Hey guys! I'm back with the next chapter! Enjoy!
Chapter 2: Night 1
The afternoon was rolling around pretty smoothly at the Smash Mansion. The Smashers were all roaming about, going about their daily business. Within the mansion, Master Hand was residing in his office, going through and filling out a number of paperwork on his desk. As he did so, a sudden knock on the door sounded and he looked up.
"Come in." He called out. The knob to the door twisted and Mario peeked his head inside the office, facing the floating hand.
"Uh, Master Hand." He said, stepping in fully. "Shadow, Midna, Dillon, and Hammer Bro came over from the Assist Hotel to see you. They wanted to ask you about the security guard positions at your restaurant." Master Hand perked up at the mention of the available job positions.
"Yes, of course. Send them in." He said. Mario gave a nod and stepped out of the office. As soon as he did, the four said Assist Trophies entered and faced the floating hand.
"Uh, hi, Master Hand." Hammer Bro said, giving a friendly smile and a wave. "We saw your add about the open positions for security guards at your restaurant and we wanted to get the job."
"Of course." Master Hand replied, then looked at all of them. "So all of you are applying?" When they nodded, he continued. "I have to say, I'm pretty surprised. I wouldn't expect you four to be ones to want the job. Especially you two." He motioned toward Shadow and Midna when he said this.
"Hammer Bro wants this new, pointless cellphone that just came out." Shadow explained bluntly.
"It's not pointless!" Hammer Bro said defensively, throwing a scowl at the dark hedgehog. "It has enhanced internet connection and you can watch tv on it!"
"Exactly my point." Shadow scoffed.
"Look," Midna spoke up, looking back to Master Hand. "Hammer Bro really wants a phone and all four of us are broke. This was the first job we found out about, it sounds simple enough, so we wanted to go for it."
"I see." Master Hand replied with a little nod. "Well, I may be a bit surprised that you four want this job, I am most definitely sure you all can handle it." After hearing this statement, Dillon got a little sense of bewilderment and he gave the hand a strange look.
"Erm, what exactly do you mean by, 'you're most definitely sure we can handle it?'" He questioned.
"Well, you see, this security guard position has actually been open for quite a while." Master Hand explained. "However, I didn't send out public adds for it once they were. Instead, I announced it to the Smashers here to see if any of them would be interested in the job. The only ones that did offer for the job were Captain Falcon, Mega Man, Donkey Kong, Fox, Rob, and Olimar. Apparently, each of them quit right after their first night at the restaurant. That was when I decided to send out adds around Smashville to see if anyone else would qualify for the job, and now here comes you four, and I have confidence that you four will be perfect for the job."
The four Assist Trophies were quiet as they listened to Master Hand's little story, taking in these little bits of information. "Uh, may I ask why they quit after the first night?" Hammer Bro asked, sounding a tiny bit unsure.
"It turns out that the position just wasn't to their best interest." Master Hand answered. Hammer Bro fell silent again as he glanced around a bit, thinking a bit more. Now, he gave a little, chuckle, still a bit unsure.
"Okay, uh, just out of curiosity, is there any other positions open at the restaurant that I can go for?"
"Not that I know of, but if you want, I can probably hire you to be a part time cook and help make the pizzas during the day."
"I wouldn't do that, if I were you." Shadow interjected. "The last time Hammer Bro helped to cook food at the hotel, disaster was the only result."
"Hey! I put out the fire, didn't I?" Hammer Bro said to his defense.
"If you classify throwing lighter fluid at it, thinking it was water, as 'putting out fire', then yeah, you did a good job..." Dillon muttered.
"Alright," Master Hand said. "I'm afraid that the only positions I can give you is the security guard one."
"We'll take it, then." Shadow replied.
Master Hand gave a nod and opened a draw in his desk. After shuffling around through if for a few seconds, he pulled out four sheets of paper and handed one to all of them. "Just sign these forms, and the position will be your's."
Midna looked at her paper and put on a strange expression. "Uh, any particular reason why you're having us sign waivers?"
"Oh, some accidents will tend to happen at the restaurant from time-to-time." Master Hand replied passively. "This is just to verify that if anything were to happen and seriously injures any of you, you promise that you won't sue."
