Chapter 7: See you tomorrow
POV - Mike
It's nighttime. Larry and the rest of the class went to one of the tall towers were we place the bola launchers, so I decide to go with them. Larry is telling the story of how he lost his hand and his leg. Like if I want to hear it. Because I already did, lots and lots of times.
"And in one twist, he took my hand and swallowed it whole!" Larry tells the class in a serious tone to dramatize things a little. "And I saw the look on his face. I was delicious! He must have passed the word, because it wasn't a minute before another one of them took my leg!"
All the boys except me and Astrid let out amazed gasps.
"Isn't weird to think that your hand was inside an animatronic?" Eric asks. "Like if your mind was still in control of it and you could fight it from the inside?"
Okay, what is he talking about? Eric is the brains of the group, but sometimes his theories just don't make any sense. The twins look at him weirdly, like they always do, and Astrid gives him an amazed expression. Amazed because that theory is just ridiculous, of course. She never admired any of Eric's ideas. Neither did I.
"I swear I'm so angry right now!" James grunts. "I'll avenge your beautiful hand and your beautiful foot. I'll chop off the legs of every animatronic I fight." he promises Larry ridiculously. It's not like we can do that anyways. "With my face." he adds, now sounding like an idiot. Oh, wait. He always sounds like an idiot.
"Mmm, mmm, mmm, no" Larry denies. "It's the legs and possibly wings what you want. If it can't move, it can't get away. A downed animatronic is a defeated animatronic."
All the class nod in agreement. Suddenly, something comes across my mind like an arrow. Downed… flight… defeated… Oh no. I realize that if someone gets to the cove and finds Golden Freddy, he'll need help! After this, Larry stands up with a yawn.
"Alright, I'm off to bed. You should be too, tomorrow we get to the big boys. Slowly, but surely making our way off to Freddy. But, who will win the honor of fighting him?" he says as the boys mumble things to each other.
"It's gonna be me!" Jacob says reliantly as I stand up. "It's my destiny, see?" he shows something to the class, but I don't see it as I quietly walk towards the stall.
POV – Astrid
Low footsteps are heard, thing that drives me out of my thoughts for tomorrow's strategy on the arena. I look around, and see Mike running down the stairs. As weird as he is, though, I don't pay any attention to him. I just see where he's going. He must be going to his house, so why bother anyways?
POV – Mike
Without awakening any suspicions, I get to the stall, dissimulating going home just in case any of the guys noticed I was leaving. I walk over the desk and pull out the drawing of Golden Freddy, this time adding the missing fin. This is very important, as I have to make an exact copy of the original fin. It has three metal wires crossing it, so I must make them accordingly. But these also need to be retractable, so I'm going to need some complex parts from the backstage, although I really hate being there.
Now on the dimensions. If I get this wrong, well, everything will be ruined. The fins, as I remember, go from below the arms towards the waist. From there they get wider. The fins also have the form of a bat's wing. Okay, got it. I know how to do that. This is not going to be exactly easy, but hey, I'll have to give it a try. Another thing I must do before getting into the real work is draw a real sized fin so I can get the proper things. To have a better view of the scale, I think on the following: Golden Freddy is as tall as Freddy, so they both are a few feet taller than me. If the fins go from the midsection towards the waist, then they are almost as long as my whole body but without counting the legs. That's it.
Later on I figured that the metal wires that hold the fins and make them open or close need ball-and-socket joints. Not really hard to find. The original fin is mostly made with leather, so I must attach it with the metal bars. That will not be complicated. Then I'll have to model the leather till it has the proper form. Easy, I'll just need some scissors. I've done this before this way.
I modeled the burning metal bars with a hammer and then put them into the water. Carefully I grab the mid one and place it on the general drawing. Perfect. Alright, one done. Now with the others.
After having the wires done, I go for the following step: hold together the joints. For that I'll need some parts of the shields in the armory, mostly the screws. This is going to take a while.
I shape the screws I got from the shields, and afterwards, start fashioning some metal ball bearings. I test their weight, their form, their condition, and after all that, place them on their respective spots.
I get a good sheet of leather in the backstage. This will work perfectly. I cut off any spare area and leave it on the desired form. I sew the leather to itself on either side of each crossing beam. Now this is it. Perfect. I hold the final result in front of me as I look at the general drawing, and nod as I close the fin. The joints move fluidly, I've never been so proud of myself.
It's morning already. Even though I could barely sleep this night, I'm way too anxious to test my new invention that I don't care about it. I hurry to the cove. Goldie, as I decided to nickname him, is in the shore of the lake, attentively staring at something in the water.
What could it be?
I carefully get closer. I see some bubbles in the water, right on the spot Goldie is looking at. I get next to him cautiously. We still haven't made a real bond, and I'm still afraid he can change his mind at any moment. Now I see what that mysterious thing is, just a simple eel. It's there, dead, floating in the surface. I pick it up from the tail and show it to Goldie so he knows what it was. I doubt he's ever seen an eel anyways. As I hold it in front of me, he suddenly makes a desperate hiss as he backs away from the eel. Maybe he did see some.
