Tales from the Pizzaplex: Nexie

**Nexie** is the sixth installment of the anthology book series: *Tales from the Pizzaplex*. Written by Kelly Parra and Andrea Waggener with Scott Cawthon. It was published on May 2, 2023.

## Summary

***Five Nights at Freddy's fans won't want to miss this collection of three chilling stories that will haunt even the bravest player...***

*Can you keep a secret? ... Astrid doesn't tell anyone about the strange things her Buddytronic doll has been up to. Kara convinces a Pizzaplex employee no one will know if he lets her spend a little more time in the VR attraction. And a Fazbear Entertainment engineer's custom project has surprises in store for anyone that encounters it. But in the world of Five Nights at Freddy's, secrets never stay hidden for long.*

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

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

## Plot

### *Nexie*

Astrid and her grandpa are at the Pizzaplex's Buddytronics Boutique observing the robots being made. The Buddytronics had advanced programming so that they could act like a person's best friend, as well as respond to someone in an organic matter than repeat pre-programmed lines. While many of the other kids at school had Buddytronics, Astrid couldn't afford one and had to do chores at her Swedish grandpa's farmhouse to get money. Her "farfar" as she called him also didn't really understand the appeal of modern technology, but respected Astrid's interest in it.

Many of the kids she knew had their own Buddytronics and bought them to school, even if they weren't trendy anymore. Astrid wanted her own Buddytronic to fit in, but also because she hadn't made any real friends due to being ostracized by her classmates. Her birthday was coming up and her extended family were likely going to give her various knickknacks and clothes that they handcrafted, but she wrote to the various members convincing them to give money instead, making up the white lie that she wanted to learn how to invest in things. Only a few of them ended up giving Astrid money, leaving her $120 short from a Buddytronic's thousand-dollar price tag. As Farfar was cutting her birthday cake, Astrid suddenly started crying. Realizing why she was crying, Farfar offered to pay the rest of the funds to purchase a Buddytronic, believing that she deserved to have something she wanted.

Astrid and Farfar came to the Pizzaplex, noticing a commotion nearby. A boy was trapped in a glass dome, with dozens of onlookers watching and several Pizzaplex employees running towards the dome. The lights in the various games, stores and even the Storyteller's Tree briefly went dark before turning back on again. The strange power surge was also affecting the systems in the Buddytronic Boutique. The employees wanted to close early, but Farfar convinced them to remain open long enough for Astrid to make her Buddytronic. She picked out the various parts with the ideal image of her new friend in mind; a doll that looked like her mother.

With only a single picture as reference, Astrid recalled her bright blonde hair, blue eyes and doll-like face. She had abandoned the family to become a model, and Farfar was kind enough to take Astrid and her dad in. Astrid's Buddytronic, who she planned to name Lexie, was similar in appearance to her mom with her blonde hair woven together and wearing dark blue attire. Once the process was done, Lexie was complete. However, because of the brief power outages, the systems glitched out during the process. Lexie came out with an asymmetrical face, disproportionate body and torn dress. The programming also messed up, with the doll saying her name was Nexie. Despite her flaws, Astrid felt a connection to the doll and was willing to keep her. She rationed that if she didn't, she'd be no better than her mom.

The next day, Astrid gets to know her new friend. Nexie is aware of her broken state and wants to be fixed. Feeling connected to the doll from how human she acted, Astrid wanted to help her, and she could start by buying parts. She returns to the Pizzaplex and visits its Animatronic Parts Shop to buy parts with the help of the shop's attendant, Roberta. With Nexie guiding her, Astrid worked on Nexie in her farfar's workshop late at night. Once the repairs are done, Nexie is unsatisfied, suggesting Astrid give her an entirely new endoskeleton. She ends up using some scissors to cut a hole into her skin to demonstrate easily removable it is.

At school, Nexie purposefully drops herself near one of her bullies, Camilla's feet. The force causes her to trip and nearly fall down some nearby stairs, but she is grabbed before she falls. Later, Astrid calls Roberta to purchase an endoskeleton, only to find out the Fazbear brand endos aren't sold to the public. Astrid asks if she could get parts and build the endo on her own, but Roberta tells her the parts are locked away in the Fazbear repair facility under the Pizzaplex. Nexie tries convincing Astrid to break into the facility and steal the parts, but Astrid declines, hoping Nexie would learn to love herself over time.

