"Pop quiz! How many stabs can a human body endure? Let's find out!"
Alex heard the crazed teacher shout behind him as she swung Barb at him. "Christ, go away!" Alex screamed, running away.
"Running away from class is prohibited! Let me show you what happens to those that break the rules!"
Alex barely reached the closed door with the battery, quickly putting it in as the door slowly opened.
He didn't wait until it was fully open though, and quickly crouched under it, running for his life.
The flickering lights didn't help at all with trying to find a way out, but there wasn't anything he could do. The generator had been damaged just a few moments ago.
Alex kept dodging the swings of Delight's weapon as he used the only battery he had to make his way.
"Seriously, can't we talk this out?!" He yelled, but it didn't seem to have an effect. Because of course it wouldn't…
A door that required a charge to open. There was a room to his left, and Alex entered before shutting the door behind him, sighing as he thought he could take a break.
His hopes were quickly shattered as Delight began banging on the door, and Alex quickly grabbed the charge before sprinting away and back to the door before the electricity ran out.
The school seemed to be an endless hallway, full of doors, classrooms and dead ends. It looked more like a labyrinth.
Alex found another garage door that required a charge, but no visible outlet. He dodged another strike from Delight before rolling on the floor.
He found that the outlet was behind a mountain of chairs that blocked his access to it.
He tried to use his GrabPack to pull the furniture, and he managed to do it, just before Delight striked again. Thankfully, the chairs fell on top of the teacher, giving Alex enough time to get the charge and run.
Delight didn't take too long to get back to following him, however.
As Alex kept dodging, opening gates with outlets, and using batteries to unlock doors, he came across a big room that required at least four batteries.
"FUCK me!" He exclaimed.
"No swearing during class hours!" Delight screeched from behind him, narrowly missing his shoulders as Alex made a run to get more batteries.
There was an adjacent room where he found a battery, and coupled with another one that was in the other room, that made two. Three if he counted the one he already had.
Thankfully, Delight was kind enough to slash one of the small couches the room contained, revealing a hidden battery inside. With that, he opened the door, revealing a green outlet.
Alex could feel he was nearing the end of this chase, as he advanced and grabbed the charge.
Suddenly, he felt something pierce his leg, as he let out a loud yell and fell to his knees.
Delight had thrown her weapon at him, and she hadn't missed this time. Hearing the teacher's distorted laughter behind him, Alex realized he wouldn't be able to stand up in time, so he readied himself for what came after.
The moment he felt Delight's weight on him, he spun around and kicked her in her stomach, but it seemed not even that was enough as she kept trying to scratch and claw at his face like a wild animal.
"Urgh!" Alex groaned, managing to push her a small distance back, clutching his face in pain.
Delight was about to throw herself at Alex again, and he was about to dodge, but he remembered the weapon still on his leg.
He quickly grabbed it and pointed it at Miss Delight, who stopped dead in her tracks.
Alex remembered that the makeshift morning star wasn't just a weapon, but the teacher's only company.
He felt really bad for what he was about to do.
"Stop right there, or Barb gets it!" He yelled.
"No!" Delight shouted back. "Let her go!" She added, giving a step forward.
Alex tightened his grip on the object. "I SAID STOP!"
Delight once again froze.
"Okay, Delight. You and I are going to have a talk while I make a path forward. One wrong move and I swear I'll-!"
"Okay! Fine! P-Please, don't hurt her!" She begged.
"That depends on you only."
Alex grabbed a battery.
"So, I read your notes. I know what happened here."
Delight didn't speak.
"Are you crazy because of what you did, or because you've been alone in here for ten years?"
"B-Both." She replied, wincing at the painful memories.
"Okay. Was it you on that yellow tape?"
"No! I'd-" She stopped herself. "I'd never…"
Alex frowned. That doesn't sound like an insane person to me…
"What happened to the children, Delight?"
"I don't know. Catnap wouldn't let us see them."
So it was him!
"Why?"
"I don't know…"
Delight's eyes darted between Alex and Barb as the human slowly worked in getting the door open. "Stupid thing…" He muttered.
"Why are you here?"
The sudden question made him flinch. He didn't expect Delight to ask him a question by herself.
"To restore electricity to the generator you just broke."
Delight stood silent for a while. "Is it true?"
"What?"
"That you saved Huggy and spared Mommy? That you are going to get us all out? That you are planning on killing him ?" Her voice sounded so hopeful and hopeless at the same time.
"It is. And if you don't maul me to death, that includes you as well."
The toy stood still, looking at him.
After a long silence, Alex dared to open his mouth again. "You're not really insane, are you?" He asked.
Alex watched as the faintest of tears began appearing in her eyes.
He used his GrabPack to finally open the door out.
"That's one golden star for good behavior." He said, carefully leaving Barb on the floor.
