A.N: So sorry for the extremely long delay. I lost my determination for a long while there. And I cannot guarantee that it's entirely back now, because my favorite parts of the game are over and won't be back until a little more towards the end. But hey, I still have special surprises in store for Waterfall, but you'll have to guess. But in any case...just remember. Ephemera and now Skuld, are from KHX and Unchained X. Enjoy the show!
Our beloved little group had to come to terms with no choice but to ditch a certain monster named Jerry before sparing the other monsters who were just as annoyed at him as they came to be. Jiminy was the only one who was saddened by this notion, but even he couldn't escape being annoyed by Jerry's irritating antics. Then they came across another puzzle, one that was fun and easy enough after having read the instructions on the sign to turn all the 'x's on the ground into 'o's by stepping on them once and then pressing the switch.
However, before they could even begin to do much other than turn the x on the right into and o, they noticed Papyrus on the other side of the spikes, and in turn Papyrus noticed them too.
"WHAT!? HOW DID YOU AVOID MY TRAP? AND, MORE IMPORTANTLY…IS THERE ANY LEFT FOR ME?" He looked so hopeful when he asked that question that seemed like it came out of left field, but after a second everyone realized he was talking about his spaghetti. None of them had the heart to tell him that they left it because it froze over completely, so they told him that they ate it. "REALLY!? WOWIE…NO ONE'S EVER ENJOYED MY COOKING BEFORE…WELL THEN! FRET NOT HUMANS AND FRIENDS! I, MASTER CHEF PAPYRUS…WILL MAKE YOU ALL THE PASTA YOU COULD EVER WANT! HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH NYEH!" With that, he headed off.
Before they could even start doing the super easy puzzle, Ice Cap strutted into view and into the white wall perspective they all went. Frisk naturally chose the Act option and the Check. Ice Cap – this teen wonders why it isn't named 'Ice Hat.' "Where's YOUR hat?" Ice Cap asked snobbishly. When they got the chance, Frisk and Sora complimented Ice Cap, informing them that they have a great hat! "Duh! Who DOESN'T know?" Ice Cap replied in a high and mighty tone, greatly appreciating the compliment. Frisk and Sora had to tear their eyes away from Ice Cap's hat before they could spare it.
After getting out of the white walled perspective, the group finished up the exceedingly simple puzzle and followed the direction the tall skeleton went. Within the next area, they encountered Papyrus again.
"MY BROTHER STARTED A SOCK COLLECTION RECENTLY. HOW SADDENING…SOMETIMES I WONDER WHAT HE WOULD DO…WITHOUT SUCH A COOL GUY TAKING CARE OF HIM? NYEH HEH HEH!" He told them proudly. Then walked them over to the puzzle that was a few feet further ahead. "HUMANS, AND FRIENDS! HMMM…HOW DO I SAY THIS…YOU WERE TAKING A LONG TIME 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. NOW THE SOLUTION IS DIFFERENT! AND, AS USUAL, MY LAZY BROTHER IS NOWHERE AROUND. I SUPPOSE WHAT I'M SAYING IS…WORRY NOT HUMANS AND FRIENDS! I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS WILL SOLVE THIS CONUNDRUM! THEN WE CAN BOTH PROCEED! MEANWHILE, FEEL FREE TO TRY THE PUZZLE YOURSELVES! I'LL TRY NOT TO GIVE AWAY THE ANSWER!"
The puzzle was the same as in the area before, turn every x into an o. They could sort of see the bits of it that almost looked like Papyrus' face, other than that it didn't really look like him at all. Frisk knew it was much more fun to solve the puzzle by hand rather than using Papyrus' cheat switch that was hidden in the tree to the right of the tall skeleton (on Papyrus' right). Thus, a little team work helped a lot, Donald and Goofy hit the tougher-to-get-to-in-one-sitting x's, while Sora got the easier ones, Frisk hit the switch once the trio had done their thing. Needless to say Papyrus was thoroughly impressed.
"WOW! YOU SOLVED IT! AND YOU DID IT ALL WITHOUT MY HELP…INCREDIBLE! I'M IMPRESSED! YOU MUST CARE ABOUT PUZZLES LIKE I DO! I'M SURE YOU WILL LOVE THE NEXT PUZZLE THEN! IT MIGHT EVEN BE TOO EASY FOR YOU! NYEH! HEH HEH! HEHEHEH!" Papyrus said with pride for them. Then of course he headed onward to whatever next puzzle in store for them that he would personally see to.
As the group followed in the direction that he was going they noticed Sans just beyond where the spikes blocking the way were.
"good job on solving it so quickly. you didn't even need my help. which is great 'cause i love doing absolutely nothing." Sans said casually as they passed by him. They all told him thanks and headed into the next area.
Unsurprisingly, Sans had teleported again as now he was standing with his brother across the way, and in between the group and the skeletons was a lot of grey pixilated tiles of some sort, and next to Papyrus was some sort of machine. They easily assumed the pixilated grey tiles were part of the next puzzle, and awaited instructions from the skeleton brothers. However, Frisk quickly signed to Jiminy (after gently tapping him to get his attention) for someone to get a pencil and paper. They were going to need it for later. Once again Goofy's hat came through providing a note pad, though Donald had kept the pencil they used earlier and had stored it in one of his chest pockets.
"HEY! IT'S THE HUMANS AND THEIR FRIENDS! YOU'RE GONNA LOVE THIS PUZZLE! IT WAS MADE BY THE GREAT DR. ALPHYS! YOU SEE THESE TILES!? ONCE I THROW THE SWITCH…THEY WILL BEGIN TO CHANGE COLOR! EACH COLOR HAS A DIFFERENT FUNCTION!" Papyrus said gleefully. Frisk, through Jiminy's translation, warned the others to get ready to write down instructions.
"RED TILES ARE IMPASSABLE! YOU CANNOT WALK ON THEM! YELLOW TILES ARE ELECTRIC! THEY WILL ELECTROCUTE YOU! GREEN TILES ARE ALARM TILES! IF YOU STEP ON THEM…YOU WILL HAVE TO FIGHT A MONSTER! ORANGE TILES ARE ORANGE-SCENTED. THEY WILL MAKE YOU SMELL DELICIOUS! BLUE TILES ARE WATER TILES. SWIM THROUGH IF YOU LIKE, BUT…IF YOU SMELL LIKE ORANGES! THE PIRAHNAS WILL BITE YOU. ALSO, IF A BLUE TILE IS NEXT TO A YELLOW TILE, THE WATER WILL ALSO ZAP YOU! PURPLE TILES ARE SLIPPERY! YOU WILL SLIDE TO THE NEXT TILE! HOWEVER, THE SLIPPERY SOAP…SMELLS LIKE LEMONS! WHICH PIRAHNAS DO NOT LIKE! PURPLE AND BLUE ARE OK! FINALLY, PINK TILES. THEY DON'T DO ANYTHING. STEP ON THEM ALL YOU LIKE. HOW WAS THAT!? UNDERSTAND?" Papyrus explained the rules cheerfully. Donald was the fastest writer, being able to write all of that info down. His hand was cramping, and he certainly hoped that this was all worth it. The group told Papyrus that they understood everything. "GREAT! THEN THERE'S ONE LAST THING… THIS PUZZLE… IS ENTIRELY RANDOM!" Papyrus shouted and paused for dramatic effect. "WHEN I PULL THIS SWITCH, IT WILL MAKE A PUZZLE…THAT HAS NEVER BEEN SEEN BEFORE! NOT EVEN I WILL KNOW THE SOLUTION! NYEH HEH HEH! GET READY…!" Papyrus then pulled the switch.
The grey tiles turned to color and shifted, and shifted and the shifting got faster and faster, until it finally stopped….It stopped on a good stretch of pink tiles, enough for a few people to walk on side by side at once, and was outlined by red tiles. It took a few seconds of absolute silence before Papyrus just exasperatedly spun out of the area, Sans even stepped aside to let his brother through, which after the taller skeleton was out of sight, came the laughter from the whole group on the other side of the puzzle. They laughed so hard they all just flopped to the ground, making snow angels as they laughed, they even heard Sans chuckling because their laughter was so contagious.
It took a long while for the laughter to die down, but when it finally did, Sora was the first one up and helped the others get up as well. They then walked across the pink tiles without incident, letting out a few more chuckles as they walked. When they got to Sans, their chuckles finally died down as did Sans' own stifled chuckles.
