A/N: I think 's email system is scuffed again, because it's not letting me get email from even though I put the bot on my contact list. Something's clearly not right with the email system, so please check to make sure that you're receiving notifications about whenever I or any other authors/works that you're following are getting updates or whatnot.
Anyways, PSA over, let's continue with the tour of the new and (questionably) improved Pizzaplex!
Chapter 207 – Return to the Pizzaplex Part 2
The entire Pizzaplex had gone through a massive overhaul since the last time the Schmidt family had been there and the Prize Counter was no different. The entrance to the Prize Counter was now marked in prominent neon yellow letters located over a red backdrop, and while the overall effect was noticeably more subdued than the atrium it was still much fancier than anything the ghost kids had seen in any of the old Freddy Fazbear's Pizzerias.
While the entrance to the Prize Counter might not have been anything special, the Prize Counter itself made up for it. The Counter itself was located under a huge electronic screen that showcased a silhouette of what looked like Rockstar Chica, surrounded by brightly glowing yellow light bulbs that gave the place an almost cinema-esque appearance. The counter itself was flanked by columns decorated in a white and black checkerboard wallpaper and filled with plushies of the Glamrock animatronics of different sizes and other toys, with Freddy and Roxy in particular standing out. There were multiple ATMs covered in orange wallpaper with black explosion sparkles in front of the counter, as well as other counters in the back with different prizes such as balloons or masks.
"Wow," Cassidy whistled. "That's a lot more prizes than anything I saw over back at the old Freddy's pizza places."
"I didn't realize plushies even got that big," Susie agreed. "The only ones I remember seeing back then were all the small ones you could hold in your hands and give a hug to."
Gabe, however, looked a bit more concerned. "Doesn't having all those plushies grouped up together like that cause of a bit of a fire risk?" he pointed out. "There barely looks like there's any room on the counter! I mean, what if they all caught on fire at the same time?" He shuddered. "That'd be a huge disaster!"
Mike acknowledged the former Freddy inhabitant's concern and raised up it with Mr. Raugelan and Mr. Leelurd. "I do see your point," Mr. Raugelan acknowledged after a few seconds of studying the Prize Counter. "And I also notice in hindsight that stuffing all of those Roxanne Wolf and Glamrock Freddy plushies is obstructing the view of the Monty Gator and Glamrock Chica plushies." He gestured towards the plushies in question, which were noticeably hidden behind the other two animatronic plushies and thus were much harder to actually see. "We'll need to make some adjustments to that."
Mr. Leelurd nodded and made a mental note on his laptop. At this point, none of the ghost kids bothered to comment on the fact that the Fazbear Entertainment representative was more interested in properly showcasing the Pizzaplex instead of taking care of safety, not when the point had been thoroughly beaten to death at this point. Instead, they focused their energies on seeing if there were any other obvious fire violations in the Prize Counter. Thankfully, there weren't any others that were immediately obvious, so the Schmidt family directed their attention instead to the fire exit that they knew existed behind the Prize Counter.
Given their past experiences with Fazbear Entertainment, nobody in the Schmidt family blindly trusted them when they claimed that they had discarded the idea of restricting their fire exits to VIPs and employees. But to their relief, when they investigated the fire exit, it was largely unchanged from the last time they had seen it. There were more decorations compared to before, and the walls had been recolored to match the updated look of the Pizzaplex, albeit to a much lesser degree than any public area. But the fire exit itself and the easy access to it was exactly the same as the ghost kids remembered, and Mike was able to confirm this by pushing the door open once the Fazbear Entertainment executives confirmed that the alarm had been temporarily deactivated so as to not call the fire department inappropriately.
"Thank God they kept the fire exits the same," Jeremy muttered. "I'd lose what little faith I had left in Fazbear Entertainment if they were actually stupid enough to try and screw up the fire exits again."
"Yeah, the more problems we can get out of the way, the better," Liz agreed. "Glitchtrap's going to be causing enough problems already without Fazbear Entertainment making the job of keeping people safe as hard as possible."
"Our board of executives fully agree that the locking of fire exits behind VIP and staff access was ill-advised with the benefit of hindsight," Mr. Raugelan commented dryly. "Rest assured that the imbecile who initially presented this idea has since been fired."
