"NNNNNNNNNNNNGGGGGAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!!" I let out my war cry as I came crashing down onto a giant rock, creating a split down the center. The crash echoing through the Waterfall cavern as I took in a few deep breaths to compose myself. I heard clapping as I looked up to see Gerson excitedly cheering for me and Asgore giving me a thumbs up with a huge warm smile.

"Wahahaha! That's my kid!" Gerson shouted with glee, his face splitting with joy.

"Well, for the child being so young, I am quite impressed. But she still seems to be a bit careless." Asgore said, taking on a more informative, teacher-like approach. He was my trainer after all. "But," he continued, "you have grown a lot since you tried to fight me three months ago." He sent me a gentle smile.

I felt my cheeks grow hot remembering the embarrassing encounter. "Y-yeah, I made myself look real dumb," I scratched the back of my head self-consciously.

"No, not dumb," Asgore corrected, "You were more filled with pride, which can be very dangerous and not a very good trait to have at times. You must learn how to humble yourself, but without tearing yourself down. A true hero does not fight to prove a point, but fights to protect the innocent and the majority. A true hero is one who will take a risk for someone they may or may not know, just because it is the right thing to do. Do you want to be a true heroine, Undyne?" He asked, raising an eyebrow at me.

"Yes, sir." I nodded, suddenly feeling something strange burning within me. "And I will keep practicing, until I am the strongest monster I can be! I will keep trying and I'll never, ever, fail to protect the innocent, even if I have to sacrifice my own life." My voice grew more confident with each word as I stood up straight and looked him in the eye.

"I am glad to hear how committed you are, but remember, you are still only sixteen, so don't get too hot-headed," he spoke in a serious tone.

I nodded to show that I understood.

"Well..." Gerson spoke up, "I think that that's enough training for one day, me an' Asgore should head back to the castle now." He spoke as he picked up his giant hammer and rested it on his broad shoulders, "I believe in you, Undyne, I know you'll make us both very proud. Don't forget to meet us back here at six a.m. sharp tomorrow."

I giggled, "Don't worry 'bout it, I'll be here way before you nerds even wake up!"

"Attitude." Gerson reminded in a sing-song voice.

I sweat nervously, "erm.... I mean, Yes, I will be here on time!" I gave them my biggest smile to hide my nerves.

"That's the spirit, kid!" Gerson chuckled. "See ya tomorrow!" He said before turning off towards the castle direction.

"Have a lovely day," Asgore added before following the turtle.

"See ya! And you too!" I called after them as I watched them turn a corner, leaving my sight.

I leaned against one of the cavern walls and looked at my watch. It read twelve-thirty. Alphys and Grillby should be here any minute now for lunch. Alphys was two years younger than me and Grillby, but I thought that she was pretty cool, and REALLY smart. She was probably more intelligent then me and Grillby combined. And to think that I'd meet someone like her at a garbage dump, as I was trying to find cool human stuff to turn into weapons.

I looked around the corner, just in time to see the short lizard dashing towards me, just to make too sharp of a turn and run into me. I remained standing but she lost her balance from the collision and fell backwards.

"Oh my God?!" My voice was traced with worry but I was also trying to hold back a laugh, "Are you okay? Did you hurt yourself?"

"N-n-no, " she stammered, "I'm fine. Just th-thought we were l-l-late again."

I looked down at my watch then offered her a hand to help her up, "Nope! You are right on time!" I smiled down at her.

"Oh, r-r-really?" She said as she took my hand and stood up.

"Yup!" I replied winking at her as I untied my messy ponytail and let my hair hang loose. I looked down at her and saw her staring at me. "What's up?" I asked her.

She snapped out of her stare and began to blush, "Oh um....n-nothing much.... I don't really do that m-much besides watch anime and make l-little figurines.... but I-I-I don't think that you'd--"

"It sounds really cool!" I spoke up. My smile growing wider.

