Chapter 5
By the next morning Sanjay had been able to copy the memory chip over to a new undamaged chip he found in storage in Parts and Services, but he knew that Chica would still suffer extensive amnesia. In the meantime, he had reinstalled the personality chip and plugged the Faz-Wrench in the back of her metallic skull and had it wired to a diagnostic laptop. He then asked Roxy and Cassie to go up to the van to get some tools and a thermos. Once they were gone, he called over Vanessa and Luis.
"What's going on?" wondered Vanessa.
"Look!" he snapped stabbing the display with an accusing finger, "Why would Fazbear Entertainment do this?"
They were both taken a little aback; they had never seen him this upset before.
"What is that?" asked Luis squinting at the display, "Appestat Index?"
"She was programmed to feel hunger!" he explained, "And it's been calibrated to the maximum! Animatronics don't need to eat food, so why would they program that in her?"
"Well, Corporate thought it would provide good brand synergy to promote Fazercize," said Luis, "Chica consuming the food products herself would encourage clients to purchase more."
"By programming an animatronic to starve so badly she eats out of the trash?" asked Vanessa pointedly her arms folded across her chest. Luis held up his hands defensively.
"Hey, I'm your side," he responded, "I didn't say I agree with them; besides, Chica's not the only animatronic they did this kind of thing to." Vanessa put a hand on his shoulder.
"I believe you Luis," she said reassuringly, "So can we dial down the Index to the minimum?"
"Sure, but why have it at all?" wondered Sanjay, "She can't digest the food, so it's just hurting her insides."
"I hate to say this, but we need her eating at least a little," she replied sadly, "Fazbear Entertainment just scraps animatronics that fail to do what they want."
"So, if they do this to their animatronics, why bother returning them?" inquired Luis.
"It's all they live for," said Sanjay slumping in the chair in defeat, "It would break their hearts if they couldn't ever entertain kids again."
"So can we really get them the Mega Pizzaplex back?" asked Luis, shaking his head, "Corporate has washed their hands of this place."
"Do you trust me, Luis?" asked Vanessa quietly.
"You know I do Ness." he replied firmly.
"I promise they'll have their old lives back," she stated evenly, "No matter what it takes."
The door slid up and Cassie and Roxy came in. The girl handed Sanjay his thermos.
"Your coffee Dad," she said.
"Thanks Pumpkin," he said tousling her hair.
"Where do you want the tools?" asked Roxy holding a crate.
"Just put them in the corner," he instructed.
Cassie went to play with Gregory and Eclipse while Vanessa and Luis left to go to the Security Office; he had some hacking to do. Roxy had put down the crate but was still lingering by the door.
"What is it, Roxanne?" Sanjay wondered glancing up from the display.
"I heard some of what you were saying to Vanessa and Luis," she said, her triangular metallic ears swiveling which answered his question before he could ask; he had forgotten how sensitive her hearing was.
"How much did you hear?" he asked sheepishly.
"Right around the part where you said not being able to perform again would break our hearts," she said putting her purple metallic claws gently on his forearms, "Sanjay, I want you to do me a favor."
"What is it?"
"If we can't ever have our Mega Pizzaplex again, can you reprogram me so I don't care about being an ugly loser anymore?" she begged, sniffling.
"Roxanne, you are neither of those things," he protested, "You're more than a winner; you're a hero."
"I keep telling myself that but I don't believe it," she said beginning to sob, "I'm just as broken as Chica and Monty are."
"But I repaired your endoskeleton fully," he said confused.
"I don't mean my body," she clarified shaking her head.
"But you've grown so much beyond what you were originally intended to be," he elaborated, "And you will always be welcome to stay with us. Cassie would be over to moon to have her hero living with her."
Roxy's sudden laughter abruptly interrupted her crying. She could already picture it: go-karting in the streets and beauty treatments every night.
"Self-doubt is something us humans have to deal with all the time," he said, patting her hand, "We can't just pull a chip out of our heads to stop feeling bad."
"How do you cope though?" she wondered, her sniffling subsiding.
"Well, if you're lucky, you have people that love and accept you," he said warmly, "And they inspire you to be a better person."
