Adventures of the Smiling Critters

by Fluttershyfan123

This is a tale of a group of friends known as the Smiling Critters. Everyday, the Smiling Critters like to play together and have a fun time. However, not everything is all sunshine and rainbows. Sometimes, they would have to solve a problem they are having or even go on a dangerous adventure. Despite the dangers, the Smiling Critters have comfort in knowing they have each other.

9. Deep Sleep

AN: So, it took a while, but I'm now ready to publish my newest chapter of Adventures of the Smiling Critters! This chapter would be different from the rest of the chapters since it would be much darker compared to the previous chapters! Anyway, I hope you enjoy this new chapter!

Chapter 9

Deep Sleep

One quiet and peaceful night, everyone in the village decided to go to sleep after a long day. The Smiling Critters were especially tired after a whole day of spending time together and engaging in fun activities. As they went to bed, the Smiling Critters slept peacefully as everyone experienced pleasant dreams. At least, almost everyone.

In his bedroom, CatNap was tossing and turning from an intense nightmare he was having. This went on for several minutes until he suddenly woke up with a start.

He looked around his room for a few moments before realizing he just had a bad dream. Despite knowing that he was safe in his room, CatNap just couldn't relax after the horrible nightmare he had. All he could do was pant heavily as beads of sweat ran down his fur. Not even his wide smile could mask how terrified he was. Unable to sleep, CatNap sat up in his bed, waiting for the sun to rise.

The next morning, the Smiling Critters decided to have a fun day by playing a game of baseball together. They all stood in a field with four bases set up. To make up the teams, half of the Smiling Critters wore green colored baseball attires while the other half wore blue.

"Okay! Looks like everything is all set up!" DogDay said, looking around the baseball field. "Guess we're ready to play now!"

"Hold on! Something isn't right." Bubba gazed from his team to the other team. "We have four players on our team, but I only see Kickin, Hoppy, and Crafty on the other team."

As she counted the number of players, Bobby realized that Bubba was right. "You're right, Bubba. Let's see. There's you, me, DogDay, and Picky on our team, but the other team is missing a means we are missing CatNap. Has anyone seen him?"

Everyone looked around before taking notice of CatNap sleeping on a nearby bench. Worried for his friend, DogDay approached the bench before giving CatNap a couple of pokes on the head.

"Hey, CatNap. Are you feeling okay? We could really use another player for our game!"

Instead of opening his eyes, CatNap simply rolled to the side, as if he didn't want to be bothered.

"It seems that CatNap doesn't want to play with us." Picky noticed.

"That's too bad. But, now we don't have enough players to make this a fair game." DogDay realized.

"Don't sweat it, DogDay! Hoppy, Crafty, and I can easily win, even if we're one player short!" Kickin assured.

"We can?" Crafty didn't like the sound of that idea.

Feeling the exact opposite of Crafty, Hoppy step in and exclaimed, "Of course we can! You can do it, Crafty! Just take this bat and swing as hard as you can!"

Throughout the game, everyone had a fun time together hitting the ball and running the bases. Despite their team being one player short and Crafty not being the best at swinging the bat, Kickin and Hoppy's team somehow managed to win in the end. Not that CatNap would have known since he slept through the whole thing.

With the baseball game over, the Smiling Critters woke up CatNap to let him know that they were leaving. As CatNap opened his eyes, they couldn't help but notice dark circles under his eyes. Despite the rest he got, CatNap still looked sleep deprived, as if he hadn't slept at all last night.

Things only got worse throughout the last few days. CatNap started to get even more tired everyday, even to the point where he refused to do anything with his friends. This continued until one night when the Smiling Critters decided to go stargazing together.

The moment CatNap showed up, he immediately laid down on the grass, curling up in a ball. The Smiling Critters couldn't help but feel concerned for their friend at this point.

"Okay, this is starting to get weird, right?" Hoppy asked. "It seems that CatNap barely hangs out with us anymore."

"I just don't understand. CatNap usually isn't this sleep deprived." Bobby said. "I wish there was a way for us to help him."

"Perhaps there is a way." Bubba spoke up. "I've been observing CatNap for the past couple of days and it seems that he has been experiencing signs of sleep deprivation, uncontrollable shaking, and a racing heart. All of which are signs of reoccurring nightmares, which is why I invented this!"

