"Flashlight? Check. Guidebook? Check. Tent? Check. Food and drinks? Check. Sleeping bag? Check."
This listing of various appliances was being done by Kaeloo, the ever imaginative frog who came up with another activity for her friends - this time, it was camping. Of course, the lazy Mr. Cat and technology-obsessed Stumpy weren't exactly excited about it. Quack Quack was the only one you could remotely call "excited" and even then, it was hard to tell, thanks to his consistent lack of visible emotion and inability of speech. But of course, Kaeloo, being an optimist, hoped that they would find something that would interest them.
She opened the door to her house. Her three friends were standing outside, wearing backpacks. Stumpy was playing on his console and Quack Quack had his usual blank expression on his face, while Mr. Cat had this annoyed frown on his face that Kaeloo was used to at this point.
"Ugh, finally, we've been standing here for like an hour." Mr. Cat said.
"I am so sorry, I just needed to make sure I have everything. It's absolutely important to be ready when you are going camping." Kaeloo replied.
"Well, you should have checked earlier."
"I already did, but you can never be too sure! Actually, I want to make sure that you are ready as well. Come on, show me your backpacks!"
Stumpy, Quack Quack and Mr. Cat reluctantly put their backpacks on the ground in front of Kaeloo and opened them. Kaeloo looked into Stumpy's backpack first, only to see a bunch of Mr. Coolskin comics and video games. Underneath all that was some food, but it wasn't exactly food that Kaeloo would recommend - that is to say, it was mostly chips and cans of soda.
She then looked into Quack Quack's backpack, which was filled to a brim with yogurts.
Finally, she looked into Mr. Cat's backpack and was terrified by it's contents - while she was able to admit that packing knives this time could be a good idea, that didn't change the fact that the rest of the backpack was full of things like bazookas, guns, chainsaws, mallets, missiles, axes, issues of "Oh La La" and beer bottles.
"Mr. Cat, why did you pack all this?!" she yelled.
"You did say we are supposed to pack what we need and I have a feeling I am going to need this…" Mr. Cat responded and followed it up with a malicious chuckle.
"I am kind of disappointed in you, buddies. At least Quack Quack packed something that can be seen as healthy food."
Quack Quack proudly quacked. Mr. Cat, who was always annoyed by Quack Quack's tendency to be Kaeloo's "butt kisser", pulled out one of the mallets from the backpack. Meanwhile, Kaeloo's focus shifted to Stumpy, who was immersed in his video game.
"Stumpy, you aren't just going to play on your console in the woods, right?" she asked.
"And what else am I supposed to do there?" Stumpy asked back.
"Collect mushrooms, tell stories and sing songs around the campfire, go hiking, look at the beautiful creatures and plants the forest has to offer…"
"Boring. I would rather rip the hearts out of the chests of these zombies!"
"Come on, camping can be fun, right, Quack Quack?" Kaeloo asked and looked at Quack Quack, who, to her shock, had his head squashed by a big mallet. "MR. CAT!"
"What? I told you I would need this." the mischievious feline answered with a smug grin on his face.
LET'S PLAY CAMPING!
Kaeloo lead the group through the woods, until they finally arrived to a place she thought looked perfect for camping: the place was filled with pink and white flowers, the ground was flat enough for a tent and there was a little lake nearby, but it wasn't close to the point it would cause harm to the camp.
"Okay, buddies, feel free to take a break!" she exclaimed. Stumpy, who wasn't conditioned for long walks through the woods, fell down on the ground. However, Kaeloo didn't notice and started setting up the tent, which turned out to be a bit more complicated than she bargained for, even through she was using instructions. She did everything from putting poles on the wrong places, to placing the tent itself incorrectly and eventually, it just fell down on her. Quack Quack quacked and Kaeloo understood his "quack" as an offer of help.
"It's okay, Quack Quack, I can do it on my own." the frog lied. " In the meantime, why don't you, Stumpy and Mr. Cat go look for some dry wood, you know, so we can make fire?"
Quack Quack nodded his head and ordered the other two to come with him.
"No way, I have to finish this boss!" Stumpy said, only for the game to give him a game over, causing him to spaz out.
"I'll go with, you, Duckface." said, to Quack Quack's surprise, Mr. Cat. "I know a good way to get some wood."
Quack Quack quacked happily and he and Mr. Cat went deeper into the forest.
As the cat and the duck were walking together. Quack Quack was looking for some branches, while Mr. Cat was just looking at the trees instead, at least until he found one that seemed "good enough". He pulled out his chainsaw and cut down the tree, which fell down on Quack Quack, to the duck's shock. Mr. Cat just started laughing.
