"A-HA! THE HUMAN ARRIVES!" the skeleton hollered.
"you know...she does have a name."
"SANS! I DON'T MEAN TO SOUND RUDE, BUT WHOSE SIDE ARE YOU ON!?"
"neutral."
"NEUTRAL!?"
"why not? makes things more interesting, don't it?"
The skeleton took a deep breath. How, Ginger didn't know, seeing that skeletons lacked lungs...or any other internal organs, except maybe a brain inside their skulls.
"WELL, I'LL SEE TO IT THAT YOU MAKE UP YOUR MIND SOON ENOUGH. IN THE MEAN TIME...HUMAN! IN ORDER TO STOP YOU, MY BROTHER AND I HAVE DEVISED SEVERAL PUZZLES! I BELIEVE THAT YOU WILL FIND THIS ONE QUITE...SHOCKING!"
"It, ah...looks kinda plain to me," she commented. The "puzzle" appeared to be nothing but a flat floor cleared out in the snow.
"OH, THAT'S JUST THE GENIUS OF IT! THIS IS WHAT I LIKE TO CALL THE 'INVISIBLE ELECTRICITY MAZE!'"
"So that was a pun?"
"WAIT...OOOOHHHHHH, NOOOOOOOOOO! SAAAAAAANS! YOU DID THIS TO ME!"
"you're welcome."
He slumped his shoulders in defeat, then proceeded to pull out some sort of round, blue object.
"ANYWAY...THIS ORB DELIVERS A HEARTY ZAP TO ANYONE WHO TOUCHES THE WALLS OF THE MAZE! ONE FALSE MOVE, HUMAN, AND YOU'LL FRY!"
She shuddered at the thought; she didn't come all this way to be electrocuted to death.
"ALRIGHT! PROCEED! LET'S SEE JUST HOW LONG IT TAKES..."
Hesitantly, she inched closer to the invisible maze. She hadn't even stepped on it yet when the orb delivered the strong electric current to the unsuspecting holder.
That being Papyrus.
"SANS!" he blamed. "WHAT DID YOU DO!? IS THIS ANOTHER ONE OF YOUR CRUEL, SICK JOKES!?"
"um...i think the human is supposed to hold the orb."
"OH. YES. THAT'S RIGHT. MY APOLOGIES."
He trekked through the maze floor, and the human noticed that the snow he tracked across it from his boots was displaying the path that need be taken. The skeleton might be tall, and he might be loud, but he certainly didn't seem to be all that bright.
"HOLD THIS, PLEASE."
He...placed the orb on her head...for some reason, then went back the way he came, tracking even more snow onto the clear path.
"ALRIGHT, TRY NOW!"
At least he's making it easy for me...
She followed the path of snow across the maze, her movement smooth as to keep the orb from losing its place. Papyrus was oblivious to the mistake he'd made.
"INCREDIBLE...YOU PASSED WITH FLYING COLORS, YOU SLIPPERY SNAIL, YOU!" he marveled. "HOWEVER! YOU WILL NOT BE SO LUCKY WITH THE NEXT PUZZLE! IT WAS DESIGNED BY MY BROTHER, SANS! IF HE SAYS THAT IT WOULD CONFOUND ME, IT WILL SURELY BOGGLE A MIND LIKE YOURS! NYEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH!"
He disappeared to tend to more puzzles, it seemed.
"Well...he's having fun, isn't he?"
"sure looks that way. thanks for the help, kid. by the way...did you happen to notice that weird outfit he's wearing?"
"How could I not? You could spot that getup from a mile away. Red boots, red gloves, red scarf...He might want to at least replace the scarf, though; looks kinda worn."
"yeah. we made that outfit a few weeks ago for a costume party. he hasn't worn anything else since; keeps calling it his 'battle body.'"
"How much do you think that'd actually protect him in a real battle? I mean, what's it made out of?"
"eh...i don't even remember. but man...my brother sure is cool, isn't he?"
"Ah, heh...yeah..."
Not really. He was a bit of a dandy, it seemed, who thought very highly of himself, yet was surprisingly naïve. At least he didn't seem dangerous, though. Not yet, at least. Not exactly what one would call "cool." Amusing, in an odd sort of way? Yes. But not cool.
She went ahead, noting the soft "piff" the blue orb made as her movement caused it to finally fall off into the snow, and spotted someone on the side of the road; a slender monster manning a cart of some sort.
"I don't get why these aren't selling," he mumbled, in low spirits. "It's the perfect weather for something cold, isn't it?"
Psh. Think again...
She darted past him quickly before they had the chance to make eye contact with one another. Up ahead there was another clear patch, and she saw a hole at the south end when she reached it...Was this supposed to be a puzzle? The path ahead of the ice field was clear, though, so that meant she could go ahead. She had to admit, these puzzles weren't doing as good a job at hindering her as the ones in the Ruins were.
