Percy soon found a tall bunny guy leaning against an ice cream cart, his ears drooping. "I don't understand why these aren't selling... It's the perfect weather for something cold..." When the creature saw Percy, his ears perked up. "OH! A CUSTOMER! Hello! Would you like some Nice Cream? It's the frozen treat that warms your heart! Now just 15G!"
Percy checked his pockets, and saw that he had more than enough for one. Besides, even though he was almost freezing, the weather was never too cold for ice cream.
"Yeah, sure." Percy handed the bunny 15G, and the monster gave him a packaged Nice Cream in return. "Here you go! Have a super-duper day!"
Percy nodded, smiling, and wandered off. He ran across a big ball of snow lying on an area of ground that looked like it had been carefully patted down to be flat and smooth. He looked down the wide, smooth path of snow, and saw a hole, presumably to push the snowball into.
Feeling up for the challenge, Percy swiftly pushed the snowball, which was surprisingly light, across the smooth snow on the ground, over and into the hole. "Nice!" He said to himself.
To Percy's surprise, an orange flag shot out of the hole. Curious, he approached the flag, and saw that it had a little note there. It read: "ORANGE - You are the kind of person who rushes fists-first through all obstacles." At the base of the flagpole, there was a little tin container that had 5G inside, probably as a prize.
Percy pocketed the money, and decided he wanted to see how fast he could get the ball in the hole. He looked over to where the snowball was when he found it, and a nearly identical one right in the same place. Despite being disoriented, Percy decided he'd just go with it.
He went over to the ball, and looked at the hole, the orange flag gone, and got ready for a fast shot. Walking the ball over on foot was pretty slow, even if he was trying to be quick, so Percy decided to use his water powers.
He got his mind ready, and flung the ball right at the hole, straight over the patch of rough snow that was in the way. It landed smack dab in the center of the hole, right where he'd aimed it.
Percy pumped his fist in satisfaction. Man, he was getting better at controlling the snow! He ran over to the bright red flag that had popped up, and read the note. "Try as you might, you continue to be yourself." Percy wasn't quite sure what that meant. It kind of sounded like it meant he was failing to be different at something. Uneasy, Percy grabbed the 10G in the tin container, and walked away from the red flag.
He wasn't paying attention to where he was going, just looking at his feet, and he was only startled into focus when he heard an authoritative voice shout out at him. "HUMAN!" It was Papyrus and Sans. Percy uneasily shifted his feet.
"I HOPE YOU'RE READY FOR..." Papyrus seemed to realize something. "SANS! WHERE'S THE PUZZLE!" Sans smiled his same old smile. "it's right there. on the ground. trust me." He looked to the side. "there's no way they can get past this one."
Percy looked at the ground between him and the skeletons. There was a piece of paper. That was it. He walked over, and picked up the paper. It was a word search. Percy scratched his head. Being ADHD, he had never been good at words. Fighting was more his thing.
Percy stood up straight and dropped the paper back on the ground. He walked up to the skeletons and shrugged. Papyrus looked down at his brother accusingly. "SANS! THAT DIDN'T DO ANYTHING!"
The shorter skeleton didn't seem to mind. "whoops. i knew i should have used today's crossword instead."
"WHAT!? CROSSWORD!? I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU SAID THAT! IN MY OPINION... JUNIOR JUMBLE IS EASILY THE HARDEST."
"what? really, dude? That easy-peasy word scramble? that's for baby bones."
"UN. BELIEVABLE. HUMAN! SOLVE THIS DISPUTE! WHICH IS HARDER?" The two skeletons looked at him expectantly.
Startled, Percy gave a weak shrug. "Jumble... Might be harder?"
"HA! HA! YES! HUMANS MUST BE VERY INTELLIGENT! IF THEY ALSO FIND JUNIOR JUMBLE SO DIFFICULT! NYEH! HEH! HEH HEH!" Papyrus ran off victoriously.
Percy just stood there. "thanks for saying 'junior jumble' just to appease my brother." Sans said to him. "yesterday he got stumped trying to 'solve' the horoscope."
Percy looked at Sans, and thought about him for a minute. That guy must know something about him. It didn't seem... to be all negative, though. Percy felt hope that they might really be able to get along, and determination to do his best to make it happen.
Feeling ready, Percy walked on again. Not long after he started moving, he stopped in his tracks. There was a bright yellow glow on the ground, and it cought his eye. It seemed... special, somehow.
Drawn to it, Percy crouched down near it. The yellow glow didn't seem hot, but it gave out a warm feeling. Percy thought about the monsters, himself, and his determination.
He reached out his hand, not sure why. When he touched the glow, Percy felt ...calm. Like he could do anything, and things would be okay. He mentally pressed something, like he was using his water powers, and something clicked.
Percy sat there for a minute. When he finally stood up, bewildered about what he just did, he thought about it for a second. He had... Saved. Percy wasn't sure how he knew, but whatever that meant, he had just saved.
He finally looked around, and saw a square table with a plate of spaghetti, a round one with a microwave, and a note, evidently from Papyrus, on the ground nearby. In a daze, Percy walked past them, and past a sign, still thinking about that special yellow glow.
He was only startled out of his thoughts when Lesser Dog appeared, bringing him into a Fight. Despite the dog being armed with armor, a sword, and a shield, Percy just wanted to pet the guy. He had barely even lifted his hand when Lesser Dog got excited.
The dog was panting, and tried jumping into him, but Percy dodged to the side. He gave the dog a pat on the head, and then spared the monster.
Percy gave a little smile, and then looked back, and saw a small square of snow on the ground between two trees that looked a little lumped up. He crouched down next to the snow, and brushed his hand across the little lump.
To his surprise, he found a switch. He flipped it over, and heard something retract. "Cool," Percy said to himself, and chuckled.
He walked around some rocks and a few more trees, and he found this big square patch of loose snow on the ground, like it had only been from the most recent snowfall. Percy brushed some of it to the side, and saw a diagram of some sort. He used his powers to quickly brush away the rest, and saw that the diagram was actually showing the area where he was.
There was a red X where the switch in the snow was hidden. Oh, he was probably supposed to have come over here, seen the map, and then gone over and flipped the switch. Percy chuckled. Apparently he had beaten the system.
To the side of the map on the ground, there were a bunch of small holes, which looked like once held spikes. It seemed like when he had flipped the switch, the spikes retracted.
Percy gave a little shrug, and walked over the spike holes. He heard some sniffing, and then two dogs stomped into view! The upright dog monsters wore hoods that fell over their eyes, and were both holding wicked sharp battle axes.
Percy stood stock still, hoping they couldn't see well. The two dogs walked up to either side of him, sniffing suspiciously. "What's that smell?" Said one. "Where's that smell?" The other echoed. Percy stood still, hoping they wouldn't find him.
"If you're a smell..." The dog on his left growled. "...identify yoursmellf!" The other finished.
Percy in fact did _not_ identify himsmellf, and stood as still as he could.
The two dogs wandered all around him, sniffing intensely. They eventually stopped where they started, one on either side of him.
"Hmmm... Here's that weird smell... It makes me want to eliminate." Said the first dog. "...Eliminate YOU!" The other barked, and with that, they started a Fight.
The two dogs pushed back their hoods, and gripped their axes sharply. Despite their eyes now being uncovered, they looked unfocused, so maybe the dogs couldn't see. One was male, the other female, and they seemed to work well in sync.
The male, Dogamy, spoke in a gruff voice. "Take my wife... 's fleas." His wife, Dogaressa, corrected him. "Don't, actually..." They started swinging their axes in unison at Percy, and he rolled around in the dirt and snow to avoid the dogi assault.
Once they stopped attacking, Percy stood his ground, thinking. The dogs sniffed him again... After rolling in the dirt, it seemed he smelled all right to them!
"What!" Dogamy exclaimed. "Smells like a..." Dogaressa seemed startled. "Are you actually a little puppy!?" She cried.
Percy didn't correct them, and when the dogs attacked again, he rolled to the side. For some reason, he actually kind of wanted to pet the soft little curl of fur on Dogamy's head. He pet Dogamy.
"Wow! Pet by another pup!" The dog seemed happy. "Well. Don't leave me out!" His wife announced. She seemed a bit annoyed, and the two dogs still attacked him that turn. Once he had dodged the axes, Percy obliged, and pet Dogaressa. "What about me..." Dogamy whimpered. "A dog that pets dogs... Amazing!" Dogaressa seemed content.
The two dogs seemed to radiated little hearts, some white, others blue. Percy watched in silent confusion as they floated towards him. A blue one floated harmlessly through his chest, but then a white one stung his hand. Percy pulled it back, and avoided the rest.
It seemed like the dogs' minds had expanded, while Percy's continued to melt. He spared them, and they handed him 40 gold as thanks for the revelation. "Dogs can pet other dogs?" Dogamy asked, dumbstruck. Percy stayed silent. He'd just let them have their moment.
"A new world has opened up for us..." Dogaressa whispered in awe. "Thanks, weird puppy!" Dogamy nodded in his direction, and the couple took their leave.
Percy stood there for a second, shrugged, and started forward. He soon found a room with a bunch of frozen piles of snow in the shape of an H, with two blue X shapes on either side of the middle line. There was also a button on one side of the H, and a sign on the other.
Percy went to the sign first. "Turn every X into an O. Then press the switch." Percy looked at the two X shapes on the ground, and went up to one, uncertain as to how he could turn it into an O. To his surprise, as he stepped on the X, it turned into a red O! Percy grinned, and walked around to the other X. Before he quite got there, he was distracted by the sound of Papyrus' voice coming from the other side of a wall of spikes.
"WHAT!? HOW DID YOU AVOID MY TRAP?" While Papyrus seemed frustrated, Percy was confused, like normal. What trap was he talking about? "AND, MORE IMPORTANTLY... IS THERE ANY LEFT FOR ME?" Wait, was he talking about the note and that plate of spaghetti earlier? He had barely thought about it, he was so distracted by the yellow glow that let him "save," whatever that meant. Percy decided he'd call that thing a Save Point.
Anyways, so what should he tell Papyrus about his spaghetti? "I left it." Percy said bluntly. "REALLY!? WOWIE... YOU RESISTED THE FLAVOR OF MY HOMECOOKED PASTA... JUST SO YOU COULD SHARE IT WITH ME?" Papyrus looked thoughtful, like it was simply kind of him. "FRET NOT HUMAN! I, MASTER CHEF PAPYRUS... WILL MAKE YOU ALL THE PASTA YOU COULD EVER WANT! HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH NYEH!" The tall skeleton ran off. Well, he _was_ getting hungry again.
Percy went and stepped on the last X, and when it changed, he went and stepped on the button. As the switch clicked, each of the shapes turned into a green O, and the spike wall retracted. Percy walked over the empty holes the spikes used to be in, and found Papyrus waiting for him on the other side.
Percy walked up to him, and the skeleton seemed to get off topic again. "MY BROTHER STARTED A SOCK COLLECTION RECENTLY. HOW SADDENING... SOMETIMES I WONDER WHAT HE WOULD DO... WITHOUT SUCH A COOL GUY TAKING CARE OF HIM? NYEH HEH HEH!" Papyrus still stood there where he had come from, and Percy meandered on.
There were a few trees to the side, and ahead of him Percy saw a button to his right, and a sign on the left. There were more piles of snow over here, and a ton of the blue X shapes. Papyrus ran back over to him.
"HUMAN! HMMM... HOW DO I SAY THIS... YOU WERE TAKING A LONG TIME TO ARRIVE, SO... I DECIDED TO IMPROVE THIS PUZZLE... BY ARRANGING THE SNOW TO LOOK MORE LIKE MY FACE. UNFORTUNATELY, THE SNOW FROZE TO THE GROUND. NOW THE SOLUTION IS DIFFERENT! AND, AS USUAL, MY LAZY BROTHER IS NOWHERE AROUND. I SUPPOSE WHAT I AM SAYING IS... WORRY NOT, HUMAN! I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, WILL SOLVE THIS CONUNDRUM!" As he spoke, Papyrus' iconic red scarf was flapping in the wind. Percy couldn't imagine the skeleton without it.
"THEN WE CAN BOTH PROCEED! MEANWHILE, FEEL FREE TO TRY THE PUZZLE YOURSELF! I'LL TRY NOT TO GIVE AWAY THE ANSWER!" Percy looked at Papyrus for a second, and then after a look at the sign, Percy saw that it said the same thing as the last sign he'd seen.
Percy looked up at the puzzle again, and thought about trying to figure it out... Nah, that was Annabeth's thing. Percy used his powers to shove the frozen piles of snow out of the way, and then just zigzagged across all the X shapes. When every shape on the ground was a red O, he stepped on the switch, they all turned green, and he heard the sound of the nearby wall of spikes retracting.
Papyrus looked at him in surprise. "WOW! YOU SOLVED IT! AND YOU DID IT ALL WITHOUT MY HELP... INCREDIBLE! I'M IMPRESSED! YOUR METHODS ARE EXTRAORDINARY... YOU MUST CARE ABOUT PUZZLES LIKE I DO! WELL, I'M SURE YOU'LL LOVE THE NEXT PUZZLE THEN! IT MIGHT EVEN BE TOO EASY FOR YOU! NYEH! HEH HEH! HEHEHEH!" Papyrus ran off.
Percy walked in the direction he ran, and he saw Sans there. "good job on solving it so quickly. you didn't even need my help. which is great, 'cause i love doing absolutely nothing." Percy nodded acknowledgement, and moved to the next area.
As soon as he turned his head away from Sans, he saw the skeleton standing next to his brother on the other side of a checkerboard of black, white, and grey tiles in the snow. Next to the two skeletons, Percy saw a metal box with different dials and a switch. As for how Sans got over here, the skeleton could probably teleport or something.
Papyrus looked over, and saw Percy standing there. "HEY! IT'S THE HUMAN! YOU'RE GONNA LOVE THIS PUZZLE! IT WAS MADE BY THE GREAT DR. ALPHYS! YOU SEE THESE TILES!? ONCE I THROW THIS SWITCH... THEY WILL BEGIN TO CHANGE COLOR! EACH COLOR HAS A DIFFERENT FUNCTION! RED TILES ARE IMPASSABLE! YOU CANNOT WALK ON THEM! YELLOW TILES ARE..." Percy pulled the bunch of snow out of his pocket, and using his powers, started shaping it into a tiny snowman.
He grabbed two tiny pebbles from the ground and put them in as it's eyes. He also grabbed a few little twigs, and put them in for the arms. Happy with his new creation, Percy pocketed the baby snowman and finally looked up to find Papyrus glaring down at him accusingly. "...ARE YOU SERIOUS? SANS! HELP! HE'S NOT EVEN PAYING ATTENTION! HE'S SUPPOSED TO LET ME EXPLAIN THE RULES. THEN THREATEN AND BAFFLE HIM WITN DANGEROUS JAPES."
Sans stared at Percy. "well, maybe he doesn't like japes." Papyrus glared at his brother. "EVERYONE LIKES JAPES!"
"what about undyne? doesn't she hate puzzles?"
"SHE HATES PUZZLES. BUT SHE LOVES JAPES."
"that makes sense."
"HUMAN! WHAT DO YOU THINK!? PUZZLES OR JAPES?"
At least this topic was something he was somewhat familiar with. For once _not_ at a loss for words, Percy said aloud, "I pick japes."
"HAHA! YOU REALLY ARE A SMART HUMAN. WAIT... NOW WHAT DO I DO WITH THIS PUZZLE? WE ALREADY DECIDED THAT JAPES ARE BETTER. HERE, WHY DON'T YOU DO THIS PUZZLE YOURSELF." Papyrus looked at the metal box, and then walked off, leaving just Percy and Sans standing there.
Percy walked over the different tiles towards the shorter skeleton. "hey... puzzles might be fun. if you really participated." Sans seemed a little unsure about something. Percy looked away, feeling bad about getting distracted during Papyrus' explanation. He stepped across the path of snow, and saw another sentry station with a sign next to it, and also Lesser Dog leaning thoughtfully against a short pillar of snow.
When Percy went and read the sign, he had to re-read it again twice because of it's bad spelling paired with his ADHD and dyslexia. "AWARE OF DOG pleas pet dog." Once Percy had wrapped his head around the sign, he looked back at Lesser Dog. It seemed he was staring blankly into the snow, waiting for it to turn into art.
He also noticed two more things. There was a deer looking over at him and Lesser Dog, and another Save Point. Percy didn't even know there was more than one Save Point, and he still wasn't sure what they did, but he got a warm feeling when he used them. He decided to talk to the deer first, then take a rest by the Save Point.
When Percy walked up to the deer, she spoke. "That dog considers itself an artist, but doesn't ever know what to create. It probably doesn't help that its brain is the size of a piece of kibble." Percy was a little annoyed that she was so rude about Lesser Dog. He was just a dog, don't be so harsh.
Percy turned away and went to the glowing yellow Save Point. He touched it, and strength flowed through him. Surprised, Percy touched one of the scrapes he'd gotten recently, and found that it was gone. These Save Points healed him, just like water. Percy hadn't been able to heal himself with water recently, since the snow was too cold to really work. The Save Point did heal him though.
Percy Jackson felt determined, and laid down in the snow to rest. It had been a long day. He smiled, and drifted off to sleep.