Izuku took a deep breath of Snowdin's air. Feeling the chill in his throat, Izuku watched as his exhale clouded his vision. This was it. After a good night's sleep and the surprise of an extra 10hp added to his maximum, he was ready to face papyrus. Taking his time walking past what the locals pointed out to be the skeleton brothers' house, he found himself slowly engulfed in mist.
"Halt!" Papyrus commanded.
Izuku could barely makeout his opponent's silhouette.
"Before we start, I need to talk about some complex feelings."
Izuku solemnly nodded. "Ok."
"Feelings, like." Papyrus paused, contemplating how to put it into words. "The joy of matching someone's cleverness, admiring the guts it takes for one to look outside the norm to complete a task. Having someone cool and smart think you're cool. These feelings... They must be what you've been feeling now."
Izuku blanched at the assumption.
"I could hardly blame you for feeling this way. I know how amazing I am; I've never wondered what having lots of friends is like. But I pity you. I pity that these feelings cannot be reciprocated because of my duty. But I've wanted to make an exception this once. I would like to be your-"
Papyrus paused.
"No-"
"No, this isn't right. I have a duty to my post, to my people, to my potential friends and family!" Papyrus affirmed with heat in his voice.
The mist had started to clear as Papyrus became visible to Izuku.
"This is my duty as a royal guard! To capture you and take you to the king!"
Izuku, long ready, tensed as the pressure of battle engulfed him. The determination to continue home burning.
Papyrus, with a simple gesture, pointed a wall of blue bones toward Izuku. Waiting out the attack, there was a tense pause before Izuku's soul was turned blue, and a new weight was added to him. Seeing a bone wall approach, he was forced to discover his new status. While he felt he could move normally, his jumps gained the feeling of being underwater, making his jumps slow and higher than before.
"You're blue now! That's my attack! Nyeh heh heh heh!"
Play Undertale Ost: Bonetrousle
Glancing at the menu, he didn't like the options he had, so he did nothing.
"This won't stop me, Papyrus! I'll keep going forever if I have to." Izuku declared.
"Oh, the passion!" Papyrus swooned. "Once I've captured you, we must hang out!" he suggested, sending out waves of attacks.
Izuku was forced through what would be the equivalent of obstacles seen in old military movie obstacle courses. After a few nicks while he adapted to the blue sensation, Izuku mastered the art of dodging like an untrained teen. He was forced to jump, weave, and roll through the waves of the bone barrage thrown his way.
"Whaaaa." He screamed, diving into a tight gap in what looked like Papryus's last attack.
"Wowie! This is the longest any human has lasted against me!" He praised as Izuku panted from the stress of the dangerous workout. "I must commend you for making it this far with only minor scratches. I might not look it, but I've grown weary of this fight." He confessed, looking quite tired himself. "It's time I brought out my special attack!"
Papyrus adopted a cool attack pose as he waited for his attack to fire.
...
Turning around, he was exasperated at the sight of a dog biting one of his bones. "What the- Get off that, you mangy mutt!" He demanded as he chased down the dog. Getting his ankles "Broken" and falling in the snow from the dogs' clever feint, he gave up and patted himself off.
Hearing the sounds of suppressed giggles, Papyrus buried his embarrassment. "Fine then, I guess I'll just have to make a really cool normal attack!"
Recovering in time for the final barrage, Izuku jumped over and through bone structures made to look cool but seemed repetitive to the rest of his attacks. However, he quickly regretted that thought when a sea of bones was crashing his way. Forced to jump for his life, he was surprised to feel himself lift with his intent to jump.
He flew over the sea of bones, clittering and clacking with ferocity. Seeing a Huge bone in his path, Izuku failed,d trying to force his way up Just barely over the largest bone he had seen in his life before making it on the other side and landing roughly. Feeling the force of the landing travel through his legs, causing them to shake, he prepared to continue the dodging, only to see a lone small bone head his way.
Wobbley stepping to the side, Izuku looked at Papyrus, who was somehow sweating, huffing, and puffing like he needed to breathe.
