Biography
Ceroba Ketsukane is a major character in Undertale Yellow. She is Chujin's widow and the mother of Kanako. Intent on taking Clover's SOUL and advancing Chujin's legacy, she serves as the final boss of the Pacifist Route.
During the Genocide Route, she replaces Starlo as Wild East's boss after Clover duels and kills Starlo.
Profile
Appearance
Ceroba is a fox-like monster with beige fur and long, wavy ginger hair. Her hair is tied up in a ponytail by a red ribbon with a small gold bell in the center. She has a long, white kimono with red trimmings, a red obi sash tied around her waist and long, white boots to match.
During her battle phases, she carries a long red staff with a bright yellow bell at the end two little red ribbons tied around the ends of the bell. Her attacks in the overworld are represented as white and pink flashes of light.
Personality
Brilliant, supportive, and skeptical, Ceroba is a powerful ally when it comes to wanting to help those closest to her. She is shown to care a lot for her loved ones. However, she is highly stubborn, even going so far as to question the true meaning of Asgore's words when confronted with the truth of her husband's employment. Because of this, she is firm on her husband's legacy as a scientist and a hero of the underground, and she spends the days after her husband's passing trying to complete the work that he had passed down to her. However, when she finally tests it on Kanako and has it result in her falling down, Ceroba's beliefs strengthen to the point that she is fully willing to kill Clover to save the rest of the underground.
Ceroba is observant, and can tell how others are feeling just by a glance, and can also notice a shift or change in the other's moods. Though she is not hesitant to say them to others, she will try to hide them from those she loves as long as it does not harm others. An example of this is her relationship with Starlo, and she didn't confront him about his behavior until after his friends had come up about how it was making the rest of them feel. She is quite honest and straight-forward as well. This is evident from how she treats Starlo's shenanigans in the Wild East, saying she doesn't understand it and acting nonchalant when included in them, as well as her realistic assessment of Clover's fate before and after her battle in the Pacifist route. The exception to her realism is her husband, Chujin, who she always holds in high regard no matter what information is displayed to her that may say otherwise.
Main Story
Neutral Route
Most events regarding Ceroba that take place during the Pacifist route in the Wild East occur here as well.
If Starlo is killed, Ceroba finds Clover and asks them where he went. Regardless of their answer, she says she'll go north and ask his family. Going into the family home shows her talking to Starlo's family, thinking he'll return soon as they haven't exhausted all options and "he's a softie at heart", and leaves, this being her last appearance of the route.
If Starlo is spared, Ceroba will not follow Clover inside the Steamworks and will instead leave after interrupting the fight. She says this is because of Clover being strong enough to handle it on their own, but it is presumably due to Ceroba not being able to follow through with her plan to kill Clover because their SOUL is not pure, rendering Chujin's plan unusable.
Pacifist Route
Clover first meets Ceroba in the Wild East. Ceroba formally introduces herself to Clover after Clover is taken to the saloon. She requests that Clover entertain Starlo, and in return, will see what she can do with letting them leave. Ceroba appears during most events with Starlo and the Feisty Four, and Clover is usually able to talk to her afterwards. After the battle with Starlo, she requests for you to accompany her through the Steamworks and to the lab in order to find Kanako, whom she hints to Starlo and Clover is still alive. Ceroba sends Starlo back to the Wild East and is with Clover for the majority of the Steamworks. While traversing the Steamworks, she reveals bits of her past and bonds with Clover. When the pair reaches the elevator on the other side of the Steamworks, they're confronted by Starlo and Ed. Here, it's revealed that while trying to arrange a party, Ed discovered something hidden within her house. Ceroba appears to panic and runs into the elevator, leaving Clover with Starlo and Ed. She reappears later in New Home, where Starlo and Ceroba are arguing on a balcony very close to Asgore Castle. Starlo tries to plead for Ceroba to stop their plan, with her refusing any kind of reasoning. Clover and Martlet then arrive, with Starlo angrily asking why Clover is there, followed by Ceroba being grateful of their arrival and suggesting Martlet and