The room is dark and cold, or was he outside? It's impossible to tell. There are no footsteps as he walks forward, no echoes nor light. Eventually, something inside tells him to stop. When he does, pale illumination comes from above and shines down to reveal a black hole in the ground. It's massive in size, easily four or five times the park house, and he finds himself standing at the edge of it. The light disappears into its dark depths, the black so thick and absolute that it appears unnatural to look at, perhaps a gaping hole in reality. But from its inky bowls, mumbled words trickle out, tickling his ears and reaching cold tendrils into his mind. A pair of small, disembodied eyes appear in the void and stare him down as a whisper comes from just behind his ear with a breath of cold, damp air washing over it.
"You don't deserve second chances."
Abruptly, Rigby sits up in bed, gasping out. The others in the room startle at his abruptness before calming down.
"Come on, dude! Not cool." Says Mordecai, the irritated blue jay mutters darkly before laying back down on the floor.
"Sorry." Says Rigby as his racing heart begins to calm down, "How long was I out?"
"7 or so hours. Maybe longer." Replies Skips from the far corner, his eyes return to looking at the jail door, which is unmarred from all the attempts to escape they've made.
"Sunrise will be soon, the park will open, and we'll all lose our jobs…" mutters Benson, who is lying opposite Mordecai on the floor. Muscle Man and Fives grunt their agreements from their spot by the door. Looking next to the bed, Rigby sees Pops undisturbed from his sleep, having remained next to Rigby the whole time. His large head tilted enough to use the edge of the plastic bed as a pillow. Back aching from the terrible mattress, Rigby crawls out of the bed, taking extra care not to disturb Pops' slumber. There isn't much room to walk around in, especially with Mordecai and Benson taking up a decent amount of the floor space, so he takes great care to avoid stepping on them as he approaches the door. The basket weave lattice of their cell door is indeed still in one piece, having not been stretched nor torn in any visible way from all the struggling the others have done.
"There's no use, bro, we tried literally everything. Nothing's getting through tha- ow!" Rigby turns to Muscle Man, who is removing the sucker he had in his mouth; the sweet is razor thin. Pops apparently had handed out more of his candy money in an attempt to make the others feel better too, while Rigby had been sleeping, "Sthupid thandy cuth my thongue!" He hucks the sucker against the wall, where it shatters on contact, the shards and stick falling to the floor. Rigby stands there transfixed, eyes snapping between Muscle Man, poking the cut on his tongue as Fives urges him to stop and the remains of the sucker before turning to look at the 'bars' of the door. He feels the bars and… yes, while clearly super strong, it resisted all the yanking and pulling the others had done for hours with no sign of wear nor tear; it's only as thick and is as flimsy as regular plastic wrap.
Rigby rushes back to the bed, accidentally bumping a foot into Benson.
"Hey! Watch it!" He pays the gumball machine no heed as he reaches for and picks up the sucker Pops had given him. To his disappointment, the sucker is melted inside its wrapper from his body heat and is a gummy mess.
"Does anybody else have suckers on them?" asks Rigby frantically.
"Dude, you got your own, just pipe down and enjoy it." Says Mordecai unhelpfully. The others in the room shake their heads but perk up at his newfound energy. Looking at the sleeping older man, Rigby thinks for a second before reaching into Pops' pocket for his wallet.
"Rigby, what are you doing!" Benson cries as he gets up from the floor to stop him from swiping Pops' wallet. Changing tactics, the raccoon puts his hands on Pops' shoulders and gently but firmly shakes him awake from his slumber. Rigby quickly retracts his hands as the other rouses and notices him standing closely.
"O-oh my, Rigby! Is everything alright?"
"Sorry to wake you, Pops, but can I have the hardest candy sucker you got? Like one with a bubble gum or chewy chocolate center?"
"Unbelievable! When I think you can't sink any lower, you find a way to-"
"STOP TALKING!" Rigby screams at Benson before devolving into a fit of dry coughs, his burning throat reminding him of its soreness. When he finally gets his breath again, he continues, "I plan to get us out of here."
"And you need candy to do it."
"Hard candy." He turns to Pops again, "Trust me, please." The older man hesitates briefly before taking off his top hat and reaching inside. From it, he produces a thin, silvery case.
