Chapter Three: Them Bones
Frisk was surprised when he exited the Ruins into snow. He looked around, and saw trees, snow, everything he would expect to see in places like the Alps, or the Sierras in winter. He looked back and forth as he followed a long path through the skeletal trees and snow. He heard the crunch of snow every now and then, but he didn't outwardly react. He knew very well he was crossing into more dangerous territory. He knew that Toriel was right, and after the War, many monsters would not have a positive view of humans. Come to that, he didn't, either, for the most part.
He came to stop near a small bridge with odd wooden beams over it. He glanced around, about to move, when he heard snow crunch behind him, and knew someone had followed him.
"Human . . . don't you know how to greet a new pal?" the voice asked. It was male, and while deep, it was not the most baritone voice he had ever heard. "Turn around and shake my hand," said the voice. Frisk slowly turned to the shadowy figure, who was only a little taller than he was. The figure offered their hand. Frisk knew he was taking a chance, but if things turned sour, whoever this was would quickly find out he had a few tricks up his striped sleeves. Frisk grasped his hand, and the sound of a whoopee cushion echoed in the forest. The figure chuckled as he stepped forward, revealing himself to be a skeleton, wearing a blue jacket. "The old whoopee cushion in the hand trick! It's always funny!" Frisk couldn't help a bit of a chuckle.
"Yeah, until the other guy gets a hold of you, then you're boned." Frisk wasn't sure, but he thought he heard a rimshot, somewhere. The skeleton laughed.
"Good one! So, you're a human, right?" Frisk.
"Nope, I'm a hairless ape that escaped from the Crazy House of Bananas."
"Haw! Nice one! I'm Sans. Sans the Skeleton. I'm actually supposed to be on watch for humans right now." Frisk tried not to show it, but he tensed up a bit, ready to run if need be. Sans shrugged. "But, y'know, I don't really care about catching anybody. Now, my brother, Papyrus, he's a human-hunting fanatic. Hey, actually, I think that's him over there." Frisk groaned at the idea of more running, or another fight. Sans seemed to notice, and grinned. "I got an idea. Go through this gate thingy. Go right through, my brother made the bars too wide to stop anybody." Frisk couldn't help a smile. Maybe he really could get through this without another fight. He hoped so. Sans motioned to follow. He stopped and pointed at an odd lamp, sitting out in the snow. "Quick! Behind that conveniently-shaped lamp!" Frisk heard footsteps, and didn't argue, no matter how silly it seemed. He hid behind the lamp, and, sure enough, it hid him from view. He watched as a much larger skeleton in armor cam running up. "S'up, bro?" Sans asked.
"You know what "s'up", brother! It's been eight days, and you still haven't recalibrated your puzzles! You just hang around your station like a lazy-bones! What are you even doing?!"
"Staring at this lamp. It's pretty cool. Wanna have a look?" Sans asked. Papyrus, for there is no one else it could be, began stamping his foot angrily.
"No! I don't have time for that! What if a human comes through here?! I want to be ready, do you hear me?!"
"Say what?" Sans said, feigning that he couldn't hear.
"I said I want to be ready!"
"What? You want to go steady? Who's the lucky lady?"
"Arrgh!" Frisk stifled a giggle at this. "I must be the one to capture a human! All my dreams are riding on it! Then, I, the great Papyrus, will get all the things I deserve in life!" Frisk was fighting hard not to break out laughing. These two were insane, and hilarious.
"Well, maybe this lamp will help you," said Sans. Frisk tensed, wondering if Sans was selling him out. If that was the case, he would gladly find some hungry dogs, and toss the skeleton to them.
"You're not helping, dammit! All you do is sit around all day and boondoggle! You get lazier by the day! I swear, the snails outrun you!" Sans smiled at his brother.
"Hey, take it easy. I've got a ton of work done today. A skele-ton!" Sans snickered.
"Sans! By Hell's gates you're not helping!"
"Oh come on. You're smiling." Papyrus growled and crossed his arms.
"I am and I hate it." He sighed and pinched the bridge of his . . . well, where he would have a nose. "Why must one as great as I have to struggle to get some recognition?"
"Wow, sounds like you're really working yourself-"
"Don't say it!"
