Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Dandy slammed his head into the table shouting, "FUCK!" They were this close to a cure, only a singular second off, just for Bobette to be sniffed out of her present by Pebble, not only his own dog, but also the one he twisted himself. Now he was stuck. Could he possibly make a breakthrough to finish the cure? Yes, he could, but was it likely to happen? No, it wasn't at all. He slammed his hand through the table, it starting to twist as he quickly turned on the TV with a tape inside to calm down. After the episode finished, he let out a deep breath and began to think. *Okay, so now that Bobette's gone, it is basically impossible to make a cure? Do I give up? No. There has to be a way to get this last second to work. She left a few notes, didn't she?* He quickly looked around at the notes she had put into a box, picking up two that seemed interesting to him. The first one was dated back to when the Christmas toons had been allowed to leave, and the other one was more recent. He read the older one first.

"To Dandy, not sure if you'll ever read this, but it doesn't matter. You might hear from the employees soon that they have decided to let us go leave and live our lives, that is a lie. In reality we had been planning on breaking out of the basement that they kept us locked up in when not December for many years now, and we just now got the opportunity to do so. I am sorry we couldn't tell you in person, but for us to be able to live our lives free from here once and for all, with me pursuing my dream of being a doctor to help people. I hope, if you do read this, that you'll understand and not hold this against us. From, Bobette."

This caused Dandy to turn on a new tape to not twist from his rage at the employees. *How dare they act like they were being altruistic when in reality they just couldn't keep them locked up anymore,* he thought as he turned his attention to the second note, which this time was about the work on the cure.

"We are so close to getting this cure done, I can almost see every toon's happy face as they are welcomed back here with open arms, the only unfortunate thing is that we only have one available sample to work with when it comes to making a cure. Sure, Dandy could become part twisted and let us take the ichor from the side that does so, but it is unlikely given his mutation that it'd be compatible with the other. If only there was one more twisted that we could let up here to have a sample taken from for us to make the cure faster."

"That's it," he blurted out as a new light of hope sprug forth. "We just need to get one more twisted to come up here for me to be able to make a cure. Wait, that might be easier said than done. Maybe I should go to the funeral we are having for Bobette and announce it there because if all goes well, the funeral won't be permanent for her and give them new hope," he thought out loud. He decided to leave the lab and go to the lobby.

When he got there, he saw every other toon there, all looking dejected and sad over this turn of events. *That's good. This will just show how open our arms will be when she is back,* he thought as he found a place to take a seat next to Astro. He looked at him, gave a weak smile, and went back to having his head down. He knew they were all thinking it's hopeless now, but he knew he needed to save his speech for the end to give them the proper time to have a funeral. He had actually come late as Ginger left the stand and went to Rudie and Coal, who were taking this the worst he could tell. They all knew that he was in his lab and heard him somewhat, so nobody blamed him for being late, hopefully. He checked the time and saw that there was enough minutes for each main to go up there before him, so he encouraged Astro to go up and leave some kind words because he knew the other two would do so after he did.

He did so, and his and Vee's speeches were actually pretty similar in message, even if their words were drastically different. Both getting the message of hoe kind and giving she was, only caring about others and not herself to the end. After they were done, Shelly went up and had something else to say after her own version of Vee and Astro's speeches. "The most important thing she gave us was hope, however. She kept us going despite how much we wanted to give up by being the leader in cure research. With her gone, while it is important that we remember what she has done physically for us, it is also important to remember what she has given us without the need of handing it to us," she spoke. Everyone was silent after this, but Dandy could tell that now there was a slight bit of more hope in the air than before, and therefore, he got up when Shelly sat down and went up to the podium.

"First, I'd like to apologize for being so late to this funeral. I didn't feel like I was in the right mind space to be here so that I wouldn't mess this up for Bobette. Now, though, I feel like there isn't much to be said that hasn't already been said. As everyone before me explained, she was kind to her very last breath, always helping others whenever she got the chance and always giving gifts to everyone. While I am pretty sure someone mentioned it before me, I am certain many toons here regret not being able to give her a gift before that run," he started. Everyone looked down with sadness in their eyes. "However, I found something she left for us, she might not have meant it in this way, however it doesn't matter because before going on that run she gave us one last gift," he explained, making everyone look up with shock. "You see, she kept notes of the research we were doing on the cure, and in one of those notes, she mentioned how she wished there was one more twisted we could bring up because it'd make finishing the cure faster. Now though, it now serves as her last gift, a last little bit of hope she gives us with her telling us exactly what we need to get the last second down to finish the cure. With this gift, she has given us a chance to have this funeral be only temporary and let us bring her back!" he exclaimed, seeing the hope in everyone's eyes return just like he had hoped. "That just leaves one last question. What twisted can we safely bring up here to get a sample of?" he asked. The toons began talking amongst themselves. A few ideas were flung back and forth before one toon stood up and said something that everyone knew was true.

"Everyone knows that he is still keeping it together somewhat, right?"

Chapter Text

Rodger felt extremely happy when the elevator stopped going down and opened up. This run had two missions, get supplies, and get the one twisted that did not attack people on sight to join them. The first part, which even though he wished it wasn't there, he had no reason to actually challenge, made it so that they had to go down to the fifth floor before they saw him. Now that they were there, Shrimpo ran off to find out what the other twisted was, Vee started on the closest machine, and Rodger ran to find him. Eventually, after searching around for a little while and learning the other twisted was Finn from some colorful language Vee shouted upon completing the machine, he found him and walked up to Glisten. "O-oh hey Rodger, thanks for coming to find me. Being around you calms me down the most," he said when he approached.

"I know, so how have you been since we have last seen you?" he asked.

"I-I have been managing, b-but I did have to remake the ribbons keeping my hands together," he responded.

"Okay, I understand, but I did not just come here to keep you calm," he told him.

"W-what? W-what is the other reason?" he questioned, confused.

"We'd like to bring you up in the elevator this time," he stated.

"R-really!" he almost shouted.

"Really," he confirmed. He then got as close to a hug that he could do with his hands tied together, to which he hugged back.

"That makes me so happy! Wait, why are you only doing this now?" he asked.

"Well, before we were unsure if bringing a twisted up, even one who can kind of control themselve like you, would be safe, but recent events have forced our hand while also confirming it is safe to do," he told.

"What happened?" he inquired.

"You see, Bobette and Dandy have been working on a cure via a sample that a twisted who had come to her senses and we got very close when Bobette was caught by Pebble," he explained.

"O-oh, that's saddening," he blurted out.

"Yeah, but a note that she wrote which Dandy found gave him an idea that might allow us to finish the cure fully," he continued.

"Oh? What is the idea?" he asked.

"It is to bring you up and get a sample of ichor from you, so are you willing to come up with us, brother?" Rodger questioned as he held out his hand for Glisten to shake it. He looked at his hand, then back at him as he heard the ding of a machine being done and the elevator opening, something before that would trigger him and make him try to stop them from leaving him, but this time he had the chance to go with them. He made the easiest choice he had ever made in his entire life right there and then.

"I am coming with you, brother."

Chapter Text

Glisten heard the machine he was working on finish, and the elevator opened. He decided to teleport to the nearest toon so that'd he be closer to, if not in, the elevator. What happened instead was that he teleported to Shrimpo, who, while yes, he was closer to the elevator than he was before, was also still pretty far away. Seeing this, while he was a bit disoriented by his teleportation, he ran towards where he knew the elevator was, just to feel his middle be slammed into by something and he get sent flying across the room and slam into a wall, breaking his back. When he tried to stand, he couldn't as he felt something rush over to him as he saw it was Shelly, towering over him as he tried to get steady. He felt her claws scratching his face, feeling the black ichor starting to leak out. He saw Shrimpo make a run for the elevator, not surprising given how he acted and how little anyone could do with the situation Glisten was in. He felt Shelly tear through his middle, as close to flesh as he had being torn off and more and more ichor spilling out as her tail smashed into his face, completely shattering one side. Then everything went black.

Present day

"I'm sorry, what did you just say?" Glisten asked, not believing what he was hearing.

"I am sorry for leaving you behind with Shelly when I could have at least tried to save you then," Shrimpo restated.

"Y-you're actually apologizing, I never expected that to happen, but I forgive you, the only person who could have really saved me there was Goob, and he wasn't even on that run," he accepted.

"You seem to still be processing something else, though, so what are you trying to process?" Rodger inquired.

"I am still so surprised that it was Shelly who managed to regain her sanity from the ichor, the last time I saw her she..." he stopped himself from continuing.

"Then why do you believe it, I honestly wouldn't have believed it if she didn't hug me in the hall when I ran into her," Vee admitted.

"Because Rodger always starts to blink rapidly when he lies," he stated.

"N-no I don't," he responded.

"Oh really? Tell me a lie then," he replied.

"I didn't know that Shelly was up stairs until after they showed her to me," he lied, his eye blinking rapidly.

"Oh wow, it actually does," she realized.

"Told ya," he teased.

"S-shut up," he told him, blusing from the embarrassment.

Eventually, the elevator they were on stopped and opened up to see Shelly there. *Remain calm, she is sane now, everything is gonna be fine,* he thought to himself, looking at her. What happened next he expected actually, and was what he wanted to happen a lot.

"I'm so sorry for turning you into, this, I couldn't control myself there and that caused you to get so brutally hurt, I-I am not sure I can forgive myself," she apologized.

"It's fine, as you said you couldn't control yourself, and right now you are showing remorse for something you couldn't even stop which shows how genuine it is," he accepted, giving as close to a smile to her as he could still do. She started to cry and hugged him, thanking him so much for accepting. Eventually, Shrimpo lightly pulled her away, and they started to walk off together. He thought he saw a blush on Shrimpo's face, but he quickly removed the possibility from his mind. *There's no way he could have been close to Shelly before she twisted...right?* he thought as the possibility that it was actually there entered his mind.

It left, however, when Rodger said, "come on, let's bring you to Dandy to get a sample for the cure."

"Right," he replied, starting to walk with him to the shop area. There was Dandy, who before had exchanged pleasantries with him in the elevator who waved them down.

"Oh, so you are just gonna get straight to the point?" he asked them.

"Yeah, it is probably for the best that you get the sample now so that there is no possibility of me losing control later," he answered.

"Okay, well, just come with me," he responded, jumping over the counter and walking into a door across from it. They followed, and after a while, they entered the back of the lab where a syringe was. Dandy picked it up as Glisten held his arm out. The feeling of being stabbed reminded him of the claws scratching his face, but he managed to keep cool long enough for a sample to be taken. After it was done, he took out the syringe and walked over to get back to work on the cure as Rodger led him out and back to the others. Everyone was welcoming him back with open arms, and that made him really happy, but he noticed the absence of a toon he really wanted to see again, which made him sad.

There was no Toodles, his little niece. He knew what that meant, and when he realized it, he punched a wall in anger, cracking it a bit. Cosmo managed to calm him down by handing him a cookie. It took him a second to figure out how to eat now that he basically had no much, but when he did, he was caught off guard by the taste. "Wow, you have really improved since last time I ate one of your cookies, Cosmo," he complimented.

"Thanks, it was actually Shrimpo who helped me get better. He is a surprisingly good baker," he explained. Glisten then realized he had a lot of questions about Shrimpo now, but those had to come later as there was a call for everyone to gather in the lobby for an announcement. When everyone arrived, Dandy walked out and said something that made everyone super ecstatic for the future, knowing what was to come next.

"The cure is ready."

Chapter Text

There was a debate about just which twisted to cure first after both Shelly and Glisten got it, and it was getting very heated. The Christmas toons wanted to get bobette back, Shrimpo said something about unfinnished business that he wanted to clear up, Rodger and Glisten wanted to bring back up Toodles, Dandy suggested Pebble, Vee Cosmo and Shelly wanted Sprout back, and Tisha suggested Brighteny. Knowing he had to stop the debating and figuring out just how to do so, Goob spoke up, saying, "hey everyone, I have an idea that I feel like everyone would be happy with."

"What is it, Goob?" asked a Dandy, getting more and more annoyed by the second.

"I feel like the best course of action is for everyone to write down the toon they want to come back the most, and for one person who wanted each suggested toon to come on a run together with the toon in the suggestion box seen first we cure," he explained. Everyone looked at each other, and after a bit of contemplation, they all reluctantly agreed to do this. "Okay, I will take out the old suggestion box and bring it out for everyone to see. Can someone get the paper and pencils for everyone while I do that?" he requested.

"I will, Bobette had a habit of getting a lot of paper in advance, so we should be able to get some and still have plenty more when she returns," Dandy said. They both ran off from the rest of the toons, but Goob could still hear them talking while going to grab the box.

"Goob always seems to know exactly what to say when it comes to defusing a situation," Tisha mentioned.

"Yeah, sometimes he acts so smart I forget he is-" Vee stopped herself there.

