When Papyrus returned Sans was with him. They chatted as they walked, though the conversation went strangely quiet once they neared Flowey. Sans stood back to watch as his brother assembled the new 'sentry station'. He gave off the air of casual disinterest with his slightly slumped posture and hands in his jacket pockets, but Flowey knew better. Call it instinct, but he could feel the skeleton's white pinprick pupils boring into his back whenever his head was turned. He was also unsurprising to hear that Sans wanted to be present for the training he and Papyrus had arranged. Perhaps he was afraid of what Flowey would do? Of what someone like him was capable of doing? Flowey would be sure to put those doubts to rest.

After a short hike through the forest the three arrived in a clearing well away from monster habitation. The snow here was churned and brown, filled with furrows and boot-marks.

Papyrus ran up ahead with a grin and held his arms wide. "WELCOME TO MY PERSONAL PRACTICE GROUND!" He announced, then put on a sly smile. "I TRY TO KEEP THIS AREA CLEAR OF PLANTS AND SHRUBS, BUT TODAY I WILL MAKE AN EXCEPTION! NYEH HEH HEH..."

"i'll be over here if you need me, pap." Sans said lazily as he wandered up to the treeline and pulled out a crumpled up magazine from his hoodie pocket.

Papyrus sighed. "IF YOU INSIST, SANS. AND YOU ARE SURE SOMEONE IS COVERING YOUR STATION?"

"yeah doggo's watchin it, don't worry." He answered without looking up from his mag.

Papyrus frowned skeptically but shook his head. He walked to the middle of the clearing and indicated to Flowey where he wanted him to stand, which Flowey obliged.

"NOW, AS YOU KNOW, SKELETONS LIKE MYSELF USE MAGIC IN THE SHAPE OF BONES." Papyrus said while making the shapes with his hands. "WHERE AS UNDYNE FORMS HER MAGIC INTO SPEARS, WHICH WORK EVER SO SLIGHTLY DIFFERENTLY! SO." He paused, finger raised. "IF I AM GOING TO TRAIN YOU, I MUST FIRST KNOW HOW YOUR MAGIC WORKS!"

Oh, this shouldn't be too difficult. "Well, I can conjure vines and bullets...?"

"BULLETS? JUST REGULAR OLD BULLETS? WAIT... WHAT SORT OF BULLETS WOULD A FLOWER USE? LEAF SHAPED BULLETS? BUTTERFLY SHAPED BULLETS? THOSE-SHARP-THINGS-THAT-ALWAYS-SNAG-ON-MY-CLOTHES-WHENEVER-I-GO-PAST SHAPED BULLETS?"

"the word you're looking for is 'thorn', bro." Sans supplied helpfully.

"RIGHT. THANK YOU." Papyrus turned to him briefly then back to Flowey. "THORN SHAPED BULLETS?"

Flowey thought back to the prank he'd pulled on his dad, the magic really was as basic as you could get. "Seed shaped I guess?" How boring. Oh well, as a physical being without a soul, at least he could use magic at all. For that he was grateful. "I'll show you."

He summoned a single, small pellet and let it twist and spin in the air in front of him. Like a string-less marionette in the hands of a novice.

Papyrus bent down to get a better look, he smiled at its mesmerizing movements. "YOUR MAGICAL PROJECTILES MAY NOT HAVE THE SAME EYE-PLEASING AESTHETIC OF MY OWN, BUT I CAN TELL YOU HAVE A LOT OF POTENTIAL!"

Flowey smiled. "Want me to show you the vines too?"

Papyrus shook his head. "ENTANGLING YOUR OPPONENT IS NOT HONORABLE PRACTICE... UNLESS YOU GIVE THEM A SPEAR." He straightened up and put a hand on his hip. "NOW, WHAT WAS IT THAT UNDYNE WOULD DO FIRST?... OH YES. FLOWEY, I WANT YOU TO SUMMON FOUR MORE OF YOUR SEED-BASED PROJECTILES!"

Flowey did as Papyrus asked and four more little bullets joined the first in the air, barely controled and dancing lazily in the soft breeze while their master awaited his next instruction.

"VERY GOOD. NEXT WE NEED TO FIND YOUR 'GROUNDING', THAT IS THE NATURAL FORMATION YOUR MAGIC WILL ALWAYS TRY TO TAKE. FROM THAT, WE CAN DEDUCE YOUR... URM... 'MAGICAL ELASTICITY'?"

