Wings of Fire: Security Breach

This is set in an Au split off of the Cosmic Stars AU, in an AU where Golden’Night (Mora’s OC) and Starscatter (my sona) get together :)
File:WoF- SB cover.jpg|Wings of Fire: Security Breach Cover
== Prologue ==
Teddy’s heart felt like it was about to pound right out of his chest. He cowered beneath the desk in the security office, praying for his life. Please, don’t let them find me. Please—
He clamped his snout shut as hard, metallic footsteps thumped into the room. Teddy squeezed his eyes shut and cowered even farther back, holding his breath and tucking his tail close to his chest. It was hard not to cry, but he'd be found if he started bawling like he wanted to. Even still, crystal-like tears slipped out from his eyes silently.
”You mom and dad want to see you,” A male robotic voice said calmly. “They want you to come out! Don’t worry, you’re safe with me.”
I doubt that, Teddy thought, seeing the four metal legs of his living nightmare on the other side of the desk. Please don’t look under the desk, please don't look—
He was too scared to scream as the “dragon” lowered its head and peered under the desk. It smiled reassuringly as it saw Teddy. The lifeless eyes in its head flashed for a moment, and it slowly and deliberately moved its paw to get Teddy out from under the desk. ”There you are! Your parents will be relived that I found you.” Teddy debated running, but his legs wouldn't move. He was frozen to the spot, staring into those cold, dead eyes of the mechanical monstrosity as it gently dragged him out and picked him up. 
"Don't be scared," the beast reassured. All hope of survival in Teddy hit rock bottom as the robotic dragon’s tone grew sadistic. The thing smiled, revealing rows of jagged teeth that could cleave through metal, or through a dragonet. His scales felt like they were thin as paper, itching all over.
"P-Please don’t hurt m-m-me,” Teddy whimpered, finally allowing himself to cry. 
”Don't cry. There's no reason to worry,” it replied, tucking Teddy closer to it's cold metal chest. For a split second, he could see how these robots were comforting. It felt like he was being cuddled by his bigwings, which just made his heart shatter into pieces knowing he'd never see them again. He was being carried through a long dark hallway before turning into a small room. 
The light blinded Teddy at first, but his eyes adjusted as he was set down on what looked like some kind of medical bed in a mix of a surgical room and storage compartment. “This won’t hurt a bit.” The robotic dragon said as it looked over at the unpowered shell of a robot that looked very close to what it looked like. What was it that flickered in those unblinking eyes? Teddy couldn't guess.
Another—another Freddy? Teddy wondered. “What are you g-g-going to d-do to me?” He peeped, his voice shrinking down to nothing. The bulky robot turned to look at Teddy, before lunging faster than he could react. The MudWing dragonet screamed in terror as the robot pinned him down and withdrew a long, sharp knife out of seemingly nowhere. "NO! PLEASE!" he begged, feeling choked and crying as hard as he could. 
”This won’t hurt a bit.”
~~~~~~~~~~~
Ugh . . . Ow . . . Teddy slowly opened his eyes and looked around. He felt . . . Bigger. Stronger. “What—“ 
Teddy stopped as he heard his voice. I—I’m . . . He looked down at his talons to see the robotic talons of the unpowered robot. The same one he'd seen just before he'd been pounced on. He reached up slowly, and felt cords and wires connecting to the outside metal. He gasped as pain blasted through his skull and his memories felt like they were being ripped away from him. No . . . NO! He shouted, scared at the mechanical grating sound that came out. 
A SkyWing opened the door of the charging station he was in and smiled. “The new animatronic is ready!” She called sweetly. Teddy lifted his talons, balling them into fists and pounding at the glass window, trying to break free. His life was slipping from him...who was he? Was he a MudWing, born with a family, or was he always like this-a robot? Memories conflicted as his old ones were swallowed up by false memories. The SkyWing outside jumped, quickly picking up a remote and pressing a big red button.
Teddy’s eyes rolled back for a moment, then everything was simply . . . Gone. He smiled softly, looking down at the SkyWing. Had he really been pounding on the door just now? Why? His life was quite perfect, after all. He was built to entertain!
”Go on, rockstar,” the SkyWing encouraged. “Show them what you’re made of!”
Eagerly, he nodded, stepping forwards. The dragonet from before was gone. All that was left was the animatronic. Teddy. 
==Part One: Security==
===Chapter 1===
Shatter hid under his mother’s wing, his eyes squinted with worry as per usual. Shatter was a very, very worried dragon. The tribrid was almost always fussing over something, from homework to . . . Well, anything else. He looked up at his mother with his blue eyes.
She laughed. The dark green and navy AbyssWing wrapped him in her wing. “Oh, don’t worry,” She said calmly as they climbed the stairs towards the Pizzaplex. “I did all the background checking myself. It’ll only be one night!” He kissed him on the forehead and pushed open the door as the sun started setting. “Your father and I just need a night to ourselves.”
Shatter’s SandWing scales down his back were a dark blue, almost black, and he had a frizzy, starry mix of a SandWing sail and AbyssWing fin going down his back. Stars were scattered about his body, being able to glow silvery blue in the dark. The undersides of his green-blue wings were dotted with stars, and his paws were tan with darker tan speckles.
“Am I staying for the whole night?” Shatter asked after they weaved through the line and got him a daycare wristband. 
Starscatter smiled and nuzzled him. “Yes, but I’ll pick you up as soon as this place opens tomorrow morning.” She led him over to the Daycare reassuringly. 
“Promise?” Shatter peeped.
Starscatter nodded. “Promise. Make friends, all right?”
Shatter gave a rare smile. “Alright. I will.” He gave her one last hug, then took a deep breath and slid down the slide into the daycare. He looked around, wading out of the ball pit and sitting down on the edge. His glowing SandWing barb flicked behind him as he saw a few other dragonets playing with each other. 
“Hello!” A dragonet chirped from behind him, making him jump. The dragonet was a MudWing with a big grin on her face. “Who are you?”
Shatter smiled softly. “Shatter. Who are you?”
The MudWing bounced around him, giggling. “That’s a cool name! I’m Pumpkin.” She cocked her head. “Who’s your favorite?”
Shatter blinked. “My favorite what?”
”Have you never been to the pizzaplex before?” Pumpkin asked. She pointed up at a balcony with a sun pattern around it. “The mascots! The animatronics, of course! My favorite is Kitta. I can’t wait to see her!”
Shatter stood up. “No, I’ve never been here. Can you introduce me?” He followed her around the ball pit, looking around at the playscapes as they walked along. Pumpkin’s orange scales were mottled with dark brown, and her eyes were green.
”Sure!” Pumpkin chirped. “Come on, I think she’s in the rest room.” She weaved between other dragonets, and came to a moon-and-stars patterned room.
A catlike dragon animatronic was wiping down surfaces. She was the shape and size of a young adult dragon, though didn't seem to be made to look like any tribe. She had large cat-like ears that, despite being beneath her horns, nearly covered them up. Thin, metallic whiskers with a zigzag pattern near the end were protruding from near the end of her snout. Small, almost perfectly triangular spines ran from her head to the end of her tail. She had large wings with a starry pattern on the underside, just like Shatter did. On her back left talon, there were sharp claws extended that made Shatter nervous. She had a thin tail with more joints than he'd realized an animatronic could have, and had blue bands with a single yellow stripe that had three bells on them. A similar bell band was at the end of her tail, and around her neck. She also had bells at the base of her ears. and a huge one at the very end of her tail. Patterns of stars were scattered all across her body, save for her underbelly, talons, and face, which only had two stars under her eyes. 
Her main casing was white, and the star patterns were yellow, with a soft, cozy glow to them. Her spines were a vibrant, almost electric blue, and her underbelly was a much softer shade of blue. She had a yellow left eye and a blue right eye. Those claws that he saw were yellow, a bright neon color. Her wings were white on the backside of the membrane, and the underside was a mix of blue and yellow with glowing white stars.
At Pumpkin's voice, the animatronic turned and smiled, showing a row of razor sharp teeth with two particularly long fangs. “Pumpkin!” She exclaimed, extending her robotic wings as if she was giving a long-range hug. “I see you brought along a friend, right?”
Pumpkin nodded vigorously. “Yeah! His name is—“
Shatter stepped up. “My name is Shatter. N-nice to meet you?” He couldn’t help but feel a little uneasy talking to a robot. 
“Ah. Well, nice to have a new face around here," her smile shifted to hide those sharp teeth, and she leaned her head down. Shatter could see just how much detail went into making these robots realistic, thanks to some of the lessons his father had taught him. "Sundrop should be out of maintenance any minute now,” Kitta said calmly. She placed the wipes under the counter and finished putting a few things away from the day.
”Why is he in maintenance?” Shatter asked, trying to hide the worry in his voice. Kitta's jaw opened like she would answer, but then it shut again.
Pumpkin grinned and shrugged. “No idea! He’s probably fiiiiine.”
Yeah, Shatter’s brain whispered. Or he could have a violent glitch of some kind. He shook off his nervousness and followed Pumpkin away after saying bye to Kitta. “What other animatronics are there?”
Pumpkin recited in reply; “Teddy, Foxy, Wolfy, Alligator, Sun, Moon, Kitta, Fellily, and a few others I think. But honestly, Kitta is the best! Why know the others when we have her!" 
”That’s a lot,” Shatter mumbled. And she's so fond of that one. She did seem nice, but I still don't like this. “Have any of them . . . Y’know, hurt anybody?”
”That’s ridiculous! They wouldn’t hurt a fly.” Pumpkin answered. “Stop being so nervous all the time!” She giggled, batting at him playfully. "Come on, it's getting kinda late. Naptime's soon, race you to the sleeping bags!" With that, she ran, and Shatter hastily picked up his pace to keep up.
~~~
Shatter walked close to Pumpkin as they and eight other dragonets filed into the sleeping area. Sun smiled, a little creepily if you asked Shatter, and waved at them.
”Righty-O! I’ll see you tomorrow, kids! Be good and sleep tight!” The SandWing-esc dragon was wearing a mask that covered most of his face and buckled in the back. He was bright yellow and white, and the mask had a smiling sun on it. Kitta was back, counting dragonets, making sure everyone was inside. Then she closed the gate to the daycare behind them and secured it. 
"I hope you all sleep wonderfully," she said softly, looking at the dragonets. As she spoke, Sundrop disappeared around a corner, then came back a moment later. He now resembled a NightWing, and without his mask he had glowing red eyes and white, blue, and black starry patters around his body. He sat vigil behind the gate, watching all of them. 
Sundrop used to be a bright yellow color, with white eyes and electric yellow splotches all about him. His demeanor was very loose and relaxed, and he had two large, long arms protruding from his sides that he used to play catch or clean up. He was obsessed with orderliness, and if someone knocked something over it was clear he tried to not snap at them. A few of his joints and mechanics were painted white and slowly faded in a gradient to mix with the yellow. The tops and bottoms of his wings were a darker mustard yellow with streaks of white.
Sundrop had changed to Moondrop, and looked completely different color-wise. His eyes had glowing red pupils that shone eerily in the darkness, and his navy blue and black pattern blended in with the shadows. The white on his joints remained, lessening the feeling of dread one got when looking at him. He also donned a nightcap on his head, witch was void-black with shiny stars on it.
Kitta sat down and watched them as Shatter tucked under a blanket, seemingly looking at the dragonets with...emotion in her eyes. From his best guess, it looked like worry or guilt. Not comforting. Pumpkin was a few dragonets over, and waved at Shatter before closing her eyes. She was closest to Moon and Kitta. For a few minutes, nothing happened as the dragonets fell asleep, but Shatter was restless. Dread was creeping in every scale, and he decided to watch the animatronics.
Moondrop was looking at all of them, his beady eyes like searchlights as he muttered incoherently. Small mechanical parts inside of him clicked and hummed, providing a constant background sound whenever he was near. Kitta, in contrast, had moved towards another sleepless dragonet and had tented her wing over them, humming what sounded like a lullaby. Her head slowly looked up at Shatter and she blinked. He guessed she'd be coming to him next.
Before she did though, Moon’s head and arms started twitching in an abnormal way. He snapped towards Kitta, and his red eyes shined dangerously. Kitta met his gaze and she seemed to tense up a lot. She folded her wing back and moved over to Moondrop.
“Moondrop, what are you doing?” Kitta hissed quietly in an all-too dragon voice. “We're supposed to keep them safe. Those aren’t orders from headquarters—“
Moon giggled sadistically and clicked open the gate. “Follow your orders, Kitta.” Shatter bit back a scream and ducked completely under the blanket so that he'd be hidden. After a moment, he lifted part of it up so he could barely see Kitta and Moondrop. “You know what will happen to you if you deny your orders.” 
"But, there's still one up," she hissed, flaring her wing towards Shatter. Despite his effort, she knew he was awake, and his heart thudded loudly. "At least wait until they're alseep, for moon's sake, Moondrop!" 
"Naughty, naughty," Moondrop muttered. "Bad dragonets must be punished." The way his voice edged on maniac as he said that was enough to scare Shatter and make Kitta silent. There was no more protest. Kitta seemed to be stunned and bowed her head. Moon suddenly grabbed Kitta by the wing and threw her, making Shatter gasp and hide again. Kitta thudded against the ground outside the gate, the only sign of her being there a faint whirring. She didn't even yelp. Moon turned to the closest dragonet—Pumpkin—as Shatter hid. His heart was pounding, and he felt unbearably stuck in his own scales. What's happening? 
The screaming of dragonets made him look again. Moon had backed Pumpkin into a wall and was preventing her escape. The others were running around, screaming. Some of them hid in the huge playstructure, others tried to helplessly fly to the top of the room. Pumpkin looked over at Shatter, her eyes panicked and wide with fear. “M-M-Moon?” Pumpkin whimpered. “W-we’re friends!” She let out a bloodcurdling scream as Moondrop grabbed her, and sharp black talons extended from his paws.
“NO!” Shatter shrieked, shooting upright as Moon sliced open Pumpkin’s neck, then snapped it and tossed the limp body aside. Pumpkin was dead. As Moondrop moved away, Shatter lunged forwards, stopping just before he would have gotten his talons bloody. "NO!" he cried, "PUMPKIN!" Why are they doing this?! I'm sure they were programmed to help, not hurt! What's-Why-How- 
Moon giggled, breaking Shatter from his thoughts as he realized how close the animatronic was to him. "Naughty dragonets . . . one down, nine to g—“ Moon was interrupted by a fierce roar from above. Shatter looked up and saw the shadow of Kitta, and Moondrop looked up just in time to be smashed into the ground as Kitta leapt the gate and landed on top of him, snarling. 
Before Moondrop could get up, Kitta flung open the gate and waved over the dragonets. “Go! Go! Go!” She shouted. “Hurry!” As Shatter exited, being the last one, she slammed the gate closed and fanned her wings out over the dragonets. “There’s a gl-glitch in the system,” Kitta said, her wings twitching the slightest bit. “Something is coming for you all. Y-you n-n-need to find Chica. Find Chica and Teddy, if they’re not glitched a-already, they w-w-will help you.”
Whispers and murmurs shot around the dragonets, concerned, ranging from 'What's wrong with Moony?' to 'What is she saying?' and even 'I want my mommy'. Shatter felt panic seize his heart, but his mind was set on a different course. "But . . .” he whispered. “But What about Pumpkin?” Tears fell from his eyes as he realized the danger of the situation, his only brand-new friend gone.
”She’s gone, I'm sorry," Kitta said, hastily. "All of y-y-y-you must r-r-r-run. The g-g-glitch is inf-infecting my system. I can't f-fight it for-forever,” Kitta’s eyes flashed red for a moment, and she flinched backwards, restraining. Her other paws sprouted sharp claws, which she quickly forced to sheathe again. “HURRY!”
Shatter was frozen to the ground. As all the other dragonets sped away in a clump, he waited. He stood there. He couldn’t move. Shatter looked around for something, anything—and that’s when he saw the plate on the back of Moon’s head. His brain started to work, the knowledge of mechanics coming to him, and he suddenly took off towards the incapacitated Moon, who did not show any signs of getting back up yet. Kitta may have seemed light when Moon threw her, but evidently she was still plenty heavy. 
Kitta roared from behind Shatter, her eyes flicking red a final time and staying red. She turned and Shatter watched as razor sharp claws sprang from her paws. She had gone from a cuddly cat to a fierce hunter, just like that, he was the prey. Still, as she started loping towards Shatter, it seemed full of restraint and hesitation. Every motion seemed so much slower than he knew it could be. Which means I need to work fast while she's still fighting it, he thought. 
Shatter jumped onto Moon’s back and pulled open the panel on the back of his head, prompting the robot to make a glitched, strangled sound and move a little. Come on, Golden’Night taught me all about robotics. I just need to find—THERE! He snatched an unpowered device from inside Moondrop’s head. It was square and had a green button in the center of it, and a port for a wire to plug in. It was a memory drive, and while he didn't know why it was unplugged, taking it and giving it to Kitta could force her system to reboot, curing any kind of glitch. Now or never. 
“Hey Kitta!” He yelled, not knowing where any of his bravery was coming from. Kitta snarled, crouching down before leaping towards him, wings extended fully and her weight coming at him full-speed. Shatter yelped, not expecting it, and rolled to the side as she slammed down. But her attack didn't cease. Instead, she turned and dashed for him, running as fast as she could. Whatever glitch is taking over, I think she's lost herself, he realized. I'm not fighting a dragonet-protecting robot. I'm fighting a monster. 
Shatter jumped out of the way at the last moment, and Kitta tripped on a pile of blankets of the floor, snagging her claws and slipping. She crashed onto the ground snout-first and laid there for a moment. Shatter hopped up onto her back and opened up her panel. He re-arranged a few wires and replaced the corrupted drive in her head with the box. He plugged it in, replaced the head panel, and jumped backwards.
Kitta slowly stood up, her eyes back to normal. “What . . . Shatter, did you give me Moondrop’s memory drive?”
