Hey guys! I'm back with the next chapter! Enjoy!

WARNING: There's gonna be some pretty dark themes later in this chapter, just a quick heads up!

Chapter 4: Night 3

"Okay, honestly, I'm starting to get tired of coming back here every night." Midna admitted as she, Dillon, Shadow, and Hammer Bro entered the large office room. It was now night three of their job. The four Assist Trophies were now making their way inside the office from the darkened restaurant, though Midna was complaining a bit about their repetitive streak.

"You're going to have to get used to it if we're going to complete this job." Shadow replied to the imp, taking a seat in one of the chairs.

"Yeah, yeah, I know." Midna said, sitting down as well. "I'm just saying, it's the same thing every night; watch the animatronics, try not to let them kill you. It get's boring after a while. Can't we do at least one other thing than just watch the cameras." The phone on the desk then started to ring again and the four Assist Trophies quieted down to listen.

"Hey, what's up?" Sonic's voice spoke from the voice mail. "I've gotta say, I'm pretty impressed. Making it to the third night? Y'know, since the previous night guards quit after the first night and all, but you four stayed? Heh, I admit, you guys are pretty dedicated."

"Oh, you have no idea what we're putting up with, though..." Dillon muttered, rolling his eyes.

"So, I learned one more bit of info about another animatronic." Sonic's voice continued. "It's a Pikachu one."

As soon as the Pokemon was mentioned, Shadow's ears twitched and he gave the phone his full attention.

"Yeah, that one was the animatronic that was put in the Kid's Cove section to, y'know, entertain the toddlers and all. But jeez, little kids are just destructive these days, am I right? They tore the thing up, and now part's of it's endoskeleton are shown, it's missing an eye, and a lot of wires are hanging out of it."

After hearing the Pikachu animatronic's description, Hammer Bro let out a gasp of realization. "T-The crawling one." He said quietly. "He's talking about the crawling one."

"Now it's like a 'take apart and put back together' attraction. I can't remember it's name, though, but man that thing's like a mangled mess! I'm surprised Master Hand hasn't thrown it out yet. Anyways, as far as wandering around and attacking, I haven't heard any news about it. I don't know if it attacks or not, buuuut I'd still be wary around it, 'cause you never know. So, that's it for tonight, so good luck, you guys!"

The voice mail drew to an end and the office fell quiet. Shadow, Midna, Dillon, and Hammer Bro took a moment to think over this new information. "...Well isn't that fine and dandy?" Midna finally said sarcastically. "One more animatronic to make things worse for us."

"But that was the thing we say yesterday." Hammer Bro said to Dillon. "That creepy Pikachu thing that crawls! Why does it crawl like that?!"

"Alright, you've been mentioning that Pikachu all day yesterday, what are you talking about?" Midna asked the koopa.

"Remember when Shadow was gone for a while when he went to find the bathrooms?" Dillon replied to her. When she nodded, he continued. "Well, when we went to find him, he was in the party room and that Pikachu animatronic was in there. It looked pretty nasty looking and, as Hammer Bro keeps repeating because he's terrified of the though, but it crawls, like on the walls."

"It crawls...It crawls..." Hammer Bro whispered, shivering at the thought of it.

As the two continued to explain the situation the previous night, Shadow had remained silent. He was remembering back to the encounter with the mangled Pikachu. Even though Sonic said it wasn't known if it attacks or not, Shadow still couldn't forget the fact that it didn't. He also couldn't forget Light and Lilac communicating with one another, if they shouldn't even have a conscience. In fact, now that he was thinking about it, all of this draws to more questions...

If the older animatronics, Light, Warrior Kitty, Mighty, and Lilac, were supposed to be broken down, why do they still move around? How do they even power back on? Most importantly, if only the new ones have the facial recognition, why would the older ones attack them?

All these thoughts were eating at Shadow's mind and they won't leave him alone. His rising curiosity and suspicions about what was going one with these Pokemon slowly rose and kept telling him to find out. But how? What would he even be looking for...?

Shadow snapped out of his thoughts and looked back at the other three. Dillon, Midna, and Hammer Bro were still conversing with each other and they now had their attention on the laptop cameras. He then directed his gaze to the large hall leading out of the office. He needed answers. He needed to find at least one thing that'll satisfy the questions in his head. How will Shadow do this, though? He needs to investigate.