"To the bone?" Frisk asked. Papyrus screamed and held his head.
"Ugh! Even the trees are making fun of me! That's it! I'm going to attend to the puzzles." Papyrus turned to leave. "As for your work, why don't you put a little more backbone into it! Ha!" With that, he left.
"Okay, you can come out now," said Sans. Frisk came out and wiped a tear, snickering. Sans grinned at him. "You ought to get going. He might come back, and if he does . . . you'll have to sit through more of my hilarious jokes." Frisk snickered again.
"All right, thanks, Sans." Frisk turned to leave.
"Actually, hate to bother ya, but you think you could do me a favor?" Frisk looked back at him. "See, my brother's been kind of down lately. He's never seen a human before, and seeing you might just make his day." Frisk made a face that quite plainly said: You want me to do what? Sans shrugged. "He's not dangerous or anything. He should be up ahead somewhere." With that, Sans was gone. Frisk sighed as he headed further into the forests. He knew this wouldn't be easy, or quick when he started this quest. Nothing for it but to get into it.
Frisk looked around as he walked down the path.
"Ice to meet you!" said a monster that jumped out, trying to look a bit scary, but it more looked funny. It looked like a bird of some sort, with some kind of odd crest over its face.
"Same here, but I'm just slip-slidin' away!" Frisk retorted as he slide a little bit on the icy path. The monster laughed.
"Good one, but your delivery was a little cold!" Frisk chuckled at that. "Ha! Laughter! Dad was wrong! I can make 'em laugh good as anybody!" Frisk smiled and nodded.
"Of course. You just have to practice. Here, take this," said Frisk as he gave the monster a small notebook he had been keeping. "Write down any jokes you come up with, so you don't forget them." The monster looked awed.
"Thanks, buddy! This'll help a ton!" With that, the Snowdrake flapped off. Frisk smiled, feeling warm and fuzzy inside. As he walked on, he realized how long it had been since he genuinely laughed. It was hard to laugh when your were so miserable.
Frisk was so drawn into his own thoughts, he didn't notice anyone on the path until he heard voices.
"So, as I was saying about Undyne," said Papyrus as he turned from Sans, and spotted Frisk.
Uh oh, Frisk thought. Papyrus looked back to Sans, then back at frisk, then back to Sans several times.
"Sans! Oh my god! It that really a . . . a human?!"
"Dunno, looks like some crazy hairless ape to me, but it might be," replied the smaller skeleton.
"Oh my god! I did it! I finally did it! Wait till Undyne hears about this! I'll be so popular!" Papyrus cleared his throat and looked at Frisk. "Human! You shall not pass this area! I, the great papyrus will stop you!" Papyrus danced around, looking excited. "I will capture you, deliver you to the capital and then . . . then . . . ah, well . . ." The skeleton stopped and scratched his chin. "What comes after that?" Frisk wanted to slap his forehead. This was getting ridiculous. "In any case, continue only if you dare! Nyah ha ha!" with that, Papyrus ran off.
"Well, that went well, don't ya think?" said Sans. Frisk looked at him, wondering if they both were playing a joke on him, or if they were working together to try and lure him into a trap. No, if that was the case, Sans could have captured him easily enough when they first met. Sans seemed to sense his misgivings, and chuckled. "Don't sweat it, kid. I'll keep an eye socket out for ya!" With that, Sans was gone again, and Frisk was left to ponder. Sans and Papyrus were clearly crazy. Then again, that was a relative term. He was shocked when his cell phone rang. He picked it up.
"Oh, um, ah, er, hello. I'd like to, ah, order a pizza. Please?" the voice was clearly female, but not one he recognized. "The toppings are, uh . . . I have them copied, I'll just paste them to you." Since the phone was too old to receive texts. It read out loud, character-by-character, an ASCII art of, what Frisk thought looked like . . . Oh, goodness! He quickly hung up, feeling his cheeks burn. Frisk quickly walked on.
Frisk put the odd event out of his mind, and thought about the mirror. If it was, indeed, down there in the Underworld, it would solve everything. Was that why he was down there? He still couldn't remember. Be that as it may, the mirror was his best bet. But, where to start looking? The Underworld was vast. It could be anywhere. He would have to look around, ask, gather information. Nothing he wasn't already familiar with, but he was out of practice. He huffed and leaned against a wooden stand.