"getting pretty technical there pap, did undyne teach you all that?"

"YES!... SORT OF. SOME OF IT MIGHT BE FROM SNOWDIN LIBRARY I'M NOT SURE..."

"My... grounding?" Flowey was starting to get confused, he wasn't convinced that even Papyrus understood what he was going on about.

"HOW DO I EXPLAIN THIS IN SIMPLE TERMS..." Papyrus frowned while stroking his chin, he then turned around to snap at his brother. "SANS, A LITTLE HELP HERE?!"

Sans closed his magazine and put it in his pocket. He gazed upwards as though in thought, then his pupils shifted back to Papyrus as he spoke. "think of magic as working kinda like a car. cars have a set of gears, if you pick the wrong gear the car stalls out. with cars, the gear you pick depends on how fast you're going, but with magic, it depends on what kinda monster you are. so your grounding is the gear your meant to drive in, and your elasticity is how many gears up and down you can go from that gear before you stall. hows that pap?"

Papyrus continued to frown at his brother, seemingly unsure of what to think of the 'explanation'. "...ADEQUATE. THANK YOU, SANS." Sans gave a shrug then extracted his magazine and went back to reading. Papyrus shifted his attention back to Flowey. "OKAY, SO MAKE YOUR MAGIC TAKE WHATEVER FORMATION IT WANTS TO BE IN THE MOST."

Flowey urged the bullets to move, he twirled them around in the air, trying out all different speeds and shapes. They glided with ease and little resistance, whatever this 'stalling out' Sans had been going on about, he hadn't reached it yet. Eventually he found patterns which seemed to tug at his concentration less than others. He followed them to their natural conclusion, ending with all five bullets circling lazily above his head. The simplest pattern of all.

He smiled at Papyrus. "I think I found my grounding."

"GOOD." Papyrus said, mirroring his smile. "THAT MEANS THAT... URM... I DON'T ACTUALLY KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS, I HAVE NEVER SEEN ANYONE WITH THAT GROUNDING FORMATION BEFORE!" He paused. "I'LL ASK UNDYNE ABOUT IT TOMORROW!"

Flowey glanced at Sans, the skeleton made no indication of paying attention, but Flowey suspected that he was.

Papyrus continued. "NEXT WE NEED TO-"

"How's this?" Flowey interrupted before the next instruction could be given.

He started ordering his bullets into the formations that he'd seen Papyrus use during his own training session. Hovering just above ground level, a column became a row became a wave all holding formation for a few seconds at a time. Flowey looked up a Papyrus to see him expression, expecting him to be pleased. Instead he was frowning.

"I DIDN'T TELL YOU WHAT TO DO YET! ALTHOUGH... YOU DO SEEM TO HAVE A VERY GOOD GRASP ON BASIC BULLET CONTROL ALREADY!" He brought his hands to his face in another one of his signature overly-animated poses. "WOWIE, I MUST BE A GREAT TEACHER!" He cleared his throat, attempting to look more serious. "NEXT WE WILL NEED... A TARGET..." He looked around the barren clearing for anything usable. His face fell when all he saw was unusable slush, but after a moment something seemed to click and his face lit up again. "ONE MOMENT PLEASE."

Papyrus ran to the treeline and gathered up a large armful of snow. It was quite comical to watch, his thin, skeletal arms could barely contain it all and much of the snow spilled out, leaving a trail as he rushed back into the center of the clearing. He dumped the load only about a meter away from Flowey then crouched down and set to work patting the mound into a shape that slowly started to resemble an everyman. After a minute Papyrus stood up and smiled, seemingly pleased with his quick work. The snow target now had a more skeleton-like appearance about it, but was still nowhere near intricate enough to be recognized as any specific kind of monster.

He turned back to Flowey. "ATTACK THE TARGET."

Flowey looked at Papyrus questioningly, he wasn't going to specify how he wanted the snowmonster attacked? Well, okay then. He maneuvered his bullets to form a circle at around head height, surround the target, then sent them in one by one. They made soft sounds as they impacted the snow, but did very little damage.

"YOUR PRECISION IS EXCELLENT." Papyrus praised, but he frowned as he inspected the impact holes. "BUT YOUR TECHNIQUE IS GOING TO NEED WORK." He stepped back and raised an arm. "BUT NO WORRIES! FOR I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS SHALL GIVE YOU A DEMONSTRATION!"

