Cauda 23 - Mission Complete!
"Well. It's not our problem."
From a Nightmare [https://images-wixmp-ed30a86b8c4ca887773594c2.wixmp.com/f/5347fd06-56ca-4d36-8584-e8dd38de8e12/dhna3r1-d97d6e5a-1bb0-43a6-bce8-490f1a3a9f56.png/v1/fill/w_1192,h_670/nightmare_to_a_dream_by_odaocer_dhna3r1-pre.png?token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJzdWIiOiJ1cm46YXBwOjdlMGQxODg5ODIyNjQzNzNhNWYwZDQxNWVhMGQyNmUwIiwiaXNzIjoidXJuOmFwcDo3ZTBkMTg4OTgyMjY0MzczYTVmMGQ0MTVlYTBkMjZlMCIsIm9iaiI6W1t7ImhlaWdodCI6Ijw9MTA4MCIsInBhdGgiOiJcL2ZcLzUzNDdmZDA2LTU2Y2EtNGQzNi04NTg0LWU4ZGQzOGRlOGUxMlwvZGhuYTNyMS1kOTdkNmU1YS0xYmIwLTQzYTYtYmNlOC00OTBmMWEzYTlmNTYucG5nIiwid2lkdGgiOiI8PTE5MjAifV1dLCJhdWQiOlsidXJuOnNlcnZpY2U6aW1hZ2Uub3BlcmF0aW9ucyJdfQ.SfnVfkvY7aFq2UuJ3nzMiib9_lHURyYvC9Cd91Tqx0k]
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Artist: BJ Cole
Song: Pavane Pour Line Enfante Defunte
(sometime later)
As sunlight started to stream in through the windows Tabi awoke. Early in the morning it should have been the time he usually got up at but something else stirred him. He heard a muffled cry. At least, he thought so.
"...didn't mean it..." He heard mumbled from the other side of the bed. He ggot up, immediately alarmed at the situation. You, under the blankets were shaking.
Definitely not shaking from the temperature. It may have been a mid summer but you never kept the house cold. There was erratic breathing as well, panting even. Nay, between the mumbling and trembling it was clear you were a having a bad dream. Or rather, less a dream and more a nightmare.
You mumbled incoherently, only a few words understandable. A combo of groans, words that you didn't want this and to get away, all mumbled through clenched teeth.
It was a night terror. There was no doubt in Tabi's mind about it.
"(Y/N)?" He whispered. There was no response. He got a bit closer, whispering again. There was, again, no response. "It's okay. Everything's alright." He said, a little more concerned this time.
He knew what it was like to have vivid nightmares, and how he wished to be free from them. Recalling you had done the same thing to him one night, he decided to return the favour. You didn't deserve this.
Your hand was loose, on the middle of the bed, occasionally twtiching, like you were reaching for something not currently there. Tabi moved carefully, weaving his fingers win yours as he lifted your hand slightly.
"It's gonna be okay. I am here." He whispered to you. The mumbling stopped as you held a bit tighter, the movement involuntary. The shaking subsided as did your twitching.
Eyes open your nearly panic at the site of flames before realizing it was just Tabi looking deep into you. A sigh later, you speak. "Tab, what's going on?"
"You were having a nightmare. Mumbling about something. I couldn't make it out."
"I, uh,-" Heart beating fast you try to remember just what it was you saw. Whatever it was, your mind was blank. The nightmare already gone. "I-I can't remember. Thanks for waking me up." You shiver. Looking into his eyes the flames gave off a calming effect.
You checked the time, early morning. "May as well get up." You mumble.
"Wait!" Tabi said, getting up too. "I have an idea. Don't come in the kitchen till I say!" He shouted before running off.
Rather uncharacteristic of him you stay put. You know he wanted to show off something the past few mornings though each time was wrought with interuptions. You knew it was food related, Tabi having purchased a huge load a few days ago. Dumped in a huge brown paper bag, Tabi demanded you not look at it. Between the sounds of sizzling, popping and the clanking of pans you determined he must have been cooking.
Giving Tabi privacy you check your phone. There was a new text message. From Kapi.
'Yo, spoke to GF, they sold the property.'
It made sense. The last time you saw Girlfriend she was clear they weren't interested in rebuilding it. Even hinted that the pretense that Daddy got the compound under was sketchy at best.
