Reply to John Smith: Challenging me to a feels duel is rarely a wise choice. I have a nasty habit of surprising people... and I don't like to lose. Just ask Vitaking... though you sound quite a bit like him...
Toby Fox owns Undertale and all associated characters.
"I don't understand it," Dogamy murmured worriedly to his wife, surveying the carnage around them. "We've been trying to track this thing for two weeks, how does it keep eluding us?"
Dogaressa let out a low growl, stepping over to where a tree had been cracked near the base, leaving a torn stump with the length of the tree only partially attached to one side. She shoved her muzzle in close, sniffing at the splintered wood before pulling back with another frustrated growl.
"Any luck?" Sans asked appearing behind the two, his slippers crunching the snow beneath his feet into a fine powder.
"No, this is exactly the same as the other sites," Dogamy reported, glancing over to the others. Doggo was sitting in the middle of the recently made clearing, his ears perked and on high alert. Greater Dog and Lesser Dog were attempting to tidy the area. Greater Dog dragged fallen trees and larger branches into a neat pile, barking excitedly at this oversized game of fetch. In the meantime, Lesser Dog was burying the animal corpses they had found under large piles of snow, his usual excitement tempered slightly by this more grim task.
"At least there weren't any Human casualties this time," Dogaressa muttered. "There were no signs it ate any of the animals though, just slaughtered them and moved on.
"No tracks moving to and from the site," Sans murmured, rubbing his head. "Just an isolated patch of carnage… just like all the rest?"
The couple nodded, And Sans's sockets narrowed, making his permanent smile seem more like a grimace.
"With the amount of destruction this thing has caused... we're going to need to step up our game. Clearly, this isn't your ordinary everyday Beast."
"Agreed," Dogamy said quietly, while Dogaressa gave Sans a suspicious glance.
"You have some ideas on that already don't you?" she accused. Sans nodded slowly in response. "Then spit it out Sans, we need to have some idea of what we're dealing with."
Sans was silent for a few moments, and just as Dogaressa was about to to berate him again, he finally spoke.
"It could be something different than what we've fought so far. Something smarter, more cunning. Something that's deliberately hiding it's trail… maybe from us, or maybe it's just cautious."
"Doesn't sound like the Beasts we've faced so far," Dogamy mentioned, shifting his axe to his shoulder.
"No, it doesn't." Sans agreed. "But we don't know enough about the world these things came from to say for sure. Who's to say there aren't smarter Beasts? Or maybe this thing is something different. Either way, we can't discount that possibility altogether."
The skeleton hesitated for a moment. "Though… I don't think that's the most likely scenario."
"What do you mean?"
Sans pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket and handed it to Dogaressa, who unfolded it and took a look, her husband glancing over her shoulder.
"I've made a bit of a map," Sans explained. "That shows all the places we've found these sites. What does it tell you?"
Dogaressa peered intently at the thing.
"It's like… the sites are all in a… in a circle…"
"Around Mt. Ebott." Dogamy realized. Sans nodded grimly.
"Are you suggesting what I think you are?" Dogaressa asked, looking up. "That there's a Beast that's made it's lair on the mountain, and this area is… it's territory?"
"But that still doesn't explain why we haven't been able to track it," Dogamy pointed out. "None of the other Beasts have given us any trouble following them, and especially if this one is strong enough to cause this much damage, how does that make sense?"
"Walking is not the only way to get around."
"You think this one can fly." the female canine stated after a moment. Another nod from the skeleton.
"That means we've been searching in the wrong spots this whole time," Dogamy groaned, putting a paw over his face.
"Not to mention it's going to be that much more difficult to catch it," Dogaressa added, her brow furrowed deeply. "And it can get away at any time."
"My soul effect may have something to say about that," Sans put in. "Besides, so far these Beasts haven't shown much interest in running away. Might actually be to our advantage if it keeps to the skies."
"What do you mean?" Dogaressa questioned.
