"What do you need a VCR for?"

Freddy said he believed there could be one in a security office in the basement. Back when the facility wasn't 99% automated, they had several security guards watching cameras for the different floors, and one employee brought their own systems to use on slow nights. If we were lucky, he may have left it behind when he was laid off.

Now that I knew I fit inside Freddy, I had a portable hiding place, but Freddy assured me that I can only use that spot in emergencies. "I run out of power fast," he said. I found it odd that his power runs out quickly. Wouldn't you want him to be able to run for hours at a time during shows?

He led me through a tunnel of confusing staircases and hallways. I didn't realize this place had such a big basement. I couldn't find any information about it, so I assumed the back rooms were all small and unimpressive, so learning that there are two basement floors was a surprise.

Just past the laundry room was the office. It had a strange set up. There were two vertical sliding doors that were meant to protect whomever inside in emergencies, but using the doors for too long would drain the power, so the door won't stay closed forever. Freddy and I decided to keep the doors open unless we heard something.

"Is this it?" I picked up a black box with a large slit on the side. "I think so. Why don't you give it a try?" Freddy said.

First, I turned on the small monitor. What displayed on the screen was static. I examined the tape and carefully slid it inside the VHS player. I didn't have to push it in far before it got caught on the mechanic, and the box pulled the tape in.

Then I backed away and waited. "I wonder what's on it," Freddy said. "Me too," I replied. But we probably have very different hopes and expectations of this tape. Realistically, the likelihood of this cassette being useful is very low. I've thought about it for a while; if someone gave this tape to Sun, then maybe it's some kind of children's movie. Still, I feel as though the tape would at least have a title written on it if that was the case.

The static became steady, and eventually it evaporated into an image.

"Freddy, look," I said, watching the screen attentively. He leaned in closer to watch on the small monitor.

Someone was adjusting the camera. Their face was close to the lens as they tried to steady up. Once it was in place, they stepped back, and it was easier to get a closer look of this person. This man had brown hair and a purple shirt on, and looked as if he was in a garage. He put his arms together and motioned a collapsing clapper, like in the movies. He took a breath in and said, "Introducing the Sun and Moon prototype..." he walked out of view, and pulled in an animatronic that looked like Sun on a cart.

He flicked a switch on the back, and Sun turned on.

"This is Sun," the man said. "He's a designated caretaker for children six and below. He's able to play games, create arts and crafts, and even teach basic education." He lifted one of Sun's arms. "He's built with five fingers instead of the standard four to communicate with American sign language, and his sleeves have bells attached, so he is always making sound to alert children with sight problems. He's perfectly capable of caring for all children."

"This must be the daycare's designer," Freddy said. I looked up at him and asked, "Do you think he designed you, too?"

"I'm not sure," he admitted.

When I looked back at the screen, the man had walked off again, but this time he turned off the lights. Sun began to transform, much like how I had seen in the daycare, but this was much less unnerving. It was a slow transformation, and he didn't make as much noise. I couldn't help but notice that Sun didn't say a single word during his introduction.

"This is Moon. As you can see, Sun and Moon are essentially the same animatronic, however they have different functions. Moon specifically focuses on nighttime activities, while Sun is stimulating. Moon here can read bedtime stories, play soothing white noise, and rock a child to sleep in his arms," he explained.

He switched the lights back on, and as Moon started to transform, he began to glitch out. His head got stuck midway through transition, and his body froze while it was contorted. "Oh, shoot," the man said. He approached the animatronic with some tools and began tinkering on it. The animatronic started muttering incoherent nonsense while the designer attempted to bring him back to a state of normalcy.

"As you can see," he said, trying to continue the video introduction, "he's not finished yet, but, with a little love and care, he'll be up and running." He gave a fake smile, but then sighed with annoyance. "I'm not going to be able to use this take," he mumbled.

He had managed to put Sun back together enough for him to finish his transformation. Sun scanned him up and down and saw how disappointed he was. "Oh no," Sun said, "did I mess up?"

