The next day, the new monster arrived at Dawn. Their existence was a secret to the general public, so they were transported in a small truck to avoid drawing attention. It parked in front of Asgore's house, where he had agreed with the other monsters that it would be the best place to keep the newcomer in. He thought it was better this way, since he would be the first in line to foil any attempt to escape. Besides, his house was one of the biggest ones and had a big enough basement to keep the cage and its prisoner. They had spent the rest of the last day and the majority of the current one fortifying the place so that there was no way the new monster could smash their way through the roof or anything of the sort.

Frisk and the monsters involved in the relocation of the new monster were informed that they had been sedated for the process. However, Undyne had still insisted that she and the whole Canine Unit were present when the monster arrived, after being informed of their violent tendencies. Papyrus had also made sure to come, bringing Sans along with him. There had been no need, though, as the monster laid immobile on the floor of their cage. In fact, had it not been for the slow motion of their breathing, Frisk would have thought they were dead.

"Pffft! That's all?" asked Undyne incredulous. "I was expecting a beast or something, not some bird that fell out of their nest!"

"Well," Asgore said "they seemed much more, uh, angry when they were awake…"

Undyne circled the cage, watching the creature carefully.

"They don't even have a lot of muscle. A little less and they'd be just a skeleton with feathers!"

Frisk looked a little closer and, sure enough, without all their feathers bristled and their wings and tail not extended, it was plain how slim they really were.

"EH?! WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY THAT, UNDYNE?" Papyrus asked her with a frown.

"Err, nothing." She said. No one had yet bothered to explain the skeleton that a lot of creatures had bones as part of their structure and it was obvious Undyne didn't wanted to be the one to do it.

"don't think too much about it, bro." Sans said, his grin widening. "after all, if someone told me they saw a feathered skeleton i'd think they are a little cuckoo."

Frisk snorted at that.

"UGHHHH! THE NEW MONSTER IS SO LUCKY THEY WERE NOT AWAKE TO HEAR THAT." Papyrus said after thumping his head against the roof of the cage.

"Let's just take them inside, already. I told Alphys not to come in case it was dangerous, and she's waiting for me to tell her how everything went." Undyne said.

Asgore instructed them to take the monster to the designated room while he and Toriel took care of the paperwork. Toriel had been a bit reluctant to let Frisk receive them with the others, but they had insisted that, as the ambassador, they had to be present for all this official exchanges with the humans. So, they followed Undyne, Papyrus, Dogamy, Dogaressa and Greater Dog into Asgore's house as they carried the cage down to the basement. The width of the doors wasn't a problem since the king's size already required them to be quite wide. They only struggled a little when two people couldn't fit through when standing at each side of the cage. Undyne would probably have been able to do the whole thing by herself, but the dogs had wanted to be of use (and record the new monster's smell), and Papyrus wouldn't let them do all the work without him. Sans limited himself to walk by Frisk's side.

"so, buddy." he said while they walked down the stairs. "s' the guest as cranky as tori says?"

Frisk just shrugged. They didn't know anything about them, so Frisk couldn't really tell how they were going to react when they woke up. However, they thought at how jumpy the monster had acted the whole time Frisk and their parents had been in front of them, so maybe it would be better to be careful around them…

"Uhh, well" Frisk said "Their feathers are kind of sharp…"

Sans nodded. He shrugged, but he kept an eye on the new monster the rest of the way.

Frisk was surprised when Undyne suddenly told the team that they had arrived at the chosen room. Although, knowing Asgore, they probably shouldn't have been. The kid had imagined that because the monster had to be locked away as a criminal, they'd be put in a more jail-like place, but of course, Asgore didn't have anything of the sort. Instead, the room they were in seemed like a totally normal bedroom. It had a bed with fluffy covers and a bunch of pillows that looked like the ones Frisk had been gifted by the king. A tall wooden wardrobe was leaning against the wall, although Frisk wasn't sure why Asgore had put it there. This seemed like one of the monsters that didn't use any clothes. A nice desk adorned with crafting of little trees on it was against the opposite wall. You would think Asgore was renting a room rather than incarcerating someone. Frisk shook their head. The only things that even hinted this was a containment room was the lack of windows, the heavy door made of sturdy metal and the small camera in the corner to the right of the door. Although, you wouldn't know it was a camera if you didn't know that Alphys had designed it that way. It seemed more like a lamp if anything.

