I was ready to head out. I was originally gonna have Gradient go over to Sci's place since I was a bit concerned with how much he's been training with the others. Was I going to voice those concerns, no. Not at all. Mainly because I can see he's enjoying himself and I didn't want him to think I disapproved of his actions. However, I did want him to relax so I was going to suggest that he went to Sci's au. It was the best I could think of. 

But eventually I realized it might be best to just bring him along since I couldn't just keep him out of things. He was grown and he could handle things much better now. I couldn't ignore that.

Of course Nightmare was aware of what I was doing, since I told him, and decided that I should bring someone along with us. I decided to take Dust, no offense to the others but... I just figured it would be better to bring someone that wouldn't try to cause problems on purpose. 

So when the others were out we went to Dust who was sitting in a chair seeming lost in thought. I was careful to approach, just incase, and leaned over to be eye level with him. I didn't have to wait long for him to notice me and I straightened up when he made eye contact.

"Hope you're not busy at the moment but I kinda want to borrow you." I saw him tilt his head up a bit more.

"....why?"

"I'm taking Gradient to the old multiverse to pay a visit to someone. Nightmare suggested bringing someone else along and I figured you would be my lucky victim."

"I'm so honored..." His expression didn't look pleased and I chuckled.

"Plus, we haven't hung out much so I figured this would be a good chance for that." He demeanor changed a bit. I saw him sigh and stand up.

"Alright then... let's go."

"Thanks for coming along Dust." Gradient said pleased that he agreed.

"Sure kid," Dust said tugging on Gradient's hood to cover his eyes.

I turned away and opened up a portal to the Anti-Void. I had the other two go first before I followed after them. Once in the white space I walked over to where Fresh was waiting, staring up at the objects above.

"Hi Fresh!" Gradient called out and went ahead to greet the colorful menace. Dust looked over at me. 

"I still don't get how you trust or tolerate that guy. He seems... your opposite." I raised a brow at that.

"More than Ink?"

"Well Ink has gotten better... Plus Ink doesnt go around with the physical contact like Fresh." He said watching as Fresh easily lifted up Gradient swinging him around in a hug.

"Well, he has helped me out, a lot actually. I, at the very least, trust that he has good intentions around us. Plus it's better that he's a friend than an enemy, right?"

"I guess... I've never seen him fight so I'm not sure what kind of threat he really is." Dust looked at Fresh a bit unsure but not overall interested. I gave a weak attempt at a chuckle.

"Yeah, let's leave it at that."

"Wassup Broski!" Fresh said as he walked over with Gradient trying, and failing, to free himself. He wasn't in distress so I wasn't worried. 

"I'm fine, Dust is coming along with us to the other place."

"Alright, the more the merrier! It's gonna be rad, I hope our buddy is doing ok. He probably is." Fresh said before releasing Gradient. 

I turned away and focused on opening up a portal to the Anti-Void. The other Anti-Void. The edges of the portal that formed were a bit glitchy, probably because it's going from one endless space to another, but eventually it stabilized. Fresh, being Fresh, leaped in first. He looked around and spotted something before waving to us.

"Ya'll need to get all up in here. I spot our buddy!" He exclaimed while pointing towards something we can't see. Dust went in followed by Gradient and I went last to close the portal. Looking over I saw the little spot where we claimed residents at. Fun times. 

Fresh was first to go and the rest of us walked at a normal pace. We could hear Fresh pretty easily.

"Wassup brah!"

"Gah!" 

Thud.

Fresh startled Geno, poor guy was just resting. I could see his form slumped on the floor.

"Fresh what the- wait... Fresh?!" Geno was about to be mad but it registered who he was talking to. He quickly got up and Fresh slung his arm around him for a side hug.

"Sup! We totes wanted to come and visit ya!"

"We?" Geno asked before looking over seeing me. I couldn't help but smile and picked up the pace. 

"Hey Geno, sorry about the surprise attack. I would've stopped him if I knew."

"No you wouldn't."

"Eh... yeah." I smirked and shrugged not bothered with how fast he called me out. I saw him look behind me at the other two. Fresh released him and bounded around us to be behind Dust and Gradient.

"Check it brah! This one is Dust, well you already knew that, but this one is our Dust from our side. And this little dude is Gradient. He's the best little dude there is, don't be shy." Fresh said giving Gradient a light shove forwards.

I moved aside and stood by Geno as Gradient approached. I regret not saying something when I heard the first question he decided to ask.

"Uh, what happened to your eye?"

"Gradient!" I started and Geno just laughed it off.

"It's ok Error, he's just curious. This is... just my condition. I'm ok now so don't worry about that." Geno gave a smile. I could see Dust was really staring, his expression showed he was in thought. Last time he was here he didn't really get a chance to look at Geno. It disturbed him a bit. Gradient seemed to accept that answer.

"Oh ok. Well, as Fresh said, I'm Gradient. Its nice to meet you."

"He's my kid," I added in and I saw Geno freeze before looking at me surprised.

