Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

…Is that what I am now? What I look like? Am I now Shrimpo The Shrimp?…

My eyelids droopily open as I lay down on a bed with maroon blankets staring at an unassuming black ceiling. I slowly draped my arms across my face before an unsettling notion reached my inner thoughts. “Orange forearms... Glovelike hands...? ” I mumbled. In a panic, I patted my face several times with my arms which slowly started reaching for what is presumably the top of my head. The chitinous feeling of this new body had started to unnerve me a little.

I sat upwards as I lifted the blanket and stared at my article of clothing and my pair of legs. A red sleeveless shirt with a white stripe emplaced near the waist, fleshy pink thighs, and orange legs covered by the same material made up of my arms. I let go of the blanket and laid my arms down onto my sides as I sat on my bed’s singular pillow trying to recall who I was.

… Huh…?

… Something’s wrong.

I can’t remember. I couldn't, in fact, recall who I used to be. I can think—I can move—and I may presumably be able to talk and hear. This frustrated me a bit, as I felt hollow and disheartened due to my loss of identity. But I started to grow tired overthinking about my situation, so I had started to look around myself for answers instead. And what immediately takes my attention are the posters and holes strewn about my walls. Then it was the unkempt state of what could be my room; it surprised me as to how I had slept in such a place.

Crumpled papers were scattered across the place chaotically, air horns sporadically placed on surfaces, three punching bags in one corner (one of which had fallen onto the floor,) and—and were those traffic cones next to a flipped table?!? “Wow–” leaves my lips, making me flinch at my own voice. I breathe a sigh and look to my right, it was one of the posters plastered around the room but rotated a hundred or so degrees to the right. I stand onto the bed I was laying in and try to detach the poster from the wall in order to reapply it at a readable angle. “Shrimpo The Shrimp…” I read as I look to the left-side of the poster. A drawing of a stubby humanoid shrimp eternally pointing to his right. The resemblance of the drawing had struck me: “Is that what I am now? What I look like? Am I now Shrimpo The Shrimp?” I reflected.

I look back to the right-side of the poster which was more text heavy. It detailed how Shrimpo was “one angry shrimp!” and that he “causes issues for Dandy and friends.” I was slightly distraught by the idea that I had become a hooligan shrimp—but what perplexed me more was the part about “Dandy and friends.” Who was Dandy? All I knew as of the moment was that I was now this “Shrimpy” fellow and had seemingly taken his place. I climbed down from my bed and started to neatly fix my bed before walking around the room for a bit and inspecting whatever intrigued me.

I first approached the wardrobe. Behind the wardrobe were one of the many holes concerningly strewn about the room. Opening the wardrobe doors led to four hangers hanging identical red sleeveless shirts that were presumably mine. The drawers below had the same red shirts, but were clumped up chaotically as if it was a sea of red cloth with an occasional white stripe being visible. “I’ll organize those later.” I murmur, though still estranged by my new voice. 

Next after closing the wardrobe doors and drawers was the desk which was placed beside a reddish-brown door with a concrete-looking grey frame. I approached the desk, noticing a stool under it which I promptly pulled outwards and stood upon it, barely reaching the top of the desk. What immediately took my attention was the paper which had sentences written onto its surface. 

“I HATE WRITING
I HATE PAPER
I HATE THIS PENCIL
I HATE MY ROOM
I HATE THIS PLACE
I HATE THE FLOOR
I HATE THE LIGHTS
I HATE THE DINNER WE HAD
I HATE THE BREAKFAST
I HATE WRITING THIS STILL
HATE HATE HATE HATE…”

The word “hate” was repeated in uppercase which had spiraled to become bigger. Whoever I was, I had started pitying them. How much despair and hatred would one individual carry to the point where they express nothing but hatred towards everything? So many questions at my disposal, yet all of it unanswered. Overthinking it had me continually grow more frustrated, so I climbed down from the stool and trudged towards the door. I hesitated a bit and placed the side of my head onto the door to listen for anything from the outside. There it was: faint chatter and footsteps. 

I felt anxiety take over for a slight bit before I had decided to at the very least try and open the door which easily opened inwards. I took a gander outside: it was a long hallway with cream-yellow walls and a long rainbow-patterned rug laid onto the floor. Three cartoon characters ( well I’m gonna start referring to them as ‘Toons’ ) were talking in front of another supposed room across from where I stood. Peeking to the right was a corner containing what seemed to be a living room area with a TV and two couches with another toon sleeping on the couch. 

Suddenly, one of the toons across me took a glance towards my direction before they rushed towards me with a huge smile on their face yelling out “ Surprise Hug!!! ” as they wrangled me into a hug. Confusion struck me and so had a large amount of fluff that was smothered onto my face. “ Mff! … hwwo! ? Cwd yu pls lggo of–m-me?” I said in surprise, my face still muffled by the body of this toon. 

The toon looked at me in a bit of a shock as if I had done something unusual. It then let go of me. “Woah! Did you just say ‘please’ !? And you’re not yelling at all?! And—are you smiling?!?” it said in quick succession with a pretty ecstatic tone. I giggled as I looked at the toon. They were a square-headed fluffy beige character with some pretty long black noodle-like arms with red & blue paws; behind them was a light cyan-colored translucent sphere-headed toon with a pink dress and bow standing next to a purple box-headed toon with a blue bandana. 

Whilst I watched the fluffy toon excessively oscillate with joy with the toons at the back just staring curiously, I… I felt something… quite strange, and I had a sudden horrible feeling. I had started experiencing tinnitus, my heart beating irregularly faster and faster, and as my vision blurred, the toons in front of me had started scrambling before me as I closed my eyes and felt my legs buckle. 

Chapter Text

…did I just experience “Restarting to a Checkpoint?”…

I seem to have faded into unconsciousness, and as I reopened my eyes back, I was staring right back again at the same black ceiling. My body was in the same position I was in prior to waking up, sitting up quickly in a cold sweat. I was extremely disoriented by the rapid events that had just undergone earlier. “W-what just happened to me?” I stuttered, placing my hands around my body due to anxiety from that unpleasant experience. Suddenly, a beep-like noise startled me and this holographic screen had just appeared before my eyes. A rectangle shaped user interface that was seemingly just in my peripheral vision now.

I look at this interface before me with bewildered eyes, it disappears every time I have my eyes closed but reappears after I open them. “Ichor Machine…?? What does that mean?! And I have to stay in Character as—as Shrimpo!?” I exasperatedly exclaimed. First off, how do I stay in character with a guy I barely know anything about!? The very few context clues I have about this Shrimpo character is that he just hates everything and possibly everyone around him! I've taken his place for sure, but it definitely does not fit me. Secondly, what's an Ichor Machine? How is it any relevant to toon people? And lastly, did I just experience “Restarting to a Checkpoint?” 

I try to get this hologram off my face by waving my hands at it, and it eventually minimizes towards the top-right side of my peripheral vision. I guess it’s a reminder of what I have to do in order to seemingly progress and not ‘restart’ I suppose. Then again, ‘restarting’ was this painful seizure-like experience I’d rather not experience again. I stood up from the bed again, foregoing the bed-fixing and strolled right back to the door exiting my room.

I opened the door, and… it’s the same scene: the three same toons were discussing whatever they were before that fluffy toon looked at me again with the same smile after noticing my presence. I attempt to quickly close the door on the encroaching toon and barely succeed. “Aw Shrimpo! I was gonna give you a surprise hug!” Its voice whined from behind the door. I paused for a bit thinking about my response, looking around until I looked at the desk. Remembering the paper, I retorted loudly: “I hate surprise hugs!” In my most convincing ‘annoyed’ voice. 

I braced for the possible incoming “restart” as if I had failed my first objective, but I seemed to have legitimately succeeded in acting as Shrimpo because I didn’t feel any weird sensations. “Uhm… Okay! I promise I won't hug you! Could you open the door?” the voice behind the door asked. My better judgement was telling me I shouldn’t, but how could I refuse such a jovial character’s polite request. I opened the door and– Umph! It still hugged me, I did my best impression of not enjoying the hug by reenacting what an angry cat would do and started flailing my arms around with the angriest face I can muster. 

The two toons behind the fluffy toon had started to react to the commotion in front of them. “Poppy.. I feel like Shrimpo’s about to murder Goob..” The purple box-headed toon meekly comments. “You worry too much Boxten, Shrimpo over there would never hurt Goob!” Poppy replied. And so they stared at my ‘struggle’ between me and this fluffy toon supposedly named ‘Goob’. I had started repeatedly saying “Let go of me!” still trying to seem annoyed at the hug. In truth, this hug and the one prior to the “restart” were both very comforting. Eventually being let go, Goob stepped back and said: “Hehe, when I promised that I wouldn’t hug you… I actually had my fingers crossed behind my back!” ending their dialogue with a mischievous grin.

I try my best to overreact, stomping on the floor and loudly saying “I HATE BETRAYALS!” before facing my left to walk away and avoid any further interactions. I crack a slight smile before forcing a more neutral face to take over. After walking a bit further down the hall, I hear them continue their conversation which grants me a sigh of relief, though some disappointment had seeped through. I had already started to despise this act I’m putting up, and I’ve only been conscious for about 20 minutes longest (I think...?). I’m so thankful that my original personality, preferences, and intelligence have been retained despite not having any of my memories—at the very least… 

As I walk down the hallway, I look at the various closed doors of varying colors with dull signs next to them detailing what looks like codenames such as R-002 or C-001. I assume this place is where these toons reside. Toon quarters, I guess? There were wooden boxes strung about with empty metal racks just randomly placed in the hallway. My concern was why did they just have empty racks out and about in a hallway of all places? I've also started to notice a few signs of dilapidation around the area such as discolored spots of the cream-yellow walls, rust covering some of the racks, and the occasional cracks on the ceiling.

Eventually, as I walked further, the hallway had split into two paths. Well, more specifically, the right led to a small kitchenette with two tables each with six chairs, whilst the other path was winding towards something that was being blocked by two wall protrusions. There were four toons hanging about the kitchenette: a standing fishbowl-headed toon wearing a life vest beside a sitting golden-colored mirror toon with a big pink ribbon tied across their torso, a magenta-colored lamp toon sat across the mirror tinkering with something on the table whilst glancing at an open book, and lastly, in the middle of the room was a cyan-colored tissue box-headed toon sweeping the floor with a broom and dustpan.

With little prompting, the mirror toon loudly discloses: “Finn, your unhumorous jokes are driving me NUTS! I’ve already pleaded with you to stop several times yet you continue!” as they quickly storm away from their seat towards one of the rooms behind me. A bit strange; why were they so mad over some jokes? I walked over to the table and sat next to the mirror toon’s prior seat as it was being taken by the fishbowl toon probably named “Finn”.

I took a glance at Finn, he was already staring at me with a wide smile. I also noticed his predominantly missing tooth and what seemed to be a… toy goldfish inside his head. “Hey Shrimpo, what’s kraken ?” he asks… I– Oh- Oh no, It’s puns, from a fishbowl guy, fish puns. I struggle to control every molecule in my body to not laugh at what’s to come, slamming my face into the table. “I HATE your fish puns.” I reply muffled, until he retorts with “But all of my fish puns are finomenal!” Which leads me to continue repressing my laughter, scrunching my face into the angriest it can look (though I probably looked constipated). I forced out “I- I HATE THIS INTERACTION!” as I continuously try to remind myself that if I break character, I'll be begging for god’s mercy as I “Restart to Checkpoint.” 

As Finn was about to drop another fish pun, a white noise rang out, then a disembodied voice said “Tisha, Gigi, Shelly, Goob aaand —Shrimpo! get to the lobby. It’s time to go on an expedition!” As the voice stopped, the tissue box toon had stopped tidying around as they left their tools in the corner and headed straight towards somewhere. I immediately stand up and follow the tissue box as Finn says in a disappointed tone “Aww.. sea ya later Shrimpo!”

As I walked away and followed the tissue box, Goob had apparently started walking with us. Looks like the left path from the hallway led to an elevator. Goob had pressed the up button for the elevator on the side. And so the three of us waited for a while before it had arrived with two other toons. “Hello Tisha! Hi Goob! Hey there Shrimpo!” The beige shell-headed toon greeted us all, safe to say they were Shelly. The second toon was presumably Gigi, and I couldn’t really discern what they were… a gumball machine perhaps? Regardless, they were killing it with that light blue sweater. Me, Goob and Tisha had now entered the elevator and it had started ascending towards the supposed Lobby.

Chapter Text

…I can only assume that I’m relatively athletic… right?…

“I honestly had forgotten that I had extraction duty today.” Tisha said “Right? The schedule’s been a bit chaotic ever since Dandy’s been assigning people this month.” Shelly responded, then they both started talking about hobbies. As I stopped listening to the mundane conversation, Gigi tapped on my shoulder and asked: “Hey there Shrimperson, what’s new?” At first I was a bit confused as this toon just called me a nickname, was Shrimpo close to this toon? Is “Shrimperson” my last name? The thought of it gave way to panic because I didn’t know how to respond.

“I HATE-” comes out of my mouth until Goob interjects and proudly comments “I gave Shrimpo a surprise hug! And I’m looking for my next target. Hehe…” I loudly remarked that “I HATED IT! And I hate interruptions!” my stomach sunk a little as I said the first part. “Sooo… nothing new.” Gigi declared looking at me then staring at Goob and asking “Ooo! Who’s next on the list Goob?” before Gigi was also wrangled into a hug by Goob. Laughter ensued and the elevator had become a bit of a gigglefest as Goob suddenly brought Shelly into the hug as well. I felt like joining in the fun would’ve caused me to act ‘out of character,’ so I just formed a very loose angry face and stood a bit further away from all of them. 

Eventually, the laughter calmed down as the elevator had reached the supposed lobby. It was in a much better shape than I had initially expected: colorful walls and objects, posters plastered around and… I think I just stepped onto a game of hopscotch. It was also eerily quiet as everyone went out of the elevator heading to their right. As we moved forward into a hallway, there was a closed giftshop to our left and what seemed to be a purple-walled sciency looking place to our right which had a green television toon and magnifying glass toon inside interacting with old-timey computers. Wait, I felt like I saw that magnifying glass toon on the floor we were just on, did he go down earlier? Eh, I won’t question it. We walked past those rooms and I stared up at a pretty big tree in front of me till the sun gleamed at me, then looked down to see a short flower toon standing in front of a sign that said:

“GARDENVIEW
EDUCATIONAL CENTER AND MUSEUM” 

with the same flower toon drawn on top of the sign arms out at the word “GARDENVIEW” “Looks like the gang’s all here! No dilly dallying cause we need plenty of Ichor in the system today!” The flower toon said, he started beckoning the group until Shelly asked “Hey Dandy… why are we only being sent down as a group of five today?” Dandy paused for a bit tapping his foot on the floor, then responded with “Well, data’s been saying that there’s much less Twisted activity when it comes to smaller groups of people. Five’s the sweet spot that’s both efficient and safer than having more or less people. Not to mention I have to cater to less of you whilst I distribute supplies during your expedition.” ending it off with a sly grin. 

So this was Dandy, I kind of didn’t expect him to be just a short flower fella. Apparently I used to cause trouble for him and everyone else around here, but if I was that much of a nuisance, why was I kept around here? Maybe I had some immense uses that made up for my ex-horrible attitude, I mean I had holes in the wall and boxing equipment so I can only assume that I’m relatively athletic… right? 

Dandy started guiding us towards one of the three elevators that surrounded the big tree, it was like the elevator we ascended to the lobby with, but the difference was that it had a weird hatch-thingamajig modification occupying the back and it had no elevator buttons. “We only need to have sixteen ichor machines up and running this morning, so it’s gonna be a relatively short expedition” Dandy said as he pressed a button and up came a cute shop that he hopped into with a lever beside where he stood. “Good Luck everyone, you know the drill.” Dandy commented as he pulled the lever, which made dandy descend under the elevator into his hatch. Simultaneously, the elevator had also started going downwards. Ironically enough, I didn’t really ‘know the drill’ and I’m just tagging along to learn.

I heard a small ding in my head, a new box shaped user interface had appeared, this time it was something else other than just objectives.

I was pretty ecstatic about this, the fact that I at the very least have a fallback to certain timeframes. Though, I feel as if this does not bode well, why did I receive this now? Why did my “Checkpoint” save and change at this particular time? I feel like there’s some foreshadowing but, right now I just wave the box away and act like I’m just scratching my face. It minimizes to the top left side of my peripheral vision, barely noticeable unlike the minimized objectives interface which still detail what my main objectives are. At least I don’t see them whilst my eyes are closed, so I’ll probably have a good sleep later on.

Elevator noises droned on, and I was pretty nervous. No one was talking yet, so it was pretty serene. Eventually the elevator opened up with an elevator ding. It was a very decrepit area we were in, it was dark and the lights flickered every now and then. The wooden floor was dusty, the walls’ green wallpapers have been torn up, And also there’s just randomly tumbled objects everywhere: ranging from fallen racks, bookshelves and boxes. Everyone started walking out with the exception of Goob who ran out saying “I’ll scout ahead for any twisteds!” Twisteds…? What are they? Dandy mentioned them earlier too. I’d ask but I’m a hundred percent sure that’s out of character for Shrimpo.

I followed Gigi after everyone kinda just split up, a corner or two later and we found an empty tank with a red valve and glowing indicator at the top connected to a tube. That must’ve been what an Ichor machine is, I kinda just started watching Gigi work on it. She turned the valve clockwise and the machine started filling the tank with a viscous black substance (supposedly Ichor.) What is Ichor? Why are there machines just dedicated to extract it? Well, Gigi seemed to take her time, so I just walked away to look around this dilapidated area.

It's a little unsettling, I was just in an area where everything looked fine, clean and even felt populated. Now I felt like I was in a horror setting where the creaky wooden flooring below me would give way and dig my grave… Or I’m being dramatic and a little paranoid because I’ve only been conscious for about 40 minutes or so and dropped straight into the body of a shrimp cartoon character with supposed anger issues. Maybe those twisteds or whatever would come around and attack me or something if I turned a wrong corner. 

As I walked around, I started noticing occasional items scattered on the floor, predominantly taking my attention were the piles of scattered VHS Tapes. I had the inclination to pick them up and… pocket them somewhere; where I keep them is something even I don't understand, must be toon logic because I tuck them into my sleeveless red shirt and the tapes are just inexplicably kept in there with no weight or bulge indicating its existence. I can't say the same for the can of room temperature cola and protein bar I had just picked up. I actually had to physically carry them, trying to tuck them into the shirt didn't really do much so I just kept holding onto them with my left arm.

By the time I had backtracked to Gigi: I had about 15 tapes stored (somewhere, but I couldn’t really discern how it was stored), was chugging lukewarm cola, and hugging a protein bar with my left arm. As Gigi turned the valve one last time, the machine had filled itself to the brim with Ichor which let out a ding and had changed the glowing indicator above from red to green. “Time to treat myself to something!” Gigi said out loud as she popped the top of her head out open and took out three pieces of gumballs. “Wow, I got really unlucky.” Gigi scorned as she looked at the gumballs. As I watched this, at first I thought why it was unlucky, I mean she was a gumball machine right? No doubt about it as she had just produced gumballs out of her head. 

Before she walked away, I tapped Gigi’s back and said: “I hate protein bars! LET’S SWAP!!!” I said in the most demanding way I could. Gigi just pondered for a bit, then shook her head “Mmm… Nah.” Gigi responded. I kind of expected that, so I didn’t really continue. I kept following Gigi until we heard two dings a second or two apart from each other. Sounds like Shelly and Tisha completed their Ichor Machines too. Then an echoed voice came from across the elevator: “Hey guys! I found the last machine and… There wasn’t a single twisted around the area.” echoed Goob. I just kept following Gigi and eventually reconvened back at the elevator entrance with Shelly and Tisha. “No twisteds on the floor, that’s some crazy good luck there!” Shelly commented with Tisha nodding on the side. 

We waited for a good minute before alarms started blaring around us, it startled me a bit with all the flashing red that had just assaulted my eyes. The elevator doors loudly opened as Goob was eventually seen from the horizon as he approached us, we all went in and Goob followed. “Oooh today’s gonna be a good one, I can feel it!” Gigi commented as the elevator doors closed behind us. “Yeah! It’s not everyday we go on an expedition and encounter no twisteds on the first floor!” Goob commented, followed by Dandy raising from the hatch thingamajig and proclaiming: “Here’s what I’ve scrounged around!” laying out 3 gumballs, a protein bar and a jumper cable. 

The gumballs were 20 tapes, it’s what caught my eye immediately. I took out all the tapes out of my red shirt and low and behold I had 25 tapes! Wait, when did I get another 10 tapes? Doesn’t matter because I handed the tapes over to Dandy and gladly purchased the gumballs. “Didn’t actually expect you to buy this early Shrimpo!” Dandy commented with a surprised face, I replied with “I HATE BEING JUDGED!” with as much vitriol as I could muster. Dandy just returned a basic grin as he looked at the others. It doesn't seem to hurt when I say things loudly, not to mention everyone hasn’t really flinched to my yelling. Yikes, I can tell how much shouting Shrimpo does on a daily basis if that’s the case. Still no tinnitus or sinking feeling, so I guess I’m perfectly in line with the “In Character” part of things. 

I hurriedly ate the 3 gumballs that were given to me, I kinda just kept chewing on them and they lost their sugary flavor ridiculously fast which led me to just gnawing on rubber in mere seconds. It was actually pretty disappointing, but looks like my objectives are progressing because the minimized objective box zoomed back out detailing that I only need to ”EAT (3/6) GUMBALLS” now. I waved at it again whilst faking a scratch for my eyes as if I had an itch.

Dandy pulled the lever, closing the hatch which descended to wherever he went since no one else was buying anything. The elevators whirred as the next floor arrived, it had its similarities with the first floor except it was structured slightly differently and the wallpaper was cream-yellow similar to the hallway in the toon quarters’ hallway. I spat my remaining gum out onto the floor, seeing as it ran it’s use. This area had plenty of posters of—Dandy’s World episodes with their dates ranging back from 1998 to the 2002s. Are we like cartoon characters unwillingly brought to life or something? There were also predominantly office desks with name plates that have human-sounding people names like “Joe Anderson” and “Skyla Stuart.” 

Everyone stuck together for a bit, then Gigi opened up her head again to take out… A jumper cable?! Okay I– I don’t think that’s a very gumball-machine thing to do. “Whoo boy! way better than the last surprise.” Gigi celebrated with Shelly in the back clapping. Eventually, everyone split up. Goob still apparently scouting for twisteds again, Shelly and Tisha paired up, and Gigi did fine without me. I walked around a bit aimlessly until I stumbled upon a dark room unconnected to any hallways or exits with an ichor machine in the middle with its glowing red indicator faintly lighting its surroundings.

I figured why not, I should try and extract ichor just like how Gigi did it. I approached it and started turning the valve clockwise. Thankfully, it started churning out the ichor from the top pipes into the tank. And oh dear lord this valve is being a bitch, it occasionally jams and I have to tug it clockwise hard . As I was struggling to fill the ichor machine up, I heard what seemed like gurgling? I stopped with the valve and stared behind me, and–it was–. Two black arms coming out of something had clawed me at my chest and I had started profusely bleeding.

 I ofcourse hadn’t felt the pain fully register yet because my body has started pumping metric tons of adrenaline through my veins. I ran around whatever was in front of me and felt an arm graze me. As I  started darting away, I left a trail of blood resembling ichor in my wake; wincing at my supposed blood leaving out my body made me shudder as I started coughing ichor out. Ichor tasted like ink, the kind from pens; bitter and made my mouth feel like it was burning. I stopped moving. Why? my legs tripped and gave out, I– was tired, already—tired. Sharp pain, It- Oh fuck —Th- IT WAS UNBEARABLE , IT HURT SO MUCH! I yelped in agony as I looked behind and saw the thing that attacked me slowly loom over…

… Boxten? That purple-box headed toon? The one I had just seen meekly commenting over Goob’s safety?

… No. That’s a twisted right? It had to be one. It had to be one. IT HAD TO BE ONE. A twisted version of Boxten. Piercing red sclera with a sharp toothy grin was what separated them, alongside ichor dipped shoes leading up to the ankles and leaking ichor from the closed lid. Its boxhead lid opened up to reveal the two arms that had just attacked me, definitely intending to finish me.  

The pain had gone full force as one of the black arms tore a direct chunk of flesh off my back. My shirt did nothing to protect me: “AAAAAUHH– AAAHH” I loudly let out. Writhing in the pain had made me continuously whimper and tremble. Tears, sweat, and ichor, all of it was seeping out of me. Suddenly two familiar noodle arms reached out to grab me, it was Goob’s. His hands and elongated arms clung onto me as he dragged my limp body across the room and started carrying me; absconding behind a bunch of boxes; frantically putting pressure on my chest wounds and trying to stop the gaping back hole from behind me from bleeding. “T–Thank you for trying—m-making it bearable—bud…dy…” I weakly murmured as my voice faltered, ichor coughing out of my mouth which stained his fluffy chest fur. “St-Stay with me! Don’t sleep!” Goob stammered, he was crumbling under the shock of my injuries it seemed.

I… I just droopily closed my eyes ignoring his instructions, I wanted to rest…

Chapter Text

…The stress had made me go into a manic state…

I held my eyes closed for what felt like just five seconds reminiscing a bit about the past 20 or so minutes, until I felt sensations all over my body. It was the feeling of the elevator moving downwards again. The agonizing pain had already dissipated, my legs stood high as if nothing had just happened. So I abruptly sat down on the floor… well– elevator floor and opened my eyes. The elevator doors had loudly opened again and everyone had gone their separate ways again with the familiar voice of Goob saying that he’ll scout ahead. 

I stood up to get out of the elevator and sat back down at its entrance, I had to reflect for a bit. How was I handling this so well? Shouldn’t I be crazy over the fact that I had just seen my life flashed before my eyes? But I think I made up my mind. I didn’t want to die, no , not again. Restarting to a checkpoint was uncomfortable but death was worse, it’s as if I would forget that I could return back to my checkpoint upon failing my objective. I made sure to know another thing, my failures aren’t in vain. I have my precognition of later events, I refuse to repeat my mistakes, and I have to utilize everything I’ve learned. I am capable.

With resolve, I had started running towards the general direction of where Gigi was, though I had taken a detour to take those 15 tapes and protein bar. Chugging the warm cola down had me reinvigorated as I had reached Gigi still in the middle of filling the ichor machine halfway full. “HEY GIGI! Wanna bet on something!?” I spoke up, confidence held high. “Mewhehe… The Shrimp wants to bet on something?” Gigi responded with intrigue, still staring at the valve she’s turning. “I’ll give you TWENTY-FIVE tapes if I incorrectly guess what you’ll pull out of your cranium. But if I guess correctly, you’ll have to hand it over!” I replied, arms crossed with furrowed eyes and a smug grin. She stopped turning the valve and slowly faced me with a smile: “I like those odds, get ready to hand over those tapes Lil’ Shrimpson~!” Gigi said with anticipation. “Gumballs! you’re taking out gumballs.” I declared, preemptively taking out fifteen tapes for Gigi to see. Gigi opened up her head… low and behold there they were, the three gumballs.

“Woah… No way...” She uttered in defeat looking at the gumballs. “Shrimpo wins!” I declared instinctually, as if it was natural to me. Tucking the tapes back into my red shirt and reaching my right arm out with a shit-eating grin on my face. Gigi reluctantly hands me the gumballs and I gobble the gumballs up immediately upon receiving them, in her face ofcourse. The objective box obscured my saying I only need to ”EAT (3/6) GUMBALLS” again, looks like I can’t carry objectives over but I can work with that. I swiftly strode away to leave Gigi bamboozled, also to minimize this hologram off my face without anyone looking at me.

Was all of that in character enough? If it was, then that’s good, I think I’m starting to unearth this Shrimpo toon’s essence in that case. I had started feeding myself the idea that Shrimpo is more than just a flat bully, and other toons also probably saw him more than what he was. I was glad to figure out that Gigi saw more to Shrimpo than just being angry and hateful, or maybe it was because Gigi didn’t actually know Shrimpo that well. Hahaha! I assume more on the latter, but I’ll work on that theory when I get a new checkpoint or something.

Next, I frantically started searching for the machine Goob was originally going to finish. It was across the elevator in the direction from where Goob came from after he finished the last machine right? Eventually after traversing towards the elevator, I was able to find it right as Tisha and Shelly finished their machines. I placed down my protein bar beside the machine and started immediate work on the valve, trying to turn it clockwise with all my might. It still had occasional jamming and it was very exhausting to exert so much effort just for turning a valve. Goob had approached me loudly exclaiming: “Hey guys! There wasn’t a single twisted around the area. Also Shrimpo’s working on the last machine!” The loudness startled me a bit, but I focused on extraction.

“When’d you stop banging your head against the ichor machine whilst you extracted?” Goob inquired. I stopped turning the valve and looked at Goob dead in the eye. “YOU JUST RUINED MY DAY EVEN MORE!” I shouted at the top of my lungs, before I looked back at the valve and continued my clockwise turning whilst banging my head into the ichor machine (ow, ow, ow) . Doubt crept within my mind, was I about to restart b-because I didn’t… extract how Shrimpo does it? Please no, I-I was doing so well. Ha…ahaha… I had started bracing for that sinking feeling again as I turned the valve and banged my head into the glass, my eyes closed hoping— trembling—tearing up, that it wouldn’t come. 

…

… I shed a tear, it smeared onto the tank as I kept slamming my head into it.

…

…The sloshing noise of the ichor as I continued filling the tank and my head banging into the glass were the two only noises left in the room; awkward silence befell me and Goob. 

…

… I heard him come closer, but he stepped back at some point.

…

… “I’m gonna go to the elevator and the team’s gonna wait for you to get done…” Goob said. His footsteps got quieter as he probably walked back to the elevator. I stopped banging my head into the glass as soon as his footsteps were no longer audible. I breathed a huge sigh of relief, letting tears fall down my face. I was not as confident as I was just mere moments ago, I– I… really wasn’t okay in the first place. The stress had made me go into a manic state, thankfully it had gone in my favor.

Well, I had just saved myself from two potential restarts. “Thank god…” I quietly celebrated with a fistpump. I felt immensely horrible for what I had just said to Goob, especially because of his attempt to save me previously, I believe that I can make it up to him at some point. Uhm a gift–maybe a letter! … I’ll figure it out when I’m not focused on my objectives. Speaking of which, a ding as the machine was completed: ”EXTRACT (1/2) ICHOR MACHINES TODAY” had finally shown up in front of my face. I picked the protein bar back up and I waved the hologram away as I ran towards the elevator. Alarms blared out with the flashing red lights again, eventually I got into the elevator as its doors closed behind me. 

“Today’s a good day alright! No twisteds and a surprise act from our resident Shrimp.” Gigi spoke up, I and the others looked at Gigi. Then the others stared at me curiously. “I HATE BEING STARED AT!” I screamed; that stopped their stare really quickly. Dandy rose from the hatch thingamajig again. “Here’s what I’ve scrounged around!” Dandy said yet again, laying out the same 3 items from last time. I of course did not hesitate to exchange twenty tapes for the gumballs and ate them immediately. The tiny box zoomed out to reveal that I had succeeded in my objective: ”EAT (6/6) GUMBALLS” laid in front of me.

“Didn’t actually expect you to buy this early Shrimpo!” Dandy commented yet again. This time, I just clicked my tongue as I chewed on the rubber. Dandy whistled as he waited for the others to buy something, but no one did except me. “See you after the third floor!” he said as he descended. He didn’t say that last time… Shelly was talking to Tisha about their hobbies again, and Goob didn’t say anything after Gigi talked either. Seeing the butterfly effect in real time is a little jarring.

We arrived back at this dreadful floor, the elevator doors open up to the same cream-yellow wallpaper. Gigi takes out the jumper cable out of her head on cue, and this time? I’m following Gigi yet again. if I hadn’t left Gigi last time, I would’ve never been attacked by that wretched twisted version of Boxten. I really hope that Goob deals with it or something… How do the toons deal with the twisteds anyways? They’re utterly terrifying beasts who go out of their way to just gut other toons. I suppose hiding is one thing, maybe others outran them.

I fully noticed that I lagged behind Gigi when I was walking, so continuously had to continuously speed up in order to catch up to her as she just walked. It kind of led me to eating that protein bar early. I didn’t notice a while back because I kept looking at my surroundings a lot and personally slowed down to take the environment all in. Me and Gigi eventually found one ichor machine that’s placed at a precarious spot, making Gigi hurriedly work on the ichor machine. I looked closer at how she turned the valve and dealt with the occasional jams, she turned it with ease and tugged it around well.

“We have twisted Boxten roaming the halls!” Goob shouted, and we received. Gigi stopped turning the valve as she was halfway and a little more complete. Suddenly connecting her jumper cable to two clamps on the side of the machine which made an electricity noise; a bunch of ichor then flooded into the machine which had completed it. “You wish you had that jumper cable instead of those gumballs.” Gigi teased. “You wish you got my tapes earlier.” I mocked; blowing a raspberry at the end of my sentence. Having to keep up this different act is cumbersome but it’s a lot better than just going all ‘I hate everything’ constantly, it honestly feels like a real conversation for once.

We walked away from the ichor machine walking around a bit then—and then… w-we… got to the ichor machine in that dark room I got attacked in… “ Ugh…” I groaned quietly, as the room reminded me of the unpleasant memory of that attack. I quickly went inside and started turning the valve again clockwise. Gigi was guarding me this time, at the very least… 

…

Time passed, we heard two machine completion sounds earlier and I’m only three-fourths done. I was pleasantly surprised that twisted Boxten didn’t come for me, also the fact that Gigi had stayed standing in the doorway. It was nice. Well, of course I’m a bit concerned as to what happened to Goob and what twisted Boxten is doing right now. The machine completes itself with that signature ding, and me and Gigi heard the elevator open back up in the distance. Whilst the holographic box detailing ”EXTRACT (2/2) ICHOR MACHINES TODAY” covered my face, I was able to run behind Gigi and reach the elevator with her.

Goob finally showed up with… Twisted Boxten following behind… looks like it followed him with those wretched ichor arms coming out of that boxhead. And then I saw it stop as it looked at me. I could only describe the feeling as foul , I will never look at those wild reddish eyes ever again. Thankfully Goob got in and the elevator closed leaving that monster behind. I looked around the elevator a bit: Shelly was holding a can of cola with her left hand, Tisha on the other hand had an air horn identical to the ones in my room, and Gigi was quietly conversing with Goob. 

Dandy didn’t come up this time, well he did say he’d come back after the third floor. As the elevator doors opened up, we all arrived at what looked like a hallway. This elevator placement is pretty strange but it’s fine. The wallpapers both had green and yellow this time, and the place was looking decently clean. “H–Hello? Is someone there?” rang out the hallway, it sounded familiar, as if I had just  heard the voice in the toon quarters floor. “I’ll go find that guy!” Goob said, walking towards the voice from afar. Out of curiosity, I followed Goob, leaving Gigi to follow Tisha and Shelly. 

I looked around as I followed Goob, the encroaching area looked a lot more well kept than the last two floors, like someone had resided here. There was a mattress on the floor and there was a weird makeshift table that’s just the upper-half of a crate and a stool to boot with it. And I think me and Goob had met its resident. “Oh! I was worried I'd be alone down here…” it said, it was that mirror toon, its face half broken, with a ribbon bounding its arms together; hands covered in ichor–its torn torso connected with ichor–it was definitely a twisted toon with that lone red eye. Why isn’t it tearing us a new one right now? Is it all a facade? Are there more twisteds capable of conscious thought like this one? 

“Don’t be fooled Shrimpo, he’ll wanna keep us here whether we wanna stay or not.” Goob suddenly commented. “I– Uh… It’s been so long since I’ve had visitors…” the twisted whimpered, seemingly just ignoring what Goob said, in front of him no less. Me and Goob kinda just stared at the twisted as it continued rambling on. “I’m gonna go check for other twisteds and come back here if it’s the only one here.” Goob said as he walked away. I sat down on the stool whilst the twisted mirror toon just hung around staring at me.

I was more intrigued about the fact that it didn’t seem as feral as twisted Boxten, rather than the fact its a twisted version of the mirror toon. It’s interesting that it had made itself a spot to sleep at and idle around at. What Goob said felt pretty terrifying to comprehend, this twisted toon was trying to guilt us into staying with it, forcing others to be its permanent friend perhaps. “I–I don’t know your name… Could you tell me…?” the question surprised me a bit. “… Shrimpo, I guess.” I hesitantly replied. “Thank you for staying… Shrimpo…” It replied, I also heard a really faraway machine completion ding . That was relatively quick, it wasn’t too long since we had arrived on this floor. 

Then I heard footsteps coming towards me and the twisted’s way, it was Goob. “Yup, Twisted Glisten is the only one here. And we found the rest of the machines, get ready to leave this guy behind.” Goob said as he came back. Well, I stood up from the stool and crossed my arms following Goob as he walked towards the direction of the elevator. “W-Wait… please! Stay…!” Twisted Glisten begged, though he didn’t really follow us.

As two machines rang out in completion, Gigi and Tisha came to the elevator entrance. Then the last one… We heard a piece of glass break as frantic steps were heard across the hallway coming closer towards us, thankfully the elevator had already opened up, so we just went inside it occasionally looking outside waiting for Shelly. Then we saw it as we peeked outside to the right; Shelly was being chased by Twisted Glisten arms unbound, and they were both fast, really fast . It was a little horrifying but Shelly seemingly outpaced the twisted. “Wait- No... DON’T LEAVE ME!” Twisted Glisten shouted before Shelly had gotten into the elevator; panting due to exhaustion. It closed right as soon as Shelly had gotten inside, I didn’t expect Shelly to have that kind of speed. So it was surprising, the pleasant kind I’d say.