Past the clearing, the two skeleton brothers were waiting for her; there was an impression in the snow, and what appeared to be a piece of paper stood out in the middle of it.
"SANS! CAN YOU NOT SEE THAT THE HUMAN HAS ARRIVED!? WHERE IS YOUR PUZZLE!?"
"it's right there on the ground, don't you see it? trust me. there's no way she's gettin' past this one."
Ginger skeptically approached the piece of parchment on the ground and picked it up to inspect it.
"Monster Kidz Word Search"
This? THIS was supposed to be the puzzle?
All she did was give the two skeletons an unimpressed look before letting the paper flutter back onto the snowy ground.
"SANS! THAT DIDN'T DO ANYTHING!"
"whoops. heh...i knew i should have used today's crossword instead."
"WHAT!? CROSSWORD!? MY EARS MUST BE DECIEVING ME! YOU MUST BE INSANE!"
Ginger held back a smile. Okay, MAYBE Papyrus' antics were more entertaining than she originally thought.
"IT IS QUITE CLEAR, BROTHER...THAT JUNIOR JUMBLE IS THE HARDER ONE."
"really, bro? that easy-peasy word scramble?...that's for baby bones."
"UN. BELIEVABLE..."
The taller skeleton turned his gaze towards the human.
"HUMAN! WOULD YOUBE SO KIND AS TO SOLVE THIS DISPUTE? WHICH IS HARDER? JUNIOR JUMBLE OR THE CROSSWORD?"
"Wait...You're asking ME?"
"WHY OF COURSE! CONSIDER THIS A PUZZLE IN AND OF ITSELF!"
"Dude, I don't know...uh...the jumble, I guess?"
"HA! YES! HUMANS MUST BE MORE INTELLIGENT THAN I PREVIOUSLY PRESUMED! NYEH! HEH! HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH!"
He ran off again with that same laugh. That maniacal, exaggerated laugh that he seemed to love emitting. She didn't know why or how, but it was definitely growing on her.
"Okay, I've made up my mind," Ginger said to the shorter brother. "That guy's a rip."
"i know. thanks for saying 'junior jumble' just to appease him."
"Uh, well...To be completely honest, I've never done either one of those in my entire life."
"no?"
"Where I'm from, we get our news handed out orally."
"...huh...so...no newspaper?"
"Except for an occasional urgent message, usually concerning the higher-ups."
"...weird. oh well..."
She shrugged, then continued, coming across two small tables. One of them had another piece of fancy tech on it, and the other displayed...
A full platter of spaghetti.
She remembered a time where the Tytonic cooks had attempted to recreate the Italian dish using raw garter snakes instead of noodles and mushed up mouse meat instead of tomato sauce to appeal to the Hoolian audience. It had only been served once or twice, since it wasn't a big success; snakes weren't very nutritious, and consuming too many left a bitter aftertaste in the gizzard, even long after the pellets of snake bones had been yarped.
There was a note on the ground beside the table of spaghetti, which she read.
"HUMAN! PLEASE ENJOY THIS SPAGHETTI."
"(LITTLE DO YOU KNOW, THIS SPAGHETTI IS A TRAP DESIGNED TO
ENTICE YOU! YOU'LL BE SO BUSY EATING IT THAT YOU WON'T
REALIZE THAT YOU AREN'T PROGRESSING! THOROUGHLY JAPED
AGAIN BY THE GREAT PAPYRUS!)
NYEH, HEH, HEH
PAPYRUS"
Maybe her thought about skeletons having brains somewhere inside their skulls was wrong. Nonetheless, the letter made her snort. Seemed typical for Papyrus to even write down his LAUGH.
She attempted to dig the fork provided to her into the entre, just to appease him, but it turned out it had been left in the cold for so long that it was completely rigid. She couldn't even get the prongs of the fork wedged between the crevices in the noodles. Oh, well.
She turned forward again, and she noticed a Save Point had been behind her and the tables. She quickly brushed her hand up against it.
*Snowdin-Spaghetti
*File Saved
Good. Now she could keep going. There was another sign ahead.
"Warning:
Dog Marriage"
Dog...Marriage? Two dog monsters, maybe? It sounded like it could be; something was emitting muffled barks from off in the distance.
Wait...that wasn't coming from the distance. It was coming from right behind one of those young pine trees-
"Raff! Raff, raff!"
Something leapt out from behind the tall snow lump and blocked the way. It was about her height, and had a white, foxy face, its tongue hanging out of its mouth. It wore a full set of armor, and wielded a long, sharp sword. Ginger pulled out the toy knife, expecting a full on attack.
