Ceroba had to leave before breakfast was finished, but she had no worries. She’d been fine with it yesterday as well. Her daughter hadn’t shown any issues over an entire month, at least, nothing outwardly harmful. Even if she did, Ceroba knew that she had pills on her at all times. On top of that, she was with her friends. Noelle could be a bit scatterbrained sometimes… But Clover usually had his head screwed on straight. She had complete faith that there wouldn’t be any problems.

So, it was with a clear head, that she found herself on her usual route to Hotland. A few weeks ago, her position had been made a bit more… Official, to Ceroba's dismay. Royal Scientists assistant… She still felt angry at the thought of it. She felt angry about almost the entire situation. The only redeeming quality was that she could genuinely work towards saving dozens and dozens of monsters. Maybe she could even fully complete Chujin’s legacy one day, peacefully… But…

Ceroba huffed to nobody in particular, she just needed to breathe. Alphys… Alphys, Alphys, Alphys… Ceroba had underestimated just how deep the lizard's lies ran. The only thing keeping Ceroba from going straight to the king with the scientist’s misconduct was the fact that they were at least SOMEWHAT competent. She could be useful, she had been useful. She’d provided some valuable insight into Chujin’s… And Ceroba supposed, her work.

…Though she still found their demeanor distasteful.

The walk through Waterfall was uneventful as usual. Ceroba had considered maybe finding her way through the Steamworks one of these days, but it was rather unnecessary, and it could be dangerous. The Steamworks had been abandoned for a long time by now, there could be severe damage to the infrastructure, what with its main power source being acid, Ceroba wouldn’t doubt it.

No, she could walk an extra fifteen minutes a day. The fresh air couldn't possibly do her any harm either. She spent at least five hours a day every day stuck in that lab, so... The walk to and from Hotland was good for her.

Ceroba centered her breathing again, and again. It definitely wasn't healthy for her to be this angry so often, but she simply couldn't help it. That lizard would have legitimately let all of those monsters die, including her daughter, without a WORD to any of their families! And after sending them good news at that! She needed to take her mind off of it while she still could, she'd screamed at the... Not quite poor scientist, she definitely deserved the reprimanding, but, the poor scientist a good few times already.

Ceroba didn't really like to think about it, but her anger and loathing towards her own prospective actions had actually begun to diminish itself. Where had it gone? Right towards Alphys. And Ceroba wasn't sure if that was a good, or bad thing. She certainly had her due reasons to hate the scientist, and being appointed as her official assistant certainly didn't help redirect any of it given she only learned more and more of what she'd done... Actually, there wasn't much of a but to that statement. Ceroba didn't feel much pity for Alphys at all. She'd very much dug her own grave.

Well... If there was one thing that Ceroba could give the lizard, it was that they hadn't sold Clover out when under pressure. That was the one and only thing she could thank her for.

...It didn't count for too much though.

The air slowly grew more and more stuffy as Ceroba made her way through a cave opening. The lab was just ahead, and miraculously; Ceroba had actually managed to somewhat calm her temper. It had been remarkably quiet, even for Waterfall's standards today. Ceroba figured this might end up being one of Alphys's better days.

The door slid open as usual, and Ceroba donned a lab coat. She... Hadn't asked for one, but for some reason, Alphys insisted. Out of every possible thing that the lizard could make her do, that was one of the few things she didn't care to contest.

Ceroba tugged on the coat and sighed. Alphys was probably already in the true lab, so Ceroba figured she shouldn't keep her waiting. Though, she couldn't help but notice the piles of unopened mail around Alphys's desk. No doubt endless praise for the miracle "she" worked. At least the lizard had the decency to leave them unopened.

Ceroba rolled her eyes, and called the elevator.

...

"ALRIGHT RUNTS! IT'S TIME TO GET DOWN TO BUSINESS!" Undyne grinned... Clover wanted to say, wickedly? He wasn't sure what else you'd call a smile that big. Even if it wasn't malicious... It still felt like it had to be malicious anyways.

"Get with your partners and start a battle! I'll be around to coach you all on how to improve!" Undyne stood there for a moment and looked around expectantly.

"WELL? GET TO IT!"

A dozen different battles all started over the course of the next twenty or so seconds. Of course, there were still six monsters left.

"Oh, right, Al-I MEAN! ARE YOU ALL READY?! I'VE GOT MY VERDICT FOR YOU KIDS!"

Given Undyne had their undivided attention still, she carried right on.

