Chapter 3 - The Daycare (Part One)

The rain poured heavily outside, Jack and his mother were in her workshop on the second floor of the house, working on an art piece together, she was still teaching him the basics of painting. Jack gently applied a brush stroke into the canvas, "Am I doing it right?" Jack asked his mother, the woman nodded in affirmation, but he still felt insecure about it. "Really?... I don't know... It doesn't look perfect enough." he said showing a bit of frustration with his work. His mother gently chuckled "Oh sweetie... Don't worry, it looks great. Art isn't about perfection, but the feeling you transmit with it." She reassured him. Jack sighed, feeling a bit more comfortable by his mother's words. But when Jack was about to apply another brush stroke, a loud bang was heard from downstairs, likely coming from the entrance door violently opening and closing, his dad had arrived. The mother's soft expression changed to a concerned one, which didn't go unnoticed by Jack. "Mom? Is everything ok?" He asked. The woman forced a smile, "Stay here and keep painting ok? I... I'll handle this." She kissed Jack's forehead, got up from the chair on his side, and exited the workshop, looking at him one last time before sighing and going downstairs, leaving Jack alone.

End of flashback.


"Uhh... Why are we in a gift shop?" Jack asked Roxy after they went to a nearby gift shop. "Well... We have a long 6 hours ahead, so we should get some useful stuff, don't ya think?" The animatronic answered. "Isn't that... stealing?", Roxy chuckled, "Nah, I live here kid, so it's okay." Her answer didn't make much sense to Jack, but he decided to go along with it, to survive Vanny and the other two murderous animatronics he surely would need more than just a flashlight and a screwdriver. "Alright kiddo, stay here while I get a very important item for us okay?" She said, putting extra intonation into the word "very". Roxy walked away, leaving Jack in the middle of the gift shop.

The boy walked around the gift shop in search of any useful items, but all he could find were useless merchandise such as t-shirts, plushies, and other toys, all themed after the Pizzaplex characters until he found the Backpack section of the shop. 'Huh, a backpack would definitely be useful.' He thought to himself as he stared at the backpacks displayed in front of him, each one is themed after a specific animatronic. "Like what you see?" A voice suddenly asked from behind him, the boy nearly jumped and looked behind, relaxing at the sight of Roxanne. "Jeez, no need to be such a scaredy cat." She said, "My life is at risk here, I need to stay alert at all times!" Argued Jack, causing Roxy to laugh a little, "Yeah, yeah, I guess you're right." She stepped closer, "Anyways, you liked the backpacks huh?" She said while pointing to the backpacks on display in front of him, "Oh, yeah, I think one could be useful." Roxy grabbed a Roxanne Wolf themed backpack and handed it to Jack, "Here, it's yours kid." Jack put on his new backpack, "Thank you". "Also, here, take this." Roxy said while she handed the boy a strange type of watch, which Jack didn't recognize, "What is this?" He asked while taking the watch off Roxy's hand, "It's a FazWatch™, it is still a prototype but it should keep us in contact in case we separate from each other, you can call me on it anytime." She explained, "Woah" Jack placed it on his wrist and turned it on. "I know, I know, It sucks that they made it after Freddy's design and not mine, but whatever, it is still useful." Roxy said, visibly frustrated with the design choice, "Uhum" Jack muttered, not paying attention to her or his surroundings as he was concentrating on navigating through the watch. And oh boy, that little thing sure was useful, not only could he message Roxy, he could also see which doors were locked, he could access the maps of certain areas of the Pizzaplex and he could also access the security cameras. "Alright, now we are ready to go." Roxy said while taking one of Jack's hands, exiting the gift shop.


As the duo walked through the Pizzaplex, Jack carefully avoided the patrolling STAFF bots, while Roxy simply pushed them aside. Along the way, Jack sometimes stared at Roxy, without her noticing, of course, he was absolutely impressed by how human she sounded, not only because of her consciousness but because of the strange human-like traits she had. Roxy seemed to have some sort of ego, which made the boy wonder... Why would anyone program that into a robot? Or... It could also not be intended at all, but the thought of an animatronic naturally developing something like that seemed insane to Jack. The whole Pizzplex was pure insanity to him, or maybe he was the one going insane, he couldn't tell it anymore.

