Everything is either an opportunity to grow or an obstacle to keep you from growing. You get to choose.
- Wayne Dyer
Koa fired her Grab-Pack's canon to grab hold of the bar on the ceiling. The stairs she was trying to climb were too badly damaged to go much farther.
Once she was on the ground again, she moved forward through the halls of the factory. After barley making it ten feet, familiar sounding roars of pain filled the air. After seeing what happened to Bunzo, it didn't take long to figure out that Mommy Long-Legs had killed the little Huggy Wuggys as well.
She continued forward. Eventually, she found herself standing on a set of tracks. Railroad tracks. They didn't look like they were for a full sized train though. These tracks were too small. Deciding to follow the tracks, she continued until she saw her way forward was blocked. Needing to find away around the blockage, she backtracked her steps and walked down a side hall, only to find this way blocked as well, and the lever to open the gate was on the other side.
Suddenly, another gate on the far end of the hall opened up, revealing the silhouette of a familiar figure.
Huggy Wuggy.
Memories once again flooded Koa's mind and as was too stunned to back up as Huggy walked closer. She had to be hallucinating or something. It surly had to be stress or something from the last game. Once Huggy was right in front of her on the other side of the gate and out of the shadows, Koa relaxed by degrees.
It wasn't Huggy Wuggy at all.
It was his female counterpart: Kissy Missy.
Kissy stared at her with what looked like curiosity on her smiling face. She tilted her head to the side briefly, before she looked over to the lever on the wall, then glanced back to Koa.
Realizing what Kissy was about to do, Koa's anxiety increased again. Kissy lifted her paw, but it slipped from the lever. She tried again, and this time she got a good grip on the lever, and, after a bit of effort, pushed it down, opening the gate.
The gate opened up very slowly. Koa was prepared to turn around and run, but Kissy, instead of waiting for the gate to open, turned around. Before she left, she stole a final glance at Koa, then turned around completely and walked back the way she came.
Koa stood there was she watched Kissy disappear around the corner. Once the gate was high enough, Koa looked behind her for a brief moment, but slowly, cautiously, followed Kissy.
Once she reached the corner, she pressed herself against the wall, and slowly peaked around the corner.
Kissy wasn't there.
Still on high alert, Koa pressed forward.
She passed by a charger along the way and was met with more gated doors and power receptacles. Koa also found a wagon full of toys with the name Berry on it. Studying Berry, she figured she could use it to bust through the wooden planks at the end of the tracks. But there was a problem. She had to open multiple gates in order to get Berry to where she needed. She studied the trail as she remembered the charges don't last long, then once she had a good idea, she got to work.
After opening a few gates and clearing the way for Berry, Koa found another tape and TV. Curiosity once again getting a hold of her, she played the tape.
This tape was different from the others. This was an interview video. The date on the video was March 21st of 1991, about four-and-a-half years before everyone disappeared. A young man, who's ID read Marcas Brickley, sat uncomfortably in his chair.
Off-screen, the familiar voice of Leith Pierre spoke up in a rather demanding tone, "mind if I film this?"
"Oh, not at all sir," Marcas spoke up in a very thick Irish accent, though his voice took a rather nervous pitch.
"That's what I like to hear," Lieth spoke in an obnoxious tone, showing that he didn't care what anyone else wanted or thought. "So, Marcas, what happened?"
"You see, I was heading home for the day when my ape arse realized that I left me bloody wallet in the cafeteria," he explained nervously. "So, I'm running through the lobby… And that's when I see it. A mop handle lodged under the innovation wing gate."
"So what'd you do, Marcas?" Leith asked, faking a polite tone.
"Well I just thought I'd nab the bloody yoke and be on me merry way."
"And?" This time, Leith sounded like he was getting impatient.
"Well, I-I'm reaching for the thing, and the mop handle jolts on its own. Had me scared stiff. I-I thought I was the only one there. S-So I took a peek beneath the gate and some massive bloody thing was dodderin' about the bloody hallway!" Marcas explained, his voice flooded with complete fear.
"Thing? You're sure it wasn't a person?" Leith questioned
"Ain't no person that's 50 feet long with a thousand legs," Marcas insisted.
