Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It was a sunny day in Yoyleland. Birds were singing, flowers were blooming, and two algebraliens were entering the local Yoyleikea.
“What are we here for?” asked Four as he and X walked up the escalator and to the main entrance to Yoyleikea. X smiled at him.
“We’re just here to have fun!” said X cheerfully. They ran up the stairs to the top floor, grabbing Four’s hand. Begrudgingly, Four followed. He didn’t really understand but he wanted his friend to have a good time.
“How are we gonna have fun in a furniture store,” Four mumbled. “We could’ve gone to the arcade.” X looked at them.
“But Yoyleikea is so cool!!!!” X exclaimed excitedly. They started humming the Yoylikea song. Four rolled their eyes.
“Yoyleikea!! Selling furniture for college kids and divorced men!!”
“X, shut up! We’re in public!”
“Fourrrrrr!”
Continuing along the walkway, Four picked up a cute blue shark plush from one of the bins rimming the walkway. X stimmed excitedly, waving his hands.
“BLAHAJ!! He’s so adorable!”
“What is he, exactly?”
“A shark!”
“He looks like a deformed blueberry.”
“DON’T SAY THAT TO HIM!” X gasped, covering the stuffed animal’s “ears”.
“X, it is a plushie,” Four sighed, smiling at X. “It’s sweet how energetic you get about such a dumb little guy.” X looked at him, annoyed.
“They’re not dumb!” They exclaimed.
“That’s not the point. I’m trying to say that it’s nice to see you so happy about something!” X smiled a little.
“Yeah. I really like this little guy!! Can we get one?”
“Of course! When we head towards the exit I’ll pick one up. For now, wanna go get some ice cream?”
Four and X’s voices carried into the store as they walked along the rows of furniture and appliances. Suddenly, X bumped into someone. Apologizing, they turned around and were met face to face with EVIL LEAFY!!

Chapter Text

CHAPTER 2!!
X screamed, taking Four’s hand and squeezing it. Four instinctively stepped in front of them.
“Leafy is that you? You’re looking a little different today.” said Four, a little spooked.
Evil Leafy just stared. Four and X started backing up slowly, keeping their eyes on the strange figure. Evil Leafy suddenly teleported a few feet forward. She did it again. She got closer and closer until she was almost touching the pair. Four and X started to run. Stumbling a little, they ran through the little apartments, making their way through the maze. They could hear the sound of Evil Leafy getting closer with every step they took. Breathing heavily, Four ducked behind a wall, pulling X with them. They saw Evil Leafy pass the aisle, her eyes moving side to side like a lighthouse pulling ships in.
“Is it gone?” asked a voice. A familiar voice. Four X’s heads turned to see a friendly face peering back.
IT WAS REGULAR LEAFY FROM THE HIT TELEVISION SHOW BEEFY DIE!!!!!!!!
Four smiled. X hugged Leafy as quietly as he could.
“I think she passed us,” he whispered. “But I wouldn’t be too sure.” Leafy sighed.
“She’s been chasing me around since I got here. This has got to be the worst shopping trip I’ve ever been on… First Firey, and now this.”
“What happened with Firey?” X asked worriedly. Leafy looked away.
“Doesn’t matter. We need to get out of here.” Leafy looked around, noticing the silence of the empty space, and cautiously walked out into the open. When no red leaf came out and attacked her, she breathed a sigh of relief and waved the others towards the aisle.
The leaf and numbers scurried out of their hiding spot to find the area they were in was different. Instead of having stuffed sharks and kitchen supplies, there were now armchairs and furniture in boxes. Leafy looked around in confusion. Maybe she was just making things up. She shook her head as the group hurried off further into the Yoleikea.

Chapter Text

CHAPTER 3!!
Four and X, now joined by Leafy, continued through the halls of Yoyleikea.
“Hey Leafy, what was that thing with Firey you were talking about?” said Four.
Suddenly, the trio heard a running sound behind a pile of boxes. Fiery burst through the boxes, shouting “DID SOMEONE SAY FIREY?” excitedly. After seeing Leafy, he angrily walked back through the now-flaming boxes he had burst out of. As he left, the last 2 unburnt cardboard boxes caught fire. The flames spread quickly upwards until the entire shelf was ablaze! Four made a noise of alarm and dragged X away hurriedly. Leafy dashed out of the way of the burning shelves full of cardboard boxes and furniture. Four held out his hand and the fire suddenly froze in place. After a few seconds, it started to become more opaque and quickly disappeared. Leafy stood by them, gasping for breath.
“What the actual fart!!!,” She rasped.
Four ignored her and concentrated on making the fire disappear. After the fire was gone, he walked back to the other two. Leafy shivered, still in shock from almost dying.. And the appearance of her rival.
“That was traumatic. I am NEVER going to Yoyleikea EVER again. Thanks for saving us though, Four. I don’t think we would’ve made it without you- the whole store would've went up in flames…”
“Wait. Why didn’t you just get rid of Evil Leafy with your powers earlier? You’re perfectly capable of it,” Leafy asked, eying the pair suspiciously.
“Oh wait I forgot” Four said, rubbing the back of his head guilty.
Leafy and X both stared at him.
“Are you flipping kidding me…” Leafy muttered and shook her head. Before the variable and the leaf could yell at Four some more, the location shifted. The scenery shifted from shelves of stuff to tables and chairs in a restaurant setting.
“HUH?!?!” Leafy rubbed her eyes. Once, she could overlook it, but twice? What was going on here? And was this even the same store??
Four and X seemed to notice the shift this time as well.
“Do you smell that?” asked Four. They looked around curiously. “I don’t know what I’m smelling but it smells great!” said X. He closed his eyes and took another whiff.
Leafy walked around, making her way around the circular tables to the large kitchen in the back.The numbers followed close behind. As they walked into the tiled room, the leaf noticed a pair of objects at the stove- a paintbrush and a lightbulb. They turned around in unison. Leafy panicked, smiling nervously at the two. The lightbulb waved excitedly.
“OMG!! NEW PEOPLE!! I’m Lightbulb!! And this is Painty! What are you three doing here?”

