Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

A tree.

There was a certain tree inside this town that everybody knew of. It was a tree not famed for its own notability or details, but because it was a landmark. When people who lived in this town approached from a distance, they could see the large tree standing off to the side on a lonely hill, a sign that they had arrived at where they needed to be.

The tree had lived for years upon years now. It was old, but no less healthy then it had been before. Its roots still absorbed plentiful nutrients; its branches grew larger and never seemed to break off, even in winter.

It was the leaves in particular that changed. They grew in the spring, were numerous in the summer, turned orange and began to drift off in the fall, and became crumpled and withered when winter came.

Whenever the season of fall came, it was always time for the tree's leaves to slowly get ready to end their time growing on the branches of the large, old tree. It was a slow process for this tree, but it went on nonetheless.

Every day, residents passing by the tree to enter Freddy Fazbear's Pizza would see a new leaf laying on the ground. The leafs would often be stomped on for fun by passing kids, or blown away into the bushes by the occasional breeze.

It was on a cold, windy October's night that the tree was almost finished. Most of the leaves sprawled across the ground now. Very few still clung to the branches.

As the wind rustled the branches and leaves of the tree, another leaf broke away from a branch and drifted away, come to a gentle, slow stop on the concrete ground below.

A man's foot stepped on the leaf as the man passed by, heading straight for the front doors of Freddy Fazbear's Pizza. The doors had been thrown wide and ajar, mostly assisted by the wind, and the employees hadn't bothered to close it. They needed it open, as they had much to carry in and out of the building.

As the man entered through the doors and down a short hallway, he passed two workers lugging a large speaker in the opposite direction, heading for the exit. The man briefly regarded the speaker for a moment. He had heard the speaker set had been sold, as some items in the pizzeria had been. It had been bought out by another location and was due to be transported there.

The same fate was due for almost everything that could be found inside Freddy Fazbear's Pizza. Now that the building was shut down and the company's pursuits were aimed elsewhere, everything inside the pizzeria that wasn't nailed down was getting taken. Some of it would be moved to other locations. Some would be put in storage for later use. What they couldn't take would be left behind.

The man entered into the dining area, which was full of other workers. Many items had been lined along the tables of the dining area and were being reviewed by Fazbear Entertainment inspectors, to see whether they would be put inside another location or storage.

The man glanced at the show stage. It was bare by this point. The cloud and sun wall decorations had been ripped away, the speaker set had been taken, and the overhanging lights had been scrapped for parts due to being too faulty. That left the animatronics.

There were only two onstage now. Freddy, or 'Funtime Freddy' as the worker heard he was called now, was standing at the center of the stage, offline and staring blankly ahead. On Freddy's right hand, Bon-Bon the hand-puppet sat there, his left arm constantly held upwards as if he was frozen in a waving motion. Bon-Bon had been called Bonnie once, but not anymore. Even so, his costume was still as lavender-colored as ever. He looked like Bonnie in miniature, minus the missing legs.

Huh. Well, that was odd. Wasn't Bon-Bon supposed to be...some other kind of color?

The man decided to ignore the nagging feeling he had relating to that hand-puppet's color. It wasn't really his concern, either way.

Funtime Freddy and Bon-Bon were the only ones still on this stage. Chica had already been taken elsewhere by the moving vans an entire week ago, as the plans for her had been set in stone long before the plans for the others had been put together by the higher-ups.

But the man only continued to glance at the bear and bunny hand-puppet duo before he moved on. It wasn't his job to worry about inspecting those two. Other Fazbear Entertainment inspectors had already finished their inspections and marked the duo as good to go, so the duo would be taken in the afternoon, when the workers came back for them after delivering the morning shipment of supplies.

The man kept moving, stepping past a group of workers removing the posters on the walls as he walked over to the section of the room he was meant to go to.

The curtains of the Pirate Cove stage had already been taken down, with plans to reuse them at another location. Any decorations that may have once been here were removed. All that was left was the barren and empty wooden platform...and the red fox animatronic sitting on it.

Foxy was, as of yet, the only one not yet remodeled. The company had only just finalized plans for Foxy's new suit, and from what the man heard, the crew that would come back for Foxy in the afternoon would be making a pit stop at a Fazbear Entertainment factory so the designers and mechanics could get the remodeling underway. For now, Foxy was still his old self: A red fox with a curved hook resting on his hand, his eyepatch closed and covering one of his eyes as he stared blankly ahead.

It was then that the man walked over to the fox animatronic, looked him up and down, and got to work. He made some last-minute calibrations to Foxy's system to ensure all was in working order, then kneeled down and, one by one, released the bolts that had temporarily connected Foxy to the floor until they were done working on him.

With his job done, the man gave Foxy one last look. The fox hadn't moved an inch. The man only continued the gaze for a moment before he turned and reentered the dining room.

In the time the man had been working, almost everything had been taken out of the room. But there were shouts and new voices in the room.

"Keep clear! Everybody move!"

Two men were wheeling two distinct crates down the length of the room. The other workers stood aside, letting the crates be wheeled and set against the wall.

These were the two new animatronics. They had already been at the new location for a long while, but, on the orders of the higher-ups, they had been delivered to the closing down of Freddy Fazbear's Pizza so the workers and mechanics could make run the needed tests and examinations.

A men holding a crowbar pried the crates open, and teams of workers took the animatronics inside the crates and laid them on the barren black tables. These tables had once been for the customers to sit at in the dining area, but that wasn't the case now. The tables had been stripped of their party hats and white table clothes, leaving them as empty surfaces for the workers to work on.

The man watched from the sidelines, taking glances at the animatronics being laid down and looked over by the technicians. One seemed to be some sort of red-haired clown girl. The other was a blue and white ballerina with her eyes closed.

The man only observed as the technicians finished their tasks and proclaimed the two new animatronics as ready. With this down, the crowd of workers began to disperse, all lugging the last remaining items out of the room. The man joined in with the crowd of workers as they all walked back down the entrance hall, coming outside.

Every item was being loaded into several moving trucks clustered in the front parking lot, each truck set to drive off towards a different place. Workers walked up and down the ramps, carrying items inside the back of the trucks and coming back down to get more.

When they were finished, everyone began to talk amongst each other, and it was only then when the leader of the operation, a man in a suit, stepped over, carrying a megaphone.

"Alright, everyone, the job is done. You all did an efficient job." The man in charge said through the megaphone. "You may get into your respective carpools and report back to your normal work sites. The afternoon work crew will return later to collect the animatronics. That is all. Everyone here is free to go."

The crowd dispersed quickly as all the workers climbed back into their cars, with many of them sharing cars they had carpooled in to get to the closed down pizzeria in the first place. The man followed his coworkers as he saw the manager getting back into his own car and the movers closing up the trucks and starting them up.

One by one, every car in the wide parking lot started up, pulled out of the parking lot, and drove away, heading down the street back towards town and towards wherever it needed to be next.

The car the man was in was the last to leave. As it departed, they slowly drove by the large tree outside the front of the building.

Another orange leaf broke away from a branch and slowly fluttered down to the ground.

Hours passed and noon came. It would be another hour or so before the afternoon work crew arrived, but until then, the place was abandoned.

At least, in terms of human life, it was.

Inside the walls of the building, on a small stage that had once been obscured by purple curtains, Foxy's eyes began to glow with light as they lit up. His head slowly tilted upwards, and his yellow eyes came fully to life.

And Foxy yawned. He stretched and yawned and closed his eyes as he activated.

So, looks like the day's here. He thought. Today's the day I'll be leaving this place behind for good and finally being taken to my new home.

Foxy had thought about this day for a long time. He had heard rumors of the plans to take him and the others to a new location for a while now. The rumors had started to circulate not long after the building shut down. Foxy had heard Freddy and Chica mention the snippets of conversation the animatronics had caught from passing workers, and it didn't take long for them to catch on to what was going on.

Foxy left Pirate Cove and walked to the dining area. Freddy and Bon-Bon were already there, seemingly chatting with each other.

"Oh, hey, Foxy!" Freddy greeted, grinning and waving when Foxy approached.

"Oh! Foxy." Bon-Bon said, and for some reason, he looked relieved. "You're awake."

Foxy grinned at them as he approached. "Yeah, I sure am. Good afternoon, guys."

"Good afternoon!" Freddy replied cheerily. "Did the employees finish your checkup?"

"Yeah, they got it done with. I'm all set." Foxy answered, nodding. "I guess it won't be long before I get my new costume."

"That's great news!" Freddy said. "I've been so excited to see what new costume they'll give you."

"Same here." Bon-Bon said, nodding. "After all, you're the only one we haven't seen the new costume for yet, Foxy."

"That's true." Foxy said. "I'm kind of excited as well. I wonder what I'll look like. You guys think they'll keep me as a pirate fox?"

"Here's hoping!" Freddy said, nodding eagerly. "Well, we'll see once we get to the new location, I think. I think they're going to take us there in a couple hours! We don't have much longer to wait."

"Yeah, I know, right? Can't believe we're so close to leaving this place behind." Foxy responded, and he gave the dining area around them one long look, staring at how empty and barren it was now and remembering how full of excitement it had been before. "Seems like just yesterday we heard we'd be getting a new home."

"Right...it's already been three entire weeks since we first heard those rumors." Bon-Bon said, nodding. "Time flies, huh? Either way, I'm interested to see how it all goes. I wonder what new people we'll see there."

Freddy suddenly paused. He looked deep in thought. "Hey, wait a sec...I feel like I'm forgetting something." He paused. "It's something important that I feel like I should've reminded you guys of. It's on the tip of my-"

"Hey, there they are! Baby, I found them!"

Foxy and the others were startled to hear a cry of excitement from nearby, and they looked to see an unfamiliar face looking back at them from around the corner of the east hallway. Her eyes were closed and yet she seemed to look exactly in their direction.

"Oh! That's right. The new animatronics!" Freddy said. "They're here with us, guys. The employees sent them here so they could inspect them at the same time as the rest of us."

"H-Huh? We already get to meet them?" Bon-Bon stammered in surprise. "I didn't know we'd be seeing the new animatronics so early..."

"Me neither! Guess we should go say hello to them." Foxy decided. He had been curious about who the new animatronics would be for weeks ever since he had heard there would be new ones, but he hadn't expected to be meeting them in person even before they had been transported to the new location.

Even so, the three of them watched as the ballerina hopped on her two feet, gracefully jumping towards them. Behind her, another animatronic walked out from the east hallway, following the ballerina.

"Heeelllloooo!" The ballerina said, coming to a stop right in front of Foxy, Freddy, and Bon-Bon. "You guys must be the animatronics the employee people said we'd be meeting!"

"We sure are! Hi!" Freddy greeted, coming over. "I'm Freddy! I'm kinda called 'Funtime Freddy' now because of the new costume and stuff." He glanced down at his purple and white costume. "But you can just call me Freddy."

"I know you!" The ballerina said, looking at Freddy. "Those employee people Baby and I spied on said there'd be a 'Funtime Freddy' joining us at our location!"

"Wait...you're from the new location?" Foxy said in surprise.

"That's right!" Came a new voice as the other animatronic walked over. She resembled a girl with red hair in pigtails, and her eyes were a bright green. "Hey there! It's good meeting you guys. You guys are the animatronics coming to our location, right?"

"Uh, yeah! That's us." Bon-Bon replied, nodding more quickly than usual. He seemed to be a little more anxious than he usually was, due to the appearance of the new animatronics.

"So who are you guys?" Freddy asked curiously, his eyes shining with anticipation.

"I'm glad you asked! I'm Ballora, star ballet dancer and one of the greatest animatronics around! Great to meet you." The ballerina said, smiling.

"You always love to make a dramatic introduction, huh, Ballora?" The clown girl said, smiling at her friend. "Well, it's nice to meet you three. I'm Circus Baby, namesake of Circus Baby's Pizza World...but you can just call me Baby for the sake of convenience."

"Will do!" Freddy replied. "As I said, I'm Freddy! And this over here is Bon-Bon! He used to be named Bonnie, but ever since he became a hand-puppet, his name was changed to Bon-Bon."

"Y-Yeah. Um, it's, uh...nice to meet you." Bon-Bon said. Foxy was honestly surprised Bon-Bon was being so nervous. He had never seen Bon-Bon this nervous before.

"Same! Heh, you're so adorable." Baby responded, giving Bon-Bon a wide smile.

"Me? Adorable? Uh, well...I guess." Bon-Bon replied, and a light blush adorned his cheeks.

"My turn. I'm Foxy! Foxy the pirate fox." Foxy introduced, raising his hook hand.

"Oooh! So are you Funtime Foxy?" Ballora asked interestedly. "You look weirdly different from Freddy. I thought you'd be shinier!"

Foxy was confused by this. "Funtime Foxy?" He stuttered.

"Yeah! We heard there'd be a 'Funtime Foxy' coming to our location as well."

"Wait a second...do you mean Foxy's going to be a Funtime model as well when he gets remodeled later?" Freddy asked, and he looked excited. "That's amazing! Foxy, did you hear that? You're going to get to be a Funtime model, too!"

"Huh. I am." Foxy replied, a bit surprised to be hearing this. He hadn't known what new model he was becoming before now, so the news that he would be a 'Funtime' like Freddy was now was news to him. Foxy cracked a grin. "Sounds kind of cool. Does that mean I get a hand-puppet, too?"

"Oh, I bet! That'd be pretty nice." Freddy said, looking happy by the idea. "Then we could both be puppeteers."

"...hmm, and then maybe I could ask Foxy's hand-puppet if we can swap places..." Foxy heard Bon-Bon mutter.

"What'd you say just now, Bon-Bon?" Freddy said.

"Nothing! Nothing important." Bon-Bon said, straightening up on Freddy's arm. "So, um...what's your location like, Ballora and Baby?"

"Oh, you'll love it!" Ballora replied, looking eager to answer. "We've got a kitchen, and some auditoriums, and some party rooms, and my favorite place: a bounce house!"

"A bounce house?!" Foxy replied.

"Yeah! We have one built right inside our pizzeria." Baby mentioned, nodding. "It's a super cool place to have fun."

"Woooaaahh..." Freddy gasped eagerly, seeming like an awestruck kid. "That's way more than this place ever had! Now I can't wait! I wish the moving guys would get here already."

"Yeah! Oh, oh, and let me tell you about what else this place has!" Ballora said, and she grabbed Freddy's wrist and pulled him to the side, beginning to explain all the things Circus Baby's Pizza World had to offer, with Freddy's expression of excitement and wonder growing the more he heard.

As those two talked, Foxy and Baby strolled away from them to let them chat, and they walked by the now barren show stage.

"Your place is really empty now, huh?" Baby said, looking at the stage. "I've never seen a company location so devoid of decorations before."

"There's a first time for everything." Foxy replied. "Honestly, I'm going to miss this place. This place has been my home for years."

Baby nodded. "Yeah, I get that. You must have so many memories here, huh?"

Foxy nodded back. "So many. I had so much fun here. All the days Freddy was devouring pizza, or when I helped my friend Chica in the kitchen, or when Bonnie and I played some games...there's so much I'm leaving behind."

"You had a lot of friends, huh?" Baby said, gazing off into the distance and thinking to herself. "I haven't really had many people to be with. It's just been Ballora and me at my place for a long time now. Although there was the new guy we had at our location recently."

"New guy?"

"Yeah. He was kind of strange at first, but I talked to him a bunch and he was a breath of fresh air. His living conditions are strange, admittedly, but hey, if people want to live inside giant boxes, they sure can."

Foxy paused. Giant boxes? That sounded awfully familiar. "Wait...who are you-"

But Foxy paused as he and Baby heard a clunk of metal on the floor and some dragging noises behind them. Foxy turned to see Bon-Bon crawling over to them.

"No offense to Freddy and that ballerina, but I'd rather let them do their own thing. I want to stick by you two." Bon-Bon said as he stopped right by them, looking up at Baby. "Um...hi again. So you're the owner of the location we're going to go to soon?"

"That's me." Baby answered. "It's a nice place. I hope you guys'll like it."

"We'll keep an open mind. Right, Bon-Bon?" Foxy asked, glancing at the bunny hand-puppet, who nodded his head.

Baby nodded. "Thanks. So, uh...what was it like living here, anyway? I'm actually curious."

Foxy smiled. "Hmm...well, it's a lot. Let's take a seat with the others, and then we can all talk about it."

"Knowing how those two are, we'll be going over their interests for ages..." Bon-Bon commented, pointing a thumb back at Ballora and Freddy, who were still talking to each other.

Foxy and Baby exchanged grins, then Baby and Bon-Bon went to sit with Freddy and Ballora, who brought them into the conversation the moment they joined. Foxy eyed them as he stopped for a moment. He felt encouraged by Ballora's friendly yet dramatic manner, and by Baby's amiable and social personality.

I think I'm going to like those two. Foxy thought to himself as he went to join the others, and he hoped inside that Freddy and Bon-Bon felt the same way.

The conversation the five animatronics had spanned all the hours they had at their disposal until the afternoon crew came in. During that time, each member of the group spent time talking about themselves, and Foxy listened attentively to hear more about their new friends.

Ballora was, as she liked to put it, the best dancer out of any animatronic that was alive and kicking. She got up to demonstrate her ballet more than once, and Foxy had to admit that she had skill, although it was definitely partly assisted by her legs, which were highly suited to ballet. Baby always clapped whenever Ballora finished demonstrating a move, and soon enough, Foxy, Freddy, and Bon-Bon followed suit. Besides that, Ballora loved to talk about her love of music, and even shared that she knew how to play the piano. There was no piano around for a demonstration, but Ballora promised the group she would play a song the first chance she got.

Circus Baby was far more reserved than Ballora was, although she was a very bright person and treated Foxy and his friends as if they had been always been good friends of each other. Baby seemed to have a passionate interest in games, of all things, and she ended up dragging Freddy and Bon-Bon into a long winded-explanation of her favorite games to play when she was bored. Both Freddy and Bon-Bon listened attentively to her diatribe, however, and they both seemed impressed. Foxy had never owned any gaming systems at the building, and any computers they had had always been reserved for employee work, so he hadn't gotten into video games of any kind. He figured he'd try someday. Maybe it'd be fun.

Once Ballora and Baby were done telling more about themselves, it was Foxy and friends' turn, and Freddy volunteered to go first. From there, the bear wasted no time talking about his love of pizza, something Foxy and Bon-Bon were very familiar with. Freddy had been one to eat all the food he could find from day one. While the animatronics couldn't taste and sample foods like humans could, they had always contained rudimentary taste sensors and storage tanks that allowed them to imitate food consumption as best as they could. Freddy in particular enjoyed it the most, and it was pizza he often spent time eating. Freddy seemed to like most toppings pizza went with as well, and he talked about his personal favorite toppings to Baby and Ballora. Although Foxy wasn't as much of a fanatic, he did agree with Freddy about pizza on many fronts. Inside, Foxy wished Chica was still around. She made better pizza than anyone she knew, and without her, there was no easy way to make pizza. But Foxy supposed he could hold out for now. He'd probably see Chica again at the new location, he told himself, and he decided to be patient.

Bon-Bon went next, and the hand-puppet's nervousness seemed to increase a little when his turn came around. Nevertheless, while Bon-Bon admit he didn't have much to say about himself, he did tell Baby and Ballora about a book he had been reading recently and how the worlds of fantasy and fiction always enthralled him with their deep and layered worlds and complex systems of magic. They made for good reads, he said.

Foxy was the last to get his turn, and he spent a good portion of time talking about his friends' past exploits at the pizzeria. He talked about all the mischief he, Freddy, and Bon-Bon had gotten into when Bon-Bon was still his big self, the various things Chica and her Cupcake had done while they were still around, and the strange human visitors they had received while the pizzeria was still open for business. There had been too much to recount it all, but he said as much as he could. Baby and Ballora were awed at how much the animatronics had been through in their lives already, and they admit as much themselves.

The conversation carried on in this manner for two entire hours before Foxy paused in the middle of his sentence. He could hear the sounds of vehicle engines somewhere outside. He stood up.

"Oop. Sorry, guys, we're going to have to cut this short." Foxy said, looking over his shoulder at the doorway to the entrance hall. "The afternoon crew is here."

"Already? Wow, it feels like it's only been a minute since we started talking." Ballora commented.

"Actually, it's been two hours, but...I get what you mean." Bon-Bon added.

"Well, it's been a ton of fun meeting you three." Baby said, putting her hands on her hips and smiling. "But I guess we'll have to separate for now."

"Yeah. We'll see you three at our place really soon, though, right?" Ballora asked.

"Super soon! Probably tonight or tomorrow. Depends on how long the moving guys take to get us there." Freddy answered, raising a hand.

"Yeah. I'm sure it won't be too long, though." Foxy said, nodding. "Alright, let's all get back to our stages before the afternoon crew gets in here. See you two soon."

"See ya!" Baby replied.

"Bye!" Ballora joined, waving at them.

The group finished saying their goodbyes, then rushed to return to their previous places. Bon-Bon mounted himself on Freddy's hand as Freddy deactivated on stage, while Baby and Ballora resumed standing offline in front of their crates. Foxy went back to his barren cove and prepared himself to do the same.

He sighed as he readied himself for what he considered to be the most important bout of sleep he'd get yet.

Just think, Foxy. When you wake up, you'll have a new home, a new suit, a new life ahead of you... Foxy thought. All I have to do is drift off to sleep and wait until it's time to wake up again.

He smiled as he straightened his limbs and stood as still as he could on stage. He gave the cove around him one last look.

Well, goodbye, Freddy Fazbear's Pizza. Foxy thought. This is the last time I'll ever see the walls of this place. But soon...I'll see the walls of somewhere new...

He closed his eyes.

And who knows what waits for me at Circus Baby's Pizza World...

The afternoon crew came in minutes after the animatronics deactivated. After a round of last-minute diagnostics, the animatronics were all hoisted into crates, each the right size to house each of the five animatronics.

The crates were wheeled down the hallway as the afternoon workers went down the empty entrance hall, not looking back at the pizzeria they were leaving behind.

They opened the final set of double doors and stepped put into the afternoon air, the clouds hanging overhead as another light breeze drifted by. Once everyone was outside, two men closed and locked the doors, then wrapped a chain around the handles, fully closing off the building from being entered.

No one would ever enter the third Freddy Fazbear's location ever again.

Four of the animatronics crates were loaded into one truck, but when one worker wheeled Foxy's crate towards the same truck, two men stopped him and reminded him that Foxy was due to be sent elsewhere before he joined the other animatronics at the new location.

The worker nodded and turned the crate, wheeling it in the direction that the two men had pointed in. As the crate was wheeled towards the second truck, the employee passed by the old tree in front of the building. Another leaf broke off of a branch and landed on the ground behind the employee.

The crate was wheeled up the ramp and moved to the far back of the truck, as other workers finalized the plans for Foxy. He would be going to the nearby factory, so that he could receive his long-awaited remodel before he was shipped to Circus Baby's Pizza World.

The moment the crate was wheeled into the back of the truck and secured with belts to the floor, the employee gave a thumbs-up as a sign that he was finished, and he received the go-ahead. He and another worker both grabbed the back door of the truck and pulled it down, closing the back of the truck and leaving the lone crate and the surrounding other deliveries in darkness.

Hours later, that same back door of the truck closed shortly after the tasks at the factory had been completed. The truck was due to leave in a few minutes.

Silence passed inside the back of the truck as the workers outside finished up their tasks and prepared to leave.

It was dark inside the back of the truck, with no lightbulbs or other light sources to light up the darkness. Foxy, who was deactivated inside the crate, remained unaware of anything happening around him.

And then...

Clunk.

Clunk.

Clunk.

The sound of slow metal footsteps emanated in the silence of the truck's backside. Something was stepping through the darkness, stepping closer to the crate.

A figure, shrouded in darkness, walked past the various boxes piled inside the truck, its two legs clunking on the floor with the sound of metal against metal, each step slow and methodical.

It stopped right in front of the crate. Leaning down, a hand took the polyester belt strapping the crate down and grasped the buckle.

Click.

One buckle clicked as it was undone, and the belt zipped away and hit the metal floor.

Click.

A second buckle was released and another belt hit the metal floor and laid there.

Click.

The third and final belt was released, and all three belts strapping the crate down were now gone.

A hand was placed slowly on the crate, and it grasped the edge, fingers curved around the wooden top of the crate. With a slow pull, the top was moved away.

The crate now laid open. There, laying inside, deactivated and offline, was Funtime Foxy.

The hand went back to the figure's side as it stared down at the prone and silent fox laying motionless inside the crate.

"Here you are."

The figure raised its other hand. A gleam of shining metal, snaked around into a pile.

"Your new home."

A hand reached down and pressed a series of buttons, first on Foxy's head, then on his chest.

CLANG.

A metallic clang sounded out as Foxy's faceplates were opened. Inside, his new endoskeleton head was clearly visible.

The figure paused as it looked down at Foxy's insides, the metallic clump still in its hand.

"It begins."

The hand holding the metallic clump began to reach down.

"The pieces are in place for you. All you have to do...is find them."

The hand let go.

From inside the walls of a building lit up by moonlight, a pizzeria soon fated to hold a whole new generation of animatronics, a long figure looked out the window, waiting and watching for the arrival of his friends.

"It won't be too long now." Said the tall figure. Its three-fingered hand clenched and unclenched itself in anticipation.

"No matter what happens, Foxy...I'll be there to look out for you. No matter what..."

Somewhere, off in the dark of night, in the shadow of an abandoned building, an old tree swayed in the wind.

A red leaf still clinged to the tallest branch, the last remaining leaf before the tree would be empty and barren.

Snap.

A leaf broke away. It floated down, gently, little by little. As it drifted down, an entire season's worth of leaves were scattered around it.

The tree's leafless branches continued to sway in the breeze.

The moon glowed brightly.

The red leaf gently touched the ground.

And thus began a new future.

Chapter Text

~October~

~The First Year~

[ 10 / 16 / 20-? ]

Tonight was a dark and quiet night for the sleepy town of Littlewood, Ohio. It seemed everyone was asleep, with the streets quiet enough that nearby listeners could hear a pin drop.

But not everyone was taking the night to have some cozy relaxation. Others had work to do.

From a long road stretching off into the distance, the wheels of a large truck came driving up the road, the relative darkness of the town a black blot in the distance.

Cory gripped the steering wheel, despite there being no need to make a turn yet. His foot stayed on the gas pedal, maintaining a steady speed while the truck approached the town. The interior of the truck's front, lit up by a bright lightbulb, was a contrast to the quiet darkness outside. The radio buzzed with music from the late night hits.

In the passenger seat, Cory's co-worker, a middle-aged man with the deepest frown that Cory had ever seen a person have, put his arms back behind his head and leaned back in his seat with a mixture of annoyance and impatience. His mouth moved, slightly flicking the cigarette sticking out of the employee's mouth. The window was open to let the cigarette smoke out, as Cory had made sure to tell his co-worker that he wouldn't let him smoke in the vehicle unless the window was open. Even so, something told Cory that he should've just told his co-worker not to smoke in the truck at all, but his co-worker was disgruntled enough over this late-night job already, and Cory felt a little bit of the same way. Neither of them were really in any mood to get on each other's nerves.

Cory made a turn and veered to a road on the outside of town, going around the west end of town so as to avoid going by the more populated areas. His co-worker had told him before they set off that he would prefer not to cut through Littlewood on the way to the building. While cutting through the town was the faster route, it would also mean nighttime passerby would see the truck, and while Cory couldn't see how this would be a bad thing, the co-worker seemed to not want townspeople to see the truck coming for whatever reason. Cory, who had no energy to argue due to him skipping his regular cup of coffee to get the job done, agreed to the co-worker's terms. Now they were circling around the town, and where the truck was driving, it was bumping loudly over the slightly uneven road. But the racket was far away enough from nearby homes in town that nobody heard it.

Cory's focus was to go around town, as the place he was supposed to be driving to was situated on the opposite end of town from where he had come from, and he would've either had to cut through the town or circle around it. Due to the co-worker's insistence on staying away from the prying eyes of the townspeople, the latter option had been the choice made.

As the truck hit another small bump, Cory spoke up. "How many more minutes do we need to keep driving before we're there?" He asked, not taking his eyes of the road. The last thing he needed was to get the truck stuck in a ditch; that would get him fired for incompetence.

"This is the seventh time you've asked me that, Cory." The co-worker grunted, giving a no-nonsense stare to the employee. "It's not gonna be that much longer. We're already halfway around the town. Now do me a solid and stay quiet for the final stretch of the ride. Your comments are gettin' on me nerves."

"Yeah, yeah, I get the message. I'll stop talking. Geez." Cory replied, his grip on the steering wheel tightening. He then made it a point to follow through on that, and he continued going down the road that circled around Littlewood, not saying another word the whole way.

It took a bit more time before they were at the opposite end of town, and the road became more even as the truck turned onto a road more traveled upon by passing cars. The building was a bit out of the way from town, being roughly a five minute drive from Littlewood to the building, according to the co-worker. It took that exact amount of time before it could be seen.

Squinting through the windshield, Cory saw a large, illuminated building off to the side of the road, complete with a parking lot, a huge sign, and some entrance doors made of glass. The sign itself featured a picture of a clown girl animatronic with red pigtails waving an arm in welcome, while to the left of the picture were big words reading:

CIRCUS BABY'S PIZZA WORLD

Cory gave a nod as he drove down the road closer to the building.

They were finally here, after a drive that lasted almost two hours. And that was after they had to make a pit stop at the factory to get the last remaining animatronic's suit changed.

Cory veered the truck into the parking lot, which, while very spacious and had plenty of spots in it, only had one other car parked in it. It was clear the parking lot had barely been put to use recently- which was unsurprising, considering the location had yet to open.

Cory's eyes searched the parking lot until he could see the closest parking space to the doors that wasn't a handicapped space. He backed the truck, which beeped loudly as Cory maneuvered it backwards into the space, then put it to a stop and turned off the vehicle.

Two car doors opened and slammed shut as Cory and his co-worker stepped out, both going onto the curb as they went around to the truck's backside, which was positioned to be facing towards the building standing in front of them. Cory gave the picture of the clown girl on the sign another glance. Based on the sign's words, this clown girl has to be 'Circus Baby'. From that alone, Cory could only guess at what strange animatronics this place might contain. Thankfully for him, he thought, he wasn't going to stick around to find out such things. He was just here to make a delivery, and after that he could go home and finally get some sleep.

The co-worker grabbed the big back door of the truck and heaved it open, letting the light shining from the building's lights illuminate the back of the truck. The building was completely lit up inside despite it being nighttime, so Cory assumed either this was how it was, or that some other human besides him and his co-worker was present at the location.

Cory and his co-worker skirted around the multiple other boxes that were yet to be delivered to the undisclosed locations they were being sent to. Cory and his co-worker didn't need to worry about those boxes, as they were to be delivered by the delivery men that would be taking over the shift after Cory and his co-worker returned to the factory from successfully making the delivery.

It was the big box in the back that the two men focused their attention on. They walked over to it, unbuckled the belts keeping the box secured, and gave it a look over. Cory even slightly opened the lid of the box, and he could see the shine of metal inside, verifying that the animatronic was still safely contained inside the crate.

"Well, here it is." Cory said. "Only thing left for us to do now is get it inside. Guess it's heavy lifting time."

"Yeah, yeah, I know..." The co-worker muttered, kneeling down and grabbing hold of the crate. "Damn company, makin' me do a buncha grunt work..." The co-worker paused and looked back. "What're you standing there for, Cory? Make yourself useful already. I ain't finishin' this job on my lonesome."

"Oh, right." Cory replied. "Uh, you start dragging the crate out. I'll get the door open so we can heft it inside."

"Then make it snappy." The co-worker said, and he turned his attention back to the crate as he rubbed his hands together and prepared to drag it out of the truck.

Meanwhile, Cory turned back towards the illuminated pizzeria behind him and focused on getting the doors open, all so they could get the newest delivery inside. Ahead of him, he could see that there were two doorways used to enter the building. Both were made of stained glass, with one colored red and the other colored white, imitating the color scheme, Cory realized, of the 'Circus Baby' animatronic pictured on the front sign of the building.

Seeing what he had to do, he walked up to the red stained-glass door and gave the handle a tug. But it didn't come open.

Locked, Cory thought. Now what was he meant to do?

"Hey! In here!"

Cory looked up as he saw a figure approaching on the other side of the glass. A man dressed in a white collared shirt and black pants was inside the building.

"Oh! Hey." Cory greeted.

"Welcome. Looks like you and your friend there must be the delivery boys." The man said, nodding on the other side of the glass.

"We ain't friends!" The co-worker grumbled, both out of annoyance and effort, as he was currently dragging the crate out of the truck.

"Well, whatever. Point is, I see you guys have the animatronic we've been waiting for. Perfect. Once we get this one inside, we'll have all the deliveries to this location done for the day. I'll unlock the doors so you boys can haul it in."

The man reached into his pants pocket and pulled out a key ring, then stuck one of the keys into the red stained-glass door and turned it. With a click, the door unlocked, and Cory tested the door again. He grabbed the handle and was able to swing the stained-glass door wide open.

"Good, the door's finally open. Now c'mon already, Cory, gimme some help here." The co-worker grunted.

"I'm on it, I'm on it." Cory replied, shaking his head as he turned and walked back to his co-worker. They seized the crate from both ends, with Cory backing up while his co-worker walked forwards. They eased through the red stained-glass door, the man standing back so he wouldn't be in the way while the two employees were hoisting the crate into the building. Stepping carefully around a pillar he had almost failed to notice, Cory lifted the crate all the way to the main stage of the main room, where he set it down in front of the pedestals.

Then he lifted the lid and set it down on the wooden stage, revealing the pink-white fox animatronic lying inside. The man came over to inspect.

"Perfect. He looks to be in good condition." The man commented, nodding in satisfaction. "Can you boys get him out of the crate and stand him up on the stage? Get that done and I promise you'll both be free to head home."

Cory quickly nodded at the proposition of being able to return home, and he and his co-worker kneeled down and grabbed hold of the fox, with Cory grabbing the legs while his co-worker grabbed the arms. They hefted the machine upright and set its feet down on the wood. The machine's legs seemed to be sturdy enough, Cory noted, that it could stand all on its own.

Taking a breath from the exertion of the lifting, Cory stepped back as the man gave another satisfied nod.

"Good, good. He's in position now. I'll handle his final check-up. You boys can take the truck back to the factory and clock out." The man said. "See you around."

"Whew." Cory mumbled.

"Bout time." The co-worker muttered.

They both turned and left the building immediately, not looking back as they headed back to their truck and heaved the back door closed. With the open and slamming of car doors, they both stepped back into the vehicle.

As Cory started the truck up again and the engine sounded to life, he glanced out his side window at the pizzeria. He had to admit, he was curious about what kind of things might be going on with this particular location. Maybe he could ask for details at the workplace...?

...No. No, it probably wasn't any of his business. He decided he'd rather just get the truck back so he and his co-worker could head home.

Cory put both of his hands back on the steering wheel and pressed his foot lightly to the gas pedal as he maneuvered the truck out of the parking space. Then, he turned it, the engine roaring slightly as the truck drove across the parking lot and exited it.

He turned the truck back down onto the road, and with one final step on the gas pedal, they were off.

Oz stepped through the stained-glass doors for a moment and took a second to watch the workers' truck disappear off into the distance, heading back in the direction of Littlewood. They were long gone now.

He nodded, then went back inside, shutting the red stained-glass door behind him and walking back over to the fox animatronic, deactivated on the main stage. The fox animatronic was the only one here, as all of the other animatronics inside the building were deactivated in the auditorium instead. Oz had considered telling the men to carry Foxy's box all the way to the auditorium, but really, there was no need to take him that far when Oz knew he could finish up the work in the main room. Plus, the men looked unhappy enough about their lot to begin with, so Oz felt courteous enough not to give them more reasons to complain.

Oz stared up at the fox animatronic, a machine taller than Oz was himself, its unlit yellow eyes looking forwards at nothing in its deactivated state. It was colored pink and white, with slight grey here and there. It had a long metal tail, mostly white but with a pink tip, as well as yellow eyes. Three metal tuft-shaped parts resembling fur tufts stuck out of its head. It had a pink muzzle with a black nose and small purple freckles, as well as a red bow tie on his chest and a speaker placed underneath that.

Hmm. So, this is Funtime Foxy. Oz thought, considering Funtime Foxy with a thoughtful grin. He looks pretty similar to Funtime Freddy in coloration. No hand-puppet this time, though. Oz looked the fox animatronic over again. He definitely looks as pristine as I was expecting. He'll be a welcome addition to the cast of Circus Baby's.

Oz stopped for a moment, realizing something, then gave a nod towards Funtime Foxy.

"Wait right there, Foxy. I'll be right back. Just a short bathroom break and then I'll finish your concluding calibrations. Then you'll be all set."

Turning on his foot, Oz walked out of the main room and down a nearby hall. Inside, he mentally chided himself.

There you go, Oz, talking to an animatronic again. Animatronics can't respond back to you, you know. He thought. Well, they would if they were alive, but...

...I'm sure that's not how that works.

With Oz out of the room, the main room's only semblance of life was gone, and the room fell eerily silent. Funtime Foxy stood there alone on stage, there to stay until the final worker left in the building came back to get things wrapped up.

But even though he was standing stock still, there was an air about him that just seemed...off. As if this seemingly innocuous pink and white fox had more to say about him than an initial glance would suggest.

And indeed, there was more.

Because even though not a single person with ears to hear was around in the main room at this moment, had someone been in there and listened closely, they would've been able to hear the sound of echoing laughter.

It took Oz no longer than 5 minutes to finish up the final check-up, and then he was gone, picking up his suitcase and heading out the front door.

Nobody was awake to hear the sounds of something being hammered just outside the front doors.

Hours passed in silence with Foxy alone by himself in the main room. But suddenly, without warning, the pink-white fox came online. He blinked once, then began to speak in a voice that was not his own.

"Alright, so, looks like I've finally arrived at the place where my new job is." Foxy said, and nothing in his tone suggested that he had just been deactivated for hours. He was acting merely as if he had just walked into the building. "I've already got my suit on, and now I should be ready to go!" He paused for a second. "Hmm, wait a sec...can I really be sure that I'm ready to do this? I mean, I haven't looked at myself in the mirror yet, so I don't have a way of knowing if there's any issues with my appearance. Guess I should find a mirror? Now where...? Oh, right, the bathroom! There should definitely be a mirror there."

Foxy ran out of the room, heading down the small hallway leading away from the main room, and towards somewhere else in the building.

Foxy made sure to look himself over quite thoroughly once he found a mirror in the boys' restroom. His suit seemed in good repair, and every part was firmly fitted in place. He felt sure that he would be secure inside this suit.

Okay, all done. Foxy thought. It's finally time. My first day at the new location, and it's today. Guess it was going to be coming eventually. Foxy paused in his thoughts. Alright, I should really stay calm, and most of all, pace myself. I can do this, I know I can. I'll do my best, and I'll make all the kids happy, and my boss will be so impressed with me. At least, hopefully. Well, he should be as long as I do well in this new suit. Speaking of the new suit...

Foxy glanced down at his suit. To be honest, it wasn't his favorite.

Yeah, not a big fan of the suit. He thought. I mean, I don't hate it. It's sleek and polished and all that, and I don't have the eyepatch anymore, so I can see out of both eyes. But...it just feels weird for me to be wearing something so pink. It feels embarrassing, even, to be wearing a suit with painted nails when I'm a guy. But, even so...it's definitely higher and of better quality than the old suit, at least.

Foxy thought about his old suit. I still kind of miss that suit. The red skin...the cool hook and eyepatch...and now I've got this suit instead. Is this new suit a downgrade or an upgrade? I really can't decide.

Foxy shook himself out of his reminiscing. He had more important things to do.

The first day matters most out of all. Foxy thought. I will admit that I'm nervous. This is a new place, after all, and I don't know anyone here yet. But, even so, I can still do a good job working at...at...what was the name of this place again? Was it...Circus...Baby's...Pizza World? Yeah, that's the name. Phew, I'm glad I managed to remember that. Not being able to remember the name of my workplace would speak entire full-length volumes about how good I would be at this job.

Foxy once again broke out of that train of thought. Okay, okay, enough stalling! It's time to start work, to start my day. If I do well, I'll get to keep this job, so every action counts! Time to head out.

Foxy had already begun to leave the room, but...he felt a little weird. Like he had a headache. Like something was wrong with his head.

But why was-?

Error! Error! Unauthorized modification to programming detected!

Foxy was taken off-guard when a series of red words and lines of code started to flash all over his vision in a chaotic manner. What was happening? Before he had time to process any of it, the red text vanished, and more red text appeared and covered his vision.

Initiating system shutdown! Commence manual override!

"Huh? What's going-" Foxy began, but he didn't even have time to question it. The moment before he would've finished speaking, he suddenly went still, and his eyes dimmed.

"...on...?"

With a creak of metal, his still form tipped over.

CLANG!

He didn't get back up.

Manual override failed. Restarting systems...

Foxy opened his eyes. He was still in the bathroom, with the lights above illuminating the bathroom.

"Ugh...what on earth happened?" Foxy mumbled as he got to his feet. He couldn't remember much. He remembered preparing to leave the room so he could start his day of work, and then...

...nothing.

And then he remembered waking up here.

But the fact that there was a noticeable gap in his memory didn't disturb him as much as the fact that he realized that he had passed out somehow.

"No. No, no, no!" He exclaimed, so panicked over this realization that he didn't seem to care that he was speaking out loud. "I just passed out and was out cold! For hours, probably! And just after I said I would go do my job and get things done! Ugh, good going, me...my boss is probably going to reconsider hiring me at this point." Foxy paused. "Oh, fiddlesticks, the boss...what on earth am I going to say to him? I'd...better get out of this bathroom and find him. Or someone. I have to explain myself somehow or else my time here is finished!"

Foxy finally went and exited the boys' bathroom, entering a big hallway with tons of rooms connecting to it. The walls were striped with purple and white, with the exception of the bathrooms. Over there they had unique colors: blue for the boys' side stripes, pink for the girls' side stripes. The floor was a constant black-white checker pattern. Lights shone down from the ceiling above.

To the average observer, it would seem that nothing was out of the ordinary. But Foxy knew better, and his feeling of panic increased. He could tell that something had changed, as the room would be slightly brighter if it was still daytime. But the light level had decreased a bit, so that meant...no, but it couldn't be, it just couldn't...he had to check.

He went to the middle of the big hall, where there was a big doorway to the left. Foxy went this way, knowing it would lead him back to the main room and the entrance. The entrance doors were made out of glass, according to Foxy's recollections, so getting a look outside would be simple and easy. And taking one look outside would be enough to tell him what time of day it was. He walked through the doorway, passing into a new room.

He was now in a hallway that was smaller than the previous one. The stripes here were yellow-white instead of purple-white. There were four sets of double doors in this hall: two to the left, and two to the right. Foxy ignored all of this, as none of it was his concern right now, and he continued down the hall, heading into the main room.

Like the smaller hall, the main room had walls of yellow-white stripes. It was big, that was for sure. In the center were some tables and stools for people to sit down. There was a big stage at one side of the room, with three platforms raised above the stage floor, allowing three animatronics to perform there. Also on this side of the room was a stand, a doorway to a closet, and the door to the kitchen. On the other side of the room was a doorway to a bounce house, another carnival stand, and a doorway that Foxy knew led to Funtime Cove, where the Foxy animatronic would entertain kids. At the other end of the main room stood the two glass double doors, which were colored: one white, one red. And...no. No, no, he could see blackness outside the doors.

Foxy ran across the room and went right up to those doors, and he gasped. "No, no, this can't be right, this can't be true..."

He worst fears were now confirmed. Just by seeing through the glass doors, he could immediately see that outside, night had arrived. The parking lot and road were mostly dark, the sky was black, and the moon was shining down overhead. Not only that, but the doors were covered with boards from the other side of the door. Foxy, feeling alarmed by this, tried to pull on the glass doors. But the glass door didn't move, and Foxy remembered it had to be pushed. He pushed the handle instead, and to his chagrin, the door still didn't move. The boards on the other side of the door creaked and moved the slightest amount, but otherwise didn't show any signs of give. Feeling even more desperate than he was moments previously, Foxy was almost tempted to try punching the door to break the glass...but no, he would be fired for sure if he did that, alongside having to pay out of his own pocket for the repair costs.

All these newly-confirmed facts led Foxy to one, undeniable conclusion: he was trapped inside the building. And with how much he knew about Fazbear locations, being trapped inside any animatronic-inhabited pizzeria at night was a very bad situation for any person to be in.

Foxy cursed in his thoughts. No, no, this is bad! This is really bad, really, really bad...I can't get out of here with the doors locked like this. But if I stick around...then I'm toast. Especially considering the rumors about the things the animatronics do at night...yeah, that does it. I need to get out, and right now. If there is another exit somewhere in this building, then I need to find that exit, and fast.

Foxy turned around and ran right back across the room into the smaller hall, then to the big hall. But as he came in, he noticed something else that was extremely bad for him: across from the doorway that connected the two hallways was a set of metal doors that were covered in boards as thick as the ones on the front doors. Foxy gasped again, because having this door blocked was bad too. He had heard that those doors led to an elevator system that connected the pizzeria on the surface to an area below them, and now he could see that the doors were blocked as well.

These doors, too?! He said in his thoughts. As if the front doors being boarded up wasn't bad enough. Not only am I trapped in this pizzeria, but if the company comes back in the morning, sees that the elevator system is blocked off, and finds me here, then...then who knows what they might say or do then?! They might even think I was responsible for this! And if they do, they'll blacklist me for sure! There has to be a way to stop that from happening... Foxy weighed his options for a moment, then came to a conclusion. Wait, I shouldn't be alone in this building. I've seen the employee rosters of Fazbear Entertainment locations before. There's always a night watchman who gets hired to protect the building during the nighttime hours. This location has to have one, too! And if so, then the guard has to be somewhere around here. But where?

Foxy glanced up and down the big hallway. Besides the bathrooms, he knew there were doorways to several party rooms, the room for that ballerina animatronic, and an entire auditorium as well. He didn't have time to check them all. If those wandering animatronics found him while he was searching, then who-knows-what would end up happening.

The safest solution, Foxy decided, was to yell for the guard. He doubted the animatronics would react to the sound of a man yelling. There wouldn't possibly be any programming telling them to do that. Then, once the guard came, Foxy could ask where the nearest exit was and finally get off the premises. From there, he could get home, call his boss, and try to explain the situation. Foxy considered possibly trying to blame the guard, saying the guard had knocked him out and boarded the elevator doors shut. Then there would be no chance that Foxy would get in trouble.

Of course, there was the matter of the guard possibly contacting management and getting Foxy fired if he found out and got on the phone with management...but he'd cross that bridge when he came to it. If push came to shove, then he'd do what he needed to do to prevent expulsion from the pizzeria's workforce.

"Hello? Hello?" Foxy called out. "Is anyone else around here? Nightguard? Other possible workers in this building? I need some help here! I'm trapped!"

Before Foxy could continue yelling, he was interrupted by a loud scream. Foxy looked around, trying to search for the source of this, when he saw the door to a room at the far right of the hall slam open. A man wearing a blue collared shirt and black pants with a badge pinned to his chest came rushing out, looking panicked as he quickly shut the double doors behind him, then turned and began sprinting down the hallway, his eyes trained down on the ground half-hazardously.

That must be the night watchman. So there is one in this location! That means I can get his help. Foxy thought. Foxy then opened his mouth to get the guard's attention, just as the guard came running up to where Foxy was. Amazingly, he hadn't noticed Foxy yet.

"Hey! Security guard!" Foxy called out, raising his arm to wave at the harried-looking man running down the hallway in Foxy's general direction.

"Huh?" The security guard stuttered, and he lifted his head and became aware that he was not alone in the big hallway. The moment the guard saw Foxy standing there, his eyes seemed to pop out of his skull. Then he screamed again, which was not the reaction Foxy expected. "AAAGH! Another one?! These things just keep coming and coming!"

Foxy had no particular idea what this meant, but he supposed it was employee information that only this guard had access to it. Brushing it aside, Foxy took a step forwards and spoke again. "Hey! You have no idea how glad I am that you're here. Listen, man, I really need your help with-"

"NO!" The guard yelled, stumbling backwards out of...fear? Was that fear etched onto the guard's face? "Stay far away from me! The other ones didn't fool me, and you won't, either! I already know your secret! You're one of them, and you're just trying to gain my trust so you can hurt me, too!"

"Huh? 'One of them?'" Foxy stuttered, with even more confusion. "What do you mean?"

"Don't play dumb! You're one of those...THINGS! You're just acting like you don't know that so you can get me when I least expect it! Well, I'm not letting that happen!" The guard held up a trembling arm and packed away another few paces. "Stay. Away."

"Woah, woah, woah! Sir, please, take a chill pill. I'm not entirely sure what you're talking about, but I can promise you there's no need to be scared, especially not of me! Let's just start over, okay? My name is-" And though Foxy was sure he was about to state his name, when it came down to it, he suddenly found his mind drawing a blank. Foxy, confused by this, paused and thought about it harder. His name. His name was...it was...but what was it? Did he even have one? And...and why couldn't he remember it? He thought about it harder.

Foxy.

No, no, that was the name of the suit he was wearing. Foxy was the name of the Fazbear Entertainment brand character that lived in a cove and sang songs for kids. Foxy wasn't his name. His name was...

His name was...

...why couldn't he remember his name?

"What's with the holdup?" The guard asked, both anxiously and suspiciously. "In fact, why are you wasting my time like this? I already know you're one of them! You're just trying and failing to come up with a fake name to fool me with."

Foxy found himself rocketed back to the present situation when he heard the guard say this, and Foxy put his hands up defensively. "Hey, hey, stop! You don't need to jump to conclusions like that! I still have no idea what you mean by 'one of them', but whatever bad thing you're referring to, I'm not a part of it, okay? I'm just another worker at this building. I got hired just yesterday to wear a mascot suit and entertain kids! I was in the bathroom getting ready to go, but then I, uh...slipped! Yeah, I slipped and fell on my face in the middle of the boys' restroom! And the fall, it, uh...must've messed with my head if it means I can't remember my name. But I think I must've been out for a while, because it's nighttime right now! I've been really worried to ask this, actually, but I've got to know something. It's past midnight, isn't it?"

The guard looked wary, but he nodded slowly. "Well, yeah, you'd be right about that. It turned to twelve only a few minutes ago, so I went and started my shift, is all. Why do you want to know that?"

"I'm just concerned over how much time passed from the moment I passed out! I mean, surely you can understand not wanting to be found knocked out in the restroom on the first day of the job, Mr...uh...Mr..."

"Philip." The guard said suddenly, and he straightened up. "My name is Philip."

"Ah, I see. Well, nice name, Philip."

The guard, named Philip, actually looked mollified. "Oh...you think it's a nice name? Huh. Nobody I've ever met has told me that my name is-" The guard suddenly gasped and backed away another few paces. "Wait, wait, what on earth am I saying? I shouldn't be talking with you as casually as if you really were a Fazbear employee! I already know that you have to be one of the animatronics, coming over here to trick me into letting my guard down! Quit it with the mind games!"

One of the animatronics? That was what Philip thought Foxy was? An animatronic? Foxy had to admit, he could see the reasoning behind it, since he was currently in full costume. But even so, he knew he'd have to clear up the confusion.

"Oh. Oh, I see. You think I'm one of those animatronics in the building!" Foxy replied, giving a chuckle in attempt to be good-natured about the whole thing. "I get it now. Well, you can calm down now, okay? I'm not an animatronic, I'm just a human wearing a suit. I know I look like Foxy, but really, my name is...it's..."

Foxy.

But it wasn't Foxy. He was sure it wasn't his name.

Even so, Foxy sighed. "You don't mind calling me Foxy for now, do you? I'm not really named that, but seeing as I can't remember my own name right now, I need at least a name to be referred by."

The guard gave an incredulous look. "Oh, come on! You think you can just pretend to have an actual name and then use the name of the animatronic you really are? I'm not falling for that!"

Foxy was exasperated by this point, and he wasn't happy that the guard was constantly calling him an animatronic. He had already said he wasn't an animatronic. How much clearer could he make things?

...well, there was always just taking off the suit head to show his real face. He supposed he would have to go that far just to prove he wasn't an animatronic.

"Alright. I get it. You don't have enough proof." Foxy replied, putting a hand to his head and shaking his head, his eyes closed. "Well, I can prove it to you easily. Just give me a moment to take off the head of this costume and show you my real face, okay? Then you can be absolutely, positively sure that I'm a human."

Philip gritted his teeth nervously for a moment, but then stopped and examined the expression on Foxy's face. Looking reluctant yet hopeful, Philip nodded. "Okay. Fine. Take off the suit head and show me what you really look like. Do that for me, and I'll believe you fully and completely. I'll even apologize for all my accusations."

"Sounds totally fair. Just give me one second, okay?" Foxy said. Philip nodded his agreement.

Foxy sighed and put his hands around his costume head. He hadn't been planning on doing this. After all, if Philip saw his real face, his face could be photographed and matched to criminal databases. Then, if Foxy got in trouble and was blamed for stuff like the elevator doors being blocked off, he could and most likely would be tracked down and arrested quite easily.

But Foxy knew this guard wouldn't trust him unless Foxy showed his real face, and Philip's trust was, Foxy assumed, vital to getting out of this building. And right now, all Foxy cared about was making a clean getaway so he couldn't be found out by the company, and so nobody could pin any problems or issues on him.

So, with this conclusion rooted in his mind as the best course of action, Foxy firmly grabbed his costume head and gave it a strong tug upwards, expecting it to come off nice and easy.

It didn't.

Foxy audibly made a noise of confusion when this happened, and Philip seemed wary to be hearing this. Foxy, thinking he must not have pulled hard enough, gripped harder and tried again.

Ouch.

Foxy's neck had hurt a little from all the pulling, and he let go from the pain. He was even more confused now. It wasn't coming off. Why wasn't it coming off? Had he secured the suit to his body so tightly that he couldn't remove it by just pulling the parts off?

He tried once more, but he stopped the moment his neck started to hurt. This fact concerned him. Why did tugging at the costume head hurt his own neck? Was his neck attached to the costume head somehow? Foxy started to feel like he should've paid more attention when he put the suit on originally...

Foxy sighed in frustration. So much for just tugging the suit head right off and clearing the air lickety-split. If the mechanisms were attached to him this tightly, he wouldn't be able to get it off on his own. He supposed the only way was to have someone else assist him.

Foxy felt a strange sensation. It was like his subconscious was nudging him, trying to subtly guide him towards the solution. The idea eased into his mind, and Foxy glanced over at Philip, who was giving Foxy an odd and unsure look. Maybe I should ask for Philip's help here. Foxy thought. Sure, Philip didn't fully trust him, but he was the only other person here who could assist Foxy with the costume. Foxy needed his help if he wanted to prove he was human.

"Hey, uh...Philip." Foxy asked slowly, turning more towards the watchman.

Philip raised an eyebrow. "Uh, I was kinda under the impression that you were going to take the suit head off."

"Well...about that. I can't exactly get it off. It's kind of stuck." Foxy explained. "I think I need help to get this suit head off, so could you come over here and-?"

"What...? No, no, this isn't what we agreed on. You said you'd just take it right off and show me." Philip said, leaning back.

"Yeah, and I meant that, but I really do need help to get this thing off. Can't you-?"

"No! I still don't trust you!" Philip said, stepping back a pace. "Don't come closer!"

Foxy sighed. "Look, man, you don't need to be this afraid. I'm not going to hurt you. Just come over here and help me get the suit head off, and we can-"

"I said no!" Philip affirmed, and he was visibly sweating by now. He backed away a bit more.

Foxy, however, was getting tired of this. He just wanted some help with the suit head! It wasn't like he was asking Philip to donate one of his arms! Was it really that hard for Philip to just assist him so Foxy could prove that he really was a human?

Foxy stepped towards, moving towards Philip, who looked more and more nervous every second that Foxy slowly inched towards them, beckoning for Philip to come and help him. Foxy just wanted some form of help or assistance, and he didn't care if he had to get right up in Philip's face to do that.

But with every step Foxy took, a new feeling was building inside him. He didn't know why, but his heart felt heavier than before. His head, meanwhile, was feeling hazier and hazier the more he moved towards Philip. Where were these feelings coming from?

And then, although neither Foxy nor Philip could hear it, a sound of laughter echoed.

From out of Foxy's right hand, little slits opened up in the metal, just beneath Foxy's fingernails. From within the slits, Philip gasped as sharp metal objects, looking like long knives, extended out of the slits in Foxy's fingers.

And then Foxy's right hand swung.

Had Philip not had faster reflexes, the sudden swing of the sharp claws that had come out of Foxy's fingers would have surely slashed him across the face. But Philip ducked at the last second, and while the claws made small cuts into Philip's hat, it completely missed his face, which the swing had been aiming for.

When Foxy refocused and regained clear view of his surroundings, he realized his right hand was being held to the left side, claws still extended as the swing was already over. Meanwhile, Philip was standing back up, trembling with fear, looking afraid and shocked.

"Y-You...You just tried to..." Philip stuttered.

Foxy was speechless, his mouth slightly agape. His mind scrambled for some sort of apology- even though Foxy had no idea what he would say- but he didn't get the chance to make such an apology.

POUND! POUND! POUND!

Foxy and Philip were both disturbed by the presence of a pounding noise. Philip gasped and his head snapped to look down the hallway. Foxy looked too, to see that Philip was gazing at the doorway he had run out of earlier. The door was shaking, as something on the other side seemed to be striking it with all its might.

"Uh oh!" Philip sputtered, even more alert then before. "T-They're...they're almost about to...to...I need to get out of h-here!" Philip turned and gave Foxy one last look. "I...I knew you were as bad as they are! Trying to trick me into helping you so you could cut me to pieces...well...I know there's many people here before that you scared away and frightened and fooled with your tricks...but I'm NOT about to be one of t-them!"

And with a scream, Philip turned quickly on his heel and darted down the smaller hallway that connected to the big hallway, running in the direction of the main room.

Foxy spoke for the first time that very minute when he saw Philip run away. "W-Wait! That was an accident! I didn't mean to! Don't run away! I..." Foxy stammered, trying to come up with an excuse, but the guard wasn't looking back. Foxy took a step forwards, reaching a hand out helplessly. As he reached out, the sharp blades that had extended out of his hand suddenly retracted, going back inside the suit, and the slits beneath the suit's fingernails closed back up. The hand was back to normal. Foxy gazed at the costume's right hand for a long moment. His mind was going very many places at once. Why had he done that? Why did he have to scare the guard like that? Why had he almost...almost...done something terrible? He tried to think of a reasonable explanation for this...but his train of thought was unable to get going when he was startled out of his thoughts at the sound of one final SLAM!

Disoriented by this, Foxy looked down the hallway at the doors that had been getting pounded from whoever was on the other side. The doors seemed to have finally given way, and now the double doors were hanging wide open. And out into the hallway stepped...

...a ballerina and a bear?

"Whew! We finally got it open! I told you we could force the door open if we hit it enough times, Freddy."

"Huh, yeah. That worked as well as we could've hoped for, all things considered."

"Exactly! Now c'mon, we've got to find that security guard so we can-"

The ballerina and bear, who had been deep in conversation, had turned their heads to look down the big hallway...and saw Foxy standing there. There were at least five seconds of stunned silence before both the ballerina and bear exclaimed happily.

"Foxy!"

They both ran over, and though Foxy felt confusion over what he was seeing in front of him, at least from here, he could get a better look at them both. One thing he could say for sure was that, similarly to himself, they were wearing shiny metallic costumes. Foxy, seeing this, had almost thought they were animatronics, but they were able to speak to him normally, so he instead thought that they must be other employees he had not met yet.

The ballerina was colored blue and white, with blue hair and blue nails. Her cheeks were a rosy pink, with lipstick to match. She had on a purple tutu decorated with golden orbs, golden pearl-shaped earrings, and a pearl tiara atop her head. Her eyes were closed shut, yet somehow she could see where she was going and her head was turned exactly in Foxy's direction.

The other looked like a bear, sparking Foxy's interest. He had known a bear character from a previous location. This bear in particular was purple and white in coloration, except for one of his hands, which was colored blue. He had on a black top hat with a purple stripe on it, a black bowtie, and, like Foxy, a speaker underneath that bowtie. His blue eyes were open, and they were staring in Foxy's direction with clear excitement.

"Foxy, you're here! You've made it!" The bear said excitedly.

"And you've got the new suit they said they'd give you! Looking snazzy." The ballerina complimented approvingly. "I love the usage of pink! And...well, we can talk about it later. Anyway, it's so great to see you again! Like the new location? I'm sure you must be amazed by it! As one who has lived here for quite some time, I must say, it's a great place to live!"

"Wait till the others get to see how you look now! Aw, man, they'll be so surprised!" The bear said, nodding quickly. "And then we can all hang out and do stuff every night! It'll be great!"

Foxy heard all of this come out of their mouths but absorbed none of it into his brain. He was still trying to process them. These had to be other workers wearing costumes. What else could they be? He wasn't sure about some of the snatches of words he had heard them use, but he supposed it didn't matter. He thought about what them being other mascot-wearing employees had to mean.

On the one hand, this presented complications. His goal had been to get out of the building and head home before anyone could pin the elevator entrance doors being boarded up on him, and act as if he had never been out cold in the restroom for a while. That would give him a higher chance of keeping this job. But if these workers connected the dots and told the boss what Foxy had done, Foxy knew he would be history, and would probably hold the company record for shortest amount of time between an employee being hired and fired.

On the other hand, if they were also here, he could get their help to open up the exit doors or to find a different exit, and from there he could get out of the building before suspicion was thrown his way. And in the process, he decided he might even be able to pin the blame on the ballerina or bear to throw anybody off his trail. If he could just do so, he wouldn't be blamed for any incidents, his sleep session in the bathroom would go unnoticed, and as long as Foxy had a decent excuse for not being out entertaining kids on his first day, he stood a decent chance of keeping this job.

Yes, that would be it. So as long as he acted casual and just calmly asked them how to leave the building, he could be on his way in no time without anyone thinking he had messed things up.

"Oh. Uh...hey, there. Nice, uh...meeting you." Foxy greeted, acting as casual as he could so these employees wouldn't become suspicious of him. "Nice knowing there's others around here besides me and that Philip guy...so, uh, guess I'm not the only one trapped in this building, huh?"

Foxy expected these two workers to confirm his suspicions, maybe even mention why they were also here in the building at night, so he was caught off-guard by the looks of confusion on the ballerina and bear's faces.

"Trapped? What's that supposed to mean, Foxy?" The ballerina replied confusedly.

"Yeah, I don't think I get what you're talking about, Foxy. I wouldn't say we're trapped in the building when we only just got here." The bear added.

"Huh? But us mascot costume workers aren't really supposed to be here at night." Foxy reasoned. "So normally we would leave, but the front doors are boarded up for some reason...so we're trapped in here. That's how it is."

"'Aren't supposed to be here at night?' That's crazy talk, Foxy. It's all those employees that go head home at night...besides the security guard, anyway. But we live in this place, unlike them, so we don't have to leave." The ballerina said.

...

Did that ballerina just say they lived here?

"Pffft...HAH!" Foxy laughed, and he was completely sure she had to be joking. He slapped his knee in a joking fashion and laughed. The ballerina and bear didn't join in on the laughter, though; they just stood there watching Foxy laugh with incredulous stares. "Funny joke, lady, funny joke. You've got a real creative sense of humor. I suppose that's needed when you're locked inside a pizzeria at night."

"Huh? But I was being serious." The ballerina said.

"No you weren't. I can tell you were joking. It was obvious! I mean, live here? Us workers? When we have normal houses back in Littlewood or other nearby towns? Obviously you were kidding around."

"Uh...I'm pretty sure she wasn't joking there." The bear said, tilting his head in befuddlement.

"C'mon, you both can't trick me into falling for the joke." Foxy said, waving his hand dismissively. "I know it's a joke. Anyone could figure that out. I mean, with a bunch of party rooms to celebrate in, a kitchen with a good stock of food, and even a bounce house, I can say it wouldn't be bad living here. But we don't live here, especially not at night. I doubt the company would let us hang around the property like that." Foxy grinned for a moment, but his grin faded slightly at the expressions on the faces of the other two. "You know, you guys are really trying hard to pretend you don't know it's a joke. Guess I can appreciate the effort, but come on, you can drop the joke by now. It's not really that funny if you drag it out."

The ballerina and the bear stared at Foxy. Then they looked back at each other. Then they looked back at Foxy.

"...Foxy, I dunno what's gotten into you, or if has anything to do with the new suit or what, but I really think it'd be nice if you maybe stopped kidding around like this. It's kinda confusing." The bear sighed, giving Foxy a look.

"Kidding around? I'm not kidding around. If anything, you're the ones kidding around." Foxy replied as he felt a sense of bewilderment from this situation. What was the deal with these guys? Why did they make obvious jokes like 'we live here' and then pretend Foxy was the one joking when he called them out on it? Strange.

The bear sighed. "But we're not kidding a- wait a sec. You just want me to laugh at your jokes, don't you, Foxy? You could've just said so!" The bear smiled. Then he leaned back and let out a rumbling chuckle. "There! Was that 'Freddy' enough for ya?"

Foxy raised an eyebrow. That laugh the worker just did sounded eerily similar to the kind of laugh Freddy would do onstage, and while Foxy could appreciate the impression, he was also confused over why anyone would bother doing so at that moment. "Wait a second. Why do you sound so much like Freddy the animatronic would sound? Hey, man, you do know this place isn't even open right now, right? There's no kids around. It's just us. You don't have to imitate your character's voice."

The bear (Foxy was sure he was some type of Freddy, so Foxy decided to call him that) looked even more befuddled. "Huh...? But Foxy, I'm not making a pretend voice. This is how I sound."

"Is it now? Gee, you're really trying to stay in character when there's no need." Foxy said, rolling his eyes. "Either that, or you were born with the same voice as the animatronic Freddy. If you were, man, I do not envy you."

"Foxy, you're being ridiculous right now. Freddy sounds the same as he always has." The ballerina said, shaking her head. "I don't get it. Did that new suit short-circuit your brain or something?"

"What? No. I'm thinking just fine. Oh, and...why are you imitating your character's voice, too? I mean, I guess it's probably fun or something to copy that high-pitched voice, but come on, you don't need to-"

The ballerina froze in place and looked straight at Foxy. "ExCUSE me?" The ballerina said, and she looked upset for the first time. She raised her voice drastically and leaned forwards. "High-pitched? High-pitched? I'll have you know that this is how I naturally sound, and there is absolutely nothing wrong with it! Do you have a problem with the way my voice sounds? Huh? Do you?!"

Foxy stepped back in alarm. He hadn't expected to get this ballerina this upset just by saying that she had to be faking the voice for no reason. He put his hands up defensively. "Woah, woah, sorry! I just assumed it wasn't your real voice. I'm sorry."

The ballerina grumbled and put her hands on her hips. "You'd better be! And why did you assume this isn't my voice? What, did you think I was making a fake voice the entire time I was talking to you just yesterday? Well, I wasn't! This is how I sound! Geez...next time, don't mess up such basic information."

Foxy made a face. "Yesterday? What do you mean? I haven't ever seen you before."

This made Freddy and the ballerina look even more confused and incredulous. "Huh? Foxy, what do you mean? We met Ballora just the day before! How could you not remember that? I remember it as clear as day."

"I swear I have no idea what you're talking about. Are you confusing me for someone else?"

"What the heck are you-?" Ballora stuttered, sounding unsure what she should even say anymore.

But Foxy sighed and raised up his hands before Ballora or Freddy could speak anymore. He had realized he was wasting way too much time arguing with them over how they sounded when he needed to be getting out of here before management could pin the elevator doors being blocked on him.

"Oh, forget how you all sound, forget all this stuff that happened yesterday, forget all that! We have way more pressing matters on our hands!" Foxy cut in loudly. "I'm not sure what either of you two are doing here, but I'm not supposed to be here. I was meant to be doing my job here and I lost consciousness instead, and now I'm trapped in this place. But- and this is the important part- we have to find a way out of this building. The front doors are boarded up, so we need to locate another exit."

"Huh? Why?" Freddy asked confusedly. "Why would we need to leave?"

"Yeah! We only just got you here, and I'm pretty sure you were coming here to live here, not stay for a temporary visit." Ballora commented.

"Again with living here? Enough of that joke already. It's not funny anymore, and we can't exactly be joking too much when we need to get out of this place. Listen, I don't know if you guys know this, but these Fazbear locations are never good to be in at night. I've heard countless stories about this location and other locations and how they operate at night, and not a single one of them were good! I'm not sure what exactly goes on here at night, but the rumors say the animatronics don't act the way they're supposed to when night comes. Now, I don't know what kind of weird behavior that might imply, but I do not want to stick around and find out. We have to leave, and fast, before we end up running into one of the animatronics."

Freddy seemed to be trying to comprehend what Foxy was saying and was stunned into silence. Ballora, on the other hand, seemed to just get even more exasperated by what she was hearing.

"I...you...what? Foxy, I don't know where you're getting all these crazy ideas and nonsense phrases from, but you've got to take it down a notch, okay?" Ballora said, shaking her head and crossing her arms. "There is a pretty pressing concern on our hands, but it's not any of that nonsense stuff you were bringing up, so listen up! Foxy, did you happen to see anyone run through this hallway?"

Foxy tilted his head, but nodded. He wasn't sure what these employees were so concerned about that took precedent over escaping, but he figured he'd find out. Maybe he could still yet find a way to get out of this mess without getting in trouble with management.

"Well...yeah, I did. There was this security guard named Philip who came running past. He seemed pretty shaky." Foxy mentioned.

Ballora became more attentive when she heard this. "So you did see the security guard! Perfect! Did you see which way he went?"

"Uh, down that way." Foxy answered, pointing in the direction of the small hallway, which led down to the main room. "I actually tried talking to him earlier, but he wasn't having any of it. I wanted to see if he had keys or directions towards a possible exit, but he thought I was an animatronic, and he ran off." Foxy rolled his eyes as he said this. "Man, I guess that guy is way more disheveled than I thought, being so afraid of the animatronics that he'd take off if he thought one was nearby. Surely he knows animatronics can't talk or walk around unprompted, right? Maybe he's just deluded himself into thinking they can." Foxy chuckled a bit. "Bit of an odd guy, isn't he?"

Freddy and Ballora, for what seemed like the twentieth time that encounter, just looked confused at the things Foxy was saying.

"Yeah, sure...odd." Ballora said slowly. "Well, there isn't too much of a point in questioning how the guards act, but...I guess if you want to, go right ahead."

"Either way, we should find out where he went off to." Freddy suggested. "If he ran towards the main room, he probably didn't get that far."

Ballora glanced at Freddy and nodded vigorously. "Yeah! Chances are, he hasn't left the building yet. We can probably get in another good scare before he leaves!"

Foxy raised an eyebrow again. "Scare? Why? We don't want this guy to get even more afraid of us. Then again, if you guys are really so big on joking around, then I guess you'd want to scare your coworkers, too...well, do what you will, I guess. Just let me talk to him before or afterwards so I can get his help on something."

Ballora and Freddy exchanged looks and then both shrugged at the same time.

"I mean...I guess you can talk to him if you want. Personally, I don't care either way. I just wanna find him and scare him real good!" Ballora replied, smiling deviously.

"Then let's see where he went." Freddy added, pointing at the hallway Foxy had pointed out.

"Alright, then. I'll lead the way, I guess." Foxy said, and he walked down into the small hallway, with the strange costume-wearing employees in tow.

At least, that's what Foxy thought they were, anyways...

The trio reached the main room, and Foxy could see Ballora run past him, her head turning to look at every inch of the room. She put a hand to her ear, seemingly to listen. Freddy, meanwhile, simply turned his head slowly back and forth, examining the room much more calmly than Ballora. Both of them were keeping an eye out, but Foxy could tell already that Philip wasn't in the main room. Foxy knew that finding the night guard wouldn't be as easy as entering the main room; the guard would have definitely ran further than that in order to get away from Foxy.

"Hello?" Foxy called experimentally. He wanted to see if he could get a response, even despite the fact that he didn't see Philip anywhere in the room.

"Come on, security guard, come on out! We just wanna say hi!" Ballora shouted out.

"Yeah, where are you, night guard? We just want to see you again." Freddy added.

The trio waited for a moment. Foxy wasn't expecting a response, even though Ballora and Freddy most likely were, so he was unsurprised that their calls were met with silence.

"Aw, no answer. Great, he went even further than just the main room." Ballora groaned. "Where is he? Where did he go?"

"He could be inside any of the rooms connected to this main room...or maybe...inside one of the presents on the tables!" Freddy suggested, pointing at a tiny present on a table. Immediately after, he let out a small chuckle. "Nah, I'm kidding. I know it's too small. But just imagine if he could shrink down and go inside...would be pretty crazy, huh?"

Foxy stopped to ponder that. "Hmm. Let me just check to make sure." Foxy went over to the present Freddy had gestured towards and rapped his knuckles on the lid. "Hello? Security guard? Come on out! We just want to talk!" Foxy chuckled to himself. "Yeah, Freddy, it would be crazy seeing a guard go inside a present. But I think we can be sure Philip isn't inside this present."

"Obviously not! Why are we even discussing it? You two are just fooling around for no reason." Ballora commented impatiently, frowning. She paused for a second, then suddenly she brightened. "Although...it's funny. This actually reminds me of what we were talking about when we first met. Remember when we were discussing security guards and we suggested playing a trick on a guard where we seal them inside a present and mail them to the post office?"

Foxy paused for a moment as a memory surfaced. "Oh, yeah! Yeah, it was kind of fun sitting around discussing how we'd ever do that if we found a present big enough to put a guard..." Foxy's smile faded as he approached the end of his sentence. "...inside." He looked down at the floor unconsciously as his brain reeled from what he was thinking about. What on earth was he saying? Why did he have a memory of something he was sure he had never done before? He mumbled under his breath in disbelief. "Wait...how did I know that?"

"What do you mean, how? You were there with us when we were talking about it." Ballora mentioned, her metal eyebrows moving more into an expression of confused frustration.

"Yeah! Plus, you were the one who suggested the idea of mailing a security guard somewhere in the first place." Freddy added, nodding.

Foxy gazed at them for a second as his mind grappled with thoughts that he both wanted to confirm and deny. He gripped the side of his head, saying: "...No. No, I've never done something like that. There's no way. I've only just met you guys. Plus, I don't play tricks on security guards. That's not something I've ever done. You're just making things up..."

Making things up. Yeah. That had to be what this was. But even though Foxy tried to make himself sure of that explanation, he could see the memory swimming in his mind's eye, showing him talking to Ballora and Freddy and two other shapeless colored blobs he couldn't make out or recall. The memory was there for sure, and inside, Foxy couldn't shake the feeling that it was a real memory of something he had once done. But at the exact same time, his mind told him it was a lie, a false memory, and that he had never experienced such an event. It was bewildering to him, having his mind tell him such contradictory things. It left him almost no room at that moment to focus back on speaking to the others.

Even so, he shook himself out of his mind's inner battle over this issue and tried to look back at the other employees. Once again they seemed confused and bewildered. Ballora in particular looked frustrated, while Freddy seemed more concerned and worried.

"I don't get any of this...how could you have forgotten?" Freddy mumbled.

Ballora sighed and put a hand on Freddy's shoulder. "You know what? Forget it, Freddy. Foxy just thinks he's being funny. Just let it be. Sooner or later he'll quit acting like he doesn't remember. Besides, we have a guard to scare! We can't let this distract us long enough for the guard to get away!"

"Oh! Yeah, you're right. We've got to find him!" Freddy replied, brightening and nodding quickly at Ballora's words.

Foxy stared at both of them briefly before he just shook his head and gave up. Here these co-workers were, acting like he had forgotten something that he had never done. They were weirder than he had ever bargained for. Then again, he supposed he shouldn't have expected anyone but weirdos to be taking jobs at a Fazbear location anymore.

Anyway...the guard. Foxy did at least agree with these weird mascot employees on the fact that they needed to find the guard. Foxy's eyes swiveled around the room to check for possible ways the guard could've gone. He noticed a set of double doors off in the far corner of the room, and that caught his attention. From what he knew, there was a kitchen and an employee break room back there, and it definitely made sense for the guard to go into the employee break room. Perhaps that was where he was.

"Hey, so...do you both think maybe the guard's in the kitchen? The employee break room is back there, so it seems like the kind of place the guard would've gone to." Foxy suggested to the employees. He didn't know why he was collaborating with them by now, but he supposed he couldn't just walk off on his own without spurring odd questions. If he had a hunch of where the guard was, he might as well tell them.

Ballora and Freddy exchanged looks, then nodded at Foxy.

"Yeah, actually...seems like he'd go there." Ballora agreed.

"It's worth a look." Freddy added, shrugging.

Ballora and Freddy both turned and walk right up to the kitchen doors. Foxy followed behind them, his mind thinking of what he might try to say to the guard to get him to listen to him. If the guard didn't trust Foxy and wouldn't help him get the suit head off to show that Foxy was human, what could he do?

Huh. Maybe if I get these other mascot wearers to help me take off the suit head, maybe then I can finally show my human face. That should put Philip at ease. Foxy thought, nodding to himself.

However, his thoughts were disturbed again when he realized Ballora and Freddy were just...standing there looking at the kitchen doors, and then back at each other with unsure looks. Foxy didn't know what they were doing now. Weren't they going to go inside?

"Hey, what's the holdup? Aren't you going to open the kitchen doors so we can head in?" Foxy asked, raising an eyebrow.

Ballora and Freddy turned, looking uncomfortable. Ballora was the one who addressed Foxy's comment.

"Don't you-? Oh, wait, you're going to pretend you don't remember. That's right. So let me just repeat what I told you before." Ballora said. "We can't get the door open."

"What do you mean? Is it locked?"

"No, it's just...we aren't able to turn knobs." Freddy said, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly. To demonstrate, the bear raised his right arm and held his hand close to the door. His fingers grasped the knob, but that was far as Freddy got. His face seemed to be concentrating hard, as if he was struggling from exertion, but his fingers never moved to turn the knob.

Foxy gave him an incredulous look. "Can't turn knobs? That's ridiculous. What, are your guys' fingers broken or something?"

"What? No. We're just not programmed to open doors." Ballora answered, shaking her head rapidly.

"Not programmed? Oh, I see. You're saying the suits you two are wearing won't allow you to open doors. That sounds like an inconvenient design feature. Why would anyone take a job where they have to wear something that prevents them from opening doors? Sounds inconvenient."

"Take a job...?" Freddy restated with the exact same confusion he had displayed to Foxy so many times. The constant looks of confusion from these other workers was beginning to annoy Foxy. It wasn't that hard.

Foxy sighed, pushed past Freddy, and put his white fingers on the doorknob. This time, instead of standing there concentrating but doing nothing else, his fingers simply turned the knob. The door went ajar, and Foxy pushed it open with ease.

"There. You guys are super lucky that my suit doesn't have those annoying restrictions on turning knobs." Foxy commented, and he turned back to face the other two.

"Oh! You actually did it?" Freddy said in amazement.

"What?! You mean you can open doors but we can't?! That's not fair! How does that even work?" Ballora grumbled with exasperation.

Foxy shrugged. "Blame the designers, not me." He then turned and walked forwards, heading into the kitchen of Circus Baby's Pizza World.

The kitchen was nothing big or grand, but as Foxy looked around at it, he felt that it was nice enough. It had yellow-white stripes on the walls, and a wooden floor, which was a stark contrast to the usual black-white checker pattern. The back wall of the kitchen had many shelves, counters, and cabinets, as well as a fridge. Utensils hung on the wall above the counters, and cutting knives were inside a knife block on the counter as well. In the middle of the room stood a work station with more counters, ovens, and plenty of other kitchen equipment. Near the door was a small janitorial closet, the doors hanging slightly open to reveal mops, brooms, and an empty bucket. A hole in the ground at the far left corner of the room was opened, revealed by a wooden trapdoor that had been pulled open. A sign above the hole read that it was the trash chute, which Foxy knew to be used for disposing garbage. There was a closed door at the left side of the room that read Break Room on a sign nailed next to the door.

And in the center of the kitchen was none other than the very person Foxy and the others had been looking for.

Philip was standing behind the counter at the center of the room, leaning against it and breathing hard, seemingly trying to catch his breath. His head was turned downwards, his eyes looking at the counter towards nothing in particular. He didn't even seem to notice that the kitchen doors had been opened.

Foxy was glad that he had managed to catch up with the guard, finally, and he opened his mouth to try and say something to the guard. Maybe a calm message of reassurance would be helpful.

And perhaps it would have been, if Ballora hadn't ran past Foxy and opened her big mouth moments before Foxy was going to say anything.

"AH-HA!" She yelled in a triumphant way, pointing her finger right at Philip, who gasped and stumbled back at the sudden outburst of noise. "We've finally found you, security guard!"

Freddy ran in alongside Ballora and grinned when he saw Philip. Freddy looked even more excited than Ballora did, if that was even possible.

Philip, meanwhile, screamed and looked horrified when the group came in. He nearly tripped when he stumbled backwards, but he caught himself and faced Foxy and the others with terror and deep-seated fear.

"No no no, not this again! Not you horrible things again!" Philip sputtered, shaking his head rapidly. "Why are you even here?! I didn't do anything to any of you! Please, just leave me alone!"

"Woah, woah, everybody calm down!" Foxy shouted, a bit surprised that Philip was getting this horrified and that the others were getting so loud and triumphant just over finding a guard. Stepping slowly and purposefully forwards, Foxy moved closer to Philip. "Philip, please, this is all a big misunderstanding! I know you think we're animatronics, but we aren't! I promise! Listen, I've thought it over, and these other mascot costume employees are going to help me take the suit head off! Then I can prove to you that I'm human. That we're human. Sound good?"

"No! No, don't give me that! I've seen enough to know that there's no way I could ever trust any of y-you!" Philip shouted, rapidly shaking his head as he continued to instinctually back away from Foxy, Freddy, and Ballora. "Not when...not when you want to kill me."

Foxy stood back in shock. Kill him? Why did the guard think they wanted him dead? Obviously that was wrong. Even animatronics acting weirdly at night wouldn't be out killing people, and right now, none of them were actual animatronics. Or at least, Foxy was sure Freddy and Ballora weren't animatronics.

"We don't want to kill you! That's not right at all!" Foxy said, shaking his head. "I just want you to calm down so we can get out of this place together."

"I have no idea what Foxy's talking about, but yeah! We're not going to kill you! We're going to do much worse!" Ballora said, wiggling her fingers in a dramatic manner.

"Gff-!" Philip made a noise of fear and apprehension as he backed further away. "Monsters! Monsters! I just want to go home! I regret ever taking this horrible job! The pay wasn't worth it! It wasn't! I don't want to be here anymore!"

Foxy sighed and approached further. He just wished the guard would understand. But Philip was so determined not to trust them, to back away from them, that no progress was being made. Foxy knew he would have to take more thorough measures to finally start making progress with this guy. Foxy approached Philip, who backed away every time Foxy took another step forwards.

"Please! This isn't funny! Stop it! Just stop!" Philip begged as he backed away. "I just want to go home!"

"Philip, I-" Foxy began, and his full intention was simply to just touch the guard in some way, as a demonstration that he had no harmful intent. Maybe if he could show that he meant no harm, Philip would finally calm down.

Ballora and Freddy were still shouting out comedically scary phrases behind Foxy, which Foxy interpreted as them making lame attempts to scare Philip further. But as Foxy focused on the guard and stepped further towards him, the noise of Ballora and Freddy yelling began to get quieter and quieter. All of Foxy's surroundings faded into darkness.

All he saw was himself, the terrified security guard begging to be let go...and the still-open trash chute right behind the guard, which Philip had completely failed to notice.

And once again, though the room was so full of loud talking that nobody could hear anything else that might sound in the room, a sound played more than once before came silently.

That same echoing laughter.

In an instant, Foxy's arms suddenly stretched until they were fully extended forwards, and his hands were flat, with his fingers in the air.

And with a sudden, forceful shove forwards, two metallic hands forced back the security guard.

"Gah!" Philip yelped as the shove sent him stumbling backwards. His feet stepped back pace by pace, and the guard was so disoriented that he didn't realize what was about to happen.

The guard didn't see it happen when his left foot tried to step back and instead met nothing but air.

The lack of solid ground for his left foot to step on was enough for Philip's leg to sink downwards, and such a sensation made Philip yell as he tried to stay standing, only for his body to lose balance.

His right foot slipped, and his body fell back, falling right into the open garbage chute behind him.

Philip screamed as his entire body disappeared into the hole that made up the garbage chute. He screamed and screamed as he fell down, down, down the chute, into the waiting darkness below. He disappeared into the darkness.

THUMP.

One loud, echoing thump sounded somewhere down inside the garbage chute.

And then, in an unceremonious way, the guard's scream was cut off. Silenced.

...

Foxy stared at his hands as he saw them held out in front of him, in a shoving position, suspended there after he had just used them to...just used them to...

Foxy felt his mind not just swimming, but practically drowning and being flooded in disbelief.

No.

No, no, no, no...

No no no no no no no no.

I didn't just do that.

But I did.

But I wouldn't do that!

But I did.

But I'd never-!

But I did.

Foxy's hands shook as he slowly moved them to look at them properly. These hands were, before now, the hands of a perfectly normal costume on a perfectly normal day to take a job that would make him feel satisfied.

But now?

These were the hands of a murderer.

What's...wrong with me?

Foxy felt dazed, horrified, stunned...so much overwhelmed his heart and soul as realization, crashing realization, made him aware of the deed he had just done: snuffing out the life of an innocent man, there only to do a normal job, scared for his life, and wanting to go home.

In his mentally dazed state, it took Foxy some time to realize the kitchen had fallen nearly as silent as the garbage chute below had. Perking up the tiniest amount, Foxy slowly looked around to gaze at Freddy and Ballora.

The two of them were still standing there. They looked floored, their mouths slightly hanging open and no words or sentences escaping their voice boxes. They didn't look anywhere near as shocked as he was, but they were certainly taken aback.

Finally, Ballora spoke. She cleared her throat loudly, raising her fist to her mouth without even moving her head. Then she spoke.

"...Foxy. You...you pushed that guard. You pushed him down the garbage chute." Ballora said slowly. "I...I don't know what to say. I mean, I know we scare guards a lot, but...you didn't have to kill him. That was a bit extreme."

"W-Wait! I didn't mean to! It was an accident!" Foxy defended in a panic, turning around fully to address them.

"An accident...? I dunno, Foxy...you look like you purposefully shoved the guard down that chute." Freddy said, opening his mouth for the first time. He seemed quiet and contemplative over the whole thing.

"I-!" Foxy said, and his mind was ready to deny the idea of him purposefully killing a man. But his mind also showed him the deed again, and as he saw the memory in his mind's eye, he knew he couldn't mistake the way his hands shoved forwards, deliberately trying to send Philip right down into the chute behind him, the chute he had failed to notice.

But Foxy was conflicted. He saw himself doing it, but he hadn't...felt himself doing it. He hadn't made the decision to push the guard down the chute. Not once had his mind even considered the option.

And yet, his body had acted without input from his mind.

Just like when I swiped a claw at Philip...

Foxy couldn't bear this anymore. He felt sickened by what his mind was starting to conclude. Something was very, very wrong with him. He had been trying to kill Philip...and now he had even succeeded in that endeavor. But he hadn't made himself do it. His body had done it for him. Was...he not fully in control of himself? Had something happened to him? But Foxy didn't believe that, either. He had lived a perfectly normal life up until this point, and not once had he ever done things his mind had not decided upon. His body had never acted on its own.

So why?

Why is this happening to me...?

"Well...at least we got him. I mean, we definitely scared him WAY more than I was bargaining for, and now...we, uh...we killed someone." Ballora said, and she gulped audibly. "But uh...it's fine! It's definitely fine. We can get through this, right?"

"Fine?" Foxy repeated. For the first time, his blank expression of shock was starting to fade. Anger was coming to his defense now. He looked over at Ballora and clenched his fists, his fury suddenly rising in his chest. "Fine?! FINE?! What part of this fine?! Didn't you SEE what I just did?!" Foxy screamed, and he put his hands on his head. His eyes slowly looked down at the floor. "...I hurt someone. I killed someone. I'm a murderer."

"Foxy, please, calm down!" Ballora said, and she grabbed Foxy's wrists and looked at him. "Yes, I know, it's sudden and it's wrong, but...but you can't agonize over this! I mean...you didn't mean to do that, right?"

"Of COURSE I didn't mean to!" Foxy exclaimed, his hands trembling as Ballora held them at Foxy's sides while her closed eyes gazed up at him. Foxy thought he saw a glint of purple behind one of her eyelids, but he didn't care. He felt sick. He wanted to vomit. "B-But...but something's just...wrong with me! My body's acting by itself and I don't know why! Did putting on this suit change me?! Am I never going to go back to being a normal human with full control over himself?!"

"Human?" Freddy repeated, and he looked confused. "What do you mean, Foxy? Your body is...acting by itself? You mean...you weren't in control when you shoved that guard?"

"NO! I wasn't!" Foxy yelled, becoming so loud that Freddy took a step back, his eyes widening. "But I...but I..." Foxy backed away, tugging his wrists out of Ballora's grip and turning away from the other two. He faced the nearby wall and put his head up against it, breathing hard as his eyes stared down at the wood floor while his mind grappled with itself. He didn't know what to say about why he had done that.

I'm guilty...

Foxy thought this to himself. And this time, the word 'guilty' weighed his conscience down more than it ever had before. He had felt guilty when he had strangely gone unconscious and missed the day of work by being knocked out in the bathroom. He had felt afraid of being seen as guilty when he saw that the doors to the elevator system were blocked.

But this time, the guilt was real and it was crushing. The guilt of knowing he had ended someone's life, the life of the guard, who might've even been able to help him, who had the entire rest of his life to live...the guilt was overpowering.

The guilt did start to fade away over the course of a silent minute where Foxy stood with his head against the wall, with Ballora and Freddy watching from afar with confused, concerned, and conflicted facial expressions. But when the guilt faded away, what came next...

...was fear.

Fear of being caught. Fear of being found guilty of murder. Fear of being thrown in prison.

"This is bad. This is bad, bad, bad, bad, bad..." Foxy mumbled, his hands trembling again. "No, this is worse than bad. This is terrible. Horrendous. Irredeemable. Now that I've went and m-murdered someone, the company's going to find out, and then the police will find out, and then the town will find out, and then the state will find out, and then...and then...they'll investigate. They'll find the guard's body. I'll be thrown in jail! F-For years!" And then Foxy abruptly turned back around and yelled out. "I don't want to go to j-jail!"

Ballora and Freddy exchanged glances. This time, it was Freddy who stepped up. He placed his left hand on Foxy's shoulder, giving it a reassuring pat, and rose his other hand as he spoke. "Aw, Foxy, calm down, okay? We'll get through this. I know you might've just accidentally killed someone, but...it was an accident, right? That's all it was! An accident! Um...maybe we can keep this hushed up! And then the police won't know!"

"Hushed up?! HUSHED UP?!" Foxy stammered. "No way! You can't be suggesting we cover this up! If I cover up the crime, I'm an even bigger monster than I would be just for killing him! And besides, the authorities will come! They have to realize Philip won't be coming home! They'll launch an investigation!"

"Well- uh...we just keep the garbage chute from being investigated!" Ballora said, nodding hurriedly. "I know that sounds super wrong, but...but we definitely can't let anyone know about this!"

Foxy couldn't even believe what he was hearing. Were these two employees trying to hide the fact that Philip was dead now? Sure, Foxy didn't want to go to jail, but...covering up the murder would be even worse than committing it! Foxy could still feel the guilt from the murder on his shoulders, and he didn't need the guilt of a coverup adding to that weight. So he shook his head rapidly.

"No, no, somebody has to know, but...but I can't be found out! I just...I just..." Foxy stammered. His mind was conflicted. He wanted to avoid getting thrown in jail, but he didn't want to live with the coverup of a murder weighing on his shoulders. What was he meant to do? "...somebody has to find Philip's body! We can't just leave his corpse in the chute! That's an awful thing to do to someone!"

"We don't have other options, Foxy...I hate to say it, but we have to keep the corpse hidden in the chute." Freddy said, shrugging. "I mean, I feel bad for the guard and all, but...but I don't want to be dismantled, so we have to keep the evidence from reaching the hands of the company. Point is...

...we need to make sure nobody ever finds out that Philip died here."

...

...

...what?

Foxy gawked at Freddy. How could he suggest that? What kind of sick employee was this man, wanting to make sure the body of an innocent man was left inside a dumpster of a hole, never to be discovered? That was adding insult to injury!

"Don't say that!" Foxy said, and anger was starting to build inside him again. Freddy flinched and backed away, looking surprised to see Foxy so angry.

"Foxy? Wait, wait, don't get mad!" Ballora said, stepping over and putting her hands up, trying to be reassuring. "I mean, I know we've never killed guards before now, and I know covering up a murder is bad, but...but we have to do what we have to do to stay alive. At the end of the day, we're too different from those humans to ever be accepted. The only option, really...

...is to do whatever we can to avoid getting scrapped. Even if it means covering up an innocent guard's death."

...

...

...WHAT?

This was the point where Foxy seriously started to get horrified and furious over what he was wearing. Both of these employees were suggesting they cover up Philip's death and ensure nobody would find him. They didn't even seem nearly as conflicted over it as he was! They were just...moving on from it! Like it was nothing!

The whole time Foxy had been walking around with these employees, he had been under the impression that they were simple a couple of oddballs who were lucky enough to get a job here. Sure, they kept saying things Foxy didn't understand, seemed sure that they knew Foxy from somewhere, and were even getting excited over scaring and frightening guards inside the building.

But now Foxy understood. These weren't just oddballs. They were sick and depraved criminals. They scared and frightened guards, messed with Foxy's head, and now they were covering up murders.

And there was nobody, in and out of the world Foxy knew, that he hated more than that.

"...Foxy?" Ballora said, seeming to become confused when she saw the expression on Foxy's face change again. "Come on, pull yourself together! I know this is all bad, but we'll get through it together! Freddy's your friend, and I'm pretty sure I'm your friend now, too! Just take some deep breaths and maybe we can-"

And then, in a furious outburst, in the blink of an eye, in a boiling point reached so fast that neither Ballora nor Freddy could've seen it coming, Foxy raised his right hand and slapped Ballora across the face.

His hand clanged with the sound of metal against metal as his slap connected with Ballora's face, and she gasped in pained surprise and flinched, taking a step backwards from the shock.

"O-OW! Foxy, what on earth was-?!" Ballora sputtered, and she almost seemed ready to get angry at Foxy, but her angry expression was quailed the moment she saw Foxy yell again.

"Shut up!" Foxy yelled, louder than he ever had before. "You're sick! You're so sick! You and that employee in the bear costume just stand here and act like you can sit pretty and cover things up while the body of an innocent man lies abandoned in a trash chute?! That is-!" Foxy used a word that made Freddy and Ballora gasp. "-up! And you know what? You know what?! I-I'm SO done with this!"

And then Foxy pushed past them, shoving the ballerina aside and forcing himself past Freddy as he darted towards the kitchen door and threw it open with a clatter.

"F-Foxy, what are you doing?" Freddy stammered in disbelief.

"Foxy, what's the matter with you?! Where are you going?!" Ballora demanded, both in frustration and exasperation.

"You want to know where? To the NEAREST phone to dial three exact numbers: NINE, ONE, and ONE!" Foxy yelled back. "I'm going to tell them everything, but I'm going to make sure YOU TWO are the ones blamed for this crime! You'll be responsible for that man's death, not me!"

"WHAT?!" Ballora exclaimed.

"You're going to make the police c-come after us?! B-But why?!" Freddy sputtered.

Foxy stared at them. He took a deep breath in. Then he gave them one glare.

And then he smiled in furious satisfaction.

"It's what you deserve."

Foxy ran out the kitchen door.

Fssshh.

Water began to pour out of the faucet as he turned the handle. With every bit he turned the handle, the amount of water pouring out of the faucet increased. He stopped at an amount that he felt comfortable with, and he lowered his hands into the water. The water was ice-cold, but that was how he liked it. He rubbed his left hand, then his right hand, then back and forth a few more times. Stopping for a moment, he reached over and pressed the top of his soap dispenser. The soap poured onto his right hand, and he rubbed his hands together vigorously before moving them back underneath the faucet. He scrubbed his hands, getting right in between each finger.

He scrubbed the entirety of one of his fingers. Then a second. Then a third. All three fingers of his left hand were washed. He did the same with his right and was finished in due time.

He reached his right hand over and turned the handle the other way, and the water coming out of the faucet decreased until it had come to a quick stop.

He moves his hands over to the drying rack and dried his hands off, rubbing the towel over the fabric of his black hands and arms until he was sure they were dry.

When he was finally sure they were dry, he looked up and gazed into the mirror in front of him.

A white mask with red cheeks and purple tear streaks looked back at him.

Puppet had grown comfortable over the years to the way his mask looked when he looked back at it, gazing at the finer details of it in the mirror. His red cheeks looked silly but almost like a bit of a permanent blush, his tear tracks almost made it seem like he was crying even though he never felt ready to cry these days, and lipstick was painted onto the upper and lower mouth of the mask as if he was a girl.

Did I tell myself I was comfortable with this? Maybe...comfortable is the wrong word.

I guess I'm just...used to it.

Puppet turned and looked away from the mirror, walking away. He stepped through a doorway and entered another part of the place he called home, thinking to himself. He had squared away washing his hands, and now he was considering what to do next. He knew the night was still young, so he had plenty of time to make a decision and stick with it.

Puppet was also aware of just how many options he had. It had only been a little bit of time since he had gotten what he had applied for, and now the income he was earning was steady. Where he had ended up now was beginning to feel so much more like a home. From a start with almost nothing, Puppet had expanded his space rapidly, and now it was all he wanted and needed...at least, right then, it was. That meant that he now had so many different things he could do.

Puppet was almost ready to come to a consensus with himself over what he would do when he heard the sound of yelling.

It wasn't full-on yelling, as it was muffled by the considerable distance between where Puppet was and the rest of the building. But he could tell it was loud and that something was going on.

Puppet sighed. Had Freddy and Ballora gotten into another minor squabble again? Puppet wished that those two didn't do such things. He knew they were good friends, but whenever they got into a disagreement or a fight, it usually did involve the type of yelling Puppet could hear.

Sighing and shaking his head, Puppet walked through the place and over to his ladder.

Well, I suppose it'll be up to me to do some damage control. The last thing we need is for those two to be picking fights when Foxy still has yet to get here...

Puppet grasped the wooden ladder and began to make his ascent. The rungs of the wooden ladder made soft creaking noises with every step his thin, tapered legs took to ascend the ladder. The volume of the yelling only increased as he got closer to the surface. Puppet pondered what exactly Freddy and Ballora might have gotten upset over to be getting this rambunctious all of the sudden.

But oddly enough, the yelling ceased as Puppet neared the top. This made Puppet slightly more concerned as he saw the light from the lights high above start to filter into the hole.

After a little bit more climbing, Puppet finally reached the top of the ladder. He put his arms across the length of his blue and purple-striped box as he looked out of the box and out at the room in front of him.

When Puppet had first taken up residence at the location, he had positioned his box inside the room he was currently in: the auditorium. The auditorium, which he remembered was connected to the big hall and was on the opposite end of the big hallway from where Ballora's room was, was a fairly big room. The first second after Puppet emerged from his box allowed him to see a glimpse of the room around him: the walls covered in red and white stripes, the tables with stools to sit down at and eat, the rows and rows of movie theater style seating facing the stage in the corner, a wooden platform with backlighting to make it stand out. To the left of the seating and the stage was an entire wall painted red, with windows looking into the area that Puppet remembered was for children to play bumper boats. He hadn't seen any boats in the water when he had glanced into the bumper boats area next to the auditorium, but he had seen that it already had all the water in it.

Besides all of that, Puppet just saw his own giant blue and purple-striped present, which he had carried all the way to the auditorium and placed it exactly where it was now: against a wall on the opposite side of the room from the doorway leading into the bumper boats area.

