"Vanessa." said Casey, who had come into Vanessa's apartment again.
"Yeah?" she asked, kind of softly.
"I'm going to say something, and I want you to understand it's not just because of this, I'm not trying to 'punish' you or deliver some sort of retribution, you know I'm not like that," said Casey.
"Yeah?" asked Vanessa.
"but Rochelle told me about what you did, the, uhh, physical therapy?" said Casey.
"It seemed like the best idea at the time." said Vanessa, verbally and physically shifting into a defensive position.
"I know, but, it's a tipping point. Sorry, Vanessa, but I've felt for a while that I'm just more like just your friend, and that's okay. I spend more time worrying about your well-being than actually feeling connected to you on an emotional level, and I know it isn't your fault, but it isn't mine either. So please don't feel like this is me breaking off our entire relationship. I just don't think I was every really your boyfriend." said Casey.
"Hmmm." said Vanessa.
"Don't get me wrong, the reason I felt like I was in the first place was because I really care about you. So you can always come to me for anything you need help with." said Casey, as he turned around and began to walk out.
"No, I don't think I will." said Vanessa.
"What?" Casey asked, turning back towards her.
"Like, good grief, could you be any more transparent about what this is really about?" said Vanessa. "I know why you're really doing it."
"What do you mean?" said Casey.
"You aren't trying to punish me. You're releasing yourself for your baaaaby. And what would be the perfect excuse, but me giving her just a bit of tough love?" asked Vanessa.
"Vanessa, that wasn't tough love, that was assault. This is what I mean, you're not stable, and I'm not blaming you but I can't stay tied to you like this. I don't feel like I'm obligated to stay in a relationship that I know will end in pain for me and you." said Casey.
"And it definitely isn't you trying to let yourself off for Rochelle without worrying that I'm going to go off like some psycho and hurt her?" asked Vanessa. "After all, I'm 'not stable', right?"
"Vanessa, please. . ." said Casey.
"Nah. You want out?" said Vanessa, standing up. "Then get out. And get out of my apartment. And get the hell out of my life."
Casey was trembling. "Hey, you don't need to do this, I don't want to lose you-"
"GET OUT!" yelled Vanessa.
. . .
Night 16
The next night, Vanessa wasn't around much. Just before her shift ended, Ferdinand found her in Monty's room, punching an existing dent from one of Monty's prior rages.
"Vanessa. . ." Ferdinand said. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing." said Vanessa, not even turning towards Ferdinand.
"Vanessa, that's not true." said Ferdinand.
"Nothing that's your business!" yelled Vanessa.
She suddenly turned around and stormed out, batting Ferdinand aside effortlessly.
. . .
"I broke up with Vanessa." said Casey.
"Why?" asked Rochelle.
"Well, you know her." said Casey. "Only I had to be closer to her. So, you know."
"Oh." said Rochelle.
"And I might have seen some things to realize that there's someone else out there that I might be happier with." said Casey.
"Anyone in particular?" asked Rochelle.
"Maybe." said Casey.
There was a silence.
"Well, I don't want to lay that responsibility onto you, but I'm worried Vanessa might become, well," said Rochelle, "disagreeable."
Rochelle hugged Casey, tucking her head under his chin. "I'm scared of her." she said.
"You know what?" asked Casey. "I am, too."
"That's not encouraging." said Rochelle.
"Sorry." said Casey.
"Anyway, the others need to know, in case Vanessa really does go off." said Rochelle.
"Alright." said Casey, getting up while holding Rochelle.
. . .
Monsanto tried his hardest not to grin as Casey explained their situation to him.
". . .and she might be a little bit dangerous. This job has been putting some serious strain on her." said Casey.
"I can take it." Monsanto said, arrogantly.
"If you're sure. . ." said Casey. "I mean she probably wouldn't really hurt you intentionally, but with those magical powers of hers. . ."
"I don't think she would hurt us." said Cheyenne. "Personally, I think if she were the type, she'd already have done it when we were animatronics."
"Don't be stupid." said Rochelle. "And get sued for all she's worth?"
"Steady there, Roche." said Casey. She smiled at him apologetically.
"I do not think Vanessa would ever harm any of us." said Ferdinand. "It is against her job, and her ethics. In addition, she loves this place."
"Really?" asked Rochelle.
"Initially, she did not, but over time, we grew on her." said Ferdinand. "I imagine anything she may have said to you was simply empty words thrown at what she thought were objects, to vent stress."
"She did take me here on our first date." said Casey. "That's how I first came here."
"She's the reason you came here in the first place?" asked Rochelle, ears down.
"Yeah, I thought you guys were all for little kids before," said Casey, to some disapproving stares from Monsanto and Cheyenne, and a mildly hurt look from Ferdinand. "but now I can't get enough of you!"
"Well, I, for one, mirror that sentiment." said Ferdinand, laying a hand on Casey's shoulder.
"Aww, thanks, man!" said Casey.
Rochelle wrapped her arm around Casey's waist.
"Hey, you do know friendliness isn't, you know, something you only have so much of, right?" said Casey.
Rochelle grunted. "I may have heard that."
"Anyway, I think you're a different kind of friendly." said Casey, much more quietly.
This time, Monsanto couldn't help but let his face peel into a terrifying fanged grin.
"Get a room, you two." he said, laughing heartily.
. . .
The rest of that night was mostly uneventful, except that Casey saw Annie for the first time.
"What the-" he yelled, before Rochelle tugged at his hand.
"Run!" she said.
"But I'm the gua-" said Casey, before Rochelle physically pulled him away, as Annie charged, morphing her knife into her spear.
"What is that?" screamed Casey.
"I don't know, but I'm not letting you die just because you get some stupid below-minimum-wage paycheck!" said Rochelle.
"Actually, the company is very reformed regarding that one, very specific-" said Casey, before he tripped.
"No!" Rochelle yelled, and pulled out the flame knife.
"Time to play." said Annie.
"I'll play with you, alright." said Rochelle, brandishing the knife, before throwing it at Annie's face.
Annie flinched, but just managed to dodge it.
"Don't throw your only weapon, you idiot!" yelled Monsanto, coming up behind Annie.
Annie's head jerked around, almost like an owl, but Monsanto had already swiped the knife up off the floor.
Annie swung her spear around towards Monsanto, but Monsanto had already charged forward, such that only the handle his his side.
"Monsanto! Be careful!" yelled Rochelle.
"Oh, yeah. I totally wasn't gonna be careful before you said that." Monsanto said, snydely, before quickly delivering three slashes across the face and upper body to Annie.
She tried pulling back, and drawing her spear even further back to impale Monsanto, but he lunged quicker than her, and lodged the fire knife into Annie's right shoulder.
Annie dropped her spear, which reverted into a kitchen knife, and screamed in agony as the flame knife's energy ran out, and it reverted into a lighter.
Monsanto wasted no time leaping on Annie, just like in the old urban legends surrounding the place about animatronics mauling night guards or stuffing them in suits, and locked her jaws around her throat, violently thrashing her around, while either of his hands clenched around her forearms, his claws digging into her wrists.
Annie actually managed to knee Monsanto in the ribs so hard that there was an audible crack, but this only made him get more violent.
Finally, Monsanto actually stood straight up, Annie in his mouth, and, using his immense neck strength, threw her against a wall from his mouth. She slumped against the wall, and seemed to be unconscious.
