"Look, Foxy, they're not just in specific places, they're everywhere! The walls, the vents, the floorboards, and anywhere else you can think of! How can we not stay aware of them when they're in so many places at once?!"
"Puppet, I know I'm sort of convinced that the elves are here, too, but the description you just gave me sounds more fitting with common rats then it does with elves. Are you sure you're not just getting the two confused when you say certain things about the elves?"
Today, Foxy found himself spending the start of the day talking about the elves with Puppet. Puppet had only been getting further paranoid about the elves by the hour, and no matter what Foxy said, Puppet never seemed to be able to change his mind. Foxy was wondering whether Puppet would forget about the elves even when the Christmas season was finally over (and something told him that the chances were slim), but that didn't stop him from trying to debate with Puppet over how the elves actually operated so he could clear up the elf misconceptions with the marionette.
"No, I'm not talking about rats of any kind! I mean it when I say that the elves are like how I think they are!" Puppet claimed, crossing his arms. "They're absolutely everywhere I look! I swear, every time I turn a corner, I see one out of the corner of my eye for just a split second! Hey, I think that's one right over there!" Puppet pointed off at the corner of the room, but put his arm down after a moment. "Wait, no, that's just the tree..."
Foxy sighed. "Puppet, I know you and I have both been seeing the elves out of the corners of our eyes, but you keep acting like you've seen ten times the amount that I've seen. Have you even gotten any sleep these past few days so you could charge your batteries and clear your mind?"
Puppet shook his head. "Uh, no. I've never spared a second to the world of sleep ever since these elves arrived."
"Yeah, just as I thought. That's probably the reason why you're seeing so many elves everywhere. Almost all of them were likely just your eyes playing tricks on you."
"But I don't just see them, I hear them too! The faint pitter-patter of their footsteps, the tiny giggles they make...are you telling me you've never heard any of that around here? It's freaky! And also, annoying!"
"Honestly, Puppet, you're just going too crazy. If your battery is running low, and your systems has been going into overdrive for too long, then it's not healthy for your mind. We animatronics may not be like humans, but we still do need to shut down every once in a while to prevent us from going haywire from a lack of energy. I say that you should go and take a nap or something; maybe let yourself re-charge and let your mind get eased up."
"No...I...no, I just...I can't! Those elves are too present to ignore! Didn't Ballora talk about the elves a lot before they appeared? What if she's working for Santa and putting them down everywhere without us knowing?!"
"Well, to that, I say..." And Foxy pointed off at one of the corners of the room. "Hey, is that an elf over there?!"
"WHERE?" Puppet looked at the area Foxy was pointing at faster than an energetic bloodhound, but looked disappointed to see that nothing was there.
"Ha, made you look! See what I mean, Puppet? You're getting overly excited about the elves when there's no need."
"Hey, it's not as funny as you think it is! What if one of them sneaks inside your in the middle of the night and messes with your wires?"
"Again, that sounds more like a rat than an elf! Are you absolutely sure you're not confusing the two?"
"There is a difference, though! Rats are gross, and elves are gross AND evil!"
"Puppet, I'm not sure if elves are evil, but-" Foxy paused. Out of the corner of his eyes, he could've sworn he had just seen one of the elf plushies blink. "Wait a minute, did I just see one of those elves move?"
"Did you?!" Puppet asked excitedly, completely changing his tone.
"I'm not sure, but...I might have."
"What kind of movement did it make?"
"I think it might have...blinked."
"Blinked?! Then one of those elf plushies has to be an elf that just looks like a really-convincing elf plush! Or maybe one of those plushies is a secret camera!" Puppet then reached behind himself and pulled out another elf plushie. He looked at it, then the elf plushies at the stage, then back at the one he was holding. "Yeah, really convincing, actually..."
"If there are actually elves there, then sure, but why'd you have one of those elf plushies on you, anyhow?"
"Been using them as a decoy and moving them around to other places. I've been hoping to attract others of their kind to them so I can capture an elf, but so far I've had no luck."
"Puppet, it doesn't work that way."
"How come?! Don't wolves attract others of their kind and hunt in packs, for example?"
"That's an entirely separate species from the elves, which works an entirely different way. Just because one species acts one way doesn't mean that every other species does the same exact thing."
"Okay, I guess you're right about that. But still-!"
