A/N: Before we begin, I just want to repeat the announcement that I posted in this chapter, since I've deleted it. Some of you may have noticed that 3 chapters have been missing from this fic lately. More specifically, the "Jamming with the Schmidts" chapters. This was NOT an accident.
My other story, "The Phantom Hero's Realm," was deleted by the fanfiction admins because it held lyrics to a song not owned by me or by the public domain. The entire fic was straight-up deleted because of this, and it has come to my attention that thanks to the "Jamming with the Schmidts" chapters that "Mike's New Ghostly Family" once held, that story was itself vulnerable to potentially being deleted.
Because of this, I regret to inform you that I have deleted ALL chapters of "Jamming with the Schmidts" in "Mike's New Ghostly Family." This also means that there will NOT be any "Jamming with the Schmidts" chapters published in the future. I know that this sucks, but the life of the entire fic is in jeopardy of being deleted if I keep those chapters on the fic. Losing 3 chapters that are basically filler is, while annoying, is far from the end of the world. Losing the entire fic is an unmitigated and unrecoverable catastrophe and would almost certainly spell the end of my work on the story were it to happen, God forbid. It should be pretty obvious which is the lesser evil here.
I am 99% sure that no other chapters contain any lyrics of any kind. If I am wrong, please let me know so that I can address those as well. The chapter numbers on the fic will be kind of messed up because of this, but I won't correct them. Not only to commemorate the fact that those chapters once existed, but also because I'm too lazy and don't have the time to correct them.
If this fic ever DOES get deleted (even though I'm now sure I've got rid of all the song chapters), it will be re-posted on AO3. I might even start cross-posting it there anyway as an insurance policy, but if I do so it will happen at a very slow rate thanks to my busy schedule.
But enough of that rather depressing topic. We have two more Curse of Dreadbear chapters to go through, and the one we're about to dive into right now is a very spooky recreation of the game that started it all!
Gaming Garry: I wouldn't be opposed to doing another one in the future, although it would probably be them playing ACTUAL Jackbox Games instead of doing it in Mike's mind like last time.
Lawsuit Larry: Thanks, I've rewritten the chapter to redact all but the first few words of each lyric. It sucks, but I don't have any options.
Phoenix: Absolutely, I 100% agree with you. The idea of keeping the song chapters is so high-risk and low-reward that it's downright laughable.
TotallyNotAlpharius: Nightmare Fredbear and Nightmarionne are about even in power overall. Nightmare Fredbear's the better straight-up fighter but Nightmarionne is a lot trickier and a lot more willing to fight dirty. And yes, I know what that reference is from :P
Deblod100: I gave credit to the creators of the song in my other fic, and it still got deleted. So at this point I'm playing this super safe and taking no chances. And I don't know anything about that cartoon, I haven't had the time to follow everything FNaF-related :P
FrostTheFrozenFox: It was indeed intentional, and now I know why.
Jack0Lanterns: Honestly, some of the concepts in this game wouldn't be terrible if translated to real life…assuming someone who was competent and actually gave a fuck about safety was running it. In other words, the complete opposite of Fazbear Entertainment.
1 A: The sad thing is, the Nightmare would still be safer and more trustworthy than William Fucking Afton.
TU4Q: Patience, my friend. That part is far off yet, but it is coming.
Fnaffan418: Honestly, I could go either way right now. They could either get into a romantic relationship or be strictly platonic.
Thanatos D.E.M.: Probably 2-3 more chapters until the end of Curse of Dreadbear, including this one.
Chapter 143 – Curse of Dreadbear Part 5
Rockstar Chica took off the VR headset, taking a few seconds to reorient herself back in Mike's basement. "I've finished my levels!" she announced. "Who's next?"
"I think I am?" Rockstar Freddy raised his hand. "I haven't played any of the levels in Curse of Dreadbear yet!"
"Oh, then here you go!" Rockstar Chica passed the VR headset to him. "I think there's just the Danger! Keep Out! levels left! Well, that and that one level that we can't enter yet," she quickly added.
"Do you know what any of those levels look like?" Rockstar Bonnie wondered.
Rockstar Chica shook her head. "All I saw were two Jack-O Lanterns that looked a bit like Bonnie and Chica."
Rockstar Foxy's eyes narrowed. "Then ye might be facing the Jack-O animatronics, lad," he warned. "They be fiery demon animatronics who'll hunt you down."
Circus Baby blinked. "Geez, you really like roleplaying Foxy, don't you?" she remarked.
"If a demon can roleplay him, then so can I!" Rockstar Foxy retorted.
Rockstar Chica rolled her eyes as she handed the VR headset over to Rockstar Freddy. "Good luck!" she offered cheerfully.
"Thanks," Rockstar Freddy commented, "I think I'm going to need it." He put the VR headset on his head, and watched as Mike's basement transformed into the video game world that Fazbear Entertainment had created. Not one to waste any time, Gabe reached out and pressed the button on the cupcake pail, taking him away from the recreation of the 1993 Freddy Fazbear's pizzeria and straight to the haunted farmyard that made up the main level hub of the Curse of Dreadbear DLC.