"Yeah, same here," Rudie added. He was used to these comments by now, so he said nothing as he used his stretchy hands to grab the box off the nail and bring it over to the others. He just wished they understood just how into how to keep healthy friendships he was as he set it down while Damdy returned with the paper and pencil. He handed the paper to everyone as they wrote down a name.

Eventually, it got down to Goob's turn, but he politely refused, saying, "oh, come on, y'all know who I am gonna put in, so why should I?"

"But we already all said the toons we wanted, unless you-" Rodger started.

"Well I was last to get the pencil so I am just gonna look through what everyone put down," he cut him off, quickly removing the bottom and reading off the names of toons that have already been said before. Every group that had more than two members held a little vote between themselves, with the end team being Tisha, Shrimpo, Cosmo, Coal, and Glisten. Dandy politely refused to go down, but instead suggested since he managed to keep everyone together by his idea that he should join the run too. He thought about it for a moment and decided that he should, but he went to go get two trinkets he would like to have for his run.

When he entered his room and looked for the trinkets, something nagged at him to pick up the cardboard armor and use that with his usual dog plush. When he got back, he noticed that every toon were talking about something but seemed to have finished just as he entered. He walked over to them as the group that was meant to be sent down split up from the rest as they all entered the elevator and headed down.

After a few floors of no toons that the others suggested appearing, they reached the fifth, and Goob saw Scraps through a window and sighed. *Soon sis, soon,* he thought to himself as he went about making sure everyone was safely doing machines, but he quickly realized something was off when no machines were started. He ran from machine to machine seeing toons around them, but when he returned he saw them all still there and the machine not done. He quickly realized what they were doing and picked up an air horn off the floor and used it as far from any toon as possible as he ran to the other side of the floor where all the others had gathered and quickly ran up to them and asked, "really guys?"

"What do you mean, Goob?" Shrimpo feigned ignorance.

"You all think that I can't see what you are doing? I can do so easily. You are just pretending to do machines up until I decide to just take the cure and cure my sister, then you will all do it and have Dandy bring us up," he explained.

"H-how did-" Glsiten started.

"You all think I can't see how you change your body language or how you act differently when around me, use simpler words, or just over all think that just because I am autistic I am gonna have a hard time picking up on things everyone else would. No I don't, I have spent so much time learning how everyone acts when around everyone and how they talk around everyone because I want to make sure that if you ever get into friendship issues you can just talk to me and I can help. You all don't understand that I am interested in friendship mostly, and that is why I am so helpful to everyone who needs it. You all don't think I can hear you trying to be hush hush about it because you think that it affects me more than it does. What we are gonna do is do those machines, move onto a floor with a person actually put into the box, and cure them, got it?" he ranted. There was a moment of silence from the toons as they tried to process what he had just said.

Eventually, though, Cosmo spoke up, saying, "that, isn't the only reason we wanted to get Scraps for you."

"What?" Goob asked, taken aback by that statement.

"We also wanted to do it as a little thank you for managing to keep everyone together for so long, while you went to your room we all talked and realized just how much you helped keep us together, so we wanted to get Scraps first as a thanks for all you have done. We should have told you this from the start, and we should have realized how you really felt about how we treated you, so we are sorry," Glisten explained.

Goob thought for a moment before calming down and looked back to them, "thank you, but I want everyone else to save you apologies until after we get Scraps back into the elevator, okay?"

"Yeah, that sounds fair," Shrimpo replied with agreement from the others.

"Well, with that said, I actually have a plan for how to inject Scraps easily, so who is willing to put on some cardboard armor?" he asked.

After a little bit of setup, Shrimpo stood out in the open where Scraps could easily see him with Goob hiding off to the side with the syringe in his hand. Eventually, Tisha and Coal rounded the corner and hid as Scraps rounded the corner and saw Shrimpo, stretching out her tail until it hit the armor. When it did he stretched his arms out to grab her tail and pull it towards him as Shrimpo ducked behind the nearby box as Scraps was pulled to where he was and Goob pulled more as he injected her with the cure. As she flug toward him, he let go of her tail while removing the syringe and tossing it into the nearby trashcan while pulling her in for a hug. After a few seconds, she started to come to her senses as she quickly looked around before realizing what was hugging her.

"G-Goob?" she asked as she quickly hugged him back out of the instinct to not make him feel weird. After a few seconds, she remembered her last memories and started stuttering, "I-I was, t-that means I, what have I done?"

"We can worry about that later. Right now, I am just so happy to have you back, sis," he quickly said to help calm her down.

"Right, so does that mean there's-wow, never expected one to be made," she blurted out. Soon after, the other toons came around letting her see them all, and her first thought upon seeing Glisten was let out with a, "oh my-did I-"

"No no, Shelly did, don't worry," he quickly reassured her.

"Oh, okay," she replied. As Goob let go of her and she did the same.

"You uhhhhh, willing to help with the machines that are here?" Shrimpo asked her.

"I a-wait, SHRIMPO DIDN'T YELL?!" she shouted.

"You missed a lot, I can tell you about it if you want," Tisha said.

"Okay," she replied as she walked with her as she started to talk about all that has happened as Goob was smiling from ear to ear.

"In the elevator, right?" Cosmo questioned.

"Yeah, but give me a minute," he told him as everyone walked off.

He knew that he didn't have to worry about anything anymore.

Chapter Text

Scraps ran behind some crates and let out a sigh of relief when she heard Sprout turn around and walk the other way. This solo run was fun at first, but now it had gotten to the point where she is gonna call it this floor. She found the last machine she needed and started working on it, claws slightly getting in the way as she did. Eventually, she finished the machine and started to look for the last machine. She ended up running into Brighteny and ended up getting away with a smoke bomb. She ended up seeing the last machine pretty far away and used her cup tail on the wall right next to it to move faster.

She didn't realize she used too much force when throwing her tail out until a cleaver fell onto the cup part of it, cutting it in half. "O-oh God," she let out as she held the cup's two halfs with ichor dripping out of it. She tried to just put her tail down but found that it made her lose ichor faster, so she held her tail up, knowing that it would make it easier for twisteds to see her. She was proven right when Sprout rounded the corner and saw her. She tried to run, but because of disorientation from what happened to her tail she wasn't fast enough as Sprout grabbed her by the cup, crushing the two halfs together making her feel immense pain as he threw her onto the floor right infront of Brighteny. She was found twisted on the very next run.

Present day

When she entered the elevator, Scraps did not expect everyone to immediately start to apologize to Goob. She heard what they said to him and didn't really have any room to judge them. Up until before entering the run where she was twisted she did the exact same thing, and while yes she apologized for it when she realized, she never had the chance to show she could grow from it. She walked over to Goob, resisting the urge to use her tail to travel over, given its new teeth, and put a hand on his shoulder, making him turn a bit to her. "I assume you are gonna want the others to apologize too?" she asked him.

"Yeah, that would be nice," he answered.

"I will see if I can't get them to do so, but may I ask what was the original plan Tisha had mentioned that they changed to help me?" she questioned.

"Oh, you see, I saw everyone fighting over who to save next, so I decided to have it be that one person per group that wanted a twisted back to sanity to all join a run and whoever showed up first we would cure," he explained.

"Oh, that's a good idea bro," she replied.

"Yeah, I thought it was too, so now that you're back, do you have anyone you want to have their sanity back first?" he asked.

"Oh, how about Brighteny, we could use a sharp mind like hers," she said.

"Okay, so you are with Tisha then. Well, hope that Dandy actually joins us next time, if I was forced to join someone into wanting a specific twisted back first I'd join him because of how fast Pebblr can be," he admitted.

"You know what, fair, but I am gonna stick with Brighteny," she held to, realizing what he was trying to do at the last second.

"Almost got ya there," he chuckled before getting a playful punch to the arm. The ride up had one question inside everyone's mind, no matter how far back it was.

*Who's gonna end up being next?*

Chapter Text

Shrimpo held his breath as the elevator opened up, and Shelly used the veemote on the nearest machine. Nothing. He was tempted to punch the wall but held it in. Shelly had agreed to go on this duo run with him to try to find Finn with the caveat that if they found Sprout or Bobette, they'd cure them instead. She then walked over to him and asked, "why do you want to find Finn so much? You were never really close to him before, right?" He let out a sigh and turned to her, thinking on whether or not he should explain, and decided that he should.

"You see, I was actually in the run where he twisted, in fact he almost twisted inside the elevator if it wasn't for Dandy throwing him out before he could, and I always fell like I could have saved him there, but I feel it is better for him to tell you the story," he explained.

"Ah, I understand," she replied. He smiled at her, happy she went along with this plan with him. They went around the floor, avoiding triggering Razzle n Dazzle and avoiding using a machine that had Connie in it. They got back into the elevator and went down another floor, going to floor 20. When they got there they saw it was a more Christmas styled floor and they heard a new walking sound they had never heard before.

*Must be Bobette, well then, guess we get her back, might make the cures made faster so I ain't complaining,* he thought as Shelly walked up to a machine and used the veemote, only for the effect of Finn to happen when she did. When that happened, he quickly walked up to her and lightly held her hand, and lightly started to walk into a room that had many things to hide behind.

"What is it? We found Finn, but you seem a bit conflicted," she inquired.

"Bobette is also on this floor, so that means two people we suggested getting are here, and I can't decide who to cure," he whispered.

"Oh, I understand, but how about we figure out a bit more about Bobette's twisted to decide, we are the first to see her after all," she suggested.

"That's a good idea Shells, not like you have many bad ones," he replied, making her blush a bit.

"Oh shut it," she giggled as they got up to learn more about Bobette. They listened to how fast she walked, and she actually seemed kinda slow. They walked around the floor, careful not to be seen, and Shrimpi saw a medkit on the floor and picked it up, just to hear Bobette rushing to the area faster than most twisteds as they quickly ran to hide. They looked at each other before Shelly quickly whispered, "she's faster than me."

"Yeah, that means we probably should get Finn first given how he is clearly much slower," he replied, causing her to agree. They looked out of their hiding spot to see Bobette. She had a hole on her head where she was bitten into with what seemed to be the top of an ichor Christmas tree peaking out with the top of her sweater having spikes all around it with her arms being mostly ichor aside from her elongated fingers with her whole legs being covered in ichor. They felt bad for her, but they knew that it was too dangerous to help her at the moment, so they started to look for Finn. When they saw him, she gasped a bit, making Shrimpo remember that he didn't tell her he was missing his legs now. She looked at him, expecting him to say a plan.

"I got this, don't worry, I picked up a medkit, I'll be fine, just start working on the machines," he told her as he stepped out into plain view of Finn, which while she kinda wanted to do something more to help, she trusted him and did so. When he was spotted, he watched as Finn crawled his way towards him as he crouched down. Finn ended up lunging at him when close enough, which was expected as it ended with him being hugged by Shrimpo as he bit into his shoulder. Wasting no time, he injected him with the cure, causing him to slowly come to his senses as Sheimpo patched the bite and a claw mark he got from Gigi a few floors ago with the medkit. He let go of Finn as he saw his eyes become more like they were before as the cure was taking effect.

"W-where am I?" he asked when he could speak again before seeing Shrimpo looking at him with a look of happiness he hadn't seen from him before. "S-Shrimpo? W-what are-" he suddenly remembered everything, and started to wonder what happened as he heard a machine ding as he looked and saw Shelly had finished a machine. He then remembered she was a twisted, but that didn't seem to change the reality of what he was seeing.

He then felt a hand put onto his shoulder and saw Shrimpo crouched down next to him, saying, "good to see you're finally able to sea clearly again."

"Y-you talked calm-wait, did ya just use a sea joke? Why, I can hardly believe you would try those with how you always seemed to seal yourself off from using them," he responded, chuckling at his own joke. Both Shelly and Shrimpo looked at each other before chuckling themselves.

*He's back,* he thought as he picked him up and put him on her back.

"Why are ya-" he started, before realizing that he couldn't feel his legs and understanding. "Kinda hoped in da back of my mind that they'd be regrown when I twisted, guess not all wishes come true," he said solumly.

"Yeah, it's a shame, but what we need to do is finish the machines before Bobette finds us," she told him.

"Wait, Bobette's back, and the way that you said that-oh God, what's happened since I have been gone?" he asked.

"A lot, but how about we save a few things for the elevator, sound good?" he questioned.

"Fine by me, been wantin a lot of things explained, but this is more important now," he answered as they got to work on the machines. One thing hadn't left Shrimpo's mind since he cured Finn though.

*Will he forgive me?*

Chapter Text

Finn finished the last machine and felt a surge of speed. He knew he had to rush to the elevator so it didn't close, but he couldn't help himself but to look around. Avoiding the area with Razzle n Dazzle, he looked around, grabbing quite a few items. Then, just feeling the boost run out, he started to run to the elevator. He often had to stop running to catch his breath, so when he reached the elevator, he saw the other person he was doing the run with, Shrimpo, already inside. He realized how little time remained and lunged to enter the elevator. Shrimpo seemed to step closer to the door upon seeing this, but it was only a step and not close enough to do anything when the elevator closed down, cutting Finn in half. "O-oh my God," he let out as he saw Finn start to bleed ichor profusely.