Several days later, Farfar has a surprise for Astrid. He managed to get a new Buddytronic that was just like how Astrid wanted it to be designed. He had worked with the employees to recreate Lexie from Astrid's pre-selected features. Astrid hugged her farfar and thanked him, and as he went to cook dinner, Astrid turned around to find Nexie was attacking her counterpart. Nexie tore off Lexie's skin, and even compressed her metal endoskeleton. Despite Lexie at least providing a new body for Nexie, the doll claimed that it was "wrong".

Back at school, Astrid is being targeted again by one of her bullies, Warren. He pushes Astrid and Nexie falls out of her hands, onto the road. A car comes by, and Nexie disappears by the time it passes. As Warren continues to insult Astrid, Nexie comes from behind and bites Warren in the leg. Astrid collects Nexie and leaves. Realizing that Nexie is too dangerous, Astrid decides to break into the Pizzaplex's repair facility and get her the endoskeleton she wanted in hopes of appeasing her. At first, she felt bad for stealing, but she accepted that she would always be an outcast, rationing that she was just acting like one. When Astrid and Farfar visit the Pizzaplex, Astrid sneaks away and steals an employee's keycard.

Three hours later, Astrid and Nexie returned to the Pizzaplex alone and hid until it closed its doors. Astrid makes her way down to the repair facility, which is empty. After two hours of work, Astrid finishes the endoskeleton. Excited, Nexie pulls out her scissors to get the skin. The next day, all the kids are horrified to see Astrid's face cut open, with the skin that was once on it now on Nexie. The two girls ignored everyone's screams of terror. Astrid hugged Nexie, happy that she was perfect now.

### *Drowning*

Kara and her two friends, Lola and Francine, visit the Pizzaplex for a VR attraction. As they approach the attraction, an employee named Zach explained how the machinery worked. The chair and VR helmet could give the people a fully immersive experience, as well as create avatars accurate to how they look in real life. There is also a feature called "Hypertime", which gives the user an extra bit of adrenaline. Kara and the others try out the "Coaster City" world; a virtual carnival on a boardwalk. The experience was immersive, with the girls being able to smell carnival food and feel the heat of the sun.

After going on three of the rides, their time in the simulation ended. As the group leave, Kara looks back on several monitors displaying what people were seeing in VR. One of the other virtual worlds was a water park and she noticed something moving at the bottom of one of the waterslides. While Lola and Francine wait for Lola's brother to show up at the arcade, Kara heads back to the VR resort. Zach is about to close it up, but Kara convinces her to give her some time to go back into VR, while also on the maximum Hypertime setting. Hypertime has time dealation, with one hour in the Hypertime state being five minutes in real life.

Kara asks to go to the "Waterpark" world. As Kara goes back into VR, Zach is called over to Monty's Gator Golf, leaving her unattended and unknowingly forgetting to turn on the Hypertime setting. The thrill of being in a virtual park reminds Kara of something from her past. Kara recalls how her second-cousin Peggy fell while they were climbing a tree when they were kids. She had ended up in a coma, and Kara never forgave herself after the incident, actively seeking thrills to ignore the fear of something similar happening to her. Kara starts searching around the various areas, going down on a waterslide and notices something brushing against her leg.

Kara moves away from the initial area and wonders further down the labyrinth, ending up in a jungle-themed section with a giant waterfall over a cliff. She puts her feet in the water, spotting a girl with black hair underneath her. Suddenly, the world around her changes with each of the pools having a blue, purple or pink liquid in them. Kara goes by one of the pink pools, spotting the girl again. She had pale white hands and skin, gray fabric for clothes, closed eyes and a dead look on her face. Kara jumps into the water to help her, only for the girl to open her darkened eyes. The girl grabs onto Kara's leg, but Kara is able to shake her off and resurface. The girl continues to stare at Kara.