"So what exactly am I going to be playing, anyway?" Gabe wondered. He switched the levels over to "Danger! Keep Out!" and saw that the first unlocked level had the picture of the Bonnie and Chica Jack-O lanterns, just as Susie had told him. But more importantly, the name of the level was simply "Night 1." It seemed that, unlike the Afraid of the Dark or Spooky Mansion levels, all three of the levels in this particular game mode would follow the same pattern that the main Five Nights at Freddy's levels had…and that they would be getting harder as each night unlocked.
"Well, at least there's no Night 5 or 6 to worry about," the former Freddy inhabitant joked as he pressed on the level to enter it. He quickly read the instructions, which were mostly similar to what he would have expected, save for one particularly interesting detail: "Use light to scare animatronics." "What does that even mean?" Gabe wondered as he proceeded into the main level itself.
When the level loaded, Gabe was surprised to discover that he had arrived at a Halloween-redecorated version of the FNaF 1 office. The overall structure was very similar to how the actual FNaF 1 office was designed, with a computer and camera system in the middle to view the animatronics and two doorways, one on each side.
But there were significant differences between the original office and this one as well. The entire office was much darker compared to the original, with most of the lighting coming from the various pieces of machinery that were in the room. The metal doors that made up the primary defense of the FNaF 1 office were also completely gone, replaced with haphazard barriers made of wooden planks that seemed much flimsier by comparison. There was also a power switch next to the main computer that definitely hadn't been there before. And finally, the familiar cupcake had been replaced by a Jack-O Lantern with a downright ghoulish face carved into it.
"What the hell happened the office?" Gabe asked in disbelief. He barely had time to process the changes in atmosphere when the computer screen suddenly flickered with static. It was only then that he realized that the two animatronics on the stage were Nightmare animatronics…and that one of them had started moving.
"Crap, it's already started…" he mumbled. The second animatronic, the demonic Chica, had also started moving, and Gabe noticed that the animatronic's body had started glowing with light whenever it moved. He changed the screen over to the dining hall, where both animatronics were marching off away from the stage and towards different parts of the room. However, halfway through their march, they suddenly stopped, the glow from their bodies disappearing and plunging them into darkness. Only for the light in their bodies to return once they started moving again.
Gabe looked at the two wooden barricades that had replaced the metal doors, his already low confidence in their capabilities plummeting even further. "I have only these things to protect me from freaking DEMON animatronics?" he asked in disbelief. "God, I am so screwed…"
Still, he probably had at least a few seconds before either of the glowing Nightmares began their first attacks, and by now he had played enough video games (both Five Nights at Freddy's and otherwise) to start thinking of a plan. If this game was anything like the original one, then the demons would appear in the hallway first before approaching the office. At the very least, he should be able to see them coming before they actually attacked…and that meant that looking at any room apart from the ones outside the office was probably a waste of time. As he thought out his strategy, unholy growling and demonic laughter began to echo outside of the room, a sign that the demon animatronics were getting closer and closer.
The monstrous Bonnie was the first out of the two to make a move, having snuck into the West Hall and turned himself off while Gabe had been distracted. The demonic animatronic lit back up and walked towards the camera, and as he disappeared off the screen the corridor outside of the West Hall suddenly lit up with an orange glow. "Holy crap," Gabe realized, "that light coming out of the animatronic was FIRE the entire time!" Though it was difficult to see through the boarded-up windows, Gabe could barely make out the shape of a Bonnie-like figure with razor sharp fangs in his jaw, his entire body glowing with the hellish fiery light. The former Freddy inhabitant frantically tried to press the Door button, but it accomplished absolutely nothing. As Jack-O-Bonnie stopped right outside the door, Gabe did the only thing left available to him, and pressed the Light button right underneath the Door button.
The entire hallway outside of the left door glowed, though this time the light was more akin to the brilliant white flash of a camera. The flaming demonic Bonnie disappeared instantly the moment the light filled the hallway, leaving no trace that he had ever been there to begin with. Gabe breathed a sigh of relief once he saw that the Bonnie was gone. He didn't know how many hits the wooden barricades would have taken before the demonic animatronic had smashed his way through, though he doubted that the makeshift defense would have lasted for very long.
"Okay," Gabe muttered, "so that's how I fight off the animatronics when they get at the door. Seems simple enough, I think." A few seconds later, a fiery demonic Chica advanced down the hallway, moving similarly to the demonic Bonnie except aiming for the right door instead of the left. This time, Gabe was ready, and he hit the Light button before the Chica could even reach the door. Once again, the hallway lit up with a brilliant light akin to that from a camera flash, and the fiery Chica vanished.
"This isn't gonna be so bad," the former Freddy thought, his confidence returning. He could see the demon animatronics advancing down the hallway long before they actually arrived, and he could easily flash the lights to make the animatronics disappear long before they got a chance to attack. "I can definitely beat this!"
