Hello there, UltimateDemonBeast65 here with the debut of Remnants of Ghosts, a crossover fic between Goddess of Victory: NIKKE and Five Nights At Freddy's! I know many people are waiting on more MVA: Symbiote's Justice, and I can assure you we are working on the chapter, but the process will be a little slower with this story. We had a sort of weird idea that sounds bad on paper but the more you think about it, it actually makes sense.
So this is a bit of an experiment admittedly but we are going to try and write this fic as a Limited Event in the game itself if any of you are fans/players of NIKKE or have heard of NIKKE. We don't know how many people this fic will attract, but we can only try and see what happens.
If you are a FNAF fan who is not familiar with NIKKE, I recommend researching the names and terms used in this story or even watch a playthrough or walkthrough of the story or events on YouTube. And to NIKKE fans who aren't familiar with FNAF, I urge you to do the same but I'm pretty sure there aren't really many people online who haven't heard of FNAF at this point.
Without further ado, let us begin the story!
DISCLAIMER: If anyone has any questions or criticism, review or PM me, but also, PLEASE if you're going to make a review, don't just leave a "good job" or "nice chapter" or a one to two to three-word response. PLEASE give us insightful reviews, both so that we know what you guys would like to see and also if there are any parts you might have done differently or done better.
Five Nights at Freddy's is owned by Scott Cawthon and Steel Wool Games
Goddess of Victory: NIKKE is owned by the SHIFT UP Corporation and Level Infinite
Unknown Region, The Surface, 218X
What once was a thriving city that was occupied by thousands, if not millions of people, was now a barren and overgrown wasteland of collapsed buildings, bent and rusted signs and various vehicles and debris thrown and scattered all across the dystopian remnant of what was once part of 21st Century civilisation. Within these ruins, there were two figures, both of them female and not entirely human.
One of them was short with brown hair and wore a cross between scholarly clothing and white and yellow knight-themed armour. She was called Chime.
The other was tall with pale blonde hair and wore a regal form of attire fit for a princess with crystals protruding out of the back. She was called Crown.
They were the Weissritter, more commonly known as the White Knights, a squad of Pilgrim Nikkes that specializes in searching for treasure and artifacts from the surface world.
"This city block has been demolished." Crown remarked upon looking at her surroundings. "Are you certain that this is the right location?"
"The coordinates provided by our client have led us here, Crown. Therefore, the artifacts we seek should be in this city block." Chime responded as she began to start digging through the rubble and debris. "Crown, come and look at this!"
"What is it?" Crown asked before walking up behind her companion.
Chime had plunged her hands into the rubble near her and with a quick tug, she pulled out what appeared to be a large wire, one that appeared to be coloured in black and white stripes.
"This wiring…" Chime said, examining the black and white wire. "It's from before the First Invasion, there's no doubt about that. But….why black and white stripes?"
"It is what we're looking for?" Crown asked with a brow raised.
"No…" Chime replied as she tugged more on the wire, exposing more of it as the short armour-clad Nikke began to look in the direction the wires appeared to be coming from. "...But it means we're close. Follow my lead and keep track of the wiring on the ground."
Without saying another word, Crown followed Chime as the two Pilgrims carefully followed the strange wiring, tugging at it to reveal more of its length to give them a more accurate idea as to where the source was coming from.
"Our client…" Crown began to say. "...He claimed to be a collector, no?"
"Of the nostalgic, to quote the client." Chime replied as she continued to tug and follow more wires.
"I suppose so, but of all the treasures and antiques scattered across the Earth, it strikes me as peculiar that they would desire such uncouth forms of treasure." Crown said, making sure she also followed the wire with Chime.
"Well, I guess it's like a human once said, one man's trash is another man's treasure." Chime remarked as she pulled up more wires. "Besides, as long as the client delivers on their end, it doesn't matter what the nature of items he's sought after is, so long as it's not dangerous or illegal."
The White Knights followed the wires until they finally reached what appeared to be the source. The two Pilgrims could see what looked like a collapsed building, having scattered metal, rubble, wiring and various other forms of debris encircling the area. The one thing however that stood out to the two however was a half intact neon sign, the lights flickering and fading one after the other, somehow still having electricity flow through it.
What did the sign say in question? Freddy Fazbear's Mega Pizzaplex.
"I believe we've found our dig site." Chime said, looking at the neon sign in awe.
"It's massive…" Crown said in disbelief as she and Chime headed into the ruins of the once great shopping mall.
Chime began to dig, moving and shoveling through the debris and rubble with her bare hands while minding the intact wiring that was spread across the floor and walls. Crown meanwhile took out what appeared to be a high-tech lance and started to use it to dig through the debris as well. While her digging wasn't as refined as Chime's, the lance Crown used was powerful enough to clear a path for them to move in without hitting any wires or circuitry around them.
