Chapter 2: Getting a Grip
Team RWBY stood over their dorm's desk. With the Playtime Co. 'flats' envelope, the edited Poppy Commercial, and the note explaining that the factory's missing personnel are still alive and trapped in the factory laying on it.
The four of them are debating about what to do with disturbing new information.
"I-I still think we should tell our teachers," Weiss said, sticking to her logic.
"But if we tell them. Then, how would we know they'll help the workers?" Blake argued. While still suspicious that this whole thing is some elaborate trap.
"Blake does have a point, Weiss," Ruby agreed with Blake's point.
"B-but!"
"Plus we're on break until next semester. All the teachers are probably out doing huntsman jobs." Yang added.
"Uh," Weiss said, a little taken back by the blonde's probably accurate assumption. "You may be right."
"Awww, you can agree on things, Ice Queen." Yang cooed.
Weiss rolled her eyes. "But if we are going to go to this factory. Then, how will we ever get there? Especially in case someone eventually notices that we are missing. What would we do? Leave a note?"
"What's wrong, Weiss? I thought you wanted to be a huntress?" Yang asked. "And huntresses always defend and protect humanity." She says in her best Ozpin impression.
"Fine! We'll go!"
"Yay! Weiss is on board!" Ruby cheered.
"Weiss does have a point. How are we going to get to Playtime Co.?" Blake asked.
"UHHHHHHHHHH?" Ruby droned for a few minutes, unsure what to say. Her monochromatic teammates facepalmed from seeing her reaction.
Then Yang spoke up. "I think I have an idea."
RWB looked at each other with worried expressions.
-x-
Later that night, Yang had successfully secured their travel tickets to the town closest to the Playtime Co. factory. From there, they proceed by foot to the factory.
"Well, team, here we are," Ruby announced.
The four stood in front of the abandoned gates to the factory, unsure of what they might find inside, covered in do not cross tape to ensure nobody thinks of trying to break in.
"You sure we should be doing this? It had been ten years since their disappearance." Blake asked.
"Well, we don't know if there's anything, Blake," Yang argued.
"Even if we don't find anyone," Weiss said, looking toward the ground. "The least we could do is give closure to the families."
"Weiss's right?" Ruby tried to say but lost focus when something caught her eye.
Yang notices this. "You ok, sis?" She asked, concerned about her sister.
"There shouldn't be anyone else here, right?" She asked.
The three older girls looked at their leader with scared expressions. "Y-Yes," Weiss replied. "W-why?"
Ruby then points out to the side of the factory. They turn to see a figure walking towards the factory. "I think someone is trying to solve the mystery before us." Ruby theorized.
"Not if I have anything to say!" Yang proclaimed, pounding her fist together. But Blake stands out in front of her, signaling her partner to stand down.
"Or we could find out what they're doing first," Blake suggested.
The four gave each other a nod and pulled out their weapons to flank this mystery figure.
-x-
The young huntresses sneaked their way to the front of the factory and stood in pairs at each side. Ruby and Weiss are on the left, and Blake and Yang are on the right. They waited until the figure was close enough.
"FREEZE!" Ruby shouted, pointing her rifle at the stranger along with her team.
The intruder, at first, wasn't fazed due to it being a young girl who said that, but jumped back when realizing the little girl and her friends were holding weapons up to them.
"W-Wha-Whoa!" The stranger shouts, raising their hands in the air.
"What are you doing here?" Weiss demanded, pointing her sword toward this trespasser. "This area is off-limits."
"Well, what are you doing here?" They asked Weiss.
"I- Uh- We have permission to be here."
"Permission for what?"
Weiss was about to reply with a lie. But Yang beat her to the punch.
"We're writing a paper! Because we're journalists!" Yang stated.
"Then why do you have weapons? And you're dressed like huntsmen, or what I think huntsmen dress. I never really understood fashion."
Yang was about to lie again when Weiss interrupted her for a change.
