Eat Snow

There was another Save Point up ahead. After saving, the two of them looked at a box nearby.

They opened the box and found a glove inside.

[Tough Glove]

[Weapon ATK 5]

[A worn pink leather glove. For five-fingered folks.]

"Here, take it." Linde handed the glove to Frisk.

"Then should I give you the Toy Knife?" Frisk took the glove and offered him the Toy Knife.

Linde pushed the Toy Knife back. "No need. I'm a mage. My weapon is my keyboard. The new character I developed, 'Slash,' is much more powerful than a physical attack."

As he spoke, he fired a "Slash" at the ground. The character passed through the snow and left a five-centimeter-deep cut in the earth.

"Oh, uh, okay." Frisk tossed the Toy Knife into the box beside her.

Just then, a monster swaggered up to them.

[Snowdrake]

[ATK 12][DEF 7]

[This teen comedian fights to keep a captive audience.]

Snowdrake didn't attack them. Instead, he launched into a pun of his own accord. "Snow need to lose your cool!"

Then he laughed at his own joke.

"Hahahahahahaha!" Linde obligingly burst out laughing.

Snowdrake left, satisfied.

"You... were just humoring him, weren't you?" Frisk gave Linde an odd look, then her expression suddenly changed. "Watch out behind you!"

At her warning, Linde immediately dove to the side, narrowly dodging an icicle.

[Icecap]

[ATK 11][DEF 4]

[This teen wonders why he isn't named 'Ice Hat.']

"Frisk, ignore him," Linde said.

Though she didn't understand, she trusted Linde and looked away.

The two dodged the barrage while looking out of the corners of their eyes, refusing to look directly at Icecap. Before long, he looked utterly defeated.

Linde suddenly darted behind Icecap and snatched his hat, which melted in his hands.

[Ice]

[ATK 1][DEF 0]

[His cap is gone...]

Linde smiled. "Hey, you know what? You still look good even without a hat."

"I... still look good... I get it! My hat isn't everything! Thank you!" After expressing his sincere thanks, the ice cube rolled away.

"Phew..." The two children exchanged a practiced high five. "Nice work!"

Frisk couldn't help asking curiously, "Say, Linde, how do you know so much?"

"Read people and assess the situation." Linde grinned. "It's that sim-"

Before he could finish, a snowball was stuffed into his mouth.

"Oh, get lost! If you don't want to tell me, just say so! And stop breathing into my ear!" Frisk grabbed another snowball and crammed it into Linde's already full mouth.

Refusing to take that lying down, Linde reached out and tickled Frisk's armpits. "Mmph! Ooh aah augh! (Damn it! I'll get you for this!)"

The two children tussled in the snow until they were both soaked through.

Frisk looked down at her drenched clothes. "Hmm, we don't have a change of clothes... We'll catch cold..."

"Just put the clothes in your inventory and take them back out. Surely it won't store the water too," Linde suggested.

Frisk gritted her teeth and nodded. They had to get their clothes dry somehow.

Linde and Frisk each found a bush to hide behind while changing. The two bushes were close together, making it easy for Linde to pass his clothes to Frisk.

Linde had no intention of peeking. What was there to see on a ten-year-old kid?

Soon, without any mishaps, they had both changed, though Frisk's cheeks were still flushed.

Linde rubbed Frisk's head. "So young, and already filling your head with nonsense... All right! Let's keep going."

"You're a kid too..." Frisk muttered.

They continued a little farther along the path and soon spotted the skeleton brothers chatting nearby.

"When I was talking about Undyne..." Papyrus suddenly noticed the two children midsentence.

Barely containing his excitement, he turned toward Sans, who turned toward him as well. They kept turning between the children and each other until, finally, they actually began spinning at high speed.

Once they stopped, Papyrus hurriedly asked, "Sans!! Oh my god!! Are those two... humans!?!?!??!?!"

"Actually, I think those are just two rocks." Sans smiled and pointed at the two rocks behind the children.

Huh? So those rocks really were Sans's prank! Now that there are two of us, there are two rocks! It suddenly clicked for Linde.

"Oh..." Papyrus sounded a little disappointed.

"Hey, what's that in front of the rocks?" Sans prompted.

"Oh my god!!!" Realizing he'd shouted too loudly, Papyrus hastily lowered his voice. "Are those two... humans?"

"Yep," Sans replied quietly as well.

Frisk couldn't help laughing. She thought the skeleton brothers were hilarious.

"Oh my god!!! Sans! I finally did it!! Undyne will... I'm gonna... I'll be so... popular!!! Popular!!! Popular!!!"

Then Papyrus cleared his throat twice and turned to the two children:

"Humans! You shall not pass through this area!! I, the great Papyrus, will stop you!!! Then capture you! You will be sent to the capital! Then... then!!!"

At that point, Papyrus suddenly stopped, all his earlier bluster vanishing:

"I'm not really sure what happens next. Anyway! Come on... if you dare!! Nyeh heh heh heh heh heh heh!"

With that, he left without looking back.

"Well, that went pretty smoothly. Don't worry, kid. I'll keep an eyesocket out for you two."

With that, Sans walked off in the direction Papyrus had gone.

"Uh... I have a question." Frisk looked in the direction they'd left, puzzled. "Didn't Sans head back earlier? How did he suddenly show up ahead of us?"

"Don't worry about the details." Linde cleared his throat twice.

He didn't want Frisk finding out this early that Sans could teleport. He still had a plan to carry out behind her back!