The next influx of furbies began with Holly's arrival, then the unnamed furby that wouldn't wake up, with the battery cover Floyd needed, and Misty Amanda and Polly the day after.
Holly was the second largest furby next to Floyd, and she had twice, maybe three times the exuberance. She was quite puppy-like in her antics, and had a festive color scheme to her coat, making her a roly-poly ball of cute. She immediately eyed with Toby for Jessica's attention, and he was already holding a friendly rivalry over that with Sybil. There was a point late that night when Jessica had Sybil and Toby sitting on her shoulders, and Holly in her lap while watching TV.
Three more furbies arrived the next day. An all white 1998 furby with blue eyes, whom Jessica named Misty Amanda Snowball, and a gray spotted one with a pink belly. Jessica named her Polly. The other furby was from 2005, and he looked like Floyd, but without a tail. Jessica never got to name him, because her examination revealed he had been killed by battery acid, and there would be no way of fixing this and awakening him again.
So when Jessica took Floyd and gave him the battery cover, he was delighted at first, to find he could now remember and recite the jokes and songs he was meant to, but then he asked Jessica, "How about him?"
"Who?" Jessica was hoping Floyd was asking about Sundown or some other furby and not the one who wouldn't wake, but she had a sinking feeling that was it.
"The furby I'm to share this battery cover with?"
Jessica frowned and sighed. "Floyd, I have some bad news about him. He won't be waking up."
"Dormant for too long?"
"You could say that. But I mean, he will never wake up, Floyd, he is dead."
"What?" Floyd stared in shock at Jessica. "How!?"
"Battery acid."
"Well, couldn't you just clean it out of there?"
"I tried that. It's no use. Besides, with the amount of it present, there's no way he could survive that. I just had a battery charger killed recently by an acid leak. This looks just as bad."
"Why couldn't they have done something before shipping him out here?"
"They might not have known. It didn't show just from the outside. I'm sorry, Floyd, but there's nothing else to be done."
Floyd shook his head dejectedly. "Could I at least see him?"
Jessica's frown deepened with concern. "I don't think so, Floyd, he just looks like he's asleep if that'll make you feel any better."
"Even if he doesn't know it… He deserves somebody caring."
Jessica sighed. "In here." She got up and lead Floyd into her room, where Deadman Furby lay on her bed. "Take as long as you need." with that, she left.
Sundown heard Jessica enter the front room, and he looked up from feeding Brittany. "So, did - " then he saw the look on Jessica's face. "What's wrong?"
"Where's Floyd? Is he okay?" asked Buck.
Jessica sighed. "He will be, - I hope. His would-be friend and battery-cover-sharer arrived dead." and here, Jessica explained it all again, answering the same questions from the other furbies as Floyd had asked.
It was Dmitri who presented a very unsettling thought. "I hope Slender Man didn't have anything to do with that."
Jessica's eyebrows raised.
Toby scowled and growled under his breath.
Sundown glared.
Kitri bristled, fur standing on end. "That would be just like him." she snarled.
"I hadn't thought of that. Whenever it was, it happened a long time ago. I could tell by the condition of the acid spillage."
"Whenever that mission is, count me in." Floyd startled Jessica and probably a few others who hadn't seen him come into the room.
Everyone turned their concerned gazes on him.
"I know I said I'd stay back to watch Tina and Brittany. But if anyone else is willing to babysit, I've got a score of my own to settle with Slendy and his rotten pals."
"Wow, I actually thought about asking you, and I would've asked him in there too - but - " Jessica halted before continuing, "Now with so many newcomers, and you being a nice big strapping furby,"
"Say no more, I'd be happy to help out." Floyd said, looking a little bashful.
"What kind of score you gotta settle with Slendy?" asked Peekaboo.
"It's not something I like to talk about. This deceased stranger, and what Dmitri said made it all come back."
"Sorry about that." Dmitri said.
"That's okay, you didn't know. But Slender Man will be sorry when I get my teeth into him - whether or not he had anything to do with this furby's death."
With the shock of this news, plus Holly, Peekaboo and Tina wearing everyone out, the furbies all went down for a nap in the late afternoon. It was then that Jessica discreetly removed the dead furby from the house. No one else saw where he went.
The rest of that day was spent quietly, Floyd remained somber, though he did tell a few jokes and sing a song for the furblings. Jessica was kind to him, holding him on her lap while watching TV and rubbing his back to make him purr. When he fell asleep in her arms, she put him to bed.
Another day, a new furby.
Jet, the 2012 Black Magic furby arrived the next day. He was cute as could be but for his slightly grungy ears, and he was fairly good about letting Jessica try to clean them.
