Sans fell out of the shortcut running, inches away from the sign outside of Snowdin. Already there were several piles of ash about, remains of monsters whose lives were already claimed in the name of entertainment and greed.
There was no time to grieve; Frisk was in danger, and Sans was obviously late to the party. He hurried past the sign and into the snow fields.
His slippers thudded across the stone bridge carefully carved to resemble a wooden bridge. He kept his eyes open for traps, though in truth he had no idea what to expect. After all, NegaPapyrus was a completely different monster than Sans's real brother; where Papyrus's traps were basic and simply impeded passage, NegaPapyrus seemed like the sort to leave deadly traps.
The truth of that observation became clear shortly after Sans crossed the bridge; several more piles of ash lay on the ground surrounding a fancy-looking turnstile in the middle of the path. As Sans drew near, the turnstile spun into motion, quickly increasing in speed until anything coming into contact with the turnstile would either get smashed to pieces or knocked into the distant horizon.
Sans edged past the turnstile, careful to keep his balance as he teetered on the precipice. It whirred onward, almost seaming eager to send him to his death. It was a close shave; the metal tips of the turnstile hit the edge of his coat a few times, though it was never close enough to catch it.
Finally, he was past the turnstile and back on the snow-covered path. He hurried on even as the turnstile's spin slowed behind him. There were footprints in the snow; clearly other monsters had made it this far. Sans could only hope they'd have more trouble with the traps.
Given that the path between Snowdin and the Ruins was a straight line, Sans was fairly certain he'd find Frisk closer to the Ruins side of things. He briefly wondered about his mysterious friend behind the door, but quickly pushed it from his mind. Given what happened to everyone else, he didn't want to know what she was like there.
It didn't take him long to spot another monster. A small mouse-like monster mostly obscured by a scarf was hurrying through the field ahead. The field itself was filled with snow poffs ... or what appeared to be snow poffs.
"Careful!" Sans called out.
The mouse-monster glanced back, let out a terrified squeak, and promptly ran as fast as his little legs could take him. Unfortunately, that happened to be right into a snow poff. Sans brought up his hand to cover his eyes moments before the poff exploded, sending bits of the mouse's scarf flying past him. When he looked at the place the mouse had been, only scattered ash remained.
"All right." Sans said, glancing around the field. The poffs were too obvious; Mettaton could've set some mines underneath the thick snow anywhere. Fortunately, that was a simple problem; Sans sent a barrage of bones shooting through the snow. He nodded in grim satisfaction when several spots along the path unmarked by snow poffs exploded as well.
"So far so good." Sans thought, continuing past the minefield. He was a little surprised, in fact; he expected things to be much more difficult.
The next trap turned out to be a simple switch puzzle, not that different than the one Papyrus used in Sans's home dimension. The goal was simple; simply set all ground panels to green circles then hit the large raised panel. They started off as red X marks, would turn to green circles when someone passed over them once, and then into blue triangles; fortunately, they could be reset via the raised switch.
In truth, it was the puzzle of which Sans's Papyrus was most proud. Set over ice, it was extremely difficult for people to attempt the puzzle without accidentally sliding over the edge of the ice flow and down a gentle slope to a small snowfield below. In that dimension, there were only cliffs and darkness below, leading Sans to believe that there would be no second chances there.
Someone was attempting the puzzle as Sans drew near. The clam-man was nearly done as well; he only had two more panels to go.
The clam-man looked up as Sans approached. Sans raised his hands and took a step back to make it clear he was not going to interfere. After all, if the clam-man finished the puzzle, Sans could simply cross to the next part with him.
Nodding nervously at Sans, the Clam-Man seemed to steady himself and carefully position himself to slide over the next panel. Sans winced, realizing immediately that the Clam-Man's aim was just a bit off.
The Clam-Man must've noticed too. He scrambled to reach the red x as he passed, his pointy arms just inches too far.
"No!" He shrieked as he slid onto a green circle, turning it into a blue triangle.
"S'all right." Sans said, taking off his slippers to help prevent his sliding. "Stay there; I'll hit the switch."
"What?" The Clam-Man said, sounding startled. "No! No, don't!"
"Take it easy." Sans said, walking over to the switch. He pressed one foot down on it and pushed it down, only spotting the small ash piles on the other panels far too late.
The moment Sans hit the switch, every single panel on the ice shot a burst of magical energy straight up. The Clam-Man shrieked for a moment only to fall silent moments later. When the magical energy faded, the Clam-Man was frozen solid. As Sans watched, cracks radiated out from the chunk of ice moments before it simply crumbled to pieces, leaving nothing but ice and ash.
"All right." Sans said, "Maybe not so easy."
"Oh, my!" Said a voice Sans did not want to hear. Sans turned to see a small floating camera flying over his head, its view centered on the remains of Clam-Man. "Looks like Clam-Man didn't have a very ice time!"
