We walked through the door that was slightly ajar, which lead us into some sort of security room. There wasn't much to see though, all of the monitors only showed static.
There was another door on the right side of the room that made us walk through a cramped tunnel to the room on the other side, where the door was locked.
There was some sort of weird puzzle, there was a tall pole with handles on top of it, four exactly. There were also two signs on it, one had a hole and the other an or(g)ange handprint
"Oh, I know what you have to do!" Mommy spoke up, "Rotate the pole so that the sign with the hole will face towards the power input, then take the power from this power source with one of your hands, then shoot the other one at the sign with a handprint on it."
I tried to do what Mommy told me, and it surprisingly worked!
"Wow, you're a genius, Mommy!" I praised her, which seemed to make her smile wider even if it was impossible.
"Well, you know it!" Mommy proudly put her fists on her waist while hanging upside down from the ceiling.
With a loud ping, the door leading back into the station opened. Me and Mommy walked back outside, and we saw that the lights above the turnstiles now turned from red to green, which meant that they were working now.
I walked through, while Mommy just stepped over them.
"Why didn't you tell me that you could just step over like that? It could've saved us a bunch of time." I asked, rubbing the back of my head.
"I didn't notice either until now." She shrugged as we were ascending a set of stairs leading up to a cable car. Above the doorway was a sign saying: 'See the world through the eyes of a child on Elliot's Express'.
What caught my attention was another cutout at the entrance. It was KickinChicken. I started pressing the button.
- "Hey, I'm KickinChicken! Want to go outside and hang out?"
- "It's lookin' pretty rad outside!"
- "I've... never been outside before."
- "Will you come with me? I'm scared..."
- "Here, follow me. I'll step out first."
- *screaming*
"Why did they have to make these scream?! I almost jumped again!!" I complained as Mommy just chuckled at my behavior.
Entering the room in front of us, we could see a lever on each side. "I'll go left, you go right." Mommy decided and crawled over to the left.
Nodding, I walked to the lever on the right side of the room and pulled it along with Mommy at the same time. This resulted in the cable car getting it's power back.
Getting on the now open vehicle, it turned on and started going down.
At first we were in some sort of giant cave.
"Hello." Elliot's voice rang out in the cable car, "My name is Elliot Ludwig. When you look around at the world today, what one thing do you think it needs more of? I asked around, once. Money, I never have enough. Understanding, I can never get any. Faith, the common man has lost it. Each answer was different... and I could perhaps see some little truth in each. But I think each was also missing something. Something simple. You see, not one of them could muster a smile."
As we were listening to Elliot blabbering about, we were transported into a giant cave by the cable car that had a giant dome in the middle. Looking at Mommy, she seemed unsure about the trip into the dome.
"A smile is hope. A smile is love. A smile is understanding. And there is nothing more gratifying to my soul than being the reason for a child's smile. To be the spark that ignites all their hopes and dreams. For it is only through hopes and dreams that we may create a better world. One where our children need not be afraid. One where they are protected. After all, this company and its toys are nothing without them. These children deserve to smile, they deserve to love, and they deserve a safe home."
While Ludwig was speaking about children and their smiles, we entered the giant dome in the middle of the cave. It was a surprise to me since Mommy's been here already, the top of the dome was painted fully blue and huge fake clouds were hanging from the ceiling, just to imitate the real sky. There was a statue in the middle with seven standing figures, one fallen down onto the ground and in ruins. The statue was surrounded by five buildings, one looked like an ordinary house, another like a circus, a shop, a fancy building and a school.
"That is why it is with enormous pleasure that as the founder of Playtime Co., I announce... PLAYCARE! Our very own onsite orphanage. But it's not only that. It's a school, a playhouse, a place to belong. Our very own ecosystem beneath the surface, dedicated in every inch and detail to ensuring a child's smile. It's teachers and counselors, mothers and fathers, until such a time they have all of that in you. May Playcare bring joy, inspiration, and smiles to all who enter these doors. For what gives life its meaning, if not a smile?"
