A New Start
Chapter 8: The Mall

After a small while, Bonnie moved from his spot on the office floor and headed into one of the party rooms. After collecting his guitar, he heavily sat down in one of the chairs. He put his elbows on the table, sighing. Bonnie was terribly sad, sadder than he had ever been in the few months since he was built.

A few months plus ten years, anyway.

He still couldn't believe it. It really had been ten years, a decade, since he had been in this building. He wondered exactly how much had happened while he was deactivated. Obviously, a new restaurant was built, with rebuilt animatronics. He wondered if people even still remembered the old restaurant and the bots who performed there.

Bonnie sighed again. It wasn't likely...

A thought then hit him – How would the others react to what he saw? This was some heavy news...

Bonnie groaned, covering his face with his hands. This was all so very terrible...

Freddy and Chica, meanwhile, were only just entering the main room of the restaurant. They were inspecting and admiring the stage, among the other items in the main room, making sure that everything was in order. In all, they were both happy to be finally home. And starting tomorrow, they'd be back to their old routine! Though, as Chica soon realized, they were missing a few things around here...

“...Hey, Freddy?” Chica began, looking at the bear in question. Freddy, who had been fiddling around with the carousel animals, looked at Chica.

“Yes, Chica?”, he replied.

“Where's BB?”, the chicken asked.

“Hm? Oh, well, he's right over... there?”, Freddy replied, ending the sentence with an uncertain upward inflection as he realized that the bot in question was, in fact, absent! The bear slowly walked over to where he could have sworn the Balloon Boy used to be, rubbing his head in confusion.

“I'm... not sure, Chica,” he replied. “Maybe Marion knows?”, he offered, before setting course for the Prize Corner. “I'll go ask 'im!”

Chica nodded in acknowledgement, watching as Freddy headed into the Corner. Chica, meanwhile, headed into Kid's Cove. Finding herself a little unnerved by the balloon vendor's absence, she felt that she had to make sure of something...

“Hey, Foxy! We're... We're home!”, Chica said uncertainly as she entered the room. “Have ya' missed us--... Foxy?”

Chica looked all around the room, realizing it was empty of the bot she was looking for. She knelt down, looking under the table.

“Foxy? You here?”

Nothing.

Chica stood back up, frowning. Where could Foxy possibly have gone? It wasn't like her to simply disappear...

She then blinked, realizing something.

“Ah-ha!”, she exclaimed, looking up at the ceiling.

...She then frowned, realizing that her friend wasn't up there either.

The chickenbot put her hands on her hips. This was becoming a very perplexing situation. Not only is Balloon Boy gone, but Foxy too? What next, is Marion going to be absent as well?

Chica turned around, making her way back into the Main Room just as Freddy made his way out of the Prize Corner.

“Hey, Freddy,” Chica began. “Foxy's... Foxy's gone!”

“Gone?”, Freddy repeated in surprise. “Her too...”, he said quietly. Chica didn't like the sound of that.

“Freddy? Freddy, wha'd'you mean?”

“Marion's gone too, Chica...”, Freddy lowly replied.

“Wh-What?”, Chica asked. “Well, where could he've gone?”

“I'm not sure...”, Freddy said, putting his hand to his chin in thought. “Say, Chica, why don't'cha go find Bonnie? I'm gonna try and get to the bottom of this,” Freddy offered.

“A-Alright, sure,” Chica replied.

Freddy nodded before making his way to the Parts & Services room. He, noticing the fact that the door was already open and the light was on.

“Hmm?”, he uttered as he peered inside. “Guys? Are you here?”, he asked, his gaze drifting around the room. He sighed, finding the room empty.

Chica watched as Freddy headed down the hall toward the Parts room, before walking in the direction of the office. She figured that she didn't have to search anywhere but this portion of the restaurant. It wasn't like Bonnie would be anywhere else! And just as she expected, she almost immediately found the blue rabbit in one of the party rooms.

