Chapter Fifteen

Let's Rock!

Well, it was past six AM, so the lights weren't about to go out every hour.

With Chica and Roxy snatched from Vanny's grasp, they just needed to get Monty. After that… well… either it was confront Vanny or drag Sun down here to get disconnected from the main network and put into Safe Mode. After their last encounter, however, going to the Daycare was the last thing he wanted to do.

Gregory walked.

The elevators whirred and elevator music sang dimly above them.

Upon stepping out of the elevator, Gregory found his path through the balcony needed a few tweaks.

Gregory stepped closer to Freddy and looked up and down the path. A handful of S.T.A.F.F. bots now patrolled the floor. He scurried to the stairs, head down and shoulders up so he hid in his hoodie and hat and looked out into the atrium. He couldn't see Roxy or Chica. He did see another half dozen S.T.A.F.F. bots rolling around the atrium.

He found a path around the main floor rather quickly, though he had to stop or dodge the occasional S.T.A.F.F. bot.

He another pair of shutters on the wall to the far east facing the back of a jungle-esc giant platform-slash-board. "Come Back SOON!" scrawled in gold lettering on a white panel.

A whole different world lay beyond the shutters.

A green carpet with Monty's symbol covered the floor, though a river of darker carpet separated by a silver line wound through the left. A huge golf ball with golf balls cut in half surrounding it stood front and center. A giant fake planter with dark green shrubbery popped up to the left. More fake plants–mostly trees but some bushes–overshadowed the ground and elevator. A set of stairs went up on the right of the elevator but didn't go anywhere Gregory needed and thus did not get his attention.

He strode up to the elevator, where a white S.T.A.F.F. bot with purple accents held a dark sign with electronic orange Helpy head and some writing on it. When Gregory got close, it held up its hand to stop him. Gregory presented the golden party pass, which the bot immediately took. It popped some confetti in the air, did a small dance, and then went to ignoring him.

Gregory walked past it to the elevator. He considered bringing Freddy, but as Gregory might need to take down Monty, he didn't want to risk an interruption that could lead to Freddy getting hurt or Gregory missing his chance.

Monty's gruff voice exclaimed, "Welcome to Monty's Gator Golf–home of the Hurricane Hole in One! We are currently closed for the night. Come back soon!"

Well, stop me. Gregory looked around at a couple of posters and leafy vines drooping from the ceiling. They really liked their fake plants, didn't they?

Freddy chimed in, "Look for the Security Office in the back hallway. Since there is no flash photography allowed in Monty Golf, Faz Cams are often confiscated here. Mainly because they are only sold in Monty Golf. It is a very clever marketing plan."

A long eventually later, the elevators opened.

Gregory blinked, hesitating for half a second before leaving. The black carpeted balcony before him, ringed with a green guard rail, announced the minigolf course's name. A few baby strollers and what looked like an ice cream cart settled there. Beyond the balcony, a whole swamp-themed mini-golf course stretched out with hanging plants attached to the catwalks and cross beams over the entire place.

He ran up to the guard rails and looked out over the room. Mini golf courses were set up throughout the place. Green paths with guard rails wound like snakes through the overcrowded room. A house sitting above a round ball pit stood at the center-left. A couple of security S.T.A.F.F. bots wandered in long circuits on either side of the golf course, but Gregory could probably avoid them. Though another ran on a shorter circuit near the snacks and bathroom building. A stage was set up at the end and above that, through leaves and vines Gregory could hardly see, was a giant bucket and a "Hurricane HOLE-In-ONE" sign above it with Monty's symbol. A real moat with fake alligators popping out and growling rung the place.

Holy crap! If Gregory wasn't running for his life, this would be awesome!

Gregory searched the area but couldn't rightly find a shop or door through all the noise.

So, he walked down the left set of stairs and walked the path. He had to hide to avoid the S.T.A.F.F. bot on this side of the course, but he was able to move once the security bot passed him. Gregory perked up upon seeing glowing letters advertising "MONTY GATOR GRUB" snuggled into the wall. However, before he could run, he heard a new growl, almost completely hidden behind the fake ones of the fake alligators and the banjo music playing.

Gregory crouched and looked around. Monty stalked the walkways, red-gold eyes mostly hidden behind purple star glasses sweeping the place. Gregory needed a security badge, which was most likely going to trip an alarm. Of all people to alarm, it was the alligator that could cross the atrium in one leap and was immune to his Fazerblaster? Really?

Gregory waited until Monty's back faced him before creeping up on the closed store and quietly pushing himself through the first door he found–red with a lightning bolt and a 0 at the top right.