"R-r-really!?" She looked like she was about to explode from pure joy, " 'Cause I-I-I just started a n-new anime called Mew Mew Kissie Cutie a-and you c-could come over a-and w-watch it with me... if you'd like...." She sounded really nervous even though I had no idea why.

"YEAH!" I shouted excitedly, "THAT SOUNDS AWESOME! We should totally do that some time!"

"H-how  about after lunch t-today?" She asked putting her pointer fingers together nervously.

"SOUNDS PERFECT!" I shouted a little too loud and made her jump. Oops.

I looked over to see Grillby casually walking around the corner with the picnic basket in the nook of his arm.

"Oh, hey Grillby, " I smiled and waved at him as Alphys turned around, also giving him a small wave.

He waved back, his flames glowing a little brighter. He wasn't much of a talker, he only said things when he thought it was necessary. But he was a good listener and a trusting friend, he never judged me or put me down, no matter how crazy or wild my ideas and dreams became. He was one of those few people that you could trust to always have your back.

Then I noticed something. Part of his fire on his head was extinguished. What in the Underground happened to him? Did someone hurt him?

"Erm, Grillby....What happened to you?" I asked cautiously, gesturing to his head.

"W-w-wait? You didn't tell her?!" Alphys said, confusing me more.

Grillby shook his head and looked down shyly, seeming to be embarrassed. Then silence took over, no one was talking. My curiosity grew into a slight frustration.

"Will someone tell me what happened?!"

"W-well," Alphys started nervously, "yesterday, a-after we had l-lunch, Grillby was taking me home w-w-when these monsters jumped us. They tackled Grillby but I-I-I  ran to get help. W-w-when I came back with his Dad, he was kn-knocked out and had more than half his HP m-missing. His Dad was able to heal him but he said that burnt out spot was gonna take time to heal....b-b-but, don't worry, he said that he'll be better in a couple days.... the only thing is, is th-that he got his whole coin bag stolen...h-he had over 100g in there!"

Grillby refused to make eye-contact with either one us and just awkwardly rocked between his heel and toe.

I sighed feeling sorry for my friend, "Grillby, you don't have to feel embarrassed, you know? It happens to the best......" I trailed of noticing the back end of the picnic basket begin to lift,"....of us?"

Grillby raised a brow in confusion, as I began to approach him. I quickly grabbed his shoulder and looked behind him to find a wide-eyed skeleton staring back at me. He was wearing a patched up, brown hoodie, that seemed way to big on him. He had dark blue jeans on, which had giant holes in the knees and extremely scoffed up boots. The monster quickly retracted his hand from the picnic basket and began to slowly back up.

Grillby whirled around to see what was happening and Alphys peered in from behind me. The small skeleton, who was even shorter than Alphys, appeared to be very nervous.

"h-hey, uh, th-this isn't what it l-looks like." He stuttered putting his hands up in defense.

I narrowed my eyes at him before summoning a spear in my hands and yelled, "THIEF!" I darted towards him, but he sprinted away from me. Grillby followed close behind, while Alphys stayed back, unsure of what was going on. The skeleton was surprisingly fast, but I knew how to stop him. I made sure my spear was weak enough to only do one damage to him, but still strong enough to pin him. I chucked my spear at him, it headed straight towards him, then he.....what?! He dodged it? How did he....?

I growled in frustration, "GET BACK HERE YOU LITTLE STREET RAT!" I threw another spear at him, only for him to dodge once again before turning the corner. I looked over at Grillby who was still keeping pace with me. "Grillby, you keep following him, I'm gonna go ahead and cut the punk off!"

Grillby nodded and continued to chase after him as I made my way up the rocks and took my shortcut to the wishing room. I bounded over obstacles and felt adrenaline rushing over me like a wave. I looked over the edge and saw Grillby throwing an array of fire attacks at the brat, only for him to dodge out of the way like it was no big deal. I then realized that Grillby still had the picnic basket and laughed to myself, what a dork. I was also extremely impressed by his attacks, some of those patterns I could never even dream of summoning, yet that punk kept dodging them, not letting a single attack land on him.