However, after this first second passed, the next second came with something Puppet hadn't expected to hear.

"Gaah! What the hell?!"

Puppet, startled by this outburst, looked down towards the floor. Standing nearby his box and the miscellaneous wooden crates strewn around his box was...a white-colored metal fox with a pink muzzle and a metal tail, looking up at him in surprise and anxiety?

Wait a second.

"Oh! Foxy!" Puppet exclaimed, and he suddenly realized it: Foxy was here! He had arrived at the location, and with the suit change to boot. Puppet remembered his good friend telling him Foxy would look a bit different when he came, so Puppet had half-expected the change of appearance, but even so, Puppet was a bit surprised to see Foxy look a tad bit different from the red costume from the previous location.

"Oh, no...not another one of those co-workers! Listen, you, you'd better not be as crazy as those last two, or I-!" Foxy began.

"Huh?" Puppet said confusedly. What was the aggressive tone of voice coming from Foxy? Puppet had been expecting Foxy to be happy to see him, but he certainly looked far from that state of mind. "I don't think I'm hearing you correctly, Foxy. Hold on, let me climb down so we can talk face to face. It's been a while!"

"What?! No, no, stay up there! The last thing I need is for another depraved person to come over to me and-" Foxy was sputtering, but Puppet just ignored it. He figured maybe Foxy was having a day and was too harried to realize Puppet was there. As such, Puppet hoisted himself up, putting his legs over the box and dropping down to the checker-tile floor below. Once he landed, he strolled up to Foxy, who took a step back the moment Puppet approached.

"It's great to see you, Foxy! Guess they must've finished up the suit changes and checkups, huh? I found out as much." Puppet greeted, giving Foxy a wide smile and a nod. "Been quite a while since we've seen each other! Like the new place? I've already been shown around, and I have to say, this place isn't half-bad. Guess you've probably seen a bit of the place already, huh?" Puppet paused. "Oh, that's right. You're surprised to see me, aren't you? Well, the others were definitely just as surprised, and that makes sense, seeing as I didn't warn any of you that I would be coming."

"Surprised?! What do you think, pal?! The last thing I wanted to see was another one of you crazy co-workers!" Foxy exclaimed, scowling. "The last two were bad, but just by looking at you, I can tell you're even worse then they are! Well, stay away from me. I'm warning you."

Puppet was even more befuddled to hear Foxy talking to him like this. Of course, it had been months since he and Foxy had last seen or spoken to each other, but even still, Puppet was surprised. Sure, he had mentally prepared himself for the reality that Foxy might have changed since he had last seen him, but he hadn't anticipated this much of a harsh greeting.

"What's...up with you, Foxy?" Puppet said, and he dropped the happy tone. "Hey, I know it's been a while, but you don't have to greet me with such hostility. Plus, it's been such a nice night so far. Very peaceful and quiet. I was thinking that once you got here, you and I and the others could start planning what we'll do in this new place, but...I'm having second thoughts about it, seeing as you're being kind of out-of-order right now."

"Out-of-order? Don't give me that! If anyone's out-of-order in this place, it's you and those other two co-workers!" Foxy said, clenching his fists and taking another step back. "Yeah, don't think I don't know about those other co-workers! You wanna know what they just did? They just pushed an innocent man down a garbage chute to his death and they were about to cover it up!"

Puppet's eyes widened. Two co-workers? Wait...that yelling from earlier had reminded Puppet of Freddy and Ballora's squabbles. Was Foxy referring to them? If so, that would mean...they pushed a guard into a chute? And he died? And they were going to cover it up? Puppet had to admit that if this was true, he was surprised, and even a little appalled.

"Huh...? Wait...Foxy, are you talking about Freddy and Ballora? Oh no...did they get carried away with their whole 'guard-scaring' thing and actually seriously do something bad to a guard?" Puppet asked.

"Seriously bad doesn't begin to cover it, pal! They pretty much signed that man's death warrant!" Foxy shouted, clenching his fists. "And...wait a second. Wait just a minute. You know about those two?! But then, that has to mean that you're in cahoots with them! Why else would you know of their guard scaring?!"

Puppet made a face and shook his head. "Foxy, that's stuff and nonsense. I told you all those years before, I don't approve of the guard scaring you and the others do and I never will. It's not my cup of tea."

"All those years before...?" Foxy said, and he paused. Then his strange state of anger returned. "That's what's 'stuff and nonsense' here, pal! I've literally never seen you before in my entire life! And come on, you throw out all this 'I don't approve of it' bull hockey and expect me to believe it when you're buddy-buddy with those other two?! I'm not stupid, masked weirdo!"

Puppet was reeling internally from what he was hearing. What registered to him first was the insults. Masked weirdo? Now that was just hurtful. Puppet had never heard Foxy refer to him that way before. And then there was the fact that Foxy had seemed sure that he and Puppet had never met. But that was wrong, and Puppet knew that. They had known each other well back at the last location they were at together, and Puppet didn't think that Foxy would just forget about all that time they spent together. Maybe this was a different Foxy...? But Puppet didn't believe that. This Foxy had the same voice as the one he knew. He didn't believe that it was a different one.

"What's...wrong with you, Foxy? How could you say all those things? I...I thought you remembered me." Puppet said, trying to come up with a response in his state of confusion and hurt feelings.

That was when Foxy, still looking to be seething with anger, marched right up to Puppet and jabbed a finger at Puppet, looking directly into his eyes with a malicious glare.

"That's what those other two said, and I know in my heart that it's all a bunch of lies! But you know what?! I will remember you long enough to make sure you and those other two are thrown into jail! Forever!"

Puppet didn't even respond. What...what was the matter with Foxy? Why was he entertaining the notion of getting Puppet jailed? That was absurd! Puppet knew he hadn't done anything deserving of jail time. Why was Foxy being this way to him?

But before he could decide on a proper response, he became aware of footstep noises rapidly approaching the auditorium.

And then, from the big doorway that led into the room, Ballora and Freddy came running in. Puppet felt a small sense of relief. He was glad the other two were here. He hoped that they could explain what was going on with Foxy.

"There you are, Foxy!" Freddy called, looking both scared and relieved.

"Puppet! Hey! I'm glad to see you. We need your help." Ballora said, running over to Puppet with a serious look. "Something's seriously wrong with Foxy."

"Hey, Ballora. And, uh...I surmised as much with the way he's been talking to me." Puppet said, giving her a friendly nod. "He's acting like he doesn't remember me and he said he was going to get me thrown in jail!"

"I know! He's been treating me and Freddy the exact same way!" Ballora said, her brows furrowing. "I tried to get through to him, but he just...slapped me!"

Puppet blinked. "He...slapped you...?"

"He did." Freddy answered worriedly. "And then he said he was going to call the police and get us arrested! And I don't know why!"

"Me neither! He's been acting off since the moment he got here. At first I was sure he was just trying to joke around and pretend, but...now I'm not so sure anymore." Ballora said, a conflicted look passing across her face.

Foxy, whose eyes had been looking back and forth at the others for some time, finally opened his mouth. "HEY!" He shouted, and Puppet and the others snapped to attention immediately. "Why did you two freaks follow me?! Get away from me! I'm not letting you get in the way of me making sure you get punished for the death of that man!"

"Foxy, s-stop this! I don't understand why you're doing this!" Freddy said, looking hurt. "We just wanted to scare that guard! We didn't even push him down the chute! That was you!"

Puppet considered what he was hearing. So it was true. There was a security guard here, and he really had been pushed down a chute. But then Puppet was surprised to hear new information he had not been given before.

"Wait...did you just say Foxy was the one who pushed a security guard into the garbage chute?" Puppet stammered, narrowing his eyes. "But Foxy's been telling me the whole time that you two were the ones who did it."

"What?! No! We didn't do anything like that!" Ballora said, looking frustrated. "Foxy was the one who marched up and shoved him into the hole! We didn't even have a part in it besides trying to fool around and terrify the guard!"

"F-Foxy...you've been telling Puppet lies...?" Freddy stuttered, looking even more hurt and offended.

Foxy seemed to grit his metal animatronic teeth. "Who cares about that?! The point is that I'm going to find that damn phone, wherever it is! And when I do, I'll tell the police everything they need to hear! And once they break in here and find you all, this will all be over!"

Puppet made an even wider face of surprise. "Wait, wait, wait. Are you saying that not only did you lie to me and blame Freddy and Ballora for a murder they didn't commit, but now you're going to phone the police and get them caught and likely dismantled for it? But...but...why?!"

"Yeah, why?!" Ballora said, throwing her arms out exasperatedly. "Where is all this hatred and false blame coming from?! Why have you been treating us like strangers?! Why do you keep acting like we don't live here?! Why do you suddenly want to get out of this place after we just got here?! And why...why did you slap me and yell at me just for trying to console you?! I thought we were friends, Foxy!"

Foxy paused. He seemed to be considering Ballora's words, and Puppet hoped that this would be the start of Foxy finally realizing he had gone too far, and dropping whatever cruel act he was putting on right now. Puppet thought that if Foxy just cut this out right now, maybe the night could finally go back to normal.

Instead, he saw Foxy's face twist into an expression of deeper rage.

"Friends? Friends?! After all the crap you've done, you think we're friends?! That's the most ridiculous thing I've heard this entire night, and I've heard enough ridiculous things tonight to fill several books!" Foxy shouted, his voice penetrating the entire room. "Since you don't seem to get it, let me make it clear! We are NOT friends! We never HAVE been friends! We never WILL be friends! You're nothing more than a bunch of strange co-workers with some warped ideas of fun and an attitude that covering up murders is somehow okay! That's all I need to see to know that you two, and probably the mask man as well, are awful, awful people! And you know where awful people belong?! Behind BARS! And that's where you'll be going!"

"Errrgh!" Ballora said, and she seemed to be losing her temper as well. "All this talk about throwing us in jail! And for what?! A murder we didn't even commit?! Sure, I said we should cover it up, and I know that's messed up, but what did you expect me to say?! Our situation is different! We can't just reveal these kinds of things to the public! We'll get way worse than being jailed! And yet you want to go around, point fingers, and throw all the blame onto us when it was YOUR fault?! Why?! Just why, Foxy?! You know that it was all your fault!"

Foxy once again paused. His anger seemed to disappear, but the tenseness of the situation didn't leave.

"I do know that."

The animatronics made expressions of bewilderment at this piece of information.

"H-Huh? But then...why are you-" Freddy began confusedly.

"I said it before...and I'll say it again. I am NOT going to jail. No way, no how. I will never let that happen." Foxy said, and instead of anger, his voice was laced with a kind of forceful decisiveness. "It was wrong to kill that man, yes. And I still don't know how or why I did it without even wanting to or telling my mind to do it. But what I do know is that the consequences are severe. And I can't face them. I won't." Foxy looked at them more sharply. "But somebody has to go jail. And I've got the perfect three candidates standing right in front of me."

Puppet was floored, more so than he had been the entire time. "What is the matter with you, Foxy?! Freddy and I have been your friends for the long haul, and even Ballora had been getting along great with you for the brief time you knew her! And after all of that, you just want to throw us all under the bus?"

"Yeah. I do want to throw you all under the bus." Foxy said, his face determined. "That's just how life is. You go through however you can, trying to do the right thing if possible. But when you take a misstep and fall under the bus as it backs up? Well...either you can accept that it's going to run you over...or you can make someone else take your place under that bus instead. And that's what I know I have to do." Foxy raised his hand, pointing a finger at himself. "I may as well just admit it! I messed up badly today! I went unconscious in the bathroom and missed my entire first day! I'm in here at night when I'm not supposed to be! Being here makes me a prime suspect for several different doors being boarded up! And now, on top of all of that, I'm guilty of something worse than any of those things...

"...Murder."

The way Foxy said it was laced with guilt. It was like it was all so heavy on him.

"So after all of that, here comes the bus. It's backing up, primed and ready to flatten me for all of the reprehensible things I have done or seemed to have done." Foxy continued. "And I could just lay there and let it happen. But there's no way I ever will. I didn't get this far in life, and go through so much, just to have it all come crashing down at the worst possible moment. I have to get by. And that means I have to do whatever it takes to survive. And when three perfectly good suspects to blame for a murder are right in front of you, well...then you know exactly who can take your place underneath that bus.

Foxy pointed a finger at all three of them.

"So that's why all three of you, tonight, are going to jail. You're going to take that jail cell meant for me. And while you're down in the dumps, being flattened by the bus...I'll be making a clean getaway. And then I can return back to my normal life, and pretend this never happened...yes, that's how it should be. And that's how I'm going to make it, once I finally contact the authorities. So...

"...make this nice and easy. And get out of my way."

A stunned silence persisted for half a minute after this sentence.

Puppet had to process it all. So this was how Foxy was thinking. He would get them all blamed for a crime, and tossed into the slammer, while he got away scot-free. He wouldn't accept covering it up, and he wouldn't accept getting found out. All he would accept was cutting down others on his way to freedom.

This was all wrong. So, so, wrong. Not for a second could Puppet believe that he was talking to Foxy, his good friend Foxy who would never even dream of doing this. And yet here he was...doing it.

"Oh, that is it! What is your problem, Foxy?!" Ballora said, being the first to speak after a small period of silence. "You seemed like such a nice guy when I met you, and after all of the things I've heard that you and the others went through, I thought you cared! But I guess all the friendships you had meant nothing, huh?!"

"Friendships that you say existed, but didn't actually exist." Foxy said, narrowing his eyes. "There was never any such thing. I know that. I don't even know any of you, but I know you all enough to surmise that you'll make some good stepping stones on the path to a quick escape. Now get out of my way."

"I don't understand...I j-just don't understand...it's like you don't even remember any of us! Or any of the good times we've had!" Freddy said, and he stepped forwards. "I mean...how could you not remember me, Foxy? Aren't we...aren't we best friends?"

Foxy gave Freddy a cold stare. "No. Not at all. I know the suit you're wearing, of course. I've seen quite a few Freddy models at the past locations, but not once have I seen anyone like you. Now get out of my way!"

But Freddy didn't budge. He stepped forwards more than before. "Can't you even remember why we look different, Foxy? You look different too, after all! You got a new suit and I did as well! It was all a part of the company's plan to relocate us here!"

This finally made Foxy drop his cold glare, and for the first time in a bit, the fox looked genuinely taken aback.

"Wait...yes. That is right. Both the Foxy and Freddy models were upgraded to accommodate this location." Foxy said, seeming to ponder this. But then his gaze of anger returned. "But what does it matter? You're not a friend I've ever known. You're just some oddball of a man wearing a Freddy suit. You're nothing to me. Now get out of my way."

"No! No, I won't." Freddy said, and he spread his arms out as Ballora and Puppet looked on. "I refuse to accept that this is you, Foxy! I'm not getting out of the way! Not until you remember me again!"

Foxy seemed to become frustrated. "Enough with that crap. Didn't you hear me? Get out of the way!"

Freddy shuddered a bit, but shook his head. "No. I won't."

Foxy gritted his teeth again, and his voice rose into a yell. "I said move! Now! I won't ask you again!"

"I won't. I'm staying by your side until we can work this out and figure out why you don't remember any of us! After all...friends don't abandon friends!"

Foxy was seething. Puppet could see that Foxy's anger was gradually beginning to rise again, threatening to reach breaking point.

"All this talk about how we're supposedly friends, and yet I don't know you! I've NEVER known you!"

"That's not true!" Freddy said, shaking his head and holding his arms out wider.

"Oh, really?" Foxy said, and a gleam came into his eye. "Fine, then why don't we prove it? Take off your suit head and show me your real face! THEN we'll see who's failing to recognize the other here!"

Freddy looked taken aback to be asked such a thing. "W-What? But that's crazy talk! The suit head doesn't come off!"

"Oh, yes, it does! And it's about time it finally did!" Foxy said. "Now take it off!"

Freddy, still looking confused, shook his head. "I...I..." He shook his head again. "...No."

Foxy seemed to snap. "You just don't know when to quit talking back to me, do you? Hmph...you know what?! Fine! If you won't do it yourself...then I'll do it FOR you!"

When Puppet heard this line, he hadn't been prepared to see what would happen next. He gasped audibly as Foxy dived at Freddy and grabbed him around the neck. Ballora gasped even louder as Foxy began to tug hard at Freddy's head, appearing to be trying to rip the bear's head off.

"Gggh...Hrrgh...get...off!" Foxy growled as he pulled and pulled, but Puppet could see that despite how hard Foxy seemed to be tugging, Freddy's head stayed firmly attached to his neck.

"OW! STOP! PLEASE!" Freddy yelled in pain, and the bear thrashed desperately on the spot, trying as hard as he could to push Foxy off of him. Freddy tried to use his arms to grab Foxy's wrists, but Foxy resisted the push of Freddy's arms as he kept pulling.

Puppet stepped forwards. He couldn't allow this to go on. Didn't Foxy understand that he was close to ripping Freddy's head off with this behavior?

But he wasn't able to voice his concerns, as Ballora beat him to the punch. The ballerina raced over and shoved Foxy off from the side, and this force seemed unexpected enough to Foxy that he finally lost his grip and stumbled backwards. Freddy, looking relieved to be released from Foxy's grip, stepped back and started massaging his neck anxiously.

"H-Hey! Why'd you do that?! I wasn't finished!" Foxy yelled, looking disoriented and frustrated at Ballora for shoving him.

"You need to stop it, Foxy! Why on earth would you attempt to rip off Freddy's head? Are you trying to decapitate him or something?!" Ballora chastised, wagging her finger at Foxy. "Keep your hands to yourself!"

"Shut it! You don't get to tell me what I can and can't do, criminal!" Foxy said, shaking his head vigorously. "But I don't get it...why won't this guy's suit head come off, either? Is it as stuck to his suit as mine is?" Foxy sighed. "Fine, then forget trying to see if I recognize him. What about you, huh?" Foxy pointed at Ballora. "Why don't you take off your suit head and show me what you really look like? If he can't do it, maybe you can!"

Ballora made a face. "Excuse me? Foxy, that's not how that works! We don't just take our suit heads off! And what 'real face' are you even talking about? You're looking at my real face right now!"

"You're resistant to showing your face too, huh?" said Foxy, clenching his fists. "Fine, then I'll do it for you as well! Your head's smaller, so if the guy with the bear suit head can't get it to come off, maybe yours can! Come here!"

Puppet gasped and ran forwards as soon as he saw Foxy dive at Ballora and get a hold on her neck as well. But Foxy barely had a hold and started tugging before Ballora reacted.

By screaming a bloodcurdling scream that emanates through the whole room.

As soon as Ballora screamed, Foxy actually looked alarmed, and as Puppet approached intending to pull Foxy off of Ballora, Foxy let go of his own initiative and stepped back, his eyes wide. Puppet looked over at Foxy to see...remorse. For the first time since Foxy had started to act weird towards them and yell at them, Puppet could see Foxy was feeling regretful.

"How dare you try to rip my head off, Foxy! What's wrong with you?!" Ballora screamed, looking furious as she rubbed her neck and glared at Foxy.

Foxy looked shaken up at that moment. He stuttered a bit. "I-I'm...I'm really sorry, I...I didn't think that would..." He said. And then he paused. His eyes widened, and he shook his head rapidly and resumed his angry expression. "No. No, no, no! What am I doing, giving apologies out like candy to you people, after learning that you think covering up murders is alright?! There's no way I'd ever cooperate with you people!" He stepped back. "Especially considering you act like you know me, but you won't take off your suit heads and show me who any of you are! And then when I try to take off your suit heads myself..." Foxy's sentence trailed off, and the pink-white fox stared at the floor for a brief moment as if contemplating the situation. "...they just don't come off. Why...just, why? Why are your suit heads so firmly stuck on your heads? I thought I could just pull them off, but...but none of them will come off. Mine won't come off, either...but why is that? I've seen the suits before, they're always easy to put on and take off, so...so..."

Foxy looked back up at the animatronics. He seemed to stare for a moment at Ballora's face, and then Freddy's face. Something seemed to occur to him.

Puppet watched with a mixture of apprehension and anxiousness. What was Foxy doing now? So far he had, for some reason Puppet still couldn't fathom, attempted to decapitate them. Puppet still didn't understand why Foxy was being the way he was, but from the looks Foxy was giving them, he prepared himself for the possibility that it might all get even worse.

"...THAT'S IT! Why didn't I think of that before?" Foxy suddenly burst out and yelled, wide-eyed and contemplative. "It's such a simple method! I could've done it for the security guard if he was still alive..."

Ballora gave Foxy an odd look. "Foxy, what are you-?"

"Open your faceplates."

Foxy said this very suddenly and quickly, and he became serious again as he stepped closer to Puppet, Ballora, and Freddy.

"Huh?" Ballora stammered, looking confused. "Open my faceplates? But why?"

"To show me your real face!" Foxy said. "Even if the suit head is stuck on there, your face should be visible if you press the unlock buttons and open your faceplates! Come on, do it, and then we'll see if I really am supposed to know who any of you are!"

"But that's crazy! I don't want to open my faceplates and show the ugly machinery beneath! I have to keep up my fabulous appearance!" Ballora argued.

Foxy rolled his eyes. "Is it really that hard, princess? Fine, then how about you do it!" He pointed at Freddy, who stared when the attention was suddenly drawn to him.

"M-Me?" Freddy stammered. "I d-don't know about that...I don't really like what's on the inside of the-"

"Just do it! You want me to remember who the hell you are, right?! Then do it!" Foxy demanded.

"Wait, stop. There's really no need to-" Puppet cut in. This was all crazy talk to him. They didn't need to open the faceplates, that would be way too drastic of a move.

But Freddy, who was staring at Foxy, looked resigned and nodded. Reaching up with his right hand, Freddy pressed a button on his cheek, then a button on his other cheek. Each button press caused a small click to play, which Puppet realized was the sound of the mechanized locks unlocking parts of the faceplates.

Ballora seemed to realize that too, and she looked shocked. "Wait, Freddy, don't-!" Ballora called, reaching out a hand in horror as Freddy pressed the button just above his nose.

CLANG!

Ballora screamed and stumbled back as Freddy's face suddenly opened up. His faceplates shot back, the metal opening like a door with many panels. Foxy, looking satisfied, leaned forwards to take a closer look...

...and then gasped and gave a look of disbelief.

Hidden beneath Freddy's faceplates was the grey, metallic face of his endoskeleton, with small white teeth as part of a straight, uneven metal jaw. It was flat and less wide and there was not a trace of human skin or features anywhere inside the metal.

Puppet and Ballora, who had both seemed to have been expecting to see the strange endoskeleton face beneath, recoiled with horrified looks.

Puppet had seen this before. He had once seen the underlying endoskeleton of a Funtime costume, and he had never liked it. Endoskeletons were never made to look pretty or appealing, of course, but there was something about Funtime endoskeletons that always made him feel...uneasy. He glanced at Ballora and she had a similar expression of horror and distaste.

But when he looked at Foxy, not only was there horror etched onto the fox's face...there was also surprise and fear there as well.

"What?! Huh?! But that's...that's an endoskeleton!" Foxy stuttered, and he stepped back in shock, slowly starting to shake his head. "Where's the human face? There should be one right beneath the faceplates!"

Freddy's eyes widened, and he quickly reached his hand behind his faceplates and pressed a few more buttons with his fingers. CLANG! went the metal plates again as they moved back into place, snapping and locking into formation and bringing back the more charming and sleek appearance from before. "What's...what's wrong, Foxy?" Freddy asked, speaking again once all of his faceplates were back in place.

"You're...you're...you're..." Foxy stammered. "...an animatronic!"

This response got incredulous looks out of Puppet and Ballora.

"Huh? You mean you didn't already know that we're all animatronics here? Foxy, that's the weirdest thing of all. I thought you already knew!" Ballora said, making a face in confusion.

"You're an animatronic, too?!" Foxy sputtered, his eyes swiveling to gawk at Ballora. And then he looked over at Puppet. "W-Wait, what about you? Are you a-?"

"Uh, yes?" Puppet answered, raising an eyebrow. "I'm not sure how this is news to you, Foxy."

"So...all three of you...you're animatronics!" said Foxy, making a loud exclamation. "All this time I thought you were just odd employees sent to wear mascot costumes and entertain kids, like me...but it was all a trick! This can't be real...it can't be! But then...the rumors! All the rumors I've heard before...I've heard all the stories of animatronics acting out of order and moving around at night and scaring away any security guard that applied for a position at a Fazbear location! I thought it was all just crazy fabrications made by people trying to make money off of gullible bystanders! But...but it's true! You're living and aware animatronics! And if that's the case, then..." Foxy's face morphed back into anger, this time much more righteous then before. "Then that means you've all been participating in scaring the life out of guards and making them traumatized enough to run away! All three of you are part of the problem!"

"What problem do you mean, Foxy? Come on, we may frighten guards with our antics, but we've never physically harmed a guard, much less went and killed them!" Ballora argued, throwing her arms down.

"Yeah! We only do that to play around 'cause we like having friends to mess with, and guards are pretty easy to mess with." Freddy said, nodding. "But why are you acting like that's a bad thing, Foxy? You participated in fooling around with guards just as much as I do!"

"He's got a point. Why is it that there's so many good times you seem to have forgotten about?" Puppet questioned, crossing his arms. "It's like you whipped all of what you've done before from your brain. But why?"

"Shut up, shut up, shut up! I am so done hearing all three of you parrot the same talking point about how we supposedly were friends before!" Foxy shouted. "But that's bull hockey! I know what you all are now: machines, wandering in places you're not supposed to wander through! I've never mingled with the robots, no matter which Fazbear location I've worked in! And guess what?! I'll never be friends with a bunch of machines that make their living terrifying innocent men and women trying to get a job here! Forget about it! And...and...and..." Foxy gripped the sides of his head. "And how can you go on and tell me I helped you scare guards?! I've never done that! Ever! I've never stooped as low as any of you mechanical freaks! You're just obstacles and it's time you moved out of my path! So get out! Get out of my way! I'm doing what I set out to do and getting the police to bring this all to a close!"

Foxy stepped forwards again, but he only walked a few paces when Freddy spoke up again.

"But you did help us scare guards! We did it all together! And we never did it to hurt people...we were just messing with all the humans that come in here for fun! Can't you draw from those memories? After all...

...you're an animatronic just as much as we are, Foxy!"

THAT remark made Foxy stop in his tracks again. He had an expression on his face that caught Puppet's eye.

"W-W-What?" Foxy stammered incredulously. "Wait a second. Do you seriously believe I'm an animatronic, too? Is that why none of you will ever stop heckling me?"

"What's with that tone? Foxy, you seriously didn't forget that you're an animatronic too, right?" Ballora replied, frowning. "Come on, that's as basic as basic information gets!"

Foxy stared. And then he shook his head.

"Wait, wait...I see what this is! This whole time I should've realized...you all think I'm Foxy the animatronic! Your guard-scaring accomplice! Well, I'm NOT!"

"What are you saying, Foxy...?" Freddy questioned both confusedly and worriedly.

"I'm saying you've made a mistake! I'm no animatronic! I'm not Foxy the pirate!" Foxy shouted, taking another step forwards. "Truth be told, I've visited many Fazbear-affiliated locations over the years, and I've heard so many rumors about guards being scared out of the pizzerias every night! Only now do I know that they're real...but you've got it all wrong! I'm not an animatronic! I'm a human in a suit, and my name is...it's...my name is..."

Foxy paused again. His mouth kept opening and closing as if what he wanted to say what on the tip of his metaphorical tongue, but he just wasn't saying it.

"...I still can't remember my name! But that doesn't matter! I'm still a human and I'm NOT some animatronic! I never have been! I...I'm not..."

And then Puppet, Freddy, and Ballora all looked in in astonishment as Foxy began to back away. Sparks began to shoot out of Foxy's ears. His head, which had been still before, began to twitch, becoming more sporadic overtime. His eyes began to roll, occasionally disappearing into his eyelids, as his body shook and tumbled.

"I'm-I'm-I'm-" Foxy repeated over and over, and now it sounded like he was imitating a broken record. "I'm not an- not an- not an animatronic- I'm not- not an- I'm not- animatronic- an anima- I'm-"

"What's wrong with Foxy?! He's breaking up!" Freddy sputtered.

"Wait just a second..." Ballora mumbled, and then she gasped. "That's it! I should've known! Foxy...he's broken!"

"Broken?" Puppet repeated, raising a porcelain eyebrow connected to his mask.

"W-Wait...yeah! I see it now! He's glitching out!" Freddy exclaimed.

"Yeah! And really badly, from the looks of things!" Ballora added, her face hardening. "So this whole time we haven't even been talking to the Foxy we know! Something's happened with him- and I dunno what- but his body seems all out of wack and he doesn't seem anything like himself! There has to be some kind of bug or glitch or error or...or whatever inside him that's making him act this way!"

"That actually makes...a lot of sense. A whole lot of sense!" Freddy agreed. "But then, how do we fix all this?"

"I think I know." Puppet answered, raising his voice. "If you're right, Ballora- and I really think you are- then we can't let this glitch persist in Foxy's body anymore. We're going to need to tinker around with him and see if we can diagnose and deal with the problem."

"Yeah, that's a good idea! Then we can undo whatever inside him caused this big mess!" Ballora responded, looking determined. "Come on, you two! Let's do this! Puppet, Freddy, you both pin Foxy down while he's too bugged out to resist! I'll open his plates and see if I can fix the issue!"

"You got it!" Freddy agreed readily.

"I'll help as much as I can." Puppet added. He meant that. He wanted to get back to talking to the Foxy he knew and appreciated, so he figured he'd lend a hand in fixing whatever bugs and glitches plagued Foxy from the inside.

Their malfunctioning friend standing in front of them seemed to hear what they were planning to do.

"N- N- No! Stay- St- Stay away f- f- fro- from me- me- me!" His mouth yelled in a garbled fashion.

But Puppet felt determined not to back down in helping Foxy out, and Ballora and Freddy looked the same way. They began to approach, steadily closing the gap between them and Foxy without breaking out into a run. Foxy backed away, which seemed hard for him to do through all the glitching out he was experiencing. He bumped into tables and stumbled backwards over stools as he moved away from them, trying to keep the distance between them the same.

He moved more and more, backing onto the wooden stage that stood at the corner of the room. Puppet and the others kept up their approach, knowing they were backing Foxy into a corner and would be able to get him into a good position soon.

Indeed, it took some time, but once the glitching out pink-white fox bumped into the wall behind him at the very corner of the stage, it was then that his buggy self seemed conscious that he had backed himself into a corner. His glitchiness seemed to heighten as his yells for them to stay away became more frequent. He tried to move again, but was stopped short of doing so. By the time the Fox had realized his mistake, the other animatronics had already closed the distance and formed a semi-circle around Foxy, preventing his glitchy self from fleeing.

And then, when there position was secured, they went for it.

"NOW!" Ballora called, pointing right at Foxy.

Puppet and Freddy wasted no time running up to Foxy, and they both grabbed hold of one of Foxy's arms. Foxy let out a garbled yell and began to struggle to escape. His escape attempts were in vain, however; he was still far too broken to know how to struggle properly. Puppet knew he wasn't providing much help due to his long arms being much thinner than Freddy's thick and bulky arms, and he could tell from the concentration on Freddy's face that the bear was doing most of the work here. Despite that, Puppet still held on tight, trying his best to help Freddy out.

No sooner had the two of them gotten a hold on Foxy then Ballora had darted behind Foxy. Reaching her hands out, Puppet heard clicks as Ballora pressed the plate unlock buttons on the back of Foxy's torso. Puppet craned his neck while maintaining his position, looking to see Ballora hit the final button. Foxy's backplate opened right up with a CLANG, revealing the mechanical insides. Puppet could see Ballora visibly look discomforted by seeing more endoskeleton parts, but she seemed too determined to let them get in her way.

Puppet and Ballora both could see the stuff behind Foxy know. Behind his endoskeleton was some sort of control panel contraption. A black screen glowed with green-colored code and information. Several knobs, small switches, and buttons were set below the screen.

Ballora immediately began tapping the screen to get things done.

"Alright...the best way to find out the problem is to get a status report! System status check, go!" Ballora said, tapping a line of text on the screen. A loading bar appeared on screen and filled up. Ballora waited for the bar to reach full while Freddy and Puppet maintained their grip. Foxy continued to struggle, but he wasn't any closer to getting out of their grip then he had been before.

The system status report finally showed up, appearing on-screen. Puppet wasn't close enough to get a good look at what it was saying, but Ballora was, and she squinted at it before gasping audibly.

"Ah-ha! I've found the problem!" Ballora reported, nodding.

"Really?! What is it?" Freddy asked excitedly as he slightly adjusted his grip on Foxy's left arm.

"His anti-virus systems are offline! It says so right on this status check!" Ballora explained, pointing at something on the screen.

"Wait, really? That's pretty bad." Puppet responded. "We depend on those anti-virus systems to protect us from foreign software. Without them, we're easy prey for any malicious invaders. They could upload themselves right into the cloud and we wouldn't be able to stop them."

"Yeah, exactly! I can't understand why the anti-virus systems are turned off! Unless it was some kind of stupid goof made by the company." Ballora theorized, frowning. "Well, whatever the reason is, there's no way we can just let Foxy get by without it! I'm turning it back on!"

Puppet kept a hold on Foxy right as he saw Ballora start furiously tapping more lines of text and options on the screen. "And press that...check that box...get confirmation...alright! All it needs now is a restart to process the system update!" Ballora exclaimed. "Here goes!"

And with one final reaching out of her arm, Puppet saw Ballora put a finger over a button and press it down firmly.

No sooner had they pressed it than Foxy stopped. His thrashing came to a halt, his glitching and head twitching ceasing along with it. The sparks coming out of his ears stopped coming. His eyes dimmed, their glow leaving them.

And though Puppet was in no position to see the screen properly, he knew from experience that right now, the screen on the back of Foxy's torso would be reading:

Commencing System Restart...

Dark.

So very dark.

Surrounding his vision was just darkness. Nothing to be seen. He could hear muffled noises around him, but nothing discernible. He didn't know what he was hearing or what was going on that he couldn't see.

And he couldn't move. He just couldn't move.

He heard a muffled sound somewhere behind him, as if somebody closed a hatch.

And then, with a sudden flash, blue text started to flash across the darkness.

Finishing Restart...

22%...

65%...

100%...

Complete!

Activating...

Foxy opened his eyes.

He saw, in front of him, a wide room. He realized that he was on his feet, standing on a wooden stage in the corner of the room. Three familiar people were nearby, standing back but keeping their attention focused on him. They looked hopeful.

Foxy paused. He almost willed himself to speak but his mind had a different desire. It wanted to check and make sure it was really him.

Raising his right hand, Foxy gazed at his fingers. His metallic white fingers with painted nails and a general sense of polish. Little by little, he tested his hand. He flexed one finger, than another, than another. Then he flexed all of his fingers at once. Moving his gaze over, he raised his left hand and did the same.

He could move them. When he wanted to will his hands and fingers to move, they would.

He looked down at his legs. He took a small step forward. Then back. Then a few steps from side to side. They also permitted him to move them.

It was true. He could see, he could move, he could feel. He was back. Truly and finally back.

He looked up, facing the three animatronics standing right in front of him, watching him test things out.

"...I'm here! I'm really here! I'm in control of myself!" Foxy exclaimed, suddenly finding his voice. "Then that must mean we've made it! We're at our new home! We really made it..."

"Did we do it? Is Foxy fixed? Does he remember us?" Said an earnest and eager voice, and Foxy saw it was coming out of a pink-white bear. Freddy.

"Wait, wait, wait! We need to test him!" Said a girly and childish voice. It was coming out of a blue and white ballerina. Ballora. She marched up to Foxy and pointed at him. "Foxy! What were we talking about yesterday?"

"...Huh? Oh!" Foxy stammered, only just realizing he was here talking to his friends. "Uh, we were going on about our interests? You mentioned you liked dancing and playing piano, and I told you about what kind of stuff me and my friends did everyday and-"

Ballora didn't even hesitate. Foxy suddenly felt his entire body slammed in a hug. Ballora had hugged him. He saw Freddy move and now the pink-white bear was joining in the hug too.

"It's Foxy! He actually remembers us! We did it! We fixed the bug!" Ballora cheered, a wide smile on her face.

"Oh, happy days! It really worked!" Freddy celebrated, grinning a huge grin.

"Woah! Uh, hey...hey, guys! Sorry for the silence, my...memory's only now beginning to clear up." Foxy suddenly found himself saying as his memories returned to him in a rush. "I turned myself off and waited to get the suit change so I could join you guys at the new location!" He looked around, noticing all the details of the room. "Are we here? Did we make it?"

"We sure did! Welcome to Circus Baby's Pizza World!" Ballora replied, stepping back and stretching out her arms. "It's my home and now it's your home! And it's probably the best place I've ever lived in! Yes, that is bias. I will admit that." She smirked.

"So the transfer was successful! Awesome!" Foxy exclaimed, grinning. He looked at Freddy, who had only now broken off from the hug. "Hey, Freddy! Great to see you again! You're here, just like you said you'd be, huh?"

"That's right! You made it, Foxy! Everyone's here." Freddy said, nodding quickly and enthusiastically. "And look! You've got your new costume!"

"Yeah, I see it. I honestly feel okay with it. Not quite what was I was expecting or wanting, but I can roll with a costume like this." Foxy said, and he turned his head and gazed at Ballora. "Hey, Ballora! Good seeing you again! For the second time, you know! Heh. So, this is your home, huh?"

"Mmm-hmm! Well, part of it, anyway." Ballora answered. "I'm glad to be talking to you again, Foxy! The real you."

Foxy's grin vanished a little. "The real me? What does that-?" But his question was cut short. He saw black and white in his peripheral vision and stopped, then looked over. Someone familiar was standing there, someone Foxy hadn't seen for a while...

"So...am I speaking to the good old Foxy I know?" Came a casual and focused male voice from a slender black marionette with a white mask. Puppet.

"Puppet?! You're here, too?" Foxy sputtered in happy surprise, and he moved closer to the marionette. "I didn't know you were coming! It's been so long! How have you been?"

"Oh, besides the little debacle today, I'm right as rain. It's been very good to see Freddy again, and meeting Ballora has been good as well. And on top of that, now I'm talking to the you I really know. I'm happy for that." Puppet responded.

"To the me you really know...?" Foxy repeated, his grin once again faltering a bit. "I don't really understand what you're talking about."

The animatronics' smiles of relief also faltered a bit when Foxy said this.

"Oooh, seems like he doesn't remember what happened. Guess whatever was infecting him had complete control." Ballora muttered, looking thoughtful.

"Do we tell him...?" Freddy questioned unsurely.

"Eh, I say we tell him. He deserves to know what happened." Puppet contributed calmly.

"Yeah, fair point. I'll tell him." Ballora agreed, nodding at Puppet and looking back at Foxy. "Foxy, something kinda bad happened when you got here. You, uh...weren't yourself. You were being controlled."

"...Controlled?" Foxy stammered. This was new. He hadn't even been aware of this. But then again... "...Wait. I...I remember something. Right before I woke up, there was this weird period of time where I thought I was awake, but all I saw was darkness. I couldn't move my body. I was sort of just...suspended in some weird limbo. Was that...was that because I was being controlled?!"

"Oh...you were? Yeah, that kinda sounds like what you'd feel while being controlled." Ballora responded, frowning.

"But how? How was I being controlled? What happened to me?" Foxy asked quickly, a look of concern on his face.

"You got infected by some kind of malicious program, from my understanding." Puppet chimed in, a solemn expression on his face. "Apparently your anti-virus systems were completely down, so you had no way of stopping foreign contaminants from getting into your system through the cloud."

"W-What?! My anti-virus systems were down?!" Foxy sputtered. "But that's crazy! I never turn that system off! How could it have..." He paused as an explanation came to his subconscious. "...the suit change! That's it! It must have gotten turned off when my endoskeleton was being updated and my suit was being replaced!"

"That's what we think, too. The company must've gotten careless...I wish they hadn't." Freddy sighed, shaking his head. "If we're right, then it's their fault you got infected by a virus. I wish they could've been more careful. You were...pretty bad while you were infected. You said and did a lot of awful stuff..."

Foxy froze. Awful stuff...that was exactly what he had been afraid he might have done while his body was under something else's control. He felt concerned, and he knew right away that he had to know what he had done.

"What kind of stuff?" He asked.

"You pretended you were a human, acted like you didn't know us, shoved a guard down a garbage chute and killed him, tried to call the police on us, and attempted to rip our heads off." Ballora listed bluntly.

"Oh. Oh. Wow, uh...geez." Foxy said, blinking. He could tell by the things Ballora was naming that he had acted out quite a lot while he was under the control of the malicious program. "That is bad. I'm...really sorry, everyone."

Ballora looked at Freddy, who looked at Puppet, who looked back at Ballora.

"No, no, don't apologize." Puppet said, shaking his head. "I don't think any of it was your fault. It was factors outside your control that made you that way."

"Yeah! We were kinda freaked out at first, but knowing that it wasn't actually you is a huge relief." Freddy said, nodding.

"So yeah, we don't blame you. Honestly, I'm just glad you don't really hate us and want to send us off to the police to get dismantled or something." Ballora chimed in.

Foxy was silent, very glad that the others weren't blaming him. He smiled. "Thanks, guys. I'm just glad you're not going to hold it against me when I wasn't even awake and aware at the time I was doing all that stuff. Like trying to decapitate you, or trying to phone the police, or pushing a guard down the garbage c-" Foxy's sentence trailed off as he realized what he had been about to mention, and his eyes widened. "Wait. I...pushed a guard into the garbage chute? And...killed them?"

"...Mmm-hmm. I...don't really know why, but whatever weird thing that got a hold of you decided to push today's security guard down into the chute after it backed him towards it." Freddy recounted.

"...Wow. Geez. Holy heck." Foxy said slowly, eyes wider than before. "I can't believe I did something like that. I mean, I know we scare guards and freak them out to see their funny reactions, but...but we've never went and killed someone..."

"I know. I'm...kind of still unsure what to do about it. We were planning on covering it up, but then you got all aggressive with us for suggesting it." Ballora mentioned.

"I did...? Yikes...I wish I could've stopped myself from doing any of that." Foxy voiced, shaking his head regretfully. "At least now that I'm awake, I can say I agree. We really do have to, as much as I hate to say it. I mean...we're not like humans. They wouldn't listen to us if we tried to tell them that it was all just...an accident."

"Yeah. See, now you understand." Ballora said thankfully. She still looked regretful about the guard's death, however. "But even so...I actually feel sorry for that guy. What a way to go. I really hope push never comes to shove like that ever again."

Puppet sighed deeply. "This is why I never participate in any of that guard scaring stuff. It just leads to huge accidents like that. You all really need to be more careful in the future. Scaring shouldn't devolve into injury or flat-out murder."

Foxy, Freddy, and Ballora all nodded understandingly. Foxy knew Puppet had a point. Harmless fun wasn't harmless anymore if it got physical.

"Yeah, you're right. I guess I'm kind of glad you're here to talk sense, Puppet." Foxy admit, giving the masked marionette a look. However, seconds after addressing his old friend in such a way, Foxy stopped for a moment. He just realized he was talking to Puppet, who was here at the location somehow. "Wait. Puppet. I just realized. You're...here. With the rest of us."

Puppet looked confused. "Okay, and you're stating that just now because...?"

"Because I didn't expect to see you here! How are you here? And why? I knew most of my friends at the old place were coming, and I knew I'd meet new faces at this place, but...but I never heard of you being one of the animatronics getting sent here!"

"Oh. Yeah, actually, I should've already told you. I mean, I told the others already, so I may as well do the same for you so you're up to speed." Puppet decided, nodding his head. "So...you know how the last time we saw each other, I was at that place we were in before you and the others went to that new Freddy Fazbear's location?"

"Uh, yeah, I do. That was probably the last time I ever saw you."

"Well, if you remember correctly, we were shipped out of there after the place shut down. But I didn't get the privilege of joining you all in that new Freddy's pizzeria. I was sent to a...minor location, I think the employees called it. Not really much business around there. I mostly kept to myself in that place. I think there were other animatronics there, but I never saw them. They kept leaving whenever I came around and I couldn't find out where they'd gone, so...I mostly was just alone for a bit."

"Oh." Foxy stopped to consider what Puppet was saying. "Was it...hard to be alone?"

That question did not get an immediate response from Puppet. He seemed to be thinking about it. Then he looked back at Foxy. "...At first, maybe. But after a bit? No. I'm sorta used to being by myself, honestly. But it's no big deal. I had my box to sit in, I had a whole room to myself...it was fine, honestly. But I didn't get the whole deal for long."

"Huh? You didn't have it for long? Wait, how long you were at that minor location?"

"Less than a year, if memory serves me correctly." Puppet answered, putting a hand to the tip of the bottom of his mask. "And then I got the news that the whole place was shutting down. Didn't get much business, apparently. Wasn't surprising, considering it was a minor location that the company paid very little attention to. And after that announcement came out, I woke up one day to find almost everything in the building being taken into trucks. They were going to repurpose it all for other locations, I think they said."

"Okay...then what happened? Did they have any plans for you?"

Puppet, surprisingly to Foxy, shook his head. "Nope. They were actually planning on leaving me in the abandoned building."

That made Foxy do a double-take. "What?'"

"Yeah, I was surprised too when I heard it. What a scummy decision for somebody in the company to make, abandoning an animatronic there like that." Ballora chimed in with distaste in her voice.

"I wholeheartedly agree." Puppet said with a clipped voice. "So naturally, when I heard they were going to leave me here, I was floored. I was pretty desperate to get out of there before they could lock me in the building forever. But then I came up with a plan. See the box behind me?" Puppet pointed at the large purple and blue present box behind him. "They were actually going to take that with them. So I used that to my advantage. I pretended to be deactivated when they removed me from the box, and then the moment they weren't paying attention, I went back inside the box. I wasn't sure if my plan would work, but they were none the wiser. They took the box inside one of their trucks and set off. I sat inside and the hours passed. Eventually I opened the box again, and lo and behold-" Puppet spread his arms out. "I'm in this place!"

"Woah. So you got here by complete coincidence?" Foxy said, blinking.

"Pretty much. I wasn't sure where the truck was taking my box, but I figured anywhere was better than the abandoned minor location. But, by happy accident, somehow I ended up in the same location that you and Freddy were coming to! And I've been here ever since."

"Oh. Wow. But...haven't they noticed that an animatronic they didn't mean to include is in the building?"

"They did, actually, while I was offline a few nights back. I almost expected them to immediately haul me out of there, but for some reason the company didn't send anyone to remove me from the building. Somehow they were okay with it. Don't know why, but it worked out well for me, so I'm not complaining."

"Huh. Me neither, truth be told. I'm glad you're here. Are you going to make this place your home, too?"

"Yeah, definitely. I really don't have anywhere else to stay, and this place has you and Freddy in it, too. So if this place makes for a good home and has people I know living it in it, then I figured I'd stay permanently."

"Well, we're glad to have you! Or at least, I am. It's been so long since I've seen you, Puppet!" Freddy replied, smiling.

"Same. Once again, it is good to see you again, Freddy." Puppet replied kindly. "And you as well, Foxy. And it's been great meeting you, too, Ballora."

"Thanks! You're not half bad, I guess." Ballora responded, shrugging.

Puppet made a face jokingly. "Not half bad? And just what do you mean by that?"

"Oh, I dunno...it's up for you to interpret." Ballora answered cheekily, not even bothering to hide her smile.

Puppet chuckled a little and shook his head. "What am I going to do with you?" He said, chuckling again.

"So...where are you staying, Puppet?" Foxy brought up. He was honestly happy one of his old friends was back, but he was also curious about Puppet's lodgings. "In your box again, I assume?"

"Right on the money. I got it all set up in here, and it has plenty of space up against the auditorium wall. Couldn't imagine a better spot for it!" Puppet replied, gesturing at the box cheerily. "And don't worry, I asked for permission. It was pretty easy to..."

Foxy, who was watching Puppet speak, watched confusedly as Puppet unexpectedly stopped talking. The marionette's face was oddly blank for a moment.

When he spoke again, his voice sounded more alert.

"...to convince Baby to let me stay."

The moment he said her name, there were several gasps of realization from everyone in the group. Foxy realized only now that Circus Baby, the clown girl and mascot of the building, was not around.

"Oh, yeah...speaking of Baby, where is she?" Foxy asked, raising an eyebrow. "I thought she'd be here to welcome me to the place."

He looked to Puppet for a response, but he heard a sniffle from his right and looked over.

Ballora was sniffling.

"Oh...oh my god...how could I have forgotten about-?!" The ballerina stammered. "She's...she's still..."

"Aw, calm down, Ballora. It'll be okay. I'm sure she's somewhere in the building." Freddy said, a worried look returning to his face as he patted her on the shoulder.

These reactions made Foxy feel anxious. "What do you mean? What happened to Baby?"

"...Crud. I completely forgot about her after all the confusion with Foxy glitching out..." Puppet said, his face suddenly getting solemn. "Foxy, Baby's missing."

"Missing?!" Foxy exclaimed. Out of all things he could've heard from Puppet, hearing that somebody in the group was missing was definitely something that alarmed him.

Puppet nodded. "She was here with us for a little while before you got here. Ballora and I were hanging out with her and talking with each other. Everything seemed fine. But then she suddenly got up and said she had something to check on and that she'd be back in ten minutes. At the time, Ballora and I thought nothing of it. We assumed it would be fine and we let her leave." Puppet paused. "Then half an hour passed and she still hadn't come back. Ballora was seriously worried by then, so she and I went to look for her. But when we did, we-"

"WE COULDN'T FIND HER!" Came a sudden outburst, and Foxy flinched and looked back to see Ballora shedding some tears and freaking out. "I looked everywhere in the pizzeria! Everywhere! I called and called for Baby and I just couldn't find her! I don't know where she is! She's just...j-j-just...gone..."

Foxy was alarmed. He reached over and patted Ballora on the shoulder, trying to reassure her. "Calm down, Ballora! It'll be alright! I mean...have you and Puppet seriously-?"

"Yes, Foxy. We searched in literally every single room. We couldn't find her." Puppet said, supplying the answer before Foxy could even ask the question.

"I d-don't understand! Where could she be?! WHERE?! Why would she just leave us like this?! Why would she leave ME?! I just don't get it...!" Ballora yelled, shaking her head.

Foxy gave Ballora a long look. He hadn't even known the ballerina for very long, but she was practically already one of his friends. He could see how important Baby was to her, and he was inclined to feel the same. He didn't know Baby well, either, but he had talked to her quite a bit yesterday and he knew her to be a good person. He knew she'd be good friend material as well. So, with that all known...he figured he'd make finding her a high priority.

"Alright, that's it. Everyone, we're making finding Baby a high priority. We're going to all check this place up and down to find her, alright?" Foxy said, straightening up and turning around to glance at the group. "She's our friend now. We should do all we can to find out where she's gone."

"Right. I'll help with that. Even though we already checked everywhere, maybe...maybe we didn't look hard enough the first time." Puppet mentioned, nodding surely. "And I know Baby. She welcomed me into this place warmly, so...the least I can do is help find her."

"Count me in as well!" Freddy added, nodding quickly.

Ballora looked up at three of them, surprised but touched. "You'd...you'd all do that for me?"

"For you and for Baby." Foxy amended, giving her a reassuring smile. "Going to find her is the right thing to do."

"...Thank you. Thank you all!" Ballora said, looking gratified, and she straightened up. "Yeah! We'll get everyone back together! You, Foxy, and me, and Puppet and Freddy and Baby and...uh..." Ballora looked around herself. "...wait, wasn't there one more? Where's the little guy?"

"The little guy?" Foxy questioned, raising an eyebrow. "Who are you...?" And then it hit him, and a name appeared in his head. "...OH! Bon-Bon! Darn, I completely forgot about him as well..."

"Who's Bon-Bon? Baby did mention somebody like that was coming, but...?" Puppet asked.

Foxy turned to address Puppet. "Oh, that's easy. Remember Bonnie?"

Puppet made a face. "How could I not? He was quite the guy, last I met him. Wait...are you saying Bon-Bon is Bonnie?"

Foxy nodded. "He sure is. He's actually a hand puppet now! And his puppeteer is none other than Freddy."

Foxy looked over at Freddy for confirmation on this fact, only to see Freddy standing quietly, an odd expression on his face.

"Freddy...?" Foxy questioned confusedly. "Hey, uh..." Foxy's eyes flicked down to Freddy's left hand, which he knew for a fact was that hand that had Bon-Bon on it...only to notice something he had noticed once before. Freddy's left hand did not have Bon-Bon on it, nor was it a handless stump like it was whenever Bon-Bon was removed. Instead, a blue metal hand had been fitted into place there. "...Oh. Freddy, I didn't actually realize...you've got a blue hand fitted onto your left arm now. But isn't that the arm where Bon-Bon usually is? And, for that matter...where is Bon-Bon? If there's anyone I'd expect him to be with, it's you."

Puppet and Ballora gave Freddy questioning looks as well, and it was this trio of glances that made the pink and white bear sigh and begin to speak. "...Bon-Bon ran off."

"He did what?" Foxy asked.

"Ran off." Freddy repeated, and Foxy noticed that he looked a bit...sad? "I...got into a fight with him today."

"A fight? You didn't tell me that earlier!" Ballora cut in. "What were you two fighting about?"

"I don't really want to talk about it. It was just...some personal stuff." Freddy answered glumly. "But we got into an argument over it. Bon-Bon started yelling a lot that time. It sort of scared me. I've never seen him that angry at me before." Freddy sighed again and continued speaking. "And eventually he just said he didn't want to see me anymore, and he...ran off. I haven't seen him since."

Foxy exchanged looks with the others. This was news to all of them this time, especially Foxy. Last he remembered, Freddy and Bon-Bon were getting along just fine. But now they were at odds?

Just how much has happened since I went offline and waited to be taken here? Foxy wondered in his mind. Even so, he knew what he had to do. If Baby was his friend despite how little contact he had with her so far, then Bon-Bon was definitely one of his best friends. He had known the hand puppet for years, including back when he was their size. He had been friends with Bon-Bon just as long as he had been friends with Freddy and Puppet. The hand puppet mattered just as much as the bear and marionette did.

"Alright, minor change of plans. We're searching for Baby and Bon-Bon at the same time." Foxy voiced with conviction.

"Yeah! Definitely!" Ballora agreed, pumping a fist.

Freddy looked a bit unsure. "Uh...I dunno, guys. I'm all for finding Baby, but Bon-Bon...I don't think Bon-Bon will be happy if he catches sight of me again."

"What, because he's angry? Then you need to go and apologize to him. It might've been something you said or did that made him so mad." Foxy suggested. "Even if you don't think he'll be so forgiving, it's worth a shot, isn't it?"

Freddy eyed Foxy and sighed. "Well...I guess it's worth a shot. I'll help you all find Bon-Bon, too."

"And of course, I'm helping. Although I haven't even seen Bon-Bon yet. And last I saw him, he was as big as you guys were." Puppet mentioned. "Has he changed at all?"

"Oh, you'd be surprised." Freddy replied, almost with a chuckle. "You know how he was way back when, right? Well, he's so different nowadays. Lot more quiet and soft-spoken. Smarter, too." Freddy's smile faltered. "Although...last I saw him, he wasn't nearly as soft-spoken. In fact, he was pretty loud and overbearing with me. And...he's kinda bad at controlling his emotions. I learned that today."

"I...see." Puppet muttered, frowning deeply. "Well, in any case, he's your friend, so I may as well help you all find him."

"Then everyone's on board. Great." Foxy responded, nodding his head approvingly. "Alright, then, let's start this search. What places do we have to check?"

"I'll go look in the kitchen and the staff room! We could've missed something back there." Freddy suggested.

"I can look in my room and the nearby party rooms! Baby or Bon-Bon might be in one of those rooms." Ballora added. Foxy noticed how enthusiastic she was being, and he knew it was because they were about to get a search for their remaining friends underway.

"I can check the bathrooms and the bounce house. They're less important rooms, but somebody has to check them." Puppet said, nodding.

"Which leaves me to check...where?" Foxy questioned. He hadn't gotten a proper look at the place, since he had been controlled by a third party during his entire run around the building.

"You have a cove in a room near the main entrance! You should check in there." Ballora answered.

Foxy's eyes widened in surprise. "Wait, I have a room with a cove?"

"You do, actually! And that cove in there is pretty much identical to your old one. Same purple curtains and everything." Freddy mentioned.

"Wow. Okay, then I definitely want to take a look in there." Foxy said, now excited both to find his friends and to see his new room. "Alright, so we've got our search spots settled. Great! Then let's not waste anymore time. Everyone ready?"

"Ready!" Ballora said, raising her hand.

"I'm definitely ready." Freddy agreed, raising his hand.

"Let's do this." Puppet added calmly, raising his hand.

"Yeah." Foxy finished, raising his own hand.

And then, without even needing to mention the idea, the animatronics formed a circle and put their raised hands together, almost as if all four of them had been thinking of doing such a thing.

"Team!" They shouted in unison, and they all raised an arm in the air again.

"Okay, I'm pretty sure we've said enough. Let's just get to it already." Foxy finished, and there were small chuckles from his friends before they all sprang up and prepared to rush off. "After all...

...we've got a couple of friends to find!"

Chapter Text

[ 10 / 16 / 20?? ]

And so the search went underway.

The group split off, going to the areas of the building they had promised to check and taking a good look around.

Foxy made his way into the main room, his head swiveling around and keeping an eye out for his new room. He was glad to have his own room in the building, but what really excited him was the prospect of seeing his cove again. When he had prepared himself to leave his old home behind forever, Foxy hadn't known for sure what his room situation at the new location would be, or if it would be anything as comfortable as the cove he had inhabited before. But hearing that he did have a cove again ignited his curiosity, and he wondered how comfortable of a home the new cove would be compared to the one at Freddy Fazbear's.

Freddy did say that it's just like the one I had at our old home. That definitely sounds promising. Foxy thought, nodding his head as he stepped through the main room. Which room is it in, though?

Foxy glanced around the main room. Off to his right, he could see an opening into a large bouncy castle that made up one of the nearby rooms.

Wow, that must be the bounce house Ballora mentioned. Still can't believe that this pizzeria actually has one right inside of itself. Foxy thought in amazement. I've got to try it out sometime. Maybe once we find Baby and Bon-Bon, we can all go in there together and jump around for a while. They'd be a good way to pass the time.

Foxy turned his attention away from the bounce house and looked to his left. By looking past the seating areas, which was made of tons of circular tables surrounded by stools, he could see the stage.

Woah.

The stage was, in Foxy's opinion, more incredible than any stage he had ever seen. The stage back home had been a simple wooden one with wall decorations behind them and some moderately sized speakers. Nothing incredible, but it did its job well. This stage, however, was a sight to behold. It was made up of four circular stages rising up from the floor, with each one painted a different color. The one in front was red, the one to the right was pink, the one to the left was purple, and there was a fourth one behind the red and purple stages that was blue. All four stages had been set to different heights. The red stage was the shortest, the purple stage rose slightly above the red one, and the pink stage rose slightly above the purple one. The blue one in the back was easily the tallest one, so much so that it was easily a foot or two taller than the pink one.

I definitely haven't seen a stage like this before. Especially with all the stages at different heights like that. What's with all the different colors, though?

Foxy paused, trying to rack his brain for an answer. He looked down at himself as he deliberated. However, it was seeing his suit that made him realize what the aim of the colors was.

Wait...if this is the main stage, and I'm an animatronic at this location, that stage would be where I'd perform, right? And if so...wait, that's it! The colors are related to which animatronic is on each stage! That pink one is the same color as parts of my new suit. It must be mine. And if I'm right, then the rest of the stages...purple must be Freddy, since I saw purple accents on his suit. Red is definitely Baby, since both her hair and clothes were red when I met her. The blue one must be Ballora's since she's got blue accents as part of her suit as well. If so, then...wow, Ballora's got a really tall stage. I wonder why her stage gets to be higher than the rest of ours?

Foxy almost stopped to wonder more deeply about it, but thinking about the way Circus Baby had appeared when he had met her made him realize that he was getting sidetracked. He had resolved, alongside the others, to find Baby and Bon-Bon, and he knew admiring the stage would bring him no closer to finding the two missing members of the group.

He moved away from the stage and through the main room again. To the left he saw two doors, one single door and one double door. He could see signs on both of them, reading 'Supply Closet' and 'Kitchen' respectively, and he knew right away that those rooms weren't his cove. Foxy looked away from them, knowing he'd probably get a better look inside the rooms later.

He glanced at the boarded up front entrance doors as he looked around. The stained glass doors were covered in barricades from the outside, and that did concern Foxy, but he wasn't sure what reason they might be there.

I'll ask Puppet later. And Baby, when we find her. Maybe they know. Foxy thought.

He looked to the right, and over through a doorway next to a red carnival stand, he saw something purple from far away. Purple curtains.

There it was.

Oh! It's right there!

Foxy quickened his pace, heading right through the doorway and into the room beyond to get a better look and to make sure of what he was seeing. The room beyond had yellow-striped walls, similarly to the walls of the main room, and was decently spacious yet devoid of decor, all except for the very thing Foxy had been wanting to see.

So there it is. My new cove.

The new cove that Foxy had been looking forward to seeing was tucked into a corner of the room. It was roughly as big as one of the stages in the main room was, but with the distinction of Foxy's favorite part: the purple curtains. They were sleek and spotless as they hung down from the ceiling, displaying a constant pattern of white stars. Stepping close, Foxy reached out and touched the curtains, feeling the silk against his fingers.

They were even softer than the curtains of the previous cove he had called home.

Barely able to conceal a heartened grin anymore, Foxy put his fingers through the slight gap in between the curtains and gripped them, then pulled them aside. The curtains moved easily, shifting aside and letting Foxy see the inside. There wasn't much inside the cove, only the empty wooden stage that made up half of the cove. But as Foxy's old cove had been similarly empty on the inside, Foxy wasn't at all bothered by this fact.

In fact, the pink-white fox still felt glad and happy to see how perfectly replicated his old cove had been.

It's like a carbon copy of the old one...but the curtains are way softer! Foxy thought, outwardly grinning. Oh, hold on. I have to try something.

Foxy stepped forwards, walking on to the sleek metal stage, and turned around. He gripped the curtain folds again, his metal hands getting secure holds, and he pulled them together this time. The curtains shifted until they were touching each other again.

What resulted was all of the light from the room itself being blocked by the curtains, causing very thick darkness to envelop the inside of Foxy's cove.

Foxy sighed in comfort and leaned back against the wall of his cove. Shutting the curtains and getting some wonderfully quiet darkness inside his cove had always been his favorite part of living and sleeping inside the curtained stage. The curtains blocking out the light in the room allowed for darkness so thick that Foxy could only barely see himself and the curtains...and he liked it that way. He took comfort in how all-encompassing the darkness inside the cove became when the curtains were closed.

This is even better than the old cove. The old cove's curtains only dimmed the light on the inside of the cove. But these new curtains make it almost pitch black. Amazing... Foxy thought gladly.

Seeing how well they had improved upon the Pirate Cove he had owned before made Foxy feel much happier being at this new location. He couldn't wait to get some sleep and relaxation inside the darkness of the cove. He was almost tempted to nod off right then and there, but the thought of the goal he and the others had set for themselves prevented Foxy from letting himself drift off.

Letting out one final comforted sigh, Foxy pushed himself off the wall and straightened up, then opened up the curtains of his cove and let the light back in.

Alright, alright, enough lazing around. This cove's great, but I can get some R and R later. Come on, Foxy, if you keep getting sidetracked like this, you might never track Baby and Bon-Bon down. Focus! Foxy closed his eyes and slapped the sides of his face, giving himself a reminder that he hadn't come to his cove just to enjoy it. He had come to see if he could find Baby or Bon-Bon there.

Stepping out of his cove, he gave the room around him a quick glance. He had to admit that he was a bit dissatisfied with how empty the room was, save for his cove.

What's with my room being so empty? They went to the trouble to give me a more comfortable cove, yet they couldn't add anything else? Foxy thought, frowning. Well, that's lame. I'll have to do something about that eventually.

And eventually would come within time, but for right now, Foxy could tell from just a glance that nobody was in his room. His cove, which would have offered the one singular hiding spot in the entire room, was also devoid of any presence.

"Baby? Bon-Bon? Are either of you here?" Foxy called experimentally, though he could tell from how empty the room was that he was unlikely to get a response.

...

Yep, no response. Well, that means checking this room was a bust. Guess I'll group up with the others and see if they had better luck.

Foxy turned back around and walked out of his room, fully intent on returning to the main room. He reminded himself of where the others said they were going to search, and he started to think about which one of them he was going to talk to first.

He never got the chance. Upon exiting the room, Foxy felt himself collide with something.

"Ouch!" Foxy stuttered, stepping back in a disoriented manner.

"Woah!" Came a cry, and Foxy looked to see what he had smacked right into: a familiar black-colored marionette with a white mask, who had turned the corner just as Foxy was turning it and hadn't seen Foxy there.

"Oh! Puppet. Sorry about that." Foxy apologized. "Didn't even know you were going to pop up like that."

"Yeah, I'm sorry too. Should've heard you coming. Bad move on my part." Puppet replied, shaking his head as he straightened back up. His expression, however, shifted to slight anxiousness. "But I'm glad to see you. Foxy, we've got a situation!"

"Did you find Baby? Or Bon-Bon?" Foxy questioned immediately.

"No! Well...actually, I'm not sure." Puppet answered, making a face as he seemed to think about it.

Foxy felt confused. "What do you mean, you're not sure?"

"It's just...I went and checked the bathrooms and the bounce house, and I didn't find either of them in there, so I thought maybe they might've gone to my box." Puppet explained. "But then I went into the auditorium and heard this ear-splitting cry!"

"Ear-splitting cry?" Foxy questioned, raising his eyebrows. "From where?"

"I don't know where! Came out of nowhere and startled me so bad that I couldn't even tell where it was coming from." Puppet said, shaking his head. "I did figure that I might've found something, though, so I came running over here to tell you."

Foxy thought about what Puppet was telling him. It certainly sounded odd that Puppet had heard such a loud cry, and Foxy then wondered whether the cry could be tied to one of their missing friends.

"...Hey, uh, did the noise sound like it was made by Baby or Bon-Bon at all?" Foxy asked.

Puppet paused. "As I said before, I'm not really sure. It was just a loud cry, I was too disoriented to figure out what gender it was. And I don't know if it's happening anymore, because I ran to tell you almost as soon as I heard it."

"You didn't stick around to see where it was coming from?"

"Well, no. Perhaps I should've, but I figured I should alert you all as soon as I caught wind of something strange, so here I am."

"I guess that's fair. Alright, then a sound like that is definitely worth investigating. It could be Baby or Bon-Bon making that sound." Foxy deliberated, nodding his sureness on that fact. "Let's tell the others and get their help. In fact, I think we should tell Ballora, mainly."

"Huh? But why Ballora?" Puppet questioned, raising an eyebrow.

"She told me and Freddy when we met her that she has excellent hearing." Foxy explained, his mind's eye showing him the very time Ballora had been telling them such a detail. "If she was telling the truth, then we'll need her help. If there's anyone who can pinpoint where that strange noise you heard is coming from, it'll be her."

"She's got good hearing? Oh. That's be useful to have, actually." Puppet agreed, nodding. "Alright, then we'll go find her and tell her what's going on."

"Freddy, too. He wouldn't want to miss this." Foxy reasoned. "I'll go let Freddy know. You go and tell Ballora what you heard. We'll all find out where each other is, then come together and come up with a plan in the center of the big hallway. You know, the one with Ballora's room at one end and the auditorium at the other. Got it?"

"Huh. You came up with that plan really quickly."

"Well, we said we'd do everything we could to find out where the others are. If there's any sort of noise that could lead us to where they are, then we've got to assemble the group and follow the source of the noise right away."

"Huh. You make a valid point." Puppet admit. "Alright, alright, then go ahead and let Freddy know. As for Ballora...there's probably a ninety percent chance she's searching her room right about now, so I'm heading that way."

"Solid guess, and you're probably right." Foxy replied. "See you in a few minutes or so, then."

Foxy walked around Puppet, heading in the direction of the kitchen, which he remembered hearing Freddy say he would be checking. He knew Freddy could get side tracked sometimes, but he intended to make this quick.

Whatever this strange cry was that Puppet was hearing, it definitely compelled Foxy to find out more. That cry could belong to anything.

Including Circus Baby or Bon-Bon.

Puppet watched Foxy make his way into the kitchen, then got moving himself. The noise he had heard had seriously caught him off guard, and he was convinced it had to belong to someone they knew. He wasn't sure if his conviction was right, but he figured it was time to assemble the group and find out for sure if it really was right.

The masked marionette was deep in thought over it, so much so that it felt like only a few seconds before he had gotten through the small hallway and had gotten all the way to the left. As he looked at what was ahead of him more properly, he could see the double doors that he knew led to Ballora's room, which were ajar.

Puppet wasn't exactly surprised. He knew of Freddy and Ballora's problems when it came to opening and closing doors, so he was not at all surprised that Ballora hadn't bothered to close her door. He had heard from her the day before that she loved her room, but he could tell that she wouldn't want to trap herself in her room.

As he walked inside, he was met with the sight of Ballora's room. It wasn't an unfamiliar sight, as he had been in here once before, but...

Still as colorful as always.

Ballora's room was wide and spacious, due mostly in fact to the rows and rows of red movie theater chairs that had been set up to face the large stage that took up the entire opposite side of the room from where Puppet was, a stage so large that I stretched from one wall to the other despite the room's wideness. The walls were, as Puppet remembered, very colorful. Most rooms in the pizzeria either used one solid color or stuck to a repeating pattern of white stripes and stripes of another color. Not Ballora's room, though; Ballora had instead opted to use not just white, but also red, purple, and salmon pink stripes as well. It was quite the odd color combination, at least to Puppet. The side of the room not taken up by the large wooden stage was made of purple carpet flooring, and both the left and right ends of this side of the room had glass tables and couches. The stage, meanwhile, was cluttered with various things. Some were part of the stage itself, like the circular metal platform not unlike the ones used on the stage in the main room. Some were just Ballora's belongings, including a balloon stand tucked in the left corner and a sizable piano on the right side of the stage. On the left wall of the stage was the door to the backstage, a room that Puppet had only seen once before. There wasn't much to see in the backstage, though, as it was a completely empty room with zero pieces of decor to its name.

Not to mention that Ballora herself certainly wasn't back there, as she was instead darting around the room. Puppet watched as the ballerina ran by, going over to kneel and look under her piano as if expecting to find something under there.

"Uh, Ballora?" Puppet interjected, stepping forwards.

Ballora sprang up on the spot and turned around. "Oh! Puppet, it's you! Sorry, I haven't had even a little luck! I've been searching my room, but I can't find Baby anywhere! Or Bon-Bon, for that matter." She pointed at the rows of red chairs facing her stage. "I went as far as checking under all the chairs, but they weren't there! And that sucks. I had a such a good feeling that someone would be under chair number seventeen, but no."

"Uh...right." Puppet responded, coughing loudly before he continued speaking. "Listen, Ballora. I was searching around the place for the others when I heard something."

"You did?! Was it Baby crying out for help?!" Ballora questioned rapidly, stepping closer to Puppet.

Puppet paused to consider it. "Yes? No? Maybe? It was definitely a cry, but I don't know if it was coming from Baby asking for help."

"But it has to be! Oh, she must've gotten herself stuck somewhere!" Ballora responded, shaking her head. "Where'd you hear it coming from?"

"I couldn't tell. It came out of nowhere and startled me half to death."

Ballora gave him an incredulous look. "What? You couldn't?"

"No. That's why I was coming to you. Foxy said you have good hearing, so I was hoping you could help me decipher where the noise is coming from."

"Oh, Foxy told you that? Well, he's got that right! I rely on hearing far more than my other senses, so it's pretty darn good. I can hear a pin drop in another room!" Ballora said, semi-boasting as she smiles proudly. "Which is why I'm definitely coming with to hear this noise! It has to be Baby, it just has to be! Or...Bon-Bon, maybe, but I'm hoping for Baby."

Puppet raised an eyebrow. "Sounds to me like you have bias."

"And so what if I do? It's perfectly justified." Ballora countered, frowning defensively. "I've known her way longer than Bon-Bon, after all. She was the first friend I ever had."

"Well, fair, I guess."

Ballora made to open her mouth again, but she paused in the middle of speaking and looked off. Puppet could hear footsteps getting nearer, and he turned around to look at the same direction Ballora was looking at. They both could see Foxy and Freddy run into the room and approach them.

"We're here! I let Freddy know." Foxy informed them, pointing his thumb back towards Freddy.

"Foxy told me what's going on! We definitely have to find the mystery noise! We just gotta!" Freddy shouted out, walking past Foxy as he said it.

"Oh, so you already told them?" Ballora questioned, raising an eyebrow.

"I told Foxy, and then he told Freddy, so we're all up to speed now." Puppet answered. "Foxy figured that if we're investigating this, we should get the group together."

Ballora shrugged. "Guess I don't see why not. We're working together on this whole search, after all."

"Alright, so...where were you when you heard the noise, Puppet? Let's get over there already." Foxy said, nodding.

"Middle of the auditorium. I'll show you." Puppet responded promptly, and he was the one to lead the way out of the room this time. He felt more confident on this now that the others were with him, and he was much more ready to find out what had caused the noise.

The four animatronics stepped into the auditorium, and right away, all eyes were glancing around the room for anything out of the ordinary.

"So when's the noise gonna happen?" Freddy asked, seeming a little anxious as he glanced around.

"Anytime, I think. I mean, I only heard it once, but-" Puppet began to explain.

And was promptly cut off.

"WAAAAAAAAAH!"

A loud noise somewhere between an anguished yell and a sob rippled through the auditorium, startling every single one of the animatronics.

"Gaah! Geez, there it is again!" Puppet stuttered, once again taken off guard by the noise. "That's the exact noise that I heard earlier!"

"Yow! What a yell! What the heck's even making that kind of a cry?" Foxy stammered, wincing a little.

"Oh, geez..." Freddy mumbled, stepping back a bit in anxiety.

Ballora looked the most troubled by the noise, and she immediately turned her head and put a hand to her ear, listening. "Everyone shut up and give me a second! I need to listen more properly!"

Everyone fell silent at once, as they knew that Ballora's hearing was the most solid way for them to be able to track the noise right to its source. They stood there in wait, anticipating the sound of the cry again.

And within thirty seconds, the cry came again.

"WAAAAAAAH!"

Ballora leaned her head, her face squinting from concern and concentration. "Ah-ha! I've got it! It's coming from..." Ballora ran across the auditorium and raised her hand, pointing a finger up at something on the wall. "...in there!"

Puppet snapped his head upwards, as Ballora's finger had been pointed in a more upwards direction, and saw something he had noticed before, but had never looked at too closely until now: a large steel vent cover. Puppet was already aware that the location had a ventilation system, as he had seen vent covers not just in the auditorium, but in a few other rooms as well.

"Wait, it's coming from the vents?" Foxy questioned, furrowing his brows.

"The weird cry's being made by some vent thing...? Oh geez, oh geez..." Freddy stammered, becoming a little more anxious than before.

"'Oh geez' is right. What could possibly be in there and making such a weird noise? I hope it's Baby or Bon-Bon, because if it's, well...something else, then we're about to have a much worse problem on our hands." Puppet voiced warily.

"We still have to check!" Ballora stated, turning back to the others determinedly. "If one of our friends is in there, then we can't be scared of going in! We have to get in there and find them!"

"Okay, then we need to find a way in there. Uh...question is, how're we supposed to access the vents?" Foxy asked.

"Leave that to me!" Ballora cut in before anyone could wonder about it. "I know exactly how to get in there! Watch this!"

Ballora got moving again, and Puppet watched as she ran over to the stage in the corner of the auditorium. She went near the corner itself and bent over something.

What's she looking at? Puppet wondered, and he followed Foxy and Freddy as they went over to see what Ballora was looking at.

The stage in the corner of the auditorium was sizable, and was backlit by a series of bright lights by the back of the stage. Near the backlights in the corner, however, was something that made Puppet curious.

There was a small cut-out piece of wood right by the light nearest to the back corner. The cut-out wood resembled a small circle.

"See this? It's easy to miss, but if you press down on this tiny little button right here, right next to the pretty stage lights..." Ballora explained, and she reached down a finger and put it on the cut-out circle. She pressed down, and the circle moved down into the floor.

It's a button? Puppet questioned in his thoughts.

And indeed, it was, because Puppet, Foxy, and Freddy watched in surprise as the square piece of wood beneath the light suddenly tilted open. It revealed itself as a hidden trapdoor, and it opened up. Right underneath the trapdoor was a slightly narrow passageway, leading somewhere else.

"A passage?" Foxy stuttered, eyes curious and wide.

"A secret trapdoor! But why's this under the stage?" Freddy questioned, looking awed.

"Good question. And, better yet, how'd you even know this was here, Ballora?" Puppet added, making the pile of questions a bit bigger.

Ballora turned back to them to explain properly. "I'll tell you all! I know all three of you are pretty new to this building, but Baby and I told you before that we've lived here for way longer than you three! Years, in fact. And it was pretty much just me and her, so we've had plenty of time to explore this place and look around for super secret secrets and whatnot. So one day, we were poking around the stage, and Baby found this button to open the secret trapdoor! We were pretty excited to find an actual secret, so we went inside and gave it a look. And you know what this passage leads to?"

"What?" Foxy and Freddy said at the same time, and Puppet would've asked the same had it not been redundant to do so.

"The ventilation system!" Ballora answered, and she raised her arm and pointed at the vent cover on the wall of the auditorium. "Inside the passage, there's this ladder you can climb up to enter the vent tunnels. Me and Baby went exploring in there. Very narrow and kinda weird-feeling 'cause of all the air flowing inside there, but it was cool to see properly! We weren't ever able to see the vents from the inside until that day."

"Oh yeah, and whatever we saw just now is right in the vents! So if we can take this passage right into the vent system, we can easily find whatever it is that was moving around in there and making those noises." Said Foxy, seeming to understand the logic.

"Pretty much! We've just got to head down in here."

"Uh, okay. Is it scary, or...?" Freddy questioned.

Ballora shrugged. "Eh. Not really. It's actually not that dark in the vents, so unless you've got a fear of ventilation systems or something, you should be fine."

"Oh. I guess that sounds okay." Freddy agreed, looking a bit calmer. "Alright, let's go in, then."

"Let's!" Ballora said, and she turned back to the opening. "I'll go in first, since I'm leading the way! Oh, and ladies first, you know!" Ballora started to move again, and she slung her legs over the side of the hole before dropping down. It was a very short drop, and then Ballora moved through the passageway, disappearing out of sight.

"Huh. Well, in we go." Foxy said, and he dropped down after Ballora.

"I wonder what these vents are like. Ballora and Baby never showed these to me before." Puppet mentioned as he repeated after Ballora and Foxy and dropped down into the passageway.

"Well, now's our chance to take a look." Freddy supplied, and Puppet heard Freddy drop in after the masked marionette.

Now that Puppet was inside the passageway, he could see it was small, and only tall enough to allow for a few foot of room above the animatronics' heads. He headed forwards, going behind Ballora and Foxy, and the metal passageway quickly opened up into a long hallway with the same white and red striped walls. The hallway headed only to the right, which was the direction Ballora went in without stopping to look around as she led the way.

"So...any idea why they made this secret passageway into the vents...a thing?" Foxy questioned Ballora as the group moved through the hallway. It was a much longer hallway than the passageway into it, although Puppet could see another room at the other end of it.

"No idea why they made it this way! But since the entrance to the vents is hidden out of sight like this, it does prevent most people from just stumbling into it by accident!" Ballora replied, turning her head slightly to address Foxy as she led the way down the hall. "I'm more of a fan of just the existence of a super secret hallway like this, though. I remember when me and Baby first found this, we were psyched. To think this whole passageway was right behind and beneath the auditorium the whole time, and we never even knew!"

"We know now, though." Freddy mentioned at the back of the group. "That kinda makes it less secret, doesn't it?"

"Eh, well, we live here now, so it's no biggie. At least, from my point of view, it isn't." Foxy commented, shrugging. "Some secrets are made to be discovered, anyway."

Puppet glanced more properly at the pink-white fox when he said that line.

Huh. Does he really think that? Well...at least he said 'some' and not 'all.' Puppet thought.

"Here we are!" Ballora called, and Puppet turned his attention back to the present situation as the four animatronics entered into the room Puppet remembered having seen at the end of the hallway.

The room was mostly empty, save for the checker tile floors and red and white striped wallpaper around and below them, but it was dominated by the only part of the room that could be observed: a large, long vent tunnel near the ceiling above. It stretched across the room, coming out of one wall and going into the next. Puppet looked up at it. He remembered having seen vents before in past locations he had been to, but these vents were new to him. They were certainly much larger than any of the small and cramped vents Puppet had witnessed before, and unlike those vents, which were metallic gray, these ones were a more dark grayish-blue color.

Odd. Never seen that color choice for vents before. Puppet thought.

The vent tunnel also, as Ballora had mentioned, contained an entrance. There was a metal ladder, leading rung by rung up to a windowless metal door that was the same color and material as the vent itself. It was visible thanks to the door's outline and the handle sticking out of it.

"This is it, isn't it?" Freddy questioned, looking curiously at the ladder. He didn't seem anxious anymore, instead looking much more curious and interested.

"Yep! Whew, I remember I almost thought it was a little spooky, seeing the vent like this the first time." Ballora said, her closed eyes looking in the direction of the vent tunnel above. "But eh, the spookiness factor sort of wears off once you see it more than once."

"Perhaps so. Anyway...we just climb up and open the door, right?" Puppet questioned, looking among the group. "Who's going first?"

"Actually, I can't do it." Ballora mentioned suddenly. "Can't open or close doors, if you remember me and Baby mentioning that to you when you first got here, Puppet."

"I can't open it, either. Sorry." Freddy apologized, shaking his head. "Suit programming stops me."

"Weird. Why would the suit specifically prevent you guys from using doors?" Foxy wondered, frowning.

"Don't know. My databanks won't even clue me in, either. And Baby doesn't know, either, so we're sort of lost." Ballora explained.

"Well, since I have the same suit model as Freddy, I'm guessing I can't open it."

"Actually...you can." Freddy corrected.

Foxy gave Freddy a surprised look. "Wait, I can?"

"Yeah, you can open and close doors just fine. We saw you do it when you opened the kitchen door for us earlier." Ballora articulated, nodding. Then she frowned. "It's so unfair, too! Why would they prevent me and Freddy from using doors but then let you use them just fine?"

"Huh." Foxy muttered, and he seemed just as unsure as the others about it. "Don't know why they'd make me an exception. In any case, if you guys are right, I guess I can climb up and get the vent door open. Unless..." Foxy turned his head, and Puppet suddenly found himself as the one being looked at. "...maybe you wanna do it, Puppet?"

"Oh, yeah! Puppet, I've never asked this, but can you open and close doors?" Ballora questioned, tilting her head.

"Huh? Well...yeah? Easily?" Puppet answered. "I mean, I didn't get a suit change to be the same model as the rest of you, since I'm technically not supposed to be here at all, so..."

"Ohhhh! That makes sense. He didn't become a Funtime model, so there's no programming to stop him from opening doors." Freddy realized. "Aw, man, that means both you and Foxy are lucky enough to still have that ability. I wish I could still open and close doors like I used to before I got this suit..."

"Well, we'll talk about what we can do about that programming someday. Till then, guess you'll have to leave the door opening and closing to me and Puppet." Foxy told Freddy before he turned his gaze back onto the aforementioned marionette. "So, since you can open and close doors just fine, do you want to do it?"

Puppet shrugged. He didn't think it mattered who opened the door. "It doesn't really make a difference whether you or I open the door, Foxy, as long as we can make an opening and enter the vents."

Foxy seemed to consider Puppet's words, and he nodded. "Yeah, that's true...I'll climb up and be the one day to open it, then. I want to see what these vents are like on the inside, so I may as well head in first."

And Puppet watched as Foxy did just that. Foxy set his foot on the bottommost metal rung, gripped the rungs at level with his arms, and begin to climb. It wasn't a long climb, as the vent tunnel was only as high as the ceiling, and the ceiling was only as tall as the rest of the building was. Within ten to fifteen seconds, Foxy had gotten right up to the door.

Puppet watched as Foxy then reached out, removing his right arm from the nearby rung it had been holding onto and getting a hold on the door handle. He pushed the handle down, then pulled. The door squeaked a bit as it swung open, providing a small view of the inside of the vent.

"Got it open! Everybody, climb on up!" Foxy called, and Puppet watched as Foxy lifted himself off of the ladder and disappeared through the doorway.

"Alright! C'mon, you two, move!" Ballora urged, her previous determination seeming to return as she quickly grabbed the ladder and made the ascent herself.

"Gotcha." Puppet said simply, knowing it was time to get into the vent tunnel, and he walked over, his three-fingered hands getting ahold of the ladder just as soon as Ballora had climbed far enough up to give him space. He felt the cold metal against his suit as he ascended, one hand after another reaching for higher and higher rungs.

"I'll be behind you!" Freddy called up, and Puppet heard the sound of Freddy's footsteps going up the rungs of the ladder, too.

Puppet reached the metal doorway just as Ballora went through, and he too climbed off the ladder and stepped through the doorway, his tapered foot touching down upon a metal floor.

The marionette looked left and right. The vent corridor stretched down, and while it ended fairly quickly in the right direction, it went on for a bit of a long way in the left direction. The vent corridor was definitely very long, not to mention the fact that it was cool in terms of temperature. Puppet could feel the air inside the vent breezing through, blowing against his suit. Even as he looked down the corridor, he could see multiple vent grates along the hallway, and light was coming out of all of them.

"So this is the vent system..." Foxy said as he looked around at it all.

"Yeah, here we are. This vent tunnel peeks into a ton of different rooms, so you can see a lot of places in the pizzeria if you peek through any of the grates." Ballora mentioned as she gazed around the tunnel.

"Okay, but...we gotta focus on the thing that made the noise! Where is it?" Freddy asked, and Puppet stepped aside, realizing the bear was behind him and was only now entering the vent tunnel himself.

"Oh! Right...where is it, actually?" Puppet questioned, and he viewed the tunnel around them with a bit more caution, knowing something unknown was now sharing the same space as they were.

"Guess we're going to have to find it. But this tunnel doesn't seem that long, so...guys, everyone stick by each other. Let's move as a group." Foxy stated, and there were nods of agreement from the others. It seemed everyone was willing to stay close, as it made them feel a bit safer while dealing with...whatever it was that they were dealing with.

Ballora, however, put her hands around her mouth and yelled. "BABY? BON-BON? HEEELLLLLOOOO?" She called, her voice echoing down the length of the vent.

"Ouch! Ballora, not so loud!" Puppet said, wincing a bit. "The acoustics in these vents are making your yelling worse."

"Oh! Sorry, I was just..." Ballora said, stiffening and then rubbing the back of her head apologetically.

Puppet shook his head. "No, it's fine. I understand what you were trying to do. Just yell a bit more quietly, maybe...?"

"WAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

The group flinched and stumbled as the loud cry, even louder than any of Ballora's yelling, emanated through the vent shaft. Puppet winced harder than before.

It's even louder inside the vent than outside. My poor internal endoskeleton ears. He thought. Well, at least we know that we're on the right track. Something is definitely in here.

"There's the cry again!" Freddy shouted, getting a bit anxious again.

Foxy stepped forwards, his head turned in the direction the cry had come from, which was somewhere down the tunnel to the left. "Hello? Who's there?" Foxy called, his voice echoing down the length of the vent.

This call, oddly enough, seemed to get some sort of response. There was a more muted cry from whatever was crying out, and the animatronics watched as, at the far end of the vent shaft, something slid into view.

"Guys, look! There's something over there!" Foxy said, pointing down the chute.

"I knew there was something in here! But...but I can't see it properly!" Ballora said, tilting her head a bit more forwards, her closed eyes seemingly unable to get a good look at whatever was there.

"What do we do?! Do we approach it?!" Freddy stammered, his anxiety over the vent thing increasing by its appearance.

Puppet, however, said nothing.

The yells of alarm and unsureness his friends were making started to slide to the back of his mind as he took a step forwards, his eyes trained on the being at the other end of the vent tunnel.

The being was red and white.

Puppet almost gasped when he saw it.

Wait. That's...

Puppet started forwards and was walking quickly towards this time before any of his friends could tell him to stop. He didn't hear any cries to stop, however; it seemed his friends were only watching cautiously as he moved forwards. But Puppet didn't stop to look back at them. He kept his eyes trained on the being he saw.

I know that color scheme...that's...

Puppet approached, and now the details of the being were becoming more apparent. He could see white arms raised up, covering the being's face, which was pressed into its arms as it stood at the opposite end of the vent tunnel.

It has to be...

"Hey!" Puppet said, suddenly finding his voice as he quickened his pace. He was almost about to reach the being.

And then the person he was talking to started to lift away their arms, and he heard a gasp of surprise.

"Is...is someone there?"

Puppet heard it.

That voice.

I know that voice!

And then he reached her.

"Baby! Is that you? Is that really you?" Puppet said quickly, even though from this distance he could see her quite clearly. He felt as if he had to make sure, however.

And then the figure moved their arms away from their face entirely.

"PUPPET!"

It was her, alright. Circus Baby, standing right before him. Puppet had already figured as much when he had seen her from a closer distance. He knew well her clown girl esque appearance. He knew her auburn-colored hair, pulled into large pigtails at the sides of her head with blue hair elastics. He had seen her general appearance already: a red crop top with frills on the shoulders and a frilly red skirt to match, a metal fan spinning around inside the hole in the center of her body, and red jester shoes topped with golden bells that rung softly when she moved her feet.

But now that she had moved her hands away from her face, he was sure it was her. He recognized fully and completely those bright green eyes, thin red lips, and red nose and cheeks. Her height was a clue in, as well- Puppet could see that she was slightly shorter than he was, which he had known since the day he had met her.

"Oh my god, oh my god, FINALLY! PUPPET! I'm so glad to see you! SO GLAD!" Circus Baby shouted, and Puppet could see the relief and pure happiness on her face. "I knew someone would come for me! I knew someone would find me if I kept making noise! I knew it!"

"It's really you, huh, Baby? I'm glad, too! We've been looking for you everywhere." Puppet replied, and he was legitimately glad to see her again. "What are you doing in the vents? How'd you get here? Where have you been?"

"It's a bit of a story! I'll tell you for sure, I know you must've been worried, and my god I am so sorry I just disappeared on you and the others like that, and..." Circus Baby rambled.

"Hey, hey, easy. It's alright, I'm just glad we were actually able to find you." Puppet said, nodding. "You've has us all worried, though, definitely. Ballora's been going spare trying to find you, and things have gotten crazy ever since the situation with Foxy."

"The...the what?" Circus Baby questioned, and she looked confused. "What situation with-?"

"BAAAAAAAAABYYYYYYYY!"

An ear splitting cry emanated through the vents, and Puppet winced so hard that he actually did put his hands over the sides of his head this time, only to realize it was ineffective due to his lack of actual ears on the suit.

He heard rapid footsteps behind him and he stumbled aside as Ballora came sprinting past him and went in for an immediate hug.

"BALLORA! Oh my god! It's YOU! You came for me!" Circus Baby yelled, and Puppet could see even now that she was equally as excited.

"Of course I did! I looked everywhere for you! I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I didn't make sure you were okay!" Ballora stammered in joy. "I missed you so much!"

"No, I missed you so much!"

"I missed you more!"

"I missed you even more!"

Puppet stood back and chuckled as Ballora and Baby entered into a back and forth over how much they had missed each other.

Behind him, Foxy and Freddy walked up, looking equally as surprised as Ballora had been.

"Okay, yeah, that's definitely Baby. Just...look at the way Ballora's acting. Wow." Foxy commented, nodding.

"Let's, uh, give 'em a minute." Freddy suggested.

"Yeah." Puppet agreed. "I can tell why Ballora was so eager to find Baby, and why Baby got so excited when Ballora got here. They're best friends, practically. Not surprising, considering Ballora's known Baby longer than any of us."

There were nods of agreement from Freddy and Foxy as the trio of guys looked on, waiting for Ballora and Baby to finish talking excitedly to each other.

Which they did, in around thirty seconds. Baby stepped back from Ballora and turned her head to look properly at the other members of the group she had not seen properly earlier."

"Freddy! Hi!" Baby greeted, waving at the bear and approaching him. "You're here, too?"

"Course. Good to see ya!" Freddy greeted cheerily.

"And..." Baby turned and looked to Foxy, and for the first time, she looked confused. "...wait, who's...?"

"Hey." Foxy said shortly.

Baby's eyes lit with recognition. "Wait...that voice! Foxy, is that you?"

"Sure is. Got the new suit." Foxy greeted, waving at Baby and then jabbing a finger at himself.

"Wow! It looks kind of like Freddy's, actually. Except with pink. I like it!" Baby replied kindly, giving a friendly nod.

"Uh, thanks. I guess. But enough about that! Baby, you're...here in the vents? How'd you even get in here?" Foxy questioned.

"Oh, yeah! I, uh...I should really explain that to you all." Baby said, smiling humorlessly. "I can only imagine you've been turning the place upside down looking for me."

"Yeah, duh! Good thing we actually found you!" Ballora said, nodding. "So, yeah, tell us! What happened? How'd you end up in this vent?"

Baby sighed. "Alright. Story time. So, Ballora, Puppet...you know how I sorta left while telling you two I was going to go do something and be right back?"

"Yes, we remember that. We were pretty concerned when half an hour passed and you were still gone." Puppet answered, as the memory flashed through his mind's eye.

"Yeah, I bet...and Ballora, you remember how we first found the vent system, right?"

"Mmm-hmm!" Ballora confirmed, nodding rapidly.

"Well, see, the reason I was gone was to go and check out this vent tunnel. I wanted to see if there was any secrets in here we might've missed, so I headed in here." Baby explained, her smile disappearing as she spoke. "But then when I went inside and started to walk around...I heard this slam! And then I went back to the door and it was closed!"

"Oh! And because you can't open or close doors, you were stuck in here. I see." Foxy said, understanding appearing on his face.

"But who would've done such a thing?" Freddy wondered, frowning.

"I think the question to ask, actually, is what would have done such a thing. And I think I know." Puppet offered, as his mind quickly came up with an explanation. "I'm sure you all remember how air is blowing through these vent systems at all times, right? And with the door to the vent system hanging open, the air would've blown out into the room beyond, circled back around, and then..."

Puppet didn't even need to say anything more. Baby's eyes widened with realization. "The air must have blown the door shut! And all because I left it swinging open after I came in! I'm so stupid!" She sighed.

"Hey! No talking like that! You are nowhere near stupid!" Ballora chastised, and she patted Baby's shoulder. "You're a smart girl and you made a mistake any one of us could have made. That's all! There's nothing else to it! You are as smart as can be and we appreciate you all and don't you forget it, alright?!"

Baby gave Ballora a thankful smile. "Aw, I'm beginning to realize how much I missed you, Belly."

Ballora smiled from ear to ear at Baby's words.

"Well, anyway, I think I can speak for all of us when I say that we're pretty happy you're okay." Foxy said, giving her a friendly grin. "And yeah, what Ballora said. You're not stupid at all. In fact, from what I've seen, it's the other way around. You were actually being smart when you decided to make all those crying noises. We wouldn't have been able to track you down otherwise."

Baby smiled at Foxy. "Thanks, Foxy! And yeah, I was panicking at being trapped and all that, so I figured that if I made as much noise as possible, someone would eventually hear me and bring help. And I was right!"

"Yeah, you definitely were. Alright, so that puts us at one friend tracked down. But we still need to find the other." Puppet mentioned.

"Yeah! I'm sure there's other areas we haven't been able to check. Bon-Bon has to be in one of them." Freddy suggested.

The animatronics nodded in agreement and affirmation. Puppet noticed, however, that Baby had started to look very concerned.

"Huh? What do you guys mean? What happened to Bon-Bon?" Baby asked quickly.

"Oh, yeah. You know how you kinda went missing and we only just found you, Baby? Yeah, uh...Bon-Bon's also missing. And we still haven't found him." Freddy mentioned, looking a little sad.

"W-What? He's missing, too? I didn't know that I wasn't the only one!"

"Well, now you do know. We've been searching around the place looking for both him and you, but we haven't found him yet, and I dunno why. Then again, he is a lot smaller than the rest of us, so I guess that would make him harder to find." Foxy stated.

"Huh. That is true." Ballora agreed.

"Then we have to find him for sure! He could be anywhere in this place!" Baby stated, looking sure of herself.

"So you'd be willing to help us search?" Puppet questioned, tilting his head.

"No question about it! I remember meeting him yesterday and he was really nice. Plus, he's your guys' friend, and the friend of my friend is my also my friend!"

"Ah. Well, don't need a better reason than that. We'd be glad to have an extra pair of eyes on the lookout." Puppet stated thankfully.

Puppet was almost about to speak more on the subject, but something made him stop. The masked marionette could feel a brush of cool air blow past him as he spoke, and only then did it once again occur to him where he and the others were talking.

Puppet looked back at Foxy, seeing similar look of recognition on his friend's face. Foxy seemed to pick up on the fact that they were in the vents, too, and the pink-white fox took the initiative in mentioning it.

"Hey, uh...why don't we all get out of this breezy vent tunnel and back into the actual pizzeria? We can talk about finding Bon-Bon after we're out." Foxy proposed.

"Yeah, I think so, too. I don't really wanna hang around in these vents for too much longer." Freddy admit, shaking his head.

"Me neither, Freddy. And that says something, considering I've been trapped in these vents for hours. C'mon, let's get out of here already." Baby said urgently.

"Yeah! For sure." Ballora agreed right away.

"Then let's move. I say we talk again once we're back out of the secret passage." Puppet suggested, and there were general noises of agreement from the rest of the group as they all turned and headed for the door that would take them out of the vent tunnel.

Circus Baby felt happy. No, scratch that. She felt exhilarated.

As she exited the secret trapdoor she remembered having found to even access the vents at all, her mind could only swim with gratitude over her finally being free and back in the pizzeria with the friends she cared about.

And almost everyone was there with her! Ballora, of course, was there. Baby has been looking forward to finding her and talking to her again after her prolonged imprisonment in the vent system, so she felt elated to see her oldest friend again. Beyond that, she was also glad to see Puppet, who she had been regularly conversing with since he had arrived some days ago. He was a very cool, calm, and collected individual, and she enjoyed having conversations with him. Freddy was relatively new to her, but she did find his bright attitude and love of food endearing. And she definitely appreciated Foxy, for being someone who could be level-headed and joke around and have a good time at the same time.

The only thing that gave her elated feelings of release any sort of pause was the fact that Bon-Bon was missing. Circus Baby hadn't known Bon-Bon for very long, but she remembered how polite and friendly he had been to her, and how shy he could be at other times. He seemed like a nice person, so the fact that he had gone missing troubled Baby.

Well, it'll be okay! The others are searching for him, and I'll be doing the same. Baby thought. I'm sure he has to be around here somewhere.

Foxy, who was at the front of the group, stopped walking at that moment. "Alright! So, you all know the drill. Search around, check every room, all that." Foxy said, turning to face the entire group.

"Which rooms do we look in, though?" Freddy questioned. "I feel like we've searched a good portion of the building already."

Foxy paused. "Hmm. You know what? Everyone just fan out and search every room you see. Be on the lookout for a hand puppet, about this high-" Foxy lowered a hand down until it was level with his knee. "-and if you see him, just shout and let the rest of us know."

"Okay!" Ballora said, raising a hand.

"Hopefully this will work. With five of us searching, we can cover a good amount of area in a shorter span of time." Puppet analyzed, nodding to himself.

"Yeah! And I'm sure Bon-Bon has to be somewhere! And then...we'll, uh...find him." Freddy said, his voice dropping lower and lower as he spoke. His smile of recognition was replaced by an expression of slight sadness.

Baby noticed Freddy looking such a way, and she was curious. Huh. I wonder why Freddy looks so down all of the sudden. Baby wondered.

"...Yeah. Yeah, sounds good." Baby said, realizing she needed to offer her own response to Foxy's plan.

Ballora turned and gave Baby a look. "You can search by yourself, right? You won't get yourself locked in rooms or wander off somewhere this time, r-?"

