The door to the ruins shut behind the group as they walked into a snow-covered forest, the ground beneath them crunching at every step. The air was cold and dry, and the sky was dark...maybe the sun was behind the clouds?

"There are no monsters here, Shion," KOS-MOS reported after a brief moment of silence.

"I hope we didn't scare them off," Melia said, looking around her. "Though I suppose that might be too much to ask for right now..."

"Can we get moving?" Shulk asked. "I know KOS-MOS said there's no one here, but it feels like someone is watching us from somewhere..."

"Yeah, we should," Shion agreed with a nod, and the group started walking into the woods. The trees seemed to get taller and taller as they continued on, the forest darker and darker. For a moment, Shion thought she heard a pair footsteps from far away, but resisted the urge to look behind her.

"This place is chu quiet," Chu-Chu commented.

"It's creeping me out," Jr admitted, frowning. "I half-expect to see some kind of monster that wants to kill us..."

"Let's hurry out of here before something gets the chance to attack us," Rico urged, and everyone's pace sped up. Shion passed over a branch, but several footsteps later...

Snap

"W-Wah!"

"What the..."

Shion stopped and looked behind her. Riki had been lagging behind the group, and was standing near the branch, now broken into bits. Everyone else was instinctively reaching for their weapons if they had any, eyes wide.

"Is something messing with us? This is getting old very fast...!" Ziggy remarked, trying to calm down.

Shion looked ahead of her. Up ahead seemed to be where the forest ended, some sort of gate placed over a bridge. If they ran...

"This place ends just up ahead! C'mon, let's go!" Shion encouraged. Everyone broke into a run, Riki hopping onto Chu-Chu's head so he could attempt to catch up with everyone else. They soon reached the bridge, but now they could hear another set of footsteps behind them, slowly walking up to them.

'KOS-MOS said no other monster was here. Who...Who's following us?' Shion wondered.

The footsteps came to a stop right behind them. No one dared move.

"Humans...don't you know how to greet a new friend?" A quiet voice asked. Shion gulped nervously.

"Turn around and shake my hand."

The group slowly turned around to see a short, squat figure covered in shadow. They extended a hand for someone to shake. Shulk stepped forward to grab the being's hand and

Phhhhhbbbbbbbtt

It was as though suddenly a beam of light lit up the area. The figure was no longer covered in shadow; they were what seemed to be a small skeleton, with pinpoints of light for eyes, a toothy grin, a white shirt under a blue hoodie, black shorts, and what Shion could only assume were slippers.

"Hehe. Gotcha," they chuckled in a deep voice, pulling back their hand. A small whoopee cushion was in their hand, Shion noticed. Shulk seemed frozen, unsure of how to respond to being pranked. After a few moments of shocked silence, Jr was the first to start giggling.

"Okay...okay, you...you got us there!" he admitted. "You had us scared out of our wits!"

"Sorry about that. I'm Sans. Sans the skeleton. Normally, right now I'm supposed to be on guard and try to capture you guys, but...it looks like too much work," the skeleton admitted.

"Capture us? So you'll let us go?" Citan asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I want to, but you see...I have a brother who's working with me, and he's a human-hunting fanatic. He's about to come by here, sooo..."

Sans paused to think for a few moments. "...head through that gate," he prompted. Shion led her friends through the gate, and to a clearing with a small lamp and a messy-looking post.

"Now, you'll want to hide behind that conveniently-shaped..." Sans began before pausing and looking at the group.

"We couldn't fit behind that tiny lamp if we tried!" Fiora pointed out.

"...good point. Try hiding behind my post," Sans suggested. The party hurried over to Sans' post and ducked behind it, peeking out behind it just as another skeleton ran into the area. This one was tall and lanky, wearing some piece of what Shion could only assume was armor with a black insignia on it, a red scarf, red gloves, and a pair of boots.

"Hey, bro, what's up?" Sans asked.

"Sans, you know what is up, brother! It has been eight days and you still haven't recalibrated your puzzles!" the new skeleton reminded, angrily.

"Hey, Papyrus. I've been meaning to do that, but I've been too tired lately. Guess you could say..." Sans began.

"Sans, don't you dare..." Papyrus warned.

