I Kill For The Trees!

[Guu]

But, suddenly, to everyone’s surprise, Guu turned into a deer. This immediately caught the attention of the wolves, which halted their attacks. She did a flying leap over one of them and took off into the forest, causing the whole pack to chase after her.

“Guu! Where are you going?” Shouted Undyne.

Eventually, the sounds of the wolves quieted, disappeared into the wood.

A few quiet but confused minutes passed and the princess appeared from above the canopy, back in her default form. She floated down gently to the forest floor.

“Ice Bear wants to know what that was about.” Asked Ice Bear.

“I sensed a pack of deer not far from here through my senses, thought the wolves would rather eat then fight our non-nutritious asses.”

“If you were going to spare them, why did you kill that one wolf?” Asked Sans.

“It only had a day or so to live.” Replied Guu, pointing out the large gash along it’s side. “From what my senses told me of it’s anatomy, it had a painful death ahead of it. I consider what I did a mercy.”

“We could have taken ‘em.” Said Undyne, almost insulted to be spared another chance to prove herself on the battlefield.

“Oh, I know we could, but it’s best to save your strength. Our enemy is powerful. Don’t you think Ice Bear?”

“Ice Bear doesn’t know what you mean.”

“Your smell, don’t you find something odd about the trees?”

The bear took a long drawn out wiff. At first, he didn’t feel anything of importance. Trees, there was a squirrel climbing one, there was squirrel climbing thin are.

He took a few more whiffs and looked around. A good number of trees, he could see them with his eyes, clear as day, but he could smell their presence. He walked up to one of the invisible trees and lay a paw on it. It was certainly there, it was certainly real, but according to his senses, it just didn’t register.

It was much like how he couldn’t sense Guu, how she was blocking him from detecting her. Did some of these trees have that same ability?

“Ice Bear is confused.”

“We came here to fight an evil tree, one that might be infecting the forest.” She said, touching another tree herself. “When you can detect anything, you become wary of things shrouded in darkness. That’s where the true enemy lurks.”

She pulled her hand away and faced the group.

“No matter now, we need to speak with the elves before we can deal with it.”

After a little less than an hour’s walk, they approached the clearing of the the trees, as they gave way to roots bigger than many of the houses in Ambrosia. It was a tree that stood high above the forest floor, so huge that the elves have built a giant tree house city amongst its branches. Lights lit the pathways through it, making some of the group reminisce about Christmas trees, though this was far from a pine tree.

A woman, her skin purple, her eyes glowing, her ears extending passed her green hair, rode in on top of a white tiger and paused just a few feet ahead of them. She climbed off her tiger and politely bowed to the group.

“Princess Guu I presume.” She said, looking straight at the pink one.

“Did you guess from the fact I’m the only one you can’t sense?”

“Yep!” She responded.

Guu turned to Ice Bear.

“See what I mean?” She said to her polar comrade, before turning back to the elf.

“My name is Silentwolf, I’ll be guiding you to the High Priestess if that is fine with you, your highness.”

[Ice Bear]

Ice Bear took a look around the city. He stuck out like a sore thumb, in a city with typically shorter people. He made a note on the map he had made from his previous quest, and noted where the city he was currently in should be.

"What city is this?" Ice Bear asked.

"Beats me." Undyne replied. "Guu?"

"Yggdrasil." Guu replied.

Ice Bear blinked. "Ice Bear doesn't know how to spell that."

Guu spelled it out for him. "Y-G-G-D-R-A-S-I-L."

Ice Bear wrote that down on the map. He then noticed his stomach started to growl. So he sat down on a small outdoor bench to eat one of his candy bars. Unfortunately he was too big to sit on one of the benches made for elves... so he decided to sit on the ground next to one of them. He took out his candy bar, and kept watch over Guu and the others, so if they made a move or needed his attention he'd go to them in a heartbeat.

Passerbys couldn't help but gawk at the tall polar bear. Ice Bear tried not to pay them much attention, he knew he was the odd one out. Even in this new world he and his brothers might find cities they'd not be a snug fit in. It wasn't like Ambrosia.

He ate his candy bar.

Sans noted what Ice Bear was doing. "hey guu, should he be with us?"

Guu shrugged. "Give him his moment... he's had a long day. Then we'll get back to the task at hand."

The mysterious pink girl was right. Ice Bear not only traveled quite a bit, but he was also, before that, reunited with his brothers in the same day. He also faced what she assumed was his first major threats to his life - the man-eating plant and the pack of volves. The Bear deserved a moment to recollect.

And that's what Ice Bear did. He wondered how Grizz and Panda were doing back home. He also was wondering about the task at hand. If the carnivorous flytrap and the wolf pack were anything to go by, this next threat would be even greater.

[Undyne]

Undyne was a little irritated, not because Ice Bear was taking a break and eating but because she'd expected Guu to treat the matter with some urgency. Weren't they here for important reasons? Yet the princess was visibly taking things light-heartedly.

"Princess, would you have me do anything while we wait?" she inquired.

"You could get out of that armor for a start... we're among friends here. Why don't you try to socialize with the people here?"

That first bit was quickly taken care of, but the second part was easier said than done. Undyne sat on a bench and observed a bunch of elven kids play a ball game. Futtoboru, wasn't it? If she remembered the rules correctly from that sports anime it was about kicking the ball into the opposing team's goal using just the feet. But what irked her, she could not deny it, was that they looked very much like humans. Purple-skinned humans, yes, pointy-eared humans, yes, but still humans. Even though they were actually elves.

One of the kids kicked the ball at a bad angle and it came flying over. Undyne was about to step aside when she remembered the Princess's advice and she caught the high-flying ball with a frontflip, catching it between her feet and landing on the ground with it still there. She gave it a kick to make it roll back over to the two kids who were awestruck at the trick, and laughed. "Eat your greens and train every day kids, and you'll be able to do that when you're older", she said.

"Hey, we're not kids", one of them grumbled. "I'm turning 57 in three weeks!"

