Poppy's Tainted Soul
Poppy's POV
Poppy shambled after the others. Her feet dragged in the snow and her head hung low. No one spoke to her. Some of them glared at her, though most just ignored her. Poppy's soul appeared. She glanced up to see an ice blue duck, about Frisk's height.
"Don't do anything yet," Frisk ordered, blocking everyone with their arms. Ray made no move to protest. Poppy let out a grunt. Clover glared daggers at her. Crescent-shaped objects flew through the air, zipping past the group as they dodged them.
"Better not snow flake out!" the creature joked. Frisk forced a laugh. Ray next to them burst out laughing, gripping his chest. Poppy's eyes narrowed. "Thanks!" the duck creature exclaimed. "You're the best." Then he waddled away. The group continued down the path. Frisk skidded to a halt in the middle of the trail. Poppy tilted her head in confusion, glancing to her side to see some sort of sentry station on the side of the path. A dog head was poking out of it.
"Did something move?" the dog asked, looking around with narrowed eyes. "Was it my imagination? I can only see moving things. If something WAS moving… for example, a human… I'll make sure it never moves again!"
"BRING IT ON!" Ray shouted. Poppy lunged at Ray, covering his mouth with her hand. The little brat licked her hand. Poppy retaliated, shoving him away with a growl.
"Don't move an inch!" the dog growled, raising a blue sword. Poppy froze. The sword passed through her harmlessly. Only Ray was harmed, getting thrown aside as the sword hit his fists. Frisk stepped forward. Reaching out, they pat the dog's head. The dog immediately let out barks and yips of excitement. Frisk dashed away. Everyone else followed, ducking below the counter.
"Okay, so we learned something from that," Teri insisted, enthusiastically. "Don't move when the attack is blue." Everyone nodded. Poppy glanced back at the station, where the dog was still yipping and looking around with elated eyes. It was just like any dog: easily excited, energetic, and adorable. Yes, that one deserves to live. It probably doesn't know any better after all. In the next area, Sans stood on the side of the path, smiling his usual smile.
"Hey, Sans!" Ray greeted with a wave.
"Hey," Sans replied. "I had something important to tell you all. My brother has a very special attack. If you see a blue attack, don't move and it won't hurt you."
"We figured that out," Teri replied, "Thanks though."
"No prob, guys," Sans replied, winking. "But if you need a way to remember it, just think of a stop sign."
"But stop signs are red," Ray protested, cocking his head.
"Think of blue stop signs then," Sans replied.
Ray laughed again. "Thanks!" he called, rushing through the snow.
Poppy reached out. "Wait, stop!" It was too late. Ray rushed onto the ice, slipping onto his face with a gasp. Poppy laughed.
"You could've warned me!" Ray snapped, struggling to his feet. He still slipped around.
"I tried to!" Poppy called, walking around the ice. The others giggled as well. Frisk slid onto the ice, taking Ray's hand and leading him back onto the snow. The group headed north. All that laid ahead was a small clearing, with a snowman smiling in the centre.
"Aww! How cute!" Kat approached the snowman, Teri at her side.
"Hi!" Teri greeted, smiling brightly and waving.
"Hello." The snowman replied. Kat and Teri stepped back, their eyes wide. "I am a snowman, I cannot move." Frisk and Clover joined them while Ray and Poppy hung back. Poppy's head was still hung low.
"Why am I still surprised?" Teri muttered.
"I want to see the world," the snowman continued. "But I cannot move. If you would be so kind, travelers, please… Take a piece of me and bring it very far away."
"Sure!" Kat replied, gently taking a piece of snow in her hands.
"Thank you… good luck."
"How are we gonna prevent it from melting?" Poppy grunted, crossing her arms. Her question went ignored.
"I'll hold on to it," Frisk offered, making their way back to the main area.
"Nah, it's fine," Kat insisted, cradling the snow piece like a baby. "I don't mind keeping it." Frisk shrugged. They continued east this time. Frisk skidded to a halt before a clearing, their eyes wide. Poppy gasped. Sans and Papyrus were both there, chatting with each other. How did Sans get here so quickly?!
"YOU'RE SO LAZY!" Papyrus exclaimed, his eyes narrowed at his brother. "YOU WERE NAPPING ALL NIGHT!"
"I think that's called… sleeping," Sans replied, looking away. Ray giggled.
"EXCUSES! EXCUSES!" Papyrus turned to look at the others. Poppy froze. Papyrus looked back at his brother. "YOU DIDN'T TELL ME THERE WERE MORE OF THEM!"
"Ah, must've slipped my mind…" Sans replied with a shrug.
