Hello and good evening, dear readers! Last time you were all left on quite a somber note, and rightfully so. I assure you, this is a chapter you will not want to miss! So sit back, relax, and please enjoy the conclusion of Wreck it Freddy's 3! :D
Mike and Jeremy looked at each other, following the girl and joining the others who were staring into the small room with awe. The children had formed a circle around Bobby, glowing lightly as the one child held the glow stick. Its dim light was becoming brighter, the first child concentrating on it with deep focus. Soon, the glow stick was brightly illuminated, a single bright flash pulsating from it before all dimmed again. The first child blinked, looking from the glow stick to Bobby as it bent down to shake him gently. The child took his hand, ushering the other ones to come over. They all went over to his arms, trying to lift Bobby up. Everyone gasped when they heard a sound, glancing at each other with excitement.
"Bobby?" Vanellope ran over to him, beaming when she saw the young man moving as the children helped him up. "You're alive!"
Bobby blinked his eyes, groaning as he cracked his back a bit. "Man... how hard did I party last night...?"
"There was no party! You've been here with us! Purple Guy took over your code and you died!" Vanellope exclaimed.
Bobby hesitated for a moment as everything began to come back to him, his eyes widening. "Woah..." He looked at his hands. "I had a game over...?" He looked around. "We must totally be in video game heaven, you guys! I heard it's nothing but parties all the time here!" He beamed.
"No, no Bobby, the-... the ghost kids they... how in the heck did you do that?" Ralph exclaimed. "You brought him back!"
"Dude... you little ghost dudes and dudettes gave me a new life?" He smiled, his expression softening. "That is totally awesome... I owe you guys one..." He opened his arms. "Bring it in, hugs from the Bobster all around!" He laughed, the children hugging Bobby in a little group hug.
"Oh thank codes..." Jeremy sighed in relief, rubbing his face a bit. At least he could go to sleep with a clear conscience later.
Mike patted the newly revived Bobby on the back. "Y'know, this actually WOULD be a good reason to have a party." He chuckled. "We defeated Phone Guy once and for all, AND we're all alive!"
"Yay, a party!" Vanellope cheered, bouncing up and down along with the little ghost children, who were all linking hands with her and BB. "We could all use a little pick-me-up after all this!"
Ralph smiled. "Well what are we sticking around here for? Let's high tail out of here before anything else-"
"WARNING. WARNING. DUE TO FILE CORRUPTION, GAME WILL BE INITIATING SHUT DOWN IN T-MINUS FIVE MINUTES. ALL RESIDENTS PLEASE EXIT THE GAME IMMEDIATELY TO AVOID PROGRAM TERMINATION."
The celebration was cut short, replaced by another moment of panic.
"SERIOUSLY?" Jeremy screamed at the ceiling.
"The upgrade must've failed!" Ralph quickly scanned the room, deciding the best way to escape. Mangle would definitely need help as she didn't move quite as fast as the others. "Okay, here's the plan. Mike, you carry Vanellope and BB. Jeremy, you and Bobby divide the ghost kids amongst you. Foxy and I will help Mangle get out."
Jeremy didn't need to be told twice, snatching three of the ghost children up in his arms and making a beeline for the exit. The remaining ghost children hopped on top of Bobby before he took off. Vanellope glitched on top of Ralph's shoulder.
"Mike can't carry both of us." She explained with a shrug.
Ralph didn't argue with her, letting her stay there while he and Foxy gathered Mangle up in their arms and ran out after Mike, who was carrying BB with both arms. Mike and BB were the first to get out, Ralph, Mangle and Foxy following about a minute after. Jeremy was just ahead of Bobby, when he heard a huge crash behind him. The young man whirled around, his eyes widening when he saw that a heavy display shelf had crashed on Springtrap, pinning him down and he was unable to get up. Bobby bit his lip, glancing at the ghost children who stared at him worriedly. He forced a smile then, trying to push away his worry. "Hey kids, I'm gonna use my incredible strength to help our friend out, okay? You two awesome ghosties go out and wait with our friends." He set them down, ushering them to go. The two ghost children looked at each other worriedly, but knew that Bobby would only insist upon them to go.
Springtrap groaned, reaching a hand out as bobby ran up to him. "Leave… Springtrap…"
"Nah man, a friend's gotta help a friend out!" Bobby said, grunting as he tried to lift the heavy shelf off of the animatronic. "D- Don't worry man, I'll get this if I just concentrate hard enough!"
Outside, Calhoun, Felix and Surge Protector headed to the outside of Five Nights at Freddy's 3 where most of the group had convened. "Ralph, thank codes you're out of there, the game is going to-"
"I know, we all got the warning." Ralph sighed.
