Chapter 1: An Invitation You Should've Decline
Chapter Text
Ellie Parker dragged herself home after another shift. She reached the front door, reached into her pocket, and pulled out her key. It took her three tries to get the key into the lock, and she turned it, opening the door. Resisting the urge to fall to the floor and not get up for the next few minutes, Ellie stepped inside, closed the door behind her, and made her way to her bed, where she collapsed exhausted.
"Ellie," came the cheerful voice of her girlfriend, Gabrysia "Gabby" Nowak.
"Not now, Gabs," Parker groaned, somehow rolling over onto her back, "I've had a hard day, and I just need to rest."
"How bad is it?" Gabby asked curiously.
"Long story short? Very," Ellie sighed, "In details?" here she began to bend her fingers, "First, a bunch of hard-headed clients, some of whom were incredibly stupid. Second, the coworkers who decided that today was the day when they needed to make noise as if their lives depended on it. Three, the responsibilities that rained down on me like from a cornucopia today. Four, an absolute dumbass of a boss who threatened to cut my salary for something that wasn't my fault. As a result?" she gave a thumbs down.
"Well, don't worry so much, Ellie," Gabby decided to cheer her up, "Okay, I admit, today wasn't a very good day for you. But there's no need to be upset. After all, life is like a zebra. First the black stripe, then the white one."
"I'm afraid in my case it's not a zebra, but a panda, and from behind," Ellie chuckled sadly, "But thanks for trying."
"Anything for the best girlfriend in the world," Gabby sat down next to Parker and stroked her head, making her smile a little. They sat in silence and peace for a while. Finally, Ellie asked a question.
"Gabs, do you remember if we have any food left in the fridge?" suddenly, her girlfriend turned away, trying hard to pretend that the pattern on the sheet was of much more interest to her than the question, "Gabs?"
"Yeah, about that..." the Explosive Girl really wanted to become invisible, "I wanted to cook dinner for you and me, and I decided to experiment a little..." Parker groaned at this. Nowak was generally a good cook, but sometimes she got into experiments, which nine times out of ten led to them losing their food supplies, or at least most of them.
"What did you wanted to cook this time?" Ellie asked.
"Vegetable pie," Gabby admitted sheepishly, "I found a cool recipe online and decided to try it."
"Okay," Ellie sighed, "We had to go to the store anyway."
"There's still some food left for today," Gabby reassured her.
"Well, tomorrow, then."
True to her word, the Minimum Wage Worker went to the store the next day, taking Gabby with her. She glanced quickly at her wallet and examined the money inside, then frowned. It looked like they'd have to tighten their belts this time. Then again, they were used to it.
"Remind me what we need to buy, please?" Nowak asked.
"Bread, milk, cheese, carrots, tomatoes, cucumbers, sugar," Parker studied the list she pulled out of her pants pocket, "Payday isn't for another week, so we need to be frugal and not just dump everything in the cart."
"Okay," Gabby nodded.
The couple first stopped at the produce section. After picking up some carrots, they ran into a bit of a problem with the tomatoes, not being sure how many they needed. Finally deciding on the amount, they put the tomatoes away and moved on to the cucumbers, which they did the same.
The next stop was the dairy section, where Ellie picked up a carton of milk, carefully examining the expiration date. Before she could put the bag in the cart, Gabby snatched it from her hands, studied the ingredients, and then spit on her finger and rubbed the expiration date.
"Gabs, what are you doing?" Ellie raised an eyebrow.
"Checking the expiration date to make sure it's not counterfeit," the Explosive Girl replied with a straight face, "I heard they can get counterfeit sometimes."
"That was the last time I let you visit conspiracy theory sites."
After picking up a bag of Gouda, they moved to the bakery section, where they picked up two bags of bread. Now all they had to do was grab some sugar, and then they could head to the checkout. However, due to the layout of the store, their path led them through the cereal section, where one particular bag caught Gabby's eye.
"'Frankie's Fruit Flakes'?" she read the brand name, examining the bunny with spring-like limbs on the box. Honestly, it looked pretty cute. She glanced quickly at Ellie, who was studying the sugar in the next section, and then at the box, and made her decision.
"Ellie, can we get something else?" Gabby asked, walking up to her girlfriend.
"Like what?" Ellie turned away from the sugar aisle.
"This," Gabby held up the cereal.
"How much did it cost?" Parker asked, examining the box.
"I don't know, I'll check it out," the girl walked away and glanced at the price tag, "$3.99."
Ellie thought about it. On the one hand, the price wasn't high, and they had enough money for the cereal anyway. On the other hand, they weren't sure they wouldn't need that $3.99 in the next few days.
"Ellie," Nowak noticed how deep her girlfriend was in her thoughts, and decided to bring out the big guns.
"What?" the Minimum Wage Worker asked before she realized, "Oh, no, no, no, don't even think about it."
"Ellie, please," Gabby made puppy eyes.
"Oh, no, not puppy eyes!" Ellie turned away from her and even closed her eyes, but Gabby was adamant, walking around her girlfriend and forcing her to open her eyes. Finally, she couldn't take it anymore.
"Okay, I'll take the damn cereal," she sighed.
"Yes!" Gabby pumped her fist in joy.
"Now we'll grab some sugar and head to the checkout."
The pair made it to the checkout without stopping. After quickly scanning in all their purchases and paying for them, they left the store and headed home, fortunately they lived just a five-minute walk away.
"What are we going to make?" Gabby asked as soon as Ellie locked the door.
"Well, we could try that mushroom soup we made two months ago," Ellie shrugged, putting the bag down, "Or some kind of vegetable salad."
"Let's have the mushroom soup," Gabby decided, picking up the bag and carrying it to the kitchen. However, as she was taking out the cereal, she accidentally shook the box, causing her to hear some strange noise, as if there was something else inside.
"Gabby, what are you waiting for?" Ellie asked.
"Huh?" She turned to face her girlfriend, "Oh, nothing. It was just my imagination," she said, putting the cereal on the shelf.
After their shopping trip, the pair completely forgot about the cereal for the next few days. Ellie forgot because she had more pressing issues to deal with, and Gabby wanted to remind them several times, but it kept slipping her mind.
They finally remembered it on Saturday, when Ellie had a day shift. Thinking about what to make for breakfast, Gabby's eyes found the package on the shelf and remembered it.
"Ellie, I know what we're having for breakfast," she announced to her girlfriend as she walked into the kitchen.
"Is this the cereal you asked me to get from the store?" Ellie was just finishing brushing out her red hair.
"Yes, they are," Gabby nodded, putting the box on the table and opening the refrigerator to get milk, "I wanted to remind you about it for some time, but kept forgetting," taking out the bag and putting it on the table, she quickly took two bowls out of the cupboard, which she put on the table, washed the spoons, putting them next to the bowls, and opened the box, getting ready to pour out the ready-made breakfast.
Imagine her (and Ellie's) surprise when a black VHS with the words "Play me" and a picture of a rabbit on the label fell out of the box along with the cereal.
"What is this?" Ellie quickly snatched the tape and began to examine it.
"So that's what else was in there," Gabby muttered thoughtfully, immediately attracting her girlfriend's full attention, "When I was taking out the cereal that time, I accidentally shook the box. And the sound made me think there was something else in there."
"Okay," Ellie sighed, "We still have time before work, you go to the living room, and I'll look for the VCR," Gabby nodded, took the tape and ran into the living room. Ellie, meanwhile, went to the pantry, where she began to sort through things in the hopes of finding what she needed.
Finally, after a couple of minutes of searching, luck smiled on her and she was able to find the VCR in one of the boxes. Blowing off the dust and quickly examining it, the Minimum Wage Worker left the pantry and went to Gabby.
"I still can't believe you have a VCR," Gabby commented.
"I got it from my parents," Ellie answered, running her fingers through the bangs, "Plus, I've never had a reason to talk about it," Gabby shrugged, acknowledging the logic in her girlfriend's words. Finally, Ellie turned on the VCR and inserted the tape, intending to find out what the big deal was.
"If you're watching this video," the announcer began, over the sounds of festive horns, "It's your lucky day!"
"Why?" asked Gabby.
"Four lucky people from around the world get the invitation to the world's largest indoor trampoline, water and parkour park!" the announcer answered, showing first Frankie with his hands around the Earth, and then the inside of a building that was apparently the park.
"Parkour park?" Ellie chuckled skeptically.
"With over three stories of action packed parkour obstacle courses, this is going to be a game show you won't even forget!"
"That sounds interesting, but why would I want to participate?" asked Ellie.
"Did I also mention there's a little prize for our lucky winner?" the announcer asked in response, after which information about the prize appeared on the screen.
Five million dollars in cash.
If this were a cartoon, Ellie's eyes would probably turn into dollar signs with a distinctive sound.
After that came the information about the phone number to call, but Parker hadn't paid much attention to it, smiling at the screen.
"Ellie?" Gabby shook her girlfriend's shoulder to snap her out of her trance.
"Huh?" Ellie snapped out of her fantasy of winning and what she would do with it.
"You're going to be on this game show, aren't you?" Gabrysia guessed.
"Of course I am," she nodded in agreement, "Think about it: if I win, I'll get five million dollars. That'll be more than enough to cover my rent problems and improve our financial situation. I promise I'll split the money with you."
"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Nowak asked, "After all, you can be pretty... mean when it comes to competitions," Ellie grimaced, but didn't argue, admitting her girlfriend was right.
"I know," she sighed, "But you heard that there will only be four people in the competition, and I don't think I can do anything to them."
"Because you might get disqualified?"
"Well, that's possible," Ellie nodded, "But that's not the point, it's that I probably won't be able to sabotage them, because it's more important to me to get through all the obstacles and to the finish line first."
Gabby thought about it. Her girlfriend's arguments sounded reasonable enough.
"Just promise to be careful, okay?" she asked.
"I promise," Ellie hugged her, then played the tape again to write down a phone number.
"Hello?" dialing the number, she waited for someone to answer, "I'm calling about being on the game show. Yeah, I found the tape in my cereal box and I'm willing to go. When? Hang on a minute," she ran over to the calendar hanging on the wall and glanced at it, "It's okay, I just wanted to check on a few things," she replied, "I have tomorrow off, so I should be able to come on the show without any problem. Where should I be and what time should I be there?" quickly jotting down the address and time, she put the notepad aside, "Okay, I see. Goodbye," with that she ended the call.
"Are you going tomorrow?" Gabby asked. "Well, I didn't pick the time," Ellie sighed, "Besides, hey, I have tomorrow off, so it'll be fine." "What time are you leaving?"
"The game show starts at 12:00, and it'll take me about an hour and a half to get to this park, give or take a few minutes," Parker mused, "I think my best time to leave is around 10:00, maybe even a little earlier."
"Are you sure about that?" Gabby asked.
"Are you talking about the time, or the participation?" Ellie decided to clarify.
"Participation."
"Don't worry, Gabs," Ellie hugged her girlfriend and patted her back, "It might be hard, but I can do it. And I promise I won't go too far in order to win."
Still, Ellie couldn't shake the dark thought that things weren't going to be as easy as she claimed. Not in the sense that she wouldn't be able to win, or that she'd snap and relapse, but that there was something wrong with this place. That it had some dark secret, like that pizza place from the well-known horror game series. However, she pushed the thought to the back of her mind, writing it off as unjustified paranoia.
At the time, she had no idea how right she was.
The next day, Ellie left the house at 9:57. After saying goodbye to Gabby, who wished her luck and promised to root for her, she got into the car and drove to the address indicated. Having reached the building somewhere in an hour and a half, she parked the car and, noticing the absence of other cars, became wary. However, about ten seconds later, a dark yellow Honda HR-V pulled up, from which a young man about her age got out, dispelled her fears.
"You came to participate in this game show too?" he asked, straightening out a crease in his blue T-shirt.
"Yeah," she nodded, a little bored.
"You know, I think I've seen you somewhere before," he gave her a thoughtful look before a glimmer of realization crossed his eyes, "Oh, I remembered. You're Ellie from Disventure Camp, right?"
"You got it," the Minimum Wage Worker checked the time on her phone, "Sorry, I'm not signing autographs. And don't worry, I'm not cheating," she said, turning away from the stranger and heading toward the building.
After walking through the door and filling out a few forms, she walked out into one of the hallways that ended in a roll-up gate with a TV hanging above it.
After watching the video from the tape repeat, it ended with a warning that Frankie didn't like cheaters (another reason to play by the rules), and instructions to grab the suit and mask hanging in the next hallway and change in the locker room. Taking one last look at the TV, she noticed that it was live and that 19,492 people were currently watching the show.
"Gabs, if you're watching this, wish me good luck," Ellie waved at the screen and walked out into the hallway where she grabbed some clothes, then into the locker room where she got a better look at her costume.
It was a white and grey jumpsuit with red gloves and sneakers, and a red bowtie printed on the chest, and a plastic Frankie mask. The video claimed it was to prevent cheating by the contestants, but for some reason Ellie saw it as a red flag. Sighing and shaking her head, she changed and left the room.
After quickly studying the building diagram hanging on the side and trying to memorize the layout, she flipped the circuit breaker, opening the gate blocking her way and walking through it.
Looking around the room, Ellie noticed, somewhat bored, the three other contestants standing to her left. After rolling her shoulders and shuffling her feet a bit, she got into position as the light came on above her.
