Rudolph and the Animatronics ch 3

Just found this song last night:



Night Two:

It was after 2am.  Rudolph re-wound the music box as the signal was momentarily interrupted and came back.  Mangle was no longer in the prize corner.  He flipped through the cameras and found it in the game corner.  He still did not find Balloon Boy, but looked up and turned on the flashlight, finding a red fox animatronic; presumably that "Foxy" the recording mentioned, standing at the end of the hallway leading to his office.  He repeatedly flickered the light, and after a while Foxy disappeared back towards the Parts and Service room. Rudolph flickered the cameras back to the prize corner, winding up the music box as the clock turned to 3 am.

He flickered through the cameras and saw that Mangle and Bonnie were both gone. Rudolph heard a childish voice call out "Hi" and he threw the Freddy head over his own.

Bang. Thump. Thump. Thump.

 "Hi." The voice called again as Balloon Boy climbed out of the left vent and it laughed before turning back and climbing back into the vent.

Thump. Thump. Bang. Thump.

Rudolph threw the Freddy head off as he flashed his flashlight down the hallway finding Foxy at the end of it and Mangle in the entryway.  Rudolph flashed the light multiple times, and then threw on the Freddy head as he heard another sound.

Thump. Thump. Thump. Bang.

Toy Bonnie peered into the eye-holes of the mask and then turned and crawled back into the vent.  Rudolph took off the Freddy head and turned the light of his flashlight down the hallway, finding Foxy gone but Mangle still in the entryway. The clocked turned to 4am.

"Hi." The voice of Balloon Boy called again and Rudolph threw the Freddy head on as Balloon Boy climbed out of the vent and Mangle slunk into the room, glaring at his mask before slinking into the vents.

"Hello" Rudolph nervously called before Balloon Boy laughed and climbed back into the vent and exited the room.  Rudolph pulled up the camera and wound up the dangerously unwound music box.  Whatever that "Puppet" thing was, Rudolph didn't want to find out. He shone the light down the hallway and saw Foxy standing at the end of the hallway again.  Rudolph flashed the light multiple times and then it stopped working as he heard something crawling in the left vent. 

"No!" Rudolph yelled, throwing the Freddy head on.  He heard Balloon Boy laugh before he heard something crawl out the left vent.  Rudolph checked the flashlight, and found that it was working again.  He shone it down the hallway, finding that Foxy had left once again.

"So that Balloon animatronic prevents my flashlight from working." Rudolph noted, as the clock chimed 5am. He turned on the flashlight and found Foxy standing in the hallway once again. He flashed the light down the hallway repeatedly and threw on the Freddy head as he heard something crawl in the left vent.  "Hi." Balloon Boy's voice called for a moment before the sound of something crawling in the vent and he threw off the Freddy head and shone the light down the hallway.  Foxy was gone.

"That Foxy character is sure active tonight." Rudolph said, flipping through the cameras before re-winding the music box. Rudolph lowered the cameras and closed his eyes for a few moments, his heart pounded in his ears and his breaths came out shaky. His hooves twitched as he was tiring, however he knew the night wasn't over.  He pulled up the cameras to re-wind the music box as a safety precaution, and flashed the light down the hallway, finding Toy Freddy standing in the entryway of the office. He heard Balloon Boy laugh as something crawled in the left vent and Rudolph threw the Freddy head on.

The lights flickered and Rudolph's breathing came out heavy as he heard Balloon Boy laugh.

Clunk. Clunk. Thump. Clunk.

Toy Freddy's footsteps pounded in Rudolph's ears as he slowly slunk in the room.  Rudolph stood completely still as Toy Freddy stared in his direction, standing still before stepping even closer to him.  Toy Freddy leaned over and Rudolph, out of the corner of his eye, saw an orange exclamation point flashing on the computer screen signifying that the music box was close to being completely unwound.  Right then, the sound of a grandfather clock chimed throughout the building, signifying 6am.  Toy Freddy's eyes gazed nowhere as he stood up and slunk out of the office.

Rudolph placed the Freddy head on the desk next to the flashlight turned the camera and re-wound the music box, despite not needing to.  That had been too close, and he did not want to risk it the next night.  He replaced the flashlight batteries, glad he did so before the night; they were nearly drained and he placed them with the batteries from the previous night. 

With that, he passed out, collapsing on the floor in a heap.

---

He was standing outside a purple curtain as it opened up, revealing more intact Foxy as it jumped out and walked into an adjacent room, to a group of five cheering children. The scene replayed in front of him, and Rudolph smiled seeing the children so happy.

