The next day came and the Smiling Critters are getting ready for auditions. Bubba is in his house not preparing for auditions, but he did open up a new document so he can take part on which critter would fit each role; mainly in case if one of the main roles don't work out. He filled in Crafty's role as Juliet with ease. He thought about finding other roles for the other lady critters as well, but he wasn't sure what just yet.

Crafty is in her house practicing, but it wasn't just her in her tower home. Bobby decided to come on over unannounced and watch Crafty practice her lines as Juliet. Once she was done practicing her lines for the seventh time today, Crafty glanced over at a very excited Bobby Bearhug.

"Hey Bobby. I didn't know you were coming over." Crafty greeted in confusion. "Did I message you or something and I just happened to forget?"

Bobby shook her head. "Nope, just came myself." she answered. "I'm so excited to see that kiss you'll have with DogDay. I think I'll ask Bubba if I'm allowed to take pictures at the play."

"Well actually, DogDay hasn't landed the part of Romeo yet." Crafty reminded her friend. "The other guys are going to audition as well. Both CatNap and Kickin Chicken."

"What?" Bobby asked in shock. "But why not just give the part to DogDay?"

Crafty sighed. "I would if I were to run this play my way," the unicorn critter told her gently. "but this is Bubba Bubbaphant's play and it's run how he wants it. I'm not in charge of this play. Even if they're not getting the part of Romeo, Bubba would have plans for the guys. We all are participating in the play. It's a team effort."

Bobby grumbled to herself. What if Bobby wanted to ship another couple? Sure there's Hoppy and Kickin, but what about more ships? She could have another section of her shipping shrine in her basement back home. Bobby then stopped grumbling and decided to change the subject.

"Speaking of the guys, are they practicing their roles too?" Bobby asked.

Crafty shrugged. "They might be." she answered. "Unless they're practicing in a competitive kind of way."

In DogDay's house, Bubba opened the door quietly and saw CatNap, DogDay, and Kickin practicing their lines for Romeo. The blue elephant smiled as they seemed to be getting into it. While they're practicing, Bubba invited himself into the house and sat on the couch. He opened his laptop and began typing away.

"But soft, what light through yonder window breaks? It is the east, and Juliet is the sun." DogDay recited.

"One fairer than MY love? The all-seeing sun never saw her match since first the world begun." Kickin recited.

"Did my heart love until now? Forswear it, sight, for I never saw true beauty until this night." CatNap recited with a dramatic bow.

The guys stopped their practicing as they heard clapping. They turned to see Bubba in surprise.

"You heard all of that?" DogDay asked.

Bubba nodded. "I did." he answered. "You guys seemed to be getting into it. Hope you're not practicing too hard."

CatNap shook his head. "No. Should we?" he asked.

Bubba gave out a mischievous smirk and shrugged. "You tell me." he challenged. "And not to make things more challenging for you guys, but I took CatNap's idea and rewrote the script into more of a modern day theme."

"You WHAT?!" the guys asked in shock.

"Now we've done all that practicing for nothing." Kickin complained in annoyance.

"Hang on there for a second." Bubba teased slightly. "These are the final scripts. The ones I gave you are just to psych you up. Seems confusing, I know; but better be prepared than not prepared at all right?" He then chuckled to himself.

Kickin sighed angrily and rolled his eyes. "Fine, have it your way." he grumbled giving Bubba a satisfied smirk.

CatNap shrugged. He was glad Kickin is still in that competition. If he hadn't, he wouldn't have much of a challenge. DogDay is not too competitive since he's never been an actor in theatre before. The leader may even stumble on his words in that case.

The next day came, and it was the day the auditions are being held. Outside the community center, Hoppy and Picky were walking towards the building and entered inside. Picky let out a long sigh.

"We're here." the pig critter announced unenthusiastically.

"What's with that look on your face?" Hoppy asked raising an eyebrow. "I thought you would be excited about participating in this play."

Picky sighed. "Yes, I am glad to be participating to be in this play; don't get me wrong about that." she reassured Hoppy. "But this is all for Bubba remember? FancyFox wanted us to do this for him so Bubba can be inspired to take a college course and follow his dreams. I just didn't expect us to get TOO involved."

Hoppy rolled her eyes. "This always happens to us." she mumbled.

"Wait, what was that?" Picky asked not picking up the green rabbit's words.

"This is one examples of DogDay's crazy obsession with helping others." Hoppy spoke up, her tone rising back to normal and annoyance. "You end up getting roped up into crazy situations that you feel awkward to say no to and then one of us girls has to end up kissing one of the guys in a play!"

