"...hey, everyone. got something really important to say today." Sans said, one morning after Team Determination's capture of Muffet. However, this seemed serious. Papyrus seemed void of any of his normal cheer for once while Sans, stuck with a permanent smile, seemed to give off an uneasy air. "so….there's this place up north, called snowdin, or something like that. it's this little, snowy forest that's actually pretty important. but….we've received reports that all time has stopped there." There was a collective gasp throughout the group of apprentices.
"You've gotta be kidding!" Snowdrake exclaimed. "Time's stopped?! That's impossible!"
"How are we absolutely sure that time has stopped?" Vegetoid pointed out. "Maybe the person reporting it was new and rather green!" There was a small murmur of agreement, before Whimsun actually spoke up.
"I-I-It's unthinkable…..a-are you s-s-saying….?" They asked. "T-T-That….t-the t-t-t-t-"
"YES, I AM AFRAID THE COMPLETELY AND UTTERLY UNTHINKABLE HAS HAPPENED." Papyrus said, cutting them off. "THERE WAS A TIME GEAR IN SNOWDIN FOREST. AND IT HAS INDEED BEEN STOLEN." A dead silence fell over the entire Guild. Nobody could believe it. Nobody wanted to believe it. To steal a Time Gear was something that had never happened before. Nobody had been foolish enough to even think of doing that. And now…. "BUT, NOT TO WORRY! WE HAVE BEEN ASKED TO KEEP AN EYE OUT FOR SUSPICOUS ACTIVITIES, IN ORDER TO CATCH THE FIEND WHO DID THIS!"
"so, be sure to report any weird monster. we kinda need every single lead possible." Sans agreed, nodding. "but other than that, that's end of morning announcements. get to work and try to good work as always, okay?" The other Apprentices dispersed, still talking among themselves about what they had just heard. Frisk and Monster Kid were about to follow after them, before Papyrus himself suddenly yelled for them.
"TEAM DETERMINATION! OVER HERE, I NEED TO TALK TO YOU TWO!" He yelled, waving wildly for them. Exchanging a small glance, the two quickly rushed over. "GREAT! I HAVE A SUPER SPECIAL ASSIGNMENT FOR YOU TWO TODAY!"
"A special assignment?" Monster Kid repeated, before he lit up with excitement. "Yo! What is it?! Is it something cool?!"
"YOU BET IT'S COOL!" Papyrus said, before pulling his own Wonder Map out. "ME AND MY BROTHER HAVE GOTTEN WORD OF A SECRET BEHIND A NEARBY WATERFALL. EVER SINCE YOUR INCREDIBLE CAPTURE OF MUFFET, WE'VE BEEN THINKING, AND WE THINK IT'S TIME FOR YOUR FIRST EXPLORATION! WE NEED YOU TWO TO GO INVESTIGATE THIS WATERFALL RIGHT…." He slammed one finger down on a huge waterfall not too far from New Home. "HERE! SO JUST HEAD OUT WHEN YOU'RE READY!" However, Monster Kid suddenly began shaking. Frisk, noticing this, asked him what was wrong. It wasn't exactly cold this time, especially since Snowdrake had gone upstairs.
"Y-Yo….I just can't believe it." He said, sounding as if he was choking back tears of joy. "Our first real exploration! It feels like we're even more of an exploration team now! Frisk!" He turned sharply, grinning widely. "Let's go! Let's go and do our best!" Frisk felt taken back at first, before nodding with a similar smile.
And with a bit of preparation, they were on their way.
The waterfall they had been ordered to investigate was situated right on the cliff face, only a couple minutes walk from New Home. Frisk had even heard from monsters around town that it was situated right above some kind of hot spring, making the area above rather warm. Strangely enough, there was some kind of walkway leading right to the water, although it looked natural as opposed to monster-made.
"Yo. So this is the waterfall? This looks like a completely normal waterfall to me." Monster Kid commented once they had gotten there. "Maybe…" He walked closer, as if he was going to walk right through the water before he was sent flying back with a loud smack.
Frisk rushed to his side, asking if he was alright. The monster just shook it off, managing to get back to his feet and it looked like he was just fine.
"Man, that water packs a punch!" He said, shaking himself dry. "You try it Frisk, it's super strong!" Frisk felt reasonably hesitant, but still began walking to the water's edge. Monster Kid was completely right, it was nearly impossible to even stand near the edge. They took one more hesitant step closer, before being blown back with another hard slap noise. They landed close to where Monster Kid had landed, able to quickly pick themselves up before shaking themselves dry, which was certainly more easier said than done.
