Baseball, Lightbulb, and eventually Balloon are captured by Test Tube and forced to partake in experiments that slowly get more and more dangerous. Meanwhile, their friends back at Hotel OJ are desperately trying to find them.
(Yes, this is another...
"Alright" Bot started looking around too, and so did Paintbrush.
After a few minutes, Bot came to a large tree stump right off of the trail. They looked around the dirt by the base of it, and then called out to the others.
"Guys! I got a clue!"
Paintbrush and Fan walked over to Bot, looking at what they'd found. There were footprints coming from the depths of the trees and leading up to the back of the tree stump.
"Looks like they're going back into the forest, too! We should follow them!" Fan suggested.
"Yeah, maybe Balloon just went somewhere for a bit." Paintbrush agreed.
The three of them went deeper into the forest, following the footprints on the ground. They were walking for several minutes and eventually came out of the forest, where there was nothing for the footprints to even be left on anymore.
"Maybe we should-" Bot was immediately interrupted by Paintbrush. "Tire marks!" They exclaimed. "C'mon, the trail's not lost!"
They followed the tire marks that had flattened the grass and left imprints on the dirt beneath it. The tire tracks stopped right in front of a soda machine. Paintbrush and Bot looked stumped, but Fan immediately lit up.
"This is just a vending machine, wh-" Bot was interrupted again, by Fan this time.
"No it's not!" He said excitedly. "Test Tube's secret lab is under it! This could be it!"
"Wait, really?" Paintbrush looked back at the soda machine. "How do we get in there?"
"There's a code to get in, but... ah, I don't know it..." Fan replied, seeming a bit frustrated now. "Hold on I'll try to guess it.." He started pressing random buttons on the machine.
"How do you know about this?" Bot asked him.
"Me and Test Tube built you down there, although you weren't properly activated until season 3 started, so I don't think you'd remember. I never paid attention to the code she put in to enter though..." Fan replied, still trying different button combos.
"Ah, okay.." Bot glanced at the side of the soda machine. "Maybe there's a way to break in without the code?" They suggested.
Paintbrush looked at the side of the machine they were closer to. "Is this the entrance?" They asked Fan. Fan looked over at the what Paintbrush was talking about. "Yeah, I dunno if you can just open it though." He replied. "You can try though"
Paintbrush tried to pry the entrance open for a few minutes, before eventually giving up without making a single bit of progress on it. Fan also hadn't figured out the code, and Bot was still looking for any other way in. They were all pretty frustrated with their lack of findings.
"Maybe we should go back, this isn't working." Paintbrush suggested. "There might not even be anyone down there."
Bot sighed. "Yeah, you're probably right."
They all walked back to the hotel, discussing theories and questions about the whole situation. They went inside, seeing Nickel and Suitcase talking near the entrance.
Nickel looked up at them as they walked in. "Hey! You guys find anything out there?"
"Well we found footprints by a tree stump in the forest, and then they turned into tire tracks that led to Test Tube's lab, which we couldn't get into." Bot replied.
"Oh- wait, what lab?"
"It's under the soda machine." Suitcase replied. "And- I thought we turned the soda machine into a rocket? How was it there still?"
Paintbrush blinked, clearly not understanding what Suitcase was talking about. "Y- what?? What the hell happened after I got eliminated??-"
Fan cut them off. "OH! That's where the rocket came from! I don't really know, someone probably just rebuilt it or something."
Bot fake coughed into their fist. "Mhm right yeah so we couldn't find anything else out about the case"
"RIGHT yeah. we kinda hit a dead end on that." Paintbrush agreed, realizing how off track they were getting.
Nickel sighed in disappointment. "Damn, alright."
"Thanks for looking anyway." Suitcase said. "We really appreciate it."
"Yeah, I really just wanna figure this out before anyone else goes missing." Paintbrush responded. Fan nodded in agreement.
"Welp, I'm gonna go back to my room. seeya Suitcase." Nickel stated, hopping off of the chair he was sitting on and walking away from the small round table they were sitting at.
"Mhm." Suitcase watched Nickel walk off, still feeling pretty bad with everything. She could tell he was too, and was probably just trying to take a break from worrying about things.
Paintbrush turned to Bot and Fan. "Wanna get some lunch?" They suggested, pointing over to the hotel's kitchen with their thumb.
"Sure, why not" Bot agreed. The three of them walked off to the kitchen, leaving Suitcase alone with her thoughts.
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