Greetings once more, gents and ladies! After a month, I'm back. Apologies for the wait on this. It's been pretty hectic these last few weeks both personally and professionally for me but thanks again for all the favs, follows and reviews. Seriously... over 87,000 views at the time of this chapter... I can't thank you guys enough. I'd like to give a particular thanks to the reviewer that gave an in depth critique on the previous chapter. Stuff like that keeps me from becoming sloppy, cheers man and meanwhile, grab your drink and popcorn cause this is gonna be a long one!
I do not own Five Nights at Freddy's. All rights go to Scott Cawthon.
Enjoy Chapter Five "Monty" {Part 1}
My Racingstar Chapter Five
"I just got back. What's wrong?"
"…"
"Wait, what?"
"…"
"More? What do you mean there's more?"
"…"
"You've got to be kidding me…"
"…"
"Even the big guy now?"
"..."
"Tch… And what about the others?"
"…"
"That's good, we still have them at least. However… Given current circumstances… Should we bring it forward?"
"…"
"As you wish. Can I still have my fun though, carte blanche?"
"…"
"Great. And what about now?"
"Now. Execute."
"So… That's how it is… She's dressed like a rabbit...?" A certain pink and white Glamrock said grimly.
Gregory, Roxy and the recently returned to her senses Glamrock Chica, were taking a small rest just outside the Fazerblast entrance, once again in the same familiar main Atrium. They had discussed their plan that the animatronic chicken had brainstormed and had agreed it was worth a shot. However… when time came to speak on their true foe… Chica wasn't reacting well to the description of the illusory white rabbit.
"Is this some kind of sick joke to her?"
"Chica..." Roxanne hesitated to reach out. "Are you-" But she stopped when her friend waved it off.
"No, no. It's fine. I know it's not related... Don't worry, I'm cool Rox." Chica reassured. All this commotion was bringing up the past and not in a good way. Roxy hated this…
Gregory meanwhile, looked at both, perplexed and worried but tried to move them along, "Sorry guys… but shouldn't we be going with Chica's plan?"
"…Yeah, he's right." Chica reluctantly agreed and nodded at Roxanne. The Glamrock wolf nodded to the two of them in response and set off in the opposite direction to their fellow mascot's course. Time was of the essence.
The trio had agreed to use Roxy's keen eyes to see if Monty was patrolling around, while Chica stayed behind to look after Gregory, though with how the kid handled himself before in the last few interactions they had, he definitely knew how to look after himself, that was for sure. Still, better safe than sorry.
Gregory meanwhile, was still a bit on the uneasy side with the animatronic that had almost tried to take a chunk out of him and or bring him to his white rabbit hunter in the last hour but he'd trust her here. This could almost be a test to see if she was all good, he guessed.
"Hey, you alright?" His thoughts were interrupted by Chica who had knelt down to his level beside him.
"Um! Yeah, yeah. Fine, just fine." The young man slightly shifted a bit away from the pink chicken, which didn't go unnoticed and she gave an apathetic chuckle. Gregory realised what he'd done without thinking and looked at her hesitantly.
"I see how it is. I'm still the big bad scary animatronic to you huh?" Chica remarked.
"No! No! I... It's..." The youth gave a defeated sigh and nodded sadly.
The Glamrock chicken switched her sitting position to hugging her knees with both her arms and directed her eyes upwards at the wide and large room. "I don't blame you. You haven't known me as long as Rox. Plus, we haven't really had the best of small talk before, have we?" She joked and smiled at the child and he shrugged but she could see a smile of his own was forming slowly. "Sorry about the state I'm in as well." Chica addressed her dirty appearance, most of her bright colours looked drained out, "Seems I spend a bit too much time heaping around in the garbage. My own fault I admit." She raised her hand stoically, which got Gregory to slightly chuckle. "Hey, I got a little laugh from you man! Halfway there already."
Gregory shrugged again though it was smaller and a bit more flustered, while Chica merely beamed and taking a small chance, put her metallic hand to the child's shoulder which he didn't seem scared with now, her touch was soft. "You know, I was serious about wanting to be friends' man." Her tone sounded gentle. "You're a nice kid from what I can see and you even got Roxy out of her shell a bit." The Glamrock said sincerely.
"Her shell?" Gregory though appreciative, reacted puzzled on the last part.
Chica gave a small chuckle and tapped her head with her finger. "Hm. She's good at saving face her. It's… not really my place to say but she has a lot going on in that mind of hers but then... We all do." Chica turned away and her eyes narrowed. "When the four of us perform on that stage, right there and we see the children jumping up and down… it's like the whole world freezes in time in the Atrium. Everything feels just… good… No worries, no problems. Just good times and rock and roll but lately..." Chica's happy expression turned downwards.
