The monsters in these areas were new. They ranged from ugly white chickens to icicles with hats. Therefore, their attacks were new as well. Harder to dodge, harder to see them coming. But not much harder. After all, Chara was always helping me. Lately, I've been allowing her to sharpen my senses and control them. Battles are always easier with her help. My mind is clearer, attacks are easier to predict, and I'm never slowed down by getting hit. Chara seems to be right, we do make a good team. After all, she's always right.

We found an orange box with red stripes, and inside was a Cinnamon Roll shaped like a bunny; a Cinnamon Bunny, Chara told me. She then advised me to take it, and I did. And feeling slightly hungry, I ate it. It was yummy, and made me feel warm inside.

"Monster food." Chara explained. "Magic."

Not to far ahead, we come upon the skeletons once again. For some reason, Sans was already there. But how? I was pretty sure he had went in the other direction… so how had he ended up here? He's just messing with me.

"SO SANS! WHEN'S THE NEW HUMAN SHOWING UP? I WANT TO LOOK MY SUNDAY BEST…" He paused. "OR AT LEAST MY TUESDAY PRETTY-GOOD." He put in as an afterthought.

"Don't you only have one outfit?"

"YEAH, BUT I COULD STYLE MY HAIR!"

I couldn't help it, but I laughed. For some reason, Chara laughed with me. Maybe she was finally releasing her funny bone and succumbing to the stupidity of the skeletons.

Papyrus heard the laughing, and he turned around. Surprise seemed to flash on his expression before he expectantly turned back to Sans. Sans turned to him, but by then, Papyrus was back to facing me again. This cycle continued, until they were turning so fast, it didn't even make sense. Eventually, they seemed so confused, they actually started to spin in useless circles. It was hilarious.

"SANS! OH MY GOSH!" He put his hand up to his head. "I'M DIZZY. WHAT AM I LOOKING AT?"

"behold."

I waited to see if understanding would register on the skeleton's face, but he only continued to look on with confusion. "OH MY GOSH! IS THAT… A ROCK?"

"yes."

Wait, what? So apparently, I was a rock now? That was an outright insult!

Chara poked me in the shoulder before pointing behind me. I turned myself around to find a rather-large rock sitting in the middle of the path. So the whole time, Papyrus hadn't even noticed me?

Was he just stupid or something?

"OH."

"Hey, what's that in front of the rock?"

"OH MY GOSH!" Papyrus shouted excitedly, before confusion covered his expression again. "...I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT THAT IS."

I slapped my forehead. He didn't even know what a human looked like? Well, Sans had mentioned Papyrus never seeing many humans before, so that kinda explained things. Chara seemed just as annoyed. She gave me a look that said, told-you-so. But Sans was right. This guy wasn't dangerous at all, even when he tried to be.

"Well." Sans commented, trying to get Papyrus to figure out the details. "It's not a-"

"NO, WAIT!" Understanding seemed to flash in Papyrus' eyes. "I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, HAVE ALREADY FIGURED OUT THIS CONUNDRUM ALL ON MY OWN! SEE, BY PROCESS OF ELIMINATION! THAT IS A HUMAN!" How in the world had he come to that conclusion?

"Great job, bro." He was keeping his replies short, I noticed.

"OH MY GOSH!" Papyrus shouted, for what was probably like, the fourth time in a row. "SANS! I FINALLY DID IT! UNDYNE WILL… I'M GONNA… I'LL BE SO… POPULAR!" He seemed so excited, I wasn't sure how to react. This was kinda stupid. And what was this so-called Undyne?

"AHEM! HUMAN! YOU SHALL NOT PASS THIS AREA! I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, WILL STOP YOU! PREPARE YOURSELF! FOR HIGH JINKS! FOR LOW JINKS!"

"Low jynx?" I frowned at Chara.

"Jinks." She corrected.

Papyrus started to list a whole bunch of things I would have to face. "DANGERS! PUZZLES! CAPERS! JAPERS! BEING CAPTURED! AND OTHER SORTS OF FUN ACTIVITIES." He paused before adding, "REFRESHMENTS WILL BE PROVIDED…"

"Sounds great." I yawned.

