I watched Freddy leave on another summon in a wave of light and I turned my head to see my siblings playing one of their games with the shiftlings and I smiled. It had been a fairly slow day, with not that much to see and thus I was simply monitoring things in ethereal mode. I felt someone poke my shoulder and I turned to see Shade giving me a grim look.

"We have a problem."

I silently nodded and followed him to the edge of Freddy's territory, and there I saw him. His form was mangled and reconstructed to a height of approximately nine feet, placing him a good two feet over us animatronics and three feet over the 'toy's. I could easily see that his endoskeleton was reconstructed,making it bulkier, more durable... More weaponized. At his left side lay a black glaive and at his right a lightsaber handle. His body seemed to be filled with an unknown growth, all of which bore a luminescent gold/green glow. Along with that bits of metal and wiring jaggedly stuck out of him in the patches where his costuming was damaged. He held a blank expression but I could see that his endoskeleton had been modified to give his jaws additional plating and two rows of jagged 'teeth' though they looked more like blades. He slowly took a single step and placed himself into the border, and slowly started walking towards the city. I waved Shade and we both rocketed off and I went into action.

"Everyone! Emergency, high level threat inbound! Get all of the shiftlings underground into the hives and seal yourselves in with them, set up a defense!"

They all moved quickly seeming to understand the severity of things. If Springtrap was making a move then I wanted them safe and out of the way.

"Shade, make sure they're all down there and then seal the thing from outside as well. We can't be too careful here."

He nodded and phased through the ground and out of sight. I turned to face Springtrap, now standing at the edge of the city. He spoke in a low voice.

"So brother... Shall we dance?"

I picked up the katana I had crafted out of endoskeleton metal and placed myself into a combat stance.

"Yes. Let's."

We both rocketed forward, him activating his saber and drawing his septima glaive in a single move and moving in a whirlwind of strikes. I moved and did my best to parry them before pushing him away in a pulse of magic. He brought his glaive to bear and a spiral of green lightning shot off it towards me, passing by and striking the ground. Where it landed a whirlwind of the same lightning erupted and began to expand. Springtrap floated into it and began charging energy onto the glaive.

"Psyclone!"

Whips of energy lashed out from it at all angles towards me. These I either dodged or blocked with my blade, but still shuddered from the energy conducted along it. I arced my sword upward and sent a wave of shadow to disturb the base of his attack and lunged forward, going into the spiral and clashing my katana against the edge of his glaive.

So that was it. He had given it a blade of endoskeleton metal so it could cut through us other animatronics...

He parried and we split, both of us going out of the whirlwind as it collapsed into nothing. We both lunged for ward, and I found myself struggling as he finally made use of his lightsaber, using it to intercept blocks and parries from me while using his glaive to strike. Finally I moved forward, breaking through his defenses and holding my blade less than an inch from his face, primed to tear through him.

"It's over. Give up brother, and maybe there will be mercy..."

He let out a low laugh, which quickly rose into a manic crescendo.

"Hehhe....hehehhahahahhAHHAHHAHAHAHAA!"

He narrowed his eyes on my with a toothy grin.

"You say that like it's a fight I would fight fairly!"

A cold dread washed over me. Throughout the entire fight I had made one mistake.

I hadn't been monitoring the battlefield. I felt a hand on my shoulder pull me back and a blade tore through my chest from behind. Below me, the image of Springtrap dissolved and the real version of him stood behind me, holding the glaive which now pierced me. Before I could turn on him with my katana he grinned, his own chest seeming to shudder and his shoulder bend as a third arm tore out of him, finding its place below his preexisting right arm and constructing its own shoulder onto his endoskeleton. I looked on with disbelief as he warped his endoskeleton thus, and swiftly sank his new claw into my forearm, preventing me from returning his attacks. He leaned in towards me, whispering.

"And the best part of all this is, while I'm having fun scrappin you, the same'll be happening to the rest of our 'siblings'..."

I glared at him. What had he done...?

"I don't like this."

I said this with a blunt tone, expressing my distaste for the situation. Currently we were all standing (some sitting) around in the main atrium for the underground hives, the point where all of the entrance tunnels met before leading into the hive proper.

"None of us do Bonnie, but SB said to help defend the shiftlings from... Whatever it was."

I glared at Toychi and crossed my arms. "Yeah, well still! At least some of us should be up there with him to deal with it! Not down here hiding away..."

Shade sighed at looked up at me. "Yeah, I'll admit that. But this... You guys can't handle it. You're too susceptible."

I turned to Shade with a raised brow. "Susceptible to what?"

He froze up. "U-uh nothing! I-I just meant uh..." He seemed to ponder something for a second and sighed again.

"Oh fuck it. I'm not keeping the secret anymore. Guys, gather 'round. I got stuff to tell you."

