When you walk into the next room, a warm and pleasant smell greets you. It smells like a whole lot of different things, but the smells that attract you most are the heavenly scent of grilled cheese sandwiches, and surprisingly, tomato soup.

You weren't really the greatest fan of tomatoes (and especially not ketchup) but maybe this new body would appreciate it more? But first off, how the hell would you even eat anything without any digestive organs? Wouldn't everything just fall out of your skull and make a mess in your ribcage and pelvis?

You cringe at the thought. There wasn't any other way to find out, though...

There were many rectangular tables facing the front, with a large screen at the front that was blank. It was made from a thin and hard material, and it somehow floated midair. The others from your group slowly filed in, some with little glowing bracelets on their arms or holding bottles of pills like you. It seemed none of your batch were created perfectly... it makes you feel better in a bittersweet sort of way.

That must mean there's imperfections in everybody born here. At least you weren't defective.

A little to the side of the seating tables were ones with many bowls of soup laid out and sandwiches that were carefully cut into triangles. It seemed there was enough here to feed a small army (which made sense, seeing how many of you were born today.) You make a beeline over to the table with the tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches, taking two and making your way to a table. The others saw you and followed your example.

You hesitantly take a bite... you find your jaw opening, which is a strange sensation accompanied with a soft cracking sound, before you bite down. It's noticeably more flavorful than any human food ever was for you. A light tingling feeling appears as the piece of sandwich disappears on your mouth.

Wow. You keep eating, and a couple of monsters sit near you and begin conversing as other monsters enter from other doors. One was a rather soft looking dog monster with black fur covering the top half of his face like a mask, and a pair of glowing purple glasses that floated above his face. He looked rather excited, tail wagging rapidly. He said he wasn't able to see very well before he had gotten the checkup, but now he could see everything. He barked happily a few times, and that made you smile.

You tell him your name is sans. The dog monster looks confused, and you and some of the other monsters at the table explain what names are. He looks super excited, and you could hear his tail thumping against the chair.

"A name?! A name! A name sounds great! Can I have a name too?!" He says, excitedly after taking a bite of a ham and cheese sandwich. You laugh at his enthusiasm, and nod.

"do you want to think of your own? we can help, if you want." You say, looking at him. He grinned even brighter, and you felt your heart melt just a bit. Wow, what a good dog.

"Sure! Sure!"

"Well, you are a dog... maybe something related to that?" Asks a feathery monster with kind eyes. She's drinking an onion soup with some bread. "Uh... dog boy?"

"Dog boy? No way we're gonna name him that." A brown bear rumbles as he moves over to sit next to the dog monster. The table was slowly but surely becoming full, and you wanted to save a seat for your lizard friend. "Maybe Rover? Fido, perhaps?"

"Wow! I like all of these names! How to choose..." the dog kid looked pleased, and he continued to eat through his sandwich while the others decided.

"I like the name Harper for myself! It's nice, don't you think?" The bird monster who had suggested the name 'dog boy' said. The others agreed, and you snicker.

"how can you think of such a nice name for yourself, but suggest 'dog boy' to this poor guy?"

Harper squawks in embarrassment. "We were all just born today, so excuse me if I don't know how to name anyone!" She flutters her wings, and everybody laughs.

"Little buddy!"

That's the only warning you get before you're tackled out of your seat and onto the floor. You find yourself laughing as you embrace your friend in a hug, and she laughs too before picking you back up and setting you on your seat. Thank god you didn't spill any of your food.

"So!!! How are you?! Did you get a name or medicine? I did! My name's Alphys!"

Everybody else greeted her with a smile. Everybody in this world was so nice, and it was amazing how you'd all fallen easily into a conversation without any awkwardness at all. You wave back and grin wide. "i did. dr. gaster gave me some pills. my name's sans."

"Sans... what a great name!" Alphys said. She told you she would be right back after she went to go and get herself some food.

"Is Alphys your friend, Sans? Ooh, did you meet her in that big room everybody was in?"

"mhm. she's so cool, right? she said she thought i was nice and she wanted to be my friend." Harper let's out an 'aww.' Seemed like she was a fan of close friendships.

"Listen up everybody!" The bear cub says, clapping his paws before showcasing his friend, the dog. "We've decided a name for him! His name is... Doggo."

Everybody claps. Doggo looks incredibly pleased and his tail is wagging so fast it looks like it'll fall off. Alphys walks back to the table with some sort of soup with long pieces inside.

"Hey, what is that?" Doggo asks, and Alphys shows him. It has little green things floating inside, with some slices of meat on top and an egg.

"The table it was on said it was called ramen. It came with these two little sticks. Why don't I have those round things like the rest of you have?" She asks while pointing at the spoon you were using to eat.