Chapter Text

CHAPTER 4!!

The paintbrush punched her playfully.
“They’re not allowed back here. This is employees only,” they said grumpily.
“Oh! Yeah! But they can stay for a little bit, right? At least to try the soup!” Paintbrush sighed.
“She’s really excited about this soup. Nobody’s come by the restaurant today, though. Bit of a slow day.” As Leafy peered into the soup pot, she could immediately see why. It looked terrible. There were chunks of what appeared to be rubber floating around in the pot, and the broth was deep red. She had to admit, though, it smelled pretty good.
“I know, I have amazing cooking skills.” Lightbulb smiled smugly. Everyone else stared at her.
“Are we even still in Yoyleikea?” asked Four, breaking the silence. Lightbulb nodded. “This place is unbelievably big. Sometimes, people get so lost that they’re never found.” She grinned spookily.
“Sweetheart, stop making things up. Nobody has died here,” Paintbrush told them, pushing Lightbulb to the side. She pushed them back, laughing. Paintbrush leaned down and gently kissed her forehead.
“Get back to finishing the soup, silly!” they giggled.
“It’s almost done!”
“All the more reason to get back to work!” Leafy stared at them. Lightbulb grabbed some spices randomly and cheerily threw them into the pot, eating a few of the spice jars along the way. The soup looked WORSE now, if that was even possible, but at least the two seemed to be having fun with their gayness.
While all this was happening, Four and X were up to no good.They had spotted a big pot of meatballs on the other side of the sizable kitchen and were stuffing their faces with as many as they could. Suddenly, X saw something approach. Something red. Something leaf-shaped. Something MEAN. It was EVIL LEAFY!
X tried hard to alert his friend but Four’s head was fully in the meatball pot and their mouth was full of meatballs. Suddenly, they had an idea. X looked Evil Leafy head on and started spitting stolen meatballs like crazy. Evil Leafy was ENRAGED! The meatballs did nothing to slow her down. If anything, the barrage of meatballs further fueled her drive to hunt the numerical digits down.
X ran out of meatballs and started screaming for help. At this point, the objects realized that something was happening and ran over to try and help. Not knowing what to do, they stood by idly, except for Lightbulb, who ran at Evil Leafy with a pan.
“AAAHHHHHHHHHH!” She yelled, speeding up as she got closer. Evil Leafy teleported closer, and she scrambled away. “Nopenopenope!!!” She yelled and grabbed Paintbrush for support. Four, noticing the commotion around him, came out of the meatball pot.
“GET. AWAY. FROM. MY. FRIEND” shouted Four. Their hand shot up and Evil Leafy hurtled upwards. She burst through the ceiling as easily as cutting though butter.
Evil Leafy kept going, taking off like a rocket into the stratosphere. Four, X, Leafy, Lightbulb, and Paintbrush all crowded around and watched.

Chapter Text

CHAPTER 5!!

