What. A. Bummer.

You and Cenna lay down on a fancy rug surrounded by some atmospheric space music, channeling your inner Napstablook together.

Tsunderjudge being his usual skeptical tsun, questioned your life choices. “What is this silliness? I know it will be a while before my wife completes her compilation, but I expected you to spend your time more fruitfully.”

Doing what?

“Practicing your magic,” he said. “Your combination of Marks has proven its strength. It will be useful for our counter.”

You tell the Tsun that can wait. Time doesn’t pass in the Hub anyway.

“Well, if that’s the case why don’t you explain to me why you replaced Sir Garamond with King Asgore.”

Only if HE explains why Grillby was in the Hub at all. He’s not supposed to be part of this hoo-hah!

“Hmph. Feeling guilty now, are we?”

Cenna groaned. “Hey! If you wanna argue, can ya’ll do it elsewhere? I need a mental break before my inevitable one thousand arrow practice.”

O-one thousand arrows???

“Yeah. Not sure if I should call it a punishment or not. Like, on one hand I really wanna polish off any rust. But damn, a thousand arrows is freaking tiring!”

Actually… Cenna shouldn’t be so worried. In fact, the plan actually turned out this way because she’s NOT rusty.

“Excuse me, Frisky?”

You’ll explain it later, when the official briefing starts. For now, you’d rather Napstablook some more: with or without the Tsunderjudge’s disapproving glare.

After some solid minutes of feeling like garbage, the fragrance of Goldenflower tea had begun to permeate the air. Ah, Dad made a fresh pot of his trademark tea for everyone. You rolled over on your belly to watch the event unfold.

Offering a cup, your fluffy dad said: “Judge Thyme, I also think some rest will do you good.”

The stern aura that continued to exude from the grey-headed DT vampire… filled Dad with comedic discomfort.

Nonetheless, Tsunderjudge accepted the offer. “Thank you, King Asgore. Come to think of it, perhaps young Frisk didn’t make such a bad decision after all. I suppose you would have the authority to conscript your citizens for the defence… Would you not?”

“Why, uh, yes. Yes indeed. So, please do not worry too much.”

Play it cool, Dad. Play it cool.

Oh! Lady Lucidia came back with Gaelic in tow. It appears that her analysis finished much sooner than expected.

So, everyone gathered at the usual meeting place: the living room table.

You sat in between Dad and Cenna on the sofa. Lady Lucy, Tsunderjudge, and Gaelic sat across you, while Grillby occupied one of the lone couches by the side.

A holographic diorama of The Spire and the surrounding district spawned above the flat table surface, in 3D and with full rotation functionality. There are even tiny vehicles and tinier people! Awesome!

Ready to go, Lady Lucidia began her briefing:

“In the previous attempt, The Spire and the surrounding district were obliterated. Casualties totalled in the hundred of thousands. It happened on a Monday near the commerce sector, thus the high numbers. I shall now begin the playback five seconds before Cenna landed her attack.”

You nodded.

All was normal at first. A few seconds later, the diorama quaked. The road split apart, letting out beams of bright white light.

A… a giant beast erupted from the ground.

You still can’t believe what you’re seeing. It’s an honest to goodness WEREWOLF KAIJU!

Is this a movie?

Is this anime?

Is this a myth coming true right before your very eyes???

A ghastly screech resonated between your ears. By instinct, you covered them to muffle the soul-piercing noise. Your Dad wrapped his protective arms around you.

When the snow-white furry titan inhaled, she collected a condensed orb of energy. You knew where this will go and you didn’t like it one bit.

Then, it happened: she fired the biggest, greatest beam of magic towards The Spire. The great tower was chopped off at the base, sending it down like a lumber tree.

The city screamed in terror. Their collective voices stacked together in this diorama. The panic was cut short by a rampage of claws, rubble, and lasers. Lots of gargantuan lasers.

In under a minute, only deafening silence remained. No survivors to scream. No alarms to beep.

The titan herself had vanished in a puff of Seer-flame. Did she become dust? Did she escape? You don’t know.

After what seemed to be an eternity, Dad broke the silence. “How…” he hesitated. “How can a monster be that… strong?”

The Tsunderjudge replied: “As the Philosopher’s Stone is designed to replace a Boss Monster’s Psychia, it serves as a massive boost for the user’s ability. What you just witnessed is the combination of genetics, training, and the power of many.”

