Jerry stood very still, trying to retrace his steps. What did he do first? It clicked in his head: it had started that morning…

He was excited to find a his collection of emails had gone from 150 to 151. Jerry clicked on the most recent message from his sister. She was going on a road trip with her friends and needed him to look after her pet, Buttons. He happily typed back that he would indeed watch over the hedgehog. The door to his room burst open. His sister, Adalia, placed a glass tank on his desk and said, "Thanks, Jerry. Don't let him out of your sight." She rushed out of the room, and he heard her slam the door. Looking out the window, he watched her throw a bag into the back of her friend's car. The tires squealed out of the driveway as he shouldered his karate duffel bag while balancing the hedgehog habitat in one hand. Then, grabbing, his uniform for work, he started walking toward the zoo.

Placing, Buttons' cage on the floor, Jerry began his shift by feeding the lemurs. He went through his chores, cleaning cages, feeding animals until it was time for karate. He stuck his earbuds in, swaying his head to the beat of the music, grabbed the hedgehog and his stuff, and was off.

"Aw, Jerry! What do you have there?" Kim squealed, running over to look in the cage.

"My sister's hedgehog."

"Why'd you bring it with you?" Milton asked.

"'Cause my sister said to not let him out of my sight. I'm not screwing up this job," Jerry said importantly pushing his chest out.

"I'm not sure that's what she meant…" Kim said. Jack pulled her wrist back gently shaking his head.

"Just let him be," he murmured.

"Well, we should start class," said Rudy clapping his hands together.

"Yeah, I'll just get changed." Jerry grabbed his uniform from his bag and turned toward Buttons' tank. "Keep hedging, little man," he said and pretended to give it a fist bump. Buttons didn't move at all, staying where he'd been all day. Milton peered inside.

"Does he just lay there all day? He looks dead."

"I dunno. I think Adalia said he does stuff at night."

"He's nocturnal?" Milton asked.

"No, he's a hedgehog." Jerry said stupidly.

"Right… why don't you get ready?"

As usual, the friends went to Phil's after practice. They poked at Buttons trying to make him do something interesting and eventually gave up. There was a loud commotion coming from the kitchen. It was stranger than usual and when Phil came bustling out carrying a large cake-like object, they knew something was up.

"Hey, Phil, whatcha got there?" Rudy asked.

"Oh, it's Joan's birthday, so I bake cake for her. Tootsie, the bad goat, almost messed it up," he said seriously. They exchanged looks and simultaneously decided to go with Phil to see Joan.

While they were walking over, Phil kept telling them that he was surprising her with the cake, but when they opened the door yelling, "Surprise!" it was clear that Joan knew about the surprise. She was so "shocked" that she knocked half of her things off her desk. Seizing the opportunity, Jerry put Buttons' heavy cage on her empty desk. After five minutes, when Joan recovered herself and was able to make coherent sentences, they sang happy birthday and sat in the little jail cell eating cake- which tasted oddly of falafel.

From Joan's party, they went back to the dojo and hung out, playing games like Speed Uno and Would You Rather. They ordered a pizza, which was gone in three minutes and fifty-seven seconds, and went mini golfing where there were some unwelcome faces.

There were four Black Dragons arguing over which color golf ball they each got. Frank wanted the red one, but so did Bryan. Jack nudged them to the side with his shoulder and handed the employee enough money for the four of them to golf. When they were handed their clubs, they moved over to where Frank and Bryan were still bickering.

"I get the red one! I'm your superior," Frank sneered, referring to his belt level.

"Fine! I get the blue one!" Bryan went to snatch it away but someone else's hand had moved to grab it. He looked up slowly. Kim slanted her eyes, daring him to fight her over the golf ball.

"Kim," Frank spat. "Why don't you let Bryan have the blue ball. Okay, dear?"

Kim gave Frank an oh-no-you-didn't look. "Oh, I'll give him a blue ball, alright. Okay, dear?" she mocked. Then she lunged forward punching and kicking. The other Black Dragons behind Frank came at the Wasabi Warriors. Using his golf club like a Bo staff, Jack swung at the blonde Black Dragon. Milton kicked out against his opponent, who then landed in murky pond water. Jerry pegged his opponent with golf balls until he had the opportunity to do a takedown. Frank backed away from Kim with a black eye. He pulled Milton's opponent out of the water and the four of them ran off, forgetting about their golfing. Kim smiled pleasantly as she plucked the blue golf ball off the ground. Taking Jack's hand, she walked over to the practice green.

