They found out rather quickly what Papyrus had planned the next day. During morning cheers, Papyrus called for the apprentices to stay for a few moments so he could announce something.
"WE'RE GOING ON AN EXPEDITION!" He announced happily, earning a rightful gasp from the rest of the guild (minus Sans who must've known). "I KNOW, I KNOW, IT'S BEEN SUCH A LONG TIME SINCE WE LAST WENT OUT ON ONE, WHICH IS WHY WITH NEW MEMBERS, I THOUGHT IT WOULD BE FUN!"
"Wait, hang on a moment, Papyrusssss." Parsnik spoke up. "Are you ssssssaying that it's possssssible anyone can go on this one? Even the rookiessss?"
"OF COURSE IT DOES!" Papyrus replied. "AFTER ALL, OUR NEWEST MEMBERS HAVE ALL BEEN DOING SUCH A GREAT JOB, SO IT SEEMS FITTING!"
"but, uh, that's not something set in stone." Sans pointed out. "you gotta do good work in order to be chosen. so….do your work and do a good job at it too." He shrugged, before dismissing the apprentices.
"Yo….so that's what Papyrus was talking about!" Monster Kid said as he and Frisk both began heading off to the second floor. "Man, we've gotta do a really good job! I really, really wanna go on that Expedition!" Frisk nodded in agreement, having a different reason for wanting to go on this expedition. They would most likely be going to someplace very far away, and it was possible they could find out more about themselves on the journey. They started towards the Job Notice Board, except there were two monsters already standing right in front of it, blocking all view.
Both of them stopped dead cold when they saw who it was. It was the very same bullies who had stolen Monster Kid's relic fragment.
Migosp and Loox.
"Hey! It's you two!" Migosp yelled, once they noticed the two as well. "The heck are you two even doing in here?!"
"Yeah, this is a place for exploration teams, not the playground!" Loox sneered. Monster Kid stepped forwards, gritting his teeth angrily.
"Yo, we're an exploration team!" He yelled. "Shouldn't we be asking you that question? What are two thugs like you doing here?" Loox and Migosp exchanged a glance, before they bursted out laughing.
"In case you haven't noticed, we're an exploration team too!" Loox said, in a mock offended tone. "The name's Team Skull. Sure we might not operate….by the book, but we're still a team nonetheless!"
"Yeah, we're just checking the jobs, calm down!" Migosp said, waving one pincer slightly. "Bet you two are as good as us. You're total wimps!"
"We're the wimps now?!" Monster Kid said, getting progressively more angry. "What about when we beat you, were we wimps then? 'Cause if we were, then how come we beat you two so easily?!"
"You got lucky." Loox hissed. "We actually have the skills to back us up, unlike you two. Kid, you're a complete coward and your friend there barely talks!"
"M-Maybe I am a bit of a coward, and Frisk talks just enough!" Monster Kid retorted. "But we'll prove you wrong! We'll be picked for that expedition and prove you wrong right away!" Frisk's hand instantly met their forehead, especially when both Loox and Migosp gave him a questioning look.
"Expedition? You're seriously going to try and get into something like that?" Migosp asked, almost incredulously.
"You can't make it, not unless you have the skills anyways." Loox added. "You only beat us once, but that was just cause we didn't have the Chief with us!"
"Yeah, yeah! If we had the Chief with us, we would've beaten you two into the ground!" Migosp said. "You two wouldn't have stood a chance!"
"Uh….Chief? Who's the chief?" Monster Kid asked, tilting his head slightly.
"Yeah, Team Skull is made up of three monsters. Me, Migosp, and the Chief." Loox said. "And oh boy, is the chief tough. He doesn't fight much, but he's really strong! In fact, I think I can hear him soarin' in right now!"
As if on cue, a monster neither of them had ever seen before. He was big, with no legs or hands. Instead, all he had was a pair of wings and a tail with what looked like a eye on the flat side of it. He flew past Frisk, suddenly creating a huge gust of wind that pushed the poor goat monster off of their feet. Monster Kid let out a yelp, before he nearly ran out of the way of whoever this monster was.
