To Save a Life

by Infernity Zero

Dog Days

After tinkering a bit with the nearby microwave, Sunset wolfed down the rest of the spaghetti and headed into the next area. She was greeted by a fork in the path where one route led to a dead end straight ahead and the other veered off to the right. She walked straight first and examined the dead end. Between a pair of evergreen trees, she found a patch of ground uncovered by the snow. Kneeling down, moved her hands over the ground.

It feels like some kind of switch. Looks like it's already been hit. But what's this stuff around it? Cords? Ropes? No wait. These are--

"Vines!" The knife was in her hand as soon as the word left her mouth, as she spun around in all directions. Vines meant Flowey, and Flowey meant death. Several agonizing minutes scraped by into eternity. But nobody came. She imagined him looking at her from afar and laughing while she stewed in paranoia, and the thought made her grit the knife until her already cold knuckles turned white. But since nothing was happening, all she could do was keep going.

Calm down, Sunset. If he wanted you dead, he wouldn't be this subtle about it. He's just trying to get under your skin.

On the opposite path, the pressed switch had apparently disabled a barrier of spikes blocking the path. She walked beyond it and across another bridge, but before she could go any further, a pair of hooded figures came into view. All she could see beneath their garb was a single long nose sticking out. Each one was wielding a giant axe that made her knife look like a mere toothpick. The two of them circled around her, making weird sniffing noises as they did so.

"What's that smell?" A male voice asked.

"Where's that smell?" A female voice replied.

The two spoke together. "If you're a smell, identify yoursmelf!"

The two circled around her a couple of times before stopping in front of her. Sunset took a step forward only to be stopped by their axes crossing each other with a loud CLANG.

"Here's that weird smell." The female pointed at her.

"It makes me want to eliminate." The male replied.

They spoke together again. "Eliminate YOU!" They both threw back their hoods, revealing themselves as a pair of canines. Spinning their axes, they advanced on Sunset. "We are Dogamy and Dogaressa of the Underground's Royal Guard. Prepare yourself for a painful soul extraction. Before today is over, Monsterkind shall be free!"

Announcing their names and titles? Loudly declaring their intentions? Prepare myself? Methinks the Royal Guard's been watching a little too much anime.

Still, if they were going to do this, she might as well play along. So holding up her arms, she brandished the knife.

"And I, a human from the realms above, shall accept your challenge. I desire no harm upon you, but I wish my own freedom the same as you do. Our clash of spirits shall decide whose will holds true."

With that, the dogs attacked, swinging their axes in perfect synchronization towards Sunset. Jumping backwards, she caught both weapons with the edge of the knife and shoved forwards, throwing the dogs off balance. She followed that up with a slash of the knife, making doubly sure to only hit robe and not flesh. A tuft of Dogaressa's cloak tore away, but another ax swipe stopped her pursuit. The Dogi quickly regrouped and switched positions. This time, Dogamy swung in for another ax attack while Dogaressa stood back. Cupping her hands around her mouth, she shot a cluster of blue hearts at her target. Sunset found herself having to rapidly switch back and forth between dodging the axe blows and stopping for the blue hearts. The two were so connected that their attacks came within seconds of each other. Something had to give, and that something was Sunset.

KLSHUK!

"Auugh!" A slash from the axe cut right through her SOUL, adding a second crack alongside Doggo's. She fell to the ground from the force and the blow and rolled a good distance before stopping at the edge of the bridge. The two dogs approached from either side and raised their axes. Sunset barely had time to roll to the side before their weapons struck the ground where her head used to be. She checked her SOUL. Weapons like that were far stronger than Toriel's fire or Doggo's spears. Another strike would send her back to the Void. And she didn't know if she'd be able to come back a third time.

Once more, they struck in unison. Sunset managed to block the initial strike, but the dogs forced her back with their combined strength. Her heel reached the edge of the bridge.

"Victory is ours." One swung for her head, the other for her legs.

