Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Snacks?”

“Check.”

“Water?”

“Check.”

“Your expandable batons, Luke?”

“I-It’s here, one for each of us.” 

“Good, what about spare clothes for all of us?”

“Right in my backpack dear!”

“Thanks Sean! And finally, the emotional support Poe and Touille plushies?”

“Right here.” The man named Luke replied as he held a dark purple corvid with beady black eyes, a wide black smile and a thunderstorm necklace, and, and a grey rat with the same beady black eyes, wide smile and a fishbone necklace. He placed them back in his huge black duffel bag, which was filled with other stuff.

“Alright, guys I think we are ready to find answers about my old workplace and expand your collection of urdex photographs Seanie~!” The leader of the trio, A woman in their late 30s with long hair with a touch of pink strands named Kathy, announced. She was wearing her old grey uniform and work pants along with her pink jacket. 

She used to be an ex-employee of Playtime Co. back in the 90s. She was doing warehouse and shipment work, relocating boxes of toys and shipping them out to major toy stores around California and helping manage the toys that went to the Island of Misfit Toys. But due to a massive accident during one of her shipment work days, she was fired on the spot for total incompetence and damaging the brand's reputation the year before Playtime Co. Mysteriously shut down. 

However, 8 years later after total silence, she received a letter and a VHS of an old vintage commercial. There was no sender nor address attacked to the package, only the Playtime Logo that was present with the package. The letter told her that the people who disappeared 8 years ago are still there, inside the factory. After a week of consideration, planning, and convincing one of her friends to tag along with them. She returned to the front doors of what was once a toy empire, looking for answers.

“Wow… look at how much this place has withered away from all of the years it’s been abandoned. You can feel how much the colors faded away…” A tall yet albeit chubby man in his early 30s commented named Sean. He wore an army green beanie that covered up most of his messy long black hair, an army green coat and beige polo shirt and dark blue pants. He carried a sturdy backpack filled with spare clothes for the trio and his camera equipment, along with his trusty Canon camera hung around his neck.

He is a freelance and urbex photographer where he takes on local photography commissions and runs a small urbex forums on the ever growing internet space. He met Kathy 3 years ago at a city workshop event and instantly fell in love. They had their ups and downs along the ride, but their bond to each other was strong and were  practically inseparable. So when Kathy asked him to join her little expedition into the abandoned toy factory, he couldn’t say no to his sweet pie, nor the opportunity to capture some really beautiful abandoned architecture.

“I d-don’t like the feeling this place gives. It practically screams ‘Homeless Territory!’ What if we get ambushed or something inside!?” Stuttered the nervous wreck of a late 20s lad named Luke. He wore a plain white shirt, blue shorts and carried a huge duffel bag filled with what the trio will need when exploring inside.

Luke went into military training when he was young, leaving him as a trained and capable person who could defend himself well  from threats. But his sheepish personality also left him a nervous wreck who always doubted his capabilities. He has been good friends with Kathy after meeting her and Sean at a fair not that long ago. They quickly became fast friends who had each other's back mentally and physically.

When Kathy and Sean approached him and asked him to be their bodyguard on their little expedition to an abandoned factory in who knows where in California, he was very hesitant at first. But after some days of smooth, calm and soft talking, he reluctantly agreed to join the two and act as their bodyguard in case some hobo decided to ambush and steal from them.

“Don’t worry, I’m sure we will all be fine.” Kathy reassures Luke as she explains her game plan.

“So, some mysterious package told me that people are somehow still inside Playtime Co. even after all these years. Saying that despite what the news told the public, they are still down there and we need to find a flower or something. And the mysterious letter told me to ‘Find the flower’ or something. So what we need to do is just explore the factory, from the entrance zone to the Make-A-Friend station to the Island of Misfit Toys to the game station and finally to the on-site orphanage Playcare and see if there are actually people inside here. Along the way, if we ever find that flower we investigate it. Once we find our answers, and Sean is done his pictures, we get the fuck out of here as fast as we can. Any objections?” She explained in an upbeat tone.

While Sean shook his head no, Luke still had his reservations about coming and exploring the abandoned toy factory. But it was too late to protest any further as they are already here anyway. Kathy led the way and made her way inside, followed by Sean as he opened his camera and finally Luke who shimmied his way inside. 

Kathy was, in a way,  glad to see the old entrance of PLaytime Co. with its colorful tiled floors and walls, with the blue mascot Huggy Wuggy wrapping his fading colored arms around the entrance. Surprisingly, few of the ceiling lights remained open and the place’s air conditioning still worked. Kathy immediately went to the reception counter and noticed a withered green VHS tape and a wall mounted tv with its dusty VHS player nearby. She put the tape inside the player and the three of them watched what it had in store. 

“Hi, my name is Leith Pierre and I'm the head of innovation here at the Playtime Co. Toy Factory. If you're seeing this, then you're trespassing. Yeah, we play this little tape on loop whenever we close the factory for the day. So trespasser, just to make you aware. While we pride ourselves primarily on our high quality toys and excellent childcare, we also pride ourselves on our security.” The crusty and glitched recording played.

“Oh yeah… I forgot about this tape. Sometimes I was the one who played it before I went on from my late night shifts.” Kathy commented as Sean took pictures around the entrance interiors.

“For example, this facility is full of hidden motion triggers which, once set off, will turn on the factory's emergency alarms and directly contact the authorities! And that's one of the more tame aspects of our security system. No spoilers... So, you've got my warning. It's not too late to turn around. I just hope you're certain whatever you're doing is worth it." The tape ended.

“T-T-Tamer aspect of the security system!?” Luke bawled. “Kathy what does that mean!? Is there some harsher security system in place!?” He begged for answers.

“I don’t know honestly, although I doubt that it still works since this place has been abandoned for 8 years already.” Kathy reassured the shaking Luke as the three started to explore more of the entrance area. To the left of the entrance was the security room and a lounge area. The doors were locked with a color keypad to which Kathy didn’t know the passcode. To the right of the entrance was the gift shop. The place looked ransacked with toppled display cabinets, messed up and destroyed toys scattered the floors, and patches of …something red along with more toys.

“This place is already giving me the heebie jeebies.” Luke mumbled as Sean kept on picturing the gift shop. Kathy roamed around and noticed a battered up and ruined CraftyCorn plushie on one of the corners of the gift shop along with a mangled up Bobby Bearhug plushie right across it. “Aw… I’m sorry for you two for not being able to find a forever home…” Kathy said as she placed the CraftyCorn plush right next to the Bobby Bearhug plush.

“You really like talking to inanimate objects like they are alive. Huh, sweet pie?” Sean said as he picked up a torned up DogDay plush that got his body torn in half and immediately placed it on top of the counter to take a picture of it.

“I can’t help it. Toy Story really changed how I look at toys, okay!” She sheepishly replied as she looked up to a still moving toy train. “Huh, I thought that thing runs on batteries, how is it still moving after all these years?”

Sean and Luke looked up to see the toy train, and Luke made a realization. The toy train carts seemed to match the colors that the colored keypad has. “Wait guys, I have a hunch, let’s go back to the security room.”

The three made their way back to the colored keypad and after a few attempts, Luke managed to unlock the doors to the security room. Inside, there is a row of old computer monitors that don’t work, a dark blue VHS tape, a TV, a VHS player, and finally, behind glass panes, a device that is well known to Playtime workers.

“Oh look guys, a GrabPack!” Kathy explained as she easily opened the glass panel.

“What is that?” Sean asked, to which Kathy replied. “Think of it as a multi purpose tool unique to Playtime Co. back in the day. It helps us carry heavy stuff, can be used for electrical work with its conductive capabilities and allows you to swing across gaps using conveniently placed grapple bars! Although this one is missing either the red or green hand…”

Kathy quickly wore the GrabPack, remembering how lightweight the multi purpose tool was despite how it looks. She then went back to the entrance and jumped over the turnstile and was face to face with a closed gate and a blue hand scanner on the top right side of the gate. She quickly fired the blue hand at the scanner and waited for it to confirm its identity.

Both Sean and Luke catch Kathy as the gate slowly rises. “Sweet pie, you could have warned us before you immediately left…” Sean sighed, Kathy uttered a small sorry before the three entered the main lobby of Playtime Co.

The main lobby is a circular room that acts as a central hub to the factory, connected with closed gates that leads to the cafeteria, innovations, theater, Make-A-Friend, warehouse and much more. The center of the room stands a massive Huggy Wuggy statue, Sean quickly took pictures of the main lobby as Kathy went up to the giant statue.

“Hiya Huggy! I wonder if you still remember me, but if you don’t let me introduce myself again. My name is Kathy Orlenes and I am an ex-warehouse worker, shipment driver and reject toy manager!” Kathy greeted Huggy, who got a side eye from Luke who looked unimpressed.

“You like the big guy as well, huh, Kathy?” Sean commented. “Want to take a souvenir picture?”

“Sounds like a great idea!” She then let Sean set up a tripod and quickly snapped a delayed photo so that he, Kathy and Luke could pose for the picture in front of the Huggy Statue. After that, Kathy gave Huggy a high five with her GrabPack and the three continued to explore. 

“So far, no signs of life anywhere…” Kathy quietly said as she absentmindedly fired the blue hand at the only blue hand scanner, but it suddenly short-circuited and the sparks followed up to the locked door that was labeled “Power Room.”

“Well… Ain’t that fantastic?” Kathy commented as the three of them heard a jingling sound and looked around to see where it came from. Sean looked up to the Huggy statues and was shocked to see a yellow key on the raised arm of the statue. “Uh… guys, was that key always there?” Sean asked the other two.

“What the- wait that was not there before!?” Kathy exclaimed as she freaked out. Luke remained catatonic in place, muttering how this is so much like a horror movie cliche. Kathy worrily used her GrabPack to retrieve the key and used it on the locked door, surprised that it worked and the door opened.

As soon as the three of them entered the power room, they were greeted with a huge splatter of red right next to a Bron toy.

“What the actual fuck?” Sean cursed as he snapped a photo of it. Luke stayed in place right on the door as Kathy and Sean passed through the disturbing scene. One quick wiring puzzle later and power was restored to the main lobby.

But once the three exited, they noticed the giant Huggy Wuggy statue disappeared. Luke quickly grabbed both the Touille and Poe plushies, planted them on his face and screamed out of fear and confusion. Both Kathy and Sean freaked out about the sudden disappearance of Huggy.

“W-W-Wha…?”

“What the fuck… How…?”

Sean quickly snapped another photo of the now empty pedestal and ushered Kathy to open the gate with the only blue hand scanner. Once the gate is open, they make their way to the hallway that leads them to the warehouse. Passing through the dark corridor and getting jumpscared by the steam of the pipes, the three emerged to the warehouse storage room.

Mostly nothing of note was found inside the storage room, though there were plenty of empty cardboard boxes laying around, some scattered toys alongside the red stains near them, and no signs of human life inside the room that was not them. The only thing of interest for the three was the red hand cannon on one of the conveyor belts.

“Awesome!” Kathy quickly picked up the other GrabPack cannon and attached it to her GrabPack. “Fully locked and loaded boys!” She playfully exclaimed.

The main “puzzle” of the room, as Kathy now calls it, is to power up the two hand scanner using the terminal that is on the balcony. Sean quickly went pup to the balcony of the room and noted that they would need 3 batteries scattered around the room to power up the terminal. While waiting for Kathy and Luke to collect the batteries, he snapped more photos for his portfolio, before noticing one of the photos had a peculiar detail. The detail of Huggy Wuggy staring at him through one of the vents.

He quickly shot up to see that the vent is now closed, as if Huggy is watching for them, waiting for them. Sean immediately went down off the balcony in a panic, grabbing a yellow VHS tape along the way.

“Sean dear, what’s wrong?” Kathy asked as she picked up a second battery for the terminal. 

“Kathy! Luke! Look at this!” He exclaimed as he showed the photo with the Huggy in it.

“...At this rate Kathy, your emotional support Touille and Poe plushies will be mine.” Luke sputtered as he grabbed the last battery needed for the terminal.

The three decided that they should not split up anymore and head back to the balcony. Along the way, they passed by a TV and VHS player and Kathy quickly inserted the tape as they made their way to complete the puzzle. 

"Ugh, Rich, where are they keeping the Huggy boxes?" A voice from the tape asked.

“I don't know, I couldn't tell you! Remember when maintenance last did a sweep of this place?" The other voice inquired back, sounding annoyed.

“Rich? Avery?” Kathy said as she figured out what battery goes where.

“You know those two Kathy?” Luke asked as he grib the Poe plush close to his chest.

“Rich? For sure yeah, he worked with me in the Island of Misfit Toys for a while before transferring somewhere else in Playtime Co. we were best friends for awhile until the accident happened. He disappeared along with the other employees here 8 years ago… I don’t know much about Avery though, we barely talked to each other back then.” She replied

"Exactly! Nobody in this stupid company knows what they're doing. I swear, I haven't seen a single box in its place since they started flooding the storehouse with orphanage junk." Rich Ranted to Avery

"Right..." Avery muttered. 

"I get it, it's a nice program and all, on-brand, but" Rich sighed. "It's just hard to be happy when Manufacturing is on OUR NECKS about it, 'cause we can't find stupid Huggy boxes!" Rich continued on ranting.

"Rich..." Both Avery and Kathy muttered solemnly at Rich. 

“Sigh… You're right... You're right... It's.. It's for the orphans... I just wish there were less boxes. Anything less would be more abidable. - I-is that even a word? Abidable." Rich concluded as the tape ended.

“Abidable is a word Rich, silly.” Kathy commented. The three managed to complete the puzzle and power returned to the two hand scanners. The three quickly went down again and Kathy used both hands from her GrabPack to open up the door of the conveyor belt.

“Is this the only way now…? Is there, like, another way to go?” Luke asked, clearly not fond of the idea to just walk through a vent to who knows where.

“Don’t worry Luke, this leads all the way to Make-A-Friend. It is the fastest route to get there from here!” Kathy reassures Luke’s concerns as the three make their way inside the vent the conveyor belt leads to.

As they made their way through the vent, Sean asked. “Kathy, why do you sound confident that this will take us all the way to the place you mentioned?”

“Oh, because I went through this path from time to time to help unclog the toy parts that are used for the automatic toy maker made by Elliot Ludwig himself!” Kathy explained cheerfully, clearly having fond memories of this place.

After a brief slide down and a spook of alarms blaring and toy parts dropping on them, the three now entered the Make-A-Friend area of Playtime Co.

“Whoa…” Sean marveled at the huge machine before him and quickly snapped photos of it. “This looks impressive, especially since this is made in like what, 19-something something?”

“Yeah, It was Elliot Ludwig’s second magnum opus.” Kathy replied. “First being Playcare itself.”

“If I recall correctly, we need to put a toy on the pedestal in order to unlock these gates over here. But the power is out right now and I think I saw a power box on the catwalks, lemme go quickly fix that.” Kathy said as she ascended the stairs of the catwalk.

Luke wandered around for a bit while waiting for Kathy to do her thing, and he stumbled upon a pink VHS tape beside a TV and VHS player. “Why are there so many VHS tapes lying around and so many conveniently placed TVs here…” Luke muttered as he inserted the tape. 

"So, Stella, what made you want to work at the Playtime Co. factory?" A voice asked, most likely an interviewer.

"Playing with toys when I was young was so magical. I could go straight from my bedroom floor to anywhere in the world. It was such a great feeling. And... being able to work at a toy factory... somewhere that can provide kids with that same experience... That's a pretty great feeling too!”

The voice that most likely belonged to Stella replied.

“Sometimes though... I really, really wish I could go back. To being a kid, I mean. And it's weird, 'cause... adults are just kids, but older! I don't think anyone ever really feels like an adult? But your body just gets older... and older... and then you die. Poof!” Stella laughed at her rather dark humor, which caused Luke to shiver a bit.

“Human bodies just can't stay young forever. There's things though, like some trees that can stay alive even while being way older than a person! I mean, the oldest people to ever live are STILL younger than those! So I guess everyone is always young relative to something... Right?"

She concluded.

"Alright, I think we're getting a little off-track." The interviewer commented as the tape ended.

“Did I just hear Stella while I was up there?” Kathy asked as she descended down the stairs. Luke didn’t realize while watching that the power was back on and she quickly grabbed the Poe plush and placed it on the pedestal. The scanner scanned the plush and made a confirmation sound as the gates slowly rose. Revealing an ominous dark hallway.

“O-Oh yeah, I found a tape that seemed to be her job application interview.” Luke said as he grabbed back the Poe plush and returned it to his duffel bag.

“To be honest, I have my reservations with Stella. Although her love for kids and toys alike here in Playtime Co. is admirable, and she really knows how to handle the rowdy kids. She sounds fake half of the time and there’s always an off feeling when I think about her.” Kathy commented.

“Hmm… Hey Sean, want to see the Make-A-Friend in action!?” She exclaimed as she neared the control panel of the machine.

“Hmm… I don’t see the harm in it.” Sean shrugged. Kathy went up to the control panel and pulled the level beside it. The machine roared to like as it began making a fresh new toy to bring home as a souvenir. It first spat out the model part of the toy, then made its way into the machine itself. It assembled the parts into a shape of a colorless model of a candy cat, went through the automatic paint sprayers, and finally polished the toy until it came out on the other side. A fresh and brand new Candy Cat toy sits at the end of the conveyor belt that leads to a closed vent.

Sean picked up the toy and stared at it in awe. “That was impressive, considering the time period of technology back then. That Elliot guy sure is good at his craft.” Sean remarked as he pictured the Candy Cat toy and the machine itself.

“Told you, It’s Elliot’s second magnum opus!” Kathy said as she went to Sean’s side. Sean placed the newly made Candy Cat toy in his bag and told Kathy.

“Now I’m kind of interested to see that Playcare place you told us about before coming here.”

While Kathy and Sean are having their playful banter about the Make-A-Friend and the toy it produced. Luke could not shake off the feeling of dread, an instinct he developed back when he used to undergo military training. A sense of imminent danger caused his senses to heighten and he feared a detail only he could hear, the sound of breathing.

He turned back to the source of the breathing, the oddly illuminated hallway back to the central hub. The even more oddly darkened area felt even more darker. Before he could get his flashlight to check, a fuzzy, yellow hand attached to a furry, blue hand emerges from the darkness. He squealed and stepped back from the hallway, causing the couple to turn to Luke and the hallway.

Out came the same giant Huggy Wuggy statue that disappeared from his pedestal. Its movement is limpy, yet the unmistakable eyes stared down the tree like prey. His mouth now opened wide and revealed sharp, razor teeth that covered the whole mouth.

“What the fuck! What the fuck! WHAT THE FUCK!?” Luke screamed from the top of his lungs as he grabbed his baton and pointed it to the giant moving robot of a statue. But Huggy retaliated by backhanding him, the power of it sending him tumbling to his friends as they caught him. He loses his grip on his baton and crushes it under its deceptively strong legs.

“What the hell is that Kathy!?” Sean blurted out as the three regained their bearing and heard the vent doors opening. 

“I don’t know but I’m sure as hell want to eat us! RUN TO THE VENTS GUYS!” Kathy exclaimed as the three ran to the opened vents.

Kathy entered first, followed by Sean and then Luke as they ran to the scribbled filled vents. Luke dared to look back and saw the same Huggy Robot chasing after them like a madman.

He screamed and told the two people in front of him to hurry up as they made twists and turns inside the ventilation system, avoiding the multiple attempts of Huggy trying to snatch the trio. Scribbled on the walls marked in red read “Turn back,” “Danger,” “Abandon Hope,” and much more. Alarms start to blare out as the trio continue to venture through the maze of vents.

Eventually, they reached an opening that led to a catwalk. As soon as Luke breached out of the vent, the vent doors slammed shut leaving Huggy behind.

A quiet moment of respite came for the three, but was interrupted by Huggy furiously trashing the vent doors. It looks like the doors would not last long before Huggy breaks through, and the trio of humans have to think of something fast.

As Sean tries to calm down Luke, Kathy looked up to see a conveniently placed yellow crate with multi-colored hand prints on the bottom of the crate. With the door not holding out much longer, she fired both hands to the crate and pulled like her life depended on it.

The door bursted out and Huggy immediately charged at the three just as he crate started to fall. It hit Huggy square in his head and caused the catwalk to collapse, leaving the 4 in free fall until they landed on another catwalk. While Kathy and Sean landed relatively unharmed, Luke grabbed on the railing of the catwalk. And huggy slipped through the railing entirely due to his massive body and slippery velcro hands. He fell down to the dark pic, hitting pipes along the way, and leaving blood splatters with each tumble.

Kathy and Sean get up to their feet and help Luke get back up to the safety of the catwalk. The three sighed in relief as they are now safe. Sean peered down the void Huggy fell through, taking note of the newly formed blood splatter and picture it. 

“Weird… Why did Huggy leave blood splatters when he fell down to who knows where?” Sean quietly contemplated.

After the three regained their bearings, they looked around to find out where they were. It looks like a massive catwalk area that connects to who knows where. But the most interesting thing they found is a massive poppy flower mural at the other end of the catwalk room.

“Wait… That’s the flower that the mysterious package showed me on the VHS tape.” Kathy said. “Do you think that will give us any answer as to what happened here or why I got that package?” 

“Most likely, who knows.” Sean replied as he took more pictures. The three quietly and carefully walk through the series of catwalks. Luke discovered a black VHS tape, but no TV or VHS player nearby. He shrugged it off and brought along the VHS tape as they got closer to the flower mural. As they got closer however, disturbing imagery sprawled around the catwalk. Hanged and impaled toys and plushies of all kinds littered the way to the mural. Messages of turning back and warnings sprayed in blood red acted as a warning sign to any wanderers who happen to stumble into the mural.

“I don’t like this one bit Sean…” Kathy quietly muttered as she held close to Sean’s side.

“I wish we could go another way, but it looks like this is the only way we can even go right now…” Sean tried to reassure her scared girlfriend.

As they reached the end of the catwalk, the three noticed a wooden door on the center of the mural. With nowhere to go now, they opened the door and stepped inside.

They did not expect to step inside a vintage Victorian room, the fading green walls decorated the interior room. The room looks to be a living room, with a couch and TV setup in the middle, a bookshelf that seems to block another door and another door at the end of the hallway.

Kathy, Sean and Luke decided to just sit down on the couch to rest as Luke quickly inserted the black tape he found on the catwalk.

The tape played and only a static image of a mechanical arm with bones began to play. The date displayed on the top left corner says “8/8/1995.”

The three are already unsettled by the static imagery, but the audio recording made them on edge.

“Final log. In relation: Experiment 1-0-0-6. The Prototype.” Someone said, the background audio blaring our sirens and muffle screams can be heard from the background. “Coordination and cooperation is evidently within his skillset, as well as the skillset of all other experiments of his type. Though still missing, today's events are no doubt in relation to him. His absence was a flawed scientific process which should have under no circumstances be”

The three were left stunned. What happened? What is this? Why are there alarms and screams in the background? Experiments? Too many questions that are unanswerable for the three right now.

“That's why I'm making this log: So that the same mistake won't be made twice. Any future experiments will need to be contained and disposed of in a secure location. I'm not worried about myself. One breakthrough and I'll be back. We must forge onwards in the name of science. Whether those who are beneath us understand it or not! End of-” The person said before the sound of being mauled took over and the tape ended.

“...”

“...”

“...This was a bad idea…”

Both Kathy and Sean could not agree even more. Whatever happened here has left them with many more questions. They decided to have a quick snack and water break before investigating the ominous door at the end of the living room.

Once they finished taking their break, Kathy, Sean and Luke hesitantly made their way to the door. Kathy slowly opened the door and peered inside. The room is decorated with scattered pillows around the edges of the room. The striking feature of the room is an old vintage glass case that contains a vintage Poppy Playtime porcelain doll. Her eyes closed as if she was sleeping.

“...This seriously can’t be it right?” Sean commented as he took pictures of the room. 

“...Maybe the others might be hiding in the Game Station or in Playcare or something.” Kathy muttered as she reached out to Luke’s duffel bag and grabbed her Touille and Poe plushies and hugged them close to her. From there, he hesitantly tried to open the case, but the doors were rusted shut. Using her free arm, she fired the GrabPack hand to the case and forcefully opened the case.

The ceiling lights immediately turned red as alarms blurted out and a strange red smoke filled the room. The light flicked on and off as the trio struggled to breathe and stay awake. One by one, they coughed their way to a dreamless sleep. The last thing Kathy heard before being drifted away to unconsciousness was.

“You opened my case… You free’d me…”

Chapter Text

“You know Rich, sometimes I wonder if being part of the shipment crew, or a warehouse worker, or a person who files out rejected toys and concepts is the way I want to live honestly.” Kathy ranted as she drove the shipment truck with her partner Rich. “There’s more to do and see out there around the world, yet here I am, delivering newly produced Smiling Critters plushies and toys to another major toy store retailer.”

“I get ya, I’m only doing this so that me, my wife and my kids have something decent to eat everyday.” He replied back. “But once I found a new job that’s better than that god forsaken place of a toy factory I am jumping the boat as soon as possible.”

Kathy chuckled, It’s nice to be with Rich, known for being calm and collective rather than the angry, maniacal man he is. Rich always felt real to people, underneath all of his ranting and hatred towards the company.

Kathy felt at ease as she listened to Rich, but there was a nagging feeling. Is this what she wants to do for the rest of her life? As a low wage employee at one of the biggest toy factories in America? Maybe there’s more to life and she has not found it. But for now she needs to focus on her job.

She did not realize she was spacing out as Rich snapped her out of her trance. “Rich what’s wro-”

“FOCUS ON THE ROAD KATHY!”

“Huh-!?” Kathy realized her mistake and quickly spun the wheel, but her efforts were in vain as the crash became inevitable. 

~~ In hell we live, lament ~~

Kathy woke up in a sweat, the surreal dream almost felt real. It was not the first time she dreamt of the same dream that got her fired from her job. Kathy slowly breathed in and out to calm down. Once she was properly breathing, she noticed Sean and Luke still passed out. They look cute as Sean drooled on the pillows and Luke somehow managed to grab and snuggle both of her emotional support Nightmare Critter plushies while he was asleep. 

She let them continue snoozing for about 10 minutes until both Sean and Luke woke up from their slumber.

“Ngh… What happened…” Sean muttered as he rubbed his eye off the drowsiness.

“I dunno… We opened that case then alarms blared out, there's this red smoke thing that filled the room and- WHAT THE!?” Kathy explained, but as she turned to the case the porcelain doll was gone.

“W-W-Where did that doll go!?” Luke blurted out. The three scrambled onto their feet and exited the display room. Returning to the living room, the only thing of note is that the book shelf magically moved, letting the door behind it now accessible. Other than that, nothing of note has changed within the living room.

“Well… It’s either going back to the creepy catwalk area or the new door we can access.” Sean mumbled as the three quickly elected to explore more of the factory through the newly accessible door. 

Behind the door leads to a hallway that had a Huggy Wuggy and Bron the Dinosaur mural on the first haft on the hallway, and a Dogday and Catnap mural on the latter half of the hallway. As they walked through said hallway, they all collectively heard someone whisper to them “This way…”

“Huh!?”
“What the-!?”
“Eeeek!”

They stood there for a solid minute trying to find where did that voice come from, to no avail. They then marched on through the hallways until they reached an intersection. The left path was blocked by a closed gate and the deactivated red and blue hand scanner. The right path led to another hallway that contained a chasm that seemed to lead into the void. And the middle contained a red door and a golden plaque with the name “Elliot Ludwig” engraved to it.

“Whoa… So this is where Mr. Ludwig’s office is!” Kathy exclaimed and immediately tried to open the door, only for it to be locked. “Figures…”

“Guys! New mission, find the key to this door!” Kathy ordered as she went to the right of the intersection.

“Man… Sean, keep your girlfriend in check, this is a bad habit for her to have.” Luke muttered as the two caught up to her.

Emerging to another hallway, they were surprised to see Kathy on the other end of the hallway, where there was a massive chasm separating the two parties. “What the fuck? How is this even possible!?” Sean angrily exclaimed as the two realized they cannot catch up to Kathy now. “And how did sweetie pie even manage to get past this!?”

The question was answered when Luke tugged on his shoulder and pointed at the conveniently placed grapple bar. Connecting the dots, she most likely used her GrabPack as a grappling hook and swung across. “Sometimes, I am both impressed and worried for her…” Sean quietly commented.

Meanwhile, Kathy entered a room with a Huggy Wuggy holding a GrabPack cutout, with a big “Press here” button beside him. Kathy went ahead and did exactly that.

It started with a goofy laugh from Huggy himself, Kathy pressed the button again.

"Does someone need a hug~?" The cutout blurped out. Kathy pressed the button yet again.

"Gimmie a big squeeze!" Okay… Kathy felt a sense of dread as she continued to press the button.

"I promise I won't bite." The cutout said. “...Yeah I doubt that, considering  what you did just a while ago.” She commented as she pressed the button.

“Come closer, friend…" 

“Let’s all hug forever until we fall~!” The sound of pipes being hit played for a bit further as the cardboard cutout ended.

Kathy felt a shiver run down her spine, maybe it was a bad idea to listen to the Huggy cutout. Looking around, she spotted a white door behind some empty barrels. Moving them away, she opened the door to a mostly empty storage closet. The only thing inside is a broken toy with red splotches around it and a red key with a poppy design for a handle at the end of the storage closet.

Kathy grabbed the key, stashed it in her jacket's pockets and headed back. Swinging over the chasm again using the GrabPack, she felt like Spider-Man when she did it. Turning the corner, Sean tackled and hugged her as Luke started to barrade her on her leaving them like that and cross the chasm dangerously.

Once the three friends were able to calm down, Kathy used the red key to open Elliot Ludwig’s office. Inside looked normal enough, dark wooden interior akin to a Victorian house’s office room, book shelves that have some books pertaining to life, science and flowers. The desk contained a golden statue of a flower, Kathy clarified that it was a statue of a rejected toy named Daisy. Some scattered notes and a brown VHS tape is on the table, and as Luke closes the door, a wall mounted TV and VHS player is placed on the corner of the room.

Sean went ahead and grabbed the VHS tape and played it. Kathy admired all the drawings children have drawn of multiple Playtime Co. characters and thank you message for the kind late CEO, and Luke skimmed over the notes left behind. 

Luke found a peculiar note, one that seemed to be written by the late Elliot himself in red ink. It read:

Experiment 814

Notes:

• This experiment utilized a live rat.
• Rat was fed 3 portions daily for 2 weeks.
• At the end of the two weeks, the rat was killed and submerged into a poppy flower and preservative gel mixture.
• 1 week later, an electric shock was applied to the rat (still in the gel) in an attempt to revive it.
• The rat remained unresponsive.

Analysis:

I still believe in the potential of the poppy flower. Its unusual properties lead me to believe that the proper mixture and procedure could have life altering properties. The poppy flower has for a long time carried heavy symbolism, and I don't believe that's for no reason. Perhaps something larger than a rat would yield different results.

Weird, Luke thought, why would a CEO of a toy company have someone or even entertain the idea of researching something like this. This place kept getting weirder and weirder, he continued to think. He then stashes the note into his duffel bag and continues skimming through more notes left on top of the office desk.

While skimming over the other notes left in the desk that pertain to business and financial decisions for the company, Luke shot Kathy a simple question.

“Hey Kathy, you said before that you were fired because of a shipping accident, what exactly happened?” Luke asked.

Kathy went to Luke’s side and replied. “Oh that, yeah uh- I may or may not have crashed a shipping truck through the walls of a bank one day…” She sheepishly admitted.

Sean whipped his head and rushed over Kathy as he barraged her with questions out of concern.

“Relax, relax, nobody got hurt during that day. But the ensuing lawsuit and damage to the reputation of the brand caused by the crash led the executives to fire me on the spot and for my partner, Rich, to relocate to somewhere else…” She finished clarifying. 

The tape ended on a weirdly cut time in the background as noises can be heard from the large vent behind them. While Luke has his reservations for the ominous noises that came out from the vent, both Kathy and Sean worked together to remove the vent cover and investigate what’s behind the vent.

“Luke, if you are scared about this, then you can wait here Luke. It’s okay, me and photo-pie can investigate there.” Kathy said.

But Luke’s protective nature kicked into overdrive as he reluctantly followed the two inside the vent. The vent itself was built like a stainless spiral staircase, a design that still perplexes the ex - employee from time to time. They all reached the end and dropped down to a small electrical kind of room. It seems that there was an electrical puzzle here that Kathy needs to solve. One problem, she can’t find the main outlet to start the circuit.

“So, now what?”

Fate found a way to answer Kathy’s predicament as a box from the top shelf fell, scaring the three. The cause of the box falling, the same porcelain doll that Kathy, Sean and Luke stumbled onto and opened their case.

“Oh! Uh, sorry! I didn't mean to scare you…” The moving doll apologized to the three startled humans. “I was just... trying to get the power back on! Here."

Kathy, Sean and Luke just froze in place, there is now another inanimate object that can move, and this one can talk! They don’t know whether or not this is real or not anymore, Playtime Co. apparently kept things that seemed alive.

“Uh… Excuse me? Hello?” The doll called out, causing Kathy to regain her bearings and quickly solve the room’s puzzle. “S-Sorry… I just, you know, don’t expect DOLL THAT CAN FUCKING MOVE AND TALK!” Kathy exclaimed out of frustration and confusion. Luke banged his head on the wall to see if he was still passed out in that room. He wasn’t.. And Sean simply just took a picture of the doll on the platform without saying a word.

“Ahem, It’s not appropriate to use such foul language in front of a girl like that.” The doll reprimanded Kathy, but cheerfully continued. “But, I wanted to thank you for freeing me. I was stuck in there for so long! Thank you!”

“Y-you’re welcome…?” Kathy was not sure about her reply, but she forced it out of her mouth anyways.

“How is this possible? Did Playtime create some sophisticated artificial intelligence and place it on toy robots?” Sean muttered, trying to wrap his head around this strange anomaly of an encounter.

“Y-Yeah! Maybe it’s like a huge secret Playtime hid from the public so that they can create life like toys!” Luke commented, also trying to wrap his head around this bizarre occurrence

“Artificial intelligence? Robots?” The doll asked the two boys.

“You know, in Sci-Fi movies where robots can almost mimic human behavior and like, try to either eliminate humanity or take over the world for some reason.” Sean answered.

“But… I’m not a robot, and whatever ‘artificial intelligence’ is.” She replied.

“Wait what? What do you mean you are not a robot?” Kathy finally said something. The doll ushered her to come near her and pick her up, to which she did after pushing the fallen box and using it as a stepping stool. The doll then told her to put her ears near her chest area, and when she did, Kathy could not believe what she heard.

A heartbeat, and she felt breathing coming from the doll’s nose.

She quickly placed the doll back on the platform and stumbled back to Sean and Luke’s side.

“Sweetie pie!? What happened!?” Sean worrily asked. “T-The doll… It has a heartbeat…” Kathy weakly replied.

“WHAT!?” Both Sean and Luke exclaimed. Kathy was not the one who would lie or make astronomical and improbable claims like that. She would never and Sean knows this too well. If Kathy is telling something, it’s most likely true.

“Yes, I and many of the toys here are alive…” The doll affirmed Kathy’s discovery. “Playtime Co. found something from the Poppy flower, and overtime, they made toys come to life…” She solemnly explained.

All the red splotches, Huggy leaving red stuff as he fell into the abyss, and most importantly the absence of any human bodies near those red splotches. The trio realized now that they were actually seeing blood, blood that came from dead toys that were used to be alive. Dread came in like a tidal wave to the three friends as the realization made everything make so much more sense now.

“I, uh, hope I did not dissuade you all about this…” She apologizes again.

“N-No need uh…” Kathy tried to reassure the doll, but was caught in her own words as she does not know the doll's name.

“Please, you can call me Poppy.”

“Ah, Poppy, d-don’t worry about it… It’s just that we 've been through a lot already here. And we are still nowhere closer to finding out what happened to my old coworkers and friends here…” Kathy said.

“Oh thank goodness, thank you for understanding. I'd like to pay you back!" Poppy said she was glad that the humans were at least able to listen to her, perfectly. "There is a train station nearby. It needs a code, and I have it. We're gonna get out of here."

Kathy, Sean and Luke were still worried about the prospect of living toys roaming around inside of Playtime Co. Especially since the first one they encountered tried to kill and eat them, but Poppy seemed to be trustworthy for now at least. The three friends huddled up and eventually agreed that following Poppy may be beneficial to continue exploring further into Playtime Co.

“Thanks for the offer Poppy, but uh, I want to at least explore Playcare first before we get out of here though. What if my coworkers and friends are hiding inside the orphanage, and if they are not, at least I can find some answers there.” Kathy thanked and clarified Poppy on her situation.

Poppy blinked, she did not expect the girl to actually want to explore the hunting grounds and church of THE ONE WHO LIED’s most loyal follower. But regained her composure, this is too perfect for her to not pass up. “Alright, I’ll help you three head into Playcare to find your answers.” She replied in a cheerful tone.

“I can follow you guys and gal through the vent system, follow the sound of my humming so that you know where to go next.” Poppy explained as she disappeared into the vent system.

“...Kathy, you can’t be serious right?” Luke broke the silence. “Even after the near death chase we went through with the killer Huggy, you still want to continue exploring the factory?”

“Luke, I still want to. People and families that I know thanks to my coworkers and friends are left with no answers to their loved ones for 8 years. They deserve to know what happened to them, especially Rich’s family, they missed him Luke…” She solemnly answered.

"Come on you three, the train won’t move by itself you know~” Poppy remarked as she patiently waited for the three to start exiting the room. With a renewed resolve to continue exploring the factory, the three exited the room and made their way back into Elliot’s office. Another vent cover popped open to reveal Poppy slowly following them. "Hey, I'm up here! I’ll meet you all soon!”

Exiting the office, they all turned left of the intersection to find that the scanners were not activated. Kathy used her GrabPack to activate and open the gate that was blocking the path to another hallway. It leads the three to another room that contains several locked gates, a massive hole in the middle, and Poppy, who is humming a tune the three are not familiar with.

She turned around to face the three humans, and began to say. “Listen. I'm going to need you to trust me. Where we are going next is dangerous for all of us, thanks to-” Before she could explain who’s the dangerous one, a pink arm quickly snatched the doll. Kathy, Sean and Luke jumped at the sudden doll-napping as Poppy screamed through the giant hole. They went to the center of the room and peered down the hole. There was no bottom in sight, but since the pink arm emerged from there, there must be a bottom to it.

“So uh… In order to save Poppy, who’s going first.” Kathy asked the two.

