Mable: Here we are with the next chapter! Enjoy!

Almost Feels Like Home

Chapter Sixty-Nine

Mike nearly tripped over a package left on the front step when he was going out for a run. He quirked a brow in confusion and checked the label to find that he didn't recognize the return address. Abandoning the run temporarily, he took the box back into the house to open it up. He couldn't help but be a little paranoid considering recent occurrences but still set the box on the table and went to get a knife out of the drawer to cut it open with. While he was getting it, Marionette curiously hovered in.

"What's this?" he asked with a tilt of his head. He looked at the return address as well and, like the man before him, couldn't recognize it. "Hmm. Not a souvenir from your mother. I wonder…"

"Well, we're about to find out," Mike pointed out as he returned. He quickly cut the tape and opened the box carefully. "No ticking. That's a good sign." The inside was filled with packing peanuts and he pushed them aside to reveal a small box wrapped in plastic. He unfolded it and was surprised to find a video tape. He looked to the label and his eyes widened. "I didn't think we were going to get this anytime soon."

"What is it?" Marionette asked. Mike answered by handing over the tape and let the striped one read the label. There, printed in clear black ink, read: 'Foxy & Friends – Pilot'. "Wait, it's the cartoon?!"

"Looks like it. Looks like there's some other tapes in here too." Mike set them aside to address the envelope in the bottom. He opened it and read the letter inside out loud, "Mr. Schmidt and Mr. Fritz, this is the current draft of the Foxy's Quest pilot including nearly completed animation, finalized voices, and outro. Intro and music composition have not yet been implemented. Please give comment if needed or if there are any other concerns. Also included are copies of the Super Squad and Baby pilots at your request. Feel free to keep the tapes, do not resell or make copies."

"They're all here?!" Marionette snatched up the other tapes and eagerly unwrapped them. Like Foxy's they were both labelled. This time with 'Fazz Squad' and 'Baby's Circus'. "I can't believe this! They're all here!" the puppet exclaimed with a chime of excitement. "I never thought they'd get the pilot to us this quickly, let alone send us the others!"

"You're going to have to thank Fritz. He must've asked for them because I wasn't even thinking about it," Mike admitted. He got a mischievous smile, "Want to watch it?"

"Yes!" Marionette grabbed all three and turned to hurry into the living room. Just as quickly he stopped and turned back. "No, wait. We have to get Foxy here. Foxy has to watch it with us!"

"Foxy doesn't strike me as the type who's going to like watching this with a group of people. I don't have to remind you of the freak out with the commercial," Mike said, smile turning into a smirk. Marionette lightly chimed in partial agreement. "He didn't exactly look like he was jumping through hoops about this cartoon either."

"Maybe not, but Foxy's more interested than he lets on. All I have to do is call and ask and he'll be here on the hour, you'll see." The puppet then headed to the phone to call the pizzeria.

While he did that, Mike noticed Charlie looking over the back of the couch and pointed a thumb towards the stack of tapes being carried around. "There's a Baby tape in there too. I'm guessing back from the old, failed Circus Baby's Pizza World. You might want to look at it," he said. This seemed to pique her interest more.

"There was actually a Baby cartoon? The business didn't even open, why would they jump the gun and make a cartoon?" Charlie asked in surprise.

"I was under the impression that they got a lot of money out of the Freddy show and were looking for another hit. He said something about it being cancelled because they got the characters wrong."

"Okay, now I have to see it," Charlie decided. "I was supposed to go see Baby today or tomorrow, so maybe I can get her to watch it with me. Might make for interesting conversation."

"Might make for some interesting blackmail too, but you didn't hear that from me." Mike then looked back to Marionette, who rushed to get off the phone. "You got through to Foxy?"

"I did! He's... I won't say he's excited, but he said he would come watch it with us. That's something!" The puppet was bubbling over in light chimes as he flittered over to the couch to hand Charlie the one tape. "Here you are! We can watch it together whenever you get back… Which I suppose depends on how bad the pilot is."

"You can never tell with Baby. She might not care about it at all or she'll get so worked up about something small, like an off-voice or a dress recolor, that she shuts the whole thing down and I have to leg it home," Charlie pointed out as she studied the tape. Looking over it to see if there was any further labelling. "Which is fine by me as long as I don't get stuck taking one of Ennard's sewer shortcuts."

"That reminds me…" Marionette trailed off thoughtfully for a moment before looking back at Mike with a curious look. "You said they finalized the voices?"

"That's what they said," Mike agreed.

