Chapter Eight

Pizza?

Freddy and Gregory left. Gregory got out to walk on his own, but they both made their way to the atrium through a winding path in Rockstar Row filled with cardboard cutouts of the glamrocks in different outfits and poses. A very cartoonish brown bear with a black bowtie, top hat, and mic and a blue rabbit with a red guitar stood in some grass in a cardboard cutout, singing and staring in the direction of people who would be looking at them.

They emerged from the garage shutters to find another pair of shutters on the wall to their left, and the back of a jungle-themed giant platform-slash-board. "Come Back SOON!" scrawled in gold lettering on a white panel faced them.

Gregory should go to Fazerblast. However, the endoskeleton maze still bugged him. If anyone would know about a place covered in kiddie stuff, it was Sun, right? After all, the place was covered in the stuff and had a whole bunch of Moon stuff. Considering Gregory was not about to get any actual answers from Moon, Sun would have to do.

The elevators on the balcony above took them straight to the entrance of the mall. All it took was a turn and a walk through a star-encrusted, dark hall to get to the entrance of the Daycare Drop-off. Gregory could go through the front gate. However, the slide would be faster, and there was no way Sun might not see him if he was inside of the Daycare.

"I'll be back!" Gregory reassured Freddy. "I want to talk to Sun!"

"Okay!" Freddy answered. "Er, just be safe, okay? Be careful. If you need my help, just call me. I'll find my way in."

Gregory scoffed. "It'll be fine., I'll be careful. See ya!" With that, he hopped into the slide. He expected to land in the ball pit, hop up, and then either struggle his way to the rainbow bridge or get picked up. Sun picked up a lot of the children who fell into the ball pit, Gregory included earlier that night. What he didn't expect would be to land into a mostly empty, fairly gross pit. His socks surprisingly didn't slide on the empty ground.

The boy stumbled upon landing and waved his arms to keep himself stable.

"Gregory!" Sun gasped and darted across the empty pit, leaving a few cleaning supplies abandoned. He plucked the boy off the ground. "What are you doing in here? You could get hurt! I was just cleaning out the ball pit. Why didn't you warn me? It's safer to go through the front doors."

The Daycare Attendant stopped at the rainbow bridge. A huge mound of plastic balls filled the area before the ball pit, making any traveling between the pit and the rest of the Daycare impossible. "I mean, you caught yourself, so that's okay. Just make sure to tell me next time, okay?"

Sun summoned a cable from the ceiling, attached it to his back, and hopped over the entire pile so he landed between the play structures and next to the stack of colorful cans.

He set Gregory down out of reach of the plastic balls.

Gregory said, "I didn't know you cleaned out the ball pit."

"Well, I do!" Sun answered. "I keep this whole place clean so that no kids get sick."

Gregory cocked his head. "Every night? The entire ball pit?"

"Yep!"

"Huh." He looked over the colorful mound and then back at Sun.

Sun went on quickly, "Oh, but it's nice to meet you again, Friend! I'm sorry, was I being rude? I didn't mean to be rude. You must be hungry. How about we get some snacks?"

"Okay!"

Gregory was distracted yet again. Although he planned to talk to Sun over some yogurt or whatever, Sun quickly left to continue scrubbing out the ball pit.

Freddy's voice came from his Fazwatch. "Gregory? Are you okay?"

Gregory set down his granola bar. "Yeah! Sun's cleaning out the ball pit right now. He gave me a granola bar and Fizzy Faz and stuff."

"Oh, good! That was quite nice of him."

"Do you want to come in? I can ask him if that's okay. I think he likes you, anyway."

"That is quite alright," Freddy answered. His voice started out slow but quickened to a normal pace. "I am alright waiting here. It is not fond of being interrupted while cleaning."

Gregory blinked. Who doesn't like help cleaning? Cleaning was boring by itself, after all. "What do you mean?"

"A couple of weeks ago I offered to help with the ball pit. Although he accepted my help, it quickly became evident that the Daycare Attendant did not wish for me to be there. It was not pleased with my presence, I assume."

He? It? Why was… oh, he meant Moon. Moon sounded like kind of a jerk. That had to have been after he got sick, though, so it was okay.

The boy said, "Okay. I guess that makes sense."

Gregory finished his snack and drink.

Sun, by the second bridge farther from Gregory, tossed a now clean ball into the pit. He picked up another.

