Chapter Text
CatNap didn't want to sleep anymore, he wanted to play with his friends. CatNap had heard his friends waking up without him last week. Some of them sounded different and some of them sounded the same. So, why couldn't he wake up too? For once he wanted to wake up but something was stopping him. Someone didn't want him to wake up.
"Why isn't that damn cat waking up?!" Screamed a scientist.
"The AI is reacting to us but the soul is refusing to wake up, sir." Another scientist replied calmly.
"Well, reprogram the AI to wake the soul up! We can't have that cat sleeping during the first day of PlayCare."
"I can't reprogram it, sir. It's going to ruin its behavior, personality and it could even let the soul be in-"
"DOES IT LOOK LIKE I CARE ABOUT ANY OF THAT?!" They yelled. "Replace the AI with a new one and put the old one back into the system, do I make myself clear?"
"Y-yes sir!"
"Good. Report back to me when you have succeeded."
CatNap heard the angry scientist leave the room. Why was he so mad at him? If anything, the real person to be mad at was whoever this 'Soul' person was! The calmer scientist had grabbed something, mumbling out an apology before injecting something into CatNap.
He jolted up from his bed, sweating and panting. The sleep-themed cat looked around his bedroom, but everything seemed normal. With a sigh, he got up from his bed and put on his moon pendant. CatNap left his room and looked outside from his bay window.
Nobody was outside doing anything. Crafty wasn't doing any paintings, Kickin' and Hoppy weren't arguing about who cheated in whatever sport they were playing this time, Picky wasn't having a picnic with Bobby and Bubba, and DogDay wasn't outside trying to calm down anyone's arguments. Instead, it was a ghost town.
Shoving a biscuit into his mouth, CatNap left his cat tower and went to investigate the missing Critters. The closest house that was near him was Crafty's castle and DogDay's house. He rushed over to DogDay's house, normally he was up and awake in the mornings. The purple cat knocked at the door.
No response.
After a few moments, he knocked again.
No response.
He impatiently growled before grabbing the key that was under the mat and unlocked the door. The home was dusty but everything was the same nonetheless. The cat made his way towards the dog's bedroom, he knocked on the door and still didn't get a response. He cleared his throat.
"DogDay? Are you awake?" CatNap asked before having a small coughing fit.
No response once more.
Normally whenever CatNap spoke, DogDay would make a big deal about it or attempt to be calm about his best friend speaking. He opened the door only to reveal that DogDay wasn't anywhere. His sun pendant was sitting on top of his dresser, collecting dust. CatNap grabbed his best friend's pendant, cleaned away the dust, and put it back where he found it. The calendar on the wall read today's date 'August 8th 1990'. His tail began to flick nervously as he left his best friend's home.
The next one on the list was Crafty's castle. He had been to the unicorn's home a few times, but not enough to know where she kept the spare key in case of an emergency. Knowing that knocking was useless, he began to climb the castle to look for an open window.
Climbing the colorful stone castle was harder than climbing his cat tower! The stone grew hot as CatNap climbed faster around the castle. Crafty's handmade curtains flew in the wind.
Finally, an entrance! CatNap quickly climbed his way to the window. He grabbed onto the windowsill and pulled himself into the home. He fell face-first onto the carpet.
As he got up from the floor, he noticed Crafty's rainbow flower pendant was on top of the paint cans. CatNap explored the home but saw no Crafty anywhere. It was the same thing with DogDay's house all over again. Her bedroom was empty, her kitchen was empty, her supply closet was full but no sign of the unicorn, and she wasn't even sleeping in the bathtub!
CatNap left the castle in a fit of frustration. He stared at his feet as his vision became blurry. Tears ran down his cheeks, his breathing became faster as if he was running for hours on end. He wiped his tears away as he looked for the next house to look through. There was an orange house in the shape of a carrot, he knew that home belonged to Hoppy. Maybe DogDay and Crafty were at Hoppy's house!
The purple cat ran towards the carrot-shaped house. Hoppy had to be home, she just had to be! He ran towards the house and kicked the door open. The sport-themed bunny never locked her door even after DogDay had told her several times beforehand. Her home was never organized properly, it was always littered with whatever sport she and Kickin' were obsessed with. This time it was baseball meaning that baseballs and bats were lying around. It always smelt like peppermint in her house despite her love for carrots. A few mint cans were scattered around, but that was normal because she always carried mints wherever she went and had a habit of losing them too. Her pendant was lying on top of a mint can that was on top of the coffee table. Unfortunately, DogDay or Crafty weren't here either. Now Hoppy, DogDay and CatNap's best friend, was missing too! How could he have lost two of his best friends?
Hoppy might have been DogDay's first friend, but DogDay was always CatNap's first friend. How they first met was always a nice memory to look back on.
CatNap had fallen off a tree branch and got stuck in a bush. He was struggling for hours until someone found him and pulled him out. The one to save him was DogDay, who had been asking him several questions, but all CatNap could do was be quiet and shake or nod his head. Despite the dog being oblivious to everything, he quickly caught on that the cat didn't like to speak. So he ran off, leaving the cat alone again. The purple cat thought that was the end of it, but the orange dog came back running with a notebook and a pencil and the rest was history.
He shook his head to get back to the matter at hand, he had to find his friends. CatNap searched everyone else's houses, looking in every nook and cranny to see where they'd gone but all of their homes were empty. They had left without a trace and didn't take their pendants with them either. It was fine, they'd come back for CatNap sooner or later! Maybe they had forgotten about him or maybe they didn't want to bother him because he was sleeping! One of those had to be the reason.
So CatNap continued with his daily routine. He rested on the top of DogDay's roof and began to nap. Slowly falling asleep, twisting and turning to get comfortable but he couldn't get comfortable! Curling up into a ball didn't work. Sleeping on his back didn't work. Sleeping on his sides didn't work. Sleeping outside didn't work. Sleeping inside didn't work. Sleeping on the grass didn't work. Sleeping on the floor didn't work. The purple cat stomped his foot out of frustration, why didn't anything work? He used to be able to sleep anywhere at any time but now it seemed impossible for him to sleep.
