CHAPTER FIFTEEN: PHENOMENON

We eventually entered the Raceway, the attraction looking as beautiful as ever the last time I was in here with Roxanne. A wave of amazement washed over me as I looked over the Raceway. Unlike with the Lobby, I didn't feel that frustration blend in with the amazement. I felt utter relief at that. I prefer being amazed by the Raceway every time rather than the Lobby.

I heard Roxanne giggling beside me. I looked to see her covering her mouth with her hand.

"What's so funny?" I asked curiously.

"Your face," she replied through her giggles. She removed her hand away from her mouth. "Your face looked exactly how it looked when you saw my raceway for the first time. Just as amazed as ever."

I smiled. "Well, it looks amazing as it did the last time I was here, and I was here literally yesterday morning. I prefer being amazed by your raceway rather than the Main Lobby every time I set foot into this place."

"You've been amazed by the Lobby?" she asked, sounding surprised. I nodded. She quickly regained her composure, giving me a warm smile. "I don't blame you. The Lobby is one of the cool places in the Pizzaplex, though not as cool as my raceway. My raceway is the best."

"You always say that when someone says that someplace within the Pizzaplex is cool, Roxy," Montgomery groaned. Roxanne and I looked in time to see Chica elbowing Montgomery in the side with an annoyed look on her face. "Hey, what was that for?!"

"For almost ruining the moment," Chica retorted. Roxanne and I just chuckled at the action.

"Well anyway, I'll go take Mihael to go see the go-karts and help him pick one out," Roxanne said. "Why don't you three go sit at the bleachers in the meantime?"

They all nodded and headed over to the bleachers. Once they were out of sight, I looked to see Roxanne giving me a warm, confident smile. I smiled in return. A nod of my head was the confirmation to let Roxanne know to lead the way to the go karts. She nodded in return before she released my hip, freeing me from the embrace. She gestured for me to follow her. I nodded, and with that, she began leading me to where the go karts were kept.

Walking through the attraction with the race track towering over us made me feel small. I felt like an ant crawling along the sides of an anthill; I was the ant and the rave track was the anthill. I didn't know if Roxanne ever felt this way when she walked through her raceway for the first time, but I had a feeling that she did. I was willing to bet that anyone who walked through the raceway to get the go karts had felt the way I was feeling right now.

I looked over the attraction. The sheer size of it was bigger than it made itself look when we were higher up. I was very impressed with how glorious it was. I could definitely see why it was Roxanne's pride and joy.

"Mihael?" Roxanne's voice snapped me out of my thoughts. I looked to see her looking at me curiously. To my surprise, I realized that I had stopped walking when I got lost in my thoughts. I also noticed that we were standing about a foot away from a large metal door.

"Yes, Roxanne?" I said.

"Are you okay?" she asked. "You stopped walking and looked like you were thinking about something. Is everything okay?"

"Oh, don't worry, everything is fine," I reassured.

She eyed me for a moment. "Okay, if you say so."

Upon catching up to her, we walked over to a large metal door that looked slightly similar to a garage door, except it was dark gray and had checkered patterns at the bottom. When we got about a foot from the door, it slowly slid open. We watched and waited.

As it was about halfway, I felt my heart rate pick up, as well as my breathing threatening to turn into hyperventilation. I tried my best to keep myself calm so as to not alert Roxanne to my unease. I had to remind myself that I wasn't doing this for myself. Instead, I was only doing this for Roxanne. There was no way I was going to chicken out of this. No way, no how.

Finally, the metal door slid up all the way open, allowing us access. I looked to see Roxanne giving me a warm smile as she gestured for me to go in first. I shook my head before I gestured for her to go inside first. We comically gestured to each other, trying to get one of us to go in. Finally, Roxanne gave up and stepped inside first. I followed after her, and took in my surroundings.

The room was large with large metal shelvings units lined up with a number of toolboxes, small batteries, and tires on the shelves. All of the go-karts were lined up in the center of these glowing rectangular-shaped markings on the floor. The go-karts were big enough for someone like me to use them, colored differently with numbers on the front.

"So, what do you think?" she asked, sounding hopeful. I looked to see her looking at me hopefully.

"They are pretty cool-looking," I replied with a small smile before it weakened slightly. I looked back at the go-karts. "They don't seem big enough for you to use them."

I heard her walk over to me before I felt a hand rest on my right shoulder. I looked to see her giving me a reassuring smile. I didn't know if I was seeing things, but it looked as though Roxanne Wolf was trying to suppress laughter.

