A steamy, humid haze clung to the walls of the industrial candy factory. The clang of machinery echoed through its corridors as thick pipes snaked and coiled like metallic vines, converging into a towering assembly above a single, green, abomination of a creature. Om Nom!
Beads of sweat slid down his shiny, gumdrop-like skin as he stared upward, unblinking.
The camera pans to reveal what he's staring at: nothing. Just a flickering, unrendered blur hovering in the skybox.
Ding!
A popup materializes midair with a familiar jingle:
"This feature requires a Premium Candy Pass™. Pay $5.99 or reroute external water supply."
Om Nom's eye twitches. He bares his teeth, then sighs and begrudgingly lifts a grubby tablet. His stubby fingers tap and swipe furiously.
Meanwhile…
Swampy the Crocodile. He's doing what he does best! Showering!
He hums a melody to himself as the water glistens down his scales. This was his moment. It's always been his moment.
Then…
Pfffft.
The water sputters. Stops.
Swampy freezes. The silence hits like a slap. His eyes dart around. One drip. Two. Nothing.
Then, his head turns slowly. Narrowed eyes. A slow realization.
He rises dramatically, only to immediately slip and fall back into the tub with a thud.
BACK IN THE FACTORY:
The pipes rumble. A hiss of steam escapes as water floods into the final chamber.
There, suspended by a complex tangle of rotating mechanical arms, the last of the water needed is sprayed. There, it forms: a jawbreaker, red and white, pristine and glowing like a sacred artifact. It doesn't just shimmer. It radiates. The kind of candy that transcends silly concepts like taste. A masterpiece forged from the ashes of the great beyond!
Om Nom stares at it with religious awe. His pupils dilate. His tongue lolls out.
He casually tosses the now-unneeded tablet across the room. It slides to a halt by the factory's main entrance.
Om Nom opens his mouth, ready to receive his prize, when-
BOOM!
The factory doors slam open.
Steam billows inward. The silhouette of a crocodile stands in the entryway, framed by the fading mist.
Swampy.
Still in his pink shower cap, soaked and furious. His towel slips off and flops onto the floor in a pitiful heap, but he doesn't seem to care. His eyes lock not on Om Nom… but on the candy.
And for a moment, everything else fades away.
He takes a slow step forward. Entranced. Awestruck.
How could anything look so delicious?
But that was the last straw.
Om Nom's pupils shrink. His candy... was being eyed.
FIGHT!
Om Nom doesn't waste a second. He yanks a top hat from somewhere in the back, and hurls it like a Frisbee at the crocodile. Swampy catches it on instinct, blinking dumbly as he stares into its inky black opening.
Before he can react, Om Nom pulls out a second, identical top hat, lights a rocket, and casually drops it inside.
FWOOOSH!
It immediately bursts out of the one in Swampy's hands, exploding in his face. Swampy stumbles back, ash-faced, coughing up a soap bubble.
Om Nom takes the opportunity to dive headfirst into the hat, disappearing like a magician's trick. In an instant, he bursts out of the one still clutched in Swampy's smoky fingers, delivering a stubby kick right to his snout.
Swampy yelps and tumbles backwards as Om Nom vanishes again, only to reappear from a different angle, kicking from behind this time.
Again. And Again. And Again!
He bounces between hats, peppering Swampy with flurry after flurry of tiny but vicious kicks. It's relentless. Until, suddenly, Om Nom slides out, somersaults midair, and reveals a gleaming miniature blade.
With a dramatic grunt, he slams it downward and It lodges in the floor, inches from Swampy's scaly belly. The crocodile lets out a squeal of terror and, in reflexive panic, lets out a massive-
BURP!
Out flies a rusty anchor (Probably from last dinner with Cranky), which clocks Om Nom right in the face mid-smirk.
In the corner of his eye, Swampy sees it. The Game Changer.
The tablet.
Its screen flickers like a holy relic.
Swampy: "Ooooooooh..."
He starts crawling toward it, paw by paw, eyes locked, tongue out like a dog chasing a bone. He stretches out his hand... only for the blade from earlier to slam into the wall just beside his cheek. He jerks back with a terrified yelp.
Om Nom reaches… somewhere and pulls out the Gravity Button, before slamming it.
The world flips. Swampy is yanked upward, the gravity shift dragging him toward the ceiling. He twists in midair, narrowly avoiding the spinning blade as it clinks against a pipe.
As he's yanked higher, he stretches an arm out. The tablet's floating mid-flip.
Then Swampy pauses. His eyes dart. His brain clicks.
Glue.
He pulls out the tube and, with one mighty squeeze, sticks his feet to the ceiling.
