Today was a beautiful day. Birds were singing, and flowers were blooming. On days like these, Sans liked to take naps sitting in a lawn chair on the porch of his new house. After having a good meal with his old pals at Grillby's new restaurant, visiting the Dreemurrs, and coming up with loads of new puns, he figured he deserved a nap for all of his hard work. The sun's warmth and the gentle breeze began to slowly lull the lazy bag of bones to sleep. It seemed so much easier to rest now, what with the monsters freed and integrating smoothly into human society, and the threat of resets gone. Sans breathed a sigh of content. "doesn't get any better than this."

"SANS! GET IN HERE AND MAKE YOURSELF USEFUL FOR ONCE!"

So much for his nap. Oh well, it was Papyrus, so it was fine. The skeleton groggily rose from his seat and walked into the house. An unfamiliar scent greeted him immediately upon entering. Curious, Sans followed it to the kitchen and found his brother proudly holding up a pan of… something. It was a sickly purple with several thin sticks resembling spider legs poking out of its surface. Whatever it was, it certainly didn't look like any pasta Papyrus had made before. "sup, bro? whatcha' been cookin' up lately?"

The taller skeleton glared at him. "I'M… JUST GOING TO PRETEND I DIDN'T HEAR THAT." He sighed in exasperation and continued. "ANYWAY, THE OTHER DAY, MISS MUFFET SUGGESTED THAT I EXPAND MY CULINARY HORIZONS TO OTHER DELICACIES!"

Sans blinked a few times as he processed what his brother had just said. He could feel dread slowly creeping up his back. "oh… did she now?"

"INDEED! WHICH MAKES PERFECT SENSE! SEEING AS HOW I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, HAVE PUSHED PASTA PAST THE PEAK OF PERFECTION, NOW IS THE TIME TO PUT THE MASTER'S TOUCH TO OTHER FORMS OF FOOD! MISS MUFFET KINDLY GAVE ME HER RECIPE FOR 'SPIDER CASSEROLE' TO START OUT WITH, AND I'D LIKE YOU TO TASTE-TEST IT!"

The lights in Sans' eye sockets shrunk to pinpricks and sweat began to roll down his skull. Papyrus' pasta was just recently getting to where it could be deemed edible, but it had taken years to get to that point, and he had never cooked anything else before. And then combine that with Muffet's... "interesting" choice of ingredients, and Sans couldn't help but shudder thinking what his brother's meal would taste like—wait, did one of those sticks in the casserole just twitch?

"y-ya know bro, i'd love to, really, but i already ate at grillby's. don't wanna overeat, right? i'm already big-boned as it is."

"NONSENSE! THAT WAS HOURS AGO! AND BESIDES, I'M NOT ASKING YOU TO EAT THE WHOLE THING! JUST A BITE WILL SUFFICE!"

Sans' trickles of sweat quickly turned into waterfalls as his mind raced to think of any excuse not to eat that horrid concoction. "for the love of all that's good and holy, Muffet, why did you think this was a good idea!?"

*DING-DONG*

"OH! SOMEONE'S AT THE DOOR! TAKE A BITE AND TELL ME WHAT YOU THINK ONCE I RETURN!" As Papyrus left, Sans' only response was a sigh of relief and a mumbled "saved by the bell."

*DING-DONG… DING-DONG… DING-DONG*

"WOWIE! SOMEONE MUST REALLY WANT TO SEE ME!"

Swinging the door open, Papyrus was greeted by the sight of a small, lizardlike monster dressed in a brown and yellow striped shirt. Notably, he lacked arms, which was apparently why he was ringing the doorbell by bashing his face into it.

*DING-DONG… DING-DONG… DING-DONG*

"I'M STANDING RIGHT HERE, SO…"

"Yo!" He turned to face the skeleton, revealing the newfound bruise in the middle of his forehead, "I gotta talk to Papyrus right aw-w-w-WHAT!? P-P-Papyrus!?"

"THE ONE AND ONLY! NYEH HEH HEH HEH!" said the skeleton in question as he struck a magnificent pose that would make Mettaton proud. "SAY, YOU'RE THAT FRIEND OF FRISK'S, AREN'T YOU? IGGY, WASN'T IT? WHAT CAN THE GREAT PAPYRUS DO FOR—?"

"Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh, this is so cool! I'm actually talking to the Papyrus and—OH! RIGHT!" The monster child's voice became filled with panic. "We've got a huge problem, yo! You gotta come to the park, or else those guys are gonna start killing people and my family's still there and—"

"HOLD ON A MINUTE! EXPLAIN IT TO ME FROM THE BEGINNING."

"Huh? Oh, right, sorry dude." He took a few breaths to calm his nerves. "Okay… so me and my family were at the forest by the park playing hide and seek, and while I'm lookin' for my sis, I stumble across these guys' campsite. Heh, literally. Both of 'em were wearing armor and had weapons almost as big as they were, yo! So I figured maybe they were new Royal Guards since you've been trying to get recruits lately…"

"EMPHASIS ON 'TRYING.'"

"… so I walk up to them asking, 'Yo, you guys Royals Guards?' And they look at me kinda funny, like they've never seen a monster before, and the older one said, "No, little one, we are…*gulp* monster hunters. As soon as I heard that, I freaked out and ran away to warn my family, but… they wouldn't listen."

At this, the head of the royal guard recoiled in shock. "MONSTER HUNTERS!? THIS IS EXTREMELY TROUBLING! ROYAL GUARD, MOVE OUT!" Before the monster child could utter a confused "Yo, what?," Papyrus quickly scooped him up in his arms and dashed to his prized hot rod parked in the driveway. Not even bothering to open the door, he leaped inside and dumped Iggy in the passenger seat. "QUICKLY, LEAD OUR VALIANT CHARGE TO THE PARK!"

"Wha… Oh! O-ok! Got it!" Iggy motioned with his head, "It's down that way!"

"UNDERSTOOD!" With tires screeching all the while, Papyrus backed out onto the street, nearly hitting a mailbox, then revved the engine. "OPERATION ROLE REVERSAL IS GO! NYEH HEH HEH HEH!"

Hearing all the commotion, Sans came walking out the front door, just to see his brother and one of Frisk's friends rocket down the street, leaving tire tracks in their wake. "huh. wonder where bro's racing off to?"

Union Plaza was a park created to commemorate the newfound peace between humans and monsters. Numerous vendors and gazebos dotted the wide tract of grassy land to the west, a massive lake dominated the eastern portion, and a large playground took up the northern side, but its most prominent feature was a statue in the center, depicting a human and a monster walking hand in hand.

To the south, however, was a huge forest thick with trees and vines. Deep within this forest of tangled vegetation was a makeshift campground consisting of two simple tents, a pair of logs serving as benches, and a fire with a spit positioned over its hungry flames. The spit pierced through a humongous slab of meat, and as it was lifted away from the fire, the Ace Gunner holding the finished meal gave a small smile. She immediately sunk her teeth into it, tore off a sizeable chunk, and chewed it with an expression of quiet satisfaction before swallowing it. The navy-haired young woman was dressed in blue and chrome armor. Beside her lay a massive bow and its equally large quiver of arrows.

She was about to take another bite when she heard leaves crunching to her right. A quick glance told her that it was her partner the Ace Lancer, an older man with brilliant golden armor and hair to match. The massive lance and shield on his back clanged together as he trudged over to the log on the opposite side of the campfire. "I take it you didn't find our little friend," said the woman. The man in gold responded with a silent shake of his head. "I see. I'm quite surprised, honestly. The poor child was falling on his face every other step he took." She paused to take another bite of her steak, savoring it a bit before swallowing. "What do you think made him panic so suddenly, Longinus? He seemed rather relaxed until you mentioned we were monster hunters."

"I do not know, Lyuda," Longinus responded, "but we have more pressing matters to concern ourselves with."

The woman froze mid-bite and looked at her partner. "What do you mean? Did you find our prey?"

The blonde veteran leaned forward. "There is a plaza north of us, filled not only with humans but also with many fantastical creatures I've never seen before."

"Like our friend?"

"Three of them resembled him, but the rest were wildly unique." Longinus' expression suddenly turned grim. "They all seem to be in a quite a stir over the lake to the east that has suddenly frozen over."

Lyuda's eyes widened in horror. "You don't mean—"

"Thankfully, as far as I can tell, our quarry has not eaten anyone… yet," interrupted the Lancer, "but I suspect we don't have much time before it decides to whet its appetite. We must go, quickly." The Lancer's younger partner nodded, dashed over to her tent and began rummaging around. The Ace Lancer grabbed his weapon of choice and a whetstone and began scraping the two together. "Make certain you are stocked on essentials and anything else that would prove useful. We have a difficult battle ahead of us."