'Who bought it?' You text back.
'Dunno. some company. Actually sold it awhile ago but they were working out the deets.'
'Guess that really means they're gone.'
'Hell yeah! come by the arcade later, GF's treating us!'
Adding the arcade to the agenda, you spend the rest of the time browsing your phone. Checking headlines you don't see any mention of the compound sale. Bored, you even check Mobian news, finding no new headlines. You weren't that interested in Mobius specifically, instead just checking to see if S would ever turn up. I wonder if Chaotix ever made it back. Time passed as you browsed, only regaining focus when Tabi called you.
"Alright! Come out now!" Tabi shouted from the kitchen.
Though the sink was filled with pots, pans and cutlery the work wasn't in vain. Spread on the table were a bunch of small plates containing various dishes. Enough for two there was a wide variety of stuff that Tabi prepared.
"We call it a Zakuski. We're supposed to drink while having, but it's too early for that. It'll be a good breakfast instead." A wide smile on his face, proud of what he did.
"Wow."
Each plate consisted of a small appetizer stretching from small sandiwches, pickled vegetable salad, deviled eggs, pickles, smoked salmon on crackers with dill and cream cheese, mushrooms, various cheeses and even one plate with caviar on it.
You knew Tabi could cook, but this...this was incredible.
"It's similar to a smorgasbord but uniquely from my home." He said proudly.
"Well let's eat. I'm starved!"
Between bites you explained to Tabi the compound situation. He just nodded and ate, not reacting much to the news. "We should visit. I want to see it." He suggested. You agreed.
There wasn't much else to talk about other than the upcoming tour. Life was good. You officially started up the private investigator business and Tabi quit the arborist life, returning to be a full-time producer and musician.
With the tour only days away you had to admit, you were exicted. The relationship between you and the goatman grew stronger, almost as if beating the Family was just a minor event in the partnership. Whether or not anything even deeper were to form is left to the reader. Including any specifics of things that happen at night and so on.
Outside was bright and sunny, the summer in full swing and not scorching hot either. Not a cloud in the sky the city was in a serene bloom. How much of that was your high off the relationship or Teardown you weren't sure.
With the arcade not opening till later you figured to check out the compound now. You weren't sure why. There wouldn't have been much to see. The city already cleaned up the ruins.
Maybe you just wanted to see that it was finally over. Maybe you just wanted proof that it really was gone. That the Dearest Family were finally just another chapter in the history of Newgrounds.
Pulling up to the compound you found yourself surprised. Nothing about it should have been surprising but just the fact the Family didn't own it anymore shocked you. It was finally over. Whoever bought it already moved in. Getting out of the car, you and Tabi walked over to the former entrance.
There was nary an indication a compound even stood here. The black fence was gone, replaced with a row of freshly planted seedlings and grass. In fact, no Family building or any ruin remained. The entire place had been overhauled to look more natural.
Stretching towards the cliff, a bunch of rocks and exposed dirt were about the land, indicating they either didn't do a good job replanting or were going for a more rocky-looking landscape.
Only one building stood on the property, situated at the edge of the cliff overlooking the lake ahead.
A massive medieval-looking tower, purple brick and stretching on into the sky. From windows that spanned each floor and weaved around the building you counted at least 7 floors. At the very top a bright light emitted from one of the windows. Too far to tell you swore you could see a silhouette looking over the city.
If it was coloured differently you could have mistook it for a lighthouse. The strangest thing about the ordeal was the scent. The place smelled nice, of fresh basil, tomatoes, dough and light cheese. No bakeries or pizzeria's in sight you couldn't tell where the scent was coming from.
Starring up at the tower, it exuded an aura of finality that you felt at the start of the last operation. Tabi must have sensed it too, an ominous vibe. You knew it wasn't because of the place this tower stood. Something about it felt wrong.
"No idea who bought it?" Tabi asked, still focused on the sheer height it extended towards.
"Nope. Kapi just said they sold it to some company...I don't like it. I got a bad feeling about it."
"Well. It's not our problem." Tabi said, looking back ahead to the road.
"Yeah, I agree." You look back to the road and then him again. He hadn't left yet, taking one last longing look at the compound.
