"Phew!"
Wiping the sweat from his brow, he looked proudly at the tray in front of him, ignoring the jam stains around the bowl he'd added after finishing buttering the toast. Jumping off the stool that had helped him reach the right height to use the coffee maker, he took off his apron, which was far too big for him but would be ideal as a cape... after thinking about it, he put his cape back on!
Sticking out his tongue and moving as gently as possible, he slid the tray between his small hands, holding it by handles designed for this purpose. He crossed the kitchen and then reached the entrance hall, bravely climbing the steps to the first floor. He faced his last obstacle, a door. Analyzing the situation, he finally turned his back to the door and pushed it open with his bottom. Once it was open, he entered a messy room: balls of paper overflowing from a basket, a white blouse spread on the floor like a rug, glasses haphazardly stored in their case. Silently, he placed the tray on the desk in a corner of the room, then picked up the things on the floor. Next, he pulled up a stool and adjusted it to the right height. Placing his tray on it, he paused, then quickly retraced his steps, having forgotten the most important thing!
In the room, a mass of curly blond hair began to stir, letting out a moan that sounded like a curse against the sun. A dark blue eye opened, her lips smacking together to remove the taste of waking from her mouth. Lowering her eyes, she sighed at the sight of the blue wool sweater she had worn yesterday. Passing a hand over her face to remove the mass of hair blocking her vision, she looked with surprise at the breakfast tray placed right there: a bowl of coffee with milk, a glass of orange juice, and poorly portioned toast with too much jam, but it made her smile. Then she looked at the open door and raised an eyebrow of happiness at seeing her little boy looking at her with a pout; he surely wanted to surprise her before she woke up.
She looks in her hands at a vase containing a sunflower that he places on his bedside table, then he turns to her with a shy smile on his lips and his cheeks red.
"Surprise ?"
Bursting with laughter, she throws the covers over her legs and the little boy wastes no time climbing up and offering her a hug that warms her heart.
"Thank you for that, my darling," the woman said softly, kissing his head. "Did you do that all by yourself?"
"Grandpa made the coffee," he confesses with an adorable grunt. "I can do it myself, you know! I've seen him do it often enough to know I can do it by myself, but he won't!"
"You're right, you risk getting burned," she explains patiently, and this calms the little blond boy who steps back and smiles at her.
"I found the flower myself!" he boasts, puffing out his chest, then his shy expression returns as he looks at her with her hands on his thighs. "Do...do you love it?"
"Do I love him? Hmmm" she pretended to think about it, then with a giggle of joy she grabbed the little boy and covered his face with noisy kisses "I love him!"
"Hahahaha! Mommy! Stop! You're tickling me hahahahahaha!"
"Sorry," she laughed, stopping, then hugged him one last time and whispered lovingly, "Thank you, my angel."
~P~
...black...it's complete darkness...he only hears echoes in the distance...it sounds like a creaking...or something digging?...or maybe like stone being scraped...yes, it sounds like that, slowly his eyes open and then close, trying to calm his headache and the pain in his back, awakened by...
- grabs Poppy and holds her close with her back to the window when suddenly he feels his world violently tip to the side, he hears the redhead's cry of distress before everything goes black.
The memories return, his eyes finally open, and with them, sensation returns to his numb limbs, as if they were covered in ants. His heart races as he realizes he's moving forward, feeling his feet drag on the ground. A pressure on his throat confirms he's being held by the hood of his sweatshirt, preventing him from seeing what's happening behind him. The dimly lit room reveals a dilapidated space, claw marks on the floor with trails of blood. In front of him, he sees a kind of trapdoor, and next to it, the lifeless body of a Candy Cat, killed with wooden stakes. Then he spots an enormous purple paw with very long claws, confirming that it's a giant toy that's currently carrying him. He feels himself being lifted higher as the other paw skillfully opens the trapdoor. The pressure around his neck disappears, finally giving him the air he craved. As he falls, he only has time to see a golden moon and two white irises. shining in the eye sockets of a purple cat, then the fall that leads him to crash against...a foam cube?