Hammer Bro stared at his paper with wide for a couple seconds. "...Are you sure you can't let me have the position as a cook? I mean, I learned my mistake from almost burning the Assist Hotel to the ground, and I promise that I can get better at-"
"Sign the paper." Shadow growled to him in warning. Hammer Bro gulped and slowly signed his name on the form. Once they all did this, Master Hand took up the four papers and put them away.
"Alright, your jobs begin tonight." He told them. "Report to the restaurant at exactly midnight and you are to stay and keep watch until 6 am. Good luck to you all."
(Page Break)
Crickets sang as the moon shone bright in the indigo sky. Night time had fallen quickly over Smashville. Most buildings and homes had gone dark as the residents turned in for the night, especially for a certain pizza place...
Cold air was drifting through the vents of Light Absol's Pizza. The lights were off, leaving everything dark inside. Dining tables were still, for not a single soul was inside, moving about. At least, for the time being. In the midst of the silence, a sudden jerk sounded. Just then, the doors to the restaurant opened, causing a creaking sound to echo through out the building. Once the doors were wide enough, the heads of a certain hedgehog, imp, koopa, and armadillo peered in and looked around, scanning the dark, empty pizzeria.
Shadow, Midna, Dillon, and Hammer Bro finally stepped in fully. The dark hedgehog took out a flashlight, switched it on, and the four began to make their way inside. As they walked, Midna looked around and began to notice the stains on the floors and walls.
"Jeez..." She muttered. "If anything, Master Hand should be hiring better janitors. This place is a mess!"
"Yeah. For an eating establishment that's targeted towards families with kids, you'd think they'd keep it a bit clean." Dillon agreed, lifting up his foot after stepping on a lone slice of pizza. As the four trophies continued to move through the restaurant, they passed by a certain area. Hammer Bro slowed to a stop and looked around it. It looked like it was an area where birthday parties are held. There were long tables, set in rows, that had tablecloths with patterns of party decorations. However, what got his attention the most, was a stage where three animatronics stood.
Hammer Bro tilted his head curiously as he looked at them. The animatronics were Pokemon, one a Riolu with a dark blue bow-tie on her neck, one a Charmander wearing a yellow hoodie with the words "Let's Party" on it, and the final one standing in the middle, was an Ivysaur that wore a black bow-tie and a top hat. The animatronics stayed completely still in their spots, their expressionless faces staring forward. After a moment of looking at them, a sudden chill went up Hammer Bro's spine and he shuttered.
He looked back and realized that the others had gone ahead of him. "H-Hey! Wait up!" He called and quickly trotted after them.
(Page Break)
Shadow, Midna, Dillon, and Hammer Bro finally reached the office room of the restaurant, exiting out of the main hallway. The office was fairly large, with many papers and posters on the wall, portraying the three animatronics Hammer Bro saw back in the party room. Towards the back, a large desk stood with a few chairs set behind it. A fan was on the desk, along with some crumpled and balled up papers. There were two open vents in the walls of the office, one on the left, and another on the right.
Since the light was already on in there, Shadow switched their flashlight off and the four had approached the desk, looking around. "Huh. This is a pretty comfortable office." Dillon observed. "It's spacey." Shadow glanced over and noticed a little laptop sitting on the desk. Walking up to it, he picked it up and flipped it open, inspecting it curiously. The first thing that appeared on the screen was a view of the animatronics back in the party area. On the bottom right corner, was a map of the entire building. Shadow took a seat in one of the chairs and started moving the mouse over the areas of the map, seeing that when he did so, he was switching to different surveillance cameras.
"By the looks of it, we're keeping watch of the restaurant through these." He concluded, closing the laptop.
"So we just sit in here and look through the cameras all night?" Midna summed up. She gave a chuckle and heaved herself up on the desk to take a seat. "This job is gonna be easy money."
"Heh, you're probably right." Hammer Bro agreed then smiled proudly. "I'm proud for finding it!" Just then, a loud ringing sounded through the room, making them all jump in surprise. The four turned to see that a phone sat on the left end of the desk. Before any of them could move to answer it, it stopped and cut right to a voice mail.
"Uh, hello? Hello, hello?" A familiar voice spoke from it. "Uh, hey Shads, and his friends! I think you guys can already tell, but this is Sonic, here. Heh, believe it or not, but I'm actually working as a temporary security guard here as well. Y'know, for the spare bucks and all."
"Oh, well that's lovely..." Shadow muttered bluntly.
"So, anyway," Sonic's voice continued. "Master Hand told me about you guys joining, so I'm gonna be giving you some tips for the next five nights."
