*slowly crawls from the darkness* Uuugghh...Five...hours...I spent five hours...playing on Pokemon Y...hunting for at least one shiny Pokemon...Five hours searching...And I found none...
Hey guys! I'm back with the next chapter! I would've had this up earlier today, but like I just breathlessly mentioned, I wasted nearly half my trying to find a shiny Pokemon...I live a sad life... -.-
But, I'm here with the next chapter! Enjoy!
Chapter 3: Night 2
"Are you out of your mind?!" Midna shouted in alarm.
It was now the following day after the night the four Assist Trophies went to their first night as security guards for Light Absol's Pizza. However, as we all can greatly remember, it started out decent, but ended unpleasing. Now, the sky was darkening once again in Smashville. Over at the Assist Hotel, Midna, Dillon, and Hammer Bro were all laying around in their room, seemingly with now plans for the night. Shadow, on the other hand, had announced to them that he was going to leave to the restaurant to continue their job. When he said this, the other three looked at him as if he had grown a second head.
"Why are you going back there?!" Dillon questioned the dark hedgehog.
"Because I don't run away from anything." Shadow replied indignantly.
"Did you not see that Charmander attack me last night?!" Midna shouted, remembering the unpleasant encounter. "Now, don't even get me started on that Gabite thing. I mean, Hammer Bro's still terrified of it!" Her, Shadow, and Dillon looked over to see the said koopa flipping through many channels on their tv. As he did, a nature program flashed on the screen and it was showing Gabites. Upon seeing the dragon-types, Hammer Bro squealed and scrambled away, falling off the couch.
"See?" Midna said again, refacing Shadow. "There's no way in the Sacred Relm that I'm stepping foot in that pizza place again, and I think I speak for everyone when I say that." When she finished her sentence, Dillon glanced away and nodded his head in agreement.
Shadow looked at the two and narrowed his eyes, crossing his arms. "What about the pay? Wasn't that the reason why you wanted to get a job?"
"Screw the money!" Midna said. "Twenty-five dollars an hour is not worth having my face eaten by robotic Pokemon!"
"So you'd rather be broke?"
"It's better than dying!"
The entire room had fallen into a tense silence as Shadow and Midna glared each other down. A tense silence filled the room as Dillon and Hammer Bro stood rigid in their spots, looking at the other two in anticipation. This moment seemed to last for forever.
"...Fine." Shadow finally said. "But I'm not going to let a couple of animatronics stop me from getting a job done. You three can stay if you want, but I'm going back." With that, he turned his back on them and walked out of the room without another word. The atmosphere was left silent once more. Dillon, Midna, and Hammer Bro were staring where their friend disappeared, but the imp only gave a huff.
"Okay. Let him get himself killed if he really want's to. It'd be his fault, not mine." She then rested back on the couch and faced the tv, folding her arms behind her head. Dillon turned around to face her with a look of disbelief.
"We can't just let him go back to that place alone!" He said to her. "He can get seriously hurt if he's attacked by those animatronics, killed even!"
"Oh, but Shadow's the 'Ultimate Lifeform.' He can handle 'everything' on his own." Midna sneered sarcastically, making little air quotations with her fingers. "Look, even if Shadow get's his furry behind mauled by robotic Pokemon, it's his fault for being so damn arrogant. We shouldn't have to put our lives on the line for his hard-headed decisions, so therefor, I'm not involving myself with it."
"Midna, listen." Dillon said sternly, standing in front of her. "You may not like the idea of being at risk for Shadow wanting to get the job done, but what better would we be if we let him be put to risk for letting him go on his own and us staying behind? We may not act like it all the time, but the four of us look to each other as allies, friends, probably. But if we're friends or allies, we still won't let one of us go do something their own if we know they can possibly die. We can't let Shadow go to that restaurant by himself, so I say that we go as well."
Midna was quiet as she looked at the armadillo, but Dillon held his stern look as he looked back at her. She let his words process in her mind for a moment, then she let out a sigh and floated back up from the couch.
"You're right." She said. "If one of us goes, we all go." Dillon seemed a bit surprised that she gave in so easily, but he then gave a small smile and crossed his arms.
"Uh, I have a quick question." Hammer Bro spoke up. When the other two turned to face him, he continued. "So, is it okay if a vast majority of us goes to complete a terrifying job and one of us stays behind, because their still too scared to face it?" He smiled hopefully for an reply, but the only answer he got as Midna's hand-hair grabbing him around his body and dragging him with her and Dillon toward the door to their room.