I looked forward again, only to see I was heading straight for a rock, I quickly jumped out of the way, right before I would have slammed into it. I continued to run and saw that I was now ahead of them. I ran a little farther before I stopped and waited for the thief to be directly below me. I looked towards where they were coming from and saw the skeleton skid around a corner, before making a mad-dash towards my direction.

I smirked.

Three...

Two...

One...

He was right below me, I jumped from the high rocks. "NNNNNNGGGGAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!" I jumped in front of him, kicked him down, and held a spear between his eyes.....er...eye-sockets. He looked like he was between shock and confusion and he was breathing extremely heavy. "I'VE GOT YOU NOW, THIEF, HAND OVER WHAT YOU STOLE!"

He spoke between breaths of air, not letting his eyes off the spear, leaving him cross-eyed. "i....didn't...steal...anything."

I looked up to see Grillby had caught up, before continuing my interrogation, "OH, YEAH? THEN EXPLAIN WHY YOU WERE GOING INTO MY FRIEND'S PICNIC BASKET!"

"i...wasn't... going through.... the basket....i was trying... to return his coin bag." He glanced up at me before returning to looking at the spear nervously.

"Wait.... YOU WERE ONE OF THE MONSTERS THAT BEAT UP, GRILLBY?!" I was furious, why would someone do that then try to return it like no big deal? "I SWEAR I'M GONNA DESTROY YOU FOR THIS!" I was seething with anger as I raised my spear. But before I could throw it at the monster, Grillby jumped between us, waving his arms frantically.

"GRILLBY, WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING, HE BEAT YOU UP, NOW IT'S HIS TURN TO FEEL WHAT YOU FELT!" I tried to go around Grillby, but he jumped in front of me again. "GRILLBY, LET ME--"

"NO!" He shouted. I was taken aback, Grillby never spoke, much less yelled, "He didn't do anything, it wasn't him who attacked me!"

"THEN HOW DOES HE HAVE YOUR MONEY?!"

" i..... i don't anymore..." I heard him speak up, "i-it's in his picnic basket, l-look for yourself" His eye-lights darted between me and Grillby.

I watched as Grillby opened up the basket to reveal the money bag. He opened it up and a few moments later, looked up at me with a nod. "It's all here."

I raised an eyebrow confused. Grillby walked out of the way as I peered down at the skeleton, my head slightly tilted, "Then how did you get it?"

He nervously fiddled with the sleeves of his hoodie as he pulled his knees to his chest, "i...well... um... i saw what happened and then when i saw the other guy helping him, i went after where the bullies went..... i...erm...followed them and when they weren't paying attention, i pick-pocketed it from them.... that's all..."His eyes seemed to dart everywhere, but towards me.

" Okay....well then...why were you trying to hide from us when you were giving it back?" I questioned, crossing my arms in front of my chest.

He looked towards Grillby, seeming more comfortable with his presence than mine, Grillby gave him a nod to continue,  then he directed his attention towards me, "i saw you talking to asgore...... and well.... i didn't want you to mention me to him..."

I smirked, " Why wouldn't I? You did something pretty cool, and the king always likes to hear about monsters doing stuff like--"

" no! please, don't say anything! i'll do anything, just don't mention me to HIM!"  He seemed almost hysteric with panic.

I blinked confused. "WOAH, calm down! You look like you're about to explode.... erm....I'm just curious, not trying to intrude but... why not?"

He took in a deep breath to compose himself, "b-because! i...i don't want him to take my bro away, we are doing just fine on our own! i don't wanna be separated again! please, i know it sounds weird, but just don't tell him, i'm beggin' ya!" He mimicked what biting your lip looked like with his skeletal features.

I was still very confused, but it felt rude to pry anymore and I supposed I owed him a favor anyways. My shoulders sagged as I sighed, "Okay, Fine. I'll keep my lips sealed."

