Hmm. I wonder when Baby's going to get here.
Foxy was wondering this today because he had a meeting with her today. They were going to meet with each other and then go and see Puppet together. Then, the three of them would be able to do a quick go-over of all the rules they made, debate possible new additions, and discuss other needed changes. They had scheduled it in advance, and it was at two A.M. that Foxy expected to be standing in his room, patiently waiting for Baby to arrive.
But two A.M. came and went, and Baby still didn't arrive. So Foxy waited five extra minutes, figuring that Baby needed more time. Two-oh-five came. Baby didn't show up. He decided to give her another five minutes. Two-ten came. Baby still hadn't entered Foxy's room.
She's ten minutes late. What could be taking her so long? He thought, unable to understand what the delays were for. Baby had promised him that she would come on time, and yet today, she had not. He could only make guesses as to why she hadn't arrived yet. Was she caught in some other engagement? Was she in a conversation with somebody else? Or had she gone to play her games and simply forgot that she was supposed to come in for a meeting?
It didn't really matter what the reason was, though. Foxy knew he was going to have to go and see where she was. He had been expecting her, and now she hadn't turned up. He decided he had to take it upon himself to go and see what the matter was. Hopefully something that wasn't too bad.
"I'll be back in a little while." Foxy told Mr. Wigglesworth. He gave his stuffed bear a couple of pats on the head, then straightened up and headed up his spiral staircase, then through the corridor and back out the trapdoor into his room. He looked around. Baby wasn't even in his own room, meaning that she had to be further away. Foxy left his own room and entered the main room, deciding he would head to Baby's room inside the vents and see if she was-
"WAAAAAAH!"
Foxy's ears were met with a devastatingly loud whine emanating through the pizzeria. He cringed at the level of noise, but also gasped in realization of who's voice he was hearing.
"Baby? Baby, what's wrong?! Where are you?!" Foxy called, as the whining from his friend begin to make him anxious over her condition. He didn't understand why she was yelling so loudly, but he felt that it had something to do with the fact that she hadn't turned up to Foxy's room to come with him to the meeting.
Heh. What a sad, whiny little child. And you thought she could handle the position of leader? What a joke.
Foxy just scowled and pushed the voice back into the corners of his head. He didn't care about the voice and its snide remarks right now. He had a friend to check up on.
Unfortunately, with the way the sound was emanating through the whole building, Foxy couldn't even tell which direction it was coming from. This wasn't good, as Foxy was used to being able to track things with his hearing. Without a clear indication of where the sound was coming from, Foxy could only dart around in random directions and hope he happened upon the source.
"Baby, I have no idea where you are, but I'm on my way! Just hold on!" Foxy yelled back, and he made a random decision. He would go to Baby's room first. Maybe she was crying because she lost a game, or because her tv broke again, or because she hurt herself in some way.
Foxy ran at top speed down the small and big hallways, trying to reach the auditorium.
Foxy was expecting- no, he was hoping that he would come across Baby when he climbed up into the vent corridor she called home. But when he passed through the trapdoor on the auditorium stage, which was open, and when he went through the doorway into the vent corridor, which was also open, he began to have second thoughts. And when he finally did enter her room for real, he found that she wasn't even inside.
The room did look different from before. Baby had clearly followed the decoration rule as well, because the Christmas decorations that had been inside her room were finally gone, including the giant fireplace. The dingy vent floor had been covered up by a pink and black checkerboard carpet, which made the room feel slightly more inviting. The framed flowers on the wall were gone, and they had been replaced by framed CDs, discs, and records. Foxy gave these things a glance and was mildly curious about them. He never knew that Baby had an interest in music.
The rest of her room was pretty much the same, but Baby wasn't there. Her chair was vacant, and her tv was turned off, with her headphones and control lying on the floor. Her couch was vacant as well, save for Baby's journey, which was sitting on the chair as well. Foxy decided, once again, that touching the journal would be a very bad idea. Not only was it rude, but if Baby found out, she might start crying even louder than before.
All in all, going to Baby's room had been a dead end. Baby clearly wasn't in her room anymore, so where was she?
Unsure of where to go next, Foxy made another decision: Puppet's room. He didn't decide to head there because he actually thought Baby might be there. He instead wanted to go there in order to tell Puppet what was going on. Puppet has to know about this, too, if he hasn't already heard Baby's yelling. Foxy thought.