"Oh, relax, girlfriend! I'm not going to go and do any of that, I promise. One time being stuck in the vents is one time too many, and I'm definitely not looking to repeat the process. Okay?" Baby assured the ballerina, wearing a reassuring smile while she inwardly told herself to be more cautious in the future. The last thing she needed was to get stuck in another room with the door closed on her.

Ballora seemed okay with this response, and she gave Baby a nod. "Okay! Well, if you're sure, then I trust you."

"Alright, then everybody split off! Let's go!" Foxy called.

And before Baby knew it, suddenly every other member of the group was running, with all of them heading down into the big hallway. He could already see Ballora ducking into her room and Freddy peering his head into one of the party rooms.

Oh. Wow, they're off already. Alright, I guess I'd better match their pace! Baby thought, and she got moving as well. She speed-walked into the big hallway. Hmm. Ballora and Freddy probably have this area covered. I'll look for Bon-Bon in the main room. Maybe he's in the bounce house?

Baby moved into the small hallway intersecting the big one and headed down into the main room. Nearby, she could see Foxy open the kitchen door and disappear inside. She turned her head away and did what she vaguely guessed she should do, and she walked over and glanced inside the bounce house, leaning slightly through the doorway. She didn't see any small blue hand puppets running around inside, however, so she gave up looking in there almost immediately.

Okay, that was a bust. Um...maybe the supply closet? She ventured. It was a bit of a stretch to assume Bon-Bon would be in a small, cramped closet, but she figured it was worth a look.

She walked across the main room and neared the supply closet doorway, which was nearby the kitchen doorway. Thankfully, the door was already open, so Baby had no difficulties peering inside. The small closet, however, had nothing to offer but two shelves full of cleaning supplies and bottles and a mop sitting in a bucket. Baby glanced around at the unremarkable sight for a few seconds, but after being sure there was no hand puppet hiding amongst any of it, she leaned away from the supply closet door and stepped back into the center of the main room.

Also a bust. Huh. So far, this isn't really going anywhere. She thought. I wonder if the others have had better luck yet. Here's hoping, I suppose...

"HEY! Anyone in the main room! Emergency! Emergency!"

Baby gasped and snapped to attention when she heard this yelling nearby, and she turned to see Puppet sprinting out of the small hallway and into the room.

"Puppet? What's wrong? What happened?" Baby asked, walking over to him.

"I found something, but...but it's nothing that I wanted to find!" Puppet stammered, shaking his head vigorously. "It's terrible, what it is!"

"But what even is it?"

"Well...I was going into the restrooms to check the stalls again, to see if anything might be hiding in there...and then a giant bluish-colored rat came scurrying in from under the sinks and darted across the room!" Puppet recounted, his eyes slightly wide.

Baby recoiled slightly, raising an eyebrow. "A blue rat? Are you sure that's what you saw? That just sounds like crazy talk."

"No! It's real! I saw it and it ran by me and it was a freakish experience!" Puppet responded hurriedly. "We need to do something about it right now! Before it runs out of the bathroom and starts causing more issues."

Baby wasn't sure what to think. A bluish-colored rat? She was pretty sure rats didn't come in that sort of color. But Puppet did seem sure that he had seen such a thing. Was there something lurking around her own pizzeria?

"...Well, I definitely don't want any sort of weird animals tearing apart this place, so I guess it's worth a look." Baby ventured, nodding reluctantly. "Should we call everyone?"

"I'll handle that. Meanwhile, can you please make sure that rat thing doesn't escape and start scurrying around?" Puppet asked.

Baby tilted her head. "Um, that sort of depends. Which bathroom did it go into?"

"The boys' restroom."

Baby grimaced. "Puppet, I'm...not supposed to go in there, you know."

Puppet sighed. "I know, Baby. I'm not asking you to go in there. I wouldn't go in there either, with that rat scurrying around. Can't you just, I don't know...stand guard by the doorway? And yell if that thing comes running out of the bathroom?"

Baby's grimace went away at the mention of her not having to go into the bathroom itself, and when Puppet finished speaking, she nodded.

"Okay, good. I'm glad I don't have to actually go in there." Baby said, a bit more open to the idea now that she knew she didn't have to put herself in an embarrassing situation. "I'll stand guard by the bathroom, then. But don't make me wait too long for you and the others, okay?"

"Trust me, I want that rat thing to be gone as soon as possible. I will be back as quick as I can manage." Puppet said, nodding at Baby, and then Baby watched as Puppet walked past her, heading in the direction of the kitchen.

Guess he's getting Foxy first. Baby thought, as she too started to walk. She made her way back down the small hallway and into the big hallway, then looked off to the right. She could see the two bathrooms right there, the doorways facing each other on opposite walls. She approached the doorway of the boys' restroom, but kept a bit of distance due to her knowing she couldn't go inside.

And there she stood. She realized now that she didn't really have much to do while waiting for Puppet to return with the others, so she sort of stood there idly, wondering how long he would take. She glanced down the hallway and saw Puppet walking in the direction of Ballora's room, with Foxy on his heels.

Hmm. I wonder if there's actually something in that bathroom. A pinkish-purple thing...maybe some kind of flamingo? But that's even sillier than the idea of a discolored rat. Flamingos wouldn't just end up in the pizzeria...

She turned and looked back at the doorway, keeping her idle thoughts over what Puppet could have seen to herself. Since she had nobody to talk to and nothing to say out loud, it was very quiet in the hallway space around her.

Then she could hear something, and she froze. Her eyes glanced back at the bathroom, realizing the sound was coming from in there.

It was hard for Baby to make out. It sounded like some kind of muttering, moaning, or grumbling. Or a mixture of the three, if that was a thing.

What's...that sound? She thought, feeling slightly wary as she took another step closer to the bathroom doorway.

Only to see a small blue figure shoot out of the bathroom doorway.

Baby yelped in surprise and jumped back as the figure appeared out of nowhere from the inside of the bathroom. It scurried quickly across the floor, easily moving past her, its long ears flopping slightly as it darted down the big hallway.

Wait.

Long ears? Baby thought. Wait, but those kinds of ears usually belong to...

To...

...that's it! It's...

"Hey! Wait!" She called, looking at the figure darting down the big hallway as she came to realization of what- of who it was. "Come back!"

Before she knew it, she was running after the scurrying figure, trying to close the distance. The figure either realized it was being chased or had decided to change rooms, because it suddenly darted across the ground a bit faster and zoomed in the direction of the small hallway.

Even as she saw it go, she heard sounds from the right.

"Hey, Baby, we're here! Where's the blue rat that Puppet keeps going on about?"

"Yeah, where is it? It sounds weird and...and creepy! I hope it doesn't want to bite us or something..."

"Freddy, don't be silly. We're made of metal. Rats' teeth would break easily if they tried to bite us."

Baby knew it was the others, and for a moment, she wanted to stop and tell them what was going on. But she could see how fast the blue figure was moving, and she was desperate not to lose sight of it now that she knew who it was. So instead of stopping, she ran down the small hallway and chased the figure.

She could hear her friends calling after her, but she brushed it aside.

They'll follow me. They'll see what's going on. She thought self-assuredly, and she continued her pursuit of the small blue figure as they went into the main room.

The blue figure almost seemed to be trying, intentionally, to shake her off. It darted around the tables, zigzagged in random directions, almost as if trying their best to confuse her. But Baby was more observant than the blue figure knew, and she managed to keep her eyes on it as it darted around.

Eventually, the figure seemed to get tired of running circles around the main room tables, and it shot off towards the corner of the room nearest to the bounce house, where a pile of crates had been haphazardly shoved into the most vacant corner of the main room. Although the part of Baby that cared for the appearance of her location wouldn't have been too happy to see such a mess of crates taking up space in a room that was meant to look nice for customers, the much stronger part of herself that was compelling her to keep her eyes on the blue figure was the one in control right now.

Even as the figure was racing toward the crates, it climbed up, hoisting itself upwards on top of the wooden box, seemingly in an effort to make itself taller.

"That's enough! I've had enough, you hear me?!" The blue figure shouted, turning themselves around and facing Baby to yell at her. "I just want to be alone! Leave me alone! I don't want to talk to you! I don't want to talk to anyone! I don't...I d-don't..."

As Baby stepped forwards to regard the hand-puppet in front of her, being cautious with her steps, the familiar face in front of her froze.

"Bon-Bon?" Baby asked.

"B...B...Baby...?" Came a stuttered reply from the hand puppet. There was no doubt about it: it was Bon-Bon.

Baby had seen Bon-Bon once before, so the many details of his appearance were ones she could remember without too much trouble. He was a shining, brilliant blue color, with a more turquoise color for his stomach, paws, muzzle, and ear insides. A red bowtie was attached to his neck, and below that was a single black button. His eyes were the most noticeable part: a mixture of purple and magenta.

Bon-Bon looked surprised, and Baby could tell, both by what he had said before and the reaction he was giving now, that he had not been expecting to see her. The angry expression he had been using earlier vanished in an instant, replaced with a sort of awkward shock.

"B-Baby, I...oh my god, I'm so sorry! I had no idea it was you! I thought it was...I thought you w-were..." Bon-Bon stammered, and he turned his eyes away from her, putting his hands together.

"Hey, hey, hey...calm down. It's alright. I guess I did kind of scare you...by chasing you down." Baby admit, trying to ease the hand-puppet's nerves. "I'm really sorry. I just saw you running around, and I was really trying to catch up to you."

"N-No, it's...it's my fault! I should've double-checked who was chasing me! I didn't even think to look twice!" Bon-Bon insisted, looking back at her once again. "I just kept thinking that if anyone found me, it would be...well..."

Baby gave Bon-Bon a look. "It'd be...who? Who were you afraid would you?"

"Well...I..."

"Baby! BABY! Did you corner the rat?! Did you give it what for?!"

Baby turned to see Ballora rushing through the doorway into the room, the ballerina almost leaping on her tip toes as she got over to where Baby was. Her attention was on Baby first, until she suddenly gasped and looked towards Bon-Bon. However, the fearful expression on her face quickly morphed into bewilderment.

"Ballora...?" Bon-Bon questioned, tilting his head.

"Wait, what?" Ballora said confusedly. "That's not a rat at all! That's-"

"Did you get the rat?!"

Now Foxy had arrived as well, and Puppet was following not far behind.

"Listen, if you didn't get the rat, I can always just-" Foxy began...until his gaze settled over Bon-Bon. "Wait, Bon-Bon?!"

"Who-? Wait a minute...I know that voice! Foxy?" Bon-Bon sputtered, and for the first time, the hand-puppet looked truly relieved. "You're...you're here? I had no idea!"

"Well, yeah, I got delivered here hours ago! New suit and all!" Foxy said, stepping forwards to get a closer look at Bon-Bon. He paused, however, and rubbed the back of his head. "Although I kind of wasn't myself..."

Bon-Bon raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean, you weren't yourself?"

"Looooooong story. I'll have to tell you another time, but for now...geez, am I glad we ran into you! We've been looking for you every-"

"Guys, I'm kinda scared to come out...is that rat gone yet?"

A nervous voice emanated from the small hallway, and Bon-Bon audibly gasped.

"No...no, no, no, it isn't-!" He stuttered, and he actively crawled backwards, going to the edge of the crate.

Another audible gasp, this time from the small hallway. Within seconds, Freddy darted into the room, and it took him no time at all to see Bon-Bon sitting there.

"Bon-Bon! You're here! Oh, you're here! I'm so glad!" Freddy cheered, overcome with excitement and relief, relief that quickly took the place of the momentary relief that was now vacuumed away from Bon-Bon's expression.

Bon-Bon was trembling. But it took Baby a few seconds to realize that it wasn't out of fear. She took note of the hand-puppet's hands, which clenched into fists. Without warning, the more taken aback and nervous expression the hand-puppet had was succeeded by determination, as well as anger.

"You know what? No! I'm not going to be a coward and just run away from you anymore! I've got unfinished business with you, and it's time I finished it!" Bon-Bon shouted, and he crawled towards the edge of the crate that was closer to where the animatronics were gathered and jabbed his hand forwards, making an accusatory finger point right towards Freddy. "Freddy, you have got some nerve showing your face in front of me after all you've put me through!"

Freddy recoiled. "W-What...?" He stammered.

"Don't you play dumb with me! You know what you did!" Bon-Bon shouted, his pointer finger trembling with anger even as he directed it towards Freddy. "You abandoned me! You ran away and left me behind the moment I really needed your help! And now you come back?! Is that all you care about?! You don't care about my discomfort or my needs, but you DO care about adding insult to injury, is that it?!"

"Wait, I...I don't...I..." Freddy was stuttering, clearly beside himself over the whole situation.

"Hey, hey, hold on! Stop right there!" Foxy said. He and the others had been watching the situation was just as much shock, but Foxy was the first to break himself out of his stupor. "What's going on? Bon-Bon, what are you talking about?"

"Wait...you don't know?" Bon-Bon asked, giving Foxy a searching look. When Foxy shook his head, Bon-Bon turned and gave the others searching looks as well. "Didn't Freddy tell any of you what he's done to me?!"

Baby gave the others a sideways glance. Ballora's expression was rife with confusion, and she simply raised an eyebrow. Puppet gave the slightest shake of his head, although there was a strange look in his eye, and his gaze hadn't left Bon-Bon for the entire length of the conversation.

"No...he didn't tell us anything had happened." Baby replied, trying to give an actual reply to Bon-Bon to make up for the fact that the others were oddly silent and unwilling to say anything. Baby could only guess that Bon-Bob's outburst had stunned them into speechlessness, and she almost felt the same. But she felt concerned enough over how Bon-Bon was acting to speak up and try to say something in response.

At Baby's words, Bon-Bon's expression hardened, and he put his hands up against his face and dragged them down slowly, groaning softly all the while. After a few seconds of this, he moved his hands away and looked back at the assembled group. Then he looked at Freddy. "Well, great job, Freddy! Not only did you treat me like I didn't matter, but you also kept it from everyone! Are you proud of yourself?!"

"I didn't mean to keep it from anyone! I j-just...I thought it was personal business! I thought we could fix it without getting everyone else i-involved!" Freddy stammered. "Please, Bon-Bon, I-"

"No! No, I don't want to hear your excuses. They deserve to know, and I'm telling them right this second!" Bon-Bon shouted back firmly. He turned his gaze back towards the rest of the group. "Everyone, if you're confused, then fine, I'll tell you the story. It all started back when Freddy and I got these suits! Once we had gotten used to being like this, Freddy got all excited over me being his hand-puppet, and he insisted we be some kind of a duo! At first, I was okay with that...until I found out what he meant by that!"

"You want to know what Freddy decided to do once he decided we were a 'duo'? He took me around with him EVERYWHERE! Before we got the suit changes, we could go our separate ways every now and then in the pizzeria and he never once bat an eye at me! But suddenly, after I became a hand-puppet for him, he thought he had the right to drag me EVERYWHERE he went, even if I wasn't interested! Especially if I wasn't interested, in fact! He wouldn't let me be alone, even for a second!"

"But that's not where it ends, oh no." Bon-Bon continued, putting his hands over his head in exasperation and turning his gaze towards the floor. "No, he decided I couldn't just be there to tag along and stand there doing absolutely nothing while he went and did whatever he felt like doing! No, he decided I had to join in! And suddenly, I had to join him in eating whatever food he figured he'd eat that day! At first, it was just pizza...but then, when we got to this place, Freddy insisted upon having me taste test some chicken he'd been cooking! Next thing I knew, I was being forced to eat so much of it that I felt like I was about to explode by the end of it!"

"But all of that doesn't come close- not even close- to the last thing he did to break the camel's back." Bon-Bon looked back up at them, and Baby felt taken aback to see that Bon-Bon was so angry recounting everything that tears were on the verge of pouring out of his mechanical tear ducts. "Before Foxy got here, I knew I was annoyed at Freddy for how he was treating me, but I figured I could make it work if he just did things with ME the same way I did things for HIM! So my idea was to suggest we go jump in the bounce house together, something I actually would've enjoyed! And at first, he seemed all gung ho about it. Heck, he was even willing to remove me from his wrist so I could bounce in there, too! But you know what happened then?"

Bon-Bon, raising his fists, slammed the floor. "He LEFT me! He heard some stupid noise coming out of nowhere in the front room, said he had to check it out, and just went sprinting out of the room before I could even say anything!" Tears of frustration were running down the hand-puppet's face now, and the rabbit quickly swiveled himself to face Freddy again, who was frozen, looking horrified. "How could you, Freddy?! How COULD you?! I sacrificed everything- my time, my happiness, my SANITY- just to grant your wish of being some grand duo who was always together! But the moment I ask anything, anything at all of you, you just find some excuse to ABANDON ME!"

Bon-Bon inched forwards towards Freddy, and raised a rebellious finger up at Freddy. "But you know what?! NO more of this! I may be your hand puppet, but that doesn't mean you get to dictate how I spend my time! I'm not your puppet, and you're not my puppeteer! Not anymore! I'm done with this! I thought we could make this work, but it's clear that this isn't going anywhere! So from now, I'm keeping the promise I made last time we talked, and I'm never getting back onto your wrist ever again- EVER again! And I won't apologize for saying that! I'm going to spend my time however I want to from now on, and if you don't like that, then you can suck it, because I'm done caring about what you think! So just LEAVE ME ALONE!"

The ringing silence that followed Bon-Bon's final shout of fury was so thick that Baby almost felt like she'd breathe in solids instead of gas if she took even a single breath.

"Bon-Bon...I...I just...I..." Freddy stammered, and although he didn't shed a single tear, Baby could tell he was overcome with emotions.

"Wait! Wait, wait, everyone stop. Nobody say anything else. Freddy, get a grip!" Foxy cut in, stepping in between Freddy and Bon-Bon and holding out his hands. "All that Bon-Bon said was...a lot, so we really need to process all of that. Freddy." Foxy turned his gaze towards Freddy, who looked back at Foxy anxiously. "All of what Bon-Bon just said- was that true?"

Freddy paused. He seemed conflicted over the whole thing. Then, slowly, he nodded his head.

"Yeah...all of it." Freddy murmured in a soft tone of voice.

Foxy raised his eyebrows in shock. "All of it?! You mean you really did treat Bon-Bon that way? You forced him to do stuff against his will? You left him in the dust when he legitimately did want to spend time with you?"

Freddy sighed and nodded again. "...Yeah."

Baby kept looking back at the two Funtimes, trying to read the situation. Foxy's facial expression was twitching the slightest amount, but he didn't look angry. Freddy just looked guilty and regretful, and he didn't seem like he could make eye contact with Foxy without shaking.

After a period of silence, in which Foxy seemed to be thinking of how to respond, the fox finally sighed and opened his mouth again.

"...I could start yelling at you for all that, but really, that wouldn't fix a thing. Instead, I want you to explain."

Freddy finally made eye contact with Foxy again, confusion tracing his face. "...Explain?"

"Yes, explain. I want to hear your side of the story as well." Foxy replied, lowering his arms from the positions they had been in.

"U-Um...okay. Well...I know how I treated Bon-Bon sounds really bad, but...you've got to understand. I've...never had a hand puppet before. And all the excitement just kind of...got to me." Freddy articulated slowly. "I thought the company people couldn't make me any more awesome, and then they made me a puppeteer and made Bon-Bon my puppet. It was exciting for me! But...in my excitement, I guess it...went to my head. I really wanted to know- to feel it was like to have a hand-puppet by my side all the time. So I just kind of took Bon-Bon with me in my day to day life to see if something would click. Maybe some new sense of happiness."

Freddy glanced at Bon-Bon, then looked back at Foxy. "I-I never meant to put him down! Or to make him feel like he was just there to make me happy! I wanted him to be happy, too! It's just...I guess I thought more about myself then I did about him." Freddy's voice quieted to a mumble as he spoke. "And me making him eat chicken was just...well, me hoping that he'd like it and that we'd have something we could do together all the time. But I guess you can't force something like that..."

Freddy straightened up. "But when it comes to me abandoning Bon-Bon...listen, that part's a misunderstanding! I didn't mean to abandon him at all! I just heard the noise of a guard talking and wanted to go investigate! I mean, come on Foxy! You always tell me I should be keeping an ear out for any guards and reporting them to you as soon as I know one's in the building! I was just trying to get that right! I..." Freddy looked at the floor again. "...I didn't want to disappoint you. Especially since we've always had so much fun messing around with guards..."

Foxy gave Freddy a searching look. "Freddy, I understand what you mean. And I do appreciate that you're that dedicated to our routine of messing with guards. But...you do realize that in your efforts to not disappoint me, you disappointed someone else, right?" Foxy turned his gaze towards Bon-Bon.

Freddy paused. "...Oh. I...I didn't think about it like that." He mumbled, and he looked even more ashamed of himself than ever.

"Y'know, wouldn't it have just taken you, like, less than a minute to tell Bon-Bon you heard a guard coming in?" Ballora commented, speaking for the first time in several minutes. "I'm sure it wouldn't have been hard to just give him the scoop and then go off to try and find the guard."

"Ballora's...right." Puppet agreed, and for the first time, he stopped looking at Bon-Bon. "I don't approve of the guard scaring to begin with, but if you all do it, then you should really keep each other in the know about it. Miscommunication hurts us all much more than it helps us."

Freddy looked at the both of them, then sighed again. "...I'm stupid."

"No, you aren't!" Baby cut in, and she found her voice. She knew she was disappointed in Freddy for what he had done, but dang it, she would not tolerate her friends calling themselves stupid. If Ballora could chastise her for doing so, then Baby felt she had to do the same if her friends tried to do it as well. "Yeah, you acted pretty stupid when you decided to just run off without telling Bon-Bon where you were going, but that doesn't mean you're dumb! It just means you've got to learn what you messed up on and improve!" Baby stepped forwards, putting a hand on Freddy's shoulder. She watched as he gazed at her in mild surprise. "And the first step to improving is to know what you did wrong and to say that you're sorry! So." She pointed at Bon-Bon. "What do you have to say?"

Freddy gave Bon-Bon a long look, then took a step forwards tentatively. Bon-Bon's eyes were narrowed, as if he were trying to spot any ill intent.

"Bon-Bon...I'm really sorry. I've been such a bad friend to you this past week, haven't I?" Freddy said, rubbing the back of his neck ashamedly. "You don't deserve to be ignored. And you definitely don't deserve to have me drag you around the place without asking you if you're okay with it. So...I'm really sorry. And I'm sorry I ran off without telling you where I was going, especially when you actually wanted to spend time with me. I'm st-"

Baby, knowing what he was about to say, made sure he didn't say. She leaned around Freddy and gave him a firm glare, trying to remind him of what she had just told him. It worked; Freddy paused, looked even more sheepish when Baby glared at him, and cleared his throat.

"No. I'm not stupid, but...I acted like such an idiot when I treated like you that. So...I'm sorry. I hope you'll forgive me." Freddy mumbled, and he finally lost his confidence and looked back down at the floor.

Bon-Bon didn't grant Freddy an immediate reply. Baby could see how Bon-Bon's eyes were trained firmly on Freddy's facial expression, looking for minor details; it was clear the hand-puppet was trying to make sure if Freddy's apology was genuine.

Eventually, it seemed the hand-puppet couldn't find any trace of a lie on Freddy's face, as his firm look relaxed, and he himself sighed deeply as well.

"...I forgive you. I'll be honest, I'm glad you're actually apologizing to me. I wasn't sure if you ever would." Bon-Bon admit, his expression softer and more understanding in response to Freddy. But his expression hardened again as Freddy looked back up at Bon-Bon with relief. "BUT!" Freddy's relieved expression vanished as Bon-Bon spoke up again, with an increase in volume to boot. "That does not mean I'm going to be in a duo with you again, that does not mean I'm going to forget the way you treated me, and that especially does not mean I'm going to jump right back on your wrist, so don't even think about removing the replacement hand."

Baby hadn't even noticed that Freddy's other hand had been subtly reaching towards his blue replacement hand, preparing to remove it. At Bon-Bon's call out, Freddy immediately moved his other hand away and went back to holding them at his sides. Once again, the bear looked regretful.

"Listen, Freddy." Bon-Bon continued, his voice resuming the softness it had had before. "I'll be honest with you...I don't want to fight with you anymore. I feel the happiest when everyone else is happy, and us fighting over all this is going to get in the way of that!" Baby watched Bon-Bon spread out his arms, indicating the other animatronics surrounding the bear and the bunny hand-puppet. "So I won't go out of my way to fight with you anymore, and I won't try to hold a grudge against you. I think, maybe...it'd be for the best if we at least tried to go back to how it was before I became a hand-puppet. Let's just be friendly towards each other." Bon-Bon reached out a hand, offering a handshake. "What do you say?"

Freddy looked surprised at Bon-Bon's offer, and he made no attempt to hide his widening smile. "Would I?! I know I still want to be friends, Bon-Bon! Don't say another word!" And without waiting, Freddy stepped over, knelt down, and accepted the handshake. Baby had to admit that it looked slightly comical, seeing Freddy's large hand completing overpowering Bon-Bon's much smaller, paw-shaped hand in the handshake. In fact, Freddy shook Bon-Bon's hand so enthusiastically that Bon-Bon was shaken about.

"Woah, woah, geez, stop it!" Bon-Bon yelped as he was shaken about.

"Oh! U-Uh, sorry." Freddy apologized, whipping his hand away as if he had just touched a burning-hot stove.

Bon-Bon recoiled for a moment, trying to recover from the shaking. Thankfully, once he seemed to get his head on metaphorically straight again, he just gave Freddy an exasperated look- one of friendliness, not of hostility. "No, I'm...I'm alright. Just don't shake so hard next time, okay? Size difference!"

"Yeah! Size difference." Freddy repeated, nodding in the most understanding way he could muster.

The bear and bunny hand-puppet stepped back from each other, and any looks of hostility were dropped the moment the handshake was finished.

Baby looked on at it, and she let a smile grow on her face. She relief ebb through her, relaxing the anxiousness that had developed during the argument; honestly, this was the best that could be hoped for, barring them making up completely and being best friends again. But based on how things went, Baby had a feeling that probably wouldn't happen...not anytime soon, anyway.

Still, she wanted everyone to get along, and Freddy and Bon-Bon promising not to treat each other terribly was a great step towards that. Maybe things would be alright after all.

She stole a glance at Foxy, and by the way he had adopted a similar smile of relief to her, she could tell he was just as glad that things had ended well as she was. She glanced at Ballora, who moreso just looked happy that all the shouting and yelling had ceased. Her eyes, which had closed tighter during the argument, seemed to relax somewhat.

And then there was Puppet. His reaction differed heavily: he looked relieved, certainly, but any relief in his expression disappeared as he stood to his full height (which was impressive considering he was taller than any of them.)

"Okay. Great. Glad that's finally over." Puppet said, although not with any insincerity- Baby could tell by the sound of the marionette's voice that he was just exhausted. "Now that that's all tidied up, I really need to say something that I've been burgeoning to say since I first got a look at Bon-Bon."

Puppet stepped forwards, and Bon-Bon gave him an inquisitive look. Puppet then looked straight down at the hand-puppet.

Baby wasn't sure what Puppet was about to say, but surely it wouldn't be anything too bad.

"You are WAY tinier than I ever thought you would be."

Okay, she hadn't been expecting that comment.

Bon-Bon narrowed his eyes a bit, looking the tiniest bit offended.

"...Congratulations, Sherlock, did you just figure that out now?" Bon-Bon quipped sarcastically.

"For your information, I figured it out the moment I saw you." Puppet replied, his tone a bit stiffer. "I just wasn't expecting you to be so small."

"Uh-huh. And...the problem with that is...what, exactly?"

"I'm not saying there's a problem!" Puppet took a step back, shaking his head. "It's just that I've never really seen an animatronic as small as you, so it's...sort of a new experience for me."

"Well, y'know, there is a first time for everything." Foxy commented, shrugging. "So, yeah, meet Bon-Bon. Or, you know, Bonnie, the name he used back when he was our size."

"Hmm...I think I remember you. Remember the second Freddy's location?" Puppet ventured, tilting his head.

Bon-Bon went oddly still, his eyes widening for some reason Baby didn't know.

"...We do not talk about those times." Bon-Bon muttered evasively, before raising his voice back to normal volume again. "Anyways, yes, I'm that same rabbit." Bon-Bon paused, audibly humming as his eyes traced Puppet's face, eyeing the features of his mask. "...now that I think of it, yeah. I do remember you from that location. I don't think we shared many conversations, though, or else I would've remembered them."

"True. Very true." Puppet agreed impassively. "Although, I'm curious...isn't it weird, being so small when you were once the size of Foxy and Freddy?"

"Well, at first, definitely. But once I got used to it, it wasn't that bad at all." Bon-Bon answered, nodding acceptingly. "Honestly, I kind of like being this small."

"Bet you do! Isn't it great to be...fun-sized?" Freddy added, chuckling a bit at his minor joke.

Bon-Bon almost looked ready to groan, but he paused instead and seemed to actually be thinking about it, his eyes momentarily going still while he was absorbed in the thoughts Baby couldn't hear. "...Y'know, seeing as it's sort of fun being this size...maybe you're not wrong to call it that. Maybe."

Freddy just chuckled a bit more. "Heh heh! Yeah, you know I always call things for how they really are."

"...Do you, though?" Foxy questioned, a knowing look in his eye.

Freddy chuckled again, although a bit more awkwardness was laced into his laughter this time. "Heh heh...heh...no comment. Anyways, I-"

But whatever Freddy planned on saying was interrupted by an audible yawn coming from Puppet, who waved his mouth exhaustedly.

"Hey, sorry to cut into the nice conversation, but...can we wrap this up? I'm...exhausted. I think I'd like to go to sleep now." Puppet muttered, rubbing his mask's eye holes.

Baby glanced at Puppet, and she had to say that she felt the same as him. The harrowing time she had spent trapped inside the vent, as well as all the chasing she had done to try and catch Bon-Bon, had really knocked the energy out of her. She had to admit, a good long rest sounded nice. She could figure out what things would be like with her new friends the next day, she figured.

"Honestly, same. I don't know about you guys, but having to chase around Bon-Bon really puts me in the mood to hit the hay." Baby said, voicing some of her thoughts to the friends around her.

"Same! I'd really like to just catch some Z's. So much happened today that I really feel like I'll need to sleep it off." Ballora agreed, putting a hand to her hip.

"Same here." Foxy added, nodding his head.

"I wouldn't mind deactivating for a little while." Freddy said, shrugging.

"Okay, while I'm definitely on board with resting, there's something we really need to talk about before then." Bon-Bon mentioned, looking up at them all. "Where...ARE we all going to sleep?"

Baby stopped.

That was a good question. She hadn't even thought about it.

Where would Foxy, Freddy, and Bon-Bon sleep now that they had arrived? She and Ballora hadn't really planned any rooms in advance for them, and if Puppet had had any ideas, he sure hadn't shared them with either of them.

In a normal scenario, she would have been all too happy to take her new friends on a tour of the building and let them see all the rooms before picking one to stay in. But she felt too worn down to even consider doing it that way, so she decided to go with the lazier, albeit much easier option.

"...Well. Foxy, Freddy, Bon-Bon..." She began, turning to face the three of them, who looked back at her in anticipation. "I didn't prep any rooms for you three before you got here, so...I guess you can all just go around and sleep in whatever room you're most comfortable with. I'm the one who's name is on the front of the building, so...consider this as me giving you three permission to make your home wherever. Oop, wait, wait...actually, I do have one rule." Baby cleared her throat. "Don't make the bathrooms your room. Please."

Foxy actually laughed a bit at that. "Trust me, Baby, the last place I'd want to sleep in are the cold bathrooms. Besides, I've already got the sleeping arrangements figured out!" He lifted his right arm, pointing off towards the other side of the main room. "There's a cove in the room next to this room that's just like my old one, and it's pretty much a no-brainer to say that it was meant for me. So that's definitely where I'm sleeping tonight."

"Oh...yeah, I'm pretty sure that room was made for you, so I'm guessing it's yours." Ballora said, crossing her arms.

"Great! Then that settles that question fairly quickly." Foxy responded pleasurably. He turned his gaze downwards towards Bon-Bon. "What about you, Bon-Bon?"

Bon-Bon looked to be lost in thought again, and he didn't immediately reply when Foxy presented the question of his sleeping situation to the hand-puppet. But only a few more seconds passed before the hand-puppet straightened up again and looked directly into Foxy's eyes.

"I want to stay with you." Bon-Bon answered, and there was no mistaking the decisiveness in his voice.

This answer gave Foxy pause, and the fox looked quite surprised. The rest of the group merely watched with ample curiosity, and Freddy was blinking more often then usual.

"With me...?" Foxy repeated questioningly.

"Yeah." Bon-Bon affirmed. "Can I?"

"Hmm." Foxy mumbled, and he actively sounded interested at the prospect. "I've got to say, I'm surprised that's your answer. What brought this on?"

"Let me give it to you straight: I'm really ready to go to bed, and I'm not in much of a mood to go searching around the place for a room. And since we just got here, well..." Bon-Bon rubbed the back of his head, looking embarrassed. "I...kind of don't want to be alone."

Foxy nodded. "That's fair. I'm not against being sleeping buddies! But, uh...out of curiosity, why me specifically?"

"Oh, that's easy. I don't really know Puppet too well-"

"...and I wouldn't let you inside my box, anyway..." Puppet mumbled, although only loudly enough for Baby to just barely hear it.

"-and I've only just met Ballora and Baby, so I don't think I'd want to bunk with them. And as for Freddy..." Bon-Bon turned to look back at the bear, and he sighed. "Look, I know what I said, and I do want to still be friends with you, Freddy. But Freddy...I hope you don't mind me saying that I'm not exactly comfortable bunking with you after all we've been through." Bon-Bon admit.

Freddy stared at Bon-Bon for a moment. Then he just nodded.

"Yeah, I...I understand." He said, although the note of reluctance in his tone didn't go unnoticed by Baby. Despite it, the bear managed a wide, cheerful smile. "It's no problem! Whatever makes you comfortable! Oh, and as for me..." Freddy paused. "...would you mind, Baby, if I told you I've been sleeping in the closet next to the kitchen?"

Baby raised her eyebrows. "Oh. Uh...the closet?"

"It's cozy." Freddy replied simply, and he didn't elaborate further beyond that.

Baby blinked. "Uh...okay, then! Ballora and I weren't really using that closet for anything, anyways, so...go right on ahead."

"Thanks." Freddy nodded appreciatively at her.

"Okay, then that's everyone! Good!" Foxy said, nodding his head. "So, we should all go to our rooms and deactivate for the night. Then, we can meet up in the morning and figure out what things are going to be like now that we're all together here."

"Wait, we don't actually know where everyone's staying." Bon-Bon cut in. "What about Baby?"

"Oh, me? Ballora and I share a room, actually." Baby answered nonchalantly.

"You do?" Freddy questioned curiously.

"We do! It's been that way ever since we've been living here, so we figured out our sleeping arrangements a loooonnnng time ago." Ballora recounted, waving her arm casually.

"Ah. Okay, I was...well, just wondering." Bon-Bon replied, turning his head away.

"Anyways...I may be able to join you all tomorrow in figuring things out. Depends, but...I think I'll have the time." Puppet commented, crossing his arms. And then he yawned again. "Now if you'll...yawn...excuse me, I am heading back to my box and deactivating, pronto. Please don't bother me unless it's important. Goodnight."

And then Puppet got moving, walking out of the circle the group had formed and going down the small hallway.

Foxy raised an eyebrow as he watched Puppet go. "Y'know, it's been a long time since I've seen Puppet. I never knew that he had to actively question whether or not he had time to come out and hang out with the rest of us."

"He's...just a bit of a recluse sometimes, from what I've seen so far." Baby replied, shrugging. Puppet had been with her and Ballora at the location for a few days already, and he had definitely spent a good portion of that time holed up inside his box. "Guess he's a busy guy."

"...Hmm. Guess so." Foxy agreed, an impassive expression on his face. "Well, if he's heading off to bed, then so am I." Foxy turned to Bon-Bon and gestured towards him. "Come on, Bon-Bon, let's go. I don't think you've seen my new cove yet, so you'll be surprised with how it's changed."

"Surprised? How would I be surprised?" Bon-Bon asked confusedly.

"You'll see. Anyway, let's get going." Foxy turned to where Baby, Ballora, and Freddy were still standing and gave them a pleasurable nod. "Night, everyone. See you three tomorrow."

"Night!" Baby replied, smiling back at Foxy.

"Sleep tight!" Ballora added, waving at Foxy.

"Don't let the bedbugs-" Freddy began, but was promptly elbowed by Ballora. "-Ow."

"No bedbugs talk! If we mention what bedbugs do then they'll appear!" Ballora warned, wagging a finger at Freddy.

"Oh! Yeah, you're definitely right. I won't talk about them."

Foxy gave the group one last wave, then walked off to the other side of the main room.

"Well...night." Bon-Bon said, giving Baby and Ballora a wide smile and even maintained the smile when he looked at Freddy. Then the hand-puppet crawled away, darting after Foxy.

The three remaining animatronics stood there for only a few seconds longer before Freddy shrugged and said. "Well, I'm off. Goodbye!"

"Bye!" Ballora replied, smiling at Freddy as well. "And remember, don't think about the bedbugs or they'll bite you in your sleep!"

"I won't!" Freddy called as he walked away. However, the bear only took a few more steps before gasping and facepalming. "Darn! I already just thought about them..."

Baby couldn't help but snicker softly, something that Ballora joined in with a second later. She had to admit, Freddy was quite the goofball. He'd be fun to have around.

"Okay, they're all gone! Well, we should do what they're doing. Back to my room we go!" Ballora said, and she turned and moved into the small hallway.

"Yeah! Let's go." Baby said, and she moved to follow Ballora. And even as she fell into line behind the ballerina while they walked down the hallways back towards Ballora's room, Baby's thoughts dwelled on her new friends all the while. She was quite interested by them all. They all seemed pretty charming and likable, at least to her.

For some reason, Foxy, Freddy, and Bon-Bon all stood out to her quite well. Their general appearances gave Baby a sense of familiarity she hadn't felt in a long while, although she couldn't fathom why this was. Maybe it was just because they were white-colored like she and Ballora were? No, it felt like more than that...

...Still, it felt nice. And now her having new friends was more than just meeting them at their own location- now they would be staying in the walls of this location, as well.

Having new animatronics living in the building was quite a change to Baby. She and Ballora had lived by themselves in this place for quite a while, so there wasn't any doubt in her mind that having new housemates would produce a living situation chock full of new and fun scenarios.

Of course, that'd be later. She could talk with them all and discuss hangout plans tomorrow, when they'd have hours upon hours of time to talk it over, without worrying at all about getting stuck in vents or having to chase down a distraught hand-puppet.

And then, when they actually got into it all?

Yep. This was definitely the start of something new.

It was easy for Baby to wonder where it would all go.

"So this is it?"

"Yeah, here's my new cove. C'mon, step inside. Being in the cove when the curtains are closed is way better with this cove. Watch."

"...Oh. Wow, it's super dark in here...I can't even see anything besides your eyes."

"I know, right? It's pitch black in the cove now."

"Uh-huh. It was only dim in the one at the old location, right?"

"Yeah, but now it gets rid of all of the light instead of just most of it! Which I honestly prefer. Darkness like this makes me feel comfy."

"Well...I guess it doesn't feel so bad. I could get used to it. ...Anyway, I'm gonna deactivate now. Talk to you tomorrow?"

"Talk to you tomorrow. Night, Bon-Bon."

"Have a good one, Foxy."

Foxy leaned against the wall of his cove, watching Bon-Bon's eye lights get gradually dimmer until they were completely off, indicating that the hand-puppet had departed into deactivation mode. Foxy felt ready to join him, but his mind was too full of thoughts about what had happened today. He couldn't possibly sleep with his mind buzzing like this...

May as well just...think about it all. Maybe then I'll wear myself down enough that I'll deactivate without me even having to trigger it. Foxy thought. Sounded like a decent plan to him. He'd done it before, back in the previous location, and it wouldn't be too hard to do it again.

He just couldn't help thinking about everyone now.

Ballora was...weird. She seemed nice, sure, but also a bit temperamental. In the right situation, she could be a downright volcano of emotions...and yet, at the same time, she treated him and Freddy like friends even though they had only known her for less than a week. Was it really that easy for Ballora to make friends? Was treating him and Freddy like they had always been friends, just...something she did? And if so, would she do it to Bon-Bon as well, if given time?

Or maybe he was overthinking it. There was always a chance that familiarity would breed contempt, that extended periods of time around each other would try Ballora's patience, and that she would become far less friendly than she was now.

But for everyone's sakes, he hoped the former would be the reality, not the latter.

Freddy was as much of a goofball as ever. He hadn't even changed one bit- except for the whole 'cooking chicken' thing that Bon-Bon had mentioned. That part felt weird to Foxy. Freddy? Cooking meals? Those two things didn't go together at all. Chica was the cook back at the previous locations, not any of them. Freddy was always willing to help cook if she asked, but more often than not, his clumsiness and forgetfulness resulted in a watched pot not being handled if it boiled, or a oven-baked pizza staying in the oven far too long and getting burnt.

He'd have to question Freddy about it another time, and see where this strange desire to cook had come from.

Bon-Bon was acting exactly as Freddy had said: more emotional and more willing to lash out. It was strange. Bon-Bon had never been so quick to anger before. In fact, for most of the time Foxy had known Bon-Bon as a hand-puppet rather than a full animatronic, Bon-Bon had been more quiet and soft-spoken. He wondered what had changed in Bon-Bon. How had a simple suit conversion from walking animatronic to crawling hand-puppet brought about such an alteration in the hand-puppet's behavior?

It seemed he'd have to keep an eye on things. If Bon-Bon lashed out again, who knew what could happen?

Puppet was the outlier of the bunch. Foxy had never, not even for a second, anticipated that he would be meeting Puppet again at this new location. It wasn't that Foxy wanted to not see Puppet- in fact, he was glad to see another familiar face here. But it just caught him off-guard, was all. Still, despite the years of time between the last time they had spoken and now, it seemed like nothing had changed.

Puppet was still the rational thinker, the one who didn't bother with guard scaring because he viewed it as a mean-spirited, as well as something that could result in great harm if they weren't careful.

...Honestly, after what had happened today, Foxy finally had to admit that Puppet had a point. Not only was their guard scaring actually quite akin to harassment, but it also resulted in a guard actually meeting his end. The animatronics usually ensured they never killed anyone with their exploits, so seeing it happen meant they had stepped so far across the line that the line was nowhere in sight anymore.

Maybe it was time for a change.

And then there was Circus Baby, the namesake of his, Freddy's, Bon-Bon's, and Puppet's new home. She was by far the friendliest animatronic she had ever met, and the fact that she seemed to get along so well with Ballora was a testament to that. Foxy had expected to encounter anyone when he heard they would be moving to a location starring an entirely different animatronic. It could've been some bossy prick, or a self-absorbed flaunter, or even a straight up jerk.

Therefore, encountering a mascot that was the exact opposite of those things was everything he could've asked for.

He liked her. He was glad he had met someone like her. And he hoped this location- her location- had some good opportunities for fun waiting in store.

Yet, amidst all of the good things that had happened recently- arriving at the new location, patching a dispute between old friends, and making new ones- there was something that troubled him.

What had happened to him to make him cause all that trouble earlier?

Foxy had already tried to think on it, wanting an answer to his question, but he found out that his memories were quite unhelpful in this regardless. His memory stopped after he had deactivated himself inside the old location, and only restarted after he opened his eyes to find Freddy, Ballora, and Puppet standing over him, wondering if he was back to his old self.

Between those two moments was a sizable gap in his recollections, a place in his timeline of memories where he almost felt the faint implications of memories existing there, but could not recount them when he perused his memory banks.

Still, what the others had said to him about what he had done gave him a fair bit to think about it.

Apparently he hadn't been acting anything like himself. He had seemed to think he was a human wearing a suit who worked at the location, and according to the others, he had completely forgotten his friends all together, opting instead to treat them not just as strangers...but as enemies. He had even tried to rip their heads off, which...it was just so wrong to hear his friends say he had done that. Worst of all was the fact that he had pushed a guard down a garbage chute, causing a death that he now had no method of reversing.

And it was all the fault of a malicious program, according to the others. Foxy, at the time, had come to the conclusion that the suit change had deactivated his anti-virus protocols, that the company had gotten careless, and that some external agent had made use of the flaw in the system to sneak in.

It sounded like a reasonable explanation of things to him, but he wasn't so sure. He couldn't be sure- not when he had no evidence that things had happened that way. For all he knew, he was completely wrong, and the loss of control over his body could have been the result of an entirely different chain of events.

But he had no way to investigate any of that. All he really had was the best he and the others could infer.

At least things had turned out alright. The others had identified the problem and set him right before he could've caused even more damage.

Foxy shuddered, imagining what his controlled self might have done if he had had the strength to follow completely through with trying to rip off the others' heads.

He was glad the others had managed to stop him.

Foxy stopped for a moment, then commanded his brain, connected to his systems, to run a system status check. Screens full of information flared to life before his very eyes, neon yellow covering the darkness. His eyes scanned past most of the information, which would not benefit him right then, and he simply went right to see if his anti-virus systems were active.

They were.

Breathing a small sigh of relief, he made his system stop displaying the information. The neon yellow vanished before his eyes, leaving him to stare at darkness once more.

Good. It was all good. His anti-virus systems were back to being operational, and with them in place, he felt far more at ease. This was because of how well he knew the Funtime suits had it in terms of anti-virus protection. Freddy had outright showed him back when he had gotten his suit change, and Foxy had seen then and there that the effectiveness of the new and improved anti-virus protocols completely outstripped anything the original protocols could do.

Knowing this, he wasn't so on edge about it anymore. Even if more foreign agents that had latched onto the cloud tried to invade his body, his anti-virus systems would have them destroyed in less than ten seconds, and that was the maximum time the protocols could take. The minimum time went into milliseconds.

With his one, solitary fear assuaged, Foxy leaned back against the wall behind him, relaxing his body. If his new body was safe and under the best protection the company could provide, then what did he have to worry about?

Everything would be fine.

This one, powerful reassurance finally ended the buzzing of his brain, and thoughts no longer clouded his mindscape. The ease he now felt from his self-reassurances made him conscious of the drowsiness he had been feeling the whole time he had been standing in the darkness inside his cove.

Only one thing to do now.

Foxy closed his eyes and deactivated. Behind his eyelids, eye lights dimmed and went dark.

He drifted into sleep, fully aware of the fact that a new start for him and his friends was only just beginning.

His last thought before he was fully unconscious was that he couldn't wait to wake up tomorrow.

Tomorrow?

It'd be a another day.

And every day, in the life of an animatronic who had decades upon decades to enjoy existence, was a gift.

But.

Even in the depths of his mind, where his thoughts had finally died down and were replaced by dreamless sleep, something still remained.

Through the stretches of the inner mindscape, a presence lingered.

Two bright yellow spots bloomed out of the darkness.

One spot glowed brightly, illuminating the blackness around it.

The other spot flickered now and again, sometimes appearing as if it was about to go out. But it never did.

Two spots connected to one voice, one soul, one being.

And in the reveberating confines of the mindscape, in the deepest corner where not even the one the mind belonged to could hear, something spoke.

"You were fortunate to be so lucky on this day."

"Everything played so perfectly in your favor, time and time again..."

"Maybe not everything was to your liking."

"But in the end...you got exactly what you wanted."

"And what did it take you to achieve that?"

"...a sacrifice..."

"...that only I paid for."

"And now look."

"Look what you have done to me."

"Made me a prisoner, inside a body that doesn't, and has never, belonged to me."

"Perhaps if you knew, you would feel satisfied."

"But I..."

"I will not stew in my discontent."

"You will not keep me here."

"Know now that this isn't over."

"I won't allow it to end here."

"I don't care whether I must fight you for days, weeks, months, or even years..."

"I promise you."

"One day..."

"One day I will get exactly what I desire."

"And you will pay for ever thinking you could ever put an end to me."

"Just you wait and see..."

"...fox."

The two yellow spots flickered, and disappeared as soon as they had come.

But though the lights had vanished, they hadn't gone out.

And there was no telling when, or if, they ever would.

Chapter Text

A NOTE TO ALL READERS OF THIS STORY

ALL CHAPTERS AFTER THIS NOTE CHAPTER ARE PART OF THE OLD 'A NEW BEGINNING' AND MANY OF THEM WILL BE RECEIVING REWRITES

CHAPTER WRITING UNDERGOES A SHARP DROP IN QUALITY AT THE CHAPTER 'INSIDE THE BOX' BUT STEADILY IMPROVES OVERTIME

IF THIS DOESN'T BOTHER YOU, FEEL FREE TO CONTINUE READING

Chapter Text

Boredom.

Boredom was something in life that Foxy wasn't too fond of. Lots of people in the world weren't fans of boredom, yes, but Foxy was ESPECIALLY not a fan. Many times back in his old home had he been stuck with nothing else to do, with no idea of what else he could do, and he hated it every time it happened.

When he had come to Circus Baby's and started his life there, he had hoped that maybe, just maybe, it wouldn't be boring every now and then.

As it turned out, fate was not on his side.

Because today he was bored the same way he had been bored in his previous home. He had nothing to do, nobody to visit, and no idea of what other activities he could do. His friends were all busy: Freddy had locked his closet and disappeared to God-knows-where, Puppet was inside his box doing his own thing, and Ballora...well, Foxy had no idea where she was. Probably in her room dancing, knowing her. He's need to hang out with her more often; he did know her as a fellow animatronic and friend, but he hadn't spent as much time with her as he did with his other friends. But that would be later on.

So, with nothing else to do, he decided to aimlessly pace up and down the big hallway, over and over again, in hopes that maybe he would think of something to do at some point. But, no matter how many times he walked up and down the long hallway, nothing came to him.

By the fiftieth time he had done so, his patience finally broke, and he groaned deeply as he came to a stop in the middle of the hallway and his fifty-first lap.

Why the HECK does it have to be one of these days?! He grumbled in his head. This just sucks. No matter how much I try, I just can't think of anything to do! Ugh...I wonder what everybody else is doing right now. Freddy's gone off somewhere, so I can't go to him. Puppet is in his box, but...no, I shouldn't disturb him yet. Not until I get really desperate. So...that leaves Ballora. But where could she be?

Foxy looked down the hallway, staring at the doors to her room. Maybe she's in her room dancing? He walked down the hallway and up to the doors, then grabbed the handles. But when he tried pulling them open, the doors stayed shut.

Great, they're locked. Guess I've gotta be more direct.

Foxy knocked on the doors, calling out as he did so.

"Hey, Ballora!" He said. "Are you in there? Let me in! I'm dying of boredom out here!"

He waited for some sort of answer, for Ballora to call back to him and to open the doors. But, instead of that, nothing happened. Foxy, confused, peered through the keyhole, where he got a view into the room. Nobody was inside.

Oh, she's not in her room. Foxy thought, surprised. That's weird. She seemed like the type of person who would ALWAYS stay in her room whenever she's bored, but apparently that's not the case.

Foxy, trying to decide what to do next, turned and walked away from the doors. He was unsure what to do now.

He thought about it for a moment before coming to a conclusion.

Uh...maybe I'm pacing in the wrong room! He thought. Maybe I need to pace in a different room to get an idea of what to do. I'll try the main room.

Foxy walked down the big hallway and then turned into the small hallway, then went down it until he came into the main room. He stopped for a moment, contemplating if he should actually go back to pacing, but decided not to as he let out a deep sigh.

Oh, who am I kidding? Pacing isn't going to help, no matter where I am. Foxy thought, frowning. Man, if something could happen around here-

Suddenly, he was broken out of his mind by a scream coming from somewhere nearby.

"Huh?" Foxy stuttered.

"Hello?! Is somebody there?!" The voice suddenly called. "Hey, guys, help! I'm stuck!"

Foxy listened to the voice for a moment as it talked, then gasped. That voice, it was...Ballora?!

"Ballora?" Foxy called out.

"Foxy, is that you?!" What was unmistakably Ballora called back. "Yes, somebody is nearby! Quick, come and help me! I need help!"

"You need help?! Uh, okay!" Foxy agreed. "Where are you?"

Ballora paused for a moment. "Uh...I don't want to say..."

"What? Ballora, come on! Do you want me to help you or not?"

"I do! I just...I'm stuck somewhere really, really embarrassing."

"Fine, fine, you don't have to tell me right now. Just, uh, keep yelling, and I'll follow the sound of your voice!"

"Okay!" She began screaming again, and Foxy listened carefully this time. It sounded like it was coming from the bouncy house, so he decided to go there.

The doorway to it was nearby, right across the room from the stage, so he ran through it as came into the bounce house. It wasn't a stereotypical bounce house, though, like the inflatable ones sold for parties, but rather its own separate room connected to the main room. The floor was cushiony, however, and made with the same material as inflatable bounce houses, allowing people inside to jump around to their heart's content. The frame of it was blue, with huge gaps in the walls, sort of like the bounce house windows. They, however, had nets on the 'windows' to keep people inside the bounce house when they were inside. Foxy could see the same striped white-yellow walls that the main room had, implying that the bounce house had been pretty much built into what had been an empty room.

Foxy once again strained his ears as he listened to Ballora's screams. And they were coming from...above? Foxy looked up at the ceiling as gasped at what he saw.

Ballora was stuck up in the ceiling. That is, a 'ceiling' because the ceiling didn't consist of more than a weird metallic mesh. Ballora was caught in the mesh, her entire body tangled inside of it. She was struggling to escape, but the mesh has a tight grip on her.

"Ballora! There you are!" Foxy said. "Geez, next time you should just tell me you were stuck up there in the bouncy house so I don't have to waste time looking!"

"Hey, come on!" Ballora whined. "Do you think I want everybody to know that something as embarrassing as THIS happened to me?"

"...fair point. Anyway, don't worry! I'll get you out of there!" Foxy started bouncing on the cushiony floor, trying to reach the ceiling so he could grab Ballora's legs and pull her out, but he found that he wasn't able to bounce high enough.

"Well? What's the holdup?!" Ballora asked irritably.

"There's a problem!" Foxy said. "The floors won't bounce me high enough to reach you!"

"Keep trying! You'll get high enough eventually!"

"Okay, okay, before I continue this, I need answers. How the HECK did you get stuck up there?"

"Oh. That. Well...you know how I said I've been here longer than you?"

"Yeah?"

"That was true. I was here for quite a bit of time before you came. And every day, I liked to come in here and bounce around to cure the boredom I always felt. But I did it so often that now I'm TOO good at bouncing. If I'm not careful enough, then...I end up bouncing too high. And I wasn't careful earlier today. Besides, I'm a ballerina. My legs are built to dance and jump around."

"Oh, so that's why? You got stuck up in that weird wire mesh? Also, why is the bounce house ceiling even like that? Isn't that kind of a hazard?"

"Well, I think it's because this room wasn't finished yet. The company was probably supposed to put an actual ceiling here, but they just never got to it."

"Again? Wow, that's not the first time Fazbear Entertainment has slacked off. But, about you being stuck up there...how would that even work?! The bouncy floors can't get somebody up that high, even if they have better legs than others!"

"Who cares about that right now!? I need your help!"

"Look, I've already tried bouncing up to you, and it's not working. I need a new plan." Foxy though for a moment before going on. "Hey, I think I got it. Puppet's always been kinda knowledgeable, right? I'll go ask him for help. Maybe he and I can put our heads together and figure something out."

"No, wait! Don't leave me here while I'm still stuck!"

"It'll be okay! I'll be back in just a few minutes. In the meantime, keep trying to wiggle out of there, alright?"

"...Fine, fine! But you'd better get back here as soon as possible!"

"I'll try!" Foxy then turned and headed out of the bounce house, then headed into the main room and then into the small hallway, heading towards Puppet's room.

After traversing the hallways, Foxy found himself back in the auditorium, with Puppet's box still over in the corner.

As Foxy approached the box, he thought about today's situation. He wasn't sure what to think. Sure, now he had something to do, but this whole thing was just weird. He hoped that Puppet would be able to help.

Foxy knocked on Puppet's box. "Puppet! Puppet, are you in there? Come on out!"

"Woah!" Foxy heard Puppet exclaim inside the box. "Oh, is somebody up there? Hold on, I'm coming up." There was a pause for a moment, then Puppet popped out of the box. "Okay, I'm here!" Puppet looked down at Foxy. "Oh, hey Foxy!"

"Hey, Puppet!" Foxy greeted, grinning. "Good to see you."

"Same, buddy. So, what's up?"

Foxy's grin disappeared. "We have a problem."

Puppet's eyes widened for a moment, then he nodded. "Give me a second to get out of the box." He climbed out of the box and leaped down to the floor, making it so that he and Foxy could now talk face-to-face. "Alright, what's going on?"

Foxy sighed deeply as he prepared to break the news. "Now, this may sound ridiculous, but hear me out. Ballora...is stuck."

Puppet laughed for a second. "Ha ha! Good one, Foxy. For a second, I almost thought you said Ballora was stuck."

"Puppet." Foxy stared at Puppet firmly, and the marionette stopped laughing.

"Wait...you're...you're joking, right?"

"Trust me, I wish I was. But, I'm not. Ballora is stuck in the bounce house."

"Foxy, are you telling the truth? I've never heard of Ballora bouncing and getting stuck before, because she's bad at it. And I'm also very, very busy with stuff inside my box."

"I get that, but I'm serious, Puppet. I need your help to get her unstuck."

"...Can't you get somebody else to help you?"

"Nope. Freddy is gone for some reason, and I've tried looking around for him, but I couldn't find him. You're the only other person here besides Ballora and I, so...can you just help me out? Please? I'd appreciate you so much for it."

"Fine, fine. But if this turns out to be a dumb joke, and Ballora isn't really stuck, then I'm going back into my box and staying there for the rest of the week."

Foxy nodded, and he ushered Puppet to follow him down the hallways. "Thanks, Puppet. Now, come on. You have got to see this..."

"WHAT THE-?!" Puppet exclaimed, shock on his face. Foxy and he had arrived at the bounce house, allowing Puppet a look at Ballora's predicament. She had not wiggled out and was still stuck in the wire mesh.

"See? I told you." Foxy said.

"Took you guys long enough!" Ballora complained loudly as she saw them come in. "You said you'd be back in a flash, Foxy!"

"Well, sorry. Puppet was pretty skeptical of your situation, and it took some convincing to persuade him to help me."

Puppet hadn't even heard Foxy. He was too busy staring at Ballora, still in shock. "My god, you're stuck up there!"

"Thanks for noticing, Captain Obvious!" Ballora growled. "Now can you guys GET ME DOWN?!"

"Wait, wait, wait, I need an explanation!" Puppet interrupted. "How did you even get stuck up there?"

"I BOUNCED up here, of course! What else could it be?"

"But you're terrible at bouncing!"

"Excuse me, this place is called a BOUNCE house for a reason! Any average Joe could easily bounce around here!"

"No, I didn't mean it was impossible to bounce. I mean that you're not good enough at bouncing to have anything like this happen!"

"I beg to differ! After all, only people who are GOOD at bouncing, AKA ME, could have possibly bounced high enough to get stuck up here!"

"Alright, alright, enough arguing." Foxy cut in. "Can we focus on more important matters?"

Puppet sighed and nodded. "Yeah, you're right. We need to stop creating problems and start looking for solutions."

"Exactly."

"Now, what do you think we should do?"

"Well...I do have some ideas now that you're here. Can I try getting on your shoulders?"

Puppet froze, then stared at his thin arms and legs before replying. "I don't think that would work..."

"Trust me on this one, okay?"

"Fine, climb up."

Foxy went over to Puppet and climbed up onto the marionette's shoulders. The fox could already hear Puppet groaning from the weight, but he ignored that. Instead, Foxy focused on reaching his arms up. He could see Ballora above him. He just needed to get close enough to grab her legs.

"Agh, geez!" Puppet grunted as he tried to hold Foxy up. "How many bricks do you HAVE in your suit?"

"None! This is my natural weight!"

"You're so heavy!"

"Just hold me steady, okay? I'm trying to reach for Ballora!"

Foxy reached out his arms and began stretching for Ballora's legs. Ballora watched impatiently, waiting to be freed.

Foxy kept reaching further and further. He was almost there-

But then suddenly, Puppet's hold gave way, and Foxy yelped as he and the marionette tumbled to the ground.

"Ouch!" Foxy said. "Puppet!"

"Sorry, Foxy..." The marionette apologized as he gasped for breath. "But I'm not built to carry animatronics as heavy as you."

"But...no, you're right. Sorry for forcing you to carry me."

"It's okay, just...choose somebody else to lift you next time."

"I hate to break up your chat, but I'm STILL STUCK!" Ballora interrupted furiously. "Come on, guys, help!"

"Alright, alright, we're on it!" Foxy yelled back at her. "So, Puppet...I think we've approached this the wrong way. Instead of you giving me a boost, how about I give you a boost?"

"Good idea." Puppet agreed. "I'm not sure why you didn't go with that idea to begin with, as a matter of fact."

"It didn't come to me for some reason. Anyway, get over here."

Puppet went over to Foxy, who braced himself to hold the marionette up. Foxy could feel the marionette's spindly feet as he climbed onto Foxy's shoulders. Then Foxy began to lift Puppet up towards Ballora's legs.

However, as Puppet reached out to Ballora, Foxy noticed that the marionette was having trouble reaching her. Puppet stretched his arms with all of his might, and Foxy got on tiptoes, but even that wasn't enough to reach her.

After a minute or so of trying again and again to do this without success, they both gave up, and Puppet jumped off of Foxy's shoulders.

"Well, that was an utter failure." Foxy sighed. "Guess we're going back to the drawing board."

"Come on, guys!" Ballora ushered. "Get me down from here!"

"We already tried and FAILED to do so!"

"Then think of some other way to get me down! Come on, I know you'll think of something!"

"Fine, I'll try! Just give me a moment." Foxy thought for a moment, then looked over at the main room through the net-covered window that looked out into the adjacent room. He saw the tables with stools in the room, and it gave him an idea.

"I've got it." Foxy blurted out. "Wait here, guys." As the others gave him confused looks, Foxy headed out from the bouncy house and over to one of the tables. There were some stools here. Foxy guessed that if he tried to use this to boost him up, he might be able to reach Ballora.

He grabbed one of the stools and lugged it back into the bounce house, where he placed it right underneath Ballora. Ballora looked down at the stool and made a face.

"Really? Stools?" She commented, unimpressed. "Is that the only thing you can think of?"

"Well, it's the only idea I've got so far, so bear with me, please!" Foxy replied a little irritably. Then, he got up onto the stool and once again looked up at Ballora. It wasn't high enough to reach her, but...Foxy guessed that if he tried to jump up and grab her, he might be able to get a grip on her legs. He decided to go with this idea, since it was the only one he had right then.

Foxy braced himself, then jumped as high as he could. While in midair, he flailed his arms in an attempt to grab Ballora's legs, but he, unfortunately for him, completely missed. Even worse, as he landed back on the stool, it toppled over from both the impact of Foxy's landing and the relative lack of sturdiness in the ground, causing Foxy to slip and fall over.

"Ouch!" He yelped as he hit the ground. "Okay, that failed. I was trying to jump up to you, Ballora, but I missed. Puppet, can you try? I think you're a little taller than me."

"Well, I guess I can at least try." Puppet agreed. The marionette mounted the stool and attempted to jump up to Ballora. Thankfully, Puppet was lighter than Foxy, so the stool didn't give under his weight. However, he still was unable to reach Ballora. His spindly fingers were grazing the tips of her feet, but he was otherwise unable to make any contact.

"Dang, COME ON!" Puppet exclaimed as he kept jumping. "I'm so close!"

"Get me down! Come on!" Ballora commanded, wiggling in the mesh as Puppet kept jumping. But, after a few more tries, Puppet gave up and leaped off of the stool.

"Sorry Foxy, but I can't get a grip on her." Puppet said.

"Well, uh...that's fine!" Foxy responded, trying to sound collected. "I'll just, uh...get another stool!" Foxy raced back into the main room, grabbed another stool from a nearby table, and came back into the bounce house, placing the second stool right next to the first one.

Puppet seemed skeptical of this idea now. "Foxy, I'm not sure if using stools is the right way to go about this. One stool didn't work, so how can two work?"

"We won't know until we try, Puppet."

"Right, right..."

Foxy, first, attempted to stack the two stools on top of each other and climb up that way, as sort of a makeshift ladder. Unfortunately, as soon as Foxy put one stool on the other and removed his hand, both stools toppled over. Foxy suddenly realized that the bouncy house flooring wasn't actually very sturdy, and balancing things on it wouldn't work.

So, instead, he put the stools next to each other again, positioning them so that they both were halfway underneath Ballora. Foxy nodded at this. Maybe he could still make this work.

"Hey, Puppet?" Foxy asked the marionette, who had been watching Foxy work the whole time. "I have an idea. Let's both jump for Ballora at the same time. You go on one stool, I'll go on the other, and we'll both jump up and try to grab Ballora's legs. How does that sound?"

Puppet, of course, still looked skeptical of the idea, but he didn't seem to want to complain about it anymore. "Well, I guess we can try." Was all he said, shrugging as he joined Foxy by the stools.

Foxy and Puppet both got on a stool each, and they braced themselves to jump, then tried to jump up and grab Ballora's legs. Of course, even if they were jumping together, their jumping skills hadn't improved at all. Like last time, Foxy missed Ballora's legs, caused the stool to tip, and ended up falling over. Also like last time, Puppet didn't cause his stool to tip, but his spindly fingers were still unable to do anything but graze the underside of Ballora's feet. The marionette tried to reach Ballora for a few seconds, but gave up again, climbing off of the stool.

"AAARGH! STOP WASTING TIME!" Ballora roared, furious. "I HATE BEING STUCK UP HERE, OKAY? SO STOP ACTING LIKE BUFFOONS AND GET ME OUT OF HERE!"

Foxy watched her yell at him, but only just sighed. He felt as if maybe all this work wasn't doing a thing, that their efforts trying to get Ballora down were being wasted. They had tried and tried and continued to fail, and Foxy's doubt was climbing steadily.

"Puppet, this isn't going well." Foxy voiced to Puppet. "Should we just...leave her up there and let her wiggle out on her own?"

"Leave me up here?!" Ballora exclaimed. "Oh, no, you don't! I'm not going to take being stuck up here any longer than I already HAVE been stuck up here!" She began wiggling in the mesh even harder then before, but it didn't seem to do much to get her out.

Meanwhile, Puppet put a finger to his 'chin' and thought for a moment about what they could do. "We're almost to that point, Foxy. However, I do have one more idea that we can try. If it fails, then we can just leave her up there."

"Okay, anything can go at this point." Foxy agreed. "What's your idea?"

"We should go search the kitchen. We might be able to find something in there that can help us get her down."

"Huh? The kitchen?" Ballora stuttered, confused. She momentarily stopped wiggling. "Why the kitchen, though? Out of all places in this building, I didn't think the solution would be in there."

"There's supplies in there, Ballora. Something in there could possibly help us."

"Yeah, let's go with it." Foxy accepted. "Ballora, stay right there. We'll be back in a few minutes."

"Yes, because I have so many other places to go right now." Ballora joked sarcastically, before calling out to Foxy and Puppet as they began to leave. "Oh, and, can you make me a sandwich while you're in there?"

"That's the least of your worries right now." Foxy reminded her as he exited the bouncy house with Puppet.

"Aw, but I'm hungry!"

"You can wait until AFTER we've got you down to get something to eat!"

Foxy turned around and headed out, following Puppet through the main room...

Foxy and Puppet arrived in the kitchen, pushing the door open and stepping onto the wooden floors of the room.

"Alright, let's begin the search." Foxy said decisively, and he and Puppet got to work at once. They searched around the room, going through the cabinets and drawers, looking into the ovens, scanning the racks, and even opening the fridge and searching in there.

Foxy opened one drawer and found it full of utensils, specifically forks, knives, and spoons.

"Hey, Puppet, I found some utensils in here." Foxy said. "Maybe we can throw these at Ballora and knock her down."

"Well, first, describe to me what utensils are in there." Puppet asked as he went through another cabinet.

"Knives."

"Too sharp."

"Forks."

"Too pointy."

"Spoons."

"Too dull."

"Fine, I'll look elsewhere." Foxy searched around again, and he found himself inspecting one of the ovens. "Hey, Puppet, maybe we can rip the oven out of the wall and throw it at her."

"Really? And expose the gas lines, possibly causing an explosion?"

"...solid point. Okay, I'll look elsewhere."

Foxy searched around once again, and his eyes fell on the fridge. There were two doors here, one leading to the fridge part and the other to the freezer part. Foxy opened the freezer part and looked inside. There were foods in here of course, but one specific thing caught his eye: there was a random tub on the bottom shelf. Foxy looked more closely at it and realized that it was holding tons of snowballs.

As Foxy saw this, he looked back at the refrigerator door. There was a note taped to it. Foxy pulled it off and held it up so he could read it.

Hey, guys! I made these snowballs last winter and took them with me when we came here. I'm going to use these for pranking soon, so please don't touch them. Thanks!

-Freddy

"Woah! Hey, Puppet!" Foxy called. "I found something that'll work!"

"Okay, let me see." Puppet said, and he walked over to the fridge. Foxy showed him the massive tub of snowballs in the freezer and handed Puppet the note from Freddy. Puppet read it quickly, and an odd expression came onto his face. "Wait, you mean these are Freddy's snowballs?"

"Yeah, of course! They're pretty wet and slippery, so they might work!"

"But Freddy made them. Isn't it rude to just take them without his permission?"

"...Yes, it is, but...the note said he was going to use it for pranking. As in, pranking US, probably. So we're just taking it and using it for a better purpose. Besides, I'm sure he'll just forgive us after the first few seconds that he finds out we used them. He always does. Most of the time."

"Well, if you're so sure, then I guess we should go ahead and use these. I hope Freddy won't mind too much."

"Don't worry about it, okay? At least, don't worry about that right now. Dealing with Freddy is a matter for future us, not present us. Present us has to deal with Ballora."

"You're right, you're right. This'll work much better than throwing an oven at her! We didn't need to worry after all."

"Yeah! Now, let's go and get back to helping Ballora."

Foxy lugged the tub of snowballs out of the freezer and closed the freezer afterward. Then he carried it in his arms as he and Puppet departed the kitchen.

They arrived back in the bounce house. Ballora, to nobody's surprise, was still stuck. Foxy set the tub of snowballs behind him and stood in front of it to block Ballora's view of it.

Ballora noticed them come in. "There you guys are! Now, what have you got to help me?"

"Well...do you like pancakes, Ballora?" Puppet asked, smiling. Foxy, deciding to go along with whatever Puppet was at, watched as Puppet said this.

"I do, actually. Does that mean you guys have some?"

"You could say that..."

"Oh, good. Just no syrup, okay? Syrup can really gunk up our robotic insides. I wouldn't mind eating, though. I've been in the mood to pretend eating stuff for a long time, about as long as I've been stuck up here."

"Wait, you have?" Foxy stuttered. "How long have you been up there for?"

"A couple of hours..." Ballora said, looking embarrassed.

"Geez, that's a long time! Also, that brings up another question: why didn't you call me to help you earlier? I've been pacing around nearby the whole time!"

"Well, I would've called for help earlier, but I was kind of tired, and I...feel asleep...up here...nevermind, nevermind, we need to move on! So, either get me down or give me something to eat- wait, hang on..."

"What?"

"Foxy, what's that sitting behind you?" Ballora asked suspiciously.

"Nothing much." Foxy shifted himself in front of the tub a little straighter.

"Nothing much? Well, that doesn't tell me anything! What is it, anyhow? Is it those pancakes you guys were talking about?"

"Yep, they certainly are!" Puppet interrupted, his smile getting wider. "Open wide! We've got a present for you!"

"Huh?"

"Foxy, NOW! Open fire!"

Both Foxy and the marionette reached he behind them and started to grab snowballs, then throw them at Ballora. The snowballs hit the ballerina, who screamed at their wetness and struggled to escape. The snowballs were also exploding on impact, bursting into a mix of smaller snow chunks and ice-cold water.

As the snowballs made contact, Ballora struggled harder and harder. The water and slippery snow had gotten into the mesh she was stuck in, and as she struggled, the mesh got weaker, and it began to loosen its hold on the ballerina.

Finally, after one last round of wiggling, the mesh gave way, and Ballora slid out of it.

"AAAARRGH!" She screamed as she was freed from the mesh, flying down and hitting the floor roughly.

"Yes! It worked! It really worked!" Foxy cheered, ecstatic at them finally getting Ballora out. "We're geniuses, Puppet!"

"Uh?!" Ballora whined, confused. "You guys are crazy, you know that? Well, I'm crazy too, yes, but...you guys are CRAZIER!"

"Sorry, Ballora, we're too happy to hear you! High-five, Puppet!" Puppet, equally as happy as Foxy, shared a high-five with the pink-white fox. "Yeah! Alright! Whew! Ha, ha...alright, I think I've shook off the excitement now. I was just so glad to finally get that job over and done with. Also, Ballora, from now on you'd better be careful when bouncing in here. You could get stuck again."

"Nah, I won't get stuck again. I won't let such a thing happen. Next time I come in here, I'll be ready!"

"Right...how many times have you said that, only for you to get caught off-guard anyways?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about. How'd you know that about me, anyway?"

"Freddy told me about that certain quality of you. He told me a lot of things about how to deal with you, actually."

"Did he? Ugh, that bear is...whatever. Now, where are those pancakes you guys were talking about?"

"Excuse me? You want pancakes NOW, of all times?"

"You guys asked me if I wanted any. Where are they?"

"We lied when we said that." Puppet informed her. "We actually meant to throw all of those snowballs at you."

"Speaking of, we still have plenty of those." Foxy said, grinning tauntingly as he tapped the tub of snowballs. There were still some in there that could be used. "Want any more of those?" Foxy grinned wider. He was ready to keep on this snowball attack. He liked pelting Ballora with snowballs.

"No, no way! I've had enough of those-"

"Well too bad, we're throwing them at you anyway!"

Foxy scooped a snowball out of the tub and threw it at Ballora, who screamed as it hit her directly in the face.

"Hey! Ow! You bullies!" She complained. 'I'm getting away from you!" She ran out of the bouncy house.

"Ballora, come baaaaack!" Foxy taunted her as she ran. He made to run after her, paused, then turned around. "Puppet, follow behind me! Bring the tub!"

"Okay, okay, I will!" Puppet agreed, picking up the tub.

Then he and Foxy quickly chased after Ballora.

Ballora had ran into the one place Foxy had expected her to go: her room. No surprises there.

She was crouching behind her platform, trying to take cover as she braced for more snowballs.

Foxy ran into the room, Puppet right behind him. He saw Ballora hiding and grinned again, strolling up to where she was.

"Aw, Ballora, don't hide. We just want to have some fun." Foxy taunted.

"I'm gonna get you guys for this." She threatened from where she hid.

"And how do you think you're gonna do THAT, heh, heh?"

"Say, is that Hailey's comet?!" Ballora suddenly shouted, pointing behind Foxy and Puppet.

"Huh?" Both of them stuttered, turning around to see what was there- and to find that nothing was there! While they were distracted, Ballora ran up to the two of them and tugged the tub out of Puppet's un-prepared hands.

"Hey!" Puppet gasped, turning back around. "What are you doing with that?"

"The perfect revenge: throwing your snowballs BACK AT YOU!" She laughed, as he plucked snowballs out of the tub and threw them rapid-fire at the fox and marionette.

"Woah! Oh, god!" Foxy exclaimed, ducking under a snowball that had gone for his head. "Puppet, run! Run before she hits us with them!"

"You don't have to tell me twice!" Puppet replied hastily, and he and Foxy quickly turned around again and ran out the door as the barrage of snowballs continued to fire at them.

"I have an idea!" Puppet shouted out to Foxy as both of them reached the part of the big hallway where the bathrooms were. "Let's go into the boys' bathroom! She won't want to go in there!"

"Oh, good idea!" Foxy agreed, and he quickly raced into the bathroom with Puppet just as Ballora came pelting down the hall, more snowballs in her hands. "Whew! Good thinking, Puppet!"

"Guys..." Ballora called from outside. "...come out of there..."

"Like we'd ever do that! If we come out, you'll hit us with more snowballs!"

"Then I'll just LEAVE then." She felt silent, as if she was gone, but Foxy knew better than to walk into such an obvious trap.

"...Ballora, do you really think we'd fall for that one?" He said incredulously.

"Aw, how'd you know that I didn't actually leave?! Come on, I- oh, you know what?! Forget it! This was boring anyways! Boys are stupid! I'm going back to my room, and I'm not coming out 'till tomorrow!"

Foxy heard her stomping away from them, heading back to her room. However, he didn't leave yet. He wasn't sure if she had actually gone.

"Puppet, is she gone?" Foxy asked the marionette.

"Let me check." Puppet said, and he walked over to the bathroom doorway and leaned out of it. He turned his head and looked to the left, then turned it again and looked to the right, before finally turning back to Foxy. "Alright, it looks like she's gone. We can come out now, Foxy."

Foxy, nodding understandingly, followed Puppet out of the bathroom and back into the hall. The pink-white fox then, still suspicious, looked down both sides of the hall like Puppet had, just to make sure that Puppet hadn't been lying. There was no sign of Ballora anywhere in the room.

"She really is gone." Foxy voiced. "Great! Well, it looks like we solved the problem for tonight. It's about time. Now we can finally go back to relaxing."

"Yeah, good. I want to get back to my room." Puppet said, and he headed into the nearby auditorium. Foxy followed him as the marionette approached his box, paused, then turned around. "This was fun and all, but now I've got to get back to my important business. Don't ask me what it is, it's not something I'm going to discuss."

"Wait, but...I'm concerned. You've been cooped up inside your box for some time, you know. And now that I see your box, I can also see all of the crates surrounding it. What's up with all of that?"

"It's nothing special okay? It's both because I like boxes and because I need places to store all of my things."

"Okay, then. You seem to be pretty well-prepared."

"I am, yes. See, I enjoy all of the simple things in life, like you do, Foxy. I'm never against hanging out with my friends. But sometimes, I've just gotta...take things seriously. There are some things in life that I can't take as jokes."

"Reasonable. Anyway, I'm tired, so I'm heading back to my room to sleep. See you tomorrow, Puppet!"

"You too, Foxy. Take care of yourself."

Puppet climbed onto his box and retreated inside of it, leaving Foxy alone. The pink-white fox then, confident that everything was alright now, went back down the big hallway, heading for his room.

Foxy came back into his room. His cove was already waiting for him, with the curtains opened up and ready to accept him into the little space behind the curtains.

He walked into his cove and closed the curtains behind him, casting him in darkness. He leaned against the wall, thinking to himself about today's events.

This was certainly a weird night. He thought. Ballora really needs to be careful the next times she goes into the bouncy house. If she gets stuck again, I'm not going to spend more time getting her down. And I'm glad Puppet helped me, but...I wonder what he could be doing inside of that box. Eh, I'll find that out later. Until then, I'd better get some rest. It's way better being asleep than being bored.

Foxy gazed at his curtains. Man, sleeping in here reminds me a lot of my cove back in the old location. It's so familiar, yet so different too. But, I'll still rest here anyways, because that's what this place was designed for. Time to rest up for the next night.

He deactivated, heading into a nice, pleasant sleep...

Chapter Text

On yet another night, Foxy found himself engaging in another activity with Ballora and Puppet.

Staring outside.

While the glass doors were boarded shut, the animatronics could still see through them. The area right outside was a parking lot with many spaces, though almost all of them were empty save for a few cars that didn't look like they had anyone inside. Streetlights illuminated the parking lot, flickering occasionally. From high above, Foxy could see the stars and even the moon up in the night sky, illuminating the Earth. It was a peaceful sight.

For that time, all three of them stood there in silence. Not a single word was exchanged between them, as they had all instead chosen to quietly admire the peace and quiet outside the building and the view of the moon and stars.

Seeing all of it, the wonderful view outside, the world that awaited outside the walls of the pizzeria...it made Foxy feel a mysterious longing in his heart. Part of him was comfortable with living in the pizzeria forever, without ever seeing anything else. The other...was hung over by thoughts of the outside world. What was out there to see? Would he ever get to see it?

He still wished that they could go outside at least once. Unfortunately, in the state that the doors were in, there would be no going outside. What was even with that, anyway? Wasn't the place meant to open to the public, to the fans of singing animatronics and tasty pizza? Why were the doors boarded shut when any place that was meant to become public soon would simply lock them and leave it at that?

Oh, well. Maybe someday, he'd see it. For now, all he could do was look out at the parking lot and the sky above. Looking at the sky, he could see the dark clouds slowly and surely gathering together. Was it going to rain? Foxy hoped so. He couldn't remember the last time he got to see it rain.

And since it looked like it was going to rain soon, and it was such a dark and quiet night, an idea formed in Foxy's head. It was a pretty good idea, considering the atmosphere, and he and the others would need something to do today, so it would work just fine.

"Hey, guys?" Foxy spoke up. Ballora and Puppet turned to look at him.

"What's up?" Ballora asked. "Thought of something?"

"Yeah. I was looking out at everything outside, and I'm thinking of something. It's kind of a noiseless night tonight, isn't it? And we haven't seen any guards, or maintenance people, or anything else as of late. And since it seems like it might rain tonight, I've got an idea. Why don't we do something spooky? Like...ghost stories?"

"Huh, that's not a bad idea." Puppet agreed. "I do appreciate good ghost stories, and it's certainly been a while since we've told any."

"No wonder. If you were transparent, you could look like a creepy ghost yourself."

Puppet squinted at Foxy. "Hey, come on. I'm not that creepy-looking."

"Eh...I wouldn't count on that." Ballora said jokingly. Everyone chuckled a bit at Ballora's joke. "Anyway, ghost stories! I like the sound of that. And it just so happens that I've got the perfect story in mind."

Foxy nodded. "Sounds good. Since you've already got an idea of what story you want to tell, we'll give you the floor. Right, Puppet?"

"Sure, why not?" Puppet said.

"Thanks, guys. Before we begin, let's get the mood set up." Ballora decided. She walked over to the wall switch, which had a dimmer, and dimmed the lights until the room was very dimly-lit. "That'll set the atmosphere. Now, let's go get seated somewhere, because it'll be better if we're comfortable while we listen."

The animatronics walked over to one of the tables in the room and all took their seats, sitting around the table and looking at each other.

"And...before we start, I want to get one more finishing touch." Ballora said, standing up. "Be right back." She rushed off. A minute later, she came back, holding...a lantern. She set it down on the middle of the table, illuminating the area. "There! Now the lighting is just right."

"Wow, you really wanted to seal the deal here. Never even thought to dim the lights." Foxy admit. "Good one, Ballora."

Ballora smiled. "I just like to make things perfect for situations like this. Now!" She sat down at her seat. "We can begin the story! Everyone, listen up, and listen closely."

She paused for dramatic effect, letting Foxy and Puppet sit there in wait. Foxy had to admit, he was impressed at how much effort Ballora went through to make the area perfect for spooky stuff. Now that she was done, she was about to begin the story. Foxy could only imagine what she was about to say.

"A very, very long time ago, in a time different from now...there was a haunting. Appearing from nowhere, came a ghost of unknown origin. With its appearance, it made this place its home for all eternity. And do you know where it decided to stay? In a bathroom, inhabiting one of the toilets in one of the stalls. It always kept to themselves, not bothering to see what was happening outside...but if it were ever to be disturbed, only catastrophe would await the residents of the place. While it continues to sleep, the day which it shall awaken is both very close and very far away. One day, it shall awaken, and with it will be...the end of all things."

Another pause.

"And, that's the story!" Ballora concluded, grinning. "Well? What do you guys think? Scared yet?"

"Sort of spooky, I guess. You're not terrible, but I've heard scarier." Puppet said opinionatedly.

Ballora frowned. "Aw, that's it? I put so much effort into that, and it only gets a 'not terrible' as a review?"

Puppet shrugged. "It's not bad, Ballora- in fact, I can tell that you tried to put some effort into it- but remember that there's always room for improvement. No hard feelings."

"Oh, well, I suppose that's a nicer description. Thanks for the honest review, Puppet. What about you, Foxy?"

While Puppet was giving Ballora a real review, all that Foxy felt about the story was...confusion. "Wait, wait, hold on. Good story, Ballora, but...I heard you mention that the story was in this place. Are you telling me that there's a ghost actually here?"

"Perhaps there is." Ballora muttered creepily. "Why do you ask?"

"...if it did happen to exist, could you tell me which bathroom it's in?"

"You wish to know? That is fine. It resides in...the boys' bathroom."

After she said this, the silence that followed was a bit awkward. Nobody spoke for a moment.

Then Foxy chuckled. "No way, Ballora. You have to be bluffing. There can't be a ghost in the boys' bathroom. I've been in there before."

Ballora just stared at Foxy. "But can you be sure of that?" She continued, keeping the creepy tone.

"I think we can, can't we? After all, it's just an ordinary pizzeria bathroom. Nothing's wrong in there." Puppet assured her.

"Or is there?"

Puppet paused. "Um...well...actually, I'm not sure."

Foxy stared back at Ballora's somewhat foreboding expression. What did she mean by that? She wasn't being serious, right? If there really was a ghost haunting the bathroom, why hadn't she let them know that sooner? Did the animatronics have reason to be afraid?

Maybe.

Maybe not.

She couldn't be serious, right? After all, it was just a ghost story that Ballora made up. It couldn't be real, could it?

Now Foxy was curious to see if she was telling the truth of if it was just a story. And there was only one way to confirm whether or not this 'ghost' was even real.

Foxy stood up. "Prove it."

Ballora looked at him. "Huh?"

"Prove that there's a ghost in the bathroom."

Ballora nodded. "If you insist. Let's go there now, and you can see for yourself."

"That's fine."

Ballora stood up as well. Puppet, looking unsure, shrugged and stood up as well. With their new plan in mind, they walked towards the small hallway, going in the direction of the bathrooms.

When they got to the bathroom, they all faced the boys' bathroom doorway in anticipation.

"Alright, then, go in. I'm not going to follow, because I'm a girl." Ballora told them, standing there in wait.

Puppet and Foxy looked at each other. They both had the same thing on their mind.

"Okay, I say only one of us checks. It'll be you, right, Puppet?" Foxy said.

"Heck no. Didn't you say that you were the one who wanted to see if there was really a ghost in there?"

"Yeah, but maybe you should do it."

"No, you really should."

"Looks like we can't agree. Let's settle this with rock-paper-scissors."

They both turned around so they were back to back, preparing their hands to send out their selections.

"Rock...paper...scissors..."

They turned around at the same time and shot their arms forward.

"...SHOOT!"

Looking at their selections for a brief second, Foxy could see that he had rock and that Puppet had scissors.

"Aw, man. Fine, you win this round, Foxy. I'll do it." Puppet turned towards the doorway. "I'm going in. If I don't come out in a few minutes, send help."

Foxy nodded. "Will do. You've got this, Puppet. Just quickly check if there's anything, and if there is a ghost, get right out of the bathroom and tell us."

"Got it. Here goes." Puppet walked into the bathroom, going through the doorway, around the corner, and out of Foxy and Ballora's view.

Puppet made his way into the boys' bathroom. Looking around, it seemed the same as ever. Same sinks, same slightly dirty mirrors, same white stalls. Nothing was visually different about the room so far.

However, that didn't stop Puppet from feeling slightly uneasy. The atmosphere in the room should've been relatively calm, but it felt...nerve-wracking.

Maybe that was himself. He was probably imagining things. He'd just check for a ghost, find none, and then come back out and confirm that Ballora wasn't right. End of story.

There were three stalls in the room, all of them with the doors only slightly cracked. None of them were locked and shut, but the doors were hanging so that nothing was visible inside the stall from where Puppet stood. The only way to see if anything was in there was to open the door further.

Puppet walked to the first stall, the one on the left, and tilted the door open.

Nothing. Just a toilet, toilet paper...basic bathroom necessities.

He walked to the second stall and did the same.

Still nothing. No ghosts, no paranormal figures, nothing that would be unusual for a bathroom.

As he went to the third stall, Puppet really began to doubt that the ghost was real. Sure, it seemed farfetched from the moment it was even brought up, and the only reason any of the animatronics had checked was out of vague curiosity, but now he felt a lot more sure that it was fake. Just one more stall to check, and he'd know for sure.

He grabbed the door with his hand, tilted it open, and-

HOWLING WIND.

THE VOICE INSIDE HIS HEAD.

ANOTHER TIME WILL PASS.

FEEL THE DREAD.

"Welcome to the pizzeria! Enjoy our delicious double cheese pizza and have fun watching the show!"

"Wow, they're so lifelike. I've never seen anything like it..."

"The atmosphere in here isn't half bad."

"So which one is your favorite, everyone? My favorite is-"

"Come on, eat some! It'll make you feel right at home!"

"Hey, kids! I'm holding an extra-special party in the back, for only the nicest children. We have loads of pizza and much more. Would you...like to see?"

"Guys? Where are you? Where did you go? I don't want to be alone..."

"Now I have you."

"N-no! Please! Let me go! Don't do this!"

"It'll all be over soon for you."

"It's...so...cold..."

"Don't even bother to struggle. Your life isn't worth anything to anyone."

"Where...am I? Where...is everyone? Why...am I like this?"

"Uh...hello. My name is...Puppet, I think. Are all of you guys friendly?"

"Don't worry, everyone. I'm always watching out for you. Isn't that what friends are for?"

"Something happened...something bad."

"You can't stop me! I haven't even begun!"

"It's time I tear you apart. Every moment you exist, you threaten the lives of my friends. This is for everyone's good."

"I cannot be stopped. You'll regret this..."

"Everything is going to back to the way it was. No more trouble, no more violence, no more death...we'll just be happy."

"You're worthless. You failed. You can't do a thing."

"They're gone because of what you did."

"Why even try?"

"Save them. Find them. Stop him. Save them. Find them. Stop him. "

"SAVE THEM. SAVE THEM. SAVE THEM."

"SAVE THEM."

...

...

...

"You can't."

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Puppet yelled, slamming the door of the stall shut. He head was spinning, nothing was right, he could hear it all once again...

He stumbled backwards. His fight or flight responses screamed at him to run. He needed to run. Anywhere was better than there. Anywhere was better than here. Anywhere was better than everywhere. Nothing made sense. Life was cruel. Death was encompassing. He was a failure.

Thoughts rushed through his head, and all he knew was that he needed to get away. Far, far, away.

He rushed out of the bathroom, fast as he could. He didn't look back.

He came out and went down the hall. He could barely hear the yells of confusion and concern from his friends, but he didn't stop. They wouldn't understand. Nobody ever did. Nobody ever would.

Puppet rushed down the big hallway. When he got towards the end of it, he saw a doorway to his left. A party room. The perfect place to hide.

He shoved open the door and hurried inside, closing it behind him. He grabbed a chair from the table and put it under the handle so it couldn't be opened. There.

Now he was secure.

Puppet backed away from the door, breathing hard. His breath was so unnatural for an animatronic, where did it come from?

His head was still rushing past thoughts of things he didn't want to think of.

He sat down, curling up on the floor. Quiet, quiet solace...that was all he needed...

Foxy was confused and worried. He didn't understand what was going on. One moment, he had been waiting outside with Ballora, anticipating what Puppet would tell them.

The next, Puppet was screaming from inside the bathroom, and then rushing out of the bathroom, not even looking at them once. He had ignored their cries as he went down the hallway and into a party room, shutting the door behind him.

What was with Puppet? Why did he look so scared? Why had he ran and shut himself in one of the party rooms?

No...could he have actually seen a ghost in there?

In an instant, Foxy and Ballora gave each other anxious looks and hurried down the hall, going towards the room Puppet had shut himself in.

"Ballora, what happened? Did Puppet see a ghost? Why is he acting like this?" Foxy questioned, glancing at Ballora as they ran.

Ballora looked hurt and a little frightened. "I...I don't know! I was just kidding about the whole ghost thing, okay? I only wanted to act creepy and mysterious! I didn't actually think something was in there!"

"Me neither." Foxy replied. "I wasn't expecting Puppet to find anything, but with the way he's acting...he might've found something. We have to make sure he's okay."

They got to the door of the party room. Foxy grabbed the handle on instinct, but he found that he couldn't turn it. Looking through the windows in the doorway, he could see that a chair had been jammed under the handle to prevent it from turning. In the center of the room, Puppet had curled up. His mask's eyes were closed, and he was completely still.

Foxy was worried. Was Puppet okay? Had he been attacked? Had he seen something traumatizing?

"...Puppet?" Ballora tried. "Are you okay?"

"...don't come in. Stay out there." Puppet mumbled, barely audible from the other side of the door.

"We just want to help, Puppet. We saw you all scared like that, and we're scared too. We want to know what's wrong." Foxy said. "Please let us. We want to talk to you."

Puppet shook his head a little. "I don't want to talk to you. I don't want to talk to anyone. Not after...not after..." He fell silent again.

My god...whatever Puppet saw in there had to have been horrible for him to react this emotionally. Foxy thought. He felt a surge of determination inside him. We can't just leave him in there. We have to help.

Foxy reared back, then shoulder-bashed the door. The chair didn't come lose. He tried again, and again, and again. It wiggled a little, but stayed in place.

"Foxy, what are you doing?" Ballora questioned nervously.

"Helping out a friend." Foxy muttered. "Come on, Ballora, help me get this door open."

Ballora looked unsure, but she nodded. "O-Okay."

The two of them reared back together, then shoulder-bashed at the same time. This time, the chair came lose. It toppled to the ground, and the door handle was no longer stuck. Foxy tried it, and it opened this time. He and Ballora went into the room, going over to Puppet.

"Puppet, we can try to help you." Foxy said to the marionette, who continued not to move. "Can you tell us what happened?"

"I'm sorry about that." Ballora apologized. "My entire story was made up. I didn't mean to scare you."

Puppet moved his head to look at her. He sighed, then moved until he was sitting up. "I know you didn't, Ballora. We all knew it was a joke. I feel better now, after...the initial shock."

"Of what? What did you see in there?" Foxy asked sincerely. "Was it a ghost? A monster? Something else?"

"I can't remember. I was just opening the door of the stall on the right, and then suddenly everything was happening in a flash, and the wind was rushing past me, and I heard things, and...it was all so horrifying."

"What did you hear?" Ballora said. "A ghastly scream? A cry of rage?"

Puppet shuddered a little. "I...I can't tell you. What I heard was...it was..." Puppet closed his eyes again. "...nobody should ever have to hear that. None of us in the pizzeria should have to hear...what I heard. All I know is that whatever was in there was nothing good."

"Nothing good, huh? Must not have been a pleasant experience for you." Foxy voiced out loud. He thought for a moment. "Hey, Puppet? I have an idea. Let's all go and see this thing in the bathroom together. If we're together, maybe it won't be so bad. We can overcome it as friends."

Puppet went wide-eyed. "Are...are you sure? What I went through after I opened that stall was horrible. What if the same thing happens to you?"

Foxy grinned reassuringly. "So what? I'm tough, Puppet. Whatever's waiting in that stall, whatever it may be, I can handle it! If we all go in and face this thing, then we can all understand. And once we do, we can take on this thing and stop it!"

"Foxy's right. I bet this thing won't be so scary once it sees that we're all there!" Ballora agreed.

Puppet sighed. "...maybe you guys are right. Well, I'm not comfortable with doing this, but...if you guys are there...then I suppose we can go back in there. But you guys are going to be careful, right?"

"As careful as we can be." Foxy promised.

"Good. Then I guess we should get over there right now."

"Yeah. Let's go and see this thing."

Puppet stood up, and with the three of them together, they departed from the party room to go back to the bathrooms.

They got back to the part of the big hallway where the bathroom doorways where. Right as the three of them were about to enter the doorway to the boys' bathroom, Ballora hesitated and stopped walking.

"Um...I'm a girl, so...I probably shouldn't come in." She said. "Girls don't go into the icky boys' bathroom."

Foxy rolled his eyes. "Oh, pipe down and come in here already. It's fine. We're animatronics, we don't have true genders. Besides, we'll need all the help we can get when we face this thing in the bathroom. You said you'd be there, right?"

"Oh, fine, but just this once. After that, I'm making it my mission not to come into this bathroom anymore. And if by some chance I do, you'd better not make fun of me for it!"

Foxy smirked. "Maybe I will, maybe I won't."

Ballora gave him a look. "You're a hypocrite, you know that? You're telling me to be mature and go in the bathroom I'm not meant to go into. Meanwhile, you seem like you'd take the chance to make fun of me for it if I go in there sometime later."

"Oh, that. Don't worry, if I do that, I'm just doing that to joke around and bug you. In all seriousness, it doesn't matter." Foxy said nonchalantly. "But if we're in a joking mood, be prepared for us to make fun of you and for you to make fun of us."

Ballora groaned. "Goodness. To think we're this restless all the time..."

They all went inside the boys bathroom. Ballora kept giving the bathroom glances, clearly unhappy with the quality of the room in comparison to the relative spick-and-span nature of the girls' bathroom. Foxy kept his focus on the task at hand, following Puppet over to the stall at the end of the room, the third stall in the room.

Puppet pointed at the door. "It was in there. If you're going to open it...well, then brace yourselves."

Foxy did so as he went up to the door and grabbed the handle.

"Alright, everyone. We don't know what's in there, so get ready. Whatever did all that stuff to Puppet earlier could be in that stall, waiting to strike." Foxy warned them. "As Puppet said, we'd better brace ourselves."

Everyone fell silent. With his hand already on the door, Foxy prepared himself for the worst as he pulled open the door and-

"You're nothing compared to me."

"The descent into madness is inevitable."

-nothing. Foxy felt a strange twinge inside his head, but he ignored it as he saw what was in the stall: nothing. Nobody was there. It was an empty stall with the basic bathroom things inside. No presence, no ghosts, not an entity to be seen.

"There's nothing in here." Foxy said, opening the stall door further.

Puppet looked bewildered. "...what? But...but how? I could've sworn there was...something in there..."

Ballora sighed in relief. "Let's be glad there wasn't anything in there after all. I was really afraid for a moment there-" Ballora flinched. "-er, I mean, I definitely wasn't scared! No, I knew it would be fine. Yeah."

Foxy looked at Puppet. "You did see something, right?"

"Well...it was a mix of seeing and hearing and feeling!" Puppet sputtered exasperatedly. "I still can't fully describe it, but I swear there really was something in here! I wasn't lying, I wasn't..."

Foxy patted the marionette's shoulder. "Hey, it's alright. I didn't say that I didn't believe you anymore. Just be glad that the stall was empty, alright? Everything's fine after all. The ghost story wasn't real, there's no ghosts to be found, and whatever was in there is long gone. We can move on now. The end."

Puppet just sighed. "But I could've sworn something happened to me. Those voices that I heard, the things they said..." He shook his head. "...oh, forget it. If it was never real, maybe it's best if I just forget about it. Can we get out of this bathroom now? I want to go back to my box."

"I agree. This bathroom isn't as clean as the girls' bathroom. It's making me feel down." Ballora grumbled, giving disapproving glances all around the bathroom.

"Yeah, we've confirmed that the ghost doesn't exist, so it should be okay for us to leave now." Foxy agreed. "Let's get back to our normal routines. Come on, Puppet, I'll stroll with you back to your box. Ballora's coming with?"

Ballora glared at Foxy. "Hey, I didn't agree to that!" Her expression softened after a moment. "But...I suppose I can. After all, Puppet's been through quite a bit today."

"Thanks, Ballora. I'm glad you guys were here." Puppet thanked them.

Foxy and the others had already left the bathroom and went into the auditorium where Puppet's box was. As they went up to the box, Foxy saw Ballora grumbling under her breath.

"Ergh..." She was mumbling.

"What's up with you?" Foxy asked.

"Oh, nothing. Just thinking about the situation." Ballora said, looking at the floor bitterly. "Things have been so...boring! It's only been a few days and I'm already losing my excitement! There haven't been any security guards or any other humans, so there's no fun to be had in that. I wish there were more action."

Foxy shrugged. "Not much we can except entertain ourselves for the time being. It would've been fun to open and entertain kids...had the grand opening not been cancelled."