"Right. Which means that Foxy and I will be hearing the voices that are going to be broadcast to everyone. Or to wherever this cartoon is going to be airing. That's a bigger deal than I thought," Marionette admitted. His smile became smaller and more strained. "That's actually a little nerve-wracking if you think about it. If that aired to children who didn't come into the business, they wouldn't know what I was really like."

Just like that, excitement turned to anxiousness. Mike noticed it right away and put an arm around his shoulders with an assuring shake. "Don't start thinking too far ahead. They offered for us to give input so if there's something that terrible, we can tell them to change it. We can say it will affect our public image or something." He smiled more playfully. "And I might regret asking this, but I'm going for it anyway; how badly can they possibly screw this up?"

"Baby's was cancelled after one bad pilot."

"Maybe, but now we have to ask who it was who complained about it, and no matter who that was their agenda was probably off-kilter," Mike excused. He seemed unconcerned by it, still feeling like he had an amount of control, and while Marionette was feeling a little better there was still some discontent. "It's your show, Mari. If there's anything you don't like then we'll fix it," the man restated.

"Yes… Yes, of course! I don't know what I'm even worrying about! It's not even finished yet!" the puppet affirmed loudly, like he was trying to force out any doubts. "This is going to go great!"

"That's the spirit!" Mike encouraged. "Just don't be too surprised if Foxy pulls a Baby and flips his lid over something insignificant. Like if his fur is a shade off."

Marionette chuckled in amusement before continuing with a dead-on Foxy impression, "Yar, I be russet red! They got me lookin' as orange as a carrot- I won't stand fer it! Something like that?"

"You forgot the part where his hook's on the wrong hand," Mike joked.

"Now that would be enough to cause Foxy to flip. That and the eyepatch on the wrong eye," Marionette said, tenting his fingers and giving another chime. "…By the way, if they don't get my stripe count right then expect a massive tantrum."

The plan was set, and they expected someone to bring over Foxy in the next hour or so. This didn't happen and instead they were held up by both Fritz and Jeremy being surprisingly absent, Foxy having contacted both and received vague answers. Impatience grew as the waiting continued.

Baby wasn't quite as patient. As soon as Charlie called and informed her of the plan- though leaving out the detail about the pilot- the clown was adamant that she come over immediately. Shortly after that, Mike drove Charlie over to Scott's and then was left waiting with Marionette again. They were both tempted to just go ahead and watch the tape, and eventually broke down and fell onto video games. It wasn't until it was twilight when the van could be heard pulling up in the driveway.

"About time they got here," Mike remarked as he saved and shut off the game. He got up to answer the door while Marionette switched the television back on and got the VCR ready. To Mike's mild surprise, both Jeremy and Fritz were there to move the tarp covered Foxy into the house. "There you are. I thought you got lost or something."

"Or something," Fritz answered vaguely. There was something odd about his brief answer and Jeremy's rather quiet greeting. "But hey! We got here. Better late than never."

"Ya say that again next time yer waitin' three hours fer a ride," Foxy muttered sourly as he sulked into the living room. "Alright, where be this toon tape?"

"Alright in and ready to go!" Marionette chirped. He reached up and grabbed his brother by the wrist, pulling him down to the carpet beside him. "Sit beside me like we did that one time."

"Meh." It was clear that Foxy wasn't too excited in watching the video, but he went along with it. It would be easier to get it over with now before it would be shown to the public he supposed.

"You two want to stick around and watch?" Mike offered the other two men. Jeremy looked a little nervous and Fritz rubbed the back of his neck.

"Actually, you know I was thinking that its been a while since the three of us did something. What do you think of going out?... With Jeremy and me and just going for a drive?" the technician offered. He then got a very suspicious smile that, when mixed with Jeremy's uneasy glance into the living room, cued that something was off.

"Something's up. What's really going on?" Mike bluntly asked.

"Nothing's going on. We were just thinking that, uh…" Fritz trailed off at the unenthused look he received. Mike was going to catch Foxy and Marionette's attention at this rate and they couldn't afford a scene. He gave a defeated exhale and a pleading look. "Just come out to the van and I'll explain."

"Okay…" That shift in mood sent a small chill down Mike's spine. Something was wrong and he leaned over the back of the couch. "You two go ahead and watch it without me. Fritz and Jeremy are dragging me off kicking and screaming. I'll just watch it with you and Charlie whenever."

"You're leaving?" Marionette asked in surprise. He looked back and saw the obvious change in Mike's expression. "…Is something going on?"

"Something's always going on somewhere," Mike vaguely said with a raise of his brows. "We'll exchange highlights when I get back. Promise."