Meanwhile, Roxy had her mind deep thinking of her now corrupted friends, she was aware that they all had their own little problems, a consequence of having a conscious mind, but whatever is controlling her friends seemed to have somehow amplified those problems. And what about Freddy? He is supposed to be in lockdown, so he shouldn't be a problem... Right? She also wondered why she was not affected. "Where are we going exactly?" Asked Jack, snapping her out of her thoughts. "We are going to a safe place, where I can leave you while I search for your friend." "So you are going to leave me alone?" He asked a bit worried, "Nope, there is someone there who will take care of ya." Jack's expression enlightened, "Really? An actual person?" "Uhhhhh, no... He is an animatronic called Sundrop." Jack's expression fell again, "But... What if he is also trying to kill me?", "Sun? Trying to kill you? Pfft- The dude would never harm a damn fly, besides, he is always in Safe Mode since he deals with much younger children." Jack sighed, "I hope you're right."


They had finally reached the Daycare entrance, "Huh? Daycare? Isn't this for babies?" Questioned Jack, "Aren't you a baby?" Roxy asked sarcastically, Jack raised a brow "Roxy... I'm like 11, do you even know what a baby is?" Roxy shuffled his hair, "Oh come on, I'm just messing with ya." She said playfully, "Also, you are only 11?" Jack nodded, "Yes... why?" He asked, "Huh, despite you being short, I thought you were older." Roxy sure was surprised, the boy seemed to be very mature for his age, in a concerning way, he lacked that childish nature she would always see in other children. The giant door opened, the bright lights from the daycare blinded Jack for a moment, he blocked his vision with one of his hands, 'God, I hate these damn lights!' He slowly opened his eyes, adjusting to the bright lights, the daycare theme song played softly through the area, the room had two monitors depicting two specific characters, one was called "Sundrop and the other "Moondrop", Jack stared at the giant statue of the characters in the center of the room, the Pizzaplex sure liked to make things as big as possible. The duo entered the room, Jack making sure to stay a bit behind Roxy, as they walked inside, Jack noticed that the entrance to the daycare was a sort of colorful slide tube, judging by the sign right above it that said 'SLIDE INTO FUN!'

"Go ahead, slide it, I'll use the other entrance." Said Roxy, while pointing at the slide. "Oh... Okay." Jack walked to the slide, a bit hesitant about sliding down into the unknown, he took a few deep breaths and finally slid it down. As Jack slid down, he briefly forgot about his current situation, both in and outside of the Pizzaplex, he felt joy, he felt like an actual kid, but only for a brief moment. Jack was instantly reminded of his reality as he fell into a ball pit, he looked around the daycare, the place was filled with playground structures and decorations of the Glamrocks. Jack was making his way out of the ball pit when suddenly, a voice came from up above, instantly getting Jack's attention, "Hooo hooo hooo!" said that same Sun animatronic Jack had seen earlier in the posters, the animatronic dived into the ball pit, disappearing between the colorful plastic balls.

Jack instantly tensed up in fear, that thing was somewhere in the ball pit with him and he couldn't see it. Carefully, Jack slowly headed towards the exit of the ball pit, but right before he could leave it, he felt a pair of hands grab him, pulling him out of the ball pit. "Helloooo! New friend! You're sure up late! Are we having a slumber party? Where are all of your friends?" The animatronic said erratically, making the boy shout with the surprise attack, "Hey! Stay away from me!" Yelled the boy, Jack instinctively tried to kick the jester animatronic in the face, but his attempt at freeing himself was unsuccessful due to his short legs. "Easy there bud! No need to be scared!" Sundrop said while placing Jack on the ground again. "Hey Sundrop!" yelled Roxy from the other side of the daycare, Jack instantly ran towards her and hid behind the animatronic, "Roxy! It's been so long since I've seen you! How have you been?" The sun animatronic asked in the same erratic tone, but before Roxy could say anything, he asked another question, "What's up with the little one?" He said while pointing at Jack hiding behind her, the boy only stared at him with wide-open eyes, "He's just a bit shy, his name's Jack." She answered, Sundrop knelt at Jack's eye level, "Helloooo there sunshine! My name's Sun, nice to meet ya!" "Hello..." The boy quietly answered. Sun redirected his attention to Roxy again, "But... What are you two doing here? The kid should be sleeping!" Roxy placed a hand behind her neck, "Yeah... I have a lot to explain to you..."


