Ho Ho Ho! I'm here with a very belated chapter. Sorry everyone but Real Life got in the way (Cruse you real life) But here we are now!
Thanks to Wherever Girl for helping to edit this!
FNAF is owned by Scott Cawthon and FNAF by Bill Watterson Make sure to leave your're thoughts and options, it really helps!
The room was busy. People ran back and forth, hunting for the perfect spot. Lights brightened; Some were darkened.
Time was running short.
When the final placements were made, a voice called, "That's time! Places people." The room fell silent as everyone stopped in their designated places. Finally, the cameraman raised a hand, with a "Three... two... one..." gesture.
A final thumbs up gave him the clearance to start. Calvin shuffled his notes. Clearing his throat, he smiled into the camera.
"Good morning, America- and all the bug eyes aliens in space! Tonight's top story: a father on trial. Local man er...sorry everyone my notes are smudged," Calvin coughed and looked.
His director motioned. Continue anyway. Calvin nodded.
"A local man is on trial, due to currently unknown circumstances." Calvin said dramatically."Right now we have little information on the events taking place, but we do have eyes on the ground!"
Calvin winked. He motioned to the camera. The camera man cut the shot. It was The Ace Reporter. The ever attentive tiger. AKA… Hobbes. Ready to report!
It was time! But..something was wrong. There was a video outside the courthouse. But no Hobbes. Everyone stopped. No one moved. Calvin nervously chuckled.
"Um...where's Hobbes?"
One technician spoke into a headset. The camera tilted, then turned. Everyone watched, waiting.
When the camera focused on Hobbes, everyone blinked.
All except Calvin. He scowled, then face-palmed. Hobbes lay on the steps. Asleep, and snoring.
"Are you kidding me," groaned Calvin. "That stupid furball managed to fall asleep!?"
Everyone stepped back. Calvin's freak-outs were legendary. For a good reason. They wanted to run, but that would make him madder.
"Of all the stupid things that Tiger could do, it's fall asleep and leave me here!" Papers flew. The boom mike fell. Calvin caught it, then threw it. "He always manages to fall asleep!" The mic shattered on the wall. "Each time I need him, and what is he doing?"
The reporter gripped his desk. Everyone scrambled. For a small kid, he could throw.
"This is going to be the 5th desk this week!" A crew man shouted.
"Already… it's only Tuesday," Another complained.
Calvin heaved up the desk. Whoever were left ran. But it was too late. The desk flew. Across the room it sailed. People ran screaming.
By now Calvin was marching around in circles. By now he was just yelling. Some of it wasn't even coherent. Just plain yelling.
Everyone took the chance to flee, leaving Calvin alone. Yet he ranted still. He would have kept ranting too. Rant until the stars fell.
Until Mom burst through a door next to him. Calvin squeaked, jumping back.
"Calvin," she scolded. "Be quiet!"
"Huh?" Asked Calvin. He blinked twice, and everything faded. The trashed newsroom changed back into a courtroom. He was no longer in fantasy. He was standing in front of a bench. Hobbes and Mom still sat on it, the tiger fast asleep.
Oh yeah… The moment they entered the courtroom, Calvin drifted off into one of his fantasies, this time being about a famous news-anchor- mostly famous for his outrageous outbursts whenever something went wrong. (Hey, how else would they keep those ratings?)
The lawyers up front kept talking. So He must not have caused too much of a disruption.
"I know this is a bit boring, but do not raise your voice!" She harshly whispered. Looking up, she saw Dad up front. "We don't need anymore trouble," her voice became soft.
Calvin rested his head against the side of the bench. In his six years of life, he'd been told by TV that court cases were very dramatic. Full of twists, turns, surprise witnesses, and last minute evidence.
Of course, reality tends to be a very harsh mistress. Calvin hadn't been seeing any of that. He was almost bored to tears.
He glanced at Hobbes, a sharp pang of jealousy occurring. As in his dream, the tiger had fallen asleep. Well, that just wouldn't do, not for Calvin.
Cautiously, he jabbed the tiger in the rib. Hobbes curled up tighter, making Calvin think of a pillbug. He went to do it again, and was met with a growl from the tiger.
Calvin's arm flew back to his side and decided to remain there for its own protection. Maybe the rest of him too… Leaving him bored once again.