He kept his eyes on the two barricades and the hallways leading out to them, waiting for either the demonic Bonnie or the demonic Chica to attack again. The demonic Bonnie attacked exactly as he expected him to, advancing down the hallway towards the left door and giving plenty of time for Gabe to drive him off.
But the demonic Chica was a different matter entirely. Gabe heard a sound similar to that of a flame being ignited, a sound that he had recognized as the signal preceding an impending attack. But the Chica was nowhere to be found. Gabe didn't realize what was happening until she was right outside the doorway, seemingly appearing out of nowhere. Before he could react, the demonic Chica raised her arms and smashed them against the East barricade with all her might.
WHAM!
"What the HELL?" Gabe exclaimed in disbelief. He quickly reached out to the Light button, and was fortunately able to hit it and banish the Chica before she could hit the barricade again. "I was playing attention to the hallway! How the hell did that Chica show up at the door?"
And that wasn't the only problem that Gabe had to deal with. For the first time, he noticed the power meter next to it. The power had started at 100%...and was now at 20%, with only one energy bar remaining.
"Oh crap…I'm almost out of power!" Gabe murmured worriedly. His eyes fell on the switch next to the computer, the one that hadn't existed back in the original office. With little choice in the matter but to experiment, he reached out, grabbed the switch, and pulled it down.
The entire office plunged into darkness (including the TV), leaving only the Jack-O-Lantern and a few pieces of machinery as the sole remaining sources of light. Gabe could hear what sounded like a generator of some kind whirring in the background, along with the unholy growls of the demons from some unforeseen location. Gabe nervously looked around, wondering if the demons were going to attack while he was powerless in more ways than one inside the office. Finally, after a few seconds, the lights and power mercifully turned back on inside the office. And most importantly, the power bar had replenished to 100% and a full bar once more.
"Oh, thank God…" Gabe muttered. "I thought I was screwed." A sneaking thought suddenly occurred to him, and he reached out to the camera device to focus the camera on the West Hall and East Hall Corners, two locations that he had previously dismissed. The East Hall corner was empty…but the West Hall Corner showed the demonic Bonnie, preparing for the same kind of sneak attack that his sister had done earlier. The creature's body was dark and hollow, but after a few seconds it lit up and he began to walk away from the camera. Gabe focused his attention on the Left barricade, and sure enough the demon arrived at the door from seemingly out of nowhere shortly after. With the advance warning, Gabe was able to flash the light to make him disappear despite the stealthier approach.
"All right, this isn't gonna be quite as easy as I thought," he admitted. Fortunately, the demonic Chica decided to attack from the more obvious approach when she attacked a few seconds later, and Gabe had no trouble banishing her away. Since he had just banished both animatronics in short after, Gabe decided to take the time to reset his power bar even though he still had 60% power remaining.
As time passed, it quickly became apparent that the demonic Bonnie and Chica would be the only animatronics attacking him, at least for now. Gabe hadn't seen a demonic Freddy on the stage, and a few quick checks on Pirate's Cove showed that the curtain had remained firmly closed throughout the entirety of the level. Focusing on only two animatronics wasn't a particularly difficult task for Gabe, even if they could sometimes attack using their sneakier approach from the hall corners.
Gabe had also noticed that whenever the demonic Bonnie or demonic Chica were about to attack the barriers, there would be the sound of an igniting flame shortly preceding their actual arrival. It was a neat little trick that certainly helped Gabe identify those attacks, although it got drowned out by other sounds such as the demons' growls or laughter.
By the time 5 AM rolled around, Gabe had been able to successfully repel multiple attacks from the demonic Bonnie and Chica. His only mistake had been when he had reset the power switch a little too late, and it had given the Bonnie an opportunity to march up to the barricade and start attacking it. Fortunately, the power came back on just after his first strike, and Gabe was able to act fast enough to drive him off before he could attack a second time. "This isn't so bad!" the former Freddy thought confidently. "Actually, this is pretty easy! Just make sure I catch the animatronics when they attack from the hall corners, make sure I reset the power before it runs out completely, and I'm good to go!"
The fiery Chica attacked the East door one more time from the corner, an attack that Gabe recognized from the sound of igniting flame and promptly blocked. And that was the last attack that either demon had time for. As Gabe waited for the next attack from Bonnie, the room suddenly dissolved into darkness, and 5 AM turned into 6 AM on the screen in front of him. Signaling what had been a relatively easy victory, and Gabe's first triumph against the Nightmares.
"That was only Night 1, though," Gabe admitted, putting a lid on his enthusiasm. "Night 2 and Night 3 are probably gonna be harder, especially if there's more animatronics than just those two." He would take the free win for now, and see what prize he won. He took a few seconds to admire the new "Game Won!" farmhouse, just as his siblings had done, and when he opened the prize box he was rewarded with a figurine of the fiery demonic Bonnie that had spent the last few minutes attacking him.
"What is this guy even called?" the former Freddy inhabitant couldn't help but wonder. His curiosity getting the better of him, he returned back to the main menu of the DLC world, and then went even further back to the main menu of the game, before entering the Gallery. From what Mike had described, there was a wooden stage where he could see all of the animatronics in approximately their real sizes, along with their names.