"Good to know," Mike replied in an equally wry tone. While he had little doubt scapegoating and general avoidance of personal responsibility had been involved, he fully agreed with Fazbear Entertainment for once that whoever the imbecile was deserved to be fired.
With the fire exit inspected to the Schmidts' satisfaction, the Schmidts and the two Fazbear Entertainment executives left the Prize Counter. As they left, they noticed that there was a security office in the same area as the Prize Counter, but it seemed fairly small, unassuming, and was unlikely to be the "main" security office of the entire Pizzaplex if such a thing even existed.
The group began their inspection in a counter-clockwise manner, similarly to how they had inspected the Pizzaplex last time. The last time they had been here, the rooms had been giant but empty with only a few scattered articles and items here and there, meaning that there was very little to actually inspect outside of the fire exits. This time, however, the rooms and attractions were fully completed and decorated, which was made immediately obvious by the very first room that they entered.
The FAZCADE was the largest room that the Schmidt family remembered seeing (outside of perhaps the main atrium itself), an impression that was confirmed as they entered it. It was large enough to span all three floors of the Pizzaplex, with the three floors being connected by blue spiral staircases. Countless arcade machines were scattered across all three rows, affirming the Fazcade's main purpose as a primary arcade gaming hub of the Pizzaplex. At the front of the Fazcade's main entrance, the ghost kids could see another golden statue of Glamrock Freddy, Monty Gator, and Roxanne Wolf in the middle of singing and performing. The weirdest thing they could see so far were huge circular ducts that were scattered randomly throughout the room, their insides lined with circular neon lights that extended into parts unknown.
"Hey, uh…don't those spiral staircases seem kinda…unsafe?" Susie pointed them out. "Some kid or baby could crawl through them and fall to their deaths."
Mike pointed them out to Mr. Raugelan, who immediately nodded and made a note of it. If he was completely honest with himself, Mike was a little surprised by how…accommodating and agreeable…the Fazbear Entertainment executive was being. "It's probably because I'm pointing out obvious problems and offering fairly straightforward solutions to them," Mike thought. "They can't hide or excuse away a flaw if everyone can see it, and if I try to force them into implementing more extreme solutions, they're more likely to resist."
"Why are there these random ducts in the wall?" Cassidy pointed them out. "There's no way a kid is supposed to crawl into those, right? They're way too big, and I see at least one in the ceiling! If someone crawled in the wrong place, they could fall out of the ceiling and die!"
"That is a very good point," Mike realized. Out loud, he asked. "Why are there these random ducts in the wall?" he pointed out.
"These ducts are not for children to play in," Mr. Raugelan tried to reassure him. "We are fully aware that such a situation would be far from ideal for multiple reasons. No, those ducts are for one of our animatronics in particular to utilize."
"What animatronic?" Mike asked with non-feigned curiosity.
"Allow me to show you," Mr. Raugelan replied. He guided them down the stairs to the first floor of the Fazcade, leading them to a booth that was the main booth of the FAZCADE. It was a circular stage highlighted by a ring of neon blue light, with multiple concentric neon rainbow rings in the background. The stage was covered with boombox speakers and other assorted machinery that the ghosts had never seen before, but what Mike recognized as a DJ Station. And situated behind the DJ machinery was…
"What in the FUCK is that thing?" Fritz exclaimed, pointing at the animatronic in disbelief.
Mike couldn't blame his son in the slightest for his response, for he was thinking practically the exact same thing. The animatronic looked vaguely like the Music Man he had seen on Henry's blueprints and in Nightmare's personalized Fazbear-themed Hell for William Afton, but it was much larger and equally as disturbing. The facial structure was overall very similar to Music Man's, only with blue eyebrows and cheeks as well as a glowing pink mouth with piano-like keys for teeth. The cymbals in the two primary hands of Music Man were completely gone, replaced with a large set of headphones over the animatronic's ears. Arguably its most disturbing feature outside of its face and size were its legs, for the animatronics now had an entire set of six spider-like legs with which it could operate the DJ machinery, giving it an almost animalistic appearance. Maybe it was because they had been exposed to Music Man already, but Mike honestly thought this new form of Music Man might've been one of the creepiest things he had ever seen.
And judging by the expressions on his kids' faces, it seemed like they agreed. "Who the hell DESIGNED this thing?" Gabe exclaimed. "Who thought this was a good idea?"
