Jake lifted his monitor at the sound of the door creaking open. Toriel was standing in the doorway, a dish of some sort in her hands. He started to rise when she quickly held a finger to her mouth.857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmSYySKBkqe
857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIu5con9RBh
"Shh!"857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsyCmFKhOCq
857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡP31FMdWnVP
Jake settled down and watched as the Bossun woman approached the sleeping form of Frisk and carefully laid the dish on the floor beside her bed. Jake scanned the object on the dish and identified it as some sort of confection due to the high level of sugars.857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPexWDSa0ru
857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMqRhyyhqWe
Toriel patted Jake on the head before leaving the room silently. Jake remained active, however. Something about the room resonated with the memory files tucked away in his memory. It was a fairly large room, complete with a wardrobe full of clothes, plenty of toys, and a surprisingly number of shoes in different sizes, but there was something else that seemed to stick in Jake's data-banks.857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcTY4257t3S
857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDeW52OHA6C
He remembered another room, one with a young boy and a little girl. No matter how much they squabbled, the boy always went over to the girl's bed at night and made sure she was tucked in properly. He called her 'sister', and she in turn called him 'brother'.857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdv3Qv4cjRN
857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡf4o8rcZULu
Brother ... the term seemed important somehow, but Jake's processes couldn't identify why. As the minutes passed, he felt a sudden compulsion to locate the boy; perhaps he could help Jake make some sense of the data.857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMjjNaiNrfV
857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJfBEqsSJUh
Jake looked at Frisk. The little girl was sound asleep, her small face peaceful. The goat-woman named Toriel had treated her with kindness that could only be described as motherly. She would keep the little girl safe. While Jake's authority subroutines demanded he stay with her in hopes of finding Glen, his current master, he nevertheless found himself standing up and approaching the door. The old data-files were useful, telling him exactly how to open the door with his front paws without making much noise.857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ60Zs4q7jkI
857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyYbXqaspuy
He walked through the tidy house softly, ultimately finding Toriel asleep in a chair beside the hearth. He started to activate a fire suppression system to prevent her from injuring herself, only to realize the fire itself was not actually burning; it was merely pleasantly warm, and caused no damage to the log it sat upon.857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡe9xK4XUVM6
857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhGf5kH0eez
Jake considered waking up Toriel to let her know of his departure, but ultimately decided against it. He still couldn't access any kind of verbal communication, and visual communication would take time. He wanted to be gone before Frisk woke up ... before either of them could wake up. He wasn't part of their story.857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡE6EXk6xHeg
857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2qLqGMAUiv
Jake froze, that final stream of data confusing him. Their story? What did that mean? How did he know he wasn't a part of it? He tried to compute some sort of satisfactory answer, but ultimately came up with nothing. Not even the memory data gave him an answer.857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxVG0xeMzBD
857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEzQ5qho51n
Shaking his head, he turned around and left Toriel asleep by the fire. Going back wasn't an option, as his scans determined there were no exits that way. Fortunately, he'd already scanned the house and discovered the central staircase led to an underground corridor.857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4AWEMi7o6M
857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaWWWbzhEOv
Jake walked down the corridor slowly, scanning the air for particulates in hopes of determining where the corridor might lead. The readings didn't match any location he'd visited recently, but he continued (doggedly ... heh heh) scanning.857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFkulhawnML
857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6ssCKX1Knj
He paused. Where had that thought come from? Finding no answer, he continued walking. The corridor was quite long, eventually turning ninety degrees to the left toward a small chamber with a large door.857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlpPWdfD42x
857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzlWzsx7tYX
Scans of the area indicated a definite drop in temperature, as well as particulates indicating vegetative life, namely pine trees or some similar conifer. He hurried to the door and pushed against it with all his might. To his surprise, they opened quite easily. He staggered through, only to stop inches away from a familiar slipper.857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡu2ld64xVsM
857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpXG9iJVWv4
It appeared to be the bio-form known as Sans; the bone structure and the face matched Jake's files on the skeleton, but the colors were wrong. The bones and clothes were black, the sweater beneath the coat was red, and the face looked so strange, Jake was certain the circuits that translated visual data for him were glitching.857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjb5ZRCW6D3
857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsCQfpTcuXj
The skeleton who looked like Sans stared at Jake, the larger of his red eyes bearing two irises around a tiny black pupil, the outer yellow and the inner as blue as the real Sans's coat.857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwhbtQeRfZ1