"…Alright," the puppet said with a small sigh. "Just be careful. I trust you won't get in over your head without calling."

"Cellphone's charged. Love you," Mike finished. He then grabbed his coat and headed out the door after Fritz and Jeremy. They both knew now that the delay in arrival was caused by something more serious than just Fritz getting tied up at home. The puppet was especially uneased by it.

"Foxy, did Fritz tell you why he was late?" Marionette asked in a hushed voice as he looked back to the fox.

"Nah. He be sneakin' around again. Prob'ly somethin' to do with Chance, to which I'd rather not know," Foxy declined quickly. It was a little clearer now that his mood wasn't just from the cartoon. He too knew something was wrong but neither men were willing to fess up to it. Jeremy's silence would especially rub him the wrong way, but he hadn't persisted. Or if he had it seemed like it failed. "Don't worry 'bout it. If they ain't gonna let us in on it then we ain't wastin' our time. Turn on the tape."

"Aye, aye, Captain," Marionette agreed with a salute. He pressed play on the VCR and returned to his side, his excitement beginning to return. Even Foxy grew reluctantly curious as the footage started unceremoniously, without even a finalized intro, and guided into the cartoon episode.

The cartoon opened on a bottle moving along the through the ocean. The animation looked a little choppy, perhaps not fully finished, but was properly colored. After bobbing a few times, the cork was suddenly pierced by a fishing hook that swung into view. It was yanked out of the water and reeled up beside what was clearly a pirate ship.

The screen shifted and revealed three Minireenas stacked atop each other and manning the fishing rod as one. The Minireenas looked like the real thing, save that they lacked ballerina tutus and instead wore pirate themed bandanas. They were also chubbier with body shapes that resembled the Bidybabs'. They swung the rod back and snapped the bottle out of the water, flinging it across the deck where multiple other Minireenas scurried around, and into the arms of a fourth one. It carried the bottle above its head as it ran across the deck.

Other Minireenas were shown to be at work carrying closed treasure chests, wheeling around cannons, and being perfect obstacles for the Minireena to run past. She then made it to a large door that towered over he, one with 'Captain' printed in bold letters on its wood. Then the camera dropped to a tiny door right beside it with the word 'Crew' printed on it. The Minireena scurried through and into the captain's quarters.

She approached a tall desk where the sound of snoring could be heard, then hopped in place and tossed the glass bottle up. It spun and landed upright on the desk. The small thump caused the pirate sleeping on the desk to sit up abruptly. It was revealed to be none other than Captain Foxy himself, who looked almost identical to his in-restaurant counterpart, just with a pirate jacket and captain's hat.

"Hmph- Huh- Wha-?" he sputtered awake, noticed the bottle on the desk, and leaned in. "Hmm…?"

He raised his patch with his hook to look closer, though at the angle of the shot it's wasn't seen if he had another eye. He snatched up the bottle, stabbed his hook into the cork, and popped it out before dumping the rolled-up scroll onto his desk. It unrolled on its own and he stared down at it, revealing that it was a map showing islands leading up to one with an 'x' planted amongst a few sparse landmarks. It was a treasure map.

It cut to Foxy throwing open the door so fast that he nearly hit the Minireena that had come in. "All you scallywags stop what yer doin'!" he bellowed. He raised the map triumphantly. "We're goin' on an adventure!"

"…Well blow me down, it sounds like me," Foxy admitted in shock. "Can't be the same guy from before. Guy can't still be doin' voices, right?"

"I don't know. It sounds an awful lot like the voice from Fredbear and Friends, and they would be the ones who were still in contact with him. I think this might be the real thing," Marionette agreed. That alone was already enough to make him a little more confident in it. "So far, so good."

Foxy was unwilling to admit to any confidence yet. He simply crossed his arms and watched the screen with defiant stoicism. He couldn't afford to get his hopes up. He had seen the Freddy cartoon; they would make a big mistake somewhere.

"What? Already? But we haven't gotten anywhere!" It was now that a female puppet was shown on the deck. It was clearly supposed to be the Security Puppet, with only a few aesthetic changes. She had feminine eyelashes and her body was a shapelier, with her only additional clothing being a compass worn around her neck. Her voice didn't sound like Charlie's, but it seemed to fit her character so far. "What's that?"

"This, Lottie me good lass, is arr ticket to treasure! Fished right out of the deep blue- a gift from the sea!" Foxy exaggerated as he unrolled the map to show it to her. "Take a look."

"A treasure map?" Lottie looked at the map and her eyes opened wider. "That's the island we just passed!" she exclaimed, pointing to one of the islands at the edge of the map. "Are we going?!"