From behind his booth, the employee looked at them with wide eyes and his mouth agape, horrified.

They stood in the dojo again, looking at each other with bored expressions. What could they do now? Jerry gasped suddenly.

"What? Did you think of something to do?" Jack asked as he looked at himself in his phone's camera.

"No, I don't have Buttons!" he exclaimed. "I don't know where I put him." He looked at his friends in alarm.

"Are you sure he's not over there?" Kim nodded her head towards the vending machine. "You were tryna buy a soda earlier."

Jerry sprinted over and looked on top of the machine, under it, in the seats right next to it… "He's not here." Panic grew in his voice, close to hysteria.

"Look, man, we'll find the hedgehog." Jack tossed his phone aside. "Where have you been?"

Jerry stood very still, trying to retrace his steps. What did he do first? It clicked in his head: it had started that morning…

"I went to work, here, Phil's, Joan's, here, golfing, and here again."

"So we'll retrace your steps," Milton suggested. "Jack, check the locker room. Kim, look in Rudy's office. Jerry and I will look in here."

"Break!" Jack exclaimed, throwing his hand up as if he was in a football huddle. Kim shook her head in a way that said why would you do that? Jack looked at his shoes in mild embarrassment.

Five minutes later, and the hedgehog was nowhere to be found. Jerry had begun to properly freak out, biting his nails and running his hands through his hair.

"We'll find him," Kim repeated for the fifth time.

"When does your sister get back?" Milton asked.

"Tonight."

"Great. We only have the rest of today..."

Jerry watched as Kim and Jack exchanged uneasy looks.

"Well, let's get moving, people!" Milton declared.

"No. There's no hedgehog here," Phil said. His eyebrows were drawn together in confusion. "Why do you ask?"

"Jerry lost his sister's pet," Jack explained.

"Oh, well in that case-" Phil turned around and hollered something in a different language to the kitchen. He waited for a second and then there was a small bahh from Tootsie. Phil looked back at the Warriors and shrugged. "Sorry. Still no hedgehog."

"Right. Thanks, anyway." They turned to leave and a tall figure almost ran into them. He had a black shirt on, reminding Jerry of the Black Dragons.

"Guys, do you think there's a certain curly-haired karate-ist who would want revenge on us?" Jerry asked.

"First of all, it's called a martial artist and second of all, are you talking about Frank?" Jack questioned.

"No, the other guy with curly hair who hates us- yes, I'm talking about Frank! He must have stolen Buttons when we were golfing to get revenge on us!"

"Jerry, that's pretty far fetched," Kim commented.

"But is it really?"

"I guess it wouldn't hurt to ask him."

"Admit it! You stole the hedgehog!" Jerry tipped the bucket over a little more. Frank flinched away from ice-cold water. Frank was stuck in a chair, surrounded by Jack, Kim, Milton, and Jerry who had a bucket of water dangling over Frank's head.

"Jerry, he obviously didn't do it," Milton said. "And I don't even remember you bringing it to Pepper's Putt-Putt."

"He did it, though. He took the...the uh…" He snapped his fingers, trying to remember what the creature was called.

"Hedgehog?" Frank suggested.

"Aha! So you admit it!" Jerry pointed an accusing finger at Frank.

"You told him what animal it was," Kim said patiently.

"Milton's right. Frank is clearly innocent. For once," Jack added. Defeated, Jerry set down the bucket, and Frank scurried away.

"Fine. Where does that leave us?"

Milton pulled out a list of all the places Jerry had been. "Not in the dojo, Phil's or golfing. We can cross out your work because we know you brought it to the dojo. That leaves only Joan's office."

Jerry sprinted to her office. He knocked quickly on her door. "JoanJoanJoanJoan. Joan! Joan!" Only when she finally opened the door, did Jerry stop pounding with his fist.