But the bipedal dog-like creature simply stood there, staring at the knife she threatened to point at it. Its eyes sparkled with playful curiosity, and its tail wagged. Ginger moved the weapon around with her hand; the dogs eyes followed the object wherever she lead it to. It emitted an excited yip, and gave her a quick glance and cocked its head.
"You, uh...you like it, huh?"
The dog nodded understandingly, then leaned over onto all fours in a pouncing position, dropping its sword onto the ground.
It wanted her to throw it.
"Um...Okay, then. Go get it!"
She flung the knife across the path ahead, and the monster bounded after it. It landed in the snow, and after a few seconds of poking its black nose around, the creature pulled it out in its jaws and trotted back to her, placing the weapon at her feet.
Ginger was surprised by the lack of drool on the knife; it must have been extra careful to keep it clean.
She put it back where it belonged, then faced the dog, who was sitting at her feet, looking up at her with enthusiasm.
"Heh...good dog."
She vigorously scratched the top of its fluffy white head, and it thumped its back paw on the ground, kicking up some snow, emitting content yips. As soon as she finished, it bounded off happily.
Up ahead there was a clearing, and what looked like another small impression in the snow. She approached the clear spot to inspect it...and found what looked like a switch hidden beneath the thinner layer of white. She pressed down on it, then heard the loud, familiar sound of spikes retreating into the ground upon activating it. She headed down that way, considering herself lucky forfinding the solution so easily; the skeleton would probably have to hide the solutions more easily if he really wanted to stop her.
Sure enough, the spikes had gone down, and the path ahead was clear. The human continued across the bridge, finding a path heading still south.
And right ahead, she saw two cloaked figures approaching. Each of them were a few inches taller than her, and from underneath their black hoods, blunt, white canid snouts protruded. They sniffed the air as the got closer, and stopped right in front of her.
"...What's that smell?" one of them wondered, his voice deep and handsome.
"...Where's that smell?" the other added, her voice light and fair.
"Traveller!" the male announced, pulling out an axe. "Identify yoursmellf!"
"Uh...fellow monster on a hike?" she fibbed. She wouldn't want to have to fight these two; they had giant AXES, for Glaux's sake! She hoped they'd be as gullible as the one dog was back there at the sentry station.
But the male monster took another whiff...
"It smells like...a HUMAN!"
As soon as he said it, both of them flung their hoods away and readied their axes; these were also dog monsters, each with flopping ears and medium white coats.
"Hey, hey, easy with those axes, fellas," she plead as they approached. "Wouldn't want to do anything you might regret, would you?"
"We will regret nothing! Especially when we do it together!" the female declared.
"Really? Well...what if I told you that I...uh...Hey! Guess what?"
"What is this? A trick? Dogaressa and I will not be fooled!"
"No! I'm serious! Did you know that...that..."
"That what?"
"Did...Did you know that snails...make horrible shoe laces?"
The two dogs cocked their heads; confused, but in a strange way, enlightened.
"...Is this true?" Dogaressa questioned.
"Yeah! A-and you know something else?"
"What?" the male asked.
"Sometimes, when they get dirty...uh...Dogs...might smell like humans! And look kinda like them, too! Uh...woof?"
The dogs looked at each other skeptically.
"And you know what else else?"
"What?" the asked at the same time.
"Dogs can pet other dogs!"
"CAN they?" He was not quite in disbelief, but genuinely wondered if what she said was true.
"Can they, really, Dogamy?" the female added.
"Yeah! Watch!"
Ginger reached up to scratch each of them behind the ears. Upon her finishing, they both looked quite shocked.
"...Dogs can pet other dogs..." Dogamy realized. "...Our minds have been expanded!"
"Thanks, weird puppy!" Dogaressa thanked, and the two dog monsters departed back the way they came. They dropped some gold on their way out; Ginger was prompted to give it back to them, but then she remembered how she'd gotten all of what she had now in the Ruins; it seemed like most of the monsters were awarding her the prize money intentionally. Maybe they felt sorry for her flat-broke tail end, knowing she'd come down here empty-handed?
A plausible explanation, she said to herself as she scooped the gold out of the snow and counted it. Forty! It was a good thing these coins weren't very big; otherwise the weight of the metal would be a burden. She stuck it on one of the side pockets of the messenger bag to keep her legs moving freely enough; that'd come in handy at some point.
...So THAT was what the sign meant by "Dog Marriage."
Ginger grinned, proud of her acute mind. She had actually convinced them that she was a puppy, and on top of that she'd gotten a whopping forty gold out of her thinking... ludicrous. Ludicrously smart.
She continued and turned west. The next puzzle seemed simple enough; there were two "X"s on the ground, separated by large, snow covered rocks. She stepped on the closest one; it turned from a blue "X" to a red circle. And when she went around to activate the other one, it did the same. She finished by stepping down on the switch just north of the puzzle's center, and the spikes lowered.