Numbers gradually began to light up on the sides of the room, counting down. Finally, when "Go!" lit up, the contestant on the far left sprinted forward. Ellie was a little late, and it saved her life.
As the first contestant reached the raised gate, Frankie jumped out. But it wasn't the cute cartoon rabbit. It was a huge, hyper-realistic monster with tiny beady eyes, a mouth full of sharp fangs, and spindly arms. Grabbing the contestant who ran up to him, he bit into him and tore his head off. Parker froze in shock. Meanwhile, the monster turned its attention to her and tried to eat her too. Letting out a squeal that was much more high-pitched than she would like to admit, she dashed past Frankie and ran through the gate, which closed behind her.
"WHAT THE FUCK!?" she screamed, running as fast as she could, "THIS SHOULD NOT HAVE HAPPENED!! I NEED TO GET OUT OF HERE!!" As she ran, Ellie tripped and fell to the floor. Groaning, she finally realized that no one was following her. On one hand, it was a relief, because she had managed to escape from the monstrous rabbit. On the other hand, it was scary, because there were two other players on the show besides her. Mentally praying that they were okay, Ellie stood up and looked around.
It turned out that while running, she had tripped over a carpet, on which she landed. Brushing off her costume, she noticed the words "The Parent Pad" written on the wall, as well as a sofa and folding chairs standing there. Shifting her gaze slightly to the left, she noticed two doors.
"Bathrooms?" Honestly, the fact that she didn't wet herself from fear while running away from Frankie was a real miracle. However, Ellie decided not to tempt fate any further and went into the girls' bathroom.
After doing all the necessary things and washing her hands, she left the room before thinking about what to do next. On the one hand, she could try to go back the way she came and try to find a way out, but this was associated with the risk of running into Frankie. On the other hand, she could move forward and hope to find a way out of this building, which had all the same risks. After thinking for a while and weighing all the pros and cons, she chose the second option.
Walking forward, Ellie came across a door, which, according to the sign above it, led to the Parkour Training Course. Opening the door and going inside, Ellie quickly reached the training ground, where there was a TV playing instructions.
"Yeah, I got it," she shrugged, having studied the first instruction, after which she ran forward, jumping over obstacles and trying not to pay attention to the blood on one of them.
The next instructions were also very simple: all you had to do was slide under the obstacle to get past it. Again, nothing too complicated, but Ellie decided to practice a little before moving on.
The third part was a little more difficult and involved jumping over the obstacle while swinging on the bar. The first attempt was a failure and resulted in the redhead falling down, just short of reaching the bar. Using the trampolines to jump back up, she tried again, this time with much greater success.
The next obstacle consisted of four surfaces that you had to bounce off to move on. Taking a running start, she jumped to one surface and tried to bounce off it to the other, but missed and fell down.
"Damn, these cereals are definitely coming back to haunt me," Parker sighed before using the trampolines to get back up and repeat the previous obstacle.
"Okay, take two," this time the attempt was a little more successful: she successfully jumped off the first two surfaces, but did not reach the third and fell down, "Fine, let's try again."
On the third try, she managed to jump over the obstacles, causing her to sigh in relief. Shifting her gaze to the left, she noticed a grind rail, causing her to silently raise an eyebrow, not quite understanding how she was supposed to get through. Deciding to look around, she found a TV hanging on the wall.
"That’s it? I just jump on rail and slide forward?" she asked herself in disbelief, looking at the instructions. As if in response to her question, a text appeared on the screen that the boots of her costume were designed in such a way as to ensure sliding, regardless of the rail's direction, "Okay, guess, I'm gonna find out whether it's true or not."
Taking a couple of steps back and a deep sigh, Ellie ran forward and jumped onto the rails. To her surprise and relief, the instructions did not lie, and she slid forward, easily reaching the other end, where there was a sign informing that the training was completed.
"Actually, it’s right not Saftey, but Safety," she sighed, noticing a grammatical error, "So, what's next?"
As soon as she asked that question, the second sign appeared and informed her that she had to return to the main lobby.
"So, let me get this straight. You want me to make my way through an obstacle course while a monstrous rabbit will pursue me?" asked Ellie, "I'm so screwed ..."
Nevertheless, having no other choice, she slowly went to the exit from the room.
Chapter 2: Deadly Run
Summary:
After completing the training, Ellie's ready for the upcoming challenges... and certain insane rabbit animatronic.
Chapter Text
To Ellie's surprise and relief, Frankie was not there to attack her either at the exit of the training room or in the Parents Pad. Slowly moving forward, she finally reached a fork in the road that led to either the Entrance Plaza or the main lobby. The latter seemed like a better option. Turning to face the lobby, she walked up to the gate and flipped a circuit breaker, opening it. Inside, she was greeted by a statue of a cartoon Frankie standing on one hand.
"Dear lucky contestant," the intercom announced, causing Ellie to look up from her stare at the statue, "It seems the other competitors have mysteriously died!" Ellie froze in place at the sound.
"D-Died?" admittedly, she had been far from being saint during Disventure Camp. She'd manipulated the other contestants, sabotaged them, ruined relationships, even left Alec alone with a giant scorpion (though in her defense, she assumed he'd be saved by another contestant or one of the hosts), but killing someone... that was too much even for her.
"Not sure how that happened but, oh well, you're still here!" the intercom continued.
"Is that all you care about?" she asked dryly, clenching her fists.
"Frankie doesn't feel like himself today, he normally doesn't go on mass murdering sprees," the host frankly didn't care about the question, "But don't worry about that lucky contestant, we can still make this a fun PG-rated adventure! Maybe his best friend Henry Hotline knows what's gotten into him," he suggested, "You should give him a visit, his room is right upstairs!"
"What's gotten into him?" Ellie grumbled, "I'll tell you what's gotten into him: three other people!" She sighed and shook her head, "So what now?" There was no response, "Okay, I guess I need to look around the room," Parker decided before moving away from the statue and walking around the room to find something that would help her.
In one corner she found a familiar circuit breaker with a sticker informing her to flip all of them to complete. Making a mental note to find the rest first before doing anything else, she turned and walked towards the lowered iron door, presumably opened by those very circuit breakers.
After finding two more circuit breakers, she also noticed the soda machines standing against one of the walls, one of which had a Frankie toy on it that had seen better days. Carefully pulling herself up and picking up the toy, she inspected it more closely. Surprisingly, it looked pretty good, just needed some minor adjustments to the details, fortunately they were all cosmetic. After thinking about it, she put the toy on the reception desk, deciding to pick it up in the future if possible. She would have loved to take it with her, but she didn’t have a backpack with her, and the jumpsuit had no pockets. At least, she couldn’t find any.
“Ready, set, go,” Ellie said to herself, returning to the corner and flipping a circuit breaker. The ticking of the clock confused her, but only for a second, and then two more circuit breakers were flipped quite quickly. As soon as she flipped the last one, an iron door rose up, opening a passage into some corridor. Walking through the first available door and allowing herself a few seconds to look at the cardboard cutouts of some character in a red business suit and a landline phone instead of a head, she went to the lever hanging on the wall and, after a short study, pulled it down. Leaving the room, she tried to check the other two, but the first was locked, and the second contained nothing interesting or useful.
Coming out of the hallway, she noticed to her amazement that part of the grate dividing the room in half had lifted, opening the way to the play area. Heading there, she noticed a circuit breaker attached to one of the cubes, clearly hinting at the presence of at least one more.
"Okay, the structure is small, it won't take long," she decided and flipped it. The ticking of a clock was heard, causing her to run around the structure and notice a blinking red light signaling the presence of the sought-after item. Jumping on the trampoline, Ellie reached it and repeated the process.
"Two down, one to go," turning to the crossbar, she jumped towards it and tried to swing to the other side. Unfortunately, she let go too late and flew over the structure, falling to the floor. Getting up, she ran back, but time ran out by the time she reached the bar.
"Damn!" Parker couldn't help but exclaim. Deciding to try it again, she jumped over the gap and, landing on the section she needed, looked around, finding the circuit breaker pretty quickly. Flipping it, she jumped down and flipped the remaining two. There was a metallic screeching sound, the source of which turned out to be a metal door rising, behind which was a small room that looked like an elevator. Walking through it, Ellie stood next to a cardboard cutout of Frankie, after which the door suddenly dropped down, causing her to flinch in surprise.
As soon as the door opened, Allie stepped into a vertical room with several, as Ally would put it, jumping puzzles. Walking forward a little, she noticed some kind of sign. Her first thought was to jump down and come closer, but something told her that would be a bad idea. So, she simply leaned forward and read the inscription.
"WARNING: You are breaking the parkour rules by moving out of the parkour structures. Frankie doesn't like cheaters," well, going down to the floor would be a bad idea.
"Well, here goes nothing," stepping back, she ran and jumped forward, clinging to the bar. Swinging, she jumped onto a rotating platform in the shape of a circle. After jumping onto several more platforms, she was finally able to turn around and study the inscription on the floor.
"OUT OF BOUNDS: CONSEQUENCES WILL FIND THOSE WHO TRESPASS," she got some kind of idea what exactly awaited those unfortunate enough to fall into the forbidden area, "Yeah, no, I'm not going there," with these words, Ellie moved forward, pushing off the platforms on the walls, and landing on a diagonally rising mesh platform. Moving forward, she bounced on the trampoline, rising to the top.
"Come on," she said to herself, jumping from one platform to another before swinging on the bar and moving forward. One platform away, another trampoline was waiting for her, which helped Ellie reach a platform from where she could reach the next section via jumping on the walls.
"Don't look down, Ellie," taking a deep breath, she jumped forward, bouncing off surfaces. Reaching the end of the room, she chuckled softly.
"Actually, if it weren't for the danger of falling down and becoming food for the monstrous rabbit, I might enjoy this," she decided before taking a few steps forward and studying the posters on the walls, "I better find this Henry Hotline before Frankie finds me," Ellie walked away from the posters and headed for the door to the next room, which she then pushed forward.
"Henry, are you in here?" she asked, stepping inside. Surprise - no one answered her. But there was a dead body on the floor.
"Henry doesn't seem to be in here," the host said, "And the door leading to the rest of his area is mysteriously locked! Oh no! What an unfortunate inconvenience! But we'll figure something out."
"By 'we' you mean 'me', right?" the Minimum Wage Worker scoffed, "Fine, I'll work with what I've got."
Ellie walked forward a little, looked up and winced: two contestants were hanging from the ceiling, apparently from one of the previous seasons. Another was crushed by an iron door opposite the entrance, and a fourth was lying near the escalator. Shaking her head and trying not to pay any attention to the bodies, she went to one of the landline phones and twisted the dial a little, wanting to see if there would be an effect. Having achieved nothing, Ellie left it alone and headed to another section, apparently serving as an educational exhibit. On one of the walls was a drawing of a more monstrous version of Henry Hotline, demanding that she not call him. Having made sure that the other phones were also useless, she returned to the escalator and began to inspect the room for circuit breakers, one of which was located near the gate of the exhibit. A quick glance at the rail told her that the others would most likely be waiting for her upstairs.
"Now," she ran towards the gate, flipped a circuit breaker, then turned towards the rail and, when she was close enough, jumped onto it. Quickly sliding up, she landed next to the second one and flipped it too. Jumping onto the trampoline located two steps away, Ellie jumped to the opposite side. Jumping over the obstacle and using the trampoline to jump over the fence, Ellie flipped the third and final circuit breaker. Jumping over the fence with the help of the second trampoline located inside, Ellie reached the escalator and went down, intending to find out where the opened door led.
As it turned out, the path led to an air vent. Having made her way inside, Ellie turned to the right and jumped back with a scream, hitting her head on one of the walls. Cursing under her breath, she rubbed the bruised spot, looked more closely and breathed out with relief.
What she initially took for Frankie waiting for her turned out to be just another vintage toy, whose eyes for some reason were blinking red. Deciding not to focus on this detail, she picked it up, climbed out of the vent and left the toy on one of the escalator steps, then went back and turned left.
"What?" Considering the fact that there was a toy phone on wheels in the vent, Ellie's surprise was understandable. As soon as she crawled towards it, the phone rolled around the corner. Weighing the pros and cons, she crawled after it.
To Parker's disappointment, this turned out to be much more difficult, since after that there was no light at all, forcing her to crawl forward almost by touch, fortunately the path did not branch.
Finally, to her relief, she reached the end and jumped down, knocking out the grate. Quickly looking the room around, she revealed that she was in some kind of poorly lit utility room. Looking away from a box, she noticed the same phone, which immediately slid under the table and disappeared into an air vent too shallow for her to squeeze through.
"Well, there goes my chance to call Gabby," she joked under her breath, trying to somehow lighten the mood. Satisfied that the room was completely empty of anything useful or interesting, she left it.
'Guess the exit will have to wait,' she mused, stepping out into the hallway and noticing another circuit breaker next to her, which she flipped, 'Whatever. I'm gonna win these damn five million dollars no matter what this game show will throw at me,' reaching the end of the hallway, Ellie ran around the wall and raced back, flipping the other two circuit breakers.
"Another vent..." she commented on the rising door that led into the ventilation shaft, "Cool..." however, she didn't have any other options anyway.
"Please don't let there be any creepy toy rabbits in here," she sighed, climbing inside, "One of those was enough for me." Following the orange wire she had noticed, she reached the stairs and began to climb them, when suddenly she heard an ominous creak, after which she saw suspiciously familiar red gloves appear at the top. A few seconds later, Frankie's head appeared above her, holding a human hand in his teeth.
