Chapter Text
“The Gauntlet of Deadly Terror?” The Doctor inquired almost lackadaisically, eyeing the contraption with a mixture of fear, awe and respect.
“Yes!!” Papyrus cried. “When it activates, it will—“
“—Papyrus, no offense, but I’ve kind ‘a got a general idea of what it’ll do. That mace’s gonna swing, the cannon’s gonna fire, the flames’re gonna torch me, and the dog’s gonna bark menacingly.”
“Actually, I meant the dog as emotional support.” The tall skeleton replied. “But yes!! You are very smart, Dr. Doctor!! So you must know that once I activate THE GAUNTLET OF DEADLY TERROR, only the tiniest chance of survival will remain!!! Are you ready?”
“—Actually, no, I’m not really—“
“Because! I!” He moved towards a lever jutting out of the ground, each step punctuating a word. “Am! About! To! Do it!”
Papyrus placed his hands onto the lever, grabbing it with fervor. Yet, he only stood there, and all that The Doctor could hear was the whistling of the winter wind. Sans turned to his brother, asking, “—Well? What’s the holdup?”
“H-Holdup?!” He shot a glare at Sans. “Wh-What holdup?! I’m—I’m about to activate it now!”
Silence.
Sans inched a bit closer to Papyrus, and noted, “—That, uh, doesn’t look very activated, bro.”
Papyrus let go of the lever, moving to Sans. All Ten could do was watch, the events unfolding before him being quite the opposite of what he’d expected. Was Papyrus perhaps…?
“Well!!! This challenge!!! It seems… Maybe… Too easy to defeat the human with.” He moved away from the lever bashfully. “Yeah! We can’t use this one!” He pounded his chest with a mittoned fist. “I AM A SKELETON WITH STANDARDS!”
With another wave of his hand, he made the rest of the traps retreat. “Away it goes!!!”
The Doctor, meanwhile, gave him an incredulous stare. It wasn’t every day that an adversary just put away their death-trap. He smiled at the skeleton. “Ah, perhaps the Great Papyrus isn’t so violent after all?”
“—Wh-What are you looking at?!” Papyrus shrieked from across the bridge. His voice betrayed a bit of a blush to it. “This is yet another decisive victory for the GREAT PAPYRUS! NYEH—HEH—HEH?”
With an uncertain quiver in his tone, Papyrus was off, yet again. Sans, turning to follow his brother, winked. “See you again soon, Doc.”
Sans followed, and soon, trailing the large-booted footsteps of Papyrus and non-existant footsteps of the levitating Sans, The Doctor reached a quaint little town, blanketed in snow. Lights covered a faded sign, which read in warm-colored bubble letters: “WELCOME TO SNOWDIN!”
“Snowdin?” Ten repeated aloud. “Blimey, that’s a cute name.”
He walked through the town a bit, waving to each monster who walked by. A bunny walking a bunny, another bunny thoroughly weirded out by that fact, and a bear putting presents to Santa underneath what appeared to be a Christmas tree. Beside the tree stood an armless monster child, who wore a striped shirt. They appeared to be a lizard, and had large scales trailing down their back. With wide eyes, they jumped in front of The Doctor. “—Yo! You’re not a kid!”
“…No, I’m not,” Ten confessed, jokingly guilty. “How could you tell?”
“You don’t have stripes! Kids have striped clothes.”
“Oh! Well. Lemme tell you, you’re wrong there.” Ten pulled up his coat-sleeve a bit, showing off his suit, pinstriped with brown and blue. The child stared at it in awe.
“Whoah! I never knew adults wore stripes, too!”
“Where I’m from, the smaller the stripes, the more grown-up you are,” Ten fibbed with a smile. “Don’t worry; y’ never grow out ‘a stripes.”
“Thanks, Mr…”
“Doctor,” Ten nodded. “I’m The Doctor. And you?”
“My name’s—“
Before the Monster Kid could reply, Papyrus and Sans appeared once more, cutting them off. They were leaving a diner that appeared to be called Grillby’s, burgers and drink in hand. “—SANS! Look! The human!!!”
“Yep, that’s the human,” Sans agreed nonchalantly.
“HUMAN!!!” Papyrus cried, “MEET ME AT THE CLIFF TO THE EAST LATER THIS EVENING!”
“You mean an Agni Kai, at sunset?” The Doctor joked, slipping in a joke from one of his favorite animated series for fun.
“—Whatever that means, YES!!” The skeleton bellowed. “AGNI KAI! AT SUNSET!!! I’LL SEE YOU THERE, DR. DOCTOR!!!” He made an I’m watching you gesture with his hands before scuttling off once more, a shrugging Sans in tow.
The Monster Kid and The Doctor stood there in silence, unsure of what to say, until the Kid managed to squeak out, “…You have interesting friends, Mr. Doctor.”
“…You could say that,” Ten concurred.
“Still!” The Monster Kid jumped up a bit, moving back to the initial conversation. “Have you heard about Undyne?”
“Undyne?”
“Yeah! She’s the coolest! She can suplex boulders and children! At the same time!!! She lives in the Waterfall! That’s the town next door. She’s kinda the coolest monster ever, to be honest.”
“She sounds pretty cool t’ me,” Ten replied, nodding along supportively. He’d overheard Papyrus and Sans talking about Undyne before. He also had an odd feeling that he’d meet her later. But, that was an adventure for another day. In the meantime, he had two skeletons to worry about. “Oh, by the way—Stripey—can I call ya Stripey?”
The Kid nodded. “I mean, that’s not my name, but sure. I love nicknames! One time, my sister called me ‘Trash’! That one didn’t stick long, though.”
“Stripey. Got it. Yeah. So, Stripey, could ya gimme a lil’ bit of advice about fightin’ Papyrus?”
Stripey nodded. “Yep! Don’t.”
“Don’t what?”
“Don’t. Just don’t fight him. Papyrus could kick my tail any day! Imagine what he’d do to you! C’mon, Mr. Doctor! You’re better off if you just quit. He may be nice, but that doesn’t mean he’s weak.”
“…Blimey, thanks, Stripey.”
Stripey flashed a toothy smile, unable to sense the sarcasm in The Doctor’s voice. “You’re welcome! Well. Gotta go! Sister’s gonna call me soon. I’ll see you!” They bobbed their head up and down in lieu of a wave, leaving The Doctor alone in the town square, the lights twinkling like multicolored stars in the frosty air.
Left with nothing to do but explore, The Doctor decided to bide his time by talking with more locals, making a trip to the library to learn more about Monsterkind, and by exploring the town. He made sure to a pay a trip to the glowing crystal at the town’s entrance, one of the many that made his hearts swell with reassurance. Ten noted that it always helped him feel better, aided in adding a bit of much-needed confidence in the terrifying subterranean world he found himself in.
Still, that fight with Papyrus could end well. Papyrus was probably a huge softie. But, he was a member of the Royal Guard, so he had to have at least some power. If Stripey thought so… Well, kids tended to be honest. Ten was probably screwed.
But, The Doctor was DETERMINED to not lose. With that motivation in his hearts, he trekked through Snowdin until he finally left the town’s boundaries and reached the cliff, where a snowstorm whipped itself up, whiteness surrounding him, snowflakes hitting him like glass shards. They slashed at his cheeks, leaving him to lower his head as he went on, until he saw a shadow in the distance approaching closer.
The battle was approaching, and there was nothing that The Doctor could do about it.