"How's that for some fun!" spat Monsanto, who literally spat blood from his mouth as he said it. Some of his teeth were missing, and Rochelle realized that not all of the blood must have been from Annie.
"Monsanto! You idiot! Cheyenne is going to be so pissed!" yelled Rochelle.
"Hey, I just saved you lovebirds. A little gratitude would be in order." said Monsanto.
"Of course we're thankful," said Casey, "but that was very terrifying to watch. I mean, terror both for and of you."
"I'm flattered." said Monsanto, with an incomplete smile.
Then he picked up Vanny's knife, and approached Annie. "I'm gonna finish the job." he said.
"W-wait." said Casey.
"What, you caaaare about her, too?" asked Monsanto.
"No, of course not, but isn't that the knife she turns into a spear? How do you know she isn't going to do some weird trick like grabbing the knife blade so it turns into a handle and does it in a way that flings you away and, like, I don't know, kills you after she gets up?" asked Casey.
"Hey, that's actually a good call." said Monsanto. "I like you, pal. So how do we go about this?"
"Well, in case whatever we try doesn't work, I think we should make sure she's at least less dangerous." said Casey.
"How do we do that?" asked Monsanto.
"I suggest, well, you look kinda heavy, right?" said Casey.
"'re you callin' me fat?" asked Monsanto.
"N-no, I mean like a heavyweight wrestler." said Casey.
"I don't know what that is, but I'll take it as a compliment." said Monsanto.
"So, what if, you jumped up and stomped down on one of her legs?" asked Casey.
"What? Like Mario or somethin'?" asked Monsanto.
"Kind of, but you really sort of kick down as you land?" said Casey.
"Sounds good." said Monsanto, who then proceeded to carry out the act, with a running start.
Almost instantly, Annie sprung up screaming, and began swinging her fists, wildly. She actually got a good some good hits in on Monsanto's face, until he hit hers with a jab, and then slashed at her throat with a claw. This time, her jugular had apparently finally given out, as she back up, shrieking as she put her weight in the broken leg, blood fountaining from her throat, before falling on her back.
"Let's go to the kitchen. I'm hungry and I need to wash this blood off." said Monsanto.
"What about the body?" asked Casey.
"Well hey, it's not like we committed a murder." said Monsanto. "Let the staff bots clean it up, just like any other pile of shit."
They left for the kitchen.
. . .
After they left, Opera Penguin appeared.
"I really hate to break it to you, but you seemed to have surpassed Rochelle for the biggest disappointment this place can offer." he said, as he revived her. "This is a clean slate. Your body is no longer weakening you from lack of fear presently. However, this does not mean that you won't become weak again if you keep being a failure. However, if you kill Vanessa, you will no longer require fear."
Annie was silent.
. . .
Apollo was a little tired when Gregory visited the daycare.
"Oh, hi! Gregory! You want me to wax your pubes with glitter glue?" Apollo said.
Gregory stared.
"That was a joke! You can laugh now!" said Apollo.
"It wasn't very funny." said Gregory.
"Oh, come on! Lighten up!" said Apollo, as he flared with a surge of golden light.
"You want to watch some stupid videos with me?" asked Gregory.
"Yeah!" said Apollo.
. . .
Cheyenne was concerned when she heard a warbling, glitchy voice singing, "O UR LOV LY WORLD' ZSO LOVELY; ANDEVERYTHING'S SO NI IIICE; AND EVERYONE'S SO HAAAPPY; BENEATHEE INK BLA-ACK SKY YYY"
She found Orpheus, huddled in the corner of Rockstar Row.
"Hey, what's wrong?" asked Cheyenne.
"I didn't ask to receive a consciousness." said Orpheus. "Everything before was a happy blur, and now I'm this creepy, greasy looking human-like thing."
"I mean, I hate to break it to you, but not a lot of people liked your animatronic design." said Cheyenne.
"But see, the thing is, in that state, I didn't care! I just lived for the music, as the music, with the music flowing through me. And it was fun! And everything was always okay. Now? I'm all. . . sapient. And I don't like the burden of cognizant thought on my head." said Orpheus.
"I don't know what some of those words mean." admitted Cheyenne.
"You can't really be this stupid, can you?" asked Orpheus.
"Hey! Vocabulary does not equal intelligence!" retorted Cheyenne.
"Whatever." said Orpheus.
"Anyway, is there anything I can do for you?" asked Cheyenne.
"Well, you could get a big rock, and-"
"No." said Cheyenne.
"Then no." said Orpheus.
. . .
Mangle started an instant message chat with her new friend.
T3HR34LM4NGL3F0RR34LZ (TRMFR) messaged PsychoMickey (PM).
TRMFR: Heyyy.
PM: What's up?
TRMFR: I wanted to tell you something
PM: Yeah?
TRMFR: I really am the Mangle
TRMFR: Like, I'm not kidding
PM: ffs I hope you are
PM: like I get it it's cute and all but I hope you aren't seriously this delusional
TRMFR: What if I send you photographic proof?
PM: like a shitty cosplay or what
PM: don't get me wrong you're a riot to be around but I'm actually scared that you're gonna turn out to be some serial killer with the delusion that she's Mangle
TRMFR: No, silly! The REAL thing!
She sent him an image of her face, taken using the webcam.
PM: Bro that's creepy how good that is
PM: But still can you like cool it on the 'I'm Mangle, oooohhh scary' stuff for a moment?
TRMFR: I'm not scary!
PM: Look, if you're really Mangle, stick your finger in your empty eyesocket
TRMFR: Eww!
PM: It's the only way I'll accept that you're not just doing this in Blender or Gmod or something
PM: actually you could probably do it in those anyway
PM: But you couldn't do it within 5 minutes
PM: So do it now
She did.
PM: Alright I give up
PM: I'll play along with your whole 'I'm Mangle' thing
PM: But I still have a hard time believing it
PM: Also I'm not going to do any weird roleplays with you
TRMFR: I don't really roleplay anyway!
TRMFR: But can I ask you something?
PM: sure ig
TRMFR: Do you ever think about death?
PM: Hey
PM: Don't
PM: DO NOT
PM: Do not start thinking about suicide
PM: I don't know what's going on in your life
TRMFR: Hey, come on, I'm not talking about that
PM: But you're honestly the last thing keeping me going, as pathetic as that is
PM: You and this whole stupid forum
TRMFR: I'm already dead!
PM: So
PM: What is this whole
PM: talking about death
PM: thing about
TRMFR: I'm talking about yours!
PM: WAIT
PM: I'm using a VPN
PM: You can't hit me with that BS
TRMFR: No no no!
PM: I'm seriously about to report you
TRMFR: I'M NOT THREATENING YOU
PM: THEN WHAT ARE YOU DOING
TRMFR: I'm asking you what you think about your own death
PM: Well
PM: It's inevitable, I guess
PM: But I don't really like thinking about it
PM: I'm not sure what happens after
PM: And I don't think human brains can figure out the truth of that
PM: I'm mainly just worried there's just this meaningless life, and then nothingness
TRMFR: What if I told you that there's a place you can go where you can die and yet stay sort of alive?
PM: What
PM: Where
TRMFR: Freddy Fazbear's Mega Pizzaplex
PM: Are
PM: Are you fucking kidding me
PM: Don't tell me
PM: That you were a marketing ploy all along
PM: Some kind of
PM: Corporate ARG
PM: I am so made right now
TRMFR: Made of what?