It was at that moment when Bubba showed his friends a square-shaped device with all kinds of blinking lights with a headset attached to it.

"Wow! What did you invent this time, Bubba?" Picky asked.

"I call it, the Dream Machine! If we use this, we can enter CatNap's dream and see if we can figure out what is causing his nightmares!" Bubba explained.

"W-W-Wait! Are you saying we have to face CatNap's nightmares?" Crafty trembled from the thought of deal with monsters in CatNap's dream.

"I'm not scared! Whatever nightmares we have to go through, we're doing it for CatNap! Right, DogDay?" Kickin asked DogDay.

As Kickin asked DogDay that question, DogDay brought his attention over to CatNap, who was trembling in fear. He could tell that CatNap was having another nightmare. It was at that point when he started to feel bad for CatNap. Whatever nightmares CatNap had, DogDay could only imagine what kind of horrible dreams CatNap had for several days straight.

"You're right, Kickin! As CatNap's friends, we have to do whatever we can to help him!"

"That's the spirit! It doesn't matter what kind of nightmares they have! Once we show up, they won't know what hit them!" Hoppy exclaimed.

It was at that moment when the rest of the Smiling Critters decided to help out as well. To get ready for their new adventure, Bubba placed the headset part of his machine on CatNap's head before pressing a few buttons and turning a couple of dials on his machine.

"So, are we going to enter CatNap's dream pretty soon?" Bobby asked.

"Almost, Bobby! If my calculations are correct, a portal leading into CatNap's dream should appear right about-" Bubba paused before a portal appeared right in front of them. "Now!"

Curious, the Smiling Critters took a few steps towards the swirling portal in front of them. They knew that once they enter the portal, they would have to be prepared to face any nightmares CatNap might be having.

"Okay, everyone! There is no telling what is on the other side of that portal, so let's all stick together! Agreed?" DogDay asked his friends before they all nodded in agreement.

Once they were ready, the Smiling Critters stepped through the portal into CatNap's dream. As they reached the other side, they looked around to see that they were in some kind of dark hallway. Curious, they walked around to realize that they were in some kind of play area that children would play at.

"So, this is CatNap's dream?" Picky asked. "Looks pretty creepy!"

DogDay nodded in agreement. "Yeah, it really is, but we all have to be brave for CatNap. He has to be around here somewhere."

The Smiling Critters spent the next couple of moments searching for their friend. As they traveled deeper and deeper into the play area, the Smiling Critters took notice of something in the dark. It appeared to be a head in the shape of a cat. That was when DogDay gave a smile as he knew who it was.

"Hey, CatNap! It's us!" DogDay waved.

It was at that moment when the figure turned around and faced the Smiling Critters with a wide grin. What the Smiling Critters didn't expect was for the figure to suddenly rise up and stand tall above them.

That was when the Smiling Critters realized that they were face to face with a bigger version of CatNap. This new version of CatNap stood on all fours and had a skeletal like appearance exposed beneath the skin. All the Smiling Critters could do was stare at the monster version of CatNap in horror before Crafty broke the silence.

"I don't think that's CatNap."

The monster CatNap then extended his sharp claws as he charged at the Smiling Critters in a sprint.

Realizing that this CatNap wasn't the same as their CatNap, DogDay yelled, "Everyone run!"

With that, the Smiling Critters ran away as fast as they could with Monster CatNap giving chase. No matter how fast they ran, Monster CatNap steadily began to catch up with them. DogDay knew that he had to think of something fast, or they were all going to die. That was when he noticed a nearby wall with a hole in it, giving him an idea.

"Everyone, quick! In here!" DogDay yelled.

One by one, the Smiling Critters crawled through the hole as they were able to escape from Monster CatNap. They crawled through the other side of the wall to end up in what appeared to be a jungle gym.

None of them knew where they were, but they were relieved that they got away from Monster CatNap. It was at that moment when they climbed up to a play structure of the jungle gym so they could take a moment to catch their breaths. However, just when they thought they were alone, they took notice of creepy giggles in the distance.

"Did anyone else hear that?" Picky looked around to see where the noises were coming from.