The trial didn't last for much longer, twenty minutes at most. But for Calvin it felt like an eternity. The seconds turned into minutes minutes, and the minutes felt like months.
At long last the judge declared: "Court is adjourned until 9:30 tomorrow morning!" he banged his gavel hard, finally waking Hobbes up.
"I plead the fifth and take the tuna!" Hobbes exclaimed, jolting awake.
"Fine time for you to wake up," snapped Calvin, "The case is already over!"
"Oh," Hobbes stretched then looked back at his friend. "Did we win?" he asked as he, Calvin, and Mom went toward Dad at the front of the courtroom.
"How should I know? I thought you paid attention to this stuff,"
"I cannot help it if court cases tire me. Hearing all the legal jargon makes my head hurt."
"I'm about to make your head hurt worse,"
"Calvin, would you please shush?" his mother whispered sternly. She was already dealing with Dad's current tantrum and didn't want to have Calvin's added to the pile. Calvin "harrumphed" as Hobbes gave him a sneering grin. Nothing more was said until they'd reached the front of the room.
Dad was talking intently with a couple of people. Usually Calvin wouldn't bother himself with even sparing these people a glance... But something within ordered his attention toward them.
One man had dark red hair, and was a short and kinda skinny. To Calvin he seemed like, to quote Moe for once, a "Twinky."
Next to him was William Afton, who was still sending all of Calvin's creeper sense skyrocketing. He didn't even know he had those. Probably a recent development after dealing with the monsters under the bed for so many years.
Mom stopped, and placed a hand before Calvin's face. He barely avoided bumping into it, and so he glanced up.
What he got as a reward was a "shush," motion from her. Calvin's brow furrowed but he, wisely, backed down. After what happened with Dad he didn't want to incur more wrath.
Hobbes came up alongside Calvin, drinking from cup.
"Where did you get that?" Calvin eyed the cup in confusion.
"Oh this?" Hobbes tapped the cup with his paw, "I got thirsty and nabbed it," Calvin blinked rapidly and glanced at Mom.
"Hobbes, you can't just steal water from people like some tiger version of Robin Hood," Calvin whispered.
"Why are you whispering?"
"Because, Dad's already about to blow like a volcano; and I'd prefer not to be the trigger," Hobbes, in return gave a respectful nod. Followed by another sip from his drink.
They both glanced back toward the conversation. Hobbes kept sipping, whilst Calvin clenched his jaw tight. The pair sat like that for a bit, till Calvin quickly became bored.
"I wonder what they're talking about," Hobbes wondered aloud as he finished off his drink.
"Well," Calvin gestured to them, "You want to go up and ask them? I sure can't," he crossed his arms.
"Maybe I will," Hobbes grinned, tossing his cup aside. He began to stride confidently forward. Calvin was horrified.
"What are you doing you dumb cat?! You're going to get us in trouble!"
Hobbes turned back with the widest grin imaginable. The teasing kind that made hearts sink into stomachs; and make a man sweat ice. Calvin felt himself coming down with a case of, "I'm going to die because of my best friend," syndrome. (Scientists have proven many people suffer from such cases).
Whilst Calvin was in the process of internally screaming, Hobbes meandered his way over to the three men. Thankfully no one paid him any mind. He made his way over to Dad and leaned against the nearest table. Once there he began to listen.
"…I know that I had expressly forbidden the use of the suits," Henry wrung his hands, glancing around.
"Cleary they disregarded it, instead acting like a child around toys." Afton crossed his arms, seemingly disinterested in the whole affair.
"There's no way we can prove that," Henry reminded his friend. He glanced back toward Dad, who was loading up his briefcase "I, again, express my sincere apologies for this whole mess."
Dad shut his briefcase with a sigh. What he wanted to do was punch Afton in the face and chew out this, Henry, for such dangerous devices- For Even intending people to wear them, let alone inventing them in the first place!
But now isn't the time to get more people mad at him, so he opted instead for diplomacy."Well, unless you can find the evidence; we're going to be doing this for a week, at least," shutting the briefcase, he turned to both men. "Gentlemen, I hope you have a good day," he said, letting only the faintest hints of sarcasm drip in.
Henry nodded and turned to leave, William stayed behind, but not for long. He just watched Dad, then he glanced to Calvin. The warning bells went ringing in Hobbes's head.
