Chapter Text
Player was relaxing on their couch, Vinny laying across their lap, when something slipped through the mail slot on the door and landed on the ground with a think, startling Vinny and causing the poor cat to jump off of Player’s lap.
They got up and walked over to the package, once they picked it up they realized there was a Playtime C.O symbol on it, and their blood ran cold, as the company had nearly gone over ten years ago, and Player hadn’t been contacted by them since.
They slipped out the contents, taking note of the VHS tape before they opened the letter, briefly glancing away as Vinny jumped on their shoulder to see, causing them to grunt slightly from the cat’s weight before they focused on the letter again.
“Everyone thinks the staff dissapeared ten years ago.
Wer’e still here.
Find the Flower”
Player blinked at the brief, confusing and concerning note, before turning it over in hopes of finding something on the backside, only to find nada.
They sighed softly, before glancing at the VHS tape, and setting it on the table, on top of the letter.
Player reached one hand up to gently rub Vinny’s ears, before moving towards the bedroom, grabbing their old Playtime C.O lanyard after dressing in a smart, tactical outfit.
They tried to find their special collar like device, which translated their thought into out loud speech via very special speakers, but they couldn’t find it, and had to leave without it, although they did put Vinny’s tactical, Service Cat vest on him, which had small knifes and gadgets hidden in the pockets, and had minor armor built in to protect the cat.
It was a long drive to the factory, but Player managed to stay sane during it, despite how badly they just wanted to do a U-turn and go back home.
Player took a deep breath in and out as they stepped out of their car and locked it, before they then headed towards the factory, Vinny perched on their shoulders.
Player entered the factory, looking around a couple times, before they then headed right to the Security Room, immediately putting in the code, their memory fresh as ever, as they’d helped set up the code themselves, and wouldn’t have forgotten it in a hurry, even if it had been years.
They then donned the GrabPack, the weight familiar and almost comforting, the pack a tool they had used many times in the past before.
They entered the Main Lobby, and stared up at Huggy Wuggy, who looked so much like a statue, every muscle held stiff so he appeared lifeless.
A perfect actor, a perfect ambush predator.
Just like Player designed, even if they never wanted to design him this way.
They only did their work so they were irreplaceable and couldn’t be killed, since no one in the company could design and execute the designs of the toys quite like they could.
Player wished they’d never even started work here, maybe then the horrors wouldn’t have happened, if they hadn’t been here to design and help build the toys, both Mini and Bigger Bodies.
Vinny meowed softly and nuzzled against their cheek, the cat’s fur soft and grounding.
Player smiled softly, and gently scratched the underside of Vinny’s chin, earning a loud purr from him.
Player then shook their head to clear it, and headed towards a door on the left, quickly firing the Grabpacks one hand at the sensor, only for the power to immediately cut out.
God fucking damn it.
Vinny meowed in agitation, and jumped off Player’s shoulders, before trotting over to Huggy Wuggy.
Player looked up, and spotted the gleam of a key in Huggy’s upraised hand, immediately they fired the Blue Hand and grabbed the key, before pocketing it.
Vinny meowed again, and trotted over to the Power Room, and Player quickly unlocked the door, before immediately getting to work and reconnecting the wires, working more from muscle memory then anything else, as Player had had to do stuff like this before, since the Factory’s non experiment related equipment was notoriously faulty and every worker had fixed something up at least once.
As Player finished Vinny jumped right back onto their shoulders with a soft mrrp, and settled down, tail swishing back and forth.
Player playfully huffed, and scratched behind Vinny’s ears, before they then exited the Power Room, noticing that Huggy had made his move, and was gone from his spot now.
So the hunt was on……
Player made their way over to the door again, and opened it, revealing the Storage Room in all its glory.
They sighed softly, before beginning to quickly play hunt the Power Circuits, cursing whoever left this room in such a disarray.
As they returned to the loading dock they spotted Huggy Wuggy peering at them through a vent.
Player stood still, and made deliberate eye contact, standing their ground, and they were rewarded for their defiance as Huggy Wuggy retreated and closed the vent after a minute or so.
Vinny meowed proudly in victory at the little win, even as Player set the Power Circuit’s into place, and managed to catch the Red Hand before it could hit the ground.
They quickly attached the hand to their GrabPack, before entering the vents.
Player signaled to Vinny, who grabbed one of the GrabPack hands and promptly shot off into the vents as Player made their way to the closed door to the Make-A-Friend room, fired the remaining GrabPack hand at the outlet by it, and waited.
Within a minute or so the door opened, and Vinny released the hand and came sprinting back, having found and pressed the other outlet for Player.
They grinned, and gave Vinny a good and vigorous ear and chin scritch as a reward, mentally shouting all the praise words they wanted to tell the cat but couldn’t.
Vinny meowed in pride and self-satisfaction, and jumped back up onto Player’s shoulders, purring softly as he did so.
Player entered the room and tried to power on the machine, only to sigh as the power shortened as soon as they pressed the Power On button.
They headed up onto the catwalks, and headed over to one outlet, and placed one hand on it, before handing Vinny the other hand.
