Hoo boy, it's been too long! Hello, FanFiction community! I'm back with a brand-new, never seen before story! By brand new, of course, I mean one that I wrote nearly exactly one year ago (kinda cool), but I've basically re-written it into something a little higher-quality than before. This one is actually pretty good, in my opinion, and that's really something! I enjoyed writing this quite a bit, and it's a pretty unique and awesome story (in all modesty and opinion of moi). Maybe worth noting, maybe not, but I hope to publish all future chapters or all future stories at about this length—2-2.5k—so yeah, expect that. I hope to get the next and final chapter posted within the next week and a half or two, so yeah, expect that too. All right, let's get down to business and onto the story!
It was a normal day at Freddy Fazbear's Pizza: busy and bustling with excitement and fun. Some children played the arcade games, others ran around the restaurant in great delight spending arcade tokens and collecting masses of prize tickets, while still others sat with their parents while they ate pizza and watched the animatronics perform on-stage. The restaurant was packed with customers, which made even the bored waitresses, greeters, and janitor wear small grins of happiness. The cooks were kept plenty busy inside the kitchen, and despite the monotonous process of tossing frozen pizzas and wings into the ovens, then passing them off to the servers and placing more frozen goods into the ovens the "chefs" were trapped in, they couldn't help but hum cheerily along with the band. Not because they were keeping track of how much cash would fall into their bank accounts over the week, of course not. Apparently the joy in the air was contagious, no matter the cause.
Yes, everyone was having a grand old time at Freddy's—everyone, that is, except for one boy.
Far back in what was most likely the only unoccupied space in the entire pizzeria, seated at the lone rickety table far away from everything and everyone else, sat a small boy of nine years who went by the bland name of Fritz. Fritz Smith was one of the types of children that look like they simply need to get picked on and mistreated by everyone. He was a runty, scrawny, curly-haired ginger who was blind as a bat without his ridiculously thick rectangular glasses. He was small and pathetic enough that few people ever noticed him, dire or casual situations alike.
Fritz typically spent three to four hours every weekday at Freddy's immediately following the end of his schooldays. Sounds fantastic, doesn't it? It was every child's dream, to spend so much time at the extraordinary pizzeria. If everyone knew about that—and cared about him—then Fritz would be one of the most popular boys in school! But he saw no joy in telling anyone; for the reason he spent so much time at Freddy's was rather upsetting to the boy.
See, both of his parents worked: his mother, as a nurse during the day, and his father, as the night guard for the very restaurant he sat inside right then. His father, Richard, having grown tired of sitting at home all day sleeping, eating leftovers, and watching television, had taken to gambling at the nearby casino. He went hesitantly for the first few days, and stayed for only a few hours at a time, but now he entered the sinful building with gusto, sitting at the circular tables all day long. When he slept Fritz hadn't any idea, but he suspected his father's new alcohol addiction helped him get by. So every morning, right after he dropped Fritz and his brothers—a twelve- and seven-year-old, as well as the three-year-old triplets—off at their designated schools and preschool, Richard took off for the casino, and there he remained until Fritz' school let out.
The triplets' preschool had a daycare program, which they attended, and the older boys—excluding Fritz—all stayed at school late to attend their extracurricular activities and sports practices. And as Fritz had nowhere else to go after school and that Richard received a discount on Freddy Fazbear's Pizza admission tickets, what better deal could arise? So every weekday, at two-thirty in the afternoon, Richard gave his son five dollars (to make sure he kept quiet) and a deathly glare, deposited him at the entrance to the pizzeria, and left, then arrived about four hours later to pick him up again and drove them both home.
Yes, Fritz had few good feelings towards Freddy's, but despite the unseemly memories it gave him it still held a special place in his heart for one specific reason and thanks to one specific character. The first time Fritz experienced the pizzeria was on his eighth birthday. His mother had set up a private party for him, something that didn't come easily or cheap, but she'd somehow managed it, and oh, how he enjoyed it! Words couldn't describe his newfound definition of fun, only the sheer experience gave a proper explanation. His siblings and some cousins had stayed up far past their bedtimes playing arcade games with their unlimited amount of game tokens. The Toys brought him his cake and presents, then led everyone in singing a round of "Happy Birthday." He gorged upon pizza until he felt ready to explode. But the best part was when Toy Foxy presented him with a colorful assortment of shining balloons, then took him to Kid's Cove, where they drew pictures and talked, just the two of them.
When he first met Toy Foxy he was a little . . . nervous around her. She was super tall, and her teeth looked really sharp! But after a while of being around her and talking with her, he began to see her much less frightening. Actually, he found her to be very sweet, with her fuzzy heart-shaped chest, radiant golden eyes, and her voice, which she could make sound either piratey or soft and exuberant. That very night he determined who, out of all the animatronics, was his favorite: Toy Foxy.
One of Fritz' favorite things about her was that despite her kind-of scary appearance, she was really very nice on the inside. Why couldn't everyone be like that, kind on the inside? There were few people in his life that were, and he met plenty of people during his average day, and those average days made him feel rather poorly on the inside. Only Toy Foxy knew how to make him feel better. She never did tons of special things for him, or treated him differently—and that's what always lifted his spirits. Unfortunately, the past week and a half had Kid's Cove's business booming; so much so that Fritz had been completely unable to see his friend during that entire period.