"Alright, you're smarter than you look," Weiss admitted. "So, enough questions about us. What about you?"
"Well, I'm Y/n, and I used to work here a decade ago." They explain. "I got a letter to come to the factory."
After hearing that, the girls huddled up to discuss what they had learned about Y/n.
"Ok, this has to be a trap," Blake said, convinced by her suspicions.
"Maybe," Ruby said, looking back at Y/n. "But, I don't think Y/n know why they're here either."
"Didn't Y/n say they work here?" Yang asked.
"T-Ten years ago." Weiss realized.
R(W)BY eyes widen after coming to the same realization.
"You girls, alright?" Y/n asked.
"Y-Yeah, we're all good," Yang stated.
"Um, ok?" Y/n replied. "I should probably go now." They added as they walked towards the factory's door.
"Wait!" Weiss shouted. "You said you worked here ten years ago."
There was a long silence from Y/n. They then looked left and right. "I'll tell you more inside."
The five of them entered the building.
-x-
Our heroes stepped foot in the Welcome Center of the Main Entrance and gazed at the reception desk with a large painted mural of a blue puppet saying Welcome on the wall behind it.
To the left was a hallway with a sign that said Security, the sign on the right hallway said Gift Shop.
Ruby and Yang started to move around the room. They're searching for clues about what they are supposed to be doing.
All while, Weiss and Blake stayed close to Y/n to keep an eye on them.
"As you were saying about working here," Weiss asked Y/n to remind them about what they were saying earlier.
"Huh, oh yeah," Y/n said. "Look, I'm not dumb. I saw your faces when I said I worked here."
"I did work here up until that day. Feeling a bit under the weather all that week, I didn't feel like I couldn't come, so I called out. The next day, I felt better enough to work. So I went to the factory, only to see it surrounded by police, huntsmen, and news reporters." They explained, causing the monochrome duo's expressions of suspicion to crack.
"Y-you didn't try to find out what happened?" Blake asked.
"I-I didn't know what to do. Walk up and tell them I'm Playtime Co.'s last remaining worker because I called out." They said sarcastically. "I didn't want to be known as the 'Sole survivor of the Playtime Co. Toy Factory.' so I left the scene and never looked back. Then, I went to find a new job. It's something I'm not proud of doing. That's besides the fact that reporters are relentless. I would think a Schnee of all people would know that."
Weiss looked down, knowing what Y/n said was true.
"I came back because I just want to know what happened to my old coworkers," Y/n concludes.
"I see," Blake said, understanding Y/n a bit better.
"Hey, guy! Look at this!" Yang called out to the team.
They all came to Yang's side to see her holding a green VHS tape labeled Laith Pierre Closing.
"Laith Pierre?" Blake asked.
"Who's that?" Ruby followed up.
"I think he was a part of innovation. I think," Y/n said, trying to answer Team RWBY's Questions. "I didn't know him well. I heard it was pretty easy to sneak up and scare him."
"That's not nice." Ruby pouted.
"We'll find out then," Yang said as she put the tape into a color-matching VCR. The TV above them in the corner of the room flickered on. A hand similar to the blue puppet on the welcome mural appeared.
"Hi, my name is Leith Pierre, and I'm the head of innovation here at the Playtime Co. Toy Factory." The voice presumed to be Leith introduced themselves.
"Hello, Leith." Ruby waved.
"That answers that," Blake replies.
"If you're seeing this, then you're trespassing. Yeah, we play this little tape on loop whenever we close the factory for the day."
"Who would have thought that's what we're doing," Weiss said sarcastically.
"So trespasser, just to make you aware. While we pride ourselves primarily on our high-quality toys and excellent childcare, we also pride ourselves on our security."
"Something tells me that's not the only thing he's proud of," Yang smirked.
"For example, this facility is full of hidden motion triggers. Which, once set off, will set off the factory's emergency alarms and directly contact the authorities!"