"Really now?" Undyne asked, smirking.

"Yes really!" the kid exclaimed and puffed up its chest. "And besides, I can do that jump too! I can take on you any day, fish-face!"

This made Undyne rub her chin amusedly. She was starting to like those hot-headed kids... though the way they were playing they wouldn't really develop any muscle or skill besides kicking a ball around. Maybe she could use the opportunity? "How about right now then, kiddo?" she asked and stepped into the playing field. "Show me what you can do. I'll guard the goal and you get that ball past me, okay?"

"You're on!" The kid took the ball and the others withdrew to take a look. "Best of five, and if I win you're gonna admit that I'm not a kid."

"Hmm, and if I win..." She looked over to the bench she had just sat on. "Then you and your friends get to be my training weights for a bit, okay?"

"Deal!" It put the ball down and took two steps to prepare for a mighty shot. Undyne expected to block the ball easily... but she found that her little opponent wasn't all talk. The first ball whizzed past her and straight into the goal, the second one she grazed but couldn't hold it, the third one missed... the fourth and fifth however she was able to catch, and since the missed ball counted in her favor, that was a win. Narrower than she'd expected!

"Oi, Sans. Why don't you join in?" she asked as she picked the bench up and put it before the defeated kids. "Here, make yourselves comfy and enjoy the ride."

"what's up, undyne? are you showing off again?" asked Sans as he came up. The kids let him sit among them and clung to the bench as Undyne lifted them over her head.

"I thought that these little weenies might like to see what happens if you do proper exercise every day", Undyne replied with a grin. "Maybe one of 'em will grow big and strong like me some day, eh?"

"would you want those kids to work themselves to the bone, like papyrus?" the skeleton asked, lazily draping his arms over the back of the bench. The kids were enjoying the ride after the initial surprise and shock, and squeaked with excitement.

"Well, let's just say that Pappy's exercise paid off more than he realizes. And hey, they're still young! In a group this big there's BOUND to be one or two that'll save the world when they're older. I thought I might nudge them in the right direction."

[Guu]

“Excuse me,” spoke the elf, gaining the attention of Guu and her chosen warriors, “But the High Priestess Tyrande Whisperwind will see you now.”

She lead the group up a flight of steps, giving the four a view of the grounds below. The enigma was getting flashbacks to her time in the in the Ninja village, going up to see Tsunade in her office. She began to wonder if she needed a tree office, too, just to keep to the standard.

Tyande’s office looked more like an indoor garden than anything, which flora clinging to the walls, refusing to let the room appear manufactured. Behind what could have been a desk, was the night elf herself, dressed in some sort of magenta armor with broad pointy shoulders.

“High Priestess, Princess Guu of Ambrosia.”

The imposing turned her glowing gaze towards the young Princess. For moment, it almost seemed like she was studying her. Then she turned her attention to her comrades.

“Princess Guu, you bring strange company to these sacred lands.” She said, her accent sounding something from the Caribbean, at least that’s what it sounded to Guu’s ears.

“I bring strange company everywhere.” The princess retorted.

Priestess’ stern composure and she got a light chuckle out of that.

“So I’ve heard.” She stepped out from behind the desk of sorts. “Elune-adore, fair princess and her royal accompaniment.”

“Ishnu-dal-dieb, High Priestess of Elune.” Guu replied after a brief pause, giving a polite curtsey.

The priestess raised a brow.

“You did research on our language.”

“Anu’dora,” she responded. Little did she know, the princess was cheating a bit. She was using her her stomach lining as fingers on her phone screen and using her senses to feel what elvish word she had to say through a hard-light hologram function.

She was looking up the next set of words when the Priestess spoke up again.

“Excuse me, but we may need to keep the pleasantries short and move onto the mission briefing, that is if it’s alright with you.”

“Quite alright.” Guu said, as she goes through hundreds of troll pages from elf haters; not internet trolls the other kind. Apparently trolls aren’t fans of the elves.

Tyrande rolls out a number of scrolls on her desk as Guu and others gathered around. Ice Bear, Sans, Undyne watched intently, uncertain if they were allowed to speak at this point or not.

One of the scrolls was a map, the other was a number of drawings and sketches, some of a woman, the rest of some strange tree.

“Her name is Medis Strom. Our information concludes she may have trained briefly in Daleran in Camelot, but she has since dropped. It is unknown how, but she has become a powerful witch in her time alone.

“She has come to possess a mighty tree in our woods. Unfortunately, the life of the tree has been robbed by her, but she’s keeping it up as an undead husk, growing only its roots. She’s been strangling other trees around her, killing them, and slowly possessing them too. When the tree dies and dries up, that’s when she uses her fire magic to break them down, turning them in Golems of scorched wood. We don’t know how big her army has gotten, but leaving her to her devices she could become a threat to all the Tangled.

“Our own attempts to take her down has been futile. The life she had been draining from the trees must have enhanced her own magic to an absurd amount. With her apparent psychic abilities, she is able shut down our soldiers before we can even reach her. She just gets into their nervous system and shuts them off. We can’t even get close. We’ve lost too many.”

She sighed heavily, before continuing.

“Well, that’s why we need a powerful psychic like Guu.”

She pointed to a circled area on her map.

“Here is the range of her mental field, if Guu focuses, she can block her mental attacks, allowing for her guards to go in and cut her down, breaking her connection to the woods. That should depower her enough to take her out, dead or alive.”

“You sure I can do that?”

“No doubt. Your telepathy is well recorded, and your ability must be high if even I struggle to scan you.”

Apparently Guu must have been slipping if they have that information.

“Now I should note, while her roots have reached many trees, only the ones that are dry or scorched are dead, the trees that are still alive are still fighting, they can be saved. Please don’t harm them. These are our woods, and I feel that’s reasonable request.”

“Alright, fair enough. But the dead ones are fair game.”

“Yes, yes they are.” She reiterated. She looked over the group one last time. “The mission will be dangerous, but considering this, do you accept?”