"NOW! To be frank, we've got some pretty unique circumstances with all of you! Two of you can't use magic, two of you are BOSS MONSTERs, and the other two just didn't have particularly good partners to be matched with! So, you six will be doing something a bit special instead!"

"...N'that is?" Clover tilted his head curiously. Also, was Undyne referring to him as a boss monster?

"In addition to having designated sparring partners, you'll ALSO rotate around with each other a bit! NOW! Here are your partners, listen up!"

Clover closed his eyes, as long as he wasn't paired with Susie he should be fine.

"DOMERIA AND MATTAGA!"

...

"NOELLE AND KANAKO!"

Oh you've gotta be kiddin me. What was that called again? Murphy's law?

"CLOVER AND SUSIE!"

Kanako and Noelle gazed at the cowboy with pity, he gazed back with dispassionate shock. Susie looked no less pleased.

Clover breathed in, and then out. Maybe this wouldn't be too awful, they did say they'd rotate around a bit. Maybe they'd be able to swap out every once and awhile?

"RIGHT! Go ahead and join everybody else! Go on and start some battles! I'll be watching!"

Clover blinked slowly. Another deep breath later, and he was reasoning it out to himself. This might actually be good, maybe? If she worked out some of that aggression she seemed to have, it might be a bit easier to talk to them...?

"...Good luck Clover." Kanako patted Clover on the back as she and Noelle walked past. Clover rolled his eyes. He wasn't the one that needed luck... Probably.

Clover - ATK 60 DEF 45

It'd been a long while since Clover took a look at his own stats, and well, he was pretty sure that wasn't what they looked like when he was human. Why did he get so much stronger when he became a monster? Hell if he knew; what he did know though, was that every monster he'd checked when he had been human was... a lot weaker than that. So, he had pretty good reason to believe Susie wouldn't be much of a threat. Not physically at least. If anything, he'd need to be careful not to hurt her...

Clover blinked in surprise as his world went dark. Then he turned his attention to Susie. She was cracking her knuckles.

"...A bit eager there, huh?"

"Like you wouldn't believe." She grunted back... Was... Was that a grin Clover saw on her face? Though, it quickly turned to one of confusion when she actually saw Clover. He figured there was a pretty good reason for that.

Clover eyed her evenly, before shrugging. He very purposefully didn't acknowledge what she was staring at. "Go ahead and take the first turn then, I'm waiting." Clover tossed his bag to the side and reached for his gun entirely on instinct, then realized he in fact didn't have it on his person. It wasn't even in his bag either, his ACTUAL gun was all the way back at home. Martlet, reasonably, didn't like her child having a live firearm on them, even if they knew how to use it. Shocker.

"No, hold on a minute, what the hell is that!?" Susie stuck a clawed finger out at Clover's chest, and presumably, his SOUL.

This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

"...Nothing that important." Clover thought up a lie on the spot. "Just m'SOUL, I'm... A BOSS MONSTER, and it just so happens that my SOUL is a little bit unique, like I said, it's no big deal. Now, were we going to spar or not?"

Susie kept on frowning, but she put her hands up, and... Well, she rushed him. Clover was pretty good at this stuff though. A jab, he dipped to the side. A hook, he dipped down and evaded the strike. Another jab, he dodged it all the same. Surprisingly enough, she actually threw out a kick. Clover hadn't much been expecting that, so he couldn't quite get himself out of the way. It wasn't so fast that he couldn't react to it though. Clover threw his arms out in a quick attempt at a guard, and suffered a point of damage to his HP for the sloppy attempt. He slid across the wooden gym floor with a squeak as the force from Susie's blow transferred itself into Clover.

Anyway... His arms were really sore... He supposed physical damage would do that to you. Though, having hollow bones and everything probably didn't help. It wasn't like she was using magic, so the ache made sense. Actually, did going for physical attacks do double damage? Like, hit somebody in the middle of a battle with a punch, and you're hitting both their body and SOUL at once… Was that why he'd gotten put down from a single real bullet in his fight with Starlo? Hit him square in the SOUL, and the chest. That... Actually made a lot of sense.

Clover shook his head clear, it was his turn.

"Not bad," Clover admitted as he shook his right arm. He wasn't sure why he was so good at dodging physical attacks like that. He'd had practice with magical abilities, sure... Nothing in recent memory about dodging physical strikes though. ...Ah, recent memory... Well, school sucked for a reason.