"Do you see anything that matches the client's description?" Chime asked as she kept moving and digging as she searched the Pizzaplex's ruins.
"Nothing yet." Crown replied while still using her lance.
"We might have to dig deeper in, most of the memorabilia up here is either too worn out or has been taken or salvaged already." Chime said as she looked for a spot where she could dig downwards. "We'll need to dig in a spot that's structurally stable enough, otherwise the rest of the building will fall on us. Do you see a spot anywhere, Crown?"
Crown looked around for a safe place to dig, but it was difficult given how much of the Pizzaplex had fallen and withered since it was abandoned. As they dug and moved through more debris and rubble, they came across what looked like an open elevator shaft.
"Over here!" Crown called out, as Chime quickly made it over to Crown's location. "This opening appears to lead downwards to the underground levels of the building."
"How deep is it?" Chime asked, as Crown gazed down the opening and used the vision-based software in her eyes to calculate the depth.
"It's about a hundred and fifty feet deep." Crown answered and then reached out to tug on the suspension cable. "Seems stable enough, but we'd need to find a different way back up."
"Is there a staircase or emergency exit nearby?" Chime asked.
"Ah, it's right over there." Crown replied and pointed at the door with the emergency exit sign up above the doorway, just a few feet off to the side from the elevator shaft.
"Good, let's descend." Chime said as she grabbed the suspension cable and started to climb down it with Crown following soon after.
As they made it to the bottom, the White Knights opened up the hatch leading inside the elevator car and Crown used her lance to open up the broken doors to make their way in the room. There were more piles of debris and rubble along with large broken pipes and other items scattered around. But what caught the White Knights' eyes for a moment was a giant head of a brown bear with a black top hat.
"A giant bear head?" Crown said in awe.
"Keep looking, I can tell that we're close to finding something." Chime said as they headed further into the building.
Along the way, they passed a few endoskeletons and other robots that were in disrepair, sticking out of rubble or were laid out on the open floors.
"This place is somewhat unnerving, wouldn't you agree Chime?" Crown asked as sweat ran down from her face at the sight of these endoskeletons and machines being plastered around like the undead.
"We've seen our fair share of Nikke bodies before, Crown, and these things are even less alive than we are." Chime replied as entered what looked to be a doorway.
Chime and Crown walked through the doorway and entered a large room with checkered black and white floor tiles and various tables and chairs spread out around the place. Suffice to say, this was confusing and weird to the treasure hunting duo.
"Who the hell would build a shopping mall over a restaurant?" Chime asked.
"It is very bizarre, I will admit. You would think that the humans would have demolished the building and built over it, but this? This is absurd! The budgeting and time wasted all just to build over a pre-existing building that has been buried underground." Crown said in disbelief. "Humans really are odd creatures."
"Or someone was trying to hide something, to make sure it wasn't found." Chime proposed.
"Then why are we even here?" Crown questioned.
"Relax, Crown, whoever was trying to hide whatever they wanted to hide has been dead for nearly a century." Chime replied. "Besides, we have a job to do and I want to get paid."
"Alright, let's try and get this over with." Crown sighed.
The White Knights then saw what looked like a large hole in the floor which went even further down than before. As they approached the hole, they spotted something near the edge and quickly made their way to investigate. There appeared to be an arm clinging on the edge with its fingers.
"Over there!" Crown called out as she and Chime approached the arm in view.
Once they got to the edge of the hole, they could see that the arm was orange in colour, though the paint had been worn out and peeled off in most areas. It also had a black armband with studs on it and what appeared to be purple fingerless gloves with green fingers and surprisingly sharp claws on the fingertips.
"It's some sort of robotic arm." Chime said as she reached out to grab the arm, but when she tried to pull it up, felt a considerable amount of weight behind it. "Why won't this damn thing come out?!"
"It's not just an arm." Crown explained, to which Chime stopped pulling at the arm.
Crown got closer to the edge of the hole and started to use her lance to move more debris and rubble out of the way. Once finished, the White Knights realised that the 'arm' wasn't alone, and that the rest of its body was buried while its other arm was hanging down the side of it.
"Let's pull it up." Chime said as she grabbed hold of the arm.
Crown grabbed onto the other arm before the two of them then began to pull out the rest of the body out of the rubble. Upon fishing the body out of the hole, the White Knights were finally able to take a look at their find.
It was mechanical in nature, resembling one of the animatronics used in various children's restaurants. The animatronic in question appeared to be an orange bipedal bear with a beige coloured snout, stomach and feet and blue faded makeup and a blue lightning bolt painted on its torso. It had what appeared to be yellow eyes, a small black top hat with a blue sash, a purple bowtie, a red earring on the left ear and red shoulder pads and red calves that resembled leg warmers. The other arm was the same as the first one, having a black armband with studs and purple fingerless gloves with green fingers and absurdly sharp claws. The feet were three toed and had blue claws. Much of its paint had faded or peeled off and it was damaged in a few spots.