"Well, that's good to know…" Calhoun said. "Nothing to do but wait for this accursed game to disappear now."
Meanwhile, Bobby inhaled sharply as he tried once again to lift the shelf. "Just give it… another minute… I'm not gonna leave you here man, don't worry…" He bit his lip. "… then we can teach you how to really party!"
Springtrap stared up at him, tilting his head sadly. "Springtrap hurt you… to kill Phone Guy… but you… help Springtrap… you have… good heart."
Jeremy had his hands on his knees, panting a bit from his run. He saw everyone had made it out except Bobby, remembering then that he had turned around to go back. The countdown could still be heard faintly from the tunnel; there was no way Bobby could make it out in time unless he had help.
"Damn it!" He growled, clenching his fists. Without even knowing fully WHY he was doing it, he ran back into the game, everyone shouting protests at him. "That idiot is NOT dying a second time, not if I have anything to say about it!" Jeremy finally found him not too far into the exit, blinking at what he saw. "You have to be kidding me." He muttered, rushing over to help Bobby with Springtrap. "Hurry up before all three of us die!"
Bobby smiled as sweat poured from his brow. "Hey, awesome of you to come back here man!" The two of them struggled, but with Jeremy's help, they were finally able to lift the shelf off of Springtrap. They helped the animatronic up and moved as fast as they could towards the exit. A few seconds after they exited the tunnel, the game inside became nothing more than a black void. Bobby plopped down on the ground, gasping for air as he chuckled tiredly. "Wow, bros... that was close!" He glanced over at Jeremy, grunting a bit as he got to his feet. "You saved my honey buns, my bromigo!" He went over, hugging Jeremy without warning. "You are one wickedly sweet dude. I'm gonna make you the official numero uno on my party list, and you KNOW that list goes on and on man!"
Jeremy cringed at the gesture, mostly because of WHO it was from. "Uh... sure, no problem…" He said through his teeth as he gently wormed his way out of Bobby's crushing arms. "Not promising I'll show up to all the parties though... and please don't hug me ever again."
"Aww come on, Jer, you know you like hugs." Mike beamed at him playfully, earning a horrified expression from Jeremy.
Calhoun and Felix sighed with relief. "Jiminy jaminy, I'm so glad you're all okay!" Felix exclaimed.
Foxy rubbed his chin with his claw, grumbling his thoughts out loud.
"Oh man, I didn't think of that!" Ralph said, putting a hand to his forehead. "I forgot about how this game was being upgraded to be in the same cabinet as the second game."
Jeremy's face paled and his eyes got huge. "What are you saying? Holy codes, are you saying MY game got terminated too?" He looked utterly frazzled at the thought, being that he considered his own game a safe haven of sorts. Mangle didn't seem too happy about the idea of losing her home either, whining a little to herself. "But my stuff's in there! A-and I don't want to be homeless! I'll have to sleep on a BENCH! People sit on these things, you know, who knows where all they've been before they sat there!"
Bobby laughed as if this was no big deal. "Hey, being homeless is crazy fun, bromigo! You can sleep wherever you want, make new friends every day, party all the time!" He threw a friendly arm around Jeremy, who looked like he was about to hyperventilate from panic. "Plus you can hang with me twenty-four-seven!"
Calhoun rolled her eyes, blowing her bangs out of her eyes. "Will you clam up, Fitzgerald? I actually prefer you being a sour puss compared to this. I'm sure the termination is because your game, the original one belonging to this cabinet, rejected the programming for the new one. "
"We can always check later." Felix added with a friendly smile. "If it's not there, you can always live in East Niceland, as well as all the animatronics of course." He glanced at Springtrap, gulping a bit but maintaining a smile. "Um, HIM included..."
"Hey, maybe you can live in my castle! Mike and BB live there, I can get ya a room in the upper floors so it's quieter. And you guys can live there too! Plenty of room to spare!" Vanellope beamed as she motioned to the ghost children.
The children clapped happily in response, beaming as they floated over to the candy princess, joining together in a group hug.
"That's all great and wonderful, just please submit your change of residence forms within the next three days while I seal up this terminal..." Surge Protector sighed as he jotted down notes on his clipboard.
"How can we even be talking about this? Shouldn't we be concerned that anyone got left behind? Shouldn't we be talking about what the heck happened in there with Phone Guy and making a report?" Calhoun asked.
"Relax, captain!" Bobby chimed as he nudged her shoulder. "We're all cool here, everyone got out, we're all in one piece, so let's end the party killin' and get to the sweet chillin'..."
