**"Bold text in quotation marks signifies words spoken aloud." 'Italicized text enclosed with apostrophes signifies a character's thoughts.' **

Undyne is an up-and-coming new member of the royal guard. Her childhood hero has some advice to give, however...

Chapter One: Induction

It was an exceptionally good thing that the ceremony required that her visor be down; Undyne was sure she wouldn't have been able to keep the appropriate solemn expression on her face. Finally, after years of work, the sixteen-year-old monster wasn't only inducted into the royal guard, she'd been given a high-ranking position! It wasn't really surprising to anyone; Asgore himself had helped train the girl, after all, but Undyne still felt so giddy and proud that she was fit to burst.

She gazed through the visor of her helmet at the room full of monsters, searching for one in particular... ah! There she was. Alphys, the shy and geeky little dinosaur-esque monster, was in the front row, looking right at Undyne. The fish monster grinned so widely that it hurt. 'I'm gonna make you so damn proud of me, you nerd. Just you wait.'

Undyne's attention was drawn away from her friend by the King's approach. In unison, as they'd practiced, Undyne and the five other new guardsmen knelt. One by one, Asgore touched the tip of his trident to their bowed heads and had them recite their oath as guardsmen, declaring their loyalty to him and their charge to protect all monsters of the Underground.

It was over all too soon. The new guards stood to applause from the other monsters in the room, and Undyne drank it in. 'I can't believe I finally made it... this is so frickin' awesome!' Somehow managing to keep her cool (disciplined behavior had always been the most difficult part of training for Undyne), she left the room with her new colleagues.

The celebration after the ceremony was easily ten times as awesome. The royal guard threw a huge party to welcome their new members, and Undyne was having the time of her life. Kickass music, amazing food, fellow guardsmen laughing raucously right along with her, what wasn't there to love?

As she was chuckling at one of the dog guards pulling a goofy face, Undyne felt a hand clap down on her shoulder, the fish monster jumping slightly with surprise. A slight turn of her head revealed that it was Gerson, the oldest member of the guard and a legend in his own right. "Wa ha ha! Congrats on finally making it, ya troublemaker! Come over here, let's you and old Gerson have a chat, yeah?"

"You bet!" Undyne was thrilled. She clearly remembered being a little kid and following the tortoise around, watching him kick serious bad-guy butt. Gone were the days where he'd brush her aside; she was catching up to his level fast.

Gerson led Undyne out of the training building where the party was being held, sitting down on a bench outside and nodding to the seat next to him. She did as he indicated, glancing up at the ceiling of the cave. It was dark now. Using magic, Asgore and his scientists tried to keep a regular schedule to the cycles of light and dark, "day" and "night". They did a pretty good job, she had to admit. Right now the only light from overhead was given by the glowing crystals on the ceiling. "Stars".

"So, ya made it, ya brat. Heh."

Undyne grinned over at the ornery old tortoise. She knew his insults were friendly, and she'd picked up her own much of her own vernacular from him. "Damn right, old man! Better watch out, or Asgore will be giving me your job soon! Fuhuhu!"

Gerson's expression grew keen for a moment, but it was there and gone so quickly Undyne couldn't be certain she'd really seen it. The tortoise gave a low chuckle and shrugged. "Don't get too cocky, kid. You've still got a fair bit to prove. Though now you mention it, King Fluffybuns does actually want a word with you tomorrow. That's part of why we're talkin' right now."

"Asgore wants to talk to me?"

"Clean your fins out, kid, I'm too old to say everything twice. Yeah, he wants to go over your assignment personally or something."

"That's… awesome!" Undyne pumped her fist in the air and gave an excited whoop. "God, I'm so PSYCHED!"

"Heh." Gerson gazed off into the distance, looking at the jutting buildings of the Underground's capital city, New Home. Thick fingers stroked his beard, the old monster clearly deep in thought. "Y'know, kid, this job isn't all fun and games. It's not all suplexing boulders and skewering bad guys, ya get it?"

"What… what'dya mean? That's what the guard is for, right?"

"That's not all the guard is for, kid."

Undyne waited to see if the head of the guard would elaborate, but he'd settled into a stony silence. As hard as it was to be patient, the young monster didn't push him. He'd just retreat into his shell, so to speak, if she got obnoxious with him. He was one of the few monsters she couldn't intimidate into doing what she wanted.

Eventually he gave a heavy sigh and turned to grin at her. "Guess I might as well tell ya, but keep it under wraps for now, alright? Don't need this getting out before it's time."

"Sure, Gerson, what's up?"

"I'm retirin'."

"WHAT?!"

"Keep yer voice down, ya trout! Ya heard me. I'm an old man, Undyne. My fightin' days are behind me. Kinda want to settle down, ya know? Wa ha ha… maybe open a store or somethin'… a little hole-in-the-wall deal in Waterfall sounds nice."

Undyne was reeling. Her hero, the guy she'd practically aspired to be, the monster who had personally saved so much of their race, was no longer going to be a guard? But that meant…

"So wait… who are they giving the job, then?"

Gerson let out a long, hearty laugh. "Knew it wouldn't take ya long to get there, kid! Fluffybuns doesn't have a replacement in mind right yet, and I'm willin' to wait around a bit until he figures it out. Just figured I'd give ya a heads-up is all. Do good on your assignment and who knows what'll happen?"

Undyne was too excited to stay sitting down. She sprang to her feet and pointed to the sky dramatically. "I won't let you down, old man! You just wait, I'm gonna be the best freaking guard you or Asgore or anyone's ever seen!"

Gerson held back another heavy, sad sigh, watching Undyne's back with pity in his tired eyes. "Yeah… I bet you will, kid."