"WE SHOULD TAKE THEM OUT OF THERE." Papyrus said "IT DOESN'T SEEM LIKE A VERY COMFORTABLE PLACE TO SLEEP!"

He crouched to search for the lock, but he found none. Papyrus frowned when he saw the problem.

"IT WOULD SEEM THE HUMANS HAVE SEALED THIS CAGE WITH BOLTS OF SOME SORT! HOW RIDICULOUS! AND WHY WOULD THEY MAKE THIS BARS SO CLOSE TO EACH OTHER?! HOW WOULD THEY GET INSIDE THE CAGE IF THEY NEEDED TO TEND TO THE CAPTURED PERSON?!"

"I think the idea is to prevent them from going outside, Papyrus." Undyne said. She summoned one of her magic spears and walked towards the door of the cage.

"BUT YOU COULD ALWAYS ASK THEM NICELY TO STAY INSIDE." he said with a smile. "THEN NOT ONLY WOULD YOU REDUCE THE MATERIALS NEEDED TO BUILD THE CONTAINMENT INSTRUMENT, BUT YOU COULD ALSO START A NICE CONVERSATION!"

Instead of answering, Undyne focused in using her spear as a crowbar. With a loud cracking sound, the door of the cage was sent flying towards the bed, the bolts also jumping out of their place. The dogs winced, covering their sensible ears, and Frisk stumbled to get out of the way of the flying metal pieces.

"Oh…" Undying looked at the cage a little surprised, then she just started laughing "WHOOPS! Well I really hope they weren't expecting to have the cage back, because now it's kind of useless!"

"WELL, AT LEAST WE CAN NOW GET THEM OUT! AND IF THE HUMANS ASK TO HAVE THE CAGE BACK, THEN THE GREAT PAPYRUS WILL BE ABLE TO INSTRUCT THEM IN HOW TO MAKE BETTER ONES! IT'S A WIN-WIN SITUATION EITHER WAY!"

Papyrus then picked the monster by their arms while Frisk helped by holding their claws, making sure not to step on their tail. They were lighter than Frisk thought, which was a little worrying. Had they been properly fed while they were in the humans care? (God, they were turning into Toriel.) But then again, birds were supposed to have hollow bones and stuff like that to make them fly, right? They hoped that was the case.

"hey, bro. don't you mean it's a wing-wing situation?" Sans leaned back on the wall and waited for the reaction.

Undyne groaned loudly, and the dogs tried to hide their snickering. They had long ago succumbed to Sans sense of humor. Papyrus stared at him with the most unamused look he could manage.

"SANS! IF YOU ONLY CAME DOWN HERE TO-"

But Papyrus didn't get to finish his sentence as the creature he and Frisk were holding winced at his loudness and emitted a low groan.

"THEY ARE WAKING UP!"

Papyrus and Frisk hurried to place them on the bed. It would be bad if the first thing they saw was that a couple of strangers were holding them. Everyone in the room went silent while the new monster started to move more and more.

"You three!" Undyne called to the members of the Canine Unit "Do you have their smell memorized?"

The trio straightened to attention and barked once proudly.

"Good! Now wait outside the room. If the prisoner makes an attempt to escape, do not let them through!"

"Yes, miss Undyne!" they answered in unison before obeying.

Frisk gulped. All of a sudden, they didn't feel too confident being inside the same room that the monster when they were awake. They shoot a nervous glance at Sans, and then at Papyrus, who was the one closest to the bed. He was eagerly awaiting to say hello. Sans took the hint and advanced a little towards him.

"uh, bro? maybe you shouldn't be standing so close to them right now…"

"NONSENSE! WHO'D BE BETTER THAN ME TO BE THE FIRST TO WELCOME THEM TO THEIR NEW HOME?"

The monster had managed to sit down and was rubbing at their eyes. They were grumbling something unintelligible and seemed to be struggling to keep themself straight. Frisk wondered just how strong those sedatives were. However, no matter how dazed they seemed to be, the moment they opened their eyes for good and saw Papyrus, they locked their gaze on him. Or rather, they glared at him. Frisk could feel both Undyne and Sans tensing on the spot.

"HI!" Papyrus started "I'M THE GREAT PAPYRUS! AND THESE HERE ARE MY FRIENDS! I'LL INTRODUCE YOU IN A MOMENT! BUT FIRST, YOU MUST BE VERY CONFUSED AS TO WHY YOU ARE HERE! WELL, THAT'S… TH-THAT'S BECAUSE…"

Papyrus hesitated for a moment when he noticed the monster snarling at him. They were now recoiling to the other end of the bed, showing their firmly clenched teeth. It was obvious they were still trying not to wobble, but it would be better not to let their guard down. They didn't seem to want to lose sight of the skeleton in front of them, but they still risked a few glances towards the rest of the people in the room.

