IT was Nugget, scurrying slowly back again, and looking anxiously as he went, as if he had lost something. Stephanie could hear him muttering to himself, "Large teacher lady! Oh my nuggets! She will have Nugget killed, as sure as Lilly is pretty! Where can Nugget have dropped them, Nugget wonders?" Stephanie guessed that he must have been looking for the chicken nuggets he had dropped earlier in the hallway. She began hunting for them as well, but they were nowhere to be seen; everything seemed to have changed since her swim in the pool, and the hallway, with the glass table and the little door, had vanished completely.
Soon Nugget noticed Steph and called out to her in an almost angry tone, "What are you doing out here, stranger lady? It is not safe for strangers here. Dangerous things are everywhere, and poor Nugget is soon going to face one of them! Run away now, quick! QUICK!" Stephanie, feeling incredibly startled but Nugget's sudden outburst, ran off quickly in the direction the young boy was pointing.
As she ran, she thought to herself, Dangerous things? What kind of dangerous things? If all I've seen so far is considered harmless, I'd hate to find out what these people actually consider dangerous. Steph turned a corner, and suddenly found herself in front of the largest, most convoluted house she had ever seen. It had to be four or five floors high, painted in a variety of purples, blues, and yellows, and looping all around the roof was what could only be described as a roller coaster track. In front was a red mailbox, with the word NEIGHBOR sloppily written across it.
"No. Absolutely not. Matthew and I spent enough time playing that game to know that going inside that house is a terrible idea." She thought back to their multiple Hello Neighbor live streams and how frustrated and confused that house made them. Going inside would do nothing to help her find her way back home; it might even get her more lost than she already was.
But then, Stephanie thought about what Nugget had said. Could there be something even more threatening here than the Neighbor's house? Stephanie didn't think it could be possible, but she also didn't want to take the time to find out. She walked around to the front of the house and, seeing no car in the driveway, decided it was safe enough to go inside.
The inside of the house looked just how she remembered it to be: several large rooms, winding hallways, and an elevator leading upstairs. Stephanie hurried upstairs, for fear that the Neighbor would return home and find her wandering around his house. She soon found herself in a small room surrounded by cameras- the control room. Large screens displayed views of every room in the house. "I guess I'll stay in here while I think of a plan. At least then I'll be able to see if he comes home." She sat down and tried to think through her situation.
"Okay, obviously the most direct way to get home would be back up the Nugget Cave. But, I'm not even sure where it is at this point, and even if I did, I would have no idea how to begin climbing back up. I drove Mario and his friends away, and I don't think Nugget could help me even if he wanted to." As much as she hated the idea, Steph resigned herself to the fact that she was going to have to keep moving in the hopes that she found someone who could help her. It was then that her eyes fell on a small bottle next to one of the monitors.
She picked it up and examined it. There was no label this time, but she was still able to recognize the pills inside as Duotine. "I know something will happen to me if I take one of these," she said to herself, "so I might as well see what they do this time. At least if they make me grow, I'll probably be able to stop whatever dangerous things come my way." With that, she took two pills out of the bottle and popped them into her mouth.
Steph began changing much more quickly than she had expected; before she had fully swallowed the second pill, she felt her head hit the ceiling, and had to duck in order to keep from breaking her neck. Maybe I should have only taken one, she thought nervously. But, by that point, it was too late. Stephanie kept on growing and growing until she finally reached the point where she was close to no longer fitting in the house. She had one arm out the window, one foot up the chimney, one leg stuck in the stairwell, and her head so crammed against the ceiling she felt her neck starting to cramp.
"Well, if the neighbor comes back, at least he won't be much of a threat," she muttered sarcastically.
After a few minutes of awkwardly trying to maneuver herself to a more comfortable position, Stephanie heard a voice coming from outside and the sound of pattering feet on the stairs. She knew it was Nugget, but what would he be doing here at the Neighbor's house? And what is he going to think when he sees me in here like this?
Stephanie heard Nugget approach the front door and try to open it, but as Steph's large hand was pressed up against it, he was not able to enter. "Nugget will have to go through the window."
Oh jeez, Stephanie thought in a panic. I won't be able to stop him from coming in that way. She listened as Nugget ran around the house and opened the window; he was just beginning to push himself inside when a second voice came from the driveway.
"Hey! Leetle boy! What do yew theenk yew are doing?"
Oh god, it's him! Stephanie could recognize the Neighbor's voice anywhere. She could hear him getting closer to the window, probably ready to snatch Nugget and lock him in the basement. She listened as Nugget tried to plead with him: "Nugget is very sorry, large French man, but Nugget needs to borrow your crowbar. It is very important business."
"I weel show yew eemportant beezness," the Neighbor shouted. "Soon yew weel see what happens to cheeldren who sneak into my house!"