There was a small pause and silence amongst the group, until Luke volunteered to jump down first. He reasoned that if there’s something dangerous down there, he is the most capable at yelling and defending himself. He jumped down and the two waited for Luke to make any noise. After a minute, Luke screamed from the hole. “GUYS! IT’S SAFE DOWN HERE! THE HOLE IS ACTUALLY A SLIDE BY THE WAY!”

“...I need to stop asking why Playtime Co. is built like this.” Sean muttered as he grabbed Kathy’s hand and the both of them jumped down together. Luke was right, after a bit of falling it then transitioned to a plastic slide, with ring lights surrounding it before emerging back out and into another room. Luke was reading the plaques on top of the other slides when Kathy and Sean arrived.

“Guys!” He ran to their side and helped them get up. The three friends looked around and noted that the only way to go now is through the door in front of the slide they emerged from. The other door is locked and can’t be opened, Luke explained, he also explained that the slides were apparently owned by the top executives of Playtime. The slide they emerged from is Elliot’s slide.

Making their way through the only opened door, they were greeted with a sign that said “The Game Station, just up ahead.” And a long empty hallway. 

“Oh wow, the slides all lead to the Game Station, how convenient.” Kathy commented as the trio walked through the long hallway. At the end of it is a locked gate, needing a red hand to scan and open it.

Without thinking much, Kathy fired the right cannon of her GrabPack to open the gate. But just as the red hand was about to make contact with the scanner, the same pink hand that stole Poppy caught it.

A voice coming from above gasped loudly. “Three new playmates! It’s been so long since new playmates appeared~!" It said,

The pink hand quickly disappeared into the darkness, causing Kathy to lose balance and trip over as the cable that connects the red hand snapped and detaches from her GrabPack. Sean quickly helped Kathy get back up to her feet, the three looked up and were terrified. With Kathy and Sean backing up while Luke quickly grabbed another extendable baton from his duffel back and positioned himself in front of the two lovers, readying himself to defend with all his shaky might.

A figure emerges from the darkness, a figure the three know well asas another popular toy that Playtime has produced. The figure of a massive Mommy long Legs, her spider-like appendages crawled down the ceiling as she approached the trio, with Poppy tied up on one of her hands.

"Isn't this exciting, Poppy? The Game Station has not had any new guests come and visit wittle old Mommy!” She said. Kathy, Sean and Luke remained in place out of fear at the giant spider-like toy. “Very exciting, Mommy!” Mommy mimicked Poppy’s voice, whose mouth was sealed shut with spider webs, leaving her unable to speak at all. 

Mommy carefully looked at her new guests, and took interest with the girl of the group. She came closer, Luke gripping his baton even harder as he stood in between Mommy and Kathy and Sean.

“Wait a minute… Mommy recognized you!” She pointed to Kathy specifically. “You are that worker in the Island of Misfit Toys that Bunzo keeps obsessing about back then! Oh how much Bunzo will be delighted to hear his admirer returned!” She talked to herself.

Kathy, Sean and Luke stared in confusion and fear, Kathy being confused the most. There was a toy that admired her, that was weird.

“Mommy heard that Ms. Poppy was going to just give you the Train code so that you can go to Playcare. Now how is that fun? Instead, why don't we make a game out of it? The Game Station is still working. It will be just like old times!” She continued, she then mimicked Poppy’s voice once again. “And if you win all three games, I'll give you the Train code!”

While Mommy gasped at her own idea, the three humans are still on edge at Mommy’s appearance and turning this dire situation into a game. “Mommy loves that idea, Poppy! Ooo, you're going to have so much fun! Mommy wants the worker here especially to play along okay! Please tell your friends over there to leave out the fun for you Ms.” She demanded.

“Head to Musical Memory and Mommy will get things started. Bunzo is going to be very excited to hear that the Game Station will be in operation again and his admirer returned from the dead to play with him again!” She giggled to herself. But her tone changed instantly and stared at the three friends intensely and creepily. “Obey the rules, or I'll tear you all apart, and eat your insides while you're still alive and make the others watch…”

Mommy laughed maniacally as she returned to the darkness, the gate automatically opening for the three. They stood in place for another minute, trying to calm down on what just happened again. This is the second time a massive, alive toy was threatening their lives. 

“...I think she is fully gone now…” Luke muttered as the three gasped for air, realizing they were holding their breaths this entire time. Luke put away his baton as he quietly mumbled. “I really, really regret joining you guys…” 

“I’m sorry Luke, but how are we supposed to know there are living, killing toys here…?” Kathy approached Luke and apologized. “I came here for answers, but it seems that they won't be as easy as I thought to get now.” 

“Don’t worry Kathy, we will always be at your side and help you along your journey for answers.” Sean comforted her as they held a small hug. After releasing the tension of their dire situation, the three agreed to not make Mommy wait any longer and head to the Game Station. As they walked however, Sean quickly made a comment.

“By the way, what Mommy said, you have a living toy admiring you Kathy?” Sean asked.

“I didn’t know about that? Remember, I just learned that the toys are alive and all.” Kathy replied. “...But now it does explain one weird occurrence I had with a Bunzo toy before.”

She explained to the two how one day back when Playtime was still in operation, she and Rich heard something fall on the Island of Misfit Toys. And when they investigate, they saw a Bunzo toy that is supposed to be used for Musical Memory. Both Kathy and Rich do not know how an “inanimate” toy managed to detach itself from its station and somehow made his way into the rejection room. They reported it to the people who manage Musical Memory, and profusely apologized, giving both her and Rich compensation about this situation as long as they remained silent about it.

“I mean, who would not want to admire such a beautiful lady.” Sean romantically commented.

“Oh you and your smooth talking photo pie~!” They playfully bashed each other as Luke stared at them while standing beside a lever that opens the main Game Station entrance. Luke rolled his eyes and pulled the lever, the slow grand reveal of the Game Station greeted the three. Lights turned on in a dramatic fashion, revealing the playground area, benches and the three main games that Mommy forced the trio to play. And at the end of the Game Station was a multi-colored train, the train Poppy said that they can use to get them all to Playcare.

“Whoa… This place is even more massive than I expected.” Sean commented as he roamed around and took pictures of the abandoned slides, swings and jungle gym. Luke walked up to a Mommy Long Legs cutout, and curiosity told him to press the button, but only static came out of it. Luke felt disappointed as he made his way to the train itself.

Kathy was already by the train station, there is a Kissy Missy cutout, the female counterpart of Huggy Wuggy, wearing a train conductor uniform. Kathy decided to also press the button, even though the last time she pressed the cutout button it sent a shiver down her spine. 

"Preparing for departure in three... two... one! Choo choo!" The cutout said. It then followed with Kissy making train noises and generally acting as a fun and lovable train conductor. That is until the final lines of the cutout.

"Be safe out there… Send Huggy my regards…” The cutout solemnly concluded.

“Aw… I think Kissy misses Huggy or something.” Kathy commented. She went up to Luke who seemed to be inspecting the train itself. “Hey Luke, what’s up?” She greeted her friend.

“Oh, nothing much, just checking the train and all. It looks like we need a green hand to open it, and that control panel there, that’s where we're supposed to input the code to start the train up.” He explained as he pointed at the control panel of the train. “Once the code is imputed, we can start the train and head to that Playcare place you keep talking about.”

“Awesome! Now then, let’s go play Mommy’s games, get the code, get Poppy and finally find some answers.” Kathy steel her resolve. Sean finally rejoined the two after taking multiple photos of the place and the three headed to the other control panel that is situated at the middle of the platform. There are three levers that open each of the games the Game Station offers, and the one for Musical Memory blinks in anticipation. Kathy volunteered to be the first one to pull the lever.

"Hi, kids! Welcome to the Game Station! I'm Stella, and we've got three super-duper fun games to play!” The voice of Stella boomed through the empty Game Station. Kathy groaned in annoyance as she needed to hear Stella specifically, the pre-recorded message continued. These little tests show us just how crazy strong and smart you are! Follow Mommy Long Legs down the stairs, and we'll start by playing Musical Memory! See you in a bit!"

The lights to Musical Memory lights up and the latches to the game opens up. Prompting the three to venture forth into Musical Memory. They walked down another hallway, only for them to be greeted with a jammed door that blocked their way to the game room proper. Luckily, there is a hole that the three can squeeze through to make a detour and find another way in. Nothing of note was in the hallway. It’s just some maintenance hallway employees used to get around behind the scenes, until they reached another room shrouded in darkness, Luke grabbed one of his flashlights to look around. It seemed to be a machine that looked kind of similar to Make-A-Friend. But after looking around a bit more, he found a lever to pull, the lights turned on one by one when Luke pulled the lever, revealing the room to be a molding room.

There is a control panel in front of the machine, along with a green VHS tape on top of it. Kathy picked it up when she went to the control panel, and miraculously this one has a label. “Green Hand Tutorial” Kathy read out loud. “Oh wait, I think this is where the green hands are made!” She explained.

Sean, who had just finished taking a picture of the machine, asked what made Kathy sure that this is where the green hands are made. “I mean, why would there be a green hand tutorial tape that is placed on a machine’s control panel, plus one of the machines over there says ‘Green Hand Painter.’” She pointed at the last part of the machine. Kathy activated the first part of the machine, making it drop solid white mold balls inside a container. Noticing the pipe being broken before she pressed the second button, she quickly fixed it and pressed the second button. The white mold balls got transferred to the next part of the machine, in which it turns the white mold balls into liquid. Kathy pressed the third button, the machine transferred the liquid mold into a molding press, cooking it, and releasing newly made green hands. The hands then got transferred into the last part of the machine and Kathy pressed the final button, It sprayed green, conductive paint onto the first mold, before stopping and the control panel flashed “No more Paint.”

“Oh damn, should we try to find more green paint? We already have one.” Kathy asked Sean. 

“Hmm…” As Sean thought it through, Luke called out to the two. While the lovers were distracted operating the machine, Luke took the liberty to explore the surrounding area. Climbing into a catwalk that gives access to the paint machine. From there, he found a bucket of green paint lying near the machine. “If you are looking for green paint, good news I found some!” Luke said, as he poured the green paint into the machine.

Kathy resumes the painting step, getting all of the newly molded green hands coated in a fresh coat of paint. It then exited out of the conveyor belt, allowing Kathy to replace her missing GrabPack arm. While Luke stashes two more green hands into his already heavy duffel bag.

“Sweet, I am locked and loaded boys! Again.” Kathy exclaimed. She explained to the two non ex - employees that the green hand can conduct electricity on certain electrical outlets. The charge lasts for 10 seconds before dissipating into thin air. She demonstrated this by grabbing a charge from a nearby power outlet and transferring it to the locked doors electrical outlet, allowing her to open the door that leads to Musical Memory. 

“Cool!” Sean commented as the three continued on their way to the first game.

“I know right, it used to be all over the place behind the scenes. Maintenance workers used it to rewire electrical circuits and such. Although there was an accident back then, a kid from Playcare was shocked badly due to a malfunctioning green hand GrabPack. After that, people who used the green hand GrapBack were highly supervised so as to not have the same accident again.” She said as they reached the entrance to Musical Memory.

Right before the entrance however, is a Bunzo Bunny cutout with a “Press here” Button, indicating that it had voicelines.

Kathy excitedly pressed the button like a small kid, and the cutout speaks.

“I know when your birthday is~” The cutout playfully said. Kathy saw it as a challenge for him to guess her birthday, it’s a 1 out of 365 and one fourth guess anyways, she pressed the button again.

“August 17!” The cutout chucked.

“Lucky guess Bunzo!” Kathy playfully replied as she pressed the button again.

“Oh~ happy birthday. Oh~ happy happy birthday. Oh~ happy birthday, happy birthday to youuuu~” The cutout sang. “It’s not my birthday yet Bunzo, but thanks anyway you sweet party bunny.” Kathy replied.

“Well… I bet he can’t guess my birthday!” Luke interjected as he pressed the cutouts button for himself. However, when he pressed it the second time, something changed.

“November 11!” The cutout blurted out. The three stared at the cutout of Bunzo in sheer shock and confusion. Luke hesitantly pressed the button again to see if there’s any more freaky voiceline from the cutout.

“Make a wish!” The cutout said before looping back to the first voiceline.

“...What the actual fuck? Everyone heard that right, right!?” Luke freaked out, how could a static cutout of a Playtime Co. character not only know their actual birthdays, but change their answer on the spot without any human intervention. “Don’t worry Luke, we all heard what we just heard.” Kathy muttered a reply.

Testing the anomaly one more time, Sean stepped forward and pressed the button twice, getting to the part where Bunzo guessed their birthday.

“February 27!” The cutout replied to Sean, he pressed the button again. 

“Happy birthday!” The cutout ended.

“...This place is too weird for me man…” Luke mumbled, Sean requested them to press the button again so that he can record the strange anomaly. After all of that is done, The three enter Musical Memory and stand in the center of the room.

The room lit up to life, and the voice of Mommy’s voice boomed through the room. “Nuh uh huh boys. Only the girl with the GrabPack can play. Please wait for your turns in the front of the room please.” Mommy demanded. 

Sensing that if they ignore her request and the consequences of it, Sean and Luke wished Kathy good luck as they went back to the front of the entrance of Musical Memory. The platform that connects the entrance and the platform disappeared as ceiling lights closed, leaving only a single spot light and the TV lights on and the game tutorial plays.

"Welcome to Musical Memory! This advanced memory and cognitive recognition test is designed to stimulate several segments of the brain, allowing us to see how quickly and efficiently your brain works." The narrator said accompanied by a simple video demonstration.

“Oh please, I have a perfectly functioning adult brain, I can beat this child’s game easily.” Kathy remarked to the indifferent narrator.

"A sequence of colors will be shown, and you must recreate the exact sequence using the buttons around you. Bunzo will slowly lower towards you. When you complete a color pattern correctly, Bunzo will rise back up. When you input a pattern incorrectly, Bunzo will lower towards you faster. If Bunzo reaches you, your test is over." The narrator continued, showing how the game works.

“Bunzo?” Kathy looked up and yup, there was Bunzo hanging on the cable wire that acts as a restraint and a way for him to get down. Bunzo blurted out noises and clasped his cymbals loudly, as if to say “Hello!”

"The test will become more difficult as it continues, with longer patterns in quicker succession. That's all. Good luck!" The narrator concluded as the room turned dark again, minus the lights from the sole spot light that illuminated Kathy, and the lights coming from an observation deck where Mommy resides.

“Oh, isn't it amazing? Mommy hasn't seen the place up and running in years! Mommy can only imagine how excited Bunzo must be! Seeing his admirer return from who knows where, finding answers about her friends and coworkers whereabouts~" Mommy monologues, “Bunzo was very excited to hear that his favorite human came back to play again! Is that right Bunzo~?” 

Bunzo made himself known to Kathy as he is very close to her when he began to clash his cymbals and make incoherent noises that sounded joyful and happy. Kathy shakes off the jumpscare and she nervously greets Bunzo.

"Oh! That's the dinner bell! Good luck." Mommy said as she pulled Bunzo back up the long tube as the game began, with Bunzo clashing his cymbals and slowly descending onto Kathy.

Red. Simple enough.

Red, Yellow, So far so good.

Red, Yellow, Yellow, each time she pressed the correct color, a tune played.

Red, Yellow, Yellow, Blue, and each time she completed the pattern, cheers of victory played.

Red, Yellow, Yellow, Blue, Green. The round concluded, and the second round began

Blue, okay enough for Kathy.

Blue, Red.

Blue, Red, Red, at least the patterns are straight forward.

Blue, Red, Red, Yellow.

Blue, Red, Red, Yellow, Blue.

Blue, Red, Red, Yellow, Blue, Violet, wait what? Violet? 

Kathy whirls her head around and noticed a violet button has sneakily been added to the list of options to press. She followed the pattern and ended the second round. Sean made a complaint on how Mommy could not just add new options in the middle of the game, but his words fell on deaf ears as round three commenced.

Violet.

Violet, White, as Kathy feared, new buttons are added to keep the game more “intense.”

Violet, White, White, at least the patterns are still consistent.

Violet, White, White, Orange, one new button added to the roster of options.

Violet, White, White, Orange, Yellow.

Violet, White, White, Orange, Yellow, Blue, Kathy felt dizzy with all of the twirling, cymbal clashing and bright colors emanating from the screen.

Violet, White, White, Orange, Yellow, Blue, Green, the round ended, but to Kathy’s shock Bunzo was now halfway down after the round ended and moved to the next round. How many rounds does this game have, she thought.

Pink, already the game added a new color to the mix.

Pink, K, the letter k!? Alright the game is now throwing bullshit on her, as if Mommy rigged the game for her to fail.

Pink, K, Dollar Sign, Kathy felt that Mommy was laughing at her as she struggled.

Pink, K, Dollar Sign, Rainbow, Sean and Luke were already complaining about how unfair this game is.

Pink, K, Dollar Sign, Rainbow, Heart, Bunzo clashed his cymbals faster as he slowly got closer to Kathy.

Pink, K, Dollar Sign, Rainbow, Heart, Camera, did Playtime Co. expect literal kids to actually beat this!?

Pink, K, Dollar Sign, Rainbow, Heart, Camera, Baton, she almost slipped up, but managed to pass the pattern.

Pink, K, Dollar Sign, Rainbow, Heart, Camera, Baton, Flower, Kathy felt nauseous by now, she passed the round but could not help to just kneel and vomit out the snack she ate back at the living room area. Bunzo was dangerously close now as the next round began.

Chaos, in what can be only be described as chaos, new colors and symbols got added to the list of options as the screen began to violently shuffle through colors, letters and symbols. The buttons themselves spun around her, making it impossible to beat this game. Kathy felt hopeless, there’s no way she could make this out alive.

“KATHY! SWEET PIE! THERE’S AN EMERGENCY STOP BUTTON!” Sean’s voice boomed through her senses and as Sean has said, spinning around the platform is a singular platform that had a warning sign and “Emergency Stop” written at the button. Knowing she only has at least two shots to get it, she fired both GrabPack arms to press the button. The green arm missed, but luckily the blue arm hit the button dead on and the game immediately halted.

Bunzo whined as he was brought back up the tube, hair razor close to getting Kathy dead on. The platform rises once again, allowing Sean and Luke to tackle and hug her. She could not be happier to be with her love and best friend again as Mommy’s voice echoed through the game room.

"Oh... it broke... That's no fun… “ Mommy said, clearly disappointed at the human who survived. “For doing such a splendid job, Mommy has decided to give you... part of the code for the Train. Look up... Take it.” The three looked up at Bunzo’s tube to see Mommy’s outstretched hand holding a piece of the train code. While Sean and Luke were focused on the train code, Kathy looked at the sorry state of Bunzo. He appears to be silently crying, as if he knows what will happen next because he failed Mommy. 

Kathy felt a pang of guilt inside of her, if what Mommy said was true, maybe Bunzo was just doing what Mommy had told her to do and does not want to harm her in the first place. Maybe…

“Hey, Mommy?” She called out to the massive spider-like toy. “Instead of the train code, can I have Bunzo as a prize?” She asked.

Sean, Luke, Bunzo and Mommy were shocked to hear her request. Sean and Luke looked at her in confusion and worry, didn’t Bunzo try to kill her? She explained to them that Bunzo was most likely just doing what Mommy told him to do and the moments where he was near her, she did not feel any murderous intent from him.

Mommy was confused, why would a filthy human act all kind to the toys. Humans like the three over there should be mean and cruel, Mommy knows how humans work based on her experience with them. They probe, stick needles and violate their bodies for their sick “Research.”

Bunzo could not believe what he just heard. The nice girl who he had admired back when she was still working in the rejected room asked the mean Mommy to set him free with her. He thought he was good as dead as he failed Mommy once again, but the girl gave him a second chance.

“Hmm… Mommy does not see what’s wrong with that. However, Mommy will be increasing the difficulty of the next game you will play as compensation okay.” She reluctantly agreed. She retreated her hands, detached Bunzo’s harness and made Bunzo fall to the ground. Both Kathy and Sean caught his fall, and Bunzo immediately hugged Kathy hard, sobbing hard at his savior.

"Mommy was hoping the game could last a little longer... It's okay though. Mommy knows other ways to play with you…” Mommy said, as she leaves the observation room and leaves the four in almost total darkness. Kathy comforted the crying party bunny as Sean and Luke did their best to comfort both Kathy and Bunzo.

Eventually, Bunzo calmed down enough for him to at least speak up. “T-Thank y-you…” He spoke.

“Aw… Don’t worry about it Bunzo.” Kathy replied. “Mommy told me you used to admire me back then?” She asked.

Bunzo sheepishly nodded. “I-I really liked you back then… But can’t show it because mean humans punish me if I do…”

“Well, the mean people are not here anymore. So you don’t have to worry about them punishing you for just liking someone.” Kathy reassured Bunzo.

Bunzo went in for another hug, appreciating her kindness greatly. “Sean, I hope you don’t take offense to this alright, I still love you.”

“It’s fine, It’s fine sweet pie, I understand. Also, it looks like your motherly instincts have started to develop, treating Bunzo like your child and all.” Sean said and teased. The four laugh for a minute, before deciding to leave Musical Memory for good.

But the sudden new weight from the party bunny caused the bridge to collapse and make the four fall down to the ground.

“I-Is everyone alright!?” Luke asked as he made sure no one was hurt. A sigh left Luke’s mouth as no one was hurt from the fall. But their only way out is now inaccessible and are practically trapped inside Musical Memory.

“Wait, I know another way out!” Bunzo hopped out of Kathy’s arms and made his way to a loose vent nearby. He explains that this leads to the rejected room, and from there they can find another way out of there.

“Oh! So that’s how you found out and admire me.” Kathy commented as Bunzo led Kathy, Sean and Luke to The Island of Misfit Toys. 

“I still remember that one day where me and Rich found you, remember that?” Kathy asked as they crawled to the vent. Vunzo let out a surprise yelp and embarrassingly rubbed his back head with his cymbals. He was almost caught that day but the mean humans did not punish him for that which he was greatly glad for.

As the four continued their journey into the vent system, they all heard screaming and thrashing outside. Most likely from Mommy who was having a temper tantrum. Mumbling stuff about how dare the humans showed kindness, wanted Bunzo to join them and how they outwitted her and her rigged games.

Bunzo was practically cowering near Kathy upon hearing Mommy’s tantrums, and she realized if she didn’t save him at that moment, he would most likely be dead by now. Kathy comforted the bunny as the four continued on, with Luke making sure that they were not being followed by Mommy herself.

Eventually, Bunzo happily ran ahead and pushed another vent cover out of the way, and a familiar orange and yellow glow greeted Kathy. Realizing where they were now, he ushered Sean and Luke to crawl faster as she and Bunzo left the vent. “Hold on guys, let me go find something to soften your landing.” Kathy said. After a bit, she called the two boys saying that it’s safe for them to exit the vents now. They both landed on a few soft toys that are round and look kickable.

Looking around, they see rows of shelves filled with toys that they have not seen from Playtime Co. “Well boys, welcome back to my home, The Island of Misfit Toys!” Kathy explained as she and Bunzo flared their hands in a dramatic fashion. The four looked around, within the many shelves filled with toys that are either never released to the public, spare toy parts and recalled toys that Playtime Co. recalled for one reason or another.

Sean checked out many of the rejected and recalled toys such as Sir Poops-A-Lot, Kick-me-Paul, Owen the Oven, recalled CatNap toys and much more. But the thing that caught his interest is the Nightmare Critter line. “Rejected Item, Nightmare Critter line. Reason for Rejection, declining sales on the Smiling Critters line after the Catnap toy scandal lead to not enough appeal from audiences to be interested in a more ‘Edgy’ Smiling Critters companion line.” Sean read out. “Hey Kathy, is this the line where you got your Touille and Poe plushies?” He then asked Kathy who was nearby with Bunzo kicking the Kick-Me-Pauls.

“Oh yeah! Both Touille and Poe are from the NIghtmare Critter line, In fact, this is where I got them before I got fired. At least Playtime Co. let me keep them, because the public may not like them, but I do!” She rambled on. Bunzo leaped up and grabbed the nearby Baba Chops plushie.

“Oh, no wonder why only you have those.” Sean said he looked over the plushies and noticed that the Touilles and Poes are missing one plushie from the rest, along with a red dragon with a dollar sign necklace.

“When me and Rich worked here and had to sort out the rejects, Rich took a particular interest with Simon Smokes over here. Maybe because he kind of relates to Simon’s personality in a way” She pointed at the red dragon plushie. “He even kept one for himself, just like me with Touille and Poe.” Kathy reminisced about her time in the Island of Misfit Toys, she wondered what happened to Rich himself, and if he could find some answers to what happened to him.

While Sean also took the time to take pictures of the many rejected toys. Luke keeps himself occupied with the nearby Bron cutout, listening to the childish dinosaur puns. He did admit, he had gotten a chuckle or two from some of the pre-recorded puns of the cutout. After he listened enough, he roamed around and found a Cyan VHS tape on one of the empty shelves, along with a report paper that was just two people playing Tic-Tac-Toe.

“Yo! I found a VHS tape over here.” The other three came up to Luke, and Kathy immediately recognized the tape Luke was holding. “Wait a minute, I know this tape! Let’s go to the TV and VHS player over there and watch it guys!” Kathy exclaimed as she ushered her companions to the nearby TV setup on the platform.

She inserted the tape and the TV flickered to life.

"Well, it finally happened." The familiar voice of Rich played through the VHS tape. Rich prompted the camera in a way that he looks like he is making a blog.

"After years of being ignored, the company actually heard all my complaints! Yup, they listened, very carefully, I guess my words really inspired them to take action, because the next day I got demoted down here. To the freaking Island of Misfit Toys!” Rich ranted and yelled out loud. The tape shows Rich grabbing something and immediately throwing it at a shelf, knocking over something off camera.

“Hey new guy! Rich Lovitz, right? Don’t just throw stuff at the shelves! We got to reorganize the Daisy figurines along with filing more rejected toys man!” Sean, Luke and Bunzo were surprised to see and hear a younger Kathy being recorded. Although not much has changed in her appearance, what was notable is that she used to have shorter hair than now.

“Yup, this tape was recorded during Rich’s first day here!” She explains as they continue to watch the tape.

Rich sighed deeply as he responded. “I know, I… you know, It’s just that I’m frustrated, that's all. Those stupid Playtime Co. higher ups and how they manage their employees…” He mumbled.

“I know you have your reservations with the higher ups and all, but this position is not all bad. Look at the bright side! You get to see the behind the scenes on toy concepts and ideas innovation and production section of Playtime Co. comes up with. And look at our most recent reject line we have to work on, these guys look super adorable!” The younger Kathy explained and rambled on.

“...I wish I had your optimism ma’am.” Rich sighed as the tape ended.

“And that’s how I met Rich! Trust me, once you get past his short fuse and temperament, he is a sweet guy who cares for his family.” Kathy said.

“Wow, what a story huh?” Sean commented as the three went back to finding a way to get out of here. Kathy explained that they need to use the small lift to get out of here, but the lift is currently being occupied by a Large Bron toy, which is too heavy for the lift to lift. Kathy, Sean, Luke and Bunzo have to do a puzzle in which Kathy used the green hand to power a crane and the four of them used it to remove the Bron toy out of the lift. One by one, the four managed to leave the Island of Misfit Toys and headed back to the same hallway that connects Musical Memory to the Game Station. Webs covered the way to the molding room as the four made it back to the Game Station.

“Man, It feels good to be back here.” Luke said as he sat on one of the nearby benches. “You guys want some snacks and water before we continue?” He offered.

The group sat down and ate their share of snacks and drinks, Bunzo especially as he ate through two sandwiches in quick succession and drank a lot of water. The three humans were surprised to see that Bunzo could just remove his cymbals from his hand, a fact they did not expect to learn. The four enjoyed each other's company in the mostly silent Game Station, the sound of beeping coming from the platform’s control panel echoed through the room.

Once the group was well rested, fed and drank their share of water, the three humans returned to the platform. Bunzo was playing with the nearby slides as Kathy pulled the next lever.

"Whoa! You did fantastic! Who gave you permission to be this smart?” The pre-recorded voice of Stella giggled. Mommy is super proud of you! But I'm sure she's already told you that herself. Our next game is Wack-a-Wuggy! Head downstairs and have fun!"

The hatch and lights to Wack-A-Wuggy opened and invited the group to come enter. Kathy, Sean and Luke do not like the idea of facing off more Huggies after their encounter with the massive Huggy a few hours ago. But if they wanted to at least not give Mommy a reason to kill them on the spot, they had to follow her games. Kathy called out Bunzo and the four of them ventured forth into Wack-A-Wuggy.

There was no blockade that forced the group to make a detour and find another way into the game proper. But they did pass by a rack filled with kid sized GrabPacks, the door was unlocked and they could check it out. Although Sean and Luke were a bit too big for the smaller GrabPack, Bunzo himself could use them. He was okay with not always holding his cymbals and allowed Sean to hold it for him whenever Bunzo wanted to use the GrabPack.

After fastening the child size GrabPack to Bunzo and making sure that it actually works, the group finally entered the Wack-A-Wuggy game room. Wherein the floor is what seemed to be covered in sand, colorful buildings are painted on the walls of the room, and 18 different holes varying on elevation circled around the room. The tutorial for Wack-A-Wuggy began.

"Welcome to Wack-a-Wuggy! This advanced test is designed to assess the extent of your reactionary abilities.” The narrator explained.

“Oh gosh, reaction based games are not my strong suit…” Kathy admitted.

“A dual palm GrabPack will be provided to you for this test. Around you are 18 sizable holes. An adorable Huggy Wuggy toy could appear out of any one of these holes. If one comes out, hit it with your GrabPack. That's all. Good luck!" The narrator concluded his explanation of the game.

As soon as the tutorial finished, Mommy appeared again in the observation room. “Did Mommy hear that right? The poor wittle human thinks this game made for children is too hard for them~ How sad.” Mommy teased, Sean reassured Kathy and gave the middle finger to Mommy. “And here comes Prince Charming protecting their precious liar, the ex - employee, how rude.” 

“Kathy, let me be the one to play this game, being a photographer has made my reflexes and reaction time really good compared to yours and Luke’s. Plus, you look tired after Musical Memory.” Sean explained, Kathy turned to Mommy and Bunzo and asked.

“Mommy, will you let Sean play? It would be fair if all of us get to play your… Fun games.” Kathy asked hesitantly. Mommy face morphed into an annoyed face, but relented and sighed deeply. “Fine, Mommy thinks that is a swell idea for all of you to at least try.” Mommy replied with an irritated voice.

Kathy helped Sean put on the GrabPack and told him how to use it. She held his backpack and camera as Sean took center stage of the room. 

"The toys in this game used to have strings attached to them, so they could be pulled back when they got too close to the children." She showed all of them the strings used to restrain the mini Huggies, sweat started to drip down Sean’s head as he realized what Mommy did. “Hmm... Have fun."

The ceiling lights turned off and the side wall light turned on, giving some light into the room along with the observation room lights as the games began. Sean held up his guard and concentrated on hearing where the mini Huggies might appear.

One on his right, he fired the right hand and smacked the Huggy back to its hole. Another one to his immediate left, same story. And so on, as one mini Huggy retreated, two more took its place. The amount and frequency of mini Huggies appearing also increased as the game progressed. It was manageable, but during the second half Sean was starting to get caught in his nerves. Kathy, Bunzo and Luke shouted from the sidelines when there was a mini Huggy on his backside that he did not notice. While his aim is great, he started to feel dizzy from all the pinning he had to do. It also does not help that, unlike Musical Memory, there was no soundtrack that played during the game, tensing up his nerves even more.

Just as Sean was about to be overwhelmed with mini Huggies simultaneously coming out, the light turned back on and a chime that signalled the game was over. Sean breathed a huge sigh of relief as the gang group hugged Sean and celebrated another game that was won.

“Oh. You did it. Hurray! Mommy is so... Proud of you!” Mommy forced her words out of her mouth. “Here, Mommy has given you both the first and second hints… Take it.” Her outstretched hand came out of a partially opened gate, holding two pieces of paper that Luke grabbed before slinking its way back to Mommy.

"Only one game left to play. Hmm... Sad. Mommy was hoping you all stay here forever. Though, it's never too late to change your mind.” Mommy maniacally laughed out of the observation room again. She purposely did not open the gates that lead the way back to the Game Station, and the boys of the group complained yet again.

“Oh come on! I played this game fair and square yet she could not give us the decency to open the main gate!?” Sean frustratedly screamed.

“Wow, just wow, what a dick.” Luke muttered.

Kathy and Bunzo noticed the gate opened and ushered the other two to find another way out through there. Sean and Kathy exchanged their GrabPack and bags and headed deeper inside the backrooms of the Game Station.

They all headed up a spiral staircase, which luckily had all of the steps still intact for them to safely climb up. When they reached the top, they were greeted with a cutout of a character named Candy Cat. It also had a “Press Here” button, Bunzo was the first to press the button.

“Click the button to feed me candy.” Bunzo's face lit up in excitement as he pressed the button again.

The cutout began to make playful munching noises as Bunzo kept pressing the button, demanding more candy until one voiceline changed.

“Nom nom nom, heheh okay no more candy, my tummy's full.” The cutout said.

“Alright Candy Cat! I hope you have your fill!” Bunzo responded happily as the four made their way deeper into the hallway.

As they walk through the hallway, everyone can hear Mommy having another tantrum and presumably murdering the mini Huggies that were in the game. The thought alone sent a shiver down everyone’s spine as they arrived at what looked to be a big room with tracks on them.

“Okay, this room’s purpose confuses me, what’s the point of this room?” Sean rambled as he took pictures of it. Other than the tracks on the floor, the room looks to be some sort of yellow corridor with fenced gates and straight tracks that lead to a red, sloped room that is boarded up with planks. There was a sign from the other side of two closed gates that read “Cart Corridors.” When the group reached the room with the blockade of planks, they tried to break it down, only for it to stand strong, refusing to break no matter what method they tried.

“What the fuck are these planks made of!?” Luke complained as he threw a brick at it as hard as he could, only for the planks to not break from the impact.

“Looks like we gotta explore the cart corridors then.” Kathy replied as the four made their way into the only accessible entrance. But there was another gate closed and a lever behind it. The hallway gave off a foreboding feel to it, Bunzo tried to squeeze his way through, but even if he removes his GrabPack and cymbals, there’s no way for the party bunny to squeeze his way through.

Just about the group was beginning to consider finding another way in, a figure emerged from the other side. Kathy, Sean and Luke jumped at the familiar silhouette of the massive Huggy at the other end. Many thoughts went through their head, how was he alive? How did he find them? Oh gosh, he wants revenge doesn’t he?

Huggy stepped forward, Luke grabbing his baton and quickly put on a defensive position. But as the light illuminated the figure, it was in fact, NOT Huggy at all, but instead his pink and female counterpart Kissy Missy. The three humans did not let their guard down, what if Kissy is just as aggressive and deadly as Huggy? Kissy stared down at the four, almost looking intimidating if not for the fixed smile Kissy has. She then stared at the lever and after a few attempts of gripping the handle, pulled down the lever to allow the gate to open. 

The four relaxed as the gate slowly opened thanks to Kissy, the pink giant walked away and disappeared. 

“...I think she is friendly, guys.” Kathy broke the silence. They tried to follow where Kissy went, but she simply just vanished to who knows where. 

“What the fuck? How?” Luke pondered at how Kissy can simply disappear like that.

Their encounter with Kissy was relatively weird compared to what they all have been through. The group ventured forth into the Cart Corridors, from there they found a cart named Barry that was filled with toys. The group assumed that this is what they will use to break down the plank blockade and so have to traverse through the corridor's puzzle. They tried to replace Bunzo’s red hand with the green one, but the hands were not interchangeable and did not conduct electricity like normal GrabPacks can. Meaning Kathy herself had to be the one to do the puzzle while the others brainstormed the solutions. They opened the first gate relatively easily, the second gate not so much as Kathy needed to retry the puzzle about two or three times. And the final gate was the most annoying of them all, while the group figured out how to do the puzzle, Bunzo found a Jackson purple VHS tape nearby a TV and VHS player. The group simply decided to put the puzzle solving on hold as they watched the tape. 

The Video started with a man in yellow office uniform tidying himself up before sitting down.

"Mind if I film this?" The voice of Leith Pierre spoke behind the scenes.

"Oh, not at all sir." The man in yellow replied.

"That's what I like to hear. So, Marcas, what happened?" He inquired.

"You see, I was heading home for the day when my ape arse realized that I left me bloody wallet in the cafeteria. So, I'm running through the lobby...And that's when I see it. A mop handle lodged under the innovation wing gate." The man named Marcus recalls. 

"So what'd you do, Marcas?"

"Well I just thought I'd nab the bloody yoke and be on me merry way." "And?" "Well, I'm reaching for the thing, and the mop handle jolts on its own. Had me scared stiff. I thought I was the only one there. S-So I took a peek beneath the gate and some massive bloody thing was dodderin' about the bloody hallway!" Marcus recounted with distress.

"Thing? You're sure it wasn't a person?" Leith inquired, the four of them can feel that Leith is hiding something from Marcus, but could not tell what.

"Ain't no person that's 50 feet long with a thousand legs." Marcus exclaimed.

"Marcas, you're losing me. Maybe you just saw a bunch of people walking by." Leith steered the conversation away.

"Look, it wasn't people! Alright? I haven't a bloody notion what it was but it wasn't human." "Hmm...Who have you told about this? Besides me, obviously." 

"Just you, sir. Obviously." 

There was a quick pause from Leith, obviously thinking of a reply. "OK, I'll have security skim the cameras and take a look." He replied in a corporate style.

"What?! There's a massive bloody... Monster! Skimming ain't going to get rid of it!" Marcus complained, worrying about the prospect of a massive monster roaming around Playtime Co.

"You're out of line, Marcas. We make toys, not monsters. Now come on, get out of my sight.” Leith shooed Marcus out of his office. As Marcus was about to leave, Leith asked him. ”Actually uh, grab me a coffee will you?” There was a slight pause before he spoke again. “Actually never mind, get out of my sight." 

“Weird… Hey Kathy, do you know Marcus?” Sean inquired.

“Nope, maybe he was hired after I was fired because I haven't heard of anyone named Marcus when I was still in Playtime.” Kathy replied.

The four continued on with solving the puzzle, it took the efforts of Kathy running with the green charge to open the gates and the others to push the cart quickly enough so that the four of them could get through the last gate. Everyone high-fived as they pushed the cart down the slope. As expected, the cart was strong enough to break the planks apart, but in the process sent Barry down a dark pit. Kathy and Bunzo apologized to Barry as they continued on their journey out of the Cart Corridor. And as luck would have it, the four were now back to the Game Station, the final lever signal beeped through the silent hub.

