Fazbear Frights: Prankster

***Fazbear Frights: Prankster*** is the eleventh volume of the *Fazbear Frights* series from the *Five Nights at Freddy's* franchise. Written by Elley Cooper and Andrea Waggener with Scott Cawthon, it is the eleventh and final book in Scott Cawthon and Scholastic's original deal for the series.

## Summary

***Five Nights at Freddy's fans won't want to miss this pulse-pounding collection of three novella-length tales that will keep even the bravest FNAF player up at night...***

*Standing up for yourself can be hard... Jeremiah decides he's done being the butt of his coworker's jokes at their small game studio. Joel is counting the days until he can quit his family's garden center and hit the road to a new life. Aimee finally works up the courage to ditch her loud-mouthed, annoying friend at Freddy Fazbear's Pizza. But when it comes to Five Nights at Freddy's, even the most well-meaning actions can reap horrible consequences.*

*In this eleventh volume, Five Nights at Freddy's creator Scott Cawthon spins three sinister novella-length stories from different corners of his series' canon.*

*Readers beware: This collection of terrifying tales is enough to unsettle even the most hardened Five Nights at Freddy's fans.*

## Plot

### *The Prankster*

Jeremiah works at a moderately successful game development company which wasn't doing well financially due to constant layoffs. The company was eventually paid by Fazbear Entertainment to produce a brand new virtual reality game for their brand, but at that point only three employees remained: Jeremiah, Hope, and Parker. Jeremiah is in love with one of his co-workers, Hope. The other employee, Parker, constantly pulls pranks on Jeremiah, such as switching his coffee with vinegar and making his chips spicy.

Jeremiah tries to muster up the courage to ask Hope out on a date. At work, Parker asks Jeremiah to help him test the game with Hope. Parker and Hope go into the testing room while Jeremiah monitors the results. He overhears "intimate-sounding" laughter coming from the testing room, and is disgusted by the idea of Parker and Hope making out with each other. After the two leave the room, he excuses himself and heads home.

At home, Jeremiah watches a man in a black suit beat up bad guys on the television. Jeremiah was lonely. He didn’t have a pet or a girlfriend or anything. The next day, Hope asks if Jeremiah would like a sandwich and says his order correctly. Jeremiah flushes, and Hope claims that it’s the only sandwich Hope has ever seen Jeremiah eating.

The next day at work, Jeremiah finds the empty building covered with balloons, banners saying "*Happy Birthday, Jeremiah!*", and a birthday cake misspelling his name as "Jeremy". He is touched by the gesture, and Jeremiah tries to find out where Hope and Parker is hiding. A voice plays on the loudspeaker announcing that they have taken Parker and Hope hostage and that Jeremiah must find them within 30 minutes to save them. Believing that the voice was Parker and the game was just another one of Parker's pranks, he agrees to play the game.

The voice says that his first clue is to find an anagram of "STINGER MOOT". Jeremiah deduces the clue as "TESTING ROOM" and goes there, discovering a small gift box in the room. He opens the box to find seven human teeth and a second clue, which sends him to the copy room. In the copy room he finds a jar containing whole removed fingernails. Jeremiah is freaked out by them but assures himself that they are simply props. He spots the third clue in a small paper message inside the jar that tells him to follow the lights hung up in the building.

He follows the trail to a room with three eyeballs on a table: two of them with brown irises and the third one with blue irises. Growing increasingly disturbed by the body parts, Jeremiah realizes that Parker must have contacted a hospital to purchase them and calms down. He discovers the fourth clue under the blue eyeball, and after nudging the eyeball away with a pen, it tells him to continue following the lights.

He ends up in a room with a gift box on a desk. He opens the box and vomits after seeing about twelve fingers inside the box. Many of the fingers had been cut up, and two of them were missing fingernails. Jeremiah recoils in horror after he notices that one of the fingers was wearing Hope's ring, but is slightly relieved when he finds a freckle on the finger that proved it wasn't hers. Still, disturbed by Parker taking the prank too far and the fact that Hope may be in danger, Jeremiah follows the voice's fifth clue telling to once again continue following the lights.

