Overdue Check-Up (Poppy Playtime)

(Chapter 3) Part 6: Bad Times

Entering the house of Playcare, they see a small lobby room that quickly leads to a stairwell downward, Hoppy says, "Man, it has been a while since I was last in here."

Dan comments, "Welp, there goes our guide."

Hoppy scoffs offendedly, "Excuse me, but it hasn't been that long!"

Nearic rolls his eyes and continues onward, "Can we keep moving, I don't want to stay at the door of my old home please."

Dan and Hoppy don't waste time in following the youngest individual down the stairs, and upon getting to the bottom, they see a small hallway to a wooden door, the walls on both sides holding picture frames of children on them, each of them appearing to be within the ages 4-10.

Dan glances at the paintings, "How many kids lived here?"

Hoppy replies, "At least in the hundreds, maybe 2 or 3, no more."

Dan's eyes widen as he looks up at the tall toy, "You're kidding."

Hoppy smirks, "Nope, and we all had to take care of them. It was a team effort."

Nearic then opens the door at the end of the hall, and immediately sees a problem, "Uh guys!"

Dan and Hoppy walk forward and meet up with Nearic, also immediately seeing the problem... Red Smoke.

Dan curses, "Shit."

Hoppy huffs, "We're doomed."

Nearic nods, "Yeah, this is not going well."

Dan then asks, "So... what does this stuff actually do to you, I saw an old ad a long time ago when the Smiling Critter plushies first came out, the Catnap plush gave out nightmares, didn't he?"

Hoppy clenches her fists, "It's so much worse than that, if you inhale it, you have a high chance of hallucinating, your perception of reality becomes warped and broken, disconnected."

Nearic adds, "These hallucinations often piggyback on the amygdala, making these visions based off your emotions, more specifically, your fears."

Dan mutters, "Oh great." He looks at his brother as he asks, "Did you have inhale it?"

Nearic nods, "Once."

The older brother arcs an eyebrow, "Okay, what did you see?"

The younger shrugs, "I don't remember, it's the first missing memory of my past when it comes to this factory."

Dan pales, "Oh fuck."

Nearic sighs, "Yep, anyways, we're going to have to hold our breath if we want to get through without getting affected, let's hope it's actually avoidable." He then takes a long deep breath, and holds it in as he covers his mouth, and marching through.

Hoppy reaches a hand out, "Nearic wait!" she's ignored as Nearic disappears through the smoke, "Damnit!" she curses, throwing her fist down at nothing.

Dan groans, "Well now we have to go in, can you hold your breath?" she rolls her eyes, taking a breath and marches in, "I'll take that as a yes."

Da follows their lead, entering the Red Smoke as well, but he quickly notices how difficult it is to see through the smoke, everything is a dark crimson blur, everything's warped and misshapen. He resists the urge to groan as he starts looking around the room, quickly seeing the tall bunny by her large moving figure, and his little brother who is currently messing with something he can't see. Hoppy finally tears off the broken painting on the wall and tosses it aside, seeing a small button to press, so she does just that.

Upon doing so, the door her nephew was messing with suddenly unlocked, as well as a double door ahead of them, her smirked widened as she turned to address the humans, only for a grunt form Dan to be heard. They both turned around to see the older brother leaning against a table as he started coughing, the Red Smoke entering his system. Hoppy's and Nearic's eyes both widened as the toy made her way to him.