A/N: Welp… here we are again. I hope you're ready for all this crap all over again. Ha ha ha. Nah for real, thanks for coming back. Idk how different this will be from the og but there'll definitely be some changes…

This is probably gonna be my last long fanfic for a while… thanks in advance for coming to read :D Also, you can find the cover on all of my art social media, deviantart iHateFridays, tumblr ihf-arts, my instagram ihatefridaysihf, and my Twitter FridaysHate.


Long ago, two races ruled over Earth: HUMANS and MONSTERS.

One day, war broke out between the two races.

After a long battle, the humans were victorious. They sealed the monsters underground with a magic spell.

Many years later…

An illustration depicted a mountain in the bronze colouring, surrounded by a forest. Text read,

MT EBOTT

201X

A child with short, brown hair reaching the back of their head and wearing a striped sweater was climbing up the mountain.

Text read, Legends say a child climbed up the mountain and disappeared, never to be seen again.

More illustrations followed, showing the child disappearing into the mountain.

"Since then, no one has climbed the mountain," Percy read, observing the odd illustrations. "No one knows what happened to the child." He adjusted his glasses. "They couldn't have just disappeared. Something must've happened to them."

Percy brought out his favourite notebook with a hard, purple cover and began taking down notes. "But what…? Did they trip down? Were they kidnapped?" He eyed his laptop. "Legends say that monsters live under the mountain. But monsters can't possibly exist. Can they? Perhaps it's a metaphor."

Percy continued taking down more notes. He was gathering as much information as possible, although what he had was pretty barren. He fidgeted with his large, cloudy glasses. He was tan with shoulder-length, neatly cut black hair that framed his face. He wore a purple sweater with a black stripe across the center and a few on the arms. He wore grey tights and black boots to match.

Whatever the case, Percy was determined to find out what had happened to the child who had the unlucky fate of disappearing on Mt. Ebott. He'd planned to visit the town's library and search for books related to the topic… and maybe some manga as well.

Percy was about to leave when his best friend Melody entered. She watched him with her sharp blue eyes. She had dark skin with dark, curly hair tied into a messy bun. She wore a light blue leotard with light blue stripes and knee-length light blue tights. On her feet were ballet shoes.

"You've been in here all day, Percy," she told him. "Are you sure you don't want to come outside with the rest of us?"

"No, thanks," Percy replied, grabbing his notes. "I was actually going over to the library to continue my research."

"By yourself?" Melody asked, raising her brow. The library was a fair distance away.

Percy nodded. Melody grimaced. Well, when it came to studying, Percy was very independent.

"Who's going out?" Brayden asked, popping his head in. "Nerd boy! You've been in here all day! How's your nerdy stuff going?!"

"It's called research," Percy sighed. "I'm going to the library."

"BORING!" Brayden commented, blowing a raspberry. "Come on, dude! You don't have to study all the time! This isn't even school-related!"

Brayden had fair skin and bright orange eyes underneath thick brows. He wore a brown tank top with orange stripes, as well as grey shorts. He wore black and white sneakers with white socks. Around his spiky, slicked back light brown hair was a red bandana with abs crudely drawn on the front.

Percy grimaced. He hated talking to Brayden. It made him feel so… small.

"Let him do what he wants, Brayden," Melody sighed. She stared at Percy. "Please ask my mother if you can leave. I don't want you getting into trouble."

"Trouble?" Now Clover was in the room, leaning against the wall, yellow eyes glowing. She adjusted her cowboy hat. She had a pistol attached to her hip. She wore a pale brown and yellow striped sweater with a yellow bandana around her neck. Her skin was dark olive and her hair was dark brown, tied back into a low ponytail.

"No one better be in trouble," She stared at Percy, who hid his red cheeks behind his notebook. "Howdy, pardner. Haven't seen ya all day!"

"I'm going to the library." Percy mooched towards the door. He hated everyone staring at him. He felt even smaller.

"I like the library." a quiet voice spoke up. It belonged to Faye, who was followed by Cody. Faye had blonde hair tied up by a faded, red ribbon. She wore a white t-shirt with light blue stripes, grey pants, and black shoes. She had pale skin.

"Libraries are nice," she continued. "I like the quiet and the big bean bags you can sit on. Then on Saturday mornings the library staff read stories to you. Once, this lady read a story about-"

"Yeah yeah, libraries are cool, blah blah," Brayden interrupted. "You know what!? We should ALL go out! Not to the library but to the park!"

"Going out sounds like fun." Cody commented, smiling. "We could go to the bakery!"