"IN ANY CASE! CONTINUE… ONLY IF YOU DARE!" He ran from the clearing laughing, "NYEH HEH HEH HEH HEH!"

Sans watched Papyrus run away before facing me. "Well, that went well. Sortof."

I raised an eyebrow. "I dunno if that was worth it or not."

"Don't sweat it, kid." He winked. "I'll keep an eye socket out for ya." Then he trudged ahead, leaving me behind with Chara again.

"Well," I shrugged. "At least he's good at making up words."

"Jinks is a word." Chara replied unamusingly. "J-I-N-K-S. Jinks."

"I wasn't talking about that. I was talking about the capers and japers."

Chara frowned. "Oh, that. Well, I'm pretty sure a caper is a fruit or something. But a japer?..."

"Sounds like…" I decided not to finish the thought.

"C'mon." Chara smirked. "Let's go on ahead and see what other made-up words he has for us."

We passing a not-so-well crafted sentry station, met new enemies, and killed a dog that couldn't see still things. It was easy with Chara's help. I only needed her with me to survive in the Underground. Really, I needed no one else.

And later, we received some very unhandy advice from Sans. He seemed uneasy about something, but was still eager to try to help us. There was a tone of hope in his voice. I wondered what it was about. And then, of course, in the midst of the conversation, he popped in a pun.

Let's just say that I laughed a lot longer than I should've.

"What a loser." Chara mumbled. I couldn't tell if she was talking about Sans or me.

After that, we met a Snowman. It talked to us, and told us to take a piece of him. At first, I thought he was just another waste of time. That is, until Chara told me some important information.

"His snow can heal you." Let's just say that after that, I didn't hesitate to take as many pieces of him as I wanted. After all, we were fighting monsters! We needed that snow to heal ourselves up. We needed the snow more than the snowman. He was making a worthy sacrifice for us. He should feel proud. I ignored his pleading, and left only the carrot behind on the ground. Chara seemed pleased by our new items.

And then, we met Papyrus again. Across a wide, cleared out area free of snow, were the two infamous skeleton brothers. They seemed to be bickering about something.

"YOU'RE SO LAZY!" Papyrus groaned. "YOU WERE NAPPING ALL NIGHT!"

"I think that's called… sleeping." Oh. Of course.

"EXCUSES, EXCUSES!" Papyrus suddenly sighed. "BUT REALLY THOUGH! THAT HUMAN! DO I... KNOW THAT PERSON?"

I tilted my head in confusion. Of course he knew me! Well, at least he did now. Unless, he had meant it in a different way...

Sans wiggled his eyebrows. "Do you not know… who you know?"

"PBPBPPBPT! OF COURSE I KNOW WHO I KNOW! I JUST WANTED TO KNOW IF YOU KNOW I KNOW WHO I KNOW AS MUCH AS I KNOW I KNOW WHO I KNOW! ...YOU KNOW?" My head felt a little spun around from all the "know's," but I figured I should've seen it coming, since hanging around Papyrus didn't seem to always leave the most positive after-effects.

He finally noticed us. "OH-HO! THE HUMAN ARRIVES!" He cleared his throat. Or… where his throat should be. I wasn't entirely sure skeletons could clear throats. "IN ORDER TO STOP YOU… MY BROTHER AND I HAVE CREATED SOME PUZZLES!"

I gave Chara a look, and she sighed. "We don't have time for this." I couldn't help agreeing.

"THERE STILL A FEW KINKS WE NEED TO WORK OUT, BUT I THINK YOU WILL FIND THIS ONE… QUITE SHOCKING!" Was that a pun? "FOR YOU SEE, THIS IS THE INVISIBLE ELECTRICITY MAZE!"

"Invisible, huh?" I smirked. "Does that mean I can walk right across without getting shocked?"

"There's only one way to find out." Chara grinned in response.

I took a few steps forward, and finding no resistance, I walked all the way to the middle of the clearing.

"WHEN YOU TOUCH THE WALLS OF THIS, MAZE… THEN…" He paused uncomfortably, seeming unsure about what to do, since I had already walked right into the middle of it. "UHHHH…?"

"Sorry for interrupting your lovely speech, Paps."