"Well-" He gasped. "I guess that's it, human. You can't beat me. But I can see you're at your limit. I guess we could call it a tie. I, The Great Papyrus, will now spare you. Please accept my mercy."
Accepting the out given, Izuku's legs gave out from the jump, and he fell back into the snow. The cold air stung his lungs, but he had done it. He didn't necessarily win, but he didn't lose, and that was the win.
"Nyooo ho ho!" Hearing the cry, Izuku got to his feet. "I couldn't stop someone as weak as you!?" Papyrus questioned. "My dreams are over! Undyne will be so disappointed, and worst of all, my friend count will forever remain stagnant!" He wailed now on his hands and knees.
Walking over to the sad skeleton, Izuku patted his back. "Um papyrus? If you would still want to... I could still be your friend.
Papyrus's eyes lit up in hope. "You- You'll still want to be friends with me?!"
Izuku nodded with a comforting smile on his face. "Wowie, I finally have my first friend!" He jumped in joy. "Who knew all you had to do to make them was to give beings awful puzzles and then fight them!"
Izuku grimaced at the implications of Papyrus's train of thought. "Yeah, I don't think you need to do that for everybody. "Izuku suggested.
Papyrus blinked. "OH MY GOSH!!!" He screamed. "I NEVER EVEN GOT YOUR NAME!" Izuku chuckled as he came to the same realisation.
"Let's start over, human! I'm the Great Papyrus." He was introduced by extending his hand. "I'm Izuku Midoriya. You can call me Izuku." He said, firmly shaking the bony hand.
"Since we're friends now, I'll tell you to get out of the ruins." Papyrus smiled. "Keep heading west through Waterfall. Past that, you'll need to trek through Hotland. Finally, you'll take a few elevators through the core into New Home, then into the Castle." Looking down at Izuku, he was met with the boy scribbling the instructions down in his notebook.
Pausing in the writing due to a thought, Izuku's mood dipped. "Do you think the King would let me through?"He asked, remembering Toriels warning.
Papyrus's smile widened at the question. "What the king!" He said, amused. "You won't need to worry about him! He's a big fluffy pushover! I'm sure if you asked him. Excuse me, Mr. Dreamrr. Will you please guide me home? He'd take you to the barrer himself!"
His head was at war with itself, trying to implement the conflicting information about the King.
Finishing what he could, Izuku bowed to Papyrus. "Thank you for the instructions, Papyrus." Izuku thanked.
No need for that little Izuku! But since we're friends now, feel free to comeby anytime to hang out!" Papyrus said, heading to his house. "I'll see you when you're ready!"
Waving back at him. Izuku pondered what to do next.
"Heya."
Izuku jumped at the greeting as he met Sans's eyes.
"Oh man, you got me," Izuku said, relaxing at the familiar face.
"Yeah, I decided to watch the fight. Congrats on the tie." He complimented.
"It didn't feel like a win, though. I didn't throw a punch, and I just barely dodged what he had."
Sans patted Izuku's shoulder. "Don't expect so much from yourself, kid. My bro's pretty strong. The fact that you faced him like that was inspiring.
"Blushing at the praise, Izuku changed the subject.
"Was there something you needed?"
"Oh yeah! I was wondering, before you hang out with my bro, would you want to relax for a bit at Grillby's? I know how eccentric my bro is, and if you're gonna hang with him, you need some r-n-r." He said, guiding Izuku to the restaurant.
-
This is it, next chapter, the story will shift. Finally, the groundwork for the rest of the story will be laid out. Are you excited?!
Thanks for the powerstones and collections, I've realised they are a good source of motivation for my brainmeats. Give what you think I deserve and comment on how you think I did! I'll see you guys later!
p.s. If you could be any race in media to become right now, with the potential to grow stronger if you decided to train, what would you choose? I'd probably choose Sayians due to the similarities of being human and the ingrained instinct to become stronger without the whole being too strong problem.