"No, no, no, no! It's okay." I say, trying to calm him down, as I toss the eel far away from the shore. "Yeah, I don't really like eel much either." I tell him as I clean the water off my hand with my shirt. Goldie shakes his head and closes his eyes. He must want to take a… nap? Really, how many human-like things is he capable of doing? He can smile, he can express real emotions, he can mimic things…
Anyways, he's sleeping, so right now I have a perfect opportunity to test the new fin.
"That's it, that's it… You don't mind me… I'll just be back here, doing my own business…" I whisper as I very, very carefully walk behind Goldie. When I'm close enough to the spot of the missing fin, I put the new one. I just noticed there's some kind of groove, especially made for the fin. Carefully, I engage it. Hey, it actually fits well. Looks like I got the correct measure. What a relief.
POV – Anonymous
Mike turns around and picks up his sketchbook, still holding the tip of the prosthetic fin. Golden Freddy seems to notice the new fin. He makes a test movement with his good fin, and then his eyes widen as he makes a surprised grunt noise. As soon as he finally gets clear that his missing fin is now back on place, the other fin slowly spreads up.
POV – Mike
All of a sudden, I feel being lifted up from the ground in less than a second, screaming as I hold myself to the prosthetic fin. I must've accidentally awakened Goldie, and he must've noticed my action.
"Woah! No no no no!" I scream as I hold to the fin to avoid a rough fall. I look at the prosthesis, but it's flapping in the air uselessly.
Whoops, silly me. Of course, the fin wouldn't move on its own.
Goldie stops in mid air for a brief second, and then he starts falling, the control of his flight being lost again. I manage to reach up for the prosthetic fin and spread it. It seems to work, as Goldie gains altitude just before smashing on the ground.
"Oh my- it's working!" I yell triumphantly. I can't believe this is really working. I'll have to find a way to make the fins have more movements, or else it will just be able to make Goldie fly straightly. I pull up the fin and Goldie turns to the cove. He starts soaring above the water.
"Yes, yes I did it!" I say as I take a good look to my invention. Goldie looks at behind. He does a violent tight turn that sends me off him. I fall so hard to the water that I even bounce like a stone.
POV – Anonymous
Golden Freddy looks behind and sees the prosthetic fin flapping in the air. Without control, he falls directly to the water. From the other side of the lake, Mike yells, "Yeah!" happily, like he just did something to be proud of. In fact, he did.
POV - Mike
"Today, is about teamwork!" Larry shouts as a door opens, spreading grey fog all over the arena. That's just to make things worse. Now that I notice, he didn't tell us which animatronic we're learning to fight now.
"Foxy is extra tricky. One wrong choice, and you'll manage to get him angry. His right eye is very fragile. As soon as you see him with his eye patch lifted up, use your buckets!" he tells us. Foxy? Already? So soon? Isn't this going to be way too dangerous? Me and Eric walk in circles with buckets full of water on our hands as we lose visual contact with the rest, thanks to that annoying fog.
"Razor-sharp, serrated teeth that you must have in mind. Prefers ambush attack, attacking his victims-" Eric starts, thing that's actually scaring me.
"Could you please stop that?" I snap tensely. From an unknown part of the ring, I hear James's voice.
POV – James
This stupid fog made me and Jacob lose sight of the others. "If that fox shows his face" I say, "I'm gonna- there!"
As soon as I see a figure which appears to have pointy ears, me and Jacob throw the water off our buckets to it. I hear a scream, but it sounds like Astrid and Jasmine's.
"It's us, idiots!" Jasmine says annoyed, appearing from inside the fog cloud. Oh, it was just her cap.
"Your butts are getting bigger. We thought you were an animatronic." Jacob teases, chuckling.
"Not that there's anything wrong… with such figure-" Suddenly Astrid punches me on the face, and Jacob's sister throws him her bucket. Then, he's pulled into the fog as he screams like a crybaby. I also hear snarls.
"Wait!" Astrid says to Jasmine when she tries to follow her brother. Suddenly, both of them get tripped by a furry red tail.
POV – Mike
Jacob suddenly appears running away from the fog, knocking over his sister.
"I am hurt! I am very much hurt!" he shouts, terrified.
"Chances of survival are dwindling into single digits now." Eric mutters. Right in front both of us, Foxy appears, snarling. He comes closer to Eric, who's trembling in panic. He throws Foxy the water in his bucket, but I don't know why he did it while the eye patch wasn't lifted up. Foxy starts to snarl lowly as the patch now lifts up.
"Oh, heh, wrong moment." Eric mutters nervously, only to get roared in the face. He screams and runs away to whoever knows where.
"Eric!" Larry yells as he listens at Eric's girly scream. After scaring him off, Foxy turns his attention on the only target nearby, me.
"Now, Mike!" Larry shouts. I empty the bucket, but the water falls not even a meter away from me.
"Oh, come on" I mutter. Will something ever go the way I planned it to? Foxy roars at me and I trip thanks to this extremely annoying wet floor.
