Chapter Text
It's hard to recount exactly what happened. Getting bit by a possibly rabid bubble, glitching out, and waking up to a new world entirely. No circus, no trapped humans, and most worriedly no program to make funky adventures. Just endless, boring, almost professional lines of code. Caine realizes his mistake when he first arrived, and what led to the situation he was in now. When he had gotten relocated to a different code entirely he panicked. He ripped lines of 0’s and 1’s from whatever structure they lay on, accidentally transferring himself between servers, and went ballistic. His circus is gone, He cant get back to his lovely (though enraging) humans, and he is entirely useless! He is an entertainment code trapped in a technical code, apparently. Look, he doesn't know!
Rechecking the message that popped up on the screen he was gazing out of, he winced. The Pop-up regularly reminded him of the consequences of his actions. His freakout shut down the security systems of the giant plex he was trapped in. That’s right, he’s trapped in a plex! And he damaged the systems! Now the whole building is on lockdown- and you know what!? That's not even the worst part! After he messed up the security code, he panicked and inserted himself into a random line of code. Next thing he knows, he’s trapped in this weird rockstar alligator machine. For the past week in this random Plex on lock down, with new code, inserted into a machine alligator, Caine felt what it was like to be miserable.
Weirdly enough, even though the Giant mall-esque pizza place was shut down from the public (He’s going to worry about that later), Caine apparently was still able to roam around. On the third day he managed to get used to the controls of the metal alligator and sneak out of the destroyed greenroom he was in. He wandered through halls, stared at other supposedly minor bots that were mopping and patrolling the building. He tried talking to most of them, but he hadn't quite figured out the voice box mechanic. They all just stared at him blankly as he gestured animatedly. Some flinched and backed away, others stared into his eyes like they weren't looking at the alligator– no– they were looking at him.
The interior of the place was stunning to him, almost dreamlike. He had never seen the outside world before. Just barely. This place is nothing like it. No dusty computers or depressing desks, the technology seemed almost futuristic. Everything lights up with dazzling neon lights and fun patterns. Though he couldn't feel, he could see his reptile reflection basically staring right back at him through the marble floor. Everything was larger, everything was brighter, it was all so new. As a newbie to the outside world he went up to every interesting thing that caught his eye, almost knocking over some bins in the process. He was starting to think this was a different world entirely. That not only had the code changed, but the outside world had too. The real world..
Caine snaps out of his digital mind, the red eyes of the gator focusing back to its reflection. Right now he was trying to force his way into the voice box of this body. While roaming around yesterday, he heard voices. A light feminine voice, and a raspy feminine voice. The both seemed real, like human voices but there was something off. Like a wall of static hid behind them. He hid around a corner to the best of his abilities and peeked—A screech came out from the voice box and Caine immediately backtracked. Ok so maybe doing that won’t work..
It was two other anthropomorphic machines, standing close and chatting. One was a wolf and the other one looked like a chicken. Their conversation consisted of confusion, skepticism, and reasoning. Maybe they were like himself? Either way, if they could talk then so could he. Regrettably, Caine had backed away. Something strange went over him at the time, like coldness hitting the bottom of his code or multiple spikes tickling unpleasantly at his gut. Either way he walked away, scared. No no no– he wasn't scared! Just.. intimidated? No intimidated isn't the right word. My Jolly Sweet, They could've had answers! Or helped him! But he backed away.
A low whine shone from the voice box, then a staticky click. Feedback buzzed lightly out of the box and Caine slowly inputted a line of code. He impatiently waited for output, a digital sigh leaving him after a few second–
“Marbles Marbles Marbles!” Exited the voice box. The voice was nothing like Caine’s. Rough, calloused, and dirty. It was a male voice just like his own, but instead of sounding family friendly it sounded like the narrator to an intense motorcycle ad. Either way, he flourished in the victory. Finally! Now he can talk, communicate with the weird creatures of this world, he could………
What is he kidding, this was too scary! He’s supposed to control the inside of a machine peacefully, no interactions with the outside world! What does he do now? He doesn't even know where he is! All of this is so new! He doesn't even–
Knock Knock Knock!
Caine stills. He looks at the metal door at the other side of the green room.
“Monty? Hey hun, You haven’t come out in a few days now..” The same light feminine voice from yesterday rings out from behind the door. A few mechanical clicks come from the outside world and Caine looks down at the small metal panel next to the door. He holds his voice, hearing the clicks. Worry etches into the back of his mind. “Your panel won't let me in.. Are you trapped in there? Have you been trapped in there!? Oh my faz, why didn’t you ping us!? I'll go get help!”
The chicken animatronic (He could only guess) soon left, yelling about getting help. Ping? He could do that? What relationship does this chicken have with the gator? What's a faz? One thing that she said stuck out to him however. Monty.