The four took a break yet again, but decided to not eat any snacks and instead just rehydrated themselves. The boys told Kathy and Bunzo to wait for them as they try to find a bathroom nearby because they need to relieve themselves first. They were gone for about 10 minutes, wherein they found the men’s room, used the very dirty urinals to relieve themselves, and waited for clean water to flow through the sinks and washed their hands and faces. They returned Kathy and Bunzo, who were staring at something at the ceiling and looked mortified. They looked up to see what Kathy and Bunzo were seeing and saw 18 different mini Huggies slaughtered, mutilated and hanged on spider webs on the ceiling.

They all pretended that they saw nothing and erased that image from their heads as Luke did the honor of pulling the last lever down the control panel.

"Geez! Have you played these before? You're so good! Seems like you're ready for the final game... Statues! Follow Mommy down the stairs one last time! I hope you had a fun day in the Game Station! See you next time!" The voice of Stella said as the final hatch to Statues opened halfway through before it got jammed. Luckily, it's just enough for all of them to squeeze through the hatch and enter Statues.

The entrance gate to Statues was sadly closed, so the four went through the open maintenance door in order to find a way to open said gate. Along the way, they found the fuse box, some switches and a cutout of PJ Pug-A-Pillar. Luke told the group that he will try his hand into fixing the power box and find a way to open the gate. He then approached and tried his best. While waiting, Kathy, Sean and Bunzo decided to press the button on the cutout.

"Do you want to play with PJ?” The cutout played, Bunzo pressed the button again. 

"Caterpillar or pug?" They pressed the button again. "I’m crawling on all four hundreds!"

“Wait, didn’t Marcus say something about a monster with many legs? Did he see PJ then?” Sean realized, it does make sense that Playtime is hiding the fact there are living toys within the factory. Leith lied to Marcus’ face then. They pressed the button again.

“Mmm, I’m hungry for some delicious bones! Do you have some bones for PJ?" The four who heard it paused for a moment before pressing the button again.

"Bworlf! Bworlf!" And the cutout ends, when they press the button it just loops back to the beginning.

Luke finished fixing the power box and the sound of the entrance gate opening echoed through the room. The four were still shocked at the second to last voiceline of the cutout, knowing the context they have been through and expecting the worst context for it. The four excited the maintenance hall and there's the game room proper. From there, they were greeted with a gray wall that is fashioned like a castle wall, multicolored floor pads and a huge room ahead of them. The lights went out as the final tutorial video played.

"Welcome to Statues! This advanced obstacle course is designed to test your physical endurance and strength."

“Oh look Luke, It’s your kind of game!” Kathy and Sean commented, to which Luke rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. 

"The rules are simple. The lights will turn off. You can move through the obstacle course at this time. However, when the lights turn on, you can look around but cannot move. You may move again once the lights turn back off."

Bunzo squealed out loud as the three humans turned their direction to where Bunzo was looking. They shrieked in fear to see a giant PJ staring back at them with an almost black iris through the walls. He then moved to somewhere, showing his lengthy segmented body crawling through.

"The lovable PJ Pug-a-Pillar will follow you! If PJ reaches you, your test is over! That's all. Good luck!" The narrator concluded.

At that moment, one of the observation deck lights turned on and Mommy appeared before them. "It's always so sad to see the games conclude… Mommy even made sure Statues can be beaten with or without a GrabPack, isn’t Mommy considerate.” She muses. "It's also always so sad to see the kids go... They called me ‘Mommy’ because I was the closest thing they ever had to one. But they'd come for games, and never come back. They left Mommy to die alone. And it’s always the humans wearing white who took the kids away from Mommy. The same humans wearing white who tortured Mommy back then! Mommy didn't deserve that!” She pounded the windows of the observation room out of anger.

“But you three…” She glared at the trio. “You all come in, parade inside this hell, Kill Huggy! Think you can waltz to the train with that porcelain doll! Think you can ‘befriend’ dear Bunzo! THINK YOU CAN FIND ANSWERS TO WHAT HAPPENED DURING THE HOUR OF JOY ! JUST WHO DO THINK YOU ALL ARE!?” With each rant, Mommy became even more furious. “So if anyone deserves to die alone, it's you three..."

“Statues will now begin, have fun…” She said coldly.

The lights immediately closed, and the four started to run like their lives depend on it. They made their way through the long zig zag quickly, but just as they were about to exit and head to the next section, the lights turned on and everyone stood still as best as they could. The four looked back to see PJ slowly crawling around the zig zag area before the lights turned off again. 

The next section had a massive foam pit, on their right were yellow blocks that Sean and Luke could cross over. While on the left were monkey bar rings that Kathy and Bunzo used to swing across with their GrabPacks. Midway during their crossing, the lights turned back on and they had to stand still again. Every time they needed to stand still, their hearts pounded even faster, they really didn't want to test how fast PJ could move and catch up to them. The lights turned off once again and the four crossed the foam pit. 

Next area was a tunnel maze, with easy, medium and hard paths. Bunzo elected to go through the easy route while the humans took the medium route. While they were all in the tunnel, the lights turned on as indicated by the tunnel lights. They didn’t have the liberty of looking back and seeing where PJ currently was. They could only pray that he is not near them when the lights turn off. After a bit, the lights quickly turned off, but it soon quickly turned on right as they are about to leave the tunnel. 

Luckily, PJ was quite a ways away from them, giving them time to keep moving when the lights turned off. The last section was a series of yellow platforms over another foam pit. It looks like this was the final section before the finish line. Kathy, Sean, Luke and Bunzo hopped through the first three yellow platforms before the lights turned on again. They hastily waited for the lights to turn off again, and once it did they made a beeline to the finish line. But as they got closer, they realized something horrifying. The exit was caved in by rubble and there was no way out, Mommy had rigged the game by removing the win condition.

When they left the final section of Statues, the four friends freaked out. “What to do!? What to do!? What to do!?!?” Luke started hyperventilating. Kathy and Sean looked around and saw if there's anything, ANYTHING, that they could use to escape. They spotted a grapple bar nearby an empty observation room. Meanwhile, Bunzo found a pipe, if PJ acts like a dog, then he can distract the killer Pug-A-Pillar by playing fetch. Bunzo told Luke what to do with the pipe as Kathy and Sean made a plan.

Kathy would be the first to swing to the observation room, throw the GrabPack with all her might and pass it to Sean. Luke and Bunzo will distract the PJ as long as possible for Sean to quickly pass the GrabPack to Luke so that he could swing to the observation room. They executed the plan, Kathy swinging and breaking the glass of the observation room and entered first. She quickly removed her GrabPack and passed it to Sean, who also quickly equipped the GrabPack and swung to the observation room. Luke threw the pipe as hard as he could, and PJ took the bait and turned around to catch it. Sean quickly passed the GrabPack to Luke as Bunzo swung to the Observation room, Luke hastily equipped the GrabPack and joined the others inside the observation room, they were all safe for now.

“Holy shit, we survived.” Sean said as he looked out of the observation room. PJ was frantically looking for the four, seemingly vanishing out of his sight. “How long do you guys think it will take Mommy to notice us escaping?”

“Probably not for long… We need to go somewhere now before Mommy rips us to shreds!” Bunzo warned the humans as they explored the room for a way out. They found that all the doors are locked and the only way forward is a hole on the ground. But just as they are about to jump down, Luke noticed two pieces of paper on top of one of the tables. He quickly snatches the papers up and silently reads its contents. The more he read, the more his face turned into both a mixture of confusion and fear. 

These papers, these are the assessment papers of kids who played the Game Station games. Giving them a score between one and five for each game they played and were apparently given an assigned toy. These leaves a lot of questions as to why they are assessing childrens 

cognitive memories, reflexes, reaction times and physical abilities. And why was it formatted as a scientific paper?

Luke can ponder these questions later as the group really needs to leave right now, pocketing the notes into his duffel bag, the group dropped down to the hole on the ground. The hole leads them to a cave that then leads to another part of Playtime Co. Luckily there was still an available path for them to walk through the massive chasm. The path was unstable however, and the four made haste before it collapsed on itself.

"Where did you all go? The game is over, PJ have you seen our playmates? Y-you all won! Come back and Mommy will give you the code. Pinky promise!" The voice of Mommy echoed through the halls and called out as she now just realized that the four are now gone. The sound of her snickering emanated through the halls before she continued. “Mommy knows the game is really hard, but Mommy just decided you won! Come back!" She broke down into maniacal laughter.

“Yeah… That sounds like a bad idea.” Kathy commented as they made their way deeper into the factory. The path that connects the hole of the Statues’s observation room and the unknown hallway collapsed as Luke made it across the chasm. There was no going back now and the group continued on their way.

“Mommy doesn't like cheaters! The rules are so simple! You all die, and Mommy gets to watch!” Mommy then laughed even harder. “COME BACK TO ME! HOW DARE YOU DISOBEY ME! I WILL FIND YOU ALL! I WILL FIND YOU ALL! And when I do... Where are you~? WHERE ARE YOU?!”

Sensing danger, the four picked up the pace as climbed the twisting stairway and eventually arrived at a place called the Water Treatment area. In order to get past the door, they needed to scan another toy, more specifically a Bunzo Bunny toy. But they first needed to align the bridge of the water tank to the door in order to gain access to the scanner.

They tested to see if Bunzo himself can be scanned, and seeing as he is a living toy, the scanner accepted the scan and opened the door for the group. Luke pointed at a VHS tape over there, suggesting they should watch it.  They backtracked and positioned the bridges so that they could walk up to the VHS tape and play it. It was an interview of someone named Jimmy Roth, who had an odd approach to marketing. Even sidetracking the interviewee with seemingly rambles on how massive his contributions were to the Playtime Co. branding. The tape ended and the four agreed that it was a bit of a waste of time watching it. 

They returned to the control panel that controls the bridges, and as Kathy pressed the buttons, Luke spotted something in the corner of his eyes. There on the floor is another piece of paper, however unlike the ones he picked up in the observation room, it was a transfer request paper for Mommy herself.

Experiment 1222 - 'Mommy Long-Legs'

Subject - Marie Payne

Abilities:

Mommy Long-Legs has the unique ability to stretch any of her limbs for several hundred feet. This includes her fingers, arms, hair, neck, waist, and legs. She's very hostile towards the staff, but is very motherly and acts warmly towards the other experiments. She is protective of them.

Problem:

The hostility is quickly becoming problematic, but perhaps there is a solution to put her in her place.

Proposal:

Mommy Long-Legs would be perfect for facilitating everything with the children in the Game Station. She has the warmth that a mother should, and any rowdy child can learn to 'listen to their mother.' It makes sense that her seeing these children daily would improve her behavior, and it is very unlikely she will act out in front of the children. Have her transferred to High Security Maintenance immediately. Conditioning can begin.

Subject? Abilities? Problems? Proposals? And most worriedly of them all, conditioning? Luke felt dread building up on his throat, and the others took notice.

“Luke? What’s wrong?” Kathy asks as she tries to comfort Luke, even letting him hug both the Touille and Poe plushies. He quickly ushered Kathy, Sean and Bunzo to read the two notes he picked up before and read the transfer note. Luke already connected the dots as Kathy, Sean and Bunzo tried to find what made Luke worried.

“Luke, what’s going on?” Sean asked, Luke seemed distraught and said nothing as he quietly placed back the two plushies in his duffel bag and said. “They are kids…”

“Luke, what do you mean ‘They are ki-’” Kathy caught something in her throat, and that is dread as well. She now realized what Luke had realized, were the living toys children!?

“What the fuck… Huh!?” Kathy now sounded distraught, Sean quickly noticed and pulled her into a hug. Telling her everything will be okay, that there’s no way Playtime was monitoring kids and stuffing them into toys.

Eventually, after everyone called down and drank some water, the group left the Water Treatment area and continued on their journey. After taking many twists and turns, Kathy having to pull Sean and Luke up one by one going up a tunnel, they reached a dead end and the only way forward is another vent they need to crawl too.

Midway through their journey, the gang stopped by a puzzle area. Kathy and Bunzo quickly went to work in figuring out how to solve it, seeing as it required the use of the GrabPacks to solve the puzzle. Meanwhile, Sean and Luke roamed around the area and found a red VHS tape. They spotted a TV and VHS player nearby and began playing it.

"The following is a pre-recorded announcement to address the many complaints regarding an alleged 'very, very big spider' crawling around in the facility." The tape played, clearly it's a Playtime Co. PSA and the voice sounded very annoyed.

"The Playtime corporation wants me to remind you all that spiders that big... Do not exist. And if they did, quote: 'We would already be dead anyways.' End quote. Regardless, you can all rest assured the company's sending some specialists down here to have a look around and relieve the constant whining. Complaining seems to be everyone's primary contribution to this company. It's just a spider. You are all safe. Please, please carry on with your jobs.” The tape ended. 

“Do you think that they are referring to Mommy Long Legs?” Sean asked, to which Luke nodded. “Most likely, it’s not like we’ve seen any other massive spider-like toys roaming around here.” Luke replied

When Kathy and Bunzo finally solved the puzzle, they both high-fived each other and regrouped with Sean and Luke to continue on their way. Sean inquired Kathy about a PSA playing back when she was still an employee, to which she answered no. She theorized it was made and aired after she was fired.

The path forward is blocked, but another vent is left wide open. They crawled through the vent, which the four have already started to get sick of due to how many times they’ve had to do it. But halfway through, the vent collapsed on itself and the group fell to another area. They dusted themselves off and went to the end of the corridor. There is a massive hole and a grapple bar that leads to another path forward. Kathy shot her blue hand to grab on the grapple bar, but the presence of Mommy caused the four to jump back out of fear.

"AAAAARGH!!! I ASKED YOU ALL TO PLAY FAIR AND YOU CHEATED! I HATE CHEATERS!” Mommy furiously ripped out a pipe from the walls as she slowly inched her way towards the four. She became erratic and was ready to pounce at any moment. “Now, we're going to play one, LAST. GAME. It’s called… hide… and… SEEEEEK!!!" Mommy eyes were dilated to almost be fully black when she announced her new game to the three humans and toy bunny. 

“Ten… Nine…” The door opened behind the four and they quickly legged it out of the corridor. They jumped down a broken spiral stairway and beelined through the halls. The voice of Mommy disappeared as they ran through the unknown area. Pipes, boxes and corners of the hallways are covered in webs as they run through it. Mommy eventually showed up, forcing Kathy and Sean to run through another tunnel while Luke and Bunzo ran right through a series of pipes and conveyor belts.

Kathy and Sean emerged from the tunnel and dropped down a ventilation shaft into another hallway. They went straight ahead of them and found themselves in a room with four different colored levers and a closed gate that had “BAY 2” labeled on top of it. They tried pulling all the levers, but it seems it did not work. Kathy looked around and found a vent shaft open and a grapple bar she can use to hoist herself up. Looking around, she realized that the different colored wires that connect to the levers needed to be activated in the order of the labels besides the wire.

She dropped down and told Sean to pull the levers in the proper order. The gate opened and the two continued on through the hallway, but Mommy emerged from the corner and gave chase to Kathy and Sean. They returned to the same lever room, and Kathy told Sean to hold onto her as she grabbed the grapple bar with her GrabPack and lifted themselves up. They were hoping that Mommy did not see them and to their relief passed by them before disappearing, her distorted laughs echoed through the entire room and hallway. The way where they first came from is blocked by a sticky web and the only way forward now is through Bay 2.

Meanwhile, Luke and Bunzo ran for their lives. Fortunately, they lost Mommy. Bunzo opened up a vent door and quickly made their way through another conveyor belt path. They dropped down and landed in a room with a closed emergency exit. The two are relieved to find a way out, but they need to find a way to power it as when Luke tries to open the gate, it does nothing. As they head back into the hunting grounds of Mommy, Bunzo found a piece of paper and gave it to Luke. He read it out loud.

Warrenbach Construction Company,

This is Eddie responding once again on behalf of the Playtime Co. toy factory. Yes, it must be in complete secrecy. This project should only be known about by those with the authority at Warrenbach, and those with the authority here at Playtime.

As promised, you will be compensated very well for this secrecy. Upwards of $100,000, keeping in mind that this is a ballpark figure. We're willing to provide the proper equipment needed for excavation; however, the more independently you are able to work, the more compensation I can offer.

We'd still like to see the lab completed in 12 months time, but what's most important is that it's done right. Let me know if these terms work for you, I'm happy to negotiate until we find something that both parties can be happy with.

Take care,

Eddie M. N. Ritterman

Playtime Co. needed a company to dig out an area to build a lab? Why would a toy factory need to have a lab area? Is it related to the living toys here? Too many questions plagued Luke’s mind, but he could not stop and think about it as he and Bunzo headed back into the hunting grounds in order to find a way to bring back power to the emergency exit gate.

They eventually entered what seemed to be a furnace room. From there, Luke and Bunzo figured out that they needed to make a new gear so that the mechanism for the gate to open works. They made light work of it, with Luke making the gear itself and Bunzo activating the furnace itself so that the gear solidifies and is in working condition. Bunzo grabbed the gear with his GrabPack with some difficulty, and inserted it into the missing gear hole. They opened the game and made their way further into some catwalks. Mommy emerges from the chasm and  Luke and Bunzo turn tails and run. They managed to hide from Mommy by hiding inside the furnace itself, hoping Mommy does not activate it herself. Luckily, she didn't and her distorted laughs echoed inside the room as she disappeared once again. Once the coast is cleared, Luke and Bunzo head further into the hunting grounds, hoping to find something to re-activate the emergency exit’s power.

Returning back to Kathy and Sean, they entered some sort of generator room, in which they found a lever right next to a hole. There’s a screen nearby that says 1/2 power activated, it was either that Luke and Bunzo managed to activate the other generator or it was already set. Kathy used her GrabPack to pull the lever, as it’s too rusty at first for them to pull normally. But as soon as the generator started working, Mommy appeared out of the hole and gave chase to the now fleeing couple. Running past the catwalk they went through, they were shocked to realize the initial path they took was now blocked and covered with webs.

They took a hard left to another hallway, but the ceiling collapsed in front of them. Luckily, there was an unlocked door that they can take to run away from Mommy. They ran downwards, fire burning on their right as they jumped down to a sewer passage. Mommy appeared behind the blockade and the two turned tails and entered into a sewer pipe. They avoided the paths with Mommy’s hand and emerged to a dead end, arrows on the wall pointed towards a grapple bar right on top of them. Sean holds on to Kathy for dear life as she lifts the both of them upwards, while Mommy is high on their tail. 

Mommy’s distorted laughter echoed through the entire area as the couple swang through a collapsed catwalk. Running as fast as they can until they dropped down into a hole that leads to the emergency exit room. The gate started to slowly open as Luke and Bunzo were there and pulled the lever. With the four reunited, they ran through the empty hallway until they reached the end. The end of the hallway shows a mural of Mommy Long Legs right on top of a closed door that requires a blue hand to open it. Kathy fired hers and for some reason, this one took a bit longer to scan. 

This was unfortunate news as Mommy was now charging at the four like a bull. They all stared at the blue hand scanner for what felt like forever as the scanner completed its scan and the gate slowly opened. As soon as there was room to squeeze through, they all made it inside. Luke pulled a lever thinking it was used to open the gate, but sadly nothing happened. Mommy burst into the room and was about to finally kill them, but her left hand got caught onto something. That something was a grinder, and Luke had pulled the lever to activate it.

Mommy screamed as she tried to set herself free from the grinder. "AAAAAAAGH!!! WHAT HAVE YOU DOOOOOONE?!” A genuine look of fear is plastered on Mommy’s face as she struggles to escape the grinder, with half of her body now stuck inside the grinder. “ HE'LL MAKE ME PART OF HIM! YOU CAN'T DO THIS TO MEEEEEE!!! AAARRRGGGHHH!!!!"

With one final scream, her torso gets crushed and the lifeless body of Mommy Long Legs limps down to the floor. No one inside the grinder room moved a muscle as they stared at Mommy’s corpse. They have killed a living toy yet again, whether it’s by accident or intentional as an act of self defence is anyone's opinion. About 5 seconds later, something emerged out of a small opening on a blocked gate. It is a mechanical claw, with long needle-like fingers and bones extruding the arm.

Bunzo immediately hides behind the humans and is shaking like crazy. Bunzo may be scared at times, but the human trio has not seen him cower this much. The mechanical claw seemed to stay in place for a bit, before using its needle-like fingers to drag the lifeless body of Mommy Long Legs into who knows where beyond the closed gate.

Bunzo began crying as the mechanical claw left with Mommy’s body, Kathy picked Bunzo up and let him cry over her shoulder. The gate opened behind them and the four left the room.

On the way up some stairs, Sean found another black tape on the ground, he picked it up and told the others about it. Kathy spots a TV an dVHS player further up the stairs and goes ahead and plays the tape.

"Log Code 08502. In relation: Experiment 1-0-0-6. 'The Prototype.' ” The voice on the tape spoke, the humans deduced that this is a scientist speaking. Bunzo cowered even more into Kathy’s shoulder when the name “ The Prototype ” was mentioned. Do all living toys fear whatever that thing is?

“A close call occurred this week, in which he nearly breached containment. The Prototype seemingly disassembled the digital alarm clock within his room, and utilized the battery along with several other components to create a laser pointer, which he then fired into the security camera, disabling it.” The scientist recounted the incident.

“These actions allowed him 28.3 seconds completely unmonitored. Once function returned to the camera, the room appeared to be empty. One surveillance specialist went in to confirm his absence. However, upon opening the door, she realized that the Prototype had hidden in one of the camera's blind spots. The Prototype attempted to escape through the open door; however, another surveillance specialist was able to remotely re-lock the door, despite the other specialist still being inside.”

“One casualty occurred.”

The room felt cold, and the four friends’ blood ran cold. Did they haphazardly lead someone to their death, and logged it like nothing of value was lost? Just how much has Playtime Co. been hiding from both its employees and the general public. This was serious incriminating evidence that could sue Playtime Co. into bankruptcy if the factory was still operational.

“ The Prototype seems to possess an unprecedented level of intelligence beyond that of all other test subjects, as well as an alarming willingness to commit violence. Further suppression treatments will need to be enacted to ensure that no other experiments develop these qualities. Experiment 1-1-7-0, 'Huggy Wuggy,' remains the optimal outcome due to his sufficient intelligence paired with maximum obedience. End of log." The tape ended.

The group didn’t know what to say, or even think about. This? This was really bad, Sean took the cake and stored it in his bag before the group continued on their way out of the room. They are now back to the Game Station, now on the catwalk above the room. The catwalk led to the central station, and when they entered the room, they found Poppy trapped on the wall with webs covering her mouth and body.

Using her GrabPack, she freed Poppy from her confinement.

“Oh Poppy, thank goodness you're safe! What did Mommy do to you? Are you hurt-”

“Did you kill her?” Poppy interrupted Kathy coldly. She was a bit surprised about the sudden interruption, but she nodded yes anyways. “Good. I'll board the train. We need to leave for Playcare now..." She stated before disappearing into the vents.

“What’s her problem?” Luke complained as he stepped up and grabbed the final train code nearby. He also took some more documents left lying around the control center. One was a guide on how to handle the Game Station and how to deal with Mommy Long Legs and report back to Stella when the day concludes. The other was a formal request form that asks to add windows into the Game Station made by someone named Matthew Wayson.

The four exited out of the control center and went to a room with a slide down. The four clearly had fun sliding down for a bit before picking themselves up and exiting the room. It was time to explore Playcare, they now have all the train codes to activate the train.

“Alright, before we leave this place for good, let’s all take a snack break and have a group photo here.” Sean suggested, to which everyone agreed to. They ate biscuits this time, nothing too hardy.The group is saving the rest of the snacks for later. Once they were done, Sean set up his camera in front of the train and quickly snapped a photo of the four in front of the train. One with a relaxed pose and one with a wacky shot, Sean then fixed his stuff and entered the train.

Kathy elected to be the one to input the code and start the train. Bunzo will also accompany her on the front while Sean and Luke stay on the nearest train cart. As Sean gave Bunzo back his cymbals, Kathy opened the door to the train and imputed the code. Once it was imputed, the lights illuminated the handle and opened, prompting Kathy to pull it. The train started, and she playfully pulled the train whistle handle and said. “All aboard! Next stop, Playcare! Make sure you have your tickets with you and wait for our lovely assistant to punch a mark to confirm your ticket!”

This got a chuckle from Sean, Luke and Bunzo as the train slowly started and entered into a tunnel. The train began to speed up to normal speeds as Poppy’s voice was played on the train’s intercom.

“I was so scared she'd put me back in that case… But you all saved me once again.” She started, Kathy made a quick “your welcome” to Poppy, hoping she would hear it. “You all are perfect. Too perfect… I've never met anyone like you and your friends. Hmhm. Do you know how long I've been stuck in that case? Well, too long... I had so much time to think and reflect.” Poppy continued to monologue.

The arrow up ahead pointed right, the sign stating that Playcare is up ahead. “Time to figure out exactly what I would do when free. We'll set things right. Terrible things have happened, but you all can fix it. We have allies down below, down into hell itself, with you and your friends help, we CAN stop HIS madness and set everyone free. I know that whatever I need you all to do, you're all capable. We will…” The train started to siren out warnings, red lights flickering inside the train as the speed of the train got abnormally faster. 

“What-? No, no, NO, NO-!” The intercom abruptly cut out Poppy’s panicked voice as the train sped through the train tunnel.

“Sweet Pie! What’s going on!?” Sean screamed through the other cart. The control panels plated out warning to stop and use the emergency brake lever. Kathy quickly grabbed the lever, but it was too tight to move. She and Bunzo used their GrabPacks to pull the lever as hard as they could. It was a tug-of-war with the emergency train brakes and them, but eventually the lever was pulled and the emergency brakes fully opened.

However, the sudden stop causes the train to spiral out of control. Derailing out of the tracks as it is about to crash. “SEAN! LUKE! BUNZO!!! BRACE FOR IMPAC-!” Kathy screamed and held onto Bunzo tight, and the train crashed on its side, causing everyone to be knocked out and injured. 

Sean, Luke and Bunzo blacked out due to them hitting their heads on the train’s walls when it crashed. Kathy was left barely coming in and out of consciousness, weakening and hugging Bunzo around her. Before she could black out along with her lover and friends, she saw a lanky figure walking towards the crashed train. The lights and her inability to stay conscious made it hard to tell what it was. It stood there for a moment before walking towards somewhere else. The last thing she saw before blacking out was a sign, a sign that said:

Playcare

Chapter Text

“Hey, Rich… I have a question.” Kathy mindlessly asked as the two continued to work. It was another day in Playtime Co. And the production wing has delivered new batches of rejected toy ideas and products the Innovation wing deemed as rejected.

“Yeah, what is it?” Rich replied as he organized the paperwork for the rejected toys.

“Do you remember the whole CatNap fiasco back then? The one where it made kids have very bad nightmares due to its lavender sleeping agent. What was it like here when it happened?” Kathy asked innocently. She had read and heard about the news about it before she started working on Playtime Co. 

“Oh that… It was a total shit show I say. Too many emergency recalls, too many people running around trying to fix the damages, too many people getting fired that day. Playtime Co. Internally it was in chaos.” Rich recounted. “Many people were blamed, for good reason too, who thought it was a good idea to even package a sleeping agent on a toy that can give kids nightmares and market it without mentioning the side effects.”

“Oh jeez… It was way worse than I thought…” Kathy replied solemnly as she gazed on the CatNap toys nearby.

“To be honest, I am still surprised people are still applying to work here, even after all the shit this company has gone through.” Rich remarked, a tone of dissatisfaction slipped through his mouth “Ever since Mr. Ludwig passed away, Playtime Co. has not felt the same, especially when Leith Pierre took over…”

“I see…” Kathy mumbled in reply, the two of them continued on with their work in silence. Mostly because they don’t know what to talk about right now, although Kathy wondered what happened internally in the production wing when they produced those CatNap toys. What could have happened behind those doors, how did the nightmare inducing sleep agent manage to get through rigorous testing, and what formula did they use to make the sleep agent in the first place…

~~Angels don’t have wings, they have compassion~~

Kathy’s Perspective:

Her entire body hurt, her head hurt, the world around her spun and her hold on Bunzo, while still stable, was weak. All she could remember right now was the train crash. Based on Poppy’s reaction, it seemed like the train got sabotaged by a third party, but by who? She did not know.

As some of her senses slowly returned, she felt that she was not lying on the ground like she was expected to after a crash, but was being carried by something. Tightening her hold on the unconscious Bunzo a bit harder, she looked up to see a hatch. She was confused, until she saw a very skinny purple arm open the hatch and drag her body closer to the chute. She did not have time to process what was going on as her mysterious assailant threw her and Bunzo into the chute. She turned her body as she fell, and was greeted with a horrifying stare of an ever widening smile, hollowed out eyes with very small white pupils and cat like features, a massive Catnap.

The fall was quick, and Kathy landed on something soft. When she fully regained her bearings, she noticed that she landed on a dirty mattress that cushioned her fall. Kathy groaned and tried to get up into her feet. She had also fallen face first into the muddy water, but managed to regain her balance and stand up properly. Putting Bunzo down for a minute, she weakly rubbed off the dreariness in her eyes and looked around. It looked like they were in some sort of trash disposal area, filled with a variety of trash, broken furniture and smashed objects. 

She quickly checked herself for any injuries. Her head felt funny, blood dripping slowly over her head as she slowly realized the crash gave her a concussion. She had to find a first aid kit quickly, as Luke was not present with her. 

As she tried to find a way out of her and Bunzo’s predicament, alarms blared out and the walls started closing in. She quickly realized this was not a trash disposal, but a trash compactor, Bunzo jolted up, his hands almost letting go of his cymbals and he quickly panicked.

“Kathy! W-Wha what's going on!?” Bunzo exclaimed.

“Bunzo! W-We need to get out of here!” Kathy saw a jammed wall, along with a way up there. She grabbed Bunzo and made her way up the conveniently placed platform and entered the inner mechanism of the trash compactor’s chamber. From there, she looked up to see a grapple bar she can use to bring herself and Bunzo out of there. Once they were out of the trash compactor, Kathy felt woozy and slowly sat down on the floor, leaning on the nearby wall. Bunzo quickly checks on Kathy’s bleeding head and tries to find something to cover it up. He found an old dirty rag, not ideal but good enough, Bunzo also saw dripping clean water nearby. He immediately cleaned the old rag as best as he could and used it to clean and wrap her injured head.

Kathy muttered a simple thank you and Bunzo collapsed beside her. Wherever they are now is still unknown, the only point of reference is the trash compactor chamber right below them. Kathy rested for a minute before telling Bunzo that they needed to go.

“W-Wait what about your head?” Bunzo asked with concern.

“I-I’ll manage… I think. We need to find a first aid kit quickly…” Kathy weakly replied.

Bunzo helped Kathy slowly navigate through the area, jumping over massive pistons, navigating through hallways and stairs and trying to make sense of where they were. Once or twice, the two noticed something purple moving about in the area. They really don’t want to find out who or what it is as they make their way into a vent. 

Upon crawling through a series of vents, Bunzo made sure that Kathy was feeling fine enough to not pass out right then and there. They made their way inside to what looked to be a lounge room. Kathy immediately noticed the same chute that got her and Bunzo down to the trash compactor. While Bunzo frantically looked around the room for a first aid kit. Luckily, he found one, but only some gauze and an expired alcohol bottle remained. He ushered Kathy to lay down on the Huggy couch as he administered and wrapped her head with the gauze. It was shoddy work on Bunzo’s part, but eventually replaced the old rag with a fresh gauze on Kathy’s head.

He wishes there was something for Kathy to eat or drink, but unfortunately nothing of value can be found here. The only thing of interest is a light teal VHS tape that is lying on top of the TV. With Kathy’s permission, he lowered the volume of the static TV and played the tape. 

The tape only contained audio, but it began to play. "Alright, Ms. Harper, please explain the situation. Spare no detail." Someone said,

"Well, like any night, all the children are getting to sleep. It was peaceful, quiet. CatNap had the red smoke in the room.” The voice of Ms. Harper recounted. "Then, suddenly, there's this scream. Nightmares happen, I know, but this…” Her voice was shaky as she continued recounting her tale.

“I mean, dilated pupils and quivering lips? The way her eyes darted around the room? And I swear, her hand in mine, it felt like her blood was boiling beneath her skin…”

“W-Wha…? That’s horrible…” Kathy quietly comments as Bunzo comforts the injured human. 

"She saw something too, something horrible! She- I-I'm sorry, I don't mean to..."  Ms. Harper Apologizes.

“Ms. Harper, we'll provide the very best care we can offer, you have my word. But this is important. Did Marie happen to describe what she saw?" The other voice inquired.

Marie, Kathy and Bunzo have seen that name before. It was from the transfer paper Luke found back at the Water Treatment area. So her fears were confirmed…

"Yes, a monster she said, said it was...colorless…” Ms. Harper solemnly confirmed. "Gosh, I could feel her poor little heart pounding. For her, it was right there! A-And her movements, they were wild! Arms flailing, legs kicking..." She sounded like she was on the verge of tears as the other voice interjected.

"Hmmm..."

“I...I wanted to talk to her. See how she's doing.” She asked. "I just... I really need to hear her voice right now." 

"That would not be advised, Ms. Harper. There are many concerns we must address at this time. But her vitals are normal, and we'll continue to monitor them. She’ll be okay.” The other voice coldly declined, no hints of compassion or care was heard from her response.

“NO! Well, pardon me if I'm not comforted by that! Just bring my little girl back to me..." Ms. Harper angrily and solemnly replied as the tape ended.

Kathy and Bunzo just stared at the screen for a minute to take in what they had just heard. Kathy’s stomach tightened out of disgust as the disregard of an adult's care towards a child. Her heart ached for the poor women who had to hear the solemn news about the kid she cared for. She hoped that Ms. Harper did eventually check on Marie back when Playtime Co. was still operational. With nothing else to do inside the lounge room and stealing her resolve to get the hell out of here, she and Bunzo exited the room. Not before having to find two batteries inside the room and scanning her blue hand onto the scanner to open the door. 

Up ahead in the hallway, Kathy and Bunzo saw a Bubba Bubbaphant cutout.

“Whoa… It’s Bubba!” Kathy exclaimed as she ran up to the cutout and pressed the button.

"I'm Bubba Bubbaphant!” The cutout played.

Both Kathy and Bunzo said hello in response as she pressed the button again.

“Hey! I remember you!” The cutout continued. “An elephant always remembers!” 

Kathy chuckled a bit at the small fact about Bubba’s species as she pressed the button again.

“Want to know what I remember about you?” 

“Oh sure, why not.” Kathy replied.

“The truck crash was not the only reason why you were fired Kathy…” 

Kathy’s and Bunzo’s blood ran cold. Kathy knew that the cutouts were somehow haunted or cursed in a way thanks to the Bunzo cutout back in the Game Station. But the line the Bubba cutout said made Kathy quiver in a cold sweat. She pressed the button again, only for the cutout to loop back to the beginning.

She quickly explained to Bunzo on how some cutouts seemed to be haunted and hadpersonalized lines for different people. Bunzo wanting to check out this weird anomaly, pressed the button until he got to the Bubba cutout last line.

“You purposely got yourself caught in the Reject room so that Kathy can hold you!” The cutout cheerfully said.

“...Wow” Kathy could only mutter as she gazed upon a blushing Bunzo. “You really liked me back then, huh?”

Bunzo let out a nervous laugh as the duo decided to continue on their journey out of wherever they are. They went up the stairs, only for them to realize that it needs a green hand charge. Meaning that they have to go down the stairs, grab a charge from the nearby destroyed elevator and head back up quickly to insert the charge and open the door.

Kathy and Bunzo huffed after their back and forth trip from the stairs, and entered into a room with pipes and boxes. From the looks of it, they need a battery to open the door, but that would be unnecessary as the door has been broken down already. Fearing that the creature roaming the area was the one responsible, Kathy and Bunzo carefully made their way outside. 

There they saw it, the crashed train, Kathy called out for Sean and Luke. But no one responded, she tried a few more times, Bunzo even loudly clashing his cymbals to get Kathy’s companions attention. But Sean and Luke were gone.

Kathy began to panic. What if that purple monster that looks like Catnap had gotten Sean and Luke? What if they ate them? What if she was too late? What if they were  already long gone thanks to the crash? what if-!?

Kathy felt a stroke on her back as she realized she had gotten into a panic attack. Her breathing was weak and tears rolled down her face. She thanked Bunzo for comforting her and sat at the fire pit of a crashed train.

They could not stay there for long however, as they needed to keep exploring. Bunzo reassured Kathy that her two companions cannot be taken out that easily, and they will inevitably bump into them somewhere. Following the path, they reached a platform area.

Kathy thinks this is the path that leads to Playcare, and tells Bunzo about it. With no other way but through the gates beyond the platform, Kathy and Bunzo made their way to the other side of the platform and continued their journey to Playcare.

Surprisingly, there was still power here, shown by the turnstile still being operational. Passing through the massive copper statue of Huggy and the pair went through the gates that separates the platform and whatever lies beyond the turnstile. When they reached the top of the stairs, there was a massive  ruined sign with a tagline.

“See the world through the eyes of a child on Elliot’s Express!”

In front of them was a gondola returning from somewhere. It looks like someone used it before them, Kathy assumed the gondola does not just move by itself every now and then and someone did use it before them before returning it to its post. 

Kathy and Bunzo decided to look around the area for a bit. For one, two vending machines that are Playtime themed. While the snack vending machine was fully empty, the beverage vending machine luckily had one more distilled water bottle inside. Using both of their GrabPacks, they pried open the vending machine and the two shared the bottled water. Though it did taste funny, most likely due to being years since the bottle was even placed there. They hoped for the best that it would not poison them and went ahead to the nearby KickinChicken cutout.

“Oh hey, It’s the ‘coolest critter of the crew,’ KickinChicken.” Kathy playfully said, trying to mimic Kickin’s “the block’s cool kid” accent as she pressed the cutout’s button.

“Hey, I'm KickinChicken! Wanna go outside and hang out?”

“If only.” Bunzo replied as he pressed the button again.

"It's lookin' pretty rad outside!" The cutout continued.

“It is. Sometimes.” Kathy added as she took her turn in pressing the button.

“I've... never been outside before.” Kathy felt a pang of regret inside of her, but she doesn't know why as they continue pressing the button. 

“Will you come with me? I'm scared…” “...Sure, I guess.” Kathy muttered as she pressed the button yet again.

“I hope the outside is just as rad as the one Sean showed…” The cutout blurted out before the sound of footsteps played on the cutout.

“What the fuck!?” Kathy did not expect the cutout to mention Sean, she knew full well they shouldn’t have those kinds of voice lines by now. Bunzo pressed the button multiple times now, but the same voice lines looped around with each press.

