Gregory was not having a good night.
Gregory's day had started out well enough, he had managed to successfully sneak into the Pizzaplex, swipe some still-warm abandoned pizza from various tables, and would have seen the big show if Freddy hadn't glitched out. Gregory isn't even sure why that lady guard had tried to grab him, because she hadn't scolded him about not paying for anything. She hadn't really said anything to him at all, but Gregory had gotten a bad feeling about her and had bolted the moment she reached for him.
Gregory hadn't paid attention to where he had run to, just that he needed to get away and out of sight. He ended up coming across the still shut-down Freddy and managed to hide in the animatronic's chest compartment. It was a little cramped, but it worked as the guard hadn't found him and no one realized he was there as they moved the animatronic.
Gregory wasn't sure how long he had stayed hidden before Freddy woke up, but he was relieved to be out for a little bit. It wasn't until after he was given the Fazwatch that he noticed the small white bear animatronic standing on Freddy's vanity table, looking at Gregory with a worried expression.
"Who's that?" Gregory asked pointing at the little bear.
"Oh, that's Helpy!" Freddy introduced himself happily once he saw who Gregory was indicating. "He's Chief Engineer Pines' personal animatronic assistant. Chief Pines must have left him here to monitor my recovery from my recent malfunction. I'm sure he'd be willing to assist in helping you leave the Pizzaplex."
Even as Helpy nodded, Gregory wasn't sure it was a good idea to have an animatronic that worked directly under a high-ranking staff member accompany him. But Gregory didn't have a whole lot of options and he was grateful that the little bear was able to join him through the trip in the vents. Helpy ended up living up to his name as he was really good at warning Gregory about approaching staff bots and knew when it was safe to move on.
Unfortunately, even with the help of the two bear animatronics, Gregory wasn't able to escape the Pizzaplex before the doors locked down, leaving him trapped inside. With no other choice, Gregory began looking for a way back into the main area of the Pizzaplex. He eventually got a daycare pass, though he wasn't very excited about it. Helpy wasn't thrilled about it either, but Freddy insisted it was perfect. Having no other options at the moment, Gregory used the pass and entered the daycare area.
The entrance area was larger than he was expecting, with a large decorative fountain and two towering statues of what he guessed were the animatronics in this area. They looked a little creepy in Gregory's opinion and this was only reinforced when he found himself face to face with it (seriously who thought this thing was perfect to look after little children!?). He struggled in the sun thing's grip and the animatronic wouldn't let him escape even after putting him down. Luckily the robot got distracted when Gregory accidentally knocked over a tower of blocks, giving him a chance to dash to the security desk. He ignored the sun animatronic franticly trying to convince him to leave and went for the security badge.
Gregory had not been prepared for the Daycare to be plunged into darkness the moment he took the badge.
"NO! NO! WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT! LIGHT ON, LIGHTS ON!" The robot screeched, clutching his head as if he were in pain. "I WARNED YOU, I WARNED YOU! Ah KACK UUGH AHHHHHHHHH!"
The robot dropped down out of sight, leaving Gregory feeling terrified as the animatronic slowly crawled onto the desk, having transformed into a different design.
"Naughty boy...naughty boy..." The now moon animatronic hissed, its eyes glowing magenta as it glared down at Gregory. "It's past your bedtime, you MUST be punished..."
The animatronic leaped into the air and as far as Gregory could tell, completely vanished. He grabbed the flashlight he had seen charging and frantically used the light to look around as his heart pounded in fear.
"Gregory, I do not know what you did, but the lights are out in the Daycare!" Freddy's voice came through his Fazwatch, making the boy jump a little. "You need to find the emergency backup generators and turn them on. They are in the play structures."
It didn't seem like the safest thing to do, but it probably wasn't any more dangerous than just standing out in the open. Gregory sprinted towards the nearest play structure, flashlight bouncing wildly in his grip. Once he got to the base of the structure, Helpy pointed out some wires on the ground and Gregory got the hint to follow them. They twisted through the bottom part of the play structure and he found one of the generators and turned it on. While Gregory could see a few lights turn on, as a result, doing so alerted the animatronic of his current location.
"Naughty children must be found…" the moon robot said as it crawled around where Gregory was hiding. Gregory desperately looked for a way out, but this section of the play area was a dead end and he could already see the glow of the robot's eyes getting closer. Gregory hugged Helpy close and squeezed his eyes shut as he braced for his impending doom.
"NO, YOU DON'T!"
The unexpected shout made Gregory immediately snap his eyes open. Under his flashlight beam, he saw something long and metal wrap around the moon animatronic and yank it out of the play structure. Gregory couldn't help but get closer to the edge to try and see what had just rescued him. He saw another pair of glowing eyes, this one a more violet color before the moon robot leaped at the unknown figure and they both tumbled farther into the darkness.
"Hey kid, are you okay?" Came a voice from Gregory's side, making him yelp and flinch back.
Swinging his light around, Gregory found some random guy crouching down near the edge of the play structure.
"Be careful where you point that," the guy grumbled as he shielded his eyes from the flashlight beam. "Come on, I can help get you safety while Mike keeps Moondrop distracted."
"Why should I trust you?" Gregory couldn't help but accuse, suspicion thick in his voice as he curled further back. "You just showed up out of nowhere! Why are you even here? Who are you!?"