Starlo to leave. A discussion ensues with Starlo calling out Ceroba’s hypocrisy and going to the point of wanting her own daughter SOUL, with Ceroba reiterating they are all stuck in the same pit and that she must end Chujin’s Martlet and Clover the try to flee, with Ceroba knocking both out. Starlo tries then to attack Ceroba, but is easily knocked out as well. Clover then rises with Ceroba saying that while she really respects them, she still has to go through her plan. She then mocks Clover for being so naive thinking that they would find the five humans alive and well. She then criticises Asgore, saying that he is a coward who denies the problems and doesn’t think about what will happen once they collect the souls, blaming the rest of monsterkind for thinking victory would be easy. She then remarks she can save countless lives and that monsterkind is worth protecting, before beginning the final fight against Clover. As the fight progresses, she becomes more and more desperate, reinforcing that she has to succeed at all costs. After Clover survives her final attack she appears desperate, and then activates Red Mode. She starts firing fireballs that Clover can’t dodge, with them cutting Clover HP half until they have a mere fraction of 1 HP. She then charges a final fireball to finish Clover off, but Clover then uses their determination to be able to shoot with their SOUL. They charge a big shot which destroy the fireball and knock Ceroba to the ground. She then rises up and reveals she must use her last resort. She takes out Kanako’s mask, and wears it for Chujin, Kanako, and the future of monsterkind. She powers up and transforms into Kitsune Ceroba, beginning the real final battle. After enough fighting, Ceroba falls and Clover damages her mask partially. A flashback then ensues, with Ceroba with Chujin on his deathbed. While Ceroba is positive at the start, she quickly becomes worried when Chujin feels like the time is coming. Chujin then tells Ceroba of the bunker he built, and that he wants for her to see a message he left for her when he’s gone. The two then have an affectionate moment, and as the flashback ends, Kanako is seen peeking through the door to her parent’s bedroom. Ceroba quickly notices this, gets angered at Clover for spying at her before rising again and beginning the next phase. She eventually is knocked out a final time and Clover once again shoots at her mask, leaving it heavily damaged and beginning the next phase. The final part of Chujin’s tapes play over a static screen before revealing Kanako in her father’s bunker, presumably after watching all the tapes. Ceroba quickly arrives, with Kanako sadly asking about her uniqueness and her father’s work, with Ceroba trying to assure Chujin wanted for her to be safe. They then talk about Ceroba’s attempt to continue her husband work, with Kanako then showing an hypothesis Ceroba made: by purifying the Blue Soul Human essence, she wouldn’t need to find someone pure of heart. However, Kanako insists to participate on the experiment, until eventually Ceroba obliges and does the procedure. While it seems to be working at first, Kanako’s soul cracks and falls down immediately after, rendering her unconscious, with the flashback ending as Ceroba desperately tries to bring her back to life.
Aborting Pacifist Route
If Clover follows the Pacifist route all the way to the Axis fight and kills him there, Ceroba will become angry saying that they have ruined everything, due to Clover's soul not being pure anymore and Ceroba not being able to proceed with her plan. She will say she hates them and doesn't want to know them anymore.
However, if Clover spares Axis but has destroyed any of the other robots throughout the Steamworks, Ceroba will instead say she cannot go to Hotland. She thanks Clover for not killing Axis, but almost begins to mention a problem with their SOUL. She stops herself from explaining what the problem might be. Ceroba then apologizes to Clover before leaving the Steamworks.
Genocide Route
Ceroba's first and only appearance in the Genocide route is soon after you kill Starlo in a duel. Having warned Starlo about Clover and expecting him to run away, instead Starlo challenges Clover to a duel. Regardless of if Starlo wins or loses the duel (as he is not using a real gun), Clover shoots him down. Ceroba appears In Starlo's last moments, and he encourages Ceroba to do what's right as she hugs him, before he soon turns to dust. Ceroba snaps at Clover and initiates a battle against them, and in the beginning of it she expresses her anger and confusion for why Clover did this, since humanity already won. She ends by saying she will avenge Starlo and keeps fighting. Ceroba eventually falls to Clover, not before wishing them to go to hell.