Tabi's whole MO was because of what they did to him. The Family turned him into a monster. At least, that's what he used to think. You never thought so. You weren't sure these days what he thought. Regardless, with the Family gone you wondered if thought about his appearance anymore. Whenever he looked into a mirror was he reminded of what Daddy did? Or did he just see Tabi? You hoped it was the latter. That it was who he was and whatever circumstances forced him here he had conquered all.
"What are you looking at?" Tabi asked, giving you a sideeye. "And what's with that dumb look on your face?" He asked.
Changing it, you ask. "Now that Family is gone how do you feel about your, uh, appearance?" You ask, trying not to make it awkward. "C-cause you saw Amelia right?" You get out. You remembered that one of the last meetings he and Amelia spoke, the witch having some idea of how to reverse the spell.
Looking forward, Tabi closed his eyes briefly. "I am who I am. Amelia said she might be able to remove it, bring back my original face..."
"And?"
"What they did to me is permanent." He remarked. "My arms, body will look like a ghost. Forever. But I don't care. They did this to me and I sent them back to hell. Forever. This face is mine and mine alone." He said coldly.
"I'm not changing a damn thing. Are you fine with this?" Tabi paused, looking to you. His eyes flickered white, anxiously awaiting your response.
"I love you the way you are. My goat king."
Tabi smiled. "Ah, shut up."
Looking back forward Tabi continued. "She said that while she can't remove it completely, she can make it so I control it. Make it appear when I want. She asked if I wanted that ability."
"Really? Like some kind of secret identity thing?"
Tabi nodded.
"D-did you take it?"
Tabi snickered. "Already did, babe. You wanna see what I used look like?" Tabi looked to you as his face glowed. The goat head started to fade as a different face appeared. Human in appearance, you found yourself amazed.
He really was human. "Imagine that. Two faces and you're beautiful in each." You say, taking in the original Tabi.
"Let me show you what I can really do now.~"
The End.
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Artist: Gaston
Song: Hekla
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Wew. I can't believe I did it. When I first outlined the book I didn't expect it to get so damn long. Turnabout Teardown was supposed to just be one book. However when I write I don't usually put limits so here we are, 3 books later.
While I wrote and planned this story a lot changed. I mentioned here and there but there were a bunch of things I planned or scrawled that were cut or swapped for whatever reason. Here's a dump of various lore tidbits that were never established, cut plans or secrets. For the sake of grammer, you/(Y/N) will be referred to as Geist (the name I use for the character).
Welcome to my dev room.
Here's some lore stuff to start off.
-- Parappa Lore --
Parappa is a famous rapper and associate of the rock band Milkcan out of Japan. Hugely popular he is currently on a comeback tour after years of being on hiatus. One of the stops is Newgrounds City. Due to Parappa's refusal to use the Family's connections in the city (didn't want to pay them for venues or 'protection') they intend to assassinate him during the concert. The Carnival learns of the plot as well as Parappa's connections to demons (Teriyaki Yoko) and crash the concert in both an effort to save Parappa and recruit him to the Carnival. The operation would have been a success and resulted in a showdown of Agoti and Tabi doing a rap battle against Parappa and PJ Berri while the others worked to stop the assassins.
With Parappa on the Carnival he would have been able to launch a military-level attack on the Compound causing a huge distraction. Being that his dad is an inventor he would have worked with Theo to build equipment for an attack.
I'm still bummed I didn't have Parappa in the book. I mention a few more cut characters below but of them all Parappa is the one I am most sad about not having. After all, Friday Night Funkin' is basically this generation's Parappa the Rapper.
-- Undertale Lore --
Since Xchara and Gaster were intended to appear at some point some character (probably Geist) would have recapped how the public knew of the "Undertale".
Years ago a rumble was in a rural part of the country. Though a mountain and chasm existed there nobody knew of anything that lived in it. After some orphaned child went missing near the chasm a massive manhunt and [events underground] resulted in a subterraean race of anthros and other strange creatures being discovered. Led by a King Asgore, the "Underdwellers" became an officially recognized kingdom and established ties between the surface and underground. Since then an exchange of cultures began and some Underdwellers moved to the surface. Sans is one of the under-people currently residing in Newgrounds City, facilitating an underground arms ring.