"There's been complaints from parents on a number of issues, heck even from the kids… to the pizzas, sodas, quality of our performances, all sorts... and they have every right to look out for each other… But... in the end... I... We... just want to make kids happy... That's our purpose... Isn't it a good one...? Wanting everyone to celebrate and have fun?" Chica's eyebrows raised with her sullen look.
Gregory knew too well what she meant.
In the down times that included now and before, Gregory had gotten notifications on his Roxwatch that included messages, emails, logs, etc, whenever he entered a different section of the PizzaPlace. In those, he'd found out a lot of info on what was going on around the place, along with overhearing from some of the S.T.A.F.F. members when he was sneaking around before. He didn't really give it that much thought due to his dire situation but now... it seemed to match up pretty well.
Some of the things he'd read and heard though, he'd dare not mention in front of Chica… Especially the stuff to do with the particular Glamrock they were trying to save but even then…
"I'm sorry…" Gregory spoke out which got Chica to look back. "I shouldn't judge when I don't know much about you guys anyway. You're all just as tangled as I am in this and I haven't been too understanding."
Chica gave the child a light look. "There's nothing wrong with being afraid Gregory. We all are of the big black, the unknown and we cope about it in different ways. The fact that you understand that though and try to look into it head on, takes guts and you've got it in spades. So, don't feel ashamed man, you're a good kid." She gently tapped his chin and Gregory nodded back in earnest and smiled.
"Thanks Chica." She really was very sweet and she seemed like a normal person when they spoke like this...
"By the way…" Gregory saw the Glamrock chicken's eyes close for a moment. "I have a lot of… internal thoughts. Yeah… Wouldn't think it would you?" Chica chuckled but then began tapping her two index fingers together in a flustered manner. Okay, sweet and cute now… "I've never been good with… you know, the whole pep talk thing… In terms of that… uh… how'd I do?"
"Um... Pretty good. I give it a 9/10." Gregory grinned.
"9/10?! You're a hard tyke to please!" Chica squawked.
"Okay, okay. 10/10." Gregory corrected wryly.
"Ahhh, you." Chica ruffled his hair and they both laughed about it afterwards. Gregory felt completely relaxed now. That feeling he got from Chica, it reminded him of when he was around Roxy. It was comforting, so warm and friendly. Maybe Monty and Freddy were the same without the corruption too? But then with Monty…
Holding that thought just then, they were notified by a familiar voice coming through on the Roxwatch.
"{On my way back now guys.}"
"Gotcha Rox." The watch beeped signifying the end of communication. "We'll meet her halfway?" Chica asked Gregory who nodded back in confirmation but before they could walk on, "Greg Greg, hold up." Chica crouched down to be on level with the child once more, a concerned look on her face. "…I hope you don't mind me asking this but about what you said to me back when I was..."
Gregory's expression turned surprised as his memories flashed back to the incident before, in the main entrance. "…You remember?"
"Yeah, almost everything back then... I try not to think about it too much because of, you know… but I can't forget what you said… About, About your parents... Is everything okay with them...?"
"I...I... Is it okay if we don't talk about this right now? I don't really want to speak about it…" Chica could see there was a lot of emotion in the kids' eyes and knowing better, decided to drop the subject.
"I understand man but please, if there's anything you need, just ask, okay?" The Glamrock bird gave him a small pat on the shoulder.
"Okay." He nodded but before Chica turned away, "Could you not mention it to Roxy...? I don't want her to know just yet..."
Chica simply winked back at him. "You got it dear."
Moving on and waiting in the middle of the Atrium, next to the photobooths and party tables, they saw Roxanne running back on all fours, coming from the right side, as she quickly made her way over to them.
Now a few feet away, she returned to her two-legged stance. "Elevator was quick this time. Everything okay here?" She asked as she brushed some of her silver hair out of her ear; being careful not to clip out her purple circular earing which was pretty much almost the only thing that didn't look worn on the wolf mascot. Roxanne silently thought it made her look cooler in a self conflicting way…
"A-okay, man." Chica put her index and thumb into a circle.
"Greg?" Roxy eyed her friend, who was looking a bit out of it but he quickly responded.
"Oh, yeah, yeah. I'm fine." His slight narrowed eyes didn't go unnoticed by the silver Glamrock but she continued on.
