Against All Odds

Part 2: Chapter 6

NO... NOT AGAIN, Papyrus thought. A thousand things were running through his mind, but this was the first sentence to take form with actual words. Everything else was nothing more than mere feeling, boiling to the point of anger. He'd never been so angry in his life... and here it was pure, righteous fury.

"NO!" he screamed, launching himself off the bed and slamming into the figure, sending a cluster of bones ahead of him in a blinding rage. The attacker, caught off guard, tried to hurl a number of stars at him, but was too late. The collision shook the nearby furniture, knocking the TV off the wall with a resounding CRASH. With a quick thrust, the intruder threw Papyrus off and bolted to the window, throwing a handful of stars like shuriken. The skeleton narrowly dodged, them, sending more bones in their direction.

The figure ducked, sending the bones flying straight through the glass, shattering it wide open. Seeing this as a good opportunity to escape, they made a break for the window, but was deterred by a wall of blue bones that appeared seemingly out of nowhere. They turned around to see Papyrus, eyes glowing, fist outstretched as though he was physically holding the bones together.

"YOU'RE NOT GOING ANYWHERE," he growled, his voice lower and more forceful than even he'd ever heard. It was almost as though he wasn't himself, a different person entirely. "I'M NOT GOING TO LET YOU HURT ANYONE ELSE."

Chuckling darkly, the villain produced a huge barrage of stars, hurling them all at once. Papyrus moved out of the way, but he was the only member of the opposing team in the room who was unscathed.

"Ow..." Undyne touched the side of her left cheek with her right hand, a fresh line of blood coloring her fingertips.

Papyrus saw this, utter horror gripping his core. In less than a second, he'd wheeled back around to face the intruder.

It all happened so quickly. Papyrus didn't know what had happened. He wasn't even aware of what he was doing. But in a fraction of a second, from over his shoulder, a massive beam had materialized, blasting the shadowy figure and the wall behind them. When the dust settled, the attacker lay on the floor, barely on the cusp of consciousness. Behind them was a gaping hole in the wall, framing the starry night outside.

He turned around to check on Undyne, who sat on her bed, eye wider than he'd ever seen in his life.

"Whoa..." she breathed.

Papyrus turned to look over his shoulder and saw a humongous animalistic skull hovering in midair. It looked back at him and seemingly smiled, winking in Undyne's direction before vanishing in midair.

Wide-eyed himself, Papyrus then stumbled backwards. Remembering what had just taken place, he directed his attention to the floor. In a bit of a daze, he bent down to check on the intruder, who, while still alive, was pretty badly injured. Still, being alive meant that they were possibly capable of attacking again. He formed a magical cage of blue bones, lowering them over the figure.

The main lights for the room were flipped back on as a number of doctors and nurses entered to check on the commotion. One of them began checking on Undyne, tending to her grazed cheek.

The skeleton sat down on the edge of the empty bed, staring at everything before him. Reality flew in and finally hit him in the head like a ton of bricks. "...OH MY GOSH WHAT HAVE I DONE?"

Undyne's eye was still wide open. "Papyrus, what was all that? Am I dreaming? And how come you never did that during our training lessons?"

"I DIDN'T WANT TO HURT YOU, UNDYNE! ALSO, ON A SIDE NOTE, I DIDN'T ACTUALLY KNOW I COULD DO THAT..."

"No kidding..."