See end for author's notes.

Chapter 3. Welcome to Freddy's

"Uncle Shaggy!" Nora yelled from her spot on the couch. She glanced at the clock on the cable box before focusing back on her television movie. In between handfuls of popcorn she called, "It's 11:35! You're going to be late to your first day…er, night!" She sat comfortably on the couch with her legs crossed, blanket around her shoulders, an oscillating fan blowing on her and hunkered down ready for this all-night horror movie marathon.

Shaggy stashed the candy bar he was grabbing from the fridge into his pocket.

"Like, I know kiddo!" He called back cheerfully.

Scooby was lying on the floor by the couch, head on his paws and eyes locked on Nora's snack. His eyes were big, hopeful and overall it had gotten him nothing.

"Uh…hey, kiddo?" Shaggy finally asked as he walked from the kitchen to the hallway, stopping under the threshold into the living room.

"Have you seen my hat?" He'd picked up the outfit yesterday, and had gotten a little day time look at the place. Now, it was his first night and he was ready and raring to go!

…Once he found his hat of course, the tired one with the faded 'Security' label on its deep blue front.

"Norry?" He asked when he didn't receive any answer.

"…huh?"

"Like, my hat, kiddo? Have you seen—"

"It's right here, Uncle Shaggy." Nora interrupted, as she held up the hat sitting on the arm of the couch.

If the beatnik noticed the slightly exasperated tone, he didn't say anything on it.

Nora reached back to put the hat onto the back of the couch. Or, she meant to but she placed it too close to the edge of the back cushion and the hat fell to the floor with a sad plop. All this without her noticing, having reinvesting herself in the poor quality film and less on her Uncle's work uniform. Shaggy and Scooby could have already left for all the attention she was affording them.

She snorted at the poor special effects of the film as a mannequin head rolled too far to be abiding by the laws of physics.

"Uh, oh," Shaggy wandered over to the back of the couch and bent down, scooping the dropped hat. "Like, thanks!" he said anyway.

He shoved it in place cheerfully, standing up straight and sticking his thin chest out.

"Ready Scoobo?" Shaggy asked, leaning over the sofa to spot his best friend. Scooby's tail thumped, his eyes finally leaving the popcorn as he got up to follow his master to the door.

"Bye, Norry!"

"Rye, Nora!"

He got a grunt in return, which wasn't really surprising anymore.

A couple of minutes later, Nora could hear that ancient van's engine rumbling before it faded gently into the backdrop.

"Alright," She settled back into her blanket snuggly, no dumb dogs to make her keep one eye the popcorn bowl anymore. Grinning, she turned the volume up, and hit the lights off.

"Let's get this party started."

Once Shaggy and Scooby had piled into the security room and sat down, the beatnik reached for the ancient little laptop that held all the cameras.

Then he heard a noise.

It was a soft, low rumble, and for a second Shaggy wondered what on earth—

There it was again.

Blinking, the beatnik abandoned the cameras in favor of looking down at his best friend.

"Like, Scoob—was that your stomach?" Though he knew the answer already. Scooby looked up at his best friend. "Reah," he answered. With a pathetic whimper he looked down and rubbed his stomach with one paw as it rumbled a third time. Shaggy's lips quirked into a sympathetic smile. He stretched a long arm out and scritched the top of Scooby's head, right between his ears where Shaggy knew he liked.

"Norry didn't give ya any popcorn, huh pal?" He went to turn the computer on, and discovered quickly this thing wasn't about to do anything quickly.

"Huh, this computer sure is old. I wonder if I could get Velma to take a look at it...hard to be security guard if I can't, yanno, guard anything." He chuckled at his own joke, setting the tablet down.

"We gotta awhile before this thing boots up-" A look at his watch told him they had some time before it was midnight anyway. "Hows about we go check out the fridge, Scoob?"

Scooby's ears perked up and his tongue lolled out of his mouth at the mention of food. "Roh boy!" He was up and onto all four legs and seemed much less famished looking than he made himself out the be just a moment ago. He was at Shaggy's side and sniffing their way to the kitchen in no time at all. As they turned the corner, Scooby could hear the faint and strained ring of the old office telephone. He had more important things to focus on though. And besides, whoever it could be would probably just leave a message if it was really that important.

"Uh, hello? Hello hello!..."

