Chapter Text
Gregory startled awake as his hiding place suddenly came to life. Which to be fair, he should have expected this considering that his hiding place was a giant robot. It was bound to come back online at some point.
"Showtime already?! I am experiencing a malfunction. The recharge cycle is not complete." The giant robot bear said. The bear had pretty deep voice that had bass to it. In other words, the bear's voice was kinda loud. And Gregory didn't want any attention drawn to him. So, he did the only thing he could think of.
"Shh! Will you shut up?!" Gregory yelled. A beat passed. Gregory immediately slapped his hands over his mouth in horror. Way to go, Gregory. You just told the giant robot-bear that could probably rip you in half to shut up. Luckily for Gregory, the bear either didn't notice that he had (quite rudely) virtually been told to put a sock in it or he was more focused on where the voice that had rudely told him to put a cork in it came from. Which, in his defense, was a perfectly valid reaction to hearing a seemingly disembodied voice telling you to shut up.
"Who said that?" The bear asked. Well, he had already made his presence known to the bear, might as well tell him where exactly he was.
"Okay, listen, you were sleeping so I opened up the stomach hatch and climbed inside." Gregory explained.
And promptly fell asleep afterwards. Gregory thought. There was silence as what Gregory said registered. Then the bear flew into a panic.
"My stomach hatch? That place is reserved for oversized birthday cakes and piñatas! It is not a safe play area!" The bear yelled. The stomach hatch opened and before Gregory could protest, a metal hand reached in and pulled him out.
"Hey! Put me down!" Gregory yelled. The bear immediately did so, muttering an apology.
"Now, hold still please." The bear said. His eyes glowed light blue as he scanned Gregory.
"Scanning complete. How odd. Your guest profile is not known to me. Who are you?" The bear asked.
"I-i'm Gregory." Gregory said. The bear hummed thoughtfully.
"Gregory. I will notify the main office." Gregory was about to open his mouth to tell the bear not to bother since there was no one there to answer when the bear made a noise of confusion.
"Huh, connection error. I cannot connect to the main network." The bear said. Gregory kicked the carpet.
"That's cause no one's there." Gregory said. The bear tilted his head at him.
"How do you know this?" The bear asked. Gregory looked down.
"The security guard.... I... she... She found me and took me to the main office to call my parents and went to get me some blankets. I heard a loud noise and her scream and i... ran away." Gregory said, ashamed. The bear bent down.
"It is alright, you were afraid. You had a perfectly natural response." The bear said. Gregory sniffled.
"I-i guess." Gregory said. He still felt bad. Officer Vanessa could have been hurt and instead of checking on her, he just ran away. The bear seemed to be in deep thought.
"Since Officer Vanessa's whereabouts are currently unknown, I will escort you to the main entrance." The bear said. Gregory looked up, shocked.
"R-really?" Gregory asked, hating how hopeful he sounded. The bear nodded.
"Of course, I am programmed to assist guests." The bear said. Gregory was seized with the sudden urge to hug the bear but decided that that was a bit much and instead settled for smiling.
"Thank you." Gregory said. The bear waved a hand.
"There is no need. I am happy to assist. However, I am unable to leave my room. I must be on lockdown." The bear said. Gregory raised an eyebrow.
"How are you going to help me if you're stuck in here?" Gregory asked.
"There is a button on the wall that will open the door to the backroom. I will make it accessible to you now." The bear said. There was a slight beep which Gregory figured meant that he could now access the button.
"How am i supposed to keep in contact with you?" Gregory asked. The bear's stomach hatch opened.
"Here, take this. It is a Fazwatch. It will allow us to keep in contact with each other." The bear said as Gregory took the watch. Gregory put the watch on and adjusted it so it wouldn't fall or slip off.
"Great. What do I do when I go to the backroom?" Gregory asked.
"There is an open air vent inside the maintenance room. You will have to climb through the ventilation system and release me from the outside." The bear said. Gregory nodded as he went over the tasks in his mind.
"Go through the air shaft, release you from the outside. Got it." Gregory said. He walked over to the button and pushed it. The door slid open and Gregory looked out and gulped.
