Chapter 15: Gauntlet of Deadly Terror
"Oh... wow... I don't know if this is impressive... or just sad."
We had run into another guard station, with a sign that said "AWARE OF DOG: pleas pet dog", though its guard was absent. But, around the entire area, were snow sculptures of dogs... particularly the Lesser Dog we ran into earlier. And the result was rather sad. Several snow pillars, all in various shapes, with a fallen snow-dog head near everyone.
A bipedal goat monster in a purple sweater with green stars and purple pants stood nearby, and overheard me. "A dog just rushed in here, filled with inspiration," he explained. "It kept trying to build a snowdog that expressed its own emotions... But, as it built, it kept getting more excited about the sculpture... Its neck got longer and longer, and it added more and more snow, until..." he sighed. "It was rather sad to watch, but I couldn't turn away."
Frisk just looked sadly at the snow sculptures, before signing to me, did I cause this?
I smiled softly, and signed back, maybe, but you inspired him, right? You should be proud of that! Look, knowing that this dog will never give up trying to make the perfect snowdog... that should fill you with both inspiration AND determination.
Frisk silently giggled. I was glad to see her start to improve.
She looked inside the guard station, and pulled out a box of "pomeraisins". I chuckled at that, but told her to leave the box behind, since it probably belonged to the Lesser Dog.
Moving on, we ran into another X-O puzzle, but this time, it was on ice... with cliffs dropping down on all sides.
"O-o-oh boy!" I sounded. "I-I-I don't know..."
Frisk didn't wait for me to say anything more, as she began sliding along the ice, hitting the Xs in the right order, before she hit the switch completion switch, which causes a strip of land to jut out through the trees, opening the way forward. Frisk then gave me a thumbs up.
"Y-you must have done this one a lot," I noted. "Okay, I- I'm coming over." I slowly made my way to a place where I could just slide right along the icy bridge. Once I got there, I clenched my eyes as I stepped onto the ice... slipped on my butt, and slid away. I must have run into Frisk along the way, because I felt her land in my lap, and immediately clutch my waist.
Due to my fear, I began to whimper from being so high up, and potentially falling off the edge... Until I slid onto some snow, coming to a stop.
I slowly opened my eyes, finding little Frisk in my arms, and the two of us on the other side of the tree line.
Frisk pointed to the top of my head, and when I lifted my hand to it, I found that it was covered in snow. I laughed at I brushed it off, and let Frisk off me so I could get up. "Okay, let's get moving."
Continuing on, we began going down a pathway going along a cliffside, and we passed by some more snow sculptures. Well, one could be called a snow sculpture, as it was a snow Papyrus. The other... was a lump of snow with the word "sans" written on it in red marker.
"Whelp, that's to be expected," I said.
"eh, you just don't get the artistic skill," a voice joked.
Looking up, I found Sans standing there. "what's up?"
"The ceiling," I answered.
"Heh heh, good one," Sans replied.
I waved and walked away... only to run into him again a few steps ahead.
I was taken aback by this. Did he pass me? No... I swore he didn't...
"say..." Sans spoke up, "are you following me?"
"Um... hang on a second... I ran back for a moment, only to find Sans back where he was the last time.
"you sure do like to exercise."
"Yeah... sure..." I ran back up, and yep, there was Sans.
"are you lost?"
Frisk looked up at me in confusion, as she didn't know what was going on.
I sighed. "You win, Sans... You win."
"cool, what did i win?" he asked.
Just for the amusement of it, I toss him a gold coin. He smirked and said, "nice. now i can get me some dinner."
"Yeah, whatever," I said as a began to lead Frisk onwards.
How does he do that? Like he was going to tell me, since it's all a joke to him.
I was so focused on pondering this, that I almost ran into a monster.
"Woah! I'm sorry! I wasn't paying attention," I told the monster.
"Eh... of course, you wouldn't be," he responded.
I recognized the monster as a Gyftrot, a reindeer-like monster with a weird, sideways mouth, and antlers with four tree-like appendages on its tips, and an extra pair of eyes on the base of said antlers.
...And for whatever reason, he was covered in random stuff. It kind of reminded me of a Christmas tree on the Surface, except this monster clearly did not seem to like it.
He noticed me staring, and then went off, "hohohoh! Go ahead and laugh..."
