I crawled into the vent. I could feel that I was moving uphill, but the elevation angle wasn't all that much, so it felt like I had been crawling forever. I was not a fan of being in such a tight, enclosed space. It reminded me of that hallway. I swear, if I started hallucinating inky hands reaching out for me again, I would turn around and give up. I was getting close to reaching my breaking point. 

Oh, who am I kidding? My breaking point had been reached ages ago. At this point, my sanity was only being strung together by the fact that soon I would have Mario back, and he'd be able to handle everything like he always does.

I finally came to another vent cover. I took a deep breath, then kicked it open, finding what looked like a... gym? A workout space? 

Great. Knowing what I knew, all those weights would probably end up being used as weapons against me. I wouldn't be surprised if someone showed up and started throwing them at me.

You know how they say curiosity killed the cat? Well, curiosity's gonna kill the genius mechanic, too. 

The walls were covered in more messages, basically repeating the phrase, DREAMS COME TRUE. 

"Do they?" I asked, raising a skeptical eyebrow. "Do they really?" 

If dreams come true, then who's to say the same can't be said for nightmares? It's a package deal. 

I rolled my eyes and walked past the questionable inky fluids that were falling from the ceiling, up a small set of stairs, and into what looked like a small office attached to the workout room, where another audio recording was waiting. I let out a huff and pressed play.

"For years, I've built me strength beyond imagination! I was once a general of a great army! I successfully lead a squadron of one thousand troops across enemy lines. I have earned my legacy with sweat. But right in front of everyone... professional assistants, judgemental lil' girls, an' that sly jester, the count introduces me, a noble General, as JUST O'Chunks! Like I was just an' average joe. Ye may be housing me, Mister Count, but ye don't own me! I'll chunk anyone ye need me to without question, but before you go taking any bows, Bleck, know that any grand achievement I make will belong to me... and to me alone."

-O'Chunks

"Huh... Looks like O'Chunks had a rocky start when he first came to work for the count," I muttered once the tape clicked off. I never really knew all that much about where O'Chunks came from, but I pretty much assumed that he had some sort of military background. I could only guess that something had happened to him. Perhaps he lost a battle, and the shame and depression that came with the loss made him turn to the count. He probably was still feeling that shame when he initially came to the count, hence why he seemed so salty in the tape recording. 

I let out a huff, then looked to the side. There was another door in the office that led into a large, dark room. I let out a small breath I seemed to be holding in, then pushed the door open.

As if triggered by my arrival, the lights slowly flickered on, revealing a large workout room. I could assume that this, similar to Dimentio's music room, had been designed for O'Chunks. Even after joining the count, I could tell that he took pride in maintaining his muscular appearance and keeping his strength. 

There were rows and rows of equipment. The room was huge but filled to the brim with workout machines. It looked like a perfect hide-and-seek environment, considering how big most of the stuff really was. 

Then, at the far end of the room, there was a small train with tracks. I'm going to be honest, it seemed completely random, and I found it odd how it was placed in this room. It was like random things were just messily thrown in. It reminded me of the train Luigi had to fight that huge Boo in during one of his ghost-hunting adventures at the Treacherous Mansion. In fact... the train looked EXACTLY the same. However, the railways were blocked by metal doors. It looked like I needed some power in order to open them. Great. 

"Hang in there, Brooks. I'm coming," I breathed, looking around to see if there were any nearby power switches I could activate. 

There were two different exposed power cords attached to the door, so I decided my best bet would be to follow them to the source. They both went different ways, so I followed the one on the left first. It led me down a set of stairs into what looked like a basement below the weight room, where there were a variety of broken workout machines.

Now, normally, I wouldn't care, but I was getting a lot of bad vibes from this room. I was usually comfortable when surrounded by machinery, but I found myself shivering anyway.

There were a few posters of Inky on the wall that said, "Work hard, work happy." I never really liked that analogy. Nastasia used to say it to us all the time back when things were normal, if that could have even been considered normal. I never liked the phrase because Nastasia never gave us breaks. Everyone just kept constantly working us to the point of nearly breaking, and while we did smile, I don't think any of us were actually happy. I barely even knew what cause I was working for back then. I was just constantly reminded to "work hard, work happy." 

If I ever hear that phrase again, I swear, I'm going to punch the person who says it.

I saw a small table with a voice recorder in the middle of the room on a small table. I was having a hard time seeing in the dark, but my eyes were actually starting to adjust slightly. Even so, I flicked on my flashlight while listening, trying to ignore the slightly eerie surroundings.