"Good. Anyway, he's there. Round about at the 6th hole, looking like he was patrolling back to the entrance."
Both Chica and Gregory were relieved and slightly unnerved that the Glamrock gator was so close by. At least this way, they didn't have to do the tedious searching.
"And there was something else." Roxy continued, "After I spotted him, I looked about nearby to see if Freddy was roaming around and that's when my vision began to glitch right when I looked back into Monty Golf. The moment that started happening, I bolted back here. You can bet that she's stalkin' about the place there but the weird thing was, the glitch was disappearin' even right before I went to run back."
"Maybe she's hopped it to another bit?" Chica raised her brow.
"Nice one Chi." Roxy retorted on her bandmate's unintentional joke.
"Oh… darn… sorry. I forgot she was a rabbit for a second." Chica put her hands up in apology.
"You're cool." The silver wolf reassured.
"That still is good news that Monty's there though." Gregory stated.
"For sure Greg Greg and now, it's showtime for yours truly." The Glamrock chicken nodded.
"Are you sure this gonna work?" Roxy asked.
"Probably not but that's how most plans work though, eh?" Chica grinned.
Roxanne rolled her eyes but got focused back on task and stood with Gregory. "Better get going Chi."
"Just gotta assume the pose." The Glamrock bird got ready. "Make sure you two keep close. Let's make this count."
Not far off, in the very particular location named, "Monty's Gator Golf" the titular mascot of the attraction walked or more accurately due to not being able to keep focus much, dragged his feet up the stairs away from his golf course holes and to the entrance, as one of the many alligator prop heads popped out of the curved swamp and growled as was its function, while the green gator walked past, shoving a Security bot on its patrol aside as he did so.
The attraction, massive like the rest, was lit with the same neon colours that the others around the Pizzaplex shared, though of course, in keeping with theme of Monty himself, his attraction was decorated with all manor of green looking props and objects. It had an overall overgrown jungle, swamp dynamic, with the many propped vines and trees and even real looking swamps around the playable courses. Perhaps the most iconic prop of the attraction was the gigantic Monty head located next to the elevator further down. The tongue that sprang forth from the big Monty mouth was part of the walkway in fact and connected to the rest of the course.
High above, was a catwalk like section where small canons were spread all around, along with a big bucket of multi-coloured soft play balls for a sort of mini-game. One could almost get hurt if they weren't careful…
The current liner section Monty had walked into above the more wider area, resembled a wooden hut, with twists and mounds to make it challenging for players but he wasn't paying attention to that, in fact he was barely paying attention to anything at all but that would all be due to the strain on his mind to achieve his only objective.
Monty hated this… It was painful… So much pain… in his head… It wouldn't stop… But he had to follow his protocol… It was important… it was vital…
He didn't want to hurt anyone... Not his friends and not even the kid but… he needed to find the kid. He had to find the kid… He had to find the kid… "I… have… to… find… the… kid…" He repeated after thinking it, almost trying to stop himself from saying it but it was his directive. But why… why was he feeling like he just woke up… was someone here before...? Was he remembering to back then… No… Not again… He hated thinking to back then… Was… Was someone… here before…?
"Monty…" A voice called out and the gator in question's entire body turned a whole angle to face the newcomer, as he was almost out of the beginning section of the first hole. It was his fellow bandmate.
"C-C-Chica…" Monty stuttered an acknowledgment.
"Monty…" Chica repeated in kind… "I found… Gregory… He's at Fazberblast…"
"Fazerblast…?" Monty titled his head.
"Fazerblast…" Chica repeated in confirmation.
There was now silence as Monty just seemed to stare at the animatronic bird… This was bad… Did it work…? She knew she had to be careful, otherwise, he'd see through the ploy easily…
In a second, the Glamrock gator leapt over the small hill mound out of the hut and next to Chica, covering a lot ground, luckily she didn't flinch at it. "We… go… there… Let's Rock…" Monty stated and walked on followed by a reluctant Chica.
Both then entered the elevator and after a very awkward minute of silence and Monty just staring ahead at the double grey doors the two Glamrocks exited.
Chica was at a loss of thought at what Monty was like in the state he was in up close… It was like he was just an empty shell… a blank animatronic… almost like those previous automated ones… This wasn't her friend… but then… he was her friend… He had to be in there somewhere…
After making their way out of the entrance section to Monty Golf, walking out a bit ahead, the pink animatronic stopped in her tracks. "Monty… Wait here…" Chica turned round to see Monty had heeded her but had his head slightly tilted. Man, it creeped her out and made her sad at the same time seeing him like this but that was soon replaced with slight fear as it looked like the green gator was getting impatient as he looked around.