"Nice try, Hammer Bro." She said. "But like I said, if one of us goes, we all go."
(Page Break)
Foot steps echoed in the air as Shadow approached the front of Light Absol's Pizza. He slowed his walking to a stop and stood in front of the building, looking inside through the glass doors. It was dark and still inside, not a thing was moving as of now. His red eyes were narrowed as he faced the building, clenching his fists tight. He knew that tonight was going to be like yesterday; with the constant threat of the Pokemon animatronics attacking him for not recognizing him. But, he didn't care. Shadow wasn't going to let a couple of automated robots scare him away from a task. He's can handle anything. He will handle anything.
Shadow got out the keys to the restaurant's door and was about to unlock it, but stopped when he heard more foot steps approaching from behind. Turning around, he saw Midna, Dillon, and Hammer Bro quickly running up to him.
"What are you guys doing here?" He asked them. "I thought you all weren't coming."
"Yeah, well..." Midna hesitated for a second, but then continued. "Look, Dillon made a point back at the Assist Hotel, that the four of us are friends and allies. We can't just have one of us send ourselves into impending doom without standing up with them. If we have to face a challenge, we're facing it together."
"So we've decided to help you finish this job for the rest of the week." Dillon finished. Shadow looked at the three of them for a moment, then gave a huff and smirked.
"Good to hear." He replied.
(Page Break)
"So what are we supposed to do today?" Dillon asked as he, Shadow, Midna, and Hammer Bro entered the large office from the dark hallway. "Same thing as yesterday?" Before any of them could speak, the phone on the desk rang once again. The four turned to it as it went to a voice mail.
"Heya guys!" Sonic's cheerful voice spoke from it. "If you all are hearing this, I'm gonna guess you all decided to keep the job, then. Well, see? I told you your first night wouldn't be a problem!"
"...Wouldn't be a problem...?" Midna repeated in disbelief. "WOULDN'T BE A PROBLEM?! Why I outta-"
"Calm down." Shadow told her, deadpanned.
Sonic's voice mail then continued. "Alrighty, guys. I'm sure you all noticed the older animatronics from the previous restaurant sitting in the back room. I heard that Master Hand uses them for spare parts, or somethin'? I don't know. Besides, I think I know the names to them. The Absol is named Light, the Sylveon is Warrior Kitty, the Buneary is Lilac, and the Vulpix is Mighty. Anyway, I think they walk around at night, too."
"Pardon?" Dillon said, eyes wide. Hammer Bro started making frightened, squeaking noises while Shadow pinched the ridge of his nose.
"You've got to be kidding me." He growled.
"Don't worry, though! The Pokemon mask should work on them, too. But, there is one problem. One of them, Mighty. I've heard that she was always a bit twitchy, so I don't think the mask will work on her."
"W-What?!" Hammer Bro said in panic. "Then what do we do for Mighty?!"
"If you see her standing at the end of the hall, just flash your flashlight at her a couple of times. The older ones get disoriented with bright lights. Okay, now one more thing; don't forget the music box."
"Oh believe me, we won't..." Midna muttered.
"Yeah, I'll be honest, I never really liked that Gabite thing. It's like it's always...thinking, and it can go anywhere. I don't think the Pokemon mask will fool it either, so just don't forget the music box. Anyway, I'm sure it won't be a problem. Good luck, guys!"
Sonic's voice mail came to a close and Midna let out a groan. "Oh, that's nice. That's what we need." She said. "More killer, robot Pokemon. I told you guys we shouldn't have come back!"
"We're gonna die." Hammer Bro sobbed, covering his face. "We're gonna die, we're gonna die, WE'RE GONNA DIE!"
"We are not going to die." Shadow spoke up, facing all three of them. "Look, we managed to make it through yesterday, we can do the same today."
"Guys." Dillon suddenly said, but no one heard him.
"Yeah, but we barely made it that night." Midna argued back to the dark hedgehog. "Now that there's more animatronics roaming about, might as well just go ahead and call a funeral service for us."
"Listen, we are not leaving." Shadow growled at her. "We gave Master Hand our word that we'll complete this week, so we're staying."
"Guys..." Dillon said once more, but again, went unheard.