Well, there it was, Dandy’s shop coming right back up that hatch. “You’re all doing quite well, take a look at my wares.” Dandy said, and laid before him was a can of pop, a jumper cable, and a whole 1 liter bottle of cola. The only thing I could afford was the can of pop costing 25 tapes, since I seemingly had… 48 tapes…? Where’d I get those tapes from?! I shrug it off and just exchange my tapes for  the can of pop, with Shelly and Tisha pooling tapes to buy the jumper cable. Honestly, Shelly looks perched. Normally I would give her this can of pop, but I’m pretty sure that’s too uncharacteristically nice from Shrimpo.

Well, Dandy looked pretty happy with all our purchases. “Well, once you’re done with this floor, you’re all being sent right back up!” Dandy commented, pulling the lever on his side and descending to wherever he goes yet again. The elevator whirred as silence took the room. The elevator dinged as it opened, here it was, the fourth floor. I looked around, this place wasn’t like any other room, it looked like a garage… no– a warehouse. Grey concrete dominated the area, wired fences were strung about the place, and there were containers strewn about. 

We all walked out and took immediate notice, it was… Shrimpo? Twisted Shrimpo was roaming this floor, it didn’t see us yet but we all clearly saw it from afar. Twisted Shrimpo has its hands, mouth, and the tail-end back of his head covered in ichor. With its hands predominantly being a lot bulkier. Talk about facing myself, because it’s horrifying to know that even I had an evil clone walking around… Was that what twisteds were? Evil clones? I mean how else was there a twisted version of Glisten and Boxten?

Goob seemingly ran straight towards Twisted Shrimpo which grabbed its attention giving chase. After a bit, we also saw Twisted Poppy start chasing Goob in the far Distance. Twisted Poppy almost looked like poppy, if not for the ichor stained bow and shoes, alongside the common theme of red sclera that all twisteds seem to share with them. 

I kinda just stuck with Gigi, especially now that I’m afraid that there’s this twisted version of what is basically me running around. Though it seems that Goob is keeping them distracted quite well. Turns out Goob has consistently been walking in circles and not being caught by either of the two twisteds, he doesn’t even seem that afraid either; face unchanging with that goofy smile constantly on his face.

As me and Gigi approached one of the ichor machines whilst Goob was distracting not too far from us, Twisted Shrimpo stopped following Goob, nay, it was staring at me now. I stared back as it started walking towards me. The mere fact Twisted Shrimpo saw me from that far away had me terrified as I ducked behind a corner. I peeked out as Goob wrangled Shrimpo back into mindlessly chasing him again. Gigi was preoccupied with the ichor machine so she didn’t actually see me cower behind the corner. So… I kinda just walked right back in front of the elevator’s closed doors, sat down waiting for everything to be over. 

…

… Ding

… Ding, Ding

…

…

… Bzzt! Ding . And on cue, the alarms blared alongside flashing red lights. The elevator doors behind me opened. I stood up and walked back in there, a can of pop untouched still being held using my right hand. I watched as Gigi, Shelly, then Tisha all approached the elevator one by one; going inside. All of us patiently waited for Goob as he took a bit of time to come back. Goob eventually did come over but it looked like he was leading both Twisted Shrimpo and Twisted Poppy back to the elevator.

To my surprise, as both Twisted Shrimpo and Twisted Poppy gained peripheral vision over me they both immediately ignored Goob and tried to go straight for me despite the fact I was further away and was already in the elevator. I couldn't understand why that happened, maybe my evil clone despises me specifically because I'm the real one. But that doesn’t explain Twisted Poppy’s immediate aggression towards me too. Well that doesn't matter right now because Goob got into the elevator which led to the elevator doors closing. Finally! This elevator ascended for once.

“Great job everybody!” Shelly cheered, Tisha and Gigi both gave celebratory claps. Whilst Gigi’s claps were muffled due to her sweater; Goob attempts at clapping on the other hand, were substandard due to the noodle arms. It took a minute or two but we all arrived at the lobby, the sun beamed down yet again, but this time signaling the nearing of noon (were we down for that long? It felt really short). Dandy came out of the shop hatch, after which he said “Those sixteen ichor machines should keep us going for the whole morning till late afternoon, expect the other toons to have the night shift though.” The idea of a night shift is a little terrifying, but sounds about right.

I cracked open the can of pop and started sipping, walking back to the elevator (the one we ascended to the lobby with a while back.) Goob also seemed to be walking back to the toon quarters with me, so I let him do the honors of pressing the down button on the side as we waited. Shelly, Tisha and Gigi seemed to stay behind at the lobby though, I wonder why. As we waited for the elevator, I looked around the area. The hopscotch game I accidentally stood on was still there, benches were placed around the area, and there were actually posters I hadn’t noticed, similar to the second floor we were on; the posters consisted of Dandy’s world episodes. Though the ones here were much older, with the most recent one being from 2001.

The elevator arrived along with a butterfly toon that just whizzed passed me and Goob. What was that about? Well they seemed to be in a hurry and it wasn’t my business so I just went into the elevator. I just noticed but, the elevator buttons were kinda far up, and I could barely reach it because of my short stature. Thankfully goob was with us and he pressed the… 2nd lower floor? Right, the place is mostly underground with the exception of the lobby where the tree had a giant skylight.

We arrived at our floor and Goob rushed out, it turns out there was a cat-like papery toon that was waiting for Goob outside the elevator; the two hugged immediately. “Woah little bro! Did ya miss me that much?” Goob’s supposed sister said, till Goob replied with “Scraps! Sis! I haven't seen you since yesterday morning!” Scraps kinda responded with an awkward laugh. “I was kind of preoccupied with… stuff! Yeah, that’s why I was busy.” Scraps added. Well, I walk past them and leave them to their dialogue. No use in overhearing the conversation any further.

As I walked away, I walked forward to see a couple toons eating at the Kitchenette tables, smelled good. Though the only unfamiliar one was that chocolate cake-roll toon..? Looks like Glisten, Poppy, and Boxten were there talking and eating brunch or something along those lines. I was about to walk away, sipping my can of pop, until I felt a tap on my back. “Uhm… hey Shrimpo, maybe you should eat a bite…?” the cake-roll toon claimed. “LATER! Leave it by my door.” I firmly uttered, genuinely a little annoyed, not turning back. Why did I decline and why was I irritated? Because I was tired, I spent this whole morning kind of figuring out what was happening around me and what my situation was; so I am mentally exhausted. 

“… Alright then.” the cake-roll toon said, seemingly walking back to the kitchenette. I of course ran to my room, opening the door and breathing in deeply. I walked in and closed the door behind me, time to fix my room up. I placed my can of pop on top of my desk. I: walked around picking up the crumpled papers, stood the fallen trash bins up, unflipped the tables; re-arranged all the airhorns' locations onto one of the tables, stacked the traffic cones, threw all the crumpled papers away properly— wait. Should I be throwing the crumpled papers away, did Shrimpo write something in them? I thought for a bit but then I just shrugged and continued. Ending the room fix-up off with the fallen punching bag as I stood it straight up in the corner. 

I should ask help in reattaching it back to the ceiling but that comes later I guess… wait… the bonus objective! I tried to maximize the objective thing in the corner of my eye by waving my arms at it, nope. So I pinched it out— yup that worked. It zoomed out and oh boy it excites me that I’ve completed the two missions!

Well, I doubt the ‘STAY IN CHARACTER’ one is gonna finish till it reaches the end of today, and I am definitely gonna go for that bonus objective. I suddenly heard three knocks on the door, waving my arm towards the hologram which made it turn back to its minimized state. I opened the door and, oh— looks like the cake-roll toon hurried away before I could thank them. Well, not like I would've because of my remaining objective.

It was a metal tray containing a plastic knife and fork with a plate that had rice, carrots, greens, and a sauced patty. Hamburger steak huh, well I’m not complaining. The steak was well-done and the utensils looked flimsy but beggars can’t be choosers. I took the plate and utensils and ate on top of the stool that I had to pull out from under the desk, and well, I couldn’t really say it was good nor bad but it was definitely filling. I made sure that nothing was left on my plate, even wiping my mouth to check for leftover grains, grease or sauce. I stood back up to go back outside and place both the plate and utensils back on the metal tray outside. 

I.. I wanna take a nap. I think it’s well deserved. It's been a tiring three and a half hours of my existence. I’ll punch those bags and fix my wardrobe drawer later. I approached my bed, unfixed from this morning when I rushed out. And tucked myself in for a relaxing… sleep…

Chapter Text

…This… This is what Shrimpo amounts to?…

”Hello?” I spoke up.

…

… It was white, I looked around and saw nothing but the infinite nothingness around me. And then I looked at myself. I had a bit of hope thinking that I’d at the very least keep my old body, even if I can’t remember what I looked like. Nope, I’m still Shrimpo. I really did just take his place just like that huh? I walked forward, stepping on nothing was weird. There wasn’t really much else to do when there’s literally nothing around you… Wait, something’s off… There’s no top-right or top-left hologram in my peripheral. 

Well, I guess I’m asleep right? Still asleep, lucidly dreaming about nothing. That’s not too bad honestly, it could’ve been much worse. “Echo.” I said; my voice disappointingly did not reverberate around me. Well, now I’m bored. Standing around and doing nothing does that to anyone. I'm thinking about a cookie right about now.

…

… Nope, I guess it just doesn’t work like that here. This is the most boring lucid dream I could ever ask for. I cover my hand over my face, woah! I have a surprisingly fuzzy face in here. I pinch my cheek; I pinch it harder. Nope, no pain. Okay, why can I feel my face and face fuzz but feel no pain. Not that I'm complaining that I can't feel pain in my dreams, I'd rather not. 

“..This is the calmest dream I’ve seen you conjure up.” I heard from a distance, I turned around to see some weird dark figure. I couldn't discern their appearance other than their height, they’re slightly taller than me. “Really?” I responded, walking slightly closer. “…Yes…?” it said in a confused tone. “What are you doing here then?” I inquired. “…Just checking your dream out. You must’ve been really exhausted to abruptly sleep in the morning.” it replied. “Does this count as being in front of another toon?” I asked. “Huh?” it said with a hint of surprise. “I guess not. I’m glad then, nice to meet you by the way.” I continued on, just staring at this figure.

It just stared at me too, no follow-up response. I didn’t really know what else to say but I initially assumed that it was an imaginary friend. “Any tips to make the dream not boring I guess?” I asked. “..Oh. I can change it if you want.” it said. “Oh, uh, okay. Could you place a punching bag down?” I said as I rubbed my palms together. “…Is that all you want?” It inquired, and before I could say anything, it snapped its fingers and a punching bag hanging from a chain up from somewhere appeared in front of me. 

“Thanks a bunch!” I said as I looked behind the punching bag and– oh okay disappear on me, fine! I’m just slightly offended by that. You pop into someone’s dream and talk to them for a bit then leave them with a punching bag they requested for; without talking about yourself, not once—I could barely discern who they were, let alone hear their voice properly! Talk about staying anonymous… W-Wait– was that guy a real toon…?

…

…!

… OH NOOOO! Did I just reveal myself? Am I gonna die immediately upon waking up and restarting TO THAT ELEVATOR CHECKPOINT ALL OVER AGAIN?!?! DAMNIT! COME ON MAN! “UGH!” I grumble. I can’t take a break from worrying about the weird hologram system thingy coming to strangle me. I look at the punching bag, I’m furious, I start beating the non-living STUFFINGS out of this inanimate imaginary object. I give it a left hook, right straight! Jab; Jab; Jab; Haymaker! 

My efforts of wailing into the bag have made me gain a rhythm over my swings, focusing my frustrations into the bag. Huh, I’m kinda enjoying this. I thought as I continued wailing punches onto the bag. Then I clocked it with all my might, the bag swung backwards cartoonishly far, then quickly slammed its entirety directly onto my body. The force was so strong that I felt fear and started screaming “ AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH ” as I flew through the white void.

…

…

I abruptly woke up back in a cold sweat; my blanket was thrown off to the side. My arms were halfway up with a sloppy attempt mimicking my dream’s arm panic as I was flung by that punching bag. I placed both my hands over my face then rubbed my eyes; I.. I don’t feel anything weird… Didn’t I fail my first objective? That was definitely a toon in that dream. The familiar minimized objectives and checkpoint boxes returned to my peripheral vision again. I pinched out the objectives to see if anything in my dreams had affected the real world.

… Oh, it didn’t. But I need to be cautious… especially around that toon I saw in my dreams, though I’m not even sure if they were a real toon or not. For some reason, I don’t know whether I should be sad or happy knowing there’s a theoretical toon that can visit and change dreams. Well… More on the latter because that means that I can act normally around them ignoring my objective right? Assuming they’re willing to converse and that I practically shouldn’t ever meet them.

I breathed a sigh of relief as I placed both my arms onto my stomach and sat on top of my pillow. Looks like I slept for a really long while. four more hours and the day’s over– suddenly, the objectives box minimized and the checkpoint box maximized.

Is this a good sign? I don’t know. The last time my checkpoint box came up was the time I was unaware of twisteds. I’m taking this as a warning with maybe a grain of salt, paranoia is the last thing I’d want to worry about. Looks like my first checkpoint was overwritten; then again I would’ve probably never changed it back to that since I’m pretty satisfied with today’s outcome. Preferably, I should never have to change checkpoints unless it was strictly necessary.

I climbed out of my bed and promptly fixed it up, stretching my arms and back out after a good rest. I take a look around. Lights? On; Holes? Yup; Posters? Still haphazardly placed around the room with the exception of the one I correctly oriented beside my bed; The half-full can of pop? Still sat on top of the desk ( .. probably flat² now. ) But then, the punching bags. The one in the corner had drooped down and looked like it couldn’t stand up straight for long. 

I approached the one to the right with my right fist clenched, giving it a light jab with my right arm. The objectives box on the top right side of my peripheral was minimized as the ”PUNCH A PUNCHING BAG (0/100) TIMES” prompt hadn’t changed, so I punched harder. It swung back a little bit, and low and behold; that punch counted: ”PUNCH A PUNCHING BAG (1/100) TIMES”. Well, this is going to take a while…

I mindlessly started punching the bag, until I got a rhythm going. As I started this workout session, I started pondering to myself about what I should do today within my remaining time after I get done with my bonus objective. 

… Goob! Right, what though: Gift? Letter? I should thank him somehow, I gotta stay anonymous about it though because of the first objective: I don’t think it’s in Shrimpo’s nature as a bully to give anything. Then there’s…

… Adventuring around! I’ve only been to the Lobby and this floor with my room (and I don’t really count the expedition floors.) There doesn’t really seem to be enough room to keep every Toon in one floor, so I’m assuming there are at least two or three toon quarter floors or something. I wondered if there was a cafeteria or library somewhere here, since the kitchenette outside seemed more like it’s a convenience rather than a fully functioning kitchen…

… “ Hmm.. ” I let out, continually punching the bag. Right! I need to check out the other toons as well. I don’t know the name of that lamp toon… And- the uhh, Television one… Wasn’t there a magnifying glass one? Oh yeah! The Butterfly toon! And probably more I haven’t seen. I should really familiarize myself with the toons sleeping on this floor. Like… Does the Finn guy sleep on this floor? I think I’ll break character if he does, puns are way too pun ny “ Haha. ” I laughed. I know that Glisten resides on this floor, he stormed into a room earlier…

… Why am I Shrimpo again…? Should I really dwell on this thought again, I think I’ll come out on top of the world if I just accept the fact that I’m this toon shrimp now. But I can’t help but yearn for what happened to me, the old me. If my memories didn’t leave me, maybe I wouldn’t be so dejected by being Shrimpo. I can’t even remember if I was a guy or a girl, but I’m leaning on the former side of things…

 … I’m male… right? Well, as in I’m a dude right now. The poster by my bedside said I have “he/him” pronouns. I should— I’ll stop thinking about that for now. Does it really matter in the grand scheme of things? I’m kind of being forced to live as someone else in a weird world where there are cartoon characters walking around extracting black blood goop or something for… something, presumably energy. And also… 

…Tapes… And tape logic… And tapes as a currency I guess? I mean I’m able to carry them all around with no weight, and I think so do the others. I have a feeling they have a bigger use than just being hard currency but I can’t put my finger on it. Wait, did I keep my tapes on me from my expedition…? I’ll go and check in a bit.

The objective suddenly pops out, playing a ding: ”PUNCH A PUNCHING BAG (100/100) TIMES” . I’m quite thankful that the system doesn’t play sounds very often, only opting to make a ding or buzz noise whenever I complete an objective or gain a new screen. I can’t imagine myself having to deal with a noise every time I progressed towards an objective.

And so, a new interface appeared at the bottom right side of my peripheral vision. It looked similar to a menu button if I had to describe it. Well, first I sat down on the stool that I had pulled out the prior night and wiped my forehead sweat off. My arms were pretty tired from the exercise and my knuckles are hurting just a little. I chugged all of the now super flat can of pop on my table and felt reinvigorated again; I don’t know how healthy it is to drink soda right after working out but I do NOT care right now. I threw the can of pop into the bin now that it was empty.

Hmm… Well I’m sitting down and idling, time to foster my curiosities from my pondering. First order of business, I check for the tapes I tucked in. Assuming I had 48 last time and that I paid for the can of pop, I should have 23 left on me at minimum… 

… I tuck my arm into my sleeveless red shirt…

… pat pat …

Huh. Okay, I guess all the tapes are just gone now. Why’d they just disappear? And if they disappear, where do they go?!? I- I can deal with learning how the tapes work later. As of right now I just want to check out my new “STATUS SCREEN” or whatever it was.

I tapped the menu button interface like how you would a phone, it disappears and a small incomplete looking screen pops up with two buttons: one detailing “STATUS” and… “SETTINGS…?” Where’d the settings come from? I mean I’m not complaining about extra stuff but it just seemed odd to me as to why the system is inconsistent. Like– the checkpoint screen just given to me without prompt, and at this point I’m a little confused as to how the “staying in character in front of toon” thing works because it only struck me once.

I… I’ll experiment tomorrow. I’ll gather enough courage to face what is and isn’t “Staying in Character” information is power after all. I don’t wanna experiment or risk anything today, mainly because I had just gotten done with the bonus objective. I’m very sure certain system things don’t save over restarting to a checkpoint. 

I tap on the ‘STATUS’ Button, and out appears.. My… supposed stats hologram…

What.

This… This is what Shrimpo amounts to? Why does my “Stealth” in particular have nineteen red hollow stars? I have an inherent feeling that it's a very bad thing. Oh– Oh wait I just saw why I might have that. 

My eyes squinted and furrowed. “ Bully… Passive… ” I murmur; my eyes widen open as I realize… “Th-that’s an ability?! Why is that an ability!?” I involuntarily let out, my hands now lay on my forehead. A-And why do my other stats only amount to one star each?! Well.. except for Vitality, that’s great. But I- What do these stats even do!? … Well– actually: Agility, Vitality, Stealth and Endurance are sort of self explanatory. but what does Strength and Dexterity do for me? As in; what do those two stats apply to during expeditions? And why don’t I have more stars in Strength? Shrimpo has definitely punched holes into his walls!

… Well… I can’t really confirm if Shrimpo did make those holes in the wall himself, but it’s pretty safe to assume that he did at some point create holes in his bedroom walls; and what does Stealth have to do with being a Bully? Actually– No I think I get why, it must be related to Shrimpo’s role! He’s a bully in the show; therefore he’s naturally infamous, loud, and disliked by others. 

This leads into my conclusion as to why the Twisteds really really wanted to attack me specifically. It was Shrimpo’s infamy! I can only assume that their actions were not very pleasant if he’s been the bully of the show over the years. Maybe he hasn’t had a single bit of character growth ever since, just like how the poster details how he “never learns.” I assume this through Shrimpo’s posters and show posters in the lobby, one of the show posters was from 1997. That’s maybe 5-7 years of Infamy built by Shrimpo alone right? 

…

… I feel like there are major flaws in my claim, but it isn’t reaching the tip of my tongue. Well, my explanation will suffice me for now I guess. If only I knew what Shrimpo has done over the years; also maybe what year it was… the system doesn’t seem to wanna tell me. I’m also in disbelief that I am ridiculously underpowered, well, that’s assuming that having less stars is bad and that red hollow stars are even worse. I do feel good about my Vitality stat though, whatever that affects.

I wave away at the status screen like it’s a fly, it dissipates and the menu button reappears back at the bottom left side of my peripheral vision. Well, what do I do now? I just found out that this body is cursed with being absorbently weak, then again, I haven’t really seen the stats of other toons. Maybe it’s normal to have one star in at least one stat; perhaps I’ll even see a red hollow star in someone else's stats screen. 

… Can I even check the stats of other toons? I’ll just have to see. I stood up from my stool and pushed it back under the desk. Then I strode right outside my room, closing the door behind me. First, I briefly heard some faint music from my right, but then it abruptly stopped. I looked to my left, the hallway was quiet, dark, and empty with the fluorescent lights turned off. Then I glanced at my right, the television shined from the corner of the room. There sat Boxten on one of the couches in front of the television alone. To my surprise, he was already looking behind; definitely because heard my door open.

“… Hello? Is… anybody there? ” Boxten inquired. I paused to think about my reply: “SHRIMPO.” I answered. “Oh… Did I wake you up? I’m sorry–” Boxten said, until I interrupted with: “NO. I was restless. I HATE BEING RESTLESS!” I walked over and stood behind the couch Boxten sat beside. “Uh… Me too. Nightmares, I suppose?” Boxten added. “NO. STOP TALKING.” I sternly demanded. Boxten flinched and stayed silent after that. He moved his head away now looking back at the TV. 

As my focus shifted to the television as well, I saw what it was playing. It had subtitles and was muted; I could only describe it as a cartoon episode about the cake-roll toon earlier and this tall strawberry toon both in a kitchen competing against each other in what seemed like a bake-off competition trying to impress Dandy, Shelly, and that green television toon. This is a part of Dandy’s cartoon show alright, though I don’t think I’ve seen a show poster showing this particular episode. Then again, I doubt every episode of the show produced would have each and every episode plastered around this place. 

Music started playing abruptly beside me which took my attention off the television, it came from Boxten. Taking a closer look at Boxten as he watched the television, there was a winding key at the back of his head. His head was playing some nondescript soothing notes one after another. Boxten’s a.. music box toon, huh. I never really noticed that up till now— Huh? I see something translucent floating above his head, it was a hologram similar to the menu box at the bottom left of my peripheral.

I discreetly tried to walk behind them, and as I did the hologram became more clearer and opaque. I reached out and tapped on it. A rectangle appeared similar to my status hologram, except it was a lot more compact and had an “affinity value” thing… Why doesn’t mine look a lot smaller like this?

I looked at the stats with intrigue as I slowly walked away from Boxten, who was still focused on watching the television. So much for me having no stealth, I just got away with not being caught doing something weird behind someone! I… that sounds wrong. In any case, it looks like I can see the statuses of other toons. And apparently… their “affinity value” towards… Me? I mean I can only assume so. But I don’t really wanna test it out right now, especially when I had just rudely shut Boxten up.

Boxten’s stats are pretty well rounded, minor envy invades my mind but I have hope that I’ll improve. He’s got a cool passive though, sucks that expedition teams are becoming smaller for him though. I start to wonder if the other toons are fully aware of their own stats. Innate abilities, sure, but raw stats? I doubt that. 

Well, I waved the hologram off my face and walked into the dark hallway. My eyes adjusted to the darkness, aided by the remaining light coming from the television as well as the faint lights that seeped under three of the toon rooms. Predominantly, there was an immense amount of light just seeping from under a magenta-pink door. It was a bit concerning how bright it could be in there, it had a sign beside the door saying “U-001.” How are the codenames assigned to each toon? I feel like they should’ve just called them by their names or something–

My stomach grumbles. Welp, I’m hungry! Time to impulsively raid the kitchenette for something to munch on. As I eventually reached the end of the hallway split, I had entered the kitchenette area with its lights closed. I stumbled around a bit trying to find the light switch but ended up finding the two refrigerators first. 

I, of course, opened one fridge as it lit to reveal its insides!

… Yikes , this is one barren fridge. Specifically: there’s a container of food with what I assume are leftovers; which I will respectfully leave alone, an entire head of cabbage, one really small apple (roughly the size of a golf ball…), various condiments with the exception of ketchup and mustard, an entire carton of eggs only containing three eggs, and lastly… what looked like three slices of white bread, two of which were the end parts.

Maybe the other fridge will fare better! I tried to open it, my eyes widened and realized that it didn’t want to budge. I looked closer… It had a refrigerator lock with a number pad on it. That means this is where all the good stuff is! But I can’t be bothered to try and brute force the lock open. Back to the unlocked barren fridge I return. I assume this fridge is communal, so I won’t be in trouble if I just took like the last piece of middle bread and toasted it… And also the apple, I mean it’s been left there for a reason right?

I scrounged the last middle piece of white bread as well as the apple and approached the countertops, trying to search for a toaster. Surprisingly, there was naught a single toaster! Preposterous I say, looks like I’ll have to toast my bread the old fashioned way: with a frying pan! Though at this point I should really really turn on the lights. 

As I tried searching for the lights still hugging the piece of bread and the apple, I heard an elevator ding from my left– the lights were turned on as footsteps approached. I was in a bit of an awkward position, three toons were now staring right at me as I stood in front of the counter. Scraps, Poppy, and this toon with two masks heads connected with a red scarf; they kinda looked like those theatre masks… what were they called? Right! Tragedy… Comedy masks…?

“Oh, hey there Shrimpo! Cool midnight snack.” Poppy said holding four cans of pop, I almost said ‘Thanks–’ but didn’t. “LEAVE ME ALONE! GO AWAY!” I replied, shaking my free arm in the air with a fist. “ Sheesh , you don’t have to tell us twice. ( Razzle… please don’t talk to him… )” Razzle said whilst the other one quietly murmured, I could barely hear the black mask’s dialogue but I did. Scraps already walked away, looking a little dejected for some reason. “Right, sorry Dazzle, I’m just exhausted… I’m more surprised how Poppy seems fine. ( I wanna sleep too…) ” Razzle’n Dazzle continued. Poppy just placed her cans of pop on the kitchenette table and sat down. Whilst Razzle’n Dazzle walked away.

“Want some pop?!” Poppy offered with enthusiasm. “I HATE SODA–” I replied, but Poppy interrupted: “But I just saw you drinking some waaay earlier!” “I DON’T WANT CAFFEINE AT NIGHT!!! You didn’t let me finish my SENTENCE!” I retaliated, hypocrisy coursing through my veins as I remembered the can of pop I just finished earlier post-workout. I kinda just started nibbling on the untoasted white bread, looks like my hunger took control over my arm. The interaction was getting awkward ( especially because of the silence ) so I started slowly walking towards my room.

As I passed by Poppy, I briefly saw the same menu button I saw above Boxten also above Poppy. Unfortunately I don’t think I have a chance at discretely interacting with it; since Poppy was kind of just unnervingly staring at me. I walked back towards my room gnawing on the bread and apple. The apple was very overripe and watery, I bet it’s been in that fridge for at least a month.

Walking back to my room, Boxten was still on the couch watching television; he's still producing music. Then I saw the sign beside my door. ‘C-003’ it read out, I never really paid mind to the weird codename signs but its been intriguing me. But I’m starting to think about it, someone had to assign these toons with the codenames right? I wonder if Dandy did, or maybe the people who made Dandy. How are toons made? That Ichor stuff is our blood, so are we like made out of Ichor?

Less pondering and more going inside my room. I walked in and closed the door behind me. That was a really short trip outside, also just a tad bit stressful due to the interactions. Thankfully I hadn’t failed my first objective yet; man, I must be doing a good job of being Shrimpo! I don’t know whether I should be proud of that or not. Being an asshole isn’t exactly my thing, but it makes me feel bad for Shrimpo too. I wonder if he had a choice to not be a bully. 

I finished up the bread and threw the apple core into one of my rooms’ bins. I pondered for a bit until I looked at my desk… I should prepare a “Thank You” letter for Goob! I mean I have a pencil and available paper, how hard could it be? I pulled the stool from under the desk, sat on it and started writing away at two blank pieces of paper that were haphazardly placed on the desk.

…

…

That’s… un-Shrimpo-like, right? Like no one would ever find out Shrimpo wrote the contents of this paper:

“Dear Goob,

Your first impression upon my first meeting with you made a great impact, both figuratively and literally. I certainly needed a hug and you provided comfort I hadn’t expected upon arriving here. I would like to show my appreciation by providing you with this gift. I can’t tell you who I am for various reasons, but I just want to let you know that I’m grateful. I wish I could tell you directly, but this is the best I could do without getting in some form of trouble.”

Sincerely, an anonymous toon”

I’m still deciding on what to give Goob though, I wrote down a list of potential gifts on the side as I thought about it. My writing style was completely different from Shrimpo’s. If I had to write like Shrimpo, I think I'd struggle writing all my letters as capitalized specifically… it just feels so unnatural and aggressive.

As I place my wholesome letter somewhere, I look around the room to preoccupy myself. I’ve surprisingly grown tired yet again; must’ve been an internal clock inside me screaming to get back to bed. What time is it anyways? I don’t have a clock aside from the objectives. I pinched out my objective box.

Has it REALLY been two and a half hours already? Time moves ridiculously fast. Alternatively I took my sweet time writing that letter, I definitely took a while trying to write Goob’s letter and the potential gifts. I don’t particularly mind sleeping again, I just hope I don’t get that weird dream again, meeting that dream toon might cause trouble for me in the future. God I hope they forgot about my casual dialogue with them…

The objective details “in front of other toons” right? Meeting in dreams doesn't exactly count as being “in front” of someone, which is probably why I haven’t restarted yet even after the dream ended. Best case scenario, that toon’s opinion over Shrimpo changes drastically and I can act normally around them. The middle ground is that the system doesn’t kill me upon meeting that toon in reality. Worst case scenario is that meeting them causes an immediate restart, which means I might actually have to go back to an earlier checkpoint… wait… What if that old checkpoint gets overwritten an hour from now? 

Man, today’s been too great for me to intentionally restart from the elevator checkpoint. I’m taking the risk and sleeping again and hoping for the best, even if I have to avoid that dream toon forever… I go to my wardrobe and pull a new red sleeveless shirt out from the drawer; swiftly replacing my day old shirt with the new one, I felt fresh. I folded my old red shirt and placed it on the floor in front of the wardrobe. I might fix the wardrobe drawer disorganization at some point in the future, and I want a laundry basket. I return to my bed, I happily tuck myself in and close my eyes. I’m looking forward to my next set of objectives and seeing how my reward is applied tomorrow morning.

Maybe… just maybe… I… won’t have to act like Shrimpo tomorrow…

Chapter Text

…I have a feeling I’m gonna hear that a bunch from now on…

I opened my eyes, and started involuntarily spurting out tasteless ichor from my mouth.

Panic struck me as my eyes darted around, I seemed to be paralyzed. I came to realize that Goob was carrying me bridal style towards an elevator as there were flashing red lights around. I tried to move or speak but my limbs and vocal cords were unresponsive. I moved my eyes to the side behind Goob, it was twisted Boxten. He stood there, he wasn’t chasing Goob. He just casually waved his left arm with a shit eating grin, head lid closed. “Shrimpo got hurt really badly!” I think I heard Goob say. I looked around me, I didn’t notice we were in the elevator already. “Yikes… we jinxed it…” “Oh… no..” “That’s awful…” comment after comment, I could barely discern who said what. 

Suddenly, I had a bird’s eye view over the elevator, an out of body experience. I saw the sorry state I was in: pale, shivering, two claw marks across my torso that tore through my shirt, as well as having bled ichor all over the elevator floor including Goob. Tisha, Gigi and Shelly were there as Goob laid me onto the floor. It was a gruesome scene and felt bad for them. While I wasn't in any pain, it irked me to see this scene.

Dandy suddenly rose from the shop hatch with no wares holding something. “Looks like Shrimpo’s almost gone for the course.” Dandy lamented as he saw my sorry state. He then threw over a first aid kit held from his side; Tisha caught it and started immediate work on my Body. “My condolences, but he can’t stay here even if he’s injured. You’ll have to take him with you onto the next floors” Dandy instructed. “Can’t we just end the run early?!” Goob begged, wincing over my body as I laid on the floor being tended to by Tisha. “We can’t, if we don’t keep going now we’ll be in more trouble than it’s worth. I came over understanding it’s an emergency.” Dandy further added.

Then they all froze.

Suddenly, the elevator and everyone on it jarringly morphed away into a teal grassy landscape, the skies had a yellow-orange gradient. I felt blades of grass as I laid in the same position I was in the elevator, a breeze blew over me as I heard grassy footsteps. “…That must’ve been traumatic to see… Are you okay…?” a dark figure loomed over me, it’s them again. “I like to think so—I don’t know.” I replied, laying down on the grass as I looked at the figure standing over me. “…Do you wanna talk about it?” they inquired. “I want to, I really do… thanks for changing the scene…” I added, face somber. I sat up and held my knees to my torso, looking over the horizon of an endless field, a very serene view in all honesty. “… Got any requests…?” they asked. 

“Yeah, let me see you.” I firmly replied, I got tired of seeing their vague black figure. 

They flinched a bit, but didn’t really hesitate any further. They sat beside me and his figure finally gave shape and color. Of course they were a toon, good gut feeling on my end. He had a cyan crescent shaped face with a black head sporting a cornflower-colored (on the more purple side) nightcap alongside a blanket of the same color that covered his torso up to his lower waist. His left eye predominantly being a white plus sign of some kind. “Your two recent dreams have been different; this one and the last one… In a good way.” he commented. “ As if seeing me in that state was a good thing.” I protested, he gave a half smile and responded: “..You’d be throwing a fit by now from just that scene alone… “ I stared at them a little flustered, I’ve really just given into acting out of character here. Sure, why not? I’m gonna keep talking since I’m knee deep in it.

“Any honorable mentions of my prior dreams?” I curiously asked. “…You once fist-faught a bunch of twisteds, including the big ones.” he answered, also what did he mean by big ones—“What?! Wish I could’ve remembered that, I've forgotten a bunch of my dreams.” I responded, technically a truth because I don't remember either my or Shrimpo’s prior dreams. “That’s okay Shrimpo; you often don't dream at all… so when you do—I try to check on you…” he admitted. “Could you tell me about Boxten’s nightmares?” I asked, remembering the fresh interaction I had with Boxten. “Ah.. Boxten uhm…” He stares away a bit. “…I tried to communicate with him about it, but nothing's really been working out…” he surprisingly answered. 

“Why'd you suddenly stop stonewalling me?” I said as I curiously looked at him. “…You looked like you needed a change of pace.” He responded, looking back at me. “It’s.. hard to miss the change in both demeanor and dreams… even if it’s only been this instance and the last one.” He adds on… I can’t help but see him as a threat because of the first objective from the system.

“What year is it again?” I suddenly asked, it caught him off guard. “…I don’t have a concrete answer, 2006 maybe? I’ve kind of stopped keeping track..” he replied. So I guess not even he knows, okay. “..Why’d you ask?” he asked back. I paused, “…I’ll tell you when I see you out there.” I hesitantly said, I don’t wanna continue talking any further till I meet this guy out there. “..Good talk… but I gotta go.” he said as he stood up and walked away from my view, convenient for me I guess. 

And just like that, he’s gone. I laid back onto the grass and stared at the soothing skies. Clouds strewn about blocking what seemed to be the sun, no trees around me or anything, just the grassy landscape and beautiful horizon surrounding me. 

… Hopefully, I find out what his name is without me having to ask them directly…

…

The dream ended.

… 

My eyes open wide, I toss and turn with my eyes closed due the fluorescent light assaulting my eyes. “ Good morning, me. ” I murmured, to myself no less. Eyes reopen again as I readjust to my surroundings, I stand up and stretch a bit. Time to check the objectives box because it’s just blank right now… as I pinched it out, it flickered a bit before it changed the old green objectives back to its new red ones.

…Oh. I’m in trouble. This is going to be a long day

My crutch was constantly reiterating that I hated things. I’m going to have to retroactively avoid disliking anything to anyone today now that my crutches were taken away. And then there’s the ‘ruin the day of…’ objective, that’s gonna be harsh but given that my objective would literally kill me for not completing it, I’ll take what I can get. 

Then that bonus objective, interesting. This is the first branching one I’ve seen, a welcome addition! I’m already planning to make closer friends anyways, so I don’t mind having to do the latter bonus objective over the other one. I’m… nervous though, I need to test the extent of the “staying in character” objective. Am I going to get used to restarts? I kind of don’t want to get used to them… 

I waved away at the objective screen, and pinched out the checkpoint screen from the top left part of my peripheral. I… yeah I kind of fully expected that; both yesterday’s checkpoint’s gone kaput.

And that dream interaction with the Dream toon is set in stone, no turning back now I guess. It was a pleasant talk, being able to talk sorta-normally at the very least. I stood up from my bed and pondered my next set of actions. In all honesty I’m just delaying my social experimentation because I’m constantly afraid of the feeling of restarting… 

… I’ll go through normally today and if I decide to restart then I’ll start experimenting and routing my objectives. I suddenly heard three knocks on my door. I have a feeling I’m gonna hear that a bunch from now on. I waved my checkpoint box off my face and fixed my bed, as I was fixing my bed I heard another three knocks.

I finally came over to the door and opened it to see— Wuh oh… it’s fishbowl fish puns guy. “Morning Shrimpo! You’ve been skipping mealtime apparently, and that didn’t float either of our chef’s boats .” Finn said as he gestured at every joke he made. “SHRIMPO ATE FOOD YESTERDAY!” I hastily responded, why was Shrimpo skipping meals!? And for how long?! “Whale, either way, we’re going over to the cafeteria and gulping down a proper breakfast!” Finn said as he snickered. “L-LoOK LET’S JUST gO, I’LL FOLLOW YOU!” I squabbled as I was reelizing each and every fish joke he’s making, my face moments away from imploding in laughter. "Terreefic! Let’s cast off and get going then!" he responded as he walked away a bit, I took a deep breath.