PM: *MAD
PM: I'M MAD AS HELL, AND I'M NOT TAKING THIS ANYMORE
PM: haha
TRMFR: I think you misunderstand
TRMFR: I'm not talking about during the daytime
TRMFR: I'm talking about the night
PM: Don't be dumb they're closed at night
TRMFR: Yeah, exactly, when they're closed, come find me
PM: . . .what?
Mangle turned towards the now-sleeping Gregory, and nudged him awake.
"Hey." she said.
"Yeah?" he asked.
"You know how you said you had 'no plans of dying'?" asked Mangle.
"Yes." said Gregory, raising his arms in a protective stance and pulling back a little. "And that still stands."
"Hey, don't worry, I just. . ." said Mangle, "If someone came here, and died before you, and I liked him, too, and stuck with him instead of you, would that break your heart?"
"No, not really." said Gregory.
"Oh, okay." said Mangle.
. . .
"I'm going to try and pull out Orville." said Opera Penguin.
He did so, and empowered Orville with some abilities that, although they weren't true arcane magic, were still, in his eyes, befitting of someone presented as a magician.
"He was never too much of a trouble." said William.
Orville instantly began firing off flares of magic towards William.
"Aaand he shatters." said Opera Penguin, firing on Orville.
"Hey, where's the little ghost?" asked William.
"I managed to find a way to shatter the shell while allowing it still to be possessed by the child." said Opera Penguin.
The pieces fashioned themselves into a crude dark grey 'cloak', really more like a shawl or cape with a hood attached and a minute silver pendant at the neck, except for the pieces of the tusk, which fashioned themselves into an apparently wooden staff, which had a 'head' that was simply the end of the staff curled in on itself in an oblong spiral, like an oddly-imploded shepherd's crook.
"What is this?" asked William.
"A temporary change." said Opera Penguin. "I 'wound him up' into a different form, but it can be 'unwound' if I so choose."
"Does he have any sort of control over himself in this form?" asked William.
"No. The energies which his will and thoughts consist of are being siphoned out of his psyche as they are generated by it, and channeled into the power I have given him. Now this costume will confer its powers on the wearer." said Opera Penguin.
"But you don't need it, and I don't care to wear such a thing." said William.
"Yes, but there's someone here who would." said Opera Penguin.
. . .
Night 17
The next night, Vanessa was around more, but this was not appreciated.
She stared down Rochelle.
"I'm not-I didn't tell him—I'm sorry-" said Rochelle.
"What? What are you talking about?" said Vanessa. "No. I'm pleased. I'm pleased that you brought out that unfaithful scoundrel's true colors. Imagine if I married him! Nasty old wife Vanessa, she caused him to sleep with his secretary with all her withering comments and sour outlook. His wife was a menace! Of course he needed to break free! No. I'm glad. Why don't we go and get some slushies?" Vanessa was very close to Rochelle.
"I'd like that—so, you don't hate me?" asked Rochelle.
"I was joking." said Vanessa, flatly. "But no, I don't hate you." said Vanessa.
"Oh, good. I still want to be your friend, and Casey does too-" said Rochelle.
"He's a free agent. I hate him." finished Vanessa.
"Oh." said Rochelle.
"But feel free to play around with him all you want. Maybe you'll learn what it is on the other end of the 'toy' relationship. Maybe you'll like it." said Vanessa.
"Vanessa, please." said Rochelle.
"Don't 'Vanessa, please' me." said Vanessa. "I'm not Vanessa-pleased!"
Despite herself, Rochelle couldn't stifle a little giggle at that. But then she returned to her apologetic demeanor.
"Can I still hug you sometimes?" asked Rochelle.
Vanessa stared at her long and hard, and eventually some pity was evident in her eyes.
"Yeah." she said. "That'll be fine."
. . .
Meanwhile, Gregory found himself in yet another chase from Annie, despite his having heard that she died. Eventually, really was cornered, and Mangle didn't come to save him.
He turned around, ran at her, and leapt past her.
She caught his side, but it was apparently just shallow enough for him to survive.
He ran the other way.
. . .
Later, Gregory and Ferdinand confronted Monsanto. Apollo had discovered he was able to heal using his rays of light, but the cut was still there.
"You said you killed her!" yelled Gregory.
"I literally did!" said Monsanto.
"Gregory says he was chased by her not long ago." said Ferdinand.
"That's not possible, unless she's some kind of vampire." said Monsanto.
"What do you mean?" asked Gregory.
"She literally bled out in front of us." said Monsanto. "Whole floor had a pool of blood, half the width from wall to wall, it was like we got a new rug out of red thread, boyo."
"Monsanto, please, don't be so graphic in your description-" Ferdinand grumbled, but Gregory cut him off: "Don't say 'boyo' to my face ever again."
Monsanto looked down at him, pulled down his sunglasses, leaned in close, and raised his mouth to Gregory's face, spitting, "Boyo." His breath smelled really bad.
Gregory uppercutted him.
Later, when Apollo was mending his fist, Gregory held firm that he had no regrets.
. . .
Meanwhile, Vanessa stalked the halls, looking for Annie.
"UH OH! HOW UNFORTUNATE!" Vanessa heard.
An unintelligible slurred phrase spilled out of her mouth, an incomprehensible chimera of any number of expletives in her vocabulary, as she saw the tiny, obese floating doll behind her, jiggling in midair as if to meet an obligation to 'do the truffle shuffle'.
This sound always heralded a fight, but honestly the nursery rhymes it belted out were far worse than the actual strain of battle.
Once the thing finished and vanished, Vanessa saw a child standing down the hall. His wasn't Gregory, since he still seemed to have human skin color, and his hair was shorter and clothes more muted.
He was sobbing.
"Hey, this is way past closing hours!" Vanessa said, not even believing for a moment that this child was not an apparition from the realm of the dead, but still hoping that if she acted like it wasn't, then it suddenly wouldn't be.
The crying child half-turned around, staring at Vanessa out of the corner of one eye.
Then a mechanical monster, more aggressive and industrial, burst out from Vanessa's left. It was Chica—a Chica—but this one had a huge body and face, tiny red pinprick eyes, and three sets of spikes for teeth. It was like a hyperbolic manifestation of the fear surrounding this place, the same fear Vanessa now knew was justified.
She transformed her flashlight, and as soon as the sword manifested in her hands held out in front of her, the creature vanished.
"Huh?" she asked.
Then, a torn-up and similarly monstrous-looking Bonnie appeared, but also vanished in the light of her sword.
She lowered her sword, ready to swing it like a baseball bat whenever one came close, and come close they did, as both the monstrous Chica and Bonnie, as well as three miniature Freddies attacked.
Again, as soon as the light approached them, they vanished.
She decided she had to focus on saving the child, even if he was a ghost.
She held up the sword close to herself, and all the creatures, plus a Foxy with the same traits as the others, simply stood just outside the 'de-manifesting' range of her sword, and roared ineffectually. It was scary at first, but the constant, stretched-out noise eventually just got annoying. She strode forward, and reached out for the child, pulling him towards her, but as soon as he got into the range of the sword's dispelling of the monstrous animatronics, he himself disappeared.
She lowered her sword. No more of the strange monsters were forthcoming.
. . .
Before her shift was over, Vanessa strode towards Monsanto.
"Do it." said Vanessa. "Try pretending that you're not happy."
Monsanto tried, but his mouth began wobbling.
"You know what," said Vanessa, " ifyou really want me that much. . ."
She drew him in, wrapping both of her arms around the small of his back.
