Continuation requested by: Meimakeemgood

i had no idea what to do with this at first but i think i clutched up
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It's certainly been a while, hasn't it? Returning back to the situation currently transpiring, we left off with a rather odd scenario. Last time we were here, four Toons had gone down in search of you. This resulted in some unexpected events, such as a specific cast of Twisteds have been appearing as tame, and now four of our heroes, including you are trapped on a floor with no way out. Will they make it out before a new threat arises? Find out next time on...

Oh, sorry. Wrong narrative. Let's begin.

🍓 SPROUT'S POV 🍓

God, this is boring.

We've been stuck down here for ages. Or rather, however long 'ages' felt like. I'd be a bad liar if I didn't admit, I'm honestly getting worried. There are no machines to extract from, no exit to go out of, nothing. Nothing but me, my friends, and a real damn odd occurance. Friendy Twisteds. I know, those two words don't really belong in the same sentence.

But anyways, it wasn't too bad, all things considered. The Twisteds were nice enough for me to tolerate, but I still keep a somewhat careful eye on them. I don't trust them enough to let myself freely interact with them, they literally try to kill us any chance they get. I think a little skepticism is necessary here. Especially considering Y/N was down here first, and they didn't attack them. They had to persuade the Twisteds not to attack us, or they gladly would have done so.

I honestly don't know how Y/N and Cosmo can be so carefree about this whole thing. We had seperated earlier, mostly because I went off to think. Yeah, it's a little funny, sure. Call me a buzzkill, but this little unannounced peace treaty between us might not last forever. Shrimpo's down here too, but I could care less. He was probably still busy chasing his Twisted varient. I figure his legs had begun giving out since he wasn't he best when it came to athleticism. I didn't even know where he was.

But aside from all that, listen. I'm known to be a lot more precautious, which can be an issue sometimes. But I don't see any issue with that here, there has to be something off here. Twisteds randomly becoming tame didn't just happen out of the blue. No way in hell. But... if Cosmo's fine with it, I guess I can try to tolerate it for the time being.

Letting out a soft sigh, I brush one of my leaves off of my face and push myself off the wall I'm leaning on. Afterward, I feel my back feel a little sore, so I stretch out, feeling my scarf loosen. I should cut my leaves a little bit shorter, before they grow too long. Cosmo says I look like an 'emo kid' with them. Whatever that means, it's probably some kiddie joke that I don't get.

"(It doesn't look that bad.)" I think to myself. I guess they were a little bit long, but I think it's cool. Then again, all the people with cool hair end up getting buzzcuts. So I'll just let it grow for a while, yeah.

Moving past that, I get myself out of my head and focus on the area around me again. It's a lot bigger than I remember, but I guess that makes sense. I never get a chance to focus on the details since I'm focused staying alive. I adjust my scarf so it's more tightly settled around my neck, and hear some faint talking.

A short distance from me, Cosmo, Y/N and sound like they're doing something. They'd been over there for a while, so Goob probably stopped squeezing the life out of Cosmo. Speaking of, Goob was probably there too. He'd become somewhat attached to those too, which I didn't really get. I become a bit intrigued, and my ears pick up another sound. It sounds like laughing, a lot of it too. So I, being as nosy as ever, decide to investigate.

I begin walking to the elevator area, my footsteps pattered softly against the cold wooden floor. I hear a few comments being made from Cosmo about Goob's arms, much to my own confusion. I guess it was the type of thing you'd need to see to believe. I personally have seen enough, but I digress.

As I finally make it to the area Cosmo and Y/N are at, I turn the corner at what you two are doing. Or rather, you three. Looks like Goob was there too, as I expected. But then I look at his face, and what a sight I see. Cosmo wasn't wrong.

I feel a smile begin creeping itself onto my face, and I try to surpress my own laughter, which is beginning to spill out. I cover my mouth with my hand and join in on the shared laughter between Cosmo and Y/N, not wanting to seem rude. Though he was a Twisted and all, outright making fun of him would be pretty mean.

Goob looks at his arms with a confused expression, trying to tug his arms forcefully. He grits his teeth and quickly releases the tension force, softly panting due to the effort he had put in. It sounds more like a growl though, his voice is a lot more gruff. Unfortunately, the tugging only really only made the issue worse. By the looks of it, he somehow got his arms tied in a knot, and couldn't undo it.