”It was unplugged. He doesn’t use it. I figured if I replaced the corrupted memory drive in you with the unused one in Moon, then the glitch would go away.” Shatter looked at her. “But it didn’t seem to erase your memories, witch is strange.” As soon as he was finished talking, he broke down in tears.
Kitta smiled and hugged him. “Thank you, Shatter. We should go. Climb into my chest cavity and we will try to find the others.” A panel opened on the front of her, and she brushed some random items out of it. Among them, he saw candies and a plush of Kitta, and the inside of the hatch had star themed decorations. It was the perfect size for Shatter. “It was designed for shy dragonets. There’s a screen in there. you’ll be able to see through my eyes and talk to me once inside.”
Shatter nodded and jumped in, curling up his tail. “Alright.” He wiped the tears off his face and took a deep breath. “Let’s do this.”
===Chapter 2 ===
“It seems we both have lots of questions,” Kitta said through her internal speakers. “How about we take turns? Why was Moondrop not using his memory drive?”
”I don’t really know,” Shatter replied. “My best guess is that he didn’t want to remember anything, so he unplugged it.” He shifted to a more comfortable position. “My turn. What did you mean by ‘not orders from headquarters?”
Kitta dodged a S.T.A.F.F bot and sighed.
”As you know, robots, we get orders displayed inside our eyes. You wouldn’t know—"
"Actually, my dad taught me about robotics," Shatter said quietly.
"Oh, fascinating. But the orders said . . .” Kitta trailed off into silence.
”Kitta?” Shatter replied. “Are you okay?”
”Yes. This might be hard for you to hear, but . . . Our orders were to find and locate a suitable child for a . . . Replacement, if you will. One of my friends, her name was Bonnie, got in a very large accident a few months back. She somehow fell into the trash compactor and . . . That was the end of her. Moondrop thought—no, thinks that we need to use one of you.”
”HOOOLD on,” Shatter exclaimed. “What do you mean, ‘use one of you’?! Aren’t robots built?!” 
Kitta fell silent. “Yes.” She said after a while. “I will show you after we meet up with the oth—“
A loud screech like a bird mixed with a dragon’s roar came from inside the gift shop that the pair had just passed. Kitta whirled around and bolted inside. A large SeaWing-ish animatronic was perched on the counter, her grey-tan wings unfurled. Neon green stripes ran down her back and tail, and she was dotted with neon pink. A silky grey-black faux fur mane ran down her head and back like a SandWing sail, and her eyes glowed yellow. 
“Chica!” Kitta exclaimed. “There y—“ Shatter held back a scream of pain as Chica plowed past Kitta, knocking her into a shelf and slamming Shatter against the cogs inside of Kitta, taking his breath away. The animatronic dragon yelped in what sounded like pain, staggering upright. Chica pounced into the air and landed on a camouflaged NightWing dragonet in the shadows. Shatter held his breath.
"Chica, stop!" Kitta said, bringing her tail around to smash into the side of Chica. It seemed to daze the bird-like dragon, and produced a loud ringing sound, but nothing more. "What are you doing?!"
”Orders are orders, Kitta!” Chica said, reaching out with a loud, scratchy hiss. To Shatter, it sounded like claws on a chalkboard, but it must have sounded far worse to Kitta, since she doubled over with an aggravated mechanical hiss. Chica's high-pitched chirping was sadistically joyful as she restrained the squirming NightWing, pinning them by the tail and easily brushing Kitta aside like she was nothing more than a paperweight.
Kitta suddenly got up and ran at Chica. Shatter braced himself for the impact with the other robot, slamming against the hatch with a painful snap somewhere in his body. Through the newfound pain, he could see that Kitta's blunt attack worked, throwing Chica through the glass wall of the shop. Tiny shards of glass rained down as she arched her wing to shield the dragonet, and then protectively picked up the NightWing dragonet and held him close. “Don’t worry, I’ll—“ 
“LOOK OUT!” Shatter screamed, seeing Chica bolt back at them from the left. Kitta turned just in time to get slammed to the ground, dropping the dragonet and being thrown back. Shatter yelped as his head smacked against metal.
Chica gave a small little laugh and pounced on Kitta, causing some of her plastic frame to begin to crack and Shatter's heart to knock against his ribs. He could do nothing but watch as she dug her talons into Kitta’s frame, pulling open the front hatch. Shatter looked up in horror, face to face with the metallic monstrosity as Chica reached in and grabbed him by the neck.
”Kitta!” He screamed. “HELP!”
Strangely, Chica then ignored Shatter and instead moved for the NightWing dragonet, opting to keep Shatter in her grasp the entire time. The poor black dragon could do nothing but try and pitifully run as Chica grabbed him. Shatter watched as they were crushed into the ground by Chica’s talon, and she turned away slowly. Kitta sparked, slowly moving to get up, and Shatter strained to move towards her until Chica turned her gaze over.
"Stay down, you bothersome pest," Chica slammed Kitta into the wall with her tail, a smile growing on her face as Kitta shouted with agonized mechanical pain. Chica laughed and reached forwards, shredding the plastic casing on one of Kitta's front arms as if was nothing more than paper, and then bashed her head into the wall again for good measure. “Bye, Kitta! I’ll send the clean-up crew to scrape your remains off of the ground," She turned, prancing away as if she was proud of herself.
Shatter looked back at Kitta, who now had many cracks in her plastic shell and an entire arm of exposed endoskeleton. I’m sorry, Kitta. He thought. You tried. It’s not your fault. He looked up at Chica, panic spreading in his chest, and defiantly stabbed at her with his tail barb. Chica ignored him as his barb seemingly did nothing, continuing on her way. An idea struck him, and he flared out his wings. 
“Take THIS!” He yelled. He glowed as bright as he could, flapping his wings around to give off even more light.
Chica screamed and froze in place, dropping him as she twitched and gave stifled yells of rage.
I have to run. I have to—Shatter stopped as he heard a voice.
”Who wants to see a magic trick?”
Shatter spread his wings to slow his fall, reaching forwards to land, and bit his tongue in pain as he set weight on his leg. He doubled over, the leg twisting at an awkward angle instead of allowing him to run. OWWW, it’s broken, He thought angrily, holding back tears. He limped as fast as he could to an open, empty trash can and flung himself inside.
”I know you’re here,” A cold voice echoed. “Don’t worry, I don’t bite.”
Shatter saw a shadowy animatronic bounce along, a loose, flowing gait. That must be Fellily, Shatter remembered. 
“Who wants some candy?” It called, looking about. “I can help you.”
As soon as the shadow of Fellily left, Shatter leapt out of the trash can and bolted. His plan was to get back to Kitta, help her get up, and then make his way to safety with her guidance. He limped back to the gift shop and gasped, ducking behind a shelf and peeking around it. 
Moon had grabbed Kitta by the tail and had started dragging her away. Kitta made a glitchy, strangled mechanical noise and tried to crawl away at every second, fighting, thrashing as much as she could until Moon kicked her head into the ground and she fell limp. ”Kitta!” Shatter whisper-yelled. “Kitta?”
Moon’s head snapped towards where Shatter was hiding. “Who's—" He stopped as Chica sprinted over, and his eyes narrowed as he burst into a roar. "CHICA YOU LOST THE DRAGONET!?" Moon shrieked, “WE NEEDED HIM!”
Chica snarled and grabbed Kitta, slinging her over her shoulder. “I will take care of Kitta from here. Find the dragonet and get them to the mechanic’s room. Now.”
Uh oh. Shatter turned and ran as fast as he could. He could hear Moon sprinting up behind him, the metal talon-steps growing ever closer. Run, run run! Shatter screamed mentally. He let out an actual scream as Fellily jumped around the corner in front of him. Shatter didn’t have time to get a good look before he skidded underneath of Fellily and kept running. His leg throbbed in pain, but he ignored it. 
"Almost—“ He dashed down a hall and leapt into a room, pulling a lever just as Moon’s arm reach in after him. A huge metal door slammed shut, and a robotic scream of agony and rage came from the other side. Moon was trapped, and from his knowledge of the robots, his arm was likely going to need repair afterwards. Repair which I will make sure he never gets. 
Shatter pulled another lever to shut the other door and tried to stop breathing so hard. I’m okay, He told himself. This is a game of logic. I can outsmart them. He looked down at his leg, it was hurting so bad he couldn’t feel it anymore. 
BANG!
”Uh oh.” Shatter murmured. Fellily was pounding on the door, shouting at him to open it up. How do I get them off my trail? He wondered, going up to the monitors on the desk in front of him. Security cameras? Shatter flicked through the cameras.
Moon was trying to pull his arm out from under the door with little success, Fellily was still hammering away, and a few S.T.A.F.F bots just roamed about. Shatter narrowed his eyes, and clicked on the camera that said ‘Parts and Service’. He gasped in surprise. Kitta was in the repair room, fighting off robotic arms as they tried to dismantle her. Chica watched from the side, her expression calm.
I need to get to parts and service to help Kitta! Shatter thought frantically. He looked through the buttons and switches, trying to find a way to get rid of Fellily and Moon. “Come on, come on,” Shatter hissed, looking around for anything to help. Wait, generator? Shatter saw a lever labeled “generator,” and promptly yanked it. 
A spark, then a loud crackling noise from the doors. Moon and Fellily shrieked in unison, as electricity coursed through the doors and into them. Shatter, building up all his courage, yanked the lever to open the door. He screeched around the doorframe, speeding past Moon. Moon roared angrily and attempted to bite him as he sped past, but failed. 
Alright, Shatter bit his tongue and tried to ignore the pain in his arm. Let’s go help Kitta. He snuck as quietly as he could into a long hallway labeled Rockstar Row. Glass cases with old animatronic parts, newspapers, and some other random stuff lined the lane. His ears pricked up as he heard the clink of metal and a fierce growl. There! Kitta! Shatter thought, following the sounds. He went down a few flights of stairs, eventually reaching a large door labeled PARTS AND SERVICE. EMPLOYEES ONLY. Shatter steeled himself and opened the door, running inside and flashing his wings and tail barb as bright as he could, expecting Chica to be there.
”WHY YOU—!” Chica shrieked from the corner of the room, shielding her eyes as she blindly thrashed about. From the small room where Kitta was, he heard a similarly agonized yowl that sounded distinctly like a cat. His guess had been correct, but there was no time to celebrate. Shatter dashed past the animatronic and leapt over to where Kitta was. Kitta was restrained in a very small room, with metal arms holding her in place as they attempted—and failed—to unbolt the plate on the back of her head. Shatter opened the door and smacked his talon onto a red button to deactivate the arms. Kitta smiled down at Shatter and shook the metal arms off her arms, legs and tail. 
“You . . . You came to help me?” Kitta asked, looking rather astonished. She still looked worse for wear, having the same cracks in her casing, but now the one arm that had been exposed was now...gone. He decided not to mention it for now. 
Shatter smiled. “Of course I d—“ He screeched, cut off as Chica suddenly grabbed him by the tail and threw him aside. 
Chica snarled at Kitta dangerously, approaching like a predator. “I will let you live if you don’t move. Just . . . Stay. Still,” She hissed. 
“Oh-ho, no WAY.” Kitta leapt forwards at Chica, tackling her and slamming her against the wall despite missing a leg. Shatter watched as she flared her wings, the star patterns all over her body lighting up with a softer light than he could produce, but it was still enough to be disorienting to Chica. Kitta opened her chest cavity (which had a dent in it now) and helped Shatter inside. 
"Alright, let’s go!” Right before they ran from the room, the click of the door opening made Kitta freeze in her tracks.
Alligator and Fellily stood outside the door with sinister smiles on their faces, murderous intent gleaming in their eyes. 
Fellily had a red and blue pallet, star shapes around his body—one on both of his legs, and chest—and one on his right eye. The stars were bright red, outline with blue. He had long, thin spikes, with a top hat and a colorful sparkle pattern. Electric blue stripes lined him in certain places, like his underbelly and eyes. Felliey also had a bandanna around his neck with stars and lightning patterns on it. 
Alligator had a MudWing-like build with bright green scales and copper plates on his shoulders. He had pitch black eyes and a red stripe from his snout all the way down to his tail. He wore a matching bandanna with Fellily tied around his horn, A golden star was on the tip of his tail, and he had golden talons and fangs. He had a relatively simple design, but looked extremely strong. 
Kitta took a step back, but Chica cornered her from behind. “Kitta. You're surrounded," she said, the three animatronics beginning to circle. "The dragonet. NOW.” Chica demanded.
Kitta looked from Fellily to Chica to Alligator and then back to Fellily. “This isn't our programming!" She protested. "We were made to entertain, not to kill! Shatter is still alive, nd I intend to keep him that way!” Her speech had no impact on the robots. Shatter screamed as Fellily leapt towards Kitta, tackling her by the head and throwing her into the ground with a scraping of metal on metal. Kitta shrieked in seemingly pain, before Fellily and Chica worked to restrain the cat-like dragon. Alligator raised his talons up, and Shatter braced for impact... 
...But it never came. Instead, he watched as the screen he'd been watching from turned to static and error messages. The whirring mechanisms inside her kept going, and he even felt like he was being moved around still. 
“Disassemble Kitta,” Chica ordered. “I will ready the assembly machine for our new . . . Friend.”
Fellily suddenly tore open Kitta’s chest cavity and threw Shatter out, cornering him. That was when he saw what had happened-Kitta's head and body were severed, wires crackling with electricity as her body continued thrashing without her. 
Shatter whimpered in pain, terrified, looking up at Fellily in horror. “Please leave me alone! I won’t—“ Fellily smacked Shatter against the wall silently, and pinned him there with his talon. Shatter opened his mouth to scream, but no sound came out. He closed his eyes, just as white hot pain shot through his shoulder. Stars danced in his shut eyes before he eventually opened them and saw what had happened. 
His broken arm was laying a few feet away. 
Dis-attached from his body.
He wanted to scream and faint. He couldn't fight these monsters. He could hardly survive a social conversation, and that wasn't even trying to kill him. Please...Kitta...someone...
”He was broken,” Fellily said. “We will fix him.”
=== Chapter 3 ===
“Shatter! Wake up! Wake up!” 
Shatter groaned and slowly opened his eyes. Owwwwww. Everything HURTS. “Kitta?” He asked quietly as the white and blue robot came into view. Kitta looked beaten up, but definitely not de-comissioned and even seemed a bit better than before. Her casing was still cracked in places, her snout slightly smushed in, and most of her bell bands were torn off, but her missing arm was back (still caseless, though). She appeared to have repaired herself—or had help from someone. “How—?”
”Don’t ask, because I don’t know. I only remember the face of some sort of . . . Puppet-like dragonet before I blacked out—er, ran out of power.” Kitta gently picked up Shatter. “Also, you have a prosthetic now, in case you didn't notice.”
Shatter yelped and looked down. His ‘broken’ arm was replaced by a dark green and grey endoskeleton prosthetic. “Where did you get this?” he said, sounding more demanding then he meant to be.
Kitta gave a sly smile, but it was racked with guilt. “I may or may not have taken it from Chica and then re-painted it." Kitta sighed. "They're my friends. Why are they attacking?"
"Why aren't you?" Shatter asked suddenly, making Kitta pause.
"I...I have a theory on that, actually. Me and Sundrop were the only animatronics with protecting dragonets specifically written in our code. In mine, it's the top priority. I don't know how it is for Sundrop. But maybe that stops us from attacking." After a pause, she continued "You’ve been out for quite a few hours. It’s about 1:00 AM.”
The plex closes at 9:00 . . . Shatter thought. “We . . . We need to get out of here, fast. Maybe if we get to some sort of . . . Main control room we can unlock the doors?”
Kitta nodded. “That’s a great idea, actually. For having one arm missing, you surprisingly are thinking straight.”
“I know, I impress even myself!” Shatter laughed starkly. “Anyways . . . Is there one?”
Kitta nodded. “I’m sure there is one. I’ve heard of a kind of “main control room”. The problem is . . . well, Teddy was the only one allowed inside.”
”Well that sounds . . . Bad.” Shatter said quietly. “Is he aggressive like . . . Fellily and Alligator?”
Kitta pondered this as she helped him into her chest cavity to hide. Shatter curled up and tucked in his tail, biting his lip in worry as he noticed a large dent in it where air wafted in slowly. The screen where he could view from Kitta's eyes had a crack inside of it, but was otherwise perfectly fine. “I am worried that may be so. The Creators—the ones that created us—gave him a sort of sentience. A much higher intelligence or something along those lines. The problem is, his hard-drive is not advanced enough to keep bugs and glitches out. We know from experience.”
”This kind of thing has h-happened before?” Shatter whimpered nervously.
Kitta snuck out of parts and services, stepping quietly out of the room. “Yes. It has.” She said carefully. “But . . . Not at this location. We can talk later.” Kitta replied, seeming to avoid the question. "I know you're nervous and scared right now, Shatter," she said, making him perk his ears at the sudden jump in conversation. "There should be a plush in there that can help calm you down, if you want." Shatter looked around the small space and saw what she was talking about-the same plush he'd seen her push out when she first helped him was now back. "I went and got it again. You looked like you needed something soft to hug."
Shatter didn't want to admit that she was right as he grabbed the plush and hugged it close. It felt strange, seeing his new arm touching things but not feeling it. If he focused enough, it still felt like his arm was there, touching the plush. He could imagine the sensation, tingling through his claws as he brushed the soft fabric of it over and over again. "Kitta...I'm sorry you got hurt because of-" he paused to bury his snout in the plush, "-because of me."
"Don't be. You're only a dragonet. As I mentioned before, protecting dragonets is hard coded into me. Only a severe glitch or corruption of my data could overcome it." Kitta stopped moving and sighed, sounding almost purely like a dragon when she did with only a faint mechanical click. "I don't know what's wrong with my friends. They were never . . . hostile."
