"Is he really going to have Papyrus test me?" Tenebris asked himself as he went to regroup with his friends. Sans had agreed to train him in the use of his magic on the condition that he 'fights' Papyrus before hand. This worried the shadow-souled human; outside of the 'blue attack' that he's seen a few times already, he didn't know what to expect from the taller skeleton. Papyrus may be innocent, but that could belie his strength.

Then there was also the issue of how or what his friends should do. They did expect to be staying for at least a little bit for his training, but if he somehow failed Sans test then the trio would simply try and continue on from there. That worried him; he desperately wanted to be able to protect them from as much harm as possible. He may of agreed with Frisk's analogy of why they should 'share' the damage, but he wanted to outright prevent it in the first place.

"Surprise!" Tenebris suddenly found his vision blocked by what felt like a cloth. When he removed it, he saw it was a bandanna with some abs on it. Selendis giggled at his reaction. "I saw that while buying some food for our journey and figured you would like it."

"Heh, thanks. To be fair, I always wanted to try a bandanna on, but never seemed to find any." Selendis gave him an amused look.

Frisk gave him a worried look. "Are you okay? You looked like you were having a dilemma."

Tenebris almost gave a small "irk" sound, but managed to force it down. "Oh, just thinking. Anyways, did you find a place to rest while we were here? I doubt my training can be completed within the same day, even with somebody as lazy as Sans."

Selendis nodded. "There's an inn connected to the store that we can stay in. When she heard that we were staying on account of you training with Sans, she gave us a discount for this duration only. Used to be 80G a night, now it's 15G, which is great."

"Quite the discount. Anything else you guys plan on doing today?"

Frisk nodded. "We were thinking of watching your training session with Sans. Other than that, nothing else really to do." Tenebris couldn't help but grow pale when hearing that, which caught her attention. "What's wrong?"

"Uh... about that. It seems there's... something I must do before my training can begin in earnest. Thing is, I don't think I should involve you two in it."

Now Selendis was suspicious. "What is it exactly?"

"You'll... see when it happens. I doubt I'll be able to convince you guys otherwise, so... just follow me." The sisters shot a look at each other before tailing Tenebris as he walked to the other end of town.

When they exited, an icy fog slowly covered the area until none of them could see directly in front of them. They stopped when they saw a familiar looking shadow standing across from them. "AH! THERE YOU ARE, TENEBRIS. NO NEED TO EXPLAIN; MY BROTHER FILLED ME IN ON WHY I'M TESTING YOU!"

Selendis gave Tenebris the best deadpan look she could muster in the mist. "Test? What's going on?"

"AH, THE OTHER TWO ARE WITH YOU AS WELL? SUPPOSE I CAN EXPLAIN. SANS WANTS TO HAVE ME TEST TENEBRIS ON HOW JUST MUCH MAGIC HE KNOWS THUS FAR. FROM WHAT I COULD GLEAN, IT'S SO SANS KNOWS WHERE TO PROPERLY START WHEN HE ACTUALLY TRAINS YOU."

Frisk looked surprised. "So this is, essentially, a test of magical strength to create a training base-line."

"EXACTLY! AND I WAS MORE THAN HAPPY TO HELP. IT'S THE FIRST TIME MY BROTHER GENUINELY WANTS TO DO SOMETHING RATHER THAN SLACK OFF OR COLLECT SOCKS... OR MAKE BAD JOKES. TENEBRIS, YOU MUST OF SOMEHOW PIQUED HIS INTEREST SOMETHING MASSIVE FOR THAT LEVEL OF CHANGE."

"I... didn't realize. But isn't using one's brother as a test illegal in some cultures?" Selendis frowned. She never thought of it that way.

"REALLY?! YOU HUMANS DON'T DO THAT?! WOWIE... IT MUST BE VERY DIFFERENT ON THE SURFACE. NO WORRIES, BECAUSE I AM A GREAT FRIEND OF YOU THREE, I'LL DO IT JUST FOR YOU. ANYWAYS, GET READY FOR YOUR TEST, TENEBRIS, FOR I..." Papyrus clearly hesitated and turned around, confusing the humans. What jarred them was when he started saying, "NO... THIS IS ALL WRONG. I... I SHOULDN'T BE TESTING YOU OR MAKING FRIENDS WITH YOU. I SHOULD BE CAPTURING YOU FOR MY POSITION IN THE ROYAL GUARD." He turned around again. "SORRY, HUMANS. I'M GOING TO CHANGE THIS UP. I WON'T JUST BE TESTING TENEBRIS. I'LL BE TESTING ALL THREE OF YOU! IF YOU FAIL, I WILL CAPTURE YOU!"

All three humans recoiled when the area grew dark and Papyrus appeared before them in the familiar monotone look.