"I'm bone-tired," Sans cracked. The sound of a rimshot echoed in the forest, and a few people snorted at the pun. Papyrus groaned, covering his face with his gloves.

"Don't laugh at that, that was awful!" Bart hissed at the people trying not to laugh at the pun.

"That was a good pun, though!" MOMO protested. "How could you not laugh at that?"

"Anyways, Pap, why don't you take a look at my station?" Sans asked. Shion couldn't help but glare at Sans for attempting to give away their hiding spot.

Papyrus removed his gloves from his face and scoffed. "I don't need to look at your station to tell it's still a mess, as usual! You need to get it fixed up before a human comes by!"

"I will, I will," Sans answered, nodding.

"We have to capture a human! Then I will be promoted to the Royal Guard by Undyne! People will ask to be my friend! I will be popular!" Papyrus declared.

"I bet looking at my station will help with that," Sans suggested. Shion sighed in exasperation, shaking her head.

"Sans! You need to clean it up yourself! I'm heading off, I need to make sure a human has triggered one of my puzzles. I suggest you put a little more 'backbone' into your work!"

Papyrus ran off, laughing "Nyeh heh heh heh!"

Shion and her friends slowly walked out of their hiding spot, a few people sighing in relief. Sans looked amused.

"As you can see, I think my brother would really like it if he saw a human. He's been feeling down lately, so...you'd be doing me a favor if you played along with him," he informed.

"We'll...try to," Fei answered before he and the others headed deeper into the snowy forest. There was a distant sound of running water, and Shion looked around for a few moments before spotting a river to the north, and a glowing ball of light. Out of curiosity, she touched it.

The convenience of that station fills you with determination.

Shion blinked in surprise and looked around. "Did someone just...?"

"Are you alright, Shion?" Shulk asked. "Why are you touching that ball of light?"

"Uh...I was curious about why Fei was touching the others, so I decided to see why for myself. Did you guys hear someone speak?" Shion responded.

"No, I didn't hear anyone speaking, Shion," KOS-MOS said.

Shion bit back a sigh. "Never mind. I think I should have napped when we were in Toriel's house."

The party continued forward, stumbling to a halt when they saw Sans talking with Papyrus. Wait, wasn't Sans just behind them?

"So, as I was saying about Undyne..." Papyrus was saying before glancing toward the party. His voice died, eyes bulging out of their eye sockets.

"Bro? You okay?" Sans asked.

"S...Sans...do you...see what I am seeing?" Papyrus asked, not taking his eyes off the humans.

"I dunno, bro, looks like a pile of rocks to me-"

"Not the rocks, Sans! Humans! A whole...A whole group of them! Holy moly, look! Look!" Papyrus squealed.

Sans whistled sharply as he looked at the humans. "Might want to catch them before they leave."

"Right! Humans, prepare yourselves! For I, the Great Papyrus, will capture all of you! Then you will all be delivered to the capital, and I will become part of the Royal Guard. No...with this many humans...I could become co-head of the Royal Guard with Undyne!" Papyrus realized.

"That's...nice, I suppose?" was all Shion could say in response.

"Nyeh heh heh heh heh! Step forward, humans, and face my puzzles if you dare!" Papyrus challenged before darting away. Sans chuckled once Papyrus was out of earshot

"Well, that definitely cheered him up. Don't worry, I'll keep an eye socket out for you all," he assured before the party walked onward. They came upon another station, though this one had a dog's face decorating it.

"A dog...?" Melia murmured. Shion took another step forward, and suddenly a black and white dog poked its head out of the station, a dog treat in its mouth. Its nose was twitching, eyes darting side to side.

"Something moved...if something moved in front of me, like a human...I'll make sure it won't move again!" the dog barked. He climbed out of his station holding two daggers, sniffing all around the group.

Don't move. Pet him when his back is turned on you.

Shion felt wary about this voice, but...it was suggesting to pet the dog, to be fair to it. The moment the dog had its back turned toward her, Shion reached out and pet the dog. Immediately, the dog's tail started wagging furiously, and he started yipping loudly.

"PET! I'VE BEEN PET!"

Shion took a step back and let the dog bark and yap for a few moments, until he finally calmed down. He looked around in confusion.