Delight widened her eyes as Alex used his good foot to push the weapon towards her as she immediately picked it up and began hugging it. "Barb! I'm so sorry! I swear I'll never throw you again!"
Alex sighed and shook his head. She's not completely sane either.
The human turned around to leave before he was interrupted.
"I… I can't let you leave." Delight suddenly spoke.
Alex immediately stopped in his tracks and looked back. "What?"
"You… You're going to get yourself killed. Get Catnap angry at us. Him angry at us!" Delight desperately told him. "You're going to get us all killed."
Alex took a few steps back. "Listen-"
"DO NOT LEAVE THE SCHOOL'S PREMISES!" Delight screeched, once again running to get him.
"HELL NO!"
Alex sprinted into another long hallway seeing an exit just ahead. The moment he was on the other side of the door, he pulled a lever, the metal door immediately falling.
There was a loud bang and then the sound of something falling to the floor.
Alex sat down and panted, catching his breath.
Fuck… Almost didn't make it…
"Delight, are you there?"
"Urgh…" She groaned from the other side.
"I'll come back. I swear. I won't give up on you."
There was no reply, as the sounds of her footsteps walking away from the door began becoming fainter until they disappeared completely.
Alex took the opportunity to tend to his now bleeding thigh, putting another bandage on him.
At this rate, I'm going to become a mummy…
After that was done, he took off his GrabPack and took advantage of the fact he was alone to rest. He felt his eyes close as his consciousness began drifting, all the things he had gone through in this factory finally catching up to him.
Just… five minutes.
Catnap stomped out of the Playhouse, up for his routinary patrol around the Playcare. It had been barely minutes since his and his fellow followers' daily worshiping of his savior had ended.
Once again, he hadn't shown himself to them, but Catnap didn't mind. He knew he just needed to be better. Show that interloper what happens with those that threaten to even approach his God, so that he would be pleased and come to see them.
Speaking of the interloper, Catnap didn't know where he went or where he was. Knowing him, he could be anywhere inside the Playcare, and Catnap was definitely not keen on searching every single corner of the place, even if his hunting instincts screamed at him to do so.
He knew that he would come across him eventually.
The toy cat had his schedule for today ready. Firstly, he would roam the Playcare, and maybe hunt a few stray toys along the way. Then, he would go to his special place. A place dedicated only to his God, where he could voice his concerns and hopefully receive an answer.
And finally, he would go to the cell room where those heretics and traitors were imprisoned for their insolence to check up on them.
His least liked task, but something he had to do.
Why did he not like it? He wasn't sure. There was a part of him that rejoiced in seeing all of his "friends" receiving their punishment for doing what they had done, but there was another that felt…
No. Emotions are for the weak, and doubts for the heretics, and he certainly wasn't either. That book he was writing his feelings in was already something he regretted to do deeply, so he was not going to spend more time than necessary on time wasting things like those. Not after his lord taught him everything he knew. He had tried to make them see the truth peacefully, but they didn't listen. They deserved whatever happened to them.
Keep telling yourself that.
Shaking his head to get those intrusive thoughts off his head, he instead thought about the possible location for the intruder.
He was sure he was orchestrating all kinds of macabre plans to brainwash them all.
"AGH! I'M AWAKE, I'M AWAKE!"
Alex shook his head as he winced from having fallen asleep in such a position. "Ow, my neck…"
He stood up and looked around. He was still in the same spot where he had fallen asleep, and he still had all his limbs attached, so no one had snuck up on him. "How long have I been out for?" He muttered.
He realized that sleeping might have been a really bad idea, as he now felt even worse than before, and all his body ached.
Curse this place. What I wouldn't give to wake up on my bed at home right now…
Regardless, Alex knew he had to continue. He was who knows where, he couldn't backtrack through the school (he wasn't facing Delight again, yikes), and it didn't look like Ollie was able to communicate with him.
He was, by all means, lost and alone.
"Well, let's keep moving forward. Just like I've always done…" He groaned.
He came across a long brick hallway, with something in the distance. What took his attention, however, was the note laying on a shelf on the ground.
"The door opened today, and I heard something enter my hall.
Together, Barb and I found Catnap waiting.
ALL THIS TIME, ALL THIS AGONY.
It was HE WHO LOCKED THE DOOR, I know it.
I wanted to KILL HIM, but I knew better than to believe I could. He seemed oddly glad to see I was all that remained.
We made a deal.
We take care of each other now.
Report what we see to the other, and to HIM."
"Great. Just great! Now he's going to know I've been here!" Alex groaned, throwing the note away. "And why the hell did he lock all the teachers in the school? I swear if it's something like 'the Prototype told me to' I'll go nuts."
Whatever. He hoped that was the last note he'd find.
