Chapter 2: Changed Times

A year has passed since CraftyCorn's sacrifice. Without her, these critters are no longer smiling with each other. Adulthood has arrived for them since some are either in their Junior or Senior year of high school. Let's take a look at two of them right now.

It was 7AM on a bright Wednesday morning in the city of Crittopia. A place full of critters with whatever they do to support one another.

A purple cat was fast asleep on his bed until the alarm at 7AM went off, causing him to wake up in sweat. He looked at the alarm and turned it off. He sighed as he lays back down. Then, someone knocked on the door to his bedroom.

"Rise and shine, CatNap!" A Masculine voice hollered from the other side,

"Ugh! Give me 5 minutes!" CatNap said full of angst,

"Come on, you don't want to be late!"

"I never had, but I want to."

An orange dog came in.

"Come on, get up." He said, "I'm making breakfast."

CatNap sighed as he slowly got up.

"Fine." He said as he got the blanket off of him, "I'll meet you downstairs, DogDay…"

"Good!" DogDay said as he leaves CatNap's room,

CatNap sighed.

Later, toasted bread came out of the toaster as DogDay puts them on a plate. CatNap was at the small kitchen table, eating bacon and eggs while looking at them. DogDay puts his eggs and bacon in between the toasted bread as a sandwich and sat across the small kitchen table from CatNap.

"So, how did you sleep?" DogDay asked,

"...Better than usual, but still, I've been getting horrible dreams…" CatNap replied,

"Oh… It's about her, yeah?"

"Yes, CraftyCorn… Ever since she sacrificed herself so that whoever dueled her a year ago wouldn't come after us, things have changed…

"...Yeah, I can see why…"

"There were two of us moving to this apartment together just so I can isolate myself from the others…"

"One example of that…"

CatNap sighed again as he ate more of his bacon.

"Hey, do you remember when I used to watch you guys sleep?" He asked DogDay,

DogDay laughed nervously.

"Y-Yeah, that's a bit disturbing…" He replied,

"It sure as hell is, I want to let that crap go to begin with." CatNap said,

The two chuckled a bit.

After a nice breakfast together, the two were ready for another day in high school.

"Ok, I got my cup of coffee." CatNap said as he finished making coffee from a brewing machine, "And my school bag. I'll meet you outside."

"Wait!" DogDay said, stopping CatNap from going outside, "You forgot something!"

"Huh? What is it?"

DogDay showed CatNap a charm with a crescent moon on it. CatNap sighed.

"Do I have to?" He said,

"Duh! Everyone is wearing them!" DogDay replied, "It's for good luck!"

"Right…"

DogDay puts CatNap's charm over his neck as CatNap is now wearing his charm. He looked at it and sighed.

"I wish it was a bed." He said, "Otherwise, I would be sleeping all the time."

"Well don't lose that focus." DogDay said as he puts on his charm with a sun on it,

"...Yeah, I guess I won't, which is why I got coffee with me."

"Good. Let's head out!"

The two left their apartment and out of the building where the other apartments are at and were outside. They then walked to high school together while CatNap was drinking coffee from his reusable drinking cup.

"Man, things are different…" CatNap said, "TVs, phones…"

CatNap looks at a critter with a deck of cards.

"...And this popular card game…" He said,

"Oh, Duel Monsters?" DogDay said, "Yeah, it is quite popular ever since it was brought to our world for no reason… The rest was history when we discovered them."

CatNap drinks some of his coffee.

"Yup…" He said,

Later, it was 12PM. Lunchtime for CatNap and DogDay.

CatNap was eating a tuna sandwich while DogDay was eating a slice of pizza. The two were drinking cartons of chocolate milk with it.

"Man, class was long…" CatNap said, "I wish I could skip or sleep through it, but I can't."

"Come on, that caffeine always helps you!" DogDay said,

"Well I always drink a nice cup of coffee every school morning…"

"And you always put sugar in it."

"Just to make it sweeter…"

CatNap took a bite of his tuna sandwich.

"By the way…" He said after gulping his bite down, "How's the other critters doing?"

"Still trying to contact 2 of them." DogDay replied, "I only got 3 of them on good terms with me."

"And who are they?"

"They are–"

Then, a fight broke out, outside of the cafeteria. The two saw the fight breaking out between two critters.

"Damn." CatNap said, "Both of them got their good luck charms outside of their homes."

"They did, but I never saw them act like that…" DogDay said,

"Me neither… Is it the vapes or whatever you call them?"

"Electronic cigarettes? Could be…"

"Do any of them have… red smoke… in them?"

DogDay was shocked.

"N-No, why do you say that?" He wondered,

"Well, sometimes, before CraftyCorn's sacrifice, I always use red smoke to help me sleep peacefully."

"Isn't that a drug?"

"Yes, and no. I didn't abuse it, so there's that."

"Oh, that's good."

"But I guess there's another kind of red smoke that makes the other critters here go crazy…"

"In a giggly mood?"

"No, that's for hospitals and dentists."

"...Right… Let's just move on, I'm getting scared talking about it."

"Alright, sorry for bringing it up."

"No, it's fine."

3:10PM. The school day was over for CatNap and DogDay.

The two left and were walking back to their apartments.

"So… I guess that fight we saw happening sorta made me forget what I was gonna say to you." DogDay said,

"It was something about who you were on good terms with."

"Oh! Right! One of them was–"

CatNap stopped walking, which started to concern DogDay all of a sudden.

"...CatNap?" He wondered, "Why did you stop?"

CatNap sniffed something.

"Do you smell that?" He said to DogDay,

DogDay sniffed something as well."

"I do…" He replied,

CatNap sniffed more.

"It smells like… ylang-ylang…" He said,

DogDay gasped.

"No… Don't tell me…" He said,

CatNap turned around.

"And it might be coming from Verygreen Park!" He said as he ran,

DogDay was shocked.

"H-Hey! Wait up, CatNap!" He said as he ran to catch up with him,