Sans and NegaSans stared at each other for a long silent moment, NegaSans's hand still out to attack. NegaSans's look of satisfaction quickly turned to confusion. Even with the slight differences, Sans's resemblance was unmistakable.
"What is this?" NegaSans demanded. "Some kinda bad joke? You tryin' to make fun of me or somethin'?"
"Joke's on both of us, buddy." Sans said. "Though you wanna have some fun, I bet the two of us could do a number on your Papyrus."
"My Papyrus?" NegaSans shook his head. "Who the hell are you?"
"I think you already figured it out." Sans said, putting his hands in his pockets. "I'm you, just not the you from here."
NegaSans stared at Sans for a few moments before bursting out into laughter ... ugly, mocking laughter.
"You really think I'm as stupid as you think I look?"
"I dare you to repeat that sentence without screwing it up."
"I said, you're stupid if you're really thinking ..." Grimacing, NegaSans said, "All right, just shut it!"
"Witty retort."
Sans was only just quick enough to sidestep the bones NegaSans sent flying through the space he previously occupied. NegaSans seemed surprised at this, but his surprise quickly turned to annoyance.
"Was it those stupid rabbits?" NegaSans demanded, "Or one of those damn dogs?"
"Cool your bones, buddy." Sans said, raising a hand. "I ain't here to mess with you."
"Oh, so you're saying you just happen to look like an uglier version of me? Yeah, right."
Sans chose to ignore the 'uglier' comment for the moment. "Look, I can explain if you just-"
Sans caught the glimmer of red in NegaSans's eye just in time to throw himself out of the way of a massive blast from NegaSans's Gaster Blaster. As it turned to face him, the skeletal head's mouth open and charging, Sans decided to cut his losses and run toward Waterfall.
"Hey!" NegaSans called out as Sans legged it down the narrow walkway. "Where the hell do you think you're going!"
A NegaBlaster appeared directly in Sans's path, but he'd anticipated such a tactic. He landed on the back of the NegaBlaster before it could finish charging and used his own telekinesis to point it at NegaSans. He left it there just long enough to see the panic in NegaSans's eyes before turning it to a new target.
NegaSans threw himself aside as the NegaBlaster released its charge, blasting his sentry shed into ash. Sans wasted no time; he hit the ground running after the NegaBlaster vanished, heading for Waterfall once again.
It didn't take long for NegaSans to continue his assault. Sans dodged the incoming bones, sensing their approach the same way he could sense his own magical projectiles. Nevertheless, it was clear that NegaSans wasn't playing around. His bones ended in sharpened points, and his aim indicated he was shooting for Sans's head.
It was tempting to try and use a shortcut to escape, but Sans rejected the idea. The unpredictable nature of the shortcuts made it unlikely that NegaSans would be able to use the same one as Sans, but there was another worry; what if the thing that threw Sans from the shortcut that brought him to that universe was there? What if it ... he were waiting for Sans to make that attempt to try and finish him off? Sans narrowly escaped the last time, but the next encounter might not end so favorably for him.
The burning lava streams of the Hotland eventually became the cool streams of Waterfall. Sparks showered over Sans as several bones shattered the glass of the scrolling display that read 'Welcome to Hotland!' in Sans's home universe. There, it simply read 'To Hotland' before NegaSans's bones reduced it to 'Tootland'. Sans was inclined to chuckle at this, but focused on continuing to flee. He wasn't used to running, and already he was starting to reach the limits of his stamina.
Fortunately, a quick glance back at his pursuer revealed that NegaSans was having trouble as well. Sweat rolled across his skull, already staining the front of NegaSans's shirt. Fewer and fewer bones chased Sans as they crossed the bridge and passed through the opening in the side of a large stalagmite into a field of echo glowers. Another glance back showed Sans that he'd gained quite a bit of ground.
The sight of the luminous blue flowers of gave Sans an idea. He cupped his hands around his mouth to muffle his voice and shouted at one of the echo flowers poking over the side of the path. Hearing the sounds of NegaSans approaching, Sans hurried down the path. Sure enough, NegaSans came running down the path a few moments later in an awkward gait until, one hand hitching up the back of his track shorts.
"Get ... back here ..." He panted as he lumbered down the path.
"Hey! Bone-head!" Sans's voice shouted from the echo-flower. NegaSans turned in surprise, giving Sans time to take aim and fire a single bone. The bone hit NegaSans in the back of his head with a loud 'donk', sending him crashing into the Echo Flower.