Chica quickly glanced to the left when Monty wasn't looking and saw the tiny brush of a silver tail at the gleaming pillar support on the left.
Monty meanwhile, looked back at Chica when he couldn't see a trace of anything that he'd not seen already. "What… is-"
"NOW!" Taken unawares, Monty looked on in surprise when he saw Roxy suddenly jump out from behind the support pillar and began a run at him, along with Chica, who was just about to connect with sudden impact, before he could even blink.
Not having time to react, Monty was tackled straight to the ground with a loud "Clang" as the three struggled with one another and their armour plating grating each other through the tussle.
"Greg, quickly!" Roxy shouted back as she pushed down Monty's arm and let Chica hold it along with his other so she could open his jaw.
The green gator's Force Stop switch was located right at the edge of his inner snout, at the very front, almost microscopic but still visible, as Gregory was just about to close in on the struggling trio, which the youth could see Roxy and Chica were losing and it was making him hesitant.
"Greg hurry! We can't-" Before Roxy could finish, she could feel herself being overpowered, as Monty heaved his arm upwards and shoved Roxy away in great force. It felt like a whirlwind for the silver wolf as she fell down and now with an able arm, the green gator grabbed Chica, who was now trying to put all her weight on him and pushed her off as well with even greater force, making her dazed along with Roxy for a moment.
In that moment as well, Monty sprang up and quickly crouched, looking directly at Gregory, who stepped back in worry. The Glamrock gator then leapt but over the youth instead of at him and began a runner in the opposite direction of Monty Golf with the others, now recovered, in hot pursuit.
Seeing this, almost in a blind frenzy, Monty smashed his way through the barriers set between the birthday and stage area and swiftly took hold of one of the party tables with ease and without thinking, chucked it at the area the trio were coming from.
Over in that direction, Chica's eyes widened and she stopped in her tracks, watching the table pass her and about to hit Gregory himself, who couldn't believe at what he was seeing. "Look out!" She cried.
Right before the table could connect, Roxy pushed Gregory out of the way with the table smacking right into her and sending her flying back a few paces but not before she crossed her arms for protection.
"Roxy!" Gregory cried and ran to her aid and watched as the silver wolf effortlessly pushed the table off of her, while she collected herself. Minimal damage had been done but there was even more wear and tear on Roxy's outer plating now.
"Yeah, I'm alright. Close one. Are you okay Greg?" Roxanne asked gently.
"I'm okay." Gregory went to help her up to her feet, not that it would be much help but the youth could see that some of Roxy's dirty plating was almost coming off, revealing a few wires poking out on her lower arm and leg. Her warmers were almost non-existent now. "You're hurt!" Gregory quickly went to work, putting them back in as best he could.
"It's fine Greg, really." Despite saying that however, Roxy was still in shock at what had just happened. Monty full on threw a table at them… She didn't think he'd do something like that… On top of that, her appearance hardly resembled it's glamour look now and it made her feel a bit self-conscious on her appearance but looking back at Gregory, the Glamrock was touched that the kid was so worried about her and the effort he was going through to put her wires back in. He did say he was good at mending things.
Watching this all unfold and still standing still, Monty briefly seemed to relent at what he had just done. "R-Rox..y…?" No... No... These were his friends… His friends... He didn't want to hurt them… Not the kid… "Not… Gregory…" He stuttered and tried his best to understand what he was doing but he quickly knew what he had to do and was about to continue on when a voice brought him back.
"Monty!" The Glamrock gator ever so slowly, twitchingly addressed the person that called him out. Chica stood with a readied posture but still with slight reluctance. "Look at what you just did! I know you've not been the best with your anger… but you'd never do something like this!" The pink animatronic knew that her words would probably fall on deaf ears but if there was even a slight chance it'd knock her friend out of it…
There was no response from Monty but Chica could see her words had stung him and she slightly dimmed her anger. "Please… I don't want us to do this..." She took a step forward.
Waves of capricious confusion and strain began boiling in the green gator's head as he clutched it… Looking right at his friend. "D-Don...t Do..n't... wa...n..na hu.r..t ..y...o-ou..." The Glamrock gator stuttered out. It seemed painful for him to even utter the words...
"Monty?" Chica stepped even closer in optimism. Was he still in there?
The gator began to take steps back as he growled and shook his head. "…S-Sta.y... Ba-ack... Stay... B-Back..." He managed out and growled from the pain piercing through his programming again.