"Yeah, I've had enough of being serious for one day." Ralph had to agree, yawning lightly. "Honestly, I'd prefer to sleep for about twelve hours, but if you guys wanna party, I'm up for that too."
Mangle noticed Jeremy was looking at the game's entrance forlornly, so she dragged herself over to him and garbled at him that their home was probably gone because not even the little transportation train that took them into the game was gone. The lights that normally would brighten up the inside of the terminal were also blown, showing nothing but thick blackness.
"I guess it IS gone." Jeremy sighed, patting Mangle on the head when she raised it up. "Probably for the best though... I can't believe we're gonna live in some technicolor, J-Pop game though. THAT'S gonna take some getting used to."
"Let's just hope there isn't a fourth game in the future to worry about." Felix chuckled nervously when everyone shot him a warning glare. "W- Well there COULD be one!"
Mike rested his hand over his eyes. "Please, don't jinx it."
Later that evening, Mike, Vanellope, Ralph and Jeremy were sitting in GCS with a snack. "Do you think Purple Guy is really gone?" Vanellope asked.
"For codes sake, I hope so. Good riddance to him." Jeremy replied.
"Yeah, he can stay obliterated forever like Turbo." Ralph agreed as he munched carefully on some popcorn.
"Too bad not everybody got a chance to see our haunted house though…" Vanellope frowned a bit, looking down at her feet. "I'd wanted the whole arcade to see that the animatronics weren't all that bad."
"Hey, we still had a pretty decent crowd show up." Mike said to cheer her up.
"Yeah, and if people want to keep thinking that they're all evil, then they aren't worth wasting time on anyway." Jeremy added before sipping on his drink.
"You know, you kinda used to be one of those people…" Ralph pointed out.
"What, a guy can't change his mind?" Jeremy shrugged in slight annoyance. "And I never really thought they were all that bad anyway, I mean I slept in the same building as most of them every night."
"At any rate, I'm just glad it's over." Mike sighed to himself. "Hopefully the series creator won't make another game, and that Mr. Litwak doesn't buy it if they do make another one."
Vanellope thought she saw something within the empty terminal then, blinking. "Hey Ralph, can you put my candy in your pocket for a sec?" She said, hopping off the bench. Ralph rolled his eye, stuffing them in his overalls as she ran towards the terminal. She glanced around, a single low light flickering a bit. She looked down, noticing something sitting on the ground. "Hey..." she went over, crouching down to inspect it. "Looks like Freddy's hat."
The three adults exchanged glances before getting up and following her.
"Don't touch it, you might activate a booby trap!" Jeremy warned her, staying the farthest away from it.
"Yeah, get away from there, kid." Ralph said to her nervously. "I think we've had enough excitement for one day."
Vanellope sighed. "Yeah, you're right... you can give me my candy back then." She said, glitching onto Ralph's shoulder and sticking her hand out.
Ralph rolled his eyes. "Yes, your highness." He said, digging into his pocket.
"Of all the things that could be sitting here, all my stuff, it's Freddy's stupid hat?" Jeremy groaned.
"Hey, what's this?" Ralph asked, handing Vanellope her candy and then pulling out a crumpled piece of paper.
"How should I know? It was in your pocket." Jeremy replied.
"It looks like an article... Ralph, you must have grabbed this from inside the game, it looks like the article that shows up at the end." Mike remarked.
Ralph unfolded it, holding it up so all of them could get a better look. "'It Burns!' Huh, probably for the best... literally." He said.
"Guess that's the best proof we got that this is all over." Vanellope stated. "I hope this means I won't have any more nightmares."
"I'm sure you won't." Mike smiled at her, rubbing the top of her head to make her giggle.
Just then, footsteps were heard as the group turned, seeing BB approaching with Foxy and Springtrap. BB went up to Vanellope as she hopped off of Ralph's shoulder, stopping about a foot from her.
"Hello." BB said.
"Really? Awesome!" Vanellope beamed. "Hey, BB said that Bobby's got everything almost set up for the party!"
"I still need to work on my animatronic communication skills…" Jeremy said.
"Oh, BB also said that Bobby's been teaching Springtrap some dance moves!" Vanellope said. In response, Springtrap began to do the robot, moving his arms and torso stiffly. Everyone chuckled a bit, and Springtrap was certainly happy to be fitting in well with the group despite his rough introduction.
"Well, what are we waiting around here for? Let's go meet everyone else at the penthouse and get our 'groove' on!" Mike exclaimed.
"Oh for the love of codes, please don't use phrases like that, you sound just LIKE Bobby." Jeremy whined.