"actually, that spaghetti from earlier…it wasn't too bad for my brother. since he started cooking lessons, he's been improving a lot. i bet if he keeps it up, next year he'll even make something edible." Sans told them with his ever brother loving smile plastered on his face.
The majority of the group couldn't help but look at Donald at the statement. The duck grumbled under their gaze, but he still felt justified in having asked about it first and totally not risking food poisoning.
"Alright so we should've heated it up and tried it, so sue me. But if I was the test subject to eat it first and I got sick from it, I'd shove it down all your throats to make you suffer with me!" Donald retorted.
"Aw, c'mon Donald. You know we would all eat it at the same time." Sora reassured him. Donald just glared at the taller boy, it was still astounding just how much Sora grew in that time they were sleeping in those weird pods, Donald's glare was more of a silent 'yeah right.'
They all moved on and came across a ton of snow dog heads…and necks, almost as if someone was trying to replicate Lesser Dog's elongated neck down to a 'T' but kept messing up. One even had a curly cue, so that one at least was somewhat pretty close. There was a dog-centric sentry station and all that was inside and on the floor was a box of pomeraisins. The sign next to the station simply said "AWARE OF DOG. pleas pet dog." And after talking to the deer like monster who, described a dog filled with inspiration and kept trying to make a snowdog that expressed its own emotions, but as it built it kept getting more excited, and with its own neck getting longer and longer…it was safe to assume that the sentry station here belonged to Lesser Dog and it tried to make a snowdog that looked like itself but kept failing. According to this deer like monster in a sweater straight out of the late 80s- early 90s, it was hard to look away.
There was also a set of save points here, so they saved. Knowing that dog will never give up trying to make the perfect snowdog…It filled them all with determination.
So they continued on, and came across a puzzle that was similar to the previous two before it, turn the x's into o's. The main difference being that there was ice involved. So of course after one attempt as a group, they fell off the side and came across the snow sculptures that were very obviously made by the skeleton brothers. There was a lump of snow with Sans' name written on it in red marker, and Papyrus did a very nice likeness of himself for the skull at least, and added body builder muscles and a scrap piece of scarf to make it look cooler. After admiring the sculptures, they climbed back up the given path, they then went at the puzzle one by one. Frisk already knew the solution of course so they let the others figure it out themselves first. Soon all the x's had been turned to o's and all that was left was to hit the switch, which they let Frisk do the honors of hitting. As soon as it was stepped on the ice magically formed more pieces of itself to connect with the rest of the icy path. They all slid down it and through some thick trees, and when they came out the other side, they all had snow hats, except for Donald, who somehow managed to get a snowbird on his head.
"Hmmm…Looks like a kiwi." Goofy mused aloud getting a closer look at the snow bird on Donald's head before it disintegrated from the ducks movement.
"But aren't kiwis fruit?" Sora asked, genuinely confused.
"Kiwis are birds as well, Sora. But they're still both different things." Donald replied, he should know, he was technically a bird too.
Though they could've gone forward, Frisk lead them to their right first, and ran into Sans and all he had to say this time was "what's up?" They walked a little farther down the path past Sans and encountered him again as soon as he was out of sight from his original spot, grade A confirmation of his teleporting skills. "say…are you following me?" was all he asked cheekily, knowing full well that they figured out that he could teleport already.
"Heh, good one Sans," was all Sora could reply with. As soon as they tried to go past him again however, they ran into Gyftrot who had a bunch of stuff decorated onto it as a prank by local teens. They quickly undecorated it and left it a present of 35 munny, before moving on, they weren't risking the gold, and at least Frisk got to see that munny looked like little yellow diamond shaped things.
They then went into a cave and came across a door that normally wouldn't be opened and it was surrounded by glowing mushrooms that shut their light off when one touches them. Unbeknownst to the others and any other form of logic, Frisk here had dodged all the special thanks credits in their last run of the Underground, and this will be their first time seeing what is in that mysterious door.
Quite frankly it was a mildly disappointing sight. The annoying dog was sleeping here, not that the dog was annoying just yet, at least to the foreign fellas of the group, but Frisk knew this silly dog all too well, it stole Toriel's phone, and apparently it did its own stunts judging by the coil of rope in the corner, but only Frisk knew about that part too since the dog's death defying stunt hasn't happened just yet. All the pieces were coming together…in a jigsaw puzzle off to the side. There was a game cartridge in another corner and with apparently by barking with text-to-speech on, the dog accidentally programmed a whole game. The game seems fine. There was a computer in the adjacent corner, and evidently the dog makes a lot of bad posts online. Text-to-speech is on, indicating that whenever the dog barks, it translates to these bad posts. It doesn't really know what its saying, so it seems most of the bad posts online are actually this dog. Thinking about this…brought Frisk some relief. Finally, there was another 'dog' in the final corner of the room. They all tried to pet the dog but it collapsed into a pile of fluff…Seems like it was actually a dog shaped husk of dog residue.
With nothing else to look at in the room, they left it and ran into Glyde…somehow…They learned very quickly that Glyde had very high attack and defense and just plain refused to give any more details about its statistics. Glyde was also as arrogant as Ice Cap, maybe more so since it ate up the applause they gave it like a vacuum cleaner and even got jealous of its own mirror image. They clapped at it a few more times before doing nothing, which made Glyde grow bored of them instantly and left, leaving quite the generous amount of gold behind.
So they went back the way they came, passing by Sans twice again, and back up the path just to go in the direction that they didn't go in first. They came across a field of snow poffs with a cute tiny dog house off to the side. The dog house had to be bigger on the inside that much Frisk alone knew for a fact. The sign next to it simply said woof. There was 30 G inside one of the snow poffs so they took it just in case. Finally, when they decided to move on, there was a snow poff in the way…except it wasn't a snow poff, it was a cute little white dog! Except it got up and quickly proved that it wasn't little, it was a tall dog in a suit of armor. It's the Greater Dog!
Greater Dog was so excited that it thought fighting was just playing. They beckoned the dog and it bounded toward them, flecking slobber into their faces. They then pet the Greater Dog, and it curled up in Sora's and Frisk's laps as it was pet by them. It got so comfortable that it fell asleep…ZZZ…Then it woke up! It was so excited! Then Sora and Frisk made a snowball and threw it for the dog to fetch. It splats on the ground. Greater Dog then picked up all the snow in the area and brought it to them. Now dog is very tired…It then decided to rest its head on Sora and Frisk. To get its attention again, Frisk brought out the stick and threw it, the dog got up and ran to get it, playing fetch with the two humans for a while. Then it was obvious that the dog wanted some TLC, so both humans pet it some more and it sank its entire weight into them…Their movements slow. But, they still haven't pet enough…! Pet capacity is 40%. Frisk and Sora pet decisively. Pet capacity reaches 100%. The dog flops over with its legs hanging in the air. Greater Dog is contented, so it was spared.
As it turned out, it really was a little white dog, as it hopped out of the standing suit of armor and gave the two humans a lick, and then hopped back into the suit of armor with its tail sticking out of the neckline and the suit of armor walked away just like that.
"Well, the dogs here aren't Pluto, but they sure are cute." Donald quipped. Everyone else agreed, even Frisk gave a beaming smile even though they didn't know who Pluto was.
The group continued on and came to a bridge, it was sturdy and thankfully not rickety though it honestly looked like it could be since it was over a long way down. About halfway across they came upon the skeleton brothers again who were rather prepared looking on safe ground at the end of the bridge.
"HUMANS! AND FRIENDS OF HUMANS!" Papyrus addressed them. "THIS IS YOUR FINAL AND MOST DANGEROUS CHALLENGE! BEHOLD THE GAUNTLET OF DEADLY TERROR!" With that, an actual gauntlet of things lowered from either side of the bridge and into view. There was a spiky ball on a chain, a well-lit flamethrower ready to melt things, two spears, one on each side, a cannon, and…a small white dog spinning in a small semi-circle as it dangled from a rope…it really does do its own stunts. "WHEN I SAY THE WORD, IT WILL FULLY ACTIVATE! CANNONS WILL FIRE! SPIKES WILL SWING! BLADES WILL SLICE! EACH PART WILL SWING VIOLENTLY UP AND DOWN! ONLY THE TINIEST CHANCE OF VICTORY WILL REMAIN! ARE YOU READY!? BECAUSE! I! AM! ABOUT! TO DO IT!"