Susie just tilted her chin at him in response. Clover frowned slightly, but he cracked his neck and put his hands up just as Susie had done a moment ago. He... Admittedly, had absolutely no confidence in being able to use his magic in any sort of fight right now. He could, maybe make a weapon or something, but he didn't want to injure Susie for real. That would also probably take up his entire turn. So, if he had experience in these kinds of fist fights... Well, might as well make good use of it.

…He could also use his claws, but Clover wasn't in the business of maiming his classmates.

Anyways, he came out swinging. His hands felt light, lighter than they really had any right to be. Clover was starting to realize he'd never really tested himself in any significant physical capacity, so... The fact that Susie's arms were buckling from each impact was a pretty big shocker to him. Though, the fact that they also weren't... Simply giving out, under his blows, left a bad taste in Clover's mouth, for some reason. She was taking damage, but... Not enough to really count.

"Gh!" Susie grunted as a particular nasty punch from Clover landed itself on her forearm. When she didn't feel another blow against her guard in the next instant, Susie peeped through a gap between her arms... And when she saw Clover winding back for a punch that she was fairly certain was aimed for her gut. she immediately leaped to the side.

Clover felt the wind slap against his feathers as his arm rushed forwards, creating a solid ripple in the air when it stopped where Susie's torso had been a moment ago.

Clover's turn ended. He copied the exact same chin tilt Susie gave him a moment earlier.

...She didn't like that.

With another grunt, Susie went in for another flurry of blows. She definitely wanted it a little more this time, given she was throwing punches out with much more fervor. Left, left, right, left, uppercut, left hook, kick... Weave, weave, weave, weave, weave, dip, duck, and-surprisingly Susie recovered from the kick before her turn could end, and shot a fist right into Clover's unguarded torso. That one actually solidly caught him off guard, he figured that she'd have been done after the kick. Another two points of damage, and now his torso hurt really badly. His HP was still a solid 52/55, but it felt like his actual body would get closer to breaking way before his SOUL would.

Clover frowned as he suppressed a cough. His body wasn't very well put together for a fist fight. Well, it was supposed to be magic training... Might as well give it a go he figured. He centered his breathing, and closed his eyes. Magic harmed if it had the intent to deal genuine harm, so as long as he didn't really want to kill Susie, it should be fine shouldn't it? What was a weapon Clover wanted to use...?

Well, when he put it like that, the answer to that question was pretty obvious.

Clover opened his eyes again, and in his hands was his magic in the shape of a gun, specifically of his wild revolver.

"...Seriously?" Clover could barely make out Susie's eyes narrowing under her hair.

"What? It is magic training, ain't it?" Clover took aim, and pulled the trigger...

Nothing happened.

"Darn, figured I might as well have given it a shot." Clover shrugged and tossed the revolver to the side. It sizzled away, and his turn ended, again.

Susie's turn was largely the same. A flurry of blows, followed up by three quick jabs. Clover had been expecting her to pull something unique again. So when she dropped to the ground to try and sweep his legs out, missed, and sprung back up with some kind of flying kick, Clover had been ready. He dipped past her, and Susie's turn ended as she went soaring overhead.

"Now, let's try that again." Clover nodded to himself. The issue had been that he hadn't loaded it, or something, right? As he said, Clover created the same object in his hand. He pulled the trigger... And... Nothing. His magic felt hollow, empty, somehow. As if he was missing something, some part of it. But what in the world could that even be? He could use his magic just fine, couldn't he? Regardless of that, his turn ended with him doing nothing again.

Clover could've sworn it looked like Susie's eyes twitched for a moment, and well, he figured he was probably right given she stomped a moment later and started shouting at him. "What the hell gives!?! Are you gonna take this seriously or not!?"

Clover raised an eyebrow. What in tarnation was she on about? "I am takin this seriously. This is training, ain't it? I'm just trying to work out how to use my magic like we're supposed to be."

"Bullshit! What the hell was that first turn then!?"

Clover's eyebrow went up even further. She almost looked... Disappointed? She was holding her arms out and she looked completely bewildered. He... Really couldn't get a solid read on her.

"...I just got caught up in the moment, my body ain't made for fights like that. My bones are already achin." Clover shrugged passively. She was at least showing some level of care about something now? Progress???

"Oh come on! You can't seriously expect me to believe that! You don't just get that good normally! I thought..." She trailed off after a moment, but shook her head disappointedly a moment later. Her turn passed without action.

