These Other Critters Feel Like A Nightmare.
Dogday was taking a head count of all the toys and critters that they've gathered in Playcare so far. The Smiling Critters, Doey, Miss Delight and four of her sisters, a motley of mini-critters, and a bunch mini-wuggies which came from Mommy. The only ones who weren't here yet was Poppy, Kissy, Mommy Long Legs, Boxy-boo, Huggy Wuggy, and Catnap who was bringing all of them along to Playcare. Sure, it would be quite bad to leave Playcare and Safe Haven unguarded, but the mini-critters there and in Playcare would be enough of a defense. Plus, Miss delight also made some of her sisters go down to Safe Haven to guard it, along with Playcare. Just then, the tram could be seen in view, with Catnap watching the window.
"There he is." Dogday exclaimed as he ran up to where the tram would land, the rest of the Smiling Critters and Doey following along while everyone else loitered around. Catnap excited the tram ong with Mommy Long Legs, Boxy-boo, Poppy, Kissy, and Huggy. The large Bunzo was there too. A couple toys that caught Dogdays' eye were Huggy and Kissy, Kissy seemed to keep her distance while she frowned slightly, while Huggy was continuously staring at her while his arms swayed around. Strange. Anyway, Dogday quickly ran up and gave Catnap a bug hug, with Catnap bringing one arm around Dogday.
"Alright, we're all here. What's the plan, then?" Poppy said. Dogday and Catnap proceeded to gather all of the toys present, and give them all a rundown of the current plan. Since a prerequisite for Doey willing to help against the Prototype was to go against Dr. Sawyer, that's what they were gonna do first. Find the Doctor and.... well..... murder him, basically. There was no sidestepping around the bush here, a lot of toys, literally their entire group, wanted the deranged man who calls himself a scientist to perish. But the only problem was to find him. Ever since the Hour Of Joy, Dr. Sawyer has been missing in action, no one positively knew where he was. The only information that they do have, is that he's not where the Prototype is, and he hasn't left the facility. So they know where to avoid, and know that he's still able to get the justice that he deserves. Although they aren't exactly sure what to expect with The Doctor, one thing that they do know, is that they likely outnumber him by quite a lot, even if he may have other toys or experiments under him as minions. And so, the plan was set, to split up into a couple of groups, while searching the entirety of the lower confines of the Playtime Co. facility. They made sure to also split the teams where they could all communicate with each other with no problem. Catnap with Doey, and most of the mini-critters. Dogday with Picky, Bobby, and Crafty, and Bunzo. Poppy with Kickin, Kissy, and Huggy. Mommy with Hoppy and Boxy-boo. Bubba with Miss Delight and her sisters, and the mini-wuggies. This was a hell of a search team for one single person.......
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Their search had only lasted for a about five hours, until Poppy had found something quite unexpected. Deep inside an old prison cell, hiding under the bed, was a small, bald, human boy with an odd gray furry digitigrade paw. At first, the boy had recoiled and ran when he saw the four, despite the shouts and calls of them meaning no harm, it would seem that their voices fell on fear and adrenaline driven fears as the boy continued to run. But now that he was cornered in this room, in his mind, he had to do anything to live.
"Oh please, miss! Please don't kill me!" The boy with red eyes cowered while trembling under the bed. Poppy was being held by Kissy, so that she didn't have to run around, and since Kissy was also a faster runner, it just made sense. Kickin and Huggy quickly catched up, with Kickin looking like he was almost gonna fall over from the exhaustion.
"You don't have to be afraid. We won't hurt you." Poppy said very soothingly, enough so that the small boy had peeped out his head from under the bed, slowly revealing himself to the four toys. Despite being a child, he still was quite a height taller than Poppy, being that she was doll sized, but the other toys who waited by the door, knelt down, or in Kissy's and Huggy's case, fully sat on the floor to peer into the room
"Hi there. I'm Poppy Playtime, this here is Kickin Chicken, Huggy Wuggy, and Kissy Missy." Poppy said as she introduced herself and her group to the child.
"I'm.... Ollie..." The child, Ollie, said slowly. Poppy and Kickin smiled softly, Huggy and Kissy kept the same gaze of blanky staring and smiling.