I'll slip out while they're not paying attention. He said to himself. They were fine when I went to find the restrooms yesterday, they'll be fine if I go and inspect this place quickly. Confirming the idea, Shadow grabbed the flashlight from the desk and stood up. Ever so silently, he crept across and out of the office and into the hall. Once he was at a good enough distance, he clicked on the flashlight and continued down into the darkness of the building.

(Page Break)

Shadow's eyes scanned the the darkness as the flashlight's beam shone the trail ahead of him. Once he was far enough in the restaurant, he figured that only one room would most likely have information about the animatronics. The back room. He quickly made his why to where they were located, while avoiding the wandering Pokemon animatronics along the way. However, little did he know of a single, glowing eye watching him from above, and stealthily followed after.

Within a couple minutes, Shadow had finally arrived at a door labeled "Authorized Personal Only." Knowing it was the room he was searching for, Shadow gripped the knob and entered, along with his secret pursuer. Inside, Light, Warrior Kitty, Lilac, and Mighty were already gone, leaving nothing but large boxes and shelves all around. The dark hedgehog looked at what was in the room, looking for something that'll be of some sort of information. But all that was there were spare animatronic parts, extra cooking untesils, some spare tables and chairs, and a couple of unused arcade machines.

Shadow gave a frustrated growl. He isn't even going to find anything with all of these things. It didn't really help that he had no idea what he was looking for. Shadow trudged along, shining the flashlight on the shelf to find something, when his foot then bumped against some object. Looking down, he saw that a smallish box say at the foot of the shelf, filled with...newspapers.

Narrowing his eyes questioningly, he knelt down and took the newspapers out. The dates on them were surprising, for they showed that they were form many years ago. Shadow skimmed through the first couple ones, which were only telling little minor stories of Light Absol's Pizza's grand opening and their first year of success. But as he read more papers, he surprise over took him.

A couple newspapers dated back even later than the restaurant. The first one Shadow read stated this:

Pizzeria Shut Down

The ever popular, Mario's Family Diner, has been involved with a series of unfortunate events. An employee was fired and a drastic accident took place the day after. The restaurant has been closed down and will be replaced with a grocery store.

Shadow stared at the newspaper, his eyes widened slightly in bewilderment. Putting it down, he grabbed the next one and read it as well.

New Restaurant Grand Opening!

The Super Mario Bros, the owners of the former restaurant, Mario's Family Diner, has decided to reopen a new pizzeria after the incidents that lead to their former one being shut down. In an interview, the eldest of the two brothers said that they've decided to give their new restaurant a mascot, named Light the Absol, which is what the eatery is named after. This new establishment is now coming with animatronic Pokemon characters for children and families from all over Nintendo to enjoy.

Next to the text on the page showed a picture of Light, Warrior Kitty, Mighty, and Lilac all standing on a stage. Instead of looking broken and dirty, like they do currently, they looked much newer and clean. They also seemed much...happier. Shadow picked up another newspaper and began to read that one.

Mario Bros' Restaurant Closed Down Once More

Tragedies struck at Light Absol's Pizza when five children went missing one night. Their families were distraught with this news and police investigations took place at the restaurant to find the children and the kidnapper. Unfortunately, the suspect was never found, and neither were the children. Many weeks later, another tragedy struck as one of the animatronics harmed a customer at the restaurant by taking a bite out of their head and leaving a serious injury. Due to all these incidsents, the Mario Bros have decided with each other that they should sell their restaurant to stop any further harm. The brothers sold their establishment to the all famous Master Hand and it's location was changed to Smashville. It will keep the same name, Light Absol's pizza, but it will different animatronic characters. The older ones will be put to storage and the old building is now closed down and abandon.

Silence.

That was all that filled the back room as Shadow just stared at these articles, not believing what he just read. Missing children? An animatronic giving serious injury to a customer, a fired employee, and a drastic accident. All of this was such a turn in evidence, he didn't know what to think of it all.

"So there were two restaurants before this one?" Shadow said to himself aloud, trying to piece things together. "Someone was fired at the first one, and some sort of accident happened that led to the place being closed down. Then there was the first Light Absol's Pizza, but five children went missing there and they were never found. After that, an animatronic hurt a customer. That was closed, Light, Warrior Kitty, Mighty, and Lilac were scrapped, and now...here we are..."