"Hey! You two find any good jobs already?" He asked, in a rather short, rude tone. "I got bored waiting out there, so you two better have something good."
"The guild jobs pay terribly." Loox said. "But, we did hear something pretty juicy, chief!" The new monster lowered one of his wings, allowing Loox to climb on and whisper something to it.
"Heh, I see. That does sound pretty interesting." He replied. "C'mon, we got some planning to do, boys." Loox hopped down and the three all somehow made their way back up the ladder. Monster Kid had been standing to the side the entire time, watching with his tail slowly curling around him.
That is, before he remembered Frisk.
"Yo, Frisk, are you okay?!" Monster Kid asked, running to their friend. Frisk had recovered from the sudden gust of wind, nodding and giving a small thumbs-up. "...I'm real sorry about that, Frisk. I guess I am a coward….just like they said."
Frisk told him that they weren't a coward. There had been plenty of other times where he had been brave. Besides, both Loox and Migosp had made it very clear the two of them were complete and utter bullies as well. Monster Kid should barely even listen to them.
"Yeah….I….I guess you're right." He said, sniffling slightly. "But….I really am kind of a chicken….Guess it can't be helped." The two both turned back to the board. "Whatever, I won't let that get me down then! Let's do lots of jobs and show that we're ready for the expedition!" Frisk nodded and the two chose the jobs for the day.
The next few days passed by normally enough. That is, however, until Sans stopped everyone just after morning cheers, supposedly with another announcement about the expedition.
"so, i know everyone's super excited about the expedition coming up, right?" He said, stopping everyone from running off already. "it's not time to announce members yet, but we do have at least something to announce. for our expedition, we'll be having 3 new allies join us along the way."
"Allies?" Almost half of the guild repeated, a bit confused. Sans didn't even get to say another word before a huge gust of wind blew through the room. When it finally stopped, each and every one of them could see the new allies.
Team Skull.
"How's that for a classy entrance?" The leader of the team, the monster who had suddenly appeared last time, said. "The name's Glyde, and these two are Loox and Migosp!" He gave a huge grin. "Y'all better remember that name," He even glared over at Monster Kid and Frisk, "especially you two!"
"AH! IT SEEMS YOU'RE ALREADY ACQUAINTED WITH A FEW MEMBERS, EH?" Papyrus asked, looking extremely happy with this news. "GREAT! THAT MAKES THINGS SO MUCH MORE EASIER!"
"yeah….so these guys aren't gonna be staying full time." Sans continued, looking a bit distrusting of Team Skull. "they'll live with us here in the guild and whatever, but they aren't gonna be apprentices. so be sure to treat our new guests with respect. that's all, time to get to work."
The rest of the guild was dismissed, all of them whispering among themselves about this new development. Both members of Team Determination felt especially uneasy about this. Those three had to be up to something. And it was probably nothing good either.
But, yet, whatever the three had planned, they did nothing for about 4 or 5 days. They seemed to be on their best behaviour. The only odd thing that had happened during the course was one thing.
The food stock for the guild seemed to be running extremely low.
Sans eventually waved them over one morning, looking just a touch more worried than usual.
"listen you two. i've got a really important job for you today." He said. "as i'm sure you've probably heard from shyren or whimsun….we've been running low on food lately. i checked the bin this morning and, surprise surprise, we were nearly out. so i need you two to go to these woods right here," he motioned for them to take out their Wonder map before pointing to a patch of forest just north of the waterfall, "so you guys can find these things called 'perfect tomatoes' or something like that."
"Uh….Perfect Tomatoes?" Monster Kid repeated, tilting his head. "What're those?"
"well, my brother loves making spaghetti for his dinner. a friend of his taught him how to make it." Sans explained. "but she told him that the best ingredient for the sauce were perfect tomatoes. thing is, they can only be found in this specific part of the forest. i can handle the rest, but i need you two to go find some and bring it back. otherwise, pap won't be able to make his spaghetti and….." For the first time since they had gotten there, Sans visibly flinched.
