AN: So, I decided to make a new story relating to the Poppy Playtime characters, the Smiling Critters! This is going to be a little different from my usual story. Instead of writing a story that focuses on one long adventure, this story would have a different plot for each chapter, as if this story is an actual tv series for the Smiling Critters! For the first chapter, who better to start off focusing on than the leader of the Smiling Critters, DogDay! I hope you enjoy this first chapter!
Chapter 1
A New Day, A New Adventure
In a far away village, there lived a group of animals known as the Smiling Critters. The Smiling Critters have been the closest of friends and have done everything together. Everyday, they would engage in fun activities together and today was no different!
One day, morning came and the sun rose over the house of the leader of the Smiling Critters, DogDay. DogDay was an anthropomorphic dog who had orange fur and a pendant of a sun around his neck. As the sunlight beamed down on him, DogDay slowly opened his eyes. He looked to the clock at the side of his bed to see that it was 10 o clock. He soon closed his eyes once more before his eyes suddenly opened wide as he realized something.
"Oh no! I'm late!" DogDay sprang out of bed when he realized that he was supposed to meet up with his friends.
With no time to waste, DogDay rushed through his morning activities as he quickly ate his breakfast and brushed his teeth.
"I can't believe I overslept! What kind of leader keeps his friends waiting like this? I hope the others aren't too mad at me!" DogDay said to himself before rushing out the door.
Meanwhile, DogDay's friends were waiting at their meeting spot as they waited for their leader. Just like DogDay, the rest of his friends were anthropomorphic animals, including a blue elephant with a pendant of a lightbulb around his neck named, Bubba Bubbaphant, a yellow chicken with a red star pendant around his neck named, Kickin Chicken, a green rabbit who had a lightning bolt pendant around her neck named, Hoppy Hopscotch, a pink pig with an apple pendant around her neck named, Picky Piggy, a red bear with a heart-shaped pendant around her neck named, Bobby Bearhug, a white unicorn with a blue colored mane and tail and a rainbow colored flower pendant around her neck named, CraftyCorn, and a purple cat with a crescent moon pendant around his neck named, CatNap.
For the past couple of minutes, they all waited for DogDay so they could all spend the day together. As the minutes went by, the Smiling Critters started to get bored with some of them being more patient than others.
"What's taking DogDay so long?" Hoppy complained. "If he doesn't show up soon, we'll miss out on playing soccer."
With a smug grin, Kickin approached Hoppy and said, "Hate to tell you this, Hoppy, but we are going to play basketball when DogDay shows up!"
A competitive grin appeared on Hoppy's face before she replied, "Oh no. I hate to tell you this, Kickin! You would be disappointed when DogDay says we are going to play soccer!"
"Basketball!"
"Soccer!"
"Basketball!"
"Soccer!"
Before Kickin and Hoppy could argue anymore, Bobby stood between them, pushing them away from each other with her hands.
"Okay, let's not argue. We're all friends here! Whatever DogDay has planned, I'm sure that we would all have a fun time!" Bobby assured.
"I'm fine with whatever we do today as long as we have enough snacks to eat!" Picky smiled before taking a bite out of an apple.
"Hopefully DogDay would be here soon. I know I remember telling him to set his alarm clock." Bubba remembered.
"Don't worry, Bubba! I'm sure DogDay would be here soon!" Crafty assured before noticing something in the distance. "Look, there he is!"
As Crafty pointed in the distance, everyone took notice of DogDay, who was running towards them as fast as he could. By the time he met up with his friends, DogDay started to pant in exhaustion.
"H-Hey, guys!" DogDay greeted, trying to catch his breath. "S-Sorry I'm late."
"It's okay, DogDay! But I have to ask. Did you forget to set your alarm again?" Bubba guessed.
In response, DogDay darted his eyes to the side with a nervous grin. "What? No! Anyway, let's discuss our plans for today! Anyone got any ideas?"
"Maybe we can go to the art museum together." Crafty suggested. "It is a nice day to admire some art!"
"While I do like the idea of going to a museum, perhaps we can go to a history museum instead. There are a lot of interesting facts we can learn." said Bubba.
"Boring! We should really do something sports related!" Kickin explained.
"Kickin is right!" Hoppy agreed. "We should do something fun and exciting!"
Before long, everyone was coming up with suggestions for what to do. As he heard everyone's suggestions, DogDay realized that half of his friends wanted to do something relaxing while the other half wanted to do something exciting. As for CatNap, DogDay honestly couldn't tell what he was thinking. It was at that point when DogDay thought that he should take his friends somewhere that is both fun and relaxing.
