Originally, the monsters that they encountered would've disappeared when shone by the light, and apparently people sometimes too. However, when Jack shone the light into the room in front of him, it revealed... Stanley.
However, he looked a tad bit different from normal.
The doll was no longer on his shoulder, but the usual energy that it had was gone. Instead, it seemed like Stanley was either drunk or was propped up by some invisible supports, as he hung his body awkwardly, almost like he was a mime doing some kind of show.
However, the wide smile on his face wasn't lost on him.
Once the light was shone on him, he spoke up in his familiar scratchy voice.
"Well hello there, special contestant. I doubt I'd be able to do anything meaningful against you, but there's no harm in having a little bit of fun, no?"
Jack let out a laugh after hearing that.
"It's always nice to have some fun!"
With that, he turned off the flashlight. As for Stanley, he also chuckled.
"Well then, let's have at it!"
The five metal fingers behind Stanley primed themselves, pointing at him. Then both Jack and Stanley shot toward each other. While moving like a badly piloted puppet, Stanley went both left and right, while Jack simply went straight forward while holding his knife.
Before Jack even got close, all five of the metal fingers shot toward him. Instead of even attempting to dodge, he simply continued forward like a bull. And as such, the five points pierced through the back of his clothes and into his skin.
Though Jack didn't seem to notice, as he slashed at Stanley's stomach, letting out a clang as he slammed something metal inside. On the other hand, Stanley reached out with his hand, intending to use it as a weapon.
Jack reciprocated and clasped onto his hand as well with his mostly healed hand.
It would've been an intimate hand-holding scene if not for the fact Stanley's metal fingers were cutting through Jack's, just when it was about to heal as well. Stanley used the other hand to hold onto Jack's wrist, attempting to pull out the knife but was unable to find the strength to do so.
For a while, they were just in a deadlock. However, the wounds in Jack's body were steadily getting deeper. It was like a strange kind of sumo. Though the muscles in Jack's body tensed up considerably, as a strength unbefitting of a child came over him.
He lifted Stanley up before roughly slamming him into a wall with a devastating bang, directly breaking through it.
Stanley bounced off the ground a few times before skidding across the floor, with a metallic screech. Throughout the entire time, he was just laughing.
"I should've expected this kind of strength from a Joker! But to think you've already reached this stage. Your foundation must be quite impeccable. It seems I don't have to hold myself back."
Jack tilted his head to the side.
"I don't understand, but I'm having lots of fun!"
Stanley stood up and spread out his arms and metal fingers.
"And that's what really matters!"
Among the fragments of metal that were scattered around him, they trembled before suddenly magnetizing to the end of his metal fingertips, chunks of metal both large and small suddenly slamming onto them.
Right after, Stanley let out a loud grunt before throwing them.
"Hahaha!"
Jack let out a laugh while holding out his hands.
"Ah, are we playing catch now?"
When a giant heavy plate of metal shot towards him, Jack held out both hands. With a bang, He caught it and slid several feet backward. As for the smaller pieces, they also hit him, ripping into his clothes and cutting through his skin.
His wounds regenerated rather quickly, however, even stranger was that his clothes were mending themselves as well, the very threads of fabric attaching and sewing themselves together again.
One of them even slammed into the side of his head, making him tilt his head back. Though, he brought it back down soon after. Jack let out a long laugh before twirling around with the giant metal plate and throwing it back like a meteor, ignoring the fact that the metal plate wasn't exactly the most aerodynamic thing in the world.
Though it dramatically slowed down, until it stopped right in front of Stanley, just hovering in front of him. Right afterward, it suddenly shot back with the same velocity right back at Jack.
Jack ran towards it, holding out his arm in front of him as though he had a bracer. With a violent bang, it slammed into him, causing a rather massive dent in the middle. Jack tossed it aside and continued running towards Stanley, who reciprocated by doing the same thing.
However, this time Stanley tilted his body to the side, and the four metal fingers on one half slashed forth like swords. Jack slashed with his knife, slamming into one of the fingers. Unfortunately, although he was able to slow the others down, they still all cut into the side of his body.
Not to mention, the other metal finger swept forth towards him as well.
Jack's eyes shot to the side as his hand shot out, grabbing onto the metal spike like that was a normal thing to do. He let it dig further into the palm of his hand as he tightened his grip.
"Hup!"
And with a pull, Stanley's entire body went for a whirl, as he was spun in a circle before he was lifted up and slammed into the ground. A devastating crash resounded as Stanley quite literally broke through the ground, revealing a different floor of floors underneath that looked far stranger, with more pronounced strange rooms, with walls that curved like a squiggly line and bumpy but smooth floors.