"Oh, don't worry about that," she said while small chuckles escaped her. "These go-karts were designed to be big enough for teenagers, adults, and animatronics like me to use them. I know it sounds hard to believe, but trust me on that."

"Are you sure you won't turn them into go-kart pancakes once you sit on one of them?" I teased.

She laughed loudly. "Like I haven't heard that one before!" After a moment, she calmed herself down. "But, seriously, it's fine. I've used these go-karts before and I can use them easily as the guests that come into the Pizzaplex."

I surveyed the number of go-karts that were in here. From the looks of it, they all seemed to be stored in this room when not in use. But, a part of me questioned if all of the go-karts are stored here. Maybe there were others.

"Hey, Roxanne?" I said.

"Yes, Mihael?" she responded.

"Are all of the go-karts stored here?" I asked.

There was a brief pause before Roxanne "No. The other go-karts with the driver assistant robots are stored in a separate garage at the far left."

I looked back at her. "Driver assistant robots?"

"Yes," she said with a nod. "They are robots designed to help assist a driver who is too small to drive any of the other karts. That way, if someone too small wanted to race on my raceway, they would use the ones with the robots so they can drive it without much difficulty."

I nodded my head, accepting that reply. At least if people who had a problem with their size because of issues wanted to use them, they had a chance to do so. It was nice to know such a thing.

"That's pretty cool," I said. I thought of something very important. "By the way, how fast do these things go?"

"Like around 20 to 30 mph," she replied. "Kyle wanted to make sure they were designed to go at a safe speed for the kids that come here. He always worried for the safety of the kids since the Pizzaplex is supposed to be safe and fun."

I smiled. It was a good thing that Kyle cared a lot about the safety of the kids that come here. If he didn't, he would've made an enemy out of me. I cared a lot about the kids, as well as their safety, and since I was a security guard now, their safety was my main priority. I would take a bullet to protect them.

"That's nice," I said simply.

"It really is," she agreed. "We're lucky to have a manager like him. Things would've been different if we had someone else other than him. He's like a friend to all of us. He has his moments where he can be strict, but those times are few and far between. He's amazing…"

I couldn't agree more. Kyle indeed was a very great guy, and a really great manager. If it was anybody else that wasn't as good as Kyle, I wouldn't be where I was. I've heard many stories of terrible managers and bosses, and in those stories, they either get away with it or get what they deserve.

"I agree," I said.

"Well, go ahead and pick a go-kart," Roxanne said, gesturing to them with her right hand. "There are many to choose from."

I nodded again and looked over the many go-karts. I found myself having a hard time trying to pick one. Many of them were cool-looking, which didn't help my case. I looked uncertainly at Roxanne, who was giving me a small, patient smile. I looked back at the go-karts, and found one that caught my eye.

The go-kart was styled yellow, purple, and green with two black stars on the front. There was a '3' embedded on the front. I didn't know why, but I wanted to use that go-kart for the race. Plus, I didn't want to keep Roxanne waiting for too long.

"I choose this one," I said, pointing to the go-kart.

"Alright," Roxanne said, nodding her head.

"So, how are we going to do this," I asked.

She looked at me curiously. "What do you mean?"

"What I mean is how many laps are we going to do for this race?" I asked. That was a very important question to ask.

I didn't want to go in there thinking we might do 2 or 3 laps when we might be doing more. I was well aware that auto racing can have a huge number of laps with the highest being 500 laps. It always blew my mind that races can have that many laps. I have no idea how something like that can be pulled off, especially with how long of a race that can be anyway.

"Oh, we will be doing only one lap around the raceway," she said with a smile. "I assume you've never raced before, and if so, I think one lap will be alright."

I rubbed the back of my head sheepishly with my left hand. "Yeah, it is. I've only seen it on TV with my father, but I never got to try it firsthand."

She thought about it for a moment. "Well, do you drive?"

"Yes," I replied. "I drive a truck, which happens to be my first car. Why?" I arched an eyebrow at her. "What does that question have to do with racing?""

"Well," she began, "think of racing as driving a car down a road, but faster with more twists and turns. If you have fast reflexes, and have good mental and emotional fortitude to stay focused, you might have what it takes."

I was about to ask her how she knows that, but remember what she told me back at El Chip's. Maybe her possessing such knowledge is a result of her being programmed to know about racing. I was secretly relieved that I remembered before asking a stupid question.