Picky giggled. "Am I sensing some jealousy here?" she asked slyly.

Hoppy snorts. "What? No." she answered. "What's there to be jealous about? If anyone would be jealous about anything, it's Kickin."

"You can say that again." Picky said rolling her eyes. The girls laughed to themselves at Kickin's jealously. Well, not with kissing. Kickin always claims he too cool to even get kissed by a girl; even though he's never kissed anyone in his life as far as they know. "Let's change the subject. Are you going to audition for Romeo and Juliet?"

Hoppy shook her head. "Nope." she answered with a smirk. "I wanted to see the auditioning Smiling Critters make fools of themselves."

"Well, you've come to the right place." Picky said. "Though I may not guarantee on CatNap because he has experience with Romeo and Juliet plays, I'd say the others are going to make fools of themselves for sure." She then looks down at the floor sadly. "Even me."

Hoppy's eyes widened in surprise. "You? Make a fool of yourself? No. Really?" Hoppy asked.

Picky nodded. "Not for the role of Juliet. I thought I'd play the role as the mother of either Romeo or Juliet, and I chose my role as Lady Capulet." she explained. "At high school I would only play minor roles or multiple roles if given the chance."

Hoppy gave a friendly smile and put a hand on Picky's shoulder. "Well, I think you'll do great." she encouraged.

Picky sighed. "I guess I'm just so nervous." she said. "Just because you've been on stage a great number of times doesn't mean you've gotten over stage fright. That fear will always come back no matter what. It just happens from time to time."

Hoppy nodded. "I see, but you're not the one kissing in the play." she pointed out.

Picky was confused by now. Did Lady Capulet even kiss or was Hoppy only relating to the kissing scene nearly at the end? She's no Romeo and Juliet expert like Bubba is.

Hoppy had gotten herself in a train of thought; thinking about auditioning for the play herself. She would have to sign up for a role quick in that case.

"Oh uh Picky, I'll be back. I need to step out for a second. I'll be right at the auditions before it starts." Hoppy excused herself as she side-stepped away from Picky.

Picky nodded, then she remembered something. "Wait, Hoppy!" she called out to the green rabbit. "Are you going to audition for the play or are you just stepping out for fresh air?"

Hoppy looked back and gave Picky another mischievous smile. "We'll see." she teased before she left the community center.

Picky chuckled. "Oh gosh, this girl." she whispered to herself. The pig looked around the theater and saw two critters; Peggy Penguin and LuckyLeo. Picky decided to walk towards Peggy first. "Hey Peggy" Picky called out.

Peggy looked up from his papers - or scripts - and saw Picky sitting in front of him.

"Hi Picky." the penguin critter greeted.

"Are you auditioning for Romeo and Juliet?" Picky asked.

Peggy nodded. "Yep, I sure am." he answered. "Not for Romeo though. I want to try out for the role of Friar Laurance. He's the one who helps Romeo and Juliet."

"Really?" Picky asked with raised eyebrows. "I didn't know you were into theater?"

Peggy shook his head. "I'm not actually, but I figured this play was going to be amateur enough that maybe I could land a role." he explained. "I mean, if it's involving everyone in the valley, then it's definitely amateur. I mean, not to knock anyone but I just don't think we have a lot of actors in the valley."

"I wouldn't say that." Picky said fiddling with her hooves. "Bubba mentioned he's got a plan in case there aren't enough actors. He said he was going to invite more friends of his if this sort of thing was the case. Plus, me and the other Smiling Critters are also auditioning."

Peggy raised his eyebrows in surprise. "Really?" he asked. "Well then that's good to hear. I think my chances for the role may have gotten down then. Still, I'm going to try anyways. This should be fun."

"That's the spirit!" Picky encouraged. "Good luck!" She then left Peggy and decided to talk to the other critter next; wondering what he's doing here. "Uhh, pardon me miss?"

The leopard critter turned towards Picky. "Hey, you're one of the Smiling Critters that sponsored the Romeo and Juliet play, right?" he asked.

Picky nodded with uncertainty. Sure the Smiling Critters did sponsor this play, but it was for Bubba to direct.

The leopard critter beamed. "I would like to say I love it!" she exclaimed. "It's not too often the valley gets together for an event like this. Also, tell Crafty congratulations for her landing the part of Juliet. By the way, I'm LuckyLeo." He held up his hand.

Picky took Lucky's hand and shook it. "Nice to meet you." Picky greeted. "Though we don't know who's going to land the role of Romeo though."

