprehensible machine far in the distance. "THE SHELTER HAD ENOUGH SPACE TO BUILD THE DEVICE."
Realising that this was a conversation that she was not currently equipped for - given that she'd just spent her day sneaking around a school, opening a dark fountain in a supply closet, then having to promptly book it out of said dark fountain because Why-the-fuck-was-DefinitelyNotAsriel-there, and then sneak out of the school, sneak out of Hometown into the forest and then guess the third shelter code - Dess instead elected to sit herself on the couch, steal the controller off of Friend the moment the game finished, and ask the Soul to a one-on-one.
"Okay, but I will warn you, I'm actually pretty decent at this."
"Oh please, I'm the reigning champion of the Shelter Gang-" "ARE WE STILL CALLING IT THAT?" "-Abso-fucking-lutely it's a great name! Either way, I'm reigning champion at SSF, and I'm gonna be keeping my title."
The Soul side-eyed Gaster for a second, then leant over and muttered something under their breath. As Gaster shook his head, the Soul shrugged and said, "Fair enough then, you're on."
[A/N: for future reference in texting-based sections like this the pov character's texts are on the right. make sure to look both ways before reading. or crossing the road.]
@Fwugradiation: @DrWDG I found something kooky
"Stop fucking spamming your Forward Air!"
"It's a good zoning tool, you're playing a grappler just get better!"
@DrWDG: ?
@Fwugradiation: Turns out I sleep-wrote a game last night
@Fwugradiation: Had fever, chugged lot of nyquil, made this in fugue state during dream and somehow put it on cartridge?
@Fwugradiation: VHS tape style
@Fwugradiation: maybe haunted
"HAHA GOT YOUR ASS!"
"That nair spike is bullshitt..."
@DrWDG: FYM 'haunted'?
@Fwugradiation: I mean i have no clue how it got there, Gamemaker crashes whenever i try to look at the code and it may be telling the future.
@DrWDG: I'll give you 25 bucks for it.
@Fwugradiation: deal. can bring it 2day.
@DrWDG: drop it at shelter. Kris will give money.
@Fwugradiation: why so ominous???
@DrWDG: doing evil plans, gotta be.
"Angel-fucking-damnit you know Game and watch is busted!"
"dess you're playing kazuya you can't say anything"
Kris finally arrived at the shelter from both school and their house. They had decided to not get in the way of the death battle between the 'Soul' and Dess, and instead chose to sit next to Friend on the furthest edge of the couch.
In the downtime between a round, Gaster called them over. When they obliged, he passed them twenty-five dollars, and calmly said. "IN A FEW MINUTES, A DOG WILL ARRIVE IN FRONT OF THE SHELTER. OFFER HIM THE MONEY, AND TAKE HIS GAME CARTRIDGE. DO NOT FULLY OPEN THE SHELTER DOOR WHEN LEAVING."
"...Okay dude."
True to the cryptic-yet-still-exacting instructions, a dog in a Toyota Corolla did indeed appear in front of the shelter, who wordlessly took the money from Kris, before handing them a VHS tape labelled "NOT UNDERTALE"; nodding solemnly, and driving off. Weird.
Kris swiftly slipped back into the shelter and strolled over to the couch. "Got your weird game."
Dess quickly swivelled to face them, "Eh? What weird game?"
"A FRIEND FOUND A GAME HE BELIEVES COULD BE HAUNTED. I'M CURIOUS TO TRY IT. IT COULD BE VERY, VERY INTERESTING."
"...Is your friend also a complete weirdo?"
"DEBATABLE. HE DID MUSIC FOR HOMESTUCK"
"So probably."
The soul chimed in, "Oh hey that's the Undertale guy!"
"Is that an anagram?"
"IT IS A GAME HE'S CURRENTLY DEVELOPING. HE'S TERRIBLE AT CODING SO THIS ONE MIGHT BE... 'ASS'."
A short, mock gasp escaped from Dess, "You're allowed to swear?!"
"...I'M BOOTING THE GAME NOW."
In an insanely quick motion, Gaster swiftly swapped out the Super Smashing Fighters cartridge with 'NOT UNDERTALE', and reloaded the console.
As the TV flickered to life, one word was emblazoned on the screen.
DELTARUNE
"At least we have a title that isn't 'NOT UNDERTALE', now."
The Soul quickly snatched the only plugged in controller from the middle of the floor, "I CALL DIBS!"
"FUCK YOU!" Dess shouted as she attempted to dive at the controller, before being hoisted backwards by Gaster.
Once upon a time...