The tiger issued an, almost, unheard growl. Despite this, William remained unfazed and he turned to leave. But not before getting one more glance back at Calvin. Thankfully this didn't go unnoticed by Dad, who scurried over to his family.
"Let's get back to the hotel," Dad said firmly. Mom was ready to question him, but fell silent. She blew some air upward, messing with her hair. She didn't want to keep fighting him, not here at least. The family began to walk out of the court house, but the crowds made it hard to get out right away. It was a constant flow of stop and go.
Thus allowing Calvin and Hobbes to speak discreetly.
"So, what did you discover?" Calvin whispered.
"That William character is a creep," Hobbes brushed his fur down. "My fur hasn't stood up like that in ages!"
"You're fur stands up every time a dog barks,"
"Hey I had a traumatic experience with one remember?"
"If I recall correctly, it was I that had the traumatizing experience, you got to have cookies with Susie in complete violation of G.R.O.S.S protocol!" Calvin ranted.
"Hey I was cleared of all charges by court."
"You're just fortunate that the best lawyer of G.R.O.S.S wanted to defend you," Calvin grumbled while Hobbes smiled at the memory. The moment when Calvin was both defense and prosecutor while Hobbes was defendant and judge.
"Also, I'm pretty sure we've got some more important matters to deal with," Hobbes reminded Calvin.
"Oh right yes, what Intel did you gather?"
"Well there's some evidence missing and without it the trial will go on for at most a week," Hobbes said nonchalantly.
Then, he felt a void a silence open, like the entirety of sound was just sucked into a single entity, then smothered out. Hobbes glances back to see that Calvin had stopped walking.
"Uh boy," Hobbes said softly.
"A FU-," Calvin began, then stopped sharply. He glanced at his Dad who hadn't heard the start of the outburst. Yanking Hobbes down he whispered, "…a full week?"
"Sounds like it, due to some important evidence missing," explained Hobbes.
"What kind of evidence?"
"Some kind of instructions that the suits were not in use I didn't pick up much."
"So what? They can't just say they told whoever used the suits to not use them?" Calvin inquired, mostly to himself. Hobbes merely shrugged.
"Maybe we can find it ourselves…" Calvin mused. Hobbes stared blankly at Calvin.
"How on earth do you suppose we do that, it's not like a clue is going to drop out of the sky!"
Indeed Hobbes was correct, for a clue failed to drop from the sky…
Rather, it came walking up right next to them. William had stayed to talk with both Henry and the judge. Now, finally, he was on his way home.
He was mumbling to himself, but Hobbes managed to pick up on it. Cats have pretty good hearing folks, remember that. "…make sure everything is disposed of by tomorrow," The tiger caught, and once again his fur stood up.
Hobbes glared at the man. His animal instincts were screaming 'That Man Is Evil!' nonstop… but the question was, why? All he knew was that he didn't want that creep near Calvin. The man eyed his best friend the way a lioness eyes an antelope on a hunt!
"Hey, Hobbes! C'mon!" Calvin said, breaking Hobbes out of his thoughts. "I want to spend at least PART of this week OUTSIDE the courthouse!"
"I'm coming, I'm coming." Hobbes groused; he looked over his shoulder, but Afton had disappeared into the crowd.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
Once back at the hotel, Dad immediately lied down on the bed. Mom stood with Calvin by the door. "Calvin, listen to me carefully." She said quietly. "Your father is very, very, VERY stressed right now. I want you to find something to do- QUIETLY. No causing trouble, understand?"
"Considering Dad is a ticking time-bomb, you don't have to tell me twice!" Calvin replied.
"I'm serious, Calvin. I want you to BEHAVE." She looked over at Dad, who remained still on the bed. She handed Calvin a handful of dollar-bills. "Here, why don't you go find a vending machine? I'm sure the hotel has one- maybe it has a pool you can swim in later."
Calvin looked at the wad of cash (despite it was only six or seven dollars). "Gosh, maybe Dad should get stressed more often!"
"Calvin…"
The six-year-old nodded. "Right. Behave. Gotcha." He and Hobbes then walked down the hall while Mom went into the room to- once again- give Dad some reassurance.
"Do you think your parents will be okay?" Hobbes asked. "I sense a lot of tension from your dad- I mean, more than he usually has. And your mom must be pretty worried if she's letting you wander around a hotel ALONE for once,"
"Yeah, well, considering we'll be here for a week, I can't blame them."