Still staring at the hole in the ceiling, Leafy moved closer to Four.
“You couldn’t have done that sooner?”
“I forgot,” they grumbled. “X was scared and I wanted to keep them out of danger.” X smiled. Lightbrush suddenly jumped up.
“OMGA I FORGOT ABOUT THE SOUP! OH NOOO! PAINTY WHAT’RE WE GONNA DO ITS RUINED OH NO!” She stared at the soup pot, which was now on fire, disappointedly. “I was gonna get to show these cool objects my cooking!!”
“We’re not gonna get fired or anything, we’ll be fine”, Paintbrush reassured her, putting a hand on her shoulder.
“Yeah.” All of a sudden, she perked up. “Lets make more!! This one can have chicken cause we used beef for the last one!! And I can put more fish food in this time!”
Running up an escalator, Fiery yelled “DID SOMEONE SAY FIREY???”. Lightbulb stared at him. After seeing Leafy, Fiery ran back down the upwards moving escalator. Or, he TRIED to. He stumbled and tripped and eventually fell over. The escalator moved back up until he was right where he started. Leafy laughed as the others simply stared.
“Want me to give you a push?” she said smugly. He blushed, embarrassed.
“It’s not funny!”
“Seems funny to me” said Four, in between laughs. As they were laughing, the location shifted yet again. This new area was warehouse-like, there were seemingly endless tall shelves that housed massive boxes of stuff. The shelves seemed to shift and change slowly.
“Aww, what the heck!!” Lightbulb said angrily. “Where did the kitchen go?” Fiery stood near a corner of the room, taking it all in with fear in his eyes.
“WHAT IS GOING ON!!” He screamed.
“Did someone say Clock?” said a voice from above. Everyone looked upwards as light shone down, and what looked like a cyan colored alarm clock descended from the sky. Lightbulb violently shrieked. Four and X waved at the strange figure. Four looked a bit flustered at the strange creature that just appeared.
“AAAH ITS A HOMOSEXUAL!!!” Lightbulb screamed before running to the exit. It was blocked by a wooden board nailed into the wall. Paintbrush walked up to her, putting a hand on her shoulder.
“What the chicken noodle soup ??????????” They yelled at her.
“I’m just here for the baskets,” said Clock.
“OMG ME TOO!!” said X. Holding hands, they walked over to the basket aisle in unison.
As the basket-loving duo walked towards the basket aisle, the others went to get ice cream. Firey and Leafy were almost comedically far from each other, taking complete opposite sides of the room. On the other hand, Lightbulb and Paintbrush basically had no space between them, they were basically clipping into each other. Paintbrush had their arm wrapped around Lightbulb’s “shoulder”, and they held hands so tightly it looked physically painful. Their gayness was immaculate and could be felt by everyone in the room. When they reached the exit, Fiery silently slipped out the door. Leafy smiled. Clock and X rushed back over to the group.
As they checked out, the colorful pinwheel that handed them the ice cream, staring at Lightbulb and Painty with exasperation. They all sat at a table and licked at their ice cream.
“Want a bite??” Lightbulb asked, holding out her cone.
“Ummm, it’s literally the same ice cream flavor.” Paintbrush raised their eyebrows.
“Oh yeah !!”
“Why are you all so incredibly dumb?” the pinwheel at the counter yelled at them. Paintbrush stared at him, anger spreading across their face.
“What the fuck did you just say about my girlfriend??” They said quietly. Slowly, they handed Lightbulb their cone and began to march over to the booth. Four covered X’s ‘ears’, a look of complete and utter shock crossing his face. Paintbrush slammed their hands down on the counter.
“Say that again.”
“Your girlfriend is a moron.” Suddenly, Paintbrush lunged at him, tackling him to the ground.Four, X, and Clock stared, watching the chaos as the fight began. Paintbrush punched Michael’s stupid face over and over while she struggled to get up. Finally succeeding, she picked Paintbrush up and swung them to the ground. They grunted, the wind knocked out of them. Michael kicked at Paintbrush, aiming for their midsection.Four summoned popcorn from his hand and shared it with X and Clock. Leafy took a loud bite out of a KitKat. Suddenly, a snap echoed throughout the room… Lightbulb screeched.
Paintbrush was broken in half on the ground, wood splinters shattered around them. Tears immediately rushed to Lightbulb's eyes as she ran up to their mangled body. Michael stood there in shock. Clock giggled.
“Violence!” the twink shouted. X stared at them, bewildered.
“You got a little something right, um,” Four said, gesturing towards Paintbrush,”right uh, right there….”
“Yeah no shit!!!” Lightbulb shouted angrily at him. With a wave of his hand, Four conjured up duct tape.