Toychi, Chica, Foxy, Bonbon, and I all gathered up around Shade as he began to speak.

"Alright, you guys know the story of how we were made, right? All of us constructed from a synthesized metal made to imitate the Boss' own endoskeleton and exoskeleton, and made animate with fragments of the boss' mind and soul mixed into basic personality components that would grow into full minds of our own, with the end results being us as we are today."

We all hesitatingly nodded.

"Well there was something involved with it that was...Omitted. There was one animatronic the boss made, one unlike the rest of us... One whose soul and mental components were functioning as one from the get-go and was sealed away and left to burn itself into nothing... Springtrap."

I glanced at the others and back to Shade. "Why... Why was he sealed away?"

"Because unlike us Bonnie, he was made with more of the Boss than any of us. See, the aspects of the Boss that his mind were made of... They were his worst parts. And unlike the rest of us, he didn't get copies of the Boss' bits... He got the whole things."

I raised an eyebrow. What exactly was Shade getting at?

"Well what exactly do you mean by his 'worst parts'?"

"Sprintrap was made not as a kid to care for and work alongside, but as a prison. Something the boss could use as a wastebasket to dump all his worst qualities into. The madness that drove him to destroy all who opposed his will... The hatred that drove him to raze all in his path... The parts of his mind which Discord warped to his whims and the power which guided that... Springtrap was left with not even enough power to fully think, let alone move. It was believed that he would imply run dry of power and then degrade from existence. But somehow... Somehow he has survived and now has enough power to pose threat to all of us."

Bonbon spoke up slowly. "So why exactly is he such a big threat to us?"

"Because of his making. If he were to get close enough to the Boss then their minds would attract, and Springtrap's madness would conform around him and consume him... They would be as mad as they once were, but with nothing to hold them back..."

I spoke in a quiet voice. "If he's able to do that to the boss then if we fought him..."

Shade nodded. "Then there's a great chance that rather than conforming around your minds as he would the mind of Golden, he would simply consume all that you are and use us as fuel for his destruction... SB is the best bet we have to fight him. His mind is made of logical function among other things. Of all of us, he has the greatest chance of being able to fend off Springtrap while we watch over the shiftlings."

I lowered my gaze. We really couldn't do anything other than wait for the news of SB either dying or winning...

"Bugger that shit!"

I blinked and looked up as Foxy leaped to his feet. Shade spoke slowly. "Foxy what are you-"

"I ain't gonna sit hear while first mate SB get himself torn to ribbons! We be family, and when our brother is put at risk then we be the ones to fight alongside him!"

He drew his cutlass and held it aloft.

"NOW WHOSE WITH ME!?"

We all cracked grins and cheered, standing up and getting ourselves ready.

"Daww ain't that sweet."

We all froze at the distorted voice echoed down from the top of the stairwell leading down to us. I turned my head slowly to face the speaker. He stood at a height of eight feet, standing equal to me with a malicious expression in his eyes. A skeletal figure, his body black endometal shaped to a smoothed shape. His face was a mask, made in the appearance of a mime of some sort. His whole body just as well was blackened and burned, as if he had been set ablaze and walked away unscathed. He continued speaking down to us, slowly moving down the steps.

"Why if this ain't just my lucky day... All my targets in one place like a present for me. But I digress, my name..."

He took an overdramatic bow and behind him the silhouettes of five more beings appeared, all with the same burning eyes.

"Is Marionette. These are my siblings Wither Chica, Wither Balloon Boy, Mangle, Wither Foxy and Wither Freddy. We're Springtrap's Phantoms, and we're here to scrap you outdated junk heaps!"

I narrowed my eyes into a glare, twirling the hilt to my lightsaber as I drew it from my chest.

"Then that'll be a problem. 'Cause we're not going to go down without a fight!"

He kept the same static smile on his mask as he waved his followers forward, and I glanced at my brothers and sisters and nodded. We all seemed to even out, the Balloon Boy riding the mess of parts that was Mangle being challenged by Bonbon and Toychi, Shade fought his Withered reflection as did Foxy, and I brought my yellow lightsaber to bear against the Marionette's claws as he pirouetted towards me. The skills I had gotten from Folteren finally made use of themselves as I faced my foe in a dance of death, both of us matching each other blow for blow as we whirled up and down the steps, neither gaining ground. My only idea as to where these 'Phantoms' had come from was that this Springtrap jerk had gotten busy and made them, as they said, to stop us from interfering with him... Well we couldn't have that shit, now could we? I grinned as I turned tail and bolted, the Marionette giving chase. I looked down and locked eyes with Foxy as he wrestled with his reflection. He nodded and went back to his wrestling. I looked back in time to see the Marionette pouncing, and I immediately ducked, bringing up my lightsaber to bounce his aim upward, flipping him over me and driving his claws into Wither Foxy's back as Foxy surged forward and shoved him off. I grinned as the two Phantoms struggled, Marionette's claws wedged into WFoxy's ribcage as the latter of the two screeched and attempted to run away to no avail. I looked up at Foxy as he grinned back.

