A/N: See? Told ya I would continue it! Long overdue though...
Enjoy!
"You're getting the hang of it. Just show me one more front stance."
"AS YOU WISH!" Papyrus followed Undyne's order, getting himself into a typical martial arts stance.
"Hmm... square your shoulders..." the fish girl instructed while straightening his hunch-over. "Bend your other leg a little more..."
"I'M SORRY, BUT HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO STAND LIKE THIS WITHOUT FALLING OVER?"
Undyne slapped him.
"QUIET, MAGGOT! Are you a skeleton or a mouse?!"
"...IS THAT A RHETORICAL QUESTION? -oof!" The skeleton grunted as he'd recieved a punch in his hollow abdomen.
"PRACTICE IS KEY! If you expect to be a hardcore expert from just one day of training, you're badly mistaken! To get as good as me takes years and years of continued work!"
Papyrus turned to all the other soldiers, most of whom were large dogs, staring on at her demonstration as Papyrus doubled over in pain.
"SEE WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU AREN'T READY? YOU'RE AN EASY, SQUISHY TARGET! If you want to protect the royal king, you need to be better suited for it. You need to be able to take on enemies with your life on the line! Have I made myself clear?!"
"YES, MA'AM!" Everyone spoke in unison as they stabbed the ground with their spears.
"NOW, 200 LAPS AROUND WATERFALL! GET TO IT, LADIES!"
"HOOAH!" Everyone acknowledged as they all ran in the opposite direction, a rumbling sound as all their steps in accompanion with each other almost caused a ravine fall.
Left behind was Papyrus, disappointed in himself for his lack of, not only physical strength, but any kind of warrior competence at all. Undyne, contrary to how she'd spoken to the other soldiers, looked at him softly as she put a careful hand on his shoulder.
"I'm sorry, Papyrus, but I think we need one-on-one-practice before going with the tough guys." She tried talking as gently as possible, so not to hurt his pride, "is that okay?"
Only a nod she got. A empathic smile came on her face.
"This is completely normal. No one is perfect the first day."
"BUT THIS ISN'T MY FIRST DAY! I'VE DONE THIS LESSON OVER AND OVER AND I CAN'T GET IT RIGHT. WHAT AM I DOING WRONG, UNDYNE?" He felt exasperated and anxious that he wasn't making much progress.
"It takes longer for certain people. It doesn't mean you're bad. Trust me when I say you'll get there." She grabbed his chin to force him to look at her, her eyes shouting of belief in his abilities. "Okay?"
He sighed as confirmation he'd got it, giving a half-hearted thumbs up. She grinned at him confidently.
"Go home and rest. Same time tomorrow, just you and me. We wont rest until you nail that stance." Jogging away a little, while still looking back at him, she proclaimed, "I'm gonna run with the guys now. Stand tall, soldier!" And with that, she had taken off further into the cave, illuminating flowers shading her movements on the ground.
Left behind stood Papyrus, not even trying to salute with the burst of self-reliance he knew she'd wanted him to.
The lack of enthusiasm as he was dragging himself back home was obvious. Legs like jelly, eyesockets resting at the ground, percieving it tiredly. This side of him he never showed to many. Ironically, Undyne knew more of it than Sans did. That he was lacking the self-confidence needed in doing his absolute best. And he did! He put every pore, every nerve, every sweatdrop into the training... but, for some reason, he just couldn't get it right, and he hadn't a slightest clue what it was. Maybe he wasn't as optimistic about becoming a new recruit as he thought. Maybe he lacked the "spark" that would make him a powerful addition to the team. Maybe...
He stopped, as if realized he was going to walk into something. Sudden, and his feet were suddenly glued to the ground.
Maybe he wasn't physically equipped for it. Perhaps... achieving his dream... was an impossibility. It wasn't meant for him. It... was a ploy for something else, something his subconscious was screaming at him to understand.
He took a few, deep breaths, of the meditating kind. He couldn't, ''wouldn't'', let Sans see him in this way. It was enough that Undyne was patronizing him, he didn't need his brother to do it too. Perhaps the fact that Sans saw him as cool was what really kept him going. Just losing the one person who had full belief in his capabilities, who saw him as an amazing hero, would end up being a serious blow to his self-esteem. He didn't need his pity. He could do this. He could pull through.
He could pretend.
As if on cue, he suddenly heard chattering further away. Initially, he just thought it were a couple of inhabitants, as the average person would. Then, subsequently, something dragged him to hide behind a giant rock a couple of metres away. The thing that pulled him had been his intuition, he discerned. It was just a gut feeling, he was scolding himself, but there was something terribly wrong about those chatterings. The people owning them were speaking with an unrecognizable pitch, or, so he begged the question. There was little logic in his observation, he knew. And yet...
He peeked an eyesocket out, and he forgot tobreathe for a second, as though it was telling him that breathing wasn't as important as what he was seeing before his very eyes.
Human. Two of them, actually. Humans.