"It's nice to meet you, Ollie. Would you mind telling me what's happened to your hand?" Poppy said as she gestured to his gray and furry paw.
"Oh, that. Well, I'm not sure myself actually, it just started to grow like this. But actually, I think...." Ollie said as he quickly knelt down and grabbed something from under the bed, pulling it out to reveal a folder.
"I think this explains it, though I can't read, you probably know how." Ollie said as he handed it to Poppy who flipped it open and started to read out the file. There was some dirt and smudges on it that Poppy wasn't able to make out a most of the words but the main contents were mostly readable.
'Experiment #### - Ollie ###### ######
Quite a malleable and smart kid who unfortunately doesn't know how to read yet, but this candidate will be perfect for usage of the Transformation Serum.
The Transformation Serum would be a type of injection formula that in about a month's time, the subject will have fully turned into a new specimen. The outcome of this is currently unknown, but now that there is a good candidate for testing, the results will show themselves on the child and on future tests.'
Poppy was taken aback by what she was reading, Ollie would gradually get turned into a toy? Her reading and inner monologue was cut short by an inquiring child.
"Umm, Poppy? Could you tell me what you read? You don't seem to happy about it." Ollie said. Poppy quickly looked back at Poppy before turning away to close and hand the folder to Kickin before turning back to Ollie.
"How long was that growing on your hand? And did it hurt when it did, or did anything feel strange?" Poppy asked.
"A couple days ago. And no, it just grew like this." Ollie immediately answered.
"Well, it probably wont do anything, but it's likely gonna spread to the rest of your body eventually." Poppy said with a slightly down tone.
"Well that's not too bad. I wonder what I'm gonna look like?" Ollie said, surprising Poppy with his optimism.
"Well, anyway, you must be hungry, what do you say we get you some food?" Poppy said which made Ollie excitedly nod his head.
"Alright then. Kickin, ask Dogday and Catnap if we could escort this kid back to Playcare." Poppy asked Kickin as he immediately grabbed his radio and started to radio Dogday.
"Dogday, we found a kid here, we just want to ask if we could move back to Playcare to look after him?" Kickin asked to no answer.
"Dogday are you there? Can you hear me?" Kickin asked again to no answer, quickly changing the channel to ask Catnap.
"Catnap, are you there? Dogdays' not responding." Kickin said into the radio, a worried tone on his voice as the other four in the room look at him with increasing worry. No response from Catnap either.
"Why won't they answer?" Kickin said out loud as Poppy gestured for Kickin to give her the radio. If Catnap and Dogdays' radios were down, then the next closest person there would be Hoppy and her group.
"Hoppy, are you there? We're trying to contact Catnap and Dogday but they won't respond." Poppy said. Immediately, a crackle from the radio and heavy breathing and fast footsteps implied that she was running.
"Poppy! Catnap just told me through the radio that Dogday was in trouble and needed help before he was cut off! I think that both of their groups are in trouble!" Hoppy said sounding panicked. Oh no. This was the last thing that they needed right now.
"Quickly! Huggy and Kissy, you two go and help Catnap and Dogday while we stay with Ollie here." Poppy said to the two sat outside of the room. They both nodded before quickly standing up and running off, running off to where the two groups would have likely rendezvoused with each other. Poppy hoped that with these two and more help likely on the way, Catnap and Dogdays' group both make it out safe and unharmed......
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Catnap and Doey had no big trouble dealing with the motley of mini-nightmare critters, they were far larger and stronger than the tiny toys, so it was really no big deal for them. The mini-critters on their side had hidden away as to not be confused with the current enemy, according to Catnap's orders. Once they were all sufficiently spooked away, they kept on moving forward to meet with Dogday in a rendezvous spot on the map. Dogday meanwhile, was swiftly walking towards the spot with the three ladies following behind him. They didn't come across anything too dangerous yet, only a few stragglers being some small mini-nightmare critters. Once they had found themselves on a large area where there seemed to be a bunch of cages a floor below him, did he saw Catnap on the other side of the room, behind a door. Dogday happily waved and rushed forward, seeing the path forward on a side path, he didn't even see the hidden black sheep critter that tackled him off of the second floor, tumbling down onto the first floor.
