Hi, I am Tinyrocket and I am making an one-shot starring, Buttons from Animaniacs. Why? Because I always feel sorry for the guy! Most of the episodes he was in, he was the punching bag for a lot of physical abuse and in the end, he gets scolded. And why? Because he was trying to keep a young girl from harm. Poor guy… For him and all those who feel the way about him like I do. Enjoy!

RUMBLE!

That was the sound of thunder and lightning as it rained down all over the grand land of Warner Bros. Thankfully, most people are inside their homes nice and warm. Although there are a few unfortunate people to be outside in this weather.

Let's go over to one of them, shall we?

Inside a doghouse, a brown shepherd dog was shivering from the cold weather. Harsh winds was blowing rain into his face. Why was this dog outside? Because once again, he was being punished.

The dog gave a deep sigh cursing his horrible yet sadly trademark luck.

FLASHBACK

Buttons groaned as he tiredly walks back to his home with bruises all over his body Mindy skipping happily in front of him. The toddler's hair was messed up while her clothes are torn.

Suddenly, the door opened up revealing the mother running out worried.

"Mindy! Are you all right?" The mother asked picking up her child.

"Hi, lady!" The blonde girl said innocently.

The mother gave an annoyed sigh. "No, Mindy. Mom. Call me mom."

"Okay, lady!" Mindy nodded.

"Ooh, and look at you. The poor dear..." The mother said. She then glared at Buttons. "Buttons! I ask you to look after Mindy for one hour and you got the both of you all roughed!"

Buttons' eyes widened and he sat up and waved his front paws in front of his face as if he was trying to tell the mother that none of this was his fault and that he spend his hour trying to keep Mindy from getting hurt in a wrestling arena. He succeeded but not without taking some punishment from a lot of angry wrestlers instead.

"I don't want to hear a single word! Bad dog! Bad dog!" The mother scolded. "As punishment, you have to sleep outside!"

Buttons' eyes widened as he lifted a finger to explain his side of the story but the mother wouldn't hear any of it.

"Come on, Mindy. Let's get you cleaned up." The mother said.

"Okay, lady!" Mindy smiled.

Buttons simply watch as the mother carried Mindy inside. He then collapsed to the grass in defeat and exhaustion.

END FLASHBACK

And wouldn't you know it? A few minutes after the mother went into his house, a storm came.

"I don't believe this… For the 100th time, I risked my life and got several bruises because of it to keep Mindy from harm. And do I get thanks at the end? No! Just punishment!" Buttons thought.

He then looked up at the house and his eyes narrowed at the shadow of the mother putting Mindy to bed through the window.

"Look at her. I literally put my life in harm's way to protect Mindy who always getting into trouble. She comes out unscathed while I got bruises on my bruises! Doesn't she realise how many times she avoided death?!"

He then started seething.

"And that mother of hers! I mean, I don't ask for a medal! Or my own statue! Or an award! All I ask is thanks for bringing Mindy back safe and sound! But no… I always get scolded and punishment! Sheesh, you think I am such a bad baby-sitter, YOU look after her! It would be the first thing you ever done for Mindy! I hate this!"

He then got up from his doghouse.

"The way I see it. The mom tells me to baby-sit Mindy. Mindy goes off to some dangerous place. I run after her to keep her out of trouble. I got put through a LOT of physical abuse. Mindy doesn't get hurt once. We go home together. I get scolded being looked like the bad guy."

He then angrily stormed out of the yard unfazed by the heavy rain.

"Humph. If that's how the routine is going to be for the rest of my life, then that's it! I am becoming a street-dog! Being homeless is a lot better than living with those idiots! Besides, I AM a "bad dog", I'm sure nobody would miss me! And vice versa…"

With that, the brown dog walked off without giving a second look at his house, he walked off into harsh-weathered night.

Buttons curiously walked out of his neighbourhood and into the city. Despite doing a LOT of travelling because of his misadventures, the two have never went to the city so that's why Buttons is so unfamiliar with it.

To be fair, the brown dog have never lived on the street before. Before being adopted by Mindy, he lived at a pet store and he doesn't know the first thing about living on the street.

"This may be harder than I thought." Buttons sighed. "I guess running away from home is not something you can do overnight."

The brown dog then walked along the street still unfazed by the horrible weather. He been so wrapped up in thoughts to even notice that he was the alone one on the streets.

"GET OUT, YOU FURRBALL!"

Raising his eyebrow, he looked around for the direction of the noise. He then found it coming from an alley. Letting curiosity get the better of him, he walked into it.