Well, I followed them as they were walking to the elevator. Finn still wore that same orange life-vest I saw yesterday, though I never really looked at his white pants with two orange stripes near his knees. His glassy skin still transparent, his head filled with water as a plastic fish resided inside. He occasionally looked behind himself to check if I was still following, I personally looked around and noticed how quiet the hallway was. Eventually we reached the elevator, he pressed the down button and started waiting for it to arrive

“Hey Shrimpo, do you think fish can weigh themselves?” Finn asked. “FISH ARE PROBABLY TOO DUMB TO BE AWARE OF THEIR WEIGHT!!!” I loudly declared; ”YOU MAY VERBALLY DISLIKE ANYTHING ONLY UP TO 5 TIMES (1/5)” popped up… okay, I guess I’m basically declaring that I dislike Fish by calling them dumb. “Fish aren’t dumb! And w-well they can definitely be aware: Cus they have… Scales!” Finn jests despite my comment… Holy carp I am not surviving this. I looked AWAY from Finn and started grumbling and huffing, keeping the facade that I’m angry whilst holding in the laughter: ”YOU MAY VERBALLY DISLIKE ANYTHING ONLY UP TO 5 TIMES (2/5)” … Did Finn just assume that I hated his joke from my false grumbling or something? That's.. really bad.

The elevator arrived with.. no one inside… No… NO!! I CAN’T HANDLE ANY MORE JOKES!!! I try to think of something, ANYTHING TO STOP THE JOKES! We walked inside, Finn pressed the 5th lower floor button. The elevator doors closed as I demanded: “TALK ABOUT SHRIMP FACTS. NOW !” … Finn stares at me gleaming with excitement: “GASP, Th- This is the second time you’ve ever asked anything like this!” I— okay now that I think about it—that was definitely an out of character request but it wasn't; thank you for talking to Finn, Shrimpo. “Shrimp have their hearts placed at their heads~ Speaking of hearts, shrimps have an open circulatory system~  A-And like most crustaceans; shrimp have blue blood which is actually…” Oh boy, Finn went on and on. Thank the lord it’s something I can tune out.

Finn had his eyes closed as he rambled on about Shrimps, and since I was relatively close to him; I saw his menu–err… status button above his head. I of course took the opportunity to look at what Finn’s status hologram offered:

Oh, Finn is… buff ?!? I do a double take and look at him again, he seems so scrawny and fragile… I’m starting to think these statuses don’t fully reflect the toon’s appearance. Reel in; haha I get it, the passive affects stats and I’m kind of comparing it to Boxten’s passive from memory. Finn’s got a 35% extra agility boost instead of Boxten’s 6% for dexterity… that’s huge, then again it seems like Finn’s passive effect is temporary as opposed to Boxten’s, whilst mine just directly shits all over my stealth stat. The affinity value is surprising, but it makes sense—like—I haven’t really seen any other fish-like toon here… Hmm…

“HEY FINN!!! Do you OWN ANY ACTUAL MARINE ANIMAL!?” I loudly inquired. Finn stopped his Shrimp fact ramblings and stared at me. “N-No… Barnaby Willikers is the closest thing I have.  But COD, I wish I did!” He wistfully replied, I also assume he's talking about his toy fish (cool name though.) “TELL ME SPECIFIC FISH YOU’D WANNA KEEP AROUND!” I ordered, the affinity value suddenly rose to 13%. “If my wishes were casted… they would’ve shelled out several Congo Tetras to my fish tank by now~!” he replied… What the hell is a ‘Congo Tetra’ and who is ’they’, wait does Finn just own an empty fish tank–  “And before you ask, Congo Tetra are basically small freshwater fish with rainbow-ey scales–” Finn interrupted, until the elevator stopped and it interrupted him. “We can tackle that convo some other time, have a fintastic breakfast, Shrimpo!” He walked out of the elevator into the cafeteria. I of course went inside, making sure to wave Finn’s status hologram off my face and…

This… this place did NOT look like a cafeteria, in fact it looked more like a diner than a cafeteria. The place mainly had a red wallpaper that had a mossy-green diamond pattern horizontally placed in the middle separated by white lines. It's a wide room with white diner tables alongside those restaurant booth seats (colored red) strewn about. The floor consisted of brown wooden planks with a long yellow rug under the pairs of diner tables. Then they seemed to have those basic self food-serving counters that people formed lines picking their foods at like it was a buffet. The smell of food wafted through the air, but it mainly smelled like baked goods… and was that pork ?

A bunch of toons sat around the place, I saw some familiar faces and several others I haven’t seen yet. Chattering and more were strewn about the place, I was slightly overwhelmed by the noise, in all honesty. Well, I went to the food-serving counter and took both a tray and utensils to see what they had prepared for breakfast. Pancakes… Waffles… Boiled Eggs… Salad… Fruits… Sausages… Oooh Bacon!!! At the end of the counter were the liquids, I of course took a bottle of water over the juices, soda ( who drinks soda in the morning?), and coffee. I had grabbed my tray of grub consisting of; two pancakes, an already peeled orange, three strips of BAAACON, and the greens relegated to the corner.

I sat myself at a comfy spot away from everyone and started eating. I looked around as I ate, recognizing toons I’ve met: Glisten & Razzle’n Dazzle were discussing something at a table passing notes, Finn was speaking to Gigi as she sat next to that butterfly toon that whizzed past me yesterday, Tisha was compulsively cleaning around, Boxten and Poppy were with what looked like a balloon toon with a yellow-green and purple color pattern, Goob and Scraps were at a table just talking. I… did notice a regal looking teacup toon sitting across that magnifying glass toon, they both look really posh. Any other toon I didn’t notice seemed like they weren’t there. Then a short 8-ball toon walking around with a waffle in their hands suddenly approached me. 

“WHAT DO YOU WANT.” I barked, my mouth filled with food. “I’m really really bored!! Wanna play with me or do whatever cool stuff again?” the child whined. My more important question was: did Shrimpo really babysit this 8-ball toon…? “NO, SHOO LET ME EAT IN PEACE.” I sternly replied, swallowing my food as I dismissed them with a hand motion. “Aww, c'mon!! Please! Please! Pleaaaase!!!” it begged with puppy dog eyes. I strongly contemplated, face scrunched and furrowed.  “… LATER IN THE LOBBY. Maybe… AFTER THIS MORNING’S ANNOUNCEMENT.” I relented, I mean I don’t really have anything else better to do anyways, I’m also assuming there’s gonna be another set of toons called to the lobby to do an expedition. “Wow! Promise you’ll play later then?! Promise!?” it replied, beaming a smile warm enough to melt my face. “DON’T COUNT ON IT! I HATE PROMISES!! NOW LEAVE ME ALONE!!!” I shouted and made the 8-ball toon flinch, I am still definitely gonna go there though: ”YOU MAY VERBALLY DISLIKE ANYTHING ONLY UP TO 5 TIMES (3/5)” well, I kinda needed to use that one here where plenty of people could hear me. Gotta keep up the Shrimpo hatred facade after all.

The cake-roll toon came out of somewhere (I don’t know where, but I’m assuming a kitchen somewhere on the same floor,) probably to check on the food-serving counter. He wore different clothes, instead of wearing a white sleeveless hoodie he actually had a chef-looking outfit with an apron and gloves to boot. He saw me and the 8-ball toon’s interaction, they looked content. I guess they’re satisfied that Shrimpo finally attended breakfast for once after skipping a bunch of meals, kinda explains why he approached me yesterday asking if I wanted to eat. “Toodles, come over here and stop bothering him.” the magnifying glass toon shouted across the room. “Coming!” Toodles responded, and they walked away. 

I finished up my meal and bottle of water, it was good, highlights were the perfect pancakes! Not as drabby as the food I had yesterday, probably because the food I had right now was fresh off the kitchen. The Bacon felt weirdly rubbery but I can’t complain any more than that. Toons were also leaving the cafeteria with the exception of the magnifying glass toon, Glisten, Toodles, and teacup toon. Glisten being over there surprised me just a bit, it felt like he was just at a table talking to Razzle’n Dazzle. I stood up and walked with the toons that left the cafeteria into the elevator.  

It was a ridiculously cramped but quiet elevator ride through the floors with what felt like 15 toons in there, but I noticed that they were mostly exiting out back into their respective toon quarter floors (I noticed that Finn and Gigi got out on the 3rd lower floor.) The exception being me, Tisha, and the magenta lamp toon who all ascended to the Lobby. As we got out of the elevator, I sat at one of the many lobby benches as the two toons went away. I pressed the menu button and tapped on the ‘STATUS’ button on my hologram thingy. Oh… My reward from yesterday hasn’t been applied yet; looks like I’ll be able to place it wherever though! (Except stealth… of course.)

I contemplated for a while, the first thing that annoyed me was my… Agility. I had to keep running to even remotely catch up to someone whilst I was down there, and I do not like that. But then there’s the question of what Strength or Dexterity does… And there’s Vitality, the stats I have three stars in. I could put my eggs in that basket, that seems pretty cool, even if I don’t know what it fully does. Does it make sure I bleed out slower or something? When I got attacked by that twisted Boxten it was basically over for me after being mortally wounded twice. I shivered a bit, remembering the scene.

Wait… Twisted… Machine.. Tugging.. Valve.. Strength! Wait yeah that actually kind of tracks good sense, then Dexterity affects how quickly I can turn the valve right? I vividly remember turning my valve slower than everyone else, even after I’ve beaten the horrendous tugging. Endurance is probably just stamina, getting tired less is always a good thing, maybe it’s linked to Vitality too. Stealth is… confusing, but I think I have the correct gist of what it does . 

I pressed the yellow plus button adding a star to my agility, I felt a weird sensation over my whole body, sort of like an electric shock you’d experience from static electricity except it’s everywhere. Discomforting but manageable. I wave the status screen off my face and wait for the menu button to re-appear. It eventually does and I press the ‘SETTINGS’ button. What appeared was… Oh my.

Well, that’s nifty! I can turn off my weird video game elements and feel normal. I can also disable the menu things on-top of the toons that get close to me, if I get tired of those I guess… And then there’s the last one, if I think that’s what I think it is, it’s going to be a life saver and I’m not going to have to repeatedly wave my hand over my face. It also counts as an unofficial timer I guess, but when am I ever gonna use that? I turned the last option to ON. A white noise rang out, there’s the incoming announcement.

“Glisten, Rodger, Brightney, Sprout, Aaaand Looey! Get to the lobby. It’s time to go on an expedition!” Dandy’s voice from the intercom rang out. I kind of realised it was Dandy after hearing his voice four or-so times, including the one from my dreams. My options screen disappeared, looks like the screen timeout is working! I looked to my right and… yup yeah no he’s just standing in front of that sign again waiting for the toons to come over. The magenta lamp toon stood in front of Dandy after leaving the purple computer room, so I guess that’s… Brightney? What was that magenta-pink door her room last night, the one with the ridiculously bright light that seeped out—

The elevator behind me started whirring, yeah they’re coming up. As the elevator opened up, out came Glisten, the magnifying glass toon (I assume he’s Rodger at this point, he just seems like one), that tall strawberry toon with a pink-white striped scarf (Sprout.. right? Sprouted out of the ground), that colorful balloon toon from the cafeteria (probably Looey…), and Toodles who currently held Rodger’s hand. Rodger approached where I sat, stood next to him was Glisten and Toodles.

“Terribly sorry for the trouble, Shrimpo, and thank you for keeping Toodles occupied in the meantime.” Rodger thanked me. “I don’t NEED YOUR SORRY OR THANKS” I grumbled “… I’M JUST HERE BECAUSE OF BOREDOM. I HATE BEING BORED!!” I responded with sufficient vitriol: ”YOU MAY VERBALLY DISLIKE ANYTHING ONLY UP TO 5 TIMES (4/5)” I haven’t really been managing this objective well, but it was worth saying that I hated something just to reinforce my shrimponess. Glisten clicked his mouth and kneeled down to Toodles: “Whatever you do buddy, don’t let this Shrimp be a bad influence okay?” yikes, in front of me no less. “I won’t, thank you Mr. Glisten!” Toodles responded. Rodger gave Toodles a heartwarming hug before letting her go, as he and Glisten walked towards Dandy’s location. Well, Toodles stood before me now.

“So what are we gonna do!? Wanna play tag?! Ooh ooh, Drawing!” Toodles kept on going. “Cease, SHRIMPO IS THE ADULT HERE. Let’s–DO CRIME!!!” I declared triumphantly. “Eh..? I don’t wanna do bad stuff though…” Toodles replied, honestly yeah I don’t know where I was going with that. “… Okay… LET’S DO ONE OF YOUR IDEAS THEN!” I reconsidered. Toodles tapped my knee and before I knew it, I was it. “Tag!” Toodles shouted as she ran off, I of course humored her and gave chase.

What she probably didn’t expect was that I was definitely faster than before. Even though I was slightly slower than her, I was able to catch up to her once or twice catching her off-guard due to my choice of increasing my agility. Eventually cornering her and tapping on her head twice as she failed to run past me. “YOU’RE IT! Shrimpo Wins!” I declared as now I ran away, the child of course menacingly ran towards me now.

… 

We went back and forth exchanging tags; Toodles tagged me quite often and quickly right after I tagged her due to my low agility. I think that worked out in the end because anyone faster would not have given Toodles a good chance to catch them.

As I was ‘It’ once again, I ran around still trying to catch this child with what seemed like infinite energy. I think I'm starting to really feel the low endurance hitting me because I have been panting as well as being out of breath constantly (slightly embarrassing that this child physically outperforms me). 

She approached out of concern this time since I looked like I was about to give out, but I took advantage of that and tagged them after my sudden lunge. “..You should've… hah … SHOWN NO MERCY…!!” I said as I was winded, giving them a light noogie. I also took the chance to check on her status menu after I stopped the noogie.

“Next game?” I asked Toodles, releasing her from my grasp as I looked at the status screen in front of me. This is the first ‘active’ ability I’ve seen in text, but I’ve seen Gigi use theirs in that expedition… most likely. What surprised me was the already high affinity value, then again it probably doesn't take a lot for a kid like her to be pleased. “Okay! How about you choose?” Toodles offered, oh boy! I felt evil and replied: “WE’RE DOING TIC-TAC-TOE THEN.” 

I have no memory of playing tic-tac-toe, but I know something this child doesn’t: cognitive strategy leading into 113 possible draws or wins for me no, even if I go second; it’s vile that I'm about to outwit a child, but I'll take what I can get. The tic-tac-toe thing seems like a distinct fragment of my old self, so it's pretty precious in my sole opinion even if it seems dumb. I wonder if I had experience dealing with kids like these, I don’t seem to mind this kind of stuff. Toodles’ status screen disappears.

“I'll get the pencil, papers, and thingies! After this I really really wanna doodle things! So I’m bringing some art stuff too!” Toodles declared, sorta giggly from the tag session as she walked into one of the rooms at the lobby. I sat on one of the lobby benches and checked my objective box as I pinched it out.

Oh, roughly two hours have passed allotted to what? I didn’t keep track. Time passes… really slowly. The difference is that I’m not that tired unlike yesterday where I just slept at like.. 10:45 AM or something along those lines. I mean, here I am babysitting a 8-ball toon kid after eating a good breakfast; rather than waking up having skipped meals (not even realising it) and being sent straight into an expedition to hell would definitely leave anyone tired.

I’m a little nervous about the verbally dislike thing, I feel like I've implied that I've disliked something more than a few times. That objective’s sentence doesn’t seem very inaccurate then; curse you system for being so cruddy! But also thank you for basically keeping me alive despite the fact I feel more like a hostage. The objective screen re-minimized without input and I saw Toodles was struggling as she came out of a room carrying one of those red hard-copy boxes that contained A4 printing paper; on the box was a container that had various art supplies but mostly contained colored pencils. I hastily ran over to assist her in hauling both objects onto the middle of the lobby.

We picked our respective pencils as I took out a piece of paper from the box containing paper and placed it on the floor. “WE’LL DO ROUNDS UNTIL YOU GET BORED, AND IF YOU WIN AGAINST ME EVEN ONCE… I’LL– DO ANY ONE THING YOU WANT TOMORROW.” I proclaimed, but also felt extremely guilty for setting my lose condition to be for tomorrow. I knew full well I won’t be there to fulfill it due to me probably restarting today. “Huh?! You sure!? Now I really wanna win!” Toodles excitedly celebrated. Ahahaha! I’m about to crush a child’s expectations… Hopefully that counts towards the ruining day thing. “LADIES FIRST THIS ROUND.” I sneered.

…

…
…

I severely underestimated this child… OR their beginner’s luck succeeds itself to be beyond just an ability.

… Twelve rounds have passed, and we’re on our thirteenth round on my fourth turn. Each round had roughly lasted two minutes with the exception of the three initial rounds only lasted three or so minutes.

The twelve prior rounds of Tic-tac-toe with this 8-ball toon had all led to draws, this child had yet to show a hint of WEAKNESS; instead they opted for every optimal move even after weird starting positions. We even alternated turn orders: with Toodles being the second and me being first at every even round, but that didn’t affect her performance. 

I ended my turn and placed my ‘X’ at the top right corner which led to this round to end as another tie. She flipped the paper over and swiftly drew another # . “H-How– HOW ARE YOU NOT BORED YET?!?” I exclaimed in horror, as I watched her action. “You said you’d do whatever I want tomorrow once I win! Drawing can wait!” It proclaimed, the child’s eyes burned with unyielding determination. “ HRM… LET’S MOVE ONTO DRAWING.” I demanded arms crossed, and the child immediately pouted. “No fair! Come on! Just one more game of tic-tac-toe!” Toodles whined.

I shook my head, I am not fighting against this creature in tic-tac-toe ever again (never ever.) “YOU HAD THIRTEEN CHANCES TO WIN– HOW IS THAT NOT FAIR!?” I argued. “W-Well…” Toodles just opted to not reply any further and just frowned as she looked down… I… I- I AM WEAK TO THIS! I DON’T WANNA SEE A SAD CHILD WHIMPER BECAUSE OF ME- THE GUILT—! I- BUT THE OBJECTIVE– B-BUT- I— AAAAAAAARGH!
“How about… WE HANG OUT AGAIN TOMORROW.. Again… And… YOU CAN TRY TO WIN TIC-TAC-TOE TOMORROW?” I compromised, I looked at the child. They return a sniffle and respond with:  “O-Okay! I’m fine with that.. D-Do you mean it?” Oh thank sweet lord I stopped this child from crying… I SWEAR I’LL DO IT AFTER THE RESTART, JUST NOT NOW— Ehem.. “YEAH– SURE, WHATEVER.” I responded with as much nonchalance as I could muster. Ding! ”RAISE A TOON’S AFFINITY LEVEL TOWARDS YOU TO 25%” I– Okay, that was very sudden. The menu button is pulsing white at the bottom left side of my peripheral, definitely going to be annoying to deal with it but whatever.

Before Toodles and I could actually start drawing, the extraction team seems to have returned from their trip. Rodger came over quickly looking a little rugged and picked Toodles up by the torso, he then spun around as the two happily interacted and Toodles’ giggles insued. “Toodles! I’ve returned from my expedition. How has Shrimpo been treating you in my absence?” Rodger asks, looking over me as I sat on the floor. “Hehehe! Good! I had tons of fun! Thank you Shrimpo, but I kinda wanted to stay a little longer…” Toodles replied. They both stared, Toodles especially looking a little sad. “NO. I’LL CLEAN UP AND TAKE MY LEAVE…” I declared trying to keep face, this is some sappy stuff.

So I started cleaning up the 7 scattered pieces of paper containing me and Toodles’ tic-tac-toe games. I kinda just picked them up and stored them in the same hard-copy paper box and placed the art supply container on top. Heck yeah free stuff, I’ll carry both of these back to my room, plus I needed more paper anyways, might help with giving me an idea to gift Goob something. I stood in front of the elevator alongside Sprout, Looey and Brightney as we all waited for the elevator to ascend. Glisten, Rodger, and Toodles seemed to wanna stay in the lobby though. 

“Heya there Shrimpo! How was babysitting Toodles? And whatcha doing with all of that stuff?” Looey inquired, huh okay… hmm… man, I’ll use it I guess. “I HAAAATE MAKING SMALL TALK! DO NOT TALK TO ME ANY FURTHER.” I responded sounding as pissed as I could be. ”YOU MAY VERBALLY DISLIKE ANYTHING ONLY UP TO 5 TIMES (5/5)” popped up as I expected, I guess I have to be careful with words now. “Hey! Don’t you DARE treat any of us that way right now! Especially since we just got back from an exhausting expedition.” Sprout defended Looey, frustration evident by his tone… I- I don’t know what to respond with so I’ll just back off. “WHATEVER..” I replied, stepping further away from the group a bit. I think my response pissed Sprout off juuust a bit, since he’s definitely glaring at me now. 

The elevator arrived, out came the green television toon saying “Berry-boy.” as she walked past us with Sprout loudly replying back: “Vee, I told you to stop calling me that!” Honestly I’ve been oblivious to most of the relationships between the toons here, I wonder if those two are frenemies or something. In any case, I and the others walked into the elevator as I was still carrying the box’n art supplies, the elevator ride was pretty quiet… and I eventually got back to my toon quarter floor alongside Brightney.

I walked through the hallway with Brightney, as I saw her go straight into her room; yup it was the one with the magenta-pink door. And so I approached my room, till I saw Goob standing in the living room area behind the two couches, watching something on the TV with Scraps and Poppy on said couch. Goob seemingly sensed my presence as he looked behind and gave interest in what I was doing with the boxes I’m carrying. 

“Shrimpo.. Are you having a good day today?” Goob asked… huh. I didn’t expect that, I thought he was gonna ask about the things I’m carrying. Now that I looked closer he’s got a more… serious face on. “YES, LEAVE ME BE!” I declared. “I– Okay! I hope it stays that way.” Goob said as he swiftly walked back to his location behind the couch… I think what I said yesterday kinda stuck to him, that has to hurt, man I feel guilty. Not to say I didn’t feel guilty for everything I’ve said to the other toons so far but especially towards Goob. He’s just a goofy nice noodle arm guy who likes hugging people. But I had to act the way I’m acting, else, the system curbstomps me and forces me into a reset.

I place the things down and open my door; bringing the stuff right inside and closing the door behind me using my foot. The safety of my room! I have missed it just a little bit, I’ve started feeling a lot safer whenever I’m back in here. I placed the box and art container on my desk, and sat on the stool that I hadn’t bothered pushing back under the desk since last night. Time to check on the pulsating menu button that’s been annoying me! I pressed it and a new flashing button appeared saying ‘REWARDS.’

Oh okay that’s cool, but why wasnt that there with the stats thing? Man this system is so weirdly inconsistent. I pressed the ‘REWARDS’ button and the menu disappeared and out appeared two boxes… This is pretty cool, gotta give it to the guys up there… er– system.

I looked at these two for a decent while… As cool as the second option is, I feel like its randomness is what puts me off. Like what if I suddenly get a boost in my Stealth stat or something, do the twisteds all just start homing towards me because my super low stealth gets multiplied? At least with the first option, I could just have it active and not care about it too much… 

…

I feel like I had made a mistake by accidentally completing my side objective on Toodles of all toons. As much as I definitely enjoyed babysitting the child, learning a bunch of toon names, and floundering around Finn ( hehe flounder). I doubt I’ll be able to set someone else’s affinity to 25% and get another side objective reward, pretty sure I’m stuck with these rewards until I restart to the 7:00 AM checkpoint.

For now, I selected the first option. The same uncomfortable jolting sensation from adding a star to my agility earlier came back. So I checked on my status screen through the menu.

… Yeah no definitely not satisfied with this getup… how much time do I have to complete my objectives? I waved away at the status screen and pinched out my objectives

Okay… no, it's slightly past noon and I have made no progress on my main objective of ruining someone's day, not to mention I've used up all my verbal dislikes today too… I- I don’t want to… I waved away at the objectives and pinched my checkpoint box nervously.

I had hoped… That there would be a new checkpoint, but I guess it wasn’t worth being given a new checkpoint be given to me if since didn’t prioritize my objectives. No… Come ooon man… I don’t want to.

…

… I shuddered, despite knowing that it’s an inevitability: I’m going to have to restart the day today and plan out my next moves for the whole morning. I guess I’ll… I'll…

…

… I'm hesitating, body shaking in fear. I closed my eyes. My breaths became intermittent.

…

“I-I hate having to restart at checkpoints.” I exclaimed, evident hesitation in my voice.

…

”YOU MAY VERBALLY DISLIKE ANYTHING ONLY UP TO 5 TIMES (6/5)”

Chapter Text

…I’m going to be the Shrimpo the system really wants me to be…

I gasped; eyes open wide; hands shaking as I woke up from the bed. Restarting will stay as a horrifying– no- horrible experience. No sane person would get used to it.. I held my hands over my face, and rubbed my forehead. I describe the feeling as feeling everything stopping around you, then sensations are taken away from you one by one in quick succession… 

They’re taken away so abruptly that when my mind processes that I’m suddenly ceasing important functions, it goes into full on panic mode. It’s… almost like death… The worst part is; I don’t even know if I die when I restart, all I currently know is that I return to the checkpoint. Maybe I'm thrown into another timeline, but what happens to the me that restarts? Or time really just reverses to the checkpoint, but what do I know about temporal mechanics.

I navigate through my menu and check my status, the 'REWARDS' button was predominantly missing…

Yup it’s back to what it used to be, that’s fine by me. I had hastily used my star anyways, not that agility was a bad pick. I think I’ll just use the star when I think I can commit to those stats. I clear my throat, I’ve been saying things a lot louder than before. I guess I just got used to the yelling after a while, good for me I guess since that seems pretty Shrimpo-like.

Three knocks on the door, there’s Finn. “…Alright! Let’s get started.” I murmured to myself, I then cleared my throat again. I fixed my bed up as swiftly as I could, standing up and rushing towards the door. I opened it and preemptively asked: “WHO’S THERE?!” I asked, then continued with: “Oh.. It’s just YOU.” Finn smiled and said “Morning Shrimpo! You’ve been skipping mealtime apparently, and that didn’t float either of our chef’s boats ” He gestured at his jokes yet again as he said them. “So..?! Do YOU just want ME to eat breakfast?” I asked, with my arms crossed. “Well, per request by Cosmo & Sprout! Let’s just sea what they have in shore for us cause I’m hungry!” Finn said as he started walking towards the elevator, well I just started following them.

Huh, Cosmo and Sprout, I met sprout but.. Cosmo.. Cosmic Brownie… Cake-roll toon? Right! He’s a chef.. Err baker? I don’t fully know but I’m connecting the dots from yesterday and the time I ate breakfast. New name to the list, so that’s a win already. “So why’d you agree to pick ME up from MY room?” I grumbled, making my face as dejected as it could look. “Whale you don’t hate me, do ya Shrimpo?” Finn asked innocently… Hmm… you know what? I’m gonna try something. “Yes Finn, I DON’T hate you.” I said, changing into a smug face. “I- I didn’t expect that! Does that mean we’re o-fish-ially friends!?” Finn excitedly exclaimed, staring at me in awe. “Pssh! YOU MAY HAVE— Just earned Shrimpo’s approval; this does not mean we are friends—” I said, until I felt it again.

The ringing returned. Hands stiffened and the last thing I saw was the elevator just arriving. I fell and stopped breathing, and then I stopped thinking about it..

…

…

I stirred in my bed, yet again. I’ve awoken with shaking hands. I swiftly sat up on my bed yet again gasping for air. I.. I mean I kind of expected it but—shit.. That was the first objective in effect, that’s for sure.. It didn’t even tell me I failed within my top-right peripheral, it just took immediate effect unlike the other main objective which had the courtesy of popping up for a bit before taking effect. That’s… bad design.. Whoever designed this system is pure evil. 

It’s literally just been like several minutes and I’ve activated a reset already, well then again I was asking for it for being too ‘un-Shrimpo-like..’ You know what? I’m gonna try something, I think I was too soft earlier; I didn’t yell as much so, I’m gonna non-stop scream like a banshee; then I’m gonna give Finn a surprise the moment I hear those three knocks. I’m going to be the Shrimpo the system really wants me to be. I’m gonna be really inconsiderate, demanding, and most importantly; aggressive. 

I heard three loud knocks on the door. There’s my cue, I clear my throat and forgo fixing the bed.

“GRAAAH!!” I loudly responded with all my rage. I intentionally started stomping towards the door and swiveled the door inwards so hard that it rebounded and hit my side. “WHAT IS IT FINN?” I inquired, staring at Finn who was clearly shaken by my sudden morning rage.

“Oh- Uh- M-morning Shrimpo! You’ve been skipping mealtime apparently, and… uh– that didn’t float either of our chef’s boats .” Not gesturing this time, just saying the puns in a shaken voice (he got caught by the rage bait.) “ WHAT IF I KEEP SKIPPING MEALS ANYWAYS, HUH?” I taunted Finn, stepping closer. “I- Uh, I mean I can’t exactly reel you into the Cafeteria. But c-can you please come eat breakfast with everyone?” Finn replied, he stepped back a bit in apprehension. “EAT WITH ME.” I suddenly demanded, Finn let out a confused: “..Huh…?” Yeah that’s right buddy, I’m going to try and prawn that agility passive off you for that earlier reset. “I said… I WANT YOU TO EAT WITH ME. ARE YOU DEAF?!” I continued on, gesturing my arm to point at Finn then myself. “Nnn– I mean- s-sure! I’m- I’m not opposed to dining with the krill-est guy around!” Finn responded flustered.

“GOOD! SHRIMPO WINS!” I celebrated raising my arms up as I closed the door behind me and  walked outside (arm still freshly hurt from that door rebound), Finn followed me as I started walking towards the elevator. “So uhm, mind letting minnow why you wanna eat breakfast with me, Shrimpo? Pretty sure you despise my fish jokes…” Finn asked, sounding dejected near the end. 

Okay, I think I know what to say—here goes nothing…

“SHRIMPO HATES YOUR FISH JOKES– BUT.. I AM. TIRED. TIRED!! TIRED OF EATING ALONE!!! YOU SHOULD BE HONORED THAT I; SHRIMPO. HAVE CHOSEN TO EAT BREAKFAST WITH YOU!” I explained, that’s probably enough entitlement: ”YOU MAY VERBALLY DISLIKE ANYTHING ONLY UP TO 5 TIMES (1/5)” popped up. “I- euh- sure am! Caught me off guard for shore, but I’m not complaining!” Finn responded, still flustered.

We reached the elevator and called it up yet again. “Hey Shrimpo, do you think fish can weigh themselves?” Finn asked as we waited. “Scales..” I flatly replied, giving Finn a grimace. “ GASP! You just fished out my joke!” Finn says as he shakes with excitement, his pupils have dilated too. “WE’RE NOT ALL BUDDY-BUDDY JUST CAUSE I INVITED YOU TO EAT WITH ME!!” I barked, raising my right fist. “Bold clamouring coming from you! I finally reached the day you’d reciprocate a joke ! ” Finn adds on, nudging me. This strikes me as a bit odd, how doesn’t Finn think anything I’ve done is out of character? Or is it that I’m threading the line right now? 

It starts here then, okay, deep breaths … here goes nothing.

“FINN.” I said, looking directly at his face. “Shrimpo?” He responded, he looked back. “YOU DARE CAST YOUR HANDS ONTO ME AGAIN AND I’LL KRILL YOU JUST FOR THE HALIBUT.” I screamed, Finn just stared dumbfounded. The elevator arrived with no one, so I went inside but Finn was just standing in shock. I pressed the cafeteria floor button. “COD YOU NOT JUST STAND THERE!? ARE YOU REEL-Y GOING TO LET ME EAT AB-ALONE ?!” I yelled and kept going with the puns, Finn kinda just quickly stumbled into the elevator. Then the elevator doors closed and we descended. “… Am I dreaming?” Finn asked, just fully bewildered. I walked up to them and grasped their shoulders. “NO…… YOU’RE A FISH BOWL!!! ” I yelled directly to his face, still focused on keeping my composure TRYING to not laugh at myself. He burst out in a hearty laughter, I guess he just couldn’t hold it in anymore.

“WE SHELL NEVER TALK ABOUT THIS AGAIN!! CA-FISH-E?!?!” I threatened Finn, as I violently shook him since I held his shoulders. A lot of water spilled on both the elevator floor and me (I am sopping wet from top to bottom.) I let go, he’s still laughing, probably having the time of his life. “O-Okay yeah! Lips are sealed! I just d-didn’t expect you to be a clown-fish~!” He let out, his  laughter finally dying down. “YOU OWE ME, SHRIMP FACTS, NOW.” I demanded, he gave me a warm toothy grin alongside a missing tooth, I also drained a quarter of the water in his head. I wiped both my wet face and arms onto my shirt in an attempt to dry the water off. Finn, of course, had started rambling about Shrimp facts yet again at my request. But this time he started with the blue blood fact instead of the other thing I’ve forgotten about…

As the elevator continued to descend and I tuned out Finn yet again, I pondered for a bit. Is what I’m doing not out of character? Did Shrimpo act weird around this fishbowl guy specifically?? I’ve braced myself for a restart at the end of every sentence I spoke out, cripes! System, PLEASE explain to me how I haven’t restarted yet?! You know what? Fine! I’m gonna keep going if they’re not penalizing me.

 “HGHH… ALL THIS SEA TALK REMINDS ME OF FISH!” I loudly interrupted. “.. a maneuver called lobst— Huh? A-Are you trying to change the tropic?” Finn asked, looking at me. “YES, NOW TELL ME ONE FISH SPECIES YOU’D WANNA KEEP AS PETS.” I replied, crossing my arms as I stared back. “Species… Hmm… I’d have to say–” before Finn finished his sentence, I held my hand up and interrupted with: “ACTUALLY, LET ME SAY MINE FIRST.” He looked at me weird “Huh? Y- You like a certain species of fish?!?” Finn asked with twinkling eyes. “They’re… FRESHWATER FISH! I DON’T REMEMBER THE NAME BUT I KNOW IT STARTS WITH A ‘T’ AND ENDS WITH ‘A.’” I explained, assuming ‘Tetra’ is the fish species name and that the ‘Congo’ part is just that fish’s native region. 

The elevator had stopped at the cafeteria floor, Finn just stood there processing what I said. “No way…” Finn murmured. “WHAT!?” I snapped back as I walked forward. “N-Nevermind, let’s go eat!” Finn said as he hurriedly followed behind. Here I am again, getting my second helping of breakfast! The tray, the tongs, the food, I chose the same choices! Though Finn seemed to pick out three pancakes and heavily slathered butter all over them (that has to be a stick’s worth of butter,) alongside two bottles of water… I wonder if they recycle the bottles of water… Actually how do the toons get all of this food—

Well questions later, time to sit down and eat with my future agility passive Finn! We sat in the same spot I ate last time, but this time Finn sat across from me. “Hey Shrimpo, wonder what the most valuable fish is?” Finn setup another punchline… Okay, I’ll bite: “GOLD-FSHH.” I said muffled, mainly because my mouth is full of bread & bacon. Finn playfully snickered, he’s definitely enjoying his time with me at least. 

As we ate, Toodles came over yet again. She started tapping Finn’s lap. “Hey Toodles, fishing for attention today?” Finn inquired as he looked over Toodles. “Yeah! I’m super duper bored!! Tell me a fish joke or play with me!” Toodles requested, glancing over my direction once or twice. “Alright bud! What do you call a fancy fish?” Finn said, then continued it with “So-FISH-ticated!” Toodles stared blankly and replied with: “You already told me that one a bunch of times…” Yikes, such a straightforward reaction. I grabbed my bottle to wash down my food with water, but it was empty. I noticed Finn still had a half-full bottle of water alongside an empty one. An Idea popped into my head, surely this is in character… I leaned over and grabbed it; drank a sufficient amount to wash the food down, though I had eventually returned it.

“Heeey ! Finn! Shrimpo stole some of your water while you were distracted!” Toodles tattled, Finn had his mouth slightly agape as he looked at the bottle, then me, then the bottle again, and then me. “SO? SHRIMPO WINS! FINN LOSES!” I proclaimed… Man, I have been suddenly using the ‘Shrimpo Wins’ phrase more often; the phrase has been fun to use ever since I won that bet against Gigi. ”RAISE A TOON’S AFFINITY LEVEL TOWARDS YOU TO 25%” Oh- Okay, that was really sudden. What was that about? I’ve only hung out with Finn for around 20-30 minutes most probably. It took me a whole morning to get Toodles’ affinity level to 25%, and she had 19% when I checked her affinity level after playing tag! The menu button pulsated again, signifying the ‘REWARDS’ button’s return.

I’m not complaining! My choices have already paid off, thank you for sparing me–system! Though I feel like I should’ve been smitten by now… did everything I did from earlier actually count as “Being in character in front of other toons?” while I did certainly act like a loud entitled asshole; I’m preeetty sure that everything else I just did was out of character. As I finished up my meal I looked over to see Finn just staring at the bottle. I mean, he ate his food at least. But now I’m just weirded out… I’m a little concerned as to why he’s fixated on the bottle, what did I do exactly other than drink from it? “FINN, WHAT ARE YOU DOING.” I asked, and he finally snapped out of it. “Uhm…! Nothing fishy ! That’s for sure, haha…” he replied, sounding awkward as he stared back at me with a smile. “Toodles, come over here!” Rodger shouted from across the room. Toodles went away, not saying a word.

“SURE… I’ll CATCH YOU LATER, I guess…” I hopped off the diner chair and started walking with the other toons toward the elevator, I hopped in with them. Finn seemed to stay behind though, did I really shock him that much this morning? I’ll.. I’ll check on him later, I think I’m on a better pace than before. If I have to, I’ll do that whole morning thing again with Finn. Now I need to ruin someone’s day… without getting caught… that’s almost impossible, lest I be sneaky and just ignore my extremely low stealth.