Guu looked to her companies. Undyne was quick to nod, eager to start already. Ice Bear nodded, he had come this far. Sans simply gave a thumbs up, which the princess interpreted as a yes.

“Yep, we accept. We’ll help you here.”

“Asha’falah, and thank you.”

[Ice Bear]

Ice Bear prepared himself mentally for the task at hand. It was bigger than he had expected, but if there was indeed a threat to his new home, he must pursue the threat and eliminate it. He wasn't sure how to do so at first wtihout harming other trees, but he was resourceful. Ice Bear could find a way to do this.

He and the others started towards where this witch was. He took inventory once again, noting his fire extinguisher, fire axe, and the remaining candy bar supply.

However, he couldn't help but feel a sense that this might be a little out of his league. He was sworn to protect his new home, especially since Guu had helped him so much and his brothers now lived there... but he wanted assurance.

"Guu... Ice Bear can't lie, a bit scared."

Guu nodded. "It's reasonable. This is your first major battle against something. Aside that Audrey II knockoff back there, you've not had much combat... but with Undyne, Sans and me by your side, I'm sure we can accomplish this. Now chin up, there is an evil witch to be banned."

Ice Bear nodded in agreement. Guu had been right so far, so why doubt her now.

"heh, i guess this mission has to give you paws..." Sans said, pointing at Ice Bear's gigantic clawed hands.

Ice Bear glared at Sans. "Bad Sans."

The group started towards where the stumpy witch resided.

Undyne wondered. "What's our gameplan... like we know what you must do Guu, but what do we do?"

Ice Bear shrugged, agreeing with the fish knight. "Ice Bear likes game plans."

[Guu]

“Well,” began Guu, trying to think of the best words to put it considering she hadn’t even sensed the battleground yet. “I was thinking Undyne will be first in. The tree willl have foot soldiers, they’ll be fairly fragile so we just need to get a massive attack in to take down as many at once as possible. They’ll probably send their bigger forces as soon as they realize how powerful you are, so give them your all in that regard.

“Sans, along with providing cover with his ranged attacks will be firing at the tree herself. She’ll probably block it, but it’s still crucial, wouldn’t hurt for Undyne to throw some spears at the tree when she can. It’s important that both the forces and the tree are preoccupied with you two.

“Because that’s how Ice Bear will sneak in and take on the tree stump with his axe. As soon as he starts chopping, we need to make sure he finishes his task. Everything rides on it from there.

“If we can separate her from the ground, her forces should dissipate and her psychic field should go down. I’ll be able to join in from there, and she should be easy to incapacitate.”

[Undyne]

"Alright! So my role here would consist in keeping the grunts busy, tossing a spear or two at the tree if I see an opening, and protecting Ice Bear once he starts lumberjacking?" Undyne recapitulated.

Guu turned her head. "That's right... out of the four of us Ice Bear has the greatest physical strength, and his axe is the best suited for chopping down a tree. He's also quick enough to dodge the slow attacks that I imagine the tree will be using to defend herself. Sans's attacks are fast, which is why he'll be best at supporting both Ice Bear and you - he can be where he needs to be quickly, and he has enough power to draw their attention even if he can't kill them outright. You, with your armor, have the greatest defense out of our group and thus you can shrug off the little attacks while your Spearstorm attack and your sword are well-suited for hitting many opponents at once."

"... I have to ask, Princess, how do you know about my spears? Did I summon any in your presence?" she asked. She hadn't shown her Spearstorm attack to anyone, not even to Flowey! How could Guu know...

"I thought you knew that by now?" Guu asked with that constantly-bored expression of hers. "I have the power to find out these things... I already knew what you're capable of when I knighted you."

"That soon? Really?" Wow. That was amazing... capable of gauging the strength and abilities of her opponent to such a fine degree without even fighting them! No wonder that Guu was a Fighting Princess. She grinned. "Well, I am honored to serve such a great liege!"

[Guu]

“Ice Bear has a question,” began the bear, grabbing the attention of the others, “how do you know so much about the wood constructs? You seem confident in your knowledge.”

“Oh, because they’ve been setting up an ambush for 10 minutes now.” Bluntly stated the Princess.

“Wait, what?” Called out Undyne, summoning a spear into her grasp. “Why didn’t you tell us?”

“I just did.” Guu said, stretching her arms out for the big fight, her joints bending all the wrong directions.

The fish knight was so close to chewing out Guu for her lack of communication on the matter, but then she remembered that most anime protagonists were annoying bastards, too. Further confirmation on her choice of leader.

Ice Bear sharpens his axe as Sans and Undyne gets into position, facing the endless expanse of forest ahead. Slowly, coming in from the brush, was a pack of wolves, each one built from burnt sticks and twigs. They growled as smoke poured from the cracks, revealing the fire burning within.

Ice bear joins in amongst his comrades as the group of twenty timberwolves close in on their position from all sides.

Suddenly, Guu’s arm appears above them, stretching an incredible length towards the circle, obliterating a wolf in a single punch. It was nothing but a smoking pile of sticks on the ground.

The arm returned to its master, who was floating 10 feet above her group’s heads. She looked down and gave them a knowing smile.

“What did I say? Frail as hell.”

With that, the Timberwolves charged.

[Undyne]

Undyne was the first to act when the - literal - timberwolves charged. Her spear, thrown with full strength, hit the closest wolf head on, pierced through its head and into its body until almost half the shaft's length was buried in the wolf. But as the spear vanished, the wolf fell apart and two more promptly took its place, undeterred. They were fragile, but it twenty of them against only four individuals that had invaded their territory. Had they known better, perhaps they would have fled. But they did not, and so they attacked.

As Undyne summoned a new spear she was momentarily exposed, which two of the wolves took as an opportunity to jump, baring their wooden fangs. She raised her arm to defend, but before either of the two could reach her Ice Bear, who had been just to her left, brought his Fire Axe down on its neck. The freshly sharpened blade cleanly decapitated one wolf and he kicked the other one's stomach, throwing it off course so it flew past the group on the ground. As he put his foot on the wolf on the ground and pulled his axe out of the smouldering carcass he looked at her.