Getting back on his feet, Andy Smith looks at the place he was just thrown into and concludes that it is a waste compactor.
"Okay...still in Playtime," Andy groaned, straightening up, placing a hand on his shoulder and rolling it around as he looked around. "And not in a galaxy far, far away...too bad," he chuckled, getting back on his feet. "Well...how do we get out of here?"
The alarm began to blare around him as a wall began to press down on the accumulated garbage.
"Quickly understood," he said, starting to look for a way out.
Climbing up a foam ramp, he reached a gap which he slipped into. Landing on his feet, he headed towards a ladder to reach the top. At the end, he came upon a set of running turbines. Looking his head from right to left, he spotted a door. Jumping over the turbines, the human reached his destination with a sigh. Running his hands over his aching back, he checked if his bag was there and was greatly relieved to find it. He also tried to straighten his cap, then stopped, remembering that he had entrusted it to Alphonse before leaving the Game Station. Sighing, he tried to remember how he had ended up in the jaws of a c-
"Wait a minute...a purple cat...why does that ring a bell?" he mused, cupping his chin in his fingers. "If I remember correctly...Catbee, Candy-Cat and...what was that again? They even made a cartoon about it...hmm, it'll come back to me, for now I need to know where I am and especially where Poppy is...I hope she's okay."
Resuming his journey, he passed through a piece of collapsed wall, looking down he found himself above the garbage disposal, then he felt a shudder of dread at the sight of a dismembered Bunzo hanging from a pipe, right next to a Boogie Bot in a similar state, below the bodies a flask of dried blood and claw marks that he remembered seeing before the purple cat threw him here.
"So he's the boss of this floor..." he muttered bitterly, running his fingers through the scratches that had carved the stone, remembering that the little toys were hunted down and then devoured by the others. "Except that doesn't add up...they tore off their limbs but they still wanted to hang them...like...like the toys I saw before freeing Poppy..." he breathed, straightening up.
Exploring the area he stumbles upon another macabre site: a Bunzo impaled on spikes, a Bron hanging, limbs torn off Candy Cat and Boogie Bot, claw marks, a message calling for help written in blood, and...a rain of blood coming from the ceiling and continuing to flow at a rate that makes Andy nauseous, who recoils with a hand placed over his face as he once again takes Playtime's cruelty full in the face.
"They weren't just hunting...no, there's a staged scene, as if it were a warning," he muses, looking for a moment at the impaled body of Bunzo. "It really looks like an execution...but what crime justifies such a punishment?"
Having no clue to understand what happened here, he turns back and opens the only door in the place. Entering, he walks down the dark corridor, trying to think about why the toys are killing each other in this way. Feeding themselves in this morbid way makes no sense. Hanging or impaling them doesn't fit with this state of mind, and it really worries Smith, who is in no hurry to meet those who did this to the little toys.
Opening the door, he curiously watched the machines entering and exiting a kind of red mist. Shaking his head, he looked to the other side, calculating the best path. He started jumping on the pistons coming out of the ground, then he paused on a piece of platform so as not to be caught out by the timing. Resuming his jumps, he reached the end, yet he froze slightly when he saw a long purple tail disappear into a corner.
"Huh...he...he wasn't up there?" he wondered, trying to calculate the distance between himself and the place where he was dropped. "Or maybe...he checked that I was dead?"
Ignoring this, he looks next to him at a platform supported by cables on the ceiling, jumping onto it, he thunders a kick behind him to swing over the void, jumping to reach the other side, he looks at the place where the cat disappeared, and then reads the text carved in the concrete.
[Peace be upon those who believe]
"Who believe... okay, but in what?" asked Smith, scratching the back of his neck.
Sighing, he plunged into the duct in front of him and dropped into the opening. The landing was soft, but as he turned around, he felt his heart stop and a cry of horror escaped him.
