I literally have no idea why I wrote the first part about the box.
Chapter 6
In hindsight, Percy probably shouldn't have tried to jump into the interdimensional box. But after an encounter with a partially blind dog that tried to stab him, he was a little bit rattled. He had been traveling along the road when he spotted a fork in the road with a box. The chest was small and wooden, with a golden latch. A sign next to it informed him that the bin was for any items you did not want to carry. If you put the items in the box, it would appear in another box later. Looking at the trunk that supposedly had a pocket dimension, Percy got a really stupid idea, as he often did. He first looked around to make sure no one was watching, then opened the latch and placed his feet inside the container. He expected there to be a bottom to it, but there wasn't. He dropped inside the deceivingly small box until the lid slammed shut on his head. He fell into the black void, shouting for someone to let him out.
He soon adjusted to his predicament of being stuck in limbo inside an inter-dimensional box. Random items such as ice-cream and boxing gloves floated around him as he slowly gyrated. He sighed. Crossing his legs and folding his arms, he waited.
After what seemed like an eternity, Percy was humming the Pokémon theme song when he felt himself falling once again, this time upside-down. Finally, he thought. A glowing, upside-down white heart appeared next to him, and his entire body turned a strange shade of yellow. Text appeared underneath him, saying Human Teenager. The heart hovered there for a couple moments. Finally, Percy felt himself being yanked by his hair out of the box. A strange bird-like creature was holding him with its beak, a bewildered expression on its face.
"Thanks, man, I was stuck in there for a while," Percy said.
He grabbed the edge of the box and pulled himself out, firmly pulling the beak off of his hair.
"How… what?" The bird asked.
"Don't ask," Percy replied.
Thankfully, Percy hadn't been taken anywhere else. He didn't know what he would do if he ended up on the other side of the world. Although now that he thought about it, that might not be such a bad idea. He could probably make it to the end of the Underground. Of course, he could just get stuck in the chest forever with no one knowing where he went. He decided the safer option would be to travel on foot, not by pocket dimension boxes.
The bird who had pulled him out of the box recovered from his shock. "Wait just a minute, mister!"
Percy really didn't want to explain, so he kept walking, pretending like he hadn't heard.
"FREEZE!" The bird shouted.
Percy slowly turned around. The bird had a goofy expression on his face, like he had just made some clever joke.
"Did you just make a snow pun?" Percy asked. "Dude, I appreciate you saving me and all, but that was really the best you could do?"
He knew he had made a huge mistake. The bird angrily stomped his claw foot.
"What do you mean? That was high quality material! I'm Snowdrake, future comedian, and you're going down!"
Percy sighed as his soul left his chest. He didn't have time for this. He surveyed his options before choosing Laugh.
"Haha, that was really funny. Can I go now?" Percy requested.
Snowdrake frowned at him. "You can't laugh at a pun a minute late. You're faking it!"
Somehow, without arms, Snowdrake threw snowballs at Percy. Percy dodged them easily.
"Is that all you've got?" Percy taunted.
"This is just the tip of the iceberg!" Snowdrake replied.
"That's not even a pun. That's just an idiom!" Percy shouted indignantly.
Apparently Snowdrake interpreted that as the end of Percy's turn, because he summoned several large ice pillars out of the ground, the ice moving like snakes at Percy. Percy barely missed one of them and got hit by the rest.
"Why aren't you taking this fight seriously? I'm snow-joke!" Snowdrake tried.
Percy had to admit that that pun was pretty good compared to the other ones. He snorted and smiled at Snowdrake, hoping that would be enough.
"See? Laughs! I knew Dad would be wrong!" Snowdrake grinned.
Was comedy this kid's dream? Percy felt a wave of sympathy towards Snowdrake. He understood what it was like to feel like you had to impress your parents. Snowdrake handed him some gold, and the fight was over.
"See ya!" Snowdrake called, running in the opposite direction of where Percy would be going.
Percy waved at him and walked away. Despite how annoying Snowdrake had been, he hadn't been evil or malicious. He hoped that pattern would continue as he trekked through the Underground.
After walking through several places full of slippery ice, Percy saw Papyrus and Sans standing across from him, a suspicious gray field between them. Percy knew that land of a different color probably had mines in it, based on his experiences with the Ares cabin. He stood where he was, waiting for the two brothers to notice him.
"AH, HUMAN! I WAS WONDERING WHAT WAS TAKING YOU SO LONG," Papyrus greeted.
"Sorry, I hope you didn't get bonely without me," Percy joked.