Papyrus turned to look at the group again, smiling dumbly. "AHEM, HUMANS YOU SHALL NOT PASS THIS AREA! IN ORDER TO STOP YOU… MY BROTHER AND I HAVE CREATED SOME PUZZLES!" Poppy facepalmed. Seriously?! "I THINK YOU WILL FIND THIS ONE QUITE SHOCKING!" Ray was giggling again. Grunting, Poppy shoved him, to which he shoved her back. "FOR YOU SEE! THIS IS THE INVISIBLE... " He paused for dramatic effect, probably. "ELECTRICITY MAZE!" Poppy's eyes widened. Okay, that might actually be difficult. "WHEN YOU TOUCH THE WALLS OF THIS MAZE." Papyrus held out a small orb. "THIS ORB WILL ADMINISTER A HEARTY ZAP." Poppy facepalmed again. Nevermind, he's still stupid. "SOUND LIKE FUN?"
"No," Poppy grunted.
"BECAUSE THE AMOUNT OF FUN YOU WILL PROBABLY HAVE IS ACTUALLY RATHER SMALL I THINK. OK, YOU CAN GO AHEAD NOW!" Poppy and Frisk stepped forward. Just as expected, Papyrus on the other side was immediately electrocuted. He stomped the ground like a child. "SANS! WHAT DID YOU DO?!" He turned to his brother.
"I think the human has to hold the orb," Sans replied, beaming. Yeah, obviously.
"OH, OKAY." Then, Papyrus did something even stupider: revealed the puzzle solution by walking through the maze and leaving footsteps in the SNOW. Frisk took the orb. They trekked the path that Papyrus had left with ease. Poppy did the other obvious thing: GOING AROUND THE FREAKING MAZE. The others followed Frisk's lead.
"INCREDIBLE! YOU SLIPPERY SNAILS! YOU SOLVED IT SO EASILY… TOO EASILY!" Poppy facepalmed yet again. Have I died and gone to idiot-land?! After more monologuing, Papyrus unceremoniously wandered off.
"So he's an idiot," Poppy muttered to Ray.
"Kinda, but he seems fun," Ray replied, shrugging. "I mean, puzzles are better than death." Poppy shrugged in agreement. She continued after the group, far behind as she dragged her feet through the snow. Finally, they disappeared from her sight completely. Plopping down in the snow, Poppy looked around. The creatures from earlier scurried around, as well as some strange looking ones. She could kill them all… Sometimes when Poppy killed an enemy, something would surge through her. Her whole body felt strengthened. Her attacks were stronger, she could take more hits. Poppy shook her head. Even killing in self-defense started to feel like a stretch. Poppy grunted. Am I only feeling this way because of my friends' pressuring?! Poppy's soul emerged. Her eyes narrowed at a little snow creature with ice on its head.
"GO AWAY!" Poppy yowled, lunging at the creature. She slammed the notebook across the side of its face. Then she yanked the ice off its head, stomping the rest into the ground with a crunch. Dust swirled through the wind, sticking to her hands like honey. Something surged through Poppy. She stood taller, her skin thicker and eyes narrowed. Her thoughts wandered back to the Ruins.
The frog creature was shooting flies at Poppy, which she was narrowly able to avoid. In a fit of rage, she swung her notebook onto its head. The frog let out a croak of pain. It was shaking as it fired its second attack. Poppy lunged at it, grabbing it by its tiny neck and crushing it until the monster became dust in her hand. It scared her at first. However, that was the first time she felt the power surge. Little did she know at the time, but her 'HP' had just risen. She was able to take more hits. Her attacks also did more damage to the ones she fought. Every monster she fought only took one hit in order to make them surrender. However, she didn't accept all of their mercy. She tore a vegetable-like monster in half and smooshed a one-eyed creature into the ground with her foot.
She stood taller, her skin was thicker, and she felt like she could kill anyone that threatened her. I can only get stronger if I continue… Poppy's eyes widened. She gazed at her dusty hands. The horrified gazes of her victims seared into her mind. Her victims… This wasn't peer pressure, Poppy was a murderer!
Kat's POV
"HUMANS! I HOPE YOU'RE READY FOR-" Papyrus glared at Sans. "SANS! WHERE'S THE PUZZLE?!"
"It's right there," Sans answered, pointing to a piece of paper in the snow. "On the ground. Trust me, there's no way they can get past this one."
"What is it?" Kat asked, from behind Frisk. Ray made his way toward the paper, kneeling down to pick it up.
"It's a word search," he informed.
"Let's just skip it," Frisk muttered. Kat nodded. Frisk made their way toward Papyrus, Kat at their side as everyone else followed.