"Not YET!" Right as the axes drew near, she jumped, propelling herself forward with all the strength she had left. Her aim was straight and true, just barely slipping in between the massive blades. Just like with Toriel, a red aura shone from her soul and engulfed her within it. But this time, she knew what to do. Before they could reacted, she attacked, battering at their weapons with the knife. Dogamy shot off another blast of hearts; but rather than stop, Sunset vaulted over them and kept up her attack, weaving in and out of rage of their axes in a deadly dance of death. The dogi became more and more frantic as her attacks continued, desperately trying to retake the upper hand. Sunset hissed in pain as an errant white heart brushed against her SOUL, forming a slight dent alongside the new cracks. Even so, she kept going, filled with DETERMINATION, and continued attacking their weapons.

At last, with a final strike to the handle, Dogamy's split in two like a pretzel stick. Dogaressa immediately stepped forward to shield her husband from harm only for her own blade to break as well. With no other means of attack they, both threw up their paws and knelt to the ground, panting.

"Victory is yours, Human from the realms above. We shall grant you passage and ask only for our lives."

Sunset sheathed the knife. "You don't have to worry about that. As stated before, I desire no harm upon you. I merely wish to pass through the area. Your lives are yours to do as you please."

Needing no further encouragement, they ran off, leaving the broken axes behind. Sunset watched them vanish into the distance and then shook her head.

From nose-nuzzling, to stick-fetching, to human-catching, those two always took everything too seriously.

She was too concerned about her damaged SOUL to recognize her unfamiliar memories. So instead, she walked onward.

The next room had another puzzle preemptively completed. A second wall of spikes was already down. Papyrus stood at the end of the room and turned towards her as she walked up.

"WHAT? HOW DID YOU AVOID MY TRAP? AND MORE IMPORTANTLY? IS THERE ANY SPAGHETTI LEFT FOR ME?"

"Um sorry." Sunset patted her stomach. "It was so good, I ate the whole thing."

He just stared at her a couple of seconds, mouth agape, before putting on the biggest smile she'd ever seen. "WOWEE! NO ONE'S EVER ENJOYED MY COOKING BEFORE. WELL FRET NOT HUMAN! I, THE GREAT AND MASTER CHEF PAPYRUS, SHALL MAKE YOU ALL THE PASTA YOU COULD EVER WANT. NYEH HEH HEH HEH HEH!"

He ran off into the next room while she followed close behind. As he walked, he talked.

"ALAS, THINGS ARE NOT ALL SUNSHINE AND RAINBOWS HERE, HUMAN. MY BROTHER STARTED A SOCK COLLECTION RECENTLY."

"A sock collection?"

"I KNOW. HOW SADDENING. SOMETIMES I WONDER WHAT HE WOULD DO WITHOUT SUCH A COOL GUY TAKING CARE OF HIM. NYEH HEH HEH!"

Can't be worse than Rainbow Dash stuffing her room with pictures of herself. Though come to think of it, the Great Papyrus does act a lot like her. At least he's not the Great and Powerful Papyrus.

She walked onward and quickly came to another puzzle. Just like before, it had already been solved. Unlike before, there were no vines in sight. She glanced at Papyrus.

"WORRY NOT HUMAN. I CAN EXPLAIN. YOU WERE TAKING SO LONG TO REACH THIS PUZZLE, THAT I DECIDED TO RUN THROUGH IT MYSELF TO MAKE SURE IT WAS WORKING PROPERLY. UNFORTUNATELY, I FORGOT HOW TO RESET IT BEFORE YOU ARRIVED. SO IN LIGHT OF THE SITUATION, YOU MAY PASS."

Sans was waiting for her on the other side of the spike wall. "nice job so far. you're really great at puzzles." He winked at her before running after Papyrus. By the time she reached the next room, they were already waiting for her. A series of tiles stretched before her, all of them grey.

"HEY! IT'S THE HUMAN." He gestured to the tiles. "YOU'RE GOING TO LOVE THIS PUZZLE. IT WAS DESIGNED BY THE BRILLIANT DR. ALPHYS. YOU SEE THESE TILES? ONCE I THROW THIS SWITCH, THEY WILL BEGIN TO CHANGE COLORS. EACH COLOR HAS A DIFFERENT FUNCTION. RED TILES..."

He continued describing the different functions in detail; but there were so many, she could barely keep up. By the time he was finished, she was completely lost but still nodded when he asked if she understood.