Below, Om Nom furiously mashes the gravity button again, expecting him to fall.
But instead, his eyes widen in disbelief as Swampy catches the tablet mid-spin.
Not missing a beat, Om Nom slides on a suspiciously oversized glove over his head. His eyes dart around with manic precision before locking onto a precarious pile of sharp, icicles dangling from a broken ac vent.
Without lifting a finger, he yanks the icicles from their perch with telekinesis. They hover for a split second around him like a bullet hell boss, then launch like crystal javelins toward Swampy.
He yelps, just as the glue on his feet gives way at the worst possible moment. The ceiling shudders as the first two icicles stab deep into it where he once stood.
The camera pans downwards to reveal him in the air, hovering with his patented fire extinguisher jet pack.
He clutches the tablet in one claw, tapping frantically, spinning barrel rolls and zig-zags to avoid the barrage of icy spears homing in from below.
Om Nom snarls from the ground, now absolutely coated in sticky, white extinguisher foam, around 3 times over.
With a growl, he rips more icicles from the wall and lobs them wildly above Swampy's head in what looks like a fit of horrible aim. They miss by miles. Swampy stops mid-spin, floating smugly.
He laughs, which wasn't the best idea. Om Nom punches the gravity button again.
Instantly, gravity inverts once more, and Swampy is yanked downward, as toward him fall the waiting cloud of 'missed' icicles.
His pupils shrink. He stretches out a single finger, desperately typing into the flickering tablet while spinning head-over-heels.
Just in time, the tablet shakes in approval. A nearby pipe rattles violently and then explodes, launching a stream of high-pressure water in a perfect line. The water slices into the icicles midair just as Swampy zips through them.
Om Nom's eyes widen as he scrambles backwards and barely leaps aside as the stream slices clean through the button.
Meanwhile, Swampy flies out of sight using a balloon, snickering mischievously to himself. The tablet now reveals the entire pipe network.
Swampy swipes through the tablet interface with a casual flick, revealing an almost comical sight just beneath the factory's foundation, an endless reservoir of crystal-clear water, shimmering beneath a thin layer of sand, which he swipes through.
He tilts his head, scratching it with a confused grunt. Why didn't the Nommie just use that?
Meanwhile, down on the factory floor, Om Nom is suffering. A stream of high-pressure water nearly shoots a hole through him. Then another. And another!
Jets erupt from every pipe and corner, chasing him like vengeful missiles. He dodges with frantic hops, side-flips, and full-body tumbles.
Above, Swampy's having the time of his life. He taps, swipes, and giggles, kicking his feet like he just doesn't care.
Suddenly, a rope swings through the chaos. Om Nom lunges, grabs it with both stubby hands, and swings upward. The jets follow, nipping at his heels.
He squints at the ceiling, eyes locking onto a patchwork of air cushions stapled haphazardly across the roof.
With a grunt and a wave of the glove on his head, he unleashes a push of telekinesis, bouncing from cushion to cushion like a soggy wrecking ball, barely dodging blast after blast.
But with one more tap, a perfectly timed water jet slams into a ceiling cushion, sending it spiralling like a deflated balloon as it ricochets straight through to…
Slice!
CUT THE ROPE™
Om Nom's pupils shrink to pinpricks as gravity takes over.
He plummets with a yelp, flailing all the way down.
Swampy lazily swipes left, browsing through more options, until he spots one labelled Mud Reserves. He gags, but taps it anyway.
BOOM.
Up above, Swampy squints at the chaos, then spots something peculiar: a sluggish puddle of algae creeping across the floor.
His eyes light up, quite literally, as a glowing bulb appears over his head.
With a mischievous grin, he taps the tablet. A precision jet of water blasts the algae.
Om Nom, still dazed and filthy, watches in horror as the algae begins to bubble… expand… mutate.
Suddenly, limbs erupt from the green goo. The thing roars a primal roar, loud enough to shake the foundation.
The monster slams a fist into the ground, barely missing him, who hops out of the way.
He blinks, growls, and begins to spin, faster and faster, until a whirlwind engulfs him.
His skin flushes red. A snout bursts forward. Now, He is no longer just Om Nom… He is Dragon Om Nom.
Another fist slams down. Om Nom sneezes. BOOM! An explosion vaporizes the monster's hand.
Using the shockwave's momentum, Om Nom swings off a pipe using the mud-soaked glove still stuck to his head.
He rockets straight into the monster's face with a thunderous boom and sneezes again, unleashing a blast that obliterates the creature.
Silence. Then, just as the dust begins to settle. The monster regenerates. Bigger. Angrier.
It headbutts Om Nom, launching him across the factory.
