Frisk closes her eyes for the first time since leaving Toriel's home, and her exhaustion, borne by determination for so long, begins to slip away. That is, until a loud, grunting snore from the next room over stabs her ears, and she realizes with crushing disappointment that sleep is going to elude her for a bit longer. She feels a bit better, though, as she heads downstairs and gets her money back from the friendly rabbit-eared lady at the front desk. Heading back out into the street, she nearly trips over a box in the snow. Opening it, she finds the stick she left in it earlier safe and sound. Depositing her butterscotch-cinnamon pie (A keepsake, from Toriel) and a few other miscellaneous items she's picked up, she closes it and leaves it behind. Exploring the town, she tries to hear any sound of Papyrus or Sans, but cannot, though not for lack of effort. She asks the townsfolk about them, but only gathers that they sort of…appeared one day and asserted themselves. They seem fairly harmless, but upon some reading (I still don't know how I do that without seeing the pages, she thinks), she realizes that coming up against even a child as weak as she was by human standards was the equivalent of facing the most powerful monsters of the Underground. Papyrus' cheery enthusiasm seems normal, in light of his ignorance, but Sans is…different. If he were actually as stupid and lazy as he wants everyone to believe, he'd fight with his brother way more, and make silly puns a lot less, she muses, walking out of the gate at the far end of the town from where she entered only minutes before. Her reverie is interrupted by an abrupt chill, as a gust of wind blows snow across her face, muffling her hearing, but not her determination, by which she knows who is about to speak.
"Human."
Papyrus' voice is lower than usual, and more serious.
"Allow me to tell you about some complex feelings."
Frisk prepares for him to launch into some epic tale of his own feelings about joining the Royal Guard, or some such. However, this is not what he says.
"The joy of finding another pasta lover. The admiration for another's puzzle-solving skills. The desire to have a cool, smart person think you are cool. These feelings…"
Here it comes…his confession of friendship, she thinks with rising hope that she won't have to fight.
"THEY MUST BE WHAT YOU ARE FEELING RIGHT NOW!" he finishes with a shout of exuberance.
Nope. Dead wrong. He must have so little practice having anyone but Sans take him seriously.
"I can hardly imagine what it must be like to feel that way," he continues in a tone that approaches normal. "After all, I am very great."
Aren't you lonely? thinks Frisk silently.
"I don't ever wonder what having lots of friends is like. I pity you…lonely human…"
Don't you pity yourself, too? wonders Frisk, even as her heart is pricked by his warmhearted sympathy.
" WORRY NOT! YOU SHALL BE LONELY NO LONGER! I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, WILL BE YOUR— "his voice falters mid-yell. "No…NO, THIS IS ALL WRONG!" he shouts with dismay. "I CAN'T BE YOUR FRIEND! YOU ARE A HUMAN! I MUST CAPTURE YOU! THEN, I CAN FULFILL MY LIFELONG DREAM!"
"POWERFUL!" he yells
"POPULAR!" he shouts
"PRESTIGIOUS!" he exults
"THAT'S PAPYRUS!" he declares with finality. "THE NEWEST MEMBER…OF THE ROYAL GUARD!"
The darkroom appears, and Papyrus cockily grinning skull and permanently raised eyebrow face her, blocking her way.
She decides to try to convince him to be friends. "Do you want to go hang out sometime?" she inquires innocently.
As she should have expected, he completely misunderstands. "WHAT? FL-FLIRTING?" he stammers. Back to his old self quickly, he follows up. "SO YOU FINALLY REVEAL YOUR ULTIMATE FEELINGS. W-WELL! I'M A SKELETON WITH VERY HIGH STANDARDS!"
Frisk resists the urge to bury her head in her hands, and decides to roll with the conversation. "I can make spaghetti," she says simply.
"OH, NO!" he exclaims. "YOU'RE MEETING ALL MY STANDARDS! I GUESS THIS MEANS I HAVE TO GO ON A DATE WITH YOU."
He hesitates momentarily. "LET'S DATE L-LATER. AFTER I CAPTURE YOU," he accedes, then sends magic bones flying along the ground towards Frisk. She easily sidesteps them.