"I got it! How about we all go to the beach!" DogDay suggested.
After hearing DogDay's idea, his friends thought about it before they started to like that idea.
"That sounds like a wonderful idea!" Crafty exclaimed.
"Yeah! Not to mention that Kickin and I can play volleyball too!" Hoppy agreed.
"And it would be relaxing for the rest of us too!" Picky added.
"I'm just happy that the rest of my friends are happy!" Bobby smiled.
"Great! Looks like we are all in agreement! What do you think, CatNap? Want to come to the beach with us?" DogDay asked CatNap, who was the only Smiling Critter who doesn't talk.
Instead of answering, CatNap simply stared at DogDay in silence with a creepy wide smile. Even though he was already aware that CatNap never talks, seeing his unsettling smile didn't make DogDay feel any less nervous.
"Uh, okay! I'll take that as a yes!" DogDay said with a nervous chuckle.
Once the Smiling Critters were ready, they walked down a path, following DogDay, who was looking at a map. As DogDay led his friends down the path, the Smiling Critters got more and more excited for their beach day. A couple of hours had went by before DogDay noticed that there were only a few more turns they had to take before they reached the beach.
"Good news, Smiling Critters! Just a few more minutes, and we'll be at the beach!" DogDay exclaimed, much to the joy of his friends.
"That's wonderful, DogDay!" Bobby smiled. "I can really use a rest after all the traveling we had done."
Suddenly Crafty was caught by surprise when she felt a strong wind blowing through her mane. "Um, is it just me, or is it getting a little windy all of a sudden?"
It wasn't long before everyone else started to feel the strong wind as well. As DogDay felt the wind blowing towards him, he started to lose his grip on the map. He tried hanging on to the map for as long as possible, but it soon flew out of his paws.
With the map now flying away, the Smiling Critters ran after it, each of them desperately trying to grab it. Unfortunately, they all reached a dead end when they ran towards the edge of a cliff. Now, all they could do was watch helplessly as the map drifted further and further away from them until they couldn't see it anymore.
"Well, this is just great! Now how are we going to get to the beach without a map?" Hoppy asked.
Despite what had just happened, DogDay wasn't going to let this mishap ruin his vacation with his friends. Considering how close they were to the beach, DogDay was sure that finding their way there couldn't be too difficult.
"Don't worry, everyone! I'm sure we can still find our way to the beach!" DogDay assured.
"And how are we going to do that? In case you haven't noticed, we don't have a map anymore." Kicking pointed out.
"We might not have the map anymore, but there were only a few turns left. I'm sure I have the rest of the map memorized." DogDay explained.
"Are you sure about that, DogDay?" Bubba asked, not wanting to get lost. "It did seem like a pretty complicated map."
"Of course, Bubba! I might not have as good of a memory as you do, but finding our way to the beach shouldn't be too difficult! Trust me!"
"Well, you are the leader!" Bubba agreed.
It was at that moment, when DogDay led his friends back on the path. After a few moments of leading everyone through what he hoped was the right path, DogDay suddenly sniffed the air as he picked up on a sweet scent.
Curious, DogDay followed the scent before coming across what he could make out to be a tree. All of the Smiling Critters approached it to see a bunch of mangos growing from the tree, which explained the sweet smell.
"Yum! These mangos look delicious!" Picky exclaimed. "Do you think we can take a few of them, DogDay?"
"Good idea, Picky! I'm sure we can use a few more snacks for the road!" DogDay replied before taking a few mangos, one for each of his friends.
As the Smiling Critters took a mango from the tree, they all took bites out of the mangos while continuing down the path. By the time they ate all of their food, they noticed sand all over their feet, so they just knew that they were walking in the right direction.
The sand at their feet went on and on with no end in sight. This confused the Smiling Critters because they thought they would have made it to the ocean by now. If that wasn't bad enough, it started to feel hot, even by beach standards.
"Whew! It seems to be getting a little too hot." Bobby wiped the sweat from her fur. "You'd think that we would have seen the ocean, or at the very least a boardwalk by now."
"I don't understand. I've never seen a beach this big before unless-" DogDay suddenly stopped in his tracks when he noticed a cactus in front of him. His eyes soon widened in horror when he realized the situation he and his friends were in. "Oh no. We're lost in the middle of a desert!"