"You bet yer bells we be goin'! Go set course fer this here island, and step on it! Booty be waitin'!" Foxy commanded. Lottie ran offscreen and Foxy pulled a spyglass out of his pocket- one that looked too big to fit in his pocket- and looked out over the water. The screen showed the view through the spyglass.

"Don't you think it's a little weird that you just happened to find a treasure map right beside an island with treasure on it?" A new voice asked. The scene shifted back to show another puppet standing beside Foxy. The Puppet looked almost identical to Marionette just with a black and white striped neckerchief added. "And that a bottle carrying a treasure map just magically appeared beside the boat?"

"Eh. Always gotta be a killjoy, don't ya, Mari? It be a lucky break fer sure, but this map be real as it comes!" Foxy slapped the map into Marionette's hand. "Feast yer eyes!"

"That is a map, alright," Marionette flatly agreed, blankly looking at the paper. "But where did it come from? It just appeared from the ocean blue, right beside the ship, right beside the island where the treasure is?"

"Yar, well… It fell off another ship?"

"Nice save."

"Don't take the wind out of me sail, Mari! An' you 'member the Pirate's Code: 'No pirate worth his plunder passes up a chance fer buckets o' booty!' It would ruin me reputation," Foxy said as he brushed off his coat.

"Yes, the Pirate's Code. The Pirate's Code written and enforced by Foxy the Pirate," Marionette coyly pointed out.

"Bah! You just wait, Mari! There's gotta be somethin' worth finding at this island, and ain't no landlubber's gonna get between this fox an' his doubloons," Foxy proudly proclaimed. "Now go on and get the Minis ready fer docking!"

"Aye-aye, Captain," Marionette agreed with a sigh and a salute. Then he left the scene as Foxy continued to look through the spyglass.

"Huh. Gotta admit, it kinda sounds like ya. Just without the accent," Foxy pointed out. He then tapped his hook on his chin with a hum. "But there is somethin' a little weird 'bout it."

"I think I noticed it too, it sounds familiar. Maybe one of the voices from Fredbear and Friends?" Marionette offered. "Oh, wait! Maybe it was the guy who voiced Bonnie in the cartoon. It sounds like him."

"That might be it," Foxy agreed. He then grumbled a little bit as he scratched his ear. "Missed the ball on how he acts. He ain't nothin' like you, he's just some sourpuss salt."

"I like it!"

"Course ya do. It's Schmidt."

"Because it's a good foil for your character. He's the voice of reason with a cynical side," Marionette defended. He got a teasing smile. "Cartoon Foxy isn't nearly as jaded as real life Foxy."

"Me standards just be high is all," Foxy dismissed. He then turned his focus back on the cartoon. "Just know that if ya accept it now yer livin' with it later." Marionette couldn't say he was entirely pleased with Foxy's continued pessimism but wasn't ready to give him the luxury of spoiling his own fun.

The camera drew out to a further view of the pirate ship and zoomed into the view of another character looking through a spyglass of their own. The view changed to show a female bird who wearing a pair of thick glasses, typical pirate themed clothing, and was colored like a parrot. She turned and ran to a door on the ship, letting herself into the shadowy captain's quarters of another pirate.

"Captain, that foolish fox has taken the bait! They're already turning towards the island!" the parrot excitedly chattered. "Now by my calculations, there's a seventy percent chance they'll land on the southern side of the island in seventeen point two minutes."

"Perfect." A deep voice growled from the shadows, but all that could be seen were grey furred claws tapping each other. "I expected nothing less from him. His greed will be his downfall, and that majestic ship of his will finally be mine."

Marionette smiled wider as he realized that it had to be the Wolf, or whatever his name was now. Apparently, they had succeeded in getting the rights to him and now here he was looking like a threatening villain. Another perfect foil to Foxy, which Marionette was about to point out when he looked over and noticed how intently the fox was watching the screen. He was starting to get interested in what he was watching. That was a better sign than any verbal confirmation he could give.

Thus, Marionette fell as silent as his sibling and continued to watch the cartoon. Their cartoon.

"So, is one of you going to tell me what's going on, or are you going to make me guess?" Mike asked as he climbed in the back of the van and sat behind Fritz's seat. He peered up in between the seats and noticed that they were still uneasy. "…How bad are we talking about?"

"Jeremy saw something outside of the pizzeria," Fritz began. He nodded at the blond, "Tell him."