"DOGDAY!!!" Multiple people shouted out, the loudest being Catnap who had just opened the door and was about to embrace Dogday. Catnap, Doey, Picky, Bobby, and Crafty, all watched as Dogday quickly got surrounded by their darker and moodier counterparts, the Nightmare Critters. All standing upright and mirroring Dogday and the Smiling Critters. Baba Chops, Simon Smoke, Rabie Baby, Allister Gator, Maggie Mako, Icky Licky, Poe, and Touille. The black sheep, the dragon, the bat, the alligator, the shark, the frog, the crow, and the rat.
"Well, well, well. If it isn't Catnap and Dogday? Along with Doey?" Baba Chops, the black wooled sheep, said condescendingly. Catnap growled loudly as he stared daggers into her, the other Nightmare critters, being Simon Smoke, a large red dragon, and Rabie Baby, a white and pink bat, swooped in and grabbed a heavily concussed Dogday and started to flap their wings to fly him elsewhere.
"WHERE ARE YOU TAKING HIM!?!?!" Catnap shouted, trying to sound intimidating while Baba Chops just chuckled. Seemingly amused by this situation.
"Dr. Sawyer wants his experiment back. We're just doing what we're told." Baba said. As that was happening, Catnap quickly got out his radio to call for help, the nearest group being Hoppy.
"Hoppy! We need backup! Dogdays' in trouble! We nee-" His talking was cut off by a bright green and spiky blur coming to hit Catnap in the face, luckily he blocked it in time with his arms, but it also hit the radio, destroying it. Catnap looked up to see a green dinosaur with rainbow accents, it's main feature being a mouth which resembled a piano, glowing bright colours as it slowly circled Catnap. He recognized this toy as Pianosaurus, a dinosaur themed around music. Catnap and Doey got ready, the mini-critters also flooding into the room while Picky, Bobby, and Crafty were trying to follow where Dogday was taken to. Catnap and Doey looked at eachother, faces slowly morphing into frowns as they prepared for battle.
Catnap and Doey quickly rushed Pianosaurus, with Doey stretching his limbs to grab the dinosaur while Catnap lunged forward. Pianosaurus was able to dodge both of the attacks as it jumped down and landed on the first floor, Catnap and Doey following behind as well as the mini-critters who were hopping down, landing not quite gracefully as some of them screeched while falling. The remaining Nightmare Critters, along with Pianosaurus, was now sizing up against Catnap and Doey, along with any mini-critters who were up and rushing forward to join in the stand-off. Pianosaurus ran up first, his mouth glowing like a rainbow before getting interrupted by Catnap intercepting him clawing at him which he was able to dodge all of them except one, which left a deep gash along his face. The Nightmare Critters were next, and they all charged forward to Doey who had waited for them all to attack, with the mini-critters waiting alongside him. Using his stretchiness, he was able to grab hild of the Nightmare Critters who were rushing forward, Poe and Allister Gator, and quickly toss them against the wall. Next was Icky Licky, Maggie Mako, and Touille, whom he all grabbed into one hold with both of his hands. Now all that's left was Baba Chops. The mini-critters quickly ran up to swarm the black sheep trying her best to kick, punch, and yell at the mini-critters, but there was too much for her to handle, as she was eventually subdued and put into a dogpile. Poe and Allister was also held by a bunch of mini-critters so that they were unable to move.
On the other side of the room, Catnap and Pianosaurus were now trading blows. With Pianosaurus getting to do some tail whips at Catnap, and with Catnap getting to scratch up Pianosaurus. Eventually, Catnap had thought of using his own tail in combat, and had goaded Pianosaurus into attacking which he quickly wrapped his neck with his tail, bringing him down as Catnap went to stand on his head. Catnap stared down Pianosaurus while he glared up at him, Catnap growled down until Pianosaurus seemed to submit and started to whine in piano notes. Catnap then looked over to Doey who was now rounding up the Nightmare Critters into some cages as Catnap started to do the same.
"We'll come back for you." Doey said to the Nightmare Critters, who all glared at him. Catnap shoved Pianosaurus into a cage and shut and locked the door, with Pianosaurus cowering into a corner to get away from Catnap. Now that the threat was taken care of, it was now time to follow where Picky, Bobby, and Crafty had ran off to follow Dogday. Catnap and Doey ran, with Catnap muttering to himself "I'll save you Dogday. No matter what."