Overdue Check-Up (Poppy Playtime) [On Hold]

[Chapter 5] Part 15: Bad Neighborhood

Catnap and Nearic step into a large green room, and the human immediately noticed something, the entire environment was made of plastic. Plastic trees, plastic berries, plastic bushes, plastic fences, everything. Looking beyond a small ledge above them, Nearic spotted a large mansion in the distance.

"Should we go to the large house?" he asks.

"No, we get through here and get out. It's far too dangerous," Catnap replied before stalking forward, eyes dancing every which way, looking for danger.

Nearic jogged up to his uncle then kept pace, "Why, what's in here. You kept saying 'she' like you knew them."

He scoffs with a growl, "Of course I do, any toy would recognize her voice. They all heard her at some point in time, and we all collectively hated her."

Nearic blinked, "Who?"

The feline huffs, "Not important, we jus need to run, and not get found."

The end of the path led to a fake ice-cream truck that sat unactive on a small road, blocked by a door. Catnap looks around while Nearic inspects the truck, the back was locked and there were no doors to the 'driver' seat, in fact, there were no seats at all. Just a few buttons and an energy input patch.

"Hey Kit, over here!" Nearic peeked out of the truck's cabin, spotting his uncle looking up before glancing at him, "Think you can knock that cloud down?"

The teen looked up and spotted a plastic cloud, because of course, and saw a Pressure Button attached to the cable. Nearic swapped hands and fired it, he braced his arm as the hand pressurized before releasing the trigger; the hand quickly calling back with a thwack before the cloud fell and broke open. Nearic groaned as he held his arm, walking out to look what was inside, finding exactly what they were looking for.

"Why the hell was an Energy patch inside the cloud and not, oh I don't know, anywhere else?" Nearic asked, exasperated.

Catnap sighs, "I don't know, this place was run by corrupt moralless scientists and toy makers, they're all crazy." He points at the truck, "Start 'er up, it doesn't move fast, so I'll be able to keep pace."

Nearic nodded and swapped out his hand again and snagged the energy from the patch. He turned around, got into the truck, and slapped the hand to the ignition. The truck thrummed to life as a red button lit up; Nearic pressed it and started moving, Catnap close behind, all while a tune played over the truck's speakers. The doors ahead opened up for access as they passed through, entering some kind of tunnel.

"So..." Nearic started, "who exactly are you afraid of in here?" he asked.

Catnap sighed, "Lilly Lovebraids. She was the first toy subject ever created by the Prototype; he was personally responsible in her... 'education.' He used the same methods and material the workers used, I hated it, but she got what she deserved."

"What?" Nearic asked in horror, "No one deserves this, no one!"

Catnap growled, face hidden from Nearic's view, "Not even the workers who did this to us? Who made us forget who we were, who took our chances at a normal life away, who turned us into monster!?"

There was a beat of silence between them, besides the trucks engine and the tune the speakers played, but before Neari could reply they had entered a new part of the area. It was a playground, but it looked disturbed, evidenced by the broken doors that stood should've blocked off another tunnel.

"Whoa," Nearic breathed, "What did that?"

Catnap stepped forward as Nearic hopped out of the truck, "Stay with the truck, I'll look around."