cherish these sights, even in their decay

I’ve seen a lot of people complain that Pink’s placement as a secret boss in chapter 5 is disconnected or unfitting. but i think she's actually perfect for the last secret boss, especially if secret bosses are meant to symbolize a desire for freedom. Now i will yap about it for several paragraphs

several parallels are built between Spamton and Pink during her fight, which make it clear they’re meant to be compared. their designs both feature pink and gold, they both steal a body that isn’t theirs, they’re both involved with green strings, they both feature Mad Dummy in their boss fight/theme, are both puppets related to cats, and they both have odd connections to the weird route (as evidenced by the translation of Cutie Mew Mew Magic). in almost every other way however, Spamton and Pink are opposites. Spamton’s story is a tragedy; from the start, his rainbow-colored peers don’t accept him as their own and see him as lesser for being different and less capable. he’s a broken and decrepit doll who’s had life screw him over every step of the way, he’s been abandoned by everyone he ever loved and cared about, his body has been marred beyond recognition, he’s treated as a living puppet with no autonomy or freedom, and he doesn’t get to keep his dream body or ‘fuse with his chosen vessel'. Even after being defeated by the fun gang, none of his problems are fixed; he has no choice but to accept his status as a simple puppet. Spamton is Kris’ worst case scenario. they are terrified this is going to be their own future, they’re visibly shaken by Spamton’s fight unlike any other in the entire game.  i think the reason Chapter 2 in particular features a character which symbolizes such a depressing future for Kris is because Chapter 2’s dark fountain is created by the Roaring Knight. a character which Kris is very heavily implied to have some kind of partnership with, one where the Knight holds power and control over Kris (as evidenced by the knighting scene after their fight, and the high probability that the Knight is the person who talks to Kris on the phone and sends them orders). the dynamic Kris has with the Knight can be compared to the relationship Spamton had with his benefactor, where he must follow orders from a mysterious voice on the phone lest he be punished (and punished he was).  by this point in the story, Kris is both being metaphorically puppeted by the Knight, and literally puppeted by the player, leaving them feeling a complete loss of autonomy. this situation is opening way to Kris’ worst future. one where they are abandoned by everyone and thrown aside like an unwanted puppet. like Spamton. in Chapter 5 however, the dark fountain is created by Kris instead. though the creation of the fountain was clearly premeditated (likely to get time for the Knight to kidnap Asgore), i don’t think it’s crazy to say that part of the reason they created it in the moment was to distract Susie from the Rudy situation. to keep Susie happy, because they don’t want her best day ever being ruined by the news. Kris cares about Susie so, so much, and it’s clear she’s a huge part of the reason Kris can now see a future for themself where things aren’t so bad. this hope manifests as Pink.  Pink is present in Kris’ subconscious before Chapter 5 even begins. Kris plays Shop 3 on the piano in Noelle’s house, a song which is later present in the shop owned by Pink. Shop 3 shows a more somber side to Pink’s character, as she simply watches the sunset, captivated by how freeing it feels to be able to do so in her dream body.  Pink herself, of course, is very much a parallel to Kris, being a Darkner and a Lightner both using the same body, who struggle with differing wants and desires and must ultimately learn to cooperate with each other despite that (which may hint towards the idea that Kris' ideal ending would be them and the player learning to understand each other, rather than one or the other being banished for good).

even though Pink isn’t really flower, when she pretends to be one, HER rainbow-colored peers all see her as one of them and accept her with open arms, uncaring of her strange circumstances. In the end, Pink gets to keep her dream body and watch the sunset with her best friend. All things Spamton desperately wanted and never got to have, and all things Kris hopes to have. Pink is Kris’ best case scenario, their subconscious manifesting a future for them where everything ends up fine, even if just for a little while.

* (It's a broken container for a golden flower.)

* (You dug through the soil.)

* (In the soil were two things...)

* (One, a packet of seeds, from the golden flower.)

* (... they are covered in warning labels.)

* (You took the seeds.)

The narration pauses a little when Kris notices the warning labels. Then, they take the seeds without hesitation. To me, it seems that Kris was looking specificaly for the shelter code, wasn't expecting to find the packet, and only decided to take it with them when they saw the warning labels.

And, what kind of warnings could they be? Well, being flowers seeds, it could be about how fragile they are, or about being an invasive species... or they could be poisonous. Yeah, with enough imagination you could come up with a thousand more, but how likely it would be for them to influence the story in comparison to warnings about their toxicity?

Also, anybody remembers how that one kid in Undertale died?

Because this game does:

* (It's a pie wall. Seems like there's a slice of buttercup pie...) [Flavor text when investigating the pie wall at the diner]

And why would Kris pick poisonous seeds? Well, one of the possible answers is quite simple: Kris is working for the Knight, but the Soul that controls them is not. If it could pose a danger to the plan, maybe Kris has been tasked (or decided) to end their own life before we ruin everything. But, let's think again about Chara. Chara killed themself mainly to allow Asriel cross the barrier and free monsterkin by collecting more human Souls. But Chara's death was a slow, painful one. One that required once and again and again to eat a huge quantity of buttercups until they finally passed away. Why not choose a quicker method? Even if they were not afraid of death, the little crumbs we got from Chara's personality was that they were obsessed with efficiency. Why choose such an unefficient method? If they wanted to release monsters so hard they were willing to give up their life, why wait for more monsters to suffer, to fall down, to lose their families while they slowly wither away? The reason is Asgore. Chara mistook buttercups for cups of butter and accidentaly poisoned their adoptive father. He got very sick, almost died. And although Asriel says they "laughted it off", it's clear the incident affected them deeply. The Underground is not a safe place, they could have chosen any other method, even ones that could be passed as an accident, much more quicker. But they *specifically* chose poisoning, by the *same* plant they gave to Asgore. Almost as if it were a punishment.

Now, let's think again about what happened at the end of Deltarune ch5.

Asgore is kidnapped. Kidnapped, by the Knight. Kidnapped, by the person Kris is working with. Kidnapped, for staying in the Dark World Kris has just created. Kidnapped, because Kris was not strong enough, quick enough, brave enough, to save him sooner. Asgore is kidnapped, and probably, pending for sacrifice. He's going to die, and it's Kris' fault. Just as they're at fault for putting their mother at danger *twice*, for sacrificing innocent townspeople, for betraying their friends. For making that promise. It doesn't matter Kris is doing this unwillingly, it doesn't matter they are being manipulated, it doesn't matter they've done whatever they could to stop it. In their eyes, they are guilty, and now they must walk home alone and spend the entire night thinking how the dad they played cowboys with when they were a child is probably going to die soon and his blood is stained on their hands.

And then they see a packet of seeds. It's covered in warning labels.

...

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