"He's your-" He stopped himself and looked back at Gradient. There was a moment before he put a hand to his chin. 

"Now that you mention it I can see it, you look similar." 

"We all look similar," I pointed out and Geno shrugged.

"You know what I meant." He responded before bringing his attention to Gradient, who had more questions since Geno gave him the green light.

I looked around and noticed that the space was much more furnished. He still had the beanbag seat and what ever else we manage to keep but now he had a couch, a chair, a table, some other items I'm sure he managed to get, a bent pot which felt like an Undyne kind of gift, and even a TV which I'm assuming was something Sci managed to get working in here. I wouldn't question it since he wasn't sitting around slowly going insane. I can live with that.

"Baba?"

"Huh?" I snapped to attention looking at Gradient. He pointed to Geno and I looked at him.

"Oh, I was just asking why are you visiting? No offense but I thought you weren't going to come back anytime soon."

"Well I wanted to visit, Fresh wanted to visit as well, and I wanted you to meet Gradient. Dust is just here for the ride." I saw Fresh perk up as his shades had exclamation marks in them.

"Oh right! That reminds me brah, I gotcha something!" Fresh suddenly handed Geno a present box and Dust blinked at the sight. 

"Where did-"

"Don't question it, just roll with it brah," Fresh said with his usual grin. Geno looked at the box with a soft smile.

"Aw, you shouldn't have."

"Nah bruh, I insist." Fresh bouncing in place and gestured for Geno to open it. He took off the lid and looked inside. I saw his expression looked a bit puzzled as he pulled out something. A white furby with black feet, a red star on its forehead, and a generic yellow beak. 

I got flashbacks to when I was gifted one of those things, I still have mine. 

"Oh my god..." I said once my words came back to me.

"What is this?" Geno asked turning over the harmless looking fuzzy item.

"It's your own little buddy to keep ya company in your crib brah! Don't need you getting all lonely up in here. There's a whole lotta nothing here!" Fresh spread his arms out as if to prove his point.

"How would-" 

"Give it a second." I cut off Geno and sure enough the thing opened its lifeless eyes. A brown color this time.

"Hello there!"

Geno looked startled but slowly eased up when nothing else happened.

"Uh... wow. I definitely wasn't expecting this."

"Trust me, I didn't either." I said with an amused huff. That day was certainly something.

"Yep! Your own buddy!" Fresh scooped up the furby and placed it on the TV. He put his hands on his hips looking proud of himself. I honestly don't know what he thinks about. I cleared my throat.

"Anyways, before I forget, I'm going to go check on the Doodle-Sphere. Gotta see if Ink had tried anything yet."

"Oh right, I haven't checked on that but Dream tells me that things are under control over there," Geno said closing the empty present box.

"Well I'm still checking regardless," I said opening up the way to the Doodle-Sphere.

"Oh! Me first!" Fresh said running through. Gradient was quick to follow and Dust sighed following along as well. I paused and looked at Geno.

"You coming?" I asked as he put his present box down.

"Uh yeah, better than waiting here." He said and into the portal we went. The Doodle-Sphere was still spacious and clean, thank the gods. 

"Seems like Dream wasn't lying," Geno said and I nodded.

"Yeah. Good." I glanced over seeing Dust look around standing by Gradient. I don't know where Fresh went, nothing new. 

"Brahs! I found something!" Nevermind. The group walked over towards Fresh and I saw something I wasn't expecting. One of those odd aus with the gold detail along the edge. 

"Oh wow there's one here too? How did I miss that?" I asked out loud, mainly to myself.

"What is it?" Geno asked.

"From what I know those are like, special, aus. I'm not sure how to describe it best. I could've sworn I tore this place up, how did I miss this?" I reached out with strings and the blue magic threads just bounced off.

"Ah... that's how. Ok then."

"So... what's that au then?" Dust asked and I shrugged.

"Not a clue."

"We should totes check it out! It'll be a radical field trip! Come on broski! Please! Please please please please!" Fresh said appearing in front of me with his hands clasped together. 

"I'm not sure... this isn't our multiverse." My tone was uncertain. 

"All the more reason to check right? Better to be safe than sorry after all." Gradient said joining Fresh. Dust just shrugged when I looked over at him so I looked towards Geno.

"Thoughts? This is your multiverse." I was leaving the choice to him. I saw his eyelight move around as his thoughts moved.

"Hmm, well this is new and as much as I would like to just turn and leave... we should probably check it out. Just to be safe." I heard Fresh and Gradient high five to Geno's response. I turned to face the others.

"Alright, rules. Don't do anything stupid. That's all I got, got it?"

"Brah why are you looking at me?" 

"Because I believe you would do something before Gradient or Dust do."

"That's fair."

I approached the odd au and opened up a screen like usual. When asked, I selected the option to go in and it opened up. I was still very much unsure about this but I went in at the same time as the others. 

I felt a chill for a moment before warmth, the feeling of falling, then darkness.