A set of bones appeared along the ground in an arrow shape, the length of the bullets increased gradually the farther back down the arrow they were set. They glided elegantly towards the target and plowed straight through, sending the top half toppling into the mud.

Flowey watched with curiosity and a twinge of apprehension. He hadn't seen that formation used during the earlier practice and if Papyrus wanted Flowey to replicate it, he was in for disappointment. "I don't think I can make a shape like that."

Papyrus smiled at him with reassurance. "THAT'S OK, I DON'T EXPECT YOU TO COPY MY ATTACK. IT WAS SHOWN PURELY AS A GUIDELINE." He started resembling the snowmonster. "WE ARE NOT WORKING ON ATTACK PATTERNS JUST YET ANYWAY."

Flowey lifted an eyebrow, then what were they working on? "So is this another one of those 'grounding' things?"

"SORT OF." Papyrus looked up from his sculpture. "I DID SAY THAT I NEEDED TO KNOW HOW YOUR MAGIC WORKS!"

Sigh... oh well, Papyrus knew more about magical combat than he did. He shouldn't have expected to do anything really cool straight away. anyway.

Papyrus patted down the last of the dirt-stained snow and stepped away from the snowmonster. "AGAIN."

Flowey conjured another five bullets and let them settle into a lazy circle above his head. He though about what Papyrus had just shown him and concentrated. He didn't need to replicate it, right? Just its effects. But.. his own bullets weren't like that, they were small and round compared to the long thin bones that Papyrus could create. So... he would need to get creative.

He unraveled the circle of bullets just as a crash sounded from the treeline but he ignored it, focusing all his attention on getting this next attack right. The bullets flicked out in a fan shape.

"Goshdarn teenagers, when I find you... i'll, I'LL!-" Out of nowhere a deer monster charged headlong into the snowmonster, three bullets struck its side before Flowey could respond. "OW! Why you... you little BUGGERS!"

The monster climbed to its feet unsteadily and held its head low and defensive with a snarl. Its eyes had been covered by fake googly ones and its antlers were a tangled mess. Something about its head was slightly unnerving.

"GYFTROT, WE ARE SO SORRY!" Papyrus rushed in to help, he reached out to grab the googly eyes but the monster moved its head away.

"That voice... you're one of those skeletons... Papyrus right? What are you... DID YOU DO THIS TO ME?!" It rounded on the skeleton viciously, hackles up. It looked like it were about to attack.

Part of Flowey found this funny, to his annoyance, but the situation couldn't be allowed to escalate. "We had nothing to do with it. I'm sorry for hitting you, you just kinda... stumbled into our training area."

"Your what?" Gyftrot turned to face his voice. it finally stood still long enough for Papyrus to remove the obstruction from its eyes. "Who are... what are you?" It looked around the clearing. "Where the heck am I?"

"PLEASE REMAIN CALM AND TELL US WHAT HAPPENED." Papyrus gave Gyftrot a concerned frown, but the deer monster still appeared suspicious, it narrowed its eyes as it looked between them.

"i love a good joke." Flowey spun around, he'd forgotten that Sans was still here. "but i would never pull a prank like this, and out of me and my bro, i'm the prankster king. so, i gotta ask... does papyrus really strike you as the sorta person who would do this?" Sans trudged into the clearing, hands in pockets, and stood beside his brother. "please calm down, gify, and tell us what happened."

Gyftrot glared at Sans. "I don't know!" It took a deep breath, visibly and forcefully calming itself down. "I was enjoying a midday nap when I hear giggling, so I open my eyes and find that I can't friggin' see anything!" It pawed at the dirty snow with one hoof and shook its head from side to side. "Gah, there's still stuff tangled up there... would you mind?"

Papyrus removed the remaining debris from Gyftrot's antlers, throwing them to the ground. Wire, string, scrunched up pieces of paper...

"Thank you." The deer monster let out a long sigh. "I just don't get it, they have the pick of the entire forest but they decide to pick of me instead!" It shook it's head and started to walk away, turning back briefly with a regretful look. "I'm sorry I accused you. I'll let you get back to your... whatever you were doing now."

