Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The rain outside poured heavily, this was unusual, it’s summer why was it raining so bad? Dogday somberly looked outside, the dropping rain made it almost impossible to see the outside garden. A heavy sigh left the other, since it’s such a bad day, that meant that it was a boring one too.

Dogday wasn’t an inside person, if you wanted to find him, he was most likely outside. But sitting there looking outside the window wasn’t fun either. So instead of waiting for the next day to pass agonizingly slow, he decided he’d call up or in this case, text one of his friends.

Grabbing his phone, Dogday looked through his chat logs for the right person, and soon enough his attention landed on a blurred profile picture. The picture was of someone attempting to make one with a friend, but the other, embarrassed at being recorded, hid away his face.

…That was the profile he’d chosen for his best friend, Catnap. He never really liked getting his picture taken, always has been a quiet type. But that’s what he liked about him, and it really didn’t bother him at all.

After entering the chat they shared, Dogday questioned if they were even awake at this hour.

Dogday:
Hey! Rains not looking like it’ll stop soon, wanted to know if you’re free to talk.

After a bit of waiting, the other answered.

Catnap:
Yea.

Dogday:
Great! How’ve you been?

Catnap:
Okay.

Catnap never really was the talkative kind, hell he barely spoke outside of online chatting, mostly just using asl or hand gestures. And even if he did speak, it was only if his close friends were around. And mostly a small sentence.

…

Speaking of friends…

Dogday:
Weird question, but have you seen Liam lately? He stopped talking to us shortly after the rain started, you think it’s a fever or something?

… The chat went quiet for a second. Liam was one of Dogdays friends, he was a gentle laidback type, usually outside just like the other was. He had a love for gardening and always made different types of bouquets for them. “Every flower has its meaning” he’d say. …Dogday never figured out what they meant.

He went silent a couple of weeks ago, maybe he was just waiting out the rain? He must’ve been worried sick about his plans. Maybe they should check up on him? He’s getting worried. This wasn’t like him, he’d never stay quiet for this long.

Dogdays attention was brought out of his thoughts as his phone pinged.

Catnap:
No. Why would I have seen him?

Dogday sighed deeply.

He started to type out his response before he got interrupted.
Yeah… sorry it’s just that I-

Catnap:
You worried about him?

Right on the mark, as always. After giving a quick “Yeah.” In response he started to wait for catnaps answer again. …Maybe he should suggest they’d check up on him? No, it’s raining, pouring even. Catnap would not talk to him for weeks if he dragged him out in the rain. …but this is about a friend, Catnap liked him too, so he’s sure he wouldn’t be too mad.

Ah screw it.

Dogday:
Could we…check up on him? I wouldn’t want him to be sad about anything.

Catnap:
Have you seen the outside? I’m not going out there.

Dogday:
Please? I promise we won’t be in the rain too long! I’ll bring lots of raincoats so that you won’t get wet at all.

Was he being too forceful? If he didn’t need to go he didn’t have to. Maybe he should take that back-

His phone pinged again.

Catnap:
…
Don’t have to do that. I’ll be at his house in 20 minutes. I’m kinda worried too, so I’m all for it.

Ah, ah okay thank god. He didn’t need to make it more awkward by apologizing, he knew that Catnap cared about him too. Still though he tapped out an apology, just in case he offended the other.

Dogday:
Really?? Aw thanks a lot! I’m sorry if I came off a little too forceful, if you don’t want to it’s fine.

Catnap:
‘S fine. I’ll be seeing you.

…

Dogday:
I’m still bringing those coats, y’know, just in case you need em :).

Catnap:
Don’t really need em but, Kay.

And just like that, Dogday was off. Grabbing the coats as promised, he started to walk out the door when he stopped. Thinking for a moment he grabbed his phone out of his pocket, he had to tell Liam they were coming over, it would’ve been rude to just barge in like that.

Scrolling over to his chat showed his profile, he was a tall, beige collared lion. Most of him was just a solid color up until the mane, which was a more darker tone than his fur. For what he lacked in color variety, he made up for with the plentiful of colorful accessories he put on. From earrings to flowers, he was always covered in that coat of colorful patterns every time. He never had the same look twice.

Dogday:
Hi Liam! Just wanted to say that me and Catnap are going to visit you. We’ve been worried about you.

A heavy sigh left Dogday once again as he walked out of his house and headed towards his destination.

After a while, he arrived at the house, he saw him standing there, in… what. What the-

“What are you wearing??”

Catnap looked at him, he seemed to have three layers of raincoats on him, all stapled together sloppily, he put his hoodie above his head to shield it from the rain. He had a blank expression but there was a hint of smugness in it as well. …he really doesn’t like rain huh?

“After I brought a coat for you too-“ and then catnap just nonchalantly takes the coat he was holding and puts that one on too, with some effort. …

You gotta be kidding.

The canine couldn’t help but laugh. “Pfft. You’re such an idiot…I’m surprised you got here before me, are you actually trying to be less lazy?” Catnap smiled giving him a look that said; “Not in a million years.”

And then it was time to visit an old friend, the pathway leading to the door was…not in the best condition, all the greenery that had been there has now been damped and ruined by the heavy rain, mud and other gross stuff were laid out over the stone that lead to the front door.

They made it, and with a heavy breath, Dogday rung the doorbell. They waited, and waited… and waited. No one was answering, complete silence on the other end of the door. It started to unnerve the two standing there. “You think he’s still asleep?” Catnap showed his phone screen to him…, yeah no there’s no way he’d be sleeping for this long. Maybe they should just-

Then the door opened suddenly, startling both of them. There he was in the doorway, Liam, looking… a lot more disheveled than either of them expected. His mane was ruffled and dirty pieces of dust collecting inside it, his face looked tired… he looked like he was sick, very sick. His eyes were tired and droopy, bags under his eyes that quickly widened a bit as he noticed who was at the door.

“…Oh, it’s you… what are you doing here?”

He looked genuinely confused, just waving back as Catnap waved at him. He looked kinda out of it. “You haven’t seen my text?” Dogday asked with a confused look, Liam look just as befuddled back, eyes widening slightly. “You sent a text??” Quickly, he turned around and scrolled through his phone. “Oh! Uhh… I guess you did.” he turned back just as quick.

….

“You didn’t have to come all this way for me…especially with the weather outside.” Liam sighed as he moved away from the doorway to let the others in. His house looked horrible, multiple papers and junk scattered across the floor, safe to say it wasn’t pretty. “Ignore that, I couldn’t clean it up in time.”

“So, how’ve you been?” Dogday asked with some concern. As they moved across the room, Liam went into his kitchen to get some snacks and water for them all. “It’s been okay, I haven’t been able to talk to you all in a while because I was…busy. Yeah I was busy.” His voice echoed across the room. Ignoring the weird pause in his answer, Dogday just sat down on his couch which was littered with the same junk as the floor. …

After the snacks and glasses of water were placed on the coffee table, Liam sat silently on a small chair in front of the other two, it took a bit for them both to notice how weirdly he was staring at them. “Busy, huh?” Catnap signed with a clear suspicion on his face, he leaned back in the couch. It was clear that both Dogday and Catnap didn’t believe him, it was pretty obvious that something was up. Liam doesn’t talk to them for a whole week, and then when they visit him he looks like this. There was something going on, and he wasn’t telling them for whatever reason.

“I don’t think it’s far fetched to say that we don’t believe you.” Dogday continued, trying to speak as calmly as possible. Liam just sighed and grabbed the glass of water that sat in front of him. “It’s nothing to worry about.” He drank a bit of water, looking at the other two, it was pretty clear that they were still worried for him. “It’s just-“ “That you’re obviously lying?” Dogday just looked him dead in the eyes. At this point he just gave up, they’ve known each other for a while now, you can’t really hide anything from someone who knows you personally…at least Liam can’t.

“…Yeah I know. I just- I didn’t want to make you worry about me.” He hadn’t noticed that Dogday had moved out of the couch and put his hand on his shoulder. He was crouched down slightly to face him.

“I always worry about you, but that’s because I care. I care about both of you.” He looks back at Catnap for a moment and smiles. “And whatever’s going on, I’m sure we can handle it together.” He slowly moved his hand away, standing up once again. “Now tell me what happened.”

“A few days ago, something…weird appeared in my backyard. It started killing all the other plants and flowers I had put there, it looked… so out of place.” He sighs, he puts his hand on his head to try and calm himself down. “I tried to get rid of it and it didn’t work, and now I- I’m not feeling well, it’s like I’m sick.” The tension in the room increases heavily as he continues, they’re all standing up now, Dogday just anxiously listening to his story. Liam shows his arm, as he pulls away his sleeves the two of them are horrified by what they saw.

Several black lines surrounded his arm, from the middle all the way to the tip of his fingers. They looked sickly, they seemed to be where the blood vessels would be… The area around it seems to be slightly discolored, as if it was being drained by the black lines somehow.

“This is what happened once I touched it, I’m sort of freaking out right now.” The fear in his voice was prevalent as the rolled his sleeve back up and hid the arm behind his back. Whatever it was it had certainly messed him up good. “Do you have any clue what it is?”

Liam started shaking a bit. “I thought it was just a weird looking weed, but it’s clearly not that at all.” It was silent for a while afterwards, clearly, no one had any idea what to say. Dogday hugged Liam carefully, trying to avoid touching his arm. He was trying his best to comfort him. “It’ll be fine, I promise.” He looked him in the eyes. “Can we… go see it?” Liam really didn’t want to, he couldn’t risk the chance that they might get infected too. …but it’s better to show then what their dealing with rather than anything else. So with a heavy breath he nodded, leading them to his backyard, to whatever had hurt him. With Catnap pocketing the remaining snacks on the table as they went out.

They walked outside, Liam holding up an umbrella to hide away from the rain. His backyard wasn’t big or anything, it was just a square piece of land with a shed in the corner.

“Oh, ew.”

And there it was, on the floor in front of them laid… a bunch of weird vine-like plantations growing out of the ground.

They looked rotten and disgusting, a dark vermilion color was seen in the black of the vines starting from the roots and slowly fading towards the end. The area around it had decayed, killing off any form of plant life near it.

“…It wasn’t like that this morning.” Liam mumbled, he seemed panicked. “It was just a few weeds and now… Its much larger than before.” It looked almost alien in nature, and they did their best to keep their distance from it.

Dogday looked at Liam, “You think we can remove it?” The other shook his head. “Are you crazy? Did you not see what it did to me?” Liam showed his arm to insinuate it even further. While that was true, there was no way they could just leave it here. It wasn’t that grown yet, and who knows what would happen if they did let it continue to develop. And Liam couldn’t stay here, he was already weak by just a single touch of it, if he stayed near it for too long… it won’t be pretty.

Dogday racked his brain at a solution, and he quickly found one. “We could get stuff to cover our bodies, like gloves and such..” He looked at catnap, the many amount of raincoats still on him. “We could use the raincoats to protect our bodies even more, some gardening tools like a shovel or scissors could do.” …despite how simple it sounded, Liam was still worried to bits.

Dogday saw the fear in his eyes, “And if you really don’t want to, you could stay back. Me and Catnap can clear it for you so you don’t have to get near it again-“ “I’m not worried about myself, I’m worried about you two. …No, no I’ll help. I can’t let you do this alone when I was the one who dragged you into this mess.” Liam protested, his tired eyes gleaming with a hint of confidence.

“Liam, you didn’t drag us into-“ again, Dogday was interrupted. “I’ll get the stuff, you get yourself ready.” As he walked away he could be seen gripping his infested arm tightly… it must hurt a lot, Dogday felt pity for him, he had never seen him like this.

It was like seeing him through a fun house mirror, warped and weird… but still him at the end of the day. The people remaining looked at each other, both of them seeming to communicate with their minds.

They can’t really leave him alone for long, not that something might happen, it’s just that he needs someone right now. Catnap, to the surprise of Dogday, decided to try and talk with him for a bit, to try and lift his spirits…to the best of their abilities.

Rummaging through his dusty shed he was looking for the stuff they needed. Gloves weren’t hard to find, they sat in the corner of the room on an old wooden crate, but for the rest it was pretty tricky.

It could’ve been the sickness he had, lack of sleep or something, but he just couldn’t find anything else. Keep in mind that this place was a huge mess, finding the right equipment would be like trying to find a needle in a haystack.

After a bit of frantic searching, he noticed someone had moved behind him. He quickly turned around to see Catnap leaning on the side of the entryway, “Need help?” He signed. “…Dogday tell you to see me?” Liam saw right through this, he knew better than that … he knew they meant well, it was just getting annoying. Catnap sighed. “No, I came by myself, you really shouldn’t be acting like any of this is your fault.”

… He was right, obviously, but it was just hard to accept that fact. He really didn’t know Catnap as well as he did the other, so to think that he himself wanted to talk to him was already surprising. …Maybe he was being too paranoid, they offered to help take care of the weird weeds outside, that’s what he wants right?

It’ll be fine. He’ll go see a doctor once this is all over and it’ll be a-okay… or is that wishful thinking? “Yeah you’re right, sorry about that, you can kinda understand why I’m freaking out huh?” Catnap nodded with a smile. he then started helping him with his search, looking around for the remaining stuff.

“So, anything interesting happen lately?” Liam tried to do small talk. Catnap shrugged, nothing new to really mention. “You told your parents?” Catnap enquired. A lump caught in the Lion’s throat for a moment, “Not yet, they’re on a business trip, I’ll tell them once we get rid of that.”

After a while of searching they found everything they needed and started to make their way back, Dogday was still observing the vines from a safe distance until he saw the two of em standing there. “Feeling better?” He asked as he grabbed the gloves Liam gave him and put them on. “Yeah, thank you.”

After they had put everything on, Dogday grabbed a pair of garden scissors and approached, as they slowly approached the vines, he noticed something.. They were moving? Why were they moving? The creepy plantations moved around eerily whenever Dogday tried to cut a piece of it off, almost as if it was alive… it slithered like a worm would and quite frankly, it scared him half to death.

He tried to cut it again but it was strong, no matter how he cut it it never broke off, maybe a shovel would help? “That’s…creepy.” he looked towards catnap, who held the shovel he needed. “Hey I might need some help-“ before he could finish that sentence he felt something grab onto his arm with force, he looked back and saw the vines had wrapped itself around his entire arm. There was something else there too… some sort of black substance that moved along with the vines.. Without warning, he was suddenly pulled downwards by it, he could barely scream before the orange dog disappeared inside the vines…

The two stood there in shock, completely shaken up as they just saw what happened to their friend. … “Did it eat him?!” Liam screamed, immediately getting closer to the weird area on the ground until Catnap stopped him, holding one arm in front of the other. “Wh- what’s with you?! We need to go help him! We-…huh?”

Catnap pointed towards the middle of the heap, it wasn’t just a bunch of weeds… there was something else, something opened up in the middle of the vine heap. It was a crack in the ground, the inside of it was completely dark. The depth of it completely unknown. “Is that…” The other nodded, that must’ve been where he was pulled too…

“…do you think he’s…” Liam looked blankly at the hole in the floor. Catnap shook his head, no, Dogday’s strong, he can make it, Catnap’s sure of it. But helping won’t hurt, and Catnap had on a plan, even if it was a risky one.

…

“Ugh..” Dogday groaned, slowly standing up, how long was he out for? He glanced at his phone, his vision was so blurry he could barely read it. He put his phone away with a sigh. A sharp pain suddenly hit him as he put his hand on his head, and was shocked when there were traces of blood on his fingers.

He had hit his head pretty hard, he hoped it wouldn’t be too bad.. Looking around the area he could barely see anything, only a thick mist that had enveloped most of his vision, he wasn’t sure if it was his head playing tricks on him or not, but he could’ve sworn he heard voices coming from somewhere.

His head swirled as a foul stench came from..somewhere. He tried his best to focus his vision to see anything at all, and he must’ve regretted that right after. He wasn’t in some cave or weird hole in the ground, he recognized this place, in fact, he walked past this exact area while heading towards Liam’s house. “Town square?.. but how?” It looked like the place he knew but it also was warped and unfamiliar to him.

Before he could finish that thought, soon after a weird noise was heard from above him, he looked up quickly only to see some sort of figures descending towards him. He moved out of the way and saw the familiar figure land softly on the ground, another one falling shortly after. “You two? Oh I’m so happy you-…is that a garden hose?” Catnap held a green hose with his left hand and soon let go, the make-shift rope softly swinging back and forth.

He noticed that they both wore masks now too along with all the other stuff they put on to act as crappy protection against… whatever this stuff was. “Is this the town square?…How is that even possible?” Liam had asked as Catnap gave Dogday a similar mask to his. He noticed something, he pointed towards the side of Dogday’s head with a worried look on his face. He must’ve noticed his bleeding head. “Oh.”

Dogday put his hand on Catnap’s shoulder, softly squeezing it. “Don’t worry, I’ll be fine, promise.” A nod of acknowledgment was given from the other but Dogday knew that he was still worried. He always worried about him specifically, it was sort of endearing in a way.

Liam looked at the both of them and sighed. Trying not to gag as the vine he had stepped on made a weird squelching sound. “Okay. I have no clue where we are or what’s happening, but we need to get out of here as soon as possible.” A glance was given towards Dogday’s injury. “That wound will only get worse if we don’t treat it, and none of us know anything about first aid so-“

Catnap raised his hand, as if he was a student waiting for the teacher to let him answer a question. Dogday chuckled at this, “Catnap, all you did was bandage my leg that one time when we were kids.” Catnap responded with sign again, with a deadpan look on his face. “If it’s anything like that, it’ll be fine.” “That was a scratch wound! First aid is Bobby’s thing.” Catnap just ignored Dogday’s rebuttal as he grabbed something out of his pocket, it was a pair of bandages.

“Is- do you just carry random stuff around with you?” Liam looked befuddled as Catnap just smirked at him. “Yes, and you don’t?” He mouthed something to Dogday as he started sloppily bandaging his head, it wasn’t perfect but it would do, for now. As the three of them stood there, the creepiness of the situation grew even more. Where were they even? Why was this here, why does it look so much like their own town…

“Dogday,” Liam started “We need to leave, your injury will-“ then, so sudden it made everyone’s hair stand up on end, a blood curdling scream erupted from a far. …They weren’t alone, someone else was here, and it looked like they needed help. This was going to be harrowing experience, they were sure of it.

Chapter Text

Not long after the scream erupted from far away, everyone could feel their goosebumps all over their body. Liam looked behind him frantically, “What was that?! Who was that??” He took a few steps away from where the noise seemed to come from.

And just as quick as it appeared, the scream dissipated again leaving everyone befuddled. Dogday, despite all the fear he felt, still tried to stay rational. “…Maybe they need help?” The look Liam gave him sent daggers through him, he thought it was stupid, clearly. “Are you on something? Do you have any idea how stupid of an idea that is?”

Dogday nodded, he was well aware, but… “What if more people like me fell down here? That had to be what the screams were, they’re probably lost and scared… and…” Dogday looked at his finger the blood from before it was drying on his finger tips. Liam sighed he knew what he was gonna say next. “You want to save them, you really haven’t changed,huh?”

Dogday moved his fingers away as he put his hand on his hip. “What’s that supposed to mean?” Liam smirked slightly looking away dramatically before turning back quickly. “Nothing, it’s nothing, you really wanna go help?” “I mean-“ Dogday showed the garden scissors like it was a sharp knife. “we have weapons, I’m sure we’ll be fine.” “I don’t think my gardening tools really count as weapons-“ ….This time it wasn’t a scream, it was a growl, a monstrous roar that bellowed around them once again. …

“Okay yeah! Garden weapons, cool, cool.” Liam rummages through his pocket and picks up a small pocket knife. It looks quite pathetic compared to the others, but it’ll do… hopefully. “Okay, so, whatever that was certainly didn’t sound…friendly.” Catnap stared at Liam with a look that screamed “You think?” He stared at Dogday, the other looked back and nodded. “Yeah, let’s be careful, whatever’s down here doesn’t sound pretty. Let’s try to find that person, Catnap, stay close to me okay?” Catnap just softly shuffled closer to him as Dogday held his “weapon” tightly.

And without much of a fuss, they slowly but surely made their way through the horrific scenery around them. It was…unnerving to say the least, it’s like they were back in a familiar place, but this wasn’t like that. It was different, strange, unknown, and it didn’t help that the foul smell hadn’t left.

Every time they walked, they could feel the vines from under them writhe in pain, or what seemed like pain. The walk was agonizing, every sound made all of them jump, the mist made their traversal even harder as they squinted their eyes more and more to at least see a little better.

Dogday lead this weird march, the taller purple cat walking behind him, it was like Dogday had glued Catnap to his back or something he was that close. They walked…and walked… and walked until they all grew tired. It was like it never ended, it felt like the neighborhood around them was warping and twisting to keep them going forever.

Liam looked up into the sky, no stars were visible at all, better yet, there was absolutely nothing in it at all. “No moon and no sun… how is that even possible?”He could feel the others stare at him as he talked to mumbled to himself, they probably didn’t hear him well. “No that’s not-… even if there is no sun or moon, something has to be lighting this place up, otherwise I’d be pitch black.” Just like clockwork a familiar sound of a vine being stepped on rang in his ear.

Trying not to gag again, he looked down and sure enough, there was those same vines. The red inside their blackened form glowed ominously, Liam looked back towards the familiar yet strange world, and saw that all the vines were emanating that exact same shine. …”That explains it, somewhat…” whether or not this was the case, no one wanted to stand there for much longer.

They continued to walk, after a while one of them stopped. Catnap squeezed Dogday’s shoulder and he stopped to look at him, “What’s up, you alright?” The purple figure then pointed towards an area in the darkness, it took a while for Dogday to notice what he was pointing at. It was a trail of blood, fresh blood, the puddle of red snaking its way towards the bellowing shadow ahead, that must’ve been a clue. “Oh..oh no..” Liam mumbled as he noticed the trail too.

Dogday looked at Liam to try and get him to say something else but he stood there silently panicking. There was no other choice but to check it out, besides they were armed, well mostly. Following the bloody marks led to somewhere, a place that looked, familiar.

The darkness gave way to what clearly resembled something familiar. It was a house, but not just any house, it was his, his own home. A faint smell of blood came through the heavy stench surrounding them, could this be were the screams where coming from? The blood led inside, yeah this had to be the place… but why in his house?

Dogday’s house looked disheveled and abandoned, it looked like it was never even allowed to be lived in in the first place. The same vines from the ground rose up to envelop the house walls, it looked almost glued to it. “Is-is that…my house? Why is the trail leading here?” And just to make sure it was this place, that familiar scream erupted from inside the household.

The broken windows looking like they were about to shatter even more. “Oh! Just great!” For some reason, the scream sounded familiar to Dogday, as if he heard this voice before. It made him want to see what was inside more than ever, even if it freaked him out. Slowly but surely Dogday shuffled towards the front door of his home with Catnap silently walking behind him.

The canine could feel the others grip on his arm, it was locked tight barely not enough force put on it for it to actually hurt, but still attached firmly to him. He must’ve been scared… It took a bit for the both of them to notice that they were the only ones walking towards the house.

“Liam? You okay?” The look he must’ve given off must’ve been horrifying, as Dogday slightly flinched at his reaction. The lion mumbled something under his breath, almost incomprehensible to Dogday. Catnap on the other hand knew how to read lips and body language like no other. The fidgeting, the shaking and the sweat trickling down his face. The unfocused eyes and heavy breaths, the clutching of his arm… However, the only thing he could make out of the mumbling was a simple, “Why.”

They stared at him like he was crazy, he hated it.

“Don’t look at me like that! …Why, why is it here. It’s your house, why is it in your house.” He pointed towards Dogday and then towards the broken household behind them, he paused, heavy breaths continued once again. “I don’t know! You think I’d know??” The canine could feel the cat’s grip on him loosen as he moved to face him.

Liam put his un-infested hand on his face and let out an agonizing sigh. “I-… we don’t even know what’s down here. And whatever’s in there, it wouldn’t take kindly to us barging in, Dogday. If we go inside there is no going back. You know that, right?” Those words hit deep, Liam was only speaking the truth.

Dogday looked at Catnap, he saw the frantic expression in his face, the clear discomfort and fear of the situation had gotten to them, they couldn’t stop now. They were already to far in to stop. “…We’ll face it together, right Catnap?” Catnap wanted to disagree, deep down, he was scared, fearful of what could happen to them. But he just stood silent, completely ignoring the others question.

Staying quiet was what he always did, just stand there in the corner, watching as the world moved on without him… It was easier this way, for him, for all of them… He didn’t want to take up space, his voice, his opinion, they weren’t important. …He wasn’t important-

“Coward.”

Dogday seemed to notice Catnap’s sudden jolt and started to put his arm over the purple feline, “What’s wrong?” Catnap didn’t respond, clearly shaken up by-…something. Liam sighed, he looked at the orange dog, then to the other taller one fearfully standing there shaking, then to his arm… he looked at it somberly and then back to the canine trying to comfort the other.

He was tired of the pointless arguments, done with the endless bickering. He was running out of time fast. If he wants to be worth something, he has to do it now, otherwise he might… he coughed rather loudly, luring the attention of the other two. He looked at the small splotches of blood covering his palm, he knew what it meant.

“…I’m already too far gone anyway.” He whispered softly. “W-what was that?” Dogday looked at his direction. Liam hoped that he didn’t hear it but he did, of course he did, just not fully. He was just hoping Dogday would drop it, and it seemed like he did, completely shifting his attention towards Catnap again.

Liam walked past the two of them, readying himself to enter the house. “Let’s get this over with, Catnap, you want to stay outside?” Catnap didn’t seem to notice what he said at first, this was until Dogday nudged him gently which seemed to shake him awake a bit. He signed rather shakily “No…I-…I’ll go with.” Dogday asked if he was sure, and he nodded slowly, Dogday had never seen him so scared before…

Without saying a word they approached the house, standing in front of the broken door. At first it seemed like it was locked but that clearly wasn’t the case as only a small push caused the door to creek open. A quick look inside the building made it very clear, yeah this was definitely Dogday’s house. The hallway was cluttered and dusty, the vines accompanied the dark hallway, lighting up the path inside. After walking deeper in they landed in the living room, the same atmosphere as before just a lot more condensed this time. …What was that?

There was something there or rather, someone. It was a dark figure that seemed to be made entirely out of nothing but shadows. It writhed and jittered like it was struggling keeping its form constant, and then it got even worse. It started crying, soft sniffling turning into agonizing cries.

“What in the…” Liam muttered with a confused tone. And then he was promptly confused even more as Dogday started to move in the shadowy figures direction. He braced himself for whatever came next, making sure Catnap stayed behind him.

Its body continued to struggle as Dogday approached, gripping the garden scissors tight. It seemed… familiar, the figure resembled someone, but Dogday couldn’t remember who or what. The cacophony of weeping continued as he approached, the sound of it hurting his ears more and more. He stopped as he was close enough, he wasn’t that far to it, but not close enough so that it could actually jump at him.

It jerked suddenly, it moved even more aggressively as Dogday started to panic even more. The cries became even more and more loud and frantic, the shadowy figure then suddenly…melted? It phased into the ground, losing all of its humanoid features and becoming more like a huge puddle of sludge… it changed, it adapted, it’s not crying anymore. The creature seemed to be…laughing?

The voice shifted from a low deep voice to a high pitched one endlessly, almost as if it was tuning its voice to its liking. It sounded monstrous but also robotic as the laughter became more like something that wasn’t familiar at all. Then it grew once again its dark mass struggling to hold shape, it turned… and Dogday was met with two glowing eyes starring back at him, or at least what seemed to be eyes.

Without a second thought, the creature lunged at the canine, only to be swiftly hit with a shovel, the shadow being pushed back into the dresser behind it. The items on top of the dresser fell onto the creature, it didn’t seem to hurt the creature at all as it kept laughing. It stood up almost immediately as it turned towards the two standing there. Dogday laid on the floor as someone stood in front of him.