"This animatronic matches one of the descriptions that the client gave us, albeit with a few differences." Chime said, examining the bear animatronic.
"Looks like we found what he was looking for." Crown said with a smile. "Now all we need to do is secure the package and move it without damaging it further. It's going to be difficult moving this automaton upstairs."
"At least we can use that thing so we don't have to drag it there." Chime said, pointing at an empty six wheeled storage cart.
Crown gave Chime a nod before she went over to the storage cart and pulled it over to where they placed the bear animatronic. The White Knights carefully placed the animatronic onto the cart and then began to push the cart back through the way they came. Crown pulled the cart from the front while Chime stayed at the rear to keep the cart steady on this worn out floorboard. But as they were wheeling the loaded cart along the floor, a loud creaking noise was heard underneath them and before they could move, the floor caved in and sent them tumbling down to the caverns beneath.
"Owww…" Chime groaned as she rubbed her head and stood back up. "You okay, Crown?"
"I'm fine." Crown responded, also standing back up and grabbed her lance.
"Where's the cart?" Chime asked as she started to look around her.
"Over here!" Crown called out while waving Chime over and walked towards the cart.
Chime got to the cart soon after and checked on the bear animatronic for any damage to its integrity.
"Well I'll be damned, this thing can take a hiding. Usually animatronics of this nature are fragile and shouldn't be used in high altitude areas without the proper safety procedures." Chime remarked in amazement.
"Indeed, but how are we meant to get back to the surface?" Crown asked.
"Wait…is that another animatronic over there?" Chime wondered before walking over towards what looked like an enormous pile of wires and scrap metal.
Upon looking and moving over to the area Chime spotted, Crown could see the top half of what looked like an animatronic sticking out of the side. Presumably from the ears on top of its head, this was meant to be a bipedal rabbit, though it was rather different as it had five digits on its hand instead of four.
It was in an even worse state than the bear animatronic to say the least. Almost all of its endoskeleton was exposed, one of its ears was missing the top half while the frame on the other one could be seen. It was missing most of its exterior and its entire body appeared to be burned both inside and out. However, what caught their eyes was that its jaw looked like that of a human's.
"Eww, is that real…?" Crown asked, wincing from the corpse-like appearance of the animatronic.
"It was made for children's entertainment, so I doubt it." Chime replied as she then grabbed the burnt up rabbit animatronic by the shoulders and started to pull it out. "Either way, it's a rabbit themed animatronic, the client said as long as he got one of these and a bear themed animatronic that it didn't matter how many we found."
"Why a bear and a rabbit specifically though?" Crown asked curiously.
"Why don't you ask the client when we get back?" Chime responded as she gritted her teeth in frustration. "Damn it, give me a hand here, Crown! These wires have it stuck in real tight."
Crown then moved up behind Chime and used the lance to cut through the wires that were wrapped around the animatronic. They then loaded the rabbit animatronic into the cart with the bear animatronic and proceeded to search for a way back upstairs.
City Ruins, Ark Elevator Outskirts, 218X
A few miles away from an elevator that would reach one of the last strongholds of mankind since the war with the Raptures began, a lone man, a collector of the nostalgic, draped in a withered but thick cloak sat on the side of their cart, awaiting to rendezvous with the mercenaries he had hired beforehand. The collector knew that the surface was dangerous for a normal untrained human like himself, but also knew his mercenaries wouldn't be allowed inside the Ark. He made sure to keep out of sight and not make much noise in case there were Raptures in the area. The man took a sigh before taking a sip of his water bottle, then took out his binoculars and searched for signs of his hired treasure hunters.
Fortunately, the collector was in luck as he spotted the two members of the White Knights approaching with a cart that contained the treasure that he had long sought after.
"Finally." He said to himself with a smile before walking up to them to meet them halfway. "Ladies, so glad that you could make it, and from the looks of it, you found the place alright. I hope there wasn't too much trouble acquiring them."
"Not at all." Crown said proudly. "The building was quite a conundrum in terms of its condition, but the Weissritter are prepared to endure whatever hazards to obtain treasure and riches."
"Anyway, we got what you wanted. Now make good with your end of the deal." Chime said in a blunt and harsh tone.
"Patience, ladies, I first need to inspect your cargo to determine its worth." The collector said in a calm tone as he approached the cart and had a look at what the White Knights had brought to him.
Suffice to say, his eyes and face lit up the middle he gazed upon the animatronic bear, looking like a child who had seen their favourite toy.
"Oh my god, holy shit! An actual Freddy Fazbear! A real one!" The collector said excitedly as he examined the animatronic bear. "Oh and it's from the Glamrock line, this is perfect! These were the last iteration of animatronics that Fazbear Entertainment employed before the company's collapse in 2029. You're looking at one of the last Fazbear animatronics in the world, all the other Glamrocks and their copies went out of print soon after the Pizzaplex closed down."