He kept walking forward, wincing from the ache on his legs as he came across two things.
What seemed to be an orange hand for his GrabPack and another cutout.
GREAT! More cutouts of these guys!
Before pressing the button and getting scared, he decided to check the hand laying on another shelf.
It seemed to be modeled after a finger gun, and Alex widened his eyes, realizing what this could imply. Just like with the green hand at the game station, he found a way to attach the hand to his GrabPack before hitting the switch to swap the equipped hand, getting the orange one.
"Surely they didn't make a gun attachment for this, right?"
Pressing the trigger, he found out he would thankfully not be committing unforgivable crimes that day, as the hand turned out to be just a flare gun.
The projectile flew to the wall, staying there for a while before burning out.
"Well, this is cool too." He shrugged.
Now, the cutout. This time, it was a green rabbit, seemingly in the middle of hopping around.
Alex hit the button.
"I'm Hoppy Hopscotch! Wanna try hopping to the moon with me?"
Wow, a rabbit that jumps around? How original…
"On three with me! One, two, three!" A pause. "Heh, didn't get very far, did we?"
"Again! One, two, three!" Another pause. "Nope, still didn't make it."
I feel like 'hopping to the moon' is a metaphor…
"Listen! This won't stop until we make it to the moon!"
This? What's "this" in this context?
"One, two- No NO! Don't look at your feet! None of that matters! Again! AGAIN!" The cutout yelled, desperation obvious in its voice.
"JUMP! JUUUUUUU-" The sentence cut to an ear piercing scream, before it suddenly stopped. The sentence rolled back to the initial introduction when he pressed the button again, so Alex decided to leave it be.
You tried to run away from this place many times, didn't you, Hoppy? But it was all useless… They wouldn't let you.
Alex felt sicker each time he had to deal with a toy or a cutout.
Shaking his head, he went through the door to his left, finding himself in a small bridge with some fencing to prevent him from falling down.
Using his newly acquired flare gun, he managed to make out he was crossing through some sort of big hole.
To continue, he needed a battery, finding the thing a long distance away, hanging from a loose catwalk. He barely managed to catch it with his GrabPack before inserting it into the battery hole.
Thanks to the small amount of lightning present, Alex managed to see he was inside a huge cave, if the stalactites and stalagmites were something to go by.
It was kind of beautiful, in a way.
There was a TV with a tape player on the ground, and Alex saw the tape laying not too far away from it.
The contents of it were simply the same guy from two tapes back, Rich, talking to what sounded like a big executive of the company about his retirement, and how he would be the replacement.
Nothing interesting to note, other than Alex starting to question why he had found a tape of Rich in each floor of the factory.
Nevertheless, he kept walking.
There was a long catwalk that went around the big rocks of the cave. He also noticed some of the fencing was missing, so he was very careful not to fall.
If he was going to die in that factory, it would definitely not be because he fell off a catwalk.
The path came to an abrupt end as Alex saw a purple jump pad. His gaze shifted back and forth between the distant floor and the jump pad, before he ultimately sighed.
He took a few steps back and readied his purple hand, ready to fly. As the jump pad sent him upwards, he barely made it to the other side and onto a rock.
He groaned when he saw another one of those things. He peeked his head, looking for the next platform, but couldn't find it anywhere, only seeing it a big distance below him.
I'll break my legs if I try to jump there!
He then remembered the tape about the GrabPack 2.0 and the air jets.
Taking a deep breath, he readied himself, running towards the jump pad before getting launched upwards. Alex let out a yell as he saw the floor rapidly approaching before he heard something from behind him and the fall was quickly slowed.
Good news, the air jets worked.
Alex looked up, finding some collapsed catwalks with yet more launch pads to help him ascend, but they were all shut off.
Conveniently, there was a green outlet and receiver, the latter seemingly connected to the jump pads. Alex used his green hand to send a charge to the receiver, making the pads light up.
He knew the electricity was on a timer, so he quickly (and carefully) began climbing up, barely making it as he heard the sound of the charge running out.
He kept walking through even more ruined catwalks, taking in the vastness of the cave. He couldn't see much, but he knew it should have looked amazing when the factory was still operative.
As he reached the next area he groaned in annoyance. More poles and turrets. He had to redirect electricity again.
Luckily, he knew what he had to do, so he began orienting the poles at each other, using more jump pads to move around the place.
Seriously, did everyone carry one of these? Because I don't see any possible way someone can move around here without it.
Whatever the answer, he was done, so he went back to redirect the turret, sending the charged hand at the receiver. He heard the sound of an elevator's doors closing, and when he looked, he found just that, leaving without him.
Alex switched off the turret, seeing it go back down. He supposed he had to activate it and run inside the elevator.
He had just enough time to do that, and as he went upwards, towards yet another catwalk, he sighed, a bit exhausted.