That was another thing on the animatronics' table. The day after arriving, Foxy had gotten his databanks remotely updated and learned that the grand opening had not just been delayed, but cancelled altogether. The others found out not long after, and the amount of frustration that everyone felt was big. The plan had originally been to have the place open the day after after Foxy arrived, but now that had been cancelled and the animatronics were indefinitely left in a closed-up pizzeria. Workers for the pizzeria still came on-site during the daytime, but other than that, it had just been the animatronics.

Since then, things had changed. Barely a day after they got the news, Freddy had run off somewhere else and was nowhere to be found, leaving everybody else to their own devices. Why Freddy had disappeared somewhere else in the building just after the grand opening was cancelled was a mystery to Foxy, but he suspected that the bear must have a reason for it. Still, it mystified him.

"Wait a moment, Ballora. That story you came up with it...you made it all yourself, right?"

"Well, actually...I mostly made it myself, but the original version was actually from Freddy." Ballora answered. "Guess I forgot to mention that."

"So he was the one who originally came up with it? Hmm." Foxy muttered. His thoughts wandered back to Freddy, and he decided to ask the others what they thought about Freddy suddenly leaving. "Speaking of, where is Freddy, anyhow? I haven't seen him since he ran off."

"I'm not sure either." Ballora commented. "He just ran off after we told him about the grand opening news. Don't have any idea where he is."

"Um...well...I do." Puppet whispered.

"What?!" Foxy and Ballora exclaimed.

Puppet nodded. "Yeah, I wasn't planning on telling you guys, but since you helped me today, I kind of owe it to both of you. Freddy told me to keep this a secret, but I might as well admit it now. See, here's what happened..."

FLASHBACK

Puppet was walking down the small hallway. He had just grabbed some food from the kitchen and was walking back to his box when he saw Freddy run by.

"Huh?" Puppet said. "Freddy, what are you doing?"

"What?" Freddy stammered, stopping and turning. "Oh, Puppet! Hey! Uh, since you're here, I kind of need to ask you something." The bear approached the marionette. "I'm going off somewhere else in the building. Can't tell anybody where it is. Can you keep a secret?"

"Uh, sure." Puppet accepted. "What are you trying to do?"

"There's a security guard in the building. Since we got rid of the last one, I got a report that a new one would be coming. The others didn't get the same report, so they don't know."

Puppet tilted his head. "And...why did only you get it?"

Freddy shrugged. "Not sure. Guess it was sent to my databanks on accident. Anyway, I heard that the guard's going to be looking around the place, so I'm going to be handling him and cleaning up the mess. I might not be back for a couple of days, too. This is my job to do by myself, so don't tell Foxy and Ballora, okay? I don't want them to interfere."

Puppet nodded. "If you say so."

Freddy grinned. "Great, thanks! Got to go and prepare now, so I'll see you in a couple of days. Bye." Freddy ran off, going past Puppet to the main room.

Puppet watched him go with an odd expression before he kept going to his box, lugging the food in his arms all the while.

FLASHBACK END

"...and that's what he said before he ran off." Puppet concluded.

"You're telling me that Freddy went to go hunt another guard, and he didn't tell us first?" Foxy exclaimed. "But why?"

"I don't know. I guess he wanted to hunt a guard solo this time."

Ballora was scowling. "He really did that? He's off hunting a human and he didn't even get us in on it? The nerve of that bear...the next time I see him, I'm going to give him a piece of my mind!"

"I'm going to have to talk to him, too. He shouldn't be leaving us out of this stuff." Foxy voiced. He didn't approve of Freddy doing things like this.

"Well, do what you will. I don't want to get involved in all that." Puppet commented, going up to his box and climbing up so that he was on top of it. Puppet gave them a pleading look. "Just don't tell him that I told you, alright? I don't want him getting on my case."

"We'll try not to, but if he does get on your case, that's out of our control."

"I guess that's okay if that happens, but still, it would suck. Until then, I'm going back into my box so I can do something more important. See you both at a later time." Puppet sunk into his box, going downwards until he had disappeared from view.

Ballora and Foxy both stared at each other, unsure what to do now that Puppet was gone.

"So, uh...should we go try and find out where Freddy went? He can't leave the building, so he should be somewhere in here, right?" Ballora asked.

"He should be, but I don't think we'll be able to find him if we look for him. We looked for him the day he went missing, remember?" Foxy reminded her. "We searched every room we could enter and we couldn't find him. And since he can't leave the building, the only explanation is that he's in a room that's hidden to us. It'd be a pain to try and find a room that's hidden, so I think the best thing to do is to just do our own thing until he comes back out into the open. Once he reappears, we can tell him off for hunting a guard without us."

"I suppose that'll work. Freddy's going to show up at some point, right? It's not like he can stay hidden forever."

"Exactly. And then there's the matter of Puppet. Have you noticed that he's been spending a lot of time in his box?"

"Yeah, I did. It's like the rest of this place doesn't even exist to him. I wish he would come out more."

"Then that's another plan. Someday, we're going to have to convince Puppet to go outside of his box more. He spends too much time in there. Until then, I say we just hang out, since the day isn't over yet. What were you planning to do?"

"To dance, of course! I was hoping to get some practice in."

"Can I come and watch you, then? Not like I have much else to do. This place is a lot more uneventful then I thought."

Ballora looked overjoyed. "You'd really want to come and watch me dance? Well, you don't even need to ask! Of course you can come and watch! Wow, I...I never expected anyone to want to come watch my dancing. I actually feel a bit excited now!"

Foxy grinned. "Hey, what are friends for? I can be a second opinion on your dancing, in case it needs any improvement."

"Aw, it's flawless, Foxy. You won't have much to say."

"We'll see, Ballora. We'll see."

"Oh, you'll see, alright!" Ballora exclaimed boldly. "Come on, let's go!" She grabbed Foxy's arm and dragged him along. Foxy, amused at Ballora's enthusiasm, let her pull him out of the auditorium.

As they passed through the big hallway, Foxy glanced at another set of doors that remained boarded-up: the metal doors in the very hallway he was in.

"Hey, Ballora. Quick question." Foxy asked, making Ballora come to a stop. "Have you ever wondered what's in that room? It seems like it's off-limits to us, but don't you feel curious about what might be in there?"

"Constantly." Ballora replied. "Too bad we don't have a way to get in. We could peek in, but those boards make it hard to see through the windows in the doors."

"Mmm. Hope we'll get to see inside someday."

"Me too." Ballora stood in silence, then perked up. "Wait, we're getting distracted! Come on, Foxy, I want to show you my dancing already! Let's go!" She re-grabbed Foxy's arm and kept pulling him along.

"Alright, alright! Just wanted to ask about the door. Quit pulling so hard!" Foxy laughed. Ballora sure was excitable when it came to her dancing. Watching her would at least make the night somewhat more interesting than just sitting around aimlessly, so that would be his plan for the rest of the night...

From inside the stall of the bathroom, a presence continued to linger. Did they understand what they had seen? Would it be enough?

Those memories should stay inside him now. Hopefully, he'll be able to remember. When he does, I hope he finally picks the right path forwards.

I trust him.

Chapter Text

Ballora hummed a tune as she danced on her stage. She was singing a delicate tune as she danced from side to side, obviously trying to keep the movements just as graceful.

In the rows of red chairs facing the stage, Foxy sat in the front row, quietly watching Ballora's dancing and singing act with both a respectful and critiquing mind. In the row behind him, Puppet was also a part of Ballora's small audience, watching her show with a look of utter bemusement.

This was what was happening tonight. Like the previous few nights, tonight was another uneventful night. Since Foxy yet again had nothing in particular to do, he was planning to sleep the day away until Ballora had invited him to watch her dancing routine once again. Foxy, taking the invitation in stride, accepted. He was willing to watch and give his honest opinion.

What really surprised Foxy about the situation was the fact that Puppet was also there, which was unusual for him. Puppet never usually agreed to do something like this; almost all of the time, whenever Foxy or the others asked him to do something with them, they were always met with the same excuse: that Puppet was mixed in some 'important business' and couldn't find time to come up there. He never specified what this important business was, nor did he allow any of them to come inside his box and see what he was up to. Foxy was putting up with this for now, but he decided that if Puppet got too obsessed with being inside his box, then Foxy would have to come down there whether Puppet liked it or not to see what the marionette was doing that was apparently so important.

Knowing all this, it was certainly odd to see Puppet willingly come out of his box to join in with the others' daily activities. Foxy wondered whether Puppet had actually agreed to do it or whether he had been dragged into it against his will.

At that moment, Ballora's act finally came to an end, and she faced the others with an expecting look. "Well, that was my dance! The one I came up with yesterday, you know. What do you two think?"

"Well, it's certainly an improvement over yesterday. I remember that you were doing it pretty awkwardly last night." Foxy recalled. "I can say that the version of that dance that you've done today is an improvement, but I think it'll need some work. You should keep practicing."

Puppet, meanwhile, just gave them a look. "Am I finally going to get to say something? I'm incredibly confused about why I was invited here and I need somebody to give me an answer."

"Didn't you know? We're here to watch her new dance." Foxy said. "Did you not know that?"

"Not at all. I was never told about dancing, I was just told by Ballora that we were going to have some kind of urgent meeting here and that I needed to attend it."

"Oh, well...I may have made up a few details about that so I could get you to come." Ballora revealed, grinning sheepishly. Then she straightened up. "But in a way, this is urgent! After all, I really needed to get some real spectators to watch my dance moves so I could have an audience to critique my dancing abilities."

Puppet groaned. "That isn't urgent or important. If there's nothing vital that I have to do here, then I think I'm going to go back to my box." Puppet stood up.

"Woah, woah, hey!" Ballora exclaimed, looking cross. "Don't you leave just yet! I haven't even started, barely!"

"But I have other things to do today!"

"Like what?"

"Er..." Puppet shifted uncomfortably. "...that's private. Can't tell."

Ballora just sighed. "It is really this hard to find an audience in this place that's willing to watch me?"

"Hey, I was willing." Foxy reminded her. "And even if I'm not for some reason, you could always show them to off to a security guard if another one comes in. That's another potential audience member."

Ballora perked up. "Hrm. Come to think of it, that's not a bad idea."

"I'd hope it isn't. After all, we're still waiting for this place to open up, so if we never get any human kids to perform for, security guards are always the next-best thing. They're humans too."

"Yeah, I see your point. I'll make sure to do that if another one comes into the place."

"Speaking of guards, that reminds me of the one we were chasing around yesterday." Foxy brought up. He smirked. "Wow, that one. He was one of the most anxious ones we've ever had to deal with. The minute we scared him, he ran out of here faster than any of us could blink! And the look on his face was just priceless."

"I know, right? What a funny round of scaring!" Ballora laughed. "I like dealing with guards that act that scared around us. Makes it a bit more fun to see them squirm."

The memory made Foxy laugh a bit in his head. Yesterday, another security guard had finally arrived at the pizzeria, after a couple days of no humans in sight. The animatronics were quick to take the opportunity and decided to pull off a big scare on the guard. The guard had not taken the heat well, and he had ran out of the restaurant merely an hour after his shift began. How he had entered and escaped was still a mystery to the animatronics, as the entrance was still boarded shut, but they still took much enjoyment out of that round of scaring. They had been merciful that time and decided not to do anything else to the guard, because the guard was likely partly traumatized by the event and would probably never tell. Or if he did, nobody would believe him.

Foxy remembered that using the term 'the animatronics' was actually too vague, because it had only been him and Ballora that had done it. Freddy was still nowhere to be found, and Puppet had refused to come out of his box yet again that time. That time was very weird. Puppet wasn't really into scaring guards the same way that the others were, and he mostly tagged along as a spectator, only sometimes contributing to the scare if he was forced into it.

But that day, he had refused to be a part of it entirely, even though he always came before to watch them go at it. Foxy had felt really confused that day.

Speaking of that...

"Hey, I only just remembered- why wouldn't you join us for that, Puppet?" Foxy asked the marionette at the row behind him. "We know that you're not really the kind of animatronic to get involved in the security guard stuff, but you always came to watch before. What gives?"

"I already told you before: I was busy that day." Puppet clarified. "I had stuff to do."

"Yeah, yet again. You've barely been out here with us because you keep sitting inside your box all day long. We only just managed to get you out of there today, and that's because Ballora tricked you into it! When are you going to stop keeping to your box and start being out here with us more often? We'd really appreciate your company, you know!"

Puppet shook his head. "Listen, Foxy. While I don't mind hanging out with you and Ballora and Freddy every now and then, you already know that I have things to handle in my life that aren't involved with being with you guys. I get wrapped up in other matters and deals that I have to focus my attention on, things that I can't have you guys there for. I know it may seem selfish, but you guys wouldn't understand, okay? It's complicated, and that's why I can't tell you about it or let you guys see any of it."

"But you're doing it all inside that box!" Ballora spoke up incredulously. "I'd understand if you were handling it out here in the pizzeria, but you always have to handle this so-called 'important business' while you're in your box. What could you even do inside a space that small? At least my room is spacious and decorated and full of activities. A box wouldn't have much of anything."

"As I said, you wouldn't understand. My box may seem like an ordinary box, but there's more to it than you think."

"Like what? What things are in it?" Foxy pressed, wanting Puppet to actually explain more.

"I can't tell you, okay? All I can say is that if you knew, you'd be impressed. But at the current time, the matters inside my box are personal, and I can't let you guys see inside. Maybe someday, I can invite both of you and Freddy in to visit, but as of right now, it's off-limits to everyone except for me."

"Come on, you could probably reveal a thing or two. What's inside? A tv?"

Puppet grinned. "Actually, yes, there is a tv. I can confirm that."

"You have a tv inside your box? What?" Ballora stammered confusedly.

"I was joking when I mentioned the tv, but you're telling me that there really is a tv in there? Get serious." Foxy said.

Puppet chuckled. "Oh, you'd be surprised, Foxy. You'd be surprised."

"Surprised, huh? Let me guess: you have parties in there?" Ballora guessed dryly.

"On occasion, I do. My box has all that and more to it, and I can say that it's a lot more than you guys give it credit for. I may not be able to show you as of now, but trust me on that."

Foxy just shrugged. "Someday, you'll have to prove that. Until then...I'm wondering something. Where's Freddy?"

"Didn't you mention that he was probably somewhere hidden yesterday?" Ballora asked.

"Well, yeah, but I actually saw him today. I tried to ask him about what he had been doing, but all he did was say 'I'll tell you later. I have to go do something' and then run off. No idea where he is or what he's doing now."

That was true. Foxy had seen Freddy earlier today in the big hallway. Startled by the bear's sudden reappearance, Foxy had badgered the bear with questions on things like the security guard Freddy had dealt with in secret and the other things he had been up to, but Freddy had dodged each and every question that Foxy had asked. Instead, Freddy had briefly told Foxy that he needed to do something and then ran off towards the main room. Foxy would have followed him, but Ballora had came by and asked for him to come watch her dancing, so Foxy had decided to leave Freddy alone for the time being. Despite that, he was still curious about what Freddy was up to.

"That's a bit worrying. I wonder what he's up to now..." Ballora wondered.

"We should go and check on him to make sure that nothing's wrong." Foxy suggested. "I'm curious about what he's trying to do."

Everybody nodded and stood up, leaving Ballora's room.

It didn't take the animatronics long to find Freddy. Barely ten or so seconds after they left the room, they were going down the big hallway when the bear himself came out of the small hallway, looking around. He spotted them pretty quickly.

"Ah, there you guys are! I was just about to go and find you." Freddy greeted, coming over to them.

"That's our line. We were coming to find where you are." Foxy replied, grinning. "It's good to see you nonetheless. What's up? Why were you looking for us?"

"I wanted to find you because you were the people I wanted to see today, of course."

"We're the only other animatronics in this building, though." Puppet commented.

"Ah, I know. Doesn't make it any less true that I was looking for you guys. Anyway, now that I've found you all, I've come to invite you to something I just finished setting up! I created a setup for a cooking show on the stage in the main room, and I want you guys to come and participate."

"Cooking...show?" Foxy stuttered. "That's new. When did you learn how to cook?"

"Recently, of course! I can now consider myself the best cook in this entire place, thanks to that training."

"He's not wrong. He might actually be the only one in this place that's capable of cooking as of now." Puppet agreed.

"But what is he meant to do with the food? We don't eat things. We're animatronics." Foxy mentioned.

"I mean, I started it more as a hobby than anything else, but you guys can eat, remember?" Freddy said. "Of course, we can't eat like humans can, but we do have those tanks and pipes inside our bodies that let us process food. That's close enough to eating."

"Your hobby is cooking, though? That's unusual. We're animatronics." Ballora uttered. "Our hobbies are scaring guards, not...cooking."

"Hey, you act like scaring guards is all that we're meant to do, but we do more than that. You dance, Puppet hangs in his box, and now, I've taken up cooking. What's so wrong about that? You guys are always complaining that we don't have anything to do, so what's so wrong about me taking up cooking so I have something to do all night long?"

"Two good points in a row. Freddy's good at this." Foxy admit.

Ballora sighed. "Yes, I will admit that he is making sense. Alright, then, fine. Where do we need to go to do this cooking show thing?"

"As I said, it's on the stage in the main room. Right this way!" Freddy directed them, pointing down the small hallway. He went down it, gesturing the others to follow him.

Foxy did so without complaint. He figured he might as well see this. Freddy had made his case for why him cooking was fine, and now he just wanted them to participate in a cooking show. Foxy was sure that it couldn't be so bad as long as they went along with it, and it would certainly make for a more interesting way to spend time then pacing or sitting around.

He wondered what Freddy's setup would be like. Probably just a single oven and stove, as well as a fridge- not like he could get much else.

So Foxy found himself startled when he came into the main room and witnessed a much bigger setup. There was a large table with lots of space onstage that stretched along the length of the stage itself, with cooking equipment and supplies laid out along the counter, including a knife block, a cutting board, a pan, a toaster, and even (oddly enough) a gumball machine. On the back wall of the stage was a large double-fridge and a spacious stove with two different ovens to make use of, as well as an average-sized whiteboard.

On the area right near the stage was a table with three chairs facing the stage, one each for Foxy, Puppet, and Ballora. Plates and utensils had already been set up for them.

"What the heck?! It's...big." Foxy exclaimed. "I wasn't expecting something this huge..."

"Me neither! Wow!" Ballora joined. "And look! Three seats, one for each of us! I call the seat in the middle!" She hurriedly sat down there. "Alright, middle seat! I like being in the middle. It makes me feel more important in the whole situation."

"I guess I can't argue that this looks kind of impressive." Puppet voiced.

"Freddy, how long did it take you to build this?" Foxy asked.

"Oh, only around...half an hour or so."

"Only half an hour?! I was expecting you to take way longer to build something like this!"

Freddy shrugged. "Maybe, but it wasn't really that hard to get this all put up. Just some elbow grease and a lot of determination to make a good cooking show is all I needed."

"Still, that's a pretty short amount of time for something like this. And the whole time, we didn't even hear any noise coming from this room; no hammering, no thumping, nothing at all. That just brings up the question of how you did this so quietly."

The bear shrugged again. "I dunno the answer to that one, but...have you guys ever considered that your conversations get pretty loud?"

Foxy made to reject that response, but thought for a moment. "...huh. For some reason, I actually feel like you might be right on this one."

"We talk...loudly? Hey, are you insinuating something?" Ballora shouted, looking a little offended for some reason. "I don't talk loud at all, Freddy! TAKE THAT BACK!"

"Yowch!" Puppet cringed, covering his nonexistent ears. "Calm down, Ballora. Not only did he probably not mean that, but you're also proving his point with all that needless yelling."

"So I guess Freddy really was right, then." Foxy commented, smirking.

"Maybe, but who knows?" Freddy wondered. "I just worked until I was done, didn't focus on the noise at all. Anyway, it's time to start this! Let's start with the title reveal!"

Freddy turned to the whiteboard, took a nearby marker, and scribbled onto the whiteboard:

Funtime Freddy's Grand and Glorious Cooking Show

"That's the name? Well, no denying that it's dramatic, but I've seen more creative ones." Ballora critiqued.

"Aw, don't be like that. It's definitely a cool name, right?" Freddy asked. Before anybody could respond, he held his hand up. "Ah! Enough talk, guys. It's time for you all to eat the dishes I made. Everyone, take your seats."

"Okay, I guess." Foxy accepted, taking his seat on Ballora's left. Likewise, Puppet took his own seat on Ballora's right.

"Everyone seated? Good, now we can begin!" Freddy cleared his throat pipe. "Welcome, one and all, to Funtime Freddy's Grand and Glorious Cooking Show! We've got some great dishes lined up for today, and a trio of people that are ready and waiting to try them! Let's get started! First...the cooking process! The dishes are almost done, so it's time for me to put the finishing touches on! This will only take a minute! Please wait while I finish up."

With that, Freddy clapped his hands, and the stage's red curtain moved and obscured the entire stage from view.

How did he do that? Foxy thought confusedly. Well, another mystery to add to the pile, I guess.

After the curtain shut itself, the animatronics heard a series of noises from the other side of the curtain. It was clear that whatever Freddy was doing with the food, he was really into it.

Oh boy. Hopefully he knows what he's doing. If my gears get blocked because of some rotten food, I'm not going to be happy.

That bear sounds like he's doing a lot of work. What, were the finishing touches a lot more than we guessed? Ballora thought. Still, I hope the food is good. She paused to sniff the air. That smell...is that spinach?

This had better be good. Puppet thought expectantly. If Freddy's going to go to all the trouble of making us good food, then he better follow through with his promise. Otherwise, this won't turn out very nicely.

"Almost ready! Just hold on!" Freddy shouted as the series of sounds continued. "If you have any questions, feel free to ask them. I am listening."

"Can I please excuse myself?" Foxy asked, wondering if he could try to get out of this in case things went south.

"Not until after the show, Foxy. Be patient!"

"Do we get combo sizes? I'd like mine to be a medium, please." Puppet voiced.

"Uh-uh." Freddy refused. "Sorry, my process is set. One size only."

"Got any sweet food in there? I'm hoping for some cake! Especially one with pink frosting." Ballora giggled.

"Nope! Sorry, but cakes are bad for us. As growing animatronics, we're going to need healthy food. That way, we can stay in prime condition for scaring and other situations in our daily lives. You should all know this."

"But we don't grow. We're animatronics. We're the same size for the rest of our lives." Foxy pointed out.

"That doesn't matter! Healthy food is still better."

Foxy, Ballora, and Puppet looked at each other. They had run out of questions to ask, so they decided to continue quietly waiting.

Just a minute later, and the red curtain finally parted, revealing the stage. Freddy had a delighted expression on his face as he observed his handiwork: three dishes with tops over them, concealing the food that was inside.

"My craftsmanship is complete! The three of you, it's time to try the food I made!" Freddy announced, grinning enthusiastically. "So, which one of you would like to go first?"

For the first few seconds after Freddy finished speaking, nobody moved. Than, unexpectedly, Puppet raised his hand.

"You know what? I might as well try this and get it over with. I'll go first." Puppet responded.

Foxy gazed at Puppet curiously. That was new. Puppet was usually the type of guy to go last, not preferring to get himself involved early on. This time, however, it seemed that the marionette preferred to try the food first and get it done early on.

"Alright, then! The first dish is for you, Puppet!" Freddy carried the first platter over and placed it right in front of Puppet, then took the top off. It turned out to be a large bowl of ramen noodles, steaming from the heat.

"Hmm, doesn't look terrible. Let me try this." Puppet grabbed his fork, readied himself, and then grabbed some ramen noodles before putting them through his mask's mouth hole and into his mouth. He paused for a moment, looking strangely unexpressive. "These noodles...they're...they're...actually, I'm not sure what to say about them."

"What do you think? Tastes good?" Freddy asked hopefully.

"Well...I can definitely say that it doesn't taste bad, but...the taste is just...indescribable. I'd probably need a second opinion to be sure of how I feel."

"So you're neutral, huh? Fine with me!" Freddy accepted, seeming okay with Puppet's response since he had said that the noodles weren't bad. He turned to Foxy and Ballora. "Time for the next person to go! Which one of you is feeling up to it?"

"I guess I'll go." Ballora agreed. "Can't be that bad, right?"

"Of course not! You'll love this next dish, I assure you." Freddy turned, walked back to the stage, and picked up the second platter. He carried it over and set it in front of Ballora. "Here you go, Ballora! This one's all yours!" He took off the top, to reveal a plate of roasted chicken...or roasted turkey. Foxy couldn't tell.

"Ooh." Ballora gasped, looking a little awed. "This looks kind of good. What is it, Freddy?"

"It's my specialty food...roasted mystery meat! I call it that because it's a mystery in itself. It is roasted chicken? Roasted turkey? Personally, I think it tastes like both!" Freddy chuckled. "It'll taste good anyway, so dig in!"

Ballora looked at it a little apprehensively at first, but got some resolve a few seconds later. "Okay, I'll eat it. Here goes nothing!" She grabbed the knife and fork, cut off a few big pieces of the meat, and devoured them. In a similar manner to Puppet, she didn't say anything at first, seeming to be in thought over the food. "Hmm...well...it's hard to say, but I think..." She paused again. Suddenly, she froze like a statue, and her expression changed. With a look of slightly queasy look on her face, she made a very odd sound. "Oh no. I don't think my systems are agreeing with this."

Foxy gave her a concerned look. "You feeling okay, Ballora? You don't look so good."

"I don't feel very good..." She stood up abruptly. "I'll...be right back. I need to...empty the gunk out of my storage tanks." She turned 90 degrees to the left and ran off down the small hallway.

"Huh, guess the food was a little rough on her." Freddy commented, looking a little worried, but mostly calm at the same time.

"Do you think she's going to be okay?" Foxy asked. "That food you gave her might not have been so good."

"She'll be fine. She's off to empty her storage tank, so anything negative in the dish will be flushed out of her pipes."

"Oh, geez. Uh...be right back. I'm going to go check on her, just to make sure nothing's wrong." Puppet told them. He stood up and went down the hallway that Ballora had ran off down.

Now they're both gone? Gee, now I'm left at Freddy's mercy. Foxy thought anxiously. If Ballora's dish was a disaster to eat, then I can't see how mine will be any-"

"Last but not least- your dish, Foxy!" Freddy revealed. He had already carried the platter over while Foxy was distracted and set it down on the table. Taking off the top, it revealed that on the platter was three cakes, coated with some sugar and whipped cream.

"What are these?" Foxy stuttered.

"Delicious funnel cakes, guaranteed to be sweet and sugary. But don't think it's unhealthy- I added extra ingredients to make it both tasty and somewhat nutritious. You'll be sure to like these! Eat up!"

Foxy stared at the cakes. They looked average enough, but after seeing the last dish, Foxy wasn't sure whether he could trust these cakes to be any good. Would Freddy's cooking finally prove to be something worth eating, or would it be another dud? If the latter was true, than Foxy didn't want to risk eating something that could put him in the same situation as Ballora.

Still, he knew he couldn't just up and leave. Freddy was waiting for a response, and Foxy didn't want to just bolt out of the room to avoid the food without even trying to take at least one bite. He knew that would be a very unpleasant thing to do and would probably hurt Freddy's feelings in the process. He wasn't exactly perfect, but he wasn't one to be unnecessarily rude either, and he did at least want to satisfy the bear.

He decided he'd give the food a chance.

"I'll eat it." Foxy agreed, and he took his fork, got a chunk of one of the cakes, and popped it into his mouth. He let his taste sensors scan it and process it.

He waited for a result. What would it be like?

...

Finally, his scanners gave him the feedback, giving him a flavorful sensation inside his mouth. It was...positive?

It really was positive. The cakes weren't just average, either- they actually tasted pretty sweet!

"Wow. It's...great. Like, really great!" Foxy exclaimed after a moment of shock. Liking the first bite already, he took another bite. And another. And another. The first cake was consumed and transported into his food storage tanks within less than a minute. Sure enough, every bite tasted just as flavorful as the first.

Freddy looked ecstatic at Foxy's response. "Really? You like it? Wow! Funnily enough, that was the dish where I was the most experimental, so I wasn't sure what you were going to say...but I had a feeling that you'd like it, and you did!"

"More than just like it. I'd say that this is one of the best sweet dishes I've ever had the pleasure of processing!"

Freddy grinned. "I'm just glad you enjoyed it. Thanks, Foxy."

"What's with all the yelling? Did Foxy hate his dish too?" Ballora asked as she walked back into the room, looking much better. Puppet came from behind her, also looking curious.

"Oh, guys! Get over here! You have to try these funnel cakes that Freddy made!" Foxy called. "They're really good!"

Puppet and Ballora gave Foxy surprised looks. They looked at each other, nodded, and came over. They each took a bite of another one of the cakes. They both paused...then their faces brightened up.

"Wow, that's...good. Really good." Puppet admit. "This is way more satisfactory than the noodles."

"You can say that again!" Ballora cheered, quickly grabbing another forkful of the cake. "It's delicious! My sensors keep sending positive response after positive response!"

"Wow, that's...good. Really good." Puppet admit. "This is way more satisfactory than the noodles. Hmm...in that case, I think I have to reevaluate this entire show. Freddy, you did great. I think I might give this show a five out of five stars on my website just for these cakes alone."

"Awesome!" Freddy responded cheerily. However, this quickly came with a look of confusion. "Wait, website? You have your own website?"

"I certainly do. It's where I try food and give them a review. Been going pretty good so far; people are visiting and I've almost reached triple digits in terms of how many followers I have."

"You have a food review website? But how? As far as I know, you don't have a computer." Foxy countered, having never heard Puppet mention owning a website before.

"I do have one. It's down inside my box, hooked up to the Internet and everything. Really nice to have."

"Again with the box. You're telling me that you fit a computer AND a tv inside the box? That sounds pretty farfetched. Something's definitely up with this box of yours."

"I agree. You've been telling us we aren't allowed to see inside, but that box seems a little too odd at this point." Foxy decided. "I think it's about time you let us see the inside of it."

"You know, you guys are right. Time to break in!" Freddy suddenly shouted, and he raced off down the small hallway.

"Yeah! Investigation!" Ballora joined, going after Freddy.

"What?! Hey, I didn't say you could go in there! Get back here!" Puppet called, chasing after them.

Better hurry up and see what's about to go in. Maybe I can actually get a look inside the box. Foxy thought. He went after the rest of his friends.

Foxy got to the auditorium last, just in time to see Puppet standing in front of his box, holding out his arms to prevent Freddy and Ballora from getting any closer. Somehow, the marionette had beaten both of them to his box despite both Freddy and Ballora having a head start.

"I've said this time and time again: my box is off-limits to everyone except myself." Puppet reminded them sternly.

"Come on, can't we take a small peek?" Freddy asked.

"No. The inside of my box isn't ready to be seen by any of you. I still have to take some time to prepare it. I promise you'll all be invited to look inside of it one day, but that day isn't today. For now, you all need to back off."

This statement was followed by some more protesting, but eventually, everyone finally backed off. As Puppet climbed up to his box, Foxy went over to Freddy and Ballora. He decided he'd be a bit mischievous and craft a plan with them.

"Psst. Guys. Hey." Foxy whispered, getting their attention. "I know what to do. Let's trick him into thinking we're leaving, put him in a false sense of security. Then, when tomorrow rolls around, we can come back and get into the box when he least expects it. How does that sound?"

The others nodded in agreement. They broke their momentary huddle and faced Puppet.

"Alright, Puppet, we accept what you say. We won't enter your box, and frankly, we're okay with that." Foxy told Puppet, keeping a straight face and sounding as honest as possible.

"Good. That's good." Puppet replied, looking a bit happier. "Thanks for considering how I feel. Don't worry, you'll all get your chance to see inside the box someday. Just be patient."

Puppet disappeared inside his box, and the others left the room and went into the nearby big hallway, pretending to leave and lose interest in the box.

"So now that that plan's underway, just want to ask something." Foxy spoke up. "Have you guys seen any security guards lately?"

"The dead ones, or the alive ones?" Ballora questioned.

Foxy made a face. "The alive ones."

"Haven't seen any alive ones. Not since we got that last guard a couple days ago."

"Me neither. It's been devoid of humans around here." Freddy added, nodding.

"Well, I guess we'll just have to wait for more on that regard." Foxy decided. "Until then, it's back to being by ourselves. Let me see how much time we have left." Foxy looked around, spotting a clock on a nearby wall and looking at what it read. "Five-thirty? Woops, looks like it's going to be morning soon. We'd better get back to sleep before six."

"Sounds good. I need to hurry and clean up my set before we have to sleep, so I'd better go do that." Freddy voiced, and he ran off down the nearby small hallway.

"And I'll need to practice my dance moves! I want to get in some more time with them before six. See you tomorrow, Foxy!" Ballora said, and she ran off to the other end of the big hallway, went into her room, and shut the door behind her.

Foxy, meanwhile, went in the same direction Freddy had went, having to go to the main room in order to get to his own room and his cove, where he would sleep. As he arrived in the main room, he saw Freddy already in the process of picking up dishes and other things around the kitchen setup.

"Good luck taking that all down. Seems like it might take a little bit." Foxy commented, eyeing the kitchen setup and how much there was in it.

"Eh, it shouldn't take too long if I work fast and efficiently. I'll be done by six." Freddy assured Foxy. "You're going to sleep, right? See you tomorrow, then."

"You too. Bye!" Foxy waved at Freddy and departed to his own room, ready to get some sleep.

Chapter Text

It was the fifth night since Foxy had arrived at the new location, and tonight was spent doing a familiar routine. A routine with boredom, that was.

Yet again, the animatronics had run out of things to do and were bored out of their minds. Foxy had lost count of the number of times this had happened since he had arrived, and he was annoyed to be in this situation again. Now he and the others were sitting around one of the tables in the auditorium, staring off into space and moaning to themselves over the rampant boredom that had taken over the mildly uninteresting day that they were experiencing.

This time, the boredom was even worse. Not just Foxy, but also everyone else was sharing the boredom this time around. Ballora had gotten tired of dancing and was grumbling irritably. Freddy had temporarily lost his enthusiasm for cooking and looked lost. Even Puppet had gotten sick of whatever it was that he did in his box and had come out to sit around aimlessly with the rest of them.

For ten minutes or so, nobody said a word, choosing instead to bury themselves in their apathetic thoughts in hopes of thinking of another way to fill in the gaping hole in their routine. Occasionally, they glanced at each other, as if expecting someone to contribute an idea, but nobody did.

Eventually, the silence was broken. Freddy looked up at them once again and managed to form a sentence. "I'm so bored."

"Me too." Foxy groaned.

"Me three." Ballora joined, still grumbling.

"Me four." Puppet sighed.

After that first exchange, there was another few seconds of silence. Then Freddy spoke again.

"Why does it have to be so boring? Why is it that we can't find anything to do? We never had to deal with boredom this often at the old place." Freddy pointed out.

"That's because we had more things to entertain ourselves with." Foxy reminded the bear. "But now that we've moved, we don't have any of those old ways anymore. And boy, does it suck. Every day of the week so far, I've woken up with this feeling of boredom. Why can't I wake up and feel motivated or overly excited? That would be preferable."

"I feel like that has to be because there's no security guards around. Security guard scaring was and still is our forte, but now that we're at this new place, it's like we're going through a security guard drought. If that makes any sense."

"Yeah, I understand what you mean." Puppet remarked understandingly. "I guess we could say that the number of security guards in this place is comparable to what happened to that guard that came on the day Foxy arrived here."

Foxy gave Puppet a look. "How so?"

"I mean to say that it's like that because both that guard and the number of guards around here seems to have...fallen."

There was a brief silence, quickly broken by a few supportive chuckles from Freddy. Foxy snorted, but didn't laugh. Had Puppet just attempted to make a pun? If so, Foxy didn't know what to tell him. That pun he just made was somewhat clever, but not funny enough to get any notable reactions.

Especially not from Ballora, who just glared at Puppet.

"Oh, come on. You barely tried with that pun." She critiqued. "Can't you come up with something better?"

"Hey, I thought that was pretty good!" Puppet retaliated, a little offended. "It relates to the guards, and both things fell. Isn't that a little funny?"

"You have to explain the joke, Puppet?" Freddy commented. "Gee, that's detailed. What, did you go to comedy college to learn that one?"

Foxy snickered a bit. "Good one, Freddy. I do have to agree that Puppet's pun could've been a bit better to get some good laughs. In fact, I bet I could've done a better job if I had to tell a pun there."

"Nah, I'm the funny guy." Freddy protested. "I could get the most laughs if it came down to it."

"Come on, don't discredit me! I'm funny enough myself!" Puppet claimed. "I know because I learned some comedy from an online video! That counts for something, right?!"

"Guys, you're all being ridiculous." Ballora cut in. "I'm the funniest one here. I've been at this location for longer than you guys, and I've had plenty of experience performing in different ways. I may be a dancer, but I bet I could make people laugh, too!"

"No, no, no, I was the original! I was one of the first-ever animatronics made!" Freddy boasted. "So since I've been around for so long, I'd know every nook and cranny of comedy! I'm the funniest!"

"Again, I learned from online videos. I've actually done research." Puppet continued. "I go on that one video site all the time to do it. I even upload my own videos on the Internet myself."

"But how?" Freddy stuttered.

"I do it in my box. That's where my computer is."

"What? Really? You get to have Internet in your box, but I don't get to have it in my room? That's not fair."

"Freddy's got a point. If you can get wi-fi, why can't we get it as well? We should be able to have the chance to go online, too." Foxy argued.

"You guys don't pay for it though. I was the one who started paying to get us service here in the first place. This place used to have its own wi-fi network, but it got disconnected after the grand opening was cancelled, so I just bought us a new one and got a crew to set it up. However, since I'm the only one who regularly keeps up with the payments, I'm the only one who gets Internet. If you guys were to pitch in and make your own payments, I may consider getting the Internet extended to the entire place."

"Wait, but, where's the money coming from? This place isn't open, so we can't get money from customers."

"I have an online job that I work on every day, and I get paid over the web for my efforts. That's how I get the cash to keep the internet running and pay the bills. Yes, I've been paying the bills too. That'd be Baby's responsibility normally, but seeing as she isn't here-" Puppet briefly stopped talking. Foxy was confused, but when he turned and saw that Ballora had a very off expression on her face, he knew why. "...nevermind. Point is, I make all the money over the web."

"So you...got a second job, then? A job away from our current job?"

"Pretty much. Now, enough about the Internet. Weren't you guys just arguing over which one of us is the funniest? In my opinion, you guys are all talk and no action. If you want to show everyone how funny you are, then we should have a competition to prove it."

"I agree! We all take turns, and each person tells three jokes maximum. Whoever gets the most laughs is proven to be the funniest person here." Freddy added.

"As for the location, we are in the auditorium, so the stage right over there should do." Foxy said, pointing at the stage in the corner of the room. "After all, the comedy greats have done their acts on stages. We should do the same."

"Alright, then we're all set. Who's going to go first?" Ballora asked, looking around at everyone.

"Me." Puppet volunteered. "I said I was the funniest because of the Internet's guidance, so I'm not going to hesitate to prove that."

Nobody else had any complaints, so they got ready to begin. Foxy, Ballora, and Freddy took seats on the rows of red chairs, in a half-circular formation, and all of them facing the stage. Puppet headed over to the tables in the auditorium, grabbed one of the stools, and placed it on the stage. Then he took his seat.

"Alright, let's begin. I'm going to start off with a classic: a knock-knock joke. Just a small one to warm up." Puppet began. "Of course, I'll need a volunteer. Who wants to do so?"

"Oh! Me! I don't mind." Ballora answered, raising her hand.

"Then it'll be you, Ballora. Now...knock-knock!"

"Who's there?"

"Lettuce."

"Lettuce who?"

"Lettuce in, we were invited by the tomato!"

Ballora and Freddy laughed a little, and even Foxy let out a chuckle of appreciation.

"Laughs! There we go!" Puppet celebrated. "You didn't seem to find it as funny as the others, though, Foxy."

Foxy shrugged. "I mean, it's a start. Not the best joke, not the worst."

"Yeah, I think so, too. Might need to break out better material." Freddy chimed in.

"Hey, if it helps, I liked it. Do another, Puppet." Ballora encouraged.

Puppet nodded. "Thank you very much, Ballora. I guess another knock-knock joke wouldn't hurt. This time, let's have Freddy be the volunteer. Knock-knock!"

"Who's there?" Freddy responded, going along with the joke.

"Cows go."

"Cows go who?"

"Aw, Freddy, you're saying it wrong. Cows go moo."

Freddy yukked it up, Ballora laughed a bit, and Foxy chuckled a bit again. To Foxy, that joke was definitely better than the previous one, although it wasn't anything outstanding. Knock-knock jokes still weren't anywhere close to A-material.

"Liked that? Alright, then it's time for the last one! This time, I'm going to settle for a normal joke. This one will be much better than the previous ones! Get ready! So, what do elves like to learn in school?"

"To make toys, right?!" Ballora exclaimed.

"Uh, Ballora, that question was meant to be rhetorical. Also, no. The real answer is...they learn the Elf-abet."

Ballora and Freddy let out another round of laughs. That one had gotten better reactions out of them. Foxy didn't really respond. There wasn't much to say about this joke, either.

Puppet quickly took notice. "Foxy, why didn't you laugh? What, did it not match your impossible expectations?"

"My expectations aren't that high. I just subscribe to a higher point of comedic expertise than you guys." Foxy answered. "I'm harder to please comedy-wise, is what I should say."

"Is that so? Then why don't you go next, since your style of comedy is apparently so high-brow?"

"Yeah, you know what? I will go next. Your attempts at humor weren't bad, Puppet, but I know I can do better. Just watch me." Foxy stood up and switched places with Puppet, going onstage while the marionette took one of the seats. "First joke! What do you call an alligator detective?"

"A crocodile, right?" Freddy guessed.

"Nope. It's...an investi-gator."

This one got a nice round of laughs from everyone. Foxy saw this as a good sign: he was already making better headway than Puppet.

"Next one. What would it be called if a cat were to win a dog show?"

"Cheating?" Ballora offered. "After all, cats can't be in dog shows."

"True enough, and that's why it would actually be...a cat-has-trophy!"

This one got an even bigger round of laughs from Freddy. Puppet paused for a moment, but his face lit up moments later.

"Oh! I get it!" Puppet exclaimed out loud, laughing along with Freddy.

Ballora, however, looked unimpressed. "Nah, I don't like this one. I still say that the proper answer is that the cat was cheating by entering the wrong competition."

"That's how you see it? Fine, then it's time I do the last joke and break out the heavy artillery. What would you get if you were to take a cat and a dark horse and fuse them into a single being?"

"Hmm...their sizes would combine, and they'd become a bigger animal?" Puppet tried.

"Actually, it'd be called Kitty Perry."

Foxy expected this joke to get more traction, but only Freddy laughed. Puppet and Ballora just looked confused.

"Kitty Perry? Uh...you mean Katy Perry? The person who sings?" Ballora muttered.

"Uh, yeah, that was the joke." Foxy replied,

"I liked it! Good one." Freddy said. "Actually pretty clever."

"At least Freddy got the joke, though. I suppose the reaction isn't all bad." Foxy shrugged. "Alright, I'm done. Somebody else have their turn."

"Me! Me, me, me!" Ballora called, before Freddy could answer. "It's my turn to go!" She stood up as Foxy sat down, and took her place on the stage. "Alright, just a second. Need to grab something." Her chest cavity opened, and she reached inside, taking out a sheet of paper. "There we are! Now I have my list of jokes! Let me just find a good one." She began to scan through the pages of the book.

Foxy, meanwhile, was a bit bemused to see this. So Ballora was relying on a joke list to get through this? Not that that was strange for her or anything. Ballora's strong suit was dancing, not comedy. Still, she was participating because she was the kind of person who didn't back down from a challenge, even if the challenge didn't put her at an advantage.

"Uh...Ballora, I don't mean to interrupt, but isn't it kind of cheating to use pre-written jokes for this?" Puppet asked. "After all, great comics don't have to bring a list with them. They memorize their jokes and then tell them."

"Oh, be quiet. Me using a list won't make the jokes any less funny." Ballora replied, not looking up from her list.

"That wasn't what I was asking you."

"Ah, ah, ah! Don't want to hear it. Just let me do this."

Puppet just shook his head, but he didn't protest any further. Foxy could tell that Puppet knew that arguing with Ballora was a fruitless endeavor- most of the time, when the ballerina wanted to get her way, it would take a lot of pressure to make her take no for an answer, and Puppet didn't seem ready to get in a fight with her over it. Neither was Foxy, for that matter. He just decided that she could do it, even if her jokes were probably not going to be very good.

"Ah, got it! How do you make a tissue dance?" She asked, and then continued before anybody could answer. "You put a little boogey in it!"

Instead of laughter, Foxy, Puppet, and Freddy shared a round of groans. None of them found the joke even remotely funny.

"What, too good for you? Fine, then let me find another one...this one will do. Why is six afraid of seven? Because seven eight nine!"

Another round of groans. So far, Ballora's jokes had failed to get a laugh out of any of the others.

"Was that a math joke? I thought we were here to laugh, not to do math." Puppet sighed. "Come on, Ballora."

"Yeah, we've heard both of these jokes before. Right, guys?" Foxy turned to the others and watched them both nod. "Yeah, see? So far, you're just giving us basic joke book jokes. Try harder, Ballora; give us one that really knocks it out of the park."

Ballora just looked a bit annoyed. "So you guys don't like my jokes so far, huh? Fine, this one will do it for sure! What do you call cheese that isn't yours? Nacho cheese!"

This time, there were no groans. The groans had been replaced by...silence. For a moment, nobody really said a word. Then Freddy kind of just coughed a bit.

Ballora didn't say anything, either. She was staring at them hard, expecting any kind of a response, expecting at least one laugh...but she didn't get one.

...

Finally, the silence broke as Ballora sighed unhappily, slumping down in her seat.

"Oh, who am I kidding? I'm a failure at this." She mumbled. "I'm a dancer, not a comedian. I only accepted this challenge because I didn't want to back down and look like a chicken. But now look: I tried, and it went down worse than it would've if I hadn't gotten involved." She just looked down at the floor, looking dejected and downtrodden at her results. "I guess you guys were right...I'm not the funniest person here."

They all sat in silence for another moment. Then, the blank looks were replaced with pity. Foxy stood up and walked over to Ballora, putting a hand on her shoulder.

"Hey, Ballora? It's alright. I kind of expected this to happen." Foxy admit. "Don't get all sad, okay? We understand. We were doing this because we really wanted to have that special quality of being the funniest, but we didn't mean to hurt your feelings in the process. It's okay if you're not the funniest person in the world, because you've got lots of great other qualities about you. And...I hope you know that we all appreciate you for who you are. Right, guys?"

"Yeah, of course. I can say that I'll never match up to your dancing. You'll always be on the top in that regard." Freddy agreed.

"What Freddy said." Puppet said, grinning. "You're no comedian, but you're a great dancer. Never let anybody take that away from you."

Ballora looked at them all, facing them instead of the ground. Her expression had brightened up faster than they could've expected. She looked happier than she had been in a while.

"Wow, I...thanks. Thank you guys for appreciating me." She thanked them, her eyes sparkling. "I'm really happy to know that." She stood up and walked back to sit with everyone else. "Well, I accept defeat. Freddy, it's your turn now, right?"

"Ah, that's true! It's my time to shine, and l hope you guys are excited. You picked the best for last." Freddy claimed, strolling up to the stage.

"Those are some bold words. Ready to put your money where your mouth is?" Foxy responded, grinning.

"Without a doubt! So, to start off, have you guys ever wondered what you might call a fake noodle?"

"I don't know. What?" Ballora asked.

"An im-pasta!"

Right away, Foxy found himself chuckling along with the others. He hadn't heard that joke before, and he thought it was pretty clever in terms of wordplay. Freddy had just started, and he had already gained a good lead.

"Thank you, thank you all! I'm glad we could have a good start!" Freddy called, nodding. "Now, if you liked that one, then listen to this: What do lawyers wear to court?"

"Shoes?" Puppet guessed.

"A tie, right? Lawyers have to look professional." Foxy joined.

"Probably, yeah. But there's a true answer here." Freddy revealed. "What they wear is...Law-suits!"

Another good round of laughs. Out of everyone, Ballora laughed loudest of all.

"That was really good." She whispered to Foxy, making sure Freddy couldn't hear. "I have to admit, Freddy's acing this so far."

"Yeah, he's actually doing pretty good." Foxy agreed.

"Alright, last one! When the bacon and tomato were trying to date each other, what did they say? Lettuce get together!"

That joke didn't get as many laughs, but it still wasn't too shabby.

"That sounded similar to one of my jokes from earlier." Puppet mentioned.

"Yeah, guess we accidentally had similar material. Oh, well, guess we can't all be the best." Freddy replied. "Speaking of, who won here?"

The others looked at each other.

"Hmm...well, actually, I was thinking it might be better not to call out a clear winner." Foxy said. "After all, comedy is subjective. Maybe it'd be better not to fight over who's the best and to just accept that we're all more or less doing our best comedy-wise. Besides, this was kind of fun anyway, so that's more important than the winner of this whole thing."

"But what about the score? I was keeping track the whole time." Freddy said.

"You were?" Ballora stuttered.

"Yeah, had the tally inside my head."

"Oh, really? Who was the winner, then?"

"Uh...me, I think?"

"I think that's biased. Besides, how do we know that your head is packed enough to support an accurate answer? What's inside your head?"

"Nothing."

...

Everyone laughed hard at this, getting a lot more noise than any of their jokes during the comedy routine. Even Freddy was laughing at his own joke.

"You know, I can't believe you came up with that one. That was better than any of those other jokes you told." Puppet chuckled. "Why couldn't you be that funny before?"

"Hmm, I dunno." Freddy replied, shrugging. "I didn't rehearse that joke. It sort of just...came to me."

"Maybe that's the point." Foxy suggested. "Maybe we're supposed to think of humor naturally instead of forcing it, like we did with the competition."

"You know...you might be right. Still doesn't mean I'd get any better at comedy." Ballora said, smirking. "I think I'm going to head back to my room now. It's time for me to go and do what I do best: dancing!"

"Well, then we wish you luck with perfecting your routine."

"Thanks! I'll try my best not to disappoint!"

She ran off down the big hallway, leaving the other three by themselves.

"So...what were you guys thinking of doing? I was about to go and catch a nap back at my room." Foxy told them.

"Want to hang out for a bit, Puppet? We can try to figure out other cool things to do." Freddy suggested to the marionette.

"Sure, I could go for that." Puppet agreed. "What were you thinking of?"

The two of them began to animatedly discuss their plans for the rest of the day. Foxy left them to it as he left the room, thinking of the extra sleep he could catch up. He had already decided that comedy would be a thing that he and the animatronics would have to attempt again some other time. They were a bit rusty, but they'd improve over time, surely. He had confidence in himself and everybody else on that matter.

Until then, he was more concerned with rest. Taking extra naps? Man, nothing else compared to that...

Chapter Text

Another day.

Foxy knew it was another day once he activated himself inside the dark confines of Pirate's Cove, closed off by the same familiar purple curtains. His internal clock was telling him that it was twelve A.M, meaning it was time for him to wake up and face the day.

A brand-new night, huh? He thought as he woke up and shoved the curtains aside as he usually did. He felt happy at the prospect of the sixth night at the pizzeria since he had arrived at Circus Baby's Pizza World. Yesterday had been quite eventful, what with the good fun of comedy night and the good spirits everyone had been in after their demonstrations of comedy were said and done. Foxy felt that if the nights from now on could go more like that, then he might be able to approach days with more happiness.

The first five nights at this new building had been anything but exciting, with hours of constant boredom only interrupted by the occasional interesting occurrence. But now things were beginning to turn around...or at least, Foxy hoped they were. And speaking of interesting occurrences, Foxy did hope that another one would occur today, preferably as early as possible. The sooner he had something to do, the better. He wondered whether Ballora might get herself stuck again, or whether Freddy would do a second round of his cooking, or even if maybe Puppet would finally allow everyone to come inside his box. Any of that would be good.

But of course, he wouldn't see any of that if he didn't get an early start. He stepped out of his cove and greeted the warm lights of his room contently. As of now, the place seemed to be silent. Foxy couldn't hear any conversations or commotion happening outside the boundaries of his room, so he could only assume that nothing noteworthy had occurred yet. But if something did happen, he wanted to be there. If it was good, then that would be awesome! If it was bad, then it wouldn't be too big an issue. Foxy knew he would just have to step up and, with the help of the others, restore order. It all depended on what happened.

Little did he know that what the interesting occurrence of today was going to be...was something much different from what had happened before.

Foxy had barely taken steps into the main room when the silence was shattered by a loud noise:

"HELP! SOMEBODY HELP ME! IS ANYONE OUT THERE? IF YOU CAN HEAR ME, PLEASE, SEND HELP!"

The outburst of noise was so sudden that Foxy nearly tripped in shock, but he righted himself and looked around anxiously at the walls, trying to detect where the noise was coming from.

"Hello!? Who's calling for help?! What's going on?!" Foxy called out loud.

"ANYBODY OUT THERE! HELP ME!"

The cry for help was in a different kind of voice. It was definitely a man's voice, but it didn't sound like Freddy or Ballora or Puppet. And yet...the voice Foxy heard was strangely familiar. Where had he heard that voice before...?

Nevermind that. If somebody was calling for help, he had to go and see what was going on, and maybe even offer assistance in whatever was happening.

Foxy ran out into the center of the main room and stopped, listening for the cries of help again.

"SOMEONE? ANYONE? HELP!"

From where Foxy was standing at the center of the main room, he could now confidently detect where the cries for help were coming from. He looked off towards the kitchen doors. The desperate cries for help had been coming from there; Foxy was sure of it.

"Alright, alright, I'm coming!" Foxy called back, hoping that would ease whoever was yelling so loudly. Foxy raced over to the kitchen doors, opened them, and went inside. However, he came upon a kitchen that was completely empty. Confused, Foxy checked behind the counters, but nobody was there. He could've sworn he had heard the voice in the kitchen. So where was...?

"Hey! Whoever you are, help! I'm stuck down here!"

"Down where?" Foxy called back, even though he still didn't know who was yelling.

"The trash chute! I...I think I'm in the trash chute! It's that trapdoor over in the corner next to the janitorial closet!"

Wait, what? The trash chute? What was someone doing down there? Foxy questioned this in his head as he went over to the chute, where the wooden trapdoor was blocking the hole. He grabbed it by the handle and lifted it open. Now he could see into the trash chute. The chute itself was the same narrow, dark abyss as before, existing as a long hole that went to who-knew-where and was the place where garbage was dispensed.

Foxy peered down into the chute, narrowing his eyes. That was when he saw it.

There, at the bottom of the chute, his face poking out from far below, was the face of the security guard from before.

And not just any security guard. Foxy recognized it as the face of the guard that he had ended up shoving into the garbage chute. Even though Foxy couldn't remember if he was in control of himself or not when he did so, he did still have the visual memory of it. In his mind's eye, he could see his pink-white hands going forwards and pushing the frightened guard backwards, causing the guard to topple into the hole that had been right behind him.

"Wait...you're...you're the security guard from before!" Foxy exclaimed.

"Yeah, that's me! Glad you know who I am!" The guard, who Foxy remembered was named Philip, called back. "Who's up there? I can't see you clearly from all the way down here! Who are you?"

Wait a second...that guard doesn't recognize me as Foxy? Foxy pondered. Hmm...so he doesn't know that I'm the very animatronic that pushed him down there to begin with. Should I tell him...? No, maybe not. At least not yet. I'll have to pretend I'm somebody else until I can figure out what to do.

With this decision made, Foxy looked back down. And then, instead of revealing his true identity, Foxy made up one.

"I'm, uh...Billy! That's my name!" Foxy lied. "I'm a night guard as well! The company hired me just a day ago!"

"You, too?!" Philip exclaimed. "Oh, god, I hate to tell you this, but...but you've made a very poor career choice! Being the night guard is horrible! This place is a death trap!"

"It is?!" Foxy said, pretending to be surprised, even though he knew all too well why Philip was calling Circus Baby's Pizza World a 'death trap'.

"Yeah! There's these horrible animatronics who are alive, and they pushed me down here, and...well, I'll tell you later! Listen, if you're an employee too, then please help me! I was pushed down here, and I don't know how long I've been stuck in this chute! You have to get me out of here!"

"I can't believe you're alive! I heard from the, uh, company that you went missing almost a week ago!" Foxy replied. "They had to hire me as your replacement, because they didn't know where you were! This is where you've been the whole time?"

"Yes, and it's terrible! There are piles of trash down here, not to mention loads of uneaten food! Probably from all the kids throwing away their meals, I'm betting!" Philip explained. "Whoever's doing it is very wasteful. You should really put measures in to prevent that!"

"Noted! Anyway, are you really stuck down there?"

"Completely! Can you get me out of here?"

Foxy paused. "Uh, yeah, definitely! Listen, I'll go and alert the other employees, and we can find some way to get you out of there, okay?"

"Really?! Oh, thank goodness! Tell them to bring a ladder!"

"We probably will! Just sit tight, okay? I'll be back in a bit!"

Philip nodded from down inside the garbage chute, and Foxy took this as the opportunity to walk away from the chute. He didn't close it, fearing that Philip would lose trust in him if he did. Instead, Foxy departed from the room and was careful to close the door behind him. Then he began to think.

The security guard from the very first night Foxy had been here was alive?! Back when Foxy had pushed him down there, the other animatronics had unanimously agreed that Philip had to be dead, that there was no way he could've survived the fall. They had even yelled down the chute to try and see if the guard would respond, and they hadn't gotten a response. At the time, they had assumed that the lack of response meant that the guard had died down there. But now Foxy knew better, and he could only assume that they had only managed to knock out the guard instead of killing him.

To say that this was a surprise to Foxy would be an understatement. Nothing of this caliber had ever happened before. Seeing as that night had been the animatronics' first-time trying execution by shoving the guard into a garbage chute, Foxy knew none of them could've anticipated that the whole situation would actually result in them failing to finish off a guard.

The next question on Foxy's mind was how he was going to deal with this. He had Philip under the assumption that he was simply an ordinary human night worker and not an animatronic with a reputation as a murderer. Now what? He had told Philip he would go and get the 'other employees', but in actuality, there were no human employees in the building. What Foxy knew he could get were the other animatronics: Ballora, Freddy, and Puppet. He knew he would have to explain the situation to them and then try to have them help him with figuring out what to do with this guard now that he was confirmed to be alive.

Okay, then that's what I'll do. He thought. I just have to go to them and explain what's going on. As for who to go to first...Ballora. I'll go to Ballora.

Foxy then went on his way. He traversed the main room, the small hallway, and turned to the left when he entered the big hallway. The double doors into Ballora's room were wide open, so Foxy invited himself in.

Ballora, predictably, was doing one of the things that Foxy knew that she did when she was by herself: stuffed animal tea parties. Her collection of plush toys were gathered in a circle, and each had a cup in front of them. Ballora sat in the circle too, seemingly leading the entire tea party. All of the stuffed animals' cups were empty, and Ballora was the only one holding a cup that had any actual tea in it. Right then, Ballora was humming softly and cheerily.

"Ah, what a lovely night to be holding a lovely tea party!" She said, smiling. She looked down at her stuffed toys. "Do you want more tea, Mr. Teddy? I know you enjoy my tea oh-so-much! Hmm? Oh, I'm sorry, Mr. Bunny, but I didn't bring any desserts today. Would you like me to bring some next time?"

"Excuse me, Ballora. I need to talk with you." Foxy interrupted, and he walked towards the stage where Ballora was sitting.

"AH!" Ballora exclaimed. Quick as a wink, she scooped up everything on the floor into her arms and tossed it into her piano recklessly, then turned back to Foxy. "Uh, hi there, Foxy!" She greeted anxiously, smiling and pretending she hadn't been having a tea party. "What brings you here? I was just, uh, dancing and all! You know, usual stuff!"

"...Riiiight..." Foxy said slowly, rolling his eyes. "Ballora, listen up. I've just found out something very unexpected, and I need your help."

"Unexpected? Like what, exactly? Did a security guard walk into the restaurant wearing a sombrero or something?" Ballora asked, raising an eyebrow.

"No, nothing of that sort. It's a lot worse than that." Foxy replied. "Ballora, do you remember that security guard from the night I first came here? The one I pushed into the garbage chute?"

"Well, yeah, of course. That was probably one of the most creative ways of getting a guard that I've ever seen you do. What about that guy, anyways?"

Foxy sighed. "He's...not dead. He's alive. He survived the fall."

...

"W-WHAT?!" Ballora exclaimed, suddenly flabbergasted by this news. "You mean the fall into the garbage chute didn't kill him?! How?!"

"I don't know how! We all assumed he was probably dead and all, but look where that assumption got us!" Foxy said. "Anyways, that doesn't matter! I have absolutely no idea how to handle the sudden presence of a living security guard inside the trash chute, so I'm going to need your help for this!"

Ballora nodded. "Alright, alright, I'll help! I mean, a security guard we failed to kill IS serious!"

"In one way, I guess. Come on, come with me. We need to go tell Freddy and Puppet about this as well."

"Definitely!"

The thought of a tea set completely forgotten, Foxy and Ballora went out of Ballora's room together and returned to the big hallway. Foxy decided to go see Puppet next, and he and Ballora ventured down to the opposite side of the big hallway, then entered the auditorium.

Like he always did, Foxy went straight to the giant box that Puppet lived inside, and he rapped on the side of the box three times.

"Puppet! Hey! Ballora and I need your help!" Foxy called.

"Huh? Uh, yeah, hi! What's up?" Puppet asked, his voice emanating from inside the box. However, unlike before, Puppet did not come out of his box to address them this time.

"Puppet, do you remember that security guard I pushed into the garbage chute on the night I came here? Well, I heard him calling for help, and it turns out that he's alive! He's sitting at the bottom of the garbage chute! We need your help to figure out what to do about this!"

"Oh, yeah, that's great!" Came Puppet's reply. He sounded distracted, and his tone made it clear that he had barely been clinging on to Foxy's words. "I mean, uh, wow! Can't believe he's alive! Amazing! Unfortunately, I'm kind of busy right now, so if you two want to tell me all about it, you can come back another time!"

"Busy? What do you mean, busy?!" Ballora said, looking miffed. "Puppet, this isn't a joke! We need your help for this!"

"Right, right, yeah! However, I'm very occupied with the stove as of now! You see, it's, uh, on! And I need to turn it off!"

"Then turn it off and get up here!"

"I can't! I need to, uh, turn it off at least two hundred thousand times before it turns off!"

Ballora gave the box an incredulous look. "Puppet, an oven doesn't take two hundred thousand presses to be turned off!"

"Uh...okay, yeah, maybe! But unfortunately, the football game is on and I really, really, really need to watch it! Come back later!"

Foxy and Ballora groaned in unison. Why was Puppet being so difficult about this? Why was he coming up with random excuses so he wouldn't have to come out and help them deal with the security guard sitting alive in the trash chute?

Foxy was a little annoyed by this, but he decided he didn't have time to sit here and try to get Puppet to come when he clearly didn't want to. "Ballora, let's just go. If Puppet doesn't want to come, then we can't make him come."

Ballora gave Foxy a look. "Are you sure...?"

"We have to, Ballora. He clearly isn't going to come." Foxy responded, shaking his head. "We have more pressing matters to deal with. I told that security guard I was another guard and not an animatronic, and I told him that I was going to run and get help. If I don't come back soon, he might think I've abandoned him."

"You pretended to be a security guard? Hmm. That is a clever move, actually." Ballora admit. "That way, he won't be any wiser as to who we really are."

"Exactly. I don't want to tell him what we really are until the time is right. Now then, we have to hurry up. We have to go find Freddy, and once we tell him everything and get him to come with us, we can head back to the chute and do something about the guard."

Ballora had no disagreements about that plan, because she followed Foxy without complaint as they left the auditorium, leaving Puppet behind in the process. The two of them headed to the place where they knew Freddy lived: the closet.

The closet was in the main room, so the two of them headed through the big and small hallways to that location. When they approached the closet door, they saw that it was already open. In fact, there were sounds coming from there that Foxy had not heard before: the hum and noises from a tv, combined with the sound of laughter from Freddy.

Curious as to what could be happening in there, Foxy approached and peeked his head inside the closet. On his right, Freddy was there. The purple-white bear was sitting against the wall, his eyes focused on the tv as he chuckled audibly. In front of Freddy sat a brown Freddy plushie, its fake eyes staring ahead at the screen as it sat there limply. To the left was the television Freddy was watching. It was a small tv, but it still cleared displayed things. On-screen looked like a food fight scene from a cafeteria. Human children were holding food in their hands and lobbing it at each other, yelling as they engaged in the food fight.

It took Freddy a second to realize that Foxy was watching him. Right then, Freddy stopped laughing, looked over, and smiled at Foxy. "Oh, good morning, Foxy." He greeted cheerfully. "I was just watching some television with my favorite plushie of myself. I got Puppet to give me one of his old movie DVDs yesterday, actually, so me and my plushie are hanging out and watching it! Did you want to join us?"

"Well, uh...as much as I'd love to say yes, I actually came to tell you something really important." Foxy said seriously. He paused to consider something. "Hey, wait a second. Freddy, this closet of yours is right next to the kitchen, isn't it?"

"Uh-huh." Freddy said, nodding.

"So did you happen to hear any screams for help coming from anywhere nearby?"

Freddy raised an eyebrow. "Screams for help? Well, yeah, but I thought those were coming from my tv."

"They...weren't. Freddy, I need to tell you that-"

"The security guard Foxy shoved into the chute is STILL ALIVE!" Ballora finished abruptly, sticking her head through the doorway.

"Wait, he is? Oh." Freddy hummed. He looked mildly surprised, but not as panicked as Ballora was. "How'd he survive the fall?"

"Search me." Foxy said, shrugging. "I need your help to deal with this. Can you come with me and Ballora to the kitchen?"

Freddy nodded. "Yeah, okay. This does sound interesting." He stood up, and Foxy noticed Freddy was holding a remote. Freddy thumbed the remote and pressed the pause button, causing the tv to shut off. He set the remote down next to the stuffed bear and said: "Watch the place for me, will you, old buddy?"

"Freddy...the stuffed bear isn't alive." Ballora commented, frowning.

"I know. But I talk to him anyways. I'd like to think he's listening somehow." Freddy said. "Helps to have someone to talk to when nobody's around."

"Guess that's fine." Foxy replied. Honestly, the idea of having a plushie to talk to did appeal to him. He could see where Freddy was coming from with the whole idea, so he didn't criticize him for it. Instead, he just gestured Freddy and Ballora to follow him.

With the three of them gathered together, they exited the closet and walked the short distance back into the kitchen. Foxy reopened the door and led the way inside, then pointed towards the chute where the guard was...then did a double-take.

Philip's face was peeking out of the chute. Both of his hands were gripping the sides of the chute, and Foxy could see that the guard was trying hard to lift himself out.

"Almost...out!" Philip groaned, his eyes closed as he strained himself with the effort.

"HEY! What are you doing?!" Ballora exclaimed, alarmed by what she was seeing.

"Huh?!" Philip exclaimed, and he opened his eyes and screamed. The shock of seeing the animatronics he feared in front of him nearly caused Philip to let go of the sides of the chute, but his fingers quickly tightened their grip again. "AH! Oh, god, you're back! Stay away from me! Just let me get out of this chute!"

"What the heck? Hey, how have you been crawling out of there?" Foxy asked, astonished that the guard has managed to almost get out of the chute within five minutes, when before the guard had been at the bottom.

"I found this greasy sandwich in the chute, and I've been using the grease to make it easier for me to climb back to the top, okay?!" Philip yelped, still afraid. "I've told you what you want to know! Now let me go!"

"Hmm. He's a fighter if he's trying this hard to escape. Wow." Freddy commented, sounding impressed at Philip's efforts.

"Yeah, thanks! Now leave me alone! I just need...to push...a little harder..." Philip groaned, and once again he strained. "Ugh, I just can't lift myself up! Can't you monsters do something good for once, and help lift me out of here?!"

"Hmm." Foxy muttered, trying to consider what he would do. "Oh, and by the way, Freddy, this guard told me somebody's been throwing uneaten food into the chute. Do you know anything about that?"

"Uneaten food? Oh. Yeah, that's me." Freddy admit, shrugging. "I keep eating food, but then I get it out of my storage tanks really early so I don't have to spend a bunch of time letting it sit in there. I've just been throwing all the waste into the trash chute. Isn't that where waste goes?"

"Well, yes, but you not finishing off the food is giving the guard a food source. We haven't even decided if we want to keep him alive yet." Foxy said. "Either we...finish him off, or...keep him. Maybe as a pet."

"As a pet?! You mean...we can have a real, live human as a pet?!" Ballora shouted, excited by the prospect. "That sounds like a perfect idea! Can we keep him as a pet, Foxy?! Can we?!"

"Hmm...well, if you really want to have a pet security guard, I guess that's better than just killing him off." Foxy said, and he nodded. "Yeah, you're free to do that."

"YES! Thank you, Foxy!" Ballora cheered. "I'll name this guard Norman! He can be my own pet!"

"My name's Philip, for your information!" Philip yelled, frowning with indignity. "And I'd rather not be a pet to you horrible things! Can't you just let me go instead?!"

"Oh, or maybe I could name him Barry! Or Larry! Or even Freddy II!" Ballora suggested.

"I wouldn't mind that." Freddy said acceptingly.

"Uh...okay, if you want to name me something else so badly, then name me Steve, okay? Steve's my middle name!" Philip mentioned as he continued to struggle to get himself out of the chute.

Foxy almost wanted to ask the security guard what his full name was at that moment. But it was when he turned and looked the guard full in the face that something changed in him. Suddenly, he felt different. He was blacking out little by little...

"How about we name him...Garbage? After all, that's exactly what he is. All humans are worthless trash...including him." Came Foxy's voice, taking on a strange yet familiar tone. "A fitting name, is it not?"

"Oh! Garbage! That's actually a pretty good name!" Ballora exclaimed.

"Huh...?" Foxy mumbled as this sentence from Ballora came through his ears. Wait, what had he just been doing? He swore he had been talking about names just a second ago, and then everything had went all dark all of the sudden...Garbage? Had he said that? It was definitely an eccentric name for someone, but Foxy could tell Ballora loved the name. And if he knew one thing for sure, it was that once you came up with a name Ballora loved, it would be impossible to convince her to use a different name.

"It's a name that makes sense. We can use it." Freddy agreed, nodding.

"Good! We have a pet with a proper name! I couldn't have asked for a better outcome to the reveal of a security guard being alive!" Ballora voiced cheerily. She turned back to face Philip. "Hey, Garbage! Meet your new owner, Ballora!"

"My name's not Garbage! That's an extremly rude name, and I-" Philip began.

"No, it's a pretty fitting name." Ballora said. She stepped closer to where Philip's head was sticking out. Foxy looked over, and he felt frozen to the spot as he watched what was about to unfold. Ballora's left eye had opened just the slightest amount. There was a purple glint inside the eyesocket. "So...where do you think you're going, huh, human?"

Philip froze. Foxy realized the guard was trembling. "H-H-H...H-Home...?" Philip stammered nervously.

"Home? What do you mean?" Freddy said. He became oddly still. His eyes were oddly glassy. "The chute is your home now, you piece of filth."

Foxy looked between Ballora and Freddy. What was with them all of the sudden? They were being different from usual. And it didn't help that Foxy's eyesight was getting dark again, and he was feeling so light-headed...

"Garbage belongs in the dumpster." Came the same strange voice from before, emanating from Foxy's mouth. "So it would be wise for us to put this piece of garbage back where it rightfully belongs." Foxy's body stepped forwards, and looked down into the hopelessly scared eyes of Philip- no, of Garbage. There was no pity or remorse coming from the expression on Foxy's face. "Say goodbye."

And then, Foxy put his foot back, paused, and let it swing forwards rapidly.

"GAH!" Garbage yelped as Foxy's foot slammed into his face, and the impact was enough to make Garbage finally let go of the sides of the chute. "AAAAAH!" Came the violent scream as the guard fell back down to the bottom of the chute.

"What...? Huh...?" Foxy stammered as he abruptly came to. The guard's face was no longer sticking out of the chute. He peered back down into the chute to see Philip's face lying at the bottom of the chute again, groaning in pain.

"Wait...what just happened?" Ballora asked confusedly. She went over to the chute. "Hey, Garbage is back down in the chute! Did you make him go back down, Foxy?"

"I...uh...maybe...?" Foxy replied unsurely. Had he done something to the guard, or had the guard fallen on his own?

"Oh. Garbage is back at the bottom again." Freddy stated, and his eyes were back to looking perfectly normal. "Well, looks like his escape attempt didn't succeed in the end."

"Heck yeah, it didn't! Good thing for that!" Ballora stated sternly, crossing her arms. "I wasn't about to lose my pet after just getting it! That'd be dumb!" She then grinned. "Thankfully, he's back down there! Now we can make sure he doesn't escape, and we can start properly having Garbage as a pet! We can feed him, and give him toys, and give him treats for good behavior!"

"I'm...not...a dog..." Came a pained groan from inside the chute. Garbage could clearly still hear them, even if the fall had seemingly stunned and weakened him. "At least...I didn't...get knocked out...this time..."

"Huh. Guess he was more prepared for the fall that time. Or maybe he just fell in a way that wouldn't knock him out." Foxy guessed, unsure of how the guard had managed to stay conscious this time. "Either way, he's our pet now, I suppose."

"I had...a pile of chicken sandwiches...down here. It broke...some of my...fall." Garbage moaned slowly.

"Chicken sandwiches?" Foxy stuttered. He turned to face Freddy. "Freddy, was that you again?"

"Oh! Uh...yeah." Freddy admit sheepishly. "I ended up discarding them all in one day. They didn't taste like the type of chicken I like, so I didn't see the point in keeping them."

"Seriously? Geez, Freddy, do you even know how much of a waste that is?" Ballora chastised. "At least I don't waste my tea! I drink it all down just fine!"

"Maybe your tea is already fine as it is. But those chicken sandwiches weren't the best, Ballora. I had to perfect the sandwich so it would taste just the way I wanted it to, and to do that, there had to be some sacrifices, okay?" Freddy explained.

"At least...they came...in handy..." Garbage groaned. "I'm not dead...but I'm in...pain...ouch. Let me try...moving my arms." He grunted. "Hurts. My...legs?" He grunted again. "Also hurts. This...is...terrible."

"Sorry you're in so much pain, but...well, I guess we've got to do what we've got to do." Foxy said, trying to justify their actions to make the guard stay in the chute, even though he couldn't think of a good one. "At least you'll have plenty of time to rest and walk it off."

There was silence down in the chute. Foxy took a moment to realize what he had just said.

"Oh, uh...I'm sorry about that one. That was a very unintentionally rude remark I just made." Foxy said, a little wide-eyed at what he had just done.

"You think?!" Garbage sighed. "Well, if you're going to mock me like that, then I guess I really will walk it all off, just to show you." Garbage stopped looking up and disappeared from the bottom of the trash chute. Foxy could assume by the guard's pained grunts that he was moving elsewhere down in the chute where he was. "Urgh...well, would you look at all this. All this trash has a bunch more uneaten food in it. I seem to have...a decent supply down here."

"Another pile of uneaten food? Yeesh, Freddy, just how much did you throw away?" Ballora complained, giving Freddy a look.

"That wasn't all me! It's like Garbage said. The kids here were really wasteful back when they went to this place." Freddy defended. "Besides, all this food is free for Garbage to eat. He'll be able to survive off of it, so the food technically won't be going to waste after all."

"Hmm. That is a fair point." Foxy admit.

"That's true, actually! We need a big, strong pet to be proud of!" Ballora said, nodding. "Although I don't know if all that garbage is going to beef him up enough...maybe we should try giving him something a bit healthier."

"Healthier? Hey, what about my chicken?" Freddy suggested. "That's plenty healthy, and we have tons of it!"

"Your chicken? Oh...that actually sounds like a great thing to feed him! Do you have any on you?"

"Yeah, of course. How much do you want?"

"Give me a whole bunch of chicken pieces."

"Got it." Freddy opened his chest cavity and rummaged around. Foxy gave the inside a glance. There were already a few things in there, but he did notice a large ziploc bag containing pieces of chicken. Freddy opened the bag, reached inside, and grabbed a decently-sized handful. He handed it back to Ballora as he closed his chest cavity. Ballora eagerly took the food.

"Hey, Garbage! Have your first round of fresh food: chicken!" Ballora cheered, and she threw the chicken down the chute.

"Chicken? Really? I mean...I'm not very fond of chicken, but...I guess it's better than nothing." Garbage sighed. There was a pause. "Hey, this chicken's got some weird seasonings on it...are you sure this was prepared right?"

"Positive! I always prepare my chicken well." Freddy assured Garbage, nodding.

Somehow, I doubt that. Foxy thought. The chicken Foxy had already been given before never tasted the best, and he had no reason to assume the chicken this time would be any better.

Garbage just groaned down in the chute. "Well...if you guys are going to feed me and make me stay here, can you at least drop down a working computer, an internet cable, and some magazines I can read?"

"No, no, no! We can't give you that much at once!" Ballora refused, shaking her head quickly. "You need to behave first, Garbage! Now take your food and don't throw a fit."

"Well, that seems like all to me. I think we can leave Garbage alone now." Foxy decided.

"Please do so. I...I want to be alone..." Garbage was moaning, seeming miserable down where he was.

"Then we'll let you be alone for a while. Bye, then." Foxy said, and he closed the trash chute back up.

"Aw, we're leaving already? I wanted to play with our new pet a little bit longer!" Ballora complained, pouting.

"Later, Ballora. Let's just leave him be for now. We've given him food, so that should be enough." Foxy responded. "However, if you guys really want to keep him down there, we should avoid giving him too much food in a short period of time. He could try to make a tower of food and get out of the chute."

"Wait, you think so? Then we'll have to limit his food intake!" Ballora agreed. She turned to Freddy. "Freddy, you're hearing this, right? We have to make sure our new pet doesn't escape!"

"Uh, yeah." Freddy said, nodding quickly. "Don't worry, Ballora. My room is right next to the kitchen, so if I hear anything suspicious, I'll be able to stop Garbage before he gets out."

"Are you sure about that? You didn't even hear Garbage screaming the first time around." Foxy pointed out skeptically.

"That's...probably because I turned my tv up too loud. I'm happy to turn the volume down so I can hear those things better."

"Good. You should probably make sure to do that if you guys want to keep him down there."

"We definitely do! What about you, Foxy? Are you excited about our new pet?" Ballora asked.

Foxy shrugged. "I mean, I'm not as into it as you seem to be, but I can tell this means a lot to you, so...I'll help if my help is needed."

"I like the sound of that. Now, then, I've got a very important tea party to get back t-" Ballora froze. "Um, I mean...I have a very important dance session to get back to!"

"Did I just hear her say 'tea party'?" Freddy stammered interestedly.

"Oh, yeah. I walked in on one of her tea parties earlier. She was pretending to give tea to her stuffed animals. It was...a sight to see, the say the least." Foxy commented.

"You saw nothing!" Ballora yelled in a panic. "They are my private tea parties, and I do not want you all making fun of me for doing them. Got it?"

Foxy and Freddy exchanged looks, then nodded.

"Now, then, I have things to get to. You two have a good night." Ballora said, and she waved before she departed from the kitchen.

"I kind of want to get back to my movie now, Foxy. You don't mind, right?" Freddy asked.

"Not at all. It seems fun for you and that plushie of yours." Foxy said.

"Of course it is. Franklin really enjoys."

Foxy raised an eyebrow. "Oh, you even gave the stuffed bear a name?"

"Well, yeah! I like giving my friends names." Freddy shifted a little. "Do you think I'm weird for that, or...?"

"No, not at all. I would have done the same thing in your situation." Foxy admit. "Honestly, the idea of owning a stuffed animal friend sounds good."

"Thanks! And yeah, it is good. You should get one of your own."

Foxy paused to think about that. "Hmm. Maybe."

Freddy nodded. "Either way, I'm off now. Have a good rest of your night, Foxy. Let me know if you need anything else."

"Will do. See you!"

Foxy and Freddy parted ways as they exited the kitchen. As Freddy returned to his closet, Foxy went back to his cove to go and sit by himself. He didn't put the curtains around himself as he went inside, so that way the lights of his room could warm him as he thought about things.

If Garbage is alive, how many other guards could be alive as well? Foxy wondered. I mean, I swear that we have to have ended up finishing off at least one or two of them somehow. And if there's any more...well, then Ballora will either kill them or make them her pets as well. More pets would be a hassle, but at least Ballora would be extra excited, and at least Garbage would have company.

Foxy let his mind wander a little more. He thought back to what Freddy said about having a plushie as a companion. He paused at that thought.

Hmm. Yeah, that actually does seem like a really good idea... He thought.

Chapter Text

Foxy, Freddy, and Ballora sat down at the table. Tonight, they were happily conversing among themselves in the main room, passing the time by talking to each other on things that had happened recently.

Foxy found it kind of nice to do something like this. It gave him happy feelings. Especially when they discussed the security guards.

"Man, remember the other night with the other security guard?" Foxy brought up to Freddy and Ballora. "He thought he could run! Man, that was awesome! Ah, I didn't expect that."

"They always try to run." Freddy added, chuckling heartily.

"Yep, always." Foxy agreed.

"It's always fun when they run, though!" Ballora chimed in, smiling. "'Cause then we get to chase them, and hear them scream, and I can go 'La La la, la la'!"

"You were looking at a wall half the time." Foxy told her. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"What? I'm not always looking at a wall!" Ballora denied.

"You're looking at a wall right now." Foxy claimed.

"No, I'm looking at you." Ballora replied, frowning.

"Nah, I'm joking." Foxy admitted, smirking. "Sorry, I just had to do that to you. Ha ha ha!"

"That's not funny." Ballora huffed, annoyed. "Meanie."

"But it was funny!" Foxy responded, nodding. "It was great."

"Y'know..." Freddy commented. "It's been a while since I've seen Puppet. He hasn't been here the past couple of nights to help with the security guards."

"I know! It's been weird!" Foxy agreed, nodding. "You know, another thing that gets me is us calling him Puppet, but him telling us 'that's not my name'."

"That happens when we call him Puppetboi, not Puppet." Freddy informed Foxy.

"Oh, yeah." Foxy realized. "But you know what?!" Foxy stood up. "We should go ask him these questions and ask him where he's been! C'mon guys, let's go!"

"Yeah!" Freddy cheered, excited. He got up from his stool, and so did Ballora. Together, they walked down the hall towards Puppet's room.

"Maybe we shouldn't, though..." Ballora suddenly said, worried. "We weren't invited."

"Ha, like that's stopped us before." Foxy replied, grinning.

"Yeah, it's fine." Freddy added, patting Ballora's shoulder.

"That's true.." Ballora said, reluctantly nodding.

"We're all neighbors in this pizzeria." Freddy explained to her. "It'll be okay."

"Yeah!" Foxy agreed.

They came into Puppet's room and approached his box like usual.

"Hey, Puppet!" Foxy called for Puppet.

"Puppet!" Freddy did the same.

"Puppet, where are you?" Ballora added, calling for him as well.

"Hold up, I'm busy!" Puppet's voice called back from the box (he still didn't come out from the box). "Just give me a second!"

"You've been busy the last couple of nights!" Foxy informed Puppet. "Where have you been?"

"Um...here, and there." Puppet replied. "Just give me a second. I'll come out in a bit."

"He's not coming out of the box." Foxy told the others. "You think he's okay? Should we leave?"

"We should make sure Puppet's fine, at least." Freddy responded, pointing at the box.

Foxy climbed up down into the box and looked inside. He was surprised to see a large hole, going deep into the ground.

"Um, guys." Foxy said. "There's a hole right here."

"There's a hole?" Ballora asked him, bewildered. She climbed up too and looked down into the hole. Freddy did the same.

"Let's go down there." Freddy declared, gesturing at the hole.

"Yeah, you should go down it, Foxy." Ballora agreed. "Go!" She pushed Foxy.

"Woah, don't push me- WOAH!" Foxy screamed. He fell backwards into the hole, shutting his eyes. He screamed as he went down and down and down, expecting to die...

...and landed on something soft.

"Woah, I landed on a couch..." Foxy muttered. He looked and saw he had fallen down on a red couch.

"Your turn! Go!" Ballora said to Freddy from the top of the hole. Foxy could hear Freddy screaming. Then, just like that, Freddy plopped down onto the couch as well.

"Oh!" Freddy gasped as he landed. "Woah."

"Is it safe?" Ballora yelled from above.

"Uh, yeah, sure!" Foxy replied. "Jump!" More screaming, this time from Ballora, and then Ballora had plopped down on the couch too.

"Wha?! What are you guys doing here?!" Foxy turned and saw Puppet on the couch, wide eyed and shocked to see them there.

"Woah, what?!" Foxy gasped. Foxy saw the rest of the room they were in: it was a tv room, with a large tv on the opposite wall. A grey table was in the middle of the room, a pile of papers and a teacup sitting on it. There was the red soft couch the animatronics had fallen on. There were black lamps in the corners and a large painting on the other wall of dogs playing poker. There was a red armchair on another side of the room, with a cabinet next to it. The walls were striped with blue and purple colors, the same as the box on the outside. The floor was a lovely white marble floor. There was a white glass archway leading to another room. "What is..what is..."

"What is this place?" Ballora finished Foxy's sentence. She and Freddy were surprised too.

"It's my home." Puppet answered.

"Your home?!" Ballora said.

"Yeah, I've told you about this place before." Puppet replied, nodding.

"You have such a nice tv." Freddy said, pointing at the tv.

"Thanks, Freddy." Puppet said, thanking Freddy.

"Wait, this is what's been down in the box?!" Foxy exclaimed, still shocked.

"Yeah!" Puppet replied. "I was just doing my taxes when you guys rudely interrupted me."

"Taxes? Why do you have..." Foxy's sentence trailed off. "I'm so confused."

"You've got a kitchen?" Ballora exclaimed as she walked into the next room. Foxy, Freddy, and Puppet got up and came in too.

This room was a large room. A purple rug with a black outline sat on the floor. A small kitchen with lots of shelves, cabinets, counters, and other kitchen things lay in a room, with an opening on one side to get in. Against the counters sat several stools. There was even a gumball machine on the floor of the kitchen area. The roof was also made of marble, like the floor.

"Well, yeah." Puppet told her. "Every house has a kitchen."

"But you're living in a box, this is a box we're in right now!" Foxy exclaimed in disbelief. Puppet walked behind the counter. Freddy followed.

"Hey, don't get behind the counter!" Puppet ordered Freddy.

"Ah, okay, sorry." Freddy mumbled, stepping away from the kitchen.

"You have a gumball machine!" Foxy pointed out. "Is that where our gumball machine went?!"

"Yeah. Can I get you anything?" Puppet asked them.

"No, we're good." Foxy refused. "We just wanna know why you were down here all by yourself. Why didn't you tell us about this? This is amazing..." Foxy looked and saw that down the open hallway connected to the large room and the kitchen area was several cabinets with more black lamps. A large painting of the moon and some stars was on one wall. The other end of the hall had more cabinets lining it, with a fishbowl and a plunger on one of them, and small black lamps on the other. There was a singing fish attached to the wall. Another wall had a painting of a man wearing a black cloak.

Foxy walked into a room connected to the hall that had entirely green walls, a blue floor, a desk with two monitors and a computer tower, a black couch, and a window to the hall.

"Why weren't we ever invited before?" Freddy questioned Puppet.

"And you have a computer?" Foxy added, staring at the computer.

"Yeah, it's where I make my youtube videos." Puppet explained, coming into the computer room.

"And you have another gumball machine?!" Foxy said, pointing back to the hall, where another gumball machine was on the floor next to the lamp. He turned to the others. "I think he stole them from upstairs."

"That's weird." Freddy commented, confused.

"What's over here?" Ballora asked, pointing to another hall. This hall was short. Against the wall was a stand with an open book on it, sandwiched between more cabinets. A shelf overhead has a small clock on it. Another room was connected to this small hall. Ballora gestured at that very room.

"It's the best part of my home." Puppet claimed as they walked into the room. "The bathroom!"

The bathroom was shiny and clean. One wall had shiny white counters with a cup of toothbrushes on it. A sink stood next to it. Cupboards sat on the walls above the counters. A gleaming mirror stood between the cabinets. There was a toilet against another wall, with racks of toilet paper and towels next to it, and even another plunger. A small white door was opened, showing a shower area connected to the bathroom, with soap on a rack in it.

"Woah!" Foxy gasped. "Wait, why do you have a bathroom? You're a puppet."

"Ew!" Ballora groaned, running out of the room. "Freddy was sitting on the toilet!"

"Bad Freddy!" Foxy berated Freddy.

"I tripped!" Freddy claimed, worried. They walked out of the bathroom and into the large center room again.

"Well, I have a bathroom because the boy's restroom is kinda dirty..." Puppet explained, asnwering Foxy's earlier question.

"And haunted, apparently." Foxy added, glaring at Ballora.

"Yeah." Puppet finished, nodding.

"It is, okay?" Ballora exclaimed, shrugging. "Gosh, guys."

"Isn't it your job to clean the boy's bathroom, though, Puppet?" Freddy asked Puppet. Puppet shook his head.

"You have a pet fish, too?!" Foxy mentioned, pointing at the fishbowl on the drawers against the wall. "How did you get this thing in here?"

"The better question is how he got all of this stuff in here..." Ballora muttered, gazing at the room.

"I went to the store and bought the fish." Puppet answered Foxy's question. "Wanna know what I called him?"

"What did you call him?" Foxy replied curiously.

"His name is Normandy." Puppet said.

"That's a really weird and stupid name." Foxy grumbled. "And why do you have another plunger in here, besides the one in the bathroom?" He pointed at the plunger on the drawers.

"To clean Normandy!" Puppet informed them.

"That doesn't make any sense." Foxy mumbled, confused. He pointed at the singing fish on the wall. "And doesn't it feel weird having a dead fish above the fish?"

"No, it's a friend for him." Puppet responded, shaking his head.

"Oh, okay, I see, I see!" Foxy muttered in realization, smiling and nodding.

"Does it talk?" Ballora asked Puppet as she curiously gazed at the fish.

"Only when you close your eyes and use your imagination and think really, really hard." Puppet claimed. Freddy closed his eyes for a second. Then he gasped.

"I hear it, I hear it!" He chanted, happy.

"See?" Puppet said, pointing at Freddy. "It works."

"Ah, that was a good joke." Freddy giggled.

"But this is Freddy we're talking about." Foxy informed Puppet. "He's not really-" He mouthed all there in the head to Puppet. Puppet's eyes widened, then he nodded respectfully.

"Woah, what's this?!" Freddy exclaimed, getting distracted by a random wall.

"That's a wall, Freddy." Ballora groaned, annoyed. Freddy ignored her and kept poking the wall.

"But, more importantly, we need to address the issue at hand." Puppet demanded, crossing his arms. "Why are you guys in my home?"

"We were looking for you because you haven't been around for the last couple of nights when security guards came." Foxy explained to him. "You've been missing the fun and excitement!"

"Yeah!" Freddy agreed, turning back towards them.

"Well, I'm always up for doing security guard pushing-down-hole stuff..." Puppet replied. "But, sometimes, you gotta sit down, look at yourself, and say: 'I gotta do taxes. I gotta live my life.'"

"What?" Ballora asked, confused.

"I think he's hiding something from us." Foxy whispered to the others.

"Yeah, something's fishy around here." Ballora added, smelling the air.

"Yeah, Puppet, what is so fishy?" Foxy asked Puppet, squinting at him.

"Tell us." Freddy said firmly, staring Puppet down.

"Well, see..." Puppet muttered. He gazed back and forth at them, shuffling his feet uncomfortably. "I gotta go use the restroom, be right back!" Puppet ran towards the bathroom.

"Wait, come back!" Foxy yelled to Puppet.

"Yeah, don't leave!" Ballora yelled.

"Oops. Since I'm the only one living here, the bathroom has no door." Puppet pointed out, embarrassed. "Don't look." He went inside.

"Ew!" Ballora shouted, disgusted.

"Yeah, don't look. That would be rude." Freddy instructed Foxy.

"I'm not looking. This is really gross." Foxy muttered, stepping away from the bathroom.

"Can we play minecraft while you're going?" Ballora yelled to Puppet, walking towards the computer.

"Don't touch my computer!" Puppet yelled back at them. They ignored him and went into the computer room.

"Oh, what's this? Ooo..." Ballora and Freddy gazed curiously at the computer. "I'm gonna click this one!" She furiously tapped the V key.

"Ooh, you're gonna get in trouble!" Foxy gasped, grinning mischievously. "He's gonna yell at you!"

"Nuh-uh!" Ballora denied, shaking her head.

Foxy walked out of the room and saw that Puppet was looking through the computer room window.

"Hey, he's watching you!" Foxy cried, surprised. The others came out of the room hurriedly. "Puppet, go away!"

"This is my home! You go away!" Puppet replied, waving them away.

"Oh, that's right." Foxy stammered, realizing this. Foxy raised his fist towards the roof. "I claim this house in the name of Foxy!"

"Hey, what's on tv?" Ballora asked, going into the tv room. Freddy was already on the couch.

"This is my favorite channel." Freddy said, giddy. However, the tv screen was off.

"It's not even on." Ballora grumbled, annoyed once again. Puppet gasped and hurried over to the tv, inspecting it.

"Hey, you guys erased all of my recordings!" Puppet screamed, upset.

"I didn't like those shows." Freddy said, holding up the remote.

"How could he do that if the tv isn't on?!" Ballora asked him, anxious.

"You somehow managed to erase all of my recorded shows!" Puppet cried, ignoring her. "I was gonna watch soap operas later!"

"You watch soap operas?" Foxy asked Puppet questioningly.

"Eh, I didn't really like them." Freddy murmured, shrugging.

"Freddy, all you watch is a cat on a rainbow and a guy flexing his muscles." Ballora said, gazing poisoning-like at Freddy. "That's all you watch, everyday."

"Mm-hmm." Freddy confirmed, nodding. "It's so exciting. You never know what's gonna happen next week."

"How is that exciting? I don't get it." Foxy moaned, confused, then gasped. His voice sounded static-like. He got up from the couch. "Wait, something's wrong." Foxy tapped his head firmly for a few times. The static increased. "Gee, what's wrong with my voice?"

"Aw, are you malfunctioning again?" Freddy asked Foxy, sounding disappointed. He got up from the couch as well.

"I think so. It might be." Foxy replied, nodding. Foxy tapped his voice box harder. His voice got higher, lower, and more intense with every tap. He tapped it a final time and his voice sounded normal again. Foxy gasped.

"What was that?!" Ballora exclaimed, anxious.

"That was so weird!" Foxy screamed, weirded out.

"Um, is that supposed to happen, Puppet?" Ballora turned towards Puppet.

"You sound just like Freddy when he had that cold." Puppet informed Foxy, smiling.

"Yeah, I do." Foxy said. "Wait, he got a cold? That makes no sense."

"Yeah..." Freddy mumbled, twiddling his thumbs. "It was really bad. It was there, for like, a week straight."

"Oh, wow. Maybe I caught it, then." Foxy guessed. "Hey, maybe it's like a bug, like a computer bug! Since we're animatronics?" He grinned for a moment, then started frowning again. "Get it?"

"Nope." Freddy said, shaking his head.

"Me neither." Puppet added, doing the same.

"What are computer bugs?" Ballora said stupidly. "The ones that jump around and make funny noises?"

"Nothing, don't worry about it." Foxy replied, waving her off.

"You know, that reminds me." Puppet chimed in. "I should go spray my computer for bugs." He pulled open a drawer, grabbed a spray bottle, and went into the computer room.

"No, that's not a good idea!" Foxy cried, following him. But Puppet was already spraying his computer.

"Use mosquito repellent!" Ballora yelled to Puppet.

"I did! It's soaking wet now." Puppet told them. "Thanks for telling me, Foxy." They exited the computer room.

"Good job." Freddy commended Puppet, giving him a thumbs-up.

"So, the question is, how do we get back up?" Foxy asked Puppet. They walked back into the tv room. Foxy pointed at the hole above. "Do we just, you know, jump?" Foxy got onto the couch and tried to use it to bounce up, but wasn't succeeding.

"This is the funny part." Puppet informed them, grinning. "You gotta close your eyes, sit on my super nice, fancy couch, and think about the pizzeria."

"Or maybe, I can just do this!" Foxy exclaimed, bouncing again. "Or this!" He did it again. "And this!" Foxy bounced one more time, and was shocked. He was flying upwards, back through the hole...

...and he burst out of the box, landing with a loud thud on the pizzeria floor. He got up. He was back inside Puppet's room, in the pizzeria. He climbed back on top of the fox and looked back down into the hole.

"Woah, how did you do that?" Freddy shouted up to Foxy.

"That was a bouncy couch!" Foxy exclaimed, shocked. "It took me a few tries, but I got up!"

"You have a bouncy couch?!" Ballora said excitedly.

"Guys, try it! It's pretty fun!" Foxy yelled into the hole. "It's like a bouncy castle, but better!"

"Well, the couch is made out of the same material as the bouncy house." Puppet explained.

"C'mon, do it!" Foxy yelled again.

"Try it, Freddy!" Ballora said to Freddy.

"You first." Freddy replied.

"Okay, fine." Ballora gave in. "Using my ballerina skills to jump now. 1...2...3! AAAAH!" Foxy jumped out of the way as Ballora burst out of the box and landed on the floor the same way Foxy had.

"Hey, you made it!" Foxy told Ballora. "That was cool, right?!" Ballora nodded.

"Freddy, you try!" Ballora yelled to the box.

"My turn!" They could hear Freddy shout. "WAAAAH!" Freddy burst out of the box as well, faceplanting on the ground. "Woah! Ow. Ow."

"Are you coming Puppet?" Foxy looked back down into the hole.

"Well, sure, why not!" Puppet shouted up at Foxy. "I guess I could show you the door! 1...2...3!" A second later, Puppet came out, though instead of landing on the floor, he just popped out of the box.

"Woah, that's so crazy." Foxy exclaimed, gazing at the box.

"It is." Puppet agreed, nodding.

"I wish I had a nice box..." Freddy mumbled, sad.

"You will, someday." Ballora said calmly to Freddy, patting him on the back.

"Aw, thank you." Freddy smiled at Ballora happily.

"Wait, did I just say something nice to Freddy?!" Ballora exclaimed, shocked. "I mean, ew, gross! You'll never have a box!"

"Aw..." Freddy turned away, sad again.

"Aw, his head is real nice!" Foxy said, pointing at Freddy's head.

"Oh, we're talking about his head?" Ballora asked Foxy. "I was talking about him having a box."

"Okay, guys." Foxy shouted, ignoring her. "We need to get prepared for the next security guard night. I heard there might be some maintenance people coming to fix something. I don't know what they need to fix, but they might be here soon. So we need to be-" Foxy's voice was filled with static again. "Arrgh, not again!" He began tapping his head and switching his voice again. "Why is this happening?!"

"You really need repairs." Freddy said. "You're broken."

"Yeah, it's almost like somebody's coming here in the daytime and messing with it!" Foxy exclaimed as he finally got his voice to work again. "I think one day I saw somebody dressed in purple. I don't get why they were there!"

Puppet seemed surprised to hear this and began to back away in terror.

Freddy gasped. "But who would do that?"

"I don't know." Foxy replied, shaking his head. "Whenever I see this purple person, Puppet's never around." They stared at Puppet.

"You know, I really need to get back to watching my show." Puppet muttered, backing up towards his box. "Catch you guys later.."

"But we need to prepare for the next night!" Foxy yelled after Puppet.

"You can just e-mail me..." Puppet mumbled as he hurriedly climbed into his box. "You have that, right?"

"Um, no." Foxy said. "Well, come on! The security guard will be here anytime now! We need to get prepared!"

"It's fine. I'll catch you guys later." Puppet waved goodbye. "Buh-bye!" He disappeared back into his box.

"Ugh, another night without him. Great." Foxy grumbled, angry. They walked back down the hall.

"Eh, I'm okay with that." Freddy commented, chuckling.