“These cutouts of Playtime characters keep getting weirder and weirder…” Kathy quietly muttered as she nudged Bunzo to continue on and enter the gondola area. It looks like they needed to pull both the levers in order to gain access to the gondola. Kathy quickly went to the two levers and activated them.

Once the gondola opened, Kathy and Bunzo quickly made their way inside as the gondola started. They took a seat and caught their breath, the gondola is dusty as all hell, and the both of them coughed for a bit after inhaling some of the dust inside the gondola. The gondola itself started to move as well as something played on the wall mounted TV.

"Hello. My name is Elliot Ludwig."

Both Kathy and Bunzo looked up to the TV and listened. "When you look around at the world today, what one thing do you think it needs more of? I asked around once: ‘Money, I never have enough.’ ‘Understanding, I can never get any.’ ‘Faith, the common man has lost it.’ Each answer was different... and I could perhaps see some little truth in each. But I think each was also missing something. Something... simple."

The gondola exited the tunnel and Kathy and Bunzo looked out to see that they were in some sort of cave. Ahead of the gondola stood a giant dome with a glowing red entrance. The TV continued its pre-recorded video.

"You see, not one of them could muster a smile... A smile is hope. A smile is love. A smile is understanding. And there is nothing more gratifying to my soul than being the reason for a child's smile. To be the spark that ignites all their hopes and dreams. For it is only through hopes and dreams that we may create a better world. One where our children need not be afraid. One where they are protected. After all, this company and its toys are nothing without them. These children deserve to smile, they deserve to love, and they deserve a safe... home."

The gondola entered the ominous red glowing entrance, from the looks of it the entrance seemed to be covered in some sort of red smoke. Kathy and Bunzo’s attention shifted towards the TV again.

"That is why it is with enormous pleasure that as the founder of Playtime Co., I announce…” There was a grand reveal when they exited the red smoked entrance, circling around the place revealing…

“PLAYCARE! Our very own onsite orphanage. But it's not only that. It's a school, a playhouse, a place to belong. Our very own ecosystem beneath the surface, dedicated in every inch and detail to ensuring a child's smile. It's teachers and counselors, mothers and fathers, until such a time they have all of that in you. May Playcare bring joy, inspiration, and smiles to all who enter these doors! For what gives life its meaning, if not a smile?" The video ended as the gondola boarded the platform of Playcare.

Just like what they saw while in the gondola, Playcare is a massive orphanage, complete with a fake sky, clouds and simulated sun. Around the fake grass, trees, picnic areas and hills that dotted the grounds of Playcare were 5 different buildings, a Toy Store, a counselor’s office, a school, a playhouse that looked like a circus tent, and a massive building that seemed to be a two story house. In the middle was a giant pillar, with the statues of the 8 members of the Smiling Critters circling around it. Although the statue of CatNap was destroyed and collapsed down the pillar.

“I could imagine this place feeling more grand and magical if it weren’t for all the blood, debris and the emptiness here…” Kathy commented as she and Bunzo walked down the red carpet. The gondola behind them went back to the platform area of Elliot’s Express. At least that confirmed that someone did use the gondola before them.

Walking around the “paved” paths, with the remaining Bron street lights opened, the two explored Playcare. They soon found a map of Playcare. Seeing that it was peelable, Kathy snatched the map as they roamed around the plaza clockwise from where they started.

“Hello!? Anyone here!?” Kathy's call echoed through the dome, she tried again but got no response. They first headed into the Counselor office, but the front door was locked and it looked like the glass was unbreakable. Next they head to the Toy Store, Kathy called out again as they approached the Toy Store.

Bunzo joined Kathy in her calls for anyone, shouting with her in trying to call out for anyone. When they came close to the destroyed entrance of the Toy Store however, they heard something beyond the entrance. Seeing that they could remove the rubble that blocked the entrance of the Toy Store, Kathy and Bunzo tediously dug their way through.

Eventually, once enough rubble was gone for the both of them to squeeze through with their GrabPacks, the two entered the Toy Store. The inside almost looked like a child’s fantasized version of a toy factory, plenty of shelves where toys used to sit and wait for someone to buy. Decor that matched the vibe and feel of the actual toy factory, and destroyed playsets of simple toy making machines littered about the area. But the thing that concerned the two however is the copious amounts of red paintings and drawings scattered around the walls and floors on the inside of the Toy Store.

Kathy quickly wished she had grabbed a flashlight and her Touille and Poe plushies from Luke’s duffel bag, that way she could see the rest of the area that was not shown by the light coming through the now opened entrance while hugging her two favorite Nightmare Critter plushies for comfort. The two heard something shuffled further inside the dark Toy Store, and steeling themselves they venture forth.

While Kathy couldn't see much and waited for her eyes to adjust to the dark for a bit, Bunzo used his ears to follow the sounds inside the Toy Store and lead Kathy their way inside. Even though they could not see much, they could tell that there were more red paintings and drawings scrawled about the walls and floors of the Toy Store. 

Eventually, after slowly descending down a set of stairs and being very careful on where they’re stepping, they reached the bottom floor and the sounds started to sound more like incoherent mumbling.

“Someone is here Kathy…” Bunzo whispered to Kathy. “It sounds like they are mumbling something about ‘needing more red.’” 

Carefully, the two tiptoed their way in the ever-darkening area. Now Kathy really couldn’t tell what was around her, her only hope of knowing where to go was by Bunzo and tracking where the sound was coming from.

She swore they stepped on something hard, wet, slippery, weird and all kinds of unknown textures. She hoped that her pants and shoes could be cleaned off after her adventures in Playtime Co. were over and give herself and her friends a nice long bath. 

Bunzo kept following towards where the noise was coming from, and by the looks of it they were close. They reached what Bunzo assumed was the door to another room and slowly approached it. By this point their eyes were adjusted enough to where they could at least tell what they’re surrounding, they still couldn’t tell what object is what.

Bunzo took the initiative to slowly open the door, the aging door creaking as it opened.

“W-Who goes there…!?” A voice called out from inside the room, it sounded soft yet broken at the same time. “A-Are you f-food? O-or did you bring a-anything red…?”

“N-No we are not food!” Bunzo cried out as the door fully opened. Kathy and Bunzo could tell that there was someone inside the room, but still can’t make it out who it is. Suddenly, the figure stood up, and from their posture, seemed ready to defend themself.

“T-Then… W-What are you…? A-Are you o-one of the followers of C-Catnap…? O-Or are you here to k-kill me for f-food…!?” The figure asked the two, shaking violently in place.

“Wha- No, no! We are not those kinds of people!” Kathy interjected, she took a blind step into the room, which prompted the figure to back up as she approached. “Are you one of the employees stuck here or another living toy?” Kathy also inquired.

“E-Employees…? I-I thought they all d-died during the H-Hour …” The figure muttered as they trembled. “T-The screams… T-the horrors… I-It’s…”

“The hour ? S-Sorry for asking so many questions but what are you referring to?” Kathy tried to reach out to the figure, but something cut at her wrist, causing her to stagger back.

“KATHY!” Bunzo ran up to Kathy’s side, she felt where the figure cut through. Luckily, it was just a shallow cut and her wrist was mostly fine.

“S-Stay away! P-Please d-don’t kill me…” The figure trembled in the corner, although it was dark, the posture showed her pointing the sharp object at them out of self defence. “N-Nothing is real… I-It’s an illusion… Red… Red… Red…” 

Kathy carefully approaches the figure again, this time with Bunzo accompanying her and ready to pounce at the figure at the moments noticed. Kathy and Bunzo heard the figure sobbing in the corner as their hand shook violently from fear.

“Please, it’s okay, we won’t kill or even hurt you…” Kathy tried to reassure the figure as she reached out again. This time, the figure did not try to defend themself again as she grabbed whatever the figure was holding and carefully placed it down. She then took their hand slowly and brought them into a comforting hug. 

Kathy noted that the person was nearly twice as tall as her, but she did not care. This person must have suffered through all these years down here, and she felt that she needed someone to save her. Tears could be felt on her head and shoulder as she realized the figure began crying and hugging her back tightly.

Kathy and Bunzo did their best to be the angel the person needed the most. Sitting in the dark room for what almost felt like an hour but was actually just 5 minutes. Eventually, the figure calmed down and let go of Kathy. “I-I thought C-Catnap s-sent someone h-ere t-to k-kill me… I-I’m so sorry…” They apologized. 

“Look, It’s fine at least, you owned up to your mistakes and I would also defend myself if some unknown person suddenly appeared and approached me.” Kathy treasures them. “Not to be rude or anything, but what’s your name?”

“C-Crafty… C-CraftyCorn…” The figure now known as Crafty replied. “I-I think I-I’m the last o-of the S-Smiling C-Critters of P-Playcare…” 

“Oh… you poor soul.” Kathy went back in with another hug, Bunzo joining in as well. “What happened to the others?”

The living toy, CraftyCorn, began to weep again, recounting the horrible memories of Catnap ruthlessly slaughtering each and everyone one of them. Crafty was able to survive because she hid inside the Toy Store, but Catnap blocked her only way out, forcing her to live in the darkness and wait for other living toys to wander inside so that Crafty could kill them for food and use their blood as paint.

Kathy and Bunzo felt like vomiting, this poor soul shouldn’t have to go through all of that. Kahty grabbed Crafty’s hooves as best as she could due to the darkness and proclaimed.

“Crafty, Bunzo, no matter what, I’ll help you all to escape this nightmare, and together with my boyfriend Sean, and my best friend Luke, can try to live normally outside in the real world. I promise.” 

Moved by the human’s words, Bunzo and Crafty hugged back and the three formed another group hug. This one however lasted a bit shorter than before as Kathy said that they need to get out of this prison that Crafty got trapped in for years.

“B-But how…? T-The entrance is b-blocked a-and-” She tried to say, before Kathy hushed her with her finger.

“Relax, Bunzo and I managed to remove the rubble that blocked the entrance. You can trust us.”

From there, the three began slowly making their way back outside the Toy Store, with Crafty bringing along the object that she cut through Kathy’s wrist with. She ripped off her old uniform sleeve and used the fabric to wrap around the cut. While Kathy and Bunzo were still struggling with seeing where they were going, Crafty hesitantly led the two out of there, being careful in avoiding any dangerous or unknown substances that may linger on the Toy Store’s floor. 

Eventually, they made it back to the main area of the Toy Store. But something was different this time for Kathy and Bunzo. The lights that were on a while ago were now off. Shrugging off their concerns for now, Kathy and Bunzo, though half-blinded by the dark, removed the rest of the rubble from the entrance while Crafty watched in awe. It took a minute, but the two managed to finally open a hole large enough for the other living toy to squeeze through the hole.

Kathy went out first, followed by Bunzo and then Crafty, who had a bit of difficulty getting out, The other two helped her through. The three looked out of the now darkened Playcare, and both Kathy and Bunzo let out a groan of annoyance.

“My goodness! We just left Playcare for a bit and all of a sudden there’s a blackout!” Kathy complained, but quickly regained her composure when she saw the bright lights of the two story house out in the distance. She read the part of the map that stated the house was called Home Sweet Home.

“Bunzo, Crafty, let’s go over there.” She motioned her hands to Home Sweet Home. Crafty shook her head out of fear, but Kathy reasoned with her by saying that they could potentially find a first aid kit to mend Crafty’s injuries.

With a reluctant sigh from Crafty, the three ventured forth into Home Sweet Home, they walked down the darkened path and carefully climbed up the stairs, making it to the entrance of the old home. Surprisingly, the door was already opened and the three entered the building. The interior design reminded them of the same room they freed Poppy in. It was a Victorian-style room where the hallway leads to a spiral staircase that goes downwards.

Miraculously, the lights inside were still operational and Kathy could now see their new companion properly. Crafty was twice as tall as Kathy, and resembled her cartoon counterpart. Although there were a few differences, for one, there was the zipper line on her belly area along with her signature 5 color petal flower pendant, her eternally-wide smile and deep black eyes with a soft white iris forever etched into her face. Her entire body was dirtied with dried blood and dust, her blue, plush like mane had been ripped off in certain areas, together with half of her tail and horn.

“Oh… Crafty… Look at you…” Kathy solemnly said. “We have to find those first aid kits now, Bunzo.” She then told Bunzo their new goal inside Home Sweet Home, get Crafty fixed up as best as they could. 

The three slowly made their way further inside. When they reached the bottom of the stairs, traces of red mist scattered the floors of the empty home. Crafty began to break down again as soon as she saw it.

“H-H-He’s h-h-here…!” Kathy and Bunzo went up to Crafty and helped her calm down.

“Who’s here!? Crafty!?” Kathy asked as she patted the scared Critter.

“C-C-Catnap…” 

From there, Kathy and Bunzo helped Crafty conquer her fears as they pushed onward to an open door. They entered a living room of sorts, before they passed through another door that led to the main hub room of Home Sweet Home. Scattered and dead toys laid the wooden floor, photos and drawings of the children who once lived there decorated the walls, and a massive, hanging orrery with a moon as its centerpiece hung on the room's ceiling. The room itself is massive, showing the many floors, balconies and doors that most likely lead to bedrooms where the orphans sleep every night. In the middle of the room was a massive hole that led into a lower-leveled room. There was a closed door with a sun logo that was inaccessible, and a trio of cutouts of Baby Long Legs, Daddy Long Legs and Mommy Long Legs, the last one making Kathy and Bunzo shiver at the sight.

Crafty had adamantly warned them about not inhaling the red mist which she called the “Red Smoke.” If they ever inhaled it, they would be put into a nightmare and Catnap could easily kill them while they sleep. Heeding the warning of Crafty, they decided to not go down the hole that was filled with red smoke. Instead, they took one of the doors and followed wherever it took them. Home Sweet Home was a mess, with debris, broken furniture and blood scattered out of its halls. They checked many bedrooms along the way, looking for a first aid kit or anything that could help patch up Crafty.

During their expeditions inside the home of the orphans, they reached a room with a TV and a VHS player, along with a black VHS tape that was on the floor near the player itself. Kathy and Bunzo asked Crafty if she was willing to sit for a moment while they played the tape, to which she nodded in agreement. Kathy inserted the tape as they watched it play.

"Subject is stable, designated #1322.” A voice played out. Crafty commented that the voice belonged to a scientist. “Why would there be a scientist in Playtime?” Kathy thought as the tape continued to play. “Clear neural abnormalities were detected in his recent check-up. Though highly irregular, we've pulled him from the Home Sweet Home just before lights out to perform-" 

"What are you doing with my friend?" A child’s voice interrupted the scientist logging his findings. Kathy got a sinking feeling in her stomach as she continued watching the tape.

"I-! What are you doing out of bed? How did you get in here?" The scientist demanded.

"Is Kevin sick? Why did you take him away?" The child asked innocently.

"I-I... Yes... Kevin is very sick. Very, very sick. But we want to make him better. But he can only get better if we take him to where we can provide proper care, and give him proper rest." The scientist explained as he comforted the kid. But Kathy, Bunzo and Crafty could see through his lie.

"Will... D-Do you really think he will be okay?" He asked again, the scientist replied. "I should think so. We're good at what we do, son. We paid attention in school, learned, and got our proper rest when we needed it. Just like you need it now, I should think. Come now, let's get you back to bed." 

“O-Okay…” The kid reluctantly said, the kid and scientist walked out to the door as the scientist said again. "It's been a pleasure meeting you, Joseph. And I promise you, your friend will be alright. When you see him again, he'll have never been better ." The tape ended.

Kathy, Bunzo and Crafty sat there in silence, what did Playtime do to the kid named Kevin? More questions lingered inside Kathy’s mind the further she explored more of Playtime Co. and most of them still don’t have answers. They solemnly continued on their search inside Home Sweet Home.

They continued on searching inside the empty bedrooms of the abandoned orphanage, until they reached another room where there was an already solved puzzle. Someone had already completed the puzzle and inserted the two batteries in their place, bringing power to somewhere else. Exiting the room, the three immediately hid inside the same room as they saw him, Catnap. Walking on all fours, his lanky and malnourished body roamed around the halls and corridors of Home Sweet Home. Once the coast was clear, the three went up to the second floor of Home Sweet Home using a grapple bar. Crafty held onto Kathy as they ascended to the second floor.

The sound of a creaking door closing and something giggling caused the three to freeze in place as they looked at where it came from. But they found no-one, not even Catnap. They entered another room where there were bunk beds everywhere, and a giant Bobby BearHug statue sat in the middle. Crafty explained that this was where the younger kids stayed and slept while the Bobby statue watched over them. Kathy commented on how unsettling that was as the three continued on exploring. Although there were puzzles inside Home Sweet Home, all of them seemed to have already been solved by someone else.

Eventually, they made it to another bunk bed room with something burning at the end of a hallway. They moved towards the fire to reveal that it was a huge toy car that somehow crashed through the door that leads back to the main room of Home Sweet Home. To their right stood a cutout of PickyPiggy. Crafty solemnly approached it and placed her plushy hooves on top of it.

“Miss your friends?” Kathy asked as she rubbed the lamenting living toy. “Y-Yeah… I-I miss hanging o-out with them…” She replied as she pressed the button.

"Hi there! I'm PickyPiggy, let's eat!" Crafty pressed the button again.

"Roast beef? Delicious!" “Grilled chicken? Down the hatch!" "Seared elephant? Yum!" "Flayed rabbit? Mmmm...!"

With each button pressed, the more exotic the food the cutout was describing. Crafty shakingly pressed the button again.

"Still hungry... Hey, Crafty… Are we still friends after everything has happened…?” The cutout blurted out before looping back to the beginning. Crafty remembered Picky’s many, many health care plans. She always told the children of Playcare the importance of eating healthy and maintaining a balanced diet. She was the group's resident cook and always prepared the most delicious meals. She wished she could taste her cooking again, but now she is long gone now.

Kathy and Bunzo comforted Crafty as she stared at the cutout solemnly, she knew that Picky was long gone by now, but she could not help but reminisce about her time with her here in Playcare. 

Kathy told Crafty how the cutout seemed to be cursed or haunted as they have different voice lines depending on who pressed the button. She demonstrated by pressing the button until they reached the last voiceline.

“Still hungry… Kathy… Can you and Sean still be my friends… ?”

“If only you were still alive, Picky… Then sure.” She responded. Bunzo didn’t feel like hearing the cutout’s response to him as the three continued on, Crafty waved goodbye to the cutout.

They entered another room with a completed puzzle, along with another VHS tape, TV and VHS player combo. Just like the last VHS tape they found, it was right on the floor near the player. It seemed like whoever came before them also played the tape, the three sat down and watched the tape.

There were celebration noises in the background as a man announced. “Ah, and here they all are."

"Well of course, they'd never miss this!" Another voice replied, belonging to a woman this time.

Crafty told Kathy and Bunzo that the voices belong to someone named Dr. White and Ms. Brooks respectively. They all continued watching the tape.

“Who is it, Ms. Brooks? Who's going away?"

"Tell us! Tell us!"

The kids questioned the two adults as Ms. Brooks silenced the crowd of children and explained. "This week, Dr. White here has selected our very own Samuel Lee!" Screams of celebration played throughout the tape.

"Now, before he goes, let's all give Sam one last goodbye, shall we? With me. 1... 2... 3!" 

"Goodbye, Sam!" The kids along with Ms. Brooks bade Samuel Lee farewell as he leaves Home Sweet Home to his new life with Dr. White.

“Aw… How sweet of them, I hope Samuel is living a good life with that doctor.” Kathy commented, however Crafty just stared at the TV in silence. “Crafty, what’s wrong?” Bunzo asked when he noticed Crafty’s distress.

“...” Crafty could not muster the courage to answer them and ushered the two to continue on searching Home Sweet Home. Not wanting to push Crafty even more, Kathy, Bunzo and Crafty continued on exploring Home Sweet Home. 

They reached what seemed to be the medical ward of Home Sweet Home, Kathy and Bunzo immediately began searching around for any medical supplies. Luckily, they found some more expired alcohol, gauzes and a sewing kit lying about the room. They ushered Crafty to sit on one of the beds as Kathy and Bunzo patched up her old wounds and cleaned up her messy body. It took awhile, but Crafty looks almost good as new, half of her tail, some of her mane and her horn were unable to be fixed, but otherwise Crafty was patched up.

“T-Thank you… T-Thank you…” Crafty muttered as they pulled her into another group hug. They also made use of their time inside the medical ward to replace their old bandages with new ones, along with fixing up Kathy’s cut wrist. Once they were done, they continued on their journey inside the abandoned home.

Signs of Catnap’s presence were nowhere to be seen, which could be either a good or bad thing. As they made their way back to the central room, they also checked the other rooms. Some had puzzles already completed while others had nothing of value inside of them other than some creepy messages and mangled up toys inside of them. The previously locked door in the middle was now opened, but they doubted they would find anything of note inside of there. The three decided that they explored enough and elected to get out of Home Sweet Home.

They went back from where they came from, but when Kathy took her first steps up the stairs, they all heard a thud upstairs. Fearing that Catnap was at the front doors, the three quickly turned to book it out of there. But before they returned to the main room of Home Sweet Home, they heard a voice called out.

"NO, NO! LET HIM GO! He didn't do anything wrong!” a voice called out, a familiar voice to Kathy and Bunzo.

“Poppy?” Kathy and Bunzo questioned as they hesitantly ushered Crafty to follow them back to the entrance of Home Sweet Home. The door was closed, but the three could clearly hear Poppy saying something to someone.

Kathy volunteered to be the one to be the first one to check it out. She slowly opened the door and peeked out. “Poppy?” She called out.

She saw Poppy on the shoulders of Kissy Missy, who was now here in Playcare and in front of Home Sweet Home. “Kathy!?” Poppy blurted out.

“Sweet pie!?” Kathy’s eyes widened as she saw her love of her life, Sean, standing close to Poppy and Kissy. His left arm wrapped around in an arm cast and a makeshift sling and he was wearing another GrabPack.

“Photo Pie!” Kathy ran towards her boyfriend and the two locked themselves into a tight hug. They cried out for each other, saying how much they missed them and how worried they were about the two. Bunzo, who went out to check what Kathy saw, ran up to the pair as well and joined in on the hug. Once they were done comforting each other, Kathy worriedly asked what had happened to Sean’s arm.

“Sweet Pie… It’s a long story.” He sighed, Kathy also noticed the GrabPack he now had and how different it looked to hers.

"Looks like the train crash hurt all of us…” Poppy interjected. “You've been through so much... You deserve an explanation. Come on." She ushered the two humans and Bunzo to follow her and Kissy. But before they left the patio of Home Sweet Home, Crafty poked her out nervously and called out to Kathy.

Poppy, Kissy and Sean jumped out at the sudden appearance of Crafty. 

“Sweet Pie, who's that!?”
“CraftyCorn…?”

Sean and Poppy asked, surprised. Crafty hid back behind the door as Kathy came to her side and pulled her out of the door.

“Guys, uh, this is Crafty. I found her trapped inside the Toy Store, and me and Bunzo helped her out of there and we came inside Home Sweet Home to fix ourselves up.” She explained.

Crafty, who had been shaking nervously at the new pairs of eyes, sheepishly waved at them. Sean pulled out his camera, Kathy noting that he changed his lens, and took a picture of her. The sudden flashes caused Crafty to jump and Sean quickly apologized.

“Look, as much as Crafty’s sudden appearance is a surprise for us all, we need to hurry.” Poppy ushered the group to follow her and Kissy to a nearby lift. Kathy, Sean, Bunzo and Crafty quickly followed, with Poppy calling the lift down and everyone boarding. The lift began to ascend upwards.

“Listen... I am so sorry about the train crash, someone, most likely him , hijacked the train and caused it to crash... I am truly sorry but what's happening down here is bigger than all of us! And I need all of you... so we can take revenge on those monsters who've tortured all of you... Who's tortured us! They didn't act alone. They're disciples of the original: The Prototype. ” Poppy explained as the lift reached its destination, a control platform.

"Sean, would you do the honors?" Sean quickly obliged as he pressed the red button. The lights quickly went back on as Playcare had power again. Sean took more pictures of Playcare as Poppy continued.

" The Prototype knows we're coming by now.” The mere mention of The Prototype caused Bunzo, Crafty and Kissy to quiver in fear. “ He's the reason I was trapped in that... god-awful case for so long! You have no idea the things he's done! What he orchestrated all those years ago… Let me help you kill him ! Let me help you all save everyone. We've all seen you, Sean and Luke how capable you all are. You all killed Huggy, you all killed Mommy, you all freed me! You three are perfect for this." Poppy explained.

Kathy and Sean looked around nervously, did they really have the capabilities to kill whoever this “main enemy” is? They got out alive due to pure luck and being in the right place at the right time. Bunzo and Crafty looked at Poppy with the same look of concern for the two humans as well.

Poppy ushered everyone to the lift as she continued. “CatNap is coming. He's the second to final obstacle The Prototype has placed against us. We can't stay here... I know you two want to find your third companion as well, but we don’t know if CatNap already had gotten to him first… Keep yourself safe. Ollie will call you..." The group minus Poppy and Kissy left the lift, Poppy pressed the button to activate the lift again as she and Kissy disappeared to the control platform again.

“Ollie?” Kathy, Bunzo and Crafty simultaneously asked when a phone rang out. Sean quickly grabbed what looks like a toy phone with googly eyes on it and answered the phone and put it on speaker mode.

"Hey, Hey! It's me again! It seems like Poppy explained everything now... And she turned on the dome's backup power!” The voice of a child called out from the phone. Everyone but Sean were surprised to hear an actual child on the other end of the phone, how? “Now the plan from here is pretty simple: we need to restore power to the Gas Production Zone!"

“W-Wha…?”

“Who’s that!?”

“T-That p-p-place…” 

The three commented. The kid on the phone heard the three and asked. “Sean, who are those people with you right now?”

“Oh, it’s my love, Bunzo, and Crafty.” Sean replied.

“WHAT!?” The kid cried out. “W-Well… This is surprising news. Anyways, Hi, My name is Ollie!” 

Kathy, Bunzo and eventually Crafty greeted as Ollie explained something to Sean. "Now then, go back to the Home Sweet Home building you were just in! You should be able to find a big power cord somewhere around the porch! Grab it, and plug it in underneath the statue!"

The group quickly went back to Home Sweet Home and Sean quickly grabbed the power cord. Sean led the way to the room underneath the statue. They went in as Sean plugged the cord into an outlet. The room they were in seemed to be some sort of power control room. There were monitors mounted on the wall, a tube situated beside it, and scattered messes around the room. 

“Cool room right? Anyways, look at that! Remember that generator you turned on inside of Home Sweet Home? Well that was a backup generator for just that building. And every building should have one!” Ollie explained to the group. “Now you've just taken Home Sweet Home's backup power and routed it here! We're already halfway done!”

“Hmmm, but where to go next…? The Toy Store’s generator broke down a long time ago. Everywhere is pretty dangerous around here. That Playhouse especially. Yuck! So... your best bet is probably the School. CatNap usually leaves that place alone. Sending you the key now!"

A key was sent from the tube besides the collection of monitors and Sean picked it up. “Awesome, you guys can take a rest for a bit before you all start heading into the school. Stay safe, Sean and the others.” The call ended.

The group sat down, with Kathy and Sean hugging each other again. Bunzo and Crafty let them have their moment for a minute. Once they broke the hug, Kathy inquired something to Sean.

“Sean, what happened? What happened to your arm, photo pie…?” She looked down at his left arm.

“Train crash, it broke my left arm during the impact and Poppy helped me fix it up the best that we could.” He explained. “What happened to your head and wrist, sweet pie?” He asked back.

She explained how her head injury was most likely the result of a concussion from the train crash, and the wrist cut was caused by Crafty, who simply was defending herself. Crafty apologized again to Kathy, to which she reassured her it’s not her fault.

“But what about Luke, Sean?” She asked. “I don’t know, Poppy told me when she rescued me that she couldn’t find Luke anywhere.” He replied.

The two stayed silent. They silently prayed that Luke was somehow still alive and well somewhere. Sean then grabbed a pair of new clothes and gave it to Kathy. She excused herself as she went somewhere to change her clothes.

When she came back with a fresh pair of new shirts and pants, she inquired about what happened to Sean after the train crash. What did Ollie mean by a gas Production Zone? What’s with his new GrabPack? And much more.

“Well…” Sean began to explain his side of the story to Kathy, Bunzo and Crafty.

…

~~Those who are faithful and trustworthy, capture the precious memories of life~~

Sean’s Perspective:

Everything hurt, his head felt dizzy, and he couldn’t hear properly. What happened? Where is he? What about Kathy, is she okay? What went so wrong? Questions bubbled into Sean’s head as he felt something tugging him, or was it dragging him? He could not tell, he just needed a bit more shut eye.

“... Up… Ge… GET UP!” 

Sean blinked away his drowsiness as a voice begged him to get up. It sounded feminine, where had Sean heard that voice before? It didn’t sound like Kathy and the rest of his companions sound masculine, logically it means there was only one other person he could think of.

“P-Poppy…?” Sean weakly muttered as he tried to use both of his arms to rub his drowsiness off. But something was wrong. His left arm was totally fucked. The slightest movement sending a surge of immense pain when he tried to move it. Sean clutched his left arm hard as his senses came back to him.

“Oh thank god… I thought I lost you…” Poppy said in relief. “Your arm… It looks fractured… Here, let me help.” She went up to Sean, and although her body was small, she wrapped something on Sean’s arm. It was a makeshift cast and sling to support Sean’s fractured left arm.

He stared at Poppy’s amateur medical work. Although it was crude at best, it was at least something to help his arm heal. While he couldn’t move his left arm much, he could at least use his hands normally, albeit carefully making sure he did not strain his left arm.

“Thanks Poppy… But what about Kathy, Luke and Bunzo?” He asked.

“The girl is still on the train.” Poppy replied. Sean was now panicking. “D-dont worry! If we are fast enough, we can save her as well! But I don’t know about your other companion though… He was gone before I woke up and saved you.” She explains.

Without wasting any more time, Sean shakily got on his feet along with Poppy, and headed out to who knows where he was right now. He appeared to be in a storage room, with boxes littered about, and a tube present. The door would have needed a battery in order to be activated, and a blue hand for the scanner, but the door had fortunately been broken down. Sean and Poppy went out, only to realize something horrifying. Outside of the room stood a massive and lanky purple feline creature, its malnourished body prominently showing off its bones and rib cage.

“Hide! CatNap is here!” Poppy silently ushered Sean to hide behind the door frame. They peeked out and to their horror saw the creature named CatNap carrying something in its mouth. It was Kathy holding onto Bunzo. Sean tried to rush out and save Kathy, but Poppy wouldn’t let him, reasoning with him that CatNap was too powerful for him to beat right now, and one wrong move will cost his life.

He pleaded with Poppy for him to at least try, but as they argued, CatNap had already disappeared along with Kathy and Bunzo. When Sean and Poppy realized it was gone, Sean wanted to scream at the top of his lungs and call out for Kathy, but Poppy pleaded with him again to not draw CatNap’s attention.

After an intense stare down, Sean calmed down enough to think straight. He was mad that Poppy did not save Kathy and Bunzo alongside him, but he knew deep down a single, damaged and living porcelain doll could only barely manage to carry even one human being wearing something heavy.

“If you want to save the girl and your other friend, we need to start heading to Playcare and find a way to reach our allies.” Poppy said in a commanding voice. “But first, grab that phone over there.”

Sean did as she said and gave the phone to Poppy. She dialed something on it and the phone rang. It was not long until someone picked up.

“Hello? Hello? Who is this?” A child-like voice answered. Sean was surprised to hear a literal child on the other line of the phone. How could a child even survive this long inside Playtime Co?

“Ollie, it’s me, Poppy! Something went terribly wrong on the way to Playcare!” Poppy replied to the child named Ollie.

“What!? What happened!? Where have you been!?” Ollie exclaimed.

“There’s no time to explain here! CatNap is nearby and we need to get to Playcare as soon as possible!” Poppy commanded Ollie.” There’s also someone with me and his arm looks fractured! Can you send in a first aid kit here!?” 

“Wait what!? Who!?” 

“A human from the outside! A close friend to the ex-employee who came back!” Poppy quickly explained. Sean interjected and said that Kathy is the love of his life, but Poppy ignored the comment as something rattled inside the tube.

Next thing Sean knew, the tube spat out a first aid kit and Poppy immediately grabbed it. “You, I’ll get you patched up along with your broken arm, and once I’m done patching you up, we head straight to Playcare.” Poppy said.

Sean could only nod in agreement as Poppy begins to patch up Sean. She replaced the makeshift cast with a proper cast and patched up any other minor injury Sean had. The new cast allowed Sean to still use his hand.

“Here. Carry this. We need to get to Playcare now. We can help your lover, Bunzo and your other companion later. Trust me, I know they are capable of surviving by themselves.” Poppy ushered Sean and he reluctantly left the storage room with Poppy. Passing by the burning trainwreck, they headed to the platform area, where a massive copper statue of Huggy greeted the two.

The phone rang, and Sean answered it with his good arm.

“Hey! It’s me again! My name is Ollie. And I’m here to help you and Poppy head into Playcare, the home of CatNap, the last of the ‘Smiling Critters.’” The kid named Ollie explained as Sean tried to get past through the turnstile but to no avail. “ Poppy ushered Sean to a door that led to some sort of power area. “There used to be eight of them… I think? Now it’s just him. Playcare is his church, his hunting ground. Whatever he wants it to be. You better get moving quickly… Hurry. Turn the power of the turnstile back on and head your way there.” Ollie said as he ended the call.

By the looks of it, in order to power the turnstile, Sean had to turn this electrical pylon until the hand was aligned with the outlet. Then he had to fire an electrical hand cannon into the pylon’s markings and turn on the power. When he finished, he returned to the entrance. He passed through the turnstile and met up with Poppy, who was waiting for him on one of the steps.

Sean and Poppy made it up the stairs and were greeted by quite the sight. There were vending machines, a KickinChicken cutout, a sign that said “Elliot’s Express” and a gondola. Sean already had his own bottled water, and Poppy really wanted to get to Playcare right now. Yet, he could not help but take pictures.

His main camera lens was broken thanks to the train crash. So with a bit of trouble, he replaced it with a spare lens he brought with him. From there he took pictures of the surrounding area. He then pressed the button on the KickinChicken cutout once he was done taking pictures of the place.

The cutout’s lines were all about how Kickin wanted to go outside, and asked him if he would accompany him outside. Until the last part caught him off guard.

“Maybe this is a bad idea after all… Maybe you can show me some pictures of the outside instead, Sean?” The cutout played.

Sean and Poppy stared at the cutout. Right, these cutouts were cursed or haunted or something. Poppy snapped out of her shock and quickly ushered Sean into the gondola, which she took the liberty of opening.

Once they boarded the gondola, it began to move and take them to what Sean assumed to be Playcare.

“Listen, Ollie will guide you to a place called the Gas Production Zone. From there, he will instruct you on what to do while I head to a place called Home Sweet Home to find something there, okay?” Poppy explained.

The gondola exited the tunnel while the pre-recorded video played as they headed to Playcare. Sean took photos of the cavern and dome, marveling on the sheer feat of its construction. They entered the entrance which was covered by something Poppy said is the “red smoke.” 

The video continued. Elliot talked about how a smile is hope, love and understanding. Sean was not paying attention much as he continued to take pictures with his good hand. Just as the video reached its climax, the entire gondola turned white to dramatically reveal…

“PLAYCARE! Our very own onsite orphanage!” Elliot Ludwig announced.

Sean was amazed to see the ruined Playcare, Kathy had told him that Playcare was Elliot’s magnum opus. She was not lying about that claim. This place was as massive and grand as an abandoned orphanage can get. Sean took as many photos as could until the gondola docked. Exiting with Poppy in tow, the gondola soon returned back to the entrance of Elliot Express. “Ollie will call very soon, you go ahead with him while I gather something at Home Sweet Home.” Poppy explained as she went ahead to a nearby vent.

The phone rang again, and Sean quickly answered it. “Psst. It's me again, Ollie. Cool place, right? The kids used to live here. Now look at it..."

“Yeah, kid, I could definitely see the kids laughing and having fun in here…” Sean commented as Ollie continued.

"Anyways, do you see that statue in the middle of the room? Take the stairs that go under it. There's a really cool room in there that powers literally all of Playcare! I can give you a key down there." Ollie explained. 

He went straight ahead to the room under the statues, though not before taking more photos along the way. He took photos of the abandoned buildings, the set designs, the intricate details of Playcare and the plaques that described each of the Smiling Critters personality and spiel. All except for CatNap, whose plaque was nowhere to be seen.

After the quick photography detour, Sean went down to the power room of Playcare. From there, he noticed a pipe that had a key in it. He quickly snatched it up with his good hand as Ollie rang again.

"So, you got the key?” Ollie asked, to which Sean answered, “Yup.”

“Nice! Now that you got the key, head back out, and you should find a door just to the left of the cable car you took down here.” Ollie hung up again as Sean exited the power room. From there, he found the door and opened it with the key. It led to a factory-like area. Once Sean reached the main area of the factory area, his jaw dropped.

In the center of the room stood a massive machine that produced the red smoke Poppy had mentioned a bit ago. There was also a huge terminal in front of it, with wires upon wires connecting the machine to other areas of the facility. Ollie called again and Sean picked up the phone, set it to speaker phone, and started taking pictures of the place. 

"Welcome to the Gas Production Zone, the beating heart of the whole evil Playcare system. All that gas you see coming from the machine is made right here in this factory. Right now, it's all headed off to the right. We need to make that Red Smoke go left instead. That's how we can get to him . The machine needs power in order for it to work, but I think you can do it. There should be a spare GrabPack nearby in a small room that you can use to navigate the facility and bypass some stupid safeguards. You don’t want to breathe in the red smoke. Bad things will happen to you if you do. I'll call you once it's done." Ollie explained as Sean finished taking photos of the giant machine. He went up to the terminal and just as Ollie said, the terminal said that it needed power. 

Exploring the surrounding rooms, he entered a small room, finding the GrabPack lying there. Although equipping it was a bit difficult due to his left arm being broken, he managed to put on the new GrabPack himself. He also spotted a working flashlight, a VHS tape, a TV and a VHS player nearby. He grabbed it and inserted it into the player. 

The tape explained that the GrabPack Sean is currently equipped with is an enhanced 2.0 version of a regular GrabPack. Unlike Kathy’s GrabPack, this one boasted a sleeker design, longer wire reach, an ability to swap hands on the go with a flick of a switch, and air jets on the back that were able to break long falls. Currently, the GrabPack has a green hand similar to Kathy’s green hand on her grabpack, and a purple hand called a “Rocket Hand.” The tape explained that there will be certain areas where he could fire the purple hand and give himself a jump boost. The tape ended with a safety reminder to act responsibly when using the GrabPack 2.0.