"Okay, that makes sense," I said. "I'll keep that in mind during the race."

She nodded before she smirked confidently. "Now, hot shot, let's see how good you are."

I gave Roxanne my best confident smile as we both sat idly by the checkered line in our respective go-karts, the wolf mascot sitting in a go-kart with a '1' embedded on the front, and was styled with red, and yellow, and two black stars. She gave me a cocky smile, the wolf obviously very confident she was going to win. I had no doubt in my mind that Roxanne would beat me easily since she had more experience than me.

I looked away, gripping the steering wheel tightly in my hands. I did my best to keep myself calm, despite the fact I was sweating bullets, and my body was trembling slightly. I could hear the rapid beating of my heart in my ears. A part of me was screaming at me to not do this and to chicken out like a coward while I still can. However, another part of me was telling me to do this race like a man, and that it was for Roxanne's sake. That part of me was the only thing keeping me seated in my go-kart, preventing the panic from getting the best of me and chicken out like a coward.

"Are you ready, Mihael?" I heard Roxanne call out. I looked to see her still giving me that cocky smile.

"Yes, I'm ready!" I called back out, though deep down, I wasn't ready at the slightest.

We looked away from each other and focused on the path ahead. My foot itched to stomp on the pedal and speed down the track, but I resisted. I was going to wait for her to say 'Go'.

"Alright!" she called out loudly. "Begin in 3…"

'I have to do this,' I thought as I steeled my nerves. 'No need to chicken out now.'

"2…"

'I'm not a coward.' I tightened my grip on the steering wheel.

"1…"

'I can do this… I can do this…'

"GO!" she called out before I heard her go-kart go speeding down the race track.

'I CAN DO THIS!' Steeling my resolve, I slammed my left foot onto the pedal. I was pushed back against my seat as the go-kart began speeding down the race track.

Adrenaline pumped through my veins as I sped down the track to catch up with Roxanne. My face grew slightly cold as air blew against it. My heart was beating rapidly and loudly in my chest that I could hear it in my ears.

Seeing the race track curve to the left, I steered the kart in that direction. The kart tilted slightly before it straightened itself back on all four wheels. Following the turn, I felt my stomach churn as my kart went down a slope before immediately going up another slope. Once at the top, I calmed myself, keeping my focus on the track.

As I sped down the raceway, making several turns along the way trying to catch up to Roxanne, all that nervousness I felt before vanished. A wave of excitement and pleasure washed over me. I smiled, having never felt so alive in my life. Was this why people loved auto racing? Was it because of the feeling they would get from it? If so, then wow.

About halfway, I made a sharp right and caught a quick glimpse of Roxanne, speeding down the track. I smirked as I sped down the track, slowly gaining on the wolf. Going down and up another slope, I grew excited when I saw that I was now about a foot away from her.

"Hey, Roxanne!" I called out. Roxanne quickly turned to look behind her. A look of slight surprise formed on her face once she locked eyes on me. It stayed for a second before it changed back into a smirk.

"About time you start catching up!" she teased. "You better pick up, slowpoke! We're getting to the finishing line!"

With that, her kart picked up speed, getting further away from me. I allowed the smirk to grow on my face as I too picked up speed. In just seconds, I slowly caught up to her, just a few inches behind Roxanne. I steered the kart slightly to the left enough for me to slip by. The kart accelerated until Roxanne and I were side-by-side.

"Who are you calling slowpoke?" I teased. Roxanne turned to look. My smirk grew more when I saw her expression turn into shock. "What's the matter? Didn't expect me to catch up so quickly?"

She regained her composure. "No, but I'm still going to beat you! I'm the Racing Champ for a reason!"

"Show me what you got!" I challenged her. With that, our karts picked up speed and zoomed down the raceway.

It was clear that we both wanted to best each other. I felt the need to win and best her. It was clear that Roxanne wanted the same thing by the determined look on her face. None of us were going down without a fight. That was fine by me.

As we tried to best one another, darkness engulfed us. I looked ahead in a panic, not wanting to crash into anything. The headlights on the go-karts helped a little bit to light up the track. Roxanne must've taken that as her chance. I watched her go-kart speed down the track, laughing as she did. I grind my teeth as I push the pedal down for more speed.

A loud metallic thud echoed throughout the darkness, making me jump slightly. The front of the kart lifted slightly as if something heavy was putting its weight on the back of the kart. I quickly looked back but saw nothing due to the darkness. I returned my attention to the track ahead, not wanting to crash.