However, to her surprise, he didn't seem like his usual, happy self. He was silently sitting in the dark, looking down at the table in front of him.

“Bonnie?”, she curiously asked, standing in the room's doorway. The bunny slowly looked up from the table, stared at Chica for a moment, then wordlessly resumed staring down at the table.

Chica hesitated, then fully entered the room. She sat down next to Bonnie, placing one of her elbows on the table.

“Bonnie, what's wrong?”, she asked, tilting her head in concern. Bonnie looked away slightly, keeping silent. Chica frowned a little.

“Bonnie, c'mon,” Chica said. “You know you can tell me what's on your mind. I mean, if it's about everyone being gone, Freddy's trying to figure that out now. Worst case scenario's that everyone's just in the Parts room. Y'know, like, in storage. Not much use for 'em if the main four aren't here, right?”

She frowned a bit more as she was met with continued silence, until finally...

“I know why everyone's gone...”, Bonnie eventually said, staring out into the hall.

“Wait – Y'do?”, Chica asked, surprised.

Bonnie nodded before looking at Chica once again.

“A-And you're... not gonna like it,” he said.

Scott burst through the front doors of the first building he saw, with Foxy close behind, in an effort to escape his pursuers. Scott stopped once he was inside, wiping his forehead with his arm and taking a moment to catch his breath. When he first bought the Toys from that junkyard, he did not envision that he would end up in this kind of situation...

I mean, Scott was never one to run from the police! He began to wonder if this would have any adverse effect on his record! He wouldn't be able to bear that!

Scott was taken from his thoughts by the feeling of someone grabbing his shoulders and shaking him. He flinched and turned about, halfway expecting it to be one of the policemen. He sighed in relief, seeing that it was simply Foxy.

“W-W-We-e-e need to g-g-g-go!”, she exclaimed, her voice barely decipherable through its own glitchiness.

“U-Uh, r-right, of course, let's!”, Scott replied, quickly remembering the inauspicious situation that he was still in. He grabbed the fox's hand, and began to run!

...However, he barely went one step before realizing exactly what sort of building he was in.

There were crowds upon crowds of people occupying almost every inch of the area beyond the entrance where the pair was situated. As far as the eye could see, there were stores selling everything one could want, and more, there were escalators leading up to various floors, and escalators on those floors leading up to levels unseen! There was even a car situated on one of the upper floors, displayed for everyone to see! Oh, yes, Scott and Foxy found themselves in...

A mall.

Scott gulped. He didn't think of which particular building he ran into. He just wanted to evade those policemen! But this was one of, nay, the worst possible place that Scott would imagine he'd end up. For one thing, he hated malls. They were much too crowded for his liking! Plus, he'd always get lost! Sure, there were those maps on those signs, but they were never really useful!

As Scott looked at Foxy, one last thing came to mind...

Foxy's head lurched from side to side as she looked left, then right, scanning the crowd ahead of her. As she slowly covered her teeth with one of her hands, Scott watched as she began to shiver.

This was going to be difficult...

Scott took one last look outside, already spying the glare of those red-and-blue lights in the parking lot.

Okay, serious-time.

Scott tightened his hold on Foxy's hand, watching as the animatron almost jerked her arm away in surprise.

“Listen, Foxy...”, Scott began. “We need to try our best to get through this crowd, okay? Just stick close to me, and we'll be fine. I'll guide you through,” he said. Foxy slowly nodded, though was still unwilling to remove her hand from her mouth. With a returning nod from Scott, they got going.

To Scott's surprise, things were going off without a hitch for the time being. As the two slowly weaved through the crowd of people entering and exiting the mall, he occasionally glanced back at the bot that he was leading. To his slight worry, Foxy was nervously looking at the crowd around her, ever-fearful that someone, for some reason, would ask about her teeth. Her sharp, dirty, and dreadful teeth! Scott could feel her tighten her grasp on his hand, and he took that as his cue to hurry along. After a few more 'excuse me's, 'pardon's, and the like, Scott and Foxy finally made it to their destination.