"But this isn't enough information." Shadow said with narrowed eyes. "Why didn't these articles go into further detail? What accident took place? What happened at the first restaurant to begin with?"

"I think I might have your answers."

Shadow's head snapped up at the sound of the new voice. He glanced around in the darkness, shining his flashlight every which way to find the source of the voice. No one else was there. He was the only one standing in the room. Quickly standing back on his feet, a challenging glare came on the dark hedgehog's face and he readied himself.

"Who's there?! Show yourself!" He demanded. The reply he got was the pattering of metallic paws from above. Recognizing the sound, Shadow's eyes widen and he looked toward the ceiling. The flashlight's beam revealed the mangled Pikachu animatronic making it's way down the wall and hopped on the ground, landing neatly on it's paws, looking at the hedgehog with her one, innocent-looking, brown eye. Shadow's heart rate quickened and he backed up slowly, glancing toward the back room's door as if he were readying himself for a quick escape. However, the Pikachu seemed to notice his look and only trotted over a couple times.

"No, no, it's okay!" She told him with a friendly-sounding voice. "I'm not going to hurt you, I promise."

Shadow now stared at her, completely shocked. "You...You can...speak?"

The Pikachu gave a nod. "Yes, I can. I'm sorry for giving you a scare yesterday and just now, but like I said, I might have the answers to your questions." Shadow was silent for a moment as he gave her a wary look. He was debating on trusting her, because after all, she was an animatronic. Sonic said it was unknown if she attacked, and to only be cautious with her.

...

...But on the other hand, this one can speak. It's actually talking to him. As if she knew what to say, like she actually had a mind. Seeing this bizarre thing happen right in front of him, this just confirmed all of his suspicions. Something was definitely wrong about this place. The news he just found out, the older animatronics' weird behavior, and now this talking, mangled Pikachu was verbally speaking to him. She's claiming that she had answers, that she knows what exactly had happened at these restaurant chains in the past. Would it be stupid to listen to her?

But then again, this is Shadow we're talking about. He's willing to take risks to find out something or get a job done, not caring if they're dangerous or not. Remaining cautious, Shadow relaxed himself a bit and finally decided to reply.

"Alright." He said but then threw her a glare. "But if you even think to try something-"

"I swear on my soul that I won't do anything to you." The Pikachu interrupted him sincerely. In fact, it almost sounded like her voice was about to break, like she was about to break down in tears. She directed her gaze toward the ground and a saddened shine appeared in her one glowing eye as she continued in a faint whisper. "I've spent so long, trying to think of a solution to what has happened...but I never did. This can be my only chance...to help them fix everything..." Shadow gave her a strange, yet concerned look from her response. The tone in her voice and the look in her eye, she couldn't be lying or planning to hurt him.

Shadow finally took a few steps closer to her and knelt down. "What do you mean?" He asked. "What solution? What happened?" The Pikachu looked back at him. Seeing that he now full interest and concern was glowing in his red eyes, she continued.

"I can answer your questions of what happened here." She told him. "Those articles were telling no lies; everything that they mentioned is all true. They all happened." She fell silent for a moment, directing her gaze back down, but then lifted her head to meet eyes with Shadow again and continued. "Everything started many, many years ago, back at that first restaurant, Mario's Family Diner.

"It was a small restaurant that Mario and Luigi started together before that Smash Bros tournament began. It was located in the Mushroom Kingdom. Residents of the Mario worlds and residents of all Nintendo worlds all came to their restaurant for their pizza. It was a very popular place. It had a good number of employees working there, especially one. He was from a non-Nintendo world, but he moved here shortly before the restaurant began and he applied as a security guard. His name was Solid Snake. If I remember, he was unmarried and had no kids of his own, but he did have one child that he adopted. A young girl.

"She loved coming to Mario's Family Diner with her and her friends. They loved the pizza and they enjoyed playing with the little arcade games that were there. Snake also enjoyed taking her there when he had his shifts; he loved seeing her happy. Heh, there was even one time that he won a game with her and got her a prize with the tickets; a little music box. She loved it and treasured it with her heart. Years went by, then the Smash tourney began. Many Nintendo heroes were invited to join, the Mario Bros including. Soon, Snake joined in as well, but the restaurant stayed running like normal.

