Remember the Withered Animatronics? In Chapter 16, they woke up. Well, in this chapter... that's right... we're going back to the Original Four. Chapters 11-19 were the most fun I've had in this story (The Puppet and Circus Baby are my Top 2 favorite animatronics, so I enjoyed writing their parts), but now it's time to go "back to basics."
Enjoy.
I'd like to thank Shade552 for reviewing the previous chapter.
To Shade552: No need to worry about pulling a MatPat (the man is the reason I became a FNaF fan after all). I appreciate that you are sharing your analysis of the conflict between The Puppet and Nightmarionne, as well as The Puppet's conflict within herself and with the rest of Faztopia. It's fascinating how you're looking into this story and it even helps me look at my own story from a slightly different perspective. My favorite part of your essay is how you interpret Nightmarionne's line of "I am you."
The harsh dusty storm on top of Snow-Dust Mountains is eternal and eternally unforgiving. The cold dust particles raining down the mountain peaks have no mercy on any animatronic foolish enough to come here. You would have to be either very powerful or be retooled for the cold if you even think about venturing here. Unfortunately, four animatronics were left to freeze and rot on top of the tallest of the three mountains. Freddy. Bonnie. Chica. Foxy. The four main faces of the Freddy Fazbear's franchise are broken and freezing.
Fortunately, they turned back on, meaning their icy fate may not be sealed. Slowly but surely, their servos start to move and their heads start to turn. Picking themselves up and standing on their two feet were not easy, especially in this frigid weather. They see a cave behind them, so that's where they start to walk towards to. Their legs barely work and the snow is knee-high, but their determination to get out of the cold allows them to survive a 25-foot walk into the cave.
The four withered animatronics stop as soon as they make it inside. It's still cold, but at least they're not being pelted by an endless rain of dust particles.
"What... What happened? How did we-we-we-we get here?" Freddy wondered as his voice glitched.
"Freddy, is your voice glitch-itch-gli-glitching out?" Foxy asked. His voice glitched, too.
"I can say the sa-sa-same-same for you, Foxy," said Freddy. "No offense, Foxy, but you look terrible."
Foxy sees the tears on his chest, arms, and lower body. He touches his left ear and feels the metal - no fur attached to it. He can also feel a tear above his one good eye. He's relieved he still has his one good eye.
"Well, I can say the same for you, Freddy. You in as bad shape as I am," said Foxy.
Freddy looked at himself. He couldn't deny Foxy's words. The exposed endoskeleton through the tears on his fur, the freezing but rusting exterior, it brings back bad memories. This isn't the first time he's felt like this.
"My fur feels both rusty and chilly. How is that possible?" Freddy asked.
"Your metal bones be freezing, too? I feel like they're gonna shatter like ice," said Foxy.
"Uh, guys... why can't I move my beak?" asked Chica. "Why can't I feel my hands? And where's my cupcake?"
Freddy and Foxy's eyes widened with surprise. This is the first time they got a clear look at Chica. What they see now is... unsettling. Her head is ripped half open, exposing her animatronic teeth. When she talks, her beak doesn't move. It's fixed open. Only her metal teeth move.
Chica tries to move her arms to touch her beak, but her arms won't bend. They're stretched out and stuck like that. She can only move it up and down, and that's it. Not only that, but her hands are missing. A bunch of wires stick out and dangle from her wrists. This feels familiar. Chica suddenly realizes what she must look like.
"No, no, not again," Chica panicked.
"It's gonna be fine, Chica," said Bonnie.
"Fine? Bonnie, look at yourself. You have no face," said Chica.
"Wait, what?" Bonnie reacted.
Bonnie touches his face with his right arm. He can't feel his face. His nose. His eyes. He can't feel them. All he can feel are his lower teeth and primary throat pipe. He tries to double-check with his left hand, only to see that half his left arm is gone.
"No. No! My face! Why?!" Bonnie cried.
"Bonnie, calm down," said Freddy.
"Calm down?! My face is gone! Again!" Bonnie shouted. "Why does this always happen to me?"
"What in the name of Davy Jones happened to us?" Foxy asked curiously. "We were fighting Springtrap and that Nightmare Freddy..."
"Nightmare," Bonnie corrected.
"Whatever," said Foxy. "And now we're here in the mountains, all broken up. It all happened in the blink of an eye."
"Think, guys. What was the last thing you remember seeing before blacking out?" asked Freddy.
"I... I saw a face," Bonnie described.
"Black and white. Those eyes... terrifying," Chica remembered but vaguely.
"The worst jumpscare in my entire life," Foxy commented.