A duffle bag sat on the counter. He ruffled through the mostly empty bag and picked up a square electric device, like some sort of primitive tablet.

"WARNING: No flash photography. Items will be confiscated and kept in the Monty Golf security office."

Huh. That's… interesting. He could use that.

Gregory walked behind the wall and found, amongst other things, a flashlight recharge station.

One door led back outside. The door on the wall adjacent led into an unlit hallway with a badge in a circle at the very end and an arrow pointing to the right, the only other place Gregory could go.

"The security office is nearby. You might want to look around the office and see if there is a way to stop Monty from hunting you."

Gregory turned a corner. At the very end of the hall was another door. Before that, a few doors broke through either side of the hallway.

While the right door with a blue lightning bolt and a "5". The unmarked twin doors on the left had no lock.

Checkerboard tile and plain walls met him. A metal, magnetic security door stood on his right with a mesh-covered window beside it. He could see lights through the window of the security office. Ignoring the scant clutter, Gregory walked inside to a slightly more cluttered office with a door opposite him.

The light went out.

…

The light came back on, as well as a screaming alarm.

"Gregory!" Freddy yelled. "They know you are here. Get the security upgrade and get out!"

Another bag with another bit of data was to his left, a ticket on the shelf behind him, and an older style flash camera decorated in Freddy's likeness sat on the chair for him to take. Gregory pressed the button on the Freddy security badge holder's nose. As it slowly opened, he scanned in the bit of data and took the camera.

"What is it? It looks… old," Gregory commented. He grabbed the security badge once it was presented to him. He winced as the alarms immediately grew louder.

"That is a Faz Cam. If you are in trouble, use the camera flash to stun the other animatronics. Keep in mind that it will not work on Monty due to his sunglasses."

Well, great.

Gregory snatched the ticket. Blue with rainbow stripes at the bottom and one of the characters in yellow at the side, it looked reminiscent of the Daycare pass. However, this one said "MAZErcise" in colorful words and "Ticket" in white ones below it on the black bottom strip.

Freddy exclaimed, "You found the MAZErcise ticket! Now you can enter MAZErcise."

Gregory checked his cameras. Was… no one here…?

No, wait. Monty stalked through the halls. "Come on out!" the alligator called.

Gregory stayed in his room.

Monty hesitated between the doors and looked between them. "Don't be scared!"

The boy scoffed. He wasn't scared. Why would he be scared?

Monty turned to the left one and walked through. He peered through the window and laughed; his lavender eyes trained on Gregory. He looked away only to start pounding and clawing at the door. The battery attached to the door dwindled.

Gregory snuck back through the other door as quietly as he could. Once he was out in the hall, he made a break for the level five red door and darted through the winding trail. Now that he had a level eight badge, he could go pretty much anywhere, right?

He heard a roar behind him but dare not look back. The thump of heavy feet against the ground told him everything he needed to know.

The thumping stopped.

Gregory squealed as the alligator landed so close beside him that the boy could've touched him.

"Rock and Roll!" the gator laughed and regained his balance.

Thankfully, Gregory had already run to the stairs leading out by that point.

He was pursued, but the boy made it to the elevator and slammed shut the door just in time.

Gregory sighed and leaned against the wall as the elevator moved.

Finally, the elevator stopped and let him out.

Gregory passed through the entrance to the minigolf course and through the atrium to climb the first set of stairs.

He stood by the glass-filled, metal safety railing and looked out over the atrium. On the third floor, he could just barely make out Bonnie's Bowling neon lights. He checked his map. Unlabeled, of course. He did remember seeing MAZErcise on the third floor, right next to El Chip's and the opposite of Bonnie's Bowling. After all, a bowling lane would probably take up a lot of room and maybe they wanted the fitness center to be farther away?

Gregory found the first set of stairs away from Roxy. Indeed, with Bonnie Bowling behind him, MAZErcise nestled opposite on the right side of "El Chip's". He could see another handful of S.T.A.F.F. bots roaming around here but no Monty or Officer Vanessa so he moved as quickly as he could.

Passing up ATMs, a Freddy trash can, giant squishy cubes that reminded him of the Daycare, and multiple planters of lush, fake plants, he finally got to a large wall filled with large, square glass windows. A red metal door with another ticket-collecting bot stood before it. The bot held out its "hand." Once Gregory gave it his MAZErcise ticket, it popped some confetti in the air, moved its arms like a dance, and then promptly ignored him.

