"H-Hey there, Greater Dog..." Fiora gulped, taking a few steps away from Greater Dog. No one knew how Greater Dog was going to react, so far he seemed neutral to the humans...
Greater Dog sniffed the party curiously, holding his tail still. He tilted his head, ears flicking.
"Uh...do we...try to beckon him?" Bart wondered.
"Wouldn't hurt to try...Greater Dog, come here!" Rico beckoned. Greater Dog happily bounded over to Rico, tail wagging. Rico gently pet him, a small smile on his face.
"That's so cute...! I think he likes you!" Melia said, happily. Greater Dog barked, patting the ground in front of it. Rico looked around before gathering up a ball of snow and tossing it a little ways away from Greater Dog. Greater Dog ran to grab the snowball...only to grab a large mountain of snow and drop it at Rico's feet. He looked at Rico, tilting his head.
"Ah...good dog," Rico praised, petting Greater Dog again. He gave a pleased woof before lying down and rolling onto his back, tail wagging as fast as it could.
"I think it wants it belly rubbed!" Jr chimed in. Rico simply nodded and did his best to rub Greater Dog's stomach through his armor.
Critical pet!
Greater Dog looked pleased as he stood up. He licked Rico's cheek before leaving the area.
"That was...kind of cute, to be honest," Rico said, watching Greater Dog leave before the group continued on. A long, wooden bridge stretched across a large gap, and everyone slowly walked over it.
"Is this going to fall apart if too many people walk on it?" Shion wondered aloud, worried.
"Let's pray it doesn't, I have no idea what would happen if we fall," Shulk responded. Papyrus and Sans were once again waiting for them, blocking the way off the bridge.
"Humans! This is your final and most dangerous challenge! Behold, the gauntlet of deadly terror!" Papyrus shouted. Several weapons and a dog dangling on a rope hung above the humans, and Shion gulped nervously.
"Ohh, please not on this bridge..."
"When I say the word, it will activate! Cannons will fire! Spikes will swing! Blades will slice! Each part will swing violently up and down!" Papyrus explained. "Only the tiniest chance of victory will remain!"
"There is no way he's serious about this!" Bart hissed.
"Are you ready?! Because! I! Am! About! To do it!" Papyrus warned.
A few moments passed, with no one speaking or moving a muscle.
"...well, what's the holdup?" Sans asked Papyrus.
"Holdup? What holdup?! I'm about to activate it now!" Papyrus answered.
Still, no one moved or spoke. Shion wondered if Papyrus was having second thoughts now.
"...doesn't look very activated to me," Sans noted.
"W-Well! This challenge...might be too easy for the humans," Papyrus admitted. The weapons retracted, and there was a collective sigh of relief from the party.
"However, this was still a decisive victory for the Great Papyrus! Nyeh heh...heh!"
Papyrus darted off again, leaving Sans by himself. The party finished crossing the bridge.
"I don't know what my brother's going to do now. If I were you guys, I would make sure I understood blue attacks," Sans admitted.
"Is there a town up ahead? I'm getting a little tired," Shion said, drooping.
"Yup. Snowdin has an inn you can rest up at, though... I'd be careful if I were you guys. As you can probably tell, the underground doesn't get many humans down here..." Sans suggested.
"We will. We mean no harm, really..." Shion pointed out.
"Even so...well, just be careful," Sans advised, and the party entered Snowdin.
Festive lights covered a banner reading 'Welcome to Snowdin!', the town populated with houses built out of wood. What seemed to be a Christmas tree was in the center of the town, presents beneath it. There was a building labeled 'Inn', next to a building labeled 'Shop'.
"Is there anyone else who needs to rest at the inn? We might have to face Papyrus soon..." Shion asked.
"We might as well all rest while we can. We were all just walking out in the snow, after all," Sharla answered. Shion led everyone into the inn, seeing a rabbit monster at the front desk.
"Welcome to Snowdin's Inn! How may I help you all today?" she asked.
"We'd like to stay in a room, please. How much does one room cost?" Shion asked.
"That'll be 50 gold!" the rabbit responded. Everyone quickly checked their pockets.
"A-Ah...we...don't seem to have the money for a room..." Shulk realized.
"You guys are traveling with kids, right?" the rabbit asked, looking at the younger members of the party. "You can use the room upstairs for free if you'd like!"
"Really? Thank you so much, we appreciate your generosity!" Elly thanked.
"It's no problem! Room is upstairs on the right!" the rabbit informed, and the group shuffled upstairs. There was a large bed in the room, big enough for only a few people.
"Is there anyone else besides Shion who needs to lie on the bed?" Sharla asked.
"I do," Gaignun admitted, sheepishly. "I was worried about bringing it up earlier but...well, Sans had a point about not being dressed properly for the cold."
"Gaignun, that isn't healthy for you!" Sharla scolded.
"I apologize, Sharla. Everyone seemed busy dealing with Papyrus and all, I didn't want to make anyone worry," Gaignun apologized.
Sharla sighed and nodded. "Anyone else?"
"I need to take a nap," Dunban answered.
"I could use a nap chu," Chu-Chu responded, yawning.
The people who needed to curled up in bed, Shion quickly falling asleep.
Shion woke up some time later, covers curled around her. She had no idea how long she had slept, and for a moment she half-expected to see the surroundings of her room on the Elsa when she opened her eyes. She quickly remembered no, she was far away from the Elsa, she was in some underground cave...
"Shion, are you awake?" chaos asked. Shion slowly sat up and nodded, yawning.
"How long were we asleep?" she asked, looking around. She seemed to be the last one to wake up...
"A few hours. Did you sleep well?" chaos replied.
"More or less," Shion said, nodding. "Feeling much better now, at least."
"Sans dropped by an hour ago," Elly informed. "He said Papyrus is waiting for us at the eastern exit of Snowdin."
"Does he intend to fight us?" Shion wondered. She climbed out of bed and walked with the group out of the inn. A few monsters seemed on edge with humans in town, trying not to look at them. One monster, a reptile of some sort without any arms, wearing a striped shirt, looked at the humans in wonder as they made their way toward the eastern exit of town.
Snow started to fall, fog rolling in as the party left town. It slowly became harder and harder to see anything, and the party stopped when they saw Papyrus standing not far from them.
"Humans...ever since you came into Snowdin, I wondered what your purposes were for being down here. You aren't here to kill, but...I wonder if..."
Papyrus shook his head. "No! I swore that I was going to capture a human! I will join the Royal Guard, no matter what!" he declared. "Humans...prepare yourselves!"
Bones started forming around Papyrus before aiming themselves at the humans. They were slow enough for the party to dodge, thankfully.
"C'mon, Papyrus, can't we talk this out?" Fiora asked.
"I'm afraid not, human! I, the Great Papyrus, will capture you all!" Papyrus answered.
'Seems easy enough so far...his attacks are slow enough..' Shion thought.
Don't forget his blue attack.
Right, his blue attack...they wouldn't get hurt as long as they didn't move.
"Let's see if you can handle my fabled blue attack!" Papyrus shouted. A number of light blue bones passed by the group, and everyone stayed perfectly still until the last blue bone passed them.
"Well, that wasn't so bad!" Reyn declared.
All of a sudden, it felt like a weight was on Shion's shoulders, and she staggered to one knee. Everyone else reacted similarly, a blue tint covering the humans.
"What the hell?!" Jr swore, barely dodging a bone aimed at him.
Papyrus grinned. "You're all blue now! That's my attack! Nyeh heh heh heh heh!"