There were hundreds of monsters surrounding the sandy pit in the middle of the stadium. The four rival guilds stood, staring each other down. Sans eyed the Amalgamates. They seemed freaky, enough to chill him to the bone. Heh. Each member of the Amalgamates seemed to be oozing slime, or melting in some way. These creatures let out a combined roar that somehow gurgled out of their non existent mouths.
The rest of the guilds seemed easy enough. The little group of dog monsters could fight well, but wag a bone in front of them and they were out. The snow drakes on the other hand, had no attacking capabilities at all. It was a mystery as to why the Core had chosen them at all. Eyeing the opposing guilds, Sans concluded that the Amalgamates were the only ones who could stand against them.
All stood straight and waved at the crowds, waiting for the queen and king to arrive and announce the rounds. It took a while, and while the crowd quickly grew more and more noisy, Sans snuck a look at Frisk. They seemed to be enjoying the moment, beaming as Papyrus lifted them over his head to present them to the crowds. Even with this though, he felt uneasy. He tried to squint up at the human's face. He studied where the eyepatch covered Frisk's supposedly injured eye. He'd been suspicious for a while, after all, Frisk had said that the eyepatch was too cover up the damage done while it healed, yet each time Sans caught a peek of skin under that eyepatch, there was nothing but evidence of a completely unscathed eye. That eye was never opened, but he marked that up to it being a bit uncomfortable to open under a patch. Even as he saw it now, there was no sign of injury as a glimpse of the hidden eye was shown.
He was knocked out of his suspicions as the crowd once again screamed, crying praises out for their beloved king and queen.
The queen, Toriel, rose up the the magic amplifier as she projected her voice throughout the arena.
"My dear citizens, I am as excited as I'm sure you all are to announce the start of this years competition! This year, competing for the title provided by the Core, are the four amazing guilds in front of us. Be sure to cheer with all your might as only one will make it out victorious!"
The mass of monsters roared in excitement as flames began to swirl in the center of the sands. These flames warped and danced in beautiful shapes. The spectacle drew many oo's and aa's from the crowd. Then, the shapeshifting flame split into four separate pieces, each flying to hover over each guild. Sans grinned. This was going to be too easy. The snowdrakes looked at them, spewing horrible jokes that had little effect on anyone but Frisk and Sans, who were grasping at their sides.
The first battle would be allowed to take place as soon as the flames left, only remaining over the two who would be fighting. The Amalgamates withdrew with sloppy movements as their flame receded. The dogs were too busy chasing theirs anyway. Soon, only the Spaghetti lovers and Punny snowdrakes remained in the sands. Sans could feel as Undyne moved to the front, immediately showing her eagerness for violence. Papyrus hastily stumbled next to her, wanting to show his friends what his training had accomplished. Alphys, of course, settled with being at the back of the group as the two remaining members moved to stand next to their team. Sans eyed their opponents. He laughed silently to himself, this could hardly be called a fair fight. The snowdrakes were all too busy chatting with each other to prepare in any form of fighting stance.
Undyne was the one who kept in first. She pushed all the way through the opposing guild, spears surrounding her and pointing threateningly at the comical group. Frisk quickly speeded after. They lept over their heads and landed, trapping the now frightened guild between the grinning spaghetti lovers. Sans grinned, if this was the way that his family wanted to win, he would play along, after all, actually moving was too much of a chore anyway. Intimidation it was then.
Sans waved his hand dismissively, calling a few bones to surround the terrified group of snowdrakes. It really wasn't anything special, it was an attack he used often. So when Frisk suddenly flinched hard enough to drop their stance, Sans frowned. What was going on? He still kept the attack there as they were announced the winners, silently observing how Frisks eyes stared at his attacks in poorly hid terror. Even as they were escorted back into the waiting rooms, watching the next match, Sans kept watch on Frisk, never letting them wander off or evade his field of vision.
He frowned to himself, this problem was getting out of hand, or maybe he was just worrying himself out and making a mountain out of a molehill. Sans sighed, why him? Couldn't some other person worry and find this out for him?
"Wow! Would you look at that folks! The Amalgamates have won this round with swift brutality, I guess this means war next round!" The announcer's voice switched off.
