Were We Doomed From The Start?

30.- An Alley Next To A Resort

The void was there once again as the surrounding ground and flattened rocks being the platform to step on. There was someone leaning on a cart, selling "Nice Cream" and the two gay knights from earlier.

"Oh, hey. We're like, taking a rain check on that killing-you thing.
Like, don't tell Undyne about this, OK?" 01 said, with 02 standing next to him visibly happy.

The stairs below led to some puzzle room and the one ahead to the other side of the elevator. While the room up the stairs led to a collapsed hotel that was in almost complete ruins, the walls mostly torn down and chunks of the whole thing scattered across the interior and exterior. There was a ripped carpet that led to the shattered glass door, the colour of the carpet lost to time. Next to it, was a note.

*(Hey!)
*(Go up the creepy alleyway on the right for some great deals!)

Ninja shrugged as he went into the alleyway, with Gaster scouting out the broken-down hotel. Shadow hid behind Ninja as they went into the darkness of the building, seeing two monsters with some stuff to sell, a sign behind them with the names "Bratty & Catty".

The monster on the left was a tall green alligator with pink lipstick, a shawl to match with yellow and blue accents along with yellow hair that flowed into curls.
The one on the right, was a short cat creature with light blue overalls, black hair with blue and purple accents combined with a piercing on her left ear.

"Hey! Check it out!"

"Yeah! Check it out!"

They had Junk Food for 25G, an empty Gun for 350G, a Cowboy Hat for 350G and a Mystery Key for 600G. Ninja took a look at the Junk Food, seeing how it had a bite taken out of it. Shadow snickered while Ninja observed it, raising an eyebrow at them while straightening his pose. He clicked on the talk option, questioning them about their wares.

"The stuff inside, is like..."

"TOTALLY wicked expensive."

The purple one finished the green one's sentence.

"But, like, this stuff we found is like..."

"TOTALLY wicked cheap."

"You should..."

"Like..."

"TOTALLY wicked buy all of it?"
They both said in unison while rolling their eyes, laughing. Ninja sighed, seeing how there was more info on it, clicking on it again to get some extra dialogue.

"I mean, like, where does anyone get guns, or food, or..."

"We found it in the garbage!"

Catty said while laughing before they both paused and she covered her mouth. Ninja just stared at them while they quickly came up with a response.

"It's GOOD garbage."

"It's like, really good garbage."

Ninja hummed, clicking on the option again to get them to explain further.

"Where do we get the garbage?

Like, the garbage store, duh!!!

.....

Waterfall mostly."

"I found a gun in a dumpster!"

They both laughed for a bit before letting Ninja browse their items for sale. Shadow reached out from behind Ninja to grab something, but Ninja pushed his hand away to keep him hidden. Ninja thanked them before leaving, waving before turning around and going back to the front of the dilapidated resort.

"Like, see you later!"

"Like, later and stuff!"

Ninja went back to the front, standing there and seeing Gaster emerge from the darkness, smiling as per usual.

"I found a spare room in there, it's almost entirely intact so we can stay for a bit."

Ninja nodded, motioning for Shadow to go first before getting stopped by someone.

"hey.
i heard you're going to the core.
how about grabbing some dinner with me first?"

♥Yeah       I'm busy

Ninja shrugged, choosing to go with sans to see what he wanted.

"great, thanks for treating me."

He went over to the left of the building for a few feet before turning back to look at Ninja, speaking again.

"over here.
i know a shortcut."

Ninja followed, into the darkness of the alley before suddenly being in a room with the walls slightly broken around them, five tables in total with dusty silverware on them. It was like they had teleported in the blink of an eye, or quicker.

"well, here we are.

so.

your journey's almost over, huh?
you must really wanna go home. hey, i know the feeling, buddo.

though...maybe sometimes it's better to take what's given to you.
down here you've already got food, drink, friends...

is what you have to do...really worth it?"

Sans turned away for a bit while Ninja contemplated his words.

...

"ah, forget it. i'm rootin' for ya, kid."

Sans looked away again, turning back with the same etched skeleton smile on his face.

"hey. let me tell you a story. so i'm a sentry in snowdin forest, right?
i sit out there and watch for humans. it's kind of boring.
fortunately, deep in the forest..." Sans winked.

"there's this HUGE locked door. and its perfect for practicing knock knock jokes.
so one day, i'm knocking 'em out, like usual.
i knock on the door and say "knock knock."
and suddenly, from the other side...i hear a woman's voice. "who is there?"

so, naturally, I respond: "dishes."
"dishes who?"
"dishes a very bad joke." then she just howls with laughter. like it's the best joke she's heard in a hundred years.

so I keep 'em coming, and she keeps laughing. she's the best audience i've ever had. then, after a dozen of 'em, SHE knocks and says..."Knock knock!"

i say "whos there?"

"old lady!"

"old lady who?"

"oh! I did not know you could yodel!"

wow. needless to say, this woman was extremely good. we kept telling each other jokes for hours. eventually, i had to leave. papyrus gets kind of cranky without his bedtime story." He winked again before continuing.

"but she told me to come by again, and so i did. then i did again. and again. it's a thing now. telling bad jokes through the door. it rules."
He turned away for a bit again, looking at the cracked walls where plants had begun to overrun the place.

"...one day, though, i noticed she wasn't laughing very much. i asked her what was up. then she told me something strange.

"if a human ever comes through this door...
...could you please please promise something? watch over them, and protect them, will you not?"

now, i hate making promises. and this woman, i don't even know her name. but...someone who sincerely likes bad jokes...has an integrity you can't say "no" to." He winked and looked away once again, avoiding contact for a bit before staring.

"do you get what i'm saying?

that promise i made to her...you know what would have happened if she hadn't said anything?

...buddy." He turned away while still looking Ninja's way, his eye sockets suddenly lost that white pupil they had, staring at him with a blank expression with the skeletal smile remaining on his face as he spoke slowly.

". . . Y o u' d    b e    d e a d    w h e r e    y o u   s t a n d ."