"How'd that even happen?" I ask between giggles, feeling myself begin to calm down. I don't get an answer, understandabley so. I look at Cosmo with curious eyes, but he's still laughing. He probably doesn't even notice me, either. There must be a joke here I'm not getting, it wasn't that funny... right? Maybe I really am a buzzkill, damn.

Eventually, the laughter between us begins to die down between us. And with the retreat of laughter welcomes an unwanted feeling of awkwardness. I pick at my lower lip and readjust my scarf, trying to find a good angle for it. Cosmo leans against the wall while sitting cross-legged, his hands stuffed in his pockets as he looks up at the ceiling. His mind looks like it's elsewhere.

"Hey, you guys seen Shrimpo and Vee?" Y/N asks, catching me and Shrimpo's attention. Cosmo puts a finger on his chin and thinks for a bit, furrowing an eyebrow. I take another glance at him and wait for what he has to say before sharing my own thoughts.

"No... But I remember he ran off after his Twisted. They're probably beating each other up in one of the smaller rooms, this place isn't big at all." Cosmo states. I nod my head in agreement and look at you, you look back. I quickly look away, I don't want to make the situation anymore awkward.

"As for Vee... She's probably somewhere around here. I don't think she likes me." Cosmo says, a bit of fear spiking in his voice as he says that last part. I softly huff and start to walk over to him. With my footsteps softened on the starchy carpet, I sit down next to him, a poor attempt to subtly give him a sense of comfort. He looks up at me and smiles. I swear, that happy expression is contaigious or something. I feel a smile of my own appear on my face. We stay like that for a short while, and I can just feel Y/N making kissy faces.

"HEY, IDIOTS." A familiar voice speaks out. We all look up and see Shrimpo standing there, his arms crossed. I frown a small bit since me and Cosmo's interaction was interrupted, but I notice another thing. My eyes narrow to make sure I'm not seeing things, and I sure as hell am not.

Behind Shrimpo stand two figures. Twisted Shrimpo, who looks full of emotion and emotionless all at once. I don't know he even manages to do that with just his eyes, it must be because his mouth is smeared in ichor. The secondary, and much less friendly figure is none other than Vee. She looks at Y/N and me with a moreso neutral expression, but it quickly datkens upon setting eyes on Cosmo. Cosmo backs up and chuckles nervously.

Shrimpo huffs and shoots Vee a side eye. Vee looks away, gritting her teeth in annoyance with displeasure written all over her face, much to my confusion. She's probably just being an asshole. Y/N scooches away a slight bit, looking more confused than ever. Goob just continues flauling his tied up arms around, probably annoyed with what he has to deal with, poor guy.

I finally glance down and notice something. There look to be a few bruise marks on her abdomen and legs. I raised my eyebrows and inspect them. That's probably why she was complying in the first place. They look to be made by someone's fist, most likely from Shrimpo or his Twisteds. Either way, even though I kind of hate the guy, I wouldn't want to be on the recieving end of those punches.

"I THINK I FOUND A WAY OUT." Shrimpo speaks outwardly, making sure we all hear what he just said. Twisted Shrimpo elbows him hard in the side, earning a grunt in pain from Shrimpo. He rolls his eyes.

"FINE, FINE. WE FOUND A WAY OUT. MAYBE." Shrimpo restates. Twisted Shrimpo crosses his arms with pride, and Vee continues to scowl at us all from afar. I notice Goob has turned around to examine the situation as well, but it doesn't seem like that's his priority. His arms are still tangled after all.

Ignoring them, I look at Shrimpo with a bit of doubt. But he doesn't say anything more. He looks like he's getting increasingly annoyed though, which I don't get. Isn't he the one that's telling us this?

"ARE YOU GETTING UP OR NOT!?" Shrimpo yells out, startling everyone. Cosmo quickly pushes himself off the floor and nods, probably just not wanting to cause anymore trouble. It's a kind of funny sight, but I'll focus on Cosmo later. As Y/N slowly begins to get up, Shrimpo scoffs and heads out on his own. The Twisteds follow him like he's some otherwordly God or something. Or maybe he is and we just never considered that as a possibility.

...I've been watching too much fantasy anime.

