Chapter Text
“Alright, brat!” Undyne, wearing a blank tank top, exclaimed stomping the floor with a grin. “What do you do when a bully approaches you?”
Blank hummed as they pondered the question. They were wearing soft-blue overalls with a white turtleneck sweater and black shoes, clothes Undyne gave to them. “I hide and go dead silent.” They replied in a genuine tone. They knew what a bully was. Their visions showed a few examples.
It reminded them of the titan.
Undyne’s eye twitched as she kept up her strained grin by pure force. “Any plan B?” She asked, lightly nudging the little angel with her elbow.
Blank looked down at the ground. They thought about the titan and what they would do should they be found while hiding from it. The mere idea made their body tense up. “Run away and hide again!” They exclaimed without thinking.
Undyne paused, blinking at the brat before her. “Great answer!” She exclaimed cheerfully with a giant grin before grabbing Blank by the skull. “IF YOU WANNA GET YOUR ASS BEAT!” She suddenly snapped in their face before punching the wall with enough force to break through it like a twig. “THIS is what you do to a bully! HAHAHAHAHA-”
Blank let out a loud whimper that made Undyne freeze. Her mind only then caught up with what she was implying. “Don’t…actually punch a hole in anyone.” She added awkwardly as she began sweating. “That’s, like, really bad. Just punch them hard enough to knock out a tooth or something.”
“But I don’t wanna fight.” They remarked with a visible wince. The idea of fighting hadn’t even crossed their mind. It felt as if it came down to it, fighting would make things worse and they didn’t want a repeat of that.
“Kid, brats your age are ruthless.” Undyne remarked with a grim expressions. “You gotta be ready to fight back. Because today is your first day at school.”
Blank nodded. Somehow, despite never taking a single step inside it in their life, they already hated school. “Why do I have to go to school?” They asked in a tired tone as Undyne put on her police outfit and grabbed Blank’s umbrella.
Undyne grumbled, thinking of how she could explain this before an idea popped into her head. “So you can get a job which gets you money that you can use to buy butter.” She said with a grin as Blank already began drooling… dark stuff. “Stop drooling or no snacks. The carpet is still drying from yesterday.” She said, covering their mouth with her hand.
Undyne frowned as she remembered the incident. How did one brat’s drool drench an entire carpet in water? It was salt water too, not sticky drool. It was as if a part of the ocean just teleported into her house. She swore to never let that dark stuff slip on her floor ever again.
Undyne handed Blank the umbrella and headed outside with the brat in tow. “Ready, brat?” Blank shook their head and Undyne smiled. “Too bad, you’re still going.”
xxxxxxXxxxxxx
To say Blank was nervous would be understatement. They were terrified. Standing in front of this unknown building of strangers filled them with FEAR before they felt a tap on their shoulder. The little angel leaped in fear like a cat taken off guard as they turned around to find… Noelle.
“Oh, Noelle!” They said, their mood immediately improving at the sight of a familiar face.
“Hi, Blank.” The deer girl greeted them with a smile. “I was waiting for you to get here so I can show you around. I doubt angels go to a regular school like this…do angels even go to school?” Blank shrugged. They only knew about the concept of school for a couple days.
“I’m scared.” Blank muttered dejectedly with a frown. “What if I meet a bully? Undyne said I need to fight, but…” It’s daunting.
“Hey, everyone here is super nice. You’ll do great!” Noelle exclaimed cheerfully before grabbing Blank’s hand. “C’mon, before we’re late!” She exclaimed before softly pulling them by the hand as she headed inside.
Having someone by their side made this stressful experience just a little more comfortable.
Blank scanned the school as Noelle guided them. They saw lockers, note boards and a sink. “Why’s there a sink in the hallways?” They asked tilting their head. Undyne’s house only had them in the kitchen and the bathroom.
Noelle’s ears perked up. “The bubbler?” She asked with a playful chuckle that made the angel pout silently. “That’s for drinking, silly.”
Blank nodded before Noelle dragged them directly to the classroom where they immediately froze. All eyes were on them and three in particular showed hostility.
A blue bird monster, a goth cat monster and a human glared at them. Three people immediately hated them, making them think Undyne might have been correct about school.
“E-ehm.” A yellow dinosaur with glasses that looked perpetually hunched cleared her throat. The teacher Undyne talked about, Blank assumed. “Class, welcome our new student: Blank. They recently moved in from…I don’t actually know. But they’re allergic to…light.” The teacher went silent as if only now understanding what she’d said. “How are you still alive?” Blank froze, not knowing how to answer. There was no way they could talk about the dark world.
The thought of so many dark fountains made them nauseous. Even if nothing truly mattered, they didn’t want it to be worse. They turned to Noelle with quivering lips, hoping she had an answer.
Noelle froze as she was put on the spot, her brain going. into overdrive. She began sweating nervously as her mind scrambled for a coherent answer until she remembered something: the dark fountain. “Uhh, t- they use a special medicine.” She blurted out, turning to the equally nervous Blank with a hopeful gaze.
“O-okay.” The teacher said in a slightly disappointed tone, clearly hoping for more information. “T-tell us about yourself.”
They beamed. Finally, something they could answer properly. “I like butter, Noelle’s my friend and I live with Officer Undyne.” They answered calmly, they rehearsed this answer plenty of times with Undyne and felt confident in their act.