"What's the matter, Jeremy? Afraid that you'll slowly turn into a party animal like him?" Mike laughed.
"Stop. It." Jeremy said through clenched teeth.
"Come on, you slow pokes!" Vanellope shouted, prompting them both to move a bit faster.
As they all made their way towards Fix-it-Felix Jr., they left a thick silence behind in GCS, an eerie breeze cooling the air within the dark, empty terminal where all three of the Five Nights at Freddy games had been, as well as the horrors experienced by the group of characters within them. Through all the terror, the nightmares, and the suffering however, friendships had been forged, hard truths learned had led to forgiveness, and justice had been served. In the end, the group's dedication to one another had won the day, and though they had once again vectored against the evil within the eatery, they hoped it would be the last time they were forced to do so.
In the opening to the terminal, the lone hat of Freddy sat perfectly still, a dim, flickering light just over it, as if it were the last fleeting moments this legend had to be in what was left of its spotlight. The wrinkled newspaper article rested just behind it, nonchalantly tossed aside by Ralph just earlier. In the photo that was to be shown upon game's completion, of one looked closely enough, they could see a faint image of Springtrap in the background behind the pictured restaurant artifact.
Though none of them knew if any future games for the haunted series would come, they all knew that whatever the future would bring for them to face, they would stand strong through the night, and hope for the swift arrival of daybreak to dispel the evil within the darkness.
Litwak laughed as he placed his hands on his hips. "Well, for losing that Freddy's cabinet this week, these kids sure are piling in! Sugar Rush is really garnering some attention!"
"Hey, is it really true about the secret level?"
"I wanna see! I nabbed this quarter from my brother!"
"Woah, check this out, triple points!"
"I heard the bonus level has all new music too!"
Children chattered as they gathered around the Sugar Rush and Fix-it-Felix cabinets. Inside, Vanellope beamed as the current player helped her to soar past the finish line, winning first place.
"Now starting the bonus level!" The game announced. "Beat the brand new team the Ghost Goobers, and you'll win a brand new trophy!"
Vanellope turned back, flashing a smile. "Hey, are you ready for another round?"
In five brand new race cars, each of the ghost children put on their helmets, smiling excitedly as they clapped their hands. After the game counted down the clock, the six cars sped off through the bonus level. For the first time in their existence, the ghost children had never remembered having so much fun.
As they sped by, Bobby bobbed his head to the beat of his sound system, having built it himself and mixed his own music just for the bonus level. He reclined as he watched the racers on the big screen, sighing contently. "Music, party, and a show… life is good for Bobby Dunderson." He said as he put sunglasses on, sipping a drink from a straw.
In the stands, Mike and Jeremy sat together to watch the race.
"See? It's not so bad here, is it?" Mike asked, nudging Jeremy gently. "I mean, you can pretty much eat everything is around you, and you can watch all these different races every day."
Some candy fans yelled out at that moment, making Jeremy wince a bit. He still wasn't big on large crowds, especially if they were loud.
"Yeah, it's more fun than I thought it'd be. I do miss home sometimes though." He had to admit. "Then again, I'd rather have you and Mangle around. I don't know what I'd do without you guys."
Mike heaved a sigh, rolling his eyes up to the cotton candy clouds while he was pretending to think, a playful smile on his face. "Oh, you'd probably be shut up somewhere by yourself griping about how everyone hates you and how lonely you are and reorganizing your stuff for the millionth time and-"
Jeremy shoved against his shoulder to hush him up. "Okay, okay, point taken!" He huffed lightly, ignoring Mike's chuckling.
"C'mon, don't get mad!" Mike slapped Jeremy's cap over his face. "I'm just messin'."
"I know, I know…" Jeremy mumbled while straightening his cap up, watching the race karts fly by their stand in the meantime. He sighed and leaned back on the empty row of seats behind him, stretching his arms out on them in a relaxed pose, his legs crossed at the ankles. "Can I tell you something?"
Mike's "inner Vanellope" begged him to say "I don't know, can you?" But given the serious tone that Jeremy was using, Mike figured he better not joke around. So he said "sure" instead.
"You know those nightmares you and Vanellope used to have?" Jeremy asked him quietly, even though they were the only two people sitting in their specific area so nobody could very well hear them anyway. "I never said anything, but I used to have some too." He paused before adding, "Kinda still do sometimes, actually."
Mike blinked, straightening up in his seat. "About... what?"