Inside the same room where he got the enhanced GrabPack was a purple hand pad. To test out the purple hand’s capabilities, he launched it towards the pad. This caused Sean to be launched upwards, managing to land on the upper level of the room. He shook off his surprise launch and continued, heading behind the giant machine. He used the purple launchpads once more to reach what looked to be the control center room. Red smoke lingered in the crevices of the floor and there was an electrical puzzle with a similar electrical pylon from before.

Solving the puzzle was a bit difficult for Sean. as the injury to his left arm made using the left GrabPack cannon awkward. When he finally solved it, he activated the power to the machine and headed out. The door was locked by a simple wooden chair, and Sean removed it to gain access to the main room again. He went up to the terminal and pressed the big red button. He watched the red smoke slowly transfer to the middle tube, Yet, once all the smoke reached the middle tube, the power cut out.

Sean was plunged into darkness and he quickly grabbed his newly acquired flashlight. Ollie rang again and Sean answered.

"Oh no! Someone killed the power!” Ollie exclaimed. 

“Well sh- crap kid, what do we do now?” Sean asked, barely avoiding swearing at a child.

“Okay, I sent you another key. It's under the statue. Use it to get into Home Sweet Home. Then once you're inside, find the building's backup generator and turn it on! Good luck!" Ollie said as he hung up on him again.

Exiting the Gas Production Zone, he was greeted with absolute darkness inside Playcare. Using his flashlight to illuminate the path, Sean made his way to the room underneath the statues and quickly snatched the key from the tube. He was surprised that the room still had power. Likely, there was a backup generator hidden here somewhere. He also spotted the old generator, scratched up and destroyed. Sean suspected it to be the work of CatNap. Exiting the room, he went to the billboard with the map to make sure he was heading in the right direction, but he was shocked to see the map was now gone.

Noting the anomaly that was the missing map, he trusted his gut and went straight to the two story house. Ascending the stairs, he opened the front doors of Home Sweet Home. Sean entered the building and was surprised to see the Victorian style interior, one that looked similar to where they first freed Poppy. He went down the spiral staircase and found another door. But when he opened the door, a burst of red smoke flooded the room, making Sean cough violently.

He waved off some of the smoke as he continued to cough until he felt well enough to continue his way forward into Home Sweet Home.

He walked down the stairs of Home Sweet Home, and Sean wondered how big this place is. But when he reached the bottom, something was very wrong. Instead of the Victorian style interior, he was back at his studio.

“What the fuck?” Sean muttered as he examined his studio warehouse. It looked like most of his expensive photography equipment and setup were still here, and nothing had changed since he left with Kathy and Luke. The only thing out of place was a radio. He walked out to the exit, only to find that he was now back inside his studio again. What was happening?

"Tragic news this morning. As of 9:45 AM, local authorities report that the body of a young boy has been found on the estate of the late Elliot Ludwig, an esteemed toy maker and originator of the Playtime Company.” The radio suddenly began to play. Sean tried to grab his camera and record what the radio was playing, only to find that his camera, backpack and GrabPack all mysteriously vanished. “At this time, an identity for the child awaits official confirmation. Found in an upstairs bedroom in a large duffel bag, officers on-scene report that the remains appeared to have been disturbed. Organs, as well as key bones from the skeletal structure, were reported missing from the body. It is unknown at this time whether this extraction was, in fact, the cause of death."

“Jeez…” Sean commented. He vaguely remembered hearing about that specific news story many years ago, but he had forgotten all about it until now. He walked to the exit of his studio again. This time, he was not in his studio, but instead he was now in an empty conference hall. He recognized this place. This is where he first bumped into Kathy 3 years ago. Somewhere, the radio began to play again. 

“Following recent events, Playtime Co. was asked for any comment regarding the discovery. This is what they had to say, quote: "It's sickening. Elliot Ludwig was a great man, and those who knew him understood that he was not capable of violence, let alone what others now claim. He had a deep love in his heart for children like this one, making the actions of whoever planted this body all the more sick. We look forward to clearing his good name, both in the public eye and in the eyes of the law.’"

He roamed around the empty room, unnerved by the emptiness and the abandoned atmosphere. The radio violently blurted out, “STAY TUNED FOR MORE..." causing Sean to jump out his feet.

He then heard a phone call somewhere. He reached for a door and opened it. This time, it led back to what was supposed to be a room of Home Sweet Home. From the desk with a lamp light stood a ringing red phone, Sean picked it up and heard Ollie on the other end. "You need to run!" The phone hung up as quickly as it rang.

Sean looked back to the door and for a split second saw something, no, someone staring at him before vanishing from the doorway. He froze in place, unsure whether his stalker was still there and ready to attack him. He grabbed a small wooden chair and slowly walked up to the doorway. He looked left and right and no signs of his stalker were present. Bringing the small chair with him, he walked up to another door and slowly opened it. 

This time, he was in an empty carnival area, the same one where he and Kathy went out on their first date. Nearby was another radio, continuing to play the same news as before

“Despite Playtime's proclamation of Ludwig's innocence, many believe his reclusive and mysterious nature displayed over the previous decades lends suspicion to this claim. When questioned, Ludwig's neighbors indicated that he would often return to his home in strange hours of the night, and depart again before sunrise. Some believed he was sick, others, that–”

As Sean was about to explore another game booth, a heavily distorted voice interrupted the broadcasting, saying: “DON'T MOVE. DON'T MOVE AN INCH.” “--Playtime Co., it seems, intends to keep Elliot's name within its brand regardless. What is sure to be a long legal battle will follow."

The radio continued like nothing had ever happened. Sean was sweating bullets now with how disturbing everything was. What kind of place is this? Why are these things happening to him right now? Is this a nightmare?

Eventually, after entering the Tarot Reading booth, he was now back to the vents that he, Kathy and Luke were chased through by Huggy from way back when. Sean shivered at the sight. The path behind him mysteriously disappeared, forcing him to go through the vent again. This time, there was no Huggy chasing him for his dear life. Instead, he heard footsteps and felt like he was being watched. Out of nowhere, the radio began playing something Sean could not understand.

“I dnif ruoy ecneserp evisurtni. uoY dewollof a citereh, a eslaf reveileb fo eht eno ohw sgnirb noitavlas ereh ni siht lleh, otni ruo emoh. reH ecneserp saw dednamed 8 sraey oga, dna ehs ndid't wohs pu. ehS saw desoppus ot dael na ymra ot noitavlas, tey ehs saw erehwon ot eb nees. thgiE, thgie, neetenin ytenin evif. ehS saw esoppus ot eb detivni ot ruo ytrap. yhW did ehs ton wohs pu ot ruo ytrap? ehS dessim eht yad fo ecnareviled. UOY LLA ERA TON EMOCLEW EREH. THGIE, THGIE NEETENIN YTENIN EVIF.”

Sean felt his entire soul shiver as he listened to the distorted radio announcement. He could see the face of CatNap staring at him, watching him, stalking him as he continued walking down the vents. He reached the end of the vents and saw that he was now in the catwalk before the Poppy room.

Although it looked different, only having one straight catwalk, Sean continued on. But the closer he got to the door, the more disturbing the surrounding imagery appeared. It began with toys being impaled and hung on the sides of the catwalk, but slowly it changed into what looked to be the employees of Playtime Co. being hanged and impaled. Sean ran to the door faster, he heard agonized screams. The amount of impaled and hanged bodies, now including children, increased, and the voices of doubt rang louder inside Sean’s head. The most terrifying sight of them all was what lay at the end of the catwalk and near the entrance of the door. The dead body of Luke hanged by the neck, his left eye gouged out, and the crucified body of Kathy nailed on top of the door. She wore a thorn of crowns atop her head, her guts ripped out, her right hand missing, and her lower half of her body on the verge of being ripped off.

Sean wanted to scream, he wanted to cry, but nothing came out of his mouth. “This, this can’t be real, it’s just a nightmare , it has to be!” Sean quickly fled inside the Poppy room, the voices suddenly stopped as he shakily walked to the living room. The room with Poppy’s cabinet and the white door that led to Elliot’s office was blocked off. The only thing of note was a pink VHS tape lying on the couch. The walls were scribbled with the phrase “Happiness and fun, why was it done?”

Sean couldn’t control his own body anymore. He placed the tape into the VHS player and watched the tape, unable to tear himself away.

“Is the camera rolling Sean?” Sean gasped as he realized what tape he was watching. It was the recording he made during the day they confessed to each other.

“Yeah! How could I not pass this opportunity to record something special?” His past self replied. The camera pointed up to the night sky as fireworks began to blow up, creating a beautiful backdrop.

“Wow… Pretty fireworks…” Kathy commented. She then turned to Sean nervously. “Sean… I have something to tell you…” 

“What is it?” Past Sean asked. His present self knew already what was about to happen. It was the happiest moment of his life after all, yet he felt something akin to dread building up inside of him. The living room felt darker and darker as the tape continued to play.

“Well… I know we’ve been hanging out for a while already, and some of it was the most fun that I have ever had up until now. It rivals when I worked in P̴̗͛̀̅l̷̜̐̓̍a̶̧̩͗y̵̰͈̲̾̅̄ẗ̷̼̪́i̶̦̗̰͋̈ḿ̸̹͒̑e̷̫̐ͅ, but I feel like this is the perfect moment to say…” Kathy went to Sean closely as she stared at him intently.

“I-I uh…” Kathy struggled to say the words she always wanted to say to him. He put down the camera and grabbed both of her hands tightly. “What is it?” He asked.

Finally finding the courage to say it out loud, Kathy blurted out her confession. “I-I, I can’t take it anymore! I love you Sean!” 

Both the past and present Sean stared at her dumbfounded. They didn’t know what to say. He suspected that Kathy developed a crush on him. But this was the confirmation he was looking for. With tears flowing in their eyes, Sean embraced Kathy and said he loved her too.

They held each other as the fireworks continued to play out in the background. But the tape had something new that Sean did not expect to see nor hear.

“So… you really loved a heretic, huh?” Kathy(?) said as the scene abruptly changed to her staring at the camera in the void. “You loved a heretic who didn’t keep her promise to bring salvation to everyone in this place called ‘Home.’” Her(?) voice slowly distorted as she explained.

The lights around him went dark. Only the light from the TV illuminated the room, and Sean could not look away from the screen. The walls slowly carved out the words “The Hour of Joy” as Kathy(?) continued “talking” to him.

“Perhaps she smiles at you with a mask. A fake smile to hide the truth she subconsciously buried deep inside her all these years ago.” The image of Kathy(?) started to cry in blood and her hair slowly fell off her scalp. “An illusion of happiness she told herself, knowing deep down that none of it was real. May you descend into the dark and the dust, and find that all that awaits you are incomprehensible horrors…”

Suddenly, Kathy’s(?) head got cut off from her body. The spine was still attached to her(?) head and was now only prompted by strings attached to her head. Her(?) eyes fell out of her(?) eye sockets as she continued.

“Playtime Co. welcomes you, the heretic and the lost lamb inside our home of salvation… Or perhaps, you were uninvited to the world she'd left all these years ago...” Something creaked behind Sean, but he couldn’t look away from the screen to check what it was as the tape concluded.

“ Welcome… To our home, our world… Mr. Smith. ”

Something impaled his chest, neck, and head. Long needle-like fingers pierced through his body, and ripped out his brain, throat and heart. Sean opened his mouth in a silent scream, dying gruesomely, while the distorted Kathy(?) laughed maniacally…

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“AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!” Sean screamed. His body shot up instantly as he started hyperventilating. He couldn’t ouldn’t control his own breathing. His e. His eyes darted around the room he was in. It seemed he was in the living room of Home Sweet Home. He was not in the room before Poppy’s cabinet room, he was not in some weird, liminal space filled with corpses, and his body and belongings were the same before the nightmare began. 

Sean could not shake off the feeling of absolute terror. Dreams and reality blurred to form that nightmarish theater for Sean. His entire body was shaking from what he witnessed. He couldn’t stand up. He couldn’t breathe properly. He couldn’t think properly.

He sat there, hyperventilating and quivering for what felt like hours, yet it was only but a minute. His senses slowly came back to him as the first thing he heard was a phone ringing. A phone? Since when was there reception down he-? Wait! The phone that Ollie used!

Trembling, he answered the phone.

“Sean! Sean! What happened!? Did you inhale the red smoke!?” Ollie asked, clearly concerned. Sean tried to answer, but he couldn’t bring himself to speak coherently.

“Sean! Breathe in and out slowly! Slowly! Follow my lead. Breathe in… Breathe out… Breathe in… Breathe out…” Ollie commanded, and Sean did as he was told to.

Slowly but surely, Ollie managed to bring Sean out of his panic attack. Once he had calmed, he muttered a quiet thank you to Ollie.

“You're welcome! I’m sorry you had to experience something like that. CatNap’s red smoke is very potent, and can send anyone into a nightmare that almost feels real. He enjoys watching his prey wail in their sleep…” Ollie explained. “Anyway, you need to keep going and turn on the backup generator. Who knows when CatNap could appear?”

“Y-Yeah sure… L-Let me drink some water first…” Sean answered as Ollie hung up the phone. He shakily reached out for his bottled water with his good hand and took a few sips. Some of it stained his jacket but he didn’t care. He needed it. After calming himself somewhat, he got up to his feet and slowly made his way inside Home Sweet Home. He entered what appeared to be the central room. Broken and dead toys were scattered on the wooden floor, photos and drawings of the children of Home Sweet Home decorated the walls, and a massive, hanging orrery with a moon as its centerpiece hung on the room's ceiling.

Sean weakly held up his camera, and took a photo of the room. Despite being abandoned for years, the place still looked grand. He walked up to the Long Legs family cutout. Baby Long Legs didn’t have a button, but Daddy and Mommy Long Legs did. However, it only played static. Sean shivered as he eyed the closed door with a sun logo. He assumed that that was where the backup generator was. However, the door was locked. He needed to power the door, which involved looking around the different parts of Home Sweet Home. The doors on either side were locked, meaning he had no choice but to venture underneath the big hole on the ground.

The floor beneath was covered in red smoke. Sean really wanted to avoid breathing in that red smoke again. Luckily on the edge of the hole, he found a gas mask he could use. He awkwardly strapped it on with his only good hand before carefully jumping down to the lower floor. It seemed to be a maintenance hall underneath Home Sweet Home. Red smoke filled the room but thanks to the gas mask, he would be safe this time. Sean eyed a massive toy car in the center of the room with a pull cord. Using the right arm of his GrabPack, he pulled back the cord and the toy car activated, ramming through a pile of boxes and clearing a way forward for Sean. He walked down the newly accessible hallway, only to be greeted with another dead end thanks to the destroyed race car. He looked up to see a bar on top and grappled to it with his right GrabPack to ascend.

He entered what seemed to be a laundry room, along with a hole that led into some kind of observation room. Sean removed his gas mask and clipped it onto his backpack before heading inside the observation room. He noticed something disturbing, however. There was a one way window that showed a bedroom on the other side. Sean was baffled and concerned. Why would Home Sweet Home, a place for orphans to sleep, need this kind of room? Sean quietly took a photo and continued on his way. He removed some furniture with his right GrabPack arm and continued walking down the empty corridors. He awkwardly opened a door using the blue hand, and entered a room with a TV and VHS player inside. After looking around for a bit, he found a black VHS tape and inserted it into the tape player.

Sean intently listened to the VHS tape, a log report for some kid named Kevin, and was interrupted by a kid wondering what happened to his friend. Sean watched as the person who looked like a scientist lied to the face of the kid, saying that Kevin was very sick, and that they wanted to make him better. The adult reassured the kid that Kevin is okay, and ushered the boy back to his bed, ending the tape with him saying. “When you see him again, he'll have never been better."

Sean was disturbed at the contents of the tape. What did they do to the kids of Playcare? Did they monitor the kids through those observation rooms? This place was so much more than Sean had ever expected. He continued walking down the empty corridors, until he heard footsteps and scraping. He hid behind one of the furniture as CatNap roamed the hallways. He held his breath as CatNap scanned the rooms around him. Once he was done, he left the hall and headed off to somewhere else.

Sean sat there for a minute, making sure CatNap was completely gone before continuing on his mission. He entered a room where he needed to find two batteries to bring power back and open the door. Luckily, one of the batteries needed was in the very same room he is in, the other would need a bit of exploring to find. Most of the doors were unlocked, but no battery in sight. One door seemed to be locked and he hoped that the battery was not inside. He used a grapple bar to ascend to the second floor and entered the infirmary for babies. He saw another battery that was placed on a destroyed Bobby BearHug statue in a shared bunk bed room just beside the infirmary room. He went back to the battery room and restored the power inside, bringing back 50% of the power needed to open the generator doors. He opened the door and went upstairs.

He entered another bunk bed room. In the middle of the room was another race car that Sean used to destroy a door that led to the central room again. He looked around, making sure to take some aerial shots of the central room and the bunk bed rooms along the way. He suddenly noticed a PickyPiggy Cutout. While the threat of CatNap hearing the cutout was there, his curiosity got the better of him and he pressed the button.

"Hi there! I'm PickyPiggy, let's eat!" Sean pressed the button again.

"Roast beef? Delicious!" “Grilled chicken? Down the hatch!" "Seared elephant? Yum!" "Flayed rabbit? Mmmm...!"

With each line the cutout played, Sean felt a strong sense of foreboding, until he pressed the button one last time.

“Still hungry… Sean… Can you and Kathy still be my friends… ?”

Sean stared at the cutout for a minute, before shaking it off and heading into another room. He went into another lounge room, and had to solve a puzzle using the green hand. Remembering the tutorial video for his GrabPack, he switched his purple hand for a green hand and began solving the puzzle. While he was trying to figure out what to do, he noticed another VHS tape. Luckily, there was another TV and VHS player nearby and he let it play while he worked on the puzzle.

The contents of the VHS tape was wholesome, as it turned out. It was just the kids and caretakers of Playtime greeting a kid named Samuel goodbye after he got adopted by someone named Dr. White. Sean hoped that the kid was currently living a good life somewhere out there. Sean finished solving the puzzle and he continued on going deeper into Home Sweet Home.

After avoiding CatNap again, Sean turned to another bunk bed room and immediately got jumpscared by the still Bobby BearHug statue in the middle of the room. It did not help ease Sean’s nerves. It followed him around the room as he made it to another area of Home Sweet Home. Going through a vent and taking some turns around the hallways, Sean entered another identical battery room. Looks like he needed to find two batteries this time as the first one was not here. Remembering that the Bobby statue had a battery in its back. Sean navigated through another path thanks to the presence of a green hand charge outlet and receiver. He made his way to the side rooms of the bunk bed room. The statue was not following him this time since he was not in its line of sight and Sean quickly removed the battery.

Finding the other battery was a lot more challenging. First, he had to cleverly use the green charge outlet near the stairs to leave the door open just long enough so that he could grab two charges from a nearby green charge receiver to open a door near the battery room. Then he used another race car to destroy some more doors and barricades, getting jumpscared by a hanging CatNap plush along the way. Entering the newly accessible room, as well as exploring a few more rooms while wearing the gas mask due to some of the rooms being filled with red smoke, he found the final battery needed to complete the puzzle. He returned to the battery room and inserted the second battery. As soon as he had done that, rooster calls played, signalling that the power to the door that led to the generator now had power.

Avoiding the roaming CatNap along the way, Sean made it to the central room again and saw that the door with the sun logo had now been opened. He entered the generator room, awkwardly activated a door that needed a blue hand scan, and entered the power room. 

Sean groaned as he realized he needed to complete yet another electrical puzzle again. He took it slow, making sure he understood the puzzle. He set up the pylon to their proper positions, made sure the stationary cannons were properly aligned, went back and forth between the two sections of the puzzle, and finally activated both cannons one by one. The puzzle was soon completed, and the backup generator roared back to life, Sean made his way to the newly opened gate and walked down the maintenance halls. It felt cramped and narrow, so narrow that it barely fit him. Nothing of note could be found in the scattered debris and dead toys that littered the corridors. Sean jumped at the sudden steam coming out from a pipe as he made his way to a dead end.

There was a button he could press, and that button called down a small maintenance elevator that Sean used to get back to Home Sweet Home. He emerged into the same room he woke up after his horrific nightmare. Seeing as his mission was now complete, he quickly left the orphanage, not wanting to stay any longer than he needed to.

He opened the door back out to Playcare and let out a huge sigh of relief. “Finally, no more of that nightmare.” Sean quietly muttered as he went out, making sure he closed the door behind him. But before he could take a step down, someone tackled him to the ground.

“AH!” Sean quickly turned to meet his assailant, a figure that looks like Huggy Wuggy. Oh no! How did he find him!? Was he out here for revenge when they sent him tumbling into the void!?

Huggy was about to end his life, the pain in his left arm flaring intensely from the sudden attack. But a familiar voice suddenly spoke out.

"NO, NO! LET GO! He didn't do anything wrong!” Poppy emerged out of nowhere and raised her arms in defence. The figure shifted their position and the lights of Home Sweet Home revealed that it was not Huggy, but instead Kissy.

“We're actually here to help.” She turned to Sean, and helped him up as best as she could. Poppy sighed before saying. “This place makes her tense... I'm glad that Ollie could help you get this far.”

Before Poppy could continue to speak to Sean, the front door slowly opened as someone called out and peeked their head through the door.

“Poppy?” That oh so familiar voice Sean knows so much about, Kathy, called out.

…

~~Angels don’t have wings, they have compassion~~

Kathy’s Perspective:

“...And that’s basically it.”

Kathy, Sean, Bunzo and Crafty took the time to rest before heading into the school area while Sean recounted his experience so far inside Playcare. Kathy was hugging Sean all the way throughout his story, tightening her hug when he told her about his nightmare. Kathy muttered apologies for making him worry about her and for all the things that he had gone through. Bunzo and Crafty also gave their support to Sean through head pats and back rubs.

Eventually, the four were now well rested and ready to head out and open the school’s back-up generator. Before they headed out however, Kathy and Sean agreed that Kathy would bring the GrabPack 2.0 while Crafty would be the one to wear the original GrabPack. Sean questioned how Crafty could operate the GrabPack since her hands are hooves, but he told him he can still grip things properly like those hooves were hands. She couldn't answer how that worked, however, as she did not know herself.

With everyone ready, the four went out and headed straight to the school. Sean fumbled with the keys and opened the entrance to the school. They headed down the stairs and before they could enter the school proper, Ollie called.

"Okay, make this quick! Turn on the generator, leave, and plug the school's power cord into the center! Be careful in there, I don't think I can connect to you on that side of the dome! And you won't be alone.” Ollie begins to break up as he explains what the group needed to do. “There's someone else in there too. They're not your--" The phone abruptly cut and they did not pick up on who Ollie was referring to.

“Well… Guess we have to be even more careful huh.” Kathy commented as the four made their way inside. The school barely had any lights on, so Sean had to use his flashlight, forcing everyone to rely on his guidance. The four made their way through the empty hallways littered with hollow, fallen multicolored lockers, and headed inside to a piano room. Crafty mentioned that this is where she used to teach the kids of Playtime music and how to play different instruments. Bunzo noticed a note on top of the piano bench stool, but as he made his way to the node, an announcement suddenly blurted out from the still working PA system.

"This is Miss Delight speaking. Please excuse the interruption! Students, remain in your seat until the bell has rung! And no going in the halls without a hall pass!"

“M-Miss Delight!?” Crafty blurted out as the announcement ended. “H-H-How…?” 

“Crafty! What’s wrong!?” Kathy comforted the living toy unicorn, she explained that she thought all the teachers who facilitated the school died a long time ago. She did not expect one of them to still be alive and kicking. 

While Kathy comforted Crafty, Bunzo grabbed the letter and nudged Sean to read it with him.

“Just a few weeks ago now was The Hour of Joy . Today, there is only silence in this school. I don't think any of us here know what to do with it. The hallways without the children carry even the smallest sounds as if they were shouts. The other teachers and I startle each other constantly. We'll have to get used to it. Something locked the front door this morning. We haven't been able to open it.” Sean read out loud. 

Crafty broke down again when “ The Hour of Joy ” was read out. Sean noted to himself to not read that word out loud when Crafty is nearby. He apologized to Craft as Kathy and Bunzo comforted her even more.

Once Crafty was calm enough to continue on, the four explored more of the school. They quickly explored the classroom, finding nothing but dead toys lying about the abandoned classroom. Sean took some photos of both the piano room and classroom as Kathy quickly powered up the closed gate with a green hand charge from the piano room. Once Sean was done taking photos, the four continued on further into the school. 

After a bit of walking through the abandoned school, they reached a fork in the road. They first head right, checking the doors to see if they are open, to which most of them are not. They eventually made their way into a room with a green charge receiver and two empty battery sockets. One of the batteries is behind some fenced off area where the only way in is through a vent. The four left the room and headed to the left of the intersection. The only place they can explore is another classroom where they found one of the batteries needed and another note near it. As Crafty picked up the battery, Buno handed the second note to Sean, who read it outloud again, making sure he did not say any words that might scare Crafty out of her mind.

“I heard a knock at the door today. I heard it breathing. Whatever it was, it wouldn't speak when called out to. I spent hours after it went silent wondering if this was what locked us in here. I've made a weapon of sorts. Pencils and rulers and tape and twine. I've taken to calling it "Barb". It's crude. But if that door opens, I need to be ready.” Sean read.

“Damn… What even happened here?” Sean commented, Crafty added that the person who might have locked in the Delights might be CatNap. The four, with the battery in tow, headed back to the battery room and placed it on one of the sockets, one down, one more to go. As they exited the room to find a way to grab the other battery, the lights flickered, and a strange figure walked down one of the halls holding something. 

Crafty quietly mumbled out that the figure they just saw was Miss Delight, and they really need to be careful roaming around here now. They sneak under some debris, Crafty elected to climb up on the debris due to her height, and the four reached a closed gate that requires a green hand charge to open. There is also a door that leads to an office space, along with an open vent that one of them can crawl through and grab the battery. Bunzo volunteered to be the one to get the battery, and the rest agreed to wait for him in the battery room. However, before Bunzo used his GrabPack to climb up to the vent, the school’s PA system played again.

"Wait... While I don’t recognize the human wearing a beanie… I sure do recognize you young lady!” Ms. Delight spoke through the PA system. “Yes, you used to work here! And you are awfully late to the party, I will be handing you out a warning slip for your tardiness, okay. And Crafty! What a surprise! How are you… Alive?”

The group stared at the PA system, what was Ms. Delight talking about, the four were utterly confused. There was a pause before Ms. Delight spoke again. 

“Hm… Barb says you're looking for your co-workers, CatNap wouldn't like that you're here. You should leave... for your own safety." Ms. Delight concluded as the PA system turned off. Shaking off the feeling of dread, Bunzo made his way up the ventilation system. He crawled through the dusty vent, coughing along the way. He finally dropped down to the fenced off area with the battery, it was a bit of a struggle to carry since his GrabPack isn’t as strong as Kathy’s or Crafty’s, but it gets the job done. He went back to where he came from and crawled through the vents with the battery in toe. 

While the others waited for Bunzo to arrive with the battery, Crafty found another note and she shakily read it outloud.

“N-No food for days. The others a-argued with me over what was left. T-They started glaring. J-Judging. They b-blocked the kitchen doorway with their b-bodies. I-I think they've singled me out to d-die first.” Craft read it outloud, stuttering on some parts of the notes. 

Kathy comforted the unicorn as she gave the note to Sean, who in turn pocketed it inside his backpack. Bunzo emerged from the vent with the battery and told Kathy to insert it and grab the green charge for the closed gate. She did as she was told, inserting the battery, grabbing the green charge and ran to the green charge outlet. The gate opened and the four continued on and entered a viewing room. With a TV and VHS player here, Kathy and Sean deduced that a VHS tape was nearby. The four took a quick look for the VHS tape, Crafty finding it on top of a cabinet shelf. She placed the tape in the player and the four listened to an audio recording.

"Where are the kids?" The voice of Ms. Delight played. "Please, where are the children? Are they... in the same place as the employees?" 

“No.” She mimicked someone, Crafty suggesting that it might be CatNap she is mimicking. 

"Are the children safe?" "Yes." 

Ms. Delight sighed as she asked again to herself. "Can I see them?" "No." 

"And that was it. That's all he'd tell me." Ms. Delight said to herself, a small laugh came out from her voice as she continued. "Probably because he knew I'd kill 'em all." She dementedly laughed as the tape ended.

Everyone shuddered at the tape and decided to just continue on. Exiting the room, the four spotted two different closed gates. One that required a battery to open while the other seemed to need a green charge from the other side of the gate. They entered the only accessible room that they can go to, which is another office room, along with another open vent above. Bunzo shrieked after seeing a hanged Bunzo toy hanging near the vent, along with a note attached. Crafty grabbed it and gave it to Sean, who in turn read it outloud for everyone.

“The pit in me howls for food. I can’t think about anything other than how hungry I am. I hardly have the strength now to pick myself off the floor. Barb speaks to me though. She gives me strength. I've found that if I stand still, completely still , everyone thinks I'm dead. Barb says I need to eat, and that the other teachers would never see me coming. Anything to stop the howling.“ Sean read.

“Oh no… I really have a bad feeling about what happened to the Ms. Delight characters…” Sean commented as they deliberate on who will crawl through the vent. Bunzo’s GrabPack does not support the use of the green hand while Crafty is way too big to crawl through it. Meaning Kathy had to be the one to venture through the vent and find a way to open one of the gates for the rest.

She entered the vent and slowly crawled her way to somewhere. Along the way, she spotted the dark figure of Ms. Delight walking down somewhere. She froze, giving herself a minute to wait until the still living teacher was gone and continued on. Eventually, she dropped down into another office space that has a green hand charge receiver. Before she could grab the charge and power up two gates outside and regroup with her friends and companions, the PS system began.

“Not a good listener, are you? You're a lot like the other humans in that way. I wonder if your screams will sound like theirs too!” Ms. Delight commented as she giggled. “I look forward to finding out..."

Ignoring her threat, she powered up the gates, allowing them to open and for the others to regroup with Kathy as they continued exploring the school for the backup generator. They passed by a Ms. Delight cutout, curiosity befall upon the group as they pressed the teacher’s button.

"Hello, students! Find my sisters and I to learn facts across a variety of subjects. Press my button to hear some facts on anatomy!" The cutout played out.

“Wait, sisters? There’s more teachers other than Ms. Delight?” Sean inquired.

“N-No… All the teachers here ARE Ms. D-Delight… They  just call themselves ‘sisters’ because they function the same.” Crafty replied, creeping out and satisfying Sean’s inquiry. Kathy pressed the button again.

"Did you know that there are 60,000 miles of blood vessels in the human body? For comparison, the Earth around the equator is almost 25,000 miles!" 

“What kind of fun fact was that!? Were the kids exposed to this?” Kathy ranted at the morbid anatomy fact as she pressed the button again.

"The smallest bone in your body is the stapes in your ear. Still, damage it, and you risk losing your hearing."

“Okay… A bit tamer now.” Sean muttered as he pressed the button again.

"Want to learn more about human organs? Pay close attention in class." The cutout ended, the group pressed the button again, but the voice lines began to loop again.

Before they left the room, Bunzo managed to find another note, and gave it to Sean who read it outloud again.

“I'm so sorry, I had to eat… I had to survive… I… Nope I am not reading any more of this.” Sean cursed under his breath as he crumbled up the note and threw it somewhere.

Leaving the room in a hurry, they were glad to finally find the generator room. Crafty volunteered herself to be the one to solve the simple puzzle to activate the generator. After Sean explained to her about the electrical pole, she quickly solved the puzzle and the generator roared back to life. The group was about to give themselves a high-five, but the lights started to flicker as a figure entered the room.

“You students misbehaved a lot today, I’ll be giving you all something as punishment.” Ms. Delight spoke as she went up to the generator, raised a mace-like weapon high above the air and slammed it into the generator. The generator broke down from the repeated assault from Ms. Delight and a battery spat out of it. She then turned to the group and froze in place.

“M-M-Miss Delight! A-A-A-” Crafty can barely get her words out as the four stood near the door they came from. They stared at Ms. Delight, and Ms. Delight stood completely still and stared back. 

“...Maybe the notes we found along the way might give us a hint as to how to deal with her.” Sean explained. “The notes mentioned that she stayed completely still when people looked at her. So, one of us should keep eye contact on Ms. Delight and the others will lead the way.”

The four nodded to Sean’s plan, Bunzo elected to be one to stare at Ms. Delight first as Kathy grabbed the battery and the four made a mad dash out of the generator room. They ran towards the gate that required a battery to open and Kathy immediately placed it in the socket. Bunzo kept an eye on Ms. Delight as she turned the corner to meet them. Bunzo went up to Kathy’s shoulder as the four continued to book it out of there. They eventually reached another closed gate that required a green hand charge. Crafty pointed at a green charge receiver inside the room through the window, and Kathy and Bunzo volunteered themselves to retrieve it. Ms. Delight was in front of one of the doors of the room, but luckily, there’s another door that Kathy and Bunzo went through. They quickly gather the charge and book it to the closed gate and open it.

The group ran through the school hallways, making twists and turns as they made a loop around a room to power up the gate that needed to be open. The four then made it to another close that required two charges to activate. Since Kathy and Crafty are the only ones who can utilize the green hand, Sean will follow Kathy while Bunzo will follow Crafty in getting the charge for the door. The two split up as Ms. Delight ran through the halls and chased after Kathy and Sean first. 

Luckily, the green charge receivers are in the two nearest rooms from the closed gate. Both Kathy and Crafty grabbed the charge and as Sean kept an eye on Ms. Delight, the two powered up the gate, allowing it to open. They went into the next room, where it now requires three batteries to open the next gate. 

One of the batteries needed was nearby, and the others spotted the other two batteries inside rooms that required their own batteries in order to open it. Sean quickly placed the first one into the gate that only needs one battery to open. The others kept eye contact on Ms. Delight as Sean grabbed the battery inside the office room. Grabbing the battery powering the gate to be open, Sean passed the battery to Crafty who shakily placed both batteries into the gate that requires two batteries to open. She hastily grabbed the third battery and made her way out of the room. Sean and Kathy quickly grabbed the other two batteries and placed it into the gate with three battery sockets. The gate opened and the four booked it out of there, but as the light flicker, Ms. Delight was done playing games with them and charging at them fast, even though Bunzo still kept an eye on her.

“GUYS! MS. DELIGHT IS NOT STOPPING! HEAD TO THE GATE STRAIGHT AHEAD.” Bunzo exclaimed as they reached the end of the room. From here, there was a lever that presumably closed the gate in front of them. Sean went up to it and timed it so that when the gate closed, Ms. Delight got her head crushed by it, killing her. The four took a minute to calm themselves and breath normally before sitting down and letting out a huge sigh of relief. 

“Is… Is… Is it over…?” Crafty muttered quietly as Bunzo used his cymbals to touch the lying corpse of Ms. Delight. No response, nor felt any breathing coming from her mouth. “She’s gone…” Bunzo announced.

“O-Oh…” Crafty replied as she kneeled down to the corpse and gave a soft sorry. “I wish it could have gone differently…” Crafty spoke as she grabbed the mace she wielded. Crafty decided that to honor her former friend in Playcare’s school, she would take the mace she seemed to care so much before her passing and bring it with her. When Crafty is done mourning for Ms. Delight, the four are ready to get out of the school and tell Ollie the bad news.

Unfortunately, the gate seems to be jammed now and they can’t go back from where they came from. And phone reception was very bad, meaning they cannot contact Ollie from here. Without any other choice, the four ventured forth through what appears to me a maintenance hall. Walking for a bit, they immediately spotted another cutout at the end of the hallway, a cutout of Hoppy Hopscotch. 

Crafty ran up to it, causing the other three to fall behind as they made their way to the end of the hallway. Along the way, Kathy spotted another note on top of something cylindrical, she quickly snatched it as she made it to the end of the hallway.

Crafty already stared at the cutout solemnly as the entire room felt gloomy. The others just gave a look of pity as she hesitantly pressed the cutout’s button.

"I'm Hoppy Hopscotch! Wanna try hopping to the moon with me?" The cutout played.

“I wish I could join you, Hoppy…” Crafty solemnly replied as she pressed the button again.

"On three, with me! 1... 2... 3! ...Heh, didn't get very far, did we?" The cutout continued.

“I was never the best at jumping Hoppy…” Crafty continued to reply to the cutout as she continued to play the cutout’s voice lines.

"Again! 1... 2... 3! Nope. Still didn't make it.” “Listen, this won't stop until we make it to the moon!"

Crafty can only stare at the cutout as she mindlessly presses the button. She reminisced about the rabbit's rougher and more athletic attitude back when Playcare used to be the orphan's home. She kept the kids fit and healthy and while Crafty could not keep up with her, she still saw her as a dear friend.

"1... 2... No, no, don't look at your feet! Stay focused! We need to get back to Safe Haven!” Crafty feared for the worst as she pressed the button one last time.

"JUMP! CRAFTY! JUMP WITHOUT ME! GO! JUMP!" The cutout ended, the next button press was the cutout looping its voice lines. Crafty hung her head low and stared at the cutout, she wondered if the cutout reflects the fate of her friends after the event that made everything go wrong.

The others, while comforting Crafty, tried pressing the cutout’s button, but the only changes it seemed to make is the final voice line, where it simply changes the name the cutout called out before ending the message. Except for Bunzo, in which the cutout commented on how weak his jumping capabilities are, embarrassing Bunzo in front of his new friends here.

Kathy spotted something near the cutout, in a destroyed container is an orange hand that seemed to be for the GrabPack. She quickly picked it up and noted that this orange hand is modeled after a finger gun. There was a label at the bottom of the orange hand, “Flare Gun,” it read out. She suspects it goes into her GrabPack, with the help of Sean, they manage to attached it to the GrabPack and she can freely switch between it and the two other hands. Kathy tested out the flare gun at the dark cavern area and just as expected, fired a flare ball. It traveled through the cavern and stuck itself into a wall before slowly smoldering out. 

When Crafty was ready enough to continue on with the journey, they all exited the hallway and entered into the cavern area of Playcare. Sean was in awe at the sight of the carefully man made cave that surrounds Playcare and snapped many photos of the cave. Nearby, for some reason, sat a TV, VHS tape and its player. Bunzo walked up to it and inserted the tape as Kathy handed Sean the note she grabbed back in the hallway area.

"Stupid clunky elevator." The tape played, and the familiar voice of Rich played through the VHS tape. Kathy immediately turned her focus on the tape as it continued to play.

