The Virus (Uglydolls AU)

Chapter Three: The Shadows

(Mandy's POV)

I paced around my room, mumbling to myself. "Their fine... This is fine..." I plopped down on my bed. "Who am I kidding? Their probably dead by now!!" I said with a heavy sigh. I pulled out my phone. I looked at all of my unread text's and missed calls to my group chat with Tuesday, Nolan, Lydia, and Kitty. My eyes fell on the name of the group. "The Imperfectly Perfects" I chuckled weakly, it was Nolan's idea. Tears pricked at the corners of my eyes. I held my phone to my chest. "Please be okay... Please..." I whispered. My brain kept replaying the scene of them getting taken by robots, right in front of me. I watched them grab Tuesday first. She struggled, yelling for help. I remember how Nolan rushed over to help her. A robot ran into him, sending him crashing into a wall. I remember his unconscious body laying on the ground as that same robot mercilessly dragged him away. 

I remember how Tuesday sobbed, thinking he was dead. I watched Kitty run over and try to pull her out of the robots metal grasp. I saw how Lydia dashed over to stop her. They both got scooped up. Kitty was strapped with these metal bars, holding her in place. I remembered how I tried to help them, but I was pulled away by the crowd of running dolls. How sad and desperate they all looked. How Kitty struggled, how Lydia was trying not to cry, how Tuesday worried and panicked over Nolan, and worse of all, how I met her bright blue, sobbing eyes as they pulled her away. 

Just then, my phone buzzed. I looked down, I noticed the tears falling on my screen. Oh... I thought to myself as I wiped my eyes. Looks like I was crying... I opened my phone and my eyes lit up as I wiped the screen. Moxy!! It was a text!! The text read: "Mandy? Please let me know if your okay." Another one popped up. "Me, Babo, Uglydog, Lucky and Wage are coming over, I'll explain everything there." I quickly wrote back. "I'm fine! But please be careful, the robots are still out there!" For the first time in what felt like a good minute, I was relived... Moxy was safe! and so were Uglydog, Babo, Wage, and Lucky! After about 5 minutes, there was a knock on my door followed by Moxy's voice: "Mandy? It's us!" I shot up and opened the door. I looked down to see my small pink friend. I scooped her up in my arms. "Moxy! I'm so glad you're okay!!" I could feel myself start crying again.

I felt Moxy's arms around me, followed by four more pairs of arms wrapped around my legs. We all shared a group hug and had a good cry together. "I'm glad you're okay!!" Moxy sniffed. "You don't understand how happy I am!" I smiled. "You don't understand how happy I am!!" Moxy told me. I carefully put her down as the other four let go. "Sit down." I gestured to my bed. Once the five sat down, Moxy sighed heavily. "So... What's happening over in Uglyville..?" I sat next to Moxy. I saw tears in her eyes. "Hey, hey... What happened?" I consoled her. "O-Ox was kidnapped..." Moxy finally said. My heart sank. I hugged her again. Tears filled my eyes and started streaming down my face. "Moxy... T-That's... Terrible!!" I said, pulling away. I wiped my eyes. "I can't say I have good news either..." "What? What happened?!" Lucky looked at me with a scared face. "Lucky, relax a little..." Wage put a hand on his shoulder. I breathed in deeply.

"Kitty, Nolan, Tuesday, and Lydia were kidnapped as well..." I managed to say. They all gasped. There was a heavy silence for a moment until Moxy jumped up. "That's it!" She turned to face us with a face full of determination. "We have to find out what's going on and save our friends!" "But how?" I asked. She paused for a moment. "We go into the factory, and find out what's wrong with the robots and how to track them... Also..." She dug around in her bag until she pulled out a small black notebook with a purple pen attached. "This. It was Lou's... I got it somehow from the auction. Same with this pocket knife." She pulled out a blue pocket knife. Her voice was laced with guilt. "I haven't opened it yet, but maybe there's something in here we can use..." She carefully put the items back in her bag. She looked up at us, her eyes sparking with light. She smiled confidently. That's Moxy for you... I thought. Somehow she always keeps smiling...

"Who's with me?" She asked in an upbeat tone. I raised my hand, then Babo, then Uglydog, then Lucky Bat, and finally Wage. "Great!" Moxy put her hands on her hips, smiling brightly. "Then lets go!" She flagged us all out the door. We raced down the city streets. "Where are we going?" I asked as we chased her. "Were going to get supplies!" Moxy said as she ran. Finally, she stopped in front of Tuesday's store. "Why are we here?" Lucky asked. "Supplies of course!" Moxy said, pushing open the doors. I closed the window blinds and locked the door. "What do you mean, supplies?" I asked as Moxy grabbed some acrylics paints from a shelf and shoved them into a pink and purple bag from the counter. "If we want to stop these robots, we have to play into their weaknesses." The rest of us watched her, confused. "They might be strong, but deep down they still have their programming that hates mess. If we make them a mess, it could throw them off." Moxy explained as she filled her bag. "There!" She turned around, smiling. "That should be enough." 

She walked over to me. I nodded. "That's actually really smart." I told her as I unlocked the door. "I know!" She smiled, skipping out. We continued walking. "Where to now?" I asked. "Back to Uglyville! They might have more stuff!" Moxy skipped. "Uh... guys?" Babo spoke up. I looked at him. He pointed to something in the distance. "Will that be a problem?" There was a trio of robots dashing towards us. "Don't worry! I got this!" Moxy dug through the bag and pulled out a bottle of blue paint. She popped it open and squirted it in a puddle in front of her. She stepped back quite a lot, pushing us back with her. 

(Third Person)

The robots slipped on the paint and Moxy burst out laughing. She turned to the group. "See? Easy!" "Moxy..." Mandy pointed behind her as she cowered with the other Uglydolls. Moxy turned around to see the robots rising behind her. She walked backward with the group. "Don't worry! I got this!" She sprayed the paint at their faces, but they just wiped it off as their eyes shined brighter red. The group kept walking backward until they were trapped against a wall. Moxy tossed the bottle to the side. "D-Don't worry! Like I s-said! I got this..." She dug threw the bag, trying to hide her panic. They were backed into a dark alleyway, with seemingly no way to escape. The robots were inch's away now. The group prepared themselves, when suddenly: 

CRASH!! CLANG!!

The robots fell to the ground and there stood a strange hooded person holding a... knitting needle? Everyone looked up, surprised. They person slowly removed their hood to reveal a head of messy, golden blonde hair. They looked up, they had bright, beautiful blue eyes. "Are you guys alright?" The person asked in a surprisingly calm tone. Everyone's eyes went wide. Mandy gasped. "Lou..?!"