Tears threatened to spill as CatNap went inside DogDay's home. He sat on the couch and stared at the door, hoping that DogDay or anyone else would open the door.
But nobody came.
It was like that for weeks.
CatNap would search the homes every day, checking to see if anyone came back, but he saw no signs of them coming back. So to get his mind off the fact that his friends had abandoned- had gone missing, he tried doing their activities.
He played sports by himself. He learned how to cook and bake. He learned how to ride a skateboard- more like how to accidentally break his arm. The sleep-themed cat made a mental note to never do anything skateboard-related ever again.
He learned how to turn pieces of paper into little paper critters and paper flowers. He learned how to take care of flowers after realizing that Bobby's roses had died. He attempted to do math and science, but that gave him a headache so he does that once in a while. He read a bunch of books and dictionaries instead though! He learned that fetch can get boring extremely quickly when you're playing by yourself. At the end of every month, he would clean his friends' empty homes and polish their pendants.
The purple cat couldn't even nap during the day anymore even when he was tired. His sleep schedule was wrecked with how many activities he does during the day now. So he started drinking coffee, which tasted terrible the first time he drank it but it was better than drinking whatever weird drink that Kickin' and Hoppy make. Once in a while, he would make himself a cup of tea but he would make more than he intended to. CatNap would have given his friends the extra tea, but they were still gone.
One day was different though.
It was getting late as the sun started to set. Normally, he would have stopped the activities and gone home, but something felt different about the sunset. A new need was added.
He wanted to see the sunset.
The sun would rest behind DogDay's home, CatNap ran towards the trees behind the doghouse. He ran through the bushes to get to one of the trees. The cat climbed the tree until he saw a branch to rest on. He lifted himself up onto the branch. Sitting down on the branch, the sky turned into a deep purple-orange hue. The sun slowly went down as he let out a sigh.
"I- I miss you, DogDay. I hope that I can see you and..and the others again soon." CatNap whispered in a soft voice.
The warm rays of the sun melted away, and the moon's cold wind took control as CatNap waved goodbye to the sun. The cat sat on the tree branch for a moment, staring at the new starry night sky that replaced the sun's playful warmth. He took a few deep breaths.
Before letting out a blood-curdling scream as tears fell down his cheeks.
"WHY DID YOU LEAVE ME?!" His fur stood up on its ends. "WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO DO WITHOUT YOU GUYS NOW?!" CatNap yelled as he held onto his arms, looking into the night sky for answers only to be met with nothing in response.
He let out a cough. Something came up his throat, it felt hairy. He threw up a hairball from yelling at the sun. The cat stared at the ground below him, watching his hairball hit the ground and make a splat sound. His fur quickly went back to normal as the purple cat stood up to wipe away his tears.
"I'll figure out what happened, I promise."
It took a few years before he could figure out what happened to his friends. The sleep-themed cat started recording his findings as something to pass the time. It was nothing extreme, it was just him making up theories. CatNap used a tape recorder and an old camera that he found in Bobby's house. He started singing a lullaby to the pendants every single night.
At one point, he accidentally ran into the rat mafia and mice mafia. They were arguing about who should talk to the leader of the Smiling Critters. Without thinking properly, CatNap pretended to be DogDay, he switched out his moon pendant for his best friend's sun pendant. The cat had to act positively and optimistically to the other leaders. Luckily, they had never seen a dog before so they couldn't tell that CatNap was a cat and not actually a dog. They had wanted to take over a small piece of the surface, the Smiling Critters' homes, and they wanted to know who was screaming at the top of their lungs whenever the sun would rise and set. The purple cat admitted that the screaming was him, but that was only because he liked to talk to the sun. He also denied their request but he offered to let them explore the surface instead as long as they didn't fight with each other. The leader of the mice accepted the offer while the leader of the rats reluctantly accepted despite making several different offers.
CatNap would often run into a few rats and mice during his daily routine. They would need some sort of help with something. Ball stuck in a tree? CatNap- DogDay's on it! Have a friendship issue? DogDay is on the scene! Need an explanation of something? DogDay is here to help! Although he didn't mind helping the rats and mice citizens, he didn't like to pretend to be his missing best friend.
The rat leader, who CatNap now knew to be Tony, eventually asked him for help with something. Tony was a black hooded rat. The upper top of his body was black and the lower part of his body was white. He wanted CatNap to be his wingman, also the waiter, on his date with a powerful overlord known as Maria. He agreed to help Tony on his date. It sounded easy enough! Catnap knew some love advice from Bobby and she did have several notebooks filled to the brim with love advice. He could've pulled an all-nighter to read 'em all, but Tony had quickly taken him to the heart of the rats and mice, the underground. That was the first time CatNap had been in such a big city.
The rats and the mice had the underground split in two. The rats had called their city "New Cheesus" and the mice called their city "Mousetress". The only way to tell the two cities apart was that New Cheesus had a clock tower smack in the middle of their city while Mousetress had a huge amethyst rock in the middle of the city. They had trains throughout the underground, they even had one that led to the surface! The only way to get in and out of the underground besides the railroads was a huge hole in the ground with stairs that were starting to crumble.
As for CatNap's experience being a wingman and waiter, it was the best time of his life. He got to mention how his friends would have loved the underground more than once. He was able to mop around, give good and bad love advice, and get some orders wrong. At a certain point during the date, one of the chefs had accidentally made a cake when they were supposed to make spaghetti. CatNap smacked his head into the counter several times while repeating the words, "Positive and optimistic thoughts". That was certainly fun to explain to Tony and Maria why their food was taking so long. After a while, CatNap heard strange noises in the bathroom and assumed that someone had eaten something bad. When the cat waiter returned with the food, he noticed that Maria's makeup was a bit ruined and Tony's tie wasn't properly tied. He didn't say anything besides telling Tony to fix his tie.