Shaggy, however, didn't even hear the phone ring, and merely followed his buddy out of the office.

Blissfully unaware of the missed message, Shaggy rooted around the big walk in pantry hopefully. He tried the freezer—ice cream maybe?—and eventually hit pay dirt on the oven, where an abandoned pizza lay, lukewarm and tantalizing.

"Like, bingo, Scoobo! Here, grab one of those plates and we'll go look for some drinks." Shaggy said eagerly, keeping his voice a little softer than usual. He wasn't sure why.

"This place is a restaurant; I bet they got one of those soda machines out in the dining area."

"Rokay Raggy!" Scooby's tail wagged as he balanced the plastic plates on his head and followed Shaggy out the swinging doors. The promise of food almost made it worthwhile to have to walk through this creepy place. The whole place was pretty gloomy, and dark. Made sense, Shaggy supposed, since they were trying to save as much electricity as possible. Still, it gave off a moderate vibe of a horror attraction, but he couldn't quite put his finger on why. The halls weren't really light up, and it seemed like something was missing.

Pushing the swinging doors open, Shaggy shrugged and waited for Scooby to walk by him into the dining hall.

They were only ones here, after all.

Besides, the front room to the pizzeria-and by far the biggest-was light up adequately, and more importantly?

"Like, here we go!"

The soda machine was still turned on!

Scooby walked in, and then effectively scooted behind Shaggy and let him take the lead. They crossed the room and several times Scooby nearly tripped Shaggy as he was right under the man's legs. Though, once at the soda fountain, Scooby stood up onto his hind legs and read through his drink choices before selecting root beer. He licked his chops. Pizza two nights in a row? How lucky was he!?

Shaggy topped off his drink with ice and slapped a straw into the cup. He sucked it down, moving out of the way as Scooby finished and took a good look at place.

"The clean-up crew sure left this place in a hurry, huh?" Half the chairs weren't even back in their proper places. Maybe if they had time later they could straighten up a little? Wouldn't kill them.

In fact, he took a moment and did just that, pushing them with care into their spots. His tidying up while he waited for Scooby brought him closer to the stage, and something finally caught his eye.

"Hey, check it out Scoob." came a hushed murmur of awe at the towering animatronics, who stood at up on the stage in posed gestures. Walking past the long tables, Shaggy halted before the stage that was easily waist high and took a long suck from his drink. He gave the three children's entertainers a look before something caught his attention.

"Like, let's see..." He released his straw, leaning over to peer through the grimy film over the gold plating name titles. The little blocks of wood were propped up on stage, and the gold plates were inlaid into the wood. A long time ago, they probably gleamed. Scooby did not want to look and see. In fact, he would be quite content leaving the room, or even the building, altogether. However, with the later being impossible before Shaggy's shift was up and with Shaggy not looking like he was going to leave any time soon, Scooby shakily joined his master by his side.

"Bonnie the Bunny...Chica the Chicken...and I guess this must be like, Freddy, right?"

"Reah," he gulped. "Reddy..." That name was only associated with their dear blond friend but now it gave Scooby the chills.

"Ret's ro, Raggy," Scooby tried to make Shaggy budge. "Rhe rood's retting rold."

The beatnik blinked at the off tone of his best friend.

"Aw, what's the matter Scoob? You're not scared of these things are you? C'mon, they're stuck on stage! And they're turned off at night, see?" To prove his point and soothe the nerves of the nervous hound, he hopped up on stage and stood next to the purple rabbit. Even next to Shaggy, they towered. This really only served to worry Scooby more.

Scooby really didn't like it here but if Shaggy could be completely fine with those creepy, cooky bots then maybe he could be as well?

The Great Dane hopped up onto the stage and faced the one named Chica. He stood onto his hind legs and stared at ...her? It? Scooby sniffed but wrinkled his nose. It smelled like it hadn't been bathed in 20 years! Scooby sneezed and rubbed his snout. He stuck his tongue out, then pulled back his lips until he began to giggle at his own pranks. He continued making faces at her, feeling his heart lighten.

"Atta boy, buddy." Shaggy encouraged, laughing a little himself at the goofy dog. He wandered over to Scooby, finding himself in front of the big bear.

"Like, check it out! Fred's suuuure lookin' different these days, isn't he?" He joked, referring to the leader of their little gang.