"Hello? Who's there?" asked a voice. He turned his head, and saw a new monster pop up from inside what he realized was a guardhouse. "Is someone there? I can only see moving things." It looked like a dog wearing a black hood of some kind. "If something was moving, like, a human, I'll make sure it never moves again!" Frisk stayed as still as stone. The monster's eyes roamed back and forth. Frisk waited until the monster was looking another way, and carefully petted its head. "Woo-hoo-hoo! Who did that?!" the monster cried as it whirled and glanced around, Frisk still as stone. When it looked away, he petted it again. "I've been pet! Who's doing that?!" The monster barked as it ducked and glanced around. "Enough of this stuff. I need a bone break . . ." The monster than scuttled away. Frisk grinned and continued on. This place was the most strange and silly he had ever seen, and that was saying a lot.
He noted how, while a bit chilly, it was not as cold as he otherwise might expect. As he was heading between two trees, a bark startled him. He gave a light jump when another monster appeared. This one looked like an upright dog, carrying a large sword and shield. However, it was panting, tongue showing. It looked happy, rather than angry. He barely moved his hand, and it looked excited. He glanced at the sword and shield. He had not seen anyone use either of those in a long time. He had never thought to see them used in battle again. He looked at the dog and tried not to let think about the weapons. "Hi, fella," he said in a kind tone. The Lesser Dog yapped and turned in a circle. He carefully petted the dog, who seemed to almost fall asleep, dropping the sword and shield and seeming to curl up on the ground happily. He smiled and patted the monster before heading on. It felt good to not to have to fight or struggle. He didn't want to hurt the monsters. Heck, he'd easily prefer their company to that of humans.
Frisk was not entirely surprised when he saw Sans and Papyrus talking. Arguing, it more could be said.
"You were napping all night!" said Papyrus angrily.
"Yeah, it's called "sleeping"," said Sans.
"Excuses, excuses!" Papyrus noticed Frisk and looked excited.
"Oh ho! The human arrives! In order to stop you, my brother and I have prepared some puzzles! Yes, the most cunning, mind-bending, intellect-twisting, frustrating puzzles you will ever see!" Papyrus giggled to himself. "In fact, I think you will find this particular one quite," at this he snickered. "Shocking. For you see, this puzzle is is a maze of invisible electricity!" Frisk didn't point out that electricity was always invisible. "When you touch the walls of this maze, this orb will administer a hearty zap! Sound like fun? Well, not really. I doubt getting zapped is much fun. Anyways, you can go ahead now, human." Frisk stared at him for a moment, analyzing everything, shrugged, and walked forward. Papyrus was promptly zapped. He stood, smoking and charred as Frisk tried not to giggle. This was too funny. "Sans! What did you do?!" Papyrus demanded as he stomped his foot.
"I think the human has to hold the orb," said Sans, seeming amused as Frisk was.
"Oh, right." Papyrus walked, as if walking through a maze, and handed Frisk the blue orb. "Hold this, please," he said, then rushed back to where he had been as Frisk looked at the orb, and the footprints Papyrus had left in the snow. "Now try!" yelled Papyrus. Frisk smiled, and walked forward, following the footprints the skeleton had left, reaching the other side in a few seconds. Frisk stifled a giggle as Papyrus' jaw quite literally dropped into the snow. He stooped and swiftly picked it up and put it back. "You slippery snail! Amazing! You solved it easily. Too easily! But, the next puzzle will not be so easy! It was made by my brother, and is so confounding, even I don't understand it! We shall meet again! Nya ha ha!" With that, Papyrus ran off. Frisk smiled, set the orb down, and walked up to Sans.
"Hey, thanks. My brother seems to be having fun. By the way, did you see that weird outfit he's wearing?"
"Kind of hard not to," retorted Frisk.
"We made it a few weeks ago for a costume party. He hasn't worn anything else since." Frisk stared at him for a moment. "He keeps calling it his "battle body"," explained Sans.
"Ah."
"Man, isn't my brother cool?"