Vinny immediately took back off down the pathways, wrapping the cable around the pillars almost expertly, and managed to place the hand against the other outlet.
Vinny came running back as soon as the power was on, and jumped back up onto Player’s shoulders with a happy little mew.
Player smiled and scratched Vinny’s chin, before heading down off the catwalks and back over to the machine.
They then clicked the button again, and then pulled the levers expertly, relying solely on their muscle memory as they did so, allowing their thoughts to wander for a moment as they scratched Vinny’s ears, mouthing praises at the smart cat.
Player hadn’t ever trained Vinny to do stuff like this, the cat simply did it on his own, acting on a level of smarts and confidence as a dog, and having a clear and unique problem solving ability, unlike any ordinary and normal cat.
The black cat wasn’t really a normal or an ordinary cat though, six months before their last day at work Player had found the cat in a crate, savage half healed stitches on his throat, corners of his mouth, around each joint and on his chest.
Player had immediately smuggled the cat out, and spent time building trust with the fanged feline, forging a strong and unique bond.
Vinny had been their companion ever since, over all these ten years, still strong and young, clearly gifted with an enhanced lifespan by whatever experiments Harley did on him.
But Vinny showed no other unique qualities besides his lifespan and intelligence, and he wasn’t a toy, so Player guessed they’d saved him in time, before he was made into a toy.
A ding sounded, snapping Player out of their thoughts, and they quickly picked up the Catbee toy, before heading over to the Nobody leaves without a Toy door.
They scanned the item, and walked a couple steps down the hallway, before turning around to look sadly at the Make-A-friend room, but were interrupted when Vinny yowled loudly, launching himself off of Player’s shoulder, only to be swatted to the ground with a thump.
Player spun around, terrified for their cat, only to let out a silent scream in pain as claws slashed right across their left eye.
Fuck!
Fuck, that’s not good!
That’s really not good!
They scrambled backwards, a hand pressed against their bleeding face, and saw Huggy Wuggy standing there, bloodstained claws retreating back into a mitten.
Vinny caterwauled, and charged past Player, quickly disappearing into the vent systems the Conveyor Belt Systems were located in.
Player wiped the mouth away from the corner of their mouth, and followed, their pain disappearing into their adrenaline as they took off down the vents, footsteps pounding.
They could hear Huggy shrieking and thumping about in the vents as he followed, determined to catch them, determined to have a meal.
Countless turns.
Heart pounding, breath rasping in their chest.
Countless turns.
Right.
Left.
Straight.
Right.
Crouch, left.
Right.
Straight.
Player charged out of the ventilation systems, right on the tail of Vinny, who’d been leading them through the shafts, staying just in sight and directing where to go.
They turned around, panting, blood dripping down their face, and they watched as the door shuddered inward as Huggy Wuggy slammed against it.
They looked up and spotted a crate, and Vinny jumped up onto their shoulders and clung on, claws out and digging into the fabric of Player’s clothes.
The door shuddered again.
Player glanced back at it, before looking back up at the crate.
The door shuddered again, and broke.
Huggy charged forward.
Player fired the GrabPack.
The crate came slamming down.
The catwalk broke with a shuddering shriek, and Player grunted as they slammed into the catwalk below, Vinny letting out a disgruntled meow at the impact.
Huggy wasn’t so lucky, he slammed into the railing, and slipped off, slamming into several pipes on the way down.
Player got up and watched, horrified.
They never wanted this, they never wanted to kill any of the Toy’s!
Vinny meowed sadly, and nuzzled against Player, before gently licking at their wound.
Right, they were kinda missing their eye.
Player sighed softly, and ripped a length of cloth from the bottom of one pant leg, before they tied it around their head, covering their wound.
Player then carefully walked across the catwalks, limping slightly and clutching their side, disoriented by both the impact and their injury.
Fuck, their whole body hurt.
Must keep going though.
Their eyes widened as they spotted a huge Poppy flower painted on the wall, and they headed toward it, heading through the door on the same wall.
Player entered the room, and Vinny jumped off their shoulders and scouted the area for them, to save their poor protesting body the effort of wandering around while so badly banged up.
Vinny came back after a minute, meowing and gesturing, and Player tiredly followed them, their remaining eyelid drooping and threatening to close as they walked.
They reached a dimly lit room, with a Poppy doll resting in a case.
Player’s eye widened, they knew this doll, it was Poppy, the living Toy herself.
They fired a GrabPack hand at the case, managing to open it.
The lights flickered as they did, and so did their vision.
Their legs shook, and they slumped against a wall, panting heavily, eye forcing itself closed as their body gave out, forcing them to rest, for now.
Player could hear a soft voice whispering as their consciousness faded, and they felt Vinny jump up and nestle himself into their arms, purring softly.
“Thank you for freeing me”
Elsewhere, deep in the factory, I T knew.
I T knew Poppy had been freed.
And I T knew its most interesting and talented employee had returned.
This was going to be…..
Something, that’s for certain.
End Poppy Playtime Chapter 1 {A Tight Squeeze}