"What was that, Richie?" Another voice asked Rich, Kathy knew who the other person was. He was Stuart, the head of shipping in Playtime Co. back when she was still around. The four continued watching the tape.

"Nothing, nothing. Let's just get this shipment dropped and go." He waved off the small comment he made a few seconds ago as he replied to Stuart.

"I take it you're not a fan of this place? Are you?" Stuart asked as Rich replied. "Nope. Never liked the feel of it." 

"I mean don'tcha think those kids deserve some real sunlight instead of floodlights and painted skies?” Rich continued ranting. "Hell, we're not even allowed to talk to these kids, isn't that-" Rich quickly regained his composure as he apologized to Stuart for his sudden behavior shift.

"Sorry? That doesn't sound like the Rich I know." Stuart amusingly commented. 

"Well... I'm trying to stop being so pissed off all the time." Rich explained. "My wife says I'm a lovely man, but I gotta control my temper. So does Kathy who always saw the best in me, she felt like a friend I really needed back then before the crash that got her out of the job. So I’m doing it for both of them, for my wife and Kathy." 

“Rich…” Kathy muttered quietly and happily as the tape continued.

Stuart chuckled at Rich as he replied. "You're just different, Rich. Honest to a fault. But I always liked that about you." 

"Yeah? You're one of the few." Rich replied.

There was a pause in the conversation, but Stuart finally said. "You know Richie, with my retirement coming up, uhm... they've been pushing hard for me to choose my replacement. I'm thinking about giving the role to you." 

Both Rich and Kathy were shocked to hear the decision Stuart gave to Rich. "Really?" He asked.

"Really. Nothing official yet.” Stuart replied "But just as Kathy pointed out to you and to us, there's a decent guy beneath all that gruff. An honest, hardworking man. You and Kathy prove me right- I'd say your chances are pretty good. If Kathy was still here she and the others would be ecstatic for you” Stuart chuckled as he watched Rich trying to process what he told him.

"Wow, I uh…” Rich mumbled his words trying to reply to Stuart. "I don't know what to say! I'm just... glad to see not everyone in this place has it out for me." 

"Not everybody, Rich. Not everybody." Stuart said as the tape ended thereafter.

“I know you are probably long gone by now and you can’t hear me Rich, but congratulations!” Kathy said after the tape ended. “I hope you got that promotion back then Rich.”

“I like to think he did.”

“Yeah… I hope your friend got that promotion” Sean and Crafty added onto Kathy’s celebratory message, with Bunzo clashing his cymbals in celebration.

The four continued on exploring the cavern area, luckily the catwalks that connect to many platforms in the cavern are still intact and able to be crossed through. Eventually, they reached a series of platforms that needed to be climbed up to in order to progress through the cavern area. While there are ladders, most of them are inaccessible as of now until someone gets up and pushes the ladders down. Luckily, there is a generator that requires the use of the green hand to open and a purple launchpad connected to it. Sean explained to Kathy how the purple launchpad works and she has to be the one to jump to the platforms first.

Mentally preparing herself, Crafty activated the purple launchpad and Kathy used the purple hand to the launchpad. She was surprised as the power of the purple launchpad let her get to the first platform that had a ladder. She blinked, still reeling in the fact that it managed to launch her that high. She shook it off and dropped down the ladder so that her companions could follow her. From there, she used more of the launchpad to get herself higher and dropped down more ladders for the others to follow. Once all that parkouring was done, the group moved onto some more catwalks until reaching an area where they needed to solve another puzzle.

“Ugh… Did all the maintenance workers before have to deal with this everyday?” Kathy complained. “Bunzo, Crafty, think you can help me solve this?” 

“Sure!”

“Y-Yeah… I think so.” 

The two responded as they get to work in solving this one huge electrical puzzle. While Sean stood in the sidelines, letting the three figure out how the puzzle works, he remembered the note Kathy gave him and decided to silently read it while waiting. 

“The door opened today, and I heard something enter my hall. Together, Barb and I found CatNap waiting. All this time, all this agony. It was he who locked the door, I know it…” Sean read the note quietly, feeling disturbed at the small backstory each note tells. “I wanted to kill him, but I knew better than to believe I could. He seemed oddly glad to see I was all that remained. We made a deal. We take care of each other now. Report what we see to the other, and to HIM .” Sean finished reading it silently.

“Well… at least I know now why CatNap rarely visits the school area.” Sean commented as the three finished up solving the puzzle. With his only good arm, he placed the note inside his backpack as he regrouped with the other three and continued onwards in the cavern area. 

They walked along more catwalks, until Crafty started to suddenly quiver in fear. Kathy, Sean and Bunzo looked at where Crafty was looking and spotted why Crafty became scared all of a sudden. They saw… Something horrifying. A statue made up of many dead toys and skeletons that depicts a monstrous chimera like creature. Kathy, Sean and Bunzo saw the dead PJ that made up the statue’s torso, but Bunzo confirmed that it’s not the same PJ from Statues as it looks more decomposed than usual if he was killed recently.

They hid behind some cover in the catwalk as a figure of CatNap appeared and kneeled before the statue. CatNap worshiped it like a God figure, seemingly praying to it. The four starred in absolute fear and silence until CatNap stopped kneeling and made his way somewhere else. They stayed in their hiding spot for another minute, making sure CatNap is really gone. Then they carefully climbed down the damaged catwalk and made it to a turn.

Looking around and seeing that there is nowhere to go other than this turn, the four walked through it. They make it to another turn, and see that there’s a door with a sign that reads “Playhouse, Restricted Area” along with a blue hand scanner.

“D-D-Do we really have to go there…” Crafty complained. “I-I think so… I don’t see any other way out of here.” Kathy replied. Seeing as there’s nowhere else to go other than the Playhouse, the four reluctantly approached the door. Kathy went ahead, but stopped midway as she realized that her GrabPack does not have a blue hand. Crafty decided that she’ll be the one to open the door and approached it. But when Crafty was about to use the blue hand, they didn’t notice another corridor connecting it to the playhouse door, meaning that someone bumped into Crafty. She stepped back sideways in shock and saw someone wearing a dirtied white shirt and short pants waving around a baton stick at her.

“WAAAAAA! IM SORRY CATNAP IM SORRY CATNAP IM SORRY CATNAP PLEASE DON’T K-KILL ME!!!” Kathy, Sean and Bunzo were in shock as they saw someone on the ground crying, whaling around their baton stick in fearful self defence. Luke was on the ground with his eyes closed as tears dripped out his eyes.

“LUKE!?” Kathy, Sean and Bunzo called out, causing Luke to open his eyes and see that his companions are alive and somewhat well. He immediately ran up to them and hugged them deeply.

“OH MY GOD GUYS! I THOUGHT YOU ALL WERE GONERS! I WAS SO SCARED AND LOST HERE WITHOUT HER HELP!” Luke cried out as they formed a group hug. The three expressed their concerns and relief that Luke is still alive. The three also noticed that he was not wearing his duffel bag, instead wearing his own GrabPack which seemed to be the 2.0 model with only the blue and green hand from what Sean would guess. Meanwhile, Luke was practically freaking out on both Kathy’s head injury and Sean’s broken left arm. They told their reasons why they were injured the way they did before reuniting. 

“Her? And wait, where's your bag?” Bunzo asked as Luke calmed down enough to speak properly. “O-Oh yeah my bag, it’s with my companion who helped me navigate through the cavern area.” He replied.

“W-Who is your companion?” Crafty asked as she approached the four reunited friends. Luke startled back a bit, before regaining himself and immediately running back through the corridor he came from. “B-Bobby, it’s safe now to come out! It was my friends! They are still alive!” Luke called out.

While the three friends of Luke looked at him in confusion, Crafty’s eyes went wide as they saw Luke pulling someone out of the corner. A giant, skinny red bear with a face similar to Crafty’s and a heart pendant on top of its zipper line emerges out and stares back at Crafty. Luke and the others watch as the two just stare at each other, before they slowly walk up to each other while asking.

“B-Bobby…?”
“Crafty…? Is that really you…?”

They asked before they immediately hugged each other tightly and cried on their shoulders. 

“I-I guess all of us were reunited with each other” Luke commented as the four went up and comforted the two bigger toys. Crafty and Bobby cried to each other, saying how much they miss them and they thought they were gone before their reunion and how glad that they are so wrong about it. The six sat in front of the door to the playhouse as they all calmed themselves down before Kathy spoke up.

“I know this is a touching moment for all of us, but I think it’s wise to enter the playhouse first since CatNap was here a moment ago.” She said, The others nodded with various speed as Crafty opened the door with the blue hand. The six of them walked through another catwalk as they entered into the playhouse. They entered what looks like an electrical room with a hole in the wall, a Bobby BearHug cutout, and a TV, VHS tape and player inside. The six heard the sound of giggling as a mini DogDay plush toy crawled out from one of the holes. Its eyes looked at them with the intent to kill. It quickly leaped out and tried to tackle one of them, but Luke’s lightning fast reflex hit the flying mini critter midair and it crawled back to the hole in the wall in fear and pain. Bobby and Crafty blocked off the hole as they all took a heavy sigh of relief. From there, they decided to watch the tape first, interact with the Bobby cutout next then take a break afterwards.

Bunzo walked up to the VHS tape and inserted it into the player as it began to play.

"Okay... this is... CatNap. Uhhh... experiment #1188..." The tape begins and Kathy, Crafty and Bobby have violent reactions to who they heard. The voice of Leith Pierre played through the tape as he continued. "What's his real name again?" 

Someone off camera whispered to him CatNap’s real name. "Ah! Okay.” Pierre cleared his throat as he continued. "Heya Theo! How ya doin' bud? Normally, I'd have Dr. Sawyer do this but he's uhhh... out, let's say.” 

Bunzo, Crafty and Bobby shuddered when the name “Dr. Sawyer” was mentioned, the three humans guessed that the Sawyer person was not a good guy from context alone. The tape continued.

"So you got me until they find his replacement. First off, congrats! This is officially your 4th year in your new body. And you've made some real progress pal.” Pierre congratulated as the three humans went wide eyed.

4 years!? How long have Playtime Co. been doing these, making toys big and small alive and labeling them as experiments? They’ve been doing this long before Kathy was first hired into Playtime.

"I was told that when you and the other smiling critters, y'know, DogDay, PickyPiggy, yadda yadda yadda, were added into Playcare, that you weren't really getting along too well with the kids like everybody else was." Pierre rambled off. "But look at you now! The kids love ya, and that red smoke. I mean- That's fantastic isn't it?!” Pierre waited for a response before asking. "Is his uh, voice thingy still broken-" 

" The Prototype will save us." A deep, unsettling and distorted voice replied back. Bunzo, Crafty and Bobby shuddered at the distorted voice and from the mention of The Prototype , while Kathy, Sean, Luke and Bunzo assumed that it was CatNap who responded.

"Theo... Nobody's gonna save you. This prison is where you belong.” Pierre interjected angrily. "We'll let you out here and there to go see the kids in Playcare, but your home is here. And as for 'The Prototype' , his home is in the labs. THIS is your life now. Get used to it." Pierre ended the conversation as the tape concluded, leaving the TV static.

The six do not know how to respond nor know what to say. What was first just a quick exploration inside the abandoned factory turned into a deep mystery the three humans should not have been discovering since. When they all decided to check out the cutout, the TV suddenly flickered into an image of a purple eye. The six froze in place as the eye looked at the party before just as suddenly it appeared, it disappeared as it closed the TV.

More and more things get weirder and weirder the further Kathy, Sean and Luke venture forth inside Playtime Co. Shaking off the unease that was the sudden purple eye showing up, the six turned their attention to the Bobby BearHug cutout as the bigger toy version of Bobby hesitantly pressed the button.

"Hi! I'm Bobby BearHug! Wanna know how much I love you?” The cutout started playing.

They all looked at Bobby worrily as she continued to press the button again.

"I love you to the moon and back!" 

"I'm crazy about you." 

"I'm lost without you..."

The more Bobby pressed the button, the more she seemed distressed, scared and sad she becomes. Crafty and the others comforted the giant bear toy as Bunzo took the honors of pressing the button.

"I've been lost a long time…” 

"Please Luke, take me with you." The six, especially Bobby and Luke, were shocked to hear Luke mentioned in the voice lines, and Bunzo pressed the button one final time.

“I’ve been trapped here for so long… Please, take me with you Luke…” The cutout ended, the others pressed the button again, but found no changes to the voice lines when the others pressed the button.

They all sat down in a circle, clearly exhausted from their own journeys inside Playcare. And now all of them are in an area where ollie told Kathy, Sean, Bunzo and Crafty that they should not be in as much as possible.

“So… Luke oh my gosh what happened to you!?” Kathy broke the silence as she asked for Luke’s whereabouts.

“I-Uh… It’s a long story honestly…” Luke replied, as he gave out the remaining water bottles he had, and gave Kathy her emotional Touille and Poe plushies as he recounted his side of his story.

…

~~Even when facing death, never forget your courage to protect~~

Luke’s perspective:

His head spins, his entire body hurts, everything feels like shit right now. Yet despite everything, he could still hear clearly. He is supposed to hear some remnant or wreckage or fire burning from the train crash, yet a different sound can be heard. The sound of munching and someone eating. Did Kathy or Sean wake up before him and decided to take a snack break, even after the horrific train crash?

Begrudgingly, he slowly groaned and tried to sit up and open his eyes. His entire body protested as he sat up, and the person eating stopped what they were doing. Luckily, he seemed to be mostly okay, with only minor blunt injuries from the crash. He rubbed his eyes and slowly opened them, only to be shown blobs of grey, red and black. He knew he could not see properly yet and rubbed his eyes even more to clear up the cloudiness from his eyesight. Once fully opening his eyes and blinking off any remaining drowsiness, he first saw a massive, skinny red bear toy with an unsettling wide smile, black eyes with white pupils and a red heart pendant on top of their zipper line. They were raiding the snacks inside his duffel bag before he woke up.

He stared at the living toy, and the living toy stared back, holding a sandwich in one of their hand, or its paw. He blinked, he blinked again, he rubbed his eyes, the same bear still there. Luke screamed, the red bear screamed alongside Luke as well. 

“WHAT THE FUCK! WHAT THE FUCK! WHAT THE FUCK!?” Luke yelled as he frantically looked for something he can use to defend himself. He found a broken pipe near his reach and he immediately grabbed it and pointed at the bear. “WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU!? WHY ARE YOU STEALING MY SNACKS!?” Luke demanded. 

“I-I-I uh…” The bear struggled to answer, still too shocked to even think properly. Luke stayed in his corner as he waited for the living toy to reply. “W-W-Wait I-I won’t hurt you…!” The bear tried to diffuse the situation.

“Are you trying to fool me!? What if you are just saying that to lower my g-guard or something!?” Luke argued as he continued to point the pipe at the bear.

The bear decided to slowly place back the sandwich and shoved his duffel bag back to him. Luke lowered his makeshift weapon and checked his returned duffel bag. While the snacks are mostly empty now, and some of the water bottles were empty, everything else looks intact and isn't missing.

He stared back at the red bear, still weary with their presence, the red bear spoke again.

“I-I was starving… I could not resist, I'm sorry…” The bear apologized, Luke can tell that the apology is genuine. He lowered the pipe, but still stayed in his corner out of fear.

“I-It’s uh… I don’t know, but who are you?” Luke asked.

“B-Bobby BearHug, the last of my group in Playcare known as the Smiling Critters.” Bobby said. “I-I was trapped here for so long… Starving… Thirsty… Something blocked the only door of this room and I was trapped here for so long… The only reason why I’m still alive is because I killed and ate the mini critters who stumbled upon here through the vents…” She explained.

Luke softened his expression and looked around, the room the two are in looks to be an old employee storage closet. With some of the racks of the shelf used to make the bear’s makeshift bed out of cardboard and dirtied towels. On one of the empty corners is what looks like dried up blood stains splotched across the corner, most likely where Bobby ate any unfortunate prey who wandered into her prison. At least the lights are still on and still working even after all these years, but it was very weak and emitted a dull glow inside the room.

Slowly, Luke walked up to her with the sandwich she was holding a bit ago and a half filled water bottle. She stared at Luke, before hesitantly accepting the offering and ate the sandwich and drank water.

“T-Thank you… uh…” Bobby thanked him.

“L-Luke, the name Luke. It looks like we just got on the wrong footing huh…” He replied sheepishly as he grabbed his duffel bag, thanking that Kathy’s Touille and Poe plushies are still intact along with his other possession and the two green hands he picked up back in the Molding Room.

“D-Do you want to get out of here? My friends need me.” Luke offered to the massive red bear. She hesitated for a bit before she nodded and stood up, Bobby reached out to one of the boxes on top of one of the old shelves and brought down a box. From there, she opened it, to which it contained a different looking GrabPack with only a red and blue hand attached to it.

“We will need this if we're to explore outside this room. I think it still works, but I barely used it because I was trapped here for so long…” Bobby said. “And also because there is no green or purple hand equipped, meaning its uses are limited.”

“Wait, I think we can attach one of the green hands I grabbed along the way to this.” Luke rummaged through his duffel back and fished out one of the green hands. He then figured out how to attach it to this different looking GrabPack and inserted it into the right hand slot. Bobby explained to him how this GrabPack works, with it having a longer reach and being able to switch out into different hands. Luke decided that he would be the one to use the GrabPack while Bobby carried his duffel bag. With the two sets, Bobby looked back at her “home” one last time before following Luke out of the room.

The door led to the green tunnel that the train was stationed in, the smell of something burning can be smelled from the distance. Without warning, Luke ran to the source of the burning, leaving Bobby behind the dust as she struggled to keep up. When Bobby catched up to Luke, she saw him frantically looking around while shouting for his companions' names.

“Kathy!? Sean!? Bunzo!? Guys!?” Luke was practically digging on the rubble, trying to find any signs of his friends as tears began to develop from his eyes.

“L-Luke…?” Bobby came to his side, trying to calm him down. “They’re most likely still alive, somewhere. Maybe they woke up first and went ahead to somewhere safe.” Bobby tried to reassure the hyperventilating man.

After 5 minutes of reassurance from Bobby, Luke calmed down enough to think properly. “Y-You sure…?” He asked.

“Yes, I remember seeing them when I first checked the crash, I only managed to drag you out with your bag because I saw there was food inside… Sorry…” Bobby told Luke her account.

Luke just stared at Bobby with shock at first, before sighing deeply as he stood up. “I-I think it’s fine you apologized. Let’s just hope your assumption is true.” Luke replied as he eyed on a broken door nearby. He ushered Bobby to follow him into a storage room of sorts. The door was broken into by someone, he looked around the room. Littered empty boxes, empty shelves, and what's leftover of a first aid kit. This caught Luke’s interest, maybe Bobby was right and they are still alive somewhere. Spying on another open door, he told Bobby to follow him as they continued to explore deeper.

After going down a set of stairs, they are met with a Bubba cutout and a hallway that leads to another room. Luke looked at his new companion, and can tell her mood immediately shifted into a saddened expression. He surmised that since she is a living and giant Smiling Critter toy, the cutout sparked reminiscing memories in her.

She placed her hand on top of the cutout, and sighed deeply. “I miss you Bubba…” She said as she pressed the cutout button.

Luke can tell she did it to listen to Bubba’s voice again, even if he suspects the Bubba she personally knew and the cutout Bubba sounded different. But he would not pry on it if it was a sensitive topic for Bobby.

The cutout played its pre-recorded lines normally, until she pressed the button after the cutout asked what they remembered about them.

“CatNap was the one who trapped you in that storage room all those years ago Bobby…” The cutout played before looping back to the first lines.

Bobby and Luke stared at the cutout in bewilderment, they did not expect that kind of message played on a cutout meant for children. Luke then remembered that some of the cutouts are either haunted or cursed as they seemed to have their own personalized messages depending on who pressed the button, and told Bobby likewise. He proved this by pressing the button until he reached the final voice line.

“Your friends are okay Luke, they are out there, somewhere around Playcare.” The message played.

Now Luke’s hopes were reinvigorated, if the cutout is telling the truth, then Kathy, Sean and Bunzo are okay and are probably running around Playcare looking for answers for Kathy. Deciding to check the room near them first before they set out to Playcare, Luke and Bobby entered what looks like an employee’s lounge room. Signs of life scattered around the room as a used up first aid kit was spotted near the Huggy couch, some drawers and cabinets are open and the TV playing static nearby along with a VHs tape laying near the VHS player.

Luke and Bobby explored the room quickly, only to find nothing of value. The only thing of note are the VHS tape that has fallen off its VHS player and another empty first aid kit. They decided that time is at its essence and they quickly head out towards Playcare. Going back to the crashed train, Bobby led Luke to the train station, she told Luke that from there they will take the Elliots Express and catch a ride on a gondola to Playcare itself.

Noticing that someone HAS been here before, Luke and Bobby passed through the turnstile, went up a set of stares, Bobby making a quick stop to solemnly caress the KickinChicken cutout’s head and catched a ride on the Gondola. It was a bumpy ride at the start, and the steep incline was not helping. The pre-recorded video of Elliot Ludwig played, talking about what is missing from a person, to which his own answer is a smile. The trip to Playcare did not calm Luke’s nerves, as he looked around the cave that surrounds the dome that houses Playcare, along with its ominous red entrance. Bobby shook in fear as they slowly approached the entrance to Playcare, maybe it’s because of the ominous red mist that covers the entrance.

“T-T-The r-red smoke…” Bobby muttered, yup it’s definitely the red mist or smoke that is causing her to panic. 

Luckily, none of the red smoke seeped through the gondola as it entered the entrance. The video dramatically announced Playcare to Luke and Bobby, but it seems as though all of Playcare lost its power as there's literally no lights on. Meaning Luke and Bobby could not see all of Playcare as the gondola reached its destination. Luke asked Bobby for his duffel bag, to which she gave it to him. He rummaged through its contents to fish out two flashlights, he gave the other one to Bobby so that the both of them could navigate through the darkness.

“There’s a control panel near Home Sweet Home that controls the power of Playcare, follow me.” Bobby said as she led the way to the control panel. This place is really spooky when the lights are out, not helping that they need to shine their flashlights in order to see where they are going. But they managed to get to the area with the control panel, Bobby pressed the button that calls for the lift. They boarded it and it began to ascend to the control booth, but when Bobby pressed the big red button, nothing happened.

“Oh no… I think we need to fix the wiring inside the electrical room over there.” Bobby pointed at the door near the lift, they tried entering the room, but the door was locked. Luke told Bobby to stand back as he grabbed something in his duffel bag and fiddled around with it with the door knob. He recently picked up a hobby in lockpicking, but he was not good at it. He struggled to actually pick the lock all the while Bobby shined the flashlight on him so that he can see properly.

Eventually, Luke managed to open the door, Bobby congratulated Luke as the two of them entered inside the electrical room. The floor feels loose as they make their way to an electrical puzzle. LUke sure was glad that Bobby had that GrabPack in her prison room as he somewhat made quick work in solving the puzzle. Bobby helped out here and there by telling Luke how to orient the electrical pylons and making sure Luke had an appropriate lighting. Soon after, Luke managed to solve the puzzle and the two headed back to the control panel. But when they got to the door, the floor collapsed on them, causing the two to tumble down to a maintenance hallway.

“Ow…” They both said in unison as they surveyed their surroundings. At least there’s lights here in the maintenance hall, but there’s no way for them to get back up now. And there seemed to be only one way to go as the newly formed rubble from the floor collapse blocked the other way. Dusting themselves up, they venture through the maintenance hall. Giggling can be heard that got Luke and Bobby on edge, Luke rummaged through his duffel bag again and grabbed his second retractable baton. 

“Stay close… I feel like we are being watched…” Luke told Bobby, to which she nodded as the two of them continued on their way through the maintenance hallway. Luke’s gut feeling was true, as a severely damaged yet still living Bobby BearHug plush crawled out from one of the holes in the wall and immediately jumped at the two. Luke batted away the plush and it whimpered off into another hole in the wall. 

A few more “ruined” plushies, as Bobby called them, crawled out the holes in the walls as Luke and Bobby walked through the hallway, with Luke battering each and every one of them before they crawled back in the holes. Eventually, they reached the end of a hallway and were met with a door. Fortunately, this door was unlocked by the get go and the two of them entered the outer perimeters of Playcare. 

The cavern area looks beautiful, despite all the horrors Luke had to go through in order to get here. The stalactites formed these intricate patterns as man made catwalks surrounded it. 

“...To be honest with you Luke, I have no idea where we are now.” Bobby reluctantly told Luke, who only gave her a face of disbelief and stress. “B-But hey! If we just follow the catwalks, we will eventually reach somewhere where I recognize.” Bobby reassures Luke.

With a set plan in motion, the both of them ventured through the catwalks that littered the outer area of Playcare’s dome. They walked for a bit, up and down the stairs and ladders of the catwalk, until they were met with a puzzle of sorts. Utilizing those electrical pylon things again along with a GrabPack canon thing that Bobby can use to help Luke solve the puzzle. 

After a bit of thinking, the two managed to solve the puzzle, and that led a fenced door to open, allowing for them to continue on walking down the catwalk. Eventually they reached a locked door with a sign that said “Home Sweet Home.”

Unfortunately, the door seemed to be locked as well, Luke did his thing and tried to lockpick it again. But when he finished picking the door open, they were disappointed to see that rubble blocked the way into Home Sweet Home. With a defeated sigh, the two of them continued walking down the catwalk. It seemed to loop around as they noticed the door they came from from a distance, meaning that they took a turn and were heading into a different direction. They wordlessly walked through wherever the catwalk took them.

“You know Luke… I don’t know how long I’ve been trapped in my ‘prison.’” Bobby struck up a conversation as they climbed up some stairs. “The room has no clock, no calendar and nothing that can help me track time. Can you tell me how long it has been?” She asked.

“Well… Were you there when the entire factory shut down all of a sudden? I need to make sure of something.” Luke first asked Bobby, to which she stopped in her tracks and violently began to shake.

“Whoa whoa whoa!” Luke came to Bobby's side and comforted the giant living bear toy. Maybe It was not a good time asking that kind of question, he thought. But Bobby at least managed to shakily nod yes to his sensitive question.

“A-Ah- okay, I will not be mentioning that again since you have gotten a violent reaction from it.” Luke said, reassuring Bobby. “So uh, It’s been roughly 8 years. We just recently entered because Kathy wanted to find answers on what happened to her old co-workers and such.” Luke answered, making sure to dance around mentioning the day of disappearance of the employees in Playtime Co.

“O-Oh… That long…” Bobby quietly muttered, the two of them sat on the stairs as they stared at the beautiful cavern scene. After a while, the two continued on their paths. They reached another door without any indication of what it was. Luke lockpicks the door and the two enter a simple electrical room. Nothing of note can be found inside as they continued on their way on the catwalk.

After a while, they heard footsteps as they made their way into another of the cave’s clearing. Heavy footsteps seemed to come from the walls of the cave itself, Bobby began to shake in fear again as she ordered Luke to find some kind of hiding place. Eventually, they reached a lower hanging catwalk with some sort of railing that can block their position. With the two hiding behind cover, with Bobby having to be prone in order for her entire body to cover the blocking, the two of them hid. They also were able to hear sounds of… praying? What?

Luke popped his head out of his cover and immediately stared at something with fear. A massive side view of some sort of statue gaze at Luke's sight. The statue is made up of dead toys and human remains to form some sort of spider centaur-like creature. Luke also looked at where the source of the praying sound came from, and saw a horrendously malnourished and giant CatNap toy praying to it.

He immediately ducked down behind cover and started to shake out of fear as well. Bobby whispered to him what’s wrong, and Luke immediately whispered back about the horrific statue and CatNap. Now the both of them are shaking out of fear as they realized that they were very near to the monster Bobby called him as CatNap, she explained how he is a devout follower to The Prototype and how he will listen to Him no matter what.

Back when Playcare was still open, Bobby and her friends tried to convince CatNap to not listen or follow the orders from The Prototype, but he would not listen to them and continued to follow His words like a disciple. Eventually, something happened that caused Playtime Co. to suddenly close down, the event Bobby does not want to elaborate on due to being too traumatic for her. 

Luke and Bobby continued to hide behind cover, until the sounds of footsteps and crawling could be heard. Luke popped his head out again and saw that CatNap was now gone. With haste, the both of them immediately break for it through more of the catwalk in order to get away from that horrific statue. With twists and turns, they made it to what seemed to be a path on the cavern grounds, surrounded with pipes and fences along the path to make it look like a hallway. 

They walked and turned left, and took another left, but before they did, they heard murmurs and footsteps nearby. Luke and Bobby tensed up as they hid around the corner.

“Alright… Bobby I’ll check ahead since I think I’m capable of d-defending myself against that C-CatNap person… You stay here until I return and give you the go signal to continue.” Luke explained as he gripped his baton tightly. Bobby looked at his with worry, but having nowhere else to go than forward, she reluctantly went along with Luke’s plan.

He turned the corner as Bobby hid behind the corner, praying he stays safe and has to not confront CatNap all by himself. But hope fell on deaf ears as she heard Luke screaming out at CatNap. Oh god! He found Luke! She needs to do something!

But no matter how much her mind tells her body to act, she stood in place, gripping the straps of Luke’s duffel bag and shook violently. She needs to do something, but her entire body refuses to even move. Her sense of hearing diminished out of fear as she shut her eyes closed as tears formed around it. Despite being a living toy, she can still cry and feel things a normal person could feel. Her cowardice could lead Luke to defend himself and most likely get killed. She blames herself for not helping his savior and new companion, she blames herself for just hiding behind this corner and could not do anything to save Luke, she blames-

“B-Bobby, it’s safe now to come out! It was my friends! They are still alive!” Luke came back to her! And by the looks of it, he was left unscathed. Bobby held Luke’s arms tightly as he led her out from her hiding corner. From there, she spotted two other humans, who look significantly worse for wear compared to Luke, and someone who thought passed so long ago, the giant living toy of CraftyCorn…

…

~~Angels don’t have wings, they have compassion~~

Kathy’s Perspective:

“Uh… I think that’s about it.” Luke finished explaining as he and Bobby made sure they got their story across the group. Both Bobby and Crafty were glued together while the six sat down inside the electrical room. With the latter hugging the former tightly and apologizing for the insolation she has experienced all these years. Bobby returned the gesture, apologizing for Crafty’s isolation inside the toy store all these years until their saviors saved them.

Bunzo decided to roam around the room a bit more, and found the playhouse’s generator! But unfortunately, it was out of order. Bunzo let out a sign as he made his way back to the group and expressed his need to get out of here now. Kathy agreed, and she told everyone so, they all stood up as they made their way inside the playhouse. 

The walls and floor quickly shifted from concrete to decayed and dirtied multi-colored paddings meant to keep kids safe while playing inside the playhouse. From there, they noticed another hole in the wall and a simple tent, with pillows inside. A distorted laugh echoed in the room as two ruined critters appeared, a CatNap and CraftyCorn plushies crawled out the same hole.

Before Luke could whack them out again, Kathy tried using her new flare gun hand and shot a flare at the two. The two ruined critters distortedly screamed out in fear as they quickly headed back in the hole they came out of.

“Huh… I guess me and Luke can defend us from… uh.” Kathy said as she tried not to make the two bigger Smiling Critter companions uncomfortable. “Anyways, we need to keep moving guys!” 

Kathy led the charge as they entered more of the playhouse, with her shooting flares at more ruined critters who just crawled out the rooms' holes and Luke whacked any ruined critters who dared tried to sneak attack them. They found a door, only for it to be locked, there’s no time for Luke to lock and pick it as they made their way inside a maze of tubes. It took the gang a minute to figure out where they were supposed to go, all the while Kathy was scarring of the ruined critters crawling inside the maze. But they finally manage to exit the maze and enter into a massive room.

“Oh, this is one of the central play rooms in the playhouse.” Bobby explained. “Many kids loved playing here back then.” 

“Reminiscing Bobby?” Sean asked as he took photos of the room.

“Yeah…” Bobby and Crafty hang their heads low as the group needs to solve a puzzle involving pushing heavy blocks into two big red buttons. With Kathy and Luke scaring and whacking the ruined critters who are trying to eat them, Crafty and Bunzo pulling the blocks into their respective place, and Bobby and Sean keeping track of where they are in this massive room’s maze, the six managed to solve the puzzle. But now they got to head to where the power is being directed too, with more scarring and whacking ruined critters and making twists and turns in the maze of the massive room, the six quickly headed out and entered a spiral staircase.

They went up first, only to find that it’s blocked off with debris. With nowhere else to go, the gang head down the spiral staircase. Ominous messages were scratched on the padded walls as they made their way down. “Turn back.” “There is no room for you here.” “There is no salvation for you here.” Unnerving messages and distorted laughter made the six dread and feel uneasy, they continued on their journey downstairs until they entered what seemed to be an empty pool room.

“What the-? There’s even a pool here!?” Sean commented as he vigorously took pictures around the room. 

“P-Playcare was tailor made for all sorts of activities a child might want to do Sean…” Crafty replied. “There’s even an art room here, but the rubble on the spiral stairs blocked the way there.” 

Sean went around the room, taking pictures of the empty pool itself, the duckies that seemed to act like floating bumper cars for the kids to play in, and generally the surrounding area of the pool room. Kathy, Luke and Bunzo broke into one of the vending machines, only to find nothing. With a disappointed look in their faces, they head to the two doors on the other end of the room. Although they noticed Craft and Bobby seemed to dread and fear as they all headed inside the room.

Kathy, Sean, Luke and Bunzo were expecting to enter a locker room of sorts, But no that is not what they expected to enter. They all entered what seemed to be a massive prison room, with broken down floors, and cells upon cells across the corridor.

“What the fuck?” Luke muttered, Crafty and Bobby refused to walk further inside the room.

“U-Uh, Crafty! Bobby! Uh, maybe we should be the ones to explore this place.” Sean turned and said to the two living bigger toys. “It looks like you guys have had a really bad experience being here huh.”

“Y-You can s-say that…” Crafty replied as Bobby added “This place is where the cold hearted humans kept us after all the orphans fell asleep in Home Sweet Home…”

“Oh my!” Sean gasped as he comforted the two bigger toys with a hug. “I am so sorry for you guys to go through that before…”

“But why?” Luke asked innocently, clearly baffled as to why they need to place them all up in cells, in the playhouse no less!

“It’s to ‘monitor’ our behavior at the end of the day,” Bobby answered. “They don’t fully trust us to be around the orphans in Home Sweet Home due to reasons we still don’t know about.” 

Luke looked around the nearby cell, and spotted an open floor that leads into some sort of bedroom area. “T-That’s CatNap’s cell…” Crafty commented when Luke went up to the cell. Figuring that there is no hard in exploring the inside of the cell, he sloppily picked the cell and jumped down to the bedroom. He spots a massive cat bed, some pendants hanging on the walls, a notebook that is labeled as “ The Master’s Gospel,” scratched religious imagery on the walls and a simple candle lighting on top of an empty desk.

“Sean! I hate this room already but this looks like a place where you can take a lot of good photos!” Luke called out as he climbed back up to the outside of the bedroom. He stayed by Crafty and Bobby’s side as Sean went down carefully and took pictures of the room.

Meanwhile, nobody noticed that Kathy and Bunzo went ahead and explored the rows of cells that lined through this room's corridor. Thanks to the candles that lit along the walls of the corridor, Kathy and Bunzo were able to see that clearly. They crossed the boarded up floors and explored each cell. Most cells were closed and did not contain anything of note. Kathy spotted a cell door just ahead of here, but something reeked of death entered Kathy’s nostrils. She gagged before steeling herself and pushing through the awful smell, just before she made it to the end of the corridor, she spotted the sources of the smell. The dilapidated bodies of Bubba and Kickin lay on two different cells, with their pendants notably missing from their bodies. 

Kathy has to hold back the urge to vomit right now, once she leaves this place then she could vomit as much as she wanted. Bunzo, noticing Kathy’s distress, went up to her and asked if she was alright.

She admitted that she was not, but she could not show any weakness just yet inside the playhouse as they made their way to the end of the corridor and were face to face with the cell door at the end of the corridor. She tried to open the door, but it’s locked. “Shucks, Bunzo we need to call Luke here so that-”

“Y-You…” Kathy stopped mid sentence as the two of them turned to the source of the voice, and what they saw really made Kathy want to vomit right there. In one of the open cells, hanged a half decapitated living toy akin to Crafty and Bobby. But this one is the orange spaniel dog, whose torso is wrapped tightly with a belt to keep his inside inside of him and the self proclaimed “leader” of the Smiling Critters, DogDay.

“You're one of Poppy's angels…” He talked in a raspy voice. “Come to save us... Nothing left to save, not here…”

“W-Wha…?” Kathy stuttered. “W-What do you mean…?”

“You're in CatNap's home, angel. Their home. A million pairs of eyes are on you now. Watching, waiting, hungry.” DogDay explained, his one white iris staring at Kathy specifically. “They want nothing more than to crawl beneath your skin and eat you away bit by little bit-” DogDay painfully breathes in as he continues. “Fill what feels empty inside themselves.”

“What once we thought of as our closest friend… CatNap, he did this to all of us… The Prototype is his God, he follows his words like gospel, and this is what he does to those He deemed as heretics…” DogDay then coughs raspily as he takes in more air. “These little toys follow CatNap to avoid that very fate, and in return, they are fed. We tried to reason with CatNap, we tried to fight it, The Prototype's control over most of the toys here, and to CatNap. I'm…”

Before DogDay could even continue to monologue, Kathy and Bunzo went up to DogDay and immediately tried their best to remove the belts that hung DogDay up in the air of his cell.

“A-Angel…? What are you-” DogDay tried to ask, but was immediately shut by Kathy who responded. “Wait! Save your energy, I don’t care what you said, I’m saving you out of your prison!” Kathy explained as he tried her best at freeing him. Bunzo helped out too, but for some reason, these belts are really sturdy and hard to untangle. 

“Angel! Listen to me! you need to get out of this place! You need to live!” DogDay pleaded to be left behind, but Kathy was having none of it as she shouted out.

“GUYS! GUYS! HELP! SOMEONE NEEDS OUR HELP!” Kathy pleaded for her companions to come quickly. 

“Angel! The little ones will find out what-!”

“W-What's goin- EEEEKKKK!” Luke came first as he coughed through the horrid smell and immediately shrieked after seeing the sorry state DogDay was in. “Luke! Help us remove these belts!” Kathy begged to Luke

He blinked for a bit, before hesitantly helping out Kathy and Bunzo. The three managed to untangle the belt holding DogDay’s left arm as Crafty and Bobby came after to the scene.

“DogDay!?” “Bobby!? Crafty!?” The three bigger toys said in surprise as they unexpectedly reunited. Distorted laughter can be heard echoing around the entire room, signalling that they are running out of time.

