"Alright… And done." N said, as Roxy blinked her new eyes a couple of times, looking around the room.
"Everything good?" The Fox known as Evan asked Roxy.
Roxy stood up and smiled wide. "I can see again! This is great!" She shouted with glee.
"Good, I'm glad." N said. "Now, I think you two should go try and find freddy and chica. With those things wandering around, I'm worried they might be in trouble."
Roxy nods and turns to the fox. "So, you're even, right? Should I still call you that?"
The Fox thinks for a moment. "No, I think while I'm like this, you can just call me Foxy. although I'm not too sure about the pirate speak."
Roxanne giggles for a moment. "I think we'll be just fine without it."
"Please hurry." N pleads, "I'll try and get Monty fixed up as soon as I can, but he suffered quite a bit of damage in that last fight."
Foxy and roxy both nod, and make their way back to the atrium, being careful to avoid any potential run-ins with the monsters.
"So, Ev- I mean Foxy. I'm curious… Why did you come back?" Roxy asked as the two snuck into the atrium.
"I…" Foxy starts, "I guess I just felt I had to." He rubbed his arm. His initial curiosity had given way to almost a sense of responsibility, as he felt that he had to help fight whatever these monsters were.
Roxy scoffed. "You know, you sure did cause a lot of trouble."
The two of them hid behind a row of arcade machines as Foxy asked: "Is it about the fall?" He still held some guilt about his accident potentially closing down the pizzaplex.
"Look, I'm sorry that I fell, I wasn't-" Roxy placed her hand on his snout and held it shut as she glared at him.
"Shut up, you're just… It's not just the fall." Roxy explained.
Foxy tilted his head confused, he had always tried to be as helpful as possible. He always tried to make himself as little of a burden as possible.
"You just…" She continued. "You'd run yourself ragged, one time to the point where Freddy had to carry you back to his green room. And you'd just-" She lets out a frustrated sigh. "Y'know, a lot of them got really worried."
Somewhere in Evan's brain, it finally clicked that the story his co-workers kept insisting on was true. Freddy really did carry Evan to his green room.
"You never thanked him either, which was rude. And now you waltz right back in here, all limping around and hurt…" She lets go of Foxy's mouth. "You should know that after what happened, Monty wouldn't leave his green room for a week. They had to call it maintenance."
Foxy looked down at the ground. Before tonight, he had no idea that these animatronics could feel these complex emotions. He felt more guilty for the way he had acted towards them previously.
"I'm-" He tried to say again before Roxy cut him off. "Don't apologize. Just stop making everyone worry about you all the time, and would it kill you to talk to us once and awhile?"
Foxy exhaled, and looked at Roxy, who gave him a smirk. "Alright, I'll take better care of myself, starting when I get out of here." He said, prompting a light punch in the arm from Roxy.
"Let's go find Chica, you can start with her." She says, as the two peek out from their hiding spot.
"Alright, do you think she's in Mazercise?" Foxy asks.
Roxanne shakes her head. "I don't think so, she's probably somewhere in the kitchen."
As the two sneak that way, Foxy asks: "Wait, is she seriously cooking? Like, she does that in the middle of the night?"
"No, after things started going… Bad, she started stress eating. Mostly garbage."
"She can eat?" Foxy said, more surprised than anything.
"Not… Really." Roxy Winced.
The two make it to the kitchen doors, quickly forcing their way inside. The interior is dark, lit by only a few working lights, as several bots wearing chef hats aimlessly wander between large appliances.
"This place is… A lot dingier than I remember." Foxy said. Watching a couple chef bots smack into each other, then turn around and resume wandering.
"Yeah, since we closed this place hasn't seen any use." Roxy states as the two make their way to the back of the kitchen, to the service elevator.
Foxy pressed the button to call the elevator. "So, how have you been doing since this place closed?" He asked Roxy.
She sighed, looking at the floor. "I… It's been lonely, without anyone here."
The two stood in silence for a moment, until the lift doors opened, and they stepped inside.
"Just… Let me do the talking, okay?" Roxy says as the two ride down, "She gets a little… Odd when she's eating."