“W-well, you c-can sit down now.” The teacher said and Noelle pulled them to their seat. Blank let it happen as they felt the glares from before get sharper. They sat down diagonally from Noelle, keeping their umbrella up.
Their other classmates greeted them as they sat down. They particularly liked the ones calling themselves Monster Kid and Temmie.
Then, their mind drifted back to the three still glaring classmates. What was so important that they’d hate them so much? Was there even a reason? Blank decided to ask Noelle later only to remember her reaction to their last question and change their mind.
I don’t want her to laugh at me again.
xxxxxxXxxxxxx
The class ended with the sound of the bell. The rest of the students left aside from Blank, Noelle and the blue bird monster.
Blank stood up before walking to Noelle, not wanting to go alone. But just as they took one step forwards, a familiar bird stood in their way. “Stop right there, normie scum!” He said with a smug smirk as he adjusted his glasses. “Noelle and I refuse to associate with beings of lesser intelligence.”
Huh??? Blank was supremely taken aback. Was there a separation by intelligence rule that they knew nothing about? They turned to Noelle who tensed up nervously, unable to answer. There is one, huh.
They lowered their umbrella down, hiding their face in shame. It’s not like it matters. It was nice while it lasted. As they began to miserably back away from the deer girl.
Noelle’s eyes widened. “W-wait! You think Berdly’s serious?” She asked in shock and Blank tilted their head in confusion.
“He isn’t?” “I’m not?” Blank and Berdly asked in unison. What? But you’re-
“I mean, I am serious.” Berdly insisted with a smirk. “I’m the only feathery partner for Noelle. The number one and number two. You’re just a newcomer with plebian intelligence vying for a nonexistent number 3.” He added before laughing with the smuggest of smirks.
“A-actually, Berdly, they’re a good friend of mine.” Noelle interjected nervously, but her voice was drowned by the laughs of Berdly. The deer girl turned to Blank and whispered in their ear in a desperate voice. “I swear I don’t agree with anything he’s saying. Please believe me.”
Blank decided to believe her. Berdly felt like a lot. “Maybe we can leave while he isn’t looking?” Blank suggested with a shrug. Noelle paused, thinking the proposal over before nodding. They turned to Berdly, finding him monologuing and two took this chance to advance towards the classroom door.
But just two steps in, they heard a gasp. “Noelle, how could you? You two are… leaving without me? I’m hurt.” He said with a dramatic tear falling down his cheek.
“Berdly, you’re both my friends.” Noelle remarked with a forced smile. “Why can’t you two be friends too?”
Berdly scoffed. “I refuse to befriend someone I don’t acknowledge.” He remarked, glaring at Blank. The angel shrunk as the bird monster continued. “So, very well. Blank, if that is your real name, I shall test your abilities myself. To gain my acknowledgment you must prove your smarts or show me you’re a TRUE gamer.”
For some odd reason, the last word resonated with Blank’s visions. “I don’t know about smarts, but I like the sound of games.” They replied immediately. It sounded highly appealing.
“It appears we are on the same wave length!” Berdly exclaimed with a smirk as he pushed his glasses to his forehead with one finger. “Super smashing fighters, now. I’ll go prepare the victory ambrosia that I’ll revel in shortly.” Berdly laughed loudly, already imagining his glorious victory. “We battle at Noelle’s.”
With his final declaration said, Berdly left the classroom with a smirk. Blank themselves were also smiling. The though of playing a game excited them and they didn’t know why, defeating Berdly was a plus. They turned to Noelle who looked… worried. “Why do you look like that? Did I do something bad?”
“No, but…” Noelle remarked with a sigh. She could only imagine what Berdly would do after winning against Blank. “Blank, no offense, but Berdly has touched a video game before. You haven’t. You’ll be thrashed. We gotta deal with him somehow. Maybe if I just… tell him really hard?”
Somehow, Blank did not feel worried in the slightest.
xxxxxxXxxxxxx
At Noelle’s place, Berdly and Blank sat on the floor of the deer girl’s room with controllers in their hands as Noelle sitting beside Blank, holding up their umbrella over them with a worried expression.
“May the better gamer win.” Berdly declared smugly. “ME, of course!” He added before starting the game. “I’ll give you the first hit, as a freebie.”
Blank nodded. “Okay.” They said as they began moving their character. The controller felt natural in their hands, like a reunion with an old friend. They rushed their character towards Berdly’s before landing their first hit.
And seeing the enemy stunned for a split second, they landed the second and third and so on. Before Berdly even knew it, his character was stuck in an inescapable combo leaving him unable to do anything but watch as Blank slammed his character off the stage.
Berdly and Noelle’s eyes widened in shock as their jaws fell. What they did not know was Blank’s visions fueling them with thousands upon thousands of hours of muscle memory for games they’ve never played.
Not only that, the angel was also a creature that can fight and fly at high speeds without trouble. Their perception and reaction times were far more advanced than Berdly or Noelle could ever imagine.
Berdly thought he challenged a worm, and only at that moment did he realize he had been looking at the mere tip of the beast’s tail.
“This is fun!” Blank exclaimed cheerfully as Berdly and Noelle looked them as if looking at a horrifying beast.
“I- I admit, you have skill.” Berdly said with a smile as a bead of sweat fell down his forehead. “I will fight for real this time.”
“Oh, that’s good. I just got a good handle on the controls so I think I can do better.” They said innocently as they remembered Undyne's words about punching and Berdly couldn’t help but start sweating intensely.