He gave me a genuine smile of relief, "thank you--" He cut himself off as he paused, "...erm....what's your name?" He said a little sheepish.

I face-palmed myself, I just interrogated a completely innocent monster, and didn't even bother to introduce myself. "Undyne!... And you?" I held out my hand for a hand-shake.

"sans, sans the skeleton." He accepted my hand.

pfffffbbbbbbbbbbbttttttttt

I stood wide-eyed. What was that?! I looked down at the skeleton to see him doubled-over in laughter.

He spoke between fits of laughter, "the old whoopee-cushion-in-the-hand trick, pfffft hahah! it's ALWAYS funny." He was tearing up from laughing so hard and I couldn't help but laugh too. Even Grillby was laughing.

"Okay, okay, good one, nerd." I gave him a small clap as I leaned back on one hip.

"are you kidding me, i've got a skele-TON of tricks up my sleeve." With a flick of his wrist, an echo flower appeared in his hand. I didn't realize I was gawking until I heard him and Grillby snicker at me.

I knitted my brows together and snatched the flower from him. I turned it over in my hands. It was definitely real, it certainly wasn't a fold-up trick that you could by from a shop-keeper. I brought it up to my face to smell it.

SPPPPPLLLLLLOOOOSHHHH

Water spayed in my face. I stood stunned trying to compute what just happened. I looked over at the two boys, just to find them both howling with laughter.

"gettttttt dunked on!!!!!!" The short monster snorted as he looked at my face.

"Oh my, your face!" Grillby said, pointing at me over-dramatically.

I felt a smile creep on my face before I too, started laughing at myself as well. " Very clever, " I snickered, "Well aren't you a funny-bone?" A shot a look at the skeleton.

He blinked before his eyes were filled with joy, "of course i am! this is as easy as sleeping, i can do it with my eyes closed."

I snickered at him, while Grillby looked like he was going to die from laughing.

Sans raised an eyebrow at him, "are you okay, pal? or are things getting a little heated?" He winked his left eye-socket.

Grillby continued dying from the skeleton's humor, while I shook my head at both of them, "Come on nerds, let's head back, Alphys is probably worried sick."

We headed back, I was leading the way, listening to Sans crack more and more puns and Grillby continuing his laughter. We turned around the final corner to see Alphys pacing back and forth impatiently and nervously.

"Hey, Alphys, we're ba--" The lizard ran over, nearly tackling me.

"OHMYGODWHEREDIDYOUGO! IWASWORRIED,WHATIFYOUANDGRILLBYGOTHURT,WHATIFTHATWEIRDMONSTERHURTYOU,WHATIF--"

"hey, look, i'm not that weird, and i don't have a bone to pick with these two either." He smirked.

"......AHHHH, YOU BROUGHT HIM WITH YOU?!" Alphys basically shrieked, jumping a mile high.

"Alphys, chill, he's cool." I soothed, trying to calm her down.

"yeah, don't worry 'bout me, i'm chill....straight to the bone." He winked again.

I glanced over at him, "Okay, that one was bad."

"meh," he shrugged, then seemed to have remember something, "oh and the name is sans." He winked and held out his hand to Alphys.

"O-oh, I'm Alphys," she reached for his hand.

I quickly swatted his hand away, "NO MORE WHOOPEE-CUSHIONS!!!" I shouted, saving Alphys from having to go through that mess.

Sans shrugged again, "welp, it was worth a shot." Alphys stood confused as she tried to figure out what just happened.

I shook my head and laughed, " So... How about we start lunch?"

Alphys squealed and jumped a little, "Yes, food! The second most important part of the day!"

"What's the first?" I asked raising an eyebrow and crossing arms.

She paused adding a bit of suspense, " ANIME!" She made jazz-hands and wiggled her hips side to side. I smirked at her, stifling a laugh.

Sans raised an eyebrow, "ani-what?"