An escalator.

Scott figured that, if he and Foxy were to ride one of the mall's escalator's up to another floor, they'd have an easier time evading the cops for the time being! From there, they could formulate a plan for a more permanent escape. Simple, right?

...Well, it didn't quite go as Scott planned, as you will soon see.

“Alright, Foxy, we have to get up there,” Scott said, pointing at the next floor up. “And to get up there, we gotta use one of those escalators. D'you understand?”, he asked. Foxy nodded. It seemed simple enough to her! Smiling, Scott led the bot toward the escalator, pausing for a moment at the bottom of it. Escalators were another thing he didn't like about malls. It always felt weird, standing on stairs that moved you up with them. He would always nearly fall backwards when standing on them.

“C'mon, move it already!”, exclaimed a voice behind the two. Scott quickly diverted his gaze, again almost expecting one of those cops to be standing there.

Luckily, it was just a disgruntled employee.

A very disgruntled customer, as Scott could infer as the man tapped his feet, crossing his arms. He seemed to have a red and white striped uniform, with a rather silly hat – topped with a peanut attached to a spring.

Scott could definitely see why the person was so frustrated...

“R-Right! Right away! C'mon, Foxy,” Scott hurriedly said, pulling the bot with him as he stepped on the escalator. He tightly gripped the machine's rubber railing, determined not to lose his balance.

However, Foxy didn't know about that...

It started out as static, a low growling bout of static, that gradually evolved into a full-on scream as Foxy slowly, then quickly, began to fall backwards. Scott was forcibly turned around as Foxy, trying to find something to grab on besides just his hand, grabbed the man's shirt. Scott winced at the sound it made as it tore a bit from the bot's weight. That was his favorite shirt!

Aside from his old Freddy's T-Shirt, that is.

“Foxy! Foxy, are you alright?!”, Scott exclaimed.

“Hey, mind askin' her if she's alright after you've lifted her off'a me?!”, shouted a familiar voice from behind the animatron.

Scott leaned to the side a little, so's to see past the partially-fallen bot, noticing that very same disgruntled employee from before! He seemed to be struggling as he tried to push the fox off of him.

“O-Oh, of course! Sorry, sorry, sorry!”, Scott exclaimed, grabbing his companion's other arm and slowly pulling her back onto her feet, with much help from the very person she fell on. Once that task was through, both people took a moment to catch her breath as they reached the top of the escalator.

Uprighting a 200 pound robotic fox whilst going up an escalator takes a lot outta you, y'know?

“H-Hey, uh, thanks,” Scott said, stepping aside to let the other person walk past.

“Yeah, whatever,” the patron grumbled, giving Scott and Foxy a nonchalant wave as he walked farther and farther away from the two. Scott then sighed, taking a moment to inspect the damage to his shirt.

“And now, I need a new shirt...”, Scott muttered to himself. He found that tonight was growing more and more troublesome by the minute.

“Foxy, you're okay, right?”, he inquired, turning and looking at the aforementioned bot. To his relief, she nodded.

“Y-Y-Yep!”, she exclaimed.

“Alright, great, great! Now, let's go a little further so we're sure we're in the clear. Then, we'll think of a plan to get outta here, alright?” he asked.

“O-O-Oka-ay!”, Foxy replied. Scott took that as his cue to get moving, and Foxy followed closely behind as usual.

And not a moment too soon.

Steven, followed by Horace and Roy, entered the mall at a rapid pace. He pushed his way past most of the crowd, nearly losing his colleagues in the process. He was absolutely bent on catching Scott and Foxy.

For, you see, Steven Pulaski always catches his man.

...Rather, he catches his man as well as that man's accompanying robotic-fox-roleplayer... thing.

“Steve!”, exclaimed Horace, holding out his hand toward the other officer. “Do you have to run so fast?!”, he loudly asked, panting as he followed Steven up one of the escalators.