"No, no," the man assured him, "you're perfect. Absolutely perfect."

Sun stood up, but in a way that reminded me of something straight out of a cartoon, and leaned in close to the man. "I know what will cheer you up," he said. He hopped up to the ceiling, and I could hear the railings above shake as he crawled on them. The man watched from below.

Sun jumped down and handed him several coloring books and crayons. "I do love some coloring," the designer said as he took one of the books from Sun. Sun opened his own book and said, "I'm gonna color this donkey purple! Donkey's should be purple, haha!" He kept laughing and giggling to himself.

Instead of coloring on the coloring book, the man pulled out a notepad and began to take some notes using the crayons that Sun had given him.

The monitor went back to static.

"What was that?" I asked in disbelief. "It must've been a video proposing the concept of the daycare attendant," Freddy said.

"I know that," I said, "but it's not at all what I wanted to see." Freddy took out the VHS tape from the player. "What did you want to see?" Freddy asked.

"I don't know, maybe some video exposing a hidden crime syndicate or something secretive about this Mega Pizzaplex," I admitted. Freddy stifled a laugh.

"Hey, don't laugh at me!" I retaliated. Freddy straightened his back, and his large shadow widened. It clicked how menacing it was to be around him. From several feet high, he looked down directly at me. "So that's what you're looking for?" he asked. My heart dropped to my stomach.

I just exposed myself, didn't I? I'm here to investigate Fazbear Entertainment's involvement with missing person cases. "I-It's not what it looks like," I said. I struggled to think of what to say, but there is no way out of this. Freddy is an incredibly advance artificial intelligence, he definitely knows what I'm after, and it's his company.

He took a step forward. "Wait, no! Don't kill me! I-I didn't find anything, so you can just send me home! No harm, no foul!" I said frantically. I could feel my pulse pounding, and I debated whether I could win a race with an eight foot animatronic down the hallway.

Freddy started laughing again. "Hahaha! No, no! I'm not going to kill you," he said. He then pointed out the open door. "But he might," he said. But there wasn't anything there. I was confused, but then I heard it. Large footsteps.

Freddy's chest opened. "C'mon, we have to go," he said. Without much of a choice, I climbed in. I heard the hallway doors open.

"Hi, Monty," Freddy said. I heard a growl come from outside.

"Where is he?" Monty said. Wow, his voice is terrifying. It almost sounds as if they weren't able to make his robotic voice sound human enough.

"Where's who?" Freddy said. Dammit, Freddy! Don't play dumb, everyone knows that's a bad move .

"The kid. I heard him yell, ' Don't kill me !'" Monty mocked.

"Right, the kid," Freddy said. "He ran away."

"Which way did he go?"

I heard Freddy's mechanical arm rise. He must've pointed in a direction.

Monty walked closer, but he didn't turn. "If I found out you hurt him, I'm killing you ," he said, I heard his claw hit Freddy's casing. He then left, and I could hear his footsteps becoming more and more distant.

"What was that about?" I asked Freddy once I couldn't hear Monty anymore.

"He may be aggressive, but he has a good heart. I'm sure he'd help you if he found you first," Freddy said.

Is that true? I would've thought all the animatronics had programmed ways to deal with intruders. Then again, they're less animatronics and more AI with a fully functional body.

"Are you going to take me to the main office?" I asked. If he's not going to kill me, turning me in would be my second guess. Freddy was silent for a moment.

"No," he finally said.

"What? Why?"

He opened the hatch and motioned for me to climb out. Once I did, he knelt down and stared at me. He gently placed his hands on my shoulders. "You're the first person to take initiative," he said.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"I remember the week the pizzaplex was swamped with detectives. It brought a lot of bad press. It cost a lot of money to make them sweep it under the rug," Freddy said. "I don't know what happened to them... I want to know too."

"So," I asked, "you're going to help me?"

"Yes," Freddy said. "Let's solve the mystery together."