The trio behind Frisk couldn't help but trust their gut instincts and set themselves in a defensive stance, ready for anything that was about to happen….But Papyrus hesitated on doing anything, just as Frisk knew and didn't bother getting into a defensive position themselves. The hesitation became so obvious in ten seconds of nothing happening that Sans couldn't help but say something about it.
"well? what's the holdup?"
"HOLDUP!? WHAT HOLDUP!? I'M… I'M ABOUT TO ACTIVATE IT NOW!" Papyrus defended, and pretended to fiddle with something to make it look like he activated it, but still…nothing happened.
"that, uh, doesn't look very activated." Sans quipped cheekily, knowing his brother all too well.
"WELL! THIS CHALLENGE! IT SEEMS… MAYBE TOO EASY TO DEFEAT THE HUMANS AND THEIR FRIENDS WITH." Papyrus admitted. "YEAH! WE CAN'T USE THIS ONE! I AM A SKELETON WITH STANDARDS! MY PUZZLES ARE VERY FAIR! AND MY TRAPS ARE EXPERTLY COOKED! BUT THIS METHOD IS TOO DIRECT! NO CLASS AT ALL! AWAY IT GOES!" With another push of an actual button it all went away.
"PHEW!" Papyrus turned away and sighed in relief and then heard slight movement on the bridge behind him. He turned back around to find Frisk smiling cheekily and the trio behind them also smiling in the same way as they dropped their defensive stances. "WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING AT!? THIS WAS ANOTHER DECISIVE VICTORY FOR PAPYRUS! NYEH! HEH!...HEH?" He then ran off, suddenly flustered.
They all then started to walk to the other side of the bridge to talk to Sans. However, before they could take even one step, Donald quacked in surprise and was pointing across the bridge in the direction that they just came from, when they all got a good look at him, he looked as if he had just seen a ghost and not a good one like Napstablook.
"What's up, Donald?" Sora asked curiously. It would take a lot to spook the duck, since he was just that brave in his own feistiness.
"I swear I just saw that stupid flower on the side of the bridge where we just came from!" Donald told them. They all looked in the direction that he was pointing but saw nothing.
"Gwarsh, I don't see anything. Maybe yer seein' things 'cause yer hungry, Donald." Goofy suggested.
"I'm not that hungry! I'm telling you I saw Flowey!" Donald defended and then turned to Frisk since this was their world, and they knew a lot about it. "You believe me, don't you kid?"
Frisk smiled and nodded and mouthed a sentence to Donald, since it was faster. He'll always be following us.
Donald wanted to have a conniption so badly in that moment and it was directed at the creepy talking flower. But in the presence of this child he couldn't, so he had to breathe in through his nose and exhale through his mouth to calm himself down just a little. Then he turned in the direction of where he last saw the flower and yelled. "You're lucky I'm with two innocent kids! 'Cause if I had my say, I'd cuss you out, you little weed!"
"Okay, Donald, that's enough." Jiminy consoled him from Frisk's sweater collar.
"C'mon, Donald, Sans is waiting." Sora added as he and the others turned to cross the rest of the way of the bridge.
"i don't know what my brother's going to do now. if i were you, i would make sure i understand blue attacks." He told them. "what was all the yelling for if ya don't mind me asking?"
"Just an annoying dog that I had to blow some steam at." Donald answered before anyone could think of an excuse to tell the small skeleton. Everyone looked at him perplexed. "What? Frisk let me borrow the cell phone earlier, I've been making calls whenever you yahoos ain't lookin' and a small white dog swiped her phone. I could just make out her voice as she looked around for the little scamp, that's how I know what color the dog was." Donald explained, masterfully leaving out Toriel's name since it wasn't really Sans' business at the moment. Though it looked like it didn't really matter much as Donald was the only one who noticed that Sans dimmed the lights in his eyes again.
Everyone was pretty much speechless, except for Frisk who was giggling. The lights returned to Sans' eyes as he glanced at the giggling child, almost as if he were contemplating something.
"town's just up ahead. ya might wanna look under the tree when you get the chance, you might find something interesting…" Sans told them with a wink, trailing off in a giddily pleased tone.
Frisk gasped and everyone turned to find them looking excited. Frisk then quickly gave Sans a hug, nearly squishing poor Jiminy, who was still in the child's sweater collar, before pulling away and grabbing Sora's hand, all but dragging him into town. Donald and Goofy followed suit, politely waving goodbye to the suddenly cryptic skeleton, as they too were curious as to what Frisk was suddenly so excited about.
At long last they were finally in Snowdin Town. They snickered at the play on words and the pun that it obviously was as Frisk stopped dragging Sora as they reached a set of save points. The sight of such a friendly town filled them all with determination.
"Alright little buddy, what's got you so excited that I'm not connecting the dots?" Sora asked a little breathlessly at he actually struggled a little to keep up with the child.
Frisk pointed ahead of them, Sora followed the finger and looked to find a Christmas tree of all things.
"Whoa! They celebrate Christmas here too?!" Sora asked excitedly. He then looked to Frisk again, only to find that they kept their hand flat and moved it side to side up and down to signal the universal 'sort of'. Then through Jiminy's translations they explained that Monsters didn't call it Christmas, and it was better for the bear monster by the tree to explain the difference.
So, taking Frisk's advice they went over to talk to the bearlike monster by the tree, who also seemed to have the self-proclaimed job of organizing the presents under the tree. "Awful teens tormented a local monster with tree-like horns. So we started giving that monster presents to make it feel better. Now it's tradition to put presents underneath a decorated tree." The bear explained. The foreign quartet all made faces of surprised understanding, as that was certainly an interesting twist to a very similar tradition in other worlds. Then the bear got their attention by suddenly noticing something. "Oh! There are presents here that have special permission to be opened early! Let's see…they're addressed to Frisk, Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Jiminy Cricket…"
"Hey, that's us…!" Goofy pipped up. They were all curious as to why they had presents, since they were new to this world. It became obvious when they learned who the presents were from.
"Sansta? Heh, guess that little skeleton decided to play Santa just for you fellas. Well, here you go, you've got special permission to open them early, so you might as well open them now." The bear said as he passed the presents to them.
The group then sat in the snow in a little circle and promptly opened their presents in unison, as in unison as possible of course. Jiminy's present was tucked into Sora's so it wouldn't get lost. Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Jiminy all got sweaters, striped sweaters to be exact, though in Jiminy's case it was more of a colorful striped part of a sock that was stitched with arm tubes, and Frisk got the Manly Bandanna which had abs drawn on it. It was red, was well loved as it had seen some wear, and it had a name inscribed on the inside of it that Frisk had never noticed before, "Ephemera"…That was the name of the other Keyblade wielder that's been in the Underground before that Toriel had mentioned. Then they noticed something on the Tough Glove that wasn't there before either, just on the inside near the wrist to strap it securely, there was a name there too… "Skuld." Frisk glanced at Sora's gloves, maybe all Keyblade wielders had gloves, and maybe this, Skuld, was also a Keyblade wielder and was with Ephemera, but one of them made it out somehow…No, that couldn't be right, maybe the glove was a gift from Skuld, Papyrus did say never in the history of the Underground were there ever two humans at once, Toriel would've mentioned the other.
Frisk shook it off for now and then looked up from the bandanna and the glove to get a better look at everyone's very own striped sweaters. Sora's was red with dark green stripes. It went well with his plaid lapels that still stuck out. Donald got a sweater that was a darker blue than Frisk's and it had yellow stripes. Goofy was technically already wearing a sweater but with vertical black stripes. However, horizontal stripes is where it's at, but if Sans made these sweaters, then he got awful clever about how to handle Goofy's sweater. It was orange with green stripes like Sora's, and it had a low neck line so it wouldn't be suffocating his actual green sweater underneath. Last but not least was Jiminy's part of a sock with arms of a sweater, it was white with red stripes, and the arms were a little too big so he actually had to roll up the sleeves a bit.
Frisk smiled as they all put their sweaters on immediately (equipping them actually and it was a really good defense boost in stats). They all looked pretty good in them, even if they did look a little silly. Frisk also couldn't help but silently chuckle at their little banter.