Well, I think I have potential targets for the day though. The morning extraction team, they’ll be away from their rooms and won’t be returning for another three-four hours maybe? So Glisten, Rodger, Brightney, Sprout, and Looey. Well two of them live on the same floor I do, and I kinda wanna mess with Glisten just a bit because he demeaned me like once yesterday without any prompt from me. And there’s Brightney, but I have naught a single clue as to what would piss them off, nor do I really have the drive to do so other than the objectives…

We arrived at the 2nd lower floor, toon quarters… err rooms? Goob, Scraps, Boxten, Poppy, and Razzle’n Dazzle came out of the elevator alongside me. If there’s one thing I predominantly remember, it’s that my door didn’t have a lock… for some reason. And if I don’t, then probably no one else does. We’ll just have to see. As I went into the hallway, everyone kinda dispersed into doing their own thing: Scraps and Poppy started talking at the back table of the kitchenette, Goob was currently in the middle of hugging Razzle’n Dazzle, and Boxten went into his room alone.

I looked around the hallway carefully, and started thinking about where Glisten might reside… ‘U-001’ is Brightney, I just saw Boxten go into the room with the sign saying ‘C-002’, The door with ‘C-001’ is blue and pink which is definitely Poppy’s, and the other two rooms have two codenames on their sign. 

Goob walked towards me though, so I guess I have to deal with that. “…Uhm, Hey Shrimpo! How was breakfast?” He inquired. “I HATED BREAKFAST! NOT TO MENTION THAT FINN ATE WITH ME.” I replied: ”YOU MAY VERBALLY DISLIKE ANYTHING ONLY UP TO 5 TIMES (2/5)” popped up. “Well.. Can I hug you to make your day better?” Goob asked, pouting as he fiddled with his claw-fingers. “GRAAAH!!! LEAVE ME ALONE!” I barked back in response, he quickly scurried away towards the kitchenette. Yeesh, I almost forgot he’s on edge with me today, I think I do want a hug. But at this point I’ve implied that I’ll get incredibly upset today and at him if he hugs me. I’ve also noticed the screens that pop out go away on their own, so that means my U.I settings at the very least have transferred, which is a good thing! 

“Glisten, Rodger, Brightney, Sprout, Aaaand Looey! Get to the lobby. It’s time to go on an expedition!” Dandy’s voice rang out, looks like they’re off to their expedition now I guess. Welp, gotta go fast while no one is looking! I walked towards the room with the codename ‘R-002’ with the yellow and pink striped door; definitely Glisten’s room, deduced it by process of elimination! And so I looked around for an opportunity to slip in.

Upon seeing the coast was clear and no one was around me, I swiftly went into Glisten’s room and quietly closed the door behind me. Yeah, the doors have no locks, that’s really dumb. I looked around his room… he has his own couch ( it had a pillow on it, ) a really fancy bed ( with three pillows, a pink blanket, and… white drapes?! ) with two end tables, a wardrobe, a coat-rack containing a big blue ribbon, a bulletin board which contained a bunch of little drawings of himself and… kids..? And a vanity desk with photos of himself. I look at the vanity mirror and see myself, hello Shrimpo! Err.. me! Unsurprisingly, I have a resting angry face. Smile! Haha, my brows slightly unfurrowed. Ehem —

The other thing that took my attention were the two posters in his room, his personal poster, and… A poster detailing the toon I’ve met during my dreams… ‘ASTRO in STAGE FRIGHT’, huh, I’ve only seen that specific poster here so far… and it’s been modified with a red marker highlighting Glisten’s face in said poster because he cameoed in it, hearts surrounding the circle highlighted around Glisten. I opened his wardrobe door and it contained five pink ribbons tied to a hanger with one lonesome empty hanger. Then I checked the wardrobe drawers, it contained neatly folded pairs of his leg warmers. Welp, I know what I'm doing. I hope I can make it up to Glisten whenever, assuming he doesn’t catch me by the end of today. 

I unpinned all of his fanart and stole the thumbtacks; this made all of the drawings just fall off his board. Then I took off his pillow covers and hid it in his bed’s blanket, then folded that into a rectangle and threw it into his wardrobe. Afterward, I stuffed all of his pillows into the wardrobe drawer filled with pairs of leg warmers. Oh, and I also placed one of his thumbtacks pointing upwards at the center of his stool. So uh, if this doesn’t ruin his day I don’t know what will. I’d definitely be annoyed if I had to reorganize my room after trying to not die to twisteds.

I peeked out of the room, scanning if anyone was around the hallway but the coast was clear. So I slipped out and casually walked towards my room with 5 stolen thumbtacks… Wait, no one’s in the living room corner right now– And I know the people that are gonna sit on the couches. I quickly took the opportunity by running over to the corner and spreaded the thumbtacks across the couch. Surely—this won’t kill Poppy right? Just… deflate her maybe? I mean she looks like and seems like a bubble, I doubt she’ll die if she suddenly gets punctured by thumbtacks… 

… I move the thumbtacks and place them on the spot Scraps would sit in; yeah no I’m not gonna risk becoming a murderer. Scraps is made up of—paper, right? It’s probably not gonna kill her if she sat on a bunch of thumbtacks, maybe puncture through that dress of hers. I absconded from the crime scene and returned back to my room. I… need an alibi, perhaps someone to back me up… but for now, I check my menu button and press the ‘REWARDS’ button now that I’m hidden in my room, the menu pulsating was pretty annoying.

I chose the first option, with no hesitation. The jolting sensation returns yet again, and I shiver a bit afterward. That second option might’ve been more enticing if I could use it on myself, but I feel like what weighed it down were the fish puns. I enjoy them, don’t get me wrong, but that seems bad for the ‘staying in character’ objective. Is the system trying to get me killed? I’m pretty sure if I started spewing puns out of nowhere in an expedition in front of other toons; I’d get weird looks, and then people would think I’m not acting Shrimpo enough because I’m spreading humor around—But then again I could probably circumvent that by just saying the puns under my breath. I wonder how the active ability would get applied though… What would the range even be? Earshot? Do I just say their name and a fish pun beforehand and they suddenly become faster? Whatever, I made my choice anyway...

As minuscule as the buff I get from the first option, I feel like that’ll add up seeing as there are apparently four ichor machines per floor from what I’ve seen, maybe some floors have more but I wouldn’t know. Plus it’ll let me get away from the feral Twisteds assuming that there are machines that get done. I like these options over the ones I got from Toodles, no offense to her focus on randomness (I get that she’s an 8-ball though…) Ehem—Back to finding a proper alibi, I wave the screen off my face.

Finn’s passive selection was great…

… Wait right! I can just hang out with Finn for even longer. He’ll back me up for hanging out with him all day, right? I’m a bit too estranged from everyone else right now. I already hung out with him in the morning and got his affinity up pretty high ( still unclear how that happened. ) Hopefully, he’s not as dazed as before now that a bit of time has passed from breakfast, I’ll just have to find where he is right now. I walked outside my room and walked towards the elevator. 

When I passed the kitchenette, I saw: Poppy, Scraps, and Goob all sitting around the back table fiddling with stuff. “Hey Shrimpo! Wanna join us?” Poppy shouted across. “NO!! I REFUSE TO HANG AROUND ANY OF YOU!” I screamed back. I contemplated saying that I was off to hang out with Finn, but Shrimpo wouldn’t wanna share his business. “Okay! You’re gonna miss out though.” Poppy continued, well I just kept walking towards the elevator. Man, Poppy has been consistently nice despite how rude I’ve been… talk about a bubbly personality. Also, it would’ve been awkward to hang out with Goob after our recent interaction…

I called the elevator and waited for its arrival. A bit of time passes and it opens with no one inside, so I go in and press on the 3rd lower floor button, that’s presumably the second toon quarters floor. The elevator starts descending.. I wonder how different it’s going to be over the toon floor we’re on… Time to ponder a bit I guess.

I haven’t seen a single restroom here, do toons not have certain bodily functions? Hm… I tug up my shirt and look down there—yeah no it’s perfectly smooth, there’s just nothing in between the legs. I kinda figured seeing as it would be a design flaw, but then why give thirst and hunger? Also—where does all that bodily waste go!? Probably where the tapes go, haha. I don’t particularly mind the anatomical aspects of my body though, funnily enough.

The floor opened to: a light blue wallpaper, same wooden flooring, and instead of going to the left, there seems to be a hallway leading to the right! The architects must’ve had a field day designing this entire museum-school hybrid. I walked forward past the similar wall protrusions that blocked the elevator and: Long Rainbow rug; check. Random boxes and random empty racks; check. Kitchenette? Not here apparently, what is that area supposed to be? Actually, now that I look at it closer, it seems like a miniature library with beanbags and small tables alongside a bunch of bookshelves. Over a kitchenette? I’d take the kitchenette any day thank you.

“Yo Shrimperdoodle! Whatcha doin' here?” Gigi asked as she approached me alongside the butterfly toon, she’s still calling me nicknames. “WHERE’S THE FISH BOWL.” I asked, standing there menacingly. “Hey, I asked first! Tell me why you’re looking for Finn or I won’t tell.” Gigi responded, tongue out. “GHH.. I HAVE THINGS TO DISCUSS.” I responded. “Ooo! Talk about what?” Gigi commented until the butterfly toon leaned in and did–something, whilst Gigi nodded in agreement. “Hmm.. you’re right Flutter! That's a pretty reasonable assumption..” She said out loud. “Alright Shrimpo. Pretty sure Finn’s in his room right now, it’s one of the rooms to your left.” Gigi finally answered. Well, I just walked past them and started looking at the left doors passing by: a regular brown one, a white one with yellow trims, till I saw the one found with a white, blue, and orange pattern. The sign beside the door had ‘U-005’ written on it.

… Well, I’m in front of Finn’s room, just standing here. Hmm.. Knock or just go straight in? I’ll be courteous for now: I violently bang my fist into the door. “Wuh?!” I heard muffled behind the door. I overheard some scrambling inside until it calmed down and Finn opened the door. “H-heya bud! Water you currently doing here?” He joked again, nervous. “I DID SAY I’LL CATCH YOU LATER.” I said. “O-Oh.. W-Wait! Are we about to hang out again!?” He asked in surprise, no pun or joke surprisingly. “DO YOU WANT ME TO LEAVE?!” I inquired, preparing to walk away. “N-No! Dive right into my room.” Finn invited me right inside.

I walked and took it all in, it was a relatively average room. The wallpaper was sea-blue, and the ceiling was black like my room. His bed is laid at the back middle part of the room, kinda like Glisten’s bed position. He had one end table with… what is that—IS THAT A COMICALLY BIG CORK ON THE TABLE?!? Eh actually it makes sense, I look at Finn then glance back at the cork, that thing probably plugs his head in so it doesn’t spill while he sleeps. He has a fishing rod on display and one of those creepy talking bass fish mounted on the wall. The desk and stool combo returns, on top of the desk, laid a bunch of tackles, though the desk also included a drawer and a tiny cabinet. He also had his poster plastered on the wall, actually, it’s above a mostly empty fish tank. The fish tank is filled with sand, rock, and plastic decorations you’d see in a regular fish tank… except it doesn’t have water.

 “Soo~! What do you think of my shrimp-le abode?” He excitedly asks. “YOUR FISH TANK IS LIFELESS.” I replied. He sighs.. “They didn't have ane-mone left to buy me live fish… Told me that fish upkeep was too expensive.” he explained, who is ‘They’ ?! Man, I need answers… “SUCKS TO BE YOU.” I replied, well I kinda just walked over and sat on his bed. He pulled his desk stool over to the bed and sat across from me. “Important Question. Are we o-fish-ially pals now?” He suddenly asked, hope gleaming in his eyes; hands were between his legs. He’s leaning in towards me, anticipating my answer. Alright, here goes nothing… 

“I HAATE THAT WE ARE F-FRUUH—FRIENDS… AT THIS POINT.” I replied, furrowing my eyebrows and closing my eyes: ”YOU MAY VERBALLY DISLIKE ANYTHING ONLY UP TO 5 TIMES (3/5)” 

… Please don’t restart.. Please don’t restart…

…

… “Do you reel-y hate being friends with me~?” Finn smugly asked.

I opened my eyes back. Finn was just smiling; his hands pressed together pointing at me. I returned a grimace and huffed: “YES…” He let out a stifled laugh. I feel like something I did changed the threshold of how ‘out of character’ I can act around Finn, alternatively; it hasn’t changed and being bitchy and seemingly being in denial is what’s actually keeping me alive. “Whale–friend! What do you wanna do to pass the time? I think I have a deck of cards in here somewhere…” He continued on, glancing at his desk. “FINE…” I said as if I was annoyed by the prior interaction. Eventually Finn scrounged the deck of cards from his desk drawer, Just the average 52 it seems like.. Plus two jokers I assume, except the back of the cards had a blue design over the basic red one cards usually have.

…

… We sat on the floor, playing Go Fish. It's the 23rd turn and I’m on my last three cards (all of which are sixes) alongside 7 sets of cards I’ve completed: Threes, Eights, Nines, Tens, Kings, Queens, and Aces. Finn on the other hand had Sevens, Twos, Jacks, Fives completed. The pile only had three cards left.

“G-Got any fours?” Finn asked nervously. “GO FISH!” I responded, and so he took one of the last cards… That surprised face says it all, I’m pretty sure I won now. He’s realized that I only have sixes but he hasn’t been able to draw the last one in the ⅓ chance, whilst I won the ¼ chance and got a six earlier. “GIVE ME THE SIX.” I triumphantly requested. He handed it over, and I laid out four sixes. The card game has basically ended with me stomping on Finn. “SHRIMPO WINS!” I exclaimed, arms up. Finn clapped in response.

We’ve played more than just Go Fish though, earlier we painstakingly stacked cards into a card pyramid which took an excruciatingly long time. During the card pyramid building, we exchanged some dialogue back and forth for a while and knocked the pyramid over after we got done. After that was a game of Old Maid in which I actually lost that one as Finn casually avoided taking the joker card from me every single time. Upon losing that match, I could only describe my reaction as: losing my shit and screaming like a gorilla… even though I wasn’t actually mad. Then we played this game of Go Fish which kind of lasted a really long while.

In the middle of  playing Old Maid the: ”RUIN THE DAY FOR (1/2) TOONS WITHOUT BEING DIRECTLY CAUGHT” popped up. So there’s only one explanation.. someone got themselves punctured by those thumbtacks on the couch, because the Expedition team isn’t here yet. Good progress!

“I can’t kelp but pond-er how I’m hanging with you in my room right now..” Finn somberly commented, looking to the side. “You.. JUST GOT LUCKY! I SIMPLY FELT MERCIFUL THIS MORNING!” I proclaimed. "Or maybe you finally softened up! I'm really grateful that Sprout and Cosmo both shore -d up at my door and insisted on reeling you to the cafeteria." Finn continued, now looking at me. “SHRIMPO HAS NOT CHANGED!!! I'M LEAVING!!” I screamed in protest.. yeah no, Shrimpo’s gone, I’m him now. I stood up and prepared to take my leave. “Either way, thanks for hanging out, Shrimpo.” Finn added, I approached and looked at him as he sat still. “ THIS. WAS. A ONE TIME THING.” I clarified; although it’s very unlikely that I’d just stop interacting with him from here on out. I walked out of the room leaving Finn alone.

I walked through the hallway as I headed towards the elevator, how much time has passed? I looked around to check if no one was around, then I pinched out the objectives box.

As I stood in front of the elevator, it suddenly arrived without my input. Out came Looey, Rodger, and Toodles. Sprout was just casually standing in the elevator. “Heya there Shrimpo! W-Wait, why were you on this floor?” Looey nervously asked. “NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS.” I replied as I went inside and pressed the 2nd lower floor button. Looks like Sprout’s going to the cafeteria though so I have to wait for the elevator to descend down then back up… 

…WAIT A MINUTE!

What’s Rodger and Toodles doing here?! Wait, does that mean that–”RUIN THE DAY FOR (2/2) TOONS WITHOUT BEING DIRECTLY CAUGHT” Oh… Looks like Glisten just saw his room.. The checkpoint box popped out from my top left peripheral replacing the objective box… Finally! A checkpoint! Okay, that’s great, I guess people couldn’t exactly really find out who could’ve done either of the two things I did. Now that I think about it, I’m pretty sure I’m a prime suspect but.. I came to Finn’s room to hangout, not to mention I hung out with him at breakfast. That kind of implies that I had a good day to the other toons and I’d have no reason just bullying others today.

… Honestly I’m just glad that I don’t have to repeat the morning…

“.. How was breakfast?” Sprout suddenly asked. “FIND BETTER BACON.” I replied, still looking at the elevator door. He then murmured something behind his breath, but I couldn’t figure the words out, so until then I’m just gonna assume he cursed me out. We arrived at the Cafeteria and he ran straight out of the elevator, then the elevator closed and started ascending. 

As the elevator stopped at the 2nd toon quarters floor… Dear lord, I could hear the shouting from the elevator. “What on earth could I have possibly done to deserve this?! Everything has been tampered with, EVEN THE KIDS DRAWINGS! Which one of you psychos came in here and ruined my room!? I almost sat on a BOOBY Trap placed on one of the stools!” Glisten screamed afar. I walked past the wall protrusions, looked to my right, and saw: Goob, Scraps, Brightney, Razzle’n Dazzle, Boxten, and Poppy crowding near Glisten’s room. I started walking over and joined the sidelines. 

“Glisten–” Scraps said, “What!?” Glisten interrupted. “Were these yours?” Scraps asked as she produced the five thumbtacks, Glisten slowly grabbed them and stared. “Me, Goob, and Scraps were about to watch something on the TV, till Scraps sat on those five thumbtacks just placed on the couch and got hurt. Fortunately, I didn’t get popped hehe!” Poppy explained. “Wow, that is unnecessarily evil. (That could’ve been awful…)” Razzle’n Dazzle commented. Goob went over to Glisten and hugged the guy. Then others kinda just noticed that I was standing there. “WHAT?” I said, annoyed.

“Listen Shrimp, did you do all of this?” Scraps asked as she walked towards me. “GRRR.. I HAAAATE BASELESS ACCUSATIONS! I WAS BARELY HERE IN THE MORNING, I PRACTICALLY HUNG OUT WITH FINN ALL MORNING!” I started defending myself: ”YOU MAY VERBALLY DISLIKE ANYTHING ONLY UP TO 5 TIMES (4/5)” popped up. “So? Who else could it be?! You’re the only one here who’s ever done stuff like this!” Scraps argued, arms crossed staring directly at me. “WELL, I’M INNOCENT UNTIL PROVEN GUILTY! ANOTHER THING—SHRIMPO CAN’T BE IN TWO PLACES AT ONCE!” I boldly claimed, leaning towards her as we both gave each other death stares. I’m like… praying to the lord above these toons do not have a direct sense of time, mainly because there are a distinct lack of clocks here.

Goob stepped in between me and Scraps, pushing us both away before Scraps and I were about to seemingly beat each other up. “Sis..! Shrimpo.. Please don’t fight in front of Glisten’s room! He had his room trashed and stuff..” Goob whined, I looked to my side and saw Glisten doing a defeated kneel inside his room. Silence filled the hallway. 

Scraps disengaged and so did I.. She started walking away. And Brightney went into Glisten’s room. That gave everyone else the cue to disperse. Boxten kinda stayed where he stood, just staring into Glisten’s room. I then looked at Scraps as Goob walked beside her and- I- yup, yeah no I can get why her day might be ruined, I can distinctly see the torn spots from Scraps’ papery white dress with tiny spots of black; I presume it is ichor. There were bandaids under there–it looked like she sat on those thumbtacks hard…

…

I started walking towards my room, Goob just closed the door to their room as I passed by. I opened the door to my room and closed it, sitting in front of the door.

…

I… formed my hands into a fist and looked down. I thought about my actions for a bit, I truly didn’t want to harm anyone. But here I am, the second day here as Shrimpo and I’m already causing trouble. I felt guilty, and I think that’s all good and normal. Man I have some insane gripes against the system right about now. I wonder what it could’ve been like if I never had this system watching over me…

…

Actually… I would’ve probably died to that twisted Boxten. No system means no restarts—Well, technically I could’ve also just been taken off the expedition because of my sudden amnesia. I wonder if they would just say that I went crazy.

…

… “I hate being Shrimpo.” I said: ”YOU MAY VERBALLY DISLIKE ANYTHING ONLY UP TO 5 TIMES (5/5)” Do I mean it? Yes–kind of. Do I hate myself? No, not really. Self-loathing was never really my thing. 

…

At this point, I guess I’m free to do whatever I want till I go to sleep. I really don’t wanna go outside right now anyways. I stood up from the door, and looked around the room. There’s the letter I wrote for Goob as well as gift options on the desk—I grabbed both from the desk and placed the two papers under my bed…

… I stared at the punching bags for a bit. But decided against it, I don’t feel like punching anything. But I wanna exercise, so I guess I’ll do that first. Afterwards I’ll organize the disorganized wardrobe drawer. I’m gonna start stretching for now I guess.

… 

… I laid the sleeveless red shirt I was holding flat on the floor, smoothing out its wrinkles. The soft cotton brushed against my hands for what felt like the thousandth time. Then I folded it into a square and placed it on top of a stack and placed that into the drawer. I sat beside a shrunken, disorganized pile of red sleeveless shirts that I had pulled from my wardrobe drawer. Thankfully, I had managed to organize several stacks of red sleeveless shirts in the drawer, transforming it from a red sea into–5 red squares and one empty spot on the right. 

Unsurprisingly, I felt very productive as I accomplished the herculean task. Right after exercising too! Doing sit ups with my tail head sucked, and I will never do those again. As I continued folding, I heard knocks on the door.

I stopped my folding, and walked over taking a deep breath, opening the door. “WHAT DO YOU WANT… Rodger?” I asked, then stared at Rodger who held a clipboard and pen. “Nothing specific, really. I merely wanted to inquire about what happened to Glisten. And no, I’m not outright accusing you of wrecking his room.” Rodger explained… 

Suddenly it hit me…

HE’S INVESTIGATING ME. 

I instinctively flinched at the thought–In front of Rodger no less… If I get caught now, would the system just restart me to my checkpoint?

 “HNNG.. ALL I KNOW IS THAT SOMEONE MESSED UP HIS ROOM. SHRIMPO HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH IT!” I exclaimed, lying through my teeth. “Is that so? Would you be so kind as to tell me what you were up to this morning, if you don’t mind, of course?” Rodger continued as he wrote something down. 

“WOKE UP, ATE WITH FINN, WENT BACK TO MY ROOM, THEN I WENT TO HIS FLOOR AND DID A BUNCH OF STUFF WITH FINN. CAN YOU LEAVE ME ALONE NOW?!” I said, straightforward with no hesitation. It’s a little nerve wracking, but I need to keep it cool–err angry.

“Just a bit longer–Who would you say is the prime suspect behind the last two... 'pranks' that have been carried out? Just your opinion will suffice.” Rodger asked. “DON'T KNOW, DON'T CARE; IT'S NOT MY CONCERN.” I denied, we both stared each other down (felt like we did, anyways,) before Rodger wrote something down. “..Alright, I appreciate your cooperation. Do continue having a good day, Shrimpo.” Rodger replied as he walked away. And I closed the door—immediately strode back then sat on the spot next to my pile of clothes.

There’s no way he could know anything just from that one interaction, but I don’t want to underestimate him, he could possibly figure it out before the day ends. Maybe he has a passive ability to detect lies or something similar—and though I was cooperating, my first answer is a complete lie so I guess I’ll figure it out when I’m suddenly back at that elevator with Sprout. Well, Rodger’s probably gonna talk to Finn to investigate my claims… I must flush out my thoughts and calm down, so I return to folding my shirts. I’m nearly done anyway…

…

… As I folded the last of my shirts and placed the stack into the wardrobe drawer. I closed the drawer and stood up. I gazed in awe over my mostly clean room! Minus the sunken punching bag in the corner, my unfixed bed, and the various holes in the walls. I strode right into my bed, dusting off my blanket with my hands and laid down.

I pinch out my objectives box to check the time…

Yeah… I could go for a 4-hour power nap or something along those lines. I have definitely skipped lunch already if there was lunch served, but I might just wake up in time for dinner, probably. When does dinner start anyways? I assume it's like 6:00 PM or 8:00 PM. I wonder what I’ll dream up this time. It better be good! Alternatively, I don’t dream at all which is fine, mainly because I’m just a teeny tiny bit nervous if I have to meet dream guy–euh Astro. Speaking of Astro, I haven't seen the guy anywhere outside of my dreams. I wonder where he's holed up in… 

I waved away at my screen. I fully tuck myself in, lay on my side, then close my eyes to rest for just a moment.

…

Chapter Text

…What did I have before being Shrimpo?…

The whirring of the elevator returns, as well as its familiar door. I blink once or twice before looking around me, there I saw Sprout yet again.  

Oh… I- I guess Rodger found out…?

Was there camera footage or something that saw me going directly into Glisten’s room? Man! Whatever… At least I don’t have to start all over from the morning. “.. How was breakfast?” he asked yet again as I looked at the elevator door.

“THE BACON WAS WEIRD.” I commented. “The bacon was weird, huh?” he ominously replied back in a chipper tone. “Huh—YES!” I exclaimed, now grimacing at him—then I softened a bit as I noticed he.. was smiling? He slowly started pacing towards me. “I- WhAT’S UP WITH YOU!?.” I clamoured, stepping back once as my voice cracked a bit. “Bacon isn’t the only weird thing here.” he said, looking more and more manic as he stepped closer. I just stared nervously as he took one step after another. “You’ve—been acting real strange, y’know!” he added, following up with a chuckle.

“L-loOK WHO’S TALKING ABOUT ACTING STRANGE!” I yelled, still trying to not break character. “You’re like imitation shrimp~! Inferior over the real thing.” he cackled, now looking down over me as he fully stood in front of me. There was no space behind me left, the strawberry toon had my back onto the elevator door, him being a bit taller than most combined with my short stature had really given him an imposing figure. “P-PERSONAL SPACE!!” I yelped, as I fervently attempted to push him away. 

Instead, I pushed myself off the elevator… The elevator door was no longer there, but I had just felt and seen it a moment ago. I seem to have just fallen backwards.

…

And backwards. 

…

And backwards.

The elevator never felt so far away as I kept on freefalling, a black void of space just surrounded everything as the box from above became further distanced. As I barreled down, I suddenly felt as if I was enveloped in liquid, as if the void had swallowed me whole. My ears tingled as if they were underwater, and a familiar underwater weight was suddenly placed on me. I panicked and tried to open my mouth to scream, only to find out that the viscous fluid I'm currently surrounded by flowed into my mouth as I opened it. 

The taste was unmistakable, it was a sea of Ichor that I had fallen into.

…

…

I retched, as the taste of phantom Ichor stayed in my mouth a little longer than I anticipated. I sat up from my bed with my body shaking, still startled by the experience. “C-Cripes…” I let out in an exhausted tone. A nightmare, and while unpleasant; it was short for the most part. Fun as it was for my subconscious to drown me in literal toon blood, I breathed in and out deeply to keep myself composed.

“…Haah..”

Four repetitions of breathing had done the job as the shaking stopped. I rubbed my face a bit before I realized the return of the U.I peripherals, I should’ve probably noticed that they weren’t there a little earlier… but I didn’t, and I don’t blame myself for that because that dream was oddly realistic at the start. I pinch out the objective box to see how much time has passed.

Then a realization hit me—Astro didn’t visit my dream that time. Maybe he was busy; disappointment washes over my face since he wasn’t there to save me. In hindsight, I shouldn’t ever take Astro’s dream visitation for granted—now that I’ve experienced a full fledged nightmare without the guy. I suppose it’s time to check what’s happening in the cafeteria, if they even serve dinner. I stood up from my bed and fixed it up yet again…

a white noise came about, then: “Flutter, Vee, Scraps, Finn, aaaaaand—Goob! Meet me in the lobby after you’ve had your fill; We need those machines up and running!” Dandy’s voice rang out. Oh okay, it looks like Dandy answered the dinner question. But that reminds me… When am I getting called down there? The next morning? Then again do I even wanna be down there? It’s utterly terrifying. Speaking of which, I’ve decided I should probably look around for a gift shop floor or something. If… they have those, at least; I honestly just wanna get something for the Goob guy already—and maybe something for Scraps too. 

I think I have an idea of what I wanna give to Glisten too! Thankfully the gift list I’ve made isn't just purely for Goob, it’s… kinda for everyone I’ve wronged. Sadly, I will probably continue to do wrongs for the sake of completing my objective. I feel like I need to visit Goob and Scraps’ room to figure out what I should give them anyway if my hunch about both sharing rooms is correct. I look around for the box containing the paper that me and Toodles used—

…

Right, I never babysat Toodles today. I hung out with the one and only: Finn the Fishbowl! And… I kinda feel icky for (sorta) using him to get that ability. But hey! I’m sea-riously happy to have an o-fish-ial friend. I wonder if people saw me playing with Toodles last time, I barely paid attention anywhere during tag and tic-tac-toe. Wait– I’ve been mentioning Finn a lot more around the other toons. Isn’t that suspicious? Uhm, it hasn’t gotten me to reset yet, so I’m guessing it’s normal enough for Shrimpo to get closer to Finn over the other toons.

My legs were getting restless from standing, so I walked outside of my room. The hallway was mostly quiet, some chatter came from the end which I presumed were toons talking in the kitchenette. The living room corner was empty with the TV turned off. I reached the end of the hallway and saw: Glisten at the front kitchenette table drinking a cup of water, sitting across Brightney who was tinkering with a weird thingamajig. 

“…Brightney, goodness–I promise I’ll pay a visit to one of your next book club meetings.” Glisten said. “Sounds Great! Uhm–besides that, mind helping me with this?” Brightney followed up, still focused on the tech. “Mhm, sure. It’s the most I could do after you and Boxten helped me organize my room.” Glisten stood up and walked beside Brightney, then they both started prodding at whatever those things were—like what are they?! It’s two indescribably techy and haphazardly wired hand-sized boxes. Whatever they’re doing–doesn’t look safe… honestly, I’d assume it’s bombs or something. I walked away walking towards the elevator, leaving those two to their own devices… Book Club… eh, doesn’t pique my interest.

Calling the elevator, it arrived after a bit of waiting. I started my descent to the cafeteria yet again. I reminisced about—well, nothing honestly. Other than completing the objectives and trying to repent for my recent actions, I don’t have a very concrete goal other than surviving the next day. I let out a “Hmm..” trying to think of a final goal…

My origins? My past? Honestly, I don’t have much of a drive to dig into that can of worms. I am who I am right now, which is Shrimpo. I’ll chase after it if I’m given the opportunity though…

Learning the history of this place sounds fun. But I’m kind of doing that already as I go around doing whatever I’m doing. Like the fact, this place had humans in it… presumably. I have not seen a single photo of a person or portrait or anything… When Finn referred to ‘They’ were they talking about human folks?

How about—changing everyone’s perception of Shrimpo! I just need to know all the toons and try my hardest to make them see Shrimpo in a better light. That way, I can slowly introduce certain aspects of myself and maybe even eventually just beat that crappy first objective. Though I have a feeling some toons may not change their perception of me as easily as Finn did; maybe Astro–If my dreams had any effect on his perception of me.

The elevator arrived at the cafeteria, Scraps and Goob immediately went into the elevator, Scraps was just avoiding eye contact with me altogether. “Evening Shrimpo—have a nice dinner!” Goob greeted as we walked past each other. Finn was also there waiting with them, but he tugged my arm as I tried walking past him.

“S-Shrimpo wait! W-wanna hang out tomorrow again!?” Finn asked me… yeesh that’s a desperate tone if I’ve ever heard one. “ASK ME IN THE MORNING–I’M HANGRY!!!” I claimed, but I am actually not hangry; just trying to delay this to ‘morning me.’ “Y-You’re gonna consider it!?” Finn replied, smiling warmly as he released my arm. “Finn… THE ELEVATOR’S GONNA LEAVE WITHOUT YOU!!!” I screamed, pointing towards the elevator. He flinched a bit but eventually ran into the elevator just before it closed.

… Honestly, that interaction with Finn was a bit teensy shocking. He didn’t even say a single fish pun. Surely he has been invited to hang out with other people—right? There’s no discernable way everyone just doesn’t hang out with him, like—he spoke to Gigi last lunch (except I took that place this time.) And I’ve only seen Glisten negatively act towards Finn once. I haven’t really seen anyone else dislike him.

Also, I didn’t see Flutter, so I guess they were already at the lobby. I walked right into the cafeteria and took the utensils and tray to see what they’re serving! I eagerly approached the self-serve counter: And oh boy! I– kind of expected it to have more options. 

They have… really hot soup placed in three pots with a ladle in each one! What kind? I can’t really tell: One seemed chicken-ey with vegetables, the other was nondescript which kind of freaked me out a bit (also it didn’t have much soup in it left ,) and then the last one just made me tear up a bit (definitely avoiding that.) They have pasta of the spaghetti variety which looks pretty good, classic grated cheese and tomato sauce covering them. The only meaty thing I’ve seen so far is—nothing, maybe there’s some in one of the soup pots. I think I see mashed potatoes and salad options too (more like just a bunch of lettuce and occasionally a different vegetable,) do we have a garden floor or something; or are these outsourced? Either way, I just wanna get into a food coma, grab the box Toodles grabbed, look at Goob and Scraps’ room, then rest back in my room!

I ran back to the utensils counter and grabbed myself a bowl for one of the pot soups, afterwards I grabbed a portion of what I can only describe as mutilated lettuce and 5% miscellaneous vegetables. I’m going to be gnawing like a goat and feel ridiculously full. I wish I had ranch or something with the greens—I don’t see any condiments, and I don’t count salt and pepper! I of course grabbed a bottle of water, it’s the last bottle on the counter too, I guess everyone got water bottles this time. The soup will 100% scald my mouth, I can still sense that thing boiling. I forgoed pasta because that seems more like a lunch thing, and I’m not feeling for mashed potatoes.

To my seating spot I go! Quiet secluded corner, I claim thy spot! As I was about to dig into the greens as I waited for the soup to not be as hot as the core of the sun, Gigi came right over and sat across from me. “Yo Shrimporino—what’s with the lettuce mountain?” Gigi asked. “I REFUSE TO COMMENT!! And what do YOU want from me?” I said before shoveling a fistful of lettuce into my mouth. “My closest- no–AWESOMEST! Friend just left—so I might as well keep you company for a bit. And I’m still curious as to what happened after you entered Finn’s room.” Gigi explained as she watched me chew. 

Cool, Flutter and Gigi are best friends, noted—but what would two dudes alone in a room do other than hang out? “CARDS. CARDS HAPPENED. Does THAT satisfy your curiosity?” I replied after swallowing, still focused on my food. “… Sure, uh huh… ’cards.’ That totally explains a lot.” Gigi muttered with an unmistakable sarcastic tone. “Y’know I saw you two briefly interact over at the elevator, he was holding your arm and all~” Gigi added on, her face smirked with eyes half lidded. “GIGI! WHAT are YOU IMPLYING?!” I snapped, now scowling at Gigi. Shrimpo wouldn’t openly accept being friends with anyone, I assume at least. “Psh… No implications at all.” Gigi said, feigning ignorance as she shrugged. I stared at them a bit longer before returning to my meal. “I’m off to bother someone else then.” Gigi followed up, hopping off the seating booth.

As she was about to walk right past me. With some quick thinking: I faked a stretch and was barely able to press the menu button above her head with my left arm.

Woah, Gigi’s strong! I wonder if she can beat up the evil clones–err twisteds… But she’s easily winded? That’s something I can relate to—hurray! Expected affinity value and active ability, I’m starting to see a pattern of 12 stars spread out to each stat from every toon I’ve checked. Though Gigi’s the first one I’ve seen with five stars in a single stat, as well as just one. I have yet to see someone with more than one or two abilities or someone with a larger spread, maybe Dandy? Also, the value suddenly rose to 8% after a second or two passed, dunno why but I’m not complaining. 

I waved the screen off my face and looked at the soup with anticipation. I took a sip of the soup and singed my tongue, I quickly grabbed– attempted to grab…

… My water bottle’s gone missing. “Owh…” I quietly murmured. And I can only assume Gigi took it, because she’s the only one who's approached my table. Humph, fine! take my unopened bottle of water as I can just get another one—mmmmm right no, I realized I can’t… I’ll take this as karma from stealing a sip of water from Finn’s bottle earlier.

I just eat the salad as a fallback for now. It’s not very effective, but the placebo effect shall be my saviour! Spoilers, it did not work and I just ended up burning my taste buds into oblivion after sipping from the soup a few more times. I could barely taste the soup, and now I felt like I was chewing on paper as I ate. I hastened my eating, like the entire tray is about to grow legs and run away. Toons have started leaving the cafeteria from where I sat. 

Oh! I-I think I briefly saw Astro next to Shelly in the crowd for once. I wonder if he saw me too, and if he did whilst I didn’t restart then that’s a good thing!

As I started finishing up my meal, Sprout and Cosmo came out of the woodwork to presumably check on the tables and leftovers at the self-serve counter. Tisha was actually still here too, seemingly assisting them. I glanced at Sprout, and then the moment from the nightmare flashed in my mind… I acknowledge it’s from a dream but I can’t help but feel unnerved, just a little.

“Are you done with that, Shrimpo?” Tisha asked, I didn’t notice her approach due to my focus on Sprout.“… Go ahead.” I grumbled as I hopped off my seat. I started walking towards the elevator, and since everyone kinda already left, I was stuck waiting for it to come back down as I pressed the up button.