"Okay, so we should get set up." Foxy declared. "I'll go sit in Funtime Cove and you guys can go sit out in here." He was talking about the main room, which they had just entered.

"You need to fix yourself, though." Freddy told Foxy.

"Yeah, your voice is really messed up." Ballora agreed.

"Well, sorry it's breaking." Foxy apologized. Foxy walked back to his cove and drew open the curtains. "Hurry, get to your rooms!"

"Ugh, okay!" Ballora huffed as she and Freddy ran off, Freddy screaming all the way. "I didn't want to be in your stupid cove anyway."

"I wonder who this purple person is..." Foxy mumbled to himself. "Huh, I guess I'll soon find out." He stepped into his cove. "Okay, let's get prepared for the night to come!" He drew his curtains closed and began the waiting process...

Chapter Text

Foxy turned on the faucet, letting the cold water run down his messy hands. Thank goodness for the waterproof model, Foxy thought as he cleaned the red stuff off his hands, whatever it was. It had come out of the security guard during this night's daily security guard hunt. Thanks to it, Foxy had to wash it off his hands.

"Ugh, I have so much red jam on my hands." Foxy groaned as he cleaned them in the sink. "I don't even know how it came out of that guard. I didn't even eat a sandwich. Did he? Man, it's weird.."

"Foxy? Is that you?" Someone behind him chimed in. Foxy, startled, turned around.

Freddy was standing behind him, opening the stall door.

"Woah, what are you doing in here?!" Foxy asked Freddy, slightly angry. "You're not supposed to be in here! I mean, I'm just here, washing my hands, and you sneak up behind me?! What are you even doing in here?"

"Oh, I was just taking care of business, y'know..." Freddy replied, being extremely vague. He seemed uncomfortable to be asked about what he was doing,

"What do you mean..?" Foxy asked Freddy, suspicious. He pushed Freddy out of the way and looked into the stall. He was surprised to see that a torn-up cap with the same red jam on it had been stuffed into the toilet. "Hey, is that the remnants of a hat?"

"Um...no..." Freddy muttered, nervous.

"Wait, that is!" Foxy exclaimed. He turned back towards Freddy. "Is that a security guard hat?! What did you do?"

"Um, well, the trash can was full, so I stuffed the body in there..." Freddy explained, pointing at the toilet.

"Woah woah woah, that doesn't answer my question!" Foxy said gruffly. "Why did you do that without telling us?! You could have easily said: 'Hey Foxy, Puppet, Ballora! Come help me!' But how did this all happen?! What did you do?" Foxy asked this because the guard they had killed earlier had been thrown into a pit and buried, so the guard Freddy took care of must have been a different one.

"Um...the security guard was just out in the open...so I figured, why not take care of him?" Freddy stuttered, even more nervous.

Foxy sighed. "Man, this is why they give the security guard a room to sit in: so this stuff doesn't happen! That way, we can all have fun!" Foxy was upset at Freddy for taking out another guard without his consideration. A plan to get Freddy in more trouble quickly clicked in Foxy's head. "You know what? I'm gonna go tell Ballora and the Puppet, so they know!" Foxy ran out of the boy's restroom and down the hall.

"No, don't!" Freddy cried, chasing after him.

"No, I'm gonna go tell them!" Foxy yelled as he ran. "You're not gonna stop me this time!"

"No, please! Don't tell them!" Freddy begged, desperate.

"Nope, too late!" Foxy quickened his pace. "I'm gonna tell them!" They ran into the main room. Puppet was watching as Ballora slowly walked towards the bouncy house, eagerly eyeing it.

"I'm gonna go and bounce and bounce and bounce!" Ballora declared, excited.

"No, don't! Don't you remember what happened last time?!" Puppet responded, waving his arms frustratingly. "You got stuck!"

Oh, not again... Foxy thought.

"Um, nope! I don't remember!" Ballora denied, shaking her head. "All I remember is that I want to bounce and have fun!"

"Ugh, you never listen to me!" Puppet griped, annoyed. He turned around and noticed Foxy and Freddy. "Foxy, help me out here! Tell her not to go into the bounce house!"

"Yeah, Ballora, do you remember what happened last time?" Foxy said. "You got stuck up there, and we had to get you down. If you get stuck in there, we're not going to help you again."

"But it's so fun!" Ballora exclaimed, stamping her feet. "Look, it's so bouncy and exciting!"

"You should listen to Foxy.." Freddy advised her, patting Foxy's shoulder.

"Yeah.." Foxy agreed, nodding.

Ballora looked exasperated. "But...fine, I won't go in!" She backed away from the bounce house, upset.

"Oh, so when Foxy goes in, it's all 'Okay, I won't go in', but when I tell you, you ignore me!" Puppet complained.

"Nope, I never listen to you." Ballora said, waving him off. "Ever."

"No one listens to me..." Puppet whined, turning away.

"Wait, on the subject of puppets..." Foxy began, turning towards Freddy. "Where's Bon-Bon, anyhow? Your little friend-to-the-end that hangs out with you?"

Bon-Bon had still been missing. The animatronics had waited for some time to see if he would reappear, but he hadn't yet.

"Oh yeah, I haven't seen him in...well, phew, a while." Freddy replied, shrugging. "I don't know where he went."

"He has to be around here somewhere, 'cause he was with you, like, when we first moved here!" Foxy stated.

"Yeah, but..." Freddy responded, looking unfazed. "I just want to give him some space, though, y'know."

"Ah, I understand." Foxy said, nodding politely. "But there's another thing I need to mention: Chica hasn't been transferred here yet! I thought she was coming to this location."

In the old location, Chica had been a good friend of Freddy and Foxy. But when they had left their old pizzeria to go to Circus Baby's, Chica hadn't come with at that point in time. She had assured them she'd be there at some point, but they still hadn't seen her since.

"Oh, yeah." Freddy replied. "I thought she was coming too. I haven't seen her, though. I don't know where she could be."

"Have you guys seen her?" Foxy turned to Puppet and Ballora.

"I think she has her own place." Puppet responded, nodding. "I think it's called, like...Chica's Party World, or something?"

There was a tense silence.

"She gets her own place?!" Ballora exclaimed, outraged.

"That's crazy!" Freddy cried, not wanting to believe it. "I should get my own place again!"

"No, I should get my own place!" Foxy declared. "Because I'm Foxy the pirate, everyone's favorite! The best pirate ever! Arrgh!" Foxy stalled for a moment. "Where'd that come from?" He seemed confused.

"I should get a bigger box." Puppet said.

"You already have a big box." Ballora pointed out, glaring at Puppet.

"Yeah, you do have a pretty big box..." Foxy agreed, slowly nodding.

"I want a bigger box!" Puppet demanded passively. "With a pool, and a second floor!"

"Oh, he's getting mad with power..." Foxy whispered to Ballora.

"He is. That's not good.." Ballora replied.

"Wait, so Chica has her own location now, so that means that we can call her." Foxy stated.

"Oh yeah." Freddy and Puppet nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, I think there's a phone in the break room." Foxy mentioned, pointing at the kitchen, which was where the employee break room was. "Let's go!" They ran towards the kitchen. "Follow me, guys!"

"We have a phone?" Ballora asked, confused.

"Yeah!" Foxy confirmed, nodding. "How do you think the security guards get their information during the night schedule and stuff?" They entered the kitchen.

"Oh, well, do you know how to use it?" Freddy questioned Foxy, curious.

"Well, we're about to find out." Foxy responded, shrugging. They entered the break room through a door on the left side of the kitchen.

The break room was a slightly narrow room with striped yellow walls on both the left and right and striped red walls on the opposite wall. The middle of the room had a rectangular wooden table with two chairs on either side. On the table sat a box of tissues and a blue phone. A small fridge, less in size than the kitchen fridges, stood against the back wall. In a couple of corners were small tables with blue lamps on them, lighting up the room more than usual. A huge vent cover was intended in the back wall high above, but the inside was too dark to see.

The animatronics sat down at the table.

"So, do you guys know how to use a phone?" Foxy asked them. "Because, heh, I don't know."

"Wait, oh my goodness!" Ballora exclaimed, gazing at the phone. "Is that the new IPhone 7?!"

"I think it is!" Foxy answered anxiously. The animatronics marveled over the phone, speaking about how spectacular it was.

"It's so pretty!"

"It's beautiful!"

"It's so retro!"

"Where's the headphone jack?" Ballora calmly asked, looking around the phone to try and find it. "How do you put headphones into it?"

"I don't know, but let's see if we can figure this thing out." Foxy inspected the phone, muttering under his breath. "Let's try dialing random numbers." Foxy tapped several numbers on the phone's keypad in a random order, then flicked the speakerphone switch to on. "There we go, it's calling someone."

The phone let out a ring. Then a click sounded, indicating that someone had picked up.

"HELLO?!" A scratchy voice yelled. "HEY, WHO IS THIS?! IT'S LATE AT NIGHT, I'M TRYING TO SLEEP! I GOTTA BE WELL RESTED BECAUSE I GOT MANY EVIL GREEN GOBLIN MISSIONS TO DO!"

"Hey, uh, green goblin, is Chica there?" Foxy confusedly asked the person on the other end. The other animatronics watched in anxious silence.

"WHO'S CHICA?!" The scratchy voice screamed. "IS THAT LIKE, CHICKEN? OH, CAN I GET SOME CHICKEN?! I WANT SOME! I WANT SO-"

The person was cut off as Foxy pressed the end call button, already getting tired of listening to whoever was at the other end.

"Uh, I think we had the wrong number, guys." Foxy informed the others. "That guy was really annoying."

"That guy sounded so...CUTE!" Ballora exclaimed, a look of excitement on her face. "I want him!"

"Um...no." Foxy refused.

"You can't OWN somebody!" Puppet added, shaking his head.

"Um..fine! Okay, let me try." Ballora replied, gazing at the phone. She pulled it towards herself. "I have a number we can use. Now, let's put these numbers in..." She began to type on the number pad. "Okay, I think it's ringing..."

A few rings sounded before another person picked up.

"Thank you for calling tech support." A Chinese man greeted from the other end. "My name is Bob, how can I help you?"

"Uh, yes." Ballora replied nervously. "Is Chica there?"

"Who's Chica?" The man asked. "Have you tried turning it off and on again? If not, give us a call back with your credit card number. Thank you!" He hung up.

"What just happened?" Foxy muttered, speechless.

"Um, that's not her." Ballora explained. "I think that was Bob. I talk to him sometimes."

"What? Who's Bob?" Freddy asked loudly.

"Yeah, who is he?" Foxy added.

"He's some guy who helps me with electronics...and stuff." Ballora replied.

"Man, you guys don't know how to use this thing at all." Puppet commented, shaking his head dismissively at them. "Let me try." He pulled the phone towards himself.

"Oh great, he's gonna blow it up, or something." Foxy said sarcastically. He scooted his chair back. "I'm backing away from this one."

"I haven't blown anything up in weeks." Puppet claimed, looking irritably at Foxy.

"Yeah, you say that now, but just watch." Foxy ordered. He gestured towards the phone, waiting for Puppet to use it.

"Alright, here we go." Puppet said. He punched in a random number on the keypad again. Again, the ringing sounded.

"Hi..." A slightly quiet voice of a woman came from the other end this time. "My name is Erika, from the taco shop down the street."

"A taco shop?!" Foxy exclaimed, suddenly interested. He rushed over to the phone. "Hello, I'd like five orders of burritos!"

"I want an ice cream!" Freddy added happily.

"No, not now!" Puppet yelled. "We have more important things to do!"

"Would you like to upgrade to a large or a medium?" The woman asked.

"Extra large! Extra large!" Foxy replied loudly. But before the woman could reply, Puppet ended the call without them noticing.

"Aw, it looks like she's gone." Puppet said, pretending to be sad. Freddy and Foxy sighed unhappily.

"You guys are doing this wrong." Freddy said firmly to everybody. "Let me." Freddy pulled the phone over to him and punched in his own random number into the keypad. The ringing sounded once more.

"Hello? Hello? Uh, hello?" A man's voice came from the phone. "Welcome to your first night at Circus Baby's Pizza World. Uh, in this night, uh, the animatronics are walking around, so you gotta be careful of that. And make sure you watch out for Puppet. He-" Puppet, looking slightly nervous, quickly ended the call.

"We don't have to listen to him anymore. He wasn't saying anything important." Puppet said quickly, shaking his head again.

"Wait, he said something about you." Foxy pointed out.

"Nah, he sounded like he said something about tacos." Puppet said. "We should probably order tacos again."

"Ooh, tacos." Freddy mumbled, interested. "They sound good."

"No, no, no, guys, keep focus here." Foxy told everybody. "Puppet.." Foxy glared at Puppet for a moment, then gave in. "You know what? I'm gonna try one last number." Foxy took the phone. "Let's hope this works, because racking up the phone bill might get us in trouble. I don't know how, but it might." Foxy dialed in a different number. "There!"

The phone started ringing again. And then it went to voicemail.

"Thank you for calling Chica's Party World." The male voicemail voice said. "Unfortunately, no one is available to take your call."

"Wait, what?" Foxy said, startled.

"Please leave a message at the beep." The voice said.

"Wait, hello? Hello? Anyone there?" Foxy yelled at the phone. "Guys, you heard that, right? Someone was on the other end!"

"You had to leave a message at the beep, it said." Freddy explained. "Tell it we're looking for Chica."

"But where's the beep?" Foxy asked, staring at the phone. After a few seconds, a beep was heard. "Hi, this is, uh..." He looked at the others. "Foxbearpuppetballorakin."

"That's not my name..." Puppet mumbled, annoyed.

"We're looking for Chica. If you can call back this number at any point.." Foxy turned to the others and whispered to them. "What's the number?"

"Um...12345!" Ballora guessed.

"Yeah, 12345!" Foxy said to the phone. He turned to the others again. "Is that enough numbers?" He turned to the phone. "Uh, 678910, pound sign, star, uh, call back, end call, and yeah! That's the number."

"You forgot to put one of those funny emojis in there." Puppet reminded him.

"You can't leave emojis in a voice message." Ballora commented.

"Yeah." Foxy agreed. Puppet looked dejected.

"What's an emoji?" Freddy asked stupidly.

"It's...wait, we're still talking!" Foxy realized.

"Hang up!" Ballora exclaimed. Foxy quickly did so.

"Phew!" Foxy breathed a sigh of relief.

"That was close." Freddy remarked, sighing.

"I forgot, it's late there." Foxy said. "And Chica doesn't have a phone, either. And the room that the phone is in, she probably doesn't have access to." There was an awkward pause. "We didn't really think this one out, did we?" The others mumbled in awkwardness. "I mean, it's all your guys fault! Not me."

"What?" Ballora asked, confused. "Of course not. I just wanted to go into the bouncy house, but you guys dragged me into this."

"And I just wanted to order some tacos." Puppet added, shrugging. "But now it's late at night, and they're closed."

"Wait, we're ordering tacos?" Freddy asked, seemingly forgetting that they just had several minutes ago.

"Yeah, I want some tacos!" Foxy added.

"Not anymore, they're closed!" Puppet huffed.

"Wait, enough about Chica and taco shops!" Foxy exclaimed, remembering their previous discussion. "It's time to get back on track." he pointed at Freddy threateningly. "Our buddy Freddy here took out a security guard without us."

"You told them!" Freddy gasped, horrified.

"Yes, I told you I would!" Foxy exclaimed, glaring at Freddy.

"You didn't tell us?" Ballora said, looking angrily at Freddy. "That's not fair!"

"How could you?" Puppet added, also upset.

"But it was just...I..." Freddy started. "...stop ganging up on me!"

"Did you give him the good old one-two, eh?" Ballora asked him, grinning a little.

"He stuffed him down the toilet." Foxy explained.

"Ooh, the good old flushing-them-down-the-toilet!" Ballora gasped happily. "That's a good one."

"The trash was full." Freddy said again. "I had to."

"So he gave him a swirlie." Foxy emphasized. The others looked confused.

"Excuse me?" Ballora said, raising an eyebrow at him.

"It's when you lift them up by the legs, turn the toilet on, and dunk their head in." Foxy explained.

"Oh, I know that one!" Ballora exclaimed happily. "I call that one the face-wash! It really cleans up my face when I do that." The others stared at her.

"That just sounds weird." Freddy admitted. "Why would you do that?"

"And you do that in the toilet?" Puppet questioned her.

"That's how I freshen up my face for the people!" Ballora exclaimed proudly.

"Ugh.." Foxy backed away. "That explains a lot now."

"Of course, I have beautiful eyes!" Ballora claimed. "Of course, you can't see them, since I keep them closed."

"I think it's time to leave." Foxy walked out and closed the door behind him. "I'll lock you guys in there, since you can't open doors." Foxy gasped when Puppet approached the door and opened it. "Woah, Puppet, you can open doors?!"

"How'd you do that?!" Freddy exclaimed, surprised.

"It was the wind!" Puppet claimed. "It swung open by itself." They all came into the kitchen.

"Puppet, you're weirding me out now.." Foxy backed up a few paces. "You're doing things you're not supposed to be able to..."

"Maybe I should open the garbage chute beneath your feet!" Ballora pointed at the garbage chute beneath Puppet's feet, which Puppet had mistakenly moved onto after going through the door.

"Would you do that?" Puppet asked skeptically, looking back and forth from her to the garbage chute.

"I don't know..." Ballora answered, stepping away. "Something's just off about you."

"And the joke's on you. You can't open the garbage chute, remember?" Puppet looked smugly at Ballora.

"Ah, that's true." Ballora stamped her foot. "Dangit!"

"Oh no, he's on to us." Freddy whispered, seeming a little worried. "He knows our secrets."

"Yeah, this is not cool." Foxy admitted, shaking his head. "Let's go." They all left the kitchen and went into the main room, towards the bouncy house. "Okay, let's go in the bouncy house..."

"Bouncy house!" Ballora cried, excited.

"...except that Ballora can't go in." Foxy said, looking slyly at Ballora.

"Yeah- wait, what?!" Ballora asked, shocked. Foxy entered the bounce house and began bouncing.

"Yep, you heard me!" Foxy yelled as he bounced. "Ah, look at me!" He jumped higher. "Bouncing along!"

"Yay, bouncy!" Freddy cried as he came in and bounced too. Puppet also entered and began bouncing happily.

"I want to go in..." Ballora moaned, unhappy.

"Nope, you can't come in!" Foxy taunted, blowing a raspberry at her.

"You guys are meanies!" Ballora complained, glaring at them all as they continued to bounce.

"Hope you enjoy your tea party!" Freddy mocked, laughing nastily.

"I hope your legs fall off..or break or...something!" Ballora began, trying to find the words to say. She began to walk away. "I'm gonna go dance now." She ran off.

"Have fun!" Foxy yelled after her, grinning. The trio continued bouncing.

"Wait a minute." Puppet commented, stopping his jumping. His smile changed to a frown. "This is lame. I'm going home." He began to leave.

"Hey, where do you think you're going?!" Foxy yelled after him. "Come back here!" But Puppet was already long gone. Foxy turned to Freddy as they kept bouncing.

"I guess it's just me and you, Freddy." Foxy sighed.

"Just like the good old days." Freddy giggled, smiling.

"But, y'know, I wanna know why the puppet was saying all that stuff and..." Foxy thought for a moment. "Hey, remember when he hung up the phone when that guy was trying to tell us something about him? And remember that Puppet opened the door? Man, stuff is getting really weird."

"Eh, I trust Puppet." Freddy replied calmly.

"That's all fine and good, but how did he know about Chica's place?" Foxy questioned him. "He shouldn't know that stuff, he's supposed to be just like us."

"I guess he's just smart." Freddy shrugged. "I dunno."

"I guess so..." Foxy mumbled, nodding.

"We should keep and eye on him, though." Freddy mentioned, a look of determination in his eye.

"Yeah we should, but we let him leave, though!" Foxy exclaimed. "We shouldn't have. Not good." Freddy muttered in agreement. "But I guess we can just bounce here for a little while."

"Weee!" Freddy yelled as he bounced higher and higher.

And with that, they bounced and bounced together, smiling and laughing at the fun they were having.

Chapter Text

"Ah..." Funtime Foxy yawned as he woke up. Another night in the pizzeria. "The night has begun!" He proclaimed. "I hope a security guard comes tonight, that'd be exciting!" Foxy opened his cove curtains and stepped out, closing them behind him. "Hopefully I'll get to one before Freddy does. That would be amazing, and-" He walked into the main room and stopped dead in his tracks.

Onstage, Freddy was still deactivated, even though the night had begun.

"Freddy's still asleep?" Foxy mumbled as he walked up to the stage. "Hey, Freddy! Wake up!" Freddy kept snoring loudly, not waking up. "Are you serious?" Foxy smiled a bit. "Wait, I gotta do something..." Foxy got up on stage.

He rapped Freddy on the head several times, the sound of banging metal coming from him. Freddy kept sleeping, still snoring quietly.

"Oh, he's not waking up!" Foxy said, getting excited. "This is perfect." Foxy blew a raspberry in Freddy's face, but still he didn't wake up. "Okay, he's asleep!" Foxy got off stage and went down the hall.

"Oh, this is gonna be so awesome!" He squealed in excitement. Time to find the others. Where are they? He went into the main hall and looked down it. He saw Ballora's room at one end. Oh, Ballora should be in her room. Oh, she's gonna love this! He entered the room.

"Ballora, wake up! Time to wake up!" He yelled, approaching the sleeping Ballora on her stage.

Ballora moaned and groaned as she stayed half-asleep. "Five more minutes..."

"Wake up! We're gonna play a trick on Freddy!" Foxy yelled, louder.

"What, what is it?" She grumbled as she began to awake and pay attention to Foxy. "I'm awake!"

"It's time to have some fun with Freddy!" Foxy exclaimed, smirking.

"Have fun with him? Please." She huffed. "He's boring."

"He's still asleep." Foxy informed her. "Follow me, and I'll show you." He began to leave.

"Wait, he's asleep?" Ballora asked, following behind him as they went down the hall. "Why didn't you wake him up?"

"I tried, but he's out cold." Foxy replied. They entered the room Freddy was in (he was still asleep). "See, he's still asleep!"

"Freddy?" Ballora shouted as she went up to him. "Freddy?" She went over to his ear. "HELLO?" He kept snoring. "He's not waking up."

"We have to go get Puppet!" Foxy chattered, excited. "Oh, I love this!"

"Oh, yes! Yes! Let's go get Puppet" Ballora replied, nodding eagerly. They raced down the hall at top speed as Freddy continued snoring behind them.

"Puppet's gonna go crazy for this!" Foxy claimed as they ran. "This is gonna be amazing!"

"What are we gonna do?" Ballora asked Foxy, curious.

"We're gonna prank him." Foxy revealed, chuckling evilly.

Ballora gasped and nodded mischievously, grinning like the Cheshire cat. They ran over to Puppet's box.

"Puppet!" Ballora yelled.

"Puppet, come up!" Foxy added, jumping up and down.

Puppet slowly came out of his box, popping up out of it and gazing down at them.

"Ugh, what do you guys want?" He muttered. "It's too early. You know I'm not a morning person!"

"You mean a night person, 'cause it's nighttime!" Foxy pointed out.

"What?" Puppet seemed confused, then remembered that it indeed was night. "Oh, yeah. You're right."

"Oh, but guess what?!" Foxy exclaimed, grinning at Puppet.

"What?" Puppet mumbled anxiously.

"So exciting..." Ballora muttered as she watched Foxy talk to Puppet.

"Freddy's still asleep!" Foxy finally told Puppet. Puppet's eyes widened, and he got up and jumped off the box.

"No way." Puppet replied, shaking his head.

"Yeah, he's not waking up!" Foxy exclaimed as they ran back down the hall. "At first I thought something was wrong with his circuitry, but no! He's asleep, and snoring so loud! Man, I never knew he could snore like that!"

"And we're gonna prank him!" Ballora giggled.

They entered the room, and Freddy was still sleeping.

Puppet gasped. He walked up to Freddy. "This is amazing. Hold up, let me take a selfie." Puppet pulled out a phone from nowhere and stood in front of Freddy, holding the phone up. Foxy and Ballora chuckled as the camera phone flashed.

"There we go." Puppet said, smiling.

"Make sure you put it on Instagram and use filters!" Ballora recommended, still chuckling. "Lots of filters!"

"Yeah!" Foxy agreed, nodding. Puppet fiddled with the filters on his phone.

"I'll give him the dog ears.." Puppet muttered as he put the filter on the image.

"Oh, yes! Do it! That'd be amazing!" Foxy exclaimed, even more excited.

"And I'll send a copy to you guys." Puppet explained as he put his phone away (somewhere).

"Ah, yes!" Ballora pumped her fist happily.

"I'm so excited to get it!" Foxy added. They went a distance away from Freddy and formed a group huddle.

"Okay, so what are we gonna do?" Ballora asked. "How are we gonna prank him?"

"Let's put some toys around him!" Foxy suggested, grabbing a stuffed bunny off of the shelf on a nearby pillar. "He'll think they're alive and get SO scared!" They broke the huddle. Foxy went over to the stage. "Do you guys have any toys?"

"I have a jack-in-the-box!" Ballora replied as she pulled out a red one.

"Yeah, do it!" Foxy said as he placed the bunny to the front-right of Freddy. "He's scared of jack-in-the-boxes!"

"I'll make it look like it's looking at him!" Ballora placed the jack-in-the-box right in front of Freddy.

"Wow, that's perfect!" Foxy exclaimed. He turned to Puppet. "Puppet, do you have anything?"

"I do." Puppet confirmed, nodding. "I have a little version of himself." He pulled out a plushie of Funtime Freddy, complete with the little black top-hat and the black speaker. "He'll see it and get scared about his inner feelings." He placed it to the front-left of Freddy.

"Ah, wow!" Foxy cried as he examined the plushie. "That'll be awesome!" Foxy looked at the ceiling above Freddy. "I know, let's hang some stuff in front of him! Got anything, guys?"

"Oh, I got sausages!" Ballora pulled out sausage links on hooks. She jammed the hooks into the ceiling above Freddy, which made the links hang right in front of him and behind him.

"Why do you have...sausages?" Foxy asked her, confused.

"Um...I was trying to practice cooking, like he does?" Ballora answered.

"Hopefully you're better than him, though!" Puppet commented, smirking. He went over to Freddy's ear. "Good thing Ballora's a better cook than you!" Freddy still didn't wake up.

"He's still not awake, oh my goodness!" Ballora giggled.

"Wait, I know what else we can grab!" Foxy ran over to one of the stands (specifically, the one by his cove) and went behind the stand counter. "Here at the game, there's snowballs!" He pulled open the chest and took all of the snowballs inside. He ran back over to them. "Here, grab a few!" He set them on the ground. The others took some of the snowballs from the pile.

"Okay, got some!" Puppet confirmed.

"Me too!" Ballora added, waving the snowballs in the air.

"Okay, when he wakes up, we'll hit him with the snowballs!" Foxy explained, pointing at Freddy. "He should wake up right about now." They prepared themselves.

"He he he, this is gonna be so fun..." Foxy could hear Ballora whisper.

Freddy yawned and slowly opened his eyes, then saw everything in front of him. "Aaah!" He jumped back in fright.

"Wakey wakey!" Ballora yelled.

"Eggs and scary stuff!" Foxy shouted, smirking.

"Wha? What are you guys doing here?" Freddy exclaimed, scared. "I was just trying to sleep, guys!"

"Yeah, you slept through everything!" Foxy said to him. Freddy gazed worriedly at the sausages.

"Why are there sausages here?!" Freddy asked nervously.

"Uh, you can question Ballora on that." Foxy gestured towards Ballora. "I'm still not sure about the reason behind the sausages."

"It's 'cause SAUSAGES!" Ballora cried. Freddy looked down at the toys around him.

"There's a jack-in-the-box!" Freddy stepped back in horror.

"Yeah, see him?" Foxy patted the head of the jack-in-the-box. "He's looking right at you!"

"Oh no..." Freddy said.

"And we don't even know how these toys got here, either." Foxy told Freddy. "They were already here when we arrived."

Freddy looked as if he might hyperventilate. "Puppet, you did this, didn't you?"

"I did part of it." Puppet said, smirking. "How do you feel about the little version of you, sitting right there?" He pointed at the plushie.

"He's really cute." Freddy admitted, admiring the plushie. "I really like it." He looked over at the jack-in-the-box again. "But the jack-in-the-box is really scary! I don't like it." He took a quick step back.

"But you know what else is really scary?" Foxy asked Freddy, grinning. "SNOWBALL FIGHT!" Foxy, Puppet, and Ballora pulled out the snowballs and hurled them at the unprepared Freddy, who screamed in fright and ran back and forth across the stage.

"Please, no more!" Freddy begged as he attempted to dodge the snowballs, tears running down his eyes.

"Aw, lighten up!" Foxy replied, smiling as they kept throwing the snowballs. "It's okay."

"This is fun!" Ballora proclaimed. "It's like a minigame!"

"Leave me alone!" Freddy vaulted over the nearby stand and into his usual closet.

"Freddy, come back! It's okay, we were just playing around!" Foxy shouted after him, but garnered no reply other than Freddy's loud sobbing. Foxy turned to the others. "Aw, I think we upset him." Foxy went into the closet.

Freddy was in the corner of the closet, still sobbing. Snowballs were plastered about his body, mostly on his face, and were dripping all over him.

"Freddy, I'm sorry." Foxy apologized, smiling awkwardly. "It's okay."

"You guys are bullies!" Freddy whined, still sad. "I was just trying to sleep!"

"Hey, cheer up. Maybe a security guard's gonna come." Foxy assured Freddy.

"Oh, you have a tv." Puppet pointed out, gesturing at the tv with the little brown teddy bear, Franklin, still sitting in front of it. The tv was currently on an error screen (due to it being on the wrong channel).

"Ah, you do. Nice tv, by the way." Foxy said, smiling.

"Oh, yeah." Freddy said, remembering the tv. "This is my favorite channel."

"And you even have a little friend that always watches the tv with you." Puppet pointed at Franklin.

"Yeah." Freddy nodded politely, then gave an annoyed look towards Franklin. "He watched the rest of the movie without me, though. He was supposed to pause it."

"Wow, really?" Foxy asked. "Oh, wow. That's really rude of him to not actually pause the movie." Foxy heard Ballora making noises outside. "Oh, I hear you, Ballora. Are you jealous that we're in here and you're not?" He looked back at the outside of the closet and was horrified. "Woah, Ballora!"

Ballora was sitting on the counter of the stand bordering the closet, eating all of the candy in a bowl that was on the counter.

"Huh? What?!" Ballora quickly snapped to attention.

"Hey, are you eating all the candy again?!" Foxy asked Ballora loudly. He went to the other side of the stand.

"What? No!" Ballora jumped off the counter and backed away to the center of the main room. Foxy followed her.

"Hey, not the candy!" Freddy raced out of the closet, frowning. Puppet came behind him. They both went over to the main room part where Foxy and Ballora were.

"Do you know how many times we've had to refill this because of you?!" Foxy picked up the candy bowl and pointed at it. It was about half-empty at this point.

"It's yummy..." Ballora mumbled, eyeing the candy again.

"Hey. You stop it." Freddy said firmly, waving his finger at her disapprovingly.

"No."

"Yes."

"No."

"Yes!"

"I don't really mind it completely, but you'd better not eat too much." Puppet advised her. "You'll get a cavity. And we don't know anybody who can fix those!"

Ballora looked at him incredulously. "We're robots."

"Good thing for that." Freddy sighed happily. "I don't wanna go to the dentist."

"Still, we don't know anybody who can fix cavities." Puppet repeated.

"Actually, I got this... weird letter once." Foxy chimed in. "It said something about...Dr. O's dentistry? It's like, down the street."

"Huh. Interesting." Ballora replied.

"Dentists are scary." Freddy moaned, afraid. "I hate them."

"Yeah, I agree." Foxy said, patting Freddy on the back.

"Well, I think they're the BEST!" Ballora exclaimed, jumping up as she said this.

"Huh? You like dentists?" Foxy asked her in disbelief. He stared at the others. "She's getting weirder and weirder each day."

"Hmm...she's probably a spy." Freddy guessed, eyeing Ballora in suspicion.

"Oh, really now?" Ballora growled. "A spy for who?"

"The dentist." Foxy revealed, also eyeing Ballora.

"The dentist? Nope." Ballora shook her head.

"Well, just look at how many teeth me and Freddy have!" Foxy commanded. "We have rows and rows of teeth!" Foxy and Freddy opened their mouths to show her.

"And I don't have any teeth myself." Puppet said from next to the. He pointed at the mouth area on his mask, which had zero teeth and was immovable.

Ballora stared silently at their mouths for a moment, then backed away, repulsed. "Ew. You guys are yucky."

"No, you're yucky." Foxy claimed. "You're the one who likes the dentist."

"Yucky? Excuse me, I'm a beautiful ballerina!" She grinned. She wrenched the candy bowl out of Foxy's hands and started eating the candy again.

"Hey, get away from the candy!" Foxy took it away from her again. "Now you can't have any more. I got it again."

"I want CANDY!" Ballora chased after him.

"My candy!" Freddy followed, trying to get the candy back.

"Woah! Woah, woah, woah!" Foxy yelped as they chased him around the room.

"Give me my- ooh, candy!" Ballora exclaimed as she eyed another candy bowl on another stand. She went over to it, trying to eat it.

"Not again!" Foxy raced over and stole the other candy bowl as well. "No candy for you."

"Hey, what?!" Ballora shrieked. Foxy ran away.

"Ha ha, I got the other one!" He yelled in triumph. "And now..." He went into the kitchen and slammed the door behind him. He knew they couldn't open doors, so he was home free. "...you can't get me!"

"No! Aww..." Freddy moaned in defeat as he pounded on the door.

"This isn't fair.." Ballora whined as she came up the door as well. "Meanies."

"Now what do we do?" Freddy asked everyone else, confused.

"Ha, you can't get me!" Foxy taunted. "Nobody can open the door but me!"

"That's true." Puppet admitted as he came to the door. "Hey, what's that behind you?!" He pointed behind Foxy.

"Huh? What are you talking about?!" Foxy yelled as he whipped around and saw...nothing was behind him! He turned around, but it was too late. The door was wide open.

"Hey, look! The gust of wind opened the door!" Puppet pointed out.

"Hey, what's behind us?" Ballora asked. Apparently, she and Freddy had also listened, and were inspecting the area on the other side of the room. "I don't see anything."

"These are balloons." Freddy said as he inspected the balloons.

"Wow, they actually listened to you as well.." Foxy muttered as he stepped out of the kitchen without realizing it.

"Wait a second, there's nothing here!" Ballora screamed as she turned around and saw Foxy.

"We've been tricked!" Freddy realized. They chased after Foxy.

"Ah! Oh no!" Foxy ran away again.

They chased him in circles and circles around the room again.

A few minutes later...

Foxy ran into the kitchen as the others kept chasing him. He needed to get rid of the candy, fast. But how? He spotted the garbage chute. There! He thought. He ran over and wrenched it open, tossing in the candy bowls just as the others barged into the room.

"Ah ha! I threw them in the trash!" Foxy exclaimed, grinning.

"Nooo!" Freddy cried as he ran over to the chute and crouched beside it, looking into it desperately. "Candy..." Foxy closed the garbage chute as Freddy cried in sadness for the candy.

"They're gone now." Foxy said as he crossed his arms and smirked.

"Well, I guess those candy bowls can go to our pet." Puppet commented.

"Yeah, I guess." Freddy replied, instantly turning back to a normal mood.

"My candy..." Ballora looked down at the chute.

"Woah, what's this?" They heard Garbage shout from inside the chute. "Hey, it's some candy!"

"Huh? Garbage?" Freddy suddenly perked up. "Woah, I didn't know he was still alive down there."

"Yeah, I've been eating the chicken that gets dropped down here." Garbage explained, apparently having heard them. Foxy opened the chute again. "It's pretty good."

"Who's throwing chicken down there again?!" Foxy turned towards the others, alert.

"Look, uh.." Freddy stepped up. "I'm sorry, okay? It's just, there's always so much chicken left over. I never know what to do with it."

"Are you serious?" Foxy complained, upset with Freddy for the millionth time.

"Thanks for the candy, though." Garbage thanked them. "It's a nice change of pace."

"You're welcome, Garbage." Freddy yelled into the chute, smiling.

"Hey, could you guys send down some protein too?" Garbage asked.

"Oh, now he's just being needy." Freddy mumbled, instantly dropping the smile.

"Yeah, right? Although, maybe we should just send some water down there." Foxy looked down into the chute again. "Hey, have you been drinking water?"

"Well, no." Garbage replied. "I've just been drinking the little bit of coca-cola that was left here."

"Freddy..." Foxy gazed murderously at Freddy.

"I'm more of a Pepsi guy myself, to be honest." Freddy said nervously.

"You're really wasteful." Garbage said. "You leave half of the cola in the bottles all the time, judging by how the cola is when I find it."

"Well, uh, the bottom part is the worst!" Freddy replied quickly. "The first sip is good, and then you throw out the rest of the bottle." The others stared at Freddy.

"Wow, no wonder we haven't opened yet." Foxy said, sighing.

"Garbage is right, Freddy." Puppet added. "That's pretty wasteful."

"It's horrible." Ballora admitted. "Wait, why are we talking to Garbage, anyway?" They left the kitchen and went into the main room.

"Y'know, I don't know whether or not to feel bad about pranking you know." Foxy told Freddy. "Because on one hand, that's very wasteful. But on the other hand, if it weren't for all that food, he would have gotten out and not gotten stuck."

"See?" Freddy replied, nodding. "I'm always thinking ahead."

"Yeah, you tell yourself that." Foxy commented.

"Ah, the jack-in-the-box again.." Freddy muttered, stepping away from the stage, where the stuff from when they tricked him still sat.

"Okay, we'll get rid of it." Foxy took down everything from the stage.

"I'm sort of a Maccabees fan myself." Puppet mentioned.

"Huh? What's that?" Foxy asked him.

"Well, it's a joke, since Freddy doesn't like the jack-in-the-box, and- oh, nevermind." Puppet grumbled, giving up on the explanation.

"Bouncy house!" Ballora shrieked, noticing the bouncy house again. She ran towards the bouncy house door.

"No, no, no!" Foxy yelled, holding her back. "We've talked about this already!"

"I want to go in!" Ballora whispered as she tried to break free.

"Do not go in!" Foxy instructed her. He could already feel his grip breaking, and...

Ballora got free, charging into the bouncy house and beginning to bounce.

"Oh no, not again!" Foxy shouted, horrified.

"Yay!" Ballora cried, happy. "Bouncy, bouncy, bouncy..."

"Nope, you guys deal with that." Freddy quickly told them, and then quickly left.

"And I have to do some important stuff." Puppet said, running away as well.

"Hey, don't leave me with her!" Foxy called after them, but they were gone. Great, some friends they are... He thought, as he looked at Ballora bouncing. 'Okay, I'll bounce with you."

"Yay!" Ballora said. "Foxy gets to bounce with me!" Foxy came in and began bouncing too.

"Do not jump too high." Foxy commanded her, watching her closely.

"Fine..." Ballora muttered, frowning. "You're no fun." They kept bouncing. "Hey, where's everyone else go?"

"They left, 'cause they didn't want to deal with you anymore." Foxy informed her. "You went in here when we told you not to."

"But it's so fun!" Ballora reasoned.

"I'm just waiting for it." Foxy commented, staying away from the area where Ballora was bouncing. "I'm just waiting for you to bounce too high."

"Nah, I'm not gonna bounce too HI-" She yelled as she suddenly bounced extremely high, colliding with the rafters above. Foxy cringed and looked away for a moment, and then when he looked back, Ballora was stuck up there in the same way she had been last time.

"Ugh, it happened again." Foxy grumbled as he looked up at her. "How do you feel?"

"Um..." Ballora said, looking around at herself. "This feels weird. I don't want to be here."

"Yeah, that's what I thought. And you know what? You can deal with it for the night." Foxy told her as he left the bouncy house. "See you tomorrow."

"No! I want to scare security guards, too, though!" Ballora shrieked as she tried to get out.

"Bye for now!" Foxy waved at her and left towards his cove.

"NOOOOO!" She screamed. Foxy ignored her and walked into his cove, drawing open the curtains, and...

"Aah!" He yelped as he saw Freddy sleeping in there, laying down.

"Woah!" Freddy woke up, standing hurriedly. "Hey, Foxy."

"Hey, why were you laying down in there?!" Foxy exclaimed.

"I was just resting." Freddy stepped out of Foxy's cove. "Nothing to see here."

"Ballora got stuck again." Foxy told Freddy. "You can go help her."

"Oh, not again..." Freddy mumbled as he walked away.

"Ah, what a night." Foxy sighed as he drew the curtains closed.

"Ballora!" Freddy yelled up the Ballora. He could see her stuck up there in the rafters.

"Ah-ha!" Ballora shouted, happy. "I knew someone couldn't resist my fabulous demeanor and would come to help me! Get me out of here!"

Freddy bounced, trying to get to her. "Ugh, this is tiring. Can't you just wiggle yourself out?"

"Guys! Good news!" Puppet came in, holding up his phone. "That picture I took earlier has gone viral! It's got, like, a bazillion views and likes!"

"That's not good! Other people will find out and try to come here!" They could hear Foxy yell.

"But that means we'll get more people to entertain!" Puppet yelled back to Foxy.

"Ugh, that's not good. Hey, why do you have a cellphone, anyhow?"

"So I can text my relatives?"

"Where did you get it?!"

"From the store."

"Probably got it from some online store.." Ballora grumbled from up in the rafters. "His wi-fi and internet might have helped him."

"Yeah, exactly." Puppet confirmed, nodding. "I ordered it online and got it sent here."

"Ballora, you should really get down from there." Freddy told Ballora.

"I can't get out!" Ballora yelled.

"Try wiggling!" Foxy yelled from his cove again.

"Wiggle wiggle wiggle!" Ballora wiggled inside the rafters and screamed as she dropped back down onto the ground.

"Good job!" Freddy commended her.

"All you got to do is wiggle, wiggle, wiggle." Ballora said, smiling. They exited the bouncy house.

"I'm going back to sleep now!" Foxy yelled to them. "Night!"

"Goodbye!" Ballora yelled.

"Bye bye!" Puppet added. They both left. Freddy watched them leave, then went back on stage, instantly going to sleep.

Foxy heard the sound of snoring and opened one eye inside the dark cove. Freddy, of course.

"Ugh, he's snoring again." Foxy muttered. "Great." He closed his eye and went back into dreamland.

Chapter Text

Funtime Foxy, Funtime Freddy, Ballora, and Circus Baby sat inside the vent, sneakily waiting for the security guard. There had been reports of another one coming, so Foxy had done his best to prepare. He had thought watching through the vents would be a good way to locate them, but so far, nothing.

"Okay, okay, okay." Foxy groaned. "Where is the security guard? Have you guys seen them? There was supposed to be one stationed tonight, but I have yet to see them.

"No, I haven't seen them." Freddy replied. Ballora and Baby shook their heads.

"Really? You guys haven't seen him at all?' Foxy griped anxiously. "I thought he would have been in that room." He pointed at Puppet's room through the grate. "I mean, look at how cool it is. Since my themed Foxy water ride is over there, it's obviously the best room."

"Excuse me?" Ballora growled.

"Yeah, you heard me." Foxy said stiffly. "It's the best."

"No no no." Ballora denied. "My room is FABULOUS!"

"I think my room's actually the best here." Freddy claimed.

"You have a little closet." Foxy pointed out. "What's to like about that? But look over there!" He pointed through the vent grate at the water ride again. "I have a cool boat ride. It's awesome!"

"Okay, I agree." Freddy sighed, defeated. "It is awesome."

"Sadly, Baby, you don't have a room." Foxy informed Baby as he turned towards her. "Sorry."

"Um, like, what are you talking about?" Baby replied, rolling her eyes. She pointed at the vent area around them. "This is where I live, remember?"

"Oh yeah, that's right!" Foxy said. "You do live here." He looked back through the grate. "But where could that security guard be? Huh.."

"He can only be in so many places." Freddy commented. "How big is this place?"

"Not that big." Foxy responded.

"Yeah, so it shouldn't be too hard to find him." Freddy babbled. "We just gotta-" They all froze. A voice was coming from somewhere.

"Wait, did you guys hear that?" Foxy mumbled.

"What was that?" Freddy added, looking around at the walls.

"I think it heard it from another room." Foxy said. "Follow me!" They walked through the vent corridor. Foxy could hear noises through...

...the vent grate leading to the break room. Foxy looked through and gasped.

The security guard was seated at the table inside the room. He had a similar blue uniform to garbage, but Foxy could see his messy black hair under that cap.

"Nothing like a cup of joe late at night!" He sighed as he sipped a cup of coffee while putting his legs on the table in a relaxed position. Foxy could tell from his accent that he was...Russian? Interesting. They never had gotten a Russian security guard before.

"Oh, guys!" Foxy exclaimed, smiling sneakily. "Look who I found!" The others gathered around and peeked through the vent grate, and they too saw the Russian guard.

"There he is!" Ballora whispered.

"Keep it down." Foxy hushed them. "We don't want him to hear us."

"Oh, right." Freddy said in a low voice. "Sssh." They kept watching the security guard as he sat at the table drinking his coffee.

"Man." The guard grumbled. "This place is really boring. I wish more things would happen."

"Oh, if he thinks it's boring, he should just wait for what we have in store for him!" Foxy muttered, grinning. "He won't see us coming! It's gonna be great when he gets scared of us!"

"I know, it's so exciting!" Ballora agreed, nodding quickly.

"It's been so long!" Freddy added, also excited. "I can't wait."

"Oh, Freddy!" Foxy whispered. Foxy held up his hand. "High-five me!" Freddy held up his hand and they did so. "Yeah! That's the stuff!" Foxy turned back towards the break room. "Oh man, he won't see this coming. This is gonna be SO MUCH FUN!"

"What can we do, though?" Ballora asked Foxy, curious as to what he had planned.

"I don't know yet." Foxy replied. "We have to wait for him to start walking around. Then we can actually do stuff."

"Raaagh!" Ballora growled, annoyed. "I want to do something now!"

"Let's see if anything is on tv!" The security guard stated suddenly. He got up from the chair and started fiddling with the tv on the nearby table.

"He's watching the tv?" Foxy mumbled.

"Oh! This is my favorite show!" Freddy exclaimed, watching the guard with interest. Foxy looked down and saw that the guard was watching the same movie with the pie fight Freddy had been watching a few days ago.

"Ugh. This show sucks." The guard groaned, immediately turning the tv off. "Nothing like shows in Russia."

"Aw. He didn't like it at all..." Freddy complained, looking dejected.

"This is nice lamp, though." The guard said, examining the blue lamp on another table.

"He sounds funny." Ballora commented.

"Yeah, he does." Foxy agreed. Foxy knew that the guy had a Russian accent, but he was too lazy to tell Ballora about it, so he kept watching the guard.

The guard gazed at the watch on his hand. "Hmm. 12:00. I should start shift now." He left the break room, closing the door behind him.

Foxy had a victory party inside his head. Yes, the guard had gone out! Now the fun could begin.

"He left!" Foxy exclaimed. "C'mon, let's go!" They raced towards the wooden door. Foxy pulled it open. "Jump! WEEE!" He jumped and landed on the floor below. Freddy followed his lead as well. Baby also jumped out and landed next to him, landing a bit more roughly. "You alright?"

"Um, yeah." Baby confirmed.

"The jump's too long, it'll hurt me." Ballora complained. "I'm taking the ladder." She climbed down carefully.

"Okay, let's go." Foxy said. They all went down the passage.

"Where did he go?" Ballora asked as they went down the hall. Freddy was going a bit fast.

"Freddy, slow down!" Foxy told Freddy urgently. "He might be around the corner!" Freddy gasped and nodded, slowing his pace. "Stay there, I'll check." Foxy looked around the corner.

The hall itself was empty, but he could see the guard roaming around in the main room directly ahead. The others gathered around as well, Foxy and Baby peeking around one corner while Ballora and Freddy peeked around the other.

"HELLO?" Ballora yelled obliviously.

"Ssh! Shh! Don't yell!" Freddy squeaked, slapping his hand over her mouth to shut her up.

"Okay, who's gonna go first-" Foxy began.

"This place is really boring." They could hear the guard say.

"There he is." Baby spoke up. "I'm totally gonna get him first. Watch this." She went into the hall and hid in one of the side rooms.

"Ah, good idea!" Foxy commented, grinning. "He won't see you coming! This is gonna be awesome! Once he sees you, he'll be running out of here! Maybe he'll even make a mess, too!"

"I'm not cleaning it this time." Freddy huffed, crossing his arms firmly.

"Yes, you are!" Foxy replied roughly. "I did it last time, now it's your turn!"

"Shh, there he is!" Ballora whispered, pointing down the hall. The guard was getting closer. They hushed up and waited. Freddy started whimpering behind Ballora.

"Freddy, shh! He might hear you!" Foxy exclaimed.

"Sorry, sorry..." Freddy whined as he finally stopped. They waited. The guard had his back turned on the hall, still distracted by the main room.

"NO ONE'S OVER HERE!" Foxy suddenly yelled from where he was hiding, hoping to draw the guard near them. "NOOO!"

"Huh? What was that?" The guard croaked as he suddenly came down the hall. "The mice here are very loud." He was getting closer and closer...

Baby made a weird screaming noise as she jumped out from inside the side room, breaking the door in the process. The animatronics came out from behind the corner and did the same.

...

The guard didn't even flinch. In fact, he started laughing.

"Crazy kids!" He chuckled, amused. "That's not how you be scary! THIS is how you be scary!" He shouted in the most horrifying way possible as his face became the worst thing Foxy ever saw. Foxy was scared beyond belief. The sound the guard was making was incomprehensible, but he had never heard anything more scary in his life.

The animatronics screamed again, this time in fright.

"Hurry, run! RUN!" Foxy yelled as they ran away. They wrenched open Ballora's room's door and nearly trampled each other trying to get inside before closing the door behind them. "Okay...I closed it.."

Everyone was in a state of panic. Ballora's face was a mix of surprise and horror as she clung onto a chair, trying to catch her breath. Freddy was standing on the stage, nearly hyperventilating as he held himself tight. Baby had also went on stage and hid behind the many balloons in the room, sobbing as loudly as she had the day the animatronics found her.

Foxy was tired himself, but also confused and horrified. That guard was nothing like he had expected. He didn't get scared of them, and instead scared them back in the worst way Foxy had ever seen. Never before had that happened, and Foxy knew that. He knew about every time they'd ever went after a guard, but none of them had actually ever scared them back.

And his face! Foxy didn't look at it good, but it had looked so bad. It had been melting and moving and twisting wildly, and sharp teeth had grown, and red eyes were gleaming, and he was all hairy, and...

Foxy stopped. He was rushing himself, he needed to calm down. He figured he should check on his friends.

"Baby, you okay?" Foxy asked as he went over to Baby's hiding spot.

"His face, was like, super scary!" She stuttered as she crouched there and kept sobbing.

"Yeah!" Foxy agreed. He turned to look at Freddy and Ballora, who had approached him. "Did you see those eyes?"

"Of course!" Ballora gasped. "They were like a monster's eyes!" They could hear the guard laughing.

"Ha ha, I'm glad I brought wolf mask!" He guffawed. Foxy went back to the door and looked through. The guard was laughing loudly, holding up...a wolf mask. So that was what made him so scary. Foxy was still too afraid to approach him, though. "Anyway, where'd those crazy kids go?"

"Oh no..." Freddy muttered, also very afraid.

"He's going to find us in here!" Foxy exclaimed, stepping back several paces.

"You know what?" Ballora suddenly shouted. She looked braver than before. "I'LL go scare him!" Foxy laughed a little.

"Ha, right." He snickered. "Like YOU could do it better than we could."

"No, I can do better!" She claimed. "Better than Baby!"

"Hey!" Baby said, annoyed. She came out from behind the balloons.

"I'd like to see you try." Foxy went on, smirking. "Go on, do it." They went up to door.

"Where is he?" Ballora asked. Foxy looked and saw that the wolf mask had gone, and the guard was now looking around at the hall. His back was turned again.

"He's still there." Foxy replied. "C'mon, go!"

"I can't open the door, though!" Ballora reminded him.

"There!" Foxy pulled open the door for her. Ballora ran into the hall, making that same noise as before. The guard turned around to look at her...

...

He didn't blink. He laughed once again.

"We have mice scarier than you, crazy kid." He mocked her. "Let me teach you lesson." Foxy didn't see what had happened next, but he could hear that sound again. Moments later, Ballora came running into the room, Foxy quickly closing the door behind her.

"AAH!" She yelled. "He's not scared of me!"

"Wait, he saw you run in here!" Foxy realized. "Oh no, he knows where we are now!"

"Don't worry, the door will protect us!" Freddy shouted, half-confident yet half-nervous.

"No, it won't!" Foxy told him. "He's a human! He can open the door!"

"We're doomed..." Freddy moaned, stepping back. Foxy looked back through the door window. Oh no, the guard was still there, and looking at the door. Baby gasped and ran behind the balloons again.

"He sees us!" Foxy yelled. Someone needed to scare this guard. But who? Foxy saw Freddy and knew who. "Freddy, it's your turn! Go!"

"NO! NO WAY!" Freddy screamed as he ran behind the balloons as well. "No way, man. You do it."

"Aw, come on, Freddy!" Foxy groaned, running up to him. "It's not THAT hard!"

"Hey, this is MY hiding spot!" Baby said. "Get out." She pushed Freddy out from behind the balloons. Freddy whined loudly and ran behind Ballora's grand piano instead.

"Piano, save me!" He moaned as he hid behind it.

"Hey,cake is in here!" They heard the guard shout happily. Oh no! The guard was in one of the party rooms now!

"He's getting to the cake?!" Foxy growled. He found this unacceptable. No way would the guard take their treats. "Oh, no no. I'm gonna go stop him." Foxy ran back over to the door, then got an idea. Foxy could try to pretend he was human, like what had happened his first night here. He could trick the guard! "I'll go talk to him! Maybe he'll think I'm human!" Foxy exited the room and closed the door behind him.

The guard was closing the door to the party room to the right of the hall, the only one on that side, and the one close to Ballora's room. Foxy approached him, clearing his throat.

"Hello there!" Foxy greeted.

"Huh?" The guard muttered, turning to face Foxy.

"Arrgh, mate-" Foxy stopped himself. This was not the time to be a pirate. "I mean, hi! My name is Fred, Fred Foxington. I'm stuck in this building, like you!" Yes, it's working! Foxy thought as he did this.

"You look like bear!" The guard gasped, smiling.

Oh, no. "Um, what do you mean, I look like a bear?" Foxy asked him nervously. "I'm a fox."

"In home country, it is tradition to wrestle bears!" The guard explained as he approached Foxy eagerly.

"I'm a fox." Foxy repeated. "Calm down, we can work this out."

"Okay, let us have honorable agreement." The guard said, not listening to Foxy at all. "I strike, than you strike. Ready?"

"Um, guys?!" Foxy yelled, wanting some help now.

"1..2...3!" The guard shouted, pouncing on Foxy and delivering a good punch.

"Oh my gosh!" Ballora gasped as she and the others watch the situation unfold.

"Oh, geez!" Freddy added as he watched eagerly through the door's windows.

Foxy got hit hard as he yelled in pain. They ran down the hall quickly as the fight went on.

Foxy delivered a right hook to the guard with all his power, but the guard, who was very tough, delivered a left blow to Foxy's face, making Foxy stagger backwards. Foxy tried to do another punch, but the guard dodged and delivered another hook to Foxy's chest. They ran down the hall, the guard punching Foxy in every position along the way.

"Guys, help!" Foxy screamed as he backpedaled quickly.

"Agh, this bear is weak!" The guard complained as he ran up to Foxy, clenching his fists. Foxy delivered a hammer first to the guard's head, but the guard was unfazed as he did a hammer fist back to Foxy, causing Foxy to be launched several feet and to crash into a pillar in the main room.

Foxy got up and dealt two more punches to the guard's chest, but the guard countered with a swift punch to Foxy's stomach.

"This might not be real bear!" The guard yelled as they kept fighting.

"I told you, I'm a fox!" Foxy responded, trying to resolve the fight. "I've told you three times already!" Foxy sidearmed the guard in the face and did another big punch to his chest, which made the guard grunt a little this time and stumble backwards.

"Urgh, that one kind of stung!" The guard mumbled as he delivered a hard punch to Foxy's shoulder.

"Yeah, take that!" Foxy roared as dealt another punch to the guard's face. "Scary face! Roar!"

"Bears don't roar!" The guard commented as he dodged another sidearm from Foxy and countered with a hammer fist.

"Roar! Yeah, you heard me!" Foxy shouted as they approached the front door. Foxy now seemed to be winning, the guard getting more tired with each round of blows. They backed up, staring at each other for a moment as they caught their breath.

"Okay, okay!" The guard huffed. "You win this time! But I'll be back!" The guard turned around.

"Hey, where do you think you're going?!" Foxy exclaimed, not wanting the guard to leave.

"Stupid wall!" The guard roared as he broke open a hole in the wall next to the entrance. "You cannot contain me!"

"The wall!" Foxy yelled in joy. It was open! "We're free! Guys, guys! We're-" But that hope was dashed as the guard jumped through the wall, and then, faster than Foxy could process, he had put the wall back together from the outside. "Not free. Well, this is slightly awkward." But Foxy gasped.

His voice box was glitching again like it had a few nights ago.

"Oh no!" Foxy said. "Guys! It's happening again!" He ran towards Ballora's room. "Oh, no! I think he broke something!" He went over to Ballora's door and opened it, where the others were still waiting. Foxy tapped his head and the static disappeared. "Okay, guys, I got rid of him. He's gone."

"Is he?" Ballora asked quietly.

"Yeah, he is."

"Oh, good job!" Freddy said, content.

"Oh, yeah! Yeah, see?" Foxy boasted as he struck a pose. "I'm that awesome!"

"Where'd he go?"

"Um...he kind of broke through the wall...yeah." Foxy watched as the others listened in surprise.

"What?!" Ballora gasped.

"Yeah, come here! I'll show you where he did it!" Foxy exclaimed, and they rushed down the hall again.

They approached the double doors.

"I think he's still outside." Foxy mentioned. "Let's see." They looked outside. "Huh, I don't see him."

"Where is he?" Ballora muttered, skeptical.

"And why are there always cars parked outside the pizzeria, but yet nobody's here?" Foxy asked. Sure enough, there were several cars parked outside the pizzeria in the parking lot out front.

"They must be the cars of all the security guards." Freddy guessed.

"Oh, yeah." Foxy said. "That makes a lot of sense." To Foxy, it did. Of course the cars will never be gone if the guards never leave. But they gasped suddenly once again.

The guard had walked into their field of vision from the doors, scanning the parking lot.

"Man, where did I park car?" The guard wondered as he looked around. Freddy and Ballora whined, clearly still scared of him. "Ah, there it is." He walked to the right, and they couldn't see him anymore.

"Wow, he just..." Foxy gaped. "He just doesn't seem to care at all." He turned back and saw that Freddy and Baby were hiding over on the main room stage.

Foxy himself was very worried about Baby. She seemed very scared and hadn't talked too much.

"Baby, once again, are you okay?" Foxy asked her again. "You haven't been talking. And you like really scared and frightened, like something happened."

"Um, yes, I'm fine!" Baby assured him, clearly nervous. "I'm just...go away!"

"Did you get too scared again?" Ballora asked calmly as she ran off. "Oh."

"Ballora, look what you did!" Foxy said, scolding her. "She's your friend, go talk to her."

"You asked if she was alright, not me!" Ballora groaned. "I just know that she gets scared like this. It happens pretty frequently sometimes."

"I can tell!" Foxy commented. "Baby!" They went down the hall, and suddenly turned and saw that Baby was sitting down inside the room she had hid in earlier.

"I can hear you, you know!" Baby whined, turning away. Foxy and the others went in, examing the room. This room was completely empty, bare from head to toe. It was like this in all four rooms in that particular hallway, for some reason Foxy didn't know. Maybe they just hadn't been used yet. But Foxy also saw the door of the room, which Baby had broken open. There was now only one door there instead of two.

"Wow, Baby, I'm impressed!" Foxy said as he looked at the doorway. "You actually broke a door! You smashed through it so hard that it broke!"

"Oh my gosh." Ballora gasped, only now taking notice of the doorway.

"Oh, well.." Baby replied, standing up. She smiled. "Well, of course I could do that. I'm the best." They exited the room.

"Yeah, I guess." Foxy muttered. "But the company isn't gonna be happy about this."

"About what?" Freddy asked, confused. "The door, or the security guard?"

"Uh, both. And that guard's gonna be back, too! And...oh no. What if he tells someone?"

"About the door?"

"We're doomed!" Ballora shouted. "He's gonna tell everybody about the DOOR!"

"No, not about the door!" Foxy yelled, agitated. "About US, you dunderheads!"

"Um...Ballora did it!" Baby yelled anxiously.

"I did not!" Ballora denied. "You did that!"

"Ugh, Ballora, why'd you do that?" Foxy asked her, sounding serious but really just joking around.

"Freddy did it." Ballora claimed.

"What?" Freddy stuttered.

"Freddy!" Foxy grumbled falsely. "Why'd you do that? That's just- AAH!" He screamed, having forgotten something important.

"Woah!" Baby exclaimed as everybody jumped in surprise. "Jeez, what was that about?!"

"Where's Puppet?" Foxy asked everybody.

"Probably in his box." Ballora answered, pointing down the hall. "As always."

"Ugh, he's always sleeping." Foxy groaned as they went down the hall and into Puppet's room. "Let's check on him. Puppet! PUPPET! Hey, Puppet!"

"Maybe he's watching tv again. He's always using the tv."

"Puppet, knock knock!" Foxy rapped on the box, trying to get Puppet's attention. Silence.

"Guess he's not here-" Freddy began.

"What are you guys doing here?" Puppet voice yelled from inside the box. "It's super late!"

"Ugh, did we wake you?" Foxy asked him.

"Yeah."

"You just missed the security guard AGAIN, always, always, always."

"Man, that's a real bummer." Puppet said, in a tone that made it clear that he couldn't care less. "Wake me when another one comes by."

"Ugh, fine." Foxy grumbled, and walked away from the box to the others, who were waiting. "Fine, fine, fine. Okay, guys. Let's leave him alone." They all nodded. Foxy then took notice of his water area, Foxy's Adventure, once again. Foxy and co. hadn't used it yet, and Foxy was wondering if they should. "One day, we need to go in there-" He pointed at the ride so they could notice it "-and have some fun. But that's for another day." They strolled down the hall again. "Man, that fight really wore me out. I think I'm gonna go and take a nap. I don't know about you guys, but my wiring is kind of.." He made a clicking sound to emphasize his wiring's current state. They went up to his cove.

"Oh, it's naptime already?" Ballora questioned him.

"Yeah, it's naptime already." Foxy moaned, too tired to want to keep talking. Foxy opened the curtains and stepped inside. He turned around and stared at Freddy, who had followed Foxy. "Um, Freddy, this is slightly awkward."

"Wait, he's napping with you?" Ballora asked. "Does that mean...we can all take a nap together?"

"Yeah, of course!" Freddy yelled before Foxy could reply. "Come on in!"

"Woohoo! Slumber party!" Baby yelled excitedly as they all yelled happily. All expect for Foxy, who was miffed.

"Ugh, great." He mumbled, irritated. "Well, it's naptime now. Now you can see what it's like for me." Foxy closed the curtains.

"Woah, it's really dark in here!"

"Wow, I never usually have it this dark when I sleep."

"Huh, interesting..."

"Well, it's how I sleep, guys. If you're sleeping here tonight, then get used to it. Sleep well, everybody."

And they all powered off.

Chapter Text

Foxy paced around the stage in Ballora's room as Baby sat absentmindedly onstage and Freddy danced on Ballora's pillar.

"Okay, um, seriously, though!" Foxy spoke up, ending the long silence that had been in place the past few minutes. "Where is Ballora? She said she was coming back, but I haven't seen her yet." He turned towards Baby for an answer from her.

Ballora had invited everyone to hang out in her room today (minus one stubborn Puppet), but as soon as they had arrived, Ballora had hurriedly told them that she needed to leave and would be back in a few minutes. However, it had already been around ten minutes and there was still no sign of her.

Foxy needed some insight on this, and since Baby was Ballora's friend, Foxy thought she might know what was going on.

"Oh, uh, about that.." Baby stuttered. She went up to Foxy. "I think Freddy gave her tacos again." She whispered into his ear.

"Are you serious?" Foxy exclaimed, unhappy to hear this. Freddy had already been told never to give Ballora his food. Ballora seemed to have a problem with most of his cooking, most notably his chicken and his turkey, one that often ended with her running into the bathroom minutes after eating the food and not coming out until several hours later. Despite Foxy's attempts to resolve the situation, neither the perpetrator nor the victim listened to him. Freddy was still giving Ballora food, and Ballora will still blindly accepting it.

"Freddy, why'd you give her tacos?!" Foxy asked Freddy angrily. "You know that we shouldn't eat those! Especially not her! She ends up in the bathroom for hours!"

"Hey, it's not my responsibility what happens after I feed her, okay?" Freddy complained.

"You shouldn't give it to her in the first place!" Foxy reasoned. "And why does she even keep eating them? Do you know, Baby? You're her friend, after all."

"Uh, like, I don't know." Baby replied slowly. "I mean, she's kinda weird when it comes to food, but, whatever. I don't know. Just because we're friends doesn't mean that I understand her completely."

"Ah, that's true." Foxy sighed. "So I guess we can have a party in here without her..."

"Yeah!" Freddy agreed.

"...'Cause, y'know, sometimes she tries to act all...y'know, 'fancy wancy'."

"Aw, yeah!" Baby cheered. "We can let loose and everything!"

"Yeah, watch!" Foxy said. "I'm gonna play her piano!" Foxy went over to her grand piano and tried to start playing, but no sound was coming out. "It's not working." Foxy knew that that meant it was off. "Must be one of those wind-up ones." Foxy looked for the button, but couldn't find it. "Man, where's the button?"

"Um, I think it's one of these guys." Baby informed him. "Like, on the bottom of the piano?" She pointed down at the little footpads at the bottom of the piano.

"Nah, I tried them." Foxy told her. "None of them are working." He turned and saw that Freddy was still dancing. "Freddy, what are you doing?"

"I'm dancing!" Freddy replied, stating the obvious. "Without Ballora here, I can finally show off my hidden talents!"

"Um..." Foxy muttered, unsure of what to say.

"Other than cooking, I mean." Baby started giggling softly. Foxy thought Freddy's dancing was...well...maybe he should tell Baby.

"Hey, uh, Baby." Foxy called. He went over to the corner of the room. "Can I talk to you for a second?"

"Um, yeah, I'm okay with that." She answered, and followed him over there. "What's up, Foxy?"

"Hey, what about me?" Freddy asked, sort of sad he wasn't being invited.

"No, don't worry!" Foxy commanded him. "Just stay over there! This definitely isn't about you." Freddy nodded and turned around, keeping up his dancing. Foxy turned to look at Baby and whispered to her, in such a way that Freddy couldn't possibly hear.

"This is totally about him."

"It's totally about his dancing, isn't it?"

"Yeah, it's really not that good."

"Ugh, I agree. It's just about as good as his cooking is."

"Yeah, and his cooking is terrible. Have you tried it yet?"

"Uh, no. Animatronics like me want to keep their figure."

"Um...you do understand that you can't gain weight, right?"

"...I've been doing this wrong for years. I need to eat some tacos, or something."

"No, don't join the Ballora route! That's the wrong way to go."

"Did somebody say tacos?" Freddy asked eagerly.

"No, we didn't say anything about tacos!" Foxy replied, shaking his head.

"I was just gonna go to someplace and try metal tacos." Baby whispered to Foxy.

"Guys, don't worry!" Freddy assured them calmly. "After I'm done showing you my awesome dance moves, I can make you some tacos!"

"Um, thanks!" Foxy replied, giving Freddy a fake smile. Baby nodded slowly. "We'll just give it to Garbage later."

"Yeah, that sounds like a good plan."

"Oh, yeah, mmm!" Baby said falsely as they went back over to Freddy again. "Sounds tasty..."

"Yeah, yummy, yummy, in-my-robotic-tummy-that's-not-supposed-to-have-food-in-it." Foxy added honestly.

"Heh, I'm sure that you're gonna enjoy it." Freddy claimed, grinning. Then he went back to dancing, faster this time, in a weird pattern. Foxy didn't really get it.

"Um, what do you call this one?" Foxy asked as he surveyed Freddy from each side.

"Yeah, what are you doing?" Baby added, confused.

"Oh, well, I'm glad you asked." Freddy replied. "This is my patent-pending triple backflip bear spin!" He simply spun around once. "So what do you think?"

Baby broke out into laughter, while Foxy said nothing.

"Wow, that is...I'm sorry Freddy, but that is..." Foxy began. Foxy sighed, figuring that now he should just be honest with Freddy. "...really bad. Freddy, you are a really bad dancer. I'm sorry, but it's true. You are really, really bad."

Freddy's smile instantly turned upside-down as soon as Foxy said this. He backed off of the pillar slowly, then ran away, quietly crying.

"Oh, come on, Freddy!" Foxy griped as he followed after him. "Don't cry!"

"Ugh, way to go, Foxy!" Baby groaned as she watched Freddy approach the door...

CRASH!

The animatronics all screamed and jumped in fear as the sound of glass breaking shot through the area.

"We're in!" A distant voice crowed from nearby.

"Woah." Foxy murmured, wary. "What was that?" They slowly approached the door.

"Let's go, senor." Another voice added. "I don't think anyone's inside."

"Foxy, is that you talking?" Freddy asked Foxy anxiously.

"No, that wasn't me." Foxy confirmed.

"Is there anything good in here?" The second voice asked. Foxy could detect that the voice was higher and also...Mexican for some reason.

"I've been eyeing that teddy bear." The first voice answered. "Right there." Foxy could tell that this guy's voice was a bit lower, and he sounded American.

"I think they're talking about you." Foxy said to Freddy.

"Oh, yes, senor." The second voice agreed. "This one's a good one. You want this one?"

"No, I want the white one." The first voice admitted.

"See, they're talking about you." Foxy told Freddy again. Freddy looked unsure.

"Aw, geez, I'm scared." Freddy whined.

"That's not a teddy bear, that's a bunny rabbit." The second voice informed the first voice.

"Nah, there's white bears that exist." The first voice assured the other.

"Maybe we should just give Freddy to them." Foxy said to Baby. "Then they'll go away."

"No, wait!" Freddy muttered, even more afraid.

"I think those are called polar bears, senor."

Foxy heard all this and was tired of standing there. Time to investigate. He opened the door.

"C'mon, guys, follow me." He beckoned the others. They followed him down the hall.

"See? There's bears, though."

"What about the puppy toy? I like the puppy."

"Be quiet, guys." Foxy instructed everyone. "Don't make any noise. We'll try to sneak up on them." The others nodded. "Maybe it's the new security guard, trying to trick us. Let's see."

"Oh, that's a good idea." Freddy admitted as they approached the corner to the hall leading up to the main room. "You go first."

"Let's go check this room." The second voice said from the main room. "Maybe there's something good in there." The animatronics, meanwhile, crept down the hallway towards the main room, Foxy taking the lead while Freddy and Baby slowly followed behind.

"Do you see them?" Foxy asked the others. "I don't see them."

"I don't see them either." Freddy answered. "Where could they be?"

"Where's the money?" The second voice wondered.

"There's no money in here.." Foxy said to himself quietly.

"Man, this place is empty!" The first voice grumbled as the animatronics slowly went across the main room.

"You said this place had a lot of money, man." Foxy noticed that one of the double doors had been broken open.

"The door is broken open!" Foxy gasped as they approached it.

Freddy gasped. "Who would do that?" Foxy looked around, but couldn't see Baby.

"Baby? Where are you?" Foxy asked.

"I'm right here!" Foxy looked down a little and saw her next to Freddy. "I'm not that short, god."

"Yeah you are!"

"I do like the wallpaper, though." The first voice spoke up.

"Yes, maybe we can take the wallpaper." The second voice added eagerly. Foxy also saw that the ground was cracked.

"They even broke the ground!" Foxy exclaimed. "But how?"

"They're monsters.." Freddy moaned, scared.

"Hey, do you hear that?" The second voice said. Oh no, they were in Foxy's room and had heard them! Foxy knew they needed to hide.

"Oh no, guys! We need to hide fast!" Foxy gasped. They ran over to the stage. "Quick, act like you're deactivated!" Freddy took his usual position on the middle, while Baby went on his right and Foxy on his left.

"Hey, maybe there's some co-workers here!"

"Yeah, we can get some money from them. You go first."

"I always go first!"

"That's because you're the hench-boy."

"Well, can I ever be the boss-boss?"

"One day, one day."

The animatronics stood still and silent as the two intruders came from Foxy's room.

"Is anybody out there?" The second one asked the first one as he came out.

"No, nobody. Just some nice looking balloons." They went over to the corner next to the stand near Foxy's room.

"Oh, yes. Those are some good balloons. You want to take the balloons?"

"Maybe later, because they're the lightest. We gotta focus on the heavy stuff first."

"Okay, good idea." They approached the stage where the animatronics were. "What about these? These could sell for a lot of money."

Foxy finally got a good look at the two intruders. The first one was dark-skinned, with darker blue eyes, and brown hair. He was wearing a light black mask over his eyes with a stereotypical black-and-white striped shirt and tough black gloves as well as black pants and white shoes.

The other was wearing a big black mask over his entire head with eye and mouth holes cut out. He had grey eyes and light skin, and was also wearing a black-and-white striped shirt. He had blue jeans and tough blue shoes. Foxy also could tell that this guy was Mexican, based on his accent.

"Meh, I dunno." The first guy mumbled as he examined the animatronics. He went over to Baby. "This one looks a bit rusty..." Then to Freddy. "...this one is a bit chubby..." And finally, to Foxy. "...and this one looks like it talks too much." Now that they were close, Foxy decided to catch them off guard.

"Hello! I am Foxy the pirate!" Foxy yelled, pretending to be in day mode. The criminals screamed and ran behind the center pillar. "Arrgh! Arrgh!" Foxy then stopped and pretended to be off again.

"Woah, did they just talk to us?" The second one asked.

"...No, I think you're just going crazy." The first one assured his cohort. They were looking away, so Foxy decided to continue.

"I'm gonna move a little bit." Foxy whispered to Freddy. Foxy moved to the front of the stage itself.

"Let's go and touch it." The second one came out and gasped. "Oh, it's moving! It's moving!" He ran back behind the pillar, then peeked out over at Foxy. His cohort did the same. "Why is it moving? You didn't tell me these things were alive."

"Somebody must be controlling them from the back room!" The first one guessed. "Let's go and get them!" They ran over to the kitchen.

"Arrgh! I'm Foxy the pirate! Arrgh!" Foxy went on.

"Oh man, this is spooky!" The second one whined. They ran into the kitchen. "Get in here, get in here!"

"Where are they going?" Freddy asked Foxy quietly as he and Baby approached him.

"I think that they think we're being controlled and are just normal robots!" Foxy replied. "We can play with this factor!" They neared the kitchen.

"Hey, do you want a taco?" They heard the second guy ask the first.

"No, I want a sandwich!"

"Well, I want a taco. Let's make some."

"Here's the plan." Foxy began. "I'm gonna go up to the door and look through the window. They're gonna see me, and freak out." Foxy took a step forward, but had a better idea. "No no no, actually, Freddy, you should do it. Go to the window."

Freddy nodded and went right up to the window. "BOO!"

"Go check and see if there's anyone there!" The second guy asked his comrade.

The first guy approached the door and gasped, quickly running away.

"What? What is it?"

"I thought I saw a ghost in that doorway!"

"A ghost? There's no ghosts, man! Ghosts aren't real."

"Hi, kids!" Freddy yelled, pretending to be normal. "I'm Freddy Fazbear!"

"Oh no, it's talking!" The first guy cried, scared.

"I'm gonna go check." The second guy whispered.

"Oh, my turn!" Foxy mumbled as he went up to Freddy. "Move." They switched places as the second guy looked through the kitchen door's window. "Arrgh! I'm Foxy the Pirate!"

"It's-it's-it's-it's..." The second guy stuttered. "...right there! Look, man!"

"Let me check." The first guy waddled into view as well. "Jinkies!" They both ran away from the door.

"Baby, your turn!" Foxy informed Baby as he backed away from the door. "Go." Baby went up to the door herself, but was so short that her head only kind of reached the door window.

"Oh, she can't even really see through the window." Freddy giggled.

"Do you want to go check, man?" The second guy asked the other inside the kitchen. "Or do you want me to go?"

"Maybe...maybe I should check."

"Okay, okay. I'll be in this little corner."

This is gonna be so funny! Foxy thought excitedly as the first guy opened the door.

"Hi there!" Baby greeted as if she was in day mode too. "My name is Baby!"

The first guy gasped at the sight of the three animatronics before him. "They're talking!"

The second guy ran up. "Close the door, man, close it!" The first guy tried to, but Baby was holding the door open, so he couldn't make it budge.

"I can't!" The first guy cried in exasperation.

"Oh ho, let's get them!" Freddy muttered happily.

"Would you like to be my friend?" Baby asked the intruders as the trio came in.

"Yeah, we want friends!" Foxy added happily. "Let's get them, guys!" They began to chase the intruders around the room.

"You didn't tell me these things were alive, man!" The second guy screamed. "Hurry, let's go in here!" They both ran into the break room as the animatronics continued their approach.

"Um, you guys do understand that this is a dead end, right?" Foxy asked the two of them.

"Why is it talking to us?!" The second guy yelled, ignoring Foxy's words.

Freddy chuckled a little. "You're trapped now!" The intruders dodged the outstretched hands of Foxy and Freddy and ran for the door. Baby ran through the door, trying to get them, but the guys dodged again.

"Oh, there's another one!" The second guy cried.

"And it's tiny!" The first guy examined as they ran back into the kitchen.

"Raah, time to get them!" Foxy yelled as he ran after them. He chased them around the kitchen again.

"Foxy, wait! Come back!" Freddy and Baby yelled, and Foxy turned and saw that the kitchen door was closed. He quickly let them out.

"Should we pilfer more stuff or get away?!" The second guy asked the first guy hurriedly.

"We should try to make a run for it!" The first guy decided anxiously.

"What about that trapdoor over there?!" He pointed at the garbage chute.

"Yeah, that oughta be an exit!" They ran over to it.

"Open it, open it!" They jammed it open and jumped inside as the animatronics ran over to them. Foxy watched gleefully as they fell.

"Oh, ho!" Foxy cheered happily. Freddy and Baby did the same as the animatronics knew they were victorious.

"Well, that was easy." Freddy laughed as he closed the chute.

"Yeah, didn't expect the chute to help!" Foxy said, grinning.

"That was a good life choice, and stuff." Baby added.

"Yeah, perfect." Foxy chuckled, but paused. They could hear the voices of the criminals down there...

"There's nothing but chicken down here!" The first guy complained.

"Why is there chicken? Oh, I think I found some yogurt!" The second guy exclaimed.

"Yogurt? Freddy..." Foxy growled, staring daggers at the bear himself.

"Well, the yogurt didn't sit well, and it spoiled really easily, so I threw it all out..." Freddy explained nervously.

Foxy groaned, annoyed.

"Wait a second...is there somebody else here?" The second guy asked. Foxy knew that meant they had found Garbage down there. Maybe they heard his snoring, since he did tend to sleep a lot. "Man, go check it out."

There was a brief pause.

What is happening? Foxy wondered.

"Hello?" The first guy asked, supposedly to Garbage, wherever he was down there.

"Oh, I think they met Garbage..." Freddy murmured passively.

"He doesn't seem to be talking." The first guy said. "He seems to be...sleeping."

"I'll go talk to him." The second guy intervened. "Here, move away."

A loud yawn sounded from the chute, indicating that Garbage had awoken.

"Mr? Senor?" The second guy asked.

"Ugh...huh? What? Who is that?" Garbage muttered.

"Sir, are you okay?"

"Man, what a dream. I dreamt that I fell down a pit and was fed chicken for days."

"I think that's happening right now, senor. We fell down here, and there's a ton of chicken everywhere. And we, uh, found you."

"Hmm...I guess the adventure still continues."

"Um, do you have money on you, senor? We want to take your money."

"Nope, none."

"Oh. Well, is there any way out, sir? Me and my amigo would like to leave."

"A way out? Don't be silly. There IS no way out. You're stuck here with me forever. And if there had been a way out, don't you think I would have left by now?"

"Well, uh, senor, you do look sort of old, so we thought you were taking a siesta. You know, a nap. Because you're so old."

"No. Who would take a nap in a garbage place like this?"

"Wow, they're really talking it up in there." Foxy commented. "Do you guys hear this?"

"Yeah, and to be honest..." Baby responded. "...I'm kind of bored." She began to lean against the kitchen counter.

"Hey, I can still hear things up there. Weird."

"Well, if you guys wanna get out, there might be a path down there. Just keep going straight."

"Oh, uh, thank you senor. Good night, Buenos noches, okay? I don't know if you speak Spanish, but I'll say that."

Foxy gasped. Wait. If Garbage had sent them down a straight path in there, could it mean that he'd sent them THERE? No way.

"Did he just send them to the incinerator?" Foxy asked the others.

"Oh boy, I hope so." Freddy answered, giddy. "It's been a while since anyone went through there."

The incinerator had been down there, and although Foxy hadn't been around to see it, he had been told about it. Back then, before the grand opening was cancelled, the employees had used some sort of lift to go down to the vents and boiler rooms and preform maintenance. The incinerator, used to destroy loads of trash piled up in the garbage chute below, had been connected to that.

For a while everything had been fine, but eventually there had been an accident where a security guard down there had unintentionally went in there, and then...well, let's just say it wasn't pretty. The entire company had a nasty lawsuit on their hands that day. And now that Foxy thought about it, that incident might have even contributed to the pizzeria's grand opening cancellation.

The entire back room had been removed as well as the lift itself, but the incinerator had still been connected to the area inside the trash chute. It had been a while since anyone had been in there, but now...

"I wonder if we can hear them..." Foxy wondered. He and Freddy inched closer to the trash chute, listening carefully for the voices of the intruders.

"Hey, I see a little light." The second voice told the first. "Let's go over there."

"They made! They made it into it!" Foxy cheered, excited to finally see it happen. The others cheered quietly too.

"What is this place?" The second voice questioned the area. "It's so big." … "Hey, it's a little hot in here, don't you think?"

"It reminds me of my mama's cooking." The first voice reminisced.

"Ah yes, your mama's cooking. Her tacos and burritos are so good."

"I love my mama's cooking."

"Okay..." Foxy muttered, wary. He knew what was coming now that they were in there. And it was going to sound horrible. It was time to get out. He turned to the others. "This is never the fun part." He backed away towards the door. "We should leave before we start hearing the screaming."

"Uh, yeah." Baby agreed as she began to leave.

"Aww, but that's the best part..." Freddy whined as he began to leave as well.

"It's getting even hotter now, don't you think?"

"Yeah. Somebody should turn down the thermostat."

"Oh, the ground is getting a little too hot. I don't like this!"

Foxy closed the door as he left, blocking out the rest of what was inevitably going to happen down there. They strolled into the main room. "Ugh, soon we're gonna end up hearing them. Let's go a little bit further so we don't have to listen to that."

"Okay." Freddy accepted as they went down the hall, back to Ballora's room. "Oh, and I can show you the rest of my dance! I forgot!" Foxy and Baby cringed and tried to calmly explain to Freddy that he shouldn't.

"Um, no, uh.."

"You don't really need to..."

"Yeah, you don't have to..."

"...no."

They came into Ballora's room.

"You know what?" Foxy sighed, tired. "I say we should sit around and tell each other stories." They took three of Ballora's red chairs and put them into a small circle. "There we go." Foxy sat down comfortably and immediately thought of Garbage, who they had heard down there. He had changed from before. "So...Garbage is...interesting."

"Uh, kind of a psychopath." Baby admitted, frowning nervously.

"Yeah, and I thought WE were the crazy ones." Foxy added.

"I like him. I like him a lot." Freddy mumbled, shrugging.

"Well, of course you like him." Baby said.

"Yeah, you would. You feed him chicken." Foxy mentioned.

"He's my pet."

"Wait, Garbage is your pet?" Baby asked, interested.

"Yeah, you didn't know that he was our pet?" Foxy asked her back as he stood up and walked onto Ballora's stage. "He's our best friend. Well, best pet friend."

"Um, why are you keeping a human as a pet?" Baby questioned them as she and Freddy both stood up as well.

"Well, he was the first security guard that came when I woke up," Foxy explained. "So we decided that it was a good idea to keep him as a... friend-pet-thing."

"Yep." Freddy confirmed, nodding.

Baby gaped at them, clearly surprised to hear that they were doing this. "That...just doesn't sound like a good idea. What happens if he, like, gets out or something?"

"Oh, he can't get out." Foxy told her calmly. "That hole is really, really, REALLY deep."

"Alright, like, whatever you say, and stuff." Baby muttered, accepting this kind of passively. She ran up onto Ballora's pillar. "Dance party time!" She declared, and began dancing.

"Yeah, dance party!" Foxy cheered as he and Freddy also came up near her and danced. And Freddy, to them, was still dancing horribly, and they saw that. "Yeah, Freddy, you really need to learn how to dance."

"Look, just stop." Baby added quietly. But Freddy didn't listen, and instead turned away and kept dancing.

"We need to get Ballora in here." Foxy told Baby as they watched Freddy's horrible dancing continue on. "Once Ballora comes back, she can teach him how to dance."

"Sounds like a good idea."

"Yep."

And they kept hanging out in Ballora's room, waiting for her to come back.

Chapter Text

Foxy yawned and moaned loudly as he drew open his Cove curtains once again.

"Night has come yet again." He sighed readily. He stepped out of his cove. "I wonder if any security guard are around." He walked out of his room and looked into the main room, which was completely empty. "Hmm. Doesn't look like it." He listened, but heard nothing. "Wait a minute...it's very quiet here tonight."

This came as a startling thing to Foxy. The pizzeria could be quiet, but never THIS quiet. There was usually the murmur of chatter and conversation in Ballora's room, or the noises from the tv in Freddy's closet, or some misc. sounds from Puppet's box, or even at least even a little buzzing or creaking. But nothing. It was practically a ghost town here today.

Nah, that couldn't be it.

"Oh, I know what it is." Foxy muttered. "Freddy's probably just watching a movie. Let's go find out." Even if his tv wasn't as loud as usual, he might have had it very low. Foxy walked through the room, and through the stand, and up to the closet. "Freddy!" He opened the door and entered.

It was empty. The tv was still on an error screen, and Franklin the teddy bear was still seated in front of it, but Freddy himself was absent.

"Oh. Um." Foxy stuttered. "I guess he's not in here." He looked down at Franklin. "Hey Franklin, do you know where Freddy is?" Silence. Then Foxy realized that this was stupid. What am I doing, talking to a teddy bear?! He left the closet and closed the door behind him.

"Huh, this is weird." Foxy mumbled. "Freddy's not in the closet, and he's not on his pedestal. Hmm, that's really weird." Foxy then spotted the door to the kitchen nearby the closet. "Oh, I know where he is! The kitchen, like always." Foxy thought Freddy might be in there. Probably feeding Garbage, as usual. Foxy opened the door and came into the kitchen.

"Freddy? FREDDY? Are you in here?" The room was empty, and there was still no response. Uh, this is weird. He's not in here either. Ugh, by myself yet again. Foxy walked through the room and came near the garbage chute. Let's go check on Garbage. He opened the chute.

"Garbage! GARBAGE!" Foxy called. "Is Freddy down there?" Foxy could hear loud snoring coming from the chute, but still no other response. That's right, humans sleep at night. So much for that. Foxy closed the chute and went to the break room door. Maybe he's back here. He went in there.

"Freddy? Freddy?" Again, no response. Foxy looked and saw the huge vent cover in the room. Oh, maybe he's up in the vents. Foxy went near the vent.

"Freddy, are you up there? Freddy!" Still no response. Just silence. "He's not up there either. Wow, this is...this is really weird. I would have expected him to be here." Foxy went through the kitchen and exited back to the main area.

"Huh, maybe he's with Ballora." Foxy guessed. "Let's go find out." As he passed, he saw the bouncy house, which was also empty. Okay, so they're not in the bouncy house. Foxy went down the hall, checking many areas along the way.

Foxy entered Ballora's room.

"Ballora? Freddy? ...Baby?" Foxy called, but the room was, once again, empty, and there was still no response anywhere. "Huh, they're not in here either. This is weird." Foxy saw the double doors next to Ballora's stage, and figured he should check the back area. Maybe they were back there.

He went to the door and tried to pull it open, but it wouldn't budge. "That's even weirder! I can't open Ballora's door. Did they lock it?" He went to one of the room vent covers. "Are you guys in there?!" Silence. No, they couldn't have been in there. They would have answered me by now. Oh well. Foxy exited the room and went back down the hall. He thought for a moment. If they weren't in those spots, where else could they be?

...

And then the answer hit Foxy.

"Oh, I know where they could be! They're probably in the vents, waiting for the security guard to come!" He went towards Puppet's room. "Here I come, guys!" He noticed the girls bathroom as he went by.

"Oh wait. Maybe they're in..." He began to approach, then quickly backed away. "No, I can't do it! Back to the original plan. Guys, I'm coming!" He entered Puppet's room and stopped in his tracks.

Puppet was sitting on one of the many chairs in front of the stage, humming a tune to himself.

Oop, Puppet's here! Foxy thought. At least he's around, but I gotta find everyone else. Maybe he knows where they are.

"Hey, Puppet!" Foxy addressed Puppet as he approached him. "Do you know where Baby, Ballora, and Freddy are?"

"Huh? What?" Puppet replied, turning around in his seat to look at Foxy. "Um, no. I don't, Foxy." Foxy sighed and decided to go and look in the vents anyway. Maybe they were there.

"Actually, you know what?" Foxy said. He went towards the stage trapdoor and began reaching to open it. "I'm gonna be looking in here to see if they're in the-"

"Wait, WAIT!" Puppet cut in, standing up.

"What?" Foxy asked confusedly, turning back around at Puppet.

"See..." Puppet began anxiously. "...I've been just messing around with my toys, and I was wondering if.."

"Can you hold that thought for a second?" Foxy questioned Puppet, wanting to stay on track. Foxy turned back around to the trapdoor. "I'm gonna check the vents to see if the others are in there."

"Wait, no no no!" Puppet hurriedly ran over to Foxy. "This is equally important, I think."

"Um, how could your toys be more important then finding our friends before the SECURITY GUARD COMES?!" Foxy exclaimed, aggravated that Puppet was holding him off.

"They're probably doing something secret!" Puppet reasoned. "Maybe they're throwing you a surprise party."

"Oh, oh!" Foxy responded, nodding. That did make sense. Maybe they weren't here because they were planning something for him. Foxy wouldn't want to interrupt them, if that was the case. "That's true." But then Foxy remembered that he didn't know when his birthday was, so how could they be planning to throw him a party? "Wait, but it's not my birthday."

"Hmm." Puppet muttered. "When is your birthday, by the way?"

"Uh, good question." Foxy admitted. Foxy himself was unsure about when his birthday was (or if he even had one). However, it did feel to him that it was in February. "It feels like it might be February. I don't why, maybe because that month starts with an F, like my name. Yeah, that makes sense."

"Okay, maybe." Puppet replied calmly. "Anyway, so do you wanna see my toys?!" Puppet danced around in place quickly, excited.

"Um...not really." Foxy answered honestly. Foxy didn't think Puppet's toys were important, at least not more important than finding the others, so he wasn't in the mood to see them right now.

"Aw, come on. I insist." Puppet said, patting Foxy on the shoulder. He beckoned him to one of the tables in the room. "Come. Sit down, sit down."

"Um, I should really go check the-" Foxy began, trying to get away.

"I SAID SIT DOWN!" Puppet yelled impatiently.

"Okay, okay!" Foxy replied, coming back over quickly. It seemed to him that Puppet wouldn't talk no for an answer, so he, despite the fact that he didn't like it, would sit down and look at Puppet's toys. He came over to Puppet. "Where am I sitting, where am I sitting?"

"Over here." Puppet pointed at one of the stools right next to the table he pointed at earlier. Foxy went over to it.

"Right here?"

"Yes." Foxy sat down on it slowly, trying to please Puppet. "Okay, I'm sitting down."

"Okay, I'm gonna show you my first toy." Puppet declared. "It's Mr. Snuggles." Puppet placed and rummaged through a blue bag on a nearby chair and showed Foxy a brown teddy bear, one practically identical to the one in Freddy's closet. "Look at him."

"Oh, hi, Mr. Snuggles..." Foxy said quietly, unsure of what to make of such a plain-looking bear. "...how are you?"

"When I look at him, he screams: 'Look at me. I'm here. I'm important.'" Puppet explained calmly. "Just look at his soul."

"Yeah, yeah, I get it..." Foxy sighed, turning away. He was bored and wanted to leave. He began to get up-

"TALK TO MR. SNUGGLES." Puppet demanded. "Talk to him." Foxy sat back down and turned back over at the little bear. What is happening? He thought, afraid.

"Hi...Mr. S-snuggles..." Foxy stuttered, scared. Puppet was acting really strict to him, more so than usual. Foxy did not want to make him upset.

"What's that, Mr. Snuggles?" Puppet asked the tiny brown bear. "You don't like Foxy?!" Oh no... Foxy thought, sure of himself that this was not a good sign. Puppet looked up at Foxy again. "He says he doesn't like you."

"Why doesn't he like me?" Foxy asked nervously. He stared at Mr. Snuggles. "Um, we-we're best friends, r-r-right, buddy ol' p-pal?" Foxy chuckled, trying not to show his fear.

"I don't know. Maybe he's throwing a tantrum." Puppet guessed. He picked up Mr. Snuggles and placed him inside the blue bag. "I'm gonna have to change his diaper later."

"Okay, was that all?" Foxy asked Puppet, wanting to leave more than before. "Can I go now?"

"No no no, no!" Puppet refused, shaking his head firmly. Foxy couldn't believe on how insist Puppet was to show him his toys. This was unusual.

"Ooh, okay..." Foxy gasped, shrinking down on the stool he sat on.

"Here's a second friend!" Puppet continued on, rummaging through the bag. He showed Foxy a small toy solider, dressed as if he were in a marching band. "It's the toy solider!" Puppet smiled happily, excited. "Look at him!"

"Oh, cool! Cool!" Foxy complimented the toy quickly, not wanting a repeat of the first toy. "A toy solider! Arrgh…" Foxy really wanted to leave now. Time to make an excuse.

"Toy soliders don't say 'arrgh'." Puppet pointed out, confused.

"Umm..." Foxy muttered, trying to think of an excuse to leave. "...I think I should go into the water ride area and check on the boats. To make sure they're not leaking." He stood up. Puppet shook his head, glaring at Foxy as Foxy turned towards the water ride area. "I think that sounds like a good idea." Foxy approached the door to the water ride, but was stopped.

He turned around and saw that Puppet had a grip on his shoulder, and was gripping Foxy very hard.

"What are you doing?" Puppet asked, in a low voice.

"Going to the boats..." Foxy claimed quietly.

"Please go have a seat." Puppet commanded Foxy, squinting at him. Foxy shook in fear, afraid of how Puppet was being right now.

"But the boat-" Foxy began, still trying to escape.

"You can't swim!" Puppet told Foxy, smiling broadly. "So you might as well come back here with your buddy, the Puppet, and sit down." Puppet said this firmly, his seriousness having not entirely disappeared. Foxy knew this was a lie, he was an excellent swimmer. But he was still afraid. He turned around and looked at the water area for a moment.

The boats are all the way over there... Foxy thought, staring at the water area and seeing that the wooden boats floating in there were out of his reach. It was hopeless, and Foxy knew that. No getting out of this one. Especially not with the way Puppet was being right now.

"Ugh...fine, fine..." Foxy admitted defeat, sitting back down on the stool. Puppet smiled widely again.

"Sorry for being like that. I understand why you tried to do that." Puppet commented, patting Foxy on the back. "The toy solider isn't too cool." Puppet put the toy solider back in the bag. "But this next one is gonna blow your mind sky-high." Puppet rummaged through the bag again. "We can even say that it'll take your mind into...space!"

Puppet took out his next toy, a toy rocket, and showed it to Foxy.

"Oh." Foxy said, not really admiring the rocket that much. He was a pirate, he liked ships better. "That is a nice rocket and all, but I'm a pirate." Foxy patted himself. "I might not look like it right now, but I'm a pirate."

"Well, it's a spaceship." Puppet joked, trying to get Foxy to like the rocket. "And pirates are in ships."

"Touché, touché. I get that." Foxy acknowledged Puppet, understanding where he was coming from. But that reminded him of his old outfit. He could use that as an excuse to leave. He figured he should try again anyway. This was getting boring, at least to Foxy. "But the question is: where's my old outfit?" Foxy stood up. "Y'know, I should go start looking for that and see if I can find it, y'know, because this one is a little too new, and it seems to break often!" Foxy knew he was lying here too, he had accepted this next costume and knew he couldn't get his old one back, but he figured he could still use it as an excuse. "So I should go, and, y'know, start looking for it."

Foxy began to back towards the room's exit. "So you can play with your rocket ship and do whatever you do with rocket ships. And I will just, y'know, slowly back my way out of here..."

"Wait, hold up, hold up!" Puppet demanded Foxy hurriedly as he put the rocket inside the bag and picked up the bag itself. "I have one more!" He began to walk towards Foxy, who was standing right next to the hall by then.

Argh, no no! Foxy thought. His mind raced furiously as Puppet approached him. He needed to cause a distraction!

"Hey, what's this I hear?!" Foxy said loudly. "Hey! It's Ballora!" Foxy said in a somewhat-perfect Ballora impression. "Oh, I just heard Ballora!"

Puppet, who was thankfully dumb enough to believe Foxy's Ballora voice, became surprised and looked over the area quickly to see where Ballora was. "Oh! Where is she?"

"I should go, um, see where that noise was coming from!" Foxy spoke up. "Yeah, come look for me!" Foxy yelled, doing the Ballora impression again.

"What?" Puppet muttered, befuddled.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm going!" Foxy stuttered, backing up into the hall. "Peace out!"

"Where is she?" Puppet asked again, looking back at Foxy.

"She's, um..." Foxy yelped. Foxy thought of what to respond with quickly. "...I don't know, maybe the girl's bathroom? I'm not checking in there, though!" He said. "I'm over here!" He added, doing the impression again. "Oh, see, do you hear that? Yeah, it's somewhere else! And it's definitely not like it's coming from me! Not at all!"

"Where is that coming from?" Puppet question confusedly, turning towards the girl's bathroom. Foxy saw that he was distracted. Oh, time to get out! Time to leave! He turned tail and ran down the hall, turning a corner and going down another hall to get to the main room.

"Wait, where'd you go?!" He heard Puppet yell as he ran into the main room. "Come back! I have another toy to show you!"

"No you don't! No you don't!" Foxy cried as he ran through the room, turned another corner, and entered his own room. He opened his curtains and jumped inside, shutting them behind him.

Finally, I'm outta there... He thought as he gasped for breath inside his cove.

"Foxy, where are you?!" Puppet called. Foxy perked up, alert. He didn't want Puppet to find him.

"Nowhere!" Foxy yelled.

"He's nowhere!"

"Shut up, Ballora!" Foxy yelled, before realizing that Ballora wasn't even there. "Wait, Ballora isn't even here! Who said that?"

"Are you in your room?" Puppet asked Foxy. Foxy gasped; he could hear Puppet's footsteps getting louder.

"Oh no!" Foxy gasped.

"Hey, are you?" Puppet pulled open the curtains, revealing Foxy, who screamed in fear. "Hey, you are here! What are you doing, buddy?"

"Oh no, ugh. Great." Foxy groaned, knowing he was caught.

"Aren't we friends?" Puppet inquired Foxy, looking at him calmly.

I'm in a corner, how am I supposed to flee?! Foxy thought, aware. "Yeah, yeah, we're buddies!" Foxy replied, grinning nervously. "We're pals!"