"It looked like The Puppet, but it wasn't," Freddy added. "No way she would do this to us. It must be a Nightmare Puppet or something."
"Well, I don't care who it was. He or she is gonna pay for taking my face," said Bonnie.
"Whoa, Bonnie. Never pegged ye for the revenge type," said Foxy.
"Look into my eye, Foxy. Look at it," Bonnie dared.
Bonnie steps closer towards Foxy, grabs the fox by the throat with his one hand, and forces him to look. "Look into my eye," said the bunny. That's the thing, though. He has no eyes. All Foxy can see are two red glowing dots where Bonnie's eyes should be. They're staring right into his soul. There's just something about those two little red dots that feel so unnerving to stare at.
"Okay, I get the message," said Foxy.
"Bonnie, please, let him go," Freddy pleaded.
Bonnie lets go of Foxy and walks away. He doesn't want anyone look at him.
"Look, no matter what happened to us, we're still alive. That's what's important. Right now, we just need to get down this mountain and back to Fazbear Woods so we can get repaired," said Freddy. "Simple, right?"
"I hope so," said Chica. "I hate looking like this."
"Shall we move now or warm up?" asked Foxy.
"We got rocks everywhere, but we need to light them up," said Freddy.
Foxy picks up as many rocks as he can and piles them up. Freddy takes two rocks and rubs them together, trying to start a fire. Unfortunately, these aren't the rocks for that. Just as Freddy was about to get mad, a "pew" sound followed by the sound of the wall getting hit by something makes everyone stop and look.
Bonnie is standing there. The wall in front of him had a burning hole drilled into it, as if it was blasted or something.
"Bonnie, what did you do?" asked Chica.
"I don't know. I was just standing here being angry when, all of a sudden, something red comes out of my eye and hits the wall. It was like a laser beam or something," Bonnie answered. "Wait, let me try that again."
Bonnie concentrates on the wall. He concentrates very hard. Nothing happened, though.
"Get angrier, mate," said Foxy.
"I'm trying," said Bonnie.
"Well, not hard enough, No-Face," Foxy insulted.
Angered by the jab at his poor condition, a beams of laser come out of Bonnie's eye and hits the wall. This one was noticeably stronger than the first one, as it left an even bigger mark on the wall.
"Whoa," said Foxy. "Well, now let's..."
Bonnie suddenly turns around and fires another eye beam. It looks like he was targeting Foxy, but the beam hits the rocks, igniting them. Bonnie then does a "I'm warning/watching you" gesture.
"Okay, guys. Let's all just sit here and melt the ice from our joints," said Freddy. "Let's give it an hour and then we'll move."
Everyone sits around the fire, letting the heat warm up their exteriors and interiors. The cold really messed them up and they're in bad enough shape as it is. Bonnie and Chica, though, feel way worse than Freddy and Foxy. That's because they actually look in way worse shape than the fox and the bear. Chica tries to pat Bonnie on the shoulder for comfort, but it's difficult without hands. And it's hard to tell if he appreciates it or not because he has no eyes and no face. Even Bonnie can tell that Chica is weirded out looking at him right now.
The four got so bored that they almost fell asleep, but the flashing image of this nightmarish Puppet keeps scaring them awake. They have no recovered from the jumpscare. They can barely remember how they felt. A terrifying face obscured their view, scared them literally stiff, and forced their systems to shut down. Next thing they knew, they're here on the mountains, broken. But that face... that face... even staring into the fire can't wipe that nightmarish image from their minds.
Over an hour later, the Original Four put out the fire and try to find a way down the mountain. There's a passageway that takes them to lower areas, so that's where they go. Chica notices that Bonnie is lagging behind. She turns around and sees the faceless bunny looking at his reflection via ice on the wall. It's not hard to tell that he's lamenting about his face again. Chica walks back and checks on her blue friend.
"Remember the first time we were like this?" asked Bonnie.
"I do. It was terrible," said Chica. "Not being able to close my mouth. Not being able to grab or hold anything. I felt so broken."
"At least you still have your face," said Bonnie. "I'm seeing red, Chica. Literal red. Everything is red. I see no other color."
It hurts Chica to see Bonnie like this. He's usually so chill yet so energetic, like a classic musician. But being in this withered state brings out the worst in him. It's not like she can blame him, though.
"It could be worse," said Chica. "We could've been completely scrapped."
"I guess," said Bonnie. "But I hate knowing I look like this. It makes me feel... I don't know, Chica. What else can I say? Empty? Especially without my guitar."
"Nothing we can do but keeping moving," said Chica. "We'll get ourselves home soon and we'll be fixed. Keep thinking that and we'll be fine."