"Tips?" Dillon repeated, raising an eyebrow. "So we have to do more than just watch the cameras?"
"Okay." Sonic said again. "So welcome to your new jobs at Light Absol's Pizza. So, there's gonna be some things you have to expect during your guys' first week here. In case you all don't know, Master Hand opened this restaurant a few years back and it features new Pokemon animatronics. I believe the Riolu was named Aura, a Charmander named Bryanna, and an Ivysaur named Bryone."
A sudden looked of realization came across Hammer Bro's face as he remembered the three animatronics he saw earlier.
"Yeah, there are older animatronics before they got those, but I'm not gonna go into detail on them yet. So, these new ones are now equipped with face-recognition that are tied to some kind of criminal database, or somethin'. I don't really know what's up with that; Master Hand never really explained that to me or the other guards. Anyway, getting back on topic, what I do know is that the animatronics move around at night, and even attempt to get into the office. Creepy, right? Heh, heh!"
Slight looks of alarm and confusion came across Shadow's, Midna's, Dillon's, and Hammer Bro's faces at this information.
"Hold up, what?" The imp asked incredulously.
"Apparently, once night falls, since families are supposed to be gone, they attack you if they don't recognize you as an employee. Which, this is bad for you guys, because this is your first night at the restaurant. Soooo, if the animatronics were to come close to the office, there's a Pokemon mask under the desk. Just put it on, they'll think you're another animatronic, and they'll be on their merry way! Also, there's a remote that winds up a music box at the prize counter. Be sure you guys wind that thing up, 'cause by what I've heard, there's a Gabite animatronic, I think it's name is Frost. Yeah, I heard the most complaints about that one when the music box stops.
"So, yeah! Just wind the box, put on the mask, and watch through the cameras! I think you four will do fine on your first night! Good luck, guys!"
The voice mail finally came to an end and left the entire office in a dead silence. Shadow, Midna, Dillon, and Hammer Bro all stared at the quiet phone with wide eyes, trying to process what Sonic told them. After a moment of stillness, Hammer Bro finally decided to speak.
"Huh...I didn't know voice mails could be that long..." He mumbled in wonder.
"Wait, wait. What did Sonic just say?" Dillon asked, slightly disturbed. "The animatronics walk around at night?! And they attack us if they don't recognize us?!"
"Sweet Nayru, what did we get ourselves into?" Midna growled, running her palm down her face.
"I knew I had a bad feeling about this when Master Hand told us about the Smashers that quit!" Hammer Bro said, now starting to go into a panic. "No wonder they left after the first night! That sounds terrifying!"
"Calm down." Shadow spoke up, facing the three of them. "We'll be just fine. This is nothing but a simple security guard job, and it won't be a problem."
"Yeah, for you!" Dillon said. "You're hardly scared of anything. As for us, we actually have concerns about certain things, especially ones that jeopardize our lives."
"Um, g-guys..." Midna, Shadow, and Dillon turned to look at Hammer Bro, who had taken the laptop and had already started looking through the cameras. His eyes held a frightened gleam as he looked at one particular room. "One of them moved..." Immediately, the three came over to him and Shadow took the laptop. The screen showed the room where the three animatronics were standing, but only two of them were still standing there; Bryone and Bryanna. Aura was gone.
"The Riolu moved." The dark hedgehog announced, beginning to flip through the other cameras to find her.
"Where is it?" Dillon asked urgently.
"I'm trying to find it." Shadow replied in aggravation, narrowing his eyes. He looked through all of the cameras, but not a single one revealed the missing Pokemon animatronic. As he kept looking, he then came to a stop. The camera he stopped on were the ones in the backroom of the restaurant, and in there revealed four animatronics laying on the ground. One was an Absol that wore a black bow tie and a top hat, one was Buneary that had purple paws and a red bow tie, a Sylveon that wore yellow cap, a gray hoodie, and a white bandanna around it's neck with the words "Let's Eat" on it, and the final one was a Vulpix with an eyepatch over it's right eye, a hook on it's right paw, and wore ragged, brown shorts. All for were broken down and slumped on the ground. The old animatronics.
Shadow looked at them in confusion for a moment when a sudden, loud bang was heard from the right side of the room, making them all jump.
"T-There's something in the vent. There's something in the vent!" Hammer Bro freaked out, pointing to the open vent in the wall.