As the night went on, the leader of the rats couldn't handle CatNap's unprofessionalism any longer. So he may or may not have thrown the table at CatNap when he mentioned one of his friends for the fourth time. Then that's when things took a turn. The cat and the rat began fighting each other with Maria watching as she drank her wine. Tony was about to hit CatNap with a chair until CatNap pulled out a piano and hit Tony several times with it before fleeing the scene. He didn't know how that first date went after he left, but it must've been good since he got their wedding invitation a few months later. Surprisingly, there were no pianos at the reception.
The sleep-themed cat continued to pretend to be the sun-themed dog, doing his daily activities, and helping any rat or mice with any problems that they had.
That was until the first hint of his friends' whereabouts appeared five years later in 1995.
Picky's pendant had gone missing and in its place was a picture of Picky's stomach. It took CatNap a few weeks to figure that out since the picture was extremely messed up and the fact that it was in some sort of mud rock when he found it. A year later in 1996, Kickin's pendant was gone and there was a picture of Kickin's neck. The picture was stuck in a pile of yellow feathers that appeared inside of Kickin's chicken coop. Five months later in that same year, Bobby's pendant went missing and there was a picture of Bobby's chest. The picture was stuck in the thorny part of Bobby's rose bushes, CatNap had to bandage his hands after getting the picture out of the rose bush. A year later in 1997, Crafty's pendant went missing and there was a picture of her horn. The picture was stuck in a can of red paint, so CatNap had to clean the picture for several days straight to see what it was. His hands were more red than purple for weeks after that!
In the midst of the pendants going missing, a cloud began forming over where the path to their houses started. Each time a pendant went missing that cloud would get bigger. Sometimes when CatNap was really quiet, he could hear his friends' voices just above the cloud. He had several questions as to why that cloud only grew whenever the pendants went missing and why it had the voices of his friends.
The sleep-themed cat began observing the remaining pendants, Bubba, Hoppy, and DogDay's pendants.
Three years later in 2000, during CatNap's daily observation of the last three pendants, Bubba's pendant began glowing. CatNap attempted to grab it to see what caused the glow but was immediately blinded by a bright light. When he opened his eyes, the pendant was gone and the room where he kept the pendants was an utter mess. Hoppy and DogDay's pendants were on the ground as CatNap investigated the now-destroyed room. There was shattered glass everywhere and scorch marks on the floor and walls. He checked the two remaining pendants for any damages, luckily everything was fine. As he carefully picked up the shattered glass, he noticed an open scrapbook lying on the floor.
The purple cat picked up the book to place back on the table as a picture fell out. He placed the book on the table and grabbed the picture off the floor. CatNap's eyes widened in shock, it was a photo of Bubba's forehead. He recorded what he had found, and the cat had several questions written down.
'Who is sending these photos?'
'Where do the pendants go after they disappear?'
'Are pendants magical?'
'Can pendants cause harm if in the wrong hands?'
'Why are the pendants only acting up now after my friends disappeared?'
'Why does that cloud only grow whenever one of the pendants goes missing?'
CatNap knew that he would have to search for the answers himself.
The last hint he got was two years ago on May 17th 2002.
Hoppy's pendant was stolen by rats. CatNap became the most furious critter as he hunted down the little thieves. The sleepy feline had chased them around the valley until he had them trapped at a dead end. The small critters squicked about how much 'ratbuckz' the pendant was going to make them.
"Listen here, bucko! This is ours to sell, not yours!" One of the rats exclaimed.
"No, it belongs to my friend," CatNap stated, holding back the urge to pounce at them as he bared his fangs. "Give it back."
"Let me think about it- NAH, WE AIN'T GIVING YOU ANYTHING!" The leader of the rat squad replied, holding Hoppy's pendant in his little paws.
"Uh, boss?"
"You have been screaming at the sun for how many years was it again? Oh right. IT'S ALMOST BEEN A DECADE SINCE YOU STARTED YELLING AT THE DAMN SUN!" The boss rat angrily exclaimed.
"Boss, why is-"
"I don't yell at the sun! I talk to the sun, there's a difference!" The cat corrected with a glare, cutting off one of the rat minions from speaking.
"Oh for the love of cheese, how delusional can you get?!" The boss remarked as he glared back at the purple cat.
"BOSS!" Another rat minion cried out.
"Not now, Jim. Can't you see that I'm in the middle of something here?" The leader whispered to his minion in an annoyed tone.
"Boss, the pendant is glowing!"
The rat looked down at the pendant that he was holding and noticed the yellow glow.
"Why the heck is this glowing? Is it some sort of nightlight or something?"
CatNap's eyes became the size of dinner plates as the leader examined the glow from the lightning bolt pendant.
"Put it down and run! It's never a good sign when it glows-"
"Shut it, Sleep Boy! If this was your stupid nightlight then you shouldn't be leaving it around near an open window."
"You broke into my house!"
Before the boss could make a remark about CatNap, the pendant began sparking out electricity. CatNap quickly took several steps back away from the rat squad. The rat squad began to panic as more sparks came out of the pendant. They screamed out to their boss for answers, but he was unresponsive as stone until a huge blinding spark of electricity came out. CatNap jumped towards the pendant and fell on his side behind the rat squad.
He opened his eyes as an annoying ring came into his ears. The sleep-themed cat saw the rat minions attempting to wake up their boss by shaking him. They screamed at him to wake up, but he never woke up. The rats dragged their unconscious boss back to the hole as CatNap was back to being alone.
The ringing in his ear stopped as he felt something wet in his hands.
Had he accidentally injured his hand?
He opened his hand to see what happened. Hoppy's lightning bolt pendant was covered in a red liquid, blood. His eyes widened in shock. The pendant didn't disappear this time! Did CatNap's intervention stop it from teleporting away? The cat held the string that the pendant was on to see if there was a cut on his hand, only to find no cuts and blood that didn't belong to him.
Out of panic, he wiped the blood on some leaves and ran home with the pendant in his hands. As CatNap ran, he noticed that the cloud had grown even though Hoppy's pendant didn't go missing.
Once the sleep-themed cat returned home, he took a picture of the bloody pendant before cleaning it. CatNap went to place the pendant back in its original place, but there was a mint can with a note in its place as a rat jumped out of the window. The note read:
"Did you forget about a certain something?"