"Oh boy," Liz drawled in an unamused tone, "can't wait to get nightmares about this thing."
"This is DJ Music Man!" Mr. Raugelan declared proudly, completely oblivious to the disturbed expressions of the ghost kids. "He's the main animatronic of the Fazcade, playing music on his DJ as the main form of entertainment in this location while the children who visit this place play at the arcades."
"I…see…" Mike stared at DJ Music Man as he struggled to collect his thoughts…and then he noticed the entrance to a duct near where he was sitting. A duct that was big enough for DJ Music Man to easily climb through. "Wait…are those ducts meant for DJ Music Man?"
"They are indeed," Mr. Raugelan confirmed. Seeing the expression on Mike's face, he hastily added, "I wouldn't worry too much about it, though. Even though like all our animatronics he has at least a degree of free will and autonomy, DJ Music Man is programmed to stay at his DJ post during the day. He only leaves the post at night when the Pizzaplex is closed, during which he sometimes climbs through the ducts just for his own entertainment. We have extensively tested his default personality and he has remained completely docile and harmless at all times." He chuckled. "If anything, he seems to enjoy playing with his music at his post more than anything else."
The words sounded reassuring enough…but the ghost kids immediately caught on one specific phrase. "What does he mean by default personality?" Jeremy asked carefully.
Mike had caught onto the phrase as well and vocalized his concern. Mr. Raugelan and Mr. Leelurd both looked a bit uneasy, almost as though they realized they might have said something they shouldn't.
"I want to know what you meant by default personality," Mike reiterated, his commanding tone making it clear that he wouldn't budge until he got an actual answer.
"We are thinking about implementing an experimental bouncer mode," Mr. Raugelan finally admitted. "It's more or less additional security programming. At closing time, the DJ Music Man would be programmed to leave his post, approach any children or intruders, and escort them out of the Fazcade."
"And how…aggressive…would this new bouncer mode be?" Mike asked warily.
"…he would be able to use physical force as a last resort," Mr. Raugelan reluctantly admitted. "Not lethal force, but grabbing any intruders to forcibly remove them from the premises."
"What the FUCK?" Cassidy exclaimed in horror. "That's a HORRIBLE idea!"
"I can already think of at least 3 ways this can go horribly wrong," Charlie muttered under her breath.
"We can't let that experimental bouncer mode become a thing," Gabe declared, his voice as hard as steel. "Otherwise I can already tell things will go horribly, HORRIBLY wrong."
Mike was fully on the same page as his kids. "Okay, I'm going to stop you right there," he interrupted curtly, "because this experimental bouncer mode is a completely dogshit idea for multiple reasons. For starters, the very idea of him using physical force is fucking awful. Even if we assume that his programming works exactly as intended, DJ Music Man could very easily accidentally hurt a kid or adult who stays on the property for just a little too long if he tries to forcibly remove them. And if somebody DOES hack with his programming? That experimental bouncer mode could make it very, VERY easy to turn DJ Music Man into a killing machine who straight up murders whoever gets caught by him."
"Surely you're overexaggerating, Mr. Schmidt," Mr. Leelurd tried to protest, actually bothering to talk for once. "The risk of his programming being hacked can't be that high."
"How nice of you to say," Mike retorted coldly. "Except I've already confirmed with personal experience that animatronics can be hacked to attack innocent people. Multiple experiences, actually. Allow me to remind you that I was personally attacked in my own home by a Toy Bonnie animatronic that your corporation sent me as a gift. Not only that, but I had to deal with an emergency where multiple had been corrupted to attack the employees in the factory where your Special Delivery project was developed. So forgive me," his voice was positively dripping with irony at this point, "if I don't believe your claim that the risk of animatronics being hacked isn't very high when I have multiple instances proving otherwise. It clearly can't be that hard to do it when I had to deal with no less than 20 animatronics going rogue and trying to attack the employees in the factory on my very first day." He glanced around at the Pizzaplex. "Especially when the security in this place isn't as robust as what I installed at the Special Delivery project's factory after I took charge."
