DISCONTINUED

Chapter 14

The gate opened up to reveal a large factory like building. It was tall, with large towers that reached to the sky. It also looked slightly out of place, as the surrounding landscape still looked as though it came from some kind of fantasy world.

"This must be the strange building." America said as they slowly approached the building's entrance.

"You don't say" France added in.

"It looks like a factory, da?" Russia pointed out. 

"It looks like its working, let's head inside." England said. Germany nodded and pulled on the handle. It opened without any resistance.

"Oh. The door is not even locked. How odd." Japan commented. 

"Agreed. Hopefully that isn't a sign of anything bad to come." Germany agreed, pushing the door open and leading the way inside.

The factory was dim, making it hard to see anything. And...was that the sound of movement? No, it probably was nothing. The group moved along, heading into the next room.

This room's lighting was less dimmed, however, this made two figures in said room visible. One of them was a small, childlike figure. Its body was striped with yellow and greens, its hands and feet red. And its head....no...Its two heads. One was a bright yellow with a happy expression on its face while the other was a dark blue, a sad expression. It staggered up, its arms dangling uselessly at its side. The other figure was a jack-in-the-box, a twisted smile permanently stuck on its face. It grabbed its box, hoping forwards towards the group.

"Holy crap, what are these things!?" America yelled, recoiling in shock.

"They look like children's toys!" China pointed out.

"They actually look kind of cute to me!" Russia said, bending down near the jack-in-the-box and holding out a hand. The jack-in-the-box looked at his hand, and immediately lunged at it, trying to sink its exposed tooth in Russia's hand. Russia, reflexes like a cat, pulled his hand back, grabbed his pipe from under his coat, and hit the jack-in-the-box, sending it across the room.

"Enough about what they are, we just need to destroy them!" Germany yelled, lashing his whip out at the two-headed doll. It managed to jump out of the way, However, as soon as it made it out of the way, it was hit with a blast of light from England. When the light from the spell faded, the doll was gone. 

With the jack-in-the-box, it had lunged itself at Russia once again, who attempted to hit it away with hit pipe again. Except this time, it managed to get its teeth into the Russian's arm. But, it was only stuck on there for a moment as America hit it off with his bat. China then was immediately on it, bringing his pan down on it hard.

The jack-in-the-box was broken, into several tiny wood fragments.

"Russia, you okay dude?" America asked, glancing back to Russia. He had his arm wrapped in one of the ends of his scarf, scarlet blood seeping through.

"I'll be fine!" He replied cheerfully. "It is just a small bite, it'll heal!"

"You may want to sit out on the next few battles until it heals though." China advised, raising and putting away his pan and wok. "And maybe have something to eat too. Just in case." His friend nodded, his usual smile still in place, even after he was injured.

"Perhaps we can take a break?" France suggested.

"Good idea." England agreed. "Something tells me those won't be the last of them. Let's keep our guard up." 

After taking a short break, where China bandaged Russia's arm up, they continued along. They eventually reached a hallway. Besides one of the door, a sign hung. Germany paused, reading the sign quickly.