A red and black checkerboard floor interrupted by giant squares of lavender carpet met him. Tables and chairs popped up near the fringed with benches on one of the wide swaths of carpet. A long glass wall took up space on the opposite wall.

Chica's voice chimed in, "Welcome to MAZERcise! Work off the calories while you eat. Sign up for a membership pass today! Super cool perks include discounts on pizza, nachos, fries, and cookies! Now that's the smell of fitness!"

Something told him that was not, in fact, the smell of fitness.

Then again, Chica ate a whole bunch and was still able to run him down and search for him. So maybe she had a point?

He walked in, searching the place for any way to get backstage. A snack bar sat to the left wall, its sign glowing. A door settled into the wall on the left side of the glass. He pushed through it. The backroom, plain save for a wet floor sign bot, a laundry box, and a small room sharing the wall with the main room, stretched out before him. Another door at the far end presumably led back, while two doors opposite led into some sort of colorful place. He peeked his head inside, finding walls making thin hallways that led to nothingness.

Oh no.

He had to do the maze, didn't he?

Ugh, he hated mazes!

Freddy's voice chimed in, "So, there is a vent in this maze that leads to the Monty Golf Course catwalks. I believe there is a control panel for the maze around here somewhere."

Gregory walked back out and looked at the small room within the room.

He walked through the single door into the thin room made thinner by machinery. One wall had two rows of five buttons with a lever on its right side and a small screen showing the maze beside that. On the left were two sets of large arrows–on the top pointing to the right and the second–glowing–pointing up, one on the bottom pointing to the left with the second–glowing–pointing down. On the ground was another duffle bag, though this one was just a guy complaining about the maze's difficulty and something about the Daycare Theater.

Gregory looked over the buttons. "These buttons change the maze. I wonder what the right combination is?"

And oh boy did Gregory wonder. He pressed buttons and looked at the screen and heard the labyrinth change. But nothing he did was working! He saw the vent. He could see the entirety of the maze on his Fazwatch through three cameras. Was he just dumb or was this super hard?

Freddy chimed in, "According to that message, one of the S.T.A.F.F. bots brought a key to the Superstar Daycare Theater. Perhaps there is a hint as to how to complete the maze there?"

And why on Earth would something concerning the MAZERcise maze be on the exact opposite side of the mall? There was absolutely no way that the Daycare Theater could be any farther from MAZERcise! No wonder all the human security people got fired. They were idiots.

Gregory decided to bash his head against the maze.

After eons of pressing buttons and checking cameras, and multiple times he thought he completed the maze but ended up in a dead-end, and at one point seriously considering crossing the Mega Pizzaplex for a hint, he found it. The vent was open, and a clear path presented itself to him. Weak with relief, he backed away from the panel.

The boy couldn't help a victorious laugh as he darted away from the cursed control set and through the maze to the vent.

As Gregory crawled through the vent, the distant sound of banjo music and the growling of fake alligators began to overpower the found of his hands and knees on the vent lining.

Gregory pushed himself out of the vent and to his feet and looked over the catwalks. Currently, he stood on a rather small balcony with a grate for a floor and two rounded safety railing grates. A ball turret sat on the right and a big cartoonish alligator car hung from the ceiling before him. Some distance away on his left were two cut-outs of Monty's head with a glowing violet circle in each one's mouth. Gregory glanced at the turret, moved it into position, and fired. The both of them made a clanging noise as they were hit.

The gates opened and the gator carts moved.

Ignoring the gator carts, he jumped down onto the sidewalk.

A loud, long, monstrous roar nearby caused him to bristle and look up.

Monty hung off the side of one of the gator carts. He swung and used the momentum to throw him onto the catwalk just a few feet away. He looked at the ball turret at his side and smashed it. Then, he turned his gaze on the boy. He tipped his glasses forward so his lavender eyes met Gregory's. "Rock and roll." He stood up straight, glasses back in place.

Gregory bolted.

Okay, so, maybe Monty landing about two yards away from him and destroying a turret wasn't in his plan, but he could improvise!

…what had been his plan?

Well, no time to think about it, now. Just fill up the splash bucket.

He took a few turns and looked back to see Monty patrolling the catwalks, head whipping from side to side as he searched.

Gregory grabbed one of the ball turrets and raised it. A white number 10 showed on the panel. When he pressed a button, launching a ball, the number turned to 9. The ball soared up and hit the large, rounded catcher wall behind the bucket, which let out a loud ding! Thankfully, most of it seemed to already be filled up. He didn't know how many more he'd need, but he emptied the turret and ran off to find another.

