Meh. This chapter is shorter than the others, but it does kind of progress this arc a bit. it really isn't meant to be that much of a big one. However, things are srange, and don't quite add up...not yet, anyway. But progress is needed, and I haven't updated this in a while. So...here we go.

Asriel: Something is very wrong here...

Papyrus: THE GREAT PAPYRUS...is greatly confused by these events.

Chapter Start!

Papyrus was not going to lie, this day was not going very smoothly, like he hoped it would. It had started off easily enough, with him getting out of bed early so he could properly get to work on time for his new daily police patrols. He didn't expect for the job to be easy by a long shot, but it was quite ridiculous how things quickly spiraled out of control. This was rather troublesome. He had reassured his brother multiple times that he would be fine. Sans was hesitant, but he most certainly believed in him. Now look what happened.

Sigh. The Great Papyrus was not having a great day.

Shamir swung his sword down on Papyrus's neck, intending to end his life. However, he was stopped by a cyan coat of light covering his entire body, and he was pushed back a couple feet, stopping his momentum with his swords digging into the ground. He gritted his teeth and glared darkly at the one who robbed him of his prey. All he saw was a short skeleton with his hands in his pockets. He saw his blue jacket, white t-shirt, and...pink bunny slippers.

...What.

"hiya paps."

"SANS!" Papyrus cheered gleefully. "I...I HAVE HAD QUITE AN UNFORTUNATE DAY, AND IT WAS BECAUSE OF THIS PERSON RIGHT THERE. UNDYNE IS GOING TO BE VERY CRITICAL OF MY POOR PERFORMANCE." Papyrus lowered his head with a tired and disappointed sigh.

"everyone has a bad day once in a while, pap. nothin' to be ashamed of." With this, as well as the immense relief that Papyrus was overall okay, he turned around and stared down Shamir. good thing i got here in time...that's a record breaker for sure. "so, buddy...any particular reason why you made the rather unfortunate mistake of attacking my little brother out of the blue? take it from me, i think he's a pretty swell guy once you get to know him."

Shamir narrowed his eyes as he glared down the short skeleton in front of him. From a visual(and monster's) standpoint, he didn't look that interesting. He was not even standing in a defensive position for his brothers sake, which really placed doubt in the case of him being a threat. However, when he took a second look, he found himself incredibly hesitant to attack the short skeleton. That didn't make much sense to Shamir, but then he shook his head in denial of those thoughts. Having just battled with a hesitant Papyrus and figured how strong he was, there was some quiet speculation on how strong the older brother was. Perhaps that's why the shorter-and somehow older-skeleton is adopting such a casual demeanor?

Does he not see him as a threat?

"yo. didja hear me?" Sans asked, waving his hand a bit in confusion. "i, uh...kinda asked-"

"I know what you asked me."

"oh good. didn't really feel like repeating all of that...except possibly the part about papyrus being a swell guy. i like that part."

"How and what you feel is irrelevant to me."

"grumpy kitty. that's the vibe i'm gettin' from ya right now."

Shamir narrowed his eyes and clutched tightly onto his dual blades. "Are you mocking me, skeleton?"

"that depends...is it workin'?" Sans noticed how Shamir's eyes twitched in agitation. He took a mental guess on the feline not really being an expert on patience. "gettin' under your fur, kitty-kitty? eh? tryin' to start a bit of a cat-tastrophe by doin' what you're doin'?"

Shamir let a snarl pass through his muzzle, as he lifted his blade towards Sans. "Stand aside, skeleton. This doesn't concern you." After this blantant threat, Sans was suddenly gonrone. His eyes then widened as he found the skeleton placing his hand on his wrist, slowly pushing the blade away. I didn't even see him move...

"listen, pal...we have a good thing goin' here, humans and monsters. we're doing a pretty good job so far when it comes to that, most of us are gettin' along. it ain't the best, but we're off to a good start." Sans started with a shrug. "...so when you and your buddies pop up outta nowhere and start killin' off our fellow monster police...didja really think we would take it lightly? 'specially from me." Shamir was surprised to find that he was unable to move his paw from Sans' grasp, and was also shocked by the realization that Sans knew he wasn't operating alone. He slowly closed his eye sockets. "not only that, but you just tried to harm my bro...that's definitely a major error on your part."