"It's.. It's pretty dark in there." Gregory said.
"There is nothing to be scared of. You can do it." The bear said, encouragingly. Gregory nodded and steeled himself.
"Okay, here I go." He turned back to the bear.
"Thanks, Glamrock Freddy. For going out of your way like this." Gregory said. The bear chuckled.
"Like i said before, it is no trouble. And please, call me Freddy." Freddy said. Gregory smiled and nodded.
"Okay, Freddy." Gregory took another deep breath and then ventured into the backroom. Gregory moved as quickly as his little, skinny legs could take him. He had seen enough horror movies to know that you didn't want to lurk around big, dark rooms by yourself for too long. He turned a corner and saw the vent that Freddy had mentioned with a convenient stack of boxes leading up to it.
"Well, that's convenient." Gregory said to himself before carefully climbing up the boxes and into the vent. Gregory crawled through the vent, following the twists and turns when he heard a voice.
"Your performance was perfect tonight." A voice said. Gregory stopped. Who said that? The voice continued.
"Thank you. Your hair is beautiful. Your tail is beautiful. Everyone loves you. Everyone wants to be you." The voice said. Gregory rolled his eyes. Geez, this person was a little full of themself. Still, Gregory was curious and decided to follow the voice to its source. He could vaguely hear his mother saying that his curiosity would get him in trouble one day. He came up to a vent with purple light streaming out of it. He pressed himself up to the vent cover and looked down. He could vaguely make out black and white checkers, a purple wall with what looked like black writing on it and a carpet with some kind of design on it. What really caught his attention was what appeared to be an animatronic talking to what he assumed was a mirror. He couldn't really make out what kind of animal it was. All he could really see was its grey casing, some green thing hanging in front of its face, yellow eyes and what appeared to be red clothes.
"You are the best. Thank you. I am the best. I am the best." The animatronic said. It kinda reminded Gregory of the little peptalks he used to overhear his mother giving herself in her vanity mirror as she got ready in the mornings. The animatronic's eyes flicked up to the vent and back down to the mirror before the animatronic did a visible double take and looked back, jaw dropping open.
"Wha-" Gregory didn't wait around for the animatronic's reaction. He hurriedly crawled away and continued on his merry way. He crawled on for a few minutes when he heard loud banging sounds and angry grunting. Gregory froze and looked around. It wasn't coming from behind him. He crawled forward, the sound becoming louder and louder the closer he got to its source. He saw a deep green light up ahead and crawled towards it, the sounds now deafening. Gregory cautiously peeked through the vent cover, trying to see if he could spot whatever was making the noise. Unfortunately, it was way too dark. A particularly vicious snarl rang out, followed by something heavy smashing against a wall. Gregory, thoroughly deciding that he didn't want to know after all, hurriedly crawling away. He crawled onwards, leaving behind the angry snarls and smashing. It was quiet for a little bit when Gregory heard the sound of a guitar being played. Gregory crawled towards it. Whoever was playing sounded pretty good. They were riffing on that guitar like a pro. Gregory crawled towards the pink light flooding the vent and pressed himself up against the vent cover to see.
He was staring into a pink room. It look like a little girl's birthday party threw up in there with how pink it looked. He could see a pink and white animatronic down in the room, playing a blue electric guitar. The animatronic sounded good. Gregory had thought that animatronics were just playing along to pre-recorded instruments, but now he knew they didn't. The music he had been hearing during business hours were the animatronics actually playing the instruments and making actual music. Gregory was willing to bet that they were also actually singing as well. After all, it didn't make sense to have your animatronics be able to actually play instruments but then have them sing pre-recorded song lyrics.
Gregory crawled onwards, leaving behind the guitar playing animatronic. He finally reached the end of the vent.
"Ow!" Gregory winced as he lifted up his hand. There was a small cut on it. He looked down at the jagged piece of metal he had cut it on.
"Looks like I'm gonna need a tetanus shot." Gregory murmured. He carefully lowered himself out of the vent and dropped to the ground.
"Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for visiting and we hope you enjoyed the show!" The intercom said. Gregory startled, placing a hand over his heart as it beat erratically from the scare.