"Well, I only have one more toy to show you!" Puppet told Foxy, pulling out the blue bag.

"Oh, okay.." Foxy stuttered. He decided to see this final toy. It was only one more, and he could handle just one more. "What do you have to show me?" He stepped out of his cove. Okay, I'm out of the corner. Not stuck anymore.

"Here, check this out." Puppet said, rummaging through the bag. He pulled out the final toy: A dark brown train with light brown wheels. It was made up of only two cars, one being the engine and the other a passenger car.

"Oh, a choo-choo train..." Foxy commented, smiling anxiously. Actually, he didn't want to hear about the toys anymore. He backed towards the doorway again. "I'm just gonna choo-choo my way out of here." He backed into the main room.

"Well, that is what choo-choo trains do, but you're not a choo-choo train!" Puppet pointed out, putting the toy train inside the bag and following Foxy.

"Yeah, uh, exactly!" Foxy chuckled, still smiling anxiously. He let out a few chuckles and kept backing up. Puppet looked at him curiously. Foxy didn't understand. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Well, I wanna know what you think of my choo-choo train." Puppet informed him, frowning sadly.

"Uh, do I have a choice?" Foxy asked Puppet hesitantly.

"Well...yeah."

"Okay, then..." Foxy accepted this. Puppet took out the train again as they walked back into Foxy's room.

"What'd you think?" Puppet asked Foxy, smiling. "Would you give it one star, or five stars?" Foxy stared at the train apprehensively.

"I give it...two stars?" Foxy said, putting two fingers up.

"Will you take the time to rate this purchase?" Puppet asked in a pretend robotic voice, clearly just playing around.

"Two." Foxy repeated, putting the two fingers up again. "Two stars. Just two."

"That will be 2.99." Puppet told Foxy.

"I don't have money!" Foxy groaned. "I'm a fox with no pockets!" He tapped his hips to specify this. Puppet stared at Foxy for a moment, then sighed.

"I'm gonna be honest, Foxy..." Puppet spoke up. "This whole time, I've been trying to sell you, these, uh...these toys."

"Um, well..." Foxy responded, unsure of how to respond with this new revelation. Really? Puppet was just trying to sell him stuff? Foxy felt stupid at that moment. "Well, you should have said that from the start, and I would have said no, and then we would be-"

"Well, you've already rated your purchase, so..." Puppet cut in, crossing his arms. "Money, please."

"I HAVE no money." Foxy moaned, exasperated.

"Oh yeah, that's right..." Puppet realized, perking up. "We, uh, don't carry that. Hmm."

"Yeah, why would you think that we do?" Foxy questioned him. "That's kinda weird."

Puppet stood there silently, seeming to think to himself.

"I'm gonna have to think this one through." Puppet decided, putting the train back in the back and heading towards the door. He turned towards Foxy. "Stay there, I don't know! I'll be back, I'll be back." He left the room.

"Um, um.." Foxy muttered. I don't know if I wanna stay here. This doesn't feel safe.

"You know what?" Puppet said, coming back into the room. He stared at the ground, tapping his foot. "I...I dunno. Maybe I'll go into the ice cream business or something." He looked up at Foxy. "People like ice cream, right?"

"Um, yeah!" Foxy replied, not really listening to Puppet. He had other things on his mind. They walked into the main room."Oh, by the way, um..do you know where Ballora, Freddy, and Baby are?"

"Maybe they're...having a party...without you and me?" Puppet guessed, clearly not knowing where they were either. "I dunno."

"Maybe." Foxy muttered acceptingly. He could think of it as one of the possibilities.

"Hmm...that's not nice." Puppet mentioned, shaking his head. "Why would they do that?"

"I know, right?" Foxy added. "Where would they be?" He pointed around the room. Foxy was curious about where they could have gone. Every place he knew of in the pizzeria, they weren't in. So where else could they have gone? "There's nowhere else to go. We've been in every room." They strolled down the hall.

"Hmm." Puppet muttered. "Maybe they're in this thing. What's in there?" He gestured at the iron doors with the boards on them.

"Um, I-I-I don't know." Foxy stuttered in response. The animatronics had tried many times to get into the room behind the mysterious doors, but to no avail; the boards were too tough, even for the animatronics.

"Hmm. Oh well." Puppet sighed. "Anyway, I'm gonna go find more people to sell to."

"Um, there's no one around." Foxy pointed out, knowing full well that he and Puppet were the only ones there at the moment. "You know, we're the only ones IN HERE."

"I was gonna go down to my box, and like, put it up, on like, a webpage, probably?" Puppet revealed, shrugging.

"Oh, okay." Foxy replied, nodding. "Like eBay! Or Amazon!" How would I know about that? Foxy wondered, somehow knowing of those websites despite having never been on the internet.

"What are those things?" Puppet asked Foxy, tilting his head to own side.

"Oh, nothing. Don't worry about it." Foxy assured him in response. "Nope."

"Well, uh, I'll catch you later, Foxy." Puppet replied, waving to Foxy as he inched towards his room. "Bye-bye."

"Bye-bye." Foxy waved back as he watched Puppet disappear into his room before turning around and heading back down the hall to the main room.

Okay, that was really weird. Foxy admitted to himself inside his head. Why would he want to go into the ice-cream business? That's so odd. … Hmm, I dunno.

He went through the main room and back into his room. The curtains of his cove were still drawn open. He stepped inside.

I guess I'm just gonna wait a little while and then maybe the animatronics will come and find me. He sighed, tired. Well, whatever. I'll just wait here, in this room, by myself. He stood there, considering for a moment if he should really wait, then changed his mind. Actually, no. I'm gonna go into the kitchen and start making some food. Yeah, that sounds like a good idea.

He went through the main room and entered the kitchen.

I'm gonna show Freddy up. Foxy declared in his thoughts, ready to prove someone COULD cook better than Freddy. I'm gonna make something delicious, something awesome. He started going through the cabinets.

Yeah, let's start cooking.

Chapter Text

Foxy yawned as he woke up inside his cove and opened the curtains.

"Huh. I wonder what everyone's up to tonight." Foxy wondered to himself, curious to see if everyone had come back now. "Let's find out. Okedokely…" He stepped out of his cove and into his brightly-lit room. He could see that through the small windows in his room, it was nighttime.

Oh, at least it's nighttime. Foxy thought, thankful. This is awesome! At least I didn't wake up early this time.

Foxy remembered the one time he had woken up early. It was very strange for him; everybody was fast asleep and the pizzeria was barren, empty. He had always preferred to wake up when everybody else did, and thankfully this was one of those times.

That was weird, waking up during the daytime when no one's here. Felt really weird. Okedokely, let's go out.

He stepped out of his room and stopped in his tracks.

A brown box was sitting in front of the entrance, with a wooden sign nailed to it.

"Wait...what the?" Foxy muttered, noticing the box. He felt confused. Hold on, am I really seeing this? Foxy did a double take, only to see the box still sitting there. He walked up to the box.

"HAPPY...B-DAY...FOXY." Foxy read on the sign slowly. "Okay, what? What is a 'B-Day?" He thought about it for a moment. Bouncy Day? No no, that can't be it...oh, wait! It stands for birthday! He realized. "Oh, this is awesome. But it's not my...is it my birthday?" Foxy knew he had said before that he thought his birthday was in February, yet it was only October. "I don't think it is." Foxy looked at the box itself and lifted up its cover, looking inside.

The box was empty, save for a small black object.

Oh, what's this? Foxy wondered. He saw the buttons and screen on it, and guessed that it might be a phone. But he hadn't ordered a phone. No, couldn't be-

His thoughts were interrupted as the phone started ringing.

"Woah!" Foxy yelped, surprised. "Oh, I should answer this!" He grabbed the phone out of the box and pressed the 'answer' button, then held the phone up to his ear. "Hello?"

"Hello?" A voice replied from the other end. Foxy couldn't really tell who it was, although it did sound familiar for some reason.

"Hi." Foxy greeted. "Who is this?"

"Foxy?" The voice asked. "It's me, the Puppet!"

"Who's the Puppet?" Foxy knew it was probably Puppet, but he decided to ask anyways for no reason.

"You know what? I don't know, myself. But, anyway, happy b-day, man!"

"Um...awkward situation here. I don't think it's my birthday. I REALLY don't."

"Well, you said you don't even know, so how can you know?"

"Um...good point, actually. Maybe it's on my hand." Foxy inspected his other hand (the one not holding a phone) to see if there was any text on it, but there was nothing. "Nope, I'm not seeing any manufacturing date. Not seeing it..."

"Anyway, I think we could play a game."

"Okay, I, uh..."

"Not like an app, though, because this phone doesn't do that."

"Okay, but the thing is, where did you get this phone? That's my first question."

"Well, I...sold...some...stuff."

"So, you took this from a security guard. That's what I'm getting from this."

"Yeah, I took it from a security guard..."

"Um, my next question is...where is everyone?"

"...Well, see, my plan, when I told it to them, was to get everybody to buy you a phone, but... nobody was too happy with that idea. Except me, obviously! So I think they're finding you presents of their own."

"Oh, okay. So, uh, are they playing hide-and-seek or something? That's what it kind of sounds like to me."

"I think so, yes."

"Ah, okay. So are you playing too?"

"Absolutely! You have to find me."

"Oh, great. But, y'know, I'm not a big hide-and-seek person, so, I'm just gonna go back to my room, and, y'know-"

"No! I got you a cool phone, so play this game, please."

"Ugh...I guess I DON'T have a choice."

"Yeah! Buddies forever!"

"So, can you give me a hint? A first hint."

"Sure. I am indoors."

"Well, OBVIOUSLY. We're always indoors." Foxy walked slowly through the main area, looking around as he listened to Puppet.

"Eh, sometimes...no, you're right. That one was too vague."

"Very."

"I am in a place...where you get clean."

"Huh. Well, we don't have a shower, so the only other place I can think about...is the kitchen!" Foxy went into the kitchen as he said this. "Cause you can have a sink." Foxy looked around the area. "...I'm not seeing you."

"Well, maybe that's because I'm not there, silly!"

"Well, why wouldn't you be in here? You just said you were in a place to get clean."

"Alright, here's hint number two, then."

"Oh, okay, hint number two. I'm ready."

"There is water in this room."

"I'm in the room with water right now!" Foxy griped, banging the counter next to the sink.

"Well, obviously, I'm not in THAT room." Puppet told Foxy as Foxy sighed and left the kitchen. "What other room has water in it?"

"Oh, my water area, with the pirate ship! Yeah!" Foxy headed down the hallway to the water ride. "Here I come!"

"Real water."

"I know. There is real water." Foxy informed Puppet as he walked over to his water ride and looked through the doorway into the area, which, now that Foxy looked at it closer, was a bit small. It only consisted of a big rectangular red-blue block sticking out of the center with water surrounding it, and lights in the flooring underneath the water, with red-blue walls to match the block. Small orangish-yellow wooden boats floated in the water, only big enough to fit a single person. "I'm looking at it right now. It's right below me. With boats."

"Hmm. Well, man, this game is harder than I thought." Foxy knew it wasn't the water ride, so maybe it was the bathroom.

"Hint number three: Maybe you could check the bathroom."

"Okay, the bathroom." Foxy said as he walked over to the boy's bathroom in the hall. "That has water too." He went inside and looked around, even checking the stall. "Um, nope. And someone forgot to flush again."

"Ew, gross."

"Yeah, yeah, I know. But neither me nor you ever come in here. It had to be Freddy who did that, again! Ugh..." Foxy could remember how Freddy always used the boys bathroom, and left behind a mess in the toilet with the side of never flushing. Foxy could never get the message through to Freddy on how to properly use the bathroom. "..What's with him?" Foxy left the bathroom and re-entered the hall.

"Hint number four: Did you check the girl's bathroom?" Foxy saw the girl's bathroom facing right across the hallway from where the boy's bathroom was, with its pink walls to counter the blue boy's bathroom walls.

"I'm not going in there." Foxy said immediately, knowing full well that he couldn't enter that bathroom, since he was male.

"Well, how will you know if I'm not in there?"

"You're a boy too! Wait, are you a boy?" Foxy asked, confused as to Puppet's gender yet again.

"I...am...awesome. Let's just put it that way." Puppet answered as Foxy inched near the entryway to the girl's bathroom.

"I don't know if I want to go in here." Okay, Ballora entered the opposite gender bathroom once, maybe I can do it too. Foxy thought, trying to muster the courage to enter. He sighed. "Here I go, I'm going in!" He shuffled into the girl's bathroom. It was nearly identical to the boy's bathroom, with two sinks, a mirror, and a single stall. Foxy noticed that the room was much shiner and cleaner than the boy's. "Ooh, it's clean in here. Very clean!" Foxy opened the stall door, but Puppet wasn't in there at all. Foxy realized that he had been tricked. "You're not in here either! You tricked me!"

"Ha ha! I was just joking!" Puppet laughed devilishly as Foxy ran as fast as he could out of the girl's bathroom. "You weirdo, you went into the girl's bathroom! I'm telling everybody!"

"UGH, that's not cool! That's not fair!" Foxy groaned, unhappy to see himself tricked like that. "Ugh..."

"Okay, are we on hint five?" Puppet asked Foxy. "I think we're on hint five."

"Yeah, I think we are." Foxy answered as he kept looking around the hallway, checking through the windows of all the rooms in the hallway.

"Okay, I am in a bathroom! But I didn't say which one."

"I went into both of them!" Foxy griped, unable to understand how Puppet could be in a bathroom if not either of those two. Foxy entered Ballora's room. "Does Ballora have a bathroom I don't know about?" Foxy looked around the room. "I don't see one. Nope, not in here." Foxy exited the room, closing the door behind him. He walked back into Puppet's room and started looking there.

"Maybe this bathroom is in a tiny room of its own." Puppet hinted slyly. "Perhaps even a BOX."

"Okay, the ventilation systems don't have it, so not there." Foxy noted, turning away from the trapdoor leading there...and noticed Puppet's box. "Wait a minute!" Foxy felt dumb. How could he have forgotten? "Wait a MINUTE! Hold on!" Foxy walked right up to Puppet's box and climbed up onto it, then looked down into the hole leading to the interior of the box. "You're down there, aren't you?"

"Uh, what? What are you talking about?" Puppet asked, sounding nervous.

"Here I come!" Foxy yelled, and jumped into Puppet's box. "WOAH!" He fell for a second...

...then landed on Puppet's red couch. He had entered the tv room.

"Ow, ow!" Foxy yelped, feeling hurt from the length of the fall. He knew no human could have survived that fall on their own, so he was lucky he was an animatronic and was strong enough to survive the fall. It didn't come without pain, though. "That hurt!" Foxy looked at his phone. "Did you put something hard on this couch?"

"I changed the cushions." Puppet replied calmly.

"Why? That really hurt!"

"Because they didn't, uh, make the place look nice!"

Foxy sighed and got up, exiting the empty tv room and beginning to look around the box. He came into the center room and noticed that nobody was in the kitchen.

"Okay, you're not in the kitchen." Foxy mentioned as he looked around the kitchen to make sure. "Don't see you in here at all." He noticed the gumball machine on the floor of the kitchen. "The gumball machine's still down here. I thought you were supposed to put that downstairs!"

"Nah."

"Wait, say something again."

"Something again." Foxy realized that he could hear Puppet's voice coming from not just the phone now, but in muffled form somewhere nearby. Foxy knew he was on to something.

"I hear you, I hear you!" Foxy yelled, realizing that he was close to Puppet's location now. "Where do I hear you?" Foxy walked down the small hallway and entered Puppet's bathroom...and gasped.

Puppet was inside the shower in the bathroom, crouching behind the small white glass wall with his own phone in hand.

"Oh, I found you!" Foxy exclaimed, happy to finally find Puppet.

"Hey, buddy." Puppet said, smiling.

"So, you could have just said that you were down here." Foxy informed Puppet as he ended the call on his phone. "In your bathroom, in your BOX!"

"But it wouldn't be a fun game." Puppet reasoned, coming out from inside the shower.

"Okay, so now we have to go find the other people, don't we?" Foxy asked Puppet as they left the bathroom. "The other animatronics. Okay, so, can you give me a hint?"

Puppet looked at Foxy weirdly. "But I said they didn't buy you a phone, though! They don't have your number."

"Wait, but do you know where they are?"

"No." Puppet admitted, looking at the ground in sadness.

"Wait, so this whole entire time, I've been searching just for you, and not them?" Foxy asked as he put his phone on the kitchen counter.

"Yeah!" Puppet confirmed. He put an arm around Foxy. "Buddies forever!"

Foxy sighed, annoyed to hear that he went through all the effort of searching to find one person. "So, the animatronics could be somewhere else, and you won't tell me where they are!" Puppet nodded. "Do you even have at least an idea of where they could be?"

"No." Puppet said again, shaking his head this time.

"So...then..." Foxy went on, unsure of why he was even down in Puppet's box. "Why am I down here?"

"We're playing a game!" Puppet exclaimed. "I got you a fancy-shmansy-new phone!"

"Yeah, it is pretty fancy..." Foxy conceded, grabbing his phone off the counter and holding it up. "But it doesn't seem like I can make outgoing calls." Foxy tapped on the screen, but nothing seemed to be working. In fact, the only thing he could do on the phone was call Puppet. There were no apps at all, and no store to download them on. "Yep, can't make outgoing calls. Actually, it's not exactly working. It has no apps on it, so why do I even have this?"

"To call your best buddy...the Puppet." Puppet responded, pointing his thumbs at himself as he grinned (or in this case, smiled wider since he didn't have teeth).

"Yep." Foxy grumbled, already having figured out that the only thing he could do with the phone was call Puppet. "That's the only number on the phone."

"Mmm-hmm." Puppet muttered, still grinning.

"Hey, at least I'll never lose you again." Foxy sighed, trying to see the bright side of the situation as he put the phone back on the counter. Puppet cheered happily. "And the next time a security guard comes, you'll actually BE THERE for once! Geez."

Foxy already knew that Puppet, though he was a security guard hunter like them, tended to miss security guards because he was busy with something his box. And by busy, Foxy knew that meant he was watching tv, doing taxes, or messing around on his computer, or doing anything else he might do down in his box.

"Yep." Puppet said, nodding again. "I also got it for you because you've been disappearing a lot."

"Uh, um, no." Foxy replied, knowing full well that he had never disappeared and was around more often than ANYONE ELSE. "I haven't disappeared once."

"Then where do you go randomly?"

"My room. Just my room. Nowhere else."

"Hmm, Okay. Well, now you have no excuse to answer my calls!" Puppet pointed out, smirking.

Foxy wasn't paying attention to Puppet as much as he was to the fridge in Puppet's kitchen.

"Shane's Electronics." Foxy read on the label on the top-right corner of the fridge. "Yeah, that's weird. That's really weird." Foxy turned around and saw that on the counter was a tea cup, still hot and steaming. "Wait, why is there tea here?" Foxy (being a childish as he was, though he never thought of it that way) wasn't fond of tea in the slightest, and thought it was disgusting. "Who drinks tea? Like, tea is disgusting."

"No, it's not." Puppet denied, going over to the counter. "I like peace tea. Peace tea is nice! It has 'peace' in the name."

"Okay.." Foxy said, unsure of what to say. He noticed the drawers next to the kitchen area, where a goldfish was swimming in a bowl. Foxy could remember from the first time he came down into the box that he had been introduced to Puppet's goldfish. "Oh, your fish. Normandy, right?"

"Normandy. Yep." Puppet confirmed as he came over to where the fish was too.

"Yeah, Norman would have been a bad name." Foxy admitted, thinking the fish's name was quite unique. "Good thing it's Normandy."

"Yeah!" Puppet agreed.

"So, why do you still have a fish above your fish?" Foxy asked Puppet as he stared at the fish trophy on the wall above the goldfish bowl (Foxy thought it was a singing fish, but it was actually a fish trophy), which had a small plaque below it that read A Fishy Friend. Foxy felt that a dead fish about a living fish wasn't a good combo. "Doesn't it make it kind of anxious?"

"No!" Puppet denied, frowning at Foxy. "Come on, we've been over this! It's because they're friends."

"You know that fish isn't alive, right?" Foxy whispered to Puppet, unsure if Puppet knew whether or not the fish on the wall was actually dead. "Well, that is weird coming from an animatronic, but...oh well." Foxy knew it was weird for them to be alive; they were robots, after all. But they just were, and none of the animatronics bothered to question it. They just thought it felt right, so they went with it.

"What does 'alive' even mean?" Puppet asked deeply.

"Yeah, I ask that question everyday." Foxy admitted.

Puppet stared at the ground for a moment, then looked at Foxy.

"We should go skydiving to prove this."

"Um, no no no! We can't even leave this place!" Foxy pointed out, knowing not just that they couldn't leave but also that if Foxy took the full force of a fall from skydiving, we would definitely not survive. The hole down into Puppet's box would administer minor damage, but from miles up in the sky? Even as strong as he was as an animatronic, Foxy knew even an animatronic wouldn't be able to take the force of the landing.

"And also, why does it look like you're crying?" Foxy questioned, referring to the purple tear streaks on Puppet's mask. Foxy always found it strange that they were there. Was Puppet secretly depressed? Foxy wasn't sure. "Are you okay? Do we need to talk about something?"

"It's makeup." Puppet revealed, smiling a little.

"Okedokely…" Foxy murmured, unsure if Puppet wearing strange makeup was a good thing or not. "Makeup."

"Boy makeup." Puppet clarified. "'Cause I'm a boy."

"Yeah, yeah. You keep telling yourself that." Foxy replied as he went into the small hallway and noticed that on the stand, there was a book. Foxy wondered why it was there in Puppet's room. "Why is there a book just sitting here?"

"Why do you keep criticizing my house?" Puppet moaned, sad. "If you keep doing that, I'll want you to get out."

"Well, you're the one that invited me down here!" Foxy griped. "And you say that we're buddies!" Foxy looked into the bathroom and, once again, saw that on the counter was the cup with three toothbrushes, with Foxy felt was also weird. "And you have one, two, THREE toothbrushes. Why do you have three toothbrushes?"

"One for every day of the week!" Puppet explained.

"There's seven days in the week."

Puppet gasped. "What?!"

"Yeah."

"No one told me this.." Puppet sighed as he stared at the floor again.

"At least you're very hygienic for an animatronic." Foxy told Puppet.

"Yes, of course." Puppet responded, smiling. "I don't just use those to brush my teeth, either. That's why my face is so pearly-white!"

"Oh, that makes sense!" Foxy said, finally understanding why Puppet's mask/face was always so clean. "Maybe I should borrow one sometime and-"

"No!" Puppet refused sternly. "Mine."

"Oh. Okay." Foxy responded, knowing full well now that Puppet's toothbrushes were not to be touched. They exited the bathroom. "Okedokely, I see how it is. Maybe we can watch some-" Foxy wandered into what he thought was the tv room, but was actually the computer room. "Wait, wrong room, wrong room. Still not used to be down here." They went a different direction, entered back into the center of the box, and entered the tv room. "Maybe we can watch some tv, since you have a tv down here."

"Yeah, let's watch some tv." Puppet added as they sat down on the red couch.

"I heard there's a good drama about a vampire and his girlfriend today." Foxy mentioned, having seen The Immortal and The Restless somewhere before. "Something about them having a kid. It's really good!"

"I think I heard that one, too!" Puppet responded excitedly. "The one where the kid turns out to be a werewolf, or something?"

"I think he's a vampire, too. I'm not sure. I've only caught one episode."

"Nah, I think he's a werewolf."

"Okay, so we should watch more, then."

"Yeah."

"Okay, let's watch some tv!" Foxy grabbed the remote and flicked the tv on, ready to begin watching cool shows.

Later that night , Foxy found himself standing inside his cove and preparing for a good rest.

But as he did, he suddenly heard something. Something awakening inside of himself, a presence of which was unknown to him, one that was coming out.

"Hello, Foxy."

Chapter Text

"I'm going to do it. I'm going to dive in. I'm gonna do it!"

Foxy stood in the doorway to the water area room, overlooking Foxy's Adventure. Despite it being his ride, Foxy had never went in it. But now, Foxy wasn't scared. He felt confident. He could and WOULD do it!

"Here I go. I'm gonna do it! No one's gonna stop me, because I'm going to dive in-"

"Um, what are you doing?"

Foxy froze in place, surprised to hear another voice.

"What? What do you m-" Foxy whipped around and saw that Ballora was gracefully dancing on top of a table nearby. Even despite there being presents on top of the table, Ballora was dancing well anyways, while also singing quietly and calmly to herself as she did so. "Hold on! What are you doing, dancing around?" Foxy turned and looked at the water area again. "We're at a very pinnacle moment right now!" But Foxy turned and looked at Ballora again, only to see her having turned away, not at all listening to him. Foxy felt very annoyed that Ballora was ignoring him. She did it often, more often than Foxy felt comfortable with. "Hey, don't ignore me!"

"Huh? What? Me?" Ballora stuttered, turning back around to face Foxy as she danced. "Um...oh, you're talking to ME!"

"Yeah, I'm talking to you!" Foxy yelled.

"I'm just practicing for my new dance show. It's called: Ballora, the MAGNIFICENT!"

"Um, you do know that no one comes in here, right?"

"...YES! But it's not like nobody watches me! Baby does. Baby watches me ALL the time." Ballora huffed, sure of herself.

"...Yeah, not by choice, though..." Foxy muttered, knowing that Ballora would probably force Baby to watch her shows. Ballora gasped. "I mean, nothing! Like I said, I'm gonna jump."

"You know what? Go ahead!" Ballora growled, upset. "Jump in the water! I don't care." She turned away from him and kept on dancing.

"I'm gonna do it!" Foxy encouraged himself as he tried to ignore Ballora and get ready to jump in again. "I'm gonna go get the boats, and then we can go on.." Foxy pointed at the big red F in the center of the wall separating the water area from the rest of the room. "...Foxy's Wonderful Pirate Adventure!" That was the new name. Foxy himself felt unhappy with the previous name, Foxy's Adventure, as it felt too boring and unexciting for Foxy. He felt good changing the title; it would point out the ride's awesomeness! "That's what it is."

Ballora turned around. She looked at Foxy, then the water ride, and then back at Foxy, then shook her head.

"Actually, don't do that." She advised, quickly taking back her previous words. "We would be, um, really sad without you!" She turned away. "...We really wouldn't be sad..." She muttered. She turned back around. "But yes! We would be sad!"

"Did you just say something?" Foxy asked, having not heard everything she had said correctly. "I swear I heard you say something."

"No, no, um.." Ballora replied hastily. She jumped off the table and began to point at the presents. "Look! It's, uh, presents! Ah-ha, presents, presents, uh, oh dear.."

"Oh, those are nice." Foxy pointed out, thinking the presents were very well-wrapped.

"Replace her with me!"

"Shut up, you weird other Ballora or whatever you are." Foxy sternly told IT. He looked back up at Ballora, who was staring at Foxy confusedly.

"What?" She said. "Who are you talking to?"

"No one, don't worry about." Foxy assured her. He wasn't ready for anyone to find out about IT, or whatever it was. He needed to keep it quiet.

"Tell her."

"No, I'm not telling her anything!" Foxy growled at IT.

"Oh, do you talk to yourself too?" Ballora asked Foxy as she shuffled near him, gazing at him curiously.

"What are you going on about?" Foxy quickly replied. "I'm not talking to myself."

"TELL her."

"I'm not going to say anything!" Foxy griped, feeling very upset with IT. "Stop it!"

"Um..." Ballora muttered, staring at Foxy as if he was a weirdo. She began to back into the corner of the room. "...I'm just gonna go over here, and just...practice dancing!"

"Yeah, you do that." Foxy replied. He laughed falsely. He didn't want Ballora to know about IT yet. What it even was to begin with was strange. All Foxy knew is that one day recently, a disembodied voice in his head had appeared out of nowhere, and it was talking to him, saying strange and very violent things. He didn't know what it was, so he was keeping it hidden until he could find out more-

"HELLO, EVERYONE!"

Foxy and Ballora screamed in surprise. They looked around to see that a man had entered the room. He had brown hair and wore black shades. He had on a white undershirt and a black suit with a red tie, as well as brown shoes.

"Who is he?! What's that?!" Ballora shrieked.

"Is he a worker?" Foxy asked her, eyeing the man.

"I don't know."

"Come on, come all!" The man yelled, smiling. "I am a traveling salesman!" He approached Foxy and Ballora. "And I would like to talk to your supervisors!"

"Um, we can explain, we can explain!" Foxy responded, afraid that this weird man had just seen them, the animatronics, alive and talking. "It was her!" He pointed an accusing finger at Ballora.

"What?! No!" Ballora denied in response. "It was, uh, that boat over there!" She pointed through the nearby window looking into the water area, where one of the boats was floating there.

"Yeah, yeah, the boat!" Foxy agreed, also pointing at the window. The salesman looked through the window curiously, turning his back on the duo. "Okay, we're gonna go behind him and get him! Get read-" The salesman turned back around to look at them. "Oop! Uh, hi!"

"Hey." The salesman greeted calmly.

This is the first time that this has happened... Foxy thought, confused as to why some guy was talking about super-whatever-he-said and other stuff. Wasn't he supposed to be a guard? Wasn't he supposed to be scared as they attacked him?

"I'm looking for your supervisor!" The salesman explained perkily. "We need to work out a business deal. I'm selling some pretty cool action figures for the kids."

"Uh, can you give us a moment?" Foxy asked. "Uh, just a moment."

"Okay." The salesman answered, nodding understandingly. He backed away to the other side of the room, and out of earshot. Foxy turned to Ballora.

"Supervisor?" Foxy wondered. "Umm..."

"What is a supervisor, anyways?" Ballora asked, puzzled.

"Somebody that, uh...has superpowers, maybe." Foxy replied. He hadn't heard of a supervisor before, so he had no clue what the salesman was going on about.

"Superpowers?!" Ballora gasped. She looked down at herself. "Do I have superpowers?"

"Um, you can dance, but.." Foxy reasoned. "I think he's talking about me. Just look at me! Look at my teeth, and my claws, yeah. Definitely me." Foxy thought he was cooler and had better abilities than Ballora, so it made sense that he was the 'supervisor'.

"Yeah, whatever." Ballora murmured incredulously. "Keep thinking that. I think..."

"...I'M THE SUPERVISOR!" Foxy yelled, interrupting Ballora's sentence as he approached the salesman again.

"What? No..." He could hear Ballora complain.

"You are?" The salesman asked eagerly.

"Yep."

"Alright. So, remember what we talked about over the phone?"

"Yeah, uh, over the phone...YEAH, YEAH, YEAH! I DO REMEMBER!"

"Good, because we need to discuss the state of the action figures!"

"Um, action figures?"

"Yeah, to entertain the kids."

"Okay, are they like us?"

"No, they're tiny little people."

"Hold on, can you stay right there? I need to talk to my, uh, associate for a second."

"Alright, no problem."

Foxy walked back over to where Ballora was as quick as he could.

"Action figures to entertain the kids?" Foxy exclaimed, outraged a bit. "WE'RE supposed to entertain the kids, not the action figures!" He felt violated. The animatronics were there to have fun with the kids, and we wasn't about to let some dinky toys ruin that!

"That's..." Ballora muttered, staring at the salesman. "...I feel like he's taking us out of a job. And the fun out of it!"

"Yeah, we need to take him out." Foxy decided. "We can do this. Maybe we can feed him to, uh, Garbage!" Ballora gasped and nodded, smiling viciously.

"Ooh!" She said, liking the plan. "Great idea."

"Yeah, let's go." Foxy declared, and they walked back over to the salesman. "Okay, show us these animatronics."

"Uh, if that's another word for 'action figures', then sure!" He agreed, grinning brightly. "Follow me."

"Yes, animatronics." Foxy confirmed, and he led them down the hall. They neared the main room. "Okay, I'm gonna get him from behind. Here we go. Slowly but steadily, we're gonna do this. We're gonna get him." He whispered to Ballora, quiet enough so that the salesman couldn't hear him.

"Don't mess up!" Ballora whispered back.

"I'm not gonna..." Foxy boasted. As they walked into the main area, he knew it was time. It was now or never! He reached out his claws to STRIKE-

"I'm glad we have this business deal!" The salesman laughed as he turned to face Foxy, who quickly put his claws back. Foxy and Ballora nodded nervously as the salesman smiled at them. "Okay, we'll start on the right." Foxy was confused.

On the counter of the stand next to the entrance to his room were three human-like toys, who were smaller than the animatronics. They sat there, staring off into space. Foxy could tell they weren't alive in the least, unlike them; they were just lifeless toys. But they were moving a bit, or at the very least their heads were turning from side to side slowly. This worried Foxy, who thought that lifeless toys couldn't move at all.

"Oh, okay!" Foxy agreed quickly in response to the salesman.

"Check out this first one, here on the right." The salesman went over to the toy on the right of the counter, which looked like a man wearing a black superhero costume, with a yellow belt and black cape, and a black mask that resembled a bat.

"They're moving.." Ballora whined, concerned all of the sudden.

"Yeah, they're moving." Foxy added, also concerned. "This is really, really creepy."

"Yeah!" The salesman confirmed. "See, I was feeling generous, and I put batteries in them for you so you don't have to use your own."

"Um..." Foxy and Ballora muttered, unsure of how to reply.

"Well, here we go." The salesman went on, going behind the stand counter. "It's time for me to explain." He tapped the head of the first toy. "This little guy right here likes to go on adventures with his green buddy, named Robin."

"Ruben?" The animatronics asked, confused.

"Yep. R-O-B-I-N. Robin."

"Sounds very yummy." Foxy admitted. "I'm actually getting kinda hungry."

"Where's our chef?" Ballora asked, looking around her. "Where's the cook at?"

"Well, I think OUR meal is to-go." Foxy said, staring at the salesman.

"Ohhhhhhhhhh." Ballora gasped, understanding what Foxy meant. "Gotcha."

"Alright, so onto the next one." The salesman said, ignoring the animatronics. He tapped the head of the second toy, this time in the middle of the counter, a man wearing a red-and-yellow costume with thunderbolt insignias. "This next one, he likes to go fast. He's very, very speedy. And he has a friend, just like this guy has Robin; a littler version of him. See, you can name this speedy guy whatever you want. But his sidekick? You gotta put 'Kid' in front of his name."

"Ah, okay." Foxy sighed, not as confused now, but still confused.

"Do they dance?" Ballora questioned the salesman hopefully.

"Uh...if you use your imagination, yes." The salesman replied, frowning. Ballora's face lit up. Foxy knew what this was leading to, and he knew he had to stop it.

"No, no. Do NOT do it." Foxy ordered, glaring at Ballora. "Nope, nope. Do NOT give in."

"But..." Ballora began, trying to make an excuse, but gave up. "Ugh, fine."

"Alright, this one!" The salesman cut in, ignoring the animatronics yet again. He tapped the head of the third toy (on the left of the counter), which looked like a robot with weird mismatched eyes and wires on his chest. He was smiling happily. "This one is a bit strange. He was in the back-"

"OH, IT'S AN ANIMATRONIC!" Foxy exclaimed, thinking the little robot guy looked just like them. "Look, look, look, Ballora!"

"OOOOO, it's one of us!"

The salesman looked at them, puzzled as to what they were talking about.

"I mean, uh, one of the animatronics!"

"I don't know why they would want one of the defects..." The salesman muttered to himself, quiet enough so he could not be heard. "But I can probably sell it to them anyway. They'd understand." He looked back up at Foxy and put back on his smile. "Yeah, this is the top-of-the-quality animatronic! Or however you say it."

"Animatronic. It's not that hard." Foxy replied.

"Anima...Anima...Animatroonic." The salesman tried.

"It's not like it's Japanese or Norwegian or anything." Foxy told him. "...how do I know those languages?"

"Well, these three are only the beginning!" The salesman explained. "If you come over here..." He went over to the stand next to the stage and the kitchen. "...we can see some more."

"Okay." Foxy said, ready to go on.

"Check out this little green guy right here." The salesman instructed them, tapping the head of the toy on the left of the counter. The toy resembled a goblin. He had bright yellow eyes and was wearing a purple suit. "He likes to run around and cause mischief." Foxy examined the goblin toy. Strangely enough, the toy looked familiar to him, although he had never seen a goblin man before. He still felt like he had met somebody like that somewhere, though.

"He looks annoying." Ballora criticized, making a weird face as she looked at the toy.

"Yeah, very annoying." Foxy acknowledged, as he felt disgusted looking at the little toy goblin. "I don't think I like him."

"Hmm..." The salesman murmured, staring at the goblin toy.

"What about this one? I like this one." Ballora commended the toy in the middle, which looked like a boy with brown hair and glasses wearing a green-and-orange suit.

"Yeah! If smart is your type, this is the one for you." The salesman explained, grinning. He tapped the head of the second toy.

"Uh, he looks very, very bossy." Foxy admitted, not liking the evil grin adorned on the toy's face. "I don't think I like HIM either."

"Hmm." The salesman murmured again.

"You're just jealous." Ballora snapped quietly, clearly favoring the toy more than Foxy.

"Alright, if you like the strong but silent type..." The salesman analyzed, tapping the head of the toy on the right, which was a scaly creature with an open mouth of sharp teeth, and large, angry orange eyes. He wore a ripped shirt and ripped purple shorts. "...you'll like this one!"

"He doesn't look smart at all." Foxy pointed out, thinking the scaly creature looked rather stupid. "He looks like an idiot."

"Yeah, he looks dumb." Ballora complied, staring at the creature rather disapprovingly.

"Actually, his little accessory kit comes with his own lab!" The salesman revealed.

"Um, I don't think that he would know how to use that." Ballora said, shaking her head.

"Yeah, I don't think so either." Foxy agreed. He knew idiot creatures couldn't use tech. To him, that was just stupid.

"Well, you know, the imagination is a powerful tool." The salesman reasoned. "So you could just IMAGINE it."

"Um...okay..." Foxy mumbled.

"Hey, what about that one back there?" Ballora asked, looking behind the stand's counter.

"Wait, what?" The salesman stuttered, surprised.

"Yeah, what is that one?" Foxy questioned. He looked over the counter and was astonished to see a toy that looked exactly like Puppet, except smaller. "That looks just like Puppet!"

"Ah, no, ignore that one!" The salesman yelled, running over to the toy and jamming it into his pocket quickly without the animatronics seeing. "That one was nothing!"

"Wait, where'd it go?" Ballora wondered, looking over the counter to see the toy gone.

"Yeah, that looked exactly like Puppet! Where'd it go?" Foxy added, looking around the stand, but not finding it at all.

"That one was not important." The salesman claimed, shaking his head.

"Um...why did you have one that looked like our buddy, Puppet?" Foxy asked the guard, suspicious. Foxy was confused as to why the salesman would have a toy that looked like one of them.

"Man, you have a friend named Puppet?" The salesman asked back, curious. "Wow, his parents must not have liked him all that much. Anyway, so we could we work out the paperwork and get this show on the road?"

"They're all looking at me..." Ballora commented, afraid. The three toys were staring at her with their beady eyes. "Why are they all looking at me?"

"I don't know how I feel about this..." Foxy murmured, not expecting to see the toys staring directly at Ballora.

"They really like you." The salesman claimed casually.

"Hey, stop looking at her." Foxy ordered the toys as Ballora inched away from the toys. Instantly, the toys heads reverted back to moving from side to side. "Yeah, that's what I thought."

"So, um, what do we now?" Ballora asked, nervously eyeing the toys.

"So will you be paying in cash...or cash?" The salesman asked, grinning eagerly.

"Okay, let's go to the back room, and I'll work out the details with you." Foxy replied as they strolled into the kitchen.

"Alright."

"Oh! Oh! Are we gonna throw him down the hole?" Ballora quietly asked Foxy.

"Shh!" Foxy shushed her, not wanting the salesman to hear. The salesman went over to the door and entered the break room. "No, no, too far! That's not my office." The salesman nodded and came back into the kitchen.

"Aw, sorry. Pardon." The salesman apologized.

"The office is down there." Foxy said, pointing at the trash chute trapdoor.

"Down here?"

"Yep. Just click it open."

The salesman pressed the button near the chute. The door opened. "Woah!" The salesman shouted as he tumbled down into the garbage chute. Ballora cheered. Foxy laughed happily. They had got him! "This is a pretty gross looking office!" They could hear the salesman complain. "Ew, what is that? There's chicken and candy down here!"

"Enjoy!" Foxy called down after the salesman, smiling mischievously.

"Hello?" They could hear Garbage drowsily ask, probably having just woken up.

"Who the hell are you?"

"Uh...my name is...huh, what was my name again?"

"It's Garbage!" Foxy answered loudly so they could hear him.

"Uh, yeah. Garbage."

"Man, what a weird name. So, Garbage, are you the person I gotta sign these papers with?"

There was a long pause.

"Uh, uh, I'm not sure what you're talking about. But I'm not gonna share my chicken with you! Leave!"

"Alright, alright. I'll go over here, then."

Foxy and Ballora waited, but nothing else was being said.

"Did he die?" Ballora asked Foxy, puzzled.

"I don't know."

Another pause.

"Mr...Mr! Hello?"

"Where's that voice coming from?!" The salesman asked sharply.

"Um, back up here." Foxy answered. He turned to Ballora. "You know what would be really weird? If he just flew back up here. That would be really creepy if he did that. Almost like he had rocket boots."

"Rocket boots?!" Ballora gasped, beaming. "Can I get rocket boots?"

"Oh, I want rocket boots too!" Foxy added, liking the idea of having those. With them, he could fly everywhere!

"If I have them, then I can dance and fly wherever I WANT!" Ballora cheered, jumping in the air excitedly.

"Um...you don't get rocket boots now."

"Aww, you're no fun."

"Mr. Toy Salesman, are you still okay?" Foxy called down into the chute.

"Yeah, I'm still down here."

Foxy groaned. "Ugh, that's just un-awesome." The salesman's head came into view at the bottom of the chute. "Hi."

"Hi." The salesman replied. "So, can you just drop the money down here?"

"Um...we don't have any."

"But you said you were the supervisor!" The salesman griped, outraged.

"He is the supervisor!" Ballora claimed. "He has teeth and a tail and scary eyes! That's a supervisor, right?"

"No! The supervisor is the person who supervises! It's in the name!"

"Um, what's that mean?" Foxy asked, confused.

"It means that you're the one who looks over everybody's work! And, like, stuff."

"Oh! Yeah, um, no one does that here." Ballora admitted.

"Yeah, I think we ate that guy." Foxy added, nodding.

"We did?" Ballora asked Foxy.

"Yeah, I think so!"

"I don't know what business lingo that is, sir, but I don't appreciate it!" The salesman said, irritated. "Please get me out and pay me my dues."

"Nah, we're gonna leave you down there."

"What?!"

"We'll throw you chicken, though!" Ballora cut in, throwing a few pieces of chicken down to the guard.

"But...but..." The salesman stuttered. He looked furious. "Alright, you may have gotten away with this now, but you're gonna hear from my lawyer, though! And I'm gonna find a way out of here!"

"There IS no way out." Foxy informed him cheekily. "You're stuck down there."

"Oooo, you're gonna send more people?!" Ballora asked the salesman excitedly, happy with the prospect of more humans to take out. But the salesman was out of view and thus did not reply.

"Ooo, I like this!" Foxy admitted as well, also feeling happy.

"I like this game! Did you come up with it?"

"No, I think he did on accident!"

"Hey, Garbage!" They heard the salesman yell. "Want a job?"

"Uh, I kind of already have a job."

"But would you like to have a high-paying job in BUSINESS MANAGEMENT?"

"Uh, yeah! I would."

"Alright, sweet. Follow me!"

"What's happening down there?" Foxy asked Ballora, nervous as to what Garbage and the salesman were getting up to.

"I don't know, but I don't like it." Ballora replied sternly. She looked back down into the chute. "Garbage, don't do anything silly! You're my pet! Listen to me, or no more chicken for you!" But there was no response. "Garbage?"

"Uh-oh." Foxy commented, not seeing this as a good sign.

"Did we lose him?"

"Looks like we did."

"Oh no! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

"Eh, we'll get another one." Foxy sighed acceptingly, closing the trapdoor.

"But I already like Garbage!" Ballora whined. "He's so much more fun!"

"No, I'm sure he's okay. For all we know, he's probably eating the guy right now." Foxy's mind suddenly pictured Garbage placing the salesman in between two loafs of bread and eating him in one bite. Foxy chuckled. "Hopefully, at least."

"Hopefully? Well, he better, or he's not getting any more chicken!" Ballora grumbled as they left the kitchen and entered the main room again. The action figures, unfortunately, were still there on the two stands.

Great. Foxy complained inside his head. More stuff to clean up.

"Um, what are we gonna do about these guys?" He asked Ballora as he poked one of the toys.

"Um, do they...do they burn?" Ballora replied, staring at the figures. "Maybe we can burn them." She slid her fingers together and made a clicking sound to emphasize what she would do.

"Maybe, maybe." Foxy replied, wondering if burning them would actually be the best solution.

"I like this guy." Ballora repeated, staring dreamily at the toy with the glasses and green-and-orange outfit. "He's so pretty and handsome..."

"Um, I'm going back to get the boats." Foxy informed Ballora, as he felt ready to get back to what he was trying to do before. He walked down the hallway again.

"Oh, wait, no!" Ballora called after him, following him. "Don't do that! Don't go to the boats!"

"I'm going back to the boats!" Foxy cried in a singsong voice.

"Ugh, you know what? Fine." Ballora sighed, giving up her chase. "You go to your boats. I'M gonna go practice dancing again." She walked back to her room.

"Fine!" Foxy growled as he went over to the water area again and situated himself in the doorway once more. "Here I go!"

And with that, he prepared to get the boats, once and for all...

Chapter Text

"Yeah, two security guards came tonight!" Foxy told Garbage eagerly. "They tried to work together, but they failed anyway. It was pretty crazy! But yeah, that was pretty much everything that happened during my night. How's your night been?"

Foxy had just spent a while talking to Garbage about the events that had went on that very night. Tonight had been a nice night for Foxy. He had taken out two guards today, and felt happy to have accomplished it. And he felt even happier regaling the tale to Garbage. Foxy did appreciate Garbage for one thing: he was a good listener. And Foxy could understand that; having nothing to do but sit in a garbage chute all day must make listening to somebody talk about their night very exciting. At least, that's what Foxy thought.

"It's been going great, until you came." Garbage replied meanly. Okay, guess not. Foxy thought, now knowing that even though Garbage was a good listener, he wasn't a very nice one.

"Oh, come on, Garbage!" Foxy griped. "You're my pet! We're supposed to get along, we're supposed to spend time together! It's a part of the whole 'pet' thing."

"You know what? Spending time with somebody you care about is a good thing." Garbage admitted. Foxy smiled happily. "BUT: One, I'm not your pet. Two, you've been here for four hours."

"Aww, you care about me, though." Foxy replied. "I knew it, I knew it."

"Yeah, yeah."

"You want me to pinch your cheeks? Coochie coochie coo! Aw, wait, you're down there. I can't get to you."

...

"No. Please go tell that story to someone else."

"But wait, you said four hours?!" Foxy exclaimed. He knew he had been talking for a while, but not THAT long! Foxy felt that maybe he really DID talk too much. However, Foxy didn't think he could have been there THAT long. "Really? …No, no. It's only been about five minutes, I think."

"It's been four hours, Foxy."

"Nope, five minutes."

"I know it's been four hours, because the last time Freddy came in here and threw chicken down here, he also threw down a watch."

"Why'd he give you a watch?"

"Because he wanted to know if I knew how to read it. And I did."

"Oh."

"But I don't know how to give it back to him. He didn't think that part through."

"No, no, he never does. One time, he thought it was a good idea to...give, um...you know what, nevermind that. Ignore what I said. It has no relation to a ladder or a rope down there, so don't worry about either of those. At all."

"So, I was meaning to ask you: am I ever gonna be able to leave?"

"Um...no. Maybe the hole, but if so, you won't be needing your legs anymore. But not the pizzeria itself."

"I...don't know what to say."

"It's okay, it's okay."

"Wait, you said I'm your friend!"

"Yep."

"So maybe you could drop some normal food down here."

"Uh, if we find any, then yeah, I can do that. But have you seen Freddy or Baby? They've been missing for a while."

"Well, the last time I heard Freddy, he was trying to deal with a watch. And Baby, well, I don't know where she is."

Foxy had wondered where those two went. His mind was already thinking about one word: dating.

"Oh, maybe they're dating! Oh, that'd be so cute. Baby and Freddy, sitting in a tree! K-I-S-S-I-N-G!"

"First comes love, then comes, uh...marriage?"

"Yeah, you got it! Good, good, good!"

"And then comes, uh, let Garbage go home and be with his family."

"No, that's not it. Okay, I'm bored now. I'm going to see if I can find everyone else. Bye!"

"Oh, okay. Bye."

And with that, Foxy closed the chute up. He hummed a tune as he walked out of the kitchen.

"Doo doo doo, on an adventure to find everyone, doo doo doo..."

He walked through the door and turned around to close it. He closed it, but it sprang open.

"Huh? What?"

He tried again, but it still came open.

"The door's broken AGAIN! Ugh, I'll just leave it open."

He strolled through the main area, quickly forgetting about the door as he looked around for everybody.

"Guys? GUYS? Where are you?" Hello? HELLO?" Foxy called, hoping to get a response. But once again, he was met with silence. "Ugh, no one's EVER around when I need them." Foxy strolled into his room...

...and found a note, stuck to his curtain.

"Huh? Who put this here? Okay, let's take this." He took the note off of the curtain and held it up as he strolled back into the main room.

It read: You are invited to Ballora's birthday party, the best and most amazing in the whole world!

"Um, okedokely…" Foxy muttered, unsure of what to say. Ballora was inviting him to her...birthday? Foxy didn't even know if it was her birthday. He wanted to go back to his cove and take a nap, but he knew how Ballora could be. If he skipped this, he wouldn't hear the end of it for at least a couple of weeks. Um, I don't know if I wanna do this, but I guess I have no choice.

"OOPS, I DROPPED THE PAPER." Foxy said sarcastically as he crumpled up the paper and threw it into one of the stands next to his room. He wasn't going to keep something go USELESS around him. "You know what? I'm just gonna go to her room. That sounds like the best idea." He strolled down the hall, looking down at the ground as he walked. "The directions did say to go that way-OOF!"

He had bumped into Puppet in the middle of the central hallway. They groaned and got to their feet.

"Foxy?" Puppet asked.

"Hey!" Foxy greeted. He saw that a piece of paper was also in Puppet's hands. He put two and two together almost instantly. "Oh, let me guess: Ballora?"

"Uh, yeah." Puppet verified. "This paper...I don't like reading, so I didn't read it. What does it say?"

"Something about some great-amazing-birthday party that she's throwing for her birthday. I don't think she knows when her birthday is, though."

"I know, right? Like, every other day she says it's her birthday!"

"Ugh, let's just head to her room and see what she wants." Foxy grumbled, annoyed. "It's probably some stupid dance."

"Maybe." Puppet replied, shrugging. They began to walk down the hall towards Ballora's room, but Foxy stopped in his tracks. The door to the party room on the left was open.

"Wait, hold on." Foxy cut in. He slowly turned to the left and saw what was in there.

The room looked the same as usual, for the most part: it had a white table in the center of the room with orange chairs surrounding it and presents laying on the floor in some places.

What did NOT look the same was Ballora sitting at the opposite end of the table, so she could face towards the door, and a chocolate cake with strawberries on top and candles already placed on it and lit, seated in the middle of the table.

"What the?" Foxy mumbled as he looked at it.

"Hey, you guys made it!" Ballora cheered at the table, happy to see them there.

There was a brief pause.

"Oop, I'm leaving." Foxy said immediately and went back into the hall, away from the room.

"Yeah, me too." Puppet added, doing the same.

"Guys, wait! Come back!" Ballora called after them. Foxy sighed. I suppose I'll just get over with it. He and Puppet walked back over to the room. "Guys, come in! Don't worry, you're in the right place!"

"You go first." Foxy told Puppet. Puppet stepped into the room...and nothing happened. "Okay, no booby traps. Good." Foxy stepped into the room as well, thankful that he wasn't about to be blown up just by stepping foot into the room.

"Welcome to Ballora's-amazing-awesome-fantastic birthday party!" Ballora yelled, standing up.

"Cool, um..." Foxy replied, still distracted by the feeling that coming to this party was a mistake.

"You hosted your own party?" Puppet asked Ballora with interest as he came over to her.

"Yes, of course I did, 'cause I'm the best!" Ballora confirmed, smiling widely. "I am a princess! I am the queen of this...sad little building."

"There's a cake." Foxy pointed out, examining the chocolate cake on the table.

"Yes, a cake!" Ballora exclaimed happily. "It's a cake! You like cake?"

"What flavor?" Foxy asked, wanting to know if the cake would actually taste good.

"Um, I think it's chocolate...and security guard flavor." Ballora guessed.

"Oh, delicious!" Foxy yelled happily. He liked security guard flavor! It was an all-time favorite of most animatronics. "Oh, my favorite!"

"I'm lactose intolerant, though." Puppet informed Ballora.

"Well, too bad for you." Foxy replied.

"Yeah, too bad." Ballora added, shaking her head at Puppet.

"Aww..." Puppet whined, sad.

"You know what? You can have dirt." Ballora went on, frowning at him.

"He likes dirt, so it doesn't really matter." Foxy commented rather rudely.

"I don't like dirt..." Puppet mumbled, staring at the ground.

"I saw you eating it the other day!" Foxy claimed.

"Yeah, I was wondering if that was chocolate pudding or not." Ballora added.

"Are you sure that wasn't just me falling to the floor?" Puppet asked, squinting at them for a second before looking at the ground again.

"No, well, it did look like chocolate pudding." Foxy explained. "But it was dirt. I gave it to you. I'm sorry, I should have told you."

"Um, excuse me!" Ballora disrupted them, frowning at the two of them. "It's about ME right now, not him."

"When isn't it about you-" Foxy began, but stopped himself quickly. "I mean, um...yeah, your day." He inched closer to Puppet. "Puppet, we need to get out of here!"

"Nope! You're going nowhere!" Ballora shouted, running up the door and standing in front of it.

"Oh, but you still can't close doors, so ha ha ha!" Foxy laughed, knowing it would be easier to leave with the others still not being able to close doors.

"Um, well, too bad!" Ballora replied. "Because I'm going to throw these presents at you!"

"Wait, hold on!" Foxy cut in. He stared in disbelief at the presents ALL OVER the ground. "Where did these presents come from, anyhow?"

"Yeah." Puppet added curiously.

"Oh, about that..." Ballora began. "They're all from my FANS!"

"You have fans?" Foxy broke out into laughter.

"You don't have fans!" Puppet commented, smirking.

"Yeah, no one is here, and no one HAS BEEN here." Foxy continued, giving Ballora a smug stare.

"In fact...where's Freddy?" Puppet mentioned, gazing at Foxy.

"Yeah, where is Freddy?" Foxy replied, being just as confused as Puppet in that department. Foxy felt like Freddy and Baby had been gone for AGES at this point. He could hardly remember the last time he saw them.

"Enough about them!" Ballora huffed. "It's ME time!"

"You know, I think Freddy and Baby are dating." Foxy told Puppet, ignoring Ballora. "I think that's where they've been going: to KISS!"

"Well, Baby does tell me her secrets, and..." Ballora began as Foxy and Puppet stared at her in interest.

"Oh, do tell, girl, do tell!" Foxy said quirkily.

"I won't tell you anything. She's my best friend!" Ballora responded. "You're NOT my best friend because you're not having cake with me right now, because you don't want to be here!" She went away from the door and back to the table.

"No, we do wanna be here!" Foxy assured Ballora. "We love the presents!"

"I can't eat the cake!" Puppet reminded them. "I'm gonna have to go to the potty if I eat the cake!"

"It's okay, you can go." Foxy told Puppet (not very reassuringly, mind you).

"Yeah, it's fine. There's a toilet somewhere, I think." Ballora mentioned.

"Somebody gifted you a toilet?" Puppet asked Ballora, confused.

"Um, yeah. The girl's bathroom. Duh."

"It makes sense that somebody would give her a toilet." Foxy informed Puppet. "Remember all the tacos she ate?"

"We don't talk about the tacos.." Ballora muttered nervously.

"Yeah, sorry about that." Foxy apologized, wanting to steer away from that sore subject. He did NOT want to remind himself of the taco incident. They all sat down at the table.

"Anyways, cake! Everyone likes cake!" Ballora assured them, smiling. "Do you like cake? I like cake."

"I like cake!" Foxy said.

"I don't like cake." Puppet admitted, whining softly.

"Oh." Ballora murmured. She took one of the presents from the floor. "We can open my presents, then!"

"Um, question, though." Foxy told Ballora. Foxy knew full well that Ballora had no fans, so he wanted to know WHY there were presents there. They weren't give by fans, and Foxy knew that. He could see through Ballora's lies. "You don't have any fans, so did you put these presents in here yourself? You can be honest with us."

"Yes, I did..." Ballora admitted, crying a little.

"It's okay, Ballora. Don't worry." Foxy said, smiling. "We're your fans! Right, Puppet?"

"Um..."

"Just say yes!"

"Uh, yeah! We are your fans!"

"You are?!" Ballora exclaimed, overjoyed. "You guys are the BEST!"

Foxy smiled at Ballora's joy, happy to see her good and well-

"Replace her."

Oh no. Foxy could hear IT again. Foxy, hoping nobody would notice, didn't say anything after IT spoke. Foxy hoped it was his lucky day.

Unfortunately, it was not Foxy's lucky day.

"Wha...what?" Ballora stuttered, looking at Foxy strangely.

"I didn't say anything." Foxy lied quickly, trying not to have IT be noticed.

"You keep doing this." Ballora noticed, staring at Foxy with clear suspicion. "You've done this before, like, a day earlier, I think. Or maybe in the future. I can't remember."

"She knows too much."

There was a pause.

"Puppet, do you hear him taking to himself?" Ballora asked Puppet as she gazed at Foxy strangely again.

"No, I think that's another thing out there somewhere." Puppet replied, his face unmoving. "In fact, I'm just gonna go look for it..." He began to inch towards the door.

"No, Puppet! Please don't leave me here by myself!" Foxy begged, not wanting to have to deal with Ballora himself.

Puppet was quiet for a moment. Then he sighed, and sat back down.

"Okay, I'll stay a little bit longer."

"Yay, yay!" Ballora cheered. "I have friends to celebrate my birthday! And we can open presents that I wrapped by myself...and we can have cake that Puppet can't eat, but can if he wants to have bathroom problems."

"So I guess we're singing happy birthday to you?" Foxy assumed, knowing that people sang to the birthday boy/girl on their birthday. "Wait a minute, wasn't YESTERDAY your birthday?" Foxy could remember Ballora having said something about a birthday yesterday.

"Um...I think it's um..." Ballora stammered nervously. "Um, yes! It's my birthday! Maybe. I don't know. Is it my birthday?"

"I don't know!" Foxy responded honestly. "I don't even know when MY birthday is."

"Wait, then why are we here?" Puppet complained.

"Because I've decided it's my birthday!" Ballora huffed. "Now, please sing."

"Okay, ready?" Foxy asked Puppet, who nodded. "1, 2, 3."

They sang the birthday song slowly, trying to remember the words. Ballora cheered and danced as they did it. They messed up many lines along the way.

When they were done, Foxy clapped politely.

"Yay!" Ballora yelled happily.

"Yeah, that sounded right!" Foxy presumed, thinking he was at least close. But he could not think at the moment, as once again Puppet was inching out the door. "Puppet, where are you going?!"

Puppet gasped and quickly ran back to them. "I'm here, I'm here!"

"Are you trying to leave?!" Ballora chastised Puppet, scowling at him. "Huh?! Is this party too BORING for you?!"

"Yeah, are you BORED?" Foxy added.

"Well, the only thing keeping me here is the cake, and it's also a cake I can't EAT." Puppet pointed out anxiously. "So there's nothing for me to do here. There's no games or anything! This is the lamest party ever!" Ballora gasped.

"Just eat a piece of cake. It's okay." Foxy told Puppet. Ballora blew out the candles, and the cake was already cut to prevent work.

"Well...okay.." Puppet sighed, and took a piece. He began to eat it, slowly and steadily.

"How's it taste?" Foxy asked Puppet curiously.

"Does it taste yummy?" Ballora questioned him, smiling brightly. "I hope it's the best!"

Puppet groaned and smiled weakly. "It's...alright..."

"You don't sound okay.." Foxy noted, wary of Puppet's groaning. "Let me try it." Foxy took his own piece and began to eat it all-

And Foxy began gagging and coughing the moment he finished it. The taste was horrible, Foxy felt as if had just eaten rotten eggs. The frosting almost made Foxy want to throw up.

"Did you, um, have Freddy make this?" He groaned, his stomach not feeling too good.

"Yes, he did!" Ballora answered. "He made it before he went off and disappeared."

"Oh, my stomach...it really hurts..." Foxy moaned, feeling so bad at that moment. "Oh, the gears...the wiring...it's not feeling too good! I didn't think a robot could feel this pain..."

"I think I'm gonna blow!" Puppet screamed. "To the bathroom!" He rushed out of the room.

"Wait for me!" Foxy called after Puppet. He began to leave, stopped in the doorway, and turned to Ballora quickly. "Happy birthday, again." He turned back to the hall and ran away, leaving a bewildered Ballora standing there speechless.

Foxy ran as fast as he could, but Puppet ran into the bathroom before he could. Foxy

"Aaah, NOOOO!" Foxy cried as he stopped at the bathroom entryway, knowing only one stall was in there, and now he couldn't go. "Puppet!"

"Occupied!" Puppet shouted.

"No, no! Ugh..." Foxy sighed, and turned around to go back.

"Just go into the girl's restroom!" Puppet called to Foxy.

"No, I'm not going in there!" Foxy refused as he walked back down the hall to the party room.

"Come on!" Foxy could hear Puppet go on, but at this point Foxy had walked too far to hear him anymore. Foxy stumbled back into the party room, where Ballora was still standing.

"I'm back." Foxy murmured in annoyance.

Ballora gasped happily. "You're back! How was the cake?" She asked as she ran over to him.

"You could say it's not as good coming in as it at first glance." Foxy moaned, not wanting to go into detail. Foxy peeked into the hall to check on Puppet, but Puppet had still not come out. Oh, he's still in the bathroom... Foxy whined in his thoughts.

"Oh yeah, Puppet's in there." Ballora commented. All of the sudden, there was a flushing sound over at the bathrooms. "Oh, he's done. I think that was the flush."

"Oh, okay!" Foxy yelped as he ran back over to the bathrooms just as Puppet came out.

"Have fun!" Ballora called after him.

"Hey, high five!" Puppet offered as Foxy approached.

"Move out of the way, move out of the way!" Foxy screamed as he pushed Puppet out of the way and charged into the restroom.

"Aww..." Puppet whined, but Foxy wasn't paying attention to that. He ran into the stall and closed it behind him.

"Ugh, finally!" Foxy moaned as he began to do his business, knowing he would be gone a little while...

Chapter Text

~November~

~The First Year~

"Ugh..." Foxy groaned as he sat in his cove, slowly waking up. "I'm still so tired...man, last night's Halloween party was crazy..."

Last night was Halloween, and Foxy could remember that the animatronics had all come together for a crazy party. Everything was bonkers. After hours had passed, lots of candy had been eaten, and dancing had been done, Foxy had turned in for the night. Foxy had fallen asleep almost instantly once he reached his cove and had slept soundly that night. Now, he was facing another night, November now taking its course in place of October.

Foxy could barely remember all the details of the party, but he knew it had been insane. He had never expected such a zany party for ONE HOLIDAY. However, he did remember the trick-or-treaters.

Heh, so many trick-or-treaters came, thinking they'd get candy! Foxy thought, chuckling softly. He could remember that many dumb kids that had knocked on the glass doors, and how the animatronics had made a game on it; they would scare them away one by one. Ah, that was great, that was awesome.

"Alright, time to see how everyone's doing." Foxy declared as he finally opened his eyes. His cove curtains were already drawn open, as he had been too out-of-mind to remember to close them last night. "I wonder how they feel." Foxy slowly got to his feet and then began stumbling around, dizzy.

"Woah, I'm tired. Really tired..." Foxy moaned, but managed to keep himself awake. He stood there for a moment, gathering his strength, then lumbered out of his cove and into the main room. The main room was a slight mess: scattered bowls once full of candy laid all over the ground, empty bottles of root beer sat on many tables.

"Hold on, what the?! Um, why is there candy all over the ground?" Foxy exclaimed. He knew he would have to clean that all up. He looked at the stage. Freddy and Baby were onstage, Freddy in the middle and Baby to his left, but they were both deactivated, facing the ground with their eyes closed. "Baby? Freddy?" They did not wake up. "Oh no! They're still asleep?!" Foxy approached them. "Guys, wake up! I need help cleaning!" But they were silent, except for soft snoring from Freddy.

"Ugh, I guess I'll start all by myself, you lazy robots!" Foxy grumbled. "I guess they're tired too. Oh, whatever." He rooted behind the counter of the nearby stand and got a red bag to put everything in. He began to pick up the bowls and bottles and put them in the bag. "Ugh, so much candy! Man, they must have partied after I went to sleep." He picked up a few candy bowls on the stage. "There's even some up here near Freddy!" Foxy looked up and saw Freddy was still holding a piece of chicken as he slept. "Really, Freddy? Chicken?" He examined him and Baby for a moment. I find it cute that they're on stage together. They're probably in some kind of romance. How cute! he mocked inside his head.

The candy bowls in the main room were cleared. Okay, let's check the kitchen. Foxy walked over to the kitchen and entered it. The kitchen, thankfully, was clean of any bowls or bottles. Oh, nothing in the kitchen. Foxy stared at the trash chute for a brief moment, then turned away. No, I'll leave Garbage alone. He's probably tired too, thanks to all the candy we threw down there. Or maybe he's wired. One of the two.

Foxy exited the kitchen and walked around the main room again. Okedokely, let's see. Any in the bouncy house? Foxy peeked into the bouncy house and was relieved to see that it was also clean. Ugh, thank goodness there isn't! If there had, that would have been a nuisance to clean up.

Foxy went back into the main room...and was surprised to see a bowl of candy canes on the ground near the hallway.

WHAT? Candy canes? Why are there candy canes on the ground?! It's not even CHRISTMAS yet!

"Okay, who had candy canes?!" Foxy shouted to Freddy and Baby on the stage. No response. "Guys! Guys! Ugh, they're still out." Foxy put the candy canes in the bag, and turned around towards the hall-

"AAH!' Foxy screamed. Puppet was standing there. "Hey, don't sneak up on me like that!"

"You're the one who had a scary face!" Puppet shot back.

"Well, you're a shiny Puppet face, and...and..." Foxy stuttered, trying to insult him back. "...I don't know what to say about you. I really don't."

"Same here, buddy. What are you up to, anyhow?"

"Cleaning up. Apparently, you guys were partying, or THEY were partying..." He pointed at the deactivated Freddy and Baby onstage. "...WAY past when I went to sleep."

"You don't remember what happened?"

"No, what?"

"You were a party MONSTER."

Foxy gasped. He must have been so insane that night to have forgotten his actions. Foxy was dreading whatever he had done that night.

"Oh man, how much candy did I have? Was it SO MUCH that I don't even remember anything?"

"Yes, obviously! You were INSANE that night! You were bouncing off the walls, and going higher in the bouncy house than anyone has ever gone before!"

"Oh yeah, and that's when I hit my head on the top of it! That's right!" Foxy could remember him bouncing in there like a maniac and then colliding with the ceiling, which he guessed had contributed to his early bedtime. "Oh man, remember when we were scaring the trick-or-treaters that came to the door and stealing all of their candy?"

"Yep! Man, that was awesome!"

"I thought they were open, and they kept going: TRICK-OR-TREAT!" Foxy laughed at the top of his robotic lungs. "Yeah, right! Oh, that was just priceless! But there's a bunch of trash everywhere! You wanna help me clean it? I REALLY need help, there's trash everywhere!" Foxy peeked into the hall behind Puppet, where yet more bowls were scattered all over the floor. "And there's more behind you!"

"I'm all up for that!"

"Wow, really?!"

"I actually live for that type of stuff!"

"Oh, thank you so-"

"But I can't do that right now."

"...What?"

"I can't. You see, I have some very big things happening." Foxy tried to keep listening, but Freddy was snoring even louder now. Foxy wanted to quiet him.

"Hold on, hold on, hold on!" Foxy hushed Puppet and glanced back at the stage. "FREDDY, STOP SNORING! IT'S REALLY, REALLY LOUD!" The snoring went quiet, but Freddy remained asleep. "Ugh, sorry about that."

"It's alright."

"But what do you have that's more important then helping me clean? I really, really need some help."

"It's a secret. I'll tell you in the future."

"Ugh, fine, fine, fine!" Foxy groaned, upset that Puppet was once again getting out of doing work.

"Alright, well, you have fun cleaning!" Puppet shouted as he walked away.

Ugh, I guess I'll have to ask Ballora if she can help. Foxy sighed inside his thoughts. Hopefully she's awake.

As he cleaned out the candy bowls, he checked the four doorways on that part of the hall and peeked into the rooms inside of them. Thankfully enough, they were also clean.

Wow, no trash in any of those rooms? I'm kind of shocked. That's crazy.

Foxy entered the central hall, and immediately came upon another bowl of candy canes.

More candy canes?! Are you serious? Who gives out candy canes on HALLOWEEN? Come on, guys!

He walked towards Ballora's room, cleaning up the candy bowls here and there. He peeked inside the open doors to the party room the animatronic had celebrated Ballora's birthday in last night, which still was full of presents.

Ah, man, Ballora! Really? C'mon, clean up your trash!

He passed by it and walked to Ballora's room door.

"Ballora! Ballora!" He called. He pulled on the handle...but it wouldn't open. "Are you serious? Ballora!" He tugged on it again, but it remained locked.

Foxy peeked through the windows in the door and saw that Ballora was inside the room, turned away from the door as she danced silently.

"Hey, Ballora!" Ballora gave a brief sideways glance towards the door, then turned back towards the wall and kept dancing as if Foxy had never been there. "Ugh, she's ignoring me again." Foxy tried to think about why. "Did I get into a fight with her last night? I dunno."

He gave up trying to get her attention and stepped away from the door. He walked down the hall to Puppet's room, which was even worse: candy wrappers were strewn across the hallway ground.

More?! Now there's paper wrappers on the ground? Ugh, man! This must have been my fault. He picked them up, one by one, and then noticed more trash: bits of coal candy were strewn in some places too. Coal?! Okay, whoever's putting Christmas stuff around must have many bad ideas that night! I don't even like this kind of candy!

He picked up the line of wrappers, which led into Puppet's room. As Foxy came in, he noticed that Puppet was sitting on of the chairs nearby the stage.

"Ballora's ignoring me, Puppet!"

"What?"

"Yeah, I can't even open her door! She's just ignoring me and dancing around like she owns this place! She's always all: Hey, I'm Ballora, and I'm better than everyone!

"Don't tell her this, but she secretly is. I mean, have you seen yourself in the mirror?"

"C'mon, I'm beautiful!"

"Well, I didn't say you weren't, but...she's a level up from that."

"Oh, do you have a little crush on Ballora?" Foxy asked playfully.

"No, I don't!" Puppet denied, blushing a little.

"Yeah, you do!"

"No!"

"I'm gonna tell her!"

"Well, no, I...I'm gonna go the restroom!" Foxy followed Puppet as he charged into the girl's restroom and dropped a few wrappers along the way, which Foxy gaped at. Then Puppet came out. "Whoops, wrong restroom." He charged into the boy's restroom instead.

"Um, Puppet." Foxy said sternly, not too pleased about the wrappers Puppet dropped. Foxy went into the bathroom and near the closed stall. "Puppet."

"Occupied!" Puppet shouted automatically.

"What is this?" Foxy asked roughly, holding the wrappers above the stall door so Puppet could see them.

"Leave me alone, I'm busy!"

"You're not using the bathroom, and I know that. Don't lie to me." Puppet sheepishly opened the stall and came out. Foxy held up the wrappers again. "Why were you dropping wrappers while you were walking?"

"I don't know what you're talking about." Puppet replied. "I don't even eat candy. I can't eat sugar, and stuff." Puppet began to leave the restroom.

"This is yours, get back here!" Foxy ordered Puppet as chased him out of the bathroom and down the hall. "What do you think you're going?!"

"I swear, I don't know what you're talking about! Leave me alone!" Puppet dropped even more wrappers as he ran.

"Hey, you did it again!" Foxy cried angrily as he picked up the wrappers and kept on the chase. "You're dropping more of them! Oh, come on!"

"Those aren't mine, they were there when I got here!" Puppet claimed anxiously as they stopped near the main room.

"They're falling out of your pockets!" Foxy complained, noticing the tiny makeshift pockets sewn into the suit area by Puppet's hips. Puppet just whimpered silently. "Just jump, and you'll see them." Puppet jumped up and down, causing more wrappers to tumble from his pockets and onto the floor. "See, look at that! They're just falling right our of your pockets!" Foxy picked them all up.

"No, Freddy put them there!" Puppet reasoned as they entered the main room. He pointed an accusing finger at the deactivated Freddy.

"Lies."

"He put them there."

"Lies!"

"He's trying to sabotage me and my plans!"

"So wait, did you make this gigantic mess around the pizzeria?! Was that you?!"

"Uh.." Puppet twiddled his thumbs. "...would you be mad if I said yes?"

"A little, because you're not helping me clean it up!" Foxy responded, facepalming exasperatedly.

"Well..." Puppet mumbled nervously. "You're a good friend, and friends help each other out, right?"

"Ugh, I guess so."

"So let's clean up together." Puppet decided, patting Foxy's shoulder and smiling. "I'll go to my room, and you stay here and clean up the rest, yeah?"

"I already cleaned up everything!" Foxy exclaimed, knowing full well that Puppet was trying to get out of doing work again. "You just left it for me! And there's no mess in your room, your house is spotless-"

"Hey look, everything's clean now!" Puppet interrupted, grinning falsely. "We did a great job together!" He turned away and stared at the ceiling.

"Puppet, look at me."

Puppet faced Foxy again. "Yes?"

"I, me, Foxy, Funtime Foxy to be correct-"

"Us, together, did this."

"No, I did this on my own, by myself."

"Hmm. I guess you can take most of the credit. We can split it sixty/forty! Sixty/forty sound right?"

"No, of course not! Man, this reminds me of the other situation back at the old location, where you left me to clean up the mess by myself after one security guard night! You were all 'Oh, I'll be right back', but you disappeared for HOURS!"

"Hmm." Puppet muttered. Foxy sighed. This reminded him of his old suit. He had told himself he wouldn't miss it anymore, but...he still did. He had gotten accustomed to his new costume, but his old suit had many memories in it.

"I really miss my old suit." Foxy mentioned, sad.

"I also miss my old box." Puppet commented, also sad.

"Yeah, it was a lot more cramped, wasn't it?"

"Yep..."

"Eh."

"Well, that was some awesome bonding time! So, eighty/twenty, then?"

"Um, how about one hundred/zero?"

"Ninety-nine/one?"

Foxy groaned. "Sure, sure."

Puppet cheered happily. "Yay, I helped!"

"Ugh." Foxy grumbled, not wanting Puppet to take credit for something he didn't do. Foxy knew he didn't have a choice, though; Puppet was very persistent. Foxy stared at Freddy and Baby, deactivated on stage, and decided to mention them to Puppet. "Well, do you realize what's going on with those two? Look at them." They went up on stage and got near the two of them. "They're still asleep." Foxy stared at them, wanting so badly to prank them, but he knew that with Baby there, it would be suicide. "I kind of want to prank all of them, but I get the feeling that if we did, Baby would be very angry with us."

"Yeah, I know. She gets mad pretty easily." Puppet replied, nodding.

"Yeah, and plus, she had Ballora's help, so, uh..."

"Yep, I know that too. If we upset one of them, they might just both team up on us to prank us super hard."

"And if she's dating Freddy like I think she is, then...it would be even worse of a situation."

"Yeah, of course it would."

Foxy crouched down to look at Freddy's face. His eyes were open, but yet empty and unactive. They were bright blue, and Foxy had to admit, they were also nice-looking.

"Wow, I didn't realize this, but he has very pretty blue eyes."

Puppet crouched down to look too. "Yeah, he does."

"Yeah."

"And he's even got that hat on his head." Puppet mentioned, pointing at the little black top hat on Freddy's head. "It looks kinda like a cowboy hat, I think. Maybe he's a cowboy."

"It's a top hat, but if he is a cowboy, I'd believe it. He does ride around sometimes, going: 'Hi ho, Silver!'. It's really weird."

"Mmm-hmm. Do you wanna prank him?"

"No, no, I'm gonna lay down." Foxy moaned as he slowly began to inch towards his room, wanting so badly to sleep. "I'm not feeling too awake right now..."

"Wait, no! I have an idea!" Puppet cut in, grabbing Foxy by the arm to stop him from leaving. "Follow me."

"Where?"

"We should go see Garbage and say hello."

"Ugh, fine, fine."

They walked into the kitchen and neared the trapdoor.

"Let's be careful, though." Puppet mentioned, wary. "He's probably still jittery and stuff." Foxy opened the chute. "Hey, back up a little bit. I'm gonna do something." Foxy backed away from the chute. Puppet approached it. "I'm just gonna throw this down there for him." Puppet threw down a large amount of wrappers.

"Oh, yeah, I can give him my trash too!" Foxy pointed out, taking out his bag with the garbage in it. "It is the garbage chute." They both started emptying all of their wrappers and candy. "Hey Garbage, presents! Hope you enjoy!"

"Wha?" Garbage stuttered from inside the chute. "Wait, but it's not Christmas yet!"

"I know, right?" Foxy replied as he threw down a few dirty candy canes. "I don't know who keeps taking out this stuff when it's not Christmas, but it's all yours now. Enjoy."

"Aw, sweet! Thanks! I really appreciate it!" Silence for a moment. "Can I go home?"

"Nope. You're ours, remember? That's the deal."

"No, we never agreed to anything!"

"Uh, yeah, you did." Foxy lied, smirking. "You were all like: 'Oh yeah, I'm gonna stay here forever, because you guys are awesome'."

"Ugh, I'll get out of here one day!" Garbage said irritably. "You'll see! And then, you'll pay."

"Hey, maybe we can put him in an animatronic body." Foxy suggested to Puppet.

"How would we get him out of the hole, though?" Puppet asked calmly. Foxy thought for a moment. They couldn't get Garbage upstairs, so how could they get a suit on him? Foxy wondered if Garbage would wear one willingly.

"Hey, if we threw down an animatronic costume, would you wear it?" Foxy inquired, hopefully.

"Could you throw down fifty of them so I could make a stack and climb out?"

"No, of course not." Foxy replied instantly. Not only would that be letting Garbage escape, but he was aware that if they did have any costumes at all, there wouldn't be fifty. "If we find any free ones, though, we might throw them down to you. But remember: the spring lock system will HURT if it collapses on you."

Foxy was already aware that suits worn by humans had to be of the spring lock variety, or else the many gizmos would crush the wearer to death. And even then, the spring lock suits were significantly dangerous to wear, with even the slightest trip causing the tons of metal parts locked inside to inject into the person's body.

"I...don't know what that means." Garbage replied confusedly.

"Uh, then don't worry about it." Foxy assured Garbage, not wanting to think about what it would look like if a spring lock suit went haywire while someone was wearing it. "It's gonna be okay."

"Okay, then. Thanks for the...trash, I guess?"

"It's candy from last night!"

"Aww- I mean, yay!"

"Oh, and don't get a toothache. We can't afford a dentist."

"Ah, that's okay. My insurance covers it."

Foxy realized that Garbage would have to keep his teeth clean somehow. He knew Puppet had quite a few toothbrushes, so maybe...

"You should give him one of your toothbrushes, Puppet." Foxy proposed.

"No!" Puppet refused hastily. "I like my toothbrushes."

Foxy sniffed the chute and gagged a bit; it smelled disgusting deeper inside there. "Ugh, he probably smells real bad. We should send him some soap, too."

"Yeah, we should." Puppet concurred, nodding. "In fact, we should just probably clean out the whole garbage system."

"Uh-huh, we could put some water down there." Foxy recommended. "A ton of it."

"Alright, well, I think we should just let him be for now." Puppet decided, closing the chute. Foxy nodded in agreement. They exited the kitchen.

"Okay, now I'm gonna go and sleep, just like everyone else is." Foxy sighed, feeling more tired. "I'm still kind of like, tired, man. I don't know, I can't explain it." They came into Foxy's room and Foxy drew open the curtains.

"Maybe you're crashing from your sugar rush yesterday." Puppet presumed as Foxy lay against the wall of his cove.

"Maybe-" Foxy began, then began shaking a little as static buzzed from his mouth for a moment. He gasped as soon as it ended. "...what was that?"

"You just freaked out there for a second, buddy." Puppet informed Foxy, surprised.

"What are you talking about-" Static buzzed for another split second as Foxy shook a little more for a moment.

"Free me."

"What was that?" Foxy gasped, unsure of what was going on.

"Alright, buddy, it looks like you've had enough." Puppet said, looking at Foxy with concern. "Sweet dreams, buddy!" Puppet left the room.

"Help me."

"Woah, that voice again..." Foxy uttered, surprised that the voice was speaking again. "Can you just leave me alone?"

"I'll be back anyways."

"Okay, Ballora voice..." Foxy sighed. "Sure."

"My name's not Ballora."

"Whatever, whatever!" Foxy groaned, ready to sleep. He closed his curtains. "Ugh, I don't wanna deal with this right now."

"It's okay...sleep now..."

"Okay, night." Foxy mumbled, becoming unaware of everything as he fell asleep...

Chapter Text

"Hey, Ballora! Don't ignore me. Hey!"

"What do you want?! I'm trying to practice dancing right now!"

"We have a new friend in the place. You haven't met him yet!"

Inside Puppet's room, Foxy was struggling to get Ballora to pay attention to him. She was standing on top of one of the chairs, dancing as usual. Foxy stood on the stage in the room, trying to get her to listen to him. Puppet silently watched from the sidelines as this happened and Bon-Bon stood a ways away, waiting to be introduced.

Ballora had finally came out of her room, today, so Foxy had taken that as a chance to get her to meet Bon-Bon. She had never met him before, so Foxy wanted to make sure they were acquainted.

"Who, Puppet?" Ballora looked over at Puppet. "Hey, Puppet. I already know you."

"Hey, Ballora!" Puppet replied cheerfully.

"Nope, not him. Behind you." Foxy ushered her.

"Yeah, behind you!" Bon-Bon yelled eagerly.

"Who said that?" Ballora asked, turning back around at Foxy curiously.

"I did!" Bon-Bon called. Ballora finally noticed Bon-Bon, and she seemed surprised. Bon-Bon came up to them. "Hi! My name is Bonnie, but you can call me Bon-Bon the cute little bunny, because I am ADORABLE!"

"Woah." Foxy murmured, not liking the eccentric way Bon-Bon way being right now. "That's not right."

"What is that thing?" Ballora asked Foxy quietly as she inched near him.

"Um, well, he used to be our size, but um, since we got moved here, he's a lot shorter and has been acting a lot weirder-"

"What are you guys talking about?" Bon-Bon cut in, popping up next to them. Foxy and Ballora screamed and both backed away quickly. "Guys?"

"Um, do you mind giving me some space?" Ballora inquired Bon-Bon, waving him away. "I don't like anyone being in my personal bubble space."

"No, I don't mind." Bon-Bon responded, nodding politely.

"Puppet, you're too close." Ballora informed Puppet, who had changed his position to the other side of the room and was near the chairs were everybody else were.

"Ah, I'm sorry." Puppet apologized, stepping further away from Ballora. He looked over at Bon-Bon and gasped. "Hey, that's my chair, the chair I always sit on!"

"Eh, I don't care if it was your chair." Bon-Bon replied smugly. "It's mine now."

"Bon-Bon, be nice!" Foxy told Bon-Bon. Foxy wasn't appreciating the rude was Bon-Bon was being to the others, and he wanted to end that sort of behavior.

"I don't want to be nice."

"Wow, I like this guy." Ballora commented, deeply impressed. She turned to Bon-Bon. "Hey, you're pretty cool."

"I like you too! You're pretty cool as well."

"Um, yeah." Ballora stopped smiling and shook her head. "We still can't be friends, though. I still really don't like you completely."

"Why not?!" Bon-Bon exclaimed. He rushed over to Foxy. "Foxy, why doesn't she like me?!"

"I-I don't know." Foxy responded. He didn't understand why Ballora didn't still completely like Bon-Bon.

"Can you be my friend, please?" Bon-Bon asked, turning to Ballora again. "Please?!"

"Um..." Ballora murmured, trying to think of a response.

"Say no. Say no." Puppet whispered in her ear, clearly still disliking Bon-Bon to the core.

"Uh, woah!" Ballora backed a pace away from Puppet. "Say, Puppet, is that your Puppet? You know, Bon-Bon? You should control him."

"It's not! It crawled out of the toilet. I don't know what it is."

"The toilet? Did he come out of the girl's toilet?"

"I don't know, but it's gross." Puppet stepped away from Ballora.

"I don't think Puppet likes me." Bon-Bon told Foxy sadly. "I don't really like him either. Can we get rid of him, Foxy? Can I replace him?"

"I can hear you!" Ballora shouted, glaring at Bon-Bon. Bon-Bon glared back at Ballora.

"I'm not talking about you!" Bon-Bon sighed and turned back to Foxy. "Foxy, help!"

"I can't help you out with this one." Foxy informed him. "She thinks it's you!"

"No, I'm talking about Puppet- I mean, poop!"

"See?! It even talks about poop!" Puppet pointed out dramatically as he walked over to Bon-Bon.

"Did it really come out of the toilet?" Ballora asked.

"I told you what happened- wait, you weren't there." Bon-Bon realized. "Um, well, what happened was: I was in a dark room, then I went up a pipe, and I came out of the toilet. It wasn't by choice, though! I didn't like it."

"It was 100% by choice!" Puppet claimed irritably. "You could have just stayed in there."

"You don't like me."

There was a brief silence.

"ANYWAYS!" Ballora cut in loudly. "Enough about, uh...what's his name? Boonie? Boneie?"

"BON-BON!" Bon-Bon screamed, furious.

"Uh, Bon-Bon! Right!" Ballora went on.

"Wait, question! I have a question!" Bon-Bon raised his small hand.

"Okay, okay! Answer!"

"Where's Freddy?"

"Oh, you still care about him?" Foxy asked, surprised to see Bon-Bon asking about Freddy despite his declaration yesterday that they were no longer friends.

"No! Nope! Not at all!"

"Wait, weren't you like, Freddy's best friend or something?" Ballora asked Bon-Bon.

"Not anymore!" Bon-Bon looked at Foxy happily. "I'm Foxy's best friend now."

"No, I am!" Puppet rushed to Foxy side. "I'M Foxy's best friend."

"Don't get jealous, it's okay." Bon-Bon said contemptuously, smiling at Puppet mockingly. "I'm better than you in every which way!"

Foxy chose to ignore that that sentence had rhymed; he needed to draw their attention away from such a distasteful topic.

"Okay, we're going to ignore this topic right now!" Foxy yelled, pushing them away from each other. He walked over to Ballora onstage. "Bon-Bon, be good."

"I don't want to." Bon-Bon replied gruffly, shaking his head as he sat down on one of the many chairs in front of the stage and relaxed.

Foxy overlooked the hand-puppet's statement, he didn't care about it right now. He wanted to start asking Ballora about Baby.

"So, Ballora." Foxy began, eyeing the ballerina. "As I realized, you were talking to Baby the other day!"

"Um..." Ballora muttered, looking from side to side in an attempt to cease eye contact with Foxy.

"Are her and Freddy dating?" Foxy still had the same question from days ago on his mind. The vague and undescriptive answer Freddy had given yesterday did not satisfy him, and since Ballora regularly spoke with Baby, Foxy was hoping that she would be willing to give him a better answer.

"Um, well, see..." Ballora stammered, reluctant to provide an answer to such a intrusive question. "...me and Baby, we spoke for a little bit. And, you know, certain things came up about certain people being together, but I'm not talking about Baby and Freddy. Of course not."

"Ooo, ooo!" Foxy knew he was getting somewhere with this conversation, so he decided to ask a different question. "Who do you have a crush on?"

"Is it me?!" Bon-Bon asked questionably.

"No, not you! I just met you!" Ballora responded, gazing at Bon-Bon as if he was a weirdo. "Um, yeah, but it's not about Freddy and Baby!"

"But really, do you have a crush?" Foxy asked, grinning mischievously.

"No!" Ballora denied immediately.

"I think you do!"

"No, I don't have a crush on any of you! You guys are too weird. You have cooties! I don't like cooties, they mess up my dancing."

"Wait, she said any of US. That means anybody in this ROOM!" Puppet theorized. "She has a crush on Freddy, then!"

"I knew it! I knew it!" Bon-Bon shouted suddenly.

"Huh? What'd you know?" Foxy asked him.

"That boxes are cool." Bon-Bon looked over at Puppet's box and the many crates surrounding it with interest.

"Um..." Foxy and Ballora stuttered, confused.

"Don't touch my box!" Puppet exclaimed, rushing over to Bon-Bon quickly. "You're not allowed to go anywhere NEAR my box."

"Aw, man! Come on!" Bon-Bon whined. "They look so cool! But why's that one say Ennard on it?"

Foxy perked up. "What'd you say?"

"Nothing! Nothing at all. It's only really just mixed-up letters. I don't know what it means."

"Okay..." Foxy didn't hear what Bon-Bon had said clearly enough, so he decided to disregard it. He was sure that it wasn't anything too important.

"He's weird." Ballora commented. Puppet walked over to them.

"He's a little off still." Foxy explained to her in a hushed voice. "I think he still doesn't know what's happening."

"I can hear you, guys!" Bon-Bon shouted over to Foxy, Puppet, and Ballora.

"Woah! Uh, we weren't talking about you, I swear."

"Was that chicken I just saw in your hands, Puppet?" Ballora asked Puppet curiously.

"No, it wasn't!" Puppet replied hastily.

"Did you go through Freddy's chicken box again?"

"WHY IS IT ALWAYS CHICKEN?!" Bon-Bon screamed, sick of hearing about Freddy's chicken eating habits.

"Okay, I do have chicken." Puppet revealed, showing it in his hands before hiding it in his makeshift pockets again. "I was just hiding so that next time I see him, he won't try to impose anything on us."

"Right..." Ballora murmured.

"Yeah..." Foxy muttered.

"Actually, now that I think about it: do either of you guys have a cell phone?"

"Um, no! Not at all!" Foxy lied, not wanting to admit to Puppet that he had already lost the phone earlier. He knew Puppet would be really sad if he found out.

"No?"

"I don't have a cell phone."

"You don't?"

"No."

"Wait!" Puppet cut in, looking at Foxy dejectedly. "You lost the cell phone I gave you?"

"No, I didn't lose it! I just, uh, misplaced it!" Foxy asserted carefully.

"He dropped it in the water." Bon-Bon commented.

"BON-BON!"

"We played hide and seek together with it!" Puppet reminded Foxy sadly. Foxy gasped.

"No, wait! Don't say that near-"

"YOU GUYS PLAYED HIDE AND SEEK WITHOUT ME?!" Ballora roared in fury.

"Oh, great! Now you've REALLY done it!" Foxy chastised Puppet, annoyed.

"You guys didn't invite me, Ballora, the most amazing person in the world?! You didn't invite ME?!" Foxy winced at the sound of her loud voice.

"Yeesh, and she wonders why we didn't invite her." He told Puppet. "But, Ballora, he said you guys were playing too! But I couldn't find you!"

"I wasn't playing, I was practicing my dancing like I'm supposed to! Really, you should all be practicing too, and then when the next security guard comes, we can give him a show!" She grinned earnestly.

"She has a point." Foxy admit to Puppet.

Puppet was silent for a moment, then smiled anxiously. "Ah, I mean, it was bonding time! For me and Foxy!"

"Bonding time?!"

Bon-Bon smiled. "Yeah, bonding time-"

"You be quiet, Bon-Bon! This is BALLORA time now, and I'm gonna go hide! You guys are gonna come find me!"

"Um, I don't think we have time for this." Foxy stuttered, having other things on his mind at the moment. He didn't really want to play hide and seek with Ballora.

"Well, guess what?" Ballora went right up in Foxy's face, squinting at him. "We're making time now."

"Woah, uh-"

"BYE BYE!" Ballora ran off to the hall cheerily, finding a place to go hide somewhere.

"Oh, are you serious?! Ugh..." Foxy groaned. Now he would have to go to the effort of finding Ballora instead of doing the things HE wanted to do. He felt annoyed.

"Wow, she's really, really demanding." Bon-Bon said, surprised.

"Yeah, she's demanding." Foxy sighed.

"She's fast, too!" Puppet added.

"What are we gonna do now?" Bon-Bon questioned Foxy confusedly. "Are we just gonna let her hide?"

"Yeah, we should purposely not find her." Foxy suggested, grinning as he hatched a revenge plan inside his mind. "She can go hide for days. Good thing she can't hear us-"

"Come out and find me!" Ballora's voice called from elsewhere in the pizzeria. The group froze for a moment, then Foxy sighed even deeper.

"There's no reason to find her, though. Like, seriously, no reason at all." Foxy deduced.

"Yep, no reason." Bon-Bon agreed thoughtfully.

"Unless she has your phone, y'know." Puppet mentioned.

"Oh, wait. That IS a good reason." Foxy piped up, worried that Ballora secretly had his phone. If she did, they would have to find her, otherwise Foxy could never get it back. And he didn't want to go on about how he had actually dropped it in water. "It's not like I dropped it in the water-"

"Yeah, you did."

"SHUT UP, Bon-Bon!"

"...whatever."

"Ha, he told you!" Puppet cheered, happy to see Bon-Bon put down.

Foxy and co. headed down into the hallway, starting the search for Ballora.

"Okay, where could she be?" Foxy wondered as he inspected the area. He went near the girl's room. "Okay, she's DEFINTELY not in the girl's room, 'cause I can't and won't go in there." He walked over to the boy's bathroom instead. "Maybe she's in the...no, she wouldn't go into the boy's room. She hates it in there."

"DON'T GO IN THE GIRL'S BATHROOM!" Ballora shouted to them strictly.

"Oh, why not?" Foxy asked, starting to become suspicious now.

"Because you're not allowed in there. Duh."

"Okay, if she's saying this, that means she might be in there. Bon-Bon, you go." Foxy wanted to make somebody else go in. He hated being caught in the girl's bathroom, so he decided to keep trying to take every step possible to avoid going in there.

"I'm not going in there!" Bon-Bon refused. "You think I'm dumb enough to do that?! I've already been in a bathroom enough times to not want to go in there again!"

"Okay...Puppet, you go."

"I went in last time, though!" Puppet exclaimed.

"You went in once already, you can do it again." Puppet sighed and began to shuffle into the girl's bathroom.

"It's more than once. It's been, like, three times now..." He grumbled as he went in.

"I'm behind you, man, it's okay." Foxy said as he followed Puppet inside, feeling sympathetic enough for him to help him out. The bathroom, at the very least, had a pleasant fruity scent that made it much nicer to traverse. "If there's any traps, though, you're going to have to trigger them first. Thanks for that."

"Alright, I'm opening the stall..." Puppet slowly opened the stall door...to find it empty. "She's not here!" Foxy and Puppet screamed and quickly left the bathroom.

"Ha ha ha, got you!" Ballora taunted them, full of herself.

"Ugh...well, it least it smelled good in there." Foxy said, happy to see that the bathroom was clean.

"Yeah, it did." Bon-Bon added. "It smelled like cherries and watermelons and candy!"

"Don't eat my candy." Ballora called to them.

"Wait, does that mean there's actually candy in there?" Foxy wondered, curious as to why food would be in the bathroom.

"Ballora, you keep food in the restroom?" Puppet asked, repulsed. "That's gross."

"Yeah." Foxy agreed, thinking the same thing. He and the gang headed further down the hallway.

"Well, me and Baby like to have food while we're...uh, talking." Ballora explained quietly. Foxy came to the other side of the hall, with the party rooms (two to the right of Ballora's door and one to the left of the door) to the sides and Ballora's rooms directly ahead. The party rooms, for some reason, had their doors opened instead of closed like they usually were.

"She's not in here..." Foxy muttered as he checked the closer party room on the right; Ballora wasn't hidden there. He checked the left party room, but it was the same case.

"Why are all the doors open?" Puppet inquired Foxy confusedly as Foxy checked the further party room on the right and then went away from it (Ballora wasn't there either).

"Wait...you didn't open all of these doors?" Foxy had thought Puppet had opened these doors earlier, but now he had the sneaking suspicion that he was wrong.

"No."

"I didn't open-" Foxy paused as he noticed that Ballora's door was open too. "What the...this is not cool." He and the others went into the room, which Ballora also wasn't in. However, something caught Foxy's eye.

The double doors to the left of Ballora's stage, which had been locked for a while, were wide open.

"Wait a minute, those doors are open?!" Foxy ran into the room. It was a backstage room, but there wasn't much to it. The floors were wooden to resemble the stage and the walls striped with red and white. One corner of the room was completely cut off by a large brown vent that went into the ceiling. Foxy ran to get a closer look; the iron bars that might have once blocked the vent were pushed open, granting passage to the new vent system. "Guys! There's another vent system over here!"

They looked inside the vent. There was a ladder which led up to the upper part of the system. However, Foxy doubted that Ballora was up there; she wasn't too good with heights.

"I don't think she's up there, though." Foxy said.

"Yeah, she's scared of heights, I think." Puppet mentioned as he looked at the ladder.

"Let's go look elsewhere." They exited the backstage.

"You know, maybe she is up there and she's just tricking us." Bon-Bon speculated.

"Um, that is a good point, but I still have the feeling that she's not up there." Foxy admit, going back to his 'search the other areas' plan. "Okay, back to looking around to see if we can find her." They left the room and went down the hall again.

"MARCO!" Foxy called, hoping that the 'Marco Polo' ploy would help them find Ballora faster.

"Polo!"

"Not you, Bon-Bon! I'm trying to yell at Ballora! Ugh...MARCO!"

"Polo!"

"I SAID I WASN'T TALKING TO YOU, BON-BON!"

"Sorry."

"MARCO!"

"Ballora!" Ballora finally replied from somewhere else in the pizzeria.

"That's not how it goes!" Puppet called her out, frowning.

"Well, now it is!" Ballora declared stiffly. Foxy decided the next course of action was to check the smaller hall with the four doors and the main rooms (and its connecting rooms). He went down the hallway, checking every room in each of the doorways, but not finding Ballora. The rooms themselves, strangely enough, were still empty. They had basic checker pattern floor and yellow-white striped walls to match the smaller hallway and the main room, but they had no décor. Foxy knew that these rooms just hadn't been used for anything yet, but he still found it odd.

The doors of the rooms were already open, too, further causing suspicion.

"She's not in there...or there...and not there, either..." Foxy mumbled as he peeked inside each room.

"I think I see her!" Bon-Bon shouted suddenly.

"Where? Where?!"

"Actually, I lied. Sorry."

"Bon-Bon, you're not making this any easier." Foxy groaned, sick of Bon-Bon's obnoxious antics. He checked the fourth room (Ballora wasn't there) and turned around only to abruptly step back, Puppet was right there. Foxy noticed that Puppet didn't have eyes; at least, not like he did. His 'eyes' were the eyeholes cut in the mask, but with no actual eyeballs behind it, which gave Foxy an idea. "Woah, Puppet, I can see right into your eyes. They're empty and cold..."

"Hey, that's not nice."

"Actually, I'm joking. Heh heh." Foxy laughed, satisfied with his joke.

"Why would you be joking at a time like this?" Puppet asked irritably as they searched the main room. "You lost a phone that I gifted you."

"Okay, she's not in here either." Foxy muttered as he checked the bounce house. He started bouncing in the bounce house. "Hey, this is pretty fun. We could actually just stay in here and bounce the whole time."

"Good point. Let's just stay here." Puppet agreed as he came in and began to bounce too.

