(Mandy's POV)

I woke up the next morning and quickly set out on my mission to find Lou and get him to help me! I packed a few things in a purple bag I owned. I packed a small water bottle, some snacks, a flashlight, a pocket knife (just in case), and the book I had taken from Lou's house. I wanted to be ready for anything!

I walked outside with a small part of me hoping everything would be back to normal, but it wasn't. Everything was still empty and ruined, maybe even worse then before. I ventured around the institute, looking in all the places he might be, dodging robots on my way. After what felt like years of searching I still hadn't found him! In defeat, I made my way home. On my way, I so happened to pass by the storage shed. I paused.

"I highly doubt he would be in there... But it couldn't hurt to check..." I muttered to myself. I walked up to the door and gave it a small knock.

No response

I knocked again, but this time I spoke too. 

"Lou...? Are you in there? It's me, Mandy..." 

Still, no response. I sighed. I turned around, preparing to head home, when I heard something on the other side of the door. 

"What do you want?" 

It was Lou! I found him! I turned around quickly, feeling myself fill with excitement. 

"Lou! I finally found you! I've been looking for you everywhere!" I said happily.

"Why?" He asked. He sounded half annoyed and half honestly confused.

"That's the thing... I kind of, um... Need your help to save the town..." 

Lou didn't say anything, I knew he was waiting for me to continue. 

"You see, I have a plan! Yesterday, I noticed that there were five large pieces missing from the portal, and I thought that if I found them, I could put the portal back together and everything would be fine again! But then I realized that I wouldn't be able to do it alone, so I thought you could help me, considering the fact almost everyone else is gone..." I explained

"So what do you say, will you help me?" I asked. There was a moment of silence before Lou responded.

"No."

What?! How could he say no to my very convincing speech??

"What do you mean no?!" I questioned.

"I mean no, I'm not helping you." He said bluntly.

"Why not?!" I demanded. 

"Why should I? You'll all still hate me anyways, so what's the point?"

"Listen Lou, I need your help. I can't do this all by myself! How can you say no in a time like this? The town is in ruins and right now you and I are the only ones who can help!"

"You can do it alone, I'm sure you'll manage."

This motherfu-

I breathed in deeply. I sighed.

"Lou, please! You have to help me!" I tried to plead with him. 

"Why do you need my help? Why don't you get one of those sock puppets to help you?" 

"BECAUSE I DON'T KNOW WHERE THEY ARE!" I shouted, I could feel my eyes watering. I breathed deeply. 

"I don't know where anybody is... You are the only person I was able to find... I'm scared, Lou. I don't know if any of my friends are okay and..." I paused, sniffing. I took a deep breath.

"And I really need some help..."

"Please...?"

There was a pause, a moment of silence. I wiped my eyes and then... The door slowly creaked open.

"Come in..." Lou said from the other side. I smiled a little as I stepped into the small building. I noticed how much cleaner it looked. Sure, it was still in pretty bad condition, but it was much nicer. Lou stepped out from behind the door, he looked exhausted. His hair was messy, his suit was dirty, and there were bags under his eyes. He sat down on the very unstable bunk bed, I sat next to him.

"So, what's the plan?" He asked. I thought for a moment.

"Well, just before the blast knocked me out, I think I saw one of the shards go somewhere near the Gauntlet... Maybe we could start there and see what happens?" In all honesty, I wasn't fully sure of my plan, but Lou didn't seem to mind. 

"Sounds like a plan." He spoke. I smiled, standing up and grabbing my bag.

"Well, we should probably get going then!" I smiled at him. And I could have sworn I saw him smile a little.

[A little while later...]

"Did you find anything yet?" I called. 

"Not yet!" Lou called back from another room.

We had made our way inside the Gauntlet, and were now looking around to try and find the shard. I entered a bedroom type of room. I searched around for a bit, but I found nothing.

"This is hopeless..." I sighed, hopping off the bed. I slipped and fell, landing on my back.

"Ow..." I groaned, rolling over. That's when I saw it. A glowing blue light under the bed. My eyes lit up as the crawled under the bed towards it. It was the shard! I grabbed it and crawled back out.

"I found it!!" I cheered. 

"Lou!!" I yelled as I ran into the room he was in. 

"What?" He looked back at me.

"I found it!" I showed it to him. He gasped, walking over to me.

"You did. You actually found it!" He looked curiously at the shard in my hands. 

"I know!!" I beamed. Everything was coming together at last!

"What are you going to do with it?" The blonde asked.

"I'll just..." I looked around. "Put it in my purse!" I slid the shard in my purse.  The two of us started walking out of the building, talking about what we were going to do next.

"We could find the others!" I suggested.

"Others?" Lou cocked his head to the side.

"You know, Kitty, Lydia, Tuesday, Nolan, Moxy..." I paused, noticing how uncomfortable Lou got. He looked down at his feet.

"Oh yeah... right..." I muttered to myself. We were walking back to the main part of town when suddenly a circle of robots came out of nowhere and circled us!

"Hey! Wha-" I was cut off by a robot grabbing the shard from my purse. 

"Hey! Its got the shard!" I pointed at the robot, who was now holding the shard above its head. I tried to run at it, but another robot grabbed me tightly. 

"Lou!" I turned to him, he was looking around confused. 

"What's wrong with them?!" He asked. 

"I think it was... the blast from the portal!" I told him straining from the robot squeezing me tight. I saw the robot with the shard starting to wheel away. 

"L-Lou! It has the shard!" Lou turned around, spotting the robot. I watched him run over and jump of the robots back. This caused the bot to fall over, letting Lou grab the shard. The bot struggled (Bots can't get up from a laying position) The bot holding me dropped me onto the ground to help the other. I breathed heavily and quickly, trying to catch my breath. Lou ran over and helped me stand up. 

The robots circled closer, trapping us in. Lou held onto the shard closely. One of the bots whipped it's arm down, turning it into some kind of long, sharp, metal blade. 

"When did they learn that?!" Lou exclaimed. The robot raised the blade above it's head. We both squeezed out eyes shut tightly and...

CRASH!! 

CLANG!!

(Third person POV)

"Lou! Lou open your eyes!" Mandy shook the blonde boy, who was still laying down with his eyes closed tightly.

"Are we dead?" He asked, opening one of his eyes. 

"No! We were saved!" Mandy pulled Lou up.

"We were?" Lou looked around, noticing that they were riding on the robot dog, and not dead. Mandy nodded excitedly. 

"Wait... Where's the shard?!" Lou looked around quickly in a panic. 

"It's right here! Calm down!!" Mandy giggled, showing Lou the shard in her purse. Lou sighed in relief. Then he looked up and spotted the hooded figure who was controlling the dog. 

"Who's that?" He whispered to Mandy.

"I'm not sure..." Mandy whispered back.

"How do you know we can trust them?" 

"Well, they did just save our lives... so..."

They suddenly stopped by the washing machine. The hooded person hopped off the dog, Mandy and Lou did the same. 

"So, um..." Mandy began.

"WHO ARE YOU?!" Lou demanded. 

"Lou!" Mandy turned to him.

"What? I want answers!" 

The person turned towards. They sniffed, wiping their eyes.

"Are you... alright..?" Mandy asked

The person finally pulled their hood down. Both dolls gasped in surprise. Mandy stepped forward, her eyes starting to water.

"Nolan?"