(07)

Toriel was rather enjoying finally being out of the Ruins. She was also thoroughly enjoying the human's company, now that she had found something she could help him with.

He was very rusty when it came to jokes and humor.

Once he had cracked that rather well set up skeleton pun, she simply had to ask him to tell her more to pass the time. Unfortunately, he was pretty much dry when it came to jokes, the world above had no place for humor.

Fortunately for him, she had the technique of making her and Sans' jokes down to a science and was glad to teach him her ways. As they went deeper into the snowy underground forest, they told jokes back and forth. She thought it was a shame she had not brought her journal with her, the human had made a particularly good and quite topical setup joke that went something like this…

"Ah, hello miss… it may be a rather chilly night, but it is very 'ice' to meet you!"

She liked that one the most.

He rather liked this one, even though he was certain he was never a true knight, he could understand the humor thanks to Toriel, She started it off with: "What do you call it when knights trade places with each other around their hall's table?" The Undead was stumped, so he beckoned her to continue. "The 'knight' shift!"

The trading of puns and ice/snow jokes went on for some time until they had finally come to a kind of "fork" in the path. It was a little open where the paths intersected, and the Undead could see a box sitting under a tree.

He made to open the box, but he noticed something about it.

A small string, coming off its wooden frame, curling into a pattern he distrusted on principle.

Toriel noticed him avoiding the dimensional box, and she had to ask him why. "Is something the matter? You seem to be avoiding that box…"

The Undead crossed his steel coated arms and he faced down the left path, trying to ignore the box. "I do not trust most boxes or chests very much. On the surface, there are these creatures, mimics… they look exactly like chests, and if you open them… well, let us just say it gets nasty."

Toriel looked at him funnily for a moment, before putting it aside as a "surfacer thing." She was willing to bet he had a bad experience with one of these "mimics" before, so she decided to not press him. If his world was corrupt enough that even things which usually contained goods were willing to attack, she wouldn't bring back bad experiences, just like he wouldn't press on Asg-

Him.

She shuddered internally and externally, and brought the black cloak closer into herself, before looking to the human.

He was looking down the leftmost path when he turned back to her and spoke again. "...Anyways, which way do you think we should go? I would prefer to not get lost out here."

Toriel let her eyes drift around, not seeing anything she recognized.

"I do not know the exact way, it has been a long time since I was anywhere outside the Ruins… but I do know it is a mostly straight path directly away from the Ruins entry if we would be headed to the capital. So…"

She pointed to the path on the right. "I say this one." The Undead nodded and let her lead. She wanted to strike up more jokes, but the human remained silent and watchful once more. After some more traveling, they noticed a certain duo ahead. It was Papyrus and Sans, and they seemed to be talking between themselves.

"SO, AS I WAS SAYING ABOUT UNDYNE,"

The skeleton was about to continue something he had obviously been speaking about when he noticed Toriel and the human out of the corner of his…

Eye... socket?

The duo shared a look, before turning around and huddling up.

("SANS! OH MY GOD! IS THAT… A HUMAN!?")

The duo turned back to what they had seen, and Sans spoke up. ("uhhhh… actually, i think that's a rock.")

Papyrus looked back at his brother, seemingly deflated and disappointed. "OH."

Toriel and the Undead simultaneously expressed a look of utter disbelief at the tall skeleton, when Sans decided to make up for his brother's gullibility.

"hey, what are those in front of the rock?"

The tall skeleton was once again surprised. "OH MY GOD!" Once again, the duo huddled up, whispering once more so Toriel and her human travelling partner couldn't hear.

(IS… IS THAT A HUMAN KNIGHT AND A SMALLER CLONE OF ASGORE?)

Sans wasn't quite so sure about that second part, but eh. (...yes.)

Papyrus broke from the huddle and got even more excited. "OH MY GOD! SANS! I FINALLY DID IT! UNDYNE WILL… I'M GONNA… I'LL BE SO… POPULAR! POPULAR! POPULAR!

Papyrus' excitement suddenly vanished, and he loudly cleared his "throat" with an audible "AHEM," Then pointed at the Undead.

"HUMAN! YOU SHALL NOT PASS THIS AREA! I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, WILL STOP YOU! I WILL THEN CAPTURE YOU! YOU WILL THEN BE DELIVERED TO THE CAPITAL! THEN… THEN! I'M NOT SURE WHAT'S NEXT. IN ANY CASE! CONTINUE… ONLY IF YOU DARE!"

After his "heroic monologue," Papyrus ran off further down the path, "NYEH HEH HEH!"-ing as he went, leaving Sans with the duo.

"well, that went well. don't sweat it, big guy. i'll keep an eye socket out for ya." After a wink, Sans followed his ecstatic brother.

The Undead wasn't quite sure what just happened, but he was sure it was a part of that favor Sans asked for a while ago.