"Count Bleck.... fer all yer talk o'dreams, ye are te true architect behind so many nightmares... I built me legacy. It was supposed te be MY legacy. I TRUSTED YE! And now ye think ye can jus- jus throw me out?! Trample me to de dust en forget me?! Lock me en 'ere?! NO! This is MY legacy! My glory! Ye can't steal it all! We put ye where ye are now! Ye can't do this te us!! Ye may think I'm gone... but I'm still 'ere."

- O'Chunks 

Just as the tape recorder finished, a large hand crushed the audio recording and the table it was placed on just before my very eyes. 

I jumped back, gripping my flashlight and pointing it up at the large man - or creature, WHATEVER he became! His skin was patchy. Some of it had turned to ink, but most of it had rotted away. He was just as tall as he was before, but his skin looked too tight. I silently wondered when the last time he ate was. 

He must have been trapped in that room for who even knows how long. I didn't even know how long this... strange version of the world existed. For me, it felt like a few hours, but the fact that Mario was already here and seemed to know his way around, the fact that Mimi and Nastasia were wandering the halls, and the fact that Dimentio was so desperate to escape made me think that maybe things had been this way a little longer than I originally thought. It felt like a few hours ago I was back at Castle Bleck, but for all I knew, it could have been months or years even! How long does it take the average person to go insane, I wonder...

O'Chunks didn't give me a chance to breathe or even speak, however. He quickly grabbed ahold of me, then threw me across the room, causing me to hit the wall and slump to the floor. I felt like my breath had been stolen from me, and I was having trouble finding it again.

I didn't expect the impact to hurt quite so much. So THIS is what the heroes had to deal with when fighting him...

I would have assumed his stupidity would make him easy to beat, but I forgot about the fact that he was probably THE strongest person I knew. 

"O'Chunks...." I muttered, catching my breath. "What are you-"

Before I could finish, he jumped into the air, then landed back on the ground, sending a wave of impact that I couldn't even jump to avoid in time.

"Um, OW! What are you doing?!" I cried out. "I'm not your enemy! Stop!!"

His reply was either in gibberish, or his accent was too heavy for me to even understand at all anymore. 

I had to figure a way out of that room and fast. But, I couldn't leave without finding and activating the switch that would turn the power on. Ugh, what to do, what to do?!

I clearly couldn't fight him, that was for sure. Yes, I was strong, but he was a LOT stronger, and I had no technology on my side to aid me. 

"Okay, okay," I breathed, trying to gather my thoughts amidst the panic flaring up within my mind.

I shone my flashlight across the room, trying to slow my heavy breathing. O'Chunks was standing over there, knocking over and smashing some machines. His fists looked cut and bruised. Only the blood wasn't red but black instead. It sent chills down my spine.

Behind him, I could see the wire from before connect to a small switch.

That was it! All I had to do was get that switch, then get out of there.

All while avoiding O'Chunks. 

Okay, think. I can outsmart him. I'm good at this...

His eyes are brown, so they would have a harder time adjusting to the darkness than mine. They were probably already well adjusted, however, since he had already spent who knew how long down there. But... I could probably utilize my flashlight to stun him. Luigi used to do something like that with ghosts, right?

I looked down at my flashlight, hoping it would have at least some of the features Luigi's had whenever he went on those ghost-hunting adventures. Unfortunately, there was no strobe light function.

"Looks like I'll have to make do," I breathed, flicking the flashlight off. 

My eyes hadn't quite adjusted yet since I was just getting used to relying on the light my flashlight provided, but I had a pretty good memory of where everything was, so I didn't waste any time waiting to adjust. I quickly ran across the room, making sure to avoid tripping over any broken machinery until I got fairly close to where I believed O'Chunks was. Then, hoping I was in the right place, I pointed the flashlight towards where I believed the burly man's eyes would be and turned it on, maximum brightness, mimicking the stunning feature on Luigi's flashlight. 

Lucky for me, I was right on target. He covered his eyes and groaned while stumbling back a few steps, clearly taken by surprise. I smiled in victory, then swiftly slid past him, flipping the switch, then turning and running up the stairs.

However, I found myself pausing and looking back at him before I left. I felt like I was being filled with a feeling. Was it pity? Sympathy, perhaps?

No... it was more of an empathetic feeling. After hearing all of his audio recordings, it was clear that O'Chunks wasn't much different from me. He, too, was manipulated into joining the count. He, too, had become trapped here, in a world of darkness.

He had everything taken from him. His strength, his sense of self, his purpose, his future. Everything that mattered to him was gone, all for the sake of another's dream. A dream that still made no sense to me. A dream that confused me. A dream that I was still yet to understand. I had so many questions, and there were still so few answers. I was starting to somewhat piece together what happened, but in a way, I still felt so lost. 

I was lost, O'Chunks was trapped, Mimi was changed, Mario was being imprisoned, Nastasia was broken, Dimentio was dead, and I had no idea where the count even was.