"And you think that's what I have?" wondered Roxy, honestly surprised. Deep down, she was always afraid that she wouldn't be missed by anyone.
"I don't think it, I know it," he said firmly.
"Thanks Sanjay," she said crushing him in a bear hug, "I'll make you proud!" She then dropped him like a rag doll and clanked off hurriedly. Now he knew what being in a trash compactor felt like.
"You already have Roxanne," he said with a bemused smile as he rubbed his aching sides.
It took Sanjay two whole days to repair Chica, at least physically. Enough time for Freddy and Roxy to clear enough debris so that Gregory and Cassie could race some of still working go-karts down the hallways. Meanwhile Eclipse had gotten Roxy interested in arts and crafts, particularly in making paper mâché masks.
When they gathered for Chica's reactivation, the mood was much more somber than it was for Freddy's. Like the other Glamrocks, Chica was essentially stripped down to bare endoskeleton; she had a new arm and beak and her eyes were properly mounted in their sockets. She lay in the bed in the protective cylinder, her eyes closed as if she was sleeping.
"Before we begin, Luis has an announcement," stated Vanessa.
"Turns out there are spare casings in storage at the factory," said Luis happily, "I'll forge a work order to explain their sudden disappearance."
"Really?" wondered Roxanne Wolf sitting nearby with Cassie sitting in her lap busy braiding her hair, "Finally, good news for a change!"
"How are you going to get them?" wondered Freddy.
"We'll order them shipped to the Mega Pizzaplex sister location, then diverted here," explained Vanessa, "But let's save Bonnie before we get that ball rolling."
"What will become of us after that?" wondered Freddy.
"It turns out that Fazbear Entertainment is building a third Mega Pizzaplex," stated Luis, "So we can pass you all off as the new animatronics there."
"How soon?" wondered Roxy. Luis and Vanessa exchanged a worried glance.
"Ten months," said Vanessa with a sigh, "I know it's not ideal, but at least you'll get a new home in the end."
"That's…great," said Roxy trying desperately to sound happy, "Thank you." Cassie touched her face.
"Do you want to stay with us?" she asked, "You can have my room."
"That would be awesome Champ," she said taking her hand, "But I just need a corner to recharge."
"Freddy and Bonnie will stay with us," said Vanessa indicating Gregory and herself, "Luis will take Chica; Sanjay and Cassie will have Roxy and Eclipse."
"Excellent," said Freddy, "I will try not to be too much trouble."
"We'll need to restock our art supplies too," said Eclipse thoughtfully.
"Shall we get started?" ventured Sanjay. Seeing everyone fall into attentive silence, he threw a switch on a control panel.
"Bawk! I smell pizza!" squawked Chica, her blue eyes suddenly opening as she sat bolt upright in the bed. She looked around puzzled. Her voice had the same electronic buzz as the other animatronics but much higher pitched and girly sounding.
"What happened?" she wondered looking around fearfully drawing her arms close into her body, "Who are all of you?"
"You were in an accident and badly damaged," said Sanjay reassuringly, "You just got repaired."
Chica stared down at her bare metal arms and her eyes widened in horror.
"Where's my skin?" she shrieked.
"We'll have replacement casings on order soon," he said consolingly, "The Mega Pizzplex has been badly damaged in the accident so we don't have anything on hand."
"Accident?" she echoed.
"An earthquake," explained Vanessa. Chica narrowed her eyes at her.
"I know you from somewhere," she said haltingly, "But not in a good way." The security guard simply nodded in agreement.
"I was mean to you, and I'm sorry about that," she said plainly, "I'm trying to help you and your friends now." Freddy stepped forward and reached out a hand to her.
"Do you remember me Chica?" he asked. She hesitantly took it.
"Yes, you're Freddy," she said smiling slightly, "Gosh you look terrible."
"We all look horrible," chimed in Roxanne, "At least we can be horrible together."
"Is that you Roxy?" wondered Chica. The wolf placed a hand on her shoulder.
"You know it, girl," she replied.
"So did everyone get out okay?" asked Chica looking around at the wrecked room.