And revealed the tall skeleton standing there.
"WHAT!?" he exclaimed. "HOW DID YOU MANAGE TO AVOID MY TRAP!? AND FURTHER MORE...IS THERE ANY LEFT FOR ME?"
"You, uh...might want to reheat that stuff; it's frozen solid."
"SO, THAT'S A NO?"
"Nope; couldn't even stick a fork in it."
"I SEE...IT'S A SHAME YOU DIDN'T GET TO TASTE ANY OF IT. WORRY NOT, HUMAN! I THE GREAT MASTER CHEF PAPYRUS, WILL MAKE YOU ALL OF THE SPAGHETTI YOU COULD EVER WANT!"
He'd...seemed to have forgotten the fact that he was supposed to be trying to capture her. She peered into his eyeless sockets; she didn't know how it was possible that empty eye holes could portray so much emotion, but they did. Eagerness, happiness, innocence...just a tad bit of patience.
"I MUST SAY, HUMAN. IF YOU COULDN'T EAT MY FROZEN SPAGHETTI, YOU CERTAINLY TOOK QUITE A BIT TO GET HERE. SO, FOR THE TIME BEING, I REARRANGED THE NEXT PUZZLE TO LOOK LIKE MY FACE!"
"Oh...Did you, now?"
It was kind of hard to tell; perhaps if she could get a birds eye view, it would be more noticeable.
The thought made her scowl.
"TRY AS YOU MIGHT, HUMAN, TO SOLVE IT! IF YOU ARE IN NEED OF ASSISTANCE, I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, WILL NOT HESITATE TO PROVIDE IT!"
"You. Help me."
"OF COURSE!"
"When your goal is to try and capture me."
"JUST BECAUSE I AM TRYING TO CAPTURE YOU DOES NOT MEAN I SHOULD REFRAIN FROM BEING COURTEOUS, DOES IT?"
She responded with no more than a simple shrug, then entered through the east opening, passing over one, the following the line of "X"s south and around west again, exiting the shape. And then she followed east through the top, then south again, and finally out the far end...and she realized she'd missed one. But when the human went back to finish the job, the red "O"s turned to green triangles; didn't all of the marks have to be the same color in order for the spikes to deactivate? Exiting the puzzle and pressing on the switch for said function caused the marks on the ground to reset back to blue "X"s instead. At least she could try again.
This time, she went through he northernmost entry and made a starboard loop; she messed it up again. She took the longer route; that didn't work, either. Ginger grumbled in frustration; she really wished she could get an above view of the puzzle, since then she'd be able to map out potential solutions in the snow.
"HUMAN!" the skeleton called. "IT APPEARS AS THOUGH YOU ARE HAVING SOME DIFFICULTY WITH THIS PUZZLE. DO YOU REQUIRE MY HELP?"
"No, I got this..."
She thought for a moment. What if she went in through...the other end? Maybe...
The human went around the edge and entered through the far north, following along the path of "X"s in one try, tracing an "S" shape through the puzzle, and she finished by jut stepping on the two separated marks she'd missed.
And that worked! She finished by making her way to the switch and deactivating the row of spikes.
"WOWIE!" Papyrus marveled. "HUMAN REALLY ARE WITTY CREATURES! YOU DID THAT WITHOUT NEEDING ANY HELP AT ALL! YOU MUST BE JUST AS PASSIONATE ABOUT PUZZLES AS I AM! BUT. BUT! LET'S SEE JUST HOW WELL YOU HANDLE THE NEXT ONE! PROCEED IF YOU DARE, HUMAN! NYEH! NYEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH!"
He ran ahead, and crossed a small bridge to some sort of platform that'd been cleared of snow, which he also passed over. She followed after him, albeit quite a bit more slowly, and found him standing at the other end, his shorter brother by his side.
"HUMAN!" he exclaimed. "NO DOUBT, IF YOU'RE A FAN OF PUZZLES, YOU'RE GOING TO ABSOLUTELY LOVE THIS ONE!"
The tiles on the platform were all grey, some lighter than others, making an unevenly colored checker pattern.
"ONCE I THROW THE SWITCH, THE TILES YOU SEE BEFORE YOU WILL BEGIN TO CHANGE COLOR! AND EACH TILE COLOR HAS A DIFFERENT FUNCTION!"
"What are the functions?"
"ALLOW ME TO EXPLAIN: RED TILES ARE IMPASSABLE! THEY FUNCTION AS INVISIBLE WALLS, SO YOU CANNOT PASS THROUGH THEM! YELLOW TILES ARE ELECTRIC, AND THEY WILL GIVE YOU A SHOCK NEARLY AS HARDY AS THE INVISIBLE MAZE WALLS! GREEN TILES ARE ALARM TILES! IF YOU STEP ON ONE, YOU WILL HAVE TO FIGHT A MONSTER! ORANGE TILES ARE ORANGE-SCENTED. YOU MAY PASS THROUGH THEM, BUT KEEP IN MIND, THEY WILL MAKE YOU SMELL DELICIOUS!"