Mr. Raugelan and Mr. Leelurd looked at each other uneasily. Clearly, they hadn't expected such a vehement argument from Mike Schmidt against DJ Music Man having an experimental bouncer mode. And they didn't have a good argument against him either, not when it was abundantly clear that trying to downplay the potential danger further was a bad idea. Even though he wasn't explicitly pointing fingers at anyone, it was obvious that Mike Schmidt still held a grudge against Fazbear Entertainment for the turmoil he had gone through as a result of their animatronics. Neither of them wanted to be the one who pushed him over the edge into completely giving up on their company and proceeding to slander them in public…not when so much of the company's future hinged on the Pizzaplex, and one more major scandal could irrevocably destroy them.
"Do you have any other concerns regarding the experimental bouncer mode?" Mr. Raugelan asked, figuring that this was a safe question.
"I saw a couple of robots that looked like security robots passing by a few times," Charlie observed. "Wouldn't that security already being there make DJ Music Man's experimental bouncer mode completely pointless?"
Mike relayed the concern to the two Fazbear Entertainment representatives. "Putting all the issues with safety aside, this whole thing just seems kind of completely pointless if you already have multiple security bots patrolling the area," he commented. "Especially if you've got a lot of them."
"We do indeed have multiple new security bots patrolling the Pizzaplex," Mr. Raugelan confirmed, brightening noticeably at the mention of them. "They're our very own S.T.A.F.F. bots, with their own special A.I.s and personalities, and they function as security patrollers and other functions within the Pizzaplex. Of course, we'll be mixing them in with human workers as well, so that they can perform synergistically together. And we've tested them extensively to ensure that they are completely harmless."
Mike wasn't sure how much he believed that promise from Fazbear Entertainment, although from what little he'd seen of the S.T.A.F.F. bots, they were infinitely less likely to cause major harm or damage if one of them malfunctioned when compared to the likes of DJ Music Man going on a rampage. "I want to make it clear that this is not a request," Mike warned. "I fully expect the experimental bouncer mode on DJ Music Man to be scrapped completely…" his eyes narrowed threateningly, "…or you and your company won't enjoy the consequences."
"The only thing I can do is pass on your message," Mr. Raugelan admitted. "That's all the power I have over the matter myself." From what he could remember, the experimental bouncer project had already been started but had not yet reached its full completion. So, in theory, there wasn't going to be too much of a loss in money and time…he hoped, anyway.
Mike's other main concern was the fact that some of the ducts that DJ Music Man could crawl in had entrances that were too close to the floor, and that the ones a child could conceivably crawl into without any difficulty should have a few barriers in place close to the floor so that it wouldn't be easy to climb in. He also checked the fire exit in the Fazcade to make sure that it was working appropriately, and once he had inspected it to his satisfaction he decided that it was ready to move on.
"You know, in an ideal world, DJ Music Man shouldn't be moving around the room at all," Jeremy pointed out. "It would just be staying at that DJ booth, period."
"I know," Mike acknowledged, "but I'm already demanding a major change by ordering them to get rid of the experimental bouncer mode. The more we try to force out of Fazbear Entertainment, the more they're likely to say 'fuck it' and either ignore or outright oppose our reforms. We don't have the absolute control that we did back for the Special Delivery project, so we have to moderate ourselves." He sighed mentally. "I know, it sucks…but if we can't fix everything, I'd much rather we take care of the major, life-threatening issues now and allow a few minor problems that won't kill anyone to slip by."
"Are we doing a decent job?" Cassidy asked with a hint of worry. "We are doing what we're supposed to, right?"
"You guys are doing great," Mike reassured them. "You're recognizing the major security flaws and pointing them out to me. Don't assume that I automatically see everything that you guys are, even if we've been on the same page so far. Keep doing what you're doing, and don't hesitate to speak your minds out."
Reassured, the ghost kids followed Mike and the Fazbear Entertainment representatives to the next section, the Bonnie Bowl. Unlike the previous rooms they had been in, the Bonnie Bowl attraction was primarily blue in appearance, with a picture of a smiling Glamrock Bonnie spinning a bowling on his finger marking the entrance. The area itself was divided into two parts, the actual bowling alley itself and an ice cream parlor where kids taking a break from or finishing up their bowling runs could go and eat ice cream. To the Schmidts' mild surprise, there was a S.T.A.F.F. bot manning the parlor...stylized to look like Circus Baby.
"Good morning," the S.T.A.F.F. bot addressed the approaching men. Her tone was cordial, but lacked emotion to truly suggest she had her own personality or emotions. "How may I serve you?"
"Nothing for now," Mr. Raugelan replied. "We're just visiting at the moment."
