Chapter Text
He jumped excitedly out of his bed, almost falling to the floor in the process and quickly ran to the window of his room, with his tail wagging from side to side, he watched the rising sun. Sighed deeply before carelessly marching through the rest of his house, in search of his favorite ball.
Dogday was determined, today he was going to have a great time with his friends, it had been a long time since they could get together and play properly. The orange dog was going to change that, no matter what.
First, he made sure he had everything in his house ready, lots of toys of different kinds for Hoppy and Kickin, extra comfy pillows and blankets for Bobby, interesting books for Bubba, large amounts of yummy food for Picky and even a whole collection of markers and other art supplies for Crafty!
However, he noticed that something was missing from their little friendship sanctuary, something very important for someone very important.
Dogday giggled in amusement at the thought and proceeded to pick up a large wool pillow, put it on top of one of his tallest furniture and covered it with a soft blanket. He sincerely hoped that Catnap could use it as his bed, knowing that the cat would most likely take a nap for the rest of the day instead of playing with them.
Taking a couple of steps back, he watched with satisfaction at the result of his hard work. He was sure everyone would love it and thank him for putting in the effort, he just hoped Pickypiggy doesn't make a mess of food in his kitchen like last time. Dogday nodded to himself and walked out the door of his house, ready to start another day.
"What? Catnap what's that?"
The purple cat jumped in fright, quickly flipping over backwards, surprised to see the little bear behind him, looking a bit curious. Catnap let out nervous giggles and hid the strange object on his back, in an attempt to divert Bobby's attention.
"Bear-bear! Hi! What are you talking about?"
He said nervously, eagerly waiting for his friend to play along and ignore the careless behavior. Catnap should have known those were impossible hopes, if there's one thing Bobby Bearhug is incapable of doing it's ignoring secrets, always preferring to stick her big nose into other people's business, especially her friend's business.
The bear looked at him accusingly, crossing her arms and glaring at him, snorted and then launched herself on top of the feline in search of the object, not really caring if she ended up rolling on the ground with him in the process.
"Give it to me! I want to see!"
"No!"
He shouted in desperation as he struggled on the floor against his friend, who was already holding the strange object in her hands. Bobby Bearhug watched carefully and very interested in the VHS tape now between her claws, it was a deep red color and it was obviously old, with dirt everywhere. Confused she tried to move away from the purple cat, however Catnap was quicker and in one swift movement, took the tape from her.
"Don't do that!!!"
With his long purple tail he caught the little bear's legs in an attempt to make her fall.
"It's mine!"
Bobby groaned in annoyance as she bumped her nose on the soft grass, sighed when saw the kitten hiding in his hands and angrily stood up.
The bear slowly approached her friend and carefully stroked Catnap's little head in an attempt to calm him down.
"Hey, calm down, I didn't mean to stress you out."
She cooed to the kitty lovingly, seeking his permission to give a comforting hug, with a nod of his head Catnap allowed it and sooner than later Bobby hugged him protectively, apologizing over and over again.
After a few minutes of this, the cat calmed down enough to move away and, with Bobby Bearhug following his footsteps they sat down together on a tree floor.
"Can I ask you something, Catnap?"
The feline looked at her and nodded, without the need to say anything more.
Catnap was always quieter than the rest, only speaking when he felt it necessary preferring to always communicate with gestures.
"Why did you freak out so much about that silly tape? Where did you find it?"
The cat thought about the answer for a few minutes, opened and closed his mouth in search of a way to explain his earlier crisis, but finding nothing he simply sighed and shrugged. A clear 'I don't know'.
"It showed up at my house."
"It showed up at your house? Out of nowhere?"
Catnap nodded again, looking apprehensively at the named old tape in his hands. Then he looked back at Bobby and smiled at her.
"Let's see it."
Bobby Bearhug laughed in agreement, she was also very intrigued by what might be on that old tape. She quickly got up from the floor and excitedly lifted Catnap forcibly, carrying the cat.
She had completely forgotten the real reason she had gone looking for her purple companion, and that was that Dogday had invited them all to a sleepover at his house and Bobby offered to catch Catnap.
"I think Dogday has a VHS player! Gotta see it!"
And so, both Critters excitedly ran to their doggy friend's house, eager to solve the mystery now in their hands.