One Month Later…
Being just over four and a half months along, it seemed the twins had really begun to grow. Saphira's stomach had grown a lot over the last few weeks. She wasn't massive yet, but she now had to wear larger sized clothing to be comfortable, and she has started to wear leggings as she no longer found the staff pants she would usually wear as comfortable. Thankfully, no one has really given her a hard time about it. Vanessa encouraged the leggings. However, she had to stop helping with the maintenance sooner than she had hoped. She almost fell over the table due to being unbalanced the last time she helped, thankfully Mr Hippo caught her in time and helped her down and Darren took over. It was a little frustrating.
Glitchtrap has yet to show his angry face. He has already tried to attack Sun and Moon's mainframe again, and they both felt it. Saphira made sure to write a strong, virus protection program to keep them safe. She used what Mr Hippo again as a base for it, and it has kept him from taking control. But the staff bots have been acting weirder now. They have been following her whenever she was out of the office. Even if she was simply walking to Rockstar Row or getting something from El Chip.
It was not very fun, but she ignored them for the most part. As for herself, her nausea has subsided almost completely. The only thing that made her sick was pizza. And it wasn't just any pizza. She can't stand the smell, sight or taste of cheese pizza. It took a while for her to figure out why she disliked pizza, and it was just a specific pizza.
She still ate pizza, but she would refuse to have cheese on it. The mozzarella that is used for the pizza here at the pizzaplex was not one she could stomach. Saphira simply ate pizza without the cheese whenever she felt like a margherita, meat lover pizza. But she did not have it as much, she preferred having roast potato and turkey from Gator Ribs. It was better than having strawberries all the time, but she still ate them.
She didn't have an unusual cravings though, other than having the tendency to eat a whole jar of peanut butter. Saphira happened to eat it whenever she was thinking. She had been working on her antivirus during this time as she wanted to strengthen it. She actually made two antivirus programs, mostly because she knew she needed multiple to defeat Glitchtrap. She couldn't use the same codes each time, he will override them eventually.
As for dealing with the rabbit lady, Saphira was working on new eyes as well. She was able to retrieve a set of spare eyes for Roxy, and after she discovered the distortion disc that Vanessa carelessly left on a chair in the rehearsal hall, Saphira took it home with her and hooked up her computer to the eyes to see what frequency would be best to combat the distortion the animatronics see when they look at the woman. It was a slow process as the frequency that was used to distort their sight was quite specific and she wasn't sure if she could get the right frequency.
That didn't stop her from working though. Being at home gave her the time to do these things, even though she was more tired now that she was further along in the pregnancy. Right now, the pizzaplex was in the throes of getting prepared for Halloween. The decorations that were brought out was really fun to see. The different pumpkins, statues of pumpkin head creatures, vampires and so on, along with many wall decorations and the change of color in the neon lights from the bright colors to a bright orange, red and black. It changed the feel of the pizzaplex.
But Saphira was excited because she received word that the Chica Coaster was ready for testing, and while she couldn't get into the coaster itself, she would be able to watch so that she could see that the coaster was running properly. It was ten right now and she had just finished chasing a family out for causing a commotion in the Fazcade over losing so many games. Saphira was looking over the current reports of the test runs that the coaster already had with no passengers. So far, they seemed good.
And the specs for the coaster showed it seemed to be running smoothly, but Saphira needed to see it for herself. "Evening, Saphira," Mr Hippo's voice spoke through the Fazwatch. "I no longer have any events that I need to attend for the rest of the night. I am on my way to my room. How are you feeling tonight?"
Saphira let out a soft groan. She had her feet up on another chair because they had been aching. "Hmmm…well, I devoured a whole jar of peanut butter, ate a turkey sandwich and now I am grumpy over sore feet and an aching back. That sums up how I am feeling. But I am thrilled we get to test run the Chica Coaster. I had worried with less funding it wouldn't even be open by now, but I guess they were closer to finish than we thought."
"I am looking forward to it as well," Mr Hippo responded enthusiastically. "It is the only night of the week we get to come out of our rooms to walk around with you and Vanessa, even if I don't trust that woman." Saphira nodded as she knew they hated not being able to walk around as freely as they could. "By the way, have you seen the new staff bots?"
"What new staff bots?" Saphira asked curiously with a slight frown.