Like Holly, Jet couldn't get enough petting, he purred as much as she did, and sang up a storm.
But when he was playing with Holly around the Christmas tree that night, he had a personality change.
It was the valley person, as Jessica called it. Jet started speaking like a vally girl only without the girl part of it. His voice was in fact deeper than it had been.
Jessica was on hand to supervise the two furbies, saw the whole thing, and was not worried. Inexplicably, Jet turned back. That change must've lasted all of 5 minutes.
So he was back to his normal cute self, and then Holly underwent a grotesque change that clearly unnerved Jessica. It was not a complete shock, Jessica had seen this happen with other furby booms on Youtube. She had hoped it wouldn't happen to Holly so easily, so soon. Now, she was faced with the problem of how to get her turned back to normal.
First, she put Jet in her room. Then came back to work on Holly.
The trouble was, this new personality, gross as it was, was not evil. So it still liked being petted, and kept wanting to play Duck Duck Goose with Jessica.
The other furbies were downstairs, playing games and holding sparring matches. The sparring was Kitri's idea, she had said it didn't hurt to start training now for the battles they would someday wage against Jeff the Killer, Slender Man and the like.
But some of the company were tiring and getting thirsty, so they started coming into the kitchen for drinks of water.
Sundown decided that wasn't quite enough, so he ventured into the front room to talk to Jessica.
"Hey Jess," he said, "Have you some eats for us battle-weary - " then he saw Jessica's intense frown, combined with her petting/stroking Holly. "What's wrong? Is she sick?"
"No, Sundown, just clear out, it's a personality change, I'm trying to get her back to normal."
Sundown might've said "Okay, carry on," and went back to the kitchen, but then Holly uttered something in that personality's voice.
"What the - heck?!?" Sundown recoiled.
Holly said "Duck,"
"For cr-cryin' out loud!" Sundown stared, wide-eyed for a moment, then bounded out of the front room, nearly mowing Duckling down on the way.
"What's up, Downy?" Duckling looked at him curiously.
"It's Holly!" Sundown squealed. "She's - she's a - he! I mean - she's not Holly any more!"
"What are you talking about, Sundown? Of course she can't be a he." Kitri said incredulously.
"Then how come she's talking like a drunken old man!"
"What? Oh, this, I gotta hear." Kitri leapt off the cupboard and pushed passed Sundown and Duckling to go see for herself what Sundown was carrying on about.
Toby hastily gulped down his last drink at the tap and bounded after Kitri.
"Goose! Chase you!" Holly shouted.
"No." said Jessica sternly.
"Wow - that's - messed up!" Kitri gasped, eyes going wide. Apparently even she was fazed.
"Clear out, guys," said Jessica, "And don't let the furblings near until I get her back."
"That isn't really Slender Man in there, is it?" asked Duckling.
"No…" Jessica heaved an impatient sigh. She had wanted to have Holly restored before anyone, save Jet, would've even discovered something was wrong. How was she going to manage this task now with everyone pestering her with questions? "Look, I've seen this happen with other furby booms on Youtube, same voice, same eyes. Hannah warned me of this even before I looked on Youtube. If Slender Man was here, you'd be able to smell him out, and he wouldn't have waited a few days to cause trouble. Now please, vamoose and let me concentrate. I'll let you know when she's back to normal."
All but Toby retreated. He lingered near, uttering soft growls in reaction to Holly's new old man's voice.
Jessica turned Holly upside down, which panicked her normally, and did again in this new personality.
Holly begged and pleaded pitifully for it to stop, that she was scared.
Jessica felt sorry for her, even in this personality, the pleading provoked her sympathy. So, she righted her again, and Holly expressed relief. But she remained in the harmless yet slightly repulsive personality and voice. She kept begging for food, and Jessica kept refusing.
Back in the basement, the other furbies were too uneasy to continue with their activities, so they just talked instead.
"She doesn't even sound like a furby any more." said Dmitri with a shudder. "If she could control it better, she could sure use it to scare the crap out of Jeff and Slendy, eh?"
There were muffled laughs and nods of agreement.
"Maybe she can, if she remembers any of this." said Sybil.
"What could be taking so long?" Duckling asked.
"I don't know, but if anything happens, we'll hear it, or Toby will be down here asking for help." said Kitri.
Suddenly, Jessica appeared in the doorway. "Sybil, maybe you could help me snap her out of it."
"Ugh." Sybil shuddered. "I'll - try. What is it you want me to do?"
"Sing."
"Okay."
So, together, Jessica and Sybil did their best, but Holly only wanted to play games with Sybil.