However, upon looking back up the two girls, he could tell from their facial expressions that they didn't seem all that interested in the history that surrounded Fazbear Entertainment.
"Anyway, it's perfect. It's got some wear and tear of course, but what animatronic wouldn't be, being stuck in that place for 80 years." The collector said, reigning in his fanboyish demeanour. "I mean, some parts of this are peculiar, like the Glamrock Freddy models were usually given blue eyes, but this one has yellow ones like Roxanne Wolf. And the hands look like Montgomery Gator's…weird. And this bowtie should be black not purple. Did someone use the other Glamrock animatronics' parts to repair this one I wonder? Strange."
"Look, we found a bear and a rabbit animatronic like you asked, so excuse me if we couldn't find a pitch perfect model." Chime said with an annoyed tone.
"No, no, no, it's fine! This is still worth every cent." The collector said before then moving onto the burnt rabbit animatronic, which he examined with curiosity yet confusion.
"Is something the matter?" Crown asked.
"No, it's just…." The collector said, genuinely looking confused. "...I've never seen an animatronic like this one before…"
"What the hell do you mean? Are you telling me we got the wrong animatronic?!" Chime exclaimed angrily.
"When you said in your previous message that you had found a rabbit themed animatronic, I was expecting a Bonnie variant. But this is something else…" The collector said as he examined the rabbit animatronic more carefully. "Well it's been scorched and burnt, yet the circuitry and articulations are intact. This was definitely built from an old Bonnie model, that's for sure, but the endoskeleton…it's made from multiple models, old and new. Were they trying to make a custom animatronic or just repair a pre-existing one with older parts? Like there are components from the Glamrock line, but then there's stuff in it from older lines."
"And…the creepy decaying skull and flesh part…?" Crown asked.
"I'll admit that it's out of place for something that was found in the Pizzaplex, but Fazbear Entertainment did also create horror attractions based on urban legends about the company's origins, so maybe this was a Springtrap model, which was first used in Fazbear Frights attractions and based on an old Bonnie animatronic that the company found in an older location."
"So long story short, they're what you're looking for?" Chime asked impatiently.
"Yes. I would say so." The collector answered with a nod, standing up. "Anyway, I won't keep you waiting any longer."
"Then let us discuss our payment." Crown said, to which the Collector went back over his cart to fish something out of it.
"As promised, the dining sets of a king, specifically one from Wilhelm I, the king of Prussia from 1797 to 1888, and then we have one from George III, King of Great Britain from 1738 to 1820. These were not cheap to get, but my father insisted on obtaining them. Since his passing, the sets had fallen to me, and I have no use for them anymore." The collector explained as he lifted out two boxes filled and secured with the dining sets.
"These look wonderful!" Crown said happily.
"Also, here are the surveillance cameras you requested. These right here are top of the line. High-video quality, works in all types of weather, and is super easy to install and set up." He said as he opened the last box that was full of a dozen security cameras.
"This way, we'll be able to see if any pests or thieves try to take our treasure hoard." Chime said with a mischievous grin before looking at the collector. "Our business is done, human, let's hope that we don't meet again. Let's go, Crown."
"Rude…" The collector said before both Crown and Chime began to walk away with their newly acquired items.
Collector's Residence, The Ark, 218X
It wasn't easy for the collector to get the two animatronics inside of the Ark. Hauling two heavy bits of machinery around in a cart was already awkward enough, but trying to get them through customs and not having them classified as contraband took a little convincing. The collector had finally made it home and carefully unloaded the Glamrock Freddy and heavily burnt Springtrap animatronics and placed them against the wall near his PC setup and what appeared to be more Fazbear memorabilia.
"Finally, I have actual Fazbear animatronics, not some cutouts or photos or toys, but the genuine artifacts themselves." The collector said, smiling with pride at his new possessions. "Most people in the Ark don't remember you, but I remember, I remember the stories my parents told me, even those nonsensical urban legends about the co-founder murdering children and coming back to life as some undead animatronic monster."
The collector let out a content sigh as he then took another look at both the animatronics, this time opening up their torso hatch and checking on the internal wiring and circuitry.
"These battery packs are incredible, and they still look in relatively good condition." The collector said, before an idea formed in his mind. "...I wonder what would happen if I activated them. I'd need to re-fuel their batteries and hack into their CPUs. I just hope the software is compatible with the Ark's."
The collector then got to work as he started off by hooking the battery cells of the Glamrock Freddy and Springtrap animatronics to electric cables with alligator clips and slowly siphoning electricity into them. He knew that using his house's electricity for this purpose was probably not legal, but he had come too far to stop now, for he wanted to revive these animatronics in hope of seeing them in action.
