► "Ruins"
"WHAT?! I'VE BEEN PET?!" Doggo completely flipped. "POT PAT PET PET POT PAT!" He raced in circles, half trying to catch his tail, half trying to find something that was moving, and had therefore pet him. Dogamy and Dogaressa fought of snorts, not daring to move. This is what the dogs of the Royal Guard did for fun; trick Doggo into thinking that he was being haunted by a ghost. It was hilarious to watch.
Doggo finally settled down, shivering and growling. He licked his black and white chops and slunked back behind his station. Before he could see them, the Dogi slowly backed up, then bounded out of the area, a flurry of black cloaks and white fur. They ran full-blast onto the frozen pond and slid to a stop on top of each other. They stopped a moment, panting, then started laughing and nuzzled noses.
"Pfft. Heheheh! That was great!" Dogaressa exclaimed.
Dogamy licked her nose and slowly stood up on the ice, wobbling a bit, then helped her up. She giggled, and tackled him back down, crushing him. He yapped and kicked her off playfully. Slipping and skittering, they made their way off the ice and onto the snowy bank.
He smoothed down her ears. "We should do this more often."
She blushed. "Hee hee."
"YOU!" a voice barked.
Doggo was RIGHT BEHIND THEM. Completely aware that they were moving, they sprinted down the path. Half using their noses, they bolted through the snow, over a bridge, past the snowball game, and straight to their stations. They sat there, giggling playfully at their escape.
Dogaressa settled down and climbed into her station. Dogamy stayed outside, still a bit riled up. He paced back and forth, kicking up drifts of snow. He yawned and scratched. Being part of the Royal Guard, you'd think that work would be more interesting. But no. Humans seldom came, and the troublemaking teens got boring after awhile. They never learned, and they simply sassed you until you attacked. Then they ran away.
Doggaressa popped up from her station. "Whatcha doing?"
"I dunno, puppy," he yapped. "Kinda bored."
She jumped out with her axe nicely polished. "Wanna go to Grillby's?"
"Sure." He shook some snow out of his white fur. "Can ya hand me my axe?"
"Nah. You get it, lazy."
"Aw…" He climbed into his wooden station and shuffled through the items on the floor. Spare cloak, some gold coins, a couple bones...aha! He grabbed the heavy weapon by its handle and sheathed it on his back. He also grabbed a couple coins in his paws to pay at Grillby's.
► "Snowy"
Dogaressa motioned for him to hurry up. Man, that hotdog was eager about everything. They started across the top of the bluffs, the snowy forest underneath them as they ran. Bits of snow fell lonesomely from the cavern ceiling (how it snowed here, he didn't know; probably some weird sciency thing about the roof of the cave and evaporation. Like he cared). A handful of Snowdrakes, Icecaps, and Jerrys watched them nervously as the dogs passed by. Maybe they were up to some trouble. But Dogamy didn't stop to check. He'd deal with it later.
They ran into Lesser Dog on the way there. He was occupied at his station closer to Snowdin, gazing at some snow, staring at it like it was going to transform into a giant steak at any moment. Seriously, Lesser Dog was a great canine, but he was creepy at times.
"Hey, whatcha doing?" Dogamy asked.
"I'm waiting for inspiration," he answered, not looking up. "Motivation, so I can make the perfect snowdog. But..."
"Hit a block?"
His pointy ears flopped. "Yeah."
Doggaressa piped up. "Wanna come to Grillby's with us? Maybe you'll get inspiration!"
Lesser dog perked up instantly. "Yeah!" He stood up, armor glossy from the snow.
And then there were three dogs heading to Grillby's.
► "Anticipation"
Before they hit Greater Dog's station, they heard a hacke-raising shriek. A Gyftrot stampeded out of seemingly nowhere, flinging various colorful bulbs from its needled antlers. Behind it, the group of suspicious monsters from before charged after, with more Christmas ornaments in hand.
Dogaressa growled. The teens froze. Lesser Dog and Dogamy joined in, flashing their fangs and snarling. The Icecaps froze, then ran, shrieking. The Snowdrakes followed, roaring in dismay and fear of being caught. The two Jerrys stopped. They looked around, confused as to why they were suddenly alone. Then they saw the angry horde of dogs. They dropped the ornaments, screamed like two year olds, and ran in opposite directions.
Dogaressa snorted. Dogamy snickered, and Lesser Dog laughed like a maniac. Yes, being a Guardsman DID have its redeeming moments.
► "Snowy"
It was only a short way from there to Snowdin. Greater Dog was napping at his station, so they passed by quietly without waking him up. Loud snores resounded from his doghouse, and the Snow Puffs shivered as they walked by.
To get to Snowdin, they had to pass over a huge ravine that split the cliffs in half at the top. The only way across was a narrow rock formation. It held their weight easily, and they shuffled across slowly. They had heard once of an Icecap that was going too fast and fell down into the ice below. Maybe it was just a bedtime story, but Dogamy would take no chances.
► "Snowdin Town"
Snowdin welcomed them with open arms, a scuff of houses within the snow, trees, and rock. Furry monsters of all shapes and sizes bustled around, going about their everyday lives. A lizard-like kid in a striped shirt froze and watched them as they passed by. Probably checking if Undyne, leader of the Guard, was with them, which she wasn't.
A large tree stood solemnly in the middle of town. During Christmas time, it was decorated, but it was still some time away. But there was also some symbolism to it. For the longest time, the Gryftots had to deal with rebellious teens decorating its tree-like horns with dorky items, much like a real Christmas tree. So, to make the beast feel better, they sometimes gave the creature simple gifts like gold or Bisicles. And every year during Christmas time, they put presents for less fortunate monsters under the tree in the main square. All because of the Gryftrots' plight.