It wasn't long before the Smiling Critters noticed smaller toy versions of themselves, crawling towards them on all fours. This new world just kept getting stranger and stranger for them. First, they encountered a horrifying nightmare version of CatNap, and now they are surrounded by toy counterparts.

"Are they supposed to be us?" Bobby couldn't believe what she was seeing.

"I think they are! Let's stay away from them! I don't like the looks of this!" DogDay explained.

"I think you're worrying too much, DogDay! They don't look so bad! I mean that guy over there looks pretty cool!" Kickin said before he approached a mini version of himself.

That was the moment Kickin let down his guard, giving his toy counterpart the opportunity to take him by surprise and grab him by the face.

"Aaah! Get it off!" Kickin screamed, desperately trying to pull the mini Kickin off of him.

Soon, more mini Smiling Critters showed up, forcing everyone to run away. The Smiling Critters didn't get far before they reached a dead end. They all watched in horror as the countless toys crawled closer towards them.

"This isn't good! If only we had something to defend ourselves with! Hold on! What's this?" Bubba asked, noticing a device on the floor.

At that moment, the Smiling Critters directed their attention to a backpack-like device, known as a GrabPack. The device had a couple of straps at the sides for the shoulders, along with an orange colored hand at the end.

"Who cares what it is?!" Kickin yelled, finally managing to pry the Kickin toy off of him. "If it will save our lives, I say we use it!"

Wasting no time, Kickin rushed over towards the GrabPack before activating a trigger on the device. This ended up firing a flare from the orange hand, causing all of the Smiling Critters toys to crawl away in fear. With the Smiling Critters toys gone, the Smiling Critters breathed sighs of relief.

"Well, I have no idea what this is, but I think it might come in handy!" Kickin said as he put on the GrabPack, despite how big and heavy it was for him.

"Okay, Bubba! What the heck is going on? First we encountered that Monster CatNap, and now we dealt with mini counterparts of ourselves! Are we even in CatNap's dream anymore?" Hoppy asked.

Bubba paused to think for a moment, feeling just as confused as his friends. "Hmm. This is just a guess, but I have a feeling that CatNap is dreaming of some sort of alternate universe."

"Alternate universe?" DogDay repeated. "So, wouldn't that mean that the CatNap we encountered was a different version of CatNap?"

"It's possible. If we're lucky, maybe we can find the CatNap we know!" Bubba hoped.

"Well, we'll never know by staying here! Let's get out of here and hopefully not run into anymore of our creepy toy counterparts!" Kickin said, carrying the GrabPack on his back.

With that, the Smiling Critters proceeded into the next room in hopes of finding the nice and not murderous version of CatNap they knew. The further they traveled into the dream, the more dark and disturbing the so called play area appeared.

Right at the sides of the room were cells, making this place feel more like a prison than a play area. Despite how brave they tried to be, the Smiling Critters couldn't help but feel scared deep down, worried that one of their toy counterparts might jump them when they least expect it. They soon reached the end of the hall before a voice suddenly called out for them.

"You. You look nothing like the rest of the Ruined Critters."

Startled by the unexpected voice, the Smiling Critters brought their attention to a nearby cell and were met with a gruesome sight. Right in front of them was a bigger version of DogDay, strapped to a wall in leather belts with his lower half cut off. Despite his serious wound, he was somehow still alive.

DogDay couldn't believe what he was seeing. Despite how frightened he was, he took a couple of steps closer to the cell.

"Y-Y-You're m-m-me?" DogDay stuttered, unable to process what he was seeing.

The alternate version of DogDay appeared to be just as confused, unable to figure out how he was face to face with his cartoon counterpart.

"Who are you?" Alternate DogDay asked.

After getting over his shocked, DogDay replied, "Um, we're the Smiling Critters. We entered this dream world, thanks to Bubba's invention, and we are searching for our friend, CatNap."

Despite all the endless torture he experienced, Alternate DogDay managed a chuckle. "Dream? More like a nightmare. You have no idea where you are, do you? You are in the Playhouse."

"Doesn't look very cheerful for a playhouse." Picky commented.

