"What would Marion like? If I can dig deeper into the reason why the animatronics were killing the guards, I may be able to convince them to give me a break and stop killing those innocent people." Jeremy thought, as Mr. Gerard continued on with his talking about supernatural. "He acted pretty hurt when I insulted him, and he sounds like a kid. Maybe a toy or two. I still have some old toys at my house. His box might be dark, so I'll give him something that glows. Something that might keep him occupied for awhile."
Once class was over, Jeremy debated on whether he should give Marion a toy or a book. "He seemed pretty happy when I agreed to giving him something. Don't the kids give him anything at all?" He thought. "He did say kids are demanding sometimes.. maybe they don't appreciate him at all. Hm.. maybe something that'll lighten up his box. Yeah, that would work."
"Hey Jeremy! According to the principal, school's ending early today! There's an emergency meeting, because lots of parents complained about Wilbur's treatment of the other students! He's gonna get what he deserves, Jer!" Fritz cheered. "We got a lot of time on our hands! Whaddaya wanna do? I don't do my marvelous hacking of a hobby 'til everyone's asleep!" He said proudly. Jeremy sighed. Hacking was a crime, and Fritz would get arrested if they found out what he was doing. While he wasn't doing anything serious like hacking bank accounts, he was seeing sensitive information. But he wasn't using them to blackmail anyone.
Jeremy thought for awhile. "Fritz, are you aware of any stores that sells glowing toys? Like, toys that glow in the dark or something?" He asked.
"I heard there are glowing toys for prizes at the restaurant you work for, since glowing toys at department stores are pretty expensive these days. I mean, my aunt's friend's sister won a glowing ball from that creepy pizzeria. What's the stuff for?" He asked, eyebrow raising. "It's also quite a miracle you didn't sleep in class or look frantic. Something happen last night?"
Jeremy scratched his head, nervously grinning. "It wasn't as hellish as it usually was. Well, for the first few hours, yes, but.. it got easier. How about going to Freddy's for lunch? I'll attempt to win a glowing toy, since tickets are cheap and are practically the currency at the prize corner. I haven't been to the game corner before, which is funny, sine I work there. But I can't leave my place." He sighed. "Against the rules my ass.. I can't leave my place, but the animatronics can."
"That must suck." Fritz commented, although he was a bit hesitant to agree to Jeremy's invitation. "But I always wanted to investigate the place you worked at. It'll be fun!" He cheered.
It was a bigger hell than it was at night.
Children were screaming, ranting, crying, or laughing too loud. Parents were either at their seats, or being dragged everywhere by their kids. Onstage was Toy Freddy, Toy Bonnie, and Toy Chica, performing some songs. The originals were probably at the Parts/Service room, seeing as their dismantled state will probably scare the kids. Mangle's parts were everywhere, leaving the staff to pick it up and put it back in Kid's Cove.
"What the hell are you doing so early, Fitzgerald?"
Jeremy saw his boss, looking at him like he had just stepped on a dog. Or something less cruel. "Being here early won't increase your pay." He said, lighting up a cigarette. "Poor Vixen's being torn apart everyday. If you want a place quieter, go to the prize corner. No kid goes there, unless they got hundreds of tickets." He said. "Oh, and one more thing. Unlike at night, if you wind the box, ol' puppet there'll pop out. He'll give you a prize or something if you have tickets. Or you can ask him how much tickets it'll cost for a prize. At night, he's quite the opposite, eh?"
"Um, okay." Jeremy answered, dragging Fritz with him. "Thanks for the info, boss."
As they went to the Prize Corner, he heard Fritz mumble something. "Your boss is an ass." He said, as he followed Jeremy. "But what does he mean that it's.. different at night, Jer?"
"Don't listen to him. He's trying to scare ya." Jeremy lied.
The prize corner was cleaner than it was yesterday. Toys were lined up everywhere, and so were balloons. There wasn't many people around, considering all of them were at the game corner. Jeremy spotted the music box, the same one he uses at night. Picking it up, he started to wind it, as the tune of "Pop! Goes the Weasel!" started playing. Jeremy was about to stop, fearing that Marion might attempt to kill him for forgetting to wind the box. "Marion's not stupid enough to attack during restaurant hours. Nor is he as stupid as to throw a tantrum during work. That would be like he's throwing the fact that he's sentient."