"By Zeus!"
Backing away awkwardly he falls on his buttocks, he painfully closes his eyes seeing once again the body of a Bunzo planted on a spike, his face frozen in an expression of absolute terror as if he were calling for help, turning around the blond breathes in and out as gently as possible while repeating to himself that this Bunzo was not Alphonse...even if in the end it changes nothing, every toy killed here is a child massacred because of the madness of men who have chosen to play God.
Swallowing his tears but keeping his anger towards Playtime in the back of his mind, Andy continued to crawl. Once he reached a gate, he lifted it and, standing up, he realized he was in the room where the cat had gotten rid of him. Looking around, he noticed a table with an unfinished part of Poppypolis on it, two sofas facing a TV, one of which was stained with bloody handprints indicating that humans had been attacked by toys. Again, toys were executed and hanged. While inspecting the toilet, he had to hold his nose to avoid vomiting because of the smell of rotten meat. Entering and ignoring the dead toys, he noticed a kind of large square pill with the company logo on it. Picking it up, he looked at the words written in blood on the mirror.
~The Hour Of Joy~
Frowning, he leaves, not without closing the door, catching his breath, he tries to understand the meaning of the sentence he has just read, then puts it aside, looking at the battery in his hand, he puts it back on the floor because he saw a VCR and since entering here he notices that there is always a VHS tape nearby, returning to the small living room he finds two, the first one has the inscription "Product Recall" on the label.
Putting the cassette in the player, he curiously watched the beginning of a cartoon about the Smiling Critters, and it brought back memories of that toy line.
"Ooooh I remember..." he muttered, pausing the screen, his eyes narrowing in concentration. "That was their last success before the employees disappeared, and then there was an incident with one of them."
Restarting the program, he notes that, in retrospect, children's programs could once be genuinely frightening. To make matters worse, the final scene shows the purple cat sitting in the middle of the rest of the gang, seemingly not asleep but...dead? The scene changes, and a presenter explains what the Smiling Critters are and that this cat's name is Catnap.
"Catnap..." he sees the giant head and its white eyes again and suppresses a shudder. "So there is a giant version of him and...he can surely also exhale that sleepy smoke, if he can do that then I'd better be wary of him."
The report then explains that the Catnap plush toy was withdrawn from stores because of a problem with the product; each of the Smiling Critters plush toys contains a dose of perfume that they can spray if you pull their tail. Normally, Catnap should have smelled pleasantly of lavender and relaxed children to help them fall asleep, but apparently they were having horrible nightmares which forced Playtime to make a huge product recall and also removed Catnap from the toy range, except that the damage was done and Playtime lost a lot of money.
Leaning back against the unstained sofa, he crossed his arms and stared at the ceiling, his thoughts lulled by the sound of the machines echoing around him.
"This is really strange...could this be a way to attract attention?" Sonia's son mused, biting his lower lip. "Such a manufacturing error would pass muster in another factory, and it could happen, but...all children had horrible nightmares with the most popular plush toy of the time because it was the last to join the Smiling Critters...if someone wanted to draw attention to Playtime, then it would mean that back then someone knew what was going on here and tried to attract attention in their own way..." he thought, looking at the purple tape with a sigh. "Yet...it wasn't enough...let's see if the other tape can teach me anything."
"Very well, Ms. Harper, please explain the situation. Don't leave out any details."
"Well, like every night, the children were falling asleep. It was peaceful, calm. CatNap released the red smoke into the room. Suddenly, a scream. Nightmares happen, I know, but this... I mean, dilated pupils and trembling lips? The way her eyes were scanning the room? And I swear, her hand in mine, I felt like her blood was boiling beneath her skin... She saw something, too, something horrible! She... I'm sorry, I didn't mean to..."
"What?" Smith almost jumped out of his seat, his eyes darting to the bathroom door, the image of the shattered toys flashing back to him. "Him, too, hanging out with children?"