"HMMM…" Papyrus seemed to be deep in thought. "YOU MUST BE HAVING CULTURAL SHOCK." Was that another pun? I thought this skeleton didn't like them. "YOU SEE, WHERE I COME FROM, IT'S A LOVING TRADITION."

"Where did you come from?" I asked him. "Skeleton-ville?"

"...TO SUFFER THROUGH HORRIBLE PUZZLES FOR NO REASON!" He cheered, ignoring my comment.

"That?" I pointed to the 'invisible maze.' "Yeah. Real horrible." I took a step more forward, trying to reach the other side, and possibly walk past the skeletons first.

He didn't seem to catch the sarcasm. "WHY, THANK YOU, HUMAN! BUT NOW, COULD YOU PLEASE JUST WALK BACK THERE, AND… UH…"

I stayed rooted to the spot, ignoring Sans' pointed glare. What was this nonsense to him, anyway? Did he hate it too? He never seemed to like it much. And Papyrus was constantly pestering him too. Maybe he was like me. After all, Sans hadn't even hurt me once yet. He was a good guy.

After a moment, Papyrus sighed resignedly. "WHY DOESN'T THIS HUMAN LIKE PUZZLES?" He trotted away quickly, seeming a bit angry about the whole situation.

Sans gave me a very long look. "It would make my brother happy if you played along." He finally said.

"What do I care about your brother? You just told me to meet him, not to play with him. And anyways, what's it in for you? All he does is drop insults on you."

Sans froze. "Man, my brother is cool, isn't he?" It wasn't really a question. It was laced with power, and it seemed to be more of an order.

Well, I wasn't going to be following orders from a skeleton. But I wasn't going to get on his bad side either. "Later." I waved.

More monsters. More dust. But more gold. And definitely more power.

I can feel it. The more I kill, the stronger I get. This isn't just a defense mechanism anymore, it's a power grinder. Something inside me tells me to stop, but I can't. It's too late now. And with Chara's persuasion, I decide that it's fine. Who cares what I do? After all, I have to do whatever it takes so that I can to make it out of the Underground. To go back "home," or wherever that is.

"Gaining LOVE has never been easier." Chara grinned. "Because in this world, it's kill or be killed. Take it to heart, partner."

Then of course, we were interrupted from our killing spree from meeting Papyrus. Again. He was really starting to become a pain in the butt.

"HUMAN! I HOPE YOU'RE READY FOR…" He paused, examining the clearing around us. "SANS! WHERE'S THE PUZZLE!"

"It's right there. On the ground." Confused, I stared at the spot in front of him. There was only a piece of soggy paper. It looked like there was print on it. I walked up to it, examining the so-called puzzle. It was just a word search. How in the world was this supposed to stop me?

Papyrus seemed to agree. "SANS! WHY ARE YOU USING THIS ONE AGAIN? I THOUGHT WE ALREADY AGREED THAT JUNIOR JUMBLE WAS THE HARDEST!" What in the world was Junior Jumble? I felt like I was constantly missing out on things.

"Oh, whoops. I knew I should've put that one down instead."

"WHAT? THIS IS RIDICULOUS, BROTHER! WHY DIDN'T YOU PLAN FOR THIS EARLIER?"

"...Must've slipped my mind."

"YOU'RE HOPELESS!" Papyrus pointed in my direction. "NOW, HUMAN! I KNOW THIS PUZZLE DID NOT MEET YOUR EXPECTATIONS! HOWEVER! THE NEXT ONE WILL SURELY CONFOUND YOU! JUST YOU WATCH!" He quickly ran away, probably to go create his puzzle.

"Guess you don't like word searches, huh?" Sans asked me after Papyrus was gone.

I was about to answer yes, until my brain told me otherwise. "Uh… I think I like them. But I guess I just don't want to do one now."

"Huh." Sans shrugged. "well, i'm more of a funny pages kind of guy." He stared on uneasily, and I decided to leave him in peace.

8 left.

I blinked at Chara as I walked, ignoring the plate of frozen spaghetti to my left. "Why do you always do that now?"

"Do what?"

"Say a number, then say left. What happened to the determination thing? And describing the possibilities that mice could give when exposed to cheese?"