It was signed by the leader of the rats, Tony. He quickly opened the mint can to find a picture of Hoppy. It showed the top of Hoppy's head. CatNap placed the two pictures onto his theory board before grabbing a piece of paper and a pencil.
The rats had done something to his friends. Why else would they give him a picture of Hoppy's head? They knew something about his friends, and CatNap needed to know what they knew.
CatNap wrote a letter asking if he could know how they got a picture of Hoppy and sent it to them.
There was no response back.
He wrote a letter to them every month, demanding what they knew and he never got a response back. So the cat made a plan, he wrote a final letter to them with a threat. He demanded to know what happened to his friends by the end of the month or else he would do something that he wouldn't regret.
The end of the month came and still no response back from the rats. The purple cat knew what he had to do now to get their attention. He went to their sometimes ally, the mice, to get some explosives. They questioned his intentions with such dangerous items and he simply said that he was using it for a science project. Before they could ask what kind of science project, CatNap gave them some cheese to keep them quiet about his explosive purchase.
As he said his goodbyes to the mice, he waited until it was dark. Once the clock reached midnight, CatNap grabbed DogDay's old messenger bag, he knew that it was DogDay's bag because the button was in the shape of a sun and placed the bombs in there. He went to the hole that led to the underground where the rats had a thriving city. In the center of the city was a clock tower. Everyone was dead asleep, a perfect time to strike.
CatNap made his way through the quiet city to the clock tower. There were two ways to enter the tower, climb the stairs or use the elevator. He took the easy route and went inside the elevator. Once inside the elevator, he pressed the button that was on the very top, the entry point to the inner workings of the clock tower. Music played as he waited to enter the top of the tower.
Was this all really necessary?
Would CatNap start some kind of war with the rats if he goes through with his plan?
Would his friends be okay with him doing such a thing?
The purple cat shook his head.
He had to do this, he had to do this for his friends. DogDay used to do anything for his friends. If his best friend can do that then so can he!
CatNap will do anything for his friends.
The elevator dinged as he reached the top floor. He stepped out of the elevator only to hear nothing, it was quiet despite the mechanisms controlling the clock's hands. The cat grabbed the bombs out of his bag and began to place them around the mechanisms. There were bombs in every nook and cranny of the inner workings of the clock. Once he was done with his work, he left the clock tower and headed towards the entrance to the surface.
CatNap turned around to look at the clock tower one last time. The detonator was in his hands. It was like a small silver stick, the button being protected by a cap that could be flicked off.
He did just that.
He flicked off the cap protecting the button and his thumb was now hovering over the button. CatNap stared at the button before looking up at the clock tower and pressing it.
KA-BOOM!
The top of the clock tower exploded into several big and small pieces, there was an orange and yellow cloud coming out of the tower as well. It was a bit brighter than the color of DogDay's fur. He heard the panicked squeaking coming from the homes down below. The orange and yellow clouds went away as dark gray smoke took its place. The cat couldn't help but watch as he saw a huge crowd of rats gather around the half-destroyed tower.
They had their chance to avoid this, but they refused and forced him to do this to their poor beloved clock tower. Now they know what it's like to lose something that you care about. CatNap dropped the now useless detonator to the long-gone bombs as he left the underground.
He didn't regret it.
They deserved it.
They didn't respond to his letters and now they're facing the consequences of their actions.
The purple cat could care less if this started a war between them.
They weren't giving him any proper answers as to what happened to his friends.
He will find the truth.
A month went by as things returned to normal. CatNap overheard a conversation between a few rats, they talked about the reconstruction of the clock tower. While he was surprised that they had enough resources to build the clock tower, it was no longer a priority to him. The sleep-themed cat had been searching everywhere in the valley and underground for clues, but it all led to nowhere.
One day after a long day of doing activities and searching for answers, CatNap returned home to see an envelope that was lying on top of his bed. The envelope was white with a cyan stamp in the shape of a flower. CatNap quickly opened it to reveal a letter that was signed by CraftyCorn.
"Once upon a time, there was a group of friends. A dog, a bunny, a bear, a chicken, a pig, a unicorn, an elephant, and a cat. One day, the cat woke up and all of his friends had gone missing. The lonely cat wandered around the valley to see where all of his friends had gone. He waited and waited, but no one came back for him. Little did the cat know, just west beyond the homes of those he held dear, that his friends were stuck in the forest that was filled with poppies! They made a cabin and have been waiting for years to see him again. With this knowledge, the cat mustn't bring anything too heavy with him. His friends will be waiting ever so patiently for him to arrive."
Her handwriting had stayed the same after all these years.
Catnap began to pack his items of choice into his messenger bag. A camera, a tape recorder, a bag of biscuits, a couple bottles of water, a flashlight, DogDay's pendant, Hoppy's pendant, and a pocket knife in case he comes across anything or anyone that dares to block his path. Once he was ready, he set off to see his friends again. The cat went behind the dog's home and ventured deep into the woods.
As he walked through the forest, a drop of water touched his nose. The purple cat looked up to see gray clouds as more droplets of water came down. He quickly began to look for somewhere dry to stay. CatNap ran until his foot got stuck in a mud puddle. Grabbing his leg, he attempted to get it out which ended with him falling back as his foot got unstuck. His right foot was covered with mud. It began pouring even harder than ever as the cat continued to run. As his fur became soaked, he noticed a cave. Perhaps he could rest there until the rain stops! It grew darker and wetter as he ran towards the cave. The cat leaped into the cave and landed on the stone floor.
CatNap attempted to shake the water out of his fur, just like DogDay used to do, but it worked ever so poorly. He grabbed some leaves and began to wipe off the mud from his foot. Once his foot was semi-clean, his stomach growled as the cold air sent a chill down his spine. He grabbed a biscuit and a bottle of water out of his bag. CatNap shoved the biscuit into his mouth and chugged a bottle of water as if he had been starving for weeks on end. His vision became blurry as the rain started to sound like a lullaby to his ears. Before he knew it, he was curled up in a ball and fell asleep.
