Hello? Hello? If you're reading this, you made it to chapter three, congrats!
It's been quite a while since the last update, so here's some responses before we jump right in!
Comicmaker21: Don't worry! I'll see this through to the end! No matter how long that takes..!
Aiko and Mia Afton: A night with Circus Baby? Stay tuned!
Guest (Adam C. Evers): You know, it would indeed be incredibly interesting if Sonic had been trapped with Tails instead of Eggman, and it would really change up the whole team dynamic! With regards to Springtrap and Afton, stay tuned! And yep, FNaF is pretty great!
In addition, a quick note to clear up any future confusion: Animatronics may be referred to as "it" along with their designated gender (he/she)
Anyhow, enjoy the story!
Dr. Ivo Robotnik beheld the small grey tablet with a pensive expression as his eyes scanned over the selection screen of characters.
"Are ya gonna hurry up, doc?" asked Sonic, yawning. The blasted rodent had decided to stay inside for the rest of their "grace period"- having evidently learned from the time he'd been shut out.
"Hush, you." stated the roboticist, pressing on a picture of a grinning rabbit whose tattered fur was likely once yellow but was now a sickly shade of green. Its mouth was slightly open, revealing what Eggman sincerely hoped was just an endoskeleton head. The interface apparently referred to the thing as "Springtrap".
Supposedly this machine was supposed to approach from the vents, with the only sign of its entry being his glowing white eyes.
Eggman set its difficulty level up to precisely ten, and did a double take when he found another character near the end of the roster who looked almost exactly like the rabbit he just picked, albeit with a different jaw and muzzle structure. A quick tap revealed that the interface simply called that thing "Afton", however.
At that, the egg-shaped scientist furrowed his brow in thought. Why did they look so similar? Were they two units in a single line of automations, perhaps?
It wasn't impossible, he figured, remembering the different Sonic robots he'd made over the years and the consecutive improvements and design changes he'd made to each one.
This one rushed into the office from the side vent, but, unlike it's seeming predecessor, Afton only attacked once. At that, Robotnik switched it up to twenty, figuring that Sonic's reactions would be quick enough to deal with that corpse-like rabbit. Plus, points were apparently very important here, although he didn't quite know why yet.
At the thought of the hedgehog, Ivo smiled wickedly to himself. Oh, he had something for that cerulean menace.
Tapping on the black, toothy bear he'd seen earlier- "Nightmare", it was called, the human set it to twenty. Looking at the equally teeth-filled and dangerous-looking golden bear beside it- "Nightmare Fredbear", Eggman set it to twenty as well. Boy, the hedgehog was going to be in for quite a surprise when he decided to rush out of the office again.
Looking at what appeared to be an orange chicken with yellowish lights glowing from its eyes and insides, "Jack-O-Chica", the roboticist read up on its description.
If the temperature was high, the chicken would somehow appear in both hallways at the same time, requiring you to reduce the temperature and then shut both of the doorways.
Eggman set the creature to five. It wouldn't be an issue as long was the office temperature was cool enough.
The scientist then activated what appeared to be a humanoid robot with red ponytails, one of the brown top-hat bears they had dealt with last night, a snarling grizzly that was flanked by what appeared to be smaller duplicates of itself, and a yellow bird whose mouth was forced open in a silent scream, showing off its unsettling second set of teeth. These animatronics were "Circus Baby", "Freddy Fazbear", "Nightmare Freddy", and "Withered Chica", respectively.
Looking at his handiwork for a minute, the scientist nodded in approval before pressing "GO".
"Get into high gear, rodent. It's time."
Sonic perked up from his spot at the corner, getting to his feet instantly. "What are we dealing with here, doc?"
"Stick to the side vent. Someone's going to approach from that point any second now."
The hedgehog just huffed in token rebelliousness before standing next to the aforementioned vent.
"Try not to take my head off this time, Egghead." he stated, rubbing the underside of his nose and smirking.
With great effort, the doctor ignored that remark, flipping through the cameras as he collected the chip-like objects with the letter "F" etched on them.
"These must be the 'Faz-Coins' the interface talked about." he muttered to himself.
If Sonic heard that, he didn't show it.
"This is too easy." remarked Sonic, arms folded behind his head as he made himself comfortable at his post. Besides Freddy trying to get them a good few times and the bear's nightmarish version sending its children to the office on several occasions, the first hour was very uneventful. "You sure you didn't set them too low, Egghead?"
"Not everyone is a thrill-seeking adrenaline junkie, pincushion!" Robotnik snapped. The rodent was disrupting his concentration, and he needed to buy Circus Baby's toy immediately, seeing as the humanoid machine was standing right in the hallway.
"Chill out, Eggy, it was just a question."
