The tension was palpable.
Freddy's ball rolled just shy of a strike, swerving to the left at the last minute. The bear let out a surprised gasp, but his subsequent words were lost to Monty- eyes narrowing as he positioned his own ball. In a fluid almost human movement, he swung his arm: and the satisfying rattle of the pins hitting the floor was all Monty needed to hear.
"And strike!"
Monty cackled, roiling his arms as his custom made Montgomery Gator™ head bowling ball crashed through the center of the pyramid of pins: much to the delight of the spectators. He turned at hearing the polite applause of both the Glamrock guitarists, seated at the bar.
"Good job Monty!" Chica called out, whooping for him in a way that made the crocodile feel all warm inside. It was rare anyone did that, especially with how empty Gator Golf had gotten even on it's opening day. Perhaps Fazbear Entertainment™ had overestimated the draw of a "gecko" and his mini golf course.
"Your improvement is impressive!"
Despite losing to him 5-3, Freddy joined in the festivities with genuine compassion in his tone with not a hint of sarcasm. A good sportsman, something that the gator - in all honesty - had not expected from the bear. Freddy was just full of surprises, not at all the egoistic leader Monty thought he was. He patted the gator on the back, and for once Monty didn't try dodging out of the bear's grip. At Freddy's praise at his skills he turned to the foremost bowling alley, where a bowling ball shaped hole sat smack dab in the middle of the lane. A reminder of what happened just a few days ago.
"Heh, it's no biggie Fazbear-"
"Do not sell yourself short Montgomery," the bear gave him another quick pat on the back, "To score three strikes in a row requires a great deal of precision and strength."
"Don't inflate his ego too much Freddy," Bonnie called out, "Remember who the real king of bowling is Little Guy!"
"I'd like to see you prove it old man!"
"Old man?!"
Bonnie huffed indignantly: grabbing his own purple and red bowling ball from the counter, as Chica gave Monty a pained "good luck with that" look before she continued to slurp her smoothie. The gator let out one of his croaking saurian laughs, doing mock warmups as Bonnie walked up to the two of them.
"Move aside you two," he said to Freddy with a wink from beneath his star-shaped shades, "and watch a master at work."
The rabbit flexed briefly, showing off the fact that he was just as tall and bulky as Monty was, before reeling and releasing his Freddy ball- the yellow blur slamming into the pins.
"Easy," the rabbit pushed his shades up, blasting Monty with the finger guns. The crocodile rolled his eyes, feeling a weight lifting off his shoulders as Freddy moved over to congratulate Bonnie instead.
"Tch, lucky.
"Best of five."
"Five? Only?" The rabbit laughed in a good natured but almost arrogant manner, grating Monty's animatronic ears, "This is going to be quick."
"Now now Bonnie," Freddy chided, patting Bonnie on the back just before he went over to watch from the sides, "Don't cut Montgomery out so early- our RockStar is quite adept at bowling."
"We'll see about that, ain't that right Little Guy?"
The rabbit winked, nearly causing Monty to choke on his words.
"Hmph, I'll put you in the ground, Old Man."
"What? Scared?"
The rabbit taunted in a half joking and half arrogant manner, causing the gator to grit his metal teeth. Smugness practically oozed from the other animatronic, who had only been rolling strikes- with Monty quickly falling behind with a pitiful 2 to Bonnie's 8. Yeah, things were not going well.
"Nerves getting to ya Little Guy?"
"Nerves?" Monty fired back in a vain attempt to retain his gusto from earlier, before he got utterly steamrolled, "I don't get nervous."
"Really? It's match point for me, but how about I give you a last shot-"
Bonnie winked knowingly behind those brightly colored glasses, a gesture that Monty was already starting to resent. It wasn't that he hated the rabbit, no, he just hated losing. And Bonnie's constant joking wasn't exactly helping ease that wound in his pride.
"You score this and we'll call it a win for you- sound good?"
"Hmph, I don't need your handicap Old Timer, especially when I got these guns locked and loaded!" Monty's showboating was not without purpose- perhaps hiding the fact that he had already lost their little bet. He flexed his biceps in a mock show of talent, cockily wrapping his hands around the ball and taking a few steps back.
"Watch and learn!"
A grunt of exertion as Monty sent his lime-green ball blasting over the lane- colliding with the pyramid of pins. His aim was getting better at least, seeing as now Monty had taken to imagining the faces of his enemies rather than the Bonnie heads atop the bowling pins.
Alas, there was one pin left standing- rolling atop it's base and laughing at his failures. The gator stomped his foot more out of habit (at least, that's what Monty told himself), but before he could go over there to kick it down himself- a gloved hand stopped him.
"Nice try, that happens to the best of us man." Bonnie said without his usual bravado, as the other animatronics came over. Monty was already beginning to tune out as he stared at the one lonely pin, no longer listening to whatever empty praises Freddy was saying to both of them. He heard the distinct clap between Chica and Bonnie as the chicken high fived him, a well deserved one if he was being honest. The Gator took a deep breath, and turned to see the Glamrocks busy bantering with one another: the taller Freddy wrapping the other two beneath his shoulders.
Envy was a new taste in his tongue, and it was not a pleasant one.
Monty walked home alone that night.
He was used to it, after all the Glamrocks had Rockstar Row- and he had his golf course to attend to. As he trod solemnly past all the bots, pushing some particularly stupid ones aside as they tried to offer him maps, the Gator gave one last glance back to Bonnie bowl- the smiling rabbit's face basically a slap in the face.
His tail dragged along the green as he waltzed over to Hole 3, where he had left off before being whisked away to the bowling alley.
"Where'd my club go?"
He let out a low growl as he soon realized that someone, probably a bot, had misplaced one of his few unbroken mini golf clubs. But before the Gator could begin breaking everything in sight out of frustration, he thankfully found it- laying atop the gift from the Glamrocks earlier.
"Huh. Wonder what's inside."
Shaking the box revealed not much information on the contents: based on the noise it was something small and light. Monty didn't have any claws like the bassist did, but his teeth did the job. Like his namesake, Monty tore the wrapping and the cardboard clean off- revealing none other than a pair of glasses.
Welcome to the family! The attached note said, along with signatures from all three of the band members and a space for his own.
Monty realized they had given him merchandise. Bonnie's glasses, Chica's cupcake thing she constantly was referencing to and even a miniature top hat- the same one that the big bear himself wore. Monty whistled appreciatively as he put on the glasses, checking himself out.
"Hmph. This ain't so bad after all."