Events of the 13th Floor // Prolouge // Dandy's World AU

Instructions

[Chapter 1 - Toodles] —————————— 'Extracting is hard!' I thought, pausing from turning the red valve to catch my breath. Well, at least that's what I think it's called. I've heard other toons use that word when talking about machines, so, if that's not the valve, then what is? ... The pipe thing, maybe actually... Suddenly, the machine made a loud buzz sound. I wasn't scared, though. Nope! Not one bit! "Are you ok?" Gourdy asked. "What do you mean? I'm just out of breath!" I puffed. "Well, yeah but I saw you jump." Gourdy said. Ok, maybe I was a little scared. "No I didn't! I think you jumped!" I said, embarrassed. The machine made the buzz sound again. Gourdy walked over to it. "You have to stop it or it'll keep thinking it's being extracted and you'll miss the skill checks." He said. He did something with the valve. "How?" I asked. I watched him reaallly closely but I didn't see what he did ...Ok, maybe I was distracted by something. It looked like a big crate was turned into a home! "Easy. You just push the valve back in, just like how you pull it out to extract." Gourdy said. "How'd you know this?" I asked, less out of curiosity and more out of suspicion. I'm going to be a detective like Rodger when I grow up! I'll need to start questioning everything! ...Ok, maybe it was more out of curiosity. "Vee told me! I like to think I'm an even better extractor than her!" Gourdy said proudly. "Can you finish that?" I asked Gourdy. I thought I saw something move. Again. I was scared, but this was a mystery! And if I'm going to be a detective, I can't be scared of the unknown. Or the dark. Or... things moving in the shadows... uhm.. "Ok," Gourdy said, snapping me out of my thoughts. While he extracted, I went to investigate the shadow figure. My first mystery! I was so excited— and scared... but that's besides the point! After this, Rodger would HAVE to take me on his next mission! I took the magnifying glass out of my pocket— the one Rodger gave me for my birthday. If he gave me this, then surely he wanted me to use it! I decorated it to look a bit like my dog plush, Dottie. Rodger should decorate his to look like him! "Hm... paper" I mumbled, picking up a piece of... well, paper. It had text on it. Like a book. And it looked like it was torn from the rest of its paper buddies. Rodger likes it when I call sheets of paper that. Though not when he tears a sheet of paper in half from the frustration of a wrong theory for a difficult case. He gets even more frustrated when I do it then. I got extra excited when I went over the possibilities. There was a toon that ate books before the incident separated everyone- Squirm, I think! Imagine how proud Rodger and Teagan would be when I told them that I found a toon! Not a lot of toons have found other toons! To imagine that I'd be one to find another! I went farther into the shadows, hoping to find the bookworm. "Toodles?" I heard Gourdy call, "Where'd you go?" I ignored him. This was a mystery I couldn't turn down! I saw something through the dark. movement. "Hello?" I called. "You're not a twisted, are you?" a voice whimpered in return. I was confused. "Would a twisted talk?" I asked. "W-well... no..." the voice said. I backed up. "Come into the light! It's safe!" I said. Hesitating, the shadow figure emerged into the light. "Yes! It was a toon!" I exclaimed in delight. "A-are the elevators working again or were you trapped here to?" The shadow figure— probably Squirm— asked. "Huh? The elevators are one-hundred percent working," I answered. "Come on! I'll show you around!" I said, taking the bookworm's hand. "O-oh, well there's really no need— uhm.. ok....?" the bookworm said. "By the way, you're Squirm, right?" I asked. "Uhm— yes! I'm Squirm" the bookworm stuttered. 'yes!'