"Thanks, big guy", Undyne said and grinned. She summoned a second spear because the wolves, taken aback by the resistance of their prey, now took to circling them, looking for openings and thus giving them time to reassemble themselves.

"Ice Bear is happy to help", the bear replied and shook the axe to remove the chips of wood on it. Meanwhile, the wolves had formed a circle around them as they moved counter-clockwise, always looking out for an opportunity to strike. The one that had been kicked away had also rejoined the group, leaving them with eighteen - that is until one attempted to leap at Ice Bear as his back was turned and was promptly shot down by Guu's fist. Floating overhead she was both untouchable to the wolves and had an overview of the situation, able to intervene when necessary.

"Sans?"

"i'm right here", said the skeleton. Having stood between Undyne and Ice Bear during the skirmish so far, he had not become a target yet. This lazybones hadn't even removed his hands from his pockets!

"Help us out here. If we stand back-to-back we can defend each other." She thrusted both spears forward and drove back another pair of wolves which attempted to flank Ice Bear, but didn't get close enough to land a decisive blow. The bear himself didn't need a prompt: he backed up and stood shoulder-to-shoulder against Undyne, leaving Sans to complete the triangle. The wolves tightened their circle but still did not attack.

Then a particularly large timberwolf, the largest member of the pack, split itself from the pack, and with it five of the other wolves followed, attacking far more fiercely than the single ones before. Undyne blocked a bite with her spear, but the energy weapon dissolved as the large wolf's jaws bit through it, snapping it in half. Guu continued to punch from her vantage point, but could only take out two of the six wolves. As Ice Bear struggled with a wolf that had bitten the handle of his Fire Axe and tried to wrestle it from his grip, he too was busy. But before the situation could really get hairy the large wolf was hit by a large white beam that sent it flying until it smashed into a tree. It was more resistant than its smaller companions and stood back up, but several pieces of bark and twigs fell off its body as it did.

"What...!" She turned to look where that beam had come from, but all she caught a glimpse of was some large white shape disappearing. And Sans bringing his hand up to scratch his nasal cavity with his pinky, as if the fight didn't concern him at all. "Sans! Did you do that?"

"no idea what you're talking about." From the angle he stood at to Undyne, she could not see that his eye was slowly fading from yellow back to blue.

"But I..." She looked up at Guu who was focusing her attention onto what presumably was the Alpha wolf. "... never mind. Just try to give us a hand here."

"i would, but i need it myself."

"... Ice Bear wants to smack Sans after this is over."

[Ice Bear]

Ice Bear was running out of patience for these wolves made of timber. He decided to try something different, not sure it'd work - but if they were very much alive, it was worth a shot.

"Spot Ice Bear." He said as he took out his fire extinguisher. "Undyne, be prepared to spear them to kingdom come if this works."

Three large timberwolves were approaching from the pack.

Undyne agreed. "You think that's gonna work?"

"It worked on that plant back there, it just might work on these." Ice Bear said, pointing his fire extinguisher right into the timberwolves faces.

"Timber." Ice Bear uttered as he unleashed all the contents of the fire extinguisher into the three timberwolves faces. They started choking uncontrollably. Ice Bear nodded and grabbed his axe, chopping one's torso off, while Undyne stabbed another with a spear. Both wolves were broken up - the last one of the formation started a retreat, but Guu punched it in the side, breaking it into pieces. The other wolves retreated off into the distance, realizing they were now outnumbered.

"Their bark is worse than their bite." Ice Bear said, wiping the sweat off of his head. He then shook his fire extinguisher to refill it.

Guu and Undyne paused. "Are you taking over for Sans on the puns?"

Ice Bear shrugged his shoulders. He continued shaking the extinguisher. It was now full and ready for another use.

Undyne caught her breath. "Was that as good for you as it was for me, Guu?"

Sans sort of chuckled.

Guu wiggled her arms in agreement.

[Guu]

However, the celebration ceased when the sticks began to glow a hellish red light. They started to float up in the air and move off into the woods towards the suspected direction of the tree.

“Ice Bear is in disbelief.” Said the polar bear.

“Heh, doesn’t look like the fight’s long from over guys!” Called out Undyne, grinning from ear to ear. “Not complaining, wood’s got nothing on me!”

“Well, yeah, you’re a lesbian.” Stated Sans.

“Tread carefully heroes!” Guu said in her social voice, refusing to acknowledge Sans’ comment. “The big bad is up ahead.”

The group run into the words, the trees around them looking more dead as they got closer to the heart of madness. Many of them were burnt black, ash covered the ground like dirt. Burnt tree branches shatter under the weight of Undyne’s stomp. Soon, the scorched woods outnumber the living ones; all around them was death. To our heroes, it gave a sense a dread, a sense of impending doom. It was something to lose your breath over.

Undyne’s lungs were burning. Ice Bear began to notice it too. They were no longer running, they were no longer thinking. Death hung heavily on their minds. They were no longer breathing. Who could breath at a time like this? What’s the point of going on? How long until their hearts stop and they’d be free of this stupid mission, this mortal coil.

They could be doing anything right now, they could be doing ANYTHING right now but opposing me. I’m not harming anyone by existing. Those trees were stuck to the ground, I am their messiah. I am their master. I’ve freed them from the greedy clutches of the Earth, and you, pathetic, ruthless white knights think it would be a much better world without me in it.

“Get out of my head!” Said someone.

Yes, waste that breath, bring you closer to oblivion. Best not to fight the end. Unlucky for you, you’ll come back, and then you’ll never come back here. I’m being nice right now, don’t make me pierce your heads, or give you a heart attack. It would be easier, but I’m being merciful by letting you die by your own accord.

“I don’t have lungs.” Said someone else.