Mrs. Harper, we will provide you with the best possible care, I promise. But this is important: Did Marie describe what she saw?
...during a heartbeat Andy felt himself struck by lightning on the spot, unconsciously he got up with his mouth open but he couldn't speak.
"Yes, a monster," she said, "she said it was… colorless… My God, I could feel her poor little heart pounding. To her, it was right there! And its movements, they were wild! Arms flailing, legs kicking…"
"Hmmm..."
"I... I wanted to talk to her. See how she's doing. I just... I really need to hear her voice right now."
"That would not be advisable, Ms. Harper. We have many concerns to address right now. But the vital signs are normal and we will continue to monitor the situation."
"She will be fine."
"NOOOOOOOOOOOON! Well, excuse me if that doesn't comfort me!"
(we hear moaning and crying)
"Give me back my little girl..."
The tape stops, meanwhile he paces the room, his breath heavy, filling his lungs with anger, imagining the crying little girl in the hands of his monsters who saw her as just another guinea pig to be turned into a toy; he is also devastated to see that if Harper had had a chance to save Marie, she would never have become Mommy Long Leg.
"It must be from before the one I found earlier..." he breathed, wiping a tear from the corner of his eye, "...to think she suffered so much...she, like all the others..."
He has been trying, ever since his gruesome discoveries, not to falter, not to be swept away by despair, but since he discovered the true nature of the toys, it has become unbearable to see and hear scientists treat all this as if it were normal. He thinks back to Stella and how she participated by giving the children the illusion that all this was just a game, then he remembers Leith Pierre who took over the factory after Ludwig's death. There isn't just one culprit; all those who knew the truth decided to participate for a reason that Andy refuses to understand, even if it was to save the world. When you start doing this kind of thing without an ounce of remorse, then you're not so different from a monster.
Calming his anger by remembering that he once again has a damsel to save, the blond boy sets off again, putting the batteries in place to open the door, he once again stumbles upon a cardboard cutout of a blue elephant with a lightbulb around its neck.
"Hey...I seem to recall you being the genius of the group...but what was your name?" he wonders, pressing the button.
"I'm Bubba Bubbaphant. Hey! I remember you!"
"I wish I could say the same, Bubba..." the human smiled slightly, pressing again.
"An elephant never forgets!"
"Oh? I guess that's great for you."
"Do you want to know what I remember about you?"
"...do I really want to know?"
He got his unfortunate answer by listening to Bubba's frantic cries and then the distorted sound of his agony; sighing, the human offered a prayer to all those who had met their death in these places before continuing on his way.
(I need to ignore it for now...if I get stuck every time I see a dead toy I won't get anywhere...for now I need to focus on what I have to do, find Poppy, join Playcare, discover the truth, and also not die...easy, right?)
Finishing his ironic monologue, he slowed his pace slightly, listening to a sound that really did sound like...a ringing? Moving forward with long strides, he finally arrived in a small room. On the wall, a phone that looked like a toy was ringing, and anyone else would have immediately answered it, but Andy was mainly focused on the camera, which was of better quality than the one on the Game Station, while remembering the one that had been watching him during his deadly Simon game.
(That at least confirms that someone is watching me) he thought, looking critically at the phone. (The real question is whether it's an ally or the one pulling the strings...here we go again)
Finally picking up the handset, he raised an eyebrow at the cartoonish appearance of the phone before pressing it to his ear.
"Hello ?"
"Hey... Hey, can you hear me?"
(A child? No, I'm wrong, it's impossible for a child to survive here alone, and ten years later the children would now be at least in their twenties; the only possible option is that he or she is a toy)
"I can hear you, to whom do I have the honor?" the human asks curiously, turning his back to the camera.
"My name is Ollie! I'm a friend of Poppy's."
"Well, nice to meet you Ollie, I'm Andy, so you know Poppy...and by any chance you know where she is?" he asks, turning towards the camera.
"No...I just saw Catnap taking you, but I'm sure she's at Playcare! She must be waiting for you there! I'll help you get to her!"
