Chapter Text
Tenna watched as Toriel’s sleeping form drifted gently to the ground. Sure, this wasn’t what the knight had wanted, but after everything Tenna had put the trio through he was sure he could get the knight to understand if he ever saw them again. Besides, this was a much better ending to the story in Tenna’s opinion. The brave heroes had shown their dastardly villain the light through their kindness and once again the power of friendship had saved the day. How marvelous a story! How grand an ending! Yes, this would be for the best.
“Here you go!! She’s all yours, folks!!” Tenna beamed, “How wonderful!! The family’s all together again!! Now you can all finally—”
Suddenly, Tenna found himself falling… falling? No, no that wasn’t right. He’d been… he’d been knocked over. He’d… he’d been attacked! Yes, that was right. Someone had attacked him! Someone had blasted him with their magic. Someone had blasted him with their very familiar magic and knocked him over.
“…Mailman!?” Tenna had let out before his electrons could fully catch up with him.
Spamton was here. Spamton was here right now! Of all of the times for that crook to return and he chose now!? Forget being a mailman, that little traitor should have been a gameshow host! That slimy con-man had attacked him right as he was about to give Toriel back to the lightners! Was… was Spamton here to steal Toriel and hand her over to the knight!? No, no, Tenna couldn’t let that happen! Tenna had to protect Toriel! Tenna had to protect Kris! Tenna had to protect—
… Spamton?
That… that thing couldn’t possibly be Spamton.
Spamton had never looked so small.
Spamton had never looked so afraid.
What in the world could scare the Spamton G. Spamton?
Oh.
The knight was here…
The knight had their blade raised high—
The knight was right behind Spamton—
“SPAMMY!!”
“[[DON’T]]—”
The knight’s blade came down hard on the disheveled Addison before Tenna could do anything to stop it. Tenna watched in horror as Spamton’s dual-toned glasses went dark and he fell to the ground, a horrible gash cleaved into his little puppet back. This didn’t feel real. This couldn’t be real. Everything felt like it was happening in slow motion. Tenna’s vision remained stuck on Spamton’s lifeless body in front of him. Even as the knight approached him, even as the heroic trio stepped in to protect him, Tenna’s perception had narrowed to just him and just Spamton.
“…Spammy…?” Tenna got up and tried to take a step towards Spamton—
Only to narrowly dodge a stray attack from the knight.
Tenna gasped, quickly coming back down to reality. Powerful attacks were flying everywhere as the three heroes engaged the knight in battle. Tenna could feel the fans in his head whirling as he began to hyperventilate. This was all his fault. This was all happening because of him. They were all going to die now because of him—because he took the knight’s deal. He had to do something. He had to help somehow. He had to—
Another attack landed on the ground in front of Spamton’s body, just barely missing the puppet’s head.
Tenna’s legs moved on their own. He darted forward, dodging oncoming attacks as he grabbed his little mailman. He clutched Spamton to his chest as he dove for cover behind a snow mound. Tenna curled up around Spamton as snow erupted from behind them. A few more attacks were hurled their way before finally subsiding. Tenna gulped down a few desperate breaths before sitting up just enough to check out the battle. The knight’s attention was back on the trio, that was good…
Wait, no, that was terrible!
Tenna looked frantically between the battle and the mailman in his arms. He checked Spamton, the mailman’s condition nearly bringing him to tears. Spamton looked terrible. If it hadn’t been for the mailman’s magic, Tenna was quite certain he wouldn’t have recognized him. This wasn’t how Spamton was supposed to look. Spamton had been larger than life—a Big Shot! Now he was a crumpled heap in Tenna’s arms, and his health… Tenna had never seen anything so far in the red. Why? Why did Spamton push him out of the way!? Tenna was terrible under this kind of pressure! Spamton knew that! Spamton was the one that knew how to keep it together between the two of them! The only thing Tenna had for this kind of scenario were his—
“TV Dinners!” Tenna hurriedly rifled through his inventory for one, pressing it to Spamton, “It’s going to be okay, Spammy, it’s all going to be okay, this’ll heal you right up—”
The TV Dinner wasn’t working.
The TV Dinner wasn’t working!
The TV Dinner wasn’t working!!
“No, no, no no no no no no—”
What was he going to do? There wasn’t anything he could do! If he couldn’t at least save Spamton then what was he even good for—
Tenna heard the snap of Kris’ fingers.
“Tenna!” Susie called out.
As if it had been scripted, Tenna threw TV Dinners their way, healing the party up. He saw Kris smile at him and for a moment Tenna felt like he could be proud of himself. That’s right, he could still help them. He wasn’t useless. He wasn’t outdated. He wasn’t afraid—
The knight was looking at him.
The knight was suddenly in front of him—
“MAMMA MIA!!” Tenna cried out as he was just barely able to roll out of the way of their blade, Spamton held tightly in his arms.
