Chapter 6: Forbidden friendship
POV – Mike
"Hey, you know?" I tell Larry, who's resting outside the ring in the metal wires, the next day on the arena. Today it's set up like a maze, with lots of tall, wooden walls placed all over. "I just happened to notice the book had nothing about Golden Freddy. Is there like another book, or a- a sequel? Maybe a… a little pamphlet- whoa!"
Something goes running incredibly fast right in front of me, making me almost fall.
"Focus Mike!" Larry yells at me. I can easily guess he wasn't listening. I bet you know where he got that habit from. My dad, of course. "You're not even trying!"
As he says this, I see Chica in front of me, hissing. She comes off one of the walls and charges at me. I try to run, but where? Left, no, no, right, no left! I don't know where to go. Panicking, I finally decide to go right.
"Today, is all about attack!" I hear Larry instruct. I hide behind a wall, but Chica hops over it and hisses again at me. I run in all directions but that persistent chicken is following me all the time.
"Chica is quick and light on her feet. Your job is to be quicker and lighter!"
I finally manage to mislead her. Now I need to stay away for as long as possible, and hopefully let the others do the dangerous work. Each day, things get harder. The first day I almost get killed, so I better don't come near the battle.
POV – Eric
I've been running in circles. Larry could at least put signals of where to go, right?
"Your job is to be quicker and lighter!" Larry tells us. Well, of course we can be quicker and lighter than an animatronic. Well, quicker maybe not. As I make my way through the maze, I see Chica standing on a wall in front of me. I stop immediately. The ground is still sloppy. Someone could dry it, really. Chica spreads her wings, which make a low, rusty squeal, and jumps to the other wall. I run away as I scream till I can no more. That was close!
"I'm really beginning to question your teaching methods!" I yell at Larry. Is it necessary to learn how to protect yourself like this? Larry could at least teach us first in a normal way, not trying to kill us!
POV - Jasmine
"Look for her blind spot. Every animatronic has one." Larry hints on a bored tone. I bet he's enjoying watching us run for our lives. As me and my brother run through the walls, I see Mike panicking, running past us hurriedly. What a coward. I still don't understand who let him in, or why. As we turn left, that animatronic is in front of us.
"Find it, hide in it, and strike!" Larry yells as Chica looks around, like she can't see us or something. I think I now understand what the blind spot means. Then, something smells bad. Oh great, Jacob forgot to take a bath again. I wonder if he ever took one.
"Ugh, do you ever bathe?" I ask my dirty brother in a low voice.
"If you don't like it then get your own blind spot." He argues as I push him with my shield, just to get pushed back. I make him face me.
"How about I give you one?" I menace him as I shove him with my head, thing he does back. Then I hear an annoyed grunt. Oh right, the animatronic. Forgot her. We both look at Chica, maybe right on time as she tries to get us.
POV – Mike
How can Jacob and Jasmine be so simple-minded? They almost get caught, although that wouldn't really bother me.
"Blind spot? Yes. Deaf spot? Not so much." Larry says, ending his words on a chuckle. I stop when I'm finally facing him and try to ask him again. Maybe this is not the best moment, but I have nothing to lose.
"Hey- hey, ah, so how would one sneak up on Golden Freddy?"
Larry puts his hand over his front.
"No one's ever met it and lived to tell the tale." He says blankly. "Now get in there!"
I step back at that yell. Jeez, it's so loud. When did Larry learn to shout like that?
"I know, I know. But hypothetically-"
"Mike!" a female voice whispers. I can barely hear it. I turn around and see Astrid and James crouching behind a wall. "Get down!" Astrid whispers as she moves her hand on which she's holding the shield down, gesturing me to get crouch too. I quickly realize why. I have that animatronic in front of me now, trying to find us. Astrid hides within a second, and then summersaults to the other wall. James does the same. I try to follow them, but the weight of the shield makes me fall. And it's then when Chica notices me. I hurriedly get up, almost losing my footing and falling again, before Chica can get me.
POV- Astrid
Chica uses her wings to hop over the walls. When she spots us, she comes down with a hiss. It's now or never. When I'm ready to attack, though, James interferes.
"Don't worry, babe, I got this" he says reliantly, shoving me behind him and throwing his hammer at Chica. He misses awkwardly, as the hammer hits a wall various feet away from the animatronic. She chuckles at his clumsiness.
Wait… Did Chica just chuckle? When did she learn to do that?