"Can you please replace him with those creepy toy rabbits?" she asked quietly, stepping down and away from the stairs, intending to put some distance between herself and the monster. Frankie's hand dropped from his mouth instead, letting it fall in front of Ellie.
"Found you," he said in a booming, demonic voice that made Ellie flinch.
"You can talk?" the Minimum Wage Worker wasn't sure what scared her more: the prospect of meeting Frankie or the fact that he was at least intelligent enough to talk.
"Not yet," came the muffled voice of the host, causing the rabbit to freeze and then, not without a hint of disappointment, pull his head back, leaving Ellie in shock.
"I suppose I can't expect anyone to explain what happened, can I?" an ominous silence answered, "Figures."
After standing there for a few more seconds to collect herself and process what had just happened, Ellie walked up the stairs to the circuit breaker, which she flipped. She heard a grinding noise and quickly but carefully climbed back down.
Frankie didn't understand why he couldn't kill the contestant. The only possible reason he could think of was that the vents would make it a bit difficult for him to get to her. However, for some reason, the Other had ordered him to leave her alive for now.
"What are you thinking about?" a voice came over the intercom.
"Why did you tell me not to kill her?" the monster asked.
"You see, there were no security cameras in the vents," the host replied, "And while I could have ordered you to kill her on the spot, it would have hurt the ratings. Viewers prefer to see contestants die with their own eyes."
Frankie didn't answer, deciding to just accept the fact. On the other hand, he didn't really care about such details. He was always more of a mad dog, with nothing but endless murders on his mind.
"However, I have some good news for you," Frankie turned to face the intercom, clearly interested in the information he received, "You'll soon have the opportunity to kill her. Very soon. Literally in the next hallway."
Cheered up, the animatronic walked forward, listening to the instructions as he went.
"I'm so lost in here," Ellie sighed, moving forward. As soon as she said this, someone's shadow flashed past the nearest grate, "On second thought, I'd like to continue being lost."
Reaching the exit from the ventilation and walking around the corpse lying opposite the missing left leg, Ellie looked around the corridor and noticed a circuit breaker located at the end, which she slowly walked towards. However, the closer she got to it, the louder her intuition screamed that it was a trap. Unfortunately, however, she had no other options, forcing her to walk towards her potential demise.
'Honestly, I miss Disventure Camp,' she mused as she walked forward, 'Yeah, it was pretty competitive, my fellow competitors had a good reason to despise me, and there were some pretty dangerous challenges, but at least there wasn't a fucking monster rabbit trying to eat me for dinner.'
Finally, Ellie reached the wall and flipped the circuit breaker.
"Here's Frankie!" the rabbit hollered, suddenly bursting through the wall. Letting out a high-pitched squeal that would have been perfect for a neutered chipmunk on helium, Ellie turned and ran away. To her inner relief, the door on the other side rose.
"Ah, yes, run! It will only make it more fun!" Frankie growled as Ellie jumped over the obstacle.
"Not for me!" reaching the rail, Ellie jumped on them and slid down, where she quickly flipped six circuit breakers to open the door in front of her.
Scooting through the door as soon as it opened, Ellie ran forward, jumping over the obstacles, and turned the corner, where two more circuit breakers were waiting for her.
"Yes, I love the chase," Frankie sneered, judging by the crash and crackle, which sounded like he broke something while heading her way, "The faster, the better!"
Ellie, who had already flipped the circuit breakers, didn't deign him with her answer, instead dashing past another circuit of the building and jumping forward from a structure built like a ramp, flipping another circuit breaker in the air.
"It's cute that you think you can outrun me," the rabbit decided to remind of its existence.
"Oh, shut up, evil Frankie!" the redhead couldn't resist, jumping through the opened door. Ellie ran forward, to the first obstacle, under which she slid. However, as soon as she did this, Frankie jumped out of the ceiling in front of her, his crazy grin, as she could swear, became even wider.
"Oh, come on, how fast are you?" jumping up, she turned right.
"Very," the monster answered her question.
Run forward to the obstacle. Jump over it. Turn left, past the mural of cartoon Frankie. Jump over the second obstacle. Turn right. Jump over the third obstacle. Run to the fourth, which, for some strange reason, suddenly rose up. Sliding under it. Turn left.
"What is this?" she asked, seeing a multitude of rotating cylinders, connected into one long one and strewn with obstacles, which, judging by their design, had to be either run around or jumped over.
"Obstacle course," Frankie stated the obvious, appearing at the moment when Ellie ran along the first cylinder.
"You've got to be kidding me!" Ellie yelled with annoyance, running around the obstacle.
"No."
"That was sarcasm!" she yelled, running up to the fourth cylinder, which, at the moment, turned its missing part to her.
"Apologies, no one's ever lasted long enough to be sarcastic with me," Frankie chuckled, having already passed the first cylinder.
"Gee, I wonder who's to blame for it?" sneered Ellie, who, meanwhile, had already run onto the sixth cylinder, passing it and the remaining one in a matter of seconds.
The next part was a slanted upward surface with two purple doors with a white outline of the word "Smash!" and a blue gate with what looked like rabbit eyes and a nose on top. The one on the right had crossed springs in the front that blocked the way, clearly indicating that the road was blocked, leaving only the ones on the left. After breaking through them, she reached the second pair of doors, again breaking through the left ones. The left doors in the third pair were blocked by springs, which Ellie noticed almost at the last moment. Luckily, she managed to turn right before she could run into them, knocking down the unlocked doors. In the fourth pair of doors, she had to knock down the ones on the left again, and in the fifth and final pair, the ones on the right.
"Where to next?" she asked, not even suspecting that the answer to this question was right in front of her... and in the literal meaning of this word.
"AAAAAH!" Ellie screamed as she fell into a hole in the floor that she hadn't even noticed in her panic before landing awkwardly on the floor.
"Oh, my ankles are so gonna kill me," she groaned as she got up from the floor.
"Was that sarcasm?" Frankie asked.
"No!"
Running forward to the next obstacle, almost tripping over a severed human leg in the process, she jumped over it, then jumped onto another, ran along it, jumped down and slid under the next two.
'I wonder how big this place is?' Ellie asked herself mentally as she jumped over one obstacle, then another. Finally, she reached the end of the area.
"What the?" honestly, a giant fan on the floor wasn't what she expected to see. On the other hand, as long as it kept her from becoming Frankie's food, she wasn't going to complain. So, when she reached it, she jumped forward, surprised to see that the air flow actually helped her rise upward, like in some video game or cartoon. There was no time to think about it, though, so she jumped up to the top floor, landing next to a metal door with a red exclamation mark painted on it.
'To be honest, it was almost fun,' she thought to herself, flipping a circuit breaker and trying hard to ignore the dried blood spatter on the floor and the wall opposite the door. The first thing she saw on the other side of the door was the jump signs. A quick scan of the room revealed a diagonal surface with falling logs rolling down, stylized forest decorations along the walls, and a sign that said "Frankie's Lumber Yard."
"Oh, come on!" she groaned, jumping forward and climbing up the conveyor belt surface.
"Can't make it too easy now, can we?" Frankie asked mockingly as he approached her position.
"Breaking news: you could!" Ellie yelled, halfway across the area, allowing herself a split second to look back. Frankie had literally just jumped up and was about to give chase. Damn it.
"I can't make a mistake," she hissed under her breath, turning her head and accelerating. That same second, she almost got hit in the face with a log, which she managed to jump away from at the last second.
"Come on! Just a little more!" With one last sprint and two more logs to avoid, she flipped a circuit breaker, opening the door, "Please, let it end there."
Behind the door was a dark room with a sign reading "The Fun Tube" and three tunnel entrances, two of which were locked. To be honest, she wasn't too keen on jumping into the third and only remaining tunnel, as it was an extremely risky proposition. However, she was even less keen on the alternative of becoming food for Frankie, who was approaching her. A brief thinking, and the choice was made.
"Geronimo!" the Minimum Wage Worker yelled, jumping into the tunnel. Frankie's angry roar echoed her cry, causing her to smile beneath her mask. At least she had managed to get away from the monstrous mascot.
Frankie was furious when he saw his prey successfully escape him by jumping into the tunnel. Roaring in anger, he grabbed the log that was rolling towards him in a blind rage and effortlessly broke it before throwing it aside.
"She got away," confirmed the Other.
"No shit, Sherlock!" the rabbit yelled back, grabbing the second log and slamming it down.
"I have some good news for you," Frankie, who had already raised the log for a second slam, paused and carefully set it down.
"Go on."
"She's heading into Deputy Duck territory right now," the intercom answered, "Which, as you know, has enough forbidden zones for you to catch her."
"Good," the rabbit grinned maliciously, looking forward to his execution of the last contestant.
Usually he killed the ones who dared to trespass by simply crushing their heads with his foot. But this one... nooooo, she won't get off that easy...
First, he'll crush her palms. Then her feet. After that, he would tear off her arms and legs. Then he would rip her stomach open with his claws. Then - and only then - he would crush her head and eat her corpse. But before doing all of that, he would remove her mask to enjoy the horror and pain of his victim.
Grinning maniacally to himself, he walked away.
Meanwhile, Ellie herself, screaming in fear, slid down the tunnel, which turned out to be longer than she expected. Finally, she fell out of the tunnel and fell to the floor, next to one of the chairs.
"Lucky contestant, thank goodness you're alright," the host's voice rang out, "That sure was a close one!"
'Way too close' she thought, massaging her ankles.
"I apologise, that was poorly planned on my part, but it was certainly entertaining!"
"Shut up!" Ellie yelled angrily, turning to face one of the speakers.
"You know what, this is actually a good thing!" the intercom continued.
"How exactly?" now Ellie was sincerely interested.
"Deputy Duck's area isn't too far from here, you should give him a visit," the host tried to say something else, but the intercom began to glitch, making it impossible to understand what he was saying.
"Okay, but not until I get some rest," Ellie decided, leaning her back against the leg of one of the chairs. As far as she was concerned, Frankie and the host could choke on those cereal. Speaking of which, there was an open box of Frankie's Fruit Flakes on one of the tables. This finally made her wonder where exactly she was and look around.
It turned out that the tunnel led her to a food court, where there were three options: Parkour Pizza, Frankie's Friend Food and Deputy Duck Quack Shack. Idly wondering if there was any food there, she sat on the floor for a few more minutes before getting up and walking up to the counters.
To her great disappointment, all three counters were a bummer, consisting of a complete lack of food. Well, almost complete. At the Quack Shack, she managed to find a chocolate bar lying on the counter. After quickly checking the expiration date, she tore open the wrapper, removed her mask and began to eat the bar. After finishing it, she threw the wrapper in the nearest trash can, pulled the mask back on and began to walk around the area to figure out where to go next.
To Parker's relief, the answer came as soon as she jumped over the railing: a circuit breaker was blinking red on one of the walls next to the trampoline. Walking up to it and looking up, she noticed two surfaces above her that she could bounce off of.
"I think I know what to do," flipping a circuit breaker, she jumped up on the trampoline, then, reaching the surfaces, bounced off of them and landed on the scaffolding, where a second circuit breaker was waiting for her.
"Only one left," flipping it, she ran back and bounced off the surfaces, landing on the floor, in front of more scaffolding. Running under it, she jumped on the trampoline and used it to lift herself to the top of the scaffolding, where a second trampoline was waiting for her, allowing her to climb onto a piece of ventilation shaft hanging from the ceiling, the shape of which vaguely reminded her of a grave cross.
"Where to next?" Ellie asked, looking down at the hole in front of her. Looking up, she noticed a crossbar hanging from the ceiling. Leaping forward, she grabbed it and swung herself onto the next section of vent, which took her to the third and final circuit breaker.
"Done and done," flipping it and noticing the rising gate, she carefully jumped off the vent onto the scaffolding, and from there slowly descended to the floor.
The corridor that opened up was somewhat larger than the ones she had had to run through a few minutes ago, with light blue painted walls with clouds painted on them and cardboard cutouts of Henry and Frankie taped to them. At first, Ellie intended to go through the gate with the broken doors, but to her disappointment, she noticed that they were covered with the perimeter fencer. She was about to turn around and walk away, when she noticed a suspiciously familiar outline. Coming close to the fence and concentrating on the outline, she noticed another vintage Frankie toy there. Deciding to put that thought aside for later, she took a closer look and noticed a trampoline located behind the net. Turning around, she noticed another one, behind her. The solution to the puzzle was obvious.
It took Ellie a few tries to jump over the fence, but she managed to land on the goal, from which she then jumped inside and took the toy, after which she jumped back out. Getting back to the food court and leaving the toy there, she returned to the corridor and turned right.
Having overcome a small obstacle course and reached a fan built into the floor, she jumped into the air flow and began to rise. For a while, everything was going well... until the moment when she slammed her head into the boards. Wincing in pain, she moved forward, moving out from under the boards, allowing her to rise up.
Flying almost to the ceiling, she noticed a corridor she needed to go through, but before she could reach it, she began to fall down. The fall was short, and Ellie flew back up as soon as she got back into the air flow, but she was still scared.
Landing in the corridor, she reached a fork. A new parkour area was waiting for her ahead, and to the left was some kind of corridor.
"Okay then, let's check what awaits me in the corridor first," she decided.
Chapter 3: Dial H for Hide
Summary:
Going further into the parkour park, Ellie finds a new ally, as well as a new enemy.