Well, if he was going to ask about the Moon Cult, he'd better do it now before Freddy panicked some more.

Gregory threw away his cup and ran to meet Sun. He skirted around the mound of balls, only to run straight into the stack of cans. He fell over with a hard huff but quickly got back to his feet.

"Oh no, no, no!" Sun yelled as he jumped to his feet and ran up to the tipped-over cans. "What a mess, what a mess! Clean up! Clean up!"

Gregory backed off so he didn't get in the way. What a weird reaction.

Gregory asked as Sun set down the last can, "Sun?"

The Daycare Attendant looked down at him, calmer and just slightly more relaxed than when the cans were on the ground. "Yes, Gregory?" Now his voice was just as peppy as normal.

"When I went into the basement, I saw a whole bunch of endoskeletons," he claimed.

Sun jolted and exclaimed, "That was very dangerous, Gregory! You could have gotten hurt!"

Gregory shrugged. "Yeah. But I made it! So, uh, I know that's what Freddy looks like on the inside. But you don't have an endoskeleton like that? They had a whole bunch of kid stuff and lots of Moon stuff. Why didn't they have an endoskeleton that looked like yours?"

Sun stood up straight and answered cheerily, "Oh! That's because we weren't made with the same blueprints. Freddy, Chica, Roxy, and Monty all come from similar endoskeletons. Or the same ones?" Sun put a finger to his chin and then let go. "I, uh, we–we were made differently."

"Yeah, so you could turn into the moon man," Gregory stated plainly. "So, if you're not like them and weren't made there, where were you made?"

Sun chuckled. "Oh, that's a funny question! I was… er… we were…" Sun lowered his hand and dipped his head a little. Though his face was pointed in Gregory's direction, the boy doubted he was actually looking at Gregory. The animatronic pulled into himself just a little.

Gregory reached up and patted Sun's wrist.

The animatronic jumped and looked down at him.

The boy said, "That's okay. I didn't like where I was born, either."

"Oh-oh! Oh, I didn't exactly say that," Sun stammered. "Er, anyway, yes, well, we were made with different blueprints. I'd say we were created like all the other bots. Maybe. That would make the most sense. So, are you done with your snack? Do you want to play? Oh, you could help me clean if you want!"

Gregory chuckled and took a step back. "Uh, no thanks. I was just kind of curious about the whole underground endoskeleton thing. Especially since they had so much Moon stuff but like nothing about you there. Which is kinda weird."

An idea popped into his head. "You know, I was down there so I could help Freddy. Freddy was broken, so he was fixed at Parts and Services. That's where Moon took him after he knocked him out. But he's fine now! Could you go there, too?"

"To P-Parts and Services? Oh, yeah! Definitely! That's where we go wh-when something's wrong!" Sun waved his hand with a shrill laugh. "We haven't been there in a little while, but that's okay! Moon's a little sick, but I'm sure the staff will know what's wrong!"

Gregory crossed his arms. "You mean the mechanics here could have fixed you this whole time and they didn't?"

"Well, I-I'm sure they had their reasons!" Sun stammered. "It's fine. It's okay. We'll be fine. They're probably just working out a solution. Sick animatronics probably don't get better overnight, you know! Just like sick kids need some time and medicine to recover. We already got checked. Just because they said they didn't find anything wrong doesn't mean anything. They probably just didn't want us to panic or something! Haha!"

Gregory puffed, "I helped put Freddy's head back on after Vanessa took it off in that cylinder thingy. It shouldn't be that hard." He grinned. "Which means I could probably fix you!"

Sun jolted. "What? Oh, no, no, no! No, that's much too dangerous. You-you could get hurt! You're not qualified for the job." He shook his head.

"It's really easy using that cylinder thing," Gregory pointed out. "What if I prove I could use it?"

"Friend, please don't hurt yourself! I-It's really nice of you to want to help! But fixing animatronics is very dangerous. B-besides, it's dark outside. Moon could… Moon wouldn't want to hurt you. He's really nice. He's just sick. He'll get better, though. But it would be really dangerous for you to try and help him, you know."

Gregory sighed. He had a point. "Alright. Can't anyone help?"

Sun played with his fingers. "The lead engineer might since he created us. But I'm not sure how you would talk to Mr. Remington. He's not here. He is at home, most likely sleeping."

Gregory hummed and slowly nodded. "Gotcha. Are there any engineers now?"