Jeremy turned around in his seat to face Mike. "See, it was like this. Foxy called me and asked if I could pick him up in the van. I didn't have anything going on, so I drove over to get the van from Fritz and headed over to the pizzeria… But when I got there, I noticed a car in the parking lot. I thought someone just parked there, it looked like a normal car. I drove around back, I got right around the corner… And I see a man going through our dumpster." The blond got a grim look. "It was an undercover cop searching our trash."

"Are you sure it wasn't just someone dumping their trash in our dumpster? I've been suspecting that someone's been doing that, because it fills up way faster than it should," Mike suggested. Jeremy shook his head.

"I checked the car on the way out and you could tell it was an undercover cop car. I left as soon as I saw him. It wasn't like I could move Foxy with him standing out there," Jeremy said almost like he was defending himself. Nobody questioned it, but Mike's eyes widened in alarm as he realized that the other was certain and serious. He didn't question Jeremy's judgement. "Even though Detective Burke said we're not suspects… We're suspects. We're on a list, we're on their radar, they're in our garbage."

"That's a lot worse than what I was expecting you to say. I knew Burke was bluffing when he said we were off the hook," Mike muttered. He could only be relieved that they didn't throw away anything incriminating. Not that much evidence came out of Foxy's. "And just a couple of days ago Springtrap was saying how he was going to try and get into the business."

"Ironic that you bring up Springtrap…" Fritz mumbled knowingly.

"…Oh, don't tell me." A look of exasperation fell over Mike's face. "Springtrap took off again and is running around right now when we've got the cops onto us. That's just great."

"Oh no. Not bad enough," the technician corrected. "For if you think back you might remember that we have a bag of extremely incriminating evidence currently in the warehouse… A bag a napkins covered in human DNA and dried blood. Both of which belong to a man not only connected to Freddy's, but a missing man who is the son of the former owner of Freddy's."

"Oh Christ, the bag. All that gunk that came out of Springtrap is just sitting in that office. All he needs is a warrant and he's going to walk right in and find it!" Mike's teeth clenched as the thoughts raced by. Suddenly he knew why Fritz and Jeremy were looking so nervous, because that anxiety was creeping over him too. He swallowed thickly and gave a simple, "We need to get rid of that bag."

"Right," Fritz agreed. "As soon as we can. As far away from us as humanly possible."

"I didn't want Foxy to find out… I don't know how he'll take us trying to get rid of a body. Or, err, what remains of a body," Jeremy awkwardly corrected. He readjusted his glasses as he slid back into his seat. "It's not like that. We're not doing anything wrong; we're just protecting ourselves… Right?"

"Right," Fritz affirmed. "It's… Not exactly what I would want to do, but we're desperate."

"When in doubt, blame Burke. He's got a bone to pick with us- pun almost intended- and that's the only reason we have to sneak and do anything like this," Mike pointed out as he leaned between the seats. "Let's get over to the warehouse, get that bag… And then figure out where to put it. We might have to drive somewhere out in the desert. Maybe out past where we went caving."

"That's what I was thinking, but there's a lot of trails out there. Someone might find it… We'll figure it out! Hey, we've worked on the fly before, we'll manage," Fritz encouraged, seeing the other two younger workers' looks turn more dire every passing moment. "…And if we get caught, I can always frame one of you."

"Fritz, you're the one who changed his name. We're framing you," Mike clarified. Though then sent a sly glance at Jeremy. "Though one of us does have a criminal record."

"Hey, I wasn't the one digging around in Springtrap's belly!" Jeremy frowned and Mike returned with a smirk. "And if we were going to frame someone, wouldn't it just make sense to frame William? There's got to be a ton of evidence in your house."

"Yeah. In a lockbox in the basement," Fritz cryptically remarked. His eyes widened and he was feeling the same dread as the other two. An uneasy silence fell over the van as they pulled into the warehouse parking lot.

Not wanting to walk directly into the office and risk startling Springtrap, the three headed in through the warehouse entrance and walked to the back. Mike knocked on the door and when he received no response, he let himself through, finding the office light on but Springtrap nowhere to be seen. "Maybe he's off sleeping somewhere. Might be a good thing he's not here to see this," Mike thought as he grabbed the bag. It had been unmoved and he carried it out of the office easily, ignoring the vague scent making it through.

"Alright, let's go," he simply said. Neither of his companions disagreed and they headed down the aisle towards the front of the warehouse. They were just about to step out of the shelves and reach the door when he noticed the sound of encroaching footsteps. He slowed, Jeremy and Fritz followed sync, and they watched as Springtrap stepped out at the end of the aisle. His eyes almost looked to be glowing and he was clutching the Handunit in one hand. Mike played it cool, "I was wondering where you ran off to."