"you have to eat with the sticks, alphys." You point out, and she stares at you, deadpan.

"Yes, I know. But how?!" She looked like she really wanted to eat it, too, but she didn't want to stick her hand into it. You shrug.

She tries to pick up the food with them a few times, before giving up and just stabbing the pork and egg and eating them. "Hey, this stuff's good. Warm."

"does everybody have a name yet?"

"I'm Benjamin," the bear monster said thoughtfully, "But you can call me Ben or Benji."

"I'm Rin!" Said a monster who looked like they were made out of clay. They had empty looking eyes, and no mouth. Their voice was soft like a whisper, but still easy to hear. They weren't eating anything, but drinking a pink tinted water somehow.

"Harper," the bird monster restated, straightening her feathers. "That's everybody at our table; it's full now."

"What do you guys think we were created for?" Asks Rin, who puts down her glass of juice.

"Who cares? I like eating tasty food," Doggo sighs happily, moving onto his bowl of chicken noodle soup. "Hey, maybe that's what we were born for! To eat tasty stuff all day long!"

"I doubt it," Benji murmured with a light smile. He patted Doggo on the head softly. "But it would be nice. I don't think we were born to eat stuff all day."

"Even if we were born just to eat stuff, I'd definitely be the best at it!" Alphys boasted with a bright grin. "I've already eaten a whole sandwich!"

"Yes, but you still haven't eaten those things in your soup." Rin pointed out, and you scratch your skull.

"i think those are called noodles." You point out, and the others nod in agreement. It seemed like everybody was able to identify certain objects... maybe it was like how all of you were able to understand speech? "you have to eat them or it doesn't count."

"Yeah, but I don't know how to eat them. You punks are telling me to use the sticks but not how to use the sticks!" She gets frustrated, slamming her hand down on the table.

"calm down, alphys. it can't be that bad. here, gimme." You hold out your hand to take the sticks and you feel around with them. You'd used these before, you were sure...

"okay, so you do it like this." You show the others.

"How'd you get it right so fast?" Harper asks, impressed. "It took me longer to learn how to use this metal thingy!"

"That's a spoon," Benji offers.

"Whatever."

"uhh, i dunno. but it feels like i've used them before." You click them together a few times before passing it back to Alphys. She quickly gets the hang of it and shovels all the noodles into her mouth. She slams the bowl back on the table with a victorious grin.

"Well, now I'm done with the noodles. That means I win and I'm the best at eating. I'm the best!"

Everybody laughs, but nobody takes the bragging to heart. It was like all of you have been sitting and eating together for years... how did you all bond so fast? Maybe it was a natural thing for monsters to do.

Alphys then stands up on top of the table, grinning proudly as she shouts about how she's the best at eating. You're content to sit and watch before suddenly she pulls you up there with her.

"You see this little guy?! He's my best buddy! Soon, he'll be just as good as eating as I am!"

"m-mweh-heh-heh! alphys!" You shriek with laughter as she holds you in the air and spins. "cut it out, heheh! everybody's staring!"

"So what if they stare? I want everybody to know that my table is the coolest, and us two are the greatest two here!

"That's quite enough, you two. Alphys, Sans, please have a seat before you break the table." A smooth voice said from the front of the room. They stood in front of the screen, which was glowing white now and displaying the delta symbol on it. "If you would like, the two of you may be situated in the same dorm sections so you may fool around on your own time, but right now it is time for orientation." It was Dr. Cohan. He smiled at everybody getting along well.

Alphys looked slightly miffed at your moment being interrupted, but complied and set you down before sitting down herself. "Who's that guy? Isn't he the one who gave us clothes?" She whispered to Harper, who nodded.

"His name's Dr. Cohan." She chirped. "I think he's weird. He's wearing a gas mask, but I can still tell he's smiling! How?!"

"How the hell did he know our names if we didn't even tell him?" Alphys asked. You felt like you had a vague idea of how he did know, but couldn't put it into words. You simply shrug in response.

"Welcome, everyone, to The School. As you can see, all of you are all different shapes and sizes. We monsters are all different, and not two monsters are exactly the same. I am a monster, and you are too."

You give yourself a moment to look from yourself, to Alphys, to Doggo. The others were more similar to animals you vaguely remembered from your past life, while you looked like a human skeleton.

"We monsters are made of love, hope, compassion, and magic. The most magic sense part of you is your soul and is the culmination of your entire being. Your body is a projection of the soul, and by extension, yourself."

"Normally, monsters are created from two parents through love, but all of us, including me, were created artificially in the pods you have recently emerged from. There, a soul fragment develops inside of a magic and determination solution." Dr. Cohan pulls up a diagram on the large screen depicting monster souls, the magic solution, and a picture of the school.