"Keeps it up in the air where I can take it on from a distance, without you guys having to worry about it too much. If it's anything like the one that attacked on that first day…" Sans trailed off into silence, his hands clenching in his pockets.
"We're going to need reinforcements." Dogaressa stated, stepping back and resting against the broken tree. "My team's not equipped to handle something like this."
"It took all the best fighters we have to take down that first Beast," Dogamy added. "We may be capable, but we're not on that level."
"Humans and smaller Beasts we can handle," the white-furred woman agreed. "Not those monstrosities."
"Then we'll just scout it out for now," Sans decided. "Once we know exactly what we're dealing with, I can get Undyne and maybe some others to come over and help deal with this thing. Sound good?"
Dogamy glanced to his wife, who nodded slowly.
"I think that's acceptable… we'll have to be careful though, I don't want to end up provoking that thing."
"Right." Sans looked up to the sky, his sockets narrowing briefly. "We should still have a few hours of daylight left, we can make it to the foot of the mountain if we hurry."
Evening shadows fell across the snow as the group trudged towards Mt Ebott. Even after all these years, it was strange to be heading back towards the place they had been trapped so long.
Dogaressa gave a soft grumble, shifting her cloak around her. Her husband looked to her with a soft whine of concern, and got a tired smile in response.
"Don't worry about me, love. I just don't like this."
"Don't like what, exactly?" Dogamy asked softly.
"Where do I start?" Dogaressa scoffed. "It's been a month since we were home to see the pups, we're going to attempt to "scout" something that could be the most dangerous thing we've come across, and to top it off, I'm pretty sure our," her eyes narrowed. "Glorious leader, Is looking for an excuse to take the thing on himself."
Dogamy made a concerned sound and pressed into his wife, licking her muzzle.
"You're not happy about Sans taking charge of this mission, are you?" he asked softly.
"No," she growled, glaring at the short skeleton where he walked slightly ahead of the rest of the group. "This is my Unit!"
"And we're all still yours, dear," Dogamy soothed. "But we need Sans for this. You know we wouldn't have gotten this far if it wasn't for him."
"I get that he's powerful, and technically our leader," Dogaressa groused. "But he goes off without warning, leaves for hours at a time… he could be anywhere and he refuses to give us anything more than basic information! We're lucky we even have any idea where to go most of the time! It's like he's trying to get all this done himself, and we're just along for the ride!"
Dogamy, reached out a hand and gently petted his wife's head through the hood of her cloak. She still grumbled, but he could feel her relax slightly under his touch.
"It'll be alright, love. We just-"
Up ahead there was a sudden crack and the now too familiar sound of Beasts screeching. Instantly, the Unit was on high alert, swiftly drawing weapons and looking out in the direction the sounds had come from.
"Let's go!" Sans called out, taking off after the screeches, the canines hot on his heels. They ran through the thinning trees, the sounds of battle quickly growing louder as they approached.
Finally, the source came into sight. A tall man, standing at perhaps six feet and dressed from head to toe in jet-black plate armor, was fighting a small group of the Human-sized Beasts. A long tail, grey and plated like an armadillo's smacked one of the Beasts away. Them, the tip glowed, firing a short volley of energy blasts at another creature.
Huge wings made of some kind of teal energy adorned him, and he was using them both to to strike back at the approaching Beasts and defend himself against their attacks. The fangs and claws of the Beasts had no obvious effect on the man's wings, not that that kept them from trying.
He appeared to be holding his own, and the group of Beasts seemed to be fairly small. Even so, the Unit still spread out to make sure there weren't any more hiding nearby, while Sans himself went to help him clean up the Beasts.
Between the two, they made short work of the creatures and the canines returned to find them standing amidst the snow, blood and dust, facing each other. The armored man inclined his head to the skeleton.
"My thanks. It has been a while since I've seen a friendly face. Who are you?"
