Upon entry to the competition, we actually saw that Sans was in the contest alongside another Snowdin resident in Noelle Holiday, her actually looking to be WAY older than when she was last seen, that being in the vision with Mary. And when she saw her, she didn't really recognize her.
"Pardon... but may I ask who you are? You look... oddly familiar..." Noelle asked Mary, which Mary smiled and blushed at.
"I uh... You may know me by my alias... Patti," she said, which made Noelle shocked.
"Oh... Oh my god... you're... you're still alive? But I thought I saw you-" Noelle was about to say at a much louder voice before I hushed her.
"Shh! It's best that word doesn't spread about that, please? Better that the monsters either believe we're two humans or not know at all, please?" I asked, Noelle nodding. "Okay, now I hope we have a good game, because I want that bandanna badly," I smirked, her nodding as we then got into the game.
My first opponent happened to be Mooch, which I was surprised that she was in the running, especially considering that she was the nicest of the bunch.
"May as well say your prayers now, mister. I bet I can beat you with 10 cards in your hand at the end," Mooch smirked, me smiling and shaking my head.
"Okay, I'll take that bet. And if you have 10 cards in your hand and I beat you, you have to give me a kiss," I said, Mooch gasping at that, as well as some oohs and giggles from the crowd.
"Heh, you're betting big! Fine, but if I win the bet, then I get your clothes," she said, me smiling at that a win either way for me, since I did need a change of attire regardless and, even if I did lose, I could always buy some spares at the nearby clothing store in the casino.
"Done deal," I smiled as we then started our Durak match. I ended up getting the lower of the card values with a 7 while Mooch's was an 8. And I also saw that the trump card was a 9 of Hearts. So that meant that Hearts would always successfully defend. I proceeded to use my smarts to place down my 7 first, which Mooch immediately defended with her 8, playing into my strategy right away. I then placed down 2 more 8s, which Mooch gawked at as she then took the cards for herself, me then drawing to 6 again. And we kept this up for about three more rounds before Mooch then got a successful defense when I ran out of possible attack options, me then getting an entire hand of hearts, which made me smile, but internally.
See, one thing about me, I was great at card games because I had a great poker face. It was hard to tell if I was struggling or succeeding, so Mooch then tried to place down an entire string of 4 suits of the 8s, me then placing down a heart for each of them, as well as being the 8 of hearts with an Ace of hearts, which Mooch gawked at before then trying to place down two more suits, but I defended from them as well with more hearts. Mooch then frowned as she had 9 cards in her hand and I managed to then draw the last of the cards, me smirking internally at how I had a King of hearts and a King of Spades, me then placing down the spades first, which Mooch then defended with an Ace of spades, me then finally placing down my King of hearts... and Mooch gawked. Why? She didn't have an Ace of Hearts at all, so she couldn't defend against it! She then grabbed the cards and I got the win, which Mooch frowned at.
"Dang, robbed... okay, fine, come here and give me that kiss, I guess," she groaned, me smiling as I then went over to her and gave her a 3 second kiss on the lips, her being surprised at before then looking at me. "Ah... it... wow..." she said, me seeing hearts in her eyes. I then gave her a boop on her little black nose, which she blushed at.
"It felt very soft," I smiled, her blushing afterwards.
After that round, the next three were also wins on my end, but Mary got eliminated in the fourth round by none other than Sans, which surprised me on how he was actually trying! And of course, I then had to face him in the final round, me getting... not the best hand, as it had a lot of low cards, none of them were duplicates, and I didn't have any Clubs, that being the trump card. I did go first, however, so I decided to play my lowest card, that being 6 Diamond. And after that, Sans met it back with a 10 of Clubs! But lucky me, I had a 10 on standby, so I played a 10 of Hearts, which Sans then took the cards and I then drew my hand again, me smirking at how I got an Ace Club, me then using the only duo I had duplicates of, them being 7 of Hearts and Spades. After that, Sans took those ones as well, being the smart player and not playing another card to beat them, possibly giving me an opening.
"hehehe, this is gonna be fun," Sans smirked as I then drew again. We went through this for a good amount of time, me smiling at how I managed to get to the final stretch... before then realizing that Sans had all the other cards in his hands. And that meant I had to be careful, or it'd be me getting curb stomped by mister weak strongman! I decided that, of my list of cards, I'd first play the four copies that I had of 9, me then waiting patiently for Sans. And then, he started to match them all. He played out 10, 10, 10, and 10! I had no choice but to end this turn... but luckily, I had the Ace of Clubs. I waited patiently as he then played his next turn, him then placing down a King of Hearts, but I quickly, before he could place another card down, I placed the Ace of Clubs... but due to that, he then placed down the other three aces, me then needing to accept them all. But then, we went to the next part, where I then matched the first card he had, that being a Queen of Hearts with the king, which Sans then placed down a Queen of Clubs... and I met that with the ace of clubs, which he smirked at, as he knew he couldn't get past this.