She decides to try some reverse psychology. "That outfit looks stupid!" she announces, feeling guiltier with every word. He takes it the opposite of how she apparently intended, exactly as she planned.
"HOW SELFLESS…YOU WANT ME TO FEEL BETTER ABOUT FIGHTING YOU. I DON'T DESERVE SUCH HOSPITALITY FROM YOU!" he practically wails. He starts primping in-between his attacks, which Frisk keeps dodging. She chooses to keep silent and let his doubts work while she amuses herself jumping over the bones he's launching every few seconds.
He realizes what she's doing almost immediately. "SO YOU WON'T FIGHT…THEN, LET'S SEE IF YOU CAN HANDLE MY FABLED 'BLUE ATTACK'," he speculates with his typical vigor. She stands still, and the blue bones pass through her without harm. Suddenly, she feels a strange weight in her chest pulling her toward the ground. Looking down, her SOUL is a melancholy blue. The weight allows her to stand, albeit with difficulty, but jumping is going to be an issue.
"YOU'RE BLUE NOW. THAT'S MY ATTACK!" states Papyrus proudly, like he's talking about how his little bony son just won a basketball game. He then ruins the effect by cackling with his signature "NYEH HEH HEH!"
I can handle this. It's just going to be a little tougher than I thought, Frisk strategizes. All I have to do is hold out until he runs out of magic. That happens, right?
She continues not fighting, and her determination flares, giving her a boost of strength. He launches a couple of low attacks, gauging her strength. Her determination flashes brightly inside her, and she easily leaps them. He follows up with some higher attacks, which she handily avoids. She's still strategizing and studying his power with every move. His power gets stronger when I jump higher, so lower jumps are easier. At the same time, I can only fall so fast, so if he launches a high attack and then a low one, or vice verzsa, it might be tricky to dodge.
As Papyrus interjects every little while, she thinks more. He keeps telling me he's not thinking about the date, but that's just proof he is. This is working! she celebrates silently. She pays for the lapse dearly, however, as a pair of large bones connect with her ribs, and she feels them break, almost piercing her lungs. It hurts to move. How am I supposed to keep going like this…she remembers the ice cream she bought at the shop in town. She tears off its packaging and swallows it whole. Immediately, magic floods her body, healing some of the damage. Should've guessed. Magic monsters equals magic food. Nice to know determination isn't the only thing I've got.
Moving more cautiously now that she's felt firsthand, Frisk continues dodging Papyrus' attacks. Even as he fights, he keeps calling out tips for how her side of the fight is supposed to work. He's still as confident as ever. Frisk starts to get a little irritated, but determination flares and she starts to enjoy herself. It's totally different from when I was fighting Toriel. This feels almost like…fun. That was just me ignoring her and pleasing myself. This is a real competition. I think it's because he's actually trying to hurt me! she thinks excitedly. With this realization, she begins to truly test her limits, waiting until the last second to jump, or just barely clearing the top of a bone. The turbulence following them blows her dark brown hair back, and the icy chill bites at her face.
As she flips, rolls, and jumps, Papyrus' attacks get more elaborate. He begins to send in combinations of attacks, high and low, left and right. After getting clipped by a bone from behind, Frisk starts incorporating midair twists into her routine, practically flying around the bones. She's struck by a blue magic attack in mid-spin, and falls to the ground, contorted by an electric shock. She again rises, and starts freezing long enough for the blue bones to pass, then flashing out of the way of the solid physical ones. As he begins to send out long strings of bone attacks, she has to jump higher and higher. Fueled by determination, she makes one great, titanic leap…and is smacked out of the air as the bone moves to target. Eating another ice-cream, she's back in the fray like lightning. Papyrus talks to himself, arguing about whether to be friends with Frisk or not, and about how rare true admirers are. Dismissing those thoughts with frustration, he snaps at Frisk in anger for the first time.
"URGH…JUST GIVE UP!"
Frisk makes no response, but keeps dodging his attacks with relative ease. Determination burns in her veins, unwilling to be put out. I will escape from the Underground! I will find my memories!