"I bet that even a water-type monster couldn't get through that. That's how powerful it felt!" Monster Kid said. "So….I wonder where we start? There's obviously nothing past the water but a whole lot of rock and pain, so where else…" Frisk thought for a moment, before the world suddenly spun around them. This feeling again, was all they thought, before their vision cut to black suddenly and they could hear a far-off shatter.
They could see the waterfall, and a rather short figure, wearing something with what looked like a hood, approaching it. The figure looked from side to side, before backing away and taking a giant leap right at the wall of water. A flash showed the figure rolling through the wall, landing on the other side in a dark, crystal-filled cave. They got up, shook themselves, before heading further into the cave.
Frisk blinked once in surprise as they returned to reality. Who had they just seen? Was it someone who was eventually going to visit the cave? At least they had gleaned something useful.
There was a cave behind the water.
They turned to Monster Kid and told him their plan. A plan to jump headfirst into the water, while they also assured him that there was indeed a cave behind the water. Monster Kid simply looked at them like they were crazy (and to be honest, Frisk felt like they were), before they quickly added they had another dizzy spell beforehand.
"Yo, you had another one of those things?!" Monster Kid asked, cutting Frisk off. "And you must've seen someone jumping through, right? Well…." He shifted from one foot to the other. "Okay, I trust you, Frisk. I trust you wholeheartedly, let's do this!" The two of them then took several steps back, readying themselves for the jump. Frisk even heard Monster Kid tell himself to "be brave…..be the bravest ever!".
After a few minutes, they both ran at top speed right into the water. Everything felt like a mess for a few moments, before Frisk felt their back hit stone. They rolled for a few moments, before coming to a rest on their back. Monster Kid was grunting the entire time, before he too landed right on his face.
"O-Ow….Man, that really hurt…." He groaned, as the two of them both staggered back up. "But...Yo, Frisk, you were right! There's an entire cave here!" He ran closer to what looked like the only way forwards. He turned, jumping slightly while grinning widely. "C'mon, c'mon, c'mon! There might even be treasure at the end!"
The cave was surprisingly a Mystery Dungeon, with about 12 floors this time in total. The two still managed to get through the cave rather quickly and reached an entire clearing filled with multiple crystals of all sizes. All the way at the back of the room, there was a giant crystal, this one much bigger than the rest.
"Yo….This place is beautiful!" Monster Kid exclaimed, as the two walked further in. "This has to be the deepest part of the entire Dungeon! I wonder if there's any treasure!" He instantly caught sight of the giant gemstone, rushing forwards and grabbing onto it with his tail. Frisk asked what he was doing, raising an eyebrow. "I'm gonna….pull it out! Duh, what else do you….think I'm gonna do?!"
However, the armless little monster couldn't do a thing. Frisk offered to try, grabbing onto the sides to the tail as hard as they could. Just like Monster Kid, however, they could barely make it move. Huffing, Monster Kid said he would try again before he grabbed on and began once more.
The world suddenly began to spin yet again, right before everything went black. The vision this time showed what looked like the same figure from before. The figure didn't hesitate, they instead walked right up to the gem and pressed down on it. The entire floor shook terribly, just before a wall of water shot out from seemingly nowhere. The figure didn't move at all, and Frisk wasn't sure if they were even there when the water hit them.
As the vision faded, Frisk yelled out for Monster Kid, as he was still pulling on the gem. He jumped and his tail pushed against the gem, making a small click noise. Panicked, they turned and tried to run out of the way of the water. Monster Kid yelled after them, before they were hit.
The next few minutes were pure confusion for them, as all Frisk could see was the churning black water. They held their breath, unable to hear if Monster Kid was even anywhere nearby. Soon, they hit sunlight before falling into much clearer water. Frisk quickly found themselves looking up at the sky, completely soaked. Monster Kid splashed up a moment later, blinking once or twice in utter confusion.
"Woah there! Looks like we've got some visitors, huh?" An old turtle was watching the two, standing on a dry part of rock. He looked wizened, complete with a beard. "What brings you two falling into our Hot Spring?"
"H-H-Hot Spring?!" Monster Kid stammered, before turning sharply. "But that's so weird! We were just in that waterfall cave a few minutes ago! But then water suddenly blew us all the way here!"
"A waterfall cave? You mean that old Mystery Dungeon?" The turtle asked. "I thought most exploration teams knew about the gem trap in there! Ah well, what can you do with naive explorers? But that's really besides the point, I should be welcomin' you two to the Hot Spring!" He held a hand out for them, laughing slightly. "The name's Gerson! Most monsters 'round here call me something of an elder."