Liam stood there holding the shovel Catnap originally had, standing in front of Dogday with a fearful but determent face. He stared at the creature as it moved closer, almost paralyzed in fear as it lurched forward. Liam tried to hit it again but this time the small creature grabbed the shovel, even though it didn’t have a mouth Liam could feel it grinning at his attempts to harm it. It stared at his arm for a split second before Liam pushed the shovel away from him, the sudden movement caused the creature to be pushed back yet again.

“Argh! Dogday, stop standing there and move!” Liam shouted as Dogday was immediately shook out of his daze as he stood up. He walked back quickly, looking behind him se saw Catnap standing there in fear. The creature laughed, it moved back towards Liam again, it kept staring at Liam’s arm… almost as if it was taunting him.

“What is that thing?!” “I-I don’t know, hurry up and get to the exit!…Dogday?” Liam briefly looked behind him and saw Dogday looking at where they had entered, he was shocked by something. “What’s wrong?”

What Liam couldn’t see was that the doorway was covered by shadows…no, it’s the same creature as the one in the living room. There’s more of them, and they were creeping inside, laughing along with the other one. Liam heard the laughter increase and looked back at the shadow in the living room, immediately, Liam pulled the two friends away, almost dragging them upstairs as the shadows followed behind.

Millions of thoughts flowed through Liam’s mind, what was it, did they try to use the screaming to lure them here, was it toying with them?.. Dogday shouted directions as they moved throughout the house, all the doors were locked except for one, the door to Dogday’s room. As they entered Liam locked the door behind him, hoping it’ll hold long enough for them to figure out something to stop them.

“What do we do?! There’s more of those things!” Catnap stood behind Dogday completely silent as Dogday held his hand tight, none of them noticed this though. Liam started breathing heavily, beads of sweat coming from his forehead. He suddenly jolted as a sudden pain hit him, he gripped his arm in agony as he pulled off the gloves he had on to see why this was happening. …The black markings had grown, he was running out of time.

“…Guys.”
He looked at the two of them, a pained smile on his face appeared as he continued. “I don’t think I’ll make it, I can’t feel my body anymore.” The other two looked at Liam either shocked or confused, this really wasn’t the right time to be saying this. “Do you have any ideas on how to get out of here? I’d really like to hear it-“ He put the glove back on, cringing as it grazed his itchy skin.

Dogday’s brain racked at any solution he could think off, he couldn’t think of anything. The shadows banged on the door, that eerie laughter accompanying it every time it hit against the door. “I don’t know, I can’t think straight!” The banging continued, the creature slamming its whole body against it. It kept going on and on for what seemed like an eternity, until the door broke open with a loud crack and the shadow flooded in the room. The creature was a lot bigger, the shadows seem to have merged somehow as it moved closer to them all.

…

He couldn’t move, why couldn’t he move? Catnap struggled to keep steady as the world seemed to slow around him.

Is this the end? It can’t end like this right? …He wanted to run, scream, cry, he couldn’t feel his legs. He started breathing heavily, uneven breaths rang in his ears as he kept starring at the creature that was closing in. He needed to run, he couldn’t, he has to do something. It’s going to kill them and he’s just standing here.

He heard voices, voices of people he cared for, this was going to be the last time he heard them. He started to tremble, his legs began to feel like they were never there in the first place. What was he doing, he needed to do something, anything. And yet he couldn’t even muster enough energy to move an inch, the shadow creeped closer, he could almost hear its laughing in his head. He felt hopeless, why was he such a coward? …

A different voice came to him… it sounded gentle, yet precieze as it spoke to him. The voice rang through his ears, muffled yet somewhat clear. No one else seemed to hear it though as Dogday was just standing In front of Catnap, trying in anyway to shield him from the approaching creature. He tried to reach out to him, to say anything, even a single word would do.

“Calm yourself.”

He couldn’t, as much as he tried he just… can’t. He felt parts of his body ache as the feeling of hopelessness waved through him. He tried his best to calm down as the voice instructed, it was difficult but he needed to get it done, otherwise he’ll never get to tell him that… Failed attempts at regulating his breathing later and he was somewhat calm… but he couldn’t hear it anymore, that voice.

And just like that, the voice faded just as quickly as it appeared, faded away in the cats mind as he regained a few of his senses as he saw what was happening to the others in front of him. They both tried their best to hold the thing off, it towered over them now, all the smaller shadows merging together to form…whatever this was.

A tendril slammed against Dogday, launching him back into Catnap, who just barely managed to catch him. Good, he could move again… somewhat. There was a more pressing matter however, Liam was now standing face to face with the shadow, it laughed, taunting him like it was playing with its food. The infested arm stung yet again as the lion panicked at what his next move should be.

He was tired, sick, hurting, the creature was just toying with the last piece of resistance he had. A crappy shovel wasn’t going to cut it, he couldn’t fight it off, if none of them could overpower it then there was no way they could defeat it. It blocked the only way out with its body so running wasn’t an option either. …He remembered how easy it was to push the creature back in its base form, it didn’t seem to care much about how stable its appearance was…

He had an idea, he moved towards the window to the left, the creature curiously following him, slightly moving closer to him. It readied its attack, getting ready to slam into him. But as it did Liam dashed out of its way just in time, then he pushed his whole body into it, trying to use all his remaining strength to do anything.

The creatures uneven shape struggled for a minute until it stumbled on its self, crashing into the window and falling though it.

…It was gone… they were finally safe. Dogday ran up to Liam, hugging him tightly. “Woah- hey it’s okay. It’ll be okay.” Moving away from the hug he smiled at him… “I’m so glad you’re okay.” Liam’s expression shifted slightly as he knew what his fate was. “Yeah, you too.” Dogday noticed the shift and started pulling him away from the window. “Let’s get out of here-“ he heard something, something that sounded like slime, it sounded familiar… uh oh.

They both stoped moving, Dogday let go of his arms and looked at the other with fear. Liam noticed something else, black tendrils were slowly growing around the two, getting ready to grab them. “Get back!” As soon as Liam managed to push Dogday away, the tendrils latched onto the lions body tightly.

They dragged him aggressively outside the window, his screams faded as the person who once stood there was dragged away. Dogday screamed for his friends name, he rushed towards the shattered window… no one was there, no shadow, no Liam. Only the shattered glass of the window laying the alleyway.

“No, no! He can’t be…he can’t…” Catnap suddenly stood behind him, the look he gave showed something else, a small slimmer of confidence… Dogday barely noticed that he was signing to him “No time, we need to get out of here now.” Dogday turned back to the window but then nodded, Liam was gone, but they couldn’t just sit here and search for him.

Despite this however, Dogday promised himself they’d find him. This was all his fault, if he wasn’t so adamant on exploring here this wouldn’t have happened. He kept this to himself however, as they were suddenly outside the house, he must’ve been too focused on his thoughts that he hadn’t noticed they were making their way back.

All he could do in that moment was stay by Catnaps side as they made their way back.

Chapter Text

Slowly but surely they walked their way back. Carefully treading the same way they came as the strange world around them continued making noises. Those awful sounds have only gotten worse, it got annoying after a while. The mist made exploration difficult as always, blocking their vision from going too far.

It wasn’t long until Catnap suddenly pulled Dogday behind some trash cans, whatever trance Dogday was in was immediately shook off as he starred at the other, and then towards the road ahead, which was blocked by those same exact creatures from before. …Those weren’t there before.

“Why are they…never mind, let’s see if we can sneak around them.” They had no time to be questioning these things. All the other did was nod, they moved as quietly as possible, trying to avoid the small Shadows. After a while of trying to avoid them, they managed to get far enough away from the Shadows blocking the main road. They made their way through back alleys and small openings in the houses, both trying their best to stay completely quiet.

They continued walking and walking, the world looked so much like their own but none of it was in the places it should’ve been. Dogday’s house wasn’t anywhere that far away from town square, or in that area for that matter. It seemed like the endless suburbia would go on for miles and miles. …More blood stains littered the floor, despite this they needed to keep moving, they shouldn’t get distracted.

After ages of walking, they saw it, the town square…and that familiar garden hose that hung from the gaping hole in the sky. It looked like a part of reality was ripped open, leaving a soft yellow glowing slash in its wake. …It must’ve been daytime, or maybe it stopped raining? Whatever, they were so close to getting out of here.

…They heard something, that familiar slimy sound that’ll haunt them forever. They looked up, through the small alley, they saw the shadow like mass slowly droop downward onto the ground. The gurgling laughter erupted only for a minute as the two standing there both bolted out of there.

They ran as fast as they could to the town square, it wasn’t long before multiple more Shadows came crawling out of the bushes near their exist. Their uneven and struggling forms chasing after them too.

With no other options they decided to run the other direction. They kept going and going, exhaustion growing on them until… they came to a dead end in an ally. They were cornered, they tried to run back but were stopped by the Shadows by the only exit.

The Shadows moved closer, their horrid forms twisting and convulsing rapidly. They screeched, the sound sending shivers down both of their spines. Mustering whatever courage he had left, Dogday dashed forward to try and stab one of the creatures with the garden scissors.

It lodged into the creatures mass, only giving out a small dent in its figure, which it seamlessly merged back into itself.

It wasn’t working. And a part of Dogday already knew it wouldn’t, he was just desperate at this point, and it showed.

Fear struck the canine as he immediately backed away. “Crap! …What are we going to do?!” Dogday, in his panic, looked behind him to the other standing completely still. The face Catnap was completely unrecognizable, barely any noticeable emotion was detected.

Just…a blank, empty face started back into his fearful ones. Just like before… “Catnap?… Are you okay? Please answer me!” The shadow lurched at Dogday, he then let out a small yelp as he moved away from the creature.

Just like in the house, Catnap froze, again starting to panic as usual. The creatures started merging together just like before, melding together like glue. It resembled that same exact mass as before, yet slightly different this time.

They were getting surrounded, was this it, was this the end? Is Catnap just planning on standing there in fear as Dogday gets mauled? …This gave bad memories, this exact scenario happened only a few minutes prior…

Liam’s screams rang in his ears, that sound was going to haunt him for the rest of his life, he never wants to hear that again. Catnap shook his head, no. No it wasn’t going to end the same way, he wasn’t going to cower in fear anymore, never again.

Something changed inside him, he felt his entire body tingle slightly as he strengthens his resolve.

…

“You are certainly in quite the predicament, are you not?”

That booming voice echoed around his head, it’s the same one he heard before.. This time however, Catnap wasn’t allowing it to fade away again. Whatever or whoever it was, he needed it to continue talking this time.

The purple cat shook awake, seeing the growing shadows nearing them. The voice was right, and so he gave a small nod.

“You’ve always been a coward, hiding away as other people deal with your hardships, you’ve already lost one of your own because of said cowardice..”

He glanced at Dogday, the other repeatedly backing up as the now bigger shadow grew closer still. …He had relied a lot on him, perhaps too much. Even now he was trying his best to protect him as Catnap just stood there… Just like someone else did.

In the house, he felt useless, he was an idiot, letting his fear consume him and being dragged around like dead weight. If he kept going with this, who knows what might happen to Dogday, or any other of his friends.

The pure fear in their eyes, that was something he never wants to see. Catnap shivered at the thought of something bad happening to his friends and he couldn’t do anything about it.

“Isn’t it time that changes? Will the silent feline finally find his courage to stand up for himself? Or will you cower once more?”

His stance shifted, his breathing became slightly more erratic as he moved forward and softly put his hand on the panicking dog’s shoulder. “Get behind me.” He mumbled, it sounded soft yet confident in that familiar whispery tone.

He talked, that voice that the mutt had always adored.. Dogday looked behind him. …He could’ve sworn he heard the other’s voice echo somewhat. Catnap rarely spoke, only a select few knew what he even sounded like, but now of all times, he choices to talk? …A hint of confidence in his tone was recognized, was he serious??

“What? Are you insane?! I can’t just let you-“ Almost aggressively, Dogday was pushed aside. He’d never seen the cat be this forceful before, and it confused him even more. “What are you doing Catnap? You can’t fight those things.”

A mumble was heard once again, this time more clear than before. “Trust me, please.” A lump caught in Dogdays throat, it was obvious that he was scared, but putting his trust in Catnap seemed like the only option, he nodded and stood aside.

“Hahaha! My my, how wonderful indeed! It seems you finally understand. You shall hide in the shadows no longer, embrace this courage, this confidence, and let it be your strength.”

He wasn’t going to let Dogday get hurt, he’s not going to let himself be dragged down by his own fears anymore, never again.

The shadows moved, they creeped closer and closer, to the point where they could stretch out their mangily limbs and attack them. It was now or never. Dogday, still panicking, held onto Catnaps back tight, closing his eyes he waited for whatever came next.

“No need for conformation my friend, that look in your eyes says enough that you accept my deal.”

His stance shifted, his eyes focused, for some reason, it felt like his heart was burning.

“I am thou, thou art I. A new dawn arises, let the old self rest in the past forevermore, bare your claws at the evil that threatens you harm!”

…

“Call forth my name from the sea of your heart!”

A slow murmur left Catnaps mouth, Dogday could swear he heard someone’s name being called… he barely made out what he had said, it sounded like…

“Hypnos? Catnap what are-“

Before he could even finish that sentence, and as if on cue, a huge burst of air whirled around them, more specifically Catnap. The huge wave pushed all the oncoming shadows away with ease, dispersing them once more into tiny chunks.

They splatted onto the ground, agonizing screeches heard as they did so. Dogday opened his eyes, the huge gust of air the cat just created slightly pushing him off the others back. The Shadows seemed to struggle even more, they sounded somewhat…scared? What were they scared of?…

It didn’t take long for him to notice there was something above them, Dogday froze for a second.

And right above the purple feline… was…something? It looked… boney? The skinny humanoid figure was drenched in a thick cloak, it looked tattered and worn as it wrapped around its body seamlessly. From inside its chest, numerous crimson and black flowers grew from it, seemingly looking like they burst from its chest.

The creatures face was covered in the cloak, making it hard to tell what its expression was. It floated almost eerily above Catnap, no movement, only a soft glow emanating from itself. As small petals from the numerous flowers from the man’s chest fell, they seemed to disappear into thin air…

The Shadows seemed to immediately start their attack again, but this time the feline didn’t even flinch. He wasn’t scared this time. Catnap raised his hand slowly. As if on command the figure spread its arms wide, suddenly, dark energy washed out of its hands.

And then dark purple energy floated around the Shadows, giving them almost no time to react before the energy exploded. The dark figures writhed in pain as their forms started to completely give up, melting away like butter, phasing into nothingness…

And just like that, as quickly as it happened, it was over. The eerie quiet creeping in as the threat had been killed. …for now. It took a while for anyone to speak up after what just happened.

… “What?..”

“What was that?…”

Dogday would ask, almost out of breath. The figure above Catnap faded as if it had sensed that its job was done. …And just like always, Catnap just stood there silently, however, he moved closer to Dogday. An expression that the other couldn’t read at all.

No words, nothing was signed, just silence. He moved closer to the still recovering Dogday, and then he tightly hugged him. …This was new.

“Oh. …uhh.” He sighed deeply, anxiety started slowly fading, as he returned the hug he enjoyed how….warm it felt. This was a lot, the mutt was tired, exhausted even. Too many near death experiences for one day that’s for sure. He was just happy that nothing happened to them, they were safe for a little while.

“I’m glad you’re okay… I- I wouldn’t know what to do if you got hurt…” He mumbled, clearly still trying to catch his breath. They stood there for a bit, just silently hugging each other, until the grip on Dogdays shoulders suddenly weakened.

Soon after, Catnap almost fell over, going limp for only a second before he was caught quickly by the other.

“Woah! Careful there.” It seemed like a lot of energy had been drained from Catnap. He looked tired and really, Dogday couldn’t blame him, it’s been an exhausting day for both of them. However this might’ve had something to do with that thing… They’ll look into it later.

“Hey, you alright?” Dogday asked, Catnap nodded…but his eyes still showed exhaustion.

They both decided that they needed to leave now. It wasn’t safe here, not by a long shot. The best thing they could do was get the hell out of there before it gets worse. This time however, they felt a lot more protected, likely because of the giant figure that Catnap had following him around.

A few Shadows tried to attack them, and were immediately killed by the figure that just seems to appear out of nowhere. …That thing kept occupying Dogday’s mind as they made their way to the exit, slowly climbing their way out of the hellish place they were in.

As they exited, they could feel… warmth, a comforting warm light that they had missed. Being in that place really made Dogday appreciate the sun so much more. The bright sun shone on them both for what seemed like ages ago, it’s been raining for so long and now the suns finally come out. Dogday put his hand on the grass, it felt so good to be back, to not be creeped out by every single thing.

… I guess it was time to ask Catnap some questions.

“Catnap? Do you have any clue what…that even is?”Catnap shook his head, “I knew his name somehow, maybe we should just call him that?” He signed again, this was the first time he did that since he awakened to whatever power he had… The name… Hypnos was it? What kind of name is that?

Catnap then seemed to remember something, somehow, deep down, he knew a lot more about it than he himself thought. “I don’t know how, but I think it’s called a Persona?” Dogday looked confused at the other, a Persona? Dogday never heard of that in his entire life.

The confused look he gave must’ve prompted the feline to continue with his explanation. “I don’t know how I know, it’s just that…somehow, it’s engraved in my memory now.” He put his hand close to his heart for some reason, recalling what he heard the voice say not too long ago.

That voice’s words came back to him. “Call forth my name from the sea of your heart.” Sea of his heart, what does any of that even mean? Was that thing always in him, was it waiting for him? Catnap started to feel a crushing headache as he was thinking…

Whatever mess he tried to explain to Dogday clearly didn’t go through. “Y’know.. I’m way too tired to know what any of that means.” He laughed as he stood up, he looked to the ground for a second. He wanted to ask something.

“Can I-… sleep over at your house for a few days?” It took Catnap a few seconds to realize the reason why, he didn’t want to see his house after what happened… especially his room. Catnap just softly smiled and nodded, leading Dogday to smile back as well. He looked at his phone, it showed a time that couldn’t possibly be accurate to the amount of time they spent in that world. “What the-…” Oh great. Time works differently there too. Another thing to add into the list of questions about that world.

Strange noises coming from the crack in the ground lead to both of them turning towards it. “We can’t leave it like this, what if those things crawl out?” Whether or not the Shadows could actually climb or not didn’t really matter, it was still pretty dangerous to keep open.

Without saying a word Catnap raised his hand, and just like before, the figure popped out of thin air. Dark purple vines grew over the more red looking ones, covering the entrance to the other world…

How did he even do that? The Persona faded once again and now it’s just the two of them, standing in Liam’s backyard. …They’ll find him, they will be back for him.

They took off all the protective gear they had worn… Dogday hadn’t even realized the wound on his head was still there, he must’ve forgotten about it completely for a while.. A visit to Bobby was in order sometime, a simple check up would help. They walked through the Lion’s filth littered home, taking the spare keys just in case they ever wanted to go back there again…

Dogday and Catnap both made their way to the felines house, it was rather small but that really didn’t matter. As they got inside, Dogday was surprised by the amount of scented candles that were placed around, why was he so obsessed with those things again?.

Catnap started preparing the couch for the canine to eventually sleep on. As he watched this happen, thoughts flowed through his mind. What was a persona, what on earth was that world? Catnap was done with the couch and went into the kitchen to get something to drink.

…What will happen next? He concluded that there was no time to be thinking of this right now, he needed to relax a bit. They were both tired from what happened, Catnap even more so than him probably. Said feline came back with some tea, pouring it into the cups he had set up.

They’ll figure this thing out, maybe even tell their friends to help them… the latter might have to come later. Dogday had no clue on where to even begin explaining this.

For now, they both just needed to take a breather, and talk about what happened tomorrow. Catnap nudged Dogday out of his thoughts, giving him the cup filled with warm liquid. They both tiredly smiled at each other.

This was one long day, they deserved their rest.

Chapter Text

After the hell that was yesterday, Dogday was glad to be back in a familiar place. Anything is better than that place in all honesty. The canine awoke from the couch that had been turned into a makeshift bed, he sat there in silence for a bit as the drowsiness slowly left him.

Whipping away the grime in his eyes, he noticed Catnap sitting on a different couch from him. He was looking at something on his phone with a…really tired look on his face.

“Good morning, did you sleep? Like, at all?” Dogday chuckled slightly, the cat’s ears perked up at his voice and he put his phone back into his pocket. Yeah he hadn’t slept at all, and he really couldn’t blame him.

“Eh, yesterday was on my mind a lot, can’t really sleep well after that.” He signed, a slight tired smirk forming on his face. “Wow, I can’t believe the person that’s known to sleep 24/7 has been outclassed.” Catnap groaned, and then threw a spare pillow right at Dogday’s face, the other just barely able to block it with his hands. “Agh- hey!” Catnap just smiled meekly as Dogday suddenly felt a quick pain near his head.

“…Ugh- my head is killing me.” Before he could even blink, the feline was in front of him, how did he move so quickly? He started pulling a bunch of… paracetamol out of his pocket? “Oh, why do you…” he remembered that catnap always had this kind of stuff in his pockets.. Dogday really shouldn’t be surprised at all. He wonders why he does this. “Pshh thanks.”

The canine put the tablets into his mouth, then he grabbed the cup of water that sat next to him on the table to drown it down. The weird taste of it lingered in his mouth as he started to feel slightly better. Catnap plopped down next to the canine, his face showed a hint of concern.

“You’ve been thinking about yesterday too haven’t you?” The canine shuffled in his bed in a more up right position, he faces the other with a solemn expression. “…How can I not?” Catnap mumbled, yeah, yeah yesterday was a really wild day. Can’t really blame him can he? “Look, I just wanted to say thank you, for protecting me back there.” The feline looked slightly confused as he looked back at the other, the mutt struggled to think of what to say..

“If it wasn’t for whatever that was… a Persona was it? We would’ve died.” A hand was put on his shoulder, another hand was put on that one. “You don’t gotta thank me, it was time I protected you for a change, I’m just glad you’re safe.” Dogday couldn’t help but smile at that, he was happy too, they’ve always been there for each other, and he wouldn’t have it any other way.

That figure back there was still in his mind, Hypnos? Was Catnap the only one who has that power? Could he… “Do you think that I have one of those things too?” The feline didn’t understand at first. “Hm?” It was time to be upfront, no point in not being honest with him now.

“We both know I’m going back there at some point, I can’t leave him there, not on his own..” His hands gripped the blanket that he was under. “I don’t want to be dead weight, if I made you kill all those monsters alone, I wouldn’t get over myself.” He sighed.

“What you said back there… well from whatever ramblings you came up with. There was something about a-uhh ocean of the soul, is that right? If I just had one of those too, you wouldn’t face this all on your own.”Catnap nodded, it wasn’t exactly what he said but it was close enough.

He put his hands on the mutt’s. “I’m sure you’ll get your Persona too. But just for fun, what do you think it’ll look like?” He was trying to lighten the mood a bit clearly, but this was an interesting topic for em, so he responded. “A fierce monster would be cool, but judging by the boney decaying corpse you have, it’s probably not gonna be what I think it is.” He laughed, yeah I guess they really have no way of knowing what his own would look like. The only thing they really can do is wonder.

“I’ll tell you what, why don’t we go to the park? Just relax a bit y’know?” That sounded nice, and sitting here was boring anyways. Dogday slowly got up and got himself ready, luckily Catnap still had some of his clothes from previous get together a they had, so it wasn’t that much of a problem.

The drowsiness had almost completely left him at that point, so he was ready to walk to the park with his friend. Trying to avoid the town square however, they really didn’t wanna see that again. Not for a good bit.

It took a bit of walking until they came upon a large gated area, filled with trees and shrubbery, that’s the place. As they approached, they noticed that the park had seemingly been having some issues with the local wildlife, evident by the sign next to the gate. It read: “Due to frequent incidents with local wildlife in the area, please avoid the more forested areas at the moment. We will deal with it soon, keep calm and stay safe.” Hm..

“That’s strange, I wonder why that is.” Dogday shrugged it off mostly, it probably wasn’t something to worry about. Besides they were only going for a walk. The gate to the park was wide open, so it didn’t seem like it was closed. They walked through the beautiful woodland, just enjoying the sounds of the rustling leaves through the wind.

No animals to be seen though, weird, I guess the wildlife really was acting strangely. The weather was a lot better than before, the sun shone brightly today, which made the walk even more calming.

They soon arrived at someplace new, what seemed to be a small skatepark… this must’ve been newly built or something because the both of them do not remember this place at all. It seemed to be that no one was there, well no one they saw at first.

The familiar sounds of booming thuds echoing like distant thunder echoed through it, showing the two that there was someone there. A sudden loud thud was heard, someone seemed to fall over or something. A small “Damnit” was heard through gritted teeth as the person likely stood up again.

This time they saw him, he grabbed something from off the ground, brushed himself off, and started to go again. But then he stopped, it was clear who it was now.

There he was, that familiar figure, with those iconic red star-shaped sunglasses over his face. Those must’ve been the things he picked up. He seemed to notice them too, it took a second for him to notice who it was, taking off the glasses over his eyes, he smiled.

“Hey!” Dogday started walking a bit faster while Catnap mumbled an “oh no.” softy. And it only took a second for him to catch up to the both of them, twirling around them with his skateboard before coming to a standstill in front of them.

It was Kickin, glasses and skateboard already gave it away. With that recognizable smug grin, slightly bruised from the fall he had, he waved at them. “Hey-o! You watching my cool tricks from a far I see? Y’know that’s kinda creepy right?” He laughed as Catnap sighed, they really didn’t want to deal with him right now, but then as he looked back at him, he saw something stick out of his jacket. A piece of fabric that was familiar to him… no way.

Talking again, he mumbled out a confused question. “Are you seriously still wearing that stupid shirt I gave you under your jacket?”Kickin’s stupid smirk faded almost immediately as he just stood there. “Um…” The feline remembers giving him that, it was a really ugly looking Hawaiian shirt. He never would’ve thought he would wear it still.

Talk about awkward silence, Dogday wanted to die inside so badly at that point. “Anyway! Hey Day!” He skated to the right side of Dogday with a smile, “How’s it going, how’s it hanging? I haven’t seen you in a bit, haven’t seen you in a while actually haha!” The cheerful smile Kickin gave off was very genuine, however, the canine wasn’t in the mood.

But he couldn’t just leave him hanging like that, standing there awkwardly wouldn’t work either. “I- ah-..uhh-“ He blurted out a mumbling mess of a sentence, great, the weird response changed the happy smile into a slightly concerned look. …crap.

“Oh.” Kickin moved away from Dogday a bit and looked at Catnap, they both looked like they’ve been through hell and back. “Oh something serious happened huh?”

Dogday wanted to run away so badly at this moment, shocked at Kickin seeing right through him he quickly formed a more believable response.
“Wha- oh no it’s fine. I’m-…I’m just tired.” Whether or not the other believed that didn’t really matter.

Kickin looked Dogday up and down for a long time, he sighed and looked back at him. “Tired, huh?” He didn’t want to pry, and besides he really had no place to pester him about it. “…You sure?” he said quietly. “Yup! I’m okay.” To Dogday, this was just to make sure Kickin didn’t worry too much, to Catnap it was a flat lie.

“…Huh, well if you and your buddy over here ever wanna talk about it, i’m sure Bobby’s free.” Bobby really is just the group therapist huh? He seemed to decide to let it go for now…hopefully. “Speaking off, here.” He pulled a tiny box of candy out of his pocket. Catnap gladly taking it, he had somewhat of a sweet tooth himself, and he never turns down free food.

“She gave me that but I really don’t want it, you can have it instead.” Catnap immediately put a few of them into his mouth as Kickin smiled. “Anywho I gotta bounce, promised Hoppy I’d play a few rounds of soccer with her.” A smirk grew on his face as he looked at the taller feline. “Cat, can I count on your support?” The other just shrugged, a fake dramatic gasp was heard right after.

“Ha! Well if I lose, which won’t happen, I’m blaming you.” He winked and with a laugh he skated off again. “See ya!” Catnap waved goodbye casually as he saw him skate away.

“Hey wait I really mean it I’m fine!” Dogday blurted out, but Kickin was already way too far away to even hear him. The yellow fading into the greenery quickly.