Alphys looked like someone just stabbed heras shegasped, "Oh. My. God. YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT ANIME IS?!" She was about to go on one of her hour long anime rants, but then Sans responded.

Sans shrugged, "can't say that i ani-do."

I groaned at his joke and rolled my eyes, face-palming a little, "Sans, really?"

He chuckled, "water you talking about? i thought it was pretty fintastic, undyne. wouldn't want to be shellfish and keep all these puns to myself. after all, even if i did want to, i wouldn't be able to kelp it."

I dragged my hand down my face, before staring at him blankly, " Sans, no."

"sans, yes, i'm no squidder." He winked at no one in particular.

I groaned at him, rolling my eyes, while Grillby seemed to still be amused by the skeleton's jokes.

" W-well..." Alphys spoke up nervously, breaking the silence, "all jokes aside, lets get to lunch, I'm starving!" Alphys eyed the picnic basket.

Grillby got the hint and began setting it up. While he was laying down the blanket, I noticed Sans leaving.

"Hey, Punk! Where are you going?" I asked, turning my body towards him.

"well, i... um butter get going, paps is probably waiting for me..." He said as he pointed towards the direction he was about to head.

"Who's th-that?" Alphys chimed in, also turning towards his direction.

"oh, he's my little bro-rrito, but he's probably wondering where i am...so, i guess i'll see ya around." He started to head off when Alphys moved passed me, jogging over to him.

"W-wait! If you c-can't stay, t-take something with you! You d-don't look so well and I bet your b-brother could used some food too." She tilted her head at him, giving him a patient smile.

"oh, no. i couldn't take food from you. you doughnut need to worry 'bout me an' paps either, i've got it under control. "He turned around again but Alphys grabbed him by the shoulder, making him jump slightly.

"Pl-please take something, we want you to have it...we brought extras anyways." She released her grip on his shoulder and turned her head towards Grillby, motioning to the bag.

Grillby nodded and wrapped up two burgers, walked over and handed them to Sans. "Here, have these."

Sans looked at the burgers like they were a foreign object. He pushed them away after a few awkward moments of silence, "n-no, it's fine, i can't expect you to help me."

I bit my lip before getting up and walking over to him, "We couldn't of expected you to get Grillby's money back, but you did it anyways. Like, that was really cool of you to do, even if you are a bit of a punk."

"but--"

"But nothing! Just take the food! After all, what you did.... you were kinda like a hero." I said, remembering what Asgore told me earlier that day.

He laughed and raised a brow at me, "me, a hero? now THAT'S a funny joke."

I looked at him seriously, " You don't give yourself enough credit, you're humble, but you can't tear yourself down like that. And you don't do things to prove a point, you do it to help others. After all, as someone I care about once told me, a true hero is one who will take a risk for someone they may or may not know, just because it is the right thing to do."

He put his hand behind his head sheepishly and looked down at his feet, hiding his face from my view, "geeze, ya didn't have to put it like that..." He sighed, sagging his shoulders. He paused before he looked up at me, "fine, i'll take them if you never say anything cheesy like that again." He pointed an accusing finger at me like a disapproving parent.

I smiled proudly, ignoring the pun, as Grillby handed the two burgers to Sans, "DEAL!" I punched his shoulder and he nearly fell over, "Oops....sorry..."

He laughed, regaining balance, "nah, i'm good. thanks, again." He turned around and waved, before darting around a corner.

"H-hey, Undyne...." Alphys started.

"Hm?" I turned, looking towards her.

She grabbed her other arm and rocked on her feet, "Th-that was very sweet of y-you."

"Sweet? Sweet?! NGAAAAAAAAH, I UNDYNE, IS NOT SWEET, I WILL STRIKE EVERY BAD-GUY DOWN!!!!!!!!" I threw a spear at random, not quite sure where I was aiming.

"....um...U-Undyne," She blinked blankly,"....you killed our lunch..."