Still, Jack didn't mind any of that as he jumped down.
Despite wearing a mask, the fact he was smiling was still rather apparent.
"Haha! Haaaaa!!'
Especially since he was laughing as he went down. As for Stanley, he matched that energy, stumbling around like a drunk while letting out his scratchy laughs.
Stanley put one hand on his face in an attempt to calm himself down.
"Haaaaaahahaha! It's... it's fine if I go further, I'm sure!"
Suddenly, his body went limp as though turning into a ragdoll. As he did, the five metal fingers suddenly detached from his body and they appeared to hover in the air. The four fingers pulled down on the air, which caused a blue rift to form.
From that rift, four other fingers shot out from inside and pulled up, tearing open the rift even further, and from behind that rift revealed a rather giant eye with a green iris. Jack let out an excited gasp.
"Is it another friend? I've never seen one like this before!"
Though as soon as it happened, an ethereal and high-pitched voice seemed to come from every direction.
"Now, Stanley. Don't you remember this is only the second floor? We aren't allowed to do this."
Naya's soft voice echoed throughout the rooms. It made the skin on Stanley's face twitch awkwardly.
"A-Ah. Right, right!"
The rift that just opened closed right after, killing all the light in the room. In the end, Stanley just stood there with an awkward expression formed from the skin on his face.
"Um, it appears as though I need to go now, as much as I want to stay."
Jack let out a sad hum.
"You have to leave? But don't you want to be friends?"
Stanley let out a long sigh.
"We can still be friends! I believe we get along with each other quite well. Unfortunately, I got into a little bit of trouble and have to leave now. I hope to see you later."
He awkwardly waved. And in response, Jack held up his still bloody hand and waved back.
"Aw, ok. I also hope to see you soon!"
With a smile, Stanley suddenly vanished into thin air, almost as though he was never there in the first place. Jack scratched the side of his head awkwardly before looking down with a little bit of disappointment.
However, he soon regained his initial excitement.
"I just need to find more friends!"
He began running through the even stranger rooms without a care in the world, going through the first doorways he saw. As he went, he eventually heard screams coming from the distance.
"Run! Run away now!"
"B-But, Elise!"
"I SAID RUN AW- AAAAAAAHHH!"
Some squelching sounds resounded as the sounds of something tearing apart came from the distance. In interest, Jack ran over. After a bit of navigating through doorways, he eventually came across Myra, who was running and heaving like no tomorrow.
Jack let out a wave when he saw her.
"Hi again!"
Myra let out a scream in response.
"A-Ah! Get away from me!"
She ran in the opposite direction, Prompting Jack to scratch the side of his face awkwardly.
"...No friend?"
As Myra ran away, she continued ducking through rooms one after another. There was a sliding sound coming from the distance, which freaked her out since they were usually monsters.
Though she looked to the right and saw a bright white light.
"E-Eh?"
It was coming from one of the doorways and was nearly blinding. Though strangely enough the brightness of the light rapidly dropped off after a certain distance, keeping the surroundings dark.
She stumbled towards it until she was right at the doorway. Although there was no label, this light was still very clearly the exit. Still, Myra didn't end up walking through it immediately. Instead, she turned around to look behind her. And when she did, a familiar figure appeared behind her.
Although it was only a black figure, Myra noticed it immediately as Blake.
"B-Blake..."
She ended up taking a step forward as the figure shuffled towards her, inch-by-inch. Though when he got close enough to be revealed by the light, only a horror show was revealed.
Although it was indeed Blake's skin, it only wrapped around stuffing like a deflated balloon. The eye sockets were hollow other than the stuffing far back inside, just as the mouth was.
The skin was stretched too far at certain parts and was pushed into a wrinkle in others.
When Myra saw this, tears began streaming down her face, but there was a smile on her face. She already realized that there was something wrong already from the way that the thing in front of her was walking.
And for whatever reason, instead of going through the exit that was right behind her, she decided to take a slow step forward.
"Blake..."
Myra already saw Blake die before her very eyes in an attempt to save the other two. And logically, she knew very well that the Blake in front of her wasn't actually real. Yet, for some reason, she still went forward with a bright smile on her face.
"You know... I never really got to tell you."
The thing across from her continued to stumble toward her like a mindless zombie. As for Myra, she held out her arms without a trace of fear in her eyes.
"I've loved you for a long... long time."
Then, the monster wearing Blake's skin tore Myra apart, as her screams resounded and echoed throughout the many rooms.