“Was the food good..?” Cosmo asked, carrying a stack of plastic food containers as I looked at him. I should say I hated it, this is like a prime time I could’ve said it—regret using that hate too early. Time for plan B: “WHY WAS THE SOUP HOTTER THAN LAVA!?! WHAT DEMON ENCHANTED THE STOVE FOR ALL THE POTS TO HAVE STILL BOILING HOT SOUP?!?” I loudly exclaimed, excessively gesturing. “W-what? Well, I—” Cosmo re-inquired, concern strewn over his face. “DINNER WAS EDIBLE!!!” I loudly retorted, which interrupted Cosmo. “Shrimpo—Don’t you start yelling so loudly now of all times, at Cosmo no less!” Sprout yelled from across the room.

I just faced away from Cosmo after that, I refuse to interact with Sprout for now. So I started staring at the elevator door. It arrived, so I walked in and pressed the lobby button. Waiting for the elevator to start moving, I leaned on the side. Suddenly, Cosmo ran into the elevator still in his chef attire. The elevator door shut, leaving both me and him in there.

It was quiet for a bit, but Cosmo broke the silence. “Look—I’m. Sorry about the soup being so bad that it ticked you off…” he said as if he was in the wrong. “DID YOU NEED TO GET INTO THE ELEVATOR TO TELL ME THAT?” I replied with arms crossed as I looked at him. “Well—me and Sprout… just don’t want you to skip meals again. We noticed you went two whole weeks and a half without going into the cafeteria once… Why…?” he inquired, holding his cheek with his left arm alongside a pout. Honestly, I understand his concern and question. I’m just wondering what caused Shrimpo to not eat in the first place—context clues please!? “ROUGH PATCH! I’m already OVER IT!! Shrimpo—WINS!!!” I screamed with both arms raised in the air as I said ‘WINS;’ hopefully that explanation alleviates Cosmo’s worry. “Oh.. Uhm, do you wanna talk about it–” Cosmo was about to try and coax more information I don’t know out of me, but thankfully the elevator arrived at the lobby and I interrupted him with: “NOW LEAVE ME ALONE!!!” speed walking away from the elevator as quickly as possible.

That interaction with Cosmo was a bit stressful, my legs still shook a bit from the interaction because I was afraid of restarting so late into the day. I noticed that I didn’t get a new checkpoint after I woke up, so yeah I need to be cautious with my wording… Also—Cosmo and Boxten have to be friends. I mean they both seem reserved and quiet, also they always seem just a little anxious.

I walked towards the room Toodles entered last time, it was right across that purple-walled computer room. As I entered, I noticed that it was a small waiting room with a blue-sky wallpaper with white clouds. It seems like it’s kinda dedicated to toddlers: Toys on the floor and, a kids' table with colorful tiny chairs. But my goal? I saw it, the box of A4 paper alongside the art supply container. Both were on the third shelf of a metal rack out of my reach, how the heck did Toodles grab that thing off the shelf?!? I looked around, nothing to help me climb that far up.

So I did the most reasonable thing I could: I grabbed the kiddie chairs and stacked them. There were four, and the stack was about the height of my room’s stool. I climbed up, and I was barely able to reach the box. Suddenly, the box and art container floated onto the top of the shelf…

What..?

Then after staring at it for a bit trying to process what happened, it came towards me as I caught them in my arms making me stumble a bit on the chair stack—that startled me even more—What was that about!? “Here you go, what's it for?” a feminine voice asked. “INSUFFICIENT DRAWING MATERIALS.” I replied straightforwardly as I looked to my left and right, then behind me…

…

… NO ONE WAS THERE…

… Wait, no, it's very faint. I saw a floating translucent menu button a meter away from me, but I feigned ignorance and continued looking around. “… Can’t see me?” she inquired. “I DO NOT SEE YOU. Uhhh—I'M LEAVING NOW!!!” I said as I carefully climbed down from the kiddie chair stack, it was a bit nerve-wracking since my arms were occupied. 

I left the room and beelined for the elevator, I saw Razzle’n Dazzle in the lobby sitting on the bench in front of the elevator; they too briefly glanced at me, but quickly returned to their own dialogue.

…

Was that a toon in that Toddler room? An invisible, floating toon… A ghost toon?! Does it just stay in that one room? I wonder—if I didn’t have the system restarting me to my checkpoints, would I turn out like that ghost toon? Man, it would suck to haunt a single room for the rest of eternity. In that case, which toon died and turned out to be that ghost toon? And I wonder if they can willingly turn visible or not.

The elevator suddenly arrived, and out came both Rodger and Vee. “-suppose that. Oh, hello there Shrimpo.” Rodger greeted me as he looked at me, Vee had a smirk on their screen and didn't talk to me. Then they both walked past me continuing their discussion as I went into the elevator. I wonder how those two eat? Wait– How does Rodger even talk without a mouth? Actually, I’m in no place to question that… I currently live in a world where I have video game elements, some form of time travel attached to me, and the only people I’ve seen so far are toons—not counting twisteds, those are beasts if I’ve ever seen them.

Even though my arms were full, I shuffled the box to my left arm a bit to press the 2nd lower floor button. I enjoyed my time alone in the elevator for the time being. After a while, the elevator stopped at the toon quarters floor and I started my brisk walk back to my room. The kitchenette takes my attention yet again as Brightney and Glisten still worked on those things, they seemed to be moving around in the kitchenette gripping one of those things in their hands. “Tch– We need to tweak it a little more, then it’ll be just like me—Perfect!” Glisten spoke up. Boxten was also there, sitting on the side just watching them. I, of course, continued walking towards my room after loitering and staring at them for a bit.

I did the same arm maneuvering to open the door to my room. I walked inside and deposited the box and art container below my desk. I decided this was probably a good time to look inside Goob and Scraps’ bedroom, especially with everyone busy doing whatever they were doing. I walked outta my room and stood in front of the red-blue-red-yellow striped door, it had a sign displaying ‘R-004’ over ‘R-005’ on its right.

When the course seemed clear, I swiftly opened the door and slipped in. Not barricaded nor locked because… toons can’t lock their doors I guess. They have: wallpaper resembling the hallway wallpaper, two beds both with blankets correlating to their color scheme, end tables beside their bed, posters detailing their character, their own wardrobes, wooden boxes in the middle room with a lamp on top, and red bean bags across each other. They kinda split the room in half for themselves, Scraps’ side is no doubt the one with yarn and a bunch of crumpled papers thrown about. I noticed Goob’s bed had a teddy bear plush, that’s cute! Scraps had a pitifully thin desk in the corner with a small stool (in comparison to my desk at least.)

I took a closer look at each of their posters: Goob likes hugs and spending family time; Scraps is.. Creative and likes creating crafts.. Yet I see no crafts around the room (maybe they’re just hidden,) I guess these information posters on the characters aren’t fully accurate, just quick descriptions of what the toons are supposed to be. From what I’ve experienced so far, Scraps doesn’t wanna interact with me—for some reason. She kinda went straight to blaming me for Glisten’s room as well as the thumb tacks placed on the couch (correct hunches on her end.)

Well that’s enough information, I peeked out of their room and went right out when it seemed like no one was looking at me or seemingly passing by. I went out and ran right back into my room… That went a lot better than I expected, at least. I was half expecting Glisten, Boxten or Brightney to just see me scurrying in and out of the siblings’ room like a cockroach, but everyone was busy doing their own things at night.

 I sat on my desk stool, then I pinched out the objective box, trying to check the time.

That… all of that was roughly an hour and a half. Well, time moves reasonably slowly I guess. I’m still wondering what the bonus objective’s second part is, I’ll find out when I see it. Maybe it’ll make me hang out with Finn, or raise his affinity level to 50%, or—what if I just have to make another friend! Well, either way I’ll try my hardest to complete it!

I waved the screen off my face, and took out one of the A4 papers. Grabbing the lone pencil on the desk, I started work on Glisten’s gift: a recreation of one of those kids drawings of Glisten pinned on his bulletin board, alongside a message on the back. Man, I wish I had an envelope to make use of… Or–I could make my own! I mean I know it’s possible—I should really look for a book or something for origami folding or whatever. I should… ask around—maybe even directly from Scraps or Brightney.

I opened my options menu and turned off the User Interface… Oh my god—I feel so normal! No weird peripherals, I must be dreaming–figuratively of course. It wouldn’t be very fun to find out I’ve been in a coma dreaming about being a shrimp cartoon character. It all feels too real to be a dream anyways, and even if it is one—I think I’m fine with that outcome.

I pull out a piece of A4 paper from under the desk and place the art supply on my right.

…

… Aaaand done! Drawing Glisten from memory wasn’t too bad, in fact I think I nailed the art because this definitely looks like something a 6 year old would draw. A lot of aid came from the art supply I’ve just obtained, I even drew tiny little red hearts and arrows with comments pointing to why he’s cool. And on the back, I wrote the most generic message I could think of:

“Glisten! Your the awesomest toon ever, you inspire me to do my best and help my friends!”

It looks… similar enough to the drawings I saw on his bulletin and I even misspelled ‘you're,’ so I think this is acceptable. I don’t know how effective this gift would be, but he seems to have kept those drawings for a good reason. Under the bed mattress this goes for when I find the opportunity to anonymously hand it over, alongside the letter and future gift for Goob! I know Goob already has a plushie, but two wouldn’t hurt him right? That is, if I’m able to find what I’m gonna try and find here in Gardenview.

The User Interface re-appeared, I guess thirty minutes have passed. 

So… tomorrow, I have a big gut feeling I’ll be called in for the morning expedition. I haven’t been called for a long time so there’s no way they won’t call me this time. Thankfully with my new passive, better knowledge of how the floors may work, and also potentially three whole stars I can distribute at the start of the morning—I am definitely prepared to be a well-oiled machine! God I hope the system doesn’t kick my shins in.

I yawn. I’m tired, that power nap didn’t provide me with enough energy, time to hit the hay. 

I swap out my sleeveless red shirt for a new one, folding my old shirt and placing it on the other old one (which I’ve relocated to the left of the wardrobe.) Then I practically leaped onto my bed and tucked myself into a blanket cocoon.

Tomorrow’s going to be a good day… hopefully.

I close my eyes…

…

…

I opened my eyes to witness endless whiteness. I stood on nothing and basically saw nothing but white and my lonesome self. Okay, I guess I just sleep ridiculously quickly. I literally closed my eyes for no less than a second, and here I am in dreamland already.

I sat down cross-legged and hummed, same ol’ nothing dream, full lucidity and control at the cost of what basic dreaming can offer. Boring, sure, but seeing as my most recent not-so lucid dream was kind of unpleasant. This is preferable as of the moment.

“… Hello.” I heard; definitely Astro. “Greetings! It is I, Shrimpo!” I replied with my finger pointing up, still looking in the same direction I stared. “So… any requests to change the scenery?” Astro asked as he stood to my left. “Can I ask you two questions beforehand?” I replied, now looking at him—oh he’s not hiding himself this time. “… Sure.” he answered, face indifferent. 

“Did you see me outside today?” I asked, curious after I saw him. “I think so…  Around dinner in the cafeteria..?” He answered as he sat down beside me. “Can you bring other toons directly into this dream?” I inquired, hoping I could speed up my goal of changing toon perception over me.  “… The closest I can do is recreate them.” Astro said, now looking at me. “Sucks. Alright, place me on a beach. Cloudy summer day—and add humans around.” I requested. “Alright–” Astro spoke before he stared a bit at me curiously and said: “Humans..?” He closed his eyes and grimaced. “I’ll try… Have fun, goodbye.” He snapped his finger, hidden inside his cornflower blanket–robe thing.

Astro disappeared, replaced with space—he seemed busy anyway. I looked forward, and then there it was the sea! Seagull noises, the moving waves, and plenty of sand! I sat on a red and white striped beach blanket under a beach umbrella. I looked at myself, I was suddenly wearing red beach shorts. My sleeveless red shirt had gone kaput I guess. Then I looked around—I… I do not recognize those figures. They’re… supposed to be humans right? I think Astro might have fumbled on that part. But I mean… It works. Maybe it’s pulling from my subconscious, and I do NOT remember what a human looks like other than a vague description.

Well these folks were doing beach activities. Ranging from swimming, playing volleyball, lounging, and sandcastle making. The sun was blocked by the clouds as I requested, and the sky was blue. Though, I can’t seem to smell anything—at least I can hear, feel, think, and move just fine. In any case, the confirmation of humans? Success. Are Astro's dream powers limited? To an extent I guess. Does he see me differently out there? Still a bit iffy on that.

I grabbed a fistful of sand, and slowly sprinkled it out of my hand (that is some really accurate sand.) I then stood up from where I sat and started walking around the beach that Astro manifested for me. It was a nice scene, being cooped up inside for two whole days really makes you appreciate stuff like this… I wonder if the other toons think that too. Whole dreams about—A wave crashed onto me. Not cool—nevermind definitely cool. I am cold now. 

I shake off the excess water and move a bit further away from the shore shivering. From what I’ve seen so far, this beach is kind of imperfect–not including the pseudo blank-faced tall human figures (at least they had: discernable genders, hair, and beach clothes.) There’s a lack of shells or sea critters of any kind, and despite there being seagull sounds, I have not seen a single bird. Looks like walking in one direction loops me back to my beach spot with the umbrella. The limits of a controlled dream I suppose.

I approach one of the human figures lounging around and try to strike up a conversation. “Hello!” I said as I stared at their uncanny blank face. 

…

It ignored me—Okay, cool man. I just returned to my umbrella and sat upon the beach blanket. And started thinking about the extent of Astro’s dream abilities… Maybe he’s able to change them, but I guess he has to work with what I know or remember? That’s what I’m theorizing anyway. I should really check his status menu for abilities or something—that is, if I get the chance to do so. 

I wonder if I’ve been to this beach before… But then again I’ve been transported to those plains where I talked to Astro for a bit, and I doubt I’ve been there before. But I know both the concept and aspects of said plains, so maybe he took that and did what he could with it too. I watched the people and their blank-faced kids (who were creepy,) do activities in the waters. There was even a guy surfing far out in view—but he’s seemingly been stuck on that wave for a while now.   

Watching people do stuff in the water made me wanna try the water out. So I walked into the shore and stepped in the cold waters, I crouched down and splish-splashed a bit around. Foam from the salt landing onto the sand felt fun to feel, great recreation! I dove right into the water—then flipped over with my body facing upwards. I felt my head-fish tail thing fully submerged, and my body started adjusting to the cold waters. 

Calming is the best way I could describe this dream. I bet Finn would enjoy this place—I mean it’s the beach! And he’s a fish nerd, I feel like that’s a naturally sound assumption. I think a lot of other toons would enjoy this place too though. Maybe Gigi, Goob, and Toodles… that kid’s probably never been to a beach now that I think about it, sad thought.

As I floated, I just enjoyed the waters. A far cry from that nightmare that led me drowning in… eugh… Ichor. The waters pushed me around like I was a piece of plastic, and it was quite… serene. The kind of calm I get when I’m not worried whatsoever—It’s still not enough to make me forget that I’m currently Shrimpo and that I’m starting to take over his life, but I’m trying to accept that as fact as soon as possible.

…

…

What did I have before being Shrimpo?

I am somewhat whole, am I not? The retaining of my knowledge, habits, and preferences. So I had to have some kind of life before I became Shrimpo… But I guess that’s just a part of what selective amnesia does to you: 

I do not know me—but I know what the old me knew?

It’s a whole thing. It’s hard to not think about it, but I’m oddly not too keen on wanting to find out despite my curiosity. Fun existentialism; won’t let it get to me though. Because if there’s one thing I seem pretty good at—it’s getting over some deep emotional stuff, and I’ll gladly take that trait in the position I’m in…

Monologuing, I– Mmm.. that’s a bit of a habit I’ve both developed and noticed. It’s strangely comforting. Also there’s gonna be a toon that can read my mind one day and it’s going to reset me a gazillion times because of how often I internalize my words. Ooor there’s not gonna be a toon that can do that, I don’t know if I’ve met all the toons yet. I’ve seen about 20 or so toons by now–”woOAAH!” I let out.

A wave had suddenly crashed into me and pushed me underwater. I thrash around trying to find stability but horribly fail.

…

…

I gasp for air, still covered in my blanket that I’ve cocooned over myself.

Eventually I freed myself and sat upright, now annoyed. I’d rather not drown in my next dream if I’m given the choice. I rub my face with my right hand and pinch out the objective screen.

… So four different twisteds and I have to get chased by them for at least 60 seconds for it to count is how I’m interpreting this. And I have to get… 200 tapes and spend it I guess… Th–This is gonna be hard. But the objectives scale on what might happen today. I mean, yesterday I had the whole day to mostly myself. And when I did my first expedition run; it was short… so…

I wave the objective box off my face and pinch out my checkpoint box.

It’s going to be a rough day.

Chapter Text

…I learned a lot today, and I strained myself too…

I stood up from my bed and fixed it up, gotta stay diligent! I’m going to restart today, there’s no doubt about it. But I’ll just think about what my obstacles are going to be this morning: My speed is one because I’m ridiculously slow, what twisteds my party is going to encounter, and if possible? Get either bonus objective done, success is success after all. I have an hour and fifteen minutes before the morning team gets sent down to do machines. But that’s if I am getting called down this morning—I’m gonna ask Dandy directly then… If he’s in the Lobby. I mean it’s the only place I’ve seen him reside in.

I know toons don’t get called into an expedition if they were chosen in the most recent one: Vee, Flutter, Finn, Scraps, and Goob were called in if I remember correctly. They… all returned fine right? I wonder how long the toons have been extracting Ichor out of machines for. I mean they seem to think of every phenomenon here as a… normal occurrence, like tapes being inexplicably held in some kind of inventory… Extracting what is essentially their blood out of machines whilst being chased by evil clones… And toons like Astro casually going around inside people’s dreams.

I don’t get it, but that’s probably because I’m not from here—I’m just some person stuck in one of their friend’s bodies… err, colleague?

…

Well, either way, I am Shrimpo! Err.. supposed bully toon; patent change pending! I walk outside of my room and see Boxten exit out of his room the same time I exit mine. “… Mm.. Morning, Shrimpo…?” Boxten greeted me awkwardly. “YEAH–YEAH MORNING.” I say as I quickly start running towards the elevator. I got there huffing and pressed the up button. Boxten had walked over and stood a fair bit away from me. The elevator arrived and both me and him walked in.

I pressed the main lobby button, then walked over to stand at the back of the elevator. Boxten then came over to press the cafeteria floor button, from where I stood anyway. Suddenly, I heard “Keep the elevator door open, wait for us!” being screamed from the outside of the elevator—I think it was Razzle’n Dazzle? Unfortunately for them, Boxten and I didn’t move an inch, and there wasn’t exactly an elevator button that was present that kept the doors open. So the elevator closed and started ascending towards the lobby.

After a bit, the elevator arrived at the lobby. I ran out and started walking—woah Dandy, Vee, and Astro are setting up seats (monobloc chairs) in the lobby. Boxten curiously looked from behind me when I glanced back at the elevator, but it closed. “Oh! Hello Shrimpo!” Dandy spoke from afar, waving at me as he placed down one of the chairs. “Hey there..” Astro greeted as he walked by—is… yeah that dude is using short range telekinesis to place down chairs one by one. That's cool—how many abilities does that guy have? I know for sure more than two now. 

“Why’d you come up here so early hmm?” Vee inquired as they walked towards me—I’m surprised they asked because they haven’t really acknowledged me these last two days I’ve seen them. “SHRIMPO  NEEDS TO TALK TO DANDY; IT DOESN’T CONCERN YOU!” I exclaimed, scowling at Vee… well, trying to scowl at them. “… Okay.” Vee remarked; a volume bar appeared and increased on their face-screen. “Flowerboy—the Shrimp’s asking for an audience.” they said after turning around–albeit louder.

“Vee—refer to my name properly! And yeah I’m coming!” Dandy yelled as he pranced over, Vee started walking away as he arrived—back to assisting Astro I assume. “Whaddya need Shrimpo? It’s pretty rare for you to ask for me.” Dandy comments, tilting his head with a smile. “TELL ME IF I’M GOING ON AN EXPEDITION TODAY!” I demanded with my arms crossed. 

He looked at me puzzled. “You sure are~! This morning with Poppy, Razzle’n Dazzle, Toodles and Teagan. Today’s a bit important—I’ll call the toons over and explain after you’re all done eating today’s luxurious breakfast.” Dandy confirms as he returns to that grin—but today’s important? What is that supposed to mean…? Also Teagan’s definitely that fancy teacup toon.

I… racked my brain a bit: a luxurious breakfast and seats in the lobby… I looked past Dandy and—that’s a whole projector screen being set up by Vee. “I suggest you go down there with the rest of them. Right now~” Dandy said as he kinda just ushered me next to the elevator with him pressing the down button. 

I looked at him a little longer—we’re essentially the same height; I glanced at the menu button above him—I really curious what this dude’s capable of, after all he’s the main character. “So why’d you ask? Do you not wanna go perchance?” Dandy naturally inquired. “Shrimpo REFUSES to elaborate, hmph!” I spoke, as I stared at the elevator with my arms on my sides. 

The elevator arrived, and I walked in. Dandy came in and pressed the cafeteria button for me, then swiftly walked back towards where Vee and Astro stood—they’re still fiddling with what I can only assume is a projector connected to one of those computers from that purple-walled computer room brought out. The elevator closed, and it started its descent towards the cafeteria.

“Shrimpo needs… Shrimpo doesn’t… Shrimpo wants… Shrimpo wins?” I murmured, staring blankly at the floor.

I never really thought about it until now… I’m aware I’ve been referring to myself in the third person. At this rate it’s definitely in line with Shrimpo, since I’ve been swapping between first and third referrals within my dialogues consistently. But there’s this indescribable feeling that just… clicks? Whenever I refer to myself as ‘Shrimpo,’ out loud—that is. 

I… I kinda don’t like that I’m compelled to do it. It feels…

Addicting?

Like there’s something internally gratifying me—weird as that sounds.

I… should I stop? I mean it hasn’t hurt me at all—the minor buzz has been nice for the most part. It all started after that one interaction with Gigi with the gumballs, then just kept on rolling with it.

I’ll just say it in moderation—It’s… interesting, really! 

The elevator arrived at the cafeteria, it’s bustling! Wh-What is that divine smell?! I rub my hands together and walk in—oh boy, Dandy wasn’t lying when he said breakfast was luxurious today. From where I stood, I could even see all the toons were enjoying their time—Poppy, Brightney, and Teagan sat together. They seemed to be drinking tea alongside their meals, though when I looked at the self-serve counter’s liquid section. 

Boxten, Rodger, Razzle’n Dazzle, and Goob too sat together—Goob’s face was notably smeared and dripping with an ungodly amount of what I can only assume is some kind of sauce. And Rodger sat without a meal in front of him… I mean he doesn’t have a mouth so that checks out.

Gigi, Flutter, and—ayyy! That’s gotta be the ghost toon from last night! She has one of those—ghost tail thingies instead of legs; wore a white sleeveless shirt and sported a white visor on her long hair. ( They look… the most human out of all the toons so far .) I wonder what her name is! 

Either way the toons sat next to each other eating (except the ghost toon and Rodger…) Flutter looks a bit strange when she eats. Tisha, Shelly, Looey, and Glisten were grouped up too—probably because everyone else had their seats filled. Toodles chased around this—what is that thing?! A pet rock!? It kept barking, so I’m assuming it’s a rock-dog for the time being (honestly I kinda wanna pet it…)

Huh…

… Two people are missing that I usually see in here.

Scraps… And Finn! What happened and why aren’t both of them here? I kinda wanna check up on Finn, but I think he’s sleeping in—maybe resting. I’ll bother him when I need to, for now I shall… grab food! And maybe try socializing instead of secluding myself in the far corner. I walked over to the start of the self-serve counter and took a gander at the selection.. I..

I can see what they mean by fancy; a surf and turf course laid ahead. Th-this seems like overkill for breakfast. The only ingredients I can even recognize here on any of the dishes are: Breadstuffs, Eggs, Steak, Chicken, Prawn, and what seems like Lobster—oh I see rice too! Nice to know they have access to that, I guess they fed us vegetables at night for this reason (bummer, no pork…) 

The food options this morning's a little overwhelming and everything else is foreign looking… err- fancy? What kind of celebrity chef suddenly came over—unless Sprout and Cosmo made everything here. And if so.. kudos to them. I bet it was a nightmare to prepare all of this, either overnight or just this morning.

I start just picking whatever looks good to fill the tray: “That.. that.. I- no, that kinda feels wrong.. That..” I murmured, skipping the prawns. I just feel weirded out over eating a species so close to mine, I’d compare it to a human eating a chimpanzee (not that I know if toons count as a separate species—and don’t shrimp just eat about anything?) I’m still curious where all of this food came from, and why today’s important. I can’t help but have a bad feeling about today’s expedition—hell, even the stuff being set-up in the lobby’s got me nervous. At least the other toons are enjoying their breakfast, I suppose oblivious as to why the food today is luxurious. 

After I got ye ol’ bottle of water at the end of the self-serve counter, I went ahead and approached the table where Gigi, Flutter and the ghost toon sat. Gigi didn’t really care for my approach but Flutter definitely did with what I can only assume as a grimace on their face.

“LET ME EAT AND CONVERSE HERE!!” I loudly demanded as I arrived at their table. “Sure, since you asked so nicely.” Gigi replied (sarcastically I assume,) I of course took the opportunity and sat down anyways; beside the ghost toon. “… How is THAT considered nice?” the ghost toon commented in bewilderment, Flutter also raised her eyebrow with the other furrowed as she looked at Gigi. “Girl—Shrimble.. Mm.. over here willingly approached us for once, and then asked.” Gigi answered with food still in her mouth; I also just noticed that Gigi held her utensils while still having her hands covered by her sweater. “THAT'S NOT MY NAME. I HATE YOUR NICKNAMES!” I commented, then promptly started eating.

“So? Any plans to stop me from calling you names?” she taunted with a smug look. “… NOT NOW!! Hunger takes priority.” I retorted after swallowing my first bite—damn this is some quality Steak, my only gripe is that it’s well-done. “Back on topic then! Gals— and guy ; why is breakfast soooo good today?!” Gigi claimed, Flutter leaned in and looked at everyone… Did she say anything? “…Eh, I doubt that. But it’d be funny.” the ghost toon replied, arms crossed. “Connie’s right! Why would the chefs cook all of this up for just that?” Gigi followed up. 

I—I DIDN’T HEAR FLUTTER SAY ANYTHING THOUGH?!? “Maybe it’s a holiday today.” Connie said (thank you for the name drop Gigi.) “Where are the holiday toons then? They’d be down here with us by now.” Gigi remarked as she waved a fork around the room. Holiday toons huh, how does that work? Do they just manifest into Gardenview or something—how many holidays have toons associated with them? I mean it’s August so—no notable holidays pop into my mind. 

“SOMETHING'S HAPPENING IN THE LOBBY!!” I finally added to the conversation. “Ooo… Care to explain?” Gigi inquired, interested–they seemed. “SEATS! BIG SCREEN!! And a projector to boot.” I proudly exclaimed, looking back directly at each of them. “I’m gonna check that out then! See ya later girls—and Shrimpo.” Connie poofed into a cloud and basically disappeared before we could say anything. 

I looked around c-can she teleport… wait no she’s invisible! I saw what I think is Connie’s menu button fade away as she floated towards the elevator. I… I guess she can just turn visible and invisible on command, at least I have a way of detecting where she is—if I look around carefully that is. Flutter leaned in yet again, now looking at me and Gigi. “You’re so right! I'd love to watch movies on a proper big screen for once! Not that Razzle’n Dazzle’s whole setup isn’t bad.”

I guess they can only watch stuff on the second toon floor—no specific floor dedicated to movies or whatever… Wait—Razzle’n Dazzle has a whole movie thing setup in their room? Lucky them. Then we ate… by that I mean I just ate whilst Flutter and Gigi conversed as they finished up their meals quicker than me (I took extra precaution by paying attention to my bottle of water.)

Nothing notable came from their conversation, especially because it felt like Gigi just telepathically reads Flutter’s mind. Up until: “Cosmo and Sprout dating each other?” Gigi suddenly commented which caught me off-guard… Toon relationships, huh. “Heh… nah, they just seem like best buddies, like us!” Gigi continued, she glanced at me as I stared at her. “Say, Shrimpo. What do you think of Finn?” Gigi asked, which made Flutter look at me as well. 

“He’s a fish nerd—AND I HATE HIS PUNS.” I plainly spoke after swallowing food. “So why’d you ’hang out’ with him yesterday?” Gigi retorted as her face smirked with eyes half lidded yet again; just like last night. “I got… BOOOREED!! I HATE HIS PUNS! BUT I HAAATE BEING BORED—EVEN MORE!!!” I swiftly elaborated, my palms were sweating a bit. My outer ambivalence is going to get me killed someday; hate is a strong word after all—especially because I don’t actually hate anyone here. 

Flutter grimaced at Gigi and leaned in towards her. “Yeah sorry… maybe it’s not that deep.” Gigi sighed. Well, that’s dealt with. Gigi’s no longer suspicious of me being abruptly friends with Finn! I continued my meal— oh… it’s all gone… I’ve eaten it all. I’d go for seconds but it looks like everyone’s starting to leave. The announcement noise rang out: “Everyone in the cafeteria, head up to the lobby. We have to announce pressing news about today’s extraction runs!” Dandy proclaimed from… where does it come from?! I don’t see any speakers attached anywhere.

Also, pressing news..? Everyone started murmuring—I mean I’m worried too. We all walked over to the elevator as it came, and half of the toons kinda packed themselves in. I opted to wait for the next elevator ride with a few others. Gigi stood beside my left with Flutter hovering beside her. On my right is Glisten. Upon closer inspection, he nearly has that same smirk Vee has. And I can actually see my reflect—

”Look all you want~ It’s flattering honestly.” Glisten suddenly spoke up. He wasn’t even looking at me directly. “Shrimpo noticed smudges on your face…” I huffed back as I focused back onto the elevator, note that I didn’t actually see any smudges on him. “Mhm, sure I do, Shrimpo.” he spoke back full of snark, rolling his eyes. For some reason I feel a weird inexplicable kindred feeling towards the mirror– juuust a little connection…

The elevator arrived again, and about eight toons went inside (me included,) though it’s definitely slightly less cramped as the last elevator that just went up (must’ve been like 10 toons tops in that first elevator ride.) 

It was… both a quiet and crowded elevator ride to say the least. Everyone kinda just stayed silent because of the announcement I suppose; stark contrast from the cafeteria despite the crowd, and I appreciate quietness! 

The suspense could kill me.

When it arrived at the lobby, the first thing I saw was Dandy standing on a podium beside the big projector screen they set up. The benches were moved and I see that the toons have taken their seats of their choosing; the only chairs that haven’t been sat on are the ones in the back (the rock-dog from the cafeteria is sitting on one of the chairs.) I went over and sat on an available chair at the far right edge, beside me sat Brightney.

“Lights please!” Dandy ordered, the lobby lights were shut off and—Oh yeah.. I’m sitting beside a lamp toon. Actually a few of the toons glew, namely: Vee, Connie, Brightney, as well as Astro. “Uhh… give me a moment.” Connie spoke up afar, before turning down her glow. I heard unscrewing beside me—oop, the light ceased beside me. Vee also stopped glowing after she.. turned something off I guess, same goes for Astro.

Dandy cleared his throat and held one of those handheld presentation remotes, except it was wired and most likely connected to a computer somewhere. He clicks the remote and the projector starts up, it then lays out an introductory ‘Good Morning!’ slide: “Good morning everyone! You may all be wondering why you’re all here—minus two toons who may have been injured last night.” Dandy spoke loud and clear. I… yeah that explains a lot. “We’re here to discuss extraction! Specifically you fellas— and me by proxy —are going in a little deeper this time. Why you may ask? Because there are three specific floors that NEED to have their machines finished by the end of today.” Dandy clicks the remote.

It changed the projector’s slide to a convoluted roadmap of what I can only assume is gardenview’s elevator routing—I… Oh. My. Lord. The elevator doesn’t just go down, it goes in virtually every direction. Isn’t this the mid 2000s?!? Well— then again we have living breathing toons and what is basically magic with Astro over there. “First! We need to grant elevator access to those three floors. We'll be routing our morning crew through a specific set of floors that’ll allow the afternoon team to take the necessary elevator routing.” He clicks the remote yet again which changes to a slide that detailed ‘Morning Crew Plans.’ 

On the slide: there’s a flat motherboard-like circuity thingamajig; alongside miniature icons of Poppy, Razzle’n Dazzle, Me, Teagan, and Toodles. “Morning team! It consists of whoever’s on the screen up there. There are roughly four machines alongside two unidentified twisteds per floor that the morning team has to extract to progress, up to the final fourth floor.” He says, before pulling out the same flat motherboard-like circuity thingamajig from the slides. 

“One of you has to carry this! We’re dubbing it the ‘Scrambler!’ A device made up of some of the old scraps of tech around here. Honestly I was surprised how quickly it was produced under such short notice, it’s designed by Vee over there.” Dandy pointed his handheld remote at Vee. “To clarify, I did not produce it alone. Credits to both Brightney and Rodger.” Vee rectified. 

Doesn’t ring a bell—that Scrambler thing doesn’t remotely look anything like the weird handheld devices Glisten and Brightney worked on last night.

“… Moving on. The only reason we need one of you to carry the Scrambler is because the fourth floor is a special case! It features an area that’s closed off by a metal door that only opens during panic, inside that area is a keycard slot where one of you will have to slide the Scrambler in until you hear a click; this in turn will allow the afternoon team to go through the previously inaccessible elevator route.” He says as he clicks the remote and changes the slide to a map of what I can only presume is the fourth floor he’s talking about. 

“And as you can all see, it’s quite far from the elevator so I hope you can formulate a plan—and don’t worry morning crew! you’ve all got it easier than the afternoon team!” Dandy explained. The crowd started murmurs, I think the toons are thinking about the same thing right about now: What does the afternoon team have to deal with if THAT’S easy?

“Settle down folks!” Dandy exclaimed, and quietness followed suit. The slide changes to a slide that detailed the ‘Afternoon Team Plans’ it had: Icons of Sprout, Astro, Cosmo, Boxten, Connie, and Brightney. “Afternoon team! No need to carry a Scrambler like the morning crew. It'll just be like your normal runs—except you’ll all be visiting uncharted floors” He clicked the remote, which detailed Gardenview’s inexplicably elaborate electrical planning, with red circles around seven areas. 

“It’s just that there’s a problem with the upcoming floors: Excessive power supply cut-off and dilapidation—possibly to a more extreme degree! We haven’t had access to these floors for—give or take over two years, so it’s basically pitch black on five of the floors there as well. We suspect there to be five inactive ichor extraction machines on the get-go, up to eight on the seventh floor.” He elaborated with a casual smile on his face.

“It’s integral that we get those machines up and running by the end of today. ‘Why?’ many of you would ask.” Dandy clicked the remote and the red circles that had cluttered the electrical planning map were replaced with highlights of the network of wiring throughout Gardenview. “Because it turns out if we don’t do anything about it." he said, pointing to a section on the screen: "We’ll somehow end up losing power in our lobby. That would, in turn, disrupt a lot of things connected to it: mainly the elevators, electricity routed to the four toon quarters, and the agriculture department down there…" He paused, letting the weight of his words really sink in. 

“Lights please! Morning team, please meet me by the tree in five or so minutes. And if any of you have any problems, go right ahead tell me over there.” Dandy said as he clapped his hands and turned off the projector with the remote. The lights turned on… honestly the silence was deafening.

Then…

… Everyone stood up and walked around talking to everyone. It was chaotic: Toodles seems to be shaken by being in the morning team so she’s being comforted by both Rodger and Teagan—I think I just saw Sprout arguing with Vee for some reason. Boxten, Brightney and Glisten were fervently discussing something. And the rock-dog was trying to bite Looey whilst holding onto Connie for dear life.

Then suddenly both Poppy and Razzle’n Dazzle grabbed me together. “I HATE BEING PULLED! DON’T DO THAT AGAIN!!” I snapped at them as they dragged me. “Sorry Shrimpo! It was necessary, hehe.” Poppy commented, still taking light of the situation it seems. “We’re going to group up anyways, so it’s best if we group up now. (I’m pretty scared of what’s to come…)” Razzle’n Dazzle followed up. “Tch– I hate how you have a point.” I huffed and rubbed on the spots they grabbed.

The four of us (I’m counting Razzle and Dazzle as separate individuals) went over and stood near Teagan, Rodger, and Toodles—specifically waiting for Toodles to calm down. It is always heart-rending to see a kid have some kind of panic attack, let alone knowing they’re being sent down to what is essentially an important and dangerous expedition. “Hey kid, you don’t gotta worry! (Razzle’s got us covered on odd floors…)” the twins explained. “And the twisteds don’t seem to like targeting bundles of joy like you—so we can count on you to do those machines right?!” Poppy added as she crouched next to Toodles. “… Y-Yeah! I’m gonna help a lot…” Toodles mustered. “Atta girl, up high!” Poppy exclaimed which led her and Toodles did a high five, giggling ensued.

My more important question—WHY IS TOODLES IN THE MORNING EXPEDITION! Should she even be going down there?!? Isn’t she an actual child!? Well I assume everyone keeps a close eye on her, and maybe she voluntarily asks to join them—alternatively toons get called down regardless. But… I’ve seen a bit of her competency with logic—not to mention her compliance in all of this so far; so no underestimations there, this is one strong kid.

The morning crew and I walked over to Dandy. He doesn’t seem too worried for some reason, ever-smiling—kinda like Poppy actually, both of them are weirdly happy despite the tense situation with the expedition today. “Hello there! First thing’s first—who's holding onto the Scrambl—” Dandy asked but was interrupted by Poppy immediately taking it off his hands: “Hehe, I got it! I think I can handle holding onto it until the fourth floor.” Dandy got visually flustered for a bit but went back to normal quickly. “Alright, that’s been answered. Are you all ready for this? I’m certainly not—in all honesty, I’m worried about the state of everything right about now.” he admitted… 

Feels bad man, managing a group of toons and sending them down to extract their own blood or whatever for electricity.