So he left Baby's room behind and proceeded back the way he came.
When Foxy descended down the long ladder into Puppet's room, a new wave of sound reached his ears. This time, the sound wasn't whining, yelling, or crying, but instead, an argument of some kind.
"For the last time, Bonnet, can you please stop making that noise? It's really hurting my nonexistent ears, you know!"
"I'm telling you, it's not me making those noises! I haven't even been saying anything!"
"Do you really expect me to believe that? You always make loud noises to irritate me and mess with me. How is this any different?"
"Because I'm not the one making the noise this time, Puppet!"
Foxy came upon the scene itself when he reached the bottom of the ladder and entered the central room of Puppet's box. Puppet and Bonnet were standing nearby, bickering about Puppet's accusation that Bonnet was the one doing the whining and crying noises.
"Puppet, what are you doing?" Foxy asked as he went over to them.
"Oh, Foxy, there you are. Sorry, Bonnet's been driving me crazy with all that yelling of hers." Puppet sighed.
"It's. Not. ME!" Bonnet insisted, waving her arms.
"Yeah, it isn't her, actually." Foxy agreed quickly.
Puppet looked surprised at Foxy. "You're going along with Bonnet? Why? Who else would be making the noise?"
"Baby is. Stop talking and listen."
The group paused, and they were clearly able to hear a loud burst of crying from somewhere upstairs. Foxy was immediately able to deduce that Baby wasn't in Puppet's room, which was helpful in finding her.
Bonnet, meanwhile, put her hands on her hips. "See? I told you it wasn't me! Now stop blaming me!"
"You're still at fault for a multitude of other things, Bonnet! But that's a conversation for another time." Puppet told Bonnet. "Foxy, why is Baby crying so loudly? Did something happen? Is this why you and her were late to the meeting we planned to have today?"
"I don't know, probably, and yes, I think so." Foxy said, answering all three questions one after another. "I was confused as well. She was ten minutes late in coming to my room to come with me to your room, so I left my room and tried to go and find out why she was so late. That's when I heard her whining. It sounds like she's really upset over something, but I can't find her. The noise is so widespread that I just can't tell where it's coming from. I figured you needed to know."
"That sounds pretty concerning. I wonder what happened to her." Puppet said, frowning concernedly. "If you need help, I can come with and help you look for her. Where have you checked so far?"
"Her room, of course. But she's not there, or in the auditorium or any of the hallways." Foxy explained. "We could always go and look in Ballora's room."
"It's worth a shot, I suppose. Let's go, then."
"Hey, let me come! I wanna see what's happened to Baby!" Bonnet pleaded, raising her arm.
"No, you stay here. This seems like a serious situation, and it'd be better if you let us handle it." Foxy advised.
"If you want to be useful so badly, then stay down here and keep a watch over this place." Puppet added, staring down at her sternly. "If she comes down here, you yell and let us know, okay?"
Bonnet paused, then nodded. "Oh, well, okay then. That sounds like a decent plan. I'll call for you guys if I see her. Until then..." Bonnet giggled and got a mischievous grin. "I've got a new movie to go and watch." She left the room, heading to the tv room.
Foxy gave Puppet an inquiring look. "She didn't rent another expensive movie without your permission, did she?"
"No, I let her do it this time. But she had better not abuse the privilege I'm giving her." Puppet responded. "She's lucky that I don't like being angry towards her, or towards anyone. Now then, let's get going."
Foxy and Puppet headed right to Ballora's room, deciding maybe they could catch Baby yelling in here over some kind of gossip Ballora may have told her. They crossed the big hallway and saw the double doors in sight again. Foxy noticed that they were already open. Was Ballora awake and letting people come in?
But when he got closer and entered the room, it turned out that he was wrong.
"Oh!" Foxy exclaimed, as he saw who was inside.
Ballora, as it turned out, was deactivated on stage again. However, Reggie was wide-awake, and he was standing watch over Mendo-Endo, who had a broom in his hands and was sweeping up messes that had been made all over the floor.
"Please make sure to get this aisle in particular. There was a particularly big popcorn spill in this aisle." Reggie was advising Mendo-Endo.
"You've got it. I will make sure not to miss a spot." Mendo agreed, nodding politely and moving to go down one of the aisles, sweeping all the way down.
"Reggie! Mendo! Are you hearing all that yelling outside?" Foxy asked as he entered the room.