He relaxed to a degree that fell just short of actually flopping on the floor, and let whatever was gonna happen, happen, and. . .
Crack. Vanessa didn't stop pulling Monsanto towards her. He saw that her magical girl outfit had manifested.
"V'nessergh. . . Stapph, you'are, herting me. . ." said Monsanto, incapable of breathing, and thus incapable of speaking properly, or, at least, incapable of speaking without sounding like Tommy Wiseau.
Vanessa's mouth had pressed up against Monsanto's nose, but her lips gave way to gritted teeth. "Quit trying to attract me. Quit trying to do my job. Quit claiming you killed someone when she's still prancing around. Quit being Monty." she said.
"Ayygh, fugqueyou. . . I killder." said Monsanto.
Vanessa let go.
"Seriously?" asked Vanessa. "You expect me to believe that?"
"Ask Rochelle. Ask Casey."
"Don't you dare tell me to talk to Casey." said Vanessa.
"What if you got it in writing?" asked Monsanto.
Vanessa kicked him in the gut. He coughed up a little blood.
"So what, she just came back to life?" asked Vanessa.
"I dunno, ask the squirt, he's the one who claims he got hit by her." said Monsanto.
Vanessa spun on her heels, and strode out. "I'll do that tomorrow. My shift is over."
Cheyenne walked up to Monsanto, and dragged him to the Daycare, to his cries of pain.
Apollo did what he could, but he told Monsanto that it would take him a while to heal all the damage, and that he should rest, and not exert himself past walking around at a slow pace for a while.
. . .
Casey's shift came, and he visited Rochelle in her room. He sat down on her bed, and talked to her about everything. But he seemed reserved. Finally, she decided she'd get the ivory from the elephant in the room.
"Casey. If we're already suffering the consequences of you breaking up with Vanessa, can we at least accept the reason you did it?" asked Rochelle.
"I wanted to take it slow." said Casey.
"Casey." said Rochelle. "I don't want to take this slow. Tell me, Casey."
She stuck her face close to his, as she slipped an arm under his. "Are you a big fan of Roxanne Wolf?"
"She was always my favorite." admitted Casey, who was now already pink, if not red.
"Casey, I was wondering where you we-eERAAYY!" Ferdinand came in to Rochelle's mouth just about to touch Casey's lips.
"KNOCK, YOU ASSHOLE!" yelled Rochelle, baring her teeth.
Ferdinand stepped out. "You really shouldn't tolerate being treated like that." said Gregory.
"Gregory, there were, uhm, extenuating circumstances." said Ferdinand.
"Yeah, I saw, she's about to shag him, so what." spat Gregory.
"Gregory! They were about to do nothing of the sort! What's gotten into you?" said Ferdinand.
"Seeing you act like a doormat. You're my best friend in the whole wide world, and yet you take abuse from Vanessa, Rochelle—oh wait, she decided she was still Roxanne a few moments ago—" a pained noise was heard from the bedroom, "Monsanto doesn't really seem to give any deference to you and Cheyenne, well," Gregory said, pausing, "actually I can't think of anything wrong with the way Cheyenne treats you but I definitely think she could spend a little more time around you—" "I do also, maybe you would like to tell her that?" cut in Ferdinand, "and ROXANNE!" Gregory relished in the roar of pain from the next room, ". . .has the audacity to act like you, of all people, are looking down on the rest of them? Because you spend time with me? Why can't she just mount all her insults on me, it's not like she has any qualms about it!"
"Gregory, it is touching that you care, but-" Ferdinand was cut off by Casey bursting out the door.
"Hey, what's wrong with you, little guy?" he asked, aggression undercut by condescension.
"Absolutely nothing." said Gregory.
"How about hurting my girlfriend?" asked Casey. "Isn't that wrong?"
"Vanessa? Wasn't it you who hurt her?" asked Gregory. "Oh, right, you're talking about your new one, who you're pretending didn't motivate you to break up with Vanessa."
"I have my own rights as an individual to stop or start dating whomever I choose!" yelled Casey in Gregory's face. Gregory was unfazed.
"She had it coming." said Gregory. "She's been a dead weight on everyone's time because of her stupid emotions-"
"Alright, that's enough." said Casey. "Freddy-ah, I mean Ferdinand, punish him or something."
"Believe me, the thought would have crossed my mind, were it not for the fact that my nature, descended from my programming, does not lend itself to such thoughts." said Ferdinand. "In any case, I have no knowledge of what punishments I may employ."
"I dunno, spank him or something." said Casey.
"What does 'spank' mean?" asked Ferdinand.
"Slap his ass, man." said Casey.
Monsanto peeked into the vestibule. "You know that's gained a somewhat more sexual implication in the least decade, right? And the general idea of it being a sex thing goes way back."
"That doesn't matter it's still the same punishment!" yelled Casey, ineffectually.
"How do you know he's not into it, huh?" asked Monsanto.
"SHUT UP!" wailed Casey.
"Casey, I am sorry, but I am not capable of such an act." said Ferdinand.
"Get capable! I'm your nightguard, I'm in charge!" yelled Casey.
"I do not recall such an authority to command us being in the night guard job description." said Ferdinand. "As far as I recall, they only are allowed to command us to do what has been chosen by S.T.A.F.F."
"Nnngh-" Casey looked like he was going to go into one of his new girlfriend's signature sobbing fits when Opera Penguin manifested in the vestibule.
"Gentlemen, please." said Opera Penguin. "I am this boy's guardian, as well as this place's."
"I do not recall you ever receiving such authorizatio-" said Ferdinand, before Opera Penguin lifted up a hand while he clenched it into a fist, and Ferdinand was suddenly jerked up slightly into the air while apparently choking.
"I will take any disciplinary measures I see fit, and may allow Nyx to contribute if I approve of his methods." said Opera Penguin.
"Excuse me, I don't think you do have any qualifications." said Casey, stepping up towards Opera Penguin with machismo that not even Monsanto could muster against Opera Penguin.
"And I think you are severely misjudging your place in this hierarchy." said Opera Penguin. "I suggest you learn your place. Very. Soon."
"I think that's a load of bull-" Casey said, before he was forced to drop to his knees.
"LEARN."
Casey was jerked up, and his arm was held out.
Rochelle opened her door and, seeing Casey on the ground, contorting, ran up to him, shouting "No! No! No! No!" with tears in her eyes until suddenly getting slapped back as if running into an invisible rubber wall.
"YOUR."
Casey's arm bent and snapped in an instant, reaching a 60 degree angle.
"PLACE."
Opera Penguin aggressively 'nodded' sideways, and Casey was hurled against a wall.
"No!" yelled Rochelle, before she was subject to a similar treatment.
Then a soft blue-green light, like a faint aurora borealis, at this time of the year, in this part of the country, localized entirely in the vestibule of the 'house' set of planes, surrounded the two of them.
They got up.
"You're crazy, man." said Casey.
"I could rip your balls off if I wanted." said Opera Penguin. "So watch yourself."
"Anyway," Opera Penguin continued, "I think, if you really want to press the issue, go talk to Nyx, he's usually in the Daycare-"
"I am here." said Nyx. "I do not see why you pretend that you don't know that."
"Okay, fun police." said Opera Penguin. He touched Nyx' face with his signature 'exposition touch' and then vanished.
"Clearly, you should address the log in your eye before the splinter in his." said Nyx, to Casey. "You have a job to do, and that job is not male prostitution."