Roxy spent the next 5 minutes explaining to Sun the whole situation about Jack and Sarah, Vanny, and the corrupted animatronics, Jack stayed quiet during the whole conversation, he was still a bit suspicious of Sundrop, "Oh my..." Sun placed a hand on his constantly smiling mouth, "That's terrible! The little one must be terrified! Is there anything I could do to help?"

"Yeah..." Said Roxy "I want you to take care of Jack while I go look for his friend, can you do that?" "Of course!" Sun jumped enthusiastically, "I'm sure we are going to have lots of fun together, aren't we Jack?" The boy only glared at the animatronic suspiciously, "Roxy... Can we talk... alone?" Asked Jack, Roxy looked at Sundrop for a moment, Sun nodded, "Sure" she answered. Jack led Roxy to a more distant area of the Daycare, to make sure Sun wouldn't hear their conversation, "Roxy, I don't think this is a good idea... There's something off about Sun..." Sun didn't seem like a threat to Jack anymore, but it was hard to trust such a chaotic animatronic, especially when everything in that damn place was after him, "Yeah I know kid, Sun can be a bit weird but trust me, you'll be safe with him. And if he annoys you too much..." Roxy leaned closer to Jack, "Are you seeing those boxes over there?" She said while pointing to a pile of colorful boxes, "If Sun gets too annoying, just knock those over, It messes with his programming, It's hilarious!" Roxy chuckled at the thought of Sun getting all pissed off because of a pile of boxes, Jack kept his serious and worried expression, "I really don't like it here... These bright lights really hurt my eyes, they are seriously driving me insane!" Roxy raised a brow and looked around for a moment before facing the boy again, "You are really sensitive to lights aren't ya?" Jack nodded, "Don't worry kiddo, you can always call me on your Fazwatch and I'll come to help you as fast as possible." She said while tapping the Fazwatch on his wrist, "Are you sure you'll find Sarah?" Jack asked changing the subject, "Of course I will! I'm the best there is, finding your friend will be as easy as winning a race!" She said proudly, Jack just sighed, "Alright kid, I need to go, I'll be back soon." "Okay, bye." Jack watched as Roxy left the daycare through a set of two big wooden doors, now it was just him and Sundrop. Jack still felt suspicious of Sundrop, something about the jester felt odd, but again, he couldn't trust his instincts anymore, most of the time they were just anxious thoughts created by his mind. Jack breathed in and out slowly and made his way back to Sun, who was patiently waiting for him.

"Hey there Sunshine!" Sun said in a much less erratic tone, It didn't take long for him to realize that the boy was easily annoyed by loud noises, he had dealt with children like that before. "Hey Sun, I guess it's just the two of us now huh?" the boy said, trying to break the awkwardness between the two, "That's right, but we can do all sorts of fun things together Sunshine! We can finger paint, tell stories, do drawings-", "Drawing sounds good to me." Said Jack, "Oh great! We can do that! Please, sit on that red pillow and wait while I get some paper and pencils!" Sundrop said enthusiastically while pointing to a red pillow next to Jack, the boy nodded and did as Sundrop said. "I'll be right back!" The Sun animatronic turned and jumped his way to a nearby storage room in search of the proper items.