Of course, Kaeloo, who finally managed to set up the tent, heard the tree fall down. Worried about her friends, she ran into the forest to check on them, only to see that Quack Quack was underneath a fallen tree and Mr. Cat was leaning back against his chainsaw.
"MR. CAT! What are you doing?!" Kaeloo screamed.
"You told me to go get some wood and I felt like this was the best way to do it."
"But you didn't have to cut down an entire tree! Did you just do it to hurt Quack Quack?!"
Kaeloo's face and eyes turned red from anger, which excited the masochistic cat, only for her to get into a yoga position.
"No, no, no, I came to the woods to have a relaxing day and surround myself with the nature, I am not going to get angry…"
"We'll see about that."
Kaeloo sighed, helped Quack Quack and picked up some sticks and branches from the ground. The three returned back to the camp site. Stumpy was lying on the grass, still playing one of his video games. Kaeloo groaned and she and Quack Quack put the sticks and branches next to the tent.
"Thank you so much for helping me, Quack Quack." she said and looked at Mr. Cat and Stumpy angrily. "Unlike some people…"
Mr. Cat just respond by waving and whistling to himself while Stumpy didn't even try to look away from his console.
The evening came along and Kaeloo was trying to make a campfire. However, none of her matches worked. Stumpy, who finally decided to stop playing video games, tried to help her by rubbing two sticks against each other. Of course, being him, he didn't realize that those sticks were too wet for that.
"You two numbskulls are doing it all wrong." Mr. Cat said.
"Well, if you are so smart, why don't you do it yourself, Mr. Cat?" Kaeloo asked. Mr. Cat grinned and to Kaeloo's terror, pulled out a flame thrower, which he then turned on and used to start the campfire. "MR. CAT, that's dangerous!" Kaeloo yelled.
"But it did get the job down, unlike those pathetic little sticks and matches, didn't it?"
Kaeloo, once again, had to use all her strength not to get angry. She took a deep breath, smiled and came up with an idea:
"Okay buddies, why don't we tell some stories now? That's always fun!"
"Hmm, I have a better idea." Mr. Cat responded. "Why don't we play scaredy cat?".
"Ooh, that's a good idea, Mr. Cat. But please, promise that you won't tell one of those incredibly disturbing stories again. I know that the point of the game is to scare, but I have to draw line somewhere."
Mr. Cat smiled to himself and the four friends sat down around the campfire.
"Okay, Quack Quack, you go first." the frog said. Quack Quack, in his own in little duck language, started telling a creepy story about a girl who was killed by her jealous sister and came back to haunt her. While Mr. Cat, who was used to worse, was almost falling asleep from listening to Quack Quack, Kaeloo, being more used to cute and innocent things, was shaking in fear. Without even realizing it, she was moving closer and closer to Mr. Cat, until she had her arms wrapped around him.
Quack Quack finished his story and only then Kaeloo realized that she had her arms wrapped around him. And the oddest part was, Mr. Cat, who hated being touched, wasn't saying anything, he was just smiling.
"Don't tell me that actually scared you, Froggy." he finally said "You have a really thin skin, you know."
"Come on, Mr. Cat, there's nothing wrong with being scared." she replied, looked at the sky and took a deep breath, taking in the fresh smell of the pine trees. She then looked at the sky, which was full of stars. And finally, she looked back at Mr. Cat, who still had this smile on his face. While Kaeloo didn't like Mr. Cat's smug and egotistical attitude, there was something about his outward confidence that made him look strangely appealing to her and his half-closed eyes gave him this air of mysteriousness, which added to his charm. For some reason, she was so enamoured by his expression that she didn't even realize that Quack Quack has finished his story a long time ago.
"Hey, Kaeloo, can I go next?!" Stumpy asked.
"Of course, Stumpy."
Stumpy started saying his stories, but it was just a typical story about a vampire and it was so cheesy that Mr. Cat started laughing. In fact, Kaeloo thought it was more amusing than scary as well. And yet, she didn't even try to move away from Mr. Cat. Almost as if she was physically attached to him. And Mr. Cat didn't say anything about it the entire time. Even when it was their turns, they just stayed that way. Kaeloo was almost disturbed by her complete inability to move away from Mr. Cat.
But at the same time, there is a reason for everything like this: She was enjoying it...
The game ended and Kaeloo ordered Stumpy and Quack Quack to go into the tent. Finally, she moved away from Mr. Cat and used her water bottle to take out the fire.
"Okay, Mr. Cat, we should probably go to sleep now." she said.
"Come on, Froggy, it's 9pm. Night is still young!" the feline replied.
"Sorry, Mr. Cat, but you should probably go to sleep as early as possible if you want to be rested when we return home tomorrow."
Kaeloo stood up and made her way towards the tent, only to look back and notice that Mr. Cat was just sitting there with a frown on his face.