Jeremiah runs to the end of the lights to another room with a cardboard box. He screams as he find the stripped-off face of Parker in the box. The voice taunts Jeremiah by asking if he still believed the voice was Parker's, and Jeremiah realizes that everything was not a prank.

Jeremiah desperately tries to escape the building, but all the doors are locked. As he runs past a recent blood smeared on a wall, he notices more lights on the sixth floor. Despite knowing that it was a bad idea, Jeremiah follows the light to the end of the hallway. The light is revealed to be coming from an old TV connected to a VCR.

When Jeremiah presses the play button, a video plays of Parker and Hope announcing how they created his surprise birthday party. He notices that the two were in a room with many different knives. Parker says that they would need to go to a hospital after the party, then yells "*Okay, Parker! He's ready! Give us a knock!*", before holding pliers to the screen and laughing.

Jeremiah hears knocks coming from the supply closet. The story ends as the closet door slowly opens.

### Kids at Play

Joel works at his family's garden center and is constantly berated by his father. His dad was cooler when he was younger, but now he was forcing to get serious and grow up. One day, things go too far and Joel acts very snarky towards his father, who fires him off the spot. He gets in his pick-up truck and drives back home going over 60 miles per hour. Joel accidentally bumps into something. Joel comes out to see that he had a hit a road sign, saying "Kids at Play". He was disturbed to see some brown liquid oozing out from the sign.

Joel heads home to his overbearing mother, trying to forget the incident. The next day, Joel eats Freddy Fazbear based cereal called "Fazbear Fazcrunch", with each box containing a small toy as a prize. Joel is shocked to see that the toy that came in the package was a miniature version of the road sign he hit. He goes about his day for a while, once again driving until he accidentally rams into another object, causing it to fall into a ditch. When he gets out, he realizes that he had ran over a child. Joel couldn't tell the child's gender, but he could tell that they were around six or seven, and were wearing dark clothing. Terrified that he committed a hit and run, Joel races home to get away from the crime scene.

A day later, Joel is concerned to see several plastic "Kids at Play" figures and signs strewn out the neighborhood. Joel feels hesitant on going back and trying to find the kid, believing it was too late to save them. He tries to forget about the situation by going out for donuts with his father. They run into a elderly woman named Sally, distraught that her grandson has gone missing. A police officer, Chief Montgomery, is investigating the case. Joel and his father spend the rest day out, and Joel returns home to see the tiny "Kids at Play" toy on his alarm clock. He crushes it out of fear, and goes to bed.

The next day, Joel awakens feeling stiff. He realizes that he has no control of his body. Being controlled by an unseen force, Joel leaves the house and heads back to the ditch where the kid was last seen. Then, his limbs, eyes and skin begin to fall off. His entire body crumbles to dust and mulch.

Chief Montgomery, after constant searching, finally found the missing kid. Caleb, both Sally's grandson and the kid Joel ran over, was found in the ditch and rescued. As he called in other officers to his aid, he saw the "Kids at Play" sign on the road. These signs were made by Fazbear Entertainment for the Freddy Fazbear Public Safety Initiative; a service to deter reckless drivers and keep children safe.

### Find Player Two!

Aimee and her best friend Mary Jo are hanging out at Freddy Fazbear's Pizza. Mary Jo wants to play in the Hiding Maze, a series of interconnected tubes throughout the restaurant for kids to play hide and seek. Aimee reluctantly agrees. Aimee is player one, the seeker, while Mary Jo is player two, the hider. As Mary Jo enters the maze, Aimee sees a creepy looking man staring at the entrance. He pokes his head into it. Freaked out, Aimee leaves the pizzeria without Mary Jo, believing that Mary Jo was safe from the man in her hiding spot and that she could apologize later.

Ten years later, Aimee is guilt-ridden for leaving Mary Jo behind. The man at the restaurant, Emmett Tucker, was arrested for kidnapping. It was never proven whether he killed Mary Jo or not. Aimee has had recurring nightmares and guilt-tripping visions of Mary Jo ever since. She's devastated to discover that Emmett was released from prison recently and is now roaming free. Aimee decides to find him and confront him, in an attempt to get answers about her missing friend.