-- Tankman Lore --
Tankman was very early on considered to be a major character on the team. In the story they exist in a lawless section of the city known as the Wasteland. Similar to how Central Park in New York City exists in the centre, the wasteland does in Newgrounds City, occupied by the Tankman. During the Madness Wars the Tankman controlled the city. After suffering heavy losses from NEXUS they ceded a lot of land to the city's government where they now live in their post-apocalyptic enclave.
They are generally considered the founders of the city and keep to themselves. The police won't make a move against them as they know they cannot win that fight. They still have military-grade weaponry from the Madness Wars too. They also have some allies in federal politics which allow them protection. The city has some sort of treaty with them that as long as they keep to themselves the city won't bother them. Very early on Geist would've realized they are a group who, if properly organized could take down the Family.
If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.
In the beta version, Geist, Rosie, Tabi and Pico would have entered the enclave and attempted to recruit the Tankmen, arguing that they could take the Compound and obtain water-access. There's a shooting contest between them and the leader agrees to assist, vowing to invade the Compound and launch a war when the time was right.
-- The Demonic Order --
Demons have a hierachy with different classes and different strengths. Zardy, while a violent demon and powerful is not an archdemon. He doesn't have the same stature as Blackjack or Sarvente. Stolas and RetroSpector are other examples of archdemons. Zardy could become an archdemon, though cares little of the process. He is content on his farm, spooking trespassers.
-- Trollges --
Trollges were never considered in the beta version. Mostly just off the fact I had no idea that mod even existed. It was psuedonymousrex who suggested them and man did they fit perfectly. I could have some lore here but their story is pretty fleshed out as it it. In the story's lore there are no more trollges left. There might be one of two lurking somewhere but none of the powerful ones.
-- Antinominal Organizations --
A few organizations exist in Newgrounds City that monitor the existance of strange creatures (i.e non-human, non-anthro and non-stick figure). They are called Antinominal Organizations. Officially there have been 4. IRIS, TGG, NEXUS and the TCF. At the time of writing only IRIS and TGG are left. SCP and RPC Authority were considered but they are way to militant for the story and would've caused too many issues. This is in conjuction to various government agencies that occasionally deal with 'abominations' like CSIS, FBI, FSB, etc.
-- Tabi's Human Appearance --
I know Tabi's mod has a canon appearance but as this was written before that mod it's left up to the reader's imagination what he actually looks like.
I should probably address the controversy with his mod. Tbh with specifics I don't really know. My brother gave me a few summaries when Homskiy was around but as for the recent stuff I don't know. The mod's cancelled apparently but in my opinion I've done the character enough justice here. I did justice with the character and to me anyways, feel that this book's Tabi is the real one. I mean shoot. This whole series is what, 500K words? Whenever I see Tabi I see the character that appeared in these pages. Not whatever drama is surrounding him now. (This also all applies to Displo).
That said, my head-canon appearance is that he's blonde. I have some image of a human Tabi saved (no idea who drew it) alongside a female version of him. In my view that's what he looks like as a human. I don't like the 'official' one we have now. Doesn't even matter because Tabi's original deaign was originally as an Undertale character. So he's always been a skeleton guy. He was never human.
-- Entity Records --
A record label run by Solazar with artists such as Agoti, Aldryx and Tabi. It was briefly thought to eventually have Solazar form Entity into a crew itself going on to sign Whitty, Hex, Ruv, Zardy and even Nikusa, basically all mods that SugarRatio worked on. In the finale Entity Records would have been one of the main factions alongside the Carnival that attack the compound. Though it's needless to write, following the events of Operation Teardown, a few more artists signed to the label.
-- Boyfriend and Girlfriend --
Since Boyfriend and Girlfriend have run into so many people of varying danger levels and abilities AND survived all encounters they have some kind of powers. This is even mentioned in Agoti's mod as Solazar believes them responsible for some rift. In addition there's the Trollge Files which make Boyfriend and Girlfriend straight up secret agents. Since Boyfriend and Girlfriend don't even appear till after the prison break + weren't even originally intended to appear except at the those storylines never got fleshed out.
-- Overpowered Creatures --
The most powerful beings in the book are S^2, Legion and Tricky. I made notes for 2 other cosmic beings but those never materialized. They were Shaggy (explained below) and Bendy.