Papyrus lifted his head a bit and sees Sans and Shamir about to engage. The latter was beginning to charge with more lightning. "WAIT! SANS, DON'T HARM HIM TOO BADLY! HE MIGHT JUST MISUNDERSTAND THE ENVIRONMENT HE'S IN, AND IS REACTING THE ONLY WAY HE MIGHT KNOW HOW!"

"that excuse was lost the moment he raised those swords against you. he's fair game." Sans said, hs eye sockets beginning to glow softly. "so, kitty. are ya gonna put those swords down and come quietly? or are ya gonna dig yourself a deeper hole than you already have? make the right choice and we might go easy on you. might."

Shamir began charging with more lighting as his eye's slitted in anger. "I'm not surrendering myself to you. You and your brother will per-" He was suddenly thrown back a couple feet, and then slammed face first into the ground with heavy telekinetic force. He groaned a bit at first, before he was lifted upwards again and slammed back down. This continued for a couple moments until Sans stopped completely, letting him fall to the ground. He walked up to him and looked him over.

"...huh. that didn't turn out too well for you, did it?" Sans said with a shrug. Usually he would humor potential hostiles by toying around with them in a fight. Cracking jokes, pulling pranks, things like that. Though this feline raised his swords against Papyrus and almost killed him. Sans made a point that he was never going to let that happen again when he had the power to prevent it. Thus, he wasted no time at all when it came to dispatching the weakened and tired Shamir. "hey paps, you think you can fix yourself up a bit?"

"I AM NO LADY TORIEL, BUT I'LL DO MY BEST." Papyrus reassured as he placed his gloved hand over his wound, sighing. "ALAS, THIS ISN'T THE BEST DAY OF WORK THE GREAT PAPYRUS HAS EVER HAD."

"like i said, everyone has a bad day once in a while. don't let it get ya down." Sans turned to the right, a more relaxed grin gracing him. "and look what we have here..."

Asriel soon appeared in a bright colorful flash of light, with the others in tow. Gaining their bearings and making sure they all made it alright, they were making their way towards the skeleton brothers, expressing surprise that the scuffle was already over. Undyne in particular was the one who gazed immediately at Shamir, her eye narrowed. It didn't take her too much time to recognize that he was the one who was responsible for all of the trouble starting. She also saw that he was beginning to stir, and tried to stand up.

Muffet was having none of it.

She stepped up to him and roughly placed her boot on his back, and he grunted in pain while she encased his wrists in glowing spider web restraints. Shamir felt his magic being blocked, and he confirmed himself to now be completely helpless. Muffet stepped off and smiled at her accomplishment. Undyne on the other hand, narrowed her she further and stepped up to him.

"You're under arrest, punk. Papyrus, was there anyone else with this guy?"

"YES. I SAW HIM WITH ANOTHER INDIVIDUAL. HE WSS MORE EMOTIONAL THAN THIS ONE, YET HE WAS ALSO MORE CASUAL. HE TOO IS FEELING, BUT I COULDN'T GET A GOOD LOOK AT HIM BEFORE HE DISAPPEARED INTO THE SHADOWS. I DON'T KNOW WHERE HE IS NOW, BUT HE COULDN'T HAVE GOTTEN FAR."

"Alright. I'm taking this guy in, then I'm getting back out there. Chara, Muffet, Alphys, Papyrus, I'm gonna need you all to keep an eye on this cat, make sure he doesn't go anywhere. As for me, Asriel, Red, and Sans, we're going after that other guy. We're not gonna let him get away!" She then turns towards Frisk and placed a hand on his head. "Frisk. I need you to notify Asgore and Toriel. They're gonna need to know about this, and they need to know about it soon."

"Okay. I got it. Good luck, you guys." With this, Frisk focused his own magic. With a bright flash of blue, he vanished without a trace.

Sans took a swift look over his shoulder to see the newest addition, Red. His eye sockets opened a bit in curiosity, though with the current circumstances, he'll have to satisfy them another time. He made a mental note to go deeper into this when everything has mostly calmed down. Or at the very least, calmed down to a degree that things can be handled in a significantly smoother manner than what they were currently doing. Right now, they in a rush to get to the bottom of things as quickly as they could. There were plenty of hostiles, they refused to let them all get away.

