"Welcome to Monty's Gator Golf! Home to the Hurricane Hole in One! We're currently closin' for the night but be sure to come back soon!"

Huh, it's a bit different this time. I didn't know this place had separate lines for what time of day it was... Pretty neat, honestly.

Well, at least that tells me that they're still getting everyone out, Ol' Cross must really have his work cut out for him...

Not here to think about that.

In all of the time I've been here, I've only ever been to Monty Golf once, but only briefly when I was getting a tour of the main areas. I always figured that there's gotta be more to this place, especially with how vertical it is. Practically begging to be explored.

...

Mmmghhh...

"You do realise you don't have to join me for everything, right?"

"I know, I want to!"

Much to my disbelief.

"We aren't even going anywhere special. The most we'll do is just... I don't know, Talk to Monty? Play Mini Golf?"

"Sounds like a plan to me!"

Yeaaah, don't think she's getting it... There goes my night of solace. Again.

With a slight sigh and twitch of my ear, I waited patiently for the elevator doors to open, well, as patient as I could be with what happened earlier. I have a feeling I'm never gonna hear the end of that.

With a slide, Me and Chica slowly walked through the now open elevator doors, the familiar ambient music greeting us with charming bold flare. Man, honestly refreshing to be here after spending a while listening to blaring elevator music.

Plus, I'm always super tempted to climb up those glowing vines every time I visit here, from what I've heard there's a system of catwalks that Monty likes to hang around on top of. I just highly doubt these flimsy decorations could support my weight.

Still though, it would be neat.

"Do you think Monty is here?"

"I don't know, doesn't he usually disappear after shows?"

"Yeah, most of the time. But when I went back to my green room after the show, I didn't hear him in his."

"What, does he make a lot of noise or something? Wait, I got it. He's a snorer, ain't he?"

"Uhmmm... Kind of?"

"HA! Called it... Well, if he ain't in his green room, he's either here or he pulled a me and vanished."

If he is here, I don't really see any way to get his attention anyhow. This place is waaaay bigger than most people give it credit for, maybe up above on the catwalks?-

"HEYYYY! MONTY! ARE YOU HERE?"

Ow!-

I immediately grip my ears in frustration as Chica screams for our scaly friend, looks like she forgot how ear-scratchingly horrific her voice box can be when she yells. The high screeching noises emited from her mouth almost sounded supernatural, like a banshee screaming at its prey.

"Chica!"

"Oop!" My call out immediately stops her in her tracks as she covers her mouth, I slowly release my ears from my hands, a sigh escaping my mouth.

Fairly certain if they could, my ears would be bleeding.

"S-Sorry! Got carried away..."

Jesus...

They seriously need to repair her voice box already, cuz this is ridiculous.

"It's cool, just- try to be a little less loud next time."

"W-Well, I figured yelling for Monty was the fastest way to check, he usually responds when I yell."

Right... More like the fastest way to lose my hearing.

"..." I can't help but let out a sigh. This night is a massive mess so far.

"Are you angry at me?"

Wha-

"No, Chica, I'm not angry. I just sighed because I'm exhausted."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

...

"Reaaaally?-"

"Yes, I'm sure."

...

"Re-"

"Don't."

"Okaaaaay. As long as you're not angry."

...

"Hey, Uhh, Bonnie?"

"Wassup."

"I was wondering... You were practising on one of my old guitars earlier, right?"

"Yeah, wanted to test out something new since you guys all had instruments and well... you saw how that turned out. Why?"

"I was wondering if you ever wanted to come to practise with me? Monty's bass is too low and distracting for me to get into any improvised rhythm and Roxanne is always busy doing things nowadays."

"I-I don't think I'd be the greatest musician to practise with. That entire fiasco you saw earlier was my first time even touching an instrument, and all of the time I spent with it was wasted on trying to fix it. Why don't you ask Freddy? He'd probably be more qualified for the job anyway."

"I-I-I don't think that'd be a good idea."

"What?"

"Let's just say... There's a reason Freddy sticks to the mic."

Staring over with a quizzical glance, I could've sworn I could actually see the shivers running down her spine as she shook her head. Never have I seen her look like that... Expect for when she ran out of Pizza in her secret stash, she might as well have been running around proclaiming that the world had ended with how frantic she was.

I highly doubt Freddy is that bad. Chica does tend to over-exaggerate, but...

Eh, guess I'll just have to ask Freddy himself when I next see him.

"I'll... I'm fairly certain a staff bot probably has more musical talent then me, but I'll think on it."

"Okay!"

I don't know... I've always really seen myself as more of a bass guy. But who knows? Maybe learning the guitar could be a good pass time.

"Hey!"

