Springtrap, despite having no idea how he managed to once again trudge through that nightmarish blue hell, ended up back in the dusty mirror room with his cohorts.
Golden Freddy looked at the alphabet key again, trying to match up the alphabet letters with what the scribbles said. Springtrap waited, leaning against the wall, as he tapped his foot rhythmically.
"Can you like, not do that?" Golden Freddy growled.
Springtrap just glared at him as a response. Puppet groaned, wondering if it was gonna truly be like this the entire time.
Golden Freddy, however, started to slowly decipher a message.
"Take... Left... Turn."
"That can't be it." Springtrap stood from his position and went next to the mirror, "There has to be more than that!"
"There is. You didn't let me finish." Golden Freddy rolled his eyes, "8... 3...5..."
However, what concerned Golden Freddy was the scribble below it, "Don't go too far down."
Golden Freddy knew that risk.
"What does it mean by 'Don't go too far down'?"
"I'm hoping you don't find out."
"Oka- whatever. What does the rest of that mean??" Springtrap raised a brow.
"Hmm... Take Left Turn... 8, 3, and 5..." Golden Freddy recited to himself, scratching his chin.
"What do you think it means?"
Springtrap, meanwhile, was beginning to decipher it. Finally, he turned his head and faced the other two, "Didn't that Flipside place have several trees that seemed to interline with each other?"
Puppet and Golden Freddy turned to the rabbit, "Yeah...?"
Springtrap quickly waltzed over and snatched the key from Golden Freddy, before flipping it over, "Anybody got a pen?"
"Why would we have a pen?" Golden Freddy asked, bluntly.
"Hm. This'll be harder to explain than I thought."
"You know I could just teleport into the office and get a pen, right?" Golden Freddy deadpanned.
"Oh... yeah..." Springtrap awkwardly fiddled with his fingers.
Golden Freddy quickly teleported off, before reappearing with a pen, "Take it, bunny."
Springtrap pretended to ignore the snide name, and proceeded to sketch out a crude drawing of what appeared to be the Flipside, "Alright, so this is us here, and these trees seem to go on infinitely right beside us on both sides, it looks like it's one straight corridor, but, and bear with me, Golden Freddy, you said that the Flipside is unpredictable. So, if my guess is correct," Springtrap circled the eighth tree on the left (by their perspective, at least), "We might be able to enter here through a secret passage or something. We might be able to follow the pattern that way."
"...Wow, that's... really smart." Puppet said, stunned.
Springtrap smiled smugly, his tail lightly wagging at the compliment, "You're talkin' to a Harvard graduate, kid. There's a reason I was the more 'numbers' side of me and Henry's partnership."
Golden Freddy and Puppet sighed, deciding to go on before Springtrap inflated his ego any further.
"Let's put it to the test, then." Golden Freddy sighed.
Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.
"...What's Harvard?" Puppet whispered to the golden bear.
Golden Freddy shrugged.
They all turned back to the flickering wall, and hopped back in.
-
Springtrap, once again, landed on his chest. Golden Freddy and Puppet landed beside him.
"You've really gotta start getting better at that if we're gonna be travelling back and forth." Golden Freddy muttered.
"Piss off, Yellow Bear," Springtrap glared, brushing himself off, "Didn't need your damn input."
They walked, with Springtrap mentally counting the amount of large trees passed, before stopping at the eighth.
"Alright, if I'm correct, we should be able to find a lever, or some kinda switch here," Springtrap leaned against the tree, "Where would a lev- AH!"
The rabbit suddenly lost his balance out of nowhere, and fell, but not on the ground. Rather, he fell through the tree, landing inside of it, "WHAT THE FUCK?!"
It clicked in Golden Freddy's head, "Ah, right, so uh, you don't need to 'open' them here, you just need to walk through them. They're translucent."
"Well, thank you so much for the context!!" Springtrap snarled, his muzzle scrunching.
The rabbit slowly stood up, and immediately caught a strange case of vertigo. This surreal experience was definitely not on his checklist for the day... not like any of this was.
