The sun was just climbing across the horizon and a gentle breeze was swaying through the tall grass. The colors of fall had just started to come out as a chill filled the area. Everything was quiet, and one skeleton in particular took this time as a moment of reverence to someone very close to him. He could barely remember them, having been so young when they had disappeared from his life, but he felt it was important to keep him from being lonely whenever he could. His red scarf flapped in the wind as Papyrus adjusted it around his bony neck.
"Hey, dad." He said to the tombstone. On the stone was the carving of a hand with a circle and the inscription "W.D. Gaster", and the epitaph written in a foreign language that only few people knew about. "Sorry it's been so long. Things have been….well things have been pretty busy lately. We're finally out of the underground! Of course, since your tombstone's here you probably already knew that. Oh! Sans is here too! He's…well you know…Sans. Although he's as lazy as ever. I think he misses working with you…I miss you too…"
A pause, and with a deep breath Papyrus continues. "Haven't gotten in trouble on the surface yet! So…that's cool…" Man, talking to someone who didn't answer was more exhausting than talking to the human. "I think being on a team with Undyne helps! I keep her in line. Nyehehehehe!"
An awkward pause passed before Papyrus messed with his scarf again. "That was a joke." The brief moment of awkwardness passed before Papyrus got onto another topic of conversation. "She's an excellent fighter! Frisk and Sans too! Together we form team PUFS…and yes before you ask, that is a very weird name for a team and I'm not sure if it's even being said right half the time."
"Anyways, I, the GREAT PAPYRUS have made lots of friends with the humans here! They tend to be quite odd in their ways though. Oh, we've also saved the world too. So that happened. And Sans is getting along with the scientist Alphys fairly well. I hadn't realized how smart he tends to be. I guess it's like the humans say "like father like son". He's starting to enjoy doing things more lately now that we're all on the surface. And then there's Toriel, her cooking is delicious! You should taste her butterscotch pies! They're amazing! Not that the GREAT PAPYRUS isn't good at cooking as well. I'm the best when it comes to spaghetti! Nyehehehe! It's funny though, the more time Toriel spends with Sans, the more she sounds like him, which drives me completely insane."
"Don't you mean "completely in-sans" bro?" A lower voice chuckled from behind him. Papyrus suppressed a scream of frustration before turning back to the tombstone.
"Do you see what I have to put up with?" he muttered.
Sans laughed before he patted his brother's arm. "It's almost time to go. You about ready?"
"YES BROTHER! I'M SO EXCITED FOR THIS HUMAN TOURNAMENT!" Papyrus shouted in joy. Then he remembered that Gaster had no idea what tournament he was talking about. "Oh, so every year the humans have a fighting tournament and the monsters have been allowed to join! It's all completely safe. Alphys has designed some sort of anti-death force field equipment for Sans so he doesn't accidentally get turned to dust because he REFUSES to level up his HP."
"It's not as if anyone'd be able to hit me." Sans said with a shrug before Papyrus continued.
"And I think it helps bring humans and monsters closer together. We're up to fight pretty soon, so wish us luck!"
Papyrus turned to leave with Sans before he looked back and muttered "It was good to talk." Sans exhaled slowly. He didn't see the point in talking to a rock that symbolized a dead monster. He didn't see the point to a lot of things that humans did. But if it was making Papyrus happy he'd go with it.
"LAZYBONES!" Papyrus shouted to him. "Let's get going!"
"I'm coming bro, I'm coming." Sans said lazily, purposely dragging his feet to annoy Papyrus just that much more.
The arena that had been randomly generated for the four on four tournament had been split in half, one half that reminded Papyrus of Hotland back in the underground, and the other that reminded him of Snowden, his home. Papyrus was irked to see Sans sleeping on one of the glaciers as the battle continued, wondering where the human he had gone to fight went, but he had other matters to attend to, such as the human trying to attack him.
Undyne clashed spears with another human, male from what she had been told from Alphys' anime. The kid was pretty strong, but then again, she had been captain of the Royal Guard for a reason. There was no way she was going to lose. The only advantage the kid had was that she was out of her element. Neither of these environments were suitable for her, but she realized that if she stayed in the climate-controlled center, she wouldn't have to deal with either of them. And if worse came to worse, head towards Snowden. Cold was easier to deal with in a battle than heat, Undyne had learned that the hard way in her battle with Frisk.