No sooner had the sentence been uttered than the human heard something tap against the pipe at the back of the room, then a battery fell right into the plastic bin; seeing this, Andy kept an impassive expression while using the battery to unlock the door.
"Be careful, Playcare is Catnap's church and hunting ground, a word of advice: stay away from him or you'll end up like the other Smiling Critters."
(A church? That's...very worrying, I don't remember there being a real chapel here so...whatever god Catnap is, I doubt he's good for me)
"Wait, you mean he killed all the others?" the human asks curiously, frowning towards the phone.
"It happened a long time ago, but today he's the only one left...I'll call you when you're at Playcare, goodbye Andy!"
The line cuts out and the blond-haired human puts the phone in his backpack as he leaves the room. To his right, he looks at the burning carcass of the train he was driving. Seeing the damage, he is really surprised that he has no serious injuries, but in his opinion, the train must have exploded after Catnap took it. Absentmindedly rolling his shoulders, he starts walking along the rails to reach the platform.
When his feet led him to the portico, Andy let his memories guide him. He remembered how much it resembled the entrance to an amusement park. He remembered the world at the time, couples mainly who came here to see the most fantastic orphanage ever built. He was not the last to be amazed. Each visit here was an opportunity for him to see his friends who lived at Playcare, and also to spend time with his mother who often worked late at night because of her job as a nurse at Home Sweet Home, the place where all the children and even...some babies were housed.
His foot stopped, raising his eyes he sadly looked at the little toy Huggy crucified on the statue of his namesake, sighing he jumped over the portico and began to climb the steps while looking around him, it was distressing, once this place seemed to be a rainbow of happiness, he had fun on every visit, sweets, and on returning he would leave with an exclusive toy that the high-ranking managers of the factory gave to his mother, today everything seems to have disappeared, this magic that made this place the most fabulous place in the world now exists only in his memory.
Having reached the top, he looked to his right at the ravaged gift shop; he had a small smile while playing with a wad of banknotes he had forgotten near the till.
"Grandpa hated the manager here," Andy remembers, sighing. "He found him too pompous and greedy...well, that was probably true..." he says to himself, throwing the wad of cash on the floor, having no use keeping money here.
His gaze was drawn to the cardboard cutout of another Smiling Critters, a yellow chicken with an orange star around its neck.
"Let's see... Bubba was the intellectual of the group, but I think you're the cool one, right?" he muses as he presses the button.
"Hey, hi! I'm Kickin Chicken! Do you want to go out and take a walk?"
"Well, not right away, but later I wouldn't say no," the human says ironically, continuing.
"It looks quite interesting outside!"
"Compared to here, I doubt there's anything more interesting hidden," assures the young man with pink bangs.
"I...I've never been outside."
"That's it, it's getting weird," he grumbled, crossing his arms. "Why? I don't usually pay attention to these things as a child, but it's impossible that those in charge left it like this to scare the children!"
"Will you come with me? I'm scared..."
At this point Andy begins to suspect that each recording is only meant to frighten or disturb those who listen to them, but it also indicates to him that someone put them there to instill fear, so there is an intelligent brain operating within these walls and ruling through fear, it also means that these recordings are...surely the last trace of the toys before they are killed.
"Come, follow me. I'll go out first."
"(Distorted cry of pain)"
Having nothing left to listen to, he resumed his stroll around the place, noting in passing that the Elliot Express was in very good condition despite the lack of maintenance. Then he looked at the claw marks around one of the levers; at the time, two employees operated the levers to start the machine. He remembered it well because of their blue and yellow bellhop uniforms. Then his eyes fell upon a bloody inscription.
~The Hour Of Joy~
"What could this possibly mean?" he wondered, biting his lower lip. "Is it a message? Or something only toys know?"
