Rose - A Poppy Playtime Story

Chapter 61 - Trail

"He's not over here!" Angel yelled over to Dogday, turning to face him as they put the piece of debris down.

When they hadn't seen Catnap where they had left him, they began searching around. Hoping that he may have hidden or crawled off somewhere.

The two met up in the center of the room, Angel ignoring the tears in the canine's eyes.

Hoppy, Bomb, Poppy, and Crafty stood against the wall. Crafty, being unable to help, and the others flat out refusing to aid them.

Kissy wandered back into the room, having gone a bit farther to look. Dogday and Angel looked to her, their last hope. She nodded at them, motioning for them to follow.

Dogday jumped, a hopeful grin on his face. He rushed after her, urging her to go faster as he sped past her through the hallway.

Angel wasn't too far behind, while the others carefully made their way to follow. Hoppy gently grabbed Crafty's hoof, Crafty frowning when she felt the soft fur.

"Kissy, did you see him?" Dogday asked looking over his shoulder. He slightly limped, tripping over his own feet every few steps, but somehow managing to catch himself every time.

It was honestly a miracle he hadn't fallen, passed out from exhaustion, or both.

Before Kissy could give him an answer, Dogday collided with the wall. He fell onto his back, getting thrown by the power of it.

Angel gasped, and Hoppy grimaced. The human rushed over to the canine, Kissy right behind them. Dogday groaned, before opening his eyes and looking at the ceiling.

"Dogday, are you okay?" Angel asked, looking down at him. Dogday nodded, giving a weak smile as his eyes shut once more.

"Just...perfect! I'm gonna- I'm just going to lay here for a bit." He said, sighing as he continued to lay there.

"Wait!" Dogday's eyes shot open. He suddenly moved to get up, but just fell onto his face, making Angel yelp in surprise.

"'Wait' what?" They pondered, their face scrunched in concern for the poor dog.

"Catnap...do you see him?" He looked up, seeing nothing too interesting in the room. Kissy walked over to one area picking up a small object, and brining it over to them.

Their eyes widened.

It was Catnap's moon earring, a bit of blood on the yellow surface. That definitely hasn't been here before, with the cat, despite everything, still liking to remain as clean and neat as possible.

"Oh no..." Angel whispered, going to cover their mouth before they recoiled when their hand touched their bruised nose.

"Is there any sign of a struggle?" Poppy asked, suddenly interested. Kissy nodded, pointing to a hallway.

Angel got up, waking over to peek inside. The walls were crumbling, and shelves were overturned. Though, that wasn't unusual here. Most horribly though, there was a small trail of blood that looked considerably fresh.

A small tuff of purple fur accompanied it, making the thoughts and inferences reality.

"Someone took him down?" Angel said, mostly to themself.

"Well, it would've been fairly easy with all his untreated injuries, and memories pretty much completely gone." Poppy added, sounding like she was talking more about the strategy to a board game than a life.

"Let's follow it." Dogday said, to which Hoppy gave him a quick look of surprise. The orange dog slowly got back up, his legs shaking.

Angel looked at Dogday before glancing at the others, they looked at the human with what seemed to be the same thoughts.

"Dogday," Hoppy said, "Don't you want to rest? I'm sure Catnap will...survive." She didn't seem too pleased with the last sentence. Giving a small eye roll at the end.

"But-" Dogday started.

"She's right. As much as I hate to say it because of recent events," Angel cut in, "You really need to rest those legs before you collapse or hurt yourself."

Dogday looked as if he was going to argue, but Kissy calmly walked over and gently moved him so he would be resting against the wall.

He could only sigh in defeat, knowing that if he moved a muscle he would be forced back into his mandatory rest.

"Fine," He grumbled, "I'll rest for an hour, but then we're following that trail."

—————(Somewhere Else)————

"Are you comfortable?" Doey asked, sneering at Catnap. The minis had rushed out of the room only seconds before, their little legs moving faster than the cat had expected.

Pepper had yelled, "I knew we'd get caught!" Before they disappeared from view. This left the large doughman and the cat alone, if you didn't count the body, that is.

"W-Well, I wish I h-h-had a c-comfortable bed, b-but other than th-than that m-my stay h-h-has been w-wonderful!" Catnap exclaimed, giving Doey a smirk of his own.

It was silent for a while, with Doey just glaring at Catnap like he wanted him dead- which wouldn't surprise the feline.

"What did you say to those children?" He finally spoke, his body tensing. Catnap raised an eyebrow. Unlike before the man's voice wasn't enraged or sarcastic, it had an edge of concern and care. That made the feline suddenly relax.

"Nothing m-much. It w-w-was just s-small talk, m-mostly." Catnap answered, his voice barely above a whisper.

"I don't believe you." Ah, there it was. The distrusts and hatred in his voice was back before the cat had time to even blink.

"T-That's y-your decision." Catnap replied, looking to the wall. He leaned back, softly closing his sore eyes.

"Why are you not preaching about your 'God'? Why aren't you even trying to escape?" The doughman asked, the hatred seeming to vanish once more.

Catnap puzzled over the last question, before opening his mouth.

"I d-d-don't know w-why I don't e-escape. Maybe i-i-it's because I d-don't have th-the energy to p-p-pull it off, o-or I j-just don't c-c-care. It could be t-that I know y-you have m-m-more o-of my m-minis, which w-w-would make s-sense a-and is d-definitely at l-l-least p-part of it." Catnap paused, "A-As for the f-first question; I'm s-still trying to f-figure o-out who the P-Prototype e-e-exactly is, b-but I know e-enough. He is n-no god."

Catnap was slightly surprised by the shock on Doey's face, though based on what he could remember, it made a horrible amount of sense.

"Repeat that." Doey commanded, the harshness returning.

"The w-whole thing?" Catnap asked, not really sure if his throat could take it. It was already starting to ache like someone had poured lava down his throat.

"No. The last sentence."

Catnap raised an eyebrow, "He i-i-is no g-god."

Doey let out a short laugh, his right eye slightly twitching. "My, my. Something serious has happened to you..." He mused.

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