"AAAAAGH! This is boring, that's boring, EVERYTHING IS BORING!"
"Woah! Oh god! What's happening?!" Puppet jumped back and struck a defensive position. "Is this the call of the elf?! Are the elves attacking us?! Oh, nevermind, it's just Ballora."
Ballora had come trudging into the room from the small hall, an expression of distaste on her face. Though she had her Christmas sweater on, her usual happy disposition over her liking of Christmas was now replaced by a sour mood which had already caused her to start shouting upon entry. Puppet looked both relieved and disappointed that it had only been Ballora, but Foxy was focusing on other matters.
"Ballora, what's wrong this time?" He asked her, curious as to why she could possibly be acting so discontented this time.
"I'm. So. Bored." She griped as she approached Foxy. "That's the problem! I have absolutely no idea what to do today. Half of our group isn't even around, and I'm starting to run out of ways to be distracted by the Christmas season."
"Well, sorry to hear that you're feeling so bored, but I'm not bored and I'm hardly in a better situation then you. I've been over here listening to Puppet rant on and on about the elves, and trying to debunk all the weird misconceptions he keeps coming up with! He still believes that elves are all over this entire place, by the way."
Ballora moaned exasperatedly and eyed Puppet, completely forgetting about her boredom for a second. 'Wait, hang on! Puppet, are you still going gung-ho about elves being in this place?"
Puppet squinted back at her. "Yes, of course! They've been a huge nuisance, and I refuse to ignore them! And how can you go on at me when you're the one who's been placing the elves everywhere?"
"Placing the elves everywhere?! That's stupid! I haven't done anything with elves, and I can't do anything with elves either! I have zero control over what any of the elves do; they listen to Santa Claus, yes, but nobody else can order them around besides Santa! And before you ask me why Santa would be sending elves after you, think about it! Both of you guys went and hurt Santa, right? You've probably provoked him into sending elves to this place so they can spy on you and gather information!"
"You're half-right. I didn't hurt Santa at all, I only agreed to stay silent about it once I saw it happen." Puppet explained firmly. "It was Foxy that went and did things to Santa, not me."
"Hey, don't make it sound like I did it intentionally!" Foxy protested. "My killer animatronic instincts saw a human and demanded I attack it like I always do! And that only really happened because I thought he was some security guard at first! If I had been in full control and had full understanding of the scenario, I wouldn't have even harmed Santa to begin with!"
"But now he's got his elves coming after you for what you did!" Ballora continued. "And he may even come back himself at some point so he can settle things! I'd normally be very excited about him paying this place another visit, but if he did under the current circumstances, it would not be a very friendly type of visit at all!"
"You know what? This topic is getting very heated, so I say we ignore Santa and the elves for now. Ballora, you said you were bored, right?"
At this reminder, Ballora snapped right back to the state of distaste she had been in when she had first entered the room, going back to the phase so quickly that it almost seemed like she had never stopped being like that at all.
"Oh, yes, I am still very bored right now." She said, shaking her head in a dispirited manner. "But I do have one idea of how to cure the boredom now! I was thinking that we should play another game. That's what we always do when we're bored and in need of some fast entertainment, right?"
"You're not wrong." Foxy admit. "But what type of game are we going to play, though?"
"Well...how about truth or dare?"
"Nope, we already did that one recently. I want to do something other than that game."
"Aww, come on! You guys are no fun, you know that? But I guess you do have a point. Hmm...maybe another talent show?"
"Nope, not in the mood for that either. Besides, there's only three of us around right now. I'd be more open to doing it if everyone else was there, but since it's just us, I don't think it would be very interesting."
"That is true, actually. There are only so many things the three of us could do before it just gets boring again. Then...how about another karaoke night?"
"Nah, that also would be boring with only the three of us there. Also, the karaoke room is closed off and being worked on right now, so we don't even have a proper room to do karaoke night anymore."
"Oh, yeah, I forget that was the case!" Puppet exclaimed. "Ah, that sucks, though. I actually enjoyed the karaoke night we had last time, and I was really looking forward to doing it again."
"Hrrgh, this is dumb!" Ballora whined bitterly. "I just HATE having to wait unnecessarily long periods of time for the things I like to be available again! Guess we've got to think about something else. How about hide and seek?"
