Guiltale

Guiltale Chapter Twenty-Four: Undyne and Dash

Walking was a little hard at first – we hadn't fused casually since the RUINS, and Chara found it difficult to not move every couple of steps, leading to a stumble – but eventually we got the hang of it again. We progressed slowly though, trying to keep a cool demeanor. Eventually we got close enough that there wasn't a veil of snow obscuring the brightness of Papyrus' permanent outfit, and we stopped to listen. It was strange that he hadn't already noticed us, as he often had before, so we decided caution was better than just jumping in.

"-NO, NO, I SWEAR I- I UNDERSTAND, UNDYNE, IT'S JUST... AH, YOU COULD NOT UNDERSTAND. I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS...!"

His tone was... difficult to decipher. We'd never imagined him getting agitated, and this seemed to be the closest thing there was. His capital voice, usually with unquestionable cheer, sounded somewhat tired and breathless. Chara agreed, pointing out his pacing and how he never looked in the direction of town. He wasn't concerned with me arriving, he was-

"AH, YES! THE HUMAN APPROACHES. DO NOT WORRY, UNDYNE – I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, WILL CAPTURE THEM THIS TIME!" He'd finally seen us, whipping around with the phone still to his malleus. We immediately assumed a more balanced stance – one my father had instilled in me in his karate school – but Papyrus simply raised a finger, asking for a moment to finish his call. I nodded.

"NO, I- COME ON UNDYNE, GIVE ME A CHANCE! GOODBYE!"

Sounds like someone's being very pushy...
Yeah, we've gotta go fast here I think.
Any ideas?

Papyrus finally stood square to me, puffing out his chest as his giant cinderblock of a phone fell noiselessly and heedless into the powder. His stance was as confident as ever, but his eyes betrayed him.

"Hello, Papyrus." Chara said timidly, paying extra attention to actually using her 'h'. The skeleton blinked but didn't show any other indication that something was amiss about 'my' unusual accent.

"HELLO AGAIN, HUMAN! I SEE YOU HAVE COME TO FINALLY CHALLENGE ME AGAIN???"

"Uh yep! We don't really have much of a choice but it's a challenge I want to achieve.
Um, w-I mean, you're very strong."

Papyrus squinted, then relaxed. "WELL, I AM A MOST FORMIDABLE OPPONENT! IT IS ONLY NATURAL THAT YOU WOULD WANT TO ACHIEVE MY GREATNESS. HOWEVER..." He put his hands on his hips, seeming more assured, "YOU SHALL NOT SUCCEED! I WILL CAPTURE YOU, AND THEN UNDYNE WILL BE PROUD OF ME... BUT UH, WHY DID YOU REFER TO YOURSELF IN THE PLURAL?"

"Er,
uh,"

"OH WELL. LET'S GO!"

And my SOUL was out of our chest, bones flying towards me at a faster pace than ever before. At least they were the usual first set of blue ones, so all we needed to do was stay sti-

"O-
www!"

Chara had twitched my arm, making a bone attack hit us. I looked up, seeing, for once, my health indicators in the corner of my eye. 26/28.

Not that bad... still hurt though, you gotta be prepared-
I know!

We jumped onto a tall bone, receiving an encouraging sound from Papyrus. Chara carefully hopped us along a string of them, ducking when they came from above. I focused my energy into a fine point, siphoning it through a hole in the human part of my SOUL and coaxing it carefully until-

CLACK!!!

"OWIE! GOOD ONE!" it hit him in the shoulder, sticking out only for a moment before my focus dissipated along with it. Papyrus gave me a thumbs up.

I did a little fist pump - knocking us off balance. We careened off the bone and into the bank, releasing a puff of powder into the already violent air and undoing my bun. It didn't hurt much, but it still took us a moment to catch our bearings enough to get upright again. Standing up is much more difficult when there are two people in the head trying to do it at the same time in slightly different ways – luckily Papyrus was a gentleman and let us get up before continuing the battle. This time Chara was able to dodge easily, her fighting instincts more well-tuned than mine. We dodged haphazardly as I attempted another shot; I missed, but Papyrus seemed proud anyway.