His eyes lit up. He was good friends with the baker's son, since they were both cooking-obsessed. For some reason, Cody felt a strong connection to that boy as well…

Cody loved cooking so much he always wore his favourite stained apron over his white-and-green striped sweater. Like twin his sister Clover, he had dark olive skin, and dark brown hair. However, hair was short and swept across his forehead, and his eyes were green instead of yellow.

Cody hesitated. "Um, well, if you guys want to, that is!"

"Goin' out sounds dandy." Clover agreed, eyeing her twin brother. She was an extremely overprotective twin sister, and because of this, no one ever messed with his Cody. They didn't want to have to deal with his scary twin sister.

"I like the sunshine on days like this." Faye commented, staring at the ceiling. "Birds are singing and flowers are blooming."

"Very well, we'll go out," Melody said, adjusting her bun. "As long as my mother says we can."

"Do we have to ask your mom?" Brayden asked irritably.

"Yes," Melody replied, glaring at him. "It's very important." Her arms were shaking. "Mother needs to see that we can handle ourselves."

Brayden rolled his eyes. "Mama's girl."

Melody's mother said the kids could go out as long as they stuck together and didn't cause problems. Melody, being herself, decided that she would make sure nothing went wrong.

The kids went out into the town. Percy wanted to go straight to the library. Brayden wanted to go to the park. Faye didn't mind. Cody said he didn't mind, but he secretly wanted to go to the bakery. His sister wanted to check out the police station - to admire it, mostly. Melody wanted to go to some music store and check it out. No one could agree on anything (aside from Faye who wasn't fussy).

Eventually they decided to go to the bakery, since everyone was hungry. Cody couldn't help but grin to himself.

Now, my readers, the exciting part starts here. To get to the bakery, the kids had to cross a road. Unfortunately, they had to jaywalk. Melody made them line up responsibly and wait until it was safe.

"Don't be stupid, Brayden." she scolded Brayden who looked like he wanted to run across the road for the sake of it. The group waited until cars stopped coming.

Finally, the children could cross the road. They crossed easily, chatting casually. It was all going well until Faye dropped something on the ground.

"Oops, my plastic knife." she muttered, leaning down to pick it up. She didn't see the car speeding towards her.

"FAYE!" the kids screamed.

But it was too late. The car was coming too fast. Faye froze up.

It was over.

...or was it?

Suddenly, something leaped out of nowhere and pushed Faye off the road, saving her life. It was a quick flash of red, something speedy, something like that. They landed on the other side, banging into a bin. Faye's saviour was holding her tightly, and carrying her knife, too. They helped her stand up.

Faye was too stunned for words. She accepted the toy knife from her saviour. Their eyes appeared to be closed. They had short, brown hair reaching the back of their head, yellow skin, a blue and pink striped shirt, as well as blue pants and brown boots. They were holding a stick for some reason.

"Hey," the kid smiled at her, hands on hips. "You okay?"

Faye trembled. "Ye… yeah… thank you…"

"No worries," the kid grinned. "Maybe just try not to stop in the middle of the road next time, huh?"

They chuckled. Faye chuckled as well, blushing.

"FAYE!" the other kids raced over.

"WHAT WERE YOU THINKING!?" Brayden yelled, making Faye stumble back.

"YOU COULDA BEEN KILLED!" Clover agreed, looking just as furious.

"I… I'm sorry…." Faye whimpered quietly, sinking to the floor.

"YEAH, YOU BETTER BE!" Brayden yelled. He punched the bin she had crashed into then gave Faye a tackle-hug. Clover gave Faye a hug too and glared at the speeding car. They were already driving away. Clover reminded herself to go to that police station.

Melody turned to Faye's saviour. "Thank you for saving her."

"No worries," the kid waved it off, still grinning.

"That was so brave of you," Cody's eyes twinkled. "You're amazing!"

"Aw, shucks, it's no big deal," the kid chuckled.

"What's yer name, partner?" Clover asked, walking over to the kid.

"Call me Frisk," the kid grinned, offering a hand. "And you are…?"

"Clover Luckgreen, at yer service," Clover shook their hand. "This here is my brother Cody," she gestured at Cody, who waved, "then Melody and Percy," the two nodded, "and of course, Brayden and Faye."

"Heyyy!" Brayden stood up, running over to Frisk. "What you did back there was AWESOME! How'd you move so fast?!"

Frisk shrugged. "I don't know. Just got lucky, I guess!"

Faye stood up, clutching onto her toy knife. Her cheeks burned as she turned away.

"Ya from 'round here?" Clover asked Frisk.

"I guess so," Frisk shrugged. "You guys heard of the legend of Mt Ebott?"

