It Hurts When You Get Hurt.
Its been basically almost two whole days since Dogday has seen Catnap. Of course, Dogday isn't sure if he should celebrate or be concerned with the feline not showing up at all. Even the rest of the Smiling Critters were starting to get worried and then all of them decided to look around for Catnap. Dogdays' first and last place that he checked was Catnap's cell. It was an obvious place to look since Catnap wasn't sleeping inside of Home Sweet Home with the rest of them.
"You think he was just chilling in his cell and he just hasn't moved?" Kickin said which had gotten him a head shake from Bubba. The group broke into a trio and two pairs to spread out and look for Catnap. Dogday, Kickin, and Bubba decided to go check one side of Playcare, where his cell and the other Smiling Critters cell had resided. Dogday and the rest of the Smiling Critters had stayed in Home Sweet Home since it felt more warm and comfy than their cells. Also so that they can sleep next to each other and keep an eye on one another.
"There's just no way Catnap would stay still for that long, he would've gotten hungry, thirsty, or needed to use the bathroom at some point." Bubba explained which got a sigh and a nod from Kickin. They then stopped at the tunnel opening where Catnap's cell was. It looked way darker and creepier than what they had remembered.
"But still, do you think he just up and left Playcare? Or is he maybe so silent and sneaky that we just didn't notice him? He's done that before, you know." Kickin said as their voices got a bit more echoey when they entered the tunnel.
"Sure, there's a possibility of that happening. But we were taking turns keeping watch at night, and we never saw any sign that Catnap was anywhere." Bubba said. Kickin was about to speak again before Dogday held up a fist, gesturing to the both of them that they should shut up and listen. The three could hear very quick and faint yet raspy breathing. They then slowly inched towards the door opening and saw Catnap in a horrific scene. The three gasped as they saw Catnap's face permanently frozen with a terrifying and grotesque smile while his eyes were wide open. His body was leaning against the wall of the cell and there was a tourniquet loosely holding onto his arm, while his other hand held a large syringe.
"Catnap?!" Dogday shouted out. From his point of view, Catnap could already be dead. The three rushed over and knelt beside Catnap, shaking him, grabbing him, and checking his pulse.
"I don't hear anything!" Bubba said as he took his fingers off of Catnap's wrist. No. Dogday didn't want to lose Catnap. Not him. Not when so many people's lives were lost. In one last ditch effort, Dogday pulled Catnap up to his shoulders with tears flowing down his face.
"Catnap?! Please don't be dead!" Dogday shouted out just as Catnap's body started convulsing and Catnap's face scrunched up as he held up his hands to his mouth and pushed himself away from Dogday to regurgitate his stomach contents on the floor. Once he was done spewing his guts out, he laid on his back with his hands gently massaging his head.
"Oh my goodness, Catnap! You're alive!" Dogday shouted out as he went to go hug Catnap, who was still nurturing the headache that he was experiencing. Bubba and Kickin also breathed a sigh of relief, knowing Catnap is alright. Catnap got surprised at the hug and went to hug back. The two stayed there for a moment, Dogday pushing his face into Catnap's chest and Catnap rested his hand on Dogdays' head, lightly petting him. Which made Kickin and Bubba feel a bit awkward and out of place.
"How long was I out for?" Catnap asked while patting Dogdays' head, which made Dogday let go of Catnap.
"You were out for about two days, so we got worried and started to look for you." Dogday said as he went back to kneeling. Catnap thought for a moment before a look of horror appears on his face.
"Oh fuck. What time is it?" Catnap asked Dogday in a very panicked voice which confused the Dog.
"It's a few minutes before eleven, why?" Dogday said just as Catnap started to frantically rummage through his satchel to procure a vial of morphine and then tightening the loose tourniquet that was hanging loose on his arm. Catnap was looking for his syringe before Dogday found it beside him and grabbed it.
"Wait, Dogday! Please! I need to inject myself with this or it'll get hurt!" Catnap pleaded with Dogday but he stood up was backing away from Catnap.
"No, Catnap. I can't let you almost die again after what you just did. You almost died injecting yourself with drugs." Dogday said as he stepped backwards some more. Catnap was trying to reach Dogday but he was far too out of reach, he then tried to stand up but his legs were numb and unmoving, and his back had a cramp which had him stuck in place..
"Please, Dogday! I promise I won't put myself in that kind of position again. I really mean it!" Catnap pressed his hands together and stared Dogday in the eyes as Dogday was trying to decide to give it to Catnap. Dogday couldn't just endanger Catnap that way, but if Catnap was telling the truth, then Dogday would be saving catnap from a whole load of pain.
"Okay, Catnap. I trust you." Dogday said as he kneeled back down and presented the syringe to Catnap. Catnap then quickly took it and filled it up with the vial of morphine, then he pulled on his tourniquet to make it even tighter before gently stabbing himself in the arm and injecting the contents into his bloodstream. Once he was done, he took out the syringe and untightened the tourniquet. Catnap then leaned back on the wall and relaxed, breathing a large sigh of relief.