We all stared at our picnic basket which now had an electric blue spear through it. I quickly let my spear fade as my cheeks grew hot from embarrassment. Grillby calmly walked over, and pulled out a burger with a smoking hole, straight down the center. I smirked.

"BULLS-EYE!" I shouted.

Grillby pulled out the other two, which also were hit dead center. "Times three," he added.

Alphys peered into the basket, and pulled out the french fries, " W-well, the french-fries survived," she smirked.

"HA, don't worry, I'll get them next time!" I smiled widely as I puffed out my chest, placing my fists on my hips.

We all laughed as we sat down for lunch...or at least what was left of it. We listened to Alphys go on and on about anime and other nerd stuff. After lunch, Grillby departed to head to his home, while I headed over to Alphys' house to watch Mew Mew Kissie Cutie. After all, what's a better way to end such an exciting day, then watching anime with your best friend.

***********************************************************************

"paps, i'm back," Sans said hopping along the bridge seeds to the secret room. It was a small space, but nice, and no one else knew about it but them. It had a bench that he and Papyrus made out of old wood that they found laying around and a single echo flower that they used to play games with.

"SANS!" Papyrus squealed, tackling Sans in a hug. "WHERE WERE YOU, IT'S ALMOST STORY TIME?!"

Sans chuckled, pulling himself up from the tackle, letting his little brother slide into his lap, "sorry pap, i saw an opportunity while i was heading back and had to pull weeds and garden to get you this," he said as he pulled out a bottle of medicine.

"NYOOOOOOOOOOOOOO," Papyrus whined, shoving Sans a little, " I DON'T WANT ICKY MEDICINE."

"it will make your nose stop running, and you'll feel a lot better...also no story 'til you drink a cap of this," he said as he poured some medicine into the cap of the bottle.

Papyrus puffed out his cheeks and crossed his arms, weighing his decisions, "FINE, I'LL DRINK THE YUCKY, GROSS, MEDICINE."

"that's the spirit, bro," Sans said as he handed Papyrus the cap and watched him drink it. Papyrus stuck out his tongue in disgust, only causing Sans to laugh. "welp, aren't you a little drama king?"

"NO, YOU'RE A DRAMA KING!" Papyrus said pushing his brother, rolling backwards out of his lap before standing up.

"bro, do you even know what that means?" He snickered, brushing himself off as he stood up as well.

"NO, BUT I DON'T CARE! THE GREAT PAPYRUS, SHALL ALWAYS BE VICTORIOUS!....EVEN IF HE DOESN'T KNOW WHY! NYEH HEH HEH!!!" Papyrus put his hands up above his head, so he'd be taller than Sans, who at the moment stood a whole head taller than him. Even though Papyrus was determined to be taller than his brother one day.

Sans chuckled, "that's why you are the coolest, paps,"He pat his brother's head, then he remembered his surprise, "oh, speaking of which, i got you a treat for being so cool...well actually, it's for both of us." He pulled out the two, wrapped burgers from his pocket and handed one to his brother.

"FOOD!!!" Papyrus shouted excitedly as he took the burger and examined it. Then took a bite out of it, his eyes lighting up with surprise and glee, "SANS?"

"hm?" Sans had a small smile on his face from his brother's reaction.

"WHERE DID YOU GET THIS?! IT'S FRESH AND NOT ALL OLD AND STALE!" Papyrus continued to turn the burger over in his hands, seeming amazed by it.

Sans slumped over on the bench and he took a bite out of his. It was probably the best thing they had all year, "well, you know the people who beat up all the bad-guys, and save the day in stories?"

"HEROES?" Papyrus tilted his head.

Sans smiled as he looked up at the crystals on the cave ceiling. They glittered and sparkled, adding a serenity to the small room, " yeah, the people who gave me these... heh, they were real heroes."

Heyyyyyyy, Thanks for reading! Now head over to msrose712 to see what she did with the theme "childhood"