"Jesus, give a kid a little warning." Gregory said. The voice continued onwards.
"Freddy and the gang are tired, but they'll be back again next week after a few days of scheduled maintenance! Please make your way to the front of the building where you will be given novelty glasses, a voucher for one free soda refill, and where you will sign a legal disclaimer releasing us of all liability for anything that might have happened during your visit. Have an awesome night, and we'll see you again soon!"
"That's... not ominous at all." Gregory said in reference to the legal disclaimer part. "Why the hell would they make people sign legal disclaimers for anything that might have happened during someone's visit?"
Gregory continued onwards, silently questioning that particular business practice as he made his way through Rockstar Row. He passed the animatronics' rooms, looking through the giant glass panes. He stopped outside the purple room and looked in. He could see the animatronic more clearly now. It was a wolf. The wolf was pacing around her room, muttering to herself, casting glances back at the vent.
"There was someone there. I definitely saw someone." The wolf muttered to herself. She paced around some more, glaring at the vent.
"I saw something. I know I did! I'm not crazy, there was someone in there." The wolf muttered. Gregory felt kinda bad. The poor wolf was glaring at the vent like it had personally wronged her while pacing around her room like a stir-crazy dog. Gregory decided to continue onwards before the wolf turned around and caught another glimpse of him and actually malfunctioned from trying to make sense of what she was seeing. He spotted Freddy's room and hurried over to it, passing by the dark green room that still had heavy crashing sounds coming from it. At least whatever was in there was no longer snarling and growling. He passed the pink room where he could see the animatronic from earlier. The white animatronic was still shredding on her guitar, looking like she was having the time of her life.
That chicken sure can shred. Gregory thought to himself. He finally arrived outside Freddy's room and waved at the bear as he passed the giant glass pane. Freddy being the polite, friendly dork that he was, waved back. Gregory went straight to the door, only to realize that there was a problem. The door looked like it needed a keycard to open it and Gregory didn't have a keycard on him. He tapped on the Fazwatch.
"Uh, Freddy? The door won't open." Gregory said.
"Oh? You are going to need a Photo Pass to open the door. Apologies, I assumed you had one already... Well, you should be to find one at a convenience counter." Freddy said.
Where am I supposed to find one of those? Gregory thought. He looked around before deciding to just walk in the direction of the entrance. Gregory set off, silently cursing his past self for not stealing a Photo Pass. To be fair to his past self, he had no idea that he'd be stuck in this mall at eleven twenty-six pm needing to get a metal bear out of his room. Gregory noticed a small screen on the wall and walked over to it. His Fazwatch lit up with a white icon with an image of a white line connecting to a screen with the words Do you wish to connect with Security Pad A-112?
Gregory shrugged and hit the yes button, cause why not? Who knows, the pad might tell him where to go. His watch let out a little beep and both screens displayed the little spinning circle that all devices displayed when they were connecting to something and then a green checkmark with the words connected lit up both screens. The Security Pad's display showed up on Gregory's Fazwatch. A little button came up on screen asking if Gregory wanted to download the information on the security pad. Gregory shrugged once again and tapped yes. The downloading icon came up and after a few seconds, the bar filled all the way up with the words Download Complete above it. Gregory disconnected his Fazwatch from the security pad and looked through the apps to see what he had downloaded. A little envelope icon popped up with the notification You have one new message under it. Gregory tapped on it and scrolled through before finding just what it was talking about.
Party Foul
COSTUMER COMPLAINT: We paid for the Glamrock Freddy Mega Deluxe Party Package and Freddy broke down as soon as he got on stage. We paid to have him at the table and sing happy birthday. He was supposed to give her the cake! My daughter's birthday has been ruined. I demand a refund.
Gregory winced at the sheer Kareness coming off the message. He was pretty sure that it wasn't even about the daughter's birthday being supposedly ruined. More like the parent trying to raise up a fuss just to get something for free. Gregory was sure that the little girl still had a great birthday and probably didn't even care all that much about Freddy breaking down on stage once she started playing the games around the Pizzaplex. Gregory exited out of the message before continuing on his way. He arrived at the large garage door that raised up just enough for Gregory to duck under. Right outside of it was a convenience counter. Gregory fistpumped.