Foxy nodded, she knew Chica better after all. A few minutes later the door opened, and the two stepped out into the lower kitchen. It was somehow even darker down here, the only sound that permeated the dark space was the sound of chewing.
"She's by the trash compactor." Roxy whispered.
The two snuck over to the compactor, seeing the chicken hunched over a pile of garbage, hastily devouring what she could as she mumbled something to herself.
Roxy stepped closer, and called out to her. "Hey Chica?"
The chicken squawked and froze, she slowly turned to Roxanne, standing up. "Oh… Hi Roxy, I didn't… I didn't hear you come in." She threw the trash she was holding onto the floor of the compactor, "How are you?"
Roxy put her hands together. "Oh, I'm alright… How are you? Seen anything strange recently?"
Chica stepped out of the compactor, wiping her beak off. "Um, not really, besides the comedy bot wandering around the maintenance tunnels earlier."
Just then, foxy shifted from one foot to the other, and Chica suddenly noticed him. "Um, Roxy, who is that?" Chica asked.
"Oh, uhm, let me introduce you." Roxy said nervously, walking over to Foxy, she placed her arm around him. "This is Foxy, he's… Here now."
Chica stepped forward, staring intently at the fox. "...Foxy? I… Remember a Foxy."
Foxy and Roxy exchange confused glances at each other. "You do?" Foxy asked.
Chica nodded. "I don't quite recall, but I know we've met before somewhere." She placed her fingers on the temples of her head and closed her eyes to think. "It must've been a really long time ago."
"I… Don't think I'm the same foxy you knew." He said. "But hey, let's not let that stop us from being friends."
Roxy smiled, as Chica nodded happily. "I agree, it's nice to meet you Foxy!" She said as she pulled him into a hug. He was surprised by the gesture, but quickly hugged back. Evan wished he knew sooner that the animatronics he worked with were like this.
"You dorks." Roxy said, before Chica grabbed her arm and pulled her into the now group hug.
After a few seconds, they separated and Roxy asked: "By the way, you haven't seen Freddy, have you?"
Chica shook her head. "Nope. Come to think of it, I haven't seen him in a long while."
"Well that's not good." Foxy states. "I hope he's alright."
"I don't know why he wouldn't be." Chica says, Roxy wincing as she says that.
"About that…" Roxy starts, but just as she's about to tell Chica about the monsters, the sounds of pots and pans clattering from the other side of the kitchen cause all three animatronics to pause and look over.
Emerging from behind a couple ovens, a large yellow figure stands up, it';s single red eye glowing in the dark. It flexes its clawed hands as it stares at the three. Chica's eyes open wide as she reads the tattered bib on the creature: 'Let's eat.'
Suddenly, the creature leaps on top of the stove and lets out a piercing shriek. The three all take a step back.
"What is that thing?!" Chica shouts. "And why does it look like the old me?"
"Less talking, and more running!" Roxy yells, grabbing both of their arms and leading them away form the monster, who was jumping from appliance to appliance, knocking most of them over when it rocketed off of them.
"Roxy, the exit is the other way!" Foxy shouted. "And it's gaining on us!"
The three of them reached the corner of the room, and Roxy began frantically looking for some way out of this. "Sh-shut up! We just-"
The monster continued to jump closer. In a panic, Chica grabbed a baking sheet and threw it at the monster. "Take this!" She shouted as the sheet harmlessly bounced off of its head. Chica screamed as the monster became more agitated, jumping faster.
"Wait!" Foxy exclaimed, grabbing another sheet and handing it to Chica. "Throw it under its feet!"
Chica gulped, and nodded, throwing it towards the stove the monster was about to land on. It reached its target just as the creature touched down, causing it to slip and fall backwards onto the floor with a loud thud.
"Haha! We did it!" Chica exclaimed triumphantly. Her joy turned to panic and the monster began trying to stand once more. "Ahh! It's still moving!"
"Spread out, I have an idea!" Roxanne shouted, as Chica and Foxy ran opposite directions around the edge of the kitchen.
The monster righted itself and turned its attention to Chica, beginning to run its way towards her.
Roxy used this as an opportunity to search the nearby area for a frying pan, grabbing it and running towards the beast.