“Here, this’ll work,” Four said, handing the tape to Lightbulb, who swiped it from them. In a few seconds, Paintbrush had been patched up. They were alive but traumatized. Lightbulb hugged them tightly, sobbing. Everyone exhaled in a shared sigh of relief. Michael quickly fled the scene, vanishing into the back of the Yoyleikia. Before anyone could enjoy the moment, though…..
“Boo, hiss!!” someone shouted from nearby. Looking up, the group noticed that there was a cracked test tube wearing damaged glasses and a tattered lab coat sitting at a table at the edge of the food court, a potato battery and unfinished meatball sub on a plate sitting on the table. How did nobody notice them there? That’s for you to decide!
“Excuse me??” Lightbulb asked, furious.
“I wanted them to die, that would have been wayyyyy more interesting,” Test Tube explained, rolling her eyes.
“Yes, death is better,” the potato battery agreed in a robotic voice.
“But death is scary D: !!” X chimed in. The yellow algebralian looked terrified, like they’d just witnessed murder- which he almost had! Test Tube smirked and pushed her glasses up like an anime character.
“NUH UH!” she exclaimed proudly, standing up and pointing dramatically like she was in ace attorney.
“WHAT DO YOU MEAN ‘NUH UH’?!” Four countered angrily. Test Tube shrugged smugly. Grabbing the potato battery and clipping it onto her lab coat, she started to sprint- very poorly sprint, she looked like she hadn’t seen sunlight in a solid year- away.
“Gotta blast!” Twisted Tube called back over her shoulder.
“Jump off a microwave and die!!!” the potato battery chimed in. Just as Tube was fading away into the distance, the scenery changed again. This time, the group was in a room filled with counters and shelves, and looked somewhat like a convenience store- just without windows. The counters were lined with floppy disks and other odd trinkets, and there were yellow orbs with silly faces on the shelves. At the very end of the room, a counter with a TV on a rolly cart was stationed behind a checkout counter. Everyone looked around at each other, as though silently asking ‘was that even real?’. Paintbrush groaned, and everyone jolted back into action. Lightbulb helped her partner to stand, and Four tried to comfort X. Everyone moved towards the counter. As they drew closer, they heard some kind of strange electronic music playing from a grainy speaker.
“Think of these thoughts as limitless light, exposing closing circuitry of fright,” played out. The TV on the cart- or Scag, as denoted by the name tag on her cart, waved at them using a robotic arm hooked up to the side of the cart.
“Welcome to the Floppy Shoppy, what could I help you with?” it asked.
“Do you know how to get out of here?” Leafy asked tiredly. “I’m getting tired of this place…”
“Oh, you mean the Yoyleikia? There’s not really a way out, at least not anymore!” Scag replied cordially. Everyone’s faces sank instantly- even Clock’s, who was previously fine with being stuck in the place.
“What,” Four simply replied. Scag looked thoughtful for a moment.
“Welll, there may be one- ha ha ha, one!- way out of here that I know of…” Scag rolled out from behind the counter. However, it gasped when it noticed Paintbrush. “Oh no, that is totally not swagcore! Follow me, I know where they could sleepmax!” Lightbulb and Four just shrugged at each other, then followed Scag as she rolled to a doorway to another room.
After a solid ten or so minutes, they reached a room with some display beds, bunk beds, and bunk tables, with what looked like a medical station set up in the corner.
“Hello?” Scag called out, the words echoing softly off the barren, faintly yellowing Yoyleikia walls. Leafy strolled through the room, gazing at the play designs on the bedspreads, and the piles of plushies scattered throughout the area. Leafy leaned over and picked up a plush shark, realizing it was the same as the one Four and X were carrying around. Four and X crowded around a pile of alien plushies, grabbing one each.
“Aftonsparvs!” X cried happily! Four smiled, slightly endeared by the alien plushie. “Kinda reminds me of Two”, he said. Scag rolled over to a fairly plain bed.
“Just lay them down here for now,” she said, gesturing to Painty. Lightbulb set Paintbrush gently on the bed, fidgeting worriedly with her hands.”I’ll be back in just a moment, I need to find someone.” Scag rolled out of the room, and the sound of her calling someone’s name echoed faintly in the distance. Clock blinked, and phased out of existence for a moment. He reappeared in a moment, now slightly tinted green. Four sat down on a display bed, staring off into space and pondering existence.

