In no time Gregory was tumbling out of Clay’s chest cavity. Clay pointed out the medical station, to which he practically sprinted towards. He closed the curtain, momentarily fumbling with the bandage before putting it on. Light moving outside the station caught his attention just as he finished putting the bandage on. Moving quietly he peaked out of the curtains just a bit, tensing as he saw the security guard from earlier approach Clay. “Clay! Shouldn’t you be on lock down?” she growled. “Officer Vanessa, I don’t know how I got down here-?” Clay looked around a little, acting like he just realized he wasn’t supposed to be there. “Whatever, you know you totally blew it tonight right? You crashed and ruined the show. And now Parts and Services put you on reduced power,” she sounded slightly irritated, “They said it was a safety precision. Just one more thing to deal with.” “I’m sorry,” Clay looked down slightly, his glowing eyes dimming a bit.

Vanessa ran a hand down her face, “Okay look. We’re like five minutes from closing, and some kid is running about backstage. If you see anything, notify me immediately, I already alerted the others. Now go back to your room!” With that, she turned and started leaving. After a few heart beats, and when Gregory could no longer hear her footsteps he left the medical station. “I told you she was after me,” he walked towards Clay with his arms crossed, lightly glaring down the direction that the security guard had gone. “I didn’t say anything! I’ll keep you safe, and get you out. Speaking of, let's go,” his compartment opened and Gregory hopped inside. As the compartment closed, and the screen flickered on, he glanced around at the inside, checking for any stray pipe cleaners. He doubted they had time for another pit stop. Watching the screen, curiosity bubbled up inside of him. They were in some kind of tunnels or something. Besides, the silence was killing him.

Gregory bit his tongue a bit, before asking, “Hey, Clay? Where are we?” “We’re now under the Pizza Plex! These are the utility tunnels, they connect all the attractions,” Clay said as he turned a corner. “So- we could go anywhere in the building?” his mind buzzed at the thought, easy access to anywhere, it would be great. If there wasn’t the problem with getting caught and being chased. “Correct!” Clay’s smile could basically be heard in his voice, “Fire scale, Glory’s hide and seek nature pavilion, Starflight’s walk through the ages gallery, it’s all accessible to staff with high enough security. And most animatronics,” his voice sounded momentarily sad with that last bit, “Guests are normally never allowed down here. Your’s is a special situation". ‘Right’ Gregory thought glumly as he looked down and away from the screen. After their little conversation the walk to the main entrance felt like it was going at a snail’s pace. Although, Gregory hoped it wasn’t.

They continued in silence for a while longer, before a battery on its last bar flashed on the screen. And Gregory was forcefully ejected from Clay’s chest cavity. Gregory looked back at Clay. “I’m sorry. I wasn’t finished recharging when I found you. You’ll have to keep going without me, but I can still guide you on your DoD watch. If you get into any trouble,” Clay’s voice was softer than before. And once he finished talking he turned and started to walk towards a large cylinder. “But, I don’t know if I can get out alone,” truthfully he more so didn’t want to be alone. At least the whole Pizza Plex wasn’t after him, kind of, it was mostly just the security guard and whoever was after him. He exhaled deeply and started walking forward, well more so he was speed walking. He was still in a hurry after all. Soon enough he got to a hallway that was blocked, a bathroom connected the side he was on to the side he needed to go to, to keep going forward.

Tsunami was there picking up trash, and just helping to clean up. Gregory started to walk by. “Where's Clay?” Tsunami looked up and at him. Gregory paused, his hand was on the handle, “He needed to charge or something”. The seawing nodded, and continued with what she was doing. Gregory assumed she probably knew he was on ‘reduced power’ like what the night guard had said to Clay earlier. So he continued going, his pace picking up ever so slightly. He made his way to a room that was bathed in red light. Then all of a sudden he felt something touch his shoulder, and let out a, less dignified, yelp of surprise. An animatronic rainwing, Glory- if Gregory recalled correctly, melted into view. The color of her paint shifting back to what was likely her original paint job. A purple lighting strike was painted across her snout. She pulled out a pair of star shaped shades, putting them on, “What are you doing down here?”

“Clay was taking me though the maintenance tunnels to get to the main entrance faster-?” he quickly summarized, not daring to try and steal a look at his watch for the time. “And where is Clay?” it felt like she was glaring at him. “Down that way,” Gregory pointed in the direction he came in, “He had to recharge. Tsunami’s down that way too, picking up trash”. Glory glared for another second before pointing ahead, “Go down that way, follow the lobby sign, then take a left, go up the stairs, though an office, go through the double red doors. From there you’re at the front of the Plex, and the entrance is a straight shot. Got it?” Gregory nodded his head violently, Glory left; and, he sprinted off, following the directions she’d given him. He took a momentary break on the stairs before speed walking to the red doors. Letting out a sigh of relief once he was greeted by the colorful lights of the Pizza Plex. He looked ahead, spotting the main entrance, and started walking towards it.

Still trying to catch his breath, that is until he was about halfway to the doors and the barrier started to close on him. His eyes widened and he started sprinting towards them. “No! No! Wait, I'm still here!” the barrier closed completely just as he reached the doors, he hit his fist angrily against it, “Great. Now what am I supposed to do?” “I’m so sorry, Gregory,” Clay’s voice came through his watch, “But it’s nothing too bad to worry about. You’ll be able to get out when the security doors re-open at 6am. Until then keep moving, and try not to draw attention to yourself”. ‘Easier said than done’ Gregory thought as he moved away from the main entrance.

Thanks >w< Dragons facing forward are hard. I actually used Glory from the wof animation the final countdown as ref :3

Eh? No ((I’m so confused ngl xD))