I smiled as, after it became my turn once again, I then placed down all three of the remaining ace cards and, with Sans not even bothering to beat them, I was given the win!
"nice work, kid. i was trying, believe it or not," Sans smirked, me nodding as I gave him a thumbs-up and, after that, I then got presented with the manly bandanna, me then touching it and... right after that happened, I gasped as I saw it. The memories of Marc, owner of the soul of Bravery!
What I saw was something that was quite different to the story that I'd heard from before. Marc had managed to make it all the way to Hotland through the Dark Ruins route, which he met and befriended some faces that made me confused, as some of them didn't look familiar for a change. But then I realized that some of them looked like characters from other series, such as a Gardevoir from Pokemon, a Renamon from Digimon, and even the current head of the Royal Guard at that time, who happened to be Mumbo Jumbo from Banjo Kazooie, him looking weird, as he had purple, furry skin and he hid his face behind a skull-themed helmet.
"Don't make me hurt you... I just came here to get my family member back home for her funeral," the voice said, me seeing that he was dressed to be like a karate kid, him having on the full geta, a brown belt around his waist, and having the gloves on his hands and the bandanna on his head.
"Unfortunately, we cannot allow that. We need human souls to take revenge on the humans. Once we have 7 souls, King Asgore will use them to become a god and destroy the vile humans, such as you!" the guard said, me then seeing that Marc gasped before then getting angry.
"Your king... he wants to kill ALL of humanity?! I get it, we did you guys dirty in the war, but GENOCIDE?! On my honor, I will not let this go unpunished! FREE THE BEAST WITHIN!" Marc shouted as he then brought out his soul and punched it, me gawking at how, after he did so, his entire body became imbued with power. Power that made Mumbo Jumbo quiver at! And once Marc attacked Mumbo, his head became shattered before his body turned to dust, Marc then rushing forward in what looked to be a berserker frenzy, him slaying at least five more monsters in the Steamworks before, finally, he was cornered and trapped by Guardener, who trapped him in the lower levels and gave him level 10 lockdown, trapping him for long enough to kill him and steal the soul he had on hand, which, after neutralizing the opponent, the female robot handed the body and soul to none other than Chujin, which I frowned at.
"Well done, Guardener. That brute has killed enough today," Chujin said with seriousness, me then getting the memory to end as I then remembered something... bad.
"ACK! What the hell?!" asked Dina when she was serving some adult soda to some of the monsters. Why? Because, right after the memory, much like Mary before, Marc had appeared right in the center of the room! But unlike Mary, he was not looking happy. He was still in his berserker mindset! I immediately gasped and held onto the guy before anything else could happen, Marc growling at me doing so.
"What's going on?! Is that?! EEEK! GET AWAY FROM US!" shouted one of the monsters, her being a purple monster that looked like the body type of Mumbo, her wearing a headdress on her head as well as an Onii mask on her face.
"MUST STOP THE MURDER! MUST SAVE HUMANS!" Marc shouted as he tried to fight my grasp, me trying my hardest to hold him down as the entire congregation of monsters tried to escape... but Marc's sheer power in his soul managed to make all the automatic doors malfunction!
"Marc! Take it easy, hon! Remember who you are!" Mary shouted as she then tried to help me, Marc growling angrily... but then, when he was touched by Mary, his soul seemed to go down in strength.
"Marr... mrrrgggyyyy..." he tried to say in his subsiding anger.
"Yes, it's me... I'm Mary Vasil... and you're Marc... I was told you were my distant descendent... is that right?" Mary asked, Marc seething in and out before then looking at her face for long enough. And after that, his soul lost the rest of its power and the monsters congregated at the doors were so confused at how all the machines came back on, that they looked back at my group and saw that Marc wasn't filled with rage anymore. No, now he was in the middle of hugging Mary, tears rolling down his face as he started to snivel and cry.
"I'm... How is this possible?... I heard you were dead..." Marc asked, Mary smiling at him.
"I was, for a long time... and so were you... but then, mister Scarlet came along..." Mary said, Marc looking at me before smiling.
"I... I see... I remember that I was still blinded by raging courage... and then I saw you trying to detain me... I am impressed, as no human before of your size was able to do so," Marc smiled before then kneeling to me. "I call you Master Scarlet, for saving me and my family member from death... you may call me anything you wish," he said, me smiling at him as I then felt I had the perfect name for him.