As that happened, Roxy rejoined alongside Gregory. Her wounds patched as best as they could be while in the current situation but the sliver wolf didn't have a trace of malice on her face at all, despite what Monty did, only sombreness. Just like with Freddy. "Please... Monty," She reached out to her bandmate. "If there was any other way, we'd take it but... when you're like this... We don't have a choice here..." In that moment, Roxy and Chica saw Monty's eyes meet theirs fully and there was understanding there but also sorrowful regret. The blankness returned and he broke out into a run once more.
Irked now, Roxanne gritted her teeth. "Oh, no you don't!" The silver wolf began to sprint as fast as she could, followed quickly by Chica, who was not as fast but was keeping up behind, along with Gregory.
Unfortunately, something Roxy didn't expect to happen happened in the form of a warning sign suddenly appearing on her and Chica's interface. Bars could be seen and it was flashing, with only one bar remaining.
"You've got to be- Now?!" Roxy growled.
"Roxy..." Chica gave her a look to leave it despite also being annoyed by it.
"Yeah… I know. Blast it!" The silver wolf clenched her hand into a fist.
"What's going on?" Gregory asked.
"We need to recharge, otherwise we'll collapse in a heap... We'll have to let him go and get him later." Chica said in dismay as she watched Monty almost disappear out of sight, as he made it to the 2nd level.
"I don't get it… If he's still this strong after being corrupted... why didn't he just continue to overpower us?" Roxy almost said to herself.
"I know why…" Chica stated as she looked at Roxy and knew that her best friend had the same idea as her despite her reltuctance… "Because he doesn't want to hurt us…"
Roxanne looked back in the direction her friend went … "Monty…" She muttered in sadness as her eyelids slightly closed.
Hearing all this and conflicted, Gregory looked back at the Glamrocks and then at the escaping one. Choosing, he began running in the direction of where Monty escaped.
Roxy's eyes widened at what the youth was doing. "Greg, don't! It's too dangerous!"
"We might not be able to find him again for a while! I'll be fine! You guys will be with me soon!" Gregory said back while running on.
"Greg you!-" Roxy snarled but calmed down when Chica put a hand to her shoulder and motioned to follow to the nearest generator. They hadn't really got a choice to stop him.
"He's a stubborn squirt I know but I'm sure he knows what he's doing. He was able to take me down with little help."
"Thanks for that but... it's not… You know what Monty's like."
"Have trust in the little guy. We'll be back with him in a bit. Let's do this quick and catch up."
"Right." Roxy agreed but she still couldn't help let her worries wander.
"He really is stubborn." A voice all of a sudden chuckled and everything was now starting to get dark for both Glamrocks.
A few meters away from the escalator, Gregory looked back at his two friends and… there was something wrong… What was... No... His vision was phasing in and out like lights, that noise...
"Are you having fun yet?" A voice echoed closer around him as it spoke… It was her... Where was she?! He couldn't see her!
Back with Roxy, the silver wolf knew who this was after everything she'd heard about her, "It's you!" She snarled as her interface started to grow dimmer and glitch.
"What's going on?!" Chica shouted out as she waved her hands in front, trying to combat her fading vision to no avail but she had felt this sensation before... It was the same!
Roxy looked all around but still couldn't see anything but what was more important, was the kid's safety. "It's Vanny! Greg, get out of here! Follow Monty, or run! Just get away from here!" Roxy shouted at the child, who was doing just that and now running up the escalator on the middle left from their perspective.
"I…can't see anything…" Chica spoke, disoriented from the buzzing she could here.
"Don't… let her fool you…! She's there! Greg isn't hiding from nothin'!" Roxy snarled, they needed to charge but she had to make sure Greg would escape alright.
With the elusive youth, he had now turned onto the middle floor and was making his way up the 2nd escalator which was synchronised with the first on opposing sides. He was trying his best to remember if Monty had ran up in the direction he was currently heading but then, escaping for his dear life was making it hard to clarify and that awful noise...
"Are you having fun yet, Gregory?" Vanny's voice was still creeping up from behind, as Gregory continued to ascend to the 3rd floor of the Atrium.
Watching this unfold from below, Roxanne couldn't take it any longer. "No…! I'm not letting him face this alone!" Roxy growled and went to run after Greg and wherever this woman was, clarity notwithstanding however, again she was quickly stopped by Chica who held both her arms.