"Aren't you worried? From the way they've snapped at each other and how they're acting… what if this trial leads to them actually getting a divorce?"
Calvin thought about this; granted in the past Mom groused about getting a divorce (mainly due to a horrible camping experience), but he never figured his mother would go through with it. "I doubt it- Dad's a lawyer, he probably had Mom sign a prenuptial agreement. …Even if they did cut ties, it wouldn't be too bad- we'd have Two Christmases!"
Hobbes gave Calvin a look. "Do you NOT remember how your Dad celebrates Christmas?"
"…oh yeah, I forgot I'm related to Mister Tight-Wad. W-Well, I doubt they'll get a divorce over a dumb trial. Now let's find a vending machine!"
Hobbes nodded. "Yeah. I could use a snack after today,"
After wandering around, they finally found the vending machine in the hotel's lobby…
Sadly, all it had was salted crackers, raisins, and plain gum… all for 1.50! "Geez, with those prices they should be selling king-sized candy bars!" Calvin griped. "This is the kind of stuff lame people give away on Halloween!"
"The soda machine is no better," Hobbes said, looking at the soda machine and pushing buttons- all but Diet Cola was sold out… and the price was 2 dollars per can.
Calvin shook his head. "C'mon, let's go see if the pool is any better." He walked over to a pair of cleaning janitors- one was a guy with brown hair, the other was… a woman (maybe?) with blonde hair.
"I'm telling you, next time some kid pees on the floor rather than the toilet, I'm going to tell the manager about our 'house-broken' dilemmas!" the brown-haired man was stating.
"Bro, you should've seen it last week. Some old lady confused the bathtub for a toilet- and from the Taco Bell bags she left in the room, I knew it wasn't going to be pretty from the start…" the blonde-haired boy-girl-thing was saying.
"Excuse me!" Calvin spoke up. "Where's the pool?"
The two janitors paused, looking at each other. "Wuh-oh, not another one…" the brunette said out of the corner of his mouth.
"You wanna tell him, or should I?" the blonde sighed.
Calvin arched an eyebrow. "Tell me what?"
"We… don't have a pool. Couldn't afford it in the budget,"
"Yeah. Sorry, kid."
The two janitors walked off, leaving Calvin gaping. "Three… two… one…" Hobbes sighed, covering his ears.
"NO POOL?!" Calvin bellowed, then began to rant. "First we're forced to attend some boring trial, Dad's attitude is stuck at 'Breathe Wrong And I'll Strangle You', we have to be stuck in a courthouse for a WHOLE WEEK, the vending machines charge an arm and a leg for flavorless snacks, and now it turns out that this hotel doesn't even have a pool?!"
Hobbes sat down. He had a feeling this would go on for another two hours.
Calvin continued to pace, letting out his rage. "Geez, I can't believe this! Is there at least a SIGN that things are going to get worse?!"
He looked out a window, seeing a sign near the edge of town, reading: "Welcome To Hurricane!"
"A town named after a natural disaster. Wonderful." Calvin groaned. "Great. Just great! There's nothing to do, and if they can't find ANY evidence to help Dad's case, we're going to die from boredom!"
Hobbes' ears perked up. "Wait a minute…" he said, rubbing his chin. "I wonder if that's what he meant?"
"Who meant what?" Calvin paused his rant as his curiosity took over. "You hiding something from me?!"
"When we were leaving the courthouse, I heard that Afton guy-" Hobbes automatically clenched his teeth at the thought of the man. "Whispering to himself about 'making sure everything is disposed of by tomorrow morning'."
"Afton? …WAIT! That weirdo we saw earlier?!"
"Yeah… and everything about him makes all my senses go haywire! He looks, sounds, smells and- if there's a chance I have to eat him- probably tastes suspicious!" he rubbed his chin. "But, why would he hire your Dad, then get rid of evidence that would support their case?"
"That's a good question… and I think I know where we'll find the answers," Calvin walked over to a framed picture on the wall; it was a map of the town, and his eyes fell on a certain location.
Hobbes' fur stuck up again; he recognized that look in Calvin's eye. "Oh no…"
"Oh yeah." Calvin grinned. "Hobbes… we're going out for pizza!"
The tiger face-palmed. Why didn't he keep his mouth shut?