Beta (REWRITTEN)

Chapter 2

The stairs creaked like they'd snap if Thwok stood on them for more than 5 seconds. Thwok tried to look behind, but it was so far down the stairs that it'd be impossible to even see the bright shine of Zynths abdomen where it was at. Being able to see clearly was a joke near the lab, as it's comparable to trying to look through inky black smoke. Thwok fumbled and reached for the doorknob to the molding building, only to stumble over and land with a thud on the hard, wooden flooring. It groaned, struggling to stand back up. The wood creaked just like the stairs had, and with closer inspection, some of the planks were dotted with large white spots of mold. It was like seeing planks of spring dresses under its feet. Despite all of this filth, however, it thought that the lab was a LOT less worse than everyone described it as, Thwok actually felt confident to go find a new drumplate for the long necked Wublin. That is, until it nearly tripped over a worn down pencil left on the ground. Thwok huffed and scoffed in disgust at how much of a MESS the place was. The floor dotted with random papers and pencils that ANYONE could trip on. No wonder Wubbox came out hurt in one way or another! It kicked the tiny pencil down a dark, seemingly endless hall. As the pencil rolled slowly, Thwok paused, staring deeply into the inky hall, trying to spot the end of it. It checked the left of the room it stood in, trying to spot a perfectly undamaged plate. Nothing. It took a look at the right, only to find more papers and pencils scattered across a dustier, darker side of the room. It was practically a spider paradise over there, in fact.

"Great," it muttered "But y'know? I dont thinkh it sthould be much of a problem!" it continued, lathering its words with a layer of the fakest confidence possible. Thwok slowly trudged into the cold and even dustier hallway. The further the Thwok travelled down the hallway, the dustier it seemed. It's lungs felt like they filled with dust. But with that, quiet noises were also becoming more... noticable, but it never went above a whisper. Thwok, however, was too focused on finding that drumplate and getting the hell out of there. Each room it checked only lead to more papers and pencils covering the floor or completely empty rooms, covered in cobwebs, and in the case of some rooms, odd little scratch marks were sprinkled around the floors and lower half of walls. The room reeked with the smell of burnt... something... Rocks, perhaps?! Must be mice, Thwok thought to itself, casually leaving one of these rooms. It felt more confident after checking only a few rooms. There didn't seem to be anything out there to threaten it or even hurt it! ...For a while. It looked down the hall, trying to find the next room to enter, when it noticed a distant figure swiftly dash away in the side of its eye.

"HUH," Thwok gasped, "WHO'TH THERE..." No response. Only the distant sound of creaking floorboards. Thwok stood there, absolutely frozen before it noticed the figure must have left a door nearby open. Soft, quiet whimpering came from the wide open doorway. The tiny sounds poured out like the dull light illuminating from the open door. Thwok took a deep breath in, slowly tiptoeing towards the room. The sounds of grunts and whines coming from the room increased with each quiet squeak from the floorboards, slowly getting closer to the area. Thwok shivered, no, SHOOK as it grasped the splintering door frame, finally inching to the front of the doorway with its eyes shut tight. The noises stopped for a second, only to be followed by... speaking...?

"Is... that..." a tiny voice meekly whispered,

"A... reg..ular Thwok..!" another voice responded. Thwok, all tensed up, slowly opened its eyes, witnessing the horror to behold. Deformed Pixolotls, at least five or six, had filled the small, scratch covered room, with all of their eyes pointed at Thwok. Thwok stared back in absolute horror, its mouth gaping from the shock. It backed away, listening to the things the twitching and staggering not-so-Pixolotl look-alikes would tell it. A few whimpered and cried to Thwok for help, to be freed from the room, but others seemed... panicked, especially for Thwok.

"Get...! Out! Get out! Get o...ut!"

"R...run...!"

"It... it's co...ming!" That was the phrase that made all of the Pixolotls and the terrified Thwok freeze in place. The floor creaked, slowly heading to Thwoks direction.

Creak... creak. Creak.

The creaks started to have no spacing between them whatsoever, becoming louder and more rapid.

CREAKCREAKCREAK!