I know, unfortunately, I have a different death planned for you. I’m just holding you in place for last. Not that you’ll do anything to stop me. You don’t give a shit about anything, and considering your current company, I don’t blame you.

“Ice Bear can hold his breath for a long time.” Said someone else.

Then at least you get to watch fish girl die first. Aint that fun? We are having fun right now. Isn’t this better than trying to kill me? Hahaha, isn’t it so much better with me in control? The elves sent you three here thinking it would change the natural order of things. Nice to know that mortal never chan-



Suddenly, the voice in their heads cut off. The ones that breath convulsively suck in air to their stinging lungs as they gain a sense of what’s going on.

Just behind them, Guu’s face is scrunched up as she pressed her hands against her forehead. She strained, a bead of sweat rolled down her forehead.

“I’m blocking her, go! Hurry!” She yelled.

With full control of their bodies restored, the trio take off further into the scorched woods. It didn’t take long for the threat to be clear. Amongst a large clearing was a large was a tree with black bark with a red streak going through it in a spiral. Its branches twist into the air as if they were in agony, the bushels of leaves take a sickly pale color. The branches began swing around wildly in response to the heroes’ arrival.

Approaching from behind the tree, the remaining timberwolves were joined by timbermen, all brandishing various martial weapons made from hardened wood. Behind the small brigade, the sticks and twigs of the fallen Timberwolves were slowly forming together, taking the shape of a giant wolf. Even in it’s unfinished state, it was almost as tall as the witch tree.

Without hesitation, our heroes charge into the fray, ready for the final confrontation of their adventure.

[Undyne]

The sight of Princess Guu sweating with effort caught Undyne offguard: was this witch-tree really that powerful, so much that even the Princess was pushed to her limits with just protecting them from the mental intrusion?! Then this meant that they were indeed facing not just a powerful but trivial arc villain, but a genuinely dangerous antagonist! And if anime had taught her anything it was that these battles always went the sane way: first, their plan to have Ice Bear chop the tree down would fail at the last moment, maybe the tree had even foreseen it all and was luring them to break their spirits, and Sans, Ice Bear and she would get knocked down and struggle to keep their consciousness. Then Guu would have her Berserk Button pushed when the tree threatened to kill her love interest in some horribly slow and painful way - and out of their group, said love interest was most likely to be Ice Bear, unless Guu had a secret crush on Sans. She would activate her secret superpowers and go one-on-one against the tree after single-handedly crushing the mook timberwolves, thus prompting the three of them to push themselves back to their feet and unleash a group attack with the remainder of their strength, allowing Princess Guu to strike the decisive blow. And then Ice Bear would carry them all under his arms and run out as the tree collapsed and/or exploded.

Certain of their eventual victory she bared her rows of pointed teeth for her broadest grin, one that was reserved for two occasions: one being when she saw Alphys, especially if it was after a while of them being separated, and the other being when a battle was brewing that she'd get to be in. Twin spears, crackling with excess magic, materialized into her hands and she tilted her head to the left and right until it cracked. "Ahh... that warmup's got my blood rushing! Now come at me so I can cut you apart!" Of course she would ultimately be defeated by the tree but it would make Princess Guu's job easier if the mooks had their numbers thinned out a bit before that happened. And she couldn't let her have all the fun, right?

She was about to charge in when a flat-tipped bone bursted out of the ground next to her and shoved her to the side. Caught by surprise, she stumbled a few more steps before catching her balance. The next moment a giant timberwolf crashed into the spot she had been standing at two seconds ago and shattered the bone before sliding forward, pulled by its own momentum. "Wha..."

"you're welcome", said Sans as he put his hand back in his pocket and showed her his big smile.

"... thank you. I didn't know we had more enemies behind us." She turned and checked, but the enormous timberwolf was the only enemy that had been behind them, and now that side was clear. Facing back forward, she bared her teeth again. It was not for a grin, but for an angry grimace. "I'll get you for this." She thrusted her spear forward, summoning numerous blue spots at the feet of the incoming timbermen. The simple-minded constructs did not even take notice and ran straight into the dotted area, then found themselves shredded by the spears that shot out of the ground and stabbed them from their unprotected bottom side. While the surprise attack took down eight of them, there were dozens more men and wolves to take their place, and the big timberwolf had also recovered and was turning to face and attack them.

She looked around as she threw one of her spears into the mass and waited not to see if it hit, but summoned a new one. Ice Bear had taken the chance of the initial chaos to hide... probably going for the witch tree while her efforts were focused on the two of them. Guu was still focused on maintaining the mental barrier, and Sans was waving his hand around like a dirigent - a lazy dirigent who used only one hand and kept the other in his pocket. He summoned more bone spears that slid along the ground towards the robotically advancing tree-monsters. Good... their work was to draw their attention and keep them busy. She stabbed the closest wolf through the head and prepared to block an incoming hit, only to have the forces run past her. They were beelining towards Princess Guu!


"Sans! Protect the Princess!" she yelled as she prepared another area attack of Steel Rain, this time with spears raining from above. This was not according to plan! Unlike with their previous battle Guu was too busy to guard herself from attacks this time around, and the numbers were overwhelming. It was a good thing that she wasn't alone. Sans and her took Guu's left and right facing outwards and Undyne exchanged her spears for her sword Taitan, which gave her the necessary reach to keep the timbermen at bay, while also putting her helmet on. Single attacks came through every so often but the hardened wood couldn't pierce her heavy armor, allowing her to take most hits and only getting staggered for it.

Then out of the corner of her limited field of view she saw a white glow just like the one from earlier. She finished the swing of her blade and pulled her helmet off with a quick motion of her hand as she spun to face Sans. "Ha! This time you can't deny it!" she yelled. Indeed, the skeleton had summoned a... what the hell was that?! She was so stunned by the sight of the huge floating skeletal head that she nearly forgot to swing Taitan again. But there was no mistaking it, this huge thing had fired the white laser beam that she had seen.