The mutt let out a long groan as he covered his face with his hands. “Ughh… I’m such a bad lair.” Catnap chuckled slightly as he pat Dogday on his back to comfort him. What were they here for again? Oh right, they got completely sidetracked for a second there.

They enjoyed the rest of the walk through the park without many interruptions, the park was almost eerily empty… They wondered why that was, it was a beautiful day outside, no reason to not enjoy it right? Never mind that, the walk was mostly uneventful, the canine simply relaxing with his friend, talking about random stuff that didn’t matter.

Taking in the lush greenery made it feel a lot better than whatever horrific plant life that was in that other world… They really need to pick a name for it huh? Dogday checked his phone, time had passed a lot faster than they had thought…

Well I guess it was time to go home, and so they did, well- Dogday didn’t. He was planning on staying at Catnap’s house for a few more days tops. Besides, he needed time to think about a plan to save their friend, and two minds are better than one as they say.

Without much happening, they made it back to the cat’s home pretty easily, Dogday went into the kitchen to get himself a snack while Catnap decided to catch up on a few Z’s. He went up the stairs and to his own bed and decided to relax a bit before going to bed.

As Catnap was just chilling in his bed, a sudden ding from his phone rang out. He grabbed it and looked at who it was… oh great. Kickin with the lovely nickname Catnap gave him in his contacts, “Smug idiot” had texted him.

Kickin:
“Hey! How’s it goin’?”

Catnap:
“What’s up?”

Kickin:
“Look, I just wanna make sure ‘n all, is Dogday okay? He felt…really out of it in the park.”

Of course he was onto the canines obvious lie. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure that out.

Catnap:
“He’s fine, he just had a bad day.”

‘Bad day’ was saying the least, but like hell is he gonna tell the other about all that.

Kickin:
“He never has bad days. Well- usually not when we’re around.”

Catnap:
“It’ll be fine, why are you asking me tho?”

Kickin:
“Cause I doubt he’d want to talk to me about it, cuz y’know, I’m kinda an asshole.”

Catnap:
“You sure are. :)”

Kickin:
“Oh shush, ‘sides this is about him not me.”

Kickin:
“I’ll tell ya what, why don’t I invite a few of his palls to hang out? To cheer him up y’know!”

Catnap:
“Like a sleepover?”

Kickin:
“Sure, whatever floats your boat.”

Catnap:
“Right now?”

Kickin:
“Correcto.”

Catnap sighed, great, just awesome.

Catnap:
“Kay-“

Kickin:
“I’ll get whoever I can, get your sunshine ready.”

His what now?

Catnap:
“Never say that again.”

Kickin:
“Haha.”

He closed the chat and stared into the ceiling for a bit.

With a heavy sigh, Catnap walked down his stairs, walking in his living room to find Dogday in his kitchen. He had some popcorn in the microwave, and he just stood there waiting for it to be done.

“Oh hey, what’s up?”

Catnap then told him about the sleepover, not about the fact Kickin was on to him, that would’ve shot his nerves up to space if the feline did tell him. Dogday cringed slightly, not that he wasn’t happy that his friends were coming over, just the fact that he really was just tired.

And he really didn’t want to pretend that he was fine the whole day either. “They’re coming right now? Really?”

The other nodded, the mutt sighed, well at least he has popcorn ready for them then. Kickin is usually the person to arrive first most of the time, he’s never late to anything. So they really had little time before any of them were already there. They got everything ready pretty quickly, now it was just time to wait for the group to actually arrive.

…It didn’t take too long before knocking was heard near the front door. It was gentle but also assertive. With a quick sigh, Dogday opened the door slowly.

He then was given a very strong hug out of the blue, nearly crushing his bones, but not really. Yup, it was definitely Bobby. “Dogday! Aww how’s it going?” She laughed, letting go almost as quickly as she started. She had a bunch of bags with her…for some reason.

She seemed to notice the canine staring at them, so she quickly came with an explanation. “Well, as you may know I love sleepovers. So I brought a bunch of cool stuff we can use to make this one, the best sleepover you’ve ever seen!” Her enthusiasm shone brightly as always, it wasn’t even a full minute and she already lightens the mood.

Someone else came into the doorway as well, they were much taller than Bobby though. “A little too over the top don’t you think?” The glasses and blue toned skin made it clear who that was. Bubba, well that was a surprise, usually he never comes to these sort of things. Why did he even agree to go with Kickin of all people? Bobby frowned and stared the bigger one down, it looked like she was trying to make him explode with her mind.

The frown only lasted for a bit though, before she forcefully made him hold the bags for her. “Nonsense, there’s no such thing.” Bubba laughed, just gently putting the bags down on the table next to him. The two of them made their way inside and guess what, there was Kickin with that same grin on his face.

“So, what’d ya think? Like the little get together I made for you?” He leaned in next to the mutt, ignoring the groan Bubba let out behind them. “Yeah it’s cool, where’s the others though?” Bubba intercepted from behind before Kickin could respond himself. “Hoppy couldn’t make it, Picky said she was busy, and Crafty said she was coming but we haven’t seen her yet.”

The loud “awww” sound Bobby made it clear she was very disappointed. “Man that stinks, should I go text Crafty to see what’s taking her so long?” Kickin just shrugged, walking into the living room and plopping down legs crossed on the floor.

Oh right, the popcorn. Dogday made his way into the kitchen, the smell of fresh popcorn filling the air, only to be snuffed out by the scented candle Catnap lit up. While Bubba was asking the feline what kind of relaxing scents he recommended, Bobby texted Crafty.

Bobby:
“Hey, girlfriend! What’s taking so long? You need any help?”

No reply for a good while, Bobby started to worry slightly…

A ding noise caught her attention back to the screen.

Crafty:
“Uh…I’m getting snacks, I didn’t want to come empty handed you know..”

Oh, Bobby smiled a little reading the text, she was likely at the closest grocery store. And then was promptly shocked when a voice came up right behind her.

“Oh so that’s where she’s at?” Bobby quickly looked behind her, shock quickly subsided into annoyance when she realized Kickin was just reading her texts, did he intentionally keep quiet just to spook her a bit? Bobby and him both stood up, she showed the phone to the others who looked in their direction after she reacted like that.

“Crafty is getting some snacks and- oh.” She looks at the phone again after a ding was heard, and then back to the others. “She’s asking you what kind of stuff you want.” Bubba started thinking, and then replied a bit nervously. “All by herself? Isn’t that a bit dangerous this late?”

It was pretty late, and while crime doesn’t happen often here, it’s not out of the realm of possibility. “Pshh- she’ll be fine big guy. She’s a tough cookie to crumble, I’m sure it won’t be a problem.” Bubba frowned at being called big guy, he never really liked the random nicknames the other gave.

Bobby then replied half jokingly and half seriously. “What? You expect her to start fist fighting the robber?” Catnap started chuckling, well at least one person found her joke funny. “Well if you wanna worry so much, why don’t I go check up on her-“ “No.” Bobby replied so fast that no one even saw her mouth move. Well damn okay.

“Anyone else but you.” Catnap tried his best to hold in his laugh, she really shut him down that quickly. Kickin doesn’t really have the best track record of ‘helping’ Crafty, so this reaction was semi-understandable. Luckily, or unfortunately, Kickin didn’t care. “Well, I don’t care, I’m going anyway.” Bobby tried to object but the other was stubborn, and in the end, it didn’t really matter all that much.

Crafty and Kickin will be fine, Bobby just hopes he doesn’t pester her too much. Dogday came back with two bowls of popcorn, completely confused as to why the other was leaving. “Why is he-“ “He’s looking for Crafty.” Bubba responded quite quickly.

The mutt mumbled an “oh” as he looked at the open doorway. …It’ll be fine, surely… “I vote that if he doesn’t come back in the next 30 minutes we’re gonna look for him.” Bobby said with a hint of worry in her tone.

Everyone agreed to this, it won’t take long, and Kickin could surly help Crafty if anything came up. All they had to do now was text Crafty what kind of snacks they wanted and hope for the best.

“So, Bubba, why are you here, did Kickin bribe you?” Bubba laughed, he then shook his head. “No matter what he offers I’m not doing it. I’m here for Dogday mostly.” Bobby made another “Aww” sound as Bubba just chuckled.

Bobby then started going on about some ghost stories she heard, something about a man with no legs? Well whatever it was it certainly dragged on for a bit, as 20 minutes have already passed and nothing came up. …

They just have to wait a bit longer.

Chapter Text

“It’s just a simple trip, you’ll be fine!”

That’s what she told herself anyway. Crafty was really nervous about a lot of things, from social interactions to walking alone at night. However she was a big girl, and despite the clear dangers, she decided to go anyway. The streets were dark and empty, not a single soul in sight, just the dim lighting from the street lights illuminating her path.

The wind brushes against her hair, it kept flying into her face accidentally, it really started to irritate her. The decided to put her hair into a ponytail, to keep her hair firm and not an annoyance.

She knew this area somewhat, this isn’t the first time she’s been here after all. But when a place you usually visit in the daytime turns…into this at night then you’ve got a few problems.

She was power-walking as fast as possible, constantly checking her phone again and again and again, just to make sure she had all the stuff down. …Did Kicken want fruit snacks or wafers? Text him to ask and keep walking.

No response for a while, Crafty wondered why he didn’t. Maybe it was best to walk towards the grocery store, before texting Bobby about it. Eh no time to regret it now, and besides she was almost there anyway.

The store was relatively small, just a simple square shaped building with two exists and a window. A light was emanating from the glass, Crafty sighed with relief, it wasn’t closed thank goodness.

She quickly made her way into the place, the automatic sliding door opening with a soft whirl and a ding. There was no one there, all the lanes were completely devoid of people, I guess it was late so that makes sense.

Of course there was one person there, a middle aged boar with a very tattered and very dirty employee’s shirt. The cashier for tonight most likely, he mostly just kept reading the pamflet’s about vacation homes and other relaxing stuff of that kind. He looked immensely tired, she can’t really blame him.

He gave her a quick glance as she walked in, she just awkwardly gave him a wave and a smile, muttering a “Hi.” under her breath. He gave her a look and that was it, and he just mumbled something and kept reading.

Despite how creepy Crafty found the guy, she ignored it, also ignoring her growing anxieties but that was normal…for her at least. She walked through the lanes, even though she only needed snacks, she still skimmed the store for anything else she could get for herself..

“Chocolate strawberry pudding?…Heh, reminds me of Bobby.” She said to herself as she quickly grabbed two of them, putting them in the plastic basket she had grabbed from the entrance. She kept walking, the unicorn kept having this…strange feeling.

It was something she always had, whenever she was in any scary situation or was going to be in one, she felt this… It made her feel weird, but at the same time, it felt comfortable. She always just chocked it up to bring her paranoia, completely ignoring it most times it happened. She wondered if this was a bad omen…

She could feel something watching her, then quickly darted her eyes back to the cashier…Nope, he was still enamored in the low prices of the hotel rooms. “S-stop being paranoid, Crafty. It-it’s just a simple grocery run..” she mumbled to herself, she might’ve been saying it out loud because the man shot a glance at her.

Crap- uhh.. Crafty then, as swift as she could, grabbed everything else she needed. No chocolates for Dogday for obvious reasons, Bubba doesn’t like sweets so give him a fruit salad, Kickin wanted- She almost tripped over herself trying to grab everything, the man looked even more confused…As much as the other tried to be inconspicuous, she failed miserably.

She blushed out of embarrassment but the cashier didn’t seem to care one bit, Crafty gave the basket to the man and he started scanning the store items, mumbling something as he did so.

She felt a little guilty for being such an embarrassment, Crafty had to at least apologize to him. …She waited until he was mostly done, and was starting to go back to reading a new pamflet about surfing.. “Thanks for coming, have a great night ma’am.” The deep grouchy voice made her jump a bit. She mustered a bit of courage to talk to the man, the larger one looking back at her because she hadn’t left yet.

“U-um..t-thank you…sir. I’m uhh-sorry about that..” A lot of confused glances today, the boar groaned… “What are you on about missy? Is it cuz you tripped a ‘lil when gettin’ your stuff?” He threw the pamflet in the trashcan for some reason, maybe he was done reading it? Either way, Crafty was just even more embarrassed now, just standing there awkwardly like a deer in the headlights.

“Ah- I-I’m sorry I…I’m sorry.”

The man seemed to soften his expression a bit as he saw the unicorns reaction. … He sighed, tiredly putting his head down. “Look I-… I’m just so tired, sorry.” He pushed the basket a little forward, gesturing to her to take it, she took it carefully. Before she could move away a bit he started again.

“You don’t gotta apologize for something that’s not your fault, that’s stupid.” He looked behind her for some reason, he squinted his eyes and groaned. What was the doing that for?

“Oh, and tell ya friend behind you to stop creeping, it’s weird.” Huh? What was he-

“Friend?-“

“BOO!”
A loud booming voice erupted from behind her, she looked back to who it was and…oh great.

“Ahh-! ..Kickin! I-i swear if you do that one m-more time I’ll-…” She looked back at the cashier, he stared at Kickin and then back to her with a slightly softer look… it was clear he wanted them to leave. “I’ll say very m-mean things about you..” she mumbled, a complete lie mind you, Kickin just smirked. Until he noticed the death glare the cashier gave him, yeah he had to leave, he did just cause a ruckus that late so-

“Ohhh kayy- uhh you got everything? Then let’s bounce.” Crafty just mutter some confused rebuttal as she dashed out of the store to follow him. Quickly putting all the contents of her basket in a plastic bag, leaving the corner behind.

The cashier just stood there for a second, he felt some pity for the girl…however… “She forgot to pay…eh, let her have it, don’t get paid enough to deal with it.”

The walk away from the store kept giving Crafty that same weird feeling again, like something was going to happen soon… They made their way back to the house for a bit, until they stopped by a streetlight, Crafty asking him a question to try and explain her suspicions.

“W-why are you here?”

Kickin smiled and leaned against the pole, clearly trying to make him look “cool”.

“Well I had to go check up on you in case you were getting mugged, and judging by that creepy guy you got pretty close.” Oh. Uhh- Crafty just looked a little befuddled..

“He’s wasn’t going to do anything…a-and besides, you’re the one who made all that noise for no reason..” Kickin just shrugged and looked away for a bit, before nonchalantly leaning on the unicorns slightly slouched over stature.

“In any case I practically saved your life, so you should thank me.” Thank him? Crafty just looked even more confused as she softly pushed the taller one off of her.

“Thank you for scaring the soul out of me?..” I guess thanking him made some sense?? Maybe, probably not. Kickin ignored her answer as always, it was almost a habit of his.

“Well anywho! Got my stuff for me, Crafts?” Stuff? Oh right the snacks. Crafty quickly rummaged through the plastic bag she had, she couldn’t find it for a bit, causing her a slight panic.

Luckily she found it. She pulled out one of those plastic mini candy bags, almost fell out of her hands they where so small. She wanted to give him the bags herself but he snatched one out of her hand before she even moved.

He quickly ripped it open easily, putting the little piece of plastic in his pocket for some reason. He smiled “Aww yeah!” He put a pair of them in his mouth. “Oh I love these little blue ones, so great!”

“I-is that blueberry?” Crafty tried to start small talk, mostly because she found Kickin’s reaction to the candies a bit funny. Everytime Crafty tried to talk to Kickin he mostly brushed her off, well…today was a little different I guess.

“I dunno, I don’t care, they just taste good.” Ah. Ah okay. And just like that, Crafty was shut down almost immediately. Wow it was almost like magic, with just a simple sentence, bam! He makes it awkward. Does he always shut her down on purpose?

She felt something pulling on her heart, or perhaps more like her heart was pulling her?

…That feeling again… why? She started feeling lightheaded, world began whirling around her slowly.. She started losing focus, becoming more and more disoriented by the second. “Hey, Crafts? Yo…Yo!” Kickin tried to ask her what’s wrong, but her mind was somewhere else..

Quite literally, it felt like her eyes where blurred, not just blurred, like someone else vision was covered over her own? How was this possible?

She was a spectator in her own mind, a voice echoed through her skull… “Ugh…Damn kid, he almost woke up the whole neighborhood.” She remembers that voice, the grouchy voice that belonged to the cashier… How is she?… The blurred vision layered over hers became more clear, she was in a back alley, leaning against something while skimming through a very old phone.

Was this what the man was seeing? How is she even doing this? Her head stung even harder as she kept accidentally listening in, she left like she was spying on him and in a way she was.

“What a day…So glad I can finally close up shop, maybe I can finally start looking for a vacation some- huh?”

A crack was heard, the sound immediately shifting the shared gaze towards a few trashcan’s… The man walked closer, muttering a few confused words as he got closer.. The air filled with a sense of dread as Crafty, or more precisely the man, noticed something behind it.

Are those flowers? No, if it was this bush wouldn’t have been dead. It was almost, a deep dark vermilion color? Crafty’s never seen these kinds of plants before, they looked more like weirdly shaped worms than plant vines, to her at least. She could smell the foul stench coming from the trash, now normally that’s what happens, but a pretty good distance away at first, but they could still smell it… so it couldn’t have been just the trashcans… Could it-

…Something came out of the trash, a noise to be more precise. It was weeping, gasps for air, and then laughter… The laughter made Crafty start to panic, she was shaking, her real form just standing there while her eyes and mind stood elsewhere…

“Stop…” she muttered, Kickin kept showing confused glances as Crafty just kept begging, to whatever power that was put upon her to stop. “Crafty! Wake up, please!” She couldn’t hear him anymore.

Something reached out of the crack, a dark biomass, looking straight out of a horror movie… She heard, she felt it all.. The screaming, the way the thing aggressively cackled at the misfortune of that poor poor man, being dragged down into a even deeper pit and then-… tears rolled down her cheek slightly…

Nothing, it all went black, no sound, no feeling, no sight… She wasn’t out of this- whatever it was, she was still doing it…or was it really her doing? She started hearing rain? Or some sort of water as she just floated in the blackness for a while… She heard it, a female voice, it sounded almost apologetic in tone. It’s being drowned out by the water…getting fainter and fainter.

“Sweet child… you…. are…”

She gasped, opening her eyes to see… Kickin. Quickly, she grabbed her phone, observing the screen frantically. Crafty stared at herself in the phone screen, on her face were dry tears, but for the rest… it was her, she’s seeing with her own eyes again..

W-was any of that real? Did the cashier… No, she just had a panic attack that’s-… “Hey, you okay?” She was shook out of her shock by Kickin… She nodded. “You dropped your stuff.” He handed her wallet to the other, along with the plastic bag. She was about to blurt out a million apologies for scaring Kickin, but… Wait… her wallet felt just as full as it was before she went to- Oh no.

She darted back towards the store, that same power-walk she did before, only this time she was gonna be arrested for stealing if she didn’t book it. “Hey! Where are you-“ Crafty quickly blurted out that she forgot to pay which seemed to shut Kickin up, simply running after her with a concerned look.

Crafty kept thinking to herself about what happened…. “It wasn’t real, it wasn’t real, it can’t be happening.” …

Only one way to find out.

Chapter Text

Chapter 6

They ran and ran, the unicorn barely keeping up her pace as they finally landed at that familiar grocery store.

This time, the lights were out, nothing illuminating the inside as it did before. Crafty almost banged into the side of the wall while stopping her run, gasping for air, she didn’t run much… so she really was out of shape.

She looked over to the other who was unfazed by the long run they just had.
“Uff ugh…who-oof- are you not tired ye-“ She felt stupid for asking him of all people.

“… oh right.”

“Haha, yeah.” The soft smile he had immediately faded as he looked inside, it looked like it was haunted.

He walked up to the automatic door, normally it would open when someone walked close, this time it didn’t. The powers out, of course.

He sighed, clearly annoyed. “Can’t believe you made us run here just so you could pay, who cares if you’re a thief, a little crime didn’t hurt anyone ri-“ he trailed off as Crafty put her head closer to the powered off door.

“S-sir? Are you there, I forgot to pay… I-“ Was that supposed to be a scream? She raised her voice sure but it didn’t sound like it.

“Well he’s not gonna hear you like that if you’re whisper-shouting at him.” He said with a hint of sas in his tone.

For a while, nothing really happened, and what did they expect to happen? The guy probably had already left a long damn time ago, while they were wasting time. Kickin pulled out his phone, it’s been fifteen minutes already.

“Look, Crafts… I think we need to go, he’s already gone home. We’ve had an entire sleepover planned and we are just standing here.” Crafty moved her head away from the door, still holding her arms against it for support.

The incident from only a few minutes prior fresh in her mind. What she saw…it couldn’t have been real. That out of body experience had to be her mind playing tricks on he-

She fell over, as the thing she was holding her hands on suddenly shifted. She landed flat on her face, the other trying their best to help. The door had opened…somehow, even though there was supposed to be no power on.

Kickin groaned. “Great, haunted grocery store, that’s something you don’t see every day.” And just as if on cue, the indoor lights started to flicker aggressively. The flashing hurt Crafty’s eyes as she averted her attention to the ground.

She stood up, bumping into Kickin accidentally as she did so. What was even going on at this point? Kickin whispered something, she couldn’t exactly decipher what he said though. She heard something… a low voice rumbled through the echoing store. Itt sounded gravely and dead but also horrified?

Then she remembered, that deep distorted voice…it was the cashier’s or at least what seemed like it. He called-no begged for help, the noise came from a back door which probably led to another exit..

Crafty started feeling a sinking feeling in her gut, almost freezing completely as the voice of the man rang out and repeated itself like a broken record. Over and over, all the shouting started blurring together.

Kickin immediately grabbed her by the arm and started dashing towards the opened door, but he stopped almost immediately, letting go of her hand. The door was shut once again, the lights flickered on and off more frantically now.

Kickin felt like he was a part of some sick joke, he thought about any means to get out of this situation, and came up with nothing..

Unbeknownst to him, Crafty started slowly moving towards the back door. Following the echoing cries of the store worker… What was she even doing??

She knew that this couldn’t have been that man but… what if it was? She couldn’t risk it, she had to know-

The door flung open, something dark immediately lunged at her, she immediately regretted her stupid decision as the thing grabbed her by the legs, slurring her across the floor like a mop. She shouted, Kickin immediately jolting back.

He tried to kick the thing, to no avail, he swore he could hear the thing laugh.. Another part of it latched around his body, gripping it like how a snake would.

They both struggled to break free as the thing dragged them outside and into a heap of trash. Before they could even process anything the two blanked out.

…It was dark for a pretty long time, for what felt like ages, he woke up. An awful smell filled his nose, shaking awake and he immediately sprang up like an arrow, he looked around and… there he saw his friend on the ground unconscious.

“Crafty?! Hey, wake up we gotta-” trailing off, he noticed the area they were in, a load of unfamiliar suburbia enveloped them both. Just like their other friends.. they were in that place too, of course the both of them didn’t know what this was yet…

“What in the absolute-… Kickin’s fear immediately bubbled to the surface. “What is this place?? Ohh crap we are so screwed! We gotta find a way out quickly.” He shook his friend awake, noticing the area too, she also started to freak out.

…But what about the thing that grabbed them? Where was it?

It didn’t take long before the two of them noticed that familiar black substance writhing and shaking a bit away from them.. It seemed to merge with something on the ground, but they couldn’t make out what it was. Soon after, it stood up again…huh?

It formed…a male figure? It was funky and dissolving at the seams like nothing they’ve ever seen. The groggily noise that came out of it sounded a lot like a certain man’s voice.. “Crafty…thank…you.”

It laughed, its entire body moving along with it unnaturally.. It was like it was using the cashier’s body and image to move… like it was forming a template on how to hold a human form… And it was thanking her?

Then it struck her, if she hadn’t arrived, he would’ve closed down shop way earlier.. Maybe he wouldn’t have gone outside at that moment…

She stared at what used to be, was the man truly dead or was it using his body as a host?… She felt like crying at the man’s suffering, it was horrible to see. It was all her fault, wasn’t it?

…No it wasn’t, she knew so. It couldn’t have been, she wasn’t to blame. She couldn’t have known, none of them could.. it was all this things fault.

And then the creature started convulsing again, it seemed like even if it tried to keep itself together, it’ll always break apart… like it wasn’t meant to be whole in the first place.

It shook, it broke its non-existent bones while moving…or were those its vessels bones? It cried out. The sobbing turned into laughter once again, it couldn’t keep itself intact. And just like that, the humanoid figure tore apart at the seems, it’s body grew and lurched towards the two, screeching as it did.

It felt like time had been stopped for a brief moment, Crafty felt her breath hitch as she began hearing it again, that voice. Her heart burned yet again, she could feel it more strongly than ever before.

“Poor child, you are much too young to die here.”

“Wh-what is…” She paused, she couldn’t feel her legs anymore…

“Fear is consuming you whole, leaving you but an empty shell. However, fear is also a part of courage. Courage is acting in spite of that fear after all..”

Somehow, the apparition’s words calmed her a bit.. Who was this voice, why did it feel so familiar? As if reading her mind, it answered suit.

“I have been by your side since the day you existed, I’ve been protecting you, but now it’s time for you to protect yourself.”

That feeling she always had…that was them. Whenever she was in danger it would warn her, and now it’s actually talking to her this time, what changed?

“You are not as weak as you say you are, deep down, you know you can be more. Why not show me, show me your strength.”

Her own strength? She wasn’t… it was right, she can be more, she can be strong. She knew this for a fact, but she just never wanted to admit to it.

A quick glance at her friend made her head fill up with worry, she couldn’t let him down, no matter how many times he teased her.

It read her mind like a book.

“Do not fret my dear. Not any harm will befall one of your own, with my power you shall become the one who protects them. You will be their savior, their healer, their friend.”

For the sake of her friends, she will fight against anything that would harm them. No one will stand in her way anymore, not even her self doubt.

“I am thou, thou art I… for the sake of protecting your own, call forth my name.”

As the monster closed in, Crafty shouted a name, one that had suddenly appeared in her head almost as if she knew it from the very beginning.

“A-Airmed! Please!” She closed her eyes and hoped for the best

…

A powerful force had pushed the creature back, sending it tumbling backwards. The foul stench from before subsided…and a heavy herbal smell filled her nostrils.

Opening her eyes, she noticed that the area around her seemed to glow slightly. Looking up she spotted her, a woman with long luscious hair flowing up to her knees, covered in flowers.

She had gorgeous green eyes almost seeming to glow in the dark environment around them. She sat on top of a broken well, water and herbs leaking from the broken structure. The water disappeared after a certain time however, the well never seeming to empty completely.

On her back was a broken tattered cloak, parts of it floating around her in the shape of dragonfly’s… The lady had a soft smile on her face, she looked back at Crafty with that smile, they waited for her orders.

The unicorn didn’t really know what to say at first, the taller woman softly smiling at her as she made her decision.. “Uh- Stop that thing!” Without saying a word she turned around, putting her hand into the broken well she sat on, she held some of the well water in her hands delicately and threw it towards the thing.

Wave like energy floated around the beast.. The creature roaring slowly subsided.. it started breaking apart again, the subdued remains of the Shadow slowly fading into the floor… and leaving a humanoid figure left.

The man fell on the ground lifeless… Crafty hoped that he was okay… Before she could walk closer to check up on him, Kickin hugged her tightly, the woman’s form disappearing without the two of them noticing.

“Crafty that was awesome! Wow, you really saved my butt just now, and what was that thing?” The excitement in his tone made Crafty smile, while she had no clue how to answer that last part, she really didn’t think that mattered now.

“This is all so…” he trailed off, he started to blush a bit… She guesses that the yellow one was slightly embarrassed that he acted like that just now. “I-I owe you one.” He mumbled, looking away slightly.

Crafty noticed a few scratches and bruises on his arm… Must’ve been from then the Shadow had dragged them down here.

“…You’re hurt.” Kickin just looked back confused until he noticed where she was looking at. “Oh, aw don’t you worry about it it’ll be fine-“ For the first time, Crafty interrupted him… oh how the tables turn.

“D-don’t be so stubborn, I can help you..” She raised her hand towards his arm, the woman appeared yet again, the same exact smile as before.