Speaking of Frisk, the pacifist ambassador to monsters was having a pretty crummy time. The human he was fighting didn't take turns like the monsters did, and none of his ACT options were working. The "Flirt" option only made the girl more angry and that next attack did double damage. She had screamed something about having a boy as a friend, which Frisk congratulated her for, as in his experience, the more friends you have the better off and happier you are. As much as Frisk didn't want to hurt anyone, he realized that one, this was a fighting tournament, and two, he was going to get dunked on if he didn't fight back.
But no matter how bad things had gotten before, he knew that there always a way around violence. So while the girl took a breath, he pulled up his inventory and tried to find anything he could use to pacify his opponent. A twinkle in his eye appeared when they landed on the slice of butterscotch pie that Toriel had made for him before he left that morning, and although he was sad that he wouldn't get to eat it, he was happy that other humans had a chance to taste his mother's delicious desserts.
Frisk offered the piece of pie to the girl who stared at him as if he had grown another head. "What are you doing kid?" she asked. Frisk stood on his tippy toes and put the pie in the girl's hand to show her that he was offering it to her. He rubbed his tummy to make sure the girl knew that it was really delicious and that she should eat it.
The girl didn't know what to do at first, and then she remembered the tales she heard about monster food, how it was magic and could restore health. She sweetly thanked Frisk and took a bite, getting ready for an increase of strength. What she didn't expect was for the sweet butterscotch to melt in her mouth and the little kick of cinnamon that Toriel always gave it. She felt like she was eating a slice of heaven! The girl practically melted in contentment as she finished the pie, lying down with a huge grin on her face.
Frisk dragged the girl to the edge of the stage and gently set her down on the outside. The girl was instantly declared eliminated by ring-out. Frisk jumped for joy when he saw the text box across his vision. "YOU WIN! You earned 0 EXP and 0 G".
"HEADS UP!" Frisk heard a shout from the other end of the arena. A large boulder sailed across his vision before it landed in front of the human that had trapped Papyrus, blocking their attack. Of course Undyne would be lifting heavy boulders in the middle of a fight for no reason other than to intimidate her foe. Frisk realized with a start that she was getting snuck up on, and raced to protect her.
"Got your back, Pap!" Undyne was shouting to a grateful Papyrus.
"Who's got yours?" The human said as he was about to hit Undyne. Before the spear came down, Frisk pushed her out of the way, narrowly dodging it himself. The offender was chased off by one of Papyrus's bones.
"My BFF has my back!" Undyne declared proudly.
"Nope. Mine. NYEHEHEHEHE!" Papyrus cheered as he picked up Frisk and put the kid on his shoulders, quickly running away with glee. Undyne muttered something under her breath as she followed close behind, ready to dispatch the last two opponents.
"You gonna help with this one, Sans?" she called to the sleeping skeleton.
"Nah, you guys have this covered. I'm just gonna catch a few more z's." Sans replied.
"It's the last attack!" Undyne said, tapping her foot impatiently.
Sans yawned and stretched as he sat up. "Alright, no need to be "floundering" for my help." He said with a wink. Undyne shook her head as she lined up the path of spears Frisk needed to follow.
"Ready kid?" she asked. Frisk nodded wordlessly and jumped off of Papyrus's back as the younger of the skeleton bros kept the two enemies corralled with his bones.
His SOUL turned green as Undyne threw spears at his back to propel him forward, Frisk using the shield she had provided him to prevent himself from taking damage. When he couldn't go any faster this way, Papyrus took over, turning his SOUL blue. Frisk jumped onto the blue bone that came up and Papyrus kept him still as it propelled him even faster. The bone changed colors and Frisk launched himself off of it at the opponents.
Sans realized for a moment that Frisk still didn't have enough momentum. The kid wasn't as fast as the others would've liked him to be and a quick calculation in his head confirmed that Frisk would not be able to push the last two opponents out of the ring as the plan called for. He didn't like using his powers on the kid unless they were sparring, especially without warning, but Sans was sure the kid wouldn't mind this time.
Sans pulled his hand out of his hoodie and Frisk's SOUL turned blue again as he was launched harder than ever towards his targets. Frisk waved at the skeleton as he sailed past him and into the last two fighters, giving them a huge bear hug as the collision caused all three to fall out of the arena.