Instead, the box's lid opened slightly, as sharp fingers gripped the edges of the box. Slowly, a head popped out, before it's body was pulled up by strings. "Welcome to the Prize Corner! I am Marionette, the prize giver." He said. However, his so-called happy attitude dropped when he noticed Jeremy was in front of him. As he managed to lower the strings a bit, he looked at Jeremy with a face of annoyance and embarrassment, probably from his attitude towards kids. "You're early, Fitzgerald. Hmph, not that your pay would increase, you stupid "guard". You can't even last five minutes without wetting your pants at the sight of Balloon Boy of all robots." He said in a quiet voice, making sure no customer heard how sentient he was. "Why're you here? Here to die early? Hah, I'm not as stupid as you. I'm not gonna kill someone in broad daylight. It'll take a longer time to dispose the body. Maybe I should hide it in my box. No, it would dirty my box."
Jeremy sighed. He's back into hating him, isn't he? His whispering was fortunately quiet, and Fritz didn't seem to notice Marion moving close to Jeremy, as he was scanning around the room looking for something. "How much tickets does it cost to get a glowing toy?" He asked, getting straight to the point. Even Marion seemed to notice who wasn't going to snap unlike earlier.
Marion hummed a bit. "The cheapest is a glow-in-the-dark ball. Only for five tickets. Most people don't tend to get one, since they prefer plushies and other merchandise." He explained, then sunk a bit into his box. "Why do you ask?"
He had no idea, which was good. "Eh. Nothing special."
"If you're planning to win some tickets, the easiest way to gain them is through a certain arcade game." He said, slowly sinking into his box. "Try the black and white arcade at the back of the game corner. Ask BB where it is, but tell him to keep his mouth shut." He demanded. "I'm gonna give you tokens, but you need to pay up. That other employee, Mike Schmidt, will collect the money later. I'll give you fifty tokens for ten bucks. Cheap, huh?"
Jeremy nodded, handing over the money. Marion took it, and placed it somewhere in his box, as he gave Jeremy a pink and red spotted pouch that contained the tokens. "T-Thanks, Marionette." He wasn't sure if he was allowed to use Marion's nickname yet. "I promise I won't tell Fritz, or anyone about you guys being sentient! I'll tell BB your rule, so no need to worry."
Marion huffed. "I can't risk anyone knowing that we can remember info such as last night events. It'll cause suspicion." He said, grabbing the lid to his box. "But. If you ever tell anyone, and that includes your stupid-adult-glasses-wearing-red-headed-companion, that we're sentient beings, I won't hesitate to murder you in my box the moment you get near." He growled, going back inside.
"..You're seriously not gonna open up to me, huh?" He muttered. Marion poked his head out of the box, a bit entertained.
"You're an adult, stupid. I will never get along with people your age, dummy."
"Welcome to Game Corner!" BB giggled, as kids ran inside, failing to acknowledge his presence. As they an off, he sighed. He wished they'd acknowledge his presence more, but he guessed it was natural. He then arranged the balloons once again, noticing a familiar face. His robotic eyes widened, as he made a defensive stance, preparing to hit the person with his sign and balloon.
"Hey! It's Mr. Night-Guard! Why's he here so early?" He thought. "Is he here to make Marion cry again?! Ooh, I'm gonna hit 'im! If he's gonna make Marion cry, I'm gonna send Foxy and Vixen to attack him! Bite his frontal lobe off!"
"Whoa, so cool!" Fritz commented, at the sight of Balloon Boy. "This one's a humanoid robot! Sweet! He's the size of a standing toddler, made out of plastic, and he's carefully painted!" Fritz said, as he started inspecting the round robot. BB was slightly scared of Fritz's observant behavior, so he hastily handed out a red and blue striped balloon. "Amazing! It knows when there's a human in front of it! Thanks for the balloon!"
Jeremy grabbed Fritz's arm and sighed. "You're scaring the crap out of BB. Let's go, you need to teach me how these arcade games work. The black and white machine is the easiest way to gain some tickets."