*Papyrus blocks the way.

Tenebris was having a panic attack. This is not how he intended for things to turn out, nor did he want to actually fight Papyrus. He was too goofy and innocent to fight. Both Selendis and Frisk never foresaw being dragged into fighting a great friend either and were unwilling to do much of anything.

Frisk, not knowing what else to do, started flirting with the skeleton, much to the surprise and slight discontent of the older humans. What surprised all three of them the most was when Papyrus took it seriously. "WHAT!? ARE YOU FLIRTING WITH ME, FRISK!? AND JUDGING BY THAT, THAT MEANS ALL THREE OF YOU FEEL THE SAME WAY... AND YOU ALL FINALLY REVEALED YOUR ULTIMATE FEELINGS!"

All three humans gave him a dumbfounded look. It wasn't even mild flirting, yet he took it that far. Papyrus ignored their looks and continued, "W-WELL, I'M A SKELETON WITH VERY HIGH STANDARDS!"

Selendis, thinking back to Papyrus' obsession with a certian pasta, nervously said, "I can make spaghetti."

"OH NO! SELENDIS, YOU'RE MEETING ALL MY STANDARDS!" Selendis recoiled a bit, not expecting it to work.

Tenebris... couldn't think of anything that would impress Papyrus. He wasn't good with spaghetti, he sucked at a fair amount at making puzzles, and he felt he was unappealing all around. To top it all off, he considered himself straight, meaning such 'ultimate feelings' didn't actually exist. Sighing, he simply said. "I have zero redeeming qualities."

This got shocked looks from the sisters and even Papyrus. "THAT... HUMILITY... OH NO! THAT HUMILITY... IT REMINDS ME OF MYSELF! TENEBRIS, YOU'RE ALSO MEETING ALL OF MY STANDARDS!"

Tenebris recoiled with his own surprised look. "Is he for real? ?Never thought I would actually find someone just as innocent as Frisk..."

Selendis sighed. "Tenebris, we need to talk later..." He felt a slight shiver go down his spine.

"WELL, I GUESS I HAVE TO GO ON A DATE WITH ONE OF YOU...? THE QUESTION IS, WHO?! W-WAIT, LET'S DATE L-LATER AFTER I CAPTURE ALL OF YOU!" He then sends out his first attack... which was simply some bones moving along the ground. All three humans managed to step over them easy.

Papyrus waited a bit for any of the humans to make a move, only to notice all three of them were unwilling to make any attempts at fighting. "SO NONE OF YOU WILL FIGHT... I WAS HOPING TO, AT LEAST, SEE SOME OFFENSIVE MAGIC FROM YOU, TENEBRIS, BUT I GUESS THAT WASN'T PART OF THE 'BASIC TRAINING' YOU RECEIVED. OH WELL, SANS CAN TEACH YOU THAT AND MORE. BUT SINCE YOU REFUSE TO ATTACK, LETS SEE HOW WELL YOU ARE DEFENSIVELY. TRY AND HANDLE MY FABLED 'BLUE ATTACK!'"

The humans saw a bunch of cyan bones moving at them and simply stood still. Selendis was tempted to yawn, but refrained. Frisk, on the other hand, was worried if Sans was actually being accurate about what Papyrus' blue attack actually was. Her worries became a reality when both her soul and Selendis' soul suddenly turned blue and dropped to the ground, right into a bone for each of them. "YOU'RE BLUE NOW. THAT'S MY... TENEBRIS, WHY ISN'T YOUR SOUL BLUE?!"

Tenebris saw his shadow-pulsing, dark purple soul still floating in front of his chest, seemingly unaffected. He shrugged. "Perhaps it's because of how saturated my soul is with shadow magic?"

"THAT COULD BE. I'LL SAY THIS: AS FAR AS I KNOW, THAT IS A VERY UNNATURAL COLOR FOR A HUMAN SOUL." Tenebris' heart fell when he heard this. "NO MATTER, I JUST HAVE TO BE TRICKY WITH MY ATTACKS!" Motioning to the girls he adds, "YOUR SOULS JUMP WHEN YOU JUMP, JUST LETTING YOU KNOW. NOW THE REAL BATTLE BEGINS!"

Papyrus wasn't kidding. Even though Tenebris' soul wasn't subjected to gravity like Frisk and Selendis, all of the floating bones Papyrus sent at them were indeed tricky. The skeleton observed that Tenebris had thrown up some shadowy barriers to protect Frisk and Selendis from particularly nasty waves. Eventually, the bone attacks got so dense that Tenebris started launching shadow bolts from his hands to try and thin them out. "SO YOU DO KNOW OFFENSIVE MAGIC! IF THAT'S THE CASE, THEN YOU'D BETTER BE PREPARED FOR MY SPECIAL ATTACK!"