Sans approached his fallen alternate self slowly, feeling a little guilty. Given his own fragility, he'd been careful to make his shot as weak as he could manage to avoid outright killing NegaSans; even so, he was surprised at how fast NegaSans fell, and was relieved when he heard snoring.
Sans wiped the sweat from his skull as he considered his options. This reality was definitely not a place he'd want to call home; he needed to get back to Glen, but to do that, he'd need to find a way to leave this reality. His only real clue as to how to do that was the mysterious rune Glen showed him. Things in his current reality were different, but maybe not completely; with any luck, NegaSans had a secret basement in his house as well, where he kept a certain machine that might hold the key to shifting between realities.
Sans moved his other self deeper into the field of echo flowers, just in case his cranky brother or the purportedly lazy Undyne happened by. While NegaSans was just a bit too quick on the trigger for Sans's liking, what little he'd seen of this dimension made it clear it was not a nice place. Sans himself would likely run into trouble, especially given the differences between him and NegaSans.
His eyes fell on NegaSans's coat and sneakers, his grin spreading as an idea formed in his mind.
Glen was wheezing as she came to a halt by yet another sentry station. Papyrus was already looking around the station.
"He should be here by now." Papyrus sat fretfully. "Maybe we should go back to the Waterfall."
Glen fell to the ground, her back hitting the side of the sentry station. Papyrus paused, concern in his eye-sockets. "Are you okay?"
"Oh, yeah." Glen said, trying to keep herself from blacking out. "Just need a quick breath, that's all."
Papyrus hesitated for a moment before taking the stool from the station and bringing it to Glen.
"Thanks." Glen said as the skeleton helped her to the stool. "Damn, you've got stamina."
"Yeah, well ... someone's gotta keep an eye on the little ball of energy. I just whatever trouble he's gotten into is-"
"Sorry, Paps, I've been trying to tell ya." Glen said, "Your Sans is probably fine."
"My Sans?" Papyrus said, giving him a curious look.
"Yeah." Glen took a deep breath. "I'm from another dimension. That's why I recognize you; you look pretty much the same as my Papyrus."
Papyrus let out a sigh of relief. "I see; so when you said Sans was in trouble, you meant the Sans from your dimension."
"Yes. Well, no; he's from a different dimension."
"I see ... and you both just go hopping around other dimensions?"
"It's ..." Glen sighed and rubbed her forehead. "It's complicated."
"I'll bet." Papyrus sat down on the counter of the sentry station and pulled out his pack of cigarettes again. He pulled one out for himself before offering the box to Glen, but she shook her head; the last thing she needed at the moment was a cigarette. Shrugging, Papyrus lit up.
Realizing that he was waiting for her to start talking, Glen asked, "Where should I start?"
"Well, your name would be nice. You already know mine; it only seems fair I should know yours."
Glen chuckled and nodded. "Fair enough. Glenda Adams Soleil; just call me Glen."
"All right, Glen." Papyrus said, shaking her hand. "So how did you end up in my neck of the woods, so to speak?"
"Rescue mission." Glen told him. "I'm from a reality where the barrier's gone and monsters live on the surface; I was heading to the Underground to find a monster who was apparently left behind in the form of a yellow flower, but-"
"You're looking for a flowey?" Papyrus said, giving her a curious look. Shaking his head, he said, "Sorry. Go ahead."
"Well, we were heading down here when Alphys detected some kind of distortion wave heading out of the Underground. Most of us managed to get back to the surface, but my robot dog friend and I got caught in the wave." Glen paused, worry filling her as she remembered Jake. Given the fact he wasn't found with her, Glen guessed he ended up in a different dimension along with Sans.
Shaking her head, she continued, "I ended up in a dimension where Sans was one of the few monsters still alive. When I explained the situation, he said he had an idea and used one of his shortcuts to bring us ... well, somewhere. I don't know where he was taking us; we were attacked in midstream by ... something."
"Something?"
Glen let out a sigh and rubbed her forehead. "It was hard to make out, and I only got a look at it for a few seconds as Sans fought it off. I know it sounds strange, but it looked glitchy."
"Glitchy?"
"Yeah. You ever play video games?"
Papyrus pulled a battered old Gameboy from one of his coat pockets. "All the time, but don't tell my brother."