*Ugh, c-can't feel my-oh God, my legs!* he realized as he stopped being able to hear anything as he saw Dandy rise up from his shop and look at him. He then pulled a lever that opened the elevator door and then walked over and lifted him up, walking to a part of the floor as Finn could feel himself blacking out.

Present day

Finn rode on Shelly as she entered the elevator. The feeling of riding around on Shelly was really fun, and he enjoyed it a lot. Later, Shrimpo entered as she carefully let him off of her, not trying to have him have a big fall. After the door closed, he saw the sight of Dandy's shop rising up as he noticed him. "O-oh, the found you, welcome back Finn, glad you're back," he let out upon seeing him.

"Thanks, Dandy, it's good to be back, hoped everyone's been missin me," he replied.

"They probably have been deep down," Shelly added.

"Well, gonna send this elevator up, so see ya when you reach the lobby," he said before pulling two levers, one started the accent of the elevator while the other made his shop go down. Finn noticed Shrimpo was quieter than normal, but he then saw him start to walk over to him and look down at him, before he started to...cry?

"I'm so sorry I didn't pull you into the elevator when you lunged to get in. I always knew that if I had di that one action, you'd still have your legs and not be a twisted, and words can't describe how much I have been regretting not doing that," he apologized.

*O-oh wow, I realized he probably had regrets about that day, but blaming himself?* he thought as he tried to find the words to accept his apology. "I forgive ya, ya probably didn't think of it in the moment, and we are unsure if ya coulda actually helped me back there, so it is all good," he finally figured and blurted out. Shrimpo looked at him, still crying, but slowly stopping.

"Thank you," he replied, letting out a smile. Shelly then walked over and pat him on the shoulder, and he turned and softened his face up.

*Wait, are they-huh, never knew he had it in'em,* he thought watching this.

Eventually they reached the top and everyone welcomed Finn back, even Glisten, who normally would rage at hearing one, just let out an annoyed sigh at hearing, "guess it's ofishal that everyone's been missin me."

Dandy, after waiting for everyone to get in their words, came up to him and told him, "could you come with me for a second, I have something to show you."

"Oh, uhhh, sure, what is it?" he asked.

"It's a little project Bobette was working on before she-" he stopped himself before looking around at the current toons around, "-it is for you and Gigi," he decided to finish with.

*Gigi is also? Wow, guess she is gonna be needin help from whatever this is too,* he thought. "Sure, lead the way," he decided to say. Dandy turned and started to walk pretty slowly, but that was fine because Finn crawled very slowly.

Eventually, they entered the lab where they had made the cure. He kept walking until they reached a little thing that was labeled "project for legless twisteds, do not open before one is cured." He couldn't see what was inside because it was too high up, but Dandy opened it and grabbed what was inside and showed them to Finn, which made him shocked and excited to see if they work.

*With those, I'll be runnin again in no time.*

Chapter Text

Ginger looked excited as the elevator started to go down from the lobby, and so did the other Christmas toons. They had found out from Shrimpo and Shelly that Bobette is on floor twenty, and thus they asked Dandy if they all could go down to that floor for a rescue mission for her. He was hesitant, but after making sure that floor twenty in fact actually had Bobette still and she didn't move like most twisteds tended to, he accepted to let them go. "I can't wait for us to get Bobette back. It's gonna be a Christmas miracle!" shouted out Rudie, clearly very happy about this. Ginger was about to shoot down Rudie about it being Christmas, but decided not to.

"Yeah, can't wait to have her back too, Rudie," she said instead.

"Bark bark bark [I'll find her]," Coal barked as the elevator door opened with her smelling the air. She then turned one way and walked off with the others following her.

*I hope we can get her back soon. She's been our leader since day one, and through the whole time, she has been looking out for us. She made sure we didn't go insane during the times when we were locked up in the basement. She made sure that when we got out, we could find a way to become citizens. She made sure that all of us got the same place. She made sure to let us know how much we mean to her, so it's time we return the favor,* she thought as they followed her. Eventually, they saw her in her twisted form, and all their hearts sank, seeing her like this. She was exactly how Shrimpo and Shelly described, but they didn't make note about the small smile that she still had as she walked past the in the window they were watching her from.

"S-so, any ideas on how we are gonna get her to sit still enough to give her a shot?" he asked.

"Bark bark bork [we could try a trap?]" she suggested.

"That could would, but we'd need to know how to set up a trap first, any ideas?" she added. They looked between themselves for a minute in thought until eventually she remembered something and blurted out, "wait, didn't they say that she went to where an object was picked up?"

"They did, didn't they," he answered.

"Bark bwoof bork [so you thinking of putting the needle where the object was?]" she questioned.

"Yeah, that's what I am thinking. Are you two willing to do that?" she asked. They looked at each other, then back to her, and nodded (or as much as a dog could nod) as they set out to find a little place for the trap.

They eventually found a spot where it would be easy to hide, and then they waited till they heard her footsteps. Upon hearing them, they quickly picked up the stealth candy, giving it to Rudie as Coal could lead Bobette away if things went wrong and hid behind a table. They heard her rushing into the room to where the item was. Just as they thought, she ended up stepping on the needle, but what happened next they did not account for. She lifted her foot up with the needle in it and hoped backward, accidentally falling and hitting her head on the ground. *Shit,* she thought as she ran over to her and picked her head up slightly. *No injury? Good,* she thought as she motioned the other two to come over.

"I-is she okay?" he asked.

"She should be, despite how hard of a fall that was she doesn't seem injured, but she does seem unconscious, so I guess we will have to carry her back, Coal you get under her legs and Rudie you under her main body, I feel like that'd be the best given Coal can't hold her up," Ginger ordered as the others got to work. Upon fully picking her up, they slowly carried her to the elevator and layed her down next to it. They then split up and did the machines on the floor. Eventually, after she finished the last machine and heard the siren go off, she ran back to the elevator. Upon seeing the others already inside, she rolled Bobette in and made sure she was on her face as they felt the elevator starting to go up. When it started, they all had a singular question when it came to Bobette.

*How's she gonna react to so much change happening to her body?*

Chapter Text

Bobette walked around the floor looking for something to do. She had recently finished a machine and now had nothing to do. She then heard the alarm go off and started to head back to the elevator. On the way there she saw Ginger, but what was behind her made her panic. Behind her was Pebble, rushing at her as fast as he could while she seemed to be running out of breath. Reacting as fast as she could, she pulled out an air horn and pushed it down, making it go off. It caused Pebble to change his attention to her as she watched Ginger rush to where the elevator was. Upon him getting close to her, she made a present and hid in it. She had done this to many twisteds, but she never thought about what a dog would do when that happened. He walked up to the gift and sniffed it, and after a few seconds, he started to growl as he forced off the top. She had no time to react as he took a bite out of her head, and everything went dark.

Present day

Bobette started to open her eyes slowly, confused about what was happening. She went to rub her eyes, only to have them shoot wide open at the claw that was her hand. "What the-" she started before remembering what happened. *Wait, this means that a cure was made, right? How did Dandy do that?* she thought as she looked around to see Ginger, Rudie, and Coal around her. "O-oh, hey guys," she let out as she started to look at her own body. The height difference was easily noticeable and was kinda hard to get used to as she used the side bar of the elevator to start to stand up, stumbling a bit.

"C-careful," Ginger let out, helping her stand with Rudie.

"Thank you, wonder if Shelly had this much trouble adjusting, but then again, she did slowly get her mind back, so maybe not," she thought out loud. Upon getting out, she noticed the spikes coming out of the collar of her sweater. She touched them and could feel out of them. *Guess I'm not getting rid of these,* she thought as she started to walk around the elevator slowly to get used to the new body faster.

"I can't believe we have you back, IT'S A CHRISTMAS MIRACLE!" he shouted. For a second, Bobette thought about correcting him but turned her attention to Coal. She walked over slowly and delicately started to pet her, not fully knowing her new strength yet and not wanting to hurt her. She looked up at her and started to wag her tail, which made her smile.

"Do you want to get caught up on all that has happened?" she asked.

"Yeah, that sounds like a good idea," she answered as they started to explain to her what has happened. While they were explaining, she remembered the wound that did her in and started to feel her head. She felt the shattered glass in the area where she was bitten, and when they finished explaining, she requested, "can you hand me a mirror so I can see my head again?" They then looked to see if either had one, and when it turns out Ginger did, they handed it to her as she looked in it. She was shocked seeing the ichor Christmas tree coming out of her head. She touched it with her hands and felt how different to the touch it felt compared to everything else. *It feels like I am actually touching a Christmas tree,* she thought as she turned her attention to the others. "You said Finn is using the prosthetic legs I made?" she questioned.

"Yeah, why?" he replied.

"Guess he can help me perfect them for so many people."

Chapter Text

The plan has so far been fool-proof. Tisha, by now, had full faith in the plan working out. After all so far, every time they've gone down, they've brought back up a toon that someone had put in the box. Right now they toons in the box were Pebble, Sprout, Brighteny, Gigi (who people assume the Christmas toons put in there to perfect the prosthetic legs), Brighteny, and Toodles. She was on a run with Bobette, Glisten, and Shelly. They hadn't run into any of the toons they were looking for yet, but they hoped they would going down to floor 10, which ended up having a delayed blackout. *Yes, that means Brighteny's here,* she thought as she looked to the others who looked back at her.

"So, what's the plan to get her?" asked Shelly.

"Well, looking at the toons here, I honestly think at least one of us could physically hold her down while we insert the cure," she suggested.

"I'll do it, I have experience given that I can get some, unruly patients sometimes," Bobette suggested.

"Sounds good, I will go do the machines," Glisten ran out of the elevator, with Shelly looking to the others as she sighed and followed. Finding Birghtrny was the easy part given how she glows in the dark.

When they found her, Tisha pulled Bobette to the side and looked up at her, saying, "we need a plan to hold her down."

"How about I walk up and lightly pick her up and push her onto the ground? I won't slam her, but I will make sure she has her back on the ground," she suggested. She thought about the idea for a moment before nodding and letting her go.

*This idea is better than nothing,* she thought as she saw her pick up Brighteny and force her to the ground, but she didn't hear any glass shattering so she knew it was done safely. She walked out, noticing that she was putting the light on brighter than normal, pulled out the syringe, and went to inject it into her head. Just as it was about to be injected, out of nowhere, Flutter came in and charged in fast enough to be the one that got injected. With everyone shocked at this, it left Brighteny the chance to get out of Bobette's grip and throw Flutter into her before running off. "NO!" she shouted, but it was too late. She was gone.

"Hey Tisha, come here," she requested. She looked to where she ran off before closing her fist and walking over to them. Flutter seemed to have been knocked out from the throw as she was cradled in Bobette's arms.

*At least we got her,* she thought as she lightly rubbed her head.

She just hoped that she would forgive her.

Chapter Text

Flutter flew in a circle with Toodles chasing her. She did not expect the child to have such high speeds and had paid for it when she pulled her antenna, turning the hearts into more of an arrow shape. Now, she was getting more used to luring her around as she heard another machine get completed in the distance. Everything was going well until she saw her. Brighteny's lamp immediately got her full attention, and she flew right to it. Unfortunately for her, she forgot that she was a twisted as she grabbed a bit of her wing and tore it off. It was just the edge, but it was enough to not only make her start to bleed a lot, but also force her to land, where she was a sitting duck as Toodles, clearly mentally taking notes of what she saw, did the same with the other wing. After that, it didn't take long for her to pass out.

Present day

Flutter awoke and saw what was clearly a twisted standing over her. She quickly flew out of the grip of this clearly new twisted as she looked around where she was. She saw two more twisteds with them being Glisten and Shelly. She then looked back to the twisted that held her and saw Bobette, wait Bobette? She wasn'tin Gardenview anymore last time she checked. *What's going-* suddenly, what happened hit her like a ton of bricks. *I died? Wait, then how am I-* she looked and saw Tisha in the corner, clearly conflicted about something, and flew over to her. "!!! [WHAT'S GOING ON]," she boomed at her.

"C-calm down, there's a lot to go over now that you're cured," she put her hands up slightly cautiously.

"..? [Cured?] ..! [Wait, that means that they are also cured]," she turned her attention to the others, looking at them. They all had parts that made it clear they should be twisteds, but they seemed calm. Shelly and Bobette seemed to have grown from becoming twisted, with Shelly basically having an entirely new body and Bobette having an ichor Christmas tree coming out of her head.

"I helped make the cure when I came back," she explained, catching her off guard.

"..? [So you managed to become a doctor?]" she asked.

"Yeah, she did, and I was kinda patient zero, or at least the first one to have a sound mind again," she answered.