"As years passed, Snake's daughter and her friends got older until soon, they all hit their teenage years. They were older, but they still loved the restaurant with all their hearts. But then, that's when things started taking a dark turn...For some years, Mario hired a man as the assistant manager of the restaurant, but Snake didn't like him. He was a shady man, and he had suspicions that he was doing dangerous things. It turns out...he was right. One day, the day that so happened to be his daughter's sixteenth birthday, Snake caught the manager in the back of the restaurant, organizing drugs and various dangerous weapons. He had, had these things for as long as he was working there, but no one knew. It turns out that the manager was a convicted felon who escaped prison and was known for various crimes. Selling drugs, rape, murder, theft, the list could go on. He was using his job at Mario's Family Diner as a disguise for his heinous actions. He was fired, arrested, and the restaurant had to close early so all of his harmful things could be cleared. I didn't know the manager's name, but because of all the horrible things he had done, Snake always called him...Satan."

Shadow was now sitting on one of the storage boxes, listening intently to all of this new information that the Pikachu was telling him. She then continued with her explanation.

"Because of all that happened at the restaurant that day, Snake's daughter never got to spend her birthday there. It was ruined. It wasn't until the next morning that..." The Pikachu stopped herself for a moment as she made a little sob, despair shining in her one eye. "...That morning...she was found dead. Her body was just outside the diner and she had a wound caused by a knife in her abdomen. Some of her organs were damaged and she had major blood loss. She couldn't be saved. Because of this, that's when they decided to close down Mario's Family Diner for good, it was just too much that happened at that place all at once.

"They didn't know who killed her, but Snake was devastated when he heard about this. In fact, he disappeared after her funeral. No one knew where he went, and no one knew what he's doing to this very day. But, there is one more piece of information. It turns out that Satan, the manager, actually has a child of his, too. A daughter he adopted and raised before he did all his crimes. I never got to know her name, but she always wanted to be called...Ebony. The same day Snake's daughter was found dead, Ebony was found dead as well; her limp body in a bloody mess on a busy road. The authorities came to a conclusion that she killed herself when she found out that Satan was arrested and put to trial. In the end, though, Snake's daughter's murder was not found. But after all of this has happened, that's when the Mario Bros opened the first Light Absol's Pizza, and then the five children went missing, and that's all I remember."

Once again, silence.

Shadow just gaped in shock at all that he just heard. It was all just so much! This information about Snake, his daughter, Satan and his crimes, everything! But...this also explained what the newspaper article was talking about. The fired employee was the manager, nicknamed Satan, and he was fired because of his illegal acts that he tried to hide. But the drastic accident, it was Snake's daughter; found dead the very next morning that Satan was arrested and her birthday. The birthday she never had... Then there was all of the other added information. Ebony's suicidal act and Snake's disappearance. So the Pikachu was telling the truth. She had the answers of what happened at Mario's Family Diner. But, there were still some things unanswered.

What happened to the missing children at the first Light Absol's Pizza and the sudden violent acts that the animatronics performed. Finally, after a moment of tense silence, Shadow looked back at the mangled Pikachu.

"How do you know all of this?" He demanded, slightly suspicious. "Everything you told me was very detailed. How did you even know about it all?" The Pikachu was quiet for a few moments, hesitating on her answer. After a couple seconds, though, she looked him in the eye again.

"Because I am one of Snake's daughter's friends." She told him. When Shadow fell silent, she continued. "All of us are. Light is her friend, Warrior Kitty is her friend, Mighty is her friend, Lilac is her friend. We're all her friends. We all know what happened." Shadow was remained silent, now just extremely confused. "When the first Light Absol's Pizza opened a year later, we all came to visit it, to see if it was just as good as the diner. It was, and it also featured the first animatronics. The five of us came together. But as time passed, I soon found myself alone in the place; the other four had disappeared. When I tried looking for them, I started hearing noises from one of the back rooms. I could make it out what it was, because it was muffled. I tried to go and see what was going on, but then the door to the room opened and the last thing I saw was some dark figure coming for me and went for my throat. Then...everything was dark. It seemed like centuries passed, but I eventually woke back up and I find myself in this Pikachu animatronic..."

