"Where are they going, aru?" China asked when he noticed America and England leaving. "It'll be better for us to all stay together if this is where both paths lead."
"Now there are less of us to figure out what these switches are for," Russia added.
France explained why they had to rush off so suddenly, but China and Russia seemed more concerned about pressing forward in their escape from the realm. They started looking at the switches, but weren't too sure if they were safe to press.
"I think I see something over there," Russia pointed out as he began walking to the other end of the rows of switches.
China followed to see what he was looking at, but France couldn't move very well due to his injury, and so he remained uncomfortably sitting on the cold floor. What Russia had spotted was a large door, they tried to push it open with all their strength, but it wouldn't budge at all. Knowing it must be locked, they soon found writing engraved onto the wall nearby which read: 'One per row you must press, there's no real trick so give it a guess'.
"I think it's giving a hint," Russia mentioned. "We just have to press one switch on each of the rows, and that will open the door, da?"
"I think that's what it means too, but it doesn't seem like we can find out which order to press them in; it says we should guess," China added. "That's not very helpful, aru. Whoever wrote this should have given a better hint!"
"I suppose we might be here for a while trying to figure it out," Russia said as he glanced at all the switches.
"Aiyah, I'm sick of these stupid things!" China yelled. "I just want to get out of here quickly; and no doubt France will sit this one out too, aru."
The two of them returned to the first row of 5 switches, where they explained to France what the writing on the wall said.
"That shouldn't take too long," France assumed. "After all, there are only 10 rows of switches."
"Easy for you to say, aru," China argued. "It's not like you plan to help out trying every combination possible, and even though there are only 10 rows, there are 50 switches overall."
"We should probably start," Russia suggested, pressing down on the first switch on the first row, causing nothing to happen. "How do we know if it's right or not?"
"There must be some way to tell," China pressed the second switch of the first row. "I guess it's neither of these since nothing happened, aru."
It wasn't until they pressed the last switch on the row that there was any change. The fifth switch stayed down, unlike the other ones which had gone back up right after being pushed down.
"Well, that's one row down," Russia walked towards the second row. "Now which one is next?"
Pressing down on the first switch of the second row, the switch on the first row sprung back up.
"I guess that was the wrong one, aru," China sighed in complaint as he repressed the switch on the first row.
They eventually found that the fourth switch on the second row was the right one to press, which meant they could move onto the third row. China ordered France to move so that he would be in-between the first and second row so that both of the correct switches were in his reach, as they were clearly going to be pressed a lot when finding out which switches needed to be pressed in the rows further down, and China didn't want to have to keep walking back and forth to get to them. Making it France's job seemed less time consuming, gave him something to do and was still considerate of the fact his ankle was still in bad shape. The next three rows required pressing the third switches, and despite making good progress, it still seemed to be taking forever.
"We're half way there," Russia pointed out, and then pressed down the on first switch of the sixth row and it stayed down. "Just over half way now."
After pressing down on the first switch on the seventh row, all the previously pressed switches popped up again. China let out a large moan of annoyance and they began the process of pressing the switches they already knew were correct. Fortunately it was only the second switch on the seventh row that they had to press. They weren't so fortunate on the next two rows however as the correct switches were the fifth switches, meaning they had pressed a lot of incorrect switches in the process.
They were down to the last row and were so close to finishing, but is Russia pressed down on the first switch of the final row and every other switch that was down sprang up once more.
"Aiyah! This is getting so frustrating!" China yelled before wandering from switch to switch, pressing them in the right order so they could guess again.
The final switch was the second one of the last row, and once it was pressed, a clanking sound could be heard from the door. China and Russia rushed to check it out, while France complained about how he still had to sit on the floor as it was best for his ankle. They very much expected that the door would open, but it didn't. Nor did it unlock. Instead, in the centre of the door, plates of metal moved to the side to reveal a keyhole for a lock. They were all devastated.
"We just did all of that, and we still can't get the door open, aru," China complained. "Where are we supposed to find the key?"
"Maybe one of the others will find it," Russia suggested. "And if they don't find it, we'll just have to break the door down. Surely it's not impossible."
China and Russia continued to linger around the door to find any possible weak points that would help the break it down, whereas France got up and tried walking a bit. His ankle still really hurt and started bleeding again when he moved it too much, so he gave up and sat back down to try to stop the bleeding again. He was surprised it was taking so long to heal.
A/N: Sorry this chapter is short compared to most other chapters, but I have been working on more chapters and I guarantee the next one will be longer.