Dreams and Nightmares
A few hours had passed, the anthrotronics resumed their work after informing Mr. Reynolds of what they had discovered. The manager seemed to barely understand, sometimes coming to the conclusion that the very occurrence of all of this had to be a dream. However, they assured him that it was all real.
A few sets of customers came by the pizzeria as the day went on, the group primarily focused on what was waiting for them. They were truly hoping that none of the nightmares would appear during the work hours, as well. A few of the anthrotronics periodically fell unconscious as well, including Chica, Chira, Freddy, Teddy, and Goldy. Excluding the random decommissioning, things went smoothly until closing time. Once the last customer had left the pizzeria, the group sat around in the dining room. The room was silent, most of their eyes looking toward the entrance of the restaurant. Then, Bonnie decided to break the silence.
"You know, we have a serious habit of scaring ourselves." He said.
Freddy looked over at the purple bunny, "What do you mean by that?"
"We take things and we think that it's worse than it actually is." Bonnie elaborated. "I'm pretty sure we're doing the same with these nightmares too."
"There's nothing wrong with being cautious, Bonnie." Teddy told him.
"There is a thing as being too cautious." Blu added, taking his counterpart's side of the conversation.
"Well, yes, but we're a relatively large family," Said Freddy, "We have to more cautious to protect all of us, do you not agree?" Both bunnies shrugged their shoulders.
"I guess." They said simultaneously.
"Wait, how will I know when they're here?" Benny asked, looking to Shonnie.
"We'll feel it." Answered the shadow bunny, "I best way I can describe the feeling is… like… cold." The dusty gold bunny shivered at the thought of it.
"They sound as though they're the epitome of evil." Kin murmured.
"As bad as some of them can be, they might as well be." Shaddy said with a sigh. The front doors suddenly opened, earning the anthrotronics' attention, finding Mike, Rick, and Thomas in the corridor.
"Hello, you three." Freddy said with a pleasant smile.
"Hey, guys," Mike returned, "Ready for the craziness to start?"
"As we'll ever be, Mikey." Chica hummed, letting out a sigh at the end.
"You guys scared?" Rick asked.
"A little. We don't want it have another puppet incident. As Freddy compared it." Teddy said.
"Yeah, like we our nights haven't been crazy enough." Chira snarled, "We've dealt with a dilapidating bunny, blood hungry shadows, satanic kids, and now nightmares that could turn out to be even more evil than th-" Chira suddenly stopped, holding herself. The others felt it as well. There was a chill in the air. Their eyes looked to the entrance of the restaurant, finding nothing there. Nevertheless, the chill was there. The chill wasn't external, however. It was as if it constantly ran up and down your spine, sending a slight pricks all over your back. It was as if it flowed smoothly through your back and out through your chest. The feeling surrounded them, repeatedly refreshing each second. The entire restaurant was silent. Each of them could almost see their breath in the cool and ominous atmosphere. Freddy suddenly gasped, feeling hands as cold as ice grasping the fur on his back.
"Hey there, friend." A deep growling voice whispered into the bear's ear. Freddy yelped as he hopped up from his seat, backing away from the spot where he found a dark brown bear crazily spike hair pointing in almost random directions. The bear donned an extremely creepy smile, his razor sharp teeth gleaming. The entire group moved away from the nightmare bear, their eyes fearfully locked on him. He laughed gleefully, its voice now seeming less sinister.
"Oh, that was good." The dark brown bear beamed, wiping a tear from his eye with a hand on his belly. "Fear is a powerful emotion, you know? The manner of ways it can be utilized to manipulate others, and the utter petrification it can cause. Simply wonderful!" The Fazbear family was completely silent, almost motionless as they crowded around each other.
"A-are you Nightmare Freddy?" Goldy asked, pointing at the dark brown bear.
"It's not polite to point, golden one." The dark brown bear replied, "And yes, I am indeed Nightmare Freddy. But call me Akumu."
"Akumu…?" Wan repeated in question. "That actually means nightmare in Japanese."
"Does it now? That's interesting." Akumu said, tilting his head, "You learn something new every day. And I've only been alive for twelve minutes."
"A-aren't there more of you…?" Blu asked.
Akumu nodded, "Oh yes, they're-" Akumu stopped to search, the ones he spoke of were nowhere around him. "Guys, please introduce yourselves." Almost instantly, four other nightmarish apparitions appeared by Akumu's side.
"This is all of us." The dark brown bear announced.
"Hehehe, how's it going? Rotar's the name!" Nightmare Bonnie, a deep cobalt blue bunny cackled. He had silver whiskers sprouting from his cheeks and extremely sharp teeth. The sharp teeth was a reoccurring theme between each of the nightmares.