Liz glanced uncertainly at the Circus Baby S.T.A.F.F. bot. "…I don't know how to feel about this," she finally commented. "Maybe it's because I WAS Circus Baby, but looking at this thing is weirding me out."
"I get what you mean," Susie acknowledged. "Knowing what I do about you kinda makes this Circus Baby bot kinda bizarre."
"Unfortunately, that's not something we can do anything about," Gabe replied sympathetically but firmly. "Dad can't demand a change from Fazbear Entertainment just because something feels weird."
"I know," Liz acknowledged. "I'll try not to think too much about it."
The weirdness with the Circus Baby S.T.A.F.F. bot aside, there wasn't anything wrong about Bonnie Bowl that was immediately obvious to the ghost kids or Mike despite a thorough inspection of the location. The fire exit worked as normal, and the bowling alley didn't seem all that much different from any standard bowling alley, Fazbear-themed decorations aside.
The group left the Bonnie Bowl attraction and moved on to the next location, which according to Mr. Raugelan was Roxy Raceway. On the way there, they passed by a Glamrock Beauty Salon which was apparently a Fazbear-themed haircut location and one of the few places in the Pizzaplex that would be fully manned by humans. "We tried to program some of our S.T.A.F.F. bots to cut humans' hair," Mr. Raugelan explained a bit sheepishly. "It…didn't go too well."
"I can imagine," Mike replied, struggling to keep the dryness out of his voice. He telepathically sent the ghost kids out to check out the Glamrock Beauty Salon, but just like Bonnie Bowel, there wasn't anything particularly out of the ordinary for the salon either. The hair and makeup room in the back of the Salon was filled with random materials with a somewhat disorganized appearance (and a random Princess Quest arcade machine that seemed like it had been shoved there to keep it out of the way more than anything else), but there wasn't anything particularly dangerous in the Salon that they could find.
Mike had been checking Roxy Raceway's lobby to avoid rousing suspicion from either Mr. Raugelan or Mr. Leelurd, and once the ghost kids returned they were ready to move on to inspecting Roxy Raceway.
Right away, the Schmidt family could tell that there was something wrong with Roxy Raceway. There were metal gates and fence walls, scaffolding, and construction materials located everywhere. The whole attraction seemed to be downright unfinished, providing a sharp contrast to the other attractions they had visited so far which were polished and ready for the public.
"What the heck is going on here?" Susie asked the question that they were all thinking. "Why is there all of this construction crap lying around?"
"They can't seriously be thinking that they're going to be releasing Roxy Raceway like this, right?" Fritz mumbled. "Compared to the other places we've seen, this place looks like a giant shithole!"
"We need to figure out what's going on here," Gabe muttered. "Something definitely went wrong somewhere."
The group navigated through the makeshift "hallways" of construction materials. The conditions were cramped and even confusing to get through at times, although the Schmidts had the impression that things would've been a lot more straightforward if the construction materials were removed from the hallways. They eventually emerged onto a balcony overlooking Roxy Raceway, in a room that was arguably just as large as the Fazcade, next to a closed concession stand that was labeled with a sign reading "PIT STOP."
"Whoa…" more than one ghost breathed as they took in the sight of Roxy Raceway.
Mike had to admit that, especially with the view they had from the balcony, Roxy Raceway was certainly impressive. He had been to a few entertainment centers back when he had been younger, and he had even taken the ghost kids to one a few times (usually alongside Alex and Meghan). He had seen the go-karting and raceways that existed in those entertainment centers, and they had always been standard ground-level tracks with a couple of go-karts in them.
If nothing else, he had to give Fazbear Entertainment credit for their innovation with regards to Roxy Raceway. The track for the raceway didn't just stay on the ground level like pretty much every other go-kart track he had seen. It was a winding, complex track with inclines that allowed the track to rise up to the level of the balcony and then back down to the ground level, adding a new dimension to go-kart racing in more ways than one. The track was also lined with a row of neon purple lights, giving the track an almost futuristic appearance. The room itself had also been decorated in a cool way, with the words Roxy Raceway painted onto the wall close to the ceiling on one side and the figure of Roxy wearing sunglasses and carrying two white-and-black checkered flags painted on the other. Even the ceiling had been given special attention, with multiple arches present that looked like upside-down skateboarding ramps and several TVs hanging from the ceiling which showed Chica and Roxy.
