The Time Before (Undertale)

7 ~ It Fills You With Determination

A few days went by.

S642 was lying on the floor, flipping slowly through a book. Gaster was messing with some small mechanism at his desk. He had said it was for another CORE prototype.

Suddenly, he looked up, slapping his palms against the desktop, startling S642.

"That's it. This isn't working."

S642 looked wide-eyed at his creator. "What?"

He gestured at the mess of wires and metal on the desk in front of him. "It's being stupid. Not working."

S642 didn't know what to say to that. He knew that if Gaster couldn't get it to work, what chance was there of him getting it to work?

Suddenly, Gaster twisted in his seat, peering down at where S642 was lying on the floor. "You're... What, five now?"

S642 looked a little concerned. "Y-yeah...?"

Gaster nodded once sharply, and stood. "I need a break. Come." Heading towards the door, he gestured for S642 to follow.

S642 climbed to his feet, scrambling after Gaster. As he caught up, he reached up to slip a hand into Gaster's, his fingers curling around the edge of Gaster's hand, slipping through the hole in the middle.

Gaster gave his hand a squeeze, but did not slow his pace.

Eventually, they came to a large, empty room. The walls were white, but marred with scrapes and scratches and dents and burn marks.

"Welcome to the weapons testing room." Gaster waved a hand with a flourish.

S642 frowned. "But I thought I wasn' a weapon yet."

Gaster grinned. "You still need to learn how to use Magic, though."

If it were possible for someone who didn't technically have eyes to look starry-eyed, S642 definitely did, then. "I get to learn Magic?"

Gaster nodded, smiling. "'Course you do. You'll need to if you're going to be a weapon."

S642's excitement only grew. "So what do I do?"

"Well, uh." Gaster gestured a little, summoning a few bone-shaped attacks. "That, pretty much."

S642 looked from the attacks to Gaster and back again. "That... How do I do that?"

Gaster dismissed his attacks. "That is the question. Gotta be honest, here, most of it is just instinctive. It's just something you... do. Like walking. Or breathing. You just sort of... figure it out." He turned a bit and knelt down in front of S642, setting his hands on the smaller skeleton's shoulders. "But, there are a few tips I can give you. A few things to make it easier. First of all," he tapped S642's chest, "it's all related to your Soul. So, if you're experiencing a particularly strong emotion, that affects your attacks. Things like anger can make you stronger, but sorrow will make you weak. So if you can learn to ignore all emotion in a battle, focus solely on the material, on your surroundings, it will benefit you immensely." He paused a moment.

S642 thought that over, picking mentally over the details. "So... Stay focused?"

Gaster nodded. "Yeah. Second of all, while there is definitely Magic all throughout your body, the actual Magic for your attacks is all drawn directly from your Soul. Sometimes it helps to imagine things that way."

S642 had no trouble imagining this. Gaster had told him before that a monster's Soul was its center, the essence of its being. He nodded.