A regretful encounter

written by Team Lavender writer, EBO/MR LANS#8176

**Narrator:** “Another day, another world, another tale to be told. In a distant universe far from most a sorrowful Underground could be found, hopelessly dreadful inhabitants dwelled the land and contrary to what one would believe at first. Both Toriel and Asgore were doing their best to keep the kingdom at check. By the looks of it prince Asriel was alive, although Chara was nowhere to be seen. Perhaps this had anything to do with the reason people live …”

**Grimm:** “..UnderFear.” –A strange skeleton said, stepping into the forest and showing up from the shadows in the depths of the Snowdin Forest. His figure was similar to that of a Sans as per usual, but this one in particular seemed to have a different taste in regards to colors for clothing. Grimm’s jacket was red and so were the stripes of his black shorts, this time the turtleneck he wears underneath his coat being black instead of white, a pair of white sneakers with black socks as footwear– “It really lives up to its name doesn’t it?” –Grimm sarcastically commented while looking around to confirm his suspicions that, much to his displeasure, were concerningly accurate. – “So this is where this much negativity was coming from huh? God … I wish I could do something for them.”

**???:** “You can do something for me.” –A quiet, somewhat menacing voice was heard from the distance, a voice which Grimm recognized rather quickly. Grimm turns around to face the shady silhouette, the figure tilts its head as it walks to Grimm with a knife in its hand. The wanderer was clearly searching for something, and by the looks of it Grimm wasn’t that something. Although him being included didn’t seem to bother the person in the least. Tension slowly built up the more both Monsters looked at each other–

**Grimm:** “What are you doing here?” –Grimm asked the unexpected guest, whose blade he noticed and glared at. A sigh of resignation escaped his mouth, looking at his old partner– “What do you want this time Spaz?” –The awfully calm creature, who we now know was Spaz all along, clenches his fist at the mention of his name and throws the knife at Grimm at high speed. Being used to that old technique Grimm manages to step aside rapidly in order to get away from its trajectory, his skull feeling the quick current of wind it created in the process which alerted Grimm. Serving as a warning to pay more attention–

**Spaz:** –The knife however wasn’t aimed at him, it landed on a log and Spaz did not seem to be bothered by it, reinforcing even further the idea of Spaz’s target being another. More blades followed in a similar pattern, failing to hit Grimm who kept dodging them without realizing they had a secondary objective. The sound of iron carving on the cracking wood filled the area, a forest where silence no longer reigned. Spaz’s sight seemed to be centered on one thing only: the tree. Upon such realization Grimm turned his head to encounter a familiar shape drawn on the old log: A Soul. Spaz’s arm returned to its position, resting on the side of his skeletal body while summoning a new blade to hold, almost as if he felt incomplete without a knife held by his tight grasp– “You’ve heard of it too, haven’t you?” –A question that Grimm responded to with a light, reluctant nod. Almost ashamed–

**Grimm:** “I’ve sensed a great source of negativity for a long time, but I didn’t know it came from here, not until now at least.” –The Monster explained, locking his eyelights on the impassive skeleton who stared back in response. No words were needed in this unspoken conversation– “This time it was harder to fight the need to feed, but something tells me that isn’t the reason why you’re here, is it?” –If Spaz could grin he certainly would have done it at that moment. Grimm could feel the atmosphere go dimmer and got ready for the worst, knowing Spaz he knew something wasn’t right and it would stay that way unless the masked Monster left–

**Spaz:** “This place is quite new, pretty recent. According to what I’ve been told, this Universe has something useful in it. I want it.” –Spaz points at the tree where his blades were, now vanished but having left behind the aforementioned drawing. A mark not only to indicate that he had been there, but also to remind Grimm what he was actually trying to find– “Before you ask why I’d want a Soul...” –Spaz resumed his speech, rising his hand and getting ready to strike– “.. I know. Why don’t I show you instead?” –Spaz said, finally dashing towards Grimm at alarming speeds. His knife pointing forward, his pulse perfectly steady and his thirst for action fueling him. Or maybe, just maybe, something else was involved–

**Grimm:** –Grimm’s body reacted in a weird way, his bones began leaking a red ooze that soon covered his body, staining most of his clothing and covering entirely one of his eyes. Tendrils appeared from his back and shoved themselves on the ground in front of Grimm, forming a barricade that caused Spaz to flinch. Unfazed by this, Spaz decided to slice them and try again, this time without the tendrils on his way to block. The red skeleton however counted with a regeneration speed Spaz didn’t suspect of, being lifted by the almost instantly regrow tentacles, avoiding once more an upcoming attack thanks to the maneuver. As soon as Grimm was in the air, he retrieved his tendrils and directed them to Spaz, who couldn’t turn around in order to counter due to the impulse and momentum of his unsuccessful attack. Spaz was grabbed by them, squeezed and crushed for additional damage, Grimm commanded them to spin midair to slam Spaz against the ground with brute force and allowed him to fall to the ground once more–

**Spaz:** –As soon as it happened, Spaz got up and stood still for a couple seconds, shaking his head and returning to his steadfast stance– “Tch, a lucky shot. Won’t happen again.” –Spaz mumbled under his breath and using his surroundings he charged against a tree to climb it with knives tied to each limb, going up in a matter of seconds and appearing in front of Grimm Spaz spoke– “Rule number one: never take your eyes off the enemy.” –He confidently said, jumping at him and tackling him back to the floor. In the middle of Grimm’s confusion Spaz moved around swiftly in between the trees. Spaz now had an advantage Grimm didn’t account for, looking around and constantly on guard. As soon as Spaz managed to reach his back– “Look behind.” –Spaz whispered. Grimm’s eye opened widely as a tendril tried to reach his wrist in an attempt to immobilize it, which it did for a few seconds, but Spaz easily summoned a butcher knife out of thin air to chop the entire tendril down. The blade cut faster than the tendril could regenerate this time, giving two seconds for Spaz to flee. Spaz rushed to the spot Grimm stood in, alarming the skeleton who couldn’t defend himself from this ambush, giving Spaz an opening to slash–

