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He sees Asgore thrashing in the creature’s grip, pounding against its blackened armor, hollow thuds only barely audible over the wind rushing past his ears. Yet even while burdened by its quarry’s size and resistance, it pulls ahead, faster than even he can manage. Perhaps if he wasn’t so tired from trying to hold those three back, he’d be able to maintain pace, but with sweat pouring from his brow and watering the flowers below, it isn’t enough. The brave face he puts on can’t change what’s happening. Pillars of red fly past his periphery, his forward view dominated by monochrome afterimages as he hopes a slipstream is enough to catch up.
The alien knight suddenly slows, a massive wall coming into view, too fast to react to. It slams into it, the entire castle shaking from the force. Transforming from some avian creature into a humanoid form, it holds a fist in the air and squeezes, a semi-transparent dark sphere springing into existence around Asgore. It leaves him suspended, and though he grasps at air to right himself or find some purchase to break free, he can only uselessly spin.
The knight steadies itself against the ground for just a moment, but a moment long enough for Flowery to finally catch up. He casually walks forward, as he had always been doing, as if this were nothing unusual. It moves to strike at him, but Flowery puts up a hand, stopping it in place.
“No way, you can’t act out of turn! I’m on the left, everyone knows I get to go first! And I know just what I’m going to do for my turn.”
He knows the actual situation. Beneath his overconfidence and everlasting smile, this creature is well beyond his capabilities. If it could so easily capture his king, what could a flower possibly do against it?
But he can’t give up. He never, ever can. If this thing takes Asgore, what was it all for?! His family’s struggles, their personalities brought into being, and it wants to take it all away from the man who cared for them for so long!
Even if they’ve all already turned back into flowers, he will always remember their dreams! And he’s been hoping for so long… what else does he need to win? He’ll carry their will, their resolve, their wishes, all the things that make them who they are with him for as long as he persists!
Not unlike the knight before him, Flowery’s form shimmers. A rainbow glow overtakes him, afterimages flowing behind, fireworks of kaleidoscopic color firing all around as he charges forward. Blow after blow lands, the creature flickering under every wild punch and kick he throws its way.
“Not even something like you can stand up to my jarona, huh?”
It pushes him back with a roar, black knife slicing at the air where he stood. Sick, otherworldly particles like spittle fly from its amorphous mouth, burning like acid at the ground where it lands. It swings at nothing again — clearing its head. It knows it wasn’t hurt that badly, not as badly as it seemed.
Flowery scoffs, but never once allows his grin to fade. “Heh, guess you’ve got some awareness to play things the way you have to! Even without my fake stats… with all my friends behind me, I’m no slouch!”
Another roar that shatters the wind and the knight is flying at him. The sword held straight ahead at him, he sidesteps the charge, but it turns on a dime and flies right back again for another strafe. He holds his ground and twists his body, punch landing square in the chest while the knife slices across his shoulder. It barely flinches at his fist and spins around again, coming from above and behind, blade held out, its entire body flying towards him. Murderous eyes have formed on its skull.
A skateboard flies in from behind and knocks Flowery down, skirting straight under the knight’s body. Again unable to stop its own speed, it crashes into the floor, kneeling. An explosive kick to the back of its knee sends it to the ground, then another lands on its back, followed by another and another, each blow slowing the knight as it attempts to stand. It shakes with rage at the flower behind it repeatedly shouting “jarona!” each time he hits.
The blade, forming from the creature’s hand, slices across Flowery’s chest as it rips its arm behind it. Flowery skirts back, clutching at the spot where it struck. He huffs out air and widens his smile — any deeper would have cut him in half.
But he doesn’t have time to rest. The knight stands and screams again, black and white stars firing from its being. The ones Flowery can’t dodge or punch away scrape into him. And the moment it’s done, the knight is flying towards him again.
He stands his ground well under each assault the figure launches, dodging and parrying, finding openings to strike. But it’s as he knew when he was chasing after it a few minutes ago: this creature is just stronger than him. He eventually reacts too slowly to avert a slice aimed for his neck and has to block it with just his arm. The bladed edge at first bounces, but the knight redoubles its efforts, and it sinks into him. Flowery grits his teeth, still grinning, and meets the baleful eye of his opponent. A deep, rumbling laugh emanates from it, blade digging deeper. But he laughs too, even with his voice wavering.
“You’ve been keeping up with my Omega really well… but… you’ve been focusing really hard on me, huh?”
The eye slightly widens, and the fingers around the sword’s grip relax just a little.
