2. An Error that Shouldn't Exist
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Another day arrived. Friend was convinced that everything was ready, so the game was opened. Player was told to go to the settings for the microphone options. Sure enough, there were new things on it. From the inside, Baldi watched on, doing his very best to keep calm, which was helped by the fact he couldn't be seen from that screen, only the main menu's.
Once in the game proper, it became difficult, yet he greeted Player in his usual fashion.
Then, Player tried to respond. Nothing came out. Moments passed.
"Ba ha, not quite there yet?" Baldi commented, "Well, that's alright! Bugs happen! It's all part of the process!" From Player's end, they were told to push a key, and their face turned into a mixture of being unimpressed and embarrassed. They did as advised, and
"-Okay, let's try this again... Testing, testing. Hello? Is it working?" Baldi clearly hadn't expected that, as he stood there dumbly, wide-eyed. If he had to describe what he heard, it was a voice pitched near the middle, but leaning ever so slightly low.
"Oh, yeah, I think it is." A second one spoke, octaves below Player's. That had to be Friend.
"Ah, good," Player added, then directed their next words to the awestruck professor. "Uh, sorry about that. It's muted by default. Anyway... Hello." Their tone had a sheepishness to it. Baldi blinked, snapping out of his stupor.
"Hello!" He said back, his enthusiasm present. "Is that you, Player? And Friend, too? Goodness, it's nice to finally hear your voices!"
"I couldn't agree more," Player replied, though still shy-sounding. Well, it was a new medium of communication, so it was bound to feel unusual, if not awkward. "... I'm not sure if I'll use it much, after this."
"That's fine!" Baldi assured with ease.
Friend had the opposite of Player's demeanor. "Hiii, Professor! Good to see you! How've you been?"
"You too! I've been swell! And yourself?"
"Great!" There was a pause. "Oh yeah, there's one more thing to check. If screensharing works, then we're pretty much all set. I put it in the computer lab to start with, but if you got a room in mind, I'll copy it in."
"Got it," Player acknowledged to Friend, then to Baldi, added, "Wanna come with?"
"Absolutely!" From Baldi's answer, Player nodded, leading the both of them to the room in question.
Once there, Player was instructed to use the computer at the teacher's desk, while Baldi quietly let the two Humans work. Soon however, the projector went on, displaying a desktop. From Player and Friend's side, they had a view of the room, with a mini-window of what was being shared.
Their computer now had two monitors, the left being used for Baldi's game, the right for sharescreening. This made it easier to look between the two. Player moved the cursor a bunch, seeing how the captivated professor tracked the motions. They opened a movie file, hearing the sounds reverberate from both their machine and the game.
"Ah, haha... Okay, let me see..." Player mused, going into the game options and turning off the music. "I hope that only applies to me... Can you still hear it, Baldi?"
"I sure can!" He replied, with a thumbs up. That was a relief.
All was in order.
It wasn't until after curfew when the stage was set, Player believing that they could handle the rest of things. Though, if anything went sideways...
"Yeah, no worries. I'll text you. Thanks for everything, man!" And so, Friend left to let them be.
It was no surprise that Baldi informed the other members of the faculty about the news, and each had varying amounts of excitement in regards to hearing Player speak.
"Haha, wow. You sound awesome." M had said.
"I'm not sure what I was expecting..." Principal vouched, but that was all he could utter.
Finally, Sweeper pulled Player in for a noogie, which they couldn't help but laugh. "C'mere, you!"
In the end, the four of them sat in to watch. Then, Player hovered over the fabled icon of Baldi's Basics Plus... And did nothing else.
"Is something the matter?" Baldi was first to ask, while Principal took note of Player's emotional percentages.
"They're 62% nervous." Was all he said.
"Can't say I blame 'em." Sweeper remarked.
Player stiffened from the attention. "Oh, don't worry. I get like this every time I play a new Baldi game. It's weird. Okay, here goes nothing." With great effort, Plus was opened. Player's audience looked on as they entered their name into that Baldi's empty clipboard list. "I was also told that this is a clean install. Nothing's been changed. It should play as everyone elses' has..."