"Can I come in, guys?" Bon-Bon asked as he peeked into the room. "Yeah, I'm coming in! No stopping me!" Bon-Bon came into the bounce house.

"No! No! Out!" Puppet shooed Bon-Bon immediately. "You have to be a certain height to ride!"

"Nope, I'm in here now! Yay!" Bon-Bon cheered as he followed behind Foxy.

"Well, you have no legs, so you can't really bounce." Foxy mentioned as he stared down at the legless hand-puppet.

"That's true." Bon-Bon sighed.

"Okay, we should just go back to looking for her." Foxy went back into the main room. "She might be breaking something right now. It is Ballora we're talking about here." Foxy continued the search, checking more parts of the main room and his own room, but still not finding Ballora.

"I'm careful, okay?" Ballora's voice called. "I don't break anything at all-" CRASH! "-Oh! Oops. Uh, I mean, nothing! I didn't break a cup or anything!"

"What'd you do?!" Foxy exclaimed, concerned. He had heard the sound coming from somewhere on the other side of the general area. He checked Freddy's closet and found it empty before he gasped; the kitchen door was wide open. "Oh, she's in the kitchen!"

"Is she?" Puppet asked.

"Yeah!" Foxy ran into the kitchen, Puppet and Bon-Bon close behind. The metal rubble of a cup lay on the floor of the kitchen. "Huh, I don't see her.." Foxy looked around the kitchen and the break room next to it, but didn't find her. "Where is she-"

"SHE'S UP THERE, YOU IDIOT!" Bon-Bon exclaimed as he pointed in a direction. "I CAN SEE HER RIGHT THERE, LOOK AT HER!"

"Woah, calm down. I'm looking-" Foxy looked up at the cabinets on the wall furthest from the kitchen door; Ballora was standing up there. "Oh, there you are!"

"AAH!" Ballora screamed in surprise. "Um, no! I'm not here!" She ran along the cabinets to try to get out of his gaze.

"How'd you get up there?"

"Um...my super dancing-jumping skills?"

"Yeah, all of the jumping and dancing in the bounce house must have really payed off." Puppet commented perkily.

"Um, I think she crawled up there somehow, actually." Foxy guessed, doubtful of Ballora's skill to jump high enough to get up there.

"I didn't crawl at all, how would I?" Ballora told them. "I jumped with my ballerina jumping skills!"

"No, I think you just climbed up there." Bon-Bon cut in abruptly. "You're a bad liar."

"I don't lie!" Ballora growled, looking offended. "Ballora never lies!"

"Uh, you lied the other day when I asked you if you ate my candy." Foxy pointed out, remembering that time rather NOT fondly. "You told me you didn't...and it was actually still in your hand."

"Um...I don't know what you're talking about." Ballora shook her head quickly.

"If you think about it, she technically didn't lie." Puppet explained thoughtfully. "The candy was still in her hand. She didn't eat it."

"Don't help her, you stupid puppet." Bon-Bon threatened Puppet coldly.

Puppet looked down at Bon-Bon, seeming to have only just noticed him. "Why are you still here?"

"CUZ."

"Oop, I'm gone AGAIN!" Ballora interrupted them suddenly. Foxy suddenly became aware of Ballora, and realized that he had allowed himself to be distracted by Puppet and Bon-Bon. He looked back up at the cabinets, but it was too late; Ballora had scrambled out of the kitchen.

"Oh no!" Foxy cried as he and the others ran back into the main room, but she had already gotten away.

"We weren't paying attention!" Puppet exclaimed, angry.

"I know, I know!"

Puppet gazed at Bon-Bon in even more disgust than before. "This is all your fault, Bon-Bon!"

"No, it's not my fault!" Bon-Bon whined. "Don't blame this on ME!" Bon-Bon ran back into the kitchen. "You know what? I'm staying in here."

"Okay, you can stay there, then..." Foxy checked his room again, but then Bon-Bon came running back to them.

"Actually, I changed my mind! I'm back!"

"Okay, good for you..." Foxy muttered, not listening to Bon-Bon as he stopped in the main room and faced the others. "I don't want to have to do this search the hard way again, so let's rule some places out. She's obviously not in the kitchen, or my room, or the break room, or anywhere in the main room. She's not in the bouncy house, because if she had been there, she would have gotten stuck and would be screaming and crying for us already."

"Come out, come out, wherever you are-" Ballora's taunting voice stopped mid-sentence. "Is that even how it goes? I can't remember."

"No, we're supposed to say that." Foxy informed her as he and the gang went back down the smaller hall. "Come out, come out, wherever you are!"

"I have an idea." Puppet whispered into Foxy's ear, then stepped away from him. Puppet cupped his hands over his mouth and shouted: "Ballora, I have free tickets to a dance party! Come out if you want them!" The group came into the central hall.

Ballora's childish gasp loudly sounded, her love of dancing starting to resonate. "Free tickets?"

"Yeah, for you and one friend! You can take Baby!"

"Wow, I...wait, NO! I know this is a trick, Puppet! You can't fool me this time!"

They entered Ballora's room, and Foxy heard banging sounding in the backstage room. He instantly realized that Ballora was back there.

"I hear her!" Foxy shouted as he raced into the backstage room and back to the vent opening; sure enough, Ballora was standing right there. "I found you!"

"Ah, she found me- HE found me, I mean!" Ballora screamed as she raced up the ladder. "Ha ha, you're a girl!"

"She knows our secret! "

"No, not now!" Foxy hushed the voice, wanting it to keep its mouth shut while he handled Ballora. He didn't want to deal with TWO loud-mouthed people things right then. Foxy climbed up the ladder into the vent, and raced down the hallway.

"Get her. Give me her body."

"Stop it, voice in my head!" Foxy didn't have time to chastise the voice anymore as Ballora came running from the other end of the vent, dodging past Foxy and Puppet and jumping back down the ladder, kicking Bon-Bon on her way out.

"Ouch!" Bon-Bon yelped in pain as he, Foxy, and Puppet came back into Ballora's room, but Ballora had once again fled the scene.

"YOU'LL NEVER CATCH ME!" Ballora roared as her voice became fainter.

"Come back! Stop running!" Foxy griped as he raced back down the hall. "This is NOT part of hide-and-seek!" He was cut off by Ballora groaning as she seemingly stuffed herself somewhere.

"Ah-ha! They'll never find me up here." She chuckled mischievously. "Uh, I mean, down here. Totally not up. Nope."

"Do you think she went into my box?" Puppet asked Foxy as they entered Puppet's room.

"Um...I hope not." Foxy moaned as he checked the water area.

"No, don't worry, I'm not in your stupid box." Ballora called to them. "Your box is boring, anyways."

Puppet simply just mumbled incomprehensibly. Foxy had a vague idea of where Ballora could be, and he wanted to go check it out.

"Yeah, you go check down in your box, Puppet." Foxy instructed. "I'm gonna go check- well, I have an idea of where I might check." Foxy strolled down the hallway, leaving Puppet to his box.

"I think she's in the vents!" Bon-Bon piped up behind Foxy as they entered the main room.

"Bon-Bon!"

"Sorry. I didn't mean to!"

Foxy wasn't listening anymore. He had stopped in his tracks, because he had just found Ballora.

Ballora was stuck up in the bouncy house rafters for the third time. Foxy went into the bouncy house and looked up at her.

"Um..." Was all he could get out as he stared at her. Ballora seemed unaware of Foxy's presence, she was too busy looking around at the rest of the rafters and the ceiling.

"She's not in the vents!" Puppet called to Foxy.

"Yeah, I know...I found her." Bon-Bon approached Foxy and looked up, seeing Ballora up there too.

"They'll never find me here." Ballora muttered confidently as she continued to be unaware of Foxy and Bon-Bon. "They'd never think about this spot! Never in a million years. Tee hee."

"Puppet, can you get over here?" Foxy asked Puppet plainly, wanting him to see this as well.

"Where are you?"

"Take a guess. Where's the one place we'd never look?"

"The bounce house?" Puppet guessed as he came sprinting into the room.

"Yep."

Puppet gasped quietly as he finally saw Ballora stuck up there. Foxy began to bounce, making lots of noise. And then, Ballora finally looked down.

"OH NO, YOU FOUND ME!" She squealed, flabbergasted beyond belief. "How did you guys find me? You would never, ever come here!"

"Um, you kinda walked yourself into this one." Foxy replied rigidly.

"Or maybe she BOUNCED herself into this one!" Puppet cracked, smiling.

"Ha ha ha, good one!"

"That was actually kind of funny. I like that one!" Bon-Bon cheered, grinning ever-so-slightly at Puppet.

"That one was kind of funny." Ballora groaned, not smiling at all. "Almost made me laugh, but not really. Now, I gotta get out of here. Just gotta wiggle out..." Ballora began wiggling, slowly sliding off of the bars.

"Come on, you can do it!" Bon-Bon encouraged her warmly. "I believe in you!"

"Ah, there we go!" Ballora said contently as she dropped down from the rafters. "Much better." The animatronics all bounced around in celebration. Ballora sighed, then shrugged acceptingly. "Ugh, fine. I guess you guys win." She pulled out Foxy's phone.

"Hooray!" Bon-Bon cheered. Bon-Bon stared up at the rafters with interest, then went up to Foxy. "Foxy, I wanna go up there. Can I go up there?"

"Um, no." Foxy refused, not wanting to deal with another stuck animatronic. Foxy bounced over to Ballora. "Okay, can you give me back my phone now?" Ballora seemed hesitant, then quickly hid Foxy's phone behind her back.

"Uh, what phone?" She asked, trying to play dumb. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"I just saw it."

Ballora stared at him for a moment. "Ugh, fine. Here's your phone." She pulled it back out and handed it to Foxy.

"Thank you." Foxy examined the phone and felt satisfied in himself- Foxy paused. His phone had been changed; an app called 'Pokémon GO' was installed on it. Foxy was shocked. He hadn't figured out how to put apps on the phone before, but now one was there. "Wait, how'd you get an app on this? It's called 'Pokémon GO'."

"Um, yeah. I've got a couple of pokemon on there, actually."

"How'd you get Pokémon GO on here? I couldn't get it before!"

"Well, I went into Puppet's room and used his internet to sort of...download it..." She grinned nervously, looking over at Puppet.

"Wow, that Puppet man has a room?" Bon-Bon quipped curiously. "That's really cool! Can I steal it- I mean, look at it?"

"I don't think he'd like it if you stole it from him." Foxy answered simply as Puppet seemed offended by what Bon-Bon had just said.

"I don't know if you can steal his room." Ballora commented. "How would you do that?"

"Yeah, you can't. Don't even try." Puppet grunted roughly as he pushed Bon-Bon.

"Ow, that hurt! Don't push me!" Bon-Bon yelped. "Ow!" Foxy sighed and then noticed Ballora slowly backing out of the bounce house-

"Hey, no. You're not running." Foxy said as they backed her into the main room.

"Ah, what? I wouldn't run from you guys!" Ballora chuckled anxiously. "You guys are my friends!"

"So, how could we hear you so loud and clear when we were ALL THE WAY over in Puppet's room at first?" Foxy asked, wondering how they had always heard Ballora as if she was close, yet where they found her was far away. Puppet and Bon-Bon came over to them as Foxy and Ballora kept arguing.

"I was right next to you the WHOLE time."

"That's cheating!

"No, it's not cheating! It's brilliant!"

"It's hide and seek! We're supposed to seek you, and YOU'RE supposed to be hiding! Not in plain sight, like: 'Doo doo doo, I'm right here'!"

"Yeah, you did it WRONG!" Bon-Bon yelled. "WRONG, WRONG, WRONG, WRONG, WRONG!"

"You know what? I think you're the queen of hide and seek." Puppet complimented her.

"I am?" Ballora said, surprised.

"Yeah! And as for your reward, I'll give you a piece of chicken I had earlier." Puppet handed her a piece of chicken.

"No, I'm tired of eating chicken! It's disgusting! Bon-Bon, you have it!"

"NO! I DON'T WANT CHICKEN." Bon-Bon growled, hissing at the chicken like it was the plague.

"Fine, I'll take the chicken. Now, what am I gonna do with this?" She stood there for a moment, then went over to Freddy's closet. "Here, I'll just put it next to his teddy bear." She did so. "There you go, buddy!"

"Uh oh, Freddy's not gonna be pleased about that." Bon-Bon commented. "You guys got yourselves into this one, and you need to fix it yourselves!"

"Um, okay? Why?" Foxy asked, unsure of what Bon-Bon was going on about.

"Well, you see, he's so addicted to chicken that he might go on a rampage..."

"Um, that's not how Freddy is anymore."

"Actually, uh, yeah! He won't mind! Nope, not at all. Heh heh heh..."

"He's so weird!" Ballora whispered in Foxy's ear.

"I know, right?" Foxy replied. Ever since Bon-Bon had come, he had been acting a bit strange.

"Can we just throw him down the chute with Garbage?" Puppet asked hopefully.

"Oh, YES!" Ballora cheered.

"No, no! Don't you dare- hey, stop it!" Ballora and Puppet had grabbed the struggling Bon-Bon forcefully.

"Foxy, can we please?" Ballora asked Foxy.

"Can we, can we, can we?" Puppet added.

Foxy sighed. He knew he couldn't let them throw Bon-Bon down the chute. He was their friend, after all. Even if he was a little weird now, he was still their longtime pal. He couldn't just get rid of him like that.

"We can't do it. It's not nice." Foxy decided, shaking his head. "Plus, he's one of the ORIGINALS! We can't just get rid of him."

"Well, I guess that's okay..." Ballora whined as she put Bon-Bon down.

"Yay, I get to stay!" Bon-Bon whooped as he hugged Foxy's leg. "We get to play games, and maybe karaoke, and all sorts of fun stuff!"

"We can't do karaoke yet, it's not karaoke night!" Ballora informed Bon-Bon haughtily. "Geez."

"I want pizza! Can we have pizza? And Ballora, can you teach me how to dance? I wanna learn."

"I don't think you can dance. You...don't have legs."

"I have arms, though! They can work! I can swing them around."

"Well, look-" But Bon-Bon was distracted; he was staring around at the room with wonder. "Look at me, please!"

"Sorry, I'm kinda distracted. Everything's SO NEW!"

"Oh my goodness- well, then I'm not going to teach you how to dance if you're just gonna go all over the place!"

"Hey, come on-"

"GUYS!" Foxy cut in, stopping the conversation abruptly. He had been staring at the double doors nearby. Faint orangish light was starting to come, indicating the sunrise coming. "Um, I think it's gonna be daytime soon. I think we should go relax."

Ballora looked through the doors and out at the coming sunrise, and smiled. "Thank goodness! I'm getting really tired of...uh, not you, Bon-Bon. Definitely not you." She went over to Foxy. "Yes, it's Bon-Bon I'm tired of." She whispered in his ear.

"I get it, it's okay! I hate you too!" Bon-Bon shouted at her gruffly.

"Just gonna push you away..." Puppet mumbled as he began shoving Bon-Bon.

"Hey, STOP IT!" Bon-Bon pushed him off. "Ugh, you're going to regret that! YOU'RE GOING TO REGRET THAT."

"Lucky for you, I don't sleep!"

"Ugh, I'm going to my room." Foxy groaned, unable to take the talking any longer. He stumbled over to his cove.

"And I am too!" Bon-Bon added, following behind Foxy.

"Bye, you guys!" Ballora said as she and Puppet left.

"Alright, I'm coming in!" Bon-Bon came into Foxy's cove as Foxy drew open the curtains and stepped inside again. "Hey, what's up, buddy?"

"Ugh, again?!" Foxy exclaimed. Last night had been hard for him. Bon-Bon seemed to snore quiet a lot, and it took Foxy every ounce of effort to stay asleep. He didn't want to repeat that.

"Yep! Sleepy time for us!"

Foxy sighed and looked back into his room. Puppet was peeking into it, looking at the two of them solemnly.

"Puppet, what are you doing?"

"I'm just making sure that Bon-Bon's over there." Puppet claimed as he slowly began to slink out of sight.

"Hey, go away!" Bon-Bon screamed at Puppet, who squealed silently and ran away. They were silent for a moment. "Is he gone?"

"Uh, I think he is." Foxy told Bon-Bon, knowing full well that Puppet was definitely gone. Foxy, however, had another thing on his mind: Bon-Bon. He knew that the only way out of having Bon-Bon sleeping with him was to get him another place to stay. He planned it out inside his head as he looked at Bon-Bon for the last time that night.

"We need to find you your own room." He said simply. He tore his eyes away from Bon-Bon before the hand-puppet could reply and shut the curtains, ready to sleep and then think it over in the morning...

Chapter Text

"You guys know what I could go for right now?"

"Uh, what could you go for, Freddy? Is it MORE chicken? Or maybe even a bath? That'd be good, actually."

"No, even better...a PIZZA! A big ol' pizza!"

Funtime Foxy, Funtime Freddy, Puppet, and Bon-Bon sat around at the table in the main room, having a rather lovely conversation. They were all having a somewhat nice day, and decided to hang out. Ballora and Baby, of course, were not around. Puppet had called the whole thing a 'Boys Get-Together' cheerily, the idea having more appeal with the girls not being around.

"Sounds pretty good!" Puppet agreed, nodding.

"OH, PIZZA. THAT WOULD BE AWESOME. I WONDER WHERE WE COULD GET PIZZA." Foxy said sarcastically. "OH, NOT HERE. NOT AT ALL."

"Aw, why not?" Freddy whined, not getting the sarcasm.

"WELL, IT'S NOT LIKE WE'RE AT A PIZZA PLACE OR ANYTHING."

"Yeah, pizza place!" Bon-Bon piped up.

"But...but...there's no pizza here, you're saying?" Freddy stammered.

"Wait, we have pizza here?" Puppet exclaimed.

"OH, IT'S NOT LIKE WE HAVE IT IN THE BACK." Foxy went on, still with sarcasm. He was trying to make them realize that they were at a pizza place, so obviously there would be pizza somewhere around.

"Aw, there's no pizza here." Freddy and Puppet complained sadly.

"Are you guys serious?" Foxy groaned as he facepalmed himself. Foxy was annoyed that they SOMEHOW didn't seem to realize that he was being sarcastic.

"Yeah, you guys really don't get it?" Bon-Bon added. "Look around you, guys! We're IN a pizza place! So therefore...there is no pizza in here."

"Bon-Bon, are you serious?!" Foxy griped. He had thought that at least Bon-Bon understood him, but even he couldn't get Foxy's sarcasm and was giving away misleading info to the gullible bunch that was Freddy and Puppet.

"What? I know what I'm talking about here." Bon-Bon replied dumbly. "I really do. It's a thing."

"You DON'T know what you're talking about." Foxy insisted. He knew full well that a pizza place had pizza automatically, so therefore Bon-Bon was wrong. He was already getting annoyed by how stubborn Bon-Bon was being over what he believed, and he hoped that he would come to his senses soon enough. "See-" Foxy's voice buzzed with static for the millionth time in a row. "Ugh, my voice!" He groaned as banged on his head to revert it back. "Why does it keep doing that? Ugh, I need to get that fixed. We should get some tools soon."

Puppet nodded understandingly, but Freddy's smile seemed to grow wider with a growing thought.

"Wait! I just had the best idea!" Freddy said excitedly. "It's even better than pizza."

"Uh oh, what is it?" Foxy asked, alert. He had knowledge that Freddy's ideas could sometimes end in complete disaster, so he prepared himself on the inside to be ready for what Freddy's next idea was.

"Don't say chicken." Bon-Bon warned, not wanting to hear about Freddy's chicken again. Foxy knew Bon-Bon still had Vietnam-style flashbacks about the many times he ate chicken with Freddy, so Bon-Bon tended to avoid mentioning it.

"No, even better. It's pizza...with CHICKEN ON IT!"

"What?! But that's the same thing!"

"No, it's way better! It's a masterpiece, even!"

"What do you guys think?" Bon-Bon looked over to Puppet and Foxy.

"It'd be awful, but great at the same time, but awful..." Puppet replied, shaking his head.

"No, no, no, no, no, not at all!" Foxy refused sharply, not wanting anymore of Freddy's awful-tasting chicken. Freddy looked dejected. "I say that we just sit here and just chat, and reminisce about the good old days."

"Yeah, I like that. That'd be great." Bon-Bon agreed, smiling.

"What good old days?" Puppet asked.

"Eh, don't worry about it. You weren't there, but it's not that important."

"I think he WAS there, actually." Foxy cut in, having met Puppet in a previous location. Foxy knew Puppet was only there for ONE OF those locations, though...

"Why are you sitting with us, anyway?" Puppet grumbled, once again staring at Bon-Bon with disgust. "Shouldn't you have, like, your own little table, or something?"

"No way!" Bon-Bon whined. "I'm just like you guys in every which way. I'm just shorter! I'm just a little bit shorter, and that's all!"

"Yeah, good point." Foxy acknowledged. "He's our friend, Puppet. Remember that."

Puppet sighed. "Fine."

"Wait, Bon-Bon, what's wrong with your voice?" Freddy asked Bon-Bon suddenly, his shiny blue eyes examining the small purple hand-puppet.

Foxy knew where Freddy was coming from. In the previous location, back when Bon-Bon had been Bonnie and was full size, his voice box had been very different. It wasn't squeaky at all. However, Foxy could also notice a bit of static buzzing emanating softly from Bon-Bon mouth. It didn't sound like the static Foxy commonly dealt with, but it was there.

"I don't know. It's just kinda staticky." Bon-Bon admit indifferently. "I think I just bumped it when I found that door."

There was silence for a few seconds.

"Door? What door?" Freddy and Foxy said together, both unsure of what Bon-Bon was talking about.

"The one that's in Foxy's room."

Foxy's mind suddenly stopped. His systems seemed to spire out of control. His wires and parts were buzzing with outrage. And suddenly, his mind thought one thing:

Bon-Bon's telling them about THAT door.

"Um, there's no door in my room!" Foxy denied, trying to hide the door away.

"A door?! Secret door hunt!" Puppet declared, he and Freddy running off to Foxy's cove.

"Guys, come back!" Foxy called, but they were already leaving. He turned to Bon-Bon in rage. "BON-BON."

"What? I just told them about the door!" Bon-Bon griped as he and Foxy ran into Foxy's room. Puppet was inspecting every inch of the room, greedily trying to find the door. Freddy was staring at the windows in Foxy's room with disappointment. When Bon-Bon came in, Freddy approached him.

"Aw, I see where Bonnie was mistaken." He revealed. He pointed at the windows on the opposite wall of Foxy's room. "These are windows, Bon-Bon!"

"Yeah, there's nothing over here." Bon-Bon said, and Foxy smiled. "But that's because the door's not over here. It's elsewhere in this room." Foxy's smile extinguished entirely. Bon-Bon pointed at Foxy's cove. "It's over there."

"Over here?" Foxy pointed to the spot right next to his cove, trying to distract the others. "Or over here?" He pointed at the empty corner of the room.

"Not, not in either of those places."

"See guys? Nothing in here. Let's quickly leave..." Freddy and Puppet sighed and began to walk for the door-

"GUYS, LOOK AT ME!" They stopped in their tracks and turned to look at Bon-Bon. "It's in his cove, his little cubbyhole!"

"No, don't tell them the truth!" Foxy groaned, but Puppet and Freddy had already opened the curtains and charged inside to look around. "Ugh..."

"Hey, look!" Puppet exclaimed happily. "There's some secret stuff back here!" The gang went into the cove. Near the back-left corner of the cove, a trapdoor was opened.

"See, guys? You're looking right at the door!" Bon-Bon cheered.

"BON-BON, STOP!" Foxy yelled, wanting Bon-Bon to stop talking about the room.

"What? I'm just letting them know." Puppet and Freddy dropped down into a small passageway, where a door was waiting. They opened the door and entered the room on the other side.

"Hey, there's probably pizza in here!" Freddy chimed in happily.

"Wait, there's pizza in there? I don't remember putting- I mean, why would there be pizza in here?" Foxy and Bon-Bon entered the room themselves.

The door led up to a tiny staircase that came up to a narrow room with a dirty yellow carpet flooring, and red-and-white striped walls. At the back of the narrow room was a desk with a pc and a computer tower on it, Foxy's own pc. A wooden chair with a cushiony red seat sat in front of the desk. A single lightbulb overhead illuminated the room.

"Aw, there's no pizza." Freddy whined, but quickly stopped. He and Puppet were gazing at Foxy's computer.

"This setup looks...familiar." Puppet mentioned, surprised.

"Uh, yeah! I wonder how it got here." Foxy lied, pretending to play dumb. "It's like somebody just put it there. I certainly didn't know about this-"

"Hey guys!" Bon-Bon walked up to them cheerily. Foxy froze. He was confused inside about something: Bon-Bon had no legs, how did he get up the staircase?

"How'd you get up the stairs?" He asked Bon-Bon.

"I hopped." Bon-Bon replied, jumping once to emphasize his answer.

"...good for you."

"Hey, why don't you just put me on your hand already?"

There was an awkward silence.

"That sounded weird. Don't say that ever again."

"But I'm a puppet. You have to wear me!"

"You're not a glove."

"Well...well..." Bon-Bon's strength to keep talking ceased, and he hid his head in his hands.

"Okay, this is getting weird." Foxy turned back around to Puppet and Freddy, who were still looking at the pc.

"This looks a lot like my computer!" Puppet pointed out. "My old one."

"Um, it's not your computer."

"But Foxy, didn't you say that it was-" Bon-Bon interrupted them.

"NO, NO, SHUT UP!"

"Foxy, you said it was-"

"I SAID SHUT UP! SHHH!"

"Well, if he says it's not your computer, then he must be telling the truth." Freddy quipped simply, patting Puppet's shoulder.

"Yeah, see, right, Bonnie?" Foxy smirked, patting Bonnie on the head rudely. "It's not my computer."

"Uh-huh, sure..." Bon-Bon mumbled, narrowing his eyes at Foxy.

"How'd this room get here, though?" Freddy asked interestedly.

"I don't know. I guess it's been here for a while, maybe somebody's been back here. I wonder what they've been doing." Foxy walked over to the computer. "We can't access the computer, though, it's off."

"Yeah, it's off because it's unplugged!" Bon-Bon commented.

"BON-BON!" Foxy approached the hand-puppet once again. "How do you know about that?"

"Well, um, I guess-" Bon-Bon was cut off by Puppet moving past Foxy and accidentally bumping into Bon-Bon, causing the bunny puppet to trip down the tiny staircase. "Ow, that hurt!"

"Woah, sorry." Puppet apologized, though he half-looked as if he didn't want to.

"PUPPET." Foxy growled, staring at Puppet for a moment before relenting as Bon-Bon came back up the staircase.

"Wait, if Bon-Bon knows about the computer being unplugged...than this must be HIS secret room, then!" Freddy theorized loudly as he rushed back over to the computer. "I'm a genius."

"Nah, it's not mine, although I wish it was." Bon-Bon sighed. "It's actually Foxy's."

"No, it's not!" Foxy denied once again, still feeling as if he should deny ownership of the room. Foxy knew it actually was his, but he knew that if Freddy and Puppet learned about that, they would probably mess everything up.

"Wait, so it's Foxy's room, then." Puppet said understandingly.

"Guys, it's not at all my room!" Foxy smiled sheepishly, then turned back to Bon-Bon. "Bon-Bon!" He muttered in his ear. "Stop it."

"But we've had this room for so long." Bon-Bon mentioned. "I didn't know that we were supposed to-"

"No, Bon-Bon."

"Well, then, since this is not Foxy's room..." Puppet piped up. "...Freddy, I think that computer is free for the taki-"

"No no no, this is MY ROOM now!" Foxy exclaimed insistently, pushing them aside and going near the pc. He turned his back to the computer and stretched out his arms to keep Freddy and Puppet back. Foxy knew that his plan of 'pretend it wasn't his' was just about to backfire on him completely, so he had decided to take action quickly and sharply. "It's behind my room, so it belongs to me!"

"Woah, so this is your room!" Freddy gasped.

"Hey, guys!" Bon-Bon cut in, running over to them. "Move out of the way, Freddy! MOVE AWAY!" He pushed Freddy out of the way. Freddy and Puppet quickly backed up as Bon-Bon cut past them and walked over to Foxy happily.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry! Stop yelling at me!" Freddy whined, sad. He shed a few tears.

"Yeah, that's what you get."

"Bon-Bon, be nice." Foxy chastised the hand-puppet. Once again, Foxy could see that Bon-Bon's actions were affecting his friends, and he would always have to step up and stop him when that happened.

"No!" The bunny hand-puppet refused. He and Foxy glared at each other, completely unaware of Freddy and Puppet's sudden huddle.

"Puppet, I got a plan. Foxy won't see this coming."

"Okay, what?"

"I'm gonna sneak by him, and-" Freddy whispered the rest of his plan into Puppet's ear (or at least where Puppet's ear would be if he had ears), causing the marionette's eyes to widen and for him to nod slowly.

"Yeah, go for it."

"Let's do this."

Foxy sighed as he and Bon-Bon discontinued their round of glaring. He was getting slightly annoyed with Bon-Bon, too. Even if he had once been their size and their good friend, he was still getting on everyone's nerves.

"Hey, Foxy, how's it going?" Freddy asked, unable to repress a grin as he shuffled past Foxy and Bon-Bon. "Just your friendly neighborhood Freddy here..."

Huh, this is kind of suspicious. Foxy thought as he watched Freddy skeptically. Foxy was unsure of what Freddy was doing, but he didn't really like it.

"Well, don't mind me." Freddy went on as he went up to the desk. "Just walking over to your computer- GIVE ME THAT!" Freddy snatched up the computer monitor, disconnecting it from the cables it had been connected to in the process, and quickly ran out of the room.

"Huh?" Foxy muttered, trying to process what had went on- Foxy realized that Freddy had taken his computer monitor. "Hey, give that back!" Foxy raced after Freddy, Puppet following close behind. They chased him around the main room. "Don't you know how long that took me to steal- uh, I mean, I have no idea where it came from. Just get back here and give it back to me!"

"No!" Freddy huffed as he ran away from Foxy.

"Get them!" A shrill voice cheered Foxy on. Foxy looked back over at his room. Bon-Bon was currently trying to get through the trapdoor, but had gotten himself stuck in the door and could not follow Foxy. "Wait, I'm stuck. Guys, help!" Foxy ignored Bon-Bon's cries for help and continued to pursue Freddy, his computer more important to him than Bon-Bon at the moment.

The chase went on as Foxy ran Freddy down the smaller hallway over to the bigger hallway. Despite Foxy's natural speed as a fox, Freddy was running surprisingly faster than he looked as if he could go normally. Freddy turned a corner quickly, still clutching the monitor tightly in his right hand. Foxy turned the corner as well, but Freddy had disappeared from view.

"Where'd you go?" Foxy barked sharply, his head whipping around to every direction he could look towards. Freddy was still nowhere to be seen.

"Where did he go?" Puppet asked Foxy. Foxy turned around to see that Puppet had just caught up to Foxy. His thin puppet legs were vastly inferior to Foxy's thick metal ones built for a good burst of speed, and he had thus easily fallen behind earlier.

Foxy was surprised at Freddy's sudden speed. During normal circumstances, Freddy's overall running speed was just as bad as, if not worse than, Puppet's. His tendency to eat chicken had fattened him up a little (even despite robots being usually unable to gain weight), and he was not built to be fast at all. But now he was running more than twice as fast as Foxy, and the fox himself felt bewildered that he could somehow be slower than the pink-white bear.

"Yeesh, he's become really good at hiding." Foxy groaned as he checked every inch of the hall. He looked inside the windows of the many rooms scattered along the main hallway as Freddy's loud breathing noises sounded from somewhere else. "Freddy...come out and PLAY..." Foxy taunted, but only gained a few scared breaths from Freddy. Foxy entered Ballora's room, searching it as well.

"He's not." Puppet pointed out behind Foxy, surveying the room.

"Wait, he can't open doors!" Foxy realized, remembering that Freddy was incapable of opening doors. Foxy re-entered the hall and ran to the other side of the hall instead. "He has to be out here somewhere!"

Foxy knew that with the whole 'door inability' that everyone except him seemed to posses would prevent Freddy from getting very far unless the doors were already open for him.

"Freddy!" Foxy called as he walked to the bathrooms. Foxy suddenly stopped as Bon-Bon came scurrying up to Foxy and Puppet, panting heavily.

"Hey, I'm back. I finally made it out of there." Bon-Bon informed them as he gasped for breath. "It took a while, but I did it. Sorry for falling behind.

Foxy could see why Bon-Bon had trouble running after him; Bon-Bon's lack of legs made the bunny hand-puppet's only way of getting around darting along using his hands. While he had gotten better at it and was quite fast now, he was still not as fast as Foxy.

"Any idea where Freddy is?" Foxy asked the hand-puppet as he looked around the boys' restroom, still having not found Freddy. Bon-Bon shook his head, but Foxy barely had time to process the gesture. Freddy came charging out of the girls' restroom suddenly, running back down the hallway. "I found you, Freddy!" Foxy gasped as he chased Freddy again, Bon-Bon and Puppet hurrying along far behind them.

"Get him! Get him!" Bon-Bon cried as Foxy chased Freddy back down the smaller hallway. Foxy was having trouble still; Freddy was still faster than normal and was racing ahead of Foxy, although it did look as if the bear was having difficulty doing so.

"Get back here, Freddy! This is NOT funny! I need that computer." Foxy yelled over to Freddy as they entered the main room. Freddy went to the stand bordering the kitchen door, but the stand's tiny fence doors were closed, blocking Freddy out. "Ah-ha, I've got you now-" Freddy, in a surprising show of athleticism, vaulted over the stand counter and to the other side. "WHAT? How did you do that?!"

Freddy laughed as he entered the kitchen. Foxy vaulted over the stand himself and followed Freddy, but stopped in his tracks once again. Freddy was holding the computer monitor over the open trash chute.

"The joke's on you!" Freddy declared. "If I can't have it, then NO ONE can!" And he dropped the monitor down into the chute.

"NOOOO! WHY?!" Foxy shrieked as the monitor fell down the chute and out of sight. The loud sound of the monitor's glass shattering down below followed this seconds after. Foxy turned back to Puppet and Bon-Bon, who had just entered the room. "Puppet, did you just see that?"

"Yeah, that was pretty weird!" Puppet admit, gazing into the chute as he said this.

"I guess." Foxy grunted. Foxy gasped; Garbage now had tech in the chute. "Oh no, Garbage has tech now-" Foxy paused. It dawned on him that worrying about this was stupid: Garbage only had a computer monitor, but no computer tower to power it and no cables to connect into it. And even if the former security guard had gained those things, Foxy very much doubted that there were any outlets down in the chute. "Well, he doesn't have a computer tower, so I think it's all good."

"Woah. What's this?" Garbage babbled inside the chute, having just found the monitor.

"Oops." Freddy said, now aware that giving Garbage tech, even if he couldn't use it, was a grave error.

"Who's that?" Bon-Bon chirped interestedly.

"Is this a sandwich?" Garbage croaked tiredly. "It's a pretty weird looking sandwich."

Foxy and Freddy looked towards each other; grinning madly. They could trick Garbage into eating a computer!

"Yeah, it is! Bite it!" Foxy urged Garbage on.

"Yes, do that! It's my new recipe!" Freddy claimed eagerly.

"Is it made out of chicken?" Garbage asked warily. Garbage had already started hating the chicken Freddy made a long time ago, and loathed having to eat it when Freddy fed it to him. Garbage would have to eat it anyway, Foxy knew that he would if he wanted to stay alive.

"No."

"Ah, thank goodness. I was getting tired of your chicken, Freddy."

"Awww..." Freddy looked sad.

"Yeah, Freddy, let's be honest here: you give him way too much." Foxy agreed, then looked back down into the chute. "Say, how was the candy we gave you a few days ago?"

"Eh, it was alright." Garbage wheezed. "I'm still pretty hungry, though, since candy doesn't really fill you up and you shouldn't eat too much of it."

"Yeah, that's true."

"Guys, seriously." Bon-Bon cut in, looking annoyed now. "I've been trying to figure out what's going on here for the past few minutes. Just who is that?"

"Who is what?" Freddy asked, unaware of what Bon-Bon what talking about.

"That guy down there. Who is he?"

"Oh, right. You haven't met him yet. Well, that's Garbage."

"Garbage? Where'd he come from?"

"Well, see, that was the first security guard I encountered the night I was transferred her." Foxy explained, remembering how Garbage (formerly Philip, but Foxy wanted to forget that name) had came that night.

"Ugh, I remember that night! That was the same night that FREDDY lost me!"

Freddy gasped. "No, don't do this! I'm sorry, I'm so sorry!" Freddy broke into tears again.

"Man, Freddy. You're weird." Puppet said, shaking his head at the deeply sad bear.

"Bon-Bon, um, you shouldn't be so mean to Freddy." Foxy told Bon-Bon. "He is still our friend."

"I guess..." Bon-Bon sighed, frowning. "But I'm still kind of upset, because that was mean of him. Freddy, come here." Freddy perked up and looked back at his former best friend. "I guess I'm..." Bon-Bon muttered something.

"What? I didn't hear you..." Freddy whined.

"I'm sorry." Bon-Bon apologized.

Freddy smiled a little. "You know it's okay, buddy. I forgive you."

"Really?"

"Yes."

"I guess I can be friends with you again, or something." Bon-Bon looked over at Foxy with contempt. "I'm still gonna hang out with Foxy, though."

"No, no, you don't have to be with me." Foxy assured Bon-Bon, not wanting to be his puppet master. "You should go work with Freddy again. You two were meant to be together."

Freddy's face lightened up, his hope of being with his best friend again starting to become renewed.

Bon-Bon shook his head calmly, and smiled at Foxy. "No, I wanna try you for a little while."

"Uh, that's a really weird thing to say."

Freddy looked heartbroken once more. "Fine! Go with him, then!" Freddy retreated into behind the kitchen counter, crying his eyes out.

"Freddy, don't worry! I'm sure that someday he'll become your friend again!" Foxy comforted Freddy.

"Hey, wait a minute!" Garbage yelled up to them, a note of shock in his voice. "I hear another voice that I haven't heard before! New person, are you here to save me?! Help, I'm down here!"

The animatronics paused and smiled at each other, amused by Garbage's actions.

"Oh, Garbage." Freddy sighed, breaking out of his tears and looking smugly down at the chute. "When will he learn?"

"Uh, that's another animatronic you're talking to." Foxy informed Garbage, shrugging. "His name is Bonnie, but we call him Bon-Bon. He's kind of a hand-puppet."

"Oh, gosh darn it!" Garbage groaned unhappily.

"Yeah, don't even try to break out. There's no escape." Freddy told Garbage, smirking.

"Wait a minute!" Foxy cut in. Foxy just realized that the garbage chute had been open when Foxy had came in, but Freddy couldn't open doors. "Freddy, how did you open that?"

"Open what?"

"This." Foxy drew a pointed finger at the trash chute.

Freddy seemed surprised. He looked at his hands. "Oh, I don't know! Everything was just happening so fast, and then...that..."

"This IS getting weird." Foxy specified, curious as to how FREDDY possible could or could not open doors now. Freddy, meanwhile, was backing towards the door. "Freddy, get back here!"

"No!" Freddy shouted as he exited the kitchen. Foxy chased after him. Freddy vaulted over the stand again, and Foxy followed suit as Freddy ran into Foxy's cove.

"Wow, this is weird! He can open certain doors! I don't get it." Foxy blurted as he chased after Freddy and Puppet and Bon-Bon came behind him. Foxy entered his room and found Freddy crouching in one of the corners.

"They'll never see me here." Freddy mumbled as he stayed still there. Foxy just stared at Freddy. Puppet and Bon-Bon came in and did the same. "They'd never look here."

"Oh, where oh where is Freddy?" Foxy called out sarcastically as he pretended to wander around the room.

"He's in the corner." Bon-Bon piped up.

"Um, I know that. I can see him."

"Nope, you can't see me!" Freddy claimed as he kept facing the corner. Foxy approached him. "I can't see you, so you can't see me!"

"Freddy." Foxy muttered, narrowing his eyes at the bear. All was silent for a second. "I can see you." Freddy turned around and screamed, squirming on the spot.

"And you're trapped now!" Bon-Bon jeered playfully.

"Um, Bon-Bon, I said to be nice."

"Oh, but I thought we were playing Trap Freddy and Make Him My Slave."

"Um, it doesn't work that way." Foxy explained. Foxy thought that Bon-Bon would stop making fun of Freddy after he said sorry, but clearly he still intended to do it just to see Freddy become uncomfortable.

"Yes, it does."

"NO, it doesn't." Foxy groaned. "Well, now that this is finally over, I'm gonna have to go and steal another monitor- I mean, no!"

The others stared at him in alarm.

"Wait, what was that?!" Puppet questioned Foxy anxiously.

"Puppet, can I borrow a monitor for the room that-I-didn't-know-was-mine?" Foxy chuckled nervously, but Freddy and Puppet looked very pleased.

"What a nice was to ask." Freddy commented earnestly.

"Yeah, that's such a nice way for you to ask me." Puppet agreed. He put a hand on Foxy's shoulder. "Well, sure, buddy. I'll go get you one."

"Ah, thank you. That's so kind of you." Foxy thanked Puppet, happy to hear that Puppet was willing to help him.

"Alright, be right back." Puppet left the room.

"Okay." Foxy replied nicely.

"Wow, that was cool that he doesn't know that's your room and you know about it all along-" Bon-Bon concluded quickly, but was unable to finish his sentence as Foxy had slapped his hand over the hand-puppet's mouth to quiet him down.

"Wait, what?" Freddy stuttered, confused.

"Um, that was nothing." Foxy lied, shaking his head.

"Oh, okay. I guess it was nothing. I mean, for a second there I thought I just heard Bon-Bon say that you knew that the room was your room all along and you lied to us."

"No, no, it's definitely not my room. Of course, it's not like I knew it was there the whole entire time and I've been secretly keeping it from you guys and also when I disappear, that's where I've been going. Nope, not one little bit."

"Ah, alright. Well, as long as that's not the case."

"He's real dumb."

"I know he is." Foxy mumbled to the voice quietly.

"Yeah, he is." Bon-Bon noticed, yelling his words out loud.

"Wow, Bon-Bon, you and the voice sound a tiny bit similar."

"Well, a little, I guess, but not really. By the way, you should really get that checked. Pretty sure having a voice in your head is a BAD thing." Foxy shrugged, then looked over at Freddy, who was staring at Foxy.

"What?" Foxy asked as Freddy examined him.

"Hmm. What are you talking about?" Freddy asked suspiciously.

"Uh, nothing at all." Foxy squawked as he went to his cove, where the curtains were opened and the trapdoor to his back room was still open. "I'm gonna go into my room and wait for Puppet. See you guys later."

"Bye!" Freddy responded, then left the room.

"I'm coming with you!" Bon-Bon squealed as he followed Foxy into through the trapdoor into the back room.

"Okay, fine." Foxy sighed as he and Bon-Bon entered the back room, ready to hang out for a while...

Chapter Text

"Seriously, why did Puppet give me a phone that I can't actually use?" Foxy griped as he examined his lackluster phone and faced towards Ballora.

Foxy was hanging out in Ballora's room today with the ballerina herself. Ballora was dancing on her pillar nearby, looking away from Foxy. Foxy was currently distracted with the fact that his phone had very little usage besides calling Puppet and playing Pokémon GO, which Foxy had not gotten around to yet as he didn't feel like playing it at the moment. There had also been the new mysterious appearance a strange app on there called Yelp, but Foxy hadn't dared touch that one.

Ballora had invited Foxy inside her room today, but Foxy was still confused as to why she had done so.

When Ballora didn't reply, Foxy went on. "Ballora, I'm talking to you."

"What?" Ballora complained as she turned towards Foxy irritably. "Ugh, you always need to talk to me. All I want to do is dance."

"You asked me to come in here, and here I am, talking to you!"

"I'm here too!" Bon-Bon's shrill voice rang out, and Foxy and Ballora both jumped; Bon-Bon was standing right behind them.

"Hey, woah! When'd you get here?!" Foxy asked, surprised to see the hand-puppet there.

"I followed you in. You went in here, and I followed behind you. Duh!"

"Oh, uh, okay." Foxy accepted this, and turned back to Ballora. "But, anyway, you asked me to come in here, and I'm here now! You're the one who knows how to use this phone better than me, and I don't even know how to use it myself! You put Pokémon GO on it, and you also put some app called Yelp."

"Um, I don't really know what you're talking about. That one, I don't know. The Pokémon one, yes, but Yelp? Uh, nope. I don't know."

"I'm sure you installed it there! See, you gave a rating to a pizzeria that hasn't even been opened yet. A.K.A, THIS PIZZERIA." Foxy held up his phone.

Ballora looked taken aback. "What? No I didn't! I didn't give it a ten out of ten- I mean, uh, I don't know."

Foxy held the phone back up to his face. "Yeah, see, you know that! Oh wait, and it also says this in the review description: 'Ballora's favorite room is Ballora's room.' You actually put your own name there! How do you even make mistakes like that?!"

"Well, of course I did that! After all, my room is the best- actually, um, I don't know what you're talking about." Ballora stopped dancing and approached Bon-Bon. "Bon-Bon, you did that, didn't you?"

"I didn't do anything! Hmph, I'm gonna ignore you now." Bon-Bon turned around, but then seemed to stumble around in circles. "Woah, dizzy..."

"Um, have you gotten into the candy again?" Foxy asked, thinking that the dizziness was caused by sugar.

"Maybe." Bon-Bon squeaked uncomfortably. "Maybe, maybe, maybe. I refuse to say."

"Okay..." Foxy went up to Ballora and whispered into her ear: "He got into the candy again."

"Wait, who's candy?" Ballora responded. "Bon-Bon, did you eat my candy from Halloween?"

"Oh, yeah, I did! That was very delicious. Thank you for it!" Bon-Bon admit happily. "I didn't think you were gonna share it, but you did! Thanks again!" Bon-Bon laughed dizzily.

"And that is why I don't like sharing with people." Ballora groaned, staring at Bon-Bon unpleasantly.

"Well, you have to learn to share, because.." Foxy went over to Bon-Bon. "Just look at how small he is! He's so tiny.." Foxy pushed Bon-Bon a little bit by accident as he said this.

"Hey, don't push me!" Bon-Bon screamed, aggravated.

"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to do that."

"Yeah, right! You know, maybe I should become Ballora's puppet instead!"

"No, absolutely not!" Ballora refused sternly. "You stay with Foxy. I don't want you. I can't dance with a puppet on my hand."

"Yeah, you can! I could learn how to jig, I can learn how to wiggle, I can learn...um, I think it's called a twerk, or a tweak? I think it's tweak. But anyways, I can do that."

Foxy gaped at the small hand-puppet as Ballora looked even more disgusted.

"Don't. Please don't. Please don't do that." Ballora stuttered. "That's gonna scar people for live, and scare them. Wait, actually, that'd be a good thing for those security guards. But not to US, though! Please don't do that here."

"Okay, I won't." Bon-Bon replied respectfully. "I'm sorry. I'm just still learning how to do stuff as a hand-puppet. You know, ever since I was ABANDONED by Freddy!" Bon-Bon became enraged for a moment.

Foxy quickly backed away from Bon-Bon and over to Ballora.

"Wow, um..." Foxy murmured.

"What was that? Why did he start yelling like that?" Ballora asked him, freaked out slightly.

"I don't know, but I'm kind of scared."

"WHAT ARE YOU GUYS TALKING ABOUT?!" Bon-Bon shrieked as he jumped over to them. Foxy and Ballora screamed and backed away even more.

"Oh gosh, now he's really angry..." Ballora muttered under her breath.

"You guys had better not be talking about me behind my back again!" Bon-Bon warned them as he glared at them angrily. "Because I know stuff. I know people."

"Um, anyways, what do you need, Foxy?!" Ballora asked Foxy to hurriedly change the subject.

"I think, uh, since you're here, you can come with me." Foxy replied, trying to think of something else to go on about. He remembered his back room behind the cove; Ballora hadn't seen it yet, so he figured he'd show it to her. "There's a secret room that I need to show you."

"Secret room?" Ballora looked bewildered.

"Yeah, I decided I'd tell you before Freddy and Puppet would tell you." Foxy went on as they exited the room and went back down the halls to Foxy's cove.

"Oh, I remember that! It's a really cool area behind Foxy's cove!" Bon-Bon exclaimed, his anger abating in the blink of an eye, and now replaced with eagerness.

"Bon-Bon, you didn't even give me a chance to tell her!"

"What?! I wasn't supposed to say anything?" Bon-Bon griped as they entered the main room.

"No! Oh, man, that's sucks- woah." Foxy found himself open-mouthed at a terrible sight. "What the...Ballora, did you do this?"

The normal entryway into the room was now blocked, a large wooden wall stood in the way instead. There was a wooden door in the middle of the wall, with a large lock holding it in place. The door had a glassless window with wooden bars in it, which showed the room inside.

"No, I've been in my room dancing!" Ballora revealed as she looked upon the wall. "Was this supposed to be like this?"

"I don't think so! Who put a wall here-"

"Hey, hold up, hold up, hold up!" The animatronics were cut off. Puppet had charged over to them. "It's not ready, it's not ready!"

"Huh?!" Foxy gasped. What was Puppet doing with his room. "What do you mean, it's not ready?!"

"IT." Was all Puppet said as he stood in the way of the wall. "IT is not ready."

"What are you talking about?"

"Is it a new ballet room for me?" Ballora asked hopefully.

"Uh, no. I'd better right that down, though." Puppet mentioned, and he took out a notepad and scribbled something on it while muttering: "Ballora...Ballet...Room..."

"Why is HE here?!" Bon-Bon shouted, unhappy to see Puppet there. The two puppets had so far not gotten along better in the slightest, and continued to be mean to each other. "I don't want him here. Can he go away now?"

Everyone stared at Bon-Bon.

"Wow." Foxy said, shaking his head disapprovingly at the hand-puppet. "That's kind of mean. Puppet, aren't you gonna respond to this?"

"Well, see, I'm a professional, and I am not going to be mean while on the job." Puppet reasoned simply. He squinted at Bon-Bon. "I'll see you after work, though." Bon-Bon nodded nervously. "But, let me tell you, I'm trying to do this thing for my show." Puppet patted the wooden wall. "I'm doing a show now."

"You have a show?" Ballora asked in slight disbelief.

"Yeah! It's about remodeling dirty, stinky places."

"WHAT?!" Foxy exclaimed, offended. His room wasn't unclean at all, he thought. "Take that back."

"Ooooh, take that, Foxy." Ballora taunted, somehow intrigued to hear this. "So you remodel places, Puppet?"

"Yep!" Puppet confirmed, smiling. "And the place number one on my list was Foxy's room!"

"Ha ha, your room is stinky!" Ballora went on, still wanting to make fun of Foxy. "And he won't do my room, it's clean."

"Say, would Ballora's happen to be next?" Foxy asked, stone-faced.

"Yes."

"What?! Take that back, Puppet!" Ballora yelled, also not very pleased to hear this.

"No." Puppet refused calmly, not looking even a bit sorry for his actions.

"Foxy, tell him not to do anything to my room!" Ballora ordered sharply.

"I can't tell him to take anything back!" Foxy responded, aware that he could not control what Puppet did around the pizzeria.

"Puppet, be nice to Ballora!" Bon-Bon backed Ballora up. Ballora seemed content. "She's gonna be my new puppet master soon, so you HAVE to be nice to her." Ballora's content look was wiped clean from her face at this.

"He means Foxy, right?" Ballora muttered, chuckling nervously while glancing at Bon-Bon.

"Well, that's still no excuse for me to change that room for the better!" Puppet declared, patting Bon-Bon mockingly. "Anyways, I think.." Puppet looked through the bars of the door for a second before going back to speaking. "I think I'm actually finished with the room!"

"Um, actually, before we do that, question!" Foxy cut in urgently.

"Raise your hand!"

Foxy did so. "Here!"

"Okay, Foxy! I pick you!"

"Yay, I got picked! I mean, uh, what I was gonna say was, how have you been getting in and out of the room if that has been there? I was literally here fifteen minutes ago, and this wasn't here."

"Ah, well, there's only one answer to that question, and you'll see it in a moment! The important thing is, your room is different now!"

Foxy was skeptical. He had wanted his plain room to be changed, but he was unsure if Puppet's actions taken on it would be for better or for worse, he had no clue which one but still was wary.

"Um, I'm already not liking this."

"Yeah, this sounds like a bad idea!" Bon-Bon agreed, but Puppet raised up his hands, and the talking ceased.

"Well.." Puppet suddenly coughed over against the wall, releasing a cloud of dust. "Woah, sorry! All the dust and fumes that got in there from the work and the carpentry." Ballora looked confused. "You know, when you sandpaper stuff? The dust gathers up. You gotta be careful of when that happens!"

"I'm still not sure if I'm gonna like this." Foxy commented doubtfully.

"You guys ready? Well, close your eyes! Well, you don't have to, Bon-Bon, I don't care about you. But Foxy, Ballora, you two close your eyes!"

"But my eyes are already closed." Ballora mentioned, pointing at her eyes. She was technically not wrong; her eyes were always closed tight, yet somehow she could see. Foxy still was bewildered at this, too.

"Yeah, we need to talk to you about how it is that you see. Are you squinting? Do you need glasses? Puppet, I think she needs glasses." Foxy chattered, his mind already jumping to conclusions in the blink of an eye.

"No, it's not that. I'm just super duper awesome, that's why." Ballora boasted. "I can sense everything."

"Schedule an appointment for the eye doctor. Got it."

Ballora sighed, clearly sick of Foxy's insistence that she get glasses. "No, I don't need to see the doctor!"

"Do you think a dentist could do it?" Puppet added. "I know a pretty good dentist."

"Really? You do- wait, I don't need a dentist either!"

"Aww, okay. His name is Doctor O, I've mentioned him before, but I guess that doesn't matter. You guys ready?"

"Okay, uh, let's do this." Foxy grunted, ready to see his room.

"Alright, I'll work my magic." Puppet took a key from his pocket. "One, two, three, go!" He unlocked the door and went inside the room.

"Oh, it's open!" Foxy exclaimed.

"That was paper mache! I saw it!" Bon-Bon claimed.

"Uh-huh, sure you did." Ballora mumbled, not listening to Bon-Bon. "So, what's it look like?"

"Come inside!" Foxy, Ballora, and Bon-Bon entered the room and Foxy found himself out of breath at the new look of his room.

The room was now more brightly lit, more lightbulbs connected into the ceiling. In front of the cove was three rows of stools, three per row, for people to sit down on. In one corner was a sizable stack of crates with a few extra stools next to it just in case more people came. Posters of Funtime Foxy that said things like Party Time! and Celebrate! scattered the walls, all pictures of Foxy preforming happily. There were also a few misc. paintings on the walls, showing random pictures such as a fireplace in a workshop, a gathering of stormy clouds over the sea at night, and one Foxy instantly recognized, which was The Scream by Edvard Munch.

"Um...what the..." Foxy gaped, unsure of what to say.

"Woah, did you paint all of these?!" Ballora gasped, examining the paintings.

"Yep, it was a hundred percent my effort!" Puppet said. "I even signed them on the back!"

"I've seen this one before; it isn't yours." Foxy clarified, going over to The Scream.

"Yeah it is!" Puppet replied insistently, but he was fooling nobody with his lies.

"Wait a second, I think I've seen this one too, before!" Ballora added, looking at the picture of the clouds over the sea. Foxy himself didn't recognize the other two paintings, and was unsure if Ballora was correct or not.

Puppet, unfazed, only just muttered thoughtfully.

"So, you've put boxes in the corner. Why? What's in them?" Foxy asked, pointing at the crates in the corner.

"Actually, they aren't part of the decoration. They're just where all the stuff came in from." Puppet explained. "I'm just too lazy to go and take them outside."

"So all you did was put chairs down in my room, and posters too- wait, how did you get my pictures?"

"Actually, they were from the company themselves. I found them printed out in the break room, so I kinda just took them."

"Alright, but, you only put stools, posters, and paintings in here."

"Yes, of course. And I even re-decorated your super-secret room!"

"Wait, what?"

"Yeah."

"Wait, Foxy, you have a secret room?" Ballora asked, interested suddenly.

"Yeah, that's what I was gonna show you." Foxy told her begrudgingly. "But it looks like Puppet's beat me to it. Take a look." They opened the curtains and the trapdoor was open at the flooring of Foxy's cove.

"Woah! You have a door underneath the floor and everything?!" Ballora exclaimed, in a mix of amazement and jealousy.

"Well, we gotta take a look inside the room." Puppet decided. "You first, Foxy. It's best that you see it first."

"Okay. By the way, Ballora, it wasn't MY secret room, at least not at first." Foxy lied. "We just found it one day, and I claimed it! Yeah, exactly." Foxy went through the trapdoor, and the tiny passage led to the door leading to the back room. Oh man, I'm not gonna like this... Foxy opened the door and entered, going up the small number of steps. "I'm going in, and...what the..."

Foxy found himself gazing open the back room, which had also changed. The computer at the end of the narrow room had been untouched, but had been moved to touch the left wall. Next to the computer was a large grey shelving unit, which stretched almost to the ceiling. A reddish-brown chest of drawers had been put against the left wall, while the right wall was now taken up by a massive tv screen with speakers indented on both the left and right of the main screen. The squeaky plush yellow flooring and the dull grey ceiling had both been replaced by clean and fashionable wood.

"Ta-da!" Puppet cheered as he entered the room too.

"What...what..." Was all Foxy could say, as he was awestruck by the back room too. Ballora came in and also began to marvel over the room.

"Woah..." She said as she took it all in.

"I'll give you the tour, Foxy!" Puppet declared eagerly. "Let's start off with the most important stuff first!" He placed a hand on the chest of drawers. "This right here is where you can put your clothes, and jammies, and stuff!"

"I don't have clothes!" Foxy griped, annoyed that Puppet had gotten him something to store stuff that he didn't have.

"Ew, that means there's underwear! Gross!" Ballora whined as she backed away as quickly as she could.

"Foxy, you do have clothes! You can keep them in there." Bon-Bon cut in, popping up next to them. "You can store those security guard clothes and maintenance people clothes!"

"BON-BON!"

"Sorry." Bon-Bon ran out of the room. "Okay, now I'm going to hide. I'm scared right now."

"Bonnie, come out! Where are you?" Foxy called, exiting the trapdoor and coming back into his room. Bon-Bon was resting against the wall, his eyes shut thoughtfully. "Oh, there you are!"

"Oh, don't worry about me." Bon-Bon assured him, opening an eye slightly. "I'm just chilling and ignoring whatever happens in there. Pay no mind."

Foxy nodded and entered back into his back room, where Puppet and Ballora still where.

"Can we watch tv?" Ballora asked Puppet, gazing longingly at the tv screen on the wall.

"That's actually not just a tv, but that's not important right now." Puppet replied, waving it off. He went over to the shelving unit. "This right here is the state-of-the-art normal shelf. For all your shelf needs!"

"Um...okay." Foxy muttered. He didn't have much of an opinion on the shelving unit, except that he might have trouble reaching the higher areas of it.

"I'm not sure how you could reach the top shelf, but I'm sure you can figure it out."

"Eh, I'll just throw Bon-Bon up there if I need to access it."

"Wait, what?" Foxy could hear Bon-Bon stutter from the other room.

"Oh, yeah, you could throw Bon-Bon up there. Ew, that's a weird name."

"What about this computer?" Ballora asked. "I want this computer. Can I have it?"

"No, it's meant for Foxy. However, this is actually a super-duper computer. Your old computer, Foxy, was lame and smelly, so I souped it up! I put mice in there, and they're running on cogwheels."

"That sounds like the exact OPPOSITE of what I would have wanted." Foxy told Puppet, frowning.

"I think it's nice! Can you put guinea pigs in mine?" Ballora asked, smiling.

"You have a computer?" Puppet replied, his eyes widening in surprise.

"Um, no. I don't." Ballora stared at the ground for a moment.

"Yeah, that's what I thought." Foxy mocked her. "Anyways, what's this right here?" He pointed at the giant tv screen. "Is this a tv?"

"This is for all of your spying needs!" Puppet exclaimed eagerly. "You know how you like to spy on people?"

"What?"

"Yeah! You were talking to me about it the other day."

"No, I wasn't-"

"He knows too much!"

"Shut up, voice."

"On this giant monitor," Puppet explained, having not heard the voice this time, "you can check every room in the building! You can check Ballora's room-"

"You better not look at my room." Ballora threatened Foxy unhappily.

"-my room, Freddy's room, the basement-"

"Wait, did he just say basement?"

"Basement?" Foxy stuttered. When did they have a basement in the pizzeria?

"Ah, that's not important!" Puppet shrugged it off, shaking his head quickly. "It's fine, don't worry!"

"Puppet!"

"The point is, you can look at everything!"

"Puppet, you can't ignore us like this. Basement?"

"Hmm? Nice tv!" Puppet patted the tv again.

"Yeah, it is a nice tv, but-"

"It plays Blu-ray, too!" ("Blu-ray? Oooh!" Ballora chattered from next to them.)

"You do understand that I didn't tell you to re-decorate?" Foxy groaned. He had told Puppet yesterday that he only needed a new monitor, but now he had gone and changed the room with Foxy knowing. "All I needed was a new monitor, because Freddy threw the previous one down to, um, Garbage."

"Mm-hmm."

"And you did all this."

"Yes. Don't you like it?"

"Um, I...it's nice, but why would a need a tv this big?" Foxy stretched his arm up to indicate the tv's massive size.

"Well, maybe you'd just like to sit back, relax, and, y'know, experience the 'theater live'."

"Where do you sit to watch it, though?" Ballora interrupted. She sat on the chest of drawers. "This?"

"Yeah!"

Foxy sat down and cringed; it wasn't at all nice to sit on. "This isn't very comfortable."

"Well, you could just sit on your computer chair and turn sideways." Puppet put a hand on the chair next to the computer desk.

"Yeah, but I'm watching it at an angle!" Foxy griped, sitting down in the chair to show Puppet. "Can't I just move the chair?"

"Surprisingly enough, it's nailed to the ground. So, no." Foxy checked and saw that the chair legs did indeed have thick, hard nails in them, which connected the chair itself to the ground. Puppet sighed. "You're just too picky."

"You know, maybe you shouldn't do your show." Ballora suggested, discouraged by Puppet's job with the tv. "Maybe I should! Ballora, with her amazing house makeovers!"

"Um, I'd rather not have my room be pink." Foxy revealed, aware of the color Ballora would use for every room; her favorite one.

"What's wrong with pink? Do you have something wrong with pink?" Ballora snapped, offended somehow.

"Well, I'm partially pink, so I'm not hateful of it. I just don't want to be completely pink. Neither me nor my room. Man, this reminds me of my old suit. I really miss it." Foxy grumbled silently, he could remember the good old days when he had the cool red-orange suit and had an eyepatch and hook, and was a better pirate. Once again, despite his declaration of moving on from the past, he still longed to have his old suit back.

"Oh man, I remember the days when I had a hook, an eyepatch, orange fur. Ah, those were the days!" Foxy reminisced fondly.

"So, can I have my payment for this?" Puppet urged, holding out his hands.

"Um, I didn't agree to this!" Foxy backed away as Puppet stared Foxy down. "You're getting creepy again. Stop."

"Well, then this was certainly a big waste of my time and my resources. I'm just gonna go and rethink some stuff." Puppet left the room.

Ballora looked confused, and Foxy could see this. "Yeah, he keeps trying to get me to buy stuff. Last time it was toys, or something.

Ballora squealed interestedly. "I want toys!"

"Puppet, come back!" Foxy called as he and Ballora exited the room themselves, but Puppet was gone. He turned to Bon-Bon, who was still leaning against the wall silently. "Bon-Bon, where'd he go?"

"I don't know. I wasn't paying attention to his stupid face." Bon-Bon snapped, annoyed.

"Bon-Bon, be nice!" Foxy repeated as he and the others went down the main room and the hallways, searching for their marionette friend. "Puppet! Puppet!"

"Ow! Get out of my way, Bon-Bon!" Ballora whined, her and Bon-Bon pushing each other to catch up to Foxy.

"It's not my fault that you're not fast enough to catch up with us!" Bon-Bon replied, snarky as he passed Ballora. Foxy entered Puppet's room, having a feeling that Puppet would have retreated to his box.

Unfortunately enough for Ballora, Bon-Bon was right. Ballora was also an exceptionally slow runner, the worst of all of the animatronics in fact. She commonly pranced and leaped instead of running, as her jumping skills proved to be more developed than her running skills.

"Puppet, knock knock!" Foxy called, tapping on the box.

"Who's there?" Puppet asked halfhazardly.

"Uh, can you come out?"

"Come out from where?"

"Your box."

"I'm not in my box."

"Huh?" Foxy whipped around and jumped. Puppet was standing right behind them.

"How'd you get there? I swore I heard you down in the box!" Ballora asked confusedly.

"No, I was in the restroom!" Puppet revealed, shrugging.

"Were you in the boys' bathroom?" Ballora questioned him, eyeing him with suspicion.

"Yes, OBVIOUSLY!" Puppet jeered, frowning in her face.

"Good!" Ballora huffed, pushing him away. "Besides, those cookies in there are mine anyway-"

"Cookies?!" Foxy exclaimed. If there were cookies in the girls' bathroom, it would be infinitely worth it to go in there. He rushed into the girls' bathroom, Ballora chasing after him with shouts of protest as Foxy checked every area of the room, only to find no cookies. "Where are they? I don't see them!"

"I have them!" Ballora said, pushing him back. "They're in my pockets."

"Aw, man..." Foxy groaned, disappointed as he exited the girls' bathroom.

"We can go in the girls' room, dummy! I am one!"

"Shut up, voice. Your existence doesn't alter my privileges." Foxy growled back at the voice, wanting it to stay quiet.

"We can go in!"

"Voice, not now!"

"Stop pushing me, Ballora!" Bon-Bon grumped as Ballora pushed him away from the bathroom door.

"Well, then get out of the girls' bathroom! Only girls can go in!" Ballora instructed the hand-puppet sternly.

"I can go in! It's where I came out from, after all!"

"You're a boy, Bon-Bon! And besides, you came out of the boys'."

"No, the girls'."

"Um, no, you came out of the boys'."

"Girls'."

"You know what?! I'm not gonna argue with some dumb puppet. I'm gonna go back in here, so I can dance, practice, and eat cookies." She went into the bathroom, out of sight.

"Um, that sounds like a really weird thing to do." Foxy admit, but Ballora gave him no response, so he turned to Puppet to talk to him instead. "So, who helped you redecorate my room, anyhow?"

"It was all me! And..." Puppet muttered the last word, but it was so inaudible that Foxy could only just hear it when he listened with all his might.

"And who?"

"Hmm? I didn't say anything."

"You did say something. You said 'and' and then your voice kind trailed off."

"No, no."

"Yes."

"I think you're just hearing stuff again."

"No, you definitely said 'and' and then got quiet!" Bon-Bon yelled. "I'm not fooled."

"Just tell me, Puppet. Who was it?" Foxy asked insistently, wanting Puppet to give him the truth.

Puppet looked reluctant for a moment, then smiled nervously. "Nobody important. Say, I gotta use the restroom as well! And maybe find a dragon or something." Puppet rushed into the bathroom. Foxy followed him, stuttering indecipherably at Puppet's actions. "Hey, I'm busy! No following!"

"How?! No, I'm following you! I don't trust you. There has to be a secret door in here, or something." Foxy inspected the walls, trying to find a secret.

"I said don't follow me!"

"Is there a secret door-"

"GO!"

"Okay, fine! Geez!" Foxy left the room, upset.

"Man, our friends are being weird today!" Bon-Bon pointed out as he slouched against the wall, having waited for Foxy to leave the boys' bathroom. "You know what? I think you should go and see what Ballora's doing."

"What?! Are you sure?" Foxy knew he was not meant to enter the girls' bathroom, and he was afraid that Ballora would be doing something private in there.

"Yeah! I mean, she said she was gonna dance in there, so you can't possibly get in trouble for going in to watch her!"

"Okay, fine. I'll do it."

"Yes, do it."

Foxy entered the girls' bathroom to the strange noise of what seemed to be chewing. He looked into the open stall and was greeted with Ballora seated on the closed toilet, scarfing up a large number of chocolate-chip cookies.

"Are you serious?"

Ballora screamed. "AH! GET OUT OF HERE, SHOO!"

"Are you just sitting there, eating cookies?"

"No!"

"Yes, she was eating cookies!"

Foxy didn't tell off the voice this time; it was right anyhow. Ballora was eating cookies. All he did was groan at the obnoxious voice.

"Get out, or I'm gonna tell on you!" Ballora threatened him. "You're gonna get in big trouble if I do that!"

"And who are you gonna tell?"

"I'm gonna, uh...tell Freddy! Yeah, he won't like this!"

"Oh, Freddy! I'm so SCARED!" Foxy said sarcastically.

"You're not supposed to be in here, okay?" Ballora sighed, worn out. "This is the girls' bathroom."

"We can be in here if we want!"

Foxy growled at the voice, and it went quiet. He focused back on Ballora. "Ugh, sorry about that. Had a moment."

"This is really awkward." Ballora whined quietly, exiting the stall and pushing Bon-Bon aside, who had also entered the bathroom.

"Hey, stop pushing me around!" Bon-Bon screamed as he and Foxy followed Ballora out of the bathroom.

"I'M-JUST-GONNA-GO-BYE!" Ballora yelled hurriedly, and then rushed off towards her room, with the door already wide open. Foxy and Bon-Bon followed her inside her room as Ballora rushed back onto her pedestal.

"Wait, I just wanna talk!" Foxy called her desperately.

"And take your body!"

"I told you to stop doing that!" Foxy berated the voice angrily, shutting it up again.

"Yeesh, who are you talking to?" Ballora asked as she approached them.

"Yeah, I was wondering about that thing too!" Bon-Bon added. "He keeps talking to himself all the time. It's so, so weird!"

"Oh, and you think you're any better? You keep talking over us all the time and getting distracted by the area!"

"I'm sorry! I just can't help it- woah, this chair looks nice..."

"Okay, I'm just gonna go over in this room and get away from you.." Ballora retreated into the room beside her stage. Foxy was about to chase after her when he heard footsteps behind him. He turned and saw that Puppet was peeking through the open door.

"Puppet." Foxy said.

"Aah! Hello."

"I saw you standing here. What are you doing?"

"Just standing here, talking to my friend."

"Who? There's no one else here." Foxy inspected the corner of the hall that Puppet had hid by to peek into Ballora's room. Sure enough, nobody else was there.

"You, silly!" Puppet laughed, although it was in a tone that sounded doubtful and without truth.

"This is getting weird again-" Foxy turned around to see Ballora poking her head out of the door next to the stage, which was open. Foxy felt surprised to see this; he thought Ballora couldn't open doors. "Ballora, you opened that door?!" Ballora gasped and retreated into the room, but Foxy came to the door anyways.

"No, it's...well, let me explain." Ballora replied. She came out to Foxy and began to show off the area by the door. "There's actually a little button-or more rather, plate- down beneath this door that opens it." Foxy looked down, and located the plate. It had the exact same color and texture as the floor, and was so well hidden that Foxy knew he would have never found it if Ballora hadn't shown him it.

"Ooooh!" Puppet gasped as he entered the room. Foxy entered it too, and so did Ballora and Bon-Bon. The vent was still open, the iron grate door still pulled open.

"Actually, we never checked in here!" Foxy mentioned, pointing out the vent. He went inside and climbed up the ladder to the brown vent corridor above. "What is this?"

"Get out of my diary room! It's where I go to write in my diary." Ballora informed him as she chased after him. Foxy went down the corridor, another ladder went down further. Foxy went down the ladder a bit of the ways, heading to a floor of the vent where there were two openings; both showing Ballora's room.

"Woah, this is totally new!" Foxy exclaimed as her marveled over the area. There was so much more of the pizzeria, and Foxy had never yet explored it all, so this was new to him. "This is crazy. More vents, more awesomeness." Foxy went back to the ladder and went down to the next floor, exiting the vent entirely.

The room he was in now was very unpleasant. Some of the walls were colored like Ballora's walls, although one wall had the familiar red-and-white stripes. Dirt patches scattered the white tile flooring, which was dirty. There was no lightbulbs to illuminate the room, casting a darkness on it all, with the light of the vents providing a feeble glow that barely showed off the room.

"Woah, there's a random room back here!" Foxy gaped, sort of scared of the uninviting darkness of the room.

"I know, that's where I practice my secret dancing skills!" Ballora called back to him.

"Um, were you digging up the ground here?" Foxy asked as he examined the dirt patches.

"No, what are you talking about?"

"It's like someone dug here."

"What?!"

"Yeah!"

"Are you sure you didn't do that, Foxy?"

"No, I only just got down here! Come and see it!"

Ballora came down the ladder and into the room. She looked thoroughly surprised, most likely having never seen the room before.

"What?! Where did this come from?!" She exclaimed.

"See?" Foxy commented as he showed off the dirt patches. "Somebody's been digging down here!" Puppet came into the room as well and examined the dirt patches. He said nothing, but did seem notably curious about it.

"Puppet, was this done by you?"

"Nah, I didn't even know that this room existed!" Puppet replied.

"Uh, are you being serious?"

"Yeah!"

"This is eerie!" Ballora whined, not liking the room. Foxy went back to the ladder, ready to head back, when suddenly...

"HEY, WHO ARE YOU?! HEY, GET OUT OF HERE!" Bon-Bon screamed from back in Ballora's room.

"Woah, Bon-Bon! Are you okay?!" Foxy called back, concerned, but there was no reply. Foxy and co. went up the ladder and back down the upper vent corridor.

"What's wrong?" Ballora inquired Foxy.

"Bon-Bon went quiet-" Foxy began, but then winced in pain as he dropped down past the first ladder back to the vent entrance. "Ow, ow, ow."

"Oh, yeah, there was a bit of a fall there..." Ballora told him as she dropped down, Puppet following behind them. The exited back into the back room. Bon-Bon was huffing and puffing, out of breath as he stood by the door.

"Oh, there you are!" Bon-Bon uttered, breathing heavily. "I just saw something, but I don't know what it was! It ran off really fast."

"Uh, that's weird..." Foxy muttered, now actually worried. Who was here in the pizzeria? Foxy had a bad feeling inside him. He went into Ballora's room, but the others did not follow.

"Go check it out!" Ballora urged him.

"I'll go look, I'll go look." Foxy assured them, and then he ambled into the hallway. He went down it, looking around, but the area was deserted. It was quiet, so quiet in fact that Foxy could hear a pin drop nearby. The others followed him from a distance, Bon-Bon closer and more confidently, but Ballora and Puppet more afraid and unsure. Foxy saw nothing, and drew a conclusion then and there: "It doesn't look like anyone's around."

"Nobody at all? I mean, are you sure?" Ballora asked, still cautious. Foxy checked Puppet's room and peeked over into his water ride.

"Yeah, I'm sure. If somebody was here, we would have heard he or she opening doors."

"He or she? Maybe...they'll have cookies?" Ballora held out her stack of cookies.

"Maybe."

"Well, they better not be in the girls' bathroom." Ballora checked inside the room quickly, then came back out. "Nope, nobody."

"No one." Foxy muttered as he went through the smaller hallway and came into the main room, checking every area of it; including the bouncy house. "Huh." The others came up to him, and they face each other by the entrance. "Well, we need to find out more about this thing. Bon-Bon, did it look human?"

"No, it looked like one of us, but...weirder." Bon-Bon retorted anxiously.

"Can you explain it?"

"Not really, it just looked bizarre."

"Geez, you're no help to us."

"Yeesh, sorry! I only saw it out of the corner of my eye, how'd you expect me to have seen everything?!"

Foxy and the others checked the kitchen and break room, but they were also empty.

"Could it have been Garbage?" Ballora eyed the closed garbage chute.

"No, it couldn't have been Garbage." Foxy deduced, aware that there was no way Garbage could have exited the chute.

"Aw, I wish we could talk to Garbage right now, but he's definitely asleep." Ballora sighed as they left the kitchen behind and re-entered the main room.

"Me too, but I'm sure he's sleeping right now. We'll talk to him later."

"Soon...soon he will come."

"Woah, what?!" Foxy exclaimed, hearing the voice's statement. The others looked around fearfully, but nobody else was there.

"What was that?"

"That's so odd..."

"That's really weird..."

The others chattered anxiously about it, but then stopped as Bon-Bon approached Foxy.

"You know? We should just go and relax." Bon-Bon suggested. "And wait, you know."

"Ugh, good idea." Foxy agreed as he re-entered his room, pushing the door of the wooden wall open to get inside. "I'll just go into my supposed NEW, DECORATED ROOM." Foxy sighed.

"It's new and improved!" Puppet commented as he left.

"Yeah, you tell yourself that."

"Well, I'm gonna go eat cookies and dance." Ballora left as well.

"And I'm gonna go to bed." Puppet added.

"Okay, goodnight." Foxy and Bon-Bon went into through the trapdoor and entered the back room closing the door behind them. Bon-Bon sat down on the chest of drawers and Foxy took a seat on his desk chair.

"Why's everything been so strange, recently?" Bon-Bon asked as he settled himself down to sleep.

"I don't know, but.." Foxy looked over at his tv, ready to find its purpose later, to calm down by using his pc before he went to bed, and said: "...maybe this tv will come in handy."

Chapter Text

"And that's how I escaped from prison." Bon-Bon concluded, finishing his story.

Foxy, Ballora, Puppet, and Bon-Bon sat in the main room, on another calm night. Right now, Bon-Bon had just finished telling about how he had made a daring escape from a maximum security prison.

The others shared looks of befuddlement and doubt as Bon-Bon stared at them, looking proud.

"That was...you didn't do that, you got that from a movie!" Puppet cut in, unimpressed.

"No, no, that's actually what I did." Bon-Bon insisted, his proud grin stretching wider. "I jumped onto a moving train, flew on a plane, and then jumped into a river!"

"You said you got here through a hole!" ("The toilet." Ballora muttered nearby.)

"Well, I lied. The toilet was part of it, but to end a long journey, you do have to stop somewhere. And this is where I ended up, yep!"

"Um, you know that didn't happen, right?" Foxy asked, seeing through Bon-Bon's obvious lies. Foxy already had heard the real story when Bon-Bon had came, so he wasn't fooled. "You came from some place below us. That prison break story never happened."

"Yeah, it did."

"You even told us that Freddy abandoned you!"

"Well, I DON'T like talking about it, okay?!"

"Woah, okay."

Bon-Bon sighed, smiled a little, then looked to Ballora. "Ballora, hey! How are you doing today?"

"I'm good. I'm just listening to you talk about prison, and jail, and stuff." Ballora replied, partly bored.

"You just said the same thing twice. Prison and jail are the same thing." Puppet pointed out.

"No, I didn't. Stop being mean, Puppet."

"You did. They're literally the same exact thing." Foxy added, squinting at Ballora.

"Yeah, they are!" Bon-Bon agreed.

"No, they're different. Jail has the cell with bars, while prison is in a box in a far away place." Ballora claimed.

"She doesn't get it, does she?" Bon-Bon asked Foxy, giving Ballora an annoyed glance. "Yeah, HE doesn't!"

"HE?!" Ballora exclaimed, outraged. "Did you just call me a guy?!"

"Yeah, cause you are!"

Ballora stood up and walked over Bon-Bon giving him a furious look.

"No, wait! He's kidding, yeah!" Foxy broke in, pushing Ballora back and smiling nervously. "Don't worry."

"Hmm." Ballora muttered. She nodded and sat back down, but continued to stare at Bon-Bon with displeasure.

"Well, I do get kinda confused, because Foxy looks just like a girl." Bon-Bon explained. "Remember that one time when you were a girl, Foxy?"

"I don't like to talk about that!" Foxy growled. He could remember it clearly, and he had never been a girl. There had once been a girl fox in a previous location he had been in, but he wanted to avoid talking about it to everyone else. "Look, that was another Foxy."

"What are you talking about, another Foxy? Does that mean that girl Foxy wasn't you-"

"Don't worry about it!" The others stared at Foxy, baffled. "You guys didn't hear that, right?"

"They know too much."

"Shut up, voice. But really, you guys didn't hear that, right?"

"Well, I heard it, but I didn't get the full gist of it because I don't really pay attention anymore." Ballora said.

"Yeah, I mean, it's not like we're one foot away from you or anything." Puppet added.

Foxy breathed a sigh of relief. They couldn't figure it out, even when they were that close.

"You're not that smart, Foxy." Bon-Bon insulted.

"Leave me alone." Foxy retorted, wanting Bon-Bon to stop saying mean things.

"YOU'RE NOT THAT SMART!"

"Stop saying that! Ugh, geez!" Foxy decided it was time to change the subject back to the storytelling. "So...does anyone else have any good stories? Bon-Bon isn't that good at telling them, so we need to switch gears. You guys got anything?"

"Yes, I do!" Puppet answered, raising his hand.

"Okay, what do you have?"

"A long time ago, before I worked here, I had a job as a sailor!"

"I don't believe that-" Foxy was interrupted by Ballora, who had fallen asleep and was snoring loudly.

"Hey, I barely even said anything yet!" Puppet cried, running up to her.

"Ballora, wake up!" Foxy yelled.

"Huh? What? Are you done telling the story?" Ballora sputtered as she woke up.

"No! I only got to say, like, fifteen words!"

"It's really tiring to listen to all of you talk."

"Yeah, I know!" Foxy cut in. "But the thing is, being a sailor is like being a pirate! But you're not a pirate, Puppet! I am! I'm Foxy the pirate, arrrgh!"

"I bet that I could be a better pirate than you." Puppet upheld, sneering.

"No, I'm the best."

"Yeah, he is pretty good at being a pirate." Bon-Bon backed Foxy up, shrugging.

"Be quiet Bon-Bon! I'm definitely the most capable of being a pirate!" Ballora declared, standing on the table to show off.

"I bet neither of you could even steer a ship!" Puppet challenged sharply.

"Good things we have no way to prove your pirate skills!" Foxy laughed. "I'm the best pirate, and there's no way to show otherwise!"

"Yeah, there is! You could go into the one room that has the boats." Bon-Bon suggested to them.

"Bon-Bon, you're putting me on the spot here!" Foxy whispered to Bon-Bon irritably. "They weren't supposed to know about that!"

"Oh yeah, that place!" Puppet exclaimed. "Let's go test out our skills there!"

Foxy sighed. "Okay, we can go there, but we can't go IN because there's water. You know that already."

"Don't worry, that won't stop you." Bon-Bon added as they ran along the hall to the water area.

"Bon-Bon!" Foxy griped. He cursed the hand-puppet inside his head; he was getting really sick of him. He had been a nuisicance to everybody ever since he had came, and now he was doing the one thing Foxy had hoped wouldn't happen: he was putting his pirate skills to the test.

Foxy loved that he was pirate. It had been a honorable title that the others had never shared, and he took pride in it. But now, he was in fear. If the others could prove that they were better pirates, his title would be lost, and his pride extinguished. Foxy refused to let that happen, and felt determined to prove he was the better pirate.

"What, are you SCARED?" Ballora taunted Foxy as they walked up to the entrance of the water area.

"No, not at all! Look, I'll jump in-" Foxy stopped in his tracks and stared nervously down at the water. Foxy was slightly sure that they were waterproof, but he still felt afraid to go in the water. He knew that even though he was a pirate, he had never been on a ship in water, or had even gotten into water. Foxy laughed anxiously and backed away from the entryway.

"See? There's nothing to worry about over here at all!" Ballora assured him as she herself went into peeked through the entryway instead.

"Yeah, uh...say, what's that over there?" Foxy pointed at the water.

"Where?" Ballora looked down into the water, distracted.

"Ha!" Foxy shouted as he pushed Ballora, who screamed and fell into the water. Thankfully, it was shallow enough to only reach the animatronics' hips, so she wasn't submerged.

"Ah! No! NO!" Ballora screamed, in a full-blown panic. She jumped out of the water, reaching almost the ceiling in height before splashing back down. The animatronics gaped as they watched her do so, and even Ballora herself looked surprised that she had accomplished it. "Woah, I jumped really high somehow."

"Yeah, I don't know how you did it." Foxy commented. "But I must say, you are really good at jumping."

"Well, yeah. I used my ballerina skills- AAH, I'M STILL IN THE WATER! ...wait, I'm okay."

"Yeah, I was gonna tell you that. I think you're airtight. Or, to be more simple, waterproof, so I think it's perfectly fine." Ballora seemed cheerful now and began to swim around the water area.

"Swimming, swimming, swimming..." Foxy could hear her mutter as she went along.

"Alright, now I know that we can swim in there, but..." Foxy continued. He turned to Bon-Bon. "Bon-Bon, I don't think you can go in there, so you stay right here."

"But I don't wanna!" Bon-Bon complained, unhappy to not be able to join in.

"I'm sorry, but you have to."

"Okay, whatever..."

Foxy sighed. The real reason he wasn't allowing Bon-Bon to step foot in the water was that he knew Bon-Bon wouldn't be able to swim properly. Foxy had planned to help him learn how eventually, but he knew that now Bon-Bon would drown if he tried to go in the water area. He settled on keeping Bon-Bon outside, for his personal safety.

"Okay, Ballora, can you bring me over a boat?" Foxy asked her, secretly not wanting to jump into the water himself. "It would be really nice of you-"

"You get your own boat!" She yelled back at him stubbornly as she kept swimming.

"But-" Foxy felt himself tripping from distraction, and he flopped into the water. "OH NO! AAAAAA- oh wait, we're waterproof. It's fine. Okay, let's grab our boats." Foxy swam over to one of the three boats floating in the water. Ballora helped herself into another. "Okay, Puppet, you can come in now." Puppet wasn't be the entrance. "Puppet? Oh!" Foxy gasped; Puppet had already gotten himself over to the third boat and climbed into it. "How'd you get down to your boat so fast?"

"I've been here before!" Puppet explained.

"No, no, that's a lie." Foxy denied it, not wanting to admit that Puppet had skill. "Okay, now we're in boats. Time for me to prove how good I am!" Foxy looked down inside the boat. Each boat had a steering well and a lever that went forward and backward, which were both used to control the boat. "Watch my skill!" Foxy maneuvered his boat forward; it collided with Puppet's boat and broke into many pieces. "Oh."

"Ha ha, you broke your boat!" Ballora laughed as she kept going around in her own boat.

"Well, you know what?! I'm taking your own boat. Gimme it." Foxy waded over to her boat and struggled with her, trying to get her off.

"I have another boat, just take it!" Ballora pulled out a small package and pressed a button on it; it inflated up into a boat. She pushed it over to Foxy.

"Oh, thanks." Foxy thanked hers he climbed in. "Wait, how'd you get that?"

"Um, there was an inflatable one in my back pocket."

"Well, thanks anyway. Time to show off my skills!"

(Author's Note: The boating part is just the animatronics going around in the water area with boats, and it would take me WAY LONGER then needed to describe everything in detail. So this next part is entirely character dialogue. I've labelled who's talking so nobody gets confused.)

Foxy: "See, look at this skill! I'll go around in circles!"

Puppet: "Vroom!"

Foxy: "See, look at my skills! Hey, you're going the wrong way!"

Puppet: "No, YOU were going the wrong way!"

Foxy: "No, I was. The correct way is righty tighty the whole way around. Not lefty loosey- oh, I broke my boat again!"

Ballora: "Here, have another boat."

Foxy: "No thanks, I already got another one. Hey, where do you keep getting these boats from?!"

Ballora: "I like to keep boats in my pocket, okay?!"

Foxy: "That's really, really weird. We're gonna have to talk about that."

Puppet: "My boat is all wonky, this is not fair!"

Foxy: "Yeah, my boat's all wonky, too- darn, I crashed again! At least there was another boat here. Yeesh, no wonder this ride's been closed for a while!"

Ballora: "Did NO ONE charge the batteries on these boats?"

Puppet: "My goodness, this is hard!"

Foxy: "See, now I'm going around- oop, I broke another boat."

Ballora: "Here, have another boat."

Foxy: "Okay, seriously, you have too many boats! Well, at least I'm back in a boat now. Now I can go around in circles- darn, crashed again!"

Puppet: "Oh no, me too!"

Foxy: "Ballora, do you have another boat- oh, thanks."

Puppet: "Yeesh, how many boats do you have, Ballora?"

Foxy: "There we go, going the right way now. See, look at this skill!"

Ballora: "Ow, my boat crashed! Thank goodness I have another. Yeah, I'm Ballora the boat master!"

Foxy: "Oop, I crashed again- thanks, Ballora. Wow, she has a lot of boats."

Puppet: "Oh no, my boat! I need another one, too."

Ballora: "You don't get another boat."

Puppet: "But I need one!"

Ballora: "Ugh, fine. You can have another."

Foxy: "Oop, crashed again!"

Ballora: "No, I crashed! Ugh, this is not working."

Puppet: "I'm the only one with a boat, I WIN- hey, give that back, Foxy!"

Foxy: "Ha, now I have the boat! It's all mine, la la la!"

Puppet: "It's my boat! Give me back my boat!"

Foxy: "Nope, it's all mine!"

Puppet: "No, it's mine!"

Foxy: "Ha ha, I win! I am the pirate king- oh. Well, now none of us have boats."

Puppet: "Ballora, do you have any more boats?"

Ballora: "Yeah, I have INFINITE boats! Here, you can have one-"

Foxy: "Ha, now it's mine!"

Ballora: "Oh, he just stole your boat!"

Puppet: "Foxy, you cheater!"

Foxy: "Now I'm the king- ugh, not again!"

Ballora: "Ah ha, you broke the boat! Here Puppet, take yours, too."

Foxy: "Why do these boats keep breaking so EASILY?! These are the worst boats ever! Well, thanks for the boat, Ballora."

Ballora: "Did you make these boats?"

Foxy: "Nope, it wasn't me- come on, not again!"

Ballora: "God, these boats are so BAD!"

Foxy: "I say that we get out of here. It's already been proven that I am the best pirate/boat captain ever."

Puppet: "You cheated! You broke all of our boats!"

Ballora: "Yeah, no one likes cheaters!"

(Author's Note 2: And now, back to your regularly formatted story.)

Foxy climbed out of the water area, shook off the water, then turned to Bon-Bon. "I'm the best, right, Bon-Bon?"

"Well, I couldn't see any of that from where I was, soooooooo….." Bon-Bon muttered. "I'm just gonna say that you won, because I don't like this."

"Guys, have you got out?" Foxy turned and saw that Puppet and Ballora had got out of the water area as well.

"Yeah, we're over here." Ballora told him.

Foxy nodded. He knew it was time to stop using the boats. The entire experience had been low-class: the boats were rickety and broke easily, and were also hard to maneuver. Foxy was ready to do something else.

"Okay, then, let's go."

"Wow, finally, we're moving along! I was so bored just standing over there." Bon-Bon sighed in relief as they went back down the hall. "So can I go in the water?"

"No, you can't."

"Aw, c'mon! I want to go in there with you guys!"

"Little Bon-Bon would drown because he's so SMALL." Ballora taunted him.

"Yeah, and you don't even have LEGS!" Puppet added. He and Ballora laughed at Bon-Bon.

"Grr, that's not funny!" Bon-Bon howled, upset.

"Woah, we were just joking!" Ballora exclaimed, no longer trying to be mean. "Calm down, Bon-Bon!"

"NO, I'M NOT GONNA CALM DOWN."

"Woah, what's with that voice?" Foxy gasped as they entered the main room.

"His voice sounds weird when he gets angry." Ballora pointed out. "It's sort of horrifying, and yet funny at the same time."

"Well, we need to get back on the topic of the boats!" Puppet cut in. "That wasn't too far, Foxy!"

"Yeah.." Ballora agreed, but before Foxy could respond, he found himself suddenly forced to inspect Ballora's suit.

"She has a nice body to take over. Yes, she does! Heh heh heh..."

"Wha?!" Ballora gasped, stepping away.

"Oh, uh, sorry!" Foxy apologized, embarrassed as he regained control. "That wasn't m- you have a nice figure, okay?"

"Uh, excuse me?"

"You're a good ballerina, that's what I meant to say! You can dance well, you can do stuff well, you know!"

"Well, yeah, I know I am. Duh!"

"I've changed my mind. She knows nothing."

"Exactly, yeah!" Foxy agreed with the voice.

"What?! I know nothing?" Ballora shouted, appalled.

"You know everything, YES! That's what I meant to say! What am I talking about, ha ha ha..."

"YOU know nothing, Foxy." Ballora insulted him back angrily.

"I know EVERYTHING."

"Yeah, yeah, right." Bon-Bon cut in. "He says that now, but tomorrow, he'll probably be all like: 'Hi! My name is Foxy!'"

"Hey, I don't do that all the time!"

"You do. I must say, you break down WAY too much."

"Um, well, actually, that's kinda true. I think there's something wrong with my electronics."

"Clearly." Ballora amended, glancing at Foxy. "Or maybe there's something wrong with Bon-Bon."

"Nope!" Bon-Bon said immedietaly.

"Well, there needs to be another way we can prove who the best pirate is, 'cause that was not fair." Puppet announced.

"I am the best pirate." Foxy replied. "It's known."

"Maybe we can poke our eyes out and see who looks better with an eyepatch?" Ballora suggested doubtfully.

"I have an idea! Let's do a contest to see who can do the best 'arrgh'." Puppet concluded.

Oh, ho ho, I'm gonna win this one. Foxy thought, sure of himself that his 'arrgh' would be the best. "Oh yeah, I like this."

"Alright, I'll go first." Puppet stood up and got up on the stage nearby. "I'll be up here. Alright..." Puppet cleared his throat loudly. "Arrgh!"

"I've heard better." Bon-Bon shouted almost instantly after Puppet finished.

"Yeah, see? Bon-Bon agrees." Foxy told Puppet.

"Hey, no disrespecting in the audience!" Puppet stressed, shaking his head disapprovingly.

"What audience?" Ballora said.

"Yeah, we're your only audience, Puppet. Not to mention that we're also the other contestants." Foxy conveyed. "So, yeah, it's kind of a mixed bag here."

"Alright, then let's see you do it, Mr. FANCY PANTS!" Puppet scoffed, getting off of the stage. "Or should I say Mr. NO PANTS?"

"Hey, leave me alone!" Foxy shouted as he got on stage. "Alright, here we go...ARRGH, MY MATEY! ARRGH! See?"

The others nodded a bit.

"That was okay." Ballora admit.

"That really was okay, I'll give you that." Puppet complied nicely.

"Well, Ballora, let me see you try." Foxy voiced, getting off of the stage.

"I'm a girl, and girls aren't pirates." Ballora maintained. "ESPECIALLY if I'm a ballerina."

It occurred to Foxy that Ballora hadn't even been trying to prove that she was the best pirate, she had only joined in just to have fun. He didn't blame her; the pizzeria could get boring quite often. However, he still wanted her to do it, and he knew just how to bait her into it.

"Okay, then you automatically lose." Foxy said.

"No, wait, I'll go! I'll try!" Ballora hollered, getting up on stage.

"Okay." Foxy mumbled, aware that his plan had worked.

"Okay, okay, okay..." Ballora cleared her throat even more loudly than Puppet had. "YAARGH, ME MATEY!" Foxy cringed, her pirate voice was earsplitting. "Okay, was that better?"

"No, that was terrible." Foxy groaned.

"What? No way! That was like, perfect!"

"Nope."

"Aw. Well, I tried." She got off of the stage.

"Alright, my turn!" Bon-Bon proclaimed. "I'm gonna do it right here because I'm AWESOME and I don't have to go up there! Ready?"

"Oh, this is gonna be good, guys, this is gonna be so funny.." Foxy assured the others, silently enough so Bon-Bon could not hear.

"Ready? 1...2..." And then, Bon-Bon, instead of saying 'arrgh', let out the most piercing sound ever, a sound of deepness and scratchiness and horribleness. Foxy, Ballora, and Puppet's faces twisted into a mix of shock, horror, and absolute fear, unable to resist the terrifying noise.

"What was that?!" Foxy and Puppet yammered at the same time.

"Uh...I'm kinda scared..." Ballora sputtered, afraid. She hid behind Foxy."

"Yeah, me too." Puppet stammered, also scared, and then hid behind Foxy too.

"Was that good, guys?" Bon-Bon asked, smiling happily.

"Um...um..." Foxy faltered, horrified by the sound Bon-Bon had produced. "W-what was t-that?" He exchanged nervous glances with the others.

"He didn't even s-say arrgh…" Puppet added, but was too afraid to say it so Bon-Bon could hear it.

"Where'd that come from, inside your voice box?" Ballora questioned needily. "Let me look." She reached for Bon-Bon's jaw.

"Hey, stop! Don't get close!" Bon-Bon protested uncomfortably, then dodged her outstretched hands and ran to Foxy. "Foxy, tell them to stop!"

"I-I-I don't even know w-what you a-are anymore." Foxy quivered. "How did you do such a scary thing over a little contest?"

"I don't know either. It's just the skills I have, apparently."

"Y-yeah, apparently. You could be in a death metal band with that kind of scream, dude."

"Well, thank you very much!" Bon-Bon grinned appreciatively.

"Bon-Bon, in a death metal band. That'd be kinda catchy." Ballora confessed.

"Yeah, actually, I'd listen to them all the time if that were a thing." Foxy concurred. "That sounds like it'd be a great band."

"Yeah, I think I should start a band now!" Bon-Bon cheered. "And by the way, none of you guys are invited."

The animatronics chose to ignore that last statement. Ballora sat down on a stool.

"What instrument would you play?" Puppet asked, somehow interested to hear about Bon-Bon being in a band.

"I will be the vocals!" Bon-Bon revealed, content. "And guitar."

"And guitar?" Ballora and Puppet said at the same time.

"Yep!"

"That's kinda cool." Ballora complimented. "Maybe I could do ballet and play the piano-"

"You're not invited!" Bon-Bon reminded her loudly.

"Can't I at least be one of your backup dancers-"

"Nope. YOU'RE NOT INIVTED."

"Woah..." Ballora gaped.

"You heard me." Bon-Bon bellowed, staring at her furiously.

"That looks is really weird, ooooh…." Ballora got up from the stool and got behind Foxy again.

"Sorry, you guys are not invited to my band. However, I might just let Foxy be there for support."

"So I get to be in the band?!" Foxy asked excitedly.

"Nope, not at all. You're the worst at playing instruments."

"Can we at least get tickets?" Puppet inquired Bon-Bon hopefully.

"...maybe."

"I mean, he doesn't even have a band yet, so we don't have to worry about this." Foxy indicated.

"I wonder how he'd even get a band together in the first place. He only has us, and he won't even invite us." Ballora referred.

"Maybe Garbage can be part of the band." Bon-Bon murmured.

"You want GARBAGE to be a part of your band?!" Foxy exclaimed, shocked that Bon-Bon would pick a security guard over his own friends.

"Well, he is human."

"But he's horrible." Ballora said.

"Well, we don't know. Maybe he actually is really good at playing instruments." Foxy told them honestly.

"Maybe we should go ask him." Puppet suggested.

"Ugh, I guess so. We have nothing else to do." They all headed into the kitchen nearby.

"Yay, we get to talk to Garbage!" Ballora celebrated, happy to be able to talk to their pet security guard again.

"You're a bit excited about this." Foxy chuckled as he crouched down and opened the chute. "Yo, Garbage. What's up, homie?"

"HELP, I NEED SOME FOOD!" Garbage screamed.

"Oh, you need more chicken?"

"Uh, I mean, hello! No more chicken, please."

"Chicken? Okay, I'll go get some more chicken from the fridge!" Ballora said, going over to the fridge.

"No, no more chicken!"

"Here we go!" Ballora yelled happily, grabbing chicken from the fridge. "Here's your chicken!" She threw it down the chute.

"No, please stop! No more chicken!"

"So since we gave you chicken, Bon-Bon wanted to know if you wanted to be in his band." Foxy explained.

"Band?"

"Yeah, he wants to know if you can play any instruments."

"Oh, yeah! I can!"

"What do you play?"

"The electric triangle."

"Bon-Bon what do you think of that- Bon-Bon?" Foxy was confused; Bon-Bon wasn't anywhere in sight within the kitchen.