Nevertheless, I quickly begin to speed-walk after Shrimpo. Y/N and Cosmo make a full on sprint towards him, probably wanting to get out of here any way they could. I'm still unsure though, Shrimpo wasn't exactly the most reliable Toon here. But I guess it was nice to have some kind of lead.

I turn the corner and once again view the vast area that lies before me. My footsteps because hollow and more audible due to the wooden flooring of the room and continue onward. Vee's mechanical footsteps surprisingly end up making small floor vibrations, while everyone else's are either silent or just barely aufible above the occaisional creaks from floorboards.

Suddenly, I feel someone slam into me from behind(👅) and I go stumbling forward a good amount. I quickly regain my footing and turn around, an annoyed expression on my face. I was ready to chew out whoever wasn't even watching where they were going, but then I saw who it was. My expression immediately softened, and I almost felt bad for what I was about to do.

It was Goob. Looks like we completely forgot about him and scurried off, but he didn't even look mad. He just looked at me with an awkward smile, showing off his sharp teeth. A bit unsettling, but I still see from resemblances of the real Goob in him. His arms still look ridiculous, all tangled like that. Just wish I was actually able to untie them, but I'll leave that to someone else.

I extend a hand out to him and grab one of his less weirdly angled claws, pulling him along with me. I silently obliges and I swear I see his face light up for a second from the corner of my eye. I'm glad to see he hasn't changed all that much.

Focusing back on our current objective, that which I'm not even sure what it is yet, we all slowly climb the set of stairs. Next to them is a large projector, constantly alternating between two portraits of Razzle&Dazzle. The locked off elevator was to the right of us, but something had changed. There was no more caution tape on it, or the warning sign. All of it seemed to be ripped off.

Shrimpo and his little Twisted squad walk up to what looks to be a small keypad next to the closed off elevator. Vee kneels down and lifts her hand to the keypad and begins to input numbers. She's freakishly tall, which sort of creeps me out. Nevertheless, I watch in anticipation, seeing what will happen once the code is inputed.

"(That's odd... I never saw that there before. Maybe it's a backup?)" I think to myself. Goob tilts his head in confusion and continues to stare ahead. I look at Cosmo and see him probably thinking the same thing. The keypad lets out a loud buzzing noise and shines redq, similar to when you'd fail a skillcheck on a machine. Vee let's out a few high frequency whines, irritating my ears slightly.

"(Guess she doesn't know the code.)" I think to myself. I discreetly scoff and my doubts immediately begin settling in. Vee emits a few more robotic beeps and Shrimpo just looks up and nods, as if he understood what she said. Or maybe he did. That otherwordly God theory suddenly doesn't sound that farfetched.

Shrimpo turns around and walks to us, less of a scowl on his face and more of a neutral expression. He sits himself right in between all of us, and sighs. Maybe he's tired?

"WE'LL BE HERE FOR A WHILE. VEE NEEDS TO FIGURE OUT THE CODE." Shrimpo states. That was the first time I'd heard him speak two sentences without a negative tone etched in his voice. That made me somewhat more willing to listen to him, so I sat myself down on the carpet as well. Soon after me, Cosmo and Y/N did the same. Goob kept on helplessly tugging at his arms, and Twisted Shrimpo just stood next Vee, staring at the keypad as she one by one inputed a variety of codes. Probably at random, but at least it was something.

THIRD PERSON POV

As the six of them sat down on silence, Vee continued to input multiple code sequences into the keypad. She looked like she knew what she was doing, but in actuality, she was just pressing at random. Luckily though, she was a computer, which meant she could just save previous sequences she had done into a memory card for later reference.

In the meantime, all of them were doing about their own business to pass the time. Sprout and Cosmo were huddled up in a small corner, reading a book they snatched from the bookshelves (heh gays). You had been pacing around in circles endlessly, looking to be in some sort of trance. Shrimpo didn't really move. For some reason, staying still helped surpress his boredom. Even Twisted Shrimpo had gotten bored, and joined your pacing circle. As for Goob, he was just there. No thoughts, head empty.

Out of nowhere, Vee makes a loud frequency whine to get everyone's attention. I slap my jands over my ears and grit my teeth, hoping to dull the pain in my ears slightly. Cosmo also does the same, dropping the book immediately. I groan in annoyance and shoot a glare at Vee. I'm honestly going to kill her, if I get the chance.