Finally shrugging his shoulders, he enters the cabin after turning it on. Once inside, he removes his backpack and takes a seat. Settling in, he closes his eyes while tilting his head back, ignoring Elliot Ludwig's speech, having already heard it during his visits. Little by little, his breathing calms, and his mind plunges back into his memories, and the last happy days.
~P~
Bursting with impatience, he stood on tiptoe, watching the changing room fill with smiling faces. His hand clasped his mother's, who looked at him with a tender smile. His blue eyes turned to the right corner—toys! And not just any toys, but the very latest collection of... Smilliccri? Anyway, these were the toys everyone at school wanted! Oh, but he couldn't ask for one, that's true, because all his friends had stopped collecting plushies since they were childish... and he wasn't a baby either, but at least the dog was cool.
Turning his attention back to his mother, he watched her present her badge to the security guard. With a nod, they passed in front of the others. Some people complained, then they saw the white coat over his mother's sky-blue dress and finally fell silent. Jumping inside, Andy climbed onto the seats, his nose pressed against the window, which covered it in condensation. Amused Sonia watching him draw smiling faces.
"Andy, get off and sit down properly."
"Yes, Mommy," the child said quickly, simply sitting on his knees on the seat rather than on his feet.
Almost, once out of the tunnel the cabin passes through a huge cavern and in the distance...the Death Star!
"This is Luke Skywalker for the Rebel Alliance. *shhh* We're approaching the Death Star!" whispers the child to his hand, which is mimicking the communicator while making mouth noises with each sentence. "*shhh* I will call upon the Force, Master Yoda!"
In the background, Sonia watches her son having fun while continuing to mistake the outside of Playcare for the Star Wars weapon of mass destruction, yet her gaze was divided between joy and...a much darker emotion as he continues to walk towards the orphanage.
Once his mission was over, Andy gazed in wonder at the place that, according to him, was just behind Disneyland. When he thought of the most fantastic place in the world, from his perspective, everyone looked like ants. As he got closer, he watched children running and playing, others talking with people in lab coats like his mom, and parents chatting with children who seemed so happy they were crying. Then his eyes fell on the enormous statues of...slimming critters? Oh well, he'll remember the name one day!
After all, he and his mother will come back again!
~P~
The jolt jolted him out of his dream. His eyes snapped open, and for a minute or two he stared at the ceiling, trying not to dwell on what he'd just seen. Looking at the broken seat in front of him, he sighed through his nose and stood up. Picking up his bag, he opened and closed his hands, feeling a sudden nervousness. He didn't believe it was due to the imminent danger of death. One step after another, he inhaled the dusty air with a grimace. Then he looked around at the ruins of this place that had once brought hope to children, hiding the horrors committed against them. Putting his hands in his jacket pockets, he began to walk and inspect the ravaged area: overturned vending machines, torn-down lampposts. His path led him to the artificial turf, next to which was a small pool with pedal boats inside. Approaching the edge, he smiled, remembering the time he'd fallen in after being hit by a ball. Behind his head, it was one of the rare times his mother had truly gotten angry at someone; usually, she was kind and always ready to help, and very few wanted to upset her. Laughing a little at the memory, he resumed his walk, looking up and noticing how amazing it was that light reached this place when it was so deep underground. If before he didn't know why the place was here, now he was starting to believe it was to hide their experimentation on the orphans. Growling, he brought his eyes back to the central square where the statues of the Smiling Critters stood... or rather, the seven remaining ones.
As he walks around, he notices that the Catnap statue has fallen after a cloud detached. He also notices the scratch marks around it, indicating that the toy of the same name often passes by. He finds it very surprising that it didn't fall on him, given its size; killing it shouldn't be a problem, right?
"Or does he think I'm dead?" he wondered sheepishly, recalling the moment he saw her coming up the shaft. "More likely...otherwise it would mean he wanted me to come here, and that wouldn't make any sense."
Continuing his exploration of the place while listening to the musical ambiance which gives the impression of taking a walk in the forest with little birds singing around him, he passes in front of the councilor's office which really looks like a court from the outside despite the too cute stone statues of toys on the facade.
