Author's Note: Now for your completely unscheduled and irregular update of Batmantale! Sorry for taking so long. I haven't really been up to writing this. I've got way more plans for Waterfall and Hotland than Snowdin.

I'm still advertising the Yugioh Arc V/Batman crossover.

The forest was quite empty. It seemed monsters rarely, if ever, went to this part of the forest. Too far from the town. Of course, he'd have to stop by the town. His utility belt wasn't likely to have simply been abandoned in the forest. Whether it was taken to hinder him, or because of what it contained, it would be impossible for whoever had taken it to not know that it was useful.

It was quite cold. Batman's suit was well insulated and protected him from most of it, but the lower half of his face was uncovered, and he took note of the temperature. It was snowing, and Batman wondered how. The ceiling of the massive cave that made the Underground was, at least here, very high up. Perhaps high enough to form snow, as there could conceivably be enough moisture in the air.

As Clark was nowhere to be seen, the Kryptonian must have either been off saving some distant world and unable to hear him or notice his absence, or finally realized that Batman could take care of himself. Still, he wondered if Clark had tried to contact him. Clark seemed to have a habit of dropping by if he'd hadn't been contacted for a while.

The woods became busier the further he went, but most monsters barely gave him a second glance.

Unfortunately for him, that did not go for Snowdrake; a light blue and vaguely draconic-avian monster who, for some reason, thought that Batman was the perfect target to tell jokes to. His soul was pulled out and yet another encounter was initiated, the limits to his movement adjusting as they walked and the monster teen tried to keep him a captive audience in the now-monochrome setting.

"Ice to meet you," started Snowdrake.

Batman ignored the pun and continued walking. Scything semi-circles swirled around the two of them and between them theatrically, often passing too close for comfort, forcing him to play attention to their movements.

"C'mon, don't be so cold."

Batman dodged a row of the curving bullets, continuing to ignore Snowdrake.

"Puns are snow problem for me.

"Don't snowflake out on Snowdrake now!

"Chill, dude.

"You're snow fun..."

And with that, Snowdrake left.

Almost immediately after Snowdrake left him, a large, armed and armored anthropomorphic dog began blocking his way, stepping to either side he moved.

Lesser Dog looked at Batman expectantly, begging for attention.

Batman looked at the dog, eyebrow raised. The dog looked back. Lesser dog tilted his head towards Batman, panting. Batman raised his hand hesitantly and the dog grew excited. He pet the dog, and the dog let him leave.

What a battle.

Shortly after the woods ended, Batman found what appeared to be a puzzle of some sort. It was an array of large red 'X'es on the ground, with a switch next to them. Between him and his destination was a row of short spikes. He ignored the puzzle and stepped over the spikes. This happened twice more, once past a patch of slippery, but easily navigated ice.

Ahead, Batman saw a bridge. In front of that bridge was another skeleton. A little more than a head taller than Sans, but still shorter than he was. The skeleton's outfit reminded him of some young novice would-be members of the League. Made for looks, but not for practicality. Completely unprepared for any actual sort of fight. He checked the chasm the bridge spanned. It was too steep to climb down without equipment, and too high to safely jump down. If he had his utility belt, there would be numerous ways for him to bypass the bridge entirely, but that was not the case. He'd have to take the bridge.

"NYEH HEH HEH! YOU HAVE ENCOUNTERED THE GREAT PAPYRUS!" The skeleton was very loud, and unlike Sans, had small eyesockets with no lights in them. However these skeletons came to be, they certainly weren't natural. The anatomy was impossible for a human skeleton, and he knew no creature with a skeletal structure like that. The question was, why would it be designed as such? He could imagine the Scarecrow making animatronic skeletons, if he found a cause to, and Toyman would certainly make robots with such cartoonish proportions.

But he'd already ruled out either of them for having been responsible of this, and he could not discern the purpose of the skeletons' existences.

...Not that it was easy to discern such of the monsters he had encountered, but they seemed to be simply that. Sentient creatures, living their lives. The skeletons, however, were physically and biologically impossible.

"YOU SEEM NEW! DO YOU COME FROM THE FOREST?" The skeleton, Papyrus, as he'd earlier introduced himself, sounded very enthusiastic for some reason.

"Yes. May I cross the bridge?"

Papyrus stepped out of the way.

"OF COURSE! SNOWDIN TOWN IS RIGHT THIS WAY!"

The bridge was... not a bridge, but in fact, some sort of rock formation that had been painted over with ropes added to it.

If the clacking sounds behind him were any indication, Papyrus was following him.

If the sounds of bones on stone were not an indication, the fact he began speaking again was.

"IS THIS YOUR FIRST TIME IN SNOWDIN? MY BROTHER AND I HAVE LIVED HERE FOR A WHILE AND WE'VE NEVER SEEN A MONSTER LIKE YOU. HMM... YOU SORT OF LOOK LIKE... NO... TOO DARK AND POINTY TO BE A GHOST. AHA! I'VE GOT IT! YOU ARE A BAT SCIENTIST! YOU HAVE NO WINGS BECAUSE THEY ARE UNDER YOUR GIANT BLACK HALF-LABCOAT! NYEH HEH HEH! THE GREAT PAPYRUS HAS SOLVED THE PUZZLE OF YOUR IDENTITY!"

Well, at least that was closer than Sans' "whatever you're supposed to be dressed as."

Papyrus mentioned something about his brother and science, and Batman simply stayed silent and walked forward, becoming a little annoyed at the boisterous skeleton. The skeleton insisted on staying close to him and talking loudly, which was beginning to become painful to his ears. He'd hope the skeleton would leave him once they'd left the bridge.

Papyrus gave him a tour through the town.

"THIS IS THE SHOP! THE LADY WHO OWNS THE STORE IS VERY NICE! HER SISTER WORKS NEXT DOOR, AT THE INN! AND OVER HERE, IS THE TREE, WHERE PEOPLE PUT PRESENTS UNDER. I DON'T THINK YOU'VE GOT ONE THERE YET, BECAUSE YOU ARE NEW. OVER HERE, IS GRILLBY'S. I NEVER EAT THERE. EVERYTHING THEY HAVE IS GREASY AND AWFUL. SANS EATS THERE ALL THE TIME."

"I'll stop here. It's been a while since I've eaten." Batman wasn't hungry, but he'd had quite enough of Papyrus for one day.

He entered, and the heads of numerous dogs turned towards him, as well as the bartender, who appeared to be a man literally made of fire. An elemental.

It was a little startling, but the thought of waiting out the storm that was Papyrus' limitless enthusiasm filled him with determination.

A/N: Surely I needn't tell you to pay attention to the save points, yes?