Alternate DogDay shook his head. "No. Far from it. This place is hell. I'm sorry to tell you, I can't help you find your friend. The CatNap I know was the one who did this to me. I have been alone for so long with nothing to look forward to but endless torture. I am the last of the Smiling Critters. Just seeing you all together like this reminds me of myself with my friends."

As he heard what his alternate counterpart just said, DogDay looked down in sadness. He thought back to all the fun times he ever had with his friends and how much they meant to him. After all that DogDay had been through with his friends, he couldn't imagine living in an alternate universe where they all died.

"Listen." Alternate DogDay continued. "All of you need to get out of here. There is no doubt that my world's version of CatNap would be here soon. He'll do the same thing to all of you that he did to me!"

"But we can't just leave you like this!" Crafty said. "We have to save you!"

"There is nothing left to save here. Don't worry about me. Just-" Alternate DogDay paused when the distant sounds of giggles can be heard. "Oh no." Alternate DogDay looked to the sides of his cell to see the Ruined Critters crawling towards him from holes on each side. "OH NO! Get out of here! Now!"

The Ruined Critters surrounded Alternate DogDay, but Kickin was not going to let them hurt him.

"Hey! Get away from him!" Kickin yelled, firing a flare from the GrabPack.

The flare ended up scaring all of the Smiling Critters toys away. This forced them to retreat back through the holes in the walls as they returned to the jungle gym.

"Man, I love this thing!" Kickin exclaimed, surprised by how effective the GrabPack is.

"Don't get too comfortable. They can come back any moment." Bubba warned.

"You're right! We have to save this world's version of DogDay!" Bobby added.

With that, the Smiling Critters stepped into the cell as they loosened the straps around Alternate DogDay's wrists. Once he was free, Alternate DogDay landed face first on the floor since he was unable to stand up, thanks to his lack of legs.

"Oh no! Are you okay?" Crafty asked, doing her best to help Alternate DogDay back up.

"I'm fine. Thank you." Alternate DogDay smiled.

Combining their strength, the Smiling Critters carried Alternate DogDay on their backs out of the cell. It was going to be a long trek, especially with them carrying a big Smiling Critter on their backs, but they were determined to help their friend no matter what.

"There has to be a way to help him. Isn't there a spare set of legs nearby?" Picky asked.

"That's actually not a bad idea. If we look around, there should be an extra pair of toy legs to attach to me." Alternate DogDay pointed out.

"Then what are we waiting for? Let's take a look around and see if we can-"

Before DogDay could say another word, he was taken by surprise when a mini toy version of DogDay appeared in front of him and reached out to grab him.

"Aaah!"

Startled by his mini counterpart, DogDay stumbled back in surprise before falling in a nearby hole. It was at that moment when DogDay plummeted into an endless black void with his friends yelling out for him.

After falling for what felt like forever, DogDay landed on a couple of rocks down below. The impact left him bruised, but thankfully not enough to severely injure him. DogDay slowly stood back up to see that he was in some underground cavern. Now completely lost, DogDay realized that he would have to venture forward without his friends.

As he traversed through the caverns, he eventually came across a catwalk with a bottomless pit right beneath him. DogDay gulped in fear, wishing that he hadn't looked down, but pressed on. It wasn't long before he took notice of something in the distance. Right in front of him was a familiar purple cat with his back turned.

Unlike the last CatNap DogDay encountered, this CatNap was a lot smaller, resembling the CatNap DogDay knew. He took a couple of steps close to see CatNap trembling in fear. Truthfully, DogDay wasn't sure if this was the CatNap he was looking for, but he had to take this chance.

"CatNap?" DogDay called out.

Startled by what he heard, CatNap turned around to face DogDay to reveal that he really was the friend DogDay had been searching for this whole time. What happened next was something that DogDay never would have expected.

"DogDay?"

DogDay immediately stopped in his tracks the moment he heard CatNap speak. This whole time, he was used to CatNap being the mysterious silent critter of the group, so actually hearing him speak was so bizarre.

"CatNap, you can talk?!" DogDay asked in disbelief.

CatNap nodded. "Yes, it's amazing what can happen in a dream, but never mind that! What are you doing here?"

