STORY

The Undertale multiverse, with splitting and branching AUs extending as far as one could possibly imagine, eventually comes to a stop.  It wasn’t something that came out of nowhere for some denizens--after all, the “original” Sans spoke of reports that the timelines eventually stopped completely after a certain point.

But that wasn’t necessarily a cut-off point.  Things didn’t cease to exist afterwards...but, rather, they merged.  In a single instant, the multiverse reached critical mass and collapsed in on itself, forming the reality that we call HELP_tale: A place where all incarnations of all of our favorite Undertale characters attempt to exist in the same place in spacetime.  It doesn’t go well.

More specifically, all of these “alt-characters” merge into entities we call ITs: Absolutely atrocious beings that put Undertale’s own amalgamates to shame, and rather than being the result of Determination gone wrong, they’re reality’s attempt to parse hundreds of souls inhabiting the same body.  For every “major” character in Undertale, there exists one of these ITs: Sans, Papyrus, Undyne, Napstablook, Alphys, Mettaton, Toriel, Asgore, Frisk, Chara, Asriel/Flowey, the six fallen humans, and even Gaster.

The nature of this merge causes some of these ITs to behave in different ways that reflect the most consistent traits amongst a character in each AU.  The ITs of Toriel and Asgore will end up fusing due to their inseparable nature in the fandom, the IT of Frisk ends up becoming HELP_tale’s playable character, and the IT of the six fallen humans ends up forming what is called the Locket, an item of pure determination.  More information on the specific traits of each IT will follow later.

Depending on how different or similar alternate interpretations of a character are across AUs, their ITs end up becoming less or more cohesive to compensate.  Gaster’s IT exists at the farthest extreme of having wildly different interpretations due to having very little in the way of canonical info in the first place, so the IT itself struggles to maintain any physical form at all and goes so far as to disrupt the mechanics of the battle itself.  Meanwhile, Frisk’s IT still looks (almost) exactly like them due to most AUs keeping Frisk in the same sphere of “effectively mute player character”.

The protagonist, using the power of the Locket, is able to separate these ITs into their composite souls, placing all of the respective alt-characters back into the universe and slowly forming a burgeoning melting pot of AUs.  For example, when the Sans IT is separated, AU Sanses will be placed all throughout HELP_tale’s underground.  They will then be joined by groups of AU Papyruses (Papyri?) when the Papyrus IT is separated, and so on and so forth.

In essence, HELP_tale’s setting swings back and forth between focusing on the ITs and the strange nature of this timeline merge and then focusing on the AU characters themselves and the ensuing antics that emerge from these myriad characters sharing the same space.  It is important to note that, although they still retain all other aspects of their presented forms, characters from AUs do not remember the actual setting from which they came, with the exception of reality benders like Error Sans.  (Speaking of which, places that are shown to exist between or outside of universes, like CORE Frisk’s Omega Timeline and Error’s void will still function as normal in HELP_tale; only the actual AUs themselves are merged!)

Now, some AU characters count as multiple people at once, such as Comic Papyrus or Chisk. The composite parts of, say, the Chara-ness in Chisk would go to Chara’s IT, and the rest to Frisk. These characters can only appear when the respective ITs of all their composite characters are separated.  For example, for Sixbones to appear in the HELP_tale universe, both the Sans IT and the Papyrus IT would need to be separated.

ITs

(Listed in order of appearance)

Fr_sk (Frisk)

Encountered: N/A, Is the protagonist

Appearance:

Flowey? (???)

Encountered: In the Ruins twice

Appearance:

Description: Flowey as a character is a bit of a curiosity, only existing as a sort of “vessel” for Asriel’s dust-essence(?) and determination.  Furthermore, some AUs (with Storyshift possibly being the best example) feature other characters existing in the same “form” of Flowey, so he isn’t strictly tied to Asriel across all versions.  As a result of this, HELP_tale’s Flowey isn’t even a true IT, but is essentially every single character in Undertale as Flowey at the same time, resulting in heavily jarring and contradictory behavior and being at such odds with itself that it eventually fails to keep itself in one piece and dissolves completely.

[unnamed] (Napstablook)

Encountered: In the Ruins as a puddle, then “properly” battled in Waterfall

Appearance:

The Locket (The Six Fallen Humans)

Encountered: During the second meeting with Flowey?, is then kept in the player’s possession

Appearance: ??? [is it identical to the canonical Locket, or?]