“Why don't you just hurry up?!”, Steven called back, continuing to weave and push his way through the crowd. “I know they're in this mall, and they're gonna face justice!”

“But you don't even know where they are in this mall!”, exclaimed Roy. “This place's huge! They could be anywhere in here! D'you think that, maybe, you should stop and ask around?!”

Steven skidded to a halt, realizing that that's... not a bad idea.

“...Yeah, I guess I could do that,” he quietly said, waiting for the other two to catch up. Once they did, he looked around for someone to ask.

“Hey, you!”, he shouted, pointing at a random lady. The confused and nervous person looked around, before her eyes landed on the cop. She pointed at herself, making a 'who, me?' type of gesture. Steven nodded.

“Yes, you!”, he said. “Come over here for a second!” He watched as the lady shakily made her way toward the group of officers.

“Wh-What is it, sir?”, she asked.

“Have you seen a man with a black shirt, and brown hair, accompanied by a pink-colored fox, walking around here, Miss...”, he paused, squinting to read the woman's nametag. “...Madge?”

“...Err, no. No, I haven't,” she curtly replied. A fox? Is this some sort'a joke?, Madge thought to herself. Steven huffed, before giving her a card.

“Well, if you or anyone you know see the suspects I have just described, please be sure to call this number,” he said. Madge nodded.

“Yeah, sure, officer,” she replied, her previous nervousness having all but faded.

“That'll be all,” he simply said, nodding.

Madge then wordlessly turned around, quickly heading on her way. After a bit, she looked at the card she was given. It was a typical Cityville Police tipcard, with Steven's name at the bottom.

“...What a weirdo,” Madge muttered, before throwing the card into the nearest garbage can.

Steven then turned to see his colleagues still panting and catching their breath.

“Bunch'a sissies...”, Steven mumbled to himself. He then cleared his throat, garnering the two's attention.

“Alright, listen. Here's the plan as I see it,” he said. “We'll split up. Should cover more ground that way. Roy, you take the north part of the mall. Horace, you take the east. And I, I'll take the west. We'll use our radios to communicate.” Steven said.

“Yeah, sure, whatever,” Roy said. Anything to be away from you, he thought to himself.

“Alright, alright. I just hope this'll all be worth it in the end,” Horace replied. Steven nodded. S~ᴇaʀᴄh the (ꜰind)ɴʘvel.nᴇt website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

“Right! Fan out!”

Scott looked back every few minutes, making sure that he wasn't being followed. He and Foxy had been running, then walking for the past fifteen minutes. He looked back one last time, before sighing in relief.

He had finally lost them.

“...Aaalright!”, Scott exclaimed, feeling quite accomplished. He felt as if a weight was lifted from his shoulders, at least for the time being. “This is good. This is really good. Now, we should find a less crowded place so we can figure out how to get outta here,” he said, before looking down at his torn shirt. He was gonna stand out like a sore thumb like this.

“But first... Let's find a clothing store.”

And so, they set off in search of a place Scott could find a replacement for his shirt. It proved to be rather difficult, owing to how vast the mall was and its wide variety of stores. Eventually, however, they found what they were looking for.

“Alright, Foxy, this'll be quick. We'll get in, buy a shirt my size, then get right out,” he said. Foxy nodded.

“Ri-Ri-Right!”, Foxy simply replied.

As the two walked into the store, Scott found it appropriate to ask something that had been bugging him all night.

Well, amongst the other things that were bugging him that night.

“Foxy, I know that you're probably really... shaken up, but... you haven't really been speaking much tonight. Is it because of your voicebox? Or, well, is it something else?”, he asked, looking at his companion with a concerned expression.

Foxy didn't immediately respond, mostly because she wasn't sure how to respond. Like before, her mind still felt like a mess, and she was still in the progress of putting the pieces back together. She at least knew that she, and Scott, were in the process of evading the police.

Even though, she could have sworn that policemen were the good guys...

Did she do something? Did Scott do something? Did she help? Was all of this because of that one, terrible thing she did?...