"We are currently are fighting a war against humans, who are creatures of the flesh. As we are mostly made of magic, and very little physical matter which is dust, humans are made mostly of organic matter. The little magic they have is mostly confined to the soul. As human bodies aren't made of magic and thus less connected to the soul, they can withstand hits of varying intent, but cannot necessarily read it as well as we can."

"In addition, a human soul is strong, but most do not have magic like we do." On the screen shows a whole color spectrum of souls, but the main ones are underlined and named.

Determination, Bravery, Justice, Kindness, Patience, Integrity, and Perseverance.

Apparently, most monsters had the same main soul trait- hope. However, monsters had secondary traits which were shown of marks of one of those colors in the center of the soul (in the shape of a smaller heart). You wanted to check yours, but apparently none of you were allowed to pull out your souls as of now because it was inappropriate to do so.

"As you can see, you all are the star sector of batch C. As it takes a very long time to accustom each batch to life here, it is split up into ten sections of 1000 monsters. Star sector is the fifth group, hence the five spikes. Batch A has awoken four years ago, and Batch B has awoken two years ago. Monster fertility rates have been dangerously low in the past 10 years, which is why the magic of various donors was used to create you all."

You raise a hand, and Dr. Cohan acknowledges you.

"does that mean there will be another batch born next year? if this keeps happening, won't the place eventually get full?"

"Excellent question!" Dr. Cohan crooned. "You see, we all have a purpose here. We are part of the Delta kingdom. The year is 21XX, and are in a war against humanity."

Collective gasps ring out from many members of the room, before there's a loud out roar. You cannot hear every question, but even Alphys is demanding answers.

What is a war? Why are we in a war? Why would we ever fight if we all get along so well? Is anybody going to get hurt? Is this place dangerous?

"Settle down, little ones." Suddenly, a gentle scent fills the air that calms everybody down. It seems to be coming from the doctor, seeing as sparkles were coming from his hands as he waved them around in the air. "We did not cause this war, obviously. You think we, beings of love and compassion, would ever do such a thing?" The doctor looked uncharacteristically frustrated.

"The humans caused this war. They want us gone- you see, humans are fearful of anything they don't understand. We, sadly, fall into that vast category. You see, the human's lack of magic makes them fearful of anything that does. Magic is a powerful thing. This school was made to raise you all and train you for the war against humanity. Of course, we do not want any of you to be uncomfortable. This is called 'The School' because you will learn many other things, not just combat."

"What if we don't want to fight?" A monster a couple of tables on front of you asks. She looks like her body is made of water. "I don't want to hurt anybody."

Dr. Cohan gently smiles. "No worries, little one. None of you will be deployed for battle anytime soon, but when the time comes we will have physical aptitude tests and written tests. If you fail or opt out, you can apply for jobs like cooking, weapon making, architecture, art and writing, and etc."

You hadn't expected for there to be leisure activities as well! You're excited, and apparently it's visible, seeing as Alphys mentions something about your eyelights being stars.

Alphys raises her hand. "When do we start training? Tomorrow?!" She had a manic look in her eye. Benji quietly told her to settle down. "I want to become the strongest and the best as soon as possible! Then I'll be able to fight those humans, right?"

You hear some displeased mutters from the crowd, but disregard them as you admire Alphys' passion.

"It will not be tomorrow. We have to give you the tour of the facility and introduce you all to some of the trainees from Batches A and B, so about a week from now?" Dr. Cohan mumbles something and flips through a clipboard.

"Augh, we're off schedule. I was supposed to have finished five minutes ago... never mind. I'll make sure to print out some pamphlets and send a copy to each of you so you're caught up. You will now be sent to your rooms, and some more clothes will be sent according to your sizes. Everyone will have one roommate, which you can choose, and you may also choose your own dorms."

A door to the side opens as everybody stands up and files out of the room. "Please make sure you choose somebody you can cooperate with, as these arrangements will be permanent." Dr. Cohan says this, and briskly walks away.

"Me and Sans are gonna bunk together." Alphys says confidently, and you agree. "Do you guys wanna get rooms near ours so we can see each other more often?"

"Ooh, that would be nice!" Rin has finished drinking her glass in pink liquid and turns to Harper. "Hey, would you like to share a room with me?"

Harper takes a moment to consider it, before nodding. Doggo and Benji were obviously going together, since they were chatting excitably. You were excited... sure, you were sort of like a storm trooper being raised to fight a war, but you were glad you already had some new friends to spend it with.

Your new life wasn't going to be perfect, but you'll do what you can to make it worth living.