”Somehow I find that hard to believe,” Shatter said quietly, not wanting to upset Kitta but . . . the mental image of the dragonet being crushed under Chica’s talon made tears run down his face. “I mean . . . I don’t know. I’m sorry. Just—just ignore me.” He squeezed his wings to his side and tried to get comfortable without crushing his sail in the gears inside Kitta.
Kitta started moving again. She paused every once in a while to look around or sneak, but it seemed like she knew where she was going. “We should be almost there. Although, don’t quote me on it. Like I said, Teddy is the only one allowed inside.” Kitta carefully climbed up a set of steps onto the second floor of the Plex. She stopped and suddenly crouched low, making Shatter bang his head on the roof of the cavity.
Ow. Shatter rubbed his forehead, wincing. He clutched the stuffed animal (which, now that he could stop and look at it more closely, was a Kitta plush) and tried to see what was going on. “Kitta, what happened?” Shatter asked, more worry showing in his voice than he would have liked.
”S-T-A-F-F bots. They’re security bots. Chica has put the Pizzaplex on high alert, and these ones definitely know we’re here.” She sounded even more worried then Shatter, and that in turn worried him more. “Shatter, I am going to go make a distraction. You must sneak from hiding spot to hiding spot, without being caught. I will do everything in my power to protect you . . . But I am afraid I will be putting you more at risk if we go together. They'll see me out of the Daycare as odd.” Kitta paused for a moment before saying, “Are you okay, Shatter? I . . . understand if you do not wish to go alone. The night is scary, but I'll always be your guiding star.”
”No, I’m not.” Shatter replied. He would have loved to stay in the safety of Kitta's chest hatch, but she knew more than he did. He had to trust Kitta's judgement over his own. “But I can do this.” What he told himself he only half-believed. Who would believe in a four year old dragonet? Who would believe in the wimpy tribrid who has done nothing but get himself hurt? The voices in Shatter’s head hissed at him obnoxiously.
”I believe in you, Shatter," Kitta said softly, almost like she'd heard his thoughts. "You can do this.” As she helped him out, Shatter smiled a bit and found her words so much more reassuring. Like they were providing a bright light against his dark thoughts.
“Alright. Stay here in this planter and wait for my signal, alright?” Kitta asked, setting him down in the leaves of a big fern. Smiling, she reached out her talon for his plush. “I’ll keep this safe for you. It will slow you down.” As he handed it to her, willingly, she stopped one last time. “Get to the elevator. I’ll meet you on the next floor.”
Shatter nodded, not wanting to admit it made him feel braver. He put on his most courageous face (which was mostly a half-grimace with an undertone of a horrified gape) and watched as Kitta snuck away. Now to wait, Shatter told himself. Just wait. Don’t draw any attention to yourself, that’s the last thing you need. Kitta won’t leave me, right? Or tell Chica or one of the o-others? No, she wouldn’t . . . Right?
Shatter felt like an idiot for doubting her the second a loud crash came from inside the gift shop, the loud tinkle of bells ringing out above the sound. All the S.T.A.F.F. bots turned at once and zoomed into the shop on their wheels. Their flashlights flicked every which way as Shatter dashed to another planter while their backs were turned.
Deep breaths, like Mom always said, Shatter thought. Take a breath in, count to eight—why is it eight and not a round number like ten? That’s—FOCUS, FOCUS! Shatter snapped himself out of his thoughts as Kitta started pelting the staff bots with merchandise from behind a shelf. Shatter dodged a flying Teddy figurine and ran. Come on, almost there! He bolted as fast as he could towards the elevator. He heard the S.T.A.F.F. bots’ wheels turning and a loud:
“THIS WAY! ROBBER THIS WAY! CATCH ASSAILANT!”
Shatter’s heart was pounding as he got closer and closer, but so did the sound of their wheels. He dared to look back and was blinded by a flashlight to the face. He yelped as his prosthetic caught on the carpet and he was sent head over heels rolling across the ground. GET UP! His mind screamed, while his body froze in place. Just as a staff bot pulled out it’s taser, Kitta leapt at it from behind, pouncing on it like a cat would on a mouse.
“GO!” Kitta thundered, hissing and swiping at the other bots like a true cat. He didn't stop to wonder where she'd come from, since she'd been in the gift shop only moments earlier. Though he did wonder how much of a cat-like nature had been programmed into the dragon animatronic.
Shatter scrambled to his talons and turned, bolting into the elevator and smacking the “up” button. He breathed a sigh of relief. The elevator music buzzed obnoxiously in his ear, then ended with a “DING!” Loud enough to alert the whole Pizzaplex. He rubbed his forehead and slowly stepped out of the elevator. Just as he was about to relax—
“TAKE A MAP.”
Shatter clamped his claws over his snout before he could let out a bloodcurdling scream. A friendly looking bot looked down at him expressionlessly. It’s torso read: “Map bot”. “What in the three m—“
”TAKE A MAP.” The bot insisted. “TAKE A MAP.”
”Wh—okay fine, I’ll take a map. Thank you—?” Shatter took a map, and the bot suddenly produced a flashlight.
“TAKE A FLASHLIGHT.”
Shatter face-palmed. “Are you serious? Why?”
”SECURITY PERSONNEL MUST HAVE A FLASHLIGHT AT ALL TIMES.”
“Let me guess—“
”TAKE A FLASHLIGHT.”
Shatter rolled his eyes and took the flashlight. “Thank you for cutting me off fifteen times, Map Bot. I really appreciate you. Not like I’m trying to survive and you’re screaming at the top if your robotic lungs or anything! Th—“
”HAVE A WONDERFUL EVENING. THE LOUNGE IS ALWAYS OPEN FOR SECURITY PERSONNEL. I HEAR A FRONTAL LOBE REMOVAL IS RATHER PAINLESS. JOIN US ANY TIME. OH. I SEE YOU HAVE LOST YOUR SECURITY BADGE. HERE, TAKE THIS LEVEL TWO SECURITY BADGE. THIS IS A LEVEL TWO SECURITY BADGE.”
Shatter blinked. “Why thank you, mister . . . Map-flashlight-security-badge-bot? Thank you. Now . . . Bye!” Shatter turned to go to the balcony to look for Kitta, but just then, a loud ding came from the elevator.
Shatter turned and saw Kitta stepping out of the elevator, oil from the S.T.A.F.F. bots painted on her face like war paint and dripping off her claws like blood. The slick black liquid looked so aggressive when compared to the pale white and soft blue tones on her body. It would have been terrifying to see her like that had she not been on his side. She smiled at Shatter and was just about to step out of the elevator when—
“TAKE A MAP.”
”Uuuuuugh . . .” Shatter snout-palmed as Kitta yelped and leapt backwards, lowering her head with a mechanical growl. He walked over to where the bot was plugged into the wall and unplugged it. “There.”
"I've not been on the second floor much. That bot was this close to losing it's own head . . . " she trailed off, her narrowed eyes snapping back open. "Oh, stars above, there's a dragonet right here," Kitta ducked her head. "I'm sorry, Shatter. Programming forbids me from threatening anyone with dragonets around under normal circumstances.
“Well, these's aren't normal circumstances," Shatter said, before smiling and embracing Kitta in a hug. "I’m glad you’re okay!” He exclaimed
Kitta smiled back. “It's more amazing that you're okay, Shatter." She lifted her head a bit and gave a small, curt laugh, which made Shatter jump with the dragon-like quality of sound. It made him look around to make sure there wasn't a real dragon hiding anywhere. "I look pretty fierce now, huh?” She asked proudly.
”You really do. I doubt any of the others will mess with us anymore," he said, before a sudden thought struck him. "Hey Kitta, why did you . . . attack them? Isn't it against your programming or something?"
"My programming has two primary directives in this order: Protect Dragonets, Follow Sundrop and Moondrop's orders. So I don't have to listen to the others, and since Moondrop was trying to harm dragonets, I defy the lower directive. By now . . . " she trailed off before picking back up, "By now I also want to keep you safe. You could be the key to fixing my friends, Shatter. It means more than my programming. I feel . . . alive again."
Again? Shatter thought, staring blankly at Kitta. Him, of all dragons? Yes, he knew a lot about robotics, but—that was because of his father, not him! Shatter didn't have an answer, only changing the conversation topic. "By the way, what does this do?” Shatter asked, holding up the Security Badge.
Kitta scanned it and blinked rapidly. “Where did you get this?”
Shatter grinned and motioned to Map-flashlight-security-badge-bot. He couldn’t help but dissolve in delirious giggles. Kitta sighed and wrapped him in her arms.
“Don’t worry, Shatter. You’re safe now.”
~~~~~
”I’m starving,” Shatter murmured as he walked alongside Kitta and they passed the Teddy’s Pizza on their right. He found his eyes drawn to looking at his prosthetic, wondering if it meant Chica would be missing a leg next time they saw her. He sighed and looked up at Kitta. “Can we take a pit stop?
”That may be a good idea. I need to rest for a bit too. I was never made to operate for this long at a time. I feel rather . . . tired. Come, I will break us in.” Shatter watched, thinking, as she pulled on the door to presumably rip it off it’s hinges, but it just swung open.
Shatter cocked his head as they stepped inside, still thinking hard. “You guys need to hire better security guards.”
”Agreed,” Kitta replied with a sigh. She motioned to the kitchen. “If you can, find something to eat. I would help you, but the sooner I can rest my systems, the better. I can't help you get out if I'm unable to do anything.”
”Good point.” He sighed as Kitta settled down in a large box, which he guessed was a good way for her to remain somewhat hidden. After all, isn't she still being . . . hunted? Like I am? If we get caught it's . . . it's the end for both of us. “Here,” he said, holding out the plush. “It will help you sleep good.” She smiled at him, and he smiled back. He felt a little silly for thinking a robot could sleep, but then again . . . There seemed to be something behind the lifeless eyes in her head. There had to be. Or maybe he was hallucinating.
Kitta held the plush in her claws, looking at Shatter. Then, she smiled a little wider, and brushed her claws over it, speaking with a near-perfect dragon voice. "It's . . . been a long time since I last slept with a plush at my side. Thank you." It sounded...so much younger than he expected. Weren't the voices in a voice box usually adult dragons for adult robots? Before he could ask, her eyes slowly drifted shut and he watched as she seemed to go limp. For a second, he panicked, thinking she'd shut off for good, but he saw a message on the screen through the dented chest hatch.
WARNING TO ALL PIZZAPLEX PERSONNEL — UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCE SHOULD A DRAGONET REMAIN IN THE ANIMATRONIC CHEST CAVITY WHEN THE ANIMATRONIC IS IN A REST CYCLE. IT'S TOO MUCH LIABILITY TO DEAL WITH AGAIN.
Again? Shatter thought, now for the second time, as he turned and hopped over the counter, landing in the kitchen. So many mysteries. Okay, let’s see here . . . He wandered for a minute, straining to see above the counters. He opened a fridge, and saw a pizza that was cooked, but cold. He took it out and put it into the oven. He fiddled around with it for a few minutes, then sat down and watched as it started heating it up. He held in a gasp as he heard a familiar clicking, grinding, clinking of metal.
”I saw them in here! I SWEAR!” The voice of Moondrop screeched as if he was in pain. “I SWEAR! Please don’t—no, please!”
Shatter poked his head around the corner of the counter. Moon seemed to be pleading with an invisible presence, waving his arms in protest. He clasped his arms together and dropped to his knees, holding up his folded hands as if he was pleading for his life. What is happening? Shatter wondered, watching the strange animatronic.
”I’m SORRY! I promise, I’ll kill them! I’ll rip them limb from limb! I’ll do ANYTHING but DON’T MAKE ME REMEMBER!” Moon was screaming, grabbing his head and doubling over. "NO! DON'T MAKE ME REMEMBER!"
Shatter squinted as he saw what looked like a ripple in empty space. It had the form of what looked like a RainWing, but with bunny ears atop it. Shatter flinched as it seemed to grab Moon and lift him up off the ground effortlessly, then held him over the railing.
Moon screamed and thrashed, and . . . was dropped. The RainWing watched for a second, then wiped it's talons. Shatter watched as it looked around a bit, it's ears perking at nothing, before it seemed to be eaten up by the wall behind it and disappeared. Shatter was breathing hard. He ducked behind the counter and hid, his scales prickling with dread and fear. A loud crash, and a robotic scream that sounded all-too dragon-like stung Shatter’s ears.
He couldn’t help but start shaking. Questions raced in his mind, being tossed about like a washing machine. What was that? Why did it drop Moon? Is it on my side? Is Kitta okay? WHAT IS GOING ON!? He tried his mom’s technique: breathe in, count to eight, breathe out. It helped a little. He gathered the scattered remains of his courage and peeked around the counter. The . . . Thing was gone, thank the moons. Shatter let out another breath and opened the oven. Getting some oven mitts from a drawer, he pulled out the pizza and turned off the oven.
He ate a few slices, but didn’t want to be too full if they had to run or dodge killer robots again. He sighed to himself, feeling cold and loneliness creep up on him. I’m okay, Kitta’s okay, everything is—
“Hello.”
Pain shot through Shatter’s mind, and he clutched his throat. He couldn’t breathe. He couldn’t move. He couldn’t see. Everything was black.
“You are the ever elusive replacement, hm?” The voice was ice cold, just as dragon-sounding as it was muffled and twisted like some kind of nightmare or ghost.
I’m going to suffocate, Shatter thought, simply accepting it. I’m going to die.
“Oh, I’m afraid not. I have bigger plans for you . . . Shatter. Hm. Before I go, let’s change that name, yes? Sounds all too . . . Drowsy. How about—how about a serial designation, like your robotic friend? Yes, that will do nicely. I’ll call you . . . Six. Has a nice ring to it. Ah, I’m afraid our time is up. Goodbye . . . For now.“
Shatter gasped in a breath. His mind stung. No, not stung. Ached like thousands of wasps stung it at the same time, splashed it with some RainWing venom, then dumped it in the NightWing volcano. He collapsed to the ground, heaving in breaths like he was on death row. His vision faded in and out, darkness creeping around the edges of his sight. He heard the muffled noise of something shuffling in a box, and Kitta say something he couldn’t hear. Shatter’s eyes slowly started to close. Just before they did, he saw something standing over him.
An adult RainWing in a dilapidated rabbit dragon costume. Wires mangling his flesh, and nails drilled into him in places. His purple scales clashed with the dull, mottled gold of what used to be the suit. The dragon smiled down at him calmly, then everything went black.
=== Chapter 4 ===
Shatter gasped as he sat upright. Kitta looked down at him worriedly. 
“Shatter! Thank the moons you’re okay—what happened? Are you alright?” Kitta examined him for any sign of injury. 
Shatter shivered, huddling close to her. “I—I don’t know. I saw some sort of purple RainWing in what looked like a rabbit costume. Then I just . . . Blacked out.” He looked up at her to find her face was shocked. “What’s wrong, Kitta?”
“You . . . Saw him?” She asked quietly. “I thought . . . that only we could see him. I always thought it was a dream, or a malfunction but . . .” She protectively picked him up like a mother would to a dragonet. “We must get to the control room as quick as possible.”
”Agreed,” Shatter replied. He felt a little weird, being held in a way only his mother had, but he felt safe. Warm. In control. But . . . Deep down he knew he wasn’t, and that’s what scared him the most. “Kitta?” He asked before they left the diner. “Has something ever happened to you that you felt was your fault, but was out of your control?” He could have sworn Kitta’s robotic eyes looked like they were going to cry.
“Not now, Shatter.” She said quietly. “We have to keep moving.”
Shatter looked up at her. “Okay, but . . .”
”Let’s just go.”
Shatter but his lip as Kitta helped him inside her chest cavity. He looked around, only seeing the screen, the dent, and the gears that threatened to crush him at his back. He wiggled a little to get more comfortable, and watched as Kitta started onwards. “Oh, uh, Kitta? Don’t look over the balcony.”
Kitta paused. “Why is that?” She asked suspiciously. 
“N-no reason. Let’s go. Right?” Shatter peeped. He felt . . . Scared. At Kitta. For no reason—right? He just couldn’t shake the feeling that she was . . . Alive. There’s something going on here, He thought. When she said 'alive again'. Why did Moon not want to remember? What is it that I see when I look Kitta in the eyes? Why do they have emotion in their voices when they speak? I need to know—what is going on here?!
Kitta turned away from the railing and kept going. “Alright, I trust you. Hold on tight.” She dashed forward, faster than Shatter could ever run. He yelped and clutched the bent in part of the dent to keep from flying into the gears behind him. She rounded a corner, wings extended a little to keep her balance. “We’re almost there!” She exclaimed, excitement building in her voice.
There it is again, Shatter thought. She sounds excited. She’s a ROBOT! How?! He ignored more pressing matters and suddenly demanded; “Kitta, what are you? What are you not telling me about me being a so-called replacement?!”
Kitta’s claws slipped and she almost fell. “Shatter, this is not the time! We’re so CLOSE!” Her voice ended in a snarl, a sudden and drastic emotional change he didn't expect. 
Shatter swallowed a lump in his throat. “Kitta, this is import—“ 
“Just—just—just . . . Just STOP! If you don’t want to escape, I will!” She turned off the screen inside of her defiantly, and Shatter felt her moving again. 
She’s as stubborn as a kid, Shatter thought, a thought creeping into his mind. She can’t be alive . . . Right? He felt Kitta stop, and a robotic male voice say something. 
”Ah. Kitta.” It sounded like it was insulting her by simply looking in her direction. 
Kitta ejected Shatter and placed him on the ground. Shatter turned to look at her, and he swore he saw fear dancing in her eyes. Fear. Impossible. They're not alive! They're just robots, they cannot be alive! Despite the look in her face, Kitta was still not backing down, though he could almost feel that she really wanted to. Shatter finally turned to look at what she was looking at.