"These Phantoms kinda suck at fighting, huh?"

"Yar, they be as we were, newly built in immortal bodies but lacking the time we've had to grow into their own beings..."

An idea popped up in my head.

"Hey... They're like us! What if we try and get them to join up with us like the boss did with the changelings?"

Foxy considered this for a moment and grinned.

"Now ye be thinkin' like a champ Bonnie!"

We looked back to where Marionette and Wither Foxy flailed around on the floor, completely unable to free themselves. As menacing as they had sounded a moment ago, they actually seemed... Kinda sad. Foxy and I walked up and pulled them apart. Marionette whirled with a claw to strike, only to have Foxy's hook lock his hands together. WFoxy growled and pounced at me and I whacked him with my lightsaber in the manner of a newspaper upside the back of his head. As I thought, my saber bounced harmlessly off of his endoskeleton skull, but still delivered the point. He whimpered and started to growl again. I snapped my own claw and pointed to the ground.

"Sit!"

He growled and I wanged him upside the head again, eliciting a whimper after which he sat down on the ground. I looked over at Foxy, who was giving a deadpan look towards Marionette as he swore a storm as he feebly attempted to get loose from Foxy's hook.

"Oi puppet guy!"

He turned to look at me with a glare.

"Shaddup!"

I turned to WFoxy, who seemed utterly confused with what was going on. I patted his head, further confusing him.

"Yo Foxy, your counterpart's got the brain of a dog!"

"No, he just be a pup!"

I rolled my eyes, reaching into my chest to draw out one of the bone chunks I had kept from the dragon that attacked Shade. I held it out, and WFoxy's eyes locked on it as I waved it around.

"You want the bone boy?"

He nodded his head vigorously. I whirled around and threw it, watching WFoxy charge after it. He brought it back in his jaws and sat in front of me, his metal tail wagging behind him. I heard a sound of metal grinding and electrical crackling and suddenly watched WFoxy curl up and screech in pain. I turned my head to see a now-free Marionette holding a claw towards him, it seeming to buzz with power.

"Dogs should only obey the ones in charge of them. I am the Marionette, the puppeteer that guides these, my puppets... And I will end you!"

WFoxy snarled and lunged for me, and I moved to catch his jaws on my right claw. The two ground against each other as I turned to Marionette. So he controlled them, rather than allowing them to think on their own... Good to know. I threw grabbed WFoxy's underarm with my free paw and swung him through the air, crashing his feet into Marionette's face. Foxy took the opportunity to hook his claws again, this time bashing him into a wall with enough force to shatter his mask and render him unconscious. I let go of WFoxy and whomped him with my lightsaber again, holding out the bone, which he stared at for a moment. I waved it in front of him for a moment and threw it.

"Fetch!"

His eyes seemed to flicker and he stood unmoving, seeming to struggle with his decision. After a  moment of shaking he rocketed towards the bone, snatching it in his jaws and rushing back to me with a wagging tail. I took it and waved it in front of him before throwing it onto Marionette's unconscious claws. WFoxy lunged, and as predicted his teeth cleaved through his wrists. Marionette roared awake, and the same electricity that had been pulsing along his claws spewed from his arms unrestricted, seeming to overload the signal to the puppet Phantoms. WFoxy howled with pain and dropped to the ground, and his eyes flickered before flashing a single time before going dark. I looked up to see that the same thing had happened to all the others.

"Jeez. Not only puppets but puppets with the minds of infants..."

Bonbon ran up to me, and I saw that his plastic endoskeleton was covered in cracks and damages, and one of his eyes had gone dark from his fighting the Mangle.

"Bro w-what happened? They all dropped off!"

I grinned. "What'd you expect? They're a bunch of week-old animatronics that've not been given the chance to be their own. All it took was getting the jerk in charge out of commission and they got konked out from the strain of it. Now focus up everyone! We gotta help SB, so here's what we're gonna do: Shade, you lead Toychi, Chica, and Foxy in dealing with the Phantoms. There's a chance that we can fix them to be on our side later, so just make sure they're under control and bound up and all that. The Marionette especially, he's the one who was controlling the rest. Now, Bonbon, you come with me to fight this Springtrap jag! Ya know why?"

He raised an eyebrow. "...Why?"

"Because..."

I flicked his ear and then my own. "Because we're rabbits. And so are SB and Springtrap, and that makes this...."

"Oh lord don't say it you ass..."

"WABBIT SEASON!"