Toriel was also slightly confused. "I would like to know how Sans got here before us…"

The Undead agreed with this. "As would I, Toriel. Those two are quite the conundrum already."

The two decided it was best to keep moving on. They were sure plenty more interruptions were bound to happen.

They kept trudging on, passing a cardboard box along the way, ignoring it totally. Not far ahead of the box, they saw a sentry station with a sign just before it.

The Undead tromped up to the sign and read it aloud. "Absolutely no moving."

Toriel looked over his shoulder at the structure ahead. "What do you think it could mean?"

The Undead fiddled with his claymore's pommel, turning his attention to the post as well. "I am willing to bet that is another monster's post, probably another one watching for humans. I am unsure what the sign means, though…"

They kept walking onward but stopped when a dog monster slowly revealed himself from behind the post's counter. He had a black bandanna on his head, a pink shirt that had no sleeves, and some kind of baggy yellow and black patterned pants.

"Did something move? ...Was it my imagination?"

The dog drew a pair of shiny blue daggers and hopped onto the path before the now stone-still Undead and Boss Monster. Thankfully for them, the wind had died down and their cloaks laid still as well. The dog looked around, his eyes squinting and shiftily looking for the sources of the movements.

The Undead eyed the glinting blades and slowly made to draw his claymore out of habit, his hand snaking along his waist inch by inch. Even this slight motion caught the dog's attention, and he started investigating the area by poking the Undead with a dagger.

To his surprise, the dagger passed right through him as he stood still, and the dog was still right in front of him, confused.

It was at this critical moment Toriel recalled something about the Underground's dog monsters. They were all rather varied and quirky, but they all shared a common trait. They all wanted to be petted.

She ever so slowly inched next to the Undead and put her mouth as close to his ear as she could without bumping into him. "Try to pet him." She whispered into his ear. He was slightly caught off guard by her proximity but didn't panic enough to move. He took her advice and ceased his draw.

Once the dog backed off a little, the Undead's hand shot forward and he petted the shorter dog monster right between the ears, reducing him to an overjoyed, spazzing mass of fur in the snow.

"WHAT! I'VE BEEN PET!" He was barking and trying to figure out what was happening, so the duo quickly ran past him and his station, stopping once they were a safe distance from the canine rogue. He eventually calmed down and looked for what had pet him, but he couldn't find a thing.

He would later smoke numerous dog treats, then proceed to Grillby's.

Meanwhile, Toriel and her Undead partner had moved on further down the path, with her in the lead. Before long, they were met with yet another expanse in the forest. This one had a large patch of ice with a sign in the middle and two paths going off in their own directions.

Before they did anything, the Undead stopped to check himself over. "...Do you have any explanation for that monster's non-corporeal dagger trick?"

Toriel gained a thoughtful look before composing just what to say. "I believe he was using a "blue" attack. Many monsters by default have colored soul attacks or can color their attacks as they choose. Blue attacks will only impact your soul if you are moving, so it would usually be wise to stop if one is headed your way. Of course, that depends on if you are even worried about them or not."

"I would like to avoid taking hits if possible. Thank you for sharing that information, Toriel."

She gave him a smile and put her hands into her cloak's sleeves to keep them warm. She noticed the sign ahead and made to go read it, but she had forgotten what was underfoot.

Right as she had both feet on the ice patch, she slipped.

His reflexes were once more there when he needed them, and the Undead had managed to stop Toriel from falling backward and hitting her head. He caught her with his arms underneath hers, and her upper half resting against his armored chest.

Toriel expected to keep falling though, and gave a slight gasp when she was stopped. She looked up and saw the human looking down, concern etching his gaunt, hooded face.

She was as quiet as a field mouse, and about as red as a tomato.

After she managed to squeak out a "Thank you" the Undead helped her stand back up straight, then let her re-attempt to cross the ice, now that she was fully aware it was underfoot.

She carefully made her way over to the sign, still slightly blushing, and very warm around her face. She shakily approached the sign and slightly knelt down to read it for herself. Once she had it read, she made her way back across the ice to the Undead.

She had to compose herself a little before she could speak. "The only thing important on that sign is that we just need to keep heading the way we have been, we will reach a town by the name of "Snowdin" soon enough."

The Undead couldn't help but crack a smirk at the name. "A rather creative name. I wonder if there is snow there."

Toriel couldn't help but smile a bit as well. "I do know that there is ice there."

Still smirking, the Undead shook his head and walked around the ice patch to continue forward, Toriel in tow.

After more peaceful walking, the forest finally gave way to a large cliff and dropoffs, as well as a familiar sight. Papyrus and Sans awaited the traveling duo, an odd patch of snow separating the two groups.

Toriel and the Undead shared a look. It looked like the brothers were at it again.

"YOU'RE SO LAZY! YOU WERE NAPPING ALL LAST NIGHT!"