Seriously, how long had it been since he had come to the factory? First, fainting when freeing Poppy, then getting gassed by Catnap, and then the nap. And that's without counting the hours he had spent awake.
He had to have been at least a full day there by then.
He kept walking before he saw something down on the ground of the cavern. Alex didn't know how to describe it. It was a statue, made of different parts of different toys, all squished together and… was that a human skeleton?
He resisted the urge to gag as he had a bigger matter at hand. Just in front of the "statue" stood Catnap, on his two hind legs, doing some sort of… pose?
He couldn't clearly hear what he was muttering from all over where he was, but he knew it couldn't be anything good.
He's not posing, he's praying. To the Prototype, I suppose… Is that what he looks like?
Alex silently stood there watching for a while. A long while. And Catnap just stood there. Unmoving.
He had to admit, it was impressive.
After at least five minutes more of worshiping, the toy finally got back to his usual posture as he left the shrine alone before stopping.
Looking at Alex's direction.
The human stood as still as possible, waiting for the cat to finally move on. It was a long while, but he finally turned his head away from him and stomped away.
Either he hadn't seen Alex, or he didn't care about him, and he bet it was the latter.
Catnap sat in front of his shrine before standing on his two hind legs and adopting his praying position.
"My lord…" His raspy voice said. "I plead of you for your wisdom. It has been long since your dear priest has been graced with your presence, but it is now that we need it most."
There was no reply, as expected. "The interloper keeps advancing and corrupting the minds of those he comes across, turning them against us. I fear that if I do not act now, it may be too late. This is why I implore, tell me, what should I do with that human?"
Catnap stood there waiting for a long while. And yet, there was nothing. Not a hint of his lord showing himself to him.
Dark thoughts began clouding his mind. Why did he not appear? Why does it feel like he is never there?
Why does it feel like he doesn't care anymore?
Catnap immediately growled at that last thought. That was how heretics thought. And he was not a heretic.
His lord cared. Of course he did. He had saved them all! Set them free! He would NEVER abandon them.
It was all his fault, Catnap reasoned. His lord was simply disappointed at his poor performance when dealing with the human.
He had to start getting more aggressive. Show that rat who the one in charge was.
As he gave a gentle nod to the statue, he began walking outside the caverns, stopping when he heard the sound of something up above.
Ironic. Just as he was talking about him, there he was. The human was frozen in place, having realized he had been spotted, and was trying to go unnoticed.
He could jump up there and kill him right there, but he simply didn't. He decided to leave him alone just one more time, to make him think he was playing passively. So he would get a false sense of security.
He could pick up the relieved sigh coming from him as he turned away from the interloper, and Catnap resisted the urge to laugh at his ignorance.
It was now time for more of his duties, and once he was done, he'd find the human again.
And he better be prepared for what would come.
There wouldn't be another chance.
Alex jumped down the platforms as he walked as close as he could to the statue.
He wanted to get a bit closer to it, but he was already risking it by being there, let alone what would happen if he did as much as throwing his GrabPack hands at it.
If that was how the Prototype looked, Alex was going to have a really hard time when fighting him. He really wished he had that gun attachment on him.
As he finally reached the end of the caverns, he came across a door with a sign on top of it. "Playhouse, restricted access".
Alex's face went pale. "You gotta be joking…"
Incredible. The only way forward was through the only place he had been told to avoid. As Alex dreadfully looked at the blue hand scanner, he took a few deep breaths.
"It can't be that dangerous, can it?"
He unlocked the door, finding a small room with nothing on it but a TV filled with static and a cutout.
This is ominous…
He flinched when he heard the sound of a giggle coming from a hole in the wall. A giggle of a child.
Alex swapped his hand to the orange one and prepared himself for the worst to come out of the hole…
Only for a small plushie from a Smiling Critter to come out of it, crawling in his direction. They were the red bear, and they stopped just a few steps away from him. He could see that they were full of dirt and grime, and one of the button eyes had come out of their socket, revealing a small white glowing pupil.
"Aw, you're cute… I'm sure you're not evil or dangerous, are you?"
The plush then growled and lunged at his throat, Alex barely crouching out of the way. "Okay, I didn't know what I expected." He commented, dodging another lunge from the plushie.
As they kept growling at him, he remembered his orange hand. Maybe…
He fired a flare in front of the bear plush, and it immediately let out a squeal as they ran back to the hole they had come from.
Luckily, after a while of waiting, nothing else came out of it.
Alex clutched his GrabPack tightly. He didn't know how much ammo the hand had, but he wasn't going to waste it at all. His life depended on it.
Hopefully there won't be a lot more of those plushies running around.
It was then he realized he had forgotten yet another cutout waiting for him to check, displaying the same red bear that almost got him seconds ago.