Sans felt a little sick. He loved puns, but to use the death of a monster? Even he had some standards.
Mettaton's camera turned to Sans. "And look! Another Sans has joined the competition! Yes, you heard it right folks; this Sans is from another dimension! Will the different challenges he's faced there help him in this competition, only time will tell."
Sans raised his hand; he'd use telekinesis to carry him to the panels ... at least, that's what he told himself. As he tried to lift himself, he found his telekinesis unresponsive.
"Aww, sweetheart," Mettaton said, "I'm sorry, but telekinesis is not allowed for this part of the contest. You'll have to solve it the same way as our version of you did."
"Great." Sans muttered, rubbing his temples.
The first step was to not rush into action. He needed to figure out the puzzle out before starting, otherwise ... well, it was either be iced and shattered, or fall down the slope to the field below to whatever Mettaton put down there.
He moved slowly, walking from panel to panel as much as possible. More than once he found himself at the very edge. From what he could tell, there was no slope in this dimension, just a drop. Probably onto spikes, he reasoned.
It was slow work, but eventually, he slid over the final panel. Breathing a sigh of relief, he turned back to the switch only to find he was being watched.
"You." Papyrus said, eye-sockets narrowing. "I should've realized you weren't actually my brother. You're too competent, too bold."
"You sayin' I've got more spine?"
Papyrus's skull twitched. "Still, you've impressed me. You found the human child, escaped from that freak Alphys's lab, and even fooled me for a time. Perhaps you could be of use to me."
"Don't count on it." Sans said, mentally gauging the distance between himself and the switch. He'd have to hit it fast and immediately backpedal, a difficult feat on the ice.
"A pity. Your strength would've been an asset." Papyrus raised his hand, several bones honed to razor-sharp points appearing in the air. "Then again, I suppose you aren't technically my brother, so I needn't feel guilty about ending you. Farewell."'
Sans made a run for the switch. Papyrus started to lower his hand, only for a burst of blue flame to hit his arm and knock him off balance. Fuku dashed past him and hit the ice sliding. Papyrus snarled and slashed at her with a clawed hand, but missed her by inches. She slid over the ice at top speed, pushing the switch as she passed and catching Sans and pulling him with her to the other side of the ice.
Fuming, Papyrus stomped forward, his boots giving him enough traction to maintain an even, if slow pace.
"You!" Papyrus said, his face a mask of hatred. "I should've snuffed you and your traitorous father out a long time ago, just like I snuffed out your mother."
Fuku's flame brightened for a moment. She shot a single flame toward Papyrus, though not directly at him; it hit the ground at his feet as he continued walking. The small amount of water made the ice extra slippery. In moments Papyrus lost his balance and crashed to the ground in an awkward pile.
Sans and Fuku watched as his momentum carried him over the side of the platform, where fell into the darkness below with an angry scream.
"That was perfect timing." Sans said, turning to the fiery young lady only to discover her shaking.
"Hey." He said, taking her hand. "Are you okay?"
"I ... I don't know." she admitted. "I ... killed him."
A loud angry cry shot through the air from below the ice puzzle.
"Maybe not." Sans said, "Still, thanks."
"Thanks?"
While his skull lacked the anatomy for an actual kiss, that didn't stop him from planting a little magic on Fuku's cheek. "For savin' me, Fu."
The flame of her cheeks went pink, but before she could respond, they heard another angry shout from Papyrus.
"THIS ISN'T OVER! I'LL TEAR YOUR BONES APART RIGHT AFTER I PUT THAT FLAMING BITCH OUT LIKE A CANDLE!"
"Wow." Sans said, looking back at the pit. "Some mouth on that guy, huh?"
Fuku giggled as Sans presented his arm. "Shall we hurry on, milady?"
"Yes." she said, taking his arm. "Lets."
Together, they moved more quickly through the forest.
. Flame based traps were no problem for Fuku; likewise, while Sans's Telekinesis was still being jammed somehow, he could still throw his bones to hit some switches and buttons. More piles of ash lined the path through Snowdin Forest. In a way, it was quite helpful; they could see where the traps were, and take steps to avoid them.
They ran into few other monsters. Some were actually in retreat, no longer interested in the killer gameshow. Others attacked; a bad idea considering one of them was a flame elemental and Sans was a pretty good shot with his summoned bones. They agreed not to kill anyone unless necessary, and were fortunate that the issue never came up.
Soon, however, they reached a point with no ashes. Their progress slowed as they walked carefully, never more than a foot or so apart. Occasionally, one of Mettaton's cameras would zoom by, focusing on them for a moment before zooming off again.
"Say," Sans asked Fuku as they passed the clearing where his Papyrus attempted to subdue the human child with spaghetti, "How did you find me anyway?"