Scooby laughed, "Reah! Riff'rent!" Huh, to have thought he was afraid of these things just a couple minutes ago.

For good measure, and also seeing his dog relaxing, Shaggy continued with his well-mannered ribbing.

"Putting on the pounds, aren't ya Freddy?" He asked their 'friend' even going so far as to elbow the animatronic in the stomach a little, laughing with his dog as he did. He lifted his other arm to check his watch at the same time.

"Like, alright Scoob, we better head back to the office. It's way past twelve and I don't want-"
Shaggy paused, giving his other raised arm an experimental tug.

Staring down at it, Shaggy followed the large baseball mitt paw wrapped round his lower arm.

"Uh...Scoob?" Because he wondered, a little dazedly, if Scooby-Doo was seeing what he was seeing. Daphne always did joke how Shaggy seemed to be made of rubber. He'd never been more grateful for that flexibility than he was right now. He wrenched his arm backwards and clean out of the bear's sudden death grip before it can get any tighter.

"Like, zoinks!" Shaggy managed, taking a few staggering steps backward from the robots.

"W-what's with him?" He managed, looking to Scooby before a sudden whine of metal on metal is heard, three times.

The animatronics had all turned their heads toward the two.

Their eyes were black.

"You're gonna get iit." Nora sing-songed mockingly as she watched the living dead break through the barricades, instantly setting upon the few remaining protagonists. She snorted at the very thought, protagonists. If they could be called that, the cowards.

Shoving the last of the popcorn into her mouth, she unfolded a leg and stretched it, rolling the ankle joint a bit.

She decided to get something else to eat, more popcorn or maybe some peach cobbler, after the movie's done. That was the only problem with tv airings. Darn commercials.

For now, she watched with a critical, if amused eye as the undead try to pull Helen and Barbra through the windows.

This movie was all cheese and no substance, but Nora would be lying if she said she didn't like a little—or a lot—of cheese now and then.

Scooby's fur stood on end. As soon as Shaggy was free and let go of Freddy, he took hold of Shaggy's shirt in his teeth and yanked him backwards and further away from danger. Scooby, trembling as he was, placed himself in front of Shaggy and he growled deeply at the animatronics. His nose told him a plethora of things—these were machines, smelly machines yes. But not men in masks. Try as he might, Scooby couldn't recall a time when they had been attacked by machines that didn't turn out to be some old white guy behind a curtain pulling on levers. For some reason, he had the distinct and horrifying notion that they had found another mystery on their hands.

Though his master was shaking like a leaf in a hurricane, Scooby knew Shaggy was thinking the same exact thing.

"And like, us without the gang." Shaggy clapped his hand over his face briefly, "Oh this is just a night for surprises."

A hand grabbed Scooby's collar and yanked at his neck. Despite his size, and more importantly Scooby's size, the beatnik managed to haul the dog out of the way as a purple paw came down.

"No time for heroics Scoob—get the lead out!" They scrambled as one, right off the stage and onto the cheap linoleum.

They're too busy running away in terror to notice only the rabbit and chicken are leaving the stage. The chug of machinery and the whine of processors clue them in though that something is in fact following them, and it only takes a moment for the two to figure out it's one for each of them. Reflexes kicked in.

Time for plan B.

Scooby and Shaggy sprinted past the table where they left their pizza. Scooby skidded to a halt and picked up the pie with one paw. The chicken's bib said "Let's Eat" and boy was it gonna! Scooby pulled back and then threw the pizza right at Chica's face, effectively covering her eyes. Hopefully that would at least slow her down for a moment. After all, a moment was all cowards really needed.

Great minds think alike, because Shaggy's already grabbed Scooby's forgotten root-beer, dumping it ice and all behind them so that when Bonnie lumbers after them—zoinks well that was a horrific metallic screech—the rabbit slips and falls fantastically, knocking clear into a table. The ground shudders from the robot's crash, but Shaggy mourns only the wasted soda and pizza.

Both bots taken care of, the two sleuths sprint down the hall at break neck speeds, screams ripping from their throats as Chica stumbles—blindly, her horrifying face covered in dripping sauce and sticky mozzarella—through the double doors.