Frisk just wanted Papyrus to get out of there as quickly as possible. They weren't sure the new monster was going to just stay there once the effects of the sedatives wore off. Frisk gave a few careful steps towards the bed. The monster immediately turned their head towards the kid and hissed as loudly as they could.

"AH, I SEE!" Papyrus said regaining the attention of the newcomer. "YOU GOT TOO INTIMIDATED BY MY MIGHTY PRESENCE! BUT THERE'S NO NEED TO WORRY, DEAR FRIEND! HERE! LET ME SHOW YOU THAT YOU DON'T NEED TO BE AFRAID OF ME WITH A FRIENDLY HANDSHAKE! THAT'S WHAT SANS ALWAYS DOES!"

"pap, wait-"

But it was too late. Papyrus had already started to extend his arm towards the monster. Their eyes widened in alarm at the sudden movement and, with a screech, they did what Frisk feared they would do: they lunged towards him.

In the blink of an eye, Undyne pulled Papyrus out of the way before the claws of the monster reached him and blocked them with her spear. However, the monster had meant to bite and not only did they sink their teeth in the spear, but also in part of Undyne's hand. She didn't even bat an eye.

"And what do YOU think you're doing?!" she yelled at them.

The monster jumped backwards, almost losing their balance when landing. Disoriented, they shook their head and after a quick look of the room, they darted towards the exit. Sans quickly pulled Frisk, who just happened to be right in front of the door, towards him before the monster had a chance to shove them aside. But the creature was cut short when the dogs blocked the way and started barking furiously. The monster stumbled backwards, shutting their eyes and covering their ears, as if the noise was physically pushing them back. Papyrus took the opportunity to join his brother and Frisk and stood protectively in front of them.

Undyne also took advantage of the moment and grabbed the monster from behind. She made sure to immobilize their arms, but they started clawing viciously at the air with their feet, and she had to back away when a blow missed Frisk's face by just inches.

Frisk was at a loss of what they should do. This wasn't how this was supposed to go at all.

"alright. kiddo, papyrus, time to go." Sans announced. Without taking the lights in his eye sockets away from the struggle, he grabbed Frisk by their arm and started moving towards the door.

"But-"

"come on, kid. tori'll have my head if you get hurt."

"SANS! WE CAN'T LEAVE UNDYNE ALONE!"

"Pfffft! Please!" Undyne scoffed. "Papyrus, you get Frisk and Sans out of here! I'll take care of this!"

She stumbled backwards, but held the monster in a death grip. The creature was trying to bite at her arms to no avail. Frisk gulped, but knew that there was nothing they could do at the moment.

"A-ALL RIGHT, UNDYNE! I'LL SCORT THEM TO SAFETY, BUT I'LL COME BACK TO HELP YOU!" Papyrus said solemnly.

"No need, I got this! Now get out!"

"O-okay! B-but, be careful!" Frisk told her.

"Yeah, yeah."

"And! Try not to hurt them too much!"

"OUT!" she ordered.

Without another word, Papyrus lifted Frisk with one arm and Sans with the other and dashed towards the stairs. The dogs stopped their barking for enough time to let them pass. The last thing Frisk saw of the room before Papyrus carried them up the stairs, was Undyne headbutting the new monster.

It had been a good twenty minutes before Undyne finally appeared followed by her canine team. Frisk and Sans had managed to convince Papyrus to stay with them instead of going back down by telling him to put a barrier of bones to block the door to the stairs. That way, if the monster was able to squeeze their way past their friends down there, they wouldn't be able to come into the main house before Undyne caught up.

As soon as they heard her coming up, Papyrus removed the wall of magic bones. Frisk couldn't help to wince when they saw her. Undyne was covered in cuts, some deeper than the others, but she didn't seemed bother by them herself. Just behind her, the Canine Unit members were showering her in praise.

"Undyne! Are you alright?" Frisk asked as they ran towards her.

"Of course I'm alright, punk! What is that supposed to mean?" she said with a big smile. "It's me we are talking about, remember?"

"WELL, IT'S JUST THAT YOU ARE CUT EVERYWHERE!"

""Ha ha! Yeah! Should have brought the armor!"