From the posters lining the plex, apparently he was inside of the body of a mascot. Montgomery. However, this machine seemed to know Montgomery by Monty. God Zooks what a weird name! Honestly, Montgomery lines up with more of his fashion. Or maybe Montgatory? And if he had a say in his appearance, First he would try going back to himself, he would make himself gummy and squishy! Like that one NPC Pomni got a liking too…
Pomni…
Caine’s thoughts stop. He feels as if his wires are on fire, what he could only describe as Anger, panic, worry, bargaining, agony.. He just is. He feels everything negative roll though him like a flash wave. Like an assignment on his back that he’ll never complete..
Like adventures he needs to make that he just can’t. Humans who need him to supervise them. Like a circus and monkeys he’s responsible for upkeeping. He needs to go back..
Home. Yeah. He needs to go back home.
“GATOR! HEY! You in there!?” An aggressive female voice snaps him out of his thoughts.
A moment too long passes and she yells from behind the door again. He panics, quickly typing out a line out code to input.
“Yes, dear friend! I am within this weird room!” The voice box squawks out.
“... Why the fuck do you sound like that?”
“PROFANITY! Watch your langua- I mean, uhm.. I'm.. not.. Well- feeling well?”
Silence meets from the other side of his door. He heard soft murmurs of ‘broken’, ‘weird’, and ‘lunatic.’ which must be nothing to worry about! He slowly moves closer to the door to hear the conversation behind it. The chicken's voice rings out again.
“Ok, uhm.. I know you don't like mechanics, but we really cannot get in. The plex opens tomorrow, so we need you outta there for performances. So uhm, the new mechanic is gonna come here, get you out.. And maybe give you a once over as well. From what we know, their name is Zone. Please be kind.”
A moment of silence stretches and Caine realizes he has to respond.
“Uh- right! Argh! I hate mechanical people! But I guess.. All the better to rock the lock right off the hook huh!? Yeah!!” He was doing this correctly.
“Yeah.. Monty… Uhm.. Are you feeling alright?”
“Better than the sun shines!”
“Maybe Moon actually went through with his threats and fucked up Monty.” He heard, murmured by the wolf lady from behind the door. He yelps, they’re onto him already!
“NOTHINGS WRONG! I'm- I'm feeling fine!”
“Do you think we should wait for the daytime mechanic? She’s a veteran.”
“Maybe..”
Oh no.. Oh god he needs to get out of this gator immediately. Before he could panic, 2 sets of footsteps approached the green-room’s door. Oh golly- my bazonga- he’s going to get glooped!
“Here is Monty’s door, I am sorry for the inconvenience. You did have to repair a lot of the systems already..” A gentle male voice soothes the tenseness of Caine's nonexistent shoulders. He spoke thoroughly and softly, almost like a fresh mug of oil. Maybe these machines can reason?
“No! It's fine, truly Mr.Faz- uh- Freddy. I'm honored to help you all!” A meeker, awkward male voice follows afterward. They let out a small sigh and newer, louder clicks meet Caine's ears.
Oh no oh no oh no oh no oh no oh no oh no oh no oh no—---
The door flies open and Caine- well, Monty, flinches back. The sight that meets his eyes makes him want to melt to the ground and disintegrate. Three animatronics circle around his door, each vibrant colors and very cartoonish looking. Designs he might see in his own circus. He could only guess the deep, gentle voice belonged to the worried bear machine. The bubbly feminine voice to the concerned Chicken, and the demanding feminine voice to the scowling wolf. Looking down he faces who he guesses is the owner of the pathetic sounding voice.. Which is a very pathetic looking…. man?
No, that's not a man. Caine’s seen humans before, and who he’s looking at is definitely not a human. Or he might be? Caine can’t guess with the nearly pale skin, short dark gray modern mullet, and almost skin and bones body type. He has a hunch that what he’s looking at isn’t human, however, by the large wide almost cartoon-like eyes, no nose, and wide mouth.
“Uhm.. I’m Zer- Zone. I'm Zone. I'm gonna hafta.. Repair some of your room and uh, give you a check up.. If.. that's.. Ok?” Caine didn't realize he was staring. Didn't recognize the other machines were staring at his gator-self skeptically too. He quickly types up input.
“Yes, New friend, My consent is given!” He rests his silicon hands upon his hips, unknowingly the spiky tail behind him wavered.
“Yeah, no, Moon definitely nerfed up his programming oh my god.” The wolf woman barks out a laugh, however a twitch of irritation showed on her ears and she angrily stomped away. Caine felt guilty. It seemed the program Caine had pushed aside was dear to the other machines.
“Rox! Roxanne, don’t do anything rash-” The chicken hurried after the wolf, Roxanne. Roxanne called out something to the dark rafters of the Plex, but Caine could not hear. The mechanic, Zone, looked worriedly at Roxanne, then at Caine- or, Monty.
“...Uhm, well. I really hope I don't have another Animatronic mess on my hands, huh? Hehe?” Zone placed his hands on his hips, looking at “Mr. Fazbear” and Caine for approval. With a pitiful smile from Mr. Fazbear and a blank stare from the gator left him deflating. Caine was reminded by a past Circus member almost like Zone.. He doesn’t quite remember their name, Cough-something. Oh well, it must not be important! “Alright.. Mr. Monty, let's get you down to parts and service.”
Oh boy.