Sans gave Percy a look of grudging respect, while Papyrus groaned.
"HOW HAS MY BROTHER ALREADY MANAGED TO HAVE SUCH A NEGATIVE INFLUENCE ON YOU?!" Papyrus complained.
"i guess i just managed to tickle his funny bone," Sans said.
Papyrus covered his non-existent ears. "ANYWAY, HUMAN, WELCOME TO YOUR FIRST CHALLENGE! THE INVISIBLE ELECTRICITY MAZE!"
Percy looked nervously at the empty space in front of him. He had his fair share of bad experiences when it came to lightning and voltage. What would happen to a son of Poseidon if he got shocked by large amounts of electricity all at once? He tentatively reached one toe towards the maze, when Sans raised a hand to stop him.
"hey, bro, don't forget to give him the orb," Sans reminded Papyrus.
"OH YES, THE ORB! THIS ORB WILL ENSURE YOU FEEL THE ELECTRICITY OF THE MAZE!"
Papyrus took a step onto the gray patch, leaving behind a muddy footprint. Sans eyed the footprint, and a look of realization came across him. He concentrated, and the previously clear glass orb turned blue. The orb flew out of Papyrus's gloves and into Percy's hands, turning clear again the moment Sans stopped looking at it. Percy gulped. He didn't want to get shocked to death, but Sans had just ensured that. Then, a sudden thought came to him. Snow was basically frozen water, wasn't it? Maybe he could control it.
"Papyrus, are there any rules?" Percy asked, ensuring what he was about to do wouldn't count as cheating.
Papyrus scratched his chin. "HMM, I'VE NEVER HAD ANYONE ASK ME THAT BEFORE. I SUPPOSE THE ONLY RULES ARE THAT YOU CANNOT GO AROUND THE MAZE AND YOU MUST HOLD THE ORB THE ENTIRE TIME."
"Got it," Percy said.
The last thing he saw before he closed his eyes to concentrate was Sans raising a single eyebrow. (Seriously, why did skeletons have eyebrows?!) He focused hard on the task ahead of him. He felt dozens of pounds of wet snow lift off of the ground. Ignoring Papyrus's gasps of shock, Percy mentally ordered the snow to move on top of the maze. He quickly opened his eyes. The snow fell all the way to the ground in some places and stopped several feet above the ground in others. Percy guessed that the walls of the maze were probably some kind of invisible metal with electric charge.
Papyrus's jaw looked like it was about to fall off as Percy carefully walked on only the places with snowy ground. When he reached the other end, he handed the orb to Papyrus, smiling.
"HUMAN?! YOU HAVE MAGIC?! I THOUGHT HUMANS WEREN'T MAGICAL," Papyrus questioned.
"Most aren't," Percy replied. "I'm just… different."
He expected Papyrus to lose interest and change the subject, but the skeleton plopped down to his level, intently staring at him.
"DIFFERENT HOW?" Papyrus asked.
Percy rubbed the back of his neck, unsure how to explain it to this over-enthusiastic skeleton. "Well, where I'm from, some humans have a magical mom or dad. That magical mom or dad leaves when you're born, but they give you magical powers. My dad gave me the power to control water. They call people like me 'demigods.'"
He was surprised to see that Papyrus had a single tear going down his bony cheek.
"Um, you ok, man?" Percy asked.
Papyrus hurriedly wiped the tear away. "OF COURSE! THE GREAT PAPYRUS DOESN'T CRY! I SIMPLY GOT SOME SNOW IN MY EYE. YOUR STORY IS VERY SAD, THOUGH. YOU NEVER GOT TO MEET YOUR DAD!"
Percy smiled. "Actually, I did. I can tell you the story if you want."
Papyrus considered this for a moment, then looked at Percy's arms. "HUMAN, YOUR ARMS ARE PURPLE! I FORGOT THAT YOUR FLESHY BODY IS NOT SUITED FOR THESE TEMPERATURES. YOU CAN TELL ME THE STORY WHEN WE REACH MY HOME. FOR NOW, TAKE THIS!"
He took off his scarf, which was the length of Percy's body. He wrapped it around Percy and stood up. Papyrus may have looked a little bit less regal to the rest of the world, but at that moment, Percy considered Papyrus to be the kingliest thing in the whole world.
Sans' eyes widened. "bro, are you sure? you said you weren't going to ever take that thing off."
Papyrus beamed at his brother. "SOMETIMES YOU HAVE TO SACRIFICE WHAT YOU WANT FOR YOUR FRIENDS!"