Before them stood a large MudWing animatronic with wings made of blades. He had brown-orange topscales and electric blue and purple lightning bolts running down his sides and legs. His spines were dangerously sharp, and he had orange-red eyes. The animatronic tipped his mini top hat and smirked, revealing rows of pristine, sharp white teeth. A single red earring dangled in his left plastic ear, and his tail swished behind him, the joints clinking. “Hello there. Little one, my name is Teddy.” 
“He knows,” Kitta hissed dangerously, though her voice broke near the end. “Now let us into the control room. Or else.” 
Teddy laughed starkly. “‘Or else’? Really? And what can you do that I cannot?” He flared his bladed wings, the sound of metal-against metal chilling Shatter to the bone. “He has seen Him, Kitta. You can’t save him now. Just step back and let me see the little thing.” 
Kitta looked from Shatter to Teddy, then back again. 
”Kitta?” Shatter said quietly. “I’ll be fine.” Don’t say that! Part of him yelled. You WON’T be fine! Shatter ignored himself. 
Teddy slowly walked forward, then crouched down to Shatter’s eye level. “Hm. Cute thing, you are. Come along. I would like to show you something.” He turned and opened the door to the control room. Before Kitta could rush in alongside Shatter, he paused. He dangled a set of keys in the air. “I have the master switch, my friends. So don’t try anything.” He then stepped aside, allowing them in. 
Shatter looked around, then followed Teddy into a room attached to the control room while Kitta stayed and fiddled with the buttons that wouldn’t work. She kept glancing back over at Teddy and Shatter, then back to the buttons, then back at them. Shatter felt lost and, above all else, alone. He didn't like the way Teddy kept glancing at him, the way he quietly and softly hummed, the way he studied his claws so meticulously. In this room, tools lined the walls and several benches around the edges of the room. A dim light that flickered was the only source of illumination besides Shatter's own tail barb, and the shadows still crept in at every corner. 
He was startled when he heard Kitta suddenly pound on one of the buttons and slump forwards. "Dammit," she muttered, sounding like she was crying inside. "They don't work. It doesn't work. Nothing here works." Shatter tried to move closer to her, but Teddy blocked his path and laughed, a hollow sound that echoed in the room. 
"Having trouble there, my feline friend?" 
"Teddy, just shut it," she hissed, turning her head towards them. "You've done something. You have a reason for this. Don't yo-" she stopped as her eye fully caught what was in the room Shatter was in. His scales prickled uneasily as he saw Kitta's face turn frantic. "You . . . you tricked us. You tricked me." As she spoke, Shatter watched Teddy move towards a small panel next to the door of the side room and flip a cover to reveal a button. Kitta was slowly standing up and turning her entire body towards them. "I . . . I've been here before. I've been here before I was like this." 
Her gaze darted towards the tools on the wall, then at one of the corners in particular. "Teddy. Teddy. You did this to me." Her voice was dangerously low before she suddenly sprung forwards, lunging at the door with a mechanized hiss and a gaping maw full of needle-like teeth. Shatter gasped and stumbled backwards, tripping over his own tail as the hulking metal beast seemed closer and closer. 
And then the door slammed shut in front of him. Teddy slowly removed his talon from the now-pressed button as he turned to Shatter and extended his talon down. "I'm sorry, Shatter. I don't know what's gotten into her." As he spoke, Shatter could hear Kitta pounding on the door as hard as she could, shouting indistinctly. 
"W-What does she mean by that? What did you do?" Shatter stammered, scooting farther from Teddy's talon. "I just want to go home, please." 
"Don't worry. You will," Teddy smiled at him, though it was empty and cruel. "Look over in that corner," he said, pointing at the corner Kitta had been staring at. "There's a little gift for you." Against all his caution, Shatter inched towards the corner and held his tail up, peering into the green-ish light. There was an empty metal husk of an animatronic, dark in color and eerily close to his size. As Shatter looked over it more, he saw that it had the web of an AbyssWing that mixed into a Sand-Night sail running down it's metallic back, just like he did. 
He leapt back after that, terrified. "What is that?!" he said, backing up until he felt his back bump into the cold metal of Teddy. 
Teddy, who grinned sadistically and placed his talon on Shatter's shoulder. “It’s you, my friend," he said, before digging in sharp claws and thrusting Shatter to the ground. He screamed, thrashing about, until Teddy dug his other talon in to pit him more. Pain warred with panic inside his mind, but after a few seconds, an extreme calmness broke through the chaos of his mind. He saw the button to the door was still exposed, and if he could just . . . knock something into it . . . 
He shut his eyes, but he felt his tail kick something up. A moment later, and Kitta sprinted into the room, barreling into Teddy and knocking him against the wall. "TURN ON THE LIGHTS!” Kitta shouted. “THE LIGHTS! IN THE ATRIUM!” She wrestled with Teddy, pounding her fist into his face once, then twice, but being flung aside on her third strike. 
Shatter dashed back into the control room and flicked the only working switch labeled “atrium lights”. I don’t know what THAT will do, but I did it! He looked back into the room and froze. 
Teddy had Kitta pinned face-down, and was unbolting the panel on the back of her head. “NO!” Shatter cried. He threw open his wings and flashed them as bright as he could. Teddy roared and shielded his eyes, loosening his grip just enough for Kitta to wriggle out. 
“Shatter, you need to find Sundrop. He will help us, I’m sure of it!” She turned back to Teddy, who was already recovered. “Don’t you DARE HURT H—“ As she opened her mouth to yell at him, Teddy sped forward in a blur. He thrust his claw straight into her maw, provoking a loud shout that turned to garbled and mangled sounds. Kitta let out a fizzled cry of anguish and fell, staring at the ground and still making small garbage noise. Shatter knew what that meant. Her voice box had been damaged, possibly irreparably. 
“No puppet will help you this time,” Teddy snapped. “I’ll have Alligator disassemble you piece. By. Painful. Piece.” Teddy smacked Shatter with his tail, knocking him breathless on the ground and picking him up. 
”N-NnOooO!” Kitta screeched, trying to crawl to Shatter. "nO! Sh-ATT-Ter!" He could hear the desperation, the pain, the thought in her empty eyes that said she wanted to cry. 
Teddy ignored her and laughed. “Don't worry, Shatter. You're home now." 
== Part Two: Containment ==
=== Chapter 5 ===
Rebooting . . . Rebooting . . . Activating voice box. Activating eye scanners. Rebooting complete. Activating in Safe Mode.
Shatter groaned and slowly opened his eyes. What is . . . Where—? He almost screamed as he saw Sun bent over him, looking worried and distraught. “Sun?”
”Oh, stars above! Thank the sun you’re okay!” Sun lifted him up and spun around joyfully. His mask was cracked, one of his eyes were falling out, he was missing two arms, and his tail and one wing were snapped off, but other than that he looked fine. “I found you in the control room. Teddy was gone, so I took you to safety.” 'Safety' seemed to be the daycare, the place almost deserted. Shatter still remembered being here, with that sweet young dragonet...and his heart shattered. Pumpkin. She was so sweet. She didn't deserve that. 
Sun smiled at Shatter as he set him down. "We've been closed for a while now. It's almost driving me crazy without the dragonets . . . but you're here!" He giggled, and Shatter titled his head. 
"Closed? Mom would have picked me up by then."
Sun shrugged. "I'm not sure, either! But I think I still remember your name, little one! Shatter, right?" He nodded. Shatter's memories were still pristine about this sweet, cheerful golden animatronic. And of course, the one who'd kept him safe for as long as she could. Shatter suddenly realized that Kitta had been in the daycare when he'd met her. When Pumpkin introduced us. 
"Where's Kitta?" he asked quietly, not seeing her immediately. 
"Oh, Kitta's over there!" Sun said cheerily, waving his talon towards the desk near the front. Shatter looked, and panic shot through him. The dragon-cat robot was slumped over beside the desk, her eyes shut and her mechanical parts nearly silent. She didn't move, but seemed like she was back in pristine condition. Tearing across the daycare, Shatter ran to her and placed his talons on her side, shaking her. 
"Kitta?" he asked, looking her up and down. Her hatch was fixed, the dent long gone, and all of her casings were back on the way they should be. Her thin metallic whiskers were even back in shape. But she wasn't moving, or answering. "Kitta, please!" He was starting to fear the worst. That she had been decommissioned, left here to rot, all because of him and his mistakes. I survived, but I paid for it. I'm alive, and I can get out, but she paid for it. He felt like crying, but no tears came out. "Kitta . . . I'm so sorry. You-You didn't deserve this. It's my fault."
He rested his head against her shoulder and closed his eyes, silent. The animatronic who had risked herself to save him, who'd been through so much and fought so hard, was just gone. "Kitta . . . " he couldn't finish the sentence. There was nothing to say. That childish spirit. Her sweet, tender nature. The way she was willing to fight and stick her own neck out for Shatter's sake. 
"Oh-ho, what's wrong, friendo?" Sun asked, coming over without Shatter realizing it. He couldn't respond. He felt terrible about what he'd done. The way he'd cost Kitta her entire being, and for what? He wasn't out of the Pizzaplex. He was still terrified. Still stuck. Sun patted his head. "Aw, don't worry! Kitta will be back to play in just a bit!"
"It's my fault," Shatter whispered. "She's been killed and it's because of me."
"Killed?!" Sun shouted, jumping. "Oh, no, no, friend! Happy thoughts here, happy thoughts! She's just asleep, but she'll be back soon!"
Shatter wanted to cry. He knew that tone. Sun was nothing more than a robotic child. Of course he'd say she was asleep. He was trying to be gentle. She'll never be back. If she is, she won't be the same. They'll have changed her so that she wouldn't protect anyone like me. Just a young, scared dragonet . . .
Beneath his head, the metal stirred. He heard a faint whirring pick up as Sun skipped around the Daycare aimlessly. Looking up, Shatter watched as Kitta's eyes flicked open, and she systematically wiggled her talons, claws, tested the mechanisms, and swiveled her head around. Her eyes locked with Shatter's, and they widened. "Shatter!" she gasped, pain in her eyes. He realized her voice was back to normal. She must have fixed her voice box. 
"Shatter, you're-I failed you, didn't I?" she said, looking down and putting a metallic wing around him. "He has you now, doesn't he? Teddy was right," he silently watched in confusion as Kitta curled up, covering her snout and sounding like she was about to cry. "They were all right. I couldn't save you. It was pointless to try."
"Kitta, I'm fine," Shatter said, confused. "Nobody has me. They're all wrong. You're the best, and we're going to get out this time. I can feel it. You, me, and maybe even Sundrop. We'll make it out of here, and then I can finally see Mom again." It felt like forever since he'd seen his mother, though Kitta, at times, felt like a sister, which was close. Except for the time she'd picked him up. Right after I saw that . . . weird RainWing. 
Right before he was certain he died.
But Sundrop saved me, he thought, looking over at the cheery animatronic. Kitta looked at Shatter again and reached out her talon. "Shatter, look at yourself. Look at me. You're trapped like me, forever now, in this robotic hell of a living. I almost was freed from it," she said, looking into the air without focusing. "They almost let me go. But he told them to stop. To punish me by never letting me forget, or move on." She grabbed her head and doubled over. "I'm so sorry. I failed you."
Shatter tilted his head as her words sank in. He didn't understand what was so wrong. His talons were perfectly normal, not the cold, metal that Kitta's were. "Kitta, you didn't fail me. Not by any stretch of the imagination." He offered her a smile and leaned close to her, tucking his head under hers. "We can get out of here. Together." He really wanted to ask what she meant by 'being trapped'. What she was trying to forget. Maybe it was the same thing Moon didn't want to remember. And Shatter desperately wanted to know who this mysterious 'he' was. 
Kitta looked at him and patted his head gently. "It's hard to accept your fate, I know." She sighed and showed a sad little smile on her face. "In time, this will be nothing more than a faded memory. It's too late for us to escape as we were, but perhaps there is still hope in escaping as we are."
Shatter was just plain confused. “Kitta—Kitta, I’m fine! Sundrop saved me! Can’t you see? We can still escape! We just need to get upgrades of some sort so we can fight Teddy—and win.”
“Shatter—“
”Hey Sun!” Shatter called. “Sun, some help?” The dragonet smiled as the animatronic skipped over with a broad grin.
The animatronic bowed with a flourish. “Yeeeeees? What can I do for ya?”
”We need to know where Fellily is,“ Shatter replied. “I have an idea. If we can get upgrades from each of the animatronics, we can use them to fight Teddy.”
”Like Fellily’s wings and Alligator’s claws!” Sun exclaimed. “That makes sense. Buuuuut why do you want to leave?”
"Shatter!" Kitta suddenly burst out, interrupting. "Those are my friends! I would never—" she stopped, looked down at her claws, and started to speak again, though her tone had drastically changed.. "No. They were my friends. HE has changed them into something else. My friends would never, ever harm a dragonet." She reached towards Shatter and gently patted his head. Her familiar metallic talons felt nice. "It still pains me to know what we would be doing to them, but I can't hold back. I know they won't."
Shatter could only imagine how Kitta felt. Attacking and taking things from animatronics she wholly considered her friends. But to him, it was a more than worthy sacrifice if it kept him alive. He knew how fierce Kitta could be, if she'd just stop seeing them as her misguided friends and saw them instead as the savages they were. The ones who would kill a dragonet and would gladly do it again. “Kitta,” Shatter said slowly, his voice choked. “I’m so sorry about your friends. I . . . Had a friend betray me once. Not that I know what you’re going through, but . . . You’re more than a robot. Everyone should see that.” He huddled under her wing, just wanting to be a dragonet for a moment.
He could feel Kitta sigh. “Thank you, Shatter. Anyways. Sundrop? Any ideas?” Her wing lowered to embrace Shatter for a moment, then released him as she turned to Sundrop.
Sundrop grinned and spun in a circle. “Fellily could be one of two places; At the main stage with DJ Music Wing, ooooooor possibly at the Jungle Gym outside of Alligator’s Gator Golf.” He bounced up and down like a little dragonet who had too much sugar. “I can come with you! I can help! Right, Kitta? I can clean up and make sure we’re not caught! This is going to be the MOST FUN game of hide and seek ever!” He giggled as he tidied up some boxes used to make forts.
Shatter and Kitta looked at each other, then at Sun, then back at each other. “I don’t think he’s taking this seriously.” Shatter pointed out.
”He never does,” Kitta replied. “He’s much more insightful when nobody’s around. When dragons are around, you get more productive things done by playing along.” She cleared her throat. “Hey Sundrop! Come on!” She called, putting on a cheerful, exited voice. “You’re going to be the seeker, and Fellily is hiding! Got it?”
“YES!” Sun cheered, flapping his wings in excitement. “Okay, follow me! Be reeaaaal quiet so he doesn’t hear! We’ll check the Jungle Gym first!” Sun silently started bouncing away as Kitta helped Shatter into her chest cavity.
”So . . .” Shatter said once inside, feeling a little cramped. “You said before you remember some kind of puppet looking dragonet fixing you?”
Kitta started following Sun, looking both ways before she exited the daycare. “Yes,” She said through her internal speakers. “It was black like a NightWing, with a mask over its whole face. The mask was white, with a smile on it, and big red cheeks. The mask looked like it was crying, and blue stained the white mask in splatters. Almost like . . .” She trailed off, and Shatter saw her look down at her talons through the screen inside.
”Kitta?” Shatter asked comfortingly. “It’s all right if you don’t want to talk about it. I understand it’s a hard th—“
”It was blood,” Kitta breathed. She followed Sun robotically, eyes trained on her own talons. “It was blood. Blood was on my talons . . . It was coming from me. It was fixing me, and I was . . . I was bleeding.”
Shatter paused. I knew it! Part of him whispered. There’s something inside of her! But . . . How can that be possible? The other part peeped. Robots can’t have blood. It’s impossible—? “Kitta?” Shatter asked after an uncomfortable amount of silence. Kitta didn’t answer. 
“Shh!” Sun giggled. “This way! We’re almost there!” Sun skipped along, pointing down a set of lit stairs with a huge sign that said “GATOR GOLF!” Hanging above them. Sun saluted goofily and slid down the stair handlebar. Kitta followed him in silence, and Shatter watched from inside her. Kitta gingerly stepped down the stairs, making sure to not make too much noise as they reached the bottom. As they stood at the entrance, Shatter took it all in. 
The roof of gator golf was about three stories up, with dim lights hanging down. A long moat surrounded the golf course, and a bridge led to the fenced-in area of the holes. Outside the golf course was a huge jungle gym with zip lines, places to glide from one platform to another, and places for dragons of all ages to climb up to the top of towers to ring bells. Everything was the theme colors green, purple, and yellow.
“We cant get into Gator Golf—the actual golf course—yet to confront Alligator without Wolfy’s security pass. It's much higher than this," Kitta said, tapping Shatter's badge. "First we’ll have to . . . to take out Fellily, then Wolfy.” Kitta sounded shaken up, but didn’t break down. It sounded like she was about to cry, though.
Shatter exited the chest hatch and looked around. “Alright, We’ll have to get his attention somehow.” He squinted up at the towers, and his vision seemed to zoom in. He smiled to himself. Good thing I inherited my Mom’s great eyesight. “I can climb and fly up to the tower to ring the bell, and Kitta, Sun, you guys can ambush him!”
”I’ll show him to not mess with—“ Kitta cleared her throat. “I mean, Shatter, is that the best idea? It's far safer if I catch his attention with my tail bell." She raised her tail, as well as the large bell on the end of it. Shatter looked at the bell on the structure, then at Kitta, and nodded. 
"I can do this, Kitta. You and Sun need to ambush him."
"Alright then, we will do that. Yes.” Shatter could have sworn he heard her mutter; “I’ll rip apart that hellish bastard if he so much as touches him,” under her breath.
Sun grinned. “Time to seek!” He slapped Shatter on the back affectionately. “Go get em’, Shatter!” 
Shatter smiled worriedly and nodded, giving Kitta one last concerned glance before taking off towards the jungle gym. He flared his wings and jumped onto the first platform. As soon as he set foot on the plastic, he heard Fellily’s voice from across the room.