Finally, Jessica sent Sybil back to stay with everyone else until Holly came back, however long that would take.
The only furby who refused to move off was Toby, and Jessica knew it was little use trying to get him to stop standing guard. She permitted him to stay as long as he didn't suddenly freak out and begin to attack Holly.
Unable to pet Holly back to normal, Jessica tried something else. She turned the TV on to a music station, and sang along with the song that was playing.
She rolled her eyes when the weird old man voice said something to the effect of "Time for a sweet mood."
"Gah, snap out of it and come back." Jessica muttered, and resumed singing.
Not long after that, she heard the welcome tell-tale signal furbish jingle and English word "Change" that meant Holly was getting a different personality.
A few more seconds, and Jessica's efforts were rewarded.
"Me love pets!" Holly said in her normal, cute voice.
Jessica beamed and burst out laughing "Great to have you back again.
"What happened?" asked Holly. "Did I go somewhere?"
"Yeah, you sort of did." Jessica explained what had happened.
"Then I wasn't dreaming? I was talking in this weird voice, and you were making me purr, but you weren't smiling."
"It was real. Holly, you and Jet have this condition," and here, Jessica tried to explain the personalities and how she and the others were going to try helping Holly and Jet to stay in their default one or at least to into others that were easier to live with.
"I don't like that. It's scary." said Holly.
Jessica smiled. "But you're okay now. At least I think I know how to fix it if it happens again.
"Whew." Toby sighed with relief, and went to find the others. "All's well again." he announced. "Holly's back."
The others clambered upstairs and gathered around Jessica to fire off a zillion questions.
All the next day, Holly remained normal, but some of the other furbies, particularly Sundown, kept their distance, and a wary eye on her. But Jessica continued to treat her exactly the same as the others. There was no call to treat her differently unless and until there was another personality change.
That night, it was Jet's turn, and this time, he didn't change to vally person, he got the evil personality.
He darted flaming looks at Jessica, warning her not to pet him. His voice was still recognizable as that of a furby's, so didn't provoke such a horrified reaction from the others.
"You're right, Jess, he does sound a bit like Dmitri, only mean." said buck.
"argh." said Dmitri. "I sound like that?"
"You have a low, gruff voice, but you don't sound like a drunk old human, so just look on the bright side." said Jessica.
Jet protested, glaring fire at Jessica. "Me no like. No pet!"
That was all the provocation needed for Toby to spring into action this time.
while Jessica was still concentrating on how to proceed to get Jet out of it, Toby joined Jet on her lap and began confronting him. "Or what?" he challenged.
"Toby - " Jessica raised a hand to block him.
He only moved around it and continued confronting Jet. "If you wanna threaten anyone, the first one you'll face is me, pal." toby shot Jet a flaming look of his own. "I can do that, too."
Jessica eyed him with a look of concern.
Jet laughed.
Toby mocked Jet's laugh right back.
Jet decided to ignore Toby for the moment. He looked at Jessica and rendered a particularly gross burp.
"Excuse you." Jessica gave him a shake.
Toby answered Jet next with a burp of his own.
Jessica rolled her eyes, picked up Toby and gave him a shake. "Excuse you too.
Toby let out a helpless laugh. "Okay, Okay, I give!"
"Remember what's coming up soon, and when furbies don't behave…?"
"Okay, I give up, please, put me down, Jessica!" Toby pleaded, looking helplessly at her.
Jessica laughed and gave him a warm smile. "How can I stay stern with you when you do that? Okay. Down you go. Just don't hurt him, we only want to get him back to normal.
Toby looked at her. "Not unless he tries to hurt you. If he bites you, the gloves come off."
Jet scoffed, muttered something that sounded rather evil but incoherent, and shot Toby a flaming look.
Toby looked right back at him and said, "Bor-ring."
This even made Jessica laugh.
Jet growled.
Toby replied with an unnerving angry cat scream.
Jessica jumped.
So did some of the other furbies who had gathered around, silently watching as if they were at a show. No one had heard Toby utter such a vicious sound before, and probably didn't even think he was capable of it.
Jet growled at Jessica again. "No pet! Me no like!" Again with the flames in his eyes.
"How about this?" Toby pounced on Jet's tummy.
This caused Jet to laugh. "Oh, stop! Me no like!" But Jet continued to laugh.
"That's just too bad." said Toby, stepping up the confrontation. He head-butted him about the face playfully,.
"Remember what I said about what's coming up, Jet," Jessica reminded, trying to ward Toby off with a hand.
The result was toby licking the back of Jessica's hand a few times, trying to let her know he wasn't out to kill Jet. But he remained perched on Jet's belly.