"I mean, if that's what ya really want..." Clover put his hands up again. If it'd get Susie off his case once and for all, he was more than willing to suffer a bit of pain in the moment. He steadied his breathing, ignored his screaming bones, and rushed in towards Susie again.

Three consecutive jabs towards her face, all blocked, each with a solid impact. A left fist aimed at her stomach, she weaved out of the way. Clover frowned, and took a page right out of Susie's book. A moment later, his leg was flying up at her torso, and she most certainly did not react in time. The kick solidly connected, and sent her careening to the floor with a grunt. Clover winced almost as badly as she did though, it felt like his leg was just about to split open. Susie was starting to look pretty beat up, her arms were getting bruised pretty badly, and now she was clutching at her side weakly…

"...God damnit." She shakily raised an arm to her head, and pulled back her hair. With trembling legs, Susie forced herself back up to a standing position. "...You..."

"You alright there?" Clover asked with some genuine concern. He'd hit her pretty hard, he knew, he could feel it in his own leg.

"I'm fine, worry about yourself." She grunted and stood back up to her full height, though her left leg was wobbling a bit.

"...If y'say so," Clover mumbled and put up a fighting stance again. Susie hobbled towards him, and he was ready to defend himself but... She wasn't attacking with nearly as much ferocity now. Apparently, that kick had hit really, really hard. Clover barely even had to put any effort into avoiding her strikes. Her turn passed without event.

"...Let's just call it here." Clover breathed out and spared his adversary. This had gotten a bit worse than just training, what was Undyne doing?

...Watching them, that's what. Clover caught her gaze a few seconds after he offered mercy, she had been staring at him pretty intently. ...Was she going to step in if he went for another attack? ...Maybe Clover gave her a bit too much flak.

"Don't you dare..." Susie started to grumble, but Clover quickly cut her off.

"We can share some of my food, we could both use it right now. Might not look it, but it feels like my legs just bout' to split open, so... How about we just call it even? You got some good hits, I got some good hits. This escalated a bit more than it should've, and we're both hurtin. It's a draw."

"...Fine," Susie mumbled. The world's coloration returned to normal, and Clover breathed a sigh of relief.

"Here, I've got a whole buncha stuff in my bag..." Clover picked up his bag and started rifling through it as he walked on over. Packing peanuts good with ya?" Clover offered a fistful of the stuff to Susie, and she just looked at him bewildered.

"You're just... Giving this to me?"

"...Yeah? Is there a problem with that?" Clover tilted his head in confusion.

"...Just gimme the damn food," Susie grumbled.

...

"ALRIGHT! GREAT SPARRING EVERYBODY! Good to see you all giving it a hundred and ten percent! Come on up as I call your name for some feedback, and then you can practice on that either out of school or next time!"

Clover snapped up piece after piece of his spare pancake from breakfast, because Kanako had only eaten three, so he followed her example and saved the last one for later. A little bit later, he could feel the healing magic of monster food start to take effect, and suddenly his aching bones felt much better.

"Wonders of technology I tell ya," Clover joked to the still baffled lizard sitting next to him.

"...What the hell's wrong with you?"

"What the hell's that supposed to mean?" Clover turned the question right back.

"Why are you trying to be nice to me?" Susie narrowed her eyes at Clover.

"I already told ya, I don't wanna be making any enemies at school. And well, if we're gonna be partnered up for the foreseeable future, I really don't see a point in makin it miserable." Clover shrugged and finished off the last scraps of his snack.

"That's really it, huh?" Susie looked away with an unintelligible expression.

"Yup, nothin else to it. We don't need t'be friends or anything, but I'd appreciate it if you would at least consider putting a good foot forwards."

"CLOVER!"

"And, that's my cue." Clover stretched as he stood up. "See ya in a bit."

...

"I don't need to tell you what went wrong today, do I?" Undyne stared sternly at the bird.

"...No Ma'am, ya don't. I realize that the spar escalated into... A bit more than a spar."

"Good, but also, good job. You ended things before there was any need for me to step in. Just, try to put a bit more effort into actually using your magic, alright? I'm sure you've got plenty of potential. And, who knows? Maybe you can even inspire something in Susie, heh!"

"...Maybe." Clover shrugged in, not quite agreement, but not outright disbelief either.

"NOW! Go on, enjoy the last five minutes of class, do whatever you want!"

Undyne cleared her throat, "MONSTER KID!"

"YES!!!"