With this, his own group teleports to another part of Ebott via his own magic, while the other half stayed behind to watch over the restrained Shamir. Chara and Muffet looked at each other for a moment.

"Who do you think he is, Dearie? He bears your family crest on his cloak, and you say that shouldn't be."

"i don't know. But I have a feeling he won't be telling us about it anytime soon, so we shouldn't bother questioning him about it." Chara reasoned blankly, staring at Shamir with a blank expression. "...At least not yet."

Alphys was sure she wouldn't like where this would be heading. The look in Chara's eyes was blank...yet it also held something else. She blinked owlishly as she adjusted her glasses. "C-Chara...I really don't think I'll like what you're up to...but I'll ask anyway. What are you're intentions...?"

Chara didn't say much. Though Muffet seemed to gain an understanding of what he was up to, and she pouted childishly. "Chara-Dearie...and after I just tied him up, too?" Chara nodded silently. She sighed as she folded her upper and middle arms. "Hmph, fine. But aren't you worried that Undyne might yell at us for this?"

"Let's worry about the consequences later."

"Alright~" Muffet smiled. She soon placed her lower hands on the web restraints, and she immediately caused them to dissipate and vanish. Alphys and Papyrus gaped at the outrageous move, as Shamir slowly stands up and stares at Chara in confusion. Both he-as well as the totally flabbergasted Alphys and Papyrus-were caught off-guard by this. They were further caught off-guard by Chara handing Shamir a Cinnamon Bunny.

"Here. Heal yourself up a little." Chara said blankly.

Shamir blinked in utter astonishment. He then takes the healing treat and stood up on his feet again. He looked over Chara briefly with suspicious eyes. "What are your intentions...?"

Chara shrugged. "Undyne usually jumps at the opportunity for a good fight. She's on the clock right now, though. So I'll have to take her place and see what you've got, since you apparently have the guts to kill a couple of her men. As you can see, she isn't entirely happy about that. And you just got beaten up by Sans, who wasted NO time humilating you since you messed with Papyrus. Me, on the other hand...I'll give you a fighting chance. Try to take me on. I win, you tell me why you're wering that Delta Rune symbol and killing Royal Guardsmen. If I lose, I walk away and you can continue as you were."

"And why would I agree to that?"

Chara smirked. "You seem to have it out for the Dreemurrs, by the looks of things and what Papyrus said. My name is Chara Dreemurr. A happily adopted member of the Royal Family. Have a problem with that?"

Shamir growled as he he charged his blades with lightning. "A human child...a Dreemurr...do you see me as a joke?!" He suddenly leapt forward and slashed at Chara, just shy of hitting his Red Locket. Chara immediately narrowed his eyes and kicked Shamir in the chest, pushing him back a couple feet before stopping.

"Alright. You've been trained by someone tough. That interests me." Chara smiled. When we finish our battle, I'll have to consult Sans on how to bring back the fallen monsters without dangerously damaging the timeline...hope Asriel knows what he's doing, since his Determination overrides my own. "Alright, let's start! But one ground rule." Chara gently caresses his Red Locket, and his crimson eyes glow seriously, followed by a frown. "No one but my family touches my Locket without permission. That's one way to piss me off very quickly, which would really make your day suck more than it aleady does."

Shamir finds himself shivering in terror at the quiet threat, even though he doesn't exactly know how or why he's afraid of an adolescent human child...

(Meanwhile)

"Sooooo...what?" Red asked as she was following Undyne, Asriel, and Sans. "I've just been introduced to more monsters in a short span of time, and I didn't get a chance to catch up at ALL."

"Oh. Eheh..sorry. We were in such a rush that you weren't really introduced." Asriel said as he sheepishly rubbed his neck. "W-Well...since we don't have time for detailed introductions, we'll have to make things quick to speed things along a bit. I'm Asriel-"

"She already knows that part, punk. She's talking about the ones she just met a couple moments ago." Undyne said with a roll of her eye.

"O-Oh...right..." Asriel laughed nervously. "W-Well, that tall skeleton was Papyrus, a member of the Monster Police. And the skeleton in front of us is named Sans."