"Well, at least they aren't ugly Holiday sweaters, but I wouldn't put it past Sans to get us those too sometime." Donald quipped.
"Aw, it sure was nice of him to get us these. I wonder if he made them himself." Goofy said in awe and wonderment.
"Well, he is mysterious. Maybe he somehow knows how to use Stopza and made them while time around him was stopped." Sora mused.
"Ok, the Stopza part I can get behind, but that lazybones getting into knitting these? He had to have help…" Donald argued but then trailed off when he thought of a possible counter point to his own argument. So he turned to Frisk to state more than ask but needed a nod from the kid. "Unless Sans is the type who lies in wait until he's needed most because he may look lazy but he can get stuff done when need be." Frisk chuckled and nodded at him eagerly.
"Gotta say, these are mighty cozy and perfect to get the chill out for this crazy weather." Jiminy added in. Everyone else hummed in agreement.
"Hey, what did you get Frisk?" Sora asked upon finally noticing that Frisk got something completely different.
Frisk lifted up the bandanna with a smile to show off the abs on it, but then put on a serious face as they turned it around to point out the name written on it. They wisely decided not to show the others the other name on the glove, for in all honesty, the name could mean anything.
The remainder of the group gasped at the sight of the name on the bandanna, as they all recalled Toriel mentioning it being the name of another keyblade bearer who was here in the Underground many years before. Frisk could see it in the eyes of the others, they were all piecing things together already.
"Hey, Jiminy? Ephemera sounds more like a word right out of a dictionary than a name for someone, and Toriel said it was an unfortunate name…so what does it mean?" Sora asked.
"Well, she was right about it being unfortunate. As a word alone, it means, something of no lasting significance. It's usually said in plural, being the equivalent to items that can easily be disposed of such as posters, paper items, tickets, etc. Now, hearing it as the name of somebody, I hate ta say it but it sounds like their fate was predetermined to not last." Jiminy explained slowly, also obviously piecing certain things together.
"Wonder what happened to 'im." Goofy quipped, not quite piecing things fully together, but he was in no way absolutely stupid. He just had the tendency to think completely outside the box more often than not. That and at the moment he didn't want to think the worst of what may have happened.
"Nothing good if his name is anything to go by, but we're gonna find out more for ourselves much later then aren't we, kid?" Donald replied, eying Frisk with a suspicious yet knowing look. Frisk solemnly nodded. Thus, Donald's suspicions were confirmed. The kid knew what happened to humans when they reached the Capital but they wouldn't say because it was just that bad. If they were going to learn of it fully on their own later then he wouldn't pressure the kid into telling them the whole truth. So he avoided the others into wondering what he was going on about by changing the subject completely. "Welp, I dunno 'bout you guys, but I've gotten hungrier all of a sudden, any place we can get something warm to eat, kid? As hungry as I am, I ain't desperate enough to eat this nice cream."
Frisk nodded eagerly and pointed to the shop over by the save points and next to the inn in the direction they came from to get into town. Frisk quickly equipped the Manly Bandanna and led them toward and into the shop, where they were greeted warmly by the bunny lady shop keeper.
"Hello travelers. Welcome to Snowdin! I can't remember the last time I saw a fresh set of faces around here. Where did you come from? The Capital? You don't really look like tourists…Oh but where are my manners? How can I help you?"
Thus, Frisk bought each of them a Cinnamon Bunny, a cinnamon bun in the shape of a bunny that happened to be the bunny lady shopkeeper's own recipe, which she announced proudly.
"What's there to do here?" Sora asked politely. It was a cute town, and up to this point they really hadn't seen many Heartless, so maybe they could properly sight-see for once.
"You want to know what to do here in Snowdin? Well, Grillby's has food, and the Library has information…If you're tired, you can take a nap at the inn. It's right next door – my sister runs it. And if you're bored, you can sit outside and watch those wacky skeletons do their thing. There's two of 'em…Brothers, I think. They just showed up one day and…asserted themselves. The town has gotten more interesting since then." The shopkeeper replied.
"What about the town's history?" Jiminy piped up, curious to know how things were established down here. It was amazing to say the least that caves were even this long and there was still a long ways to go before they were even all the way through. The shopkeeper looked at them skeptically, but they all looked like the type to have accidentally played hooky because of the puzzles and traps being set up near the Capital.
"Think back to your history class…A long time ago, Monsters lived in the Ruins back there in the forest. Long story short, we all decided to leave the Ruins and head for the end of the caverns. Along the way, some fuzzy folk decided they liked the cold and set up camp in Snowdin. Oh, and don't think about trying to explore the Ruins…The door's been locked for ages. So unless you're a ghost or can burrow under the door, forget about it." She told them.
"How's life otherwise?" Donald asked in an understanding tone. The shopkeeper chuckled with a half-hearted sigh before she replied.
"Life is about the same as usual. A little claustrophobic…But…we all know deep down that freedom is coming, don't we? As long as we got that hope, we can grit our teeth and face the same struggles day after day…That's life, ain't it?" She looked irritated when she said 'claustrophobic' but then she looked so hopeful for the future of getting out of the Underground that it was heartbreaking.
Donald had all sorts of chills going up his spine and it wasn't from the cold outside. He was still piecing things together after all, and though he knew from the confirmation with the kid that they'd learn directly what in Sam Hill was really going on down here later, Donald couldn't help but feel really uneasy with the way the shopkeeper worded how close they and the rest of Monster kind was to freedom. It was just…unsettling to say the least, and he had a pretty good idea as to why.
Regardless, to look normal, they all nodded their heads in agreement with her. Frisk decided to by some bicicles to fill up the rest of their inventory while they were at it. Two-in-one healing items were always a good bargain. Then they politely thanked her and left, hearing her call after them, "Bye now! Come again sometime!"
Once outside, it was then that Goofy remembered to tell the others something that only he noticed a long while back. "Ya know, the history part she told us just ain't the same without the beginning."
"How's that, Goofy?" Sora asked curiously.
"Well, back when we were still in Miss Toriel's place I looked through the book shelf when none of ya were lookin' and found a history book. It said somethin' about after being banished down here and fearing more attacks from the war, all the Monsters trudged on into the caverns as far as they could go. At the time I believe it was just the Ruins that they called "Home" and it mentioned that their king wasn't very good at making names." Goofy explained.
"Why am I not surprised?" Donald muttered but everyone heard it. He probably wasn't surprised because their own king wasn't all that great with names either, technically, but there was some cleverness to it, he did name the town and the castle after Master Yen Sid, just reversing the spelling of course. "So, how good's the Inn?"
Frisk started moving their hands to reply, and Jiminy kept quiet for a bit, waiting for Frisk to finish. "Oh, you're gonna love this Donald. Frisk says staying at the Inn is a little on the pricey side, and isn't even worth the money anyway since there's a bunch of loud snorers in the room next to the one we'd be given."
"Yep, just our luck." Donald grumbled, then added for emphasis on the need to keep moving.
"However," Jiminy continued as Frisk continued signing. "Sleeping can recover your health above your maximum HP."
"Guess we'll just hafta find a really good place to nap then if the Inn isn't very good." Goofy quipped.
"Anyone tired otherwise? No? Good, let's get going, if we sleep out here in the cold we'll die of hypothermia. We'll nap when we reach the next area that isn't covered in snow." Donald grumbled leading the way a bit before Sora and the rest caught up to him.
There was an igloo right next to the Inn with a sign next to it that basically said the igloo tunneled clear to the other side of town. Well they were sightseeing, so they left it be for now. They passed by the bunny guy who was weirded out for some unknown reason by the bunny girl across the way walking what they assumed was her pet bunny. Frisk didn't have the heart to tell them it was her little brother that she was walking on a leash, so the bunny guy was quite justified for feeling weirded out. Around the other side of the decorated tree, they encountered a little Monster Kid that was yellow and lizard like, almost dinosaur like, and it didn't help that they had no arms. They also wore a striped shirt, but what they said, shocked the foreign quartet a little.
"Yo! You're all kids too, right? I can tell 'cause you're all wearing striped shirts."
"Actually, out of all of us, Frisk here is the kid, the rest of us are just kids at heart." Sora explained, patting Frisk on the head and mussing their hair a little for emphasis.
"Yo! That's cool too! Not many grown-ups can pull off the kid at heart look, not even Undyne! But it looks great on you guys!" Monster Kid complimented. They all thanked Monster kid before they continued on, heading towards the bear outside of Grillby's.
