The sounds of my footsteps reverberated through the hallowed halls of the castle. The golden walls shone radiantly in the little light that they had. It was a magnificent structure, but it seemed rather empty. I walked through the halls, eventually coming to a long, long hall.

I saw Sans at the end of the hall, so I knew I was heading in the right direction. I walked up to him, neither of us saying a word until we were up close.

"So you've made it this far, huh kid?" said Sans. He closed his eyes. "You've come this far, but you've not killed a single one of us. You've beaten us time and time again, but that was in pokemon battles." He opened a single eye, as if he was winking. "I bet you never even thought that you could kill them, did you?" He once again closed both eyes, clearly thinking something over.

Killing them really had never occurred to me, and why would it?

"I've been waiting around for a long time, waiting around doing nothing, but now that you're here, I think that I have a reason to do something. You see, everyone seems to have had a fun time battling you up until this point." He opened his eyes and seemed to burst at the seams with energy, swaying slowly side to side. "It makes me want to join in." He threw out a pokeball, and out came a Dusknoir. The large ghost hovered above the ground and stared at me with its one eye.

Time to see what this skeleton can do! I called upon my Charizard to battle, and as soon as he fully materialized the fight was on.

"Trick Room," said Sans. An icy blue light appeared to crawl around the room, as if encapsulating it as a prison, then it disappeared. Charizard was having a hard time moving, but Dusknoir was faster than ever.

"Flamethrower," I said to Charizard, not losing my cool. The flames shot out of the dragon's mouth, but they missed the bulky ghost entirely.

"Thunder Punch." The ghost lunged forward with fist collecting electricity, then did an uppercut on Charizard.

I thought that this wouldn't be a big deal and would actually give me and opening, but instead Charizard fell out of the air, fainted. I was flabbergasted. In one hit? How strong is this guy?! I could tell that I was in for a bad time.

I pulled in Charizard and switched up my logic. All right, if he wants to play the trick room game then I'll just play along with him. I chose Snorlax as my next pokemon.

"That puts me in a difficult situation," said Sans while sporting a huge sarcastic grin.

He was starting to make me angry. "Crunch!" Snorlax sat up for once, and leaned forward to land the attack.

"Trick Room."

The same room caging effect appeared in red, then speeds were back to normal. Snorlax fell right on his face.

"What? Did you think I was going to have him stand there and get hit?" He winked.

When is he going to fight like a normal person?! Oh well, I have more moves than that. "Heavy Slam."

"Protect," said Sans. His pokemon just stood there and made a shield of energy, blocking the attack entirely. "Will-O-Wisp."

He shouldn't be able to switch between attacks this fast!

Dusknoir sent out a flame, ghostly flame, and it touched Snorlax, sending a roar up its body.

"Ah, that's better. Now you're sure to lose that pokemon if I wait it out."

I gritted my teeth. This was even worse than when I fought with that other trainer on Mt. Silver. "Rollout!" My Snorlax reluctantly made its body into a ball shape a spun around, rolling across the ground, then aiming at Dusknoir.

"Just dodge it," Sans said. The ghost just sidestepped. "You've probably been wondering why I am so lazy all the time..."

Snorlax spun around and came at him again, but all Dusknoir had to do to dodge was float higher up in the air. "Stop," I told Snorlax, and he obeyed, but was a little dizzy from his own attack.

"Well you see, we've found all sorts of fractures in time, and they always seem to happen without fail on this day..."

You think you can just keep talking like I wasn't attacking?! "Crunch!"

Dusknoir just dodged again, no questions asked.

"The time lines would always stop too. Now, knowing that all your efforts would be canceled out in a short amount of time... It makes sense why I wouldn't put forth any effort, right?"

He can't keep dodging forever! "Again!"

Snorlax leapt at Dusknoir with fangs ready, but it just used Protect.

"But if they always end on today, and this is the day that you get here... Then doesn't that mean it's your fault?"

Snorlax couldn't take it anymore, and the pain from the burn knocked him out.

"Listen. I feel like if I let you past me then this timeline will end too, and I'd rather not have that happen, you know? How about we just stop the fight right here and you can go on living in the Underground with the rest of us?" He put his hands behind his back and waited for my response.

Sorry, I don't know about this time jumping nonsense, but I have my own goals to complete. I pulled Snorlax back, but immediately sent out Blastoise.

"Well, can't say I didn't try." Sans shrugged. "Trick Room, then Shadow Punch."

The room glowed, and immediately after the visual effects wore off a fist appeared out of the shadows and hit Blastoise in the back, once again knocking my pokemon unconscious in a single move.

I didn't know what to do other than to try again. I knew that I just had to land a hit on his Dusknoir, but didn't know how.

I let out Venusaur. "Petal Blizzard!" I doubt he can dodge all those petals!

Right as the petals were released by Venusaur, Sans was already issuing his own attack. "Shadow Force."

Dusknoir disappeared completely from the room, and the flowery storm failed to hit anything. I wanted to tell Venusaur where to dodge, but I personally had no clue.

"As I was saying, I'd rather not have you pass through the barrier, but I have a hard time saying that because you're really not a bad guy." Another sadistic wink. "If you beat me, though, I'll let you past."

Out of nowhere Dusknoir appeared in the room and punched Venusaur in the back, landing a critical blow.

Shoot! He's taking them down too fast for me to do anything! I let out my Lapras and hoped for the best. "Ice Beam!"

Lapras let out a cold blast of energy, but Dusknoir sidestepped it.

"Shadow Punch."

Lapras was taken out of the equation. Now it was just me and Pikachu.