"I doubt that would be useful now." Blake countered.
"He sure brags a lot," Ruby replied, taken back by Leith's rudeness.
"Lot of my coworkers never really liked him," Y/n added.
"Kinda like Weiss when we first met her," Yang added.
"HEY!" Weiss shouted.
"And that's one of the more tame aspects of our security system. No spoilers... So, you've got my warning. It's not too late to turn around. I just hope you're certain whatever you're doing is worth it."
With that, the recording came to an end.
Team RWBY then felt a familiar chill up their spines when Leith mentioned that the factory had more unconventional defenses.
"W-what did he mean by that?" Ruby asked, feeling a bit spooked about the last part.
"I'm not sure, Ruby," Weiss replied.
"I don't want to find out," Blake added.
Despite Leith's threat, the team perseveres. Yang and Weiss walk over to the Security hallway. Blake heads over to the Gift Shop with Y/n.
As for Ruby, she jumps over the turnstile to the right of the reception desk. She sees a big, metal door with a door frame designed to look like-colored blocks. On top is a big scanner with a big blue handprint on it. She didn't know what it meant, so she went to the Gift Shop.
-x-
Ruby walks into the hallway to the Gift Shop, passing by a poster for Playtime Co. toy, Bron the Brontosaurus. She walks in to see it's a total mess. Ten years of abandonment tend to cause that.
Several large glass containers have been shattered, with the glass all over the floor. The shelves had several Boogie Bots, Candy Cats, and Huggy Wuggy toy boxes. All while a colorful train goes in circles on the ceiling. She moves towards Blake and Y/n, standing over the counter. Blake appeared to be shocked about what she and Y/n found.
Ruby looked over their shoulders and stared eyes wide at a broken Boogie bot on top of the bloody countertop. Now they knew something terrible had happened in this factory. She then felt something touch her shoulder. Ruby looked over and saw Blake put a hand on her shoulder to comfort her young leader.
Even though she was bound to this kind of stuff when she chose to follow her parent's and uncle's footsteps in becoming huntsmen, she was still shocked to see it.
Blake herself knows this site all too well from her time in the White Fang and that it wouldn't be her or her team's last.
Y/n looked like they were going to say something. But the moment was interrupted by Yang screaming out in frustration down the hall. "SCREW THIS! I'M SMASHING THROUGH!"
"YOU WILL NOT!" Weiss demanded her team's brawler stop with her plan.
Hearing this, the Gift Shop trio rushes down the hall to the Security hall to see what's all the commotion.
-x-
They run over to see Yang with her eye glowing red and her hair on fire, looking ready to smash down the door to the security office. Weiss used Mysternaster to make a glyph to hold Yang in place.
"Will you calm down?!" Weiss asked. "You don't know the code."
"What happened?" Ruby asked.
When Yang saw Ruby, she started breathing until her eyes and hair changed back. Weiss dissipated her glyph when Yang finally calmed down.
"This door is stupid." Yang calmly replied, pointing at the said door.
"Ok, Weiss, what happened?" Blake asked the heiress.
"Well, we came up to the door and tried to open it. But unfortunately, it locked." She explained. "We then found a keypad next to the door. So I figured we needed a code to unlock the door."
Blake, Ruby, and Y/n looked to Weiss's left, and the view was indeed a keypad. But instead of number buttons, there were color buttons.
Green, Yellow, Light Blue, Red, Purple, Blue, Gray, Brown, and Pink.
"Yang tried to guess the code, which ended with her trying to destroy the door out of frustration."
"Wait, you said you need a code for the door?" Y/n asked.
The huntresses turned to Y/n.
"Yeah, a color code." Yang groaned.
"Well, you see. You can find the code hidden in the Gift Shop."
Team RWBY stood there until they shouted what they all were thinking.
"Really?"
-x-
The team returned to the Gift Shop to find the code. They assumed that the guards wrote it down somewhere until Ruby realized something.
