Timedog finally manages to communicate with Sans about Gaster, but doesn’t get the answer they’re expecting…

Yeah, it’s time for another written part! I know the written parts might not get looked at as much as the comic ones, but be sure not to miss this one, as there’s some important things here!

–Dogs of Future Past–

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Several quick shortcuts later, and the trio had exhausted all other possibilities as to where Gaster was. There was only one other place that he could possibly be, and that was where they were headed now…to the side entrance to the CORE.



While this place was a safe distance away from the apartment building that would eventually become Mettaton’s resort, it was still bustling with people and activity. A large metal scaffold had been constructed leading up to the CORE’s power base, and attached to it in an array of haphazard metal, wires and pipes, sat the time machine. Frisk recognized at least the shape of it from the curtained-off remains in Sans’ personal lab. Here, however, it seemed in much more of a complete piece. A team of scientists were running around, checking specs and readings, securing both the machine and the scaffolding to the enormous generator. The searing heat of the lava below them only made the scene more urgent and uncomfortable.

Greatest Dog was the first to speak up about all their shared worry. Once they turn on the machine…it’ll break up space and time and hurt the whole underground! Could we even stop it?

On this, Frisk wasn’t sure. They knew they had to save Gaster…but was it possible for them to do that without stopping the CORE implosion completely? “I think we should just concentrate on finding Gaster and making sure he’s nowhere nearby when the CORE implodes.”

So we’re just gonna let the implosion happen? Flowey asked.

“We don’t how what’ll happen to all of us if the underground loses the ability for people to save and reset! The important thing is saving Gaster. So that’s what we’ll do.”

This was at least something they could tenuously agree on. They started forward across the scaffolding, making sure to avoid the eyes of any scientists that might spot them and decide they weren’t supposed to be here. They did see Papyrus…but as he was hammering away at a piece of scaffolding while also trying to encourage it to be properly attached already!, they decided it better to not bother him.

By the time they got to the machine itself, it was clear…there was no sign of Gaster. There was one skeleton they still recognized, though…and that was Sans, who was reading over a hefty pile of blueprints. He noticed them enter the machine’s effect zone, and stepped forward, smiling but still looking a bit worried.

“Hey, pup, I thought ya might show up here at some point. You need to stay back, this place is dangerous.”

They listened and took a step back onto the scaffolding itself, but still looked pretty anxious. It felt like everything was happening around them and they were powerless to stop it. All that worry read on their face pretty clearly, and Sans picked up on it…just for the wrong reasons.

“Ya anxious, pup? I’m a little nervous myself. I know this is a risky venture…but it’ll be worth it once we’re back in time and can make peace with the humans.” He tried to offer them a genuine smile. “And hey, you said yourself things would turn out all right!”

This didn’t seem to make them feel any better. They just gave Sans a worried look, and kept pacing back and forth in front of him. Not being able to communicate this easily was beyond frustrating!

“I mean, I’ve got all of my notes and then some here to make sure we don’t miss a thing!” Sans held up something from his pile of papers, and squinted at it, suddenly looking confused. “Hell…so much info here, I don’t even remember what half of it was for.”

All of a sudden, a faint buzzing sound came from what seemed like behind Sans. He definitely recognized the sound, though, and placed the stack of blueprints on the ground before pulling his cell phone out of his lab coat pocket. “Oh….gimmie just a sec here, pup.”

While Sans busied himself with the phone, the dog took the opportunity to look at some of the blueprints and notes that Sans had dropped in front of them. On top of what appeared to be a main blueprint for the time machine was a hand-written log report…except it seemed to be written in weird symbols, mostly made up of hand signals.

“What does this mean?” Frisk asked, glancing over the notes frantically.

“Here…let me!” The dog shook out his head, and Flowey resumed control, peering closer at the notes. “I can read this font.”

You can? Frisk sounded surprised at this news.

“I can read any font. I had a lot of resets to mess with, and a lot of time to read every book in the underground. I taught myself to read every font there is.”

Flowey scanned over the log note, and his eyes widened…the symbols suddenly became all too familiar to them.

DARK, DARKER, YET DARKER

THE DARKNESS KEEPS GROWING

THE SHADOWS CUTTING DEEPER

PHOTON READINGS NEGATIVE

THIS NEXT EXPERIMENT SEEMS VERY, VERY INTERESTING

WHAT DO YOU TWO THINK?

…That’s what Reaper Bird said when we talked to all the amalgams! Frisk exclaimed.

It’s the bad memories! Greatest Dog actually seemed more anxious than ever. The ones in the shadows, the corners! They read this!

“But what does it mean?” Flowey asked, frustrated.

The three were so busy musing over the log entry that they didn’t even notice Sans finished his phone call and turned back towards them. He looked more annoyed than anything. “Keep gettin’ calls from this unknown number and then it’s nothin’ but static…” He pocketed his cell phone, and gave them a look of surprise. “Geez louise, don’t tell me you can read scientific font, too?”

They gave him back the one tail wag as a means of saying “yes,” as with their previous game of twenty questions. They also whined, desperate for some explanation.

A thought occurred to Sans, and he seemed to brighten up. “Say, pup…if you can read…can ya also write?”

The dog’s ears perked up, and they wagged their tail furiously. Yes, finally! This could be their chance to get something across to Sans! Sans picked up on the hint, and pulled a pen out of his other coat pocket. He handed it down to them so that they could grab it in their mouth, and flipped over one of the log pages to a blank space.

“Then here ya go! How ‘bout you get down what’s so important that you’ve been chasing me all over Hotland for it.”

Despite having limbs and paws now, it turned out that actually writing was even more difficult without fingers. Flowey, still in control, suddenly found that practice he’d been putting in writing with his mouth to good use…and even then, it still took a lot more time and effort than any of the three would have liked. But after a lot of careful scratching at the paper, they got down what they figured was the most brief and important message possible:

STOP GASTER

They dropped the pen, and stared up at Sans expectantly. The skeleton just looked down at the writing with confusion…almost disappointment.

“…I don’t get what ya mean, pup. What’s ‘Gaster’?”

The dog’s jaw fell open in shock. Out of all possible responses they could’ve gotten from Sans, this was the one they expected the least.

What does he mean?! How does he not know who Gaster is?

He’s the only one who remembered him in the first place!

Does that mean that he’s not even here at all? Did we fail the mission?

But…we’re here before the CORE implosion!

Sans didn’t look like he had the time to sit and wait for them to finish an internal debate, as he sighed and scooped up the papers and blueprints off the floor. “Sorry to cut this short, pup…but I can’t help ya if you don’t give me much to work with.”

The dog scampered about, trying to think of anything else to say or do, but all they could do was whine. “I know you’re worried, pup, but we’ve come too far on this to delay it now. Maybe once this experiment is done, and we’re all free…you can come back and we’ll have a much longer chat about what you know. Sound good?”

Honestly, that didn’t sound good at all to them. But what could they even do about it? It seemed like all of their plans had been thrown out of whack. They ran back to the time machine, and then back to Sans, practically growling with frustration.

“You better hurry along, pup. We’ll be starting up the machine soon, and this whole area won’t be safe for you. But you’ll know soon enough that it’s worked.”

What do we do now?!

Flowey, still in control, felt beyond frustrated at this. UGH! Let’s just GO!

With that, the dog took off running back across the scaffolding, not even caring who noticed them along the way. They left Sans behind, suddenly looking a lot less sure of himself. He looked back down at the scrawled message on the back of the log entry, eyesockets furrowed.

In his coat pocket, his cell phone buzzed once again.