Part 4: Trapped
Freddy's servos jolted up. Jittering and shaking, he awoke with a yawn.
"Good morning, buddy." It was Stanford, coming down to turn the Fazbear crew on as usual.
"Hey there, Stan!" Freddy smiled. The puppet had been helping Stan to fix the stutters that plagued them earlier.
"I'm a bit busy today, Fred. Mind turning everyone else on for me?" He asked, climbing the stairs out of the bunker.
"No problem, Stan! Happy to help!" Freddy turned to his buddies, turning them on. Stan stopped walking and looked on, observing. Every time Freddy or any of the animatronics had to do something to each other, they always did it in the same order: Bonnie, Chica, Foxy, Freddy, Marionette. Sure enough, Freddy turned everyone else on in this order. Stan left, deciding it probably wasn't worth thinking about. After Freddy turned everyone on, he moved over to the puppet's box and turned off its radio, waking it up.
What? It asked Freddy, sending him a wireless message.
Time to get up for the day.
For what purpose?
Stan might need us. Chica stepped in. She usually acted as the peacekeeper in the group, resolving any conflicts they might have with each other.
Aye, Foxy added. I feel we be gettin' awfuly close to findin' this author. We all be needin' to put in the effort.
The puppet sighed. You're all right. I'm sorry. Things have just been really tough ever since... You know...
Bonnie walked over to the marionette and gave it a comforting pat on the shoulder. It wasn't fair what that guy did, puppet. Someday, we'll have our chance to get our revenge. We'll make sure he knows our pain. But, until that happens, it seems we'll have to help everyone we can.
Come on, guys. Freddy motioned. We need to get ready for our new jobs. Stanford wants us to walk around and amuse the children.
I'd rather not. The puppet responded snarkily.
You can hide in your box and scare kids walking by. Chica told it flatly. They all exited the bunker, and pretended to no longer be sentient.
It had been a few hours into the work day, and already Foxy had made three kids cry by popping out of the newly-remade Pirate's Cove.
"Foxy!" Chica said, playing more prerecorded messages. "Why can't you be nice?"
"Yar har har, Chica, my lady! Being mean is so much fun!"
"But you won't make any friends by being mean, Foxy!" Bonnie's voicebox added.
"And if you're mean, we won't let you join the band!" Freddy played his line.
"These animatronics are probably the greatest moneymakers I've ever had!" Stan laughed. "So many suckers are dropping dough just to see the pirate fox!" All of the patrons within the Shack laughed at this, confusing Stanford, who left to count his profit in peace.
One customer, however, wasn't laughing. He left the Shack in silence, removing his disguise to reveal pale white hair and smooth skin.
"So, that's how Stan uses those creatures after they leave me, huh?!" The little man was enraged. "I'll show that stupid Puppet to change sides!" Gideon stormed off, heading back to his Tent of Telepathy, his plan already formulated.
Gideon raced home and booted up his computer. Hurriedly typing and clicking, he finally reached what he needed to in order to put his plan into fruition. Loading up his online game and unleashing ultimate power, he was then greeted by a golden bunny-like creature with beady eyes and a destroyed smile. Gideon's eyes narrowed and he smirked, his plots finally ready to begin.
"Ready for your mission, SpringTrap?"
Oh, no. The puppet stopped moving, the kids being incredibly confused.
What's the matter, marionette? Freddy asked wirelessly, the children and parents unable to tell.
Freddy, I sense something. Another animatronic has been released into our world.
Which... Which one?
The only one I fear... Make a diversion. Tell Stan about this immediately.
Alright... Freddy tried not to let his fear show. He played his emergency exit voice recording.
"Hey, kids! Are you having fun here at The Mystery Shack?"
They cheered in response. Freddy's automated laugh played.
"Glad to hear it, buddies! Freddy needs to go for a minute, then it's time for even more fun!" Freddy turned and walked out, knocking on Stan's office.
"Freddy? What are you doing out here?" Stan asked gruffly, counting his money.
"We have some bad news..." The bear filled the man of mystery in on what had happened. When he finished, Stan stopped in his tracks. After a few minutes of silence, he told Freddy, in the sternest of voices,
"Evacuate everybody. Now."
After a few minutes, everybody was out of the building. The Mystery Shack team, the Core Four, and the animatronics were all gathered around the main shack area.
"Grunkle Stan, what's going on?" Mabel asked.
"It would be best to let the puppet explain that one..." Chica extended her arm, and the marionette wrapped its hand around her.
