"Lead the way," she says. She smiles at the farmer one last time. "Thanks again, for everything."

"No problem!" says the farmer. "I'm Takta Fan!"

"I'll bear that in mind," says Kato with a disarming smile.

Hel follows them into the helicopter, trying to hide how nervous she feels.

"Since you're not too far off from an Amentan in size and shape, probably the safety restraints will work the same for you!" says Kato. "Let me show you." He buckles himself in.

"Thanks! I've never been in ... well ... anything like this." She mimics him to buckle herself in.

"It's one of the fastest ways to get places, but it's not always a smooth ride, and this keeps us from jostling into each other.

"I'd been hoping to hear why the bones form factor," Papenna reminds Helvetica as they take off.

"Most Monsters have bullets - that's what that bone I showed you is called - that are somehow connected to them. Froggits' magic looks like flies, Woshuas' look like soap and bubbles, Vulkins' look like fire ... Not that you know what any of those are. And it doesn't always follow. So probably because I'm a skeleton? But I'm not sure."

"I meant, why are you a skeleton in the first place, though separately I'm so puzzled by the 'bullets' translation, what do you use them for?"

"Oh! Um ... That's somewhat complicated because I wasn't ... born? That seems like the best word ... like most Monsters. I was created in a lab. The person who donated the physical material to do this was a skeleton, so that's what I am, too. For bullets ... They can be used either defensively or offensively - hence the name 'bullet' - but most Monsters don't use them that way. Instead they're mostly used as a form of self-expression. Some Monsters work hard to make beautiful and complex patterns of bullets, for example."

"Patterns of them? Like you arrange them as a mosaic?"

"Sort of! It's a bit more interactive than that. Bullets are fused with a Monster's intent - if a Monster wants to hurt you, they can make their bullets hit harder. But it works the other way, too! If a Monster means no harm, they can make their bullets be relatively painless to touch - some do no harm at all. A lot of times the patterns are meant to be dodged, not just observed. The complexity is often dictated by who is receiving the pattern. Someone who knows your skills and abilities well might send an intricate, complex pattern that pushes the limits of your skills - observation, reaction time, that sort of thing. They'll use a lot of different techniques or add different colors of magic to the pattern, which have to be interacted with differently than just dodging. Someone who barely knows you may only send something simple."

"So it's a martial art, or a dance?"

"I'd say more like a martial art."

"All right - I'd love to see some of it at some point but I don't think I'd be especially good at avoiding bones, maybe we can get a dancer or someone who does an Amentan martial art in for demonstrations at some point?"

"I can try ... but to be honest I'm not actually very good at magic. My mana well is small, so I don't have much to work with." She looks away, obviously embarrassed and ashamed by this. "I also have a disorder that means my mana is further restrained ... it's ... well, like a lot of things involving me, it's complicated." She sighs and looks up with a strained smile. "If we can figure out how I got here and can replicate it ... I know someone who would love to show you his bullet patterns."

"We'd love to figure that out too! Do you have any ideas what was going on on your end at the time?"

"I know the Royal Labs - which is where I grew up and is where I was before I showed up here - had a machine that was being worked on. It was supposed to break the Barrier, but it looked like it might have been doing something with combining or connecting different parts of the multiverse? I don't understand it much, myself.

"And because I know you'll ask: The Barrier is the result of a sealing spell that has trapped monsters under Mount Ebott for centuries ... possibly millenia? I'm not entirely sure how long it's been. There are only a handful of monsters still alive from back then, but one of them - our king, Asgore - is essentially immortal, and the others are all from long-lived bloodlines. The most we really understand about it is that things can enter but can't leave unless they have the soul of both a boss monster - basically an exceptionally powerful monster, like the king - and the soul of a human. Or power equal to that. To break it we need the magical equivalent of seven human souls."

"What's a human - and a soul, for that matter -" says Papenna.

"You'd mentioned you were made in a lab, but that this isn't customary; what is customary?" asks Kato.

"Humans ... they look kinda like you. They're a sentient species that lives on the Surface of my world. A long time ago they waged war against us. We lost. Now most of what we know of them comes from things that fall into the Underground. Old magazines and books, stuff like that.

"Souls are a sort of metaphysical organ, and are the culmination of our beings. It's where my magic comes from, although I don't fully understand how that works. As far as I know, all sentient beings have a soul. If you think it would be helpful, once we're in a more ... secure place, I can manifest mine as long as no one touches it. Human souls are shaped like this," she draws a cartoon heart shape in the air with her fingers, "and monster souls are inverted from that. Most monster souls are white or have very pale coloring, while human souls have a very strong color.

"And finally, when two monsters want to have a child they'll soulbond or mate, combining their souls together to bud off a souling that gestates in one of their parents until birth."

"Huh!" says Papenna. She's taking notes on her pocket everything.

"I imagine it's hard to know what the war was about if it was so long ago," says Kato.

Hel shakes her head.

"It's pretty well known, at least in the Underground. It was fought over magic and souls. When monsters die our souls disappears almost immediately, but human souls remain stable outside their body. Monsters, being mostly magic, can absorb human souls and use their power. Humans were afraid of us because of this. As far as I'm aware, this has only ever happened once, long after the war, in a tragedy that claimed the lives of the king and queen's son and adopted human child. But humans were afraid of the very possibility of monsters gaining power this way, and they attacked us."

"What do you use the power for in general?" asks Papenna.

"We use magic for all sorts of things! Monsters who can will often use fire magic to cook, and some monsters can use their magic to heal. Woshuas like to use their magic to clean things, and Vegetoids use theirs to produce food. The Royal Guard uses magic to keep the peace and uphold justice. I know some monsters use gravity magic to do help with things like construction. Most of our food is magic, and our energy grid is partially fueled by magic. It's a lot of little day-to-day things."

"That sounds amazing, it must lead to a completely different way of life than we have here without any magic!" squeaks Papenna.

"Could be! We still have a lot of problems. Plant monsters like Vegetoids don't do great without sunlight, and the Underground doesn't have any. We're pretty space-restricted because of the Barrier. And Hope - which is as necessary for monsters as air, it fuels our souls - is dwindling, which means a lot of people have fallen down.

"But magic does make a lot of things easier."