Meanwhile, back with Emily Elizabeth...
The poor blonde girl walked into her big red dog's emptied doghouse as she felt just as blue as the night sky. Felicity looked to Emily Elizabeth as she was the only one who hadn't run away along with her mother as she felt worried for the girl and decided to go comfort her using the power of empathy. Emily Elizabeth soon sat down of her dog's pillow.
"Bonsoir." Felicity greeted.
"Felicity?" Emily Elizabeth asked.
"I'm sorry about your dog..." Felicity told her as she decided to sit with the girl. "I have never owned my own pet, but I'm sure that it can be quite saddening, but I'm sure that Clifford would not leave for no reason."
"It doesn't seem like he would," Emily Elizabeth replied. "He's always been so happy with us." She soon noticed a piece of paper sticking out from under the giant pillow.
"What's this?" Felicity wondered.
Emily Elizabeth lifted up the pillow and brought out the paper. "Hmm... 'A Talent Contest... Tummy Yummies'..."
"I think you found out where your pet is." Felicity smiled.
This gave Emily Elizabeth hope as she knew she had to show this to her parents. Felicity smiled to Emily Elizabeth. Mismagius soon came out of her Pokeball to join her trainer.
"How did I do?" Felicity asked her Pokemon.
"You did great." Mismagius smiled.
Felicity smiled back. "I'm trying really hard to work on my social skills."
"Well, I say that you're doing a great job." Mismagius smiled.
"Merci, Mismagius," Felicity smiled back before sighing. "Oh, I hope Akito, Estelle, and Vincent know what they are doing."
Eloise was getting bored, so she a leaf of cabbage on her head as she stopped to think.
"Eloise, why do you have a leaf of cabbage on your head?" Drell asked.
"I put a leaf of cabbage on my head when I have a headache or I need to think," Eloise replied. "It makes a very good hat."
"What was your mother on when she was pregnant with you?" Drell grumbled. "Anyway, what do you wanna do?"
"I'm thinking about the others..." Eloise replied. "Especially Weenie... He's never been on his own before."
"I'm sure they'll be back." Drell said.
"I wonder if I should've gone with them." Eloise said to the warlock.
"If you did, then your nanny would have wanted to know." Drell said.
"Are you afraid to upset my nanny, Drell?" Eloise asked. "Prunella once said something bad about me, and Nanny boxed her like on Fight Night on TV before my bedtime."
"I just don't wanna get in trouble with her." Drell said.
"I should do something." Eloise stood up in her chair.
"Oh, look at that, 8:30, time for bed." Drell stood up and soon picked up the six-year-old and threw her over his shoulder.
"Dang it." Eloise said.
Drell smirked and soon carried her off and put her in bed.
Eloise turned on her flashlight as she hiked under her blankets. "I have to do something to help my friends," she told herself. "They, like Nanny, mean the world to me for Lord's sake, and a friend in need is a friend indeed!"
Lightning flashed with thunder rumbling.
"If you don't go to sleep now, you won't have any friends~" Drell's voice warned almost like Discord.
"Okay, okay!" Eloise yelped.
"I still got it." Drell smirked as he soon sat in a chair and took out a book, and soon started to read it.
Back with the others...
They were soon on the road as they had to leave to the next town, and where setting up at the next town would be easy with the extra help. The dogs stuck their tongues out of the windows as it was a dog thing. Of course to them, this was really fun.
"I still don't get this whole sticking your head out the window thing." Oliver said to the dogs.
"It's fun, Uncle Oliver!" Kiki smiled.
"If you say so." Oliver rolled his eyes with a smirk.
They soon arrived at the town.
"Here we are, the next town over," Atticus told his family. "Now remember, we're the Shore family."
"Right." Akito nodded.
They soon went to help set up their next stop with the help of Larry and his animals. Snow White yawned as she began to fall asleep, curling up into a ball.
"Sleep well." Oliver smiled.
Snow White seemed to smile in her sleep. Oliver looked around and soon kissed Snow White back to sleep. Snow White seemed to smile to that while sleeping. With Clifford, it seemed a lot easier for Larry and his animals to set up, not to mention the added strength.
"This seems familiar somehow..." Atticus commented as he put a peg in the ground.
Akito then stomped on the peg to plant into the ground with a single step.
"I think this might remind you of how you were apart of your first circus." Mo said.
"That's it!" Atticus replied. "After we rode out of town, we had to set up for the next town with Dumbo... I'm glad I got to meet Atlas though, even if he was full of himself when we first met."
"Was that before or after he met Ms. Connie?" Estelle asked.
"Before," Atticus replied. "Long, long before."
"Ohh, yeah." The Fudo siblings smiled.