"Oh, so you're trying to get us killed?"
"I'm trying to complete a job that I was given."
"GUYS!" Dillon finally shouted. Shadow and Midna stopped their argument as they, along with Hammer Bro, turned to give him their full attention. The armadillo was sitting in one of the chairs and was already looking at the laptop cameras. Dillon looked up at them. "Mighty's gone."
"What?" Midna said.
"Mighty is gone." Dillon repeated, pointing to the laptop. "She's not in the backroom with the others." As panicked glows began to shine in both Midna's and Hammer Bro's eyes, Shadow approached him and took the laptop. He flipped through the cameras and switched to the ones in the backrooms. Sure enough, he saw the three old animatronics, Light, Lilac, and Warrior Kitty all laying there, but one was gone; Mighty.
"I-Is she in any of the other rooms, Shadow?" Hammer Bro asked in a shaky voice. Shadow didn't say anything as he started going through the other cameras of the building. As he did, he saw that Aura and Bryanna were already moving about, but there was no sign of Mighty.
"I can't find her." Shadow finally responded.
"Then where is she?" Midna questioned. A faint crash suddenly echoed and the four went still. Ever so quietly, tapping of four metallic paws slowly getting closer and closer made them all turn in unison and look at the dark hallway. The four stared into the darkness as the paws kept coming. Finally, Midna decided to speak in a soft whisper.
"Shadow..." She said. "...Shine the flashlight." The dark hedgehog gave a nod and took the flashlight from the desk into his hand. Clicking it on, he shined it down the large hall in front of them. Immediately, the beam revealed a lone animatronic standing at the far end. It was a Vulpix that was dressed up in pirate attire. Mighty the Vulpix.
Shadow, Midna, Dillon, and Hammer Bro were dead silent as they looked back at her. The silence was then broken when the koopa hastily grabbed the mask and placed it on his face.
"Hammer Bro, don't." Dillon whispered, snatching it off him. "Sonic said the mask won't work on her, remember?" After he said this, Shadow started clicking the button on the flashlight multiple times, switching it on and off. The light beam kept revealing Mighty down in the hallway until after a moment, the pattering of pawsteps sounded and soon disappeared. Shadow switched the flashlight back on and it showed nothing but an empty hallway. Mighty was gone.
The four let out sighs of relief. "That went better than I thought." Midna mumbled.
"Yeah, but we still have the rest of the night to complete." Dillon pointed out.
"We shouldn't worry." Shadow told them. "Yesterday night didn't go so well, I know that, but we just need to learn from that and come up with a routine that I can use to keep the animatronics away from us. If we do just that, we can make it the rest of the night, and the entire week."
(Page Break)
The past couple hours have actually gone pretty smooth for the Assist Trophies. The routine they came up with became to norm, since they learned to not stray away from it, or else the results of the previous night will happen again. Check the cameras, use the mask, shine the flashlight, and wind the music box. So far, the only animatronics that came around were Aura, Bryanna, occasionally Bryone, and Mighty. They've made it pretty far.
Now, it was about 5 am. In the office, the four were finding their means of entertainment. Shadow was busy looking through the cameras for the animatronics while Dillon and Midna were playing tic-tac-toe on one of the sheets of paper on the desk. The twilight imp stared intently at the paper for a few seconds before finally marking an X. The armadillo saw the move she made and was quick to mark an O, getting a diagonal three-in-a-row.
"I win, again." He said simply. Midna looked at the paper with wide eyes then snatched it up and crumpled it in a ball.
"I hate this game." She muttered irritably and tossed the ball away. It flew a little then bounced off Shadow's head, falling to the ground where much more crumpled tic-tac-toe papers lay around him. Just as Midna and Dillon took out another paper to start a new game, squeaking noises caught their attention and they turned to see Hammer Bro sitting in one of the chairs, rocking back and forth. He also held a look of discomfort on his face.
Shadow, Dillon, and Midna gave him strange looks. "Uh...You alright there?" The armadillo asked.
"I-I...I have to go." Hammer Bro replied in a shaky voice. "Bad!"
Midna let out a little groan. "Seriously? You have to go now? Can't you just hold it?"
"Unless you wanna see my bladder explode here in this room, then yeah. I can hold it." Hammer Bro said with a slight scowl. Midna returned his look then gave a shrug.