When he arrived at the gallery, he found to his surprise and relief that the computer screen to the left of the stage featured several new animatronics, including the Nightmares and the Withereds that he hadn't seen in the game up until that point. Most notably, there seemed to be two different types of Nightmare animatronics. Non-fiery versions that actually had a similar color scheme and appearance to the originals, albeit more monstrous and grotesque, and the orange-colored, fiery ones that had attacked him back in the level he had just played. The first set all had the same, predictable naming pattern: Nightmare Freddy, Nightmare Foxy, and so on. The naming of the second set, on the other hand, seemed all over the place. Jack-O-Bonnie, Jack-O-Chica, Grim Foxy…
"Who even came up with these names?" Gabe wondered, shaking his head in bemusement. And then there was Dreadbear, the Frankenstein-based Freddy that had been thrown in along with and was apparently on the same level as the fiery demons.
At least his name was cool.
"These guys are all gonna come after me in Night 2 or Night 3, aren't they?" Gabe asked rhetorically as he made his way back to the Curse of Dreadbear main level hub. His suspicions were confirmed when he looked at the icon for Night 2. Unlike the Night 1 icon, the Night 2 icon gave Gabe a clear indication of what to expect. Grim Foxy was stepping out from behind Pirate's Cove, as if he was about to charge the office. "Yep…" he sighed.
Still, there was nothing else to do but go forward. He entered the level, finding himself back in the Halloween-themed office where he had fended off Jack-O-Bonnie and Jack-O-Chica in Night 1. There were only still the two animatronics on the stage, though this time they seemed to activate much faster than they had back in Night 1. Remembering what he had seen, Gabe switched the camera over to Pirate's Cove.
At first, nothing seemed to happen. But slowly, a hook began to poke out from the break in the curtain of Pirate's Cove. The hook carefully drew a part of the curtain back, and Grim Foxy appeared behind the curtain, his entire body glowing with light that Gabe knew by now to be unholy flames. Unlike in the original FNaF 1, Gabe could actually see Grim Foxy move within Pirate's Cove as he drew more and more of the curtain back. After a few seconds, the demonic fox animatronic actually stepped out of the cove, swinging his head back and forth as though he were looking for anything that could possibly stop his attack.
"Wait, CRAP!" Gabe exclaimed as he realized that Grim Foxy was a second or two away from attacking him. He tried to think of anything that he could do to stop the demon, but those seconds of hesitation proved to be fatal. Grim Foxy took another step out of the cove…and then promptly vanished. Gabe frantically looked over at the left door, wondering if he could fend off Grim Foxy, but he was far too slow. With a demonic snarl, Grim Foxy rushed towards the office, completely ignoring the very existence of the left barricade as he lunged at Gabe, his head shaking frenziedly like a rabid beast as he let out an unholy roar.
"HOW WOULD YE LIKE TO DIE, LAD?" the monstrous animatronic asked mockingly. "WITH ME TEETH, WITH ME HOOK, OR MAKING YE BURN ALIVE?"
"Damn it!" Gabe shouted, frustrated with himself for practically inviting the demon animatronic to attack him with no resistance as the world dissolved into static. He soon arrived at the same Game Over graveyard that his siblings had arrived at, where Dreadbear and Grim Foxy waited for him as they had for the others.
"YOUR RESISTANCE WASN'T JUST PATHETIC, LAD," Grim Foxy commented with a sinister grin on his face. "IT WAS ALL BUT NONEXISTENT."
"YOU DIED MERELY A FEW SECONDS INTO THE START OF THE NIGHT," Dreadbear smugly pointed out. "WERE YOU EVEN TRYING?"
"Hey, that won't happen again!" Gabe countered. "I just wanted to see Grim Foxy actually emerge from the Cove, since I'd never seen that in the original. I'll figure out how to stop him!"
"YE BETTER LEARN THAT LESSON SOON, LAD," Grim Foxy warned with a growl, "OR YER GONNA MEET MY HOOK A SECOND TIME!"
"WE SHALL SEE IF THIS MOMENT OF STUPIDITY WAS AN EXCEPTION, RATHER THAN THE RULE," Dreadbear added ominously.
Gabe scowled but didn't reply, instead pressing the Restart button to send him back to the Halloween-themed FNaF office. This time, when he switched the camera to Pirate's Cove, he focused his attention on a large square button with a flashing light bulb on it, something that hadn't been present in the original version of the game. He'd all but ignored it in Night 1 when only Jack-O-Bonnie and Jack-O-Chica had been the main threats to deal with, but now…
As Grim Foxy stepped out of Pirate's Cove, Gabe suddenly pressed the light bulb button. The screen dissolved into static, and when it cleared, Pirate's Cove was completely closed once again. "Ha!" Gabe cheered. "I figured you out! You're not gonna get me this time!"