"Yes!" Gregory cheered to himself. He walked around the counter and after rummaging through every drawer and shelf behind it, came up with a Photo Pass.
"Now to go get Freddy." Gregory said to himself. He headed back into Rockstar Row and headed straight fo Freddy's room. Gregory noticed how eerily quiet Rockstar Row was now. He didn't hear any banging from the dark green room anymore nor did he hear the chicken shredding on her guitar. He didn't even hear the wolf pacing and muttering to herself anymore. Gregory shrugged it off, reasoning that the animatronics were probably charging and headed for Freddy's door and touched the Photo Pass to the door. The door slid open and Gregory took a step back. The wolf, the chicken and an alligator animatronic were all in Freddy's room. The chicken and gator both gaped at Gregory. The wolf had a triumphant "I told you so" look on her face. Freddy waved at Gregory sheepishly. The wolf pointed at Gregory.
"I told you all I wasn't crazy! I knew I saw something!" The wolf exclaimed. The alligator rolled his eyes.
"No one said you were crazy, Roxanne. We were jus' askin' if you were absolutely sure that you saw something. No one had ever doubted you." The gator said. The chicken nodded. Roxanne huffed.
"And why wouldn't I be? I can see through stuff, remember?" Roxanne said. The gator folded his arms.
"Remember when you swore you saw a staffbot in th' kitchen only for it ta turn out ta be on th' other side of th' kitchen?" The gator asked. Roxanne folded her arms and huffed.
"Shut up, Monty." Roxanne grumbled. The chicken meanwhile, was bouncing in place.
"Oh my gosh! He's so cute! Where did you find him, Freddy?" The chicken asked.
"He was in my stomach hatch. He climbed in while I was asleep." Freddy said. All three animatronics whipped to look at him.
"What?!" The three animatronics cried, simultaneously.
"That ain't safe! Why was he in there in th' first place?!" Monty cried.
"He's lucky you woke up and removed him. He could've been twisted into a meat pretzel!" Roxanne cried.
"You're not hurt, are you sweetie?" The chicken asked. Gregory just stared at all the animatronics like a deer in headlights. Freddy held up his hands to calm everyone.
"Guys, calm down. You are overwhelming Gregory." Freddy said, referring to the fact that Gregory looked about ready to bolt. All three animatronics instantly quieted down, muttering apologies to Gregory and Freddy. Freddy waved Gregory in. Gregory, on shaky legs, walked into the room and to Freddy's side.
"Guys," Freddy said. "This is Gregory." The animatronics waved at him.
"Hi, Gregory." All three animatronics said. Freddy motioned to the animatronics.
"Gregory, these are my bandmates." Freddy said. He gestured to each of them as he listed off their names.
"Chica." Chica waved exuberantly.
"Roxanne Wolf." Roxy waved.
"Call me Roxy." Roxy said.
"And Montgomery Gator." Freddy said. Monty waved.
"Call me Monty. My name can trip people up sometimes." Monty said. Gregory waved back at them, a little apprehensive. Roxy turned to Freddy.
"Freddy, why is there a kid here? We're only twenty minutes away from closing." Roxy said. Monty and Chica nodded.
"Why haven't you contacted Officer Vanessa to escort th' lil' guy to the office an' call his parents?" Monty asked.
"And where are his parents anyway? Why did they leave him here?" Chica asked, worry and concern in her voice.
"Officer Vanessa is currently unaccounted for at the moment." Freddy explained. "Gregory said that she found him and brought him to the main office and went to get him some blankets before she called his parents but disappeared." The three animatronics had looks of concern on their faces.
"Disappeared? Whattaya mean, disappeared?" Monty asked.
"Gregory said there was a loud noise and Officer Vanessa's scream. He does not know what happened to her or what the noise was." Freddy said. Chica's hands flew to her beak.
"Oh dear. Someone should go to the main office and check on her." Chica said. Gregory looked down.
