//------------------------------// // Now, let's party! // Story: I Am Me // by APStories //------------------------------// Day 6 I can't help but feel I'm not the only one in my projection booth sometimes. It can get mighty dark some nights. But here's the part that really makes my mind swim... every night, just as I'm picking up my coat, there's a deep groan rising up from the floor. One of these days I'm gonna get my light and go see what's causing all the fuss below... The foursome made it to an entirely different floor. It was darker, inkier, and had a bad vibe. Stomping was heard. Suddenly, an inhuman shriek was heard. Without a second thought, the heroes crammed into a Little Miracle Station. They soon realized that the Little Miracle Station couldn't fit all four of them. "Hey, someone's stepping on my foot!", Fluttershy said. "What am I touching? It's squishy but firm", Sammy asked. "You're sitting on me!", the Patron yelled. "Shut up! SHUT UP!", Boris frantically said. The Projectionist slowly backed away from the chaos happening in the Little Miracle Station. "I ain't need to see no more shit down here!", he said. "Wait a minute", Boris said. The foursome fell out. "That's Mr. Polk." "I told you", Fluttershy said as she stood up. "We need to find six ink hearts." Fluttershy, Sammy, and the Patron walked off in different directions... but Boris followed the Projectionist in the hopes of making him come to his senses. He heard muttering. "Every day the same strange thing happens, I'll be up here in my booth, the band will be swinging, and suddenly Sammy Lawrence just comes marching in and shuts the whole thing down. Tells us all to wait in the hall. Then I hears him. He starts up my projector, and he dashes from the projection booth and down to the recording studio like the little devil himself was chasing behind. Few seconds later, the projector turns off. But Sammy, oh no, he don't come out for a long time. This man is weird. Crazy weird. I got half a mind to talk to Mr. Drew about all this, I really do. But then again, I have to admit. Mr. Drew's got his own peculiarities." "Norman!", he shouted. The interrupted Projectionist turned to face the Wolf in Sheep's Clothing. "That voice... it can't be...", the Projectionist said. "You're not Boris... you're... Buddy Lewek." "What are you doing here?", Boris asked, gripping his Gent Pipe. "Now, I'm not looking for trouble. It's just the nature of us projectionists to seek out the dark places. You see, Boris, I've learned the ins and outs of this here studio. I know how to avoid being bothered by the likes of this... company. 'That projectionist', they always say, 'creeping around, he's just looking for trouble.' Well, trouble or not, I sees everything. They don't even know when I'm watching. Even when I'm right behind 'em.", the Projectionist answered. "I am not the Norman you knew long ago anymore. I am now known as... the PROJECTIONIST!" Meanwhile, the other three heroes each found two ink hearts for a total of six ink hearts. Fluttershy also managed to find a Safehouse Scrap. The Projectionist let out an inhuman shriek and chased Boris. However, the Friendly Wolf made it to the elevator in time. Back at the Safehouse, Fluttershy put the Safehouse Scrap up on the wall. "One scrap left!", Boris said in joy. "Once the mural is complete, I'm certain that I'll be able to discover more about my forgotten past!" "Wait. Where are the hearts?", Sammy asked. "Guys!", the Patron said. Boris, Sammy, and Fluttershy found the Patron in the room with the elevator. An ink heart on a plate sat on a chair. "I think if we wanna find the last Scrap, we need to go back... but we can't go back using the elevator. I think this ink heart has something to do with that", Boris said. He picked it up. Suddenly, the voice of Thomas Connor was heard. Progress report to Gent Home Office. Client: Joey Drew Studios. Although we're making progress, the client's expectations keep changing. What started as a machine to simply mold life-size figures, now seems to be teetering on the edge of magic more than engineering. Although Mr. Drew remains convinced they're the same thing. The process of running the cartoon film through the machine for the figures to imprint upon themselves is going well. We've had several near successes. One weird note: the first figure ever created was a failed attempt in the likeness of the character called "Bendy". Since that time, no other attempts of this particular figure have emerged. And the one that did... I don't know, there's just something unworldly about him. "Wait... that's how Ink Bendy came to be!", Boris said in realization. He looked at the heart in his hand. "This thing just might contain secrets we need." These blasted elevators... sometimes they open... sometimes they don't... sometimes they come... sometimes they keep on going to Hell and back. I keep telling these people, if Mister Joey Drew keeps cutting corners like this, someone's sure to end up falling to their death. And it sure ain't gonna be me. I'm taking the stairs. "There aren't any stairs around here", Fluttershy said. It's dark and it's cold and it's stuck in behind every single wall now. In some places, I swear this godforsaken ink is clear up to my knees! Who ever thought that these crummy pipes could hold up under this kind of strain either knows something about pressure I don't, or he's some kind of idiot. But the real worst part about all this... are them noises the system makes. Like a dying dog on its last legs. Make no mistake, this place... this... machine... heck, this whole darn thing... it just isn't natural. You can bet, I won't be doing any more repair jobs for Mister Joey Drew. "Wha... what does that mean?", the Patron asked. "We have to shut off the Ink Machine", Boris answered.