"Hey, we're looking for a Color code, right?" She asked her partner.
"Yes." Replied Weiss.
"Well, look up."
Ruby pointed up to the ceiling to the motorized toy train running overhead. A closer inspection revealed that the colored train cars had arrows pointing to the locomotive. It didn't take them long to realize there were four colored carts on the train. The code was right in front of them.
Green, Pink, Yellow, Red.
"A-Are You Kidding ME?" Weiss asked, gritting her teeth, with her left eye twitching uncontrollably.
"Yeah," Yang added, looking like her tantrum from earlier is having a sequel.
"That's pretty clever." Her rage vanished into thin air when she complimented whoever came up with this train thing.
"You can't be serious! Who in their right minds would do something this absurd!" Weiss shouted.
"Let's leave the code to our security office in the gift shop for anyone to find and use, instead of only giving and trusting it with our professionally qualified security force." She rants sarcastically.
"Aw come on, Ice Queen, who's honestly going to think of looking up there?" Yang argued.
"She does have a point, Weiss." Blake agreed with Yang's logic.
Weiss just groaned and stormed off to the Security office as the others followed behind.
-x-
Y/n walked up to the keypad and entered the code, the door opened, and our heroes entered the office.
Inside were multiple chairs on the left with a desk alongside the wall. On the right was your typical security wall with monitors. The room also has a vent closed off by a glass door with some strange device next to a moving tray with a Blue VCR and a TV.
"What's that?" Ruby asked.
"Don't know, Sis," Yang replied, approaching the vent. She tried to open it but was unable to get a good grip.
Y/n just stared at the strange device. "Wait! is that-" They thought to themselves.
Blake looked around and found a Blue VHS on the desk labeled Grab Pack Training.
"I found another tape."
"Sheesh, these guys sure love VHSs," Yang commented.
"They were old-fashioned," Y/n added.
Blake walked over and put it into the Blue VCR. The TV screen turns on, revealing the strange device is called a GrabPack.
-x-
(Que: "It's Playtime" from MOB Records)
The first image is a 3d image of the GrabPack. It looks to have three parts: a backpack-like structure with a cable and two firing cannons with triggers and big hands attached to them.
"GrabPack?" Weiss raised an eyebrow.
"It's a device that the company invented to help us lift heavy stuff and do things that someone wouldn't be able to do on their own," Y/n explained.
"It looks like a toy," Ruby noted.
"In a toy factory, Think that's the point," Yang added.
The video explained how to put on the GrabPack and use it wisely, Up until a part that warns the user what happens when you fire at a person may cause injury. The depiction showed that the pack was capable of DECAPITATING a person.
"Oh, gods!" The girls thought to themselves.
Y/n could see that they were feeling their neck when they saw that.
Those feelings went away when they learned the best ability of the GrabPack.
"Wires are conductive! Use it for rewiring!"
What's the time? The video asked.
"Playtime Co."
(video and song end.)
"That could come in handy," Yang said, smirking and making jazz hands at her pun.
Her teammates and new compatriot groaned at her pun.
Yang just laughed. "I couldn't resist."
"Despite Yang's rubbish pun, I have to agree," Weiss noted. "The applications of this GrabPack might help us greatly."
"Well, what are we waiting for, team?" Ruby asked. "Let's grab a GrabPack."
Blake walks over and tries to open the vent the GrabPack is inside. Much to everyone's surprise, Blake barely tapped the glass, and it opened all by itself. Almost as if it just let them after they watched the safety tape.
R(W)BY was shocked since Weiss had always been the cautious and by-the-book person on the team. And seeing her hand over the GrabPack to a stranger they just met today all willy-nilly was very out-of-character of her.
Blake pulled Weiss aside. "Weiss, you're just giving this GrabPack to Y/n with no fuss. We just met them a few minutes ago."