"I came back up second because Bobette ended up becoming twisted while working on the cure, and they realized another sample could help make the cure easier," Glisten continued.

"... [Ah, okay]," she responded.

"If we are being honest, we were trying to get Brighteny back, but she used her light to lure you in and while we were distracted threw you into Bobette before we could do anything else," Tisha finished.

"... [Okay, I understand]," she replied, understanding why she wanted her back first. Before their conversation could continue, the elevator door opened, and everyone outside it looked a bit confused, but the one to ask first caught her off guard.

"Why is Flutter here? I thought next up would have been one of the ones from the box," Shrimpo questioned calmly. The calm part is what caught Flutter of guard.

"Brighteny used her to get away, so we need to slightly change the strategy for the twisteds to take into account them using other twisteds to not get cured," he explained and suggested.

"Ah, got it," Finn responded. Flutter noticed the prosthetic legs he had and looked at him sympatheticly. She then saw Shrimpo walk up to her while holding onto one arm.

"I'm sorry for calling you loud, I should have been more considerate given you are unable to control your speech," he apologized.

She did not expect this, but after thinking for a moment, she responded, "... [it's fine]." She then saw Shelly walk up to Shrimpo, nudge him a tiny bit, and they started to walk off together with Astro. She noticed a glance between the two that she couldn't describe, but something else caught her eye that she didn't really want to question.

She saw Dandy get into an elevator alone.

Chapter Text

Dandy felt the elevator going down even more as the TV he added played an episode of the show. He knew that Pebble was too dangerous for the others to go for, and he also knew he needed to do this himself to redeem himself for directly twisting him. He felt the elevator stop as he walked out onto the next floor. He heard growling and knew what that meant. *No running away here, he's coming back,* he thought as he walked to where he heard the growling. He saw Pebble a little ways away through a window and watched where he headed. When he saw him going to the right, he followed. When he saw him, he didn't recognize him, of course, so he started to rush at him. He just stood there, waiting for him to draw near, until he felt a sharp pain and rushed for a hiding spot. *What was-* he started to think as he saw one of his hands starting to twist. Instantly, he looked around until he saw a TV with a clip on repeat and watched it as his arm went back to normal. "Okay, guess I am gonna have to watch the TV for longer than I thought, but it's fine," he allowed himself to say.

This happened again and again for an hour. "GOD DAMB IT," he shouted as he slammed a partially twisted hand through a desk and watched a TV screen to feel it returning to normal. "It's like every time he draws near, he somehow activates my mutation," he blurted. He then got an idea, a very risky one, but an idea nonetheless.

He waited for a few minutes for him to draw near until he heard his growling close. He took one last look at the TV screen before starting his plan, sounding off an air horn. He heard him rush towards the sound until he saw him and started to run towards him. When he got near and the mutation started, he let one arm mutate as he grabbed Pebble's head and slammed it into the ground. He didn't realize he used enough force to completely knock out Pebble, but that didn't matter as he pulled out a syringe and stuck it into one of the only places that it wouldn't bounce off, his neck. Upon doing that, he then turned his attention back to the TV screen as he felt his other arm start to change. After a few minutes of feeling changes happen, but not able to tell what they were doing, he felt them stop, but he could tell he was of sound mind still. *What happened to me?* he thought as he turned his attention to his arms, which were now a weird mix of his twisted and normal form. *Maybe that's my entire body? If so, then I am unsure if this can be undone anymore,* Dandy thought, turning his attention to Pebble. Walking to the center most part of his body, he leaned down and picked him up, which was surprisingly easy, but that is probably because of his new strength. He then layed him by the elevator as he turned his attention to the machines, which he just used valves on. He heard the elevator open, so he walked over then, carried Pebble inside, and looked at the mirror that was in there as one thought entered his mind.

*How is everyone gonna react to this?*

Chapter Text

Pebble walked around this floor with a twisted he had never seen before, but he heard it stepping around. He was on a solo run after bothering his owner, Dandy, to let him do a solo run for a few days now. So far he hasn't gotten hurt at all, so much so that he never bought from his owner for a few floors, and besides feeling something off from him he didn't think too much of it. He had found the machine in a corner of the floor he was on because his owner cared too much to let him get hurt, so he only sent him on floors with one machine. He worked on the machine, hearing the twisted get near before he finally finished. When he did, though, he heard it start to dash towards where the machine was. Before he could fully get out of the corner, he felt the back of a hand send him flying into a wall, leaving a crack in it as he fell to the ground. He looked and saw a monstrous version of his owner with a pitch-black body with a few tapes surrounding it, a disturbing smile on his face with much longer petals surrounding it, and most notably very, very sharp claws on his hand. *What happened to you?* he thought as he tried to run past him, only to feel the claws claw off his hind legs, causing him to flip over and land on his back looking up at his monstrous owner. Right before blacking out, he saw him raise his claw in the air and force it down with incredible speed to cut his body in three.

Present day

Pebble woke up, quickly looking around, seeing he was on the floor of the elevator. *What happen-* everything suddenly hit him like a ton of bricks as he tried to stand up, only to feel his feet on his head, and only two of them. He then looked back at himself, seeing new feet that had grown, and also he was in three parts, as he slowly got up using his new feet and took a double take. As he looked around, he saw his owner watching some old episodes, but he was very different looking from the last time he saw him and what he knows he looks like. His petals were longer, but not as long as before with the smile being gone but the red eyes of a twisted being there, he also lost all of his chub, but he didn't have a pitch black body, looking much more buff than before, and he had smaller versions of those claws. "Bark? [Owner?]" he let out. He then saw him turn towards him, and before any possible response from both parties, he ran in and hugged him hard, feeling the claws around his main body.

"I'm so sorry," he kept repeating that over and over, and he knew why. There was no way beating around the bush for what happened. "I should've told you about my mutation. I should have told you tapes kept me from transforming. I should have just called the elevator up when I knew I was gonna become a twisted, and so, so many other things instead of just letting you go down to that floor," he kept apologizing.

"Bark bark bark [I forgive you]," he barked out in response. "Bork bark bwoof? [what is with the new look]?" he asked.

"Oh, it uhhhh, happened when I was near you before I injected the cure, I was twisting, probably from the leftovers from my version of the ichor left in you, but I watched an episode while that was happening which seemed to have affected my transformation process and turned me into this," he explained, to which he nodded along to.

"Bwoof bark bark? [what all has happened?]" he inquired. Dandy then went on to explain everything, to which Pebble got a very guilty expression. "Bark bark... [so many...]," he let out, clearly guilty from his actions.

"It's okay. You just have to apologize. After all, you weren't in control of yourself," he reassured him. That didn't change one thing, though.

Pebble was to blame for twisting more toons than anyone else.

Chapter Text

Bobette thought about a few things that have happened recently. One of the big things she was thinking about was how Dandy managed to completely flip everything on its head on accident. For starters, now with him having done a solo run to get Pebble back, now as long as you get permission from Dandy you can get whoever you want to join you for a run without needing one of every toon looking for a specific toon. Then, he also showed off his new look to everyone, which took the few who didn't know about his condition for a wild ride mentally, and the new look he had took the ones who did know for one too. Now, she was on a run with her and Coal to make sure she was safe and to guarantee that Gigi was the one to get cured. If they ran into her, that is. So far, they had gone down six floors and haven't seen her yet. *Okay, just a few more floors before we go back,* she thought.

After a little while of waiting, the elevator stopped, and soon after, the door opened up. As soon as that happened, they both walked out and started to look around. It did not take long for Coal to bark out, "bark bark! [it's her!]." Hearing that, Bobette ran to where she was, her new running speed from becoming a twisted helping reach there fast as she saw her dog looking over the corner and would to the same, seeing Gigi using her enlarged hands to walk in the opposite direction.

*Okay, seems eas-wait one second,* she thought as she noticed something no one had noticed before, that being that Gigi actually still had legs. *Oh, well, uhhhh, that's fine, I guess. Shame I can't use her to get more research on my prosthetic legs, but still, let's help her,* she finished thinking as she motioned for Coal to walk into the open. When she did so and Gigi noticed and threw out her hand to grab an item off of her, Bobette grabbed it right before it reached her and injected the cure into it before letting it go reeling back to her head. Soon after, she walked over to her and waited for the cure to get her mind back. When she saw her snap back into reality, she stood a few steps back so as not to make her freak out immediately.

"What the, where am I?" she let out as she looked around, noticing the weird position her hands were in, and then a flash of realization hit her face, which Bobette immediately understood what that meant.

"Try to stay calm, okay?" she reassured as she lightly held out a hand. Gigi noticed, looked at her, thought for a moment, before taking it and being lifted onto her back. "How about I carry you around while we do machines, alright?" she suggested.

"Sure, gonna have to think a lot about things," she said. Bobette had to stop her from stealing items she had on her multiple times, but they ended up completing the floor and entering the elevator where she set her down.

"So, how do you plan on moving around with your arms like that?"

Chapter Text

Gigi let out a little chuckle as she finished the second to last machine of the floor. She was on a solo run and was off worse for wear by now, feeling her legs starting to give out from how much they were used. "Not, used to, this much, running," she blurted out as she walked towards the last machine. She had not seen whatever twisted was roaming around the floor yet, which she thought was very lucky of her.

She walked up to the last machine and just as she started to work on it she saw the light turn a light blue, but it was too late. Before she could do anything, she felt a hard hit to the top of her head, breaking open the glass on the top as quickly Gigi put her hands in there out of what was likely self-preservation. She looked forward to seeing Connie exit the machine with a guilty look on her face. Being the only twisted to her knowledge that had some of her mind left, doing this to another toon has gotta eat her up inside, so she said the first thing to come to mind, "d-don't worry about it, y-you couldn't stop it." This seemed to ease up Connie a bit as Gigi fell backward with everything going black.

Present day

Gigi felt the cold elevator floor as she was lightly put down on it, and now she had to figure out about her new form. "So, how did I move before?" she asked Bobette.

"You had your arms out to the side of your shoulders and used them to walk," she explained. She tried it out herself, but it was pretty uncomfortable, even with the new hands not making it hurt to do so.

"Screw it, just gonna-" she started as she used her hands to help her to her feet, making sure to hold onto a wall as she slipped a bit from not fully understanding how her new body felt.

"C-careful," she let out, helping her stay up. She found this to also be uncomfortable with her new arms making it hard for her to stand up straight.

*Wait a second, maybe that would-* she thought as she used her hands to lift her body up and started to walk around like that, finding it to be the best option, even if it wasn't perfect. She then remembered her head arm and stuck that out a bit before bringing it back. *Mewhehe, this is gonna make stealing items so much easier, even if my head feels cluttered right now,* she thought as she played around with how her new arm worked.

Eventually, the elevator stopped and the doors opened up to a lot of toons, some twisted some not, right outside it. Before she could ask about what was going on, Dandy picked her up by the legs and shook her a bunch.

After a good few minutes of being shook while upside down, which was something she'd never recommend to anyone, there were multiple piles of items just sitting there as the toons began counting. "You know you could have asked me to let everything out of my head," she pointed out.

"With your track record? No, we couldn't," he pointed out. Gigi opened her mouth to counter but shut it soon after so as not to get into a massive fight about her TOTALLY NORMAL love for keeping the items she had close to her.

Astro then came up and stated, "after doing a few checks a few times, we have determined that there is about six months worth of food supplies we got from Gigi."

"SIX MONTHS?!" she shouted out loud, completely taken aback by just how many items she had in her head.

"Yeah, and that is just the food, not even counting all of the other stuff, and we factored in us already having every toon back in when we counted the months too," he continued. She just sat there dumbfounded on just how many items she had in her head until she noticed two toons chatting a bit closer together than toons normally do in general, and got a smug smile on her face.

*Boy oh boy, can't wait to make fun of Shrimpo for that.*

Chapter Text

Glisten waited as the elevator was chugging down with batted breath. He loved his little niece a lot, and the fact that she had become a twisted after he did was eating away at him very, very fast. *I should have been there to protect her,* he thought as Rodger put a hand on his shoulder.

"I should have been there too," he stated. They both knew what they were thinking of the entire time they were heading down the elevator.

"Yeah, yeah," he replied. "She is gonna want us to go after Teagan right after this, isn't she?" he realized.

"Well, wouldn't be the worst choice she could pick," he joked, getting a slight chuckle out of him.

"Yeah, you're right," he commented before turning to the opening elevator door, and in plain view was Toodles. "It's her," he commented, taking note of the hole in her head. *Whoever did that is gonna need to apologize immediately after coming back,* he thought as he looked to his brother in arms. "What's the plan?" he asked.

"Well, I doubt we could hold her down for long given how energetic she is, so we are gonna have to find a way to trick her into letting us inject her into the cure," he thought out loud.