Roxy Raceway's appearance was certainly impressive, but unfortunately, Mike's praise had to end once he looked down at the ground floor. Because the ground floor was, for lack of a better term, a complete and utter clusterfuck. There were construction materials, caution signs, junk, metal poles, and crates everywhere, causing an absolute mess with barely enough of a path to navigate through. Even now, the Schmidt family could see multiple security S.T.A.F.F. bots patrolling the area with their lights, and a few construction bots were occasionally moving aside a pile of junk to make the path slightly easier to navigate.
"What the fuck is all this?" Fritz exclaimed.
"There's no way they can open Roxy Raceway to the public if it looks like a giant mess like this!" Cassidy exclaimed.
"What even happened to begin with?" Jeremy mumbled. "Why does this all look so…disorganized?"
"What the hell am I even looking at?" Mike declared, not even bothering to hide his confusion. "This place looks like a complete mess!"
"It's terribly unfortunate," Mr. Raugelan sighed. "When we first built Roxy Raceway, we fully anticipated that it would be a state-of-the-art, unique go-karting track for children to enjoy. Unfortunately, for whatever reason, construction has been repeatedly problematic for us. There appears to be a foundational problem with the raceway that has made it unsafe and unsuitable for use despite the extensive amount of time and resources we have put into Roxy Raceway. Because of these difficulties, the Raceway has been closed off to the public and will remain under construction for an indefinite period of time until we can fix the problem appropriately.
Mike frowned. "I do hope you have a way to block people off from Roxy Raceway," he warned. "Because I'm telling you right now, if you even think about letting anyone near this massive safety hazard, I'm going to find the nearest news station and condemn you to the public right here and now."
"Oh, you don't have to worry about that, Mr. Schmidt," Mr. Raugelan quickly reassured him. "Roxy Raceway will only be accessible to employees, and access to the public is strictly forbidden. You see, all of the attractions have garage-esque entryways, complete with garage doors. Roxy Raceway will be completely blocked off by a full-blown garage door, and the way we came is the only way the public can access Roxy Raceway. It will be physically impossible for children to stumble their way here and injure themselves. Unless, of course, you find a child who has the physical strength to lift a garage door single-handedly," he added with a hint of sarcasm.
Mike shook his head. "As long as the area is completely blocked off to the public, then I don't feel the need to publicly criticize Roxy Raceway." He glanced down at the piles of junk strewn across the floor and frowned. "That being said, I highly recommend that you clean this place up a bit more. Even if children won't be around here, this kind of environment can't be safe for an adult either. I mean, for God's sake, what if some construction worker trips over a piece of junk and ends up falling over the edge into the racetrack? A fall like that could seriously injure or even kill someone!"
Mr. Raugelan frowned. "Normally I'd dismiss the possibility, but there were one or two incidents I remember reading about where a S.T.A.F.F. bot tripped over something and fell into the racetrack. I'll make a recommendation to the board that we increase the number and productivity of the construction S.T.A.F.F. bots we have to help clear out some of the construction equipment."
Considering that a Fazbear Entertainment representative was actually making the suggestion on his own initiative instead of being handed the solution to them practically by force, Mike would gladly take what he could get. "Is there anything we can even do here, if nobody's even gonna be here to begin with?" Liz wondered.
"Not much," Mike admitted telepathically. "I guess the best you can do for now is to just look around. Get as much information as you can, although good luck trying to make sense of this clusterfuck."
"Will do," Charlie replied. She and the other ghosts began exploring Roxy Raceway's ground floor, while Mike asked the two men from Fazbear Entertainment if they could sit down and rest on the benches since those were perfectly safe and functional. As the three men took their rest and made random small talk, the ghosts explored and investigated the ground floor of Roxy Raceway. The floor was just as messy and cluttered with construction equipment up close as it looked from a distance, although thankfully there was enough of a path that the S.T.A.F.F. bots could traverse. One thing that they did notice was a go-kart with a headless S.T.A.F.F. bot to the side, its body slumped forward and completely inactive.
"What happened here?" Jeremy wondered. "Why is this guy missing his head?"
Gabe shook his head. "Who knows? Maybe it malfunctioned and somebody took it off and brought it to Parts and Services or something. I certainly don't see it around here."