"Huh-ACK!"

My neck is immediately yanked backwards by a herculean force, forcing me into the most uncomfortable position anyone could possibly be in. My neck gets pressed up against the unknown assassin's arm, leaving me to push against it for just the tiniest bit of breathing room.

"I knew I heard one of ya. And look who finally decided to visit Gator Golf! Maybe now we can work on those awful golfing skills of yours, Ay Bonnie?"

"Hey, Monty! You doing well?"

Of course, it's him, why wouldn't it be?

Slowly-... But surely dying.

"I am now that you two 're here. Been hopping round trying to see if the bots missed any litter or stuff. I love them fans, but man can they make a mess."

Having enough of being stuck in a chokehold, I stuck my hands onto the back of Monty's arm and pushed, allowing me time to slither out. Does he do this to everyone or just me? Cuz, I've certainly never seen him clothesline Freddy at any point.

Gripping my bowtie, I give it a firm tug to fix it before regaining my focus on Monty, his toothy grin growing even wider once we make eye contact.

"I'm- Ugh... surprised to see you still out, Monty. Usually, you disappear after every show."

"Daww, happy to see me? I knew you were a big ol' softy deep down underneath those stitches."

...My neck feels stiff.

"So, what? Cross got you on clean-up duty?"

"Sort of, everyone's supposed to be helping out, even us. Tonight was the last show of the month, and our biggest by far; Boss wants the place immaculate for when the place re-opens next week."

"But... It's Monday today. We've got a whole week off?"

Monty shrugs.

"Think so! Gonna be a lot of late nights practising the bass and Mini golf for me. Whatta bout you, Chica?"

An entire week? That's a crap ton of time off...

I guess that's normal? I haven't been here for long enough to figure out how everything works, so It's not like I have any experience with this sort of thing, nor did I think a Facility this big would take that long of a break at all. Although it probably has something to do with Fazbear's Frights going under constant renovations.

But even with that excuse, they either make A LOT of money, or this week is gonna be more than just a break.

"Uhhh, Chica? You uhhhh- You okay?"

I mean, this is a pretty big building. They must've made bank to be able to close down early. It probably has to do with all the merchandise everywhere, hell, there's a merch store literally fifteen feet from us.

"Chica? Chica-chee? Ya look like you just seen a-"

"I-I-... Um."

"Hmm? What's going on-"

"I-I HAVE TO GO! HAVE FUN YOU TWO!"

Jesus-

Without so much as another word, Chica looked up with an emotion I couldn't even fathom before she rocketed off towards the elevator, pressing the button frantically until the doors finally closed, obscuring our view from the rest of the situation.

Me and Monty are just left there in slight disbelief, until I hear Monty chuckling to my right before looking at me and shrugging once more.

Is... Is that also normal?!

... I am never going to understand her or this place, no matter how hard I try.

"...Sooooooo, you uhhhh need help with any cleaning?"

"Heh, why not? Might be a nice routine to get ya introduced to the neighbourhood quickly before we do a lil' golfing."

Coolio.

Pushing past some low-hanging vines, Me and Monty cross over into the main area of the room. I could already see Staff bots and actual employees alike picking up any residual garbage that may have been left by some random kids, as well as any possibly valuable items and putting them in their respective bins.

Luckily, most of the trash had already been disposed of, even without realising it we'd already cleared out Monty Golf and began paying more attention to joking about random things that came up in our conversations than actually helping.

Y'know, having these conversations with him really makes me wonder why he disappears after practically every show. He seems almost just as exuberant as he was on stage as he is now, maybe even more so. The staff sometimes talk about strange noises coming from Monty's room as well...

Eh, probably just prefers to have some alone time, god knows I relate to that.

... Ghh.

They're staring into my back again. I get it, I look horrific, Roxanne tells me that enough.

I guess sometimes I need to remember that a lot of the Staff haven't actually seen me in person yet. Cross always has me cooped up in Fazbear's Frights, so while I'm sure they were informed, seeing and reading are two separate things. But I'd still honestly prefer if they just told me I looked scary rather than stab my back with their sharp eyes.

Whatever.

"Alright, that seems to be the last of it. You got anything over there?" I speak loudly to ensure Monty hears me as I place the last bit of litter into the refuse bin, seeing Monty poke his head out from beneath the table he was searching like a Whack-a-mole.

"Nah, nothin' over here either!"

"Well, that's a relief. Was worried this would last the entire hour."

Assuming Cross doesn't want me elsewhere, I can only assume he's still at the entrance, but it has been a pretty long time. I wonder how long it'll take for the Attraction to finally be finished, every time I'm there I see more and more new stuff. At this rate, it'll look completely different from how it did before.