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
Frankie crawled through the vents, heading toward Deputy Duck's Parkour Room. He paused briefly next to one of the grates and peered through it. Some kind of maintenance room. However, a poster hanging on one of the walls, depicting his cartoon version balancing on a ball, told him he was getting close.
Truth be told, there was nothing stopping him from ambushing the last contestant in the Parkour Room, attacking her as soon as she entered, instead of waiting for her to trespass. However, for some strange reason, the Other ordered him to attack either in specific locations where he had no restrictions, or in the parkour rooms, but only after they trespassed. Frankie considered this the height of idiocy. After all, viewers watch this show solely to see the contestants die, so who cares when and under what circumstances they die? He even asked the Other this question several times, but never got any coherent answer from him, other than some muttering about "it's better for the ratings."
Peeking through another ventilation grate, he smiled when he saw the Parkour Room across the way, and a contestant who, for some reason, had decided to go left instead of straight ahead. A quick search of his memory revealed that this corridor led to the main lobby. Perhaps she simply hadn't noticed the sign? No matter. Sooner or later, she would return to the room, where he would eagerly await the moment she slipped up and allowed him to kill her.
Meanwhile, Ellie herself walked into the cluttered room, where she heard a squeak, and a few seconds later, a mouse scurried past her. Mentally noting the unsanitary conditions, she climbed the stairs and flipped a circuit breaker, opening the door before her.
The hallway that opened up seemed suspiciously familiar to Ellie. As if she'd been here before. Approaching the first door, she pushed it open and cast a puzzled glance at the boxes before realizing it.
"Could it be..." Leaving the room, she quickly ran to the end of the hallway and turned right. As she thought, the hallway led to the main lobby.
"Okay, that was unexpected," she admitted to herself. Finding nothing else interesting or useful, Ellie turned and walked away, intending to return to her search for Deputy Duck.
Stepping out into the hallway, she returned and looked around before noticing a sign that read "Main Lobby." Groaning at her own inattention and shaking her head in irritation, she walked away.
Upon entering the Parkour Room, Ellie noticed two gates, the left one closed, making it clear she couldn't pass through them. That left the right one. Passing an overturned trash can, she prepared to tackle another obstacle course. However, before she could, something hit her right thigh.
"Huh?" Turning to the side, she noticed a smaller version of Deputy Duck facing her. A few seconds later, he spat a pellet at her, this time missing Ellie. Shrugging, she walked away.
Reaching the trampoline, she bounced up to a narrow platform, nearly falling off, but managed to maintain her balance. Leaping forward, she grabbed the bar and swung herself up to a circular rotating platform. Unfortunately, this time she was a little less lucky and, losing her balance, fell down. Straight into the restricted area.
An alarm sounded, causing her to pale and quickly hide behind the crates. Finding a small gap between them, Ellie cautiously peered through it.
A box fell to the floor, about a dozen steps from where she landed, revealing rabbit ears. Frankie himself quickly emerged from it and slowly began to survey the surroundings. Mentally praying the animatronic wouldn't find her, Ellie felt something poke her left boot. Cautiously lowering her head, she noticed a small green ball next to her. After staring at it in confusion for a few seconds, she suddenly smiled beneath her mask, realizing what she had to do.
Picking up the ball, she returned to her observation and, waiting until Frankie turned his back to her, launched the ball away, causing it to hit one of the walls, attracting the monster's attention. As soon as Frankie focused his full attention on the area of the room from which the noise originated, Ellie, reaching what she felt was the speed of sound, quickly and silently left the restricted area and hid behind one of the walls.
Finally, judging by the disappointed grunt and the sound of a jump, Frankie realized he couldn't find her and left the room. She could come out.
"Take two, I guess," Ellie sighed before running toward the trampoline. Repeating her previous actions, this time without falling off the platform, she quickly leaped over the other two, landing on solid ground. She ran forward, knocking down a few doors and turning right. After knocking down another door, she paused at a small intersection and looked around. The paths on the sides were blocked by mesh, though they left a gap large enough for her to crawl under if necessary. Ahead, on the other side, were more doors. The choice seemed fairly obvious.
"Forward," Ellie decided, running in the direction she'd chosen and knocking down a door. Following her chosen route, she reached the trampoline, which she used to climb to the top, where she was met with a view of an obstacle course consisting of rotating cylinders filled with obstacles. A quick glance down revealed the absence of a safety net or any similar devices.
"I've handled Disventure Camp, I can handle this," Ellie shrugged before running forward, dodging and leaping over obstacles. Running along the cylinders, she reached several panels that tilted depending on which edge she was on. Jumping across them, Ellie reached the doorway she'd entered through. Great, now she could keep moving forward-
"Where did she go?" a deep voice rang out, causing Ellie to freeze and cautiously turn toward the window, where she saw Frankie climbing the wall. Luckily, he hadn't noticed her.
"That was close," she muttered once she was sure the animatronic was out of earshot. Shrugging, she turned and walked away, but her attention was caught by the ceiling-mounted television, or rather, the information it was displaying.
"Did you know that Frankie's is the world's largest indoor trampoline park?"
"Yes, I know. It was mentioned on that tape," she commented.
"Did you know Frankie started as a small cereal company owned by two brothers?" okay, that was new, "They eventually made the decision to sell the IP, allowing it to spread its wings and become the worldwide phenomenon it is today!"
"It wasn't their best decision," she shook her head before turning away from the TV, where a cartoon Frankie appeared, and continuing down the hallway.
After trying several door handles, she noted with disappointment that they were locked, meaning she needed to move on. Turning the corner and checking another door, she jumped over the fence and came to a fork in the road.
The path to the right, to Hide 'n' Henry, was blocked by an iron gate, next to which was some strange device on the wall, apparently a scanner. The path to the left, to Deputy Duck's Police Station, on the other hand, was open.
"Well, let's hope it's worth it," Ellie turned left, briefly glancing at the "wanted" posters of Henry Hotline, and entered the room. As soon as she did, the door closed behind her, trapping her inside.
"Well, that's not good," she commented, before slowly turning around and noticing Deputy Duck had appeared on the previously empty desk, slowly turning his head in her direction, "So, Deputy Duck, are we gonna have any problems? Because if not, I could use your help finding Henry," she then noticed a board with photos of Henry. "Ah, I see you're looking for him too," Duck himself, meanwhile, glanced first at the floor, then at Ellie, lowered his head slightly, and fell to the floor with a grunt, causing her to snort with laughter.
"Sorry. That was pretty funny," she approached him. "Are you okay?" She picked up the animatronic and began inspecting it for damage.
Instead of answering, Deputy Duck began pecking at Ellie, much to her dismay.
"Ow! Ow! Ow!" At first, she simply tried to turn away to keep the animatronic from pecking her face, but her patience quickly wore thin, "Quack off, motherquacker!" she threw Duck at the wall, then carefully ran her hand over her face. She might end up with some bruises, but it was unlikely to be anything more serious.
"I really hope you don't peck me this time," she said, approaching him and picking up Deputy Duck, who, for once, didn't attack her. Mentally grateful for this, she turned her attention to the monitor that served as the animatronic's torso.
"Explore with Deputy Duck," she read the current task, under which were two actions: flash and radar. "Wait a minute, there was some kind of scanner there," she said, turning around and noticing that the door blocking her path had risen. Ellie left the room.
"Radar, huh?" she read the inscription on the scanner. Shrugging, she pressed the desired action on the monitor. Instantly, the animatronic's eyes narrowed and lit up, and its head began rotating clockwise, scanning the area. The door rose, opening the way forward, "Good job."
Frankie slowly crawled through the vents, heading roughly in the same direction as the contestant. Frankly, when he realized he'd been tricked, he really wanted to grab her, even though he knew the time limit was up. Unfortunately, the Other had decided to impose a rather strict time limit, preventing him from searching after fifteen seconds. Nevertheless, he still managed to startle her by climbing up the wall while she was in that hallway.
"She's heading towards Hide 'n' Henry," the host's voice came over the intercom, causing Frankie to pause briefly to remember the direction, then crawl forward, picking up his pace slightly.
If he or Henry were lucky, the girl would be dead. If not, it looked like he'd have to take his anger out on something else. Or someone else.
(Line Break)
"So where do I go from here?" Ellie asked, addressing no one in particular. On the one hand, on the right, there was a ventilation grate, which, theoretically, she could knock out and crawl out. On the other hand, there was a ledge in front of her that she could fall off, and although it was quite high, it wouldn't be enough to injure her. After some thought, she decided to take the safer option.
Reaching the grate, she tried to push it forward, but it stubbornly refused to budge. Frowning, Parker pushed the grate a few more times, but to no avail. After some thought, she pulled out Deputy Duck and pressed the flash, illuminating the grate. It turned out it was propped up from the outside by some kind of crate. Damn it. So, the only choice she had is to fall.
Carefully approaching the edge, Ellie used the flash again in order to ensure the fall wouldn't be fatal. Gripping the edge with her free hand, she shifted her torso to gain ground. Counting to three in her mind, she released her grip, letting herself fall.
"Ouch," her ankles that got sore while fleeing away from Frankie reminded her about the experience. Crouching, she crawled forward, occasionally illuminating her path with flashes of light. Finally, she reached the iron door blocking her way. Trying to illuminate the dead end with flashes yielded nothing new.
"Okay, let's go the other way," she activated her radar, scanning the area. A mini-map appeared on the monitor, displaying the surrounding area. A ventilation to the right, which she'd somehow failed to notice, had a lever inside.
"Can't believe I missed that ventilation," Ellie shrugged, shining the light on the vent, and finding the lever, pulled it, raising the gate. Although the newly opened vent was somewhat brighter than the previous one, the Minimum Wage Worker still used the flashbulbs a couple of times to light her way and ensure she was heading in the right direction.
"Do they even know that the vents need to be maintained as carefully as the rest of the rooms?" her question, to her complete lack of surprise, went unanswered. Shaking her head, she crawled forward before spotting the vent exit, "Great."
After exiting the vent, she found herself in a narrow corridor, illuminated by a dim blue light. The carpet was decorated with a pattern of telephones and stars, and the walls were dotted with stylized dots that resembled a night sky. To the left, just a few steps from the vent exit, was a door that turned out to be locked.
"What's next?" Ellie glanced at Deputy Duck's monitor, but it still showed the same task. Sighing, she glanced away and noticed a landline phone standing near the end of the hallway. Ellie scanned the hallway but found nothing else and, left with no other choice, spun the dial.
"Who keeps ringing this phone?!" a section of the wall in front of her rose, revealing a living Henry Hotline, whose face resembled the drawing she'd found in Connections With Henry Hotline. He looked extremely displeased. "I'm sick of it! The ringing, the ringing, it won't stop, it never stops!" then he noticed Ellie's shocked expression. "You, you did this to me, it hurts!"
"Look, Henry, I'm so sorry it all turned out this way," she began to apologize, but the mascot had already disappeared deeper into the area, "Well, I tried. What's next?" hoping for an answer to her question, she glanced at Deputy Duck's monitor. The task had changed, but that didn't mean she liked it.
"Ring the phones: 1/6?" she read, "Are you kidding? You want me to ring five more phones, despite the fact that I'll be chased by a bloodthirsty mascot who's definitely not a fan of me doing so?" looking down the hallway where Hotline had retreated, she groaned in frustration, "I don't have a choice, do I?"
Leaving the hallway, she looked around, thinking about how much the universe hated her, before activating her radar, which revealed two phones, each located on one side. Ellie decided to go left, illuminating her way with her flashing lights.
"Two down, four to go," ringing the phone, she turned and walked forward, breaking into a run when she heard a noise behind her.
Reaching the third phone, she dialed it and, following the bright orange cord, ran to a half-lowered gate marked "Safe Room," which she slipped under without hesitation. Finding the phone, she approached it, but saw legs clad in burgundy pants and black boots, along with the curled, dirty cream toes of the mascot pursuing her. The dangling phone head swayed from side to side, trying to find her. Deciding not to risk it, she pressed herself against the wall.
"When I get to her..." Henry muttered so quietly that Ellie had to do her best to understand the first half of his sentence. Finally, he turned and walked away. As soon as his footsteps faded, Parker let out a very quiet breath. But it was too early to relax; first, she needed to find a way out of this place. After waiting a couple more minutes to make sure he'd gone far enough, she called the fourth phone and immediately ran away.
"Where are the others?" she asked Deputy Duck, simultaneously activating her radar. To her delight, the fifth phone was just around the next corner. After calling it, she glanced at the minimap and noticed a red dot in one of the corridors, rapidly approaching her position.
"Oh, shit!" she hissed, turning and running away, picking up speed when she heard the angry mascot's footsteps behind her. Luckily for her, Henry, unknowingly, helped her reach the last phone, which she immediately called.
As soon as she did, the footsteps instantly faded, and a strange noise was heard somewhere in the distance. Peering out of the hallway she'd just entered and glancing around, Ellie slowly walked forward, using her flashes to make sure she wasn't about to crash into a wall or, worse, Henry.
As soon as the sixth and final phone rang, mechanical arms emerged from the ceiling, grabbing Henry and lifting him up into the ceiling vent.
"You heard that ringing, right, Henry?" the Other asked over the intercom.
"I heard it," Hotline agreed grimly, "And I felt it," he said, massaging his temples, trying to ease his headache.
"And you understand perfectly well what that means, don't you?" the host continued.
