Chapter 8: New Animatronics and The Smiling Puppet

Disclaimer: I don't own Five Nights at Freddy's. In this chapter Josh and his new friends meet the Toy Animatronics, find a cool name for Josh and manage to make him part of the show. Don't forget to review, and enjoy!

A month later, the late kids had really got used to their new bodies, and they had a lot of fun every day either playing hide and seek or listening to the ghost stories that I tell them. As the new animatronics hadn't come yet, the restaurant had been closed for a month, so we have been playing games every day now. Until, one night, the moving men came. As I rushed the animatronics to the Parts Service room, I saw them bring in a brand new Freddy, Bonnie, Chica and Foxy. I could tell at once why Mr Fazzy wanted these ones rather than the old ones as they have bright, happy faces, they are made of plastic and generally look less scary. Freddy is more orange, has a yellow tummy and is actually a little bigger than old Freddy. Bonnie has a bright red bow tie, is bright blue and looks a tiny bit like a girl. Chica has a cupcake, her bib says "let's party" instead of "let's eat" and is much shorter than old Chica. Finally, Foxy is now white, is not a pirate and is a girl. After the moving men leave, I call back the old animatronics who stare at them with interest.

"So these are our replacements," Bonnie stated, staring at the new Bonnie's face.

"They kinda look like toys," Freddy commented.

"Toy Foxy looks weird," Foxy said. Chica poked her with her beak.

"Nothing," she says.

"Obviously," Bonnie says. "No one else has died have they!"

Soon, they got tired of looking at the toy animatronics and went back to their game.

"Hey Josh?" Freddy asks. "What's your animatronic name?"

I am taken aback. "I dunno," I say. "Come up with one."

Freddy thought for a moment.

"You look kind of like a Marionette." He says. I have no idea what that is, but it sounds like a cool name, so I go with it.

"That sounds cool," I say. Freddy grins at me, and in that moment I release my grip on the past. I am not Josh; that changed as soon as Fredbear lowered his jaw into my neck. I am not that scared boy, I am a confident phantom, cursed to roam these halls for all eternity. I am now... The Marionette.

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It was the night before the restaurant opened, so we made the most of the last day we could have together by playing our favourite game: Hide and Seek. Foxy and I were hiding in the same place when Foxy said

"Hey Mario? Have you ever been part of the show?"

I sighed.

"First of all, it's Marionette, not Mario." Foxy grinned at this; he had been calling me that since I had announced my new name.

"Second of all, no I haven't, no human can see me." I said sadly.

"Hmmm..." Foxy was clearly deep in thought. "You know those ghost stories that you tell us? Doesn't the human use water to see the ghost?"

Under my mask, my eyes light up.

Abandoning the game, Foxy and I rushed down the corridors to the restrooms where we fill a bucket we find there with water. Slowly carrying the bucket, we walk back.

"Time out!" Foxy yells when we get there. "Come look at this!"

Freddy stood up from behind a table, Chica looked around the door of Kids Cove and Bonnie burst out of my present; they all walked over to watch.

"Guess what? Mario has never been in the show! Humans can't even see him!"

They gasped, I, however, rolled my eyes at the nickname.

"So, we have found a solution!" Foxy suddenly, and without warning, emptied the bucket over my head.

I glowed white for a second and everyone was temporarily blinded. When they looked back however, I looked exactly the same except:

"Your mask!" Chica exclaimed. "It's now smiling!"

Freddy passes me a mirror and I find that Chica is quite right; my mouth is still wide and black, but instead of screaming, I now look like I am laughing.

Stepping out of the puddle that I am now standing in, I smile under my mask and say

"Who's for a ghost story?"