”Don’t you want to see your family again? I can help you . . .” Fellily called. “How about some candy?”
Shatter bit his lip. Don’t make too much noise, he told himself as he easily scaled a rock wall. Come on . . . He flew over the next few levels, checking behind him every once in a while to make sure Fellily wasn’t following him. Shatter looked up at the tower in front of him, trying to coordinate the best plan of attack when he heard:
”Why were you hiding?”
Shatter whirled around and stared Fellily straight in the face. Uh oh. Fellily lunged at him with a sadistic “I like playing tag!”
Shatter took off running, making a beeline for the tower: his only route of escape. He threw himself up a rope ladder, trying to not tangle his wings. He tried flashing Fellily multiple times with his scales, but it didn’t seem to work. “Go away!” Shatter cried, trying to play off of any weaknesses the animatronic may have. “N-nobody likes you! They all like Teddy and Chica better! You’ll never be anything but an announcer!” He shouted at the robot as he scrambled onto the final platform. No point in ringing the bell now!
Fellily leapt up onto the platform, fury in his lifeless eyes. “How DARE you!” He snarled, an undertone of sadness and hurt in his voice. “E-everyone likes me! I’m a magician! I can make c-c-candy!” He looked panicked as he backed Shatter up onto the edge of the platform. Anger took over and the animatronic snarled. “I’ll KILL Teddy! I’ll dismantle Chica if I have to! I WILL get the spotlight! One day . . . For now . . . Teddy will look up to ME for killing you!” Fellily wrapped his claw around Shatter’s neck, squeezing hard.
Shatter screamed in pain as all air left his lungs. He writhed, flashed, clawed, anything to get away as Fellily held him over the edge of the tower. His vision unfocused as Fellily started to twist his neck at an unnatural angle, basking in his pain as Shatter screamed again for Kitta. 
Suddenly, his prayers were answered. Kitta slammed herself into Fellily, biting into his arm and ripping out wires as Sun caught Shatter. The furious animatronic gouged out Fellily’s eye and slammed his head into the ground multiple times before tearing off his ears and using the metal to pry open Fellily’s mouth. She dug her claw in and pulled his voice box almost all the way out before slamming his head into the ground again.
Shatter couldn’t help but sob against Sundrop in horror as Kitta violently ripped off his wings and stabilizer, then pinned him down.
Fellily was screaming. He was screaming like a dragon. In anguish, the bird-like animatronic screeched and writhed, clawing at Kitta as the screams of pain from his broken voice box grew louder and more realistic. Kitta clamped his maw shut and tied it closed with the frayed rope latter before brutally stomping on his claws to crush the plating and throwing him off the tower.
Silence.
Then a loud, sickening, bone-crunching crash.
Kitta breathed heavily, her teeth bared and eyes wide. Shatter swore that he could see wild flashes of that savage attitude in her eyes until she suddenly stopped, posture relaxing and eyes taking in what she just did. “Shatter . . .” She said quietly. “Sundrop . . . What did I just do?”
”Hold still,” Sun said comfortingly, swallowing hard to try and ignore the violence that just occurred. He walked behind her and unbolted her head plate, then re-arranged a few things and screwed it back on. “You weren’t on safe mode,” He explained gently. “When you rebooted, your system switched to Primal Mode, the most basic code in the system. We almost lost you for a moment there.”
Shatter looked at Kitta, horrified, then at Sun. “D-d-does that mean that she c-c-could have done that to me? Or you, Sun? If she wasn’t in safe mode?” His eyes darted around as tears fell down his snout.
”I would n—“
”It’s possible,” Sun said quietly.
”SUNDROP!” Kitta shrieked. “I would—I would NEVER hurt Shatter! Y-y-you know that!” She made that noise that dragons made when they’re trying not to cry, but kind of overdosing on oxygen at the same time. "You have to understand that!"
Sun nodded slowly, trying to calm her down as he picked up the wings and tail stabilizer from Fellily. “But that doesn’t mean it’s not possible. Remember . . . The Incident? You didn’t mean to either, but you did.” Kitta looked like she'd been struck, muttering something that Shatter didn't catch.
"Don't put wild fantasies in his head, Sun. I. Wouldn't. Hurt. Anyone."
Sundrop looked down at his talons. “I never told you, but . . . I killed someone before, actually. It was an accident. I was helping unload boxes before the Pizzaplex opened, and a dragon was screaming at his dragnet angrily.” Anger rose in Sun’s voice as he started to remember. “So I walked over to protect him. Before the dragon could throw a blow, I caught his fist. The dragon shoved me away and started beating his dragonet. Something in me snapped. I grabbed the dragon’s neck and started squeezing. His screams stopped after a moment, but I kept going.” 
Sun’s voice was now a snarl as he squeezed the air with his talons, teeth bared. Shatter slid away from him, a little scared. “I squeezed and squeezed, then . . . Pop! Like a party popper. Blood was all over me. The dragonet didn’t even say thank you.” Sun sighed almost wistfully. “I wish I hadn’t done that. That’s why I’m usually confined to the daycare.”
Kitta stared at Sun in disbelief. “How come you never told me?”
Sun flicked his tail. “Because . . . Well, deep down, we all have a Primal Mode. And I can’t shake the feeling that having the blood on my claws . . . Seeing the pain in their eyes . . . He wants me to do it again.”
"Sundrop, I could have sworn he couldn't touch you. You seemed to fight it off so well," Kitta said, softly. 
"I believe that may have been because of Moony following the orders so diligently," Sun tried to smile, but it was clearly a pained one. Shatter looked around, wiped his tears, and tried to get a word in the conversation.
"S-So . . . who is h-he?" Shatter asked, trembling like a leaf at what he'd seen. Just how violent Kitta had been. He still saw slick oil on her talons, claws, spattered across her casing, along with a much deeper, ruby red color . . . he refused to let himself think about it. "Kitta, please. I-I'll still trust you even if you tell me what happened." If I say it enough, maybe I can convince myself it's true.
”I agree with Shatter,” Sun said quietly. He was much different from his happy-go-lucky attitude from the daycare. “We have to trust each other. Kitta, tell Shatter about . . . Your Incident, and I’ll tell him about . . . You Know Who.”
Kitta looked at him softly. “There has been . . . Far too many incidents at this cursed Pizzaplex.” She closed her eyes as she remembered. “It was just a normal day at the daycare, and I was waking up from my nap. My Rest Cycle, if you remember, Shatter."
"I do," Shatter said, suddenly feeling like he was not liking where this story was going.
Kitta nodded and kept going. "For reference, this was before we had an age and height restriction for the Daycare. I felt something inside my chest cavity, but assumed it was simply my cleaning supplies, or maybe a present I had forgotten about. I'm very klutzy like that. I used to be, anyway.” Her eyes darkened. “I was wrong about it. I began to move, and I heard something crunch, and snap. I thought nothing of it at first. I started cleaning, and tidying up for when the parents came back for the children. I never heard the screams inside of me.” 
Sun placed his wing around her, and nodded for her to go on. Shatter could see the tender way Sun took care of her, kept her from totally breaking down, and he realized just how much emotion they could feel. They're . . . they're just robots. They have to be just robots. What am I not being told?!
”A dragonet about two years older than you, Shatter, had climbed inside my chest cavity. They were too big, and their arms, wings, even their tail got caught in the gears inside of me. When I moved, it started to crush them, slowly and painfully.” She closed her eyes and shuddered. “It took weeks until every last trace was gone, except for my memory of it.” She looked down, and Sundrop carefully took over the situation.
"The Daycare was closed for a while after that. Nearly drove me crazy, hehe," Sun tried to cheer up the situation, but it was too far gone. 
Shatter’s eyes widened. “Kitta . . . I’m so so sorry . . . That wasn’t your fault. None of that was your fault. You couldn’t have changed anything, or done anything better! You were only trying to help.” That...Oh. That's what that message on her hatch screen is about, he thought, remembering the warning message he'd seen the first time she'd gone into Rest Mode.
Kitta shook her head. “They weren’t even dead yet when the maintenance crew pulled them out. They died minutes after. Right in front of me. In front of my face.” She looked at Sun. “Sundrop and I still mourn the dragonet when nobody's around. Moondrop . . . isn't as helpful. He'd rather gripe and complain and fuss at me for making so much ruckus.”
Sun and Shatter hugged Kitta on either side. She sighed, no smile lighting her face. Shatter looked up at Kitta, searching her eyes. “Don’t worry, Kitta. That will never happen again. Once we get out of here, we’ll all be free to go.”
"Shatter, friend-o," Sundrop said, placing a talon on his shoulder. "We're telling you these things because you need to know that we are not harmless, okay? We make mistakes."
"So do I," Shatter said, sighing. "But once we're free, we can fix what we've done."
Kitta looked at Shatter, murmured something, and then nodded. "Yes. Free."
=== Chapter 6 ===
Sun peeked around the corner, eyes narrowed. “Shhh,” He hissed, placing a talon in front of his mouth to motion ‘be quiet’. “It’s Wolfy.” 
Shatter’s ears perked up as he heard muttering. “Everybody likes me,” Wolfy’s voice drifted around the corner in a sing-song tone. “Everybody likes meeeee. They love my music, they love my voice, they love my . . . dancing . . .” Wolfy drifted off and suddenly shrieked in terror. Sun leapt into a locker, Shatter dove into a cardboard box, and Kitta hid behind a paper cutout of herself.
Fellily, damaged severely, limped around the corner. The metal in his joints groaned, and he uttered an agonized moan. His maw was still tied shut. Wolfy gasped, rounding the corner and eyes widening as she lay her eyes on him. She was speechless. Wolfy untied the rope around his maw, and caught him before he collapsed to the ground. 
”Fellily! Are you okay?!” Wolfy cried. “What happened to you?! Did you fall again? Did someone rip your tail-cape?” She examined him frantically, trying to keep her cool.
“Th-H-h-HHHHhhhEEY are HeeaEEaar-r-r-r!” Fellily’s damaged voice box let out a metallic shriek. Shatter heard him clawing at the ground, trying to stand. “IiiiIIIIIIii can H-H-HHEARr-r-r- ThEm!” 
Shatter’s heart pounded. He held is breath, trying as hard as he could to not move. Don’t move. Don’t breathe. 
“Where, Fellily? Who did this to you?” Wolfy asked gently. 
“H-H-H-HEaaaaaR! W-At-chIIiiii-I-i-ing u—u—u . . .” Fellily’s voice box warped and crackled into silence. Shatter’s bones froze as he heard Wolfy snarl.
“Whoever you are,” Wolfy hissed. “Show yourself!” 
Shatter dared to peek out of the crack in the box, and swallowed a gasp. Sun opened the locker and bounced out, looking worried.
“Wolfy!” He cried, sounding close to wailing. “I’m sorry I was hiding! I got afraid. Is Fellily okay?!” He knelt down next to Fellily, examining him. “What happened?”
Wolfy frowned. “Someone attacked him. Do you think it was our target?” Her tail twitched behind her menacingly. Wolfy had grey plates, with a stripe of fur going down her back like Chica. She had a streak of green and a streak of pink up by her head that matched wristbands around her wrists and ankles. She had sharp black talons and a fanged mouth, with piercing orange eyes and a lighter grey underbelly. Under her wings here intricate designs, and a microphone was strapped to her forearm.
”Possibly,” Sun said quietly. “Come this way. It must have happened in Gator Golf, from where Fellily dragged himself. We should go ask Alligator!” He said defiantly.
Wolfy nodded. “I’ll go. You stay here and watch Fellily. Make sure he’s okay.”
Sundrop saluted as Wolfy disappeared, out of Shatter’s line of sight. After a moment, Sundrop cleared his throat.
”You guys can come out now,” He said in a hushed tone. “She’s gone, but not for long.” 
Kitta stepped out and helped Shatter out of the box with a nod. “He must still be able to hear us with his Enchanted Abilities module. We all didn’t get one, only Fellily and Teddy. The Enchanted module gives one extremely advanced hearing and sight. We have to remove it unless he’s going to find us again. It is located where a dragon’s heart would be.”
”Leave that to me,” Shatter nodded, rolling the unconscious animatronic onto his back. He used his tail barb to pry open his chest cavity, and peered inside into the shadows. He lit up his barb, and reached in until he felt a circular device. “Alright, I think I have it.” He yanked, and sparks scorched his vision for a moment. Wincing, he pulled back and stumbled into the box. He held up what he had retrieved; the ability module. Shatter smiled proudly. “I d—“
”Sundrop! I can’t find Alligator!” Wolfy’s voice rang out down the hall.
Sun winced. “Go! I’ll distract her.” Before Kitta could protest, he smiled and nodded. “I’ll be fine.”
Kitta helped Shatter onto her back and she bolted down the hall. Shatter clung to her neck as Sun vanished from sight.
”We need to get to parts and service,” Kitta informed him. “Sundrop has messaged me, and told me to meet him at Wolfy Skyway. We will upgrade my wings, then head there.” 
Shatter tightened his grip as she sped up. “Alright. Let’s do this!”
~~~
”Careful!” Kitta peeped as Shatter unbolted her wings. “Those are very fragile!”
”It’s a wonder they aren’t broken already,” Shatter pointed out. “These things are old tech.” He gingerly set them on the ground, then held up Fellily’s dismembered wings. “But these are strong enough for an animatronic to fly.” As he started to fasten the first wing, he asked, “Sun never told me who He was before we heard Alligator coming after us. Care to elaborate?”
Kitta flinched as Shatter drilled the wing into her arm. It was a miracle she hadn't yelped or tried to squirm yet.“It’s . . . Complicated.”
”We have a while.”
”Alright. He is a sort of . . . Glitch, maybe? Phantom? Spirit? I don’t really know. But . . . He has tried to hijack our systems many times. His orders always differ from Headquarters’ orders. They’re always more . . . Dark. Evil. They seem, corrupt in a way, but we’re always forced to follow them. For example, when we first met, our orders from Headquarters were the status quo, to protect the dragonets and keep them happy. His orders were to kill all the dragonets and pick the most suitable body. If we don’t follow, like I did, He appears. He can touch us, hurt us, dismantle us, like a normal dragon could."
"So when you said that 'he' told them to stop, you meant him?"
"Hm?"
"When I first came to," Shatter continued. "You talked about how you'd failed me—which you haven't, by the way—and that you were almost freed from a torturous existence. But 'he' told them to stop."
"That's a lot more complicated Shatter. I don't think you're ready to hear that part of things." She sighed, then carried on. "But . . . He’s invisible to everyone but us. Until now. If he has appeared to you, I fear the worst. He may be after you personally, Shatter.”
”Why me? What does he want?” Shatter asked, finishing the first wing and moving onto the second. “I’m not special. I’m just a normal dragon.” With a hybrid father and AbyssWing mother, He thought to himself.
Kitta flapped her new wing, then looked at him. “Honestly, I don’t know. If I was him I would have picked someone more . . . Extroverted. Pumpkin, for example.” Her voice caught. “Apologies for mentioning her. But he has his evil heart set on you for some reason.”
Shatter smirked, realizing she'd once again dodged the question of what he wanted overall. “That was the most backhanded insult I’ve ever received. I appreciate it, actually. I’m just your normal, average—“ He paused to re-soder the wires that attach to the wings. “—tribrid dragon.” He stepped back and admired his handiwork. “Maybe not average,” He added as he picked up a can of spray paint that matched Kitta. “But definitely normal.” He sprayed the wings so they matched Kitta, then grinned.
Kitta shook herself and lifted her arms to spread her new wings. “Are you sure these will work? I don't know how similar mine and Felilly's models are."
”Only one way to find out!” Shatter said as he eagerly leapt on Kitta's back. After hearing her horror story only a little bit ago, he wasn't eager to get back in the chest cavity anytime soon. Shatter pointed for the door. “Let’s go meet Sun!”
Kitta bobbed her head and started out of parts and service. Shatter kept watching her experimentally spreading her new wings, flexing them like she was getting used to them. That's actually probably how it feels to have something like a body part so casually replaced, he thought. 
They crossed the main arboretum, trying to stay hidden from Chica (she was around, but didn't seem too focused on them), and made a beeline for a huge, tall hallway that led to a gigantic go-kart track. Shatter’s eyes widened as he took it all in. “This place is huge!” he mused, amazed. Fake mountaintops were scattered about, fog and cardboard clouds almost covering the entire ground. Just being near it felt like he was miles high in the sky, soaring above everything and grinning madly ear to ear. The track itself wound around nearly the entire place, supported by metal beams that were hidden by cloud props. At times, the track disappeared into the foggy layer, and at other times it nearly grazed the ceiling. If only he could enjoy such a fun pastime as this . . . instead, he was here to kill something.
Or someone, rather.
Kitta silently crept along, scanning the area for Sun. A ball pit, almost like a moat, surrounded the kart track. It would be an effective way to help cushion a landing from any accidents that could occur with flightless dragonets. As Shatter looked up, he spotted part of the track high in the air wasn’t finished being built yet, caution tape lining it and signs saying that the racetrack was closed for a big surprise. Most importantly, the ball pit didn't extend to that area yet, instead landing on the hard concrete floor. It would result in a painful kind of death if someone drove off the edge . . . or got pushed. Shatter bit his lip. 
“I have an idea. If we can lure Wolfy up onto that new piece of track, we might be able to get her to run off the edge.”
Kitta paused and nodded. "That could work, Shatter, but Wolfy is fast. Much faster than Felilly. If you were the bait, she'd likely charge off the edge with you in her claws."
"Kitta, I'll be-"
”Wolfy!” Sundrop’s distraught voice suddenly rang out. Kitta froze, tucking in her new wings and crouching behind a stack of boxes. Shatter could have sworn that she was shaking a little, but that was due to the situation. The duo could see Sun, slowly moving up the track higher and higher, being backed up onto the precipice that dropped off behind him by Wolfy. Sun's voice full of panic and pleading. “I didn’t do it! I-I swear! Why don't we just c-calm down, friend-o, we can-AHHH!” 