"SANS! THEY DIDN'T EVEN LOOK AT IT!" Papyrus exclaimed. Sorry, Kat longed to say.
"Whoops," Sans shrugged. "I knew I should have used today's crossword instead."
"WHAT?! CROSSWORD?! I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU SAID THAT! IN MY OPINION… JUNIOR JUMBLE IS EASILY THE HARDEST!"
"What? Really, dude? That easy-peasy word scramble? That's for baby bones."
Papyrus glared at his brother. "UN. BELIEVABLE." He glanced at Kat and the group. "HUMANS, SOLVE THIS DISPUTE!"
"Dude, there's like six of them, how is this gonna solve anything?" Sans asked.
"Jumble is harder!" Ray exclaimed, raising his hand. Everyone else nodded.
"HA! HA! YES! HUMANS MUST BE VERY INTELLIGENT IF THEY ALSO FIND JUNIOR JUMBLE SO DIFFICULT!" Papyrus laughed as he turned and walked away. Kat turned around. Frisk and Ray had gone up to Sans, chatting with him. Clover and Teri stood nearby. Poppy, however, sat in the snow. Is it just me, or do her glasses look cloudier than usual?
"Poppy?" She looked up at Kat.
"What?" she grunted.
Kat knelt in front of Poppy. "Are you okay? You seem a bit off."
"I'm fine," she sighed, scribbling down something in her notebook. She got up and followed the others as they made their way into the next area. Frisk took the lead, as usual. The next clearing had two small tables, one with a microwave on top and the other with a plate of spaghetti. Kat approached the spaghetti. To her relief, there were no meatballs in it, just noodles and sauce. However, it was frozen to the table. Frisk stopped randomly a few paces behind the spaghetti table, reaching out into the freezing air.
"Frisk, what are you doing?" Kat asked, approaching them.
Frisk met her gaze. "Uh… nothing." It was obviously a lie.
"Come on, Frisk, you can tell me," Kat insisted, resting her hands on Frisk's shoulders. They were silent for a while.
"Later," they finally grunted, pushing away from Kat.
"There's a note here from Papyrus!" Teri called, waving a piece of paper. Everyone crowded around her, looking at the note. It read:
HUMANS!! PLEASE ENJOY THIS SPAGHETTI. (LITTLE DO YOU KNOW, THIS SPAGHETTI IS A TRAP DESIGNED TO ENTICE YOU!!! YOU'LL BE SO BUSY EATING IT THAT YOU WON'T REALIZE YOU AREN'T PROGRESSING!! THOROUGHLY JAPED AGAIN BY THE GREAT PAPYRUS.)
NYEH HEH HEH
PAPYRUS
Poppy facepalmed, groaning something to herself.
"Why'd he write it all in uppercase?" Clover asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Because he's cool like that," Ray answered, grabbing the note and putting it back on the microwave. "There's no way to eat the spaghetti though. There's no way to use the microwave."
"Not to mention, the spaghetti is literally frozen to the table," Teri added, pulling on the spaghetti to no avail. A real shame too. It's even vegetarian.
"Let's keep going then," Frisk replied, already strutting past the microwave. The others followed. As they made their way through the next area, their souls suddenly emerged from their chests. A white dog stood before them. They held a shield and sword but even so, they panted excitedly.
"Pomer-granite," Frisk muttered, giggling to themself. Kat approached the dog, reaching out her hand to pet them. The dog immediately yipped excitedly. Then they walked away, Frisk leading them toward a path blocked by spikes.
"Okay…" they muttered. "So there's probably a switch hidden somewhere around here." Poppy jumped over the spikes.
"Or that…. That works too." Ray jumped over the spikes, stumbling beside his sister. Everyone followed. As they stopped in the clearing, footsteps echoed through the snow. Two armoured dogs approached the group. They held axes.
"What's that smell?"
"Where's that smell?"
"If you're a smell, identify yoursmelf." The dogs wandered through the clearing, sniffing the air, before closing in on the group of humans. Kat froze in place. "Hm… here's that weird smell." They glared at the humans. "It makes me want to eliminate."
"Eliminate YOU!" The dogs pulled out axes. The humans' souls appeared, making Kat shriek. Before she could think of what to do, Frisk raised their stick into the air. The dog's eyes widened. They yipped excitedly as Frisk threw the stick toward the cliffside. The dogs both picked up the stick in their mouths, rushing toward Frisk with their tails wagging and eyes wide with excitement. Frisk took the stick back, patting the dogs' heads. Then the dogs walked away. Frisk gestured to the others to follow as Kat stared wide-eyed at them. They were about to kill us. How did Frisk immediately know that that of all things would work?! Up ahead, was the easiest puzzle in the world. Frisk and Kat each touched one of the X's to turn them into O's and Poppy pressed the button turning the circles green. A kindergartener could've figured it out, not that Kat would say that out loud. Papyrus, standing nearby, turned to them with a gasp.
