THE DARKER SIDE OF MEEPLE

CHAPTER TWO: Test Run

-MEPHONE'S POV-

After the tour, it was about 8:30pm. Cobs had introduced me to a few of the other Meeple products there, then told me some rules once we got back to my room.

"You have a busy day tomorrow, so I'll make this short. Do not leave Meeple, don't go into my office if I'm not there, knock before entering my office, be in your room by 9:00 pm, and you can watch only two hours of TV a day. But above all, do not go near the door with the Meeple logo on it. Got all that?” Cobs explained sternly.

I went through all of the rules in my head again, then nodded. "Yes Mr. Cobs."

"Good." He replied. He looked behind him at the alarm clock, which I tried to look at as well, but his big head was in the way. He looked back at me. "Well, I suppose I'll leave you to do whatever until lights out. Feel free to socialize with the others, or just.. sit here, I guess." Cobs opened the door, then quickly left, closing the door behind him.

I looked around the room, not really sure what to do.

I could go talk with the others, but they're all older and bigger than me. They're kinda scary…

I shut off the light, then walked over to the bed and sat on the edge of it. I decided to just go to sleep. I laid down, getting somewhat comfortable under the blanket. I closed my eyes, and soon fell asleep.

[THE NEXT MORNING]

I woke up to a terrible beeping sound. My eyes fluttered open, looking over at the alarm clock. I reached over and shut it off.

I never set an alarm..?

I then realized Mr. Cobs probably set it, getting me up so I could start my tasks or whatever he called them. I looked at the alarm clock. It was 9:30. I slowly sat up, rubbing my eyes. Just as I swung my legs to the edge of the bed, Mr. Cobs burst in the room, causing me to flinch.

"Good morning, MePhone 4. Are you ready for your first task?" I looked at the TV screen in the middle of the wall off to the left of me with all of my tasks. The first task read, "Test abilities."

What abilities?

I looked back to Mr. Cobs. "I guess so."

Mr. Cobs nodded. "Good, now let's go." I followed him out of my room.

After a bit of walking, we made it to the room with a round glass ceiling. He called it the… observatory? He led me to the middle of the room and commanded, "Sit."

I sat down on the ground, leaning back on my hands with my legs out in front of me. Mr. Cobs sat down as well, then pulled out what he called a "MePad" from who knows where. He touches a few buttons on the MePad.

"Alright, MePhone. First, we are going to test the functionality of your applications. The only applications you should have currently are a generation app, a technology manipulation app, and a time app." He explained, sounding almost excited.

I looked at Mr. Cobs, completely confused. He sighed, losing the smile he had creeping onto his face.

"A generation app allows you to create anything you can imagine." He explained impatiently.

I became more interested. "Anything?"

"Well- Yes, but you will need to start with smaller creations first."

I frowned. "I wanted to make a dragon."

Mr. Cobs looked at me with an expression that looked like a mix of confusion and disappointment.

"Those aren't- Ugh, nevermind." He then reached over, swiping up on my screen, then clicking on the generation app. When he did, I couldn't see him anymore, only the home screen of the app.

"Alright. Can you see the button that says 'generate?'” I hear him ask.

I look at the top of my screen, seeing two buttons. One that says 'generate,' and another that says 're-generate.' "Yeah?" I replied.

"Reach up and click that button." Mr. Cobs commands.

I do as I'm told, making another screen show up. It has a text box at the top.

"Now, click that text box and type in something like... chocolate chip cookie." He says next.

I click the text box, and type in just that.

“Now press enter."

I clicked enter. My screen showed a light green glow, then stopped. The app closed by itself so I could see Mr. Cobs again. I looked down, and there was a chocolate chip cookie sitting on the floor in front of me. I picked it up and began to eat it.

Mr. Cobs looked down at his MePad, then clicked a few buttons while seemingly talking to himself, "Generation is working correctly..." Then he looked back up at me and started saying, "Alright, now let's te-"

"Wait wait wait, what about the re-generation button? What does that do?" I interrupted, then I reached up to touch the app and open it again, but Mr. Cobs quickly smacked my hand down, knocking the half eaten cookie out of my hand and onto the floor.

"Don't worry about that. It’s for a future project." Mr. Cobs said sternly.

I rubbed the back of my hand where it had been struck, seeing it had begun to turn red.

Mr. Cobs continued on, "Now, we'll test your time systems app." He reached over and clicked the time systems app.

Once again, I couldn't see Mr. Cobs, just the home screen of the app.

"Near the top, click the button that says 'alarm.'" Mr. Cobs commanded.

I reached up, clicking the alarm button.

"Now set an alarm for… about 15 seconds from now."

I did as told, then waited. Soon after, my body began vibrating as a loud beeping resinated from my speakers. I quickly swept away the alarm on my screen, which made the vibrating and beeping stop.

Mr. Cobs looked down at his MePad again, then clicked a few buttons. He spoke to himself again, "Time systems work as well..."

He looked back up at me. "Last thing; Let's test your tech manipulation."

I hesitated before interrupting, "Actually- Can we uh.. not do that right now?"

Mr. Cobs tilted his head. "Oh? Why not?"

Now I had to think of an excuse, "I... Uhm… I don't feel good."

Then there was that signature disappointed look from Cobs as he spoke impatiently, "MePhone 4, you can't get sick."

I tried to think of another excuse, "I... need more time to get used to this place?"

Cobs was silent for a moment, then huffed in frustration. "Fine. Come back here in exactly an hour." I nodded, then got up and headed back to my room. What a day it's been already…
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\\Heyyyy sorry his chapter took so long. If my editor would get her shit together it wouldn't take as long. (She's my sister so I'm allowed to be rude >:] ) -big_shot84

\\I- Rude, anyway. She should know I'm a busy person, so that's why it usually takes so long to edit >:p But enjoy the chapter, I suppose. -0trashracc0