"What does it mean?" the mascot genuinely didn't understand what they were talking about. Perhaps the Other had mentioned something about it? He didn't remember. Lately, all the calls and ensuing headaches had been making his memory worse.
"You can't hunt her yet."
"What!?" Hotline shouted, not expecting that answer.
"Once she gets to the Fun Tube, you can chase her," the host continued.
"But... But why?"
"Ratings, my dear phone-headed friend. Ratings," the Other replied calmly.
"But... But what's the point? After all, who cares if I kill her now or when she gets into the Fun Tube?"
At first, there was no reaction. Then, about thirty seconds later, the phone rang, triggering a migraine. About five seconds later, another one joined in. Then another. And another. And another.
With each ring, the mascot's migraine grew stronger and stronger, until finally it became so severe that he clutched his head and screamed in pain. Finally, after a couple of minutes, the ringing stopped, and with it, the headache gradually disappeared.
"You see, Henry," the host's voice sounded friendly, but it didn't take a genius to guess it was just a phony gesture, "This is my game show. And it follows my rules. And you'll follow my rules, too. Are we clear?"
"Crystal," Hotline croaked weakly.
"Glad to hear it. Now get ready. You'll be able to chase her soon."
Luckily for Ellie, she reached the Safe Room without any trouble. Stepping inside, she noticed the gate opening, revealing a lever, which she immediately pulled down. Hearing a metallic clang, presumably signaling the door had opened, Parker left the room and, following the glowing cable, reached the exit of the maze, where The Fun Tube awaited her. Approaching it closely, she prepared to climb inside when she heard a noise behind her.
"What's that?" the sound spurred Ellie on, forcing her to quickly climb inside the pipe and crawl forward. She was two-thirds of the way up when she suddenly heard a strange voice, making her freeze.
"Found you," turning around, she saw Henry slowly crawling towards her.
"OH NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO!!!" the Minimum Wage Worker quickly crawled forward, nearly launching herself out of the pipe. Straightening up, she raced toward the hole in the floor, which she bounced over by jumping off the wall. Reaching the trampoline, she jumped up and slid down the rails. Turning around, she saw Henry still chasing her.
"OH, COME ON!!" jumping off the rails, she ran forward, slipping under the almost-completely lowered metal gate. "YOU KNOW WHAT, WHEN I GET OUT OF THIS HOLE, THE FIRST THING I'LL DO IS BLOCK YOUR CONTACT SO YOU'LL STOP CHASING ME!!"
Having reached the trampoline behind which was a cardboard cutout of Frankie, Ellie used it to jump over a pit and reach another trampoline, which she used to jump over a second one, from which suspiciously familiar ears emerged.
"FOR FUCK'S SAKE, YOU'RE HERE TOO!?" she screamed, dodging the mad rabbit's paw.
"Don't let her get away!" Hotline shouted, jumping over the pit after his target.
Reaching the end of the corridor, she turned right into another, darker corridor, lit only by extremely weak flashes of light or lamps scattered on the floor. Reaching the first turn, she glanced over her shoulder briefly, noticing that Frankie was chasing her instead of Henry. Returning her attention to the route, she spotted an obstacle in the form of a pile of stacked boxes. Leaping over them, she ran forward along the planks, reaching a corner before jumping to the floor and jumping onto another set of planks.
Zigzagging through the maze and narrowly avoiding some obstacles, like some kind of barrier, she emerged into another corridor, where the lights were working properly, revealing a terrifying scene: at least a dozen people in jumpsuits were hanging from the ceiling.
"What is this?"
"Previous contestants," Frankie laughed, amused either by the chase itself or the sight of the corpses, "Between you and me, Henry's kill count pales in comparison to mine!"
"I didn't doubt it!" she shouted, speeding toward the metal door ahead. However, just as she was close enough, the door suddenly slammed shut, cutting her off.
"Shit!" she looked around the room in a panic, desperately trying to figure out where to go next. Luckily, there was a ventilation shaft near the door, and she ripped the cover off and threw it at Frankie, who was pursuing her, sending him crashing to the floor. Before he could get up and catch up, Ellie ducked into the vent, narrow enough for Frankie to not follow her, and shot like a bullet to the other end, which led to another corridor. Frankie's disgruntled roar made it clear she'd managed to shake him off her tail.
"Where to next?" Ellie quickly scanned the area to figure out where to go next. The path to the left—with her back to the vent—was blocked by a jumble of boxes and crates. The path to the right, on the other hand, was clear.
"Next time..." Ellie muttered under her breath, silently cursing herself for wanting to quickly find a way to solve her financial problems, "Next time I'll take Gabby's advice and just throw the tape, CD, letter, or whatever invitation material in the trash."
As she moved forward, she realized she'd entered another section of the maze. However, for some strange reason, there were no sounds indicating pursuit, which involuntarily made her slow down.
"Maybe I managed to lose them?" she wondered uncertainly, jumping over another obstacle.
"Guess again!" Henry shouted, knocking down a door hidden in one of the walls.
"Or not," she ran away, jumping over or sliding under obstacles. Unfortunately for her, the mascot caught up with her and grabbed her leg, pulling her toward him.
"Let me go!" trying to free herself, Ellie kicked Hotline in the groin.
"My headphones!" Henry doubled over with a high-pitched squeal of pain. Meanwhile, Ellie, after a brief moment of amazement at the idea of mascots feeling pain from a groin kick, turned and ran away, putting as much distance between herself and the temporarily neutralized enemy as possible.
After running through the maze and narrowly escaping Henry a couple of times, who, apparently, was also motivated by a thirst for revenge for the blow, she reached a pipe located above a deep pit. Quickly noticing a cluster of small metal doors on either side of the pipe, she raced away, not wanting to fall into Henry's hands.
'Oh, I have a bad feeling about this,' thought the Minimum Wage Worker, moving quickly but cautiously forward. Unfortunately, her fears were justified: she'd only just made it about a third of the way up the pipe when the metal doors lifted, revealing Deputy Ducks standing behind them, ready to fire marbles at her.
"Are you kidding me, or are you kidding me!?" Ellie yelled, growing tired of all this insanity.
Instead of answering, the ducks began firing volleys of marbles at her. Covering her head with her hands and keeping it down, she picked up speed, intending to reach the other end of the pipe before she was knocked into the abyss. However, with the intense gunfire coming from all directions, it proved more difficult than she would have liked.
She'd made it three-quarters of the way up the pipe when one of the ducks accidentally hit her right leg with a marble, causing her to lose her balance and nearly fall. Deciding to take a different route, she lay down on the pipe and army crawled along it. This increased the chances of Henry catching her, but also reduced the likelihood of her falling due to a lucky hit. Reaching the end of the pipe, she straightened up and ran away, dusting her suit as she ran.
After traversing a short obstacle course and navigating another section of the maze, which, to her relief, was free of traps, she reached another set of rotating cylinders with obstacles. However, this one was more deadly than the previous ones, with rotating circular saws on the sides and swinging axes in places where there weren't any. Feeling a sharp surge of nostalgia for Disventure Camp, she ran forward, getting through the obstacles. A couple of times she nearly got sliced open by an axe, stopping just inches away, and once she came incredibly close to being cut to pieces by circular saws. Nevertheless, she managed to cross the cylinders and run forward. Glancing back briefly, she saw the incredibly annoying sight of Henry effortlessly making his way through the obstacle course.
"Of course," she hissed under her breath, turning back to the front, "The damn mascot has no problem navigating a pile of deadly traps. Why am I not surprised?"
Luckily for Ellie, the rest of the area consisted of ordinary corridors with obstacles scattered here and there, posing no particular challenge. However, in the final stretch, the Deputy Ducks returned, firing pellets at her. Nonetheless, compared to having to cross a pipe while being shot at with marbles, it seemed like a mere trifle.
Finally, she left the labyrinth and emerged into a room surrounded by a fence. Quickly flipping four circuit breakers, she ran into the room that opened, and only when she heard the door close behind her did she allow herself to lean back against the wall and slide down.
"Bathroom, huh?" she asked herself, once she'd rested long enough to look around, "Great. Because at this rate, I'm definitely going to need them," she then turned her gaze to the sinks, or rather, to the Frankie plush toy sitting next to them, "You know, you're cute, especially compared to your monstrous counterpart," Walking over to the toy, she picked it up and examined it before remembering one important detail.
"Deputy Duck!" Having remembered, she began to look around, trying to figure out where she'd put her assistant. It's unknown how long the inspection would have taken if she hadn't noticed a handle sticking out of her right pant leg.
"Huh?" She blinked in confusion and tugged on it, pulling the unharmed Deputy Duck out of her pants pocket, where she'd apparently stuffed it in haste, without even paying much attention.
"My jumpsuit had pockets this whole time," she commented nonchalantly, realizing she'd completely missed them all the time she'd been running around the park. It's unknown what else she would have said after that, if she hadn't heard a strange bang coming from the door. Instead of trying to find a hiding place or an escape route in case the shit hit the fan, Ellie walked over to the door and began listening intently.
"You failed," Frankie growled, barely containing his rage.
"Frankie, I-I-I tried my best!" Henry began to defend himself. "I'll keep searching, I promise!"
"Too late."
"Frankie? What are you doing?" Hotline's voice was filled with genuine fear.
"Oh, you know, turning this phone off right now."
"No! Please, no!"
"You should have thought of that before you let the contestant escape," followed by a horrific crack and a pained scream, apparently belonging to Henry.
For the next few minutes, the sounds of ripping, cracking, and crunching could be heard, along with Henry's cries of pain, interspersed with his pleas for mercy and Frankie's sadistic laughter. Ellie herself, growing paler with each passing second, sat motionless next to the door, afraid to move or make a sound. Finally, everything went silent, followed by the sound of footsteps, signaling Frankie had already left.
"Damn..." she whispered as soon as it became clear the rabbit was out of earshot. "This... This..." Pulling her knees close to her chin and clasping them with her arms, she barely restrained the urge to sob from a mixture of fear and despair, "I shouldn't have come here. I shouldn't have accepted that damn invitation. I should have just thrown that tape away. Or better yet, destroyed it." Ellie was terrified. She was afraid she wouldn't get out of here alive. She was afraid she'd never see Gabby again. As soon as she thought about her girlfriend, she remembered their conversation the day before her arrival at the trampoline park.
(Flashback)
"Are you sure about that?" Gabby asked.
"Are you talking about the time, or the participation?" Ellie decided to clarify.
"Participation."
"Don't worry, Gabs," Ellie hugged her girlfriend and patted her back, "It might be hard, but I can do it. And I promise I won't go too far in order to win."
(Flashback)
"No," she hissed under her breath, "There's no time to crying. I WILL get out of here and reunite with Gabby, no matter what will try and stop me from this."
Getting up, she picked up Deputy Duck lying on the floor and activated it's radar. Time to figure out where to go next.
Notes:
Decided to extend Henry's chase sequence because why not?
Chapter 4: Watching Me
Summary:
Ellie finally meets this game show's host, who has some plans for her...
Notes:
Sorry about taking so long to post a new chapter. In addition to the other projects I'm currently working on, I also was quite busy IRL.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
As it turned out, the route led through a vent, which Ellie reached by climbing on a stack of boxes in front of the sinks. Stowing Deputy Duck into her jumpsuit's pocket, she crawled forward, wondering what might await her ahead.
Luckily, the vent was short, and there she was, looking down at the yellow floor with a blurry greenish reflection. Was climbing down a risky proposition? Of course it was, since she couldn't tell what awaited her. On the other hand, her entire stay in this park had been incredibly risky, and she had no other option but to move forward and leave this place, ideally having won five million dollars.
"Let's go," she shrugged, carefully jumping down and looking around. In front of her was the sign "Frankie's Crash Course" and a timer counting down to just over a minute. Hearing a noise behind her, she turned around to see a cluster of spinning circular saws. Turning back, she noticed rising yellow rectangles, their purpose being to push her back.
'Looks like it's time to dodge,' Ellie immediately began moving around the room, dodging the rising obstacles. So far, everything had been fairly easy, but she knew this was just a warm-up and would only get more difficult.
Her prediction turned out to be true: not only were there additional obstacles she had to jump over or run around, but they were also accelerating. A couple of times she tripped over obstacles that were too low, and once she crashed into Frankie's suddenly appearing cutout, but she didn't give up, continuing to run and dodge. Finally, her efforts were rewarded, time ran out, and the moving obstacles stopped.
"Phew, finally," Ellie exhaled, taking a short break and sitting on the floor, "What next? Where do I go?" She looked around, trying to find the answer to her question, but to no avail. No new doors or secret passages appeared.
"Don't tell me I'll have to jump down," she groaned, turning her back to the circular saws, "Please tell me there's something soft down there," getting up, she walked to the edge and stepped down onto the emerging platform. Taking a deep breath, she closed her eyes and jumped down.
To her disappointment, there was nothing soft down there. Hissing softly in pain and rubbing her bruised body part—which, for a change, turned out to be her tailbone—she noticed a metal door in front of her, slowly rising.
"Well, at least I survived," she thought, finding a silver lining. "Now I just need to find out where I am."
Reaching the end of the corridor, she found a map pinned to the wall, slightly worn around the edges.
"The Utilidors," she read, "Let's begin exploring, I suppose," just in case, she pulled out Deputy Duck and glanced at the screen. The objective had changed to "Explore the Utilidors."
