Starlight Needs a Hug 2: A Web of Lies

With Starlight

Starlight crawled out of the elevator shaft with tears streaming down her face. Huggy Wuggy was gone, fallen down into the depths below. He sacrificed himself to save her and she'll make sure he didn't die in vain. She slammed her fist on the ground.

"Don't worry, Huggy. I'll make sure to put an end to this," Starlight said to herself.

She hurried down a hallway towards the Game Station and made it all the way to the control panel and pulled the final lever and was once again greeted with Stella Greyber's voice.

"Geez! Have you played these games before? You're so good! Seems like you're ready for the final game... Statues! Follow Mommy down the stairs one last time and I hope you had a fun day at the Game Station! See you next time!"

"Yeah, like there'll be a next time," Starlight muttered as the door to the "Statues" area opened.

Running down the stairs in a hurry, she made her way to a dimly lit room. There were short plastic walls made to look like castle walls. Starlight could see that there were more obstacles beyond it but the TV on the wall turned on before she could try to see what they were. Apart from the TV, there was this weird scuttling sound coming from the vent next to it.

"Welcome to Statues!

This advanced obstacle course is designed to teste your physical endurance and strength. The rules are simple. The lights will turn off. You can move through the obstacle course at this time. However, when the lights turn back on, you can look around, but cannot move. You may move again once the lights turn back off. The lovable PJ Pug-a-Pillar will follow you! If PJ reaches you, your test is over. That's all. Good luck!"

Starlight was terrified to see the smiling face of a living PJ Pug-a-Pillar suddenly appear from the vent. The look in his eyes was one of eager hunger. It didn't take a rocket scientist for Starlight to figure what would happen if PJ caught up to her during the game. A light in an elevated observation room illuminated Mommy's silhouette. Starlight was just eager to get this over with.

"Alright, Mommy! I'm here now so can we get this started?" she called to the pink spider. Mommy just had a far-off look like she was remembering something.

"It was always so sad to see the kids go. They called me 'Mommy' because I was the closest thing they ever had to one," Mommy said. "But they'd come for games and never come back. They left Mommy to die alone! Mommy didn't deserve that! But you... your mommy worked here. And since I can't take my revenge on her... you'll have to do."

Starlight's eyes widened when she heard that. Mommy knew her mother and actually interacted.

"Why? What did my mother do to you to make you hate her so much?" Starlight asked. "What happened here and where is my mother?"

"Win this final game and I might be willing to tell you," Mommy said. "That is if you haven't been eaten by dear PJ. It's been a while since he's last eaten."

The lights turned off to signal the start of the game. Pj was slowly crawling towards Starlight as she passed through the small maze. She wove her way through the maze as quickly as she could until the lights turned back on. Of course she froze instantly but she could still hear PJ crawling after her.

"What?! He can still move even in the light?! That's not fair!" Starlight screamed in her head.

Starlight zoomed her way forward once the lights turned back off and Starlight saw a long set of monkey bars above a pit full of foam blocks. An idea suddenly entered her mind. She fired her GrabPack at the bars and started to brachiate like a monkey. When the lights turned back on, she turned around and saw that PJ was now on the top of the monkey bars and was crawling towards her.

"Think, Starlight! Think!" she screamed in her mind. "There's gotta be some other way to get out of this!"

She looked around for something that could help and saw one of the observation rooms. There was a pipe running along the top of the window. Starlight fired her hands at it and swung towards the window and smashed right through it. It was a miracle that she wasn't cut by the broken glass. PJ was angrily growling and howling outside.

"Ha! I did it!" Starlight called. Now that wasn't in danger, she looked around the room.

A long table held dried blood splatter and a few documents that caught Starlight's eyes. It would help her investigation if she were to look at them so she decided to read them.

GAME STATION TEST SUBJECT ASSESSMENT FORM

Subject Name: Makayla Hyssop
Procter Name: Sara Abell
Assigned Toy: Candy Cat

TRIAL 1: MUSICAL MEMORY
Performance [1-5]: 3
Results: She has a good grasp on the concept and decent performance, but Makayla made mistake on several of the color patterns. Her posture indicates to me that she was beginning to panic whenever she got a color pattern incorrect.

TRIAL 2: WHACK-A-WUGGY
Performance [1-5]: 3
Results: Makayla had trouble wielding the GrabPack, often unable to accurately fire it at a hole. She reacted quickly whenever she noticed a Huggy Wuggy toy, but was slow to notice them in the first place.

TRIAL 3: STATUES
Performance [1-5]: 1
Results: Makayla is not paying attention, she is screaming and pointing at something else in Statues when nothing is there. Lucky for her, PJ Pug-a-Pillar is so far far behind that he can't even be seen.

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GAME STATION TEST SUBJECT ASSESSMENT FORM

Subject Name: Makayla Hyssop
Procter Name: Matteo Lata
Assigned Toy: Candy Cat

TRIAL 1: MUSCIAL MEMORY
Performance [1-5]: 4
Results: Makayla is very accurate and fast. Few mistakes were made.

TRIAL 2: WHACK-A-WUGGY
Performance [1-5]: 3
Results: Her accuracy with the GrabPack is subpar. Spatial awareness is subpar. Reaction time is fast.

TRIAL 3: STATUES
Performance [1-5]: 4
Results: Completely lacks focus. Makayla was very engaged in the previous tests, however something within Statues is drawing her attention away from the obstacles.

"These weren't just games. They were tests," Starlight said. "Why were they testing kids? Could these crazy toys have something to do with it? What was the point? What did my mom want to accomplish?"

She set down the documents and ran out of the door. Starlight made her way back down the hallway back up to the Game Station. This time, though, Mommy Long Legs was waiting for her. And she didn't look happy.