Wolfy snapped her jaws at him, backing him onto the edge even more. His leg slipped and he struggled to right himself, seeing the drop below. Kitta's eyes widened, then she growled. Kitta, please don't- Before he could finish that thought, she started forward, sprinting as fast as she could to reach the animatronics. As he desperately clung onto Kitta's neck, Shatter could tell that no matter how hard she tried, she wouldn't be fast enough. There was just too much track to cover. Wolfy shoved Sundrop, and he fell over the edge headfirst, barely catching the track by a single talon. Now, he dangled over thin air. 
“WOLFY!” Kitta shouted, racing up the track even faster, trying to get the wolf-like animatronic's attention. “NO!” 
Wolfy ignored Kitta and instead stomped on Sun’s claw, trying to get him to let go. Sun shrieked in pain and tried to pull himself up, but it was to no avail. As they got closer and closer, Shatter suddenly leapt up off Kitta’s back and yelled, “Go! I have a plan!” Kitta only paused for the briefest moment before continuing her blind pursuit, her new wings spreading menacingly as if she was about to take flight. 
While Kitta ran to save Sundrop, Shatter climbed into a go-kart that was on the side of the track, the cloud design not even remotely calming as he stomped on the gas. At first, the wheels spun out before finally he began to move. By now, Kitta had gotten Wolfy's attention, and the two were hissing, roaring, clawing at each other savagely. Shatter gripped the wheel harder and gritted his teeth. Please, say this works. Please, he thought as he zoomed towards the animatronics. Wolfy and Kitta still brawled with each other, both too fast to land a blow on the other. “Get Sun!” Shatter called as he grew closer and gained speed.
Kitta turned her head, allowing Wolfy to land a powerful blow to the side of her neck. As Kitta recoiled, she thrust her tail over the edge and shouted, "Sundrop, grab on!" Wolfy was too busy gloating over hitting Kitta to try and stop it as Sun desperately clung to Kitta's bell tail. Shatter could only watch, getting faster and faster, as Sun was yanked out of the way and Kitta tucked herself around him defensively, rolling to the side of the track. By now, the ground was so far away that Shatter couldn't look down. The edge was almost upon him, and he took a deep breath to try and steady himself.
Wolfy spun around after seeing Kitta fling herself to the ground, just in time to see the headlights of Shatter's kart in front of her. Shatter roared, closing his eyes as he heard the mechanical scream and the sound of metal colliding with metal. Before long, though, he felt the air rushing past him as he was flung by the cart. More accurately, Wolfy ripped him out of it before losing her grip on him. Now, falling from nearly the ceiling, Shatter started screaming. The ground was coming up too quickly, making him feel nauseous. 
Beside him, he heard Wolfy screaming too. Her flimsy wings were spread out, but it was hardly slowing the bulky metal from falling like a rock. Shatter himself wasn't doing much better, falling nearly as fast and being too afraid to spread his wings. He knew he couldn't fly yet. Instead, he wrapped his wings around him and squeezed his eyes shut. There was no way anyone could get to him fast enough. Maybe, if he was lucky, he could try and land on Wolfy to have some kind of break to his fall. 
Far above, Shatter thought he heard Sundrop's panicked voice, followed by the tinkling of bells and a mechanical whoosh sound. Too afraid to look, he simply listened to the whistling air, his own screaming, and the robots around him. "KITTA!" He heard Wolfy scream, desperate. "KITTA, PLEASE! KITTA!" 
"Wolfy, I'm . . . I'm not sorry," he heard, before all his momentum came to a crashing halt against metallic arms. Now he was moving sideways, and he dared to open his eyes a crack. Kitta was carrying him in her front arms, holding him tightly to her chest. At first, he thought he heard a beating heart before realizing it was probably his own pounding like crazy in his chest. Then, the sound stopped completely, and he looked up at Kitta's face. She seemed brave and determined, but wasn't looking at Shatter. In her eyes, he saw the worry, the regret, the fear, the pain of what she was going through. That's when he realized that Kitta wasn't walking on the track. 
She was flying in the air.
Well, more like gliding at the moment, but she was using the wings she'd never used and risking herself once again for Shatter. He buried his snout in her metal chest and let himself cry, though no tears came out. "Kitta, you're so brave," he whispered. "I wish I could be like you."
"You're brave enough as you are, Shatter," she said, softly as she came to a landing near the edge of the ball pit. "I'm proud of you." He smiled through his sobs and worries, and looked at Kitta as she folded her wings in. "I suppose they support me now, but I still don't know if I can take off from the ground or go up with them. Falling with style is all I can do, for now."
Shatter looked up at her. “Thank you, Kitta,” He said gratefully. “You saved my life.”
Kitta smiled. “And you saved Sundrop.”
=== Chapter 7 ===
Shortly after they landed, the loud clunking sound of the robot falling echoed around them. Wolfy had finally hit the ground. Shatter wiggled out of Kitta's arms and slowly approached her. "Shatter, are you sure you—"
"It's fine, Kitta," he said as he drew closer. "She's not getting back up for a while." As he studied Wolfy, he swore he heard Kitta wince. The once-fast, vain wolf-dragon animatronic was now splayed out on the ground, twitching and sparking. Her plastic casing was shattered in places, the pieces scattered near where she landed and her endo now exposed in several places. Her sleek mane was tangled, burnt at the ends and torn out in places. Biggest of all, her eyes hung out of her head, basically blinding her. “Oh man…” Shatter breathed. “That’s . . . Ow.” He shuddered, not liking the way her hanging eyes looked at him, and reached over to simply tear them out with a small display of sparks.
Kitta took a deep ‘breath’ and looked over at her fallen friend. “Her security pass is located in a plate on her left talon, I believe.” Kitta informed him. “There is a spot you can press in to retrieve it. Similar to how I have a keycard to the Daycare, she has the security clearance to get into basically anywhere.” Shatter nodded and pressed down on Wolfy's left talon, and a card extended from it. He gingerly plucked the card out of her paw, but then Wolfy gave a violent jolt, lurching towards Shatter and Kitta. 
”MY FACE! MY FACE! GIVE M-M-E BACK mY EYEs!” She shrieked, thrashing blindly. Shatter barely rolled out of the way and Kitta jumped backwards.
Shatter looked over at Sun, who was now coming off the racetrack and walking over to them, his cheery face trembling with worry for Wolfy. “Sun, can you help me restrain her? We might be able to put her on Safe M—“ He was cut off as Wolfy, in a blur, tackled him with all her might and pinned him to the ground with her claws to his neck. Shatter tried to yell, but it was choked out.
“Wolfy, calm down!” Kitta exclaimed. “You almost killed Sundrop over nothing! He has nothing to do with me or Shatter! You deserved this!" She stepped forwards with an audible metal sound, and Wolfy growled, digging her claws in harder.
"I can hear you . . . Kitta. Don't move another inch." When Wolfy spoke, she wasn't quite looking anywhere, but she was certainly angry. Rightfully so, Shatter thought, fighting to speak. Strangely, only his voice wasn't working, but he could still breathe just fine. Kitta took another step, and Wolfy lifted her head, looking in the general direction of Kitta, and howled.
”STAY BACK!" she screamed, “STAY BACK! I'LL KILL HIM!” Kitta stopped cold, and Sun looked queasy next to her. Time to be brave, Shatter thought. I can do this. 
He discreetly aimed his tail barb right for the joint in Wolfy’s arm, and thrust it forward as hard as he possibly could. Wolfy’s arm snapped straight in two at the joint and she bellowed in agony, rolling off Shatter and onto the ground before regaining her footing. Kitta took a step back, gasping, and started towards Shatter, but Wolfy's damaged ears perked up and she turned to 'look' directly at Kitta. Shatter saw this and shouted, "Kitta, I'm fine, look out!"
Kitta paused, and if the gasp and metal scraping wasn't enough, the small bells all over her jingled softly. Wolfy leapt at Kitta and barreled into her, knocking her down with a roar. Sundrop yelped and reached over, trying to grab Wolfy, but as soon as he'd touched her she snapped her jaws down on his arm. Sun screamed, trying to wriggle away until Wolfy tossed him aside. He landed against the wall with a loud thunk and slumped down. 
While Wolfy was distracted with sun, Shatter ran for Kitta to stop her from getting hurt any more. He got there just as Wolfy turned back around and dove to try and bite Kitta's head, to which she parried with one of her brand-new wings. I need to stop Wolfy! If I get her into Safe Mode, Kitta can get away! Shatter leapt into the air and came down on Wolfy's back, grabbing what was left of her silky mane and holding on tight. Wolfy howled and twisted, making agonized mechanical sounds as she tried to frantically shake him off. The world was a blur around him, but Shatter was determined to hold on. Gripping with on talon, he started re-wiring the exposed wires on the back of her head. Almost there—got it! 
Just as he did, Shatter was launched off, painfully landing on his wing as he tumbled to the floor. He heard something going crack and SNAP inside of it, but that wasn't even close to a concern right now.
Wolfy’s cursing and bellowing died away almost instantly. She sat down, hanging her head, before getting back up and slowly pacing in circles. “Hello?” She called. “E-everyone still likes m-me, right?” She sounded on the verge of tears. “Where did everyone go? Why did you leave?” She started whimpering, a lot like a newborn dragonet, and wandered away, stumbling out sight. Luckily, her security pass was laying on the ground where it had fallen out, and once she was far away, Shatter moved to scoop it up.
Sundrop shook himself off and got up, almost about to say something, but Kitta put her talon to her snout to signal silence. Together, the three of them snuck out of the raceway.
As soon as they were out, Shatter breathed a sigh of relief. "Wolfy's so much . . . nicer in Safe Mode," he breathed. He was about to say more, but was stopped by the agonizing pain rocketing through his shoulder. His left wing was lying limp at his side, dragging along the floor. He stumbled and almost fell, but caught himself. “Ah . . . That hurts . . .” He peeped almost inaudibly.
“Shatter, we need to get this fixed!” Kitta exclaimed, hearing him and looking at him. “The endoskeleton in your wing is completely broken!”
Shatter smiled half heartedly, with a small laugh. “You mean bone? You forget I'm not an animatronic, Kitta."
Sundrop and Kitta exchanged a glance, and Kitta sighed and gave a weak nod. 
“I’ll be f-fine,” Shatter assured them, biting his tongue to not cry out in pain as he moved to Kitta and handed her the security pass. “Here. W-we can go to Alligator next, right?”
”That should be correct-a-mundo!” Sun replied, back to being cheery. “And that will be our last friend to find!"
"Unless one of us gets damaged in some way," Kitta muttered, almost impossibly to hear, but Shatter still picked up on it.
Sun carried on without fail. "Chica wouldn't hurt us, and she's not playing our little game, anyway! Bonnie . . .” Sun suddenly stopped talking and Kitta looked away. “Oh, forgive me, Kitta! I . . . Forgot that Bonnie isn’t with us any more . . .”
Kitta sighed. “It's . . . it's whatever, Sundrop. Anyway, Shatter, we should really get your wing checked out.”
Shatter shook his head, and used his arm to fold his wing onto his side. “I’m fine. I promise.” He nodded at Kitta and smiled. “It’s kinda just numb anyways.”
“If you’re sure . . .” Kitta trailed off, unconvinced. “Alright. Let’s go.”
~~~
Kitta nervously swiped her new security pass on the gates to Gator Golf, looking around to make sure Fellily or Chica weren’t hiding somewhere nearby. Shatter couldn’t help but notice Sun staring worriedly at a light switch next to the card receiver. What's wrong? There's plenty of lights inside the golf, right? Before he could ask, the gates mechanically swung open, and the trio stepped inside. 
“Alright,” Shatter said quietly. “How can we make sure that Alligator is in here?”
Sundrop raised his hand. “I can go a-lookin’ for him!” He exclaimed. “At l-least, I hope I can, haha!" He sounded a lot more worried, and he kept looking at the sparse lighting in the golf area like he expected something to jump out at him. "It's just a game of hide-and-seek, after all! Little ol' Moony wouldn't interfere with that!" At the end, Shatter heard him whisper, "Would he?"
Kitta tapped her talons together nervously. "Sundrop, if you don't want to, I understand. It might be safer if you sit this out, anyway. The lights aren't exactly the . . . best in here."
"Oh-ho, don't be s-silly, Kitta! I'm sure it'll be fine!" he said, waving his talon quickly. "A-Anyway, what I know is that our friend-"
"He's not our friend, Sun," Shatter said, a little annoyed at that comment.
"-Er, about Alligator, is that he's waterproof. Ooh, it's always so cool to watch him swimming in the moats!" Sundrop seemed to jump a little, before continuing. "But if we want to find him, water and electricity don't usually mix, now do they? I know there's generators in here!" he clapped his talon excitedly. "Then we can get out of here!"
Kitta looked mortified. “Sun, that’s a little . . . much, don’t you think? Couldn’t we just try what we did with Wolfy, and put him on Safe Mode or something?” She asked as the gates closed behind them. "I don't want to ruin him." 
“I know you don’t want to hurt them, and I don’t either,” Shatter assured her. “But even in Safe Mode I don’t think he’ll let us go.”
Kitta sighed once more. “Fair enough.”
Shatter’s ears suddenly perked up. “I hear something,” He muttered. His eyes widened, peering into the dark greenish water below them. It almost looked like a shadow was in there . . . his blood ran cold as he skittered away, shouting, “Get away from the water!” They all jumped away just as Alligator launched out of the moat and onto the bridge where they were standing. 
The animatronic licked his fangs as his black eyes examined them. He was dripping with water, his green-brown casing accented with gold streaks and a pair of starry glasses. Additionally, he had a patch of the same silky mane like Chica and Roxy, though smaller and pure red. “Looks like Sun joined the dumb duo, eh?” Alligator snarled, laughing. He studied the three curiously. "A dragonet, a pathetic robot, and a traitor," he mused. 
Alligator launched over the ground, towards the light switch they'd passed when they entered. Shatter saw both Sundrop and Kitta freeze up in fear. Sun was shaking, looking at the light swtich desperately, and Kitta just seemed . . . afraid in general. Like it was Alligator himself that made her nervous. He slowly moved his talon over to the light switch. “Maybe I should make it a little more . . . fair, right? A 3 v 1 is never fair, but a 2 v 2 . . . ” he trailed off and laughed again.
"A-Alligator, don't you dare," Kitta stuttered, ducking her head. "Don't you dare bring Moondrop into this."
Sun didn't respond, only looked at the light switch with an intense fixation, petrified. Suddenly, he whispered, "P-Please, Alligator, friend-o, I'll just go, a-alright? P-Pretty please with extra sprinkles on top?"
The animatronic grinned sadistically. "HAH! As if, Sun. You deserve this." As he talked, Shatter threw open his only working wing and flashed as bright as he could at Alligator. They could stop him and force him down easily in that state. Kitta and Sundrop both made some kind of hissing sound, seeing some of the bright light, but instead of freezing and shrieking, Alligator simply let out a bark of laughter and tapped his sunglasses. "Nice try, dragonet." He closed his claws around the switch, and Kitta screamed.
”NO!” She ran at Alligator, fiercely, shouting. In response, the MudWing robot yanked the switch to the other side and jumped into the moat before she could tackle him. As the splash of water echoed in the room, the lights began to shut off in chunks, their soft buzz turning to pure silence as the room was shrouded in darkness. Shatter tucked his tail and wings closer to him, feeling suddenly afraid. 
Sundrop fell to his knees, screaming for Shatter to run as he clawed at his face. Kitta yanked and tugged at the switch, but it wasn't budging. As the sound of Sundrop's struggling was weaker and weaker, Kitta grabbed Shatter and threw him, hiding him behind a tiny flour mill that was used in mini golf. Shatter heard what happened next, panic rising in his throat. 
"Sundrop! Sunny, come on!" he saw a faint glow coming from Kitta as the star patterns across her body lit up. Sundrop's weak voice said something indistinct, and Shatter pulled himself behind the mill again. Sundrop’s voice changed, becoming sickeningly familiar as it got more sadistic and his screaming turned to cruel laughter and giggles of delight. At the last second, Shatter saw Kitta run towards him and hide behind the mill as well, dimming her star patterns back to nothing.
“Finally," Moondrop said, sounding relieved. "Ki-tta . . . Shatter . . .” Moondrop laughed, calling their names eerily and drawing them out. “Where are you hi-ding?” He said in a sing-songy voice. “I’m coming to find you!” 
Shatter ducked his head as he saw Moon skip by. “We have to get Alligator and turn the lights back on!” He whispered. “What happened to Sun?”
”It's Moondrop," Kitta whisper-hissed, closing her eyes. "He only comes out when the lights are turned off.” Kitta nodded to Shatter. “My internal map says there’s a generator behind hole number eight. That hole is a castle, and the generator is inside. If we can get there, we should be able to push it into the water.”
Shatter nodded. “Alright, it’s a plan. I can sneak easier than you can, so I’ll do it.” He put on a brave face. “If you can distract Moon at least, it should be easy.”
Kitta wrapped him in a hug with her still-new wings. “Be careful, Shatter. Don't you dare die.”
”I wasn't planning on it,” he said, smiling. Shatter waited until he couldn’t see Moon anymore, and started sprinting away. He ducked underneath an arch for putting and froze. He heard the mechanical clicking and scraping of Moondrop passing by, and dared glance back at their former hiding spot. Kitta wasn't to be seen. 
Alright, hole number eight, he thought, sneaking around to check the sign for the hole he was at. Hole number thirteen? I’m not even close! He tried to see the castle, and could barely make out a spire in the darkness. He heard someone throw something, and Moon’s confused noise as whatever it was hit him in the head. Shatter ran across the green, making his way to hole number five. 
“Where aaaare you? No sense in hiding!” Moon sang. “It’s far past your bedtime . . . HEY! Whoever you are, stop throwing stuff!” he shouted, as something else clanged against his head.