"This here is my most treasured bill." He undoes the latch and shows off a beautiful thick dark green sucker with the imprint of some king on the face of the candy. The sweet is so decadent that even its wrapping paper has lacy designs done in gold with a foreign name written on it, "The rare Bulgarian green apple sour lollipop. It is guaranteed to last all day with even longer-lasting flavor. I hope it will suffice." Carefully, Rigby takes it and taps it through the wrapping with a fingernail, finding it to feel rock solid.
"Thanks, Pops, this'll do nicely." He rushes back to the door, barely resisting the urge to bump his boss as he passes, and removes the ornate plastic covering going to work. Rigby quickly finds that outright biting the edges sharp won't work, attested to by his sore teeth and jaw, but he isn't deterred. Switching tactics, he begins sucking on it and uses his tongue to shape the edges sharp, a challenging undertaking as the sucker is very thick. The harsh, sour taste also causes his lips to pucker and his eyes to water. Everyone is watching him now as he works the sucker around, eventually getting to the point where he can bite the blunt edges to be narrower. Then, after much effort, he feels the tip of his tongue cut on the edge of the sucker.
A problem emerges when he can't seem to open his mouth; it has solidly puckered around the stick of the candy from the extended sour exposure. Seeing him struggle, Skips comes over and helps pry open his mouth long enough to remove the candy, and from the looks of it, it had been worth the effort. The sucker, while still very solid in the middle, tapers off until the edge, where it is almost see-through from how thin it has gotten. Everyone holds their breath as Rigby holds one of the plastic wrap bars taut and hovers the candy blade above it. Gently he lowers the sucker and, in one fluid motion, cuts the bar in half. Cheers erupt from behind him, and he's about to continue on the next one when a hand slaps itself hard against his back,
"Way to go, bro!" Is the last cheer heard as Rigby feels his body fly forward from the force of the slap and slams into the remaining plastic bars. He loses his grip on the blade, and it goes flying out of his hand and lands on the floor, shattering into tiny shards. Multiple sets of angry eyes turn their burning gaze towards Muscle Man, who's now standing there, hand up and looking very embarrassed, "Uhhhh… my bad…" Benson sighs, then turns to Pops.
"Pops, do you have any more hard candy suckers?"
"I'm afraid that was the only one of its kind that I had on my person, but I may have a cherry bubblegum lollipop somewhere." Before he can search, Fives urgently whispers loudly.
"Someone's coming!" Rigby looks to where the ghost indicated, and a distant dark shape can be seen slowly moving around through the many layers of plastic walls, growing larger and more defined the closer they get.
"Quick, everybody, go back to your spots and pretend to be asleep! When Estate Street opens the door, we'll rush him." Rigby complies with the others and lays back on the bed, heart thudding in his chest in anticipation as their captor draws near. Rigby can't see him approach as his back is to the door, but eventually, he hears quiet footsteps outside the jail cell.
"Pssst! Hey, you guys awake?" The familiar voice has Rigby shooting straight up in bed and looking at the person outside their cell door. The others have done the same and are just as surprised.
"Thomas?!" They all exclaim in unison. And indeed, it is him, the missing goat standing there looking rather tired with bags under his eyes on the other side of their jail door.
"Hey, sorry it took so long to get here. I found where the door was, but I couldn't open it from the outside. I had to wait until he came back through and slip inside when he left again." He produces what Rigby recognizes as his Swiss army knife and quickly works the bars on their cell, "We don't have much time. The sun is already out, and the park opens in a little over an hour."
"Then there's still a chance!" Cries Benson, who now seems the most motivated he'd been all night, "Come on, everyone, let's go and save the Park!" Everyone cheers, or at least everyone but Rigby, who can only make a muffled noise of agreement.
"Uhhh, is Rigby alright?"
"Oh, that's from the sour sucker he got from Pops. He sucked it sharp and was going to use it to cut the door down, but Muscle Man celebrated too hard and knocked it out of his hand and broke it." Says Mordecai matter-of-factly. Thomas looks down at Rigby in surprise before it morphs into a smile.
"Wow, that was super creative Rigby, awesome job." Said raccoon preens under the praise, "Anyways, follow me. I know the way out."