"Mihael…"

I gasped as a strange voice whispered in my ear.

"Mihael… can you hear me?"

I couldn't find the strength to speak or reply back. That voice… It sounded so familiar… It sounded like…

"Mihael… listen carefully. You must be careful from now on. Something evil wants you dead and it plans to use Roxy to finish the job. Though its grip on Roxy is very weak, it's slowly corrupting her as we speak. I don't know how long it'll take for it to fully gain control of her and when it does, you must be ready. In the meantime, do whatever it takes to find out what happened to the missing kids. Be there for her. She'll need all the support she can get from you and her friends. I know you can do it, Mihael. I believe in you…"

With that, the heavy weight on the back of the kart lifted, allowing the kart to be back on all four wheels. I blinked a few times, trying to understand what just happened. That voice that spoke to me. It wasn't just a random voice; it was a voice I knew all too well. How could it be? How was it possible?

A stinging sensation in my eyes snapped me out of my thoughts. I blinked a few times before squinting to see a little bit. I could see Roxanne was a foot away from me with the finish line just up ahead. I smirked as I slowly inched closer to her.

The closer we got to the finish line, the faster my heart rate picked up. I could feel my hands shaking slightly from the adrenaline flowing through my veins. Something in the back of my mind was telling me that I wasn't going to win, but I ignored it. Even if I did lose, it was still a good race, and to be honest, I had fun. That thought made the smirk on my face turn into a smile.

Unsurprisingly, Roxanne Wolf crossed the finish line first, with me crossing it shortly afterward. We stopped our karts and stepped out. At first, I was upset that I lost to her. But I reminded myself that she won it fair and square. I crossed my arms amusingly as I watched Roxanne celebrate her victory by hopping and exclaiming 'I WON!' over and over again.

"Congratulations, Roxanne," I said as I walked over to her. "You're better than I thought."

Roxanne stopped her little victory dance and looked at me. "Thanks. I have to say; you did well for your first time. I wasn't expecting you to catch up to me, but I still beat you."

"I'll beat you one day," I said smiling. "Maybe not tomorrow or the next day, but one day, I will."

"I'd love to see you try," she teased before we laughed for a moment. When we stopped, we heard footsteps coming our way. We looked to see her friends walking over to us. Freddy and Chica had smiles on their faces while Montgomery looked impressed.

"That was amazing!" Chica exclaimed excitedly.

"I agree," Freddy said. "It was a very close race. I thought it would end in a tie. I'm surprised it didn't."
"And let's not forget that Mihael competed against Roxy better than most of us," Montgomery added with a smirk. "Nobody's ever come that close. Have you done this before, Mihael?"

I smiled sheepishly, rubbing my right arm slowly. "No, this was my first time, believe it or not."

Their eyes went wide with utter shock. I could tell that they must've thought I'd done racing before, probably because of how close we were to get a tie. I couldn't blame them. I would've reacted the same way if someone told me that.

"You're kidding, right?" Montgomery asked in disbelief.

"I'm not kidding," I clarify while shaking my head. "I've only seen it on TV."

"You did pretty well for your first try," Freddy complimented.

"Guess you can call it 'beginner's luck'," I joked. This got everyone to laugh. I chuckled briefly before turning my full attention to the bleachers. My eyes widened while holding in the urge to scream.

Standing at the top bleachers looking down at me was the same figure I'd seen in the gift shop yesterday morning. Thanks to the bright neon lights, I was able to make out the main head this time. The head looked like that of a white fox with red circles for cheeks, pierced ears, a pink muzzle, and a red bandana over its left eye. What caught my eye the most was how the head looked hyper-realistic, like how the Glamrock animatronics looked now.

What the heck was this thing doing here? I felt a wave of dread wash over me as I continued to stare at this fox animatronic. I prayed that it wasn't watching or stalking me.

"Hey, Mihael, what are you staring at?" I heard Roxanne ask. I shook my head and looked to see her looking at me curiously.

"I thought I saw something," I said with a fake small smile. "It's nothing to worried about."

She eyed me suspiciously. "Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure," I said reassuringly. I pulled my phone out of my pocket to check the time. It read 9:55 PM. "Well, looks like I have to start my rounds."

A look of disappointment formed on her face. I gave her a reassuring smile.

"Hey, don't worry," I said softly. "Once I'm done with my rounds, we can do something fun together. How does that sound?"