**Grimm:** “It’s not me who let his guard down!” –Grimm yelleed, and almost as if the tendrils were conscious, two of the remaining ones wrapped Spaz around their goop submerging him in the odd substance. Grimm’s expression of surprise suddenly changed to a worried one, his face displaying fear like no other when he saw that far from being drowned and paralyzed Spaz was up to something. The incautious Monster got hit by a ‘Tornado Of Blades’, Spaz’s signature move which buried him in blades of all types and made his body spin violently to cut anything in its way. Grimm’s tentacles were reduced to nothing, and as soon as Grimm was defenseless the few seconds it took for the tentacles to regenerate were exploited to the max, allowing Spaz to run away even in such a short span of time– “No no NO NO!!” –Grimm shouted, chasing the dangerous Monster who was getting away– “COME BACK HERE!” –Grimm entered a state of unreasonable thought, his judgment clouded by the need to act but lack of certainty about how to do it. Without thinking it much he stabbed several trees with his tendrils and launched himself to the air, using the regrown tendrils as ropes to swing around the branches they hanged off to gain speed and hopefully keep up with Spaz–

**Spaz:** –Spaz resorted to his special move once more, this time to clear the area from unfortunate Monsters who were in his way and leave a trail of knives that would serve as obstacles in Grimm’s way, who he knew would run after him. As soon as they exited the forest and went into a more plain zone Spaz spinned for a split second to send blades at Grimm that would catch him off guard, splitting the tendrils he used for mobility and causing his inevitable trip and eventual fall. From the distance Grimm’s face shifted from common fear to panic, anger and eventually frustration– “YOU WON’T ESCAPE THIS TIME!” –Spaz heard from afar accompanied by the sounds of goop slowly regaining its shape, knowing Grimm was getting closer. He used the distance to turn around and once he faced the agitated skeleton he sent a rain of daggers at him. Grimm was using the tentacles to move like a spider, approaching rapidly with the unexpectedly long distance he could travel in a short moment thanks to this technique, but he was forced to wrap them on himself to use them as a protective shield which defended him from all the daggers but also led him to fall due to the lack of support on the ground to keep him in the air– “Then neither will you.” –Spaz exclaimed at the sight of Grimm’s body descending and rolling in his direction, granting the perfect chance for a devastating attack that Spaz didn’t hesitate to use. Sharp swords erupted from the snow, stabbing him and pinning him down to the floor and as soon as he used the goop-based limbs to lift his body out of there katanas emerged from the same spot. These katanas however hit Grimm’s back not with the metal blade but with the handle, acting like a geyser that pushed him upwards to be left vulnerable so Spaz could jump and hammer him down with his fists–

**Grimm**: –Grimm was now lying down with his eyes on Spaz, who was stepping on his ribcage and pressing his shoe against said bones. Knowing Spaz wasn’t the kind of person to take his time he took advantage of the few seconds that Spaz took to land in order to slap him with one of the tendrils and send him flying away. Spaz stabbed the ground with a pair of butterfly knives to decrease the speed and come to a stop, standing back up and accelerating, rushing his way to Grimm. Grimm jumped and avoided being hit, pushing Spaz to the ground as soon as he was able to, he stood up yet again regardless and cut Grimm’s every tendril for a close combat fight which he ended up winning due to experience after a few slashes. Spaz was now pressing Grimm’s neck to keep him there, but this time Grimm didn’t pull any dirty tricks. Needless to say, he was in pain and sick of this constant fight, he wanted it to end but not like this and despite being perfectly capable of breaking free from Spaz’s grasp he felt like Spaz pinning him down meant there would be a good opportunity for a decisive hit soon enough. At this point standing again was no use, Spaz was too experienced in battle and had the upper hand in this situation even if Grimm had that last resort plan of hitting during an opening. Circumstances seemed to be getting worse and worse each time, and as if that wasn’t enough a blinding light came his way, Grimm closed his eyes out of instinct but to his surprise it wasn’t Spaz’s finishing move. Unsure of whether it was a good idea or not Grimm decided to open his eyes to check what that light was, and there he saw it, an armored figure with its arm extended and Spaz’s chest pierced by a light spear–

**???:** –The new person looked over at both skeletons, a shining armor worthy of a legendary warrior worn over an unknown material. In an imperative tone the knight announced their presence through an imposing manner of speech– “I don’t know who the hell you are or what you’re doing here! But you’re not going to hurt any other Monsters! Put your weapons down immediately!” –Spaz and Grimm were equally surprised, the two of them glanced at the spear at the same time and then at the newcomer. The soldier raised their tone once more– “Identify yourselves in this instant!” –They demanded, approaching both Spaz and Grimm who were too confused to react– “Whatever the reason for this chaos is, I don’t care. I will hear no excuses from you two! This is a peaceful town with innocents whose lives were lost because of your reckless actions. That behavior will not be tolerated.” –The authoritarian figure said, taking their helmet off and revealing the face hidden behind that suit all along– “And if you insist on continuing, then why don’t you try and fight someone who can actually defend themselves you cowards? Come on, I fear neither of you. Bring it on.” –The heroine of the Underground, Undyne, had at last appeared–