"Alright, that should give them both a stable voltage without blowing up their batteries." The collector said as he logged onto his computer. "Now comes the hard part of reactivating 80-year-old software."
The collector then checked the back of the animatronics' heads and opened up a hatch, which fortunately had various USB ports on both of them. He took out his own USB cables and plugged them into the back of the animatronics' heads before he attempted to search for any compatible software in their CPUs.
"Alright, the computer at least acknowledges that there is a storage space in their CPUs, so that's a good start. But is any of the software still available or did it erode alongside the outer casing and hardware?" The collector questioned as he kept searching the animatronics' CPUs as electricity was provided to their battery packs.
The collector checked out Glamrock Freddy's CPU, and found to his delight that the A.I. program within the CPU was intact.
"YES! The A.I. is still there, just needs to recharge the battery and reactivate the CPU's primary matrix." The collector said before he then started to search Springtrap's CPU.
Glamrock Freddy's CPU was relatively clean and looked fairly stable, but upon looking at Springtrap's CPU, it was quite the surprise and shock to the collector in regards to its state.
"Yikes, look at all of this malware and digital decay." He said, still looking at the CPU in disbelief. "How the hell did the CPU get so damaged? Was it the burns on the endoskeleton? If that's the case, then why is there still a CPU left? It should have been wiped out from the fire."
The collector then searched further inside Springtrap's CPU and what he found made him nearly drop his keyboard in sheer disbelief.
"Is that….an A.I.?" The collector said, unable to fully fathom what he was looking at. "How does it have an intact A.I. despite most of the CPU's storage space being infected? Just what in god's name were they thinking at Fazbear Entertainment? Is it an anti-viral software perhaps…?"
The collector was unsure of what to do. Both animatronics' A.I.s were somehow still there, meaning that the possibility of reactivating them was quite high. But the Springtrap animatronic had malware all around its storage space, and he was concerned as to what 80-year-old malware could do to his computer.
"But then again, if the A.I. is still intact then the malware can't affect it." The collector reasoned. "Not to mention the anti-virus software we have now is leagues better than before, so the malware shouldn't be an issue. Hopefully."
The collector then began the process of reactivating the primary matrix within the two animatronics' CPUs. He breached the firewalls that prevented someone from forcing activation and soon triggered the sequence, then began to wait and see if enough power mixed with the A.I.'s activation would bring them back to life. But after just a couple of minutes of trying to get the animatronics to activate, his computer abruptly shut down.
"Aw, what?!" The collector groaned as he then walked towards the tower and tried pressing the power button to see if it'll turn back on. "I just got this fixed last week…"
The collector then tried everything he could to try and get his computer to turn back on, but it seemed as though the computer had simply 'died' on him. Upon trying to turn it on again, the computer screen flashed a distorted purple colour for a brief second but then nothing happened. However, something or rather someone had woken up.
"Come on!" The collector said in frustration. "Turn on you stupid th-"
The collector then nearly jumped out of his skin when a distorted sort of animalistic sound was heard from behind him. He turned around, only to see both the Glamrock Freddy and Springtrap still there in their stationary position. The collector could have sworn he heard something coming from one of the animatronics. He shortly calmed himself down by taking in a couple of slow breaths before going back to work, trying to figure out how to get his computer back on.
As the collector was busy with his current problem, there was a twitch in the clawed hands of the Springtrap animatronic. There was now a flicker of purple light coming from the eye sockets of the burnt animatronic as the neck began to twitch and one of the arms slowly reached out for the collector.
"Finally, the damn thing is back on!" The collector said as he watched the screen light up. "I really need to upgrade-"
The collector was immediately pulled back by the Springtrap animatronic's metallic hand, his back flat on the ground to see the burnt animatronic looking down on him, now with purple eyes that glowed with a demonic visage. The collector started to scream but the now animate Springtrap then placed its other hand around the collector's neck while lifting him off the ground, slowly applying more force in its grasp to choke the life out of him. As the collector's face turned purple from oxygen deprivation, the burnt animatronic glared at the man as heavy and weak breathing could be heard coming from its mouth. The Springtrap animatronic then let out a ghastly and choke worthy screech as it clenched down on the man's neck with enough force to cause an audible crack, causing them to go limp.
The burnt animatronic dropped the collector's now lifeless body as the mechanical abomination started to look at its own hands as it continued to breathe in a disturbing and guttural manner. It focused its attention on the computer that was still left on, staring at the screen before the animatronic slowly began to move towards the computer desk. Springtrap nearly tripped on its own leg before continuing to approach the desk, then quickly grabbed on the edge of it with one of its hands to pull its body forward.
The Springtrap animatronic leaned its head towards the computer screen, now looking at the different applications and programs on it. The burnt animatronic then began to violently cough as it nearly lost its footing once more, but the abomination pulled itself up again and stared at the computer screen once more as it reeled its free arm back. With a loud screech, the Springtrap animatronic slammed its hand onto the computer and within a few seconds, purple sparks were emitted into the machine, causing purple pixels and code to start flooding the computer screen.
