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Chapter Text

Popgoes's Panickers: Book 6: Security String's Deadline.

The Book image, shows a repaired Security Strings and Security Buttons, struggling to hold off the Epitome Animatronics in the Warehouse Office, as Deadline, the animatronic copy of Simon and Fractured Simon are looking through a magic cauldron and arguing with each other.

Part 1: No Intruders.

Something was wrong and wicked, about that Popgoes place, Millie Fitzsimmons thought, as she was busy listening to a playlist on her phone. Sure it seemed squeaky clean, but ever since that Fritz Glade guy had vanished, odd rumours, ghostly happenings and missing people reports, were all over Birmingham. Besides, her own nightmares, about a forest covered in mechanical limbs, a giant bear and a masked figure in a rabbit suit, weren't any fun.

Something didn't quite add up, about all of this. After all, there had been a lot of rumours, on the internet forums, about Fazbear Entertainment and Popgoes, being connected. Even one message board, had been discussing , about the Purple Guy, having a twin brother. "No, there's no way, Fritz is related, to the Purple Guy. It's just a rumour." Millie, muttered to herself, as the air turned cold, after the taxi ride, to Birmingham. It was time, to finish what Bonnie Glade had started. Time to visit Popgoes Pizzeria itself.

It wasn't like, her own parents had really cared about her. They were too busy, with high profile, get rich quick building schemes, elsewhere, away from the family home. This time though, they'd actually listened. Her dad had said something about "Sinking a few dollars, into Popgoes's Pizzeria." Which probably wasn't her business, but her mum had complained, about the way, that weasel had looked too much like a certain bear. Grandpa, who'd just been trying to keep his joints working, meet old friends and helping fix things, was offering to use online meetings.

Which was nice and all, but Millie hadn't came for a trip with her parents for nothing. Popgoes's Pizzeria , was rumoured to be haunted. There were rumours, it was going to turn out, like the Fazbear Hauntings, which had already been covered in various cheap horror books, all over the country, something about a friend of a friend.

Not Hannah, or Dylan, as Hannah had ditched her in high school, for the popular kids and Dylan wasn't really interested in being anything other then friends. Okay, maybe she'd misjudged Brooke. But there was one person who'd been pretty cool, somebody called Bonnie Glade, who'd written a trilogy of horror books, from the UK, about a paranormal investigator against nightmares and haunted animatronics. But, Bonnie Glade hadn't been seen in a few years. That, was very spooky, not the fun kind in movies.

Nobody, could figure out, how it had happened, Bonnie going missing. But Fritz Glade, her father had been devastated.

Was it a flicker of the light, when the Popgoes posters, had changed to a crying child? Or a warning, as Millie stepped away, while the manager, Simon Glade, was muttering angrily about the technical issues, before switching to a smile, that didn't quite fill his face. "Not again! Sorry miss, we've been having some odd happenings lately. It's probably just the wind. Enjoy your stay."

Millie, just groaned, while her parents were busy, slowly slurping some single shot coffees. "Eh, whatever. I only came here, for the ghost story rumours. So, how long has this place been open?"

Simon, just checked the calendar , with his reading glasses, which was currently reading the 17th of December 2024, as Popgoes the Weasel was busy getting the band ready, for a pre-recorded song. "Oh, it's been open, since March, probably about seven months. Fritz wanted to reuse some characters, that didn't quite work right. Popgoes, is the leading weasel of the band, missy. Such a shame, he didn't realise, what else he'd made."

The lights, had flickered on and off, while Simon had been talking, only for him to grumble and go to check the fuse switches, for the lights and power, as the animatronics stopped playing and stared at. Okay, that was weird. Anyway, there was a text from Hannah , with a nervous face emoji, that buzzed on Millie's black and purple spider themed phone cover. "Hi Millie. Not heard from u in a while. R U okay? From Hannah."

Millie, groaned as she sent a smile emoji, before quickly turning her phone off. "Yes, I'm fine Hannah. Nothing cool yet in the UK. Apart from the corny animatronics. BBL from Millie." Hopefully, that sole text, would be enough, as Millie wasn't quite sure, how the UK charged for text messages, abroad.

It was just very odd, as the sound of a figure laughing, in the pizzeria, but apart from the little kids trying to queue up to play on the action arcade machines in the other rooms, or 3D printed, all the parents that had frozen when the lights had gone out and the weird manager, nobody else had been in the building.

All the animatronics, that were posing and singing, seemed very life like, as Sara Squirrel, one of the back up squirrels, gave an odd stare, that seemed a bit too eager to perform. "Welcome to Popgoes Pizzeria! I'm Popgoes the lead singer of the band. Does anybody have any song requests?" Popgoes exclaimed, with a pre programmed voice box, that was obviously British, as the crowd of kids all started to cheer."