"Oi, I'm Nox." Nightmare Foxy greeted with a two finger salute and large gleaming grin. His accent was slightly different from his normal counterpart, sounding more Australian. He also had an unusually long tongue.
"My name's Chirai." Nightmare Chica introduced herself, resting a hand on her chest. Chirai was a rather animated individual, her hands were constantly moving as she spoke. To Akumu's left was a black bear with orange eyes. He has a rather pleased grin on his face.
"Shutai." The black bear said, lifting his chin a bit, "I'm Nightmare."
"Just Nightmare?" Benny asked. "Not-"
"Yes, just Nightmare." Shutai answered swiftly. The group of nightmares stood before the Fazbear family. They all seemed to have adapted their own style of clothing as well. Akumu donned a loose grey shirt with black flames on the ends and navy blue distressed jeans. Rotar wore a lavender v-neck tee-shirt with a blue bubble vest. Nox wore a white short sleeve shirt with a leather jacket over it and grey sweatpants. Chirai's outfit consisted of a ruffled peach shirt and denim shorts. Shutai was practically shirtless, only wearing a short sleeved jacket with the sleeves ending with jagged points, and black pants that also ended with jagged points. Additionally, they all seemed rather tangible. Each of them possessed their own physical bodies and appearances, just as Shaddy and Shonnie had described. Even down to their figure, physical attributes, and body type, they all seemed so real.
"Uh, I'm just wondering… why are you all… like, all anthropomorphic like us?" Blu implored.
"Simply because you are." Akumu answered, holding his hands out beside him in a rather prideful manner. "If you all were still animatronics, we would be as well."
"Wait, how'd you know we were animatronic before?" Probed Freddy, growing suspicious.
"Cause we retain your memories." Chirai spoke up, walking toward the non spectral anthros. "We technically are you. Just more…"
"Wicked!" Rotar completed the sentence in an excited tone.
"Oi, I just noticed." Nox interrupted, "Where Plushtrap be?"
"Who?" Benny asked, his shoulders dropping as he suddenly lost all types of trepidation toward the Nightmares.
"Plustrap! He was here with us!" Nox answered in a growl, "Where he be!?"
"Quit calling me you crazy fox, I'm right here." A raspy and high pitched voice snarled. Standing at about hip length of the other Nightmares, with the help of his ears, was a small a nightmarish version of Benny. The moment Bonnie saw him, the purple bunny burst into laughter, falling backwards as he clenched his stomach with tears forming in the corners of his eyes.
"What's so funny!?" Plushtrap shouted angrily.
"You!" Bonnie snorted, "You all are supposed to be so freakin scary, and then you come out here! You're about as threatening as a six foot cupcake! Ahahahahaha!" The purple bunny continued to laugh, kicking his feet. Though the others were mostly silent, with the exception of Blu and Goldy, Bonnie laughed as if he had heard the funniest joke imaginable. The purple bunny was laughing so hard he had actually passed gas a couple of times. Bonnie's joyous laughter began to irritate the small rabbit. Plushtrap clenched his fists, preparing to launch himself at the larger bunny.
"Quit laughing at me! I'll rip your eyes from their sockets and shove 'em down your throat!" the small bunny screeched.
"Those are some big threats from someone so small." Chira spoke up, apparently gaining courage and pushing herself to the front, "We could stomp on you, ya little squirt!"
"You want to step up to a Nightmare!? You must have a death wish." Plushtrap snarled, "You must want to die!"
"Oh please, you don't scare me!" Chira retorted, "You barely even come up to my hip, you're so small!"
"Shutai! Akumu! Come on, back me up!" Plushtrap yelled.
"Nah, little guy, we're not fighting your battles." Shutai replied, bending down to the small bunny's height. "But you think you can take this duck?"
"I'M A FREAKIN' CHICKEN! I KNOW YOU KNOW THAT!" Chira screamed. Shutai gave Chira a mischievous toothy grin, his sharp teeth gleaming brightly.
"Anyway, I suppose we will be on our way." Akumu said, sighing as he put his hands in his pockets.
"Where are you all going to go?" Goldy implored, tilting his head as he asked.
"Nowhere in particular. The world is our playground." Akumu answered.
"Aye! We can do whatever we want!" Added Nox, "Jus' like those Shadows!" The deep red fox pointed to Shaddy and Shonnie, the both of them had been silent since the Nightmares had arrived.
"How's it feel knowin' ye can't stop us?" Nox taunted, his massive tail swishing back and forth behind him.
"Don't be so quick to taunt us." Shaddy said calmly, "As long as we're here, you will be limited."
"Oh, you Shadows and your false sense of superiority." Akumu chortled. "We'll allow you to have you fun for now. You all may be the more stable race, but we are much more powerful."
"Power means nothing when you can't control it, Akumu." Shonnie snarled.