She spots him at a local bakery, and then follows him around as he drives to buy medication, more gas for his green van and some groceries. Emmett arrives at his mobile home on the outskirts of town, and he spots Aimee. Emmett invites Aimee, but she is hesitant. He convinces her that he'll tell the truth if she steps inside and they chat. Aimee reluctantly agrees. Emmett reveals that he never kidnapped anyone. The reason he stuck his head into the entrance of the Hiding Maze was because he was looking for his daughter Jilly, in an attempt to get her back from his ex-wife. He ended up being framed for kidnapping and was recently bailed out.

Aimee doesn't believe Emmett's story and presses further for answers. Emmett gets angry for being interrogated for something he didn't do and attacks Aimee. She came prepared with a taser, but Emmett tries to grab it from her. Emmett is eventually able to push Aimee and lock her in his bathroom. He plans on calling the cops on her. Aimee is able to escape the trailer before the cops arrive. Desperate for answers, she decides to return back to Freddy Fazbear's Pizza in hopes of finding some kind of clue.

Aimee is surprised to see that Freddy's closed down, and was replaced with another eatery far bigger than the old pizzeria. She pretends to order some food, only to sneak off and explore the place. Aimee sneaks into a maintenance room, which was a combination of a janitor and storage closet. She sees a vent that is revealed to be covering up the entrance of the old Hiding Maze. Aimee sees the old computer console, which states that there is still a game in process; with Aimee and Mary Jo as the active players.

Aimee heads inside the cubbyholes to search around, only for the console to state that Player One has found a hiding spot, and that Player Two can now begin to seek. Aimee enters the tunnels only to find the desiccated corpse of Mary Jo locked in one of the hiding spots, left alone for ten years. Aimee tries to leave the maze, but the door is locked. She screams for help, but no one hears her.

### *Epilogue*

Jake dozed off, dreaming that he was having a birthday party with all of his friends. Jake realizes that none of what he was experiencing was real. He needed to escape and stop Eleanor before it was too late.

Larson, still trapped inside of Eleanor's memories, desperately tries to find a way out. The only thing that he can think of was the ball pit, given its influence on his visions. Larson travels through the memory-simulated world and finds the building with the ball pit. Unlike in the present, the pizzeria was actually a Freddy Fazbear's Pizza location, filled with kids and parents. Larson forces the kids to leave the ball pit and jumps in. The ball pit sends Larson to another memory; the junk yard where Sarah had found Eleanor in the first place. The heart shaped pendant glows blood red, as Eleanor jumps out of the truck and attacks Larson. He sees a nearby trash compactor and throws her in, killing her within the memory.

Eleanor's death in the memory causes Larson to wake up in real life, and subsequently weaken Eleanor in real life as well. Larson catches a brief glimpse of Eleanor's new form having been powered by remnant. Her true form was unveiled; a being made of pure energy and negative emotion. Dr. Talbert is horrified. Black tendrils made of blood shot out of her mouth and wrapped around Larson's face, forcing him unconscious and back into her memories. Now in a new memory, Larson goes back to the building, now abandoned and filled with graffiti. He finds the ball pit and jumps in again.

He ends up in a garage that had boxes filled with knick-knacks such as winter clothes and Christmas decorations. Eleanor appears out of an antique trunk and attacks Larson again, this time going for the throat. Larson is able to throw paperweight at Eleanor to break himself free and then pummel Eleanor to death with a candelabra. This once again wakes Larson up, and this time he sees that the Stitchwraith has started moving, before he's forced back into the hallucinations.

Larson heads back to the building containing the ball pit again, which is now called "Papa Bear's Pancake House." Larson ends up in a kid's bedroom with race car decorations and a Freddy Fazbear poster on the wall. Eleanor bursts out of a nearby closet and attacks him again. Larson decapitates her with a bat, killing her and waking him up once more. Larson sees Eleanor in great pain, having been weakened by dying in the memories multiple times. The Stitchwraith has now stood up. Eleanor puts Larson to sleep again. Larson finds the old building now abandoned again, and jumps into the pit once more. He finds himself in a warehouse with an old mattress and some sleeping bags, as if people lived there. Suddenly, Eleanor dropped down from the ceiling to ambush the detective, beginning to strangle him again.