"No, not that either." Foxy denied. "We've already played hide-and-seek many, many, MANY times. As much fun as we have with it, I feel like there are only so many times we can play it before it gets old."
"Aww, but it's so much fun to play!"
"I know, I know, we've had a lot of fun experiences with that game, but we've at least got to take breaks in between each game. Maybe next time we have a game night, we can do hide-and-seek again."
Ballora nodded. "Okay, works for me. Let's think of a different game." Ballora put her hand up to her bottom jaw and thought for a second. "Let's see, let's see...I'm having trouble coming up with something. Guys, are there any other games we've played before? I was thinking maybe would-you-rather."
"No way!" Puppet refused. "The last time we did it, it got way too awkward. I'm not comfortable with playing it again anytime soon."
"Yeah, it did get really awkward." Foxy agreed. "Besides, we already did that one somewhat recently."
"Oh, it did?" Ballora asked in surprise. "I didn't know! I wasn't even around to have fun on the day you guys played that game. So if that got awkward, maybe we should instead play...OH! I have an idea!"
"Really? What is it?"
"It's actually one we haven't done in a while! It...is...TAG!" Ballora tagged Foxy quickly and ran several feet away. "You're it!" She took off and ran down the small hallway all the way to the big hallway, where she turned and laughed. "You can't catch me!"
"Oh, so we're seriously playing this now?" Foxy said, and grinned. "Game on! But wait, since Ballora is so far away...hey, Puppet!"
"Oop, gotta run!" Puppet exclaimed, and he took off running in circles around the main room.
"You aren't getting away that easily! Get back here!"
(Author's Note: This next part involves lots of running around various areas of the pizzeria! It's hard to describe, so let's just use dialogue and have characters labeled! And when there's a line between text, it means that the characters have moved to another room during the chase. Enjoy!)
Foxy: "Dang it, Puppet, stop dodging me! I can't land a hit on you!"
Puppet: "Good! Let's keep it that way!"
Foxy: "Missed...missed again...and again...HAH! Tag, you're it!"
Puppet: "Ah, no! Well, fine, we'll do this your way. Get back here!"
Foxy: "I'm running away! See if you can catch me!"
Ballora: "Wait, who's it?"
Foxy: "Puppet's it! Run!"
Ballora: "Oh no! Ah!"
Foxy: "I'm going towards the auditorium, then!"
Ballora: "I'm going back towards my room!"
Puppet: "Man, which direction to choose? Left, right, left, right, left...RIGHT!"
Foxy: "Oh, come on! Why head my way! Well, you won't be catching me!"
Puppet: "Foxy, stand still and make this easy!"
Foxy: "No chance! I'm not about to let you tag m- GAAH!"
Puppet: "Tag, you're it! You were saying, Foxy?"
Foxy: "To heck with what I was saying! Get back here so I can tag you!"
Puppet: "Hey, no tag backs!"
Foxy: "No tag backs?! Then...Ballora, I see you peeking into this room! Get over here and let me tag you!"
Ballora: "What?! No!"
Ballora: "Ha, I went into the girl's bathroom! Can't get me now, Foxy!"
Foxy: "You think I care about that? Hah! I'm just going to tag you!"
Ballora: "Wait, what? I- NO! Oh, come on! Fine, then, I'll just have to come out and tag you back again! But why'd you come into the girl's restroom? This isn't fair at all!"
Foxy: "All's perfectly fair in love, war, and a hyper game of tag, Ballora!"
Ballora: "Fine, then don't mind if I come over there and make you it again! Hah!"
Foxy: "You got me again?! Fine, then I'll tag Puppet! He hasn't been it for a moment already!"
Puppet: "See if you can catch me first!"
Foxy: "Puppet, stop running in circles! I can't get a hold of you! Ugh, nevermind. Ballora, you're getting tagged again!"
Ballora: "No! Ow! Then I'll return the favor!"
Foxy: "Dang, then I'll make you be it again!"
Ballora: "Eeek! Great, then it's time I turn the tables!"
Foxy: "I'm it once again! Okay, Puppet, you can only avoid me for so long! Time to be tagged!"
Puppet: "Ouch! Aw, not again! Fine, then I'm running back to tag you again!"
Foxy: "Wait, that's bad! Ballora, watch out! He's running for us!"
Ballora: "Why'd we run into my room, Foxy?"