Sans turned to look at her and she could see the glow in his right eye while the skull fired another beam from its maw, blasting two wolves. "you saw it this time?" he asked.

Undyne grabbed him by the collar and lifted him off the ground. "Don't you act so casual about it! That skull is the exact same-"

She saw the shock in Sans's eyes and his mouth opening but by the time that she realized that his shock wasn't because of her outburst it was too late. Sans was knocked out of her hands when the giant timberwolf pulled the same trick on her as before, and this time it worked. Its claws dug into her armor and pierced her skin like soft butter while its fangs bit into her shoulder. Everything became a blur but from the corner of her eye she could catch a brief glance of Guu and Sans moving away from her - or rather, she was being pulled away from them! She opened her mouth to scream but then the ground knocked against her back and the brutal impact knocked the air out of her lungs before the wolf crushed her, its sheer weight bending her chestpiece and pressing it against her chest. "Y-you... damnit...!" She materialized a large spear into both hands and stabbed the wolf through its lower jaw with it, but the beast showed itself unimpressed. It shifted its weight onto its hindlegs... and dragged its claws downwards along her chest, leaving three cuts along each side from the sides of her chest to her stomach.

When it backed away chunks of shredded armor were pulled off of Undyne's chest. The entire chestpiece had been torn apart like a tin can in a meat grinder. It had been thick enough that the claws hadn't cut deeper than that, but that wasn't necessary. The giant timberwolf didn't need to destroy her vital organs to kill her... it was enough if it broke her SOUL. And with the certainty characteristic to a predator it knew that it had mortally injured her.

She heard a voice yelling her name but she could not make out whose it was. The wolf above her became blurry too, she could see it back away to let her succumb to her injuries and to go for her friends. Killed not even by the Big Bad, but by one of its lackeys? Was this thing even conscious? What a joke... she looked up. The sun was shining down on her from a clear blue sky as if it was oblivious to it all. Her SOUL was cracking through the middle, before long it would fall apart like a piece of glass dropped on the floor. "Sorry, Princess, I... failed you..." she whispered

... no.

She could not allow herself to die... not now...

The wolf, it would attack Sans, it would destroy him as it had killed her... and Guu would not have the three of them to back her up... their mission would fail and the tree... the witch-tree would spread its powers far and wide, it would take everything over. The trees, maybe the entire forest, everything would be withered away by its powers. She could not allow that to happen. She could not allow herself to die.

She knew not where this power deep within her came from, a feeling that she vaguely remembered from her battle against Flowey, but right now she could not care less. Like sticky putty it enveloped her cracked SOUL, prevented it from shattering, held it together, returned her strength. New power pumped through her limbs. She reached out to grab Taitan and pulled her eyepatch off with her other hand. "I can't let you hurt my friends..." she said as her torn armor reformed over her chest, now pitch black with a huge red heart in its center. "Not with this much at stake." There was that grin again, that grin when she sensed a good battle. She registered it with her rapidly fading consciousness. "Come face me, big wolf. I, Undyne, will destroy you!" Her last two conscient thoughts were that she would have to leave the witch tree in the capable hands of her three friends. And the other one was for the last words that she spoke in that battle.

More effort is required. "Motto doryoku ga hitsuyodesu."

Undyne has transformed into Undyne the Undying (SP: 3/4) and will remain in this form for the remainder of the battle!

[Ice Bear]

Ice Bear was terrified. This witch was unlike anything he's faced: from the Roomba to Nomnom's sharks... this was truly the most dangerous beast he's ever faced. And seeing Undyne try to attack the vile antagonist in front of her - and faltering majorly - made Ice Bear scared. He had to put on the game face. And then, he saw Undyne, standing in a new form, like something out of an anime that Panda would watch. Ice Bear knew from that, these powerful forms are often hard to control. Sans stepped in to help protect the princess.

Undyne was unapproachable in terms of reaching her: she was on full berserk mode, and ready to kick some woody witch arse. She was above a boiling point of 10,000 suns. Ice Bear continued to prowl. He was scared, but he was slowly approaching his destination - the tree witch.

Ice Bear kept doing ninja moves as he hid behind every shrub, wooden corpse, or boulder he could find. He had a deadline right to the tree to cut it into bitty pieces - but Ice Bear couldn't get to it easily without a major distraction. He could axe it repeatedly, but only if he had a clear way at it.

Sans stood in awe of what was happening. He should have seen something like this coming, but... he was unsure on what to say or do. So to just do what he does best - help along the way. The wolves around Undyne were in awe of her form, and one decided to lunge at her - and it was bashed in, killed instantly into a thousand splinters.

Ice Bear was in prime position, but he hunched behind a boulder, about twelve feet between him and the target. He put his axe in his mouth, cuz he'd need all fours to achieve max speed. All he needed was a cue of some sort. If Undyne couldn't talk in this form, and Guu using all her strength to block the psychic mindwaves, Sans was the only one outside Ice Bear. Ice Bear hoped he could pull this off.

Undyne bashed in another couple wolves, shredding them into wood chips. The witch-tree was shocked at the sheer power of this form of Undyne. And for the first time in the battle, she felt a twinge of fear.

[Guu]

Pitiful, worthless. Your friends can’t even protect you no less themselves. Is it for them you fight? You don’t seem the friendly type. Maybe it’s because of that artifact in your stomach? Yeah, that’s it. You took this mission thinking it would be an easy reward, and found yourself overwhelmed. Now you refuse the easy route entirely so you don’t lose the shiny yellow star piece in your belly when you die. I wouldn’t worry, I’d put it to way better use than you ever did.

How did I know about that? Hah, you left yourself truly vulnerable when you fought against me. I have to admit, if I had encountered you before the Omniverse, I would have surrendered. Daughter of a god, a true monster. But Omni has turned you into a fleshy creature. No, he did worse than that, he turned you into a hypocrite. You created a place like Ambrosia, yet you decided to judge me for wanting to build my kingdom? Give me a break.