“Dandicus, you usually pair us up with a main on the team, so why were we not assigned one despite the urgency of the situation?” Teagan asked. I looked at Teagan, not only did she have a teacup for a head, she also sported a long fluffy white boa shawl around her neck and a golden dress—as well as gloves of the same color.. I think she’s one of the only toons I’ve seen so far with lipstick (black, only on the bottom lip) visibly on her face… also what’s a ‘main?’

“You all have me! I mean I’m not going out there, but hey I still count.” Dandy exclaimed, everyone just stared at him blank faced. 

“… Since the floors you’re going on are somewhat safer and you’re all gonna return pretty quickly. I decided to pool Sprout onto the other team for today, he’s got a weird inexplicable sixth sense that’ll help them a lot in the dark.” Dandy explained. “Plus~ I have good faith in all five—er... six of you—even you, Shrimpo! After all, you six have the lowest injury rates and records!” 

“I’ve definitely gotten hurt more than everyone here though!” Poppy chimed in, her brows furrowing in for once. “Yet by the time you return to the lobby, you’re basically unscathed most of the time, even on the longer runs. And whenever you do seem to get injured, you’ve already tended to your wounds before anyone else even notices!” Dandy quickly shot back with an unimpressed expression. 

“The same goes for you, Teagan. You’ve been consistently cauterizing your wounds, always coming back to the elevator fine despite multiple reports of you being injured out there—not something you’d expect from a proper lady like yourself.” Dandy added, walking in front of Teagan. “Goodness dear, it’s nothing like how you describe it! If that were true, I’d have burn scars all over me.” Teagan protested, she sounded offended actually.

“You two conjoined twins are polarizing; yet that’s what makes you both complementary. It’s like you’re each other’s missing pieces—Dazzle’s got machines and Razzle’s got your routing and movement covered!” Dandy stared at both Razzle’n Dazzle. “Aww you flatter us! (We’ve been practicing to be more in sync…)” Razzle’n Dazzle replied.

“And the luckiest kid around Gardenview, Toodles! I dunno how you manage it kid, but you’ve gotten stupidly lucky more times than I could keep count. Do you somehow redirect your misfortune to someone else or something?” Dandy quipped. “Heeey ! I don’t bring others down!!” Toodles objected, pouting! Then… he walks up to me and wraps his arm around me as he stands by my left. 

“Shrimpo! You’ve gotta be one of our hardest workers. Although you… lack … a lot of things, which is why I rarely assign you to runs: I’m sure you’ll prove your use yet again like every past run you’ve been assigned. You won't disappoint~” he said, mixed signals with the tone he’s been carrying throughout that pep talk on Shrimpo. No offense, but I refuse to take credit for his supposed hard work. 

I also took the opportunity to press the menu button on top of his head whilst he talked. I was pretty sure I brushed over his (surprisingly soft) red petal to reach it, but didn’t seem to react so I’ll say I’m safe for now. “GET OFF ME!” I exclaimed as I pulled his arm off me. 

Then I glanced at the screen in front of me… 

Woah… that’s a first, for several things actually…

If what I’m seeing is correct… Dandy’s got a firewall of some sorts, I mean I know he’s definitely capable now. He’s got more than one ability, but it refuses to show me more than just a small portion on the side. His stats baffle me, he’s almost got twice over the average spread of stats… If not for his vitality that is, why does he only have 3 in vitality though? I’m starting to think vitality’s the one stat I should dump my stars in at this point because everyone’s got 3 vitality or whatever. 

I wave the screen off my face and rub my face, then my temples. “Well then, let’s get going! We can’t let both the afternoon team and the lobby’s electricity down!” Dandy pranced over to the elevator. We followed suit, watching him hop into his shop-hatch thing as he opened it. We all kinda stared at each other as the elevator doors closed behind us…

Then the checkpoint box zoomed out… 

Looks like I’m good to go ahead for setting stats freely. I need to see how many tapes I can generate and find within the morning run before I commit to trying to get myself onto the afternoon team. I have a hypothesis that a machine grants you tapes… and maybe other ways; going into the elevator perhaps? Maybe consuming something results in tapes too. I’ll just have to experiment—while assisting the morning crew whilst I’m here of course.

The whirring of the elevator had started, Dandy had already gone down to wherever his shop descends to, and everyone’s looking at the elevator door. I take this opportunity and walk backwards into the corner of the elevator to press the menu button. I'm frantically checking if anyone is looking at me; someone’s gonna look at me pressing and tapping invisible buttons.

As my status window pops up, I press the yellow plus button twice, then the orange plus button once. This results in me having ★★★ in Agility and ★★ in Strength with no stars left to spend. Alongside the 2.5% Agility buff that Catch’n Release provides for every machine completed, this should give me great movement leeway for this expedition! I went with strength with my last star; mainly because I need to see the tug strength I have to provide whenever the valves jam up in contrast to my old experiences. 

I kind of already have a hunch that I won’t be able to generate enough tapes to complete the second objective. Four machines per floor is too few, and if machines do provide tapes it wouldn’t be enough. Even if I find up to 30 tapes per floor with no one picking them up, I’d have to compete against my colleagues in completing machines. And that’s a whole can of worms I have to worry about later on.

Wait… I hadn’t considered it yet. Shrimpo overperforming is going to be out of character… right? Well, I don’t know. Hopefully nobody notices—alternatively no one’s seen Shrimpo in action because he acknowledges his own stats: So far the only information I have on Shrimpo going on runs is with Goob’s comment on how he extracts and Dandy calling him an ‘untalented but persistent hard worker’ that doesn’t get called to do runs very often. 

The elevator doors opened, everyone scattered out. I walked out after everyone did, which left me alone in front of the elevator, and I took a good look around me: blue walling with a rainbow horizontally strewn across the walls, same ol’ wooden flooring like most of the floors do, rugs to go along with the flooring, and a black ceiling with a faint hexagonal pattern now that I’m focusing on it. Furniture including but not limited to; bookshelves, wooden crates, desks, and of course empty metal racks—those are everywhere ( I think gardenview has a metal rack epidemic …) 

Hallway with a dead-end to my left with a machine at the end which has Toodles seemingly working on it already. I then see Teagan walk by as I go forward, as I look at her she passes a protein bar, then a can of pop, ignoring the two items and going for the tapes on the floor instead. “Cosmo’s giving chase! (W-We saw Connie as well…)” I heard from across the room, I almost didn’t hear Dazzle though. 

Well they have Cosmo covered for this floor—I wonder what his twisted looks like. Though I’m sure I heard Dazzle mention Connie? I’ll just keep an eye out for any sounds or random object hauntings—it’d suck if a metal rack just suddenly fell on me and it was actually twisted Connie’s doing. I picked up the items that Teagan ignored earlier then immediately chugged the can of pop down: as expected it was both flat and lukewarm.

I checked under my shirt with my free arm and tried pulling tapes out like last time; low and behold I felt it, it was two whole tapes that came outta nowhere. Shoving the tapes back in, I’ve confirmed that at least. So I ate the protein bar as I ran around to look for Razzle’n Dazzle—As afraid as I am of having to outrun a twisted, I truly only had two direct encounters: twisted Boxten ambushing me, and that one Shrimpo that suddenly started running towards my direction last time. I didn’t count twisted Glisten, mainly because he hasn’t really chased after me.

Two consecutive machine completion dings rang out—as they did, I heard a noise that I can only describe as a fishing rod ‘pluck…’ I’m pretty sure that’s Catch’n Release in effect. “Oh Crud! Shrimpo, Cosmo’s going after you! (Oh no…)” I heard from my right so I turned my head aaand I saw Twisted Cosmo: the entire right half of his head covered in Ichor, his arm was different too but I didn’t take a good look because I just started running. 

As I looked behind me: I first saw Razzle’n Dazzle following behind Twisted Cosmo with concern strewn over their faces as Twisted Cosmo relentlessly kept dashing towards me, ofcourse Twisted Cosmo  ignored the conjoined twins—my horrid stealth being the perpetrator. It suddenly lunged its arm towards me after I lost my footing due to nervousness. I weaved to my right, looping around a metal rack. Twisted Cosmo slammed its arm straight through the metal rack which made metal clatter, as the rack got heavily dented, it fully fell onto the floor.

This one twisted just swung its ichor-coated arm into a whole metal rack and made the thing seem like CLAY. AND IT’S CHASING ME RIGHT NOW!?!

Thankfully, Twisted Cosmo wasn’t as fast as I expected him to be. But whenever I slowed my run to a more brisk pace Cosmo started gaining on me, so I ran full sprint whenever it seemed too close for comfort. My heart pounded, sweat dripped down my face as I intermittently breathed in and out, also I heard Razzle shout: “WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?! G-Go run around a corner or something already!” As the twins still followed behind Twisted Cosmo.

But I didn’t, because I hadn’t seen the objective yet (this definitely annoyed the twins…)— Cripes this is taking longer than I want it to. Thankfully I heard another ding, then the same pluck noise from earlier which eased my movement a little. 

My legs started to weaken from the exhaustion, but I couldn’t afford to slow down. The moment I do, I’m reminded by the metal rack from earlier (obliterated by a single swing.) I looked back once again to see Twisted Cosmo’s arm preparing to swing at me due to involuntarily slowing down. Another lunge it seems like—this time I pushed through as its ichor claw almost scraped my back as I felt the air shift just behind me. 

Thankfully their arm barely missed me, this didn’t stop a cold shiver being delivered down my spine. I hitched my breath and continued forward, passing between two overturned crates as the text finally fucking popped up on the top right peripheral box:  ”STAY IN THE LINE OF SIGHT OF A TWISTED FOR 60 SECONDS (1/4)”

I repeatedly screamed “I… haah… I haAATE THIS–I HATE THIIIS !! TAKE IT OFF ME!!! TAKE IT OFF ME!!!” as I finally took a sharp turn full sprinting around a corner that I planned to take a sharp turn into for a while now. Razzle’n Dazzle presumably took their chance. “W-We got Cosmo back on us! (What… did we just witness…)” they exclaimed… 

I…

I gasped for air and exhaled, my lungs felt like they were on fire as I had overexerted myself. My legs buckled as I sat down against the wall and glanced around. I saw a blue candy on the floor right beside me, so I popped it open and swallowed it whole… It didn’t taste like anything… 

That… That objective was easier said than done. Twisted Cosmo was inches from turning me into sushi three times as I willingly ran out in the open… fuck– ugh … and I have to do this three more times. I’m surprised I haven’t restarted from acting ‘Out of Character’ for overperforming in front of everyone who saw me–  I—EUH– HOW MANY RUNS DID SHRIMPO PARTICIPATE IN??? I— I MEAN I GOT CALLED LAST TIME…?? I– I’m… frustrated, I really am; having to worry about so many things threatening me at all times is straining me mentally… I didn’t see twisted Connie—but I’m not complaining.

…

… Deep Breaths…

…

…

Alarms started blaring after the last machine was completed. I stood up and ran towards the general direction of the elevator, then I eventually got in with the others already waiting. Of course, Razzle’n Dazzle were the last ones to get in as twisted Cosmo gets the elevator door shut on him (serves it right…)

“Shrimpo goodness dear! We saw what happened… Are you alright?” Teagan worriedly inquired as she approached me. “HHRRGG… MY NAME IS SHRIMPO, NOT ‘ALRIGHT,’ OKAY!?” I loudly deadpanned, in response I got Poppy to laugh. But Teagan, Razzle, and Dazzle just stared all seemingly concerned. “I- I thought it was cool! I’ve never actually seen Shrimpo interact with the bad guys until today!” Toodles added, her eyes seemed awestruck as I glanced at her.

Dandy rose up from his shop hatch, and stared at everyone as they stared at me. “Huh, what’s up with you guys…?” He inquired. “Uhm…  Shrimpo sorta made things unnecessarily complicated—.”Razzle replied. “Eeeh… Stop right there; check my wares!” Dandy interrupted as he placed his three items on the countertop of his shop: A stopwatch (costing 18 tapes), A singular yellow-wrapped piece of candy (for 45 tapes…? Ludicrous.) And lastly, an Air horn, like the ones I have in my room (at… 55 tapes.) 

Aside from the two items with somewhat obvious uses, I’m utterly confused as to what the purpose of just selling a singular piece of candy is. That stopwatch though… It’d really help me right about now if I could tell how long my future chases might be. So I checked under my shirt for how many tapes I have.

… 21.

I suddenly had 21 tapes without physically picking up any on the floor. I know that the can of pop gave me 2 tapes, so I’ll say that the protein bar and candy I found were both 2 tapes as well. Coupled with being chased by twisted Cosmo—if that gave me any tapes; maybe 7 from that? And lastly, I have a hunch that returning to the elevator grants 10 tapes.

I handed over the tapes and bought the stopwatch: ”SPEND A TOTAL OF (18/200) TAPES IN ANY WAY SHAPE OR FORM”. Dandy cartoonishly rubbed his hands together and exclaimed, “I knew you’d buy that! You always try when you have the chance.” I wondered to myself, do I just buy stopwatches every time he offers them from now on? But why did Shrimpo buy those stopwatches? I had never seen any in his room, either.

“Good luck! I’ll see you all after the third floor!” Dandy pulled the lever, and the shop closed up yet again.

Razzle…?” Dazzle inquired. Now that I was looking at the two, Razzle seemed a bit shocked by what had just happened. “I… Yeah, I’m fine.” Then Razzle looked in my direction. “Uhm—Shrimpo! Do you think you can handle distracting the twisteds on the next floor like you did earlier?” he asked while the others watched. “SHRIMPO DOESN’T TAKE ORDERS FROM THE LIKES OF YOU! Hmph!” I barked back, huffing. “But I’ll do it—ONLY BECAUSE I WANT TO!” I continued with my arms crossed.

“C-Can I watch!?!” Toodles asked as they tugged my shirt. “I WILL ALLOW SPECTATORS.” I stated, standing with my hands on my hips and a smirk on my face. “Shrimpo, you really don’t have to… I assure you that most of us here can handle having no one distracting the twisteds.” Teagan commented. “Yup!! I can handle myself!” Poppy added with a thumbs-up. “… I’m capable too! But I reaaally wanna watch Shrimpo distract!! Like Goob and Tisha!” Toodles exclaimed, her eyes sparkling with excitement—as if this was the most interesting thing she had seen in a long time.

I was pretty sure I had dug myself into a hole. At least this would force me to practice managing my exhaustion, but I got lucky earlier—at least I thought I did. Speaking of which, I should probably test something out regarding my checkpoints while no one’s looking… Gah ! Toodles was now constantly fixated on me because of what I said earlier.

As the elevator doors slid open—Right in front of me, patches of vines were arranged in a circle, and at the center sat a twisted… Ra.. Da.. Radazzle?? It was hard to tell; it had only one head that seemed like a haphazardly glued half of both Razzle and Dazzle’s masks. Its arms were entirely draped in ichor, and its neck was bound with some kind of box and chain. “Yeesh , basically in front of the elevator no less. (It’s… always so creepy to see our own twisteds…)” Razzle’n Dazzle commented. Preach Dazzle, Preach. Teagan sauntered past the twisted without a second thought, followed closely by the other three, then they scattered—again… I walked out too and the elevator behind shut. 

“Rodger told me to never, ever, EVER run inside the circle. But I really wanna see what happens!” Toodles chimed in from behind… 

Yeah I think she’s gonna follow me around to watch me distract I guess, babysitting 2: Electric Boogaloo! “NEW RULE, KEEP A HEALTHY DISTANCE AWAY FROM ME WHEN A TWISTED SPOTS ME.” I asserted looking directly at Toodles, doing my best to sound authoritative. “Okay!” Toodles replied, promptly moving a few steps back.

We walked past the idle twisted and started aimlessly walking around. The floor this time sported: yellow walls with a faint floral pattern, a lot more carpeting over the wooden flooring, and the Dandy show posters on the wall yet again! ( Notably these ones actually had Astro on some of them .) Same set of furniture: usual wooden crates, empty racks, but this time I see desks! Albeit flipped in random directions. The layout of the floor seemed like a maze of hallways this time.

Items were on the floor, again! And for once I came across a singular pile of 5 tapes untouched (naturally I took them immediately.) A distant machine completion ding echoed through the air, followed by Razzle’n Dazzle exclaiming: “Eeeew! Gross, ichor splashed all over me and Daz! (… Finn’s the other twisted.)”

… Hearing his name made my brows soften.

Twisted Finn… that’s—hmm… now I felt a bit weirded out.. “Uhm.. Shrimpo?” Toodles asked… ah, I had stopped walking in my tracks. “LET’S FIND THE STUPID FISHBOWL.” I declared, resuming my walk. Along the way, I picked up a can of pop and three gumballs, handing one of the gumballs to Toodles. It wasn’t very responsible of me to be giving a child gum that had been on the floor, but… huh.

I swallowed as I spotted a trail of bubbling ichor on the floor, leading past a hallway intersection. With a bit of caution, I ran towards it. Toodles hurriedly followed behind me, and… I guess I found Twisted Finn, he– it’s seen better days. Their entire lower half is gone, in its stead a blob of viscous ichor constantly producing a trail of ichor as he crawled with the upper torso. It still retains Finn’s translucent properties, though instead of the usual water, he seems to be filled with Ichor.

“LOOK AT IT… GO.” I loudly exclaimed, in response twisted Finn turned around and started its crawl towards me with those ichor-covered arms. Like most twisteds, its teeth were bared and sharp—but just like Finn, it was missing a tooth. I initially ran at full sprint and clicked on the stopwatch planning to manage my stamina, but quickly realized I could just intermittently speed walk around in a circle and watch the twisted pitifully try and crawl towards me.

“This is kinda boring…” Toodles commented, a hint of disappointment in her tone. Perchance expecting a more intense chase like the last floor with Twisted Cosmo. “BE THANKFUL IT’S NOTHING TOO EXCITING. THAT IT’S NOT COMING FOR YOU .” I shot back, minor frustration included. The chase felt more like a cruel game honestly, and I couldn't help but wince just a little every time I looped around it in a circle. Suddenly, my stopwatch crumbled—okay, that was weird (I mean it was 18 tapes for a reason I guess…)

… I wondered if it could understand fish puns, but I couldn't experiment with that while Toodles was here watching me; her deadpan expression was mildly amusing to look at. Though as I looked at her, the top right peripheral box changed:  ”STAY IN THE LINE OF SIGHT OF A TWISTED FOR 60 SECONDS (2/4)”

Ding—Pluck. Another machine completed, then another one rang out. With each one, I felt slightly less need to exert energy in my movement. 2.5% per machine is truly that miniscule—but I still felt the effects nonetheless and therefore I am thankful that I still have it in my arsenal. Thankfully I don’t have to go around and be the one personally completing the machines.

“TOODLES, GO BACK TO THE ELEVATOR… AND DON’T RUN WHILE YOU’RE IN THE CIRCLE THING,” I commanded. She nodded and began walking back to the elevator (presumably.) It wasn’t my best request, but I figured it was better to have her waiting there than to have to run all the way from this spot.

The alarms blared as the last machine finished its work. I quickly noticed that Twisted Finn was crawling at a much faster pace. This forced me to start running again, so I hurried back toward the elevator. I turned one corner, then another… and kept going straight…

…

… Okay, this isn’t good. I had forgotten how maze-like this floor felt. Not to mention Twisted Finn’s increased speed making things even more urgent as it chased me. After fumbling around a bit, I ended up drinking the can of pop to navigate two more corners and intersections, I began to feel the sweat trickling down my face.

In the distance, I spotted the vines that indicated Twisted Razzle’n Dazzle out of the corner of my eye. I sprinted toward the elevator with all my strength, stopping my sprint as I passed through the vines and walking by the idle twisted. I looked back and saw that Twisted Finn hadn’t been able to catch up to me after my sprint, then the elevator door shut as I got inside. 

“Shrimpo! Glad you found your way back—we were a bit worried you wouldn’t make it in time,” Poppy exclaimed, holding the Scrambler in one hand and a one-liter bottle of soda in the other. “Hey, you did a pretty good job distracting Finn! We’ve never seen you try your hand at it until now. So why—” (Razzle… I’m sure he just prefers not being chased around…)” Razzle started to say before Dazzle interrupted and answered for me…  Makes things easier! 

“I HATE HOW YOU’RE RIGHT!! I HATE BEING CHASED! But… I got tired of staying in the back—SO I’M CHANGING IT UP!!! Just for today’s run.” I exclaimed, crossing my arms. They seemed to accept my explanation and started discussing other things as the elevator moved. Toodles and Teagan appeared to be talking about Rodger, while Razzle and Poppy seemingly fed off of each other's optimistic energy (Dazzle looking a teensy bit miserable.)

I took the opportunity to slowly place myself in the corner. Then I pinched out my checkpoint box to select my checkpoint back to the first one.

This, I wanted to see what happens to the unselected checkpoint. I just need to see if I have some control over which checkpoints I want to update. I have a big gut feeling that one of the checkpoints will get overwritten after this run. 

I waved my hand in front of my face as the elevator arrived on the third floor. Wow… It looked just like the cafeteria, complete with seating booths and everything. The same red wallpaper, enhanced by a green diamond pattern separated by white lines. Suddenly, we heard a loud electrical noise—then the lights flickered and shut off with a distinct cutoff sound.

Uh oh… a blackout. Wait, actually, this is great! I heard the afternoon team has to deal with several of these. “Razzle and Dazzle, it seems that Twisted Brightney is roaming this floor. Both of you stay safe, dear,” Teagan warned the twins as she held Toodles close. Oh… the kid was shivering and clinging to Teagan’s dress. I couldn’t say I wasn’t a little nervous too, given my usual reliance on light as well.

We all walked out as a group initially, with Razzle and Dazzle scouting ahead in the darkness. Thankfully, the first three ichor extraction machines were quite close to the elevator, with red glowing indicators that revealed their locations in the dark. I stumbled once or twice due to accidentally bumping into objects I couldn’t really see.

Unfortunately, the fourth machine was nowhere to be seen. “You can all count on me to deal with the fourth one! Just prime that machine near the elevator for now,” Poppy said, her hands still full. I was surprised she wasn’t tired of holding that Scrambler thing yet. Wait, what does ‘prime’ mean? Well, I know the definition... verb, uh… Eh! I’ll figure it out later when either Teagan or Toodles ‘prime’ one of the ichor machines.

I split off from Toodles and Teagan, who were working on the two machines. I took my time, staring intently at the floor with my eyes squinted as they adjusted to the darkness. I would have expected to find an item on the floor by now, but it was too dark. So, I made my way towards the third remaining machine.

I ate the two gumballs I was holding and swallowed the gum (I’ll flush it out of my system… with magic… probably,) then checked my tapes under my shirt… 

25 in total.

It was time to work on this machine! I rubbed my hands together and started rotating the valve clockwise (I refuse to bang my head against the machine, no matter how ‘in character’ that is with Shrimpo.) Ichor began to pool down from the pipes, but then the valve stopped. Hnngh! It still liked to jam, and I had some trouble, but it was more manageable this time! I was turning the valves slowly, but I wasn’t struggling as much when it jammed, unlike last time.

Safe to say, the strength difference is quite measurable. I bet toons with 5 stars in strength don’t even notice when the machines jam. I heard a machine ding to my left—looks like one of them finished its task! I glanced over and saw that the machine nearest to the elevator wasn’t even being worked on.

… After a bit of time passed, I heard another machine ding, and then my machine chimed as well, turning the red indicator above it to green. Its tank was filled with ichor. I checked under my shirt for the tapes again and, low and behold, I now had 35 on me.

I walked to the elevator and waited alongside Toodles and Teagan. I wondered when they had returned to the elevator since I hadn’t walked that far away this time. “I-Is Razzle and Dazzle going to be okay?” Toodles worriedly inquired. “They’ve been handling twisted Flutter and Brightney so far, so yes, honey.” Teagan replied.

Poppy had returned, and… is.. yup, she’s carrying a first aid kit in her arms alongside the bottle of pop. “POPPY. SCRAMBLER.” I said as I held my hand out. She pondered for a moment but then shrugged and handed it over. “Alright! Don’t lose it~!” Poppy commented. “I. AM. NOT A KLUTZ!” I snapped back. She just giggled at that and replied with: “Yeah! You’re a Shrimp, hehe.”

Suddenly, we saw a bright red light gleaming from afar, approaching us. “POP IT!” Razzle shouted, strained and still obscured by darkness. Teagan immediately sprang into action and tugged the valve, making the machine ding. Oh… OH. It was that kind of prime—like setting up dynamite with a plunger. 

The elevator opened alongside the alarm, and in the far distance, we all saw Twisted Brightney, followed by Twisted Flutter flying past. Yikes… that’s scary—a twisted being that can fly and another that manipulates the surroundings. I’m relieved I didn’t get distracted on this floor because I doubt I would have had the confidence to run around in the dark, being chased by those two.

Suddenly, Razzle’n Dazzle scurried out of the darkness as the elevator's lights finally illuminated them. They ran in, and the elevator door closed behind them. “Daz, you good…? (I—I could be better...)” The conjoined twins were visibly exhausted and heavily panting.

After a few moments, Dandy and his shop appeared again. On his shop’s countertop were: a rolled-up paper with the thickest yellow rubber band I’d ever seen, labeled “Instructions” for 40 tapes; a first aid kit (identical to the one Poppy was holding) for 100 tapes; and a lone can of pop for 25 tapes. “Great selection, right?” Dandy proudly exclaimed.

Teagan walked right up to purchase the first aid kit, piling the tapes to the side. That’s… a lot of tapes, especially from only three floors. I walked up and bought the can of pop: ”SPEND A TOTAL OF (43/200) TAPES IN ANY WAY SHAPE OR FORM” while Razzle’n Dazzle purchased the instruction paper. I couldn’t help but wonder what the ‘instructions’ were for exactly? Not enough to choose it over the can of pop, though.

Earlier, I handed Toodles a gumball (albeit from the floor)—that didn’t trigger any ‘out of character' flags apparently. So, I decided to take a risky chance. “UGH! I HATE BUYER’S REMORSE!” I loudly exclaimed, forcing a grimace. Afterwards, I walked up to Toodles and offered her the can. “For me? Cool!” Toodles happily accepted it from my hand. “What else should you say, Toodles?” Teagan prompted. “Thanks a lot!” Toodles exclaimed. 

In response, I crossed my arms and stared away at the elevator after the interaction. “Shrimpo’s going to be the one to plug the Scrambler in?” Dandy commented from behind. “I could do it in your stead if you don’t want to, dear.” Teagan commented, as she laid a hand on my shoulder. That’s some mom energy right there. I audibly heard a lever pull, and thus Dandy's shop closed up and descended. 

“I’LL DO IT! I hate machines anyways…” I grumbled, trying to assure Teagan. “Are you gonna distract this floor as well?” Razzle inquired. “… IF NO ONE’S WILLING.” I replied… silence followed. Round three, I suppose—what twisted duo would we face on the fourth floor?

As the elevator doors slid open, a minor wave of disorientation washed over me. We stumbled into what appeared to be a reception room: It had two chairs, ripped up posters, and a reception desk loomed ahead. Behind the reception desk laid a windowed wall painted yellow, the walls in general had the floral pattern from the second floor, though the walls were decayed, duller, and visually splattered with ichor… Gruesome.. uhm…

Just beyond the glass, an unnecessarily long hallway stretched out, not to mention the puddles of ichor leading toward a metallic door that’s probably the one that’ll open during panic mode. To our left, a hallway that seemingly led to beyond the long hallway, while to our right lay a room with a mountain of chairs. Final stretch.. I…

Notably there’s a lone ichor machine in the corner of the room we were in, which prompted Razzle’n Dazzle to start working on it just as we had gotten out. “We’ll prime this one…” Dazzle said, Razzle on the other hand seems quite dazed. They unbound the yellow rubber from the instructions paper and briefly looked through it from where I stood… agh…

Okay, this is getting annoying.

I felt a little dizzy; it’s a little harder to keep my train of thought. The worst part is I can’t seem to tell what’s affecting me, it’s just setting off some alarms in my head.

I looked around at the others, they seemed to be strained by what I’m experiencing too (especially Razzle.) “… Agh.. It’s gotta be a main. (Which… one…?)” Razzle’n Dazzle muttered. “Wouldn’t it be too low of a floor for that?” Teagan added, slight worry on their face. “Except… We’re not doing a normal run. Special floor and stuff? (I just hope it’s not a gas leak. It’d be the end of us…)”

We all unanimously decided to stay together until we found any of the two twisteds in question, especially due to the seemingly mild but constant mental disruption being inflicted onto us. I still held onto the Scrambler with a tight grip, but seemed to occasionally feel my hand trying to release it.

… Then, heavy footsteps echoed faintly in the distance. That’s… That’s utterly terrifying. “I’LL… TAke.. initiative and distract it so you can all extract the machines.” I exclaimed, though my voice trembled a bit as I walked– Poppy stopped me before I left the group: “Wait. If you’re distracting, you’ll need my bottle of pop more than me. Just drink it when you think your legs are about to give out.” She instructed, more serious than she’s ever sounded.

I took it without question and exclaimed: “Just.. Do the MACHINES AS FAST AS YOU CAN.” I walked into the room, crew following behind (except Razzle’n Dazzle.), Scrambler in left hand, and bottle of pop on the right. To my left I Immediately, I saw… Tisha? Yeah, it was Twisted Tisha, dusting the doorway she stood in between with a feather duster. She was facing the other way so she didn't notice me. We noticed two ichor machines in the room, diagonally across each other in the corners. 

I suspected there was probably an ichor machine beyond that doorway, and the other twisted’s footsteps grew louder while I walked into the room. Despite the situation, I forced myself to grab Twisted Tisha’s attention. "HEY! TISSUE-FOR-BRAINS!" I shouted, immediately startled when it turned its head towards me like an owl and rushed at me, brandishing the same feather duster she cleaned with as a weapon.

I began to alternate between sprinting and speed walking, just as I had done when Twisted Finn chased me. As I looped around the mountain of chairs, I passed Poppy and Teagan. Twisted Tisha ignored them completely and kept going after me, even though it walked right past them. It seems that the two of them immediately got to work on the other two ichor machines once they spotted them. I steeled myself as I dashed into the room that Twisted Tisha had initially blocked.

Inside, I found a rectangular office space filled with cubicles and paper concept arts for various toons scattered about. Most of the chairs were gone, probably being thrown onto the chair mountain in the other room, and only two or so cubicle desks had computers, with the rest having art supplies alongside paper and pencils. And yup! As I suspected, the last machine was located right in the center of the room. "TOODLES, WORK ON THE MACHINE," I commanded, and she quickly obliged.

And… Cripes, I saw it—an imposing figure: Twisted Shelly, which I didn’t know Shelly was a ‘main.’ This twisted was tall, enough that her shell-like head could be seen above the cubicle walls. Each step she took reverberated through the room, her body hidden behind the cubicles. I briefly recalled the scene with Shelly moving quickly as Twisted Glisten chased her before a minor headache interrupted my thoughts.

The headache didn’t slow my movements, but it was definitely annoying. I decided to draw out Twisted Tisha chasing me alone for a little longer, I maneuvered around the cubicles without Twisted Shelly noticing me—at least, not yet.

But then it did notice. After I looped Tisha around two different cubicles, Twisted Shelly suddenly looked straight at me and let out a terrifying screech. Hearing what sounded like dinosaur noises was utterly unexpected, and as it started chasing me, I finally got a good look at the twisted in full: Ichor-draped digitigrade legs, exposed skeleton and ribcage below the beige clothing she usually wore, and I think I see a tailbone. And similar to Twisted Finn but to a lesser degree, her torso bled out Ichor.

Aah Crud! Cripes, Cussword! I hate this, I HATE this—Twisted Shelly is fast, unlike Tisha who's been roughly as fast as Cosmo, Shelly wasn’t as manageable—especially since none of the machines haven’t finished up yet. In fact Tisha almost went for Toodles three times if not for my constant yelling to take her attention back to me. Unfortunately the yelling only exhausted me further as I got more and more tired. 

Toodles seemingly watched as she worked on the machine, I mean, she’s been wanting to see a more intense chase and now she’s got front row seats to see a shrimp get chased around by a very hungry dinosaur and murderous maid. 

I have been involuntarily overbreathing, and it’s taking its toll on me. The legs began to ache, and I felt Twisted Shelly’s breath on the tail-end of my head at least eight times now. She’s ready to devour me like I'm sushi at this rate.

I opened the cap of the bottle of pop with my teeth as it fizzed and foamed—then I chugged, I chugged because my life depended on it, I chugged like this was the last time I was ever going to drink cola. I felt the cola burn my throat as it flowed into my mouth, but I felt the effects working as I drowned myself with the pop. I threw the empty bottle directly into Twisted Shelly’s face, that did nothing—it did not make them flinch. Thankfully the pop extended the chase length as I continued to keep a healthy distance away from both Twisteds: ”STAY IN THE LINE OF SIGHT OF A TWISTED FOR 60 SECONDS (3/4)”

Oh, okay, I guess that’s Twisted Tisha’s contribution. But since I wasn’t in Twisted Tisha’s direct line of sight repeatedly, that confirms that I don’t have to distract full-time. That’s great! Then Finally—FINALLY! The two machines from earlier were completed, which eased my chase due to Catch’n Release. Everything helps. And it looks like Toodles is—SHE’S ONLY 40% THROUGH THAT ICHOR MACHINE AT LEAST.

She seems to be paying more attention to me than to extracting ichor. Suddenly, Poppy ran over to Toodles. Even though I was running for my life, I could hear their conversation. “Hey Toodles, why don’t you watch Shrimpo while I work on that machine for you?” Poppy proposed. “Y-Yeah, sure! Go Shrimpo!” Toodles replied. 

Teagan eventually came over as well. “Shrimpo dear! Once this machine is done, take a sharp turn into one of the cubicles and take cover. Afterwards, we’ll draw them away from you so you can insert the Scrambler!” Teagan shouted instructions, and I understood. “WHATEVER, YEAH!!! YEAH, WHATEVER!!” I yelled in annoyance as I continued to run, still being chased by both twisteds: ”STAY IN THE LINE OF SIGHT OF A TWISTED FOR 60 SECONDS (4/4)”

Ghh… I am definitely not going to distract next time now that I know they don’t have to be in direct sight for 60 seconds straight. Suddenly, I saw Toodles run out of the room. I looked towards the third ichor machine and saw that it was almost done. Teagan was waiting near one of the cubicles, so I decided to dive into that cubicle and hide under the desk.

… Ding.

I ran towards Teagan’s location, saw the opportunity, and dove right under one of the cubicle desks.

… Footsteps became louder and louder.

Until they grew more faint: “I-I have Twisted Shelly chasing me now! Poppy, help me out here—Shrimpo, do what you need to do!” Teagan exclaimed. I peeked out and saw that Twisted Shelly was indeed chasing Teagan while Twisted Tisha had started chasing Poppy, though after a bit of time, Twisted Tisha soon ignored Poppy and headed straight towards Teagan…

I– I NEED TO GET A MOVE ON.

I ran out and headed back into the room with the chair mountain, then into the reception area. “TWINS, POP THE MACHINE WHEN I REACH THE METAL DOOR!” I frantically shouted as I passed by Razzle’n Dazzle and sprinted down the long hallway. They didn’t really respond, but I was sure they understood.

As I ran down the hallway, stepping into puddles of ichor, I heard a sickeningly loud crunch. Yikes… I think Twisted Shelly bit into someone—or clawed them; I couldn’t tell. I reached the end of the long hallway, panting. I gripped the scrambler in my left hand and…

… Ding.

Alarms blared, and I heard the elevator open in the distance. More importantly, the door in front of me swung open, and I ran inside. The room resembled a CCTV room, filled with monitors and equipment, and a rolling chair. I spotted the spot where I had to plug in the Scrambler, so I followed the presentation instructions and inserted it.

After a series of beeps, I heard a click—the Scrambler seemed to have secured itself in the slot, and I couldn’t pull it out anymore. I started my run back to the elevator. In the distance, I saw both Poppy and Teagan, visibly bandaged up. Oh no, Twisted Shelly was looking at me through the window.

It recklessly charged towards the window, and the entire glass window broke. I noticed it got staggered as its shell head chipped and started bleeding out ichor, but now it had quick access to me. I thought quickly and dashed back into the CCTV room. I frantically looked around as to what could assist me… Then I spotted it: an emergency fire extinguisher on the side. An idea sparked in my mind—the combination of a rolling chair and a fire extinguisher.

I don’t know how much Shrimpo weighs, but I was definitely lightweight. I pried the fire extinguisher off the wall and checked its pressure tank—55 bar. Let’s do this. I tied the extinguisher’s hose around the back of the rolling chair, pushed the chair outside, and sat down on it, hugging the seat as I aimed the hose behind me. With a firm grip on the lever, I clamped down to activate the extinguisher—

”aaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!”

I screamed. It zoomed down the long hallway haphazardly zigzagging, going past Twisted Shelly actually. It was so fast that the chair hit the windowless wall, tipped the chair over which catapulted me across the reception area straight towards the elevator. Unfortunately, I’m about to land face first into the elevator wa–

I opened my eyes. Ugh… My head hurt as I looked around me, everything was a bit blurry but eventually my eyes returned back to normal—actually my whole left face felt numb while wrapped with a bandage. I laid in my room, comfortably tucked in actually.

… let me pinch out my checkpoint box.

Huh… Haha… Ahahaha! AHAHAHAHA!  

“HAHAHAHAHA! SHRIMPO WINS!” I proudly exclaimed. I’m able to choose which checkpoints I want to keep for the day. Wait, objectives! I pinched the whole box out and:

A concussion had knocked me out for roughly six hours—Assuming the checkpoint was saved after I had entered that elevator. Well, either way, I learned a lot today, and I strained myself too. I definitely know Dandy’s going to refuse my request to send me down there again today because I don’t think I’m in any state to do anything…

…

Gaah whatever, I’ll rest the remaining time away for now and ruminate about my plans after I sleep.