In the AU, Bendy is currently sealed in a book under TGG posession. Thing is Bendy is a major villain. He's not someone like Bob Velseb who could be killed by conventional means. If I introduced him he would have completely derailed the plot.
These beings are only ones barely capable of "universal travel". As we've seen they can't fully break into parallel universes without doing some BS/deus-ex-machina crap or combining powers.
-- Shaggy --
In Final Fantasy IV there is an optional boss you can fight called Omega. Insanely powerful he is far stronger than the final boss. Final Fantasy V has Enuo. Kingdom Hearts 2 has Terra and Sephiroth. Shin Megami Tensei has Stephen Hawking. Though I'm not going to write it if there was a superboss in Operation Teardown it would be Shaggy. It would be one of those fights where you pick who you want to bring in and you heavy strategies to win.
In the book's lore, Shaggy is a cosmic being who, like S, took the appearance of a character he was fascinated by. He just floats through worlds and watches things. Incomprehensible to most people, S would have figured him out instantly. Any confrontation between him and the crew would purely have been in fun, Shaggy just testing to see what they could do. Unlike S he isn't malicious at all, learning of different people fascinating to him. (I suppose Matt could be the same way but I know nothing about that mod).
-- Years --
The book occurs in the year 2021. Therefore the first investigation started on January 29, 2021 and lasted until April 1st when Steadfast Spring starts. Book one continues until May 1st when a two-week timeskip happens before the Night of Fire begins. The whole series ends on July 1st, 2021 as Operation Teardown took them into the early morning of the 1st. I ended up writing a whole document listing what happens on each day.
Tabi's birthday according to Funkipedia is May 30th. Curiously, Nikku's birthday is May 24th but as she didn't have her memory back she missed it. S' birthday is listed as June 23 though that happened during the timeskip and due to S' understanding of time doesn't celebrate it. I checked everyone elses birthday but none appeared in the book's timeline.
The COVID-19 pandemic did not happen in this universe, though far more violent things have occurred like the Madness Wars. Debuts of "media" are synced to events in the Turnabout world.
In this timeline, February 2023, the city of Youtopia is destroyed in an event called the "Skibidi War". If I bothered to write about it Geist would have seen the similarities between it and the Madness Wars, remarking that this was their battle and glad you were in Newgrounds City.
But I'm not going to write a 2-year timeskip for a topical joke lol.
-- Scraps --
Next up, here is some cut stuff and scrapped plans that didn't fit anywhere else.
-- The Banquet --
At one point the Carnival would have planned the heist on the same day the Family was throwing a banquet for various demons. The police chief and mayor would be there, Stolas (protected by I.M.P.), some Helltaker characters and some other demons. In that timeline Blackjack would have been a member of the team and be one of the guests.
Thing would have gone south and a showdown between the Carnival (maybe Team Python) and I.M.P. who thought that they were there to assassinate Stolas. Once the misunderstanding was resolved they would have either left or Stolas would have joined. They didn't like the Family. Due to the Family's 'mafia-like' demenaor, Angel Dust would have been involved somewhat.
In the chaos of the banquet being crashed, Blackjack would've removed his mask, going beserk and attacking the Family directly.
-- Some Cut Characters --
Aside from Parappa here are the top 3 characters I would loved to have added. Unlike Parappa these ideas never got off the ground.
Team Member: Stolas (Hazbin Hotel) - Would have meshed with the party well, clashed hard with Updike, be begrudgingly protected by I.M.P. though he refused and generally been a miscreant. Would not like Carol and generally be another uptight figure. Probably would have loved Displo and insisted he dress proper, the two sharing tailor tips. In the operation he would likely have joined S' team or thought them too racous for him. I'm not sure.
Boss: Ao Oni (Ao Oni) - Would have engaged the crew in a boss fight. Not just the original blue guy but the others, including the buff version. Would have seen S get annoyed at them, claiming he does blue better. Updike would have been merciless as would Solazar. Annie, if around would have fought the buff Ao Oni, going beserk at him.
Team Member: Baldi (Baldi's Basics) - Would have challenged the crew to some kind of math contest. When they got to the 3rd question and the answer got distorted, S would answer it with some zalgo text. Baldi would be amazed but in such awe he would tell the team there were mathematicians. Would join thereafter. If I do a sequel this is how Baldi will join, 100%. It'll be like in Fire Emblem you just need the right ally to speak with him to join.