Chapter Text

CHAPTER 6!!

Lightbulb looked at Paintbrush. They were half asleep with their eyes almost closed. When she noticed this, she started to panic.
“Painty?!?! Are you okay?!?!” She grabbed them by the shoulders and gently but frantically shook them. Paintbrush rolled over, annoyed.
“Lightbulb, stop! I’m fine! I’m just tired.” They noticed the tears in her eyes. “Lighty… I’m okay. I promise. I’ll be fine.”
“Ok…….” She sniffled. She grabbed their hand and squeezed it as tight as she could without hurting them. “I love you.”
“I love you too. But I need to get some sleep, okay?”
“Yeah,” she said quietly. She kissed them as their eyes shut once more.The silence between them was interrupted by some shouting on the other end of the room.
“This is all your fault, X- you’re the one who wanted to come into this stupid place!” Four shouted at X.
“I’m sorry, Four- I didn’t know that was going to happen! :(” X replied weakly with tears in his eyes.
“Whatever!” Four retorted, storming away to pout in a corner. Leafy frowned, shaking her head. Lightbulb sighed, curling up next to Painty.
“It’s like my whole world is on fire,” X sighed.
Fiery appeared out of nowhere. “DID SOMEONE SAY FI-”
“SHUT THE FRUIT LOOPS UP!!” Leafy yelled. Firey backed up as fast as possible. “YOU COULD'VE ACTUALLY TRIED TO TALK TO ME, BUT NO. YOU ONLY COME WHEN YOU'RE NOT WANTED. NEVER WHEN I NEED YOU. YOU SERIOUSLY LEFT ME ALONE FOR YEARS AND ONLY COME BACK NOW?? AND YOU DON’T EVEN GIVE ME AN APOLOGY?? When I saw you in the store, I thought I could finally talk to you. But you left without a word. I called out to you and you didn’t even respond. You know what ?? Go run away from here, like you do with all your problems.”
“I’ve realized my mistake-” he turned and dashed out of the room, burning a hole in the wall. Seething with rage, Leafy punched a hole in the nearest table. She sat under a table, turning away from the group. The room went silent.

After what felt like ages, an almost disturbingly cheerful voice rang out over the intercoms of the Yoylekia:
“Hello, hello, shoppers! The store is now closing- that means lights out! Don’t forget to stay out of the open, lest the creatures get you!!” Lightbulb sat up and rubbed her eyes, having already been asleep before the intercom woke her up. X was laying in a pile of blahaj and other plushies, Leafy was angrily scribbling in a notebook using felt tip pens she’d found, and Four and Clock were nowhere to be seen. Soon, the lights began to dim until it was almost pitch black. Almost immediately, various lights, lamps, and nightlights flipped on, faintly illuminating the room. Lightbulb sighed and curled back up, holding onto Paintbrush, who was still asleep. Soon enough, everyone was asleep- except Clock, who stared into the void like he knew something was there that the others didn’t.
Meanwhile, out in the darkest reaches of the Yoyleikia, a lone object roamed the halls. A toy radio with an LED face panel, who’s eyes glowed red in the lack of light.
“Dance to the music!” it sang out, hitting a jig. Eventually it wandered into a freezer in the back of the kitchens. As the temperature froze its circuits, it started to shake violently. Wires broke out through the sides of its body, and the face panel popped clean out, revealing at least 4-6 long wires attached to it like legs. It crashed through the walls, breaking easily out of the freezer. It skittered away into the shadows, vanishing into the night. Michael watched from off to the side, undisturbed.
“Typical Tuesday night,” they sighed with a roll of their eyes.

