Ringcaat

Alphys and Toriel Play Deltarune An Alphys and the Queen bonus chapter 10 p.m. Halloween night, last year. Alphys sat frozen at the desk, staring. Pop-up windows filled the screen. “This program has been installed by fewer than 50 monsters in the Underground. Are you sure you want to continue?” “This program may change your computer's settings.” “An unknown program has been detected trying to use cookies.” “This program does not have an authorized kernel. Authorize?” “Your other computers will probably not feel safe around you if you install this program. Install?” “This program is from an unknown publisher and cannot be confirmed Undernet-safe. Continue anyway?” Windows layered over windows with warnings. “You are taking your heart into your hands if you continue to install this program.” A heart-shaped cursor vacillated between options reading “Install” and “Don't”. “WARNING,” blared one window in yellow and blue. “THERE ARE TOO MNAY WARNING WINDOWS ON YOUR SCREEN i

Bonus Chapter: Extras and Commentary or “Last Goodbye” Welcome to the Special Features section of the DVD that is this serialized novel! It was good for me to go back through what I wrote and revisit it, digest it, figure out which loose ends I never addressed and so forth. I’d expected to have a not-too-lengthy commentary with material from selected chapters, but I wound up writing a mammoth document with material from EVERY chapter, and, well, basically, we’ll put that last, and you totally don’t have to read it. You get full credit regardless. Thanks very much for being my readers during this exciting creative portion of my life! This was my main creative project for about eleven months, and with this last post, it finally ends. What have I got for you today? I’ve got: DELETED SCENES UNUSED IDEAS RIDDLE ANSWERS BLOOPERS and a 14,000-WORD AUTHOR’S COMMENTARY THAT I’M A LITTLE EMBARRASSED BY. So let’s jump in! ======= DELETED SCENES Let’s start out with a juicy one. I

Scene 42: The Kingdom of Monsters or “Final Episode” The trouble with cutting edge entertainment, Mettaton reflected, is that it must cut. It must be fresh. The news is not called the trusty, tried and true, after all. It must be new to monsters, up to date. Which means that the process of planning a top quality show in the midst of uncertainty must necessarily be a pain. It was not the first time his thoughts had run this way, of course. The well worn paths of his mind tended to run wet with awareness again and again when he was in torpor, hanging from his support tree in the shape of a giant golden coat hanger. Even soporific thoughts were prone to staleness, not unlike entertainment stars. To create anything truly new required alertness, awareness, and real effort. Mettaton’s job was not one that could be done by someone half awake. Yet he needed this time each night to resynchronize his true mind with his robot brain. Without it, he went loopy and uncontrollable.

Scene 41: To Do It All Over or “Battle Against a True Hero” or “She’s Playing Fortissimo” or “SAVE the World” or “Run!” or “Undyne” This corridor had always been stuffy and cut off from the world, a place between places. Now it was chilled by Snowdin’s breeze. Toriel stood with Alphys’s hand on her own, facing down the angry fish warrior who had just discovered that they were in love. “It was my choice,” said Alphys. “At first, she didn’t want to be my girlfriend. She made me work for it.” Behind the hole in the door—this sturdy, ancient door which had stood for thousands of years, and only now was yielding to a terrible force—the piscine face was exploring new reaches of anger. The eye’s color changed. The corners of the mouth continued to expand. She was on a journey of disbelief. Toriel strove to master her fear. “That is true,” she confirmed. “I was reluctant to open my heart completely, for fear of what would escape.” She could feel her heart beating now. Four

Scene 40: You’re Going to Be Free or “Self-Determination” Teatime was quickly coming to be Alphys’s favorite part of the day. Of course, there was no actual Camellia sinensis in the Underground, so their tea wasn’t really ‘tea’… but Alphys only knew that from her animes. Any herb that tasted good infused in hot water was ‘tea’ for monsters, and they certainly had plenty of weird and nifty herbs. Toriel’s favorite variety was brewed from the hips and petals of golden flowers, but they couldn’t have that very often because their supply of golden flowers was limited to the tiny patch in the sun outside the catacombs. So instead, they sampled all sorts of different blends Toriel had learned to perfect over the centuries. Alphys was grateful and always made sure to attend to the complex flavors in her cup. Toriel would happily describe which notes and undertones she might want to pay attention to, and Alphys was thrilled to share the taste experience with her. It had always been a