"What?!" DogDay's friends gasped in unison.
After what they had went through today, being lost in a desert was the last thing they needed right now.
"Okay, when I said I wanted to go to a hot sandy place, this wasn't exactly what I had in mind." Hoppy retorted. "How are we going to get out of here?"
"Don't worry, Hoppy! I'm sure DogDay can think of a way out of here!" Bubba assured. "Right, DogDay? You always think of something."
DogDay simply gulped in response. Considering how everything just went from bad to worse, DogDay wasn't sure if he could think of a way out of here, but he couldn't let everyone know that and cause them to panic. Instead, he put on a fake smile, pretending that everything was okay.
"O-Of course! I'm sure we can find our way back to the beach in no time! Besides, I just packed us extra snacks in case of emergencies like this." DogDay raised a basket of snacks, much to Picky's delight.
"DogDay, you're a lifesaver!" Picky exclaimed.
Throughout their walk through the desert, the Smiling Critters did their best to save up on as much food as possible. Unfortunately, this didn't do any good since everyone, mainly Picky, was starving and couldn't resist eating from the basket. One by one, the food slowly disappeared to a point when everyone tried to save up on as much snacks as possible.
Before long, everyone started to feel tired and wanted nothing more than to take a rest. The heat soon got so intense, Picky started to lose touch with reality. She took one look at Kickin before imagining him as a delicious meal.
"You know, grilled chicken suddenly doesn't sound so bad." Picky said to herself before nibbling on Kickin's fingers.
Confused, Kickin glanced at Picky before he asked, "Picky, what are you doing?"
In response, Picky placed a hoof over Kickin's beak. "Shhhh. A delicious meal isn't supposed to speak." Picky said before she began to laugh hysterically.
"Guys! Maybe we should take a break! I think Picky's starting to lose it!" Kickin pointed out.
"That might be a good idea." Bubba agreed. "The sun is starting to set anyway."
"You're right, Bubba." DogDay said, unable to walk any further. "Okay, everyone! Let's all rest here for the night."
Everyone nodded in agreement as they set up a blanket that was meant for the beach. They all started to relax as they started to feel better. Even Picky recovered from the hallucinations she had earlier.
Since they weren't going anywhere anytime soon, the Smiling Critters ate some more snacks as they all looked up at the sky. Even though they were lost in the middle of the desert, they couldn't help but admire how beautiful the night sky looked. Just the sight of the moon and stars was enough for the Smiling Critters to forget their worries.
"I know that we are still lost, but it feels kind of nice watching the stars with all of you." Crafty admitted.
"Yeah! I know what you mean!" Hoppy agreed. "Seeing the night sky makes me feel like I could hop to the moon!"
Even though his friends were actually enjoying the night, DogDay still couldn't bring himself to enjoy the night sky with the others. Today was supposed to be a fun day where he spent time with his friends, but it all ended up being a disaster.
As DogDay sat down in silence, Bobby noticed that there was something wrong with her friend. After all that had happened today, Bobby couldn't blame DogDay for feeling so down.
"DogDay, don't feel sad! I promise we'll get out of this desert!" Bobby assured.
"I'm not too sure about that, Bobby." DogDay let out a depressed sigh. "It was my fault that we got stuck here in the first place."
"Hey, don't talk like that, DogDay! We all know you can get us out of here!" said Bubba.
"No, I can't!" DogDay yelled, tears streaming down his face. "I know that you all look up to me as this great leader who has all of the answers, but that's not who I am at all! Throughout the day, I have done nothing but make mistake after mistake! I was the one who lost the map and I was the one who got us lost in the middle of nowhere! Now, we're all going to die out here, and it's all my fault!"
It was at that moment when DogDay buried his head in his arms, unable to even look at his friends in the eyes. The Smiling Critters started to feel bad for their leader. They all knew that DogDay was doing his best to keep everyone safe, even if things didn't go the way he wanted them to.
Feeling back for her friend, Bobby approached DogDay and said, "DogDay, you are a great leader! We all love you and we're happy to have a wonderful leader like you!"
"You really shouldn't be so hard on yourself." Kickin added. "We all have our off days."
"We all make mistakes every now and then, and we know that you are doing your best!" Hoppy explained.
"Let's not forget that if it hadn't been for you, we would have been all out of snacks by now!" Picky reminded DogDay.
"We can't lose hope. If there is anyone who can get us out of here, it's you!" Bubba encouraged DogDay.
