Hey readers! I was really happy with the response this story got after just the first chapter so I was really excited to start writing the next one! This chapter is really going to show whether you enjoy my sense of humor or not so I hope you enjoy it :).
On a side note, I'm not in any way trying to keep any of the dialogue 100% accurate to the actual game. Most of it will be similar, but it will change based on the fact that I'm sure all of you have played the game before and don't need me to transcript it for you, expect lots of new and old jokes :D.
Chapter 2 - Snowdin Forest
I blinked as I shielded my eyes against the bright light beyond the door. As my eyes adjusted to the light, I shivered against the cold wind. If it wasn't for the fact that I had only gone downwards, I would of thought that I was already back on the surface. Before me lay a dense forest of leafless trees, a thick lining of snow covering their branches and the forest floor below. Similar to the cave I fell into, I could see no indication of a ceiling above me, which further led me to believe there was something strange about this place. The large imposing forest aside, how does it snow underground?
"No time to think about it, I'll freeze if I stand here all day!"
I shivered as I noticed what seemed to be a path leading into the woods. From the half frozen gravel and large snow banks on either side, it was clear that the track was regularly swept of snow. Judging from the pristine layer of last night's snow however, it seemed that no-one had travelled up here today.
"If the path is cleared regularly then it must lead to somewhere. Then again, it's not like I could go anywhere else…" I thought to myself as I poked my hammer into the snow on the side of the path. The handle sunk a good two feet before stopping on the earth below.
"Path it is then! I hope whoever clears it doesn't have anything to do with Asgore or this could go bad really quickly…"
The area was eerily quiet, my footsteps crunching in the fresh snow the only indication of life in this bleak looking place. I stopped and peered out into the gloom. The rows of trees obscured my vision, limiting it to no more than thirty feet into the woods beyond. As I continued down the path my footsteps seemed louder, the ghostly silence amplifying their sound.
*Crack*
I turned around abruptly to the sound of snapping wood behind me. The path was empty, but the still swaying branches of several trees as the snow fell off them gave evidence that I might not be as alone as I thought. Picking up my pace I walked briskly onwards. I could now clearly hear another pair of footsteps behind me, but everytime I tried to catch a glance over my shoulder I saw nothing but snapped branches and disrupted trees.
As the path turned I saw a narrow bridge ahead, spanning over a small gully that flowed through the forest. Wooden bars spanned the bridge, almost formed a gate if the logs weren't so far apart that even a normal sized person could squeeze through. As I examined the interesting wooden structure I heard the footsteps behind me. They were much closer than before, and I could sense a large person standing right behind me.
"Human…" the voice began, it's deep and intimidating tone sending shivers down my spine.
"Don't you know how to greet someone? Why don't you turn around and shake my hand?"
I turned slowly, looking upwards at the shadowy man that stood behind me. Standing in the gloom of the trees I couldn't make out his features clearly, but from his outline I could tell he was around the height of an average man, but with a broad and imposing stature. As I stared, he reached out a gloved hand towards me. Hesitantly I reached out and shook it.
*Pffttttt…..*
As I grabbed his hand I felt something defleat and the sound of escaping air filled the silent woods. I looked up in confusion as he let out a low chuckle.
"Heh, the old whoopie cushion in the hand trick, it never gets old."
The figure laughed as he stepped out of the shadows, allowing me to get a better look at him. He stood around 5'10" and his well built stature was enhanced by the bulky blue jacket he wore. Under his jacket was a white shirt, complimented with a pair of striped shorts and rather impractical looking slippers. What truly caught my eye was his face, or lack thereof. The man was nothing but bones, but his eye sockets still showed signs of life as a pair pale pupils looked me over nonchalantly. Despite his intimidating appearance, it was softened by his casual looking clothes and sly grin that covered his face. His clothing and attitude reminded me of some of the things Vi and Ekko wore in their spare time, and if it wasn't for his lack of skin I could imagine the man blending in seamlessly on the streets of Zaun.
"So kid, my name is Sans, Sans the skeleton. I'm meant to be watching out for humans right now but you know…"
He looked me over before shrugging.
"But I guess you don't look much like one, unless you're feeling a little - blue. Hehe." He chuckled at his own pun. "But you are from the surface right? I mean I haven't seen anyone like you around here before. Not that it's any of my business..."
"Yeah I am, from the surface I mean." I replied. "I'm what we call a yordle you see, but I do live in a place mainly populated by humans. Why is everyone so hung up on that fact?"