"I'd like to refer to you as Courage... as it takes a lot of it to admit that you were bested in battle, especially by someone who's wearing a bunch of cruddy fashion," I smiled as I then gave him a fist bump, me still feeling some raw strength emerge from his fist when he gave it to me. His soul, much like Mary's, was still at LV 1, but oddly enough, Marc's soul had no EXP. "It is strange though... in your rage, you killed some monsters, yet, now that you've been revived, you have no EXP or LV... maybe my Knowledge soul is so strong, it not only revives the memories, but also the soul and body in their prime?" I asked, which made another monster appear, it being none other than Starlo.
"Hold the phone, buckaroo. Are ya'll sayin' that this 'ere human kid was aboutta kill us?" he asked, Courage sighing and hanging his head in shame.
"I deeply apologize for my actions... I remember now, that when I heard of the king's plans... that he wishes to kill all humanity in a horrific genocide... I activated my soul's special power... orange souls of Bravery are able to enter a berserker state if the owner of the soul punches the soul into their fists... and I did just that in an act of blind anger... I don't even recall how many monsters died that day... I feel I have shamed my family name for this," Courage said with a very defeated frown.
"I... I don't really know how to respond to that..." Starlo admitted, which Mooch came in and proceeded to give him a cookie, which Courage ate with a sigh.
"If it makes you feel any better, after you came along, the other humans were very nice... well, aside from the blue soul... but my momma told me that she didn't have much of a choice but to fight back. After that stunt you pulled, monsters back then were hoping to kill any human they saw. So she had to fight back, including a child monster that was in the crossfire... once that happened, the blue soul's owner didn't hurt anymore monsters. She just ran as fast as she could," the squirrel girl explained, me then looking at the monsters, them looking confused at that story.
"Is that... is that really how it happened?" asked Bowll, before I then got an answer from Chara, who looked at me with seriousness.
"She's speaking the truth... Antoinette was attacked by anyone that saw her, especially the Royal Guard, hoping to avenge the original captain. So, she had to kill them in self-defense, as they had her completely surrounded," Chara said, me then speaking what she said to the monsters, which they looked at me in distrust.
"How can you be so sure of that? You weren't there, right?" asked Ace, me frowning at that as I then gave a half-assed excuse.
"I know, because I have a knowledge soul. It allows me to see things no other monster or human can. And I'm currently joined by the spirit of a human who fell down here LONG before monsters were trapped Underground. She saw the events play out, and therefore, that's how I know how it happened," I explained, which Ceroba then frowned at.
"If that is true, then answer me one thing that only I know about," Ceroba said, me nodding at her.
"Okay, go ahead, test me," I smiled.
"Back when I was a member of Asgore's Royal Guard, what incident caused my husband, Chujin, to get fired?" she asked, Chara then explaining it to me, which I then nodded at and explained.
"My ghost friend has told me that Chujin was presenting his AXIS robot design to Asgore, which, when it malfunctioned, accidentally burned some of the flowers in his personal garden. Those flowers are very precious to Asgore, as they bloomed where the prince was turned to dust at. So Asgore fired Chujin from his duties as Royal Scientist, reluctantly, because of the fact that half the garden had gotten singed," I said, which Ceroba gawked at.
"I... I am speechless... that is exactly how it happened... your ghost friend, what is her name?" she asked.
"Her name is Princess," I said, Chara then explaining more lies to spread, which I then spoke as she whispered them to me. "She used to be the princess of Russia, where this mountain happens to be located near the southeastern region of the mountain chain separating Asia from Europe. And she was killed in the Underground before the war of the monsters concluded, her being thrown in here because she disagreed with her people about monsters needing killed," I explained, which the group of monsters were very surprised at.
"That would explain why her spirit is here, then, at least. For humans, they need to have a certain ritual before their souls can go to the afterlife, and even if their souls do survive without the body, if left too long without special technology, then the soul will shatter. Her spirit was probably trapped Underground right as the barrier formed, and we just never knew," said the voice of Noelle, who looked at me with a smile. "So... should we keep this hush-hush? About you three being humans?" Noelle asked, me smiling at that.
"I don't expect you to, but it'd really be appreciated... maybe I could also get some adult soda, per chance?" I asked, which Dina frowned at.
"Sorry, but it's not for kids. Adults only," she smiled, me frowning at that.
"I know the secret about that soda. Would you like me to spill the beans?" I asked, her then gulping before leaning down to my ear.
"Don't you dare try and say that! It's our biggest product, and I don't need you tellin' no one!" she said, me smiling at that and whispering to her ear next.
"I don't like pop, I don't like beer, so I want water. I can pay ya," I said, her then frowning as she then whispered back.
"Outside, secret room to the left. I'll leave three glasses there," she said, me smiling at that and nodding as I then handed her the cash for three of them, it being 60g. It didn't hurt my bank account too badly, since the bandanna also came with a cash prize of 200g.
"So, are we going to get out of here, then?" Martlet asked with a smile.