The cable car stopped at the end and the door to Playcare slowly opened. I stepped out, though Mommy was a bit hesitant. I turned around after not hearing Mommy exit the vehicle behind me.
"Everything's okay?" Mommy just nodded and stepped out.
"If you don't want to come with me here you don't have to." I told her, worrying for her since I know what happened to her here. She seemed to smile at that and placed one of her hands on my shoulder.
"Thanks for worrying about me, (Y/N)." Mommy thanked before stepping out also.
The moment the toy stepped out, the phone on my waistband started ringing. I pressed the 'Accept call' button, and Ollie's voice could be heard speaking.
"(Y/N), it's me again, Ollie. Cool place, right? The kids used to live here. Now look at it. Anyways... do you see that statue in the middle of the room? Take the stairs that go under it. There's a really cool room in there that powers literally ALL of Playcare! I can give you a key down there." Ollie explained.
"Really? Well, that room's the first place I'm checking out after looking around the place." I rubbed my chin, looking at the five building.
"We don't really have the time for that... Anyways, I also see you ran into Mommy Long Legs as well. Mommy, I have a task for you as well, if you may." Mommy gave a hum, telling Ollie to continue. "I'm sending our friend (Y/N) into the Gas Production Zone. I want you to try and stay by his side no matter what just to ensure his safety. CatNap tried killing him once, he may as well come for another round."
"You didn't even have to tell me I have to look out for him! That's what I'm doing right now." Mommy shook her head, resting it in one of her palms.
"Great to hear. Now go to that room I told you about." Both Mommy and I nodded as we heard Ollie hang up.
I took the first move by turning towards the stairs that lead down towards the middle of the giant dome, to the statue. Hearing footsteps behind me I smiled, knowing that I'm finally not going to be alone when facing another one of these big toys.
------
The first thing I notice next to the door that's my destination is a large simplified map of the Playcare. I took a second to look at it, reading the names of the locations.
"Counselors Office.. School.. Home Sweet Home.. Toy Store.. Playhouse..." I read to myself, or so that's what I thought.
"Yes, I remember these places. I loved them all, until I found out the truth. But that was a bit too late. Alright, so where's that door Ollie mentioned?" Mommy's voice sounded.. depressed? But then became the usual cheerful. And she fairly quickly changed her mind about talking to me about it.
I sighed and followed after her, those few sentences becoming an itch in my mind. It isn't fair she suffered this much.
The two of us walked down the stairs that were behind a door at the foot of the statue of the Smiling Critters. To out left was a similar tube that was all the way back when I first met Ollie, although this one was a tad bit smaller.
A few seconds after we entered the room, a key slid down through the tube. Mommy grabbed it for me and held it in front of me, waiting for me to grab it. Well, that's what I did to not waste time, and the moment I touched the key, the phone began to rang once more.
"So you got the key... Now the question you're probably asking yourself is: Where does it go? Well, head back out, and you should find a door just to the left of the cable car you took down here." Was all Ollie told me before hanging up. He didn't even let me speak into the phone!
"Awh, come on! Stop pouting and let's go! Even if you look cute while doing so..." Mommy mumbled the last sentence, making me question what she said. All she did was shrugging it off and walking off towards the Gas Production Zone. She motioned for me to follow, so that's what I did, not wanting to be left behind.
Opening the door with the key Ollie gave us, we were able to enter a small corridor that lead into the one and only Gas Production Zone.
Once we entered, Ollie called me once again.
(I won't bother explaining how the machine and the room looks, you already played the game or saw a walkthrough, so it should be obvious.)
"Welcome to the Gas Production Zone, the beating heart of the whole evil Playcare system. I know you know all this, Mommy, I just want to let the new guy know! All the gas you see coming from the machine is made right here in the factory. It's called "The Red Gas". Right now, it's all headed off to the right. We need to make that Red Smoke go left instead. That's how we can get to him."
"Him? Who's him?" I asked, not knowing who they're referring to.
"The Prototype. He's the one behind all of this madness, and even why CatNap is the way he is." Mommy explained briefly.