Stephanie started, slamming her head even further into the ceiling. I have to do something. As much as Nugget appeared to dislike her, she had an unexplainable fondness for the little boy and couldn't bear to let something happen to him. Thinking quickly, she stuck her incredibly large hand through the open window, trying to grab Nugget from the Neighbor's grasp.
"Sacre bleu! What ees that?" Stephanie felt around outside, trying but failing to locate Nugget or the Neighbor. She could hear their ensuing conversation just out of her reach.
"Nugget believes it is an arm, large French man!"
"An arm has no beezness in my house!"
"Nugget thinks that perhaps you should go inside and take care of it!"
Stephanie tried once again to grab Nugget, but found herself only grasping at the air. She leaned slightly to her right, trying to stick her arm further out of the window. As she did this, the wall around the window began to give way, taking out a large portion of the side of the house. Steph could hear the Neighbor yelling in fury at the gaping hole in his wall. "You monster! You weel not get away with these!" He dropped Nugget to the ground with a thud. "Conseeder yourself lucky, leetle boy," he yelled as Nugget ran away screaming in terror.
Stephanie throat tightened. Even being as large as she was, she still wasn't in any mood to face the Neighbor. And even if I find the pills again, taking them won't help me. It will just make it easier for him to trap me in here. She listened for any sounds of entering, and was surprised to hear what sounded like scurrying on the roof. "Look out, giant beast," she heard him yell. "I am coming for yew!" All at once, Steph realized what was going to happen. The chimney! As quickly as she could, she edged her foot even further into the fireplace, readying herself for the Neighbor's descent.
Steph listened until she could hear scratching and scrambling in the chimney close above her; then, saying to herself, "This must be him," she gave one sharp kick upward.
"Aaaaaaaaaah!" The Neighbor continued to scream as he shot back up the chimney and flew through the air. Stephanie listened for the sound of him hitting the ground, and, upon not hearing it, assumed that she had kicked him a considerable distance away. However, she now had a new problem. Not only was she crammed inside this house, but now she was stuck ankle-deep in the Neighbor's chimney.
"This is just perfect," she groaned. As she tried to think of a way to get out without destroying the entire house, she noticed something under her leg that was currently lodged in the chimney. "The pill bottle! Thank god!" Wasting no time, Stephanie opened the bottle, took out a pill, and swallowed it. (She made sure to take only one this time, so as not to shrink too much.) The effect took place immediately, and as soon as she was small enough to get through the front door, she ran out of the house as fast as she could, eventually finding herself in a thick wood.
"The first thing I have to do," Steph said to herself as she wandered between the trees, "is to grow to my real size again. Then, maybe I can find that garden I saw from the little door. I think that will be the best plan." Even though she knew she had no idea how to correct her size or how to find the garden, Stephanie continued to convince herself that this was the best thing to do. "It's not like I have any other brilliant ideas."
She was making a decent way into the forest when a clicking, mechanical sound from overhead startled her. She looked up in horror to see a giant, purple figure standing over her. Stephanie found herself unable to move out of fright; the creature's blank, almost psychotic stare scared her beyond anything else she had seen that day. Her terror grew worse as the large furry beast opened its mouth to speak.
"Me Tattletail. Me loooove you!" It's booming voice shook the trees that surrounded them. Stephanie felt her stomach jump practically into her throat. A giant version of Tattletail was about the worst thing she could have imagined encountering. So this is what Nugget meant by "dangerous things," she thought. Trying to regain her courage, she slowly began to edge away from the enormous psycho-Furbie.
Tattletail moved his eyes back and forth with a loud CLICK-CLICK and shouted, "Give me a treat! Hee hee hee!" That's it! Stephanie suddenly realized what to do. She remembered from playing the game with Matthew that Tattletail was often hungry and would eat pretty much anything. If she could distract him long enough with food, maybe she could get away. She spun around on the spot, looking for anything that might pass as a treat. Much to her relief, she found an abandoned chicken nugget on the ground nearby. Thank god for Nugget, she thought as she picked it up. "Hey, Tattletail!"
"Tattletail, that's me," the furry giant shouted, his massive eyes clicking back and forth.
Stephanie hurled the nugget as hard as she could, and she breathed a sigh of relief as Tattletail chased after it, leaving her on her own once again. She took the opportunity to look for anything that could help her return to her normal size, but came up with nothing. "I guess it's pretty unlikely that Fran Bow would leave a bottle of Duotine out here in the woods," she said sadly.
Upon walking further into the forest, she came upon a field of large mushrooms. Each one had small black eyes that blinked up at her as she walked by. Stephanie searched underneath and around the sides of each mushroom, and, still not finding anything helpful, decided to see what was on top of them. She stretched herself up on tiptoe to peer over the top of a large red mushroom, and her eyes immediately met those of a small black and white creature. He was sitting on the mushroom with his arms folded, not taking much notice of anything around him. It wasn't until Steph got closer that she noticed he was surrounded by puddles of thick black ink.