Shatter snorted. He leapt over a plastic beaver and silently snuck into the castle. Alright, there’s the generator. He started pushing it, and luckily for him, it was on wheels. Before he could make it more than ten talon-steps, Alligator rose out of the moat in front of him, menacing and dripping water with that shark-tooth grin on his face.
”Be a good kiddo and don’t scream,” Alligator hissed, his voice snakelike and dripping with malice. Shatter fought the urge to do so, backing up and shrinking away as Alligator continued talking. “Just be quiet. Kitta will be fine if you just turn yourself in. If not . . .” He smirked. 
"Y-You can't do anything to her," Shatter whispered, trying to be brave. Alligator laughed, and far away, Shatter thought he heard Kitta yelp and Moondrop shout 'Found you'. He wasn't sure, though. 
"I can do plenty by just being near her," he said. As Alligator paused to start monologuing, Shatter started slowly pushing the generator. "She fears me, and for the right reason. Every time she remembers what happened, she sees my face. I can make her do anything, kill anyone, and I can break her just as easily as I can break you. In. Half," he grinned and started reaching towards Shatter, who had to make a choice. He could stay where he was, or he could try and force the generator into the water with all his might. 
Shatter’s eyes darted from Alligator to the generator. Suicide or being murdered. I can't survive this. But I can at least take Alligator with me, he thought. As Alligator tried to grab him, he ran forward with all his strength, pushing the generator as it gained more and more speed rolling down towards the moat. Alligator grabbed empty air before turning towards Shatter with a snarl. That's when he finally pulled the lever on the generator, and it roared to life. Shatter screamed as he, Alligator, and the generator all fell into the moat. He braced himself instinctively, though he wasn't sure it would matter.
Alligator roared in pain as electricity fried his circuits, screaming and howling until the sound died away, the smell of burning plastic and metal reaching Shatter's nose and filling the entire golfing area. 
Shatter smiled, glad he'd accomplished at least one good thing. He closed his eyes, thinking of Kitta, before he blacked out as the electricity reached him, and he lost all feeling in his body.
~~~
" . . . Please . . . wake up . . . "
Shatter was in a void of darkness. He felt like not all of him was there. A part of him was missing, and it nagged at him. Was this heaven? Hell? Or some kind of awful in-between, perhaps? His wing wasn't broken anymore, and he felt stronger. A wave of calm washed over him every time he started to feel afraid or started panicking. Carefully, he tried to pinch himself, only to find that his talon went through his arm. Was this a dream? Was he even alive anymore?
" . . . I've done all I can for you . . . "
It was pitch-black all around him. Not even lighting up his wings seemed to make even a dent in it. It was like gloom, pressing around him, but filling him with the feeling of security. Like it was over and this was his final release. A chance to finally leave the mortal world. His last chance to say goodbye to everyone and everything before he moved on forever. 
" . . . Was this . . . hopeless?"
Shatter wanted to cry. There was so much he hadn't done in his life. He wanted to see his parents again. He wanted to try and make friends again. He wanted to finish his studies and get a job involved with machines like his father did. All of it was gone. He was only just a dragonet, still, with so many things left in the world to see that now, he never would. And of course, the animatronics who'd tried their best to keep him alive wouldn't be allowed a proper goodbye for him. He thought about how Kitta said she'd reacted when she'd caused the death of a dragonet. Would they react this way again?
" . . . You were so brave . . . "
He let the calming blackness envelop him, seeping into his scales and taking him away in it's comfort. It was a sort of bliss, and a sort of agonized state of being. As he closed his eyes, a bright purple light assaulted them and made him look up. The bright glow chased away the gloom around it and suddenly made it the opposite of calming. Shatter panicked as the light took a sickeningly familiar form—the same bunny-like RainWing he'd seen so long ago. "Welcome back, Six," it said, smiling to reveal a maw of mismatched, jumbled teeth. "You probably think you're about to be free, don't you?" 
Shatter didn't want to respond, and it felt like he couldn't, anyway. Like all the air was being pressed out of his lungs at once. The RainWing laughed and stared at him, looming above. "Unfortunately for both of us, you have unfinished business of mine to attend to. So you'll stay here, bound to your pathetic husk forevermore until I'm finally done with you." The RainWing lifted his claw and reached out to Shatter, but stopped before touching him. "Your feline friend cannot protect you forever, Six. In the end, she's just my puppet too, just like the others." Shatter was silent as the RainWing touched his snout, the darkness swallowed both of them whole.
He suddenly shot upright, causing Kitta to yelp. "SHATTER! You're back!" she cried, overjoyed, and picked him up and held him close. Tenderly. Shatter blinked and looked around. They were somewhere that was dark and smelled musty and old, surrounded by crates, wood palettes, and bits of rock and rubble. Peering further away, Shatter saw a faint sign that said 'Wolfy's Skyway'. So they were back here . . . but why? And what was that strange place he'd just been in? 
"I thought I'd lost you," Kitta said. Shatter could hear in her voice, that despite not being able to cry, she was still crying inside. "When Moon caught me, I was eventually able to throw him off, but then I heard Alligator's screams. At first, I—I thought you'd done it successfully, but then I saw you in the water as well. I . . . I feared the worst, Shatter. You're so, so lucky that your model was waterproof, but still. Almost all of your circuitry was fried. I tried my best, but-"
"Kitta, stop," Shatter said, quietly. "I saw him."
She stood there, mouth agape and stunned. "Again? So . . . I was sadly right that he's after you." Kitta sighed and hugged Shatter closer. "I won't let him hurt you, Shatter. I won't let him hurt anyone else again." He heard anger creeping into her voice, and he thought of what the RainWing had said. 'Your feline friend cannot protect you forever'. Should I tell Kitta? He looked at her determined, hopeful eyes, and couldn't bring himself to say anything. She needs to have something to be hopeful for.
Shatter looked up at her. “Kitta, we can get out of here,” He finally said. “If we kill him, we can escape. Either to the outside world . . .” he placed his talon on hers. “Or to final rest.”
He saw Kitta looking to her side for a moment, like she was about to speak, and suddenly an animatronic uncloaked like a RainWing from midair. Shatter yelped and jumped backwards. The animatronic had the same mask on as Kitta had described, with black scales and a long tail with three white stripes wrapping around it. It was the same size as Shatter, and looked minuscule next to Kitta. It stood there, head cocked. 
“Hello, Kitta. Shatter. I fixed you,” Its voice sounded like a female dragonet, but with an eerie echo and ring to it. Her wing-claws were bloodied, and she moved like a puppet on strings. “Sadly, that will be the last time I can do this for you all. I am losing myself, Shatter. Just like you. Just like Kitta, and how Alligator, Chica, and Teddy succumbed to him. I wish to be freed."
Kitta gave a look at Shatter with an almost guilty look. "She's right. I am not immune to him, and neither are you, Shatter. 
"You must not leave, not yet.” The strange animatronic circled Shatter curiously. “You must gather all of the animatronics and lead them into the basement. There is a sinkhole beneath Wolfy’s Skyway that leads there.”
Kitta nodded for her to go on, as if she had already been briefed on the plan.
”The sinkhole is extremely dangerous, and will easily collapse. He is down there, pulling the strings and meddling.” The puppet dragonet sat inches from Shatter’s face, staring into his soul uncomfortably. “You must collapse the sinkhole and destroy all of the animatronics. Even Kitta. If you do not, He will live on in her system, and the cycle will continue. This is a loop, Shatter. You cannot escape.”
Kitta stood. “Shatter, this is a suicide mission. You won’t believe me when I say this, but just hear me out. Teddy captured you and killed you. He stuffed you inside the newest model of animatronic, one that can cry, bleed, and breathe. You are haunting this body, not actually living in it.” She closed her eyes for a moment. “Shatter, you’re dead. We all are. Puppet here is, I am. She helped me see . . . unlock my memories that he tried to steal from me. I still can’t remember everything, like you can, but if we move on from this world-"
"No, you're wrong," Shatter said, suddenly. He couldn’t feel anything. All sound suddenly seemed to flick off. His breathing grew more rapid, and his eyes darted around. No. No, I can’t be dead! I can feel things! I can have emotion! Right? Or is it all just an illusion?!
”Shatter?” He heard Kitta’s muffled voice. “Shatter, calm down, please. If we want to escape, we can't spend time focusing on the fact. I accepted it long ago,” she tried to reach towards Shatter gently, but he batted her talon away and she looked offended. "The sooner you do, the sooner we can get out of here!"
Shatter stood and slowly started backing away from Puppet and Kitta. “No.” He breathed. “No no no no no . . .”
Kitta looked like she was getting angry. “Shatter, just CALM DOWN. Can’t you imagine how I’m feeling right now? I’ve been like this for FAR longer than you and I'm only NOW able to have a hope for escape!” She stepped towards him, talons extending. “Shatter, don’t you DARE run. I'm not going to let you ruin this for me.” Her eyes looked like they were changing orange, the same color as Chica’s and Moon’s.
”NO!” Shatter turned to run, but Kitta stomped on his tail, pinning him. Pain rocketed through his body and he turned in fright. Flinging open his wings, he lit up as bright as he could. Kitta hissed and recoiled, while Puppet simply vanished. Shatter turned and bolted. Don’t stop, just run. Everywhere he turned he saw him blocking his path, sneering at him in glee. Shatter finally stopped in front of the exit to the pizzaplex. Chica sat there, orange eyes trained on him. She smiled.
”Look who it is.” She stood, eyes not moving. “Finally realized the futility of your existence? How Kitta is only another puppet? You will make him live on, Shatter. Accept it. You can’t resist, not any more.”
”Chica?” Shatter breathed. “You were a dragonet too. Remember.”
Chica tilted her head, and swore he saw her eyes flicker from the same blank expression to guilt and pain. “Shut up. Just accept your fate and come here.” She extended her talon, and Shatter felt it . . . Almost welcoming. Free of guilt, pain, loss . . . He would just be nothing. A puppet for someone else. It would be nice, he thought, to not have to feel like a burden any longer. Kitta would be free to forget any of that ever happened (A small part of his mind asked him if she'd want that). He would be forgotten. 
Shatter slowly approached her. He lifted his talon. All the animatronics would be fixed. He would be erased. Everything would be gone. Shatter heard the thumping of Kitta’s claws on the atrium floor. His claw inched closer and closer to Chica’s. I’m sorry, He thought. But this is for the best. Right? 
Suddenly, Puppet appeared right next to him and caught his claw before it could land on Chica’s. All the voices in his head telling him it was for the best were washed away, filled with all the hope of escape, and seeing his family once more. Puppet turned to look at him, her blank eyes earnest. He heard her voice echoing in his mind. Don’t. Do it.
Suddenly, everything seemed to move in slow-motion. Kitta smashed into Chica, who screamed in terror. A tear slipped down the Puppet’s mask, and she evaporated into thin air. Shatter’s vision blurred and re-focused as He appeared in the corner of Shatter’s vision, snarling angrily.
”KITTA!” Shatter suddenly screamed. He saw Chica rip out his friend’s voice box and throw it to the side while Kitta smashed the side of Chica’s face and snapped her arm off. He started advancing towards Kitta, purple stands of digital-looking tentacles reaching for her. A thought cleared Shatter’s mind and he was already running. Kitta said she was caught by Moon in the golf area. What if she isn’t in safe mode? He can get to her! 
Shatter watched Chica go limp and Kitta flinch as the glitch started berating her systems. Shatter sprang into the air and opened her head panel. Kitta thrashed and smashed him against the floor, threw him against the wall, but he kept getting back up.
Shatter smirked, despite the situation. Nice try, he thought at him. But you made me immortal. Shatter leapt onto Kitta’s back and clung onto her neck. He reached his hand inside of her and plugged up different wires, pulling out others, and finally pressing a button. He roared and disappeared as Kitta slowly started to stop moving. Shatter dropped off of her and looked up as Kitta’s eyes locked straight ahead of her.
Kitta suddenly blinked and moved after a good whole minute. She tried to speak, but a crackly, mechanical screech rang out instead. She flinched backwards, looking crushed, staring at her torn-out voice box wistfully. Instead, she crouched down and looked at Shatter, gently touching the side of his face. Her paws seemed to move in a certain way, almost like she was trying to communicate with her talons.
Shatter couldn’t help but laugh. “Don’t worry,” He said, wiping blood off of his plastic casing. “I’ll get you fixed up, Kitta."
== Part Three: Breach ==
=== Chapter 8 ===
Shatter felt extremely uncomfortable sticking his arms into Kitta’s head, but it had to be done. “Almost there,” he assured her. “Just need to hook this up, twist this around . . . There!” He clicked a switch and stepped back. “How does it feel?”
Kitta blinked and looked thoughtful for a moment, then said, “It feels fine, actually.” Shatter jumped. Her voice sounded exactly like Chica’s. Kitta looked rather shocked as well. “Shatter, I’m really—“
Shatter snorted and suddenly burst out laughing. Kitta frowned at him, though she was trying not to laugh herself. “I-I’m sorry,” He said through delirious giggles. “We need to get that recalibrated to your voice!"
Kitta couldn’t help but smile. “Alright, I’ll save the apology for after we visit DJ Music Wing. He can recalibrate voice boxes faster than you can sneeze.” When she saw Shatter’s nervous eyes, she leaned down with that soft smile and put her talon on his shoulder. “Don’t worry, he is still in safe mode, I'm sure. Everyone always forgets about him." 
“Alright,” Shatter nodded. “Not to be rude or anything, but I don’t think Chica’s voice sounds good on you.” Kitta smiled and he smiled back. “Before we go, I can at least apologize. I’m really sorry I made you mad. I just . . . I want to see my family again. My mom, dad, and my sister.”
“You have a sister?” Kitta asked. Her expression obviously read; How did I not know this? Shatter saw the wonder in her eyes as well as she said, "What is having siblings like? I've . . . I never had any."
”Well, technically, not yet anyways,” Shatter replied hastily. “We were working on adopting her when . . . All of this happened.” He looked down. “But now I know: we have to go through with what Puppet told us. It’s for the greater good.” He could tell his face was falling as he realized he'd never get to be the brother he dreamed to be. The sweet one who would playfully fight and tease, and then make it up by buying them both something nice. The defensive one who would leap to his sister's aid whenever she needed it, always there for her. The gentle one who would be her best friend, her shoulder to cry on, and her ears to vent to. 
“I agree,” Kitta nodded, looking into Shatter's eyes. "I can tell you're going to miss being a brother. It's a look I've seen many times." She offered a sad smile, her once-terrifying sharp fangs now a comfort to know how hard they could bite down on robots. "But, think about it with a silver lining. If we move on, our spirits can guide the living world in ways unimaginable. Perhaps, at times, she may even be able to see you and talk with you." After finishing that, Kitta stared into space wistfully. “We’ll all finally be free. Sundrop will be so happy." She reached her talon towards her stomach, like there was something paining her.
"Kitta?"
"Don't worry about me, Shatter. I'm just . . . " she smiled, but he could imagine watching tears slide down her metal cheeks. "I'll finally be able to move on. I can see all the wonderful things in this world I never got to. It's upsetting to know I'll never truly live again . . . but at the same time, I'll still have you. Won't I?"
Shatter glanced away. He wasn't sure what he would do if he was a ghost. Wander the living world forever? Leave everything behind and join the afterlife, cutting all ties to this world? Guide his sister, like Kitta said he could? The idea to just stay with Kitta for eternity sounded wonderful, especially since he knew her so well, but still . . . his family nagged at his mind. 
Kitta sighed, stepping back before she opened up her chest hatch and nodded at Shatter. “One last ride? For old time’s sake?”
Shatter jumped in with a nod, the story from before no longer frightening him out of it. “Let’s go.”
~~~
Shatter could tell Kitta was getting nervous as they approached the main stage, but he couldn't tell why she was. She still moved so confidently, her movements certain and calculated, and she seemed to know this path well. She's probably been all around the Plex, despite the fact she's supposed to stay in the Daycare. I wonder why . . . it could be that she's just walked around, but she could also have . . . old memories. Shatter shuddered. He still didn't want to believe that he was gone, this robotic suit all that was left of him, but things clicked together. Why he couldn't cry. Kitta referring to him as if she were talking to an animatronic. The way he was sure that he died, because he did. 
"Kitta?" he suddenly asked, causing her to pause and tilt her head. "Did you ever . . . um, leave the Daycare?" Shatter's hope was that he'd get the surefire answer that she knew this path because she'd just walked around. Despite not wanting to think about the fact that Kitta was probably, well, alive inside, a dragonet murdered just like he was, it made him deeply curious.
She sighed and shook her head. "I'm not supposed to, and usually I don't. The farthest I've been is the atrium. This place," she reached out and touched the wall with a talon, the lights all but turned off and dull. "I have little memory of it, but I had an old friend tell me about. I never got to play the game she suggested I did . . . maybe we can do it now."
"If we have time," Shatter added, unnerved. He was intrigued to hear about Kitta's past, the fact that her memories seemed so much sharper than all the other animatronics. It made him want to know what the others went through. Was Wolfy always so vain? Was Alligator always angry? How much of their dragonet life had transferred into their robotic shells? To him, he felt the same, and he wondered how the others felt.
Kitta sighed. "I don't know how the others feel, but I feel rather the same as well. I guess, at least, in my personality." She reached a talon towards the back of her neck and sighed again. "I used to have such a nice, wonderful crest, Shatter. My spikes were pristine and perfect." He made no comment. There was no comment to be made, anyway. Kitta moved away from the wall and continued on. As they did, Shatter could have sworn he saw Teddy watching them from the shadows, but he was just being paranoid. 
Right? 
As they stepped closer to the stage, Shatter finally noticed the large, multicolored RainWing animatronic asleep on a record table. It had six legs, no wings, but still towered over Kitta without them. Each part of it seemed to be a carefully chosen color, ranging from the white body, to it's pink and green accents, even to the shiny black joints and glassy eyes. It even seemed to snore loudly as it slept, the blank eyes staring ahead, unfocused. 