"How can you be so laidback now, hedgehog?!"
"It's a natural talent." he shot back, smirking now. The human growled.
"I have schemes to conduct, and I can't do that as long as I am stuck here with the likes of you!"
A mocking, malice-filled laugh could be heard across the room.
Robotnik's moustache flared and the human was about to wring the pincushion's neck, trapped or not, when he suddenly realized..
That laughter was too low and deep to be of Sonic's voice.
The two exchanged wide-eyed glances before turning to one of the doorways.
In that dark abyss were two hate-filled, blood-red orbs staring back at them.
"I'll deal with it!" Sonic spoke surely, hopping up and approaching the right-hand doorway.
The hedgehog made to tap the button when, out of the corner of his eye, the gaze of the murderous machine sharpened, if that were possible.
That was all the hedgehog needed to hop out of the way with a slight yelp as a set of sickle-like claws swiped at the area his head had been.
Not willing to risk another attack- for that swipe surely would have torn his head open if it had landed, Sonic slammed his hand on the button to shut the door. A thud and suprisingly light footsteps indicated that it was gone.
Behind the rodent, Eggman finally bought the plush toy for Baby and got up, slamming the door on another pair of eyes, this time at the left hallway. A thud was heard, with a second one occuring a few seconds later which was most likely Freddy Fazbear's attempt to capitalize on the situation.
'Quite a shame that it didn't get that pincushion,' thought Ivo, turning off the fan to save power, 'But I unfortunately still need him alive for now.'
Eggman watched the vent systems as the animatronics made their move throughout the area. Withered Chica ambled around the vents and into a block he had set, which caused the surely frustrated chicken to quickly retreat. As for Springtrap...
Wait.
Where is Springtrap?
"Woah, easy there, gruesome!" came the voice of Sonic. The slightly panicked overtones in his voice caused the human to pull down the camera to see what was going on.
The hedgehog was standing on the desk, staring at the vent. In the hole that was the higher vent was pair of white eyes and rabbit ears.
How Springtrap had managed to get its entire head through the vent without any of the two captives noticing was beyond them.
The human opted to let the hedgehog handle this, grabbing a flashlight and using it to scare off the small bears which hitherto were screeching on the table.
"This is a murder-free zone! We're gonna need you to head back, buddy!" quipped the rodent.
Springtrap turned to each side, sizing up the hedgehog-human duo with more sapient intelligence than the human previously thought these things posessed. After a bit, the rabbit stopped and let out a sickening squelching noise that they may have construed to be a mirthful chuckle.
Eggman might have relaxed if not for the fact that he now had the impression that the thing was now murderously grinning at them.
Then it opened its jaw wide and let out the most grating noise any of them had ever heard.
Both Eggman and Sonic yelped and covered their ears as it continued to let out the loud, mechanical noise.
As the two writhed in pain at the ear-splitting sound, Robotnik just managed to crane his head up to look at the thing.
Springtrap's upper and lower jaws were wide open, revealing reddish, decayed skin, bulging eyes and a speared open mouth with only a few teeth remaining.
No doubt, what they were looking at was the head of a mummified corpse.
Even worse was the fact that the green abomination was shuffling and moving ever so swiftly whilst still belting out the horrific sound. He had just gotten his neck out and Robotnik though he could see the rabbit's shoulders starting to emerge.
Sonic had fallen off of the table and was practically incapacitated- the rodent's keener hearing meant he was going through more pain than the doctor, so the supervillain knew he would have to think fast or this would get very, very bad.
The human frantically looked around as Springtrap began to heave it's upper torso out of the vent hole. What was he to do?
At that point, he zeroed in on the Freddy mask sitting neatly on the table. If he threw it hard enough, perhaps he could trigger the button!
Removing a hand from his ear and wincing at the burst of pain, Dr. Eggman picked up the mask and hurled it towards the button with as much force as he could.
Fortunately, this indeed triggered the button and Springtrap barely managed to avoid getting its head cut off as it swiftly drew back.
One last thud was heard, and then the sound of metal on metal and further squelching as the decrepit bunny crawled away.
"Ugh..." stated Sonic, ears ringing as he slowly got up. "Did anyone.. get the number of that robot?"
Robotnik collapsed on the office chair in relief. For once, the roboticist could sympathise with his nemesis. That horrid sound had inflicted physical pain on the both of them, and his ears were still ringing.
Eggman wiped the sweat off his brow then checked the camera and switched the displayed feed to that of the left hallway.
Freddy was fairly close, but there was also something else.
Ivo could make out the faint outline of an orange chicken, fading in slowly but surely.
"Drat! The temperature's too high!" He exclaimed, turning on the fan.
As soon as his finger pressed the button, the lights began to wildly flicker.