"Our friends and I have noticed that you were having a bunch of nightmares, so we used Bubba's invention to teleport into your dream." DogDay explained. "We were looking everywhere for you, but we ran into this weird monster version of you instead."

CatNap felt a chill at the mention of his alternate counterpart. "So, you met the alternate me. I wish you didn't have to see him."

"You know what's going on, don't you?" DogDay guessed. "That monster, the toy versions of us. You've been having this dream every night!"

Seeing that he couldn't keep this a secret any longer, CatNap decided to tell DogDay everything. "Listen, DogDay. I know just about as much of this as you do. What I do know is that the monster version of me worships this higher being known as, the Prototype. This alternate version of me would torture any heretics who he thinks would dare to betray his god." CatNap paused as memories of his traumatic nightmare started flowing back to him. "Every night, I would have nightmares of that monster torturing this world's version of you! As I watched, I wanted to do something! Anything to save you, but the dream would always end with those Ruined Critters eating at his flesh!"

Hearing the chilling details of CatNap's nightmare frightened DogDay to the point where he felt bad for his friend. He couldn't imagine what CatNap went through, having to witness his best friend being tortured every night.

After a few moments of silence, DogDay placed a comforting paw on CatNap's shoulder. "CatNap, I had no idea. Listen, you don't have to deal with this alone. You have friends who all care for you. In fact, they're all waiting for you right now. If we hurry, we can get out of here and reunited with our friends in no time!"

DogDay was about to leave before he heard a clanging noise in the distance. Fearing the worst, DogDay and CatNap looked around to make sure they weren't being followed. They waited for a few moments in silence, but it appeared that they were the only ones here.

Just when they thought they were safe, Monster CatNap showed up out of nowhere, pouncing on the catwalk they were on so hard, it caused the whole structure to shake uncontrollably. DogDay watched in horror as Monster CatNap slowly crawled his way close to him and CatNap. He was about to run away before realizing that CatNap was paralyzed with fear from the sight of his monster counterpart.

"Come on, we have to get out of here!" DogDay tried to snap CatNap out of his shock.

In response, CatNap shut his eyes tightly with tears threatening to drop. "Just leave me, DogDay! You've already seen the monster I've become!"

Taking CatNap's paw, DogDay replied, "CatNap, that thing isn't you! You are our friend, and you always will be! Now, let's go! We have to find our friends!"

Wasting no more time, DogDay dragged CatNap through the catwalk with Monster CatNap giving chase. The two friends ran as fast as they could with Monster CatNap getting closer and closer towards them until he leaped in the air, ready to pounce them. Thankfully, DogDay and CatNap were able to dodge at the last moment, barely dodging Monster CatNap's pounce.

The force of the jump caused the entire catwalk to shake as it slowly started to fall apart. Knowing that the catwalk was about to collapse at any moment, DogDay and CatNap ran as fast as they could with more of the catwalk falling behind them. They were both able to reach the end just in time as the catwalk fell into the abyss below.

Once they were safe, DogDay and CatNap turned around to see Monster CatNap staring at them from the other side of the chasm. Unable to hunt down his prey, Monster CatNap walked away, leaving DogDay and CatNap alone.

"Looks like he's gone." CatNap took a moment to calm down. "For now, at least."

"Then let's get out of here. Hopefully, we'll be able to find our friends before he does." DogDay hoped as he led CatNap out of the cavern.

Meanwhile, the Smiling Critters were just able to escape from the Ruined Critters as they hid themselves in a nearby room. They took a moment to catch their breaths and looked around to see that they were in a room containing a bunch of spare toy parts.

"Hey! This is perfect!" Bubba exclaimed. "This room has to have a spare set of toy legs for Alternate DogDay!" As Bubba looked around, he took notice of a new pair of toy legs in the corner of the room. "All I have to do is stitch these legs to your body, and you should be good as new!"

"Thank you." Alternate DogDay thanked. "I'll make sure to return the favor somehow."

"But what about DogDay?" Bobby asked before glancing over to Alternate DogDay. "I mean, our DogDay. He's still missing! We can't leave without him!"

"Don't worry, Bobby! Once I stitch these legs, we'll go looking for him!" Bubba promised.