Grillby's was the only real restaurant in Snowdin. It got a lot of business because of this, and a lot of regulars. It was run by Grillby, a monster made completely of fire. It had a simple menu, consisting mainly of burgers, hot dogs, and fries. But there was always something special on the menu that Grillby changed each week. Tacos, biscuits and gravy waffle fries; you get the idea. It was kind of like a get-together place for the Guard; they were pretty regular regulars. Sometimes Ms. Undyne would come in, but that wasn't every day.
It turns out, it was one of those days.
► "Sans."
"Hey, guys!" Undyne hollered as the three dogs entered Grillby's. Not many monsters were in Grillby's today; just Undyne, Drunky, and the fire guy himself. He seemed pretty relaxed at the moment, leaning on the counter and drying some glasses with a towel. Undyne was munching on some specialty cheese fries, and Drunky was just...moping there. Meh.
"Hey, Grillbz!" Dogamy said, referring to Grillby by his nickname. The fire monster adjusted his glasses. "Sorry to interrupt your break, but we've got a bunch of hungry guardsmen."
Lesser Dog barked happily.
Grillby nodded, his flames swirling around his head. "...Usuals?"
"Yep."
Grillby nodded again and went back into the kitchen to prepare the orders. The dogs took their places at their usual table, Dogamy and Dogaressa holding paws. Lesser Dog whipped out a deck of playing cards and challenged them at Go-Fish. They refused; they would just lose, anyway.
Undyne came over to join them, bringing her fries with her. "Sup, guys!"
"Hey, Undyne!" Dogaressa yapped.
"Will YOU play Go-Fish?"
"Nah." She sat down, resting her elbows on the table. "Anything new, guys?"
"No," Dogamy said sadly. "Just the usual Icecaps and Snowdrakes."
"WAIT." Lesser Dog said. "Some teenagers were messing with Gryftrot again! We scared them away."
"AGAIN?!" She thumped the table with a fist. "Thought I taught them a lesson last time! Damn troublemakers!"
"How are we supposed to deal with them?" Dogaressa asked.
Dogamy thought. "I dunno."
► "Home"
Just then, Grillby arrived with their burgers, somehow balancing three plates and a couple glasses of water (dangerously for him) on his arms. He set them down, gave lesser dog a pet, and left them be.
Lesser Dog barely contained his excitement at being pet. His tail thumped against his chair like a kickdrum, and his raised neck threatened to stretch up to the heavens. After pacifying Lesser Dog, the dogs dove into their burgers, pausing to talk back to Undyne between bites. Discussion topics included stuff about Asgore, Waterfall, and of course, Alphys.
"No," she murmured when they asked. "She hasn't mentioned anything. Maybe she ran into a problem?"
"Wait." Dogaressa put down her food and pulled out a letter from her cloak jacket. "Could you give this to her when you next see her?"
"Sure thing!" Undyne took it. "Alphys is really smart. I'm sure she'll sort out whatever's wrong, no problem!"
"Hope so," Lesser Dog said. "I really wanna see my sister again. They could at LEAST let us visit."
"Oh, wait! Almost forgot!" Undyne said suddenly. "I got a visitor a couple nights ago!"
"Wuddyah mheen?" Dogamy asked, his mouth full of burger.
Undyne started on the story of how she had been visited at midnight by a skeleton in a scarf, who had waited outside her door all night after she had slammed it in his face. And in the morning, when she finally allowed him to talk to her, he had asked her about-
"Joining the Royal Guard?" exclaimed Dogaressa.
"Yep."
"Wait, aren't skeletons made of BONES?" Lesser Dog asked, starting to get excited. "BONES BONES BONES?!"
"SIT!" Undyne shouted.
Lesser Dog sat.
Dogamy sighed. "Yes, but LIVING bones, and they can't be eaten, sadly."
"Aaawwww…"
"Well, that's ONE way to get your attention, Undyne," Dogaressa snickered. "I can't believe you didn't skewer him on the spot."
"Believe me, I almost did," Undyne said, flattening her fins on the side of her head and grinning with yellow fangs. "But I was feeling rather-" She put on a dorky expression "-MERCIFUL at the time."
Dogaressa snorted up water. The dogs laughed at the idea of fluffy, happy-go-lucky Undyne. Even Grillby paused a moment.
"Well then," Dogamy stated. "Do you think he's up for it?"
"Not sure. He's seems pretty tough, by what I saw, but he's a bit…" She searched for the word. "Nice."
"Nice?" Lesser Dog was confused. "Is that even an issue?"
"When he spares you during the first turn he gets, yes."
"You FOUGHT him?"
"Yep."
"How'd it go?"
► "Sans."
"Eh...alright. He's pretty strong. With proper training, he could…" She trailed off, as if rethinking the idea. Silence, save for the slight crackling of Grillby's flames. Undyne finished the last stubs of her fries, stood up, and stretched, her chainmail glinting. "Well, I'd better go. I'm supposed to start training that softie skeleton today, and I wanna be there before he is."
"Bye, Undyne!" Dogaressa hollered as the fish left. Dogamy waved and licked his soulmate's cheek. Lesser Dog yapped like a maniac.
Dogamy leaned on the table and huffed. "New recruit, huh?"
"Yeah," Lesser Dog murmured, absentmindedly flipping his cards. "Wonder what he's like?"