As it lunged at Chica, who barely managed to jump out of the way, Roxy ran up from behind and slammed the frying pan down on its head with all her might. The pan flew off of its handle as the creature fell to the ground, momentarily stunned.
"Thanks Rox!" Chica shouted, still running away. As Roxy noticed the monster trying to get back up again, she began putting some distance between herself and it as well.
Meanwhile Foxy was trying to think. It seemed like even after that hit with the frying pan, it was still alive. They needed something stronger.
That's when he remembered the trash compactor Chica was eating garbage out of earlier. "That's it!" He exclaimed.
"What's it?" Chica replied, "Do you know how to beat this thing?"
"We have to crush it in the trash compactor!" Foxy shouted. The others nodded, and Roxy began making her way towards it.
The monster got back on its feet and began chasing after Roxy. Foxy ran over to the compactor controls, as Chica grabbed another baking sheet, readying herself.
Roxy reached the mouth of the compactor and turned around to face the creature. "Come at me you freak!" She shouted, giving a confident grin in spite of her fear.
The monster leaped through the air at her. Roxy dove forwards to the floor as Chica threw the
Sheet like a frisbee to where the monster landed, forcing it to slide just that little bit more needed to be completely in the compactor as Foxy pressed the button to begin the crushing mechanism.
Roxy stood back up and watched as the compactor closed in on the beast, but just as it looked like it was over, the creature placed both of its hands on the ceiling and began pushing it back.
Roxanne watched in horror as it fought against the machine, and it seemed to be winning!
She clenched her fist, she knew that if it successfully broke the compactor, it would destroy them all. She couldn't let that happen.
Roxy thought back to how she had been used to hurt others, how she had been forced to hunt Gregory. She remembered standing in front of her mirror, desperately trying to force herself to believe that she was the best, despite being too weak to save anyone.
No more would she be weak, no more she let people be hurt, let her friends be hurt. She would tackle the beast and throw it off balance, she was ready to sacrifice herself to save her friends.
She crouched down and prepared to jump into the compactor, silently wishing her friends luck on finding the others and getting out of this place…
Just then, she heard the shouts of Foxy and Chica, as they shoved a rolling cart filled with dishes right past her, slamming into the creature, knocking it off balance and causing the compactor to slam down, breaking both the cart and monster.
The three watched it let out one final death rattle as it broke, the floor of the compactor dropping out, taking down to the trash pits.
"We did it! For real this time!" Chica exclaimed, jumping for joy.
Roxy looked back at the two as they high fived, and she smiled softly. Standing up, she brushed herself off, and joined the others in celebration of their victory.
As the trio walked back to the elevator, Foxy walked next to Roxanne, asking her: "Hey, back at the trash compactor, you were thinking about going in after him, weren't you?"
Roxy's ears drooped for a moment. "...Don't tell Chica, please." She admitted.
Foxy lightly punched her arm. "I won't, but it's kind of hypocritical to tell me to be more careful and then try and sacrifice yourself. We're in this together now, got it?"
She smirked at the fox. "Y'know, you're a real pain."
They both laughed, prompting Chica to look back at them as she pressed the lift button. Seeing them get along made her happy, Roxanne hadn't laughed since the pizzaplex had closed down.
"Aww, guys!" Chica said, briefly pulling them both into another hug. "We make such a good team!"
The three got onto the elevator and rode it back up to the atrium kitchen, to begin their hunt for Freddy.
The tall figure descended down a flight of stairs, finally reaching the bottom floor. It opened the door, into a dark room, filled with scraps.
"I hate how far they made us walk to get here." The figure says, carefully stepping around rotting leftovers and trash.
Eventually it found what it was looking for, the crushed remains of the chicken monster.
"As far as I'm concerned, they're just doing the dirty work for us. You're too soft."
The figure began to open up the chest cavity of the monster, ripping out wires before coming to a small device in its core.
"Perfect, this will help a lot… You don't know what it is? You should, he got it from you."
The figure opens up its own chest cavity, and places the device inside. Its eyes go haywire for a moment, before it calms back down.
"We're lucky that creep is so sentimental. This is one step closer…" It says.
