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“You need a catchphrase!” Papyrus looked up from the rocks he was stacking to stare at his fish friend.
“Why?”
“Well, maybe not a catch phrase but something. A title! Every hero has one!” Undyne smiled, poking at the river with her stick. “It's so when people think of you they'll go 'Oh my gosh! It's Papyrus!!!'” She pretended to fangirl and Papyrus laughed.
“They'd recognize me by just how great I am! I don't need a title or catch phrase.” Undyne scoffed tossing her stick into the river.
“Nu-uh, everyone needs one. Gerson said they use to call him the Warhammer!”
“Wow, that's cool!”
“Right?! I've been thinking about mine forever! It has to be as amazing and powerful as me! Something that strikes fear into my enemies! Something so powerful and awesome the name alone will have you on your knees!” Undyne posed on a rock dramatically, grinning at her friend.
“What is it?!”
“I shall be Undyne,” Undyne summoned a spear and pointed it at the cave ceiling, leg propped on a rock, “UNDYNE THE UNDYING!!!” Papyrus clapped. “I shall never fall! Death can not stop me! I shall never be defeated! Humans shall tremble before me! Death fears me!!!” She let out a loud laugh and Papyrus continued clapping.
“That's super cool! I don't think I could ever be that!”
“Of course, you can!” Undyne pointed her spear at Papyrus before it faded. She rested a hand on his shoulder. “You need to think about it. Think of who you are, the message you want to send. When people hear your name what do you want them to know?”
“That I'm friendly!” Undyne grimaced.
“No! You want them to know you are strong!” Papyrus rubbed at his arm a hesitant on the idea.
“Oh well, I don't want them to fear me,” he told his friend who barked out a laugh.
“It'll make them respect you! Your name must strike fear in the human but make all the monsters love and adore you! That is your lesson today Papyrus. Your homework is to go home and come up with a list of twenty names! I want to hear that new title first thing tomorrow morning!!! And remember! It is all about confidence and delivery! Practice the name! Make it perfect!”
“Yes, Undyne!” Papyrus saluted before he ran off.
A name was a lot harder to come up with than Papyrus realized. He spent hours thinking of words that rhymed with his name, words he liked, words that were scary, words that were great, he even spent a good portion of his day reading a dictionary in hopes of finding that one word that'll pop out of him but came up with nothing. Well, that wasn't completely true. He had numerous lists and even one of his top twenty but none of them came close to Undyne's. He didn't feel the confidence she had when she read her out. Papyrus thought the names were cool but not his.
“You okay, bro?” Sans asked watching his brother chew threw yet another pencil. Papyrus sat at their dining room table or what use to be their dining room table. You could hardly tell what it was under the paper, books, and broken pencils. It looked more like Sans' desk in his lab than their usual tidy table.
“Fine,” Papyrus muttered, spitting out his broken pencil and replacing it with a new one.
“Yeah? You sure about that?” Sans questioned, poking at the pencil and Papyrus slapped his hand away.
“Sans please, I am very busy. I do not have time for whatever it is you are doing.”
“I'm just making sure my baby bro is doing okay. Is there something I can help you with?”
“No, I doubt someone as lazy as you would be interested in the hard work and complexity of my assignment. Also, Undyne told me to do this myself.”
“What that fish doesn't know won't hurt her. Come on let me help you out before you chew through every pencil in the Underground,” the older skeleton nudged his brother and his younger sibling let out a loud groan.
“It's a personal assignment, Sans. Even if you wanted to help you couldn't.”
“Well, how about you put it on hold for a sec and take a break. It's almost midnight.” Papyrus gasped and shot up from his seat.
“WHAT?! I forgot to make dinner!” Sans grabbed his brother's flowing scarf and pulled him back as he tried to rush to the kitchen.
“Chill bro, chill. I ate at Grillby's and there's plenty of leftover pasta from this morning. I'll get you some, clean off a spot on our table, okay?” The skeleton released his brother's scarf and walked over to the kitchen. Papyrus let out a deep sigh and started to collect his things.
“I wish you wouldn't eat so much at that place. Grillby is a fine fellow but his food is not good for you.”
“Foods food, bro. Can't be too picky,” Sans called as he set the tupperware into the microwave.
“On a plate please,” Papyrus told his brother but he earned a shrug in return.
“Too late.” The younger skeleton rolled his eyes.
“And you wonder why I don't ask for your help.”
“I'm offended, dear brother,” Sans said dramatically. “My laziness may seem limitless but for you, there is always a limit. What's up and why are you-” Sans caught a glance at the dictionary and made a face, “...reading a dictionary?”
“Undyne told me to come up with a cool catchphrase like her. Only not a catchphrase but a title or just something really cool. Something I shout at my enemies to let them know that I, Papyrus am here! She said it should be something scary and intimidating but I'm going for a more friendly approach. Something that'll cause humans to gawk on marvel at my amazingness!” Papyrus struck a pose and Sans grinned sticking a fork into the plastic container.
“You'll come up with something bro. You got the talent and skill to be great at anything you do,” Sans smiled, handing his brother the pasta. Papyrus took it and twirled it around with his fork.
“I am great Sans, but someone as great as I need a proper name. Something big.” Papyrus took a big bite of his pasta and thought. “Something huge.” Sans took a look at Papyrus' list and smirked. “Something...great…great...something as great as I...Papyrus...” Papyrus suddenly let out a hight pitched shriek and threw his dinner at the wall. Sans all but jumped out of his clothes, magic sparking to life.
“What?! What is-”
“SOMETHING AS GREAT AS I!” Papyrus cried, grabbing his brother's shoulder and shaking him frantically. “As great as Papyrus! Papyrus the Great! No! THE GREAT PAPYRUS!” Papyrus screamed once more, lifting Sans up and dancing around the room. “A name fit for someone as great as I! A name that shall let everyone know how amazing as talent I am! A name humans shall tremble over and beg to become my friend! I shall stop them in my path and alert the entire world of my presence! For I shall be known as The Great Papyrus!!! NYEHEHEHE!!!” Papyrus jumped up and down as he let out an ungodly high squeal. He gasped going silent and Sans fell to the ground. “I need to tell Undyne.”
“It's like almost midnight,” Sans reminded his brother but Papyrus was lost. He had stars in his sockets and radiated such a freakishly happy aura Sans' own laziness and mild depression feel threatened.
“Sans! I'm going to Undyne's!” Papyrus called as if his brother wasn't standing right next to him. Before Sans could stop his brother he was out the door running, waking up the entire town as he shouted, “TIS I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS!!!”