"Thanks, Chica," said Bonnie. "I'm sorry if I've been cranky."
"If it makes it better, I feel cranky, too," said Chica. "Forget not being able to eat pizza. I can't even make one with these hands. And I'm really worried about my cupcake. What if he didn't make it?"
"Uh, guys," Freddy called.
"What is it?" asked Bonnie.
"I think we're stuck," said Freddy. "There's nothing in this cave. No secret passage. Nothing behind this huge pile of snow. Nothing under these rocks. We're stuck up here."
"Then what are we supposed to do?" asked Chica.
"How about die?" An echoey nightmare-inducing voice said.
The Original Four looks towards the cave exit, where the voice originated. Walking out of the cold and into the cave with them are four Nightmare Animatronics. Four Nightmare Animatronics that look like the Original Four.
The actual Nightmare Freddy doesn't have just sharp claws and sharp teeth. This nightmarish bear appears to be accompanied by doll-sized Freddy-like creatures that cling to his body like a baby to a parent.
If a faceless Bonnie is an unnerving sight, Nightmare Bonnie will haunt your nightmares for the rest of your childhood, if not your entire life. Shining white claws and a huge tear on his chest showing his rusty endoskeleton add to the scare factor.
Nightmare Chica's teeth are scary sharp while her claws are a terrifying black. She carries a cupcake with her, which also has sharp teeth, as well as a very angry look in its eyes, unsettling the withered Chica.
Nightmare Foxy doesn't look too different from the now withered Foxy. Aside from the sharp claws and his right ear being the one missing fur, the skin on Nightmare Foxy's snout is ripped off, exposing the metal bones that make up the snout.
"Look at them. Still in order," said Nightmare Foxy.
"The new boss sure left them in bad shape, but not bad enough," said Nightmare Bonnie.
"Well, that's why we're here. To make sure the job is finished," said Nightmare Chica.
"Let me just say, Freddy Fazbear. You and your friends deserve a bit of commendation for destroying our lord and master," said Nightmare Freddy.
"What? We didn't kill Nightmare," said Freddy. "Did we?"
"Ah, yes. Nightmarionne dismantled you before you could witness Nightmare's end," Nightmare Freddy remembered what he was told.
"Nightmarionne? Who's Nightmarionne?" asked Chica.
"The Nightmare puppet we saw, I presume," Foxy guessed.
"Well, too bad our faces will be the last things you see," said Nightmare Foxy.
Nightmare Foxy reaches behind his back and pulls out...
"My Bomb Byte!" Foxy recognized.
"It's mine now," said Nightmare Foxy.
Nightmare Foxy throws the Bomb Byte at the four Withered Animatronics. The four manage to jump out of the way as the Bomb Byte explodes. Chica gets caught in the blast and lands into Foxy.
"You wanna jam it down with us? Let's do this then," Bonnie dared.
"Wow, who thought losing a face would make ye the opposite of a wimp?" Foxy commented.
"I'm gonna bite your head off if you say that," Chica threatened.
"One on one, guys," Freddy ordered. "Forget about how broken down we are. We can still fight. Go!"
Freddy runs towards Nightmare Freddy, who sends his three "children" - Freddles - towards the withered bear. The Freddles jump on Freddy and start scratching him, leaving scratch marks on his fur. Freddy uses his mic, which he still has, to whack the Freddles off of him one by one. Unfortunately, Freddy gets hit by a laser blast from a Wasp Byte, which Nightmare Freddy used. While Freddy is too busy shielding himself from the lasers, Nightmare Freddy runs up to him and slashes him across the face with his claws.
"These Bytes are true wonders," said Nightmare Freddy.
"This is not fair," said Freddy.
Nightmare Bonnie is slashing at Bonnie, ferociously trying to break the withered bunny apart even more. Bonnie steps back repeatedly to dodge Nightmare Bonnie's claws. Nightmare Bonnie roars, sending a dark circular projectile at Bonnie. The pizza-shaped dark projectile sends Bonnie flying until he hit the wall. Despite sitting down, Bonnie counters with laser beams from his eyes. Nightmare Bonnie gets hit four times by his opponent's searing hot laser beams. Nightmare Bonnie takes out the Shield Byte to defend himself.
"Hey, that's mine!" Bonnie reacted.
"You want it? Stop cowering in the distance and come get it," Nightmare Bonnie taunted.