The ghost kids spent a few seconds looking, but couldn't find anything resembling a S.T.A.F.F. bot head that would fit the headless racer bot. They eventually gave up and proceeded to explore the rest of the area. The ghost kids inspected the garage doors lining the side of Roxy Raceway and floated through them, scouting out the different areas behind them. Most of them were unsurprisingly actual garages where several go-karts were lined up against the wall, although there was one with a smaller door that actually looked like an abandoned party room with multiple chairs covered in white fabric to the side. Susie had chosen to visit this particular room, and her eyes were drawn to a red table on the far corner in front of a poster of Glamrock Chica with an orange gift jack-in-the-box wrapped in white ribbon sitting on top of it. Making sure nobody was around, Susie approached the gift box and turned the crank, causing the top to pop open.
"What?" Susie mumbled as she picked up the blue and purple neon card that came out of the box in puzzlement. "Dance Pass? What is this even supposed to be?" She stared at the card and turned it over in her hands, trying to think about how something like this could be used. After trying to come up with an idea and finding nothing, she shrugged and put the card back in the box before covering the top of the box again. It wasn't like she could take the card with her when nobody was supposed to even be here to begin with.
She left the room and met up with the rest of her siblings. "Well, we found a wooden box where there might be a driver S.T.A.F.F. bot's head," Gabe reported, before shaking his head. "I can't say for sure, though. I didn't open it because I didn't want to risk getting spotted by someone or something, we're still technically out in the open here."
"I checked the garages and found some Dance Pass card in a gift box," Susie reported, before shrugging. "Don't ask me what that is, cause I have no idea."
"I think we need to get back, guys," Liz pointed at the booths on the balcony where Mike and the two Fazbear Entertainment executives were sitting. "Dad can only stall for so long."
"Make sure you guys are still invisible, inaudible, and everything," Charlie cautioned. The ghosts made sure that their total concealment was still in effect before flying back up to where their father was waiting for them.
Once they were all there, Mike spoke up, "I think it's time we move on from this place. We've been here long enough, especially given that this place is still under construction."
"I couldn't agree more, Mr. Schmidt," Mr. Raugelan agreed as he got up from the bench. "There's much more for you to see in the Pizzaplex, and unlike Roxy Raceway, all the other areas of the Pizzaplex are fully completed and ready for you and the public to appreciate."
"Lead the way, gentlemen," Mike replied.
The three men made their way back the way they came, with the ghost kids following behind them. As they left, some of them took one last glance at what would've been one of the highlight attractions of the Pizzaplex, if fate had been kinder.
Jeremy was the last to tear his gaze away from Roxy Raceway. For some reason that he couldn't quite fathom, he almost felt as though there was something he was missing about Roxy Raceway specifically. Some hidden aspect of it that he felt he wasn't seeing.
There was no time for him to dwell on it for too long, not when they were already moving on. So long as Roxy Raceway was blocked off to the public, he would focus his attention on more immediate problems in other areas. "But still though," he thought as they emerged back into the bright atmosphere of the Atrium, "what could it be?"
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A/N: Well, Jeremy, you are certainly not wrong. There is indeed a hidden mystery in Roxy Raceway, one with far greater ramifications than you could imagine. I don't blame you for not finding it, though. Not when the Fazbear Entertainment executives haven't even mentioned the sinkhole being the reason why Roxy Raceway is constantly under construction, and nobody has yet put together that the Mega Pizzaplex has been built over the Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria Simulator decoy pizzeria.
Fazcade and Roxy Raceway both ended up taking a lot more writing than I expected, but I guess this isn't too much of a surprise. Not when both are some of the most important locations in the entire Pizzaplex and the Security Breach game. The Schmidts have already done some good work by removing the experimental bouncer mode from DJ Music Man, which would effectively remove him as a threat when the night of Security Breach inevitably happens. If you're skeptical about Fazbear Entertainment actually going through with the removal of the bouncer mode, keep in mind that Nightmare hideously tortured about half of the Fazbear Entertainment executives a while ago in their dreams to make sure that they'll comply with Mike Schmidt's demands. As long as it isn't blatantly unreasonable (and the Schmidts are making a point of keeping their demands moderate and reasonable), they'll do what he asks if only because they don't want a Round 2 with Nightmare that'll likely be even worse than what they went through the first time.
That's all I have for now. Hope you guys enjoyed!