"Okay, how do we-hold on, got an idea," he said as he pulled out the needle and started to walk towards Toodles so that she would notice the needle pretty fast. When she did see Glisten at first, she charged towards him, until she saw the needle and started to walk back a bit. He smiled as he remembered that sometimes some quirks about the toon stayed when it came to their twisted, and Toodles always hated shots. Rodger, seeing what he was doing, snuck around behind her, and when she turned back after bumping into him, Glisten took the chance and quickly injected her with the cure. After a few seconds, she started to breathe heavily, until she looked up at her father.

"DADDY!" she shouted as she rushed in and hugged Rodger, who hugged her back. "I was so scared, I-I thought I was," she started with tears appearing in her eyes, until she seemed to realize something and felt her head, finding the hole inside of it. Immediately knowing what to do after being used to her doing it a lot, they covered what would be their ears if they were human as she shouted at the top of her lungs over her injury. After she was done, she looked behind her and saw Glisten, rushing over immediately and looking at him. "A-are you okay, Uncle Glisten?" she asked him.

"I'm fine now, don't worry about me, so how about we get you back to the lobby?" he suggested. She thought for a moment, longer than she normally would.

"O-okay," she quietly said as she walked to the elevator in clear sight as him and Rodger went and did the machines, but during the process, they both had a realization.

*How are we gonna explain what she did to her?*

Chapter Text

Toodles heard the ding of a machine as she finally got a great skill check. *YAY,* she thought as she ran out to go find the next machine. She ran around a lot. Her being a child with a lot of energy meant that she never really learned stamina management.

Eventually, she saw twisted Sprout and quickly hid behind the crate next to her. She waited for a little while until he left before running back out into where he was, that was until she heard a splash, and before she could even notice it, a tentacle slammed into her head. Not taking the time to even think about her injury, she ran to where she heard a machine ding with her losing twisted Sprout unknowingly along the way.

When she did, she ran and hugged Teagan, who before she could say anything noticed the injury and blurted out, "Toodles, your head..." Before she could feel her head to know what happened, she started to blackout.

"M-mommy, I don't wanna go," she let out softly.

"It's okay, I am here," she reassured her, knowing it was too late.

The next time they were seen was five days later during a run.

Present day

Toodles felt around the parts of Glisten's face where there was no glass. "Could you please stop?" he requested.

"Sorry, it just feels funny to the touch," she commented before stopping.

"Oh God, imagine how she is gonna act around Shelly," Rodger blurted out with a look with a bit of fear in his eye.

"Why are you worried about that?" she inquired.

"Y-you'll find out soon," Glisten told her, getting the same fear as his brother in arms had.

Not long after that, the elevator door opens, and Toodles sees something that looks like a dinosaur and immediately rushes to it. Before the thing could react, she had already climbed onto its back and sat on its back. "Forward dino, forward!" she shouted enthusiastically before giggling and looking to the head. The second she did so, she completely understood why her dad and uncle were so worried as she realized it was Shelly she was on, to which she hoped back a bit to comically roll off the tail and roll back a bit before sitting up and shaking her head to make her less dissy. She then looked up to see Shelly giggling at her and holding a hand out to help her up.

"My my, you're just as energetic as ever," she commented as she helped her up.

"Sorry, Miss Shelly, I should have remained more calm," she apologized.

"It's all good, just warn me next time, alright?" she requested.

"I will," she replied as Rodger and Glisten ran up and quickly looked her up and down to make sure she was okay. She then saw Shrimpo walk up to Shelly with Astro as they started talking before walking off together.

*Wonder when he stopped making fun of people?*

Chapter Text

Flutter felt a little rush from the other day go through her. "I'm really sorry for what my twisted did," she was told by Toodles, who said it in such a innocent tone that it made Flutter smile on the inside from how cute she was being.

"... [It's fine, like many people have already said, you couldn't control yourself while twisted so don't worry about it]," she accepted, to which she got like a hundred thank yous from the young toon before running off for a run she was on to go look for Teagan.

Now she was on a run for Brighteny, the other person involved in her becoming a twisted, but also in curing her even if it was to avoid being cured herself. Because of these things, she decided to join those going after her.

The elevator reached the next floor, and she quickly flew out of the elevator and around the floor to find her. It took a few seconds, but she did find Brighteny, and after a few seconds of staring at the light, flew back and ran into Tisha. "Did you find her Flutter?" she asked. After giving a nod in response, she flew back with her running behind her to follow. After the found her, Flutter felt herself starting to give in to being attracted to the light again, but this time had an idea. "..? [Be ready with the cure immediately, okay?]" she requested.

"Alright, what are-" before Tisha could finish asking, Flutter used her ability to charge right into Brighteny, knocking her over. Taking half a second to realize the situation, she ran over and injected the cure into her, waiting for her to get up, but she didn't.

"..? [Did I go too fast?]" she blurted out as it became clear that Brighteny was unconscious.

"I guess so, I will carry her back to the elevator while you start on the machines," Tisha stated as she lift her up with her hands and Flutter started to look for the machines while she did so. While doing so, she finally answered her own question in her head.

*She is gonna have to apologize for making it so I had to be cured in the first place.*

Chapter Text

Btighteny looked around the blacked out floor she was on and sighed as she lit up the twisted. Poppy was walking around the floor as she sighed and started to look for machines. It was a few days after the incident, and everyone was still getting used to everything new going on since it.

After a little bit of time, she found a machine and started to work on it. Still not fully used to passing the skill checks, she ended up failing one and went to hide behind a box. She then realized she could light up the twisted again and did so, only to not see her anywhere. Until she turned around and got hit in the face, being knocked onto the ground as her light stopped. She looked up to see Poppy standing above her, and quickly, she started to scramble away, not used to this much pressure. Upon getting up. She went full sprint, which ended up with her bashing head first into a wall and falling back, just to be picked up by Poppy and thrown into a corner. *No no no no," Brighteny thought as she kept walking closer until she was close enough to reel back a punch and hit her in the face as everything went black.

Present day

"I'm sorry, HOW MANY AREN'T TWISTED," Brighteny shouted, still in complete and udder shock over what she just heard.

"T-there's just Rudie, Coal, Ginger, Shrimpo, myself, Astro, Vee, Rodger, Cosmo, and Goob," Tisha explained. She was in complete awe at how few were left. She also just apologized to Flutter about what she did.

"H-how long has it been since I have become a twisted again?" she asked, trying to make sense of this.

"..? [About two years?]" Flutter answered. It took a second for Brighteny to think about that

"You know what, two years is a long time, I am willing to buy that," she replied, now starting to understand what all has happened since she got twisted. "Actually, besides me and Flutter, who all has been cured?" she questioned.

"Well, right now we have Shelly, Glisten, Scraps, Finn, Bobette, Pebble, Gigi, and Toodles, oh and Dandy turning into this weird half twisted from his mutation" she replied.

"Okay, so that leaves a lot of toons still, but what I am most curious about is how you plan on curing Poppy and Looey given they would pop if you just tried to inject them with a syringe," she let out.

"We, uhhhh, don't have a plan for them yet, we are kinda just waiting for someone to want to get either of them back till we plan for that," she admitted. Brighteny sighed at this but was willing to accept that. "Also, you remember that pic I showed you a while back with Shrimpo, Shelly, and Astro sleeping together?" she asked.

"Oh yeah, that was shocking and pretty cute. Why do you bring it up?" she inquired.

"Well, there are few rumors about the two people whose names start with "s" starting to date each other," Tisha said with a slightly smug look on her face.

"Wait, really? Oh my God, I need to see if that can be confirmed!" Brighteny excitedly stated before realizing something said she didn't pick up on before. "Wait, HALF TWISTED?!" she shouted again. Flutter and Tisha looked at each other before sighing and explaining that whole thing. While they did so, Brighteny had a sudden thought.

*How are Poppy and Boxten gonna react to all of this?*

Chapter Text

Toodles felt the elevator go down more with much less fear than before. Now she was a, well, not exactly big, but strong twisted who didn't need to worry about elevators anymore. She was in it with her father figure Rodger and her uncle figure Glisten. They all went together to the next floor in hopes of finding her mother figure Teagan. She knew that her and Rodger were no longer together, but she also knew that all of them were still friends. They had agreed to alternate between who took care of her.

Eventually, the elevator reached the next floor as they all looked around and immediately saw her. "It's mommy!" she excitedly shouted.

"Yeah, but we need a plan to get her back, okay?" Rodger told her.

"Yeah, if we mess this up, then we might not get a chance again so soon," Glisten added.

"Okay," she said, sounding slightly disappointed.

"What was her deal again? I got twisted before she did, so I never found out," he commented.

"Well, instead of using taped to heal herself like she used to, she takes them from the people she hits," he explained.

"Oh, oh, I have an idea," she blurted out.

"Oh? What is it Toodles?" asked Glisten.

"We could use a tape like how the Christmas toons used picking up an item!" she shouted out happy with her idea. The adults looked at each other, thought for a bit, and nodded at each other.

"Good idea, my little detective," Rodger commented, quickly putting the cure through a tape and then rubbing her head affectionately. They knew that they needed a way for Tegan to see it, so Toodles grabbed the tape and got in where she was gonna come out and see her, placed the tape down, made it seem like she was going to pick it up, and when she knew Teagan saw her she quickly ran behind a nearby box and watched.

After running a bit forward and not seeing her, Teagan looked down at the tape and used her whole hand on it. When she was stabbed by the needle, she lurched forward a bit, forcing the cure directly into her ichor stream. She stumbled back a bit, pulling out the cure tape trap, and then stopped as Toodles stepped out into view. It took a second for her to be noticed, but when she was Tegan, let out the word, "Toodles?" This caused her to get excited and run in and hug her mother.

"You're back, mommy!" she shouted as she did so. Taken aback by this at first, then remembering everything that happened, she smiled at her child while hugging her back.

"I am," she stated as both looked back to see Rodger and Glisten stepping out from their hiding spots. "Thought she wouldn't be allowed to go down solo," she joked as they walked closer.

"Maybe after all the others are cured," Rodger commented as he stepped up to her, holding out his hand. "Good to have you back," he said, letting out his version of a smile as she shook it.

"Good to be back, and you Glisten, I thought you would've tried to make yourself more like your original version, however you seemed to be going for a new style now," she commented.

"Oh, do you like it? When Boxy is back, I hope he does," he said as his normal pink bow had just recently been swapped out for a black one, mostly because Toodles said it would look better.

"I'm sure he will," added his brother as everyone smiled together.

*Oh right, I gotta make sure,* Toodles just remembered and got a more serious look on her face before turning to Teagan. "Mommy?" she let out, getting her attention.

"What is it, sweetie?" she questioned, kinda knowing what to expect.

"I-I didn't hurt you, did I?" she asked, needing to know this truth, no matter what it was. She then let out a sigh, smiled, and turned back to her.

"Don't worry, you didn't."

Chapter Text

Teagan lightly put Toodles down after she was sure she was gone. She wanted to do something, anything to help her, but knew she couldn't, so she went back to looking for the machines with a tear in her eye.

After a little while of looking around, she ended up finding one in a corner. She started on it, and after a while, she finished it, just to hear the sound of splashing water as she dived out of the corner and ended up crashing into something. Upon looking up to see what she crashed into, she was knocked back by Sprout, which led her to be slapped back with the tentacle, just for the claw of Sprout to cut her throat as she fell down and everything went black very very fast.

Present day

After telling the story to Rodger and Glisten while Toodles was off doing a machine elsewhere, Teagan opened her eyes and looked at their expressions, noticing the clear sadness in them. "I understand how you feel, but you couldn't have done anything if either of you were on the run yourselves," she told them.

"You're...right," Rodger admitted, now being able to see the writing on the wall for what happened on that run. Glisten looked like he wanted to object, but he clearly couldn't find any words to do so, so he just closed his mouth.

"I assume that now you're going after Boxten now, Glisten?" she changed the subject.

"Oh yeah, definitely," he answered.

"Well, me, Rodger, and Toodles will be right with you when you do," she reassured him as Toodles came back.

"All done! Just one more machine left, right?" she asked.

"Yep, just one more left," Rodger told her as it was right next to them. As she went to do it, Teagan felt where her wound was to feel a scar in its place.

*Thought that might've been why I can speak normally,* she thought as she watched her daughter finish the machine. Upon that happening, they all went to the elevator, and she realized she'd have to get used to going up and down again after it started. She never really got used to it fully, so now she'd have to.

"Mommy, you have to see Shelly. She's a dinosaur now!" Toodles excitedly stated.

"Sure, sounds interesting," she responded. *So her too, huh? Well, I guess I am gonna see all of those who did become twisted who have been cured so far,* she thought, as she then got a question in her mind.

*What twisted has twisted the most people?*

Chapter Text

Gigi saw the feint outline of who they were looking for and now had a new problem: letting the others know Connie was here. Her, Tisha, Brighteny, and Flutter were all there to go find her, and so far, things have been uneventful, so the others were doing machines. She quickly ran into Flutter with it not taking long as she had just finished a machine. "Bestie, Connie's here," she told her.