Then the scene repeated a third time with a major change.  That shadowy man from outside the diner was standing next to the curtain with a wide grin.  Foxy moved to the next room, and instead of cheers, five crying ghosts of children floated there.

"What?!" Rudolph said, before Foxy seemingly leaped at him, screaming.

"RRRRAAUAUAUAUUAUAUAGGHHHHHH!"

Rudolph once again awoke in a cold sweat.  He, trembling, and moved to the restroom before turning the sink on and splashing water onto his face.  Looking in the mirror, Rudolph had to admit he looked horrible.  His eyes were baggy, and his fur matted and clumped.  He ducked his mouth into the sink, drinking and rinsing his mouth a little. He moved to the kitchen, ignoring the performing animatronics, and once again grabbed a couple slices of cheese pizza.  He exited the kitchen and glanced at the Toy animatronics.  Unbeknownst to him, the present in the prize corner slid open and a black head with a white mask poked out of the present and stared in his direction before slinking back into the box, closing it up.

He walked back to the office and then threw the blanket over his back, laying down on the cold, hard, tiled floor. His left leg stretched out, and Rudolph glared at the shackle before falling asleep from exhaustion.

---

Santa, Blitzen, and Mitzi were once again outside Freddy Fazbear's Pizza at 10 am as Zoey cautiously walked over balancing a plate of candy canes in her mouth. Blitzen pulled open the door and walked inside the building after holding the door open for the others and letting them walk inside.  An elf entered the building before moving to the kitchen. 

"Any good news?" Blitzen called.

"There's a couple of slices of cheese pizza gone again." The elf called back, and Blitzen let out a breath he didn't know he was holding. Zoey's ears twitched and her tail wagged slightly as she headed down the hallway carefully making sure none of the candy canes fell.  She walked behind the desk and saw Rudolph sprawled out under the blanket and set the plate next to him before giggling at his expression.

"Mom. Dad...Zoey." Rudolph mumbled in his sleep.

"He's dreaming of me!" Zoey said as the others walked up next to her.  Right then Rudolph started shuddering. 

"Run! They're behind you! Run!" He shouted, still deep in sleep.

Mitzi and Blitzen crouched down next to their son, whispering reassurances in his ear until his shuddering died down and his whimpering became quiet.

Santa pressed the play button on the recording.

"Ah...hello, hello! Uh, see, I told you your first night wouldn't be a problem. You're a natural! Uh, by now I'm sure you've noticed the older models sitting in the back room. Uh, those are from the previous location. We just use them for parts now. The idea at first was to repair them...uh, they even started retrofitting them with some of the newer technology, but they were just so ugly, you know? The smell...uh, so the company decided to go in a whole new direction and make them super kid-friendly. Uh, those older ones shouldn't be able to walk around, but if they do, the whole Freddy head trick should work on them too, so, whatever."

"Good to hear that trick will keep him safe." Blitzen said, as Zoey crouched down next to Rudolph.

"Uh...heh...I love those old characters. Did you ever see Foxy the pirate? Oh wait, hold on...oh yeah, Foxy. Uh, hey listen, that one was always a bit twitchy, uh...I'm not sure the Freddy head trick will work on Foxy, uh. If for some reason he activates during the night and you see him standing at the far end of the hall, just flash your light at him from time to time. Those older models would always get disoriented with bright lights. It would cause a system restart, or something. Uh, come to think of it, you might want to try that on any room where something undesirable might be. It might hold them in place for a few seconds. That glitch might be in some of the newer models too."

"There's one that the mask doesn't work on?" Zoey said, turning her gaze from Rudolph to his father, "Did he see that one?"

"It's possible, but we won't know until Rudolph escapes." He said.

"One more thing - don't forget the music box. I'll be honest, I never liked that puppet thing. It was always...thinking, and it can go anywhere...I don't think a Freddy mask will fool it, so just don't forget the music box. Anyway, I'm sure it won't be a problem.  There is one thing however.....the characters become more active as the week progresses. Uh, have a good night, and talk to you tomorrow." 

"MORE active?!" Mitzi said, laying down next to her son and rubbing between his ears, "He must be so scared."

"He's so brave." Zoey said, "I don't think I would have lasted a single night." She admitted poking the glowing shackle as the number 4 turned into a 3.

"Just three more nights." Blitzen said, and Zoey looked at the empty plate from last night with a simple "Thank you" written on paper on the plate.

"He's so sweet. He didn't know who gave him the candy canes, so he wrote thank you." Zoey said.