Percy's heart felt like a thousand sweaters were wrapped around it. Papyrus already considered him a friend! Percy would have to work hard to earn that title.
"man, you're the coolest, bro," Sans complimented.
Papyrus beamed. "I AM! NOW, LET US HEAD TO THE NEXT PUZZLE! NYHEHEHE!"
Papyrus sprinted away. Sans didn't even bother talking to Percy this time. Percy looked away for a moment, and when he looked back, Sans was gone. For a guy that claimed to be lazy, he sure likes to move fast, Percy thought.
He continued on until he found a tall bunny standing next to what looked like a street vendor's cart. Percy's stomach growled louder than Mrs. O'Leary. The rabbit's ears were flopped down on either side of his head, and his forehead was parallel to the ground. He sighed as Percy approached.
"I don't understand why these aren't selling," he muttered to himself. "It's the perfect weather for a cold treat."
Percy cleared his throat, and the rabbit perked up.
"Oh! A customer! May I interest you in some Nice Cream? It's the frozen treat that warms your heart!"
Percy didn't know if ice cream was a good idea when the temperature was this cold, but he didn't want to disappoint the bunny, so he dug in his pocket until he found some gold he had won from fights.
"Will this much do?" Percy asked, holding out the gold.
The bunny's eyes widened, the glimmer of the gold reflected in his eyes. "That's more than enough! Each one costs about 15g, and you've got 70! How many would you like to buy?"
Percy was tempted to buy all of them for himself, but he decided to get three and share it with the skeleton brothers. Skeletons could eat ice cream… right?
"I'll take three, please!"
The rabbit's face somehow got even a bigger smile. "Fantastic! Have a spectacular day!"
Percy accepted the three wrapped popsicles and stuffed them in his pocket. He hoped they wouldn't melt before he got to his next destination. He saw a large snowball on a frozen lake with what looked like a golf hole, but he didn't want to risk slipping and sliding for a sport he didn't even like. He sprinted past it. He swore he saw Sans standing by the edge of the lake, but the skeleton vanished as soon as he had come. Percy didn't think much of it. He was used to Sans' antics by now. When he reached the bottom right of the room, he saw Papyrus and Sans waiting for him.
When Papyrus caught sight of Percy, he heroically placed his hands on his hips in a hero stance. "HUMAN! I HOPE YOU ARE READY FOR… SANS, WHERE'S THE PUZZLE?"
Percy wasn't sure why Papyrus wouldn't know, considering he had been there the entire time. Sans had a devilish glint in his eyes. He lifted his arm, and the ground rumbled. Percy gripped his sword, ready for whatever was about to happen. The dirt broke, and large metal blocks erupted out of the earth, each side colored differently. Below Percy, large gaps in the floor appeared right between his feet. Metal points glinted at the bottom. It looked very similar to the spikes in the Ruins, except these ones appeared to be more deadly. A podium was sitting right in front of him, with four directional buttons and a big red button in the center.
"there it is," Sans simply said.
Papyrus's jaw had literally fallen off, and he was obviously trying to process the fact that Sans could create such a large puzzle. Percy was trying to process the fact that Sans was literally trying to kill him.
"So, are you going to explain the instructions?" Percy asked.
Sans yawned. "only if you want me to."
Percy nodded. Papyrus was still flabbergasted.
"ok, kiddo. each color of the block has a different function. red means fire, green means vines, yellow means poison, and gray means crushers. there are two red, two green, two yellow, and two gray sides. your goal is to arrange the blocks using the handy little buttons there so that when you walk through the path, you don't d- get hurt," Sans explained, most likely changing the last phrase for Papyrus's sake. Percy figured Papyrus was pretty innocent.
"BROTHER, DOESN'T THIS SEEM A LITTLE… DANGEROUS?" Papyrus asked. He had recovered his jaw.
"not any more dangerous than the electricity maze," Sans countered.
"HUMAN, IF YOU FIND THIS TOO DIFFICULT, I GIVE YOU PERMISSION TO SKIP THIS PUZZLE. I APOLOGIZE FOR MY BROTHER'S SHENANIGANS!" Papyrus told Percy.
Percy made eye contact with Sans. Sans had a gleam in his eye sockets, like he was daring him to accept Papyrus's offer. Percy didn't know what kind of game Sans was playing, but he wasn't about to back down.
He shook his head at Papyrus. "I can handle it."