"Marcas, you're losing me. Maybe you just saw a bunch of people walking by," Leith said with a tone that said he just wanted the interview to end.
"Look, it wasn't people! Alright? I haven't a bloody notion what it was but it wasn't human," Marcas insisted again.
"Hmm…Who have you told about this? Besides me, obviously," Leith questioned.
"Just you, sir. Obviously," Marcas responded calmly.
Leith gave an annoyed sigh as he continued, "okay, I'll have security skim the cameras and take a look."
"What?! There's a massive bloody… Monster! Skimming ain't going to get rid of it!" Marcas exclaimed
"You're out of line, Marcas! We make toys, not monsters. Now come on, get out of my sight," Leith demanded.
Marcas moved to get out of the chair, before Leith spoke up, earning Marcas' attention, "actually uh, grab me a coffee will you?"
Marcus tried to get up before Leith spoke up again, and Marcas looked to him again, "actually never mind, get out of my sight."
This time, Marcas was able to leave the chair. The screen then went black.
Koa was confused.
"Fifty feet long with a thousand legs?"
What else was down here?
Refocusing on opening the gates, Koa managed to eventually clear the way for Berry before she pushed him down the tracks and then pushed him down the sloped tracks. Berry crashed right through the wooden planks and flew off of the damaged tracks. Loud crashing echoed as a result of Berry finally crashing to the floors under the factory.
Continuing down the random hallway. Koa finally found herself back in the Game Station.
Returning to the train, before she fired her Grab-Pack to open the door, she braced herself, and looked towards the ceiling. After a bit, she found four mini Huggy Wuggys of different colors hanging from the ceiling in the webs. Their bodies were severely mutilated. All four of them had their guts ripped out, and some of their other internal organs were exposed due to their large wounds. Some of the organs even hung outside of the wounds. Their limbs were also twisted in abnormal angles, and Koa could see some snapped bones protruding from their flesh.
Trying not to puke, she refocused on entering the train.
Once she was inside, she pulled out the new piece of paper received from Mommy Long-Legs. It was a color pattern. Under each character button, there was a colored button. Pressing each button until the colors matched the patterns, Koa left the locomotive and locked it again, and turned to the console in beside the train.
This was it. The final game. The final test. Bracing herself, she pulled the last lever.
"Whoa! Have you played these before? You're so good! Seems like you're ready for the final game… Statues! Follow Mommy down the stairs one last time! I hope you had a fun day in the Game Station! See you next time!"
After the recording ended, the sound of a gate opening started to sound, but then it failed. A hatch popped open and revealed a large handle bar. Using her Grab-Pack, she used both canons to pull the gate open. Once it was open, Koa didn't make it far before there was another locked gate. Seeing a side hall, Koa followed it and powered up the power grid to open the gate.
Once she was inside, it looked like an obstacle course. A large one too. Though, Koa had to admit this obstacle course, if it weren't a death trap, was child's play, a walk in the park, compaired to the military style obstacle courses she and her brothers trained in with their father. This obstacle course was designed for children, yes, but even as a child, the obstacle courses she trained with were ten times harder than this.
Turning around, there was a TV next to the door, and it turned on, giving a tutorial of the game.
"Welcome to Statues! This advanced obstacle course is designed to test your physical endurance and strength. The rules are simple. The lights will turn off. You can move through the obstacle course at this time. However, when the lights turn on, you can look around but cannot move. You may move again once the lights turn back off. The lovable PJ Pug-a-Pillar will follow you! If PJ reaches you, your test is over!"
Right next to the TV, there was PJ, crawling down from the ceiling. His round, black eyes right on Koa. Koa backed up and little.
"That's all. Good luck!"
Knowing Mommy Long-Legs wanted to talk again, she turned to the observation windows and saw Mommy there in the window like the previous two games.
"It was always so sad to see the kids go," she spoke in a melancholic tone. "They called me 'Mommy' because I was the closest thing they ever had to one. But they'd come for games… and never come back. They left Mommy to die alone! Mommy didn't deserve that," she waved a finger back and forth with each word.
