Snow slid away under Papyrus' feet as he struggled up the steep embankment with his snowboard on his back. Any other creature would have run out of breath long ago, but not MASTER MOUNTAIN CLIMBER PAPYRUS. He was a cool skeleton and being a cool skeleton required certain feats that other monsters might have considered impossible.
Case in point: he needed to be at the top of this peak, striking a cool pose before the human arrived. And Papyrus knew they couldn't be that far away now. After all, the Greater Dog had just arrived, hopped on a waiting sled (dogs almost always preferred sleds to snowboards), and ridden downhill to Snowdin. That meant they were no longer keeping the Human busy.
No matter, he, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, had made it to the top. The Human would be SO IMPRESSED when they saw him, a lone figure posing dramatically from the imposing peak.
*hey bro
Papyrus stopped dead in his tracks. Somehow, his brother was already here. And he was… doing wheelies on his unicycle?
STOP THAT! THE HUMAN WILL BE HERE SOON! YOU WILL MAKE A WEIRD IMPRESSION!
*ok
AND DON'T START AGAIN WHEN THEY GET HERE.
*ok
In all honesty, Papyrus was quite happy to see that his lazy brother had come to bare witness to his moment of triumph. But still, Sans needed a lot of looking after. If Papyrus didn't spend the time to spell things out for him, Sans was liable to make a complete fool of himself in front of the Human.
*bro, who's that doing a sick grind off of your spike trap?
OH NO! SANS! THE HUMAN IS HERE! AND I'M NOT POSING YET!
*hey, how about you pose with that cool snow poff?
WHAT? SANS! HOW COULD YOU SAY THAT? I WOULD NEVER POSE WITH A SNOW POFF!
Papyrus deftly swung the snowboard from his back. Never mind his brother's strange ideas. Papyrus knew he already had everything that he needed to strike a cool pose right here. He just needed a place a plant the snowboard.
WAIT! THAT SNOW POFF! IT'S PERFECT!
Papyrus slammed the snowboard a foot into the snow poff so that it stood upright, clearly displaying the awesome skull and crossbones insignia Undyne had helped him paint on the bottom to show off to any humans who crossed his path.
Papyrus straightened his spine, puffed out his chest, and snapped his goggles into place before leaning casually on his snowboard. The wind gently captured his cape making it flutter ever so slightly. When the Human arrived, the first thing they would see would be a cool skeleton standing on the opposite side of the ravine.
*wow, so cool, bro.
And also Sans, balanced perfectly on a unicycle. Whatever. It was too late to help his brother into a cooler pose now. The Human had stopped on the other side of the ravine and was staring across at them. Papryus cleared his throat.
HUMAN! THIS IS YOUR FINAL AND MOST DANGEROUS CHALLENGE!
BEHOLD! THE GAUNTLET OF DEADLY TERROR!
Undyne had helped him design this awesome gauntlet too. And somehow she had even convinced Dr. Alphys to make it activate by voice command. The effect was perfect for a cool skeleton like himself. Even as he uttered the word Terror, the basic track of the gauntlet rose up out of the snow all down the slope leading to Snowdin.
WHEN I SAY THE WORD, IT WILL FULLY ACTIVATE!
CANNONS WILL FIRE! SPIKES WILL SWING! BLADES WILL SLICE!
EACH PART WILL SWING VIOLENTLY UP AND DOWN!
ONLY THE TINIEST CHANCE OF VICTORY WILL REMAIN!
ARE YOU READY?
The Human just stared at him. Clearly they were too impressed by his cool pose for words. Had he gone too far?
BECAUSE!
He already knew the Human admired him.
I!
It was obvious from their every action.
AM!
They had consumed the specially prepared spaghetti he left to slow them down.
ABOUT!
They had skated with ease through his invisible electricity maze.
TO DO IT!
Papyrus stared at the human. They had proven themselves with those pink and blue skates time and again, but now they were caked with snow and ice. What would happen if a wheel locked up mid-gauntlet? The Human might fall. They might get hurt.
*well? what's the hold up?
HOLD UP? WHAT HOLD UP?
I'M… I'M ABOUT TO ACTIVATE IT NOW!
The Human was still staring at him, still too impressed and intimidated by his coolness to say anything. Papyrus had never before thought of his coolness as a curse. WAIT, NO. His coolness wasn't a curse. It was warning him about a potential misstep! A cool skeleton wouldn't risk harming this poor friendless Human. He only wanted to capture them after all.
*that, uh, doesn't look very activated.
WELL! THIS CHALLENGE! IT SEEMS… MAYBE…
TOO EASY TO DEFEAT THE HUMAN WITH.
YEAH! WE CAN'T USE THIS ONE!
I AM A SKELETON WITH STANDARDS!
MY PUZZLES ARE VERY FAIR!
AND MY TRAPS ARE EXPERTLY COOKED!
BUT THIS METHOD IS TOO DIRECT!
NO CLASS AT ALL! AWAY IT GOES!
The gauntlet sank back into the snow just as quickly as it emerged.
PHEW!
What a huge relief that his coolness had guided him to the proper decision. Undyne would be disappointed her gauntlet design never got a practical test run, but so long as he found another way to capture the human she would also be impressed. So impressed that she'd have to let him join the Royal Derby.
Speaking of the Human, why were they still staring at him?
WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING AT?
THIS WAS ANOTHER DECISIVE VICTORY FOR PAPYRUS!
NYEH! HEH! HEH! …. HEH?
Papyrus yanked his board out of the snow poff. This hadn't been a waste of time. He had discovered the human's weakness. They were stricken with an intense desire to impress him! He would beat them to the other end of Snowdin, wait in a blinding snowstorm, and there… well, a cool skeleton like him would surely figure something out.
*NNRRRRGH. I can't take it anymore. You're already to the part with Snowdin, right? Tell me what you think.
Alphys glanced up from the papers piled in her lap to look at Undyne.
*W-what exactly is this that I'm reading?
*The script for our very own Historical Anime! I already showed this to Frisk and they loved it!
*But it doesn't seem very… accurate?"
*So what? I mean, at first I was disappointed to learn that the human histories were greatly exaggerated. But then I realized that the humans had actually taken something that was probably boring and dry on its own and made it awesome! And then I thought, we could do that too!
Undyne grinned and Alphys couldn't help but blush. She looked down at the papers again.
*Well, I suppose, now that we're on the surface, we do need to think about ways to bridge the divide between us and the Humans.
*Alright! I knew I could count on you, Alphys.
*C-count on me? For what?
*To turn it into an anime. Obviously. You're the resident expert on the stuff and now that you've been fired from your position as royal scientist I know you have waaay too much free time.
*But I can't- I don't-
*No worries. I've already talked to Asgore. He felt pretty bad about you getting fired by his wife, so he's willing to hire you as the assistant to the Royal Historian! That's me!
*Oh. My. God.
*Just think about it. You. Me. Endless hours of anime.
*I can't believe it. I'm about to agree to this. No. I- I can't waver at a time like this. Undyne! I'll do it! I'll help you make an anime. …(I have no idea how to make an anime)