Later that night, Millie couldn't really sleep, as the same ghostly kid, who'd she'd only seen in nightmares, had appeared, while Millie had been chased by something, into a forest, full of mechanical parts, including a bear that clung as her memory. She couldn't tell what was chasing her, but the vague sound, of a badger growling, made her shiver. "You need to get out, of here. He's coming."

"Who's coming?" Millie asked the strange ghost boy in her dream, only to see the vague outline of a bony figure, standing atop a massive, broken version of the old Freddy Fazbear animatronics. As Millie ran, into the nearby forest clearing, as the crows cawed and the moon shone an eerie silver light, over the cold, almost blue tinted forest floor, she could vaguely hear the sound, of static and somebody else breathing in the background.

Everything else in the dream, had been a nightmarish blur, apart from an odd rabbit, leading her towards something important. When Millie woke up, she was covered all in goose bumps, but not from the cold winter chill. No, this time, the nightmares had followed her, into the UK. The clock hour, was barely six in the morning.

"Urgh, that, was one horrid dream. Or was it a nightmare, a warning? No, get a grip, Millie." Millie muttered as she woke up to the sound, of a blaring alarm clock, only to notice, something, that should not have been there, in a simple hotel room.

Namely, somebody had scratched something, into the hotel room, where she was staying, near a mirror, as Millie took a photo of the creepy writing, on her own phone, with a quick click, while still in her own raven and star themed pyjamas. "Beware the copy, of the man in purple."

Then, all the joy, fell out of Millie's face, as the sound of her parents, hurrying into her nice, quiet room. "Millie, have you been watching too many horror movies? Wait, who carved that into the dresser room?!" Her own mum gasped in horror, as her Dad was trying and failing to avoid looking scared out of his wits. "Erm, yes, that's very odd. Who'd want to make a copy, of the Purple Guy? Anyway, we should probably get dressed, have breakfast and plan for something else."

So, the old purple guy rumours were actually real? A single tree branch, was near the hotel window, as Millie realised that somehow, somebody was trying to warn her, of something terrible.

There was a news report, about a group of paranormal enthusiasts, who'd been trying to film a special Halloween Episode, for their own show, that got spooked by a so called "haunted statue" and "red water", near the Glade family's house, somewhere in Birmingham. Apparently the group, had tried to get permission, to try and record another episode, about the Popgoes Pizzeria disappearances, only to be blocked by the council.

The disappearances, had started with Fritz Glade, who had founded Popgoes Pizzeria, but so far, only three people had gone missing. What was troubling, was that despite the media outcry, over the disappearance of three of Birmingham's smartest philosophers, nothing had been found, apart from scratchy warnings, about a "dead forest", which was a bit odd.

There was one arcade game, that sounded familiar, the weird Popgoes the Dead Forest. The one, that was rumoured to be haunted. Somebody had released a few lets plays of the Dead Forest game, but Millie, had never really tried it herself. "Maybe, Popgoes has something spooky, after all." Millie murmured, while thinking up a plan, to figure out, what happened to Bonnie.

So, after a quick tour of sight seeing, around boring art galleries, the Birmingham shopping centre and wasting time letting her Dad put up adverts, Millie was hungry for sometihng good to eat. Bizarrely, the reviews for Popgoes, seemed a bit better then that burgers and fries place, with the cat animatronics, though it might've just been a passing fad.

The sound, of extra footsteps, in the hallway, as Millie was about to go backstage and check if there was anybody in the office, made her flinch.

Chapter Text

Sometihng was wrong, in Morse the Mole animatronic's CPU, as he powered up, only to notice a rejected sign, on his own blueprints. Didn't Fritz build him, just to help Blake? Or, had something happened to Bonnie Glade, Fritz's own daughter?

Anyway, Fritz started screaming about some sort of skeletal bird, the Toy animatronics and had put Morse into storage in the warehouse. Manora, had also been abandoned. The poor tan grey animatronic, had fallen into a spiral of denial about it.

So, after another failed attempt, Morse looked at his own drawing board. No, the plan to impersonate a guard, would not work, unless he could "borrow" a trench coat. Manora, shuddered, in fear, as she hopped about with her mechanisms and voice box working. "Morse, what's going on. I heard a scream, upstairs. Is Fritz coming to fix us?" Morse, just shook his own head, before replying in Morse code. "No Manora, Fritz, he must have forgotten about us. Stay here, I'm going to go and check."

What he could vaguely hear, through his audio receptors, after leaving the warehouse unnerved Morse. There was a single animatronic nightguard, but extra footsteps, as Morse noticed another pair of footsteps, along with the sound of static, which was ominous, as the frantic sound, of Fritz struggling to get the security systems online, with the tapping of a keyboard, echoed.

The sound of static, crackling from the footsteps near the animatronic nightguard, was very unsettling. Then, Fritz screamed in pain, as Morse fled the sound, of some sort of odd rabbit attacking Fritz. Wait, what had he heard?

As Morse hurired to find Manora, the rest of the Popgoes cast all were in a security mode alert, as they were running around, trying to catch anybody who stood out. Namely Morse, or that weird night guard.