"As a cucumber," replied Frisk, not able to help a grin. These two were really a hoot, there was no doubt about that. He was already wondering what else the blundering bonehead had in store. This was actually getting fun. He turned and headed further into what he now realized were frozen, underground mountains. Oddly enough, that was not the oddest thing he had ever seen or heard.
Frisk continued to follow the path, and met a few more monsters, and each time, he was able to avoid a fight. He even made a few new friends. Although, that female Gyftrot who made goo-goo eyes at him, and called him "Cutie-Pie", made him nervous.
"What ho! It's the human again!" Frisk looked up and saw Papyrus and Sans. Papyrus looked even more excited than last time. "I hope you're ready for this! The most cunning, crafty . . ." Papyrus frowned. "Sans! Where's the damn puzzle?!"
"It's right there, on the ground." Papyrus and Frisk looked at a page of paper on the ground. They both raised an eyebrow and looked at him. "Trust me, there's no way they can get past this one," Sans declared. Frisk smiled and calmly walked around the paper and stopped in front of them. Frisk couldn't help being amused at the horrified and exasperated look on Papyrus' face.
"Sans! He didn't even look at it!"
"Whoops. I knew I should have used today's crossword instead."
"What?! Crossword?! I can't believe you said that!" Papyrus shrieked. "In my opinion, Junior Jumble is easily the hardest." Sans looked at him funny.
"What? Dude, seriously? That easy-peasy word-scramble? That's for baby bones." Papyrus crossed his arms and glared at his brother.
"Un. Believable! Human! Solve this dispute!" Frisk looked surprised.
Now, Frisk had filled out a few crossword puzzles he had found in dumpsters and trash while wandering, provided he had something to write with, but he never really was into them that much. Solving other kinds of puzzles and riddles were more to his taste. Frisk put his hand to his chin and thought. He'd never played Junior Jumble so who was he to judge?
"I think, the jumble?"
"Ha! Humans must be very intelligent if they also find Junior Jumble so difficult! Nya ha ha!" With that, Papyrus again ran off. Frisk blinked, looked down at the page, then at Sans.
"Crosswords? Really?" Sans chuckled.
"Thanks for appeasing my brother. Yesterday, he got stumped trying to 'solve' the horoscope." Frisk nodded in understanding. He wasn't about to tell Sans that he really was just guessing. He headed on, and quickly found another "trap" of Papyrus. There was a bowl of spaghetti, sitting on a plate, frozen. It was so cold, it has stuck to the table. There was a note on the table.
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 you aren't progressing. Thoroughly japed again by the Great Papyrus!) Nyeh-heh-heh
-Papyrus.
Frisk raised an eyebrow, looked at the spaghetti, and the note. Frisk couldn't help laughing out loud. He snickered every now and then after that. Frisk walked through the snow, and couldn't help admiring the snow and the tranquil mountains. So far, most of the monsters he had met were very nice, and didn't want to fight. That being said, he was not about to let down his guard, not at all.
"What's that smell?" asked a voice. Frisk stopped and noticed two large dog-like monsters, dressed in black and carrying very large battleaxes. This would be ugly. The other monster sniffed at him.
"I smell it too, darling. It smells odd. Could it be a . . . human?" The second voice was female. Frisk thought quickly as they both stood on either side of him, axes ready.
"I'm not sure. What does a human smell like?" Frisk hurried and rubbed snow on himself, and shivered at the cold. The monsters sniffed again. "Wait a minute, it smells different," said the male. The female sniffed him.
"Yes, it smells more like . . . a puppy. Aw, are you lost, little one?" she cooed. Frisk tried not to be embarrassed and annoyed at the same time.
"No, just out for a walk," he said as he gently petted both of them.
"Wow! Pet by another pup!" said the male.
"Don't leave me out!" cried the female. Frisk stifled a laugh, and gave them a couple more pets.
"Thanks! That felt good! Just what we needed!" said the male.
"Yes! Who would've thought dogs could pet other dogs?" asked the female. The two nuzzled each other and left. Frisk stared and shook his head, amused, but glad he avoided a fight once more. They seemed like nice dogs, and he didn't want to hurt them. As he continued on, he thought about the mirror.