"Mike!" Larry yells worriedly, trying to warn me. But looks like is not necessary. Foxy notices the eel hidden behind my coat, and starts to back up, either terrified or disgusted. I'm guessing animatronics do not like eels.
"Back! Back!" I shout, acting like the animatronic was afraid of me. I keep making him back up till he's again behind the door. "Don't make me tell you again. Yes, that's right. Back in your cage."
Making sure no one notices, I grab the eel and throw it next to Foxy. "Now think about what you've done" Said this, I close the door. When I turn around, everyone, even Larry, stare at me mouth-opened. Eric even lets his bucket fall. "So… are we done? Cause I have some things I've got to… yep, s- see you tomorrow!" I say as I get out the arena.
In the stall, I make a stronger support for the new fin so it stays on its respective place.
Back in the cove, I show Goldie the supports. But by knowing him, he's not going to put it easy. Goldie starts running from one side to the cove to another, making happy noises as I try to reach for him.
The first attempt on riding Goldie is not really working. I attached a rope to the fin so I can move it manually without having to be clutching on it. I lift up the rope, but the fin makes a strange movement and makes us both fall.
I tie on my foot a stronger rope from a bola. This might work. I attach it to the fin and start flying above a grassy field. Goldie is going really fast and I'm not able to put the fin in the correct position on time, and we both crash into the grass. I hear a purring sound, and so I look where Goldie fell. I see him rolling on the ground, apparently enjoying the touch of the grass. I take a handful of it.
In the arena we are fighting against Bonnie again. He pushes away one of the guys, I did not notice who as I was centered of the handful of grass I took yesterday. Bonnie glares at me and runs towards me. Looking away, I extend the arm with the grass. The animatronic suddenly looks to be calmed and happy. I stroke the handful of grass on his snout, and the at-first-aggressive-rabbit is now a happy animatronic in a complete state of bliss.
I walk over the walkway that conducts to the ring, being questioned over and over again by the teens.
"Oh I left my axe back in the ring." I say as an excuse as I turn around, pretending to go to the arena. I pass right in front of Astrid. "You guys go ahead; I'll catch up with you!"
I start scratching Goldie's back on the spot where I was. After finding a 'special' spot near his neck, her eyes widen and he stumbles to the ground in pure satisfaction. I look at my hand and smile.
In the arena, we are pit against Chica once again, but this time without the walls. Astrid tries to attack her with her axe, but Chica reacts quickly and throws the weapon away. She runs towards me, but she stops. I must be on the blind spot. Suddenly, I hear a battle scream. Astrid charges back towards Chica, and I proceed to scratch that special spot. She gets Goldie's same reaction, and Astrid, with her axe lifted up, stares at me, exhaling in anger.
In the dining room, I sit on the table I always sit on. But this time, my class and other workers surround me, asking me questions again. All but Astrid, who hits her drink against the table.
After a whole day being bombarded with questions, I go back to the cove. My hammer reflects a white light on the ground, which Goldie chases and playfully tries to catch.
"There goes Foxy again." Larry says, as he opens the door. Jacob laughs.
"Ha! We already-"
All of a sudden, Foxy knocks him over with an annoyed growl. To prevent a serious attack this time, I use the light trick with my shield to drive the fox away from Jacob.
"I am hurt! I am very much hurt!" he screams in pain. Foxy chases the light and gets back to the enclosure.
"Wow, he's better than you ever were." Jacob says to Astrid while standing up.
POV – Astrid
I went to the woods to be alone for a time. I just keep throwing my axe to every single tree I see in pure anger. When I'm about to throw it again, I see Mike staring nervously at me. He's wearing an odd harness instead of his guard uniform, and carrying some stuff on his hands. He quickly walks away as I follow him. I peek over a rock, but he disappeared. Where did he go?, I thought, hitting the rock with my fist.
POV – Mike
I tied Goldie with a rope to a stump to practice the flight without falling. On his back again, I move the rope attached to the prosthesis to try the different positions and their effects. I draw each one on a cheat sheet as Goldie lands carefully. After having it done, he spreads his good fin and soars again, but a sudden strong wind makes us both fly back and crash, as it untied the rope. Talking about ropes, the one that attached me to Goldie cannot be untied.
"Oh, great." I mutter.
At nighttime, Goldie and me sneak up around the restaurant's surroundings. Goldie hides behind a house as another night guard passes by and greets me. I smile and wave. Right then, we both enter Larry's stall. Making sure no one is there, I enter. I hear the sound of something falling to the ground, so Goldie must have knocked something over. While I'm trying to untie the rope, I hear Astrid's voice from the outside.
"Mike? Are you in there?" she asks.
I burst out the window, the rope still attached to Goldie, but I try to dissimulate it. "Astrid, hey! Hi, Astrid, hi Astrid, hi Astrid." I say awkwardly.
"I normally don't care what people do, but you're acting weird." she points out. Goldie pulls me back with the rope.
"Well… weird-er…" she continues.
Then, Goldie starts to lift me up from the ground, then pulls me inside the window. Right before Astrid could see us, I carefully perch over Goldie's back and fly away being unnoticed.