"You have always been there for us and now it's our turn to be there for you! Even if you don't see it, you are the best leader and friend we could ever ask for!" Crafty smiled.
Even CatNap gave a silent nod, showing that he agrees with everyone as well. Hearing how all of his friends care about him brought a smile to DogDay's face. Despite everything, they still thought of him as a good leader and friend.
"Thanks everyone!" DogDay sniffed. "You're all the best!"
"Anytime, DogDay!" Bubba smiled before letting out a yawn. "It seems to be getting late. We should all get some sleep before continuing our trek through the desert."
Everyone nodded in agreement as they all started to feel tired as well. Once all of the Smiling Critters laid down on the ground, CatNap exhaled some red smoke from his mouth to help his friends go to sleep. They all slept peacefully throughout the night, forgetting all of their worries.
After getting a goodnight's sleep, the sun rose once more, and the Smiling Critters continued their walk through the desert. They didn't get to far before DogDay suddenly stopped in his tracks. He looked around before he started sniffing the air.
"What's wrong, DogDay?" Picky asked.
"Does anyone else smell that? It smells so familiar." DogDay said, trying to remember the scent.
"I don't smell anything." CraftyCorn replied. "I don't think our noses can pick up scents as well as you do."
Before long, DogDay was able to recognize the familiar sweet smell from earlier. DogDay soon gave an excited smile as he just found a way out of here.
"I think I know where we are! Come on! Follow me, everyone!"
With that, DogDay ran in a random direction with all of his friends running as fast as they could to keep up. Much to everyone's surprise, the sand of the desert started to disappear behind them as they followed DogDay to a place with grass. None of them knew how DogDay suddenly knew where to go, but they soon got their answer when they found the familiar mango tree from earlier.
"DogDay, you did it!" Bobby cheered for her friend. "We knew you were able to get us out of there if you believed in yourself!"
"Thanks, Bobby!" DogDay smiled. "I couldn't have done it without you guys! I'm really lucky to have all of you as my friends!"
Now that they were out of the desert, the Smiling Critters decided that they should head back home since they couldn't find the beach. It was unfortunate because they all hoped to have a fun beach day together.
"You know, it's a real shame we didn't have our beach day. I was really looking forward to crushing Hoppy in our volleyball game!" Kickin bragged.
"Yeah, right! We all know that I would have won!" Hoppy countered.
As Kickin and Hoppy argued with one another, Crafty suddenly stopped in her tracks when she noticed something out of the corner of her eye.
"Everyone, wait! Take a look at this!" Crafty pointed to a nearby sign.
Curious, the Smiling Critters approached the sign to see what it read. Upon taking a closer look, they realized that the sign read, 'Sunny Beach to the left. The Endless Desert of No Return to the the right.' Reading this left everyone dumbfounded. If they had found this sign earlier, they could have easily avoided this whole mess!
"Okay, how is it that none of us noticed this?" Hoppy asked, feeling just as annoyed as the rest of her friends.
Despite that, everyone was happy knowing that they finally know where the beach really was. After the tough day that they all went through, they were all ready to finally have the relaxing beach day they were hoping for.
After walking in the right direction this time, they all made it to the beach, complete with the boardwalk and ocean. With the beach blanket and umbrellas all set up, the Smiling Critters all had a fun day together as Kickin and Hoppy played a game of volleyball with each other, Crafty and Bobby played in the ocean together, Picky relaxed as she ate snacks, and CatNap laid down on the blanket, curled up in a ball. It brought joy to DogDay seeing all of his friends so happy. Soon, Bubba stood by DogDay's side as he enjoyed this fun day as well.
"We were all able to arrive here thanks to you!" Bubba told DogDay. "Even there are times when you don't believe in yourself, just remember that you will always be our leader no matter what!"
DogDay smiled. "I will! Thank you, Bubba!"
Throughout the rest of the day, the Smiling Critters enjoyed the rest of their beach day while DogDay took a well deserved nap on his beach chair. Even though he was sure there would be times he would struggle as leader, DogDay was happy knowing that his friends would always be there for him.
AN: Well, that's the end of the first chapter! It was a pretty fun chapter to write! While I'm still not sure how long the whole story is going to be, I hope to focus at least one chapter on each of the Smiling Critters! I unfortunately won't be able to work on this story as often as my other story, but I hope to publish the next chapter in early October. Anyway, thank you to everyone who read the story, and I hope you are enjoying it so far!