"Oh, you have not. Well, I saw some staff bots going around, and they look like they got a Halloween design." She definitely didn't know anything about that. "There isn't a lot of them though. They bodies are painted black, with their heads looking like pumpkin faces with mouths full of sharp teeth, and the arms are painted orange at the end. I don't ever remember the staff bots being dressed up for Halloween. This is odd to me."
"It is odd…I do get I informed about minor details like that," Saphira said thoughtfully and shrugged. "I really am not in the mood to think about such things though, Mr Hippo. It could just be something that the staff bot engineers decided and those staff bots will just go around like the rest of the staff bots."
"Hmm…I hope that I am not overthinking it," Mr Hippo said thoughtfully as he let out a soft hum. "I'll let you know if I see anything unusual about them." She knew that he would tell her and she looked at the monitors to see if there were anyone she needed to chase out. "And Darren might have an easy night for maintenance. I think the only thing I know is Happy Frog got her hands covered in syrup while she was passing out pancakes to kids, who were having pancakes for their cake instead of an actual cake. Pigpatch's jaw is stiff and I think Freddy just needs to get his stomach hatch cleaned."
"He almost always needs a clean every week, but he is popular for birthdays," Saphira said with a light chuckle. "I really miss doing the maintenance on you guys…I really do."
"At least it isn't forever. We don't want you falling on your back like you almost did not long ago." She let out a groan of displeasure when Mr Hippo brought up the incident. "From what Darren has told me, you falling could be dangerous for you and the babies, so I want to make sure you are safe."
"I know." Saphira was glad that Darren had told them, she had thought about telling them, but she has been too distracted with so many things. "I could really use a good massage after we test the coaster tonight. And hopefully, it will be running smoothly. We have been waiting for this to open for so long…and hopefully we can get Space Bridge open around the new year after Christmas…but I am not having much hope with that one."
"I personally have not really been caring about those things," Mr Hippo said, surprising Saphira as she knew he enjoyed seeing happiness in the faces of the guests. "I know the children talk about it, and I overhear how excited the guests are for it, but my priorities have been changing. Now that you are definitely showing, and I am suspicious of new bots, I can no longer feel excited for the guests. You are more important."
Saphira smiled as she knew that it was the dad side of him that was speaking. "That is sweet of you, Mr Hippo. I personally think of them as way of distracting myself from the real problems. I think that is nothing wrong with finding something else to be excited about. Especially since I am working on solutions to the danger."
"That's completely understandable…I guess I should see it that way too, though it might be a tad difficult." He chuckled a little as he felt a bit embarrassed that he might struggle with distracting himself from his worries. "I do think that you have also taken so much burden on your shoulders, I wish we could do something to help you with that."
There was definitely no denying that. Saphira was indeed burdening a lot of trying to figure out how to beat Glitchtrap. But she really didn't have a choice. She couldn't trust that Darren wouldn't be compromised, and the animatronics could all still be vulnerable to Glitchtrap's attacks. She was getting better at making better antivirus programs and she knew she would find the right frequency so the animatronics could see the woman in the rabbit suit even when she is using the distortion disc.
"At least I am not going through this alone, Mr Hippo," She responded in a soft, reassuring tone. "You are all on my side, and I am really happy with that. I have considered staying during the day, I have been feeling too tired to want to drive to my apartment. But it is the only place where I can do something away from here."
"And I intend to never let you go through this alone, nor will Freddy," The animatronic responded confidently. "You mean so much to me. You fixed me and treated me like a father. I never expected to fill that role for you…but I did, and I enjoy it."
"I know. You just happened to have the right personality that made me look at you that way." She turned her head when she saw Vanessa walking to the Superstarcade. "Hmm…Vanessa is on her way to the Superstarcade." She went through the cameras to see why. "Oh, a couple kids are fighting, looks like someone won or lost. Sounds right…oh" She frowned as she saw a kid playing a Princess Quest game. "And there's another poor victim playing Princess Quest…I really need to destroy those arcade machines."
"Destroy?"
"Yes. Those machines aren't part of the same mainframe as the other arcs machines," Saphira explained sadly to the animatronic. "I did find the mainframe for the arcade machines a few weeks ago by accident. It's in Fazcade near the staff bot shop. I was overseeing the repair of the one the staff bots for Roxanne Raceway and I spotted the mainframe. It's not big, but it listed all the machines hooked up to it. Princess Quests are not part of it."