Herbal water enveloped his entire arm but he didn’t feel his arm getting wet at all.. Must’ve been some magic or something.

And just like that, the slight pain vanished and his arm looked good as new. The water evaporated and all that was left was the healed arm.

“It was just a few scratches…but thanks.” They both just smiled at each other until the yellow one decided to go back to the problem at hand. He started walking cautiously to the man… knocked out cold, black lines all around his body… They were unsure on what to do… “So any ideas on how to get out of here?”

Crafty looked behind her, and sure enough, it was still there. “I-I think Airmed can help, right?” She asked her helper, but no response came out, just silence and that smile.

“uhh-“ This was getting a bit awkward. “Not very talkative is it?” Crafty sighed, it didn’t really matter if she didn’t respond, Crafty understood her and she did the same. She decided to try that she did before accidentally, this time she was in full control. …Did Airmed activate that power on her own so that she’d know what happened to the man?

…Whatever.

She closed her eyes and felt herself merging with someone else, just as before, she could see through their eyes..

“Ugh- I knew we shouldn’t have left the two of them alone, poor Crafty.. I swear if he did anything to her-“ Bobby, it was Bobby.. she was looking for them both, actually, they all were. Walking through the streets looking for them. This was perfect! Now.. let’s test something else. She mouthed her words, seeing if it’ll actually work or not..

“Um Bobby, can you hear me?” She felt Bobby stop in her place, the others looking over to her confused, it seemed like it did.

“I-I don’t- wait crafty?? How the fuck?- am i loosing my mind??”

Crafty continued, Kickin just watching her still body as he waited for her to finish…whatever she was doing.

“N-no no! You’re not loosing your marbles yet- I uhh…” How is she going to explain it without sounding like she was high? Uhh- “Ah- I’m talking to you through my p-Persona?” She could hear the others confused questions as Bobby kept talking to herself.

Those words just tumbled out of her mouth, she doesn’t even know what a Persona is but it sounded right.. “L-look I’m fine, just go to the store, me and Kickin will be waiting.” She could feel the bears shock when she told her they were still technically near the store. “Don’t say a word, we’re coming, stay safe.” …She saw the others run again, with Catnap leading the search..

Before she stopped using her power, she gave one last remark.. “O-oh and Bobby, I got a pudding saved just for you, I hope you’ll like it.” Kickin stood there as the unicorn stopped standing there, Airmed disappearing behind them. The yellow one noticed that the bag they had with them was gone… “Uhh, you know where the bag full of stuff went..?”

Oh- “Shoot!”

Chapter Text

“It-it’s okay, we’ll look for it soon, now…” She stared back at the unconscious man on the floor… it looked like life itself was drained out of him… Crafty raised her hand, that familiar power flowing through her, she carefully touched the man.

For a while, nothing was happening, the water just flowed around his body for what seemed like forever, much longer than it took to heal Kickin’s wounds. Slowly starting to panic, the unicorn focused all her attention towards helping this man.

It worked… maybe? Well it wasn’t as noticeable of a change but it was something. The boars skin started gaining more color, the slight cuts and bruises on his face disappeared.

…But those black lines on his arm and close to his neck didn’t leave, they were persistent and no matter how much energy she put into it, it didn’t seem to be enough.

“He’s not waking up…w-why isn’t he-?” Kickin sat next to her, patting her on the back.. “I think it’s better if he doesn’t…how are even going to explain all of this to him if he was awake?”

Yeah she had no clue how to, so they really should be glad… He seemed to be fine, so it was probably for the best to try and get him out of here.

They both did their best to carry the large man by themselves, which was…something to say the least, while Kickin did most of the heavy lifting, Crafty still felt like she was carrying a giant rock… I guess she really needed to train a bit huh?

Crafty, using her powers, managed to find her way back to the exist… the way out was a slightly elevated slash in the sky.. as they stood there they were met with a dilemma…

How are they going to get him up there? “Yeah we didn’t think this through did we?” As soon as he said that, the other could sense something… footsteps?

Something jumped out of the gap, a familiar figure no less. It landed somewhat gracefully on the ground, and without even hesitating he called forth Hypnos…only to realize there were no Shadows anywhere, and only his two friends with their mouths agape. He muttered a quiet “oh” as Hypnos faded away almost immediately…

Crafty suddenly got the chills from seeing the cat’s Persona, it was nothing like her own, a lot more horrifying. …There was something else about the cat that felt different as well..

She focused her powers, Airmed heeding to her call… she saw something, a glowing spot inside the other’s chest. It didn’t take long for her to figure out she had it too, it seemed that it had something to do with their Persona’s because Kickin didn’t have this…

But what freaked her out the most was that unlike hers, Catnap’s area seemed to be a dull gray… hints of black floating around it like bacteria in water. She felt an ominous energy coming from Catnap, but she couldn’t understand why… He had a Persona too, how does he already have one?…And why was this one so creepy…

The questioning stopped as a feminine scream called out behind them, and then landed with a loud thud on the ground…

After falling flat on her face like an idiot, Bobby stood up, her eyes widened at the sight of the fucked up area as per usual… she noticed Crafty and audibly sighed in relief.

“Girlfriend! Oh I’m so glad you’re-.” She noticed the giant woman behind her friend and almost fainted in surprise… It was a pretty lady though, so it’s not all bad.. “Oh! That’s uhh… interesting.”

Another voice rung behind Bobby, a deeper voice, Bubba’s. “Fascinating…The plant life here seems to grow and flourish despite there being no method for it to enable this…” He noticed the red lines in between the vines on the ground, and slowly reached closer to examine it further…

“No it looks like it’s breathing? That’s-“ Dogday jumped behind the taller one, he pulled his arm away, if Bubba didn’t know better, he’d think the other was trying to rip his arms off.

“Don’t touch it!” He shouted, the blue elephants arm immediately ripping itself away from the grip with a hint of annoyance..

It didn’t take long for him to put a few things together, Dogday’s frantic behavior, and the way they didn’t even react when seeing the entrance outside… “You-you’ve been here before haven’t you?”

Almost everyone turned towards Dogday, making the other slightly embarrassed… no point in lying when they’d find out eventually anyway.. “I-I have a lot to explain to you all… we’ll handle it later, okay?”

Bubba’s suspicious stare wavered a bit as he noticed an unconscious boar on the ground…

Everyone walked over to the guy, who was still completely unresponsive. “Is he going to be okay?” Bobby asked.. The black lines around the arms and neck gave both the canine and the feline bad memories…

“I-I don’t know…I tried to heal him but…” Multiple heaps of laughter emanated from the distance, clearly insinuating that they should sit there and wonder why the guy wasn’t getting better..

Bobby muttered something about the noises, while Bubba came up with the same question the others had asked before. “How are we going to get the guy out of here?… He started to ramble on while the cat behind him was using his Persona to carry the knock’ed out man to the exist. “I mean we can’t really- oh…yeah that works.”

After letting the decaying apparition carry the man and the others outside, Catnap did the same thing as he did before, closing this entrance.

Okay so this was good to know, there are more than one entrance and they seem to spawn out of nowhere.. at least he thought so. No one really said anything while they made their escape, aside from Crafty freaking out a bit when Hypnos touched her, it went pretty smoothly.

So there they stood in that alley, putting the guy inside the store was no issue, they just hoped he’d wake up soon. So now it was just them all, Catnap finally recalling Hypnos… that’s the longest he’s been out so far. Crafty still couldn’t get that weird vibe from the other out of her head, maybe it was nothing, probably nothing…

Kickin, with a hint of anxiety in his tone, started walking out of the alley. “Well-I-uhh… this was uhh- fun?” He mumbled on that last part, silently moving away further. “I’ll uhh… be-be seeing you at your home, Day.” Right as he was out of sight, they could hear him dashing out in the distance…

Bobby grinned mischievously and put her hand on her hips.. “…Oh he’s traumatized ain’t he?” Bubba chuckled, answering her question trying to stifle his laugh. “Yup, definitely traumatized.” Can’t really blame him, but as the one who always brags about how cool and fearless he is, it’s funny to see him react to scared.

Dogday’s eyes widened when he realized that Kickin was going to his house, right…the sleepover, he had completely forgotten about it.. He noticed that one of his friends was making her way inside the store to look for something.

Crafty noticed a familiar bag inside the store, this must’ve been dropped when the Shadow attacked her, good, at least they had the snacks… She shook when she heard the sounds of someone waking up.

The cashier was awake! He looked somewhat out of it, but for the rest he looked…decent. Before he could notice she was there, she bolted out of the store…she didn’t want to explain it to him, or more accurately, she didn’t know how too.

So she just decided it wasn’t worth the effort, but she did leave a note. Confused, the guy grabbed it… “I found you outside knocked out cold, I forgot to pay btw. I hope you’re doing okay!” On the back of it was a ten dollar bill taped onto it, with a small doodle of him to the right. …huh.

They finally made it, it took a while but they finally could have the sleepover they wanted. Well- Dogday still had to explain everything to them, couldn’t leave that hanging.

So they sat in the Cats living room again as everyone just let the canine rant about it. …No one spoke a word after he explained…about a minute later Bubba finally reacted to that information..

“So you’re telling me, there’s a huge new world that’s filled with scientific discoveries, and you didn’t tell me about it?? Do you know how interesting that is?” That’s…just about the reaction they’d had anticipated from the blue one, he was always a nerd in all honesty.

“Maybe if I could run some tests on the plant samples, I could figure out what makes them tick…” Kickin sighed but Crafty laughed a bit, Bubba always loved ranting about stuff he was passionate about, watching this was sorta entertaining, well for her. The others probably not so much.

“Oh, oh! What if I could study the Shadow like creatures that you saw, figure out what they are? If I could throw a few theories in, perhaps their biomass is deteriorating because of some weird issues with their own dna?” Catnap just stood baffled at how fast the elephants words came out of his mouth, they flowed out like a waterfall..

His eyes practically shone like stars underneath his glasses as he kept rambling, it started to hurt the canines ears a bit. “Perhaps… The bodies cells are rapidly destroying and rebuilding itself, causing its uneven form! Or maybe- “

“Bubba, please. I am not in the mood for another headache.” Dogday muttered, the other immediately shutting his mouth. Bobby hugged the mutt softly, the other returning it briefly before drinking a bit out of the glass of water he had set up..

“Ah, right. Sorry.” Finally catching on to the fact that he was rambling for a good while there, he finally stopped.. “I feel so sorry for you both…” Crafty started, the mutt just smiling at her words.

“Oh it’s alright.” He smiled, a real one this time, he was really glad that he could finally share this. It was a breath of fresh air to be honest.

“Besides,” Catnap sighed, nudging the unicorns shoulder m to catch her attention. “Once we eventually go back, we’d have someone to cover our backs.”

She didn’t seem to get it at first. “Huh-oh! You mean… Yeah, yeah! Consider your backs…uhh protected..” that caused the cat to laugh, “That doesn’t make any sense..” he said through sloppy hand motions, he seems a lot happier too.

“What can I say? She’s op.” Bubba made a confused noise, probably because he didn’t know what an “op” was- The compliments started to fluster her a whole lot, her white fur practically turning red..

“Aw c-c’mon it wasn’t that cool, besides Airmed did all the work.” She realized she hadn’t even told them her Persona’s name yet. “Uh, my Persona. Y-yeah her.” Everyone met out a resounding “ohh.”

As Bobby moved away from the dog, grabbing a chocolate bar and giving it to her, “Don’t put yourself down so much girl, you did great!” That really made her turn into a tomato, everyone laughed as the unicorn only became more embarrassed.

Deciding to change the subject, they decided to do truth or dare to pass the time a bit.

The chick answered with truth, so Bobby replied with a smug face. “Kickin, crushing on anyone?” Ah already starting with the juicy ones now, of course the other didn’t respond, either he was really that calm or he was just good at hiding it…

“Pshh- why is it always these types of questions with you?” Bobby just shrugged with the biggest grin you’ve ever seen, totally not suspicious at all. Kickin knew that she would continue to pester him about it if he didn’t answer.

“Look, I haven’t found the one yet, and besides not everyone can handle my handsomeness!” Bubba chuckled, muttering, “Yeah we can barely handle you.” Kickin just turned to him with the most serious face he could muster. “Don’t make me kick you in the face.”

Bobby just stared at the both of them with a blank expression, Bubba made another remark which caused the shorter one to playfully punch him a few times. They were both laughing as they…fought? More like play fighting, actually.

The fight ended quickly though as Bubba could easily lift him with one arm, causing the other to immediately give up. “Woah woah! Okay! Please do not actually throw me like a basketball-“ He was sat down rather gently onto the couch next to him.

“Let’s call it a draw?” The smaller one said, trying to heal what little pride he has. “No, I totally won that.” Of course, man this was getting out of hand quick.. and they haven’t even gotten past the first dare yet.

“Uh-Bobby, why are you looking forward like that?” Oh she didn’t even realize she was staring out into nothing- “Oh! I’m sorry I’m just…trying to understand all that information Dogday shared...” She trailed off, looking at Catnap with a look that asked him to continue the game. The other obliged, and continued without much thought.

He pointed towards crafty and signed again, “Crafts, truth or dare.” This went on for a good while, the dares where always something silly. While the truths were mostly skipped over, which lead to even more chaos, and that went on and on for about an hour or so.

Everyone was practically tired out completely, getting ready to sleep sporadically around the Cat’s home.. Dogday was just getting a glass of water before he headed back to bed again.. And was practically jumpscared when Bobby stood in the doorframe.

“Hey, how are you feeling?” She asked with a soft concern…Dogday drank the water he took, feeling refreshed already, he leaned close to the counter. “I’m fine, thank you all for coming to help me.” Bobby laughed… her face got slightly more serious as she started again. “Can I tell you something?” Nodding, the mutt waited for her to continue with bated breath.

“I know you’ve been feeling pretty down in the dumps today but I want you to know this,” she smiled softly, moving even closer to him.

“You’re not on your own in this, you’ve got Catnap and Crafty, and you got us. And while we don’t have those magic powers like those two do, we’ll make it out.” She excitedly up her hand on his shoulder, slightly shaking him a bit as she continues. “We’re unstoppable! We’ll blast through that world like a rocket, find Liam and then we’ll all be fine. You can count on us..”

The sincerity of the moment was nothing to scoff at, the two have known each other since forever, of course they’d have his back… If he wanted to be a good leader then he needed to prove himself…They all counted on him, and he did the same…he was glad that he had them by his side..

“I’m happy I can count on you all too… I’ll promise to be a good leader.” Since when he decided that he was the leader she didn’t know, but she was fine with it.

At that very moment, something had changed inside, his chest burned with a hint of warmness, and he felt his energy stir…and then it was gone, but it didn’t really matter, not at that point. Bobby seemed to notice the mutt’s odd reaction as she came in to hug him again…

No words were needed to express just how much they care about each other.. “Oh, and I already contacted the others, they know now too..” Dogday groaned.

Well at least that’s over and done with huh? Still though, he wasn’t too happy about Bobby telling on him… but there was nothing he could really do.

“Well I’m drained, I’m gonna go to bed. Call us when you plan to go back there okay?” The dog gave her a thumbs up before watching her disappear out of sight.

In truth, the canine was kind of glad he told them after all, keeping stuff from them usually doesn’t end well… As he said in the inflatable mattress next to the Cats bed, watching the abundance of fake stars covering the roof, he wondered what’ll happen next.

He couldn’t wait to see what his Persona could be…if he ever gets one. The more he thought about it the more he began to fall asleep…this can wait for tomorrow…

Chapter Text

It has been two days since he told them everything, it felt great to get that weight off his shoulders, for those days they had planned their next venture down there. Catnap was going to be their main fighter in this, mostly because he’s the only option they really have.

With Crafty as a support, which is obvious considering her Persona really seems like it’ll de much more helpful in that role.

The others without them were just there as extra backup, while normal weapons seemed to be ineffective against the shadows in doing actual damage, knocking them back seems to do the job well enough.

As for where they planned to start, they still needed to find a safe secluded spot where they could easily go in and out without that many people noticing. Liam’s backyard couldn’t work since his neighbors or anyone walking the streets could find it suspicious that random teenagers are walking around in someone else’s home.

The alley wouldn’t work, the cashier has probably contacted some form of authorities to check it out… probably? In any case, they needed to wait to see when the next one would open..

Dogday hated that, he hated sitting around and waiting for things to happen. So when he got a text from Hoppy, who was completely awol for those two days, asking him to come to the park rather mysteriously, he was sort of glad.

As he made his way over there, the sudden appearance of two familiar figures caught his eye. “Catnap, Crafty? What are you doing here?”
The purple one showed his texts, it was the same person asking him to come to the park, Crafty also claimed she got the same thing… huh that’s weird, hopefully Hoppy will explain it a bit.

…She didn’t, not clearly anyway.

“So, what are we doing here exactly?” Hoppy leaned on a tree, seeming remarkably chill. “Okay, so- When I found out about what happened two days ago I was shocked! And after thinking about it for a bit, I wanted to see them in action.”

…None of em really knew what she meant in that last bit, but what confused the mutt specifically was that…well-

“Uh, why am I here then? I don’t have a Persona.” …he felt sad saying that out loud, it sorta felt like a punch to the gut for him. Hoppy smiled, as ecstatic as ever, “Well, I know you want one, so maybe once we test how these things work we can figure out a way to give you one!”

They doubted she even knew what she was talking about in all honesty.

“W-wait-…so you wanna… experiment on our Persona’s or something?” Hoppy laughed even though there was nothing humorous about it. “Heck no! I’m no scientist. No, what I wanna do is basic things…like for example,”

She pulled out her cellphone, gesturing to Catnap to…summon his…Persona? Hypno’s manifested almost immediately as the cat called, causing the unicorn to slightly back away from it with a shuffle. What was she-

She then took a selfie, doing the iconic peace sign and sticking her tongue out. She examined the photo, aside from her friend’s confused or amused faces, there was nothing behind the purple cat.. “Aw dang it, it doesn’t appear in photo’s, you’ve got a real ghost behind you, Catnap!”

Damn, that expression the cat made beamed pure confusion, it was rather impressive. Dogday seemed to get what she was trying to say, “You wanna figure out how the Persona’s work?”

Hoppy nodded, pulling them all along with her, they made it to the skatepark they were at a few days ago…again no one was there, which was perfect.

“Okay, test number one- or number two technically.” She grabbed a cookie out of her pocket which was…a little disgusting, and broke it took pieces. Everyone stood there for a sec until she continued.

“Crafty, try to heal this.” “W-what huh-..” She stared at the crumbles on the ground with a weirded out expression. “I wanna see if you can heal non-living things too.”

Uh-okay then? She called her Persona forward and ordered her…to heal the cookie. “Sorry about this, Airmed-“ she mumbled as the deity just started doing her job. And sure enough, the crumbles on the ground formed back into a whole and landed in Hoppy’s hands.

“Awesome.” She then ate the cookie in one bite, impressive, but also a bit disgusting. She then began with the third test, asking Catnap to summon Hypnos again. She stared at the ghostly figure… “Can it talk?” The purple feline stared at it… “…no, no I don’t think so.” He mumbled softly.

Well that was kind of a lie, they could talk…only when they first awakened to them… do they lose the ability to talk after they link with you? Well, that’s another thing to think about.

Hoppy continued the question, “…Can it-uhhh understand us?” She waved a hand, trying to get the bony myth to respond… it ignored her completely. The feline shrugged, mumbling a “probably” out of his mouth.

“Can it- hold on, here uhh- creepy flower guy, hold this rock for me.” It finally moved, stared her straight in the eyes…and just silently grabbed it after Catnap asked him too. “…Yup it can definitely touch things.”

… For another test she put a pile of rocks and sticks together into a vague shape of a man. Then she put a sticky note on the face of the pile, an evil smile doodled on it. “Okay! So pretend that this is one of those…uhh…” “S-shadows?”

“Yeah, that’s it! Pretend that they’re in your home and are plotting to kill your family or something-“ she looked at the purple cat, he had an unamused expression…probably just wants her to hurry up. She coughs rather loudly for a sec before she continues, “Erm- anyway, give it the best you’ve got!”

Crafty went first for whatever reason. Calling Airmed, she ordered her to attack the very lifelike dummy…it didn’t do much aside from push it away a few meters from her, guess defensive abilities are more her style. At least she’s not totally defenseless when in combat.

Hoppy then let Catnap go next, without much thought the cat pointed towards the dummy, on command a huge burst of dark energy crashed out of the ground, enveloping the dummy and destroying the various objects it was made off… Hypnos only left a small pile of rubble in its wake.

“Damn! Okay…maybe tone it down a bit more for the next one, okay?” The reason for this was obvious, the unicorn stood a few meters away from the other, her ally behind her… so the plan was that the cat was going to attack her, with of course as little strength as possible, to try and see if she could block it.

Hoppy really tried to emphasize the fact that he shouldn’t go that wild with his attacks, guessing she didn’t want to actually hurt anyone..

Catnap obliged and ordered Hypnos to attack Crafty.. Immediately she put up her barrier up around herself, the dark energy that had accumulated disappeared the moment it came into contact with her bubble…interesting.

Dogday was a safe distance away from the two of them, making sure to stay as far away as possible… “Great! Try again, a little bit more strong this time. ..You alright Crafty?” She nodded and formed her bubble again.

He raised his hand… ordering Hypnos just like he did before, but something felt wrong, the energy Hypnos was forming was a lot larger than he had ordered.

In fact it kept building and building, until Hypnos released a huge wave of dark energy, it formed around Crafty like thorns, she got bad vibes from these.. she braced herself for whatever came next..

….

She managed to block it somewhat, however the energy didn’t disappear like last time, instead a bit of it shot off from her bubble, rocketing towards a few sets of trees… right beside Dogday. Crap! A part of a tree broke apart as the spell collided with it, causing the tree to break..

It came tumbling down, aiming towards the canine, ready to squish him like a bug. Everyone shouted his name, and desperately, he tried to block the attack with his hands.

In the moment he felt like an idiot, he could’ve dodged out of the way but…he froze in place.

He just waited to be crushed, like a bird standing in front of a moving car… Then he was caught off guard by a strange familiar feeling, he felt his heart burn, no, ache as he started feeling that same one he felt with Bobby’s talk a few days ago.

Then he could feel someone behind him as a wave of heat came from...something. The roaring sounds of broken wood echoed around him. He heard it shatter, the sound sending shivers down his spine. …he opened his eyes and looked behind him, only to see the tree on the floor.

Cut in half with such precision that couldn’t have been natural. It wasn’t him, it couldn’t have happened normally, it felt like someone else was… wait-

Was that his- “Argh!-“

Before he could even finish that thought his head started pounding like a drum, it felt like a migraine but multiplied tenfold. He fell to the floor, beads of sweat appearing on the face as he writhed on the floor.

Everyone ran up to him, Hoppy was apologizing for even coming up with this idea, she’s never go through with it if they actually could get hurt.. Catnap was blaming himself for underestimating Hypno’s strength, putting his hand on his back to try and calm him.

What they didn’t know was that he was barely listening, the agony of his headache blocking out most noise around him.

Crafty tried to help by using her powers, all in vain. The tiny scratches on his body healed, sure…but the headache stayed. Her face changed to that of horror as she pulled the hand away.. something right above Dogday caught her attention… he didn’t see anything however.

For long agonizing minutes he laid on the ground, digging his claws into the dirt….

Soon enough, he blacked out, waking up on a wooden bench, and a mild pain in his body. Confused he looked around to see his friend’s worried faces, Hoppy then said something about never doing this again while Catnap just sat there silently.

Something felt..off about him, like a half of him was…not right?? In all honesty it was hard to describe in proper words. Crafty, finally asked the mutt a question. “Has anything felt…different lately?” He nodded, yeah ever since that sleepover, he felt this weird vibe.

He thought it was nothing, I guess it wasn’t… Crafty struggled to come up with the words, “I-I think I might know what it is.” She then asked him something that really made them all shocked, she asked him to summon his persona, he didn’t have one though! …Did he?

Having no clue what he was doing, he just decided to imitate his best friend and… sure enough, it appeared…as a cobbled blobby mess.

It looked unfinished, like a piece of artwork that was left uncompleted. It had a vague shape of a man, or at least he thought?

What really creeped him out was that it held a giant saw in its hand, even though it was bended slightly. Its body shone with a godly light that made them squint their eyes.

He did have one, but this one was…not done yet?
Dogday looked at the thing for a while, the stinging headache returning for longer he did.

Quickly he called it back, the amalgamation simply vanishing like every one of theirs did.

“But…how? I- I thought…” he mumbled before Crafty started again, “W-when you told us about that f-feeling you had, it- umm… sounded similar to what I felt when… I first got Airmed.” Dogday just looked at her with a confused glance as she continued to mutter her cobbled together theory.

“I think you awakened at that moment…but not-uhh fully?? Does that make any sense…?” No, no it did not.

How can you only half awaken to something like that?? What kind of bs was this… Was Dogday the problem, was there something wrong with him that was causing this…?

“Is…Am I doing something wrong then? Crafty shook her head, which did not help at all. “No… it might be because uh… you haven’t met a condition to trigger it fully??”

Alright so what nonsense was this, this made the canines headache worse. Crafty then said she didn’t know what those conditions were herself which didn’t make him feel any better.

Hoppy decided that it was time to call it quits, she gave Dogday a chocolate bar as an apology and walked off..

Catnap wanted to walk with Dogday but the unicorn had asked to speak to him one on one…for some reason.

As he walked home he couldn’t help but feel off, he wanted a Persona of his own for so long…and now that he has one, albeit horribly disfigured, he doesn’t know what to feel.

It has no emotion, no face, no name…nothing. Half a Persona, is that even possible?

…He got a text from Bubba, saying that they found another entrance already and that they were going to explore it tomorrow…

He asked if he was up for it, and he said yes. At least now he won’t feel as useless as he did before, even if his Persona is still unstable.

He needed to figure out how to make his Persona- for lack of a better word, whole again. Whatever it takes, he needed to get that done.

For now though, he just had to figure out how to use it properly, last time he used it he got a splitting headache, that’s not going to happen again… Hopefully.

Alright, first big mission tomorrow, let’s see what happens…

Catnap was told about his Persona’s… unique qualities by Crafty, but the fact that something was odd with his soul glow thing didn’t matter. Not at all…

He looked at himself in the mirror… he couldn’t control his Persona, Hypnos almost hurt one of his friends, and actually managed on the other… This was the first time this has happened, and he will make sure it’ll be the last.

Summoning the guilty one again, he talked to it.

“You talked to me at the start of it all, convinced me to stand up for myself… After all that you did for me, why would you hurt my friends?”.

No response, not a single sliver was shown. The cat continued, “You’re a part of me aren’t you? Why didn’t you listen to me?!”

No reaction, the fact that he couldn’t even see its expression clearly made it worse.. he didn’t know wether or not it was grinning at him or frowning…

He knew talking down to it would be pointless, venting seemed like the only good option now. “You’re…not gonna respond, are you?”

All he could hear were the soft whooshing noises the flower petals around him made as the Persona just stood in that familiar pose, that irritating pose..

He groaned and looked back into the mirror, the ghastly visage disappearing in his reflection. “Whatever, i won’t let it happen again, I don’t want to see you for the rest of the day, so get out of my…” before he could call Hypnos back himself, he was already gone once he turned back around.

Leaving him alone in the cold bathroom, a shiver creeped up his spine like a spider, he decided to wash his face with water to wake him up a bit more. His phone dinged.

…He sighed as he got a notification from Bubba… he’ll answer it later. Groaning loudly, he walked out of his bathroom, turning off the light inside. “I need a nap…”

…

The light inside his bathroom flickered on and off for a second before it turned off again.

Chapter Text

Bubba:
“Hey. We found a new entrance to the other world, it’s inside a relatively run down part of town. We were planning on going tomorrow, you up for that?”

…

Still no response given even after the next day had passed, Dogday replied almost immediately but that was a given, it was Catnap that hadn’t answered… Bubba started to worry a bit as the time for the plan was fast approaching, almost everyone was already there.

