Our story begins in a very different setting, far too off from which people know as, and it seemed to be in Japan in a colorful world as people were walking around, but this morning, a group was getting ready to start a new day in school as they were students.
"Atticus, Mo!" waved a teenage boy with brown hair. "Long time no see, am I right?" His name was Lionel Schwartz, although he was a bit different from the Lionel we currently know.
"Oh... Ohh! Hey, buddy!" The other teenage boy with darker brown hair with blue eyes known as Atticus Fudo smiled.
The tomboy girl with lighter brown hair that the top was covered with a tied red bandanna on her head with emerald green eyes known as Monique, but Mo for short, also smiled to Lionel.
"Hmm... Cool to see you guys again!" Lionel beamed. "Man, was that summer, one for the memories... But, uh, waitasecond... Where's Cherry?" he asked.
"We're on our way to go and see her," Atticus replied. "I just hope she doesn't sleep through September... Summer's never been her favorite season."
"Eh, everyone's got different tastes," Lionel shrugged. "Guess I'll tag along... I haven't seen her since 5th grade..." he sighed. "Getting to see her again after so long will be a breath of fresh air in the dreariness of my teenage life!"
"That's an interesting way of looking at it." Atticus hid a small smirk.
Lionel blinked, and then squinted at Atticus. "What are you implying, Fudo?" he asked.
"Oh, nuthin'~..." Atticus replied innocently.
They then walked off and came over to Cherry's house as she still seemed to be asleep. Mo stepped up to the door and rang the doorbell, then waited for someone to answer.
"Huh?" Cherry mumbled. "Why are Atticus and Mo coming at 4:00 in the morning?"
"Come on, Cherry!" Atticus called out. "Didn't your alarm go off?"
"What?" Cherry asked before hitting her clock to see that it was somehow set wrong and soon showed the real time and she groaned. "Oh, man!" She then rushed up out of bed to get ready for the day.
Outside, Lionel was reading manga while eating his breakfast ramen. "I hope she's not indisposed somehow..." he stated.
Mo soon took out a pack of chocolate pocky. "I'll try to help out." she then said as she brought out one piece and ate it.
"Same here," Lionel nodded. "Friends gotta have each other's backs."
"You guys want some pocky?" Mo offered.
"Eh, I'll take a piece." Atticus smiled, accepting one.
"No, thanks," Lionel replied. "I'm alright."
Finally, the trio heard the sounds of footsteps coming down the stairs and approaching the door. Lionel glanced towards the door, and his eyes went wide with surprise.
Cherry gasped and panted as she came to the door after getting dressed and ready. "Ready... Guys..." she told them, a bit out of breath.
Lionel's face went bright red at the sight of her. "...Cherry? It... It's been years..." he managed to say.
"Lionel?" Cherry replied.
Lionel nodded. "Y-Yeah... You look... Astounding...!" he replied.
"Eh... Really...?" Cherry shrugged as she looked down at herself, feeling plain compared to the others.
"No fooling!" Lionel nodded. "I mean, I thought you looked great back in 5th grade, but now?" He then proceeded to profusely gush blood from his nose.
Cherry's eyes widened slightly from the blood.
"Dude!" Atticus cried out and gave Lionel a tissue. "Sick!"
"Sorry..." Lionel blushed. "I get like that around girls I lo-er, like a lot."
"Hm..." Cherry hummed quietly.
"So, you guys ready for school?" Atticus asked them.
"Heheh, sure." Lionel nodded.
Cherry hid a slight eye roll, but she soon nodded as well. "Ooh, pocky."
"Here, take a piece." Mo smiled, handing her a piece of chocolate pocky.
"Still... It's great to see you after all this time." Lionel blushed as they went on their way.
"It's been a while..." Cherry admitted.
They soon went to get going once they were all grouped together. There seemed to be a whimpering heard as they walked along which made Atticus smile nervously.
"Hold up... What's that noise?" asked Lionel. "Sounds kinda like whimpering... But what could it be?"
"Uh, it's nothing, that was my stomach...?" Atticus grinned nervously as his eyes shifted.
"I know stomachs, and stomachs don't whimper," Lionel replied, glancing at Atticus with mounting suspicion. "So what WAS it?"
"You were always a bad liar, Atticus Fudo." Cherry added.
Atticus sighed as he soon brought out his backpack, and opened it up to show a Dalmatian puppy with a black spot over one of his eyes as he panted happily and looked around.
"When'd you get a dog?" asked Lionel curiously.
"My parents thought I could use some company since my sister's in college now, and they took me to an animal shelter, his name's Patch." Atticus informed.
"Nice-lookin' pup, he is," Lionel commented. "Although I doubt the school's changed its whole 'no pets allowed' policy since we were on summer break."
"I know..." Atticus replied. "I just didn't wanna leave him home alone though... Promise not to say anything, guys?"
"I promise." Mo decided.
"Hm..." Cherry glanced at her best friend.
"Please, Cherry?" Atticus asked, giving a puppy dog pout with Patch.
Cherry sighed unrelentingly. "Fine... But you owe me big-time."
