Red, Tangle and Toy Foxy sat on the floor. Toy Foxy was once again mildly torn up, thanks to the children. Toy Foxy didn't mind, as long as the kids were happy. Tangle on the other hand was horribly offended and enraged.
Tangle and Toy Foxy had taught Red the basics of screws, bolts, circuitry, wires and fuses, along with a few other things. It demanded that Red should learn how to use a blowtorch someday, just in case of an emergency.
It was an awful lot for a three day old animatronic to learn.
"Pick that thing up. No, the other thing! Ugh, you're hopeless!"
Tangle was shouting out random commands at Red, who was alternating between screwdrivers, wrenches and pliers. Toy Foxy was watching expectantly as they exchanged banter, frowning. Red growled to himself (and a little bit at Tangle in the process), looking up at the white fox's face, then at the small puppet.
"What do you even want me to do?!" The bear cried out, looking wild from distress. Tangle rolled its eyes, glancing at Toy Foxy.
"Reattach some metal to...um, its chest."
Nodding slowly, Red began to do so before looking back at Tangle, raising an eyebrow.
"Wait, you don't know Toy Foxy's gender?"
"No. Now shut up and get to work, you lazy son of a bear!"
Rolling his eyes, Red did as he was told. Fumbling with the creamy white and pink metal chest piece, he snapped it into place easily, looking surprised that he had done so. Taking a few steps back to marvel at how he had fixed them both, he smiled, letting out a whir.
"Good job, I guess." Tangle said flatly, surveying what had been done to fix them. Toy Foxy looked very pleased, giving a thumbs up to Red.
"All of our parts are like a puzzle." Tangle said, looking at Red. Toy Foxy walked around, grabbing some leftover pizza from a nearby table as it spoke. The white fox ate while the miniature puppet continued speaking. "There's always a place for everything. Remember that. Unless you run out of parts. Then you're boned."
Red nodded, following and taking a bit of pizza for himself. Sitting down and eating, he sighed lightly.
"Tangle." He muttered, looking towards the exit of Kid's Cove. "Do you know what's in that present box in the Prize Corner?"
"Not a clue." It responded, looking to Toy Foxy. The vulpine animatronic shrugged in response, shaking its head.
"We hear the music box strain sometimes. And then some laughter. Creepy laughter. Like, 'what-the-hell' kind." Tangle wore a thoughtful expression, looking towards the exit as well. "The humans keep the music box wound up, though. Like their life depends on it. Dunno, guess it keeps the box shut. Maybe it's just a random storage bin, eh?"
There was an awkward silence between the three as they ate. Red finished quickly, glancing them both over. Tangle caught his gaze, snorting. "What?"
"Are you male or female?"
"Male, you dumbass!"
"Ah. Right." Feeling a bit silly for not knowing Tangle's gender, he nodded and stood up, rubbing the back of his neck. "Well, it's late. Mind if I go to bed?"
"No. Go ahead, we can teach 'ya more 'shet tomorrow night, huh?"
Red nodded again. He couldn't help but to chuckle at Tangle's potty mouth. Waving both animatronics off, he walked out of Kid's Cove. He couldn't help but to feel a bit giddy; he honestly considered Tangle and Toy Foxy his friends.
His friends.
Toy Bonnie and Toy Chica had each other as friends, which left Red nearly alone. He didn't seem to fit in with them both, even though they were programmed as a trio. He was just incredibly glad that Toy Foxy and Tangle had accepted him. Even if Tangle had issues with regulating his emotions.
Smiling to himself, he froze when he heard a loud clunk. Jumping a bit, he turned around to find the source of the noise. Feeling a bit uneasy when he realized he was at the Prize Corner, he looked around for anything out of the ordinary.
His mouth went dry when he heard it come from the present box, much louder than before. Looking around to see if there were any witnesses around to help him if he needed it, he shuttered when he realized he was alone.
"Red."
He froze.
Eyes going wide when the lid to the box lifted a bit, he stepped back. It only lifted up a bit before it slid off easily, landing on the floor with a quiet 'clunk'.
A long, slender, puppet-like creature emerged slowly from it, only being freed up to (what Red was guessing) its waist. Stopping when the music box strained, the creature seemed stuck, but didn't mind.
It was obviously horribly tall. It was easily eight feet, maybe more if there were legs in that box. Red didn't know. Its face was disturbing and pale, baring the most demonic eyes he could ever imagine. He felt weak. Even though he had only been alive for a short time period, he knew this thing was trouble.