A feeling of warmth had rested on his face. His eyes fluttered open as he sat up. The storm had stopped and the sun had returned to a brand new day. CatNap stretched his arms before eating another biscuit. He left the cave and continued with his journey.
The forest was wet and filled with mud puddles. CatNap avoided the mud puddles to prevent what happened last night. He jumped from side to side to keep himself nice and dry.
That was until he fell into a bush and rolled into a waterless river. The cat had landed face-first into the ground. As he lifted his head, the wind blew a certain red flower at his face.
A poppy flower.
They were nearby.
CatNap quickly rose to his feet and began running. The ground below him started to have more and more poppy flowers as he continued to run through the forest. His friends were back after years and years of waiting. Maybe CraftyCorn had struggled to find a piece of paper, perhaps that's why it took them so long to send him a letter! Yes, that just had to be the reason. They probably missed him after such a long time. The cat jumped over a log as he opened his mouth to speak.
"I'm coming, guys, just stay strong." He shoved his way through a bush. "I know that you've all been staying strong."
Memories of DogDay helping CatNap and the others came flooding back to him. He helped CraftyCorn by fetching her art supplies whenever she was making a new art piece. He cheered on Hoppy whenever she and Kickin' were having a competition. He became Picky's taste tester whenever she tried out a new recipe. He bandaged up Kickin whenever his stunts went wrong. He listened to Bubba talk about facts that he didn't know about. He helped Bobby with her gardening after running into her rose bushes several times. He attempted to stay up with CatNap whenever they had a sleepover.
"DogDay, I know that you've been trying to cheer everyone up. Especially Bobby, I know that you've been making her feel better."
His friends always had each other's backs. They always made sure that everyone within the friend group was okay.
"Don't worry, guys. I'll make sure that you all make it back safe and sound."
CatNap noticed a cabin, a two-story cabin to be exact, just below him.
They were here.
He jumped down and landed in a pile of poppies. The cabin was made out of wood and had windows that you couldn't see out of. It was covered in vines and reeked with the smell of poppies. The cabin door was wide open, inviting him to come inside. His tail began swaying side to side in excitement. The sleep-themed cat ran inside the home.
"Guys, I'm here! You're all safe now-"
His once-happy expression was wiped from his face and was replaced by one that was full of confusion. Before him, stood a table that had plush versions of his friends with another letter. CatNap turned around to see the insides of the home properly. Several plushies were trapped in cages, vines and poppies were even inside the home as well. There were no stairs to the second level nor a floor, only thick shelves.
"O-oh! I see, you're just messing with me!" The purple cat said with a chuckle before climbing up one of the vines.
"Found you!- oh."
Nobody was up there besides more cages. The cat went back down to the table, where did they go? This was the place, was it not? Maybe they were watching him in a place where he couldn't see them. CatNap stared at the letter before hesitatingly opening it up and reading it aloud.
"A cage for a cage."
The confusion on his face was washed away as it was replaced by tears of sadness and mumbled ramblings that no one could hear. It was all one disgusting prank. He let his emotions take control of him, he got all excited for nothing. CatNap fell to his knees as he let out a sob. Tears streamed down his cheeks as his vision grew blurry. His ears twitched as he heard something. Laughter. Someone was laughing at his misery.
"Wow, you fell for that one, didn't you?" The familiar Italian voice remarked with another chuckle.
CatNap turned his head around to see Tony, the leader of the rats, standing behind him.
"To think that I thought you grew smarter after blowing up my clock tower."
"You..."
"Yes, yes, I did this." Tony admitted as CatNap continued staring at him "Though, I didn't know that I would be seeing you here bawling your eyes out because of one stupid prank."
"Why did you do this?" CatNap questioned in a voice that was almost a whisper.
"For my clock tower, of course. You blew up the upper half of it for no reason!" The Italian rat answered back.
"You didn't read my letter."
"Oh for cheese's sake, I could care less about your dumb letters. I don't even read 'em!" The rat leader exclaimed as he waved his arms around. "So now that we're face to face, perhaps you could tell me what those letters said and why you blew up my tower? Or maybe you could tell me the truth that you're not DogDay, a dog, or even the leader of the Smiling Critters. Ain't that right, CatNap?"
The purple cat's eyes widened at the mere mention of his actual name. How long has it been since someone, besides himself, called him by his real name?
"How...How do you know my name?" He asked without hesitation.
"I heard you talkin' to yourself on the security footage after you blew up my clock tower. Now start talking, Cat Boy!" The leader spat out.
The cat stood up as he hung his head low. CatNap muttered something out, but it failed to reach Tony's ears. The rat's brows furrowed as his nose twitched in annoyance.
"Could ya' speak a little louder, pipsqueak?"
"Where are they?"
"Not this again," The rat groaned. "I don't know where they are."
"Irrelevant, where are they?" The cat lifted his head as he asked the same question again.
"What the? DogDa- CatNap, for the last time I don't know where they are!" Tony replied, placing his hand on his hip.
"Liar, you gave me a picture of Hoppy's head. You know all too well where they are, fess up now." CatNap spat out, his fur began to rise.
"That old thing? I only had that because it appeared outta nowhere next to Tim's corpse after that weird incident with one of your stupid magical pendants!"
The two critters stared at each other. Their cold gazes were like knives to each other's throats. The sleep-themed cat was known to be a bit stubborn when it came to finding answers about his friends' whereabouts, especially when he thought someone was keeping information from him.
"Listen, how about you join my gang and accept the fact that your friends abandoned you or the fact that they could be dead-"
"LIAR! WHERE ARE THEY?! WHAT DID YOU DO TO MY FRIENDS?!" CatNap yelled as he launched himself towards Tony.
The black and white rat was pinned to the ground by the overly emotional cat. He began to relentlessly punch the leader of the rats. Tony attempted to squirm his way out of CatNap's grasp, but couldn't get himself free as CatNap retracted his claws out. The claws got closer and closer to his face.
Was this the end of the rats' leader?
