Hello reader, and welcome to the 26th chapter! Yayayay! Anyways, this chapter is actually 2200 words all on its own, which is pretty mindblowing, meaning that this is probably one of the longest, if not the longest chapter, in the entire story. So, this chapter took a really long time to write, because I lost motivation for a while, writing my other fanfic, which is somewhere in the database, but you can look that up when you want to. Regardless of all that stuff, I have managed to finish and it has technically not even been two weeks, sooo... I hope you enjoy the chapter!

"One, two… you're turn…"

"Okay, umm… Three!"

"Four, five…"

"SIX!"

"Seven, eight…"

"Okay okay… Nine and ten!"

"Eleven."

"Twelve!"

"Thirteen, fourteen. You know, I've already won…"

"NO NO, just you wait! Fifteen!"

"And sixteen, seventeen. I win." I stood up and stretched my back. The Icecap in front of me was opening and closing its beak in defeat. The game we had played was simple enough. The game started with someone calling out one or two numbers in numerical order starting from one. The person who ended up saying "seventeen", won.

"Now, you have to go away, and leave me alone, get it?" I asked the astonished Icecap. "And tell your friends to leave too, or they'll regret it, 'kay?"

"S-Sure…" The Icecap slowly drifted away, back into the shadows where it had come from. I took a deep breath of the icy cold air and looked at my mental map of Snowdin. Just a little more, and I would make it to the town where things would, hopefully, pick back up.

"Anyone else around?" I called out, just in case someone was nearby. If silence had weight, I'm pretty sure I would've died at that instant. I shrugged and continued walking onto a stone bridge painted like a rickety wooden bridge. "Well, in that case, I think I'm done with the Snowdin grunts…"

"HALT HUMAN! IT IS I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS!" yelled Papyrus out of nowhere. "AND YOU HAVE FALLEN INTO MY TRAP!" This was approximately the eighth time I had ran into Papyrus, and his puzzles were getting irritating. I vaguely remembered that the bridge was an extremely large trap set by Papyrus at an unknown date.

"Oh really?" I asked in my most sarcastic voice. "I would have never guessed."

"NYEHEHEHEH! OF COURSE NOT HUMAN, IT WAS SET BY ME, THE GREAT PAPYRUS!" I kept my mouth in a thin straight line to keep from bursting out in laughter from the sheer stupidity of how Papyrus sounded like when he talked.

"So, tell me, Papyrus, what exactly is this trap that you've 'set' for me?" I asked, still using the same sarcastic tone. Descending from the ceiling was a spike ball, a spear, a dog, for whatever reason, and from below, a cannon, another spear, and a oil drum spewing bright, orange flames. I would've been scared, had I not been aware of Papyrus' overwhelming kindness.

"AS I DESIGNED THIS TRAP WITH ABSOLUTE CARE, NOT ONE PERSON HAS BEEN ABLE TO SOLVE IT! NYEHEHEHEH!" claimed Papyrus. "OF COURSE, YOU ARE THE FIRST ONE TO TRY IT…"

"That's all fine and dandy, but could you, I don't know, maybe put away all the really dangerous-looking things?" I asked, pointing at all the weapons around me.

"OH, OF COURSE, JUST GIVE ME A MOMENT…" said Papyrus, fiddling around. The weapons disappeared back where they came from, leaving me with a sense of relief. I stepped across the bridge and smiled. That was a lot easier than I had anticipated, unless Papyrus was going to ambush me in some way, this was a walk in the park.

"NOW HUMAN, PREPARE FOR MY TRA- WAIT A MINUTE…" Papyrus narrowed his eyes. "MY TRAP HAS ALREADY BEEN DISARMED… HUMAN, YOU ARE MORE FORMIDABLE THAN I HAD ORIGINALLY PLANNED. VERY WELL, I WILL BE WAITING…" And just like that, Papyrus whirled away, an evil grin on his face. Sans stood off to the side, just watching me with a funny look. I shrugged and walked by him, entering the small village of Snowdin. The citizens were just milling about in their usual places except, of course, their clothing, just like everyone else. Every single time I went into another universe, basically everything was the same except some slight personality changes and the clothing they wore. I entered the Shop and examined the items that the Shopkeeper had in stock. Interestingly enough, the Cinnamon Bunnies, her specialty, instead of saying anything about HP, they simply said, "A roll that kinda looks like a bunny. With cinnamon."

"Umm, does eating do anything?" I asked the Shopkeeper. "Like, does it make you feel stronger or something?"