"Oh, there's some order about all humans having to be captured and sent to the Royal Castle. I'm not a big fan of capturing anyone, so I don't really pay much attention. Come on let's go to my hut, my brother made the bars on the bridge too wide to stop anyone so we can walk straight through."
Sans led me across the gully to a small clearing beyond. A small wooden sentry post stood by the side of the path, snow building up slowly on its sloped roof.
"Oh talking about my brother, you should be careful. He's a human hunting fanatic! He also doesn't really know what they look like, so seeing a surface dweller like you he'll probably think you're one." Sans explained as we stood in the clearing.
"SANS! If I find you asleep at your station again there is going to be hell to pay!" A voice in the distance cackled as Sans finished talking.
"Speaking of which, here he is now, you better hide in my guardpost. Who knows what he will do if he finds you?"
Winking at me, I quickly ran over to the post, ducking down behind the stand and placing my hammer down on the floor. I heard footsteps rapidly approaching as Sans propped himself against the counter above me.
"Sans, what are you doing! Why aren't you clearing the snow off the path!" The voice cried.
"Oh hey Papyrus, didn't see you there. I've just been so busy guarding my post." Sans replied.
"Guarding your post!? You're always so lazy! There's no need to guard that wooden shack!"
"Then why do they call it a guard post?"
"Damn it Sans! You're impossible!" The voice I assumed belonged to Papyrus sighed in frustration. "Have you gotten any work done today?"
"Sure I have, I've got a ton of work today, a skele-ton, hehe." Sans chuckled as his brother let out another cry of exasperation. I kinda felt sorry for him, I met a lot of potential heroes that were incredibly lazy in the past. Despite his sense of humor, even I would get angry with Sans's apparent lack of work ethic if I had to work with him.
"I dread to think what would happen if a human came here while you were on duty! You'd probably just let them sit in your guard post!"
"Hey, you know what, a human did come through here. Why don't you look in this post?"
I froze in shock. "Is he selling me out? Damn, I really don't want to fight two of them." I grabbed my hammer and readied myself for Papyrus to enter.
"I've had enough of your games Sans! I'm not falling for your tricks again!" Papyrus cried, "You better have finished clearing the path when I get back!"
"Awh really bro, you're not gonna take a look?"
"Definitely not! Now, I'm going. If work is too difficult for you, maybe you should put a bit more… backbone into it! NYEHEHEHEHE!"
With this I heard a pair of footsteps leaving the clearing, fading slowly into the distance. I popped my head up over the counter.
"Why did you do that?I thought you said you weren't interesting in capturing me?" I asked Sans, still angry that he almost sold me out.
"Heh, don't worry kid, my brother's a cool guy so he wouldn't capture you without a challenge. Hey, you think you could do me a favor?" Sans asked, dropping his jovial tone for a moment.
"Um, that depends what it is. I mean I guess you didn't capture me so I owe you something."
"Cool, so you think you could pretend to be a human? You know, just for a bit. My brother loves making traps to capture humans with, but none ever really come down here. It would really mean the world to him if you played along."
"Wait, so you want me to be bait for your Brother's traps? Isn't that really dangerous?"
"Nah, don't worry about it. The traps aren't exactly lethal, and I'll keep an eye socket out for you. Who knows, you might have fun." He chuckled.
"Hmm," I mulled it over it over. I wasn't exactly a big fan of playing the bad guy, but if it was just to cheer his brother up then it can't be that bad, and Sans didn't seem like such a bad guy.
"Ok I'll do it, but I really can't let myself get captured you know, I need to get back to the surface…"
"Cheers kid, I owe you one. I'll be sure to point you in the right direction once we get to Snowdin. I'm gonna go tell Papyrus now, you just follow suit in a bit."
Sans winked as he strolled off down the path. I sighed, taking a seat in Sans's guard post. The residents here didn't seem too bad, maybe if the royal guard were all like Sans it wouldn't be too hard to get back to the surface.
"I really hope I don't bump into the hero around here, who knows what he'll think of me if he sees me playing the bad guy…"
Around 30 minutes later…
"Damn that skeleton, where on earth has he gone?"
I intended to give Sans a good ten minute head start before I followed him, but things had quickly taken a strange turn. Not long after Sans left, a strange blue bird approached the guard post. Unfazed by the fact that I wasn't Sans, it proceeded to tell me bad Ice puns for around 15 minutes before it ran out of material.