The place they were situated in was a burnt down house…never found out who it belonged to, only that the owner mysteriously disappeared as the fire happened… Wonder why that was?

Kickin sat on the burnt remains of a couch, fidgeting and looking around, clearly getting antsy. They had waited for what felt like a good hour, the two of them didn’t show up at all.

This time, the entire group was there, covered in layers and layers of thick clothing, Bobby brought an entire box of disposable masks with her, they a few of them struggled to get them over their mouths but it worked mostly, and it’s not like gas mask’s were cheap…or even sold for that matter.

The protection was pretty basic, as for the weapons they brought, most of it was just stuff they had in their home. Baseball bats, spare shovels and rakes, some even brought a kitchen knife with them… They knew that it wouldn’t help in the long run but it was far better than nothing.

Hoppy was with Picky, who was new to this whole thing, teaching her how to swing a bat properly.

Picky debated on whether or not she could just beat the shadows up with her bare fists, to which they all disagreed with.. Kickin said he would’ve tried that already if it was allowed.

Bobby was going over the plan with Crafty a thousand times, phones didn’t work in that place due to there being no internet, so they had to communicate to each other in other ways. …And due to the dog’s experience with the shadows using voices to lure them around, they had to make sure they were prepared for any other tricks.

Luckily for them, Crafty could act as their main way of communicating with each other, so that was handled.

After a bit of waiting around the cat and the dog finally showed up…the purple one looking pretty disheveled. Bubba asked what happened and what took them so long, Hoppy then wanted to slap herself in the face, she forgot to tell them what happened yesterday!

So she had to give brief rundown on what occurred, much to everyone’s shock. Picky, still sort of confused on the whole thing, asked for clarification.

“Wait so, what exactly is a Persona?” The mutt looked at the other one with a embarrassed face, Catnap nudged his shoulder with a smile…guess he was doing it.

Hypnos and Airmed formed, while the dog hesitated still… he didn’t know if he really wanted to acknowledge his Persona’s existence in all honesty… He shook his head and sighed, calling forth…his nameless ally.

…
The dog’s Persona manifested immediately, and as sound as it did a loud, “EUGH-“ sound came from the yellow one in front of them.

The weird mass of light still didn’t look all too pleasing, so the yellow ones reaction was justified… Still Dogday was kind of annoyed.

Everyone looked at his half formed companion with looks of horror, confusion or disgust.

Everyone already knew what Catnap’s was like, but Picky was new to seeing it, she got the chills.. Kickin put his arm over the pig’s shoulder. “Well aside from Catnap’s looking creepy as shit and Dogday’s looking like the one I took this morning, yeah that’s a Persona.”

Ignoring the weird comparison’s Picky smiled, a very fake smile though. “Ohhh…great!” She walked over to the blue elephant a few steps away from her and whispered in his comically large ears, “Bubba please don’t tell me that’s all we have to actually defend ourselves…”

“Unlucky for us, we don’t have guns, so sorry.” The other responded in a whispery tone, everyone just staring at the two confused.

“Darn it.”

After a bit of planning and getting ready to go in, they went to where the entrance was… It was in the houses basement for some reason, sat right in the middle of the abundance of old junk in there.

It was a bit weird that it was specially there but the entrances seem to be random, so this isn’t out of the question.

There they stood at the opening, gathering all their courage to finally go in. Surprisingly, Bobby and Crafty jumped in first. Bubba wasn’t expecting them to go at that moment so he mumbled out a piece of advice last minute to the others who were still there.

“So this is like… really dangerous, so be sure to keep your eyes peeled.”

The chicken held a bat in his hand, smiling a little too wide.. “Ha, call me a banana split because I-…Uhh-“ Bubba gave him an unamused look as Kickin stopped talking… “Yeah I won’t finish that joke-“

He jumped in immediately after.

“Yeah, good.”

Everyone jumped in one by one, slowly descending into the different dimension…or whatever it was.

As they landed they were met by the familiar fog and vines covering everything…this time however, they were in what seemed to be a building. A quick glance at a nearby vine-covered wall showed metal, so they were in some sort of…facility?

“Crafty, care to do us the honors?” Bobby cheered, pushing Crafty towards the middle a little bit. Airmed came out immediately, her aura and pleasant herbal scent floating around her.. The unicorn closes her eyes, trying to sense the best she could..

It took a few minutes before she spoke up.. “This is definitely not like before, I-i can only see a facility of some kind…” Kickin stopped leaning against a non infested part of the wall and walked a little closer, everyone was huddled up with each other. “Is that all you’re seeing? No neighborhoods like the last two times?” She nodded.

Bubba then asked her to locate any Shadows so that they can avoid them as much as possible. “It- it’s kind of hard keeping track of every single one.. but I’ll notify you all when another comes by.”

Everyone nodded, Bubba asked her if she was alright staying here as a support, she agreed but Picky decided she was going to guard Crafty just in case…

She really couldn’t be that much of help but Bubba didn’t object, just telling them both to be careful as the rest of the group entered deeper into the weird area they were in.

They walked through what seemed like a rundown facility… killing small Shadows with some ease, it feels good to finally have an advantage against the bastards. And with Crafty giving them signals as to where they were, it was a cakewalk.

Hoppy had gone somewhere else, wanting to cover as much ground as possible, she said it would only take a minute. The place had rows upon rows of metal and dense hallways, and an occasional larger room with empty desks and…test tubes?

Nothing was in them, thank god.

They kept walking…this hallway seemed to be really dragging on. Using their flashlights still didn’t bring enough light up the place. The yellow one started to get anxious even though he didn’t show it.

“Ugh this place is giving me all sorts of creeps, hey Day! Mind using your giant flashlight to light this place up a little.”

The mutt stood still for a bit, looking back with a befuddled face until he realized. “…Wait you mean my persona?”

“What else did I mean, idiot.” He gave him a sassy look as everyone just stopped walking to look at them.

“Uh-I don’t…” he sighed, begrudgingly summoning his Persona, he pointed at the dark path in front of them and just stared at the glowing blob. “Do your thing.”

The persona then starts storing a huge amount of light energy into its saw, then it started chucking a wave of light forwards with no care of what was caught in its wake.

There was a brief moment of silence as they watched the light slowly turn smaller and smaller in the distance….

Then a huge explosion occurs where the light has been, the entire floor rumbling as it collided with something.

“…oh.” Was the only thing the dog gasped out as he immediately recalled the cause of that destruction.

“Yeah on second thought, don’t summon it ever again.” Kickin looked just as shocked as everyone else was, he quickly recovered as Hoppy came back.

“Hey guys…what did i-…” she also noticed the absolute hell that broke loose, “what the hell happened here?”

“Why don’t you ask him?” Kickin pointed at the dog with a deadpan expression. “You told me to-! …never mind let’s get going.” Dogday wanted to ask how Hoppy found them so quickly, but he felt stupid for asking… The fucking loud explosion probably gave it away huh? …yeah.

They decided to move quickly, that explosion was pretty loud, it’s not a stretch to say that the Shadows heard it too. Deeper and deeper into the weird building they went, dreading what they might find.

Back at where they first entered, Crafty was sitting down legs crossed. She was trying her best to keep track of everyone, for her first time really using her powers this much…she thought she did good.

Picky stood a bit away from her, clearly anxious about something, fidgeting with her fingers and looking around.

The fact that she chose to stay behind was weird, Crafty could easily dispatch the Shadows if she needed to… so her being her bodyguard made no sense.

She felt Airmed grab her up gently and placed her next to Picky, confused she looked back…that soft smile almost made it seem like- oh, oh she was forcing her to talk to Picky about it. How…nice??

The pig noticed her sudden appearance and stopped looking nervous probably hiding it for some reason, realizing she was just standing there, the unicorn mumbled out her thoughts.

“Uh- if it’s okay to ask… W-why didn’t you go with the rest of them?” Picky’s expression turned to that of sadness as she seemed to be hiding her worry from her.

“Someone needed to protect you don’t they?” A lie, and a horrible one at that. Crafty felt like even Airmed knew it was a lie-…somehow. The unicorns expression stiffened as she continued.

“I-I don’t need protection, I got Airmed to cover that.” Again with that thing, Picky just couldn’t understand it…Looking into the soft face of her friend made her give up almost immediately. Guess she isn’t a good liar.

“Yeah… ugh it’s just so weird..”
They both sat down on the ground, Picky finally seeming to relax. Well, as relaxed as she could be in this freaky place.

“Why?”
She choked on her words for a second, still deciding what to say.. or rather, how to word them.

“Just a few days ago we were just normal people living our lives… and now we’re exploring some weird world we found. It’s a huge change for me, and a lot to accept.”

Crafty nodded to show she understood, this has been pretty wild. It’s natural that not everyone handles such a quick change. “…Are you scared of something happening to us?”

“Ha. Terrified…but I guess you all are, aren’t you?” Picky smiled softly at the unicorn.. she felt better after talking to someone about it.

Crafty wanted to tell Picky how much she has improved over this small time frame. “I-I ’m not scared anymore, now I actually have the ability to help m-my friends. And it’s thanks to this strange change that i found the strength to be less shy from now on.”

She paused before continuing, a embarrassed expression on her face “One step at a time though, I would still melt if I was anywhere near a crowed area-“ Yeah, can’t expect her to get over all her shyness in one day can you?

“Nice to know some things never change.” Picky put her arm around the other, sad expression turned into a sly smile.

“H-hey!” She immediately turned red which made her laugh, it was nice to catch up a bit. A glance at Crafty’s persona showed something different this time… it was laughing with them, no noise came out of her mouth but it looked like she did..

For a split second only, she changed her expression, going back to the smile once again…maybe the Persona’s aren’t emotionless after all like Bubba had said, she’ll have to go tell him about this soon.

“…Those Persona’s sure are a miracle huh?”

Crafty nodded, she probably had the best relationship with her Persona thus far. “Mhm! And if all of us get one, we’ll be unstoppable!”

“That’s the spirit girl!” Picky gave her a high-five before rummaging through her pocket for some snacks to give her, she stood up, grabbing her bat.

“I’ll go help those idiots, you watch all of our backs.” Crafty also stood up, readying herself to locate the shadows again.

“Gladly.”

“Be safe, Crafty.”

“Yeah… you too.”

And with that, Picky walked into the same facility the others went too, Crafty helping guide her by… making a row of weeds appear where they had gone? Picky’s hand went straight through them…wow the others were right, she is overpowered.

Endless and endless walking continued for a good while until Bubba stopped them all to ask what Hoppy had found when she was exploring alone… nothing of importance, the entire place was baren and empty. Only the creaking of the metal walls and the occasional Shadow noises, it was eerily quiet.

It was like the entire thing was emptied out.. like everyone left in a hurry for some reason. The idea of other people being down here before them…that couldn’t be true, this place is impossible to live in, no one could survive here.

They moved on to…a particularly disheveled hallway. Tons of pipes and other metal scrap hung from it, they had to be careful if they wanted to get past it.

Bubba, Kickin and Hoppy went through first, the metal creaking from beneath them… They were only halfway through the gap before the ground underneath their feet trembled, rattling with a huge sign of danger.

Hoppy instinctively jumped away from the area, putting all her strength into her legs to push herself forward..

The metal pipes and scraps started to break apart too, small chunks of it falling onto the ground. The earth trembled as Bubba also tried to go back, before he could, he was immediately knocked out cold.

The last thing he saw was a metal pipe hurling towards him before he blanked out, a faint sound of glass shattering in the loud chaos.

Kickin immediately held himself over the larger one, trying to shield him from any sharp pieces of metal that could injure him further.

Not long after an entire part of a hallway was completely broken off as it tumbled down into the floor below it. The noise coming dangerously close to making their ears bleed.

Bits of rubble came hurling towards them, with Dogday’s messy Persona trying its best to protect everyone by extending its body across the hallway walls. A huge mass of debris blocked off the way ahead, with no friends in sight…

Hoppy dashed back, immediately screaming for her friends.

“Guys! Guys! Are you okay?!”

She heard groaning and wincing as someone seemed to still be conscious. “Agh-..Dang! Uhh yeah! We’re fine just-…a little banged up.” Hoppy let out a huge sigh of relief.

Catnap walked up behind her extending out a hand, Hypnos manifesting, ready to destroy the debris in the way. However he could only form half way before the other screeched out. “No! Do not do that. This entire thing is already messed up, using your buddy to destroy it will only make it collapse further.”

Catnap nodded but Hypnos took a few extra seconds to disappear… The mutt then asked the obvious, “W-wait how are we going to get you out then?” ….is he going to respond or- “Uh, this place is huge, I could probably find some stairs to get back to your floor.” Bobby then also started shouting down the chasm, worry in her tone, “Is Bubba okay?”

Kickin responded rather quickly “Yeah, I’ve got him right- …shit.” He looked down at the still unconscious elephant, the pipe that knocked him out must’ve shattered his glasses.. Bobby, sounding even more panicked, shouted back. “W-I don’t like the sound of that!”

“He’s okay! Just that his glasses are broken-“ Immediately an echoey voice boomed in his head, was she watching the whole time?

“What?!” The scream only made his headache worse, he held his head with his left hand while holding his unconscious friend in the other. “Argh- ohh forgot you could do that.”

Crafty was stressing out a lot, this was her first time doing this legitimately after all. “We can’t let you two down there. Maybe there’s a way to-“

…
“Uh oh.”

That gave the Yellow one shivers all over. “Why, what happened?? What do you mean uh oh?!” The time spent waiting for her reply was agonizing.

“I-I’m sensing a…huge Shadow growing nearer to the both of you, I think the s-smaller ones merged together after Dogday caused that explosion.” Dogday cringed at the mention of his blunder to properly use his Persona, but let Crafty continue.

“A-and now that you just made even more noise… I think you’re really in danger.”

The only words that Kickin could have to react to that were: “Fuck that, we’re getting out of here.” He started to stand up, making up a plan in his head, a risky one, but that’s what has to be done.

“I’m getting the big guy out of here, Crafts, guide the others out of there.” He ignored his friend’s various reactions to his words, Crafty’s Persona emitting their conversation through itself.

“B-but what about you??”

“I’ll be fine, just make sure the others get out. I’ll handle these things.” He was going to show those monsters who’s boss, and he was going to fist fight the bastards if he had too.

Do these things really think he’s just gonna let em mess with his friends and get away with it? Yeah, a big no to that idea.

“I-….You can’t be serious…” The utter bewilderment in her tone was unparalleled. Kickin can hardly imagine what her face looked like in that moment.

However, time was of the essence. He needed to get this started, otherwise the big Shadow might catch up to them.

“Less doubting more hurrying, just shut up and do it.” He raised his voice, but didn’t want to shout, that would only cause more of a ruckus.

Crafty begrudgingly agreed, she knew there was no way she could change his mind on this, all she could do was hope for the best. Man, Kickin was a handful.

For the others it took some time to be convinced, but in the end they all moved their way back to the exist, Crafty sensing around them like a mad woman trying to see if the huge Shadow would attack or not. Nope, not yet…

Kickin was just there in another dark hallway, ignoring the pain, he stood up slowly…His back hurt horribly and his head was pounding, but that wasn’t what was important.

“Phew…okay, I just need to get the big guy outa here… Shouldn’t be too hard right?”

Chapter Text

“Phew…okay, I just need to get the big guy outa here… Shouldn’t be too hard right?”

Looking around the broken hallway, he could feel how cold it had become.. Still though, even after his entire body ached, he had to act quickly. Softly shaking his friend awake, “Ey, Bubs. Wake up, I don’t have all day.”

The other slowly woke up, face bruised and battered, a single black spot on his right eye. He looked…horrible, but he was alive at least. Thank goodness for that.

“Ugh…wh-wha?” The bigger one opened his eyes, the other slightly more closed than the other, Bubba moved up slightly, now sitting in a weird position. He recalls the last thing he saw before he blanked out… and realized he couldn’t see anything, his whole vision was blurry and unclear.

“M-my glasses.. ah damn.”

He groaned, he could barely see his surroundings. It was rather dangerous to be here with that kind of vision.. Kickin helped him up a bit, hoping he recovers quickly enough for them to get out of there.

Noticing the others glasses he grabbed them… realizing his own glasses were also destroyed, albeit not as broken as the elephants. Luckily, he only wears em for flair, but it still hurt a little seeing them on the floor like this.

…Whatever, he can just get new ones. That’s not important, they needed to get moving, he was sure once everyone was safe, Crafty would help them too. For now he just needed to get to the point.

“I-look, we need to go. There’s some big Shadow that’s going to come here soon. Crafty is leading the others to safety while we… figure out a way to get out of here.” Bubba was slightly astounded, that was a lot to take in. Waking up even more he mumbled out a question.

“Why didn’t they just blast the rubble..?” Kickin knew that if he saw the damage the hallway was in, he would understand why he was against it.

“The entire thing would collapse if they did.” All he got was a nod in response.

“Ah…okay.” He put his hand on his head to try and ease the massive headache he also had. It was a stupid idea to go past there, he partly blames himself for what happened. But blame never gets you out of your problems does it?

“Can you stand?” The elephant tried to stand up, responding rather quickly now.
“Y-yeah I can st- ngh-!” He was interrupted by a sharp sting in his left foot, he looked downwards. His ankle was all swollen, with a bunch of darker colored spots on it… “ouch.”

That sent Kickin into a worry, granted he was just going to carry him if he couldn’t walk, but he didn’t want to see him struggle with a broken foot.

“Oh crap is it broken??” The other shook his head, causing Kickin to sigh in relief.

“No, just sprained…”

The yellow one noticed the blue one’s broken bat on the floor…and decided to use it as a makeshift crutch for his friend. As the other leaves against him for support he groaned…

“This sucks, i spend two whole days figuring out a way to go back there, only to end up in this dump.” Kickin looked at him with a confused expression, once he asked why, the other raised their voice unexpectedly. “There’s nothing here! No documents, no juicy information, nothing. Just…a massive waste of time.”

“H-hey why don’t we try to not raise our voices??The Shadows could hear us.” They moved from the wreckage slowly, Bubba still trying his best to walk normally, putting a lot of effort into not using his sprained foot a lot. Walking with it will only make the pain worse.

Bubba agreed, letting Kickin lead the way…which honestly didn’t make him feel all that better. “I don’t like giving you full trust like this.. what if you lead me to fall into a pit or something?” He could hear the other trying his hardest not to laugh at that.

“Bub’s please, you really think I’d joke around in a time like this? Don’t think your heads screwed on right.” That last part was literally true, his head felt completely out of wack. The injuries from the fall making it worse. He sighed at his pain, as much as he’d hate to admit it, the chicken was right.

“N-no I guess you wouldn’t.” He could fell the comforting hold the other had him in and leaned more into it. Any distraction from the pain was good enough…maybe some banter could help too.

“Don’t you worry your big brain about it, we’ll be fine.” Deciding to lighten the mood slightly, and to distract himself from the agony, he decided to tease the smaller one.

“C-Can’t tell if you’re being playful or just jealous that I’m smarter than you.” That caused the other to laugh as quietly as possible. Bubba cringed slightly as the other at him on the back, it stung more than it comforted him.

“Me? Jelly? Nah man, being a nerd is your thing. I got my own talents.” …talents? Ohh- he considers that a talent?

“…And being cool is your thing?” Bubba tried to look into his direction, vision still as blurry as ever.

“Exactly!” The smaller one smiled, grinning from ear to ear. That didn’t last for long though, as the other immediately replied with…“Well…being smart might help you with your grades a bit.” Bam! Instant frown, it was almost like magic.

“Oh shush, you know what kind of useless stuff they teach?? I’d rather off be listening to dead air for ten hours.” He still tried to have an inside voice, gotta appreciate the dedication. Bubba wishes he could see the stupid look on Kickin’s face, instead all he saw was a haze of yellow.

The yellow one seemed to always doze off every time they had a class together, so Bubba has no clue why he hates the lessons so much when he’s snoring through half of em.

“Well, at least you’d be out of my hair for that time.”

“You don’t even have-“ He heard a loud thud, immediately dashing backwards, pushing Bubba back a bit. “oh shit.” They hid behind a wall again, the opening was blocked by something…

“Wh-what happened??” Despite his best efforts, everything he could see was only a blur, no point in trying, you’d think he’d learn by now. The chickens expression sharpened as he noticed two all too familiar dark masses on the floor gurgling and moving unevenly.

“Shadows…two of em.”

Bubba immediately tensed up, they were so screwed… like, deeply screwed. No one to help, one of them can’t see, and their only somewhat competent weapon is now being used as a crutch. “Can’t we sneak past them?? Please don’t tell me they’re blocking the only place we can go to..”

He was hoping no- praying the other would respond with “no.” “…Yeah they are.” He felt all his frustration build up to the boiling point, groaning with a hand over his face. He muttered a simple, “great, just perfect.”

Following the row of weeds Crafty left for the group, they slowly and carefully moved their way though, trying to go back to the exist as soon as possible.

For some reason…Airmed couldn’t sense the bigger Shadow anymore. It was almost like it was never there. Still though she was frantically looking for it, unknowingly broadcasting her panic to the others trying to escape…which didn’t help at all.

She swore she saw it! She was looking through all the hallways for any sort of sign that they were there, why wasn’t it showing! Looking over and over again, everyone getting more and more worried as she went on.

Eventually they found Picky, who had been following the trail the unicorn left for a long while now. A huge sigh of relief echoed through their minds as at least one part of her worry was dealt with.

After Bobby asked if she was okay, the other ignored her completely, still focusing on the Shadow. …She had checked every hallway…but- …What if it wasn’t in the hallway, but in… she focused her attention on the walls instead… she was so focused on the hallways themselves that she hadn’t noticed..

“Uhh.. Crafty? You okay-“ a sudden screech came into their ears, “IT’S RIGHT BESIDE YOU.” Suddenly, a huge blast of force busted out of the right wall, pieces of metal salvage jettisoning out of it like shattered glass.

A darke bendy mass creeped out like a slug. Turning it’s large body to the other scared, significantly smaller people below. Picky screamed in fright, the large monster reacting to her fear by holding up…what was presumably its hand. It readied to smash into the others, wanting to turn them into nothing more but red stains on the ground

A hurling fist came down onto them, but before it did, a flash of light erupted from above them. A familiar mess came into few, it’s saw cutting though the shadows hand like butter. Roaring angrily, the Shadow retaliated by using its other arm to attack them instead.

Crafty reacted as fast as they could, immediately, a bubble of water enveloped her friends… the water acting like some sort of tough wall to the Shadow. The attack barely missed.

A sharp pain shocked through the dog’s body, causing his Persona to flicker in and out of tangibility. Bobby hugged him tightly to try and comfort him, while also being terrified for her life.

The thing relentlessly went to town on Crafty’s bubbles, trying to brute force its way through. Everyone could feel the weight of its punches, a loud muffled thud after every single it. Despite the Bubble being made of water, Catnap could swear he saw it slowly form glass-like cracks on its surface… it was going to break apart.

Using Hypnos, he tried to attack it first, the dark energy around it deflected from its body, smashing it against the surrounding hallway. It was almost as if it was immune to his attacks, this wasn’t looking good.

Next he tried something else, putting the thing to sleep. Despite it slowing down its movements, it quickly shook off the drowsiness, continuing to bombarde the weakening bubbles again and again.

He would’ve asked Dogday to help…but he was- uhh occupied right now, so they were basically sitting ducks. Crafty was panicking as well, trying her best to keep the shield up as long as possible.

…She sensed something from where the other two were, still in that hallway, with two Shadow’s right next to them.

“There’s only two of em, I’ll handle it, you stay here.” Bubba could barely contain his shock, was he really that stupid?? “What? Are you crazy, out of your mind even?”

Maybe he was, maybe he was way over his head, but what was he going to do? There was no other way out, no sneaking past them, and convincing the Shadows to stop attacking was a no go. For very obvious reasons.

There was only one solution, he had to fight. No time for doubts, no time for fear, he needed to get this done. “Don’t worry, I got this.” He didn’t know if Bubba believed him or not, but that didn’t matter. Aching from the pain his wounds caused, he shouted at the creatures with gritted teeth.

“Hey, small and ugly! Come and get me!”

He felt his heart beating through his chest like a wild animal… despite everything, he stood firm, nothing would stop him from saving his friends.

“I’ll show em, I’ll show em all what I can do. I’m not scared, I’ll make these freaks pay!” He thought to himself. The creatures closed in, his rage boiling up slowly as well…

“And you will.”

The drumming of his heart turned into a burning feeling, he already knew what this was somewhat, and he was ready. As usual, time seemed to slow down yet again.

“My, what confidence. Danger afoot yet you stand your ground, truly an honorable thing indeed. Despite your rather brash behavior towards others I sense great promise in you, therefore I shall-“

Crafty’s frantic voice interrupted the ominous voice, she wanted to give him the heads up before…the inevitable happens

“H-hey… The big shadow caught up to everyone! I-i’m trying to keep them safe but it’s getting difficult to-…” she cut herself off, that feeling she felt… that power, it felt familiar. Could it be? “What’s that behind you?…”

“Yo can we speed this up? I got friends to save.” He told the voice, Crafty confused on whether he was talking to her or not.

“Hahaha, very well, I am thou, thou art I. Your power shall never weaver when I’m around. Let it be known that they don’t scare you, and that you are the one that’ll scare them.” The gritted teeth turned into more of a grin. “Come, let us show these abominations who’s in charge!”

“Yeah, Thunderbird!” They dashed towards him but as soon as they did, a familiar wave of energy happened. Said energy, in the form of black lighting blasted out of the other, pushing the abominations downwards onto the floor rolling back onto the ground.

The Persona Kickin held seemed to be a mostly mechanical creature, no form of organic tissue in sight. Its body was mostly a dull gray, with hints of yellow and black accents adorning it. The wings and upper and lower half of the creature was held together by the strong magnetic core the beast had inside.

Before even getting a change to react as it struggles in the ground, the other braces a strong punch to the creatures face, moving at a remarkable speed. A huge blast of energy emitted from it, he stared with his mouth agape for a few seconds.

Without even realizing it, he had charged up his punch, feeling the tingle from the energy he just exerted. Watching as the Shadow he just hit immediately faded away, he chuckled like a madman as the power flowed through his fingers… The other Shadow recovered and he smirked menacingly at the thing. “Oh you are so dead.”

Bubba couldn’t see what was happening, only seeing flashing lights, and Kickin grunting and laughing, having the time of his life. The Shadow’s continually hissing and screeching…probably because he was throwing the thing around like a plastic toy. … The sounds stopped, the flashing did as well.

He heard the other walk up to him, the constant sound of electricity following his every move.

He got picked up rather easily again, either he got stronger after he got his Persona, or he put on some serious muscle. “Up you go bud. C’mon let’s go save our friends. I should be able to-“ Bubba trips over Kickin’s new Persona almost tripping as he managed to keep his balance. He heard the other stifle a laugh and frowned.

“Pfft-“

“Shut up I can barely see.” He climbed onto the mechanical being, expecting the electricity to shock him, he was figuratively shocked when it didn’t. It felt more like a soft buzz than what he expected, guess it can control who it can and can’t hurt with its energy? Yeah Bubba is definitely studying this thing later.

“Crafts, lead me to the others yeah?” She stuttered out an agreement, still very flabbergasted at what just happened. Kickin mumbled an, “Are you ready?” To the blue one, gaining a nod in response. Kickin put on his broken glasses and smiled again. “Alright Thunderbird, alle-oop! Oh-WOAHHHHH-!”

What he hadn’t expected, was for the beast to go that fast, it zoomed through the area like a rocket, Kickin barely being able to turn in accordance to Crafty’s frantic instructions.

The bubble was already shattered, the creature smiling as it grabbed the dog…probably sensing his vulnerable state right now, and wanting to take advantage of it. It started slowly squishing him as he tried to fight back, fighting both a monster and a massive migraine ain’t easy.

Everyone, especially Catnap, felt useless in that situation. Helplessly watching one of their friends get squished…

Before the Shadow could finish the job, a large object crashes into the beast from the side, sending it flying through the nearby wall it broke out of. The mutt gets released and again, gets surprised by so many people hugging him at once.