-- Pico --
After recruiting Rosie it would be determined that a sniper would be needed. Rosie would suggest a hitman she knew from back in the day. There she would introduce Geist and Tabi to Pico, a hitman-for-hire and professional contract killer. A member of the Society he would have been aware of Geist's efforts against The Donnas. Geist would also know Pico from both his killings and shootings. Geist would even know that Pico tried to take out Boyfriend at one point. One thing leads to another and Pico is hired. After failing to kill Boyfriend, Daddy put a hit on Pico. Now he wants revenge for that.
During Operation Teardown, Pico would have a showdown with Cassandra, abandoning the mission and going one-on-one with her. This would have concluded both their storylines and Pico would lead whatever attacked him after away from the compound. This also means that it could have been Pico that lead Psychic away from the compound instead of the Seven Deadly Sins.
Since Pico was cut, Cassandra was killed way earlier, off-screen by Rosie.
-- Tricky --
Tricky was always intended as the final boss. As for how he could have been revived the demons + trollge wasn't planned till way later. He was one of the few variables that never changed throughout the whole story. In my view of the mods, Tricky is the final boss.
-- The Original Coalition --
In the final operation the coalition was The Carnival, IRIS, TGG, The Seven Deadly Sins and the Donnas.
In the first outline I wrote the coalition would have been The Carnival, IRIS, the Tankmen, the Donnas and the Parappa Family / Milkcan. In that version TGG would have been destroyed in Operation Earthquake.
-- Other --
Finally, here's some random other tidbits from my notes.
-- Unfinished Stuff --
Due to some of the mods I used not being finished I filled in the blanks or purposefully left stuff ambiguous. This included all the members of the Seven Deadly Sins and Nikku's entire backstory. At the time of writing they just weren't established. Since Displo's mod was cancelled I wrote my own backstories for him.
-- Cameos --
There are so many references to Newgrounds or similar things throughout the book. Like during Operation Blindside, the security guards were the cast of OneyPlays. I scattered so many in the book I can't even recall them all. But I loved sticking them in. Hell, ENA appears in one chapter as a brief mention. Do you know where?
-- How I Picked The Team --
How did I pick all this? Well for one it was anything that had a FNF mod was fair game. But after awhile I decided to just go with whatever. You could say that this series, while grounded in Friday Night Funkin' really just comprises this era of Indie games, especially indie horror/mascot horror games. I haven't played a lot of them but have seen enough and know enough people who have that they have all meshed together. Garden of Banban was one that I asked my brother if I should add. He banned it.
Whenever I go on YouTube it tends to recommend me whatever. So in 2021 or so, everytime I opened YouTube it was "hey look at the latest FNF mods"! Despite me having not played the game. Same deal with the others, FNAF, Baldi, Buckshot, Voices of the Void, etc. All that stuff just sort of meshed together for me.
If you're wondering why certain people were picked it was just because I felt like it. Theo wasn't even considered until I got to the Night of Fire when I decided he should just move in as, well, the neighbour.
Mal0 was considered for a while before I went with Sonic.exe. Just on the basis my brother doesn't like Mal0 + Sonic.exe is way more popular in the FNF fandom + SCP would've caused too many issues.
-- My Brother --
A lot of this was written for my brother. He was my 'executive producer'. Basically just asked him general FNF lore questions and what he thought about so-and-so. Who should join? Can X beat Y? What exactly can Tess do? Etc.
-- Title --
Picking the title of this book was so hard. Random titles I have listed were the following: Familial Wars, The Revanchist Crisis, The Carnival Crisis, Seasons of Strife, In Stubborn Defience, Our Dearest War, A Dish Served Cold, Carnival of Revenge, Comedy of Revenge, The Revanchist Carnival, Revanche Carte Blance, Symphony of Slaughter, Record of Revanchism and Revenge's Requiem. Ended up settling with Turnabout Teardown. And even then I'm still torn between just calling the books their subtitle (Steadfast Spring instead of Turnabout Teardown: Steadfast Spring).