As Bubba was busy stitching Alternate DogDay's legs to his body, Picky suddenly heard a noise coming from a nearby hole. She started to panic, thinking it was one of the Ruined Critters. Instead, she was relieved to see that it was DogDay who crawled out of the hole.

"Everyone, look! It's DogDay!" Picky exclaimed.

Upon noticing DogDay, the Smiling Critters rushed over towards him before embracing him in a group hug, relieved that he was safe.

"Oh, DogDay! We were so worried about you!" Crafty said.

DogDay chuckled. "I'm fine, Crafty! Oh, and I'm not the only one who showed up! Come on in, CatNap!" DogDay called out, to which CatNap crawled into the room shortly afterwards.

"CatNap!" the Smiling Critters exclaimed before hugging him as well.

As much as he loved his friend, being hugged by all of them at once made CatNap feel claustrophobic.

"Alright, I know you all missed me, but you don't need to be so emotional about it!"

Upon hearing CatNap speak for the first time, the Smiling Critters backed away in surprise.

"Wait a minute! CatNap, did you just talk?!" Kickin asked in shock.

"Oh, yeah! You guys aren't the first to find out about this!" DogDay said with a sheepish grin.

After having his legs stitched together, Alternate DogDay slowly stood up, standing tall compared the rest of the Smiling Critters. He walked over towards CatNap to get a closer look at him. This version of CatNap didn't seem nearly as terrifying as the CatNap he knew and actually seemed to have a good relationship with his friends.

"Ah. You must be the alternate version of CatNap your friends were looking for." Alternate DogDay said. "It's nice to meet you."

"And it's nice to officially meet you too, DogDay from an alternate universe!" CatNap replied. "I'm just happy to see that you are now safe!"

"Whoa! Whoa! Hold up a moment!" Hoppy stepped in. "Are we just going to ignore the fact that CatNap can speak now? Now that you can talk, you have to tell me what you thought of my new soccer trick! Whenever I asked you what you thought of it, you would always give me the silent treatment like you were trying to ignore me!"

"Oh, no, Hoppy! I have no interest in sports! I was ignoring you on purpose!" CatNap chuckled, much to Hoppy's annoyance. "But never mind that. We should leave before any of those Ruined Critters show up."

As if on cue, banging noises can be heard from the other side of the door, along with a bunch of giggling noises. This caused the Smiling Critters to back away in fear.

"Oh no! They found us!" Crafty started to panic.

In search for a way out, Alternate DogDay looked around before noticing a nearby slide.

"Everyone, quick! Through here! This slide should lead us out of the Playhouse!"

With that, the Smiling Critters entered the slide one by one. The more Smiling Critters that escaped, the more the Ruined Critters began to break through the door. DogDay was the last to leave, so he followed his friends down the slide before the Ruined Critters could enter the room.

It wasn't long before the Smiling Critters reached the end of the slide. As they escaped the Playhouse, they noticed that they were in some kind of dome that illuminated artificial sunlight from above. Scattered throughout the dome were different buildings such as a schoolhouse, a house for children to stay at called, Home Sweet Home, a toy store, and a councilor's office.

"Wow! This place looks kind of beautiful! Despite its desolate look, at least!" Crafty commented.

Alternate DogDay smiled. "Welcome to Playcare, a home for orphans. At least, it used to be." He soon turned back towards the Playhouse they were just in. "I never thought I would ever leave this place."

As the Smiling Critters took a look around, they noticed a statue in the center of Playcare. It was a statue of all of the Smiling Critters, holding hands in a circle. The Smiling Critters stepped closer to get a better look at the statue.

"Whoa! We must be pretty popular in this alternate universe!" Hoppy commented.

"Hmm. I suppose you could put it that way." Alternate DogDay darted his eyes to the side, not wanting to bring up the controversy CatNap caused in his universe.

"So, Bubba! Now that we found CatNap and figured out his trauma, how about you take us back home?" Kickin asked.

"I'm way ahead of you, Kickin!" Bubba took out a remote before pressing a couple of buttons. "I just about got it! Here we go!"

It was at that moment when a portal appeared in front of everyone. The other side of the portal revealed the Smiling Critters' home world, much to their relief. They were all just a few steps away from returning home.