"You've been raising your son well." Santa said as he placed his right hand on Blitzen's shoulders, comforting the proud father, "With his behavior, despite how others treat him, he's a prime candidate for the sleigh team in the future."

"Hear that Rudolph? Your dream will come true! You'll be a flyer!" Zoey said cheerfully as she stood up and kissed Rudolph on the cheek before writing something on a piece of paper and placing it next to the plate of candy canes as an elf took the empty plate to the kitchen to wash it. As the group headed towards the door, an elf stood shaking facing the animatronics as a song was playing. Santa took notice of this immediately.

"What's wrong?" He asked, crouching down next to the frightened elf.

"There is no song programmed in those animatronics that starts like that." He said, making the others gaze like that.  Toy Freddy lifted his microphone and sang, all the while staring down the hallway towards the office.

There was a full moon in the sky

We met a brand new robot friend

Right now he seems a little shy, he will not play pretend.

He'll sing just fine and play in time

But does not look the part

And so we've lovingly decided

To give him a brand new start.

Toy Bonnie laughed. "We're gonna have so much fun together!" He said strumming on his guitar.

Mitzi gulped as Zoey gazed back at the office Rudolph was sleeping in. The present in the game corner slid open unnoticed and the Puppet peered at the group, before turning his gaze to the office. "Does. Not. Compute." It said in a quiet, raspy voice, slinking back into the box.

---

Rudolph woke up at 10pm, and saw another plate of candy canes next to him.  He quickly ate, hunger catching up from his exhaustion and then noticed the note next to him. "You're welcome! We're rooting for you- Santa Claus, Mom, Dad, Zoey". His nose glowed slightly as a few tears came to his eyes. He wrote a note below theirs.

"Thank you. I will try my best-  Love Rudolph."  He quickly went to the restroom and washed up before returning to the office.  He checked all of the drawers to make sure there were plenty of spare batteries for the next nights.  At 12 am, Rudolph pulled up the camera and wound up the music box as the phone rang, and answered itself, playing a recorded message.

Night Three:

"Hello hello! See? I told you you wouldn't have any problems!"

"That's what you think." Rudolph said, flipping through the cameras.

"Did...uh... Did Foxy ever appear in the hallway? Probably not. I was just curious. Like I said, he was always my favorite. They tried to remake Foxy, ya know? Uh, they thought the first one was too scary, so they redesigned him to be more kid-friendly and put him in Kid's Cove. To keep the toddlers entertained, you know... But kids these days just can't keep their hands to themselves. The staff literally has to put Foxy back together after every shift. So eventually they stopped trying and left it as some 'take apart and put back together' attraction. Now it's just a mess of parts. I think the employees refer to it as just "The Mangle." Uh..."

Rudolph shone the flashlight down the hallway, finding Foxy already standing there.  He quickly flashed the light until it refused to shine for some reason.  Taking that as a hint, Rudolph threw the Freddy head on and waited for a few minutes.  He took the head off and found the flashlight working once again.  Foxy was no longer in the hallway. 

"Oh! I almost forgot about the Funtime Foxy model.  I don't think the Freddy head will trick it, but it does get disorientated by flashing lights, so just use the same trick you use for Foxy the Pirate.  Anyways, I won't keep you too long. Things start getting real tonight. Have a good night, and I'll talk to you tomorrow."

Rudolph gazed at the cameras as something was crawling in each vent.  He looked at each camera feeds in each vent.  In the right vent was a yellow chicken animatronic with a bib bearing the words "Let's Eat!" had it's beaked head nearly ripped in two between the upper and lower jaws, exposing the metal endoskeleton teeth and had wires connecting the two jaws.  It's right arm was missing it's cover from the hand to the elbow, and the left arm was not only missing the costume on the lower arm, but the hand itself, with long wires dangling from the arm.  The eyes were pitch black with a white pupil.

In the left vent was a purple rabbit animatronic with a red bow-tie missing the front of its face and it's left arm; which had wires hanging off of it.  The metal endoskeleton head was exposed with black eyes with white pupil and the fur on its feet was missing.  Rudolph switched feeds to wind up the music box and threw on the Freddy head as Chica the chicken and Bonnie the rabbit climbed into the room.  Rudolph ducked down behind the desk after the two animatronics stared at him mask and the purple rabbit walked out of the room and Chica climbed back through the vent.

"Those things are scary." Rudolph said to himself, taking off his mask and re-winding the music box as the clock chimed 1am.  "This music box is tedious, but I do not want to find out what that puppet is."