Foxy: "It just came to mind, I don't know! Wait, look out behind you!"
Puppet: "TAG!"
Ballora: "Ow! Oh, not again!"
Reggie: "Huh? What are you all doing in here? And why are you shouting so loudly!"
Foxy: "No time to explain! Just watch out for Ballora, she's it!"
Ballora: "Reggie, I need your help! Tag them for me!"
Reggie: "Me?! Oh, uh, I'll have to decline. I've never really been that big of a 'tag' person in my life."
Ballora: "But I just tagged you! What do we do now?"
Foxy: "Huh, I guess the game's over, then."
They had all come to stop with the tag game right in the middle of Ballora's room. The chase had gone around several areas of the building, with Foxy, Puppet, and Ballora all taking turns being tagged, but now that Reggie had been tagged and didn't want to play himself, Foxy assumed that the game was pretty much over.
Everyone took a rest break, catching their robotic breath for a moment. Foxy and Puppet sat on some of the chairs in the room while Ballora stood up.
"So, that tag game was kind of fun, but way too hectic for me after all that." Foxy told Ballora. "So, do you have any other ideas for games we could play?"
"Can we maybe play 'Let's all go to bed and not make any more noise?'" Puppet asked. "I didn't like having that tag game be so loud."
"Puppet, don't be such a stick-in-the-mud. I know this isn't your thing, but just go along with it, alright? I'm sure you'll keep having fun."
"Besides, your game idea sounds boring." Ballora muttered.
"Aw, man. I guess I don't have a choice this time." Puppet groaned. "Fine, I'll keep playing. That tag game was kind of fun, I'll admit."
"Then let's play another game. Hmm...oh, I know! Let's play 'I Spy'!"
"Okay, that doesn't sound like a bad idea." Foxy accepted in agreement. "Who's going to start?"
"I think I will, because why not? I came up with the idea to play this game, after all! Let's see...I spy, with my closed animatronic eyes...and yes, they're closed, I admit that...but, I spy...something black."
"Then I'll start guessing! Also, I do want to ask, how can you see if your eyes are closed?"
"Well, um...the answer's a bit complicated. Let's just say that my eyes are both open and closed at the same time."
"Doesn't make much sense, but okay."
"Anyway, you said you spy something black." Puppet continued, steering the conversation back to the game. "It's the piano, right?"
"Incorrect!"
"Uh...Reggie's hat?" Foxy tried half-heartedly.
"Nope, not that either."
"Then what is it? Hmm..." Foxy took a look at the room from all angles from where he was standing. He was a bit confused; Ballora's room was made up mostly of bright colors, so if it wasn't the piano or Reggie's hat, Foxy didn't know what it could be. But then he saw Puppet standing there next to him, and it suddenly made sense. "Wait, do you mean Puppet?"
"Yes, that's correct!" Ballora confirmed, beaming. "Good job!"
"Wait, you meant me?" Puppet stuttered in shock. "Aww, man, I would have never guessed that!"
"Okay, so now it's my turn." Foxy said. He stared around at the room, trying to find something to spy. "Hmm...what to pick..."
"You don't just have to choose anything in my room specifically." Ballora offered helpfully. "We could go anywhere else in this building, if you want."
"I appreciate the thought, but I'll have to refuse. It'd be way too crazy trying to go around everywhere and picking from wherever. I say we just stick with this one room; that'll make things a lot simpler, but it'll also keep the game at least a little difficult."
Ballora shrugged acceptingly. "Okay, then. Your choice."
"So, anyway, I spy with my little eye..." Foxy looked around at the entire room. Since they were now playing a game, Foxy wanted to make sure he did well, and he wanted to pick something that would give the others a good challenge. Something that wasn't too obvious. He looked towards Reggie, who was standing there respectfully watching the others play, and an idea formed in his head. "...something blue!"
"Blue?" Ballora repeated. She looked at her golden crown, sitting on top of the neck of a headless skeleton. It had a blue jewel in it. "Is it the jewel in this crown?"
"Nope."
"That blue balloon over there?" Puppet guessed, pointing at the balloons at the left-most back corner of the stage. The balloons were multi-colored, but there were a couple of blue ones amidst them.
However, that wasn't the answer. "No." Foxy said, shaking his head. He had been talking about blue, but not the balloon.