"That's why you said that…"
"I have noticed, by looking at the spare Princesses Quest in the arcade machine storage behind Fazcade, they're not hooked up to anything at all. It's unusual, but that means they can be destroyed." And Saphira hoped to destroy them once she gets Glitchtrap out of the way. "When we deal with the bigger issue, I will figure out something about those games."
"I am not sure you should be saying that over the Fazwatch communication line, but you definitely should like you have a plan," Mr Hippo said with a light laugh. "I'd best let you go. I will see you the coaster very soon."
"I might go and see if I can sneak in some ping pong with Sun," Saphira said thoughtfully. Ever since Saphira freed Sun and Moon, their friendship really has bloomed. She went and played ping pong with them almost every night, and she did get to slide into the ball pit a few weeks ago. But she only did it once because the landing was pretty hard. But she had always wanted to do something like that. "The guests seem to enjoy watching the security guard and the daycare attendant to play against each other."
Mr Hippo chuckled in amusement when Saphira mentioned playing ping pong with Sun and Moon. "I would think you are getting too slow to play."
"I am, but I still have fun regardless, and they don't take advantage of my disadvantage, which is nice." She rubbed her hand over her stomach, rubbing over the smooth, round globe that was still growing. "But…maybe I should take a break. My back hurts and so do my feet…that's not a great combination for ping pong."
"No it is not," Mr Hippo agreed with another chuckle. She looked at the cameras and saw Mr Hippo had arrived in his room and he was waving to guests who were standing in front of his room. "I have some guests to entertain. I have a pretty good story to tell them, but I don't know if they will sit and listen, of course."
"I love your stories." Saphira gasped suddenly as she had a good idea. "Maybe I should record your stories and replay them for the twins to hear."
The animatronic was silent as he was surprised by her suggestion. "Uh…will they even be able to hear?"
"Of course, they will definitely be hearing the music you all play too," Saphira said enthusiastically. She was beaming at the idea. "You have a lot of wisdom, and I know they would enjoy it. But…I know I want them to get familiar with Freddy's voice. He has been talking to them though, it has been really endearing."
"I know. Freddy tells me quite regularly. Well…I think we can arrange that." Mr Hippo definitely seemed distracted by the tone of his voice, and Saphira knew it was due to the guests. "I am sorry, Saphira. I really don't want to stop talking to you, but as I said, I have a story to share with these young ones. I will see you at the coaster later."
Mr Hippo cuts off communication and Saphira was left alone. She looked at the time and saw it was ten-thirty. It was a Thursday, so it was busy and due to the pizzaplex getting ready for Halloween in a few days' time, it was busier than usual. She knew that once Halloween was done, it will go back to looking as it did before until December when Christmas decorations get put up. Even the merchandise will go back to the normal merchandise. Right now, people are here primarily to purchase limited edition merchandise that was available during the week of Halloween. Saphira got lucky as she found a Glamrock Freddy plush holding a smiling pumpkin with big, puppy eyes. She fell in love with the plush and bought it for herself.
Saphira stood up to make use of the toilet for the twentieth time since waking up and she went to the bathroom to think. She knew she was risking a lot by speaking openly about her plan with the animatronics through the Fazwatch. She did not know if Glitchtrap could really hear their conversations, but she really wasn't going to ask him. That in itself would look suspicious, and she knew it. Though Glitchtrap isn't stupid. He is the consciousness of someone who is meant to be dead, so he is very smart.
Once she finished using the bathroom, Saphira decided she would head to the Chica Coaster. Chica Coaster was situated on the top level of the atrium near Bonnie Bowling. She wanted to go in and have a look at it for herself. The entrance to the attraction itself wasn't quite ready, but she knew was it will look like. The wall was still covered at the moment, but it will have an image of Chica smiling and gesturing for people to come inside with a shadow image of the coaster behind her and neon lights showing the shape of the coaster carts behind her. It was a nice image, and Saphira knew people will go crazy for the coaster.
She hummed softly to herself as she made her way out of the office to the atrium to head up to the third floor. She didn't bother moving too fast as she did not want to walk fast. But she was rubbing her back and groaning softly to herself about the ache she was feeling, but she made sure not to distract the guests. Especially when she smelt the cheese pizzas. She had to keep herself from gagging openly to the smell and tried to ignore it as best as she could.