"I take back what I said, the residents here are even stranger than some of the champions in the League, and that's really saying something…"
As I approached another clearing, I breathed a sigh of relief. Before me stood a pair of skeletons with their backs to me. One of them was familiar, clearly Sans from the jacket he was wearing, while the other was a much taller skeleton, who I assumed to be his brother Papyrus. Papyrus stood a good 6" above his brother, wearing a white breastplate, bright blue shorts and a rough red scarf around his neck. His hands were covered with a pair of red gloves and gold lining adorned the majority of his costume. Unlike his brother, Papyrus's face was far longer and straighter than Sans's rounder skull. The way he stood confidently next to his brother gave off an aura of nobility.
"Wow, he looks really heroic! Maybe he could be a great hero?"
"Sans! How long are you going to keep me here? It's been 20 minutes now and I'm really beginning to doubt your story about that cloud that looked like a plate of spaghetti!"
"Hey, I'm sure it will turn up eventually." Sans replied, turning round and noticing my presence, "Hey Papyrus, what's that over there?"
Papyrus turned around slowly, his narrow eyes opening wide as he stared straight past me.
"OH MY GOD, IS THAT A HUMAN!?"
"No, I think that's just a rock. Hey, what's that in front of the rock?"
"OH MY GOD, IS THAT A HUMAN!?"
"It sure is."
"OH MY GOD!" Papyrus grasped his face in shock, looking straight at me, "Are you really a human?"
"I take back everything…"
"Um, well I sorta…" I stuttered, "Come on Poppy, be brave! Just like the Hero!"
"I mean, yeah! I'm the mighty human hero here to defeat King Asgore!"
"Nyehehehe! Don't get carried away! I, the great Papyrus stand in your path! Prepare for puzzles, japes and dramatic encounters, all concluding in my great triumph as I am welcomed into the Royal Guard! Nyehehe!" Papyrus gloated.
"I will bathe in a thousand kisses every morning, and I will finally reach a double digit friend count on the internet! Prepare yourself Human!" He finished his speech before turning to leave.
"Woah, hold up brother. Don't you want to like, you know, make sure she's the real deal?"
I gaped at Sans in confusion, "What is he doing?". Sans winked at me mockingly.
"Like, why don't we ask them if they know any good jokes?"
"Sans! Why would we ask a human if they know any good jokes?" Papyrus asked.
"Well, aren't you wondering if she's, human-rous?" Sans chuckled.
"I HATE YOU SANS, WHY DO YOU ALWAYS DO THIS TO ME?" Papyrus cried, stamping his feet on the ground angrily.
"That's your queue kid, make sure it's a good one." Sans smiled expectantly.
"Oh jokes? I mean, sure I know some jokes!" I replied. Tristana told me to learn a few jokes to use in casual conversation, and I had been practicing telling them in my spare time.
"Never thought they'd be so useful though, now how does it go again?"
"Well then Human, we're waiting! It better not be as bad as my brother's awful puns!" Papyrus exclaimed.
"Ok so like, a Noxian, a Demacian and an Ionian… wait no, A Frejordian walk into a bar…"
"Sans, what's a Frejordian?" Papyrus whispered to Sans.
"I don't know, but I'm too a-frejd to ask." Sans replied.
"And the Demacian says 'I'll have a wine', no wait, 'an Ale!' And then the Noxian says, 'I'll have a' uh, 'wine', yeah he wants a wine. And then the Frejordian says, 'I'll drink anything, so long as…, uh, so long as... , what does he say again?" I looked around awkwardly, Sans and Papyrus stood in a silence in front of me.
We all stood there awkwardly, the silence was deafening as the two skeletons stared at me in disbelief.
"Hmmm, very clever Human. Instead of telling us a joke, you have given me, the Great Papyrus a challenging puzzle instead! Already you challenge my incredible intellect with your dastardly schemes! Well fear not, soon you too will be confounded! Nyehehehehe!" Papyrus laughed as he ran out of the clearing deeper into the forest.
I walked over to Sans as he stood there chuckling to himself.
"I think you need to work on your joke telling a bit kid, but good job. I haven't seen Papyrus that happy since Undyne said she would personally train him. Thanks again for this, we better hurry before he goes too overboard on his first trap." Sans told me as he walked after Papyrus.
"Well I guess that went better well. I hope his puzzles aren't too difficult…"
I spent my next 10 minutes creeping past another guard Sans didn't warn me about. The guard look tired, or maybe he had just been consuming too many "substances". Either way the place had smelt of alcohol and burnt dog treats, leaving the guard apparently unable to see anything that wasn't moving quickly.