He walked to the cutout and pressed the button on it.
"Hi, I'm Bobby Bearhug! Wanna know how much I love you?"
Huh. That plushie didn't look too full of love.
"I love you to the moon and back!"
"I'm crazy about you!"
Alex raised a brow. "Okay, what?"
"I'm lost without you…"
"Oh."
"I've been lost a long time..."
"Oh shit…"
"Please, take me with you this time!"
"You won't leave me, will you?" The cutout asked desperately.
Alex hit the button again, but despite what he expected, no scream occurred. That was good, he supposed. At least if he ignored the message the cutout was telling him.
I'm taking you all with me, Bobby. I swear.
It was time to find the tape that corresponded to the player
He decided to keep walking forward. Going through a half opened door, he saw that the floor tiles changed into a more colorful bunch, even despite their obvious wear.
Alex also saw a message carved into the wall. 'LEAVE MY HOME'.
"Aha, so you live here, huh?" Alex commented, ignoring the warning with a gulp.
He was heading straight inside Catnap's home, like a mouse entering the cat's den.
He entered another room, finding the walls, ceiling and floor seemed to be padded, and there were two small tents, one of them containing the tape.
The label on it was torn apart, most likely in a fit of rage. It was a miracle the tape was still intact.
Alex quickly backtracked, inserting it into the player. The screen cut to a black screen with a familiar face staring directly at the camera.
"Okay, this is… Catnap." A familiar voice began. Leith Pierre. "Uhhh… Experiment #1188."
Oh, how he wanted to break the screen apart right there. If Pierre was the one talking, the content couldn't be good.
"What's his real name again?" He asked someone in the background. There were some murmurs off camera before Leith spoke again.
"Ah, okay." He cleared his throat. "Heya, Theo! How you doing bud?"
Alex squinted at the TV, seething rage filling his body. And he has the balls to say that?! He's doing bad, asshole! You turned him into a fucking giant toy cat!
"Normally, I'd have Dr. Sawyer do this instead, but he's… out, let's say. So you got me until they find his replacement." The recording continued.
Sawyer… I've heard that name a lot of times… Could he be someone important?
"First off, congrats! It's been a long while since you were placed inside your new body. And you've made some real progress, pal."
Alex clenched his fists. "I was told that when you and the other Smiling Critters, y'know, Dogday, Picky Piggy, yadda yadda yadda, were added into Playcare, that you weren't really getting along too well with the kids like everybody else was. But look at you now. The kids love ya! And that red smoke. I mean, that's fantastic, isn't it?!"
There was a pause, where Pierre was obviously expecting Catnap to reply, which he didn't do. " Is his, uhhh… voice thingy still broken? " Pierre asked someone off camera again before he was interrupted.
Alex didn't know what he was expecting Catnap's voice to be, but it definitely wasn't one that seemed to be strained, raspy, broken, and more, all at the same time. "The Prototype… will save us." He spoke.
Yeah, that Delight in the tape was 100 percent sure imitating Catnap.
He heard Pierre sigh, his 'good guy' facade having disappeared completely. "Theo, no one's gonna save you. This prison is where you belong. We'll let you out here and there to see the kids in Playcare, but your home is here . And as for 'the Prototype', his home is in the labs."
There was another pause, where Alex could hear footsteps going away from the camera. "THIS is your life now. Get used to it."
More footsteps, coming towards the camera and passing it completely. "Now, get me out of here, and bring me a goddamn coffee alr-"
The recording cut as Alex hit the screen with his fist, seeing how he'd done a noticeable crack on it. He felt some blood fall from his fist down on the ground, apparently having cut himself.
It didn't matter. He just wanted to break that thing apart. No. He wanted to break Pierre's face apart.
Monsters. All of them. Every. Single. One. More than the toys they created.
Alex took a look at his hand, painfully removing the glass shards stuck to his fist before applying another bandage on his hand.
Now he understood why the label was broken. He was debating throwing that tape away himself, so he didn't even know what could be going through Catnap's head when he saw it.
He shook his head. He couldn't get angry at people that were gone, could he? The past was the past, and whether he thought Pierre and the scientists were monsters, the toys were still there and the children turned into them killed, and he couldn't change it. He could only try and fix things.
He turned away from the TV with a long sigh, catching a glimpse of two glowing pupils looking at him from the hole in the wall before they disappeared.
He didn't have time to dwell on that. He was slowly beginning to understand why Catnap hated him so much. Why he worshiped the Prototype, he wasn't sure. But if 'Theodore Grambell' was the same kid that Stella had told him and his friends about all that time ago, he could get an idea.
Shaking his head, Alex began marching forward. He had to start thinking of a way to convince Catnap he was on his side… sort of.
But how to convince a blind follower of someone that wanted him dead?