Springtrap silently looked down at the bag with an unreadable expression. He held on for a long pause, just long enough that Mike started to wonder if there was about to be a problem. But then-.

"Finally," Springtrap muttered. His voice was low and gravelly like usual but showed no aggression. Mike quirked a brow when the rabbit added, "I wondered how long you would risk keeping that here."

"Only until we had no choice. Jeremy saw an undercover cop digging through the trash," the security guard said while pointing a thumb back at said blond. "Now we've got to get this out of the city without being spotted. We're thinking of maybe shoving it in a cave and spare ourselves the bonfire." The rabbit looked down at the bag again with a slow look. "…That was a joke. We're going to go bury it somewhere."

"You should go to Silver Reef and bury it there," Springtrap randomly suggested. Mike was confused by the suggestion, not even sure if he had heard about a place called Silver Reef. If he had, he obviously hadn't been there. The animatronic must've seen his uncertainty as he explained. "It's a ghost town outside of Hurricane. I believe it's where my father buried the victims he didn't have other uses for… If given the choice, I would rather have my remains buried amongst his victims than near our family."

"I think I've heard of Silver Reef… Sort of… You really think he was burying bodies there?" Jeremy asked quietly, disturbed. "Aren't people living out there?"

"I don't know. All I know is that he and Henry took us there once to explore the town. You would be surprised what my father could get fixated on, especially once Henry passed," Springtrap excused. He paused a moment before looking back to Mike, seemingly deeming him as the one worth addressing. "I don't care where you take it but know it would be safer for you if this evidence was hidden amongst William's own. Let him take the fall for his own mistakes."

"That's actually a pretty good idea. We were talking about framing someone," Mike admitted. He considered it for a moment and then made his decision. "You know what? Sure. Silver Reef it is. How far's this place?"

Springtrap lifted the Handunit and began to turn it on. It welcomed him- or welcomed 'Eggs Benedict', to which Mike wondered exactly how much Ennard had tampered with it- and he began to tap through.

"You found a map on that?" Fritz asked in disbelief. He came up beside Mike and tried to peek at the screen. "I've been working on that thing for ages and I've never found a map on it."

"That's because I put a map on it. I had nothing else to do with my endless, empty time. You hook it to a working computer and save and download a file. Disguise it as a blueprint."

The screen came up with a map that had been set on a blue, lined background. Indeed, the map looked like it was supposed to be a blueprint, but it was instead a map of Hurricane. It reached north to outside Toquerville, another city near Hurricane, and almost to St. George. It mostly focused on the main roads surrounding Hurricane itself. Springtrap pointed off by the highway north-west of the city.

"This is where Silver Reef is. You turn onto this road and drive until you see it… There won't be anyone there this time of night. I doubt it sees anyone during the day," Springtrap explained.

"Looks close enough to do it in one night and far enough that it might never be found. Perfect," Mike agreed with a nod. "Can we write down these roads?"

"It would probably be easier if we just took the Handunit," Fritz suggested. He started to take it from Springtrap's hand. "Do you mind if we just-?"

"No." The change in tone was so sudden that it took all three men off guard. That and the animatronic pulling the Handunit away and moving it out of the technician's reach. He looked towards Fritz with wide eyes for a few seconds, more akin to a startled animal than anyone who could've worked on the machine, and only slowly began to loosen up. He slipped out of his defensive posture but still held the Handunit anxiously. "I need it. I can't spare it even for a moment."

"O-kay…" Fritz let his hand drop. "Uh, then let's just… Let's get the notepad out of the office and draw a map or something." Jeremy nodded and hurried off to get it, leaving them to stand there uncomfortably. Even Springtrap seemed uneasy with how he cradled the tool in his grasp. It felt like an eternity until the other got back and only then did the animatronic, albeit reluctantly, hand the Handunit over to Fritz so that he could hold it while the blond sketched a map.

"We might not be back tonight. So, if you don't hear from us, either assume that I'm at the house with Mari or sitting in a jail cell somewhere," Mike said. "So, in case I don't see you, thanks."

Springtrap murmured something that might've been a 'it's fine' and Mike took it as his version of a 'you're welcome'. The rabbit took the Handunit back and retreated into the office even before the three workers left.

"Hey, can I ask you both something?" Fritz asked as he shut the van door and buckled himself in. "…Do you find it a little weird that he knows where William was dumping bodies?"

"I'd say yes, but there's a chance Foxy and Mari know where he dumped them too," Mike pointed out as he climbed in the passenger side. "Why?"