Monty, frustrated, hopped up onto one of the carts. He jumped off, landing three inches from Gregory's face. The time it took for him to regain his balance and stand up gave Gregory the time to run off and weave through the corners the alligator struggled to take. The darkness and hanging vines made it difficult for both human and animatronic to see each other. Gregory didn't need to hide from Monty as he already knew the boy was there, so Gregory used his flashlight.

Gregory caught hold of another turret farther away and at a much more awkward angle. A few of the shots dinged, but others did not as he missed. He couldn't go through all ten balls before the catwalk started to shake beneath him and he was forced to run.

Gregory went through who-knows-how-many turrets before the bucket sang and flashed. With a short cackle, he darted to the catwalks just below the splash bucket. A hanging button glowed on the railing of the catwalk.

Gregory caught sight of Monty some ways away. The alligator leaped up and grabbed a hold of one of the pudgy gator carts. Gregory pressed the Freddy-head-shaped button, activating the giant Hole-in-One-Hurricane bucket. The giant bucket tipped forward and broke the railing on the catwalk nearby. Plastic balls spilled out over the catwalk and rained down on the golf course below.

Monty cackled as he neared and swung on the gator cart. Gregory darted forward as Monty leaped off onto the catwalk. The metal grate shivered beneath Gregory as the alligator landed straight behind him. Before the alligator could face Gregory, the boy launched himself onto the animatronic's back.

Monty roared as Gregory slapped his hands over the alligator's eyes and hooked his legs under his arms. "Hey!"

Gregory snapped back, "Monty, listen to me!"

Monty shook his head violently, but the boy held on. The alligator managed to snag his claws into the nape of Gregory's hoodie. Gregory shut his eyes tight and held on with every fiber of his being, hooking one ankle over another before the alligator's chest and fingernails catching on the edges of his faceplate.

"Gerroff!" Monty roared and decided to move. As he tried pulling Gregory off, the boy yanked his head to the side, forcing him to stumble in a new direction… straight off the broken piece of the catwalk.

Gregory gasped. "Wait! Monty, stop!" He let go of the animatronic's face just in time for his glittering umber eyes to stare straight over the broken railing and to the golf course far below. The boy let go and tried to push himself off so he could get back onto the catwalk, but the alligator's claws were stuck in the back of his hoodie and pulled him down.

The two plunged, screaming, off the edge of the catwalk.

Monty's other hand grabbed a metal beam holding up decorations above the golf course.

Gregory huffed as he stopped falling. He stared down at the ground far below as he dangled helplessly in Monty's grasp. He squeaked as he was yanked up so he was eye level with Monty, who was also upside down with one hand gripping a metal beam and his tail caught in another. "Little guy," he growled, the harsh lights close to them gleaming off his teeth. "You're in trouble, now."

Monty pulled him up another few inches so he was above Monty and so the alligator could see him past his snout. But, as the action was swift and sharp and it threw off his balance, the bar he held onto creaked and bowed. He looked back at the metal beam. "Huh?"

The beam snapped.

Gregory grabbed one of the faux vines. With Monty still holding onto him, that snapped, too. But, as Monty twisted in the air enough to not fall face first, he hit the stage lights chest-first and rolled over so he landed on his shoulders, snapping his head back as he collided with the ground.

Then the alligator's claws tore themselves out of Gregory's hoodie.

The boy swung away from the scene as the decoration tried pulling itself down to a resting position. He let go and landed in the ball pit surrounding the house in the center of the golf course. Gregory popped out of the ball pit, shook himself, and then climbed out and ran toward the stage. Montgomery Gator lay on the stage, his head cocked and jaw slack. His eyes stared ahead, unseeing. A terrible break ripped through his chest plate. Concerned, the boy nudged him with his foot.

…

Gregory knelt and got as close as he dared. The whirring of electronics still buzzed within the animatronic, albeit faintly and scarcely. Gregory got up and stepped back. Okay, so, Monty was knocked out. The joint in his left elbow bent backward and his right forearm lay a few feet away. His spine near his hips bent at a weird degree and half of his tail was gone, the tip barely hanging on by a sliver of metal.

After a moment of thought, he pulled up his Fazwatch. "Hello? Freddy?"

"Gregory! Are you okay?"

"Yeah, but… uh… well, Monty's kinda hurt."

"What happened?!"

"He, uh, he fell from the catwalks." Technically true, right? "I should get him to Parts and Service. But I can't carry him. Can you help me?"

"Yes! I am on my way. Stay there, Gregory."