Out of fear of his potential death, the rat kicked the cat's stomach. CatNap let go of Tony to hold his stomach in pain, and Tony quickly fled. As he ran towards the only exit, a sharp pain went through Tony's body. He looked down to see CatNap's claws deep within his ankle. The crimson liquid had begun to spill from the lower part of his leg.
"You- YOU STUPID DELUSIONAL STRAY, LET GO OF ME!" Tony yelled before kicking CatNap in the face with his other leg.
The purple cat had let go of the black and white rat's ankle. He felt something wet coming out of his nose, he wiped his nose to see blood now on his arm. The cat stood up to chase the rat around until he would eventually break and give him the answers he rightfully deserved. The moment he ran towards the leader, he began to scream at him like a madman. Shouting out more than one of his more half-baked theories about his friends' whereabouts. His paws were mere inches away from Tony's face once more, claws ready to tear into Tony's flesh once more. He dodged the attack and attempted to escape but was met with the feeling of something sharper than CatNap's claws in his shoulder.
The leader looked to his right and saw what he assumed to be a pocket knife coming out of his shoulder. He elbowed the cat, ripping out the knife from his shoulder as he did so. CatNap quickly attempted to attack him once again but was stopped by his own prey. Tony and CatNap were fighting for control over the knife, Tony's hand was wrapped around CatNap's wrist. In the heat of the moment, Tony snatched the knife away from CatNap and stabbed CatNap's right ear, leaving a clean sideways triangle wound. His right ear was now covered in blood as he heard the knife dropping to the floor. The rat kicked CatNap in the stomach before bolting out of the cabin and shutting the door on CatNap. The cat quickly threw himself at the door in an attempt to open it. The door wouldn't budge open, it was as if it was glued shut.
He kicked, punched, scratched, and yelled at the door but all of those attempts were in vain.
CatNap was trapped with no way out.
Tears fell down his cheeks. He went out of his way to see his friends again only for it to be a trap. What did he have to show for it, possible bruises and a missing chunk of his ear? His emotions got the better of him. CatNap just wanted to see his friends again. He wanted to see Hoppy and Kickin' compete against each other in whatever sport they would like to play that week. He wanted to taste Picky's delicious homemade apple pie. He wanted to help Crafty find a new thing to paint. He wanted to listen to Bubba talk about weird science facts. He wanted to help Bobby with her rose bushes. He wanted to see DogDay give him the warmest smile and give him the biggest hug ever.
Their voices were starting to feel like a distant memory. The only way for CatNap to hear their voices again was to watch old VHS tapes that Bobby used to record of them playing with each other. How was he supposed to remember their voices if he was trapped in this cabin? The cat turned to see where the letter used to be, the plush version of friends simply staring at him with sewn-on smiles gave him an idea.
He grabbed the plushies off the table and placed them all in a pile on the floor. The sleep-themed cat lay down on the ground, starting to inspect the plushies one by one. Whoever made these plushies did a fantastic job making them, they almost look and smell like the real thing! The only problem that the plushies had was Bubba and Bobby's scents. The Bubba plush smelt like leeks instead of lemongrass and the Bobby plush smelt like poppies instead of roses. His eyes began to close as he nuzzled into the DogDay plush, the smell of vanilla sent him waves of nostalgia that he longed to see again. His tail latched onto the Hoppy plush as he fell asleep in the mixture of different scents.
When the sleepy cat woke up, his sense of smell was overfilled with different scents. The main two scents he could make out were vanilla and peppermint.
DogDay and Hoppy's scents.
CatNap sat up from where he was resting, hoping that the past decade spent alone was just one terrible nightmare, only to realize that yesterday wasn't a dream. He was still trapped in the cabin. His friends weren't there either. The cat's hand had gone to his ear to do his morning scratches, but a rush of pain stopped him from doing so. The sleep-themed cat breathed in and out before attempting to touch his ear again. As his hand reached his ear, CatNap felt a triangular dent on the right side of his ear and something dry. He looked at his hand to see his own dried and semi-wet blood on his hand. The cat glanced around the room to see his pocket knife covered in the same red liquid.
Oh right, Tony stabbed a piece of CatNap's ear off. Though, where did that piece of his ear go? It wasn't near the knife and it certainly wasn't in the cabin either. Perhaps Tony took it with him as some sort of award for beating him. The rat could have at least left him a medkit or some gauze. His ear could just heal on its own for now.
The cat stared at the door in front of him. He stood up, grabbed the bloody knife, and began stabbing the door repeatedly. He let out screams, threats, and pleas for freedom. Eventually, CatNap grew tired. He used his claw to make a straight line on the wall to count his first day trapped inside the cabin. The cat climbed the vines to jump onto the windowsill, the windows were tinted to the point where CatNap could barely see the sun. That didn't stop him from talking to the sunlight that was able to break through the tinted window. The cat pulled out his tape recorder and began summarizing what had happened the previous day along with some new theories. He ate half a biscuit before putting the plushies back in a pile and drifted off to sleep.
It was like that for a month.
Wake up, stab the door, scream at the door, make a tally, talk to the sun, record his theories, eat, put the plushies of his friends in a pile, sleep in the pile, and repeat.
Until one day after stabbing the door as hard as he could, the wooden door turned into a hole. He finally did it. He broke the door. CatNap poked his head out of the hole and saw a bright familiar light. His eyes dilated at the sight of proper sunlight, he quickly brought his head back into the cabin.
The cat put his bag on but stopped when he saw the pile of plushies. What was he going to do with those? If he kept them, the rats and mice would assume that he finally hit his breaking point. If he left them, he would feel bad. Why would he feel bad for leaving behind the plush versions of his friends? Maybe there was a way to bring them along without actually bringing them.
Their pendants were sewn on, if he wanted to, he could just rip them off and sew them onto his bag. Well minus from DogDay's pendant, of course, his pendant was already the button. The cat grabbed his knife and began to carefully take off the pendants from the six plushies. The knife carved its way into the soft stuffing, one by one the knife had gotten all of the pendants. Satisfied with his work, CatNap placed the six plushies behind the untouched DogDay plush next to his tallies. He stuffed the fake pendants into his bag and took out his camera.
