Nightmare Fuel / Puppy in My Pocket: Adventures in Pocketville

She seeks the Heart...

Although Puppy in My Pocket: Adventures in Pocketville may be a Sugar Bowl, that doesn't excuse the fact that it includes some distressing moments.

As a Moments subpage, all spoilers are unmarked. You Have Been Warned.

In general

• The Always Grey Swamp. Compared to the colorful and peaceful landscapes the rest of the Pocket Kingdom has to offer, this swamp is stark, colorless, and full of hostile flora and fauna. Many pets are even terrified of even a mention of the swamp itself.
• Durillia herself, whom even Eva’s lackeys are afraid of. She’s a diabolical crocodile who speaks in a deep, raspy voice and spends her days in a puddle of mud in the dark of a cave.
• Everything about the Pet Buster. He’s a gruff old man with balding, a goatee, the same kind of dull clothing, and a stance and look to his face that makes pets cower in fear. He also thinks very highly of himself, aiming to become very rich from all the pets he sells in auctions. He is even willing to harm animals and will even put Kate in harm’s way.
• The Pet Buster’s cage room where he keeps his captured strays, with the sound of so many dogs and cats crying out for help. Just the way it’s seen through the point of view of Ava complete with the lack of lighting makes it look like a prison. Even the fact that it’s a place of abuse that is heavily guarded by security devices to guarantee no escaping just makes it even more of a hellish place to be.
  • Even worse: all of the cages lack the basic necessities for a pet shelter such as bedding and bowls for food and water, although the Pet Buster is seen giving Ava a bowl of mushy food. While also considering they are almost never being taken out of their cages, the pets are essentially living in their own filth and squalor and dealing with having to live in such a cramped space almost 24/7.

Evershell the Wise

• As pictured above, a closeup of Krakia in the dark of a cave...with her entire pair of eyes glowing a green hue, as pictured above. The fact she’s glaring right in the direction of the viewer just makes this even more unnerving.

Patience

• Durillia's guttural roars that echo out of the cave. Even Zull, Gort, and Krakia are frightened by them. Hell Is That Noise indeed.

Kate’s Birthday

• The Valley of No-One is pretty unnerving. A barren, empty valley right in the middle of the Always Grey Swamp containing a filthy pond that nobody would dare to enter.
  • The Unfriendliness Ritual which was performed there is unsettling as well. Water flying up like a whirlwind and not to mention the echoing voice of Durillia reciting a saying to follow one’s instincts and malevolence to find the formula for the broken friendship.
• The Pet Buster knocking Wallace out of the way as he captures Ava, leaving the poor dog unconscious. To think that a show meant for ''children'' and selling toys of cute animal figurines would actually show on-screen violence (though non-bloody) against animals.

The Puppybuster

• At the end, Ava watches the Pet Buster train his pets… while he uses a whip. That's right. A damn whip used on dogs and cats. At the same time he taunts her for being too "precious" for the training he's using on the pets.

White as a Ghost

• The Old Red House. It's your typical Haunted House setting, but it is pretty eerie by itself.
  • The two ghosts who apparently reside in the house. They are both shadow-like in appearance and make loud moaning noises. Though it's eventually revealed that they are just performing artists Brad and George wearing black sheets to give Kate and her friends a spook.
    • Every time Magic and Danny encounter them and get pursued by them.

Sweet Dreams

• Flipper is a goldfish who appears with teeth. Not piranha fish teeth, but human-like teeth a la Shark Tale. It doesn't help that she looks cross-eyed in occasional scenes, even though most Real Life fish do not have eyes that look ahead.
• And the humanoid-faced octopus that appears after Magic jumps in one of the thermal baths. Good God, that octopus.

Finally Free!

• One of the trials in Kate and Magic’s training includes crossing the river, which requires teamwork. However, simply swimming across won’t do any good as the current will take all those who fall in away. The fact that Steel Wool seemed to not consider the fact he’s telling a child and a likely young puppy to go to a dangerous place that could potentially drown both of them if they fail is just disturbing to say the least.
  • Magic gets scarily close to being carried away when stepping on one of the rocks and ending up slipping, with Kate rescuing him from certain doom.
  • The suspense of Kate crossing the river by holding on to a suspended rope just makes it worse, with one scene showing how close Kate is to the river by her hair touching the water’s surface.
• When the Pet Buster breaks into Kate's house. The night setting, ominous music, and creeping doesn't help at all, and he even sedates Kate's father with the help of a spray. He ends up getting himself stuck in Kate and Magic’s "Home Alone" Antics, thanks to Steel Wool’s training. Apparently somebody liked Home Alone.
  • After the bucket of soapy water falls on the Pet Buster, there is a closeup of his irritated red eyes.

A Gift for Ava

• The Bottomless Cave. It's an incredibly large cave, and just like what its name indicates, nobody knows how far or deep it goes. Kate and Magic slip down a long ramp thanks to Zull and Gort, ending in the duo getting lost inside the dark cavern. They would've lost their lives down there, but thankfully an underground pool of water broke their fall.
  • Not even this comment from Eva helps:
  Eva: They say that whoever falls in that pit has no hope of ever seeing the light again!

The Last Piece

• Sketch is shoved into the wishing well by Zull and Gort. Mela describing the well as "practically bottomless" sure does not help. While keeping in mind that it took approximately over six hours for Kate to rescue him (depending on how long a day in the Pocket Kingdom lasts), it makes sense for her to be so worried about Sketch as there’s always the chance that he drowned down there, even if the well is unique.

Together Forever!

• The Pet Buster grabbing Wallace and throwing him on the ground can be pretty disturbing, especially with Wallace's wide-eyed expression right when the Pet Buster places his hands on him. It's possible that he may have knocked him out cold a second time, and just like the first instance, this scene is also quite brutal for a children's series.