His joy was quickly tempered by the fact that hitting the light bulb had eaten up a fifth of his power bar, similar to flashing the door lights. The sound of demonic growling quickly reminded Gabe that, although Grim Foxy might have been stopped for now, Jack-O-Bonnie and Jack-O-Chica were both still out there and getting closer. To his consternation, when they did finally attack, both of them attempted to attack with the stealthy approach from the Hall Corners, although Gabe was able to banish both of them without taking damage to the barricades since he had been paying attention.
With only 40% power left, Gabe decided to reset the generator to get all his power back before the animatronics attacked again. When the power reset (without any animatronics attacking in the meantime, fortunately), Gabe decided to check on Pirate's Cove. It was now well past 1 AM, and when he looked back at Grim Foxy's hiding spot he saw that the demonic fox already emerging from the Cove, preparing for another attack. "Oh no, you don't!" Gabe declared as he slammed his finger down on the light bulb button, blasting Grim Foxy with a shock and driving him back into the depths of Pirate's Cove.
As the night progressed, the former Freddy inhabitant quickly realized that Night 2 was indeed a step up in difficulty from Night 1, more so than the difficulty progression in the original game. The arrival of Grim Foxy as an ever-present threat in Pirate's Cove was bad enough, but now he had to juggle three demonic animatronics and his 5 bars of power instead of just 2.
"3 AM," Gabe saw the clock as he flashed the light on Jack-O-Bonnie, forcing him to disappear. "I think there might be a Grim Foxy attack coming soon." He switched over to Pirate's Cove, and sure enough, the monstrous version of the pirate fox was beginning to peek out again. Gabe waited a few seconds for the fox to emerge a bit more, before hitting the shock button to send him back into the cove.
"WHAM!"
"Gah!" Gabe exclaimed, whirling around to the right to see that Jack-O-Chica had snuck up on him while he had been focused on Grim Foxy. He quickly pushed the light button to force Jack-O-Chica away before the demon animatronic could make a second attack. "God, that scared the crap out of me…" he muttered as he pulled down the switch to reset his power.
For the rest of the night, Gabe continued to vigilantly watch for any attacks from the three demon animatronics, carefully looking between the hall corners, the halls right outside his doors, and Pirate's Cove. Every time an animatronic appeared and tried to attack, either overtly or sneakily, Gabe would make sure to blast them with either the lights or the shock button, before pulling down the switch to reset his power. The former Freddy inhabitant didn't trust what would happen if we allowed all five power bars to die out, even though he hadn't actually found himself in that particular situation yet. "Probably make the recharge time a lot longer or something," he thought snidely. And with three demonic animatronics out for his blood, that was the last thing he wanted to happen.
As 5 AM passed and he could hear the growls and laughter that heralded Jack-O-Bonnie and Jack-O-Chica's arrival, Gabe suddenly had an idea. "What if I try to shock them in the Hall Corners before they actually arrive at the door?" He quickly looked over to the East Hall Corner, and saw that Jack-O-Chica was lurking there, grinning malevolently at the camera with her Jack-O-Lantern in her hand. As the light in her body started glowing and she started moving towards the East barricade, Gabe reached out and pressed the shock button. The screen dissolved into static, just as it had done whenever he had zapped Grim Foxy, and when the static cleared the demon was gone.
"Did it work?" he wondered. "I think it worked!" He quickly moved the camera over to the West Hall Corner, where Jack-O-Bonnie was also lurking, trying to stealthily attack around the same time that his sister had done. Gabe hit the shock button to zap the animatronic, but to his surprise, the shock button didn't work. "Wait, what the…OH," he realized as the lights in Jack-O-Bonnie's eyes lit up and he started moving towards the door. "Shocking them only works if their fires are lit up. I get it…" He waited for Jack-O-Bonnie to approach the West barricade, and then quickly banished him with the hall light before he could get an attack in.
Gabe was about to take a breath and relax when a sudden realization struck him. "Oh, CRAP!" he exclaimed. "I forgot about Grim Foxy!" He quickly switched the camera over to Pirate's Cove, where Grim Foxy had already spread the curtains open and had stepped out of the Cove. The unholy version of Fritz's favorite animatronic had gotten dangerously close to escaping and rushing towards his room again…but he had caught him just in time. Gabe hit the shock button, and breathed a sigh of relief as Grim Foxy was banished back behind the closed curtain. Unfortunately, his mistake with hitting Jack-O-Bonnie twice meant that he only had one power bar left, and that he had to take a reset now or else be forced to use all 5 power bars later.
"Ugh, I hope this ends soon…" Gabe muttered as he plunged the office into darkness yet again. He looked around nervously as he started hearing demonic growling around him again. "This level creeps me the hell out…" The lights came back on…right in time for Jack-O-Bonnie to walk down the hallway, ready to smash down his barricade yet again. Gabe reached out to banish him with the hall light, and…
DING! DONG!