As he walked, he realized that the Playhouse was simply an empty area filled with obstacles which the children used to play with, but now they were just setbacks for him.
He found another room at the end of the hallway he was going through. There wasn't almost any light inside it, which only meant bad news for him.
He flinched when he heard another giggle. He saw another hole in the wall, from which another small plushie came out. They looked a lot like the Bobby one, in the sense of being dirty and ruined, only that that one was a plushie of the elephant. Bubba, if he remembered right.
"Go away!" Alex yelled, throwing another flare.
The mini Bubba ran away back to the hole where he had come from. He heard more giggles coming from behind the walls, so Alex didn't take too long to keep walking.
He made his way through more padded rooms decorated with various things one would find in any type of playground, the only difference being that the ones in the factory were either broken, dirty, or showed various kinds of claw marks and scratches.
Alex didn't like being forced to crawl through a vent when any opening was a way for the mini critters to come and attack him.
He got out of the vent, finding another plushie crawling towards him. Thankfully, they really didn't seem to like flares too much, because just one of them sent them away, as if Alex had just thrown a rock.
His confidence didn't last long, however. The next room inside the Playhouse was big, and with a slope made of big cushions that led forward, but if the amount of giggles, gurgles and steps he was hearing was something to go by, there were indeed a lot of those mini plushies.
His theory was confirmed when in the short time it took him to get to the middle of the slope, he had shooed away at least five, and they didn't look like they were planning on stopping.
"Geez, how many of you are there?!"
"A lot!" Another voice spoke from somewhere.
Alex immediately looked around, not expecting to get a reply. He found out that from the platform he was supposed to reach, there were a pair of mini critters looking at him, one being a mini Kickin and the other a mini Hoppy.
The rabbit punched the chicken as he let out a loud 'ow!'. "He's not supposed to know we can talk, idiot!" The other toy scolded.
"You know that if you can giggle, that means you can talk, right?" Alex resisted the urge to laugh.
"Shut up, demon! I already have enough Bubbas to deal with! I don't need another nerd here!" Mini Kickin yelled.
"Hey!" A choir of voices that Alex guessed where those mini Bubbas the toy was talking about exclaimed.
Alex rolled his eyes. "Yeah, alright. Now kindly get out of the way."
"Or what?" Mini Hoppy challenged.
A flare was her answer. The two toys ran away from it, finally letting Alex enter a tunnel.
Great. So now not only did he have to avoid getting surprised by the mini critters who were eager to get him, but he had to make his way through the tunnels as well.
Just perfect.
It seemed that now that the fact that all the mini plushies could talk was revealed, they weren't afraid of expressing their anger at Alex's flare gun.
"No fair!"
"Too much light for me!"
"Why does he get to have that?"
"I want one too!"
"And I want you to stop talking and focus on catching him!"
"I'm hungryyyy…"
"Come on, demon! Let us eat you!"
It wouldn't be long before his head started to hurt, he was sure.
Alex exited the tunnels and arrived at the main playground, where there were two buttons connected to a rotatory platform's motor, something that would hopefully let him out of the damned Playhouse.
The cables were also connected to two big buttons on the ground, and when he saw the big blocks laying nearby, he quickly thought of a plan.
Crouching below obstacles, jumping around and going up slopes, all while making sure no mini critters got him was surely not an easy task, but he had already done so many other impossible things, so the line between "impossible" and "possible" wasn't that clear anymore.
And it seemed the mini critters were thinking that too.
"How in the world is he dodging all of us?!" A mini Catnap yelled.
"Just get better!" A mini Bobby replied.
"For the love of everything, shut up! " Alex shouted.
"Guys, don't do that! Maybe we'll get him like that!" A mini Bubba exclaimed.
"Ugh, I see why that mini Kickin hated you."
"Wh- Hey!"
"Oooh, the demon got you there!" A mini… unicorn? Laughed.
He decided not to ask why they kept calling him 'demon'. He had an idea why, but it wasn't in his priorities to know for sure.
When he reached the first block, he launched his blue hand at it and pulled. His face almost went pale when he saw the block barely moved.
He had to use two hands to move the block.
Alex looked around and scared away any toys that were too close before he switched his flare gun for another hand, whichever it was, he didn't care.
Now the block actually began sliding down the ground, and Alex pulled as hard as he could while he took it to the button.
When he was halfway there, however, he suddenly heard a shout. "I have him!"
He had mere milliseconds to react and catch the mini critter that lunged at him by his nape. He was the plushie corresponding to a dog. Did the tape call him Dogday? Whatever, Alex frowned at the plushie as it squirmed in his grasp.
"I don't have him." The plushie corrected himself, sounding scared.
Alex huffed and switched his hand back to the orange one. He dropped the mini Dogday and fired a flare at his feet, seeing him run away with a confused expression, seemingly wondering why Alex had simply let him go.