"I wasn't..." I started, but I got interrupted when he began to attack me, sending out waves of snowflakes at me. I managed to dodge, and tried to speak again, "hey, I get you're mad, but-" He then attacked again, with presents...? They were clearly magic attacks, and one was blue. They spun around before flying towards me. I slipped through the blue attack, and gasped. Clearly, he was too mad to listen.
Then... Frisk, brave as she was, jumped up, and grabbed a little striped cane that said "I use this tiny cane to walk" on it.
Gyftrot went silent for a moment. Then he said, "...that's a little better."
"So... you just want this stuff off of you?" I asked. "Then, let us help!"
Frisk and I then went about pulled the rest of the junk off of him, including a lenticular bookmark of a smug teen winking, a shirt that says "I'm with stupid" and pointing inward (which was just rude), and a box of, unfortunately, non-dog-related raisins.
Frisk found a pair of googly eyes on the ground, and seemed to want to put them on Gyftrot, but I motioned for her not to.
When we were done, Gyftrot said, "A weight has been lifted."
With Gyftrot's problems having been taken away, I decided to give him a little parting gift. Well, I couldn't think of an appropriate one, so I gave him some gold.
"Aw, you shouldn' have..." he said. "Heh, you're alright. Better than most of the other teens!"
"Yeah, I'm also older than I look," I said with a little annoyance. "I'm 20."
"You are!? Well, color me surprised. Eh, doesn' matter, you're cool with me." The monster bowed to us in a goodbye motion, and left happy.
"Well, that happened..." I told Frisk. "Let's get going."
We continued on, we found ourselves in a small field of snow, with lots of little piles of snow, a tiny dog house off to the side, and next to it a sign that simply said "Woof".
Frisk approached one of the snow piles and poked it.
I smiled. Time for some fun, I thought. I leaned over to Frisk, and said, "It's a snow poff."
Frisk silently giggled, and rushed over to another "poff" and poked it, too. I followed, saying, "And this... is a snow poff."
This went on as we went from poff to poff, me giving little comments on what they were.
"This, however, is a snow poff."
"Surprisingly, it's a snow poff."
"Snow poff..."
"Is it really a snow poff?"
"Behold! A snow poff."
"Eh? There's 30 G inside this... what is this?" Frisk found some gold in the second to last snow pile. I joked on the last one as Frisk got the money out, before whispering in her ear, "It's a snow poff."
Frisk made her way over to the last poff, with was in the way of the path forward, while I thought a new thing to say. However...
...A tail poked out from behind the poff.
Then a head poked out from the front. A dog's head.
The little white Pomeranian began to wag his tail and bark at us.
"Seems it's more than a snow poff," I joked.
So cute, Frisk signed.
Suddenly, the snow shifted as the little dog rose out of it. And rose... and rose...
It became clear that the Pomeranian was at least seemingly much larger than at first look, and he was wearing massive metal armor that towered over us, while in his left hand, he held a large spear with a dog's face on the flat of the blade tip.
"...Much more than a snow poff..." I responded. Frisk just stared up in awe.
Quickly dubbing the monster the "Greater Dog", I made a protective stance in front of Frisk.
I noticed that the dog was super excited. He probably thought that fighting would just be playing, which wasn't good for us.
The Greater Dog lifted his spear, and swung it out at us. It was slow, and it switched between a normal and blue attack constantly mid-swing. We just had to time where to stand. I was able to get Frisk in the right position, but I got hit in the process, and I got knocked to the ground.
"Okay..." I groaned, "That hurt... Do you want to play, buddy?"
The Greater Dog didn't budge, keeping a smile on his face. Guess he wasn't excited enough.
Frisk then made the brave play. She made a beckoning motion, which the towering dog monster noticed. It then bounded towards her, leaned over to look down at her, while slobber was flecked onto her face.
"Oh boy," I said to myself. Hopefully, this ended well.
The Greater Dog was standing still, happily drooling on Frisk's face.
She then leapt up onto the dog's armor, climbing to his head... so she could pet it. Of course.
The dog flopped to the ground, while Frisk hung on, and then continued to pet him. He got so comfortable, that he fell asleep...
Wanting to get closer, I took a step forward. However, the crunching of snow seemed to wake him up. He got up rapidly, and unleashed a loud bark that made a soundwave the launched me back.