"Heya, you daydreaming again?"

Monty's now close voice snaps me back to my senses, he picks up the bin easily despite it clearly having wheels to push it forward, motioning for me to walk with him.

"You're 'orse then Chica sometimes, you tryna take her job as 'Resident Airhead of the Pizzaplex'?"

"As charming as that title sounds, I'd rather not."

Monty let out a hearty chuckle, meanwhile I simply smiled slightly to myself.

"So, what 'was you thinking about?"

"Oh, uhhh, Was just thinking about how Different Fazbear's Frights looks now, I don't know, Might be my ears playing tricks on me, but I could've sworn there was some new ambience in there when I woke up from charging; I've managed to swipe some pictures of the old attraction when it was still in business too, and boy howdy was it a lot more open."

...

"A lot less smoke and construction bots, that's for sure. It's kind of strange seeing it like that, what was the name of it again? Bonnie Bowl?"

...

...The hell?

He's never usually this quiet.

I look over at Monty, wondering why he was so quiet. Usually he would chime in with the occasional remark, to keep the conversation 'Fresh' as he put it. But instead there was nothing. it was an eerie silence, accompanied by an occasional mumbling that, despite my hearing, I could barely make out.

It felt off.

But, when my eyes finally reach his face, I don't-...

I don't really know what to say.

His grin, that signature grin he always beared every single time I saw him, it...

It vanished. As if it were never there. The only thing that remained was a slight frown, his eyebrows furrowing in frustration as he looked down at his feet with an almost guilty look.

"Um, Monty?"

I get no response; he instead keeps muttering to himself. With not many other options, I try and listen to what he is saying.

"...Replaced everything..." Is as much as I can make out, until I notice him clenching his purple fists, his expression worsening as we continued. I could see behind his star shaped sunglasses, His fiery red eyes seemed to have dimmed, the depth in them seemingly replaced by what I could only describe as...

Nothing.

It was void of anything. There was no light, no emotion, nothing. Just... Empty.

I reach out my hand to Monty's shoulder pad, but hesitate slightly, as if I were afraid that the aura surrounding him would infect me if I got too close. Despite my initial reaction, I press forward, giving him a slight nudge.

"Monty, are you okay? Do you need me to-"

"Huh?" Without another word, he sprang to life as if nothing just happened. He looked around himself as if he had forgotten that the world had even existed, forcing me to draw my hand back in shock.

"Oh, heya Bonnie. You need somethin'?"

...

"The fuck was that?"

"What was what?"

"You spaced out, clenched your fists and started muttering to yourself."

"Ooooooooh, Sorry bout that!"

...

Are you serious? Is this some sort of joke?

"I do that every once in a while, It's... It's nothing important, you don' gotta worry bout that."

"You sure? You seemed pretty shaken up."

"Yeah, yeah, I'm good."

...Okay?

We continued the rest of the walk in silence, I didn't even know whether or not to actually address what happened earlier. It felt wrong not to, but Monty seemed pretty adamant that he was okay.

That felt...Wrong, in every sense of the word.

Are these the 'Episodes' that he's supposedly prone to having? I mean, I've heard a lot of rumours about Monty, breaking open gates, destroying property after almost every show and a lot more, but none of them ever described him going into a completely catatonic state like that.

Maybe this is new? Maybe it's... Shit.

Well, whatever it is, I'll figure it out.

Hopefully.

Eventually we reach the elevator, Monty stops a good a few feet from it while I keep walking.

"I'll um... I'll see ya soon."

...

"Hey, Monty!"

"Huh?"

"Here."

With a flick of my wrist, I pull the notebook from my vest and throw it in Monty's direction, allowing him to catch it with ease. Without any further questions, he opens the book-

And begins howling with laughter.

Phew, glad that worked.

I don't why, but I felt obligated to stop Monty before he left. I almost felt obligated to do at least something to try and change that mood of his, I don't know why.

Regardless, I did it the only way I knew how, by showing him the picture I drew of him. It had the exact effect I wanted... until he started ripping the notebook paper out of the frame and tossed the rest of it back into my chest.

"I'm gonna go and get this Framed! This is amazing!"

...

Mission... Accomplished? Can't really call it a 'roaring success' if it came at the cost of one of my notebook pages.

I flick to the other drawings I made of the gang, a snort escaping my nose as I put the book back into my vest's inner pocket, pencil and all before turning towards the elevator doors, pressing the button and stepping inside.

At least the drawing improved his mood from whatever that thing was. I'm thinking I'll skip out on golf today and figure out something else to do. I doubt I'd be able to concentrate on golf anyway after what just happened.

Let's just hope the rest of the night will be smoother than this.

"Thank you for visiting! Be sure to come back soon!"