"Ah! Hello, Foxy. What yelling are you talking about? Me and Mendo haven't heard any-" Reggie began.
"WAAAAAAAH!" Came another loud cry from Baby. Mendo stopped working and looked around, and Reggie covered his ears in alarm.
"Now do you hear it?" Foxy questioned, raising an eyebrow.
"My goodness, what is that sound? I never even heard that before..." Reggie winced. "The doors are soundproof, so we normally don't hear anything outside."
"It sounds to me like something very bad has happened to Baby. This worries me." Mendo added, and he put the broom down and went over to Foxy worriedly. "Is Baby alright?"
"I hope so. Listen, have either of you seen- no, wait, that's a stupid question." Puppet decided midway through his sentence. "Clearly she isn't in here if neither of you can hear her screams while the door is closed. That means she's not in here, so...where else could she be? Foxy, did you check the kitchen yet?"
"No, I haven't. Do you think she might be in there?" Foxy questioned.
"There's always a possibility." Puppet said.
"Wait. Please allow me to come with, Foxy." Mendo-Endo asked. "She sounds like she might be in pain. I want to help her. I cannot stand idly by and let myself hear the suffering of my friends without doing anything about it."
Foxy gave Mendo a look of surprise. "You...consider her your friend?"
Mendo nodded. "Of course. She seems like a very nice person. I would like to be her friend, if she does not mind."
"She probably wouldn't mind, especially if you're good at video games." Puppet commented. "You're welcome to come with. If she's physically hurt instead of just emotionally hurt, then your mechanic skills will come in handy."
"Definitely. Let's get moving. I don't feel comfortable leaving her alone much longer." Foxy voiced.
"Oh, well...um, good luck, all three of you! I hope you're able to help Circus Baby! Ballora would want you to." Reggie called. "I would wake her up, but she doesn't want to be disturbed, and I have to follow her rules. In any case, I wish the three of you luck! And Mendo, could you please come back once you're done helping Circus Baby? I really need your assistance finishing the cleanup of Ballora's room."
"I will return as soon as this situation is resolved. I can promise you that." Mendo replied. "But my primary duty is to my friends, so I must go. I will see you later on, Reginald."
"Okay! And please, Mendo, call me Reggie."
Mendo nodded. "Noted." He turned and let Foxy and Puppet lead the way out of the room.
Foxy lead the way as he usually did, so he was the first one to walk through the kitchen doorway.
Which turned out to be a slight mistake.
As soon as he entered, the burst of sound from Baby crying became louder than ever before. Foxy cringed and held his ears, which were hurting a little now.
"Ow! Baby, wherever you are, could you please calm-" Foxy began as he faced the kitchen. "...down?"
The kitchen wasn't empty. Bon-Bon was sleeping soundly on the floor of the kitchen again, and somehow he also hadn't woken up despite the loud noises going through the building. But over by the garbage chute, and currently lodged inside the garbage chute itself was...
"Baby!" Foxy exclaimed.
"Foxy! Please, help me! I'm stuck!" Baby begged. She was sticking out of the garbage chute, but only her head and shoulders were visible. The rest of her seemed to be the part that was stuck in the passage. Foxy recalled the moment where Garbage had been stuck at the opening at the top of the chute, and he knew that if a human could get stuck there, an animatronic was bound to get stuck there even more easily.
"Finally, we found you! You can stop yelling so loudly now, alright, Baby?" Puppet asked as he entered.
"Oh my. You are in the garbage chute, Baby." Mendo-Endo commented as he trailed behind Puppet.
"YES I AM! And I'm STUCK! HELP!" Baby asked, and she began to struggle to free herself.
"We see that! Please, Baby, stop yelling! We'll help you out!" Foxy assured her. "How did this even happen?"
"Well...I was grabbing some food on my way to your room, Foxy, and I thought I'd stop and taunt Garbage a little." Baby explained sadly. "In retrospect, I was being a bit too mean to him with all that..."
"Yeah, you were! Could you please stop using chicken to taunt me? Punching down is not okay!" Came Garbage's voice from below Baby.
"I'm sorry, alright?! I admit it, I went too far!" Baby yelled back.
"So you were taunting Garbage. So far, that seems normal. But how did you end up stuck in the chute opening?" Puppet questioned.
"I...well...I was leaning over the chute opening so I could look down at him, and..." Baby said. "And then...somebody pushed me!"