"Red," It said again, the voice coming from it cool, smooth and eerie. "We meet at last."
"W-who are you? Are you an animatronic?" The bear managed to squeak out, feeling incredibly intimidated. He tried to keep his voice strong and calm as it usually was, but he was failing. The creature chuckled softly, shaking its head.
"I am merely a puppet. Marionette, if you will." It trailed off slightly, locking eyes with the bear. A flash of static obscured his vision, making him yelp in pain.
"You will call me your Master." The voice that was once gentle was becoming angry and rough, but was still maintaining its creepily cool tone.
"And you will do exactly as I say."
The odd encounter from the previous night stuck in Red's mind throughout the day. He performed his mascot-ly duties as normal, but was left questioning a lot of things.
The bizarre Marionette from the present box had told him to obey. It had given him a random duty to perform, and that was to not sing a single song.
He didn't know what the Marionette could do, or why it didn't want him to sing, but he sang anyways. It was his job, why shouldn't he do it? All of the animatronics basically stated that he was the leader, not the Marionette.
Closing time came quickly, and all of the humans left. Surprisingly enough, there was a large amount of garbage around, leaving the animatronics slightly confused.
He was still on edge from speaking with the Master, so he decided to do the only sane thing he could think of: cleaning.
Leaving the stage once the final human had left, he began picking up some greasy, cardboard boxes from the tables to throw in some trash bins. The two animatronics on stage found it amusing to watch the overweight bear do so.
"Red, let the humans do that!" T-Chi called out, stifling a fit of giggles. Clyde nodded in agreement.
"Honey, that's what the janitors are for."
"Well, they're not here. And they haven't been here at night. I live here, so it might as well be clean." Red said simply in response, shrugging his shoulders.
Nearing the game area, Red continued to throw things away and eat any leftover food. About to go for some leftover birthday candles, he was stopped by a sudden voice.
"Hello?"
Red's ears perked. It sounded very child like. Had a child snuck in? Looking around, he tilted his head, sniffing the air.
"Hi!"
Red jumped at the voice. Hearing it laugh, he frowned, going towards the source. He came upon the balloon statue he had wanted to inspect the night before.
Its head moved quickly to look at him. He jumped back, eyes wide. It laughed again.
"Hi, I'm Balloon Boy!" The statue exclaimed, placing the sign down. "What's your name, mister?"
Red was baffled. It didn't seem to be an animatronic, yet it could move normally like one. He stuttered when the boy blew up a balloon, holding it close.
"I'm Red." He muttered, unable to think of anything else to say. The child laughed again.
Apparently he wasn't the only one gravitated towards it; the laughter and voice of the boy had attracted T-Chi and Clyde as well. They looked at him with interest, tilting their heads.
"Aww, he's so cute." Clyde crooned, his ears falling to the sides slightly. T-Chi patted the humanoid animatronic's head, making him laugh and giggle more.
"I'm Balloon Boy, but you can call me B.B.!" He repeated, smiling. T-Chi and Clyde seemed to be fully infatuated with him, but Red was still hesitant.
In all honesty, the kid creeped him out.
A lot.
"We didn't know you could move!" T-Chi said excitedly, petting his face. The boy continued to smile, looking as if he were going to explode from excitement. He waddled around for a bit, still looking slightly stiff.
"Me, either! I wasn't alive yesterday, but I am now!"
The two other animatronics had basically adopted him already, swooning over him like he was the best thing ever.
Red's eyes were narrowed on him. He couldn't help but to question what was going on. First the Marionette, now the odd, creepy child thing. He wondered if the two were linked together.
A sharp, short whistle suddenly caught his attention, pulling him out of his daydream. Perking up, he looked around for a moment and spotted some spark-like lights lighting up Kid's Cove. He looked onwards worriedly, quickly sliding away from the three other animatronics, looking worried.
Entering the cove, he spotted Toy Foxy and Tangle. Smiling a little, he tipped his hat a bit. "Good evening, y-"
"Now's not the time!" Tangle shot out quickly, looking at him worriedly. Red became quiet, looking them over.
"Get me off of it, NOW." The little puppet demanded, his ears flat. Red looked confused until he saw several sparks shoot out from Toy Foxy, who was in visible pain. Eyes going wide, he ran over and struggled around a bit until he found a part that connected the two. He quickly and easily removed and unplugged Tangle from the mime fox, much to his surprise.