She glanced around and saw Foxette and Pigpatch by the main dining tables, smiling as she saw they were interacting with some of the kids. She still liked watching them interact with the guests as she knew it was their favorite thing in the world. She noticed the staff bots that Mr Hippo had mentioned. They were just rolling around, delivering pizza, drinks and other food, they didn't seem to be out of the ordinary to her. They just looked like they were painted up for Halloween.
She shrugged as she made use of the escalators until she reached the third floor and made her way to the side door into Chica Coaster and walked inside. She had yet to see it on the inside and smiled as she walked in. It was a very large room, and the theme of the coaster definitely seeming to be a guitar. The coaster frame itself looked like the long handle of a guitar with the strings itself. There was only a few carriages for the coaster, and they were also shaped like a guiter. Each carriage could seat ten people at a time, so a total of thirty people could be right the coaster each time.
There was an image of the animatronics on the walk rocking out their show and pale, pink columns holding up the roof. There was a small snack shop as well and the floor was a reflective, black colour. The frame of the coaster had bright pink railings with white string decorations and a star shaped base which basically resembled Chica's guitar. Saphira did not know if this meant rock music would be played, but she assumed so. She could see the guest line and she made her way over to the ride controls.
She sat down and overlooked the controls curiously to get familiar with them and to take a long at the previous runs of the ride. She looked at the computer and brought up the previous runs for the ride. She knew she already had copies, but sometimes they can be tainted, and she wanted to see for herself if they matched up. And they seemed to match up rather nicely. She decided to at least go through the start up checks as she knew that this coaster would need a lot of maintenance from the engineers who keep the attractions running smoothly.
She was glad she went through all the specs and information regarding the ride so she knew how to start it. And she currently was reading through the information that was feeding back to her through the computer, and everything seemed to be going smoothly. She knew that the animatronics will want to get into the coaster carriages, but she wanted to make sure the ride itself could run smoothly before anyone could even get into the carriages.
With the starting up for the ride being successful, she pressed the buttons to activate the chain to begin pulling the first carriage up to the top of the ride. The coaster was not huge, it had no loops, but it was fast and had many tight turns in the ride. It was designed to allow kids to enjoy the ride too. It is very similar to Slinky Dog Dash from Disney World, though not as big. It will likely still be enjoyable to ride, even if not everyone will like it because it isn't extreme enough. But it was good for a coaster indoors.
She watched as the carriage was pulled up by the pulley and she listened to it and there was not a lot of sound to it. There was some minor clanking, but that is to be expected from a coaster. Coasters were not quiet, but it was not terribly noisy. If it was, Saphira definitely would see that as a safety concern. It is about five meters high for when the carriage reaches the top and is let loose onto the coaster itself. She smiled when the carriage reached the top and it rolled down very quickly. She did learn that the carts were designed in a way that they felt heavy, but had very little drag and could run smoothly around the coaster without slowing down too much.
She watched the carriage go around on the coaster. She did stop the chain so it wouldn't carry the next carriage up, she just wanted to check to see how the coaster would run before letting all carriages run. She glanced at the computer as it was showing the stats of the coaster and how it was running, and so far, nothing seemed to be in the red. She was happy to see that as that was a good sign. She trusted the engineers and builders, so she certainly was looking forward to this running smoothly.
When the coaster reached the end, the breaks were put on to slow the carriage as it rolled forward and came to a stop behind one of the other carriages. Saphira was pleased with what she had seen and noted that this definitely seemed like it would run smoothly. She checked the time and saw the ride itself was just over a two-minute ride. It wasn't a terribly long ride, but it was fun and filled with adrenaline. If she was not pregnant, she would definitely get on and enjoy it.
"Evening, super star!" Freddy's enthusiastic voice spoke through the Fazwatch. "I have finished for the night, and I will be needing maintenance later. But I went to the office and I saw you were not there."
Saphira was surprised and looked at the Fazwatch. "Why are you in the office? You know that'll look extra suspicious."
"I missed you, super star," Freddy responded gently in a slightly sad tone. "I…I don't know, but I have just missed you all day. My mind was not on the guests like I usually am. Especially now you cannot maintain us like you used to. Everyday you go home to rest and work some more, I worry about you, Saphira." She felt her heart skip a beat as she listened to Freddy. "I know so many months ago, I used to imagine the kind of home you lived in. I thought it was a big, white house, until you told us what you really lived in. And then…the life you have lived…and now you are pregnant, and I am willing to be there for you the whole way. But I worry for you, Saphira. I also miss having the private time we used to have."