His steps stop in front of the steps which he stares at hesitantly, then he climbs, one step after another while his heart pounds and pounds against his ribcage, he doesn't know if he wants to cry or at least be glad to have made it this far, all he knows is...that this place holds the key to the mystery that destroyed his family ten years ago, finally arriving in front of the immense house he raises his head.
"Hi...Home Sweet Home," he said slowly, pursing his lips. "It's been a long time, hasn't it?"
Approaching the door, he shuffled his feet, remembering picnics with the other children, playing pirates with the toy treasure chest, and the times he simply took naps with the younger ones. All of this happened under his mother's watchful eye, and that's probably what hurts him most: realizing that the person he loves most in the world now exists only in his memory, that the sound of her voice is becoming harder to describe even though the love and tenderness of her words remain in his heart, that... that he can only long for the times she comforted him in her arms, holding him close to her heart and making him feel like nothing could hurt him. That's all he has left now, memories that cause him pain because they were the best of his life.
Placing his hand on the door, he tries to push, but nothing happens. Trying with both hands, he clenches his teeth and continues, believing that something behind it is blocking it.
#BAAM!#
The noise reverberates through Playcare, sounding like a gunshot. Andy remains there, his fist trembling against the door that refuses to open. His teeth are bared and a furious expression distorts his features as he is about to knock again when the phone starts ringing. Growling, he finally picks up.
"Ollie, I'm a little busy right now..." he said in a tense voice while running a hand over his forehead.
"I saw that..." the childlike voice timidly admits, and Andy remembers that he can see it from the cameras. "I'm sorry to tell you this, Andy, but the door is locked and it won't open unless you restore the power. You have to go under the statues."
"..."breathing deeply, he exhaled his urge to swear against his own impatience as he turned around. "Under the statues, huh...thanks Ollie."
"Why do you want to go inside?"
"I'll explain later, let's go see what's underneath first."
Hanging up quickly, he reaches the area indicated by Ollie, descending the steps he finds himself in the Playcare control area, control panels to control the lighting and also the security system, too bad nothing works anymore, then a metallic noise attracts his attention, opening a panel he finds a key lowered via a tube.
(This Ollie knows what he's doing...so the fact that he's just a kid a little smarter than the others is not conceivable, so an intelligent toy operating from a surveillance room which explains how he can see me, and more than that he has the keys to the strategic sites of the factory...it's a good thing that he's helping me but for some reason I can't get a good night's sleep) thinks Smith as he stuffs the key into his pocket.
"Good! With this key you'll be able to open the door right next to the cable car; that's where you need to go."
"Understood...uh Ollie, have you seen Poppy?" he asks hopefully.
"Sorry Andy...I've looked everywhere but I can't find her...I think she's hiding from Catnap."
"I don't blame her for that," he said with a slight laugh, imagining a fight between the delicate, one-meter-tall doll and the purple cat, which must be two meters long if he based his brief memories of it and the size of the marks left by its claws.
Hanging up, he leaves the room and heads towards the famous door. Opening it, he enters and feels like those people who work in the shadows of the big amusement parks. Walking through the steel corridors, he reaches the end and looks at the scratched door with wide eyes. Then he sees what looks like a huge gas processing machine: three enormous cylinders, with the one on the far right filled with a... red smoke?
(It looks like the smoke from the cartoon...what are the chances it's the same?) he jokes, looking around and whistling. (So that's why everything still works, Playtime was built under a gas reserve and they used it to power their factory, whatever the nature of this red gas, if it's able to power everything ten years later it's an incredible energy source)
"Welcome to the gas production zone, the nerve center of Playcare's evil system."
"That's definitely not Disney..." mutters the human approaching the console controlling the enormous tank in front of him.
"All the gas you see coming out of the machine is produced right here in the factory. We call it Red Smoke."
"Okay, now explain to me how this smoke is going to help me," the blond man simply asks.