Head bowed, the deer monster slowly disappeared into the forest, Papyrus watched it go while Sans walked back to the treeline. When all was calm and still again, Papyrus went about resembling the snowmonster for the second time.

Flowey watched him but wasn't really focusing. He wondered if what had happened to Gyftrot was in anyway connected to the incident he'd witnessed earlier with the teenagers. The debris from the deer monster's antlers was still on the ground, he gathered up the papers with a vine and sifted through them. Most of them were smeared and some of them were torn, making them almost impossible to read. Among them were drawings of varying skill levels, a sheet of jokes with many of the entries crossed out, schoolwork which looked like it'd been chewed up and... some photographs. Flowey recognized Chilldrake and Snowdrake in some of them, although most had been vandalized in some way. Huh.

"THE TARGET IS READY NOW!" Papyrus called, pulling Flowey out of his train of thought. He summoned five more bullets and- "WAIT!" Papyrus put one hand out and fished into his pocket with another, pulling out his phone and bringing it to the side of his skull.

Seriously?

"HELLO UNDYNE. IT IS NICE OF YOU TO CALL BUT I'M- ... YES, IN FACT, HE'S HERE WITH ME RIGHT NOW! WOULD YOU LIKE ME TO- ...? HELLO, YES, I SHALL PASS YOU TO HIM NOW!" Papyrus walked back to Flowey with the phone held out. "SOMEONE IN WATERFALL WANTS TO TALK TO YOU."

Huh? He'd only started this timeline yesterday, who on earth could be looking for him already? Flowey dropped the papers and grasped the phone with his vine. It was weird, thin and with no keys on the front, just one big screen. It was nothing like the cell phones they'd had back in his lifetime... god, that made him feel old...

He tentatively brought it up to his face. "H-hello?"

"Hee hee. Heya Flowey."

That voice. His eyes widened, of course, who else would it be?! "Howdy Suzy... uh, what are you doing in Waterfall?!"

"Looking for you!"

Didn't she usually wait till nightfall to sneak out? "Why? ... and doesn't your-"

Suzy cut him off. "I told her I was spending the day at the park with some friends from school. My neighbor is vouching for me, it's fine."

"But why? Don't get me wrong, hanging out with you was fun but... that's a lotta effort to go to just to find me?"

"Because, my right royal mischief maker... I have a daring, dastardly plan that I think you will very much like to be a part of."

Oh geez, she had a prank of some kind planned, didn't she? "... What is it?"

"Hee hee, not telling. Come to Waterfall!"

This was infuriating. "Not until you tell me what it is."

"Hee hee, i'll give you a hint. ~ Hee hee, i'll give you a hint. ~" The words repeated, hushed and slightly distorted.

Flowey looked between the phone and Papyrus, he was curious about whatever she had in mind, but this wasn't the time. "I'm uh... kinda in the middle of something right now."

"~ I'm uh... kinda in the middle of something right now. ~" The phone echoed back.

Were they really going to do this? "Stop that." Flowey snapped.

"~ Stop that. ~" It repeated.

Flowey sighed, trying to stay calm. "Okay I get it. Now can I please stop speaking to a flower?!" ... Did he really just say that?

"Hee hee..."

He was starting to resent how easily Suzy could play him. With a sigh, he decided to compromise. "How about... I meet you in an hour?"

"You got a deal, partner." Flowey's nonexistent blood ran cold. Chara had always called him- "I'll meet you in the wishing room. Ciao for now! ... please don't be late."

The phone clicked and a dull tone sounded from the receiver. Suzy had hung up. Flowey handed the phone back to Papyrus. "I need to go in an hour." He said, still a little zoned out.

Papyrus put his hands on his hips. "WELL, THEN LET'S NOT DALLY AROUND! TWO INTERRUPTIONS IS MORE THAN ENOUGH FOR ONE TRAINING SESSION!" He pointed to the snowmonster. "PLEASE STRIKE THE TARGET."

The five bullets conjured before the phone call were still circling around Flowey's head. With a sigh of pent up frustration, he flicked them outwards at a speed much faster than he'd anticipated. They formed an edge and hit the snowmonster in the neck, cutting its head clean off. It topped to the ground with a soft thud and crumbled to pieces. Oddly satisfying.

"WOWIE!" Papyrus rushed over to inspect the wreck. "I'M SO GLAD WE AREN'T SPARING RIGHT NOW!"