"Imagine needing mercy from a demon …" A mini Picky rolled her eyes.
"S-Shut up!"
Alex decided to ignore that last part and clean his surroundings again before pulling the block down onto the button.
One down, one to go.
Getting to the other button was like the first one, only that it was on the complete opposite side of the room, and the gaps in the padded obstacles were a lot thinner, and so, Alex had a difficult time passing through them.
Nonetheless, it wouldn't be what stopped him. As he cleared the area around the second block, he switched back to another hand.
And then what he feared the most happened.
"Hey! He doesn't have his light thing when pulling the block!" One of the mini critters shouted.
He was screwed.
"Come on, come on! Go before he gets it!" Another shouted as he heard dozens of steps headed for him.
God fucking-...
He quickly switched to his flare gun and made all the mini critters scatter.
Only that they didn't chase him anymore. They all waited, eyes fixed on him, waiting for the moment the flare gun wasn't ready and he was defenseless.
What do I do now?
Alex tried to think of a plan that could let him pull the block while still having his flare gun. Maybe he could push it?
He tried it and then realized he should have hit the gym more. He tried pulling with only the blue hand, but it didn't work.
He was at a loss.
"Come ooooon! Give up already!" A mini Hoppy whined.
"Shut up!" Alex snapped. He tried to be patient with the toys, but these were pushing the limit.
"Please?"
Alex raised a brow. "Nice try, but it doesn't work like that."
Back to his dilemma. What could he do to move the cube?
"Whatever." A mini Kickin huffed. "Just wait until the rest of us roll in…"
"There's more of you?!"
Then he realized what the toy had said. "Did you just say 'roll'?"
He could try and roll the cube to make it move. It would be slow, but it'd be something. Better than risking death.
The mini Hoppy from before slapped the mini Kickin. "That's two now, buddy."
Alex tested the idea, launching the hand and placing himself on a good angle. Sure enough, the block slowly rotated until it fell, closer to the button.
Nice.
"Don't let him!"
As much as the mini critters tried to catch him, their fear of light was stronger than their will, and Alex managed to roll the cube onto the button before any could get to him.
Running towards the platform, he heard indistinct yells of the mini critters trying to form a strategy before Alex slipped away.
Their large number thankfully hindered that, and Alex managed to jump onto the platform, launching a hand and rotating it. It slowly spinned around, and the mini critters all watched as their dinner was now out of their reach.
"We'll get you!" One plushie said.
"You wish!" Alex replied, opening the door out and closing it behind him.
He sighed in relief. That was one of the most stressful things he had to go through. There were just so many of them.
He wouldn't be able to look at a plushie normally again.
Shaking his head, Alex looked around. He was met with a staircase, but he saw that the way up was blocked by rubble, so he had to go down.
He was met with a message. 'WHY HAVE YOU WANDERED HERE?'
Alex scoffed. "I don't know. So your little cultists didn't eat me?"
Alex kept walking down the staircase launching a flare from time to time to see where he was going before being met with another message. 'THERE'S NO ROOM FOR YOU IN HERE'
"If you hate that I'm here that much, maybe don't force this to be the only way to keep going?" Alex rolled his eyes.
Why did he even bother? Catnap wasn't there to hear his comments anyway.
As he reached the end of the staircase, he opened a door to meet an almost dry pool, with big rubber ducks laying around.
It was also littered with corpses, blood, and claw marks. Alex shuddered and tried to ignore everything.
On the other side of the pool, there were two doors, and as Alex opened them to keep going, he was met with a dreadful sight.
The padded walls were full of claw marks, and there was blood everywhere. And that wasn't the worst thing. There were also prison cells in the room.
Alex shook his head in disbelief. "What the fuck even is this…"
He made his way forward, and he found out that the blood was coming from tenths upon tenths of impaled toys on various wooden stakes, most of them being Bunzo toys.
Why do they hate him so much?
The human was really questioning why the basement of a playground had prison cells, though he had a hunch they weren't for the kids. They were too big for that.
Alex found a half opened cell door that had a big hole in the middle. Curiosity got the better of him, and he opened it fully, dropping down the hole.
He shouldn't have done that.
There was a big bed occupying most of the underground lair, and hanging from the ceiling were more corpses and claw marks everywhere.
There were also some candles lit, but what caught his attention was a book that was hidden under a pillow.
Alex made his way forward, feeling that he was going to regret doing it, but he grabbed the book and opened it.
The first few pages contained some weird scribbles, illegible to him, but the second one had some actual text.
"Our savior's plan worked. We are free. Everyday, he comes and speaks to us. Helps us. Guides us."
It seemed to be a diary. Specifically Catnap's.
He kept turning pages, but they all spoke about the same thing. How good and powerful the Prototype was, how much he loved him , how he'd saved them…
Usual cultist stuff.