"About... y'know, about... killing those kids..." Jeremy cleared his throat, shifting in his seat. "Sometimes you'd be there, sometimes it was the Puppet instead, but no matter what I tried to do, I always helped kill them. Sometimes it'd be about Phone Guy and he'd make me kill you or one of the others against my will. I sometimes still have one where I'm running around in this dark foggy place, and even if I scream loud as I can, I can't find anyone... like everyone abandoned me..."
Mike blew his breath out, leaning forward to rest his forearms on his thighs, his hands together as if in thought. "I'm sorry I did that to you. I really am. I wish I could rewrite our backstory sometimes and leave you out of it, but then you probably wouldn't exist, so scratch that idea. And you're not by yourself, okay? You got me, Mangle, Vanellope, Ralph, heck, even Bobby."
Jeremy rolled his eyes a bit upon hearing Bobby's name, rubbing his face tiredly. "Yeah... hey, I always wondered something. Why the hell did you always want to hang out with me? I mean, you were always trying to drag me off to do stuff, even when I was in one of my worse moods. I would've just given up if I'd been you."
A smile grew on Mike's face and he leaned back in his chair. "I dunno, I guess I thought it'd be nice to be buddies with the one other human from my own series. And I kinda had this weird thought in my head that you wanted to be friends anyway and were just being ridiculously challenging about it. Also, you just seemed lonely and I kinda felt sorry for you."
"Wow, thanks, you befriended me because you pitied me."
"Hey, you apparently didn't mind too much because you DID let me drag you around places." Mike pointed out, reaching out to grab Jeremy's shoulder to shake it playfully. "It was like I'd accomplished something important every time you agreed to come along somewhere."
"Nice to know I'm such an ego boost. And fine, you got me, I kinda did want friends anyway, so I guess it was worth getting dragged into shenanigans." Jeremy smirked a bit, wiping Mike's hand off his shoulder. "Got a couple best friends out of the deal anyway."
"Wow, I earned the title of best friend, I'm so touched." Mike put his hand on his heart and gave him puppy-dog eyes.
Jeremy rolled his eyes playfully, the smirk having transformed into a more genuine smile. "Yeah, that's such a thing to be proud of, being MY best friend."
"Hey, it is." Mike said more sincerely. "And you're one of mine too. And no, I'm not just saying that to be nice. I mean it."
Jeremy gave him one of his rare, shy smiles. "Thanks."
The Sugar Rush race announcer blared out the winners of the last race for the day which was followed by an ear-shattering yell from the crowd. Jeremy put his hands to his ears until it was over, and the candy fans all streamlined out of the stands to go celebrate the end of another long day at the arcade.
Mike got up to stretch his arms out, nudging Jeremy's leg with his foot. "Wanna go grab a root beer at Tapper's? Ralph and Felix should be along there soon enough."
"Sure, why not," Jeremy shrugged, getting up also.
Mike grinned impishly, suddenly snatching Jeremy's hat off his head and tearing out of the stands quick as lightning. "First one to the Sugar Rush exit keeps the hat!" he laughed heartily as he took off running.
"MIKE SCHMIDT, YOU GIVE THAT BACK!" Jeremy screamed at the top of his lungs, leaping over a few candy fans' heads and bulldozing past some other ones. "I can always change my mind about the best friend thing!"
"Best friends are obligated to do stuff like this, it's a privilege!"
"MIIIIIKE!"
And here we are once again, my friends. You've made it to the end, so I would like to take this opportunity to thank you all on mine and Dixie's behalf for anyone who had favorited, followed, reviewed, and/or supported not just this, but any and all of the stories encompassing the Wreck it Freddy's series. Will this be its last installment? Well, nothing is for sure. If Scott Cawthon makes new Five Nights at Freddy's games, Dixie and I will get back to the drawing board and try to continue this series. For now, I hope you all have enjoyed the trilogy, because it was a lot of fun to write, despite the difficulties in getting the plot just right.
If you're aching to read more by either Dixie or myself, she and I both have been working on our own projects. Any Wrecklings out there, definitely check out Dixie's Going Turbo trilogy and her One Turbo-Tastic Day series if you haven't already, they're both a fantastic read. Also, I have my Keeper of the Forest series which is a re-imagining of the story of Wreck-it-Ralph, as well as my four part series beginning with A Chance Encounter.
For those of you who also enjoy Frozen, I currently have one fic called Woven featuring my own original songs. But more importantly, and my last bit to announce, I am currently working on a HUGE multi-crossover fic that will entail the following; Rise of the Guardians x Frozen x Brave x How to Train Your Dragon x American McGee's Alice/Alice Madness Returns. So some things to look forward to and read if you have not done so already. Well, I've rambled quite enough, so thank you all once again, and I hope you enjoy future stories from Dixie and I!