The dark brown bear chuckled, "That is true, Shonnie. But what would a weakling like you know about power?"
"Akumu, if you think you're about to start some all out brawl, you are sadly mistaken." Shaddy growled, taking a step forward.
"Hah! Why not!?" Rotar interjected, "There's six of us and only two of you! And it's not like these little normal guys can help you!"
"You're forgetting something very crucial." Shaddy said, pointing to Goldy. The Nightmares all looked toward the golden bear simultaneously, causing Goldy to take a step back out of fear.
"Ooh, a Golden Nightmare." Akumu said with extreme interest enveloping his tone.
"He's not a Nightmare, Akumu!" Shaddy shouted.
"But he isn't a Shadow, either." Akumu retorted, "All he needs is a little… persuasion." Goldy frowned and his behind Freddy, resting his hands on the brown bear's shoulders.
"You won't lay a hand on my brother." Freddy snarled, a glare on his face.
"Oh?" Akumu uttered, arching an eyebrow. Then suddenly, in an instant, Akumu was inches away from Freddy, towering over him like a skyscraper. "What makes you so sure of that?"
Freddy stood his ground, hiding the slight fear in his heart.
"You won't be able to manipulate him, Akumu." Shaddy snarled, "He is a pure souled bear."
"All you need is a little hatred to throw that out of balance, Shaddy." Akumu hummed, his dark red eyes looking straight toward the golden bear. "But, I can wait. It was a pleasure meeting you all!"
"Aww, don't tell me we're leaving!" Rotar complained, dropping his shoulders in disappointment. "But it was just starting to get fun!"
"Don't worry, Rotar. We'll return soon enough." Akumu said, walking off from the others. "In fact… it'll be as if we never left." Shaddy and Shonnie both narrowed their eyes, glaring at the Nightmares.
"Until next time!" Shutai beamed, his sharp teeth gleaming as he gave them all a two finger salute. In an instant, the Nightmares disappeared, leaving not a single trace behind.
"Man… here I was hoping they would be nicer…" Bonnie sighed, lowering his head.
"They're obviously going to be after Goldy." Riomei mused aloud, looking toward the golden bear. Goldy gave the others a worried look, pouting slightly.
"Don't worry, Goldy. We won't allow them to lay a finger on you." Teddy told the golden bear, patting his shoulder.
"Shaddy, Shonnie," Freddy called the two Shadows, "What could the Nightmares want with my brother?"
"Goldy is a powerful being." Shonnie answered, "He may or may not know it, but he alone can be the deciding factor whether or not the Nightmares get what they want. Whatever that may be."
"How powerful is Goldy?" Wan implored, arching an eyebrow.
"Goldy is what's known among us spectral creatures as a Golden Shadow, or Golden Nightmare." Shonnie explained, folding his arms, "He's basically the link between Shadows and Nightmares. He possesses both Shadow-like and Nightmare-like abilities. However, the reason why the Nightmares want him, is because if they can manipulate Goldy, they'll make him recognize his Nightmare side, effectively making him the most dangerous spectral being in the world." Freddy looked at Goldy in shock, surprised to hear that his brother has been a weapon the entire time he's known him.
"But what did Akumu mean about hatred?" Blu asked.
"The Nightmares most likely believe that if they can intensify Goldy's anger and hatred towards humans, they can have him on their side." Shaddy said, "We just can't have Goldy getting mad."
"Oh, tha'd be easy!" Foxy laughed, "Th' foolish gol' bear is never ma'! He be as joyous as a lil' land lubber!" Goldy looked away and giggled softly, finding Foxy's statement funny.
"His happy-go-lucky attitude would make things easier…" Shonnie mused aloud.
"Yeah! We've got nothing to worry about! Especially with me here!" Benny beamed, wrapping his arms around Goldy, "We'll make sure we'll have all the fun in the world, Fredbear!" Shaddy smiled at his Shadow brother, who smirked in return. The family grouped around Goldy, the gold bear giggling and laughing happily. Goldy did like the attention, but his mind slowly began to wander. His anger would be the downfall of the ones he loved. Within him, an inner creature. An inner monster. An inner Nightmare.
"Keep it suppressed," He told himself, "I'll be okay. I'm surrounded by love."
"I'll be okay."
A/N: Whoo! Another TNNaF 2 chapter! It's been a little while, guys! College is hard! Takes up time, yo! But I'm not going anywhere, I'm still writing, drawing, and everything! And finally, the story of TNNaF 2 is moving forward! We're finally getting into the nitty gritty! Things are going to get really fun and interesting! I hope you all enjoy what I have planned~! Leave a review and let me know what you think, would you please~? Thank you kindly! Love you guys! Until next time, live life like an Xplosion! JFlare out!