Unsure of what to do, Kara tries to wait until time runs out and she is booted out of the simulation. The girl suddenly reaches out to grab her. Kara runs away, traveling through various shops and locales. But no matter where she runs, the girl keeps appearing in the water. Kara remembers there being an emergency button on the armchair, but she felt too disconnected from reality in order to press it. It felt like where she was now was reality. Panicked, Kara goes to a nearby pizza parlor to recuperate. She closes her eyes, only to suddenly end up on one of the waterslides when she opens them, with the girl waiting for her at the bottom.

Kara is able to jump out before she hits the water and continues running. Hours later, she arrives at an alcove to rest. Exhausted, Kara falls asleep, dreaming back to the day she and Peggy were climbing the tree. She watches Peggy fall from the tree, reliving the incident. She shifts to the present, seeing the girl walk towards her. Kara wakes up to the see the girl was heading towards her even though she was awake. The girl looked like she was deteriorating. She speaks, telling Kara "Don't leave me alone".

Kara runs away, with the girl speaking repeating what she said over and over. More hours pass, and Kara tries searching for an exit by herself. Eventually, she finds an old door that was rusty and faded compared to the pristine doors to the other shops. She opens the door, revealing an old, damp house. Kara feels compelled to save the drowned girl and atone for what happened to Peggy. After searching around, she finds a picture of the girl and her parents. Suddenly, water comes out of the photo and floods the house. Kara finds another door and runs to it, discovering it is the bathroom and the girl is in the bathtub.

The girl grabs Kara and pulls her in. Kara is able to break free and swim up to the surface, ending up back in the main water park. Kara falls asleep, having a nightmare based on when she went skating when she was 10. She dreams of falling over and breaking her limbs but continuing to skate anyways. Kara awakens, and desperately tries to escape, opening up a door and ending up in a mirror maze. She is greeted with illusions of Lola, Francine and her parents berating her. The girl returns again, repeating that she doesn't want to be left alone. Kara flees the room and starts wandering again. Eventually, she notices a tall slide coming from the top of the ceiling.

Believing it may lead to a way out, Kara makes her way over, only to find there are no stairs. She climbs on the sides to reach the peak, all while the girl pleads for Kara to stay from the bottom of the slide's pool. Kara notices that the girl is starting to look healthier. She tells the girl that she doesn't belong in the virtual world, and she needs to return home. She plans on being more encouraging and understanding to her friends and family when she comes back. Suddenly, the girl's voice goes deep, compelling Kara to come to her. Startled, Kara falls and lands on the concrete, breaking her legs. The girl pulls herself from the water, reverting back to how she was before, dragging Kara into the pool.

Elsewhere, while Kara was trapped in VR, Lola and Francine had been looking for her. They had run into Zach, and he told them about Kara going back to the VR attraction, not knowing that she wasn't on Hypertime. The group make their way back to her and Zach turns off the attraction. Francine is horrified to see Kara, dead and pale.

### *The Mimic*

Forty years before the events of *The Storyteller*, Edwin was a single father taking care of his 4-year-old son David, after his wife Fiona had died giving birth to him. Despite suffering loss, Edwin still wanted to fulfill his dream of making machines that could change people's lives. Edwin had bought out an abandoned factory to tinker with technology, doubling as his and David's living space. While working on fixing a Chica model's head, David ends up knocking it over, with he himself falling down as well. After helping David up and putting him to bed, Edwin contemplates his situation.

He had agreed to be bought out by Fazbear Entertainment in order to get by financially. As much as he loved David, it was hard for Edwin to divide his attention between him and his work. So, he came up with a plan to compromise. With David now enrolled in kindergarten, Edwin had the time to start building an animatronic to be David's friend. Currently being a bare endoskeleton, Edwin planned on adding the programming next, making this animatronic take in information and mimic what it sees, naming the program "Mimic1".