Thinking quickly, Scooby ripped pots and pans and serving dishes to the ground to trip her up as they ran through the kitchen. Each one landing with sharp, metallic sounds that echoed eerily off the walls. An irritated shriek from the bird only informed Scooby his plan had worked.

"Shoot!" Nora yelped trying to catch the pan before it hit the ground but not quite making it. She was trying to retrieve a glass from the dish strainer. The plan was to get it without taking that pan out and it did not go very smoothly. The metallic clanging sounded so loud in the dark, empty house and it made Nora jump more than it probably should have. She picked up the pan and shoved it back about where it was probably supposed to go in the cupboard. She grumbled. Getting root beer shouldn't have been that difficult...or loud.

"S'what I get for playing Dish Janga." She scolded herself for her little jump, and dropped a handful of ice cubes into her drink.

Leaning around the corner, she squinted to see what the tv channel was offering next in way of 'Horror Cult Classics' as they said.

"Nosferatu? Eh," Nora shrugged. "Haven't seen it in ages. Might as well." Seeing no reason to end her streak, the teen ambled leisurely back into the living room and threw the blanket back over her body, enjoying the flapping noise it made.

She giggled, despite herself. She was the night.

Bonnie's arms flailed wildly as he walked into a wall, a worn tablecloth covering most of his upper body and sending him reeling as he fought to rip the thing off.

Shaggy peeled round a corner triumphantly after throwing the tablecloth, and now he was skidding alongside Scooby and flattening beside him under the table just as Chica stormed by.

Scooby's tucked himself into Shaggy's side. The heavy metallic footfalls made the table they hid beneath jump just a little. Scooby bit back a whine. They almost thought they were safe when one of her heavy feet stepped on Scooby's long tail. He yipped loudly and jumped so badly that the table flipped forward, so that now they saw, from the waist up, a bewildered chicken who turned her head to the source of the noise.

Shaggy and Scooby looked up as one. They gave innocent, sheepish smiles at the greasy cheese covered chicken staring down at them, fists clenched.

Was it...was it Shaggy's imagination...or did the chicken seem angrier than before?

Well, Shaggy wasn't about to find out. Giving a little wave, he used his long legs to send the table flying at the bird's legs, giving them time to get up and scramble into the kitchen again. They avoided the dining hall by proxy.

Shaggy and Scooby-Doo came around a corner; only making it to the office before a swinging paw from behind them clipped Shaggy and sent him smashing shoulder first into a wall. He yelped, but knew to roll with the movement to keep his precious distance, and he was rewarded by making it into the office with all this limbs intact.

He rubbed at his arm briefly, wincing at the smear of blood on his palm from whatever he'd crashed into. It throbbed and stung, but not enough to worry him. A quick glance at his other arm showed the blossoming bruise from that bear-thing, the skin was purpling and swollen from the abuse. No time for worrying about that now, because a little bruise was nothing compared to whatever it was those robots had in mind for them.

Bonnie, it turned out, was lumbering down the hall from the left, and nearly to the door as it limped closer, closer...

"Oh man, I call foul! Who bleeds that much and doesn't die? C'mon!" Nora flicked a stray piece of lint at the TV, as if scolding it for the film's lack of realism.

Nora scoffed lightly when she heard a small scratching sound. "Huh..." She got up from the couch and followed the small scratching sound, surprised that she heard it over the television and her own yelling at all. She followed the sound to the side door that lead to the backyard. She peered out the window, which she needed to stand on tip toes to see out of, but did not see anything. She opened the door and found a small bunny. It seemed to be the culprit, because it abandoned the wood it was chewing on, and gave a hopeful dart toward the door. Nora stopped it by creating a blockade with her foot, and the little rabbit shied back.

"Oh, no you don't. Sorry kid but no new pets allowed. Besides," she cheerfully added, scooting the rabbit out and closing the door on it, "Wild rabbits can have diseases. Wouldn't want to get scratched or bit by you!" She locked the door and made her way back into the living room. She plopped onto the couch and turned her focus back onto the screen.

"R-ro no! Raggy!" Scooby yelped as he put all his weight on sore legs and joints to slam the door in Bonnie's face. Bonnie still managed to get one metal paw in the door and now Scooby was trying to force it out without accidentally getting snatched in the process. He brought his foot into the rabbit's reaching paw, relieved when the door slammed shut and he and Scooby could get a little breathing in.