"Thank you for the explanation Mommy. Now, this machine in front of you probably has a few dumb safeguards for you to work around, but I think you can do it. I'll call you once you're done." With that, Ollie hung up the phone for the billionth time.
"Soo... Where to go?" I asked, hoping that Mommy would somehow know her way around here. She just looked around and pointed in a direction.
"That way, that door seems to be the only one open right now." I nodded and started walking towards the mentioned door. I was pretty excited as to what kind of stuff I had to do to fix that large machine so I picked up my pace, leaving Mommy behind, entering the room.
The room I entered seemed to have some weird giant machine in the middle once again, a lever next to it. There was also a television with a black VCR player to my right, but the tape was nowhere to be found. Next to said lever was a cutout of CatNap. I didn't even notice that there was no noise other than my own footsteps.
I looked behind me to check for Mommy, thinking she didn't even take a step and stood still. But no. The door behind me shut immediately after I walked through it. My eyes widened and I ran over to the metal gate and started banging on it.
"MOMMY, MOMMY! CAN YOU HEAR ME?!" Hearing no response, panic started to set in, knowing something has happened to my friend.
I put my face into my two palms, 'No, she must be okay. She can fend for herself, Mommy's strong. I also have to be strong, and I have to learn to fend for myself as well. I can't just give up the moment we get separated!'
With this newfound determination, I looked around once again, and I could see a battery laying in some debris. I picked it up and immediately noticed the socket it was supposed to go into.
Entering the room behind the battery locked metal door, I saw another television with a green VCR player, but the tape was right next to it. There was also another Grabpack that looked pretty high-tech, but it had a purple hand with a bunch of machinery on it as it's right hand.
I first decided to watch the tape.
The footage was a tutorial about Grabpack 2.0. This newer version of the Grabpack contains a much longer wire for the hands, easily swappable hands, air jets to break falls and a built in flashlight! I'm definitely taking it.
After switching Grabpacks and taking both the green and purple hand, I walked back out of that secluded room, since there was nothing I could do. I didn't really know what to do next, but before all hope was lost, I noticed a panel with a purple handprint on it on the ground along with a platform above.
Finding it weird, I shot my purple hand at it. I didn't even realize that it knocked me back a few meters!
With this newfound knowledge, I used the purple hand to launch myself up in the air and grab onto the edge of the platform and pulled myself up.
'I still gotta practice this..'
Entering the doorway I saw another panel with the same color handprint I just used.
For the next ten minutes I was trying to avoid the red gas by jumping over it multiple times with the help of the purple hand. I'm lazy, so I'm not writing all that.
Finally, I entered another room that had windows in it, and through the windows I saw the giant machine that had the gas.
Doing the usual rotating pole puzzle and connecting the power source to the power input using the two hands of my Grabpack.
Doing the same thing two times, the metal gate leading back into the main area of the Gas Production Zone opened up and I walked out. I started sweating after looking around and not seeing Mommy anywhere.
A large red button was flashing under the big machine filled with gas and I pushed it. It resulted in the gas going from the right tube to the one in the middle.
But that wasn't all. The moment the gas transferred, the light in the entire room went out. I started freaking out, not knowing if any monster is going to jump at me or not.
The ringing of the phone on my waistband caught my attention. I picked it up and spoke.
"Ollie! Something is wrong and Mommy is gone! I don't know what to do!" I screamed into the phone, sounding more and more desperate by the moment.
"Don't worry. Someone just killed the power. I have no idea where Mommy's gone, so please watch out for her too, maybe you'll come across her. I don't know when he wants to attack. Okay, I sent you another key. It's under the statue. Use that to get into Home Sweet Home, the large house on the other side of the statue. Then once you're inside, find the building's backup generator and turn it on. Good luck and be careful."
Ollie hung up immediately after, not even waiting for a response from me. Every ounce of determination and confidence left my body and with the guidance of the flashlight the Grabpack provided, I shakily walked out of the Gas Production Zone, back into the main area of Playcare.
--------
Done! For the requests of some, I made this chapter a lot longer instead of dividing it into two different chapters! Hope you enjoyed, and feedback is appreciated.
Words: 2685