"Everybody except us now," said Freddy, "I have exciting news Chica: our friend Cassie here found Bonnie and we're about to bring him here for repairs just like we did with you."
"Bonnie?" she squawked, "I thought he disappeared."
"He was lying broken in a room filled with Caution Bots," explained Cassie, "It looked like he had been attacked."
"Really?" wondered Chica, "Say, do I know you?"
"I found a new voice box for you," said the girl smiling shyly. Chica patted her head.
"Aw, thanks Cassie," she said glancing over to Gregory, who was half hiding behind Eclipse, "Who's your friend?"
"That's Gregory," she explained, "I thought he was trapped in the Pizzaplex, so I went to find him. He wasn't here but I found all of you instead." Chica eyed him suspiciously for a second but then turned back to beam at Cassie.
"How sweet of you," she gushed putting her hands together while tilting her head, "We should all be so lucky to have a friend like that."
"We all are that lucky," said Freddy cheerfully, "So Chica, would you like to help us rescue Bonnie?"
"Of course!" she enthused, "We'll have the whole Glamrock band back together again!"
"I guess there's no love lost for Monty," muttered Roxy to herself, hands on her hips.
The Glamrocks escorted Cassie and Gregory back into the dark depths of the Mega Pizzaplex. Chica was suitably horrified by the state of decay of the place. Now that they were going to leave it behind Roxy had gone from hating it to mourning it; it had been the only home any of them had known.
Cassie led them up to the entrance to Bonnie Bowl. A retro sign was painted above the entrance next to the picture a giant cartoon blue bunny balanced a bowling ball on a fingertip. Inside they found a decrepit ice cream parlor filled with rubble. Most of the lanes was surrounded by construction fencing and a forklift was parked nearby. On the far-right side they found a lane with an open doorway at the far end.
"He's in there," said Cassie. Freddy started to walk to the doorway, but Roxy wordlessly grabbed his hand. She then pointed to her twitching ears and gestured for Cassie and Gregory to stand behind her. It was then that a dozen Mini Music Men came pouring out of the doorway, all broken and damaged walking each on six spider legs and carrying cymbals.
"Eek!" shrieked Chica.
Roxanne Wolf just started punching them, sending them flying off into walls and the ceiling.
"Hey now, surely we can discuss this calmly," said Freddy as several began to climb up his legs.
"No dice Boss," grunted Roxy as she pulled one off Freddy and squished it under her foot.
Chica picked up one lunging for Cassie and pulled its head off and tossed the pieces back on the cracked wooden floor.
By then the surviving Mini Music Men had beat a hasty retreat down the bowling lanes and into a ball return hatch.
"Yeah, go and run you cowards!" bellowed Roxy, "Come back and I'll use your heads as bowling balls!"
"That was awesome!" gushed Cassie.
"Aw thanks Champ," said the wolf slightly embarrassed; it was great to finally score a win.
"Yuck, that was gross," said Chica, "Let hurry up and get Bonnie."
Cassie led them through the door down a short passageway into a backroom with a ball return ramp along the back wall. Lying on the floor nearby was a sky-blue bunny dressed in a red sleeveless leotard with dark purple leg warmers, gloves and short cape. His legs were detached and a giant gash crossed his chest. Bonnie was surrounded by four Caution Bots forming a vigil over the Glamrock. Freddy slumped to his knees next to Bonnie in despair.
"Oh Bonnie, my friend, who did this to you?"
"Monty would be my guess," said Roxy.
"Roxy, why would you say that?" wondered Chica, "Monty's just…moody."
"I'll go find him and ask then," said Freddy standing up, "Please bring Bonnie back to Parts and Services."
"Where are you going Freddy?" asked Chica looking worried.
"I'll speak to Montgomery," said Freddy and then he left, followed by Gregory.
"And I'll save him from himself," sighed Roxy, "Can you bring Bonnie back on your own Chica?
"Yes, just help Freddy," said the chicken, "He's got more heart than brains." Roxy nodded and left with Cassie. Chica looked down at the floor.
"Let's get you home, Buddy."