A/N: For those curious about the parents' voices:
Voice Claim for Martin Mercia: Ray Chase, VA of Bruno Bucciarati from JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, Amon from Borderlands 4, Noctis Lucis Caelum from Final Fantasy XV, etc.
Link to the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9iMHOQqQmk
Voice Claim for Melissa Mercia: Fenella Woolgar, VA of Sofia Lamb on Bioshock 2
Link to the video: https://youtu.be/9sDS23Nn5ew?si=JiYQik-9bKgVXsBM
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As Michelle opened the double doors, the group entered a building filled with plastic trees, with some of them holding plastic apples, walls with fencing on the right side, and the ground resembling grass and a dirt path.
The group looked around the area. "Even though this place looks tranquil, we need to keep our guards up," Michelle said.
The group nodded as they walked forward; as Michelle looked around, she spotted a large hole with bars covering it before approaching it, which made the group follow.
When the group entered the sewer hole and Michelle was close to the bars, they saw the shadow of a female toy with her hair in a chignon-like style, laughing, which made her flinch and quickly back away before she walked away. "That's definitely not an Outimal..." she said, lowly.
Katelynn stared at the sewer hole with widened eyes. "It's them again..." she said.
The group looked at Katelynn. "'Them again'? You mean you saw them?" Doey asked.
Katelynn looked at the group. "At least I think it was the same person," she said. "When Boxy was looking at the image on the wall, I saw purple-braided hair pull away from the projector."
Katelynn looked down with a slight frown. "They had glowing violet hair and glowing green eyes," she continued. "And when they saw me, they smiled and shushed me. I wanted to say it sooner, but..."
Michelle gently smiled at Katelynn. "It's OK, Katie," she said, which made her look at her. "If I'm honest, it was best if you told us now. If you told us while we were dealing with Boxy, that would've added more stress to our plates; don't be hard on yourself."
Katelynn stared at Michelle before smiling and nodding. "As for what you described, the person you saw at the rooftop is probably the same one I saw in the vent," she continued.
Michelle placed her hand against her chin. "I don't own a Lily Lovebraids doll, but someone else in my orphanage did," she said. "When the lights turned off, their doll had a glow-in-the-dark effect on their hair, eyes, and teeth."
CatNap stared at the sewer hole. "Then it's safe to assume the shadow figure we saw was Lily," he said.
Michelle nodded. "If we think this logically, the Prototype and his hunters don't have Poppy and Kissy, and we haven't seen them either," she said. "The only logical conclusion is that they're inside Lily's dollhouse."
Mommy Long Legs nodded. "Yes, but she is also on the Prototype's side," she said before crossing her arms and looking away. "She'll gladly hand Poppy to him for praise."
Michelle thought of something. "But what if we—" she was interrupted when Doey quickly shook his head. "No, no, we are not convincing her to join us!"
Michelle looked at Doey. "Why not?" she asked.
Doey angrily looked at Michelle. "Did you forget what she did to us?!" he shouted.
Huggy Wuggy snarled. "Evil woman..." he said.
CatNap had angry eyes. "She has put all of us through hell, and that is unforgivable," he said.
Mommy Long Legs nodded. "She deserves to die for her crimes..." she said.
Katelynn looked at the others, worried, before looking at Michelle. "Big Sister..." she said, lowly.
Michelle glanced at Katelynn and noticed her expression before looking at the group. "I haven't forgotten that Lily is Ms. Gracie, but the observation note on her says that she was 'Childishly naive' and 'Wholly ignorant of her crimes,'" she said.
Michelle crossed her arms. "That leads me to believe that she was probably brainwashed, too," she continued. "To what extent, I don't know, but it's enough to forget her past."
The group remained silent, and most of them looked down, which made Michelle sigh. "I get it... teaming up with the one person that brainwashed you guys is the last thing you all want to do," she said.
Michelle looked at the group. "But we need all the information we can get out of her, whether it be about Poppy and Kissy's location or theories about the Prototype's plan," she continued.
Michelle looked down and held her left arm. "And if things don't go our way and she still sides with him... then you guys can take care of her, and I won't complain about it..." she said.
The group stared at Michelle until Doey sighed. "Fine..." he said, which made her look at him. "But I still don't like it."
Michelle smiled a bit. "Thanks... now then, I think it's time we move forward," she said, which made the group nod.
As the others walked away from the sewer hole, Katelynn looked at Huggy Wuggy. "Could you put me down? I feel energized enough to walk," she said.
Huggy Wuggy nodded before kneeling and placing Katelynn on the ground. "Thanks," she continued with a smile before he stood up and they caught up with the group.
When the group went down the slope, they spotted an ice cream truck with Huggy Wuggy's eyes and smile on the front. "Well, that's something you don't see every day," Michelle said.
The group examined the ice cream truck. "I believe the employees used this to examine us in a natural habitat," CatNap said.
When Michelle got inside the ice cream truck, she spotted a power socket near a red button. "There's a power socket inside; that means there's probably an electric panel around here somewhere," she said.
As Huggy Wuggy walked around, he spotted a silver cassette tape behind some fake flowers, and he carefully picked it up before turning to the group and holding it out. "Tape..." he said, lowly.
Michelle got out of the ice cream truck and approached Huggy Wuggy. "Nice find, Huggy," she said. "Let's see what this one has."
When Michelle was close to Huggy Wuggy, she held her hand out, which made him place the cassette tape in her hand. As the group approached the duo, Michelle opened the white part on Glowby before placing the cassette tape inside the slot.
After Michelle closed the white part on Glowby, she pressed the red button. Soon after, the group heard footsteps coming from Glowby until they heard the door open. "Hello, Ollie," a woman's voice said as the door closed behind her.