857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtNf8Xq5UL0
"There you are." Error!Sans said, "I've been looking for you, doggy."857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdE6dqSX88v
857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp9Bl920BOF
Jake began to sense subspace anomalies forming around the skeleton. In a flash, memory files clicked into place. This was the creature that attacked Glen, Sans, and Jake in the middle of what Sans called 'a shortcut'. Already the being was causing Jake's sensor data to overload as it has before. Jake shut off everything but his visual and auditory senses to prevent another overload, but not before the word 'ERROR!' appeared again and again in the corrupted data.857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoYqzMlse4e
857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHLsn3crKYi
"That's my name." Error!Sans said, grinning all the wider. "Don't wear it out. Oh, that's right; you can't talk."857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYcs0SClwes
857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1iplGiJqM9
Jake let out a growl. He hoped it would intimidate Error!Sans, but once again his information files proved incorrect. Error!Sans simply laughed at Jake and shook his head.857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsS3W7Jd8uI
857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡo1blpAZu2o
"I've destroyed hundreds of timelines, mechamutt ... maybe even thousands. What can I say? It's hard to keep count when you're having so much fun!"857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOrvcI6TGxr
857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyZ5hcfpjSd
Error!Sans thrust a hand at Jake. Blue threads shot through the air, wrapping themselves around Jake's limbs and lifting him from the ground. jake tried to open his back panel to use his interior energy buster, but more thick threads wrapped around his back, preventing the panel from opening. Jake yelped, but there was nothing he could do. The threads were surprisingly strong; even a blast of electricity from this front emitters did nothing.857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqcA079d9xz
857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOxN68sZGjP
Error!Sans slowly approached the floating dog until his face was only inches away from Jake's monitor. "What makes you think you have any chance of stopping me from tearing you apart and taking your ..."857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPCjWb5ae6A
857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJ5PVCjNHCc
Error!Sans frowned, his corrupted eyes squinting at Jake as though searching for an errant pixil in Jake's monitor. His smile faded, only to be replaced with a look of suspicion.857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡS9FARRu5yP
857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnxo8LoJUzd
"It's missing." Error!Sans said slowly, as though not believing what he was saying. "I can see inside you, where your soul should be ... but it's not there. What have you done with it?"857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNffwOheS70
857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmAs3I7mFM8
Jake barked loudly at Error!Sans, still struggling to free himself from the blue threads.857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrs0Mtm6Ixl
857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡt6B6VhbjRI
"One of the others." Error!Sans said to himself. "The new abomination ... no, that human woman, the one with the green and gray striped shirt. She must have it. Where is she, dog? Tell me, or I'll tear you apart!"857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPTBj3XWzZi
857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡreAnFZ4Z4p
Jake was at a loss. His weapons were ineffective, his mobility was nonexistent, and the data Error!Sans wanted wasn't in his memory banks. There seemed to be nothing he could do to stop his destruction.857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIyXG5sXWkY
857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAYqzHtvgYN
A stick hit Error!Sans right in the face. It didn't do any visible damage, but the shock of it made Error!Sans release his threads from Jake. Jake landed on all four legs, his back panel sliding open and the blaster attachment rising out. He fired at Error!Sans, but the strange skeleton blinked out of existence only to appear a safe distance away.857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwZBAaqwgIy
857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsmR3UiKK2M
A hand touched Jake's side. Jake turned to see it was little Frisk, her small face a mask of determination.857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoWBpqL5UMB
857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKR3tF9kOpg
"Little brat!" Error!Sans said with a scowl. He raised his hand, but this time Jake didn't wait for the threads. Barking may not have worked, but Glen had Jake hooked up to her personal database, which included a directory labelled 'Wrhse13' that contained among many strange and bizarre files a single sound file: 'marsden.mp3'.857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwxmOKAwFfe
857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡT2Idg2KQ8s
Jake blasted the file as loud as his speakers could handle. The effect was immediate; as the sound reverberated off the stone walls of the corridor, the look of anger on Error!Sans's face became one of bliss. True tears, separate from the strange teartrail-like markings on Error!Sans's face fell down the skeleton's cheekbones. The blue threads fell to the ground and faded from existence as Error!Sans sank to his knees.857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkmfQ8vg3kN
857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMlED63rUTz
Jake nudged Frisk, only to find her in tears as well, a look of pure happiness on her face. He was still at a loss for what to do when his speakers suddenly gave out under the strain.857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPHugPZFvxK
857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfi6K30g4lm
The music died with a crackle of static. Jake tensed in anticipation of Error!Sans's resumed attacks, but the strange skeleton simply looked at them for a long moment before saying, "What was I doing?"857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWWYt3RVqdy