Percy's eyes lit up. "You mean… the tale of HUMANS and MONSTERS?"

"Yeah, exactly!" Frisk grinned at him. "Do you believe in it?"

"Do you mean the fact that the humans sealed the monsters underground with a magic spell?" Percy asked. "Of course not. It's scientifically impossible."

"You really think so?" Frisk raised a brow. "You can't know that for sure, right?"

"It just does not make sense," Percy responded. "If monsters truly existed, there would be news reports about them everywhere. Their remains, their memories, traces of their existence. But there is no such thing. And of course, don't get me started on the magic aspect."

"Aw, come on," Frisk tilted their head. "Surely you're a little curious about what's going on in there, aren't cha?"

"There's a mountain full of monsters?!" Brayden asked.

"Oh, it's just some silly rumour," Melody crossed her arms. "Obviously monsters don't exist."

"Or do they?" Frisk asked. They shrugged. "Well, whatever. I was on my way to the mountain to investigate if the legend is true. You guys wanna come along?"

Percy grimaced at his notes. He had to admit… he was curious. Were there really monsters under Mt Ebott…?

"Well, I…" he stared down at his papers. "I would be interested, yes."

"Really?" Brayden stared at him. "Thought you only liked libraries, nerd boy."

Percy bit his lip. His arms trembled.

"A mountain, huh?" Clover raised a brow. "Sounds kinda dangerous."

"Well, yeah, but that's the fun of it, isn't it?" Frisk teased. "Who knows what we'll find up there!"

Cody bit his lip, shivering. "I don't like the thought of monsters…"

"Bet I could beat a monster in a punch-on," Brayden grinned.

Melody rolled her eyes.

Faye glanced at her plastic knife. She stood up, walking over to Frisk.

"I… I wouldn't mind going up the mountain…" she mumbled.

"Really?" Melody, Clover, and Brayden all turned on her.

"Well, if Faye and Percy are going, then I'll come too!" Cody grinned.

"You ain't going nowhere without me, bro," Clover grabbed her brother's shoulder.

"DON'T FORGET ABOUT ME!" Brayden pumped his fist in the air.

"Good grief," Melody crossed her arms. "Someone's going to need to keep an eye on the lot of you."

And so, the kids made their way towards Mt. Ebott. They climbed up the looming pathway, slowly approaching the summit. Faye held onto Brayden's arm, Percy stuck behind Melody, and Clover kept a grip on her brother's shoulder. Frisk bounded ahead, occasionally gazing back at their new friends. It seemed they knew the way up the mountain by heart.

Soon, the group of kids reached the summit of the mountain. It was bushy, trees blooming from large rocks, and a looming, dark cave.

Frisk walked towards the cave, holding out their trusty stick.

"Hold on!" Melody raced over to them. "Do you seriously want to go in there?!"

"Yeah," Frisk grinned at her. "I think the monsters might be in there."

"The monsters, huh?" Brayden placed his fist in his palm. "Bring it on!"

"Guys, hold on…" Cody reached out his frying pan.

Percy pulled out his notebook, furiously writing down his observations. His pen shook between his fingers.

Stay calm stay calm-

Clover grimaced at the cave, following after Frisk. Brayden charged in after her.

"Slow down, you idiots!" Melody stormed in after the other two.

"Guys, wait up!" Cody was shortly behind, followed by Faye and Percy.

Frisk walked ahead. They couldn't see much in the cave; only a pale light on their own stick. They took a few steps. Something tugged beneath their foot.

"Guys," they turned around. "I-"

And then they tripped. Frisk cried out, flailing backwards. They flew towards a gaping hole in the center, grabbing onto some vines on the sides.

"Uh, guys?!" they cried out.

"Hold on, pardner!" Clover shouted, racing towards them. She offered a hand. "Grab on!"

Frisk tried to reach out, only for the vines they were holding onto to break. Clover reached down further, extending her arm. Frisk gasped as the vine they were holding broke. They screamed as they fell backwards.

"Don't worry, pardner, I'm coming!" Clover grabbed her pistol, jumping in after Frisk.

"CLOVER!" Cody cried out. He raced towards the hole, jumping into the darkness.

"Oh no…" Percy's body trembled. "I…"

He gasped as he tripped on a vine, falling into the hole. He held his notebook to his chest like a lifeline.

"Percy!" Melody cried out. "No - you fools! Come back!"

She jumped into the hole.

"HEY, WAIT FOR ME!" Brayden did a somersault into the hole.

Faye trembled, clutching on to her knife.

Oh… here goes nothing...

And she, too, made the plummet. Thus, the journey of Grouptale began…