"Ummm, no?" replied the Shopkeeper, confused. "They just make you less hungry…"

"Oh, okay." I exited the shop and tapped my chin. It was clear that buying anything would be useless, so I simply left and journeyed towards the eastern edge of the town towards Papyrus. I had no idea what kind of battle he would present, but I was fairly certain it wouldn't be too hard. I stepped into the foggy area between Waterfall and Snowdin where Papyrus would be waiting.

"Hey, Papyrus, where are you?" I yelled out into the mist. "I'm right here!" Papyrus' silhouette slowly became visible.

"YOU MADE IT HUMAN!" responded Papyrus in an equally loud tone. "I WAS BEGINNING TO WORRY THAT YOU WOULD NEVER MAKE IT!"

"Pfft, dude, I am a man of my word," I said, snorting. "I would never lie."

"WONDERFUL, AS THE GAME I AM ABOUT TO CHALLENGE YOU TO, IS A GAME OF LYING!" declared Papyrus.

"Oh cool, what is it?" I asked, scrolling through my mental list of games that involved lying. A great majority of them involved cards and betting.

"THIS GAME IS CALLED, HOTLAND HOLD'EM!" yelled Papyrus, pumping a fist into the air. "ERM, I'M ASSUMING YOU KNOW HOW TO PLAY, CORRECT?"

"Yeah, don't worry about it," I said, guessing that it was similar, if not exactly, to Texas Hold'em. "I know how to play."

"GREAT! THEN LET US BEGIN!" Papyrus whipped out a deck of cards from the confines of his armor. "THE RULES OF THE GAME ARE SIMPLE, ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS HAVE A HIGHER SET OF CARDS THAN ME, UNDERSTAND?"

"Sure, let's just get this game started." I walked up to Papyrus and sat down in front of him. He followed suit, dealt each of us two cards, and placed the three community cards in-between us. I quickly flipped through my hand and nearly died. One Five of Hearts and one Two of Spades decorated my hand in all their pathetic glory.

"Hey, Papyrus, is this game best two out of three or…?" I asked, placing my cards down.

"ERM, NO, BUT WE CAN IF YOU WOULD LIKE!" said Papyrus, smiling a little bit too widely. I sighed in relief and took a glance at the community cards. I took a deep breath, and calculated my odds of success. The cards laid out in front, was the King of Spades, Queen of Spades, and Ace of Spades. It was too perfect, basically impossible, unless someone rigged the cards. I thought about it and realized that I hadn't even seen Papyrus shuffle the deck, he had just placed the cards down.

"Papyrus… did you rig the cards?" I asked bluntly, looking at him in the eye socket.

"EM… NO…?" answered Papyrus in a hesitant tone. "I MEAN, I DIDN'T RIG THE CARDS…"

"Did anyone, rig the cards, Papyrus?" I already knew the answer from the amount of sweat generated by Papyrus, though I did wonder how a skeleton could sweat. I assumed it was magical sweat.

"YOU GOT ME…" said Papyrus in defeat. "YES… SOMEONE DID RIG THE CARDS, BUT I CAN'T SAY WHO, BECAUSE THAT PERSON IS MY FRIEND!"

"And how exactly is this a fair game, Papyrus?" I asked, raising an eyebrow. Papyrus gritted his teeth. I was using his guilty conscience against him, and I was winning.

"IT'S NOT, I SUPPOSE… BUT! BUT BUT BUT! WE CAN STILL PLAY A GAME!" said Papyrus, getting excited again. "I'LL JUST TAKE THESE." Papyrus collected all the cards and began to shuffle them. He finished soon enough and passed the cards back out, this time, shuffled.

"Alright, let's get this game started," I said. "Are we betting?"

"OF COURSE!" answered Papyrus, looking over his cards. "WE BOTH START WITH 50 GOLD PIECES, WHOEVER GETS 100 GOLD PIECES, WINS!" I sucked in air through my teeth and looked down at my cards, smiling at the slightly better cards. A Queen of Clubs and an Eight of Clubs. At least they were both of the same suit and had even a slight chance at a flush.

"OKAY, NOW FOR THE MIDDLE CARDS…" Papyrus placed down the three community cards. A Four of Spades, a Nine of Spades, and a King of Hearts. They didn't directly connect with my cards, but if a jack and ten came out, I would win.

"I BET TEN GOLD PIECES!" yelled Papyrus, pushing forth ten shiny, golden coins. "NYEH HEH HEH!"