"The sun was in my eyes Astrid!" he excuses as I run to the other side of the ring. He follows me. "What do you want me to do? Block the sun? I could do that, I just don't have time right now!" he exclaims, being the persistent guy he always was. He turns to the left while I keep on running straightly. I look behind. Then, I see Chica charging at me at an outstanding speed. I thought the only animatronic capable of running like that was Foxy. I turn abruptly to the side, making Chica hit a wall and knocking it over.
POV – Mike
"It probably takes the daytime off." I say to Larry once more, trying to get answers about Golden Freddy's behavior in case I find him again on the cove. "H- has anybody ever seen it napping or something?" I try to ask as the boys run past me and keep on hitting me on the shoulders.
"Mike!" Larry yells, noticing the walls falling, Chica hoping from one to another and Astrid escaping.
"MIKE!" she screams as she jumps off the last wall and lands on top of me.
"Oh, love in the battlefield!" I hear Jacob scoff. Astrid's axe got stuck on my shield. She tries to get it off without results. She's being a bit over exaggerated with this. Then, we both notice that Chica is charging at us. Astrid tries to grab her axe. I try to help her, but in an instant she rips the shield off my hands, almost ripping them along with it. She also snatches out the shield and hits Chica with fury. Dazed, she walks back to her enclosure.
"Well done Astrid." Larry announces. Astrid faces me, anger and some kind of fear on her expression. "Is this some kind of a joke to you?"
Then, the fear disappears, being replaced with more anger. "Our parents' war is about to become ours; figure out which said you're on".
They all leave, and I start to think about Golden Freddy, once again.
I hurry to the woods, then to the cove. I've brought my shield and my knife, just in case. No one knows when you will be needing those. I hope not to use them anyways. It would ruin my plan. Yes, I'm planning on befriending Golden Freddy. Maybe this will show it I'm not like the others. I look around, but the cove appears to be empty. With the shield in front of me, I walk towards the entrance, when suddenly I can't advance anymore. The shield got stuck between two large boulders. I try to dislodge it, but nothing. I think I just made it worse. I sigh as I crawl over it, and try to pull it out from there. Still nothing. I look with a nervous expression at the cove as I slowly walk around.
Maybe the animatronic left? I don't think so; last time I got very clear it's unable to fly.
As I get deeper into the cove, I hear the sound of little stones falling on the ground. I stop, and look ever so carefully to where the sound came from. I gasp as I jump back. Golden Freddy is over a boulder, observing each of my movements. It comes down the rock and gets in front of me with a menacing look on its face, snarling lowly. But it doesn't attack, just waits for me to do something. I slowly back up a little as I extend my arm.
"I- it's ok, I don't wanna hurt you" I say nervously. Golden Freddy looks to be calmed for a second, but then it looks down and suddenly backs up as it starts growling. My breathing goes faster. I think I know the problem. I search on my pockets and slowly lift up my hand, revealing the knife. I try to grab it, but I barely manage to when Golden Freddy backs up even more in anger and its snarl becomes louder. I gasp again, and reach up for the blade, slowly this time. Holding it next to me, I let it fall.
Not satisfied yet, the animatronic examines the weapon, and flicks its head towards the water. I get the warn, it doesn't want me to be near any weapon. I pick up the knife with my boot and throw it to the lake, not even knowing if this is a good thing to do or not, as now I'm defenseless. Golden Freddy looks at the water, then at me. Its eyes slightly widen. When I thought the reasons to be afraid of it were over by now, it starts advancing on me. It's growling, but not in a menacing way. I back up, my arm still extended.
"Ah, no no, no… I-" on my way, I fall and trip over a rock behind me. Golden Freddy stops just a very few feet away from me. "W- what do you want?" I ask, almost whispering. All of a sudden, it sits in front of me. I just stay there, exhaling in fear, but in confusion at the same time. We keep staring at each other for various seconds. Without knowing what to do, my cheeks swell like I was about to chug as I put together my knees. Golden Freddy slightly tilts its head.
Maybe Golden Freddy is actually male. I don't know, Freddy is, so maybe he is too.
Now I must think of something to tell him that I'm not an enemy and that he can trust me, but without words. Well, of course without words. I doubt the animatronics can understand them, they don't speak after all. So, I just give Golden Freddy a smile. Suddenly, he starts to get very interested on my action as he looks with curiosity at me. He blinks, and starts to smile as well. Slowly, a strange kind of expression forms in his face. I also doubted that the animatronics can smile, till now.
Is Golden Freddy even an animatronic after all? He does things the others can't, and he doesn't move the same way.