"You wouldn't be like this if you always went to bed earlier. You always go to sleep at 2am, and that's at earliest." she noted. Mr. Cat didn't reply and just looked at the stars.
Kaeloo didn't know how to convince him, so she just sat down next to him again and got into the same "clingy" position as before.
"Heh, this is actually kind of nice…" Mr. Cat said in a way that made it look like he wasn't even thinking before saying that.
"It is, isn't it?" Kaeloo replied in a same way. Mr. Cat didn't want to admit it, but he was indeed becoming tired. Kaeloo wasn't paying attention to it, but it was obvious from how he started leaning back, until he was basically lying down on the ground.
And Kaeloo was still there, lying next to him. Neither of them had any idea what was going on. Both of them were fairly tired and you'd be surprised by how some people lose their restrains when they are tired. It doesn't help that your mind is basically shutting down at that point. As if that wasn't enough, being in each other's presence like this made them feel light-headed. But strangely, not in a bad way.
Mr. Cat was a strange fellow sometimes - he hated being touched, but at the same time, he always wanted to get at least slightly… intimate with Kaeloo, for whatever reason. Lust? Maybe.
"Mr. Cat, your fur is so soft and warm…" Kaeloo whispered. Her eyes were closed at this point and her mind was fairly close to turning off, so it almost felt like she was talking from her sleep.
"Oh, Kaeloo…" Mr. Cat whispered back. Kaeloo shivered. She was so used to Mr. Cat calling her "Froggy", "Tadpole", "Frogface" and things like that. So hearing him say her actual name was a nice change of pace. For some reason, the fact that Mr. Cat had an incredibly deep and "manly" voice despite his age and short, "cutesy" appearance, somehow added to it.
The woods tend to get really cold at night, even during the summer, and that night was no exception. But neither Kaeloo or Mr. Cat felt cold.
Kaeloo started "drawing" on Mr. Cat's chest with her finger. She opened her eyes and only then realized that her forearm was completely covered in goosebumps. Meanwhile, Mr. Cat out his hand over Kaeloo's body and slowly slid downwards, towards her hip. As he did this, Kaeloo started to breath heavily and she felt as if her heart was about to jump out of her chest.
The two ended up really close to each other, to the point even their legs were crossed. And their lips were just inches apart as well. They slowly moved their heads towards each other, until their lips were almost touching…
But then, as Mr. Cat's luck would have it, they heard a loud "QUACK!" coming from the tent.
"Oh no, Quack Quack!" Kaeloo yelled and stood up in just a few seconds.
"Froggy, come on, that duck probably just had a nightmare about an expired yogurt or something, let's finish what we started."
Kaeloo sighed and entered the tent without a further word. But the "Let's finish what we started" part stuck with her. What was on that cat's mind? Something raunchy, no doubt. Then why was she so intrigued by it?
Meanwhile, Mr. Cat opened his backpack and pulled out a beer bottle. "I knew this would be important", he thought to himself.
The next morning, Kaeloo, who was now sleeping in a tent right next to Quack Quack, woke up and as always, she was ready to start a new day. She assumed that she was the only one awake, but when she looked outside, Mr. Cat, who fell asleep on the ground, was nowhere to be seen - there was an empty beer bottle and a box of aspirin lying next to his backpack. Kaeloo assumed the worst, that Mr. Cat was angry at her and that he returned home all by himself, so she started looking for him, hoping he was still somewhere in the forest…
And to her relief, he was. He was sharpening his knives near the lake. Kaeloo sighed and sat down next to him.
"Hello, Mr. Cat. So, are you ready to go home?"
"Yeah. I don't want to be in this stinkhole anymore."
"Oh come on, you have to admit, it was pretty fun!"
"Well, to be honest, this night was pretty fun…"
Kaeloo's face became burning red and Mr. Cat just chuckled.
"And look at that, the toad didn't have to show up once." Kaeloo said proudly.
"I guess you are right…" Mr. Cat said, only to point at something in the distance. "LOOK, A CLOUD THAT LOOKS LIKE DUCKFACE!"
Kaeloo, gullible as always, looked at the sky. "Where?!" she asked, excitedly. Mr. Cat pulled out his bazooka and shot the flower that was next to him. Kaeloo heard that and looked back at him, only to gasp from shock when she noticed the dark remains of the cute little flower.
"Oops, false alarm, it looked like goose more than anything, hehehe…"
"MR. CAT!" Kaeloo screamed and transformed. "You hurt little flower!"
And what happened next was just usual routine for the toad and the cat: Mr. Cat ran away while laughing like a maniac and Bad Kaeloo followed him. This woke up Quack Quack and Stumpy.
"Hey, we are trying to sleep here!" Stumpy exclaimed and Quack Quack quacked in agreeement.