The group froze as they heard footsteps coming from Glowby until they were quiet. "You know why you're in my office, correct?" the woman asked.
The group heard silence for a moment. "I dunno, lady..." Ollie said, lowly.
"Now, Ollie, I've told you and the other children many times to call me Melissa," the woman said.
Michelle's eyes widened. "I've heard from one of my co-workers that you got into a fight. All I'm doing is hearing both sides of the story," Melissa continued. "And I would like to hear your side of the story, please?"
The group heard Ollie groan. "I... I was just outside playing with my Poppy Playtime doll," he said. "I was minding my business until Gunner came by."
The group heard writing in the background. "Gunner started making fun of me because I was playing with a girl's toy," Ollie continued. "I ignored him, and that just got him angrier."
Michelle stared at Glowby. "But when he snatched my doll and cracked her face... I got angry and started attacking him. He deserved it for what he did to my favorite toy..." Ollie said.
Soon after, the group heard the writing stop and Melissa hum. "I see... while you do have a right to be angry at someone destroying your favorite toy, you should never take things too far..." she said.
The group heard Ollie scoff. "Do you honestly think I'm just as bad as him? I only did it because he deserved it," he said.
"No, you're not as bad as him," Melissa said. "But sometimes we make the wrong decisions, and what you did was wrong. You should never put your hands on somebody because they made you angry."
The group heard Ollie growl a bit. "Just stop, I don't want to hear anymore of your lying voice!" he shouted.
"But I'm not—" Melissa was interrupted when the group heard a chair scrape the floor. "That's what you and all the other adults do in this place! You lie about everything!!"
The group stared at Glowby. "You say everything's fine in Playcare, but it isn't! It feels like we're in a bird's cage!" Ollie shouted. "I don't wanna see fake clouds hanging on the roof or sit in fake grass! I wanna see the real sky and feel the real sun! I wanna feel the real grass in my hands!!"
Michelle stared at Glowby, shocked. "I'm sick of everything being fake! I just want to live a real life again! I want—" Ollie was interrupted when they heard Melissa singing a familiar melody.
The group stared at Glowby as they heard the chair scrape a bit before the singing stopped. "Do you feel better, Ollie?" Melissa asked.
The group heard Ollie sigh. "Yeah... I do; thank you..." he said, lowly.
"It's no problem, Ollie; just as long as you're OK, that's what matters," Melissa said.
The group heard silence for a moment. "How do you do it?" Ollie asked.
"How do I do what?" Melissa asked, confused.
"How do you get people to like you?" Ollie asked. "I... have trouble getting along with the other kids, but you're able to do it so naturally despite being an adult. How do you do that?"
The group heard Melissa giggle. "It's a lot easier than you think," she said. "Friendships are born from mutual sympathy on common ground. It could be as simple as finding another person who also loves Poppy, or it can be something much deeper that only you and another would understand."
Michelle stared at Glowby. "I'd be more than happy to help you improve your social skills if... you promise me that you'll never get into another scuffle like that again," Melissa continued.
The group heard silence for a moment. "I... I promise," Ollie said. "I look forward to your first lesson, Mrs. Mercia."
When the cassette tape ended, the white part on Glowby opened, which made Michelle pull it out and close it before staring at it. "Wow... your mom is so awesome, Big Sister," Katelynn said.
The others agreed. "Now I can see where your charisma comes from, Angel," CatNap said.
Michelle remained silent. She sounds similar to Ms. Gracie, but more sincere than I thought... she thought before looking down with a worried expression. Although... is it genuine? Or is she just like the others and uses her sincerity as a manipulative tactic?
Doey looked at Michelle and noticed her expression, which concerned him. "Misha?" he asked.
Michelle flinched a bit before shaking her head. "I-I'm fine," she said before holding the cassette tape out to Doey. "We'll take this with us."
Doey nodded as he grabbed the cassette tape before it went inside him. "We need to find a way to get out of this place," Michelle continued.
Mommy Long Legs looked at the hill-like part behind her before approaching it. Mommy Long Legs got on top of a hill-like part before looking around.
Soon after, Mommy Long Legs spotted a green handprint on a large artificial cloud's swivel mechanism, suspended on the roof by one large cable and four smaller cables holding it. "There's a green handprint near this fake cloud," she said.
The group looked at Mommy Long Legs. "Do you think it has something important inside?" Katelynn asked.
Michelle twisted the knob, retracting the Conductive Hand inside her arm, and the Pressure Hand appeared. "Only one way to find out," she said.
When Michelle looked at Mommy Long Legs, she nodded and stretched her arm toward the group before laying her hand next to her. Michelle got on Mommy Long Legs's hand and held onto her thumb before she lifted it.
When Mommy Long Legs brought Michelle close to her, she aimed her right arm at the green handprint before the Pressure Hand shot from her wrist. When the Pressure Hand touched the green handprint, the pressure gauge started going up.
When the pressure gauge was in the red, Michelle retracted the Pressure Hand back to her wrist, which disconnected the mechanism and dropped the artificial cloud to the ground, scattering it to pieces.
Michelle looked at the piece near the large blue door and spotted an electric panel. "There you are," she said.
Michelle twisted the knob, retracting the Pressure Hand inside her arm, and the Conductive Hand appeared before Mommy Long Legs placed her on the ground near the ice cream truck.
Michelle aimed at the electric panel before the Conductive Hand shot from her wrist and touched it, which powered it up.
After Michelle retracted the Conductive Hand back to her wrist, she got inside the ice cream truck and touched the power socket, which powered the button up.
Michelle pressed the button, which powered the ice cream truck and closed its sides, which surprised her. Soon after, the large blue doors opened before the ice cream truck moved forward, which made the group follow.