Hold it! You thought the enemy is a Seer, but that was an ACTUAL wolf with flesh, hide, and fur!

“Negative,” said Lady Lucidia. “Allow me to scale-up the model for my explanation.”

So, she summoned the image of the wolf kaiju and zoomed in.

Huh? You leaned forward and squinted. Is that… a skull? A ribcage?

You gasped. The fur and muscles are translucent. You could see the skeletal frame if you look reeeeeeeally up-close. Whoah!

“Us skeletons descended from human converts.” Lucy explained, “As such, the genetic data to express our ancestry exists in our magic. This includes the creation of false flesh. The knowledge likely had been lost by the time of Doctor Gaster’s birth.”

Then, why doesn’t skeleton-kind do this more often?

“Energy,” she replied. “The cost of maintaining and carrying the bulk is inefficient. Therefore, it’s only used in situations where the benefits outweigh the disadvantages.”

Such as…?

“Heavy-armour fighters, for example. Flesh provides some buffer to blunt-weapon objects.”

A buffer to protect one’s bones… that’s probably why the kaiju took such a muscular form. Hmm. Ectoflesh. Yeah. That's what you’ll call this power.

Huh? You noticed that Lady Lucidia was staring at you with great seriousness.

“Frisk.”

Yes?

“The primary function of this ‘Ectoflesh’ is the continuation of life in the same manner as humankind, from courtship to reproduction to the nursing of young.”

Cenna immediately burst into a fluster. “Lucy, I-I-I don’t think this is the right time for the birds and bees! Frisky is just ten!”

Knowing what she’s referring to, you struggled to keep a straight face. Your lips curled upwards, resisting much laughter.

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

Was THAT the thing poking Cenna way back in the cramped car ride? Ahuh? Ahuh?

Your big sister exploded into the most overdramatic bashful gasp. “No! You’re too young to know! Did those punks in the foster home teach you bad crap? Wait, it’s the INTERNET, isn’t it? Dammit! Kids should never have unsupervised access to the world wide web for LOOOOOTS of reasons!!!”

Before you got carried away, Dad said: “Children, children. We should not interrupt Lady Lucidia.”

Right, right. You clamped down your inner goblin. You thought that you’re going to burst into giggles at any mention about the ectoflesh, but Lady Lucy’s expression snuffed out any thought of cheeky snark…

She was dead serious. More serious than her seriously serious husband. This matter was far from an immature joke to her.

“Crimson Keeper Frisk,” she said, “I want you to understand that us of bone are not born as weapons, contrary to the trend that you’re observing.”

“This… titan. Her form is the result of heretics misusing The Almighty’s gift. This is not the norm, and it should not be so. Humans are not meant to be killing machines. Neither is my kind. Please remember this for as long as you live.”

…You get what she means now. All skeletons you had befriended so far were anime-level cool and powerful, Lady Lucy included. It’s easy to forget that they’re still fragile people. Your current ‘enemy’ too.

Not to mention that there are also many others around the world who are just regular Janes and Joes, with no special Eye powers. Like the skeleparents.

You thanked her for the reminder.

Rubbing your chin, you noted that Miss Kaiju’s survival proves the success of your gambit.

Cenna raised a brow. “You did say something about that, Frisky.”

You asked for a pen and a screen to draw out your explanation. After Lady Lucy provided you with the tools, you started to draw more stick figures.

So, you began, Cenna is a trained Vanquisher: Yellow Major. There’s slim to no chance of her missing the target. BUT! Miss not-yet-Kaiju is a clairvoyant Seer. She’s going to react to Cenna’s otherwise bullseye shot.

You know from experience that the keys to a successful dodge are foresight, reaction time, and physics. To close the window of escape, the most logical approach to this predicament will be to stage a speedy ambush. And that's what you did.

The combination of ‘perfect aim’ and ‘perfect dodging’ therefore resulted in a scenario of ‘narrowly avoiding death by a close shave’. The shot wasn’t meant to be fatal, only to leave the target incapacitated with 1HP remaining. This would then lead to a live capture!

Impressed with yourself, you crossed your arms with a smug face. How’s that for a plan?