"S-Something pet me that wasn't moving...I-I need dog treats for this!" the dog nervously barked, hurrying back into his station.

"Well...that's one way to deal with a dog," Ziggy noted. Shion noticed Melia and Jr's eyes were lit up at the sight of that dog.

"Do you think there's more dogs here, Shion?" Jr asked, almost bouncing on his feet.

"I...don't know? We'll have to see," Shion responded as they continued forward. Sans had somehow gotten ahead of them again, and was standing near a large patch of ice.

"Hey. Thought I should give you guys some advice. My brother has a very special attack he might use if you fight him. If you ever see a blue attack, don't move," Sans suggested. "Think of...blue stop signs when you see blue attacks."

"Blue...stop signs?" Fiora repeated, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah. Blue stop signs," Sans said, nodding. "I gotta ask, though, are some of you going to be okay here? Some of you aren't exactly dressed well for the cold."

Bart huffed. "We're just fine! You're wearing shorts, you're in no position to talk!"

"Buddy, I'm a skeleton. I can't exactly feel cold like other monsters do," Sans reminded.

"I meant-agh, never mind," Bart grumbled, looking away.

"Are there any other dogs here?" Melia asked Sans. "We just ran into one...!"

"Ohh, you probably ran into Doggo. He's part of the Royal Guard like the other dogs," Sans answered. "Lessee...there's Lesser Dog, Greater Dog, Dogamy, Dogaressa..."

"And they're all dogs?" Jr asked, eyes wide.

"Yep. Snowdin's Canine Unit. I'm pretty sure if you pet them enough, they'll let you go without much trouble," Sans confirmed. Jr and Melia exchanged overjoyed looks, Jr almost ready to run off and pet the dogs if Gaignun wasn't there.

"Thank you, we'll be on our way, Sans," Shion thanked before continuing on her way, the group sliding on the ice.

Papyrus was...somehow waiting with Sans near a cleared out patch of snow, a blue orb in Papyrus' hands. Shion looked behind her, then at Sans.

"How...you were just behind us..." she began.

"Humans, I believe you will find this puzzle quite shocking, if I do say so myself!" Papyrus declared, grinning. "This, here, is an invisible electricity maze!"

"Do all skeletons happen to make awful jokes, or are you two the only ones?" Bart questioned.

"Well, we're the only two skeletons that we know about. I guess you could say we have good funny bones," Sans cracked.

"Sans! Now is not the time for your awful jokes! Humans, if you touch the walls of this maze, it will administer a hearty zap! Try the maze, I dare you!" Papyrus taunted.

"So...who's going to try this maze first? Any volunteers?" Citan asked.

"I'll give it a try," chaos volunteered. He took a step towards the clearing, only for Papyrus to be zapped instead. Shion cringed.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

"I'm...I'm fine, human, ow..." Papyrus groaned.

"Bro, I think the humans need to hold that orb," Sans suggested.

"Ah, right!"

Papyrus paused. "...er, I did not plan for more than one human to have to solve this puzzle..."

"Eh, just give it to the guy who was about to try the puzzle," Sans said with a shrug. Papyrus walked into the clearing, tracking snow onto it. He handed the orb to chaos before quickly retreating back to Sans' side.

"...he does realize he tracked snow and highlighted a path for us, right?" Dunban whispered to Jin.

"I'm not sure if he knows or not," Jin mumbled back, watching as chaos followed the path Papyrus had made. Papyrus seemed astonished.

"You humans are quite clever, I'll give you that, but just wait until you try my next puzzle!" he declared, dashing away and leaving the party to cross pass the maze unharmed.

"Your brother is...interesting, Sans," Melia commented.

"Heh. Isn't he the coolest? He's pretty good at making puzzles, in my opinion," Sans responded.

"Sans, why...why do you keep popping up ahead of us?" Shion questioned. "It's like one second you're behind us, and the next you're talking with Papyrus!"

Sans winked. "I know some shortcuts. Aw come on, don't look at me like that," he said when Shion crossed her arms and gave him a cold look. "Magicians never reveal their secrets and all that."

"I guess that'll do for an answer. C'mon, Shion, let's go see the other dogs!" Jr prompted.

"Ah...might as well," Shion decided, and the party continued deeper into the woods.