"No, Rox! Please! If you go now, you'll collapse to the ground frozen and then it'll take even longer for us to charge and by then, Gregory really will be alone… We need to trust in him love." Chica advised her best friend, who shut her eyes and shook her head, completely ticked that they couldn't even do anything in this moment but swiftly nodded after calming down. "More importantly, let's get to the recharge stations so we can get to him faster!" Roxy nodded again and both hurried to charge themselves at the stage stations.
"(Please be safe Greg…)" Roxy thought to herself as she gave one last look at the far away form of Gregory, who had just made it to the top floor but at a cost of being absolutely shattered from running and that grating pitched noise was really starting to make him feel ill.
Stopping to catch his breath, he noticed he was outside the "PRIZES" attraction and looked to the left seeing a neon, (what was with this place and neon colours?) mug shot of both Roxy and Monty, with another attraction in the left corner, "SUPERSTARCADE" was it? His vision was still messed up so he couldn't really tell and to the right, there was more mug shots, this time of Chica and Freddy and a "FAZCADE" attraction and then also Bonnie Bowl… Both directions had arcade machines and directional interfaces decorated around. Oh, yeah, this would totally be easy guessing where Monty went…
However, Gregory regretted taking a moment to wonder, when he heard an all too familiar giggling voice dance around him but he still couldn't see anything. "Somebody looks a bit drained." His tormentor mocked.
"Where are you!" The youth shouted out to what seemed an empty void but he got his answer when from out of his field of view, on his right etched a knife and then an arm and finally a full-blown white rabbit costume.
"Right here, silly!" Vanny bounced into full view, giving him a cheerful small wave when doing so.
With the added strain of the noise, Gregory collapsed to his knees right as he saw her. He felt sick, realising he was now completely at her mercy and also, with how much pressure there was but he managed to look up in angst. "What do you want from me?!" He cried.
Close up, even more than before, the youth saw that Vanny's red eyes seemed to be glowing. Even in full light, there were small rays coming from them. "That's not a really nice tone you've got there Gregory. Relax." She whispered and as she talked, the aching noise and his vision being screwed up started to lessen but it was still slightly there as Gregory rubbed his face with his hands to get feeling back but shuddered when the rabbit face was now only inches away from his. "And lookie here. Right where I want you…" Her hushed tone petrified the child and the woman titled her head ever so slightly; there Gregory could just make out a pair of eyes right behind the masked ones but once again, the interference with his sight made it impossible to make out.
As if releasing he was trying to look underneath, the white rabbit leered back up and glanced down at where Roxy and Chica were previously. "So, they're aware of my presence now, are they? What a lucky boy you are Gregory. Don't fret, I've still got a few surprises in store for you. Just you wait." Vanny held up her costumed paw to her face to hold back a laugh that came out as a giggle. "And how about Monty? Monty, Monty, Monty. Where could he have gone?" She sang almost like a nursey rhyme but suddenly stopped and eerily went silent and in seconds, simply nodded in Gregory's direction.
"He's right to the right of you. Better be quick cause he won't stay there for very long. You'll have to leave your new friends behind, so sad but have fun and I'll see you reeeeal soon!" With a wave and a literal spring in her step, Vanny stepped out of Gregory's sight and when his eyes went to follow, like before she had vanished into thin air.
Shaking his head and gently slapping his cheeks to get his bearings, Gregory stood back up, though not without a wobble or two. He had to get his thoughts together for a moment.
Seriously… He couldn't tell if the white rabbit was around the entire time or if she was still here and he just couldn't see her anymore. The lack of action from the bots patrolling had him dumbfounded as well but then, he guessed Vanny had done something to them to make something like this seem "normal". At least the buzzing had stopped. His vision was still in a disorienting daze but looking to where Vanny said Monty had escaped, which was the "Fazcade", he took her rather unusual advice and quickly sprinted into the elevator and pressed the button to go up while falling to one knee in exhaustion.
He really didn't want to leave the others but if they lost Monty now, who knows when they'd be able to find him again. He couldn't pass this up and besides, Roxy and Chica could contact him via the Fazwatch, well, until he got this sensation of wanting to be sick out of his system.
Still, why did Vanny tell him where Monty was? What was her game? Game... Seems she loved playing all sorts of those. Perhaps she was lying or maybe it was a trap. He could never tell with her. Regardless he'd try his best.
After a few seconds and not minutes this time thankfully, Gregory made it out and tried tapping his Fazwatch but it nothing seemed to work... Was there something wrong with it or something blocking the connection? Maybe it was her... Did she purposely block their communication, is that why she wanted him to come up here...? He also just realised he was calling the Roxwatch a Fazwatch... He really needed to get it together..
