Ahoy.

It had been such a long time, since the last update. I said if I said I won't give up, then I won't.

Anyway, a lot had happened, but here we are.

Not sure when the next will come out, but I hope soon.

Before then I need to catch up on things, including all the stories on the site.

By the way... dear readers, you might notice a change or not in my tone and how I make the story flow.

Again, it has been a long time, a lot had changed.

But the baseline of the story won't change, I already had an ending in mind.

But getting to there seemed a bit hard.

Of course, the intro will change.

Perhaps I will think of a short one.

Anyway, here is the next one.

Chapter 46 Unwelcome

"The portal is this tree hole." Darkness pointed at an old and tall oak. "Somehow I find this familiar… This whole idea about going down a hole to get to somewhere else… Anyway, we aren't going anywhere by standing here. Let's go."

The group went down the hole, after a flash of light, a plain filled with grass showed up.

"Hum…" Undyne looked around, there was no such this like a cave or something that represent one here. Only flat land was visible. The name "cave of toxins" seemed unbefitting.

"So, let's see…"

Undyne took up a map that was drawn by Alphys before their journey, highlighting some points of interest. There was a city here some time ago, but after the residents found a land with better conditions, they abandoned this place. The main reason which made this place attractive…

Undyne stepped on something hard, she looked down to look, a piece of yellow soft metal was under her foot. It was gold.

This place contained high concentrations of gold, without much need for refinering to make it pure. The benefits would be unimaginable in today's world if developed.

But one problem remained.

Another mineral which contain toxins was prominent in this place, which contaminated the soil. Natives and local plants were well-adjusted to the place and developed poison resistance, and used the toxins to their bidding.

"Well, according to record," Gerson said. "There haven't been intelligent residents here since fifty years ago…"

"It's possible that hunters haven't been here for a long time. Look at the recent data," Chara pointed the registration date. "The last date was twelve years ago."
"We better be careful…" Pine said. "I feel that there's A LOT of activity going under there. According to the vibration, it should be monsters."

Papyrus pulled out a device which Alphys gave him.

"HUMMM. VERY INTERESTING, A SIGNAL SEEMED TO BE COMING UP FAST! GUYS TAKE OUT YOUR FRIENDLY FACES!"

"OH NO." Darkness seemed to be extremely nervous. "Cover your ears!"

Before anyone could react to the warning, an upbeat tune emanated from nowhere. The music somehow made the group who heard it desire to dance.

"WOHA! THIS IS SOMETHING VERY FUN!"

Papyrus followed the music, proceeding to begin dancing. He backflipped, landing on one single hand without breaking a sweat. It was quite impressive.

Maple started to dance in as strange style which used fans. Unlike Papyrus, she didn't seem to notice anything about her state.

Some tried to resist the groove, which led to only led to a few parts of their body reacting to the beat.

Tempest was unconsciously humming with it, while Chara only followed the rhythm by patting her lap. Pine simply tapped the ground with his foot.

Gerson and Undyne, however, were unmoved by the music for some reason. They watched others with confusion. What was so special about this music? They were on a serious search mission, which was far from the time to participate in a dance-off. Plus, the music wasn't that attractive to them.

On the moment this thought ran through their mind, the tone of the music changed into one which was more of their flavor. This resulted in an urge to keep up with the beat.

"OK! OK! OK! You win! You can show up now. It's between you and me. Don't drag my friends into this!" Darkness yelled with his ears covered.

Once the plea was made, the music immediately ceased.

With the music to cut off without warning, all those who were dancing, namely Papyrus and Maple, stumbled to the ground, landing on their backs.

"Come on! Who killed the music!" Maple pouted. She glared at the plains, finding the performer who wasn't in sight.

"How dare you to come here!" A voice came out of nowhere.

They expected the language to be something foreign. Instead, it was English in a strange, other worldly voice. "Last time, you refused it."

"For real, I don't think anyone will be willing to suddenly to accept something like that. Especially just meeting for a FEW DAYS." Darkness deadpanned.

"…" The speaker fell into silence.

Maple somehow felt uneased by this.

"…"

Everyone in the group stared at Darkness.

"I have no idea, why will we meet her here?" Darkness moaned in embarrassment. "She was the tribal princess I mentioned not long ago. As a scientist, I don't believe in luck, but at this rate, I might need to look into it."

Slowly, a tabby cat monster showed up. She was holding a strange instrument in her hand, which reminded Undyne of Napstablook's DJ disk. It had a similar round shape and size. Instead of having a flat surface, it was placed in a frame and was able to rotate freely. Her entire outfit was elegant, thought it was just pants and a loose top. Said clothing was made out of natural plants, sturdy plants severed as the sowing lines, while soft ones were made as meshes and covered the entire of the body. Meshes were colored with dye which minerals which could be locally found. Mostly deep blue and brown.