Weiss sighed and explained herself to her Faunus teammate. "Y/n used to work here, so they have more experience with this GrabPack than us. They are unarmed while we have our weapons, and they appear to have no ulterior motives and don't seem to have any intention of using it on us."
"I see," Blake says, better understanding Weiss' decision a bit.
"And besides, Do you want to give something that could easily tear a person limb from limb to those two?" She asked, gesturing to the red and yellow sisters.
As much as she didn't want to, Blake couldn't help but agree.
-x-
Meanwhile, Y/n got the GrabPack on and tested it out on a broken CatBee toy in the lobby. Yang and Ruby were impressed by the demonstration. Ruby's eyes twinkled with the idea of a weaponized version of the GrabPack. On the other hand, Yang couldn't help but imagine a fist on the end of that cannon.
Suddenly, Ruby snapped back into reality when she saw the GrabPack's Blue hand.
"Wait!" She shouts, signaling the others that she had a eureka moment. "Everyone follow me!" She ordered.
"Ruby, what are you-" Weiss asked her partner to explain herself.
"You'll see."
-x-
They all followed the little red reaper behind the receptionist's desk. There, she showed them the big metal door from earlier. But more importantly, the scanner with the big blue handprint.
I didn't take Y/n and (R)WBY long to put two and two together.
"You need a GrabPack to enter parts of this place?" Blake asked.
"Yeah, Security was very tight around here. Most of us needed a GrabPack to get around," Y/n answered.
Y/n aimed the blue hand at the scanner and fired. The scanner recognized the Pack's hand and filled the bar on top with blue. The metal door opened.
(Que: "Welcome Wave" from MOB Records)
"Well, that was… e-easy?" Yang tried to say before being caught off guard by what was on the other side of the Playtime Area.
"Yang? What's- wrong?" Blake asked before getting her answer.
All five stood frozen upon seeing a statue of the blue puppet toy from the welcome mural.
The puppet was tall, around 17 feet tall! It's slender and covered in thick, bright blue fur. The arms and legs are several feet longer than its stout and disproportionate torso and end with a pair of yellow hands and feet. But its face was by far the creepiest thing the young huntresses had ever seen (apart from Poppy). A big triangular-shaped head with two large black, dilated eyes and a pair of oversized, bright red cartoon lips. Plus a cherry on top in the form of a thin, blue ribbon around its neck.
"Ok. That's not going to haunt my nightmares," Blake noted sarcastically.
"What the heck is that thing?!" Yang deadpanned.
(Song end)
Our heroes walk down the hallway. (Even though some in their heads were telling them not to.)
Overhead was a sign that said Welcome to. Once inside the room, A massive sign with the Playtime Co. logo hung over the statue, finishing the earlier message. Rounding out the Playtime Area were several different doors.
(Left to Right) Power room, a door with a Blue hand scanner, Testing, Innovation, Theater, A door with a Red and Blue hand scanner, and the Cafeteria.
Weiss walked over and looked over the plaque at the statue's base.
"Huggy Wuggy?" She read. She and her team are confused by the toy's silly name.
"It is a toy, Weiss," Blake noted.
"For kids," Ruby added.
"Like you, Rubes?" Yang joked. Ruby pouted.
"Hug's was pretty popular in his day," Y/n noted.
Huggy Wuggy (39 A.G.W)
"Playtime Co. has designed hundreds and hundreds of distinct toys, but none connected with people more than that of Huggy Wuggy. Our founder, Elliot Ludwig, aimed to create a toy that could hug you forever! As is always true, Playtime Co.'s '4-Step Process to creating the most lifelike toys,' was a success!"
Weiss then read the little red message to the side.
"With a bit of string and polyester, our lovable, blue pal Huggy was brought to life! Huggy Wuggy has gone on to be Playtime Co.'s most popular and best-selling toy so far!"
Weiss looked back up at Huggy. Even though it was a beloved children's toy, it was still very unsettling to her, maybe because she was older than his intended age group.