"VERY WELL," Papyrus said. "IF YOU DO NEED ANY HINTS, HOWEVER, IT IS TRADITIONAL FOR MONSTERS TO GIVE HUMANS TIPS ON PUZZLES, SO DO NOT BE AFRAID TO ASK!"
"Alright," Percy responded, hoping he wouldn't have to use them.
He looked between the control pad and the blocks, trying to decide which way to move them. He noticed each of the colors were opposite from each other. Fire, poison, plants, and crushers. Which one was he most likely to survive? He doubted he could move quickly enough to dodge the crushers. He remembered from his time at Mt. Saint Helens that he was resistant to fire, but he didn't want to risk it. He figured he could slice through the vines with Riptide, but what if the vines got his arms before it was too late. He definitely couldn't fight or dodge poison. Once again, he wished Annabeth was there. She would love the Underground, with its puzzles and colorful characters. He decided to use the other person who was great at puzzles here.
"Hey, Papyrus?" He called. "Do you have any tips?"
Papyrus scratched his forehead. Percy wasn't sure why, considering he didn't have skin that could get itchy.
"THE ONLY ONE I CAN THINK OF RIGHT NOW IS THAT THE ELEMENTS ARE KEY PARTS TO THIS PUZZLE, AND YOU SHOULD THINK ABOUT HOW THEY DIFFER FROM ONE ANOTHER."
Percy mulled over this. Elements being different… what could that mean? Suddenly, it clicked. He was like a madman, fingers flying across the buttons, until he had finally rotated the blocks to the pattern he wanted. He proudly surveyed his work. The gray metal crushers were parallel to the ground, the poison sides were facing towards and away from Percy, and the fire and vine sides were facing towards each other. He had placed everything exactly where it needed to be. He confidently pressed the red button and ran forward.
The metal crushers pushed the blocks three feet higher than they had been before. The poison harmlessly spread through the air above Percy. He ducked just for safety and kept running. The fire and vine blocks activated, the fire wilting the vines so that it was harmless against him. He kept running until he finally made it past the obstacle. Papyrus looked pleased, but Percy couldn't read Sans' expression. He leaned onto his knees, breathing heavily. That was the fastest obstacle course he had ever done, even faster than the lava climbing wall exercise at Camp Half Blood.
"Do I pass?" Percy asked.
Sans shrugged. "sure, kid. i don't know what you mean by 'pass', though. this wasn't a test. it was just for fun."
"Just… for… fun?!" Percy said through gritted teeth. He wanted to wring the grinning skeleton's neck.
Sans chuckled, his body staying entirely still.
"BROTHER, YOU NEED TO BE MORE LIKE THE HUMAN! YOU ARE SO LAZY THAT YOU DON'T EVEN MOVE YOUR BODY WHEN YOU LAUGH!" Papyrus scolded.
Percy was pretty sure that wasn't being lazy, as it took lots of effort to not move your body when you laughed. While he listened to Papyrus monologue about how lazy Sans was, he felt something cold in his pocket. Oh, yeah! I almost forgot!
"Hey, guys, I got you something," Percy announced, offering the Nice Cream to them.
Papyrus eagerly accepted the frozen treat, Sans more hesitant about it.
"COULD THIS BE A SMALL CHUNK OF YOUR OWN SPAGHETTI FOR ME TO TASTE-TEST?" Papyrus inquired.
"Um… no," Percy said.
"nice cream. sweet," Sans said, holding the now unwrapped popsicle up to his face. It disappeared as soon as it got near his teeth.
"What the?!" Percy said.
Papyrus looked between Percy and Sans. "OH, I FORGOT HUMAN FOOD IS DIFFERENT THAN MONSTER FOOD. MONSTER FOOD DOES NONE OF THAT ICKY DIGESTING STUFF. IT SIMPLY GOES DIRECTLY TO YOUR SOUL!"
Percy lifted the Nice Cream to his mouth. Sure enough, the delicious goodness vanished, and Percy felt a cold sensation in his heart as his HP was replenished. He noticed a small slip of paper in the wrapper. He unfolded it and read it aloud.
"This ice cream may be cold, but your heart isn't!"
"wow, that reminds me of one of Grillby's burgers," Sans commented.
"WHY IS THAT, BROTHER?" Papyrus asked, falling directly into Sans' trap.
"it's really cheesy," Sans said.
Percy grinned. "Wow, Sans, that pun wasn't as grate compared to your usual ones."
Sans laughed.
Papyrus turned to both of them, his eyebrows furrowed in displeasure.