“Hmm,” The Tsunderjudge pondered. “I don’t see any flaws to Frisk’s plan. It’s impressive considering their relative age.”

Lady Lucy nodded. “Agreed. They had taken accurate account of both ally and enemy behaviour. I shall cross-check the results with my findings.”

She dismissed the model and replaced it with another diorama. It’s the ambush in the tunnel. A cross section was made for a side-by-side comparison.

The kaiju gal was too busy monitoring Mettaton’s live coverage. Since there’s no ‘Calm Gardening with Goat Dad’ filler, she didn’t get frustrated enough to check her de-Marked phone.

Not long after, Cenna snuck into the tunnel with Garamond.

After the cool bone left… your big sis activated her super-mode! She deployed your Frisk-brand hypershields and baited the sniper to waste her bullets.

The startled opponent did just that. Bam, bam, bam! Kaiju gal stopped firing when she realised that she needed to change strategies.

That’s when Cenna Wanderstar let her arrow fly! Again, just as you predicted, the gal tried to dodge. In doing so… she got herself pinned against the wall! The magic pierced through her shoulder bone without shattering it.

The diorama paused there. Dust? No dust! She’s alive and primed for capture. It's 100% exactly as you anticipated!

“…I’m impressed…” Grillby praised with a level tone. “…It’s a perfect prediction…”

The tsun and his wife nodded the same. Dad patted you on the back with a big smile on his face. Cenna? She’s having that priceless jaw-drop moment.

Praise from the meticulous adults! The planets have aligned for once! You gleefully basked in their approval for a moment.

HOWEVER… there’s a HUGE elephant in the room: your ‘perfect plan’ resulted in the levelling of a whole city! What went wrong????

The Tsunderjudge replied: “Nothing went wrong. And because of that, everything went wrong. Lucidia, please resume the playback. I have a hunch.”

“Affirmative,” she said.

Time resumed in the diorama.

Huh…?

W-what the? The skeleton’s chest started to glow. That’s where the SOUL resides. It’s resonating with something in her pants pocket.

Is that… is that the Philosopher’s Stone?

The tunnel quaked and crumbled from the reaction. You watched Cenna make her great escape as the Wolf Kaiju emerged from the earth to decimate the city.

Mezil sighed. “Just as I thought. She has a trap installed in her. It’s designed to spring when she’s caught in a losing position beyond her control.”

Suddenly, your victory wasn’t so sweet anymore.

“In this line of work, you’re not the only tactical one. Your perfect plan could backfire against you at any time. You can’t always foresee every consequence.”

HOLD IT!!! What about Sans? He didn’t activate this trump card at all! There was no explosion or kaiju-fication or anything like that!

Lucidia hummed out loud. “I believe I know why. This is what I had extracted from Sans Serif’s memories.”

The diorama changed to the foot of Mount Ebott. There’s a pile of broken rocks on one side, and forest all around.

“H-hey…” Cenna remarked, saddened. “That’s Rockfall.”

Rockfall?

“The place where Papa and Mama died.”

Oh. Right. No wonder her mood took a nosedive. You had questions, but they would distract from the mission. You decided to leave them aside for a different day.

Back to the holographic diorama. The crazy red-eyed Sans plunged his hands through his victim’s sternum, crushing her SOUL in his grip. She dusted shortly after that.

That was a one-hit kill. Nothing happened after that. Could it be that the trap was installed directly into her SOUL?

Dad nodded, stroking his golden beard. “I think so too. I wonder if Sans knew anything about this.”

“Negative,” Lady Lucidia replied. “This trait was not mentioned in any of his post-battle records. Sans Serif might have sensed it at a subconscious level, but I’m certain he didn’t have the opportunity to examine the trap. I can however reverse engineer the clauses if required.”

You don’t see the point of remaking that terrible magic…

“I do,” said Tsunderjudge. “There are ideas that need thorough testing. Meanwhile, we should discuss about bolstering the defenses around Ebott Town. I suggest--”

Without warning, Snakeface got up from the couch and ran out to the gardens. Both Mezil and Lady Lucidia chased after him. They didn’t give any explanations either.

What’s wrong with him now? His actions have started to rub you the wrong way. You understand that he’s been unstable, but this is really not the time for odd behaviour.

