"Oh, my head…"

Ruby sat up straight and rubbed her throbbing skull with her hand. She didn't want to think too hard with her head hurting like this, and her eyes were squeezed tightly shut. As the pain subsided, she opened her eyes to look at her surroundings; the last thing she remembered was climbing up the mountain with her teammates on a mission. She looked around but they were nowhere in sight; just a bed of golden flowers beneath her that seemed to have cushioned her fall slightly. For some reason, they didn't seem damaged at all.

Looking up, she could see the hole she'd fallen through. It was really high up, so she doubted she'd be able to climb her way back. She looked ahead of her and saw a hallway with an ornately carved doorway in going off to the left.

"Strange," she mused, "why are there ruins under this mountain?" As the pain in her head drew back, she collected her bearings and realized the whole cavern seemed to have been inhabited; several columns went up to the ceiling, but everything looked old and covered in moss.

Standing up, Ruby pulled out her Scroll to try and call Yang, but there was no signal- she was cut off. Stuffing it back into her pocket, she decided there was only one way she could go, stepping off the flowerbed and walking through the door.

The room she stepped into was incredibly dark, except for a small patch of light that shone down into the center of the room, in which was a small, yellow flower. As her eyes adjusted, Ruby could see another doorway on the opposite side of the room, She stepped forward, when suddenly she heard a voice.

"Howdy!"

Ruby jumped and darted her head around, looking for the source of the noise. It was a high-pitched, squeaky voice, but despite that, it sounded like a boy speaking. The voice seemed to have come from the middle of the room, but the only thing there was the flower.

"Down here!"

It was from the center of the room again. Ruby turned to look more closely at the flower and saw that it had a face, and it was smiling amicably. Immediately she jumped back with a yelp. "AAAHH! Talking flower!"

The little flower giggled. "Yep. That's me! I'm Flowey! Flowey the Flower! You must be new to the Underground, huh?"

Ruby took an apprehensive step forward. "Um… yeah. Can you tell me how I can get out of here? I need to get back to my friends."

Flowey smiled wider. "Sure! I can help with that. But first, someone ought to teach you how things work around here. I guess little old me will have to do." He winked, and little white dots appeared and hovered in the air around him. "Let's start with your SOUL: It's the very culmination of your being, and everything's about the SOUL down here. Your SOUL starts off weak, but it can grow strong if you gain a lot of LV."

"LV?" Ruby asked with a confused expression.

"Why, LOVE, of course!" Flowey explained. "Down here, LOVE is shared through little white… friendliness pellets." He smiled at the white dots in the air around him. "Here, I'll share some with you. Ready? Move around! Collect as many friendliness pellets as you can!"

The friendliness pellets moved slowly toward Ruby. This is getting really weird, she thought as she moved to stand in their path. Just before they reached her, the pellets darted forward, slamming into her stomach and knocking her backward into the opposite wall.

Ruby coughed and pressed her hand against her gut as she pulled herself onto her hands and knees. When she looked up, dozens of friendliness pellets filled the air around her, and Flowey's face was contorted into a horrifying grin. "You IDIOT." His voice had changed completely, becoming a menacing growl. "Down here, it's kill or be killed! Why would anyone pass up an opportunity like this?"

The pellets began to move toward Ruby, but she couldn't move. She shut her eyes tight and turned away as Flowey's maniacal laughter filled the room and the pellets slowly closed in.

Ruby waited for the pellets to hit her, but they never came. Instead, a warm feeling washed over her, melting away all of her pain. She looked up to see streams of fire arcing through the room, burning all of the pellets to ashes. Flowey got a terrified look on his face, and ducked down, burrowing underground and out of sight.

As Ruby picked herself up, someone knelt down next to her, and something soft rested on her shoulder. "What a terrible creature, tormenting such a poor, innocent, youth." said a motherly voice. Ruby looked up to see the strangest creature she had ever seen resting a furry hand on her.

It was clearly a female creature, her face shaped vaguely like a goat's, with small horns and soft, white fur covering her body. She wore a purple robe with white sleeves that had a strange emblem emblazoned on the front: a winged circle with three triangles beneath it. She smiled as Ruby looked up at her. "Do not be afraid, my child." she crooned gently. "I am Toriel, caretaker of the Ruins."