Once Vee stops emitting the sound, everyone looks at her with an annoyed expression. Vee simply rolls her eyes and presses the "ENTER" key on the keypad. Instead of flashing red and buzzing as per usual, it shines green.

"Woah, you actually unlocked it it!" You exclaimed, stopping in her tracks to view the keypad. Twisted Shrimpo was still behind them, so he ended up bumping into them and losing his own balance. Twisted Shrimpo landed with a thud on the floor, while Y/N just stumbled forward a bit. Cosmo briefly snorts, laughing lightheartedly. Twisted Shrimpo quickly gets up and flips you off, crossing his arms and walking off to where Vee is.

"Hey, you ran into me! Jerk!" You yell out at him, flipping him off back from behind. He payed no attention to you, other than sticking his nose up in the air arrogantly. Looks like you had a new rival. Goob smiled, looking like he was about to laugh, but laughter never came out. Shrimpo finally got up from his spot and stretched out, some joints and bones popping. He mads his way slowly over to Vee, and looked up at her with a curious yet irritated look, tilting his head to the side. Vee nods and presses the enter key again, and the keypad shuts off.

Everyone behind Shrimpo, Twisted Shrimpo and Twisted Vee got up to look at what was about to happen. None of them believed that they had actually managed to open it, especially with just a keypad. Well, none besides Twisted Goob. Goob was actually pretty hopeful, he really wanted to get out of here. He didn't like walking around aimlessly, since he never saw really anybody.

The closed off elevator began to whir and metal began to scrape against a surface. The elevator was definetly coming up, but it sounded awfully shaky. This made Sprout very skeptical of the outcome if they were to ride on that thing. He remained still though, not wanting to start weighing out probable and improbablities already. A feeling of tension sets the mood between everyone. Besides Goob.

The shaky whirring had finally come to a stop, all noise from the room dissipating. The tension only increases, much to everyone's dislikeness. Even Shrimpo looked a bit uneasy. As Cosmo was about to comment on something, the elevator doors slowly opened. Very slowly.

The scraping of metal echoed throughout the floor, and the inside of the elevator doors finally came to a stop. It was so badly out of commission it couldn't open all the way, leaving it halfway open. That wouldn't be a problem for most of them, they were tall enough. A murky scent poured out of the elevator, and some ichor was splotched onto the walls. It was a little unnerving, but they had seen worse. A lot worse, even.

"So... This is goodbye then?" Cosmo asks awkwardly, looking at Goob. Goob's expression saddens and his once neutral face turns into a frown. Cosmo couldn't help but feel bad, he had a nice time with Goob down here. As short as it was. Sprout nodded in response to Cosmo's question and grabbed his hand, looking sympathetically at him. Shrimpo got up and joined Sprout and Cosmo up front, all the Twisteds standing behind them. They would probably say something if they wanted to.

Then there was you. You hadn't moved at all, in fact, you'd been contemplating the entire time. There was no way you were leaving these three down here, you thought that would be cruel. To leave the Twisteds to succumb to their mindless insanity again, you couldn't bear that thought. So, mustering up the courage, you spoke up.

"Hey... What if we bring the Twisteds with us?" You ask slowly. Shrimpo, Cosmo, and Sprout turn around at the same time and look at you. Each of their reactions are different. Cosmo looks at you with intrigue, he's most likely considering the idea. Sprout looks very disapproving, but that was normal Sprout behavior. Shrimpo just looks mixed between the two options, he probably doesn't give much care.

The Twisteds on the other hand, do. A lot more than you had expected. They all look at least somewhat expectant of an answer as they look towards us, their eyes locking onto ours. Sprout was the first to disagree, speaking up loud and clear.

"Hell no. Have you guys forgotten- they're Twisteds. We don't even know if they'll treat everyone at Gardenview the same as us, it's too risky." He said sternly, putting his hands on his hips to emphasis his authorative statement. Cosmo's look of intrigue slowly faded as Sprout spoke up, and he merely nodded in hesitant assent. Shrimpo just rolled his eyes and made his way into the elevator, making loud and clanky footsteps.

"THEY CAN... COME IF THEY WANT." Shrimpo said, a bit of hesitation evident in his tone. Twisted Vee and Twisted Shrimpo immediately turned their heads towards him, looking at Shrimpo with a surprised look. Shrimpo had no viewable reaction, but he was sort of hopeful they would agree. He'd never admit