"Wait…" Sora said, pausing them all as a flicker of familiarity passed by his eyes. "Didn't Papyrus mention someone named Undyne before?"
"Come tuh think of it, he did! Right before he realized that you and Frisk were humans." Goofy added, as he also remembered what Sora was referring to.
"Alright, kid. Who's Undyne?" Donald asked in deadpan, already getting the feeling that Frisk wouldn't give a straight answer because they were all probably going to meet Undyne soon enough.
Frisk signed and finished very quickly, but Jiminy was hesitant on answering. When the other three frantically looked between the child and the cricket on their head, Jiminy finally relented with a sigh. "No one we want to mess with right now."
As soon as it sunk in to everyone, Donald was the one to quip triumphantly, "FINALLY! Someone to keep our guard up and our wits about us on!"
Everyone else just sighed Donald's name in exasperation, then they finally got around to talking to that bear just outside of Grillby's who did indeed have an interesting tidbit to say.
"This town doesn't have a mayor. But if there's ever a problem, a skeleton will tell a fish lady about it. Thaaaaaat's politics."
The group looked at Frisk again and all of them mouthed Undyne's name in suspicion. Frisk simply nodded, Jiminy had to hold on to a tuft of hair because he wasn't ready for the sudden head movement. They all made faces of awkward understanding, the kind that was more like a frowny face than anything, and went ahead to go on into Grillby's.
Grillby's was a quite the welcoming sort of environment. If there were more seats they would've surely sat down for a bite, and in that moment they remembered that Frisk bought them all cinnamon bunnies, but they couldn't eat them while they were here. This was obviously a diner and they didn't want to incur the wrath of the owner for bringing in outside food just to eat it. They decided to actually eat later as they looked around and talked to people. In two separate booth seats were a really dizzy looking bunny and a monster with an enormous mouth full of teeth. The bunny wanted different kinds of food than what was constantly on the menu and…hot guys…
The monster with the mouthful of teeth desperately wanted to try human food since it was vastly different from Monster food, as human food spoils and passes all the way through the body, though the monster commented that it was a disgusting thought, they'd love to try it anyway. The bartender was a monster made of fire, but it was obvious that they were a monster of few words, the bird monster in the stool beside the open space left to talk to the bartender somewhat translated that "Grillbz says he'd offer you all a glass of water, but he doesn't touch the stuff." The group gave a little wave of complete understanding, and the avian monster spoke again, with a nudge of their head in the direction of all the dog soldiers they had encountered on their way to Snowdin. "Those dogs are part of the Royal Guard, the elite military group led by Undyne." This got their attention so the monster elaborated. "She's rude, loud, and beats up everybody who gets in her way…It's no wonder all the kids want to be like her when they grow up!"
Next to the bird monster was none other than the weird looking monster from the photo on the fishing line, apparently they were dead set on making out with a fish, hence why they were fishing for one. They would need all the luck in the world to achieve a goal such as that. Then the group went all around the table talking to the dog squad, starting with the married couple. Dogaressa wanted one of the skeletons to throw them a bone, because dogs like bones, and Dogamy warned them about wherever they decided to sit, otherwise Greater Dog WOULD jump into their laps and give lots of love and attention. Doggo wanted a spiked collar, the kind that said they were willing to be on a leash and be walked. Greater Dog was at the moment…Greater Dog, with a lovely deep sounding bark and all. Lesser Dog was playing poker against itself…and was somehow losing. To the dog's credit, it was probably just as easy to lose at solitaire. Last but not least was the grey furred hamster guy with the green hair and the shades over in the corner by the broken jukebox. They were worried about the people from the Capital moving in because it was getting too crowded over there, they didn't want to see the erasure of Snowdin's culture. But they eased some of their own worries by saying that they wanted to see some city slickers slip onto their butts.
The group exited Grillby's and pulled out their cinnamon bunnies to eat, while still walking and sightseeing, passing by the somber mouse like monster with the scarf that was too big as they lamented the problems of the Underground, which consisted of dreariness, crowding, and lack of sunlight, while the red monster with the horns standing next to them was the polar opposite. After all why not smile, especially when there's nothing better to do?
The group then took a left and came upon a little, literal rock family, the two kids were playing monsters and humans, one of them even wondered if the humans played something a little different, not knowing that humans probably played the same thing too but with reversed context. The papa rock, as evidenced by his luxurious mustache, was wistful about being young again, and mama rock was just inside the house and really liked Frisk's knock, patiently waiting to see if she'd hear its beauty again. Frisk knocked again and she sighed blissfully at her reward. Then the gang went across the way from the rock family's yard and watched Ice Wolf chuck big cubes of ice into the river. Frisk explained through Jiminy's translations that the ice goes all the way to the Capital, to help cool down the Core.
They then went up the path they had originally been going up and came to the river, but received yet another weird phone call. "Hello! Can I speak to G…Wait a second. Is this the wrong number? Oh it's the wrong number! The wrong number song! We're very very sorry that we got it wrong! Oh it's the wrong number! The wrong number song! We're very very sorry that we got it wrong!" Then whoever was on the other end hung up. So they headed back and went into the Library, noticing the sign was misspelled and had an extra 'b' before the 'y'. Inside they were welcomed by the librarian who was well aware of the mistake in the sign. The other monsters there at the library were the very ladies responsible for writing articles and making the word puzzles such as the word search. One of them was even somehow aware that they thought Junior Jumble was difficult, they glanced at Frisk, but they just shrugged. Some things just could never be explained.
They all then scoured the bookshelves, one was an interesting little book report on monster funerals, and they learned that when monsters die, they turn to dust, and that dust is traditionally spread on that monster's favorite thing, then their essence will live on in that thing. On the shelf next to this little book report, more sense was made of the differences between humans and monsters. Monsters were mostly made of magic, while humans were mostly made of water. Humans were therefore, stronger than monsters. However, humans would never know the joy of expressing themselves through magic. They'd never get a bullet patterned birthday card. The book on the next shelf was just a little drabble of what people do in a library, and was not quite finished yet by the yellow monster lady just behind them. The next book in the next shelf had more back story though. "Because they are made of magic, monsters' bodies are attuned to their Soul. If a monster doesn't want to fight, its defenses will weaken. And the cruller the intentions of our enemies, the more their attacks will hurt us. Therefore, if a being with a powerful Soul struck with the desire to kill…"
"Um…Let's end the chapter here, guys." Sora offered, no one had any objections as they all wanted to avoid the sudden dark turn that was going in. "Let's see what the next one's about, shall we?"
The next one was Monster History Part 4, a quick glance and translation from Frisk told them that they weren't missing anything. So they read on… "Fearing the humans no longer, we moved out of our old city, Home. We braved harsh cold, damp swampland, and searing heat…Until we reached what we now call our Capital. 'New Home.' Again, our king is really bad at names…?"
The final book in the last shelf was quite the last hurrah of lore for now, as it followed… "Love, hope, compassion…This is what people believe monster Souls are made of. But the absolute nature of 'Soul' is unknown. After all, humans have proven their Souls don't need these things to exist."
Another one turned dark in the end…The group took it in stride though, as it's best to learn from the mistakes of the past to ensure that history won't repeat itself. So they all took note of it at the very least.
They left the Library and continued onward… but of all things they ran into…A Moogle shop! Right outside the Library and just before the next building.
"Frisk! This is the Moogle shop I was telling you about back in the Ruins! C'mon guys, let's go see what he's selling!" Sora exclaimed rather excitedly, and then ran over to the Moogle shop. The Moogle itself was wearing a rather fluffy coat, that oddly enough, looked like a smaller version of Sans' coat.
"Greetings, kupo. This world is so easy to fit into, kupo. Are you here to shop, kupo? Have a look, kupo, at my wondrous wares." The Moogle shop keeper greeted.
There were only a few things of notice that were different from the last world's Moogle shop, and Sora picked up on them right away and bought accordingly.