After the computer screen was completely covered in purple and black, the purple light in the Springtrap animatronic's eyes disappeared, and the entire body rolled over onto the floor, now lifeless and still.
Silence had now filled the house of the recently departed collector as the computer turned off, and Glamrock Freddy was nowhere to be seen.
2 Months Later…
The Outpost, 218X
It was a typical day for Commander Gareth Isageum in the Nikke populated Outpost. He woke up, he had a shower (That is unless Anis and Neon overused the hot water again), had his breakfast and started his day. The Commander's mind however was clouded with sorrow, for he and his squadmates had to part ways with a friend of theirs to protect her from the government that they had sworn to serve.
"Marian…" He said to himself solemnly. "...we'll meet again one day, I promise…"
He then heard a light knock coming from the other side of the door, followed up with the voice of Rapi.
"Commander?"
"You may enter." He said before Rapi entered the room.
"How are you feeling this morning?" Rapi asked.
"More or less the same as usual, but thanks for asking, Rapi." The Commander said an assured smile. "What about you? How are you holding up?"
"I will manage, Commander." Rapi replied, her tone somewhat sullen but proper. "We have a slight problem."
"A slight problem?" The Commander asked curiously.
"It's the Carronades, Commander." Rapi explained. "Belorta and Mica have been hesitant to continue work at the Toy Store."
"How come? Are they not feeling well?" Commander Isageum asked with a brow raised.
"Some of the other girls in the Outpost have been saying how the Carronades are claiming that something is inside the Toy Store." Rapi explained.
"Inside of the Toy Store? And they're sure it's not an animal?" The Commander asked as he and Rapi left the room to go meet up with the others.
"Apparently not, Anis and Neon can fill you in with the rest of the details." Rapi replied as they headed outside of the Command Center.
Outside of the building, the Commander and Rapi's fellow squadmates Anis and Neon were waiting for the two of them.
"Hey there, Commander!" Anis said with a chipper tone.
"Master, good morning!" Neon said with an equally cheerful tone.
"Morning, girls." The Commander said with a smile. "Now, what's this about something being inside the Toy Store?"
"Apparently, there's a robot inside of the Toy Store." Anis replied bluntly. "But I don't buy it, why would some random robot be inside a Toy Store?"
"Well, the Toy Store sells robots, doesn't it?" Neon questioned, much to Anis' annoyance at her airheadedness.
"Not actual robots, you dolt. Toy robots." Anis answered. "Maybe Belorta and Mica just saw some big toy robot and freaked out."
"I doubt that if what they saw was a toy that they'd freak out about it." The Commander said while crossing his arms. "Maybe Mica possibly, but usually they're not easy to scare."
"They've asked some of the other Nikkes in the Outpost for help, but whenever they go and look inside, they don't see any signs of a robot in the store." Neon explained further. "So either it's just their imagination….or maybe this robot is a spy like me!"
"Yeah…I highly doubt that." Anis said.
"Then I guess we should get to the bottom of this." The Commander said before looking at Rapi. "We'll head to the Toy Store, and if anything goes south we'll contact the police station and have Poli and the others on the scene."
"Understood, Commander." Rapi said with a nod. "Let us be off."
Commander Isageum nodded before he and his squad, the Counters, headed off into the Outpost and towards the Toy Store run by Tetra Line's heavy artillery squad, the Carronades. As the four of them walked through the streets of the Outpost, Gareth's thoughts went back to Marian, whose departure was still fresh in his mind. Rapi, Anis and Neon could see it in the Commander's face, the sorrow and guilt he had for not being able to fight harder for Marian to stay.
"Hey, look at me." Anis said in a calm tone, causing the Commander to then look at the blonde Nikke. "This isn't over, we will see her again one day…then Counters can finally be whole once more."
"I agree." Rapi said with a nod.
"So do I." Neon also chimed in, in which the Commander gave them an assuring smile.
"Thank you, girls." Gareth said, grateful for his squadmates' support.
Soon, the Counters had made it to the street block where the Carronades' Toy Store was in which both Belorta and Mica were outside the store. With them were members of the reconnaissance squad, the Scouts, consisting of the older and soldier-like Delta and the younger and technical Signal.
"Looks like they asked the Scouts this time…" Anis noted.
"I just hope they didn't drag them here while they were in the middle of working." Rapi said.
As the Counters approached the Toy Store, Belorta and Mica spotted them. Suffice to say, they looked relieved to see the Commander.
"Old-Timer! You're here!" Belorta exclaimed with a cheerful expression.
"Thank goodness you've arrived, Old-Timer." Mica said, trying her best to compose herself.