A frantic clanging noise could be heard, indicating that something was coming towards them, and it was coming in fast.
"Sonic-"
"On it!" exclaimed the rodent, kicking the side vent button. There was the briefest flash of green just before the door slammed shut.
A loud thud was heard.
"You actually did it." That pincushion actually listened to instructions for once.
"What, surprised?" asked Sonic, rubbing the underside of his nose again until a voice could be heard from the vent.
"You may have obstructed me, but remember... I always come back."
A slower clanging sound indicated that the rabbit had left without another word.
Sonic glanced back at the vent and shrugged as Robotnik swiftly closed the right door on a pair of eyes, disregarding the thud that Nightmare made as he did so.
Laughter on the left end announced the prescence of a new pair of eyes and a brown-golden snout peeking into the room. Not wasting time, the hedgehog darted to the door with his trademark speed.
"I'm gonna close the door on you now. Don't make any smart moves, pal!" the chatterbox of a rodent stated, and Robotnik supressed a groan.
Why oh why was he stuck with the one person who would trash-talk the deadly entities?
To the combined surprise of the hedgehog and the human, the bear's eyes swiveled to the hedgehog but instead of attacking like its darker version did, it merely spoke in a voice that sounded like a mixture of voices put together:
"We know who our 'pals' are, and you are not one of them."
The hedgehog rolled his eyes, clearly not afraid to sass a killing machine that was at least seven feet tall.
"Yeah, yeah, whatever." He stated, shutting the door.
Ivo checked the cameras. It was four thirty-five, the power was at fifty-six percent, and the temperature had been moderated to a cool sixty degrees.
In all, if they could pull through, they'd beat the night.
The man sat down, shining his flashlight on the mechanical bear cubs again.
"I wonder how Tails is doing..." mused Sonic, sitting by the left door.
"You can return to your gaggle of rodents after we leave."
"Hey, just because you have no friends who aren't robots in that base of yours-"
"My machines are dilligent and relentless, hedgehog-"
"And they still lose to me every week!" finished Sonic, smirking now.
Robotnik growled, moustache flaring. "Pincushion, need I remind you that I took over the world?"
"Need I remind you that we stopped you? Again?"
"One of these days, hedgehog..." Eggman grumbled.
"Bring it on, Egghead." Sonic said, inviting in the challenge.
Oh how Robotnik wished Metal was here. His usually loyal robot would not only wipe that smile off of that irritating rodent's face, but the bot would give him some extra protection against the creatures currently seeking his demise.
The man glanced at the camera. Freddy was only a few steps away from entering, so he made for the door.
He really hated that hedgehog.
Sonic and Eggman were in some serious trouble.
Nightmare Fredbear and Nightmare, for some reason, had really turned up the aggression, so the two had spent the rest of the hour and a huge portion of the next one dealing with the deadly duo.
Unfortunately, they both had forgotten to check the vents and that was why they were currently staring at the large yellow chicken in the vent. Withered Chica was already about halfway out and its stiff arms stuck out of the vent, each of the limbs ending in wiry stumps. Like the other chickens in the roster, she wore a bib that said "LET'S EAT!" in big, cartoonish letters.
Suddenly, the chicken's metronomic mouth seemed much less like a scream and more like she was about to eat them both.
"This is your fault, hedgehog!" Robotnik snapped.
"Me?! What did I do?!" came Sonic.
"You distracted me!"
"You had the cameras!"
"Well you-"
As the argument raged on, Chica made her attempts to pull her large frame out of the vent. A few solid heaves and the damaged chicken came out with an inaudible pop, landing on the ground with an ungainly crash that slightly startled the Freddle which hitherto was screeching peacefully on the desk.
The hedgehog and human stopped bickering and watched as the chicken gradually and jerkily rose to her full height, towering over the two. The animatronic didn't seem to be very capable of moving its arms and had no hands to speak of, but its sharp and pointed beak as well as the talons on her feet could do some real damage.
Figuring that the battle would be over if they could just trip her up, Sonic revved up a spindash and shot off in the chicken's direction...
Only for Withered Chica to punt him like a football.
The hedgehog uncurled in midair and soon recognized that as a mistake when he slammed into the wall painfully, pathetically flopping to the ground.
Mocking laughter from both of the nightmare-bears could be heard, and Sonic had the feeling that it was directed at him.
As satisfying as it was for the doctor to watch his arch-rival get bested, Eggman had other things to worry about, seeing as the chicken had turned her attention to him now.
Chica lunged at the man with a metallic screech, flailing her arms about...
Only to freeze in her tracks as the increasingly familiar bells chimed, indicating that the clock had struck six.
As the chicken gave a frustrated huff and ambled out of the room, Eggman collapsed on his chair in relief.
He was getting too old for this.