Sans gave his brother a somehow cheeky smile. "i think that's called… sleeping."

Obviously, Papyrus would have none of it. "EXCUSES, EXCUSES!" After chastising his brother, the two both noticed Toriel and the Undead.

"OH-HO! THE HUMAN AND HIS ASGORE-CLONE FRIEND HAVE ARRIVED! IN ORDER TO STOP YOU, HUMAN, MY BROTHER AND I HAVE CREATED SOME PUZZLES! I THINK YOU WILL FIND THIS ONE… QUITE SHOCKING!" Both Toriel and the Undead could easily catch his attempt at a joke, but he was really trying too hard. Toriel also didn't appreciate his comparison of her and Asgore.

"FOR YOU SEE… THIS IS THE INVISIBLE ELECTRICITY MAZE! WHEN YOU TOUCH THE WALLS OF THIS MAZE…" The skeleton monster procured a small orb from inside his "armor," and held it at arm's length for the duo to see.

"THIS ORB WILL ADMINISTER A HEARTY ZAP! SOUND LIKE FUN? BECAUSE! THE AMOUNT OF FUN YOU WILL PROBABLY HAVE IS ACTUALLY RATHER SMALL, I THINK. OK. YOU CAN GO AHEAD NOW."

The Undead was a little bit at a loss as to what Papyrus' puzzle was, he claimed it was invisible, and that it could "zap" him. Not that he had never experienced either of those things, but he had not yet had them happening at the same time. With a brave inch forward, his boot did indeed collide with an unseen wall. He expected a zap, but it did not issue to him, it instead had zapped Papyrus.

After quickly recovering from the electrocution, the irate skeleton stomped his foot at his brother, blaming him. "SANS! WHAT DID YOU DO?!"

Once more, the short skeleton had a cheeky look. "i think the human has to hold the orb."

"OH, OKAY." Papyrus started off into the maze from his side, his boots leaving a trail as he went. He walked right up to the Undead and handed him the orb, then went back through the maze to his side. The Undead, in sheer disbelief, looked at the orb, trail, and awaiting Papyrus on the other side.

"OKAY, TRY NOW."

After giving a "help me" look to Toriel, the Undead retraced Papyrus' footprints through the maze and ended up on the other side unscathed and unzapped.

"INCREDIBLE! YOU SLIPPERY SNAIL! YOU SOLVED IT SO EASILY… TOO EASILY! HOWEVER! THE NEXT PUZZLE WILL NOT BE EASY! IT WAS DESIGNED BY MY BROTHER, SANS! YOU WILL SURELY BE CONFOUNDED! I KNOW I AM!"

With yet another monologue complete, Papyrus ran off to the next puzzle, but Sans stayed behind.

The Undead approached Sans and held the shock orb out to him. Sans took it and merely tossed it over his shoulder off the cliff.

"hey, thanks… my brother seems like he's having fun. by the way, did you see that weird outfit he's wearing? he made that a few weeks ago for a costume party. he hasn't worn anything else since… keeps calling it his 'battle body.' he really wants to be a knight, kinda like you." Sans rapped his bony hand on the Undead's ornate breastplate, and continued. "isn't my brother cool?"

vvv

The journey went on like this for some time for the two duos, but some more interesting things had happened.

Toriel and the Undead had met a distraught "Nicecream" man, who was selling the frozen treats, but not really selling them. Toriel would have bought one, but both she and the Undead were lacking coinage… well, the Undead did have a single gold coin, but he wasn't giving that one up anytime soon. He had also never even heard of ice cream, let alone nice cream. The salesman had claimed them to be "the frozen treat that warms your heart." So far, he only knew of one "thing" that could warm him in any real capacity.

Sans awaited them just after that, he had made a golf course with a snowball. The Undead was once again clueless to the modern monster sport and had to get instruction. He ended up using his sword as a club, hitting the snowball with the flat of the blade. Sans and Toriel passed some jokes while the Undead made the hole in four strokes.

When the Undead and Toriel regrouped, Sans pitched them a sale for fried snow treats. This got Toriel laughing, and the Undead confused.

"Would that not just be… melted snow? Water?" The two then laughed even more at his expense.

Just past Sans the duo found a matching set of sentry posts, along with a sign that outlined various scents and what to do about them. While they had been checking these, Sans moved on to his "real" puzzle, which by the time Toriel and the Undead arrived merely amounted to a wordsearch lying in a cleared patch of snow.

Needless to say, when it failed to stop the human, Papyrus was rather displeased with his brother, and then the two started talking about "crosswords" and "jumbles," both of which the Undead had no opinion on… for obvious reasons. Toriel found the puzzle to be amusing, and she rather enjoyed crosswords.

After that, the duo happened upon an odd setup featuring frozen spaghetti, an unplugged microwave, and a note left by Papyrus explaining that it was a trap meant to hold the human up.

