Chara dashes towards the lab. They know Gaster had to have extracted DETERMINATION somehow, and hope he can extract Undyne's.

Meanwhile, Grilby wonders about what Sans said. He wonders about the human. They haven't met the human yet, but he has heard they're wearing a striped shirt. Grilby decides to investigate. He begins to walk to towards the barrier, where the human would be going, knowing he'll run into them at some point.

Meanwhile, Chara arrives at the lab. "Gaster!" Chara calls.

"Hello darlings!" A voice exclaims as the lights come on. Metaton stands before Chara. "Today on the MTT networks," Mettaton continues, "we premier our new show, 'so that a sociopath?' today's guest is, 'The Hope of the Underground' Chara... or so they claim. Let's find out!" Mettaton starts a FIGHT.

"You will answer a series of questions, and based on your responses we will determine if you really are Chara, or just a nut case. Let's begin, question one, who is Asreil Dreemur?"

"My best friend," Chara replies.

"How do you feel about humanity?" Mettaton asks.

"I hate them," Chara replies.

"One last question darling. You ready?" Mettaton asks.

"Get to the point," Chara demands.

"OK then, why did you get your 'best friend' killed?" Mettaton asks.

Chara is overwhelmed with guilt.

"Undyne told me everything darling," Mettaton explains, "you can take my show and what not, but when you mess with Frisk... well, in the words of a friend, 'you're gonna have a bad time.'"

Mettaton transforms into Mettaton Neo. "Showtime is over!" Mettaton exclaims. Chara eats a cinnabunny to heal from the previous FIGHT.

Mettaton attacks. Chara dodges, but can't stop thinking about Asreil. They are consumed by guilt. However, they dodge carefully, knowing that they're running out of healing items.

Chara tries to ACT. They can pose, heel turn, and boast. Chara looks at the ratings. There's some kind of goal line at ten thousand. The current ratings are at four thousand. Chara tries boasting.

"You can't hit me at all!" Chara smirks. Ratings increase as Chara douges. Chara struggles to dodge, unable to shoot the blocks and bombs with a red soul.

The phone rings. "Chara!" Gaster yells, "there's a yellow button on your phone! Press it!" The phone begins to glow.

"Sorry darling," Mettaton grins, "but Undyne warned me about that." Mettaton attacks the phone, sending it out of Chara's reach and the FIGHT.

Chara continues to douge and boast, until eventchuly, around eight thousand, Mettaton gets frustrated.

"Will you just die?!?" He growls. "Before I finish you off, you mentioned to Undyne that there's more to Flowey than meets the eye. If I may ask, what did you mean by that? Undyne remembered most of the previous reset, but she doesn't remember anything off about Flowey. Could you tell me what you meant by that? I mean, could it hurt?"

Chara doesn't answer for a moment. In truth, they don't know, but they knew something was off about Flowey, watching how Frisk treated him through Undyne's eyes. Chara knows that if Frisk takes control of someone, or at least gets close, they'll be able to manipulate those without LOVE. Just like Chara attempted to do with Frisk in the previous reset.

"I don't know," Chara replies, "what you're talking about. Someone call a mechanic! Mettaton's blown a fuse!"

The ratings rise as Chara roasts Mettaton. Chara takes the opportunity. "Oh, and don't get me started on your hair. Is that hair or a hunk of metal? You compensating for somthing there?"

Chara sees rage in Mettaton's eyes. They continue as the ratings rise past nine thousand. "And seriously Mettaton, you listening to Undyne? Her story seems kinda FISHY to me!"

The ratings hit ten thousand. "Well," Mettaton grins, "looks like we hit our viewer goal! We'll now take a caller!"

Papayrus, who's soul had returned to normal, had been watching the show with Sans and tries to call. Sans had helped Papayrus get home with a shortcut. He knew Chara would run into Mettaton, and had taken the oppertunity to watch how Chara douges. As he watches, he notices there's no patterns. Chara douges based on their opponent's attacks, just like Frisk. Most other humans tend to have a general strategy, and struggle when that doesn't work. No such case with Chara.

Papayrus gets an answer. "Hello darling," Mettaton smiles, "anything to say to me or the human?"

"Yeah," Papayrus growls, "what the hell are you doing!?!"

Mettaton is to shocked to reply.

"That's my friend!" Papayrus continues, "I won't let you kill them! Sans! We need a shortcut!"

Sans doesn't want to help Chara, but for Papayrus, he takes them to the lab. Papayrus's eye glows orange as he stares at Mettaton. "Let the human go," Papayrus demands, "or else."

Mettaton offers MERCY. Chara complies. "Are you OK human?" Papayrus asks.

"I'm fine. Thanks Papayrus," Chara smiles. They finally begin to fell accepted again. For the first time since Asreil died, they almost fell happy.

"I'm going to go make amends with Undyne," Papayrus explains, "meet me at her house. I'm sure when she gets past whatever grudge she's holding you'll good friends. Nyeh he he!"

Papayrus walks off. "Thanks for the help Sans," Chara smiles.

"Don't get the wrong idea," Sans growls, "you're lucky Papayrus is still close by. Otherwise, you'd be dead where you stand. This is your final warning. Go back to the Ruins, or you're gonna have a bad time." Everything goes dark, and Sans disappears... and reappears. "Also," he smiles, "nice pun. But seriously go back or you're dead." Sans disappears again.

Chara leaves the lab before Mettaton can try anything. They pick up their cell phone and continue into Hotland...