LuckyLeo shrugged. "Not me. I'm auditioning for either the role for one of Romeo's friends; Mercutio or the role for Prince Escalus. Sounds weird, I know. A female auditioning for a male role, but I haven't told anyone a little secret let's just say." LuckyLeo informed. "You know, I played Romeo in another Romeo and Juliet play not too long ago."

"Wait, you did?" Picky asked in surprise.

LuckyLeo nodded. "Sure did." he answered. "At that time, CozyFair was Mercutio and Peggy Penguin was Capulet."

"Ah, so you've been friends with those two critters that were with Kickin Chicken huh?" Picky asked.

LuckyLeo nodded, then raised her eyebrows in surprise. "Really now? That was a surprise one of you would hang out with those guys, but yes." LuckyLeo said. "We were friends in elementary school, but when middle school came and everyone becomes toxic; so did they and we stopped being friends. We barely said so much as a hello."

Picky nodded sadly. "I'm sorry to hear that." she said. "Well hopefully whatever role you get I'm sure you'll get that role. Good luck."

"You too Picky." LuckyLeo encouraged as Picky then left and walked up the stairs for the auditions.

Later on inside the theater, the auditions have started. A small crowd has been seated in the theater chairs, and Crafty is sitting next to Bubba at the front. Kickin, DogDay and CatNap are on the stage. The auditions start for the role of Romeo.

"Alright everyone, listen up!" Bubba ordered. "We're going to cast the role of Romeo first." He then gestures towards Crafty. "As you all know, CraftyCorn here is playing Juliet." Crafty blushes at that.

"Hey everyone." the unicorn critter waved shyly.

Bubba continued. "Now, we're taking this play in a whole new direction. Instead of reading the old script I gave to you written by William Shakespeare, we're going to do a new interpretation of it; one that I've written myself."

"Bring it!" Kickin exclaimed. "Do you have those scripts ready or what?"

Bubba shook his head. "There are no scripts for the auditions." the blue elephant explains. "I'm going to cast you based off three different things: natural talent, the ability to improvise, and most of all; how well you please the audience."

"Wait, why is that a factor?" Kickin asked.

"It's a factor because I wanted to produce more plays for the valley in the future." Bubba explained. "If this play goes well and is well received, then it's possible we'll be so big on opening night that there'll be more demand for more plays and that would be a dream come true." He then cleared his throat. "Just keep that in mind."

'And here is the chicken delaying the inevitable.' CatNap thought slowly shaking his head. "And what is this scene we're improvising?"

"I'm glad you asked CatNap." Bubba smirked. "The balcony scene. You will be improvising the balcony scene with CraftyCorn. Remember, best one and best crowd pleaser gets the part. Don't worry if you don't get the part. I'll find something else for everyone." He then turns to Crafty. "Crafty, can you go stand on the balcony please?"

Crafty averted her eyes away from Bubba's. "Uhh...Bubba, about my role..." Crafty trailed off before continuing. "shouldn't others be able to audition for the role of Juliet? Not just have me do it?"

Bubba gawked at Crafty's request. "Are you kidding me Crafty?" he whispered angrily. "You and the other Smiling Critters are the reasons other critters are even auditioning. You are a big reason for that too. I can't risk not having you as Juliet and losing everyone."

Crafty quietly groaned in nervousness as she walks over to the stage to climb up to the balcony. Bubba turned back to the guys on stage.

"Alright Kickin, you're up first." Bubba announced. "Improvise the scene in modern times."

Kickin nodded as CatNap and DogDay walked backstage and the chicken walked towards the balcony; stopping a few feet away and looking up at Crafty. Instead of saying anything however, Kickin took out his phone and started typing something.

"What are you doing?" Bubba asked in annoyance.

"I'm texting her obviously." Kickin answered with a smug smile.

Crafty heard a ding and took out her phone. "Text me back my bright angel." she read, then turned to Kickin. "Two things dude. One, you didn't even say anything which is against what Bubba wanted. Two, that's a creepy text."

"Is it even more creepy when I'm in the bushes texting~?" Kickin asked in a flirty tone, pointing his finger in a gun fashion.

"Wow, okay. This play is getting too deep Bubba." Crafty called out sarcastically.

Bubba looked at Kickin with a deadpanned expression. "Looks like I'll move you onto someone else." Bubba commented. "Next!"

With a grumble of embarrassment, Kickin left the stage and walked past CatNap. Just as the purple cat entered the stage, more critters entered the arena and took their seats. Bubba looked around at the growing crowd.