The Office faded into black before Jack-O-Bonnie could reach the door, and for the second time, 5 AM turned to 6 AM right in front of him. "Oh, thank God!" Gabe sighed with relief as he saw the classic symbol of victory in any FNaF game. "I made it!" Grim Foxy's arrival had certainly made Night 2 a noticeable step up in difficulty compared to Night 1, though it hadn't made the level insurmountable by any means. Satisfied with his performance, Gabe gladly received his prize in the farmhouse, this time being the very same cupcake candy pail that served as the main entrance to the DLC. "This would honestly be pretty cool if it existed in real life," he admitted, studying the bucket for a few seconds before returning to the main menu.
There was only one night left in the "Danger! Keep Out!" series, and Gabe gulped when he saw who was in it. Right in the icon of Night 3, arms outstretched like a true Frankenstein monster, was Dreadbear himself, his mouth open in a wide, unnatural grin. "Oh, this is gonna suck, isn't it?" the former Freddy inhabitant groaned as he reluctantly entered the level. For the first time, all 4 of the original animatronics were represented in this new game mode, and Gabe had the distinct feeling that it wouldn't be as easy as the original FNaF 1 had been.
Barely had the level loaded, when both Jack-O-Bonnie and Jack-O-Bonnie started walking off the stage immediately, rather than waiting for a few seconds like they had back in the earlier nights. And this time, they weren't alone. Dreadbear himself had joined them on the stage, and as Gabe watched, the monster's eyes slowly lit up and he started to shamble off the stage. Dreadbear seemed to be walking more slowly than Jack-O-Bonnie and Jack-O-Chica, although Gabe's paranoia knew better than to trust that.
"Crap, better take a look at Grim Foxy!" he thought. He quickly switched over to Pirate's Cove, where Grim Foxy was already drawing the curtains open, although he hadn't actually left the Cove yet. Barely had he zapped Grim Foxy back behind the curtain, when he started hearing unholy growling around him.
"Oh God, are they here already?" Gabe asked incredulously. He quickly took a look at the Hall Corners, and to his disbelief, Jack-O-Bonnie was at the West Hall Corner already, only a couple of seconds after the level had started. "You've got to be kidding me!" he muttered as he zapped the demon once his fires lit up, stopping him from ever approaching the West barricade. A few seconds later, Jack-O-Chica started marching down the hall towards the door, fortunately attacking from the obvious route, but still arriving faster than she had in previous levels. "This is gonna be such a pain in the ass…" Gabe groaned as he banished her with the Hall Light.
And then, he started hearing a new sound.
Thump! Boom! Thump! Boom!
"The hell is that?" Gabe wondered. He switched the camera over to the Dining Hall, which was the most logical destination for Dreadbear to move to after leaving the Show Stage. At first, Gabe couldn't see anything in the darkness of the room. But after a few seconds of looking, the former Freddy inhabitant could barely make out the faint, dark silhouette of an animatronic that had to be Dreadbear. Acting on instinct, Gabe hit the shock button to attack him, and then quickly took a power reset with the switch. The room plunged into darkness, and as he waited for the power to come back on, he heard the sound of demonic growling heralding the approach of Jack-O-Bonnie and Jack-O-Chica.
And as the lights came back on, the sound of stomping footsteps returned.
Thump! Boom!
"Wait, what?" Gabe exclaimed as he took a look back at the dining hall. He had expected Dreadbear to vanish when he had shocked him, but the bear animatronic hadn't been reset. Instead, he had been simply stalled, and had started moving again. Gabe zapped him again, and…
WHAM!
The sound of Jack-O-Chica hitting the barricade to his right shattered his concentration, causing Gabe to let out a curse under his breath as he quickly banished him with the light. He changed the camera to Pirate's Cove, displeased to see that Grim Foxy was already emerging from the curtain, and hit him with the shock button. That left only Jack-O-Bonnie left in this twisted "rotation" of demon animatronic attacks, and fortunately he had decided to go easy on him by marching down the hallway…this time, anyway. Gabe banished him with the Hall Light, then promptly reset the power again.
The room plunged into darkness as the generator started whirring, but this time Gabe could hear the accursed stomping of Dreadbear even through the noise. And it was getting louder.
THUMP! BOOM! THUMP! BOOM!
"Aww, dammit!" Gabe groaned, knowing that he was losing precious time letting Dreadbear freely walk to wherever he was going. When the lights came back on and Gabe checked the Dining Hall, Dreadbear was nowhere to be found. "Where did he go?" he wondered nervously.
He forced himself to think. Dreadbear was clearly based on Freddy Fazbear, and the place Freddy visited after the Dining Hall was…he changed the camera to the Bathrooms. To his relief, he found Dreadbear wandering there. His dark, obscured silhouette contrasting sharply with the brightly lit, fiery bodies of the other demons, save for his glowing eyes that served as a spotlight of sorts. Gabe hit the shock button to stall him, then changed the camera to Pirate Cove to stop Grim Foxy.
Gabe quickly became all too aware that Night 3 was a major increase in difficulty compared to Night 1 or even Night 2. Not just because Dreadbear himself was yet another threat to deal with, and one that required persistence camera surveillance (distracting him from Grim Foxy and the Hall Corners in the process). What really made the level difficult was that Gabe now had to juggle 4 animatronics with the same 5-segment energy bar, meaning that he had to use only 1 bar of energy per patient without any mistakes if he wanted to avoid using all 5 bars of power at once.