"Thank you very much, Dogda-" Catnap said before convulsing a little bit before wincing and grunting from pain, squeezing his eyes shut. Dogday went over and held Catnap's hand as he was breathing heavily.
"Did the pain lessen at all?" Dogday asked as Catnap gripped Dogdays' hand like a vice, squeezing it and almost cutting off blood circulation. After a couple of moments, Catnap's breathing almost turned back to normal as he was sweating profusely.
"It... hurts really bad. But it would've been way, way worse if I didn't have the morphine. It's just about bearable." Catnap said as he brought Dogdays' hand to his chest, closing his eyes.
"Would you like some food? You probably haven't eaten this whole time." Just as Dogday said that, a loud grumble could be heard from Catnap's stomach, making him turn a bit red and look away before nodding his head. Dogday then stood up and held his hand outwards to Catnap which he takes as he slowly stands up on his wobbly legs. The four people then walk back to Home Sweet Home while getting the attention of the rest of the Smiling Critters, who were all wandering around Playcare. After gathering everybody and going inside Home Sweet Home, Catnap sat down a bit farther from the makeshift large table that the rest of the Smiling Critters were using to eat together since he wouldn't fit. Once they all sat down and Picky went to grab some lunch, Dogday asked the question that was probably plaguing everyone's minds.
"So, Catnap, could I ask you a question if you don't mind me asking." Dogday said to Catnap who nodded his head. At the same time, Picky came back with food and tossed over a large bag of chips and a bottle of water to Catnap, which he catches both of them and sets down the chips to open the bottle and drink half of it in one go.
"Well, why did you not kill us? I know that we're part of your plan and all, but you had orders, didn't you? So why didn't you." Dogday asked Catnap. Everyone was at the edge of their seats waiting for Catnap to answer as he pondered for a moment, thinking of the right words to say.
"Alright, I'll tell you. The Prototype wanted you guys dead, but I bargained with him, saying that I wanted to keep you guys alive as "prisoners" as a reward for myself. Of course he didn't want that, so I made a counter-offer of getting a punishment so that you guys could live." Catnap said plainly. Everyone held faces of shock and horror, knowing that Catnap had basically sacrificed himself for them. After a few moments, Dogday gulped and slowly opened his mouth to speak again.
"What was your punishment?" Dogday slowly asked in a low voice. Catnap took another deep breath before speaking again.
"For the next twenty years, I will experience the pain every two days. That's why I needed to take those drugs, to numb myself so that I could stay sane." Catnap said with a slightly angry frown, before closing his eyes and opening the bag of chips. The entirety of the Smiling Critters fell silent. The only time that the silence was broken was by the consumption of food items from a few of the critters. The one that was probably the most shell-shocked was Dogday. As a leader, he was inclined to always put the group first before himself, and knowing that once of his dear friends had basically signed himself u[p to go through constant torture for two decades so that the rest of them could live was devastating.
"Maybe you could sleep here tonight, with us." Dogday said. Catnap looked up from his chips, clearly surprised by the suggestion.
"Are.... are you sure? I-I don't have to if you really don't want me here, I'm not even a member of the Smiling Critters anymore. Catnap said as he looked away from the group. Dogday remembered the one condition that Dogday set for Catnap so that they could help Catnap out in his plan, but now that he's here, it's obvious how much Dogday had missed Catnap. And the fact that it would seem that Catnap had barely changed, meant that he was still the same Catnap that Dogday came to know and love very dearly, he was just quite a bit more "thinking ahead" than Dogday first thought. At that moment, Dogday left the table to go to a dresser that was on one side of the room, he then opened a drawer to reveal Catnap's Moon Medallion. Dogday grabbed it and went back to Catnap with it behind his back so that he couldn't see it, and went down on one knee to get to eye level with him.
"I wanna back out of that deal and make a new one." Dogday said with a small smile, peaking Catnap's curiosity as he raises one eyebrow.
"Go on." Catnap simply said as Dogday took a deep breath.
"We'll help you out if you rejoin the Smiling Critters." Dogday said as he presented his moon medallion back to him. When Catnap laid his eyes on his medallion, his eyes widened and he slightly chuckled from the gesture of kindness.
"You know, you probably didn't see it, but I cried when I took that off my neck." Catnap said while smirking a little bit, making Dogday and the rest of the Smiling Critters gasp.
"Oh. I'm so sorry. I- I didn't know. If I knew you were gonna cry from me saying that then I wouldn't hav-" While Dogday was going off on a tangent, Catnap set his chips down beside him and lightly grabbed Dogday by the shoulders, making him stop and look directly into his eyes. Catnap held a tender smile and Dogday had his mouth slightly parted as they stared into each others eyes.
"Hey, I forgive you, Dogday. Also, yes. I will accept your offer." Catnap said, making Dogday smile brightly, as well as the rest of the Smiling Critters, happy that their friend is back with the group. Dogday gave Catnap a quick hug before securing the medallion around Catnap's neck, making him smile awkwardly as he blushed and look away as Dogday tied the cord around Catnap's neck.......