She looked down at her normal and half torn paws, tears started to form up in her eyes. "I was killed that day at the restaurant, just trying to find my friends. When I see that I was in this body, at this new restaurant many years later, I realized that I was dead, and my soul only possessed this one animatronic. I soon found out that my other friends were in the older animatronics as well; they were killed too, but...I think they possessed the animatronics before I came to this one, because they told me everything that happened. How they woke up in their new bodies, how they lived their now endless lives in these robotic Pokemon suits, and how one of them bit the head of that customer. We are the five missing children."

The Pikachu went silent again, taking a couple breaths, letting all of the painful memories come back. "Then...they explained everything to me." She continued. "Light told me that when they woke up, they saw that another animatronic had been there with them. That animatronic gave their souls to those suits. This animatronic was...Frost the Gabite, and it turns out that she was Snake's killed daughter. She told us that she would help us get revenge on who had killed us, and the other four wanted revenge too. Due to that, they started acting up at the restaurant, and that's when they bit a customer's head, which lead to it closing down.

"More years passed, the restaurant was bought out, Light, Warrior Kitty, Mighty, and Lilac were put in storage, and Frost put my soul in this animatronic. They still wanted revenge, but I was the only one who saw the problem...we don't know who killed us. At least, I don't. I never got to see who was our murder. So up until this day, I've been trying to find a solution to everything that happened, but...I don't know how...I don't think I...ever will."

Shadow looked at the Pikachu, who now had tears running down her face. Now he knows most of everything. What happened to the five missing children and the strange behavior of Light, Warrior Kitty, Lilac, and Mighty. They were the five missing children! Murdered in cold blood many years before now from an unknown killer. Their souls are now living in these old animatronics and the reason the roam the night and try to attack him, Midna, Dillon, and Hammer Bro, is because they're angry and out for revenge. And Snake's killed daughter lives in the Frost animatronic. The very first child that was killed and the one that promises to get revenge on the person who did this to them.

Plus, the Pikachu did mention that a prize she got from the very first restaurant was a prize that Snake won for her, and that's probably why they have to wind a music box to keep her from attacking them. Everything is...much clear now. Shadow got his answers.

But, it's still not everything. Who exactly did all of this to these kids? Who took their lives away from them and for what reason? Is the murder still out there in the world? Shadow may have got answers to his previous questions, but new ones just sprouted up, and now that he's learned all of this, he's dead set to find out the rest, for this is much, much more than he was expecting to find out about, but it won't stop him from finding out much more.

"I'll help you." He suddenly said, making the mangled Pikachu jump and look at the dark hedgehog in shock.

"W-What...?" She said quietly.

"I'll help you find a solution." Shadow repeated in determination. "Ever since yesterday, when I ran in with you in the party room, I figured out that something was wrong these animatronics, but now, I want to find out more. I want to solve this case, like you. I'll help you find out who killed you six, and we'll put and end to this, once and for all." The Pikachu stared at him with her one wide eye. She didn't know who to respond to him. He's actually offering to help her. Help solve a problem that has befallen her and her friends for the past years.

Finally, without warning, she lunged forward and wrapped her cold, robot arms around his waste in a hug. Shadow froze up as he stared down at her strangely with wide eyes. However, the Pikachu put on a saddened, yet grateful smile. "Thank you..." She said. After realizing what she was doing, she immediately stepped away from him and bowed her head. "Uh...sorry."

"Don't worry about it." Shadow replied then stood back up with the flashlight in his hands. "We need to get back to my friends. We should probably tell them about this who thing." The Pikachu gave a nod and quickly limped after him as he started headed toward the door to the back room. As they left, Shadow glanced back at her questioningly. "By the way, do you have a name?" He asked.

"Yes." The Pikachu responded. "You can call me Lauren."

Ooooooh my gosh! Too much dialogue spoken in the middle-ish, almost end! I'm sorry for the large amounts of dialogue that I made Lauren say, but I had to put the explanation in some way! But still, sorry about the dialogue! -.-

Well, you've just witnessed the Smash Rescuers version of the Five Nights at Freddy's lore! Well, you know most of it. There's still a much more to come. And I promise that the next chapters are gonna be miles better than this one! ;) Thank you guys for reading! The next chapter will be up soon! See ya!