Out of the dust the impact made, came Kickin holding up Bubba in arms, “Someone order a rescue? I- oh wait, don’t fall-“ Bubba suddenly starts to fall over as he went on. He quickly tends to his friend as he recovers from the nausea, he felt like puking after that. “You good? …alright!”

“…No way…” Hoppy says with a huge smile, walking over to him for a fist bump. “Pretty cool huh?” Before the other could respond, the large monstrosity gets up, the mechanical bird zooming back to its master’s side.

The shadow recovers quickly, still jittering because of the recent electrical charge it had received... maybe it was weak to it? It lunges an attack, only to be stopped by dark vines latching into the beast. Catnap knew he couldn’t kill it alone, his attacks barely did anything to it. So instead, he was planning on holding it down as long as possible. “Kill it!” He shouted, struggling to keep the beast in place.

Dogday finally seemed to be semi-okay as he summons the broken form of his Persona. The Persona’s sawblade stabs into the creatures body, it screeching out as the hit connected. The mutt’s body starts to ache and sore… Everything hurts when he uses it…he really needed to keep it under control.

Something snapped at that moment, not in him, but inside the Persona itself. Suddenly the half awakened persona starts to stab into the creature again and again and again psychotically. Not stopping for a moment as the creature struggles to break free.

Everyone stares at the rampage for a moment, before Kickin snaps his fingers, “Alright! Get em!” The larger bird screeches behind him, and immediately a huge thunderbolt stabs right into the Shadow. It writhes in agony as it stops moving entirely…is it dead?

Catnap releases the beast cautiously…it didn’t move, they killed it. However there was one problem, the dog’s persona is still going ham on the shadow, stab after stab, completely ignorant to the fact that it was already dead.

“Damn, talk about overkill.” Hoppy says as she stares at the carnage. “T-that’s enough...” Dogday mumbles out, raising his hand to stop his Persona. Eventually, the shining beacon finishes its rampage on the monster, it finally fades away with his Persona along with it.

As they watch the large beast fade into the floor, the reality of their victory finally sets in.

They did it… they did it! Everyone started cheering, except for the cat. Catnap wanted to collapse onto the ground at that moment, man he was done with this. He received a pat on the back from someone. “Good job, buddy.” Oh it was the dog again. All the purple one did was smile tiredly.

The loudest to cheer was Kickin, not noticing someone walked up to him. “Yeah!! Woohoo! That was- oh hey, Bobs.” He then got softly slapped in the face by her, a look of worry and anger in her expression.

“Never make me worry like that again…all of you.” Kickin just smiled softly at her, face filled with the biggest relief you have ever seen. “Yeah, I know. I saved the day huh?”

No one responded but he knew he did, eh, he’ll brag about saving their lives later. Once they’re actually out of this dump that is.

“A-alright everyone, l-let’s go back.” Crafty said, mumbling her words a lot more now…guess she was tired too. A mischievous grin appeared on his face, he had an idea. “Hey, can I make a suggestion?”

One by one, Kickin let them ride along with him on the Thunderbird. He wanted to test it out a bit more, to get the hang of it y’know? And also to enjoy his friend’s various reactions to it.

Hoppy was excited, saying something about racing the thing one day. No clue how she expects to even get close to catching up with this thing but she probably will try. Dogday was just panicking quietly, praying that they wouldn’t bonk into the walls at every turn.

The others had various reactions ranging from, “Oh hey, this is kinda neat.” to, “OH HOLY SHIT!” Which was just endless entertainment for the chick.

And for Bubba, he decided to go a little slower, he already had motion sickness, and besides, he wasn’t going to make the headache worse than it already was. As they landed near the exit, Crafty healed all the wounds they had received, making sure no one felt any pain.

“Hey girlfriend, how are you feeling after that?” The bear was then concerned by the completely dead expression she got in return, “Tired…just so tired. I-I ’m going to take a nice long bath after this.” Catnap agreed with her there.

As they made their way outside, everyone said goodbye to each other. Picky promised she’d make a celebration party soon, which excited Hoppy most of all. Picky then walked off with Bubba, since he couldn’t see, she was going to lead him to his home.

Kickin and Hoppy walked together since their homes were actually really close by. “Yo, that was awesome! You really have your own personal ride!” She was really excited about his new Persona for some reason, a slight bit more than he himself was. “I know right, I’m awesome.”

She gave him a playful punch on the shoulder, smirking as he complimented himself. “One day, once I get my Persona, I’m gonna race yours.” All the yellow one did was laugh. “Ha! You think you could catch up with me? Not a chance.”

As they walked alongside a forest path, they could feel the cold breeze across their faces. This was really relaxing after a long day, especially after this one. Kickin just guessed they had to get used to near death experiences huh?

He’s glad everything worked out, he saved his friends, got to live to see another day, and got a cool new buddy to help him kick some ass! What more could he want? All he hoped for was that Bubba would be alright. …hey where did his glasses go? He swore he had them in his pocket, eh he’ll get new ones soon anyway.

They finally found their way home, Kickin getting ready to go to bed. After all that, he really wanted to sleep for at least a whole day-

Chapter Text

The soft light of the rising sun came through the window, illuminating an empty and quiet room. The silence didn’t last, as noises of someone entering came in, along with the slow clattering of the items in her grip.

She tried to grab her phone out with only a few fingers, holding a bunch of brushes in that overworked appendage. She managed to get it out, putting it next to the empty canvas she had set out.

A single tap in the music app plays her first playlist, the song that came out was quiet and soft, perfect for background noise while you’re painting.

…right, the painting…

…

What was she going to paint? Maybe she could do a landscape- no, that’s boring. She could make one of her friends!

She looked at the abundance of portraits of her friends, varying in quality from sketches to full blown- uhh.. masterpieces? … Yeah she already has enough of her friends.

Right back to square one, she continued to try and come up with any sort of idea, but she couldn’t. No matter how many times she tried thinking of something, it immediately slipped her mind. She was tempted to hit her head against the canvas in frustration, but the paint she had painted on for the background hadn’t dried yet. So unless she wants her face to look even more blue, she shouldn’t do that.

She groaned in frustration, staring the empty canvas down like she was in a cowboy stand-off. Great, just perfect.

“Ughh… D-dang it!” She had artist’s block, an artists worst nightmare besides accidentally drawing on the same layer and-…probably some other stuff.

So that was a waste of her time, now she had literally nothing else to do. Begrudgingly she turned her music off and walked out of the room, leaving all her art stuff there until the block leaves. She was on her way to eat a snack when her phone rumbled inside her pocket. Oh, it’s Picky.

Picky:
“Hey! You awake?”

She nodded to herself, which was weird because she was literally nodding to a phone.

Crafty:
“Yeah, I’m good. How’s the party going?…you were planning a party, weren’t you?”

Picky:
“Yup! A big one. And you all really need one, especially you.”

Oh? Was it because she said she was tired yesterday? In all honesty she was so tired she barely kept track of what she said. She looked around her kitchen, she had quite literally nothing to do.

…eh whatever.

Crafty:
“Can I help?”

Picky:
“Ha! And ruin the surprise? No way!”

Oh! Bobby and Hoppy joined the chat, that was fast.

Bobby:
“What are y’all doing chatting this early? …Wait, has Picky been planning this party all night since yesterday??

The “Picky is typing” text appeared and reappeared over and over again. She was really thinking hard about her response. …Did a whole minute really pass?

Hoppy:
“Wow. Picky really wasting her braincells.”

Picky:
“Maybe.”

Bobby:
“I waited almost two minutes for that? Btw PLEASE fix your sleep schedule, I beg.”

Hoppy:
“Well. Since we’re all awake anyway, wanna hang out?? :DD”

Crafty thought this over for a moment… She was down honestly. It’s been a good while since they all hung out together, this could be fun! Oh- Bobby immediately replied, man she types fast when she’s excited.

Bobby:
“Not this early, no. Maybe a bit later? I’ll go finish my coffee, i’ll tell y’all when I’m ready okay? Oh! But I know this AWESOME bakery a little out of town, we should totally get something nice there.”

Picky:
“Oh yeah I’ve seen that one. Well I gotta see it to believe it, you know what happened before when we trusted you to go eat somewhere. With the…incident.”

Bobby:
“HOW WAS I SUPPOSED TO KNOW THAT THE FOOD WAS EXPIRED??”

Crafty closed out of the chat, she did not wanna read through that entire debacle. Waiting for their silly argument to be over, she went through her phone. Watching art tutorials, reading up on her favorite stories… scrolling through art ideas like a madwoman. Y’know, the usual.

She thought about said “incident” Bobby had made a suggestion that they’d all go hang out at some sketchy looking diner…and paid the price for it, as a ton of the food was nearing the point of not even being considered edible anymore.

Safe to say, they all were sick to their stomachs for a good week.

Her phoned dinged again, but it wasn’t from the group chat. Kickin sent her an image, it was sent 10 minutes ago.

It was a picture of…nothing? Oh, oh wait hold on.. using her own powers she could vaguely see the after image of his Persona, Thunderbird. Next to it was a tablet, laying on the ground. …She doesn’t think Kickin realized that the picture was blank, and that was just taking a picture of a charging tablet on the ground. …Did he not check the foto before sending it?

It took her a bit to notice that the Persona was charging the tablet with its powers, a small green battery icon on its surface to imply it. It sent a small spark of energy toward it, very carefully distributing the energy needed.

Attached to the picture was a text…

Kickin:
“I’ve got a portable battery in my soul! Fucking awesome huh?”

….

Pfft- Yeah, okay.

The waiting time was a bit long, what was once an early morning was now an afternoon. But Crafty didn’t really mind, all she wanted to do was relax a bit, she could handle waiting.

Eventually it was time to meet up with her friends.

After getting ready and meeting up with her friends, Crafty told them about her artist’s block. She wanted to be a bit more open today, she had no idea why..

“I- I think I just need to find some inspiration…I don’t know where though.” Bobby put her hand on her shoulder, an attempt to comfort them surely.

“We could help if you want, we could brainstorm ideas together!” Crafty thought about it for a second…and then declined.

“O-oh no. We’re s-supposed to be having fun, I don’t wanna ruin it j-just cuz I don’t know what to paint. Or draw…or sculpt..” she trailed off a bit afterwards, awkward silence filling the air as the girls just watched her. Yeah time to switch the subject.

She then started talking about what she should wear for the party, Bobby excitedly dragging them along to the small mall they had in the area. They arrived at the clothing store, many mannequins situated in the front window. Wearing clothing varying in style and color, Hoppy was also excited for some reason.

“Oh~ look at that. I needed more clothes.” Hoppy usually got a lot of her clothes dirty and tattered while playing her sports, so when she wasn’t wearing it, most of her clothes were in the washing machine 24/7…or in the trash.

Maybe they had sport shoes as well. …Do clothing stores even sell those? Either way, they entered the store, Picky just following Bobby along as she wasn’t really that interested. Crafty was with Hoppy, which meant that she had deal with her hyperactive butt the whole time.

“Crafty!! Look at this, haha!”

She pulls out a very…uhh- interesting shirt? It was mostly black with some green coloring with a skeleton eating a hoard of spiders. A sentence of on the shirt but the font was so bad that she could barely read what it said.

It looked like some high school rocker band reject, that’s how awful it looked.

“It’s sick.” If she actually meant it or not wasn’t clear.

“Um…why is the skull barfing out spiders?” Hoppy opened her mouth to explain, before shutting it closed again. She really had no clue. “Ah-…oh yeah, why is it doing that…”

It didn’t take long for her focus to go onto an even uglier shirt in the corner. “Oh~ this one’s driving on a motorcycle.” The gentle girl just chuckled and mentally prepared herself for the absolute chaos that’d unfold, “Oh boy, here we go…”

Switching over two the other friends, Picky was just walking around the general area, occasionally glancing at the different clothed mannequins… She really wasn’t planning on buying anything, hell, she wasn’t sure if she’d find anything fitting her style. Most of her thought process was just, “How could I make this party great?”

Cycling through ideas in her mind periodically, she continues walking down an isle… then she saw Bobby. She was standing by her lonesome, eyeing a bunch of pink hue’d outfits with a puzzled look.

“Found anything good?” The bear was slightly startled by her voice but immediately calmed down a bit once she saw who it was.

She sighed “No dice…I’m trying to find a nice shade of pink to wear but…”

she points towards the gather scarce selection, most of it was just the same thing. A bunch of pink clothes of varying color with little to no difference in their actual style.

“All of these colors are ugly. This isn’t hot pink, this is- uh… disgusting to look at pink!” Man she was getting weirdly heated, didn’t know she cared so much about this stuff.

“…You really like fashion huh?” She shook her head, calming down almost immediately. She looked away from the aggressive pink colors behind her, she was done with it for now.

“Not at all, it’s just so hard to find something fitting for my style, y’know?”Well, Picky could agree with her there, they both had issues like that.

Then, seemingly out of nowhere, Hoppy barged in, holding… one,two,three,four… six of those ugly shirts. Crafty shimmied to them too, waving awkwardly..

“Speak of yourself, Bobs. These shirts are the best purchase I’ll ever make.” The bear looked her up and down, examining the waste of good cotton and polyester. She held in a laugh, she slightly felt her eyes water.

“Pfft- those are uhh…interesting choices-“ She chuckled as Hoppy smirked like crazy…

They were mostly done now, Crafty just got a new bow for in her hair, and that was enough for her to be done with it. Everyone kept staring at her…she hated that. Her persona tried manifesting to comfort her, but she was making sure it didn’t. She did not want to draw even more attention to herself by having a ghost following her around.

Bobby only grabbed a new eyeliner the store had on display for some reason, when asking about it she said it was for herself. …weird.

As they made their way outside, Bobby immediately started leading them to the bakery she mentioned. Hoppy decided to take a picture with her new best purchase, she sent that selfie to her biggest competitor/friend.

Hoppy:
“Look at this fucking shirt lmao”

She attached the picture to the text, it sending along with it. It took Kickin a few minutes to respond, probably because he was laughing too hard.

Kickin:
“Wtf, you’re better off not wearing anything at that rate😭”

Kickin:
“Man if you wear that crap when we’re practicing, I’m hitting you.”

Hoppy:
“What, can’t handle my fashion? Baby.”

Kickin:
“If I wanted to see a baby I would call someone else…speaking of.”

Her entire view got covered in the incoming call screen, the yellow one’s stupid face making her laugh. She accepted, immediately being greeted by the actual person.

“Hi Hoppy, I’m so gonna beat you in soccer next time.”

She fake gasped, trying her hardest not to grin like crazy. “Pfft- I’ll beat your ass.”

“Try me~” he blew a kiss towards her, making the rabbit want to audibly gag. He then let out a gremlin like laugh as he closed the call. Ooo~ he was asking for it now. Just watch, he’ll be sorry!

Before she could respond her friend’s voice shouted from in front of her. “Hoppy- uh... take that shirt off.. You’re embarrassing yourself.” Hoppy immediately took it off, she was quick with it too. She couldn’t argue with her bff, it was just impossible to do.

They finally made it to the bakery, took em long enough. The bakery wasn’t that big, just a small building with a few chairs and tables sitting outside. Bobby went inside to get them their food, while the others kept the seats warm.

Small talk started naturally, going on about their day, what they were planning on doing and et cetera. Somehow the topic switched to yesterday’s events.

“So, how are we feeling after that?” Picky asked, causing the other two who sat there to stiffen in their seats. “Excited, and uhh…a little nervous.” She sighed, tapping her fingers on the table. Oh Crafty was not in the mood for this, she was hoping they’d ignore her, but they didn’t.

“Please don’t ask me, please don’t ask me-“ she thought to herself as four eyes now focused on her. “Dang it-“

“How about you, Crafty. You doing okay?”

She thought about back then, the utter panic she felt.. Her heart raced, threatening to explode out of her chest. She had never been that stressed in a while, and if it wasn’t for Kickin…she’d be the only one who survived it. Despite her doing her best, she felt like a failure for not helping enough.

Now she wasn’t going to tell them all that, but getting it off her chest would be good. So she let out a heavy breath and told them how she felt, as best as she could.

“I- i just w-wanna say sorry for not helping enough. I really tried my best, but it was so stressful.”

Picky chuckled and put her hand on hers, softly tracing her finger back and forth to comfort her. “I know it was, but don’t worry. You did your best, and that’s enough for us.”

Yeah, she was right, the unicorn kinda felt stupid for worrying.. She saved them didn’t she? If it weren’t for her they would’ve never gotten out of it alive. Maybe she was just overthinking it, it happens a lot but she probably was.

Hoppy gave her a thumbs up, grinning all the while. She smiled back, she could never wish for better friends. They had her back, and she had theirs!

Bobby came back, holding a bag filled with various pastries and much more…she had bought a lot, maybe it was for her sweet tooth.

They got to talking again, Bobby sharing her own stories, and even some embarrassing moments with the guys she had. All in good fun of course, she’s never talk shit behind their backs, or expose really private conversations. She wasn’t like that, and thank god for that.

“Catnap, slept in a boat once, don’t ask, and then Kickin kicked it into the river!” She started going on about this story, detailing how the cat somehow slept through the whole debacle while Dogday, Bubba and her were trying to get him back to land. This story was one of her favorite highlights ever, just for the fact that it was so ridiculous.

Crafty could barely follow her story, she was talking at lightning speeds, even faster than Hoppy if she was really excited about something. She even forgot about her food, laying there half eating on a plate.

She hadn’t even noticed that Picky stood up and started handing out sodas to everyone, she said she picked the flavors off of who they reminded her of. Bobby got a red one, which presumably was like- uh. Strawberry flavor or something.

Hoppy got a green one, probably apple. And she…got the most weird one.

“S-sea breeze blast? What flavor is that?” She asked her pink friend. Shrugging, all she got was just a weird face, Hoppy noticed the long name too and laughed a bit. The unicorn asked what flavor the pig had…

“Bubblegum.”

“Ew- that’s nasty, what would it even taste like? Probably bog water.” Hoppy said, very much appalled at the odd flavor choice…or maybe she just hated bubblegum in particular? Who knows.

Picky laughed, checking the ingredients of the drink. “Hey I just wanted to be cute with the matching colors okay? They didn’t have blueberry so I gave her that…” she examined the back a bit more, noticing the abhorrent amounts of sugar and calories in it.

“Yeesh- yeah no thanks, I’ll probably just buy some orange juice next time.” They just laughed it off and let Bobby continue her stories.

After Bobby finished her stories, they all had a good laugh at them. This was really fun! They should do this more often. Most of them involved Catnap in some way, which clearly caused Picky’s thought process to go to him.

“So…speaking of Catnap, have any of you seen him at all?” Everyone just stayed quiet, evidently no one knew. He wasn’t been heard off since yesterday, probably also taking it easy just like Crafty was.

Bobby came up with an answer, an obvious one. “…Probably in bed, I’ll text.” She immediately pulled out her phone to do just that. Assuming he was just sleeping through was always the most plausible option. Especially for him, who is rather infamous for that.

“No one sleeps for that long…” Crafty said, although it was more based on her own experiences. If she slept too long in her bed she’d come out a mess, with a hurting back to boot.

“Well this is Catnap we’re talking about, so anything’s possible.” Hoppy shrugged, eating some more of her food. Bobby just stared at her phone with a concerned expression, Hoppy noticing her reaction and putting her food down again. “What happened? Did he sink through the bed or something?”

As she shared their phone screen, Hoppy’s face also turned to a concerned look. Soon enough everyone was looking at Bobby’s texts. Everyone read Bobby’s first message, asking if he was awake or not. No reply for a good five minutes, normal for him in all honesty.

What was next was kinda odd, it was a picture of… Catnap’s bedroom? Nothing out of the ordinary at first, until Crafty noticed the large amount of black flowers surrounding his bed. They weren’t like those in the other world, but they sure did look ominous.

They wrapped around his bed like snakes, enveloping it completely. Another thing they noted, was the weirdly shaped gap in between the flowers… Realizing rather quickly that that was where Catnap had slept on his bed. There was no way these flowers were natural, which was obvious to all of them.

Catnap:
“Could you come over? This is urgent.”

That was all the cat said before going offline. They all stared at eachother, nodding in agreement. The party planning could wait.

They all grabbed their remaining food and put them away, Bobby gave Hoppy a bag with all the stuff they bought. “Bring this to my home, I’ll be seeing you.” Nodding, Hoppy was on her way to Bobby’s house, running rather fast.

And without much protest, they made their way to Catnap’s house. Getting ready to help their friend with…whatever was happening.

Chapter Text

“Ever since a few weeks ago, I had this
… dream. A nightmare more so. It always starts with the same thing, a school bell ringing loudly,”

The scene of a few hours ago plays itself out, that aforementioned bell rung throughout the dark halls of a strange building he can’t quite place.

It’s damp, dust and cobwebs adorn the tattered and broken walls. The place had no smell, like it was devoid of it. But if he could smell it, it would probably reek of mold and grime, so it’s probably for the best. He’d just choked it up to being in his dreams, this isn’t a real scene he’s seeing after all.

On the ground, he’d slowly stir. Once in his soft and comfortable bed, now laying on the cold stone floor. Looking around, he would spot a bunch of papers on the ground, laying crumpled along the colorful flooring.

Most of them were incoherent scribbles, colorful unfamiliar figures drawn out in cheap crayons. These were clearly made by a small child, approximately either eight or seven if he had to guess.

A row of chairs lay stretched out in front of the feline, some knocked over while some had been broken, exposing their wooden frames. Based on the children’s drawings and the overall look of the room, It didn’t take long for him to register that he was in some sort of classroom by the looks of it.

He’d stand up, and then he’d have his choices. One time he tried to search the teachers desk, nothing came out of that. Another he tried breaking the window in the class, only to realize that it was no window, just a wall, adorned with a drawn on visage of the outside. Covered by a thin layer of glass to give the illusion of a window, it was a weird sight to be sure.

He’d try walking outside the classroom, to be met with what you’d expect out of a kindergarten. A wall of lockers would show themselves, perfectly wrapping around the hallways like a snake.

The walls were littered with colorful accessories, flowers, rainbows and et cetera. It was supposed to bring a happy and bright atmosphere, but it more just aided in the uncanny vibe the whole place had going on.

He’d walk around the place aimlessly, walking and walking through the seemingly endless space. Just dark, empty and cold. Nothing in sight, no sign of any other person, just him and this unending school-space.

He felt like he was on a timer, like if he didn’t go through it enough, or if he wandered too long, he’d get kicked out. Waking up in his bed again. Slowly forgetting said events until they come back just as quickly, and the cycle continues anew. It’s irritating.

He grew tired of it after a while, every damn time his nights rest would get interrupted by this dream. It’s practically impossible to dream the same dream, yet he felt like it was. His rest was plagued by it, haunted by it. It came to the point where even he himself wanted to stay awake. And that’s something coming from him.

All he wanted was for it to stop, but no matter what he did or how he acted in it, he’d always fail. At this point he was tired, very tired. Even in his dreams he was tired, and it drove him mad. This has to end somehow, and he was going to find out how.

The nights kept repeating, over and over and-…

… That door wasn’t open before.

Despite the numerous attempts, a sliver of hope shone throughout the endless suffering. A single, open door, with no light coming from inside. Ironic then, that such a thing seemed to be the metaphorical light at the end of the tunnel. At least for him.

He slowly approached the open doorframe finding that there was almost nothing in that room. Not because it was too dark, or that it was just empty, no, the inside was completely pitch black, seeming more like a flat black colored wall than an actual room.

The endless noir was baffling, like someone had put a dark blanket around the already dim room. He stuck his hand through it, identifying that it was in fact a thing he could walk through. Oh boy…here we go.

Bracing himself, gathering whatever energy he had left, he slowly took a single step inside. Despite there being no water, the floor beneath him rippled once his foot touched it. Like throwing a single pebble in a pond. All the damp and mustiness in the room before faded like smoke once he had entered the area fully, it felt like… nothing. A complete dark void…except for a single shine in the far back of the room.

“That must be it…” he’d mumble to himself, slowly walking towards the shine, the floor rippling beneath him once more with each step.

Making his way through the darkness wasn’t difficult but it was pretty irritating. For some reason…he felt like he was being dragged down. Like the shadows themselves were trying to drag him down. He was hoping he didn’t trip, because that’d really piss him off. And he wasn’t sure if he would be able to get up afterwards.

The trudging took forever, the slight shimmer in the nothingness not seeming to grow closer… Time was running out, or at least he thought it was. The feline started running now, the rippling floor way going a lot faster. He was this close to finally finding something new after a long while, he wasn’t getting sent back to the waking world just yet!

Finally, the light grew! Relief turned into confusion as Catnap made his way closer towards the light. Right there, in the light he sought after, was a figure. A small one, almost dwarfing him somehow… It seemed to be a small child, holding a bunch of toys in their hands.

The kid was rather skinny and slim, almost looking malnourished in some areas… Gray button up shirt that seemed dirty and stained by unknown liquids, black pants that blended into the void around them almost seamlessly.

Its back was turned away from him, giving him barely a sliver of a change to notice any facial details. Curiosity killed him… “Hey…hello?”

Those single words caused the kid to freak out and look behind him.

He should’ve stayed curious…

“…”

Instead of being met with a small kids face, he was met with a mangled abomination, scratches and cuts all over its face, bruised and battered…broken. With deep cuts that seemed to never heal nor bleed out, he wasn’t sure if the kid felt it or not.

Face covered in shadow, he could notice faint changes in it’s face… For some reason, Catnap had trouble identifying it as human at all. The uncanny valley effect was through the roof at this point.

The kid didn’t respond, either shocked at his sudden appearance or just on purpose.. Catnap had to get answers somehow.

“W-what’s going on?! Where am I, who are you?”

…

Any questions fell on deaf ears as the kid stops playing with its old decrepit toys. It’s slowly standing up, almost as if it was careful not break any of its bones… The way it moved was long, overly drawn out movements, like it was a cartoon character put through slow motion

“It’s you…”

As the kid opens its jaw to speak, Catnap could feel its voice echo through the dark abyss, like they were in a tunnel and the kid was talking to him from the other side. Meters away from where he stood.

It sounded dragged out and slowed… he could barely understand it.

“Me…? What are you talking about?” Catnap muttered softly.

It took him a quick glance at the toys behind to notice that that toy looked… familiar. He was shocked when he realized what it was, it was him, or rather, a toy-like version of him. It looked just as tattered as the kid itself..

“…You don’t recognize me?”

Catnap was clearly out of the loop at this point. He did, in fact, not recognize the creepy kid he just met a mere second ago. And his face probably showed it as well. Must’ve been one hell of a expression for the kid to make that face at him.

“…Makes sense, it’s been so long...“ turning his head, the feline bore witness to even more scaring on the left side of its head. Like a piece of metal had been lodged into its side. …This kid looked messed up, what the hell happened to them?

“Huh?-”

The kid turned back just as quickly, almost robotic in its movements, puppet-like… but human in some way. The way it slogged about as if every single muscle was struggling to move along with it creeped him out.

“I’ve been wanting to see you for so long but… not like this..”

Catnap noted that the kids body language had chanced somewhat, turning nervous and shifty, like he was about to tell a embarrassing secret to someone. He fiddled with his hands a bit, likely filled with anxiety at this point. His face flashing a look of sadness and despair.

“I tried to convince him that he shouldn’t have… gone this far.. But he did.”

He? Who’s he? Catnap merely took a few steps back, confused as to what the kid was talking about. Fear rose up from his throat like bile, causing him to do what he usually did, freeze up.

The kid looked even more tense, dangerously gripping his arm tighter and tighter. Periodically opening his mouth to speak, then closing it soon after.

“…Something bad is going to happen, and I just wanted to say… I’m sorry. For you and your friends.”

Wh- huh?? Well that’s not ominous at all. Naturally, after just hearing this weird premonition about his friends… Catnap isn’t exactly thrilled at this news.

Despite freezing up moments earlier… a soft presence behind him made it clear that something had appeared. Hypnos…right. Within the projections presence, he could feel a feeling of discontent with him.