"Somebody pushed you?" Mendo repeated. "Did you happen to get a glimpse at who it was?"
"No...I got stuck in the chute opening so quickly that I went into a panic...and by the time I looked back, whoever pushed me was...already gone." Baby mumbled.
"Who did it? Bon-Bon?" Puppet asked.
"I don't think so...Bon-Bon's been asleep all day long, and...and he's too small to push me, even if he really tried. Besides, he's my friend...he wouldn't do that..."
"But it's clear somebody pushed you down there. Who, though?" Foxy voiced, his mind drifting into thinking about this. Somebody had tried to push Baby down into the garbage chute? Such a thing was almost definitely bad, and punishable for sure. But Foxy couldn't imagine anyone being in the area in the first place, let alone entering the kitchen and getting Baby stuck while she was distracted. "It can't be Freddy or Ballora. Ballora's deactivated, and I checked on Freddy earlier today and he was deactivated, too. Reggie's been in Ballora's room as usual...Puppet, did you see Bonnet leave your room at all?"
"No, she was there the whole time. I was pretty careful to keep an eye on her so she wouldn't sneak out." Puppet informed Foxy. "And no, this wasn't me. I've been in my room all day long. And besides, I wouldn't do this to her!"
"I have been working alongside Reggie all day long. I was not even aware Baby was in the kitchen." Mendo added. "I do not much like the sound of this, however. By the way the story goes, perhaps someone in this building has it out for her, if not for all of us..."
"Normally, I would hear that and respond with 'the voice!', but I haven't been taken control of today. And of course, I didn't do this! I didn't even know where she was earlier." Foxy continued. "Voice, do you have anything to say for yourself?" He paused, but surprisingly, the voice didn't respond. "What, don't want to make a snide remark this time? Fine, then be quiet."
"Guys, I know you're worried about whoever this was that pushed me, but listen: as of right now, it doesn't matter, and I don't care!" Baby shouted desperately. "Please, just help me get out of here! I don't want to be stuck anymore! Not to mention the fact that my legs are covered in the disgusting chicken grease on the sides of the chute..."
"We'll think of something, okay? Just hold on for now!" Foxy said, and he turned to Puppet and Mendo. "Any ideas, guys? We have to get her unstuck somehow."
"Do we have any balloons? If we inflate them enough, maybe they'd lift her out of there." Puppet suggested. He paused. "Wait, no, scratch that. Us robots are way too heavy. We'd need tons of balloons..."
"If I may suggest, we could just go with Occam's Razor." Mendo-Endo chimed in.
"With what now?" Foxy stuttered.
"Occam's Razor. The simplest solution, I mean. Let us try the most supplies-free method and see if that will work."
"Sounds promising. What's this 'simple solution' that you've got in mind?" Puppet questioned.
"I propose we simply grab her and pull her out of the chute. Alone, it might not be possible, but if we form a line and use our combined strength, we could get her out."
Foxy shrugged. "It's worth a shot. How should we line up?"
"I will go in front." Mendo said. "You two need to grab me from behind. Using my hands-" Mendo raised his noticeably big blue endo hands. "-I will get a secure hold on her shoulders and pull with all of my might. When I say go, I need you two to pull as well. With the efforts of all three of us, she should be able to get free."
Foxy and Puppet nodded. Foxy hoped that the simplest solution really would work. The faster they got Baby out and got things back to normal, the sooner she could calm down, and the sooner they would all be able to investigate into who pushed Baby into the chute in the first place.
Foxy got behind Mendo while Puppet got behind Foxy. As Puppet grabbed Foxy from behind, Foxy did the same with Mendo. Mendo then reached out his arms and took hold of Baby's shoulders. Mendo's hands were big, but they were able to get a grip on her. Baby looked up at them with anxiety.
"I hope you guys know what you're doing!" She said, wincing up at them.
"We very much do, Circus Baby. Please wait. This will only take a moment." Mendo instructed. "Foxy, Puppet...we will pull on the count of three. I will count. Ready yourselves." Foxy tightened his grip in anticipation. "One...two...three...and, pull!"
The trio began pulling as hard as they could. Although he had no expectation for how long this would take, Foxy was still surprised when, five seconds later, they flew backwards and landed on the floor.