BB made sure to keep his voice in a robotic and slightly childish way. "If you're looking for a certain machine, please describe!" He lied, fully knowing what game he was talking about. "Freddy and his friends have been programmed to know as such!"
"Awesome!" Fritz commented.
"Uh.. A black and white machine at the back of the game room?" He asked hesitantly. To Fritz, it may seem like they have been programmed expertly, but to Jeremy, he could see how Balloon Boy had this stare at him.
BB pretended to "process" the words, and opened his mouth to speak. "The game is called "Give Gifts"! Follow meeeee!~" He giggled, happy to have an excuse to leave the spot he was always standing on. As the three walked around the game area, he spotted four boys, mixing their tickets together, with their parents trolling behind them.
"You think it's enough?" One boy asked his friend.
"Certainly! It's more than enough!" One replied.
Jeremy and Fritz continued to follow Balloon Boy, who had stopped in front of an arcade machine. As Marion said, it was black and white, and on top had a pixelated sign that read "Give Gifts". Balloon Boy made a quiet sigh, before making a fake smile again. "This is it! I b-better return to my spot now!" He said hesitantly. He left the two without another word.
Fritz crossed his arms. "Is he alright? He seemed less cheerful. Did it have something to do with his programming malfunctioning or something?" He asked, obviously concerned. He was interested in how everything worked, so he was concerned when things that usually didn't break down, well.. broke down.
Jeremy shook his head. "Erm.. he was programmed to be upset once his time to uh.. help, was done. Yeah, like a kid! You know how they act once their time to be useful is up, ehehehe.." he lied. "Uh, so we better start." He said, as he slipped a token into the machine. The screen lit up, as Jeremy stared at the controls. A joystick, and a single red button. "So.. for each point I get, that's the amount of tickets I get..?"
Fritz face-palmed himself. "Dude, for each level you clear up, you get three tickets. It's a common rule here in the pizzeria." He said. "So.. the instructions on the wall state that you move around with the joystick, up, down, left, and right. And.. to "give gifts" or do an action, press the large red button. Fairly simple game, and each level has four kids that you need to give gifts to in thirty seconds. As the level progresses, the time ticks down faster. Got that?"
"Yeah."
"Good. You press the button. I move the player."
They were currently in level ten as of now, and had already gathered thirty tickets, more than they need. But Jeremy decided to get random merchandise later. As they finished the tenth level, both panted, hands aching. "One more round." Fritz said.
Suddenly, the screen started flickering. All of a sudden, the player, which was a purple sprite, was replaced by a black ghost, seemingly wearing a white mask with empty eyes, and tear stains. Instead of children wearing colorful clothes, they seemed to be lying down, clothes white and red. The game was making a disturbing buzzing sound, making the noise "mi" so often.
Jeremy blinked, slightly cringing. "Uh.. A glitch..?" He said, somewhat shocked.
Fritz shrugged. "..L-Let's just get this over with. L-Level eleven seems disturbing.."
As Fritz moved the "ghost" he noticed how it's eyes glowed white all of a sudden. As Jeremy pressed the button once they got near a child, something bothered both of them.
Instead of a present, there seemed to be an animatronic's head. It was purple with something sticking out of it, possibly ears. ".. Old Bonnie?"
As they continued the level, heads of Chica, Foxy, and Freddy appeared to each child. However, the character started moving towards the middle of the room. Fritz stared at it in disbelief, as he tried to move the joystick. "It's stuck in one place! What the hell is going on?"
Suddenly, a loud shriek emitted from the machine, and started spitting tickets. While Fritz was focused on why the machine had suddenly broke down, Jeremy noticed words on the arcade machine. The machine was blinking between white and black, and white pixelated letters were on the corner. Jeremy read the text, backing away slowly as he read something disturbing.
"It's Me"
The arcade game is based off the death minigame "Give Gifts, Give Life", but instead of it being a jumpscare of Golden Freddy, I decided to make the machine break down and spit tickets. That way, Fritz is distracted, and only Jeremy is able to see how disturbing the arcade game was. They probably have about a hundred tickets from now..