But one particular page caught his attention.
"Our saviour doesn't visit us as much as he did before. Did we do something that made him angry? It must be. He would NEVER abandon us."
Alex was confused. He was reluctant to keep reading, but he wanted to know more.
"Our god only comes to visit us once a month now, sometimes none. What have we done to displeasure him?"
It sounded like Catnap was slowly questioning the Prototype's credibility.
After more pages of talking about how good the Prototype was, and Catnap blaming himself for his 'god's absence, another thing caught his attention.
"After all this time, my lord spoke to me today. He wanted me to hunt the Smiling Critters, for all of them have committed an unforgivable act of betrayal.
For that, they must pay."
The next few pages, where torn apart or illegible, but even then, there wasn't too much text in them. It seemed Catnap had been busy following that guy's orders.
Or not.
He suddenly came to a halt as he found another full page. Alex almost dropped the diary when he saw the contents.
The words 'I'm sorry' written over.
And over.
And over again, progressively getting more wobbly.
Alex felt his heart shatter. It seemed that despite what he thought, Catnap hadn't liked hunting his friends. He had just followed what the Prototype ordered him to do.
There were no entries for a while, then, suddenly, there was one more.
"Our lord hasn't spoken to us in a long while. It's my fault. He must have found out about this book. He must think I'm a liar and a heretic now.
I should have killed them all, but I just couldn't. I just can't. I have tried to make them atone for their sins, but they don't listen. I have tried to convince them with words, but they don't care.
I must prove I am not a heretic. The only way for that is to punish myself and then do as our god said.
Make sure everyone follows his orders."
Alex dropped the book. He refused to keep reading.
That thing is using him. He's using him to get everyone to follow him . To kill anyone that opposes them. Just to them disappear when he needs him most.
But he's not stupid. He knows something's wrong. He must, right?
He isn't a monster. He cares about his friends. He wants them to live.
But how did the Prototype get so much control over a child to the point that he thinks it's his fault for him not appearing? What the hell did he do to you, Theo?
Shit, that's one more toy to save.
Alex left the book back where he found it and got off the hole. He had a resolve. He had to find Catnap and talk to him. Was that asking for his death? Most likely, but he couldn't keep letting him think the Prototype was a good person, much less someone to view as a savior.
He now had something he could use as an argument to make him realize the truth, but he wasn't very sure if 'hey, I broke into your personal space, read a personal book of yours and want to use what I read to convince you to listen to me' was really a good choice.
Despite that, he was going to do it. Because the Prototype didn't care. Catnap had done all the dirty work, and they now saw him as a god. As a savior.
He didn't need Catnap anymore, and the poor boy thinks it's his fault he doesn't show up just because he had basic empathy for his friends.
Alex kept walking. He had to get his mind off things. Find a way out, and find Catnap. Easy.
And then he saw a message. 'I'M STILL WATCHING'.
Then watch how I save you.
Alex entered a narrow hallway full of prison cells. There was barely any light inside the hallway, much less in the cells, so he resorted to throwing a flare across the area.
He almost dropped his GrabPack hands when he saw what was inside of them.
He just read about them, Ollie told him about them, but he had never expected to come across them so soon.
Catnap's friends.
The Smiling Critters.
And not the mini ones. Actual, big versions of them, almost as tall as Catnap, with the same permanent smile, some leather belts on their bodies, but no pupils in their eyes. Were they dead? No. Catnap wouldn't let that happen. Maybe they were just asleep.
Alex approached the closest cell, throwing a flare inside, letting out another gasp. Inside, there was Bubba, the elephant bound to the wall by some belts on his limbs and torso, missing one of his arms and half of his trunk ripped off, his body full of dirt and other grime along with what looked like bite marks and a deep cut on the only arm he had, with the cell being littered with dried blood.
Alex looked inside another cell. This time, it was Picky, missing both her arms and what seemed to be an improvised muzzle on her mouth, which was strained red, her body as dirty as Bubba's, and the cell as bloody as his. Then Hoppy, missing her legs and one ear, and so on. With each, and every. Single. One. Of them.
Alex felt his legs shake.
This is making them atone for their sins?! TEARING THEIR LIMBS OFF AND PUTTING THEM IN A CAGE?
What did that Prototype do to Catnap…?
Unbeknownst to him, there was one cell open, which Alex hadn't even noticed, since he was giving his back to it. However, the inhabitant of the cell did notice Alex's presence, as he was very much awake. He turned his neck ever so slightly to look at him from a better angle.
"You…"
Alex stiffened. He slowly, really slowly turned around, facing the source of the voice. "You're Poppy's angel…"
Alex threw a flare inside the cell and gasped, staggering back and falling to the ground in shock.
"...come to save us!"