"You make it sound like that's a bad thing."
"OH, AND IT VERY WELL MAY BE, CONSIDERING THE CIRCUMSTANCES! BLUE TILES ARE WATER TILES. YOU CAN SWIM THROUGH IF YOU LIKE, BUT IF YOU JUST SO HAPPEN TO STILL HAVE AN ORANGY AROMA ABOUT YOU, THE PIRANAHS IN THE WATER WILL NOT HESITATE TO ATTACK! AND FURTHERMORE, IF A BLUE TILE IS NEXT TO A YELLOW ONE, YOU WILL ALSO BE ZAPPED DUE TO THE CURRENTS TRAVELLING TO THE WATER!"
"Oh...That explains it."
"PURPLE TILES ARE SLIPPERY, AND WILL SEND YOU SLIDING TO THE NEXT TILE AHEAD. THE GOOD NEWS? THE SLIPPERY SOAP SMELLS LIKE LEMONS; SOMETHING THAT THE PIRANAHS DESPISE! IF YOU SMELL LIKE LEMONS, THEY WILL NOT BOTHER TRYING TO SNACK ON YOU. AND FINALLY, THERE ARE THE PINK TILES! THEY...DON'T DO MUCH OF ANYTHING. YOU MAY STEP ON THEM AS MUCH AS YOU LIKE. ALRIGHT! THAT'S EVERYTHING! YOU GET ALL THAT?"
"Um...Maybe?"
Green tiles do what...shock you, they said? No, no, that was the yellow ones. The pink ones don't do anything, right? Can't pass the red ones...what do the purple ones smell like again? Lemons, right?...Or was that one oranges? No, that was the ORANGE tiles that smell like oranges; that should have been easy to remember...Whatever, I'll figure it out once he actually sets it up.
"THAT'S ENOUGH CONFORMATION FOR ME! TIME TO PUT THE WORK OF THE GREAT DR. ALPHYS INTO PLAY!"
"Doctor who?"
"royal scientist," Sans clarified. "alpha geek. lives at the lab in hotland. you'll probably come across her at some point if you're gonna be headin' to the capital...you know come to think of it i think she showed me a few episodes of that show."
"What?"
"what?"
"ALRIGHTY, THEN! HERE WE GO!"
Papyrus turned a knob on the device that activated the tile floor. The tiles began to flash; the colors began to be displayed, changing faster each time the did, faster, and faster and faster until it stopped in the arrangement of...
A pink path stretching all the way to the other side lined red.
...How...?
Papyrus was equally boggled; even the cool and calm Sans looked shocked by the nearly impossibly convenient layout of the tiles.
"...I...BUT...BUT IT-"
"i knew you put too much faith in the randomly generated algorithm."
"SANS. I AM AND WILL ALWAYS BE THE OPTIMIST. THE HOPER OF FAR FLUNG HOPES AND THE DREAMER OF IMPROBABLE DREAMS. IF YOU THINK I HAVE LOST ANY TRUST IN DR. ALPHYS' TILE PUZZLE, YOU ARE QUITE WRONG; I AM SURE THIS WAS JUST AN UNLUCKY COINCIDENCE."
"...either that or the doctor lies."
"LUDICROUS! WHY WOULD SHE EVER LIE TO US? SHE HAS NO REASON TO! IF SHE HEARD YOU SAY SOMETHNG LIKE THAT, YOU KNOW, IT WOULD PROBABLY REALLY UPSET HER..."
Sans' only response was a shrug of the shoulders.
"don't get yourself in a knot, bro; not like i meant it.'"
"WELL I CERTAINLY HOPE NOT. NOW COME ALONG BROTHER; WE HAVE MORE PUZZLES TO CHECK! ALLONS-Y!"
"what?"
"WHAT?"
Once again, the tall skeleton ran ahead, though too confused, and perhaps a might too embarrassed to emit his signature cackle. Ginger scanned over the pink tile path as she walked across it; it was so perfectly convenient it almost seemed like it'd been rigged; was someone pulling strings behind the scenes? No, that was impossible...right?
"by the way," Sans remarked before she passed by him. "you saw his spaghetti back there, right?"
"Yeah. He left a note there with it and everything."
"i'll be honest; it actually isn't half bad for my brother. he's gettin' better and better every day with his cooking."
"Oh. Well that's good."
"who knows? maybe next year, he might even make something edible."
"...Oh...Uh...What's wrong with what he makes now? It looked okay, so I can't imagine it being that terrible."