In Battle
Main article: Ceroba Ketsukane/In Battle
Relationships
Chujin Ketsukane
Chujin is Ceroba’s (dead) husband. It is shown throughout the game, (mainly in the Pacifist Route,) that Ceroba loved him very dearly. In the Steamworks, it is clear that Ceroba shows somewhat strong resentment towards Asgore because of his disregard of the eventual creation of Axis, (Chujin’s creation). Despite this, Ceroba and Chujin were somewhat distant when it came to Chujin’s work. Until going into the Steamworks, Ceroba was unaware that Chujin had finished creating Axis. She also remarked that she does not see Chujin very often, as he is usually in his lab[citation needed]. Most of all, she was not aware that Chujin had been fired from this job, claiming that he had retired. Regardless, it is Ceroba’s strong love towards Chujin, possibly to the point of unhealthy obsession, that influences her motivations throughout the game, (specifically in the Pacifist Route.) She is willing to obtain Clover’s soul by ending their life, and deceive Starlo in order to progress his plans.
Kanako Ketsukane
Kanako was Ceroba’s daughter. Ceroba is shown to deeply care about Kanako through dialogue and flashbacks. At some point, after Chujin's death, Kanako discovered the tapes in the basement. Upon finding out that Kanako discovered these tapes, she told her that she wasn't going to make Kanako a part of Chujin's plans. Despite this, Kanako eventually convinces Ceroba to use her soul, injecting the Integrity SOUL extract into her to extract the serum from. Kanako fell down soon after Ceroba gave her the extract which caused Ceroba to fall into depression.
Starlo
It is shown throughout the game that Starlo and Ceroba are close friends, presumably ever since childhood. Despite that, during the Pacifist route she still refuses to tell Starlo about her plans to finish Chujin's work using Clover's soul, and attacks him right before the final boss-battle of the Pacifist route. She does still deeply care about him though as shown during the Genocide route. When she snaps upon his demise at the hands of Clover which is what initiates her Genocide route battle.
When talking to her in the Steamworks, Ceroba mentions that she considered dating Starlo when she was "a naive kid", suggesting their relationship was a lot closer in the past. She also states her reason for moving on was because she wanted to grow up, and Starlo didn't follow.[1]
Though the two are close, Ceroba holds some disdain for Starlo's activity of roleplaying as a Sheriff, believing it to be damaging to his personality and in general, childish. Ceroba makes this clear immediately before and after Starlo's bossfight, and is the one to help Starlo out of his unhealthy behaviour. Though Ceroba's beliefs hold some ground, she is evidently unappreciative of the fact that Starlo's "North Star" persona was partially created to distract her from her own worries.
Trivia
Ceroba is one of the final bosses along with Martlet and Flowey.
She is the final boss of the True Pacifist Route.
While it is impossible to battle Ceroba on a casual playthrough of the Neutral route, it is still possible to see her in the first phase of the Flowey fight if a Genocide route is aborted after killing her in her Wild East battle.
In the Genocide Route Ceroba is the enemy which gives the highest amount of EXP in the whole game, that being 1500 (ignoring Axis and Zenith Martlet who automatically level up Clover).
Ceroba's design is most likely inspired by the kitsune, a creature from Japanese folklore. Kitsune are known to be tricksters, and this correlates with her attempt to trick Clover and take their SOUL.
As shown in concept art, the names for the Pacifist ending phases are: Devoted, Decisive and Determined for each respective phase with the mask.
In her masked forms she doesn't actually have tails, instead it is just her hair which resembles them. (As explained in the concept art).
As revealed in the Pacifist Route when talking to her, Ceroba is scared of heights.
Ceroba mentions Undyne and Waterfall in the Steamworks.[2]
When killing Ceroba in the Flawed Pacifist Route, the attack ring interface used by Toy Gun for the respective ammo appears, even though Clover has the Wild Revolver equipped by that point.