Clock sat up. It was late, and everyone was sitting separately, ignoring each other. He grabbed Four’s hand, waking him from his deep sleep. Four looked at him in confusion.
“What’s going on??” He murmured. Clock put a hand over his mouth. Four looked at him indignantly. He bit down on Clock’s hand, and the alarm clock screamed, making a ringing sound as he jumped into the air. He soon got ahold of himself however, and started to drag Four out of the room. The others watched quizzically, but each had far more important worries. As they slipped out the door, Clock breathed a sigh of relief.
“Four, I have a plan!” He said energetically. Four blinked.
“For what. And why did you need to drag me out here?”
“To escape!” The alarm clock glitched a bit. “But the others can’t come with us.” Four looked worried.
“Why?? And what about X??”
“Well, we are the most powerful ones here! We could find the exit with that power. I think the store is trying to keep us here, but we can resist.” As the figures walked further down the rows of armchairs and children’s beds, they discussed their plan.
“If we find the store entrance, we can break down the doors,” Four suggested, ready to zap things.
“Mmmmmm.. I think we can simply open or get rid of them!” Clock added.
“I could locate the doors.”
“YYYEAHhaaaa !!!!” Clock clapped his hands excitedly.Four put his hand to his head, thinking hard. He suddenly pointed to the right. Clock grabbed onto his hand and started running towards the door on that side of the room. As they ran, Four pointed the way for Clock. It was already starting to tire Four out. He took a break, motioning for Clock to stop as he breathed in and out. He checked his mental compass again. Left. He looked over to the open doorway. Behind it, was a large open area with checkout counters and television screens advertising different products, completely void of life. On the furthest wall, there was a pair of clear glass doors. Finally! An actual escape. Four began to open his mouth to alert Clock. He hesitated. What about X? Could they really not bring him with them?
“.....Can we really not bring-” As soon as Four opened his mouth, Clock caught sight of the open doorway. He grabbed Four’s hand, ignoring his pleas to be let go, and dashed to the door that could be their only shot at freedom.

Clock and Four drew closer to the exit, gripping each other’s hands tight, and staring at the open doors eagerly. It was dark outside, the half moon high in the sky. Just as they reached freedom, they heard X behind them.
“Four, wait, please!” they cried out. Four turned to look at him.
“I’m so close, X- if I don’t leave now, I might never get out.”
“But, Four- what about me?” Four blinked, staring at X.
“I’ll be back for you soon, X,” the number replied, looking off to the side. Clock could just barely tell he was holding back tears. Practically sobbing, X started running towards them, trying to catch up with them. Clock and Four held out their hands, the door instantly disappearing in front of them. They stepped out of the Yoylekia and into the crisp, cool, nighttime air. Almost immediately, the doors reappeared behind them. X crashed into them, having just barely missed freedom. Four tried to get the doors open, but it was to no avail- they wouldn’t budge. Then he realized something weird- the building wasn’t even there anymore… only a set of doors remained. Four and Clock looked at each other, bewildered. Still inside the building, X started breaking down. Sobs echoed through the halls as X cried for Four to come back. A red thumbtack watched with sympathy from the shadows. I’ll leave this one for now. They’ve gone through enough tonight already. Having the feeling of being watched, X looked around. However, there was nothing- no one. Unsteadily standing, they trudged back in what he thought was the direction of the room where the others were, silent tears still streaming down X’s face. When they finally reached the room again, X realized there was a figure sitting at a desk in the corner of the room, seemingly reading a book in the light of a cat shaped night light. It narrowed its eyes in sympathy at X, who just sighed sullenly and collapsed into his pile of plushies, hugging the blahaj he and Four were supposed to buy together tight. Slowly, they drifted off to sleep… but instead of dreams, there was only a dark void.

Chapter Text

CHAPTER 7!!

Lightbulb was woken abruptly by the bright, blinding lights of the Yoylekia being switched on suddenly and without warning. Paintbrush sat up quickly, alarmed. Leafy hit her head on the table above her after an attempt to sit up, having forgotten where she was. X didn’t move, not really caring anymore. Scag, who had returned to the room in the middle of the night, switched their screen on. A new figure- like an anthropomorphic cat but without ears and purple with fluffy, whitish purple hair and wearing goggles instead- rose from a chair and stretched, yawning. Leafy narrowed her eyes, pointing at the new character.
“Who and what is that, and what are they doing here?” she asked harshly, most likely still bitter from the encounter with Firey the previous ‘day.’
“Oh, that’s just Floofty,” Paintbrush said drowsily, clearly still trying to wake up. Floofty’s eyes widened.
“Paintbrush, what in grump’s name happened to you? It appears you’ve been broken in half like a KitKat bar!!”
“Oh yeah, I got in a fight with Michael.”
“Typical,” Floofty grunted. Leafy realized that the… thing was wearing a Yoylekia uniform, just like Paintbrush, Lightbulb, and the Pinwheel they’d encountered earlier. Floofty turned to Scag.”I still don’t know why you brought me here, I have no clue how to leave-”
“Floofty you left to get Burger King and then came back literally yesterday,” Lightbulb interrupted, raising an eyebrow at Floofty. They stared daggers at her in response. X sat up immediately, staring intently at them.
“You’re a non-object anyways, how would you have gotten here in the first place?” Leafy asked skeptically.”You too, Scag.”
“That would be because this isn’t just a Yoylikea, it’s an interdimensional Yoyleikea! Additionally, one of the elevators in here is an entrance to the Regretevator, an elevator that has the ability to reach other dimensions at random,” Floofty explained, sounding kind of like the nerd emoji. Leafy thought about it for a moment.
“So we have a chance to leave, but we’d still be getting stuck somewhere else?” she asked.
“Yes, basically.”
“Do we have any other options?” Lightbulb chimed in.
“Sometimes random exits appear, but it's incredibly rare.” The group glanced at each other.
“Take us to the Regretevator.”

