Chapter Text
“If I enter the timeline again…It’ll eventually collapse and erase itself anyways…”
“But then what’s gonna happen with you?”
“It doesn’t matter… You won’t remember any of it… Nobody will…”
“Frisk NO! ”
That was all that was said before the void rippled and glitched as Chara’s newly claimed determination pulsed and clashed with Frisk’s control panel, which required the very same determination that Chara is using to utilize.
And then, the void itself started cracking due to the sheer wrongness of the glitch…
Somewhere in the Omega Timeline…
We see a black, bald skeleton eating a spider donut. His eyes are a unique multi-colored heterochromia of red, yellow, and blue. His skeletal physique would give you the impression that he is fat, despite having no meat to his body.
“*Sigh* Still a few more days before Pale’s next dimensional genocide, according to Gaster…” The man shook his head, “Oh come on, Template! Keep your head up! Just because you failed again doesn’t mean you’ll fail again… ” He blinked, “Okay, that sounded depressing…” His head dropped as he groaned, hands on his face.
This is Template, a rare variant of Error and a self-proclaimed protector of the multiverse. To say he admires Ink is an understatement. The guy borderlines idolizes him, although he doesn’t follow everything that he does (His appearance makes meeting new people by himself almost impossible). He wears what could easily be described as a black version of Ink’s clothing, blue scarf and black artist gloves that are yellow on the inside. Black boots covers his feet, as well as a black digital pen that hangs by his backside. His only accessory that isn’t copied would be his glasses with red frames. Oh, and his red T-shirt that looks way out of place for a multi-dimensional guardian.
Right now, he’s consoling himself because another dimension was lost to Pale’s quest for momentary relief from his emotionless existence.
But as you can see, he’s having little to no success…
BZZT!!!
Out of nowhere, Template felt a shock in his system. ‘ NGGH! ’ Like a zap of taser, it left him a bit disoriented. It’s a unique little thing that only he has, not even the other Errors have it. A sign that something is wrong in the very code of one of the AUs.
Every single one of them leaves a little bit of their magic in the Doodle Sphere’s subspace. But the others only settled for a sort of notification signal on their string collections at their spots. Template is set on protecting and possibly fixing the errors in their codes when he can. Hence, the body shocks.
“That shock was stronger than the most absurd speedrun glitches…” Template mumbled to himself as he slowly regained his bearings. “Wonder what’s going on..”
He raised his hands and multiple screens appeared in front of him. His eyes narrowed as he tried to locate the disturbance. “Where is… Whoa… ”
Template stopped swiping as a very glitchy screen came into view. He adjusted his glasses as he stared at his next destination of possible failure…
He shook his head, “Nope, nope. None of that, Template.” He adjusted his footing as he prepared to jump in. “Risks are all part of the job…”
With a nervous gulp, Template went in…
Time seemed to crawl as the two inhabitants of the void struggled to even make a sound as the glitch covered them in its ripple
“Okay, let’s see what we’re dealing with here…” Template said to himself as he stabbed his pen to the ground. The holographic circle on top of it expanded and formed a little circular station as Template stepped up to the control panel. “Starting dimensional analysis… ”
The pen started sending out pulses of blue energy. Template hummed as he read the data, “An alternate timeline of Glitchtale, where the transfer process didn’t go as smooth as Frisk had initially planned…” He sighed as he pressed a red button on the side. “Launching a stasis bubble…”
On the side that’s facing Chara and Frisk, part of the pen opened up to reveal a bubble launcher (Template is still trying to figure out how to make it cooler).
“Here we go.” After typing in a few extra commands, an energy ball that is light blue and has a red outline was fired towards the two humans.
ZZTT! BZZZT!!!
The ball fizzled as soon it made contact with them. Template could only stare as he was once again unable to do his one job…
“...” Template had a blank expression as he tapped the panel. Once, then again. “...Must be sleepy…” he drawled as he launched another energy ball only for it to glitch before poofing out of existence. “...Or not.”
He waved his left hand as a screen appeared beside him. His expression blank as he pulled out a monochrome-colored Frisk. “Either you help me or I’m gonna flip.” Template stated as the little human in his grip only blinked as he stared at the glitchy humans.
This is CORE!Frisk. He is the Omega timeline’s human-In-Command. He’s all the same except for the colors. Oh, did I mention that his eyes are literal holes?
“...The bubble didn’t work, even after I fired it twice. ” The black skeleton explained as Frisk finally wore that look of understanding. “Sooo….What do you want me to do?” Clearly he didn’t wear his heart on his sleeve.
Template resisted the urge to just shove the kid into a screen, “Do you NOT have a plan if I failed to do my job? Which if I recall correctly, I have already.” The guardian deadpanned.
“Well…There is something that we could try… ” Frisk said, voice low as if unsure of himself. Template sensed it and asked, “...Is it bad?”
Frisk shook his head. “No. It’s just… It’s kind of a last resort.” He gestured for Template to bind them with his strings. “Tie them up, guardian.”
“We’re going to The Sphere Border… ”
“So, let me get this straight…” Template considered taking some of Ink’s emotion vials for himself at this point. Too much deadpanning can’t be good for anyone, right? “They…” He drawled slowly as he tugged on the two glitchy humans tangled in his strings. “...Are to be discarded from the multiverse entirely and into the nearest world that could accommodate them?”
Frisk, to his credit, looked sheepish. “Which is why it is called a last resort .” The Sphere Border was an invisible wall that Template could only feel its presence. “The very line between us and the endless stretch of worlds far beyond our understanding…” Frisk took a deep breath to calm himself.
He stepped towards the glitching Chara and Frisk, face solemn all the while. “These two will be sent away from everything they know. Family, friends, memories…” He turned towards Template, who was watching him curiously. “Leave them a final message from us all, would you Template?”
“Huh? But how would I…” Frisk just smiled at him as his gears started turning, “Puzzle time, Sans.” Template just grinned at that. “Keeping me grounded, Frisk?” He turned his gaze towards his pen. “How about a memory shard in a stasis bubble?”
“Perfect. Well, almost anyways.” Frisk sighed as he ran a hand through his hair, “I’m sorry for telling you to basically just dump your problems somewhere else, Template.”
The skeleton guardian just grinned, “Hey, it’s better than letting the others get their strings on them.” He pulled the two closer to the edge. “Besides, I know that I won’t be able to save every single soul out there. No matter how much I want to.”
“Aww, look at you. All grown up and out of that hero mindset.” Frisk cooed at his fellow guardian. “...Thanks…” Template prepared to launch the two into the unknown.
Frisk crouched down besides the soul-sharing humans, as Template started creating a memory shard for them. “Don’t worry, both of you. It’s going to be okay.” The gray human looked at them with a fondness Template can’t quite place. Comradery, perhaps? “Fate has always been a mystery to deal with. You could never know what’s coming your way.”
As Core!Frisk continued his little ‘talk’ with the humans, Template could already feel that things are going to get… Wild for them.
As all adventures should be…