He crashes straight into a mirror, one that happens to be sliding toward him, pushed by another sneaky water jet.
Swampy leans back, high-fiving his algae compadre, as He watches as Om Nom vanishes into the shimmering glass.
IN ANOTHER DIMENSION
Om Nom's momentum carries him skidding across the slick concrete, now green again. Once, twice, three times, before he slams into cold brick.
When his vision finally steadies, he finds himself swallowed by darkness so complete it feels suffocating. Only the low, distant drip of water sounds in the inkiness.
Beneath him, the floor is uneven and damp. Each cautious step produces a wet, sloshing squelch. The air is thick, fetid with the stench of decay, rotting food, rusted metal, the tang of fresh blood and something fouler.
A single squeak disturbs the peace. Then another, closer this time, like the frantic whisper of trapped rodents.
Om Nom's heart hammers. He twists, trying to pinpoint the source, but the darkness offers no clues. Only more darkness.
A third squeak rings out, now directly behind him.
Then, a shape materializes in the gloom. A hulking monster, with rubbery skin. At first he thinks it's a stray bathtub toy, grotesquely giant.
But in fact, it was the abomination. The deity of this dimension. And around its neck, it wore the skull of a crocodile. This monster, was a giant Rubber Duck.
It snarls with violent intent, before roaring even louder than the algae of before.
But Om Nom… just looks tired. His face doesn't move an inch, much to the duck's surprise, as it switches to one of concern.
Om Nom simply begins to walk back to the mirror. Offended by the disrespect, the Monster lunges!
Then, he turns around, with ゴゴゴゴゴ kanji all around him!
A clock appears just in front of the monster, who slams into it. As it shakes its head, he witnesses the arms spinning to the left at an inhumane rate.
The duck rapidly shrunk, until it was just a regular duck. Then, it fell apart, turning into Latex. No. Rather than accelerate time, he was reversing it. A power Made in Hell.
The camera pans to reveal the Earth spinning backwards at a rapid rate, before zooming back on Om Nom, who simply takes one more glance before hopping in.
BACK IN OUR DIMENSION
The Algae Monster watches from below as Swampy plays a certain bird-related game. Distracted pulling slingshots, he doesn't notice Om Nom silently emerging from the mirror with a serious expression on his face.
He silently rolls around, stealthily hopping like a Ninja. Then, he finds what he was looking for. A hatch for a reservoir containing Toxic waste. He pulls it open with a telekinetic arm and uses it to reach inside.
Swampy looks up, just for a moment. But a wave of toxic sludge is already hurtling toward him.
He flinches, shielding himself instinctively.
But it never hits.
Instead, the Algae Monster leaps in the way, melting, dissolving, giving one final thumbs-up to his buddy.
Swampy blinks, stunned. For a moment, he sees a future that'll never be: himself as the best man at the Algae's wedding… cradling its gooey firstborn. (However that works.)
Swampy growls, changing tabs yet again.
Suddenly, the pipes in the entire area begin to stretch unnaturally. The pipes around the room groan, then twist unnaturally toward Om Nom like mechanical snakes. Twenty of them aim directly at him, primed and prepared with a pressurized payload of pain!
Om Nom backs up, surrounded.
Swampy almost takes a step off where he is, then writhes back because of the toxic water, which is now slowly flooding the area. He simply procures another balloon and lands from overhead like an angry Mary Poppins.
He prepares the button to fire. With a delighted smile on his face, he clicks!
The Water spurts. But right as it's about to hit him…
A 30-second ad of a certain choose-your-own-adventure game begins to play.
Swampy and Om Nom lock eyes.
Blink.
Blink.
Then, in a split second, Om Nom pulls out one last button and smashes it!
Time freezes, the world locked in his grasp!
Om Nom first redirects all 20 pipes toward the frozen crocodile, each one creaking into position like a metallic hydra. Then, with time still shattered around him, he steps forward, cracking his stubs.
He begins to strike.
A flurry of punches. Each one sharp, brutal, echoing like thunder in a nothingness. The true power of hunger!
He finishes with one final uppercut that sends ripples through frozen time itself.
Then, calmly, he turns and walks away.
Time resumes.
Swampy's eyes widen just before-
BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM!!
The punches land all at once, compressing into a single devastating moment of pain. And then-
FWOOOOOOSH!
Twenty high-pressure jets collide into him, launching him like a ragdoll into the vat of toxic sludge.
A hand reaches up… trembling, gripping the rubber ducky.
Then…
Bloop.
The hand sinks.
And the Duck remains.
A beat of silence, as Om Nom glances over the rising vat. He sighs. Then, he opens his mouth, as the jawbreaker candy falls in.
Worth it.
KO!