"I-I don't know," Sun admitted. "If there are, they aren't here. No one visits me after midnight. B-but it's okay, Gregory! You're a very nice boy, b-but I think it's going to be safe outside of the Mega Pizzaplex. I mean, you can stay here as long as you want! Hah! We can have lots of fun and do all sorts of stuff!" Sun laughed a little too loudly and wrung his hands.

Yep. Gregory was going to need to fix him. Aside from the place being dark, Sun had a point. Gregory wasn't an engineer. He didn't know how to work on bots. In fact, he wasn't certain that the cylinder there could even fix weird code and wasn't just for fixing the bots on the outside.

What he needed was a test subject. What better test subject for helping a "sick" animatronic than another animatronic who was acting weirdly and trying to kill him even though they shouldn't be trying to kill him? Perhaps… someone with an upgrade he could use if things went badly.

Gregory said, "I… think I should go with Freddy and look for a way out again. We're getting really close to escaping!"

"Oh, good! Freddy is really nice. I'm sure he's a good friend. He'll keep you safe!" Sun laughed again.

"…okay, bye!" With that, Gregory ran back to the double doors and tried to push one open. Sun skipped up behind him and opened the door himself. It didn't really feel heavy, but the quiet click that proceeded it probably meant he would not have opened it regardless of weight.

Freddy exclaimed, "Hello, Gregory!"

"Hey, Freddy!" Gregory announced and then waved to Sun again as the animatronic shut the door. He turned to Freddy. "Okay, we have the Party Pass and I talked to Sun. I like the idea of a Fazerblaster. And Fazer blast. Those are in the atrium, right?"

"Correct! Fazerblast is located on the west side of the atrium on the first floor to the left of the entrance to Roxy Raceway on the second floor," Freddy stated. "The Fazerblaster is located there."

Gregory buzzed in his place before forcing himself to calm down. Alright, focus. First stop: Fazerblast. Then they'd do something and get Chica. They'd help her and then she would be friendly. That would be because the Parts and Services cylinder would fix her and stop her being evil and thus would work on Sun and Moon. That is, if he could manage to convince Sun to do it.

The elevators whirred and elevator music sang dimly above them.

When the elevators stopped, both Freddy and Gregory decided to get out. They could hear Chica, but only faintly. Then, he heard another feminine voice. A closer feminine voice.

Gregory walked to the edge of the balcony and looked down.

Roxy wandered around the first floor of the atrium, though she mostly stayed under the overhang of the second floor, walking around shops and before the attractions.

Gregory snuck past her to get to Fazerblast.

"You are not better than me!" Roxy screamed.

Gregory bristled and ran. He started to head for the stairs but ran under them instead.

He weaved through pop-up food stands. At the end of the line, on the wall near the floor, was… well, it could have been a vent, but from here and with the lack of proper light, it was difficult to tell. He turned on his flashlight and ran it over the wall. Yes! A vent, just big enough for him!

Gregory looked through the shiny, square vent. A few cables snaked over it. At the end where a corner began were gently spinning metal blades. A grate made a barrier between the fan and the vent itself.

Roxy's footsteps thumped behind him.

With a reminder that he had been in smaller, darker places, Gregory dove into the vent. Roxy's nails screeched over the vent lining as she grabbed for his ankles.

Upon turning, he found more cables poking through the walls like stitches, crossing through the walls and attaching themselves to electrical boxes. Some cables snaked across the ground. The boy clenched his teeth as every movement echoed as his uneven weight distribution caused the bendable vent to squeak and thump. After a short incline, he found a hole in the vent's ceiling going straight up. Some lights glowed inside his vent, which was a blessing.

But every blessing had to be countered with a curse.

Gregory froze upon hearing metal clicking. Behind him, a little rusted metal creature dropped from the hole. Six metal legs held up its rounded body while its two arms held cymbals before it. It lifted its square head, white with pink makeup and a black top hat. It stared at Gregory with black circles for eyes. Its broken, thin rectangular teeth gnashed in its unmoving mouth.

Then, it charged.

Gregory bristled and turned a corner, his flashlight clanging against the vent as he hurried forward. The vent opened into a small circular room of sorts with a grate for the floor. He could stand on two feet and run for a few steps before diving inside the other end. Its "feet" clicked behind and cymbals clanged as it gained on him.

The vent went down.