He realized that some of the monsters may know. He would have to ask, next chance he got. Frisk nodded to himself as he saw a gate, and two tiles on the ground with red Xs on them. He stepped near, and the x changed to a green circle. He did the same with the other one, stepped on a switch, and the gate lowered. He smiled. He was walking through when he ran into Papyrus.
"You! How did you get past my trap?!" Frisk looked at the gate. "And more importantly, is there any left for me?" Frisk realized he was talking about the spaghetti.
"Uh, yeah." Papyrus looked surprised.
"Wowie. You resisted the sensational goodness of my homecooked pasta, just so you could share it with me? I'm speechless!" Frisk stared at him, not sure what to think. Papyrus grinned and nodded. "Fear not, human! I, Master Chef Papyrus will make you all the pasta you could ever want!" Frisk watched as he laughed and took off. Now that he mentioned it, he was getting rather hungry. He thought about Toriel's pie, but decided to save it for a special occasion. Speaking of her, he really ought to call her. He stopped and pulled out the cell phone and selected her number. He pressed the send key, and waited. The phone rang, and rang, and rang. He sighed as he hung up. He knew Toriel was upset when he left, but he wondered if he hurt her that much. Frisk was no idiot, and he was not as naïve as she assumed. He knew something else was bothering her, something unsaid, but there. He sighed, put the phone away, and continued on. Pushing would only do more harm than good. Even so, he worried about her. He could not see anyone coming there to hurt her, but a pang of worry persisted.
Frisk was not too surprised to find Papyrus not too far ahead.
"You know, my brother started a sock collection recently. How saddening . . ." Frisk scratched his head at this. "I wonder what he would do without such a cool guy there to take care of him?" Frisk said nothing. Papyrus shook his head. "Anyways, you were taking a while to arrive, so I decided to improve this puzzle, by arranging the snow to look more like my face. Unfortunately . . . the snow froze to the ground." Papyrus sounded embarrassed. "So, now the solution is different! And, as usual, my lazy-bones brother is nowhere to be seen! Oh, the agony I must endure!" Frisk watched as Papyrus struck a pose, scarf fluttering in a breeze. Wait, when did that breeze start? "What I am trying to say is that I, Papyrus the Great, will solve this conundrum! Then we can both proceed!"
Frisk watched as Papyrus tried several times to solve it, and failed. Frisk watched how the blue Xs would change to either a red circle, or a green triangle. He smiled, and as Papyrus watched, walked through the small ice maze and solved it in one go. "Astounding! You solved it! And without any help from me! Well done! You must care about puzzles like I do!" Frisk smiled gently and shrugged. "I'm sure you'll love the next puzzle then!" The skeleton then hurried off again, cackling. Frisk followed, and was not surprised to find Sans waiting for him.
"Hey, good job on solving it so quickly. You didn't even need my help. Which is great, 'cause I love doing absolutely nothing." Frisk smiled and shook his head as he continued onwards.
He again found the Bone Brothers, apparently with another puzzle.
"Hey! It's the human!" said Papyrus excitedly. "You're gonna love this puzzle! It was made by the great Dr. Alphys! You see these tiles? Once I throw this switch, they will begin to change color! Each color has a different function. Red tiles are impassible, so you can't walk on them. Yellow tiles are electrified! Walk on them, and you'll get a shock! Green tiles sound an alarm, and you will have to fight a monster if you step on them! Orange tiles are orange-scented. They will make you smell delicious! Blue tiles are water tiles. Swim through if you like, but if you happen to smell like oranges, the Piranhas will munch you! Also, if there's a blue tile next to a yellow one, the water will be electrified. Purple tiles are slippery! Watch out, you'll slide to the next tile. But, the slippery soap smells like lemons, which Piranhas don't like one bit! Finally, pink tiles don't do anything, so no problems there. Everybody likes pink! How was that?! Understand?"
"Uhhhh . . ." Frisk stared at him, looking thoroughly lost. Now, Frisk was pretty sharp, and he got most of it, but Papyrus had been speaking a bit fast. That aside, if he could avoid Piranhas and electrified water, he would do so. Papyrus groaned.