"I don't know, I just thought it was weird considering that Michael split town and everything. That somehow he still knows all about what his dad was doing. And this whole thing about dumping him over in Silver Reef just, I don't know… Seems suspicious," Fritz admitted. He rubbed the back of his neck and averted his gaze. "…It's nothing."

"You don't… Think Springtrap is actually William, do you?" Jeremy asked in confusion. Now Mike looked over and paid a little closer attention. Fritz raised his hands in defense.

"No! No, no… Okay, maybe a little bit, but I'm not hung up on it. I mean, we saw that tape." Fritz gestured to Mike. "That was Michael's body in the same Freddy's where the suit was. Makes enough sense that it is Michael in that suit. Makes more than enough sense." He put the key in the ignition and turned on the van. "Just ignore me. Ennard got my head turned around."

"Ennard made it pretty clear that he thought Springtrap was William pretending to be Michael," Mike clarified to bring Jeremy up to speed. "And who can blame him? Ennard's got every reason in the world not to trust him. Even ignoring the sledgehammer incident from a few days ago, Springtrap's been aggressive with him at every turn. He doesn't know the full story about what really went down with Afton either."

"…But he does have a point," Fritz quietly interjected. Mike looked over at the technician like he had sprouted two heads. "Can we be honest for a second? Even with what's going on, Springtrap acts really weird. Did you see how he got with the Handunit? Why was he even adding maps to it anyway? Not to mention that he really could just flat out lie to us. Was it Springtrap who introduced himself as Michael first, or was he just going along with it?" That was an excellent point. It was almost enough to have Mike somewhat contemplative, but then he pointed at the technician and corrected.

"I'll tell you exactly who it was. It was Henry who said Springtrap was Michael, and I don't think he'd be wrong," Mike said. This finally got Fritz looking a little more convinced. "I'm not just trying to defend Springtrap either. I wish he was William, because then I wouldn't have spent so many years slaving around for a psycho like Afton. But Henry was laying it all out in that warehouse and I don't think he would've protected him if he wasn't just Michael."

"Yeah, that's… That's an even better point. Okay, gotcha. For now, we just keep going along with Springtrap being Michael and just pretend all this other stuff is him being quirky and not red flags," Fritz agreed. "Let's focus on finding Silver Reef. Which way do I even start?" Mike pulled out the map to begin directing him.

All while Jeremy lingered in the back seat. Silently wondering which side of the argument was the right one and not entirely convinced by either.

"Yar, and there goes our chance at treasure…" Foxy grumbled as he watched the island, or what was left of it, disappear out of view. He sighed and looked towards the two puppets. "I owe ya both fer helpin' hoist me outta that hole back there. I shoulda listened to ya before I went chargin' in."

"I guess this is a lesson that all that glitters isn't gold?" Marionette playfully joked. The captain continued to sulk and Lottie elbowed her twin. "I'm kidding! It's not that big of a deal, Foxy. Everyone makes an honest mistake now and then."

"Yeah! I almost believed Silver Fox when he said he wanted to change his ways…" Lottie added. She looked down sadly before shaking her head. "But that doesn't matter now! Maybe we didn't find any gold, but we got the ship back and we sent that liar running with his tail between his legs!"

"Or the fire did," Marionette chimed in.

"But we started the fire, so it was technically us," Lottie corrected.

"That's it!" Foxy interrupted. "From this day on, I be takin' a new oath!" He held his hook to his chest and raised his head. "I, Cap'n Foxy, Scourge of the Seven Seas scourin' the Seven Seas, swear that me crew and me ship comes first. No more runnin' off on flights o' fancy, we hunt fer the treasure we know is there. Cross me heart, take me good eye." He made an 'x' across his chest with his hook. It was then that a Minireena started to run over and grabbed Foxy's tail, giving it a firm yank. "And then we- Huh? Whuzzat, little lass?"

The Minireena pointed back to the others and the camera moved over to show the three Minireenas from before dragging over Silver Fox's wet and singed coat. They must've fished it out of the sea just as they had with the bottle. They opened the coat and a wet piece of paper flopped out and onto the deck. Foxy hummed and crouched down, hooking the paper with his hook, and carefully opened it. He reached up to raise his patch with his eyes wide.

"It- It be a treasure map! It be Silver Fox's own!" the fox exclaimed.

"Oh no. Foxy…" Marionette began with a tone of dread. Before he could say anything more, Foxy stood with a triumphant smile and a glow in his eyes.

"This be perfect! While he be lickin' his wounds, we be swiping his booty! Ya ha har!" Foxy laughed boisterously and then pointed off towards the front of the ship. "Get this ship turned west! We're goin' on a hunt!"