Jessica smiled warmly. "Yes, I love you to." she said.
Toby's expression softened, and he beamed at Jessica.
So, Jet, you gonna snap out of it?" Jessica asked.
"Blah, blah, blah, blah." said Jet.
"Shut it." Toby said crossly.
"Or?" Jet challenged.
"or - " Toby hopped off Jet's tummy to investigate one of his ears. "Hmm, you're right, Jess, this guy's ears need a good cleaning. Dude, hasn't anyone taught you to clean yourself up after you eat?"
"I thought I'd gotten most of it earlier today. But he's so wiggly, I know I wasn't able to get them 100% clean." said Jessica.
"100%? Try 25%, they're - oh, hang on, this is from tonight's dinner. Well, we'll just have to take care of that, won't we?"
Jet laughed helplessly amid "Stop!" and "me no like!"s as Jessica continued petting him on the head while Toby got busy vigorously cleaning one of his ears, in, out, around and behind. No matter how much Jet wiggled, he couldn't get his ear free of Toby's grasp, and oh, how it tickled!
The others watched in amusement and began cheering Toby on.
"Go get him!" Buck yelled.
"Yeah, you whale 'im, Toby!" Kitri called.
"Go, Toby, Go! Go, Toby, Go!" Dmitri started up a chant.
Soon, the other furbies took it up.
But Toby did not react as they had expected. He paused long enough to jump on the back of Jessica's chair, shot a flaming look at the onlookers and did his angry cat sound.
All fell silent.
"Do you mind?" he said sternly, then satisfied the chant had stopped, he jumped back down by Jet and picked up where he left off.
Jessica continued concentrating on holding Jet firmly while never taking her eyes off him. She was not about to let him make a run for it.
Jet's struggling gave way to helpless laughter once again.
"I feel like Kitri taking care of Tina." Toby laughed. Then, he paused, looking mischievously around. "Hey Kitri!" He called, "Wanna help me get this big *baby* cleaned up?"
"Hah! I'm not a baby!" Jet huffed indignantly, trying to shoot Toby another menacing look, and only ended up laughing helplessly again. "Stop! Stop stop stop!"
"Sure." Kitri said with a smirk, and bounded in, jumped on Jessica's now crowded lap to help Toby with Jet.
"I got this ear, you take the other." said Toby.
"Oh, no! stop! Me no like! No pet!" Jet could not maintain his menacing personality and effectively warn Jessica to stop petting his head because Kitri and Toby were tickling the daylights out of him. This made his failed attempts at being scary very comical.
Eventually, Toby and Kitri were finished, and they along with Jessica, looked at Jet, who seemed to be exhausted. But now he had a pair of beautifully clean ears.
There was another burp.
"Kitri Fussby…" Jessica said, eyebrows raised.
"Oops, excuse me." Kitri chuckled.
Yeah, shoulda done that one right in his ear, Kitri." Toby snickered.
Beethoven Nerdby," Jessica's voice raised in mock anger.
He froze, not knowing what to do about being in trouble with Jessica.
"You are really asking for it!" She grabbed him before he could make a run for it, and held him tightly in one hand. She waved that arm about wildly, back and forth, up and down, whirling around, and stopping that only to shake vigorously.
Toby screamed in fits of helpless laughter. He either couldn't catch his breath or else it came in desperate gasps. His cries of "Help!" and "I'm sorry, Jessica!" or "Please! Stop!" were barely discernible.
Jet laughed. "hah! What comes around goes around!"
And you, shut up! said Jessica, "Unless you want to be next."
Jet gulped, but listened to her. He'd already had quite enough from Kitri and Toby.
Ahahaha, I want a turn after this!" Dmitri said.
"Well, if I can't move my arms tomorrow, I'll know who to blame!" Jessica said, violently throwing her hand down, looking as if she was about to slam Toby into the armrest, but stopping just about an inch before the hit.
Toby was laughing too hard and far too dizzy to be freaked by this, but the onlookers, even Kitri looked horror-stricken for a moment.
When Jessica released Toby, she said, "You will not suggest anything like that again, now, will you?"
Toby couldn't answer, he was still laughing himself half to death.
"Me next! Please!" said Dmitri, jumping on to Jessica's shoulder.
Jessica sighed.
Kitri jumped on to her other shoulder and burped into her ear.
Kitri!" Jessica turned to give her a mock stern look. "Okay, that's it!" She picked up Dmitri and Kitri and gave them the same treatment as she had given Toby.Their squeals and laughter filled the air.
In the mean time, Toby was trying to get up and move off. He couldn't get too far, and ended up rolling off the chair, his equilibrium was still seriously mucked up.