“Guys, quickly!” Kathy commanded as Bobby and Crafty helped loosen more of the belts that kept DogDay as a prisoner. Kathy prematurely fired flares around the holes the ruined critters used to get in and out of the room as the four of them eventually managed to break free DogDay from his prison.

“W-W-Why… Y-You all should have-” DogDay stuttered, but Kathy interjected.

“Because it’s the right thing to do.” She replied. A torrent of ruined critters began to exit out the holes around the cell room when the flares she put down died out.

With Crafty and Bobby carrying DogDay tightly, they all leg it out of there. 

“Where do we go!?” Kathy exclaimed as she heard Sean’s voice calling out for them. They reached the beginning of the corridor to see the wooden planks that used to hold the floor collapsed on itself. Sean was actually down here when he heard the call, but the wooden planks gave out on him and now he is stuck down here.

The five plus DogDay jumped down, Sean utterly confused and terrified on who was their new companion they managed to find.

“We can talk about this later photo pie, but we need to go now!” The torrent of ruined critters soon entered the room they were in and the six legged it with DogDay in hand. They crawled through the maze tunnel, with Kathy and Luke scaring off and swatting away the scattered ruined critters in the tunnels to make way for them to run. They all exited the tunnels and ran through the only path given to them, which leads back to the maze tunnel again. 

After swatting away any stray ruined critters that were in their way, they were horrified to see that they arrived at a dead end. Luckily, the ground beneath them in the dead end gave out, allowing the six to continue running down the playhouse. They reached a set of slides, and without thinking much all entered through the middle slide.The slide led to another corridor where a gate automatically opened for them to quickly run through into another massive room filled with other slides and hanging dead toys scrawled about inside the room. Kathy noticed an elevator nearby and pointed it out to everyone. Seeing that there was a purple launch pad, Kathy ran faster than everyone else as she quickly changed to her purple hand and launched herself to the elevator. 

Once she landed on the elevator, she pulled the platform so that everyone could climb aboard the elevator as more and more ruined critters crawled out from the woodworks and continued to give chase to the seven intruders. Waiting until everyone got into the elevator, she pressed the button to go up as an automatic gate closed and blocked the sole entrance to the elevator, leaving all of the ruined critters in the dust.

The elevator ride was quiet, as everyone was catching their breaths and stayed silent out of fear and being shaken up from the experience. The elevator eventually stopped as the seven of them scattered about the small room they are now in.

Bobby, Crafty and DogDay huddled up in one of the corners of the room, Luke and Bunzo sat down near the DogDay cutout, and Kathy and Sean sat near the elevator. The silence continued to deafen the room, no one had the mood to even talk about what just happened, they all just wanted to catch their breaths for a minute.

Then, a sob can be heard in the room, then another, and another one. The others turned to the source of the crying and saw Bobby, Crafty and DogDay held tightly together as they cried on each other’s shoulder. The three muttered the others' names dearly, saying how much they missed them, how they thought they perished a long time ago, and how they thought they wouldn’t be able to see each other again.

“D-DogDay… Y-Your lower half o-oh you body… Did…?” Bobby asked through tears, DogDay only sniffled even harder in response. Bobby understood who tore DogDay in half, She and Crafty hugged DogDay even tighter, making sure he was not in too much pain while being hugged. The others do not want to ruin the mood the three Smiling Critters are going though, letting them flood out their grievances and feelings in quiet peace. 

When the three calmed down enough from crying so much, DygDay weakly turned to the rest of the party and said. “T-Thank you… I-I lost hope t-that this would e-ever escape this h-hell…” 

DogDay expressed his gratitude. “I c-could not even imagine you all s-saving me… And e-even seeing B-Bobby and C-Crafty again…” 

“Your welcome uh, DogDay, right?” Kathy spoke first, making sure she remembered who the living toy is based on. He weakly nodded as Sean, Luke and Bunzo also returned the gesture Kathy gave to DogDay.

“Although I am still reeling back on the chase, you're welcome DogDay.”
“S-Sorry for freaking out w-when I saw you for the first time, It was no problem DogDay!”

“Don’t worry big dog! It was the right thing to do!” 

Bunzo clashed his cymbals softly in celebration as the four went up to the three Smiling Critters and comforted the grieving dog. Luke handed out the rest of their snacks and water to everyone as they ate and drank in peace. While they ate, Sean handed out something to the three Smiling Critter living toys. They stared in disbelief as he handed them two pendants, one with a red star and one with a lightbulb. Bobby tenderly took the pendants as the three solemnly mourned for their dead friends. “I found it underneath CatNap’s room while I was taking pictures of it…” Sean said. The three hugged Sean dearly, thankful for at least retrieving the remnants of their old friends who passed away so long ago.

Meanwhile, Bunzo went up to the DogDay cutout and pressed the button.

"DogDay says... fetch!" The cutout played out

The living toy DogDAy flinched after hearing his cartoon voice played out on the cutout. Bunzo looked back and apologized for suddenly pressing the cutout’s button.

“It’s fine… I was just surprised, that's all… You can press the button more if you want.” DogDay reassured Bunzo as he hesitantly pressed the button again.

"Go! Go! As far as you can!" The cutout’s voice sounded really different compared to their real life companion, wherein the high pitched cartoony DogDay voice contrasted with the deep almost broken voice of the living DogDay.

"Why are you... just standing there?" Bunzo pressed the button again and the cutout played a more concerned voice line. Not deterred, Bunzo pressed the button again.

"Y-You can't be here. You all can't stay." DogDay raised his nonexistent eyebrow, he remembers the cutout’s lines from the back of the head due to how many times the orphans of Playcare would alway asked him to say it’s like back then. But for some reason the cutout played totally different lines, Bunzo pressed the button again.

“Y-You want me to come? Really?” 

“Bobby and Crafty are with you? T-They’re alive?” Now DogDay is really confused, why would a cutout’s voice line sort of reflect on what’s happening right now. He turned to his saviors and asked why the cutout has such strange voice lines. They explained to him how they are sort of haunted or cursed and have personalized messages based on who presses the button. Kathy showed this by pressing the button herself.

“O-Ok Kathy… Let’s go, I want to meet Bobby and Crafty again…” The cutout played its final voice line before looping abc to the first line again. DogDay stared at the cutout in confusion and bewilderment. Luke commented how this was not the first time a cutout had personalized messages as practically all the Smiling Critters cutouts they encountered so far have their own personalized messages.

“I-I see… This is so weird.” DogDay said as Bobby and Crafty comforted the broken dog. They finished Luke’s last remaining ration and water as they all prepare to leave this accursed place once and for all. Crafty volunteered to carry DogDay as the group went down the massive slide, as the other way was blocked off by rubble and debris that their GrabPacks could not remove.

The slide was a long and twisting one, but when the group exited the slide, they found themselves outside the playhouse and were back in Playcare. The simulated lights give off an orange light that mimics that of a sunset. Kathy and Luke excused themselves from the group and found a suitable spot to violently throw up. The others ignored the two as the phone on Sean’s bag rang as he picked it up. 

“Hey, are you all alright!? No ouchies or lost body parts?” Ollie asked with concern, Sean and Crafty reassured Ollie that they were not that badly injured. Ollie sighed in relief as he replied “I'm really glad you all are okay. I don't want to lose any more friends to this place!”

It was then he also noticed three new faces through the security camera Ollie uses to see his company. “Wait a minute… Who are your new companions- Wait… Bobby!? DogDay!?” He blurted out in surprise. Kathy and Luke returned, marginally fine now and Kathy and Sean introduced Luke to Ollie and explained what happened in the school and playhouse after he had lost contact with them.

“YOU GUYS ENTERED THE PLAYHOUSE!? THAT PLACE IS ICKY AND DANGEROUS!” Ollie exclaimed. “Look, I’m glad that you all are alright in the end, but please don’t scare me like that.”

“We promise we won’t do that ever again, and sorry it was the only way to go.” Kathy apologized as Ollie continued to talk. 

“Since you guys went through the cavern areas of Playcare, have you all seen the shrine?” Ollie asked the group, to which everyone but DogDay said they saw it. The group headed to the room below the statue as Ollie continued talking. “CatNap made it for The Prototype. ” Bunzo, Crafty, Bobby and DogDay shivered at the mention of the name. “See, before CatNap turned into... CatNap, I guess there was some pretty serious accident.” Ollie began to explain, Sean and Luke remembered Kathy mentioned an accident that happened in Playcare before when they first obtained the green hand. “He almost died, but, they say that The Prototype saved his life, giving up his own freedom in the process. In CatNap's eyes, The Prototype is a superhero, and has saved this place. So CatNap treats him like a god, killing everyone that opposes him . Us included, if we're not careful.”

The group settled down inside the room underneath the statues, Crafty making sure DogDAy sat comfortably on her lap as Ollie finished talking. “That shrine... Did it scare you all? If you thought that was terrifying, just wait until you see the real thing."

Luke immediately shook his head in affirmation violently, he almost shat his pants when he saw the metal claw that took the carcass of Mommy Long Legs. He really does not want to imagine what the real deal fully looks like, Ollie changed the subject.

"Anyways, we're really close to the end! I sent you one last key. You're going to the Counselor's Office instead!” Ollie explained as the key to the counsel building arrived in the tube, Kathy grabbed it as Ollie continued to explain. “It's not ideal... but it should have enough juice. If you can get that generator going and plug it in, I think we'll be done! And everyone, keep your eyes open for CatNap. Every shadow and every flickering light is a hiding spot. He always stalks his prey first. He'll take away anything you have to defend yourself. And when you're at your most vulnerable... he'll kill you. CatNap lives for the hunt. Good luck, talk soon." 

Ollie ended the call as Sean placed the phone back in his bag, there was an uncomfortable air hanging in the room. They just escaped the playhouse and Ollie wanted them to immediately go fix the backup generator in the counselor office. They did take a break back in the safe room in the playhouse, but since there are now seven of them, was it even a good idea that everyone should venture through the office building and restore the backup generator?

With much back and forth talking, it was eventually decided that Kathy, Luke and Bunzo were the ones to head out and restore the counselor office’s backup generator. Sean was hesitant at first, wanting to always be by Kathy’s side, but due to his broken left arm, he is somewhat practically useless as he could not use a GrabPack properly and his injured arm might get in the way. But after enough encouragement from Kathy, he relented and stayed by Bobby, Crafty and DogDay’s side. He and the rest will take care of DogDay’s injuries and deal with the gaping tear that threatens his insides to fall out.

Luke gave one his medical first aid kit, but told them that it might not be enough and they would need to explore the other places to see if there are any spare first aid kits they might have missed back in Home Sweet Home or in the school. Sean in turn gave his flashlight and the phone Ollie uses to contact them, as he had a feeling they would need a person from the skies per say guiding them through the office. He also advised Luke to bring a first aid kit of their own, just in case they get injured inside the office building.

Sean and Kathy held tightly and wished them good luck as Kathy, Luke and Bunzo left the room under the statue as Sean, Bobby and Crafty tended to DogDay’s wounds. The three made their way to the counselors office and opened its door using the key Ollie gave them. 

Kathy, Luke and Bunzo walk through the halls of the building, passing by a clipboard and a vending machine that seemed to still have snacks inside. Then they entered a junction with two doors where they needed to find a battery in order to open the door. But unfortunately, there was that dreaded red smoke. Remembering what Sean said about it, Kathy asked Luke to go back and ask for Sean’s gas mask while she and Bunzo would check out the vending machine.

Luke ran back as fast as he could as Kathy and Bunzo got the bright idea to use a loose wooden plank to break the glass of the vending machine. It worked, and Kathy and Bunzo checked to see if these snacks were still edible. Sadly, they weren’t and are past their expiration dates by years. Luke returned with the gas mask and handed it to Kathy. “Unless there is another one inside of here, only one of us can traverse through the red smoke.” He explained.

Kathy nodded and the three went ahead and found the battery needed to open the door. Thanks to the flashlight, they found a sneakily hidden vent that contained the battery needed, Kathy retrieved it and inserted it into the battery hole and the door opened. The three entered an office room with a wall mounted TV and a VHS player nearby, along with the requisite VHS tape and luckily, another gas mask along with a message on the wall, “Your tools won't protect you.” 

Although the message was foreboding, Kathy could not help but smile when she spotted the spare gas mask. “Alright!” Kathy celebrated as she handed the other gas mask to Luke, now they only need one more for Bunzo. For now, Bunzo proposes that he would hide underneath Kathy’s jacket and turn it into a makeshift mask to hopefully block most of the red smoke that will enter his lungs. 

Luke grabbed the VHS tape and inserted it into the player, the video immediately played an EAS alert as text appeared on the screen signalling that it is an emergency broadcast throughout Playtime Co.

"The following message is for all Playtime Co. employees." The announcer announced. "At 11:01 AM, Eastern Standard Time, an unknown hostile force was declared present within the Playtime Co. facility. Personnel are to begin enacting emergency evacuation protocols immediately. Leave all personal belongings, do not engage with any hostile individuals, if no exit path is available, seek shelter in a hidden location. Use blankets or pillows to cover your body, and remain silent, do not look through any windows, do not open doors for any individuals, do not make eye contact with-”

The announcer abruptly stopped as the video abruptly cut to static, nothing was shown for 5 seconds until text appeared on the screen. 

“Open the doors now. The Hour of Joy has arrived.”

The EAS alarm signal played three more times before the tape ended. To say the three were unnerved and frightened after watching the video was an understatement. “Something huge happened down here… Is this related to the shutdown of Playtime Co. and the disappearance of my friends and coworkers 8 years ago?” Kathy muttered under her breath. 

Bunzo was especially shaken up, seemingly knowing what the emergency broadcast was all about. “Bunzo? Are you alright?” Luke went up to the shaken up bunny as he violently shook his head no. “You want to talk about it?”

Bunzo shook his head no violently again, it looks like Kathy and Luke would not get answers from Bunzo as it seems that whatever he knows is too traumatic for him. When the tape dropped out from the VHS player, Kathy went to pick it up to see if there were any clues that she could find. Up until now, all of the VHS tapes they found does not have a label, but miraculously, this one has. 

“8/8/95 Emergency Alert.” Kathy read outloud. “...Wait a minute, this is the same day where Playtime Co. suddenly shut down. Something big had happened Luke…” Kathy told her two companions.

She decided that she would bring the tape and show it to the rest later when they get back, for now they have to focus on fixing the building's backup generator. In order to progress, they must insert another battery into the socket. But no matter how hard the three tried, they could not find another battery inside the office room.

That’s when Bunzo looked out and had an idea, he placed his cymbals down and used his mini GrabPack to grab the battery outside. IT worked as he managed to retrieve the battery as the door closed behind him, he inserted it into the socket and the way forward opened.

They walked down the dark hallway, Kathy and Luke using their flashlights to light up the way. The side rooms hold nothing of interest or inaccessible, along with more toys impaled and killed scattered about the building. They eventually reached another door that needed a battery to open. The three continued walking down the hallway until they reached a broken door that leads to a big room. But when they were close to the door, the room began to fill with red smoke.  Kathy and Luke put on their gas masks just in case and Bunzo went under Kathy’s jacket and held his breath as long as he could.

Luckily, the red smoke did not go through the broken door, but the three could see another Bunzo toy walking down the room before collapsing. Without warning, CatNap immediately snatched the toy and disappeared to another room, a crunching sound can be heard from the room CatNap entered.

Bunzo stared in shock, Kathy gave him headpats to calm him down as Luke noticed a battery from the other side of the room. He fired his GrabPack and retrieved the battery, they went back to the door that needed the battery and inserted it on the socket.

Continuing forward after their close encounter with CatNap, they went through another dark hallway, with the end ominously being lit up by a flare and the word “HELP” scrawled on the wall. They reached the end of the hallway and looked up to see a grapple bar above. Kathy, Luke and Bunzo went up and then crawled through a short vent to reach what seemed to be the outside of the counselor office. Since Kathy is the only one who has a purple hand that can utilize the purple jump pad, she crossed the gap and pulled a path open for Luke and Bunzo to cross.

They reached the outside and noticed they were back in the outer area of Playcare. There seemed to be another puzzle to solve that involved the use of the purple hand and creating a circuit around the two electrical pylons. Luckily, there were stairs the three could use to climb up, the bad news is that it looks like Kathy was the only one able to solve the puzzle. With the guidance of Luke and Bunzo, Kathy managed to solve the puzzle and the platform they need to cross to the next catwalk is now accessible. Being mindful of their jumps, they made their way back into the office and entered a massive office space. 

Most of the way seemed to be either locked or blocked by rubble and debris, but luckily there was one door that was open. The door that leads to the Head of Playcare’s office, Stella Greyber. Kathy still has mixed feelings for Stella, but her emotions would not stop her from completing her mission with Luke and Bunzo. They entered the office and immediately began searching for anything useful. There were two things of note they found, a purple VHS tape and a key in one of the open vents inside the room.

Kathy, Luke and Bunzo silently decide to watch the tape first before they try to find where the key goes. Luke placed it into the VHS player as the TV flickered into life as the tape played.

"Oh, Mr. and Mrs. Hartmann? Come on in! Please, have a seat!” The voice of Stella played as footsteps can be heard from the tape. "How was your ride down?"

"It was... nothing like we were expecting." A man replied, most likely Mr.s Hartmann. "Mr. Ludwig's speech was… Well, it just confirms for us that you're the orphanage we want to go through." He replied.

"It's a truly magical place." Stella added. "I felt right at home from the second I entered. You open the door the first time and you just know, you're never going to leave…” She said with wonder. "Kind of like finding a home as a child, and always thinking of it when you want to feel comforted." 

Stella cleared her throat as she went back on the topic on hand. "I understand you want to give Jeremy that home."

"Yes, and we would like to adopt." The voice most likely belonging to Mrs. Hartmann replied back. 

“Amazing! You'll be perfect for-” Stella stopped herself as she looked over something, her face went grim as she muttered. "Oh…”

"W-what?" Mrs. Hartmann inquired with concern. “Well, it appears there's... been some complications." Stella answered.

"Complications?... W-what kind of complications?"

"I-I don't know. Uhm... The form, says 'Testing'." 

"What does that mean!?... Tell us, what does that mean!?" Mrs. Hartmann shouted, demanding answers for Stella.

"Ms. Greyber, we deserve a better explanation than that, don't you think!?" Mr. Hartmann chimed in, giving his own angry response. "You're in charge of all this, how could you not know?! And why are we only finding out about this now?!"

"I-I don't... I'm sorry." Stella solemnly replied as the tape ended.

“What the fuck?” Luke commented, clearly feeling uneasy knowing all the information he gained through the notes they found back in the Game Station. Has all the child experiments came from Playcare? 

“Kathy… Do you ever recall any orphans actually got adopted back when you still worked here…?” Luke quietly asked, trying to confirm something.

“Hmm? Oh, yeah they are, I remember bumping into a few couples who adopted a child here. Why?” Kathy replied, Luke muttered something to himself before shaking his head. “It seems like there were some unlucky kids who got picked for ‘testing’ as the video implied.” Luke explained.

Kathy and Bunzo looked at him with surprise and concern, surely Playtime Co. would never do that to the kids of Playcare… Right?

With that dreadful thought lingering back in their minds, the three decided to continue on and find where the key goes. Luckily, it didn’t take too long to find where the key went and it opened a door that leads to another hallway. The three walk through the darkened halls until they encounter a CraftyCorn cutout. They looked at each other with concern, until Bunzo volunteered to press the button first.

"Hi... I'm CraftyCorn. Can you help me with my painting? Pass me the blue, please!" The cutout first played, Kathy and Bunzo felt a sense of dread coming from the cutout as Bunzo continued pressing the button.

"Thanks! Now, can you give me some red?" The cutout asked innocently enough, Kathy went ahead and pressed the button again.

"More red, please!” “...Out?... But... we can't be out." Now the sense of dread was justified. Kathy and Bunzo remembered that the toy store was covered in red paintings, is that what the cutout was referring to?

“Y-You know where there is more red paint? W-Where!?” The cutout played. Kathy pressed the button again.

“O-Outside? B-But the way outside is blocked, H-How-? You came from there?” The cutout played. It seemed that the cutout is mimicking Kathy and Bunzo’s first encounter with the bigger toy Crafty just a long while ago. Kathy pressed the button one final time.

“P-Please Kathy! Bunzo! Take me out of here! I want to see the world of colors again…” The cutout ended before looping back to the first voice line.

When Bunzo or Luke pressed the button to the final voice line, it did not play anything new and instead repeated the final line again. They decided that they heard enough and continued on their merry way in the counselor's office.

Heading to the end of the hallway, they spotted another grapple bar above from the broken ceiling, they went up and crawled through another vent. This time, they got kind of lost due to it being a sort of maze and being very dark at the same time. But thanks to Luke who guided Kathy and Bunzo on where to go using his flashlight, the three managed to find their way out. But before they jumped down, they noticed the red smoke that filled the room heavily, Kathy and Luke put on their gas mask while Bunzo hid underneath Kathy’s jacket and inhaled a lot of hair to hold his breath before they jumped down the room.

The room they landed themselves in is the same one that they spotted CatNap snatching up that other Bunzo toyo a bit ago. Kathy and Luke quickly hurried to one of the rooms where it is safe for Bunzo to stay for a bit. Bunzo gasped as he was let out of Kathy’s jacket and stood on the abandoned desk. Meanwhile, Luke opened up a power box to see that it needed a green hand charge from somewhere.

Bunzo stayed put as Kathy and Luke explored the main room with the red smoke, with Luke grabbing the battery he used a bit ago and placing it into another battery socket that powers a nearby green hand charge. They roamed around the room and realized that not only all the offices have a green charge receiver, but also belong to different heads of different facilities inside Playcare, including one for the gas production. Although they did not find anything worthwhile inside the offices, Kathy and Luke made quick work in powering each of the green charge receivers, opening a door to another room. Kathy picked up Bunzo from the head of the gas production office as the three explored the new room.

Luckily, there was no red smoke inside so they can remove their gas mask and Bunzo can get out of Kathy’s jacket. The room looks to be another lengthy puzzle they have to solve.

“Kathy, do you know why Playtime Co. was obsessed with making these kinds of puzzles? It sounds like a massive hustle for those who work maintenance jobs here.” Luke grumpily asked Kathy as he started to work out how to solve the puzzle. 

“Maybe Leith Pierre wants to give them a brain exercise or something, I don’t know exactly.” Kathy replied.  

The puzzle was tedious and long for Kathy, Luke and Bunzo’s liking. Requiring them to properly setup the electrical pylons, wiring the hand cannons properly and activating a lever from across the room in order to enter into a room where they need to insert two batteries to continue. The three groaned in annoyance as they continued to solve even more puzzles. Luke was not happy having to solve any more puzzles, so when they found both batteries encased inside a glass box, he did not hesitate to grab his baton and smash it open. With the two batteries in hand, he grumpily inserted it into their sockets. But it was not over yet as they needed to wire it up one more time with the hand cannon from the first floor before the gate began to open.

“FINALLY!” Luke screamed out as he immediately went through the gate, wanting to get out of the puzzle room. Kathy and Bunzo chuckled as they entered inside the generator room, Luke went ahead and fixed the generator properly. Their job here was now done, they high five each other and made their way out of this building.

They had to go through another dark vent maze again, Luke begrudgingly went ahead and led the way to the end of the vent maze. He told Kathy and Bunzo to get themselves ready as they will be jumping down to another room filled with red smoke. The three readied themselves and jumped down the room filled with red smoke. 

From there, they spotted a battery socket and knew they would need to find a battery in order to open it. With a bit of searching, they found it inside one of the rooms. Kathy picked it up as Luke sensed danger, his heart pounding all of a sudden as he turned around slowly.

“...KATHY LOOK OU-!” Luke tried to warn Kathy as he shoved her away, Kathy tripped and turned around to see CatNap slashing through Luke’s gas mask and slashed through his face, cutting his left eye in the process.

“LUKE-!” Kathy tried to save her friend, but CatNap also slashed through her gas mask and shoved her onto a wall. This also had the effect of Bunzo heavily gasping for air thanks to CatNap pushing Kathy to the wall. The red smoke immediately took effect on the three of them as they felt really drowsy. CatNap slammed the door shut as Kathy, Luke and eventually Bunzo fell into a deep sleep.

.

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…

…

…

“...Made myself clear Ms. Orlenes!?” Huh? What? Mr. Pierre? Oh right, I might have zoned out again… Mr. Pierre looks like he is about to murder somebody, shit did I zone out too hard?

“Y-Yes Mr. Pierre.” I shakily responded. “I-I’ll get my things now…” 

“Good, Rich, facilitate her removal from her position and get the hell out!” Mr. Pierre demanded and me and Rich quietly got out of his office. Gosh… I really fucked up didn’t I, at least me and Rich were relatively fine after the crash, but holy shit did Mr. Pierre was furious about it. And with me zoning out, I really left a bad impression on him… Welp, there goes 2 years working in Playtime Co. down the drain.

Rich wrapped his right arm across my shoulder. “Don’t let Pierre’s words weigh you down, we all make mistakes every now and then. But what matters in the end is how you will improve yourself in the future.” Rich gave me a pep talk. “Thanks Rich… I mean it.” I appreciated the gesture.

Although… I don’t exactly remember Rich wearing a gold dollar sign pendant today. We headed to my office near the Island of Misfit Toys, It was a quiet walk as I could not find a topic to talk about with Rich. Other people working under different wings of Playtime Co. passed by us, not paying attention to us. Although me and Rich should reach another interjection down the hall, I noticed something new. A darkened hallway, I don’t remember a hallway like this here in the innovation wing of Playtime Co. 

Something called me, begged me to go through the hallway, I turned to Rich only to find he mysteriously vanished. Did he go ahead of me back to my old work station near the reject room? I should probably go catch up to him, but my mind immediately wonders what's through that darkened hallway. You know what, I will just take a quick peek then return to my work space, pack up and say goodbye to Playtime Co. forever.

Calming my nerves, I walked down the hallway. It seemed normal at first, although I could not open any of the office doors as they were locked. They should really send the maintenance workers here because the lack of clear light is starting to get annoying. 

They should also send a janitor here to clean up all of these toys lying on the floor and the suspicious looking red splotches on the floor and walls. Wait, red splotches? What? I looked back, and noticed that the light from where I came from is now gone, oh crap. I turned back, but it felt like an infinite hallway as no matter how I ran back, the hallway seemed to have no end. Even more concerning is the amount of destroyed, teared and impaled toys scattered about in the hallway.

Just what the hell did I get myself into!? I should have just ignored this hallway and went back to my work station. But no, curiosity killed the cat and it has murdered it by like 3 times already. I heard humming though, maybe I can ask them for help or ask them what the hell is going on. I walked towards the source of the humming, but it seems as though I was nowhere close to it even after walking down the hallway for a few minutes. 

Now I really wish I didn’t come here, this place feels like a fever dream or a nightmare scenario. It was then the humming stopped as I heard someone talking to me.

…

Yeah… I guess you can say that mysterious voice, I nodded my head as the voice told me to keep moving forward down the hall. While I don’t trust it, what other choice do I have, I doubt screaming would even help. Following the mysterious voice’s direction, I continued walking down the dark hallway. Calming music suddenly played out of nowhere, did the mysterious voice do that? It's… something at least, makes me forget that I’m talking down a seemingly endless hallway.

Calming music… In a dark hallway that seemingly never ends… all alone… It feels like a creepy story in the making. The calm music does help in keeping my nerves calm, it’s almost like meditating while walking.

…

Huh, why does your voice change? And why do you sound like a familiar now mysterious voice?

…

Oh… We met before? I don’t remember… Uh, can you remind me of something so that my noggin can help recall.

…

Oh, you know that I like parties? Well, It’s not exactly a secret I keep with my friend Rich and the rest of the shipping family. But why bring that up specifically?

…

Oh, you like parties as well? And you are planning to host one for all of Playtime Co.? Well, aren’t you an eccentric one. What? I’m also invited? Well, even though I don’t ever recall meeting you before until now, I might as well come. It is also a good opportunity for me to re-introduce to you about me.

…

The party is on August 8? Hmm… I’ll try to come, although now that I’m fired, it would be hard for me to come back. I’m probably been blacklisted by Mr. Pierre by now due to my colossal fuck up that… That… Uh, was I fired or reallocated?

Wait… Why can’t I remember? I seriously should not have zone out a bit ago when Mr. Pierre was going off on me. Huh? Since when has there been red smoke here? This hallway keeps getting weirder and weirder.

…

Oh, yeah sorry, too many things are going through my head right now. I should probably keep going, I hope I am close to the end of the hallway now. The amount of toys just destroyed or impaled alarmingly keeps increasing the further I walk down this dark hallway. Even the rejects and recalled toys are not spared. Oh poor Poe and Touille plushies, you guys and your friends don't deserve to be a state like this. I don’t know how many children will even buy you in the toy store, but it's certainly better than the state all of your toys are in right now.

…

Mom…? Is that you? Why are you here…? Oh, you come to pick me up? Oh, did Mr. Pierre contact you about it… Look mom, I'm sorry! I just did not know what came into me! I-I just zoned out- I was not paying any attention-!

…

…Huh? You understand it was a mistake? O-Oh… I’m still sorry… You are at the front entrance already… Alright, I’ll get there when I get out of this endless hallway.

…

Thanks mom… Maybe strawberry ice cream could cheer me up, I should continue walking huh and not stand here talking to you… The red smoke smells like lavender… Just like the ones used by those recalled C̷̨̺͔̰̋͘̚a̶͈̎̓̀̄̄̓͝ť̴̬̼͎͙͐͛N̴̛̤̣̣̥̺̖̖̈́̈̓͘a̷̭͊̿̾̓̚p̶̺̭͖̄̃͋͒ toys from a few months ago… Pair this with the calming music, and I feel like I don’t want to get out of here…

…

Oh, yeah, I also need to get my things… Thanks Kathy? Rich for reminding me. Mom, let me get my stuff first, It won’t take too long…

… Kathy?

                         D̸̞̊o̵̪͂ ̴̱̈́y̷̭͛ö̸̳́ủ̶̟ ̷̺̈́ḫ̷͆a̵̱͒v̸͖͂ẽ̷͉ ̸͕̕a̶̤̓ǹ̸̬ÿ̵͕ ̵̫͊í̸̳d̵̹͌ë̷̩́á̶̹ ̷̠̑w̴̹̿h̷͚́á̶̬ẗ̵̠́ ̷̢͛y̶̥̾o̴͖̿u̸͘͜'̴͚͋r̵̲̍é̷̡ ̸͚̓d̷̙́o̸̜̎ḭ̸̾n̵̛̹g̶̞̈?̵͓̊

Huh… There’s people celebrating just down the hall… And they sounded really excited about it… What are they celebrating…?

                                                                                           D̸̨̊ō̴̦ ̷͉͆ͅẙ̴̫̱o̸͍̟͐͆ù̵͜ ̶̊̊ͅk̷̬̃n̴̙̠͛ȏ̴͖̦w̸̭̿ ̷͈̏͌w̶̧̓̏ḣ̴̻̜å̷͉t̵̩͔̀'̶̤̈́ṡ̵͕̘͝ ̵͓͖̉h̸̙̝͛ȃ̶͈ṗ̶̖̠͝ṕ̵̢ë̵͓́ň̵̗̀ê̶̯̕d̷̟̱̈́͝ ̷̹̂̋h̸̰̻͐̕e̷̢̅r̴̪̿̌e̶̼͘?̶͖̤͌

…

Wake up… A celebration? Celebrating what exactly…?

          Ḏ̶͐̔o̶̯̮͛ ̸̘̘̀͌y̴͉̪͗̿ó̵̧͚ù̶̻͠ ̵͉͂ͅk̵̖̇̆n̶̬͊͝ǒ̷̥̖͘w̴̧̽ ̶̗̈́w̵̥͕̐h̷͍̥͋o̴̼̫̅ ̸̭̈́͜͠ẁ̷͖e̴͕̹͌ ̷̥̫̃̕o̵̳͂n̷͈͙͒͌c̵͚̒̂è̶͈̙̿ ̸̒͠ͅw̶̝͑̌e̶̖͎͆͝r̷͓̰̋e̵̗͖͐?̶͓̗̀̓

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                D̶͎̎ő̶̻͇͑ ̸̭̂y̴̥͋̂o̶̥͌u̵̱̔ ̵̨͔̈́̈́e̷̯̣̎͠v̵͕̞̇ȅ̵̟̑n̴̪͝ ̷̙̮͊k̸̯̈̑n̶̩̳̎o̵͎̭͌ẅ̵̨̮͊ ̵͓̔̀w̵̘͗̅h̴̳̮̋̋a̴͋̽ͅt̷̫̲̋͛'̶̡̯̏̀s̷̼͕͂̿ ̸̨͎̍r̸̺͋̎è̷͔a̷̗͛͘l̸̦̾̏͜?̵̺͛̓ͅ

…

                                                  N̷̘̜̘̊̓o̷̩͈̓̆.̴͕̫́̂.̷̰̞̈́͘͠.̶̣̖̈́̇̈ ̶̤͔͘y̴̛̰͓̤͛̕ỏ̵̩ǘ̵͇͆̍͜ ̷̡̛ḑ̷̩́̐͠o̴̧͙̔̀n̷͓͆̒'̵̧̨͋̎t̵̂́ͅ.̷̳̳̼͊͘

Salvation…? Why would we need salvation…? We are just Kathy! slaves to the factory line… Nothing more than mere workers keeping the cogs Kathy! Please!  running while Mr. Pierre keeps most of our money for his own personal gain…

                                                                          Ã̷͕͓̘͛̉͊ǔ̸̗̣̫͐̄̄g̸͕͚̙̣̉̈́͑̽͜u̴͙̩̜̦̍̉̅̿͆s̴̢̯̮͈̭͒t̵͈̫̳͋ ̴̲̥̑͌͛͝8̶̘̥̑͂̂̈́͠,̶͍̞͚̾͋̕ ̶̛͖̞̈́̎̈͝1̶̰̈́͊̃̚͜9̶̬͙̓͂͝9̵̢̱̠̑5̵͇̬̥͈̗̋̀͒͛

…

                                                                                                                                                                                                E̶̯̊̽v̵̢̳͋e̸̝̲͝r̶̫̉ỵ̶̌͘o̸̫͒n̷̢̋e̸͍̍͝ ̶̭̊w̶̖̿a̸̫̟̔s̸̺̙͊ ̸̗̦̀͛w̴̼͘ȧ̶̝͔î̶̘̚t̸͍͝i̴͕̺͊n̵͚͍͂g̷͈̽ ̷̘̟͆̄f̶̢̞̓́ö̵́̚ͅŕ̸̗̫̚ ̵̯̈́̔y̴̨̛̩ö̷̝̪́͝u̷̢̯͐̈́

           W̶͕͊ḥ̷̈́ͅÿ̸̱̫́ ̸̟̔d̸͔̣̀͘î̶̼̠̋d̵̰̖̐̔ ̴̹̫̄y̵̭̅̅o̵̡͉͛͘u̷̫͆͠ ̵̼̆̐n̷̏̒ͅô̸̢̜t̴̨̬́̏ ̷̟̭̆̈́c̷̮̃ỏ̸͖̩̾ṃ̸̮͂̄é̸̠̰̏ ̵̙͊t̶̳̫̀͘o̴̘͆͝ ̵̺͌͠t̸̳͑̀h̴̗̠̐ẻ̵̙͝ ̴͚̖̌̉p̵̹͝â̶͙r̸̢̅t̴͖̭͌y̷͔̘͗?̶̬̌̆

I feel sleepy… A warm blanket would suffice… Kathy! Kathy! Oh… I can see the red light at the end of the endless hallway… I would run to it like it’s the finish line to a race… But my legs feel weak…

                                                               H̷̪͚̘͉̱̼̬̗͉̀͗̉e̶̢̧̥͚̠͑̂̔͝r̵̰̫̞̩̀̀͛̀̄̄̀͘ȩ̵̗̹̦͔̬̂t̶͖̜̑̀̃̓̈́̉̍̽͑̚į̷̱̹̭̣̤̞̩̽̽͂̒̆̀̅́c̴̼̗͎̎̓̇͝ͅ

… Wake up Kathy!

                                                                                                                  Y̸͈̦̗̥͚͗o̸̪͚̔̔̀̋̚u̴̙͌̄͑̚̚ ̷̦̦͕͆̿ṗ̴̲̱͎̈́́͛r̷̟͔̉̑̽̋̑o̴͍̝̭̍̐̄͠m̷͓̌́͐͂͜͝ỉ̷̧̺͎͇͋̍͑͝s̷̠̝̑̔é̷̛̱͝ͅd̸̗̈̐̕͝ ̶̨̘̏̐̌͜m̸̗̳͓̠̟̄̓͐͠e̴͖̥͈̜̿̂͂̈́͝ ̴̧̢͇̤͇̌̆͌̐K̷̡͎̮͕͆͂ḁ̴̧̛̺͙̽t̷͓̝͎̎̍̍h̴̢̥̠̤͂̚ẏ̶̪̗

Just a few more KATHY! KATHY! Steps before I am home free from this endless hallway. The crowd seemed to cheer for me as I exited the hallway. I am back to the main central area K-Kathy… of Playtime Co. But Huggy is not there… Weird… P-Please Kathy… Did they move him to somewhere else…?

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  T̸̛̼̍̾̍́̾͆ḩ̶̼̣̜̱̙͖͌̒e̵̺̽͂̕ͅͅ ̶̡̧̝͈̖̜̜͐̊̈́͗̀͜H̸̩͍͙̰̘̱͔͍͌͆͝o̷̺͉̪̟̠͍̻̓͆͋͜͠u̸̡̪̔̾͜r̴̡̮̥̙̉̊͋͒ ̵̡̏̃̐̃͆̒́̄ȯ̶̳̟̖͈̦̫͂̄̚f̶̢̛͐̀̓ ̶̖̬͕̊͌̀̈́̃̅̕͠J̷͇̇ö̸̝̙͙̹̳̝̺̭͆͝y̶̥̏̀̌́͑̐

…

                     A̶̢̺̺͓̯̔l̸͈̫͙͎̈́̒̚l̷̜̜̪̔͝ ̴̼̯̰̬̱̑͒͋ś̵͈͎̳͜͠ȟ̸̦̠̬́͊͘a̴̡̞͈̓͂̒̋̓l̴͎̺̪̥̓l̵͂̎͜͝ ̷̟͐̂̿͋̐ŕ̸̛̭̼͖e̸̫͓͔̽p̷̼͎͈͉̉̈͗̈́ë̸̠̣̟̯̲́͌n̴̘̅t̸̛̥̔͊͜ ̵̙̱̖͓̠̓̽̕f̴̡͚͚͖͈̕o̴̫̅̋͆r̶̪̲̽̕͠ ̷͔͋́t̶͍̤͂̄̆̏ȟ̵͍̜̱̣̏̐̅͗e̵̩͖͂i̶͈̘̹̕ȓ̶̫̮̤̎͆͘ ̵͍͆̔s̷̢͙̣̀i̴̬͍͗̉̆̓n̵͙̜͔͗̒̕ͅs̶̖͝ ̵̮̞̬͙͚͑͑́̊͝á̴̭̌̈́g̶͓̭̊̉̌a̸̧͚͗̿͂̎į̷̛̠̺n̵̳̓̓̓̋̾s̵̻̳͐͝t̷̼͕͚̂̽͐́͠ ̶̳̩̤̜̟̽̀ū̶̩̜͔͋͌̎̐͜s̵̰̉

Yeah… I need help, I could not move anymore… K-Kathy… My legs feel weak… It was then an angelic hand reached down to me. The crowd roared even louder as The angel offered His guidance for me… 

What a tempting offer…

           Kathy!                                                                                                         Kathy!