"I miss that too." Saphira and Freddy have not been able to slip any intimate moments in for a long time. But Saphira really has not felt the need for it. "But…my back and feet hurt, so I am not really in the mood…like I am almost all the time now. Just be patient, Freddy. I also want to find time with you, sneaking away is just harder with Vanessa somehow showing up at the most unlikely of moments." She shrugged a little. "Anyway, I am at the coaster. I have just been going through the safety checks about the coaster, and it will be safe for anyone sit on the carriages and ride."
"You are already there?!" Freddy was surprised as she normally waited for them. "Hmm, you must have been feeling uncomfortable. At there's another hour until the pizzaplex closes for the night, so I cannot come to you. I only need my stomach hatch cleaned of cake pieces, so I do not need to go the Parts and Service straight away. Darren has to deal with fixing Pigpatch's stiff jaw. I am surprised Pigpatch was still out with the guests tonight, but he does enjoy it."
"I wanted to get the safety checks out of the way before you guys came, Freddy," Saphira explained with a smile. "Otherwise, you would have been made to wait until I was done. But the coaster seems to be running fine…" She paused when she heard a weird groan from one of the carriages. "Hold that thought." She stood up with a groan and walked over to the coaster and pulled out her flashlight. "Seems like something just got loose." She shines the light at the carriage in front of her with a frown. "Hmm…I can't see anything. I might need Vanessa to come and check…which is just fantastic."
"Are you sure that it was something unusual?" Freddy asked curiously. "It would be very bad if one of our newest attractions was to break down upon opening. We have never had that before…and it would be bad for us, since we're the star attractions for this place." He sounded a little worried as well, which was not too much of a surprise. "But…the safety of guests hasn't always been the priority for this place…so I guess at some point it would show in an attraction…the raceway and golf run smoothly, and so do the Hungry Mr Hippos…despite the incident where Glitchtrap almost had that attraction bite your leg off."
"That wasn't even the fault of the attraction, I was forced onto the table and forced to watch and try to keep my leg from being chomped on. But…I heard something that I didn't hear before…" Saphira carefully stepped onto the track to go to the other side. "It could be nothing but…" She gasped when she heard the sound of the chain turning on and pulling the carriage, making the carriage hit her leg. "Freddy!" She shrieked as she fell forward and gripped the front of the carriage tightly, lifting her legs up from the track fearfully. She glanced at the ride controls and saw one of the pumpkin face staff bots. "Oh no…Glitchtrap just activated the coaster…I-I…"
"Super star?" Freddy was immediately concerned as he heard the panic in her voice. "Why are you scared?"
"I…I w-w-was just trying to step over the tracks and the coaster was turned on…I'm hanging on the front of the carriage!" Saphira turned her head slightly as she saw the carriage slowly approaching the top. "I need someone to help me! I can't get off now!"
"But…protocol…" Freddy began nervously as he felt he was in a dilemma now.
"I order you to override the usual night time protocol and come to Chica Coaster, NOW!" Saphira screamed at the Fazwatch as tears fell. "My stomach's pressing against the front of the carriage…" She took a deep breath as she felt her chest tightening with the threat of a panic attack. "This is just like…what my so-called father did one time…when I was…very young."
"I'm on my way, Saphira, hold on as best as you can!" Freddy responded affirmatively. "I have alerted Darren, and he is on his way too. He is in the atrium right now, and he was on his way to Parts and Service. He should reach you before I do."
"Just HURRY!" Saphira screamed as the carriage reached the top and she clenched her eyes shut, tightening her grip on the front of the coaster. She was too scared to even try to climb into the carriage itself. "I'm scared!"
Saphira was also having a very bad flashback of when her father had strapped the girl to the front of his truck and sped around on back roads late on night. Saphira never forgot that incident, and it made her terrified of sitting in the front of roller coasters, and even cars, ever since. She could drive herself now with no problem, but it still made her nervous whenever she had to drive. And now this was bringing all sorts of nightmares back up. She hoped Darren could reach her in time to try and activate the emergency stop protocol in the coaster to stop it, even though if she kept holding on, she might be fine, but she didn't know if she could hold the whole two minutes. Especially when the speed of the coaster could reach fifteen miles per hour.
