And we're back with more Misadventures~ This is probably going to be one of the shorter installments, but we shall see, hm?

Mike Schmidt stepped into the Manager's Office, just as nervous as he had been every other time he'd been called in there. None of it had ever been bad, but there's a first time for everything, and being called into one's boss's office really felt like being called to the principal's office, at least to Mike.

"Schmidt, I've got some bad news," Valerie Logan, the Manager of Freddy Fazbear's Pizza, spoke.

"What's going on?" he asked, concerned. He really hoped nothing was wrong with the animatronics. Over the last several weeks, they had come to be his good friends, and he had just recently helped them overcome the horrors that came with the realization that all of the previous security guards that they had stuffed into suits were actually human. "Freddy and the others are okay, right?"

"For now, they are," the woman spoke solemnly. "But I'm not sure if they will be for long."

"What do you mean?" Mike queried.

"I just got a call from our bookkeeper," Valerie began. "And he told me that with the way things are going, we'll have to close by the end of the year unless we triple our weekly income, and soon."

Mike froze. Close the pizzeria? They couldn't do that, could they?

"Some members of the staff have complained to me about how we should scrap Foxy and sell him for parts." At Mike's alarmed and somewhat angry face, the woman added, "But I refused. I came here when I was a little girl, before the Bite. Before Pirate's Cove was shut down." She allowed herself a small, nostalgic smile. "Foxy was always my favorite, which is why I never got rid of him."

"So, what are we going to do?" Mike asked. Would she start laying off workers? Because a night guard was not really necessary, his job would be one of the first to go, wouldn't it? He wasn't worried about losing the pay, as he could probably get a night job at a warehouse somewhere. The thing he was worried the most about was that he might not get to see his friends again if he was laid off.

"I'm open to any options that don't involve getting rid of the animatronics," Valerie replied. "I'll try to keep a full staff for as long as I can, but…" she sighed. "There's only so much I'll be able to do."

Mike nodded, understanding the implications of that. If I have to lay people off, you're going to have to be one of them. "I understand, Ma'am." He paused. "Maybe I can ask them tonight."

"Thank you, Schmidt," Valerie said with a genuine smile. "That would be greatly appreciated."

X

Mike was sitting at one of the tables in the Dining Area, leaning back in his chair with his feet propped on the table, when the clock struck twelve. Almost immediately, the eyes of the three animatronics on stage lit up and they began moving around experimentally, testing their joints as they did every night.

"Michael," Freddy began in a chastising tone, glancing from the man's face to his feet, still on the table. Mike smiled sheepishly and took them off, resting his arms on the table instead.

"Someone looks a little bummed," Chica commented, noting Mike's overall attitude. Despite the brief smile he'd given, his posture was one of defeat. Something was clearly wrong with the night guard of Freddy Fazbear's Pizza.

"Well," Mike began. He didn't want to bring this up with them, since they'd just recently recovered from what they'd learned about their past actions. He didn't want to depress them again, but this was an important topic to address. "Income here isn't what it used to be…"

"Aye, we know tha', lad," Foxy said as he approached from Pirate's Cove.

"He's right," Bonnie commented. "I mean, there are a lot less kids around here than there used to be. Of course income is going down."

"That's not all, though, is it?" Freddy guessed, watching Mike's face. "Something's very wrong."

"You're right, Freddy," Mike told the bear. "If we don't triple the weekly income soon, we'll have to close by the end of the year. And before that, I could lose my job, meaning…"

"Meaning you won't get to come hang with us anymore," Bonnie supplied.

"You realize that means we have less than six weeks to get more people to come here, right?" Chica asked, hands on her hips. "How do you propose we do that?"

"I was kind of hoping you guys would have some ideas," the guard admitted.

"More kids would probably come in if we could walk around during the daytime again," Bonnie commented.

"Or parents would keep their kids from coming because they thought we were dangerous," Chica pointed out.

"Even if either of those things were true," Freddy interjected, "we can't. The pizzeria could easily be sued again for it, and if that happened, there would be no doubt that we'd close down."

Foxy looked away from everyone, obviously feeling guilty again. Despite everything that Mike had told him, he still felt a lot of guilt about the Bite of '87. It was because of the Bite that none of the others were allowed to walk around during the day, even though none of them had done anything wrong. It was all Foxy's doing. Freddy, Chica and Bonnie were free from the blame.

"Hey, you've got that neighbor kid, right?" Bonnie asked.

"Heather? Yeah, what about her?" Mike asked, confused as to where the robotic rabbit was going with this.

"Talk to her," he replied. "See what the kids want. Maybe if you do that, we can try to get Management to do something about it."

"Heather's turning thirteen," the guard informed him. "Teenagers aren't going to be too fond of a children's pizzeria."

"We used to have some arcade games," Chica remembered. "Maybe we could try to get some new ones in."

"And what about the power it would require to run them?" Freddy asked. "Or the money it would take to repair one?"

"It was just a thought," Chica mumbled, crossing her arms.

"Methinks Bonnie was on the right track," Foxy said. "See what the kiddies want."

Freddy nodded. "Perhaps you could even ask her to talk to some of her friends," he spoke. "It would give ideas from multiple perspectives."

"That's a good idea," Mike said with a small smile. "Okay, now that we've got a plan, let's forget about it for now. Don't want it ruining our night."

"You're darn right we don't," Chica said with a nod. "Want some pizza?"

"Do you even need to ask?"

Kind of a short chapter, but I needed to kind of introduce the problem. Next chapter will be Mike talking to Heather (she finally gets to make an actual appearance~) and finding out what she thinks. He may also ask for some advice from another source…

Stay tuned, and review~