"Same here!" Lionel added.
Unbeknownst to them, a streak of odd white energy was coming towards their location. They soon walked off to get going to school as today seemed like a normal day, but it was far from it. Suddenly, the white energy struck them all at once, causing them to change into different forms. The group yelped about suddenly being struck and Patch had something happen to him as well.
"Ugh... Anybody get the number of that truck...?" Lionel groaned, before he noticed that he was now wearing what looked like a weird Bat-style costume with one of the cowl's pointy ears flopping... And the fact that he was now only two feet tall. "GAAAAH! WHAT HAPPENED TO ME?! I'VE BEEN ZAPPED INTO A MIDGET! NOW CHERRY'S NEVER GONNA GO OUT WITH ME!" he sobbed hysterically.
"Is everyone okay?" Atticus's voice asked.
"Clearly Lionel is rambling again." Cherry's voice replied.
"EASY FOR YOU TO SAY!" Lionel snapped. "YOU GUYS AREN'T TWO STINKIN' FEET TALL!"
"I guess he can't ride the bumper cars anymore." Cherry smirked.
"Oh, Patch, are you okay?" Atticus asked.
"I... I think so..." The puppy replied.
This made them both look shocked and they soon yelped as the dog somehow was talking.
"Great! Just WONDERFUL! First I'm a midget, now we got a talking dog on our hands!" Lionel commented, flinging his hands up. "FAN-FRIGGIN'-TASTIC!"
"I'm sure there's a reason that this happened to us..." Atticus said, trying to sound logical and understanding.
"Well, let's hope we can find and fix it. I don't wanna have to use a step-stool to wash my hands!" Lionel griped as he snapped his fingers, turning himself into a handsome-looking man. "Whoa...I didn't know I could do that!" he remarked.
Cherry blinked and soon turned away, almost bashfully.
"I don't know what happened, but we have to get to school someway." Mo said to the others.
"Looking like this?" Patch asked. "No way! We'll need some kinda way to disguise yourselves. At least until we can find a way to change you all back to normal..."
"Patch is right," Cherry said before groaning. "I can't believe I just agreed with a dog."
Lionel pondered. "Stranger things have happened... As we just witnessed," he replied. "But I think I can disguise ourselves." he raised his arm and snapped his fingers, changing them into their normal forms... Although he was a bit more muscle than he'd originally been.
Mo held her stomach as her appetite seemed to change, and she looked at her lunch which had some meat in it, and she suddenly looked disgusted at the meat that she packed with her lunch. "Does anyone wanna trade lunches?" she then asked.
"What's wrong, Mo?" Atticus asked. "You like chicken."
"I... I just don't think I can eat it anymore..." Mo replied.
"Must be a side effect of those freaky rays..." Lionel replied. "All-the-more reason to investigate."
Suddenly, a white van with blue headlights and bumper pulled up right next to the group, and a short, black-haired boy got out of the van holding a robot dog, who sniffed all over them. The dog turned back to his owner and nodded.
"Yup, these guys got hit by the Z-rays, too!" he reported.
The kid smiled. "Way to sniff 'em out, Poochie!" he replied. "Could you four come with me? It's very important..."
The group looked to each other as they looked to the boy. Patch sniffed the robot dog back while the humans huddled together.
"Should we do it?" Atticus asked.
"Atticus, you peanut brain, we're not supposed to ride with strangers." Cherry deadpanned.
"Look, I understand you might be a bit scared, considering those weird rays hit you, but I'll be happy to explain on the way!" the boy replied, as the side-window rolled down, and a mustached man with white hair glanced out.
"C'mon, Ken; we've gotta get a move on!" he shouted.
Lionel blinked. "Hey, wait. I recognize that guy: that's the mayor of the city!" he commented.
"How do you think I feel?" Cherry muttered as her mother worked in the city council.
"I dunno," Lionel shrugged. "Besides, we wanted to figure out what happened to us, so this is our best bet. Might as well take our chances."
Cherry rolled her eyes.
"Come on, Cher, let's try it." Mo smiled.
"Fine..." Cherry muttered.
So they got aboard the van, which headed off. Upon getting in, they noticed that also in the van was a blonde woman, two teenagers: one redhead, one blonde, and a black-haired man in a lab coat.
"So... What's going on?" Cherry asked.
"You'll find out eventually, I promise." The black-haired man smiled.
Cherry rolled her eyes and stared out the window she was sitting beside.
"Anyways... I suppose introductions are in order. I'm Professor Utonium," the man introduced himself. "The boy is my son Ken, the two girls are Blossom, the redhead, and Bubbles, the blonde, and the woman on the right side is the Mayor's aide, Ms. Bellum."
"Nice to meet'cha." Lionel waved.
"I see," Cherry replied. "Pleased to meet you."
"Hello, sir and ma'ams," Atticus smiled. "I'm Atticus Fudo, this is my girlfriend Monique, but she likes to be called Mo, and these are our great friends, Cherry Butler and Lionel Schwartz. Oh, and that's Patch, my dog."
"Cool meeting ya." Patch agreed.