Undertale (a retelling)

The Ruins

We walked up the right staircase after Toriel. She walked through the doorway and we followed, like little lost puppies. The next room had six grey buttons on the floor hidden in amongst grass. On the wall, was a golden switch. You could see a closed stone door behind Toriel. "Welcome to your new home, innocent one." She said with a smile. "Allow me to educate you in the operation of the Ruins." I gave a small nod. My friend sighed. She sounded bored. I turned to face her. She rolled her eyes, like she had heard all of this before. Toriel walked in a square over the buttons and pulled the switch. The stone door slid open, scraping in the doorframe. "The Ruins are full of puzzles. Ancient fusions between diversions and door keys. One must solve them to move from room to room. Please adjust yourself to the sight of them." She explained. I looked over at the puzzle. It looked simple enough. I trudged forwards and she walked through the door. I stopped outside it. There was a sign written in strange glyphs. I furrowed my brow trying to make out what the strange writing said. "Do you need help? Here, I'll translate for you." Charlotte told me. I gave a gracious smile. "'Only the fearless may proceed. Brave ones, foolish ones. Both walk not the middle road.' So, that's what it says." She told me. We proceeded forwards, almost crashing into Toriel. On her left was a stream with a bridge over it. "To make progress here, you will need to trigger several switches. Do not worry, I have labelled the ones you need to flip." Toriel instructed. My eyes darted to my friend. She gave a nod. I moved forward along the pathway and saw the first switch on my left. I flipped it and moved to the next one. I flipped the other one and a clack sounded. The blockage in front of the door disappeared. "Splendid! I am proud of you, little one. Let us move to the next room." She said. I smiled at the small amount of praise she gave me. It made me feel warm inside. Living on the surface, I was never really happy. I was never praised for anything; my schoolwork, drawings or behaviour. To have been praised for doing something, it felt nice. "Come on. We don't want to keep Toriel waiting." Charlotte said to me. I gave a nod and followed her.

I find her waiting on the other side. There is a dummy on the right of the path. "As a human living in the Underground, monsters may attack you." Toriel told me. My face fell. I began to quiver. My friend squeezed my hand, reassuringly. "You will need to be prepared for this situation. However, worry not! The process is simple." She said, her tone comforting. I gave an unsure smile. "When you encounter a monster, you will enter a FIGHT. While you are in the FIGHT, strike up a friendly conversation. Stall for time. I will come and resolve the conflict." She informed me. We walked into the room a bit further. "Practise talking to the dummy." She said, encouragingly. She moved to the doorway. My friend by my side, we walk up to the dummy. The world flashed monochrome and I steadied myself. You encounter the dummy. I press ACT and chose the Talk option. You talk to the dummy. It stayed silent. It doesn't seem much for conversation. Toriel seems happy with you. I felt happy with myself too. You WON! You earned 0 XP and 0 gold. The fight ended. "Ah, very good! You are very good." Toriel said, proudly. I felt my chest puff out with pride. My friend put her hand on my shoulder and gave me a thumbs up. "You did great." She said. I gave her a quick hug. We followed after her. "There is another puzzle in this room... I wonder if you can solve it?" Toriel said aloud. She turned and left. "Go after her!" Charlotte urged. I give a startled run to catch up with her. I encountered a FIGHT with a froggit but I spared them. I don't want to hurt anyone, if I can help it. I spotted another sign on the wall. I asked Charlotte to help me read it. "Of course. 'The western room is the eastern room's blueprint.'" I thanked her. "This is the puzzle, but... Here, take my hand." Toriel asked. I slipped my left hand into her paw and held onto my friends hand with my right. Toriel lead us through the puzzle of spikes in front. At the end, she said, "puzzles seem a little too dangerous for now." My friend sighed. "Overprotective, much?" She chuckled lightly. I could feel myself grow bored of wondering and continue through the Ruins, not really paying attention except to the fights. We walk into a room and Toriel leaves me and Charlotte alone. She gave us a Cellphone to keep in contact. I grew bored and impatient in the room. I pushed myself up from the floor. We left the room and explored. We discovered a room with a bowl of candy in and took 1. It looked like a toffee or a fruity candy. We pressed on and solved puzzles all over the place. I fell down a few holes trying to solve one and came across a faded light blue ribbon. Curious, I picked it up and tied it around my wrist, to keep it close. We made our way to a little crossroads. I found a little stage and picked up a Toy Knife that was lying there. I put it in my pocket, with no intent of using it. We found another human. She was rather tall, with long, thick and curly blonde hair that covered her face. She was dressed in a light blue shirt with long sleeves and a pair of jeans. She was sat down, huddled in a corner. I reached my hand out to her. She looked up and called for someone to help her. I tapped her on the shoulder and she looked at me. She parted her hair from her face and looked at me with sparkling hazel eyes and took my hand. I pulled her up with all my might. "Are you okay?" I asked her. She nodded. "Thank you for finding me. I dropped all of my items. You haven't found them, have you?" She asked. I gave her the Toy Knife and her ribbon. I helped tie her hair up with it to keep it out of her face. "What's your name? Mines Katie." She asks. I smile and tell her my name is Frisk. "My friends name is Charlotte." I said, pointing to where she was stood. She waved. Katie waved back. We continued down the path, until we found a ghost. Katie shuddered. "I can't get past him." She explained. I volunteered to head off the ghost. It was pretending to be asleep. I gave it a gentle nudge and waited. It floated up and we engaged it in battle. Here comes Napsterblook. I pressed ACT and saw my options. I pressed cheer and gave the ghost a patient smile. He gave a small laugh. "Heh...." Tears fell from the ghost and I dodged them as they rained down. I cheered for him again and he laughed a little more. He didn't attack. Instead, little grey words appeared in my action box. "Not feeling up to it. Sorry." They read. I cheered for the ghost again and he laughed a bit more. "Let me try...." He said. His tears floated upwards to create a smart top hat. "I call it dapperblook. Do you like it?" He said. I cheered him once more and spared him. We made him feel happy. "I usually come to the ruins because there's no one around... but today I met somebody nice... oh I'm rambling again. I'll get out of your way." He said. He disappeared and we continued forwards.