Alphys had thought a lot about her own death recently, but she'd never expected it would come in the form of suffocation by garbage. It wasn't entirely inappropriate, to be fair, but it was also unusual enough that she thought she could be excused. And right after meeting her soulmate, too.

At least they'd be spared the disappointment of getting to know her. She tried to take comfort in that thought, but her soulmate evidently had other ideas. One minute Alphys was standing at the leading edge of a garbage tsunami, and the next she was being carried through the air by a buff fish monster.

She wasn't sure this was any better. She was safe for the moment, but she didn't think she preferred the idea of dying after bursting her blood vessels from blushing too hard.

Still, by the time they landed she had almost remembered how to be a person again. "So, th-thank you! For, uh, saving me, I mean," she said.

Her soulmate grinned down at her for a moment before remembering that they were still carrying Alphys. They put her down carefully, still grinning but not meeting her eyes. "Well, it is what I do," they said. "I'm Undyne, Captain of the Royal Guard."

Alphys managed to stammer out an introduction, but she wasn't sure quite what she was saying because oh my God her soulmate was the Captain of the Royal Guard. Of course she knew who Undyne was, everyone knew about the monster who'd been trained by Asgore himself. Did they even have anything in common? What was she going to talk about?

She noticed Undyne's mouth moving and shoved her panic to the back of her mind. "— do you think it goes?" Undyne was saying.

Alphys had to admit, she'd never been concerned with that part. She just pictured - thingsfalling into a void and disappearing. On the other hand, she had retained some skills from school, and the ability to improvise was high on the list. "Well, um, there's a ch-chance that it just goes, uh, straight through the Earth's crust, in which case it all gets, incinerated? But, uh, that doesn't seem likely..."

Undyne wasn't laughing at her yet, so Alphys decided to go with it. She could handle talking about science, at least in the abstract. Besides, maybe this way she could let Undyne realize how useless Alphys was without having to tell her. She could let her down gently and save her the trouble of having such a terrible soulmate.

For once, she actually had a plan.

Undyne hadn't been sure quite what to do next. Alphys was so cute (and apparently the Royal Scientist!), but she had closed off when Undyne had introduced herself. She also kind of wanted to address what Alphys has been doing before Undyne had made her dynamic entrance, but the mood didn't seem right anymore. Besides, Undyne could have been reading the situation wrong. There was a first time for everything.

Instead, she opened her mouth and asked the first question that came to mind. "The trash waterfall is pretty cool, right? Where do you think it goes?"

That hadn't been what she'd expected to say, but it got Alphys talking. She'd seemed nervous at first, but picked up confidence as she kept talking. Undyne didn't understand most of what she was saying, but was captivated anyway. Her soulmate was so smart.

... Shit, this was her soulmate. As much as she enjoyed hearing Alphys talk about things she liked, they should probably have that conversation. She waited until Alphys was winding down with her current theory (something about an under-underground?), then cleared her throat. Alphys jumped, and Undyne instantly felt guilty. Still, she was used to that sort of thing, so she forged ahead. "As cool as this is, I have to ask: you are my soulmate, right?"

Alphys nodded, and Undyne had to restrain herself from doing a fist pump. "Oh man, does that mean you have 'out of the way, nerd' written somewhere on your body? That's awesome! Can I see?"

Alphys stuck out her wrist, and there it was. Undyne cackled. She'd been picturing her words as being more heroic, but this was just as good. Of course, Alphys' were also pretty great. "Do you want to my tattoo?" she asked.

"N-no, I'm fine," Alphys said. "... Does it really just say 'really'? I'm so sorry."

"No, it's great!" Undyne said. "It's got a question mark and an exclamation point!" She considered showing it to Alphys to prove her point, but decided it should be Alphys' choice as to when to see it. "Anyway, soulmate, I think this calls for a celebration. What do you want to do?"

Alphys considered the question. "D-do you like... anime?" she asked hesitantly.

"Never heard of it!" Undyne said. "What is it?"

"It's cartoons... based on human history? My favorite is this one called Mew Mew Kissy Cutie, about this girl named Mew Mew, and she's a human but she has cat ears, and also..."

She trailed off, but Undyne was already convinced. Anything that could get her soulmate this excited had to be a good thing. "Sounds good! Why don't you show me some so I can see for myself?"

"Okay," Alphys said. "I guess just come with me? I live in Hotland, but the River Person stops right by my house..."

She still didn't sound entirely convinced, but Undyne didn't care. She had found her soulmate, and they had the rest of their lives to figure it out.