"D-don't worry Scoob, I'm fine!" Shaggy gave a nervous chuckle as he hauled the tablet over and noticed Chica on the prowl. His shoulder burned but the sting was going away in favor of the bigger threats. The two giant animatronics that were taking their little joke WAY out of proportion were in various places of the restaurant. The dark and gloomy restaurant, which seemed infinitely smaller with those two lugs skulking around. They were so tall; Shaggy couldn't imagine someone human hiding in them. For a brief instant, Shaggy entertained the idea of what Velma would say, and desperately wished she and the rest of the gang weren't out of state.

He could sure use his friends right about now.

Scooby made his way across the office in one jump with his long body. He pressed the other button to slam close the opposite door when he heard the metal clanging of an animatronic down the hall. Once closed, Scooby went straight to Shaggy with a whimper as he wrapped himself around the man. The smell of blood made Scooby's nose wrinkle.

"Raggy," he whimpered, licking the wound. Shaggy laughed shakily, too scared to sit in the rolly chair, so he sank against the back wall with Scooby. Besides, it was dark down here—maybe they'd forget they were here?

"S'all fine, old buddy old pal—you and I both know I've like, had worse." Still, one set of spindly fingers curled between the strap of Scooby's collar, sucking in a few lungfuls of air as his heart pounded in his chest.

"What about you—you're okay too, right Scoob?" He really doesn't want to think about what might happen if Scooby was hurt for his fallacy.

"Ri'm rokay," he shrugged, then winced. Scooby slumped down, his long forelegs draped across the beatnik's legs and Scooby whined. His tail was still hurting badly too. He was probably going to need a trip to the vet to just make sure everything was intact.

"Okay, like, okay…on three, we'll make another run for it."

Scooby whined, but nodded. The sooner they got out of here, the better.

Shaggy went back to the cameras briefly, heart starting to slow to reasonable levels. Who in their right mind would work here?

Despite this, it occurred to Shaggy briefly that, if this WAS a man in a mask type deal, (though the idea was getting more impossibly wild be the second) then there was some reason they were being chased, because that's how it always went. Shaggy ignored that stupid thought in favor of the fear he now clung to. It was a stupid thought because the next thing it would lead to was the ever classic,

'Guys, I think we've got another mystery on our hands!' Fred's voice echoed in his head.

And Shaggy wanted no part of that, thank you very much.

Another glance at the cameras rewarded them with the chicken nowhere in sight, and the rabbit in the Parts and Services room. Granted, he was staring at the screen creepily, but it still meant the only thing they'd have to pass on the way out the door and to blessed safety was old Fazbear himself. Shaggy did a quick mental run through of the shortest path and concluded it would be worth the risk. He didn't need to tell his plan to Scooby, he knew the dog would follow him.

"One…" he started counting, inching out the door and peeking out a fraction. He didn't need to look behind him to know his dog was right on his heels.

"Like…two…" He breathed, and heard a slight movement to their left, the door they were, thankfully, not going out of.

"Three!"

It should have occurred to Shaggy, if Bonnie could move, then why not Chica? The chicken was coming out of the kitchen just as the duo rounded the corner. They skidded to a halt and dashed under a table across the hall, squished together uncomfortably, but knowing they worked better as a whole when it came down to the grind.

Sitting there in the dark, Shaggy and Scooby-Doo held their breath as Chica the chicken started walking slowly, slowly, down the hall toward them.

Nora yawned loudly as she finally turned off the television. She stretched her back out, "Eh, that's enough of the old boob tube for one night."

She folded the blankets she was using and took her dishes to the kitchen. She double checked the locks before turning off her fan, ready to haul it up to the attic. She glanced at the clock to get an idea of just how early it was. "I bet Uncle Shaggy's bored..." Being the only one in an old, dark building for six hours didn't exactly sound appealing. Scooby, in her mind, most certainly did not count.

Nora popped her lips before picking up the land-line and dialing her uncle's cell phone number. Or rang once, twice but then the thing went suddenly to voice mail. Thinking it curious but not enough to warrant worried, she waited for the voice mail to begin. At the tone she tried to sound pleasant, "Hey Uncle Shaggy, it's just me. I'm not being devoured or suffering a horrible disease, I just wanted to say hello and I hope that your first night is going well. I'll see you tomorrow...era, today. G'night."