However, Frisk stumbled back, and started to cry. The Greater Dog looked over, and seemed to realize that he must've scared the little girl. He walked up to her slowly, knelt down, and began to nuzzle her. Frisk wiped the tears from her eyes gave him another pet. He then began patting the ground with his front paws.
Then she dug into her backpack, and pulled out a stick. She then threw it. I one great leap, the Greater Dog, chased after the stick. The stick landed on the ground, and he picked it up, and all the snow in the area, and then returned it to her. They then began to play fetch for a short bit.
After playing, the Greater Dog got tired, and rested his head on Frisk. Seeing that he wanted some TLC, Frisk began petting him again. As she did that, he sunk his entire weight into her... She had difficulty moving, but she still hadn't pet enough!
As I got back up and gazed over to the situation, I jokingly said, "His pet capacity is 40-percent so far! Keep going!"
Determined to get him the full treatment, Frisk pet decisively. She must've done it right, because he flopped over with his legs hanging in the air. He was content.
"Pet capacity reaches 100-percent," I said.
Since the dog was happy, he got up and... hopped out of his armor, where he was revealed to be just a normal-sized Pomeranian. He then licked Frisk's face, and then hopped back into his armor, butt hanging out, and the armor somehow walked off.
"Okay... that happened," I said. "I'm impressed you could handle it. I just got my butt handed to me!"
Frisk had a big, goofy smile on her face as she wiped off the slobber.
"You sure love dogs, don't you?"
Frisk happily nodded.
"Well, that's good. Maybe you should get a dog for yourself someday. Anyway, let's get going."
I kind of wished we could've delayed the inevitable and had a longer conversation.
Just a few steps ahead, we found ourselves in front of a bridge. A long, single-file, wooden and rope bridge... spanning a massive chasm, where below, was the forest we had just traversed.
I screamed.
THIS... was why I never traveled beyond Snowdin Town. It was high. Too high. High enough that my fear of heights was triggered BIG TIME!
My skin became pale white as I became completely still.
"I can't do this! I can't do this!" I cried.
I didn't notice Frisk, not until she grabbed my hand. I looked down at her, and she gave me a small smile and a nod.
All I could do was nervously nod back, as Frisk began to lead me down the bridge.
Don't look down. Don't look down. Don't look down, I thought to myself as I kept my eyes closed tight.
I had difficulty moving, because I was so stiff. Honestly, I must've been so pale, I looked like a skeleton.
"HUMAN! FINALLY, YOU'VE ARRIVED!" a familiar voice called out.
Speaking of which...
I slowly opened my eyes, focusing on the skeleton bros standing just past the bridge.
"Great... great..." I said through gritted teeth.
"THIS IS YOUR FINAL AND MOST DANGEROUS CHALLENGE!" Papyrus exclaimed. "BEHOLD! THE GAUNTLET OF DEADLY TERROR!"
"OH, BEING ON A BRIDGE ISN'T ENOUGH 'DEADLY TERROR' FOR YOU!" I shouted.
"...PLEASE DON'T INTERRUPT," Papyrus said. He pulled out a remote, and pushed a button on it.
Suddenly, I heard the sounds of machinery as something shifted into position around the bridge. However, I didn't notice what they were, because I WAS UP HIGH!
"WHEN I SAY THE WORD, IT WILL FULLY ACTIVATE!" Papyrus continued. "CANNONS WILL FIRE! SPIKES WILL SWING! BLADES WILL SLICE! EACH PART WILL WING VIOLENTLY UP AND DOWN! ONLY THE TINIEST CHANCE OF VICTORY WILL REMAIN- ARE YOU LISTENING, HUMAN!?"
"NO! This bridge is terrifying enough WITHOUT THE GAUNTLET!" I replied in anger and fear.
"SANS, IS THIS BRIDGE THAT SCARY...?" Papyrus asked Sans.
"...i don't know..." Sans replied. He honestly had no idea what was going on with me at the moment.
Papyrus sighed. "COULD YOU AT LEAST TAKE IN THE MAJESTY OF MY FINAL CHALLENGE?"
I took in what he said. Take it in... yeah, okay, just take in, don't think about the ground below... just... focus on something else.