After carefully tiptoeing around him, I soon came across the site for Payrus's first puzzle, at least that's what I assumed. Across the clearing stood Sans and Papyrus, the floor between us looked flattened, with stray branches and stones cleared to the sides of the clearing. Other than this, the clearing seemed completely empty, with no signs of any traps or puzzles.
"I have a bad feeling about this…"
"Aha! Welcome human! I see you have finally arrived at the site of my first puzzle! I think you will find this one… quite shocking! Nyehehehehe!" Papyrus cried from the other side of the clearing.
"Uh, have you like, not set it up yet? Because I don't really see anything…" I replied in confusion.
"Nyehe! Oh dear Human, that is because this is my incredible 'Invisible Shock Maze'! You must navigate this maze without being able to see it, and should you accidently touch the walls this orb will deliver a high powered electrical blast!" Papyrus explained.
"What really? Woah, that's pretty cool! So there are like actual walls here?" I asked, taking a few steps forward and stretching out my hand. No sooner than I did this my hand touched a cold metal bar that I couldn't see, and lightning arced out from the maze, revealing it entirely for a moment before blasting Papyrus.
"Owowowowow!" Papyrus screamed as the lightning coursed from the orb and into his body.
"I think the Human needs to be the one holding the orb for this to work bro." Sans chuckled.
"Yes I know that Sans! She just jumped ahead before I was done explaining! Stand still Human while I come and give you this orb!" Papyrus exclaimed before moving erratically across the clearing before reaching me.
"Hold this human!" He said, before placing the orb in my hand and retracing his steps back through the maze, leaving a clear path of footsteps in the fresh snow.
I watched Papyrus in disbelief as he revealed the correct path through the maze. This puzzle would actually be a very difficult one to solve, as the only real way to see the answer is in the few brief seconds after you make a mistake and the maze lights up. However, by navigating it himself to give me the orb, all I have to do is follow his footsteps in order to get a perfect solution.
"Awh, I kinda feel bad for him. If I was to solve this puzzle straight away, he'd probably be really upset. I guess I should try and take it slow, maybe risk a few mistakes. Damn, this is gonna hurt…"
"Nyehe! You look thoroughly stumped, I hope I haven't defeated you already Human!" Papyrus shouted from across the clearing, noticeably further back than before.
"Uh, don't worry! I'll solve this in no time at all! Just make sure you've got your best puzzles ready for me once I finish!" I shouted back.
He grinned excitedly at my response as I set out into the maze, moving carefully and slowly as I followed his path, making sure I made it look like I was checking for the walls as I moved. At around the halfway point, I decided that it was about time to make a mistake. Closing my eyes, I continued walking straight just as Papyrus's footsteps turned. As I felt the cold touch of the metal I heard the maze begin to hum before the lightning arced out once again. My very bones felt like they were on fire as the lightning coursed through my body as I let out a cry of pain. As quickly as the pain hit me, it disappeared, leaving me flat on the floor.
"It appears you are having some trouble there Human, but allow me to alleviate your concerns!" Papyrus shouted, "I, the Great Papyrus, have finally solved your riddle!"
"What riddle?" I thought to myself as I got back up and continued walking, "Is he just trying to distract me?"
"The so called Frelyodan would clearly order anything as long as it's spaghetti!" Papyrus gloated, a smug smile across his face as he stared at me expectantly.
"Spaghetti… what, no! What even is spaghetti? How does that even make any sense? It was just a - Owwwwwww!" Confused by Papyrus's announcement I once again bumped into the sides of the maze, receiving another painful shock from the lightning orb.
"Hmm, I was sure that was the correct answer, but your shock leads me to believe I must have been close! Don't think you've beaten me yet human! Nyehehe!"
With a sigh I quickly navigated through the remainder of the maze, not wanting to linger around any longer incase I accidentally got zapped again. Sans smiled at me as I finally completed the maze, giving me a congratulatory wink as I laid my hammer on the ground to catch my breath. I looked up at him in frustration.
"Damn you Sans, you said that his puzzles were harmless! If I didn't have the solution given to me I could've died from those shocks!"
"Well done Human, you seemed to have passed my first challenge fairly quickly! Did my stunningly accurate guess to your riddle inspire you to finish quickly before I solved it?" Papyrus asked.
"No, aha," I replied, still catching my breath from that last sprint through the maze, "I guess I'm just that good." I returned Papyrus's grin with my own look of determination.