"I'm sorry. I know, it was cowardly of me to run away like that." Gregory said. All three animatronics immediately launched into reassurances.
"No, no. It's okay, lil' guy." Monty said. Chica nodded rapidly.
"Yeah, you were scared. It wasn't your fault." Chica said.
"No one's blaming you, kid. I'm sure Officer Vanessa is fine. What you heard was probably something falling. She probably screamed because it startled her." Roxy said. Gregory nodded slowly. Roxy was probably right. Something had fallen and both he and Officer Vanessa overreacted, him more so. But deep down, Gregory didn't think that was the case. People usually didn't scream bloody murder when they were startled. Not like Officer Vanessa had.
"Well then," Monty said, readjusting his glasses. "I guess we're left with one other option." The three animatronics looked at him. Monty let the suspense build before finally speaking.
"We escort th' lil guy ourselves. Who knows, maybe we'll also find Officer Vanessa as well." Monty said. Roxy blinked at him, deadpan.
"You left us in suspense for that?" Roxy asked, arms folded. Monty grinned proudly and put his hands on his hips.
"Yup. It's called building drama." Monty said. Roxy rolled her eyes. Chica clapped her hands excitedly.
"Oooh! That's a great idea, Monty! We can also stop by the main office and check on Officer Vanessa!" Chica said. Freddy held up his hands.
"Guys, you do not have to do this. I have already told Gregory that I would escort him. No use in all of us getting in trouble." Freddy said. Monty patted Freddy's shoulder.
"No way, bossman! We're coming with you! All for one an' one for all!" Monty said. Chica nodded.
"Yeah! Like the three musketeers! Except, you know, there's four of us." Chica said. Roxy nodded.
"Besides, you might need help. Kids can be a handful. It'd be better if you had three extra sets of eyes on the kid." Roxy said. Freddy smiled at his friends.
"What would I do without any of you?" Freddy asked. Monty chuckled.
"You pro'bly wouldn't be halfway on your way to getting grey paint." Monty said. Chica nodded.
"We can be a bit of a handful." Chica said. Roxy nodded in agreement. Freddy looked to Gregory.
"Well, what do you say, superstar? May my friends accompany us?" Freddy asked. Monty, Chica and Roxy turned to Gregory, trying to appear like they weren't desperately praying that he say yes. For God's sake, they were giving him the puppy dog eyes. Gregory hadn't even known that robots were capable of that. Not wanting to crush the hopeful looks on the three animatronics faces, Gregory nodded.
"Yeah. They can come along." Gregory said. Monty, Chica and Roxy all cheered.
"Yay!" Chica cheered.
"Watch out, Pizzaplex! Here comes The Glamrocks!" Monty shouted.
"Let's go! Closing time's gonna be any minute now. We need to get Gregory outta here before he's stuck here." Roxy yelled. All three animatronics bolted out of Freddy's room and into Rockstar Row. Freddy and Gregory blinked after them. Freddy sighed, fondness and exasperation mixed in.
"Well, they seem like an enthusiastic bunch." Gregory said. Freddy shook his head fondly.
"Yes, they are. Monty and Roxy try to hide it behind tough acts but they are both softies deep down. And Chica is always up for helping people." Freddy said. He turned to Gregory and opened his stomach hatch.
"Climb in, it will make things easier. Monty, Chica and Roxy can get a little... hyper sometimes. This way, you won't be exhausted from trying to keep up with three overly eager animatronics." Freddy said. Gregory eyed the stomach hatch warily.
"I don't know. Didn't Roxy say something about me getting twisted into a meat pretzel?" Gregory asked. Freddy chuckled.
"I promise that I will be extremely careful, superstar." Freddy said. After a brief deliberation, Gregory climbed in. Freddy's stomach hatch closed.
"Now, let us go catch up to my bandmates before one of them knocks something over." Freddy said. Gregory raised an eyebrow.
"But they've only been gone five minutes." Gregory said. Freddy chuckled.
"Oh Gregory, you underestimate the amount of trouble those guys can get up to in five minutes." Freddy said. Gregory was left to ponder this as Freddy headed out of his room and into Rockstar Row.