"We were just kissi-" Casey said, before Nyx waved him away. "Go do your job. Protect the others. Look on them with steadfast judgment. And then, and only then, will I side with you."
Casey fumed, and walked away. Clearly, the beatdown from Opera Penguin had left a mark on him, as he didn't even look back towards Gregory.
. . .
"What's wrong with you?" asked Rochelle.
"Nothing." said Opera Penguin.
"I thought you said you were going to be nice to me." said Rochelle.
Opera Penguin laughed. "And you bought my bad acting?" he asked.
Rochelle breathed heavily. "Was that nightmare. . . really a nightmare?"
"Rochelle. . ." said Opera Penguin, with surprise in his voice, stroking the back of one of Rochelle's ears. "I'm surprised at you. A surprising display of intelligence."
Rochelle began hyperventilating, and backed away from Opera Penguin. "Why are you doing this? Why are you hurting him, too? Are—are you jealous?" she asked.
"Me? Jealous? You seem to be a very slow learner, Rochelle." said Opera Penguin. "I will never be interested in you. I will never see you as adequate. And I will never even see Casey with anything but pity, until he either quits. . ." he lowered his head towards Rochelle's, ". . .or dies."
Rochelle began tearing at him in fear. Surprisingly, his flesh came off of one side of his face, taking the eyeball with it. But strangely, the mask seemed fused to his skin when his skin tore.
Then his unripped side's face split into a Glasgow smile, and it opened its mouth to reveal a hideous, pointed tongue like the tail of a python. He wrapped his arms around her, and opened his mouth, saying in a weird, almost humorously altered voice, "Maybe. . . I am just. . . a little jealous. . .", as the stench of a corpse invaded her entire considerable olfactory perception, and. . .
Meanwhile, Opera Penguin was cheerfully strolling off and whistling as the illusion he had conjured traumatized Rochelle.
"Hey, I heard what Nyx said." said Opera Penguin to Casey.
"Yeah?" said Casey.
"And I figured I'd address a certain unfairness between you and Vanessa." said Opera Penguin.
"What?" asked Casey.
"The magical powers?" asked Opera Penguin.
"Oh. You gave them to her?" asked Casey.
"Yeah." said Opera Penguin.
"And, could you, hypothetically," asked Casey, "take them back?"
"No!" Opera Penguin said. "I created them within her, they are a part of her."
"I mean, a thumb's a part of you, but it can be cut off." said Casey.
"I'll cut both of yours off if you don't quit suggesting that I try to affect Vanessa's powers." said Opera Penguin.
"Okay, but what did you want?" asked Casey.
"I'm going to give you powers." said Opera Penguin.
"I don't know. . ." said Casey.
"Let me or your nuts are jelly." said Opera Penguin.
"Fine!" said Casey, half exasperated, half actually panicked.
Opera Penguin touched his forehead, and incandescent light surged into Casey.
"Ohhhhhh, ohh-ohh-oohhhhhhhhh-oh. . ." moaned Casey.
"Quit that." said Opera Penguin.
"Sorry." said Casey, when the light subsided.
"Try pulling it out from within you." said Opera Penguin.
"Wh-what?" asked Casey.
"The power." Opera Penguin said.
"Oh! Right!" said Casey, and Penguin slapped him. "Focus!'
Casey made a constipated face, and then suddenly, he was dressed in jeans, a azure jacket with white wings on the shoulders, and had silvery gauntlets, a silver circlet with wings on the side, two silvery armbands, kneepads and sneakers on him, and even a greyish crotch piece to protect that part of his anatomy. In addition, his eyes and hair had both changed from brown to a gradient from azure to indigo.
"Hit me." said Opera Penguin.
"You want me to?" asked Casey.
"Hit me!" insisted Opera Penguin.
Casey did, and his arm left a bright blue trail.
Opera Penguin raised a flat palm, and a ward of frost blocked the punch.
"Good." Opera Penguin said, and began to walk off.
"But what do I do with this?" asked Casey.
"Are you dumb?" asked Opera Penguin. "Beat up whatever's going to hurt people here. It's not that hard."
"Do I get any cool items when I invest normal objects with power?" asked Casey.
"That's not an ability you have." said Opera Penguin. "You can run, you can punch, and you can use that blue stuff. You're not as sturdy as Vanessa is, though, so watch yourself."
"Oh." said Casey.
"Hey!" Rochelle said, running up to them. "That wasn't cool! The illusion broke when I vomited on the floor because that tongue was about to go in my mouth."
Opera Penguin raised a hand to his mouth effeminately, and giggled, then vanished.
"What's up with you?" asked Rochelle, seeing Casey's outfit.
"I'm magical too, now, baby!" yelled Casey, joyously.
Rochelle stared.
"Too much?" he asked.
"Yeah." Rochelle said.
Then, suddenly, he dropped to the floor, and started beating at it.
"Hey, it isn't a big deal! Calm down!" said Rochelle.
"It's not that, it's just" said Casey, "because of that stupid bear, that guy was the one who made me jizz for the first time here instead of you!"
Rochelle stared. "Hey, it doesn't matter which happened first. It matters what memories you choose to hang onto."
. . .
TRMFR: Hey, I'm sorry if what I said the other night was too. . .
TRMFR: Forward?
TRMFR: I mean I figured you were obsessed with me for some reason
PM: I like the idea of Mangle
PM: I like thinking about whether the animatronics were really like people because they were haunted
TRMFR: Yeah, but after we were scrapped we kinda lived in this dream that we made up to torture the guy that killed us
PM: William Afton?
TRMFR: Yeah, and it was like
TRMFR: Kinda funny, sometimes?
TRMFR: Our collective consciousness sometimes made him act out a role in our fantasies
PM: I thought you said you didn't roleplay
TRMFR: Not on the Internet I mean
TRMFR: So anyway, you just like the idea of me?
PM: I mean, if 'you' were real
PM: I would love to know her
TRMFR: I am real, silly!
TRMFR: I take back what I said earlier, come to this place tonight, or I'll learn how to track your IP address
TRMFR: And I'll come to your apartment and tickle your feet!
PM: Ewww is that your fetish
TRMFR: That's a fetish?
PM: Dude, it's like the most basic one
TRMFR: I knew feet were a fetish, but tickling?
TRMFR: Also I'm not a dude
TRMFR: Come and see
Mangle's account was soon suspended due to inciting illegal activity.
. . .
Opera Penguin walked into the now-vacant security office, to find a strange newcomer. It was human-like, with pale grey-white, almost blue skin, wearing a black leather longcoat, medium-length hair, and an androgynous figure that was arguably more masculine than feminine. One of its eyes' lids were deformed and fused into one position, neither fully clothed nor fully open, looking out through a sort of deformed triangular window in the skin. The other eyes' lids were held agape via four hooks total, two for the top and two for the bottom, which were linked to its face via chains coming from its hairline on that side, and its chin. Dark tears dripped from the half-open eye.
"Hello, Opera Penguin." said the creature. "Have you heard the gospel of pain?"
"Have you heard the definition of pretentious?" asked Opera Penguin. "Are you the first of many that the Overseer is going to send after me?"
"Who?" asked the newcomer. "Nevermind. No. I am a Convert." said the man. "Call me Squint."
"How about I call you 'Squinty'?" asked Opera Penguin.
"No." said Squint.
"So, anyway, Squinty." said Opera Penguin. "What do you want?"
"Anesthetics are not the way." said Squint. "Pain is inevitable. Embrace the suffering of life, for it is the only constant companion of life."