"Hey there Belorta, Mica." The Commander said politely. "Everything alright?"
"I-It's far from alright, Old-Timer! There's a robot inside of the Toy Store!" Mica answered, nervous fear running down her face.
"You sure it was a robot and not some giant toy?" Anis asked skeptically.
"Yes! We have never had this thing in our store…ever!" Belorta replied.
"Is it in there right now?" The Commander asked.
"Mhmmm." Mica hummed in response with an anxious nod. "I was restocking the shelves in the back of the store, when I heard something coming from the storage room. It sounded heavy and clunky, so when I decided to take a look…I saw eyes, big yellow eyes. I ran over to Belorta as fast as I could after that."
"Yellow eyes? That's all you saw?" Anis asked.
"When Mica told me what happened, I went over to the storage room myself to see if she was just pranking me." Belorta explained. "But as I was about to turn the lights on, I saw the same yellow eyes that Mica did, only I could make out a sort of body shape or silhouette."
"Could you make out any details amongst the darkness?" Rapi asked the young Nikke.
"It was tall, really tall, and I think I also saw some claws, really sharp like hooks on each fingertip." Belorta described, causing Mica to flinch at the mention of their intruder's appearance.
"What kind of robot has claws on their hands?" Anis questioned. "None of the robots that we've seen from the Ark have them, unless they're based on an animal."
"Could be one of Missilis' runaways again?" Neon asked.
"Not likely, Volt Jr was just a robot dog, what these two are describing sounds larger and less friendly." The Commander replied before looking at the Scouts. "And I'm guessing they ask the two of you to check it out?"
"Affirmative." Delta responded with a soldier-like tone. "Though we arrived here almost around the same time as you and Counters."
"While you were all talking, I started to pick up a strange signal." Signal explained as she took off her radio pack and started to examine it. "The frequency is within the 19 hertz range, which is incredibly low for something that's meant to be a robot if that is what the Carronades saw."
"Then what the hell are we dealing with exactly?" Anis questioned, confused and frustrated by the back and forth discussions.
"Let's go find out." The Commander replied before looking at Rapi. "Rapi, you and Delta will come inside with me to confront this so-called robot."
"Roger." Both Rapi and Delta said with militant unison.
"Anis, Neon, you two stay outside with Signal, Belorta and Mica. If anything that isn't us tries to get outside, stop them."
"You got it, Commander." Anis said with a thumbs up.
"If anything tries to step out of that Toy Store, I'll hit 'em with a good dose of Firepower!" Neon said excitedly as she cocked her shotgun back.
"...Just don't overdo it." Gareth said awkwardly before composing himself. "Alright, let's head inside."
With that, Rapi and Delta went inside the Toy Store in front of Commander Isageum, who stepped inside soon after. The two Nikkes drew their firearms in case there was a hostile encounter while the Commander stayed close to them, prepared to hide or run if the situation went south but also drew his pistol just in case.
As they got closer and closer to the storage room's door, there was the sound of heavy metallic movements and objects hitting the floor, causing the Commander to flinch slightly. They soon made it to the doorway, in which Rapi and Delta stopped before looking at Gareth.
"Remember, if anything drastic happens, go outside and get Poli and the A.C.P.U. over here as soon as you can." Rapi instructed the Commander, who nodded in agreement. "Delta, are you ready?"
"I'm ready." Delta responded with a nod.
Rapi then grabbed the door handle and pulled the door open, then wasted no time as she and Delta dove into the storage room while the Commander followed their lead, but remained cautious. The moment they set foot in the storage room, a pair of yellow glowing eyes pierced through the darkness of the room, causing Rapi and Delta to immediately raise their firearms and point them at the source of the yellow eyes.
"FREEZE!" Delta shouted with an authoritative tone.
"Do move, hands in the air right now!" Rapi ordered.
"...S…S…..S…Stop…." A faint electronic voice echoed from what appeared to be coming from the source of the yellow eyes, surprising the three of them.
"It spoke…?" Delta questioned.
"Identify yourself." Rapi said as she kept her gun trained on the yellow eyes.
The Commander, sensing that the entity in question was in some sort of pain, reached for the light switch near the wall and flicked it on. Once the room lit up, the three of them could finally see the intruder: A heavily worn out and damaged mechanical bear with faded orange, blue and beige painting on its body.
"It's a bear..." The Commander said in disbelief. "...A robot bear…"
"I repeat: Identify yourself." Rapi ordered once more, running low on patience.
"WARNING: BATTERY POWER AT 1%." A clearer and more coherent mechanical voice said from the robot bear as it reached out one of its hands towards Rapi and Delta.
As both the military Nikkes were about to pull the trigger, the mechanical bear suddenly collapsed onto the ground and the yellow lights in its eyes faded away as the worn out robot laid there motionless. A brief moment of silence appeared within the room before they heard footsteps begin to frantically approach them.