And though he tried his best, Gabe made the fatal mistake that cost him the game about halfway past 3 AM. His hand had slipped, and he had accidentally shocked Jack-O-Bonnie in the Hall Corner before he had lit up and moved towards the door. This had forced him to use his final bar of power on stopping Grim Foxy, and the moment he zapped him, the entire Office plunged into darkness immediately. Just as Gabe had feared, the recharge for the generator was much longer when he had used up all 5 power bars…
…more than enough time for Jack-O-Chica to march down the hallway and attack the barricade.
WHAM! WHAM!
The barricade had already been hit once by her attack, and with each strike it seemed to break apart further. Gabe could only watch as Jack-O-Chica smashed the wooden structure apart entirely with her next attack, and lunged at him with the same unholy roar that Grim Foxy had made earlier, giving him a front-row view of her beak filled with razor-sharp fangs.
"GREETINGS FROM THE FIRE, AND FROM THE DARKEST DEPTHS OF DESPAIR," Jack-O-Chica cackled as the entire world dissolved into static.
"Dammit!" Gabe complained as he was taken back to the Game Over graveyard. "This is so freaking hard!"
"BUT OF COURSE," Dreadbear answered him mockingly. "YOU NOW FACE FOUR OF OUR NUMBER. DID YOU REALLY THINK THAT WE WOULD SIMPLY STEP ASIDE AND ALLOW YOU TO CLAIM VICTORY WITHOUT CONTEST?"
Gabe decided not to dignify that with a response, not when they all knew the answer.
"THERE IS NO MERCY TO BE FOUND FROM US, LAD," Grim Foxy growled. "YOU WILL EITHER SUCCEED, OR DIE IN THE ATTEMPT."
"AND YOU KNOW FULL WELL WHICH OPTION WE WOULD PREFER," Dreadbear added with a sinister grin on his face.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Gabe grumbled. He wanted to brag about how he was going to win on his next attempt, but given how hard Night 3 had been so far, the former Freddy inhabitant had a feeling that this assessment was overly optimistic.
And unfortunately, his next few attempts would prove him right. The lack of a security blanket and the constant juggling of the 4 demonic animatronics tolerated no mistakes, and even a perfect performance didn't guarantee victory. While Grim Foxy's timing was fairly consistent in terms of when he attacked every hour, there was no guarantee that a Jack-o animatronic would take shorter or longer to attack the barricade than previously, throwing off the pattern and possibly costing Gabe an extra energy bar that he couldn't afford.
And every time he died to one animatronic or another, the animatronic would be waiting to mock him for his failure.
"I'LL CARVE YOU LIKE A PUMPKIN…THEN LET YOU ROT LIKE ONE," Jack-o-Bonnie promised.
"THE FIRE WITHIN ME BURNS ETERNAL, AND SOON YOU SHALL AS WELL," Jack-o-Chica snarled.
"CAN YOU FEEL THE FLAMES HOOK AROUND YOUR NECK, LAD?" Grim Foxy asked.
"UNLIKE ME, YOUR FLAME HAS FLICKERED OUT," Jack-o-Bonnie hissed.
"Oh, come on already!" Gabe exclaimed, throwing his hands up in frustration. He was starting to understand how Liz felt dealing with the Scrap Babies, although thankfully he hadn't spent hours trying to beat this single level…at least, he didn't think he had. "Just give me a break anyway! I just want to get this over with so we can move on to that final level!"
He restarted the level the moment he appeared in the graveyard, not even waiting for Dreadbear and Grim Foxy to mock him again, and proceeded to fend off the demonic animatronics like he had done previously, and whether it was through the grace of God or through sheer luck, this latest run seemed to go more smoothly. He was able to maintain a consistent pattern of shocking Grim Foxy, banishing Jack-O-Bonnie and Jack-O-Chica at either the doors or the Hall Corners, and zapping Dreadbear wherever he was to stall him before hitting the power switch. A plan simple enough in theory, and one that Gabe had tried to implement every time he had played this level. But as his many deaths had proved, it was by no means guaranteed to succeed in practice.
The former Freddy inhabitant was able to more consistently maintain his intended pattern of defense this time around, but even then it was far from perfect. More times than he was comfortable with, Gabe was forced to prioritize banishing Jack-O-Bonnie or Jack-O-Chica from the barricades or shocking Grim Foxy at Pirate's Cove, leaving Dreadbear free to stomp in the distance and go through the rooms of the pizzeria, getting ever closer to the office. Gabe had noticed that Dreadbear randomly took one of two different routes each round. Sometimes, he went into the Bathroom and then into the Kitchen, exhibiting behavior quite similar to the animatronic he had been modeled after. Other times, he went in completely the opposite direction, moving into the Parts and Services Room and then, bizarrely, to Pirate's Cove. Gabe hadn't seen him progress any further than that, since one of the other animatronics always killed him first.