"yeah. If you squint, it's kiiiinda noticeable. you probably should eat something for that." Sans said from his comfortable position in the couch. "want a hot dog? just 30 g."

Undyne shot him a look, but elected to ignore him to instead command the dogs to inform Asgore of the situation. She added they should wait until all the humans had left. They didn't need any complaints from nosey people that barely understood anything about monsters. When they left the house, she headed for Asgore's kitchen. It was common knowledge he loved to treat guests with like half of his own food, so he wouldn't get mad if she grabbed some monster food to refill her HP.

"So what happened?" Frisk asked impatiently. They followed her into the kitchen and had to wait until she finished making herself a sandwich. Apparently she was worn out enough to not attempt to punch the food.

"What happened" she finally said after taking a bite of her sandwich "was a battle of wills!" She pumped her fist in the air.

"A battle of wills?"

"YES! A battle to determine who gives up first! They kept struggling to get free, and I kept holding them in place. They tried everything! Clawing! Biting! Even attacking me with pointy feathers! In the end, of course, they were too tired to fight anymore."

Frisk couldn't help smiling at how epic she made it sound. Undyne seemed very proud of herself. She finished her sandwich in four bites, making the cuts disappear without a trace.

"Ah! I was beginning to forget how much fun battles could be!"

"BUT, UNDYNE. WHAT HAPPENED TO THE NEW MONSTER?" Papyrus said after entering the kitchen.

"Huh? Oh, yeah! After they stopped fighting I dropped them on the bed again, but they just sort of climbed onto that tall wardrobe and kept growling at me. They refused to come down, but at least they didn't try to escape again. That's when I-"

But she was interrupted when her phone emitted an "ORA, ORA, ORA!". Frisk couldn't recognize the anime that came from. Undyne checked her phone and facepalmed.

"Oh, ffff-"

"UNDYNE!" Papyrus scolded while covering Frisk's ears.

"I-I mean: Oh, fudge!" she corrected herself. "I have like twenty messages from Alphys! She's probably gone into a panic already."

She ran towards the front door, but stopped just before stepping into the porch to shout over her shoulder:

"I left the keys for their room on the table! Don't go down there without someone strong enough to supervise, or without a plan, you hear me?!" And with that said she was out.

Frisk and Papyrus returned to the living room. Where Sans was now passing the channels on the small T.V. Asgore had bought.

"H-HEY, FRISK." Papyrus called them.

Frisk turned to see him, and grew a little worried. He was fidgeting a little and a few beads of sweat had formed on his skull. At the sudden nervous tone, Sans looked at him as well.

"What's wrong?" they asked.

"WHY DO YOU THINK ALL OF THAT HAPPENED?" he said a little more quietly than normal. "COULD I HAVE SAID SOMETHING RUDE WITHOUT REALIZING IT? DID THE NEW MONSTER THINK THAT I WAS GOING TO HARM THEM?"

"nah, bro. you didn't say anything wrong." Sans said before Frisk could even respond. "they are probably just really confused right now. you know, with all the being drugged thing and all. besides," he added with a wink "you are just too likable for anyone in their right mind not wanting to be your friend."

Frisk nodded in agreement and extended their arms towards him. Papyrus beamed at both of them. He picked Frisk up and took them towards Sans so that his brother could join the hug.

"YOU'RE RIGHT! I JUST NEED TO GET THROUGH TO THEM! I KNOW I CAN DO IT! WE'LL TEACH THEM HOW GREAT ALL OUR FRIENDS ARE, SO THEY'LL END UP WANTING TO BE PART OF OUR GROUP! IT'S BRILLIANT! AND OF COURSE, OUR LITTLE HUMAN MUST HELP!" he turned to look at Frisk with a radiant smile "NO ONE I KNOW IS FASTER THAN YOU TO MAKE FRIENDS! EXCEPT FOR ME, OBVIOUSLY! YOU CAN SURELY HELP THE PROCESS."

Frisk pondered what he said. It wasn't a bad idea. Maybe if they managed to make them behave like… not what they were currently behaving like, they would be able to make the important human adults reduce their sentence or even completely avoid it!

"and, you know" sans said with a smirk "if everything else fails, you could always just go on a date with them. you know, like you did to make friends with everyone?"

Frisk groaned and covered their face in embarrassment. He was just never going to let them forget that, was he?

Hi! Hope you enjoyed the chapter, (which, again, got longer than I thought). Please review and tell me how I did! Constructive criticism is always appreciated!