The gang soon came across a gardening department, with plants of all kinds growing all over the place. It was obvious someone had been carefully tending to this place. Leafy walked over to some orchids, examining them closely. They were growing extraordinarily well, even this environment was suited very well for orchids. The same went for the large amounts of lavender. Additionally, there was a small pond with lily pads in it and a rock to sit on by it. As they explored the garden, a song popped into Lightbulb’s head.
“Let’s go in the garden, you’ll find something waiting,” she sang quietly,”right there where you left it, lying upside down.”
“When you finally find it, you’ll see how it’s faded. The underside is lighter, when you turn it around…,” Painty continued.
“Everything stays, right where you left it,” they sang together,”everything stays, but it still changes. Ever so slightly, daily and nightly…” Dramatic slow clapping cut them off. Paintbrush and Lightbulb spun around, to be greeted by a scarlet-colored thumbtack holding a trowel that had its handle studded with sparkly, red gem pieces.
“What a nice song,” the newcomer said in a slightly condescending tone.
“Thanks!” Lightbulb said, not catching the sarcasm. Paintbrush narrowed their eyes at the tack, feeling that something was off about her.
“Pin, thank photosynthesis- I’m so happy to see you!” Leafy cried. She ran to hug Pin, but Pin looked unimpressed- disgusted, even.
“Uhhhh, yeah… why don’t you all follow me back to my house? I have some baked goods to share!” she said, sounding cheerful- almost too cheerful. Paintbrush and Floofty glanced at each other.
“I don’t know, this seems like it will have consequences…,” Paintbrush replied. Leafy gasped dramatically.
“Of course not, Pin’s one of my best friends- I trust her! Right, Pin?” Leafy said, putting her arm around Pin. Pin grimaced, just barely nodding.”Plus,” Leafy added,”she’s offering us sweets, you just can’t pass that kind of offer up!”
“Exactly!” Lightbulb agreed enthusiastically. Paintbrush and Floofty glance at Scag, who simply shrugged.
“I don’t think that we have much of a choice here,” Paintbrush sighed. Pin smiled a crooked smile.
“Great! Why don’t you all just follow me then?”
Pin led the group to what looked like a cabin built out of furniture, with a greenhouse next to it.There was also a random Dr. Fizz vending machine for an unexplained reason. Lightbulb thought it seemed familiar, but just shrugged it off. Flowers were sprouting between the chairs and tables and cracks in the floor, an unnatural amount. X frowned, spotting a patch of blue flowers amongst the many varieties. Leafy just stared in wonder. What did Pin use to get such a pretty garden? She glanced to the right. Leaned up against the outside of the greenhouse was Test Tube, tapping away at some kind of phone, the weird talking potato battery clipped to her lab coat. Paintbrush’s feeling of unease increased when they remembered that this weird version of Test Tube had said she wished Paintbrush had died when they got snapped in half. Lightbulb seemed to notice this too, tensing up at the sight of their new adversary.
“Hey Scarlet,” Test Tube said without looking up from what she was doing. Pin smiled- seemingly genuine for once.
“Hey, Tube,” Pin replied, blushing slightly. She walked up to the scientist, looking over her shoulder. “What’re you doing??”
“Just running a few tests. I’ll be done in a bit.”
“Who are those morons you’ve brought with you,” the potato battery asked. Test Tube looked up, startled. Her face dropped the second she realized who the ‘morons’ were.
“Oh, it’s this lot. Pathetic.” Pin looked at Test Tube, taken aback.
“So, uh, you’ve met them before?”
“You could say that,” Paintbrush growled, crossing their arms. Lightbulb frowned.
“She said it would’ve been better for my partner to die????????”
“And?” Pin shot back coldly. Leafy’s face does the D: thing and Floofty obtains popcorn from thin air for comedic effect. Pin sighs, pinching the bridge of her “nose”.
“Whatever,” Leafy says,”that’s all in the past now- what’s important now is friendship! And um, cupcakes-” It’s incredibly easy at this point for the others to tell that Leafy is barely holding it together.
“Yeahhhh, cupcakes,” Test Tube agrees, grimacing. Pin leads everyone inside the cabin, and everyone takes a seat at a large dinner table made of a bunch of smaller ones poorly tacked together. Pin gets a basket down from on top of a fridge, setting it on the table. She sets all of the contents out, adding up to six cupcakes and a half eaten brownie, which was quickly swiped up by Test Tube. Pin passed them all out, the only ones who don’t get one being herself, Test Tube, and Scag, who is a robot that presumably can’t eat. Leafy ate all of hers immediately, even eating the wrapper. X just pushed his away, uninterested in eating anything. Paintbrush and Floofty both stared at theirs, unsure of whether or not they should trust it. Lightbulb ate hers slowly, staring down Test Tube all the while.
“How do we know we can trust you?” Floofty questioned Pin. Pin shrugged.
“That’s the fun part- you don’t!” Floofty slowly raised their cupcake to their mouth, reluctantly starting to take a bite. Pin looked like she got an idea.“Oh, that reminds me- Leafy, there’s something in the garden I wanted to show you!” Leafy grinned widely.
“Okay!” Pin winked at Test Tube, who smirked back. Pin led Leafy out of the building and into the garden. Paintbrush stared uneasily after them, noticing Pin brought the trowel with her. Surely that’s just for doing some work while they’re out there, right..? they reasoned with themself. Lightbulb suddenly looked fairly drowsy, starting to nod off in her seat.
“Paintyy, I’m tireddd,” she mumbled.
“We have a couch in the next room over, if you’d like to lay down,” Test Tube said, examining her nails. Paintbrush followed Lightbulb into the next room, and they sat down together. Lightbulb leaned up against Paintbrush, eyes slowly closing.
Still in the other room, Scag watched Floofty examine their cupcake. Floofty began picking little chunks out of it, sorting them into two piles.
“Something wrong over there?” Test Tube asked, side eying Floofty.
“Oh I just thought there was something suspicious about how this tasted, that’s all…” Floofty picked up one of the bits they’d picked out of their cupcake and popped in their mouth. Their eyes widened, and they slowly turned towards Test Tube. “Why is there flesh in this cupcake.”
“Oopsies,” Test Tube giggled,”we had to do something with all that extra material!” Floofty looked terrified.
“What do you mean, ‘extra material’-” They were cut off by screams of terror from outside. Floofty jumped up from their seat and dashed outside without a second thought. Scag followed close behind. When they got outside, they saw that Pin had attacked Leafy, and was now trying to kill her.”Go get Paintbrush and Lightbulb, now!” they shouted at X, who had trudged up beside them. He nodded, running back inside. Floofty booked it across the garden, hoping to make it to Leafy in time. They didn’t have much to defend themself with, but if push came to shove- and it probably would- they could probably just drop kick Pin or try to drown her in the lake.
When X went back inside to look for Painty and Lightbulb, X found them sprawled out on a couch; Lightbulb was fast asleep on top of Paintbrush, who seemed to be dozing off.
“Guys, wake up! Leafy’s being murdered!!” X shouted as loud and shrill as he could muster. Paintbrush jolted awake. Sitting up quickly. Lightbulb was still out cold, though.
“What?!” Painty exclaimed.
“Leafy’s being attacked by Pin!” X repeated frantically. Paintbrush gently set Lightbulb aside, hurrying out of the room. X ran after them, not realizing they were making the worst mistake someone in a horror story could make- he just left an unconscious member of their party alone in a house with a potential murderer.
By the time Paintbrush and X made it outside, though, it was too late- Leafy was already dead, and… handless? Pin had taken Leafy’s hands, and appeared to be trying to convince Floofty to “join her” or something.
“Snap out of it, Floofty! She’s a murderer!” Paintbrush shouted. Floofty blinked, and shock slowly crossed their face, as though they’d just remembered they were a conscious being. Floofty backed away from Pin.
“Pin… what was in those cupcakes?” they asked slowly. Pin smiled crookedly.
“Oh, nothing, really- let’s just say we had to come up with some… creative ways to use the things we didn’t need.” At this, Pin glanced back at Leafy slightly, as though implying something. Paintbrush’s brain seemed to lag for a second.
“So you’re saying… there were pieces of objects that used to be alive in those cupcakes?”
“Bingo!”
“I knew it!” Floofty exclaimed loudly. Paintbrush looked at them in horror.
“How do you know what flesh tastes like…?”
“I ate my leg for science,” the unhinged purple jelly bean replied without missing a beat. Paintbrush eyed their prosthetic leg. X just kinda stared at them.
“Oh, that’s not-”
“LIGHTBULB’S STILL IN THE CABIN WITH MURDER TUBE!!” Paintbrush screamed suddenly.