"Back in our game," Chica said, mediuming the puppet, "There was a man. We never knew his name, but we always called him the Yellow Guy."
"The Yellow Guy?" Ralph asked, confused.
"His skin was a sickly yellow colour." It explained. "He was the one who killed us. I was the first victim."
"You guys were killed?" Felix was getting concerned. The puppet sighed.
"Yes... I wasn't a kid, though. My real name... I can hardly say it without tearing up... My real name is... Bill Cipher."
Gideon and SpringTrap were almost to the Mystery Shack when the animatronic bunny stopped in its tracks.
"What's wrong with you?!" Gideon yelled. "We're almost there."
"Puppet..." SpringTrap wheezed.
"The puppet? Speak up!"
"Puppet... Can't match... Too strong..."
"Hmm..." Gideon thought. How to get the puppet out of the way... An idea came to him.
"Alright, SpringTrap, you win. We'll strike later, once the puppet is in its box. I'll distract it while you do what you need to."
"Okay..." It wheezed in response.
"Bill Cipher?" Dipper asked, pulling out his journal. "I've heard of you. Says here I can summon you by simply saying, 'backwards message' backwards."
"Don't do it." Bill said. "If I leave this form, so will my sanity. I will turn, and nothing will be able to stop me. This body is an inhibitor. If I lose it, my sanity will go with me."
"Well, Cipher," Calhoun stood up, "What's the plan for this 'SpringTrap' character?"
"Everybody stay up and team up. If anything happens- anything at all- scream."
"That'll be easy for Dipper! Hey-o!" Mabel laughed.
"Cut it out Mabel! I'm not that big a scaredy cat! Right, Vanellope?" Dipper crossed his arms, then turned around when Vanellope didn't say anything. "...Vanellope?"
She looked at him and smiled awkwardly. Tears nearly came to his eyes.
"Vanellope..."
"No time for this now!" Bill yelled. "We have to prepare for SpringTrap's arrival! Everyone split up into groups of three. Everyone should have one person with a journal and one animatronic on their team."
After a while of fidgeting, the teams were composed of Stan, Freddy, and Felix, then of Ralph, Mabel, Calhoun, and Chica, then finally of Dipper, Vanellope, Foxy, and Bonnie.
"I'll stand watch in my box." Bill Cipher informed everyone. "I'll stop the music if SpringTrap comes by."
"Wait!" Dipper yelled. "What if we need to talk to you? Chica has to leave, and once you let go of her, we won't be able to hear you!"
"I don't know, Dipper." Bill admitted. "You'll just have to listen closely to the music." He let go of Chica, and floated to the box, getting in.
"Good... Good luck, everyone..." Chica said, being able to talk on her own again. Stan's team guarded the front doors, Ralph's guarded the back, and Dipper's team split into pairs upstairs, with Dipper and Bonnie covering the left and Vanellope and Foxy taking the right.
Hours passed, and there was no movement whatsoever.
"This is getting tiring. I have no idea how I'm gonna stay awake..." Stan started to drift off. Felix jumped up and smacked him in the head with his hammer, perking him up. "That feels great! I'm ready for anything!"
"Hopefully you are." Freddy told him. "SpringTrap is nobody to take lightly..."
"I've been meaning to ask, Fred," Felix began. "Who were you before the attacks?"
"Not now, Felix." Freddy responed, monotone. "I need to focus." Stan and Felix looked at each other. Stan shrugged and went back to his business.
"It's Been So Long!" Mabel groaned. "When will we reach The End?"
Calhoun looked over. "What are you going on about?"
Chica groaned. "Those are some of the songs that we perform onstage. She's trying to entertain herself."
"Think you could hum a few bars?" Ralph asked. "It's getting a bit boring around here."
"I'd love to, but we don't have the time to do that right now. We need to watch out for the Yellow Guy."
"Who is this 'Yellow Guy,' anyway? What's his name?" Mabel inquired.
"We don't know." Chica told her. "We still don't even know what he looked like."
"How could Vanellope not stick up for me like that, Bonnie?" Dipper asked. He looked over, and saw Bonnie's face was missing. He screamed, and Bonnie replaced his head.
"Because of stuff like that."
"Your FACE was missing!"
"I'm also a large animatronic rabbit created for the sole purpose of entertaining children."
"...Still scary..." Dipper defended himself.
"Look, pal," Bonnie started. "I don't know a whole lot about girls, but what I do know is that they like guys who are fearless. If you want to get her to like you, you have to be less... Y'know... Flamboyant."
