Prompt: Imagine your OTP becoming transformed into babies by some magic potion.
Or "In which Papyrus and Undyne are turned into children are basically the same as they were when they were adults, just with more energy."
I really enjoyed doing this one. I'm even thinking of making a part two, just to get the rest into the story. Anyway, I hope you guys enjoy this one. I definitely put more effort into this one.
Just because Alphys had long since stopped her research and experiments regarding bringing dead monsters back to life, did not mean she didn't keep some of the items and other various trinkets to remind her of what a disaster it had been. And just because she no longer did said experiments with the aforementioned items, did not mean she didn't take the items out of hiding whenever she was alone, just in case she ever forgot or had something among the clutter that she potentially needed.
Many of said items were taken out of her old lab in secrecy - as no one but herself (and possibly Asgore) really needed to know of their existence and use - when the monsters had first began to move to the surface; however there was still much hidden away that needed to be gone through before it could be moved anywhere, and so Alphys found herself rummaging through various bottles of DETERMINATION - among other substances - in one area of her newer lab Underground while Undyne and Papyrus set about moving the heavier stuff so it could be taken uptop.
The yellow dinosaur found herself shaking more than once as she carefully peered at each container holding what one might consider dangerous substances (most of which she still wasn't sure what would become of anyone if used) and attempting to put them in a steel case that could be locked (since, obviously, she didn't want anything to be broken or accidentally opened up while it was being moved), while those considered unusable and unneeded would stay locked up underground, where hopefully they would be forgotten with time. It wasn't like they could be dangerous if no one could access them (not like any monster in their right mind would be staying underground once everything had been moved), right?
Well over half of what she was rummaging had been gone through when her companions had finished loading up the majority of the supplies; and of course, the duo found themselves with nothing to do unless Alphys gave the OK for whatever she was packing, which meant that they were free to bother her until then. It seemed only logical. Unfortunately, Alphys seemed so engrossed in attempting to put a name to an oddly colored liquid in a rather small vile, that she did not seem to hear the two approaching until it was a tad too late.
"Hey Alphys! What's taking so long?" Undyne asked in an absurdly loud voice as they neared the dinosaur. "Me an' Paps finished loading up all the boxes, and now we're bored!"
Alphys, naturally, physically jumped and yelped at the sound of the fish woman's loud voice as she approached. In the moment she had been surprised, her grip loosened on the vile and the sudden jump caused it to go flying backwards. Undyne was lucky enough to stop short as she saw the small container go flying, however Papyrus was not so lucky; walking a good two steps before he was grabbed by the forearm as the vile landed mere inches from his red boots and shattered on the tiled floor.
"HM? ALPHYS, I DO BELIEVE YOU -"
As the liquid in the vile settled, it began to sizzle, as if burning the ground, and smoking began to rise up forebodingly. Concern washed over Papyrus' face as Undyne's grip on his arm tightened and the head of the Royal Guard attempted to drag the seemingly stubborn skeleton away from the mass of unknown gas began to form. More began to quickly rise with great vigor as Alphys turned and pivoted, eyes growing wide in terror as the sight.
"U-uh g-guys, I-I think now's a-a good time to g-go," Alphys stuttered out, feet pushing away her boxes filled with various items as she ever so slowly began slinking away.
The Royal Guard members seemed ready to book it at Alphys' suggestion, when - as their luck would have it - the cooling fans in the lab kicked on, sending the gas directly towards Undyne and Papyrus; their coughing echoing throughout the empty lab as they were completely engulfed by the dark gas cloud. Alphys froze momentarily, before turning and trying to keep her footing as she rounded the corner, quickly finding one of the dials for the AC and fumbling with it until she could hear the fans audibly click off.
"Oh, please be okay, please be okay," she muttered, the words turning into a mantra as she quickly made her way back to where Undyne and Papyrus had been - and then froze.
A small amount of liquid lay stagnant on the floor around the broken vile, however that was the least of her concern. Undyne and Papyrus' clothes lay somewhat barren on the floor where they once stood - well, in all technicality, they still stood. It was just now, they were much smaller and more concerned with trying to get out of their overly large clothes that they lay tangled in. As Alphys inched closer, she began to realize that the small forms were most definitely her friends - just her friends as toddlers.
"Uh, g-guys?" she asked nervously as she approached them, keeping in mind to steer clear of the shattered vile.
Both toddlers jumped at the sound; Papyrus looking confused while Undyne bore some sort of grimace on her much younger features. Alphys had to admit, the two were insanely adorable as children.
"OH, HELLO THERE!" said the young Papyrus enthusiastically, escaping his clothes forgotten even as Undyne continued her efforts. "I AM PAPYRUS! WHAT IS YOUR - NYEH!"