I know I just woke up, but nothing can beat a good sleep! And someone'll probably wake me up.

I wave the screen off my face, shuffle around a little and close my eyes to continue resting.

Chapter Text

I felt vibrations coming from my pillow, with annoyance I lazily moved my hand under the pillow and held onto the object. I pulled it out, raised it over my face with half opened eyes and saw an unreadable mess on a glowing rectangular screen—although I didn’t recognize anything on it, I instinctively swiped to the right with my thumb. The vibrations ceased.

Placing… whatever that was back under the pillow. I sat up and involuntarily yawned, my eyes adjusted to my unfamiliar surroundings. A dim light filtered through a curtained window to my right, illuminating the room with grey walls. A desk sat tucked in a corner with a chair by it, and a mirror hung on the wall across from a white door, and a very basic wardrobe. I—what is this cramped grey-walled room? Unraveling the covers, I stood up and approached the mirror.

Still the same ol’ shrimp toon from the looks of it, sleeveless red shirt and all. The bandages that once adorned the left side of my face had vanished. As I scanned the room further, it felt oddly homey despite the bland cramped space. Something about this place felt… strange? No, that’s not the right word, I can’t seem to put my tongue on it. 

To look outside the curtained window I pulled back the curtains, leading to a suburban neighborhood unfolding before my eyes. Rows of houses lined the pale green landscape, dotted with trees and silent lamp posts, a lonely asphalt road cutting through it all. A sun beamed into my eyes, and as I focused, I noticed the colors of the houses changed the moment I took my attention off them, the trees swayed as leaves blew around.

And there was no one outside.

I attempted to pry open the window, but it refused to budge. I kept trying, I pulled harder, changed directions, I started checking for window locks—none. Then out of frustration, I started banging on the window.

…

I’ve never felt so desperate to open a random dream window. And… I– I don’t know why, I’m trying to think of reasons—I guess I just wanted some fresh air or something.

I turned around and frantically ran to the white door. Gripping the knob, I opened it and a blinding light enveloped me. I instinctively shielded my eyes with my arms, and when the brightness faded, I realized that the door was gone. I- I turned around to see that the walls had vanished; replaced with a white void.

The room I was in was gone.. A-and.. A sudden realization hit me that I: was upset . 

Because I felt like I lost something important . I.. don’t wanna go into any further conclusions, so I’ll just assume it’s nothing to worry about… I looked down at my feet, and involuntarily sighed.

“Shrimpo…?” A voice asked—I looked behind and, there’s Astro. “Evening. I woke up a bit earlier, but I felt like I wanted to rest a little longer.” I replied, feigning my normal angry look. “… That’s alright.. everyone is stressed tonight.” he added, looking to the right. “When the morning crew came back… we saw you being lifted unconscious by Poppy, Razzle, and Dazzle. Apparently you got flung onto the elevator wall due to… ‘chair propulsion,’ as Dazzle described it.” Astro continued, looking back at me, face notably puzzled after mentioning chair propulsion. 

“I wouldn’t have made it back otherwise. Is Poppy and Teagan okay? And… I’m guessing something bad happened to the afternoon guys?” I replied, this seemed to make him grimace at my words. 

“… The girls had already tended to themselves, so Sprout and Cosmo aided quickly. And as for the afternoon team, even with preparation and planning: Boxten had gone into critical condition after getting cornered in the dark by Twisteds, the others were injured except for me and Sprout. So the chefs worked overtime to keep everybody alive.” Astro answered, straightforward too. 

Tough ladies, tending to themselves whilst getting chased? That’s crazy. Also Boxten’s heavily injured?!? Poor guy—wait everyone got injured right? That.. includes Connie… ISN’T SHE A GHOST?!? Sprout and Cosmo both being field medics is something I didn’t expect, those guys are carrying crazy value. 

“And… although your concerns are valid… why aren’t you worried about yourself?” Astro inquired… rightfully so, yeah I mean I think I heard a splat the moment I hit the elevator wall.

“I’m respiring and conscious so I take that as a win, with no brain injury to boot.” I exclaimed flatly, pointing at the left side of my forehead. Astro sighed, and then two chairs manifested across from each other, with a coffee table in the middle. “I need to talk about something… You’ve been confusing me  ever since I visited the first dream you’ve had in weeks.” he explained, sounding and looking annoyed as he took a seat. I walked over to the free seat and sat down as well.

“How?” I replied, I’ve never seen a guy look me dead in the eyes so fast. 

“… What do you mean by ‘How’ ?” he snapped with his eye narrowing, I flinched at the sudden angry tone—not something I expected from Astro.

“First of all, look around. Your dreamscape has been this white void three times now—usually, you have more vivid scenes like the one where you were injured in that run. Second, your attitude has changed dramatically over these last three dreams, including this one! I can't even tell if you're lucid or just completely out of it… In the first dream, you seemed like you had no clue who I was, and in the third, you asked for things you've never shown the slightest interest in. Who does that?! No one just does that here. Lastly, I greeted you in the lobby, and you didn’t say a single word to me. Didn’t you say that you had something to share last time…?” Astro monologues, apparent annoyance in his voice throughout it all. Damn, I guess he wanted to get that off his chest. 

… What do I say? I’m free to do what I want from here on out because my checkpoint will restart me to the morning due to my tapes objective failure. 

I… I guess I should experiment a little, and by that I mean I’m about to try and change Astro’s view of Shrimpo by ehem—‘Opening up’ to him. Maybe then it’ll be possible to break character the moment I meet him face to face, or at the very least change it to the extreme. Here goes nothing, gotta exaggerate the remorse to make this as believable as possible…

 “You wanted to hear what I had to say last time?! Fine! I- I… got tired of my role. Yeah, that’s right—I HATE BEING THE BULLY!!” I exclaimed with the most strained face I could muster, brows unfurrowed as I looked at him. His face changed to a puzzled one, so I started avoiding eye contact by staring at the coffee table. 

“Tired of hating, as the intentionally designed bully toon. Crazy right? A while ago, I grew exhausted from shouting about how much I hated everything—I- I don’t know why I held onto it for so long. I- euh .. kept coping by thinking and reinforcing that I did like doing what I did…! But that very day when you visited me in that white nothingness, I was so out of it that I accidentally let go of the act for once… Then I did it again… then the next. That’s when I fully realized how I really felt about myself…” I explained, my right hand trembling on my forehead as I covered my eyes. Note that I don’t actually know if Shrimpo willingly bullies the other toons.

I paused for a bit trying to continue my sentence, Astro seemingly just sat in silence as I looked head down at the table.

“That I… I- I started to care! Care about being able to interact with another toon without: shouting, exclaiming hatred, or acting rude for once. I know everything I’ve done in the past doesn’t make up for it, but I- just… I am sorry. I am genuinely sorry for everything I have said and done…” I continued—also I don’t know what I’m apologizing for, but I’m just assuming Shrimpo has done some heinous things. The moment I looked up at him, Astro’s face was laced with extreme worry.

“This… whole time…?” He mustered, eye wide with his mouth open. Oh crud, I think I went overboard uhh– sorry Astro! 

“You didn’t have to keep up the act for so long… Especially if it was bothering you that badly, we would’ve all understood.” Or.. not, his face had composed quickly; man this guy’s emotions are unreadable. Uhh… Okay okay, gotta keep it going.

“… As I said, it’s dumb—” I continued, a little flustered. “No, don’t say that. You just… took your time.” he interrupted, which means he’s buying into it—hopefully.

“… I– yeah… thank you Astro. Could we talk about it in my room? Please…?” I abruptly requested, hoping to get Astro to talk to me with the System active. “As in, you want me to change the scene to your room here on the spot?” Astro replied, though I quickly shook my head in response and said: “No. Talk about it in person, awake.”

His face expressed various emotions—as if he was contemplating, then he sighed. “… Alright, for the sake of a fellow toon. I don’t have much on my plate as of now anyways as opposed to the other mains. I just came over after I sensed you were actively dreaming.” He stood up as the surrounding furniture disappeared, this led me to stumble from where I sat. “I’ll wake you up then, I’ll come down there soon—”

I opened my eyes—my left eye slightly obscured by the bandages yet again. Looks like I really shifted awake out of nowhere. Astro can just wake you up I guess, he didn’t have to do the chair removal thing but honestly I found it a bit funny. 

Minor complaint, that was a really abrupt transition. A sudden fade to black then instant consciousness. He also senses if you’re dreaming at all times I guess, like Santa? That’s… uhm, I don’t know how his magic works, gotta press his menu button if I want any information at all… hopefully he won’t have the same firewall Dandy had.

Notably, my menu button was pulsating—what changed whilst I was asleep???

I sat upright on my bed again. Astro’s gonna come over, but I did say I’d think about my plans after I woke up, so… I pinched out the objective box to see how long I slept for.

That was only a twenty minute nap??? The passage of time here is so confusing. Whatever…

Objectives! 

Stay in character is about to be tested, courtesy of Astro who's coming over. Even if I do restart upon immediately breaking out of the more normal Shrimpo act, it’s fine—and at least I know.

Stay in line of sight doesn’t mean line of sight for 60 seconds straight, but just the total amount of time one has to chase me around—I feel like there’s some time inconsistencies… I felt time quickly pass in the expedition run, but it was actually two whole hours in there? Is there some weird time-dilation thingy happening? 

Tapes, Tapes, Tapes. Okay. Machines, Items, and ones on the floor, getting chased also grants tapes but I haven’t determined the amount yet—I need to get into the afternoon team somehow. Maybe swap places with Boxten so he doesn’t get injured… I go to the elevator with him if I go out at the same time, and it goes to the lobby first before the cafeteria.

Bonus objective.. I… Is—Is the third toon Astro? NO WAY. The dream rant worked?! Ahahaha! Well, I don’t know how high the affinity level was raised but I know it’s substantial enough to reach the 25% range. I- I need to check that out now, like, immediately to see what I got from him RIGHT NOW. I’ll find out who the second toon was this way as well! I quickly navigated the menu button to press the orange ‘REWARDS’ button—

OH YES, Six pop-up boxes popped up and basically flooded in front of my face. I– I can kinda discern who is who, but— the second toon’s ability names (namely option 3 & 4) are just vague enough for me to not know who it may belong to. I know it’s not Teagan though, Dandy said something about Teagan cauterizing herself constantly… with what exactly?

While Toodles’ options are still there (still not viable,) the four new options are interesting: The first option is a must pick, since exhaustion’s my no.3 enemy. Second option is questionable but I see its uses and I bet I can use it on myself since it doesn’t explicitly say I can’t! Third option looks good too, hopefully the small buff lets it perform well—and importantly if it stacks per chasing twisted. 

Then there’s the… fourth option, which requires me to get hurt for it to work. I… I fail to see how good this is at all when getting wounded is almost essentially a restart for someone like me. Maybe there’s some tech to it, perchance I find a Twisted that doesn’t hit like a brick and intentionally let it repeatedly wail on me as I find a way to regenerate like one of those comic superheroes. 

The speed would kind of be redundant if I could just regenerate all the damage dealt to me. Even then, I’d rather not have to constantly hurt myself for a measly 25% boost, that sounds horrid. 

Huh. I just noticed something, what’s the difference between ‘bonus’ and ‘boost?’ I’m a little confused on that end. Maybe one is flat and the other multiplies the number, System, please clarify next time! Not that it can hear me; or maybe it does, hopefully neither of the worse options.

As it may be, the selection is essentially useless to me because I will not be able to utilize ANY of this due to restarting—actually, no. I can get Toodles’ Sudden Advantage and use it out here to check what my highest affinity value is as of the moment, which is definitely Finn . Though… how would I access the numbers? The system doesn’t explicitly display numb—

Sporadic knocking on my door is heard… Ah cripes he got here quickly. Uhh– okay wait– I haphazardly selected Sudden Advantage and Grant Repose as my options which removed the screens off my face, though I selected the latter by accident.

“MRGGH.. SHRIMPO ALLOWS ENTRY!!” I exclaimed. Astro opened the door and walked in—I briefly saw the outside until Astro closed the door. I saw that Boxten’s door was open, presumably accepting visitors since he more than likely laid in bed like me.

I shifted my sitting position to be sitting off the bed rather than having my legs under the blanket. He curiously looked around, but eventually pulled my desk stool with what I can only assume is telekinesis and placed it 4 ft across where I sat. “… Your room is different from what I remember.” He commented, I look at him as if I was offended. “CAN’T A GU—” I abruptly stopped, my lips quivered. 

D- Don’t act like Shrimpo… I got this.. I got this…

…

“… Y- YEAH. I cleaned it up, but I can't do much about the holes. ”I said, putting an effort into keeping my brows unfurrowed as I tried to soften my face. He looked at me weird, but sighed and stared normally again. His… normal stare being this tired almost sad look, kinda like Dazzle actually.“… That’s admirable… Both the room and—whatever’s going on with you.” Astro commended. 

“Ah- uhm.. APPRECIATED! Giving effort to being NOT-SO grumpy.” I replied as I tried to smile, though I seem to be subconsciously fighting both smiling and talking like Shrimpo. I gritted my teeth in a bit of frustration and kept on trying.

“S- So… I don’t wanna shout, say I hate, or be mean to anyone AnYmore.” I elaborated with the utmost effort I could muster, my voice cracking near the end. My face failed to stay not-angry looking, so I gave up on that end.

…

“That tracks, yup.” he replied, blankly staring at me. 

I let out an audible sigh of relief! Nothing’s happening due to both the dream and his affinity level I assume (how HIGH did it get???)—and I know the system is in effect because of the user interface. I relax a little more, less effort into fighting my current instinct of staying in character.

“So. You only started caring about other toons… no less than three days ago?” Astro asked—uhh okay hmm. “Better late than never…?” I awkwardly replied, Astro closed his eye… and huffed a sigh. “Okay, when did you get tired of… doing what you normally do?” Astro inquired.

Oh uhm… hmm…

“Just over a month ago. I stopped coming to the cafeteria to avoid interactions… I built up a bit of courage recently after I’ve been sleeping better.” I answered, less strained than before but still anxious. That should explain why Shrimpo stopped going to the cafeteria, as well as my recent actions—to him, at least. “Got any plans of saying sorry to anyone?” Astro suddenly asked. Uh oh, yeah I don’t have a concrete answer for this one.

“I- euh uhm… I’m kind of blanking out on who I should start apologizing to…” I mumbled nervously. “Just start small… maybe someone here in the quarters. I conversed with Goob outside the hallway just a bit ago. I’ll bring him in, I’m sure he’d be glad to see this new side of yours.” Astro replied, standing up—presumably preparing to get Goob in here… 

WAIT HE’S BRINGING GOOB HERE?!?

Anxiety shoots through me again. If he brings Goob in here, he’ll definitely consider me out of character. I- I know I have to restart but—I DON’T WANT TO, NOT NOW! THIS IS THE CLOSEST I’VE FELT TO BEING MYSELF WITHOUT THE SYSTEM INTERFERING!

… BUT I CAN’T JUST TELL HIM TO NOT BRING GOOB IN!!! R-Right after the whole spiel too! Could I tell him “Someone else?” Err– “No not Goob!” A-Ah.. no, “No, give me time!” Darn it– I.. I’M SUDDENLY LOSING MY COOL! Crud… uhm… 

“Wh- WAIT A BIT!” I shouted, standing up as I violently flailed my arms around as Astro was about to leave with the door open.

A loud twinkling sound alongside an illuminating flash of orange burst forth from my right hand. Astro had looked back as he heard this, he and I witnessed a wispy orb visibly both accelerate out the door and navigate straight into Boxten’s room. Then he stared at me with the most baffled face I’ve ever seen a toon make. 

“How— Wh- Was that what I thought it was!?” Astro shouted in surprise. 

“Oh…” I murmured. 

Then the ringing started once more. My body stiffened and the last thing I saw was Astro’s blur scurrying towards me as I felt my body fall onto the floor.

I opened my eyes and gasped… laid back on the bed I had just stood up from. Back under the blanket.

My face felt flushed due to my minor embarrassment. I rubbed my face with both hands… That… yeah, accidentally casting what is essentially Astro’s own weird magic thingy—whatever that was, in FRONT of him. He recognized it IMMEDIATELY and more than likely found that extremely out of character of me. 

Not to mention the irrational thoughts I was suddenly having—that, that annoys me. I generally stay  calm and collected, but I guess the system’s got me scrambling now.

Gahh… whatever, I’ll deal with it when I get to listen to Astro’s monologue if I dream again. 

I shouldn’t change Astro’s opinion of Shrimpo drastically this quickly early on anyways since it’ll make too many complications, I’ll do it slowly and stay in my lane. 

I sat up onto my pillow, moved my legs onto my blanket… 

“Haauughh… Here we go again.” I let out due to minor frustration from my incompetence. At least I know that I can change Astro’s view of Shrimpo to an extent with no problems. I gotta think fast and… move on. So I pinched out the top right objective box to see what I can do.

As I glanced over it yet again, the bonus objectives took my attention.

Finn. 

Wait—That’s it! I told Finn to “ASK ME IN THE MORNING” yesterday night if I wanted to hang out with him… but he was injured so he couldn’t pick me up. I had almost forgotten about it because I was so hyper fixated on trying to complete my main objectives. The last time I’ve remotely seen him was… with.. his Twisted… I shudder a bit.

Then that settles it, a new current goal! Hang out with Finn so I can raise the affinity level as HIGH as I can. It's definitely somewhere in the 30% or 40% range at minimum. I’ll be bringing Finn to breakfast! If he’s fine with that. But I gotta move quickly with swapping expedition positions with Boxten, so I’ll do that first. 

I fixed up my bed as I stood up from it, and quickly strode out of my room—Boxten from across my room had also come out yet again “… Mm.. Morning, Shrimpo…?” Boxten greeted me awkwardly– again. “ MNGG –I HOPE YOU HAVE A BAD MORNING!!” I barked, pointing at him. “Uh… Alright.” Boxten replied as he defensively held his hands up. I walked down the hall slower than last time as Boxten seemingly trailed behind. We reached the elevator and I pressed the up button. It was quiet, between me and Boxten.

“I RESCIND IT.” I spoke up, breaking the silence. Boxten looked at me puzzled. “..Huh?” he let out.

I stepped closer. “I TOLD YOU. SHRIMPO REVOKES THE EARLIER STATEMENT.” I explained, visibly gritting my teeth. “I– uh… appreciate the gesture..??” He says in confusion, face contorted with visible discomfort. Boxten’s probably processing the interactions, and so is probably the system.

… Nothing happened so I guess that was Shrimpo enough.

The elevator door opened up, me and Boxten went in. I now pressed the 2nd toon quarters floor, Boxten seemingly wanted to go to the cafeteria like last time. As we waited for the elevator to close, on cue Razzle audibly screamed yet again: “Keep the elevator door open, wait for us!” 

Just as the elevator was closing. With quick thinking and some prayers, I lunged and put my arm in between the elevator doors to stop it from closing, which thankfully it did (I had NOT expected this elevator to have safety features.) Eventually the conjoined twins got in, and I stepped back inside.

“Morning Boxten! (Good morning too…)” Razzle’n Dazzle greeted Boxten, then both looked in my direction. “Nice save Shrimpo! You’re up early today, what’s the occasion? (Uhm yeah… thanks for keeping the elevator open.)” they said. 

“THINGS TO DISCUSS WITH THE FLOWER.” I replied as I glared at the two. “Oooh! Why? Actually don’t—lemme guess! (Razzle… please don’t provoke him …)” Razzle said as they started rubbing their chin, Dazzle on the other hand stared away and clasped their waist. “New punching bag?! More thumbtacks? Some-fin related to Finn—(Razzle…!)” Razzle guessed until they were interrupted by a panicked Dazzle. I found the sudden Finn mention surprising, same with the pun—are those three friends?

“NONE OF WHAT YOU SAID!!! But… it does concern HIM.” I said, suddenly pointing at Boxten. As I did, I started to menacingly approach Boxten which prompted him to move backwards. “W-Wait! S-Shrimpo w- what did I do?!” Boxten said in response, now looking pretty scared as he backed into the corner. “NOTHING. YOU’RE COMING WITH ME ANYWAYS!!!” I exclaimed as I grabbed his left arm and started pulling him towards the elevator door.

He didn’t really resist, but he did say: “R-Razzle? Dazzle?! Please help me?!?” In response Razzle whistled with eyes to the side, while Dazzle just looked away with arms behind their back. The elevator arrived at the lobby, and I of course dragged Boxten out.

“… Shrimpo, please let go of my arm.” Boxten begged. “NOT YET.” I snapped back, the arrival of the elevator took the attention of Dandy’n Co as they were setting up the lobby yet again. “Oh! Hello Shrimpo, Boxten, R and D!” Dandy spoke from afar, waving at our direction as he placed down one of the chairs. 

“Hey guys..” Astro greeted as he walked by with the floating monobloc chair following him, with closer inspection he was staring directly at me. “I’ll see YOU later.” I grumbled and glared towards Astro. He raised a brow in response, but just continued his walk. 

“Oooh! What’s happening here? (… Razzle, I’m sure we’ll find out later…)” Razzle’n Dazzle suddenly commented, I looked behind and they had also gone out of the still-open elevator—okay I didn’t expect that. “Okay- okay. Sorry Dazzle, we’ll eat something first.” Razzle said as the twins ran back into the elevator right before it closed.

I started dragging Boxten towards Dandy past some of the set-up chairs, until Vee stopped me in my tracks with their hand in front of my face. “Care to explain why you’re dragging Boxten around up here so early?” they- she- it– hmm… she. Yeah, feminine name and voice. Ehem– she asked.

“ARE YOU IN CHARGE OF THE RUNS?” I inquired with my own question. 

“That only partially answers my question.” Vee crossed her arms, face still that same ol’ smirk which is oddly reminiscent of Glisten. “SWAP ME OFF TO THE AFTERNOON TEAM AND REPLACE BOXTEN THEN!!” I loudly exclaimed with a raised fist, unintentionally clenching the hand that held Boxten’s arm—in which he silently suffered through.

“Why exactly, hmm? I’ve specifically optimized today’s team composition. More importantly, how do you know about both yours and Boxten’s positions?” Vee shot back. “BRIGHTNEY SPILLED THE BEANS LAST NIGHT, SHRIMPO DESERVES TO DO MORE THAN JUST FOUR MEASLY FLOORS!!!” I screamed, this took both the attention of Dandy and Astro who started approaching. Lying through my teeth isn’t really my main thing, but I assume either Rodger or Brightney knew about today’s run due to them being contributors to making the Scrambler thingy.

“I suppose you have to talk to him about that then.” Vee relented and… rolled her eyes? Kinda hard to tell because it was like three frames of her face changing. She moved away towards Astro’s side and whispered something. Then they both walked away into the computer room (across the room where I obtained my art supplies,) probably to set up the projector and computer. 

“… Could you please just let go of my arm, I won’t run…” Boxten asked, I obliged and released seeing as Dandy was coming over. “What even is today’s run about?? And you wanna swap assigned positions because… the afternoon team has more floors…?” Boxten continued, rubbing the area I gripped. “ONE, YOU’LL FIND OUT LATER—TWO, SHRIMPO COMMENDS YOUR CORRECTNESS.” I replied, arms crossed.

“So, Shrimpo! I heard you're feeling ambitious today~?” Dandy finally approached us and quickly asked—he got to the point quickly. “GHRRR… JUST SWAP ME WITH BOXTEN!! I CAN HANDLE THE UPCOMING FLOORS.” I barked back. Dandy paused to think… then replied in the most serious tone I’ve ever heard him conjugate: 

“So. Why should I have you in the afternoon team instead of Boxten?” 

I flinched, then grimaced due to his sudden change in demeanor. There was now a sudden tension within the air. In fact, it seemed like he looked at me with visible disdain that I unconsciously avoided his face. Hesitantly, I responded with: “T- TAPES AND GUARENTEE—” Dandy interrupted my sentence with a laugh, his six petals all spun clockwise once…

What…? How does that work?? Those petals could do a 360 degree spin around his head?

“I’m joking~ I’m just kidding, I don’t actually mind!” he said, nudging my arm as he walked past me to Boxten’s side. “Now where are my manners… Boxten, are you fine with what Shrimpo’s requesting?” he said, now holding Boxten’s shoulder. Boxten quietly nodded, probably just wanting to get whatever’s happening over with. Being forcibly dragged first thing in the morning isn’t fun so… yeah sorry Boxten.

“It’s settled then! We’ll make the last minute changes, courtesy of myself. Now then, you boys should go down and have a good eating in the cafeteria! It’s a preeetty luxurious breakfast today~!” Dandy added as he started ushering the two of us towards the elevator. 

Ehem– “SHRIMPO WINS!” I exclaimed arms raised in the air and ran ahead to press the down button, then stood next to it. 

… What was that interaction with Dandy earlier!? He suddenly had an indescribably— oppressive aura. What event led to that change?! I don’t mind minor deviations, but sudden happenings like these– kind of threaten the reliability of my checkpoint restarts. 

After a bit of waiting, the elevator arrived and Dandy ran in to press the cafeteria button, followed up by him running back out. Me and Boxten walked in, right before the elevator doors closed. I of course do not plan on going to the cafeteria yet, so I pressed the second toon quarters button.

As the elevator began its descent, the air was a bit awkward. My sudden action earlier of dragging Boxten was the perpetrator. “IT’S A GOOD THING YOU AGREED.” I commented, as I looked at him. “… You still haven’t.. uhm.. explained anything.” Boxten replied avoiding eye contact. “SHRIMPO DOESN’T OWE ANY EXPLANATION.” I replied, then a brief pause.

What would change if I just started… mentioning possible future outcomes from my prior experience to the other toons? I already know it’d be out of character for Shrimpo if I explicitly just explain it with no plausible background. Gaah whatever:

“IN SHORT, WE’RE GONNA SUFFER—IT’S GONNA SUCK FOR ALL OF US BECAUSE GARDENVIEW’S ARCHITECTURE IS STUPID!!” I gave a vaguely abridged answer, grumbling afterwards. He processed this for a bit, but then looked at me and slightly tilted his head.

“And… When and where did you get this information again?” He remarked. “FROM BRIGHTNEY, LAST NIGHT!!! DIDN’T YOU HEAR ME?! And technically I eavesdropped outside the room.” I exclaimed with an annoyed tone. What room? Source: I made it up.

The elevator arrived at the second toon quarters floor; It was quiet, presumably because everyone’s already down at the cafeteria—I mean I literally arrived there last time right after going to the lobby and everyone was there. The only difference being that… I delayed Boxten and let Razzle’n Dazzle in the elevator earlier.  I wonder what kind of butterfly effect THAT is going to lead to if Dandy’s “joke” was anything. 

I looked at Boxten once more, he looks like he has more questions but doesn't wanna ask them. “SHRIMPO EXPECTS SIMILAR COMPLIANCE IN THE FUTURE.” I said before walking out of the elevator, his face had visibly frowned.

Past the wall protrusions, and towards Finn’s room I went! I looked around to check out the other doors—honestly these doors being patterned and colored to look similar to the toons make it a lot easier to distinguish whose room is whose. So far I’ve noticed that Gigi (blue / red door,) Looey (yellow door with purple and green circles,) Teagan (the white door with yellow trims,) Rodger (basic brown door,) Tisha (just a straight up cyan door,) and Cosmo (brown door with a white swirl) reside here.

Though there’s two more rooms in the near end of the hallway from where I stood (but I couldn’t really discern whose they were)—I assume it is Flutter’s and someone else’s room—maybe Toodles? Now that I’m looking at it, this blue hallway is just longer than the toon quarter hallway I’m used to. 

I stop at Finn’s door and just stare at it…

Alright, here goes nothing. I casually knock on the door this time around, no banging on the door—for now.

No response.

I knock again, louder this time. I finally heard some muffled noises beyond the door, I think I woke Finn up. I patiently waited, tapping my foot on the floor. After a little longer I heard audible steps coming towards me behind the door. Then the door in front of me partially opened inward. Finn stood behind the opening, his head visibly had no liquids inside—he seemed disheveled and exhausted. 

“MORNING—You… LOOK HORRIBLE.” I commented, raising one of my brows. “Morning to you too, Shrimpo…” He replies exhaustedly, wow, being injured drained him—figuratively and literally! “… I’M BRINGING YOU TO BREAKFAST THIS TIME!” I exclaimed, pointing at him. Finn did a slight smile and opened the door wider. 

As the door opened further and light peered— Ouuggh that is one nasty wound, I mean, for someone who’s made up of some kind of glass material at least. He has visible cracks at the back of his head with a gauze attached, the transparency of his head isn’t helping since I see the crack ever-so slightly oozing with ichor as it gets absorbed into the gauze. “I… kinda just wanna lay down for now, I don't wanna go outside either…” he remarked, returning to a more somber, tired face.

He stared at me for a bit longer. Honestly it looks like some demon sucked all the enthusiasm out of his soul. Hmm… time to cheer him up, to the best of my ability of course. First course of action:

“…WATER ARE YOU WADE-ING FOR?” I exclaimed, crossed my arms. 

“H-Huh?” Finn responded. 

“QUIT FLOUNDER-ING AROUND—AND GET BACK TO BED!” I continued, he stifled a laugh—it’s working! 

“You COD some ex-SQUID-it fish puns, I’m starting to think you actually PIKE them!” Finn replied as he gestured at his own jokes. 

“IT’S JUST A FLUKE—I HATE YOUR PUNS!! I’M NOT DOING IT ON PORPOISE!!!” I shouted and exaggeratingly flailed my arms around, this got him to laugh. In response to the laugh, I screamed: “RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGH!!!” and ran back and forth in the hallway in front of his room.

“Okay—Okay! No need to drown yourself in de-NILE. It’s great to know you liked all my fish puns!” He commented as he stepped out of his room, back in his normal demeanor! I stopped my run as I returned back to where I stood, now winded. “SHUT UP! GO… Haah … REST. NOW!!!” I said, as I extended my arms in front of me, palms open. Then I started trying to push him back into his room… “W-Woah! Hey you don’t have to push me!” he exclaimed as he resisted, his face flushed a light blue—from all the laughter I assume.

“SHRIMPO HAS TO!!! YOU JUST SAID YOU WANTED TO LAY DOWN EARLIER!” I replied, still struggling as I persisted. I mean I eventually got him into his room, but he’s just been standing his ground in the middle of the room. “Y-Yeah okay– okay you can stop, I’ll go lay down!” He said, and so I stopped pushing and turned to his desk.

I went over to drag the stool from under his desk and moved it over to the foot end of the bed. When I looked back at Finn, he had tucked himself in and was re-plugging his… head hole in with the comically large cork. “Why bother? You LITERALLY don’t have ANYTHING inside your head.” I commented, as I sat down. “It’s out of habit! I can’t pour anything into it right now because of… y’know.” Finn replied as he pointed at his gauze. “WHAT… EVEN GAVE YOU… That injury?” I inquired.

“Ahaha… uhm.” He paused for a moment, looking a bit apprehensive. 

“… It was your twisted whilst I rounded the corner of a hallway. It wasn’t the most pheasant experience being clocked in the back. Thankfully Goob was nearby and reeled me before it could whale on me any further.” Finn explained, face a little strained. 

… Ah yes, I know the feeling Finn; it’d be reasonable to assume you’d be uncomfortable around the topic of evil murderous blood-covered clones of your friends, colleagues, and yourself. And the bigger ones.. ‘mains?’ Yeah… are a little more grotesque from what I’ve seen, suddenly reminiscing about the body horror of Twisted Shelly right now.

“Shrimpo commends Goob for not letting you keel over to lesser Shrimpo.” I commented, arms crossed. “Woah, lesser? I… honestly don’t really think that our twisteds are any less than us; aren’t they actually a little bigger than us?” Finn said. 

“MINE IS A MOCKERY OF ME!!” I shot back quickly. “ YOURS—Is just an UPPER half crawling around.” I added with my arms doing a crawl motion.  “When you put it like that, I get it. But I’ve PERCH-onally just seen them as… reflections.” He gestured as he said “perch.”

Huh, reflections of the toons… like the ugly side, or their worst aspect, or their deepest whatchamacallit? Fears? No, that’s not the right word. Does the Ichor have to do anything with them…?

Oh yeah! Since I don’t exactly reflect twisted Shrimpo in any other way than looks as of now. Would all the Twisted Shrimpos undergo any changes because of me? 

“I AM THE AWESOMEST AND ONLY REAL SHRIMPO!!! ANY OTHER IMITATIONS ARE LESSER!!” I exclaimed standing up with my arms raised in the air. 

I set my arms to my side and walked towards the door. “H-Huh? Already heading out?” Finn continued, sounding a bit sad actually. “SEAFOOD AND OTHER MEATS IN THE CAFETERIA. Do… DO YOU WANT ANYTHING?” I said with hesitation, he perks up and does the goofiest ever wide smile. “O-Oh! The Shrimpo offered me of all toons, a bed breakfast!? It’s an honor!” he exclaimed, hands on his cheeks “YOU DON’T GET TO CHOOSE ANYMORE!!!” I barked with the most offended tone and face I could muster, then promptly slammed the door close with me outside.

I ran towards the elevator. I better go quickly, mainly because breakfast is probably going to end soon; I’d rather not have to deal with the elevators being packed like sardines. Not to mention people asking questions as to why I’m doing what I’m about to be doing.

I arrived, pressed the down button. Waited for the elevator; it arrived empty, because everyone is still down there. Ran in aaand pressed the cafeteria floor button!

Humming as I waited, I navigated towards my own status menu and preemptively added a ★ to my Agility. I needed roughly two stars in movement anyways if I don’t want to lag behind in distances so I might as well commit to adding it in and using it outside. Being reasonably fast was good but… I need to focus on machines for the tapes—and also grabbing tapes and items off the floor.

So, what’s my plan? Scout, route, then restart. As much as I loathed having to literally sacrifice myself, it’s the only way I could ever optimize a run such as what I was going to do. Not to mention having to compete with several others, in a more decrepit dark area supposedly. Maybe there’s going to be a toon in the afternoon team like Teagan, who just prioritizes grabbing the tape piles off the floor.

Dandy’s stock will be what truly decides if I can complete the third objective. He appears at the end of odd floors, with what is probably the exception of the final floor in which we all return to the lobby. I have 3 chances, depending on what three random items he ends up selling. Knowing the system, the item prices will all add up to 200 or more for me to have a chance at completing said objective, perhaps an item that’s 100 tapes or more like the medkit that I can buy on the third shop, alongside a miscellaneous item in either the first or second shop.

 If I can somehow get two machines from the first five floors, that’s roughly 100 tapes; add the bonus for returning to the elevator as well, around 50 tapes for the five floors. and also the chase tapes which… I haven’t really figured that out, and items granting 2 tapes minimum for every single one used—though I think there’s more nuance to the item’s tape reward.

Then there’s the suspicion. The suspicion that arises from me having routed my movement—and my possible sudden burst of speed as to me dumping my stats into Agility for the initial floor scoutings. My only gripe is if any of the toons I’m coming with knows and has seen Shrimpo actively participate in any prior runs. Toons like Goob have seen Shrimpo extract, Dandy seemingly knows how well Shrimpo performs and yet he let me into the afternoon team knowing Shrimpo’s prior inadequacies—

The elevator arrived at the cafeteria, stopping my inner-monologue. I ran out, people still sat in their same positions with some still dining. I vaguely remember Razzle’n Dazzle and Boxten’s seats, it seems  like they’ve swapped places in terms of seating. Goob still had… sauce messily spread across his face, and I’m sure Gigi and those two girls are discussing the same stuff from last time… Huh. 

I swear I just caught Gigi, Flutter, and Connie taking a look at me as I ran up to the self-serve counter… meh, I brushed the feeling off and went ahead to grab a tray and placed two more trays on top of that tray so that I could one-hand hold the two trays with the tray below it waiter-style, this surprisingly worked—though it is hard to balance.

I looked at the foodstuffs again, ignoring the prawns again because that’s still weird territory. With some elbow grease and what I can only describe as food placement engineering, I was able to fill both me and Finn’s tray without much trouble whilst keeping the singular tray with two others on it stable. I tried to take a similar set of food I got last time, but I ended up with less for both trays: steak, fish, fancy looking bread, and some grains on the side. Utensils placed on both trays? Yup. I ended it off by grabbing three bottles of water placed between my tray arm and torso—leaving what is essentially my left side encumbered.

I carefully started walking back towards the elevator with no one really batting an eye… I think…? Hmm… As I pressed the up button on the elevator, it seemingly opened immediately ( I guess no one else used the elevator .) I walked in and pressed on the second toon quarters button with my free hand.

Then I felt… weird. 

It’s just… Something’s bothering me, and I know it’s not the trays of food I’m balancing.

…

I looked around me—oh… Oh. My eyes widened after I briefly glanced at it, but it was unmistakable. Connie’s in the elevator with me right now, her translucent menu button floated around the left side of the elevator. I looked at the elevator floor buttons again, no other floor buttons were pressed.

I’m just gonna keep staring at the elevator door and keep quiet. 

…

The elevator arrived at the floor, yet again! I slowly walked towards Finn’s room, trying my best to not… well.. fall and waste a bunch of food. I saw Connie’s menu button fly past ahead of me, staying to the right of where Finn’s door was. I think it’s reasonable to assume that she’s spying on me at this point and that irks me just a slightly tad bit. 

As I approached Finn’s door, I banged on it three times with my free arm. Then quickly opened the door myself anyways, not giving Finn a chance to respond. “SHRIMPO HAS RETURNED—I BROUGHT EXTRA WATER TO QUENCH YOUR THIRST.” I announced as I walked in and tried to close the door behind me swiftly…

This resulted in the unfortunate act of me closing the door directly onto Connie as she seemingly tried to sneak in. What indicated that was a subtle thump and faint “Ack!” that came from the other side as I closed the door. “Thank you for being so COD-siderate! G-I’ll make shore to return the favor someday.” Finn said from his bed, gesturing per pun.

