Reload

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Duck, jump, jump. Chell leaped across the chasm, swiftly completing test chamber after test chamber. Your familiarity with the keys and movements allows you to maneuver her almost effortlessly, your practice has certainly paid off. Soaring through orange and blue portals, Chell makes her way through the desolate lab, ivy crawls up dirty white panels, seeping out from cracks of shattered glass. The only hint of an outside world beyond what seems like infinite walls and maze-like chambers; an occasional glimpse of distant blue sky, and the odd leaf poking out from broken wall panels.

You lean back in your chair, stretching out your spine as relief from what has likely been hours of gameplay. Several empty bottles of neon coloured energy-drinks lay discarded on your desk, tossed aside along with an assortment of wrappers and empty packets. You sigh and quickly resume to a position hunched over the keyboard, finger poised and ready on the mouse. Even though you've played this game many times before, the cleverly crafted dialogue never got old to you, in fact it was your favourite part of the game. GLaDOS's snide remarks always made you giggle, and Wheatley... well Wheatley was undoubtedly the best character, the small core had charm, despite being the moron he is.

You turn your attention back to the game, guiding Chell through the next couple test chambers, easy.
"Well done. Here come the test results: You are a horrible person. I'm serious, that's what it says: A horrible person. We weren't even testing for that."
One of your favourite voice lines from GLaDOS, you loved her character in the first game, but she's so much better in this one. You role your eyes comically at the remark and continue on. You grind through the rest of the test chambers, until eventually you get to test chamber 21.

"What's going on? Who turned off the lights?"
Chell turns around, and there, behind the wall panel is Wheatley.
"RUN!" he screams, and Chell dashes after him. She sprints after the panicked core, his blue optic swivelling in its socket. Overhead GLaDOS dryly comments on the futility of escaping, but Chell ignores her, continuing to navigate along the maze of catwalks; hot on the heels of the core. A low rumble shakes the metal panels and slowly the walls start to collapse. She watches as the whole facility falls apart around her, huge structures crumble to dust, as the escape lift ascends higher and higher above the rubble.

You squirm in you seat. Finally, onto the good part! You catch yourself grinning at the screen, feeling a bit stupid you try to correct yourself, but after hours of listening to GLaDOS, it feels good to see you friend again, even if he is a fictional. After escaping GLaDOS's grasp, you guide Chell through the turret assembly line, taking your time to listen to each one of Wheatley's voice lines fully through before progressing. His gleeful chattering makes your heart melt and his encouragement after each time you solve a puzzle urges you to continue and do well.
"Brilliant!", "Ohhhh, nicely done!", you can't help but giggle to yourself.

After some time and lot of puzzle solving, you eventually manage to shut off the deadly neurotoxin and rig the turret assembly line. There's only one thing left to do, make your way back up to her chamber.

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