"DAMMIT BONNIE!"

I cackled as he ran after me and we went up the steps, me preparing my lightsaber and him preparing magic to use. My laughter dried up as I finally got a look at the surface, and the state of it. Scorch marks were scattered across the ground, and the buildings around the point we exited from were covered in damages of multiple sorts. I glanced at Bonbon, who now held a worried expression, and we slowly began to move forward to search for SB...

Springtrap grinned maliciously. His Phantoms would be keeping his 'siblings' busy while he dealt with the only threat other than Freddy, having fun along the way. Of course, the only one of his Phantoms to have an actual mind developed was the Marionette, and even he had only been given a week. Without a doubt the Phantoms would be scrapped, they were barely functioning scrapheaps of animetal, but they'd just as well be able to distract his siblings until he was done. SB lay on the ground before him, feebly attempting to stand. That katana of his had gotten a few good hits in, but not enough to stop Springtrap. He walked forward, bringing up his glaive for the final blow, a downward strike to cleave his head from his shoulders and thus end him. This is why he was caught of guard when two somethings rammed into him from behind, one wrapping around his face and neck and the other striking the back of his legs. The thing on the back of his head yelled in a voice which instantly ground against his nerves.

"WOOP WOOP MOTHERFUCKER GET THE HELL RIGHT OFF MY BROTHER!"

Springtrap lashed out with two arms, grabbing him and throwing him away and turned to face the two interlopers. He recognized them at the first glance as his halfbrothers Bonnie and Toy Bonnie. Bonnie pointed the thumb of his claw towards himself with a grin.

"Sup Spronktrap! My name's Energizer and this is my otherbrother Bugs, cause' I just keep goin and goin' and he uses anvils and hammers I think!"

Behind Bonnie Bonbon facepalmed, and Springtrap deadpanned. These were his siblings? He twirled his glaive and lightsaber and in his third arm reached down to pick up Shadow Bonnie's katana. This wouldn't take long.

Bonnie lunged forward, going on the offensive and using his claw and saber to duel against all three of Springtrap's weapons, barely keeping him at odds. Bonbon threw bolts of magic into the mix, helping to throw Springtrap off focus. This went on for a while, the duo thinking they had him on the ropes until he finally engaged in actual effort. In a single move Springtrap lunged forward, his glaive cleaving off Bonnie's claw at the wrist as he screamed in pain, and then driving SB's katana through the shoulder of his other arm, instantly disabling it. Bonbon threw a wave of magic to try and distract him, only to be blasted back by a wave of green septimal lightning. Springtrap took the chance and surged, plunging his glaive directly into Bonbon's chest, throwing him off of the blade and slamming him into a wall, the smaller animatronic buckling and collapsing to the ground. He stood over Bonbon with his weapons prepared to tear him apart, only to feel a wave of pain as SB's katana rammed through his chest from behind. He turned his head to face Bonnie as he stood behind him, katana held in mouth as his only way to wield it.

"You... You're using your mouth instead of your ruined arms to try and fight? Admirable I suppose, to take such stupid risks for your brother but..."

Springtrap whirled around, his glave leaving a gash into Bonnie's chest and sending him to the ground.

"Utterly pointless. I mean really, you all expected anything other than failure against me? HA! That's hilarious! But still, what exactly did you expect to happen? That you'd win by the 'power of brotherhood' or some shit? Pathetic. What else could you've-"

He was cut off as a cannon ball detonated into his jaw, sending him flying back. Bonnie traced his eyes along to see where it had come from, and was greeted by the sight of Foxy holding up a shoulder-mounted miniature cannon. He pulled Bonnie to his feet and reached down his ribcage, grabbing a copy of Freddy's token. He spoke in a low voice, barely above a growl.

"Call the bossman  Bonnie. I'm gonna show that scallywagging SOB that he be messin' with the wrong Fox's crew..."

He surge for Springtrap, screeching all the while. His glaive and saber bounced against Foxy's cutlass and flintlock as Foxy went after him, finally lunging and clamping his jaws onto Springtrap's head but only succeeding in ripping an ear apart before being blasted away. It was enough however, giving enough time for Bonnie to use the token as he faded into unconsciousness.

"Yo boss get your ass down here!"

The token seemed to buzz and flicker, but otherwise had no reaction. Bonnie looked up to where Foxy dueled Springtrap, the former of which was slowly faltering against the barrage of strikes and attacks thrown at him. At the peak of their battle Springtrap lunged for a killing blow, only for his glaive to be caught in a golden aura. He slowly turned his head to see the form of a familiar golden bear standing over Bonnie, an angered expression on his face.

"Kid, you're in for a goddamn WORLD of hurt..." Next Chapter: Chapter Thirty: IT'S ME Estimated time remaining: 36 Minutes