Cenna inhaled apprehensively. “I… I think I know why. Y’know, Frisky. There’s only one Seer in the whole world who has a titan-sized Armament. Or Skull Cannon. Or Gasterblaster. Whichever term you’re familiar with.”

Oh. It’s Snakeface, isn't it?

She nodded back. “Yep. The one and only. Heard from Lucy that it’s a spontaneous mutation. Most Armaments have a size limit. They get as big as a cow’s head at best. I’m not even sure if they could go elephant or whale-sized. Nothing of his scale, that’s for sure.”

And yet, your enemy towered over buildings…

……………

Could it be his long-lost daughter? The one who supposedly died?

“Impossible,” she answered. “That baby was born in the same year as you. Our destroyer here is already in her teens. Too old to be the babe from the tale.”

Drats. There goes your hope of a surprise survival.

Dad grieved when he heard about yet another dead child. “Oh, that poor soul. Such is a pain that never leaves.”

But what about rapid aging? Like a test tube baby. Or… what if that poor child was actually his second child? Maybe this teenaged terror is his secret first one?

To your surprise, Dad shook his head. “It’s too soon to conclude that. Perhaps someone was inspired by Sir Gaelic’s capabilities and attempted to mimic it. I’m not saying this based on looks or anything. Rather, skeletonkind shares something in common with Toriel and I.”

You tilted your head. What would it be?

“Both parents feed their life force -- their Determination -- to their offspring, even if we’re not physically connected. For Boss Monsters this process lasts a lifetime. For the skeletons it lasts only until birth. The more children they have, the frailer they become. The parents of the skeleton brothers passed away because they failed to recover from bearing two powerful children.”

“Gaelic himself is still very, very strong. Plus, he looks too youthful to have had multiple children. I mistook him as someone of Cenna’s age. In reality, he’s almost twice that number: about ‘45 Springs’.”

Isn’t that good news? Snakeface doesn’t need to beat himself up for his poor life decisions anymore.

“…Not quite…” Grillby furrowed his brows. “…It doesn’t change the fact… about possible genetic modification… It must be hard to accept… that his traits are weaponized… against the people he loves…”

Even then, maybe it’s an equally spontaneous mutation from their own separate research. If Dad's right, it didn’t have to have come from Gaelic.

“…We will need to analyze her SOUL… for confirmation…”

Lady Lucidia returned from the garden. Alone…? It seems that Mezil stayed behind to keep his friend company.

She sat down in her spot at the opposite sofa. Again, she looked at you with that same old dire pressure. You readjusted your bum on the cushions, trying to anchor your body and your heart.

"I've spoken to Gaelic," she said: “Crimson Keeper Frisk. King Asgore. I will ask you again… do you still want to capture our target alive?”

Yes. Definitely.

Your father agreed with you. “No matter her background or her potential future, we have too many unanswered questions.”

“I see,” Her face softened. “A mixture of idealism and pragmatism. It may benefit us in the long run. If that is the case, we shall build a strategy for capture. However, what will you do if the plan fails again? Will you keep rewinding time to make the appropriate adjustments?”

Of course! You’ll try until you can’t try anymore. That’s the spirit of a determinator. Doesn’t the Tsunderjudge do that too?

“He does. Ah… I’m just the one who’s more prone to despondency.”

Then, let’s turn that frown into a smile. It’s time to hatch a new plan.

…Wait. Didn’t the Tsunderjudge say that your magic would be vital? He was quite insistent on some Hub training. Cenna wanted to do her drill too.

What if we combine those lessons? She would need a target, right?

Lady Lucy replied: “A combined training of your criteria is easy to arrange. It’s also a fine proposal, as we Magi can teach you more comprehensive lessons at the same time. At least… far better than what Sans Serif had done.”

Did Lady Lucy just feel CHALLENGED? She totally absolutely felt CHALLENGED by Sans right there!

Leaning to your ears, Cenna whispered: “Yo Frisky, you mad? After the birds and the bees, you go and stir the hornet’s nest???”

Y-you were just trying to be smart and resourceful! Is Lady Lucy known for gruelling exercise courses?

“Wellllll… It’s gonna be tailored to your abilities, at least. She’s not gonna just throw you in the deep end like the old man. I think.”

W-what’s with that uncertainty???

Ugh. You hope that you’re not going to regret this.