"you'd be surprised."
The human shrugged and followed in Papyrus' path; were his culinary skills really that bad to warrant inedibility? It was spaghetti, for Glaux's sake; hot noodles drenched in tomato sauce and maybe meatballs. How bad could something like that possibly be?
The Sentry Station she assumed belonged to the armored dog caught her attention as she travelled the pathway; the monster in question was right across from it, staring intently at a pile of snow. Just behind him was another Save Point.
*Snowdin-Dog House
*File Saved
She wondered what he was doing, just standing there staring at the white mound.
"Curious about him?" someone inquired.
Ginger turned her gaze to the left of the path to see someone standing there; he looked something like a young whitetail buck on two legs.
"What do you think he think's gonna happen?" she replied.
"He's trying to build something...or...sculpt, I think is the more accurate phrase. But you and I both know he's not gonna get anywhere just by visualizing alone. Plus; Lesser Dog never really knows what to make in the first place. It probably doesn't help that his brain is the size of a piece o' kibble. Shame...Sometimes I think if he actually figured out how to use his paws on the snow, he'd make something worthwhile."
"Huh...Well...Let's wish him luck."
The deer monster nodded, then diverted his gaze off into space. She wasn't sure why he hadn't tried to attack her; maybe he couldn't be bothered, knowing there were stronger monsters out in the area who could supposedly do the job better. Besides, he was scrawny, and not much taller than her; he wouldn't last long if she used the knife.
But she really didn't want to use it. Not yet. Most of the monsters down here could be dealt with in a nonviolent manner, usually fairly easily. The majority just seemed confused or mislead, and most of them disliked the unnecessary violence as much as she did.
Ginger looked down at her hands; she could almost see the blood on them. Sure, she hadn't...technically killed any monsters since she'd been down here. Toriel was the only exception, and not only had it been an accident, but her power to Save and Reset had undone the deed. But before she'd come down the hole, she had killed; countless crows and ravens in her standard training, several Guardians of Ga'Hoole, and a few enemy invaders on the mainland more recently, including their Black Kite of a leader.
That was a REALLY bloody one; she'd dealt the fatal blow by tearing the kite's crop right out of his chest while her mother, Nutmeg, who had been one of his hostages, kept him occupied by attacking his face. Then the latter had taken the dictator's head in her talons and smashed it into the ground until it was nothing more than a pulpy mess. Overkill at its finest; teamwork at its finest, as well, despite Nutmeg having been oblivious to just who she'd helped. She never knew it had been her long-lost daughter.
And now she probably never would.
Ginger didn't realize she'd still been walking the whole time until her foot gave way when she took another step forward, and she nearly slipped and fell onto her rear end.
Another "X" and "O" puzzle. Most of the marks were separated by the frozen pond she'd almost slipped on. Figuring she'd have to cross it in order to step on all of the "X"s, she peered past the sheet of ice; she failed to see any water underneath the surface. It was frozen solid, like a giant ice cube lodged in the ground. Incredible...
Ginger cautiously put a foot on the ice, pressing down on it to keep from slipping. It wasn't exactly easy, but she managed to keep her balance well enough to stand straight.
Now the only problem was walking; maybe she SHOULD have taken a second pair of shoes from the Ruins; who knows? If she could find something as convenient as a messenger bag in that bedroom, odds were there were also some shoes with rugged bottoms to properly grip slippery surfaces.
But the bottoms of her shoes weren't completely flat to begin with. Maybe, since there was no risk of falling into any water, she could stomp down on the ice for better traction. It worked. And she stomped across the ice field, stepping on each "X", going around the outside of the field and working her way in. Finally, when she stepped on the final mark, she found herself sliding onto the switch on the ground across from her when she relaxed her stiff legs. The press of it caused a bridge to connect the ice rink and the eastern path through some more tall trees. Some of the snow fell from the branches onto her head as she passed beneath them, and she emerged from the small pine tree grove with a frozen white cap. She looked up at the mess, unamused.
"Nice hat."
She jumped at the sudden voice. There, standing before her just outside of the grove was another deerlike monster; this one was on all fours, its antlers twisting like a mule deer's, and sprouted small needles on the top points, like tiny fir trees...but it had a misshapen mouth, its jaws on the sides, almost like an ant, which gave its face a disturbing quality. His antlers were adorned with tinsel, and a few other miscellaneous objects were stuck to it.
"You enjoying yourself?" it snapped. "Great for you; at least you can choose whether or not to wear your headgear."
It spewed a series of round projectiles at her from its sideways mouth; an uncanny sight, almost distracting her from the bullets themselves. It was a good thing they were so small and easily avoidable, despite being surprisingly fast.
"What's gotten into you, pal?" Ginger replied, noting its snarky demeanor.
