► "Waterfall"

The puppy opened his toothy jaw and yawned. There was destiny to be made. He lifted his hind leg and scratched, flinging white fur everywhere. Then, he yapped decisively and started running down the murky tunnels of Waterfall. Puddle of water splashed under his paws, and colored stones embedded in the blue stone twinkled happily. He zipped to and fro, looking for a certain...well...fish.

He found Undyne a couple halls later. Red hair, aqua scales, and an eyepatch over her left eye; That was his target. He followed behind her in the shadows, curious as to how this would play out.

She trudged up to her house, dead on her fins. It was late, and swirls of dim mist clung to her scales. She fumbled her fins with the keys to her house. Surprisingly, her own home was fishlike; the shingles were scales, the two front windows were eyes, large shutter-things on both sides were fins, the door was white like fangs; heck, it even had a tail that curled around the right side.

She jammed the key into the lock, twisted it, and slung the door open wide. She sauntered in, yawning widely and exposing her pointy fangs. Her red boots scuffed across the tile flooring as she made her way to the kitchen, and then to her room.

She collapsed on her bed, too tired to really do anything. She had been busy hunting down some trouble-making Snowdrakes over in Snowdin (man, those things were sassy), then checked with Greater Dog for a report (as usual, nothing today), and even had time to do some foraging for cool swords in the Waterfall dump (nothing there, either). Usually she would be watching anime right about now, but she was too tired to even think, much less walk over to the TV, turn it on, pick an episode, and sacrifice her heart and soul to the feels! Besides, she needed something fresh. It had been a while since she had found an anime in the dump.

She would go tomorrow, after checking in with Alphys, and taking another run in Snowdin, and maybe training a bit more with Lesser Dog. She changed into her pajamas, slithered under the maroon covers, chucked a spear at the light switch to turn it off, and zonked out.

She slept soundly…

...for an hour.

► "Mysterious Place"

WHAM WHAM WHAM WHAM!

Undyne woke and practically hit the ceiling. Turquoise spears summoned on instinct, positioned to hit anything that moved. She scanned the room with her good yellow eye. Nobody had infiltrated her place. Spears still hanging in mid-air, she made her way to the kitchen; Nothing except her hot-fridge (yes, that was a thing) and the cool ginormous katana she and Alphys had made. She muttered under her breath and started forward.

WHAM WHAM WHAM!

The spears fired at the door. Undyne flailed and ran into her piano, which added random musical notes to the grotesque symphony of sound.

Someone was knocking on the door! That's what that sound was! Fury bubbled up in Undyne. Who in the Hotlands would be visiting now?! It was MIDNIGHT! She released the spears, which combusted with soft 'piffs" and disappeared. Would it be Napstabloke? Nah, the ghost was way too timid to make that much noise. Or talk to her, for that matter. Shyreen? She had stopped visiting for piano lessons a long time ago. And why would she, of all monsters, show up in the middle of the night?

WHAM WHAM WHAM WHAM!

► "Nyeh Heh Heh!"

Undyne snarled, summoned an extra spear just in case, and opened the door. A strange visitor stood eagerly outside. A tall monster with a beige, short-sleeved sweater, boots (kinda like hers, only more stocky), and a long red scarf was practically bouncing outside her door. He had a vibrant energy, like he had just drank five cups of coffee, and his hollow black eyes seemed to glisten with excitement.

He was made completely of bone.

"GREETINGS, UNDYNE!" he shouted, waving a gloved hand enthusiastically. She got the feeling that this guy was naturally loud. "I AM PAPYRUS! AND I AM HERE-"

Undyne forced herself to breathe. "Do. You realize. WHAT TIME IT IS?!"

He didn't get to answer, because Undyne slammed the door in his face.

► "Snowy"

The next morning, Undyne was getting dressed in her light armor (not the 100 pound kind that was super heavy), ready for another day of routine. She downed a cup of Sea Tea, put her red hair up in a tight pony, and marched to the door. Maybe she could get a couple of whacks out of the dummy that was in her yard before she left. She opened the door and heard her dummy...talking?

Now, her training dummy wasn't...normal. It was, technically, a ghost INHABITING a training dummy. Why it stayed around here with her pounding it half the time, she had no idea. But she didn't mind the ghost, because the dummy redeemed itself by fighting back. It was excellent practice for both of them. But it didn't usually TALK to her.

But today, someone else was with the dummy. It was that loud skeleton with the scarf! And he had somehow got Mad Dummy to talk to him.

"Yeah," the dummy said in a hollow voice. "One time, he accidentally went through a Woshua. You wouldn't BELIEVE the racket it made!"

"REALLY?" the skeleton asked, so completely focused on Dummy's story that he didn't even see Undyne.

"Yeah. 'Your soul is unclean! Wakka wakka wakka wakka!"

The skeleton started laughing, an odd sound; "NYEH HEH HEH HEH!"

The dummy seemed amused, smirking evilly.

Undyne regained her wits and shouted, "HEY!" Papyrus stopped laughing. Dummy looked at her questionably. "What are you doing here?"

"OH, HI UNDYNE!" Papyrus said eagerly, as if last night never happened. "I GOT BORED WAITING FOR YOU, BECAUSE YOU CLOSED THE DOOR AND DIDN'T COME BACK, SO I STARTED PLAYING WITH THE DUMMY AND THEN IT STARTED YELLING AT ME." Every time Papyrus spoke, his jaw opened completely, revealing a hollow mouth full of teeth (somewhat disturbing, but kinda cool). "AND THEN WE STARTED TO TALK AND THEN YOU CAME!"