A flash of movement caught his eye and his heart leaped. Not one, but two separate parties were packing up, meaning Kid's Cove would be clearing out! Filled with a sudden burst of excitement and joy he jumped to his feet and hurried over to Toy Foxy's home's entrance, where a steady stream of kids was flowing from the doorway. Odd, he thought. All of these kids are old—way older than the kids that Toy Foxy plays with. It was true; the vixen's playroom was meant for children between the ages of four and twelve. A sign next to the doorway clearly stated so.
"Hey, Friedrich!"
Fritz squeaked in surprise, then sighed when he recognized his cousin. "H-hi, Charles," he stuttered nervously. Charles was two years older than he, and had about six inches and fifty pounds on Fritz. "What are you doing?"
Charles rolled his hazel eyes, which always seemed to bear a malicious gleam. "Ugh. My parents are making us leave early because we have to stop at the stupid grocery store, plus we have to take Caleb and Scott home still. Stupid, huh? I'm thirteen! Way old enough to stay here by myself for a single freaking hour, right? Heh, unlike you. Stupid."
If only you knew, Fritz thought.
"Charlie? Charlie! Let's go! I need to get dinner started soon!" Charles' mother's voice was barely audible in the strident atmosphere.
Charles rolled his eyes again, at no one in particular. "Coming," he hollered back. He turned to leave, then glanced at Fritz. "Hey, Friedrich? Make sure those other stupid kids in there to leave something of the Mangle for me. I'm gonna be here again tomorrow, and I don't want to play with more stupid, broken parts."
"Mangle?" Fritz asked, his face scrunched up in confusion.
The older boy sighed. "Don't you know anything? You know, that hands-on robot in the Kiddie Cove?" He was about to say more, but another round of yelling from his parents made him heave a second exaggerated sigh and trudge off into the crowd. "See ya, Friedrich."
"W-wait!" Fritz cried after him, stumbling in his direction. What did he mean? Who was the "Mangle" he was talking about? A million questions whirled around in his mind, but Charles was already gone.
With dread gnawing away at his stomach Fritz slowly turned to face the Kid's Cove entrance, where a final few kids were exiting, chatting animatedly. "Man, did you see what that one kid made it do?"
"Oh, yeah, that was so hilarious!"
"Wonder what's gonna happen to it tomorrow."
"So long, Mangle!"
"Pff, if it's even still working next time we're here."
Fritz felt rooted to the floor. What were those kids talking about? Mangle? He had a strong suspicion he knew who they were referring to, but he didn't want to know what had happened that caused a name change. One of the passing older boys shoved him as he passed by, sending him stumbling across the sticky tiled floor, but he managed to stay on his feet. Once all of the kids had left Kid's Cove, Fritz took a few hesitant steps toward it, then decided to brave it and rushed inside. It looked different. Not much so physically, aside from a few dark spots on the floor, but it seemed . . . darker. The normally-cheery room now had a more ominous atmosphere about it.
He stepped into the middle of the room and crouched down to examine the dark spots resting on the floor. Curious, he stuck a tentative finger into one of the darker spots, wrinkling his nose at the pungent odor. It felt syrupy and sticky, like oil. It must've been oil—but from what?
Suddenly a loud scraping sound came from behind him, along with a burst of static. He jumped to his feet and turned to see what had startled him, only to find an even more horrifying sight. It was Toy Foxy, but it looked nothing like the Foxy he knew. She was dismantled almost beyond recognition, and Fritz could only tell it was her by her exoskeleton head, which was mostly intact, save for a missing eye and a few wires dangling from behind her ears. The rest of her exoskeleton was gone, exposing an assortment of rods and wiring loosely connected by partially-tightened screws and bolts.
Fritz screamed by instinct, but he immediately regretted doing so, for Toy Foxy's joyous face crumpled into one of pure, indescribable disappointment.
"F-Foxy?" Fritz whispered, trying in vain to stop his limbs from trembling. "Is that you? What happened to you?"
The animatronic didn't seem to hear him. "You, too?" she mumbled, though it seemed like she was more talking to herself. "How could I let this happen? I only wanted to make the children happy, but now they're all so mean to me." Her voice was warbled and glitchy, from sadness or damage Fritz didn't know. "And all the good children . . . They're all scared of me. I can't play with them anymore. I can't make them happy."
"No, n-no!" Fritz said. "I'm not scared of you, Foxy. You're still my very favorite, and you—" Toy Foxy stumbled forwards, cutting him off. "Foxy? What's wrong with you?"
She shook her head slowly, struggling to maintain her balance. "Nothing, nothing, I'm fine. Just . . . just very . . . tired . . ." And with those final scrambled words, punctuated by a terrible groan, she fell face-first onto the floor and, with a resounding metallic clang, moved no more.
Author's Note:
Well, there it is, chapter one of What A Balloon Can Do! I hope you all enjoyed it and are as hyped about the next chapter as I am! Let's hope our beloved Toy Foxy is okay. Who knows, maybe a special new character that will come and help out our boy and animatronic in distress will be introduced next time. Who knows? I sure do. Also, thank you all so much for checking out Ladies' Night on Valentine's Day! As of now, it has over 500 views! That number is astonishing to me! Thank you all so much for making that possible! I'll see you all soon!