Suddenly, the monster played the strange instrument by sliding her hand over the round disk, and the exact voice which they heard before showed up.

"So, what is your business here?"

Somehow the cat monster could use this instrument to make speech.

"We are here to get whoever plot the whole attack on Ebott city." Chara calmly replied. "Their traces let to this place, so we are here to search."

"How am I going to believe such outsiders? And what the elements is Ebott city?" The cat angrily replied with hostility. "Who knows what you are up to? Last time we did so, ten good monsters dusted before we could response. AND IT HAPPENS THAT THE PERSON WAS FROM THE PLACE TO MENTIONED. Unless you have something more convincing, please leave. Or…" Upon this, the cat monster let her instrument levitate, and place both paws on it. "I will purge you ALL out this pocket."

Chara took a look at Gerson. It seems that it was much better to let the old monster to defuse this.

Gerson regret that he should bring something that symbols the royal, at least that could make them some sort of official emissary group. Apparently, they didn't think that well through. Yet, he still has something which could help.

On thinking this, he summoned his hammer, a signature weapon while he was the general.

"What…" The cat monster was surprised. She recognized the hammer at once. "No way, the general of monsters, Gerson?"

"Surely is lad." Gerson replied.

The tabby cat narrowed his eyes. "But you look so… old. What is the time? How long had it been since the war ended?"

"Over a thousand years has passed. The war was over for a long time, now we are finding a way to live in peace with humans." Gerson answered. "About what Chara said, I can use my honor and name to assure you, what she told you was true."

"Over a thousand. Pockets make the concept of time a great mess." The monster answered. "Then, if this is the general who is speaking, then you are all considered as guests. Come on in!"

—After a while and some walking—

"So that was your reason." The tribal princess said. After hearing out the whole story of the event. "By the way, in your speech, I believe that you could call me… Chord. I'll be leading to our chief, she's clearer about the situation."

Darkness glanced at Chord, frightened that something out of their control might transpire.

"Come on, Darkness! What's so scared about her?" By the tone and pitch of speech, they all knew that Lunar was on now. "Such a coward…" Lunar complained.

"HUM… MAY I ASK YOU WHY YOU USE AN INSTRUMENT AS A TOOL TO SPEAK?" Papyrus asked Chord.

"Simple, I'm dumb on day I was born. My parents almost thought I was dead back then, until they noticed I was breathing. But somehow, this musical masterwork was also found on the same day, anyone who tried to play it became mad, saying that they 'hear sounds' in their heads. When the age of 6, I accidently touched the instrument, then the magic happens, I imminently knew how to play it, as if was designed for me to use. It didn't take long to learn how to make vocal voices. And I even further knew how shatter objects and affect the minds of others with it. Let's just say… nature and fate always had its way." She paused for a while. "Oh, no one wanted to have a vocal debate with me. I might kill them by accident…"

"Gezz…" Chara thought, she could imagine what does "vocal debate" might lead.

The gang walked down an abandoned mine shaft, which had additional pillars to reinforce the tunnel from collapsing. The old frames were nearly rotten away by time and harsh conditions.

"We moved in this place about a year ago, for a number of reasons. But whatever the reasons are only known a few selected people; even I don't have an idea." Chord paused briefly. "Perhaps Mom will tell you why."

—After a While—

While descending, the gang felt hotter, which was something new since they had most of the Underground cool, even freezing, except for Hot lands.

Undyne took out her bottle to hydrate herself. There won't be a water station around here to resurrect her in the place. Even though the heat was not intense as back in Hot lands. It's still enough to cause a heat stroke.

"This is the hottest it could get, unless we find a lava pocket. We are around 100 meters deep." Pine whispered.

"It seemed like the air is clean here. Nothing harmful in sight." Tempest said.

"We dug out most of the minerals which put out toxic gases and stored them somewhere else. Also, we have people taking shifts to monitor air quality."

Not long after, they arrived a great cave, with dozens of tents in it. The whole scene looked a massive camping site, with a large bonfire burning in the middle.

Chord pointed out a tent. "That's the chief's tent." She led the gang to the tent and when in.

"Chord, how was the invader…" The cat lady in the tent asked Chord as Chord came in, preoccupied with reading the issues of her tribe on roughly made paper. She paused on seeing her daughter brought guests home. "Chord! Didn't I told you NOT to bring strangers in!?"

"I have a good reason." Chord played her instrument, but it was suppressed. Only Tempest could get some unclear and faint noises. "This is the royal's team. The turtle monster is Gerson. The rest are appointed by Queen Toriel and King Asgore."