Shaggy sat there, pinned to the wall in panic as he held his cell phone in his hand before the chicken. The small little flip phone had gone off—a call from Nora-he thought he saw before he killed the noise, but it was too late. Scooby gave an anxious noise, and Shaggy echoed it.

Chica had thrown the table out of the way, as if to say she was not going to be tricked again by the same thing. Well, that was fine with Shaggy.

He raised the phone at the animatronic bird, opened it and hit the camera button with a shaking thumb. He and Scooby closed their eyes.

It was a crappy camera, sure, but the flash went off beautifully in the dark room, earning them an indignant shriek from the now blinded chicken as she reared back from the blast of blinding light.

Stowing the phone back into his pocket, he and Scooby took off down the hall, having no choice but to back track and end up right where they had started. The Security room.

Defeated and panting, the two slammed the door behind Chica and were grateful the rabbit seemed to have found something else to terrorize for the time being. Shaggy crumpled down the wall again, letting his long legs drop out. The room was tiny now, impossibly tiny with the aspect of those lurking goons. But small could be good, Shaggy knew. Small meant nothing could sneak in with them without them noticing, small meant they could reach the door and light buttons, each one taking a side. They had faster reflexes with the two of them than if it were just Shaggy. What one might miss, the other could catch.

Shaggy's hand found Scooby's shoulder-blades, giving it a grateful little rub as he hauled the ancient laptop closer so he could read it.

"Like...wow..." He managed, still out of a breath. The rabbit—Bonnie—was staring into the screen at them again, and it was like it hadn't moved at all. After their little sprint around the pizzeria with them, he just couldn't find the energy to be scared enough to scream.

Shaggy only whimpered, much like Scooby, and swallowed the noise as he noticed the power level.

"What's gotten into them? We—we needta keep an e-eye on those kooky animatronics."

"Rhat rime ris it?" Scooby asked, pushing his nose up between the beatnik and the old clunky computer. He whined at the sight of Bonnie glaring at him.

"O-only 2 something..." Shaggy checked his watch. "We got another four hours buddy..." He gulped, considering what the odds were of getting to the door and high tailing it out of here.

"...N-normally I'd say us cowards should make like bananas and split b-but..." He winced, stomach clenching guiltily at the thought of little Norry at home. Who had just called him. Who needed to be fed and have a great summer and be safe.

He gulped, and tried to steel himself.

"But we gotta see this night though, pal."

Scooby whimpered. "Range ruh ramera," he asked at least. He couldn't take that rabbit anymore. Shaggy nodded, it was a good idea but his throat was too dry to form any words right now. Thinking wistfully to the soda that gave its life so that they might live, Shaggy hunkered down and tapped frantically between the screens, trying to account for all three of the robots. Something caught Scooby's curiosity as Shaggy flipped screens. It was...colored bars...like a power gauge perhaps? What, like a video game? Scooby cocked his head to one side before asking,

"Rhat's rhat?" He pointed with his nose at the icon on the screen.

"Huh? That's the level of...something. Maybe the cameras, I think? Y-yeah..." Seemed a reasonable guess. Velma did say he was getting better at deductive reasoning.

"And when it reaches zero..." Shaggy gulped at the thought of not being able to use the cameras to find the robots. "Uh, let's not let that happen, right Scoob?"

The power seemed awfully high for only the camera power. It was down to 49% already and that made Scooby shake and shiver. He looked through the cameras and found that both bots had backed off some. Testing a theory, Scooby stood up and opened one door, quite reluctantly too. "Rhat's ruh rower rat?"

"H-huh?" A quick glance back down, "Still fourty-nine. Hey, it's staying there when the doors aren't being used. Zoinks, I think this little battery's like, reading the whole place!" He moaned

"Ro no," Scooby groaned right along with his friend. This night somehow had gotten even worse. Cautiously, Scooby stuck his head out the door to look for any threats. When none presented itself, thankfully, he backed into the room again.

"See anything?" Shaggy breathed out to his faithful friend, making room for Scooby so sit closer to him. It was for the both of them, they needed the comfort and familiarity of each other. Something about having your best friend there, man.

"No," Scooby answered, leaning up against Shaggy's side, his tail encircling the beatnik. "How rabout ruh monitor?" Scooby wrapped a foreleg around Shaggy's shoulders, pulling him a little closer.