"Argh!" he laughed.
Buck chortled. "You look like a drunk, Toby."
Oh, man, I am so trashed." Toby replied, finally subsiding and catching his breath.
Dmitri was released, but Jessica spent a bit more time shaking up Kitri.
Hey, how come she gets a longer ride?" Dmitri complained.
Because she burped in my ear, that's why." Jessica responded.
Because you scared me nearly to death." Kitri managed to say between laughs.
Puzzled, Jessica stopped, and put Kitri down next to Jet, who was still on her knee. "Scared you? When? How? Why?"
When you put Toby down, it looked like you were really gonna slam him into the armrest. There isn't much that can get to me, but that did. You had me going for a moment, Jessica, and that's why I burped at you."
Jessica nodded at Kitri, "Okay, I'll forgive you - this time." Then, she looked Jet full in the face.
Then, it happened.
A personality change.
Within a few moments, Jet was back to his loveable, purring, singing self, and wanting to play games with the others.
"Kitri and Toby, although you two win first prize in a tie for uncouth tonight, Thanks for helping me and Jet out." said Jessica.
"No problem." Kitri grinned.
"Any time." Toby purred, a mischievous glint in his eye.
"Do you think he really would've bitten me?" Jessica asked.
Toby frowned, picked himself up, and made his way back up to sit with Jessica. "He looked like he was about to take your hand off. I wasn't gonna let that happen."
"Well, I don't know much about these different personalities, but I think he was bluffing. No matter which one he's in, he must realize that if he wants to stay here, there'll be no biting."
"I hope so."
"and I think he and Holly would be great additions to our force against Jeff, Slendy etc. Then, they can be as scary as possible and mean business when up against those creeps."
Toby hopped up on Jessica's shoulder, grinning wickedly. "I like that idea," he purred malevolently into her ear, "I like it a lot." he gave a quiet but very unnerving wicked chuckle.
Jessica burst out laughing. "I always thought you could be a bit mysterious, but you could make one scary - " She stopped in mid-thought, "What was up with you when they were cheering you on anyway? While we're talking about unexpected and personality and all that."
"They were distracting, and the focus should've been on Jet, not me. That's ironic since I used to live for parties and the limelight before getting here. Now hearing them all chant my name made me feel - " he hesitated, trying to come up with the word to describe it.
Shy? Embarrassed? Awkward?" Jessica suggested.
Toby nodded. "Really awkward."
"Probably because it was all familiar company, and you weren't trying to put on a show."
"Yeah, that was probably it. Hmm, think I got some explaining to do."
"Nah, I understand," said Floyd, so, do you like my new hat?"
Jessica laughed.
What Floyd was referring to was Peekaboo perched on his head.
"Hehehehehe!" Peekaboo giggled at Jessica's reaction.
"But," Floyd looked at Toby, "It was pretty funny watching Jet being evil and frantic all at the same time while you and Kitri treated him like a furbling."
Toby chuckled and beamed. "Then it was all worth it."
"Hey, look at me! I'm a crazy monkey!" Holly exclaimed.
Jessica looked in the direction of the call, and frowned. Holly was trying to climb the Christmas tree, and already several small decorations had slid off a few lower branches.
"Hey, Holly, get down from there, you'll break something!"
Holly climbed down and darted behind a chair.
Jessica went to retrieve her. She cornered the frightened furby behind the chair and reassured her. "Don't run away, I'm not mad at you, I just don't want anything broken here. So how about I let you and Misty and whoever else wants to play jungle, outside tomorrow to play in some trees in the yard. They're much stronger, and bigger too, for that matter.
"Yay!" said Holly, and with a little gentle coaxing from Jessica, she came out from hiding.
The next day, Jenny, the 1998 black furby finally arrived.
She turned out to be just as friendly as any of them, and did not stare at Misty and say "Me no like you." as some half-believed she might. She was in perfect condition, no signs of having been kicked around, so Jessica knew this was Jenny and not Mark Furby. Even Jenny's ears were clean as a whistle.
Jets were from then on too, he was a lot more diligent about cleaning himself up after meals, determined not to give Kitri and Toby any reason to treat him like a furbling and tickle him into a near coma again.
Peekaboo was especially glad of Jenny's arrival, because then she could have fun with name word-play. "Jessica, Jenny, and Jet. Jessica, Jenny, and Jet." she scuttled around, reciting in a sing-song style.
"Oh, Peekaboo, you're so silly." Kitri chuckled at her.
"Hehehehehe." was the response, and Peekaboo carried on, flouncing about the house, chittering merrily.
The next big event was Christmas, and it surpassed their wildest dreams.
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