"Is it this blue present?" Ballora tried, pointing at one of the presents sitting on the stage. The presents had already been neatly-wrapped, which Foxy guessed was a result of Ballora completing her gift-wrapping that she had been doing yesterday.
"Nope." Foxy answered.
"The blue ornaments on the tree?" Puppet asked. The ornaments on the Christmas tree that Ballora had put on her stage's pedestal were as multi-colored as the balloons in the very same room, and of course, there were blue ornaments among other colors.
"No, that's not it." Foxy replied truthfully. He grinned. "You guys might never get this. If you really want to find it, look harder. It's not as obvious as you think it is. Here's a hint: It is blue, but it's also sort-of purple. Sort of a bluish-purple kind of color."
"Is it the christmas lights?" Puppet asked again.
"Or the blue item in the stockings I hung up above?" Ballora added.
"Neither of those things." Foxy answered, still grinning. "Man, I'm pretty good at this game. You guys give up yet?"
"Yeah, I give up." Ballora sighed. "I just can't see it."
"I'll have one more try!" Puppet demanded.
"Sure, go on." Foxy accepted. "I suggest you think hard about what I'm talking about. Give it at least a moment of thought."
"Huh...well...is it Ballora?"
"Nope."
"It isn't?! Ah, fine, I give up. What is it?"
"It is...and you'd never guess this...it's Reggie eyes!" Foxy pointed right at Reggie, who looked up at them confusedly. His eyes were the exact bluish-purple color Foxy had described.
"Me?" Reggie repeated. "What's this about me?"
"Your eyes were the blue thing I was talking about."
"Aww, how could I have not noticed?" Ballora sighed. "After all, Reggie's eyes are so beautiful. I should have noticed them at once!"
"Um...thanks, darling." Reggie thanked respectfully, albeit a little uncomfortably.
"Man, Reggie, why didn't you tell us?" Puppet groaned. "We could've gotten it right then."
"Sorry, but I don't think I was meant to intrude on the game. Besides, I wasn't really listening much, anyway."
"Heh, are you guys impressed now?" Foxy chuckled. "Alright, so since I won that one, I get to go again. You guys had trouble with that one, so I'll make this round easier for you." Foxy looked around at the room again. He could see that Ballora's room involved lots of red and pink, so he made a mental note to avoid doing those colors. Then, he noticed one of the presents' coloration, and got another idea. "I spy...an item with the color yellow!"
"It's the yellow balloon! It has to be!" Puppet answered at once, pointing at the balloons in the corner.
"Nope, it isn't."
"Aw, man!"
"The yellow ribbon on some of my Christmas presents?" Ballora guessed, pointing at a couple of her presents, which were red boxes with yellow ribbons."
"That isn't it."
"The star on the Christmas tree?" Puppet predicted, pointing at the bright yellow star on top of Ballora's Christmas tree. Foxy had to admit; even though the yellow star was not quite as nice as the golden top hat on top of the tree in the main room, it was quite nice.
But it wasn't the answer. "No." He denied.
"Is it Reggie's golden jacket buttons and his helmet straps?" Ballora tried, pointing at Reggie. His bright red uniform had yellow buttons on them, and his black helmet had golden straps that hung loosely at the sides of his head.
"Why bring me into this again?" Reggie sighed.
"No, nothing to do with Reggie this time." Foxy said. "Look harder."
"Foxy, come on!" Puppet complained. "I thought you said this was going to be an easier round!"
"It is! It's way more obvious than Reggie's eyes. Keep guessing."
"Is it this present right here?" Ballora finally answered, pointing at one of the wrapped presents on the stage. It was a yellow box with a blue ribbon.
Foxy did a thumbs-up. "There we go, Ballora got it! Man, took you guys long enough. That present is so yellow, after all."
"Oh!" Ballora exclaimed in happy surprise. "Awesome! Yay, I got it!"
"Dang, how did I miss that present?" Puppet grumbled in defeat. "Aww..."
"Okay, next round! Actually, although I did just win...Puppet, you can have your turn this round if you want to."
"No, I'm not having my turn yet! I still haven't managed to spy out a single thing, so I'm not having my turn until I get one thing right! You can go have another turn, Ballora."
"Wait, really? Man, that's a surprise, especially since I'm finally being nice for once. Comes with me being in the Christmas spirit. Well, then I'll have my turn. I spy...something green!"