"Oooh, that's sooo deep you guise." said Opera Penguin.
"We will be coming soon. You will see us coming. We will take this place from you. You have until then to join us, unless you want to be enslaved." said Squint.
"Because joining you by coercion is so much better." said Opera Penguin.
"We have invested a lot into William Afton. We grew in him the power to exist as he does. Now it is a part of him, so we must reclaim him in his wholeness." said Squint.
"Whatever. I'll probably kill all of you." said Opera Penguin, very casually.
"Confident." said Squint. "I like to see that. It will be very interesting to break down in the pit."
"What is it, exactly, that you do?" asked Opera Penguin.
"We submit to pain." said Squint. "We find power in suffering. We let ourselves fall into it, and become intimate with our own pain."
"So you're a BDSM cult?" asked Opera Penguin.
Squint sighed.
Behind him rose a creature that was translucent and shadowy, completely transparent through its eyeholes, through which the space behind its head could be seen at any angle.
It was loosely human, except with long, digitigrade feet, and pointed extra limbs at the end of its forearms.
"Who are you?" asked Opera Penguin.
I am a preacher. it communicated.
"A preacher of what?" asked Opera Penguin.
It sunk into the floor.
Squint waved his hands, and a cage seemingly of park fence appeared around Opera Penguin. Each bar of it sprung from random places on the wall, floor and ceiling, and was linked with each parallel bar. They each ended in fleur-de-lis-type points.
Two more 'park-fence spears' shot out the floor and ceiling, straight towards Opera Penguin.
He simply teleported out, and punched Squint in the face, knocking him back, and used that short period of time to pull out his gun and shot Squint three times in the chest.
Squint, along with all his park-fence bars, vanished.
. . .
Michael Afton was stumbling down a street when he was surrounded with what appeared to be goth and/or emo BDSM spirits.
"Hello, Michael." said one of them. "It's time to ascend from this state. We bring you life. Suffer with us."
"I'm already suffering." said Michael. "And have been for quite a while. It's quite monotonous."
"Then let's make it interesting. Let's make it worse." said the spirit.
. . .
Tobias Seckendorf, real name 'Psycho Mickey' got up from his computer. 'Mangle' had been suspended. He was sad.
There really wasn't much of a reason not to. . .
He thought about his coworkers.
They were the same people who had made fun of his homemade 'Superman Mickey Mouse' costume in middle school, saying that the grin on the mask seemed like a serial killer or slasher villain, and thus dubbing him 'Psycho Mickey'. The reason this upset him was because they never. Stopped. Calling him it.
Every day, in the stupid cubicle office, they would jeer at him.
"Ahh, well." he said to himself. "That's enough motivation."
He left his apartment, got in his car, and drove about sixty miles to the Mega Pizzaplex.
He stormed the door, opened it, and then a great darkness sucked him in.
"Hey!" asked a weird dude who had the kind of unified aquamarine color scheme that you'd usually only see on an anime character. "What are you doing here? It's way past closing hours, and I'm the night guard here, so, like," the man faltered, "scram!"
"You don't look like a nightguard to me." said Tobias.
"No, because I'm, uhhm, a superhero! Yes, I'm a superhero! And I'm telling you to get out because there's, uhhm, supervillains, and monsters and stuff." said the idiot.
"I'm not a child, you know." said Tobias, walking off.
"Hey!" the man said, then zoomed in front of him, leaving a deep blue trail. "Where do you get off ignoring a superhero?" he asked.
"Dude." said Tobias. "You're probably also trespassing here, right? So just leave me alone."
"Hey, look, I can prove I'm actually a night guard!" yelled the man. "Hrnnng, hrng, hrrnrnnnnngn. . ."
"Taking a shit on the floor won't prove you work here." said Tobias.
The man suddenly lost a lot of color—not in his face, but in his attire. Although, his hair and eyes reverted to reddish-brown and just plain brown, respectively.
"See? I'm the night guard, so get on out of here." the man said, with diminishing energy.
"Truth be told, I actually was called here." said Tobias. "So at the very least, you should be looking for her.
"Who?" asked the security guard.
"Dunno anything about her name or what she looks like, or if she's even a 'she', but she's completely obsessed with a certain character from this place's. . . lore. Called the Mangle." said Tobias.
"Sounds disturbing. You know what, I'll cut you some slack. I'm going to ask around. I'm Casey, by the way." and the man walked off.
. . .
"Gregory, I know I was acting kind of silly earlier," said Casey.
"Pussy-whipped." said Gregory.
"I don't appreciate that." said Casey.
"Whatever." said Gregory.
"I need you to be honest with me." said Casey.
"That's all I've been since I met you, and you've gotten pissed literally every time, but okay." said Gregory.
"Look, I need to know if you got on the Internet and told anyone to come here." said Casey.
"What? No." said Gregory.
"Really?" asked Casey.
"Really." said Gregory.
"The others seem to think you're the only one who care about this 'Mangle'." said Casey.
"She's been on the Internet." said Gregory.
"Oh." said Casey. "Where is she?'
"In the computer room." said Gregory.
"Alright. Thank you, Gregory." said Casey.
Casey strode into the computer room.
"Mangle, is it?" asked Casey.
"Yes?" asked Mangle.
"Did you tell someone they could come here?" asked Casey.
"Yeah, why?" asked Mangle.
"Well, he's here." said Casey. "And he shouldn't be, he's not a member of staff and he's not one of you guys, so. . ."
"Haven't you been kissing Rochelle while you should be keeping an eye on things?" asked Mangle.
Casey threw up his hands. "Okay, I get it! Let me alone!"
"Okay, but only if you bend the rules a little." said Mangle.
"Oh." said Casey.
"It's not like those rules are made with our real situation in mind. They think we're all objects!" said Mangle.
"Yeah, I guess. . ." said Casey. "Fine. But I still want it to be clear that I'm the guard, and I should get some respect."
"Alright, I never had anything to say about that." said Mangle.
"Wonderful." said Casey, walking out.
"Vanessa never had to ask for respect." said Gregory.
"Vanessa ruled with cruelty and fear." said Casey. "That was how she asked."
"Did she? Well, it worked." said Gregory.
"I guess that Mr. Magician nailed that idea into your head, huh?" asked Casey. "Done all kinds of things to terrorize you?"
"Yeah, he gave me a delicious burger this one time. And then he tried to guilt me for eating it. Terrifying stuff." said Gregory.
Casey sighed.
. . .
Tobias Seckendorf looked up as Casey came back, with a creepy grey kid with black-teared eyes at his side.
"Come on." said Casey, in a resigned tone of voice. "She wants you to meet her in the Atrium."
Tobias followed Casey to the second level of the Atrium, where Mangle was looking out over the railing.
"You can't be serious." said Tobias.
"I guess we'll be leaving you two alone." said Casey, who zoomed off.
"Be careful." said Gregory, before walking off.
"No, wait," said Tobias, "wait, you can't be serious! Wait!"
"Hey, what's wrong?" asked Mangle. "You came here to see me, right?"
"Yes, but," said Tobias, "I didn't think you were really—really—you!"
"I tooold you sooo!" said Mangle, in a sing-song voice.
"You sure did." said Tobias, who began to laugh uncontrollably. He was hoping that he could find another weird, disturbed loner like him, and now this, now madness, now he was meeting the real thing and that was all he needed, his life was fulfilled and it could be over.