"Ever pull the cartridge out in the middle of a game and the graphics get all corrupted? The thing fighting Sans looked like that; all ... corrupted. Like a graphical glitch. Reminded me a bit of my Weave-running days."
Seeing Papyrus's questioning look, Glen said, "Long story. Whatever the thing was, it tossed me out of the shortcut. The next thing I remember is waking up here."
Papyrus didn't say anything for at least a minute. He simply smoked his cigarette and looked thoughtful.
"So." Glen said, standing up. "Do you think I'm lying? Some crazy human from the surface?"
"I don't think you're lying." Papyrus said slowly. "Though I get the impression the 'crazy human' part's probably accurate."
"Gee, thanks." Glen said, unable to suppress a grin.
Papyrus chuckled. "Hey, I call it as I see it. Still, the idea of something hiding in a shortcut's a bit worrying ... almost as worrying as the idea of Sans using a shortcut in the firstplace. My brother can be a bit ... troublesome."
"Troublesome?"
Papyrus opened his mouth to respond when a loud cry of "Brother!" shot through the air. Skeleton and Dreamer turned to see the approach of a short skeleton wearing a gray tunic and a blue scarf. It was clearly Sans, but this one looked younger than either of the other Sanses Glen encountered.
"Brother!" This new Sans said with a surprising amount of energy. "There you are! I've been looking for you!"
"Oh?" Papyrus said, slouching back against the sentry post. "What's up, bro?"
"Amazing news! I heard from some people in town that a human has been spotted in the area!"
Papyrus glanced at Glenda with an amused expression. "Really? That's cool, bro."
"It certainly is!" Sans said, stars appearing in the center of his blue eyes. "This is my chance to prove myself! When I capture the human, Alphys will make me part of the Royal Guard!"
"Hey, maybe my new friend can help you." Papyrus said, patting Glen on the back. "This is Glen."
"Nice to meetcha, Glen!" Sans said, puffing out his ribs and offering a blue-gloved hand. "I'm the Magnificent Sans, soon to be the newest member of the Royal Guard!"
Glen didn't reply; she simply stared. With this Sans's clothes, the slightly smaller size, and the strange excitement, he looked less like Sans and more like a young boy pretending to be a knight.
"You are so ... so ..." She gave up and rose to her feet, picking up the prospective Royal Guard and giving him a big hug. "-so adorable!"
"Ahh!" Sans said, struggling to free himself. "Put me down! The Magnificent Sans doesn't have to stand for this! Brother, help me!"
"Sorry, bro." Papyrus said, lighting up another cigarette. "But she does have a point."
Sans struggled for a few more moments before Glen finally remembered herself and set him back on the ground.
"I protest! I am not a sack of potatoes, Miss Glen!" Sans fumed, blue eyes narrowed at Glen as he stamped his little blue boots against the ground in a way that nearly overwhelmed Glen's cute tolerance.
Fighting the urge to let out a squee, Glen said, "I'm sorry, Sans ... er, can I call you Sans, or do you prefer Magnificent?"
Two blue splotches appeared on Sans's cheekbones. "Magnificent, eh? I think I'd like that."
"Well, I'm glad to meet you, Magnificent." Glen said.
"Likewise, Miss Glen." his eyes widened. "Oh! The human! They'll be here any minute! Say, Miss Glen, would you mind helping us catch the human?"
"Uh ..." Glen glanced at Papyrus, who nodded emphatically. "Er, sure. I'd love to help."
"Awesome! With all three of us watching, we'll catch it for sure!"
With that, the Magnificent Sans took off running in the direction of Snowdin.
Papyrus ground out the remains of his cigarette before slowly walking down the path leading further away from Snowdin. Glen hurried to catch up, asking, "Wait! How did he not recognize me as a human?"
"Oh, well he's never really seen a human before." Papyrus said. "Not many of your kind find their ways down here."
"And those that do?"
Papyrus slowed to a halt and let out a sigh. "Those that do usually don't make it past Alphys. I can take you to Flowey Village if you want, but if Alphys catches sight of you, she won't stop until either your dead or she is."
"Alphys." Glen repeated. "Little lizard woman scientist Alphys"
"Lizard? Yeah. Woman? Debatable. Scientist? Definitely not." Papyrus let out a little chuckle. "I think I need to give you a little tour of the Underground before we go human-hunting ... but first we're gonna need to make a stop before you run into someone who does recognize humans on sight. Fortunately, I have just the thing."