He took a picture of the now destroyed door, a picture of the cages, a picture of the seven plushies, a picture of his month-long tallies, a picture of his now blood-stained pocket knife, a picture of his now chipped right ear, and a picture of where he found the letter. The cat hopped into the hole and was now officially free from Tony's month-long trap. He took a picture of the cabin before leaving.
The purple cat ran through the forest as quickly as he could. Running through the mud, climbing over a hill, jumping over bushes, and getting caught in a few bushes, just so he could make it home. A familiar orange home was getting ever so closer. CatNap pushed through his tiredness to continue running and accidentally ran face-first into the backdoor.
He shook his head before entering his best friend's home.
It was still the same, everything was where it was supposed to be but still no sign of DogDay anywhere as per usual. With a heavy sigh, he went into the bathroom to see himself in the mirror.
CatNap looked like an utter mess.
He had visible heavy eyebags, he had eyebags before but they weren't as visible as they were now. His right ear was missing a small chunk of his ear, it looked like someone cut that piece off as if it was a piece of cake! That chunk of his ear was growing back some fur to hide the nasty scar. His fur was matted and dirty. He reeked of lavender, coffee, and sweat. A bath and a grooming session were very much needed.
He turned on the bathtub's faucet and the water began to fill up the tub. CatNap wasn't a big fan of water for obvious reasons, but he didn't mind taking a well-deserved bath every once in a while. He placed his bag and pendant on the bathroom counter before getting into the bathtub. The feeling of cool water against his fur and the smell of vanilla-scented soap made him feel at ease. CatNap could relax after a month of distress.
After his bath and grooming, he remembered the sewable pendants in his bag. The cat quickly looked for some thread and a needle. Luckily, the thread and needle were in the first drawer that he looked in. CatNap began to sew on the pendants one by one. By the time he was done, his bag looked like an incomplete memorial. The cat could just make his own sewable moon-shaped pendant to put on the bag, but it felt wrong. He wasn't the one missing, his friends were the ones missing! When CatNap is reunited with his friends, whenever that may be, then he would put his pendant on the bag. Until then, his bag would only have his friends' pendants on there.
A year later in 2003, the rats and mice invited CatNap to play some sort of weird game to earn their respect back. Tony, Maria, and their newly wed husband, known as Bruce, were there participating in the game as well. The game went on for six months but CatNap won in the end. He gained the rat and mice citizens' respect back. He made new friends and became an uncle to some of the children.
In that same year after the six-month respect game, someone had started making late-night knock-knock jokes at his door. The cat started ignoring it at first but one night he wondered what would happen if he answered back.
"Knock-knock!"
"...Who's there?" CatNap asked.
"Oh!" The female voice said in surprise, not expecting someone to reply back. "Uh, figs."
"Figs who?"
"Figs the doorbell, it's not working!" The voice replied as CatNap let out a small chuckle.
"That's a good one." He answered back.
"Thanks, Mr. Doorman! I didn’t think you could speak for a moment." The voice admitted.
"That's not-" CatNap cut himself off before fixing his sentence with a sigh. "Someone has to live in these homes, am I right?"
"Like an actual person?"
"Of course, who else lives in a home?"
"I do!"
"That was a rhetorical question."
"Oh."
There was a moment of silence before the voice started speaking again.
"Knock, knock!"
"Who's there?"
"Dishes."
"Dishes who?"
"Dishes a very bad joke!"
CatNap let out another chuckle as the voice continued with their knock-knock jokes. Almost every night, the voice would come to CatNap's home to do knock-knock jokes. It was good late-night company, the cat hadn't had any real late night company ever since DogDay went missing.
"Hey Doorman, can I ask you something?"
"Sure, what is it?"
"Do you have a name? I've been calling you 'Doorman' since I met you and I don't even know if you're even a guy or not." The voice asked, CatNap heard them shuffle around the door.
"You think I might be a doorwoman?" CatNap questioned as he held back a small chuckle.
"Only a little bit. Maybe you might be some sort of doorperson too? I don't know." The voice admitted.
CatNap laughed at the voice's response.
"Heh, nah, I'm not a girl or whatever else you think I might be." He answered.
"So you're a guy then?" The voice questioned.
"Yep." The cat replied, popping the 'p'. "You're a girl, right?"
"Mhm!"
"What's your name?"
"My name is Chatty McCatty. What's yours?"
"CatNap."
"Pfft! Who names their kid 'CatNap'?" Chatty remarked with a laugh.
"Wha- Who names their kid 'Chatty'? Were your first words an entire conversation?" CatNap jokingly asked.
"Probably, I don't remember." Chatty replied.
"That's normal if you don't remember your first words." The sleep-themed cat answered back. "My friends think that my first word was 'No' because that was the first time I used my voice in front of them."
"Really?"
"Yep, I only said no because one of them thought that it was okay if I couldn't find my notebook that day."
"You're an artist?" Chatty asked in awe.
"No, I used that notebook to communicate with them. Now I just use it whenever I don't feel like talking." CatNap explained.
"Oh."
It was quiet between the two of them.
"Ya'know, sometimes I hear someone singing late at night whenever I'm here. It usually happens before I crack out some of my jokes to you."
"Is it a good song?"
"It's more of a lullaby than a song, to be honest. It's always about the sun for some reason."
"Wait, are the lyrics something like 'You are my sunshine, my only sunshine'?" CatNap questioned as he raised an eyebrow.
"Yes! How'd ya know?" Chatty asked.
"Because I'm the only one here that sings that song at night." He answered.
"Wow, then you have a pretty singing voice!"
"Thanks, Chatty."
Everything was starting to fall into a new routine for CatNap.
He would wake up before the sun rose and make himself a cup of coffee. Watch the sunrise while talking to it. Find any clues on his friends' whereabouts, almost leading nowhere. Help out the rats and mice with any problems that they have. Do some of his friends' activities and clean their houses. Watch the sunset while saying good night to the sun. Go back home to sing to DogDay and Hoppy's pendants. Listen to Chatty's knock-knock jokes. Craft up some new theories and possibly go to sleep.
