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Featured: Battle Against A True Hero

Undertale

Copyright © 2015 Toby Fox

This is my final favorite tune from the game. I listened to this one a lot while writing parts of this book. The title of this theme suits Donnie well. Hmmm...

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~5 years later

"I'm ready mama!" Merric calls to me from the bedroom doorway. "I am ready for morning training!"

I laugh from within the closet. "He's been excited about this all morning," I hear Ike's deep voice fill the air. I poke my head out and cross the room ready to go.

"Really? I am sure he has. Today is your first day, Merric. You ready?"

Ike chuckles as Merric excitedly nods and rushes off through the door to the practice field. "When he was not pestering me when it was time, he was off in the side of the practice field practicing by himself," Ike pauses and pulls me close before I can pass him by. He softly kisses me before letting me go. When he notices the face I gave him he chuckles at me.

"You should be used to that by now, Hun," I laugh and go back for another one before turning to follow Merric to the practice field. He chuckles again and follows me.

When we pass through the doorway, Merric's green eyes light up as he sees us. "Yay! I'm ready mama!"

I laugh as I scan the practice field. Oscar and Boyd are at it on one side and Merric is waiting for me on the other side. I notice Merric has chosen red armor, cape and hood.

Interesting. That is the same color of Donnie's attire.

Before I was about to focus back onto my son, I notice Donnie and Ronnie watching from the shadows where they usually are. Donnie's green eyes and Ronnie's purple eyes are watching us closely. I note them and turn my eyes back to my son waiting for me while his bright green eyes are glued onto mine. I get a strange sensation when I look into Merric's eyes this time.

Bright green. Those remind me so much of Donnie's eyes. It's so weird. They both chose the same clothing color and have the same eye color.

"Get ready, boy," I say to him as I close the gap to just steps away from him. His face stiffens as his expression gets more serious. "Ready," He says to me softly.

"Yeah, go ahead and train Merric to be as good as you... that should be no problem for you..." I hear a hushed voice come from where Donnie and Ronnie are spectating behind me.

Was that Donnie?

I pay the comment no mind and raise my left hand waiting for Merric to do the same. He mimics me but raises his right hand instead, mirroring me. I darken my eyes and a dark magic orb fades in around my hand. Merric tries to mimic me but has a slight bit of trouble at first.

I narrow my eyes at him, "Concentrate Merric," I say softly but sternly and his gaze becomes sharper as he focuses himself. "Focus your emotion through your arm," I say sharply.

A dark orb appears around Merric's hand and an energy ball flies from his hand directly towards me. I swiftly dodge it, swipe my arm at it and it flies away harmlessly into the air. It dissolves and fades away with no effort. I give Merric another sharp look. "Focus boy!" I say loudly.

Merric shows a look of worry before quickly pushing it away and replacing it with determination. He focuses again on my gaze and reproduces the dark orb around his right hand. He keeps his darkened gaze locked onto mine.

"Good," I say slowly. I quickly clench my hand and then swiftly open it as I take a step back with my right foot while holding my left arm out further. A large black shield fades in around me and seals me in within a blink of an eye. My hair swirls around a bit before falling back around my shoulders. My cape does a similar thing, also slowly falling back into place around me. I do not flinch and keep my hand facing Merric, palm out.

"Humph," I hear the same hushed voice once again. "Look how easy this is for you..."

Donnie? What is up with you this morning?

I watch as the emotions swirl around in Merric's eyes as he prepares to try to mimic the spell I just demonstrated.

It is amazing how quick this boy reacts to me.

Within seconds of him analyzing me, he does just as I showed him, clenching his fist then immediately opening it, palm out facing me. The look in his eye shows he is completely concentrated as he takes a step back with his left foot imitating my right one and a blackened shield swiftly caps around him.

"Good. Now... focus your emotion... and block these energy orbs I throw at you..." Merric does not move as he drops his shield after I quickly drop mine. Merric raises his other hand and places his arms in a defensive formation.

I release a dark orb from my hand directly at Merric. It is a slow and simple one. He should be able to absorb that one. Just as I thought, he tosses up a small dark shield and my dark orb dispels once it strikes it. He drops the shield, ready for my next one.

I shoot out another dark energy ball. This one is much quicker and a bit larger. Merric tries to block it but his shield gets broken as my orb flows through it. His eyes widen as his protection breaks; he catches himself as he falls back.

"Fortify your shield, boy,"

He nods as he sluggishly gets back up, brushing himself off. "You are strong, mama,"

I cannot help but smile when he says that. "You know a lot about this," He continues while facing towards me when he gets back on his feet.

"You will get it soon enough,"

"Yeah we know how good she is, get on with it, Merric," I hear Donnie's hushed voice say. "Show her how good you are, humph,"

I turn my eyes towards him and he crosses his arms as Ronnie ignores the things he is doing next to him.

"Hey! Stop talking to my mama like that..." I turn my eyes back to Merric and he is watching Donnie closely. He looks slightly intimidated by him but is holding his expression steady. His long blond bangs slightly cover his right eye.

Donnie flashes him a stern look with his green eyes, "You just don't understand, kid," He averts his gaze away when he sees mine on his. "I can speak to her how I wish..." He lowers his voice as he says this, drifting off when he says the last word.

"You don't even know her!" Merric attempts to snap back towards him.

This seems to tug a chord within Donnie's heart as his eyes widen and then softens for just a moment before he masks it once again. "You don't say things like that to me, kid," He shoots Merric another unsympathetic gaze, "You just don't understand! Don't know what it is like to lose someone special to you!" As he says that, he uncrosses his arms and throws them down at his sides, clenching them forcefully.

