"so let me get this right. you made it to the clearing where all those perfect tomatoes are, but you somehow failed to get even one?" An hour later, the two had managed to get back to the guild. Team Skull had taken every single Perfect Tomato that had been left, leaving absolutely nothing for the two. Breaking the news to Sans hadn't been easy, especially since the skeleton looked more alarmed than before.
"Yeah….We're really sorry about it, Sans…." Monster Kid said, kicking at the ground. "But we would've gotten them if it hadn't been for-"
"I don't want to hear any excuses from either of you." Sans said, putting his serious face on and making Monster Kid flinch slightly. "You have no clue what you've just sentenced me to. But you're going to find out. You two are coming with me after dinner tonight. And we're going to tell Papyrus about how you two failed and there's no more Perfect Tomatoes. And I think you two are going to go without dinner tonight too."
"Yo, what?! But that's totally unfair!" Monster Kid protested. Sans only glared at Monster Kid, clearly communicating what he thought of it. And, true enough to his word, Sans made sure that neither of them were given anything to eat during the day. It was made even worse due to the fact that Loox or Migosp would glance over at them with a rather cruel grin.
After dinner, Sans brought them to Papyrus's room. The taller skeleton was facing away from them, not even making any move or sound as they walked in.
"bro, i brought in team determination just as i said i would." Sans said. "and they have that report i was talkin' about earlier too." Papyrus turned suddenly, giving a loud "Nyeh!" as he did so.
"HELLO APPRENTICES! WONDERFUL TO SPEAK WITH YOU AGAIN!" Papyrus said happily. "I HEARD ABOUT YOUR RECENT ADVENTURE AND HOW IT SADLY ENDED IN FAILURE." Instead of looking remotely angry, the guildmaster gave a huge, reassuring smile. "DON'T WORRY! FAILURE HAPPENS TO EVEN THE BEST OF US! I CAN STILL REMEMBER MY FIRST EXPLORATIONS AND HOW SOME TOO ENDED IN FAILURE. DON'T FEEL BAD!" He turned to Sans, as if he was completely unaware of what their failure meant. "SO, BROTHER, HOW MANY PERFECT TOMATOES ARE LEFT THEN?"
"uh….well, there's this small problem, y'see." Sans said, rubbing the back of his neck. "since, y'know, team determination failed at their job in getting back the perfect tomatoes. so, technically….the amount of perfect tomatoes would be…..uh...zero." Papyrus's smile suddenly faltered and he just gave a small "OH," as response. "so….i guess you'll….um….just have to….go without spaghetti for a bit…."
At first, nothing happened. The entire room was dead silent. Until everything seemed to begin shaking all at once. A very soft, orange glow suddenly came from Papyrus, very slowly growing larger. Sans gave a massive flinch, flipping his hood up and backing away slightly.
"you two, cover your ears right now." He advised. "papyrus knows explosion. and it's pretty dang powerful too. so cover your ears and find some way of defending yourself!"
"W-What?! U-Uh, o-okay?!" Monster Kid stammered, completely unable to do so due to a certain lack of arms. Frisk was rather unsure how they were supposed to either, considering their ears were huge and floppy. The light began growing brighter and brighter, and they could swear they could hear tiny explosions around the room. That is, until something broke through the noise.
"So sorry to interrupt, but we've come to deliver a Perfect Tomato!"
"NYEH? W-WHO'S THERE?" Papyrus asked, sniffling slightly as the orange light faded all at once. Team Skull (of all people, of course it had to be them) burst through the doors with a large gust of wind. Glyde flew right up to Papyrus, holding a Perfect Tomato in his tail.
"Heard something going on, so I suggested we stop by to drop off a little present!" Glyde said happily, literally dropping the tomato into Papyrus's hands before flying back towards Loox and Migosp.
"REALLY? I CAN'T THANK YOU THREE ENOUGH FOR THIS!" Papyrus said, literally bouncing with joy. "YOU SHOULD STICK AROUND, FOR I SHALL MAKE THE BEST SPAGHETTI YOU HAVE EVER TASTED IN CELEBRATION OF OUR NEW FRIENDSHIP!"
"seriously though. we can't thank you guys enough for this." Sans said, pushing his hood back down. "you saved us a lot of trouble, that's for sure. hey, you two. tell these three thanks already, will ya?"
"Thanks…" Monster Kid mumbled under his breath. Frisk only gave them a glare, to which Glyde only responded by laughing.
"It wasn't any problem for a team like us! We just thought we'd show our appreciation after you so graciously let us join in on your little expedition!" He replied. "And while we would love to stay, Papyrus, I'm afraid we must be off. Another hard day of work tomorrow, after all! Ta-ta!"
While Frisk honestly knew they should've been a bit more angry that Team Skull had shown them up in possibly the most spectacular way possible, they were more relieved Papyrus hadn't gone through with using Explosion. Otherwise, they highly doubted any of them would be there right now.
Didn't stop the whole being shown up from stinging, though.
"Hey, boss. I've been wondering."
"Spit it out then already! I don't got all day."
"Why'd you come in and save the two pipsqueaks? I would've loved to see how that all would've ended."
"Yeah! Me too! I bet that would've been hilarious!"
"Well, it's simple. What the reason we're here? To get treasure. That's why we joined this stupid expedition anyways. The trick is to get on Papyrus's good side, that way he won't suspect a thing when we launch our attack!"
"Oh! I get it!"