Sanstrocity (Sans)

Encountered: The entrance to Snowdin, where Sans is first encountered in the original game

Appearance: Link

Description: Probably the most “straightforward” of the ITs, the Sanstrocity’s attacks are characterized by their sluggishness, with easily-avoidable rows of bones and slowly sweeping reverse-Gaster-blasters.  Shoots flaming gasoline out of its “many orifices”, and is pacified by feeding it snow.

Papalgamate (Papyrus)

Encountered: The exit from Snowdin, where Papyrus is battled in the original game

Appearance: Link

Description: Due to the drastically conflicting personalities of its composite parts, the Papalgamate is constantly screaming and occasionally tears at itself.  Its attacks prove a greater challenge than those of the Sanstrocity, with additional heads firing off beams and additional limbs stretching around and popping up.  Is pacified by giving it a hug, followed by bathing it repeatedly.

[unnamed] (Undyne)

Encountered: During a quest to acquire Cat Papyrus as the Limb, then appears fully [where you battle Undyne in Undertale, I would imagine?]

Appearance: Link

Description: Initially encountered as the Limb, which is “defeated” by using the Stroke action (a reference to the remarkably bountiful Undertail base), upon which it simply vanishes into the depths.  Is encountered later on in Waterfall, and battled in full.  Its attack patterns have been described by Killer as being extremely fast and aggressive early on, but gradually slowing down as the battle progresses.

[unnamed] (Alphys)

Encountered: [Hotland lab?]

Appearance: Link

[unnamed] (Mettaton)

Encountered: [CORE?]

Appearance: Link

[unnamed] (Toriel/Asgore)

Encountered: [New Home?]

Appearance: ???

[unnamed] (Gaster)

Encountered: [True Lab?]

Appearance: ???

[unnamed] (Asriel)

Encountered: [New Home?]

Appearance: Asriel’s true form appears as a massive bloated dead goat strangled by vines. In order to separate it, the player must go inside it, it's body acting as a mini dungeon. Consult burnt for concept art.

[unnamed] (Chara)

Encountered: ???

Appearance: In its child form, it appears as a normal, albeit faceless Chara (similar to Fr_sk).  In its more traditional IT form, it appears as a towering, multi-armed humanoid monstrosity, with each arm wielding a blade and the body of the creature spilling out blood in assorted places.

Description: Chara is very much an oddity in the Undertale universe, and the forms in which they exist are extremely varied.  As a representation of this, Chara’s IT essentially exists in two forms: Its physical, “normal” body, and what’s referred to as “Spirit Chara”, which doesn’t manifest as any sort of entity but is a composite of Chara’s immaterial manifestations and acts as more of an influencing factor on existing ITs.  Specifically, Spirit Chara will manifest as a part of not only Fr_sk (in the form of occasionally conflicting/violent pieces of narration), but as a part of the Asriel IT as well.  As for the proper IT, [need more information on the circumstances behind its encounter]

AU Civilizations

As the ITs are separated and their respective characters populate the world, the society of the Underground starts to take form in various ways depending on the characters present.

Only Sans

The presence of the nearby Papalgamate and the lack of a source of motivation in Papyrus has caused the vast majority of Sanses to fall into an even deeper defeatist state...with one particularly noteworthy exception.  Fresh begins flying into a panic at the bleak and hopeless state of the universe, and attempts to rally together the Sans-society into investigating the nature of these creatures and discovering a way to escape this place.  This rallying eventually ends up turning into a zealous domination over the entirety of Snowdin as Fresh tries to keep its population motivated and working.  Unfortunately, this doesn’t work out particularly well, as the Sanses play along with Fresh’s demands at best and completely ignore them at worst.  The majority of the Sanses, lacking the drive to make their own homes, end up residing in places like the Snowdin Hotel and Grillby’s.  Error Sans is nowhere to be seen, taking refuge in his void.

Sans and Papyrus

Thanks to the disappearance of the nearby Papalgamate and the surge of Papyrus-fueled optimism, the Sanses of Snowdin become much more motivated and active.  With Fresh’s panic cracked down on early on and Error Sans out of the picture, Snowdin is left to exist in a somewhat tense but overall pleasant anarchy, with no real overarching leader figure.