"I'll follow then," I said, pushing out ten gold pieces myself, confident something would come out. As it were, a Two of Spades came out, crushing my hopes of winning this match. If Papyrus had two spades, he would win.

"I'LL RAISE IT BY ANOTHER TEN!" said Papyrus, pushing in another ten. I sighed and followed him, not backing out at that stage. He flipped the final card over, an Ace of Diamonds. I swallowed hard, and looked at the cards out in front, and back at my own.

"Well, do you wanna raise it?" I asked Papyrus, hoping he wouldn't.

"NYEH HEH HEH!" laughed Papyrus. "ON THE CONTRARY, I THINK I WILL STAY THIS ROUND."

"Okay then, on three, we reveal our cards, right?" I asked, readying myself for whatever came next.

"One… Two… Three!" We both threw our cards out in front of us, the cards themselves landing right before the community cards. My Queen of Clubs and Eight of Clubs shone in whatever light was found in the Underground. One small peek at Papyrus' cards told me I lost. He had a Five of Spades and an Eight of Spades, creating a suit, ultimately trumping me.

"NYEH HEH HEH, AND THE GREAT PAPYRUS WINS!" yelled Papyrus triumphantly, gathering the 40 gold pieces.

"Let's go again then, shall we?" Papyrus shuffled the cards again and dealt them out once more. Again, I looked at my cards and the community cards out front. King of Spades and Jack of Hearts. I nodded to myself, thinking they were pretty good cards. The community also had a very nice group of cards. Within it was the Two of Spades, Three of Diamonds, and the Jack of Clubs. I had a pair so I made the first bet.

"Twenty gold pieces," I said in an overly professional voice, pushing two-thirds of my remaining money.

"EH? FINE THEN, HUMAN, I SHALL FOLLOW!" Papyrus pushed in twenty of his gold and smiled at me. The next card was only a Five of Diamonds, and neither of us raised the bet.

"Final card, here we go…" I muttered to myself, hoping that it was something good. Papyrus revealed the last card, a King of Diamonds, and I mentally threw a party.

"I'm going to go all in," I declared, pushing in my remaining money.

"VERY WELL HUMAN, I WILL FOLLOW YOUR CRAZY SCHEMES…" said Papyrus, placing ten more pieces into the betting pile. With a flourish, I revealed my cards, two pairs, and gave Papyrus a superior look. He had a Three of Hearts and a Seven of Spades, giving him only a small pair. I raked in the money and we continued playing.

Back and forth the money went, sometimes I won, sometimes Papyrus won. It was a never-ending cycle of winning and losing. I couldn't even use my analytical skills to win, only to call out Papyrus' bluffs, which were few and far between. By our seventy-sixth game, both of us were just about ready to call it quits.

"Hey, why don't we just settle this with a coin toss?" I suggested, picking up one of the many golden pieces that lay around me. "Heads, I win the game. Tails, you win, 'kay?" Papyrus looked away for a second, slowly processing my request.

"WELL, I SUPPOSE ANYTHING WOULD BE BETTER THAN THIS GAME AGAIN," he finally conceded. I smirked and flipped the coin into the air. Judging from the weight and amount of force I used, I was sure it would land the way I wanted it to. Then, the unexpected happened. The coin glowed with a dark blue shade, and plummeted straight to the ground. It threw all of my calculations way off and I looked at Papyrus.

"NYEH HEH HEH!" he laughed. "YOU DIDN'T THINK THE GREAT PAPYRUS WOULD LET YOU WIN SO EASILY, DID YOU-"

"It's a heads." I said it in such a matter-of-fact tone that Papyrus simply stopped.

"WHAT?" I picked up the coin and showed him the side it landed on.

"See? Heads, I win, ciao!" I finally stood up and stretched for a moment.

"WOWIE! YOU ACTUALLY WON!" said Papyrus, looking up at me in awe. "CONGRATULATIONS!" He said more things, but I ignored him. I had learned one important lesson today. Monsters were willing to cheat with any method they had, and they would do it with a passion.

The mysterious bottom of the chapter... What could possibly reside down here? A random Author's Note of course! Whatever. What did you like about this chapter? What did you not like? Was it interesting? Boring? Stupid, even? Whatever it was, don't tell me (Unless you really want to do the whole review thing), because I, frankly, don't care. (I actually do care... please don't leave me...) There's not much else to say, but, thanks for reading. I'm almost down with the story, and well... I'll just say all of this stuff when I actually finish the entire story. Anyways, I'll see you whenever I post another chapter, ciao!