"Yeah, awesome plan! Just to be expected from the boss himself!"
"Are you kidding, this is even easier than I thought it would be! Papyrus is like a baby, trusting anyone he sees. It's his brother I'm more worried about. But even he should be convinced after all that! It'll basically be just like taking candy from a baby!"
"yo, determination." Sans called. The morning after the whole incident, and both of them were really feeling the effects of skipping dinner. Both felt even more tired and rather sick as well. Frisk doubted they'd be able to even make it through the day at this rate.
"Yeah…? What's up? Another special job or something?" Monster Kid asked weakly, as the two turned to face the skeleton.
"nah, just wanted to tell you guys to keep taking jobs from the notice boards." Sans replied, almost as if nothing had happened the night before. "...actually, there is this other thing. personally, i think you two should give up on being chosen for the expedition."
"Yo, what?!" Monster Kid exclaimed, while Frisk simply flinched back a bit.
"it's just that after last night, i really don't think you kids have a chance." Sans explained. "now, i don't claim to know exactly what's going on in my bro's head, but i'm pretty sure he's super upset about what happened. something like that can't just be taken lightly, you know. he might not even consider you two anymore for it. but hey, that's just me." He gave the two a thumbs-up. "anyways, good luck you two. i'm gonna go, i gotta go discuss some things about the roster with pap anyways. see ya."
And just like that, he walked off.
"Yo….I don't think I can work anymore." Monster Kid sighed, his shoulders slumping. "I was already super weak from hunger, then to be told something like that?! How much worse do you think this day could get?" Frisk didn't answer, only because they were just as upset by this news as Monster Kid was. They had really been hoping to go, possibly to figure something out about themselves and who they had been before all of this had happened.
But apparently, the world simply didn't want that.
"Psst! Ribbit, ribbit." Frisk gave a small start, glancing around. A small group of the other apprentices, specifically Froggit, Whimsun, and Snowdrake. "Ribbit, ribbit ribbit ribbit!"
"H-H-He means….u-um…." Whimsun whispered, as the three hurried closer. "F-F-Follow us. W-We need to speak w-w-with you t-two!"
"C'mon, this way!" Snowdrake said, leading the way into the apprentice's quarters. Both Monster Kid and Frisk exchanged an equally confused glance, before they followed after the three. They ended up going to Team Determination's room, where Froggit somehow managed to set down two apples before he turned to the other two.
"Ribbit. Ribbit ribbit ribbit ribbit ribbit." Froggit croaked, nodding to the apples.
"Yo, did you guys do this for us?" Monster Kid asked, his eyes suddenly lighting up in surprise. "Yo, thank you guys so much!" The two happily began eating, instantly feeling much, much better now that they had food in them.
"Glad you two like it! We noticed both Froggit and Shyren weren't eating much last night." Snowdrake explained. "We asked, then figured out they were saving some of their own food for you two! The rest of us all banded together and saved some of our own food aside as well. Then we all decided we would give it to you after roll call."
"O-O-Our plan a-almost failed b-b-because we weren't e-e-expecting Sans t-to talk t-t-t-to you two…." Whimsun added. "W-W-What w-was he saying t-t-to you anyway?"
"...It was about the expedition…." Monster Kid responded, his shoulders slumping once more. Frisk took over for him and told the three that Sans was just telling them to give up on being chosen for the expedition. They had failed an extremely important job and it was likely Papyrus wouldn't choose them now.
"Really? You mean that he just told you to lose hope?!" Snowdrake asked, almost incredulous. "That's really stupid! You shouldn't just give up like that! I'm sure whatever you two did wasn't that bad!"
"Yo...thanks….but…." Monster Kid took a deep breath. "Everyone wants to go, right? But….for every person that's chosen….there's someone else that doesn't get to go. Would you all be okay with that?"
"W-W-Well….not really….I-I would w-w-want to go with e-everyone…." Whimsun admitted, shrinking back ever so slightly.
"But that's just how things go. Isn't it?" Snowdrake asked, looking sympathetic. "If someone goes, there's gonna be someone who's left behind. Maybe it's not cool, but you still gotta cheer on the people who are chosen!" Monster Kid sniffled once, before nodding and giving his best grin.
"Yo...You're right." He said. "We gotta all work hard. And even if we don't get chosen, we gotta be happy for those who do!" Froggit jumped up, ribbiting in agreement while both Whimsun and Snowdrake both nodded.
Frisk felt determination welling up inside of them. Monster Kid was right. They had to work hard if they wanted even a chance. Just like how Frisk would have to work hard in order to just to remember their past. They nodded, deciding right then and there that they were going to work even harder. For the sake of their friend.
For Monster Kid, they were going to make sure that both of them were going to be chosen.
A/N: Alright, so I've been doing a lot of thinking about several things considering this story, I'm definitely going to be doing the post-game and the whole story concerning Palkia and a certain Lunar Duo. However, other parts of the post-game will be left out. I won't be mentioning what parts.
But now here comes another question. Should I do any of the Special Episodes? Honestly, I only really want to do the final Special Episode, Into The Future Of Darkness, only because it's my favorite one and it'll also be staring my favorite characters. For the others, such as Igglybluff the Prodigy and Here Comes Team Charm, I have less enthusiasm. I also have no idea what to do for many of characters.
Leave any suggestions if you have them. I'll have my final answer on what I am going to do for the Special Episodes hopefully next chapter. Hope you all enjoyed!