"I-I'm Monster Kid. And this is Frisk." Monster Kid said, motioning to both of them using his tail. ""And….yo….we're real sorry about dropping in suddenly. We didn't mean to." Gerson just waved it aside, laughing all the while.
"Wah ha ha! Don't worry about it, youngster!" He said. "Before you two start heading home, why not enjoy the Hot Spring for a bit? The hot water's always good for your bones!"
"Hm….Yeah, I don't see any problem with that!" Monster Kid said, a grin appearing on his face. "We'll just stay here for a few minutes before we head back!" Frisk nodded, rather grateful that 1, the two of them weren't currently dead, and 2, they had the chance to relax. Before they went back to the Guild, that is.
But something was still nagging at them, something lingering in the back of their mind. Who had been the monster they had seen in their weird dizzy spell? Gerson had said exploration teams had been there before, but he never specified what exploration team. It was strange, and Frisk couldn't help but wonder about it. They decided to ask Papyrus once they reported back to him, asking if he had sent any previous exploration teams there before them.
"A SECRET CAVE BEHIND THE WATERFALL?" An hour or two later, the two finally made their way back to the Guild, reporting straight to Papyrus as soon as they got back. He looked amazed to hear this news, before he gave them the biggest smile they had ever seen. "I KNEW THERE WAS SOMETHING STRANGE, I KNEW IT! YOU BOTH DID A GREAT JOB!"
"But we weren't able to bring that gem back….it activated a trap that pushed us all the way to the Hot Springs." Monster Kid pointed out. "So….isn't our whole exploration a failure…..?" Papyrus shook his head.
"NO NO NO! IT'S QUITE A BIG SUCCESS IF YOU ASK ME! EVEN I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, HAD NO IDEA THERE WAS A CAVE BEHIND THE WATER!" He said. "IT WASN'T A FAILURE, SINCE YOU MADE A DISCOVERY, WHICH IS WHAT EXPLORATION TEAMS ARE SUPPOSED TO DO!" Frisk crossed their arms, thinking. Papyrus clearly couldn't have sent a team to the waterfall before them if even he had no clue that there was a cave inside it. So who could that monster be?
They reviewed everything. The monster in their visions had been short, but they had looked like a silhouette, with no defining features. They strained their memory to remember something, anything about them. That's when it hit them, a hood, and thinking hard about it, Frisk could remember only one monster they knew who was short and wore a hood like that. But it should've been impossible. Still, it couldn't hurt to ask.
So they spoke up, asking Papyrus their question. The skeleton looked at them like they were crazy, while also looking rather confused.
"HAS MY BROTHER EVER BEEN TO THE WATERFALL CAVE?" He repeated. "DEAR APPRENTICE, MY BROTHER AND I HAVE ALWAYS TRAVELED TOGETHER, I WOULD KNOW-WAIT, ACTUALLY THAT MIGHT BE POSSIBLE." When given a questioning look by the two, he continued on by saying; "WELL, SANS AND I ONCE HAD A PERIOD WHERE WE BOTH EXPLORED SEPARATELY, SO HE MIGHT'VE BEEN TO THE CAVE BEFORE…..GIVE ME A MINUTE." Papyrus ran off, disappearing for a few moments before he returned.
"Yo….so what'd Sans say?" Monster Kid asked, tilting his head.
"WELL, WITH HIM, IT'S SOMETIMES HARD TO TELL WHETHER HE'S TELLING THE TRUTH OR NOT." Papyrus admitted. "AT FIRST, HE DENIED IT. BUT THEN WHEN I BROUGHT UP THE WHOLE BEING SEPARATED THING, HE SAID "OH, RIGHT THAT. THINKING ABOUT IT, MAYBE I DID GO TO THAT PLACE."" Monster Kid looked rather disappointed, and Frisk couldn't lie, they were slightly upset at this news too. Part of them had really been hoping that they were wrong and Sans hadn't been there.
"Aw man….bummer….." Monster Kid said. Papyrus frowned slightly, since it seemed clear he didn't exactly like seeing people feeling so down.
"I AM VERY SORRY ABOUT THIS TURN OF EVENTS, APPRENTICES." He said. "BUT NOT TO WORRY! I WILL COME UP WITH A WAY TO MAKE IT UP TO YOU! I JUST NEED TO THINK IT OVER AND DISCUSS IT WITH SANS, BUT I PROMISE IT WILL BE REALLY GOOD! I'LL ANNOUNCE IT TOMORROW!" He began walking off, giggling slightly to himself. Frisk and Monster Kid exchanged a small glance, a bit confused.
They were just going to have to wait until tomorrow to see what was up.