That was when he saw an orange burly cat booting a young kitten out of a giant cardboard box knocking him straight into the rain. Behind the cat was another cat only shorter, a bit portly, had a yellow bow tie and a bit on the dopey side.

"Finders keepers, losers weepers!" The bigger cat smirked.

"Yeah, tough luck, squirt!" The smaller cat smirked.

The bigger cat then kicked some water into the kitten's face. The poor kitten wiped his face before looking at the ground with a sad expression.

Buttons' ears drooped feeling sorry for the kitten. He then narrowed his eyes at this injustice.

"Picking on an innocent little kitten…"

Without a second thought, he lunged at the cats barking madly. Hearing this startled all three of the cats as they turned towards the bark to see the dog rushing over.

"Oh, snap! It's a mutt!" The bigger cat said with his eyes widening.

"Let's beat it!" The smaller cat shouted.

The two bully cats then ran out of the cardboard box and into in the direction that Buttons was coming from screaming like little girls. Buttons snorted at them.

"Humph. Cowards."

Suddenly, he noticed something. The kitten was nowhere to be seen. He then started to frantically look around for him.

"Where did he go? He couldn't have gone far!"

Buttons then noticed that when the bullies ran off, they knocked over the cardboard box putting the gap on the bottom. Curiously, the brown dog picked up the box with his front paws revealing the kitten.

Who immediately zoomed behind a trashcan.

"H-hey! Kid, don't worry! I won't hurt you."

The kitten poked his head from behind the trashcan. He then revealed to be a blue-furred kitten with a hole on his right ear and a bandage around his tail.

"There, there. There is nothing to be afraid of. Those bullies are gone."

The kitten hesitated for five full seconds before slowly walking over. He looked really nervous. Buttons looked at sympathy at this.

"Poor kid. You're all alone, aren't you?"

The kitten slowly nodded.

"Come on… We're both going to catch a cold sitting in the rain like this. Let's go into the box."

The kitten again slowly nodded. They then both went over the box. Buttons tipped it over allowing them to get in. The brown dog then pointed his palm into the box while looking at the kitten with a smile.

"After you."

The kitten nodded as he walked in with Buttons following.

"So kid, what's your name?"

The kitten shyly looked down at the ground. Buttons blinked twice deciding that trying to get him to talk is impossible.

"Furrball."

Hearing this startled Buttons but he quickly composed himself.

"Furrball, eh? My name's Buttons." The brown dog smiled.

Furrball then nodded. "Okay, um… Thank you for saving me Mr. Buttons."

"You welcome. I just can't stand to see an innocent kitten bullied like that." Buttons said with disgust. "I mean they could at least SHARE their home."

"Um, actually…" Furrball sputtered getting Buttons' attention. "I was here first. Those guys barged in on me."

The Shepherd dog's eyes narrowed. "Which only makes me madder at them."

"It's… not the first time they did something like that too." Furrball said rubbing his arm.

"The sad thing is, Furrball, I agree with you." Buttons said shaking his head in hopelessness.

The blue kitten then decided to change the subject. "So um, you're homeless too?"

"I am now." Buttons shrugged.

"Your owner kicked you out, eh?" Furrball frowned.

"No… I ran away." Buttons said.

"What? Why?" Furrball asked surprised.

"Well, let's just say even if I DIDN'T run away, I would have gotten kicked out anyway." Buttons shrugged.

"Why? What happened?" Furrball asked.

Buttons gave a deep sigh. "Ready for a long story?"

"We're not going anywhere."

The brown dog chuckled a bit. "I guess that's true. Well, I live with a girl named Mindy and her mother. As the family dog, I have to protect Mindy from harm. Mindy is a very cute child. She is so innocent, though she never calls her mother Mom but rather "Lady"."

"And?" Furrball asked.

"Well, every once in a while the mother have to go do something and I have to baby-sit Mindy and keep her out of trouble. But she have a habit of leaving the yard pursuing something simple like a toy and candy. I then chased after her trying to keep her out of harm's way. Well, I been doing a darn good job of doing that keeping her safe from a falling object or an angry person but at a cost."

Buttons then rolled up a furry sleeve revealing a LOT of bruises.

"Ouch…" Furrball cringed.

"Yeah, well, in the end. Despite having bruises all over my body, I always brought back Mindy safe and sound. But in the end… I always look like I did something bad and gets punished for it." Buttons said looking at the ground.

"Whoa… That's harsh, man." Furrball said with his ears drooping.