"Isn't there a light that turns on in there?" Midna asked cautiously.
"I think so." Shadow replied quietly. He saw that there was a remote on the desk with labeled buttons on them. One was labeled "Music Box", one was labeled "Right vent light", and the other was labeled "Left vent light." Shadow pressed the one that was labeled "Right vent" and a light flickered on in the vent opening. Immediately, the first thing that was revealed was the face of the Riolu animatronic, Aura, peering right inside the room and straight at the Trophies.
Dillon and Hammer Bro yelped in alarm and stood straight up from where they sat in the chairs. Shadow thought fast and quickly picked up the Pokemon mask under the desk. "The three of you, get down and stay hidden. Now!" He told them. Without objection, Midna, Dillon, and Hammer Bro scrambled underneath the desk and huddled up. Shadow then placed the mask over his face and waited. Everything seemed to have froze as the entire office fell into a tense silence. Just then, a blue, metal paw reached out from the dark vent opening, followed by another one. Ever so slowly, Aura emerged from the vent and entered fully into the room, standing up straight and looking toward where the Assist Trophies were.
Midna, Dillon, and Hammer Bro looked at her with wide eyes, but Shadow only stared her down through the mask. A buzzing noise filled the air, indicating that the Pokemon animatronic was scanning him. But since he had the mask on, she didn't see his face only took him as another animatronic. A ding then sounded and Aura turned around and started to slowly walk down the dark hallway leading out of the office. The four watched her leave until she disappeared into the darkness, completely out of sight. Midna and Dillon slowly got out from under the desk as Shadow took off the mask, but Hammer Bro only gave a relieved huff and flopped on the ground.
"That was freaky..." The imp mumbled.
"So that's all we have to do to keep them from attacking us?" Dillon asked.
"Looks like it." Shadow replied, putting the mask down. He looked back at the laptop and started looking through the cameras again. He saw that Aura had went into a different room in the restaurant, but it turns out that Bryanna had left the stage as well and was now roaming. Shadow glanced at the time towards the bottom of the screen and saw that it was now 1 am. "It looks like some time passed during Sonic's message and that encounter." Shadow confirmed. "We have five more ours to go."
The other three gave loud groans at this news. They guessed this job was not going to be easy money after all...
(Page Break)
A good four hours had passed. During this time, the four Assist Trophies had kept a good eye on the cameras to see where the animatronics were going. They also found the room with the Prize Counter, where the music box was said to be. In the back of that room, there was a large box where they guessed that the mentioned Gabite animatronic, Frost, was inside. The four had remembered about the music box and they put Hammer Bro in charge of winding whenever it almost went out. Through the night, the only encounters they had were with Aura and Bryanna, which both always kept coming in through the vents. They used the Pokemon mask to keep them away, and it worked each time. Despite the constant stress of the moving robotic Pokemon, they handled things pretty well.
Now, it was currently 5 am. The four were sitting around the office room, waiting for their shift to be over. As they did, they found ways to occupy themselves. Dillon was leaning against the desk, lazily twirling a pencil in his claws. Midna sat against the desk and was throwing a balled up piece of paper at the wall, letting it bounce back and catch it. Hammer Bro had fallen asleep a few minutes ago and had his head laying on the desk, drool leaking from his partly open mouth. The only that seemed to still be focused on the current task was Shadow.
The dark hedgehog had his eyes glued to the screen of the laptop as he watched Aura standing in one of the other rooms. He flipped through the cameras to try to find where Bryanna is, but the Charmander animatronic was not seen in any of them. Silently cursing, he went to the camera that was in the left vent. Sure enough, Bryanna was in that one, crawling her way through to get to the office.
"The Charmander's coming back." Shadow announced to the others. "Get under the desk." Dillon and Midna heard his words and quickly went under the desk, but Hammer Bro remained asleep in his chair. Shadow looked to him and started to shake him. "Hammer Bro, wake up! Get under the desk!" The other two watched him do this and climbed back out from the desk curiously. The koopa had not awoken.
"Jeez, he's a heavy sleeper..." Midna muttered. However, during this time of trying to wake their friend up, they had not been paying attention to the cameras... Loud scuffling met their ears and Shadow, Midna, and Dillon quickly turned to the left vent where it was heard. The dark hedgehog picked up the remote and clicked the light on. The opening was empty. The three looked at it in confusion.