Ronnie turns his eyes towards Donnie as he says that, with an apprehensive look in his dark purple eyes. I follow Ronnie's gawk as he glances down at Donnie's hands for a second and notice a purple book.

Purple? I thought it was a red tome? Wait...

I look back up at Donnie's eyes and they look abnormal... altered. Is he crying?

Donnie quickly turns his stare to mine and narrows his jade eyes at me, taking away the illusion of them being moist.

His gaze turns irritated as he looks at me, "What? Do you want to spar with me? Let's go..." He clutches the tome tighter in his hand. Wait... it is red again. What is happening? Why is he acting so strange now? Who is he?

"S—sure," I say to him as he approaches me from the shadows. "Stand next to your father, Merric," I shoot Ike a strange glance and he returns the same look. I turn back to him and we glare at each other for a few moments.

I know what I saw. He knows dark magic. I just know it. You cannot fool me, boy.

I put on a sassy grin on my face and stare at Donnie, waiting for him to react to me. He keeps looking at me, "Humph, what is that look for?"

I compellingly place my hands on my hips. "Do you take me for a fool, boy?"

Donnie's eyes widen as he continues to study my face.

Why did that make him look worried all of a sudden? Is he hiding something? The fact that he knows dark magic perhaps?

"You practice dark magic... don't you?"

He raises his tome he holds in his hand and narrows his stare once more, allowing me to get a good look at it. It fluctuates from red to purple right before my eyes.

He used a dark magic spell. To fool the eye.

"Very good, Star. That was an easy one for you, huh?"

Now it is my turn to widen my eyes at him. What does he mean by that? Easy one? He is toying with me. He says these things like he knows who I am and acts as though I should know who he is. Who are you?

I feel slightly frustrated as I focus my stare into his. He quietly chuckles at me before saying, "Let us begin,"

He is swift like lightning.

He tosses around dark magic spells almost naked to the eye. As I deflect them harmlessly into the air, I toss my own at him, just as quick. I hurriedly focus my emotion onto him and concentrate. I see my surroundings fade away until I see nothing but him.

Every time I toss out a spell, he mirrors me, tossing out the same one. It is like I am looking at myself in the mirror. I raise my left hand to throw around a dark energy ball and he raises his right one doing the same.

Our dark energy seems to be evenly matched as we dissipate the other easily as they are thrown out. I do admit he is forcing me to my limits though. I have never needed to be this concentrated and focused before while using my magic.

Who is he? How is he this good at his age? Who taught him dark magic like this? He knows spells I do not even know... more advanced ones that require high skill...

I spin around and disappear to reappear close to him. He does the same, forcing me to spin around once more. Each spell that we toss out is like a blink of an eye. I almost lose track of where he is but quickly find him again.

"Whoa..." I faintly hear Merric's soft voice from around me somewhere as I dash around, sparring with Donnie. "Who is that, papa?"

"I don't know, Merric," I hear Ike's deep voice answer.

I quickly toss up a dark shield before Donnie can throw anything at me. He has such control over his magic, it is really unexpected.

After another few rounds of tossing spells at each other, a winner is still not determined. We both slowly stop and drop our dark magic from our eyes and hands. We stare into each other's gazes for a moment as we catch our breath. He stands there lifeless and looks as though he does not require much to gain back his strength.

After a moment of observing him, I ask, "Who taught you combat like that?"

He sneers at me before retorting, "My mother..."

I feel my mouth open marginally. I narrow my eyes at him again. "What else are you concealing from me?"

Who could he possibly be talking about? Do I know her? Do I know him? He acts like he knows me...

He chuckles, "I don't know, Star, how about you tell me...?" Donnie turns to walk away from me and approaches the tree line towards the cliff he often goes to. Then Ronnie rushes past me, giving me a quick glance showing me his deep purple eyes, and catches up with his brother, following him through the trees into the darkness behind them.

I keep standing there for another moment, watching where they just vanished at the moment before. I see Ike approach me from the corner of my right eye and I feel Merric grasp my left hand.

"I can't figure out who he is, Ike. How did he know those techniques? How does he know dark magic like that so well?" I see Ike turn to look at me. "He seems more skilled than me..." I let my voice fade away after that.

"I did not expect him to be that fast," Ike says and I quickly turn to face him.

"Did you hear what he said?" Ike slowly nods while focusing on my stare. I continue to look at him for another moment. Then my eyes soften a little. "What does it mean?"

"He seems interested in you for some reason, Star,"

I feel a small dizzy spell hit me and the world around me slightly spins. I feel Ike catch me as Merric's voice reaches me, "What's wrong mama?"

When my vision stops spinning and I focus on Ike's worried face, I assure him with a small smile. His eyes soften a little as he sees my smile appear. "Are you alright, Hun?" His voice still sounds worried though. He has his left arm under me and is holding me close to him. He reaches his other hand up near my face and rests it on my cheek. Merric is sitting by me on my other side, holding my arm.

"I am fine, Hun. Do not worry. I have been meaning to tell you that we have another son on the way,"

It is satisfying to see the look Ike gives me when I tell him that.

There will be several time jumps in the remaining parts of this book. It is necessary to watch the sons grow up and to progress the war that is lingering around the corner. [No it would be a huge error to forget about that war mentioned in previous parts.] :0

Are Donnie and Ronnie becoming more complicated mysteries to you or are you figuring them out? Let me know. Pleeeeeease I am super interested. <3

I was very excited about this part so I wrote it very early... right after editing the previous part as a matter of fact. Hee hee :3