"I'm back, Sunshine!" Sundrop made his way back to Jack, he sat on the floor facing the boy. The animatronic placed several pieces of paper and pencils in front of him, "How about this: We both make drawings in secret and show them to each other at the end!" Jack nodded, "Alright." The boy picked up a piece of paper and a pencil, Jack stared at the white paper intensely, truth be told, he wasn't in the best mood to draw anything amazing and inspiring, he also didn't have any interesting references around him so he just decided to draw the first thing that came to his mind. After a few minutes of drawing, both of them were ready to show their drawings, "Alright, who goes first?" Asked Sun, "Hmmm, you can go first." Answered Jack, "As you wish Sunshine!" Sun turned his drawing to the boy, Jack stared at what seemed to be a very childish drawing of Saturn, surrounded by countless stars. "I drew my favorite planet, Saturn! Did you like it?" Jack smiled, "'Yeah, It's great! You did a great job." Even though the drawing was similar to what a 2-year-old would draw, Jack still liked it, "Aww, thank you!" Sun got a bit closer to Jack, "Now show me yours! I can't wait to see it!" Jack looked down at his drawing with uncertainty, "Uh, It's nothing great, It's just a little sketch..." Jack hesitantly turned his drawing, showing it to Sun.

The drawing was an exceptionally well-made portrait of Roxanne Wolf, fully shaded and everything. Sun stared at it completely surprised, most drawings he received from children were, unsurprisingly, childish and simple, which he didn't have a problem with, he loved them all, but Jack's drawing of Roxy was simply next level to him, "Woooooooooow! This is amazing Jack! You got some real talent, Sunshine!" Sun said while taking the drawing, Jack slightly blushed, "Oh come on, It's just a sketch..." "Oh please, this is wonderful! Roxanne is going to love it!" Jack's eyes widened a bit, "What?! No! I'm not showing it to her." Jack almost shouted while taking his drawing from Sun's hands, who just stared at him confused, "...Why not? I don't understand." Jack sighed, "She's probably gonna hate it." The animatronic raised a brow, "Don't be silly! What makes you think that?" Jack glared at his drawing with an angry expression, "First of all, I didn't have any reference, so I probably missed a lot of details! Second, the proportions and the lines are all wrong! I also could have shaded some parts better! Ugh, overall, this is trash!" Jack huffed and threw his drawing away from him.

Jack has always been extremely critical of himself, especially with his work. It didn't matter what, if he was fixing a radio or painting a portrait, he would never accept anything less than perfect, or else, it was a complete failure. Truth be told, Jack always tried to be nice to everyone... Except for himself. Even though Sundrop's face never changed from the happy expression, Jack could tell he was deeply surprised by his sudden snap. "O-Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to yell like that." "Oh don't worry, no need to apologize! Why don't we try doing something else?" Sun said in a reassuring voice while he picked the pencils and paper from the ground, Jack stared at the big wooden doors located in the back of the Daycare, anxiously waiting for Roxy to come back with Sarah. Was she even alive? She had to be, the thought of losing his best and only friend was unbearable to him.

"So, what do we do now?" The boy asked, but when Sun was about to answer him, a sound echoed through the Daycare, a sound Jack recognized instantly, it was a distorted and evil giggle, it was Vanny. Sundrop looked around confused, Jack instantly stood up, "Oh no! It's her! She's here!" He shouted, "Her? Who?" Asked the confused animatronic, "It's Vanny, the psycho who has been chasing me all night!" Explained Jack while he looked around for any sight of Vanny, "Don't worry Sunshine, the daycare has a great security system against intruders! She will not be able to get here." Jack was not putting too much faith in that, especially when, in the blink of an eye, all the daycare lights were suddenly turned off. After processing what had just happened, Jack instantly grabbed his flashlight from his backpack and turned it on, he shined his flashlight around the place, looking for Sun who appeared to have disappeared, "Sun? Sun, where are you?!" He yelled, but received no response, without thinking twice, he reached for his Fazwatch to call Roxy, but stopped after hearing a strange noise behind him, a deep, creepy cackle, as Jack slowly turned his head to face the source of the sound, a raspy and growling voice called for him.

"Naughty boy... Naughty boy... It's past your bedtime. You must be punished."