"Nothings there?" Dillon finally spoke. "Then what was that noise?" A flash of orange and yellow appeared and Midna was tackled to the ground and away from the desk with a yelp. The twilight imp stared up with wide, frightened eyes, looking into the glowing, brown robotic eyes of Bryanna. The Charmander animatronic gave a loud, scratchy, roar-sounding noise as she opened her mouth and tried to bite down at the imp's face, revealing many wires and the metal teeth her endoskeleton inside. Midna screamed in fear and tried to through her off, but Bryanna was surprisingly strong. Just then, Shadow had ran up and he landed a powerful kick to the animatronic's face, sending her flying away down the dark hall and disappearing.
He watched after it as Dillon helped a shaken Midna back to her feet. Right then and there, they fell silent as a sound met their ears. It was music. Jack-in-the-Box type of music. Shadow, Dillon, and Midna were glancing around as it continued, wondering where the hell it was coming from. The dark hedgehog then went over to where the laptop was and flipped through the cameras. After seeing that nothing was amiss in the other rooms, he stopped at the Prize Counter. The music box had stopped playing and the large box at the end of the room was now opened.
"Frost is loose!" Shadow said aloud.
"She is?!" Midna said in disbelief. "Oh, you've got to be kidding me!"
Dillon glanced over to see that after the little attack from Bryanna, Hammer Bro was still fast asleep. Annoyed, he slapped the koopa at the back of his head, making his eyes fly open and sit up with a yelp.
"What happened?" Hammer Bro asked, rubbing his eyes.
"Why weren't you checking the music box?!" Dillon hollered in rage.
"The music box...?" Hammer Bros' eyes then widen in terror. "The music box! I forgot!" While the imp and the armadillo were confronting him, Shadow looked back at the laptop and checked the time. It was five minutes from 6 am.
"Drop everything!" He shouted at the others. "If we stay, Frost is going to attack us, and I'm sure that's not going to end without serious injuries. We have five minutes, so we're leaving. Now!" Midna, Dillon, and Hammer Bro only glanced at each other nervously, not entirely sure about leaving the office and going out into the building filled with wondering animatronics. "NOW!" Shadow said to them once more.
They then decided to roll with it and the four Assist Trophies quickly took off into the hallway, exiting the office. As they ran for the exit, the music that they heard was getting louder and louder. Even though they were off, the lights on the ceiling started flickering on and off at a frantic rate, making the four look up at them with wide, terrified eyes. As the lights did this, everytime they went on, a Gabite animatronic appeared in different spots, watching them as they escaped, almost like a hallucination. This definitely wasn't good.
Finally, the group had reached the entrance to the restaurant and sprinted to get to it. Shadow, Midna, and Dillon burst through the doors and made it outside, but Hammer Bro had slipped on a lone piece of pizza on the floor and fell. He tumbled a bit on the ground then finally landing on his back. He groaned and shook his head from the fall, but something down in the darkness of the building caught his attention. The lights flickered one more time and the Gabite appeared, standing there. She had white stripes on her lower arms and legs, red spots of both her cheeks, and two, thick purple stripes streaming down her face from her eyes. Speaking of which, her eyes were narrowed in a glare and dark; nothing in them but small, glowing white dots. Frost.
With an ear splitting metallic screech, lunge through the air, targeting the koopa that lay on the ground. Since he was on his turtle shell, keeping him from moving, Hammer Bro's heart nearly skipped a beat and he let out a frightened squeal. A hand then gripped his shell from the back and pulled him away.
"I gotcha!" Dillon said as he held his friend and ran back to the door. When he got back outside, Shadow quickly slammed it shut and locked it with the key that he had. Frost was met with the door and bounced right off it, landing on the round in the restaurant. The four Assist Trophies were gasping for breath as they watched the Gabite animatronic slowly got back up. She glared at them with her darkened, empty eyes. But instead of making another move to get to them, she turned around and disappeared back into the darkness of the restaurant.
Shadow glanced at the watch on his wrist. It was 6 am. He looked back at the other three, who were now getting over the frightening experience that they just had the displeasure of witnessing. He then turned back around at the dark pizzeria, where the robotic animatronics were probably still roaming about.
This job will definitely won't be easy money.
Not at all...
Garshness, this took forever. These chapters will be looooong, since I'm doing one night each chapter. Yeah, so, don't expect updates early in the day XD
Thank you guys for reading! The next chapter will be up soon! See ya!