"What happened?!" Anis exclaimed as she burst through the doorway with Neon, Belorta and Mica.
"We barged in when we heard a loud crashing sound from outside." Neon said before she and the other girls then spotted the mechanical bear on the storage room floor.
"You see? We told you that there was a robot inside the Toy Store!" Belorta said, glad that her and Mica's suspicions were proven true.
"Is…is that a bear?" Mica asked as she hesitantly moved closer to the mechanical creature. "Is it…dead?"
"No, it appears to be out of power, based on what that voice coming out of it said." The Commander replied as he approached the robot bear and examined it.
"Why was a robot bear hiding inside the Toy Store?" Anis questioned. "And for that matter, why is it so banged up? The poor thing looks like it went through a warzone."
"A fair question." Delta said in agreement.
"Commander, what should we do with it?" Rapi asked, as the Commander looked at the robot bear's head, noticing the small top hat and earring.
"If we send this robot to the Ark, they'll probably just scrap it." Gareth answered. "We'll take it to Mighty Tools, let Liter and Centi see what they make of it."
"But we don't know where this mecha bear came from." Anis argued.
"All the more reason to see if Mighty Tools can identify it." Neon argued back.
"Wait, am I dreaming or did Neon actually have a good idea for once?" Anis asked in disbelief.
"Very funny." Neon said in a sarcastic tone. "So, who's carrying the decaying robot bear?"
To Be Continued…
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NIKKE Side:
So the story takes place around the time of Chapter 15 of the Goddess of Victory: NIKKE's Campaign mode, which for Nikke fans means it's around the time after the Commander and Counters sent Marian/Modernia off to be with the Pilgrims. This is both because neither of us have completed the Campaign or gotten up to the latest chapter, so we are working with material that we are currently familiar with. We might add in stuff from later chapters of the Campaign, but there's no guarantee.
We decided to have the Weissritter or White Knights find the animatronics due to them being established as treasure hunters. Now because we have not completed the Campaign, we might be taking some creative liberties with how they act or speak, such as Crown using her lance as a drill.
In regards to the dates, while many official sources of artwork have played with the numbers '208X' or '20XX', we have decided to use '218X' due to the established lore that says the present day of NIKKE is set a hundred years or so after the First Invasion.
The Commander also has a name in this continuity as in the game proper they are named by the player. Here his name is Gareth Isageum, with Gareth being Welsh for 'gentle' and Isageum being Korean for 'ruler/emperor'. I chose these names because they reflect both the Commander's rank and his kind nature.
I initially was going to give him a full Korean name due to NIKKE being a Korean game but I decided to make the Commander biracial due to the likelihood of multiple ethnicities co-existing in the Ark. Therefore, this version of the Commander is of British and Korean descent.
We are also not going to try and use most of the innuendos and romantic beats from the game, both because we don't want to make a smutty story despite NIKKE's base level reputation and because we wanted to experiment with how FNAF could be applied to this setting.
FNAF Side:
As for the side of FNAF, we are using multiple sources and theories for inspiration of what happened in this continuity. We are treating this fanfic like a Limited Event from NIKKE, more precisely similar to the Chainsaw Man and Nier: AUTOMATA event except while they deal with characters from another universe being brought into the NIKKE universe, this fic treats the events of FNAF as canon to the universe it's set in.
Specifically, this story takes place around 100 or so years after FNAF: Security Breach which took place in the year 2029 in our fic like some theories believed. Here, 2030 is when the First Invasion started, a year after Fazbear Entertainment went bankrupt and the Pizzaplex is in ruins. Speaking of ruins, the Ruin DLC is not canon in this continuity, though I will say that Cassie did exist here but didn't go through the events of the DLC.
In regards to what happened differently or the same as opposed to what canon and popular theories would suggest, more will be revealed over time, but most of what was established happened, and we will try and contextualize the more confusing aspects of the lore to better fit the narrative. Cough cough Elizabeth Afton cough cough.
Also, both Glitchtrap and Burntrap are not connected to the Mimic like it's heavily implied in canon. In fact, the Mimic doesn't exist here and while we contemplated using them, I believe they would overshadow the villain we are setting up which I'm sure plenty of you FNAF fans can figure out who, considering it was Burntrap and Glamrock Freddy that the collector found.
In regards to Glamrock Freddy, his role will be explained more later but know that he activated around the same time as Burntrap and fled the scene while the collector was being killed. He's been hiding for months, only now found in the Outpost with his battery being very low, so when they finally found him, he was on 1% and tapped out.
As for if any other animatronics from FNAF will appear, only time will tell. You won't have to wait long, but we do want to try and finish Chapter 23 of MVA: Symbiote's Justice at some point.
Anyway, that's all for now! Hope you enjoyed the chapter!
UltimateDemonBeast65 and Som3bodE signing off!