"..! [Nice!]," she blurted out, or whatever blurting out would be with how she communicates.

"Go look for another while I do the same so we can cure her," she ordered as they went separate ways. It did not take long for her to find Tisha and tell her the same thing as there was just one machine left on the floor that they all gathered around.

"So what's the plan again?" Tisha asked.

"Gigi is gonna touch the machine, and given they should be about the same strength, she will hold Connie still until I inject her with the cure," Brighteny explained.

"..? [We aren't trying to just inject her while she is not aggressive because she is intangible, right?]" Flutter made sure.

"Right, now be patient," she told her as they waited for a few minutes until they saw Connie float over. No one has really gotten a good look at what she looked like since she became a twisted given that she is constantly invisible. When she possessed the machine, Gigi took the valve as she remembered where the hands go when they attacked, managing to stop them with her arms as Brighteny quickly injected the cure into her. Just as it was injected, she turned back intangible for a few seconds, before shaking her head and becoming visible again, showing that she didn't really have any external injuries, implying that all the damage is internal.

"What happened," she held her head, looking at the group, seeing all the faces. "Oh, right," she stated as she looked at Gigi.

*Oh boy, she's gonna start crying like her twisted was, isn't she,* she thought and was immediately confirmed to be true as she hugged her.

"I'm so sorry," she told her as she hugged her. Gigi hugged her back, lightly rubbing her back as she was.

"It's fine, you couldn't control yourself, don't worry about it," she reassured her. There was another thing in the back of her mind that she couldn't get out of it.

*Who even twisted her?*

Chapter Text

Connie finished a machine and felt the twisted of the floor, Sprout, lay his eyes on her. She turned intangible as she always did and walked right through him. *So easy,* she thought as she left the corner and turned right into a tentacle. She was still intangible, so she started to float right by it, until about half way through she returned to normal, and before she could even react, she felt it slam into her, sending her flying into a nearby wall, cracking it upon contact. "Owowowow," she blurted out as she started to float again as a shadow loomed over her. She tried to float away, but she was too slow as the long scrap of twisted Sprout wrapped around her neck and brought her to his face. She was then thrown back into the wall as it felt like what her ribs would be if she were human were shattered. She then looked up just in time to see the rolled back fist of Sprout slam into her and send her into darkness.

Later that day

She wondered if this is what the other twosteds felt like, or if it was just her that felt trapped in her own body, only able to make facial expressions as she floated around and occasionally possessed machines. She ended up doing so to one in the corner, and when her sleep was disrupted she felt her body move on its own as it hit whatever touched the machine as she heard glass shattering, and opened her eyes to see she had punched a hole in Gigi's capsule. She saw her say something, but she did not hear it as she had lost hearing when she became a twisted.

Present day

Connie felt the elevator door open as she flew around the lobby, happy to finally be back to herself. She then stopped in front of the ones that went on the run who got her back and smiled at them. "Enjoying being back?" Gigi asked her.

"Yep," she answered. "You guys got any rumors you want me to figure out if true or not?" she inquired, knowing at least a few of them were the gossip type.

"Oh, I have one," Brighteny stated.

"Oh, are you referring to what I suggested?" Tisha asked her.

"Yep, so Connie, I want you to find out if Shrimpo and Shelly are dating," she suggested.

"Those two? I mean, I have watched them hang out a few times, even with Astro so it is not fully out of the question, so why not," she decided and flew off, deciding to go to Shrimpo's room first. She turned intangible and flew inside, not seeing either, but knew it was only a matter of time till they arrived.

A matter of time turned out to be until nightfall when both of them entered the room. Connie watched for a few seconds before being immediately able to tell exactly where this was going and quickly flew out before anything happened.

*Well that confirms that.*

Chapter Text

Cosmo felt the elevator stop and quickly turned to Vee, asking, "think you can light up any twisteds to see if he's here?"

"Sure," she said before trying to, and not finding any. To this, Cosmo let out a sigh. With so many twisteds back, everyone was getting more and more empty floors. He looked to the other ones who joined them, those being Shelly and Shrimpo as they looked at him and gave him a nod confirming that they would also be going to the next floor. Everyone split up and found machines and started on them.

*This is the run, I know it,* he reassured himself. He had been saying this for ten runs now, but those words kept him with hope. Right now, there were three toons people wanted, those being Poppy, Boxten, and Sprout. The ones looking for Sprout, given how they've been looking since the beginning, were aloud to do more runs than the others, to which they understood. *After Sprout, I am gonna go for Boxten to finish teaching him how to bake,* he thought to himself.

After they reached five more floors down, finally, it happened, Vee lit up Sprout. "Oh look, Berry boy is finally here," she joked, which while it got the stink eye of Shelly, the sheer fact that Sprout was here on this floor alone made Cosmo's eyes light up like never before.

"YES, HE'S HERE," he shouted out in a very uncharacteristic way, which caught the others off guard, but caused them to smile as Shrimpo walked over and put a hand on his shoulder.

"Alright, he's your best friend. What's the plan?" he inquired.

"Okay, so, uhhhh, we could try to see if the tentacle thing that was suggested would work," he replied.

"Oh, so that is why you brought multiple, if it doesn't," Shelly commented.

"Yeah, so uhhhh, who's gonna be the bait?" he asked.

"I'll go. He has the most reason to be mad at me out of anybody here, I mean, besides Shrimpo," Vee commented.

"Okay, we will be close by, so here is the cure," Cosmo stated as he handed her one of the cure needles. She nodded and stepped out, with the others following behind her at a safeish distance.

Eventually, Vee used her ability and saw a perfect chance to do it with a clear sight line from far away with a corner right next to it as she stepped out in plain view of Sprout. What happened next caught everyone off guard as he summoned the tentacle behind her to which she injected the cure into, causing it to stop for a few seconds before returning to ichor, just for it to pop back up and hit her straight into Sprout's hand as he held her up. "Shit, SOMEONE HELP ME," she shouted. Acting fast, Shelly ran in and tackled Sprout, causing him to let go as Shrimpo started to run over, too. Sprout went to claw into Shelly as Cosmo stood there, in utter shock.

*This wasn't how things were supposed to go!* he thought as Shelly wrapped her tail around Sprout and used it to slam him into the ground, causing him to bounce off of it as Shrimpo ran up her back, jumped off, grabbed Sprout'a face, and slammed him into the ground causing it to crack. Sprout went for a punch as Shrimpo dodged and punched him in the face once, causing him to go unconscious to everyone's shock.

"Holy shit, did you just knock him out with one punch?" Vee questioned.

"I-I did," he stated as Cosmo snapped out of it and ran over and quickly injected the cure into Sprout and made sure that there were no fatal injuries. After being sure of it, he turned to Shrimpo as Shelly walked over to him.

"Us main twisteds are supposed to be super strong, so strong that we started to be able to punch holes in the walls of our rooms, so how'd you do that?" she asked.

"Wait, you couldn't do that before?" he questioned, causing everyone to go silent.

"Wait, so the walls in your room weren't caused by your throwing your brick around?" Cosmo asked.

"Wait, you thought that me doing that caused the holes in the walls? No, I was doing that with my hands," he answered. "If I was a human, I'd probably be really buff, wouldn't I," he realized.

"I wouldn't mind seeing that," Shelly joked, causing everyone to turn to her.

"And I wouldn't mind how your body would look if it were human," he responded while blushing, causing her to blush and giggle.

"God, why did Connie exposing them have to cause this. SAVE IT FOR YOUR ROOMS," Vee shouted at them. Cosmo noticed a bit of movement from Sprout and quickly turned to him

"Sprout, are you there?" he quickly inquired, getting right up to his face.

"Ugh, am I in heaven, because I see an angel in front of me," he joked upon opening his eye.

Cosmo immediately blushed and punched his arm, saying, "hey."

"Ow," he quickly replied. "Please don't do that, I feel very, very sore right now," he explained.

"S-sorry," Shelly apologized, causing Sprout to look at her.

"It's fine. If you had to actually fight against me to bring me back, then it's fine," he replied, showing he was aware of him coming back from being a twisted.

"Eat this," Cosmo ordered as he handed him a cookie and handed it to him. Upon him biting into it, his eyes went wide in shock as he quickly started to eat it up.

"Wow, Cosmo, that was really good. You've gotten better than me while I was gone," he commented.

"Thanks, it's actually been mostly Shrimpo who's helped me get better," he said truthfully. "He's actually the one who made all those sweets we kept trying to replicate," he added.

"Really? Wow, you're really good at baking. I never thought you'd be the type to bake, though," he commented.

"Well, I'm full of surprises," he responded.

"Some really, really big," Shelly added.

"WHAT THE FUCK DID I JUST SAY!" Vee shouted at her.

"What's going on there?" Sprout asked Cosmk.

"You'll find out later," he told him, before quickly hugging him and starting to cry. "It's so good to finally have you back," he stated.

"And it's good to be back," Sprout added as he hugged him too. Both thought the exact same thing in that moment.

*I don't want this moment to end.*

Chapter Text

Sprout sighed as he filled the machine. He had seen that Boxten and Looey were on the floor, and he regretted not being able to help Looey or stop the incident. As the machine finished, he saw the elevator open as he could sense how far away Cosmo's heartbeat, or whatever is the toon equivalent, was from it. He quickly ran over to him, drinking some pop along the way. When he reached him, he saw he was cornered by the twisteds, and sp he picked up the nearby air horn and activated it, causing the twisteds to go after him instead. "Get to the elevator, Cosmo," he ordered as he led the twisteds away from him. After getting far enough away, he started to run to the elevator, but along the way, he saw Cosmo tired and quickly grabbed his hand to bring him there faster. When they reached the elevator, Sprout realized something. *There is no way the both of us can make it, so I either have to let go or-* he thought as he turned to Cosmo with a sad look on his face.

"Sprout, what's wrong?" he asked.

"Say that I was a hero to everyone, wouldn't ya?" he told him as he let go, causing Cosmo to take a few steps forward as then he pushed him into the elevator as it started to close.

"SPROUT NO!" he shouted, but it was too late as the elevator slammed down behind him.

No one knows what happened to Sprout on that floor. They just know he started to appear as a twisted after that.

Present day

"I-I twisted that many people," Sprout let out as an immense amount of guilt immediately started to eat at him.

"H-hey calm down. They all will forgive you," Shelly reassured him.

"But still, that many?" he pointed out.

"It was the first few days of you being out for most of them. We hadn't dealt with a twisted who could attack using range before so we had no idea how to deal with it," Shrimpo explained trying to make him feel better. It kinda worked, mostly because it was someone who he was sure hated him for a while trying to make him feel better.

"Would you like me to help you apologize to them?" Cosmo inquired.

"That'd, be nice, thanks Cosmo," he told him, slightly rubbing his head with his new claw hand.

After a few days passed with Cosmo and Sprout not leaving the workshop aside from going to bed, there was a little booth that people noticed immediately that had the words, "SPROUT APOLOGY BOOTH" over it. After Connie, one of the toons he'd twisted walked up to it, he gave her an apology, which didn't really weird her out that much and more so made her understand why it was made (she was slightly worried Sprout and Cosmo were like Shrimpo and Shelly so she didn't spy on them). Word spread quickly and within the day Sprout apologized to everyone. "You know we could have just knocked on their doors right?" Cosmo pointed out.

"Yeah, but this had us get used to working together with my new body, so I feel like this was the better option," Sprout told him.

"Eh, fair point, so wanna to bake?" he asked.

"I would love to," he stated as they got up, moved the apology booth to a different spot, and went into the kitchen and started to bake together, with Cosmo being the leader of making sure it ended up good instead of Sprout like it used to be. After they baked them, he realized and blurted out, "it would have been better if we did this and handed these out at the booth."

"Oh, well, can't undo that now," he joked as they both let out a good laugh.

After a run they both went on that ended up with both Looey and Boxten on the same floor (to which they joked about being like before and let the group who is going after Boxten know what floor it was), they both retired the Sprout's room and layed in the bed talking.

Eventually, they ended up falling asleep while snuggling up to each other with a single thought between them as they did so.

*Just like old times.*

Chapter Text

Astro felt the elevator stop and stepped out. Now that Sprout was cured, a lot more names started to appear. For a little bit, the only two names inside the suggestion box were Sprout and Boxten, but now things have really spread out. Shrimpo and Shelly put in Looey because of him wanting to apologize for the room full of thumbtacks. The Christmas toons decided to go with the girls for Poppy. Of course, Boxten was still being gone after by the family, but now Cosmo and Sprout also want him back to help teach him more baking tips.

Then there was the one toon that Astro put the name in for: Razzle n Dazzle. Dazzle was one of his friends before he started to collect them from getting closer through the tragedies of the toons becoming twisted. Razzle was also nice to talk to, even if not as much as Dazzle was.