Suddenly the GrabPack's hand fired and hit Huggy's hand. Practically, giving the statue a high five.
"Y/n! What are you-," Weiss asked, only getting her answer when she turned around to see Yang holding the cannon.
"Oh, that explains it." Weiss rolled her eyes.
"Come on, guys! Don't tell me we were just going to leave him hanging?" Yang defended her actions.
"Of course, you would." Weiss deadpanned.
"What's this?" Ruby asked, pressing the button on the plaque. A song was then played.
-x-
(Que "Huggy Wuggy" from MOB Records)
"His name is Huggy, ~ Huggy Wuggy, ~ when he hugs you, ~ he'll never stop. (creepy Huggy laugh) ~ Your friend Huggy, ~ Huggy Wuggy, ~ he'll squeeze you until you pop! (bubble noise)"
(Song end)
-x-
After hearing that? I didn't make them feel any better about Huggy. Yang almost wished she didn't do that high-five.
"Well, that- was a thing," Blake commented.
The rest didn't say anything and went on to try every door in this room. All were locked, except for the one that needed Two GrabPack hands to access. Their only option was the door with the single GrabPack scanner.
"What are you waiting for, Y/n? Let's get moving on!" Yang asked.
"I got it," Y/n replied. They fired the blue hand to activate the scanner.
But the scanner suddenly went black, and the wire made a spark trail that led to the locked Power Room.
"That's great." Blake groaned sarcastically.
"Now, what do we do?" Ruby asked.
Then a sound, which sounded like someone jingling a keychain. "What was that?" Yang asked.
They look around and find something that wasn't before. In Huggy's velcro palm was a gold key with a triangle ring.
"W-was t-that there before?" Ruby asked, starting to panic.
"I don't think so," Blake replied, also very creeped out by this situation.
"Hey, you don't think…" Yang was about to suggest an unsetting theory. But Weiss turned down that idea.
"Don't be ridiculous, Yang. There is probably a logical explanation for this. For example, it might have been on a ledge above the statue. It must have fallen and got stuck to its hand. Y/n did say it had velcro on its palms. Or-" Weiss tried to think logically. In reality, Weiss was trying to push that horrible idea out of her head.
"Or this thing is alive!" Yang shouted, finishing her suggestion earlier.
"You do have a point. But so does, Weiss." Y/n replied to be the equalizer. "I mean, think about it. This ain't a 30's horror movie."
"Either way, let's get as far away from this thing as possible," Blake spoke up and used her weapon to get the key. Blake holds the key in her hand, quickly scans the room, and deduces the most likely room.
She walks over to the Power Room and unlocks the door. Blake gestured to the others to follow her. Ruby stayed behind and stared at Huggy, she squinted and raised her arm, and snapped her fingers in his face, but the statue didn't flinch.
"Ruby, you coming," Yang asked her sister.
"Sorry, Yang. I'm coming." She replied and followed her team and the former factory worker into the Power Room.
Once Ruby closed the door behind her. The Huggy Wuggy statue was all alone in the room.
It lowered its arm and tilted its head toward the Power Room as its face changed. His eyes widen, and pupils dilate, almost taking over his eyes. Huggy's smiling mouth opens, revealing a mouth full of dozens of jagged needle-like teeth and showing another set of jaws at the base of his throat!
Huggy then moved off his base and walked away.
Tonight's horror has just begun…
TBC…
Author's note: And that's Chapter 2. Let me know what you think, and as always. Constructive criticism is allowed. Trolling is not.
Next Chapter: Puzzles Galore
First of all, Y/n is The Player, by the way.
The Remnant year system is very different from ours. I chose 39 because it was 39 years since the end of WWII in 1986. The year Huggy was created.
Also, the 30s for Remnant are what I assume to their equivalent be to the 1980s.
So, until next time. AutoHunter Rolling out of the hunt.