I tried looking at the different components of Papyrus's "challenge". A spike ball hanging off a chain. A couple of large spears. A cannon. A freaking flame thrower. And a small white dog, another Pomeranian... hanging from a rope...
A dog... hanging from a rope.
"What?" I said flatly.
"IS THERE SOMETHING YOU WISH TO INQUIRE, HUMAN?" Papyrus asked.
"Why... do you... have a dog... hanging from... a rope...?" I tried to say calmly.
"OH, THIS POOCH IS THE VILEST CREATURE YOU CAN IMAGINE. THEY POOP ON YOUR RUG. THEY CHEW ON YOUR STUFF. AND THEY BARK WHEN YOU TRY TO SLEEP! I KNEW I MUST CAPTURE ONE TO ADD TO THE GAUNTLET OF DEADLY TERROR."
"Okay... so you don't like dogs... I get that... BUT DON'T HANG ONE FROM A ROPE! THAT'S CRUEL!" I shouted.
"uh, he seems alright to me," Sans noted. And it was true. The dog was just smiling away, completely chill with the situation.
"Doesn't make it right!" I countered. "Get him down!"
"SO... YOU THINK THE DOG RUINS THE CHALLENGE?" Papyrus asked.
"This has nothing to do with the challenge. I just don't want the poor animal to get hurt," I explained.
"I SEE... VERY WELL, I TAKE HIM DOWN." Papyrus hit a few buttons, and the dog was moved over to the ground, a lowered onto the ground. Papyrus undid the rope, where the dog then flopped into the snow, legs in the air.
"SO, IS THIS TO YOUR LIKING?" Papyrus asked.
"Yes," I replied.
"GREAT! NOW, ARE YOU READY!? BECAUSE... I... AM... ABOUT... TO DO IT!"
"Here we go," I said, expecting the challenge to activate.
But nothing happened.
"...well? what's the holdup?" Sans asked.
"HOLDUP!? WHAT HOLDUP!? I'M... I'M ABOUT TO ACTIVATE IT NOW!" Papyrus said.
But it still remained inactive.
"that, uh, doesn't look very activated," Sans noted.
"WELL! THIS CHALLENGE! IT SEEMS... INCOMPLETE NOW. WITHOUT THAT MISSING PIECE..." Papyrus motioned to the dog, "THIS CHALLENGE CAN NOT MEET IT'S POTENTIAL WITHOUT IT. AND I DON'T HAVE TIME TO FIND A SUITABLE REPLACEMENT. AND EVEN SO... IT MAY BE... TOO EASY TO DEFEAT THE HUMANS WITH."
"To easy... right..." my mind was starting to remember... where I was. And I wanted OFF!
"YEAH! WE CAN'T USE THIS ONE! I AM A SKELETON WITH STANDARDS! MY PUZZLES ARE VERY FAIR! AND MY TRAPS ARE EXPERTLY COOKED! BUT THIS METHOD IS TOO DIRECT! NO CLASS AT ALL! AWAY IT GOES!"
And Papyrus hit a button on his remote, and the great "Gauntlet of Deadly Terror" went away. Well, at least what remained of it. The dog was still loathing around in the snow.
"PHEW!" Papyrus went off, before saying, "WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING AT!? THIS WAS ANOTHER DECISIVE VICTORY FOR PAPYRUS! NYEH! HEH! ...HEH?" He became unsure of that last bit, before walking off.
Fortunately, or unfortunately for him, I stopped paying attention around when he said "phew", because my fear had started to take back over.
I became completely still, as my eyes drifted down. "Oh, g**..."
"uh, are you coming over?" Sans called to us.
"I... I can't..."
Frisk ran over to Sans, getting off the bridge (easy for her to do, great), and pointed down into the chasm.
"uh, okay, that is the ground, really far down-" it finally clicked in Sans's mind. "she's scared of heights, isn't she?" He quickly shouted out, "okay, do you think you can walk over here slowly!?"
"Um... I..." the bridge suddenly shifted, and I cried, "no! No! I can't!"
"alright, let's try this," Sans said. "i've got blue soul magic. ya know what that is?" Frisk nodded in response, which gave him the idea that I must've told her. "okay, i'm going to use it to levitate you to me, 'kay? just hang on for a moment!"
The short skeleton held out his hand, and my Soul popped out, with blue magic glowing off of it. Then I was magically lifted off the ground. I freaked out as now I was just up high, I was now hovering in the air. Then Sans pulled me over to him, above ground.
