The Home Depot Trip

The Mall

"Remind me why we have to go to the mall," asks Funtime Freddy, grumpy as always.

"Family bonding!" exclaims Ballora, "But I also wanted to test out our human costumes before we leave for good."

After they had gotten home, the day of that fateful Home Depot trip, Ballora had not been able to rest from the guilt. Maybe it was her maternal instincts, or maybe it was because the name Michael Afton (they had found his nametag upon their return) seemed familiar.

She spent the entire next day constructing human costumes for her fellow animatronic out of spare parts and the paint they bought (or rather stole) from Home Depot. The animatronics, aside from Circus Baby who maintained an innate hatred for Michael, all agreed that it was a far better idea than their original plan. They didn't really know what to do with Michael, since they still wanted him as backup, so Ballora just put him in the company's freezer. He'd been pumped full of Remnant so he wouldn't be affected, and it would keep him a lot fresher than if they just let him sit out.

And so the animatronics set out on their mission to the mall disguised as humans. Only when they attempted to catch a bus did they realize no one had any money.

"I thought you got it!" screeched Baby.

"Well I distinctly remember telling you to get it!" yelled Foxy in his signature radio static voice.

"Now, now, why don't we just go back to the pizzeria-" Ballora tried to interject.

"Don't you try to 'just go back to the pizzeria' me! This whole thing was YOUR stupid idea," Baby screams.

"Uh guys..." starts BonBon.

"What?!" they all shout.

"I grabbed the credit card," he says faintly.

"Oh thank god," says Ballora.

The bus ride to the mall goes without a hitch, although some people stare a little longer than they should. Ballora makes a note to improve the costumes 'humanness' once she returns.

"So, where do we want to go first?" asks Ballora.

"Spencers!" shout Freddy and BonBon.

"Victoria's secret!" shouts Foxy.

"Baskin Robbins!" shouts Baby, with a suspicious look on her face.

Ballora sighs, "Why not you guys just split up. I applied to the Claire's store online, and my shift starts in 10 minutes."

"YOU WHAT!?" they all shout, gaining quite a few glares from mall patrons.

"What? It'll be a true test of the realism of my costumes." she calmly explains.

"I mean you do you but... why Claire's?" asks Freddy.

"I know!!! It's so basic," butts in Foxy.

"Whatever," says Baby, "I have some children to terrorize."

"Baby, no!!!" Screech Freddy and Foxy as they chase after her in the general direction of the food court.

The mall trip goes pretty well, all things considered. Baby doesn't murder any children (although she got pretty close a few times), Freddy bought some new outfits to wear while pretending to be human, and Foxy went all out purchasing accessories at Hollister, Victoria's Secret, and Forever 21.

Ballora even got her paycheck straight away from Claire's. "Wow Ballora," says Freddy, "I didn't think you'd actually make it through your first shift."

"I'm going to take that as a compliment," Ballora presses on a smile, "it's not very much, but at least we'll be able to pay for our own things for a bit."

That night the animatronics all rest peacefully, awaiting their escape, while Ballora makes the final adjustments to the costumes. They had agreed to leave the very next morning, since it would be days until their next birthday party.

Meanwhile, in some freezer in the back of Circus Baby's Pizza World, the dark eyes of an incredibly unfortunate man pop open.