And... kappa?
One of the humans was female. She was wearing a yellow shirt, short shorts and leggings reaching all the way down to her converse. Her red hair and blue eyes were practically lighting up the cave.
Behind her walked another human, whom appeared to be male. He wore darker clothes, a bandana, and carried with him some sort of hockey stick... he was probably a mean hockey enthusiast.
The kappa blew him equally away. There was little difference between them, other than one of them was slightly taller and more robust. One was wearing a blue mask, and the other a red one.
A gloved hand covered him mouth in disbelief... and maybe, even fear.
'This can't be real. This must be a dream.'
His mind was bellowing at him to feel excited that he had several potential captures all for himself... and yet, that's not what he felt. His soul was slanting it off.
It had been so hypothetical. So hypothetical he hadn't even considered planning for a human capture anytime soon. Thus, he was neither mentally or physically prepared for the ambush.
For now, he'd have to retreat and warn Undyne.
That's what he should do. And yet, intuition was once again a virtue and pulled him back to his house.
Acquainted footfalls in the masses of the snowy idyll burred throughout the Waterfalls in an echo. They forebode the scorn telling of many a failure to tear at him tonight; sleep being an unfortunate, innocent victim.
It had become a an inured feeling of his.
"well, here it is, guys. mine a papyrus' home." Sans gestured at the building. Donnie's eyes sifted it; it was a typical rigorous brick-built villa but with odd lights surrounding it seeming of the Christmas theme.
As habit would have it, Mikey voiced Donnie's thoughts, whose words he begrudgingly admitted was suitable.
"It's the middle of summer...?" Although Mikey's question lacked substance of what he was referring to, both of the others understood it.
"oh, this?" Sans pointed at the dimly-lit illumination in various colors climbing the house in a mild zig-zag pattern. "papyrus likes them, so we keep them up. also, it's always winter down here, so we see no reason to take them down."
"Looks roomy and comfy though! Kind of like that old farmhouse where we used to hide." Mikey made sure to compliment.
The skeleton shrugged his bony shoulders underneath the heaviness of his fur hoodie, "it's roof over the head. that's all that matters to me."
Donnie wondered briefly if Sans was some kind of simple-minded wisdom on legs while he heard the rustling of said subject's keys as he unlocked the front door.
"make yourself at home. luckily it's tidy because my bro cleaned it this morning."
"I wish my brothers were as housetrained." Donnie commented. Mikey wasn't sure if that gibe was aimed at him or their other brothers, but he let it be.
"well, make yourselves at home. i'm just gonna go make a short phone call. brb." Sans offered and then made a beeline for the kitchen.
Donnie gladly helped himself by throwing himself backwards onto the couch, leaning back as his eyes lidded.
"Finally someone who treats us with an ounce of respect." He exhaled, suprising him how worked out his body actually felt.
"Oh, look!" Mikey squeaked, and Donnie peered an eye his way. "They even have a pet rock!" Mikey clutched at the little lump of stone covered in glitter, mesmerized. "Why don't we have a pet rock, Donnie? Why haven't we thought of it before?"
"Mikey, put that back", the purple-masked turtle was about to lecture his younger brother, but as he put his hand in order to support him uppwards, it unexpectedly touched upon a mysterious lump.
When he'd first made a quick glance at the couch as they'd walked inside, he'd assumed there were merely pillows underneath propping the blanket up. How looks can decieve; it felt nothing like the sort.
"What the...?" He made a questioning murmur as he lifted the blanket. "What's-"
His voice let up.
His eyes strained.
His hand clutched.
And his breath stopped.
"What's wrong, bro...?" Mikey planned to approach him to see what was wrong, but a voice emitting from the kitchen door rendered that plan moot.
"oh yeah, you guys had some questions about snowdin. well, you're welcome to ask anythi-" Sans foot stopped in motion. Instead of any questions, he got a sceptical gaze in their place. Donnie faced the skeleton, staring at him.
Donnie didn't know whether to be upset, happy or mad. All three emotions felt too far out.
"Oh, I've got some questions." He intended to sound serious, but his voice broke at the end. Sans looked back, curious of this sudden mood change.
Before anything further could occur, the front door slammed open.
"SANS! I SAW..."
His jaw remained slack as he bore witness to the scene before him; two kappa much like the ones he'd seen before stood by where that snake girl was sleeping, one of them seeming to have a silent non-malicious dilemma about how to percieve his brother. But strangely, Sans must have invited them in, as there was no sign of forced entry.
Sans looked his direction, from whom he could sense a sheepish glint in his eye.
His disconcerted point of view was no secret.
"WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON HERE?!"
A/N: I really wanted to finish this chapter soon. I'm also fiddling with the next chapter of "Kiss From a Rose"; I got inspired from reading Tolkien's Lord of the Rings. I really admire his lingual story-telling style, even though I know it's not fitting for this type of story. It's inspiring nevertheless.
Until next time :)