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.761Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwaCG72l6lm
761Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzmU2mPaa5b
"Shh!"761Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ70FDQHiSxT
761Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuGsFQrvmz0
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.761Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwszgIHMMqW
761Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTaT7yDzzkR
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.761Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡn9IAJYUrZm
761Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8FPM0cwjRc
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'.761Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡX0lYOnD2X0
761Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq9dJLlbdKV
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.761Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4TjfntIvig
761Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIYPoU9k0qx
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.761Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXH8yv9TeWi
761Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxPtNfrBndJ
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.761Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtx4mq80p6s
761Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2v7WKb7NHM
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.761Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡk6S9MBbNAe
761Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8FUQcx8FPX
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.761Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOz5c7ob5SD
761Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG43ChZIixU
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.761Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaKB1Xz5o2h
761Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLoCLHrECfD
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.761Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBgVO8wD13q
761Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIM76slB9Q0
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.761Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡP8iQOUj5Au
761Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡujIh8q0UY2
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.761Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQNDlDzk9nI
761Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUWkJj8r94Z
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.761Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYi0AGpZrJ0
761Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHwRxcRl7U0
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.761Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTI9b3XXMrE
761Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnyLMOgsqLO
"There you are." Error!Sans said, "I've been looking for you, doggy."761Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBlBY57QFvz
761Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFDVwIyo5cH
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.761Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzYijaor7Vz
761Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIP3O3YCVGX
"That's my name." Error!Sans said, grinning all the wider. "Don't wear it out. Oh, that's right; you can't talk."761Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjzppXuI0uj
761Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWfYzETkVAf
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.761Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgWa2CVphc4
761Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiUXV9tOmwJ
"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!"761Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡc8Io6msrnh
761Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1LpfacaUDd
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.761Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7vKT9NFO4z
761Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfDevOaqp3A
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 ..."761Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7m3KD8tSFl
761Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0iJQaLBnoR
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.761Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6fVk3r8kRk
761Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡww5r9MTf76
"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?"761Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ784Kmg7tYd
761Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡu32GN0XwgX
Jake barked loudly at Error!Sans, still struggling to free himself from the blue threads.761Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZTCs7FRhTN
761Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡenOxKxFXez
"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!"761Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0HXwQQw4YL
761Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZBjxvu0A3N
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.761Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuZo7GRwqOa
761Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡj9zrOvpN5V
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.761Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNXqNEMOR0f
761Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqLapMi3KT7
A hand touched Jake's side. Jake turned to see it was little Frisk, her small face a mask of determination.761Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhmaKsldun2
761Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡD3mqhBQZha
"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'.761Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPAjVaXL31H
761Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxmZyGlhnOb
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.761Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuBuXD3HoJC
761Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoaitN2fgud
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.761Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRLAQnqaD5U
761Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡScVPmhGRC8
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?"761Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjM8LmA2AJP
761Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaZKsCtYEkp
Jake waited cautiously as Error!Sans looked around in confusion. After a few moments, he shook his skull and said, "I-I gotta go ..."761Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzirO0V1Qa4
761Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNyDBgbgIor
With that, Error!Sans was gone. Jake waited a few moments before deciding that he would likely not return for a little while.761Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1ywhD7efpE
761Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvLMgkewdFb
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.761Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3GJOpVUIXR
761Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwYpgDMM5yB
"I'm all right." She signed to him. "What happened? The black skeleton was shooting something at us, and then ... I can't remember."761Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbZBcErB2Or
761Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtQgAbyrw4l
Jake considered his options for response for several moments before tilting his head forty-five degrees and displaying his 'puzzled' face.761Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJpZtYnGWgc
761Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6kYKAasN02
Frisk giggled and rubbed his head. "Silly doggy! Come on; we really shouldn't be here. Mom will get mad."761Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡL0rH2Rn2tG
761Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡn6iE55SxAS
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.761Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1q4uyQPXZu
761Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlmpNHryNlp
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.761Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡz7gPSKiazy
761Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡECor3r710y
"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!"761Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzjoIARCpcN
761Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxnOapFlVnC
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.761Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLLbtADmNNm
761Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡA6EGUP3vsD
"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!"761Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5SUKV2hZ3e
761Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxFOJa1T6Wi
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!"761Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnR4YhqDrQ1
761Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUO9zjI9vrI
Flowey laughed again. Jake lunged at the flower, but it dove beneath the dirt and was gone in seconds.761Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXZ7KHDj6or
761Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLjYKG8V4N2
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.761Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXMKg88EkG9
761Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdz9ZeTvM0j
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.761Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡz3bGfGQBuB
761Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4mrqsBG9gJ
"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."761Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLAsfR3d5Io
761Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqgOr4nhEgO
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.761Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡT2A9ETJKqT
761Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9qcIVD6jlX
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.761Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ95efQPB6GY