"So… this pup will stay… at our house?!" Papyrus exclaimed.

"I like him," Sans shrugged. "Can he please stay?" the pup in question was behind Sans, with twitching eyes.

I hate this! Frisk did not want to spend 80 gold inside an inn, and he could not brave the cold forever, however, he did not want Papyrus to be living with him, as this could spread the news that he was here. So until he cleared out the library. He would stay in his cursed form.

"No! Absolutely not! I will not have another annoying, deceitful, mangy mutt!"

The pup shook behind Sans' leg.

I suddenly have the urge to bite him…

"Oh come on! It's harmless! I promise I'll take care of him!"

"Oh like you did your pet rock? Absolutely not!"

"Oh come on paps, I'll do anything!" Sans pleaded, seeing Frisk trying to get away from him.

"...Anything?"

"Anything"

"..." Frisk wanted to back out. This noisy place would not let him study magic. However, his scruff was grabbed by…

What's this? He couldn't look at what was grabbing him, but it didn't feel like Sans' hand.

Magic?

"Pick up your sock and put it in your room!" Papyrus said. "And you know what I mean!"

"..." Sans looked back at Frisk. "You better be worth it pal." he looked very serious, as though a part of his soul flew away from him.

However Frisk couldn't see his expression since he was facing away. He just nodded or tried to anyway.

"Alright paps, thank you." he picked up the sock with telekinesis and threw it to his room. Afterward.

Sans and Frisk entered said room. Frisk turned back into a human.

"You know the deal right? I appear occasionally in front of papyrus, you let me stay in the house. Nothing more nothing less.

"Yup. "

"Alright,"

"..." Frisk wanted to go outside, only to look back at Sans

"..." Sans winked.

"Where did the door go?"

"It went where all doors go, up dog."

"What's up dog-" Frisk belatedly realized the joke.

It seems monsters are more easygoing than humans.

"Nothing much man, how about you?"

"I can see how your jokes get old." despite saying this, Frisk couldn't help but laugh.

"Heh, I get that a lot." Sans shrugged.

Frisk went outside when nobody was looking and went to the library as a wolf.

"Wow, it's the first time I've seen a doggo interested in reading." a lizard monster spoke, however, Frisk didn't pay much attention to him.

In less than five minutes, he had checked half of the bookshelf, it seemed that the books were in alphabetical order.

Uh…

He couldn't reach the higher sections due to his size…

"Woof!" Frisk barked to grab the attention of the lizard.

"What? Have you got bored already? Sigh, go already." the lizard held the door for Frisk, who had his eyes twitching in irritation.

"Bark! Bark!" he gestured at the higher shelves. The lizard monster understood. "Oh right, sorry, it's been a while since anyone came here."

Wait what are you-

Before he could escape, he got picked up so he could see the books.

"... " no spells were found in the S section, he continued to check until he spotted something promising.

It was titled "Color Magic for Children." Frisk simply touched the book with his paws and then the librarian was kind enough to get it for him.

After this, Frisk swiftly hopped off the librarian and got to reading.

1 hour later…

Frisk left the library with a glum expression. He trudged through the snow and got to Sans' room. He transformed back and gave a deep sigh as he lay on the floor.

"Monsters are too strong…"

Monster magic required incredible amounts of mana, he couldn't learn any of it. Furthermore, they never talked about unknown soul traits. Which meant he probably couldn't use it still. At the very least he learned how it worked, so he could predict it better.

"Ah… what a waste…"

"Why the frown Frisk?"

"Oh, gods!"

Poof!

Frisk got startled by Sans, he turned back into a human and looked away. "Nothing."

"Well, since you're busy with nothing how about you appear in front of Paps?" it seemed Sans had a keen talent to annoy people

"Sigh… fine."

One human meeting later…

"Well, you sure want to get my title of the laziest person in the world." Sans joked.

"Shut up…" Frisk groggily said. He was not in a good mood.

Ever since I got cursed, mornings are getting unbearable… I used to have a lot more energy…

He was not used to the cold, and the skeleton brothers kept talking as if he was not there… still, he felt weird.

"Your brother isn't too bad…" Frisk hopped onto Sans's bed, only to be flung by an unknown force.

Telekinesis? No, it feels different from that…

However Frisk had a long day, from the stress of interacting with monsters as a pup with no magic to keeping the curse at bay while completing puzzles. He was exhausted.

The curse is more annoying than initially expected…

Poof!