But it seemed that, for the first time, that would not be the case.
THUMP! BOOM! THUMP! BOOM!
Gabe grimaced. 4 AM passed quite some time ago, easily the farthest the former Freddy inhabitant had ever gotten to beating Night 3, and he had already shocked Grim Foxy for the hour. But all the while, Dreadbear was getting closer, his footsteps getting louder. The bear had opted to pass through the Parts and Services Room and Pirate's Cove this time around, and now he was in the Dining Hall again, only this time he could see the monstrous bear animatronic move towards the far end of the room…and towards the East Hall leading to the right barricade. And if the original Freddy Fazbear was of any indication, Gabe did not want to let Dreadbear anywhere near his Office if he could help it.
"Come on," Gabe muttered to himself, "I've gotten so far, I can't lose now!" He heard the sound of igniting flame, and a few seconds later Jack-O-Bonnie came marching down the hallway. Gabe quickly hit the Hall Lights to make him disappear, and then shocked Dreadbear in the Dining Hall again before taking a power reset. It might have just been his imagination, but Dreadbear seemed to be recovering from the shocks faster than before, because only a few seconds later the metal footsteps started again.
THUMP! BOOM! THUMP! BOOM!
"5 AM!" Gabe read the clock. "I'm almost done! Just a little more!"
THUMP! BOOM! THUMP! BOOM!
The footsteps were louder and closer than they ever were before, almost thunderous in Gabe's ears. The former Freddy inhabitant nervously switched the camera to the East Hall, and to his horror he could see the shadow-covered silhouette of Dreadbear in the dim light of the hallway, his eyes glowing unnaturally in the darkness. Gabe quickly shocked the animatronic to stun him, and then zapped Jack-O-Chica in the East Hall Corner. "You're not getting me now!" he promised. "Not when I'm this close to winning!"
The ghost boy quickly shifted over to Pirate's Cove to zap Grim Foxy back behind the curtain, then quickly checked for Jack-O-Bonnie in the West Hall and West Hall Corner. Not seeing him, Gabe blasted Dreadbear with another shock the moment he heard the footsteps start again. Then, with little choice, he reset the power, praying that nobody would attack him while the power was down.
Nobody did, but Dreadbear once again recovered disturbingly quickly from his shock.
THUMP! BOOM! THUMP! BOOM! CRASH!
The sound of a light bulb shattering hit Gabe's ears, taking him completely by surprise. "Oh crap, he's getting close!" Gabe groaned as the power turned back on. He immediately hit Dreadbear with another shock, then turned to see Jack-O-Bonnie hiding in the West Hall Corner, zapping him too the moment the flames in his body ignited and he started moving. "You're never gonna get me! I'm gonna win, no matter what! I'm gonna…"
DING! DONG!
The entire Office turned to black, and 5 AM turned to 6 AM in front of Gabe's eyes. "Holy crap…" Gabe breathed in disbelief. "I did it! I actually did it! I FINALLY WON!" The former Freddy inhabitant was normally calmer and more reserved compared to his siblings, but in this case he didn't resist the urge to pump his fist into the air in victory. "YES! I finally beat those goddamn demons!"
The victory farmhouse appeared in front of him for the third time, and Gabe eagerly spun the gift box to claim his prize. The box opened with the sound of cheering children, and…
"GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
A yellow plushie-sized Spring Bonnie monstrosity jumped out of the gift box, roaring in his face as he chomped down on his head and tore at him with his metal hands.
"Gaaaaaaah!" Gabe yelled, taken completely by surprise as the Plushtrap finished his attack, and the entire screen dissolved into darkness. A few seconds later, Gabe found himself back in the Game Over graveyard, Dreadbear and Grim Foxy staring coolly at him as he struggled to comprehend what had just happened. Even after a few seconds of recovery, his mind could only come up with only one response.
"What the FUCK just happened?"
/
A/N: Ah, Gabe. You've fallen for the classic "Plushtrap prize that instantly kills you" trick that has plagued many a player of Help Wanted. I can't have Fritz have ALL the bad luck, after all…XD
Well, that was "Danger! Keep Out!" for you. Definitely one of the best game modes in Curse of Dreadbear in my opinion, and an excellent Halloween-themed interpretation of the original FNaF 1. It's also pretty damn hard, or at least Night 3 is, when you have to deal with all 4 Halloween animatronics at the same time. Funnily enough, just like with Gabe, Dreadbear never actually killed me when I played this mode…though that's largely because one of the other animatronics always killed me first.
Some of the kill lines for the Halloween animatronics are ones that I found online, and were so good I just had to incorporate them in this fic. The Jack-O-Bonnie lines are by Tarrelion Films, while one of Grim Foxy's lines was by Chance WrightVA and the other was interpreted from a Grim Foxy song by Rockit Gaming. I encourage you find them on Youtube and see where I got the inspiration from.
Next chapter is the long awaited Corn Maze! And as I hinted before, it won't be what you expect.
That's all I have to say for now. Hope you guys enjoyed!