"WHAT?! HOW DID YOU AVOID MY TRAP? AND, MORE IMPORTANTLY… IS THERE ANY LEFT FOR ME?" Kat's eyes widened.
"We left it," Teri admitted immediately.
Strangely, Papyrus looked excited. "REALLY?! WOWIE… YOU RESISTED THE FLAVOUR OF MY HOME COOKED PASTA… JUST SO YOU COULD SHARE IT WITH ME?" Okay, so he's one of those people that you can't be mean to no matter what you do.
"Uh… yeah," Kat replied, forcing a smile. "We didn't want to take it all." Kat could already feel Teri glaring at her.
"WELL, FRET NOT HUMANS! I, MASTER CHEF PAPYRUS… WILL MAKE YOU ALL THE PASTA YOU COULD EVER WANT!" He walked away, laughing to himself.
"Great," Poppy muttered. Clover, Teri, and Frisk glared at her. Kat glanced at Poppy, guilt piercing her heart like a thorn. What she did was wrong but she hasn't done it since we left the Ruins, should they really still be mad at her? They continued to the next area. Another puzzle, and a slightly over-detailed explanation from Papyrus awaited them. Poppy shambled around the puzzle.
"It's just a line of spikes," Poppy grunted, pointing at it. "Let's just jump it."
"What's the rush?" Ray asked, shrugging. "We can figure out this puzzle."
"WHY?!" Poppy snapped, stomping in the snow. "It's just a waste of time, let's skip it so we can continue."
"But Papyrus put a lot of effort into these puzzles," Kat insisted, her feet shuffling in the snow.
"Yeah," Teri agreed with a nod. "We should at least try them." Ray, Kat, Frisk, and Clover all nodded.
"Fine!" Poppy snapped, stomping away. She jumped over the spikes, shambling right past Sans, who the others just noticed was standing on the other side of the spikes. The others turned back to the puzzle.
Poppy's POV
Idiots, idiots, idiots! They're just wasting time! They're not even my friends, they're Ray's friends! I just came to keep track of the idiot! Poppy stomped past a floor of gray tiles, probably another puzzle they would get stuck on.
"Human." Poppy skidded to a halt. "Where you off to?" Glancing over her shoulder, Poppy came face to face with Sans.
"Home," Poppy grunted. Poppy tried to walk away from the skeleton but he reappeared in front of her. She staggered back, eyes wide.
"You've been killing." Sans' tone was dark. Then his pupils disappeared, leaving empty black holes.
"How did you-"
"Your Level of Violence, or LV. No one gets to three LV on accident."
"I was…" Poppy stopped herself. No, I wasn't defending myself. They were surrendering when she turned them to dust with her bare hands and notebook. There was no excuse… "I… I…"
"Three's just an okay number," Sans continued, his pupils returning as he shrugged. "It could be a lot worse but YOU could do a lot better." And with that, Sans disappeared as quickly as he had appeared. Poppy remained still, her heart pounding. What just happened?! Poppy continued forward, her heart still pounding from that encounter. She solved an ice puzzle, slid down the bridge, and passed through a field of snow poffs. Before she could continue however, her soul appeared. Poppy glanced back to see yet another dog in armour. However, this one was much buffer, holding a spear and towering over Poppy. She let out a grunt and walked away. The dog followed her, letting out tiny barks as it followed her onto the rope bridge. Why is it following me?! She turned to the dog.
"GET OUT OF HERE YOU STUPID DOG!" Poppy snapped. The dog let out a whimper before jumping out of its armour and walking away, tail between its legs. Poppy felt a twinge of regret. However, she continued on, crossing the bridge and making her way past a sign that read: Welcome to Snowdin. Perfect, a town. Poppy had some gold she could spend from her… encounters in the ruins so she spent them on cinnamon buns from the shop and a room in the inn. However, even as her body begged her to sleep, Poppy's mind was unable to rest. Her thoughts kept wandering back that strange encounter with Sans. Despite his apparent laziness and affinity for horrible jokes, he clearly had some kind of special powers. And the confrontation… could it even be called that? Somehow he knew her LV and that she killed monsters despite the Ruins being locked off. Yet despite all that, he let her off with a warning. Was it even a warning? It was more like advice considering the manner he'd said it… Eventually, Poppy realized she was never going to get to sleep and stayed up all night writing.