Toy Foxy sparked even worse once Tangle was removed. Red stepped back, holding the small puppet animatronic protectively. The fox shut down quickly without another word, collapsing to the floor. Red watched in horror, not quite sure what to do.
"Damn! Kids shoved pizza into its hard drive and voice box, and the human adults made it worse by not removin' it correctly!" He exclaimed, looking up at Red in worry and distress. "I don't know what to do! I tried to get it out, but I messed up its voice box by accident, and it started sparking and-...ugh, never mind! Just do something, fatso!"
Red was finally able to get a good look at the little creature, thanks to the light being dimly on in the main room. He wasn't able to get a good look at him before, but he was able to now.
He was much smaller than the large bear, even smaller than the Balloon Boy. His tail was stubby and small, and his exoskeleton held a yellow, almost golden tint to it. Realization finally dawned onto the lead mascot.
"You're a bear?"
"OF COURSE I AM, DIDN'T YOU NOTICE BEFORE?" Tangle barked angerly, looking horribly offended. "WHAT ELSE WOULD I BE, A DAMN KOALA?!"
"Yes, actually." Red muttered, frowning. He placed Tangle down gently, walking over to Toy Foxy. He took note of all of the missing pieces that had been torn off again, carefully removing any extra shards near the chest. Removing any and all pizza chunks that he spotted, he grimaced in disgust.
"Poor fox." The brown bear muttered softly, frowning to himself. He watched Tangle stand up with a bit of trouble, wobbling over to a toolbox.
"Ugh, I hate walkin' by myself." He growled, grabbing some tweezers from the metal container. Red was suddenly glad that Clyde and T-Chi weren't around, knowing that they'd probably freak out over Tangle being "cute".
Tangle shoved Red aside quickly, using the tweezers to work any small chunks of cheese and pepperoni out. He sighed, shaking his head.
"Humans." He muttered, looking up at Toy Foxy's face. "They made us all, yet they're so cruel..."
Red listened to him carefully, knowing it was best not to interrupt the short-tempered miniature bear.
"Did 'ya know there's STACKS of paperwork in the office that the CEO's s'possed 'ta do? He isn't doin' it. We could get shut down if he doesn't. Pushin' four days open and we're already boned."
Red stared in shock.
The humans were doing nothing?
His ears flattened. Feeling a bit of worry and fear wash over him, he put his hand to his chin, looking around in thought. "We need organisation."
"Duh." Tangle muttered, rolling his eyes. Red grabbed the tweezers from Tangle, quickly and carefully removing all of the pizza. Luckily it had cooled and hardened up a bit, making it easy to remove without hassle. Once the fox was cleaned out, Red stood up, backing out of Kid's Cove quickly. Tangle stuttered for a moment, watching him leave.
"Where are you goin'?! I need help! Its voice box is still all messed up!"
"I'll be back." He replied quickly, running off.
Red had to plan some things.
Clyde and T-Chi sat on the stage, chatting about silly things. They watched Red dart around from place to place, as if he were looking for something. They found it highly amusing, especially since their new animatronic friend, B.B., had gone to sleep.
"You spend too much time around that fox..." Clyde spoke daintily, glancing at the tips of his fingers lazily. He looked up to Red as the bear did various things, flicking his own blue tail a bit. "It feeds you too much pizza. You're getting fatter."
"Better than hanging around you." Red growled, looking up at the rabbit in disdain. T-Chi rolled her eyes from her place on the stage next to the bunny, giving his leg a harsh kick.
"T-Bone, be nice!" She snapped, clacking her beak at him as a threat. She smiled apologetically at Red, rubbing the back of her head.
"What he means is that we really wish you'd spend more time with us! We were programmed as a trio, so I kind of hope we can act like one sometime. It's only been four days and we're already drifting apart."
"We do spend time together." Red stated flatly, placing some items down on a table. "During the day."
"You know what I mean!" T-Chi replied, crossing her arms. "We want you to do what you do with Toy Foxy, only with us."
"Hammer you?" Red asked, raising an eyebrow. There was a drawn out silence before Clyde burst out laughing, nearly falling off of the stage. T-Chi hid her face, and Red's face turned a shade of maroon. Clyde continued laughing, which frustrated the bear.
"NOT LIKE THAT." He barked out, flattening his ears. A bit of smoke came from an opening near his neck as he overheated from embarrassment, making the bunny go further into a tear inducing hysteric laughing fit.
