Caden Wykowski is the main protagonist of Submechanophobia, the first story from Tales from the Pizzaplex 4: Submechanophobia. He works at Freddy's Fantasy Water Park as a mechanic
Physical Appearance[]
Caden has brown hair that’s a little long and in need of a haircut. He wears a polo shirt for work when he's not repairing the animatronics within the Mechaquarium and wears swimming trunks under his uniform. When diving into the mechaquarium, Caden wears a wet suit, diving fins, a heavy air tank, a tool pouch that hooks to the carabiner on the suit, goggles, and a breathing regulator.
Personality[]
Caden is portrayed as an intelligent protagonist, with chronic submechanophobia that is referenced as the title of the story. He's learned some coping skills for his fear, and is fairly brave given that he got a job that revolves around underwater animatronics, and was able to stand up to his bully from school. He cares about his Grams (grandmother) a lot and is consistently doing things for her throughout his life, such as not running away from home because he couldn't leave her, and getting the job as the water park technician to make sure he could keep her house as she wanted. Throughout the story, he's shown to be nervous and thoughtful, and frequently doubts himself after major incidents occur and discoveries are made. He's not comfortable being in the spotlight, and loves to build and fix things, treating welding and mechanics classes as safe spaces, and using this understanding of animatronics to help keep his focus when he's afraid. He's a very isolated person, with not many friends and not much interest in making any, though he doesn't feel lonely, and instead feels completely used to being on his own most of the time.
History[]
During first grade (age 6-7), Caden's parents were lost at sea during their second honeymoon. After their disappearance, he moved in with his Grams and was given therapy to presumably cope with this loss. Caden had been fine, starting to readjust to the new normal of his life when an incident on a second grade (age 7-8) field trip revealed that he'd developed submechanophobia, the fear of underwater animatronics. During the trip, one of the last things they did was go on a submarine ride. The ride had guests board a boat and stay below the deck to watch all of the sea life through the glass as it sailed around a large pond. Caden had been nervous when the ride began, and panicked when an animatronic whale came towards them. He screamed, cried, wet himself, and accidentally hit the emergency stop switch whilst trying to get away from his teacher that was trying to calm him down. His classmates, Darryl in particular, never let him forget this, and this teasing was the reason that Caden had wanted to run away from home. He decided not to, because he couldn't leave his Grams, and instead, dealt with the situation throughout the rest of his school years.
Through these years, he used mechanics and welding classes in school as a way of escaping Darryl and his friends' bullying, and would stay in them until most of the other kids had mostly left the school grounds. He isolated himself from other kids, but wasn't lonely, and felt like his Grams house was his safe haven away from everything. During the events of Submechanophobia, Caden is nineteen years old and taking care of the house whilst his Grams is in a nursing home due to Alzheimer's. He took this responsibility after she'd been taken to the hospital for accidentally hurting herself during one of her episodes, and Caden is adamant that he won't let her down. He still visits her regularly, bringing her favourite maple donuts for her every so often as well.
From his experience of mechanics, Caden was able to land a summer job at Penguin Pizzeria during his school years, where he repaired and worked on the miniature animatronics. Later on, he was able to become the full-time technician for Freddy's Fantasy Water Park, under Martin Copper's ownership, and saw it as his only option to be able to pay the bills for his Grams' house. He relies on his mechanical skills, not just to repair the various underwater animatronics in the Mechaquarium, but also to focus him in times of stress.
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