"Cool Blizzagas already! One for me and one for you Donald. Let's see…Oh cool! Friendship Bracelets for everyone!" He said in glee, passing out the extra Blizzaga to Donald and the Friendship Bracelets to both the duck and Goofy, which was a secondary equip-able armor for the foreign trio. They were all a patterned the same way with all of the highlighter colors, and they GREATLY increased defense surprisingly across the board, from standard defense increase through all the magic defenses by 90% for everything. Plus, they were surprisingly cheap at 25 munny a pop, it was such a steal that it had to be a weird side effect from this world. Sora got one for Frisk too, since they were Friendship Bracelets, and technically they were friends. Though it didn't count anywhere for Frisk to have it as an equip-able item, Sora managed to tie it onto Frisk's wrist anyway. "There you go, Frisk. This way you'll know that we'll always be friends, no matter what."
Frisk looked up and smiled brilliantly at Sora, and then hugged him, and then it became a group hug. Even Jiminy flattened himself on Frisk's head, reaching as far as he could to any of the others to help emphasize that it was a group hug. After several seconds Frisk pulled away, tapping the top of their own head to get Jiminy's attention.
"Frisk says that Papyrus is just past that house up ahead…The thing is, where Papyrus is, is a misty area where it's hard to see. And we haven't seen any Heartless in a long while, so if there's any chance for an ambush of Heartless, it would be there." Jiminy translated.
"Alright, we'll put our guard up then. Let's hope we don't end up with too much of a hassle on our hands." Sora told Frisk with confidence, completely ignoring Donald's muttered but still heard 'finally' at the fact that they'd all be keeping their guard up.
So with all in agreement they carried on, noticing as they passed by the house, that it actually belonged to the skeleton brothers. Sans' mailbox was full of junk mail, while Papyrus' mailbox was sadly empty. They decided to do him a kindness by writing a small little note, and Sora quickly went back to the Moogle Shop to get another set of Friendship Bracelets for both of the skeletons. The note didn't say much, just that the bracelets were for the brothers and they and the rest of the group would always be friends along with little pictures of all of their heads and smiling faces. They decided to leave the mailbox half open so that it would be noticed easier.
The two-story house was adorable, it was all lit up with red and green holiday lights, and even had a pirate flag at the very top, most likely because all pirate flags have skeleton faces on them. There was also a little shed, and the other igloo to get to and from clear across town was between the house and the shed. Frisk, through another series of Jiminy's translations, explained that the shed is where Papyrus would take them if they were actually captured.
Finally they continued again, hearing the giant ice cubes floating in the river virtually beside them just on the other side of the trees, and then they came upon the icy mist, eventually running into Papyrus. Not that they could hardly see him, just his silhouette at best. But they certainly could hear him anyway.
"HUMANS AND THEIR FRIENDS. ALLOW ME TO TELL YOU ABOUT SOME COMPLEX FEELINGS. FEELINGS LIKE…THE JOY OF FINDING OTHER PASTA LOVERS. THE ADMIRATION OF ANOTHER'S PUZZLE SOLVING SKILLS. THE DESIRE TO HAVE A COOL, SMART PERSON THINK YOU ARE COOL. THESE FEELINGS…THEY MUST BE WHAT YOU ARE FEELING RIGHT NOW! I CAN HARDLY IMAGINE WHAT IT MUST BE LIKE TO FEEL THAT WAY. AFTER ALL, I AM VERY GREAT. I DON'T EVER WONDER WHAT HAVING LOTS OF FRIENDS IS LIKE…OR MAYBE I DO SOMETIMES….I ENVY YOU… LUCKY HUMANS…WORRY NOT! FOR YOUR FRIEND NUMBERS WILL GROW LARGER YET! FOR I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, WILL BE ANOTHER ONE OF YOUR…" Papyrus then hesitated in his declaration, turning away as if he wasn't supposed to be declaring anything at all. Which in all fairness was true. He was supposed to capture them, but by doing so he was also not to even make the slightest of acquaintances…He was just too nice for his own good. "NO…NO, THIS IS ALL WRONG! I CAN'T BE YOUR FRIEND!"He turned back towards them defiantly. "YOU TWO ARE HUMANS! I'M MUST CAPTURE YOU! THEN, I CAN FULFILL MY LIFELONG DREAM! POWERFUL! POPULAR! PRESTIGIOUS! THAT'S PAPYRUS! THE NEWEST MEMBER…OF THE ROYAL GUARD!" He roared triumphantly.
However, before he could do anything that led to our heroes ending up in one of those white walled battles. Something else manifested in the icy mist that in all honesty shouldn't have. Frisk recognized the shape of it right away but naturally was shocked that it was even here…in this timeline, this early. Frisk knew it only as a Gaster Blaster, but something was off about it.
The Gaster Blaster let out a roar to the ceiling, which sounded more like the lowest note possible to come out of a machine as it simultaneously spat out a long laser that was so hot that it dissipated the mist. With the mist gone, it was obvious that the Gaster Blaster wasn't even a normal one, it was a Heartless as indicated by its dark sheen and the red symbol on its forehead. And upon remembering what Sora had told them about Heartless that sometimes they can be manifested from someone's darkness, Frisk knew exactly whose it was, and it was not from the skeleton that is currently present.
Frisk didn't hesitate and ran for Papyrus, grabbing his wrist and dragging him just as quickly to get behind the others and further still to a safer area. Papyrus himself was wise enough to not question it, as his brother had warned him about strange black creatures that occasionally had red symbols on them that were not to be trusted under any circumstances. The fact that this one looked just like his secret weapon and his brother's had him a little taken aback. Still, he didn't call it, and since it had that red symbol on it just like his brother had described he knew that it wouldn't play nice, thus he let the smaller of the two humans drag him away from something that could potentially be a danger.
"You know the drill, Frisk! Stay safe!" Sora called out as Frisk and Papyrus passed by him, Donald, and Goofy. He just managed to see Frisk nod furiously at the corner of his eye before turning to the task at hand.
The Heartless Gaster Blaster was a decently large size, about as big as the Shadow Stalker from Beast's Castle, and no doubt just as tough by the looks of it. The trinity trio got to work as soon as they were sure that Frisk and Papyrus were safe, which Donald gave the signal for because he kept an eye on them. On the okay to go, all three of them charged ahead, thankful that when the Gaster Blaster blasted its lasers, it was slow moving, but they quickly learned that on the occasion that it blasted a blue laser from its mouth, the same don't move for blue rules applied. It was weak to all kinds of magic so that helped greatly, and they even got outside help from who knows where, as Sora's Soul was latched onto, turned blue, but positively, to give him an extra boost in the air for the final blow, as Sora jammed his keyblade right into the red symbol on the skull. The Gaster Blaster Heartless was defeated into a large dark puff of smoke, surprisingly though, no heart dissipated with it.
The trio breathed a sigh of relief when all was said and done. Just because the fight was easy enough doesn't mean that they didn't break a sweat in the process. They stretched whatever kinks they could, and turned back to start looking for Frisk and Papyrus to let them know that the danger was over.
They found the duo just coming out of the house.
"HUMAN, IF YOU EVER NEED TO REACH ME…HERE'S MY PHONE NUMBER. YOU CAN CALL ME ANYTIME! PLATONICALLY. NYEH HEH HEH!" With that directed at Frisk, he turned and noticed Sora and the others, and waved ecstatically at them. "OTHER HUMAN! DID YOU TAKE CARE OF THAT NOT VERY NICE CREATURE THAT SUSPICIOUSLY LOOKED LIKE MINE AND MY BROTHER'S SPECIAL ATTACK?"
"Uh, yeah. It's gone now. It won't hurt anybody anymore." Sora worded carefully. Papyrus really didn't seem like the type to even like violence, nor like the idea that defeated could also mean destroyed.
"WOWIE! THANK YOU BIGGER HUMAN! WOULD YOU ALL LIKE TO BE MY FRIENDS AS WELL?" Papyrus asked innocently, addressing Donald and Goofy as well at his last sentence.
"Sure thing."
"Ahyuck! Of course!"
"Absolutely!"
"Just don't forget to check your mailbox. You might actually have gotten some mail today." Sora advised.