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It was now a little bit more than an hour after lunch, and Catnap also cleaned himself of all the blood and grime off of him, how Dogday managed to hug him while he was covered in blood, he doesn't know. Catnap, Dogday, and everyone else were walking towards the main control center of Playcare so that they could see some of the security cameras that would've shown the other participants in the hour of joy. They walked through the maintenance/employee tunnels for a bit until they came across two double doors that was labelled "Playcare Control Center". Catnap walked in first, opening the door, revealing the room to be empty. Catnap gestured to the rest of the Smiling Critters as he looked at the large number of screens that littered the wall in front of him. They were currently playing a live feed of Playcare and basically the rest of the Playtime. Co factory, not a single recognizable toy in sight. Catnap had no idea on how to manipulate the screens, and he hoped that Bubba was enough of a Brainiac to figure it out.
"Oh, look. There's an instruction manual for how the control center works and what every button does here." Bubba said as he pulled out quite the large book off the ground. Huh. That was lucky. Now they only have to spend a few hours instead of days here.
"Well, while you go and figure that out, everyone else ought to go and find some walkie-talkies to communicate with each other, since not all of us are able to fight, run, or sneak around quietly." Dogday said as Catnap was looking over each of the screen, connecting which screen went to which camera that was looking over a place in the factory. A couple of the screens were just pure static, though. Probably where the Prototype is. Catnap then saw quite the large number of mini-critters and mini-wuggies carrying a large amount of bodies into a large and dark tunnel, almost like a long line of ants carrying food to an ant's nest.
"Hey guys! I found a bunch of walkie-talkies!" Crafty said as she presented five multi-colored walkie-talkies. There was one purple one, one orange one, one light blue one, and two green ones.
"Thanks. These would help us out a lot." Dogday said as he grabbed the purple one and handed it to Catnap, who slid it inside of his satchel. Hoppy ran over and grabbed both of the green ones, handing the other to Kickin, and then Dogday grabbed the orange one while Crafty put the light blue one next to Bubba, who was on a chair reading the manual. Hoppy and Kickin also found some matching gray satchels to put their walkie- talkies in. Dogday didn't have a place to secure the radio, but he got an idea. He went and grabbed a belt that was just laying around and tied it around his waist, slotting the belt clip of the radio onto it.
"Eureka!" After about thirty minutes of fiddling around with the buttons and switches, Bubba finally found a way to rewind the video feed to show where it showed about a few minutes before the Hour of Joy.
"I have to warn you guys, this isn't gonna be the nicest thing to perceive, so back out now if you don't want to see gore." Bubba says as he turns around to look at the group, non of them seem to be phased as Bubba nodded and turned back around to press play. The frozen screens then played their recorded feeds, it started out with Catnap roaring in the middle of Playcare as everyone looked to different scenes. Mini-critters and mini-wuggies tearing people apart, Huggy Wuggy standing still in the lobby before moving and biting off the heads of people, Mommy Long Legs ripping people in half, the many Miss Delight's beating people to death, Boxy-boo chomping people in half and lunging towards employees, Kissy Missy was apparently getting transported to Playcare via the train as the Hour of Joy was happening.
"Wait. Kissy Missy?" Dogday said out loud as Bubba paused the feeds.
"What about her?" Catnap said as he turned and looked towards Dogday.
"Well, isn't she friends with Poppy Playtime herself? One of the main toys who were against the Prototype from the beginning?" Dogday said as Catnap nodded along. Poppy was mentioned by the Prototype many times, and was usually the main priority if Catnap or any of his other servants were to see her.
"Well, I'm not sure if we want to make it known that I'm going against the Prototype just yet, I want to stay undercover for as long as possible, and stick to the plan. " Catnap said as Dogday nodded, with Bubba continuing the feed. the entire Hour of Joy then went past as the Smiling Critters made notes on where each of the participants/potential allies had went. Mommy Long Legs and Boxy-boo went to Game Station, lots of the mini-critters and mini-wuggies going to lots of different places, Huggy Wuggy wandering the halls for a bit, and Kissy Missy went to deeper below the factory to meet with Poppy.
"Okay, well now that we know the general areas of where each participant would be, I guess the next course of action is where we're gonna start." Dogday said as everyone got to thinking.
"We oughta start with Mommy and Boxy in Game Station, right? After all, they would be the closest to Playcare." Bubba said, which everyone seemed to agree to.
"Alright, I guess it's settled then. Me, Catnap, Kickin, and Hoppy will all go into Game Station while the rest of you stay here and tell us if anyone comes wandering into Playcare." Dogday said, which everyone agreed and got ready. While Catnap was packing some food and drink for the journey, Dogday came up to him.
"Are you sure that the rest of the participants would be willing to help?" Dogday said which Catnap nodded.
"Yeah, Miss Delight said so. Sure she could be lying, but it's our next best bet other than Poppy." Catnap replied which made Dogday have an unconvinced look.
"Yeah, that's very convincing." Dogday said sarcastically as Catnap playfully flicked his tail into Dogdays' face, making him chuckle slightly. Good that their friendship remained intact, despite everything. Catnap definitely wishes it was something more though. Though that's another time, or maybe even another life.