Chapter 6: New Info

The next day, Freddy, Bonnie, Chica, and Foxy were playing this card game called One, on their computers. It was a pretty competitive match and it didn't look like luck was on Freddy's side. Foxy was having a huge advantage compared to his friends and he was getting very close to winning. Chica was getting frustrated with her cards, but tried to keep her cool. Bonnie on the other hand was fuming having to pick up cards till he got the right one.

"COME ON, IS IT THAT HARD TO GET ONE SIMPLE CARD??!!" Bonnie shouted. "Yeah, apparently," said Chica. "This has gone on for a solid 20 seconds now," said Freddy. "He'll get it eventually," said Foxy. And he was right too, because after what felt like forever, he finally got the card to be put down. "Geez! Freakin finally!" Bonnie said, "I gained the most cards because of it!" Unfortunately, he was about to get more mad when it was Foxy's turn.

Foxy put down his card which was his final one. Obviously, he won the game. "This laddie has won!" he said in triumph. "Are you kidding me?!" exclaimed Chica, "I was so close!" "OH MY GOD, THIS IS BULLSHIT!" Bonnie shouted, "ALL THOSE YEARS OF PLAYING ONE JUST FOR THIS??!! I SHOULD'VE SPENT THAT TIME PLAYING MASTER OF PUPPETS!!" "Even if you did, you'd probably lose your fingers from the endless hours of practice, just saying," said Freddy.

Suddenly, Fredbear was calling them via video chat. This helped in answering the call better, since they were communicating via video chat while playing the game. Freddy answered the call and now Fredbear was now in the video chat with him and his friends. Before anyone could greet Fredbear, the only thing they could hear was him throwing up as the only thing present was his profile picture, assuming his camera was turned off. "Uhh, you alright dad?" asked Freddy. "Fredbear, if you're listening, you got blootered last night," said Foxy, "Ye probably didnae remember, do ya?"

When the throwing up stopped, Fredbear's camera turned on. He looked quite awful after last night's experience. "Gee, you really think I don't have knowledge of what happened last night?" he asked, "I remember drinking a lot, but I don't remember what happened afterwards, aside from me waking up and feeling like I ate poison." "We didn't see what you did, but we did see you doing some harmonica solo on stage while the crowds yelled at you to get off," said Chica, "Yata yata yata, then Freddy took you home since we didn't want you to drive home drunk and we eventually left too, not wanting to deal with the know-it-alls."

"Well, I'm sorry it didn't work out well," Fredbear said, "I cannot begin to imagine how I was as a drunk. Now my body is paying for it." "Well to be fair, we've been getting treated worse and worse with each passing year," said Freddy, "So how about we just never go to those gathering again? I mean, let's be real here, nobody there except for Sarah and a few others respect us." "Fair," said Foxy. "More than fair," added Chica. "We don't need to waste time with those guys," also added Bonnie.

Just then, someone tried calling the group. It was Buster, and this was probably the best time too. "Yes!" said Freddy, "I hope he's got some REAL information for us!"

The call was picked up and Buster successfully joined. "Hey guys," he greeted, "Sorry for lacking if I have been at all, gathering information on this has been getting progressively more difficult. And is your father alright Freddy? He looks like Beetlejuice if he came down with covid." "My dad had a rough night," Freddy replied. "If you really wish to know what happened, I may or may not have drank to the point where I acted like some unattended child," Fredbear said, "I'll be right back, I need some water. I'm feeling-"

Fredbear got out of his desk chair and immediately fell over. "I'm okay, I'm okay," he said, as he got back up and went over to his kitchen to get water. "Hangover?" asked Buster. "I wouldn't doubt it," said Foxy. "Any more information for us?" asked Bonnie. "I do, but I think it's best to wait for Fredbear to come back," replied Buster.

Fredbear came back with a water bottle as he drank some of it. He didn't fall over this time and looked a little more steady than before. "This should help little by little," he said, "I don't know how I got this bruise, but I imagine that's where some of the headache is coming from."

