Wholehearted Half-Souls

Chapter 16: Encounter at Grillby's (Part 1)

The room slowly swirls as the monsters exchange looks. The trio looks down at the file once again. Silence holds the room hostage for a moment, then Alphys shakes her head and coughs. "I-if it's really h-him, then I'm not sure whether to feel good or bad about this."

Footsteps echo through the hall. Blooky moves away as Alphys listens to them grow closer. Mettaton hops up and leaps over to the door, using his body as a barricade. After the footsteps grow to a deafening loudness, there's a gentle knock. Mettaton pushes on the door harder. Another knock. Pushback. 

With a mighty shove, the figure breaks the door off of its hinges, flying to the other side of the room, along with Mettaton. He slowly moves the door off of his body and dusts off his silver limbs. The figure lets out an "NGAH" and laughs.

Alphys grips her chest. "You scared m-me half to death, Undyne."

Undyne chuckles and rubs the back of her head. "My bad! It's just lil' ol' me. After finishing my goose chase, I ran into the guards again and gave them some warm milk! They were thirsty and caved." She cackles. "They'll sleep like babies for the rest of the night!"

Undyne proudly places her hands on her hips. Alphys smiles and holds her head down in relief. "Heh, t-thanks, and now you can help us. Could you make a copy of this file we f-found for a reference point?"

Undyne smiles widely and flashes a thumbs up to Alphys. "Can do!"

Alphys picks the paper up from the file and gives it to Undyne. Undyne clenches her hands around both sides of the page and narrows her eyes. Her pupils dance, and her teeth tremble. Her smile fades into a grimace. "So, this is the punk?"

"Chances are at least 70%. Blooky said the d-description checks out aside from his face, partially covered by his long hair," Alphys confirms. 

Undyne lowers her head and angrily breathes. "Well, it's something. Any copiers nearby?"

Undyne looks over at Mettaton, who frowns at them and angrily flares his eyes. "Don't look at me, darlings! Do I LOOK like a copy machine?!"

Undyne snickers. "Well, if you could make a copy of this page for us, that'd be pretty great, huh?"

Mettaton shakes his head and theatrically points at the copier machine in the corner of the room. "DO I SERIOUSLY LOOK LIKE THE COPIER MACHINE OVER IN THAT CORNER?!"

Alphys facepalms while Undyne shrugs. "Well, let's get to it!"

Mettaton snorts steam from his nose. "Oh, the humanity! Being compared to a simple copy machine. I'm an actor, not a business box!"

Alphys grabs the page from Undyne's hand, slams it onto the clear screen in the copier, and the bright light scans over the page. After a few seconds, two pages print. Undyne gathers all the necessary copies while Alphys reorganizes the file folders in alphabetical order.

Alphys stares at the rest of the group, then at the door. "Well, that's that. We s-should get out of here."

Undyne nods. "Yeah, girl. And we'll give the extra copy to the police, just in case they need it! It might help them with their investigation."

Mettaton says nothing, head downcast. "Hey, Mettaton," Blooky says. "We're leaving...come on."

There's only silence. Alphys scratches the top of her head and raises an eyebrow. "Hey, did you hear Blooky?"

Still nothing.

Undyne's eye twitches, and she slams her hand on her desk. "C'mon, you idiot, LET'S GET MOVING ALREADY!" There's still no response. Undyne shakes her head and kicks her foot into the ground. "Dang! I thought that would've woken him up for sure!" She takes a second look at Mettaton, then her eyes peer over to Alphys. "Alphys, why not just press the on/off switch? That should do it. Maybe a reset will get him moving again!"