"Jerry? What in the name-of-the-blue-sky are you doing?"

"Is there a hedgehog? In your office?" he asked, trying to peer inside. She stepped in front of him to block his view.

"Now, why would there be a hedgehog in my office?" She demanded.

"Because I left my sister's here when we gave you that cake. Are you sure it's not here? The tanks like this big. I swear I left it here." He tried looking in again, but Joan promptly stood in front of him. He squinted suspiciously at her. "Are you hiding something?"

"What? No! And I do recall a tank. I threw it out-"

"You did what?"

"Look, whatever was in it was clearly not alive, so I got rid of it. You know, in those dumpsters outside-"

"How could you throw out a living animal! What are you hiding anyways?" He stepped to one side, and quickly switched directions. He flew in the room and suddenly realized why she was being secretive. There were candles lit and something that smelled really good on her desk- which was being used as a table. Sitting on one side was the guy from Fri's Fries (a fast food restaurant in the mall) and man, did he look uncomfortable.

"It's my birthday!" Joan said indignantly. "I'm entitled to treat myself."

Jerry fumbled for words to disband the awkwardness that was growing. "Uh...um… I'm just gonna– are those crab cakes?"

He grabbed one and fled as Joan hollered, "Hey!"

"You threw away my sister's pet! I'm entitled to treat myself!"

He ran out the door toward the dumpsters. He briefly recalled Rudy saying that the trash was being collected that day. He had to find the stupid animal before it was lost forever. Plus, it would be easier to replace one hedgehog than then whole tank and habitat. He skidded to a halt, taking a minute to prepare himself mentally for his soon-to-be dumpster diving adventure.

"Jerry! There you are," one of his friends called. They were out of breath from running after him, clutching stitches in his side and stopped suddenly as Jerry threw himself in the trash. "What are you doing?"

"Joan threw Buttons in here." He rummaged through the garbage, tossing bags here and there, and trying not to gag as he touched a slimy banana peel… at least he thought it was a banana peel. "Ew ew ew," he muttered to himself. This was a new low. Even for him.

And then at last, he finally found the glass tank. He checked inside and saw Button's white nose, his spikes curled around his small body. Relief washed over him. His sister wasn't going to kill him. He handed the tank over to Jack and hoisted himself out of the dumpster.

They found themselves back at the dojo. They always wound up there, eventually. Jerry felt exhausted after all the hullabaloo trying to find Buttons. The hedgehog was in the same place he'd been all day. What a lazy creature.

"Why would Joan throw away an animal?" Milton asked. Jerry chuckled to himself.

"She thought it was dead. But he's not; he just doesn't move…" Four pairs of suspicious eyes landed on the hedgehog.

"Are we sure it's dead?" Kim asked tentatively.

Jerry lifted the lid and carefully scooped up Buttons. He placed it on the mat and looked at it expectantly. He poked it.

It didn't do anything.

He touched its nose.

Nothing.

"Guys…. I think it's dead," Jerry said quietly. And then louder, "It's dead! I'm dead! I killed it and now Adalia's gonna kill me!" He shrieked and tried to run off to the locker rooms. Jack grabbed the collar of his shirt and dragged him back.

"Relax. We'll get another hedgehog that looks the same. Adalia won't know the difference."

"But where do you think we'll find a hedgehog dealer?" Jerry grumbled. "We had to drive out of state for the dumb thing."

Jack held up a set of keys. "Road trip, anyone?"

It ended up being only three: Jerry, Milton, and Jack. Kim's parents felt it too weird for her to go for a long drive with three boys.

As if a car ride would give them grandchildren.

They had found a closer hedgehog dealer than the one Adalia went to; this one being only a couple hours away. While they were driving, the called and made an appointment.

They finally got to the hedgehog farm, met the owner (a stocky woman named Leta) and were introduced to all the hedgehogs. Jerry shook his head as he looked at all of them. None of them looked like Buttons. Adalia would know. "This isn't gonna work," he muttered.

"Have some faith, man." Jack patted him on the back. Milton held up one of the hedgehogs over his head.

"'Nants ingonyama bagithi Baba!'" He sang from the Lion King. The boys started laughing. It was out of character for Milton to make a joke like that, but it was welcome. Jerry temporarily forgot about his dilemma as they made more references to movies using the hedgehogs.