As he looked around the floor, he noticed the ribbons signifying that they were nearby, and he walked into the area and tried to find the center. When he did, he took note of the box right next to them as a good place to go behind if they got enraged before the cure went into full effect. He stepped behind them, careful not to go too fast and trigger them, took out the cure, and injected it into a spot that the needle wouldn't just go straight through them before running behind the box. He watched as they struggled around a bit before stopping and looking around before trying to get up and struggling. "Why's there a weight around-" Razzle started, before realization hit both of them like a ton of bricks. They looked around again and seemed to see his hat from being the box.

"(Astro?)" Dazzle asked, trying to make sense of the situation. Astro stepped out and into plain view as Razzle's eyes seemed to light up.

"Hey Astro! Can you help us with this weight, we really went all out with this one?" he requested.

"Sure," he said as he walked over and let his blanket turn into more of a cape and helped lift up the weight with a bit of trouble. "Wow, where'd you get this?" he questioned.

"(We found it in the supply room)," he explained.

"Ah, I see," he said as they walked towards the elevator and lightly put the weight down again. "I'll be back when I get all the machines, so you two should talk about what you're expecting on the top floor while I do," he suggested.

"Okay, see ya when you're done, Astro," Razzle stated.

"(See ya then)," Dazzle added. He nodded as he ran off to find the machines. There was one thing eating away at him about his interaction with the siblings that he couldn't shake.

*Why did they lie about where they found the weight?*

Chapter Text

Razzle n Dazzle walked around the floor carefully. This was an even floor, which meant that they were slower, but they also had an easier time finishing the machines. They walked around the corner just to see Looey around it before hiding back around it.

"(I feel bad for Looey, he didn't deserve this)," Dazzle commented.

"Yeah, it's a shame what happened to him, but there aren't many machines left on this floor so let's get going," Razzle suggested as they ended up seeing one in a supply closet. They walked over and started working on it, noticing the weight on the shelf nearby. As they worked on it, they never noticed Looey sneaking up on them.

When he got close enough, he grabbed them and threw them into the wall below the shelf. They started to get up before they noticed Looey step back. They barely had enough time to react as the weight crashed in them, completely destroying on half of either's face. After a little tumble after that, they found they were bleeding out fast and went to grab the medkit they had seen a little ways away, only to find that they couldn't move. They looked to their horror right before blacking out as they saw that the weight had gotten itself tangled in their ribbions and made them unable to move them.

Present day

"How do you suppose our twisted moved floors around anyhow?" Razzle asked.

"(I don't know, maybe we had something help us? I doubt it was another twisted)," Dazzle started to answer.

"Me either. Ugh! I just wanna-" he was cut off by them feeling the weight be lifted up as they looked and saw that some ribbons had formed under the weight to lift it up.

"(Woah)," he blurted out, surprised.

"THAT'S SO COOL!" Razzle shouted. "You think that's how we moved around?" he questioned.

"(Probably, might be our only way to extract now)," Dazzle replied.

"I don't think we can move them more than this," he admitted. As they stepped forward, the ribbion followed. However, they lacked a way to move them as needed to turn a valve.

"(Oh, and I thought I was onto something)," he said sadly.

"Hey don't worry, I am certain there is someone in the lobby who can help us get out of this weight, then when you get control you can extract just as before," he reassured his brother.

"(Thanks Razzle)," he told him.

"No problem Dazzle," he responded as the elevator behind them opened. They walked inside with the ribbon holding up the weight before turning around and waiting for Astro.

After a few seconds, Astro ran around the corner, and while he was clearly confused as to how they got in the elevator, he ran in while noticing the ribbions under the weight as he did so. "Oh, so you have discovered you could do that on your own?" he asked.

"(Yep, well mostly Razzle)," Dazzle answered.

"Nice, well now we'll be going up. Do you want me to try to untangle that for you?" he inquired as he pointed to the weight.

"YES PLEASE!" Razzle shouted, giving Astro and Dazzle something to giggle about as he walked over and tried to use his four arms to do more untangling easier, but found that it was impossible to do.

"Sorry, I can't do it. It seems like it'd need to be broken for it to be able to be untangled," he explained.

"(Oh, is there anyone who can break it?)," he asked.

"There are a few options, but I feel like I should explain all that has happened since you two have twisted," he stated.

He then explained everything, with the twins occasionally asking a few questions or having some comments about things they didn't expect.

"Wow, who would have guessed that Shrimpo could bake," Razzle stated at the end, still caught up on that for some reason.

"(Yeah, it is shocking, but Astro, you said that there were a few options on who can break our weight? Who are they?)," Dazzle questioned.

"They are Shrimpo, Sprout, Shelly, Bobette, and Dandy," he told them.

"Ah yeah, the mains and the one who can knock one out, also Dandy," he commented.

"(I feel like Shrimpo should do it as an apology to us)," he stated.

"Sure, I'll go get him, but we still have a few floors to go till we reach the lobby, so I have a question for you," he said.

"Oh? What is it?" he asked.

"Where did you really get the weight?" he inquired through their lie.

"(Thought you might notice, it was in a storage closet, but it fell on us because of Looey, and we tumbled with it for a second before passing out)," he explained.

"Ah, I understand," he said. They then felt the elevator stop and the door open. "Wait over by the bench, Shrimpo shouldn't be too far," he told them as he ran off. They did as they were told and just sat on the bench.

After a minute or two, Astro came back with Shrimpo. "So, if I break this you will forgive me for everything?" he asked them not wasting any time.

"Yep, or at least Dazzle will, I think he's just skeptical of you," Razzle answered.

"(Why wouldn't I be?)" he questioned.

"There is no reason why," Shrimpo stated as he walked over and looked at the weight. After a few mental calculations, he punched it and it split in half.

"Wow, you really are very strong," he commented in slight disbelief.

"Yeah, what I have had in my punching bag for a year now really helped with that," he stated.

"(What's in it?)," he asked.

"Don't want to say," he told them as he calmly walked away. Both of the twins had the same thought as Astro freed their ribbions.

*I am putting in Looey's name so we can get an apology faster.*

Chapter Text

Shelly walked around the floor with Shrimpo, Astro, and Razzle n Dazzle. They all agreed to go for Looey together, given the fact that Razzle n Dazzle wanted an apology while Shrimpo wanted to apologize to him for putting thumbtacks in his room. Shelly eas along because Shrimpo was while Astro was along because the other four were his friends.

They found nothing and started to descend to the next floor in the elevator. "So, who do you plan to go for next?" Astro asked everyone.

"Whoever Shelly goes for, after all she went with me for Finn so I went with her for Sprout, and here she is going with me so it is only fair I follow her again next," Shrimpo answered.

"I am gonna go for Poppy, then we will finally have all of the girls back together," Shelly told, giving Shrimpo his answer as he just shrugged.

"Well, I was thinking Boxten. After all, he did reassure Dazzle a few times, which I assume he did because he was kinda shy too," Razzle stated.

"(Yeah, it's a good idea)," Dazzle added.

"Well, I am gonna go for Boxten next, mostly because I need to know what a good dream is for him," Astro finished.

Soon after they finished that conversation, the door to the elevator opened up, and they stepped out and looked around. It didn't take long for them to find Looey. He stuck out like a sore thumbtack, after all. *Well, we know the plan,* she thought as she walked into clear view of him as he started to run towards her. When he got close enough, she wrapped her tail around him as Shrimpo took out the needle and inserted into one of the knots on one of his ears as she let go. It didn't take long for Looey to stop spinning his head around and look forward, being a bit confused.

"Shelly? Is that you, what-" he started until realization his him like a truck, like more people. "There's a cure now?" He inquired, trying to make sense of the situation.

"Yep," she replied.

"Hey Looey, there are three toons that want to talk to you," Astro told him.

"Oh really? Who?" he asked.

"Me, Dazzle, and Shrimpo," Razzle told him. Looey looked at Razzle n Dazzle and immediately got a guilty expression on his face.

"O-oh, sorry for twisting you. I'm not sure what else to say there," he blurted out at the end there.

"(Not much to say, we forgive you)," Dazzle stated.

"Well, that's swell, but uhhhhh Shrimpo, what do you want to talk about?" he questioned, nervousness clear in his voice.

"I'd like to apologize for putting thumbtacks in your room. That was way too far for a prank," he apologized.

"Oh, it's uhhhhh, fine, I guess? I mean, if you came looking to cure me just so that you can apologize for that must mean it's genuine," he accepted.

"Thank you," he smiled while saying as Shelly walked up to him and gently took his hand, and they walked off together with Shelly having a pretty good idea in mind for doing this.

*Might as well let him know too, but gotta remember that Vee will throw stuff at us if we lean too hard into mild stuff.*

Chapter Text

Looey walked off from finishing a machine with a sigh. His friend Poppy, who was involved in the incident, was on the floor, and that meant she was super aggressive. They had just gotten a name for her and Boxten, that being twisted, which he understood. *Just one more machine,* he thought as he looked around.

He walked around for a while before finding the machine and starting on it. He ended up failing a skill check, but as he didn't know Poppy could even hear them, kept going on this machine in the corner. When he finished it, he turned around just to feel hands wrap around the worst possible place for them to wrap around: his neck. He saw Poppy staring at his while she started to strangle him, and because the throat is the one place where toons like them couldn't pop to possibly get away, he could do nothing but slightly struggle against her as best he could as he felt the air leaving him. Before he blacked out, he did take note of the fact that it seemed like she was trying to physically strangle him harder, but it seemed like subconsciously, she was stopping herself.

Present day

Looey sighed as he failed to make a balloon animal for the fifth time. "Darn it, thought I had it that time," he blurted out as he started on another one.

"I know I am not exactly the best at encouraging someone, but I'll try anyway. You got this," Shrimpo encouraged, which made him smile.

*He definitely meant it,* he thought as he failed again.

"Why exactly do you want to make balloon animals again?" Shelly asked.

"Oh, I want to be able to give one to Toodles to see the eyes of a child light up from me giving them a balloon again," he explained.

"Ah, I understand you, I miss when this place was open and when kids came to see us," Astro reminisced.

"Yeah, that was super fun!" Razzle half shouted.

"(It was nice when we were given art about us)," Dazzle added.

"Exactly, so even if just for a second, I'd like to relive those moments," Looey claimed as he got closer to doing it right, but he still failed because of his new strength.

"Try to be more patient, I am certain you told a kid that once, right?" Shrimpo suggested.

"Oh you're right, I can't believe I forgot that. Womp womp womp," he sound effected as the took more time in making the balloon, this time actually making one perfectly. "I DID IT!" he excitedly shouted.

"Good job," Shelly said as she gave him a thumbs up. Just as she did so, the elevator opened and Looey ran out in search of Toodles, passing by many toons which gave him pleasantries to which he did back.

When he eventually found Toodles, he ran up to her claiming, "Toodles, I have something for ya."

"Oh what is it?" she questioned. He took out the balloon and handed it to her. Just as with kids before, he saw her eyes light up as she took it. "It's so cool! Thanks Looey," she thanked as she walked off. He smiled seeing this, enjoying the familiar feeling of pride of his balloon animal being liked by kids brought him.

*Now, it's time for me to get ready in case one of the couples wants balloons for a wedding.*

Chapter Text

Brighteny chatted with some of the other girls as they decended down the elevator. They were on the search for Poppy, and then after they get her, all that's left is Boxten. As she saw the next floor was a blackout, memories of how she twisted returned to her as she lit up where Poppy was. "Just like before," she blurted out.

"What's the plan, Brighteny?" Vee asked.

"Well, thanks to what Looey told us we know that we gotta inject it into her throat as that's the only place where she won't pop when we do so, because of that now we only gotta worry about getting her into a position where she can be injected," she explained.

"I can handle that," Bobbette stated.

"No, we can't risk her accidentally being popped like last time, we gotta do this without touching her," she said, annoying everyone, but they all understood.

"Can't I just turn intangible at a corner when she is close and then have one of you inject her when I do so," Connie suggested.

"Not a bad idea, let's do that," Gigi commented.

"Well, it would work," Brighteny added as she thought it over. *I should be the one to inject her,* she thought as she came to the decision. "Let's do it," she accepted as she lit up Poppy again just to see she was coming this way. They found a suitable corner and had Connie stand right around it.

After a few seconds, Vee lit up Poppy to see that she was running at Connie as Brighteny held onto the cure kinda hard. When Connie turned invisible, she took the chance and turned the corner and, as quickly as possible, injected the cure into her throat. She took a noticeable step back and threw the syringe out before she finally came to her senses. Everyone went around the corner and welcomed her back in their own ways, but something was wrong, and they all immediately figured out what it was.

Poppy couldn't speak.

Chapter Text

Poppy hurried, trying to get to the elevator with Boxten in her arms. Something went wrong, very, very wrong. He was clearly hurt, and she needed to get him to someone to help him. "Come on Boxten, almost there," she said as she got closer to the elevator as suddenly his eyes shot open and he got a smile on his face, but something was wrong with them. His eyes were red, and his smile had teeth as sharp as Scraps and Goob's teeth as suddenly out of his head sprouted out two hands and two more red eyes. The hands wrapped around her neck. "Boxte-ACK!" she shouted, feeling the hands tighten around her neck. The last thing she heard was the sound of something being crushed before she almost immediately blacked out.

