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“How wonderful!! The family’s all together again!!” Mr. Ant Tenna, Kris’ beloved childhood TV, exclaimed happily. A flower bloomed from his nose; Kris, internally, gritted their teeth. This isn’t the plan, they thought irritably. You were supposed to delay us longer, Tenna.
Tenna stretched up his arms to the sky. “Now you can all finally-”
There was a loud screeching noise as both of Tenna’s arms were sliced clean off his frame. Electricity sparked and crackled out of the sockets where they used to be; Tenna’s face cut to a test screen as he slowly slumped over. Kris felt a pang of regret; they would have to see if Tenna was salvageable, after this. It wasn’t really his fault, after all.
Well, I guess the Knight noticed things aren’t going according to plan, Kris thought dryly to themself. Just as well - the Knight could get things cleaned up and back on rails. All it needed to do was make things look convincing, and things could proceed.
The Knight, with its back to the group, hovered there. Internally, Kris rolled their eyes - it had always had a flair for the dramatic, after all, what with those ridiculous afterimages it liked to project. Something on the Knight’s helmet twinkled - it turned around and slumped over.
Kris frowned. It was… crying? Drooling? What the hell was it doing? They needed to get this show on the road, before things got even more off. Finally, it straightened itself out, held its hand up, and started the plan. Good, Susie was jumping in front of it, defiantly telling the Knight that the group wouldn’t let its plans proceed - good, good. Kris was pleased, in a fashion; things weren’t go too far off track, and now they were rapidly-
Wait. What the hell is it doing? The Knight curled in on itself, sucking all the light in the area into its body.
Kris’ eyes widened. This wasn’t - it couldn’t possibly - there was no way this group could survive the Knight if it was truly going to just let loose -
The Knight let out its power, its ribcage cracking open, screaming as loud as it could possibly manage, its head splitting apart under the force of its rage and hatred. The light shot back out of it, warping to a deathly red, as the very air around the Knight itself distorted and Kris’ vision of it went blurry. Several of the nearby cliffs crumbled and flew around as it wildly let loose with some slashes, Ralsei and Susie’s eyes widening in terror.
Kris, moments ago self assured and in control, felt cold dread sweep through their entire system. Seriously, what the hell was it doing?! The Knight held out its hand and summoned its weapon, and Kris’ eyes widened even more. No, no, Susie and Ralsei couldn’t possibly survive -
The Knight summoned a blade for its other hand, and charged forward. Susie and Ralsei never had a chance; they went flying. Kris sprinted over to their bodies - the Knight wouldn’t follow up, not if Kris was there -
The Knight appeared in front of the group, holding its hand up. It charged a terrible blast. Kris’ eyes widened again; it wasn’t holding back, that was going to kill -
Kris dove and managed to cover Ralsei and Susie just enough to keep them alive. All three of them went flying from the force of the Knight’s blast; Kris managed to get up on their feet, skidding backwards. The Knight flew up and summoned blades, hurling them at Kris, as Kris frantically scrambled to avoid them.
No, no, no, no - this isn’t the plan, what are they doing? Why are they doing this? They know I can’t fight them with my full power - it’s gonna kill all of us - or it’ll give us away - what are they doing?? Kris wondered to themself frantically, diving to avoid being sliced in half. Kris looked up and saw the Knight with more blades summoned, and realized that the Knight had separated them from Susie and Ralsei.
Almost in slow motion, the Knight lazily flicked groups of blades at Susie and Ralsei, impaling them on the ground. Kris almost cried out, but bit down on it - the screams of their friends were tortured, and torturous to their ears - god, was Susie even still alive? She wasn’t supposed to get hurt in this, the Knight should have just trounced them and left, why was it still even -
The Knight turned to Kris, and summoned a ring of blades. Kris’ eyes widened in shock once more; they understood, now.
The Knight didn’t want to fight them, or their group. It was trying to force Kris into a position where they had to use the SOUL. It wanted to fight the SOUL, to test itself.
Almost as if responding to that exact thought, the red, heart shaped SOUL in Kris thumped.
Kris, it said. You need me, in this moment. I don’t know what’s going on with you - you made this Fountain. But you’re against the Knight - you clearly need help. Kris could feel its eagerness; at last, a foe worthy of its power - or so it must think.
No, no, no, no, no! Kris moaned internally, where the SOUL could not hear. No! Don’t do this, Knight! You’re going to ruin EVERYTHING!
The Knight closed their hand, the ring of blades rushing inward to Kris. Kris’ hand ached; do they reveal themself? Or do they give control to the parasite, this inglorious hitchhiker, that they had so reluctantly agreed to cage?
The SOUL thumped again, straining to be free, straining against its bonds. It could taste the battle ahead of it; its battle lust ran wild.
Damn both of you to hell, Kris thought bitterly, as - not for the first time, and certainly not the last time - they surrendered control.
The red heart gleamed with a brilliant light, as it effortlessly batted away the Knight’s attack. Kris could feel its joy; finally, something it could test itself against. The SOUL took a moment, to feel through Kris’ body; it stretched their limbs, tested the weight of Kris’ blade, took a breath with their nose and lungs, exhaling exultantly. Its glow grew so bright that red light shined out of Kris’ eyes - the SOUL looked at Ralsei and Susie, and Kris could feel its concern. This confused Kris - why did it even care about them? Then the SOUL’s gaze turned to the Knight, and hardened. Kris felt their body’s adrenaline levels spike, and their muscles tense up.