"GREAT. ONE LAST THING. THIS PUZZLE IS COMPLETELY RANDOM. WHEN I PULL THIS SWITCH, IT WILL MAKE A PUZZLE THAT HAS NEVER BEEN SEEN BEFORE! NOT EVEN I WILL KNOW THE SOLUTION. ARE YOU READY? HERE WE GO!"

He flipped the switch, causing the tiles to circulate randomly through a whole bunch of different colors. They went through so many that the sheer number of blinking lights hurt her eyes. Unfortunately, he had apparently pulled the lever too hard and the machine spazzed out a couple of times before finally exploding, covering the three of them in soot. The tiles reverted to a solid pink, making them easy to walk across. Papyrus, rather mortified, simply walked off into the next room while Sans lingered behind.

"actually, that spaghetti from before? it wasn't too bad for my brother. since he started cooking, he's been improving a lot. and apparently, a lot more than i thought if you actually managed to hork it down."

"Maybe I've just got a strong stomach."

"i'll bet." he looked at her heart. "too bad the same can't be said for your soul."

"Ooh, right." She winced again. "Do you know any way to heal it?"

"once you get to snowdin town, you can sleep in the inn, and you'll heal right up."

"Thanks." She started heading into the next room.

"one last thing." His words made her stop. "papyrus has been happier today than I'd ever seen him. he really likes seeing humans."

"Uh-huh." She nodded.

"so i'd really appreciate it." his pupils vanished into a black vacuum . "So long as you manage to stay one."

Author's Note:

So funny thing about this. I decided to adapt Undyne's love for anime upon the rest of the Royal Guard too, especially since my commissioner is a big fan of the stuff himself. (I'm more of a medium fan if you're wondering). And he's also a big fan of Sword Art Online. And while I personally despise that show due to a multitude of utterly wasted potential, I wasn't going to pass up the chance for a personal tribute to my commissioner.

Also, I decided to change the fight a bit because I wanted the Royal Guard to come off as more competent than they do in game. Sure in Undertale, the monsters with legitimate killing intent can be counted on two hands (The Greater Dog thinks fight is just play for example); however, I still wanted them to come off as legitimately threatening regardless of their demeanor.

Also, sorry about the puzzles, but I really just don't have the patience to describe what they look like, what they do, and THEN have her solve them. I might have her do one or two in the future but certainly not all of them.

Comments

[HB_DS2013]

That battle with Dogamy and Dogaressa reminds me of the boss battles from SAO.

[Dinode]

So . . . does Sunset being a unicorn originally instead of a human affect anything?

[Infernity Zero]

8643569 you mean besides from her being able to stomach papyrus's spaghetti?

[00RaiserGundam]

That last line from Sans has me wondering what he means by that.

[Emtu]

8643579
Pretty sure it's a reference to one of sans's lines in a genocide route:

well, i'll be straight-forward with you. my brother'd really like to see a human. so, y'know, it'd really help me out... if you kept pretending to be one.

[00RaiserGundam]

8643882
Well if that's the case, I sure as hell hope Sunset isn't forced to go down that path.

[Magnus Orion]

”So long as you manage to stay one.”

Clears throat Actually, sunset is still a pony, simply under a transformation spell, and as such, if a major transformation effect were to occur, she would simply revert to being a unicorn, thus rendering Sans’ statement null.

[Infernity Zero]

8644311
You're barking up the wrong tree, buddy.

[GIGA-XISBASS]

8644377
Thanks.

[Magnus Orion]

8644573
^{SCIENCE BIIIIITCH}

[verypeeved]

8644311
if this were an illusion, you would have a point, but transformation spells alter the person physically. so for all intents and purposes, while the spell is active, she is indeed a human.
i0.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/000/517/111/fbd.jpg

[Magnus Orion]

8655223
...fuck.

[MurderP0n7]

8655223
there is also the possibility of:

A. it's a permanent spell impossible to break.

B. The spell was instantaneous, that is, it started, turned her, and ended, in that case, Sunset dear Shimmer is a human in everything but mind.

C. There was no spell, interdimensional travel is confusing or is it a Universal rule that every being that goes to that universe does or does have to be human