“Everything I’ve been doing here… has been to buy time and attention!”
He pushes forward. The knight flickers.
“Where’d… Asgore go, huh?”
Immediately, the sword is yanked back from Flowery’s flesh, the knight spinning around: the king is gone. Of course, it had to maintain focus to keep him sealed away — where did he go?!
“Sorry to keep you waiting!” The flower taunts.
BEEP BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP
A truck crashes into the scene, headlights illuminating the knight’s figure. Left just tired enough from its brawl, it lacks the speed or reaction to escape, and the truck catches it. The loud engine fills its ears as the knight’s body is folded in half, its head slamming down and denting the hood. It looks up, dazed. Behind the wheel, darkness covering his features, the king steers, leg clenched and pedal pressed to the floor. A second later — and for the third time this battle — the knight is rammed against a hard wooden surface of the castle. Wood cracks around the impact, disintegrating planks of the wall crumbling to the floor and splinters piercing the knight’s exoskeletal armor. The truck’s blue paint is splattered with more of the stuff of darkness as the knight retches, though any damage it might do as it burns through the metal is far outweighed by the smoking engine, puffing dying gasps of fumes into the creature’s helmet.
The door of the car is kicked open shortly after the crash, skating across the ground and falling into the depths of the king’s castle. Asgore steps forth from his chariot, golden armor gleaming. In the time it takes for him to extract himself from the wreck, the knight similarly frees itself, floating several feet above the king. Though it keeps its back straight and draws its sword — as sharp as its eye and pointed down with menace — its body flashes. Its arms appear lax, unprepared.
Asgore takes a step forward, his footfall shaking the ground. A furred finger is leveled at the knight.
“You’ve been the one opening fountains, haven’t you?! The one who has been causing all this suffering! You’ve stolen people away, driven families apart, and now you threaten the lives of these innocent flowers who have given everything they have for me!”
He is yelling louder than he ever has, rage laced in his words; a fire in his eyes the only visible part of his face aside from the light that catches on his fuming snout. His broad chest rises and falls with each powerful roar.
“No, not just that — you’re threatening the lives of them too! You’ve hurt Kris and their companions!”
The thing’s eye shifts to a cruel smile. Fury bellows from Asgore’s being.
“The townspeople will not be given the chance to see the form of their tormentor, for I will strike you down now! For the good of everyone that you’ve harmed, and everyone that you never will!”
Another alien laugh comes from the knight. But, his arm moving like lightning, Asgore hurls a scarlet trident, formed in his fist the moment he pulled back. The planks beneath him crack under the force of his launch, his follow-through on point as it soars through the air. The knight barely has enough time to deflect the trident before it is skewered by it. Its blade catches between the prongs, and the red weapon is sent flying.
“Raging…! Jaronaaaa!!”
Knee raised, Flowery glides through the air towards the knight from above and behind, prismatic afterimages layered closely behind. A million strikes rain down onto the creature, each exploding with bursts of color, overwhelming its black-and-white shimmers. Its blade disappears, focus wavering, as it is beaten down to ground level. It manages to turn to face the flower man and block some of his attacks, but they seem to never end, each punch followed by another and all of them infuriatingly announced with a triumphant “jarona!”
Wood shatters as Asgore pulls his trident free from where it landed. His charge toward the knight quakes the ground, the sound drawing the knight’s eye to spin to the back of its head. Shadows of dark intent are cast on Asgore’s features, his trident held out like a lance. Realization dawns on the creature. It collapses into itself, forming into a shaking ball of darkness outlined in white. Flowery’s next few attacks miss its new body, and it flies--
“Leafing so soon?”
Hands clasped together, Flower flies up and swings down like a hammer, sending the knight down to the ground, forcing it back into its humanoid shape. Flowery floats down and turns his back, the symbol of a flower glowing. The knight’s eye spins back to address Flowery, and for the first time in its existence, it appears panicked.
The second of hesitance is all Asgore needs. Blue and orange flashes from behind the knight, before red swings down. The trident cleaves deep into the knight’s shoulder, armor cracking and shattering around the impact site. It screams. Dark smoke pours from within its body, polluting the air, while ichor drips to the ground. Asgore yanks his weapon back, more of its essence spraying out, drawing another roar from the thing, bits of black flicking onto Asgore’s golden armor. The shine of it, reflecting Flowery’s glowing form, burns the stuff away.
“Let’s do it, oldbuddy!” Flowery shouts.