From inside Plus' elevator, Player took notice of the seed number in the top right corner, which didn't really matter, for if they got a game over, they couldn't simply go back to it. As everyone knew, entering in any number was unlocked only by finishing Hide and Seek at least once.
The doors slid open, revealing an awaiting Baldi nearby. Of course, not at all the one currently sitting with Principal, M, and Sweeper in the computer lab. Player couldn't help but glance towards him anyway, then back again to the other screen. No. This one is Plus' Baldi.
"Oh, hi! Let's play Hide and Seek!" The game was on. Player wasted no time and sprinted away, distinctively hearing Baldi begin the countdown from ten. Once that ended, his final line was spoken, "Ready or not, here I come!" before the floor's characters spawned in.
The subtitles were immensely helpful, always visually indicating how far away everyone was, and each had their own color. Like how it was in years past, Player collected notebooks, sometimes solving math machines for them, and avoided obstacles. Before long, they made it through the first floor. They were given the option to enter a store, and they accepted.
"Hi! I'm Johnny! Wel- This will- Consider your map filled!" There was honestly no way they weren't going to take up that item, pricey as it was. It was essential. While it'd been a little odd at first glance, what with its design being a student's Think Pad, it now mattered not.
Time for floor two. With an entire layout accessible, Player scoured the correct rooms for the next set of notebooks. The first time had been four, but here it was seven, alike to the original game. The third and final floor will be nine, and Player couldn't help but be grateful for the headstart due to the aforementioned countdown.
For especially skilled players, this makes the first floor a breeze.
Against all prior knowledge and strategy studies, however, something as simple as a rampaging woman in a bright red high heel startled them. "Just reminding you to be in my class in: Two. Minutes! Check your map to see where my class is!" It was Mrs. Pomp, the only new faculty member to date. Though, it's not explained what she actually teaches. However, if one went to her class in time...
"Extra YTPs for me... And a notebook! Oh- Okay, this works out great!" Player commentated, having been the entire time. With some tedium (Cloudy Copter, a new mainstay since the fieldtrip demo, was making a breeze down a conveyor belt hall. In the opposite direction), they made it to the room in question, relishing in the rewards.
An event occurred soon after, the one about the school flooding, but it barely deterred them at all.
Elsewhere was a pair of exit doors for a fieldtrip. One look told Player all they needed to know. "Ah, it's that one." They thought about it, before going outside.
"Let's go to the farm!" Spoke the second Baldi, in a flannel shirt, overalls, and a sunhat, plus a piece of wheat in his mouth to complete the look.
"Sure, alright." The fieldtrip loaded, a birds-eye view of a corn maze, with a crudely-drawn barn in the top left corner. They then promptly skipped Baldi's instructions, already knowing what to do. Animals of the same art style spawned in, and Player was click-and-dragging them through the maze as requested.
"Wow! Fantastic! The farmer gave you these items as thanks!" The fieldtrip Baldi spoke again once over. The prizes were: a Grappling Hook, a BSODA, and a Principal's Whistle. Not bad. However, the text that appeared gave them pause. Upon a chalkboard graphic, it read:
"Thanks to you, all the work is done sooner (Rather than later)! The hot dogs smell great!"
"The hot dogs. Smell great. The hot dogs. Smell great!" Player kept repeating that phrase, as if realizing the implications, before huffing in laughter. "This one's-" A beep. "-ed up." Ah. Their game was able to use the filter on them.
"Language," M piped up. Nearby, he saw Principal give him an unimpressed stare. The ghostly music teacher simply shrugged, adding nonchalantly. "Do as I say, not as I do."
Continuing on, Player got the last notebook, heading to the elevator. Of course, the first one got blocked off, with a sign reading "Out of order". The next one did not, allowing them to progress. Then, like before, they went on to purchase the map from Johnny, the price having jumped from 150 to 300 You Thought Points.
Completely worth it.
Final floor. To be fair, for Player's first time playing for themself, they had to admit that this was a really good run so far - hadn't even lost a single life... Er, elevator power tube, of which they had three to start with. They considered saving, but thought against it. Three lives should be enough!