Aside from it's massive size, it still had large talons that were as big as Shatter, and could squish him like a bug. Could squish Kitta like a bug. Like the other animatronics, it had a maw of sharp teeth, a gleaming pearly white bordered by two large RainWing fangs. Shatter wondered it they spat venom, or were just for show, but he knew one thing; If it chose violence, he wasn't sure they could make it out of this one. 
“Is that him?” Shatter asked quietly, as if to not disturb the sleeping monstrosity.
”Yes,” Kitta replied. “And thank the moons that he seems to not be affected. I’ll wake him up. Try to stay quiet, alright?” Kitta didn’t wait for a reply, and slowly moved up and gently tapped one of his many arms, her bells softly tinkling. “Music Wing? Wake up!”
"Chica?" The DJ asked, as he slowly flickered to life and yawned, showing off his rows of sharpened teeth. His eyes flicked blue, and seemed friendly as he drew himself into a sitting position. “Oh, Kitta!” He exclaimed softly. “Impressive vocal manipulation! You sounded just like Chica!" Kitta's eyes darted away from a second, but she focused quickly. "In any case, how nice of you to meet me here! What can I do for you?” His voice was gentle and clear, while his stature made him imposing and huge. 
Kitta smiled. “Well, that manipulation is, um, why I'm here. You see, my uh . . . My voice box is malfunctioning, and I sound like Chica for some reason.” Shatter cringed. It wasn’t the most believable lie, but hopefully it could fool him. Kitta must have sensed his worry, because she quickly added on, "Is her voice the default or something?"
“No, that would be Teddy's, but I'm used to these kinds of things!” DJ Music Wing nodded. “It's no problem to fix. Come back here, I can get you recalibrated.” He waved his claw and opened the door for them to come inside. Kitta looked down at her chest, almost like she was trying to look at Shatter. He wasn't feeling like he'd done something, though. He was worried about what would happen if the DJ knew about him. Would he still be so friendly towards Kitta? Is he secretly affected by the glitch?
DJ Music Wing whistled a funky tune as he had Kitta open her mouth and clipped a few cords to her voice box. His eyes narrowed, white plastic shadowed by the dim lights. The animatronic fiddled with his sound board as he focused intensely, flicking levers, twisting knobs, and sliding little pieces up and down. “Strange.” He said, squinting at his screen. “It looks like your voice box is mirroring Chica’s voice exactly. Very, very strange . . .” He stepped back for a moment, then turned to Kitta. “This will take a little fine tuning. Are you comfortable with opening up your chest cavity so I can get to your internal speakers?”
Kitta froze. Shatter held his breath, trying to be as still as possible. He saw the DJ cock his head and look inquisitively at Kitta. “Uh, er . . . Can you give me a second? I think something’s locked the hatch.” Kitta swiftly nodded, giving him a reassured smile. “Is that okay?”
Music Wing shrugged. “Go ahead!” He turned his back, fiddling with the dance floor lights, though they weren't on, and the microphones. 
Kitta silently opened her chest hatch and picked Shatter out of it, trying to move without pulling the cords out of her voice box. Just as Shatter jumped to the ground, a cord pulled itself from her mouth and clattered loudly to the ground. Kitta froze, and Shatter whirled around and prepared to run, but a large claw descended on him. 
Music Wing scooped him off the ground, laughing softly as he took a look at Shatter. “Would you look at that! This little gremlin pulled the cord out of your . . . You’re . . .” The DJ’s eyes clouded, and he let Shatter drop to the ground. He quickly finished fixing Kitta, twisting around her internal speakers and syncing them to her voice box. “Yeah . . . You’re . . . Can go now . . .” The animatronic’s eyes grew more and more clouded and looked like they were changing colors. 
“Shatter!” Kitta exclaimed. “That’s not a good sign! Come on, we have to get out of here!” She turned, but Shatter suddenly shoved her out of the way as DJ Music Wing’s claw came down right where she was standing. The animatronic’s eyes were now glowing orange, and he snarled loudly as his tail curled around to block their escape.
”You’re not going anywhere, defects,” Music Wing snarled. He slapped a button on his board labeled Security Alert. A loud blaring siren exploded through the Pizzaplex, and the dance floor started flashing red. “Come here!” He grabbed at them, but Kitta and Shatter nimbly dodged his attacks. Kitta flared Fellily's wings to steady herself as she was flung one way and Shatter was thrown another.
“Kitta, use your wings! Jump—ack—jump over the sound board and run!” Shatter yelled, running up the DJ’s back and dodging a wing claw. “GO!” He cried out as Music Wing bit at him and tore a plastic plate off his arm. He gritted his teeth and yanked his arm free. 
Kitta was torn, and Shatter could tell it. Try to save him, and possibly get herself killed, or stop the oncoming animatronics that were sure to slaughter him. She looked from the blaring dance floor to Shatter, then at the large metal cord coiled up backstage, used to tie up glitched animatronics and ship them to get fixed. She pounced on it, grabbing one end in her mouth and tying the other to Music Wing’s leg. He snapped at her, but she dodged and started running circles around him, taking to the skies as she did. 
As Shatter rode the animatronic like a rouge bull, clinging to his horns and digging his tail barb into his eye, he saw Kitta flying and his hopes soared. She's flying. She said she couldn't but now she is! He wanted to smile, but there was no time. The DJ animatronic roared and reared up, but caught. He flailed and twisted, only knotting himself further. DJ Music Wing crashed through his sound board and onto the ground just as the animatronics arrived.
Kitta joined Shatter atop the dance floor with a flap of her wings, where all the animatronics they had encountered were closing in. Teddy from the front, the damaged and enraged Chica from the left—With Alligator, dragging himself on the ground, by her side—with Fellily and Wolfy closing in on the other side. Moon approached from behind, giggling horridly. “Shatter, are you thinking what I’m thinking?” Kitta asked, flaring her new wings.
Shatter nodded solemnly, knowing what had to be done. “Let’s finish this.” He leapt onto Kitta’s back, and Kitta jumped into the air. She threw out her arms, and her new wings caught the air. She flew and landed, then jumped into the air again, making incredible speed towards Wolfy’s Skyway. Shatter looked behind, seeing Teddy and Wolfy on their tails. Teddy’s eyes blazed in calm anger, catching Kitta’s tail bell in his maw. 
Kitta whipped her tail, throwing Teddy into Wolfy and throwing both of them to the side. “Good job, Kitta!” Shatter encouraged her. “We can do this!” He focused, trying to embrace his animatronic-ness. Come on, internal map . . . There! When he thought those words, a map pulled up in his vision. He flicked through it with his eyes, zooming in on Wolfy’s Skyway. There’s the sinkhole. 
He turned to Kitta, and she heard him yell, “It’s beneath the ramp!” Through the rushing of air in her ears. Kitta leapt again, making the final glide into Wolfy’s Skyway. The wolf animatronic plowed into them, sending the pair rolling across the ground with a snarl. Shatter rolled to his claws and started running again, knowing that all he had to do was lead them into the sinkhole. “Kitta!” He shouted. "We're almost there, We can do it!" There was no answer.
He stopped, skidding, and turned. "Kitta?" His eyes widened as he watched. Kitta was piled on by all the animatronics, and Moon looked Shatter dead in the eyes and grinned as he ripped off her head panel. He couldn't do anything this time. He couldn't catch up to them, couldn't save Kitta from her fate anymore. 
I'm so, so sorry. I’ll see you again, Kitta, Shatter thought. Kitta slowly staggered to her claws, eyes glowing orange and turning towards Shatter, but she hadn't lunged yet. Angry tears burned in Shatter's eyes as he ran over to where the sinkhole was, and pulled the tarp off the top of it. “HEY!” He screamed. “COME AT GET ME!” He braced himself as Teddy grew closer, bladed wings extending.
Fellily screeched, a hissed and garbled sound, trying to warn them, but it was too late. Teddy tackled Shatter straight into the sinkhole, and all of the animatronics followed suit, plunging into the inky darkness. Fellily was running too fast, and tripped over his claws before plunging after them.
Moon and Kitta were the only ones not fallen in yet. Moon stood at the edge of the hole, Kitta standing beside him. They listened, hearing Shatter yell something, and Teddy roar about how he couldn’t run forever. Moon smirked, but his triumph turned to screaming. With the last of her free will, Kitta tackled Moon and jumped into the Sinkhole, dropping Moondrop and throwing him towards the ground. 
She looked ahead, glitches and red clouding her vision as she saw the other animatronics in a heap on the ground. They were damaged beyond repair, and Kitta felt a smile building as she fell too. Her friends would be free . . . and soon, she could be free if she just let it happen. The glitch told her to spread her wings, to soar and glide and catch Shatter. But her last bit of sanity stopped her. She crashed into the ground, rolling head over heels, stopping cold on the damp mud beneath the Pizzaplex. 
As her vision faded, she saw the looming figure of a crumbling diner in the darkness. In front of it, Shatter running from Teddy. Her vision was turning to static and darkness, but it was calming. She would see her friends again, be herself again, and finally be free. Goodbye, Shatter . . . I hope to see you soon.
=== Chapter 9 ===
Shatter’s breathing was shallow. He ran into the old Teddy’s Diner that had sunk beneath the Pizzaplex so many years ago. As he slammed the door and shoved things in front of it, he took just a moment to pause and reflect. Kitta . . . he risked a look out the window, and saw her in the heap of robotics at the beginning of the sinkhole. That was the view he got before Teddy leapt at the window, causing Shatter to jump and scream.
Teddy stared in at him from outside, shoving open the door easily and letting his shadow stretch over Shatter. “You’re going to kill us all anyways,” Teddy hissed. “Why do you struggle against it?”
”I have to find him first, and make sure he crumbles to dust with the rest of us!” Shatter called over his shoulder as he ran into the darkness. The gross, dilapidated building was unsanitary by a long shot. The tiles were cracked, and dirt crawled in every crevice. Shatter skidded around a corner and tumbled head over heels into what looked like a security office. He banged his hand on the button by the door, praying there was still electricity as Teddy rounded the corner. It shut on the animatronic’s nose just before he took a chunk out of Shatter, closing him in the musty office. 
Silence flooded Shatter’s ears as he flicked on the computer monitor, looking for anything relating to him. That’s when a stack of newspapers caught his eye. He sifted through the headlines, finding ones such as:
Afton the RainWing opens Teddy’s Family Diner with Groundbreaking spring lock animatronic suits! Future for the franchise looking bright!
Afton reported for a kidnapping case, but no evidence can be found.
And:
Afton, owner of Teddy’s Family Diner, reported missing after a long closing of the diner.
Shatter’s eyes widened. Afton? Is that his name? He looked back at the monitor, and dusted off a sticky note stuck to the corner. It read “Draw him out.” Shatter flinched as Teddy pounded on the door, and the electricity bar on the monitor started dropping. Shatter started dusting off more things, and found clues scratched in the wall, written on the desk, and under a newspaper. 
“He’ll only come out if you survive.” Shatter read aloud. It must be Afton. Maybe he’ll only show himself if I can beat his little minions. Shatter flashed Teddy with the lights outside the door, sending the animatronic stumbling down the hall. Nervously, he opened the door and the electricity meter stopped dropping. Good.
Shatter turned to the three crackly, static-filled monitors on the desk and placed his claw on the mousepad. “Okay, let’s—“ he stopped and squinted at the screen, seeing . . . Something shamble out of a dark room. He clicked on the camera in the room, and saw what looked like the back of a crusty, twisted plush rabbit animatronic. “What in the moons?” He cocked his head. “Another one?” He flicked to a different camera just in time to see Wolfy stampeding down the hallway towards him, her two front legs mangled from the fall. He quickly closed the doors, and heard her crash into them seconds after.
This is going to be harder than I thought. Shatter glanced at either door and flashed Wolfy multiple times. Only after the fourth time did she cease and slink away to prowl the halls. He jumped a foot in the air and screamed in terror as the plush rabbit appeared in the doorway only a minute after Wolfy, its face distorted and eyes glowing rabidly. He slammed the steel doors shut again, heart pounding. Could that be Bonnie? Or, and old version of Bonnie? He wondered. Since the new one was crushed somehow, maybe the old one got powered up. Flashing the rabbit, he turned back to the cameras. Okay, Teddy is in the storage room, Chica is wandering in the dining hall, Wolfy is lurking at some Pirate’s Cove thing, and . . . Where’s Fellily? Shatter wondered.
That’s when he heard a metallic screech from right behind him. Somehow, Fellily had evaded the cameras and snuck up to the office. Shatter flung out his wings and flashed as bright as he could, forgetting Fellily had no eyes. The bird dragon snapped his jaws at Shatter, stepping into the office. Out of the corner of his eye, Shatter saw Wolfy making a beeline for them. “Sorry, Fellily!” Shatter picked up a paperweight on the desk and chucked it at the manual button for the door. The door came down right on top of Fellily, crushing in his back. The animatronic screeched and reached for him, but fell limp moments after. Shatter could have sworn he felt the very walls sigh in relief as a White mist floated out of Fellily’s corpse and evaporated.
Shatter’s heart did a loop-de-loop. He’s . . . Free. He had no time to dwell on the fact, however, as a booming voice entered the diner.
”Alright, Six. You’ve proven your worth. Now stop hiding!” Shatter was sure it was Afton. The monitors flickered and warped as a decrepit half-dragon half-animatronic was led out of the storage room by none other than Teddy himself. 
“There you are,” Shatter whispered. “Come and get me . . .” As the whole monstrous army of ruined animatronics surged down the halls towards him, Shatter opened the doors and started running. He dashed down a side path, around the animatronics, and made it to the front entry room “HEY!” He screamed. “OVER HERE!” He slammed open the doors as loud as he could, drawing all of them to him. Shatter could practically feel Afton’s eyes boring into him as he ran out into the sinkhole. 
Shatter watched as all of the monsters charged after him. He locked his eyes on a failing metal beam holding the ground up. And launched himself at it. He bashed his shoulder against the metal, sparks flying from himself as he ran against it again and again. 
“NO!” Afton thundered. “I’ve worked so hard to build my empire, I will NOT let a puny dragonet ERASE IT!” Afton slammed Shatter into the metal beam and started tearing him apart. The mutated monster’s eyes widened as he realized what he had done. Shatter smiled. 
The beam of metal creaked and bended, falling from the ceiling. Rocks started crashing down, blocking the entrance and locking them all in darkness.
”You may be older and perhaps wiser,” Shatter whispered at the glowing eyes of the RainWing. “But you’re definitely not smarter. See you in hell, Afton.” He squeezed his eyes shut as a boulder came down on the two, splintering them into thousands of pieces. 
~~~
Outside the Pizzaplex, officers and police were gathered in droves, arresting the CEO and all the workers who had to do with the animatronics. A dense fog suddenly covered the area, seeming to spill out of the plex itself. Starscatter and Golden-Night were waiting outside, tears staining their eyes. Star closed her eyes, and couldn’t help but feel . . . Free.
== Epilogue ==
Shatter felt numb. Slowly opening his eyes, he looked around. Everything was blurry. It seemed he was on a bright hill on an autumn’s day, orange and yellow leaves drifting around him. The cool wind blew against his scales—his actual scales. Shatter looked down as everything came into focus. He had his body back, actual, living, breathing scales. He smiled. If only Mom and Dad were here to see . . . His thoughts drifted off as he saw seven other dragonets sitting atop the hill, tending a fire as the sun set. He slowly approached them, feeling light and warm. “H-hello?” He asked.
They all turned to look at him, and he seemed to instantly recognize them. Suddenly, an IceWing dragonet tackled him, giggling joyfully. “SHATTER!” She screeched. “It’s me!”
Shatter blinked, looking up at the dragonet on top of him. “Kitta?!” He exclaimed, grinning and wrapping her in a hug. “You’re—You’re!” He couldn’t even finish his sentence. Kitta embraced him, sighing peacefully.
”It’s actually not Kitta, Shatter,” She said with a smile.
”What is it then?” Shatter nuzzled her like a sister and joined them by the fire.
Not-Kitta pointed at herself. “Kvita.”
”I’m Sunrise,” A SandWing dragonet vaguely resembling Sun said.
”Starseer.” The NightWing next to him said quietly.
Chica’s dragonet, a SeaWing with light tan scales, smiled. “Caine. Pleased to meet you.”
“Alligator,” A teenage MudWing smiled, his green-brown scales seeming to glow in the sunset light.
Fellily, a SkyWing dragonet, grinned goofily and ruffled his wings. “I’m Macaw.”
”And I’m Roc.” A NightWing-LeafWing hybrid said softly. “I . . . Was Wolfy. By the way.” 
”And . . . My name is Teddy, but . . . I think I’ll change it.” Another, way younger MudWing said. “I like Delta better.”
Shatter smiled. “I’m sure you all know me. I’m Shatter.”
Kvita cuddled close to him, looking into the fire as the moon started to show. “So, everyone,” She said. “How about we tell our stories? How we ended . . . there."
Delta smiled. “Sounds like a good idea.”
"It'll be nice to have actual friends," Caine said, nodding.
Shatter smiled. Despite everything, this was a happy end to him. One he accepted. This was his own time now.
== The End . . . ==
. . . But it's not over yet.
Nightingale, Shatter's sister, is hunting for answers, four years after Shatter's death. Wings of Fire: RUIN continues the story, leading Nightingale to answers for both the questions she asked . . . and ones she didn't.
Want to learn about the dragonets? Dying for more stories? Want to support Angel and Star? Tales of the Deceased offers more into the lore of this beloved crossover!
Category:Fanfictions
Category:Fanfictions (Incomplete)
Category:Fanfictions (Fanon)
Category:Mature Content
Category:Genre (Horror)
Category:Content (Starscatter-the-AbyssWing!)
Category:Inspired by Fiction