...Oh dear.

Scott watched in worry as the fox stared blankly ahead, then began to grab her teeth once again.

“...S-Say, Foxy, d-don't worry about what I asked you, alright? How about you wait here for a moment while I get myself a new shirt. You can watch out for our, y'know... pursuers,” he offered, ending his last sentence with a whisper. Foxy twitched slightly, breaking out of her daze and looking at Scott. She stared for a moment, then nodded.

Scott let go of the fox's hand, then got to shopping while the animatron stared out the window. Soon, Scott approached the store's counter, placing a new black shirt on it.

“I'll take this one,” Scott said simply. The cashier nodded.

“And, will that be all?”, she asked. Scott nodded.

“Yep!”, he replied, handing her the money.

“Alright, cool,” she said, taking the money and placing it in the register. Her expression hardened slightly as she noticed Foxy on the far side of the store, staring blankly at a mannequin. Every few seconds, the fox would cock her head to the side a little, as if enamored by the plastic thing.

“...Is your friend alright there?”, the cashier asked, concerned. Scott turned a little, grabbing his new shirt.

“Yeah, she's just a little... eccentric,” Scott lied.

“Heh, yeah, I can see that,” the cashier said, chuckling.

At that moment, a door opened next to the cashier, and out came another employee, carrying a tall stack of boxes.

“H-Hey, you know you're not supposed to carry that many boxes at once, Sam!”, exclaimed the cashier. The other employee scoffed as he walked.

“Ohh, calm down, Laura,” he said. “It's just some boxes full'a clothes. S'not like I'm gonna throw out my back from this,” he said in a mocking tone.

And, fortunately, he didn't throw out his back.

But, unfortunately, something much worse happened.

At one moment, Sam was walking across the store with those boxes of his. The next moment, he was looking back at Laura, explaining how he was perfectly capable of carrying those boxes.

But he wasn't watching where he was going.

To Scott, it all seemed to happen in slow motion. Sam had walked right into Foxy, who was still standing near the window and watching out for the police. Both the man and the animatron began to fall while Foxy screamed in surprise. The two fell onto the mannequin that was also situated near the window, before hitting the window itself. The glass held for only a moment, before cracking and shattering under their combined weight.

Foxy looked about frantically, seeing a crowd beginning to form around the scene. Everyone wanted to have a look at what happened.

And worst of all, some were looking right at her.

Foxy's eyes widened as she began to panic. She wriggled about under Sam, signalling the stunned man to get up. He got to his feet and wiped himself down, looking around with a flabbergasted expression. Boxes were everywhere, with their contents strewn about much of the floor. Fragments of glass also littered the floor, and the mannequin laid off to the side. Sam could have sworn that the mannequin had a head just a moment ago...

But, why would he care about that right now?

“Oh-- Oh my gosh, I am so... so fired”, he shakily said to himself.

Foxy slowly got to her feet, shivering and shaking as she continued to stare at the crowd. Some people gasped, others covered their children's eyes. Even with her limited state of mind, Foxy knew that this was absolutely horrible.

But the worst was yet to come.

Her gaze diverted downward slightly as she realized her jaw was stuck open. To her, it felt as if something was inside of her mouth. She jerkily opened her jaw just a bit more as she tried to grab whatever was in her mouth. Once she got a grip on the unknown object, she quickly pulled it out and took a look at it.

It was the mannequin's head, riddled with bite-marks.

Foxy froze. Her shaking and rattling from before returning as she practically stared holes into the plastic head with a horrified expression. She couldn't believe what she was seeing. It reminded her of something she dearly, dearly wanted to forget.

She meekly squeaked, dropping the head and taking a step back.

Then, she ran.

Scott watched all of this, absolutely stunned. He looked at Laura. Then, at Sam, who reached out his hand toward the running fox, but ultimately gave up. Then, Scott looked toward the crowd while Sam began to clean up the mess.

And in the crowd, Scott saw the top of a policeman's hat weaving his way toward him.

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