Sighing out roughly, Red rubbed his face to calm himself down. Once Clyde quieted, he tilted his head up and whistled loudly, catching the attention of Toy Foxy and Tangle. The mangled animatronic hobbled out of the Cove, looking unsure.
"All of you," The bear began, looking from the two on the stage to the other(s) approaching.
"The humans aren't doing their jobs." The bear began, grabbing some items on the table. "And I honestly don't think they will. Because of that, I've planned some things out."
"Like?" The bunny questioned, crossing his arms. Red growled at his snootiness, eyeing him.
"This." He hissed, chucking a mop at the blue animatronic, who caught it with ease.
"We're on cleaning duty."
There were collective moans from the other four, making Red chuckle a bit. Shaking his head, he handed out various cleaning tools and supplies.
"Toy Foxy, Tangle, you guys will be dusting everything high up, since you seem to climb well. Clyde, you'll clean the kitchen and mop. T-Chi, you'll do sweeping and help Clyde with the kitchen. We'll all pick up garbage."
"What about you, oh majestic leader?" Clyde spat out more harshly than before, obviously not liking the new treatment. Red growled audibly at him, furrowing his brows.
"I'll clean the bathrooms, help mop, and do the humans' paperwork." Deciding to leave the bit about the music box out, he nodded his head a bit at them.
"Let's get started. We open in a few hours."
They all groaned again, much to Red's amusement. Despite their complaints, they slowly but surely got to work.
The garbage came first, and then various mopping and wiping down of tables and floors. It wasn't very dirty due to it only being four days, but it was getting there. The dirtiest parts happened to be the kitchen and bathrooms.
Everything was going fine, and all of them had calmed down. While Red was busy off somewhere cleaning by himself, the others had even invented a game of seeing if they could throw garbage into a trash bin from a certain distance.
The bear found it surprisingly amusing (and pretty adorable) to watch. He couldn't help but to stop working to watch them. He smiled to himself.
Maybe he should spend more time with the other two.
He was lost in his own daydreams until he suddenly heard the music box strain and clunk.
His eyes went wide in a panic. Looking over to make sure it was okay, he nearly locked up when he heard the music slow down. Dropping his mop, he ran off into the shadows of the Prize Corner to wind the box without saying anything.
Toy Foxy, Tangle and T-Chi continued playing their games, oblivious to what was happening to their leader.
Clyde noticed.
He sat at the desk, looking at the insanely large amounts of paperwork. He felt the ball of stress return and eat away at his stomach. He felt as if he were going to pass out.
Running a hand over his head, he began working on the first paper. It was finished quickly, much to his relief. They didn't seem to be hard, just monotonous.
One paper turned to thirty, and thirty turned to forty. Red was quickly nearing his wits end.
As he moved, his hand accidentally bumped a small box. Looking over at it, he tilted his head and picked it up to inspect it.
"Cigars?" He muttered, blinking slowly. He had seen various people on TV smoke them. They seemed to be a great stress relief.
Pulling one out, he frowned. Tilting his head at it, he slowly placed it into his mouth and snapped his finger like Tangle had done earlier, creating a spark.
He was thankful there was no coughing or gagging due to the lack of any actual lungs. He almost instantly felt more relaxed after a few drags, however. Deciding to finish the whole thing (seeing as it helped), he continued to work on the paper work more calmly and efficiently.
Hours later, Red finally finished the paper work after some time of staring at them, much to his relief. Rubbing his face, he snorted out some smoke. The cigars had helped somewhat, taking a lot of the stress off of his shoulders. He stacked the finished papers into neat piles, making sure they were in correct order.
Standing from his place in his chair, he stretched. He cracked his endoskeleton into place, making sure his hat was still in its correct spot on his head. Looking at the desk one more time, he walked away from it, leaving the office.
He took a deep breath, exhaling it happily. It felt great to have everything done, including the cleaning. He had to admit, the others did a wonderful job cleaning. He didn't see a single speck of dirt as he wandered the halls. He just couldn't wait to go into sleep mode, even if it was just for a few minutes.
He turned the corner, entering the stage room. Making sure that B.B. was still in place, he took a quick trip to the Cove as well to make sure Toy Foxy and Tangle were okay. Seeing that everybody was asleep and happy, he smiled to himself.
They did good.
Yawning softly, he began to trod towards the stage. His ears fell a bit in exhaustion. He wasn't paying attention to his surroundings, but why should he?
Just as he passed the Prize Corner, he felt an odd force of unseen power grab him. Snapping into alertness, he squirmed and growled. It took a few seconds to notice he was being dragged.