"yo. don't have the time for fully drawn-out and detailed introductions, but it's cool to meet ya anyway." Sans waved without turning towards her. The lack of time for proper judgement has left him rather cuurious about her, but she seems to be okay enough for Asriel to try and introduce to the others, and safe enough for Undyne to trust. She also didn't seem to have any malicious intent, so she wasn't someone he could seriously consider a threat to his loved ones. Plus she was offering her help to a world she barely seemed to understand. In time, everyone will have to grow to know this person better. No need to rush that process, that one will obviously take some time. Time to focus on the present, which was serving to be quite hectic.

Red turned towards Sans. "So that was one of the guys killing monsters back there? And he has more guys with him?" The skeleton nodded without much denial to that fact. Red then clutched onto her sword. "Well, we're obviously going to stop them all, aren't we? Before they have the chance to kill any other monsters?"

"it would be nice for them to tell us why they're even doin' that in the first place but yeah, stoppin' em' kinda takes the cake when it comes to top priorities. you seem to be a nice gal because asriel and undyne trust ya so much, but we should discuss your official intergation into our little large monster family until we've gotten this crisis under control. as best as we possibly can, anyway." Sans casted a quick glance towards Asriel, who nodded sheepishly in understanding. He was right to have created a SAVE point before getting out of bed. If there was no way to completely salage the damage, he'll be forced to LOAD. This pained Asriel as he assured Sans that they were done with messing with the timeline like that. But the skeleton understood that he couldn't just leave things like this, not when things were looking up for everyone.

Undyne soon narrowed her eye as she stopped the three groups immediately. "...More dust...and judging by those two daggers...it's Doggo's. Dammit!" Undyne gritted her teeth and clenched her fists. She then turned around and saw more dust. "Lesser Dog and Greater Dog's armor! Them too?! Why, if I get my hands on the bastards that did this, I am SO gonna-!"

Red blinked as she heard the sound of barking. She turned around and looked towards the corner where it was orginating. Asriel also sensed it as he sees a dog coming out shyly from the corner. And not just any dog, Greater Dog. He swiftly runs towards Undyne and jumped into her arms. "It's Greater! He must have left his armor behind in order to run and hide from whoever was attacking them..." She sighed as she gently pets the terrified canine's head. "It sucks, but at least one of you got away alright. Do you think you can tell us who's responsible for this, and where they are now?" Undyne looked ariund a bit as the whimpering dog nuzzles her chest to gain some form of emotional comfort. "They didn't stand a chance. But by the looks of it, Doggo was at least able to resist a little before he was struck down...he must have bought Greater Dog time to run and hide until I came along..."

"I smell the inteense fear..." Red said quietly as she saw how scared Greater Dog seemed. She growled quietly. "Whoever is behind this is definitely gonna pay..." She lifted her head as she sniffed the air to gain some sort of sense as to where the threat might be now. She turned around with a glare. "I can smell them...they're still here...somewhere..." As if on cue, she turned around and slashed an incoming black fireball in half, the two halves flying by harmlessly and detonating against the walls. "As in...very close by."

Good reflexes... Undyne mentally complimented, before standing up and turning towards her attackers. "Alright, who the hell threw that?!"

Sans narrowed his eye sockets as a dozen bones manifested above him and launched towards the attackers.. He sees them immediately dodge them by jumping backwards out of the alley. They immediately followed them out of the alley and into a bigger space. Asriel blinked in astonishment as he sees that they were all feline just like Shamir. Except the one in front seemed to be significantly...darker than the other two.

Parvos slowly took an analytical towards Asriel, who narrowed his eyes towards the feline. After a moment of consideration, he smirked slyly. "Ah...so it's true. Prince Asriel Dreemurr...who would have thought that you were back from the dead. Welp, that confirms one thing, at least." He stood upright and placed his paws behind his neck in a very casual manner. "You all are up to somethin' quite shady. Preeeeetty sure you're supposed to be dead. But here you are, alive and kicking! What exactly happened down in the Underground, huh? And how exactly did you break the Barrier when Frisk was meant to be the final child needed? You all didn't use his soul? Fascinating..."