"It appears that you are now able to go back home. You'd better hurry up and leave before CatNap comes back." Alternate DogDay urged his friends to leave.

"But what about you?" Picky asked.

"I'll try to find my way out of Playcare." Alternate DogDay replied. I'll figure the rest out from there."

The Smiling Critters took a look at the portal and back to Alternate DogDay with sadness in their eyes. They all realized that the moment they step through the portal, they would never see Alternate DogDay again. They debated on leaving or staying here when Crafty thought of an idea.

"Why don't you come with us?" Crafty asked, much to Alternate DogDay's surprise.

"That's a great idea!" Bobby exclaimed before looking up at Alternate DogDay. "Listen, I know that we aren't your actual friends, but we think you might be a lot happier with us in our world! You won't have to worry about your CatNap anymore!"

Surprised by the offer, Alternate DogDay took a moment to ponder what was being offered. Everyday, he had to endure all kinds of pain and torture from CatNap and the Ruined Critters to a point where he gave up hope on freedom entirely.

If he chose to come with the Smiling Critters, he would be free of his endless torment. Even if the Smiling Critters weren't the friends he lost long ago, he couldn't help but think of all the fun times they could have together.

"I-" Alternate DogDay was about to answer before he heard a noise behind him.

Startled by this, Alternate DogDay spun around to be face to face with Monster CatNap once more. Upon being face to face with CatNap's alternate counterpart once more, the Smiling Critters took a few steps back. Alternate DogDay knew that he couldn't let Monster CatNap hurt his new friends, so he made an attempt to buy them some time.

"Listen, all of you need to go through the portal! I'll keep CatNap distracted!"

"But-" DogDay tried to reason with his alternate counterpart.

"There is no time to argue! Just go!" Alternate DogDay urged.

At that moment, Alternate DogDay took a couple of steps close to Monster CatNap in an effort to reason with him.

"CatNap, please. You don't have to do this."

As Alternate DogDay tried to reason with him, Monster CatNap simply stared at him in silence with a wide creepy smile. All of the Smiling Critters watched in silence, none of them daring to make a move as they all hoped that Alternate DogDay can get through to Monster CatNap.

Without warning, Monster CatNap charged forward and knocked Alternate DogDay down with a claw slash to his face. Everyone watched in horror as Monster CatNap continued to claw at his victim while he was still down.

Before Monster CatNap could make another move, Alternate DogDay took him by surprise with a punch to the face. This knocked Monster CatNap down, giving Alternate DogDay the opportunity to get back up. Despite being able to stand, Alternate DogDay panted heavily, doing his best to even keep his eyes open.

As he stood up as well, Monster CatNap was about to attack before a flare suddenly hit him from behind. He turned around to realize that Kickin fired a flare from the GrabPack in an attempt to distract him.

"We're not going to let you hurt our friend!" Kickin yelled.

Just when Kickin was about to fire another flare, Monster CatNap slashed at the GrabPack with his paw and stomped it to the ground, destroying it in the process. Now that he had nothing to defend himself with, Kickin's courage and bravery was immediately replaced with fear and dread.

Kickin, along with the rest of his friends backed away in fear with Monster CatNap slowly closing in on them. As he had his prey right where he wanted them, Monster CatNap raised his claw in the air and was ready to slash, causing the Smiling Critters to shut their eyes tightly and brace themselves for the worst.

Much to their surprise, none of them felt anything. They slowly opened up their eyes and were all shocked to see Alternate DogDay standing in front of them with his back turned to them. The Smiling Critters were able to make out drops of blood falling to the ground as they all realized that Alternate DogDay protected them from the slash. There was a huge gash where Monster CatNap slashed him at, causing him to fall to his knees in pain.

"D-DogDay." DogDay gazed at his alternate counterpart in sadness.

In response, Alternate DogDay turned his head towards the Smiling Critters one last time as he gave them all a tearful smile before succumbing to his wounds and collapsing to the ground. Everyone gasped in horror as their new friend just died before their very eyes.

"DOGDAY! NO!" DogDay ran to his friend's aid, but knew that there was nothing he could do other than cry over his dead body.

Feeling just as devastated as DogDay, Kickin glared at Monster CatNap with rage filled tears. "You! You monster!"