"Hey, what's the matter-" Mangle said, before Tobias grabbed one of her cords, tied it in a noose around his neck, and cannon-balled off the edge.
Mangle screamed a little as she was tugged towards the edge, but she caught herself. Which was exactly what Tobias planned on.
Mangle managed to untangle herself, and Tobias' limp, lifeless body dropped, and hit the floor with a splat.
Mangle rushed downstairs, insofar as she could rush, midway turning into her 'special' form.
She picked up Tobias' body, although it was, well, mangled from the fall.
She dropped it again as she saw his ghostly form.
"See, I told you!" she said.
He stared.
She grabbed his ghostly form, and began lavishing affection on it. "Now we don't need to worry about forum admins, we can—hey, what's wrong?"
Tobias had gone walleyed, and phased through Mangle's arms. "Hey, wait! Where are you going?" she called. But she couldn't find him.
. . .
Night 18
"So, let me get this straight." said Vanessa. "You lured someone who had some kind of weird fixation on you, but didn't believe you were really you, using the Internet to come here, only for him to snap when he realized it was actually you, commit suicide using your body, and then morosely float away into the ether while you were trying to pull his spectral pants off?"
"You said that last bit a little weird." said Mangle. "But yeah, I guess."
"After already having tried to talk Gregory into letting you kill him so you could be ghost buddies?" asked Vanessa.
"A bit more than that, but yet." said Mangle, shyly.
"Well, it isn't really your fault, but I'm still pissed. Not sure at who yet," said Vanessa, before Opera Penguin interjected with "Whom." and she slapped him away, "but I can't help feel a little miffed at you. Firstly, don't tell people to come here. Secondly, quit acting like a vulture looking for recently deceased people to hit on. Thirdly, if you hurt Gregory in any way, you're dead. And lastly, if he does die from causes completely unrelated to you, you better make his wretched ghostlet existence heaven on earth."
"I was going to do that last one anyway." said Mangle.
"And you want to, don't you?" said Vanessa, in a disgusted voice.
"Yeah." said Mangle.
"Well, since you're basically a kid yourself, I'll let you off for this whole debacle lightly. But I don't want you advertising yourself on any forums any time soon." said Vanessa. "And definitely never try to bait people here and get more ghost-buddies. As it is, I'm not sure whether he'll be coming back with some kind of vengeance."
"I'm sure he wouldn't—" said Mangle.
There was a rumbling coming from the Atrium. Vanessa sighed. "This better not take too long. My shift is nearly over."
Vanessa ran towards it, and so did Mangle, shifting into her 'special' form.
In the Atrium was what looked some kind of armored figure. Its 'armor' was made up of distorted Mangle casings, all of which were her face. Its head looked like Mangle's 'spare' head, except that it had a third eye. It had a mermaid-like 'tail' made out of the wires and spare limbs that made up most of Mangle's body.
It also held a cartoony-looking scimitar-like sword.
"Mangle." said Vanessa, in a quiet, yet potentially furious voice. "What is this?"
"I don't know!" said Mangle, helplessly.
The thing screamed. It raised its blade up into the air, and a bunch of animatronic head casings that looked like a green parrot heads sprung up into the air, begun spinning, and shot towards Vanessa, who formed her sword in an instant, and destroyed them.
Vanessa readied herself like a foot racer, and shot towards the creature.
"Tobias?" asked Mangle.
It looked at her.
"Tobias, you don't have to be scared or angry here!" said Mangle.
"If this is him, he doesn't want to talk!" yelled Vanessa, keeling as she blocked the massive blade with her own.
"Tobias! We can be happy here! You don't need to protect yourself from anything! Just become one of us, and we can be happy!" yelled Mangle.
"He does need to protect himself from me." said Vanessa.
"Not if he just lets go of that. . . whatever that is." said Mangle.
Vanessa slipped past the blade, and struck the creature on the chest several times, cracking a particularly large Mangle face in three places.
The Tobias thing screamed again, and swung at her with its off hand.
Vanessa blocked it with her forearm, and she severed the massive arm at the elbow.
Some more parrot heads were forthcoming, too many for Vanessa to block so she leapt back.
Tobias swung at Vanessa again, and she blocked, being knocked back about twenty feet.
Then, suddenly, Casey ran out of the blue, covered in blue, and leapt through the air, kicking the creature in the face, before landing shortly, and he leapt up, and delivered a flurry of blows to its upper body, finishing with an open-palm strike that brought forth a wave of blue light, which cracked Tobias' face.
Ferdinand ran in, and threw the Fazerblaster at Vanessa.
"Casey! Get out of the way!" she yelled.
Casey swung his head around, dodged to the side, and covered his eyes as Vanessa turned the Fazerblaster into a railgun again, and blasted a wide ray, wide enough to blow out the outer casing of Tobias' face and upper body. Underneath was a turbulent, shifting black mass.
Casey took another running jump at Tobias, who swung at Casey with his sword, only for Casey to push off of the flat of the blade with his hand in an instant, causing him to fly up into the air, and fall down towards the black head, thrusting forth both a fist and foot, blasting forth a more focused wave of blue.
The creature shuddered, and then went limp, before the blackness snaked out of the armor, which fell to the floor, shattered into pieces and vanished.
"Whoo!" yelled Casey.
"I'm going." said Vanessa.
"Hey, come on!" said Casey. "Aren't you at least going to comment on how he gave me magical powers, too?"
"Wait—gave you?" asked Vanessa. "He tried to pass off my powers as something he unlocked or awakened in me, as if I had them already by some birthright."
"Maybe he's been screwing with you." said Casey. "Maybe that's why he. . . wait, wasn't your getting powers really painful?" asked Casey.
"Yes, it was awful. Goodbye." said Vanessa, and she left.
"You just did half her job for her!" yelled Rochelle. "I can't believe it, you're just like her now!"
"I dunno. . ." said Casey.
"Come here!" said Rochelle, as she tackled him, hugging him.
They kissed, this time uninterrupted by Ferdinand, who stood by awkwardly, yet respectfully.
Mangle crept back into the computer room, and into Gregory's cat bed. She wanted to cry, out of a mixture of shame, discomfort and, most of all, hurt, but she hated herself at the moment too much to grace herself with her 'special form', and its ability to cry.
. . .
Tobias' spirit drifted below the floor of the Pizzaplex. Then he saw a vision of Opera Penguin, offering a black, glossy tablet to him.
"Take a map." said Opera Penguin. Tobias stared at him, before Opera Penguin grabbed him by the front of his shirt, and said "Take it. Take it!" he continued, shaking Tobias violently. "Take it, now!" Opera Penguin was now shaking the thing in Tobias' face, screaming.
Tobias sighed, and grabbed it.
Then he woke up in a dark place, in a thin grey body, with visible ribs under the yellow vest it wore. He noticed that he was wearing a hat, and he took it off, looking at it. It looked kind of like Steve Irwin's hat. He put it back on.
He strode away, towards a light that he saw through a doorway.
Instantly, he noticed a bunch of animatronic endoskeletons standing around.
They all turned to stare at him, and he heard breathing, despite their obviously having no lungs.
He walked past them, and he hurried up the stairs he soon found. Then he found an endless maze of halls, some of them looking like those of the previous iterations of Freddy Fazbear's Pizza in photographs.
He got lost in the halls.
. . .
"Hey. Gregory." said Opera Penguin. "Get your bat. I have a. . . 'special' game I'd like to play with you."