I immediately closed the door, my fake, overbearing expression of happiness morphing into a cold dead stare. I could hear the banging against the glass for a good minute by that kid's mom, until she eventually gave up and walked away.

I'm so tired...

Attendance today was higher than normal, which will hopefully make up for the lack of money we'll be making for the next week. Closing down the Pizzaplex for renovations is risky but with enough luck, when Dreadbonnie and his attraction are off their feet, they'll pay for themselves and more.

I just can't afford to make mistakes, I need to go about this methodically.

I won't allow this place to fail. I can't.

...

I grip the radio on my belt and press the button.

"How is the progress on cleaning up the attractions?"

"Going good sir, Fazerblast is clean, Chica's bakery got done in a flash thanks to the chicken herself bursting through the doors and doing practically all of it herself, Just kept saying sorry for being late and stuff. Uhhh, We're just taking out the trash from Monty Golf now, b-but I feel like I should mention that Monty had a bit of help."

I have a feeling I already know where this is going.

"It was the new Bonnie, I think. I'll be honest, sir, that thing gives me the creeps. It's voice, the way it looks, the big sharp teeth, it's... Disturbing."

"Then that means his design is doing what it should be. Thank you for letting me know, Continue whatever you were doing. I have to go and check up on a few more things."

"Gotcha, sir."

...

A sigh escapes my mouth.

His design is doing what it should be, but the animatronic itself is doing far from that. It's as if he's doing this simply to give me a migraine, which I wouldn't put past him if it amused him enough.

At least he isn't having problems like the others though, but who knows how long that'll last for. It feels like these issues get worse and worse every single day.

A weeks time, a lot can happen in a week. Hopefully, all of this will be resolved by then and we can return to somewhat normalcy.

It's not that these glitches are particularly terrible, just certain behavioural traits being amplified from what Lesley and her teams have told me which is why it hasn't taken top priority, but even that can be problematic in the wrong situation. Freddy and the others need to be in tip-top shape when the Pizzaplex reopens its doors.

...Speaking of which.

"Freddy. I see you're hard at work."

"A-Ah, Mr Cross, I didn't see you there. My apologies."

"It's fine. Have you been experiencing any sort of malfunctions as of recently? The other animatronics haven't gotten worse as of late, but I need to ensure that what they have hasn't somehow passed on to you."

"Ah, I suppose I haven't been experiencing any sort of oddities in my day recently, just the usual day to day life of entertaining and serving giant birthday cakes. If I feel somewhat strange, I will let Mrs Lesley know immediately."

Damn it.

Still just those three... Doesn't make any sense, why would Freddy remain unaffected? Dreadbonnie is new, so obviously he has the highest specs, and the most powerful software; it'd make sense for him to not experience something like this, but why not Freddy? Last I checked, he had the same hardware and software as the others, so why?

We still haven't made any headway on whatever these Malfunctions are either, if it's necessary I'll need to bring in some of the mechanics who'll be off this week since Mrs. Moore is working herself down to the bone trying to do things on her own.

As I stood in front of him Freddy's face contorted into a slight forced smile. He's trying his hardest to hide that saddening emotion of his, the fear of not knowing what was happening to his friends must be getting to him...

I suppose I should get him to do something. He's obviously stressed.

"Thank you, Freddy. Oh, if you see Dreadbonnie, tell him there's a present waiting for him in his Green room, and that he's required to at least have a look at it. You know how he is with this kind of thing."

"Of course, Although, Even with my attempts to convince him, I doubt he'll cooperate so easily, especially so late in the night." Freddy chuckled slightly to himself while I simply looked down, shaking my head slightly.

Ah, that reminds me actually.

Reaching into my pocket, I pull out my phone and look at the time.

Almost 12... Night-time protocols will start soon. Better to let Vanessa and the other nightguards do their work.

"I have to leave now, keep watch over your fellow bandmates. I'll return to check on things in a couple of days."

"Understood."

I can only believe that Freddy will be able to tell the difference between those malfunctions and their usual antics, I'd probably never be able to when I know how erratic those four can get, especially now that there is a new animatronic in the mix.

Nnnn, Why does everything have to have a catch? Nothing ever goes simply.

Sometimes, It really feels like I'm babysitting children.

Really rowdy, really gigantic metal children.

...

It doesn't matter, this will get resolved in time. I just need to be patient and wait. And if the malfunctions get worse...

...I suppose it's a problem for future me, isn't it? Won't get anything done by sulking now. Doing anything else risks making mistakes.

Here's hoping I won't come back to the Pizzaplex in flames...

Freddy's seems to have a history with that kind of thing.

END CHAPTER

WORD COUNT: 3997