It took three years before Fazbear Entertainment was able to get over the bad press of the bite of '87 and garner the necessary support to restart the franchise. Obviously though, changes had to be made. First of all, the company had a reduced budget. This meant that along with switching back to the old animatronics, the main store would be moved back to its original location. Secondly, the animatronics were no longer allowed to go into free-roaming mode; they could not take the chance that the animatronics would malfunction (they could never figure out why they malfunctioned in the first place) and attack someone again. However, this was deemed overzealous when Fazbear Entertainment figured out that the animatronics could not remain on stage for too long, otherwise their servos locked up. So, the animatronics were allowed to go into free-roaming mode at night, after the customers and most of the employees had left. There was still a slight perceived chance of the animatronics bothering the night guard, so Fazbear Entertainment decided that they might as well install security doors and lights, with some legal jargon additions made to the introductory greeting that would be read to each of the new guards.
…
The Puppet was back at the old store, in almost the same situation. The difference was this time it was sealed away inside a box. The employees heard rumors about it from time to time, but no one ever actually saw it. Without an endoskeleton, the Puppet couldn't break out of the box on its own. Normally, it wouldn't care; there wasn't much about life it could enjoy anyway. However, Will, Lucy, Peter, Greg, and Robbie were still out there. It had been three years since they had last seen the light of day. After the bite of '87, they had been locked away in a warehouse again.
They were all pretty sure that they had had family and friends years ago, but they had forgotten their names and what they looked like. There was very little that the Puppet could do for them now. They couldn't play with other children anymore. They were stuck on the stage, playing the same songs over and over, unable to control how they moved or what they were looking at. They weren't by themselves though. Ben, Liam, Gina, Hayden, Vince, and Val were all still here. It was as the Puppet had feared; they couldn't leave anymore. Their spirits were constrained to the limits of the Fazbear stores. Occasionally, they could manifest themselves in the form of drawings or the thoughts of the night guards, but for the most part they simply wandered the store.
…
Joel was glad to have a job, but the move back to the old Fazbear's was not an improvement. The new store had been so much bigger and so much more advanced. It was tough to get used to the old place again. Unfortunately, this time it was even worse.
"Ma'am, please ask your children to stop throwing pizza at the animatronics…"
"What do you expect me to do!? They're bored, and I can't be everywhere at once!"
The screaming kids weren't actually trying to throw pizza at Freddy and his friends, but they were more or less throwing pizza everywhere. Kids would be kids; they had this kind of problem even at the new store, but Joel had learned that the less kids are entertained, the more they'll act out. Without the animatronics going into free roaming mode, the kids got bored a lot faster.
Joel looked at the animatronics that were now covered in pizza sauce and cheese. Things still didn't seem quite right with them. They didn't stare at him anymore, but he got the sense that if they could, they would. The store was currently on its sixth night guard. Joel had been told that the others had quit.
The animatronics were singing "It's Still Rock and Roll to Me." They hadn't been able to hire a new night guard recently. That meant Joel was going to need to take the shift soon.
…
"Everybody's talkin' 'bout the new sound. Funny, but it's still rock and roll to me."
Freddy?
Yeah, Chica?
How long do you think we have before we can come off the stage?
I don't know.
"Should I get a set of white wall tires? 'Are you gonna cruise the miracle mile?'"
Do you think that the Purple Man will still be here?
He shouldn't be. He's in one of the suits now.
But we've put the Purple Man in a suit before…
Well maybe he will be. We still need to get him. We're going to get the Purple Man. We're going to get all of the Purple Man.
"Hot funk, cool punk even if its old junk, It's still rock and roll to me."
I don't want to do this again, Freddy. I'm tired of the Purple Man seeing me.
Shut up Foxy.
"Oh, it doesn't matter what it say in the papers, 'cause it's always been the same old scene."
How's the little guy been doing?
He's still crying. He'll get used to things soon though.
But…I can't remember…has he ever stopped crying?
…Sometimes it just takes time.