"Discharge!"

"Shadow Ball."

Pikachu started to build up electricity, but was hit midway with the dark purple sphere. Pikachu skidded across the ground, and with that, I lost the bout. My head hung as I collected the last of my pokemon.

"Don't get yourself too down. You can always try again later."

His taunt drove me nearly insane. I stormed out of the castle and looked around.

Alphys had all of those healing machines... Maybe I'll have to pay her a visit.

I didn't have my Charizard to ride, so I had to settle for walking. I would normally bike, but with those cliffs that dropped to molten lava I didn't think that was such a smart idea. That was okay though, because now I was determined to beat that living skeleton. Walking was just a minor inconvenience compared to that.

-----

"Oh, you're back. I guess you're not going to let one loss hold you down, huh? That's okay. I can stand here and fight you as long as I need."

Sans hadn't moved an inch since we last faced off about an hour or two ago.

"Well then, let's get started."

He let out his Dusknoir, and I my Pikachu.

"Trick Room."

"Thunderbolt!"

And thus the dodging game began. Sans seemed to have every trick in the book for avoiding moves. Substitute, Protect, Shadow Force, predicting moves with Future Sight, and even just plain dodging were all in his repertoire. However, it seemed that his actual attack pool wasn't that great, but they were so strong that that didn't seem to matter.

It wasn't long before I was dragged into the same situation as last time, with all of my pokemon being taken out instantly or due to burn damage. Sans was terrifyingly strong.

I lost again, and I couldn't stand it. Sans saw this in my eyes, but he didn't say a word.

I once again rushed to Alphys' laboratory. No way was I going to lose again, and I needed a strategy to make that a reality.

-----

"Let's just get to the point," said Sans, already bringing out his solo pokemon.

"Lapras! Perish Song!"

Sans' white pupils shrunk as he realized what was happening. "Shadow Ball!"

Should've used Protect, because now I've got you!

Lapras came out of its pokeball and jumped right into its dreary song. The song reached Dusknoir, and the countdown was on. A ball of dark purple energy shot at my pokemon and knocked it out without problem. Now I just had to stall.

Sans started sweating. How that was possible, I did not know, but it happened anyways.

I then waited to let my next pokemon out. It was unfair, and Dusknoir didn't let it happen for very long. A ghostly flame enveloped one of my pokeballs and forced it to open, dragging out my Blastoise.

Well that didn't work.

"Ah come on, let's play nice, okay? I'll tell you what. Let's just call it a draw and come back to this another day."

"Hydro Pump."

Dusknoir braced with a Protect barrier.

"Yeah, didn't think that would work. It was worth a shot though. Double Team!"

The opposing pokemon split into several copies of itself and charged at mine. Blastoise had no idea how to react and was overwhelmed.

The real battle had just begun.

Pokeballs opened on their own and gave me only split seconds to react and issue commands.

"Razor Leaf!"

Venusaur was taken out.

"Thunder!"

There went Pikachu.

"Crunch!"

No more Snorlax.

I would tell by the look in Dusknoir's eyes that I had almost won. The Perish Song had almost taken effect.

My last pokemon was pulled out of his pokeball: Charizard. "Aerial Ace!" I called out as the pokeball flew from my bag. The fire dragon launched off into the air as soon as it came out, but only hit one of the Double Team's clones.

It didn't seem to matter though, because Dusknoir passed out after that, along with all of his clones.

I did a silent cheer when that pokemon was finally defeated, but when I looked up at Sans I noticed something strange. He was smiling.

"What? You think that I only have one pokemon? Come on out... Houndoom!"

He skillfully pulled in Dusknoir and let out his new pokemon at the same time. The red bellied black dog growled and stomped the floor when it came out. Then it got even worse.

Just like with Undyne's Gyarados, the Houndoom glowed and came out of the radiation as a new, Mega Evolved form. Its horns and teeth were longer, but I could tell that its temper was shorter.

I wasn't beating Sans any time soon.

-----

Days passed trying to beat that annoying guy. I would challenge over and over until my feet hurt from walking back to the laboratory, then I would crash there until the next day and start the cycle over again. Each time I did it though, Alphys seemed to get more and more worried for me. It was becoming almost like an obsession.

I had to beat him.

I showed up on the fifth day, tired but completely determined. I had figured out a few tricks from battling him, and he had figured out a few of mine, but slowly through practice and through having more pokemon I was narrowing the gap.

"You know, maybe I should try this 'effort' thing again sometime. It apparently works wonders." Sans snickered.

I had heard his ramblings and comments countless times now, so it didn't faze me. I was only focused on the battle.

The battle continued about as usual, using Perish Song to get Dusknoir and trying my best to beat Houndoom.

The energy built up inside of me. I could feel it. I was going to win this time!

"Blastoise! Surf!"

Houndoom jumped into the air, dodging the wave of water.

"Did you really think that--"

"Water Gun!"

Blastoise spit the simple stream of water at the opponent at lightning speed, hitting it for once.

The Houndoom fainted without a problem.

Just as I thought! You can't have something that strong offensively without having terrible defenses! Sweat dripping down my face as I waited to see if he had more up his sleeve or not.

"Well, you got me kid." He returned his pokemon to its ball. "I didn't really want to let you get any further, but hey, you've shown me that I can change fate if I put my mind to it, and at least the me of this timeline thanks you for that. There's a healing machine over behind that column over there, so heal your pokemon and after that get going. The king is surely waiting for your arrival."

I walked past him, victorious at last.

Strangely, though, I wasn't quite happy about that.