Chapter 48: When The Sky Turns Red

Bubba meanwhile was at his home with Bobby and PickyPiggy with him.

"So what did Mr. Wolfgang told you yesterday?" Bobby asked Bubba,

"He got GuardianDove to visit him in dreams to help with something that's gonna go wrong today." Bubba replied,

"So he also had GuardianDove rely on him…"

"Of course. Anyways… So, DogDay was kidnapped by the group of masked critters in red and black, which we already know."

"Did he tell Mr. Wolfgang anything else?" PickyPiggy wondered,

"Hoppy was also kidnapped."

"What?!" Bobby shouted,

"No way!" PickyPiggy shouted, "How?!"

"A group of masked critters in all black this time." Bubba replied, "We don't know how, but… Apparently there's two different groups? Maybe they're working together? I don't know."

"Well we gotta save Hoppy if she's still kidnapped!" Bobby said as she grew scared, "Otherwise… We might be next…"

"Hey, don't worry, babe. We got each other." PickyPiggy said, "And each other is all we need."

Then, everyone heard a knock on Bubba's front door, jumping everyone.

"Who was that?" Bobby said as she hugged PickyPiggy while scared,

"I'll answer it." Bubba replied, "Back me up, you two."

Bubba then slowly walked over to the front door as it was knocked again. He then took a deep breath and opened it while staying inside the house. To his surprise, Bobby and PickyPiggy's surprise, outside was Hoppy!

"Hoppy!" Bubba shouted,

Hoppy went inside to hug Bubba.

"Oh my God, how did you escape if you were kidnapped?!" Bubba shouted,

"It's a long story!" Hoppy replied, "But I'm here!"

Hoppy then went over to hug Bobby and PickyPiggy.

"Oh, we're glad you're ok!" Bobby said,

"Yeah, you almost had us worried!" PickyPiggy said,

"I know, I know." Hoppy said with a sigh after hugging, "Hey, before I say anything, I brought someone over."

"Oh?" Bubba wondered,

"Yeah, hang on."

Hoppy then went to the opened front door.

"Ok, you can show yourself now!" She said,

Hoppy then went back inside for her friends to meet someone. To their surprises, except Hoppy's again, was KickinChicken.

"Kickin?!" Bubba shoutee,

"Oh my God…" Bobby said, concerned, while looking at KickinChicken's eyepatch, "What happened to one of your eyes?"

"...It's a long story." KickinChicken replied, softly, "C-Can I come in?"

"I guess…" Bubba replied, "Here, tell us everything, you two. We're all ears today."

"Alright…"

KickinChicken went inside and sat on one of Bubba's couches and sighed like he was in denial.

"...Hoppy was kidnapped." He started, "She was kidnapped by Miss BatBite."

"Our old history teacher?!" Bubba shouted as he, Bobby and PickyPiggy were shocked,

"Yes."

"Why?!" Bobby shouted, "Why would she do that?!"

"She's helping out a group of people for something called The Hour Of Joy."

"The Hour Of Joy?" PickyPiggy wondered,

"Yeah… Don't know what, it was scary that I was almost unconscious by a big syringe." Hoppy said, "But then Kickin came along and saved me by injecting the syringe to the masked critter in black into her neck."

"Well, at least you were saved." Bobby said, "But… Then again, the eyepatch…"

"A masked critter stabbed me in the eye." KickinChicken said, "Hoppy gave me an eyepatch bandage for it. Don't know how long I'm gonna last with only one eye, but…"

KickinChicken sighed sadly.

"Never mind the eye." He said, emotional, "I also came here to tell you guys… I'm sorry. I'm sorry for everything."

Bubba was concerned.

"A-Are you?" He said, "Are you sure that you're–"

"--Yes I am!" KickinChicken replied as he had tears in his left eye, "You're all right, Crafty's sacrifice fucked me up as well! And look, if you also want proof that I got stabbed in the eye, I'll take my eyepatch off!"

As KickinChicken was about to take his eyepatch off, everyone around him stopped him from doing so.

"Woah! Hey! Stop!" Bubba said, "Ok, we're not gonna be grossed out by your wounds!"

"...Sorry…" KickinChicken said as he sat back down on the couch, "Just got carried away…"

Bubba sighed as he turned to Bobby and PickyPiggy to have a little chat for a moment before turning back to KickinChicken.

"Alright, Kickin, we forgive you." He said, "But here's the thing, do you promise us you won't do anything like that again to all of us, ok? That almost tore us apart."

"I won't." KickinChicken said as he placed his right feathered hand up with his left feathered hand near his heart, "You have my word."

"And you promise to make up for what you did by helping us get through with whatever is going on?"

"I promise on that as well."

"Good."

KickinChicken sighed in relief.

"Thanks, you guys, I mean it…" He said,

"Alright, with that out of the way, now we gotta focus on what's going on right now." Bubba said, "And that's, finding CatNap and DogDay."

KickinChicken was surprised to hear those names as he then looked ashamed.

"What about them?" Hoppy wondered, "Haven't heard from them yet?"

"No." Bubba replied, "Considering that DogDay got kidnapped–"

"--He got kidnapped as well?!" KickinChicken shouted,

"Y-Yes, he did."

"And CatNap tried to rescue him." Bobby said,

"But he didn't return." PickyPiggy replied, "And neither did DogDay."

"And Mr. Wolfgang also told me that a–" Bubba said as a big explosion-like sound went off, cutting him and causing a small quake around his house, "WOAH!"

Everyone held on from whatever caused the quake until it settled down.

"What the hell just happened?!" Hoppy shouted,

"I'll look out the window." PickyPiggy said as she does so, but was shocked and turned her head back to her friends, "Hey, uhh, guys?"

"Yes, Picky?" Bubba said, worried,

"Is it just me, or uhh… Did the sky just turn red?"

"What? Let us see."

Bubba, Hoppy, Bobby and KickinChicken went over to the same window next to PickyPiggy as they all saw in shock as well that the sky had indeed turned red.

"Look!" Bobby shouted as she then pointed to 7 pillars of red energy shooting pink energy into the sky, "Is that the source of it all?!"

Meanwhile, CatNap and DogDay, in their masks and new duel disks were firing some sort of device with their new signature cards. The same goes for the other 5 Dark Critters.

"Keep going!" Morris shouted, "Let your marks avail!"

Suddenly, different pink marks on each of the Dark Critters appeared. CatNap had the mark of the killer whale on one of his arms while DogDay had the condor, but on his back. The rest had different marks on one of their arms, being of a monkey, a giant, a spider, a lizard and a hummingbird. Then, red smoke started to come out of each of the masks. A change of mood has applied to both CatNap and DogDay, who now go by Theodore and Baldwin.

Back down to Bubba's house, Bubba and his friends went out the front door as they wanted to get a closed look. Many other critters around his neighborhood saw what was going on as well. Confused and shocked and sometimes scared, what was gonna happen next?