"The wreaths?" Foxy asked, because a large amount of wreaths were hung around the walls of the room.
"No, none of the wreaths! Look elsewhere."
"The tree this time?" Puppet asked.
"Nope."
"Mr. Creepy?" Foxy pointed at the green alien doll sitting out with Ballora's tea set and other stuffed animals.
"Not him."
"Is it the green balloon?!" Puppet tried, pointing at the balloons in the corner again.
Ballora smiled. "Yes, that's right! Great job!"
"Wait, really?! Wow, I actually did it!"
"Good job getting it right, Puppet." Foxy congratulated the marionette. "You fulfilled your goal for this game."
"Yeah, that's pretty great! Okay, now I'm going to have my turn. I spy with my little eye...something dark."
Foxy raised an eyebrow. "Dark? How does that count?"
"I'll give you guys a helpful hint: When I mean 'dark', I mean something in this room that's scary and tragic. Take your guesses."
"Okay, I'll try. Is it the skeleton chained to the wall?" Foxy suggested, looking towards said skeleton. It was still there, with its arms chained to the back wall of the stage and of the entire room, sitting there limply. The sign next to it read: My Name Is: Lawrence
"That is pretty dark, I've got to admit, but that's not it."
"Is it your soul, Puppet?" Ballora answered half-jokingly.
"Actually, that's pretty close to the answer! Think souls, but not mine!"
"Then...is it Foxy?"
"As in Foxy's soul, yes!"
"Wait, what?" Foxy stuttered, momentarily stopping in his tracks at the weirdness he felt over that being the answer. "My soul is what's dark? Well, how would you even know? You can't just see my soul."
"But I can. I can see it in your eyes, Foxy."
"Oh, that's just like what they say about souls!" Ballora exclaimed excitedly. "They said, 'The eyes are the gateway to the soul!' Is that the case here?"
"Ah, that is very much the case! You've got it."
Foxy put his hand to his head and sighed, grinning tiredly. "Man, this is getting a bit too deep for me. Anyway, it's your turn, Ballora."
"Yay, alright!" Ballora cheered. "Let's do this!"
"Hey, before we start the next round, I have an idea for what we can do." Puppet cut in. "Let's do a lightning round, winner take all. Ballora will spy another thing. If we can't guess what it is, she wins. If one of us gets it, then they win."
"Sure, I like the sound of that!" Foxy agreed, nodding. He did think the idea of doing a lightning round would make the game more interesting. "Bring it on!"
"Okay, so that means the stakes are higher this time!" Ballora said understandingly. "Then I'll make this a good, hard one! You'll have put in some effort to get this! Let's see here...I spy something red!"
"The chairs!" Foxy guessed at once. As soon as Ballora had said 'red', he had looked around, and the chairs were the first thing he had seen.
"Nope, not that."
"The red stripes on the wallpaper." Puppet guessed as well, pointing at said wallpaper.
"Not that, either. You know, there are a lot of red things in here, so how about this: you guys can make a bunch of guesses right off the bat, and I'll tell you if any of the guesses are correct. If you make the correct guess first, you win."
"Okay, then let's go! Reggie's jacket!" Foxy said.
"The stockings!" Puppet countered.
"The red presents!"
"The red balloon!"
"The red ornaments on the tree!"
"The red Christmas light on the chain of lights!"
"The bow on the wreaths!"
"The couches on either side of the room!"
"The sleeves on your sweater!"
"Foxy's bowtie!"
"The candy canes attached to the stockings!"
"All of those answers are wrong!" Ballora replied, smiling cheerily. "Keep trying, guys!"
"Wait, seriously?! All of those answers aren't the correct ones?" Foxy sputtered. "Ballora, we've covered every red thing in this room. How have we still not got it?"
"Well...are you really sure you got every red thing?"
"I just...what? But we've looked at everything. What else is there?" Puppet muttered dejectedly.
"Hmm." Foxy mumbled to himself, thinking about the situation and how weird it was that they hadn't found what Ballora had spotted yet. They had already named so many red things that were in the room, and none of them were correct? Foxy could see that Ballora had made this very hard for them, but he wasn't going to quit now. "There has to have been something we missed. Keep looking, Puppet."
"This is a lot harder than I bargained for, Foxy..."
"I know, but we can't give up yet."