Present day

Poppy stood up from the medical table and looked at Bobette and Dandy, who were studying why she couldn't speak. *I hope they find out and fix it, I want to be able to talk again,* she thought as she breathed heavily. She found out really quickly that she needed to breathe heavily and really fast after coming back to her senses for some reason, and she hoped the others didn't get too mad at her for it.

After a few minutes of them reading the report, they got a really, really bad look on their faces, which worried her as they turned to her. "Poppy, we have bad news," Bobette stated. Poppy turned her head, wanting to hear more.

"If you want to talk again, you'll have to wait about a year," Dandy explained. She looked confused again and switched her head again as a way to ask why. Bobette sighed and looked sympatheticly at her, which worried her.

"It's because of the fact that the injury that caused you to become a twisted is a crushed windpipe," she told her, immediately making her shoot up nervous.

*Holy shit,* she thought as she touched her neck. She felt how closed in it was, and now she knew why she had to breathe so much. She understood that if she was human, this injury would be irreversible without surgery, but because of the fact that she was a toon she could not only survive the full year, but it would also be healed when it was over, so she sighed and singed back, "thanks for letting me know."

"No problem, just don't overwork yourself," Dandy ordered her as she smiled back and walked off. She had just one thought on her mind as she walked away.

*Thank God we were taught sign language so that we could communicate with the deaf kids.*

Chapter Text

Glisten was getting impatient as they didn't find Boxten on the floors. He trusted him with a lot of secrets, even some his brother didn't know about. He was always first out of the elevator and last back in because of how much he searched around for him. He never did any machines which the others didn't really mind, given they were very used to doing them themselves. After going down fifty floors, they finally found him. *Yes,* he thought as he saw Boxten around the corner. He personally had the cure in his hand, and he took it, quickly running out and tackling him to the ground and quickly injecting the cure into him. It did not take long for his eyes to return to normal as he got off of him.

"Glisten? OH MY GOD GLISTEN!" he shouted, rushing over and looking at the twisted parts of him, especially his face. "Are you okay?" he asked.

"I'm fine, but are you okay?" he retorted.

"Yeah? Why wouldn't  I-" before he could finish, he remembered what happened and looked at Glisten.

"W-what's happened," he basically demanded.

"It's a lot, but I am willing to-" he was about to continue before the sound of the elevator opening caught both of their attention. "Ah, probably better to tell you in the elevator, so come on Boxy," he ordered as they started to walk back there.

When they got there, Boxten immediately got distressed at the twisted forms of the other toons, making sure they're okay first before turning back to Glisten. "How much time has passed?" he questioned.

"Oh, uhhhh, about two years?" he said, slightly unsure if it was more.

"Two and a half," Shelly stated quickly.

"Good girl," Shrimpo told her as he started to rub her head, making her purr.

"What's with them?" Boxten asked Glisten.

"I, will explain that after a lot of the other things, so what'd you like to know first?" he inquired.

"Well, I'd like to know why it feels like-" he started, before using his hands and feeling his two new hands coming out his head. "WHAT THE-" he caught himself from saying the last part seeing as Toodles was in the elevator.

"Yeah, you have two arms now Mr Boxten," she told him matter of factly.

"O-okay then, but what am I, or even most of the people in here?" he asked, looking at the majority of the toons being twisteds.

"Oh, uhhhh, ever since the incident that you and Poppy were in, a few toons have died, and thus turned into things we've called twisteds, so you, me, Shelly, and honestly the majority of toons are twisteds," Shrimpo explained. Something of worry crept onto Boxten's face.

"Oh don't worry about him. He's changed," Glisten reassured.

"T-that's not it," he stated. "It's that," he started. He then looked at the others, and finally sighed and got a guilty look on his face as he finished.

"Poppy wasn't near me when the machine exploded."

Chapter Text

Boxten started to work on a machine on the floor he was on. This was his first time going down, same as Poppy, so he wanted to prove that both of them could handle this like the others. He started working in it and failed the first skill check. He was very nervous, but took a deep breath and started again, causing his music box to start to wind and release a relaxing tune which really helped him do well as he completed the next skill check right. *I got this,* he thought as he kept going. He kept filling it up, only paying attention to the wheel and not to any noises around him or the tank the ichor was going into.

After a while of turning, he finally looked up just to see the tank very full. *Guess I'm done then,* he thought as he got ready to move onto the next machine. Just before he did he heard the sound of a screw coming undone and didn't have enough time to react as the machine exploded and covered him in ichor as he hit is head hard and everything went black.

Present day

Words couldn't describe how guilty Boxten felt. *I'll the cause of everything,* he told himself over and over again. Glisten tried his best to reassure him, but he couldn't.

When the elevator came to a stop, the first thing he did was make a mad dash for a different elevator to go to his room. Everyone tried to stop him, and the majority could have, if not for how close the other elevator was and how little notice they got before he started gunning for it.

After he reached the floor with his room on it, he started sprinting again. He turned the corner and bumped into something that caused him to fall backward. He looked up to see he had bumped into Poppy. Immediately after, he started crying, thinking, *oh God, what did I do to you.* He stayed like this in a very dazed state until he felt hands wrap around him as he opened his eyes and saw that Poppy was hugging him, crying. Still in a daze slightly, he hugged her back. *Does she, forgive me?* he thought to himself as the hug happened. *I don't deserve this, but I might as well use this,* he realized as he got up as both stopped the hug. He heard another elevator ding, and sighed lightly.

*Might as well apologize for the more innocent thing first.*

Chapter Text

Shelly felt her eyes weigh heavy as she finished the machine. *Okay, there should be five left on this floor,* she thought as she walked off from the machine. She had barely slept a wink, always thinking about the friends who hadn't made it. She often had nightmares when she did, only experiencing dreams when she requested them from Astro or after being done hanging out with Shrimpo. She didn't understand why the latter helped, but it did, so who was she to question it? She felt her eyes close for a bit longer than normal until she heard the growling of twisted Pebble as he saw her before she ducked into a little room off to the side of where she was. "That was close," she blurted out as she layed against the wall. "Maybe...I can...take a quick...nap before..." she thought out loud as she fell asleep against the wall.

A long time later, she woke up to be in the same spot in pitch black darkness. "O-oh no, how long was I asleep for?" she asked herself before taking out her phone and finding it had been five hours. "T-that means that, either he left me or, oh God, Cosmo!" she basically shouted as she started to rush around the floor, looking around. She found each machine had been done. *Did he, forget about me?* she thought to herself as she heard growling behind her and started running. She ran until Pebble got close enough to bite off her lower half, causing her to fall to the floor, soon to become another friend who didn't make it back.

When setting up the first item for Rodger to find

Shelly lightly put the cookie cutter on the top shelf. Being so tall now made it easier to reach, or in this case, set things in the higher places. When she was done, she turned back to Cosmo and nodded, signifying she was done. As she went to leave, she heard him shout, "WAIT!" She turned to look at him, wanting to know why he had stopped her. "I-I need to apologize to you," he answered her question before she asked.

"Oh," she blurted out, slightly shocked that he was doing this now of all times.

"I am so, so sorry for leaving you on that floor, I thought you were just looking for supplies while I was doing the machines, and when I didn't see you at the elevator as I did the last one right next to it, I realized that you might have been somewhere on the floor and went around the areas close to where I was to find you, only stopping myself when I knew I could only leave if I left you behind," he apologized.

*He, remembered me. He just couldn't find me,* she thought as she thought over his apology. "I forgive you. You made a mistake and tried your best to rectify it when you noticed it, and only left to not join me in becoming a twisted," she accepted, feeling a weight come off her shoulders. She had been holding back a lot of rage at him just so that she wasn't seen as dangerous and sent back down into the floors, but now that she knew truth, she couldn't feel it anymore.

"T-thank you," he responded, hugging her as she then hugged him back.

Present day

She found a nice black dress as she excitedly put it on to get ready. She looked in the mirror with her fancy clothes and smiled. She then opened the door to her room and left, walking down the halls passing by and exchanging pleasantries with Bobette, Astro, Vee, Looey, and Rodger. She then reached Shrimpo's door as her heart skipped a beat there before she knocked on the door. "Almost done!" he shouted from behind it as she assumed he was getting ready too.

When he did open the door, he was in a stylish black suit and, in her opinion, was looking absolutely dashing. "Nice suit, makes almost everything pop ouy-" she stops herself, looks towards Vee, then grabbed him and lightly brung him into the elevator where they were alone and finished with, "-except for your biggest feature."

"I guess not, but maybe later I can put something on that does," he teased with a huge blush on his face, which caused her to blush, but also giggle. They arrived at the lobby, where they both agreed to start their date for real, just to see an elevator in use that shouldn't be in use now that the last run was over. "That's strange," he blurted out as they walked over to it.

After a few minutes of talking about it, they heard the elevator come to a stop as who else came rushing out, but Yatta, as she crashed into Shrimpo. "Oof," she let out as she got up and looked around just to see Shelly and have her eyes wide. "A real dinosaur? SO COOL," she shouted as she ran over and started tapping all over Shelly' body.

"Ugh, oh, it's her," he let out as he got up before continuing with, "where'd you come from? You have been missing for over two years now?"

"Oh, I still dislike you, BUT, I don't know, I just saw the number five hundred on the wall before I entered the elevator after seeing the place," she admitted. Shelly and Shrimpo turned to each other before nodding in understanding of the slight change in plan.

"How about you go find Dandy and tell him about this, we will be going down to floor five hundred to investigate?" she suggested.

"GOOD IDEA," she shouted excitedly as she ran off to find him.

"Well, there's gonna be a lot to explain to her, but for now let's go," he stated as they entered the elevator and manually selected to go to floor five hundred as it set going down.

After a long while of comments that would have Vee throwing items at them if she was here, they finally felt the elevator stop and the door open. *Guess we will find out what the deal is here,* she thought as they started to look around.

After a while of searching, they saw a lot of test tubes holding a lot of different toons within, including the last member of the circus troupe Blot, all of which had TV screens above them that showed different dates..

"Is this where all the missing toons are?" Shrimpo asked.

"Probably, and these dates on the screens mean probably show the day they are gonna be let out," Shelly continued the reasoning as they heard the elevator door close.

"Eh, probably just means other toons will be joining soon, we'll just tell them what we have guessed and then move onto the dinner part of our date," he stated. He was right as the door soon opened again, this time with Dandy and Yatta in there, seeming a bit distressed, probably from being told what has happened. They relayed what they guessed to them as Yatta then expressed some frustration over Blot not being released on the same day as her before they entered the elevator and set course for the dining area as Dandy and Yatta stayed behind to investigate to find anything they might have missed.

After another elevator line filled with dirty jokes, including a mention of bananas, they reached the dining area and found their seat, which Cosmo took the liberty of setting up himself to be more romantic. They sat down as Sprout came over in a maid outfit, causing both of them to burst out laughing. "Hey, this idea was great. Besides, Cosmo likes it," he joked, getting an annoyed glance from him across the room.

"Well, did the shipment of what we requested from Dandy for tonight come in?" Shrimpo checked.

"Yep, it did. Can't believe you managed to talk him into getting something so fancy," he admitted as he walked into the kitchen with Cosmo to cook it. As waited for the food to be cooked, they both flirted with each other, holding nothing back as everyone agreed (for their own sanity and Toodles's innocence) to stay out of the dining hall that night.

As Sprout came out and out down the two lobsters in front of them, he sighed and let out, "you two need to calm down. I wore this to see if in the kitchen I could out-freak you, and somehow, you two managed to make me think I couldn't even if I had actively been naked with Cosmo being the same in there." They both laughed at this as they ate and kept going, somehow managing to flirt with each other even harder to Cosmo and Sprout's horror.

After they finished eating, they both headed into the elevator, went to the toon rooms, and stood outside Shrimpo's door. "Tonight was really fun, wasn't it Shrimpy," she teased.

"It really was Shells, of course, there is a little more fun to be had," he insinuated as he opened the door.

They both entered the room with the same idea in mind.

Chapter Text

He woke up and was greeted by what he expected, stuck on the same floor as per usual. Even though he knew he was never gonna get off the floor, he just couldn't leave hope alone that he would. He stood up and grabbed the only ally he had down there and started to walk around once more. As per usual, none had returned to try to add more to how much he suffered. He saw a generator that he was tempted to try and wake up, but knew that he couldn't now that he was stuck as he was now. He let out an annoyed shout as he punched a wall, even though that only added more to how much he hated the human blood that had caused most of the problems. He looked at the wall and thought out loud for a moment to show some of the hatred he felt for so, so long about the worst problem he had at the moment.

"X mxss my eye."