Noting that the path to the left was blocked by a lowered iron door, she turned and went right, following another orange wire. Reaching the end of the corridor, she tracked its direction and then headed in the right direction before reaching the switch, which she pulled. The sound of the metal door rising signaled the way was clear.
"Let's see what awaits me there," Ellie ran away, easily weaving past the obstacles in her path. Reaching the now-open iron door, she walked through it, slowing just enough to examine the hallway she was walking down.
Finally, she spotted a metal door on one of the walls. She quickly scanned the area for any wires or circuit breakers, but found nothing. She shrugged and tried to walk past.
"You," the door suddenly rose, causing Ellie to recoil in surprise, revealing Henry Hotline, who, to put it mildly, had seen better days, standing behind it, "You're our lucky contestant."
"Lucky?" Ellie crossed her arms in disbelief, clearly skeptical.
"No one has ever made it this far," Henry explained.
"Yay for me," sneered Ellie.
"Usually only a few seconds. If you're lucky, a minute or two," he continued, "They play it easy, they pity you. The only reason the ones above decided to keep you around is because you're boosting the ratings. Our viewers are entertained, especially with those remarks of yours. We aren't going bankrupt, and this isn't our last gameshow."
Ellie remained silent, but she slightly shuddered. Even though she had seen those corpses, the very fact that the murders of participants were part of the show was still frightening.
"Hmmm..." Hotline, meanwhile, considered, "Now, when I'm thinking about it, actually, before you there was a person who managed to go that far. I don't know their name, but they participated seven seasons ago."
"They managed to do this?" she asked, tilting her head in surprise.
"Yeah," the mascot nodded in agreement, "I have no idea what happened to them, but still," he noticed her jumpsuit's pocket, "Ah, I see you managed to escape with Deputy Duck."
"I managed to slip it into my pocket while escaping," she shrugged, "Honestly, I didn't even know this jumpsuit had pockets."
"I see," Henry chuckled, "But I'm afraid your luck will run out sooner or later. And as soon as you're eliminated, four new cereal boxes will be sent out all around the world, sitting and waiting. For it's lucky contestant. Just. Like. You."
Ellie frowned, though it wasn't noticeable under her mask. Looks like once she gets out of this meat grinder, she'll have to get busy debunking this game show.
"Unfortunately," Henry continued, breaking her thoughts, "I don't have anything useful or important to give you as a token of my appreciation for bringing us into the light again. If not for you, the higher ups probably would have instructed Frankie to kill me," with a distorted laugh, he pulled a stuffed Frankie from behind his back and handed it to her, "But I hope you like this toy."
"Thank you," Ellie accepted the toy and examined it, then put it in her other pocket. As soon as she did this, the phone rang, and the mascot's head shook.
'Oh, right,' Parker thought, looking at him, 'The calls are giving him literal headache,' Henry himself, as soon as the phone rang for the third time, picked it up.
"Hello?" Immediately after, his head exploded, causing Ellie to recoil with a scream of horror.
"Hello. No one is available to take your call," the operator's voice rang out, "Please leave a message after the tone," a beep sounded, and then the lights went out.
"G-God," Ellie shook with shock and fear. Even though Henry had tried to kill her, she still couldn't help but feel sorry for him. With difficulty, she stopped her knees from shaking, took a few deep breaths to calm her jangled nerves, and walked away, pulling out Deputy Duck.
Activating the radar, she received a mini-map that showed the absence of anything interesting or relevant to her mission. Well, it looks like she'll have to do things the old-fashioned way.
Reaching the corner, she rounded it, walking forward before catching sight of another orange wire. Remembering all the previous times she'd found similar wires, she immediately followed them, eventually reaching an open door, which she immediately peered through. To Ellie's shock and horror, Frankie was waiting for her there. But this wasn't the monstrous rabbit who had stalked her through several sections. He was smoother and more refined, less robotic than his other counterpart, and he wore a pair of pink shorts, a red bowtie, red gloves, and a pair of red shoes. Feeling someone else's gaze on him, Frankie turned around, revealing his small, beady eyes, flat teeth, and permanent smile.
"Hi, Frankie," Ellie greeted him nervously, backing away from the door, "Sorry to bother you, I think I'll be going, okay?"
"Lucky contestant!" the rabbit exclaimed delightedly, "What a surprise! Don't worry, your mask-covered head, I'm the real Frankie, and totally not a lazily written plot device to add a twist to the story to keep our visitors entertained, so we can avoid going bankrupt!"
"The way you're saying it makes me think the opposite," Ellie admitted, still unsure what to expect.
"Authorities have discovered three dead bodies on the premises of Frankie's Parkour Palace, who seem to be three of the four unfortunate contestants chosen to participate in the company's last game show before bankruptcy," a voice came from the radio.
'Police? Finally something good,' Ellie thought.
"One contestant seems to be still on the premises and potentially alive," the announcer continued, silenced by Frankie, who turned off the radio.
"You were saying?" Ellie asked smugly, crossing her arms.
"Well, now that pleasantries have been exchanged, you have a journey to continue!" Frankie continued casually, turning to face the control panel, "I'll set you on your path. Go towards the last remaining elevators and I'll guide you from there."
Ellie paused. On the one hand, trusting an animatronic clone of that crazy rabbit who wanted to kill her was extremely risky, especially considering he was this gameshow's host. On the other hand, it wasn't like she had any choice.
"Where exactly should I go?" she finally asked him.
"Hmm?" Frankie stepped aside, letting her go ahead, "Over there."
Shrugging, Ellie walked past the host, taking a few seconds to examine the board with the schedule for the current, 64th, season. Unfortunately, the information about her plans was obscured by a cardboard cutout. After studying another diagram of the Utilidors, she approached the tracks and jumped onto them.
Grinding the rail, she shockingly reached an incinerator, above which were several more rails. Jumping off her own when it reached the end, Ellie hopped onto another rail, and from there onto a third, which led her to a corridor. After examining it and finding nothing of interest, except for a vintage Frankie toy behind one of the overturned barrels, which she stashed in her second pocket, she used the rails again to cross to the other side of the incinerator. Finding herself in another corridor, she turned a corner and began climbing the stairs, periodically flashing flashes of light to ensure she wouldn't fall into a chasm or trip over anything. Finally, reaching the top floor, she returned to the familiar corridor she'd taken to the control room.
"So why did you send me there?" she folded her arms.
"I noticed you were collecting those vintage toys," he told her, "So I figured you wouldn't mind adding to your collection. You can leave it here," he pointed to his desk, where three more toys she'd found were.
"Thank you," Ellie replied, looking away somewhat sheepishly and pulling the toy out of her pocket, along with the plushie.
"Now, you need to follow this glowing wire," Frankie pointed to the wire that had originally led her to him. Ellie nodded silently and walked away.
'I still doubt I should trust you, considering you're running this crazy show, but I don't have a choice, do I?' she mused until she reached a door with a red exclamation mark painted on it, and to the right of it was a staircase leading down. As she descended, she noticed that her path ended in a chasm.
"You need to jump down," Frankie's voice came over the intercom, "Don't worry, the landing will be softer than last time."
Ellie glanced down with extreme skepticism, then at Deputy Duck, whose monitor displayed a new mission: Unlock the trampoline and water park elevator door. Taking a deep breath, she jumped down.
To Ellie's surprise, the mascot was right: the landing really wasn't as rough as last time. Although, frankly, she hadn't expected to fall into the water. Standing up and silently thanking the universe that Deputy Duck was waterproof, Parker checked the monitor.
"Find the trampoline and water park elevator breaker," she read the changed task, "Well, not that I had a choice," she said, walking forward, periodically using the flashing lights to see exactly where she was going. Moving along the half-flooded corridor, Ellie reached a dead end. Frowning, she looked around, but found nothing. However, there was another option. Hoping she was wrong, she held her breath, crouched, and illuminated the passage with her flashlight. As it turned out, she really did need to get under the door blocking her way before her oxygen supply ran out.
"Great," she whispered, straightening up and exhaling. "Just fantastic," holding her breath, she quickly moved forward along the corridor, using the flashlights to determine her approximate path and the presence of air pockets. Finally reaching one, she stood up, gulping in air greedily.
"Gonna get some rest," she decided, leaning against the wall. After standing there for about a minute, she crouched again and slid under the second door, beyond which another air pocket and a ladder awaited her. Having covered the required distance, Ellie climbed the stairs and picked up another vintage toy, pocketing it. She then reached two circuit breakers, which she quickly flipped. Hearing the sound of the iron door rising, the Minimum Wage Worker turned and walked away, recalling seeing something resembling the object mentioned on her way to the stairs.
Although her memory hadn't failed her and there was indeed a door, it was still down, meaning she needed to go back and look for something else. After scanning the area with her radar and finding nothing of interest, Parker moved forward.
Crouching, she tried to crawl under the door and even made some progress, but then a figure suddenly appeared in front of her, causing her to stumble back, making gurgling sounds. Straightening up and taking a deep breath, she examined the figure more closely.
"Frankie, what the hell?" Ellie quietly yelled at him, annoyed by this interruption.
"Shhhhh," the mascot hissed softly at her, signaling her to duck. Ellie cocked her head to the side in confusion, but did as he told her, occasionally glancing toward the bars above her.
Finally, after a few seconds, she realized the reason for the host's concern. Frankie the Monster passed over them, muttering something about the last contestant. As soon as he left, the Other lifted the iron door at the side and nodded toward her.
"Thank you," Ellie pulled her mask back down, slipping in the confusion, and took a few steps forward before remembering something else.
"Ah, right. Here, take it," she handed him the vintage toy she'd found before continuing on her way.
The corridor she entered led to a staircase, at the top of which was another iron door. Well, it looked like she'd have to look for circuit breakers, fortunately one was nearby, separated from the staircase by a grid of bars and pipes.
Walking around the entire structure, Parker flipped a circuit breaker and quickly glanced at Deputy Duck. Three more were needed. Good.
Quickly finding two more, she began moving toward the fourth before noticing the Monster's hand descending from the ceiling, moving over the water, located right in the center of the peculiar corridor. It looked like she'd have to take a detour.
Quickly running around another cluster of pipes, she reached the last circuit breaker and flipped it. Hearing this, the hand slowly moved in her direction. Ellie headed in the other direction, avoiding the pipes, eventually reaching a staircase. Climbing it, she quickly passed through a raised door.
"'Return to the Trampoline and Water Park's Elevators,' huh?" she read the new instructions.
Using the trampoline to propel herself upward, she quickly returned to Utilidors. Walking forward, Ellie noticed that the previously lowered door had now risen, revealing a passage to the elevators. After quickly glancing at Deputy Duck and reading the task requiring her to explore the Trampoline and Water Park, she entered the elevator on the right and pressed up.
Exiting the elevator, she found herself in a spacious room with slides, circuit breakers, and fans. Apparently, this was the Water Park. A quick survey of the area revealed a trampoline that could be used to jump onto the rail. Following their direction, Ellie found another trampoline that she could use to jump onto a small structure, where a circuit breaker awaited her at the top.
"Let's go," she decided, racing toward the trampoline and jumping onto it. Finding herself on the rails, she grinded along them, eventually reaching the circuit breaker. Looking around for the others, she noted the ones she saw and flipped them.
"One down, four to go," glancing quickly at Deputy Duck, she jumped down, managing to land just on another trampoline, which she used to reach the second circuit breaker, which she immediately flipped. Jumping down and running up the stairs, she reached a fork where a third circuit breaker awaited her. Flipping it too, she began running back and forth up the stairs, eventually finding the last two and another of Frankie's vintage toys.
"A fan has been activated," she read, stepping away from the last circuit breaker. Noticing a slide nearby, she immediately climbed onto it and slid down, allowing herself to smile. The descent involuntarily reminded her of her childhood, when she often slid down the slide installed at the playground near her house. Noticing that the slide's exit ended at a wall, she prepared to jump down at the first opportunity. Finally, with only a stone's throw left to reach the wall, she jumped down. After wandering around the park a bit more, she found a working fan with dried blood stains next to it. Wincing, she looked up and noticed a circuit breaker attached to the ceiling, blinking blue for good measure.
"How did this place even get OSHA approval?" Parker asked herself. On the other hand, if she thought about it, the entire park was a complete mockery of safety regulations, which, apparently, hadn't attracted any unnecessary attention until now due to the bribes to the officials responsible for inspection. Or, alternatively, due to the elimination of all witnesses to such egregious violations.
Realizing she had no other options, she jumped onto the fan and let the air current lift her upward. Unfortunately, her first attempt to reach the circuit breaker ended with her hitting the ceiling with her head and falling to the ground. Getting up from the floor and cursing, she tried again. The second and third attempts yielded identical results. Finally, using the fan for the fourth time, she reached the circuit breaker and flipped it. Descending, she ran to the second fan and, using it, jumped onto a pipe, which she then used to reach the second circuit breaker.
"Mission accomplished," she sighed, before looking away from the circuit breaker and noticing the fans activating below. Jumping down and approaching them, she looked up and noticed a metal sheet positioned directly above the fans. Looking a little closer, Ellie was shocked to see rotating sawblades above the sheet.
"This is so not kid's safe!" she commented. "Seriously, I have a feeling this was made for parents who absolutely hate their children," having no other choice, she jumped onto the fan and rose upward, praying she wouldn't get launched into the sawblades. Luckily, she crashed into a metal sheet. Looking around, she realized she had two options: either use the fans to move under the pipe, risking being caught in the sawblades with one wrong move, or follow the pipe to the jump panels. The second option was safer.