"That was just for fun." Chara replied. "Now I'm being serious. The number just represents how many more we need to kill to maximize the greatest amount of experience we can receive from an area."

I frowned. "There's actually a number for that?"

"Yes."

"...ok then."

Then went the killing of more dogs. Why were there so many dogs? Maybe dogs liked snow. It was annoying. But no matter how many there were, there was always more. Some with axes, some with armor, and some that were just purely stupid.

All the puzzles ahead of us were completed, except for one. "IT IS STILL BEING UPGRADED TO LOOK LIKE MY FACE!" Papyrus had said. I decided not to question it.

Papyrus lead me to some tiles on the ground. They were dull and discolored, with many shades of grey and white. Sans was standing on the other side of the clearing. "HUMAN, YOU'RE GONNA LOVE THIS PUZZLE!" Papyrus ran over to Sans' side. "IT WAS MADE BY THE GREAT-"

Curious to see their reactions, I walked right into the middle of the tiles.

Papyrus gaped before making a face. "ARE YOU SERIOUS?" He turned to Sans. "SANS! HELP! THEY KEEP WALKING THROUGH MY PUZZLES! THEY'RE SUPPOSED TO LET ME EXPLAIN THEM, THEN LET ME THREATEN AND BAFFLE THEM WITH DANGEROUS JAPES!"

"There goes the japing again." I whispered to Chara.

"Well," Sans seemed to be coming up with an reason for my behavior. "maybe they don't like japes."

That certainly wasn't the reason. Papyrus seemed to agree. "EVERYONE LIKES JAPES!" But… that wasn't a reason either.

"what about Undyne? Doesn't she hate puzzles?" This Undyne thing again?

"SHE HATES PUZZLES." Papyrus admitted freely. "BUT SHE LOVES JAPES!"

"Could someone please explain what japes are?"

"that makes sense." Sans replied to Papyrus, ignoring me.

"HUMAN! WHAT DO YOU THINK!? PUZZLES OR JAPES?" He waited a moment for me to respond, and I looked to Chara for advice as to how to answer.

"Definitely Japes." Chara answered.

"But we don't even know what they are!"

"But do you really want to choose puzzles?"

I must've taken too long, because Papyrus started to get impatient. "OKAY, THIS IS NORMALLY THE PART WHERE YOU EITHER AGREE OR DISAGREE."

"Oh, I can disagree?" That made life easier. I thought I was going to have to choose one.

"AND DEPENDING ON YOUR ANSWER, WE SAY SOMETHING GREAT IN RESPONSE!"

"Ok." I took a deep breath. "Then I disagree!"

The four of us just stared at one another like stupid idiots before Papyrus left a piece of paper on the ground. "HERE, WHY DON'T YOU DO THIS PUZZLE YOURSELF." Then he strided away.

Confused at the events that happened, I moved forward to examine the piece of paper. At first glance, it seemed to be a kind of manual. Then I realized it was just chicken scratch.

Literally. It looked like a chicken had scratched it all up. Now, it was illegible.

"hey." Sans spoke to get my attention. "Puzzles might be fun. If you tried them."

I smirked. "Have you tried them?"

Sans blinked back. He didn't answer. I decided not to wait for an unresponsive skeleton to speak, as it would waste my time, so I just moved on. I had some monsters to kill.

5 left.

After sliding across a huge slab of ice and almost losing my balance, I went back to my monster hunting spree. Sans met us once, to give us words of memorability.

"What's up?" Reeeaal memorable.

And then, I met him again. "...are you following me?" He asked teasingly.

"No…"

I killed some moose, another dog, and some really weird tanky monster with long arms. He couldn't do anything to me, but to make it fair, I couldn't really do much to him. It took forever to kill him.

For some reason, Chara was still thinking about Sans. She seemed especially annoyed by him. "That comedian…" She grumbled under her breath.

When we were finally finished with our spree, Chara lead me onto a long bridge. It was made of wood; frail, and blowing from the wind. Everything on it creaked and moaned, like one extra pound would be enough to make it collapse. But finding no choice, I boarded it.

