Fandom: Undertale
Characters: Undyne, Gerson, Asgore & Papyrus
Summary: A few of more-or-less important moments in the Captain of the Royal Guard's life, all starting with the phrase "FIGHT ME!" because even as a little guppy there was few things she liked more than fighting.
"FIGHT ME!"
The little fish monster ran up to her caretaker, an old tortoise, with a stick in her hand. The tortoise chuckled as she held out the stick in her hand, looking so serious. Little Undyne was precious. He had never met a child with such morals and fighting spirit before, and he had lived for a very long time; tortoises tended to do that, and monster tortoises even more.
Undyne waited patiently for Gerson to take out his own weapon, a sword, since it would be disgraceful to attack someone who did not have a chance to defend themselves. But as soon as he had it out she threw herself over him.
"NGHAAAA!" She shouted her war cry as she began to throw hits at him with the stick. She wished she could use magic, but she had only just begun to learn how to use it and Gerson said it would be dangerous to fight with it until she knew how to do so. She brandished her make-do weapon, swinging it like a mighty sword. Gerson blocked her every try to hit him, and as he did so he kept giving her tips and orders.
"Legs more apart, my girl. Like that, good. Keep your balance. Your wrist must be straighter or it would be easy to knock your weapon out of your hand."
She listened, like she hardly ever listened to anyone, because Gerson was a former captain of the Royal Guard. Her mother, when she was alive, had spoken about how skilled he was, and she wanted to be just as skilled. No! She wanted to be more skilled! She wanted to be the skilledest ever! She said so, and the former soldier laughed. It was a warm laugh, encouraging.
"Of course you will." He promised. "I've never in my days met someone who has the potential you have."
The words made her preen with pride as she threw herself into the training even more than before. Right, left, straight, up, down, right, swipe. She didn't like swords as much as she liked spears, which was the weapon her magic created, but Gerson had told her a master ought to know most weapons. She could already use sword, bow and axes a bit. And, obviously, her fists. She had gotten into more fist fights than anyone else in school when defending the weaker students from bullies. If they couldn't defend themselves, then she would have to, it was that simple. Her teacher had called Gerson, and she had been a little worried she was in trouble, but the tortoise had been proud of her for helping people. She had gotten nice cream that day, even if Gerson had made her promise to try to not beat people into submission as quickly, see if there was another way.
Undyne threw out her stick toward Gerson's left, but just as he was about to dodge she quickly moved it and hit him straight into the shell on his stomach.
"Ouch." The old tortoise said, letting go of his sword, and putting his arms around his stomach. "You hit me." He went down on his knees. "Take care of my shop..." he coughed. "for me." Then he fell to the ground.
The fish monster had been smiling, but as he fell to the ground her facial expression changed to one of worry.
"Gerson?" She asked as she walked up to him. "Gerson? Are you okay? Please be okay."
She poked him, eyes starting to fill with tears.
"Gerson!" She called as she fell to her knees in front of him, starting to cry. Suddenly she felt familiar, scaly arms wrap around her and she threw her arms around him back. The tortoise hushed her, carefully cradling her in his arms.
"I'm okay, girlie. Sorry, so sorry, I didn't mean to scare you."
After a while Undyne stopped crying and pushed him away, standing back on her feet.
"NEVER DO THAT AGAIN!" She yelled angrily, putting her hands on her hips. "YOU SCARED ME! I THOUGHT I HAD KILLED YOU!"
Gerson chuckled quietly, nodding. There was his fiery sea horse.
"FIGHT ME!"
The fourteen-year-old threw her spear toward the goat monster standing in their yarden. King Asgore had come to greet his old friend Gerson, and of course Undyne wasn't going to let this opportunity come to pass. She was going to prove she was the toughest, strongest monster Underground, and the easiest way to do that was to beat the toughest, strongest monster Underground - the King. Asgore, who had fought in the War. Asgore, who had lead the kingdom for almost a millennium. Asgore, who despite being a fluffy pushover, was incredibly strong.
So Undyne would fight him.
The king looked up, surprised, as the spear landed at his feet. Raising his eyebrows, he put on a patient smile, throwing a glance at Gerson who only shrugged. There was nothing to be done; Undyne had gone around fighting everyone since she had learnt what fighting was. Her favourites to fight was the young ghost next door, Napstablook, and his cousin, Hapstablook. They humoured her and had even gotten her interested in music. Now she wanted to learn how to play the piano, but there was no one who could teach her, unfortunately.
"Wouldn't it be a good idea to talk instead, my child?" Asgore asked, voice soft.
"No time for talking!" The fish monster prepared another spear in her hand. "I'm gonna to prove I’m the best!"
The goat monster probably saw something in her eyes that made him realize she wasn't going to change her mind, and if he refused she would probably just go destroy something, and so he nodded. Before he even had finished doing so, her spears were on their way. Asgore did nothing but send out some fire to meet them, making them disappear. She roared as she sent threw more of them, but he only did the same thing. She kept it up, but nothing she did had any effect. She did not manage to land a single blow! He just. kept. dodging. Finally, she had to admit defeat and fell to the ground, exhausted. Undyne was blushing furiously, she had never felt so humiliated. He hadn't even fought back, and yet she hadn't even made him loose a single HP. She felt tears of mortification and resentment form in her eyes as she stood on her arms and knees, breathing heavily.