Undyne stared for a moment. "It is eight in the morning."

"YES, I THINK."

"Why are you here?"

"BECAUSE I WAS WAITING FOR YOU! OH, AND BY THE WAY, THAT DOG HAS BEEN WATCHING ME SINCE I GOT HERE. IS HE YOURS?"

The little white pomeranian watched from the shadows, flicking his pointy ears.

"No. So you stayed here all night waiting for me to open the door and talk to you?"

"YES. WHY?"

Okay. So either this guy was an idiot, or incredibly determined.

"Well, what in the world is so important that you talk to me? And how the heck did you manage to befriend Mad Dummy?"

"IT WAS EASY! I JUST ASKED ABOUT HOW HE WAS SUMMONING THOSE LITTLE DRONE THINGIES, AND THEN HE KEPT TALKING!"

"And?"

"AND AFTER THAT HE STARTED TALKING ABOUT HIS COUSIN-"

"Why do you want to TALK to me, you weirdo skeleton?!"

Papyrus didn't even register the insult. "OH, YEAH. I WANTED TO TALK TO YOU ABOUT JOINING THE ROYAL GUARD!"

Undyne blinked. "What?"

"THE GUARD. WHY DO YOU KEEP ASKING ME TO REPEAT MYSELF?"

Undyne sized him down, then sized him down again. Papyrus had such a ridiculously expectant face on that it was hard not to laugh. Undyne herself was probably making a ridiculous face as well; she could feel her face scrunching up in concentration. Her fin-like ears flattened on the sides of her head. "Hmmm…"

"WHAT?"

This skeleton, put bluntly, was naive. Innocent. Soft. But despite that, he stayed outside all night to ask a question he might not get a yes to. He managed to avoid sudden death from her nasty training dummy, and also managed to befriend him. Even Undyne hadn't managed to do that. And...she sensed a huge amount of determination in him; in the way he talked and the way he walked.

She dismissed the magical spear in her hand and crossed her arms. "Look, Bonely. You can't just waltz in and ask to join. I'm willing to consider you, but I can't just let you in!"

Papyrus was still eager as a puppy. "SO HOW DO YOU GET IN?"

"Well, you go through training and present yourself to Asgore. He sees what you're made of, then decides if you're worthy."

The tall skeleton thought for a bit. "SO TRAINING, THEN ASGORE?"

"Yep."

"OKAY! SO WHO DOES- WAIT, YOU DO TRAINING RIGHT?"

Undyne froze. "Um."

"YOU'RE THE HEAD OF THE ROYAL GUARD! THAT MEANS YOU PROBABLY KNOW A LOT OF STUFF!"

"Well, yeah! How else would I have become leader?"

"WHAT ARE YOUR BULLETS LIKE?"

"Spears, duh!" She summoned a bunch of them, miniature versions of her six-foot aqua spears; the length of her forearm, silvery-white and sharpened to a point. They hovered around her like hornets, ready to sting.

"WOWIE! THOSE LOOK SHARP!"

"How else would they stab stuff?!"

Papyrus reached out and touched the tip of one like it was a sacred relic. Undyne suddenly got a nasty idea. "Oh, you like them?"

"YEAH! THEY ARE SO COOL!"

► "Run!"

"Well…" Undyne pointed every last spear at Papyrus' chest. "THEY LIKE YOU TOO!"

The spears shot mercilessly towards Papyrus' white, upside-down monster soul. He yelped, then started dodging as fast as he could (which was pretty darn fast, by the way). He swerved left, right, backwards, even jumping to avoid having his soul skewered. He managed to dodge most of the projectiles. The rest hit home with solid thuds.

Papyrus was a little surprised that Undyne had started attacking him, but he showed no signs of pain or panic. Instead, he grinned like a dork. "WOWIE! YOU ARE STRONG!"

She did a quick check. Papyrus — ATK 8 DEF 2: He likes to say, "Nyeh heh heh!"

He had more DEF and ATK than she did! How?!

Papyrus is sparing you.

She glared at him with an expression she usually reserved for humans. "What are you doing?! This isn't how you fight! TRAINING STARTS NOW!"

You can imagine what happened next.

► "Nyeh Heh Heh!"

Both monsters were sweaty messes when the mist cleared (mainly Undyne, because Papyrus didn't seem to have skin). Undyne gave the skeleton a good, hard look. Papyrus grinned back.

"Huff, huff...WOWIE! YOU REALLY ARE STRONG!"

The dog froze and stared. Would it happen?

Undyne gave him a hard look. "Determined one, aren't you, punk?" Papyrus smiled so hard his jawbone looked like it would crack. He looked expectant of something. "Fine. If you're THAT determined, I suppose I can teach you a thing or two. But no guarant-"

"NYEHEHEHEHEHEH! I KNEW YOU WOULD SAY YES! I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, WILL JOIN THE ROYAL GUARD!" He started running in the opposite direction, scarf trailing behind him. "SANS! SANS SHE SAID YES!"

"Hey! Where are you-!" she shouted. But he was already gone. "Erm...okay then."

Dummy looked at her with the most ridiculous face sewn onto him. "Well, would'ja look at that? Looks like you got yourself a trainee."

Undyne crossed her arms and smirked. This outta be interesting. "Yep."

The dog opened his toothy jaw and yawned. There was destiny to be made. Then, he ran off.