Nightmare Chica uses her Nightmare Cupcake to cast dark spells in the form of dark energy beams, damaging Chica further. Chica can't counter in any way because she doesn't have her magical cupcake. As if by miracle, Chica gets blasted and lands on her backside, splashing a bit of snow, allowing to see a candle sticking out of the white stuff. It's her cupcake! Without hands, Chica simply taps her cupcake with her upper beak, summoning a cupcake. Chica bats the cupcake with her arm like a baseball bat, hitting Nightmare Chica straight in the face. However, Nightmare Chica heals herself with a Health Byte.
"At least I found you, Cupcake," Chica said with relief.
"Throw whatever you have. I'll just heal up faster than you can move," said Nightmare Chica.
Foxy and Nightmare Foxy are having a hook-on-hook sword battle. Foxy is only half as fast and half as strong as he was before the infamous jumpscare, allowing the much more ferocious Nightmare Foxy to gain an advantage. Nightmare Foxy digs his hook into Foxy's shoulder and scratches the endoskeleton underneath. Nightmare Foxy reaches for the Bomb Byte and shoves it in Foxy's mouth, intending on blowing him up.
"Have fun blowing up, matey," Nightmare Foxy taunted.
Foxy manages to pull the Byte out of his mouth and throw it up in time. The resulting explosion of the Bomb Byte affects everyone in the battle. Unfortunately for the Nightmares, this explosion caused them to drop their Bytes.
"Get your booty back, quick!" Foxy yelled. He referred to the Bytes.
Freddy gets back his Wasp Byte. Bonnie gets back his Shield Byte. Chica gets back her Health Byte, as well as her cupcake, who stands on her shoulder. Foxy gets his Bomb Byte back.
"Now it's a fair fight," said Bonnie.
"Perhaps, but let's see you use them in a place where all hope is lost," Nightmare Freddy replied.
Nightmare Bonnie takes out his inter-realm transporter and prepares to push the button.
"Oh, no, you don't," said Foxy.
Foxy uses his Bomb Byte again, which explodes and blows back the Nightmare Animatronics. Nightmare Bonnie ends up throwing the device up high. As if by the opposite of luck, the device falls on a rock and breaks. The breaking of the device does open a dark portal... right next to the Withered Animatronics. The device sucks them in like a black hole and then closes immediately.
"Darn," Nightmare Freddy cursed. "The device is broken."
"Not only that, but there is no way off this mountain, which means we can't use the other way back home," said Nightmare Bonnie.
"We wait then," said Nightmare Freddy. "The Phantoms are here. Their ghostly forms give them better survival chances in the cold."
"Ah, so when they find us, we use them to get off this blasted mountain," said Nightmare Foxy.
"What about our counterparts?" asked Nightmare Chica.
"They will not survive the Nightmare Realm," said Nightmare Freddy.
Freddy, Bonnie, Chica, and Foxy have been floating... or falling... through a dark void for several seconds already. That was until they see another portal in their path. They float/fall into it and end up falling on their faces/backs. Freddy gets up first and helps his friends get up on their feet. It was easy to help Bonnie and Foxy, but Chica's lack of hands and arm movement made it difficult to help her. The first thing the four animatronics notice is the dirt that they fell on. The ground is dusty, lifeless, and feels like it's made of tiny particles of rust or coal.
"Where are we?" asked Foxy.
"Somewhere where there's a storm incoming," said Chica.
The four Withered Animatronics look up. The sky is dark. Thunder roars like a beast. Lightning bolts and flashes that startle you every time you see them. Bats screeching. Crowns cawing. The four stop looking up and notice that the area around them just feels... dead. No green grass, not even withering or dying grass. Leafless trees - brown or white bark. Holes in the ground that appear like graves. Unmarked gravestones everywhere.
"We're not where I think we are, are we?" Bonnie asked with dread.
"We're here, guys," said Freddy. "The Nightmare Realm."
I hope you're excited for the next chapter, because I am. The Original Four (or Withered Four) are now in the Nightmare Realm. Be sure to stay tuned, because I have something special for the next chapter.
...
Notes/Explanations:
1. I realized that I haven't utilized the Bytes enough in this story. The only time the Original Four used them in this story was during their squabble with Funtime Freddy, Funtime Foxy, the Bidybabs, and Minireenas. I guess I was too focused on big stuff like Springtrap, Nightmare, and the Nightmarionne. I'll try to utilize the Bytes more in future chapters.
2. I had to add that dramatic scene with Bonnie and Chica because, let's be honest, they're the most damaged among the Withered Animatronics. I mean, Freddy and Foxy are in bad shape, but Bonnie has no face and Chica's jaw is messed up. And yeah, I intended for Bonnie to be a little more aggressive because of what happened to him. Adds another layer to his personality other than just being a rock hard musician.