-- Spinoffs --
One of the first things I planned as a joke when outlining the story was making this establish some kind of 'cinematic universe' and setting up (but not actually writing) a bunch of spinoffs. Pompom and friends entering the Playtime Co factory, the Minus/D-Sides world + Operation Takedown, S and Nikku in Mobius, Entity Records taking over, etc. As funny as that could have been I'm content leaving it here.
At the time of writing I have no intention of writing any spinoffs. As for sequels....we'll get to that below.
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Now Playing...
Artist: Frostlake
Song: Moth People
At the end of my FNAF novel I wrote that I would never have expected my first publicly released book to have been based off FNAF. Well I certaintly wouldn't have then expected I would go onto write 3 books about FNF. Ah well. I had a blast writing them and wouldn't change a thing.
I'll admit I am kind of sad to see this end. Of course, all things end and this book has overstayed its welcome on my repetoire. It provided stability and I liked that. I would post a chapter at the start of the week, see a few comments and be content until that Friday when I would post the next and the cycles repeats. It also doesn't help this whole series went on over a year so I got really used to it. Posting and writing became like a routine. Never once did I feel like this was a burden. Only near the end because I wanted to focus on my other writings.
I'm satisfied. I've done everything I wanted with these characters sans seasonal stuff like a holiday special (not confirming anything, i've already spent way too much time on these novels lol).
As for what's next well I have a few things I'm working on. When I wrote that FNAF book I forced myself to learn SFM so I could make images from it. Intended to do the same for this book. However there aren't that many FNF models out there. Kapi for example has one model out on Sketchfab and it sucks.
And some models weren't availble in SFM (such as that gorgeous Tabi model above). And porting a model from Blender to SFM is a massive pain (I can't do it). So I decided, screw it, time to learn Blender. This comes after I've struggled with trying to get good at drawing for 2 years. Started up Blender and I've been having a blast with it. Some of the images I've made for this story have been entirely in Blender.
Now I'm at a part where I'm creating my own 3D models, learning the ins and outs of sculpting and intending to start learning animation soon. So in a way, FNF forced me to learn 3D art. And also thanks to FNF for having such a simple art style to transition to 3D well. I'm not going to announce anything though here you can see I'v been busy. Whenever I finish this (and assuming I don't abandon them) I've been getting some great practice with these.
Progress I've made on 3D models of Pompom, Hex, Displo and Tabi [https://odaospace.neocities.org/assets/collage.jpg]
(gonna go with a Tabi design that shows his skeleton with a ghostly transluscent skin, but yes I do believe he is that jacked). There's still a lot of work left from retopology to rigging to adding more details to the face (plus I think I'm gonna re-do Tabi's head again). Either way I'm very happy with the progress I've made so far.
I'll release them publicly when/if they are done. Plus I really want to make a few images from te book real. One of Team Python standing as a group, one of Pompom riding atop Huggy with her mother floating beside from the end opf Operation Earthquake and one of Displo's bar.
I wanna make a Kapi model as well though his design is more complex. I need more practice. Either way, I'm having lots of fun doing 3D work so I'm glad this book forced me to.
....
Sequel?
I've been writing for many many years now, pretty much whatever I felt like. I love the setting of Newgrounds City a lot. So much in fact I wanna revisit it at some point. When I write it's usually nighttime before I go to bed.
Months ago, circa August 2023 I had a dream about the novel. I was at a book signing for Turnabout novels. I remember seeing Tabi and Huggy there but also 3 novels on the table in front of me. They had those stylish covers that the iPod Nanos used to have (with the one-colour background and person in front). First one had Updike, 2nd had Daddy, 3rd had a character on it. The thing that bothered me was there was a third book. Turnabout Teardown 3. At the time I didn't split Operation Teardown into it's own book.
I didn't have any intention of writing a 3rd book at the time either. Once Turnabout Teardown was released that was it. Confused, I looked at the back and read the synopsis...It was a Pizza Tower fanfic set in the same city. Even saw some of the plot. I took a few days break from writing, figuring it the Turnabout AU getting too deep in my mind.