The cat lady looked the group. Just as like her daughter, she has a wide spectrum of gray in her fur as stripes, which could be seen on her exposed arms and paws. She wore a wood carved mask. It seemed to be like a cheetah head. A set of studded leather armor was her clothing. Yet, by watching closely it could be discovered that it had been made up at least 10 different animal hides.

"King Asgore and Queen Toriel? And Gerson the General?" She took a look at Gerson and the rest, and said. "I don't really care about them or you, I have dragons and monsters to raise. Knowing you are alive won't solve anything. So, I would have to ask you to leave. We can handle our matters without the Royals, couldn't find a reason to let you in and mess around. We don't well come outsiders."

Gerson wanted to say something, but was interrupted.

"The decision is made, regarding that the portal is still in cool down. I shall give you 3 days to leave or convince me your benefits to us about your arrival. After that, there would be a fight. Before then, you are welcomed as guests. Chord, show them where they stay."

The cat monster continued to read her paper after finishing the decision.

—Later—

Chord lead the exploration team to a bunch of tents, it seemed to be a place for visitors, the furnishing in the tents was nice and were often cleaned up by appearance.

"YOUR MOM IS QUITE HARSH." Papyrus made this comment after out of earshot range. "AND COMANDING."

"She not like this all the time. It was just that…" Chord paused. "She is a leader after all, she had to think the best for her followers."

"BUT I DON'T THINK THAT SHUTTING OUT EVERY CHANCE IS A GOOD DECISION." Papyrus said.

"No, she actually was considering over it this time. Normally, she would straight out kick anyone comes in." Chord answered.

"So, we have three days to prove ourselves?" Undyne asked. "How are we going to do that?"

Yet Chord gave them a shrug.

"For real, being her daughter for over 18 years. I don't have a general idea what she wants. Fame? No. Family? No. Honor? Not that one too. Profit? Not even close. It seemed like there was something that she more cares about over that anything."

Chord paused. "I still have one lead, thought. She was always mentioning 'empty' and 'mother' while talking over this." Chord scratched her head. "Oh. By the way. I know somehow… she was interested with your group for some kind of reason, but she didn't ask more about it."

Chord watched the skies, or upwards, in this place. Anyway. For these days, you are treated as guests." Chord made a bow. "Feel yourselves home." After that, she left the group to think, and went on to do her own work.

"We need another lead. Clearly, this is just making nonsense." Chara said. "How are we going to know anything, for we just sit here? We are better of to find new clues?"

The team went to thinking for a while, if they couldn't get any clues from this place. Where else they could get it?

"WHAT IF…" Papyrus murmured. "NA. TOO STRANGE."

"What is it?" Undyne asked.

"I WAS WONDERING, THE LEADER DIDN'T STOP HER DAUGHTER TO TELL US ALL OF THIS, IS IT POSSIBLE THAT THE CHIEF IS TESTING US?" Papyrus said.

"Why such a guess?" Gerson asked.

"THE WHOLE THING WAS STRANGE. IF WE ARE NOT WELCOMED, THEY USE ANY KIND OF REASON TO DRIVE US OUT. BUT NOW WE WERE TOLD TO BE TREATED AS GUESTS?" Papyrus squinted his eyes.

"Sure… This part looks strange." Darkness answered. "Natives in these places are territorial."

"So? What kind of test they want?" Chara asked with confusion.

"I BELIEVE IT IS OUR ABILITY TO COLLECT INFORMATION ON OUR OWN?" Papyrus supposed. He wasn't confident on this on.

"Well, what choice do we have then?" Tempest complained. "We are on a spy mission I think."

"All right then! Lads!" Gerson made the conclusion. "Tomorrow, let's start to gather intelligence about what the chief cares about. And… Undyne, get the other side know what is going on here."

"Aye sir." Undyne took out her phone and called Alphy's Lab, which is their base for now.

"According to time, it should be night by now." Tempest answered. "Let's sleep for the night and continue tomorrow, but we need to take turns in case."

After a while the gang fell asleep, except for Darkness and Pine, who take the first shift.

"So, what's your thought? Pine?"

"Mostly same as Papyrus. No matter what this is not going to be a formal fight as we went through, isn't it?"

"Yes, this will be…" Darkness smiled. "fun."

Done and done, sometimes I preferred encounters that use brainpower, rather than pure force.

Next time we will be seeing these getting into spy work.

Perhaps a bit of what is going on in the base back in Ebott.

That is all.

Sorry for poor language and making you all having a hard time to read.

See ya all in the next chapter!

Eliteprobe warp-out.

Stay determined!

Please remember to leave a favorite or follow if you like this story! And give me some reviews or PMs if you want to tell me something! I'll reply to them ASAP.

Thanks for KeyBlader Zen to edit this!

See ya all in the next chapter!

Eliteprobe signing out.

Stay determined!