A buzzer sounded to declare the three humans eliminated by ring-out. And although Frisk had been eliminated, his teammates were the only ones still standing, and they were declared winners.
Sans blinked away the blue flame in his eye as Papyrus rushed up to him. "WE WON!" He cried excitedly, scooping his brother up and twirling him around. "The human is getting better at that technique! He didn't even need an extra boost from me this time! Wowie!"
Sans chuckled, knowing Papyrus hadn't seen his involvement in the last attack, as planned (he wouldn't want to be losing his reputation of laziness). "Yeah, the kid's pretty good."
Frisk climbed back up on the stage and rushed up to Sans, giving his friend a high five.
"What I don't understand is how you could've possibly been sleeping throughout that entire battle!" Undyne said as she joined her friends.
"Yes, that does bring up an interesting question." Papyrus said. "There were four opponents. Frisk took care of three of them, but what happened to the fourth?"
"Oh, that's easy." Sans said. "I just introduced myself and when she shook my hand she couldn't stop laughing at the whoopee cushion I had in my hand. She ended rolling off the stage in a fit of laughter."
Papyrus sighed. "Fine, I'll allow that answer. But at the moment, I'm starving! Come on! Let's go find something to eat!"
As Papyrus and Undyne walked away, Sans felt a hand tugging at his sweatshirt. "What's up, kiddo?" he asked.
Frisk crossed his arms and tapped his foot on the ground, then signed the word for "liar". Sans sighed, the kid had a way of seeing through him. In truth, all Sans had to do was summon a Gaster Blaster and the human ran off the stage in order to prevent getting obliterated.
"I know, kid, I know." Sans said, ruffling Frisk's hair. "But you know I don't like showing off. I don't see the point in it. Besides, the other humans are already pretty scared of us. No point in making it worse."
Frisk sighed and gave up the line of questioning. He took Sans' hand and pulled him forward. "You're right, we better "spa-get-ti" out of here. Hehe!" Frisk laughed as the two went to catch up with their friends.
The gang walked for a while, talking about what they would eat. Papyrus suggested heading back home and making them all spaghetti, but Undyne was quick to shoot that idea down. They had no time to run home, make spaghetti, and come back.
"No worries, I know just the place." Sans assured the gang.
"It's going to be hard to eat without this though, right?" A high pitched voice said from behind the gang. They turned around and saw a vine wrapped around a bag of gold. Frisk started frantically patting his pockets and checking his stats to find his gold, but to no avail. The voice giggled and gave Frisk the bag of gold back. "Good to see you Frisk!" Flowey said, a smile on its small face.
Frisk took the bag and patted Flowey on the head. "Hello, tiny flower!" Papyrus said. "What are you up to?"
"Oh, I just got back from watching your amazing fight! You all were awesome!"
Papyrus blushed and swayed back and forth on his feet, blushing. "Oh, stahhhp…" he muttered.
"We heard your team advanced too! How'd it go?" Undyne said.
Flowey paused for a minute as he considered his fight. How he kept tripping people with vines, how the two brainwashed humans acted like his puppets, and how Chara had to be bribed to prevent killing one of the enemies. Flowey vaguely remembered seeing Chara's eyes flash into empty blood-dripping sockets right before she dispatched the last fighter.
What else could he say but "Really well! I'm not going onto the doubles round though. What about you guys?"
"Well, as the leader of this illustrious team, I, the GREAT PAPYRUS have thought long and hard about this decision."
Frisk started signing, his face cross. "He says that we put it to a vote." Sans translated.
Papyrus's eyes bulged for a moment before he recovered. "Uhh well yes, but I decided that we should put it to a vote."
Frisk pulled Sans and Undyne forward showing that they had chosen those two to move forward into the finals round.
Sans shrugged. "Undyne wanted to take this one alone and it'll be a perfect time to slack off." He explained.
"Yeah!" Undyne said, cracking her knuckles excitedly. "I'm ready to bust some heads! You wanna join us for lunch?"
"That's so nice of you, but my teammates aren't really into group events, they tend to be socially awkward, and I'm not hungry. But you all go ahead and have fun!"
Frisk gave Flowey a gentle hug before he ran off to follow Sans to lunch. Flowey smiled for a moment before sinking back into the ground. He reappeared next to a young girl hiding behind a building.