"So Buster, what's going on?" asked Chica. "To make a VERY long story as short as possible," Buster explained, "I'm 99 percent positive that the very individual Mayor Friedlander is doing business with is a real estate mogul named Montgomery Gator. This guy makes condominiums and golf courses, and has been doing it for the last 10 years or so. Coming from a wealthy family that had been doing this for decades, he pretty much wanted to do what they did from the get go. However, their business practices were fishy and when Monty became the leader, it increased." "How so?" asked Fredbear. "There's this pattern that seemingly gets covered up or is made to look like it's nothing," Buster continued, "Businesses getting shut down and sometime after, one of that gator's projects showing up right where it once stood. Businesses would shut down for one reason or another, then about a year later, a golf course, sometimes accompanied by condominiums, would show up. I'll share my screen to show you that this is no coincidence and that there are articles on this."

Buster typed on the computer to one of the articles, but was met with an advertisement. "Aww dang, I gotta wait a few seconds before I can skip this," he said. Some seconds passed, but Buster didn't skip the ad, as it continued to play. "Uhh, you gonna skip the ad?" asked Freddy. "Hold on, now I'm really interested in this," replied Buster. Everyone except Bonnie facepalmed. "He really is no different than Bonnie," said Foxy. "What?" asked Bonnie. "Huh?" asked Foxy back, pretending like he didn't say anything.

Freddy sighed until he had an idea. "I know what'll get Buster's attention," he said, "Jumpscare warning in about 5 seconds." "Oh boy," said Chica. "Sorry Freddy," said Buster, "Did you say somethi-" A jumpscare of a bear that looked nightmare-ish scared Buster so badly that he jumped out of his chair and fell. Foxy laughed his ass off, Freddy almost broke into laughter, and the others just kinda stayed quiet, specifically Bonnie.

"What was that all about?!" exclaimed Buster. "You were getting carried away, so I had to help you snap out of it so we could get back to the real and ongoing problem," replied Freddy. Buster knew he couldn't argue with that, so he skipped the ad that was still ongoing to go straight into the articles. There were several articles from various publications that talked about businesses closing to eventually make way for one of Monty's projects. Or recently closed businesses being torn down to make way for Monty's projects. It seemed just as Buster described.

While it wasn't very clear when this trend started, the earliest article was in 2003 when Monty's father was running. Between then to 2013, it happened a total of 5 times. As fishy as it was, it was enough that didn't seem to get people to question him. When Monty took over in 2014 to now, the number went as high as 9. Questioning occurred, especially when partnered up with less than popular or perspectively weak mayors of towns across the southwestern US. However, nothing came of it and it seemingly got glossed over by Monty or someone who worked with him. Even some mayors didn't want to go too deep into the subject and gave vague answers.

"So Monty is a reckless owner?" asked Freddy. "Yes, but there's more to it," said Buster, "You see, there's been some reports of bad smells in some businesses that almost immediately sabotaged any chance of it still being run after a week. Owner's tried to go to court to keep their business around, but didn't work out so well. In fact, one business owner accused their town of failing at doing their job shortly after Monty joined in a town project with it's mayor in 2015."

Freddy and his friends immediately remembered the stink bomb and told Buster about it. "So it is really isn't just a sheer coincidence," said Buster, "Someone who works with Monty must know their way around the pizza place if they weren't caught on camera and clearly it was made by them or Monty himself. On top of this, somehow and some way the gator is wiggling his way into the system of towns, only to take down places that he sees as perfect targets. I imagine a lot of bribery is happening if law enforcement isn't going to be on your guy's side."

"Is this the part where we go to the mayor and investigate him?" asked Foxy. "I think so," replied Buster, "So get ready guys, because you have a mayor to confront."

To be continued in the next chapter...

(Chapter 6 published 4/5/24)