"Okay, I'll repeat myself. Red tiles are impassible, yellow are electrified, blue makes into a monster, green are water tiles, orange tiles are lemon-scented, so don't step on orange and pink ones. Brown tiles are . . . wait a minute. There are no brown tiles! But if the purple ones are lemon-scented, why don't the yellows smell lemony? Wait? Did I mix up green and blue? The blue tiles are water tiles!"
"What about the periwinkle ones?" Frisk asked.
"Ah, yes! I was just getting to those. They . . ." Frisk giggled at this. "Wait a minute! Pink is bubblegum, or was it a reset? Wait, that's not right! Green is grass, blue is water, so green should grow if next to a blue tile. No! Wait, I . . . I can't remember!" Papyrus looked ready to have a fit. "Human! Do you understand the explanation?" Frisk shook his head, enjoying the look on Papyrus' face.
"Okay, you know what . . . how about . . . you . . . do this puzzle on your own. I'll just leave the instructions, and when you understand it, you can just throw the switch. Good luck . . ." With that, Papyrus left, looking relieved. Frisk waited a bit, then fell down laughing. He just couldn't help it! He wiped his tears as he walked across the blank tiles, where Sans was grinning even wider at him.
"Heh, heh, that was pretty funny! He looked ready to bust a bone! By the way, that spaghetti from earlier, it wasn't too bad for my brother. Since he started cooking lessons, he's been getting better. I bet if he keeps it up, but next year, he'll actually make something edible." Frisk grinned as he picked up the instructions and tried to read them. Now, Frisk was pretty good at reading, but the illegible chicken-scratches were beyond even him. Frisk continued onwards.
In the next area, Frisk encountered a dog monster that was trying to build a snowman. Or snow-monster in this case. A deer-like monster was watching, and shaking its head. Frisk approached and cleared his throat. The monster looked up at him.
"Excuse me, but do you know where I could maybe find a library?" Frisk asked. The monster looked him up and down, one eyebrow raised.
"Ah, you must be the human that Gyftrot was raving about. Yeah, there's a library in Snowdin, just up ahead." Frisk smiled and nodded.
"Thanks." Frisk moved to leave.
"Gyftrot said to call her. Something about bringing a salt lick . . ." Frisk suppressed a shiver at that, and hurried on. He never would have thought he would have a monster deer fawning over him.
Thankfully, the path was clear, and he didn't have any other encounters with Papyrus, or any more monsters. He was pretty sure he could see a town not too far. That had to be it. He could stay at an inn, get some food, and most importantly, he could look through the books at the library for a lead on the Mirror of Elde. Frisk stopped when he saw a white tail of a dog, sticking out from behind a clump of snow. A white head appeared and yipped cutely at him. It looked like an entirely normal dog.
"Hi, fella. What're you doing out in the cold?" Frisk asked. He was shocked when the snow moved, and the dog stood up, revealing a towering suit of metal armor that encased it. Frisk stared and saw the large spear the Greater Dog held. Frisk tried to stay calm, and remember that the other dogs responded well to kindness and pets. He raised his hand gently, and the Greater Dog lower its head and yipped happily. He smiled and scratched its ears. The ears twitched as he scratched, one armored foot thumping against the ground. He was surprised when the dog leaped out of the armor, revealing it was, indeed, a normal dog within. It licked his face, danced around a bit, and jumped back in its armor and trotted off. Frisk chuckled and shook his head as he headed onwards.
Frisk came to a suspension bridge over a large canyon. He looked down at the frosty forest below, seeing a few lakes and rivers. It looked like any alpine forest above ground. He glanced around as he crossed the bridge, taking in the sights. He noticed a small, wooded island in a small lake far below, wondering if he should, perhaps, investigate it. He seriously doubted that the Mirror of Elde would just be out in plain sight, or in a place that was easy to access. He was so lost in his own thoughts, he almost didn't hear someone shout out to him.
"O ho! Human!" shouted a deep voice. He looked up, and sure enough, Papyrus was there with Sans. The larger skeleton crossed his arms and looked smug. "Now, comes your greatest, most dangerous challenge! Behold, the great Gauntlet of Deadly Terror!" Frisk couldn't help his eyes widening at the sight of the numerous traps arrayed before his eyes. There was a spiked Morning Star the size of a beach ball on a huge chain, several huge halberds, a flamethrower, a cannon and . . . a dog on a rope? Needless to say, it seemed clear Papyrus was going for broke now. Frisk looked around. On the narrow bridge, he would have no room at all to maneuver, never mind the very real danger that any of those weapons could destroy the ropes and collapse the bridge.