"My name is Mason Pines," Mason introduced, giving Gregory a kind smile. "Why I'm here is a little too complicated to get into right now, but I swear all I want to do is get you safe. I'm not asking you to trust me completely, but let me at least get you out of this room."
"Freddy says I need to turn on the backup generators," Gregory blurted out as an excuse, watching Mason's reaction carefully. "The doors won't open until they're on."
"That complicates things," Mason mumbled, looking over at where Gregory could hear Moondrop and Mike(?) fighting. "Okay… I'll help you turn them on then. Where are they exactly?"
"I don't know," Gregory confessed. "They're somewhere in the play structures, but you can follow the wires to them."
"I see them…" Mason said, looking around the room. "It looks like most of them are in this play structure and only one in the other one. You keep looking for the ones in here while I get the other one. Once I turn it on, I'll come to help you in here."
"Fine…" Gregory reluctantly agreed. He didn't trust these random adults, but if they were going to help him survive, he didn't mind using them until he could safely get back to Freddy. With the temporary alliance struck and a basic plan in place, they both took off to look for the rest of the generators.
The moment he found Moondrop, Mike hadn't wasted any time using his wires to drag it away from the kid. He had tossed the animatronic to the side and glanced toward the kid to make sure the boy was alright. They locked eyes briefly and Mike was relieved to see that the kid seemed unscathed, that they had made it in time.
Moondrop was quicker than Mike had been expecting and the animatronic managed to tackle Mike and sent them both tumbling away. They wrestled back and forth for a while, both trying to pin the other down before Mike managed to maneuver his feet up to Moondrop's chest and used his powerful animatronic legs to launch the daycare attendant away from him. Mike immediately rolled onto his feet, stance light and wide in preparation for whatever came next as Moondrop also recovered.
"Naughty boy…" Moondrop growled, crawling like a spider higher on the nearby play structure to get a better position against Mike. "Naughty boys must be punished…"
"And you need a controlled shock," Mike countered, letting his hand transform into taser mode. Mike used his wires to grab onto a higher part of the play structure and flung himself into the air. Mike attempted to land on Moondrop, arm extended to give it a shock, but the animatronic was very agile and scurried out of the way, letting the electricity expend itself harmlessly on the plastic tubbing instead.
Moondrop immediately attacked, leaping at Mike, but Mike reacted quickly, using one of his wires to snag a beam near the ceiling and pull him up out of the way. Moondrop summoned his own cable and took into the air after Mike. The two flew through the air, swinging on their various wires. It was a deadly dance as they both tried to get to the other without leaving themselves open to attack. Unfortunately, Moondrop was far more familiar with the area than Mike and the cyborg eventually missed a beam to wrap his wire around as he swung. He managed to quickly grasp onto another beam, but the stumble gave Moondrop the opening he needed. Moondrop rammed into Mike, sending them both plummeting from the air. Mike got the wind knocked out of him as his back slammed into the ground with Moondrop pinning him down.
"You look familiar…" Moondrop murmured, bringing his face uncomfortably close to Mike's as the animatronic examined him with glowing eyes.
"I should hope so," Mike wheezed, slowly getting his breath back."I am the Chief Engineer of this place after all and have helped repair you before."
"It's more than that…" Moondrop continued, the glow in his eyes getting more intense. "You're connected to the secrets here…"
"And that's not your concern," Mike replied, using his wires to yank the animatronic's arms off himself. Mike immediately lashed out with his animatronic hand, slamming it into Moondrop's chest. Moondrop shrieked as electricity flooded its body, scrambling its systems and temporarily stunning it.
"Activate emergency shutdown!" Mike immediately commanded, holding down the stunned animatronic just to be safe. "Mike Pines, authorization code: DA007-MD."
"NNNOOoooo…" Moondrop's voice trailed off as the robot was powered off. Mike sighed in relief and let his body relax, grateful that his command codes still worked (for now at least). A moment later the lights turned back on, making Mike blink rapidly as he adjusted to the sudden brightness.
"Mike! Are you okay?" Dipper called, leaning out one of the openings near the top of the play structure. "That looked like a pretty bad fall."
"I'm fine just a little bruised," Mike assured, giving Dipper a wave. "I've managed to shut down the animatronic and can start trying to clear its systems soon. Do you have the kid?"
"Yeah, he's right… kid?" Dipper had begun, turning to the side only to see the kid was gone."Kid? Kid! Where are you?!"
Mike immediately jumped to his feet as Dipper began searching through the play structure. The sound of the daycare's doors opening immediately drew the brother's attention and they looked just in time for the kid to run out, still holding Helpy in his arms.
"Oh come on!" Mike said in frustration, beginning to sprint after the kid only to be stopped by Dipper.
"You should stay and fix the animatronic as this might be the only chance we'll have to do it," Dipper quickly explained. "I'll get the kid and bring him back. He won't have gotten far."
"Just be careful," Mike sighed, seeing the logic in Dipper's argument. "Opposition is bound to be increased after all this. And you better message me immediately if you get into trouble."
"I'll be fine!" Dipper assured, heading towards the doors. "I'll be back with the kid before you know it!"
"If only it'd be that easy," Mike grumbled as he went back to the daycare attendant, opening up the back panel and connecting his tablet. Mike could already tell the kid was going to be trouble, but there was nothing he could do at the moment. He just had to trust that Dipper would be able to find him quickly and convince him that they weren't the threats in this situation.
In the meantime, Mike would make sure there was one less threat to the kid. Mike pushed his worries aside and focused entirely on the task at hand.