Papyrus gathers energy, and his attacks weaken for a moment. "BEHOLD! MY SPECIAL ATTACK!" he declares, and reaches out his hand. All that appears, however, is a dog chewing a bone. He's understandably confused. "WHAT THE HECK! THAT'S MY SPECIAL ATTACK! HEY, YOU STUPID DOG! DO YOU HEAR ME?! STOP MUNCHING ON THAT BONE!"
The dog ignores him, and he yells after it with dismay. "COME BACK HERE WITH MY SPECIAL ATTACK!"
"…I SUPPOSE I'LL JUST USE A REALLY COOL REGULAR ATTACK!" he decides conclusively, and gathers his strength once more. Frisk appreciates the short rest, then readies herself. As he launches the attack, she makes a colossal leap once more, clearing the titanic bone he summoned, then crashes back to earth. Her legs tremble, and she falls to her knees, before shakily rising to her feet once more. Papyrus breathes heavily (Still odd for a skeleton to breathe, Frisk thinks again), then yells between breaths.
"WELL…. IT'S CLEAR…YOU CAN'T…DEFEAT ME! YEAH, I CAN SEE YOU SHAKING IN YOUR BOOTS! THEREFORE, I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, ELECT TO GRANT YOU PITY! I WILL SPARE YOU, HUMAN! NOW'S YOUR CHANCE TO ACCEPT MY MERCY."
Finally, breaths Frisk under her breath. That was a lot harder than I thought it'd be. I didn't have to kill him, though. There's one more person that stupid flower was wrong about.
She looks Papyrus right in his face, or lack thereof, and nods with finality. The darkroom disappears, and Frisk's vision fades to black once more. Papyrus laughs sheepishly. "I can't even stop someone as weak as you…Undyne's going to be disappointed in me. I'll never join the Royal Guard, and my friend quantity will remain stagnant!"
This is the moment she's been waiting for this whole time. "Papyrus?" she asks.
He turns around slowly, and looks at her.
"Let's be friends."
His mood immediately turns cheery once more. "REALLY! YOU WANT TO BE FRIENDS…WITH ME? WELL THEN…I GUESS…I GUESS I CAN MAKE AN ALLOWANCE FOR YOU! WOWIE! WE HAVEN'T EVEN HAD OUR FIRST DATE, AND I'VE ALREADY MANAGED TO HIT THE FRIEND ZONE!"
Frisk can't help but giggle inwardly at his antics.
He continues. " WHO KNEW ALL I NEEDED TO MAKE NEW PALS WAS TO GIVE PEOPLE AWFUL PUZZLES AND THEN FIGHT THEM? YOU TAUGHT ME A LOT, HUMAN."
She curtsies with perfect comedic timing.
"I HEREBY GIVE YOU PERMISSION TO PASS 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! THAT'S WHY THE KING WANTS TO ACQUIRE A HUMAN. HE WANTS TO OPEN THE BARRIER WITH SOUL POWER. THEN, US MONSTERS CAN RETURN TO THE SURFACE."
This doesn't sound good, thinks Frisk to herself. The king himself wants my SOUL. I wonder if he's ASGORE. It doesn't sound much like a name for a person, though neither does Papyrus.
Papyrus' next words cut through her absentmindedness. "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…"
As Papyrus pauses, Frisk begins to think the worst. What's so horrible that Papyrus can't even say it. Is the king really that dangerous?
"WELL…HE'S A BIG FUZZY PUSHOVER!" Papyrus finishes. "EVERYBODY LOVES THAT GUY. I'M SURE IF YOU JUST SAY 'EXCUSE ME, MR. DREEMURR…CAN I PLEASE GO HOME?' HE'LL GUIDE YOU RIGHT TO THE BARRIER HIMSELF!"
Oh. That doesn't sound so bad. Knowing Papyrus, though, he's probably exaggerating, she revises.
"ANYWAY, THAT'S ENOUGH TALKING! I'LL BE AT HOME BEING A COOL FRIEND! FEEL FREE TO COME BY AND HAVE THAT DATE." Giving his signature cackle, Papyrus made a typically swift exit back towards town. Trailing behind, Frisk made a beeline for the inn, where her determination flashed, she entered, and made use of the bed. Even the snores of her neighbors couldn't keep her awake this time, and she fell deeply asleep, closing her eyes and drifting off peacefully.