One day in the year 2005, was a terrible day for the cat.
He woke up to Tony's smugglers attempting to steal his stuff from the attic! The cat chased the robbers around the house but he was able to kick them out by throwing them out the window. CatNap wiped his hands before turning around and seeing the mess that the chase made.
"I'll clean it later." He muttered under his breath.
The cat went into the kitchen to make his morning coffee, only to find out that the robbers had broken his coffee machine in the chase. It's fine, he could go a day without coffee. He would just be more tired than usual is all. CatNap shoved a slice of some leftover pizza into his mouth and went on with his day.
He went behind DogDay's house to say good morning to the sun and vent about what happened earlier. Once he was done, he went to Picky's garden to check on her apple trees. Some were ripe for picking while others were not. CatNap picked the ripe apples and placed them in a basket. The cat wasn't sure if he should turn the apples into apple juice or a dessert. Before he could come to a conclusion, the rats from earlier had stolen the apples when his back was turned. CatNap could feel one of his veins about to pop. The apple thieves had fled the scene before CatNap could even say anything. He could just clean Picky's house instead.
After he cleaned Picky's house, he had to stop a fight between a rat and a mouse. They were arguing about some sort of cheese tax that their leaders had agreed on. Honestly, CatNap could care less about that but he had to keep the peace on the surface. As he attempted to calm them down, the rat stomped on his tail in a fit of fury. The rat had quickly apologized the moment CatNap locked eyes with them. The cat was able to get them to apologize to each other.
The sleep-themed cat was about to check on Bobby's rose bushes but was stopped by a salesman rat asking him to fix the entry to the underground. So he stopped by Bubba's bungalow to get a toolbox. With the necessary tools in hand, the cat went to the entrance to the underground to see that someone tried blocking it off with piles and piles of wooden planks. He groaned in annoyance before attempting to push the planks out of his way. After a few moments of failure, he opened up the toolbox, grabbed the hatchet, he smashed the planks that were blocking the entrance to the underground. The moment he smashed the final plank, the doors to the underground opened up. The stairs were still faulty as usual, someone should really fix those stairs. CatNap stood back to admire his work with a smile before he heard a voice pipe up behind him.
"Is it fixed now? I have a meeting down there today." The salesman asked as he held a cart full of different fruits.
"Yeah, it should be fine now. Just as long as you don't bring anything alive with you." The sleep-themed cat replied, mentally cringing at the failed joke that he attempted to do.
"But I'm alive, aren't I?"
"Yes you are, sir. That was a joke."
"Ugh, that's one of the things that I can't stand about the people up here!" The salesman groaned. "Their humor is terrible! What happened to a good cheesy pun? Nowadays, it's just dark jokes."
"I agree with you on that one, but dark jokes are nice every once in a while-"
"And don't even get me started on that smelly carrot house!" The cat's eye twitched as he stared at the complaining salesmen. "It smells like someone dunked that house in some peppermint oil-"
"Yeah, okay alright. Safe travels, sir." CatNap bluntly said before pushing the salesmen down the stairs, he'd be fine besides the rats can handle anything that comes at them.
CatNap returned the toolbox before continuing with his day.
Next up on the list was cleaning his friends' houses. He'd already cleaned Picky's house earlier that day so he could clean Bobby's house next. After all, it was nearby. The cat was quick when it came to cleaning.
The sleep-themed cat had cleaned all six of his friends' homes within three hours. Now he just had to clean DogDay's house and he'd be done for the day.
When CatNap opened the door to his best friend's home, he was met with the sight of two rats acting as if they lived there. The cat gave them one glare and immediately chased them out of the home. They screamed profanities at him as they left his sight. He sighed in relief before getting out the cleaning supplies. It was always silent whenever he cleaned. Wiped down all of the counters, check. Vacuumed the living room, kitchen, and DogDay's room, check. Unclog the bathroom sink, check. Everything seemed brand new by the time CatNap was done cleaning. When CatNap left through the backdoor, the skies turned a light pink.
The sun was starting to set.
The cat ran to his usual spot up in one of the trees. He climbed his way to his tree branch and comfortably sat down. The sun was going down as the moon began to rise behind CatNap as he began to speak.
"You guys wouldn't believe the day that I had." He swung his legs back and forth. "First, some of Tony's minions tried robbing me this morning and broke my coffee machine but I already told you that. Then they stole Picky's apples, they were fresh too!"
His tail swung back and forth as he felt the cold wind blow through his fur.
"After that, I had to stop a rat and a mouse from arguing. It was just about to get physical before I stepped in. The rat stomped on my tail when I tried to get them to apologize to each other, it took one glare at 'em to get that guy to apologize. Some rats can be so stubborn!" He complained with a groan.
"I also had to fix the entrance to the underground because someone keeps on messing it up. Then this guy came up to me and started ranting about jokes and the smell of Hoppy's house! So I did what anyone would have done in that situation and pushed him down the stairs. He's probably fine, rats are normally strong." The sun got closer to the ground as the sky started to become dark.
"But, that's enough about me. How was your day? I bet it was better than mine."
The cat stared at the setting sun.
"That's fine, you don't have to answer," CatNap said as he started to lose sight of the sun. "Just come back home, please. I know that I say that a lot, but I don't know how much longer I can go on without you guys."
His cheeks became wet as the sun was replaced by the moon. His misery was getting worse by the year, month, week, day, hour, minutes, and mere seconds. At this point, he should just give up. Maybe Tony was right, maybe they are dead.
"Please come back...back home."
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-"
CatNap whipped his head around, who's screaming at this time before him? He hopped off the tree branch to investigate the noise. The purple cat ran through the woods to get to his best friend's house.
Once the cat got to the home, he opened the backdoor to DogDay's house. CatNap walked through the empty hallway to the living room, only to find a broom at his neck.
At the end of that broom was the one and only Hoppy Hopscotch.
End Of Chapter 1.