"Alright then. If you have to go so bad," She floated to the side and motioned toward the large, dark hallway that led to the rest of the restaurant. "Then be my guest." Hammer Bro went wide eyed as he stared at the hall in silent fear, knowing that if he left, the animatronic Pokemon would go after him. Midna noticed his pause and placed her hands on her hips.
"Yeah, thought so." She said. "You're gonna have to hold it until our shift is over."
Hammer Bro was now kicking his feet as the feeling started to get worse. "B-But I can't hold it any longer."
"Then go out there and find the bathroom yourself." Midna argued.
"I'm not going out there! Can one of you guys just go and find it, then come back and get me-"
"So, you don't want to risk your life with the animatronics, but you find it necessary for us to risk our lives to go, just so you can take a piss." Dillon pointed out bluntly.
A nervous gleam shined in Hammer Bro's eyes. "Well...When you say it like that, it makes me sound like a wimp."
Now Midna was giving him a deadpanned look. "...And you're not already on a daily basis?"
"Hey! I take offence to that-"
"Enough!" The three all jumped at the sudden shout and turned to see Shadow standing up from his chair, glaring at them in irritation. "I'll go out and look for the restrooms." he announced. "While I do, you three stay and watch the animatronics."
"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Dillon interjected, facing the dark hedgehog fully. "You're not seriously gonna go out there by yourself, are you?"
"I'll be fine." Shadow told him. "I can avoid the animatronics if one get's close, but even if I do run into one, I can take it on. So the three of you, stay here. I won't be gone long." Before the others could object anymore, he turned around and headed out of the office, disappearing in the darkness of the large hallway.
(Page Break)
Cold air was blowing through the entire building from the air vents. Shadow was slowly walking through the main hall, silently searching for the restrooms. He gripped the flashlight tightly in his hand, shining it ahead of him; feeling like multiple eyes were watching his every movement. Multiple, glowing, animatronic eyes. This only made Shadow keep his guard up and continued on.
After about a couple minutes or so, he arrived to a room, the party room. Shadow peered inside and shone his flashlight around. At the far end of the room, he spotted a sign right next to two doors. On the signs were the words "Bathrooms."
There. Shadow said to himself. Now to just get Hammer Bro here so he can shut up. Just then, a crash was heard behind him. Alarmed, Shadow whipped around and looked intently into the darkness. The tapping of metal claws met his ears. All the way down the hall ahead of him, the faint silhouette of an animatronic slowly walked out, barely visible in the shadows. Judging by the shape of the body and the glow of red eyes, it was an Absol animatronic. The one and only, Light the Absol.
Upon seeing her, Shadow silently cursed and glanced around, frantically searching for options. Finally, he went inside the party room and pressed his back against the wall beside the doorway to be out of sight. He also switched off the flashlight so it wouldn't lead the animatronic to him. Shadow stood silently and listened. The clanking of Light's metal claws continued and got louder and louder as she drew nearer to the room. Shadow kept his eyes to where the doorway was, hoping that she'll just pass right by it, never noticing that he was there.
Just then, the head of an Absol peered through the doorway and scanned the interior of the room. Shadow's muscles tensed up and he braced himself for a fight if it came. Light continued to look in the direction opposite from his. However, she seemed to be feeling the presence of another, for her eyes were glancing to something toward in his direction and a scratchy, metallic growl started to sound from her.
Before anything could happen, more pawsteps sounded from out in the hall. This got Light's attention and she immediately turned to look out of the doorway. Shadow leaned over a little and tried to see what as out there as well, without moving from his spot. In the hall, the Buneary animatronic, Lilac, was standing there and facing the Absol. Static-sounding noises were emitting from the two, almost like they were...communicating. Finally, both gave a nod to each other and quickly left the party room, running off down the hall.
Shadow released a sigh and relaxed his muscles a bit. That was a really close call. It looked like those two were heading in the direction of the office. He said to himself with narrowed eyes. I have to get back to the other three. He was just about to leave when pattering could be heard from across the room. Freezing up and ears perked, Shadow looked toward where it came from. All he saw was a glimpse of something move off the wall and disappear. Shadow glanced around, trying to find where it went.
The pattering met his hearing again as some unidentifiable thing slowly limped out into view. Whatever it was, it was small. It came to a stop and stood up on what can only be it's hindlegs, standing straight. Then, it slowly turned to face Shadow, revealing glowing brown eyes. The two seemed to lock gazes for a second when suddenly, the thing's right eye moved away from it's left one and rose above the head.