"bro?" Sans asked nervously. "you ok?"
With a war cry that could rival that of Kronos's army, Papyrus scooped up Sans and Percy, sprinting so fast that the world seemed to warp around them. Percy looked at Sans, who shrugged. A couple minutes later, they stopped in front of a large wooden house decorated with Christmas lights.
"How…" Percy began to ask.
"don't question it," Sans advised.
Papyrus slammed open the door with an indignant "NYEH-HEH-HEH!"
"HUMAN, SANS, GET INSIDE! I HAVE HAD ENOUGH OF YOUR PUN-RELATED SHENANIGANS!" Papyrus yelled, which wasn't very unusual for him.
Percy stepped inside, Sans in tow. He looked around. The front room of the house was about the same size as his entire living space. He stood in the doorway, wondering what to do, when his soul lit up blue. He was shocked when he flew across the room and was placed on the couch. Sans walked over, plopping himself down next to Percy.
"What was that?" Percy asked.
"soul magic," Sans explained without really explaining.
Papyrus tromped into the kitchen and opened the fridge. He rummaged through it before triumphantly lifting up a Rubber-maid container.
"BEHOLD! THE FOOD OF THE GODS! MY SPAGHETTI!" Papyrus declared.
Percy wondered if the spaghetti really was that good. Based on Sans' apprehensive expression, he doubted it. Papyrus threw the container across the room, and it landed on the coffee table without even skidding. Whatever kind of spaghetti was in there, it was unnaturally heavy. He was still incredibly hungry, but if the noodles were really that awful, he could just claim that the Nice Cream had filled him up. He tentatively lifted up the lid, Papyrus watching eagerly. His eyes started watering from the pungent smell of onions and other ingredients he didn't recognize. Papyrus squealed with delight.
"LOOK, SANS, THE HUMAN IS CRYING WITH JOY!"
Percy didn't want to disappoint the over-enthusiastic chef. "Yep! Could you get me a fork, please?"
Papyrus threw the silverware to him, which didn't seem very safe, but Percy managed to catch it. He looked at the charred noodles that were oozing several strange liquids. Percy gulped and prodded the spaghetti with his fork, hoping it would at least be edible. He attempted to pick a noodle up, but it was like trying to lift a lump of iron. He carefully removed Riptide from his pocket and uncapped it. Sans had a lazy look of wariness on his face as it turned into a sword. Percy cut through the noodles with Riptide, getting marinara sauce all over it. Finally, when there was a chunk small enough to carry, he used the fork to gingerly lift it to his mouth. The taste was… indescribable. His tastebuds rebelled against him, and his stomach threatened to leap up his throat. He resisted the urge to gag as he chewed through the metal-like rope. Finally, he swallowed it, the noodles slowly making their way down his throat like knives. His vision was blurry from the tears of pain, but he just barely saw Papyrus's anxious expression to hear his critique. Percy gave him a wobbly thumbs up.
"It's… great!" Percy lied.
Papyrus looked happier than Percy had ever seen him. He spun around, his arms going up and down faster than a conductor at a tempo of 300.
"I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, HAVE TRIUMPHED! ALL SHALL TREMBLE BEFORE MY SPAGHETTI-MAKING MIGHT!" Papyrus proclaimed.
Sans slowly clapped his hands. "congrats, bro. i think a celebration is in order."
"THAT IS CORRECT! AND WHAT BETTER WAY TO CELEBRATE EATING MY SPAGHETTI THAN EATING MORE OF MY SPAGHETTI?!"
Percy mouthed "S.O.S" at Sans. He couldn't handle eating any more of the putrid pasta. Sans got the message and nodded.
"actually, i was thinking of taking the human to Grillby's. that way we can prove the inferiority of all other foods compared to yours," Sans suggested.
Papyrus looked disgusted. "WHY WOULD YOU WANT TO POLLUTE THE HUMAN'S STOMACH WITH THOSE GREASY BURGERS AND FRIES?"
"Cheeseburgers? Fries?" Percy said with awe. "Sans, I'll take you up on that offer."
Sans smiled. "so, it's a deal then. i'll take Percy to Grillby's. you can come if you want, Paps."
Papyrus fervently shook his head. "I WILL PARTAKE IN NONE OF THAT JUNK YOU CALL 'FOOD!'"
"suit yourself," Sans said. "come on, Percy."
Percy followed Sans out the door. "Are we taking a shortcut?"
"nah, Grillby's is just down the road," Sans informed him. "by the way, welcome to Snowdin Town."