"I choose you, hedgehog!" Jack laughed as he scooped up one of them.

Jerry gasped. "Are there any Pokémon here?" He pulled his phone out, opened the app, and let out a joyous laugh. "There's a Shaymin!" He tapped the creature and threw a Poké ball to catch it.

"Are you boys going to buy a hedgehog?" Leta asked. Jerry was snapped back to reality. He searched the hedgehogs for the closest one to Buttons.

"This one," he said holding it close to his chest.

"How much do hedgehogs cost, anyway?" Milton wondered.

"Three-fifty," said Leta.

Jack narrowed his eyes. "Like, three dollars and fifty cents or…"

"Like, three hundred fifty dollars." Jerry yelped and almost dropped Buttons II.

"I can't afford that!" he shrieked.

Jack and Milton sighed in unison and reached for their wallets. "I only have eighty," Milton said. Jerry looked at Jack uncertainly. He gave him his most pathetic look, begging for the money.

"Look, I have one-twenty, but–"

"Thank you!" Jerry ripped it out of his hands and shoved it toward Leta. "Three fifty! Here you go."

She took the paper, and counted it. "Okay, there's just some stuff you have to fill out. Follow me."

She went into the next room over, Jerry went to follow her but was yanked back by someone grabbing his shirt. Jack pinned him to the wall and said in a low, dangerous voice, "You have to explain to Kim why we can't go on our date tomorrow. And then you're gonna pay for our next one, got it?"

Jerry gulped and straightened his back. "Sir, yessir!" Jack let go of Jerry's shirt and rolled his eyes while Milton stood on the side smirking.

The sun had set, and the new hedgehog was crawling around the dojo mats. "Come here, Sonic," Jerry cooed.

"I still can't believe you named it Sonic," Jack said.

"What was I supposed to name it?"

"Buttons. This one is supposed to be Buttons. That's why we got it!"

They kept bickering, and Milton sighed, leaning back. "They did this the entire ride home," he muttered to Kim.

"It's unoriginal!" Jack continued.

"No, it's not! What other hedgehog do you know named Sonic! Huh?"

Jack threw his hands up. "Jerry–"

"Oh-Kay! That's enough!" Kim cut in. "It doesn't matter what Jerry wants to call the hedgehog, and I think that's Adalia."

Jerry's sister walked in, her long dark hair flowing over her shoulder.

"Jerry, I hope you didn't kill Buttons," she said, and then laughed at her own joke. Jerry forced a laugh.

"Ha ha! Guys, wouldn't that be funny?" he asked weakly.

Jack handed Adalia the cage with "Buttons" in it. "Here's Son- Buttons. Hope you had a fun day okay bye!"

Adalia peered into the cage at Buttons II eating some kibble and looked up at Jerry. Buttons II, Jerry. Buttons II, Jerry. Then very carefully she said, "¿Hermano, que esta haciendo?"

He panicked. "¡No hablo español!"

"Jerry, what is he doing?" She motioned towards the hedgehog.

"Eating his dinner. I don't get what the point of this is."

Her eyes narrowed suspiciously as she crossed her arms. "This isn't Buttons."

"Wha-at? It's definitely Buttons." The Warriors all chimed in, attempting to reassure her that it was Buttons.

"It's not him!" She insisted. "I was waiting for tonight to bury Buttons."

They looked at her blankly.

"Buttons was dead."

Aw, Jerry, buddy. You went through all that and the hedgehog was dead the whole time! Sorry, man. :(

So that's the end of the my first one-shot! Hope you liked it. Comedy isn't my strong suit but I had to put something that wasn't completely depressing. Most of my writing is sad... Comment what you thought about this! If you have any ideas, let me know. My next story will be posted on July, 22. I usually update on Friday's, this being an exception because I was eager to post something.

COMMENT which story you want next:

Masks: AU where two of the warriors are childhood friends and realize the truth about why they grew apart, but is it too late?

Stop Thief!: One of the warriors breaks their leg before an important competition and is forced to deal with repercussions (personal favorite of mine :P).

That's all for now!