"I'll tell you what's gotten into me. Those pesky teenagers won't stop sneakin' up on me while I'm dozin' and stringin' up my antlers and stickin' stuff all over me! It's drivin' me crazy! It's been drivin' me crazy for years!"
"Well...can't you just take the stuff off?"
"Do you see any thumbs on these hooves!?"
He sent another array of bullets at the human, and once they ceased, she spoke again.
"Say...You might not have thumbs but I do. Want me to take that upon myself?"
"I'm not so sure I trust you. If the teens down here are crazy, then I don't want to see what the HUMAN ones are capable of."
He sent his next attack swerving around the human instead of hitting her directly, possibly a defensive maneuver.
"Look, fella, I ain't got much on me, and what I do have I don't plan on sticking to you. Just let me take the stuff of, alright?"
"Urgh...Fine. But if you try any funny business, I'm warning you...I WILL use these horns."
"Right..."
She carefully approached the deer monster and assessed the sorry excuses for decoration he'd been burdened with. She unstuck the box of raisins off of his back, which had been adhered with some strong tape, untangled the tinsel from his twisting antlers, then finally removed a small photo that'd been pasted to his forehead.
"I think that's everything," she stated.
"Hm..."
The monster looked over his shoulder at his back, shook his head, then crossed his eyes to peer up at his forehead; everything was really gone.
"...A weight has been lifted," the creature told her. "You have my gratitude, human. It seems as though I was mistaken about you."
"Well...I don't blame you if you've had to deal with stuff like that for Glaux-knows-how-long."
"And now I am free of it. Farewell, human. And like I said before...nice hat."
The monster trotted into the woods. Ginger brought her hand to the top of her head and brushed the snow off of it She knew the deer's first remark had been sarcastic, but the second time he said it, it sounded more meaningful. Odd...It'd just been a pile of snow on her head, hadn't it? Why the compliment?
She continued. The next Sentry Station was very small, and the sign beside it only said one word:
"woof"
"Woof?" Another dog monster? There were certainly a lot of dog monsters around here; and even more odd, they all seemed to behave very much like the dogs they resembled. If this had been the case for all monsters, then Toriel probably would have butt against something with her small horns or emitted an obnoxious bleat at some point during her stay. The thought of the gentle goat monster doing these things created a very absurd image in her brain.
Around the station, there were round lumps of snow. She kicked a few around, wondering if any of them hid any rocks underneath them, seeing how almost perfectly round most of them were. But the were all just oblong mounds of snow, which scattered across the field whenever she kicked one.
She was just about to kick the one in the middle of the now narrowing path when she saw something poke out of the back of it; something short, white and fluffy that wagged from side to side. Was that the tail of another-
Her question was answered in mere moments when another fluffy white foxy face poked out of the snow and looked up at her. It yipped excitedly.
"~Aw, aren't you just the sweetest little-"
And then, the dog head rose up out of the snow.
It towered above her head, in full, heavy armor and a giant iron spear.
"...Little...Behemoth...Dog..." she uttered.
"Waff!"
Despite the revelation of its size, the dog's bark was still high pitched and yippy. Its small tail kept on wagging; it didn't seem aware of just how imposing its height made it.
"...Hey?"
The dog took the giant spear it had and dropped it at her feet.
"...Buddy," she remarked. "...You expect me to be able to throw THIS?"
The creature nodded. Ginger decided that if she failed, she could just use the toy knife again for fetch like she had the last playful dog. She took the spear in her hands, her knuckles pressing into the snow, and tried to lift it. She surprised herself when she actually managed to lift its immense metal weight off of the ground...albeit for a few seconds. The spear fell back with into the snow; if she could barely lift it up, there was no way she could throw it. The dog looked disappointed by this, and whined in apology.
"Not your fault," she reassured it, reaching up to scratch the end of its snout, just behind the nose. The dog complied by bending down so she could reach its whole head, and once she'd finished, it pawed at the ground with those enormous front paws it had.
"Well, it's a good thing I got something else."
She pulled the knife out and showed it off. The white-furred opponent reacted the same as Lesser Dog; by keeping its eyes on the prize, eagerly panting all the while.
Finally, she threw it back across the snowy field in front of its station; the knife spiraled as it flew, and landed blade-first into the snow; she stared for a few moments as the dog bounded after it. If someone had been standing there, they would have been a goner.
But there hadn't been, and the dog came trotting up to her with the handle in its mouth. She rewarded it with another scratch behind the ear. The fur on the creature's head was amazingly soft; perhaps she was feeling a thick winter undercoat as she scratched?
It wasn't until she realized the softness of the dog's fur that she found herself sitting down in the snow, and she also noticed that it had become so content with the affection, it'd fallen asleep, resting its head on her lap...What a heavy head.