Mommy then looked at Koa directly through the window, "but you… you worked here. So if anyone deserves to die alone… it's you." She spoke those words so sadistically, it was like in her mind she already won the game.
Mommy then disappeared from view underneath the window.
Koa didn't like this interaction one bit.
'I was just a cashier here. I was trying to provide for my family. Why do I deserve to die for that?'
Before she could contemplate any further, the gate to the obstacle course opened up, and the lights went out and music started playing.
Koa kept a steady pace through the obstacle course, freezing at the perfect time whenever the lights came back on. Seeing hand bars on the ceiling, the second the lights went out, she grabbed one with her Grab-Pack and swung over a pool of foamies, and landed at the other end of the pool just as the lights came back on. Koa saw this gave her a large head start. Once the lights turned off, she climbed out of the pool and made it to a group of tunnels, taking the easy one when the lights went off again. Koa once again reached another pool of foamies, this time there was no way over it, but instead she had to balance herself on large blocks.
Finally, Koa made it to the other side, and she still had a good head start on PJ. With the lights on, something caught Koa's undivided attention. The area at the exit of the obstacle course was completely caved in.
There was no exit.
There was no way out.
Koa was right.
Mommy Long-Legs was using these games as a death trap. She rigged the games in her favor once again. But this time, this one was to guarantee Koa's death.
"Mommy, you hypocritical, cheating bitch!" Koa yelled.
Looking around, she saw another observation platform adjacent to the one Mommy was in, and Koa could tell this was not the same room Mommy was in. Seeing a bar above the window, she knew this was her only way out.
"Obey the rules, or I'll tear you apart, and eat your insides, while you're still alive." Mommy's threat ran through her head.
'But that gives her the right to cheat?!' She reasoned to herself.
Koa looked in PJ'S direction, and saw he was gaining up on her.
She had to leave now.
"Screw it," She whispered to herself.
Figuring PJ couldn't see so well in the dark, but seeing he was gaining faster the closer he got, she had to move quickly.
Under the cover of darkness, getting close enough to the window, she fired her Grab-Pack to grab the bar, then, once the lights switched off again, she pulled herself to the window and crashed through the glass, landing on her hands and knees.
Koa was beyond relieved to see the room was empty. Unfortunately, the door was locked. Fortunately, there was a hole in the floor that Koa saw was a way out. Before she jumped into the hole, she saw two pieces of paper with notes. Grabbing them and pocketing them quickly, she jumped down the hole and landed not so gracefully on the ground below. Seeing she had to cross a large crater, she used her Grab-Pack to swing across and landed safely in the other side.
"Where did you go?" Koa heard Mommy call out. Standing up, she backed us slowly as Mommy continued, "The game is over. You won! Come back, and Mommy will give you the code! Pinky promise!" She called out desperately.
"Yeah, nope," was Koa's response.
Making a run for it, Koa reached a dead end, but she looked up and fired her Grab-Pack to a bar on the ceiling to pull herself up. Once she was on the ground again, Mommy called out again.
"Mommy knows the game is really hard, but Mommy's just decided you won!" She tried to sound sympathetic before she giggled nervously. Then she desperately called out "come back!"
"Just decided?" Koa shook her head, seeing through Mommy's facade and kept going.
After pulling herself up another cliff face, Mommy called out again, but this time, she was more aggressive, and losing her sanity.
"Mommy doesn't like cheaters! The rules are so simple! You die… Mommy gets to watch!" She cackled before calling out angrily, "come back to me!"
"I knew it," Koa hissed. Mommy never was playing fair after all.
"HOW DARE YOU DISOBEY ME!! I WILL FIND YOU! I WILL FIND YOU!! AND WHEN I DO," she cackled insanely before calling out, "where are you?! WHERE ARE YOU?!"
With that Koa crawled through the vents.
"I think it's time I do play Casey Jones," she quietly joked to herself, but she didn't laugh. She had to get out of here.
Mommy Long-Legs was on the hunt.
If you cheat yourself in practice, you'll cheat yourself in a game; and if you cheat in a game, you'll cheat yourself for the rest of your life.
- Vince Lombardi