"Right now it's stuck on the right, but to power the rest of Playcare it needs to be on the left, otherwise you'll get stuck and Catnap will find you!"
"Sure, there are better programs...okay, let's do this," he said, cracking his knuckles together.
First he tried the big red button because it was plausible that it would work, too bad for him but the universe decided that he had to find another way, seeing once again that the door requires a battery he rolls his eyes and starts to explore the area, finding nothing he passes by and discovers a kind of huge trapdoor connected to chains above, seeing this he guesses that it is an access that leads to the depths of the factory, thinking about this he searches while imagining where this trapdoor leads.
(I thought this was the final level...although thinking about it, they couldn't have carried out the whole operation here; they needed labs and a place to keep the toys after transforming them...great luck, it's like they hid in the center of the Earth!)
Finally finding what he was looking for, he was about to leave when he saw a cardboard cutout of Catnap which...was much cuter than the version he had come across earlier, mentally preparing himself for the screams, he pressed the button.
"..rrrrrrzzzzzzzz..."
Thinking he had misheard, he pressed again, and blinked incredulously when he realized it was just snoring noises, a little disturbed on the last line, but ultimately nothing traumatic compared to the other two Smiling Critters.
(That must mean something...to summarize, the others were terrified, but Catnap was the complete opposite, he slept on it...hmm, I'm missing something)
Turning back, he finally opens the door. Entering, he finds a green cassette, which he automatically inserts into the player. It's an instructional video on how the Grabpack 2.0 works. Happy to find the most useful tool here, he heads to the only one still in good condition and puts it on. He notices the differences from the first one. First, he has to put on a harness with a yellow buckle belt. Around his legs are now purple leg warmers, and instead of his sneakers, he's wearing a purple pair with a strange circuit pattern. Luckily, they're comfortable. For his upper body, the Grabpack's wrists are now controllable via switches in his palms, attached by a band around his hand. He notices another color on his right hand, indicating that in addition to the green hand he recovered, he's missing others. The Grabpack's hands are now positioned just above his forearms and attached around his biceps thanks to the... harness, on his back is his backpack with the spool of thread connected to his hands above it, and around his hips is the air jet system designed to cushion falls, testing the new Grabpack by pointing and throwing his hands while smiling.
"Now that's what I call an update," he said, stretching his limbs to see if the device was bothering him. Then he pointed his right arm in one direction and extended his green hand, grasping the button under his thumb. Smiling at how much he resembled Spider-Man, he put his hand away and looked at his new shoes. "On the other hand... I guess I'll have to test this out..."
Stepping out of there, he looks down at the purple foot-shaped mark on the shiny sign, which, let's be honest, isn't exactly subtle. Rolling his eyes, he positions himself on it and looks where he wants to go, hopefully without hurting himself. Taking a deep breath, he bends his knees slightly and-
"Whoa!"
He takes off after feeling a huge push in his legs propelled him into the air, panicking he activates the damping system with a button in his left palm and lands trembling on the platform, his eyes wide he looks at his feet and sketches a smile despite his surprised expression.
"Ok...there's going to be some work to do before we get used to this...otherwise...it was cool, if only Alphonse could have seen this" laughs the human who advances...slowly on his legs trembling from his super jump experience.
Andy quickly got used to it; just a few meters further on, he had to advance over a collapsed path. Then he looked at the water, reddened by the gas floating on the surface, which relieved him to know that it wasn't a pool of Playtime victims' blood. Once he had crossed the obstacles, he came across the control room, which, like everything else here, was waiting for a competent electrician equipped with a Grabpack like himself. Getting to work after understanding what the kind of poles equipped with a wire relay, designed to reach impossible angles, were for, he was able to finish the puzzle in a few minutes. Going through the door he had just opened, he returned to the enormous console and pressed the button that would open the way to the truth.
Little by little the screen lights up again, the gas on the right moves to the middle, smiling Andy is already preparing to celebrate his victory.
Then everything went black around him.