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It was a bright sunny day as Officer Dibble walked by Top Cat’s alleyway. Choo Choo was playing cards with Spook and Fancy Fancy while Brain was sleeping on a hammock made of tossed out old rugs. Benny was reading a book and Top Cat was… Wait? Where was Top Cat?
“Uhh, hey guys?” Dibble said, catching the gang’s attention, “Where’s T.C.?”
“Oh,” said Brain, “Uhh, he told us not to tell you that he’s in his can. He told us-”
“Brain!” Spook grumbled,
“Is that so? What’s he up to this time, ehh?” Dibble said as he walked over to the trash can,
“No! Wait!” yelled Benny, but it was too late as Officer Dibble opened the lid of the can and saw Top Cat.
“W-what happened to him!?” Dibble yelled, he didn’t mean to but he couldn’t help himself after what he saw.
Top Cat was lying in the trash can covered in blood. Deep cuts were on his arms and legs, he had a swollen black eye, and had a bunch of other cuts all over other parts of his body such as his neck. Dibble could also tell that he was unconscious due to the blood loss, but still breathing.
“There was a fight last night…” Fancy said, “Another gang tried to kidnap him last night with a ransom that we, and T.C., will join them. We were all asleep when this happened but luckily T.C. was a light sleeper that night and had a feeling that something was wrong. T.C. woke up right as they got to him and when they noticed he was awake they held a knife to him and told him to ‘keep quiet’. I know this happened because, due to the commotion, Brain woke up and then woke me up which, after hearing what was happening, gave me the cue to wake up Spook, Benny, and Chooch. The other gang heard us and then cut T.C.’s arm a bit which was enough for Spook to run and try to save T.C. but before he could get to him, the other gang member brought the knife to T.C.’s neck and revealed his plan. This plan angered T.C. because he would never let anything happen to us causing a fight to unfold. T.C. won in the end but was badly injured.”
“W-what?! Why didn’t he want me to know!?” Dibble yelled, trying to get Top Cat out of the can in the safest way possible,
“He didn’t want you to get mad about a fight happening last night.”
“Do you really think that I would worry about that while he’s bleeding to death?! What on earth were you thinking?!” He yelled louder to the already scared gang, Spook had enough of this and yelled back,
“Will you calm down?! We know, we were there and saw our friend get practically beaten to death!”
That took Dibble by surprise and he took a good look at the gang and noticed they were all shaking, Benny was crying while Spook was about to.
“S-sorry… I didn’t mean to…”
“Leave.”
“W-wait!”
“I. Said. Leave!”
“Hold on! We should get Top Cat to the hospital!”
“Fine. But after that we aren’t gonna let you near him if he doesn't want to see you.”
“O-ok!”
Dibble couldn’t believe what was happening, he always knew that Top Cat and his gang were protective of each other, but to fight to death for them?! It was sweet that the care was mutual, but sometimes they can go a bit far.
When they got to the hospital, Top Cat was rushed to the closest doctor. It took a couple of hours, but when they finally declared that he was in a coma but was going to be okay, Dibble didn’t know how to feel or what to do and it was the same for the gang.
Choo Choo, Spook, Brain, Benny, and Fancy watched Top Cat lay in the bed. Benny was crying while Choo Choo was comforting him, Brain was mumbling something to himself, while Fancy and Spook just kept quiet. At one point a nurse tried to kick the gang out, but Dibble convinced her to let them stay.
It was another week before Top Cat woke up, but when Officer Dibble was alerted that he woke up, he went to the alley only to not find the gang. When he got to the animal hospital he saw the entire gang right next to Top Cat, hugging him and crying. Dibble never saw them all so happy to be with each other more than ever before.
As Top Cat was talking to his gang-no… as Top Cat was talking to his family, he was given a bunch of cards and gifts such as; “We miss you! -Yogi and Boo Boo Bear” with a picnic basket, “Get better soon -Huckleberry Hound”, “Get better quickly, even! -Snagglepuss with a ticket to a musical, and many many more. Top Cat was practically in tears with everything going on, the last thing that he remembered was slipping into unconsciousness inside his can.
As soon as Dibble saw Top Cat up and moving, he wanted to run in there and scold him for not asking for help, but he also wanted to go in the room and hug Top Cat till he couldn’t breath. He didn’t go into the room because he remembered what Spook told him, but when Spook waved him in he quickly obliged.
“So, T.C., how are you doing?” Dibble asked,
“Fine… thanks.”
“Could I ask you something?”
“What is it Dribble?”
“That’s not- well, I’m just wondering…” He wanted to ask Top Cat and the gang if they would be interested in being adopted, by Dibble that is, but Dibble said it all wrong, “Well, I just think that it would be safer if you were, you know, adopted? You know, if you guys wanted to go to a safer place to live?”
“W-what?” Top Cat asked confused, “What do you mean by that?! Are you trying to separate us!?”
“No! It’s not like that! It’s just, ahhgg, would you six be okay with me adopting you guys?”
Top Cat looked over at his gang who smiled at their leader, then Top Cat looked over at Dibble and said, “Yeah, I think we’d be okay with that."