"A tad offensive, but do you think you could help me out with that?"
"Right now?" Bonnie looked around. "We can't. If you scream, everybody will rush over and think SpringTrap is here. I'll help you later, but for now we have to focus."
Great, Dipper shoved his hands in his pockets, annoyed. Not only does the girl of my dreams think I'm a total baby, I can't even work on being more confident for her.
Foxy and Vanellope tip-toed down the halls, barely talking and moving as quietly as possible as to be able to hear Bill's music box. After a while, Vanellope broke the silence.
"You probably think I'm a real jerk, huh, Foxy?"
"Argh?" Foxy questioned.
"Not sticking up for Dipper when he needed me... I really shoulda been there."
"Aye, 'tis true," Foxy responded, "But ye can't help what yeh feel inside."
"What do you feel inside?"
"Me soul scrapin' against me metallic body tryin' its darndest to escape." He said flatly.
"Oh, yeah, that would make sense." Vanellope scratched the back of her head, feeling silly for making such a huge fuss over her problems when Foxy's were much worse. When she finished, she just stayed while listening to the silence.
Then it struck her.
It was silent. The music had stopped playing.
"Foxy... I think the box-"
"Ye be right. Move along!" Foxy let out a loud screech to alert the others and ran to aid Bill.
Gideon was so proud of himself. Jumping through the window to sit on TOP of the box, trapping that traitor Marionette inside? Genius!
"Bet you wish you hadn't switched sides now, huh, Sock Monkey?"
Bill was really in trouble now. With nobody around for him to touch, he couldn't communicate with anybody. To make matters worse, he could feel the evergrowing presence of-
"SpringTrap!" Gideon called out. "Time to start your rein of terror!"
SpringTrap entered the room, wheezing out a laugh. He walked over to the Puppet, who he remembered.
"Surprised to see me, Bill? Like the moths in your fabric, I keep coming back! Three years I spent alone in the frozen, indie-game wastes!" He smacked the box. "And I missed you! So, I've organized a little gathering. Like a birthday party except... The exact opposite."
The animatronics and their respective human counterparts entered the room.
"And look! All of your friends are here!" SpringTrap teased. "You are so very popular! Let's start handing out the presents!" He pulled out an object that baffled everyone in the room.
"What is that?" Dipper asked, his eyes narrowing. "Looks like some sort of... Phone?"
"No," Mabel responded, her hands on her chin, "I'm pretty sure it's a banana."
"You're not just wrong, you're stupid." Stanford added. "It's clearly a taser."
"It doesn't matter what it is, my friends," SpringTrap walked towards Freddy, "It's what it does that matters!" He rammed it into Freddy, who struggled as the object began to affect his processors. Freddy made an odd sound, and then he and all the other animatronics collapsed onto the floor, motionless.
"No!" Vanellope screamed. She looked at everyone.
"Looks like I win!" Gideon laughed, jumping off of the box. "Which means all of you will have to pay for Mabel's mistake!"
"Mistake?" Mabel stopped panicking and looked over at Gideon, confused. "What mistake?"
"You completely forgot to- RUN!"
Everybody was confused, until they looked down and saw Bill clinging on to Gideon's ankle.
"Bill!" Felix yelled.
"Get out, now! I have to ditch this vessel, and I don't want to hurt you guys! MOVE, MOVE, MOVE!" Gideon started to twitch, regaining control of himself. The Puppet began to twitch and shake, until eventually a large triangle with a top hat and a single eye came out of him.
"Wow, oh, wow! Gravity Falls, it's good to be back!"
"Who are you, some sort of woodpecker?" Stan asked.
"No, pal! I'm Bill Cipher! Dream demon, deceased soul, you know the drill. I'm here to reactivate what should be!" It was clear to everyone that Bill was no longer their friend.
"Well, whatever you're gonna do, you won't get far with it!" Calhoun yelled before opening fire. The bullets just went through Bill, damaging the other side of the wall.
"Aw, that's adorable. I'd crush your soul for trying that, but I'm in too good a mood! Now, though, it's time to reboot the systems!"
Bill snapped his fingers, and the animatronics rose from the floor. Their eyes were pitch black, and they didn't seem to be sentient anymore.
"There's a reason these things were thrown away, you know! They don't exactly like bare endoskeletons!" Bill laughed psychotically. "Well, time to go! I'll be watching you!" He disappeared, leaving the animatronics under SpringTrap's control.
"Isn't this nice? The animatronics once again decide to hunt humans! This truly is rich, my friends! Attack, you mechanical animals!" The animatronics struggled to move, but eventually they set their sights on the group.