Tenna jumped to his feet and started running as the knight tried to chase him down. Tenna ducked, dipped, dove and dodged as the knight swung attack after attack at him. Tenna had done a lot of Physical Challenges in his time, but this was by far the hardest one. Tenna knew if any of their attacks landed it would be curtains for him. To make matters worse, it felt like his stamina was running out while the knight’s only seemed to grow. He couldn’t keep this up. He couldn’t! He couldn’t—
Tenna looked down at Spamton.
He had to.
Swallowing his fear, Tenna dodged the next attack and turned to face the knight. Keeping Spamton cradled close to him in one arm, he brought the other one up and summoned his All-Star Cast. That seemed to catch the knight off guard as the first two stars hit them square in the… face? Helmet? Head. It wasn’t much, but it gave Tenna just enough time to hide behind another snow mound before the knight could notice. He took a deep breath, gently setting Spamton down before popping up again just as the knight had finished blocking the last of his attack. He looked over at Susie, an unspoken plan forming between the two as she readied her next attack.
Tenna clapped his hands in a Smash Cut as Susie used Rude Buster, sending static the knight’s way just as they tried to dodge and causing them to take the brunt of both attacks. The knight turned their attention back to Susie and the others. Tenna wanted to jump in and get the knight’s ire back on him, but something about the look Kris gave him stopped him in his tracks. He watched as Kris dodged the knight’s next attack effortlessly—like they knew what each move would be before it had even happened. The other two had managed to dodge a little less effortlessly—though both managed to keep standing. Kris looked over at Tenna, and it was as if Tenna knew what Kris was about to do. He quickly grabbed Spamton and readied the TV Dinners.
Kris snapped their fingers.
He heard Susie call his name.
Tenna threw the TV Dinners at the trio and took off running as the knight started to chase him again. Duck, dip, dive, dodge—Tenna’s muscle memory guided him through the next series of attacks sent his way. Dodge, jump, duck, dive, jump, dodge—now! Tenna turned around and brought his arm up as if to summon his All-Star Cast again. The knight was ready this time and moved to block—only for Tenna to bring his hand back down and shoot them with a gun. Tenna quickly dove behind a snow mound, setting Spamton down gently. He popped back up as quick as he could, clapping his hands in sync with Susie’s Rude Buster. The knight once again failed to block either attack. Tenna almost began to cheer—but suddenly the knight was in front of him.
Tenna rolled out of the way of their slash, grabbing Spamton as he did so. The knight began to teleport between him and the three heroes, letting out a barrage of attacks. How any of them were managing to keep up with it, Tenna didn’t know. His heart was racing and he was starting to feel fuzzy-headed as he kept dodging. It was all too much, but just as Tenna thought he was about to drop the knight’s attack stopped. Susie looked like she was growing pale, but she mustered up the strength to attack the knight anyways. Tenna was certain she’d said something, but he could barely hear anything over the sound of his fans working overtime.
The knight’s hands began to glow.
Kris looked at Tenna.
As if he’d been commanded, Tenna sent a TV Dinner their way and prepared himself for the next attack.
The knight flew up and called forth a barrage of stars to them. Tenna yelped as he quickly turned around, just barely able to dodge out of the way in time as several stars started flying towards him. Tenna’s close calls got even closer as the stars began to form a tighter and tighter pattern. He held his breath as he ducked out of the way of a line of stars, now forming a spiral pattern. He could hear the whirl of his own mechanical heartbeat as he followed Kris and the others in sticking as close as possible to the center of spiral, Spamton clutched tightly to his chest. He hoped this would be over soon. Please let this be over soon—
The knight let out a roar and Tenna was just barely able to roll out of the way as they let the stars they’d accumulated loose. Tenna cried out as one of the stars clipped his antenna, moving faster and holding Spamton closer. The stars exploded, sending their fragments every which way. He had to keep it together. He had to keep it together. He had to—
He heard the knight teleport behind him.
He was just barely able to turn around in time to see their blade raised and ready to cleave him in two—
An axe met the blade and in a flash of purple Susie was suddenly right there protecting him. He watched in awe as she was able to meet the knight’s strength. He took a step back to join Kris and Ralsei, ready with another TV Dinner as he watched the struggle unfold, until finally—
CRACK!
Susie’s axe cut into the knight’s blade and a piece of it came flying off.
Had… had they actually done it? Had they beaten the knight?
Tenna couldn’t believe it, they’d done it, they’d won!
Susie laughed, “Not so tough NOW, are you!?”
Tenna was ready to laugh with her, until—
There was a sickening crunch as Susie went down. What had happened? What had just happened!?
“Susie!!!” Tenna heard Ralsei cry, “H…how could you…”
With another crunch, Ralsei went down. A wave of panic overtook Tenna. Where had that attack come from!? Who had that attack come from!? Tenna didn’t know. Tenna didn’t know!! The only thing Tenna knew was that he was next! He was next and he had no way to defend himself from something like this!! What was he going to do!? What was he—
Tenna took one last look at Spamton.
As quickly as he could, Tenna curled himself around the little mailman, shielding him from the blow.