"MY MAILBOX?" Papyrus questioned curiously. He then turned and dashed over to his mailbox, and looked inside. He found the little note and the two bracelets that were meant for him and his brother. He must've read the note over a dozen times because he just stood there looking dumbfounded and flabbergasted. Then without much warning, Papyrus burst into happy tears with a loud 'NYOO HOO HOO' and ran back over to scoop the whole gang into a group hug. "THIS IS THE BESTEST, MOST SINCEREST PRESENT I HAVE EVER GOTTEN! THANK YOU ALL! I ONLY SAW ONE IN THERE BUT I KNOW HOW MY BROTHER IS SO HE PROBABLY ALREADY GOT HIS." He said upon releasing them after a few seconds, and taking several steps back for dramatic purpose. "BUT ANYWAY, I HEREBY GRANT YOU ALL PERMISSION TO PASS ON THROUGH! AND I'LL GIVE YOU DIRECTIONS TO THE SURFACE. CONTINUE FORWARD UNTIL YOU REACH THE END OF THE CAVERN. THEN… WHEN YOU REACH THE CAPITAL, CROSS THE BARRIER. THAT'S THE MAGICAL SEAL TRAPPING US ALL UNDERGROUND. ANYTHING CAN ENTER THROUGH IT, BUT NOTHING CAN EXIT…EXCEPT SOMEONE WITH A POWERFUL SOUL….LIKE YOU TWO HUMANS! THAT'S WHY THE KING WANTS TO AQUIRE A HUMAN. HE WANTS TO OPEN THE BARRIER WITH SOUL POWER. THEN US MONSTERS CAN RETURN TO THE SURFACE! OH, I ALMOST FORGOT TO TELL YOU… TO REACH THE EXIT, YOU WILL HAVE TO PASS… THROUGH THE KING'S CASTLE. THE KING OF ALL MONSTERS… HE IS…WELL…HE'S A BIG FUZZY PUSHOVER! EVERYBODY LOVES THAT GUY. I AM CERTAIN IF YOU JUST SAY… 'EXCUSE ME, MR. DREEMURR… CAN I PLEASE GO HOME?' HE'LL GUIDE YOU RIGHT TO THE BARRIER HIMSELF! ANYWAY! THAT'S ENOUGH TALKING! I HAVE TO GO REPORT TO UNDYNE ABOUT HOW I FAILED TO CAPTURE YOU BECAUSE OF UNFORTUNATE CIRCUMSTANCES! FEEL FREE TO VISIT MY HOUSE ANYTIME! NYEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH!" With that, Papyrus did a weird walking leap right over them, and dashed on ahead and into the further caverns.
Despite how innocently Papyrus had put it, the implications of how to free the monsters by breaking the barrier were piecing together rather darkly and rather quickly. Yet despite the dark implications piecing together throughout the whole group, Sora in particular was distracted by one detail completely unrelated to the barrier and simply had to voice his question as soon as Papyrus was out of sight.
"So Frisk, why'd he give you his phone number?"
Jiminy spoke for the child without even needing to translate anything, since he was still with Frisk the whole time. "Well, while you three were taking care of that Heartless, Frisk flirted with Papyrus only a little bit and ended up going on a date with him just like that. It didn't do much for Papyrus though so it's just friends for now. But Papyrus gave us his phone number anyway, and we can call him anytime."
After Jiminy finished explaining, Frisk all but dragged Sora and the others inside, just to show them what they missed out on, and Jiminy relented in repeating anything Papyrus had mentioned about certain things. Things such as the fact that Sans had taken up baking and at one point had managed to bake a quiche, and the reason the kitchen sink was so tall was so the bottom cabinet could hold more bones, and when Papyrus offered Frisk and Jiminy a looksy they found a dog hiding in there with what apparently wasn't an ordinary bone but actually was Papyrus' special attack, they tried to capture it but to no avail. There was also Sans' pet rock that was covered in sprinkles because Papyrus always ends up feeding it, the series of foot notes between Sans and Papyrus over by the sock that Sans refused to pick up, judging by the notes, and finally the MTT channel that promised a new program would be coming soon, the show itself was Papyrus' favorite.
Then they went upstairs into Papyrus' bedroom, because Sans' room was locked, but only after having fun with the joke book having a quantum physics book inside and another joke book inside that and so on. Inside Papyrus' bed room they marveled at the awesome flame bordered carpet and the sweet red race car bed, chuckling at Jiminy repeating Papyrus' little pipe dream that since it was a pipe dream that instead he settled to cruise while he snoozed. They figured right away that Papyrus secretly does like puns despite his frustration at his brother and his own denial. They then marveled at Papyrus' action figure collection, and Jiminy repeating the fact that Papyrus got them from Santa.
"Cool! Santa comes to this world too?" Sora wondered aloud. Frisk cringed and sucked in a breath that didn't go unnoticed. When asked about it Frisk signed a reluctant answer, and Jiminy translated just as slowly.
"The king has a Santa suit in his closet…Well that explains why the bear said Sans decided to play Santa for us."
"Aw, don't you worry none, Frisk. Santa really does exist, he's just in a different world entirely." Goofy said soothingly, and put a comforting hand on the child's shoulder.
"Yeah, maybe we can go see him together after all this is all over." Sora added with optimism.
"Sora, you know why we can't do that." Donald stepped in, trying to be the voice of reason, knowing that the growing boy would probably shoot the same argument from when they first got here about the balance of the worlds.
"Why not? I'm from a different world, and Frisk is totally small enough to fit in the Gummi Ship with us." Sora shot back. Donald opened his mouth and held out a wagging finger, but found he couldn't really argue with that logic.
"So, what's with the pirate flag?" Goofy asked to change the subject.
"Papyrus said Undyne found it, and our new skeleton friend even has a cute theory that humans are descended from skeletons." Jiminy explained without skipping a beat.
"Huh, that's an interesting way to look at it…but at least it's pretty close." Sora quipped in contemplation.
Last but certainly not least was Papyrus' computer and the fact that of all of Papyrus' negative two follower count, there's a troll who has besieged Papyrus' online persona who always sends terrible puns in a silly font. Naturally, only one other skeleton came to mind, and the irony was endearing.
Having explored all that they could in the house with Jiminy translating that Sans' bedroom would be open to them at a later time when the time was right, they left the house and continued onward past the point where they were about to have some kind of fight with Papyrus but instead battled the Gaster Blaster Heartless. The change of scenery in the next cavern was immediate. From bright snow to darker lighting with waterfalls off to one side, and being parallel to the giant ice cube as it flowed down the river on the other, that is until the river took a left while the group continued going straight. There were also crystal like minerals on the ground and jutting out of the walls.
In the next area they found the little Monster Kid who complimented their sweaters from before, a weird salmon-orange fish guy with a light blue shirt that had the same salmon-orange color of a standard fish on it, and he had sunglasses for some reason, all while standing next to a cool looking blue flower, and most surprisingly was the sight of Sans and his sentry booth, which still had snow on it even though it was considerably warmer here, though still felt damp. There was also a set of save points, but they saved that for later…ha, saved…fine ignore the narration pun, let's continue shall we?
They talked to the Monster Kid first, to see what he was doing here all of a sudden. And his answer was both helpful though also a little worrying.
"Yo! Are you sneaking out to see her, too? Awesome…She's the coolest, right!? I wanna be just like her when I grow up… Hey, don't tell my parents I'm here. Ha ha."
Naturally they all looked at Frisk who confirmed their guess, as Frisk mouthed out Undyne's name and nodded. Obviously Undyne was somewhere in the depths of this section, and soon they were going to run into her. It was a little unsettling.
So to ease any worries they had, they decided to go talk to the fish guy, who explained that the blue flower next to him was called an Echo Flower, and could repeat the last thing it heard over and over. They touched the flower after he finished and word for word, the flower said the exact same thing. "Neat, huh?" Said the fish guy. One of them touched the flower again, and it said 'Neat, huh?' as well. For fits and giggles though, Frisk dragged everyone back out of the area where they came in from and then back into the room, and opted to touch the Echo Flower first. This time it repeated something different from the fish guy.
"All that gives my life validation is explaining the Echo Flower…No one can know…" A little weirded out by how that ended they talked to the fish guy again, who dropped his happy mask entirely as he replied, "Never trust a flower…That's one of the constants of this world."
"Amen to that!" Donald happily agreed, loud enough that the Echo Flower picked it up as evidenced from Frisk touching it for a laugh. It did indeed repeat what Donald said. The duck got dirty looks from everyone else but Frisk and Goofy.
Finally they went over to talk to Sans, who was as entertaining as ever. "what? haven't seen a guy with two jobs before? fortunately, two jobs means twice as many legally required breaks. i'm going to grillby's. wanna come?"