A shadow blocked the artificial light from reaching her as it fell over her. Undyne refused to look up, knowing it was the king.
"You fought bravely." His voice was just as soft as before, but there was an undertone of something she could not identify. It almost sounded sad, but why would he be sad? She was the one who was lying on the stone ground.
"I did not hit you once." She forced the words past her fangs, barely a whisper. They tasted sour in her mouth.
"No. You did not." There was an amused tone in his voice now, and understanding. She grinded her fangs. "But then I am over a thousand years old, child, and have been fighting for almost as long. But you did almost hit me once, and that is quite impressive."
There was a silence. Undyne forced the tears away before she looked up at the king, who had a thoughtful look on his face as he turned to her guardian.
"She is quite talented, is she not?"
"Wah ha ha! That she is! A born warrior, my Undyne." Gerson replied proudly, grinning. He did not seem to think she was weak, luckily. And as usual, the words 'My Undyne' warmed her heart. When her parents had died when she was no more than a guppy she had thought she would never love someone so much again, but the old tortoise had quickly proven her wrong.
The king nodded, holding out a hand to the fish monster. A peace offering. Grumpily, she took it. Asgore smiled at her.
"You know, I am quite surprised that you did as good as you did, not many adult monsters would have come half as close to hitting me as you did. I have a proposition."
Undyne was confused, but nodded anyway. She was curious what the king would want from her.
"Would you like to know how to beat me?"
She blinked. Then she grinned, widely, showing off all her fangs.
"Then I will teach you, if you are interested. And in exchange, you will consider the possibility of becoming a part of the Royal Guard once you are done with your schooling and of age."
Undyne nodded eagerly. She had already decided years ago she would become a part of the Royal Guard. Not only a part of it, she would be captain just like Gerson had been! The best captain ever! Asgore chuckled as she expressed her thoughts about it.
"I am sure you will, my child."
An hour later or so the king was ready to leave. But just before he stepped out from their area of Waterfall Gerson shouted out:
"Asgore! You know how to play the piano, do you not?"
"FIGHT ME!"
The captain of the Royal Guard groaned as she forced herself out of bed. Whoever it was who was yelling had been out there for an hour, trying to get her attention. Trying to get her to fight them. It was beginning to get truly infuriating, especially as their voice was loud enough to make it impossible to find sleep. Undyne made her way toward the door. Her hair hung limp over her face, completely untamed, as she had been rolling around her bed for the past three hours trying to sleep. Which whoever it was had stopped. At least they were persistent, something she normally would've appreciated. Not now, though, when she was trying her very hardest to sleep. It had been an exhausting day; she had spent it all with the new trainees of the Guard.
Groaning she put her hair in a bun before opening her door. Outside it a skeleton stood, their fist raised as if he was to knock again. A short moment after she opened it his face lit up in a bright smile. Undyne had never seen such a smile before, and she couldn't help how the corner of her mouth tilted slightly upwards.
"HELLO CAPTAIN! THE GREAT PAPYRUS IS HERE TO JOIN THE ROYAL GUARD!"
Stars above, his voice was loud. It hurt her tired head.
"Dude, it's three o’clock. Go to sleep."
"TAKE A NAP? I NEVER TAKE NAPS, IN DIFFERENCE TO MY LAZYBONES OF A BROTHER."
"No. Sleep. Not nap. It's the middle of the fucking night."
"LANGUAGE, CAPTAIN. AND I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, DO NOT TAKE THE LONG NIGHT NAP EITHER. I DO NOT HAVE TIME FOR BEING LAZY."
Okay. Undyne did not have the energy to deal with this.
"Just be quiet." She said, using her captain's voice to hopefully make him obey. It seemed to work, as 'The Great Papyrus' immediately saluted and shut his mouth, upon which she shut the door in his face. Tomorrow. She would deal with this tomorrow.
As she went back to her bed she finally fell into a deep sleep, thinking the skeleton would be gone by morning.
However, when she woke up and went into the kitchen to make her morning tea she was in for a shock. She opened the door to throw out the old trash bag and the sight that met her was honestly enough to impress even her. The skeleton from yesterday night was still out there, doing push-ups. As he saw her he smiled again, the same infectious smile, and nodded.
"I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, AM ALMOST FINISHED WITH MY MORNING ROUTINE, CAPTAIN. THEN I WISH TO TALK ABOUT JOINING THE HONOURABLE ROYAL GUARD."
Undyne chuckled. Now when she wasn't as tired it was nice to hear a voice even louder than her own.
"And what is that morning routine?" She asked, curious. He seemed active, and had apparently been up all night, yet was still alert enough to do push-ups at her doorstep.