Crying out mutely, he attempted to stop moving by digging his feet into the ground. Seeing that nothing helped, he simply squirmed until he stopped.
"You disobeyed me," The Puppet whispered into Red's ear, making him shiver. The bear snorted out thick smoke at the feeling of the chilly breath, shaking his head.
"It's my job to make the children happy. I have no need to obey you, anyways. You have to be insane to want me to not sing."
Feeling he was free, he got ready to move. Just as he tensed his body to walk, he froze again. This time he wasn't being held. Instead, he felt a horrifyingly strong electric current shock his system.
Letting out a silent screech of agony, he balled his hands into fists, thrashing about mutely. A cold, heartless laugh filled his ears.
"You don't understand the situation you're in." It laughed mockingly. The electrical shock stopped, leaving Red breathless and gasping in pain.
"I am your master."
Red clamped his mouth shut, flattening his ears completely. He was terrified to speak.
"And you will do exactly as I say."
Feeling another electric current pass through him, he was finally able to verbally cried out. It was different than before.
Static filled his vision, along with an odd humming. And as he stood there riding it out, he swore could hear faint voices. The voices sounded pained and broken, begging for something-or someone.
"GOL...PLEASE-I..."
"N-NO, FRE-...DON'-ET HIM TAK-..."
"I-I'M SOR-...ONNIE, I-"
Seeing a flash of a red colored-encrusted exoskeleton fill his vision, he coughed and choked, finally shaking it off. Breathing heavily, he whipped his head around, feeling lightheaded. Seeing that the box was closed and playing normally, he shuttered.
Bending down, he wound it quickly, ears flat. Even after it didn't need any more winding, he continued winding it, choking on himself.
Backing away slowly, he stumbled to the stage. Silently taking his place between the other two, he stared out into the darkness, his ears still flat.
As he dozed off, he heard the box strain again. Flicking his ears up, he looked in its direction, eyes wide in panic.
"You don't want to end up like the ones you replaced, do you?"
He finally knew why the humans kept it wound up.
Author's Note:
Heya, everybody! How 'ya doing today? Good? How are you enjoying the holiday season? I hope you're all well!
Finally, I feel like I'm getting somewhere with this fanfiction! The next chapter is (most likely) the last flashback chapter for Red, and it'll explain his current relationships with the other animatronics.
I actually got super confused with this chapter! I had over 5 drafts of different parts of it and I got super confused and frantic because I had no idea where which part went, but I got it constructed finally! (As you can see, haha!)
Big thanks to Chillaid for beta reading this monstrosity, eck!
I'd also like to thank KudleyFan93, TheMeOfTheUniverse, Purest of the Hearts, Unknown Forgotten Friend, MCHaunter, Anon Guest, koyboy, The Ghost-Ninja Guy, Elysion Wish, LevitatingPiez, Anon xxToxicwolfxx, Anon batman, Anon Sophia, stephaniec1025, Anon Jules and RDTRON14 for the reviews! I love you guys!
Reviewer Spotlight: Today's reviewer spotlight goes to RDTRON14! If you could, could you go follow them? They're just starting out and need the support! I'd appreciate it a ton if you'd go follow 'em!
(Out of songs for the song spotlight, sorry! I'll wait until the flashback chapters are over!)
Answered Questions!:
Elysion Wish: "1) What inspires you to make great fan fictions?
2) Can Tangle and Toy Foxy read each other's minds?
3) IS TOY CHICA REALLY THAT OBLIVIOUS THAT SHE IS ONLY WEARING SOMETHING SO REVEALING? AND THE FACT THAT THE ENTIRE PIZZAREA IS FILLED WITH 4 BOYS AND 2 GIRLS?! Oops sorry caps on hehehe"
Answer:
1: Hhh, they aren't great, but thank you! I listen to a lot of music to get inspired, heh.
2: Nope! (That'd be funny, though.)
3: Nope, I don't think she's that oblivious. Ifyoucatchmydrift. Hueheuhueuhe. *Shot down* I'mahorribleperson.
MCHaunter: "My question is I want you to listen to both of these songs (If you haven't already) and evaluate which is better, and which would fit best into the fanfiction. Thanks!"
Answer: I'd have to say the second one! (I actually heard TLT one, but not the Mangled one!) They're both great songs, though!~
Thanks for reading, friends! The next chapter will be out in the next six days! (Unless I procrastinate. I'm a horrible procrastinator.)