Papyrus launched another normal attack, simply because he was curious about how much offensive magic Tenebris really knew. He knew that, defensively, all he had was shadow barriers he had to cast up each time they're needed to protect everyone's souls, but he could now tell that Tenebris had almost no options offensively either. What surprised the skeleton the most was how much magic Tenebris has stock-piled.

The humans weren't faring as well as they had hoped. Despite Tenebris' best efforts with barriers, all three of them have taken a beating from Papyrus to the point where they needed to consume food to regain health and stamina. This was especially despairing for Tenebris; even against one of the most innocent beings, he was already failing his duty to Selendis and Frisk. Damnit... if only I was stronger than this!

Papyrus must of saw the encroaching despair on Tenebris' face, because he suddenly said, "YOU LASTED THIS LONG, I'VE NO CHOICE BUT TO USE MY SPECIAL ATTACK!" The humans braced for it, only to see it get snagged by a little white dog, much to Papyrus' dismay. "WELL... I GUESS I'LL JUST HAVE TO USE A REALLY COOL NORMAL ATTACK..."

Said 'normal attack' started as a bunch of bones spelling "cool dude" with a bone wearing sunglasses on a skateboard. It seemed normal, up until all three humans saw a literal wave of bones heading right for them. Selendis shook her head. "Jump and hope for the best!"

Frisk gave her older sister a shocked look. "Hope for the best?! That isn't the usual Selendis plan!"

"If you've got a better idea, I'm all ears!"

Tenebris sighed. "That's really is all we can do. Jump NOW!" All three humans jump, only to find themselves starting to fly higher than any of them were comfortable with, even if it was to clear a gigantic bone. The fact that they started spinning in the air didn't help matters. "Gravity, what are you doing?! Gravity, stahp!"

"Selendis, I'm scared!"

"I want off this crazy ride!"

When they cleared the giant bone, they suddenly plummeted into the ground. All three of them were so dazed, Tenebris didn't even register a tiny bone hitting his foot. Nobody heard it, but there was faint laughter.

Papyrus didn't even register the humans' dazed looks on account of running out of energy himself. "WELL... *HUFF* IT'S CLEAR... NONE OF... YOU... CAN... *HUFF* DEFEAT ME! Y-YEAH, I CAN SEE ALL THREE OF YOU SHAKING IN YOUR BOOTS, FOR I AM JUST THAT INTIMIDATING WHEN I GET SERIOUS." None of them registered what he was saying as they struggled to stand. "THEREFORE I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, ELECT TO GRANT ALL OF YOU PITY! I HATE TO SAY IT, BUT I WILL SPARE YOU! YOUR FINAL THING FOR YOUR TEST? ACCEPT MY MERCY."

Tenebris slowly held a shaky thumbs-up. ""Y-yeah, l-like we were going to do anything else! W-were we?"

Frisk managed to get stood up herself. "Y-yeah, totally!" Selendis simply mumbled something in affirmation, still trying to find her legs.

The mist slowly cleared, for some reason, and the humans could see Papyrus more clearly. A wave of despair came over the skeleton when he realized what the end of that battle meant. "NYOO HOO HOO... I CAN'T EVEN GET ONE OF YOU WEAKENED, LET ALONE ALL THREE OF YOU... UNDYNE'S GOING TO BE SO DISAPPOINTED IN ME. I'LL NEVER BE ABLE TO JOIN THE ROYAL GUARD LIKE THIS, AND MY FRIEND QUANTITY WILL REMAIN STAGNANT!"

Frisk noticed that Papyrus sounded... lonely at the end there. She looked at Selendis, who finally managed to recover, and Tenebris with a worried look. They both nodded before she said, "We'll be your friends!"

This... surprised the skeleton somehow. "REALLY?! ALL OF YOU WANT TO BE FRIENDS WITH ME?" He suddenly had a contemplative look on his face, which made Selendis bite back a snort of amusement. "I... GUESS I CAN MAKE AN ALLOWANCE FOR YOU!" Realization crosses his features. "WOWIE, WE HAVEN'T EVEN HAD A FIRST DATE WITH ANY OF YOU... AND I'VE ALREADY MANAGED TO HIT THE FRIEND ZONE."

That time, both Selendis and Tenebris busted a gut laughing. Frisk merely gave them a confused look. Selendis spoke up. "P-Papyrus, never change, please."

"WOWIE, THANKS SELENDIS. THAT MEANS A WHOLE BUNCH TO ME! I HEREBY DECLARE THAT ALL OF YOU, ESPECIALLY TENEBRIS, PASS THE TEST AND NOW HAVE MY OFFICIAL PERMISSION TO PASS THROUGH TO WATERFALL, SANS' TRAINING NOTWITHSTANDING!"