In an attempt to walk over to Alphys, Papyrus seemed to forgot that his feet - and potentially legs - were entangled in his red scarf, and as soon as he tried to move, he found himself falling face first into his battle body. Undyne's childish laughter instantly floated through the laboratory as Alphys sighed.
Today was definitely going to be a long day.
"So you're saying that in this state, they don't remember anything that's happened, and you don't know when they're going to change back?" Toriel asked, easily keeping ahold of Undyne as the small aquatic monster struggled in her arms.
"W-well I mean, I-I could try a-and find something to turn them back sooner," Alphys explained, forefingers nervously touching as she kept her gaze at the floor, "b-but with-without fully understanding wh-what, uhm, turned them, I'm not s-sure how long that would take. O-or if I e-even have anything to - to reverse it."
Toriel hummed, sitting back and placing Undyne (who now had clothes her own size) on her thigh. The little fish gave the larger monster a glare, obviously not happy with being made to sit still for long. Tiny Papyrus was, comically enough, being entertained with one of his favorite books (albeit, he could only really look at the pictures with enthusiasm, as he didn't seem to be at the age where he could read just yet) on the living room floor of Toriel's home (on the surface). While he would sometimes question what certain things were in the book, he was more behaved than Undyne chose to be (to keep things short, Toriel would likely have to have take out or cook somewhere else for the next few weeks while the kitchen was being repaired due to Undyne's earlier mishaps).
"Well," Toriel finally started as Undyne became tired from the struggling, "I can only hope it will be sooner rather than later. I can only imagine the curiosity the humans will have if they find out we have monsters that are practically newborns. And here we thought explaining our children before was tiring."
Alphys gave a nervous chuckle at the thought. Many of the humans seemed curious as to how monsters reproduced, though it was fairly easy to sedate the humans with promises of explaining it later considering their youngest monster couldn't be much older than six or seven. But if news spread of monsters even younger than that - and it would, considering they could hardly retain Undyne from destroying the house, much less escaping outside where nosey humans could easily spot her - had reached the surface, the humans would try to pry more answers out of them.
"I-If it makes you f-feel any better, I-I'm sure bri-bringing more ch-children out might - might win the human's f-favor," Alphys offered. "Hu-humans seem to have soft sp-spots for small things like ch-children."
"I am not small!" 'roared' Undyne (though a tiny Undyne trying to be scary or intimidating was just flat out adorable more so than it was actually terrifying) as her struggles were renewed. "I am going to be a great warrior! You should fear me!"
"Oh, I'm sure you will be one day, Sweetheart," Toriel agreed with an exasperated sigh as Alphys attempted not to burst out in giggles due to Undyne's cuteness.
"DO YOU THINK I COULD BE A GREAT WARRIOR, TOO?" Papyrus asked, looking up from Fluffy Bunny with a rather hopeful expression. It was a wonder Alphys didn't die from how cute a baby skeleton could be.
"Of course," Toriel assured, "so long as as you drink your milk and eat your vegetables."
Undyne stopped her struggling to give the much larger monster a disgusted expression and sound to go along, while Papyrus genuinely seemed to take what Toriel said to heart.
"THEN I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS-" the tiny Skeleton stood up then, his book flying facedown from his lap and onto the carpet; posing with one hand on his hip and the other pointing to the ceiling, "- SHALL EAT ALL THINGS HEALTHY AND BECOME THE GREATEST WARRIOR KNOWN TO MONSTER KIND!"
"Nuh-uh!" Undyne's attention was quick to change, brow furrowed as she stared down at Papyrus. "Not if I do it first!" The fish-child was finally able to worm herself free of Toriel's grip (though the goat monster seemed to reluctantly release the child rather than simply letting her escape) and slid onto the floor with resounding thump. She didn't seem fazed, however, and quickly stood and dashed to the kitchen with a gleeful, "If there isn't any healthy stuff left for you, then I can become the greatest warrior!"
Papyrus, naturally, raced after her with a loud, "NYEH! NO FAIR! YOU GOT A HEAD START!" Alphys was just about to worry about leaving them alone in the kitchen (considering how easily they could tear one up as adults, one could only imagine how one would look now), when, with another exasperated sigh, Toriel stood, rubbing her face.
"I should probably be making dinner, anyhow," said the former Queen in a quiet voice. "Sans and the children soon be home soon." Her arms dropped to her side as she gave Alphys a tired expression. "Care to join me? Those two are proving to be a handful, and I'm sure it will take our combined efforts to explain this to the others, much less the humans."
At that, Alphys couldn't help but snort. And here trying to explain to the humans that the monsters didn't in fact want to kill them was hard enough! None the less, Alphys agreed, finding Undyne and Papyrus dragging out boxes of pasta and an ungodly amount of tomato sauce from the cabinets. Yes, today was definitely going to be longer than expected.