"What the-?" Bubba asked in surprise. "Who are these critters?"

"Just some lovely ladies I've invited back in theater classes." CatNap answered. "I'm not...committed with any of them back in my previous plays of Romeo and Juliet. Some have boyfriends, and some are dating each other. Hey girl!" He waved at the lady critters in the crowd. The fangirls started cheering.

"This guy must be cheating." Kickin said annoyingly. "He brought in more people for HIS gain."

"Get 'em CatNap!" DogDay cheered.

CatNap took a deep breath and closed his eyes. "Juliet," he began. "my heart cannot take this loneliness any longer. For endless nights, I dreamed of thee." He held up with his tail towards Crafty a bouquet of lavender flowers for her to take. "I toss aside at the chance to dance in the heavens with you."

Crafty blushed as she took the bouquet from CatNap's extended tail.

"How did he bring in those lavenders in here?" Kickin asked in shock. "That's got to be cheating still!"

DogDay felt something he didn't expect to feel. It was a feeling that HE should've been the one up on that tower taking CatNap's bouquet of lavender. Jealousy. DogDay thought he'd be darned if he was feeling jealous.

Bubba was mesmerized at CatNap's improvised lines. "Wow, CatNap. That was..." He then cleared his throat and shook his head. "I mean, thank you CatNap. How about we change you to a different role like you wanted? Next!"

CatNap sighed, but he smiled as he left the stage and DogDay entered it. Before DogDay could even say anything though, CatNap turned and heard cheering from the audience.

"You've got to be kidding me?" Kickin exclaimed. "He didn't even get to say anything!"

"This isn't fair!" CatNap cried. "My fangirls are turning against me. There's no way he's got the part already."

Well despite that, CatNap is very proud of DogDay. His best friend got the part for Romeo. He can't really complain much, can he?

Bubba turned back to the cheering crowd. "This crowd is going wild, and not a word is said." Bubba exclaims in excitement, then turns back to DogDay. "You've got the part DogDay! Bring this kind of energy to the play on opening night and we'll be a hit!"

"WHAT?!" Kickin asked in shock. CatNap just shrugged with a smile.

"But I didn't even get to say anything." DogDay protested, but that's gone unheard.

Crafty watched from the tower blushing. Even though she sees him as just a friend, she's going to be kissing DogDay; the leader of the Smiling Critters himself.

Kickin looked away from the stage and walked back to his dressing room. He took out his phone and started texting CozyFair Sheep and Peggy Penguin.

He's going to need all the help he can get to stop that kiss from happening.

TO BE CONTINUED...

A/N: Hey everyone! It's been almost two months since I've updated this book. I would like to say I apologize for that. Let me explain about that. It's not a simple hiatus or writer's block. I wanted to try something like WEBTOON. Get some chapters ready early and keep writing chapters until I'm ahead. What I mean is I wanted to write all three parts of The Valley Play and post all the parts once they're completed.

Good news: I have finished writing all three parts.

The only thing that's missing though is the usual A/N and the Comment Hall of Fame.

Honestly, I'm not sure how many people reread the five chapters over and over again. Not a lot, so maybe it was all boring at this point.

Well, without further ado here's the next comment Hall of Fame. This comment is from Xenyis

I was given advice while looking through the comments and decided to go for it. Wouldn't be fair to put one person's comment up in the Hall of Fame one too many times.

So I picked this comment by choice. I don't think this makes sense to me though. Well I'd say for next time I could put up a comment that makes more sense. Still, they made it.

Before I go, I wanted to mention something to those who've watched the DreamWorks Trolls movies real quick.

I've just posted a new fanfic on my Trolls fanfiction book (it's called "Sleep Paralysis" by the way) yesterday. That had me thinking on my first multichapter Trolls book.

In that Trolls book Branch gets left behind by the Pop trolls after escaping Bergen Town while finding food and a different troll tribe finds him and takes him in. I'm thinking the techno trolls would be a perfect fit. After some time with them, Branch finds that the techno trolls are more nicer to him than the pop trolls after everyone in Techno Reef adjusted to one pop troll there; and the grey troll finds a new purpose amongst them.

As a teenager Branch goes on a journey to transform from a pop troll to techno troll.

Well that's just an idea, but I want you to let me know what you guys think. It might happen in 2024 or if worse comes to worse with all these other Mario projects I have to work on then 2025.

Well, that's it for this author's note. I'll see you in part three when the show goes on. supersader9 out.