Only to find Papyrus blocking the end. A smirk was on his face, and I wondered if I had just played right into his hands. Was he going to cut the bridge? Was I going to fall to my death? I started to turn around, hoping to get away. "HUMAN! THIS IS YOUR FINAL AND MOST DANGEROUS CHALLENGE! BEHOLD! THE GAUNTLET OF DEADLY TERROR!"

Suddenly, the most ridiculous weapons I'd ever seen rose and descended upon the bridge. There were cannons, fire, spikes, and… dogs. Wow. Just wow. Like, seriously?

"WHEN I SAY THE WORD, IT WILL FULLY ACTIVATE! EACH PART WILL SWING VIOLENTLY UP AND DOWN! ARE YOU READY? BECAUSE!" He took a deep breath. "I AM! ABOUT. TO DO IT!"

I waited tensely, holding onto the bridge as not to fall over. The weapons didn't move. In fact, they stayed completely still. Except for the dog, who was barking.

"Well?" Sans asked, amused. "What's the holdup?"

"HOLDUP? ...WHAT HOLDUP? I'M… I'M ABOUT TO DO IT NOW!"

Still, nothing. Chara gave me a grin, and I realized what was up. The guy was so stupid, he didn't even know how to activate his own puzzles!

"That doesn't look very activated." I told Papyrus smugly.

"WELL!" Papyrus spoke, seeming to come up with an excuse. "...THEY'RE PROBABLY GOING TO WALK THROUGH IT AGAIN. AND IT WON'T BE ANY FUN AT ALL."

"Isn't that the whole point of this puzzle?" I asked, exasperated. "For me to walk through?"

"Hmmm…" Sans said thoughtfully. "So this human thing was a bust, huh?"

"WELL. I MEAN. I'M EXCITED TO CAPTURE THEM. SO I'LL BECOME A FAMOUS ROYAL GUARDSMAN! BUT ALL THE TIME I PUT INTO THESE PUZZLES… IT'S KIND OF LIKE THROWING A BIRTHDAY PARTY."

"Loser." Chara smirked.

"Without traps and fire?" Sans teased.

"EXACTLY! IT'S POINTLESS! MAYBE YOU WERE RIGHT TO BE LAZY ABOUT PUZZLES."

"really? the others seemed to like it enough."

Papyrus seemed to hesitate for a moment. "...YEAH! WHAT AM I SAYING?! YOU'RE COMPLETELY RIGHT! I JUST HAVE THE WRONG AUDIENCE! THINK ABOUT HOW MUCH FUN UNDYNE AND THE OTHER HUMANS WOULD HAVE HERE!"

"Other humans?" I repeated, wondering if I had heard correctly.

"FLAMES AND VIOLENCE! IT'S PERFECT! SO I WON'T WASTE THIS PUZZLE ON YOU. I JUST HAVE TO APPRECIATE THE FRIENDS I ALREADY HAVE!" The weapons went away, and I found myself sighing in relief, despite the harmless outlook of it. "PHEW!" Papyrus sighed. "A VALUABLE LIFE LESSON!"

"What an idiot." Chara noted.

"But he's right." I said back.

"THAT IS RIGHT, HUMAN!" Papyrus laughed happily as he ran away. "NYEH HEH HEH!"

"How in the world is he right?" Chara asked as I made my way across the bridge.

"He said to not waste your life on other people, but to appreciate the friends you already have." I looked to Chara. "And I have you."

Realization dawned on Chara's face, and she grinned. "Yeah, you do. We'll always be together, partner."

I was now finally off the darned bridge. "Hmmm…" Sans mused, facing me. "Guess we didn't need your help to have a good time after all."

"Glad to hear it."

"...say, i've been thinking. Seems like you're gonna fight my brother pretty soon."

"Huh." If Papyrus was so intent on stopping me, then I would have no choice but to fight him. I couldn't let him get in the way. "...Yeah." Now thinking on it, I wondered how much EXP he would give me. And how much relief it would be to bring that mess out of this world. Chara poked my shoulder in warning, and I returned my attention to Sans. "So?"

Sans winked. "Here's some friendly advice. If you keep going the way you are now…" His eye sockets turned dark, black as night. "You're gonna have a bad time."

I could feel shivers going up my spine. A blink later, he was gone.