“Yes, let us put an end to this!”
Asgore grasps the stumbling knight and holds it upright, immobilizing its arms behind its back. Its eye slowly raises to witness Flowery lay into it with attacks, every single one bursting out in dazzling bands of color.
“Jarona! Jarona! Jarona! Jarona!” Over and over, he pummels against it, and eventually, it begins to crack. A pose for each attack, each striking in a new spot to form a spiderweb of breaking armor. Each elicits an attempt to break free from Asgore’s vice grip, all useless as it takes yet another strike — all it can do is roar, but each time it does, its voice grows weaker and weaker.
“San Frandisco!”
A punch with his foot forward to brace himself, Flowery’s fist flies forward and shatters the entire abdomen of the knight, broken armor sounding like glass as it breaks and scatters on the floor. The exposed darkness of the creature’s body burns under Flowery’s radiance, bits of armor disintegrating as the light of friendship is shone upon it. Flowery rears back again…
“Last-- Ja-ust kidding!”
Flowery switches with Asgore, grabbing onto the knight, pinning its arms to its sides. Orange and blue and red flash rapidly, Asgore’s trident swinging down and into the knight again and again and again, his rage building as he lets out a scream of vengeance. Criss-crosses of darkness across the creature’s back plume out smoke, until it falls apart entirely. Asgore does not stop attacking. Blue, orange, and red keep digging into it, and like Flowery, the color burns away the remnants of the monochrome knight.
“How about one more for the fans!?”
Flowery shoves the knight and resumes his attacks — each of his pushes it back, and each of Asgore’s pushes it forward. They bounce it between them, the creature now limp, incapable of fighting back as their joint onslaught utterly overwhelms it. Its head cracks, revealing, just like the rest of its body, only darkness within. Smoke is streaming from the creature, a virtual dark fountain made mobile and malevolent.
“Come on Gore-Gore, it’s time we put this thing in its place for good!” Flowery stands back.
Asgore nods, finally ceasing his swinging. They pair readies themselves, and, simultaneously,
“WITH OUR POWERS COMBINED… COLLEGE… BROS!”
Asgore’s trident pierces the knight through the abdomen. Flowery’s fist punches through its chest. A last, desperate cry leaves the thing’s broken head along with the torrential darkness, but the light of the duo is more than enough to blow it away. They shine, brighter and brighter, until a bright rainbow light overtakes all, the shattering of metal drowned out in radiance, and the scraps of the knight turning to dust on the mysterious wind.
“...so basically, if I can set up the right equipment in this other Dark World, all the flowers should be able to live in that Castle Town!”
Susie is nearly jumping up and down in excitement. “Seriously, Mr. Dreemurr?! Kris, did you hear that! We get to see them all again! I dunno if Ralsei’ll be happy about Flowery coming back, but everyone else!” She grabs Kris’s shoulders, practically shaking them. “Oh man, I can’t wait to see how Aqua and Lancer get along!” Kris doesn’t respond save for a thumbs up. Asgore laughs.
“Oh my, it’s been… quite some time since I’ve seen people this happy because of something I’ve done. I’m sure they’ll all love being able to meet more people and getting to fulfill their dreams.”
“All according to plant.” Flowery sagely adds, though despite his best efforts to stay nonchalant, is clearly trying to hold back tears. Asgore pats him on the back.
“I’m really happy we’ll all be able to see each other whenever we want,” he says. “And I’m glad Ralsei found it in himself to heal your wounds after that incredible duel you had with… what did you all call it, the Roaring Knight?”
Susie is too busy shouting in Kris’ ear about all the fun things they’ll be able to do with the flowers. Asgore looks to Ralsei, whose mouth is completely agape and eyes still wide in utter shock. He manages to shut his mouth to talk.
“Yes, that was-- I don’t think it really-- how-- how did you two do it?”
“Whatever do you mean, Raly?” Flowery says.
“You-- you two beat the Roaring Knight! It isn’t supposed to until… This isn’t how anything is supposed to go! I always thought that, if anyone would be able to change things, it’d be the heroes…” Ralsei’s tone isn’t one of indignation, just of deep confusion. He looks at the ground, lost in thought.
Flowery gets on a knee and places a hand on Ralsei’s shoulder.
“With all our smiles and tears combined, fighting and striving and wishing for a better future… there’s nothing we can’t do! So long as we do it together!”
Asgore nods affirmatively.
“Plus, it helps when the author is in your corner!” Flowery adds.
“The-- the what?”