Chapter 3

Present day:

Flowey finished reading the last lines of text on the monitor. They read:

I will save her but if I should fail and my work is discovered, please know... what happened here went too far.

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Chamber malfunction

power output: 30%

chamber failure imminent.

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“It ends there. Guess they never came back... Oh well, its not like the world needs another smiley trash bag”. Flowey jumped down from the console with a thud and scurried towards the door.

'What a waste of time this has been. All that effort for nothing.' he thought to himself.

He stopped in the doorway. a strange feeling washed over him. It had been such a long time since he had felt anything besides boredom. he couldn't quite find the words to describe it. Was it pity? Sadness? Guilt? He turned to look back at the tiny skeleton floating in the chamber.

'It wouldn't be right for me to just leave them there' Flowey sighed.

Returning to the room he pressed the buttons on the stasis chamber panel. With a clunk the chamber opened and the tiny skeleton fell to the floor. It slowly sat up and stared at him.

“Hi! I'm Flowey, Flowey the flower. Lets see if we can get you out of here” he said to her, turning back to the door. The tiny skeleton didn't move. “Can you understand a word I'm saying?” he asked irritably.

With a sigh he gently took her hand in one of his vines. “ Come on. Follow me”.

Slowly they made their way through the winding corridors of the lab. The tiny skeleton's feet making a quiet tapping sound on the stone tiles.

They stopped abruptly.

Flowey's eyes widened as he saw the puzzle in front of them. It had been the reason he had gone under the tiles in the first place.

In front of them the floor tiles were numbered from 0 – 9. On each side of the tiles, crudely carved into the wall, was the puzzle question.

'Damn' he thought to himself. 'I forgot this was here.' He looked up at the tiny skeleton. “ I hope your as good at puzzles as the logs said you were; For your sake. Now listen carefully.”

Flowey turned to the carving and began to read aloud. “A number’s persistence is the number of steps required to reduce it to a single digit by multiplying all its digits to obtain a second number, then multiplying all the digits of that number to obtain a third number, and so on until a one-digit number is obtained. For example, 77 has a persistence of four because it requires four steps to reduce it to one digit: 77-49-36-18-8. The smallest number of persistence one is 10, the smallest of persistence two is 25, the smallest of persistence three is 39, and the smaller of persistence four is 77. What is the smallest number of persistence five?- Oh I forgot to mention. If you get this wrong the traps will spring and you'll die. No pressure.” The tiny skeleton turned him a look of shock and horror on their face.

“OK,” Flowey continued with a smile, letting go of her hand for a moment. The tiny skeleton took a step forward, looking down at the numbers with determination. It was an odd thing to see on a monster.

“Lets see how good at puzzles you... really... are.”

The tiny skeleton quickly jumped across 3 of the number tiles. Each lighting up blue as she crossed. With a click all the traps disarmed and the door swung open.

Flowey stared at the tiny skeleton for a moment mouth agape. The little skeleton stood opposite beaming with pride. “How'd you do that? I was sure that thing had no... Well aren't you full of surprises. Lets keep going.” The little skeleton chuckled as Flowey took her hand once more and they continued on.

“Well here we are. One more door and were home free. Well free anyway. I don't see any way to- WHAT THE-!?!” A loud explosion sounded and shook the lab sending them flying. They quickly scrambled to their feet as water rose from beneath the tiles. Flowey climbed up the tiny skeleton, clinging to her arm. “WHAT HAPPEND?!” Flowey yelled in panic. “I thought you beat the puzzle.” He turned looking back the way they came. Parts of the lab had collapsed blocking the way. “There must have been a trap connected to the stasis chamber.”

The tiny skeleton looked around frantically as the water rose higher. Her eyes landed on a small gap between the old door and crumbling cave wall. She rushed forward and pushed Flowey through the gap. Flowey struggled against her.

“What the hell are you doing? Hey wait! AAAAAA!” he shouted, falling to the ground on the other side.

Flowey looked around hastily. His gaze landed on an oddly shaped control panel in the shape of a skeletal hand. Something clicked in his mind. There were only two monsters in the underground with hands like that. It was a long shot but it had to work.

He turned back to the tiny skeleton peering through the gap at him. “Don't worry. I've got an idea. I'm going to get help. I'll be right back.”

Water gushed through the hole as Flowey disappeared underground.

Flowey popped back up in a different part of waterfall, close to Undyne's home. Franticly he scuttled around looking in every direction.

“Oh please be here. Why aren't you here? YOU SHOULD BE HERE!” he shouted in panic.

“HELLO THERE FREIND” Said a kind and familiar voice.

Flowey turned to Papyrus. “I NEED YOUR ARM!” the tiny yellow flower said menacingly as he reached up and tried to pull the tall skeleton's arm off.

“WHAT! FLOWEY I -” Papyrus pulled back. half his arm popped off.

“YES!!!” Flowey yelled excitedly and scuttled off leaving Papyrus in the dust.

Papyrus stood there for a moment confused. “THAT WAS ODD.” he said to himself, attempting to scratch his head with a now missing hand. “HEY!WAIT!” he shouted chasing after Flowey.

Back at the lab water was spilling out of the cracks in the door at a rapid rate.

Pulling off the glove and steadying the stolen appendage, Flowey quickly reached up and tried to use the hand on the control panel. Sneaking up behind him Papyrus snatched his arm back at the last moment.

“Hey give that back!” Flowey shouted, his petals spiking up, a menacing look on his face. He swiped for the appendage. Papyrus easily kept it out of reach and re-attached his arm.

“FLOWEY THAT WAS RATHER RUDE! YOU CAN'T JUST TAKE SOMEONE'S ARM WITHOUT PERMISSION. YOU-”

“YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND!” Flowey shouted angrily. Concern was written all over his face.

Papyrus looks at him with worry. “ FLOWEY WHAT'S WRONG? I'M SURE I CAN HELP IF YOU JUST-.”

Tears welled up in Flowey's eyes. “SHE'S GOING TO DIE! I NEED YOUR HAND. IT'S THE ONLY THING THAT'LL OPEN THE DOOR! PLEASE! SHES GOING TO DROWN!”

Papyrus hurriedly put his hand on the control pad. Flowey climbed up and clung to Papyrus's neck. The door opened slowly. water gushing out and making them stumble.

They hurried inside.