The group looked at each other, contemplating, then at Frisk who nodded at all of them, so simultaneously they agreed to Sans, who comically took their response in a different direction.
"well, if you insist…i'll pry myself away from work…" He said cheekily as he came out from behind the counter and headed in the direction that the group would be going in before he turned around back to them to add one more thing. "over here. i know a shortcut." So they all followed him, already knowing that his shortcuts were weird upon first meeting him. Between one blink and the next and within a few steps, they found themselves inside Grillby's right by the door. "fast shortcut, huh?" Sans quipped, his cheekiness never faltering. Then he addressed everyone else that was in the diner. "hey everyone."
"Hey, Sans." Greeted Dogamy.
"(Hi, Sans)." Greeted Dogaressa.
"Greetings, Sans." Greeted the monster in the booth with a mouth full of teeth.
"Hiya, Sansy~" Greeted the dizzy looking bunny in the other booth.
The group walked with Sans further toward the bar stools, when Sans was greeted by the bird monster who tends to translate for Grillby or Grillbz as this particular monster likes to call him.
"Hey Sans, weren't you just here for breakfast a few minutes ago?"
"nah, i haven't had breakfast in at least a half an hour. you must be thinking of brunch." A rim shot from nowhere was heard, Sans comically posed with a casual shrug, and everyone in the diner laughed. Then Sans glanced back to his guests. "here, get comfy." Sans took one seat, but there was only one other empty seat left, but plenty of standing room right on the corner of the bar.
So Sora sat down with Frisk in his lap and Donald and Goofy took the standing room at the open space in the corner of the bar. Of course, as soon as Sora sat down the sound of a wet fart resounded, thankfully it was shorter than when having to shake Sans' hand but still…Donald and Goofy both started laughing, Frisk smirked knowingly, Jiminy slapped a hand to his face in embarrassment, and Sora teasingly glared at the culprit.
"whoops, watch where you sit down. sometimes weirdos put whoopee cushions on the seats. anyway, let's order. whaddaya want?" Sans asked, dodging quite the bullet by changing the subject, whether he knew it or not one couldn't say. In any case, there was only a choice of fries or burgers for all of them to choose from. They all opted for fries because that was easier to share among friends. "pretty good choice there fellas. grillby, we'll have a triple order of fries and one burg." Grillby left to go make the order, and Sans muttered that the burger was for him while he pulled out a comb and combed his skull. "So, what do you fellas think… of my brother?"
"He's pretty cool!"
"He's a cool skelly alright, ahyuck!"
"Coolest of the cool of Snowdin."
"Well, he's a cool dude alright."
Double thumbs up from Frisk.
"of course he's cool. you'd all be cool too if you wore that outfit every day. he'd only take that thing off if he absolutely had to. oh well. at least he washes it. and by that i mean he wears it in the shower." Sans told them as a matter-of-factly. Then Grillby came out with their orders. "here comes the grub. Want some ketchup, guys?" Sans offered a bottle for each batch of fries. Sora and Goofy went for it, but Donald was suspicious of the offer and declined.
"bone apatite. and more for me, duck." Sans winked and did a little cheers motion at Donald since he refused his bottle of ketchup. So Sans gulped the whole bottle of ketchup down, leaving the duck slightly disgusted since he was the only one who noticed. Sora, with Frisk's extra help, and Goofy tipped up their respective ketchup bottles…the cap falls off and all the ketchup in the bottles poured into their food. Thankfully it was only a half-bottle of ketchup for both batches, so they weren't absolutely covered in ketchup gobbledygook. "whoops. eh, forgeddaboudit. you can have mine. i'm not that hungry anyway."
"Oh, no ya don't Sans. We'll still eat our fries, they're not that badly covered, but don't you dare waste food like that. Get it to go if you're really not that hungry." Sora said adamantly. The others could swear they heard Grillby chuckle as he went to get a take home box at Sans' visual signal of the eyes.
"He's right, Sans. Wasting food like that is an absolute sin in our book. Just be careful about that when you get to the surface, you never know who you might insult with a habit as bad as that." Jiminy added as he politely chewed on the smallest fry Frisk could fish out before the ketchup came down on the fries. "Compliments to the chef!" Jiminy tipped his hat at Grillby. Grillby nodded in thanks as he brought over the take home box for Sans, a devious glint of absolute amusement in the skeleton's direction.
"thanks for the reminder. i'll keep it in mind for future reference. in fact, i just might add it to my foot notes." Sans started solemnly sounding at first, then he sounded more like himself when he added the little inside joke that the group did end up getting and snickered at even as a few of them had fries in their mouths. With the group's spirits back in order and definitely not mad at him about the waste of food anymore, he continued. "anyway, cool or not, you have to agree papyrus tries real hard. like how he keeps trying to be part of the royal guard. one day, he went to the house of the head of the royal guard…and begged her to let him be in it. of course, she shut the door on him because it was midnight. but the next day, she woke up and saw him still waiting there. seeing his dedication, she decided to give him warrior training. it's, uh, still a work in progress."
Suddenly it felt as if the atmosphere around them died down as Sans continued in a thoughtful tone. "oh yeah, i wanted to ask you guys something." Then it felt as if the world around them melted away and they were put on the spot by what he was going to ask, it almost felt as if they were under an actual spotlight even. "have you ever heard of a talking flower?" A chill went up all of their spines and they looked to Frisk on how to answer, the child nodded so they simply did the same to gauge Sans' reaction. "so you guys know all about it…" They all gulped. "the echo flower." They all breathed out as silently as they could so it wasn't an obvious sigh of relief, and kept eating to further keep up a calm exterior. "they're all over the marsh. say something into them, and they'll repeat it over and over…what about it?" Sans asked for them and their questioning gazes. "well, papyrus told me something interesting the other day. sometimes when no one else is around…a flower appears and whispers things to him. flattery…advice…encouragement…predictions." The last word came out a little heavy, and they all gulped again, whether he took notice of it now, he didn't show. "weird, huh? Someone must be using an echo flower to play a trick on him. keep an eye out ok?" They all nodded as they finished their fries. "thanks."
Then it felt as if the spotlight that had been put on them had vanished, the atmosphere was back to normal, and Sans stood up with his take home box and stretched a little. "whelp, that was a long break. i can't believe i let ya pull me away from work for that long. oh, by the way…i'm flat broke. can you foot the bill? it's just 10000G." They all knew right away that he was teasing them again, just like with the fried snow, so for fun they humored him again and said they would. "just kidding. grillby, put it on my tab." He called back and walk all the way to the door until he had an afterthought. "by the way…" He hesitated as if he lost his train of thought, which turned out to be true. "…i was going to say something, but i forgot." With that, he was out the door.
The group really wanted to breathe out a sigh of relief but it was obvious that Sans and Grillby were old friends so they weren't going to chance it. They did actually manage to foot the bill though. They had the 10000 in munny, and because of the influence of the Moogle, Grillby accepted it. That would certainly be a pleasant surprise for Sans.
Since everyone else in the diner was pleased to see Sans come in, the group decided to go for another round of talking to everyone.
"Sans is a sentry, but don't let his title make you think he does anything. Everyone knows he sits around in the forest reading car magazines." Said the bird monster who likes to translate for Grillby. He did translate that Grillby appreciated that the group enjoyed the food and defended its honor in the face of Sans' terrible habit of leaving it be half the time, and for paying off the tab.
The creepy fish monster that badly wanted to kiss a fish, said that Sans was the most regular regular of all. However, he hadn't been showing up as much recently.
"Huh? Since when did you and Sans become friends…?" Asked Doggo in utter confusion. "I don't like him…He loves to appear without moving."
The married dog couple had hopes that Sans would feed them table scraps or give them a pat on the head, and the dizzy looking bunny monster obviously enjoyed Sans' company as he apparently made everything more fun. The group couldn't deny that one.
Finally there was the monster with the mouth full of teeth, who was entertained by Sans' vast knowledge of all kinds of food, but despite his knowledge, he always orders the worst burger off the menu…Sora felt a little bad after hearing that. But Donald cheered him up by saying that Sans had it coming especially if Grillby was proud of that moment.
The hamster guy by the jukebox didn't have anything new to say so they all left Grillby's and walked all the way back to where they were, and heard Sans, who was still at his station here in Waterfall, quip, "Let's hang out again sometime." Before they finally saved.
The sound of rushing water filled them all with determination.