"Then I'll do one last guess. Is it...the socks you hung next to the stockings?"
"Nope."
"Aw, it isn't!? Man, I just can't find it anywhere. I give up."
"Well, I don't! I'm going to keep going!" Foxy kept looking around the room, looking over every single red thing he could see over and over, but nothing else popped out at him. He stopped the observations and took a moment to think. "Okay, okay, we went too fast. Let's go over what we know. So, Ballora...all of the things we named aren't what you were talking about, is that true?"
"Of course."
"And the thing we're looking out for is definitely red, right? It's not any other color, like pink or purple?"
"Yep, that's correct. It's just red."
"And it's not anywhere or anything outside of this room?"
"No, that'd be cheating. What you're looking for is in this very room, nowhere else."
"That's definite, right? It's just confined to this one room, and it's not in a single other area?"
"You got it."
"And it's not in a side room, either, like the backstage of this room or the area by the vents?"
"Nowhere over there."
"And it's physically out in the open? It's not some red object you're keeping hidden in your sweater?"
"Nope, I don't have it on me. It's here in the room."
"Hmm...man, this is a hard one."
"Just give up already, Foxy. We can't find it." Puppet asked Foxy dismally.
"No, I won't quit just yet! I still think I can find this!"
But the truth was, Foxy knew he couldn't find it. No matter which way he looked, in whatever way he could look at it, he didn't see a single other red thing. He didn't want to admit defeat and give someone other than himself an ego boost, but he was starting to see that his chances of winning were almost nonexistent.
"Ballora, come off this." Puppet ordered Ballora. "We've named every single red thing that's here in this room and this room alone. You're just pretending there's another red thing, aren't you?"
"Nope, you didn't name every red thing, and I mean it." Ballora responded surely. "Something else is here."
"Hrrgh...arrgh...aw, that's it!" Foxy finally admit defeat, throwing his arms down frustratedly. "I just can't see what you're talking about, no matter how hard I look. I quit."
"HOORAY!" Ballora cheered, doing a victory dance as she excitedly celebrated her victory. "I knew I would win! Now, let me show you what red thing I meant!"
She guided them over to the couch and table on the right side of the room and pointed behind the couch. Foxy and Puppet looked over, not sure what to expect, and saw that behind the couch was a red ornament, broken and lying in pieces on the floor.
"What in the heck?" Puppet gasped. "How on earth did this get here?"
"Oh, uh..." Ballora began, looking a little anxious. "...it's a leftover ornament from the day we decorated. I got mad at something and I threw an ornament at the wall. It broke, as you can see, and I haven't bothered to clean it up."
Foxy and Puppet looked at each other, than back at Ballora, and then back at each other. Foxy knew that he and Puppet were, at the moment, thinking the exact same thing.
"I feel like she cheated with this one." Puppet stated blindly.
"Yeah, I think the same thing." Foxy acknowledged acutely.
"Wait, what?! That's not true!" Ballora countered in shock. "The thing is red, it's out here in the open, and I didn't just put it there! How did I cheat?"
Neither Foxy nor Puppet gave her an answer. Instead, they both turned around at the same time and headed for the exit door together.
"I'm going back to my box. I've had enough for today." Puppet sighed, shaking his head.
"Same here. I'm heading back to my room." Foxy added, nodding in an annoyed manner.
Ballora just scowled at them as they left. "Oh, come on! You guys can't deny that I'm the winner! You're just mad because you lost!"
"Eh, well played. We'll get you next time, I suppose."
"We'll see! Until then, bye! See you later!"
"Bye. See you another time."
And the two of them left together, leaving Ballora to her own devices and heading back to their own rooms.
Foxy found himself and Puppet coming to the area of the big hall where there was the doorway to the small hall. Here, he and the marionette would be going their separate ways for the night.
"I'll see you tomorrow, then, Foxy." Puppet said to the animatronic fox as they went in different directions. "I think I'm going to need some time to myself after today. Goodbye."
"See you." Foxy said back, waving at Puppet before he turned and headed down the small hallway. Foxy found that he was already tired from today's events, despite the fact that barely a half-hour had passed since Ballora had barged in on him talking with Puppet. He decided then that he would head back to his cove, think to himself for a while, and then grab another nap.
After all, who knew if something just as crazy as today would happen tomorrow?