Frisk had to sleep as a wolf pup or he wouldn't get a good night's sleep. He hid under Sans' bed and tried sleeping while thinking.

Rather, it is weird how despite it being inconvenient, it has not been life-threatening, I can't use magic like this at all… or at the very least it's incredibly hard to do so. If there is nothing to do, I'll linger here for a month to fulfill my promise and then I'll leave the underground.

Avery did not take his promises lightly, furthermore…

Perhaps I can learn what Sans did. He doesn't seem to have a lot of mana.

The next day…

Bam!

"Sans! Wake up! We need to catch the human right now!"

"Good morning to you too, Paps." Sans sounded a little grumpy. "I guess you woke up on the wrong side of the bed?"

Ugh… Frisk covered his ears to stay asleep.

"No such thing! I always wake up at the footboard!" Papyrus dismissed while Sans tried to stay asleep.

"It's still early Paps…"

"How can you even tell you numbskull! It's always!"

Huh, I didn't notice… Frisk thought as he decided to come out. In the first place, it should be dark because we're underground… Frisk decided to get out of the house, but before he could, he felt his body get lighter and lighter until he was floating.

"So, Paps, what are we going to feed him?" he used Frisk as a way to get more sleep. "We can't just let him Starve ya' know?"

"Feed him yourself, you lazybones! I have a human to catch!" Papyrus shouted. Seeing this, Sans shrugged, "Alright, come on pup, We're going to Grillby's." while Sans and Frisk took a shortcut, the latter transformed into a human again.

"I was worried for a second that you would actually buy dog food." Frisk sighed. But Sans just chuckled.

"That's a nice idea for a joke, thanks bud!" though Sans found it funny, Frisk did not.

"I swear that if you do I will make you regret it," Frisk answered menacingly, but he accidentally stubbed his toe against a wooden chair.

"Well, until you do, you're all bark no bite." Sans winked while Frisk started hopping on one foot. Frisk toughed the pain and replied. " would it kill you to not make a pun every 15 minutes?"

"Yes, yes it wood " Sans and the whole bar started chuckling.

Argh, let's just get the food and wander in the woods… he asked Sans for a hamburger and glanced at Grillby.

It was

How does he eat? He thought as he bit into the burger, "Wow…"

"It's good ain't it? " Sans said once he saw Frisk wolf it down. "It's food made with magic."

"This is the second best thing I've ever tasted…" Frisk felt that it was a crime to keep such excellent cookers underground. Grillby cooked the hamburger so fast too!

"Heh, I bet the best one is your mom's cooking ain't it?" Sans chuckled, but Frisk froze in place, he finished his meal quietly and thanked Sans.

"Ooh Sans, I think you hit a sore spot on the kid." one of the monsters in the bar said.

Sans kept his smile, but his voice was lower. " it sure seems so…"

…

..

.

Frisk was in the middle of a snowy forest, away from any path, he lay on the snow his white hair matching the snow.

"Come to think of it… did my mom cook?" He had a pondering expression, then he felt a bit sad. "I don't remember…" however, he did remember learning about magic with her, and it relieved his sadness.

[eh, she probably didn't care about you.] Chara dismissed.

Frisk couldn't help but blush. I forgot she was here… he regretted muttering. "Screw you, why don't you stay quiet as you did with Sans?"

[oh? Would you rather look like you're talking to your imaginary friend? I bet Sans would pun you to hell] She also went on the snow, though it didn't leave any marks. [besides, there was nothing to talk about]

? for a ghost deprived of any type of interaction, she's surprisingly… considerate. "Chara, do you know magic?" Frisk asked.

[wow, I'm surprised you didn't ask me before, of course, I do, but why should I teach them to you?]

Haha… I didn't expect any kid, ghost or not, to know magic as deep as mine, but…

"Haha, guess your great ancient magic isn't all you cracked up to be.

[sigh, how about this? I'll tell you a very basic spell, if you can't learn it within a week you gotta admit that my magic is better than your foolish attempt at it.]

"Ha! And if I can you'll teach me another!" Frisk said but Chara shook her head. "Sigh, I guess it's fair, you don't have guts-"

[If you do it in a week I'll do anything you want this reset.] Chara declared.

"Really?" Frisk raised an eyebrow.

[anything]

"Alright!" Frisk did not expect much, what could a ghost do anyway? He just wanted the spell.

And so, a friendly (?) challenge started. Whether he won or lost, he would have valuable experience.