My gaze turns from a simple smile to a surprised look. I slowly get up and very carefully extend my arm towards Golden Freddy's snout. Then, his 'smile' disappears and starts to growl. I get nervous for a second, but instead of attacking me on any way, Golden Freddy flies as he can towards the other side of the cove as I watch, amused because of his incredibly not-hostile behavior. Any of the animatronics would have killed me already if I ever tried to touch them, especially Freddy.
I follow him carefully so he doesn't spot me. Golden Freddy lands on the ground in a rough way as he can't fly properly. He looks up at a bird chirping on a tree branch. It flies away, and Golden Freddy watches it with envy. It must be a hard hit for him, seeing that bird flying freely while he's trapped in here. When I'm close to him, the bird flies above me, and that's how Golden Freddy spots me. This wasn't what I had in mind, I wanted to stay unnoticed. But well, I have to take advantage of any chance I get.
So, I just lift up my hand, saying 'hi there' inside. Golden Freddy narrows his eyes in an annoyed way and his ears go down. He turns his back to me, now letting me clearly see the damaged fin. It's completely ripped off, like it was never there. I take two short steps towards him and slowly extend my arm. In less than a second, Golden Freddy looks back at me. I quickly walk away, awkwardly trying to act like I wasn't doing anything.
POV - Anonymous
Annoyed by Mike's persistent attitude, Golden Freddy walks away.
He later wakes up hanging upside-down from a tree branch at almost nighttime. Its eyes suddenly widen when he sees Mike sitting on a rock with a stick on his hand. Curiosity invades Golden Freddy, making him walk towards Mike to see what he's doing.
POV – Mike
I can't still believe I've been here the whole day. Taking aside the thoughts that have been around my mind, I simply start drawing random lines in the mud with a small stick. Suddenly, it occurs to me a great idea: draw Golden Freddy. As I start the drawing, I hear footsteps right behind me. I know it's him, so I act like I didn't notice him and keep drawing. Maybe this will show him I'm not a threat.
POV - Anonymous
Golden Freddy watches the movements of the stick. His ears slightly pull back as he purrs. Golden Freddy looks behind and walks towards a tree branch.
POV – Mike
I hear Golden Freddy walking away. At first I give it no importance, but the sound of a tree branch being ripped off awakens my curiosity. I look over my shoulder, and see the animatronic dragging a branch on its mouth all over the ground. Straight lines, swirls, circles… Every kind of figure. He's definitely drawing something.
Hold on a second. Drawing? The animatronics are intelligent enough to draw?
Golden Freddy stops as he looks at the ground, then at me, then back at the ground, making a dot this time. After this, he continues making random lines around me. He drops the branch and nods at his… creation? When I look around I just see scrabbles all over. But still it's amusing how he 'imitated' me. Wait, if he imitated me, then this mess of lines is supposed to be me?
I start walking around, taking a good look, when Golden Freddy suddenly grunts. I almost jump, and look down, seeing that I stepped on one of the lines of his 'drawing'. I lift my foot up, and Golden Freddy stops his sudden angry expression turns to a smile and its growl turns to a purr.. Just to make sure that's the reason of why he got angry, I step again on the same line. Sure enough, he changes to the same angry expression. I lift up my foot and he turns happy again. Not knowing why, I step on it again, but immediately stop, knowing that annoy Golden Freddy that much could drive me into a problem. This time, I step over the line, and smile at him.
I start walking through the drawing, only looking at the ground to avoid stepping on any other lines. I spin around and around and around, trying not to step on any line of this maze. As I wander awkwardly, I feel a warm stream of air behind me. Slowly, I turn around, seeing that Golden Freddy is behind me, with that expectant look on his face. Its ears twitch very, very slightly and it growls, but not in a menacing way, more like in a calm one. I try to touch him again, but he moves his head away, grunting lowly, but not flying away. I can easily tell he's not sure about this. I finally have to show him that I trust him. And there's only one way to do that. I close my eyes and look away, as I carefully extend my hand and let Golden Freddy do whatever he wants with it.
POV – Anonymous
Golden Freddy's eyes widen at Mike's action as he snorts. He could kill him right now, or just bite off his hand as a payback for his missign fin. After some seconds of thinking, Golden Freddy finally decides to trust the guard. He closes his eyes and puts his snout on Mike's hand.
POV – Mike
I try to avoid looking at Golden Freddy as soon as I feel a warm fur touch in my palm. Carefully, I look back at him. Golden Freddy opens his eyes and slightly backs up, looking at my hand and then at me. I think he's frowning. He closes her eyes and shakes his head, snorting. In a second, Golden Freddy spreads his remaining fin and flies away. I don't even bother looking at him, I just focus on my palm. A million questions wander through my head right now. But there's only one I want to be answered: why did he really trust me?