Be honest with me, if you didn’t have that shard with you, you’d be running. Why do you think you’ve survive this long without resurrecting? Your past has made you fearful of death, more than the fleshy mortals that follow you. It’s why you ran during DA, it’s why you stayed out of major conflicts in the Omniverse. You are a coward, a simple coward that desires power. Nothing more, nothing less.

‘For someone who’s slipped passed my defenses, you sure know very little about my intentions.’

Oh? Did I misinterpret you? I’ve only read your whole history, I think i’d have a way better insight on who you are than you have yourself. Then again, I guess the ego would never allow us to believe we could be read so easily. That’s pitiful as well.

This whole group is just sad. It’s the saddest one of them all. A fish that thinks you’ll save the day at the end and marry a polar bear. A skeleton who thought he could just come here for kicks. A bear way over his head. A princess wanting to play the tough badass. Really, Ice Bear is the only one of the group that has any sense whatsoever. Everyone else, delusional. What happens to you today will be a mercy.

‘Wordy son of a bitch, aren’t you?’

To be honest, I was trying to make you slip up. You may be a hypocritical dumbass princess, but you are definitely stubborn. It’s unfortunate, that would have been the easy way to end this. Oh well. Continue with the hard way. We’ll continue this conversation when all your friends are dead.






All the twigs and branches from the fallen timberwolves and timbermen start to be surrounded by a red dim light as the floated over to the large timberwolf. He accumulated them into his body making him stronger, more durable. He was eyeing down Undyne the Undying. He knew his master wanted the most dangerous member of this party gone.

A number of wolves parted to make way for the big one as it stepped towards the battle fish. Some of the wolves even willingly broke apart to join the big wolf, adding to its already abundant size.

Undyne’s grimace was unwavering, she fearlessly looked her target straight in the eyes. The creature’s holes billowed smoke from the fire deep within. It growled lightly, which was still loud enough to be heard clear across the battlefield.

Suddenly, the two charged each other, Undyne with her spears out, and the beast with his maw wide open, sharp teeth posed to strike.

Confident in her minion, the tree itself turned its attention towards the rest of the group. She shook loose some of her leaves which suddenly whizzed through the air, turning into mini razor’s heading straight for San’s head. He barely ducked out of the away. In almost a reflex response, he fired a beam towards the branches. He managed to take out a limb, causing it to topple to the ground; inanimate.

The witch almost laughed in her head. She wasn’t worried about losing a single branch, she had plenty of those. Then Sans fired a laser directly at the middle of the trunk.

In an almost comical amount movement, the tree trunk bent near the roots into a 75 degree angle, just barely dodging the laser. Suddenly, all remaining wolves that wasn’t part of the big one fighting Undyne, made a beeline to sans. Suddenly, he couldn’t be ignored. Even Guu was left alone for a while.

[Undyne]

Undyne laughed maniacally as she attacked, unfazed by the wolf's own power-up. Then again, right now her mind was not even capable of being afraid, even if she had stood before Diablo himself. The Determination that pumped through her veins had her bent entirely on destroying everything that was an enemy, leaving no room for anything besides that. How very anime of her, she would have thought if she knew what state she was in right now.

The wolf's jaws locked around her forearm but the wooden teeth could not penetrate the thick armor plates. Undyne laughed again as she stabbed her spear through its front leg in retaliation, then tore her arm out of the bite. The wolf was similarly unfazed to her though: now being as huge and powerful as it was thanks to the sacrifice of the lesser wolves the spear stab was about as effective as pricking it with a needle. Not that it discouraged her from trying again and again until the spear shattered into magic dust. She stepped back, down to one spear, and summoned a pair of Trick Spears to pierce the wolf from above - again to little effect.

However the witch-tree had realized what trouble its familiar was in and extended a root through the ground that reached out and connected itself to the wolf's tailtip like a vine. An eerie green and brown glow spreaded through the wooden creature while Undyne exchanged her spears for Taitan again. Mindless as she may be her instincts told her that her spears were insufficient to do much damage to this huge creature and thus something with greater effect was needed. However she did not pay any mind to the glow, not even when Guu yelled to her to get out of the way.

As she charged in with Taitan ready to cut the wolf down to size the massive creature opened its maw and exhaled. A wave of pestilence filled the air, rotting the scattered-about branches of previously slain wolves within seconds - a concentrated version of the noxious magic the witch-tree was using to rot the life in its vicinity. Undyne charged straight through it and roared as she raised Taitan over her head with both hands and slashed the wolf's head, cleaving it in half. The sword hit the ground the next moment and Undyne promptly pulled it back up for a reverse slash that severed the two parts from the wolf's neck. Both fell to the ground and rolled aside, but the timber creature did not fall. Undyne pulled her sap-stained blade back and was about to run past it on to the next target when the headless wolf lunged at her and slashed at her with its front paws, hitting the joints on her armor on her right shoulder with two of its claws and tearing deep into her flesh.

Pain rushed through her and she stumbled backwards but the wolf wasn't finished: it slashed at her again and hit her chest armor, which promptly shattered like glass, leaving her in her tanktop. Had she been conscious, Undyne would have noticed then that the pestilent breath from earlier had made her skin pale and sickly and affected her armor, making it brittle like rotten wood. The slash marks on her shoulder tore further open as she made a brisk movement to raise Taitan over her shoulder for another attack, and clear blue liquid dripped down her arm and right side. The Determination was already starting to liquefy her.

But she was Undyne the Undying, and her only purpose right now was to kill the wolf before her. If decapitating it didn't work she would just have to cut it to bits and grind its core to dust under her boot. As more of the liquid dripped from the side of her mouth she inhaled, then exhaled a breath of pestilence at the headless wolf, which leapt back to get out of its range. But Undyne followed up, raising her left hand and summoning a large skeletal head of a fish behind her, that charged up a white beam between its bony jaws. The wolf narrowly dodged the Piranha Blaster's beam, but its leg, hit by the pestilent cloud, gave away under it and shattered. Once more laughing maniacally and ignoring her injury, Undyne charged forward again to engage the wolf with Taitan, giving it no time to rest.