Sans, Papyrus, and Undyne

The presence of the fearsome AU Undynes causes the Underground’s society to take a very drastic turn.  Waterfall has essentially become a forwards military encampment inhabited by the most aggressive and fearsome of AU characters, while the town of Snowdin serves as a residential area.  Both areas are strictly regulated and overseen, and suddenly become far less welcoming towards the protagonist.  The base of Waterfall is continuing their attempts to launch an attack on the IT-infested realm of Hotland, but are finding very little success.

+Napstablook: As above, but with some ghosts flying around.

Sans, Papyrus, Undyne, and Alphys

Largely the same as the previous society, but the weapons, armor, and training of the soldiers have taken a turn for the more...dramatic.  Impossibly large swords, unnecessary capes, epic speeches, and other mannerisms have been adopted throughout the Underground’s armies, and needless to say, most of the Undynes and Papyri synergize very well with this recent change in protocol.  The Hotlands laboratory has become a whirlwind of activity, with scientific minds frantically attempting to discover more about the nature of this world.

Sans, Papyrus, Undyne, Alphys, and Mettaton

The addition of the egotistical, pompous, charismatic Mettatons to the Underground have resulted in a great conflict between them and the down-to-earth, aggressive Undynes, leading to an ongoing civil war between the two societies.  The Mettatons and Undynes have each gathered various alternate characters to their side, and each faction is making use of the Hotland labs and Sans’s own lab in Snowdin, respectively, as a base for their research.  Meanwhile, Waterfall has evolved from a relatively simple encampment into an outright military stronghold, and the forces of Hotland have constructed their own bases in response.

Sans, Papyrus, Undyne, Alphys, Mettaton, Toriel, and Asgore

With the firm rule of the Dreemurrs in place, order is restored to the Underground and its society begins resembling the form it took during the original game.  Now that their scientific minds aren’t at odds with each other, the researchers at Hotland begin making great steps towards discovering the true nature of this world.  However, reports of a creature unlike any ever witnessed before lurking beneath the laboratory begin surfacing…

Sans, Papyrus, Undyne, Alphys, Mettaton, Toriel, Asgore, and Gaster

Now that the unprecedented prowess of Dr. W.D. Gaster has been not only retrieved, but duplicated multiple times over, the pieces of the puzzle finally begin falling in place.  The nature of the timeline merge and the creation of the ITs is made clear, and at last, there is an explanation for the circumstances that the characters now find themselves in.  But finding a way to reverse this phenomenon manages to elude even this gathering of geniuses, and for that matter, a hellish beast ends up being discovered at New Home.

Game Routes

Separatist

HELP_tale’s “neutral” route, of sorts.  The player separates all of the ITs and restores the alt-characters into the world of the Underground--various permutations may arise depending on which alt-characters the player chooses to absorb and spare.

Preservation

HELP_tale’s “pacifist” route, in which all of the alt-characters are spared and Underground society continues on.  Is not actually an entirely separate route that requires replaying the game, unlike Undertale’s pacifist route, but is simply a variation on the Separatist route in which all of the characters are spared.  The Underground’s greatest scientific minds believe that they just might have found the way to split the timelines back to normal, but then, an unexpected visitor drops in and puts a stop to those plans...

Restoration

HELP_tale’s “genocide” route, in which all of the alt-characters are absorbed in an attempt to “restore” the merged timeline back into its original state.  Even though it mirrors Undertale’s genocide route, it is essentially HELP_tale’s “true” ending path.  The player, after absorbing so many monster souls that the Underground has been left barren, ends up engaging CORE!Frisk in a final showdown.  As CORE Frisk is defeated, the player is just about to absorb them and acquire their reality-altering power...but then, out of the blue, Ink Sans swoops in and halts the player dead in their tracks, abruptly ending the game.  The player must then hunt Ink down into the depths of this universe, and uncover its inner realm…

True Restoration

After embarking on some sort of ARG in which the player attempts to dive into HELP_tale’s inner realm, the Ink Brothers are encountered and desperately attempt to stop the player from tearing this universe apart at the seams.  After they are battled (and possibly even absorbed themselves) the player then takes on the god of this universe, the entity responsible for the events of the merge...the fandom (might rename to ‘The Collective’) itself.

Normal Genocide

Everyone is killed. More info needed.

Escapist

The player runs away from all encounters. More info needed.