Sans' eyes widened. Even if they could be easily bribed, the group of dogs were some of the best fighters the Underground had to offer. What could the Amalgamates possibly have done to win them over without bones? Sans' eyes shrunk, thinking back once more, swift brutality? From what he knew, there had only ever been minor injuries when competing.
Undyne seemed to be just as worried, but for a separate reason. She was staring in horror out of the doorway, almost breaking the frame as it screamed under her hands. Sans lazily padded over, only to hurry as the sudden sound of wheels began to echo through the room. He watched in horrified disbelief as two nurses sped past him, pushing a metal cart between them. The monsters spread across the surface of the cart looked just barely alive. They were covered in slime and...bite marks? Sans had never seen monsters so badly injured while competing before. Monsters were usually a very kind and gentle race, mostly due to the right to duel that everyone held. Dueling allowed for a somewhat peaceful way to vent out any negative feelings without going overboard.
Sans' eye sockets followed the nurses movements as they rushed the injured dogs to the back elevator. Who were these 'Amalgamates'? They were strong for sure, but he'd never seen any monster what was able to end a match so swiftly. He narrowed his eyes, this competition had just gotten much more dangerous. If the Amalgamates were really this strong, he didn't know how they were going to make it out of the final round unscathed. The final match granted certain...freedom to the participants. No one knows why, but when the Core wrote the rules for the tournament, it allowed there to be much more brutality involved in the last match. During this week long battle, the two guilds were to be released at random locations in a forest, and the rest of the rules were that of a challenge. Both parties would be given one week to make it out of the forest alive and be declared winner. Both could arrive alive, but one would have to surrender first. It may be harsh, but the Core had made the rules so they simply followed. Deaths were rare anyways, monsters being kind by nature.
Sans was a bit worried about this. They had never lost anyone in a challenge or match before, but he wasn't really excited to have his precious family anywhere near danger. Papyrus would never survive if caught out alone, and Frisk seemed to be getting weaker by the day.
Speaking of the small human child, Sans threw a quick look their way to prepare himself for the talk that was about to take place. He cleared his nonexistent throat.
"Hey kid, you mind fetching us some water, that absolutely harrowing battle, jeez, left my throat bone dry y'know?" He winked at Frisk, making a tiny shooing gesture and mouthing please at them.
After the human had left the room, he turned to Papyrus, who simply stood with a puzzled look on his face.
"Sans, what did you mean? That battle wasn't even a battle at all! The Great Papyrus did not even get a chance to show off his awesome new tricks!" Sans snorted, his brother was just the best. But as much as he loved to dote over his brother, Sans had worries to share. He narrowed his eyes.
"Has anyone else noticed anything wrong with the kid lately?" Sans looked carefully at each person, staring into their souls. Undyne only shook her head while the others made small concerning noises.
"I-is something w-wrong with them Sans?" Alphys timidly raised her hand, meeting Sans' piercing gaze. "All I noticed is that they're not as energetic at before, t-thought that could j-just be the way they are right now, their pet rock just passed you k-know."
Sans shook his head. "No, I can't believe you guys haven't noticed. It's-it's fine, nothing really, I'm just being paranoid." He laughed mentally, paranoid? He was always paranoid, especially with his precious family with him in harm's way now.
He glanced at the clock, it was late, and everyone would need plenty of rest to prepare for tomorrow's match, but he really had to know one more thing first. He turned to Alphys. "Alphys, have you seen to their eye yet?" Sans' grip on his sleeve tightened when Alphys shook her head.
"They won't even let me near it, says that t-they don't want to show me b-because it's really bad and stuff, they also said it would heal in a bit a-anyway. Why? Is t-there something wrong with it?" Alphys looked worried, turning to the direction that Frisk had left to.
Sans sighed. He wasn't really expecting the kid to mention anything to Alphys anyway. "It's really nothing, they're just acting a bit weird is all." He turned to the exit and waved," Welp, since all that is over, imma go home, tell the kid they're taking too long, kay? I'll go get my own water." Sans stepped out of the room, looking back to make sure Papyrus was following, saying his goodbyes and wishing a good night to everyone. Sans let out a tired sigh, after he figured out what was going on with Frisk, everything would be back to normal.