Jake was barely able to stand up. But seeing Eleanor, and thinking back to how she used him and caused so much pain and suffering to so many other people filled Jake with rage. He felt a sudden burst of strength, refusing to let Eleanor win. She seemed half-awake and unfocused, but she launched the black tendrils at Jake in an attempt to send him into her memories too. But, Larson is able to get the upper hand and hold Eleanor down and strangle her. This weakens her, and Jake is able to dodge the tentacles. He used all his willpower to hold Eleanor down and heat up his entire body to burn her. He then searched Eleanor's memories, found the most painful and miserable one, and shoved her in. The black mist disappeared, and Eleanor's body laid inanimate. Eleanor had finally been defeated. Jake leaves before Larson wakes up.

Two weeks have passed, and Larson has gotten closer with Ryan. He cheers his son as he plays in a baseball game, happy to now have a better relationship with his family. Elsewhere, Jake ties up loose ends, due to his battery pack running out of power. He found the real Renelle and reunited her with Dr. Talbert, saved the real homeless girl that Eleanor replaced and brought her to a hospital, and now he's in Jeff's Pizza to see the ball pit. Jake had seen visions of the pit ever since he absorbed Eleanor, and he realized that the ball pit contained the undead souls of her victims. Contained by the blood spurts, they were now a part of the ball pit. Knowing he couldn't do anything to set the spirits free, Jake's final act was to help the victims and to give them peace in their current situation. He walks into the pit and rests as he falls in.

Jake comes in contact with one of Eleanor's victims, Millie. She only remembers what happened immediately after the events of *Count the Ways*, before she died. She finds herself in a forest, and Jake appears before her. Millie takes Jake's hand, and she's suddenly back to her grandpa's house. Millie reunites with all of her relatives, and they enjoy their Christmas evening together. The balls in the ball pit begin to light up, turning from their original color to gold to a clear view like a crystal ball. The victims could be seen with their families living happily ever after, Jake's memory powers putting the souls at ease. All the undead souls, while remaining stuck in the ball pit, could still rest in peace.

Larson visits Dr. Talbert one final time after everything that happened. Larson asks him what remnant truly is, and why it's so powerful. He explains that remnant is able to create power and life out of memories. The substance had the power to take things that were lost and recreate them, making them seem and feel nearly real. He had begun studying remnant because of Renelle. She was sick when she was younger, and worried that she might die, Dr. Talbert studied remnant and its powers of positive memory. He had created the silver heart pendant, in hopes to hold onto the good memories should Renelle pass. Dr. Talbert is ashamed that his obsession with the pendant was what caused him to lose Renelle.

The pendant was meant for Renelle, but after she was kicked out, she had lost it. Eleanor had found it and used its powers for her evil purposes. Having seen Eleanor's horror firsthand, he wants nothing to do with the pendant anymore. He decides to give the pendant to Larson, allowing him to do whatever he wants with it. Larson holds onto it, and he leaves. Suddenly, Larson hears a noise coming from the pendant. It sounded like someone was singing, although he couldn't make out the words. Larson held up to the sun, causing the silver to glimmer. He was happy to finally put everything behind him and move on.

## Characters

### Humans

#### Prankster

* Jeremiah
* Hope
* Parker
* Matt's Family
	+ Matt
	+ Matt's Wife
	+ Connor
* Ty
* Ty's Girlfriend
* Unnamed Waitress

#### Kids at Play

* D'Agostino Family
	+ Joel D'Agostino
	+ Steven D'Agostino
	+ Mrs. D'Agostino
* Seth
* Zach's Family
	+ Zach
	+ Zach's Mom
	+ Zach's Dad
* Marianna
* Sally's Family
	+ Sally
	+ Caleb
* Chief Montgomery

#### Find Player Two!

* Aimee
* Gretta
* Mary Jo
* Tucker

#### Epilogue

* Larson's Family
	+ Everette Larson
	+ Angela Larson
	+ Ryan Larson
* Jake McNally (as The Stitchwraith)
* Talbert Family
	+ Dr, Talbert
	+ Renelle Talbert
* Fitzsimmons' Family
	+ Millie Fitzsimmons
	+ Millie's Grandfather

### Classic Animatronics

* Freddy Fazbear
* Bonnie the Bunny
* Chica the Chicken

### Creatures

* Kids at Play Figure
* Glitchtrap