Gregory threw himself down. Except, his palms slipped. Instead of crawling, he slid. He crashed into the wall with each turn but didn't slow. The little rusted creature's scratchy music faded out of existence. After what felt like decades, his battered body slid out into a small room.

He landed on the grated floor with a huff as the fall knocked the wind out of him.

Gregory groaned and pulled himself to his feet. He held his arms above himself in a testing stretch. Nope, no broken bones. He looked around at his surroundings, finding two red tanks and then a doorway that led into another small room with equipment and cartoon posters above what looked to be a bar. Phrases such as "100% OF FATAL ACCIDENT INVOLVE HUMANS" on a poster with a S.T.A.F.F. bot, a picture of Monty's mouth twisted in a smile cut off at the top of the muzzle said, "NEVER STOP SMILING" and then a poster of Chica holding a pizza cutter with one hand as the other had been sliced off was accompanied by "KNIFE SAFETY."

Disinterested in everything going on in the empty breakroom and the open bathroom attached, he walked past a bunch of lockers and through a room straight out of a Sci-Fi movie. Monitors and machines along with a spaghetti plate of cables and wires and all sorts of wall machines cluttered the space so heavily Gregory had to watch his feet to keep from stepping on something. Yet there were two rolling chairs? Were they put there before or after a box of wires exploded all over the floor? He discovered an unopened can of Orange Fizzy Faz with Freddy on it. Gregory snatched it and drank the entire contents of the can.

Outside of the room, a grid of catwalks ringed giant metal vats he could imagine someone had fallen into before above. As he drank his soda, he checked the cameras on his watch. Chica roamed the catwalks. The catwalks themselves were high up and due to the darkness, Gregory couldn't see the area below.

Gregory decided to scoot around to the door on the opposite side of the room. He set the empty can back down where he found it–not his fault he couldn't see a trash can–and carefully moved through the sliding metal door. Chica wove around the vats. But if he was careful, he could just slip by her. She didn't seem to be using the leftmost catwalk, though she did seem to gravitate toward the door he needed to go through. Chica was just really good at getting exactly in his way, wasn't she?

The grates pressed on his feet so that parts of his feet went through the holes just enough to bring discomfort. He stopped beside each vat, checking the cameras on his watch semi constantly to be sure he did not intercept her. At one point she made a sudden turn and he had to walk across to another row of the catwalks to avoid her. That just meant he was closer to the door and her back was turned to him!

Victorious, he slunk through a metal door on a yellow wall with a suitcase symbol beside it. A normal desk room nestled behind the door with computers and chairs on connected tables. Litter and objects made the space cozy. Unfortunately, Gregory did not have long to look at his surroundings as the door squeaked close behind him. He heard an exclamation of some sort in probably chicken language behind him and heavy footsteps clanged against the catwalk.

Gregory bolted out the other door and through a set of catwalks above a giant kitchen. Chica opened the door to the desk room just as Gregory slammed through another. Three more doors were presented to him: one on each side and one down the hall a little. To his left stood a security door. He ran through that one. It slammed shut behind him and magnetically locked. The power meter beside it glowed. The footsteps stopped, but Chica's banging on the door began.

Gregory backed away further into the small security office, most of it taken up by maroon cabinets and a giant computer monitor system on the opposite wall. Most of the monitors were blue save for the giant one showing the kitchen below, but one had a picture of Helpy in a chef hat tossing a pizza. The second security door stood blocked by a tower of boxes.

On the table sat a Freddy head with a security hat. Yes! Gregory pressed its nose and the head opened painfully slowly until the card was completely revealed. Gregory snatched it. The card reader snapped shut.

Gregory raised his Fazwatch. "Freddy, are you there? I'm trapped! Chica found me and there's only one security door!"

"How unfortunate," said Freddy, his voice dragging a little. His voice perked back up, "But I have good news: it looks like you can access the Fazbear online pizza delivery system through that console!"

Gregory recoiled. "What? How is that supposed to help?

"Chica loves pizza!" Freddy answered cheerfully.

Gregory pressed the button in front of the monitor.

Immediately, the computer greeted him. "Welcome to Freddy Fazbear's Mega Pizzaplex Quick Delivery Virtual ordering system." Say that ten times fast. "It seems you have qualified to upgrade to a supreme. Additional charges may apply."