Asriel suddenly widened his eyes at this information, and he could see that Parvos realized he slipped a tiny bit...though he also looked like he could care less if that information slipped or not. But before he could confirm this, Parvos shrugged as he turned and waved his paw.

"Welp, I found out what I needed to. Guess I'd better get outta here and make a clean getaway. Well...not exactly clean...but what can be considered clean these days, am I right?" Parvos said as he jumped against a building and swiftly climbed upwards, immediately placing his feet on the roof without much struggle or exhaustion. "See ya later!" He then began running off acrooss rooftops.

"i don't think so, bud." Sans narrowed his eye sockets and vanished in a flash of cyan light, chasing after him.

Undyne narrowed her eye as she stood her ground against Ribras and Rabras, who began unsheathing their axes. She gently sets Greater Dog down as she turned towards the two felines. "You two have a lot to answer for, since you're involved with that asshole. I'm giving you a chance to come quietly before this gets even more out of hand than it already has. Unless you'd like for me to pound the information outta ya!"

Ribras and Rabras looked at each other with a strong nod, before staring at them with sad faces. They both slowly removed their axes...and they began coating them with lava. Undyne's eye widened as she recognized lava magic, or magmakinesis. This run the risk of doing serious damage to the area if left unchecked. The former looked at Undyne with regret. "We unfortunately...cannot allow ourselves to do that. Our apologies...but we've accepted this assignment fully aware that we might not come back from it."

"But that does not mean that we have to go down quietly." Rabras agreed. "Asriel Dreemurr. From all the rumors we've heard and all the info we've been provided, you and Chara should certainly be dead. We're not aware at all when it comes to how that's possible, but that matters little to us. Our objective is clear, eliminating you has taken top priority."Asriel could see she really didn't mean that, as the soul and the mind tend to have different interests when they're not working in sync. And Asriel could sense in both of their souls that they don't wish to do this. Maybe they could use that to wear down their will to fight, but it wasn't going to be that easy.

Red aimed her sword towards them her eyes narrowing behind her mask. "You cats are no match for me! You'd be better off giving up now and save yourselves the embarassment of total defeat!"

As they were dealing with this, Parvos landed on yet another rooftop, right before Sans appeared a couple feet behind him. He slowly turned towards the short skeleton behind him, before a sly, confident grin graced his muzzle. He stood up fully and turned around to face him, his paws behind his neck. "Heh. Teleporters. Has anyone told you that's a cheat move?"

"many times. now spill. why are you attacking monsters but ignoring the humans?"

Parvos shrugged. "I was sent here to confirm Asriel and Chara Dreemurr's mysterious resurrections. And my main way of figuring that out is getting their attention via killing a few Royal Guard members and I was right to do so...okay, that was actually Shamir's idea, but he's a prideful asshole who thinks he's playing hero. I just used that as a cover, as he doesn't know what I'm really up to. I'm not gonna lie, I was totally caught off-guard by this new development, and it confirms that you all were up to something quite shady. But so are my superiors, so I'm not in any position to judge. For now, I don't need to dig any further, my job is done for today."

Sans wasn't satisfied, however. "you said that frisk was supposed to be the final child needed to break the barrier...how would you know that? as to why i asked that, i've never seen you before. and i'm pretty sure that all the monsters that survived the war were sealed underground behind that same barrier. so here's the big question...who the hell are you and your pals?" Parvos didn't answer at first, which made Sans's eyes glow cyan with impatience. "don't make me ask twice."

The feline sighed as he shrugged carelessly. "Alright alright...I really shouldn't be telling you this. But since I'm pretty bored out of mind, I guess I can at least be fair to you. The humans aren't a part of this particular assignment, so I don't really gain anything from harming them. As for that Barrier thing, yeah. Monsters were sealed Underground. A majority of us." Parvos slowly raised his apaw, which began gathering black flames. Sans manifested a Gaster Blaster over his head, intending to do battle, however reluctantly. There was still a chance that humans might get caught up in this mess. Parvos tilted his head and grinned darkly as his tail slowly moved behind him.

"But not all."

The Parvos ShockDreemurr knows is much simpler than the Parvos seen here. So he might he unexpectantly surprised by how far this cat's enigma might go...