"Gregory." No…
"It's me…" Not again…
He'd just finished getting his bearings back, he didn't want to go back to being dazed and sick again. Thankfully, like the other times before, nothing more was said but every time… That voice… It was like it was getting closer to him… Before, he thought it was one of those delusions brought on by Vanny but now… Gregory wasn't so sure.
And speaking of not being sure… where the heck was he right now…?
Seriously, it was like every area of this place was a restaurant in its own right with how massive everything was.
Wait a minute… the music that was playing seemed familiar… Yeah, the polished green floor with the circular silver carpet and then right above that, the statue of Freddy, Roxy and Monty with the spiral staircases and spider webbed ceiling. He'd been here before! This was the West Arcade!
He remembered he came in here to hide from Vanny before in the afternoon… He played on some of the many arcades including one in an office…? Gregory cursed his current bad memory but focused if he could either find Monty or another way out. Guess he could actually give the place a good look now that there weren't any people around. Well… apart from those annoying S.T.A.F.F. bots that is. He'd make sure to keep well away from them.
Turning to his right he spotted a wide opened space and made his way over to the large section. There was this misty type stuff that was hazing around in front of this sort of giant booth like area, decorated around with rainbow type colours in a circular pattern, along with two big black disco balls with the same rainbow colours on either side.
Gregory had to admit, despite getting annoyed at all the neon crap, this place certainly knew how to have style. How could he have missed this before? Then again, he was trying to hide. With how big this booth was though; it was almost like something was supposed to be there in place…
Unfortunately, Gregory would have wished he hadn't thought of that, as something completely unexpected happened next…
"Don't move a muscle." A quiet booming voice said and Gregory did just that, more out of fear rather than command. With something that loud he'd guessed it had to be someone or something ginormous... "Okay, now look up... Slowly..." Gregory looked up... slowly and... it was a common trend now that whenever he looked up, he'd see something he wished he shouldn't have and it was the same here… This was the most insane thing Gregory had seen yet… "Now, I know what you're thinking here. Big guy, spider legs, headphones and yes... scary face. I've heard it all before but this is all just one big misunderstanding."
From what Gregory could see due to the darkness of the neon contrast, it seemed to be a very large animatronic. Along with it giving its own description, the large mascot wore massive sized headphones had blank black eyes and had a mouth decorated with keyboard teeth and its mouth seemed to have… pink bubbles swirling around like a washing machine inside?
What in the name of goodness was this thing above him...?
"Oh, where are my manners. Beg your pardon. I am Music Man! Well, DJ Music Man more specifically." The massive animatronic corrected itself jokingly.
Oh, well that answered that question then...
DJ Music Man crawled down into the wide-open space to where Gregory now assumed was his stage a couple of feet away from him. From the way he spoke with his slightly deep booming voice, it didn't seem like he was affected by the corruption. But even then... now that Gregory could see how big he was, it didn't really matter but then the youth's eyes blinked when he saw the DJ holding out his massive hand or finger more accurately. "And what's your name little guy?" The gigantic animatronic asked politely.
"Oh! …G-Gregory..." He squeaked out and realised that the DJ was waiting for a handshake of some kind and the youth took the finger and shook it gently which DJ returned though as slow as possible as to not hurt the young man.
"Pleasure, Gregory! I don't get many visitors at this time. Usually that's cause I sleep a lot. High demand and all. I assume you must be the troublemaker Vanessa spoke about before? Didn't expect you'd actually make it all the way in here."
"You can say that again. This place is supposed to be inaccessible." Another lighter voice said. Was that a music box Gregory could hear? It sounded like a rendition of the main mascot theme.
Gregory found the source in the form of a small animatronic that came scuttling out from the side of his leg, making him yelp a bit.
"Jumpy wee fella arentcha?" The small mascot joked. In closer view, it looked like a smaller version of DJ but looking a bit worse for wear even more so than how the Glamrocks looked. It had multiple damaged and cracked teeth and seemed to be missing one or two of them, its hands along with a side of its chest had its outer plating missing and hold on... It looked familiar somehow.
It then clicked for Gregory. "Hey, I saw you going past the vent in Roxy's room!"
"Just doing my rounds little guy. No biggy. Name's Lil' Music Man. Nice to meetcha." He held up his worn cymbal wearing hand, which Gregory hesitantly shook.
"Uh... likewise..." He replied in kind.
"Sorry about the state I'm in. Vent duty does that to ya. Don't worry as well kid. We don't bite either, despite the weird teeth. Don't hate the design, blame the designer." Lil' Music remarked. "I see you've already met big bro here?" He glanced up at his bigger sibling.