"...Go on, what'll happen?" Monster Kid asked. "What'll happen if Papyrus can't make his spaghetti?" Sans hesitated for a long time, before giving a small nod.
"he would…" He trailed off, before letting out a short breath. "yeah, that would be what happens."
"Yo, c'mon! You gotta tell us now!" Monster Kid whined. But one look from Sans told him otherwise. "Ugh, fine...We'll go and get those tomatoes, don't worry!"
"thanks kid. good luck and whatever." Sans said as the two ran out. A slight breeze suddenly passed by, startling the skeleton slightly. But when looking for the source, he couldn't find a thing.
There was nothing but what he could've sworn was the echo of someone speaking. Someone saying; "Let's mess with them a small bit, then. Shall we?"
The forest didn't take long to get through. Soon enough, the two made it to a huge clearing completely filled with overgrown tomato vines. However, almost every tomato was missing. Those that were still there sometimes still had giant bite-marks on it or were nearly rotten.
"Yo, this sucks! There's barely any good Perfect Tomatoes here!" Monster Kid yelled as the two checked a lot of the vines. "At this rate, we won't even bring back 5 of them!"
"Man, doesn't that suck then?" A voice said from within a huge tangle of vines. "'Oh no! There's no more perfect tomatoes!'. Listening to you two whining like that is really great!"
"What the heck?! Who's there, show yourself!" Monster Kid yelled. The tangle of vines suddenly blew apart as Glyde broke free from the vines, with Loox and Migosp scrambling out from underneath as well. "Y-You three?! Yo, Frisk, I bet you anything that these three ate all of the good Perfect Tomatoes!"
"Man, don't you just love jumping to conclusions?" Migosp hissed, grinning slightly. "We came with a little gift for you, relax!" The little bug-type monster pulled a sudden sack filled with tomatoes, throwing it towards Team Determination.
"Yo, those are the Perfect Tomatoes!" Monster Kid exclaimed, almost about to rush over before Frisk suddenly grabbed onto the back of his Manly Bandana.
"What, you don't trust us? Why would we ever betray you?" Glyde asked, a suspicious (or at least to Frisk) smirk. "Go on, scoop up those Perfect Tomatoes!"
Frisk spoke up, asking how they know that the three of them wouldn't just knock the two of them out as soon as they grabbed the sack. All three members of Team Skull suddenly stopped dead cold, before turned to each other and whispering not so quietly.
"Well, well, well. Color me impressed, those two actually didn't fall for it." Loox said. Glyde made a slight "tsk" noise, glaring over his shoulder.
"What now, boss?" Migosp asked. "Is it time for plan B?"
"Guess so. C'mon Loox." Glyde said, rather sharply. Loox nodded and the two both stepped forwards, while Migosp stepped back. "So, you two might not have fallen for our little act. But there's always the finale! So take this…."
"My Dark Pulse!" Loox finished.
"And my Ominous Wind! Double-Dark Combo!" Glyde yelled. Loox blinked, just before sending out a stream of dark circles. Glyde began flapping his wings rapidly, hitting the two with hard-hitting wind.
The next thing either of them knew, they were sent to the ground reeling. Frisk tried to get back up, as they heard the three thugs begin moving. But nothing happened and they fell back onto the ground.
This was most certainly not going to end well.
A/N: So whenever I get reviews, I'm gonna do that thing where people at least mention the reviews in the chapters. Idk, I wanna have some way of responding to them.
First off, thanks WolfGirl01! I'm glad you liked it! Also, Chara as Dusknoir? That's interesting. I didn't think of that. I have two different ideas for what Chara could do during this, but neither of them involve being Dusknoir. I have a different character in mind for Dusknoir, and it might seem a bit weird, but I like it either way.
Anyways, hope you all enjoyed this chapter!