FORBIDDEN FLOOR

' WARNING! AHEAD IS A BACKSTORY AND SOMETHING THAT COULD BE DISTURBING! READ AT YOUR OWN RISK! '

'SECONDARY WARNING! MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD!' --Area Name: THE_FORBIDDEN_FLOOR

-Area Description: A completely grayscale area with distorted buildings, glitching textures, terrifying enemies, and karma for dirty hackers. Could be described as an even more terrifying version of the "True Laboratory."

-Area Difficulty: Ludicrous

-Enemies encounterable:


 * NONONONONONONONONONONNONONONONONO: ERROR! NULL_VARIABLE ATK 99999999999 DEF
 * ENEMY_ENCOUNTER.TEST: -19293823498272389528375634 ATK *** DEF
 * FUNFUNFUNFUNFUNFUN!: FUN_VALUE ATK FUN_VALUE DEF
 * ALPHA_ENCOUNTER.TEST: 0.015 ATK ?!?!? DEF
 * MISSING_NO: 4040404040404040404040404040404040404040404040404 ATK 404 DEF
 * FROGGIT_VOID: __ ATK __ DEF
 * WHIMSUN_VOID: __ ATK __ DEF
 * DUMMY_BATTLE.TEST: "0.0000000001" ATK ??? DEF
 * ??? (Final Battle): NO STAT INFO AVAILABLE.

-Developer's Commentary:

FORBIDDEN_FLOOR was an area inspired by something Ross-Chan saw in a video by Olimac31 about the "1995 build" of Super Mario 64, where there was an something called "The Forbidden Floor." The music Ross-Chan heard from the video described as sounding like a "True Lab" theme or even a "Gaster's Theme" type song. THE_FORBIDDEN_FLOOR is an area that has an unknown backstory and a meaning that will be mostly up to player interpretation. THE_FORBIDDEN_FLOOR is an area that could not be accessed by hacking the game, its tilesets and characters would be so well protected that not even the most experienced dataminer would be able to find it. The area would be able to detect recording software and shut it down, to prevent any info being spread online, and would shut the game down if it noticed someone attempting to take a screenshot. This area is where the TRUE Gaster character of the game lies, as well as a backstory that would make even the most unshakable person become scared and have nightmares. The area is completely grayscale, and will reveal a deeper meaning of Turntables: Rooted. An area that would show even the dirtiest hacker that what they try to achieve will only divide people, creating a burning guilt.

-FORBIDDEN_FLOOR's Backstory:

A long time ago, when the humans were first put underground and before Josh became the royal scientist, there was one person who thought they had what it would take to break the barrier. They were Ross's love interest, and the two used to work together in a laboratory. The two had made a device that could free the boundaries of space time in order to shatter the barrier with enough love-fueled determination. The two worked day and night to get the machine working until they finally managed. The machine instead of breaking the barrier, however, created a vortex that shattered the world, splitting it into 2. One half of the world was the "underbelly" of the worldline's code (a grayscale void of glitched buildings and encounters with literal error null string text), while the other was the surface of the code (the worldline of Turntables: Rooted). The worldline split the two lovers apart, putting Ross into the surface code and putting his love interest into the underbelly of the code. Ross is forced to remember the love of his life being trapped in the void, which is why this area CAN be accessed regularly, but CANNOT be accessed through code manipulation or cheating. The area, however, can only be reached by doing certain, extremely specific things in extremely specific orders. In THE_FORBIDDEN_FLOOR, Ross and the player must navigate through the far forgotten underbelly of the world's code to find this special someone. Along the way, the player will encounter the "Gaster Followers" of the game. Each follower has a specific name and a certain emotion associated with them:


 * GONER_JILL: The fear of being forgotten. "GONER_JILL" is a nearly female lookalike of Jeremy, and even expressly calls him "her twin brother."
 * GONER_FROGGIT: the fear of losing hope. "GONER_FROGGIT" was a Froggit that Ross and his love interest took care of when they found it lost in Sunny Day.
 * GONER_ROSS: The fear of not being good enough. "GONER_ROSS" is best defined as being the "part of Ross that died when the machine failed and the two lovers were split apart."
 * GONER_KIO: The joy of finding a savior. "GONER_KIO" is a girl with rabbit ears and whited out eyes. She expressly asks Ross "Are you him?" and Ross replies with "The one who's looking for my friend? Yeah." to which GONER_KIO responds "You're here to save her? Then there's still hope for all of us! If she's free, then we go with her! You're the one she's been waiting for! The one WE have been waiting for!" GONER_KIO says some strange lines about Ross's love interest "missing the softness of his skin against her own," and other lines similar to that, telling him that he shouldn't keep her waiting. The lines would not make sense if the player has not found a very specific secret in Ross's house
 * GONER_CHLOE: The joy of being loved. "GONER_CHLOE" actually presents one of the only puzzles in THE_FORBIDDEN_FLOOR. After said puzzle is completed, she repeats the line "ENJOYED MY PUZZLE! IT IS YOU!" over and over before eventually saying "SORRY, THAT HAPPENS SOMETIMES WHEN I GET EXCITED." She then tells the player how to find Ross's love interest.

After all of the "follower characters" have been encountered, the player will encounter one last pair of characters before entering THE_LAB:


 * MONSTER_SWAP.ADJ_"SANS".CHR: Better known as "Underswap Sans."
 * MONSTER_"PAPYRUS".CHR: More commonly known as "Underswap Papyrus."

The two beings will also be in the same group as the "followers," as they too would be saved if the player and Ross could save Ross's love interest. Any attempt to speak to MONSTER_SWAP.ADJ_"SANS".CHR will prompt the words "MWEH HEH HEH!" to loop with the last heh repeating over and over again until the text goes out of the text box. After a little while, the text will finally change to "I MISS YOU." However, unlike MONSTER_SWAP.ADJ_"SANS".CHR, MONSTER_"PAPYRUS".CHR speaks completely normally, saying "so you found us. i know you didn't come here for us, but you still remember me." If the player laid down a taco at the memorial, Papyrus will say "sans really liked that taco you left for him. you're a good kid. i hope you can save her, i'm rooting for ya', kid."

Once the player enters THE_LAB, they will find one character, slumped against a wall. A girl with red and white striped glasses and a lab coat that is nearly torn to shreds. Aside from the player and Ross, this is the only other character with color:


 * Holly: The love interest of Ross. All she longs for is to be held by him again and to be brought "home."

After a bunch of puzzles and a lost soul style battle, the player and Ross will be able to save Holly and everyone in THE_FORBIDDEN_FLOOR. However, there is one crucial detail. If the player has cheated in any way, shape, or form, the game will make it ridiculously difficult to return back to the core game, moving the screen, increasing encounter rates that you can't run from no matter how hard you try, or even shutting the game down and sending the player straight to the "hacker's ending" upon restarting the game, sticking the player into a test room that will taunt them for being the horrible, dirty cheater that they are. If the player has not cheated, however, the game will allow the player to leave with ease, giving the player the perfect ending as everyone is saved. The good are rewarded, while the cheaters are punished. Fitting, isn't it?

While this would prompt the true best ending in a way, the player would not be able to record how they saved them, which would lead everyone to believe it was a hack or something unless they too were aware of THE_FORBIDDEN_FLOOR.