He HAD promised that he wouldn’t be a coward to it after all… But it’s just so difficult to keep up that promise, being fearful was all he had ever known… and even with his newfound strength, it was hard to keep going.

He could’ve sworn he heard distant whispers from behind, like Hypnos wanted to say something… Dark heavy breaths littered the felines neck as he tried to keep himself strong.

To his surprise, the kid also seemed to notice Hypnos, giving it a look of familiarity… The smaller ones statute changed slightly, to a more calm demeanor, yet still terrified somehow.

“…W- what on earth are you talking about?”

The kid’s face started blurring out, like a blurry picture frame. More and more the kids tone would sound even more defeated and monotone as the conversation went on.

“You went there before… I-it’s what they created to contain it.. I-“

Before he could finish his sentence, something changed. A pit in both of their stomachs formed immediately as the already dark area around them turned even darker.

The rippling floor beneath them both started swerving and splashing like the dark floor was becoming the liquid it was thought to be… Catnap had braced for an impact with the dark substance…but it never came. He realized it, he was floating now, right above the ever raging shadows below his feet.

Unlike the cat, the kid had a much worse time. Almost drowning in the stuff, trying his best to stay above the tides.

Like the world around them was reacting to the kids emotions. Dark oily tears started pouring down the scared face of the person standing before him, it was now like they were in the middle of a storm.

“No! W-wait I- It’s dark… so dark. I- I hate it! I hate it!”

The shadows roared as Hypnos presence disappeared…only for the kid to reach out towards him. “W-wait don’t go! Please… no..”
Catnap could swear he felt something else behind him this time… it wasn’t Hypnos, Hypnos was gone. Instead, he felt a dark presence behind him. It loomed over the both of them, causing the kid to look up…

“I-I’m sorry! I had to tell him… please don’t be mad-“

A sudden monstrous roar bellowed from behind him, dark and horrific, whatever it was, it wasn’t human. The shade raged around them even more but- Catnap just couldn’t dare to turn around, to see what was behind him. He was sure one glance would’ve terrified him to his very core, or he’d die from shock..

The kid was grabbed by a huge dark hand, hoisted upwards like a doll. The kid shouted and pleaded, but nothing budged, and nothing could stop him from being taken. Before Catnap could even think of a single thing to say or do, he felt a heavy weight drag him into the waters, like a rock was suddenly attached to his feet.

It didn’t take long before he was submerged completely… Being dragged deeper and deeper into the depths. He closed his eyes and…

The nightmare was over.

…

“…I- I just… wow.” That was certainly a story, Bobby for one was almost speechless after hearing it, almost.

“So you just woke up like that? With… these things all around you?” She moved her hand to gesture into the cat’s bedroom. Inside was the scene they saw in the message Catnap had sent not so long ago. The black flowers were already wilting and decaying as they spoke, even though it hadn’t been that long since he first asked for help.

Inside was Crafty, examining the strange flora…with a look of confusion on her face.

“You found anything, Crafts?” She almost jumped out of her skin as a familiar, slightly southern voice came straight from behind.. Picky, who was staying all the way in the back of the room, came way to close suddenly.

“No..,” she sighed “Im not that much of a botanist… I- I have no clue…”

Picky observed the freaky sight, and shook her head. She had no clue ether. “I wish that nerd was here, he knows everything. Well- mostly everything.”

“I don’t think he’d know about creepy black flowers appearing out of nowhere.” Bobby interjected, the two in the hallway moving closer.

Picky chuckled “Guess not…” as they all stood there for a while, observing the situation, the red one came opened her mouth. “C’mon let’s get rid of this junk, I doubt catnap would want to sleep in a bunch of bushes. Right, Catnap?”

…

The silent awkward stare…oh great, we love those. Catnap just blankly stared at his friend, Bobby’s face turning slightly stern. “…right?

The quiet continued until the Cat muttered an answer.

“…well I guess that won’t be-“

A finger was lovingly placed on his mouth, shushing him, Bobby gives him an even more stern look. It should feel cold but… She means well, and the stare radiates genuine care for him.

“You are NOT sleeping like that, I won’t allow it.”

Begrudgingly he agrees, asking them how on earth they’re even gonna remove those things. To which Picky or anyone for that matter, have no clue.

“Pickin’ them one by one won’t do much… there has to be a way to remove em faster.” Putting her hand on her chin, Picky starts contemplating the many ways she herself could fix this. Most of them involve a lot of aggressive pulling and cutting, something she does not want to do.

“Nah, no clue.”

Crafty points her finger up like she was in school asking a question. Watching her Picky gets an idea, while she doesn’t know a lot about these things…Crafty’s Persona sure could prove quite useful here.

“B-But how will we fix this fast then?” To this, Picky points towards her heart, then to her. “Doesn’t your persona have healing junk? Can that work?” Crafty immediately feels slightly stupid for not thinking of that sooner, but decides to let it go.

“…O-oh. Right haha silly me… C’mere Airmed..”

That familiar form rushes to her aid, the sounds of rushing water and the smell of herbal essence radiates from the woman. Picky is questioning how the water that’s flowing out of the well…isn’t actually making the floor wet, but decides to drop it.

Raising her hand, Crafty gently orders Airmed to purify the plants. Obliging, Airmed’s warm hand raises along side her, causing the well water to surround the vines. As the water surrounds the plant life, it causes them to turn from black to a soft gold color, before they disappear in a shimmer of golden light. Along with this, Crafty decides to sense the plant life again, hoping for different results.

The feels everything again, this time a lot more controlled, and she feels…something different.

A flow of dark energy is surrounding the plants, as they get purified, she watches as the dark energy slides away like a dozen of snakes. Crawling on the ground and going towards her left… she looks that way only to jump in surprise as that same dark energy is going back into…Catnap.

Or to put it more accurately, into that same light she saw way back when. Luckily for her Hypnos wasn’t out this time, but this could only mean one thing. These flowers originated from Hypnos.

“…What are you staring at?” Catnap responds softly, Crafty hadn’t even realized she was staring until he brought it up.

“I- I think these flowers were made by Hypnos… I have no clue why-“

Before she was able to finish speaking, loud bonks against the cat’s closed window frame, scaring the living daylight out of everyone in the room. Picky was just about to open the window and punch however was out there in the face for scaring her…until she noticed the green fur.

“…ggrh- give me a fucking heart attack why don’t you-“

She opened the window revealing Hoppy standing there, elevated by the ladder she stood on. She was back from putting all the stuff away from their shopping spree. Seeing her scare Picky almost made Bobby almost burst out laughing but held herself together enough to uh- NOT do that.

“The hell are you doing here??”

Not responding to her questions, Hoppy crawled inside like some weird spider, almost slamming her face against the floor as she did so.

“Oh sorry girls. Uh- you wouldn’t answer the door and I got inpatient so-…”

Then she noticed the situation, Airmed had disappeared when Crafty got spooked, so the purifying of the flowers got halted. She stared at one of said flowers, other parts black other half gold. Watching the golden part of the flower fade away into the air made her realize..she came in at the wrong time.

“Oh…oh it’s even more lovely in person.”

Bobby closed the window again, chuckling to herself a bit. Picky punched her in her shoulder as playfully as she could, before mumbling something to her.

“Where’d you get that ladder from?”

“Stole it, now can we focus on…whatever this is?”

Hoppy replied as she waved her hand towards the scene, with Crafty immediately going back to what she was doing. The golden flowers fading at her call. Crafty continued, explaining what the flowers originated from to Hoppy who had just arrived.

“Damn, hey Cat? There’s something horribly wrong with your persona. Like, seriously.”

The look everyone gave Hoppy was enough to make her fall quiet, almost everyone in the room aside from herself and Crafty, gave her a look.

“…No shit.” Picky said under her breath.

After a few minutes, the bed was no longer overgrown. A sigh of relief came out of the unicorns mouth, happy that this was finally over.

Bobby had decided to cook everyone a meal, with Picky giving her some pointers before going into the living room where everyone else was.

“Y’all are seriously gonna let her in the kitchen? She always makes a mess.”

“But the end result always comes out delicious! I could eat her cooking all day.”

Picky pushed Hoppy away playfully as she plopped herself down on the couch next to Picky and Catnap.

“Yeah-yeah lovebird, I get it… So Catnap, these days have not been doing us any favors huh?” She slightly cringed at the cat’s tired face, he sleeps all the time, yet he always looks tired.

Catnap grimaced and looked at his hands… the nightmare still present in his mind.. The fact that Hypnos was acting on its own sorta freaked him out. …He might have to sit out on their next expedition to that, as Picky would put it, “hellhole”.

“…Uh huh.“

That’s all that came out. With Crafty deciding to lighten the mood, she looked around the room, it looked quite cozy.. Her eyes fell on a picture of him and Dogday, slightly dusty and tattered but still in a decent condition.

“This picture is old… uh- this was before Dogday introduced you to any of us right?”

Catnap’s face landed on the picture Crafty pointed at. “Oh, that one?” A soft smile formed on his face.

Picky stared at the picture as well, smiling at how adorable they both looked. The picture was from… about a year ago? Two years? Eh forget it. But in this one, Catnap worse glasses and Dogday wore a lot more darker colored clothes.

“You were friends with him a lot longer, but why didn’t you let Dogday introduce you sooner?”

“..I thought you’d hate me, so I went against it for a long time.”

Crafty looked kinda sad… She guesses Catnap was also nervous about meeting new people, which she could relate to. A lot. She moved away from the picture and looked at the purple cat with a soft smile. “W-we’d never hate you for anything. I’m g-glad you’re here!”

Picky slapped the cat on the back, “Same here, glad to have you fur ball.” She chuckled at the nickname she came up with. Hoppy, without having said a word the entire time, also chimed in with a smirk.

“You’re a lot of fun for a guy that’s not that social!” Picky then punched her in the shoulder for making that comment. “Ouch- I meant it as a compliment I swear…” They all laughed for a while.. Catnap was glad to have them all.

After Bobby came back with some slightly burnt grilled cheese sandwiches, Picky got a call… and she decided to put it on loudspeaker and show everyone once she realized who it was.

It was Bubba, in his workshop, as usual. Despite the entire ordeal he was a part of not too long ago, he seemed completely fine. Albeit with different glasses than usual.

“Uh- oh! Hey everyone! …I didn’t realize Picky was with you all..”

Bubba smiled happily, clearly very satisfied about something.. Which was Picky’s cue to chime in.

“Oh I know that face, what’d you figure out now-“

“I’m glad you asked! Ahem… So I’ve been testing a few things out in my workshop with the help of Kickin here. And I-“

Crafty interrupted, Bubba immediately shutting up.

“Kickin is with you? I thought he was at home.”

And there it was, that signature smiling chicken in the front of the screen. His face covering the entire screen for only a sec before he backed up.

“Oh you know me! I’m always as fast as the wind! I came over as soon as Bubba asked me to.”

He pat Bubba on his back, Bubba seemed annoyed but didn’t move away from the touch. …Think Bubba was just annoyed that he was interrupted.

“Ugh- anyway. So, we did some various tests on Kickin’s persona to see what it’s capable of.”

Once everyone gave him the chance to continue, he started again. He sure was a talker.

“Well to put it simply, its metallic body allows it to generate electricity at its whim, and depending on what its master orders, it can alternate between electrical charge. So from a small amount to a very strong electrical currant.

I haven’t figured out where the electricity is stored exactly, perhaps in the metaphorical heart of the creature?

Alongside this, anyone who Kickin chooses, won’t be hurt by its lightning. Which is how we didn’t get turned into fried food when riding the thing.”

Wow, that’s a lot. Bubba sure was busy huh? Honestly Picky wasn’t really happy about this.

“Didn’t I say you needed to take it easy?”

Bubba chuckled and adjusted his glasses.

“Oh you know me! I’m always busy! And I am, I just HAD to examine how these things worked. For research purposes of course!”

She couldn’t help but chuckle at that, Bubba would never change…maybe she liked it that way.

“Pfft- alright nerd. Got anything else about the bird?”

“Sure. It also can generate a large field around itself that causes any electrical powered objects nearby to freak out. …as Kickin uh- accidentally showcased-“

Before Bubba could elaborate, Kicken bumped in. Excitedly shouting at the screen, so loud Catnap had to cover his ears a bit.

“And it can create thunder clouds. For the perfect dramatic entrance! So in short, it’s fucking awesome!”

“Interesting stuff, Bub.”

Picky looked at Catnap holding his ears… He needed some cheering up, and she still hadn’t decided where they’d have the party she was so endlessly vague about.

“…Hey why don’t we have the party at your place, after- uh…”

She stares at Catnap. Asking for a sign of approval, when she got a soft nod back, she stared at the screen again.

“A certain event… We really need it.”

Bubba, getting Picky’s intentions almost immediately, smiled softly. He gave a thumbs up.

“That’s fine by me! Gives me a chance to examine all your personas qualities.”

For some reason, those works made Crafty shiver. And from what she knew about what happened last time they tried seeing how the Personas worked… She almost ended up dying thanks to Hypnos.

So yeah, not great.

“Tests…? I- I don’t know if that’s…”

Seemingly feeling her hesitance through the screen, he quickly tried alleviating her worry.

“Oh no it’s fine if you don’t want to… I’m just really curious about how this all works. Despite the circumstances being fucking horrifying, it’s more of an chance to discover new things! Plus…I have to know EVERYTHING about what we’re dealing with. So I can be helpful.”

Hearing that made them all slightly concerned wether or not Bubba was really fine. Crafty sighed… She decided to go through with it, she had grown to know her persona better than last time after all. And she can defend herself a lot better if push comes to shove.

After everyone said goodbye to Bubba, Picky exited the call. It was party time, finally. And everyone was cautiously optimistic about it, which made sense.

After a while Bobby chatted with Catnap while the others were doing their own thing.

“Sooo.. Why text me specifically? Why not Dogday? You usually text him first.” The embarrassed face the purple one gave made her chuckle, Catnap shifted in his seat before answering in a low tone.

“I actually did text him, didn’t get a response after a while so I thought he-“ While talking, he took his phone out… only to see the abundance of worried texts he had received from Dogday. It was a lot, like, it took like a minute to scroll through them all. That’s Dogday for you. Man this gave him flashbacks to when Dogday was worried sick about him, when he was just sleeping somewhere… Reading those texts were fun.

“Oh…ha.”

Bobby just laughed along with him as he scrolled through the text… and there was a lot. After a bit of scrolling he decided to stop making his best friend worry up a storm. Leaving only a single response before he turned his phone off and joining the others in their conversation.

“I’m fine.”

As he walked towards them he noticed Picky deciding to talk about what she had planned, because truly, she couldn’t hold it back any longer. And it made him excited for tomorrow, for the first time in a while.

Chapter Text

…

“It’s dark…”

Damp, empty and cold. No lights, not even a sliver. Complete and utter darkness. The world’s fading, his eyes dart around to see something, anything! …Only to be met with no result.

“Where…what happened..?”

Everything was a blur, that place was a blur… everything was foggy, and he was lost in the mist.

“What was my name again?”

It didn’t matter. Voices? Multiple, dark. Empty.

Standing up was impossible, everything hurt. His body felt like it was being held against his will. His body, his mind, his pain… it wasn’t his no more.

“Who am I?”

It doesn’t matter. They finally have another one, to feel complete. To feel full, to fill their place. They are in control this time, however..

Everyone left, they left him. He tried to feel sad, to feel anything- He feels… nothing. Is he supposed to be feeling something? What is he feeling…

Pain stung through his veins like cold knifes, he couldn’t breathe… he had to breathe. He couldn’t… Said pain moved around like a snake, coiling his suffering together.

He had to…

He feels the darkness envelop him slowly, encasing him in a deadly cocoon. He resists not, there is no reason to. This body is no longer his, it’s theirs. The pain faded, or rather, he didn’t care enough to feel it anymore. Numb to it all, he felt himself stand up.

…

He felt himself fading more, feeling less. His barely functioning mind shutting down against his dwindling will. Taking one last breath, he blacks out. The consciousness of his fading slowly- There was never a consciousness there to begin with. Fading into nothingness, it’s their body now. And he has no choice, but to give in.

The darkness closed in once more.

…

“Ugh.. Do I have to cart all this junk with me?” The rabbit protested, as she was dragging along a very heavy and overfilled cart over the stone path. Bubba’s home was a lot different than the others, it was more closed off from the town. Taking a pretty long walk through a forest to the home itself.

Usually Hoppy is not against walking this much, but not while having to drag this hunk of junk along with her. The stone path making the cart tremble all the damn time didn’t help either.

“Hey, it was your choice to carry it, you’ve got no one to blame but yourself.” Kickin was running around Hoppy, taunting her for the fact that he was more free in movement than her. Hoppy resisted the urge to punch the other, and instead grumbled. “Can’t you let me ride on that bird of yours to make this easier?” Picky grabbed the cart’s handle from Hoppy while she didn’t notice.

“And risk all my hard work to be flung off of it? Nuh uh.” Hoppy moved away while Picky stared Kickin down. “And ‘sides, I doubt Kickin is a very safe flyer.” Which he groaned to, very loudly at that.

Behind them were the rest, Bobby, Catnap and Dogday. Catnap was getting carried on the back of Bobby’s, as he fell asleep midway through the walk. “You alright there? Sugar, you sure you can handle him?”

Bobby just laughed, adjusting her stance a bit. “Ugh- nope! I’m a tough cookie, you know that!” Picky chuckled at that answer…she remembers when Bobby asked her to train with her a while ago.. Bobby and Picky are probably the most physically strongest out of them all.

“I guess I do… Anyway, it’s not so far now… Y’all have been to his house, you should know this by now.”

Hoppy started competing with Kickin in the small creek while Picky wasn’t looking… they sure move fast. Picky hadn’t noticed that Crafty was not behind them, so she started looking for her, only to find Crafty somehow ahead of everyone else.

“You okay?” Picky asked, putting her hand on the smaller one’s shoulder. Then she noticed what she was doing, drawing out figures on her notebook… oh! Those weren’t just any figures, those were the Personas of the group… was one missing? Crafty stopped doodling and looked back at Picky, giving her a thumbs up.

“You found your inspiration again?”

She nodded excitedly, “Y-yeah! …I never thought about drawing them before… so I guess I got my inspiration back?” She laughed, as Picky inspected the drawing. Yeah she was right, one was missing.

“Where’s the Cat and Dog’s one at? I only see yours and Kickin’s.”

Crafty examined the drawing, then pointed towards a random circle on the drawing. “That’s Dogday’s. I mean- it is just a blob at the moment… nothing more to work with.” This caused Picky to stare at her with an amused expression. “And you left out Catnap’s cuz it scares the shit out of you?”

To this, Crafty only responded with a sigh. Which made Picky burst out laughing, even though she herself agreed to that feeling as well.

After the long walk, they finally arrived at a huge opening in the dense forest path. A lone house stood, looking more like a bunker than a house in all honesty. As they walked out into the opening, they noticed the sounds of sparks and buzzing coming from the shed-or rather workplace- of Bubba’s. This was normal, Bubba usually was in there working on something like- all the time.

After placing the cart with the supplies next to Bubba’s house, everyone headed towards the garage. And sure enough, there he stood. The tall blue shaded elephant, heavy at work as always… did he even notice them arriving?

He seemed to be tinkering with something…small? Well, a lot smaller than his usual projects, some of which were put on display in front of them. Kickin ran inside immediately, almost jumping on the big ones back.

“Hey, big guy! We’re here! You missed me?”

Bubba immediately dropped whatever he was doing, and tried getting Kickin off. Kickin almost getting oil on himself from Bubba’s apron.

“Hey- Kickin watch it I’m working with some dangerous stuff!” He said while grabbing at Kickin behind him.

“You say that all the time.”
Is all he said before he was finally pushed off. Laughing as it happened, with everyone else watching with either amused or concerned faces.

“Ahem! Uh- anyway, I actually have something for you.” He put away the equipment he was using and grabbed whatever the gift was. It was a put in a small box before anyone could see what it was, and handed out towards the chicken.

Kickin shot up like an arrow at this, then posing dramatically like it was a soap opera. “For me? Ohh~ you shouldn’t have!” Bubba just grumbled and put the box forwards a bit more, clearly suggesting him to just take the gift already. Chuckling, the “cool” one grabbed the small box and opened it. Expecting some sort of weird trinket or gift…

It wasn’t like that.

Inside the box laid…a pair of star shaped glasses. Those same glasses that broke a few days ago, albeit appearing brand new..

Safe to say Kickin was shocked, so that’s where his glasses went? Did Bubba seriously go out of his way to fix these old things for him?

Kickin smiled and picked up the glasses, examining them further…

“…You didn’t have to do that… No im serious, I got these things for like two dollars at a carnival, I could’ve gotten new ones in no time.”

Bubba chuckled at this, he looked at Kickin with a look of care that he had never seen before. Bubba could tell Kickin was lying, which isn’t hard to tell but still.

“C’mon, I know how much these things mean to you, they’ve got a lot of sentimental value. You’ve had em since we became friends, which is to say a pretty long time ago. And I had to thank you somehow for saving my life, so just shut up and take it.”

Saving his life is not how he himself would put it… but he wasn’t one to complain, especially not now. And he wasn’t returning it anymore, that’d be stupid. He put them on, feeling so happy that he finally has his signature glasses back. And they feel just like they did before.

“…Did you swipe these out of my pocket?”

That grin, holy shit- Never in a million years had Kickin guessed that to come from the nerd of all people.

“Maybe.”

They both shared that grin for a bit, that sarcastic tone was immaculate. Kickin walked closer to Bubba pointing at him with that same grin.

“Didn’t know you were sneaky, why haven’t I seen that before?”

“Because it’s already so easy to hide stuff from under your nose, I don’t need it.” Kickin punched Bubba in the shoulder for that one, albeit playfully. And Bubba returned that punch. Alright, he was to admit, that was good.

After giving each other a high five, Bubba turned back towards the others. Not realizing they were still there after all that. Ignoring the embarrassment he felt, Bubba quickly adjusted his apron, and coughed rather loudly. “Uh- where were we? The party yes?”

As they nodded, a calm voice from behind Bobby sounded out. “…I’m here for the cake mostly.”

Bobby looked behind her with a confused look… “Didn’t know you were awake. Did I wake you up?” He felt the Cat get off her back smoothly, a blank expression on his face. “No, I was awake the whole time. I couldn’t sleep at all through that bumpy ride.”

Bobby’s face immediately changed to a look of frustration, she furrowed her brow and stared him down. “So you made me carry you when you could’ve just walked?-“

She couldn’t help but notice the small slightly mischievous smile forming on his face… oh hell no. As the Cat nodded, Bobby just completely felt betrayed. Everyone just decided to move along- uh.. Yeah probably for the best before Bobby can process the cat’s betrayal any further.

As the day moved along, everything went well!

The part was fast approaching, and once it did, everyone had a very fun time! Picky had planned it out really thoroughly, like almost scarily so. Guess she was just good at planning parties? Or maybe she just knows them all that well.

Kickin was down for the wacky games that usually come with these types of things, while Bubba found em all pretty childish. But after a while of convincing, Bubba tried it out and got absolutely humiliated in the process.

“Never again..”
He mumbled out, almost melting into a puddle as he laid there. Jeez, talk about dramatic.

Crafty was working on the drawings, with Catnap, Bobby, Dogday and Hoppy joining in on the doodling. With various shifts in quality between the drawings, which is to be expected.

“Wow girl… I love the boat you drew!”

Hoppy looked absolutely devastated at her “friends” comment. Looking like she just saw a ghost.

“That’s supposed to be you! And that’s me with you, see? Aren’t we cool?” She pointed towards the crudely drawn stick figure next to the “boat” clearly indicating that that was supposed to be Hoppy…somehow-

“…Is it though?” Dogday asked with the most concerning tone imaginable. “You need to brush up on your art skills-“ Crafty said, much to everyone’s surprise, she usually never teases like that.

Hoppy got way too offended by that for some reason.. maybe her ego was hurt? No clue.
“I’m fine the way I am! I’m an artist, an extraordinaire-“

“Extraordinarily awful-“ the cat mumbled from under his breath.

“Hey!” She shouted, face turning slightly red from embarrassment. Everyone started laughing at Hoppy now, all in good fun, even though Hoppy wanted to die inside.

The party went great, everyone was having fun and goofing around like old times. And as Catnap had promised, he was the first to eat the cake Picky had made. Which she likely saw coming, as they decided to all bake another one together, just in case the cat ate it all.

After everything was over and all of them started cleaning up and getting ready for the tests Bubba wanted to do, Picky had pulled Bubba aside for a one on one talk. Something was bothering her, that something she had pushed back as much as possible as not to sour the mood at the party. Now was the best time…probably.

“…Hey Bubs? I need to talk with you.”

Despite the serious tone she had, Bubba didn’t seem phased at all. Simply smiling at her, with a small hint of snark.

“Sure, what’s up? Party went out like you hoped?”

“It’s not about the party.” She sighed as she dragged him towards his workplace outside, everyone way too invested in cleaning up to even notice them both.

As they were outside, Picky made sure to give off an even more serious tone of voice. To clarify that this was an actual serious conversation.

“Okay look, I can tell when somethings wrong. And the vibe you gave yesterday was… not great.”

Ohh, is this what’s that’s about? Bubba honestly didn’t even remember what “vibe” he was showcasing but nevertheless, he was confused. He scratched the back of his head accordingly.

“Huh? I’m fine, Picky. Only some minor mental trauma but who doesn’t have that am I right?”

“…That’s not a thing to joke about, especially not now.” Bubba immediately stopped smiling when he noticed Picky’s expression only worsen. So his weird attempts at lightening the mood fell on deaf ears. Yeah he’s not good at that at all.

The atmosphere of the room grew denser as they both decided to take this a little more seriously. The place where Bubba was usually so comfortable in, he felt nervous.

“Look.. You said something about wanting to be useful, and that made me worry. And I know I can worry too much, but I just need to hear it from you,” she put her hand on his shoulder, and stared him dead in the eyes. “Are you okay?”

His eyes dropped down towards the ground as he averted his gaze… too embarrassed to look at her directly. He took off his glasses and sighed, these things were also completely fixed… the memory of that night still in his head evidentially.

“…To be frank, not really.”

“My head still hurts a bit, but we’re I mostly am struggling is that… I completely messed it up back there, when we went into that world.”

Picky immediately realized what he was implying, her face softened and she moved to try and look at Bubba again, “It wasn’t your fault-“ only for him to turn away from her again, which hurt her slightly.

“Oh I know that, I just… I don’t want to be a burden, the only quality I really have is being smart. I have nothing else to bring to the table, aside from that… I just felt so… worthless then.”

… Picky looked around the room, seeing all the different kinds of weird contraptions he’s made up to this point. Seeing all the opportunity he had, she began to brew an idea in her head, a way to cheer him up.

“You’re not worthless, in fact, you have plenty to bring to the table… You could like.. uh- create weapons for us?”

Bubba looked at her for this moment, purely to express his utter confusion and bewilderment at that statement. “I- you can’t be serious right?”

“Yeah, if anyone could pull it off it’s you! You’ll be important to us no matter what role you have…” She pat him on the shoulder, with Bubba still holding the glasses in his hands shakily.

“…Yeah.” He didn’t seem to be convinced.

“I mean it! Imagine me and you fighting alongside everyone with the weapons you made! Together, we are an unstoppable duo. We really need you, the group just isn’t the same without you, you might not be strong but… you are still smart. And you can use those smarts to help us in other ways we couldn’t. You’ll do great, I know you will”

Guess she was right, he smiled at her words and looked at the glasses in his hand… Just because he wasn’t the strongest out of them all didn’t mean he was useless. He felt stupid to worry now, Picky just always seems to find the right words to cheer him up though…

“Pfft- yeah… Yeah. You’re right. I’m going to do my best, thanks Picky.” He was suddenly hugged by the other, a really tight hug. He smiled at her before adjusting his awkward hand positions to lay more comfortably on her back.