"What the..." Shadow whispered as this happened and clicked his flashlight back on. Right then, the light revealed a torn up Pikachu animatronic. It had a large hole on it's stomach and a chunck of it's left arm missing, revealing parts of endoskeleton inside and another hole in it's back. Half of it's right arm and the entire tail, except for the tip, was nothing but endoskeleton. The right eye was missing, leaving an empty robotic socket in it's place, and an extra endoskeleton head stuck out behind it, revealing the other eye. The Pikachu wore a tie-dye bowtie and had many wires streaming out from it's missing parts, leaving her looking like a mangled mess.
Upon seeing the torn-up animatronic, Shadow jumped, startled. However, this only resulted in him roughly ramming into a shelf behind him, making him fall over on his back and the flashlight to fall out of his hand. The shelf, which was rather large, fell over as well and landed on his legs, preventing him from getting up.
"Damn it!" Shadow whispered through clenched teetch. Pattering noises sounded once more and this time, it sounded like they were climbing up the wall and scurrying along the ceiling. Shadow listened as it did this until suddenly, it stopped. It seemed like the atmosphere was holding it's breath as everything fell into silence. A crash echoed in the room as the Pikachu jumped right down from the ceiling and landed on the shelf right in front of Shadow, catching him by surprise. The dark hedgehog looked into the animatronic's eye that was mere inches from his own. But the Pikachu...didn't do anything. Her eyes were narrowed as she looked at him, but as seconds went by, she seemed to slowly change her expression as a different look appeared on her. It looked like...curiosity.
A beeping noise came from her head and, to Shadow's surprise, the Pikachu backed up off the shelf and moved away from him. Before he could have time to question this, the sound of someone's voice called his name.
"Shadow!" Dillon's voice echoed as he appeared from the doorway of the party room and entered inside with a nervous Hammer Bro following him. He held a cellphone in his claws to use as light to guide them. When the two entered fully into the room, they quickly spotted the torn-up animatronic standing there. "Whoa, holy-!" Dillon shouted in alarm as Hammer Bro gave a squeal.
"Get it away! Get it AWAY!" He freaked out, covering his eyes. The Pikachu made an attempt to turn and run, but the armadillo was quick to football kick it all the way across the room. In the darkness, it could faintly be seen getting back up and climb up the wall, scurrying away on the ceiling until it entered an air vent and was gone.
"Oh my god, it crawls. It crawls." Hammer Bro sobbed in fright. Dillon walked over to where Shadow still lay and grabbed a hold of the shelf, using all his strength to lift it up and letting the dark hedgehog get back up.
"Shadow, what happened in here?" He then asked, putting the shelf back down. "You were gone a while and we heard some commotion coming from here. Were you attacked?"
"Not really." Shadow muttered, remembering back to the animatronic encounters. "I did run in with Light, but she didn't notice me. But, then I met up with that...Pikachu looking thing. It didn't attack me either but..." He paused as he remembered it's strange behavior. She didn't attack him. Instead she just backed away after inspecting him. But why? Why did it do this...?
"It's six." Dillon announced, getting Shadow back to reality. The armadillo was checking the time on the phone he held. "We can finally get leaving now."
"THANK YOU!" Hammer Bro shouted loudly and wasted no time to take off running out of the room and toward the front of the restaurant.
"Hammer Bro! I thought you had to go the the bathroom!" Dillon called after him.
"I don't have to go anymore!" Hammer Bro's voice shouted back. Dillon was silent for a minute as he processed the koopa's words.
"That's disgusting." He mumbled then started heading out as well.
Shadow followed after him, remaining silent as he went back to his thoughts. He still did understand. Why didn't that Pikachu attack him? It shouldn't have recognized him, so it should've attacked. But it didn't. Also, he was still wondering back to Light and Lilac communicating with each other in the hall. How were they even doing that? They were animatronics, they don't even have a conscience. Then how can they communicate as if they were talking as one being to another. Something then clicked in Shadow's head and he narrowed his eyes.
Something's off about these animatronic Pokemon. But what exactly is it? He didn't know. At least, not yet...
And things start to deepen!
Thank you guys for reading! The next chapter will be up soon! See ya!
*runs back to find a shiny Pokemon*