It was warm. The small toon was curled up in a tight ball purring quietly in her sleep. She felt a soft blanket cocooning her fragile body as she snuggled closer into the plush couch. "I must be dreaming." she thought sleepily letting out a sigh of content. She could just make out the quiet murmurs of a hushed conversation going on nearby.

"I wrapped up those gashes as best I could."

"Oh good…hope she's alright."

"What do you suppose happened to her?"

"Don't know, poor kid looked like a dear in headlights when I first saw her. She was talking about a mile a minute, going on about this girl…"

"What did she say?"

"Something about the kid telling her to something but she didn't want to and how I had to help save her because, well… they were going to kill her or something."

"Oh dear."

"I know, and she seemed pretty urgent about it too."

"The poor thing, I wonder what's got her so spooked."

"Yeah me to…" The rabbit replied clouds of dread fogging his worried thoughts.

"Oh hold on I think she's waking up."

The scrawny cat grumbled and turned over on the couch wanting to savor the comfort of her dream for a long as possible as Ortensia made her way towards her and began to gently stroke the top of her furry head. Reluctantly the exhausted toon cracked open two sleepy eyes. "Wait a second," she thought, "I'm awake but…I'm still here on this nice comfy bed…er couch." Curiousshe tilted her head up revealing the kind face of a certain cartoon cat staring down at her.

"Hey there sleepy head." Ortensia said softly. "You finally awake?" The young toon nodded looking slightly dazed.

"Oh good you had us worried for a minute there."

"Yeah," Oswald said making his way towards them, "You sure gave us quite a scare."

"I-I'm sorry! I d-d-didn't mean to! Please don't hurt me!" The frightened toon blurted out holding up her battered hands as a feeble means of protection.

"Hey-hey it's alright I'm not gonna hurt you, I didn't mean it like that. We just wanted to make sure you were alright is all, you looked pretty banged up." He said upset that he had frightened her.

"R-really?" She asked.

"Really." Oswald responded taking a seat next to her on the couch.

"What's your name sweetie?" Ortenisa asked as she reached for the first aid kit.

"P-P-Penny…Penny Copper." She replied timidly.

"Penny." Oswald thought. There was something familiar about the name... he just couldn't put his finger on it.

"Ok now I have a question." The small cat said sitting up on the couch, wincing slightly from her sore body.

"Shoot." The rabbit replied.

"Uh, where am I?"

"You mean you don't remember?" He said dumbstruck.

"Kind of…" Their mysterious guest replied hazily.

"Well," Ortensia began, "You're in our house in Ostown. You came and knocked on our door and–"

"Oh NOW I remember but wait where's…?" A fresh wave of terror washed over the young toon as realization dawned on her. "Oh, no! no No NO!"

"It's ok! It's ok dear what's wrong?" Ortensia said her voice full of concern and a bit startled by the child's sudden outburst.

"I-I…I DON'T WANT TO REMEMBER!" she cried bursting into tears once more.

"It's alright honey you don't have to remember you take as long as you—"

"B-but I have to! Oh how could I have forgotten!" she curled back into a ball and continued bawling in fetal position. Suddenly she shot up from the couch and grabbed a firm hold of Oswald, he staggered back startled by the sudden intensity of her gaze.

"Y-you have to listen to me th-there isn't much time!" the frazzled kitten stuttered, "Sh-she's dying! He's got her and, and he's going to take her t-t-to…to that ROOM. Terror filled the child's eyes, "HE'S GOING TO KILL HER! She screamed shaking the toon rabbit so hard one of his detachable ears almost came off.

"Who?! Who's got her?!

"It's that, that…DOCTOR!" she shrieked throwing her arms over her head and covering her ears in an attempt to shield herself from her own words.

"You mean…the Mad Doctor's back!?" Oswald sputtered his worst fears confirmed. The small toon nodded solemnly tears streaming down her face.

"Listen," He said as he gently lowered the kitten back onto the ground kneeling down so that the two were at eye level. "Everything's gonna be ok but you have to tell us what's going on or we can't help…ok?"

"O-ok."

"Good, now tell us what happened."

"W-well," She began, "M-me and my b-b-big sister—"

"Wait your sister? Is that who he's got?"

The small toon nodded and began rubbing her eyes in response to a fresh wave tears. "Her-her name's Ruby."

"Ruby…" Oswald thought, it sounded familiar as well. Where had he heard those names?

"Alright now keep going." Ortensia encouraged gently stroking the trembling kitten, "What happened next?"

"W-well," Penny stammered. "We-we were o-o-on our way t-to the R-R-Rocket S-Station but-but HE was there a-and it hurt and th-then he t-t-took us and…" The traumatized toon fell to her knees and through her arms back over her head crying uncontrollably now no longer able to continue.

"Shhhhh sh sh sh…there there sweetie it's alright." Ortensia said as she soothingly rubbed the back of frightened toon's neck.

Oswald put a supportive arm on Penny's shoulder as he knelt back down to her level the two's eye's locking. "Listen, everything going to be ok. We're gonna get your sister out of there no matter what it takes."

"You-you promise?" She said her shining eyes full of emotion.

The rabbit smiled, "I promise." With that he scooped Penny up and placed her back on the couch.

"Now let's see about those cuts." Ortensia said reaching out to the small toon's arm with a cotton ball she had dabbed with alcohol.

"GAH!" Penny shouted jerking her hand away. "What's that?!"

"Just something to help clean your cuts dear."

"Oh, ok." She said putting her arm back out.

"Alright now let's—

"Wait!" Penny said pulling her arm back again. "W-will it hurt?"

"Well it'll sting a little a first—

"No!" I-I don't want it!" The determined kitten shouted shaking her head forcefully while clutching her arm to her chest.

"But if I don't it could get infected and then it'll feel even worse!"

"Here," Oswald said extending his arm towards the small kitten. "You can squeeze my hand if you want."

Penny looked over at Ortensia, the hospitable cat looked kind of like her. She turned her attention back over to Oswald, if you squinted you eyes and tilted your head a bit…he looked a lot like Ruby. Maybe everything really was going to be alright. The young toon took a deep breath. "Ok."

"Good," Ortensia replied as she began to clean the poor kitten's cuts and gashes staring with a particularly nasty one on her forearm…