"I say. And this have happen for who-knows-how many times. In the end, I decided enough is enough." Buttons said. "Thus why I am now homeless."

"And you fear that sooner or later that she will kick you out?" Furrball asked.

"Yep."

"Are you sure that was a good idea running away from home like that?" Furrball asked.

Buttons' ears drooped at this knowing why he asked this. "Look, I know that you are all alone with no home but you have to understand that I ran away because…"

"Actually, I am homeless because I ran away from home too." Furrball explained.

"Really? How come?" Buttons said.

"Well, my owner is named Elmyra." Furrball said.

"THE Elmyra aka the Killing Hugger!?" Buttons said with wide eyes.

"Yeah, nuff said." Furrball said shuddering from the bad memories.

"You poor child…" Buttons said in sympathy.

"It's okay." Furrball reassured.

"So how come you thought it was a good idea?" Buttons asked with a raised eyebrow. "Sure, what I go is nothing compared to staying with Elmyra but I got it very rough."

"Um, well you may be a victim… But so is Mindy…" Furrball explained.

"Hmm?" Buttons asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Well, think about it. How many times have her mother left her alone with you?" Furrball asked.

Buttons then started to count his fingers. "Um, yeah, well… At least over a hundred times."

"Um, yeah. Listen, not to say you are not the bodyguard type but what mother leaves their child alone with the family dog for more than a hundred times?" Furrball asked. Buttons looked at him with shock from realization. "Think about it, Mindy is just a little girl. She doesn't mean to get trouble but you think her mother would love her enough to not leave her alone."

"I… I never thought of that!" Buttons said with wide eyes.

"Most of the times Mindy gets himself into trouble was because of her mom being away and yet he get blamed for THEIR faults." Furrball said. "I don't know about you. But I worry what might happen to that girl after you left."

The thought of Mindy getting hurt when unprotected made Buttons feel horrible.

"Sure, you don't get respect for it but you are a true guardian making sure she doesn't get hurt." Furrball said. "I see through my eyes, you will always be a hero. After all, you did save me from those bullies."

"Thank you, Furrball." Buttons said before taking a deep breath. "You're right. Her mother can't be trusted with her. I might as well go back home and make sure he doesn't get hurt. So much for becoming a street dog."

"Meh. You're not missing much living on the street. Literally." Furrball shrugged.

"Ha ha. Again, thank you, Furrball. He helped me realise that Mindy is such a big victim as I am." Buttons said.

"No problem. I am glad to finally help someone." Furrball said.

Suddenly, the rain stopped.

"How convenient!" Furrball smiled.

"Yeah." Buttons said. He then realised something before turning to Furrball. "Hey, Furrball. Are you going to be here tomorrow night?"

Furrball raised an eyebrow at this. "It depends. Why?"

"Well, the only time I don't have to baby-sit Mindy is at nights. If you want, I could come here tomorrow night." Buttons shrugged.

Furrball's eyes lighten up. "Really?"

"But, of course. Someone gotta keep you safe from those bullies!" Buttons grinned.

"Then, I'll be right here." Furrball nodded.

"Perfect, now if you excuse me, I have to go back home." Buttons said walking out of the box. "Again, thank you for listening to my problem and helping me with it, Furrball. It helps a lot."

"No problem. I don't have any friends anyway so I am more than happy to you, Mr. Buttons." Furrball smiled.

The brown dog then turned to the blue kitten. "Oh, yeah… About that. You don't have to call me, MR. Buttons."

"Okay, Mr. Buttons!" Furrball smiled.

Buttons gave the homeless cat a grumpy look. "Now I know how Mindy's mom feels when her child calls her "lady"."

Despite this, the Shepherd's dog bid Furrball farewell as he went back to his home. He will most likely go back to his usual routine but that's okay. It's a rough job but somebody have to keep Mindy out of trouble. Obviously, her mother wouldn't do it. But to brighten things up, every night he knows that he will go to Furrball to tell him all of his problems and get his sympathy and encouragement in return. The cat didn't mind because he knew he had someone to protect him from bullies and someone to always be there if he feels lonely. In other words, both animals found a friend.

And yes, Furrball will always call his new friend, Mr. Buttons.

There it is! The reason I let Furrball in this story is because like Buttons, he's a Warner Bros character who gets mistreated a lot. One third of the time, he is greedily chasing Sweetie or Sneezer but the second third of the time, he is Elmyra's number one victim and the last is that he is homeless looking for a home. I thought he and Buttons will be best friends, don't you think? And yes, Buttons and Furrball are talking like Garfield. Anyway, review away!