The Undead didn't mind trying the plate of monster food, so he asked Toriel to heat it with her magic, and she obliged. The reheated food tasted just fine to him, but when Toriel tried a bite, she recoiled at its taste. The Undead just shrugged and ate all of it, thanking Toriel for reheating the food.

The next few areas were the strangest. They were first confronted by a lightly-armored dog soldier wielding a stone sword and a kite shield featuring the exact rune emblazoned upon Toriel's robes. Remembering Toriel's lesson on dogs, the Undead petted him. And then pet him some more. And some more. Eventually, he had to stop because the dog's neck was doing unnatural things the more he pet him. The dog let them pass without much of a hitch after the intense petting battle. The area it was guarding required them to find a switch, hidden in a rather obvious patch of recently disturbed snow.

The small walkways following this hosted an even stranger battle. The Undead was accosted by a pair of black-cloaked axe-wielding dogs who would only stop nuzzling each other's noses to sniff or attack the Undead warrior. He accidentally confused them when he dodge-rolled their axe attacks, which made him smell like a dirty armored dog to the two. He then viciously countered their attacks with pettings for the two of them, making the dogs think they had been pet by another dog. Thoroughly confused and simultaneously enlightened, the two dogs left the way they came.

Toriel was impressed, so far the Undead was keeping his promise, and he was using her alternate tactics as self-defense. He was quite an adaptable human, and she was admiring his restraint.

Papyrus' next puzzle involved stepping on X's to turn them to O's, the Undead simply assumed this occurred through magic when he stepped on them. The first one of these was very simplistic. After his puzzle was easily circumvented, Papyrus asked the Undead if he had eaten his spaghetti trap, and was rather joyed to hear that the human had eaten all of it.

The glad skeleton then promised to make the warrior more spaghetti later, proclaiming himself a "master chef," (which Toriel couldn't help but scoff a little at) he then idly commented on how Sans had disappointingly started a sock collection, after which he moved on to his next circle puzzle, which he had earlier remodeled to look like his face. This puzzle took the Undead two tries to get, but he solved it nonetheless.

The puzzle after that would have been considerably more complex, had it functioned correctly at all. It was designed by a "Doctor Alphys," according to the skeleton brothers. It was an incredibly convoluted contraption of numerous colors that would randomly generate a puzzle with an even more convoluted set of rules to follow in order to find the one solution. The device was more strange technology the Undead had never seen, but in the end, it failed utterly and made a puzzle that simply required Toriel and him to walk right across it.

The subsequent puzzle was another in the vein of the previous magic-based puzzles. The Undead simply had another circle puzzle to solve, but the X's were arrayed around a frozen surface that would drop him to a lower level if he slid off. This one was easy because his silver knight boots had a number of small ornamental spikes and burrs that helped grip to the ice, all he had to do was walk about and press all the X's. When he finished it, he helped Toriel across to the now open and quite iced over bridge (Causing her to hide her face from him, she got embarrassed at his touch).

The final cliffside area featured another dog guardian. This one was, somehow, hiding in a small mound of snow nowhere near large enough to conceal its true size. The dog was encased in a massive suit of armor that made even the Undead seem normal in size, and it wielded a spear. The Undead actually had to equip his shield for this battle, the dog was trying to strike at him from a distance. He subverted this thanks to his anti-magical equipment as well as his knowledge of blue attacks, and managed to get close enough to pull off a parry on the hulking canine warrior, he then followed this up with a critical pet-attack, which the simpler dog easily gave into. The dog had even hopped out of his armor to attempt to lick the Undead's face, revealing himself to actually be rather diminutive in dimensions. The dog then resuited backwards and walked off.

The final "puzzle" of the skeleton brothers was right after this, set upon a rickety bridge. It involved a gauntlet of sharp objects, fires, maces on chains, and another dog hanging from a rope. The Undead was certain he could make it through this, if he could make it through places as daunting as Sen's Fortress, then he could…

...make it through… Sans' Fortress?

Even though the Undead was sure he could take on this "puzzle," Papyrus called it off, saying it would take out the human too easily and directly, claiming he was a skeleton of standards. The Undead almost took offense to that, he had been through far worse traps and machines and came out relatively unscathed, if a bit lighter in terms of Estus doses.

...Most of the time.

Toriel was glad he didn't have to attempt it though, she nearly had a heart attack when the traps revealed themselves. That dog looked quite menacing! She wasn't particularly fond of the loose, rickety bridge in the first place, and she didn't want the human rolling and dodging around on it, he could have been injured or worse, fell off the bridge altogether. With the trap called off, Papyrus ran off, letting Sans, a very tired Toriel, and a somewhat disappointed Undead continue.

Just past the bridge they finally saw a sign with big, welcoming letters.

"WELCOME TO SNOWDIN"

(07)