"Educated guess." She said with a smile. "I was still in New Home looking for Frisk when I heard Mettaton's announcement. At that point, I knew you'd be heading back, so I came here as fast as I could."
"All the way across the Underground." Sans said, shaking his head. "I'm gonna have to call you flashfire."
She giggled. Hearing her laugh made Sans feel strangely pleased with himself.
Their luck continued to be quite good, though Sans nearly tripped an avalanche near the Ball field, several snowbanks being rigged to tripwires along the path. It was more of a worry to Fuku, seeing as a mass of snow could very well extinguish her if it covered her completely.
Still, as they crossed the bridge into the final stretch, both felt hopeful.
"Guess he ran out of traps." Sans said. "I ain't complainin' ... still."
"Maybe he thought more people would make it to the end." Fuku said, still eyeing every tree warily after one had come alive earlier and tried to swat them off a cliff. "Y'know; have monsters fight each other. I have to admit, it's the most interesting thing I've ever seen on MTT Network."
Sans grinned, but before he could say anything, he spotted it in the distance; down past the sentry stations, he was just able to make out something glimmering ... something roughly box-shaped.
"Almost there!" Sans said. He broke into a run, pushing his body as much as he dared just to get there a little faster. Something bothered him, however; where was NegaSans? They hadn't passed him, at least as far as they knew. Sans supposed it was possible that one of the piles of ash they'd passed was him, but Sans couldn't accept that.
His thoughts were interrupted as Fuku breezed by him a moment later, skirt fluttering in the wind. She seemed to skate gracefully across the snow, her feet leaving small trails of warm flame where she passed. To Sans, her run almost looked like dancing.
She reached the cage first easily. Frisk was visible by that point, her eyes staring wide at the woman of flame.
"Hush now." Sans heard Fuku say as he crossed the final bridge before the Ruins. "We're here to help."
"Hey, kid." Sans said, one arm on the cage and the other on his knee. "Whew ... just ... need to ... catch my ... breath."
"Sans!" Frisk's small hands grabbed the hand on the cage. "You came to save me!"
"Yeah, me and ... Fuku here." Sans said, nodding at the woman of blue flame. She bowed her head, which Frisk returned with a mixture of awe and gratitude.
Sans stood up. "All right; let's get you outta there before someone else shows up."
He looked at the cage for a few moments before his smile turned into a frown. "Uh, problem."
"What's wrong?" Fuku asked, looking herself. "Can you pick the ... oh."'
"Oh is right." Sans said. "There's no lock on this cage."
"Ah, but there is!" Fuku, Sans, and Frisk turned to see Mettaton step out from behind the trees. Whatever nervousness he'd felt before was long gone now, replaced with that Mettaton spirit Sans knew only too well. "And there they are! The first two contestants to make it to the prize!"
"That's right." Sans said. "We won; now hand it over."
"Ah, but it's not over. There are two of you, and only one prize. A fight to the death is just the thing to peak this fantastic episode!"
Fuku and Sans looked at each other.
"I can't fight her." Sans said, looking away and rubbing the back of his skull. "We're in this ... er ..."
"As a couple." Fuku said, grabbing Sans and pulling him against her.
"A couple?" Mettaton said, eyes wide. "Oh my! That's simply scandelous! Sweet innocent Fuku and Sans from a completely different dimension. That's simply delightful!"
Feeling a little embarrassed himself, despite enjoying Fuku's warmth against his bones, Sans put his arm around her and said, "That's right. So now we win, right? We can have the human child?"
"Well ... not quite." Mettaton said. "Don't get me wrong, darlings; I'd love to hand over the magic key, but there is a surprise contestant on the way!"
"Oh no!" Fuku said, flames dimming. "P-Papyrus?"
Sans said, "Alphys?"
Mettaton laughed and shook her head. "Oh, my, are you in for a surprise. Wage slave!"
An orange cat man Sans recognized only as 'Burgerpants' emerged from the woods, holding a camera that honestly looked too big for him. Legs trembling, he approached Mettaton.
"Ah, good." Mettaton said, clapping Burgerpants on the back. "How much longer until he arrives?"
"A-about a minute." Burgerpants said, sweating profusely despite the cold. "He looks real angry."
"Good; that means he's ready to put up a fight." Mettaton pointed to Sans and Fuku and said, "Get a good shot of our power couple! Their reaction will be rating's gold!"
"Exactly who is coming?" Sans asked, a hollow pit opening up in the empty space where most beings had a stomach. He could see a figure in the distance growing larger by the second … a BIG figure.
Mettaton lifted a microphone to his mouth. "Today, here in the Snowdin Fields, we will see our winning contestant couple Alternate Sans and the lovely Fuku Fire stand together against the Lord of the Underground, the Emperor who will lead us to the surface, and the Sultan of this shadowy Realm, the one and only ... KING ASGORE DREEMURR!"