"Bare endoskeletons aren't allowed in Freddy Fazbear's Pizza! Time to fix that!" Freddy cracked his knuckles whilst advancing towards Stan.
"Har har har! No weapons in the Pirate's Cove, lassie!" Foxy began to attack Calhoun.
"Big boys need to eat lotsa vegetables! Time for a diet!" Bonnie creeped towards Felix.
"Hey there, Big Boy! You're kinda cute. Maybe I can convince the others to keep you around here a bit longer?" Chica made a bee-line for Ralph.
As panicked as everyone else was, Dipper, Mabel, and Vanellope realized that nothing was attacking them.
"Guys," Dipper whispered to the others, "The animatronics don't attack children!"
"Great! What do we do now?" Mabel asked.
"Let's take out Babyface over there!" Vanellope motioned towards Gideon, who was still recovering from the Puppet's contact. Vanellope crawled over to him and pulled out a cherry bomb.
Might as well have some fun with this one, she thought to herself.
"Stay back, Fred! I'll knock you out!" Stan whipped out his brass knuckles and prepared to smack the oversized bear.
"Hand over the weapon, and we can all get back to having fun!" Foxy's pirate accent was beginning to wear thin as his spirit was no longer in control of him.
"I just want to help you grow big and strong like your old pal Bonnie Bunny!" Felix was desperately hitting Bonnie with his hammer, trying to reverse the effects, but it was no use. It seemed like none of their powers worked against Bill's magic.
"Uh... I don't want to hit a lady, ma'am!" Ralph backed away from Chica, who motioned something with her hands that almost made Ralph lose his lunch. He was trying to remain in control of the situation when he smelled something familiar. "Everybody duck!" He yelled, to which they all followed without question.
BOOM!
The cherry bomb exploded, knocking out Gideon and burning away some of SpringTrap's costume. The sound was loud enough for the souls of the children to begin to regain control over their animatronic suits, and in no time they were turning against SpringTrap.
"Let's see who this guy really is!" Freddy took SpringTrap's mask off, revealing a man with sickly yellow skin, black hair on the sides of his head, and a big, "N" on his forehead.
"Argh? Who might ye be?" Foxy asked, scratching his head.
"I'm your murderer, remember? Dr. Neo Cortex! I needed an animal army to rule the world, and when that wretched bandicoot turned, I figured if I couldn't have any real animals, mechanical ones would be the next best thing!"
"I oughta knock your lights out, buddy!" Bonnie stepped up aggressively. Before he could swing, a familiar voice called out to them.
"Hold it!" The gang all turned to see an old friend walking towards the mad doctor.
"Spyro? What are you doing here?" Dipper asked.
"I had a feeling I wasn't done in Gravity Falls!" Spyro said, walking towards Cortex.
"That doesn't really answer-"
"No, no," Stan cupped his hand over Dipper's mouth. "This is gonna be good."
"Do you really have to leave?" Mabel asked, holding back tears.
"We're afraid so, hun." Chica said with a frown. "It's just too dangerous for us to stay here. We couldn't bear to risk hurting you guys again!"
"And don't worry," Freddy said optimistically. "Spyro has a great home for us in the Dragon Realms!" Dipper looked over at the portal they were going to enter. He thought he saw an orange figure appear, but wrote it off as his tired mind playing tricks.
"We'll write to you guys. Promise." Bonnie leaned down and gave the twins and Vanellope a hug. After everyone said their goodbyes, the animatronics stepped through the portal and left, but not before some final words from Foxy.
"Rumor has it that the Dragon Realms may be under attack soon! Gives us something to do, huh? Yar har har!" Foxy laughed, saluted, and stepped through the portal. After that, the portal faded away, and the gang was stuck in the Shack by themselves.
"Welp, I dunno about you guys, but I'm gonna hit the hay. Got a lot to do tomorrow. They may have agreed to take Cortex and Gideon back to the Dragon Realms, but there's still a lot to clean. See ya!" Stan said before walking up the stairs. Everyone followed suit. After a while, everyone was asleep and the house was quiet. However, outside the house, an orange figure was furiously taking notes, before pulling out a measuring tape and snapping it back, fading away.
Author's Note: I apologize for the absurd waiting time for this chapter, and I hope that this compensates. If not, then everyone should be happy to know that a spin-off of this series, under the SpyroxFNAF topic, is in development starring what will happen to the Five Nights gang in the Dragon Realms. Stay tuned, and happy readings!