Over three weeks later, the endoskeleton is ready to be turned on. Edwin decided to name it Mimic, after the program, and showed it off to David. Mimic starts to copy David's movements, much to his amusement. For the next two weeks, Mimic and David played together while Edwin was able to fully focus on his work. Edwin tinkered with Mimic, both to advance his programming and make sure he stays refreshing for David. But, as time goes on, Edwin gets more easily irritated. He lashes out whenever David and Mimic's antics interfere with his work but stops himself before going too far. One day, Edwin calls David over for breakfast, with no response in return. He is horrified to see the factory's doors wide open.

David was playing ball outside, and the ball bounced onto the nearest road. He chased after it, unaware of a white van racing towards him. David is ran over and killed. Two weeks later, and Edwin is utterly broken. He didn't have the energy to deactivate Mimic. While he continues working, Mimic climbs on the tiger, carrying a makeshift tiger plushie David had made for it. David had loved white tigers, having both his own plushie and a giant wooden tiger head that Edwin had made for the outer shell of his bed. Mimic starts forming his hand into a bowl and spoon, lifting his spoon hand to his mouth. David and Mimic had made their own form of sign language, with Mimic using it to ask Edwin for some ice cream. The harmless act was a painful reminder of David, and how he failed him. Edwin snaps, grabbing a metal rod and hitting Mimic on the head. Edwin beats Mimic repeatedly until he tires out.

Edwin disappears without a trace, with the factory going under Fazbear Entertainment's ownership due to their contract. Several months later, Dominic, Glen and Harry are tasked with scouting the building, unsure of what their main goal is. The group looks around finding costumes of the classic animatronics, as well as several costumes for unknown characters. As Dominic looks through the rooms, he finds a Fazbear Entertainment brand satchel nearby David's old bed with a tape recorder inside. Another party had been sent to Edwin's factory before Dominic and his friends arrived, and like them, were kept in the dark on what they needed to find.

Eventually, Dominic finds the power generator and turns the lights back on. As everyone regroups, they start to smell a disgusting stench, as if something had died. They also notice that one of the costumes was gone. The smell was coming from the fridge, and when the group went to open it, they found a dead body which was cramped and compressed to fit inside. There was another smell coming from one of the makeshift closets. Dominic and Glen went to investigate while Harry waited. They find another body impaled by a metal rod sat on a clothes hanger with the rod speared through his chest and his entrails slopping over his belt. As Dominic and Glen stare in horror, they hear Harry scream.

Once Dominic and Glen reach the hall, they find Harry in the middle of getting his brain pulled out. Mimic, wearing a jester costume, yanked Harry's brain out of his skull, killing him instantly. Dominic and Glen run downstairs and hide behind one of the machines. Believing Fazbear Entertainment sent them and the other team to kill Mimic, the duo tries to find a weapon to defend themselves. Dominic looks under the table, finding the jester costume Mimic was just wearing. Mimic, now wearing a mushroom costume, grabs Glen and rams his head into a brick wall, shredding his entire body from the rib cage up. Dominic flees heads back to David's bedroom and tries to build a machine to use as a weapon. He retrieves the other employee’s satchel, noticing that Harry’s body is gone, and the mushroom man costume has been discarded. Mimic, now in a rotting grayish-purple lion costume stands up and slams Dominic to the floor. It then reaches up through his solar plexus and grabs his trachea from the inside, pulling it out.

### *Epilogue*

Mimic tries tricking the group again on the radio, but Lucia and Kelly refuse the call. They keep searching around the office and Lucia finds a journal that belonged to a Fazbear Entertainment engineer. Parts of the journal are unreadable, but Lucia can make out that Mimic endos were designed to mimic what they saw, but they were all eventually deactivated. Kelly suggests communicating with Mimic on the radio and finding its location to actively avoid it. Mimic tells them that it's in the janitor's closet.

Suddenly, a metallic thud came from a nearby vent. Jayce crawls out of the vent, and the two girls help him up. Lucia asks where Adrian is, but Jayce is unable to respond. Kelly clocks on that Adrian is dead, and Jayce breaks down into tears. Out of anger, Lucia tries forcing Jayce to go into detail. Jayce yells that there was nothing he could do, and that he would've died if he interfered. He asks if Lucia wanted him to die instead of Adrian, and she says yes.