"Here we go again," Marionette sighed, but was smiling a little.

"Think we'll actually find treasure this time?" Lottie half-heartedly asked. They were cut off by Foxy throwing his arms around them, yanking them in tightly.

"Ya bet yer bells we are! Cap'n Foxy ain't gonna stop until he's got this whole ocean turned over. So, you two best hold on tight, cause we're settin' sail!" Foxy proclaimed. As he said this the screen panned out.

Marionette paused the video as the credits appeared on screen and looked to his brother. "So, what do you think?"

"Wasn't that bad," Foxy vaguely agreed. The striped one smiled a little more slyly. "Coulda been worse. Coulda had me look like a total buffoon. Instead it just made me look like a money hungry ninny." He looked over to see his sibling beaming at him and huffed. "That look ain't makin' this easier."

"It's okay if you liked it, Foxy," Marionette encouraged him. "Isn't that what we wanted? To have a cartoon that we could be proud of? Or at least not completely embarrassed by."

"…There weren't no skateboards, so that was good," Foxy vaguely complimented. "And, uh… The way they had me goin'… It wasn't that bad. Kind of a little rum-headed, but kids are gonna like it."

"I thought so too! After all-…" It was only then that he noticed a more melancholy look on his siblings' face. "Foxy, what's wrong? Did you really not like it? It's okay if you didn't, I didn't mean to push you."

"It ain't that, Lad. It's just… I be put in a bad position right now. The Foxy they got on screen is great, but he ain't all me, an' kids'll notice. Which is better: them hatin' the Foxy on TV and never knowin' 'bout me, or them lovin' Cap'n Foxy and then meetin' me… And bein' disappointed?" The fox hung his head. "It be worse than I even imagined, Marion. The show is good, which means what'm I supposed to do?"

"Oh Foxy… For starters, I think you might be going about this all wrong," Marionette assured as he put an arm around his brother. He patted his arm with reassurance. "There was a reason you were always the favorite of the group, even when Freddy was portrayed as the flawless hero. Children are going to love you. They already do!" He smiled wider as he continued to encourage. "And is Captain Foxy really that different than you? Maybe more absentminded, but I've seen you be plenty reckless on your own."

"That be true… Maybe you got a point, Lad," Foxy agreed. He glanced back up at the TV and then back down again. "Eh, turn the credits on. I want to see iff'n it's that guy er not."

"Can do!" the puppet chirped as he turned them back on. He watched the screen and names that passed by without music, waiting for something familiar to appear. "If it makes it any better, you were my favorite."

"…Ya really think kids are going to love this as much as Freddy's?"

"Yes! Certainly yes. It is the perfect balance of adventure and story. Not as heavy as the later Fredbear episodes, but not as slow as the earlier ones. All the characters are likable, nobody was outright annoying, and even the extra characters were a lot of fun. Best of all, we can already see from this episode alone that there's so much potential for future storylines. We could get at least three seasons! And I don't know if you noticed, but I think they were setting up a mystery that- SCOTT CALDWELL?!"

Foxy jumped at the yell and snapped his head over to see Marionette shocked look. He turned back to the screen just in time to see the blip of still credits listing who had been voicing the cartoon Puppet.

"Oh… My God. That- hah- That was the Phone Guy," Marionette awkwardly said as he tried to regain compositor. "I am being voiced… By the Phone Guy.I didn't even know he was a voice actor."

"Ain't he a hermit? How the bloody 'ell they get his voice if he don't leave the house?" Foxy asked curiously. "Guess that's why it sounded like we knew 'em. Blow me down."

At that moment, Marionette broke into unexpected laughter. "Foxy, I act like Mike and I have Scott's voice. How did this happen?" his brother bluntly asked, still reeling, almost hysterical. "And we were worrying about the kids liking you- I don't even know who I am anymore!"

"Yer a good lad, Marion. You've always been. Yer always there for me," Foxy assured as he reached out and put his hook on the striped one's shoulder. He gave a gentle pat. "…It ain't yer fault the toon version of ya is a living saltshaker."

"Gee, Foxy. I feel a ton better now," Marionette sarcastically remarked, though with a small smile.

"That's gettin' into character! Embrace it, Lad, cause there's a good chance that each of our little mateys gonna be watchin' this show in only a few- whenever it come out on TV," Foxy encouraged. He seemed to be smirking. "It could always be worse, Lad. We could've had catchphrases."

"That's true…" Marionette lifted the remote. "Want to watch it again?"

"Eh, why not?"

Mable: It could always be worse. One of them could've spoken in dated surfer lingo… But there's always time for that in the future. XD See you next week!