“Hmph! Shrimpo expects NOTHING from the likes of you.” I replied as I set down his tray on top of his chest. “WALLEYE think that’s unfair! Especially because I was supposed to BETTA one to come over and ask to hang out today…” he responded with a pout, though eventually started to dig into the food. I placed his two water bottles on his bedside table and placed mine below the stool. 

I sat down on the stool and set my tray on my lap. “Well, I decided to GRACE you with my presence.” I exclaimed with a smirk, then I started to dig in. “Cuz mm … that’s what friends are for, right!?” Finn added, drinking one of the water bottles. Damn he’s thirsty, I just saw this guy down 70% of the bottle; then again, he’s got no water in his head right now. “ GNNRHR… SHRIMPO HAS NO FRIENDS.” I barked back after quickly swallowing my food. “Awwh~ don’t be koi, everyone would be delighted to learn that we upgraded from acquaintances!” Finn teased—almost akin to Gigi. 

… I bet Shrimpo wouldn’t stand to be known as friends with anyone especially with a goofy guy like Finn—a bold assumption from me of course. I’m only going off what I’ve experienced so far and what the System is allowing me to say without restarting, especially since he supposedly hates everyone ( albeit I hadn’t explicitly told anyone that I hated them for a while now. )

“SHRIMPO WILL CRAW YOUR EYES OUT, THEN KRILL WHOEVER SAYS WE’RE FRIENDS.” I exclaimed as I pointed a flimsy plastic fork towards his face. He laughed off my threat, surprisingly. “I am probably the SOLE toon to hear the knee-SNAPPERS you’ve been coming up with.” He said, then he pointed at the tray of food “And Shrimpo! You didn’t have to bring me food, Sprout or Cosmo would probably have done so anyway.” he continued. “… Isn’t that enough to consider us as friends now?” He exclaimed, smiling warmly at me.

I grimaced as he smiled at me, internally I also agreed because I AM TRYING TO IMPROVE THAT PASSIVE. “Hmghrggh …” I grumbled, not really responding. I bent down to grab my water bottle and drank from it. Knocking was heard from behind the door taking both me and Finn’s attention, this was presumably Connie who more than likely listened in from the other side of the door. 

“Head right in!” Finn exclaimed, but there was no response.

“… Hello…?” Finn continued, weaker. I doubt Connie’s gonna say anything.

“Shrimpo thinks you’re hearing things.” I commented. “No wave , you de-FIN-ately glanced at the door too!” He exclaimed. “I WILL PROVE NO ONE IS OUTSIDE!” I barked back, placing my tray onto the stool as I rushed to open the door.

I fully opened the door and peeked my head out of the room, Connie’s menu button still floated across the door, but Finn probably couldn’t see her. “SEE?” I said as I glanced at Finn and gestured outside. “Well maybe you scared them off!” He replied. I looked outside, she’s gone– then I looked back into the room. Yup she just entered the room menu floating above his desk, okay, yeah not the smartest move from me. 

Then I looked at Finn.

… The nerve of this guy, he had suddenly grabbed MY bottle of water and started drinking from it! I, slightly baffled by the action, ran back to try and violently snatch it back from his hands—which I succeeded in doing, kind of spilling the water on the floor since he was mid-sip. I then chugged the rest of it. “HAHA!! YOU LOSE!” I taunted in victory over my reclaimed now empty bottle of water.

“Not this time bud! I was able to get back at you for last time!” Finn said, boldly. I doubt Shrimpo would let this transgression go. He seemingly read my intentions and grabbed his last bottle of water before I could. But just like the bottle earlier, I had triumphed over the struggle. I unscrewed it, aimed it at my open mouth and squeezed HARD . 

The water bottle’s remaining liquids had just sprayed all over my face, I’d estimate only about 35% actually reached my mouth…

“NOT ANYMORE!! SHRIMPO WINS AGAIN!” I triumphantly exclaimed, wiping the water off my face… I spilled most of it on the floor though. Lots of water is being poured onto Finn’s floor today—though his floor probably suffers spills everyday due to him being a constant water hazard. Finn looks at me, perhaps bewildered at what he had just witnessed.

“That ah… uhm.. Is a de-BAIT-able victory…” Finn said with concern in his voice, looking a bit flustered actually. “I NEEDED TO PROVE MY POINT!!!” I barked at him. “W- What was the point of that then!?!” He asked… yeah I didn’t really have a concrete reason to do what I did.

“SHRIMPO HATES HAVING TO EXPLAIN ANYTHING!!!” I suddenly screamed in response, then stood stiff.

We awkwardly stared at each other for a bit, broken by an audible cough in the background… Oh. Connie’s in the room. Did I do anything out of character?

Hmm… Yeah no not really, this interaction was bantering and me being an annoying nuisance at most. And I didn’t break character once…! Supposedly. No restarts while I’m in front of others means I’m doing the Shrimpo as the system decides, soooo . 

 I picked my tray up and sat back down onto the stool, quietly finishing up what remained of my meal. Finn had already finished his food, so I took his empty tray and placed it under mine. 

Then a familiar white noise rang out, followed by: “Everyone in the cafeteria, head up to the lobby. We have to announce pressing news about today’s extraction runs!” Dandy said through the intercom—though audibly muffled due to being outside somewhere in the hallway.

“I guess that's your cue to leave?” Finn asked. “PROBABLY…” I responded. I replied, swallowing the last piece of food. I grabbed the empty bottles of water and walked to the door, opening it with my free arm. Immediately, I saw Connie’s menu button fly out of the room headed towards the elevator. I think she had seen and heard enough.

“Uhm, SEA you later!” He exclaimed, probably gesturing but I wasn’t looking at him. I didn’t reply,  I just walked out and pulled the door closed behind me. I then started making my way toward the elevator…

…

I set the trays down on the floor in the middle of the hallway…

I had already gone down to the lobby last time, and I just had things situated for me to be in the afternoon run through Dandy. Was it really necessary to go down there and see that presentation again?

Hmm…

Yeah. I don’t have to.

I heard the elevator doors open from afar, Connie probably getting off the floor. Sweet! No need to worry about that then. I double back towards Finn’s room, leaving the trays in the middle of the hallway. I'll deal with those later if no one goes back onto this floor by the time I’m done getting Finn to 75% affinity.

No more than a minute after leaving, I opened the door back to Finn’s room. His eyes widened a bit as he lay covered by his blanket. “H-Huh?! Why didn’t you go to the lobby?” Finn asked, clearly surprised. “THE FLOWER SAID EVERYONE IN THE CAFETERIA, WE AREN’T IN THE CAFETERIA.” I barked back.

“Y-Yeah but—” Finn started to say, but I interrupted him.

“NO BUTS!!!” I closed the door behind me, and started walking back to the stool “SHRIMPO CHOOSES WHERE HE SPENDS HIS TIME. SHRIMPO DOES NOT CARE FOR PRESSING NEWS!! I’LL HEAR ABOUT IT LATER ON ANYWAYS.” I explained. 

“I really appreciate that! The thing is…” He said, then yawned. “I’m SARDINE to get pretty sleepy. After eating and the whole—thing earlier.” Finn elaborated, forgoing any gestures—now that I look at him, the guy looks like he’s about to be knocked out cold… BUT HOW??? IT’S LITERALLY WENT OUT A MINUTE AGO. Gah, uhm… I can work with this. 

“OK THEN, GO TO BREAM LAND OR WHATEVER. SLEEP FASTER SO WE CAN DO SOMETHING BY THE TIME YOU WAKE UP!!” I said. 

He snickered at my pun, but then looked at me expectantly and asked: “Really…?” 

“HNGG… YES.” I answered, as I sat back down on the stool. I don’t find keeping them company until they fall asleep to be a problem, honestly; plenty of people do that especially for injured friends and stuff. 

And so he shifted to the side and… presumably started trying to sleep. 

… 

… 

He doesn’t seem to be snoring—good for me! I would’ve probably gone insane having to listen to a guy “zzzz mi mi mi” for more than 30 minutes without waking them up by shifting them in their sleep… Actually, Finn would probably be snoring if he had water inside him—well, more like probably start bubbling as he breathed in and out…

… 

Welp, I’ll never know until he refills his head back with water and I come back here whilst he’s asleep… I– I don’t think I should say that, that sounds weird. 

… 

… More importantly. Is this guy asleep now? I mean I sleep pretty quickly, I wonder if that applies to all the toons. Like, I could close my eyes and lay on the floor and I’d probably fall asleep. I stood up from the stool and walked in front of where he’s facing. 

I narrowed my eyes and hunched over to see… that he’s definitely asleep. 

The guy has a wistfully peaceful face going on there. I was able to brighten him up, good on me! I rubbed my hands together cartoonishly and carefully reached over to tap his status menu. Then I walked back over to sit on the stool.

Woah, I got him that high already? All I probably need is like, four– five more puns, and a small hang out with the guy, and I’ll be set for that passive. From what I’ve experienced with Astro, and… Finn to an extent: Affinity values definitely grant me some kind of leeway for the “staying in character” objective, it’s probably the same for negative affinity values—a lot more different I presume. 

Like if… I actually offed a Toon in front of another Toon, that would definitely be out of character for Shrimpo for various reasons… unless my affinity value with the witness is super low and they expect me to do something extreme like that.

Murder… ugh, I shudder at the topic. These fellas have been pretty cool and stuff, I don’t think they deserve getting killed.

I wonder what happens when a Toon… de-facto dies to a Twisted, or some other horrible accident. Death seems like a foreign concept to the Toons to an extent; the majority of them don’t seem scared of being sent down to their potential deaths. 

That’s pretty metal for the Toons to just go with everything that’s going on.

I stood up from my stool, and quietly went outside. I’ve been idling enough, I’ll come back here before Finn wakes up. I’m going to deal with the trays I unceremoniously left outside. I doubt it’ll take any longer than 20 minutes to deposit some trays and trash.

I see the trays in the middle of the hallway and pick them up. Then I walked towards the elevator past… the wall protrusions—why are those even a thing? I feel like it serves no purpose. Pressing the down button, the elevator came down surprisingly quickly and opened. No one was inside, I’m guessing the presentation is still ongoing.

Cafeteria floor button? Pressed. Elevator doors? Shut closed as I went in. Thoughts? Return.

I’m going to be sent down there with Sprout, Brightney, Cosmo, …Connie and Astro. Okay, that complicates things a little. Connie was watching me earlier so she might talk about that and… I might be forced to confront Astro a little earlier than normal. Good time to try and get the good graces of Toons I haven’t really talked to.

Astro may have talked about my change in demeanor, but he seems to only be bothered by what I’ve done in my dreams rather than how I act outside. No idea if any of them know how Shrimpo performs on runs, god I hope they don’t, just like the last expedition with the morning crew. Kudos to Shrimpo for… extracting machines conservatively, and avoiding every Twisted interaction—if that is how he performed with his horrifically low stats.

Having no abilities or notable passives really do force that role onto a Toon like him. Are there any other toons like Shrimpo? Just someone who has wits, patience, and positioning? I mean I guess Boxten counts, he doesn’t really have much going for him other than dexterity for big groups. How about Finn? His ability is only situationally good. 

It honestly depends on how the toons generally utilize their abilities—I’ve only ever seen three or so instances of actual ability use, namely: Gigi, Connie, and Astro. I’ve heard from Astro that both Sprout and Cosmo tend to people during his run; don’t know if they use a medkit or something but I’m just going to assume it’s their abilities directly. 

Speaking of injuries… Twisted Boxten was able to mortally injure me with just a couple attacks. Teagan and Poppy seemingly shrugged off both Twisted Shelly and Twisted Tisha’s attacks which is… Impressive! Really, I wasn’t there to see it but I know one of them got chomped by the Twisted Dino-Shellhead.

Where… Where do the Twisteds come from? They… “migrate” as Dandy once said; but their origins are unknown. I mean, they have to be created from something, and if so, where and what? Is there a dedicated machine that popped out Toons then went all haywire and started producing the evil clones? Do we have our own hypothetical machine thing that prevents permanent Toon death?

The elevator arrived at the cafeteria floor. Man, I am overthinking all of this…

I walked out and saw Tisha alone, wiping a table clean as she hummed. Next to her was a housekeeping cart topped with cleaning supplies and empty trays stacked in a middle compartment. I honestly don’t recall her staying back to clean, and I never saw her at the presentation either.

“WHERE DO I PLACE THESE TRAYS!?” I asked loudly as I approached her, gesturing at the three trays I was holding. “Oh! Just fit them into the cart.” Tisha answered, glancing at me before returning her attention to the table. “Wait… Shrimpo, why aren’t you in the lobby with everyone else?” she asked, now looking at me. “WHY ARE YOU CLEANING UP EVERYONE’S MESSES WHEN YOU DON’T HAVE TO?! HUH?” I remarked, stuffing the trays into the middle compartment haphazardly and tossing the empty water bottles into what seemed to be a bin on the cart.

“By request of Sprout, and with permission from Dandy, mind you! Now tell me why you’re here,” she shot back, hopping off the now spotless table and positioning herself behind the cart. “WELL—SHRIMPO HATES PRESENTATIONS!!! OCCUPY ME WITH SOMETHING SO I DON’T HAVE TO GO,” I demanded.

Although I only intended to drop off Finn's and my empty food trays, I welcome a change of plans to do something more productive than just watching Finn sleep and internally monologuing.

She contemplated for a moment, looking at me warily. “… Well, I don’t mind having help with tidying up the place,” she exclaimed. Pulling a tall broom from the cart, she handed it to me. “Help me sweep, then, if you’re willing to do so.”

“I HATE MENIAL TASKS!!! BUT I HAAATE SITTING THROUGH BORING PRESENTATIONS EVEN MORE!!!” I lied. Chores actually make me feel powerful and productive.

So, I started sweeping. While Tisha dealt with the messes the toons made on the tables, I gathered dirt, crumbs, and dust into a pile. I settled into a rhythm: sweep under the tables, behind the counters, all around the floor—repeat!

“My, I didn’t expect you to actually tidy up with me.” Tisha commented, surprised. 

“I WOULD RATHER NOT EAT SOMEWHERE TOO DIRTY.” I exclaimed. Even though the cafeteria felt generally clean anyways. 

“You once said I was… ‘too clean?’, and now ‘too dirty’ is a part of your vocabulary?” Tisha asked, looking in my direction.

“UNRELATED!!! AND SHRIMPO’S SENTIMENT HAS NOT CHANGED: YOU ARE TOO CLEAN.” I quickly stated, raising a fist in her direction… ‘Too clean,’ no such thing, Shrimpo.

We worked in silence afterwards. Every now and then, I’d catch Tisha glancing my way, kind of monitoring me. After sweeping the last area somewhat thoroughly, Tisha used a dustpan to grab the pile I had made to throw into the cart’s bin compartment.

I left the broom on her housekeeping cart, and dusted my hands. Tisha had started dealing with the self-serve counter, picking out the scraps of food outside of the food compartments and chucking it into the cart’s bin—I’m questioning if that cart has infinite storage because It is smaller than it looks but has more things inside it. Then again, maybe it’s like the tapes.

“You know Shrimpo, you should consider taking on more cleaning duties. You weren’t half bad!” Tisha commented, pleased I suppose.

“MNGGHHH… SHRIMPO HAS A REPUTATION TO MAINTAIN!!! I CAN’T BE SEEN CLEANING IN FRONT OF THE OTHERS.” I exclaimed. I assume Shrimpo wants to keep his image as the bully toon, lest he tells someone the opposite. Though.. I only have a couple context clues over his reputation.  Thankfully, no one really seems to fully despise Shrimpo—albeit some toons were a little apprehensive of talking to me. Minus Goob, Finn, Poppy, Gigi, and Dandy. 

“… In any case.” Tisha motioned to the now cleaner cafeteria. “I’ll happily take your help again someday.” She continued. “SHRIMPO IS FINE WITH IT SO LONG AS HE BENEFITS AND NO ONE ELSE KNOWS.” I grumbled then started walking to the elevator… 

And then the elevator dinged as I approached it, when the doors slid open, out came: Sprout, Cosmo, and Goob. “… Sis would definitely want the fishies– Shrimpo!” Goob said as he faced me with a dopey-happy face, then his arms stretched ouh– woOAAH!

And he brought me onto him, hugging me again. Goob’s grabs are frighteningly quick. Ehem.. “GRAAAAAH!! ! GET OFF ME! LET ME GO!” I yelled as I thrashed around in his hug. Cosmo and Sprout walked past and went straight to the self-serve counter. “Hehe.. you definitely needed that hug!” he said, as let go of me. “NO I DIDN’T! STOP AMBUSHING ME!!!” I replied, stumbling backwards. 

“But I’m not ambushing you! They’re hugs, and hugs don’t hurt like twisteds do.” Goob claimed, ending it off with a bit of his tongue sticking out of his mouth. “I DISAGREE—YOU VIOLENTLY GRAB THEN SQUEEZE ME!!! WHAT ARE YOU EVEN DOING HERE?!” I barked back. “Oh! I’m here to help bring Scraps’n Finn food cuz they’re resting and stuff!” Goob elaborated.

“DON’T BOTHER WITH THE FISHBOWL! Shrimpo has DEALT with them.” I exclaimed, arms crossed. “Humm.. huh?” Goob murmured, tilting his head. 

“… Are you saying you already brought Finn breakfast?” Sprout suddenly asked, I looked over to where he was. 

In the distance across Tisha, Sprout and Cosmo were preparing two trays with food, though Sprout placed the half-filled tray onto the self-serve counter after hearing what I had said. 

Oookay yeah I should circumvent the Out of Character flag I set myself.

“… HE HAS EATEN.” I hesitantly said, trying to not admit to it. “Oooh! What made you bring Finn food?!” Goob excitedly asked… Ggh .. they’re already assuming.. Think.

Okay okay, I got it: “SHRIMPO OWES NO ONE NOTHING!!! I HAD TO EQUAL FAVORS OUT WITHOUT DOING WHAT THE FISH NERD WANTED!” I screamed in my defense.

I felt as if Sprout analyzed me for a bit as he bore a hole through my face. He’s… a bit intimidating.

“I'll take your word for it. Now that’s settled, Goob, come over and help Cosmo pick out food for Scraps. I’ll preheat the oven.” Sprout commanded before swiftly walking into the kitchen area—presumably…

He wasn't wasting any time, that's for sure. Then again, today is a bit stressful with the two runs. Don't we have microwaves? Still, toasting the food in the oven sounds nicer. How thoughtful of Sprout! Thankfully, the thought of that nightmare with Sprout has passed, and I no longer see him in such a weird light anymore.

“Okay! Have a nice day Shrimpo; super good luck for the later run too!” Goob said, afterwards he started walking over to where Cosmo was… Thanks for the luck and hug man. I called the elevator down, it got called up when the elevator doors closed after the three guys arrived I presume.

If those three are here, then the morning team’s off to do their run. They’ll… they’ll be fine. Maybe a little more injured than last time. But the sets of twisteds we encountered last time weren’t too bad. I didn’t even see Twisted Connie, and Twisted Shelly was definitely the most horrifying one.

As the elevator arrived, empty hurray! I pressed the second quarter floor’s button and decided to… not ruminate for this elevator ride back. I need to clear my mind a little more anyways—I think I’m starting to clutter my brain a bit too much with stress over the system and whatnot. 

… The doors closed and… the elevator whirred.

…

… “Humm.. ”

… Then the elevator arrived at the second toon floor. I stepped out and headed straight to Finn’s room!

Past the wall protrusions, I spotted: Gigi, Flutter, and… Connie, sitting on beanbags of various colors around a small table at what I still assume is a mini-library corner. Honestly, the spot seems way more comfier than the kitchenette tables.

… I sensed what was coming when they all turned to look at me as I entered their peripheral vision. I slowed down, feeling their stares. “ooOOoo~ Speak of the Devil.” Connie remarked, followed by Gigi asking “Hey Shrimble, mind confirming something?” I walked over to the small table.

“CONFIRM WHAT!?” I replied with my arms crossed, she grinned.

“Is something going on between you and Finn? I’ve never seen you interact with the guy outside of unavoidable dialogue up till recently, so what gives?” Gigi probed… 

“THERE IS NOTHING ‘GOING ON’ WITH ME AND FINN.” I exclaimed, placing my arms on my waist. “HE WAS TASKED TO BRING ME TO THE CAFETERIA YESTERDAY MORNING, AND TODAY I BROUGHT HIM BREAKFAST TODAY TO EVEN IT OUT.” I followed up.

“Mmm.. Okay. Why did you hang out with him all day yesterday then?” Gigi inquired.

“SHRIMPO HATES YOUR EXAGGERATION!!!” I shouted, motioning my arms out like I was about to strangle Gigi, the three had been startled due to my reaction. “FOR ONE, IT WAS JUST THE MORNING!!! FOR TWO, SHRIMPO GOT BORED, FINN WAS FREE, THEN PROVIDED ME WITH BARE MINIMUM ENTERTAINMENT.”  I exclaimed, afterwards I just started trekking towards Finn’s room.

Those were sufficiently truthful responses, of course omitting the fact I was farming his affinity points to obtain the passive I got from him—and doing the same now just to upgrade the same passive. Would Shrimpo really subject himself to what he claims is ‘bare minimum entertainment’ to satiate his boredom? I wouldn’t know, but the system has no qualms with it. 

At this point I’m just… confused on how well I’m doing… being the Shrimpo that the system wants. It’s literally been three days since I’ve been here and I’m a bit overwhelmed. I can’t really complain because I don’t really have anything other than myself and whatever Shrimpo left behind.

I went into Finn’s room, no knocking in case he was still asleep, which he is! I’m surprised he hadn’t woken up from my screams outside, maybe the doors and walls were actually properly thick enough to be soundproof. 

He had shifted his face onto his pillow and the blanket covers were just jumbled which barely covered the guy—wait, he's sleeping with a life vest on. That’s crazy- how is that comfortable?! Then again, he more than likely wears it 24/7, unlike the head cork. 

I looked around his room, snooping around isn’t very respectful of me but I might as well know what I can work with to pass the time. His desk still had… well, various tackles. Empty aquarium tank. Creepy bass head on the wall, with a cool fishing rod mounted below. I approached his desk and opened the drawer: deck of cards, pencils, papers, scotch tape, and.. Small balls of yarn. Closing the drawer, I opened the cabinet compartment of the desk and found—books?!

Well, there isn’t really a bookshelf anywhere here so I guess this is reasonable. I pulled one out and looked at the front cover. It was patterned with various aquatic animal shapes with corals at the bottom, and the title was:

“Fish Bestiary… by Ahab Ceeley. What.” I read out loud. Cool author name, though nobody I can recall. Uhh… Then again, I don’t remember any names in my previous life so I wouldn’t know if this world is any similar to mine. I closed the desk cabinet, and walked back over to the stool, which was still placed where I had dragged it over.

Then I opened the book, and started… letting my thoughts wander as I read through the pages.

… and that’s how I’ll—

My thoughts were interrupted by Finn abruptly yawning, and then lip smacking. His first reaction was to look under his blanket. Afterwards sighing, seemingly in relief. Then he sat up to lock eyes with me. Finn’s eyes went from half-lidded to wide open. “D- did you just… watch me sleep…?” Finn inquired, seeming a little flustered actually. “NO! I RAN OUT TO DO… THINGS…! Earlier.” I clarified. To be honest I almost forgot he was here.

“… Oh.” he murmured in what sounded like disappointment… I— did I say something wrong? I stood up from the stool and pushed it back under his desk.

“How long did I keep you… WADE-ing?” he asked, Finn gestured at me as he said his pun. 

“I DON’T KNOW. SHRIMPO HATES KEEPING TRACK OF TIME!!!” I answered, though he actually just slept for maybe an hour or so—maybe fifteen minutes extra. Morning team won’t be back till 10:23 AM, I’m safe for now.  

“So… what did you do in here while I was asleep?” Finn warily asked as he unplugged his head cork and placed it on his bedside table.

“I WAS STARTED MENTALLY RANKING THINGS I HATE TO BASS THE TIME. NOW, RED-HIND ME WHY YOU’RE ASKING THESE QUESTIONS?!” I answered with an annoyed face. He snickered at my puns.

“Pfft.. RED HIND! BASS the time! Good ones, where have you been getting these from?” Finn continued asking anyway.  

“YOU!” I said, pointing at him accusingly. “YOU BLUBBERING IDIOT!! I HATE THAT THEY’RE FROM YOU!!!” I screamed, raising my free arm with a fist.

Truth be told, I actually just came up with them whilst I read that book. The book contained a bunch of just… fish, sea critter, and coral names and images alongside them with descriptions. I’ve placed it back in the desk cabinet as if I’ve never read it. I’m not running out of fish puns, that’s for sure. Hopefully whatever we do next can finish the affinity level off right before Dandy calls down the afternoon team. 

Finn looked pretty proud over what I just said, probably for various reasons and implications.

“You can say that I… SCHOOL-ed you! Haha!” Finn exclaimed, standing up from his bed… not fixing it. I glared at him while he stared back smiling.

“… Let’s… DO SOMETHING ALREADY.” I said as I set my arms to my side.

“OAR-kay, how about we draw something then? I don't have any sharpeners, crayons, markers, or colored pencils, though.” Finn replied as he moved over to his desk.

“Hmph. Sure, whatever works.” I huffed as I sat down on the floor, watching him pull out two pencils and two sheets of A4 paper. He positioned himself across from me, laying down the papers and pencils.

“The TROPIC is: us! You’n me!” Finn declared, gesturing excitedly to the both of us. “After this we’ll show our drawings to each other.” Finn continued, before he started haphazardly doodling on his paper.

I just grumbled in response and began lightly sketching on my blank sheet.

I drew whatever sea related thing came to mind for the background: Beach shore? Yup. Treasure chest? Sure, why not. Palm trees? Feels wrong if beaches don’t have them. Volcano? Okay. Boat? I managed a crude-looking canoe. Afterwards, I attempted to draw myself– err Shrimpo. I had posed the Shrimpo drawing an angry expression, arms raised, glaring at the treasure chest. It wasn't perfect without a mirror, but I think I did okay. Going with the theme of the surroundings in the drawing, I gave myself a left hook hand, some extra stripes on the shirt, and a cute pirate hat complete with a feather.

Next, I started drawing Finn. I kept glancing up at him to use the guy as reference. He was pretty focused on… drawing. Seeing as he’s just repeatedly erasing and drawing something then dusting ground eraser crumbs off his paper. I made a rudimentary drawing of the Fishbowl toon, proudly holding a shovel next to the treasure chest. I added a hole he must’ve dug the chest out of, with a pile of sand beside it. I gave Finn's doodle a pirate crewmate outfit—yarr! 

Aaand done! No shading needed here; just an ol' uncolored drawing on a blank paper. I’d rate my drawing... a solid 2/5. It looked like a toddler had a go at it… of course. I flipped my paper over and set the pencil down, waiting for Finn to finish.

…

“I’m FIN-ished! I’ll go first and show you my drawing.” Finn abruptly exclaimed. He openly presented his artwork: a smiling Shrimpo sitting on a dock, holding a fishing rod and casting a line while Finn sat next to him watching him... fish. Surprisingly of quality.

“THIS IS STUPID!!! SHRIMPO HATES FISHING!!!” I exclaimed, grimacing at the drawing. Though I had to admit, it was a cute premise, just that Shrimpo would never get caught dead without looking angry—lest you do what I did right before I reset. “But maybe I taught you how to cast and catch, so you gave it a shot and liked it!” Finn explained. “Now show me what you drew!” he urged, excitement clearly visible in his face.

I handed him my paper. He looked at it for a couple seconds analyzing it. “Oooh! Treasure on an Island, classic. But most.. Most importantly: Am I the first mate of your crew?!?” Finn said, surprised.

“IT’S JUST A DRAWING—I PUT NO THOUGHT INTO IT!!!” I shouted.

“So, you subconsciously consider me your friend!?” Finn said, I considered denying it again but… I said nothing this time and just looked to the left.

…

“Y’know- I don’t wanna push any buttons, but could you… affirm that for me?” Finn asked, sounding desperate…?!

…

“… Earth to Shrimpo…?” Finn called out, placing my drawing on the floor.

…

Then I looked at his face. “SHRIMPO, GAVE YOU THE… COLD SHOAL-DER.“ I deadpanned. He stared at me silently, processing what I had just said.

Suddenly, Finn’s eyes widened for a moment before he broke into a snicker. The objective box on my top right peripheral updated, alongside a pulsating menu button: ”RAISE FINN’S AFFINITY LEVEL TOWARDS YOU TO 75%”; Insurance? Obtained. Friendship? More than likely allowed and guaranteed. Confidence? WE BALL! LET’S SEAL THE DEAL.

“FINE!!! WE’RE FRIENDS—BIG WHOOP!! LET NO ONE KNOW THIS!!! ELVER- GRAAH— EVER!!! NEVER EVER!!! NOW STOP TALKING ABOUT IT!!!” I exclaimed standing up, threateningly pointing at Finn as I said ‘EVER’.  

“GASP! You verbally agreed to it!” Finn celebrated, putting his hands to his flustered face. “Holy CARP that REEL-y clears things up for me. SEAL-riously, like a lot of things!” Finn exclaimed, but uhm… I have no idea what the guy’s talking about… also did he just swear?

 Then the announcement ring rang out: “Sprout, Astro, Cosmo, Shrimpo, Connie, and Brightney. Get to the main lobby A.S.A.P. Morning team’s coming back” Vee said through the intercom unexpectedly.

Ah. The time has come. “SHRIMPO THANKS YOU FOR BEING HIS NEW FRIEND.” I quickly said, before I just walked around him and out of his room as I slammed his door open. “Oh- Uh, good luck and catch you later!?” Finn said, surprised. Thanks for the luck too, fish aFISHionado. 

Towards the elevator I went.

Gigi and Flutter seemed to still be at their spot—except they have snacks and empty cups alongside a bottle of pop on the table. Connie is nowhere to be seen, but is definitely at the elevator waiting. “Hey Lil’ Shrimpson! You were in there for a while, so—” Gigi was saying, until I interrupted her.

“IT’S NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS!!!” I screamed as I ran past them, then arrived at the elevator door with Connie waiting, not invisible…

We just awkwardly ignored each other as we waited for the elevator to arrive.

As it did arrive, already inside the elevator was Sprout, Cosmo, and Astro. Notably, Cosmo was holding a medkit. Me and Connie walked in, and then we all  waited for the elevator to ascend as the doors closed behind us. After a bit, we arrived at my toon quarter floor, and Brightney went into the elevator this time. “Hey Astro, you think we’ll come back in time for Book Club today? Glisten might finally join us tonight for once.” she asked. “… Pin a maybe on that.” Astro replied.

Elevator doors closed, then we all ascended to the lobby. Doors opened, and everyone started walking towards the giant tree area quickly. I noticed the lobby’s presentation setup thing was cleaned up, no chairs, no projectors. They did that really quickly I guess, perhaps Tisha did so alone—that’d be sad actually. 

As the group arrived in front of the Gardenview sign with the only tree I’ve seen so far behind it, we saw the elevator door to our right slide open. Out came: Poppy, Teagan, Boxten, Razzle’n Dazzle, and ofcourse Toodles. Toodles appeared completely unscathed, while Boxten had bandages wrapped around his right arm. Razzle and Dazzle looked visibly shaken but unharmed it seems, Teagan seemed exhausted but unharmed, and Poppy retained her usual cheerful demeanor—though she had bandages tightly wrapped around her left abdomen over her pink dress, with ichor seeping through the bandages.

Sprout and Cosmo quickly sprang into action, focusing on Poppy and Boxten.

“SPROUT HELP MEEE!!! AAAAAH!” Poppy let out a blood curdling scream, “POPPY??? Holy cow, how are you still conscious?! Cos’ I need the kit, stat!” Sprout replied, as he began to examine her injuries. 

“Hehe, I got the Scrambly thing in! Twisted Shelly got a mouthful of me, though. Twice on the same spot!” she explained. What. Meanwhile, Cosmo was checking Boxten’s arm wound and tossed the medical kit over to Sprout.

Teagans and Toodles both sat on the nearby bench. R&D just went straight to the elevator from where we came from, probably just wanting to sleep at this rate.

Then Dandy pranced out of the elevator, last. “Whew, good thing they got that done! Take your time tending to them, we have plenty-o time till the lobby electricity cut-off.” Dandy exclaimed, moving towards the Gardenview sign.

Cosmo and Sprout continued working on their priority targets, Poppy took a while and Cosmo eventually came over to help Sprout fix Poppy’s wound. They checked Teagan but she’s apparently healed her injuries already. “I think all of you can go to your rooms and rest.” Sprout announced, his hands worked fast—honestly I get how the chefs are sorta our medics.

“Thanks Sprout! Good luck with the run, guys!” Poppy waved at us as she walked away, Boxten followed suit. “I wish you all the best. No doubt you’ll all push through.” Teagan commented, leaving after Boxten did. 

“It wasn’t very nice, but I’m glad I helped a lot this morning!” Toodles said facing the afternoon team. “Yes, yes you did Toodles. Come now.” Teagan spoke from a distance. And Toodles quickly ran over.

Dandy stood in front of the Gardenview sign, and cleared his throat. “Hello afternoon team! As you see and have heard, the morning crew had succeeded with minimal problems and injuries—” Dandy exclaimed until interrupted by Sprout.

“Dandy…” Sprout said. “Poppy’s wound was no joke! What the HELL do you mean by ‘minimal’ injury?!” Sprout continued, notably out of patience. I didn’t really take a good look at Poppy’s injuries, but I’m assuming getting bitten by a Twisted twice wasn’t pretty.

“Well no Toon is 6 feet under– Don’t we take that a win in our books? And Poppy took it well! surprisingly.” Dandy spoke plainly.

“It’s– That’s not a valid excuse?!” Sprout replies baffled, arms out. Cosmo rubs his back, and Spout sighs as he rubs his temples.

“… Not trying to be indifferent but… minimal problems! I really hope none of you are afraid of the dark! Since it’s a guarantee you fellas are encountering at least five pitch black floors. And honestly, no one knows if there are any Twisteds down there. Perhaps you’ll all get lucky and encounter none, despite the machine count being a little more inflated—which usually means there are more Twisteds.” Dandy rambled, pausing for a bit.

“I have hope, built on the current team composition. Yes, even with Shrimpo in it. Despite apparently knowing what’s to come—the guy still wanted to be here. For the sake of… doing more floors, heh.” Pacing towards me. 

“Not to offend, but I’ve seen Shrimpo’s performance in runs—he’s kind of a liability.” Brightney spoke up nervously…  Dandy looked over to her.

Ah… that’s a problem. Brightney is a liability because she knows, knows about OG Shrimpo's performance. I have to avoid her and Goob in future runs.

“Now now! Shrimpo is no burden. He just has his own… methods! To counteract his shortcomings.” Dandy… tried to defend me? Honestly I don’t know what Shrimpo’s relationship with Dandy is, especially because I can’t check his affinity level.

“Hghh… Shrimpo… taKeS OFFENSE TO BOTH OF THAT!!!” I screamed, then a bit of silence. “Noted.” Dandy murmured, then approached Brightney.

“Ehem- Brightney! You know very well that you’ve experienced being a priority target by the Twisteds, yes?” Dandy asked. “All the time, and I know where you’re—” Brightney was saying, interjected by Dandy.

“Ah ah ah! Then you of all people would understand how Shrimpo inherently works. He’s put on your shoes as much as you’ve equally put on his. Not to mention your limited uses outside of… blackouts. This is your time to shine, literally! Haha~” Dandy explained, then went over to Connie.

“Heh, what’s up.” Connie greeted Dandy. “The ceiling of course! You’ve got invisibility, you can also float and glow! Must be fun being a ghost huh?” Dandy said. “Yup, I’m just that cool.” Connie smiled proudly. “Then keep at it, stay cool! Just try not to get left behind by the elevator for being across the entire room.” Dandy followed up, and walked towards Cosmo who was still comforting Sprout. Connie’s slow? Huh, I didn't expect that.

“Our famous Gardenview chefs, and perhaps just our best assets: Sprout and Cosmo! You two have saved the lives of all the toons here more than once!—All except for Shrimpo, though he’s an outlier for not really attending expeditions all that often.” Dandy said, clearing his throat and looking at Astro…  

Dandy exuded an air of tension, like the time he was… ‘Joking.’ It made me wince a bit.

“Dandy…?” Astro asked. “… It’s nothing, I’m sure you’ll keep everyone awake and well, Astro.” Dandy said, shaking his head and seeming indifferent—though there’s just a bit of strain behind that line. 

“Let’s get a move on shall we~?” Dandy announced, back to his usual demeanor as he pranced back to the elevator the morning team had come from. Everyone followed the flower without question, and so I did too. 

We all went into the elevator. Dandy opened up his shop hatch mechanism and hopped right in, descending into it. Then the elevator doors closed. The checkpoint box on the top left updated, so I scurried myself to the back corner with no one looking, pinched it out and changed my checkpoint immediately.

I waved the box out of my face, and navigated to my status menu, which glowed orange instead of the rewards button. After I read what Catch’n Release offered, I knew what I had to do for now. I pressed the plus buttons of Agility once, then Endurance.

I gazed at what is essentially a reconnaissance build. I won’t last long in the dark, but I’ll make sure to memorize every single machine location I can, I’ll find out who will go where, and every Twisted we encounter will be a learning experience for me.

“I’m gonna hate this.” I murmured as I waved the box off my face,  “Huh?” Connie asked who was in front of me, turning around. I gritted my teeth, and yelled:

“SHRIMPO HATES HIS OWN AMBITION!!!”