So, uh yeah. Maybe I'm meant to write a 3rd book with Pizzahead as the main villain. That's what the blurb above sets up. So I thought about a bit. Geist and Tabi won't be the main characters. No idea who's gonna even show up aside from a handful of characters. The Noise, my favourite Pizza Tower character will take Tabi's role (though not in an xReader context. Noise is happily married, more of a boss/employee relatshionship). I know I want MX [Mario 85], Baldi [Baldi's Basics] and maybe Alastor [Hazbin Hotel] to appear but as for any structure well just have to see. Tabi and Geist may get a cameo. (and also that union that Displo/Tess/Rosie set up wasn't just some random thing I wrote muahahaa). I already know there will be a scene with The Noise playing Buckshot Roulette, the mascot not having a care about the implications while the protagonist watches with fear that his boss is gonna kill himself. I've thrown up a mock-up cover and synopsis on my website (odaospace.neocities.org) in case you wanted to see what's gonna happen to Newgrounds City. It won't be called the Turnabout AU either. I'm going with Dreamspire AU.
I'm not giving any timeline as to when Dreamspire will be in development or even past the planning stages. Much as I like Newgrounds City I'm not interested in returning to it until the future. I really gotta continue my original work haha. I might make an image here and there for practice but nothing further for now. See the image below if you want another teaser. One of the scenes has already been written. The Noise conducting a demon summoning ritual, summoning Alastor and the radio demon attempting to kill The Noise. I already made the image (part of is it visible below). I may post that as a bonus thing sometime in the future. Maybe for some holiday. Other than that I have not written anything else for Dreamspire.
The Turnabout AU has evolved past FNF clearly. Now it's just indie-media-in-general.
If you want to go all symbolic about the book you could say that Turnabout Teardown as whole is an allusion to a fan of Friday Night Funkin' going through all the mods and related games, watching all the crossovers and learning all the lore. The book ends with the reader satisifed with FNF and what it stands for, still in awe at the memories made by the mods. As tons and tons of EXE mods popped up after, it fits with Newgrounds City being overrun by the creatures.
Then Pizza Tower comes out and that fan joins a new fandom and their attention is drawn there.
If you want anything similar to this I'd recommend the stuff that inspired it. Sly Cooper 3: A Band of Thieves sees Sly going around recruiting a team for a massive heist. Callahan's Key by Spider Robinson has a bartender do a massive road-trip with a whole bunch of strange and wacky characters. I love that book. There's also Arc the Lad: Twilight of the Spirits. It's a massive JRPG that has you recruit a ton of characters (a bit like this one) and pick and choose who you fight. I imagine if Turnabout Teardown was a game it's gameplay would be identical.
If you made it this far then thanks for reading and sticking around! This novel took way longer than it was supposed to (life got in the way) but I'm glad I wrote it. Never once did I consider abandoning it though writing the final operation was the most challenging part.
A huge thank you to AO3 users, Spyper and psuedonymousrex as well as Quotev user Thoughtspeaker for commenting on practically every chapter of the series. You three and your suggestions made posting fun and I looked forward to each comment whenever I posted a chapter. You 3 also drove development in the book and even changed things like the final fight. If not for you the book would have had no trollges, the arcade battle, Botan and the extra Whitty chapter. Probably other changes but I can't remember right now. Thanks to anyone who read, commented or liked the story. Even if only 1 person liked it that's good enough for me. I loved seeing the comments, any and all. I'm very happy others have enjoyed it as much as I have written it.
As for what's next? I'm long overdue to finish my work on my original novels. Can't say much now but one is post-apocalyptic and the other is an isekai. People still occasionally ask me to make the FNAF sequel and as for stuff on this page the next thing coming out from me will likely be the next FNAF book, titled Pop Goes the Balloon (or Big Bushy Tail, haven't decided yet). It's still in the early stages but I'm leaning heavily towards some form of reader-interactivity. I loved how much some things changes in this story (especially the final team). Will definitely be doing something similar for the FNAF sequel, even if its just a poll at a certain point about what the reader/(Y/N) should do next. Plus I have those 3D models and whatever I do with Blender next.
At the suggestion of another user I made a discord - hadair.writer. I don't use Discord much so I don't reply in a few days that's why. But if you want to say hello feel free to! I've also made a Tumblr under just odaocer. Gonna post stuff regarding my 3D journey or just some other random stuff.
Either way, this has been a blast.
Homskiy, wherever you are. I hope you are doing good. Thanks for making this really cool character.
Thanks for reading!
Corkboard Teaser [https://odaospace.neocities.org/assets/help-harvested.png]
~ Hadair/Odaocer