Kelly tries to calm things down and deviates the conversation by asking about Wade and Joel, but Jayce confirms that they're dead too. Lucia sits in the corner to mourn, Kelly believing it was because of her feelings for Adrian despite both of them being in relationships already. Mimic continues trying to get the group to listen to it. Jayce comes up with a plan to lure Mimic into a room while the two girls block the door, with Jayce escaping into one of the ducts. He also believes that the vent might not be able to support Mimic's weight, causing it to fall down and allow him to escape.

As the trio heads to the janitor's closet, Kelly tries getting Lucia to apologize for her how she treated Jayce earlier. Lucia does, but only to decrease tension, with her resentment towards Jayce remaining unchanged. She brings up the key for the storage space in the systems room she found earlier, suggesting that be the room Mimic gets locked in. Jayce remembered seeing that room through the vents, with the cover being behind some boxes. Kelly asks Jayce if he's sure he wants to be bait and he agrees, hiding the fact that he was being the bait because he knew any chance of having a relationship with Lucia was gone.

The group goes to the employee's lounge to get some tables to block the door with. The radio crackles and Kelly answers, only to be greeted with silence. Jayce is worried that the Mimic caught on to what they were doing. That suspicion was proven correct as they made their way to the janitor's closet and one of the nearby lockers burst open. Kelly grabs Jayce and runs as the lights go out, going back to the office to hide. Jayce tries to go back for Lucia, but Kelly holds him back knowing he would put himself in danger. Lucia is able to regroup but suffers a heavy tear in her scalp from the Mimic.

After Lucia is bandaged up with a part of Kelly's skirt, the trio gets some tables and place them nearby the systems room. With the plan ready to go, Lucia and Kelly start to go down the hall. Jayce pulls Lucia for a kiss, so that she would know how he felt regardless of what happens to him. Jayce stays in the storage room and shouts to lure the Mimic to him. It appears in a yellow cat costume and bursts into the room as Jayce runs into the vent. As Jayce made his way through the vents, he could hear Lucia and Kelly deadbolting the storage room door shut.

With Mimic locked up, Jayce continued through the vent, only for the sleeve of his shirt to get caught on some loose rivets. All of the rivets came loose, and the vent section Jayce was on began to slide, causing him to fall back down into the storage room. Jayce tried to pull himself back up, but Mimic grabs onto his ankle. As Lucia and Kelly make their way back the office, they hear Jayce's screams echo throughout the pizzeria.

## Characters

### Humans

#### Nexie

* Eriksen Family
	+ Astrid Eriksen
	+ Mr. Eriksen
	+ Astrid's Mom
	+ Farfar
	+ Farmor
* Geena
* Brooke
* Jolie
* Remy
* Johnny
* Hugo
* Warren
* Camilla
* Brett
* Miss Hallstrom
* Karen
* Vince
* Fern
* Roberta
* Kai (unnamed)

#### Drowning

* Walsh Family
	+ Kara Walsh
	+ Martin Walsh
	+ Kara's Mom
	+ Peggy Walsh
* Lola's Family
	+ Lola
	+ Lola's Brother
* Francine
* Zach
* Ralph
* Cassidy/The Girl

#### The Mimic

* Murray Family
	+ Edwin Murray
	+ Fiona Murray
	+ David Sean Murray
* Lucy
* Fitz
* Grant Starling
* Dominic
* Glen
* Harry
* Ron
* Unnamed Man
* Joan
* Terrence

#### Epilogue

* Lucia
* Jayce
* Kelly

### Animatronics

#### Nexie

* Nexie
* Funtime Foxy (Buddytronic form)
* DJ Music Man (Buddytronic form)
* The Storyteller (Tree only)
* Montgomery Gator (Buddytronic form)
* Circus Baby (Buddytronic form)
* Lexie

#### The Mimic

* Chica (costume only)
* Foxy (costume only)
* Bonnie (costume only)
* Freddy Fazbear (costume only)
* Mimic

## Locations

* Freddy Fazbear's Mega Pizzaplex
	+ Buddytronics Boutique
	+ Freddy Fazbear’s Mega Pizzaplex Resort experience
		- Beach
		- Waterpark
		- Coaster City