Book 1: The First Fallen Human

Coding Crisis

The codes flew around Core, lighting up their black void for seconds with moments of light every second. The codes all filtered upwards, keeping a tight, circular formation around Core. They were studying all of them. They were looking. Ink had visited them already to tell them who to look for. They could see her code. Pieces of it would flash by, every few seconds, too fast for them to catch them. They swore again as another passed them. How could they miss it? The code was a violent red color, opposed to everyone else's plain white. Core felt someone come up behind them. They sighed.

"G a s t e r . . ." The goopy skeleton turned to look at them. Core sighed quietly. "I n e e d t o f i n d h e r ." The skeleton made a garbled noise and his hands moved. Core stared at him with black eyes. "Y o u k n o w w h o ." Gaster nodded. He turned to the code as well. He began to search with them. They both could see it. Her code kept flashing. It appeared everywhere. Core heard Gaster make a triumphant garbling noise. They turned to see Gaster. He had snatched a red code. Core nodded, before moving over and studying the code.

Finally, they shook their head. "W r o n g c o d e." They stared quietly. Gaster made a growling noise and Core sighed, nodding. "I k n o w , D o c t o r. I t i s f r u s t r a t i n g . . ." They turned back to the code. " I n e e d w h e r e s h e i s R I G H T N O W . N o t w h e r e s h e W A S ." Gaster dispersed the code back into the stream. Core continued to look, studying each code individually. Finally, they sighed.

Gaster blinked at them and Core seemed conflicted. "I m a y h a v e t o s t o p t h e C O R E f o r a m o m e n t . . ." Immediately, Gaster's eyes widened and he let out a garbled cry, shaking his goopy head. Core nodded, closing their eyes. "I k n o w , b u t D o c t o r, I c a n n o t c a t c h h e r l i k e t h i s . . ." Gaster stared at them and they could practically feel the disapproval leaking off of the doctor. Core nodded again, understanding his frustration.

This glitch... was she really worth stopping the CORE to catch? Even if the CORE was stopped for a singular moment, one wrong step and it would destroy everything. Core felt very conflicted. The glitch, herself, was extremely dangerous. Especially now that she had been released into the Multiverse. Her code was embedded into almost every AU. Every place she visited, she left a bit of her corrupted code behind.

It was a nice change of color for once, but one that was extremely unpredictable and dangerous. Core stared around at the flashing numbers and letters. The longer the glitch stayed in a single AU, the more its code would corrupt the AU. Core furrowed their brow in worry. There was so much red. Of course, not so much as to actually WARP the AU, but enough that it would cause bugs.

Core needed something to happened. They needed the glitch to DO something. Finally, the codes flashed for a moment. Core blinked. Not that. No, that wasn't what had been needed! Core immediately regret their previous thought. What was the glitch doing?! Immediately, they saw a yellow code. Yellow code wasn't good. Yellow code meant a new item. That hadn't happened since the creation of the game itself. Core watched as the code spread itself through all the AU's. They took a step back, a horrifying realization making itself known to them. Core's hands trembled.

Core knew where they were. That wasn't good. Immediately, Core turned to Gaster. "I k n o w w h e r e t h e g l i t c h i s, D o c t o r." Their voice was quiet and horrified. They didn't think the glitch would ever return there. "P u l l u p U n d e r t a l e ' s c o d e." Immediately, Gaster froze and Core nodded. "T h e o r i g i n a l, D o c t o r ." Gaster waved his hands and immediately, the mainstream code appeared in the center of their code circle. Every part of this code was grey, as opposed to white. Set in stone, instead of being inked onto paper.

Core reached out and spun the code. There. A red code glowed on the code pillar. Underneath it, a yellow code shone almost gold. Core pulled back, momentarily horrified. "S h e ' s c h a n g e d t h e g a m e, D o c t o r." Gaster blinked in alarm and Core quickly turned to him. "I n t e r c e p t h e r!" The goopy skeleton nodded and disappeared with a garbled noise, leaving Core with the codes.

This was not good. Core reached out and pressed the yellow code. It came up for her to study it. They couldn't delete it. It was etched into the original game's code now. They studied it. A new item for the main character had been added. Red-Stained Rope. The Faded Ribbon had been replaced in this run. Core sighed. They understood that the glitch was supposed to be part of this game. But they weren't. Did the glitch not understand that? Core contemplated over the reasoning. Why had the glitch returned to her original game?

Was she angry at her failure as a character? Was she trying to redeem herself? Was she trying to sabotage the game? Too many possibilities went through Core's mind. Why go back to the beginning? The glitch could go anywhere! Why there? Core couldn't wrap their mind around it. Core turned back and placed the code back onto the pillar.

Gaster would have to keep the glitch in Undertale until Ink and Error could get it out. Core couldn't allow any more changes to the original files. If the glitch changed the game, she could destroy the CORE. Destroying the CORE would destroy the game. And destroying the game would destroy everything created because of it! Core slowly tried to calm themselves down, pacing around the pillar.

Finally, they turned and snapped their fingers. A rainbow code popped up next to them, along with a black, red, and yellow code. Core pressed the rainbow code. Their voice shook with urgency and uncertainty.

"I n k. I n e e d y o u h e r e . N O W."