Frisk beamed at him. "Thank you, Great Papyrus!"

The skeleton squeed at those words. "YOU ARE SUCH A NICE HUMAN FRISK! IN FACE, I CAN EVEN GIVE YOU ALL DIRECTIONS TO THE SURFACE!"

Selendis had her interest piqued, but shook her head. "Could we get those directions after Tenebris is done his training?"

"NOT A PROBLEM! ANYWAYS, TENEBRIS, WE SHOULD REPORT TO SANS FOR YOUR TRAINING TO BEGIN."

Tenebris sighed. "I suppose it WOULD be best to get it out of the way sooner rather than later."

"EXCELLENT! LET'S GO FIND MY BROTHER SO THAT HE CAN STOP BEING LAZY FOR ONCE!"

"Hold on, Papyrus, I need to talk to him first." Papyrus gave Selendis a confused look, but complied. She brought Tenebris a few paces away before asking, "What was that "zero redeeming qualities" shtick about?"

"I literally couldn't think of anything that WOULD be redeeming in Papyrus' eyes. I can't make spaghetti, you know first hand how that went, I'm terrible at making puzzles and mediocre at best in solving them, and overall, I look visually unappealing."

She poked his forehead, which he covered with a confused look. "Tenebris, did you think we made friends on you based on your appearance?"

"No, Frisk wouldn't of cared about that."

"Exactly. We care about what kind of a person you are, not what you look like." Selendis sighs; she wasn't the best at these kinds of talks. "Just promise me you won't think negatively about yourself visually from now on."

He nods. "I... I'll try." No promises, though...

"Alright. Then you should get going. The sooner you get your training done, the sooner we can reach the surface."

Tenebris nodded before going back to Papyrus, who had a confused look on his face. "WHAT WAS THAT ABOUT?"

"Just a comment about me saying I have zero redeeming qualities."

"REALLY? SHE HAD A PROBLEM WITH YOUR HUMILITY?"

That got a laugh out of Tenebris. "It's not that exactly. Nothing to worry about anyways." Papyrus shrugged, but didn't probe any further.

When they re-entered Snowdin, the sisters decided to head to the hotel to rest while the other two headed to Grillby's. Papyrus was clearly reluctant. "I REALLY DON'T SEE WHAT MY BROTHER SEES IN THIS GREASE-HOLE..."

"You hate grease, Papyrus?"

"MORE THAN YOU KNOW." Tenebris simply shook his head, but left it alone. Sure enough, Sans was in there. "SANS, I'M BACK WITH YOUR STUDENT!"

Sans turned around with a semi-surprised look. "huh, that was fast. your verdict, pap?"

"DEFENSIVELY, HE COULD USE A LITTLE MORE FINE TUNING. THE BARRIERS HE USES ARE FINE; HE JUST NEEDS MORE CONTROL OVER THEM AND THE ABILITY TO MAKE SELF-SUSTAINING PROTECTION."

"makes sense, considering you don't want to kill anyone." Tenebris nodded before Sans asked, "what about offense?"

"VERY POOR. ALL HE CAN DO IS use SHADOW BOLTS. IT WAS EFFECTIVE FOR DESTROYING MY BONE ATTACKS, BUT I'M OF THE OPINION HE SHOULD EXPAND HIS ARSENAL. AS I ALWAYS SAY: THE BEST DEFENSE IS A GOOD OFFENSE."

Sans simply chuckled. "so that's the groundwork then, huh buddy? as much as i dislike the prospect of too much offense, sometimes that's all you need to annoy people into quitting. so... sure, i can 'expand the arsenal' as papyrus put it."

Tenebris was... actually excited about being able to have better control over his magic. "When can we begin?"

When Papyrus saw Sans astonished look, he shook his head. "HE HAS A MASSIVE RESERVOIR OF MAGIC JUST WAITING TO BE USED. I'M SURPRISED HE ISN'T BOUNCING OFF THE WALLS BY THIS POINT."

"That might explain why I haven't needed much sleep ever since I was infused." When he saw both skeletons looking at him in confusion, he shivered. "That's... a tale I don't want to recount right now..."

Sans chuckled. "no worries. you can tell it when you're most comfortable. for now... why don't we have our lessons in installments: novice, intermediate, and advanced. that way, you can make more progress towards the surface in-between installments and not waste time on advanced things you ultimately don't need." Tenebris nods and Sans chuckles darkly. "also, i'm warning you now that i actually do take training seriously. be prepared to have a bad time in the beginning."

Tenebris straightened out, but looked determined to go through with it. If it means being able to protect his friends to the best of his abilities, he'll go to hell and back to accomplish it.