She smiled softly. "Yeah, that sounds great."

"Oh, can we join?!" Chica asked excitedly.

I chuckled at the chicken mascot's enthusiasm. "Well, I don't see any problem with that. What do you think, Roxanne?"

Roxanne went into deep thought while Chica smiled widely at her. She looked so ridiculous, yet so cute at the same time. I saw Montgomery roll his eyes in amusement while Freddy chuckled. Robots or not, their friendship is true and real.

"I guess they can join," Roxanne said with a small smile.

"YES!" Chica exclaimed happily. "This will be great!"

"What do you think we can do?" Freddy asked.

I shrugged. "I don't know. I will think about it while I'm doing my rounds. See you guys later!"

"Wait, I want to give you something first," Roxanne said.

"What is it?" I asked. Roxanne walked over to me, her tail wagging happily.

She got about a foot from me and smiled lovingly. Without warning, she gripped both of my arms, leaned her head forward, and planted her purple lips onto mine. My eyes went wide while I heard the loud gasps of her friends. The kiss lasted for a moment before Roxanne released me, removing her lips from mine.

"I had a lot of fun tonight," she said. "I hope we can do this again. See you later, Rockstar."

I recovered slightly. "Yeah, see you later."

With that, I waved goodbye and walked out of the Raceway.

I walked through the Atrium, taking in what just happened earlier. I recognized the voice that whispered in my ear during the race. It was Lisa's voice. It took everything I had to keep myself from crying. How was that possible? It has been 10 years since I heard her voice, one I believed I would never hear again. Yet, I heard it for the first time in 10 years.

I thought about that loud metallic thud from the back of the go-kart. I couldn't help but wonder if that fox animatronic I've seen for the past two days now has anything to do with it. If anything, was it that thing that whispered in my ear in Lisa's voice? It sounded far-fetched and crazy. There was a good chance that I might've thought I heard it speak using Lisa's voice. The problem was that the voice was crystal clear. There was only one way to know for sure; I would have to see it speak in order to have my question answered.

I thought about what the voice whispered in my ear. The idea of what it was that took over Roxanne last night was slowly corrupting her. It only made things scarier that I only had two weeks to stop whatever it was that was planning on using her to kill me. The only thing I had to go on was that it was something pure evil. Whenever it took control of someone or something, their eyes would turn purple, and they would be forced to do something against their will. I knew it wasn't going to be easy to figure it out.

Then, there was the fact that it believed in me on figuring out what happened to those kids that went missing. Why would it say something like that? I found that to be very odd and strange. It was like it knew I would find the truth and put the pieces together. How or why is the big question.

"Mihael…"

I stopped dead in my tracks near the stage. I looked around the room, my eyes wide. There was that voice again. Was I going crazy? Or was the voice that echoing in my head really who I think it was?

"Mihael… you have to find out what happened."

A strange sensation washed over me. It was the familiar sensation of being watched. Something in the back of my mind told me to check the entrance of Roxy Raceway. I looked. My eyes went wide and it took everything I had to hold in the urge to let out a scream.

Standing at the top of the stairs was the fox animatronic. A strong wave of fear washed over me as I stared at it. There was no way to explain how it managed to get out of the attraction without being seen by Freddy, Chica, Montgomery, and Roxanne. It was like it managed to get out without being detected. It doesn't help that it seems that I'm the only one who has seen it since no one has said anything. That was probably because I didn't say anything to anyone. They might see me as crazy if I did.

"I know you can do it, Mihael," came the familiar voice in my head again. I stood still as a statue, not wanting to believe I heard how its voice sounded. I was once again hit by a wave of emotions.

Its voice… it sounded a lot like Lisa. It couldn't be… There was no way… What did all of that mean…? I…

Everything went black as I felt myself falling before landing on my back.

Author's Note:

After a long wait, the fifteenth chapter is here! :D

I hope I didn't screw up the racing segment for this chapter. I never raced before so I had to imagine what it would be like. Please let me know if I did alright. If I could've done something to make it better, let me know. It really helps. :)

From this point on, this is where things take a dangerous turn for Mihael. This sparks the beginning of Mihael's hunt to find out the truth. Not only that, but he also has to find out what is trying to slowly corrupt Roxanne before it's too late. It's a race against the clock. 0_0

Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. Chapter Sixteen hopefully won't take as long. All constructive criticism is appreciated and I will see you guys in the next chapter! :)

Update: Made some changes.