A Shadow of the Past

Meet the Squad

"Psst, hey Lunar!" Switch, aka Dreamswap Cross, whispered to Dreamswap Nightmare, who hadn't gone by the name "Nightmare" since the incident a year ago. They were currently sneaking through the headquarters of the Justice Reigns organization looking for the source of negativity Lunar had felt. They intended to save a poor soul who Solar considered a "threat" before it was too late.

"What?" Lunar hissed back.

"Do you know where we're going?"

"Of course I do. Now, try to keep your emotions neutral so we don't get caught!"

An explosion coming from the other side of the building caught their attention, so they hurried toward their destination faster. Template had been given the task of distracting the guards, even Solar himself, and so far, it was working. Lunar and Switch found themselves in the dungeon, where the negativity was coming from. Switch drew his oversized knife - can we really call that a knife? - to break open the cell door they had stopped at. With a little bit of the light magic he possessed, Lunar created a small orb of light and shined it around the dark room. It settled on the only occupant, lighting up the heavily injured skeleton. The two others carefully balanced the unconscious skeleton between them on their shoulders and hauled him out into the hallway.

"This guy looks familiar, Lunar," Switch said as they carried the skeleton through the dungeon.

"Yeah, he almost looks like- WATCH OUT!!!"

A splotch of ink sailed just inches above their heads. There stood Pale, blocking their path.

A few moments earlier....

Solar walked with long, purposeful strides out to see a certain dark-boned skeleton taunting his guards. Pale followed in his footsteps, unwilling to leave his side. It had happened too often for his liking that his boss took off without his knowledge, so he endeavored to keep an eyesocket out for a change of plans where Solar is concerned.

Template dodged the spears sent at him by the guards, which were a version of Swapfell Undyne, and a version of Underswap Undyne.
(In their multiverse, the original timeline is canonically Underswap, while "our" version of the original timeline is their Underswap. Make sense?)
Each time they missed, he'd mock them with phrases like, "you're too slow," or "you can't even aim." And each time, it pissed them off even more, to the point where Swapfell Undyne wanted to strangle him then skewer him and roast him on an open fire.

"What is going on out here?" Solar asked as calmly as he could. No matter what, he had to maintain his dignity in the presence of those who look up to him.

"Uh, it looks like one of the Meme Squad, sir," Underswap Undyne said, glaring at Template. He stuck his tongue out at her, which made her growl in annoyance.

"Hmm, I think I will deal with this riffraff myself." As he said this, he drew his massive, two-handed sword and flew straight towards Template. The actually colorful skeleton's eyes widened, then he ducked just as Solar's sword swung just over his head at a speed that would've cut his head clean off his shoulders. He quickly stood up and grabbed his giant, trusty pen, and drew a wall of blue-black bricks in front of him just as Solar dived back toward him. The golden skeleton crashed right through it, but his wings were thrown off balance by the impact. Template chose to run up the wall of the building and flip up onto the roof. An easy feat for him, since he's been an outstanding athlete for most of the life he can remember. Solar had landed gracefully, despite his lack of balance, and flew up to the roof. Template decided to play dirty this time, and drew a bomb-omb with his pen. He sent it at Solar, who whacked it away with his wing. It exploded in midair, sending sparks down above Pale's head. When Solar looked back, Template had disappeared.