"The name's Sans," the short skeleton began. "And these-"
He cut himself off in surprise as, upon hearing his name, the other swiftly knelt before the skeleton, bowing so low his forehead nearly touched his knee.
"Lord Sans," he said reverently. "Forgive me, I did not realize it was you."
Sans was silent, and the canines looked at each other in confusion. Finally, the skeleton asked,
"Lord Sans?"
"We all know of your title as Judge," the man's tail twitched as he rose. "You, Undyne and Toriel now lead Monsterkind. As such, you deserve our respect and fealty."
"Who's we?"
"The Shifters. My name is Vigil. I aided in finding Frisk when he was taken by Overwatch."
"Right… I remember hearing about that," Sans spoke slowly. "That was you, huh?"
Vigil nodded his confirmation and Sans continued.
"What are you doing out here?"
"I've been looking into information I received when the prince was captured," Vigil explained. "Recently I began to hear… rumours of Monsters going savage. Attacking cities and killing people. I couldn't believe it, so I came to see for myself what was going on, thinking it was an Overwatch ploy. However…"
He gestured to the clearing around them.
"I've never seen anything like this, but it is certainly beyond the capabilities of Overwatch. Lord Sans, what is going on here?"
"It's a long story," the skeleton began, looking in the direction of the mountain. "And we have places to be. You're welcome to tag along if you want… if you stop calling me 'Lord'."
Vigil nodded, the red light that was the only thing visible behind his visor strengthening for a moment before dimming again.
"Lead on, then."
"And that's basically it," Sans informed the Shifter, who was sitting across the fire they'd set up for the night. "We've been hunting these things for a while now, trying to clean up the last of them before they can do any more damage. We're on the trail of one right now, actually."
Vigil was quiet, seeming to process what he had been told. His wings had been retracted back into his body about an hour ago, and his tail rested in the snow, twitching slightly.
"That is quite the tale," he said at last, glancing over to where Dogamy and Dogaressa were snuggled together, their phones out and both of them watching a video Papyrus had sent them of himself playing with their puppies. Content smiles adorned their muzzles, and for the moment, they were oblivious to their surroundings.
"Of course," he continued, looking back to Sans. "I am at your disposal. You are right, these Beasts need to be stopped as quickly as possible."
"You took all that in pretty quick," Sans murmured, keeping his gaze locked on Vigil. "Woulda thought you'd be a little more incredulous about the whole 'other dimension' thing."
The Shifter tilted his head slightly in confusion.
"Why would I disbelieve you? You have no reason to lie to me now. Besides, as Judge, it is my duty to obey you."
Sans's sockets narrowed, but he made no comment, instead reaching out a hand and scratching Greater Dog between the ears. The canine gave a contented sigh, curling up a little tighter in the lap of his golem armor.
"I am… sorry to hear of the princess's death." the Shifter spoke quietly, resting a hand on the the earth where the snow had melted from the heat of the fire. "She deserved a better end than that."
"Yes." Sans replied, his gaze drawn to the flames for a moment. "She did."
"You mentioned before you were on the trail of another Beast?" Vigil asked after a moment.
"Yes," Sans confirmed, looking back. "I think it's made it's lair somewhere up on the mountain. Might be a bird or something similar, given what we've learned about it so far. Might be a tough fight. We've not seen it, but the destruction it's left behind has been worrisome."
"Well, if it can take to the air, then I can fight it on it's own terms. I can try and force it down to the ground, or at the least, distract it to give the rest of you a better chance at it."
"I'll admit, we can probably use the help. This thing won't go down easy, and I'd rather take it down before it causes more harm."
"I understand. Perhaps we can come up with a battle plan then?"
Dogaressa's head raised slightly, and she narrowed her eyes at the two.
"If there's going to be any planning, I'd better not be left out," she all but growled. Sans let out a quiet chuckle.
"Wouldn't dream of it. Let's see if we can figure out the best way to approach this, huh?"