“‘Course I’m right, you big doofus. When have I ever been wrong?” Bubba wanted to respond with a snarky remark, but almost sensing it, Picky strengthens her hold on him. “Don’t you dare answer that question-“ which caused a deep chuckle to come out of the other’s mouth.

After the hug was done, Bubba assured Picky that he was going to get to the bottom of the mystery. What the Shadows were, why they were down there, how and why they act the way they do, and much more. “I’m going to figure out what’s up with this world as best as I can. You can count on me, I promise.”

As soon as he decided that. He felt like his heart felt slightly lighter. Like a weight had been lifted off his shoulders that he didn’t even know was there. His goal was finding as much information as he could, which he had already decided on way before…but after this conversation, he was certain that this was the right choice. He was going to get the truth he wouldn’t rest until he achieved it.

…

“The path ahead is dangerous and deadly, only by knowing your enemy and your allies well, you’ll have a greater chance at success.”

A booming voice sounded in his head, sounding collected and precise. He felt his heart burn, probably similar to the others encounters.. His world felt slowed down for a second, he didn’t freak out or act confused… he knew what this was. He’d seen this same thing happen to someone else before, and even though he only bore witness to it, he had a feeling this was that exact same situation.

Bubba looked at the glasses again, and smiled. He finally had the change to mean something to the team, and he was satisfied.

“I’m ready for anything.”

He heard the voice hum in agreement, then it chuckled as it had returned once more.

“Haha.. So am I. Let me aid in that endeavor, I shall be your support in your pursuit towards the truth. I am thou, thou art I. The well of knowledge is vast and endless, I will guide you through the current, leading you towards the apprehension you seek.”

The grip on his glasses tightened, his head started stinging slightly… Picky ever growing concern on her face was prevalent. But Bubba’s smile made it unclear if he was in genuine pain or not.

“My name shall now be known to all who appose you, know it well.”

He put the glasses on, ready to go. The beings name immediately implanted into his mind as if it had always been there. He dusted off his shirt and breathed deeply, in and out.

“Alright, Tir. Let’s get this started.”

Suddenly, a huge bright light came over them, Picky covering her eyes to shield herself from it.

After the light subsided, Picky was met with a truly odd sight. From within the light, a creature had manifested behind the elephants back.

It resembled a faintly humanoid figure, encased in a dark gray sphere resembling a planet. A mist-like haze surrounded the sphere, constantly looping around it aimlessly. Various ancient writings adorn the sphere’s outside, constantly changing and shifting along with it.

The figure inside was covered in robes, face completely unrecognizable as it was lying inside the sphere. It was writing down on the walls of it, likely creating the very writing that was on the sphere itself. The glow these things emanated was faint yet noticeable, clearly as if they wanted to be seen.

It returned back to Bubba almost immediately, with said person completely forgetting Picky was still there in the moment.

“Oh and I guess weapons are up on the table, it depends though.” He shrugged, feeling a lot better than before. With Picky just excited to show the others what had just happened. She put her hand on her shoulder and smirked at Bubba.

“Ha, deal. Cant wait to show the others this.”

Bubba thought about this for a second before he looked up with a scheme already brewing in his mind.

“Actually, I have the perfect idea.”

…

After the cleaning everyone was brought outside for the “tests” Bubba wanted to try on the others Personas. Everyone was outside Bubba’s house, all facing the elephant. The night sky was softly illuminated by the stars as Bubba grinned at the others standing there.

“Why don’t we start with Dogday’s Persona? We all know that’s the most interesting one.” Dogday didn’t know whether that was an insult or not, but he decided to slowly approach Bubba as the other had instructed.

“So like… are we gonna have to draw blood or something?” Bubba chuckled, shaking his head. “No, I have something… more interesting.”

As he adjusted his glasses again, Tir appeared out of nowhere, scaring the absolute shit out of Dogday, causing his own Persona to pop up instinctively to protect him.

“WOAHOHH! Holy shit!” Kickin sounded through the crowd of surprised gasps and confused noises everyone else was making. As Bubba started his explanation on how his powers work.

“Tir’s ability lets me gain knowledge on anything I ask for, even stuff that’s not as noticeable on first glance. It’s basically just giving me the comprehension I need for a certain person or thing.”

…. He coughed as no one responded and continued. “Now it’ll be much easier to examine you all, less uh- unorthodox methods if you will.” Bubba closed his eyes as he ordered Tir to do its thing. The writing on the planet started to move and glow as it examined Dogday’s Persona, floating around it like a planet.

After Bubba shone a contemplated expression, he said the only thing he could. “I-I can’t tell what it exactly is, it’s incomplete as you’ve previously stated… I can’t figure out how to fix it, I think… that job lies with you Dogday, good luck with that okay?.” Dogday looked kinda confused at that explanation. Which is fair as Bubba really didn’t quite like his own words at that moment, he wish he could tell more.

After everyone had a somewhat decent understanding of what his abilities were, the testing continued. Which were mostly just facts about each of their Persona’s that’d really didn’t help much.

There were some interesting outliers though, Hypnos and its weird behavior seem to be connected to something else, something that neither he nor Crafty can figure out what it is. However, Hypnos is not malicious, it seems to be acting out for some reason, either against its own will or otherwise.

And after that it was back to more… almost stupid sounding answers. To which they seemingly grew bored of rather quickly. Many, many tests later and it seemed the testing was done. Tir went back to the elephant after doing its job and the day seemed to be over and done with. While others didn’t learn much aside from the answers provided, Bubba was very pleased.

He couldn’t wait to see what he could learn from the shadows, and he was practically exploding with excitement at the thought.

…

Picky had decided on one last trip through the forest as the last fun thing they did before going home. Fun being subjective for Catnap and surprisingly, Dogday as well. Catnap is known for not enjoying physical activities…but Dogday was usually the opposite. He wasn’t as crazy about it as Kickin or Hoppy, but he was always down for it every time someone asked. Not this time however. Which is why the cat found it weird, weird enough to go check up on him.

He eventually found him in Bubba’s living room, sitting on the big chair…fiddling with his fingers with a dejected look. It didn’t take for him to snap out of it once he noticed someone had sat next to him.

“Oh, hey. Thought you’d be asleep by now.” He mumbled, smiling softly before going back to staring at nothing.

After a a few seconds had passed, he sighed. He looked back at his best friend, clearly knowing that he caught on. “You’re here because you wanted to know if I was okay, weren’t you?” A simple nod confirmed his suspicions, to which he grew even more nervous.

….

It was quite cold in the room, he could feel the air breeze against his fur, which made his skin crawl.. The lights were also off for some reason, with Dogday never bothering to turn them on when he started sulking here.

Dogday never was a liar, he couldn’t hold the facade for long…especially for his friends. So he decided on the truth, what he felt, what made him upset.

“Can I be honest with you?- oh who am I kidding… I always can with you.” Catnap chuckled, and rolled his eyes. He stat straight, to which Dogday took as an invitation to continue talking. He summoned his Persona forth, the room being illuminated by its radiant glow.

“When Bubba told me I needed to fix it…I had no clue what it meant. Now I am…really lost.” He stares at the unfocused form of his Persona with disappointment, “But it made me think… of you, the first person to get this power, the first day we both were exposed to that world… And the person we left behind.”

He coughed, almost as if the lump in his throat was actually there. And he refused to look at the expression of his friend as he mentioned him, Liam… taken by the shadows, completely vanishing without a trace.

“I promised myself we’d go back for him…I just can’t imagine what’s happening to him, if he’s alive or…otherwise.” He started shaking, his cobbled together mess of a Persona glowing slightly brighter, illuminating both of them even more.

He felt a simple soft touch landing on his shoulder, it felt warm… he didn’t need to look behind him to know who it was. He smiled, and like it was magic, he started to feel a bit better. He made up his mind, and he stared at the Persona in front of him again.

He felt pity for it, for he was seemingly the reason why it couldn’t form properly… Maybe all he needs is closure? Who knows..

“And with five of us having one of those things now… I think I’m ready to begin planning. And for you, I’ll figure out a way to turn you back to whatever form you had… I promise.” The gentle glow faded as he called his Persona back to him, he looks back at his friend with a huge smile. He moved in for a hug, to which the cat lightly flinched at before accepting it. They shared a familiar hug before, and it felt the exact same as it did back then. Warm, comforting… and he couldn’t help but feel that his face was heating up for some reas-

Then the door open slowly, which caused the both of them to immediately let go of each other at lighting fast speeds. Dogday almost pushed the cat off the bed with how much force he put into that push.

The light turned on revealing, Bobby, with mud all over her face, staring at them confused. “Oh? …uh- you both just like sitting together in the dark or what?” After she teased a bit she noticed the embarrassed faces they both had and smiled at it.

She whipped the mud off her face and stared at her now dirtied fingers, the other men probably concluded that that was the chickens doing. She looked back up and continued her smile.

“Oh, oh am I interrupting something? My mistake, keep doing what you’re doing while I take a shower.” She walked away from the living room and into the hallway. They both just stared at the hallway for a bit until they heard rushing water reverberate through the place. They looked at each other again, the embarrassment of before fizzling out quickly. Catnap grinned, simply asking his best friend a single question.

“We’re telling her first after she’s done?”

To which the dog laughed at and responded accordingly.

“Yeah, yeah we are.” And then they turned the TV on to wait for Bobby to be done in like… 10 minutes or so. They sat apart from each other, yet one of them had the strange feeling of…wanting to be close to them again.

Ignoring that, they focused their attention on the TV, watching whatever was on at the time for now. Dogday felt like he was going to really not like telling every one… The planning was about to begin, and safe to say, he was nervous.

Chapter Text

The forest, a perfect place for some good old fashioned mischief… at least that’s what Kickin thought, which is why, much to Dogday’s dismay, they decided to go make a tent in the woods. Back in those day’s Dogday and Kickin usually hung out like that, mostly physical heavy activities that revolved around those exact same woods. This was something they did regularly until they suddenly stopped for some reason, no real reason, they just didn’t do it any more.

For now though, they played a lot in this place… before most of it got cut down for more homes a few years ago, that is. This time the sun was unbearably hot, the scorching heat drying up their throats slowly but surely. It wasn’t long in the trip before Kickin took off running, like, full on sprinting. Probably to “stretch our legs” as he’d say.

And he did the only thing he could think of, chase after him.

Rushing past the many still giants, the sound of crunching leaves filling his ears as he ran forwards the blurry yellow silhouette in front of him. He was almost out of breath, throat becoming dry and hoarse, the sun not helping in this ether. But he kept running, and running, and running… until the figure suddenly came to a sharp halt, causing him to stop aggressively as well, like he was controlling a car.

It took a bit for Dogday to recover as he tried taking in what Kickin had stopped for. A dirt covered opening, with a few splashes or greenery in between the aggressive brown color. A bunch of huge boulders laid beside an old tree that seemed hollow on the inside, possibly infested with bugs… which made the dog’s skin crawl.

It seemed they finally arrived at a decent clearing in the wood side. Decent being a rather loose term because I’m Dogday’s mind, literally anything else would’ve been better. Before he can catch his breath still, the one in front of him takes a few steps forward. Kickin picks up a stick from the ground and inspects it like a weirdo, dropping it just as quick as he picked it up… and then started searching for another one.

“Ugh-… K-Kickin you need to slow down next time.. I’m not as fast as-” The dog huffed from behind the other, Kickin still being full of energy even after all that running. He waved his hand dismissively and continued doing… whatever he was doing. “Uh huh, sure. Ohh~ look at this, Day! Ta-da!” He did a big dramatic hand gesture towards a rather unimpressive looking scenery… He had chosen the a place a little father away from where they had stopped. A much more green and much less dirty floor presented itself. Unlike the rest of the forest, this was one of the parts where there wasn’t much stuff and junk covering the floor. He also noticed a conveniently placed tree right in the middle. A blank flat piece of land, perfect for the foundation of a rather unimpressive tree hut.

“This is perfect for our base of operations!” Dogday, still recovering from his run, huffed out a chuckle at that name, but still looked rather unimpressed at it all. He was not looking forward to the whole building process but he let it slide for now.

The ecstatic one examined the area, mapping out where their “base” would be, and where exactly everything would be placed. After mapping that out in his head, he started running in a random direction. The satisfied expression on the chick’s face was unlike no other as he happily started searching for really huge branches, like, super big. Dogday stared at him for a few seconds before Kickin turned around to look at him.

“Well, what are you waiting for? Go go! Go get some sticks for the build. I can’t do this by myself- well that’s a lie, I could- but it’s no fun when I’m doing all of it.” He smirked at his friend, crouching down with a stick in his hand as he moved his gaze away from him again and started searching.

Chuckling at the sight, the canine rolled his eyes and walked into a random direction to find some sticks- well, more like branches. “Fine, just try and keep it realistic okay? We are not building a house here.” To which he got a bunch of unfocused mumbles as a response.

Walking through the forest this time instead of straight up sprinting through it was a lot more relaxing. He could actually take in the sights, the natural beauty of the place. It was nice. As he made his way along the thick trees and falling leaves, he finally found a few good sticks and picked them up, they were a little heavy. Nothing much on their own, but really pilled up quickly. … He wasn’t that weak-

He had like a few armfulls of sticks with him when he started walking his way back, past a tree he recognized…only to meet that same tree. Walking further in, to come back to the same place he had walked from. Was it even the same place? What if it was a completely different thing but had the exact same looks??

It took him only a few minutes to realize, he was lost. Great. He let out an exhausted groan at the revelation. He was completely at a loss of where to go next that he felt like he was walking in circles. Maybe he was, he couldn’t tell. He barely could tell the roads and trees apart from eachother. He debated about shouting out Kickin’s name, but quickly dropped that because it would cause unneeded attention from… whoever else was in these woods. …maybe if he was desperate enough he’d do it, but not now, hell no.

This cycle kept going on and on, stuck in that repetitive pattern of retracing his steps. Trying to recall where he was and how he’s supposed to go back. Until he finally had enough and just decided to wing it, yeah that’s a good idea. Totally.

The hot sun shone on him, causing sweat to form on his forehead. As he continued walking the heat caused him to grow more and more frustrated. To the point where he thought about diving into that nasty lake…. He needed some shelter from the heat, some shade… and sadly these trees weren’t cutting it, barely able to shield him from a sliver of sunshine. As he continued, angrily marching around, searching for anything to hide under just for a few seconds… literally anything could do. And I’m just a few moments, he found it, a willow tree. Hanging by the lakeside, slanting against the waves. He was practically dashing towards the tree now, running from the rocky paths to the dirt ground, not looking where he was going….which likely explained the next part.

Inevitably, he tripped. Tumbling down the small hill and dropping every one of his sticks he had accumulated up until this point… As he fell down, he hoped that he didn’t run face first into a sharp stick… or a shard of glass or anything. After a while he face planted against the dirt ground, a loud thud came with him to which be heard someone else make a small surprise noise before he slowly lifted his head up. His vision blurred for a second, barely noticing the figure in front of him at first…

“Ugh…my head, man I’m so stu-“ and then, boom. A figure came fully into few. There stood a white lion, with a outfit that was covered in mud and dirt, brown overalls with a slightly gray shirt plus a bunch of thick gloves. There were a bunch flowers implanted inside the fluffy mane, with how many flowers there actually were, he was looking like some weird Christmas decoration. He noticed the confused face the other had and opened his eyes wide. “… Oh. Uhh, oh sorry…” he said as he felt a hint of shame in his tone.

He felt embarrassed as the lion simply chuckled and reached out a hand to the dog strewn pathetically on the floor. He grabbed the hand, it felt surprisingly rough and tough… a surprisingly strong grip for someone like that. “No worries, nice of you to drop by.” Dogday looked up to see where he had ended up, underneath the willow tree. He figured as much as he couldn’t feel the hot sunlight on his skin anymore.

The area around them was completely shaded over, a great protection against the never relenting sun. A perfect spot to relax, which is why this guy was here…most likely.

“You just sit underneath trees all day?”

To that the other chuckled a bit, a soft smile on his face as he nodded his head. He twirled his finger through his white fur, picking up a dying flower that was in it and putting it on the ground.

“Yes, my mane gets…very warm in this weather, do you just land in front of random strangers like that?”

To that he just smiled, he agreed to that one point, the weather would really fuck someone up right now. He decided to introduce himself first, because that’s polite, and they clearly got off on the wrong foot.

“Not all the time no… Dogday, that’s my name by the way.” He reached out his hand for shake… the other was confused for a bit before accepting it.

“Hm, Liam…Lionheart. Might I ask what the sticks are for?”

Pointing at the scattered sticks on the ground, Dogday realized that he dropped them all. Great, just perfect. “Uhh- so my lovely friend wanted to build a stick hut and asked me to find some… I got lost.”

“Lost? In this forest, getting lost is very unlikely.”

Dogday stared at the other with a somewhat annoyed expression, this continued for a bit. Just awkwardly staring at each other for a good while.

“Ah- well-… I could help you, I know this place like the back of my hand.” He showed his hand to him as if that made any sense. This guy was… odd, but Dogday would take any help he could get at this point. You could call it being desperate… Yeah anyway. He nodded and already began picking up some sticks near him.

“I’d like that. A lot.”

…

“Seriously, I was so lost for a while I swear I was going insane.”

A quick chuckle and that’s all they exchanged before they got to work. Picking up any of the stray sticks the dog had dropped thanks to his idiocy. It was oddly relaxing, just the quietness of it all. Doing this with two people was really nice as well, less time wasted on picking up all the sticks he had dropped.

After a while they finally had most of it back, and then they both started walking out, away from the shade and into the heat once again. The hot sun cruelly welcoming them back into it’s light. This time however, he had a companion who knew the area a lot better than him.

Liam pointed out various pathways and roads for him, educating him for later use in case he needs to walk through here again. At a few points he stopped and examined the scenery currently in front of him, and then continued walking. Seemingly in awe at stuff he saw like a ton of times. Up to that point he didn’t question it, staying still and observing. But the more it went on the more he wanted to say something…

“uh-…Nice isn’t it?”

Liam shook a bit from that, so transfixed on the scenery that he forgot that there was even another person next to him.
“Huh, oh yeah. Oh, sorry for stopping it’s just…”

He looked towards where Liam was looking, only to be greeted by a very nice few of a nearby creek, the way the water collided with the rocks, and how it shimmered with the sun’s light. It was honestly beautiful

“This place never gets old, I’ve made so many memories here… and it’s always a blast to return back here once in a while,” he noticed that he was rambling about stuff the other probably couldn’t care less about. As he quickly turn back and started walking, he let out a short apology before continuing.

They seemed to be getting closer to their goal now, with Dogday actually remembering walking through here this time. Finally. A familiar area. The walk afterwards was starting to get a tad awkward with how…silent everything was. Dogday can’t deal with silence well, it just gets so uncomfortable after a while. Desperate to start any conversation at all, he was thinking about what to say…

Until he noticed Liam take off another of the dead flowers in his mane and softly placing it down.

“So what’s with the flowers?”

Liam didn’t even both to turn around before replying, steadily making his way onward.

“They’re nice aren’t they? I honestly expected this part of the forest to have those boring plants. But these were a nice surprise, even though most of em are on their death bed.”

“Boring?”

That’s what he decided to focus on in that response, to which Liam finally turned around… still walking, backwards- He couldn’t tell if that was impressive or really dangerous.

“Dandelions, Daisies and et cetera. Lucky for me I found a few nice ones.” He moved his fingers along with each word he mentioned, before he pointed back at his mane again.

“Huh… have any favorites?”

He seemed to get really excited about that question in particular, Dogday already had a feeling that this guy was flower crazy, but this just confirmed it. He was interested to see where this’ll go. The lions face lit up almost immediately as he started to chat again.

“Oh don’t even get me started! Snapdragons, Rafflesia, Coral roses, Corpse flower-“

“The what now?” He looked slightly taken aback by that name, but he had a hint of playfulness in his tone that the other caught up on. It was clear he was interested in hearing more, to which Liam happily obliged to.

“…Red spider lilies. I like that name better, although it shares the name with the Titan Arum.” He scratched the back of his head awkwardly as he had to explain, even more so when he turned and noticed the even more confused glance he got as he mentioned that name. Uh… okay, time to explain.

“Eight feet tall flower that smells bad.”

That was about as good of an explanation he could give without rambling on with random facts about it. Dogday seemed to accept this answer as he nodded, perhaps just to continue along with something else.

Most of the talking was small talk, nothing too big but that was fine, he just met the guy after all. But still, the lion really enjoyed the others company, it’s the best he’s gotten in a while. …Is that sad? God he hopes not. Anyway, the walk continues for a while longer, just talking and enjoying each other’s company, despite Dogday not understanding a single flower fact Liam gave.

Finally they made it back to where he was originally, with Kickin standing there, admiring the rather clumsy work he had already started on. A measly hut that seemed to be held up by hopes and prayers, but he still smiled at it like it was newfound art. Dogday called him over, and as he turned around, the two holding the sticks he needed gave a having gesture.

“Oh hey Day! …and new guy I hadn’t seen until just now. You seem like you like getting your hands dirty.”

??? Liam stared at his dirty ass clothes and back to the chicken… was that supposed to be offensive? Probably not. “Uh- Yeah I sure hope so.” He dropped the sticks in front of him and this made the yellow one grin even wider.

“Great! Wanna join in? You’ll be our honorary guest.” Even though he had no clue what any of that meant, he went along with it. He seemed like a nice guy, so why not? As soon as he agreed, the three of them started working. After what felt like ages… it was finally done. Gosh, he remembers how awful it looked, a complete mess but it was perfect in a way. … That was some of the most fun he had had with other people since… well, forever. He misses this…

He still remembers this day, even though his mind is shattered.

…

He isn’t supposed to think about this stuff. His thoughts were supposed to be all overtaken, yet… this one memory remains. A memoir of what he used to be, how pathetic. This memory serves no use, no purpose. And despite the many attempts to take it over, it persist…stubborn. Does it think it’ll be free one day? No, we are so close to our salvation, our purpose. No brat shall ruin it, and anyone who’ll try to stop this, we’ll kill the nuisance. We need to be complete, we have to be complete… what use is there to us if we aren’t.

…

————————————

“So remind me again why you have all this?”

Kickin had asked, sitting on top of a desk instead of sitting in a chair like everyone else. Most likely his idea of looking ‘cool’. He pointed towards the cork board in the middle of the room, the entire thing looking like some weird conspiracy theory was slapped on it. Was that supposed to map out a plan?

Bubba had rallied everyone up for a presentation of sorts… or at least that’s what it looked like. They were planning on going back into that world once again, and with how well it all went last time, it’s best to be careful. And y’know, not almost die. Although that’s probably a given at this point, so everyone is already expecting something like that. Bubba stood by the board, holding a stick to point at random doodles and stuff, expertly made by Crafty as she sat there awkwardly.

“Because we need to plan! We cannot go back into that world with no plan, and I wanted a good one this time,”Bubba makes exaggerated hand gestures along with his words, he then pointed towards the doodles of themselves on the board. “For starters, the group formation. Since not everyone has a Persona, the ones who do will be up front,” He stared at Crafty’s nervous expression and seemingly understood what she was nervous about.

“…and I’ll be in the back with Crafty, I’ll keep her safe.” He gave her a thumbs up. All she did was giggle and give that exact gesture back. Bobby smiled at this and put her hand up like she was asking the teacher a question…

“That’s fine and all, but isn’t better for us to not be there? We can’t defend ourselves like you all can, it’ll drag you down.”

Bubba thought about that question, looking back at the board, and at a listing of who had a Persona and how well they got control it. …Dogday and Catnap having lower scores than the other three. He then looked at Picky to see her determined face. After a bit of contemplating, he gave his answer.

“While yes that is safer, do you both really want to be excluded? And besides, you’re all strong ladies, some beasts got nothing on you.” Hoppy chuckled and suddenly leaned against Bobby aggressively, to which the bear groaned at. “Aww I’m flattered, thank you for the compliment nerd~” Bubba’s face grew slightly embarrassed as he simply groaned, rubbing his fingers against his temple.

“Hell no, Bubs, you’re right. I wanna help you guys, and I’m not getting excluded. No way.” Picky said after a while, having her hand on Hoppy’s head. Despite Hoppy’s protest she kept doing it.

Before he could even process that response, Catnap raised his hand silently.

“Yes, Catnap?”

“Weapons?” He raised a brow puzzlingly, reaching out his hand.

Bubba looked happy that the cat mentioned that, walking back and forth for a bit before answering, with everyone else just watching along.

“Ah yes, I’ll be handling those, no worries. I will make sure they’re ready by tomorrow.” Bobby, raising both her hand and her eyebrow, quickly replied back with a tint of worry in her tone.

“You sure you can crunch that hard?” Bubba chuckled way louder than he probably intended, he’s dealt with worse than just that… that isn’t something to brag about but he sure does so.

“Certainly, I have had…way worse. Way smaller deadlines than those, and way easier too.” Before anyone else could reply with worry, Kickin had interrupted everyone once again. Having moved closer to the elephant without the other realizing and putting his entire arm over his shoulder, again with a shit-eating grin as usual.

“Better question, can we have guns?”

Bubba didn’t react to Kickin’s behavior, barely even moving an inch when the arm came over him. Maybe he was just used to it, Kickin usually does weird stuff like this, and Bubba is no stranger after all. Simply moving his arm away and standing up, he gave a simple answer.

“No, we cannot.”

“Shit- well I guess you can’t have everything.”

As soon as he moved away Bubba grinned slightly at the reaction once the chicken had turned back around, the idea was funny, and with Tir’s power he probably could make one of those… but none of them can carry or know how to use a gun. If they did, this would’ve probably been a bit easier. Risking getting in trouble with the police for illegal firearms is probably not the best plan, and explaining all this nonsense is not going to cut it either.

Anyway, back on track, the rest was pretty easy to get, protection was already covered, masks, heavily covered clothes, the whole shebang. All that stuff. Ambush strategies, attack formations, yada-yada, all that too. Bubba was like a school teacher talking about the latest assignments.

Honestly everyone was getting slightly bored at this point, most of this they probably wouldn’t even remember during a fight. It was at the end of the conversation that Bubba finally pointed towards the two friends.

“Alright, now towards the most needed question. You both,”

They both stood up to attention, with Catnap having almost fallen asleep. Immediately shaking awake and looking at the elephant.

“You do have some level of control over your powers don’t you?”

Ah, of course that would be brought up. For both of them, it was certainly an odd case. Catnap was growing a bit more certain that he could handle Hypnos, although that nightmare he had recently made him think a lot about how much he really could… But aside from that, beside almost hurting one of his friends, he had Hypnos down to a T. Probably. And maybe some training later wouldn’t hurt… as long as he gets his rest.

For Dogday it was a lot more… uncertain. The thing was unpredictable but it also helped more than it destroyed. The way it hacked at the shadow back in that old lab… he doesn’t want that to happen to any of them, should the thing lash out. But he made a promise, a promise that he’d figure everything out and bring it back to how it used to be. And he was determined to keep that promise up. He trusted himself in that.

“I-…I don’t know. I think I can make it work but I have no clue if… it’ll cooperate.”

He hated saying that, it sounded like the thing was a wild animal… although it did act like that sometimes. But it wasn’t some rabid creature, he knew that. It was more… He shook his head, and the uncertain look Bubba gave him as he said this caused him to fall silent for a bit…

“Ah, well- uh. I trust you’ll figure it out, you’re fine.” He brushed it off? Having a wild Persona around wasn’t a good idea, and it was dangerous. Is he purposefully ignoring the danger? …Is he doing that because he knows Dogday will keep it in check? Who knows, he sure didn’t.

After that, the rest of the other planning came into place. Dogday wasn’t really listening, he was mostly in his own little world, thinking…maybe overthinking this mission. And honestly nobody could blame him, this was gonna be a lot… but another part of him was confident, maybe too much so.

It was all gonna work out fine. They’d find Liam, get him back… and hopefully burn that house to the ground- okay that’s a bit too far…maybe.

Everyone was worrying about this mission in their own ways, with the inevitable day they planned this out on getting closer and closer, safe to say, the stress was real.

After everyone went home for the night, he couldn’t help wondering what he’d find down there…and what they were in for.