"Screw you, I'm not going to die here," she decided, turning right and landing on a pipe. Running along it, jumping to another, and hopping across platforms, Ellie reached the lever, which she immediately pulled. Noticing a panel with a key descending from the ceiling, Ellie jumped down, ran to the trampoline, and used it to launch herself up, just before the panel touched the floor. Taking the key and putting it in her pocket, she jumped onto a nearby trampoline, climbing up to the elevator. Returning downstairs, Ellie ran into another elevator and ascended to Trampoline Park, where the dead body of one of the unlucky participants who preceded her was already waiting. She skirted around it and retrieved a vintage Frankie toy from the broken glass vending machine. She pocketed it, then climbed the stairs and stepped through the police tape.
"So, what have you got for me this time?" she asked, pulling down another lever. At that very moment, three rings descended from the ceiling, swinging above the trampolines, and a screen attached to the wall displayed instructions to jump through them, accompanied by a countdown.
"That's all? Too easy," she said, reaching a small hexagonal platform. She leaped onto it and slid through the first ring. The second was next to a yellow structure, which Ellie landed on on her third try. Jumping through the ring, she found the third and final one, located next to a pit filled with cubes. Quickly reaching the ring, Ellie dashed through it and turned to face the screen.
As expected, a new task appeared: catch the Noob Noobs. Luckily, the countdown had been reset. Before Ellie could ask what exactly these Noob Noobs were, a crate fell to the floor. On the sides of the crate, a red chibi monster with red skin, blue lips, large eyes, and a propeller-shaped hat was drawn. Several Noob Noobs jumped out and immediately began running away from her, squealing in fear.
"Get back here," Ellie shouted, dashing after the first monster she came across. Cornering him, she touched him with her hand, causing him to scream and explode.
"What the hell!?" she screamed, utterly shocked.
"Pay no mind to this, Lucky Contestant," the Other contacted her through the intercom, "This is part of the challenge you need to complete."
Gritting her teeth and muttering something extremely obscene under her breath, she straightened up and ran forward, quickly catching the second Noob Noob, and then the third one, who was standing next to him. The fourth and final one managed to run under a yellow structure, but it didn't save him: jumping after it, Ellie touched him, causing him to burst. After climbing out, she noticed that the task on the screen had changed again.
"Rings again?" sighing, Ellie quickly jumped onto the structure and then through a ring. Quickly jumping through two more rings, she noticed she was again required to catch Noob Noobs. She saw two boxes fall to the floor, each of which released two Noob Noobs.
"Oh, cool, hello psychological trauma, my old friend," she muttered sarcastically before rushing to the nearest Noob Noob and touching him. Running away from him before he burst, Ellie quickly touched the other two, who for some strange reason had decided to huddle together. The last one tried to run behind her, but she turned at the sound of his scream and caught him too.
When she was asked to jump through the hoops for the third time, Ellie had neither the strength nor the desire to react. She simply quickly completed what was required, hoping that after catching the next batch of Noob Noobs, the challenge would be over.
Finally, four boxes fell from the ceiling, each of which released a Noob Noob. Catching one in mid-air, Ellie ran to the second and touched him. The other two Noob Noobs decided to scatter, reasonably assuming she wouldn't be able to catch them all at once. Deciding to catch the one who had rushed to the left first, she raced after him, catching him when he stopped to scream. Finding the last one, she ran to the corner where he'd huddled.
"Listen, I don't like this either, so let me do this quickly," Ellie said, touching Noob Noob, causing him to burst. Hearing a noise above her, she looked up and noticed the rings and monitor slowly rising, while a second panel with a key descended.
"Another key. Yay," she desperately wanted to believe the keys would open the door that would lead her out of this dump, but she knew perfectly well that counting on it would be incredibly naive, to say the least. A quick glance at Deputy Duck's monitor, informing her that she needed to use both keys to open the door to Frankie Mountain, confirmed this.
The Other thoughtfully switched to another camera. Frankly, the fact that the new contestant had made it this far was quite impressive. Yes, it wasn't impossible, but he doubted she'd do it. As you might guess, he was wrong.
"Honestly, I should have taken your Disventure Camp results into account," commented the Other, turning his attention to the contestant's profile.
Ellie Parker, 25, American, works at Denny's for a small salary. That last detail alone made her an ideal candidate, but something else caught the animatronic's eye.
Before Finding Frankie, she competed on the reality show Disventure Camp, where she demonstrated she could be a dangerous and powerful competitor. In the first season, she reached the final three and was eliminated solely because Miriam faked a heart attack, which distracted Ellie and cost her a chance to win. Returning in the third season, she was eliminated shortly before the merge because the rest of her team noticed the game was negatively affecting her, gradually making her even more of a jerk than before. If someone were to ask the opinion of the Other, who watched the show between seasons out of curiosity, they would admit that she very well could have won if not for her teammates' decision to eliminate her. And they wouldn't mind seeing a darker side of Ellie in this game. It would be quite funny and exciting to watch her sacrifice the other contestants to win $5 million, especially if she was paired with one of them and forced to choose between her own life and theirs. That's a great idea, by the way. He should make some adjustments for next season: invite eight contestants instead of four, have them pair up, and then manipulate them into stabbing each other in the back. Their shock and sense of betrayal would be quite funny, and could very well earn him some extra profit. He might even be able to get her to compete in Season 65, where he could push her far enough to do it. Will it be difficult? Not out of the question. But hey, the money and ratings boost are worth it. Plus, there's nothing wrong with mixing business with pleasure, right? And even if she doesn't return for more seasons, he could bribe her with a new job and financial stability for her and her girlfriend.
Noticing movement on one of the cameras out of the corner of his eye, he switched to it. It turned out Ellie had returned to the floor and was now leisurely walking toward him. Quickly closing the tab displaying her information, the Other prepared to speak.
Ellie, having managed to scrub the blood off her suit with some police tape, exited the elevator. Leaving the hallway, she walked down the corridor until she reached Frankie.
"Where should I go next?" she asked, sounding tired of the world in general and this place in particular, as she retrieved two toys she'd found and placed them on the table next to the ones she'd already assembled.
"Now you need to flip some circuit breakers to open the door leading to the next test," the Other replied, "They're that way," he said, stepping aside and pointing down the corridor that led to the tracks.
"Yay, more rail grinding," she quipped, but continued forward.
Reaching the rails, she jumped on them and slid forward until she found herself in the same hallway from which she'd retrieved the vintage toy. After examining the hallway a little more closely, she found the circuit breaker she'd somehow managed to miss during her last visit. Ready to flip it, she shook her head and pulled Deputy Duck from her pocket, then activated her radar to find the rest.
As it turned out, she needed to flip four circuit breakers in total, the first of which was right in front of her. The other two were located in the remaining hallways, but the last one—
"Are you fucking kidding me!?" Ellie screamed, seeing that the last circuit breaker was located above the rails, "How am I supposed to flip that damn circuit breaker!? What kind of idiot decided to put it in such a dangerous and inconvenient place!?" taking a few deep breaths to calm her nerves, she shook her head, "Frankie, if you can hear me, please tell me that the idiot who thought to install a circuit breaker over a large fire pit has been fired."
"I hate to break it to you, but no, he's still working here," the animatronic replied cheerfully.
"Great," she snorted sarcastically, tucking Deputy Duck back into her pocket, "The person who decided to place those circuit breakers like that, if you're watching this broadcast, that's what I think of you," with these words, she held up two middle fingers and twirled them in different directions, hoping to catch at least one camera's eye. Lowering her hands, Parker sighed and flipped a circuit breaker. Hearing the ticking of a timer, she jumped onto one of the rails and slid forward, eventually reaching the second corridor.
"Half the job is done," she grinned, flipping a second circuit breaker and jumping onto another rail, which she slid along to a third circuit breaker, which quickly flipped. Now came the hard part.
Taking a deep breath, she jumped onto the rail and slid forward. Her target was in the air, requiring her to try to activate it while jumping from one rail to the other. Once close enough, she braced herself and, jumping, swung her hand forward. Fortunately, to her relief, she hit the circuit breaker.
"Mission accomplished," Ellie breathed, jumping off the rail onto the hard hallway floor and leaning against the wall for a short respite. Having caught her breath and realized she was now safe, she turned to face the familiar staircase she needed to climb.
Climbing the stairs and finding a purple wire, she followed it until she reached a large door with two keyholes, several corpses lying in front of it. Two monitors flanked it, displaying a chat room full of viewers, who were actively discussing her and the likelihood of her reaching the finale without dying. Ignoring the chat after reading a few phrases, she inserted her keys and turned them. Immediately, the door slowly slid open, revealing a passage to the elevator. Reaching the elevator, she stepped in and rode it up. Frankie's Frosted Peak, as the sign dubbed it, was a large, mountain-themed facility. After avoiding several corpses scattered near the starting line, Ellie climbed up, reaching the "Smash!" doors. Descending, she ran up and kicked the doors down. After overcoming a couple more obstacles, she reached the fence enclosing the final obstacle.
Ellie's first impulse, upon reaching the gate that would begin the challenge, was to say something about how she was going to win this game and get out of here. However, as she prepared to open her mouth, she noticed empty vending machines in the distance to her right. Shrugging, she approached them and examined them. Although they were empty, she found another vintage Frankie toy nearby, which she stuffed into an empty pocket. After a moment's thought, she picked up a Henry plush toy lying near the machines and then decided to explore the area for other interesting items. After all, the challenge wouldn't go away.
Soon she found police tape blocking the hallway, which she stepped over. Walking further, she reached a staircase rising high above and, with a sad sigh, began to climb it.
Ellie climbed the first seven flights of stairs at a leisurely pace without any difficulty. Starting with the eighth flight, she began to gradually slow down, feeling the accumulated fatigue catch up with her. Stepping onto the final, thirteenth flight, she was relieved to see a door next to her, realizing that if there had been another one, she would have had to crawl to get it. After a short rest, she opened it and stepped out into a long corridor, at the end of which was another door with a sign above it.
"CEO Office," she read as she approached the door. "I bet the skinniest CEO in the world works here," she joked to herself.
Pushing the door open, the Minimum Wage Worker entered the office, immediately grabbing Deputy Duck due to how dark it was. Approaching the desk with the lamp on, she examined the apartment purchase deed, which also read "EVERYTHING CHANGES." Turning away, she flashed a few flashes of light into the room, finding a key lying on the floor and immediately picking it up.
"I wonder what this is for?" she asked herself, examining the key before remembering the locked door in the lobby. Perhaps she was wrong, but it was worth checking. After all, what would she lose? Having made her decision, she left the office and, returning to the stairs, leisurely descended them, then headed back to the elevator.
"Lucky Contestant? Where are you going?" the Other contacted her over the intercom.
"Just testing a theory," Ellie replied, entering the elevator and patting her pocket, where she'd tucked the key.
Notes:
What a surprise! It's post canon for Finding Frankie!
Initially I planned to simply replace the MC with Ellie, but then I found a Game Theory video about this game, and it gave me an idea. I'm not completely sure what I'll achieve in the end, but, oh well, it will only make it more interesting.
Chapter 5: One Last Obstacle
Summary:
Ellie got to the final challenge, but will it be really the end of this story?
Notes:
Friendly reveal that I hate Brainrot Animals and believe that they should be erased:)
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
The Other watched Ellie through the security cameras, confused. At first, he didn't pay much attention to her decision to explore the area instead of overcoming the obstacle. Although, in retrospect, he should have been wary when she began climbing the stairs leading to the CEO's office. While she was exploring the office, she managed to find some kind of key, after which she went down the stairs and... headed back to the elevator? Why?
"Lucky Contestant? Where are you going?" he asked her over the intercom.
"Just testing a theory," she replied, entering the elevator and patting her pocket, where she'd tucked the key.
"Theory?" What could that be... Wait a minute. He seemed to know exactly what she meant.
"Is it related to that room off the main lobby?" he decided to clarify.
"Yes."
Yeah. He thought so. Well, if that's what she wants, she can examine it. It's unlikely he left anything incriminating there.
After wandering through the Utilidors, Ellie finally reached the entrance to the main lobby. Returning to it, she reached a locked door and inserted the key into the lock. To her relief, the key turned.
"So, let's see what secrets you were trying to hide from me," Ellie said, opening the door, pushing it open and stepping inside.
To Ellie's surprise, there was a regular elevator behind the door. She shrugged, thinking about it, and used it to go up. Stepping out into the hallway, she reached a room with system units, behind which were lifeless copies of Frankie, Henry, and Monster Frankie.
Frankie's copy was examined first, as it was closest. A note was taped nearby, informing everyone that if the body sustained severe damage, a replacement would be made from this sample.
Next came Henry Hotline. The note indicated that, for some reason, two copies were to return in the new season. Perhaps one was intended for Hide n' Henry, and the other for Utilidors?
The last was a copy of Monster Frankie. Unfortunately, the note didn't mention anything interesting.
"Well, at least I know what's in here," she sighed, before noticing something else out of the corner of her eye: a stack of papers stacked on a crate opposite.
As it turned out, these were concept art for the animatronics. At the top were drawings of the main trio, most of which differed from the final product. Specifically, Frankie was a fox in one drawing, white fur and noseless in another, and pink in a third.
"Yeah, might as well give him a sickle for good measure," Ellie commented sarcastically, "As if he wasn't scary enough already."