"After I do one more pit stop. I need to get a new set of clothes... I don't like walking around in this attire... I wore these to bed before I fell down here, it's not comfy," I frowned. And that made a couple girls and kids in the place giggle, which included a couple young Temmies who were about the size of my foot... as in, kitten size. And they weren't actually like the others.
"Hahaha, that's adorable," said one, before the other two swatted her face off and she spoke. "O-Oh, right... ooohh hooman too coot... I guess," she said, me then knowing something new about the Temmies.
"So... you're supposed to act weird, but aren't actually?" I asked them.
"It part of Tem histowy leshons! We talk weird, get big power and much cooter fwiends!" said another, her being different by having orange hair.
"I still feel weird about it... I highly doubt dragons were part of-" the littlest Temmie said before she got swatted on her head. "I-I mean... Tem histowy super cool! If Tem coot an stwong nuff, become ternal dwagon!... please help me," the little kid said, me smiling as I held the Temmie in my hand... and shockingly, I had no issues with allergies from holding her.
"Um... why are you holding me?" she asked.
"You don't need to feel like you're forced to be weird. It's better to have the choice to be your own self... by the way, I can just ask my invisible friend to find out," I said, Chara shaking her head no.
"Dragons never existed, aside from a rare group of monsters. Not even in the entirety of monster kind have there been dragons that look as huge as Temmie history. It's just a superstition," Chara said, me nodding at her. I then said as such to the tiny kitten Temmies... Temmens... and they looked at me with surprise.
"Temmie history isn't real? So... if that's true, then whaddawe do?" asked the only male kitten.
"Well, you could always just be your own selves. Try and spread the truth to the other Temmies," I smiled.
"Maybe, but we need to meet up with our schoolteacher before we leave. We're here on a field trip," the Temmie in my hands said, me then letting her down and her smirking at me after. "Thanks again. By the way, I'm Temsa," she smiled.
"I'm Tommie," said the male Temmie.
"And I'm Tessie. We wanted to give each other nicknames, since we're all siblings," The swat-happy Temmen said, me nodding as they then waltzed off and I then proceeded to get a new attire for myself. So what did I choose? I chose a brown tee shirt with a pair of black and white shorts, brown tennis shoes, and a hat for my head in the form of a baseball cap that was colored purple, had a yellow lip, and had the words 'Knowledge is Power' on the top. Yeah, the outfits were actually recycled from the surface, but all of them were still washed and made better as opposed to falling apart. And after getting my new clothes, I paid for them at the counter, which was where I happened to see the adorable Honeydew shopkeeper, her looking at me with a smile.
"Aw, hello there. You made quite a scene, didn't you?" she asked, her looking to be a full adult now as opposed to an adorably awkward teenager when Clover was around.
"Yeah... so what's your name? I'm Scarlet," I asked.
"Oh, that's an easy one. I'm Honey. This place was named after me, same with the old Honeydew Inn," she smiled before then speaking some more. "Mo really likes me, you see, and we even got married a couple years ago. I'm not really fond of the casino part, but I always love being a shopkeeper," she smiled before then realizing something else. I had placed the money on the counter and she didn't realize yet. "Oh... I forgot to ring you up... dangit," she groaned as she then hung her head on the counter, me then petting her on her head.
"There, there, Honey. I have those issues, too," I smiled as she then groaned in a small meow before then ringing me up.
"Thanks, I needed that... I still have room for improvement," Honey smiled sadly.
"I also have room for improvement, miss," Courage said with a polite bow.
"Yes, I overheard... now why don't you go to Snowdin? Maybe you can meet my friend who lives there? She's the one in charge of the inn," she smirked, me nodding as we then bid our farewell before I then got outside and, after checking the room to the left of the casino, I found the adult soda. I then proceeded to drink it... and smiled at how it was pure water.
"Ahh... perfect. I was getting thirsty," I smiled.
"So are we able to get a sip, too? I'm also thirsty," Mary asked, me nodding as I gave her another cup and she looked confused after drinking it. "It doesn't taste like soda at all..." she groaned.
"Right, it's water," said the voice of Dina, her appearing from the darkness nearby. "Don't tell anyone, please? It's our biggest seller."
"So... is water supposed to be bad for younger monsters?" Courage asked.
"Water makes younger monsters a bit loopy, you see. They really need either milk or juice instead," Dina explained. "I gotta get back to the casino now. Need to meet up with my little pets," she smirked.
"So... what kind of pets are they?" I asked.
"Oh, glad you asked. I have a couple little bunnies called Lops and Flipsy," she smiled. "I used to have a few snakes as my pets, but they ended up passing away shortly before the earthquake happened... I'm gonna miss 'em," she said with a sigh. "Anyways, I'll see you later," she smirked, me nodding as I then went with my current group to the east. It was time to visit Snowdin and see what we'd come across... and hope that Flowey wasn't going to do anything worse than earlier.