Just to be clear, Undyne Mimic'd Sans's Gaster Blaster (hence "Piranha Blaster" :hur:  )

From the previous round, having maintained her Power-Up for the entire round Undyne has spent 2 SP (2/4).
She will maintain the Power-Up for this round too (SP: 0/4), but any of you can feel free to have her pass out or be killed before that. She won't be struggling for much longer after having been hit by the pestilent wave head-on - she's more injured than she realizes it, because Berserker mode.

[Ice Bear]

Ice Bear was getting disturbing images through his head - although Guu's powers dampened them a bit. He thought of his brothers, tangled up in vines like some sort of horrible hentai gone worse. He viewed Ambrosia in ruins - and Ice Bear meeting the same fate. Somehow this witch bitch knew of Ice Bear's deepest fears all ready.

Ice Bear had enough. He was tired of this tree all ready, and attacking him with crippling depression was the final straw that broke this bear's back.

He lunged at the tree, hacking away at the base.

"What are you doing, you son of a-"

Ice Bear paid the witch of the woods no mind. He kept whacking away, as his mind was filled to the brim with more disturbing images.

A timberwolves pack attempted to get at Ice Bear. Sans blasted them away.

Ice Bear couldn't quit concentrating to thank Sans. His whole goal was to chop this tree down.

"You are worthless, out of your league"

He took anything he was fed by the mental images and turned it into primal fury. He kept at it.

"You're gonna kill another living creature to save your brothers? A hypocrite!"

Ice Bear paid these voices a bit of mind, but only for a split second. He really kept at whacking at the tree, until a good chunk of her base was missing. She was about half-way through in terms of falling down. Ice Bear kept whacking away, in literal tears as he cut through, like a lone space marine ripping and tearing through demons until the deed was done.

Ice Bear got through the base. Sans kept other timberwolves who dare tried to get at him. In one last glimpse, he only said one thing to the witch.

"Timber."

He said as he delivered a death blow to the witch's base, causing the tree to fall over and crash.

Ice Bear dropped to his knees. He was exhausted - mentally, emotionally, physically. He couldn't help but cry finally seeing what he had seen. He needed to snap out of it eventually, but he gave himself a moment to get it out.

Sans looked on, as Ice Bear wept for sanity.

[Guu]

Undyne’s spear impaled the tree wolf square in the chest, causing the beast to howl with pain and shatter into a hundred sticks. The fish warrior chortled at her fallen foe as a bunch other wolves surrounded her, inching their way in, their paw poised for a pounce.

Ice bear struck against the truck, his final blow severing the wood from the ground. With one fell swoop, every single wolf in the area lost their connection. Just like the big one, they all fell harmlessly on the ground. Undyne, weary, her body bloody and beaten, collapsed on the ground, her mind down for the count.

As the tree lay beside its stump, the bark and leaves began to melt away, shrinking down until only a woman in a mud brown cloak lay in it’s place. She had messy brown hair, her eyes red like velvet. She was breathing heavily as a she struggled to push herself from the forest floor. Eventually reaching a sitting up position, she looked down on Ice Bear and sneered at him, then exchanged a look with Sans.

She didn’t say anything, just glared at him. She looked away, but only to climb to her feet before returning her gaze at Sans.

“Y-you don’t know wh-what you’ve done.” She said as she raised a palm towards the skeleton. He responds by preparing a Gastor Blaster.. “Defeating my-y armies cost you two party members. Can you alone take out the general?”

Suddenly, a grown woman with knee length pink hair appeared in front of her. The witch recoiled in surprise, but did not recoil far enough to avoid a kick that landed between her legs, launching her into the air. Then the pink haired woman suddenly disapeared and reappeared up in the air above the height of her flight and sent her rocketing down with a hard kick.

The impact left a dent in the dirt. The witch was out like a light. The pink haired woman floated down to earn, reached into her mouth and pulled out some rope. She tied the witch’s wrists together.

Sans watched in what was somewhere between awe and apathy. He knew this woman was Guu, it was obvious from her clothing, and it wasn’t the first time he had seen her transform, but something felt different about this version of her. Something was far less colder in personality. He thought it a confirmation when the princess bent down on her knees and petted the distressed polar bear.

“You’ll be home with your brothers soon.You really saved everyone today, don’t forget that.” She said warmly as she reached for Ice Bear’s phone and tapped the recall button.

As she floated up to her feet, she grabbed the witch by an ankle and dragged her across the ground towards Sans. Her red eyes looked into Sans’ sockets.

“You recall back as well, make sure these two get the aid they need. I’ll deliver the witch to the elves.” She ordered to the skeleton.

“You sure you don’t want any accompaniment?” He asked, cocking a metaphorical eyebrow.

“You’ve all done far enough.” She said, giving a thumbs up. “Go rest our heroes.”

Sans shrugged and set his own recall. Then he walked over to Undyne and did her’s as well. Just as Guu was gone from sight, dragging the witch in the direction of the World Tree, the three of them, one by one, warped out of there, and found themselves in Pokute Palace.



Guu would make it to Tyrande safe and sound. The witch was taken into custody where the Elves will figure out later what they hope to do with her. The elf leader was overjoyed with their success. She kind of wished she could have wished her heroes in person.

The princess received a text from Sans: Undyne had been taken into the healing pool. Ice Bear was offered counseling for his trauma. Supposedly, he went off to see his brothers again. He also mentioned that Sylvia made sure to pay each of them for their services. Just like Sylvia to be on top of things.

As soon as her time with the elves were over, she set her own phone to recall her back to the palace. Molly was probably eager to see her again. As the timer on her phone ticked down, she wondered if she was wrong to chose those three for the mission. She wondered if any of them might resent her for her decision.

She’ll have to make it up to them in the future, for putting them in so much danger like this.

Until then, mission accomplished.