Kris’ body smiled, as it charged the Knight.
In all the time that Kris had known the Knight, they had never known it to be surprised, and yet that was the only word that came to Kris’ mind as the SOUL smashed the Knight down towards the ground. The Knight was amongst the most powerful things around; nothing had ever truly challenged it, not once it got used to its own body, not since Asgore. It clearly hadn’t expected the SOUL to so effortlessly bat it away and was caught completely off guard, flying backwards, as the SOUL followed in hot pursuit in Kris’ body. Kris turned their gaze inward, thinking, thinking about how to salvage the situation. This was bad; they weren’t sure how to proceed. Kris mused for quite a while, then decided to watch the flow of battle and see if they could snag an opportunity.
Kris felt a sense of trepidation, watching the battle through their own eyes. The SOUL was… beyond expectations. If this kept up, the Knight might actually have to try. It was doing a laughable job as it was; the Knight had never been on defense before, and it showed. The SOUL easily dodged the Knight’s attempts at counterattacks - the Knight’s counterattacks were clumsy (for it, anyway) at best, but something about it seemed off to Kris - it was as if the SOUL was anticipating the attacks, dodging a fraction of a second earlier than it reasonably should have been able to react. Kris didn’t like the implication.
The Knight was in a bad spot now, Kris observed wryly. It had provoked a fight it wasn’t entirely prepared for, and now - did it go full power, and risk killing Kris, destroying the plan? It couldn’t lose, certainly - that would also ruin the plan. Kris swore internally. They’d thought that when the Shadow Mantle had flown away, when Seam couldn’t find it again, that this wouldn’t be a problem. The Knight’s power was overwhelming without any protection from it, and it should have easily been able to put down the group and even the SOUL. The Mantle was well hidden, on top of it; the SOUL hadn’t even glanced twice at the console in the secret room, merely picking up the controller and leaving. At the time, Kris had thought it had missed the importance of the console, but now… it seemed an act of arrogance, almost.
As it turns out, Kris observed wryly, you don’t need protection if you don’t get hit.
Kris began to look harder for an opening - they would remind this SOUL who was really in control. They bided their time, as the Knight was effortlessly tossed around - Kris could feel the SOUL’s disappointment. It could tell the Knight wasn’t fighting at full power, and seemed determined to bring it out. Finally, the Knight was on its knees, and Kris knew they had to do something - either the Knight stopped playing around, or Kris stopped their body. Frantically, Kris tried to think of something to distract the SOUL long enough to reassert control, and a familiar face floated to their mind. Ah, yes - the SOUL was so invested in her, that should do it.
With all of their willpower, Kris thought of December Holiday, as the SOUL swung Kris’ sword at the Knight’s head.
The SOUL stopped. D-Dess? Is the Knight-
Kris rapidly took control back, relief flooding their system. That could have ended poorly. Kris gave a cough - the Knight needed to end things now. The glow in their eyes went out, and Kris looked at the Knight.
It was angry that the fight had been stopped.
This might hurt, Kris thought. The Knight stood up and blasted Kris as hard as it could, sending them flying. Kris stood back up, taking a defensive stance - maybe they could still convince the parasite that they and the Knight were on oppo-
The Knight calmly floated over, placed its sword on Kris’s shoulder, and knighted them, forcing Kris to kneel before it.
NO! NO! NO! GODDAMMIT NOW THE SOUL KNOWS! Kris raged internally, as it could feel the SOUL’s confusion - and anger. This was a disaster, the Knight was going to ruin everything with its cocky arrogance! Did it even understand how much harder it had made Kris’ job?!
The Knight placed its sword under Kris’ chin and tilted their face up to face it, staring at them, its message clear.
Don’t forget your place,
Tool.
Kris dimly realized that during the course of the fighting, they had circled back around to Susie and Ralsei, who were thankfully no longer impaled. Wait, when had the Knight dismissed its blades? They looked whole, again, too. When had the SOUL managed to heal them in all of that? Kris wondered, bewildered. They’d spaced out at the beginning harder than they thought - but at least both seemed to still be unconscious. Kris leaned back as though they had been defeated, and the Knight returned to the plan.
Susie, as soon as she heard the Knight, opened her eyes and leapt at it, swinging her axe. “C’mon - we’re just getting started!” Ralsei leapt up too, blasting Kris with healing magic.
Shit shit shit shit shit, look at what you’ve done! Kris swore. All it had to do was just destroy them to begin with, but it just had to fight the SOUL, didn’t it?! Kris stood up, and-
Susie’s axe collided with the Knight’s blade, chipping off a piece that split into two. The Knight fuzzed out, as Susie laughed at it.
“Not so tough NOW, are you!?” Susie taunted the Knight, sneering.
Invisibly fast, the Knight swooned Ralsei and Susie, and promptly knocked Kris back down. Finally, Kris thought. They could dimly see Undyne in the distance, now. We can continue, with the plan.
The red SOUL quietly seethed in Kris’ chest as it tried to understand what the hell just happened.