Lightbulb was jolted awake by an intense feeling of pain at her right wrist. She tried to move her finger on that hand, only to realize that hand was gone. She screamed the loudest scream she’d ever scrempt. Twisted Tube loomed over Lightbulb, holding her missing hand. The insane vial of antifreeze chuckled.
“Looking for something?” “Test Tube” asked.”Sorry, but the research we’ve been conducting here has been pretty interesting- I can’t just let that all go, can I?” Lightbulb’s head was foggy, but her fight, flight, or freeze instincts kicked in just fine- and she was all outta freeze. Lightbulb kicked Twisted Tube as hard as she could, sending the deranged excuse for a scientist stumbling backwards a good distance. Lightbulb booked it out the door, dashing blindly for the exit to the cabin. She ran smack into someone, but recovered quickly and tried to run around them. Lightbulb could hear faint voices around her but the sheer adrenaline flowing through her veins, paired with the throbbing of her wrist, drowned her senses. She felt herself being grabbed and picked up, and lashed out wildly in an attempt to break free. Whoever was carrying Lightbulb started running.
Floofty rolled their eyes, watching Paintbrush try to get through to Lightbulb- who’d gone concerningly feral at this point and probably would need to be sedated to calm back down- as they ran next to them. X was riding on Scag’s computer cart, which Floofty themself was pulling along since Scag couldn’t roll very fast. The group ran towards what looked like a hallway to somewhere else in the cursed Yoyleikea. Floofty risked a glance back, and started slowing down a bit when they realized that Pin- no, Scarlet- and Twisted Tube were hardly making any effort to go after them. Paintbrush noticed as well, and they slowed to a stop as they reached the hallway. Floofty stopped for a moment to catch their breath, before the group continued down the hallway.
“Uhhh Floofts…,” Paintbrush said, something in their voice sending a slight chill down Floofty’s spine. To their horror, Floofty saw the stump of Lightbulb’s right hand that was oozing a strange, blood-like substance.
“That’s not good-”
“Yeah ya think???” Painty replied, holding Lightbulb- who still seemed incredibly out of it but wasn’t trying to escape anymore- close to them. Floofty ran the numbers in their head as they walked.
“Okay so I’m gonna be entirely honest here… There’s a high likelihood of her dying from that wound if we can’t find any medical supplies soon,” they said grimly. Paintbrush let out a long, shaky sigh. X, still riding on top of Scag, hugged the computer monitor. All of them had experienced so much just in the past two days and it was truly starting to take a toll. Scag patted X on the head with her mechanical arm. She squinted into the distance, noticing the faint outline of something in the distance.
“Hey, friend-maxxers, what’s that out there in the distance?” the computer asked. As they drew closer, the gang (fazgang, perhaps?) noticed the faint outline of a new food court ahead of them, This one appeared to serve pizza, but there were stains on the ground that Floofty was willing to bet weren’t from sauce spills, and it looked like several fights had happened there. Additionally, there were some new faces. Refilling an almost comically large soda cup at the soda fountain (dispenser? Idk what the word is) was a red, implike creature with massive, curved, black-and-white striped horns., and hunched over and probably sleeping at the counter was the living personification of the color orange. Paintbrush sat at a table with Lightbulb in their lap, accidentally locking eyes with the fellow refilling his soda. The imp sized them up, narrowing his eyes at them. Paintbrush simply stared back, noting that he was the perfect height to drop kick. X and Scag followed Floofty to the counter. There was a bell next to the register, and X rang it until the underpaid cashier audibly swore and sat up, frog blinking. It looked like he hadn’t slept in years, and if you looked close enough, you could see that his orange skin was the result of several pounds of orange makeup.
“Welcome to Freddy Fazbender’s, we may or may not have several roaches in our kitchen, what do you want to order?” Jack- as clarified by his name tag- grumbled.
“We were just wondering if you had first aid supplies, our friend just lost her hand,” Floofty said with a straight face. Jack sighed.
“Wish I could say I was surprised. This s___ happens constantly here. I’ll go get our poor excuse of a first aid kit from the closet,” he said, getting up from his seat and trudging back into the kitchens somewhere.
Meanwhile, back at their table, Paintbrush was watching the imp from before- who’d introduced himself as Blitz with a silent o, whatever that meant- like a hawk while he bandaged up Lightbulb’s wound. It wouldn’t be enough to last forever, she needed far more medical attention, but it would keep for a little while. Paintbrush had also had a few nasty cuts that needed attention as well.
“Yeah I deal with this type of thing all the time- you’re lucky it’s not a bullet wound!” Blitz yapped. Paintbrush was only halfway paying attention, considering half of what he said didn’t make a lot of sense. However, he did have a decent array of weapons and seemed like a seasoned fighter, so Paintbrush considered having him tag along with the group- they had a feeling that what they’d seen only scratched the surface, and the group needed to be prepared for whatever horrors awaited them ahead. Lightbulb groaned, rubbing at her face. Blitz frowned.”Hey, uh, she’s not looking too good- you want me to ah,” he pulled out what Paintbrush assumed was some kind of tranquilizer gun. Paintbrush thought for a moment, then nodded slowly. Lightbulb needed the rest, badly.
“I see that’s taken care of,” Floofty said, startling Paintbrush. X sat at the table, and Scag took a spot at the table next to him. Paintbrush noticed an unnaturally orange creature (calling it a human would be a stretch) behind Floofty.
“Oh, so that’s been taken care of… cool,” Jack said in exasperation.”I’ll go put this back then.” He gestured to the barely held together by duct tape first aid kit he was carrying.
“Wait- uh, Jack- do you happen to know which way to the Regretevator? Or some other exit?” Paintbrush queried. Jack looked incredibly confused.
“The what? Are you talking about that weird elevator that Dave went on and vanished afterward?”
“Yes, that would be it,” Floofty replied.
“I have no clue where that was, I’ve seen it a few times but never in the same place.”
“Well, any other ways out?” X chimed in.
“Idk man a portal sent me here after I made a deal with a triangle for some My Little Pony merch,” Blitz commented. Jack rolled his eyes.
“Dawg, why the hell would you sell your soul for some kid’s toys,” the orange sighed. Blitz shrugged and took a sip from his soda. “Anyways, I did see one exit,” Jack continued,”but that hallway always has some kind of threat in it, whether it be a trap, eldritch horror, or a mental breakdown.”
“We’ve already faced a lot, I thing a few more terrors will be manageable,” Floofty claimed, far too confident for their own good,”where is this exit at anyways?” Jack pointed at a hallway off to the right of the food court.
“Okay soooo yro’ur’re gonna go down there, there’s gonna be a fork, keep going straight until you reach a lab type deal. In there you’re gonna meet Dr. Retro, she can help with your friend’s problem there. From the lab you’re gonna go down the staircase and follow the signs that say ‘exit ahead.’ Eventually you should reach a reaaalllyyyy long hallway, what’s in it changes each day. At the end of the hallway is your ticket out,” Jack rambled. He looked thoughtful for a moment.”Oh, and there’s a golf ball in the lab who acts like she knows everything, she does know a lot but she’s very smug about so just ignore her or something.”
“Thanks, Jack,” Paintbrush said, standing up.”Would you like to go with us? You seem stressed beyond your years.”
“Thanks for the offer, but I’m kinda waiting for someone to come back,” the walking personification of orange replied.

“Gotcha. Blitz what about you-”

“YES I’VE BEEN HERE FOR THREE WEEKS AND I MISS MY LIFE,” Blitz practically wailed. 

“Well, I suppose we’ll be off then,” Floofty said.

“Yo wait, Jack said this was gonna be hella dangerous, right? Well,” Blitz scattered a variety of guns and a few daggers across the table,”we gotta be armed.”

“Yeah no we’ll leave that to you,” Paintbrush said. Floofty grabbed a sniper or something idk what types of guns are, and Blitz collected his collection back into his bag or whatever. The group started down the hallway, bracing themselves for what was ahead.