Darla and Amber were in the backyard, playing with Patch.
"Okay, Patch, let's see what you can do," Amber took out a hoop. "Come here, boy, jump through the hoop!"
Patch smiled, he wagged his tail, ran up and jumped through the hoop like a circus dog.
"Good boy, Patch!" Amber cheered. "That was like in the circus."
"I wish I could be in the circus, it looks like a lot of fun." Darla smiled.
"Not a lot of circuses are fun..." Cherry said as she was under a tree in the shade.
"Yeah, trust us, we've been through that experience before." Atticus said.
"Let me guess, this was way before you adopted me as your pet, right?" Patch asked.
"Exactly." Atticus said.
"Was this before after the orphanage then?" Darla asked.
"After," Cherry said. "It was much after I found my parents, I believe it was at least a month or two after we were in Mount Olympus and Zeus rewarded Atticus with his strength."
"Ooh, story time!" Darla was excited.
"Yay!" Amber cheered.
"Well, then gather around as we tell you the story of how we were in a circus and also how we met Dumbo." Atticus said, sounding like a narrator.
"I know this was sometime after we found my parents and you stayed with us since we didn't know yours yet..." Cherry added. "It was just a normal day..."
Sometime Ago...
"Cherry, could you wake up Atticus for breakfast?" Michelle asked.
"ATTICUS! BREAKFAST!" Cherry yelled as she sat down to eat her morning meal for the first time in about a week.
Michelle gave her daughter a look.
"Oh," Cherry chuckled nervously. "You mean go to and wake him up..." she then went to the guest room which was used as Atticus's bedroom after she moved back in and reunited with her parents, she then knocked on the door. "Atticus... Breakfast..."
"I'm coming." Atticus told her before getting up and stretching, accidentally making a hole in a wall close to him. "Huh? That was weird, I must have gotten stronger overnight or something."
Cherry went back to the kitchen as she sat in her seat. "He's coming."
Michelle gave a plate of cheesy scrambled eggs with strips of bacon and a pancake drenched in syrup. Cherry smiled and started to eat right away. They then heard the door from the guest bed room where Atticus was staying in, break off for some reason.
Bud was about to join his wife and daughter to breakfast and rushed to the guest room. "Atticus, are you okay!?" He was surprised to see the boy holding up an entire door with his right hand from the door knob.
"I swear, I did not mean to do this, I don't even know how I got this strong..." Atticus said before remembering the reward he got from Zeus. "So it wasn't a dream."
"My goodness..." Bud was a little shocked. "I'll have to fix this after breakfast..."
Atticus stared at his hands as he walked down the hallway to Cherry's kitchen table. He looked very shocked and looked all around him.
"I know, Cherry's eating breakfast, such an odd sight..." Michelle misunderstood his shock with a joking giggle. "What would you like, Atticus? We got eggs, pancakes, and bacon this morning."
"Huh? Oh, um, all three please." Atticus told her.
Michelle nodded and fixed up a plate for him.
Cherry kept eating and looked to Atticus. "You okay, dude?"
"Cherry, that dream we had while we had fallen asleep at the museum, it was real." Atticus told her.
"You think so?" Cherry asked as she then took a sip of her juice.
"Yes, because upstairs, I was able to take the door off it's hinges after opening it." Atticus told her.
"Hm..." Cherry pressed her lips together.
"Yeah..." Atticus nodded to her.
"You better hope Dad can fix it..." Cherry shrugged.
Michelle came back with a plate for Atticus. "So, what's the plan today, you guys?"
"Well, there's going to be a circus in town, maybe we could go to that." Atticus suggested.
"There's a circus coming to town?" Cherry asked.
"Ah, I think my friend Tina told me about that the other day..." Michelle smiled. "That sounds like fun."
"Cool! I hope they have a strongman in their circus." Atticus said excitedly, noticing that he was bending his fork. "Oops..."
"I never did like those types, they always seemed so cocky and full of themselves..." Michelle pouted, not noticing the bent fork.
"Guess we're going to the circus today." Cherry said.
"Just make sure you eat your breakfast first!" Bud called as he used his tape measure around the door, planning on fixing it for the day.
"Honey, what are you doing up there!? It's time to eat!" Michelle called out to her husband.
"Just checking out the door first!" Bud called back, his inner workman being unleashed.
"You can never stop Daddy doing what he's doing when it involves craft work." Cherry sighed.
"So true." Michelle sighed.
"These pancakes are delicious!" Atticus smiled after tasting one of the stacks.
Michelle smiled. "Why, thank you!"
"You coming with us to the circus, Mom?" Cherry asked.
"I can drop you off, but I'm afraid I got stores to report," Michelle replied. "Hopefully when I finish, the circus will be over and then I can have you guys come back home in time for dinner."
"Okay." Atticus and Cherry said.
"Are there any clowns?" Cherry asked, shuffling her hands.
Atticus shrugged. "Maybe..."
"Guh..." Cherry shuddered. "Hopefully they don't hit me with a pie in the face or spray me with a flower."
"If any of them try anything, I'll give them a knuckle sandwich." Atticus said.
Cherry let out a small chuckle as she continued to eat.
After breakfast, Cherry and Atticus got dressed while Michelle got her work stuff together to take the two to the circus to spend their day while Bud was fixing up the guest room door and where hopefully it would be done today.
"Now, remember, stick together and no wondering off from each other." Michelle told them while driving the two of them to the circus.
"Yeah, Mom." Cherry nodded.