"FIVE HUNDRED SIT-UPS, CAPTAIN, AND FIVE HUNDRED PUSH-UPS. NORMALLY I ALSO RUN AROUND SNOWDIN FOREST BUT AS I AM IN WATERFALL I CANNOT DO THAT."
The captain whistled. That was truly impressive. He was definitely more fit than the majority of her Guard. Oh, who was she kidding? Except for her, he had better fitness than anyone in the Guard.
"And why do you want to join the Royal Guard, Papyrus?"
Papyrus posed heroically, putting his gloved hand on his chest and his scarf swinging in the wind behind him. Wait. There was no wind. Ah well. Magic, Undyne supposed.
"SO I CAN HELP PEOPLE, AND BECAUSE EVERYONE LOVES A MEMBER OF THE ROYAL GUARD. THEN EVERYONE WILL WANT TO BE MY FRIEND! ALSO," suddenly his voice got more quiet, as if he was trying to whisper. His voice was still quite a bit louder than most monsters' normal speaking volume. "I NEED THE MONEY. MY BROTHER IS WORKING HARD TO PAY FOR EVERYTHING AND REFUSES TO LET ME HELP. BUT IF I GET INTO THE GUARD THEN HE CANNOT DO THAT ANYMORE."
Fucking stars, Undyne did not know what to comment on anything but the 'helping people'-part. So, she reacted the only way she knew.
"THEN PROVE YOURSELF TO ME!" She hollered, summoning a spear. The skeleton's stance straightened and he grinned, backing a few steps before summoning a bone into his hand.
Undyne returned the grin. Now she was in her element. She threw the spear at him, but with a flick of Papyrus' hand a wall of bones appeared, stopping it before it could reach him. They were in battle mode. Quickly CHECKing him she smiled. 592 HP. Then she would not have to be careful. Making a couple spears appear from the ground she forced him to throw himself out of the way, and he returned the attack by forcing her to block a couple bones that got thrown at her, quickly followed by a wall of blue bones, and she froze to keep herself from getting hurt. The fight continued, and after a while they were both quite out of breath. Undyne had only managed to get in a few hits, and Papyrus had hit her only once, denting her HP with ten. She hadn't had a fight this exciting for at least two years, since she became captain.
"PREPARE TO FACE MY SPECIAL ATTACK, CAPTAIN." Papyrus warned, looking happy and battle worn. A wave of blue bones came at her again, and she couldn't help but raise her eyebrow. Surely his special attack was not that? She felt herself getting heavy and got hard to move. Apparently not. Looking down, she realized her soul had turned blue
"YOU'RE BLUE NOW. THAT'S MY ATTACK."
He waited for her to complete her turn in the battle, a spear rain, before it was once again his turn to attack and she could only just get out of the way with how heavy her soul had become. Her turn again, his turn. This turn she did not get out of the way in time, and she felt her HP drop a significant step, forcing her to her knees. The very same second she hit the ground she felt another bone hit her, but it did zero damage. Strange.
"OH NO." Papyrus cried out. "ARE YOU OKAY? I DID NOT HURT YOU, DID I?"
He hurried up to her, and she felt him CHECKing her, upon which he appeared relieved.
"Why did you stop, punk?" Undyne complained. "I can take a lot more than that!"
"I DO NOT WANT TO HURT YOU. I DO NOT WANT TO HURT ANYONE, UNLESS IT'S ABSOLUTELY UNAVOIDABLE. THAT'S WHY MY LAST ATTACK DID NOT HURT YOU. I SAW YOU WERE CONFUSED ABOUT THAT."
Oh no. Oh hell no. How precious. And impressing, honestly. She did not know anyone else who could do zero damage just like that. 'He did not want to hurt anyone'. How did he expect to be in the Royal Guard then? What if a human fell down? What if a brawl broke out? But... he was so genuine, and sweet, and she hadn't had such a fight in an eternity. How could she say no? She couldn't. She liked him too much already.
"I'm fine, punk." She stood up. "You know what." Think fast, think fast. "You have potential. What do you say about personal training with me to get into the Guard? And if you want to, I can give you a job as a sentry until then, so you'll earn money too."
"REALLY?" His eyes... eyeholes... twinkled. How did black holes twinkle? She decided not to question it. "THANK YOU, CAPTAIN. BUT… DO YOU THINK MY BROTHER COULD GET A JOB AS WELL? HE TRAVELS SO FAR TO GET TO HIS JOBS EVERY DAY. NOT THAT IT IS A PROBLEM FOR HIM… BUT IT IS FOR ME TO COME GET HIM AFTERWARDS!"
Undyne laughed and threw an arm over his shoulders.
"Sure thing. And you don't need to call me captain, y'know. Undyne's fine, now when we're gonna be training buddies."
"WOWIE." Papyrus' smile grew wider. "FIRST NAME BASIS ALREADY. AND I'M FRIENDS WITH THE CAPTAIN OF THE ROYAL GUARD. THIS IS THE BEST DAY OF MY LIFE! I CAN'T WAIT TO TELL SANS."
The fish monster couldn't keep herself from laughing again. He was so precious.
"Of course it is. Now, Papyrus, why don't you tell me about yourself."