This was not good.
He looked up at Papyrus. "When I give the order, the trap will activate! Blades will slice! Cannons will fire, spikes will swing! Your chances of victory are slim to none, human!" Frisk managed to keep his composure as he quickly went through various scenarios and plans, looking at each piece, thinking quickly on how to avoid each one. Papyrus struck a dramatic pose, pointing at Frisk. "Are you ready?! Because . . . I'm about to . . . activate it!" Frisk tensed all of his muscles, ready to move. He had to be quick. However, Papyrus stood still, not moving or speaking. Sans looked back and forth at him, Frisk, and the trap.
"Uh, Bro? That don't look very . . . activated," said Sans. Papyrus looked conflicted.
"I . . . I'm going to do it!" Papyrus looked at Frisk, but, despite not having skin, it didn't seem he wanted to do it. Frisk had met people who were true killers before, and Papyrus didn't even remotely seem the type. Sans looked at him.
"Well? What're you waiting for?" Sans asked. Papyrus looked down at the snow, then at Frisk.
"I . . . well, uh, that is . . . This trap! It lacks style! And it's too . . . easy! Yes! This trap is simply too easy to catch the human with! That's it! We can't use such a crude trap like this as a challenge! I'm a skeleton with standards! We simply shall have to use another challenge than this! No!"
"Go," said a mechanical voice. Everyone froze at that. Frisk noticed the cannon moving to target him. Papyrus looked even more pale, if that was at all possible.
"Oops . . ." he squeaked.
"Run, kid!" Sans yelled as the Morning Star swung down at him. Frisk moved like striped lightning, darting as best as he could on the narrow bridge. He dodged a spear that severed one of the ropes, he jumped over a gout of flame, he leaned to the side as a cannonball flew past. The dog was yapping loudly as Frisk darted and wove through the gauntlet. Sans and Papyrus were jumping up and down and yelling instructions as Frisk narrowly avoided the traps.
"Run! Jump! Left! Your other left! Duck! Run!" yelled Papyrus as Frisk narrowly avoided being skewered by one of the spears, and then almost lost his head to a halberd. The cannon swiveled and fired again, taking out several ropes and boards. To make matters worse, the flamethrower was setting the back of the bridge on fire.
"Move, kid! Move!" Sans yelled, seeing the peril Frisk was in. Frisk glanced back and saw the bridge on fire, just as the ropes began to snap. The dog yapped, seeming to point. Frisk looked up, saw the Morning Star swinging at him, and saw his chance. He leaped up and, seemingly in an act of suicide, towards the spiked ball. Frisk grabbed the heavy chain, planted a foot between the spikes, and rode the swinging ball as the cannon aimed and fired. Frisk leaped from the ball just as the cannonball hit the Morning Star, shattering it into millions of steel shards. Frisk flew through the air, carried by the momentum of the Morning Star, and landed right between Sans and Papyrus as the bridge snapped and fell into the gorge with a reverberating crash. The larger skeleton looked stunned.
"You did it! Amazing!" Papyrus realized what he said, and looked embarrassed, clearing his throat. "Ahem, I mean, well done, human! You're even more tricky than I thought! But, you have not seen the last of the Great Papyrus! Nyeh heh, heh!" With that, Papyrus ran off. Frisk sighed and collapsed into the snow. Sans grinned down at him.
"That was pretty cool. Sorry about that. But, if anything had happened, I had you covered," said Sans. Frisk chuckled.
"Yeah, with a morgue sheet," quipped the human, getting a laugh from Sans. The skeleton looked a bit more serious.
"He really didn't mean to do that, ya know." Frisk sat up and nodded. "I don't know what he'll be up to next, but I'm sure you got it covered." Sans helped Frisk up. "Snowdin's just up ahead. There's an inn you can stay at if you need." Frisk sighed tiredly and nodded. Sans watched him go.