Ok, so first off, I'm sorry. I'm so goddamn sorry for making you wait so long for a new chapter.

While it's true that I haven't had many opprotunities to work on this story, the few that I have, I've mostly squandered.

However! after rewatching OPM season 2, I've regained my drive to write, and I'll try to get as many chapters out as I can from now on.

No more slacking, I promise.

As for Naruto-Hirashin's question... shit, I forgot about that little fact. And because I'm lazy, rather than going back and rewriting Zenko out of fights, I'm just gonna go with the shaky reasoning that Badd hadn't made that promise before this story started.

Anyway, you're probobly tired of my rambling, so on with the chapter!

As they trudged through the woods, the group talked idly with each other.

"Y'know, that Papyrus guy isn't actually that bad. Sure he's trying to capture us, but it doesn't seem like he really wants to hurt us."

"Then how do you explain that maze? It wasn't designed well, sure, but that orb still hurt, didn't it?"

"Not really. All it really did was sting a bit."

Zenko then spoke up.

"Well, I think he's really funny! And he doesn't seem like a bad guy, he's just trying to do his job."

"He's dedicated to be sure, but I can't be sure of what kind of a person he is just yet."

As They continued forward, they spotted a vendor on the side of a cliff. Realizing that they hadn't eaten anything since the pie Toriel had made, they went to check it out.

"I don't understand why these aren't selling. It's the perfect weather for something cold."

"Uh, hey."

The monster opened an eye, seeing the group, before all of it's features perked up.

"Oh! Customers! Would you like to buy a Nice Cream? It's the frozen treat that warms your heart! Now just 15G!"

Seito looked at the monster confused.

"Why are you selling ice cream here? It's freezing!"

The monster looked at Seito like it was obvious.

"The people here like the cold weather, so I thought that they'd also like a nice frozen treat!"

Seito just facepalmed. Meanwhile, Badd and Zenko were counting up the G that they had collected. They ended up having more than enough to buy one for each of them.

"Hey, uh, we'll take three." Badd said, handing the vendor the money.

"Oh! Thank you!" He said, handing him the cones. "Have a super duper day!"

As they were walking, the group were eating their cones.

"Hey, there's something written in the wrapper! You look nice today! Aw, that's nice!"

Badd looked at his wrapper, and adopted a look of disgust.

"A picture of a hug? really?"

Seito didn't even bother looking at his, instead he crumpled it up and pocketed it until he could find a garbage can.

"Hey look, it's Sans! Hi Sans!"

Looking over in their direction, the short skeleton's smile seemed to get a tad wider.

"hey there kiddo. i see you ran into the nice cream vendor. you know, i've been thinkin about selling some frozen treats too. ya want some fried snow? it's just 5G."

Badd and Seito gave him a weird look.

"Wouldn't that just be water?"

Sans appeared to think on that for a minute.

"yeah, I guess you're right. now i need a new business idea."

Seito rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, well good luck with that, I suppose."

Having come across two more sentry stations, the group decided to be a little more cautious this time around.

"Hey, Chara,f anyone is in there, they won't be able to see you. Could ya go over to that sign and read what it says?"

The spirit gave a wordless nod, and floated over to the sign.

"Smell danger ratings. Snow smell: white rating, can become yellow rating."

Zenko and Badd snickered at that.

"Unsuspicious smell: puppy. Blue rating. The smell of rolling around. Weird smell: humans. Green rating. Which is... painted in red? Destroy at all costs!" She said, before floating back over to the group.

Seito adopted a confused look.

"that rating scale... makes absolutely no sense."

"what can I say, monsters are weird."

"I'm still having a hard time wrapping my head around the whole 'monsters are civilized' thing."

"Yeah, the only reason Zenko and I got used to it so easily is because Tori was a nice lead in to that fact."

"Well, enough with the pointless banter, best to continue our trek, and we should probably watch out for the sentries of these stations. since they aren't here, they're probably up ahead."

As the group came into yet another clearing, they once again spotted the all too familiar skulls of the skeleton brothers.

Naturally, Papyrus was the first to speak.

"HUMANS! I HOPE YOU'RE READY FOR... WAIT, SANS! WHERE'S THE PUZZLE?!"

Sans, who was sleeping just moments ago, lazily pointed to a piece of paper in the center of the clearing.

"it's right over there. trust me, there's no way they're getting past this one."

Seito, looking completely underwhelmed, just strode over to the brothers, hands in pockets, not even glancing at the puzzle.

Badd took a quick glance, and burst out laughing at what Sans thought to be an obstacle. Zenko, however actually sat down and solved the word search, which didn't take very long at all.

"SANS! THAT WAS WAY TOO EASY! TWO OF THE HUMANS DIDN'T EVEN STOP, AND THE SMALL ONE SOLVED IT EASILY!."

"whoops, i knew i should have used today's crossword instead."

Papyrus froze, and whirled around to stare Sans in the sockets disbelievingly.

"CROSSWORD?! I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU JUST SAID THAT! IN MY OPINON, JUNIOR JUMBLE IS EASILYTHE HARDEST."

"seriously bro? that easy peasy word scramble? that stuff's for baby bones."

"UN. BELIEVABALE. HUMANS! SOLVE THIS DISPUTE!"

Seito gave the pair a deadpan stare.

"This argument is literally too dumb to take part in."

Badd, looking very put on the spot, replied dumbly.

"Well, uh, I don't really do puzzles, so I don't really think my opinion matters here."

Papyrus balked at that.

"WHAT?! WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU 'DON'T DO PUZZLES'?! THIS IS UNACCEPTABLE! RED SHIRTED HUMAN! IT IS MY DUTY AS A PUZZLE ENTHUSIEST TO ENSURE EVERYONE CAN ENJOY PUZZLES! AND THAT INCLUDES YOU!"

Badd, put off by the vigor of the tall skeleton, nodded nervously.

"U-uh, yeah, sure man."

"GOOD! NOW THAT THAT'S SORTED OUT, TINY HUMAN! WHAT PUZZLE DO YOU THINK IS HARDER?"

Zenko, glad to have finally been addressed, replied confidently.

"Junior jumble of course!"

"HA! YES! HUMANS MUST BE VERY INTELLIGENT, IF THEY ALSO FIND JUNIOR JUMBLES SO DIFFICULT! NYEHEHEHEHEHEHEH!"

The jovial skeleton dashed off, cackling with his signature laugh.

Sans strode over to Zenko.

"hey, thanks for saying junior jumble just to appease my bro. yesterday, he got stumped trying to 'solve' the horoscope."

Zenko giggled at that. Seito, walking over with a rather confused face, asked.

"Hm? How do you have horoscopes down here anyway?"

"yeah, waterfall has these crystals on the ceiling of the cave that kind of look like stars. as you could guess, the horoscopes don't differ that much."

"and hey, don't worry about my bro, he's probably just gonna show you some of his puzzle designs, nothing major."

Badd just chuckled and scratched the back of his head.

"Heh, well, I wasn't so much worried as I was put off by his enthusiasm, but thanks for the concern, I guess."

"just tryin to look out for ya kid. I'll see you up ahead." and with that the short skeleton stalked off, once again in the wrong direction.

With nothing left to do in the area, The band of humans plus spirit once again trudged onward, leaving the clearing behind.

Well, sorry for yet another lackluster chapter. Once we get to Snowdin town, things will pick up. So stay tuned for the next one!

Edited 3/16/20