"You'll pay!" Hoppy yelled as she and Kickin rushed forward to attack Monster CatNap in anger.

"Kickin! Hoppy! No!" CatNap reached out in horror.

Thinking fast, CatNap threw his long tail and wrapped it around Kickin and Hoppy. He then pulled them both back right as Monster CatNap was ready to swipe his claw at them, allowing Kickin and Hoppy to just barely avoid death by a single inch.

"He's too dangerous! We have to leave now!" CatNap yelled.

It was at that moment when the Smiling Critters rushed to the portal before jumping in one by one. Once they returned to their home, they gazed at the other side of the portal to see Monster CatNap charging at them.

"Aaah! Quick! We have to destroy the machine!" Hoppy yelled before taking Bubba's invention in her paws.

She then threw the machine at a tree so hard, it caused the invention to set off sparks. Right when Monster CatNap was about to escape into the Smiling Critters' world, the portal disappeared at the last moment.

After taking a couple of deep breaths, Bubba turned to Hoppy with an annoyed look. "Uh, thanks for saving us, Hoppy, but you do know you could have just turned off my invention, right?"

"Oh, right! Oops!" Hoppy gave a nervous smile.

"Wait a minute! What about CatNap?" DogDay remembered before he and the rest of his friends rushed over to CatNap, who was still sleeping.

Everyone surrounded CatNap, each of them trying to shake him awake. Sensing his friends' presence, CatNap slowly opened his eyes.

"CatNap, you're okay!" DogDay exclaimed, embracing CatNap in a tight hug.

"Okay, DogDay! You really need to know I'm not much of a hugger." CatNap suddenly said before placing a paw up to his throat in surprise. "I-I can still speak?!"

"Incredible! It seems that our recent adventure has triggered a new development for your voice box!" Bubba exclaimed. "This has been one strange adventure!"

"I'll say! Not to mention dangerous too, and that's coming from me!" Kickin commented. "It's a good thing we all made it back safely!"

"Not all of us." Picky looked down in sadness.

The rest of the Smiling Critters remained silent as they thought back to Alternate DogDay's sacrifice. If it hadn't been for him, none of them would be here. Despite that, they wished there could have been a way to save him. If they saved him, he could have stayed with him in their world, where he could have smiled everyday. The silence was soon broken when Crafty burst into tears over the loss of her friend.

"Poor Alternate DogDay! He didn't deserve to be killed like that! He deserved a happy ending just like the rest of us!" Crafty cried.

To make her feel better, Bobby embraced Crafty in a comforting hug. "It's going to be okay, Crafty. Alternate DogDay doesn't have to suffer anymore pain from Monster CatNap. He-He's with his friends now." Bobby assured, unable to hold back her tears either.

Feeling bad for his friends, CatNap spoke up. "Everyone, I'm sorry that you have all gotten dragged into this. None of you should have had to go through the horrors you just witnessed."

DogDay took CatNap's paw before he said, "Hey, you're okay now. That's all that matters! Just remember, you don't have to have to deal with this alone! We're all here for you no matter what!"

Touched by DogDay's words, CatNap gave a grateful smile. "DogDay, thank you! Thank you all! I'm happy to call you my best friends!"

"We feel the same about you, CatNap!" DogDay smiled. "After that intense adventure, I'd say we should all get some sleep!"

With their adventure now over, the Smiling Critters all returned to their homes to get some sleep. As they got in bed, all of the Smiling Critters drifted off to sleep, each of them experiencing pleasant dreams, CatNap included. After all the nightmares he suffered the past few days, CatNap was happy to finally get a good night's sleep.

During the excitement of the adventure, Bubba forgot to bring his Dream Machine back home. The invention laid broken on the ground with its lights just barely functioning. Just when it seemed like the invention would shut down for good, a bunch of sparks suddenly emitted from the machine. It began to spark more and more until it had just enough power to create another portal. With a new portal now created, a giant purple claw reached out from the other side and into the Smiling Critters' world.

AN: Surprise! I'm ending this chapter on a cliffhanger! The ending for this chapter is meant to set up the last few chapters I have planned for the whole story! That part would still be several chapters away anyway, so I'll go back to writing the more lighthearted chapters of the story for awhile!