Even in the worst situations, as long as Scooby had Shaggy, then there was hope.

Shaggy's skyrocketing nerves are halted-at the very least slowed dramatically. He drapes his right arm round the big dog without taking his eyes of the screen, adjusting the tablet so they both can see.

"Like, that bunny guy's here...the chicken's there...thankfully, the bear's still on stage. He can, uh, stay there all night for all I care." He winced, remembering his pulled wrist. Just because he got free didn't mean he got out unscathed. It wasn't swelling but it was aching a little bit.

"Scooby-Doo we are getting way too old for this." Shaggy declared as he tracked the robots progress across the restaurant.

"Reah, rold," Scooby agreed, nosing at Shaggy's hurt wrist. His tongue flicked out a few times.

Scooby reluctantly watched the tablet screen, hoping nothing decided to jump or suddenly appear that would scare him. As if on cue, Chica's face was on the screen—taking up the screen. Her head was hanging oddly, her lower beak wide open and teeth gleaming in the dim camera's light.
It was fine, because both of them screamed bloody murder. Scooby was shaking, now wrapping both his forelegs and hind legs around Shaggy. Nope. Not letting go. Not even a chance. The tablet nearly broke, because Shaggy's arms were otherwise occupied with constricting around Scooby-Doo's, as they trembled and their teeth clacked.

Finally, and with painstaking care, Shaggy tapped a new camera with a finger, relaxing when he saw the camera was still picking up Bonnie. Which meant he wasn't outside the door, which meant they could breath.

The hours dragged on, slowly and painfully so. The knots in their chests and stomachs were coiled more tightly than a writhing snake. Shaggy winced. Great, now all he could think about was snakes.
Pointedly, he kept his gaze on the screen, only having to look up once or twice to catch some movements out in the dark hall.

By some sheer stroke of luck, the power was at a whiny 14% when a chime went off throughout the place.

6:00 am had come.

Scooby jumped at the alarm, his head whipping back and forth. Had Shaggy set an alarm? No, no that was definitely sounding throughout the building. He checked the clock and sure enough, it was the end of the shift.

"Raggy, look!" Scooby exclaimed tiredly. He quickly flicked through the cameras only to find all three animatronics on stage as if they had never moved. Shaggy blinked tiredly, the adrenaline starting to wear off. He checked his watch, checked the camera, and then his watch again.

"Uh...well my shift ends at six. Like, we can go home...?" He glanced warily at the stage camera, slowly getting to his feet. "I, I think we can, anyway. Erh...c'mon, Scoob." He gestured with a hand, edging out into the hall.

Scooby followed the beatnik, both of them feeling rather numb from the exhaustion that constant anxiety brought on. They had dealt with scary before, even frightening, but nothing as horrifying as the events of that night. None that was coming to mind at least. Besides, anything they did encounter certainly didn't last for six whole hours. Where was the reprieve? Right now was when, he supposed with some bitterness. Shaggy didn't even look to his left at the stage as they passed, he was afraid his legs would give out. The combined sprinting and then being cooped up in that office for the remainder of the night had done nothing healthy for him physically.

It was almost sunrise, and little licks of orange could be seen east through the grimy windows.

How was it even possible that a morning could be so calm after what they had experienced? Very rarely was there such a disjunct for them on a case—except this totally wasn't a case—because that haunted house stayed spooky, the graveyard stayed barren. But at Feddy Fazbear's pizzeria, the realism hit too close to home. The air was cool and the unjust sereneness of the town only added to the numb feeling in their chests and their heads. Their throat still hurt from all the screaming they did. And yet, they got into the van, Shaggy turned the key in the ignition and they went home.

The scariest part of the whole night was when he realized he would have to do it all over again.

Honey: Tried my luck at writing Scooby for the first time. Charlies says he turned out alright. I sure hope that you think so as well! Poor Chica can't see shit tonight!

Charlie: Cris Freeze (author of Obsession) said it best when he said 'I think it's time for more of the (horror) field to acknowledge that, when we come face-to-face with the monsters, we may find ourselves looking not at a mask but at a mirror.' Keep that in mind as the story progresses. Also, the best part of this whole story was writing Nora's night of boredom in tandem with Shaggy and Scooby's…not so boring night.