"Oof!" Foxy mumbled, but as he got to his feet, he saw that Baby was lying facefirst on the floor and was now dislodged from the chute. "Hey, we did it!"
"Yeah, nice...now can you please...get off...?" Came a mumble. Foxy looked around and saw that Puppet was lying on the floor tiredly. "You...fell on me...ugh..."
"Oh! Sorry." Foxy apologized, grinning sheepishly. "Didn't know the pulling was going to make us all fall, so I wasn't prepared for that."
"Yes! I'm out! Hah!" Baby laughed, cheerful at finally escaping. "That plan actually worked, Mendo. Thanks so much!"
"You are very welcome. I was hoping the simplest solution would work out, and I am glad to see that it did." Mendo responded, nodding his head.
"I'm just glad that's all finally over. I'd love to just...I don't know...relax for a bit." Puppet sighed, and he leaned against the counter to take a rest.
"Actually...are we still going to have that meeting today, like we planned?" Foxy brought up.
"Do we have to? After all of that, I honestly don't want to go to another meeting. Can't we do it tomorrow?" Baby asked tiredly.
Foxy stared in her direction for a moment. "You know what? Yeah, I kind of don't want to have a meeting now either. That fiasco drained my motivation. What about you, Puppet?"
"Well...seeing as the meeting wasn't a super urgent get-together in the first place...sure, why not? We'll move it to the next day. Same hour as before." Puppet concluded, shrugging acceptingly.
"You three were planning on having a meeting? I did not know of this." Mendo commented.
"It was meant to be a bit of a private meeting between me, Puppet, and Baby. Y'know, since we're pretty much the ones in charge around here." Foxy explained. "We didn't think anyone else would care, so we didn't tell anybody else."
"I see." Mendo replied. "In that case, I do not think I will need to bring this up to anybody else, then."
"That would be fine." Puppet said.
"Okay, so! Since I'm free now...I'MGOINGBACKTOMYROOMTOPLAYGAMESGOODBYE!" Baby said rapidly, and she raced out of the room before anyone could stop her.
Puppet watched her leave, then looked to Foxy. "Should we do something about that? She might be getting back to her games too early."
"Nah, let her off this time. She's been through enough today. We can give her a pass...this once, anyway." Foxy said. He headed for the kitchen door. "I'll be heading back to my room now. I assume you guys have stuff to do as well."
"I must return to Reggie and help him finish the cleanup of Ballora's room, Foxy. I will see you later, Foxy." Mendo said. He gave a thumbs-up, then departed from the kitchen.
"And as for me...oh, no, I forgot to watch Bonnet closer today! Foxy, can we have those two trade places now?" Puppet asked pleadingly.
"Alright, alright, sure. It's about time, anyways." Foxy agreed. "Bon-Bon's right over there, so you can go ahead and grab him. I'll stop by your room and pick up Bonnet."
"Okay, but...how am I going to get Bon-Bon to wake up?"
Foxy shrugged. "Give it your best shot. Occam's Razor might work again. Best of luck. Bye."
Foxy left the room, leaving a dejected Puppet to sigh where he stood, as Puppet knew he was in for a rough ride when it came to waking a hand-puppet that most certainly did not want to be woken up...
"What a shame. If only that could've been her end. But no matter. This changes nothing on my path to finally get a body! Hah hah hah!"
Will you please NOT do that, voice?
"Oh, what? Does my laughter annoy you? In that case, I'm going to do it again. Hah hah-!"
Nope, I am not dealing with that. Go back to the corner of my mind where you belong, voice. You're not getting my body. Not now, not ever.
Meanwhile, alongside everything, once again, something stirred in the shadows. A strange figure had been watching as the group of animatronics tried to free Baby from the garbage chute. It laughed.
"I MUST SAY, PUSHING HER INTO THE CHUTE BROUGHT SOME AMUSING CONSEQUENCES. IF ONLY SHE HAD FALLEN ALL THE WAY DOWN RATHER THAN GETTING CAUGHT IN THE OPENING...BUT, NO MATTER. THE RESULT TURNED OUT THE WAY I EXPECTED IT TO.
"PERHAPS I MAY HAVE TO INVESTIGATE IN TRYING TO WIDEN THAT OPENING. IT WOULD WORK TO MY ADVANTAGE IF THEY ALL FELL DOWN THERE ONCE AGAIN, AND THIS TIME, WITHOUT A MEANS OF ESCAPE..."