"Bon-Bon, you're in the stove!" Ballora exclaimed, looking behind the counter. Foxy looked over the counter and saw that Bon-Bon was crawling around inside one of the stoves.

"Don't worry, it's okay. Doesn't feel as bad as you might think it would!" Bon-Bon assured them from inside the stove. "But I do want to go. Can someone get me out of here?"

"I didn't put him in there, I swear!" Puppet yelled. "Although he isn't coming out. Maybe that stove can be his new home."

Foxy went over to the stove and tried to pull Bon-Bon out, but he was stuck in there extremely tight. Foxy sighed, tired of trying to pull the hand-puppet out, and went back to the garbage chute. "Oh well, I guess he's gonna stick around there for a while. So, Bon-Bon, what'd you think of the electric triangle?"

"Well, it could be new and interesting. I think he should try out." Bon-Bon decided.

"What do you think, Garbage?" Foxy asked the former security guard. "Do you wanna try out?"

"Can I go home first?"

"Um, the answer is still no."

"Then no. Go away."

"Bye." Foxy said un-sympathetically, and closed the chute. "Well, that was rude."

"Aww, I was really looking forward to hearing his beautiful voice..." Ballora complained.

"You mean the triangle. He plays the triangle."

"Right, yeah! The triangle. Well, maybe he can sing too." They exited the room, leaving Bon-Bon to get himself unstuck. "So I guess Bon-Bon's gonna stay in the oven?"

"It's starting to get really hot in here, guys!" Bon-Bon called, his voice riddled with distress.

"I think he likes it in there! We should just leave him in there." Puppet implied, still wanting to get rid of Bon-Bon.

"Okay, that's not a good idea. Let's get him out." Foxy responded. They re-entered the kitchen. Foxy went to the stove and began to pull on the hand-puppet again. "Bon-Bon, come on! Come out!"

"You guys are still out there, right?" Bon-Bon asked hurriedly. Foxy began to fiddle with the stove's knobs, trying to turn off the heat.

"Yeah, we're still out here, but you're not coming out. I'll just turn it off-"

"Ow, hot hot hot!"

"Oh, sorry, that was up. Doing it the other way...there we go. You should be fine."

"Maybe we should just come back to this tomorrow night, yeah?" Puppet cut in.

"Um, Puppet, you leave the kitchen first. I don't trust you."

"I'll keep watch." Ballora decided, sitting down by the stove.

"Sounds like a plan." Foxy muttered, leaving the room with Puppet. "I'm gonna go to my room and rethink a LOT of stuff."

"Alright! See ya, Foxy!" Puppet waved goodbye to Foxy as he left the room.

"See ya." Foxy waved back, then went into his room. Thankfully, Puppet had managed to remove the wooden wall somehow, so Foxy found nothing blocking his way. He opened his curtains, stepped inside, and closed them behind him. He decided not to go into the back room today, he didn't feel like it. "Ugh, finally. For once, tonight I get to be alone."

Foxy sat down and began to think, mulling over everything that he had experience over the past few days...

Chapter Text

"You know, I should really go check on Bon-Bon." Foxy sighed as he sat down and relaxed inside his cove, his curtains drawn open to let the light of the pizzeria illuminate it. "He didn't come back after the stove fiasco last night. Time to go find him."

Bon-Bon had gotten himself accidentally trapped inside a stove yesterday, and had still been trapped when Foxy had left to go back to his cove. When Foxy had gone to sleep and then woken up, Bon-Bon had not returned. Foxy had not been worried originally, but now he felt slightly concerned; he wasn't sure whether Bon-Bon being missing was either a good thing or a bad thing, but he still figured that he needed to find him.

Foxy got to his feet and stepped out into his room, his eyes searching the area around him to spot the purple-pink bunny. Foxy knew he was small and could be anywhere, so he wanted to keep his eyes open.

"Bon-Bon, are you here? Bon-Bon!" He called, but got no response. "Huh, weird. I guess he's still in the stove. I can't believe I'm going to have to go and get him out of there. Man, I hope this'll teach him to be nicer to Puppet." Foxy wandered out of his room and through the main room, but paused as he eyed the kitchen door. Puppet was peeking into it. Foxy went over to him. "Puppet?"

"Woah!" Puppet exclaimed as he turned around. He seemed nervous, but quickly tried to smile to hide it. "H-hey buddy! How are you d-doing?"

"What were you doing in the kitchen?" Foxy asked him. Foxy now felt suspicious; Puppet had been doing something in the kitchen, and Foxy doubted it was anything that he was going to like.

"Uh, making tea for everybody!" Puppet replied, but Foxy could see that he was lying, based on his stutter-infested tone.

"We don't drink tea. And didn't I already tell you that I don't like tea?"

"You don't like a lot of things. But you haven't tried MY tea. I'm not making that gross tea, but some lemonade-tea. It's nice, I'm sure that you'll like it."

"Uh, I don't think that'd be good tea, but that's really not my concern right now. I have to go and check on Bon-Bon-"

"Woah, wait, wait, wait there!" Puppet cut in, pushing him back a little. "You don't need to. Let's just hang out here and talk about the good times and stuff."

"Well, honestly, I should get Bon-Bon out of the stove first so we can all talk-"

"No, let's just have one-on-one time, just the two of us!"

"Maybe I should get Ballora to help me. Yeah, that sounds like a good idea-"

"No no, one-on-one works. Here, have a seat." Puppet pulled out a stool for Foxy to sit on.

"Oh, okay." Foxy stuttered, sitting down reluctantly. "I'll trust you on this one." Foxy decided that he could put his trust in Puppet, at least for now. He still wanted to go find Bon-Bon, but one part of him was telling him that sitting down with Puppet was the way to go.

"So how has your day been, Foxy?"

"Well, my day has been weird. Bon-Bon didn't come back last night, so-"

"OH MY GOD! AAAAAAAAA!" Foxy jumped as Bon-Bon came speeding across the room, his back lit on fire, and ran into Foxy's room.

"Bon-Bon, stop!" Foxy yelled as he chased Bon-Bon into the room and quickly helped him get the fire put out. The hand-puppet stopped running and gasped for breath. "Are you okay?"

"I...I was on fire!" Bon-Bon squealed as he panted.

"What?! But I turned the stove off!"

"Well, you didn't! You left it on all night, and all that was in there to keep me from burning was this cake." Bon-Bon pulled out a cake with white icing and sprinkles on it, which looked baked to perfection.

"Well, at least you have cake. But I didn't turn it on, I could've sworn that I turned it...OFF." Foxy had finally put two and two together. He faced Puppet, who was standing next to him. "Puppet."

"Yeah?" Puppet replied.

"Did you go back in there and turn it back on?"

"Well, I went in to make myself a few cupcakes! Maybe I didn't see that there was another thing inside, but I didn't-"

"Wait a second, I remember you." Bon-Bon chimed in, stone-faced. "You had came into the kitchen! And then you started doing something, and I asked you what you were doing, but all you said was 'oh, nothing, blah blah blah', and then, everything got really, really hot. And then I realized that you turned the stove back on!"

"I was hungry! Cupcakes are important to help my...stomach-thing."

"Are you so scared of ME being the better puppet that you tried to get rid of me?"

"Ooo, he told you!" Foxy taunted Puppet, liking Bon-Bon retort. "Hi-five, Bon-Bon!" They did so. "Yeah!"

"Well, I'm not scared because I'm a certified puppet!" Puppet said back, trying not to become dejected. "And what are you?"

"I'm a classical puppet." Bon-Bon replied, snarky. "I'm the real puppet here. You're just a fake, don't you know puppets don't walk?"

"But I'm the original! You aren't."

"No, I am. I was one of the originals from the first location!"

"Yeah, but you weren't a puppet there!"

"You know what, guys? I have the best idea." Foxy told them both. He knew they were ready to prove who was better, so what better way then to do so in friendly competition? "We're gonna have a puppet-off."

"Puppet-off?" Bon-Bon mumbled, confused.

"A contest to see who's the best puppet! You guys will compete, and I will be the judge!"

"And the loser gets kicked off the island, right?!" Puppet exclaimed, trying to find another opportunity to get rid of Bon-Bon.

"No."

"Aww."

"But if we did so, clearly Puppet's the one who'd be leaving, because I'm the better one." Bon-Bon boasted.

"Okay, so here we go!" Foxy said as he led them into the main area to do the competition. "We're gonna figure out who's better, and the first, um, test of puppetry, is...uh.." Foxy looked around the area, trying to find something for Bon-Bon and Puppet to do. He spotted the smaller hallway connected to the main room, and something clicked. "oh, I have an idea!" Foxy led them over near the hallway. "Okay, both of you line up next to each other."

"Um, okay." Puppet replied, he and Bon-Bon getting into position.

"Here's the deal. You guys are gonna race ALL THE WAY down-" Foxy pointed down the hall. "-over to the wall of the bigger hallway, and then come back here. Whoever gets back first, wins."

"Oh, this should be easy." Bon-Bon boasted confidently.

"All the way to the other side and back?" Puppet asked to confirm the task.

"Yep. Don't ask why this has anything to do with being a puppet, it's just something to do with being a puppet. Trust me on this one." Foxy answered. They nodded. Foxu raised up his hand to count. "Okay, in three-"

"Wait, wait, we gotta stretch first! Or else we'll get cramps!" Puppet interrupted him.

"Okay, stretch then." The two puppets did so, stretching out all of their limbs thoroughly. When they had finished, Foxy raised his hand to count again. "Okay, guys, time to start. Make sure you're lined up." The two puppets shifted to make sure that they were lined up properly. "Okay, starting in three, two, one, RACE!"

Bon-Bon and Puppet sprinted away from the position and down the hallway. Bon-Bon was quite faster than Puppet, and zoomed across the hallway to the wall and came back just as Puppet touched the wall himself.

"Woah, ha ha! That was easy!" Bon-Bon cheered, happy.

"No, you cheated!" Puppet cried as he came running back towards Bon-Bon and Foxy.

"So, I'm gonna say that Bon-Bon won that one." Foxy decided, putting a hand on Bon-Bon's shoulder.

"No, he pushed me and went too early!" Puppet exclaimed, pointing accusing fingers at the bunny hand-puppet. "I demand a rematch! Foxy, let us have one!"

Foxy paused, then sighed. He wanted things to be fair, and he was a reasonable judge, so he was willing to let them try again, just to make sure.

"Okay, we'll do it one more time." Foxy agreed, and the two puppets lined up again. "Okay, ready, set, GO!"

They raced down the hall, but the scenario repeated itself in exactly the same way as last time.

"I won!" Bon-Bon cheered once again.

"Wow, Puppet. Bon-Bon STILL beat you!" Foxy said, amazed.

"Ah, yes! The true puppet master is ME!" Bon-Bon proclaimed, waving his hands in the air with glee. Puppet looked dejected.

"No, Bon-Bon, not yet. That was only the first contest." Foxy explained. He guided them to the stage in the main room. "The next one, is, um, JOKE TIME! Okay, first up is Puppet."

"Alright! I got this in the bag!" Puppet whooped as he got up on stage.

"Here's how it'll go. Three jokes for each of you. Whoever makes me laugh the most wins."

"Ugh, this one's kinda boring." Bon-Bon complained as he and Foxy sat down to see Puppet's jokes.

"Alright, here we go." Puppet said, and cleared his throat. "What do you put on a tissue to make it dance better?"

"I don't know, what?" Foxy asked.

"You put a little boogey on it!"

"Oh, good one!" Foxy yelled, laughing a bit. "Good job."

"That was okay." Bon-Bon told Puppet calmly.

"Okay, two more. Go on, Puppet." Foxy ushered Puppet.

"Another one?" Puppet asked.

"Yes, two more."

"Okay. Knock knock!"

"Who's there?"

"Banana."

"Banana who?"

"Banana."

"Banana who?"

"Banana."

"Banana who?"

"Knock knock."

"Ugh, who's there?!"

"Orange."

"Orange who?"

"Orange you glad I didn't say banana?"

Foxy groaned. "I didn't like that one. I actually kind of want to bite you now."

"Aw, I spent weeks working on that one!" Puppet griped unhappily. "Okay, third one, then. What did the cabbage say to the carrot when they want to go out on a date?"

"I don't know, what?"

"Lettuce go out for dinner!"

"Okay, that one was good." Foxy admit, clapping politely. Puppet cheered and took a bow, then exited the stage.

"Ew, I don't like lettuce. Lettuce is gross." Bon-Bon complained, disgusted.

"Okay, Bon-Bon, your turn."

"Aw, yay! Time for the TRUE master of comedy to take his turn!" Bon-Bon got up on stage himself, Puppet taking his empty seat. Bon-Bon, like Puppet had, cleared his throat loudly. "What's the difference between a guitar and a fish?"

"I don't know, what?"

"You can't tuna fish!" (tune a fish/ tuna fish)

Foxy laughed loudly. "That one was really good!" Foxy clapped some more.

"Yep, only I could make the funniest jokes!"

"Okay, two more."

"Two more?"

"Yep."

"Okay, then. Why did the computer go to the doctor?"

"I don't know, why?"

"Because he had a virus!"

Foxy and Puppet didn't laugh this time, but instead just stuttered.

"Computers can get viruses?" Foxy asked, perplexed.

"I mean, yes. It's when you download something- you know what, nevermind! Let's just do another one." Bon-Bon cleared his throat again. "You're gonna like this one. Why are pirates called pirates?"

"'Cause we're awesome!" Foxy shouted enthusiastically.

"'Cause they're pirates!" Puppet added.

"Hush, Puppet!" Bon-Bon snapped, causing Puppet to quiet down. "Anyways, they're pirates because...they arrgh!" (are/arrgh) "Hah ha, get it?"

Foxy and Puppet were silent.

"I find that very offensive." Foxy said coldly.

"Boo!" Puppet heckled.

"I'm going to say that Puppet won that round."

"What?! But I thought you'd like that joke!" Bon-Bon exclaimed, surprised.

"Yeah, I won! Time to pack your bags and LEAVE!" Puppet jeered rudely.

"We're TIED, dum-dum." Bon-Bon told Puppet irritatedly.

"Okay, on to the third round." Foxy declared, leading the two puppets into the center of the room. "For this next contest, you have to copy what I do. The first one to mess up loses. Ready?"

"Oh, is this like simon says?" Bon-Bon inquired curiously.

"Kind of. Now, try to do the action at the same time. Okay, ready?" Both of the puppets nodded. "Kneel."

Puppet got on his knees. Bon-Bon looked at himself nervously, realizing he couldn't kneel due to his lack of legs, and instead lowered his body down.

"This is kneeling, right?" Bon-Bon asked.

"I'll take it." Foxy replied. "Now, back up." They did so. "Take a step forward." They also did so. "Walk right." Bon-Bon went to the right, but Puppet went left instead.

"You went left, Puppet." Bon-Bon told Puppet.

Puppet gasped in horror. "No, I DID! Noooo…"

"Puppet, you lost. I'm sorry, but this round goes to Bon-Bon." Foxy decided.

"No, wait! One more go!" Puppet begged.

"Okay, fine. Go right." The two puppets both tried to, but bumped into each other and began to argue loudly. "Okay, enough! I'm saying that Bon-Bon won this one, because Puppet, you were all over the place.

"But you said right, and he went left!"

"You bumped into him."

"Yeah, but...oh, fine."

"There we go. Anyways, we're now on the last round! This round will prove who's the BEST puppet of them all! Here we go!" Foxy imitated a bell signaling boxers to stop boxing.

"Where're you're getting those bell noises from?" Bon-Bon asked.

"Don't ask. Okay, ready?" He led them into the bouncy house. "Let's see who can jump higher in the bounce house. The highest jumper wins."

"Oh no, it's my weakness..." Bon-Bon gasped, fearfull.

"Ready, set, GO!"

Puppet started jumping, trying his best to get higher and higher. Bon-Bon, still without legs, began to try and bounce using his arms and stomach.

"Woah, Bon-Bon. You can jump higher than I thought you could." Foxy said.

"Are you ready for my super-jump?" Puppet shouted eagerly. "Here we go! Hi-YA!" Puppet did a fantastically high jump, almost reaching the ceiling of the bouncy house, before coming back down.

"No, no!" Bon-Bon whined as he kept trying to jump.

"Sorry, Bon-Bon, but Puppet won this one." Foxy told the bunny hand-puppet.

"Aw, man. He cheated." Bon-Bon complained.

"If you guys will excuse me, I need to go and deliberate to find out who the winner's gonna be." Foxy explained. "Wait right there." Foxy walked a safe distance from them and over to the front doors. "So, what do you think?"

"I think the winner was..." The voice whispered its answer into his ear.

"Oh, you think so too?"

"Yes."

"Okay, but we can't be too sure yet. Let me keep thinking."

Puppet and Bon-Bon stood in the center of the main area, watching Foxy have a conversation with himself nearby.

Bon-Bon felt befuddled to see this. Foxy had been talking to something recently; and Bon-Bon could never see what it was. He didn't know what to think.

"Who's he talking to?" Puppet asked Bon-Bon.

"I don't know." Bon-Bon replied. "He's always talking to someone who isn't there. I'm honestly a bit concerned. Are you?" Puppet nodded.

"Okay, I figured out the winner!" Foxy announced as he came back over to Puppet and Bon-Bon. "It's a TIE!" Foxy clapped. "You're both awesome puppets!"

"What?! That's lame!" Puppet protested, unhappy with this conclusion.

"I knew that you had cheated, Puppet!" Bon-Bon exclaimed as he glared at Puppet.

"No, you cheated!" Puppet glared back at him.

"Ugh."

"Well, I'm still the better puppet."

"No, I'm clearly better!"

"I have it in my NAME! You don't!"

"But I am a puppet!"

"Guys, guys, stop fighting." Foxy scolded them, pushing them away from each other. "You two need to apologize. Puppet, say sorry to Bon-Bon."

"I'm sorry..." Puppet said falsely.

"For WHAT?" Foxy added.

"...that you lost, Bon-Bon." Puppet turned away. Bon-Bon gasped.

"Puppet, no! You have to say sorry for almost ROASTING Bon-Bon alive!" Foxy told him sharply.

"I'm sorry that you got in the way of me making cupcakes." Puppet lied, scowling back at Bon-Bon.

"Puppet, say it nicely!"

"No."

"I hate you! When I get my hands on you, I'll BURN YOU like you BURNED ME!" Bon-Bon roared.

"Bon-Bon!" Foxy yelled.

"Sorry..."

"I think you should go and lay down, Bon-Bon." Foxy suggested. "Come on, let's go to bed."

"But I don't want to go!" Bon-Bon moaned opposingly.

"No, go in there NOW!" Foxy pointed at his cove.

"No!"

"Go!"

"...fine!" Bon-Bon huffed. With that, he crawled off into Foxy's cove, muttering naughty words as he went. "Hey, I can't even open the trapdoor to get into the back room!"

"Don't worry about it." Foxy went back up to Puppet. "So, um, yeah. There's two puppets. Remember this. Please, don't cook him. We need him around for other things."

"Yes, other things!"

"Don't worry about that!" Foxy exclaimed, seeing the surprised look on Puppet's face.

"Where'd that come from?" Puppet asked, looking around the room.

"Nowhere, nowhere! Don't worry about it."

"Yes, don't worry."

"Don't worry about that either, okay? Anyhow, I'm gonna go hang out with Bon-Bon for a while. No evil plans. No nothing."

"Well, uh, okay then." Puppet sputtered. "I guess I'll catch you later."

Foxy edged toward his room. "Yep. Bye!"

"Bye!" Puppet left, leaving Foxy.

Foxy entered his room, ready to relax and to quell the anger of his old friend...

Chapter Text

Foxy, where's your Bon-Bon friend?!" Puppet yelled. "I want a rematch!"'

Foxy was hanging out on stage today in the main room, with the others hanging out with him. Ballora was sitting at a table in the main room, while Puppet had been pacing for a while, and had just now come to talk to Foxy.

"I'm right next to him." Bon-Bon said, popping up next to Foxy.

"Yeah, he's right there." Foxy added. Puppet tore his eyes off Foxy and onto Bon-Bon instead.

"I want a rematch!" He demanded once again.

"Nope, we're not having a rematch! It may have been a tie, but I say that I won fair and square!" Bon-Bon proclaimed.

"No, you cheated! You were in cahoots with Foxy!"

"Grr, I did NOT cheat! You are the cheater here."

"Woah, woah, break it up!" Foxy cut in, pushing them away from each other again. He went near to Puppet. "Dude, you don't want to anger Bon-Bon. He might eat you alive."

"Yes, I WILL!" Bon-Bon growled, acting like a monster.

"Bon-Bon, calm down!"

"Sorry, I had a moment there. It just happens every now and then- I'M GOING TO EAT YOUR SOUL!- okay, enough of that! I'm back, and I'm normal Bon-Bon again. Hi guys! It's Bon-Bon!"

"Um, did you fall down the stairs again?" Foxy asked.

"Maybe I did." Was all Bon-Bon said in reply.

"He he, I like his behavior!"

"Shut up, voice. What do you know?" Foxy whispered to the voice, trying to keep it quiet.

"Oh, many things. All I can tell you is that maybe he's got a little bit of me in him. He he hee!"

"Shut up! They don't need to know that you're here."

"Foxy, who are you talking to?" Puppet asked curiously.

"Nobody! Carry on."

"Oh, well, okay." Puppet went back to glaring at Bon-Bon. "We may have tied last time, but I still think it'd be honorable if you do one more challenge against me. And this time, so it's fair, I think we should have some more contestants!"

Foxy gasped. "Hey, hold on." He looked at everybody in the room one by one. Bon-Bon, Puppet, Ballora, me. Bon-Bon, Puppet, Ballora, me...oh no, he's talking about us.

"Did someone say my name?" Ballora inquired them, coming over to them. "What's happening? What are we doing?"

"We're gonna have a CHALLENGE-off-thingamajig!" Puppet declared confidently. Ballora gasped happily.

"Wait, you don't have to include us! I'm only okay at running." Foxy ran back and forth across the room to prove his point; for some reason Foxy's speed had gotten slower over the past few days. "I can jump and follow directions, though-"

"No, not those! These challenges will be completely different from the last ones!" Puppet stated, as they all came down into the center of the main room. "And I already have an idea. For the first challenge, we'll see who can laugh the nicest!"

"That's a really, really weird challenge!" Bon-Bon whined, getting up on a table to see everyone better. He began to hide himself inside the lamp that was on the table.

"Well, you're really weird yourself. You're inside a lamp." Ballora pointed out.

"It's a nice lamp, okay?!"

"What, are you too SCARED to compete?" Puppet laughed.

"Nope, nope! Not at ALL!"

"So who would like to go first, then?"

"I'll go first because I have the best laugh!" Foxy went up on stage and cleared his throat, then began to laugh loudly.

When he finished, Ballora looked confused.

"Was that his laugh, or was he clearing his throat?" She asked.

"That...that was the laugh." Foxy sputtered.

"Yeesh, that sounded awful. Are you okay? Do you need some help?" Puppet said.

"I have some cough drops for you if you need some." Ballora added as they both approached Foxy with a bit of concern.

"No, that was his laugh. It's what it sounds like." Bon-Bon explained. "It's weird, right? I can't even watch movies anymore with him because of that laugh."

"Yeah, that's not a nice laugh, Foxy. You should really look into that." Puppet suggested.

"Nothing's wrong with my laugh! That's how I sound!" Foxy exclaimed, offended. "Is there a problem?"

"Yeah, we need to talk about this." Bon-Bon said. "You need help with your voice. Your voice is so gross!"

"Okay, fine! Hold on!" Foxy grumbled. He turned around so they couldn't see him and opened up a plate on his hand, revealing a set of controls. He twiddled one of the knobs on the controls, making a rewinding sound in his mouth. He finished adjusting the knob, and said:

"Is this better?" He now spoke with a voice as if he was an average man. "Does this sound better?"

"What happened? How'd you do that?" Puppet stuttered, perplexed to see Foxy's voice change just like that.

"Don't ask about what just happened, okay?"

"They don't know what's happening!"

"Again with the voices! WHY ARE THERE SO MANY VOICES?!" Ballora shrieked confusedly.

"Are you hearing voices again, Ballora?" Foxy asked.

"What? NO...am I hearing voices?"

"You know what? Forget it. I've decided I don't like this voice. It's too plain. Hold on." Foxy turned back around and adjusted the knob again.

When he opened is mouth to speak, his voice came out as a creature's murky, grotesque voice, that was so clogged it was indiscernible. Foxy gasped, then turned around and adjusted the knob back to the setting it had first been.

"Okay, here we go! Back to normal!" Foxy gasped, relieved to be back with his original voice.

"Yeah, I think we should keep it like that." Ballora replied, changing her mind.

"Yeah, this is better." Puppet agreed. "Well, back to the competition. What about you, Bon-Bon? It's your turn."

"Alright, my turn!" Bon-Bon hollered. "Get ready to be destroyed by my awesome laugh!" Bon-Bon started laughing himself. His laugh was a noticeably fitting giggle that was, Foxy had to admit, a tiny bit annoying.

"That sounds like the squeaker toy my dogs would use." Ballora criticized it.

"Hey, shut up! That sounded cool!" Bon-Bon squealed in a creature-like voice.

"Wait, Ballora, you have dogs?" Puppet inquired Ballora.

"Yes, of course. I have corn dogs, hot dogs, and stuffed animal dogs!"

Foxy and Puppet stared at her.

"Um, Puppet, can I talk to you over here for a second?" Foxy asked, leading Puppet away from the others. Bon-Bon came over to them, too. "Wow, that's so weird. Isn't it unbelievable that she thinks food items are pets?!"

"Well, I don't know. Maybe we should just play along."

"Yeah, I agree. Let's go." Bon-Bon said, and they went back over to Ballora.

"I should probably feed my corn dog soon.." Ballora muttered as they came back over.

"Yeah, uh, you have nice pets! Yeah!" Bon-Bon shouted so she could hear him.

"Alright, time to continue the competition." Puppet interrupted. "Well, since I'm such a gentleman, Ballora, would you like to go first, or would you like me to go first?"

"Uh, okay, sure, fine!" Ballora agreed, going up on stage. "I'm gonna win, anyway..." She got up on stage and cleared her throat, then let out a laugh that would most easily resemble a man talking in a deep voice. "Was that good?"

"That was so scary! I'm gonna have nightmares about this one!" Puppet howled in fear.

"What just happened?" Foxy mumbled, also confused about the laugh.

"I thought that was pretty good." Ballora gloated.

"But...what was that? That was so weird!" Bon-Bon questioned her, perplexed.

"That was my laugh, BON-BON!" Ballora snapped, offended.

"Hey, leave me alone! I'm only just a puppet."

"You sounded very familiar, though." Puppet cited.

"Familiar? Well, you do know me. I'm Ballora. Duh."

"Eh, yeah, you're right. Anyway, step aside!" Puppet ordered her as he and Ballora swapped places. "It's my turn!"

"Oh, gosh, here we go." Foxy denounced, once again doubtful of anything Puppet doing being good. "Just watch, Ballora. It's gonna be the worst laugh ever. Probably really creepy." Ballora nodded, and they waited as Puppet cleared his throat and begin laughing.

Foxy had to admit, Puppet's laugh wasn't bad; Puppet was laughing rather brightly and pleasantly, yet also in a way as a daring, brave knight would in the face of danger. When he finished, the others stared at each other in surprise.

"You know, I think he won. That was a really good laugh." Foxy elected, clapping.

"To be honest, I would have thought mine was better, but I'm feeling nice today, so I guess he won." Ballora acknowledged politely.

"Ha! Get wrecked, Bon-Bon!" Puppet jeered, pushing Bon-Bon slightly as to annoy him.

"Hey, hey! You don't have a squeaker for a voice, so I wouldn't talk if I were you!" Bon-Bon responded, in a biased manner. "Maybe I should just go ahead and-" Bon-Bon's voice became creature-like again "-stuff one down your flimsy puppet throat!"

"Woah, calm down!" Foxy ordered Bon-Bon.

Bon-Bon's voice went back to normal. "Sorry, just having a moment."

"Eh, you're just mad that you lost." Puppet mocked the hand-puppet.

"I may have lost the game, but I assure you that you'll lose your head." Bon-Bon growled in the creature voice again.

"Okay, let's move on to the next challenge!" Ballora cut in rather emphatically. "Come on, what's the next one? I'm starting to like these challenges, they're fun."

"I have an idea of how we can pick challenges." Foxy proposed. "I say we each get to pick one. Puppet's already done that, so I'll pick one, and then you can pick one, Ballora, and then Bon-Bon can pick one."

"Okay!" Ballora agreed, and they all nodded.

"Okay, next challenge! Let's see, let's see.." Foxy muttered as he paced, both inspecting the room and thinking to himself on something he could do where he had an advantage. He eyed the balloons situated near the stand just by his own room. Hmm, maybe the balloons? I'm pretty good at popping balloons. Maybe...no, that shouldn't be the challenge. Those are the only balloons we have. It's better just not to waste them. He saw the crates beside the stand. Maybe those crates have balloons?

"You should take their bodies and give them to me!"

"Say, that's a good idea- hey, NO! That's not a challenge! Ugh." Foxy thought some more before finally coming up with an idea. "Okay, guys, I got a challenge! The best catchphrase."

"Ooh, that one sounds nice!" Puppet responded cheerfully. "And I have the perfect one for this one!"

"Okay, then you can go first!" Foxy, Ballora, and Bon-Bon took their seats again as Puppet went back up on stage.

"Alright, you guys ready?"

"Yep."

"Yes."

"Alright!" Puppet cleared his throat again. "'Always eat your vegetables!'"

A momentary silence followed this.

"Um, kids would HATE that!" Foxy mentioned.

"No wonder you don't have any fans." Ballora added.

"No wonder he's kept in a box all the time, closed up and locked in." Foxy muttered to her as Puppet said: "Aww.." and left the stage in sadness.

"They probably put all of the vegetables inside the box."

"Yeah, that would make a lot of sense."

"But everybody loves vegetables ,though!" Puppet claimed, but Foxy only stared at him condescendingly.

"Okay, Bon-Bon, it's your turn! Come on stage." Foxy called, and Bon-Bon left his seat and went up on stage.

"So, what do you want?" Bon-Bon asked roughly.

Foxy facepalmed himself. "Weren't you paying attention?!"

"Not really."

"Well, it's your turn to tell a catchphrase."

"What? I didn't hear you, what is it I'm doing?" Bon-Bon got off the stage and went up to Foxy.

"Get back on stage. Come on, I believe in you!"

"Do I have to?" Bon-Bon groaned, staring at the stage with displeasure.

"Okay, fine. You can do it down here next to us. Anyway, you have to say a catchphrase, the best one you can think of. It might be terrible-" Foxy stole an informative glance at Puppet "-but you should try anyway."

"Oh, okay. Give me a second. I need to, um, think of one." Bon-Bon turned away from them, looking in deep thought for a moment, before turning back to them. "Okay, I got one. 'I am cute! I am cuddly! I am purple! I am awesome! I am Bon-Bon."

The others contemplated the catchphrase silently for a split second.

"That was...better than Puppet's." Ballora admit simply.

"No it wasn't!" Puppet exclaimed.

"Yeah, it was." Foxy replied. "It wasn't that great, though."

"Mine had meaning, though! Mine was caring! That one was just...selfish."

"Yeah, whatever." Bon-Bon muttered, becoming even bad-tempered but not losing his cool.

"It's my turn now, right?" Ballora inquired Foxy, grinning.

"Yeah, it's your turn. Go ahead." Foxy approved, gesturing towards the stage.

Ballora quietly celebrated as she got up on stage. "Okay! Uh, what was my catchphrase again..."

"SHE DOESN'T HAVE ONE READY! SHE LOSES AUTOMATICALLY!" Bon-Bon howled obnoxiously.

"Hey, be quiet, Bon-Bon! I DO have one ready now." She cleared her throat just as the previous contenders had. "'Ballora, Ballora! Come one, come all! I'm Ballora the ballerina.' Ta-da!"

"Was that supposed to rhyme?" Puppet asked, slightly exasperated. "I didn't hear it."

"Was that good? I think it was pretty good." Ballora said.

"Well, it was better than theirs." Foxy distinguished.

"Yeah, it was pretty good..." Puppet agreed as Ballora exited the stage.

"My turn!" Foxy proclaimed as he went onstage. "Ready?" They nodded. Foxy turned away and laughed inside his head. Heh, heh. They don't know that I already have a catchphrase, and it's been known worldwide for being the best catchphrase. Foxy knew it had been a good idea to pick catchphrases; he already had one, and he had said it before, so he was sure he had the round in the bag.

Foxy stepped forward, readied himself, and opened his mouth to say his well-known catchphrase, his signature words that every visitor to the pizzeria got the pleasure to hear.

"'Arrgh! I'm Foxy the pirate! Welcome to Pirate's Cove! Arrgh!'"

When Foxy finished, he felt his happiness rise; Ballora and Puppet looked pleasantly surprised. Even negative little Bon-Bon seemed to like it.

"Woah, that was pretty good!" Puppet exclaimed, smiling and clapping.

"That was just beautiful!" Ballora agreed, clapping as well.

"Wow, that was surprisingly good. I'm shocked, Foxy." Bon-Bon admit defeat, also beginning to clap. But then, his face formed into a smirk. "You actually have a skill."

"...wow, that was actually kind of mean, Bon-Bon." Foxy mumbled, hurt.

"I'm sorry, it's just true!" Bon-Bon exclaimed, his smirk replaced by a frown.

"Are you upset because we didn't like yours?"

"Well...yeah..."

"Don't mumble!"

"Whatever."

Foxy exited the stage. "Okay, so who won that one? I feel like I did, but I'm open to other options."

"I think you won, Foxy." Ballora and Puppet uttered in unison.

"No, I won!" Bon-Bon whined selfishly.

"No, you didn't. Majority vote wins." Foxy explained roughly.

"Be quiet, Bon-Bon." Ballora snapped.

"Yeah, or I'll vote you off the island again." Puppet added, nudging Bon-Bon meanly.

"You can't do that." Bon-Bon growled, unwilling to admit defeat. "We've talked about this. But...ugh, fine. I'll be quiet." Bon-Bon folded his arms and turned away, going silent again.

"So wait, do I get to choose now?" Ballora spoke up.

"Yeah, you do." Foxy confirmed.

"It had better be good!" Bon-Bon heckled as he kept himself turned away.

"Yeah, and it better be something fair; something that we're all good at!" Puppet continued.

"Okay, I know just the one!" Ballora said brightly. "Ready? It's who can dance the best."

"Oh, great. Of course she picks DANCING." Bon-Bon groaned. "Awesome. I automatically lose this one because I HAVE NO LEGS!"

"Exactly- I mean, oh no, how tragic." Ballora replied in a sarcastic manner.

"I don't mean to brag, but I can cut shapes pretty good." Puppet said, dancing in place.

"Hmm. So are we all dancing one at a time, or all together?" Foxy asked.

"Um, by ourselves." Ballora answered.

"Okay, then you first." Foxy sighed, and Ballora cheered and got over to the stage. As she went, Foxy and Puppet huddled up. "We're gonna lose this one." Foxy deadpanned.

"Nah, just believe in yourself." Puppet told Foxy, smiling warmly. "Think happy thoughts."

"Okay, let me stretch real quick." said Ballora, stretching out her arms and legs, and even doing a pose where she pretended to nap, similar to how Bon-Bon had stretched one.

"Wow, that stretching looks familiar. Bon-Bon, did you get training from her?" Foxy asked, though he felt as if he already knew the answer.

"Maybe." Bon-Bon grunted.

"Oh, yeah, I've been teaching Bon-Bon how to dance and stretch." Ballora mentioned as she finished up her stretching.

"Yeah, she does a really good job. She's like a PRO at dancing. I think."

"Okay! Now, for my magnificent dancing move!" Ballora faceplanted into the floor and laid still. Foxy and Puppet silently watched, bewildered at what she was doing. Ballora stood back up, looking disappointed. "No? Not good? Okay, maybe this dancing move, then."

Ballora began to dance, her feet sliding along the stage as if it were ice. She moved her shoulders smoothly and did several graceful pirouettes every few seconds. Then she did a double flip, landing and posing perfectly, then continued the previous dance. Then she did graceful leaps back and forth across the stage, wiggling her fingers with each jump, before landing exactly on the stage's middle pedestal and posing once more.

"Woah!" Foxy exclaimed, impressed.

"Alright, your turns!" Ballora exclaimed joyfully as she exited the stage and went up the others.

"Yeah, I'm just gonna forfeit my turn." Puppet explained.

"Same here." Foxy agreed. He went up to Puppet and whispered to him. "I can't match that!"

"Aww..." Ballora whined, dejected. Foxy went still for a moment, then sighed.

"Okay, fine. I'll do one dance." Foxy settled, going up on stage himself. "Watch, watch, watch." Foxy began to do a dance.

"That's not that bad." Puppet commented.

"But he's just shaking his butt." Ballora complained.

"I think it's calling 'tweaking' or something. Are you, Foxy?"

"Yeah, yeah!" Foxy confirmed. "It's because it makes tweaking noises. Watch." Foxy did the dance, causing squeaks to sound. "See?"

"That's coming from the wood." Ballora pointed out.

"Oh, then it might break, then. I should come off this, heh heh..." Foxy left the stage nervously and went back to the others.

Ballora nodded and turned to Puppet instead. "Your turn, Puppet! Go go go!"

"No, I don't want to!" Puppet moaned uncomfortably.

"Just do something." Foxy suggested. Puppet went silent for a moment, then nodded.

"Okay." He said, and then went up onstage. Then he began dancing, wiggling his arms and legs slowly as he beatboxed even slower.

"Wow, almost like the robot." Foxy commented, thinking that his dancing did seem somewhat like 'the robot'.

"Is he singing or is he dancing?" Ballora asked, confused. "Which one?"

"I don't know."

Puppet completed the dance and looked over at them. "How was that?"

"That wasn't that bad, actually." Foxy critiqued.

"It was okay." Ballora added. "Very modern dancing."

"Now, Bon-Bon, it's your turn." said Foxy, turning to Bon-Bon.

"I've already told you, I don't have legs." Bon-Bon groaned. "You do understand that, right? I can't dance. It's not possible, it's not plausible. I am OUT of this one."

"Okay, so, since none of us are good dancers, Ballora wins." Foxy declared unanimously. Ballora cheered in excitement. Foxy clapped for a moment, then stopped. "Wait, so, all of us are tied right now except Bon-Bon, which means that the last contest is in Bon-Bon's favor."

"That means he's kicked off the island, right?" Puppet asked again.

"No, Puppet. Bon-Bon, what's your contest?"

"Well, I have the best contest ever." Bon-Bon explained, smirking. "No one but me will be able to do this, because it's that cool."

"Okay, then what is it?" Foxy asked, louder this time.

"Well, the contest is: WHO IS CUTER! YAAAAAAAAY!"

The animatronics immdietaly began to mumble skeptically at this.

"Well, obviously, me." Ballora said.

"Um, Puppet, can I talk to you for a second again?" Foxy asked, wanting to discuss the new challenge.

"Yep." Puppet agreed, and they went to the opposite side of the room again.

"I'm coming too!" Bon-Bon yelled, inching near them. Ballora, deciding that none of this was important, stayed on the other side of the room, and began to dance again while humming a tune to herself.

"Ugh, are you serious?!" Foxy groaned. He had wanted to move away specifically so Bon-Bon couldn't hear, but he was following anyway. Foxy huddled closer to Puppet and lowered his voice. "Okay, I don't think he can hear me. Okay, uh, this is unfair."

"It is."

"Bon-Bon is really cute, so obviously he's gonna win."

"Well, I dunno. We definitely can't win this one, that's for sure. Ballora isn't anything too much, but she might be the only one who has a chance. I guess we gotta root for her."

"Yeah, true. I mean, I might have lipstick and painted nails, but being a guy fox in a girl fox's outfit doesn't really help my favor."

"Wait, you're a guy?"

"...are you serious? The voice should've told you that."

"I, uh...well, alright. Let's get back to the competition. We'll talk about this later, though."

"What? That's not cool-"

"Guys, I heard everything." Foxy froze, and slowly turned his head around to see Bon-Bon with a dark look. "And I just wanna say...THANK YOU FOR SAYING THAT I'M CUTE!" Bon-Bon's dark look turned to a smile of gratitude. "It's so cuddly and nice of you to say that! Puppet, I'm confused why you agree, though. I thought you hated me more than anything."

Ballora stopped dancing and became interested in the conversation, coming over to them.

Meanwhile, Puppet now was the one with a shadowy look on his face.

"...off the island." He muttered darkly.

"You're really obsessed with this island you're talking about." Ballora pointed out.

"Okay, yeah, back to the round." Foxy continued. "So, uh, me and Puppet are basically...ugh, you know what? I guess I'll go first on the stage."

Foxy decided that he would just do the round anyway. He knew that his chances of winning were next to none, but he realized that since it was a fruitless endeavor, he should just get it over with and not even try to be cute.

"Hee hee hee, look how cute I am." Foxy babbled sarcastically, not even trying to sound or look cute. "Ooooh, hi, I'm Foxy. Oooooh." He stopped talking and waited for his answers.

"Yeah, I'm not feeling it." Ballora said, unimpressed.

"Yeah, me neither." Bon-Bon added, shaking his head.

"Good try, though." Puppet approved, giving Foxy a pleasant thumbs-up.

"Okay, whatever." Foxy wheezed, getting off the stage. "Puppet, your turn. Go Puppet, whooo."

"Hey, Bon-Bon, back away from the stage!" Puppet griped at the hand-puppet, who was very close to the stage.

"Okay, fine!" Bon-Bon grumbled, crawling back a few paces. "Whatever."

Puppet began to try and laugh in a cutesy manner. "Tee hee. Look at me. Tee hee." He waited for the response to his turn.

"I think I was almost attracted to you. ALMOST." Ballora mentioned simply. "But it's not enough. Off the stage."

"Aww..." Puppet moaned, exiting the stage.

"Good try, Puppet. Good try." Foxy said, clapping a bit. "Ballora, your turn." Ballora went up on stage.

"Tee hee, tee hee. Look at me, I'm Ballora. I'm so cute, I'm so amazing, and I'm so shiny and beautiful!" Nobody replied. "No?"

"Um, almost, I guess." Foxy said.

"I think that one's gonna be pretty hard to beat." Puppet commended Ballora. "Better have something up your sleeve, Bon-Bon."

"Beat that, Bon-Bon!" Ballora heckled the hand-puppet, smirking.

"Okay, Bon-Bon, your turn." Foxy went on. "We'll have you do it right in front of us, since you're so short."

"Okay, here I go!" Bon-Bon chirped excitedly. "Hee hee, hee hee. Hi, friends! I'm Bon-Bon! I'm the little bunny that likes being cuddled. Hee hee, hee hee!"

Foxy gaped at the hand-puppet. He hated to admit it, but he was unbelievably cute. "Are you serious? Are you serious?! ARE YOU SERIOUS?!"

"I want him now." Ballora murmured, staring at Bon-Bon longingly.

"Yeah, see? I'm the cutest!" Bon-Bon cheered happily. He looked over to Foxy, who's jaw was still hanging open. "What?"

"Ugh, you win. I say he won that one automatically." Foxy grouched.

"Yeah, he definitely won that one." Ballora agreed.

"Alright, I'll give him that one." Puppet sighed. "It's just one point, right?"

"Wait a minute!" Foxy exclaimed. Foxy realized that something was up. "Four of us...four contests..." And then it hit him. "WE ALL TIED!"

Foxy had now gotten the realization that letting them each pick a contest would mean that each of them had picked one that was in their favor, meaning that everybody would win at least once and that they would all tie no matter what. Foxy felt extremely exasperated to have not have known such a thing before the contest had started, or else he would have told them so and they wouldn't have wasted their time.

"Dang!" Puppet exclaimed back.

"Yay, we all win!" Ballora cheered, jumping up in the air.

"Ugh, you know, I wish we had some other people here." Foxy explained. "Some group that could break this tie and tell us WHO was the better of the animatronics. You know, someone to leave a REVIEW on our actions and judge us there."

"Yeah." Puppet nodded in agreement.

"You know, good thing Baby and Freddy weren't here for this one," Foxy continued. "Because if they had, this would have gotten really, really awkward."

"But they'd add more flavor to the challenge." Puppet reasoned. "Maybe we should have another one if they ever re-appear."

"Yeah, good point." Foxy examined the vent cover next to the stage. "I think they may be in the vents again. I heard giggling in there earlier. I don't know what's happening in there, but I don't think it's good."

"Yeah, totally. I don't know what's going on up there, either." Ballora added.

Foxy nodded and looked closer through the vent cover. He blinked; somebody had just moved past inside the vents. "Woah, did you guys see that?" The others all shook their heads. Foxy sighed and decided that he had only just seen things, and ignored it. He moved back into the center of the main room.

"You know, we could have asked Garbage to be a judge, but he can't see anything we do, so it doesn't really matter."

"Yeah, I was just about to say." Puppet mentioned.

"Ugh, oh well. I guess we'll just accept that we tied, then. Ugh. But that was a fun. Doing a contest was a great idea, Puppet."

"The whole plan was to kick Bon-Bon off the island..." Puppet mumbled, staring at the floor.

"What?! That's sabotage!" Bon-Bon whined. "Leave me alone!"

"I'll get you next time, I swear it!" Puppet cried, looking at Bon-Bon determinedly.

"Oh, yeah, you keep saying that. But you're not gonna get me! I'll get rid of before you get rid of me."

Ballora and Foxy stared at the scene in front of them, then huddled up.

"Why are they fighting?" Ballora asked Foxy.

"I still don't know!" Foxy responded. "They're two totally different puppets. And I think they want my attention."

"You're really popular."

"I know, right?"

"Well, while you guys fight over who's the best Puppet and everything.." Ballora began to inch away from them. "I'm just gonna go to the bouncy house- see you later!" Ballora ran into the nearby bouncy house and began bouncing. Foxy followed her and peeked his head inside, watching Ballora begin to bounce.

"If you get stuck, it's not my fault!" Foxy reminded her, already sure of himself that Ballora was going to get stuck again, as she had twice before.

"I won't, Mr. Party Pooper."

"Sure."

"Well, look at that. It's the one place I can't go." Bon-Bon complained as he and Puppet approached Foxy.

Foxy only shrugged. He didn't think it was something he was to be concerned about; Bon-Bon's problems were not his.

"Well, I guess that was a good night." Foxy admit. "Don't you guys agree?"

"I agree." Ballora replied.

"No, it's not. Bon-Bon's still here." Puppet complained roughly. "I'm going back home." He left the room.

"Okay, whatever." Foxy called after him. "We're gonna go bounce. Let's BOUNCE!" Foxy entered the bouncy house and began to jump around with Ballora.

"I'll try. Not gonna be able to do it, though." Bon-Bon informed him, and entered the bounce house himself. He tried to bounce by using his torso, but it wasn't effective enough to send him high. "See? Look at me."

"You're gonna get it one day, Bonnie. Don't worry." Foxy assured him.

"One day." Ballora mumbled.

And with that, they spent the rest of the night bouncing along, having fun...

Chapter Text

"Um, Bon-Bon, do you know how to get this to work?"'

"Uh, no. I am not a computer genius."

Foxy was currently fiddling with his computer, trying to get it to turn on. Bon-Bon was leaning against the giant tv screen, watching Foxy's failed attempts to use the pc.

After Puppet had upgraded Foxy's room, Foxy had found that now had difficulty getting his computer to work. He wasn't sure whether or not Puppet had intentionally done it, but he kept an eye on the marionette anyway.

Foxy also found himself unable to activate his tv screen. Puppet had said that he could use it to spy on people, but Foxy was now aware that this had been a lie; later on Puppet had come saying that the tv's ability to spy on people had never been a feature. It could play movies, but Foxy didn't have any.

But right now, Foxy found himself distracted with only his computer.

"Well, you should be! Come on!" Foxy griped back at Bon-Bon. "I need to figure out how to use this thing. There has to be something cool on this computer, like some secrets about the location. I think this computer once belonged to the manager and was in his room. I'm not sure."

"Well, you don't know anything, do you?!"

"No I don't, okay? I'm new here, you're new here, Freddy's new here, and as far as I'm concerned, we need to figure things out. This place is really weird, what with the doors opening by themselves and other things."

"Well, it could've just been the wind."

"Really? This has been happening to every room, and you say it's the wind? No, no, no, that can't be right. This computer has to work somehow-"

"Oh, Foxy!" Someone interrupted. Foxy turned around and saw that Freddy had entered the room. "So this is where you were."

"Hi." Foxy greeted. Foxy had known Freddy might visit, he had seen Freddy come back today, after all.

Freddy waved to Foxy, then looked around the room with surprise. "Woah. What happened here?"

"Oh, um, well, Puppet decided that it was a great idea to come in here and REDECORATE." Foxy explained haughtily. "I don't like it that much." Foxy went over to the giant tv screen on the wall. "I have no use for this giant tv. If I had movies, I could watch it on them. But I don't!"

"Well, yeah, because you're stupid." Bon-Bon insulted Foxy.

"Wow, Bon-Bon, you've been getting meaner and meaner by the day."

Foxy was now concerned for Bon-Bon; back then, he had been so nice and had never been rude to them at all, but ever since they had found him, he had been becoming more and more like a bully than a friend. Foxy found this unnatural, and he felt annoyed at and yet worried for the hand-puppet.

"Hmph. Hello, Freddy. We meet again." Bon-Bon growled, only now recognizing Freddy's appearance there. "We meet again."

"Hi, friend." Freddy addressed the hand-puppet. Freddy was trying to be kind, but Foxy could tell that he was also being cautious.

"You've been missing for a while. You're trying to avoid me, aren't you?! I knew it, I knew it!"

"Oh, wait." Freddy said, getting distracted. "Is that a new computer?"

"Um, yes!" Foxy confirmed, stepping in front of his computer. Foxy wasn't going to let Freddy near his computer again, he already knew that he would just break it.

"That's really nice.." Freddy complimented, a grin forming on his face as he inched towards it.

"No, you stay there!"

"Oh. Aww, I just wanted to look at it..."

"Nope. So, uh, question. You've been missing again. We looked EVERYWHERE for you, but we couldn't find you."

"I'm telling you, he's avoiding me." Bon-Bon whined.

"No, no, no, it's not that." Freddy claimed. "It was actually really crazy. There was this huge, epic adventure, and I-"

"HEY IT'S TIME FOR THE HOURLY INSPECTION MY NAME IS PUPPET HELLO!" Puppet cut in, running into the room and pushing past Freddy to get in Foxy's face.

"Puppet!" Foxy exclaimed, annoyed that Puppet had interrupted them.

"I'm here for the hourly inspection to make sure everything is okay!"

"Ugh, there's no need. Everything's fine, nothing's broken."

"You're not the professional, I am!" Puppet began to check every item in the room thoroughly.

"He's got a point." Freddy mentioned simply.

"You know what?" Foxy said. "We should go get Ballora, because this is gonna take a while." Foxy, in reality, just wanted to get away from Puppet.

"I agree."

"Yeah."

They both left the room and walked into Foxy's room.

"Quick, before he sees us!"

Foxy and Freddy quickly fled through the main room, just as Puppet came out of the back room.

"Okay, all done-" Puppet began, but then noticed them fleeing. "Hey, where are you guys going?! Come back!"

"We're going to say hi to Ballora!" Foxy yelled back at him as he and Freddy went through the halls and towards Ballora's room.

"Okay, sure! I gotta inspect her room too, anyway, because I still have to make modifications to hers!"

Foxy entered Ballora's room, with Freddy and Puppet behind him. Bon-Bon appeared behind the two others, he had followed them as well. Ballora was having a tea party with her dolls again, humming softly.

"Hey, Ballora." Foxy greeted instantly.

"Aaah!" She screamed, whipping around to look at them. "Uh...h-hey, guys."

"Um, a tea party again?" Foxy questioned, looking down at Ballora and the many toys around her, which also had teacups placed by them. Puppet, ignoring the conversation entirely, began checking around the room just as he had with Foxy's.

"Well, yeah. It's been quiet around here." Freddy came up to the stage himself. "Oh, hey Freddy."

"Oh, hey Ballora." Freddy said casually.

"How are you and Ba- I mean, how are you?"

"Oh, I'm good. Thanks for asking."

"Wait, him and Baby? What about him and Baby?!" Foxy demanded, already sure that something fishy was up.

"Um, nothing!" Ballora denied. "I was talking about the baby bear!" Ballora gestured at one of the toys, a toy bear, sitting down with her. "See, it l-looks like Freddy."

"Say, is this tea for anyone?" Freddy asked, looking down at one of the full teacups with interest. "If not, can I have it?"

"Um, no. You weren't invited to the tea party." Ballora answered coldly, yanking the teacup away.

"Aww..." Freddy whined, turning away.

"I say you should take it." Foxy whispered into Freddy's ear.

"No..." Freddy whimpered, shuffling a few steps back.

"Aw, come on, Ballora. Just give him some tea." Foxy said to Ballora. "He's been missing for days."

"Fine, have some tea..." Ballora groaned reluctantly, pulling out a teacup.

"Yeah, he was about to tell me his story of where he's been." Foxy informed Ballora as Freddy shuffled forward to take the tea.

Ballora, surprisingly enough, seemed to go stiff when this was mentioned.

"Um, no! I don't know what story you're talking about."

"Wait...are you hiding something from me?" Foxy looked at both Ballora and Freddy, outraged that he wasn't been told things again. "ARE YOU GUYS HIDING STUFF FROM ME AGAIN?!"

"No, of course not! Why would I be hiding anything?" Ballora said with a sheepish grin.

"Uh, speaking of hiding things.." Freddy cut in, approaching Puppet, who was still inspecting the room. Foxy followed behind Freddy to observe the conversation. "Puppet! How's the inspection going?"

"Wait, you're inspecting my room?" Ballora asked, standing up sharply.

"Yes." Puppet replied, nodding.

"You better not touch anything!"

"Oh, I will- I mean, I won't. I definitely won't."

"Good save." Foxy could hear Freddy whisper into Puppet's ear.

"Well, I'm gonna have to check everything after YOU check everything." Ballora informed him. "I'm gonna triple check and quadruple check."

"I was just getting the dimensions for this place!" Puppet explained. "Counting!"

"Don't trust him." Foxy said to Ballora. "You saw what he did to my room, you SAW what he did!"

"It's a super nice amazing place now, and it's because I got inspired by...what was the one show, called, uh..."

"Super-uber-house-changer?" Ballora replied.

"Yeah, that one!" Puppet exclaimed.

"Oh, that's my favorite show." Freddy commented.

"Well, I can't obviously name my show, 'cause of reasons, but my show is something like that."

"I didn't like the evil villian, though. He was too...too...stereotypical, y'know? It's a shame."

"Yeah."

"...I'm missing a lot of storyline here. I have to catch up on that series." Foxy mentioned. "I'm only on the second episode."

"Yeah, it's worth it." Freddy replied, nodding. "You know, I was watching it on your computer the other day and it was pretty good-"

"Wait, you got that thing on?!" Foxy exclaimed, surprised that somehow FREDDY had been able to activate his stubborn computer. "How'd you turn it on?!"

"Huh?! No, I don't know!" Freddy stuttered, backing away in fear.

"Hey, don't leave! Back here, now."

"Okay, okay, sorry..."

"So, Ballora, as I recall," Foxy began, turning his attention to Ballora. "When I was coming in here, you were singing a song?"

"Oh, you guys heard me?" Ballora said, looking startled.

"Yeah, it was...it was..."

"REALLY BAD!" Bon-Bon shouted, coming over to them.

"Bon-Bon!"

"Sorry-"

"What did you say, Bon-Bon?" Ballora asked threateningly, narrowing her eyes down at the purple bunny hand-puppet.

Bon-Bon gained a look of horror as he began shrinking underneath Ballora's gaze.

"Nothing! Erm, ha ha...I can e-explain! I-it was...it was..."

"You're lucky I'm feeling nice today." Ballora growled, glowering. "In any other case, I'd end you. But I'll forgive you...for now." She stepped away from him.

"O-oh, yes! Good!"

"But yes, I was singing." Ballora confirmed, looking back at the others. "I should practice both singing and dancing, so I can do both at the same time!"

"Ugh, I'm glad that we don't have a karaoke room." Foxy sighed, not wanting to hear Ballora sing. "That'd be really bad- I mean, really good! Yay! Karaoke is awesome, heh..."

"Oh, you're talking about karaoke rooms?" Freddy cut in plainly. "We have one. We just passed it on the way here."

"No we don't!" Foxy claimed insistently.

"We do?" Ballora asked.

"Oh yeah, we did!" Freddy replied. "I can show you guys the room! Here, follow me." Freddy led them out of the room and back down the big hallway.

Ballora and Puppet's faces lit up, eager to see the room. Bon-Bon shrugged and followed after them silently. Meanwhile, Foxy groaned. He had been trying to avoid doing karaoke, but now Freddy had placed him in another undesirable situation, and Foxy was beginning to question whether or not Freddy returning was either good or bad for him.

"Ha ha, you're joking, I know it." Foxy laughed falsely. "Good prank, Freddy. This is because of what I did to you before, isn't it-" Freddy led them over into the boys' bathroom (except for Ballora, who stayed out). "It's in the bathroom? This isn't a karaoke room."

"Oh?" Freddy stuttered, turning around to see them as if he had only just noticed them there. "Wait, I thought you said bathroom. The karaoke room's this way." Freddy led them out of the bathroom and down the big hall again, this time in the opposite direction.

Ugh, what is going on... Foxy thought, tired of Freddy leading them on a goose chase.

Freddy led them through the intersection and into the smaller hallway, passing the first two doors and stopping at the next two, then pointed to the door on the right. "Voila!" He said.

Foxy looked through the window next to the door in shock (each of the four rooms in the hall had a single window just by the door); the room, which had been empty before, was now furnished inside.

"Are you serious?" He exclaimed as he opened the door and entered the room. "How long has this been here?! This wasn't here the other day- woah, look at this!"

The previously barren room had been changed. A stage made of dark wood and as wide as the room itself was on the opposite wall, with glass panels in a large variety of color being used as the flooring of the stage. Underneath the glass were bright lights to light up the stage. Two signs had been hammered to the front of the stage, one reading FUN NIGHT and the other KAROAKE NIGHT. The stage had stairs on both the left and the right of the front of it, allowing someone to get onto it easier.

The room was well lit, thankfully enough. Although the ceiling's lights illuminated the room on their own, there was a single lantern each situated on the left and right walls.

In front of the stage was a small seating area. The center of the seating area had a medium-sized table, with two stools on both of the longer sides of the table. Two smaller tables with two stools on the front side and backside stood against the same walls as the lanterns, with small lamps placed on them to give a little bit more light. Both tables were far enough apart to give enough room for anyone to pass through them and to the stage.

Another massive vent cover was adorned in the top-right corner of the back wall, indicating a connection to the rest of one of the vent systems.

The others came into the room themselves and also began to marvel over it.

"This has always been here, I think." Freddy told Foxy as he entered the room, closed the door behind them, and then took a seat at one of the smaller tables. "It's beautiful, isn't it? I really like it."

"I swear this room was empty the other day, though." Foxy said, gazing around at the room. "Huh..."

"Woah! Did the super-uber-house people do this?" Ballora asked.

"Maybe." Puppet commented.

"They must of." Freddy added simply.

"Hooray, now we can do karaoke!" Bon-Bon cheered.

"Bon-Bon!" Foxy griped. "Aw, man..."

"That's a great idea, Bon-Bon!" Ballora agreed happily. "That's probably the best idea you've ever had."

"I know, right?" Bon-Bon boasted. "I'm a genius." Bon-Bon took a seat at the other small table.

"Eh, that's debatable." Ballora replied as she took a seat at the medium-sized table. "So, who wants to go first?"

Everyone began to mutter softly, all of them trying to figure that out.

"I think the person who can sing the best should go first." Puppet suggested.

"None of us." Foxy deadpanned.

"I hate to admit it, but that's not me." Ballora sighed. "I'm not good at all. I'm only good at dancing."

"I think Puppet should go first!" Freddy declared, patting Puppet's shoulder.

"Yeah, you do it first, Puppet!" Foxy agreed, then began chanting Puppet's name. "Puppet! Puppet!"

"Uh, uh..." Puppet stuttered. "...okay." He got on the stage and cleared his throat. "You guys ready?"

"Yeah, but it appears there's no karaoke machine in here right now, so you have to kind of wing it." Foxy pointed out. He had already noticed the lack of a karaoke machine, so he knew they couldn't sing karaoke normally.

"Okay, here we go.." Puppet mumbled.

"Some animatronic once told me that the pizzeria was gonna roll me,"

"I ain't the brightest puppet around..."

"Bonnie was looking kinda dumb with her 'no legs' and her dumb-" ("Hey, I'm a boy!" Bon-Bon complained.)

"-looking face on her forehead."

"Well, the pizzeria is cool and I like it here,"

"I don't like Bonnie because she's mean! But..."

Puppet stopped singing and groaned deeply, then said: "That's all I got. I'm shy." Puppet exited the stage.

"That's the worst one I've ever heard!" Bon-Bon bellowed in his creature voice. "BOO! BOO! BOO!"

"It wasn't that bad." Foxy admit. "It was pretty good."

"I agree. Good job." Freddy added cheerily.

"BOO! BOO! BOO-"

"Bon-Bon, be NICE!" Foxy griped, tired of Bon-Bon's noises.

"Sorry, sorry- BOO!"

"Bon-Bon!"

"He made fun of me! What do you think I'm gonna do?! And he had the nerve to call me a girl! Excuse me, I'm a BOY!"

"Wait, you're a boy?" Puppet said, genuinely astonished. He stood up on Bon-Bon's table to look down at the hand-puppet.

"YEAH!"

"Well, I can just write that one off the list, then..." Puppet muttered, turning away.

"Hey, why are you standing on the table?!" Ballora cut in willfully. "Get off the table!"

"Yeah, get off!" Foxy agreed. "You might dirty it." Puppet stepped off of the table and sat at Freddy's table, sitting on the second stool placed there. "Okay, who's next?"

Once again, soft muttering filled the room for the next few seconds.

"I'll go next." Freddy decided, standing up and getting onto the stage.

"Okay, awesome." Foxy said, and then sat down at Bon-Bon's table. This isn't good, he thought. I've been a singer for kids my whole life, and yet I don't even know what song to do.

Freddy cleared his throat and sighed deeply, then began to sing.

"I have an apple! I have a stick!"

Freddy pulled out the former in his left hand, and the latter in his right.

"I have an apple-stick!" Then, Freddy did some rapid beatboxing.

"Yeah!" Foxy cheered, enjoying the song. "Wooo! This is awesome!"

"Yeah, great song!" Bon-Bon whooped.

"That's from that new video that's going around, I think!" Ballora mentioned excitedly. "I've been seeing it on TubeUs."

"Yes, of course that's it!" Freddy confirmed happily. "It's my favorite song! I just don't remember the rest of the words.." Freddy hung his head sadly.

"It's okay, you don't need to sing the rest." Foxy assured him. "I think the next part was about a watermelon and a pumpkin or something, but I can't exactly remember."

"Huh, that's...I don't know." Freddy looked back up at them. "That doesn't make sense to me, I think."

"Can I buy your remix of that song on like, my phone?" Puppet asked.

"No, you can't..."

"Aww."

"...because it's FREE!"

"OH! Woah, that's awesome! You're the best!"

"Yeah!" Foxy hurrahed. "Puppet, can you put it on my phone later?"

"Sure, no problem." Puppet said, nodding.

"Yes! Okay, who's next?"

"I guess...me?" Ballora murmured as Freddy sat back down at his table with Puppet.

"Yeah, go ahead."

"Okay." Ballora stood up and walked onto the stage.

"Ballora, Ballora, Ballora!" Foxy chanted.

"Puppet, Puppet- Wait, what?" Freddy began, but then paused confusedly.

"I'm not Puppet, my goodness." Ballora said, slightly annoyed.

"I'm sorry. Woo-hoo! Go Ballora!" Freddy clapped eagerly.

Ballora began to sing.

"I came in like a ballerina!"

"I never knew how PRETTY I was!"

"All I wanted was to break your legs!"

"So I can be the...best dancer!"

"Woah, this is like black swan all over again." Foxy commented.

Puppet sniffled. "That was really good! I'm in tears..."

"Wait, you can cry?" Ballora questioned Puppet.

"No..."

"He always looks like he's crying, though." Foxy remarked, referring to the purple tear streaks on Puppet's mask. "You tried to make him cry, though!"

"I never intended to, but I could do a lot of things to make him cry." She said as she exited the stage and sat back down at her table.

Foxy ignored her reply and turned to Bon-Bon.

"Okay, Bon-Bon, do you wanna go before me, or should I go first?"

"I don't know." Bon-Bon replied. He looked to the others. "What do you guys think? Who should go first?"

For the third time in a row, muttering sounded.

"Ballora again!" Freddy voted.

"Yeah!" Puppet agreed.

"What?" Ballora sputtered, shocked. "But I don't know another song! Well, still, I guess I'll go again." She went back to the stage. "Um, let me see...I could do Hit me, Puppet, One more time- No, not that one."

"He might actually hit you if you do that one." Foxy informed Ballora.

"I know, and then I'll hit him back. Um..."

"Do you take requests?" Freddy asked politely.

"Um, I guess. What's your request?"

"Uh...the Apple-Stick song!"

"But you just sang that one."

"Sorry, I just really liked that song."

"Yeah, it's a really good song. It's kinda stuck in my head now." Foxy told them.

"Actually, you know what? Here, I can do this song." Ballora turned around for a moment, then turned back. She now had a pair of shades on her eyes (even with them being closed and all). "Yo, yo, yo, what's up? My name's Ballora. Do you guys see my shades?"

"Um, where did those come from?" Foxy asked, astonished to suddenly see Ballora wearing shades.

"Let's not worry about that. All you should know is: my name is Ballora-O."

"What happened to Ballora?! Who are you?!" Freddy demanded obliviously.

"Ballora is away. Ballora-O is the new sheriff in town. And she's gonna drop some sick beats! Ready? Hit it, Puppet!"

Puppet straightened up and began to sing.

"Hey, it's Ballora! She doesn't have a fedora! She doesn't look like Dora! She's lame-ora!"

"Wait, that's not a beat!" Ballora groaned.

"I got it." Foxy told her. He began to beatbox an actual beat for Ballora to rap to. Ballora nodded and began rapping.

"Yo, yo, my name is Ballora! I've got legs, and I can jump with them- okay, I'm bad at this. I'm sorry, guys..."

"Aw, it's okay. Not everyone can rap." Foxy consoled her as she took off the shades and sat back down at her table.

"That was a good beat, though, Foxy." Freddy complimented Foxy.

"That was a pretty nice beat." Ballora admit.

"Yeah, thanks. I've been working on it in secret, whenever I'm alone." Foxy told them. "Don't ask why." Foxy knew he ha been practicing a rap beat, but he didn't care to try and explain why right then. He figured that the best course of action was to move on.

"Okay, so, now it should be Foxy, and then we should close up shop and rest for the night." Puppet explained thoroughly.

"Cool." Foxy said simply, and got on stage himself.

"I wanna go!" Bon-Bon shouted. "Don't forget about me!"

"I think Bon-Bon should go first, actually!" Freddy cut in.

"Okay, fine. Bon-Bon can go." Foxy decided, wanting to hurry and get Bon-Bon's turn over with. "Come on."

"Uh.." Bon-Bon sputtered as he eyed the stage. "Do I have to come over there?"

"Yeah, you kinda do."

"But I don't want to!"

"Come on, do it!" Puppet ushered Bon-Bon playfully, as he stood up from his stool, went to the hand-puppet, and began pushing him towards the stage.

"But...I don't..." Bon-Bon whined as he slowly walked onto the stage.

"I think he has stage fright." Foxy noted, looking at Bon-Bon weirdly.

"Uh, no!"

"Are you SCARED?" Foxy taunted, now grinning. "Are you SCARED?!"

Bon-Bon shook his head quickly.

"I think Bon-Bon's SCARED!" Ballora joined in, also grinning.

"Scaredy-cat!" Freddy added, laughing.

"Okay, okay, fine!" Bon-Bon roared, shutting them up. The bunny inhaled deeply, then exhaled. "Okay, I got this. Uh, u-uh, I'm g-g-gonna do Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star. Is that okay?"

The animatronics nodded.

"Aww, so cute." Freddy giggled.

"O-o-okay, here I go." Bon-Bon stuttered. He took a breath, then began to sing...in a creature voice. "TWINKLE, TWINKLE, LITTLE STAR! HOW I WONDER WHAT YOU ARE! UP ABOVE THE WORLD SO HIGH! LIKE A DIAMOND IN THE SKY!" His voice was so loud that it caused the room to shake.

The animatronics were shaking in their seats, looks of utmost fear etched on each of their faces. They had clearly become even more scared of Bon-Bon then ever before.

"I'm s-s-scared..." Freddy whimpered.

"Guys, you aren't gonna reply? Okay, then I'll do more!" Bon-Bon declared.

"No, no, no, don't! That was already too amazing, no more!" Ballora babbled quickly.

"Oh, okay. So I did a good job?"

"It was so good, that I think you should go on tour and leave the pizzeria forever." Puppet suggested.

"Oh, thanks- wait, no! I don't wan to!"

"Okay, are you getting off now?" Foxy interrupted, tired of the pointless talk. He wanted to go and sing himself, and was getting impatient. "It's my turn."

"No, I think I like it up here. It's pretty awesome."

"Ugh, okay." Foxy got up on stage. "I guess you can be my height man."

"Yay, height man!"

"What's a height man?" Freddy asked.

"I don't know." Foxy replied. "I just heard that rappers have them and stuff." Freddy nodded understandingly, and got up and switched over to sit at Ballora's table. "Okay, um, I have no idea what song to do. I really don't. I wasn't prepared for this."

"Oh, I have an idea! Sing, uh, what was it called...oh yeah, the talking fox! Sing that song!"

"Um, no. That's actually really mean." Foxy refused. He knew about the song they were talking about, and he knew he'd become a laughingstock if he sang it. The animatronics sighed, disappointed. Foxy ignored this and thought of another. "Oh, I got one!"

"Who lives in a pineapple under the water? Foxy the pirate!" He sang.

"Wait, but you live in a pizzeria." Freddy pointed out.

"Oh, wait, you're right. That's not how it goes. Um...oh, I got it."

"Who lives in a boat on the lake? Foxy the pirate!"

"Oh, I like that. That's a good song." Freddy said, clapping.

"Yeah, nice one." Puppet added, also clapping.

"Thanks! Yeah, I didn't know why I said pineapple." Foxy told them. "Why did I confuse a boat with that? I dunno."

"Pineapples are yummy." Ballora said.

"Well, okay. I can't remember the rest of the song, though. It kinda escaped me. I dunno why." They all muttered in silence for a moment.

Foxy thought to himself for a moment, then realized about the one other person that was around. "Oh, guys! You know what we should do?!" Foxy exited the stage, followed by Bon-Bon. "We should go ask Garbage if he wants to do this too!"

"Oh yeah!" Freddy gasped.

"Let's go!" Foxy cried, opening the door.

The five of them trekked across the hall and the main area to the kitchen rather happily, making their pace quick and decisive as they went.

Foxy and co. entered the kitchen and instantly headed to the chute, crowding around it. Foxy pulled the chute door open and peered down into the shaft again.

"Garbage! Hey!" Foxy called roughly. "Wake up! Wakey, wakey!"

"Woah, ah!" Garbage shouted, a series of clattering sounds following this. "What do you guys want?"

"We want to know if you wanna do karaoke!"

"I...you know what? I actually do like karaoke."

"Awesome! Go ahead, sing a sing." Foxy found himself quite excited to see what Garbage could do. He and the others had never truly gotten the full extent of the former security guard's abilities, and were always quite curious to see Garbage demonstrate them.

"Can I be taken to the karaoke room? That is, if you have one?"

"Um, that sounds like effort." Foxy complained, spitting the last word rudely.

"Yeah, that sounds like a bad idea." Ballora agreed lazily.

"Just sing from down there." Freddy said simply.

"Aw, okay. It might not sound too good, though, because all of the trash down here doesn't really contain good acoustics."

"Ah, true, true. But, just go ahead and try." Foxy urged Garbage on.

"Alright, here we go. My name is Garbage, please let me go home! I want to see my family, and it smells bad down here. Please let me go home. The end."

"Was that a song...or a story?" Ballora contemplated.

"Both." Freddy answered. "Pretty good, though."

"Wow, that was awesome!" Foxy cheered.

"You know what? For that, you can have some CHICKEN!" Ballora yelled, tossing down even more pieces of chicken.

"Please, no, no more chicken!" Garbage whined, horrorstruck.

"Yay, chicken!"

"You know what? Chicken does sound good right now." Foxy admit, his robotic tummy already wanting to process more food inside of it.

"Hey, it does!" Freddy agreed. "I'll make some, guys! Don't worry!" Freddy charged over to the ovens.

"No, no, NO! That does not sound like a good idea!" Foxy exclaimed, closing the chute quickly and looking over to Freddy from the other side of the kitchen counter. "Get away from the stove."

Foxy and the rest of the animatronics had already tasted Freddy's chicken, and it was quite awful-tasting (which sort of made them understand Garbage's attitude about it). They tended to try and stop Freddy from making it whenever the bear tried to.

"Ah, don't worry. This'll be delicious." Freddy assured him, shrugging off the warnings. "It'll be the best chicken you've ever seen." He fiddled with the nearby drawers as Foxy stuttered in protest, but it was too late. Freddy pulled out an entire tray of chicken, which looked horribly inedible due to it being uncooked. "Ah, here we go! Now, who wants to eat it?"

"But you didn't even cook it!" Ballora told him, eyeing the tray of chicken with large amounts of disgust.

"Aw, you don't have to cook chicken. That's just a myth."

"But isn't that how you get that one disease?" Puppet questioned Freddy worriedly.

"Salmonella?" Foxy cut in.

"No, not that." Ballora said.

"Uh, then was it Selena Gomez?"

"Yeah, I think that was it." Puppet replied, nodding. "You get Selena Gomez disease."

"Aww, alright." Freddy sighed, disappointed. He went over to the trash chute again. "I'll just throw this out, then. Can someone open the garbage chute?"

"There you go." Foxy said, opening the chute. Freddy tossed the uncooked chicken down into it.

"Now you're throwing uncooked chicken down here?!" Garbage exclaimed from down inside. "Come on, man!"

"Enjoy!" Foxy closed the chute, blocking out Garbage.

"Bon appetite!" Ballora added.

"So, we really gotta talk about what you did while you were gone, Freddy." Foxy mentioned as Freddy situated himself back on the other side of the counter again.

Freddy looked dumbfounded.

"Wait, what are you talking about?" He asked confusedly.

"You were missing, gone for days!" Foxy reminded him irritably. "What were you doing? You said earlier that you had a grand adventure, or something!"

"Um...I'm not sure what you're talking about." Freddy claimed, unflinching. "I've been here the whole time."

Foxy sighed deeply. He knew he could never get through to Freddy, but he would have to try later, at a more opportune time.

"Sure, whatever you say.." The pink-white fox groaned, already having a plan in his mind to try and get the answer out of Freddy later on...

Chapter Text

"This computer right here? It still isn't working." Foxy told Bon-Bon as he examined his pc for the hundredth time in a row. "Freddy said he got it to work, but I don't know how he did it-" Foxy turned around and was surprised to see Bon-Bon leaning against the wall, looking very tired. "Bon-Bon? What are you doing?"

"Oh, nothing." Bon-Bon assured him. "Just t-t-t-t-try-try-trying to rest."'

Foxy could immediately tell that Bon-Bon's voice was glitching, and now actually cared about what was going on.

"Bon-Bon, are you okay?" Foxy asked the bunny hand-puppet, concerned.

"I'm fine, I'm fine! I'm per-per-per-perfectly fine!"

"Um, Bon-Bon, did you fall down the stairs again?" Foxy was aware that sometimes Bon-Bon had gotten small voice glitches whenever he fell down the stairs inside the back room. However, if it had happened again, it had surely been rougher, since Bon-Bon voice glitch had not yet ceased.

"M-m-m-may-maybe." Bon-Bon said.

"Yeesh, that's slightly creepy." Foxy remarked, a bit freaked by the glitch resonating in Bon-Bon's voice. "Are you gonna be okay?"

"Um, yeah! I'm gonna be fine-fine-fine-FINE!"

"Okay, that was not a good sound!" Foxy exclaimed, already alarmed. He needed to fix it somehow, so he decided to try scaring Bon-Bon. "Um, I don't have the tools to fix you, so I'm just gonna throw you into the garbage."

"No, please don't do that! That's not cool! Don't do that! Please don't!"

"Okay, there we go. Your voice is sounding better already. I think I just had to scare you."

"Yeah, I guess that's what you h-h-h-h-h-h-have TO DO!"

"Okay, it's getting worse! God, and I thought my voice box had problems."

"Yes, it does!"

"Don't get into this now." Foxy threatened the voice, already wanting it to butt out of the situation.

"S-s-s-seriously, who is-is-is that VOICE that you're talking to?" Bon-Bon asked. The glitch was still present.

"Don't worry about it, okay? Now, I say that we go to Ballora's room and have a talk with her, because I think she has the tools to fix you. Okay, follow me."

Foxy has no tools and could not fix Bon-Bon, so he decided to ask Ballora for help. He was sure that she would be able to fix the problem, or at least provide him with the equipment to do so. Foxy would have asked Puppet, as he was a lot smarter and more handy with repairs, but he already knew that Puppet still predominantly disliked Bon-Bon and wanted to do away with him, so that was out of the question.

"Let's go! To Ballora's room!" Foxy cried. He led Bon-Bon out of the back room and into the main area. The hand-puppet followed him, but instead of being extremely fast, he was sluggishly slow. "Wow, you're super-duper slow."

"What do y-you expect?! My VOICE BOX is being weird-weird-weird."

"Seriously, that's really, really creepy-sounding. You almost sound like me with the glitch voice, and it's so weird. Anyway, let's keep moving."

They went down the small hallway, into the big hallway, and over to Ballora's room door.

"Come on, Bon-Bon, you're taking forever. In we go."

The two of them opened the door and came into the room. Ballora, oddly enough, was laying down on her pillar on the stage, sleeping soundly.

"Oh, she's asleep." Foxy said.

"Yeah, she I-I-is. Let's wake her up." Bon-Bon replied, smiling mischievously.

"I say that you go jump on her."

"Are you sure that doing so would be a good-good-GOOD idea?"

"Yeah, just do it!"

Bon-Bon leaped onto Ballora and jumped on her several times.

"Wake up! Wake up! W-w-wake up!"

Ballora awoke with a start, pushing Bon-Bon off of her and standing up hurriedly.

"Morning, Ballora." Foxy greeted. "So, you were sleeping laying down? I thought we stood up when we slept."

"I find it good for my back posture to lay down sometimes." Ballora explained steadily.

"Oh, okay. You're a ballerina, so I guess that makes sense. Anyways, are you ready for this?"

"Ready for what?"

"Bon-Bon, say 'Hi, how are you?'."

"Hi, how A-A-ARE-ARE YOU?"

Ballora seemed shocked, but quickly shook any sign of it off.

"Um, did he get into the chicken again or something?" Ballora asked.

"He won't tell me. However, I think it was because he fell down the stairs." Foxy informed her.

"I don't g-g-g-g-g-give- KILL EVERYONE." Bon-Bon shouted angrily.

"Woah, woah!" Ballora gasped. "That sounded like him when we did karaoke yesterday."

"Uh, yeah. So, do you have any tools to fix this?"

"Uh-huh, I do. Let me check inside my piano real quick." Ballora went to her grand piano, opened the lid, and began to rummage inside of it. "I think I have some tools in here."

"Wait, she stores things inside her piano?" Foxy asked Bon-Bon.

"I don't GET it either. No idea what's h-h-happening." Bon-Bon replied confusedly.

"Ah-ha! I got it!" Ballora exclaimed happily, and she pulled out from the piano...a wrench. She went back over to them.

"Awesome. Now, go ahead and try to fix him. We need his voice to work."

"Um, actually, there's a problem. This may not work."

"Just try anyway. Also, is it gonna hurt?"

"Only a little bit. Open wide, Bon-Bon!"

"N-no-no, wait! Don't do this-" He was cut off by Ballora, who forcefully opened his mouth wide and stuck the wrench in there, beginning to tinker around inside of it. Bon-Bon's voice, unable to process as this happened, only sounded with radio static.

"Hrrgh...wait, I think I got it...there!" Ballora exclaimed, and she took the wrench out.

"Okay, say something, Bon-Bon." Foxy told Bon-Bon.

"Um...is this working?" Bon-Bon asked. His voice had changed only slightly; it seemed to be even more squeaky. "Did it work?"

"Okay, it sounds a little different, but at least it's not staticky or broken up this time."

"Oh, r-r-r-r-really?"

"Nevermind, it's still broken."

"Hold on, let me just do a little more!" Ballora shouted, poking her wrench around at every area Bon-Bon had.

"Augh, stop it! Don't do t-t-that there! No touching MY ears! Get off!" Bon-Bon pushed the wrench away after a few seconds, his voice unchanged.

"I don't think I can fix him." Ballora informed Foxy, disappointed.

"Okay, then give me it." Foxy commanded her. "It's my turn to try this."

"Here." She handed him the wrench. "You give it a try."

"Alright, let's see if I can get this to work." Foxy said passively as he began to stick the wrench back in Bon-Bon's mouth. "Okay, here we go...a little there, a little bit more there...ah, that's where it's broken! There's a screw loose. Let me get it, okay...hey, there's this weird microchip here, better remove that...there we go, let's see if we got it." Foxy took the wrench out of Bon-Bon's mouth again. "Bon-Bon, say hi."

"Hi." Bon-Bon greeted. His voice had radically changed this time. The squeakiness of his voice was entirely gone, and his voice was a bit more high-pitched, yet it sounded more sensitive, as if Bon-Bon was a quiet, introverted child. This was further proved by the fact that he mumbled a tiny bit as he spoke.

"That doesn't sound like any of the previous voices..." Ballora mentioned catiously.

"Yeah, his voice might not be fixable." Foxy added.

"What are you guys talking about? Is it my voice?" Bon-Bon asked. Foxy noticed that his voice was no longer glitchy, it sounded completely fixed now.

"Hmm, it's a little mumbly, but I think it'd gonna work. We're gonna have to get used to this new voice. If we keep doing this, we'll end up breaking his voice box and then he won't be able to talk. Also, I found this inside of him." Foxy took out the microchip. It was entirely dark-green, and was extremely dusty as well.

Foxy handed the microchip to Ballora, who began to examine it.

"Huh, how could this have been inside Bon-Bon?" Ballora wondered. She put it in her pocket. "I'll have to inspect this weird thing later on."

"What was that SOUND?!" Someone shouted angrily. Foxy and Ballora jumped, then looked to see that Puppet had barged into the room. "There was a sound echoing through the halls, and it was the most awful thing ever! What was it?!"

"It was me!" Bon-Bon revealed.

"Aaa!" Puppet screamed, backing up a little. Then he began to wear a grim expression on his face. "It's gotten worse..."

"Yeah, we TRIED to fix it. And I mean TRIED." Foxy informed him.

"Don't worry. Not only am I a puppet, but I'm also a mechanic." Puppet took out a hammer, which was made out of iron and extremely hard. "Come here! I'm gonna fix you up!" Puppet charged towards Bon-Bon.

"N-no!" Bon-Bon stuttered, dodging the swing of the hammer and running in the opposite direction.

"Run! Run, Bon-Bon!" Foxy cried as Puppet chased Bon-Bon out of the room. Foxy followed behind, and so did Ballora.

"Ah, this is fun to watch. Puppet trying to kill Bon-Bon." Ballora sighed happily.

Foxy and Ballora followed the two puppets down the big hallway.

"Come on, I'm doing this for free!" Puppet claimed, swinging the hammer again. Bon-Bon weaved and dodged the metal tool, his miniscule size proving a great help in avoiding attacks.

"Puppet, stop!" Foxy ordered Puppet as they ran through the hallway intersection and down the small hallway this time.

"Look, it's not gonna hurt!" Puppet told them. "He doesn't know if he hasn't tried it yet!"

"No! Leave me alone!" Bon-Bon whined as the chase continued through the main room.

"Get him, Puppet!" Ballora cheered, eager to see Bon-Bon pummeled.

"No, no, no!" Foxy griped as Puppet pursued Bon-Bon on the main stage. Bon-Bon juked Puppet quickly, dodging another hammer strike and running off the stage and further away.

Puppet looked surprised but turned around and stepped off the stage, ready to keep chasing Bon-Bon.

"Puppet, leave Bon-Bon alone!" Foxy ordered Puppet again, stepping in his way.

"I have money on Puppet!" Ballora commented eagerly.

"Ballora, you're not helping!"

"Oh, fine.."

"Puppet, stop this, now. I have a wrench, and I know how to use it." Foxy took out the wrench and waved it threateningly.

"I have a hammer, and I think it's time you moved aside." Puppet replied.

"I have a cake!" Ballora cheered, taking out a white cupcake.

"Why do you have a cake?" Foxy asked, already confused.

"Because I like cake, duh." She gobbled up the cupcake.

"Well-" Foxy looked around, but Bon-Bon was nowhere in sight. "Ugh, now we've lost track of Bon-Bon! Where could he be?" Foxy put away the wrench and started to search the main area.

"Hee hee, no one can find me here." Foxy could hear Bon-Bon giggle.

"Bon-Bon!"

"Is he one of these stuffed animals?" Ballora asked, looking to the stuffed animals on display at the stand next to Foxy's room.

"No, that'd be kinda noticeable." Foxy acknowledged, and kept searching.

"I'm watching you." Ballora told the stuffed animals, but Foxy ignored her and kept searching. He checked the back room of his cove, empty. He came back into his room.

"Where is he?" Foxy wondered.

"Is he under one of these stools?" Ballora asked, inspecting the rows of stools in front of the cove.

"Can he get under there?" Foxy exclaimed, looking towards the stools, only to see that Bon-Bon was under none of them. "No." Foxy's eyes searched the room again...and landed on the pile of crates in the corner. Bon-Bon was perched on a stool right on top of the crates, looking down at them. "Oh, I see him! He's up there!"

"No, no, get away from me!" Bon-Bon whined as he leaped off of the crates and rushed out of the room. The others followed him around the main room.

"Come back here!" Puppet called furiously, taking out the hammer again. He swung at Bon-Bon and missed, coming inches from Bon-Bon's head.

"Bon-Bon, it's okay!" Foxy tried to say, but Bon-Bon was clearly not listening, and was still being chased around the main room and dodging the hammer.

"Somebody help me!" Bon-Bon cried.

"I'll get the nails for you, Puppet!" Ballora said, still happily enthralled with watching Puppet chase Bon-Bon.

Bon-Bon vaulted over the stand gate and to the kitchen door, but was unable to open it and could only cower in the corner next to the door.

"G-g-g-get away! Get away!" Bon-Bon ordered nervously.

"Puppet, stay back." Foxy said calmly, standing in front of Bon-Bon to stop Puppet from getting to him.

"Aren't you gonna let him into the kitchen?" Ballora asked.

"No, I'm not gonna open the door. If he gets into the kitchen, he might fall down the garbage chute." Foxy turned to the hand-puppet, who was still shivering with fear. "It's okay, it's okay."

As Foxy consoled Bon-Bon, he found himself completely confused. Bon-Bon wasn't at all acting like the way he had been before. He wasn't snappy and rude, he wasn't making threats towards Puppet, he wasn't being a bully, he wasn't loudmouthed and over-the-top. He had become a lot calmer and a bit more shy, but also a lot nicer. And he wasn't speaking in a creature voice anymore, it had disappeared completely. Foxy couldn't understand; how had Bon-Bon's personality taken such a dramatic change in only a few minutes?

"Wow, he's acting really weird. Nothing like the Bon-Bon before." Foxy remarked to the others.

"Yeah, and now that I see this, it's actually kind of an improvement. I might like him." Puppet said coolly.

"I still don't like you." Bon-Bon growled at Puppet. "You're mean, Puppet."

Puppet simply shrugged. "Some things never change." He took out the hammer again. "Would you like to go back to your old self? Come here, and I'll help you."

"No, definitely not!" Foxy refused, shaking his head. "We are not bringing back his old personality. As far as I'm concerned, this is an improvement. Also, he has a slight accent. Did you realize that?"

"Yeah, I'm not sure about this, but I think he sounds like that cleaning lady from that one tv show." Ballora cut in.

"Oh, Family Dad."

"Yeah, that show. He sounds like that cleaning lady that's always talking about needing watermelons."

"Yeah, something about watermelons."

"I do not! You guys are just being mean." Bon-Bon claimed, annoyed.

"So, is he gonna be like this forever?" Ballora inquired Foxy.

"I don't know." Foxy replied.

"I don't think so, actually." Puppet theorized. "You know when you install a new software, and it starts off a bit slow, but starts chugging faster and faster as time progresses? Well, his voice won't change again, but he may get better at using it. And if not, I can always...fix him." Puppet took out the hammer again.

"Get near me with that, and I'll b-beat you up." Bon-Bon threatened weakly.

"Oh, at least he's still got his feistiness, somewhat." Ballora pointed out.

"Yeah." Foxy said. Bon-Bon was still a bit brave, but Foxy could tell that he was nowhere near as feisty as he had been before. The threat he had just made had not contained the venom and malice of his previous voice, but was much more like a scared little kid trying to stand up for himself, which Foxy took as a good sign. He still felt as if he should test the voice, though.

"Bon-Bon, let's test this voice out." Foxy decided. "Say a complete sentence."

"Um..." Bon-Bon mumbled timidly, trying to think of what to say. "Ballora is somewhat good at dancing?"

There was a silence in which Ballora narrowed her eyes at Bon-Bon.

"Hey, what'd you say? That last bit was kinda muffled."

"You'd better hope you can fix that sentence." Ballora warned, looking at Bon-Bon sternly.

"Ballora, is, uh, somewhat good at dancing." Bon-Bon repeated, scared.

"No, don't say that!" Foxy whispered to Bon-Bon. "Say that she's amazing at dancing."

"How about you change that sentence? NOW!" Ballora barked, even more upset.

"Ballora is good at dancing..." Bon-Bon squeaked.

"Hmm...that's okay."

"Yeah, that works." Foxy said, then leaned over to Bon-Bon. "Good, good, thanks for saying that."

"So, again, where's Freddy?" Ballora asked them confusedly. "He's gone."

"I don't know, but hold on." Foxy told them. He went over to Freddy's closet, which was nearby, and went inside. "Hey, Franklin-" Foxy stopped mid-sentence. The little teddy bear named Franklin was watching He-Man on the television. Freddy was nowhere inside. "His little bear is watching He-Man."

"Again?!" Ballora groaned. "Ugh, he's always watching that dumb tv show!"

"It's not dumb, it's awesome!" Puppet defended.

"Man, I actually feel so bad for Freddy. We have large, amazing-looking rooms, and all he has is this tiny closet." Foxy pointed out. "Aww."

Foxy honestly never thought about Freddy much anymore, since he was missing so much of the time, but he felt a bit sympathetic for the bear. Foxy knew that being forced to live in a dinky storage closet next to the kitchen certainly made Freddy's alone time cramped and awkward. Then again, Freddy had never been able to have his own room before; in the past he always ended up having to share the main stage with Bonnie and Chica. Foxy was the lucky one, he always had his own room to himself. At least, most of the time, he did...

"I think he doesn't mind it." Ballora mentioned. "He actually even seems to like it."

"You know, it's kind of a golden room." Puppet spoke up. "Maybe Freddy likes gold."

"Huh, that'd be interesting if that was the truth." Foxy admit, closing the closet door and going back to the center of the main area with everyone else.

"Yeah."

"Well, back to Bon-Bon. I think it's still gonna take him a while to get used to his new voice." Ballora said simply.

"It's almost like he's trying to talk, but he can't say anything because we keep interrupting him." Foxy added.

Foxy had seen Bon-Bon stuttering during their conversation, trying to get in a word edgewise, but still failed anyway.

"I just got this voice a couple of minutes ago, guys!" Bon-Bon exclaimed. "Leave me alone."

"Aw, but where's the fun in that? We have the chance to play with you-" Foxy began.

"...forever." Foxy could hear Ballora whisper in a creepy tone.

"Okay, that was creepy." Foxy muttered to Ballora as Bon-Bon slowly began to back up, staring at Ballora anxiously.

"No it wasn't!" The ballerina claimed, but it was all too late at that point.

"I n-need Foxy." Bon-Bon whimpered, and he hid behind Foxy's leg and held tight to the pink-white fox.

Oof, he's a little clingy. Foxy thought, but then was suddenly interrupted by the sensation of his tail being seized.

"Don't touch my tail!" Foxy yelped, pulling his tail out of Bon-Bon's grasp. "What were you doing?!"

"You DO have a fuzzy tail." Ballora commented.

"It's not that fuzzy!"

"Say, does Puppet have a tail? Let me see." Ballora began to try and look at Puppet's rear end. Puppet, looking extremely uncomfortable, began to turn his back away from Ballora.

"Hey, stay still so we can find your tail!" Foxy ordered, doing the same as Ballora.

"What are you guys trying to accomplish with this?" Puppet asked incredulously.

"I'm trying to find your tail!" Ballora shouted.

"I don't have a tail!"

"Sure you do!"

"No, I don't!"

"No, I bet you do! Just let me get a closer look...hey, stop moving!"

"Stop trying to inspect places I'm not comfortable with you looking at!"

"Ugh, fine." Ballora gave up her pursuit.

"Okay, um, I got something to tell you guys." Foxy said, and he turned to Bon-Bon. "Um, Bon-Bon, I don't know how to say this, but I don't know how this is even POSSIBLE. But, it's just that...you have a cavity." Foxy took out the wrench.

"No!" Bon-Bon denied, backing away from Foxy.

"Yeah, you have a cavity." Foxy looked to the others. "I don't even know how it's possible. He's a robot! So, um, who's better at being a dentist? I don't know if I'm good. I don't know if I'm meant to do it, and I don't trust Puppet, so you're the only choice, Ballora." Foxy handed the wrench over to the ballerina.

Puppet made a large amount of coughing that (Foxy didn't realize this) sounded a bit like 'It should be Ballora'.

"Okay, that's fine with me!" Ballora chirped. "I'm actually a certified dentist."

Foxy nodded, and turned back to Bon-Bon. The hand-puppet had backed a fair distance away from them.

"Oh no, he's trying to run away!" Foxy shouted. "Get him!" They chased after Bon-Bon, going around in circles in the room.

"No, no, no! Leave me alone!" Bon-Bon chanted as he ran.

"Come on, Bon-Bon, it won't be bad." Ballora assured Bon-Bon as she chased him. "Just step into my office, which is actually my room, and we can fix that cavity of yours!"

"No!"

"Aw, c'mon!"

"You're good at dancing, but not dentistry!"

"What?! No! I've been in dentistry school for twenty years!"

"Uh, then that means you're not good." Foxy mentioned. "Being there for that long means that you've been held back a lot."

"Hey, of course not! I just had to redo things a lot!" Ballora said, stopping in her tracks and turning to Foxy. "You know what they say: practice makes perfect!"

"Then how many of your patients have lived?"

"Um, let me see...there was that guy- no, no, he drowned in water."

"What?!"

"Or maybe that one man- no, he choked on his tooth. Um, I think the total number is none!"

"Ballora. In dentistry, you're not supposed to have fatalities."

"What do you mean? I always fix their teeth in the end, though, right?"

"But were they breathing afterwards?"

"For some reason, they weren't. I think that they were just so happy with their new smiles."

"Yeah, they were speechless, right?" Puppet asked.

"Uh-huh!"

"Okay, I'm done." Foxy grunted. "Give me back the wrench, Ballora. I may not be a dentist, but I can definitely do this better than you."

"What?! NO- wait, where's Bon-Bon?"

A round of giggling sounded from inside Foxy's cove. Foxy and Ballora both shared respective groans of annoyance, then led the way into Foxy's room and through the trapdoor in the cove to the back room.

"Oh, great.."

"Ugh, he's always disappearing. You need to control him."

They came into the room, where Foxy instantly spotted Bon-Bon attempting to hide behind his chest of drawers.

"Bon-Bon!" Foxy said.

"No." Bon-Bon waddled out of his hiding spot, but kept to the wall.

"I found you."

"No. I will not get my teeth done."

"Activate door closing mechanism...now!" Ballora shouted, and she used the wrench to close the door, so Bon-Bon couldn't leave.

"Um, she just closed the door." Foxy informed Bon-Bon. "You're trapped in here."

"No, no, NO!" Bon-Bon cried, going to the door and pounding on it. It remained closed. He went away from the door and back into the corner of the room.

"And you can't open the door!" Ballora said happily. She giggled.

Bon-Bon, afraid, scrambled up onto Foxy's desk and up the monitor, where he began to balance precariously.

"You know what?" Ballora went on, looking at the pc. "You can play Minecraft...while I work on your teeth!"

"I-I-I don't know about that.." Bon-Bon moaned.

"Just take a seat right here." Ballora patted the desk chair.

"You could also do that thing that some dentists do where they put a camera in your mouth, and there's a tv in the corner, and you can see what's happening!" Puppet suggested.

"Yeah, and we have the tv right here!" Ballora pointed to the large monitor.

"But we don't have the camera thingy, though." Foxy indicated.

"Just sit down right here, Bon-Bon." Ballora offered again.

The hand-puppet leaped off of the monitor and hid behind Foxy again, peeking up at him nervously.

"Foxy, should I t-trust her?" Bon-Bon asked nervously.

"We have no choice, Bon-Bon. She has the wrench, and she can do more damage with it than you think." Foxy explained unenthusiastically.

"Okay..." Bon-Bon hung his head and shuffled over to Ballora.

"Ah, yes!" Ballora said, smiling. "Come, come! Sit down!" She tapped the desk chair, which Bon-Bon sat down on, muttering 'No' continuously under his breath. "Okay, now just say 'Aaaa'!"

"No!"

Puppet, wanting to get in on the action, tried to come over with his hammer, but Foxy pushed him back, shaking his head.

"Just do it, Bon-Bon." Foxy urged the hand-puppet.

"No, no!"

"I said...say 'AAAA'!" Ballora screamed. Bon-Bon finally opened up his mouth, allowing Ballora to poke the wrench around inside. "Alright, let me just do that...stay still, I'm gonna pull this tooth out!"

"Oh, I can't watch!" Foxy exclaimed, turning away from the scene and closing his eyes.

He heard yanking sounds, Ballora cheering, and Bon-Bon yelling in pain.

"Alright, I think I got it!" Ballora said, grinning. "Let me double check." She looked around inside Bon-Bon's mouth again. "I think we're good! Alright, Foxy, we're done. He's clean!"

"Okay, awesome." Foxy acknowledged.

"Hey, uh, can I get cake?" Bon-Bon asked shyly.

"Uh, you can't have any cake."

"But, Ballora always g-gets cake!"

"What? No, I don't." Ballora claimed. "I've only just been on my first time having cake."

"Aren't you not supposed to eat after getting something done at the dentist?" Puppet pointed out, shrugging.

"Yeah, he has a point." Foxy agreed. "I don't know if giving him cake would be healthy for him."

"She shouldn't give me anything." Bon-Bon said.

"Actually, you know what? This actually works in my favor. You want cake, I'll give you cake. BRB." He tried to leave, but the door was closed. "Oh, wait, the door is closed. Nevermind."

"Hah, I knew you couldn't get out. You'd never fool me." Ballora laughed.

"Wait, but I thought you were allergic to cake, Puppet." Bon-Bon mentioned calmly.

"I never said that." Puppet claimed.

"Allergic to cake? When did you get allergic to cake?" Foxy asked confusedly.

Puppet paused, then began to speak again. "Well, I'm assuming that since that day I was...made, I guess? Or born? I'm not sure which. Anyways, wanna buy some real estate?"

"Uh..." Foxy muttered, but never got to respond.

"Can we get out of this room? It's very small, and I'm getting kinda claustrophobic." Ballora complained.