"You do realize the cultural connotations of a costumed man telling a child he wants to play a 'special game' has, right?" asked Gregory.
"Quit being a smartass and do it." said Opera Penguin, simply.
Gregory did it.
"Now, I'm going to take you somewhere 'special'." said Opera Penguin. He swept his cape, the interior of which had become a rift into some hallways not unlike the building's own, and Gregory uncertainly stepped through.
"Now, I'm going to summon some things here, and you're going to fight them as I give mental instructions." said Opera Penguin.
"You know, it'd be easier to listen to you if all I could see of you weren't your butt." said Gregory.
"What?" asked Opera Penguin.
"The rift goes two ways." said Gregory.
"Oh, damn it!" said Opera Penguin, and turned off his cape-portal.
Now, you're going to follow my lead, and presumably, come out harder for it. said Opera Penguin, in Gregory's head.
. . .
"Ugh, I can feel myself getting weaker." said Monsanto. "How much longer does this need to be?"
"Only a day or two." said Apollo. "But it might get longer if you disregard my instructions!"
"What do I do in the meantime?" asked Monsanto. "Play solitaire? Count balls in the pit? Jerk off?"
"You've been resting mostly in the daycare, so I would advise against that last one, even though I'm sure the stains would be reverted in the morning." said Apollo.
"Actually, this whole place at night is a separate space from the place at daytime. At daytime, where you're standing now is tucked away on another plane, and it switches out at night." said Opera Penguin.
"Maybe you could collect rocks!" said Apollo.
"There aren't many around, and that sounds boring." said Monsanto.
"You could call them 'minerals', to make them more interesting!" said Apollo.
"Just kill me." said Monsanto.
. . .
Much later, Gregory stepped out of the strange place.
"That was actually kind of fun in a scary way." said Gregory.
"Well, good. Because you're gonna have to get used to it." said Opera Penguin.
"Why?" asked Gregory.
"Little experiment of mine." said Opera Penguin. "Tell you what, I'll let you know little secrets in exchange. Provided you don't tell anyone else, of course."
"Sure, like what?" asked Gregory.
"Just ask me something." said Opera Penguin.
"Well. . ." said Gregory, putting a hand up to his chin. "You really don't like Rochelle or Cheyenne much at all, that much I know, but have you ever loved someone?"
"Yes, as a matter of fact. And she was a top-quality girlfriend, the main contributor to why I'm not a fan of those two. Set my standards astronomically high, had a brain and was nice, and understood me better than anyone else." said Opera Penguin. "Of course, she had her. . . difficulties."
"What were those?" asked Gregory.
"You see, before here, I was kind of in what you might call a team." said Opera Penguin.
"A team? A team of what?" asked Gregory.
"You could simplify us to a lot of things. Bounty hunters. Mercenaries. Vigilantes. Terrorists. Heroes." said Opera Penguin. "All depending on your perspective, I guess. But see, I wasn't so unusual among these people. In fact, I was quite outshone by the others. Especially her. Sadie Walpurgia."
"Kind of a gross-sounding last name, to be honest." said Gregory.
"Ehh." said Opera Penguin, too much in silent agreement to get angry. "She was diagnosed at a young age with a disease that was poised to waste away at her body until she died, which would be, projected by doctors, at the age of 21. She was 19 at the time. There was no known cure for the disease. Thankfully for her, she was blessed with an opportunity. To be frozen in time physically, and yet simultaneously attached to a spectral body that would not be, so that she could have a limited amount of action outside her frozen body. This was done by none other than Sadie herself, after she was gifted with powers over life and space by a representative of a higher power. This spectral body, however, was not capable of channeling her true power, as it was a shaky projection that only embodied part of her spirit. However, she learned that, by imbuing life force into a mannequin after putting a plaster skeleton inside of it, she could make it function as a perfectly-suitable body. So she did. And so she developed the powers she had been imbued with, and developed physical strength and prowess in combat as well, since she had every intention of becoming a 'hero', as, of course, she did. And I was her teammate, and since I've always had a bit of a fascination with the morbid, I was fascinated with this mannequin girl. And I came to love her, and she me, and I would weave the most sordid dream simulations using my magic to make her remember having nerves, among other things, and—oh my, I'm getting a bit too detailed, aren't I?"
"So she was given powers? Kind of like Vanessa and Casey?" asked Gregory.
"No, not really. She was imbued with the power of sorcery, a power that exists as a property of one's heart, and one of the base forms of power. It was in a process that essentially forced growth of the inner self in a certain specific way. What I did with those two was, I took some energy, made more energy out of it, and then wove it into pre-packaged powers for them, which I inserted into their spirits." said Opera Penguin.
"Took energy and made more energy out of it?" asked Gregory.
"Well, basically, I can get two kinds of energy from screwing around with ghosts." said Opera Penguin. "Light remnant and dark remnant. Now, these things have a lot of properties, but one of them is that light and dark remnant can be used to turn pleasure or pain, respectively, into more magical energy. So, I torture Vanessa, throw in a little dark remnant, and boom! Loads of energy, which I then mold using a pre-planned shape. Same with Casey, only I instead hit the pleasure button and use light remnant." said Opera Penguin. "Neither of the end products are made out of remnant, though.
"But are the 'end products' made out of different stuff?" asked Gregory.
"Well, there is a bit of residual character from how it was generated. I suspect negative emotions feed into Vanessa's power, which allows her to work through them, while Casey's power depends on his feelings of joy. And woe betide him when that runs out." said Opera Penguin.
"So if he's feeling morose, there's a chance he'll die." said Gregory.
"Against Annie? There's always a chance he'll die." said Opera Penguin. "His feeling morose will just turn that into a certainty."
"But Vanessa, who's always moody?" asked Gregory.
"Truth be told, she's getting stronger. She doesn't need to be upset or angry all the time to win. She's just that strong." said Opera Penguin. "Not only is she getting stronger, but her particular shell is quite powerful at the moment."
"Her shell? What do you mean?" asked Gregory.
"You see, the powers I gave them aren't the ones they actually use in battle." said Opera Penguin.
"What, they just have other powers that they use instead?" asked Gregory.
"No. You see, the powers I gave them are powers to generate a 'shell' that itself has powers, that is to say, the powers that they wield in battle. It also manifests special clothing in place of their normal clothes. When they 'transform' into their other forms, that's them assuming their shell. That's why the clothes change whenever they're using their power. Whenever the shell breaks, it breaks itself down into a magical energy that expends itself to protect them, which, in that state, can be bent very easily to their exact will. But when the shell doesn't break for a while, the power they have that would make a new shell sort of 'makes more' of their current shell, if you get what I mean. Grows it. Vanessa hasn't lost any instance of her magical girl powers yet, so her magical-girl-powers-making-powers have just been working hard at making them stronger." said Opera Penguin.
"Can I have powers?" asked Gregory.
"You might get some, but I'm planning on them being a little different." said Opera Penguin.
. . .
"You want any pizza?" asked Cheyenne.
"Look at me. Do I look like I need to put on any more weight?" asked Orpheus.
"It's just your face." said Cheyenne. "Anyway, it doesn't look that bad!"
"Look at this." said Orpheus, pulling up his shirt to reveal a bit of a beer gut, which he slapped, causing a wave.
"Orpheus, I think you need to eat just like the rest of us." said Cheyenne.
"I managed to go what felt like a week without food." said Orpheus.
"That just proves my point. You need to eat." said Cheyenne.
"Fine." said Orpheus.
. . .