"Well, I think I would rate your performance acceptable this time. Truth be told, I thought this puzzle might be slightly too tricky, so I showed you the solution first by navigating through the maze myself, twice in fact! But it appears your Human memory was not quite good enough to get a perfect score!" He gloated before turning to leave. "Another fantastic jape by the Great Papyrus! Nyehehehehehe!"
I stared at the skeleton in disbelief as he bounded out of the clearing, once again disappearing into the woods beyond.
"Are you kidding me? He did it deliberately!?"
"Hey thanks for making those mistakes kid, you're really doing a good job at this." Sans patted me on the back as I rose to my feet. "You really are a pretty nice guy after all, you be careful while walking through this forest, there may be one or two more guards here other than me and Papyrus." He smiled as he shuffled after his brother.
"Oh, thanks for telling me that Sans, I didn't notice that before…" I thought to myself as I picked up my hammer and trailed after them. "That's the last time I go easy on this skeleton's puzzles…"
"Sigh, I hope business picks up soon, I'm really low on sales at the moment." The blue man mumbled to himself as I walked past him. Looking at him he was wearing a bright yellow short sleeved shirt with a single red stripe down the middle as well as a pair of bright red shorts. Though he wore a gloomy expression on his face, he brightened up as he saw me approach him.
"Hey Stranger, can I interest you in a Nice cream? It's the frozen treat that makes you smile!" He asked me.
"Um sorry, I don't really have any money, well not the kind you use around here anyway." I replied. I had tried ice cream before in Bandle City, Tristana and Rumble couldn't get enough of the stuff, but I had always found it a bit too sweet for my tastes.
"Oh, so you must be the 'Human' Sans and Papyrus were telling me about! Don't worry about it, Sans told me to give you one on the house! His brother also told me to let you know that the next puzzle is over there." He said, pointing a few meters down the road. He then proceeded to scoop out some nice cream from his trolley and handed me a cone.
"Ah, thanks I guess," I replied, taking the cone from him. He gave me a parting wave as I started walking in the direction he had indicated. Not wanting to seem rude, I gave the nice cream a taste. Just like the ice cream in Bandle City, the frozen treat was almost sickeningly sweet, and I found it difficult to continue eating it.
"I'm sure Tristana would love this, but this really isn't for me…" I thought to myself, as I discreetly dumped the nice cream in the snow bank. "Now let's see what Papyrus has prepared for me now…"
"So you arrive at last human! I hope that you're ready for- SANS! WHERE IS YOUR TRAP!?" Papyrus shouted as I arrived at the Skeletons' next location.
"It's right there Papyrus, on that rock. Can't you see it?" Sans replied.
Me and Papyrus looked over to the rock Sans had indicated, sure enough on top of the rock a small page of paper sat, held in place by a smaller rock on top of that.
"SANS! WHAT ON EARTH IS THAT?"
I walked over to the paper and picked it up. Written across the the paper was a crudely constructed wordsearch with a picture of a dog's face on it. Sitting down on the rock, I had a quick search over the grid of letters. There were only 10 words to find, and the grid wasn't that big, so it only took around a minute to find all the words. Sans hadn't even put in the effort to put any of them diagonally or backwards.
"I think I've solved it Sans," I told him, handing the paper over to him.
"GOOD WORK SANS, THAT DIDN'T DO ANYTHING!" Papyrus berated Sans.
"Damn, I knew I should've used today's crossword instead." Sans replied, "Good job kid."
"Crossword? Sans, the crossword wouldn't be any better! Besides, Junior Jumble is far more difficult than crosswords…" Papyrus explained.
"Junior Jumble, you mean that baby puzzle?" Sans asked.
"Silence! Junior Jumble is the pinnacle of mental exercise, but let's put this to my intelligent rival! Human, which do you think is harder!" Papyrus inquired.
I don't really spend my time solving puzzles, and as such I never really look at crosswords, nor have I ever heard of Junior Jumble. Looking over to the two, Papyrus was hanging on my answer expectantly why Sans merely gave me a wink before shrugging his shoulders.
"Um, well obviously Junior Jumble is the most difficult!" I replied, Papyrus's face lighting up in joy.
"Aha! Humans must be incredibly intelligent to also be puzzled by such advanced brain teasers! I hope you are prepared for my next challenge, for it will be far greater than my brother's! Nyehehehe!" Papyrus cried as he sprinted off into the distance.
"Keep going like this, and you'll be a true villainous Human in no time kid," Sans chuckled, "Also, I hope you don't mind dogs…"
Next chapter soon, please leave a review if you liked :)