Golden Freddy and Puppet followed as Springtrap continued to walk straight through the trees. However, finally, he collided with a solid tree.
The rabbit felt it, just to make sure, "Hmm... okay. 3 was the next one in that pattern, right?"
"Yes."
Springtrap slowly turned to the tree to his left, and began to walk upward.
"Dang, he's learning fast." Golden Freddy commented.
"That's why we needed his help, Gold." Puppet responded.
Springtrap mentally counted the trees this time, before stopping at, what he presumed, was the third tree. He slowly sighed, and walked into it, "This place doesn't get any simpler, does it?"
"Nope."
"Figured." Springtrap grumbled.
Eventually, he once again walked into a solid tree, accidentally hitting his foot in the process, "God damn, that hurt!!"
Golden Freddy had to stifle a laugh.
"Yeah, yeah, shut up!" Springtrap snarled, rubbing his foot, before slowly walking two trees down toward the fifth, and entering it without a word.
As Golden Freddy and Puppet followed, Springtrap finally caught an end to the trees, entering a clearer, more field-like part of The Flipside.
"This place freaks me out..." Springtrap commented, glaring around the uncomfortable field.
They saw a lone orange blob at the very end. Springtrap slowly walked up to it, and after touching it, felt the world, once again, go white.
—
Springtrap, to his surprise, actually managed to land correctly, Golden Freddy and Puppet landing next to him.
"Finally..." Springtrap groaned.
Golden Freddy and Puppet were already looking around. They were in a field, almost identical to the one from the Flipside. A big forest surrounded them, one of the trees flickering, which Springtrap guessed was their entrance.
"Oh! Howdy there!"
A voice caught all three off guard. They quickly turned to the source of the voice.
Standing there was an animatronic dog, brimming blue overalls, a collar shaped like a bone and a green cap. The dog had been sitting by a campfire, which crackled loudly (which made Springtrap wonder how they hadn't noticed that).
"Uh... hi." Puppet slowly waved.
Springtrap remained silent.
"Name's Sparky! Sparky the Dog! But my friends call me Sparks!" Sparky tipped his cap, a wide grin on his face.
"Sparky, hm?" Golden Freddy crossed his arms.
"Yep! Not the most original name for an ol' dog, but it's mine." Sparky chortled with a grin.
"Okay... dog, have you seen anybody pass here?" Springtrap chimed in.
"Hm?"
"Have you seen anybody pass through here recently?"
"Oh! Well, sure I did! I saw an ol' feller pass through there," Sparky pointed toward a path in the forest, "Tall, lanky feller. Tried to say hi, but he didn't say anythin'. Figured he musta been moody, y'know? He had this weird symbol, kin'a gave me the shivers, honestly. Why, are ya lookin' for him?"
"I don't like him. He's too nice." Springtrap glared, speaking in a hushed whisper.
"Springtrap, now's not the time for your cynicism to kick in. He's our only lead so far."
They turned back, Sparky was still sitting, waiting patiently for an answer.
"Yeah, we are." Springtrap grunted, his eyes never leaving Sparky.
"Well, then, that place is your best bet, bud!"
"Thank you, Sparky."
"My pleasure!" Sparky replied, that wide grin on his face.
It made Springtrap uncomfortable.
"Thank you, Sparky." Golden Freddy nodded to the dog.
"Oh! Feel free to come back 'ere if you have anymore questions!" Sparky grinned, his tail wagging.
"How often do you camp out here?"
"Well, I mean, I don't exactly have a place to live, so this is kin'a my home!"
"Ah..."
"Well, thank you, again." Golden Freddy grinned.
"My pleasure!" Sparky tipped his cap.
The three finally walked off from the dog.
"I don't like him." Springtrap snarled, bluntly.
"Relax for once, rabbit. You don't need to try and axe every person you see. He was a nice guy." Golden Freddy rolled his eyes.
Getting to the woods, they looked at the wide, gaping paths in front of them.
"Well, only one thing to do now." Springtrap sighed.
With a heavy sigh, they entered the woods.