Ginger carefully and slowly lifted its head off of her folded legs and back onto the ground; she didn't want to wake it, but it had gotten just a bit too close for comfort. Once she had herself free, the human stood back up and proceeded to walk the path. There was a long rope bridge serving as her path, and beneath it was another hundred feet of free air, which ended in a ravine. It was a good thing it appeared to be in stable condition, or she might have had second thoughts about crossing it at all, especially considering her lack of wings. As she crossed the bridge, she sighed in relief at how little it rocked with her movement. It was almost as though the bridge was indeed suspended by something on the ground below.
"HUMAN!"
The familiar voice made her immediately divert her attention to the other side of the break in the land; the skeleton brothers were there.
"PREPARE YOURSELF FOR YOUR FINAL AND MOST DANGEROUS CHALLENGE! BEHOLD! THE GAUNTLET OF DEADLY TERROR!"
And then the traps came out, from above, and beneath. A giant flail, two swinging axe traps; a fire pit, a cannon, and...a dog(?) littered the rest of the bridge ahead with peril.
"WHEN I SAY THE WORD, IT WILL FULLY ACTIVATE!" Papyrus announced. "CANNONS WILL FIRE! SPIKES WILL SWING! BLADES WILL SLICE! FLAMES WILL RISE! DOGS WILL...WELL...I'M NOT SURE WHAT THE DOG WILL DO...BUT IT WILL DO SOMETHING! ONLY THE TINIEST CHANCE OF VICTORY REMAINS! ARE YOU READY HUMAN! BECAUSE I! AM!...ABOUT!...TO DO IT!"
She expected the contraption to go off any second, but it just sat there, still...Papyrus was sure taking his time.
"well?" his brother questioned him. "what's the holdup?"
"AUGH...WELL, BROTHER...IT SEEMS THAT THIS PUZZLE, UM...MIGHT BE JUST A BIT OO EASY TO DEFEAT THE HUMAN WITH. IT MAY BE MY GOAL TO CAPTURE A HUMAN, BUT I AM A SKELETON WITH STANDARDS AS WELL! WE MUST AT LEAST GIVE THE HUMAN A CHANCE! AND HER CHANCE AT GETTING PAST THIS...LIKE I SAID, IS RATHER LOW. BESIDES! THIS IS A VERY DIRECT APPROACH! NO CLASS AT ALL! SO AWAY IT GOES!"
And just as suddenly as it'd appeared, the deadly weaponry retreated back into storage for another time. Papyrus let out a sigh of relief, then turned to face the human. Ginger was giving him an odd, yet somewhat thankful look.
"WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING AT, HUMAN!?" he snapped. "THIS WAS YET ANOTHER DECISIVE VICTORY FOR THE GREAT PAPYRUS! NYEH! HEH! HEH!...HEH..."
He turned away again and fled, his wide grin seeming to have deflated some. She watched as the skeleton ran past the log buildings and signs up along the path ahead...
...Buildings and signs.
A town! Snowdin! She'd made it! Eagerly, the human crossed the rest of the bridge to get there.
"i don't know why he just put the stuff away like that," Sans commented before she passed out of ear shot. "you seem pretty capable of takin' on a challenge."
"Oh...You think so?"
"heck. do you know how much that dog's spear weighs? pushin' sixty pounds. that's how much."
"Wait you saw that?"
"you could say i did. just keeping an eye out for ya, kid, makin' sure everything's on the plus side. don't mind me if you see me hangin' around. i mean, someone's gotta make sure you don't get yourself killed. my brother? not a problem for you. but i doubt you'd want a six-and-a-half foot fishwife on your tail. even with someone of your capabilities."
"Well, I gotta admit, I DO have my fair share of working out; where I come from you need to be in peak physical condition. The off chance of an attack is never ignored, so we've always gotta be on our toes."
"well, that's good to know. but before you go on through waterfall, i say you keep up the training; you're gonna need it in case you happen upon the cap'n."
"I'll keep that in mind. Thanks, pal."
"no prob'.."
She finally made her way into Snowdin Town, according to what the sign said. There in between the Shop and the Inn was another Save Point. She phased her hand through it.
*Snowdin-Town
*File Saved
It was a nice-enough looking place, at least. Hopefully the monsters living here would be pleasant enough. But even if they weren't, she would still pull through. She wasn't going down easily, puzzles or no puzzles, captain or no captain.
But as long as she had DETERMINATION, she could take on anything. And with enough, perhaps even the fearsome Undyne.
A/N:
Hey, so we're in the town now! Honestly, I can't wait to get into the meat of this story. I won't give away too many spoilers, but I have an EPIC fight scene planned out for a future chapter...No, not the next one, sorry to disappoint you.
Glad I could get this done soon enough; this chapter felt like it took FOREEEEVER. But I finally finished it! Remember to review! :D