"Oh... you're brothers?" Gregory asked. Feeling a bit more at ease but more confused.
"Twins." DJ chipped in, crawling up onto the wall again to look around.
"Don't look it do we?" Lil' Music gave a light laugh "Some gear boys got different ideas on how to make us it seems." From the interactions Gregory was having already, both Music Men seemed perfectly normal. That was a relief at least. Not everything was out to get him.
"So, you're the troublemaker, huh?" Or not...
"N-No! Yes, no! Well, yes but it's not what you think-" Gregory stammered.
"Eh, you're cool kid. I've got nothing against you. I don't usually get to speak much to guests, so this is a welcome change of pace."
"Oh... right... So... you come here when you're not in the vents?"
"Yeah, come to talk to big bro here and listen to some awesome tunes!" Lil' Music Man punched the air enthusiastically but then turned his curious expression back to Gregory. "But anyway, what's a kid like you doing up here anyway?"
After a few minutes of explaining his situation to the Music Men along with helping Roxy and Chica and the incident with Monty, both brother animatronics surprisingly bought what Gregory was saying. "This certainly explains a lot." DJ stated while crawling down once again, standing now with the others.
"Sure does. The others might have already filled you in but there's been weird stuff happening for a bit now. So, with you being here and this "Vanny" gal you just mentioned, she might be the cause. Sorry, that you got stuck in here but you're in good hands with us Gregory."
"For sure! Just let us know what we can do to help." DJ enthusiastically stated.
That was a big weight of the child's shoulders that was for sure. If these two were bad, that would have been him finished.
Gregory then mentioned that Monty had made his way up into the West Arcade and asked if both had seen him. "Sadly, not I'm afraid son." DJ shook his head. "I've only just recently woken up. He might have come in as I was sleeping but then, he could be hiding in here right now in fact."
"You mentioned something about him not being in the right mind?" Lil' Music asked as he scuttled a bit away from the duo.
"Yeah, Vanny has done something to him like what I said happened to Chica and Freddy too but we got Chica back and we can with him too. I just need to flip his Force Stop switch in his jaw."
"Force Stop switch?" Lil' Music repeated in surprise and he made his way back to the child. "Kid, you do know what the Force Stop does right?"
"Yeah, there's a chance it could damage him but that's how we got Chica back. Please trust me on this. I know that you've just met me but I do really want to help Monty." Gregory was as honest as he could be.
In saying that, DJ peered right down at the youth and stared right into his eyes, with Gregory staring right back though slightly scared by the blankness of the big mascot's lenses. After a few moments however, DJ's mouthed edges curved into a smile. "I believe you Gregory."
"Sure bro?" Lil' Music asked.
"For sure. Kid has an honest face." DJ stated with confidence.
"I thought that too but had to be sure." The smaller music man acknowledged Gregory with a trusting nod. "Right, on with this hide and seek thing. Bro you search from above and I'll stick with the kid looking about below."
"Loud and clear." DJ nodded and climbed his way back up to the ceiling, while a sort of more intense techno beat than the one that was just heard began playing.
"Also, bro?"
"Yeah?"
"Tone down the beat some. It's hard to concentrate and search while not dancing out. Remember what happened with Freddy."
"Yeah, my bad guys." DJ chuckled slightly and the music then turned down to a minimum volume.
Lil' Music went to address the young man but paused when he saw that Gregory seemed to be thinking about something. "Penny for your thoughts kid?"
"Um, about your name?"
"Huh?" Lil' Music blinked. "Uh, yeah. What about it?"
"Don't you ever get annoyed by it?" Gregory asked with a small childlike innocence.
"What are you the PC Police?" That was a response he wasn't expecting. "So I'm small? It gives me a leg up on most here and I get my special vent duty, so what's not to like? Besides, sometimes you gotta just deal with the cards your dealt. I wouldn't want to be as big as big bro here. Too much hassle." Despite what he was saying, Lil' Music had a whimsical tone going on.
"It can get a bit vexing for sure. Keep me posted guys." DJ Man chipped in as he began crawling into one of his many circular travel holes above.
Gregory slightly chuckled at the exchange. "I guess so." His light expression and response made the smaller mascot begin to like the child even more.
"Anyway, let's focus kid and get Monty back for real this time..."
Unexpected help comes in all shapes and sizes! Of course I couldn't forget our two lovely Music Boys! Hope you guys like their inclusion here and the parts with Monty! I'll see you all in Part Two! Review at your leisure and have a good one!