"How are the new friends?" Chara asked.
"I hate them." Flowey muttered.
"Orders are orders." Chara giggled
"I just-! How the hell can they be so happy all the time?!" Flowey sputtered, frustrated with the human world. "I just can't understand it!"
"Did you at least get what we wanted?" Chara snapped.
"It's the fish and the freeloading skeleton." Flowey replied. "She's going to do all the work."
Chara hummed to herself a moment before shrugging. "Alright. I guess now we know who we're dealing with." She giggled, a gleam in her eye.
Sans walked up to a building with a smile on his face, the sign above the building reading "Grillby's". Papyrus moaned in exasperation. He didn't like the food there since it was greasy, and he sort of beat himself up for not knowing that Sans was sure to bring them there. But he already agreed to it, and hopefully human ingredients, Grillby made stuff with less grease.
"Here we are!" Sans said, ushering them inside. They each sat at the bar as Sans ordered their meals.
"Grillby, my man!" he said. "I'll have the usual please!"
Grillby, knowing Sans all too well, had already gotten a burger prepared for him, and he set it out for Sans in record time.
Undyne saw Sans' burger and thought it looked amazing. "Ooh…I'll have the same!" she said. Another burger was quickly dispensed before her.
Papyrus thought for a moment before answering "Just a glass of milk for me-" Before he could finish, Grillby had put a burger and milkshake in front of Papyrus. "Uhhm ok?"
Frisk and Grillby looked at each other for a moment before they nodded at each other, and Grillby went into the back to make up Frisk's favorite treat to have at his restaurant. He came back with a double cheese burger with fries stacked on top of the patty, neatly tucked under the bun. Frisk started drooling for a moment as he stared at the masterpiece. It looked even better than the last time he had eaten this. The thought of how amazing the burger would taste filled him with DETERMINATION.
Undyne pulled out a card and gave it to Grillby to pay for the meal. "Aww, what's the occasion, Undyne?" Papyrus asked.
"Just consider it thanks for sending me to the doubles round." Undyne replied.
Suddenly the card came flying back and sunk into the bar counter, the edge of it flaming. Everyone looked at the card in shock until Grillby cleared his throat and pointed to the cash register. In bold red letters the word DECLINED was scrawled across it.
"What?! How can my card be declined?!" Undyne exclaimed. "I was barely into my paycheck!"
A worried look crossed Frisk's face as he slowly pulled the burger towards him, hoping Grillby didn't notice. Unfortunately, Grillby did notice and pulled the burger away from Frisk. Frisk flopped over the counter in despair, dark thoughts of a true reset crossing his mind for a moment.
"Perhaps I can be of service?" A kind voice came from behind the group. Everyone turned to see a new group entering the building, yet the faces were all so familiar. Coming towards them to join them were Toriel, Asgore, Alphys and Metaton. "Hey, Tori!" Sans greeted the female monster. "Knock knock."
"Who's there?" Toriel said with a giggle
"Wood" Sans responded.
"Wood who?"
"Wood you be a dear and help us out?"
"SANS! She doesn't have to!" Papyrus said. Frisk immediately jumped on top of the bar stool and clocked the skeleton on the head in frustration. He was hungry and he wanted to eat NOW. If Toriel wanted to help, let her!
Toriel giggled as Papyrus recovered from the one HP lost. "Well, after that fight, I think you all deserve it!" she said.
"Would you mind if we joined you?" Asgore said, the giant monster king gentle with his words.
After their hearty meal, everyone sat around a table, laughing and enjoying the full feeling in their stomachs. Enjoying the group's company was one of Frisk's favorite things to pass time with, and that still held true today. Toriel had packed slices of butterscotch pie that had been freshly baked, and everyone enjoyed the warm dessert, especially Frisk, whom Toriel praised for sharing his treat with an enemy.
Everything in that moment was perfect. It should've stayed perfect.
But Frisk still felt a little apprehension as he thought about the future. He knew that Flowey was doing his best to be a better…well, flower. But there was something about the conversation with him that set Frisk on edge. A brief glance at Sans told the boy that he felt it too.
They weren't quite at that happy ending yet. If nothing else, their real story had just begun. Frisk told himself that he'd just have to be prepared for it.
And the thought of the future filled him with DETERMINATION.