Michelle came to a stoplight, then handed some money. "Here's some money for snacks and of course, your tickets."
"Thanks." Atticus took the money and handed it to Cherry.
Cherry took it and put it in a safe spot in her pocket.
"Have fun and don't get into any trouble." Michelle said.
"Okay, Mom..." Cherry said then with a small smile. "Don't worry."
Michelle smiled as she kept driving until she would get to the stop. "If anything happens, you can always call me."
"We know, Mom." Cherry said.
Michelle nodded as she kept driving. Cherry and Atticus stared out the windows until they would be dropped off, wondering what the circus would await them.
'Maybe this circus will have elephant ears, the good kind.' Atticus thought to himself.
"Hmm..." Cherry lightly hummed.
Soon, Michelle rode them up. "Here you go..." she told her passengers. "I'll see you guys later."
"See ya, Mom." Cherry siad as she unhooked her seat-belt and left the car.
"See ya, Mrs. Butler." Atticus said as he unhooked his seat-belt and left the car with her.
Michelle waved to them and then drove off to get her work started for the day. Cherry and Atticus then went to join the people visiting the circus today. All they had to do to see the circus from inside was to buy their tickets.
Before officially going in, Cherry and Atticus took a small look to see what was there to offer at the circus. There were animals in their cages that people passed by to see until a show would start in one of the tents. One gorilla snarled, he shook the bars of his cage so hard that he accidentally broke one bar off and tried to sneak it back in place before anyone would see.
"Cool, animals, can't wait to see what human performers they have." Atticus said.
"I hope it's not cliche like a bearded lady..." Cherry said as they looked at the various caged animals who did not seem to be too bothered with the fact that they were in cages.
"Yeah, that would just be boring." Atticus said while now looking for human performers.
There was a brown mouse in a red uniform who was wandering around the ground, being very careful not to get stepped on by any unsuspecting humans. Atticus continued to look around for any human performers, especially since one of them was his favorite act. Cherry hummed as she looked around, then noticed Atticus wasn't by her side, so she rushed over to him.
'Should be around here somewhere.' Atticus thought to himself while looking for the strongman's tent.
"Whatcha lookin' for?" Cherry asked.
Atticus flinched slightly since she came from nowhere, but settled down. "Looking for the strongman's tent."
"I think I heard people saying his name was Atlas..." Cherry shrugged.
"Perfect, so all we have to do is find him." Atticus said.
Cherry and Atticus wandered to look for the strongest man in the circus.
There was an elephant mother who was inside one tent and was resting until she woke up. She looked around with wonder, she spotted the two kids and smiled once to them. Cherry and Atticus gave friendly waves, wondering if they should ask her or not.
"Um... Excuse me, ma'am..." Cherry walked over to the female elephant. "Do you know where the strongman is?"
"He's in the tent right over there." The female elephant told them, pointing her trunk to the left north west.
"Thanks." Atticus said.
"Yes, thank you, umm..." Cherry replied, drawling out.
"Jumbo," the mother elephant told her. "Mrs. Jumbo."
"Thank you, Mrs. Jumbo, see in the circus." Atticus and Cherry said to her before going over to the tent that the strongman was in getting himself ready.
Mrs. Jumbo smiled to them and went back to resting.
The strong man had tan skin and had wavy red hair. He was lifting a bar bell up and down, counting himself as he brought it up and down, he seemed to be straining, but not too much. Cherry and Atticus walked over to see him as he was preparing himself.
'He sure doesn't relax for a second.' Atticus thought to himself.
The man roared and threw down the bar bell, then smiled smugly as he flexed his muscles, then looked to Atticus and Cherry. Cherry and Atticus plainly and simply smiled back.
"What do you children want and why are you here without a guardian or permission?" the strongman demanded.
Cherry stepped behind Atticus for protection. "We just wanted to meet you, sir."
"Yeah, it's just that we've never seen a strongman before and wanted to see one live and in person." Atticus told them.
"Well, that was only practice, the real show will begin in the big top and the stupid strength test thing will be in it too to see if anyone can match my strength," Atlas scoffed before smirking before lifting up a fifty pound weight and started to lift it up and down with one hand. "Like anyone will ever defeat me, I'm the strongest man in the world."
"Maybe you'd like to see what I can do?" Atticus offered.
Atlas looked to the boy and laughed out loud. "Oh, you're very funny, little one... Nobody's stronger than me!"
"Wanna bet?" Cherry narrowed her eyes, slightly angry since a friend of hers was being picked on and she did not take kindly to that.
"Listen, I gotta keep up my strength," Atlas said, putting down the fifty pound weight and then picks up the 500 pound dumbbell weights and starts lifting them up. "So, go and wait for the show to start before I use these on you two."
Atticus wanted to show this guy his new strength, but decided to wait until the challenge.
"You can take him..." Cherry said.
"I know I can..." Atticus looked sharply determined.
Cherry shrugged. "Guess I'll watch... I can't even lift a live chicken."
They both then left the strongman's tent and made their way to the big top.
"So, what will you do to show up that cocky jerk?" Cherry asked.
"You know I will..." Atticus said determined.
"I guess next you run away and join the circus after showing up that egomaniac..." Cherry joked, showing her dark sense of humor again. "If I meet another guy who's that big and strong and can hurt me just by snapping his fingers, I think I'll drop off the brink of sanity."
"Oh, please, the only way I would join the circus is if the ringmaster was evil and would be using my own strength against me." Atticus scoffed.
"You're better than that..." Cherry walked with him to explore.