The screen showed a camera feed. The screen, now flanked by blue grids with an objective marker at the top left, turned on as well. Though darkness enveloped the kitchen, the bot's vision was much lighter, almost as if the deep shadows didn't exist for it. The HUD of the S.T.A.F.F. bot took up quite a bit of space, but he could still see through it. A flat circle of dough sat at the bottom of the screen as the bot held it. "You are now in control of one of our highly qualified pizza-making S.T.A.F.F. bots. Follow the instructions on the left side of your screen to force the bot to make your perfect mouth-watering pizza."

The S.T.A.F.F. bot stated, "Let's start with the sauce."

Gregory controlled the bot around the kitchen looking for the sauce machine. He stole a quick glance at the security door. The battery life drained way too fast for his liking. Technically, any draining was too much for his liking, but this fast?!

He found the sauce machine and selected it. It took a few seconds of the machine automatically spraying sauce over the pizza before the S.T.A.F.F. bot picked it back up.

"It is now time for some cheese. Yum."

Commanding himself not to follow the urge to yell at the bot to go faster, he obeyed the directions and looked for cheese. That machine wasn't too far away, thankfully.

Chica called from the door, "Don't worry, you're safe with me."

Like heck I am!

The computer bot suddenly chipped in, "Would you like to take a short survey about your experience?

Another few seconds were spent dispensing shredded cheese on the pizza before the bot picked it up again.

"Let's get some delicious meat."

"Let me take you to your parents," Chica offered.

Gregory turned the bot around and searched the metal maze of tables and kitchenware until he found a machine labeled "MEAT" which the S.T.A.F.F. bot used as it put down the pizza. Another few seconds passed as what looked like pepperoni sprinkled over the pizza.

"Now it is time for the 'not meat' stuff."

"Your family is looking for you."

Gregory sent another nervous glance at the steadily draining door power but kept most of his attention–and then all of it once the bot picked up the pizza–on the screen. The "NOT MEAT" machine stood further in.

"Gregory…" Chica called. Gregory's eyebrows furrowed. How did she know his name…?

What looked like spam rained down on the pizza. The bot picked it up. "Time to bake. An oven would be ideal."

The boy pushed the bot onward in search of the oven and stopped upon finding it. The oven slowly opened, accepted the pizza, and then slowly shut. The button didn't take long to press, but that was probably because the oven took its time to cook. Strangely, when the pizza came out, it came out already wrapped in a pizza box with a smiling Freddy face on it.

The computer congratulated, "Delicious! To ensure a safe and timely delivery, our cutting-edge Pizza Tracker allows you to deliver the pizza to your own home or residence. Additional mileage charges may apply."

The banging stopped.

Gregory looked up at the battery that stopped draining and then the screen. The S.T.A.F.F. bot turned on its own. Chica now stood beside it. She grabbed the bot, cried "Pizza!" and lunged at the bot's camera, which immediately went to static.

The computer bot went on cheerfully, "Your pizza has been delivered. How would you rate your service? Pick two that apply."

Gregory, ignoring the computer now that it served its use, spotted a flashlight charger on the opposite wall. He stuck his dying flashlight in it.

So, he could lure her by making a pizza. The console near the kitchen could make pizzas. Considering it was already connected to the internet to access said feature, he could probably bake cupcakes from here, too! Luring Chica will be a snap! Though, then came the question of what he would do to her once she was lured.

When Gregory left the room, Chica was nowhere to be found. He backtracked until he stood on the catwalks above the kitchen.

Although the kitchen was mostly what he would expect–counters, grills, utensils–the side of the room was dominated by a giant garbage compacter. A garbage compactor… big enough for a giant chicken, perhaps? She was a robot; she'd survive being crushed.

In the corner near a set of double doors by the oven the S.T.A.F.F. bot used knelt Chica. She ripped apart the pizza and shoved it in her peak, consuming bits of carboard and S.T.A.F.F. bot in her haste. Gregory hummed and then turned back. So, she was there. He probably did not want to mess with her.

He remembered, faintly, Freddy telling him of an exit in the Loading Docks. But… well, he had more important things to do. When he went down the hall, he found himself in a long, but not very wide, room. A hall back into the kitchen flanked the stairs. Across from that sat a set of double doors.

After some time of checking into rooms and wandering hallways in dark and cluttered cement places, he finally found a giant metal elevator with sideways doors that opened like huge teeth from a gaping maw.

Gregory stepped inside and called the elevator up.