Please… Can you help me stand up…

Kathy!                                                                                                                                     Kathy!

I feel very tired… I want to vomit out of exhaustion…

                      K̵̻̬͙͗a̶̡̢̪̟͈̿͛̓́t̴̨̰̪̖̬͚̣̍͐h̴͇͖̩͔̠̱̓͆y̴̖͇̖̭̠̌!̴̡̜͖̣͛̕ͅ                                                                                         K̵̻̬͙͗a̶̡̢̪̟͈̿͛̓́t̴̨̰̪̖̬͚̣̍͐h̴͇͖̩͔̠̱̓͆y̴̖͇̖̭̠̌!̴̡̜͖̣͛̕ͅ

I reached out for His arms…

    K̸̹̥̤̯̲̻̘̫̦͍̊̄̊̓͌̒̍̍̾̌͘͝ͅÄ̷͖̳̹̘̱͚̭͇͎̀T̷̡̰̦̺̣͕͈̟̈̀͛̂͒͘͝H̷̨̰̙̞͕̹͚̤̯͔͎̠́͑̒͂͂̿̈́̐̅͗̿͂́͝ͅY̸̛̹̰̪̗̺̓͒̓̓͋̃͗̇̈́͝!̷̨͍͓̟̮̫̪̊͑͒͛                                                                                                                         K̸̹̥̤̯̲̻̘̫̦͍̊̄̊̓͌̒̍̍̾̌͘͝ͅÄ̷͖̳̹̘̱͚̭͇͎̀T̷̡̰̦̺̣͕͈̟̈̀͛̂͒͘͝H̷̨̰̙̞͕̹͚̤̯͔͎̠́͑̒͂͂̿̈́̐̅͗̿͂́͝ͅY̸̛̹̰̪̗̺̓͒̓̓͋̃͗̇̈́͝!̷̨͍͓̟̮̫̪̊͑͒͛

His gentle hands… I reached out Kathy! Kathy! with my right hand(?) …

And… K̷̛͓̱̺̒̇́̃̎͊͒̄̓͗̓̆̕Ą̵̨̛͖͎̺͖̳̙̼͇͓͒͗̂͋͑̓͛̈́̔̇̐͘Ṭ̷̛̅̐̽H̸̪̩̱̦͕͔̩̳͓̻͕̱̭̱̩̄͆͆̾̓̃̂̐̍̀̾͗͒̃̓̕͘Ý̶̡̘͓̺̻̝̞͇̬͕̜ͅ!̷̙̺̬̠̼̽̎̐̚͠ͅ And… P̷̢̺̮̯̰̪͇̪͍̻̩̎̌͑́́̈́̕̕͠-̶͓̪͓͈̫͚̦̥͈͖́́̿̾̈́̋͐̒̊̑̅͒̌̕͘P̷̧̟̖͕̮͈̲͓̖͈͆͜L̸͙̤͙͚͆͗̀̿E̴̼͉͓͍͓̫̪̪͈͆͋̂̓̇ͅA̶̛̛̱̣͙̺̲̜̘̦̰̝̞͇̥͍͕̰͙͆͆̈̎̔̒͆̄̇͂̽̚S̶̙̞̺͖̠̖̼̝̳̰̺͇̎̏͒́̑̆̑̕͝E̴̥̙͋̀̚͘̕̚!̶̤̟̉̓͋̒̏̂̀̇̍͘̕͝!̵̫̟͕̪̮̐́͆̀̓̑͐̔̏̌̎̔̎̌͜͜ And…

KATHY!!! PLEASE WAKE UP!!!

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“KATHY!” Luke and Bunzo screamed as Kathy Jolted up from her slumber. She hyperventilated as Luke and Bunzo held her tightly with tears. 

“Oh my god! Kathy, thank goodness you are alive!” Bunzo cried out loud, meanwhile Luke cried even harder on Kathy’s shoulder. Soon enough, Kathy was able to breathe normally and looked around at where she was. She was back in the room where CatNap assaulted them before suddenly leaving. 

Luke suddenly screamed out in pain as stumble back and covered his left eye. Kathy and Bunzo eyes widened as they checked up on Luke.

“Luke…? Are you okay?” Kathy asked with concern, it was then Luke removed his arm from his left eye and the two gasped loudly. Luke’s left eye was slashed through, leaving three deep scratch marks and severely wounding his left eye.

“N-No… Everything hurts…” Luke muttered, he then gave Kathy and Bunzo his spare first aid kit. Immediately knowing what to do, they followed Luke’s instruction of disinfecting his wounds and taking care of his scars as they tightly wrapped a gauze around the infected area.

“C-CatNap really got my left eye…” Luke commented as the two held onto Luke tightly. Kathy uttered an apology, but Luke shrugged it off as he was here to protect them at all cost, even if it means losing an eye in the process.

The phone suddenly rang out, Kathy expected Ollie to pick up and usher them to return to the room underneath the statue and finish the job, but what they heard sent a shiver down their spine.

"LEAVE PLAYCARE, OR THEY WILL MEET THEIR END.” A deep, distorted and raspy voice exclaimed out the phone before immediately hanging up. 

“I-I-Is that C-CatNap!?” Bunzo muttered out, obviously scared of what they just heard. The phone rang out again and this time, it was Ollie who picked up from the other end, although Ollie sounded a bit more distressed than usual. 

“Kathy! Luke! Bunzo!” Ollie cried out.

“Whoa, whoa… What’s happening kid?” Kathy asked, to which Ollie responded with panic and dread. “You need to get back to the room underneath the statues! Something happened while you three were gone and CatNap kidnapped everyone!”

Kathy, Luke and Bunzo’s blood ran cold, they immediately grabbed the battery and inserted it into the nearest socket. It opened the door that led back to the entrance of the counselor building. Without skipping a beat, the three ran back to the room underneath the stairs, forgetting the cable that they were supposed to attach to in order to use the office building’s backup generator and not realizing that it was already “night time” in Playcare. 

The three saw a grim sight when they entered the room, lingering red smoke, scratched up walls and broken monitors, and the lack of Kathy’s boyfriend along with 3 living toys inside the room. Luke picked up his duffel bag that was haphazardly thrown onto the corner of the room as the phone rang again. Kathy immediately picked up, demanding what happened to Sean, Crafty, Bobby and DogDay.

“Kathy! While you three were inside the counselor office, CatNap sneaked his way under here and took everyone! I saw him take them to the gas production zone, we need to hurry!” Ollie explained with haste. “Grab the cord from the counselor's office and plug it in underneath the statue! We need to reach 100%! Good luck!"

Kathy wasted no time, running back to the building and quickly grabbed the cable, she ran back and immediately inserted it into the plug while Bunzo was rewrapping Luke’s left eye with a new layer of gauze. 

"It looks like we're a tiny bit short! I'm sending one last key. Poppy used it when you met up with her earlier to activate the sky lights! Go back over there and find the cord! Then we'll have enough power!"

A key was sent down the same tube Ollie uses to send them stuff. Luke, despite the loss of his left eye made his ability to balance straight hard, elected to be the one to grab the remaining power from the sky light. Kathy, while reluctant, wishes him good luck as he sprinted out of the room, flashlight in hand. He did trip once, but he quickly brushed it off and made it back to the control panel where he and Bobby tried using it before needing to solve a puzzle to operate it and their subsequent untimely fall to the maintenance hall.

He did not find the power cord up in the control panel area itself, instead, he went down the lift and saw the power box right beside the lift itself. Luke facepalmed himself, carefully not smacking his left side of his face, and quickly grabbed the power cord. Another trip later, he made it back as Kathy and Bunzo were re-applying another fresh gauze for her head injury. Luke inserted the cord and the remaining working monitor displayed the power percentage to be 100%.

The phone rang, and Kathy picked up. "Okay, that should be enough power. Now take that huge battery to the Gas Production Zone, so we can  save Sean and the remaining Bigger Bodies Smiling Critters. Good luck." A huge, blue battery was spat out from the tube for the final time, Kathy, Luke and Bunzo looked at each other and with a determined expression, hurried out of the room with the blue battery in hand.

“Photo pie… Crafty… Bobby… DogDay… Hold on tight, we’re coming.” Kathy quietly prayed for her love and friends as the three made their way inside the Gas Production Zone. Opening the door near the gondola station, they were immediately greeted with light red smoke laying on the floor. Bunzo hopped up to Kathy’s shoulder as they made it further deep into the gas production zone. Upon reaching the central room with the machine itself, they were greeted with Sean, Crafty, Bobby and DogDay tied up, knocked out and left in front of the machine’s main control panel.

“Sean! Crafty! Bobby! DogDay!” Kathy cried out, but no matter how much she shouted and shook them awake, they would not respond. Kathy noticed Sean’s damaged camera on the ground and immediately picked it up. 

As soon as Kathy picked it up, Luke sensed that all too familiar dread his instincts fired when danger was nearby. More red smoke formed among their feet as Luke quickly turned and narrowingly dodged a claw swipe by jumping back, dropping the blue battery in the process. Kathy, Luke and Bunzo were mortified as CatNap crawled down the walls behind them and flooded the room with more red smoke.

“Kathy! Bunzo! Run! I’ll hold him off!” Luke shouted as he grabbed one of his batons inside his duffel bag. The three coughed violently as the entire room was fully flooded with red smoke. Luke and Bunzo struggled to stay awake as Kathy began to step back out of fear. CatNap suddenly disappeared, causing Luke to wildly look around with his one good eye. It was then a white claw suddenly and violently swiped across where Luke was standing before backstepping the attack.

“Luke!” Both Kathy and Bunzo shouted out as Luke staggered back from the surprise attack. The three turned to CatNap and immediately went pale to the skin. What they saw is a horrifying malnourished version of CatNap. Its body turned white, skeletal ribcage and bones showing out of his body, and a distorted and horrifying elongated wide smile along with piercing and nightmarish eyes stared at the three.

A one sided fight ensued, with Luke trying his best to both protect Kathy and Bunzo while dodging all of the nightmarish CatNap’s attacks. No matter how much Luke tried, his sluggish movement was no match for the nightmarish CatNap’s agility and strength. The three backed up to a lift, where Luke quickly shoved his baton onto Kathy and activated the lift, leaving him behind.

“LUKE!” Both shouted out. “H-Hide…” Luke looked back with a smile before getting smacked violently onto a wall with a backhand attack from CatNap, knocking him out. CatNap then followed Kathy and Bunzo by climbing up the lift’s fenced walls, peering at their souls before the lift separated the two and arriving at its stopping point.

Kathy silently cried, holding Sean’s broken camera and Luke’s Baton tightly while Bunzo struggled to stay awake and comfort the girl. She sat at the base of the lift and continued to silently cry out, blaming herself for even entertaining that this “simple” exploration trip was “fun” and “quick.”

But Bunzo urges Kathy to stand up and continue on, Luke tells them to hide from CatNap and they know he is coming. With a shaky resolve, Kathy and Bunzo explored the new area they are in. Along the way, Kathy managed to find and pick up a black VHS tape on the ground near what seemed to be a central room filled with batteries and battery sockets. A monitor displaying the current green charge receiver, which displays it was at 0%. Suddenly, the monitor changed to a vocal wave as someone spoke through on the other end.

“Thank God!! I managed to reach you two!” The familiar voice of Poppy answered through the monitor.

“Poppy!?” Kathy mumbled as the two looked at the monitor in confusion.

“There’s no time to explain! The room you are in used to be a safe room that employees used to hide from people who are in the influence of the red smoke. This room is littered with ways to defend yourself from CatNap.” Poppy explained. “Behind you there should be two green charge receivers that require batteries to be used, it allows you to activate one of the four defence mechanisms inside the room.”

Kathy tried out what Poppy explained, and sure enough, steam spewed from the entrance to the hallway. 

“There are also two more battery sockets that power their own steam barriers, but later on you will need to use those batteries to power up the central green charge receiver.” Poppy further explained. “Once you place one battery into the four sockets near the terminal, it will start the charging process and most likely CatNap will start coming for you two.”

Kathy then inserted two batteries into the two sockets that activate the steam batteries. Kathy placed down Bunzo and told him that she will handle it, Bunzo relented, but the red smoke’s influence over him made it really hard to stay awake. Kathy hugged Bunzo and petted him as he finally caved in and fell asleep. Gently placing Bunzo down, Kathy gathered all the batteries inside the room and placed most of it into the green charge receiver sockets behind her. With one last battery, she was about to place it but Poppy interrupted with her.

“THERE’S ONE MORE THING!” Poppy urges Kathy to listen. “Thanks to the red smoke, you may experience hallucinations of CatNap coming for you. Find a way to tell which ones are fake and which ones are real. But whatever you do, DON’T USE YOUR FLARE HAND! The red smoke is highly flammable and you might set the entire room on fire, sending everyone who is inside the red smoke into flames!” Poppy warned.

“Survive, and use the fully charged receiver to electrocute CatNap and end this nightmare once and for all! Good luck.” Poppy wished her good luck as the one sided call hung up.

Kathy is now in a dilemma, how could she tell which CatNap is real or not. She looked down and eyed Sean's broken camera, turning it on, marvelously, it still works. Kathy prayed that she could use Sean’s camera to tell whether or not which CatNap was real or fake. Mentally preparing herself, preparing her GrabPack, Sean’s camera and the battery, she placed it into one of the four sockets connected to the terminal. The terminal changed back to the charge status and a countdown of 180 seconds began. 

“3 MINUTES!?” Kathy complained, but was immediately shut up as she can hear purrs reverberating down all of the hallways. Her survival from CatNap had begun.

Kathy felt that time slowed down, each second feeling longer than it should be. It was then Kathy heard and saw two identical looking nightmare CatNaps walking down the two halls. Remembering Poppy’s warning, she powered on the camera and checked the two hallways. To Kathy’s amazement, the CatNap on the left hallway disappeared while the right hallway CatNap remained in the camera’s frame. Since the two batteries are already occupied on the back two hallways, Kathy grabbed a green charge and activated the steam barrier using the green charge. The steam causes CatNap to shriek in pain and return back from where it came from. 

Kathy sighed deeply as Sean’s camera was able to detect which ones are hallucinations and which ones are not. CatNap tried again, using another hallucination to confuse Kathy, but the camera showed her the truth and she activated the left hallway’s steam barrier. CatNap shrieked in pain again and returned back to where he came from. 

The terminal beeped loudly as Kathy’s face went pale. It requires another battery to be inserted, she looked back and used the battery that powers the grates and inserted it into another socket. The countdown continued with 135 seconds remaining before the green charge receiver was fully charged.

It was then that yellow light glowed down the room, Kathy looked and went pale. CatNap trying to enter the room through the ceiling grate. Kathy immediately grabbed the grate’s handle using her GrabPack hands and played a tug-of-war game with CatNap. After a bit of a struggle, Kathy won and shut the grate again. But she could not celebrate as two more CatNaps walked down the hallways.

Using Sean’s camera, she identified which CatNap was the real one and used the steam barrier to ward away CatNap. “H-How is he so fast with his assaults…” Kathy mumbled as she activated another steam barrier for the real CatNap who walked through the right hallway. 

The terminal beeped loudly again, while there is only 90 seconds left, it requires another battery. Kathy bit her lips and decided to take one of the batteries that power the back left hallway steam barrier. She inserted it into another socket and the countdown continued. 

The CatNap came barreling through the hallways, Kathy immediately inspecting all of them, but all are hallucinations. “Huh…” It was then she noticed the ceiling grates almost open as the real CatNap used the hallucinations as a distraction. Kathy barely managed to grab onto the handles and yanked the ceiling grate back closed before it was too late. 

Shaken up from almost getting caught by CatNap, she continued her song and dance of checking which CatNap is real or not and defending herself from the real CatNap using the steam barrier. Her movement became sluggish due to her exhaustion kicking in and the red smoke tiring her out. She could not fail this, she could not leave everyone's lives in vain, she could not die here. The terminal beeps once again, demanding one more battery to be inserted in the last socket.

The only battery she could realistically remove right now is the last battery that powers the remaining steam barrier. Cursing herself, she reluctantly grabbed the battery and inserted it into the final socket. “45 seconds left…” Kathy quietly mumbled as the deadly duel came to its climax.

She prayed that her adrenaline lasted just long enough for her to continue her acrobatic defence for survival. More hallucinations, more steam barriers activated using the green charge receiver, more attempts at entering through the ceiling grate. One second for Kathy feels like 3 seconds, her head spins, she wants to vomit from circling around the room constantly. But she knew she could not fail right now, Luke gave her and Bunzo a chance to hide, to live. What’s good about Luke’s probable final wish if she failed to keep his promise to them. Luke and Bunzo counted on her, Sean, Crafty, Bobby and DogDay counted on her to live. Poppy counted on her, Ollie counted on her to live and defeat CatNap.

With one more steam barrier to ward away CatNap, the terminal beeped again, this time the green charge receiver was fully charged. Without skipping a beat, Kathy witched to her green hand and grabbed the overcharged green charge.

Just as she grabbed the overcharge using her green hand, The real CatNap came down on her through the unattended ceiling grate, while the red smoke dissipated around them. He slammed Kathy to the ground hard, digging his claws into her body hard. Kathy screamed out in pain, but through sheer perseverance, aimed and fired the green hand onto CatNap’s body.

CatNap reeled back, crying out in pain as the overcharge electrocuted through his entire body. Kathy stumbled back and held Bunzo tight. He thrashed around the room itself, knocking down batteries, denting fenced gates and banged the safe room’s walls. He collapsed on the ground, still breathing and green electricity coating through his body. Kathy only stared at the collapsed cat out of sheer fear, but went pale as CatNap tried to reach out for her with his sharp claws. Fortunately, CatNap subconsciously spewed red smoke out of his mouth. This, combined with the green sparks still coursing through his body, caused CatNap to spontaneously combust into flames. Kathy held the sleeping Bunzo tighter as he thrashed about the room in an attempt to put out the fire. Kathy was glad Poppy warned her about the flammability of the red smoke, otherwise she, Bunzo and the rest would come up in flames.

With one final thud, CatNap collapsed to the ground just as the ceiling grate opened again. The yellow light glowed down like an angel appearing before someone as the same metal claw Kathy saw taking the corpse of Mommy Long Legs appeared before CatNap. He backed away, but when he saw the claw reach out to him, he shakily kneeled before the claw . It was then the claw twisted its needle like fingers and swiftly pierced through CatNap’s nape, ending his life instantly.

Blood gushes out of CatNap’s nape as the claw dragged his lifeless corpse up to the ceiling, collecting its new corpse like a trophy. 

Kathy stayed where she was, hyperventilating after witnessing CatNap’s “sacrificial” demise. The claw came back down and faced Kathy, along with the safe room’s monitor glitching to show the same purple eye that appeared in the playhouse generator room’s TV.

Kathy huddled herself into the corner of the wall and held onto Bunzo for dear life. The claw and the eye watched her hyperventilating and shaking out of terror.

“Interesting… Very interesting…” A voice blared out inside the room. “This has proven to be a worthwhile study… I’ll see you down below in hell… I hope you give you and your companions 100% participation for this upcoming experiment ‘Martyr.’” The voice said before the eye disappeared, turning off the safe rooms terminal along the way.

The claw then retreated back up the ceiling grate, closing it and leaving Kathy alone in the room.

Adrenaline left her system as she cried again, her entire body hurts, her head hurts even more, she needs to vomit again. Putting Bunzo, the camera and the baton down, she slowly walked to one of the corners of the room and vomited again. Coughing and coughing out all the stress, despair and horrors this trip inside Playtime Co. gave her. Once she felt “done,” she picked up Bunzo and the rest of the items she had and slowly made her way back to the lift. Before reaching the lift however, she passed by a TV and VHS player combo near the lift. Remembering she picked up a black VHS tape, she inserted it into the player.

"Log-code 24459. In relation, Experiment 1006, the Prototype. ” The tape began to play out and a voice said. Kathy noticed how the voice sounded similar to the one she heard inside the safe room when the claw and the eye appeared before her. “Stubborn as he is, and always silent with each passing session, I'm still uncovering fresh data nonetheless. Today's discovery?--" 

Garbled noises can be heard, the person behind the tape turned his attention to the Prototype and said. "Hmph. End of log. Hmmm. Ready to talk now, are you?" He blurted out.

"I... possess... a question." A voice, most likely coming from the Prototype. With each word it spoke, it changed its voice into different voices. 

"Go ahead..." 

"Do you... feel ... anything?" 

The voice that didn’t belong to the Prototype sighed as he asked. "This question referring to what , exactly?" 

"You stick us. Beat us. Tear at flesh. Do you feel it? " The Prototype explained, still shifting its voice into other voices.

"There is a secret inside you, 1006. Valuable beyond all measure. I cut and prod and burn at it, and I get closer with each session…” The other voice explained, sounding irritated. So speak, or don't. Fight, or give in. Regardless, I learn something new about you every day..." He then laughs to himself as he finishes. "It excites me!"

What the voice on the other did not expect to hear is the Prototype saying. "Thank you." 

"You... thank me?" The voice asked, intrigued.

"Absolutely!" The Prototype replied. "I learn something new about you every day." He concluded, mimicking the other person’s voice in the end as the tape ended.

Kathy did not know what to think about it, she does not want to think about anything right now. She dragged herself along with Bunzo and the rest of the stuff she had onto the lift and called down the lift. She dragged herself to the middle of the gas containment zone room, and promptly collapsed. Sean, Crafty, Bobby and DogDay are still tied up and knocked out on the machine’s terminal, Luke still passed out on the wall where CatNap whacked him after the lift went up. Kathy gently placed Bunzo on the floor and collapsed right beside him. She was too exhausted, she felt weak, and maybe a nap does not sound like a bad idea. She laid on her floor, using her pink jacket as a sort of sleeping bag and closed her eyes.

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“Have I made myself clear Ms. Orleans!?” Leith Pierre spat out, Kathy hesitantly nodded and replied. “Yes, sir.”

“Good, Rich, facilitate her removal from her position and get the hell out!” Pierre shouted, causing Kathy and Rich to scramble out the office in a hurry. Kathy hung her head low, but Rich placed an arm across her elbow.

“Don’t let Pierre’s words weigh you down, we all make mistakes every now and then. But what matters in the end is how you will improve yourself in the future.” Rich comforted Kathy the best way he could. 

“Thanks Rich… I mean it.” Kathy replied wholeheartedly, they walked down the halls of the Innovation wing. They left and entered the shipping wing and from there took multiple turns to get to their work stations. The walk to the work stations was quiet, Kathy feeling too down to strike up any conversation with Rich. They entered the room and Rich helped Kathy pack up all her things.

As they packed up, she called her mom through her flip phone.

“Mom… It's me…” Kathy said as her mom picked up the call through their home telephone. She then broke down the bad news, while Kathy’s mom is kind of furious, her love for her daughter overpowered her anger and told Kathy what she needed to hear right now. Kathy asked her mom to pick her up from work, as she is not in a mood to walk to the nearby city and grab a taxi home.

Her mom eagerly accepted to pick her daughter up, and also offered her to go to a Mcdonalds and buy a Coke Float. Kathy appreciated and said goodbye to her mom as she needs to continue to pack up in Playtime Co. They hung up the call and Kathy refocused on the task at hand.

“So… 2 years down the drain huh…” Kathy weakly commented as she and Rich finished up packing all of her things, including her beloved Touille and Poe plushies. 

“It sucks, but that’s life, I guess.” Rich replied, giving Kathy another pep talk. “Besides, while you may not work here anymore, me and the shipping family will visit you from time to time, I think.”

“R-Really?” Kathy asked, to which Rich nodded. “We will still hang out, not as work companions but as friends, we may even drink at a bar or something.”

Kathy thanked Rich as she made her way out of her work station, she looked back one final time before leaving with Rich. They head to the entrance of Playtime Co. so that Kathy can wait for her mom to come pick her up. But as they walked, a voice whispered in Kathy's ear. She looked around, but no one other than Rich was there.

“What’s wrong?” Rich asked, Kathy just shrugged and explained to him how she heard someone whisper into her ear. “Weird… Maybe it’s just the stress getting into you.”

“Yeah… I guess you are right.” Kathy mumbled as they entered the central room of Playtime Co. She looked at the massive Huggy Wuggy statue one last time before heading to the entrance hall of Playtime Co.

As Rich went ahead to tell the receptionist what happened. Kathy heard the same voice whispering into her ear again. This time, it came from the Innovation wing, she left her things with Rich and told him that she will be back in a minute as she went back and headed to the innovation wing. From there, she walked down the main hallway of the innovation wing and she-

She-

She…

She…….

“Kathy…? Kathy…? Kathy…?” Someone called out to her, although her head hurt like crazy and her body screamed out in pain. She reluctantly opens her eyes and while her vision is a bit blurry, she can still make up the silhouette of Sean, Luke and Bunzo looking down on her. 

Kathy's eyes went wide as she quickly hugged her boyfriend and cried on his shoulder. “S-Sean…” Kathy quietly cried out as the two lovers sat down and hugged each other. With Kathy apologizing profusely, Sean asked why she was apologizing, and Kathy replied that it was her fault for having the bright idea of exploring Playtime Co. and causing everyone great pain in here.

“Look Kathy, It was not your fault that we all got injured one way or another… You didn’t know that murderous and friendly toys were alive before coming here. Stop blaming yourself Kathy…” Sean hugged Kathy tighter, making sure he does not squeeze his left arm as much as he needs to be. 

He let Kathy cry out her frustrations, stress and fear onto his shoulder while patting Kathy on the back. It was then Luke hesitantly approached the two and explained to Kathy and Bunzo how when he woke up to the room cleared out of red smoke, he found a way to a catwalk and rescued everyone. 

“Thanks again Luke… And thanks again for doing your best in protecting my sweet pie, even if it cost you your left eye…” Sean thanked Luke, he waved it off and explained how the others are in the room with the hatch inside. But before they could reunite with the others, they have one more thing they need to do inside the gas production room. He grabbed the blue battery and inserted it into the bigger socket nearby. This caused the main gas production machine to roar back to life. Sean pressed the button and the machine redirected all the red smoke into the left chamber. 

The phone rang and Luke picked up the phone and answered Ollie. “Hey Ollie, looks like we did it.”

“Yeah! you all really did it!” Ollie congratulated the three. “With CatNap dead, you all are one big step closer to the Prototype . One step closer to winning…”

It was then Ollie's tone shifted suspiciously. “You've made your choice, you are all staying to help Poppy. Well, finish the job! This win is all yours..." Ollie hangs up the call.

“...What was that last sentence all about?” Sean commented, both Luke and Kathy shrugged as Sean helped Kathy get up and the three headed towards the room with the locked hatch. They immediately saw Bunzo, Crafty, Bobby and DogDay huddling up near a TV and VHS player, which the player is stationed on top of a platform. They waved at the four as they immediately hugged the three heroes who defeated CatNap.

“KATHY! SEAN! LUKE! THANK GOODNESS YOU'RE ALL ALIVE!”

“G-Guys… Thank God you all are s-safe and sound.”

“Luke! T-Thank God y-your all are still f-fine…”

“A-Angels… Thank God you are all alive.”

The four celebrated the three’s victory as they all made a group hug, making sure they didn't unnecessarily hurt the three humans. While the three bigger Smiling Critters do understand why CatNap had to be killed, they felt a pain in their heart at the loss of what once was their best friend. It was at this moment Poppy made her appearance on top of a platform that holds the TV and VHS player.

Poppied sighed in relief as she spoke. “Good, you're here. And you've done it again; the impossible. Just like I knew you would. CatNap's gone... the red smoke is diverted..."

“H-Hey! Where have you been, Poppy!?” Luke shouted out, asking for answers. 

“I-I was getting the hatch ready so that we can all descend deeper in this hell… And have to get something back outside of Playcare…" Poppy replied somberly. “But if we're to keep going, then... then you all deserve to have the truth." She brought out a VHS tape out of the vent she came through.

All the living toys in the room went pale at the sight of that VHS tape. The three humans were confused as to what Poppy meant by “having the truth.”

“What’s that VHS tape Poppy? Is that what you want to show us?” Kathy asked. Poppy looked away at the group, and hesitantly replied. "Yes… You, Kathy, you came back because of your co-workers and friends. You want to know what happened, and why. This... this is your answer. We called it, ‘The Hour of Joy.’"

Sean quickly pointed his broken camera at the TV as Poppy inserted the tape into the player. He pressed record as the tape began to play, all the living toys looked away out of shame and fear.

The tape began to play and text appeared that read, “The Hour of Joy.” The tape then cuts to a security footage of the main lobby of Playtime Co., the date displayed on the top left corner showed that the recording took place on August 8, 1995, the day everyone inside Playtime Co. Disappeared. Everything seemed fine at first, people walking around the main lobby and off doing their work. Suddenly, when the time displayed on the feed hit 11:00am, Huggy suddenly grabbed the nearest person and violently bit their head off. Everyone stopped and stared at shock as Huggy began his slaughter, clawing one person to death, biting off another person’s head and chasing the remaining people who began to flee from the scene down the hallway to the Make-A-Friend room.

Kathy, Sean and Luke could not believe what they were seeing. All the living toys in the room looked away in shame and fear. But the tape continued to play as it then cut to the Game Station’s entrance. Several bodies, both adult and children alike, lay on the floor as Mommy Long Legs chased after several more workers and people wearing lab gowns. She managed to grab at least two and tore them apart while grabbing three more people and dropping them to their deaths.

The tape cut again to another feed that seemed to take place in the Water Treatment area. Someone was thrown down a small set of stairs as a bunch of mini Huggies and mini Smiling Critter toys began to maul the poor man. The feed cuts again to a feed that takes place in the school. Someone, Kathy identified as a maintenance worker, was chased down into a room as a horde of Ms. Delights entered the room one by one, the workers' fate was already sealed.

"I remember hearing every moment of it. It went on so long... so agonizingly long.” Poppy commented as the tape cut to another feed which showed some sort of train that holds three employees and Kissy Missy. She broke out of her restraints and threw one off screen, probably killing them in the process and crushes the other. She then chased the third person off screen, they can guess that Kissy killed the third person as well.

“They tried to hide, to run, anything to stay alive…” Poppy further added as the tape cuts to a hallway where a jack-in-a-box living toy with red furred claws and foot attached with springs gobbled up a corpse before leaving the camera feed. Several other corpses lay dead and the walls splattered with blood like an art canvas.

“I remember their cries: 'What's going on?'” Poppy said as the tape cut to the aftermath of the slaughter that took place in Playcare. With CatNap noticing a kid still alive and moving, he went up to the kid and stabbed them and dragged their dead body off screen. Kathy, Sean and Luke could also make out a dead Kickin amongst the sea of dead bodies.

“'Why is this happening…?'” Bunzo chimed in, too afraid to meet Kathy’s eyes. The tape cut to what seemed to be a prison area, why is there a prison in Playtime Co.? Kathy and the others wondered as waves of living toys, small and big alike, rioted amongst the people inside the prison looking area. With one that seemed to be a living dough man leading the charge.

“'W-What are those t-things…?'” Crafty added as well, on the verge of breaking down and into tears. The camera cut to an observation room where a multicolored ball of yarn that looks similar to a lion gobbled up more dead corpses. 

“Senseless slaughter, that's all it really was…” DogDay lamented. Kathy, Sean and Luke could not look away from the screen as another cut to what seemed to be a courtyard with the same prison aesthetic. There, they saw a bigger living Simon Smoke torturing an employee by ripping their limbs one by one. It seemed as though the bigger living toy enjoyed every second of the poor person’s agony. But Kathy wondered why there was a Bigger Bodies Simon Smoke in the first place, wasn’t the Nightmare Critter line rejected and was not for use?

“They killed everyone. The guilty, the innocent, didn't matter. All that death... it didn't fix anything.” Poppy continued, the tape then cuts to a room filled with TVs and monitors as a weird contraption watches all over the senseless slaughtering from the CCTV footage.

“And then, once it was all over, they dragged those corpses down below where they'd never be found. And they... ate the bodies... to stay alive." Poppy concluded as the tape cuts to multiple shots of each facility in Playtime Co. Everyone, child or adult, dead, slaughtered, tortured, and left to rot inside the walls of Playtime Co. The feed’s time displayed that it was now 12pm when everything ended, and cuts to the catwalk that leads to the flower room, with the same text from the beginning appearing again. The tape ended and the tape popped out of the VHS player, landing near the three humans who watched the tape intensely. Sean unknowingly picks up the tape as Kissy emerges out a large door and scoops up Poppy, allowing her to stand on her shoulder.

" The Prototype has to die. For this. For everything..."

Kathy, Sean and Luke could not speak, could not stare out of fear, could not reply. They were so shaken up from what they saw that Luke eventually excused himself and vomited in a corner nearby a CatNap cutout. Sean almost dropped his camera again as he watched the tap. And Kathy was inconsolable.

“If I was not fired a year before this… Then one of those bodies would have been mine…” Kathy softly said. “...I want to vomit again… But I feel like I couldn’t.”

Sean hugged Kathy tightly again, comforting her the best he could. Kathy found out what happened to her friends, her co-workers, and what happened to everyone else. But was it all worth it? Was it worth knowing what happened now, after what they all have been through? The other living toys could  not bring themselves close to the three humans, out of fear of what they would think about them.

Kathy wailed on Sean’s shoulders again, while Luke weakly went back to Kathy and Sean’s side and stared at the living toys. His mind could not think straight, on one hand they are all of his friends and companions, but on the other hand he thought they all participated in the mindless slaughter that they call “The Hour of Joy.”

Eventually, he approached Bobby, this caused her to stagger back. But when Luke came close to her, he just hugged her deeply. “L-Luke…” Bobby asked out, surprised why Luke suddenly hugged her.

“You were trapped in that storage room right…?” Luke clarified, to which Bobby hesitantly nodded. “T-Then that means… I’m guessing not everyone agreed to participate in that senseless slaughter…?”

Bunzo shook his head violently, while Crafty and DogDay looked down on the floor. While some of the toys were willing to follow His plan, some toys did resist His offer and instead tried to hide the best as they could.

Kathy and Sean regrouped with their living toy companions, seemingly done crying out all of their sorrows away. “I-I don’t think what happened is forgivable… But I’m willing to forgive those who moved on and change…” Kathy added to Luke’s sentiment, giving all the living toys a big hug one by one.. Meanwhile, Kissy pulled a lever and the hatch opened slowly, revealing a lift that could take them down deeper in Playtime Co.

“I am so sorry for you three to see the truth of what happened here in Playtime.” Poppy apologized. “But everything changed when you three arrived. You defied all odds and managed to bring down the Prototype’s loyal followers. He knows that he is losing allies, and he knows that we have the chance to fight back.”

Kissy allowed Poppy to walk down and onto the lift’s control panels. “We have allies from down below, they can help us stop Him once and for all. But we need you all to help! We need you three to help us! And in return, we will help you. What do you say?” Poppy offered.

Kathy, Sean and Luke looked at each other and at their living toy companions. The horrors of Playtime Co. clearly shocked them to their core. But simply leaving them all behind, those who saw them had hope and heroes, churned their stomachs a lot. And from what Poppy has said, if they even try to leave now, The Prototype would easily end their lives. Despite being injured and battered, they still feel like more work needs to be done. And more work to save all that they could, they have suffered enough, and they made their choices, there is no going back now, the three humans thought.

Kathy turned to Poppy and went into the lift first. “S-Sure… Despite everything, I still think I’m willing to help. Whether it's out of pity or respect for those who passed away or a way for me and my love and friends to escape this nightmare… I don’t know, but I will still help nonetheless.” 

“Wherever my sweet pie goes, I will go too.” Sean chimed in as he boarded the lift, along with DogDay and Bobby right behind him. 

“I-I promise to protect Kathy and Sean no matter what… And I’m keeping that promise, even if it means sacrificing myself to protect my friends…” Luke added as he, Bunzo and Crafty boarded the lift as well. 

Poppy could not believe what she had heard, despite learning the truth, they are still willing to help those who suffered in Playtime Co. She teared up in joy as he called out for Kissy to stay behind to pull the lever back up so that the lift can be activated. 

“Are you sure Kissy will be alright all alone?” Bunzo asked Poppy, to which Poppy assured them all that Kissy is more than capable in defending herself from danger. 

“Alright… This is it, once I start the lift there is no going back, is there anything you all want to do before we descend deeper into Playtime Co.?” Poppy asked the group. They looked at each other, and decided that the three humans needed to use the restroom to freshen up a bit. They quickly left the lift and headed to a nearby restroom. Sean gave all of them fresh new clothes and went ahead in doing their business. After a bit, they went back to the lift, all freshened up and ready to go.

They gave Poppy the signal and Poppy told Kissy. "Soon as we reach the bottom, we'll send the lift back up. Just hold tight, okay?” Kissy nodded as she pulled the lever, Poppy then pressed the button and the lift began its descent down.

Poppy turned to everyone else in the lift and before she could even announce, Kathy thanked her for her help back when she was in the safe room.

“Uh… Thank you? But… I don’t remember-” 

Before Poppy could even inquire what Kathy meant, she was interrupted by Kissy shrieking as loud thumbs can be heard from above. Everyone looked up in utter terror and confusion as Poppy immediately pressed the button for the lift to go back up. 

“P-Poppy! What’s going on!?” Kathy yelled out as everyone began to panic for Kissy’s safety.

"No, no no, NO!" No matter how much Poppy presses the button, the lift could not go any faster. "We're coming! Just hold on! C'mon c'mon, go faster!” They all hoped that they would make it, they could save Kissy from whoever was attacking her. But the lift was simply too slow, the hatch almost closed as everyone yelled out.

“KISSY!”