Beneath them were concepts for unused mascots. The very first featured an anthropomorphic grandfather clock, named Carl Clockwise. The one below it showed an anthropomorphic kangaroo in a red baseball cap, green T-shirt, and black shorts, dubbed Kevin the Kangaroo. The other designs were untitled and included, among others, an apple, a rat driving a can of soup on wheels, a bee, a rocker alligator, a sheep, and a parrot wearing an airplane helmet. Quite frankly, the strangest concept was a car tire with human legs and a frog's head, named Bonica.
"And people think Gabby's nuts," Parker quipped. Deciding to turn the page over out of curiosity, she saw the word 'rejected' written in bold red pen on the back, with the comment: 'You want our show to jump the shark?'
"It jumped when you started killing off the contestants," she retorted, "But I have to agree, if you'd added that character, you would have lost your remaining viewers."
The rest of the concept art was completely uninteresting. However, at the very bottom of the stack was a sheet of paper that read: 'Cruelty is more exciting than you think.' Ellie wasn't entirely sure who had written it or why, but she felt a shiver run down her spine. Putting the sheet back, she looked around and, finding nothing else of interest, headed back to the elevator.
Frankie boredly stared at the flickering lightbulb above, a fly hovering around it. Deciding to look away, he turned his gaze to the cardboard cutout of Henry Hotline. Honestly, he sometimes recalled their life before the game show turned into a snuff film, wondering if they'd ever been friends, or if they'd just been good at faking it. Even he didn't know the answer. Henry likely genuinely considered him a friend, but his own was far more complicated. Either way, their friendship was long gone.
"Frankie," the Other's voice, coming from the intercom, pulled the rabbit from his thoughts.
"Yes?"
"Get ready. She's heading back to Frosted Peaks. If she gets past it, you'll have to try to kill her in Hexa-Havoc," the mascot's manic grin widened at that.
"Will do."
Frankie didn't get an answer, but he didn't need one. He was given a simple task: swat a pesky mosquito in the final test. It was just a shame he couldn't prolong her suffering for as long as possible. Oh well. The possibility of ending her life already sounded exciting. I wonder how terrified she'll be when she dies?
As the Other had said, Ellie, who had already returned to Utilidors, was heading for the final test. Pulling Deputy Duck from her costume pocket, she saw the same message on the screen: "One Final Obstacle".
"I wonder what awaits me there?" putting the animatronic in her pocket, she headed forward.
Finally, she reached her destination, handing the toy to the Other along the way. Having overcome the obstacles separating her from the test, she sat down on the floor and took a deep breath.
"Bring it on!" She stood up, ran to the screen door, and kicked it down. An alarm sounded, and Ellie heard gurgling sounds out of the corner of her ear. Deciding not to stop and not be distracted, she ran up the slope and around the corner, reaching the 'Smash!' doors, beyond which the first obstacle awaited her: a pop-up 'Crash' block that could knock her down.
After kicking down the doors and passing the block, she raced forward, dodging moving obstacles and trying not to slip on the ice-like floor. Passing the second block and kicking down the second door, she turned the corner, catching a glimpse of some lilac substance slowly but surely filling the room. She had no idea what it was or how dangerous it was, but she decided not to risk it. Continuing her climb, Ellie passed through more doors and a block, then sprinted onto a rotating cylinder with obstacles, the existence of which she'd almost forgotten during all that running. Fortunately, she quickly cleared this obstacle and the others that followed, completing the section.
"You'll need more than that to stop me," she said, using the trampolines to propel herself upward and racing on. This time, only two 'Crash' blocks awaited her, which she cleared without any trouble, except for the fact that she had to wait before the second one.
Running down the slope, she jumped onto a trampoline and, reaching the next floor, immediately ran forward. Luckily, there were no obstacles in her path this time, so she only had to worry about the rising slime.
Bouncing on the trampoline, Ellie found herself in front of a new section, this time consisting of tilting platforms. Spending a few precious seconds maintaining her balance, she cleared the platforms and then quickly traversed the remaining two segments, where the only obstacles were "Smash!" doors, which she easily knocked down. On the top floor, a gate with two circuit breakers awaited her, which she immediately flipped. As soon as the door opened, the Minimum Wage Worker dashed through, noticing briefly that it immediately lowered, likely to prevent the slime from spilling into the other rooms.
"Is that all?" she asked, looking around. The room looked harmless enough... until Ellie noticed the spinning sawblades ahead, "Again? You're becoming predictable."
Climbing forward along the spinning platforms, she reached a cylinder of obstacles, which she had to cross without running into the sawblades in the process. Waiting until a window appeared to clear the cylinder, she jumped onto it and moved forward at a brisk pace. Unfortunately, on the fourth segment, she was forced to retreat due to an untimely obstacle appearing in front of her, which in turn forced her to run through sections to avoid being sliced by the blades. Nevertheless, she easily cleared the cylinder and jumped down.
"Is that all you've got?" Ellie asked, looking up at the flat-screen TV above, which showed an animated image of Frankie laughing nervously, "Is it over now?" Heading forward, she reached the fan, "This better be it. I'm tired of playing your games," She leaped forward, letting the air current lift her, "I've won, it's over. You can just give me the 5 million, go bankrupt, turn yourselves in for murder, and we'll call it a day. Sounds good? Of course it sounds good!"
As expected, no one answered. Well, not that she cared. Shrugging, she pulled Deputy Duck out of her costume pocket and saw the rather depressing message on the screen: "Good luck".
"You could at least try to cheer me up," she scolded the animatronic, before sighing and putting it back in her pocket. Looking ahead, she noticed a sign that read "Hexa-Havoc."
"So, what now?" she asked before reaching the end of the hallway. Unfortunately, she hadn't looked down, so the collapse of the hexagon she was standing on came as a very unpleasant surprise.
"AAAH!" Suddenly, the fall stopped. Blinking in confusion, she noticed someone else's shadow and looked up.
Another stood above her, slowly extending his hand to her. Standing on tiptoe, she reached toward him. Unfortunately, when she was only a few centimeters away, the Other suddenly pulled his hand back and closed the hatch above her. At that very moment, the hatch she had landed on opened, and Ellie continued to fall.
"One last place to go, Lucky Contestant," he informed her.
"It's better be!"
The Other, slamming the hatch shut, pulled the lever that opened the one the contestant was standing on, causing her to plummet. Quickly informing her that she only had one challenge left, he headed toward his room, pulling out his walkie-talkie as he went.
"Frankie, are you ready?"
"I'm in position, ready for the kill," the mascot replied.
"Good to hear. The contestant is currently falling into Hexa-Havoc. You know what to do," the Other heard an evil laugh, indicating Frankie was long ready to spill blood. Well, that suited him just fine. Now, all he had to do was anonymously wire the money to the police to cover the tracks.
Ellie fell onto a floor made of multicolored hexagon tiles and surrounded by chain-link fences. Rising from the floor, she looked around warily, trying to figure out what awaited her this time.
"What next?" as if in answer, the word 'Survive' appeared on the monitors surrounding the arena.
"Sounds easy," she shrugged.
"Don't jump to conclusions, Lucky Contestant," the other countered over the intercom, causing her to frown.
"Me and my big mouth," she sighed, about to say something else, when she suddenly noticed a painfully familiar glove clinging to one of the fences.
"Oh no," she whispered in horror, watching as a second one appeared.
"Oh yeah," Monster Frankie jumped into the arena, "Time to die."
"Gotta catch me first!" Despite her fear, Ellie wasn't about to stand still and die.
"It's not that hard," the animatronic grinned ominously. At that very moment, a countdown began on the monitors, showing two minutes and ten seconds, and the hexagon she stood on lit up.
"Damn," she ran away, not wanting to wait until she fell. Frankie, meanwhile, wasn't standing still either, slowly moving toward her before leaping forward, forcing Parker to abruptly change direction.
"Oh, great, as if this rabid bunny wasn't enough," she spat, leaping over a trail of fallen platforms.
"Good luck," Frankie mocked her, before bursting into evil laughter.
"Oh, shut up, spring-legged freak!" Ellie yelled, jumping over another gap. A quick glance at one of the monitors showed she had another minute and fifty-two seconds to survive. Damn it. She could only hope everything went smoothly enough.
Unfortunately, the challenge quickly became even more difficult. Besides the ever-increasing gaps, Frankie noticed that if he continued like this, he would fall to the next floor first, so he decided to change tactics: jumping backward, he grabbed the fence, which somehow managed to support his weight, and then began throwing his hand at Ellie, trying to catch her. To top it all off, a cannon hovering near the arena began firing Noob Noobs, which exploded on contact with the floor or anyone else.
"Oh, come on!" she shouted, jumping onto one of the remaining hexagons, dodging the hand once again. Immediately after jumping, she glanced at the monitor. One minute and forty seconds. Turning away from the monitor, she noticed Frankie preparing to grab her again. Looking around and noticing the lack of other hexagons within reach, she jumped down, forcing Frankie to follow.
Ellie spent the next few seconds running away from Frankie, sliding away from him, bouncing off his limbs, and watching where she jumped to avoid falling into a hole. Finally, with one minute and twenty-eight seconds remaining on the timer, time vanished, replaced by a cartoon Frankie, who was, to put it mildly, extremely annoyed.
"Stop messing up my FUCKING GAME SHOW!" shouted the Other, expressing all his anger at the girl's resilience and luck.
"Sorry, I'm not sorry!" Ellie shouted back, jumping over another gap.
By the time the monitor showed she had only a minute left, Ellie had no choice but to dive down, simultaneously dodging the hand of Monster Frankie, who leaped after her.
"We're halfway there!" Frankie declared maliciously, "I hope you're ready to die!"
"Not today!" Ellie slid between the legs of an animatronic rushing toward her, with him being unable to catch her, "Besides, you're too slow!"
"You were just lucky!" Frankie protested, turning and leaping forward. Unfortunately for him, Parker had managed to turn right, avoiding the enemy.
"Still slow!" another glance at the timer. Fifty-one seconds. She still had time.
Running away from Frankie was tense, to say the least. Apparently, the girl's successful eluding him as he raced toward her was the last straw. He stopped playing with her now, instead concentrating on trying to catch her. Several times, he caught her off guard, forcing her to dodge at the last moment, and once, he almost caught her. Luckily, she managed to escape, but he still managed to graze her mask with the tips of his claws. Of course, he hadn't forgotten his resolve to jump onto the fence and try to get her from there, but so far she was having luck, bouncing away from his hand while trying to stay out of his reach. Finally, with only twenty seconds remaining, Ellie jumped down to the fourth and final layer.
"Stop running!" Frankie barked, jumping down after her.
"Sorry, but my life depends on it!"
"Then stay put and let me kill you!" the enraged rabbit roared, "Why don't you just stay still and die!?"
Finally, time ran out. However, nothing changed, forcing Ellie to continue running from Frankie.
"Come on, think," she hissed under her breath, irritated, "There has to be something you're missing," dodging Frankie once again, she glanced at the fence, where she spotted a long pipe filled with Noob Noobs and a switch attached to it, labeled 'Cannon Overload Switch.' Her eyes lit up with realization.
"Eureka!" Changing her route, she ran to the switch, dodging Frankie's hand along the way, and pulled it down.
"You little—" the animatronic's words were interrupted by a noise above him, causing him to look up, "Huh?"
"Huh?" Ellie decided to follow suit.
If pressed to be completely honest about what exactly she expected to see above her, she would have admitted she didn't know, but she would have offered several guesses, including a pile of screaming Noob Noobs falling from above. However, the sight still seemed strange.
"Oh, that's not good," Frankie growled, before lowering his head and glaring at Ellie. Then, apparently deciding to try to take her down with him, he leaped toward her. But before he could cover even a quarter of the distance, a pile of Noob Noobs fell on him, causing Frankie to fall screaming, straight into the incinerator beneath Hexa-Havoc.
"Phew," the Minimum Wage Worker sighed in relief, "Cute, but deadly," before she could do anything or even question what she should do next, a chilling sound rang out: the signal that the hexagon would fall in a few seconds. Looking down, she watched in horror as the hexagon glowed white, confirming it.
"Well, shit," she said, just as the hexagon fell down, taking a screaming Ellie with it.
'This-This can't end like this!' she thought in panic as she plummeted, 'I have to get out of here somehow! There has to be a way out!' desperately searching for something, she spotted the grind rails. The horror on her face quickly transformed into a grin. She had just come up with a plan.
Shifting her posture, she shifted slightly to the side, stretching her legs to reach the rails. Luckily, she succeeded, landing on them and sliding forward. Jumping to another set of rails when they ended, Ellie reached one of the corridors and leaped inside.
"That was too close," she exhaled, leaning her back against the wall and letting herself fall to the floor, "After this run, I'll have enough adrenaline to last me for the next ten years, maybe even more," having partially cleaned her clothes of the fresh blood stains of the Noob Noobs, she decided to take a break. Until she calmed down and made sure that she rested enough, Frankie and the others could go to hell.
Notes:
Alright, everyone. We finished the first half of the story, where Ellie tried to get through the obstacles. Now, the following chapters will be about her trying to survive and stop the Other.
BlueNeko_AtNight on Chapter 2 Tue 02 Sep 2025 12:12AM UTC
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BronzeBeak12 on Chapter 2 Tue 02 Sep 2025 03:41AM UTC
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BronzeBeak12 on Chapter 2 Tue 02 Sep 2025 09:12AM UTC
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