857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4JZ3uzgU3x
Jake waited cautiously as Error!Sans looked around in confusion. After a few moments, he shook his skull and said, "I-I gotta go ..."857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡI6YowRE9d5
857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUSNvbcXu2O
With that, Error!Sans was gone. Jake waited a few moments before deciding that he would likely not return for a little while.857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡx9VED9pDq8
857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmf1FmVgstA
Hearing a sniffle, Jake turned to see Frisk rubbing her eyes with the sleeve of her sweater. Jake sat on his hind-quarters and put a paw on her shoulders.857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLdApXKEBCM
857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBMtgMCV6P7
"I'm all right." She signed to him. "What happened? The black skeleton was shooting something at us, and then ... I can't remember."857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡedrF7usesM
857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ08NGZecuFw
Jake considered his options for response for several moments before tilting his head forty-five degrees and displaying his 'puzzled' face.857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoEC5BVmfEf
857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJnKbX298yM
Frisk giggled and rubbed his head. "Silly doggy! Come on; we really shouldn't be here. Mom will get mad."857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkX5IAZ9bBg
857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvtpE7bgLfn
Frisk turned back to the door that led to Toriel's house, only to find the doors closed. There were no handles on their side, and Jake discovered that pushing them had no effect. Whether through magic or mechanics, the doorway was apparently one way only.857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLVCpHwJI9Y
857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡj2Hn3NSs9J
All trace of happiness left Frisk's face. She tried again and again, banging her fists on the door in desperation to no avail. She even tried calling Toriel's cellphone; while Frisk could not speak, she and Toriel had figured out some simple tapping rhythms that gave her some basic communication: yes, no, help, that sort of thing. Unfortunately (and quite strangely), the phone-line picked up to the sound of another dog barking inquisitively. Jake tried to bark in reply, but found his speakers still non-functional.857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdzwB1dJMl9
857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡADpR23cKDl
"It's no good." Said a voice that made Jake growl immediately. "It's a one-way door. Even your dog's blaster won't make a dent. You're stuck out here!"857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwDNKTDTdA7
857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUhnyjFIby6
Flowey was back, having emerged from the small mound of dirt in the middle of the room. Jake moved in front of Frisk and growled, but Flowey lifted his petals in supplication.857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0BW81XpGmG
857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9QQvQzk4sw
"Oh, don't mind me; I've learned my lesson ... but have you?" Flowey asked, looking at Frisk. "I've been watching you, making friends with the froggits and the whimsuns, buying donuts from the spiders ... you think you're real clever, aren't you? Befriending all the monsters? Ha! Don't you realize in this world, it's kill or be killed? Well, you'd better realize it soon; you'll soon be out of the Ruins, where the rest of the Underground is waiting to kill you and steal your soul!"857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzr9ReTmBZU
857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7hbKcOr04b
Frisk trembled as the little flower let out a high-pitched evil laugh. "Good luck, Frisk! You're going to need it where you're going!"857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7OeyqlWWeA
857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSjHHQjcxEh
Flowey laughed again. Jake lunged at the flower, but it dove beneath the dirt and was gone in seconds.857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUH0FxCAIcv
857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlbIGvgWgf0
Hearing a sniffle, Jake turned to see Frisk crying. He walked over to her and gave her another pat on the back. As she looked at him with tear-stained eyes, Jake again felt the strange resonance with the data files, this time producing an image; another face, that of the boy who lived in the room with his sister. He was crying too.857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAlyY6k2HI7
857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEnheOLAAsP
Jake's programming told him that he belonged to Glen Adams Soleil, and if not to her, then to some person named Finn Cresste. In that moment, however, he realized his programming allowed for him to name other owners, should the need arise. Looking at the little girl's face, Jake knew the need had arisen.857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIxZKR4gAV5
857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1ohjdx8yxj
"New user accepted." Crackled an automated voice from Jake's speakers as his self-repair systems patched them back together. "Frisk is recognized as the owner of this unit."857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1jQKOhwFMb
857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡu5tJnd6a0s
Frisk put a finger on her chest, a look of surprise on her face as she pointed it at Jake. Letting out an affirmative bark, Jake nudged Frisk's side. She looked confused until he did it again, crouching down on his legs. Realization in her eyes, she smiled and climbed on Jake's back.857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6hjQ5FsM1v
857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUYiZpb72SM
With another bark, Jake ran down the corridor, Frisk giggling as she held him tightly. Toriel would come looking for her sooner or later, and until that time, Jake would keep his little master safe. After all, now it was his story too.857Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHeTOFCitxL