//------------------------------//
// The Skeleton's Scuffle and the Flower's Echo 
// Story: To Save a Life 
// by Infernity Zero 
//------------------------------//

After pushing against Papyrus's bone for several seconds, Sunset found the upper hand and sent him sliding back across the snow. A snap of his fingers had three more bones at the ready, which he hurled at her like ninja stars. She braced herself to dodge; but to her surprise, the bones moved so slowly that she easily avoided them just by walking around them. He summoned three more bones, and she walked around them easily. 

"Are you trying to psyche me out or something?" She snickered at him. "Clever boy."

Unexpectedly, he blushed. "WHAT?! FLIRTING? SO YOU FINALLY REVEAL YOUR ULTIMATE FEELINGS! W-WELL, I'M A SKELETON WITH VERY HIGH STANDARDS."

She shrugged and kept playing along. "Well, since you were nice enough to make that spaghetti for me, maybe I can make some for you later."

If it was even possible, his blush got even deeper. "OH NO! YOU'RE MEETING ALL MY STANDARDS! I GUESS THIS MEANS I HAVE TO GO ON A DATE WITH YOU. AFTER I CAPTURE YOU AT LEAST."

Huh, didn't know he was into that sort of thing.

She held her hands outward. "Well, we don't have to fight. Why not go back and have that date instead?"

Pausing for a moment, he thought this statement over before summoning more bones. "SO, YOU WON'T FIGHT. WELL THEN, LET'S SEE IF YOU CAN HANDLE MY FABLED BLUE ATTACK."

Remembering her skirmish with Doggo, she braced herself. "I'm ready."

The bones changed color from with to blue, and they bombarded her. She stood perfectly still and watched as they passed over her harmlessly. Twenty whole bones struck her in this way, not even scratching her SOUL. Sunset snickered.

"So much for your special attack."

Unexpectedly, his grin got bigger. "THAT WASN'T THE ATTACK."

Another bone moved towards her at the same slow speed. But as she moved to avoid it, she suddenly found herself moving in slow motion, her bolt of a run downgrading into a floundering walk. The bone glanced off her shoulder, forming a single dent in the golden barrier over her SOUL. But even stranger, her SOUL itself had changed colors. She looked at it, then at Papyrus, and her eyes widened.

"YOU'RE BLUE NOW. THAT'S MY ATTACK. NYEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH!"

With her movement hampered, she had to block his next two attacks with her knife. But right as she'd deflected the second, a third one came on from the other side. Since it was at a lower angle, she tried to jump over it and found herself launching several feet in a single bound. Papyrus noticed her new height and tossed another bone that smacked into her on the way down.

"YES, I CAN SEE IT NOW. PAPYRUS, CAPTAIN OF THE ROYAL GUARD. A HEDGE TRIMMED IN THE SHAPE OF MY SMILE. UNDYNE WILL BE SO PROUD OF ME. THE KING WILL SHOWER ME WITH PRAISES AND HONOR. AND MY BROTHER..." He paused. "WELL, HE WON'T CHANGE VERY MUCH, BUT EVERYTHING ELSE WILL BE GREAT. AND IT ALL STARTS WITH YOUR CAPTURE, HUMAN."

Sunset deflected another bone. "Careful there, Papy. Don't count your victory just yet."

Running forward, the two clashed their weapons once more. Papyrus locked eyes with her. "AND YET, I WONDER... WILL ANYONE LIKE ME AS SINCERELY AS YOU?"

"Not if I'm hauled away in irons."

"DON'T TAKE IT PERSONALLY. IT'S JUST MY JOB." Papyrus threw more bones. "I WOULDN'T BE DOING THIS OTHERWISE. SOMEONE LIKE YOU IS VERY RARE."

Blocking two more attacks, she slid under a third and leaped over a fourth. "Well, you could always not capture me and wait for a different human instead."

Although he didn't have skin, she noticed he seemed to be sweating. "UGH. WHO CARES?! JUST GIVE UP ALREADY! BEFORE I HAVE TO USE MY 'SPECIAL ATTACK.'"

"Special attack? But you already used it, didn't you?"

"THAT WAS MY BLUE ATTACK. THIS IS MY SPECIAL ATTACK. THERE'S A DIFFERENCE."

"Well, whatever it's called, I'm not backing down now." Jumping over three more bones, she threw the knife at him, which missed his head by a few feet.

"ALAS, YOUR EXCESS OF CHARM HIDES A POOR AIM."

"I wasn't aiming at you."

Spinning around like a boomerang, the knife came whirling back, slicing through a branch above him and burying him in a mountain of snow.

"NYAAH! I'M A SKELE-CICLE!" His muffled voice came from beneath the tundra.

Sunset noted that if Pinkie had seen that, she probably would have made some kind of bad pun. Oh well. "You're not the only one who can change tactics. Why don't you give up instead?"

As soon as she said that, he punched his way out of the snow with a loud roar. "NEVER! THE GREAT PAPYRUS NEVER GIVES UP UNTIL THE BITTER END. AND THIS IS THE BITTER END FOR YOU HUMAN. OR AT LEAST YOUR FREEDOM. NOW BEHOLD MY SPECIAL ATTACK!" Another bone appeared next to him, but this one had an unexpected addition. A dog was chewing on it! Papyrus gaped at it. "HEY, YOU STUPID DOG. STOP MUNCHING ON THAT BONE! THAT'S MY SPECIAL ATTACK."

The dog paid him no heed and simply ran off with the bone. Papyrus slumped his shoulders and groaned. Sunset shook her head.

"Um, sorry about that."

Papyrus groaned again. "I'LL JUST USE A REGULAR ATTACK INSTEAD."

Twenty bones appeared all around her, barreling toward her from every direction. Some were big. Some were small. Some were high. Some were low. And all of them were streaking toward her. The next few seconds became a mad dash of blocks and parries as she tried to stay alive. Several dents and cracks appeared in the barrier over her SOUL before it shattered to pieces completely. Something struck her legs, knocking her feet out from under her and sending her plunging into the snow. Despite that, she still managed to bat another bone back at Papyrus, sending him back into the bank as well. Both of them clawed their way to the surface. She had just managed to re-draw her knife right as he summoned a new bone. The two of them stared each other down for a moment. Then, Papyrus exhaled.

"WELL. IT'S CLEAR THAT YOU CAN'T--" He stopped for some more air. "--DEFEAT ME. YEAH, I CAN SEE YOU SHAKING IN YOUR BOOTS."

She was shaking, but she didn't know if that was because of him or the cold. "So are you."

After another long pause, he put the bone away. "THEREFORE, I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, ELECT TO GRANT YOU PITY. I WILL SPARE YOU, HUMAN. NOW'S YOUR CHANCE TO ACCEPT MY MERCY." 

In response, she sheathed her knife once more. "I accept your mercy, oh Great Papyrus."

The fog had already started clearing up during their fight; but now, it lifted completely. Papyrus frowned then smiled. "WELL, UNDYNE WILL BE DISAPPOINTED THAT I WASN'T ABLE TO CAPTURE YOU, AND I JUST LOST MY CHANCE OF JOINING THE ROYAL GUARD. BUT AT LEAST I HAVE A NEW FRIEND IN YOU, DEAR HUMAN. YES, I SHALL MAKE AN ALLOWANCE FOR YOU." He laughed to himself. "WOW. WHO KNEW ALL I NEEDED TO DO IN ORDER TO MAKE PALS WAS TO GIVE PEOPLE MY SPAGHETTI AND THEN FIGHT WITH THEM? I SHALL REMEMBER THAT AS YOU PASS THROUGH. KEEP GOING THROUGH THE CAVERN UNTIL REACH THE CAPITAL, THEN CROSS THE BARRIER. THAT'S THE MAGICAL SEAL TRAPPING US UNDERGROUND. NORMALLY, NOTHING CAN EXIT THROUGH IT, BUT A SOUL AS POWERFUL AS YOURS MIGHT DO THE TRICK."

"You think so?"

"I KNOW SO. YOU BESTED THE GREAT PAPYRUS, DID YOU NOT? ANYWAY, OUR ILLUSTRIOUS KING, MR. DREEMURR, WANTS TO OPEN THE  WANTS TO OPEN THE BARRIER WITH SOUL POWER. WITH YOUR POWER AND HIS WISDOM, I'M POSITIVE YOU CAN DO IT. BUT THAT'S ENOUGH TALKING. I'LL BE AT MY HOUSE IF YOU WANT TO COME TO HAVE THAT DATE LATER. GOOD LUCK ON YOUR JOURNEY HUMAN."

"Thanks, Papyrus." Sunset waved at him. "See you later."

"NYEH HEH HEH!" Papyrus headed back toward the town.

Sunset glanced down at her SOUL. While the golden barrier was gone, the heart itself was perfectly intact. She hadn't taken any actual damage from the fight. Compared to fighting Toriel, matching wits with Papyrus had actually been kind of fun. She wondered if he'd give her a rematch later. If he said no, maybe she could ask Sans. But with how lazy he was, he probably wouldn't put up that much of a fight.

But as much as she wanted to spend more time with Papyrus, she still needed to find Pinkie Pie and the others. So walked toward the next room. But out of the corner of her eye, she thought she saw something behind her. Jerking her head around, she tried to check but whatever it was had already vanished. The next room seemed to have several waterfalls on her right and the river continuing on her left, but there wasn't anything else of note. 

The room after that had a blue flower in it along with the Monster Kid she'd seen earlier. There was also a booth with snow on top of it but no one was manning it. She approached Monster Kid.

"Hello again."

"Yo!" He nodded at her. "Are you sneaking out to see her too?"

"'Her'? Who are you talking about?"

"The Captain of the Royal Guard. She's just the coolest monster ever. I want to be just like her when I grow up."

"Okaaaay." Sunset shrugged. "I'll take your word for it." As the Kid ran off, she inspected the blue flower.

Huh. Wonder what this is?

As she touched the flower, she heard a passing conversation. 

"Help me! Somebody help me, please! All those monsters in town were really sweet, but now I'm being chased by a crazy flower with big, scary vines! And he doesn't even like my--Urk!"

Sunset heard something hit the ground next to the flower, followed by...ropes tightening? Pinkie screamed again.

	"No no no no! Let me go. Let me GO! I'll give you anything you want. Cupcakes, apple pie, something with butterscotch.  Please!"

Another voice, all too familiar, cut her off in an instant. "Quiet, you Idiot! I don't want your food, and I don't want your whining. I just want your SOUL!

Pinkie's next scream got cut off by another tightening of the ropes. Sunset heard a bunch of squelching noises followed by several seconds of silence. Then...

"Heh. Not how I expected to have a body again but even one SOUL is better than nothing. " It moved closer to the Flower. "And if any of her little friends are listening to this; if you want to see this precious little party girl alive again, I suggest you make a beeline for the capital as fast you as can! Because I'm getting tired of waiting!"

Sunset stood there, completely numb, and listened to Flowey's laugh echoing in her ears. After taking a few seconds to breathe, she steeled herself as best she could. Panicking wouldn't help Pinkie. Only she could. Marching onward, she clenched her fist around the handle of the knife.

Flowey, I swear by Celestia's name. If you harm a single hair on Pinkie Pie's head, I'll. KILL. You.