No saving; we die like men! ... Was what they thought privately.
While the level itself was indeed more difficult, what actually stopped Player in their tracks was a sudden error message, right before boarding a working elevator. Their brows furrowed, trying to understand it, the dialogue box reading:
"Warning!
BALDI . EXE has encountered an unresolvable error and unfortunately must close. Any unsaved information will be lost." And its only button was, "Confirm".
"I've... Uh... Never seen that happen before... That's not supposed to..." Was all they could say. Their audience were as puzzled as they, before finally one of them spoke up.
"Say, wasn't that in the trailer, like, eons back?" It'd been Sweeper.
"But what's that doing in the real thing?" Principal pondered.
"It looks like a failsafe of some kind, though I'm not quite sure why..." M tried to guess.
As the three of them continued discussing it, Baldi however stood, approaching the projection, studying it with a peculiar amount of intensity. Finally, he asked Player, "Mind if I look into it?" It quieted the other AIs.
"Hold on, you could always do that?" Player questioned, bemused.
Baldi allowed a small grin. "Well, yes; everyone in the faculty can, technically. You and Friend did base their code on mine to get started, after all. The only thing is, we usually don't do that with other games, out of their and your privacy. Even if my later iterations seem to..." He trailed off, frowning, before finishing, "Disregard that, varyingly."
"Uh-huh..." Player uttered, before adding, "Then yeah, go ahead. Knock yourself out." With a nod, Baldi proceeded to mentally scan through Plus'
"STAY OUT!" The professor roared suddenly, his body stiffened. Afterwards, he swayed, until he fell backwards. Principal practically jumped out of his chair and caught Baldi. While the rest of them were speechless at the sight, M managed to set Principal's chair back up.
"Baldi, are you alright?" Principal prompted gently, but Baldi was too disoriented to answer.
"I didn't mean that literally..." Player couldn't help but muse, still shaking. Eventually, Baldi found his senses again.
"Wow... What a terrible experience," He groaned at first, as Principal helped steady him to his feet. "As soon as I got in there, something, or someone, kicked me out! Whichever's responsible, they don't want us looking around, that's for sure."
As Player calmed, they thought for a bit. "If I close the game, would you be willing to try again? It probably won't be able to react..."
Baldi considered it, before replying, "Yes, that could work!" Then, he felt himself being drug back to his seat.
"But let's sit down first, just in case." Principal was saying. Meanwhile, Player clicked on the "Confirm" button in the error message, which did as promised. Just to be sure, they checked the task manager's processes, finding that Plus wasn't secretly still running.
"Okay... Go." Baldi gave a second attempt, and this time, nothing seemed to stop him.
"Alright! I've figured it out!" He spoke when he finished, in as much relief as everyone else, before his tone faltered into dismay. "It's because it saw this version; and so, it'll execute that error as long as we exist on your computer. That's why it's normal to anyone else."
M squinted his eyes. "Huh. So they left something special just for us."
"Which means..." Player responded after letting it sink in, "I'll have to get Friend to sort this out. Is there anything else we should know?"
"Hmm..." The professor began to recall, "Oh! You know how the fieldtrip demo and Birthday Bash both had the 'mean' Baldis and repressor codes? Neither of those are in Plus at all. Everything that other me does or says is 100% willingly."
"Whoa, for real?" Sweeper piped up with a grimace. Baldi sighed, as though unable to believe it as well.
"That's correct. And, what else... Right. I can confirm that a Filename2 is not present, anywhere. Instead, the game checks for them. I didn't read the details on it, but it can't be good." When Baldi explained all this, M decided to see for himself.
"Jeepers," He said while doing so, "It straight up DELETES them if it sees any upon bootup. But since no one's reported seeing one in the files before that, it's more of a 'In case of Filename2s, break glass' scenario." He paused with a whistle. "The creator would have to be very, very careful in sneaking one in."
"That's... Sure something," Player took this in, before noticing the time. "Well, this was a bust, so I'm gonna call it a night. But we'll keep trying."
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