Once he dropped me, I was on the ground kissing it, snow getting on my face and in my hair.
"geez, you actually managed to get me to work. good on you," Sans teased me.
I gave him an annoyed glare.
Frisk gave me a hug, and tried to comfort me in her silent way.
"Th-thank you, Frisk," I told her.
Frisk then pointed over to the dog, which was still lying on the ground, and then ran over to him, where she rubbed his belly. He greatly enjoyed the treatment.
"she sure likes dogs, doesn't she?" Sans said.
"Yes, she does," I replied. "If it weren't for the fact the Royal Guard here are all dogs, I don't think Frisk would be getting as comfortable with monsters as I want her to be."
"yep. so, you've always been afraid of high places?"
I sighed. "Since I've been a kid, and I first fell into the Underground. ...I don't know if he explained that to you... Anyways, I wish I could've saved myself."
"by walking across bridge...?"
"Well, yeah, but I also know how to use Blue Soul magic myself. Your father taught me how to use it."
"huh, neat."
At that point, Frisk walked over to the pair, her arm wrapped around the dog. With her free hand, Frisk signed, can we keep him!
"H-huh?" I reacted.
You said I should get a doggy. I want this one! Frisk signed.
"I... did just say that, didn't I?" I sheepishly said. "Um... but I also said later."
Please? And Frisk gave me that puppy-dog eyes look. And so did the dog (which was definitely more literal for him).
"come on, have a heart," Sans said.
Again, I sighed. "Okay. How bad could it be? I mean, he can't a be a regular dog, not down here."
Frisk smiled and clapped happily, while the dog barked in joy.
"good eye," Sans noted. "so, what'cha gonna name him?"
"Well, he's your dog, Frisk. What's his name?" I asked her
Frisk thought for a moment and signed, T-O-B-Y.
"Toby? Okay, welcome to the group, Toby," I said.
The newly-dubbed Toby barked.
"happy to see you found a new friend!" Sans said. "if you want, you could probably find a collar at the snowdin shop. also, as for brother... if i were you, i would make sure i understand blue attacks."
"Thanks for the warning. I know how both blue magic and Blue SOUL magic works, but I'll keep that in mind," I said, as me, Frisk, and our new party member, Toby made our way, finally, into Snowdin Town.
Author's Note: So, not much to say about this chapter. I really enjoyed writing the Greater Dog fight scene (including the Snow Poffs leading up to it), and especially the Gauntlet of Deadly Terror scene. Being able to write with Chara's fear of heights at long last was great! There is one more major time we'll see this fear, and it's in the Waterfall area.
Yes, I did plan on having the Annoying Dog join the group as an actual character, not just some side joke. I can't fully remember why I chose to do so, but I figured it would be cute, a good end to Frisk becoming more comfortable with monsters through the dogs, and well... yeah, Papyrus, why did you hang a dog from a rope? That is kind of cruel, even if he's fine with it. (Just wait until you see how I plan to handle the Legendary Artifact scene.)
And yes, the dog's name is going to be Toby. I mean, the Annoying Dog is pretty much the in-game representation of Undertale's creator, Toby Fox. So it made sense.
Just something random to end off here, not fully related to Undertale, the part with Sans appearing to jump back and forth "sans" moving (no, I will not stop it), and confusing you, it reminded me of a bad play I had in Among Us about a month or two ago.
I was playing on the Airship, and I was doing tasks in the Cockpit area. While doing them, I saw the black Crewmate in the room. So, when I was done, I left the room after I finished my tasks and left to go outside to do my next task, and when I got there... there was Black. And I swore he didn't pass me. The only possible explanation: he vented, meaning he was the Imposter.
I immediately left to hit the Emergency button, called out my suspicions on Black, and got him voted out. Well... I was wrong. Black was a Crewmate, and I just somehow missed him passing me. And yes, the Imposters won that game. Had to apologize to him for that one.
Anyways, the next chapter is coming soon! (In fact, I'm planning on writing it next, instead of the next chapter of "Sapphire the Hedgehog".) I'm finally glad to have gotten to Snowdin Town. I'm going through this WAY too slow for my liking! Please be sure to review, I appreciate the feedback, and honestly, I get too little of it on this story.