"Ah, Atlas..." Atticus smiled in memory. "Before I reunited with your Grandpa Patrick, he felt like a father and a brother to me at the same time."
"Aw!" Estelle smiled.
Atticus soon felt his thumb being hammered.
"Sorry, Dad." Akito cringed nervously.
"Aw, it's okay, it didn't hurt," Atticus chuckled. "I'm as strong as Aunt Rainbow Dash's tortoise's shell."
"I thought Tank was a turtle?" Vincent asked.
"Tortoises are turtles." Mo told him.
Vincent shrugged. "Meh."
"They're also reptiles," Jenny added. "That's a common misconception of calling them amphibian," She then giggled. "In this comic I like called Over the Hedge, this turtle named Verne keeps being called an amphibian, but he says he's a reptile."
"Nice." Estelle said.
Soon enough, the ground was all set up.
"Well, looks like our work here is done," Larry smiled. "Now, I've got some tickets to sell, gang. We're gonna pack 'em in tonight!"
"We sure are." Atticus said.
Larry soon left to get the ticket booth ready.
"So, what should we do for acts?" Jenny asked.
"No problem," Atticus replied. "We were in a circus too with Scooby and the gang, we'll do what we do best. Of course, you kids can help, Akito, you can be a strongboy, Estelle, you can dance, and Vincent, you can... Um... Well, you're mostly artistic."
"True, but this seems to be only acts for animals." Vincent said.
"Oh, is it?" Atticus replied before chuckling. "Never mind then, we'll get a free show."
"Smooth, 'Scott Sr'." Mo teased her husband.
"Cool, that means we get to be in the show." Scruffy smiled.
"What's Snow White's talent?" Oliver asked.
"Sleeping for 23 hours." Scruffy and Dot smirked.
"When she's awake, I'm not sure." Vincent said.
"We'll find out at night," Scruffy said. "I know it's weird, but I actually saw her playing at night. It's like she was a totally different cat."
"Well, cats are nocturnal." Mo said.
"You knew about this?!" Dot gasped.
"Yes, I did." Mo nodded.
"No way!" Dot replied.
"It's common knowledge." Atticus chuckled to the puppies.
Night time soon came. Night time soon came.
"Is it almost time?" The ivory kitten asked.
"Just about, Snow," Vincent smiled to Snow White. "People should be lining up any minute now."
"Great." Snow White said.
Soon enough, people were coming into the show. The family then decided to sit for themselves and watch it as well with excited smiles since Larry let them in for free.
"This is going to be so exciting." Akito smiled.
"Have fun with it, kids." Atticus smiled back.
Larry was beginning to announce the show to start while the animals set up backstage.
"When do we get on stage?" Scruffy asked Shackleford.
"You guys will come in at the end." Shackleford replied.
"Oh, okay." Dot smiled.
"And now for our show!" Larry told the audience.
"That's my cue," Shackleford said before looking back to the others. "You guys just watch and learn."
"The famous, irreplaceable, sensational Shackleford: The High-flying Ferret!" Larry announced.
"Go, Shackleford!" The puppies cheered.
The ferret dropped his cape with a smirk and soon climbed up his ladder before hoping this to go well as he began his own trapeze act, and he soon landed on Dorothy. Pins were then thrown at him and he began to juggle them as the people watched in wide wonder.
"I wonder how he does that without thumbs?" Akito pondered while sipping his soda.
"Who knows?" Estelle shrugged. "Oh, I just hope that nothing will cause Dorothy to look down."
A butterfly soon landed on the cow's nose as Shackleford juggled on top of her. Dorothy soon sneezed and began to look down much to everyone else's misfortune.
"Spoke too soon." Estelle said nervously.
"Oh, this can't end well." Vincent said.
"That must be how Cherry felt when she was learning how to fly for the first time." Atticus frowned in concern.
Shackleford soon tried to grab the trapeze and Dorothy grabbed a hold of him in a panic until they both suddenly flew in the air and ended up on the next trapeze, the poor cow crying for her life. She grabbed a hold of the tower holding Dirk and Rodrigo and soon brought it down with her, latching onto the spotlight.
"Yikes!" Jenny cried out.
"I can't look." Weenie whimpered as he turned the other way with his paws over his face.
Larry began to try to save his animals only to accidentally activate the rocket roller-blades.
"Oh..." Vincent began.
"No." Akito and Estelle concluded in unison.
The roller blades soon began to spin Dirk and the other animals around and around as it looked like the show was about to come apart.
"Oh, no..." The Fudo siblings gulped.
Jenny yelped and then grabbed onto Vincent in fear. Vincent looked happy at that and soon hugged Jenny to comfort her. To keep the show from coming apart, Clifford acted fast. The crowd looked shocked and amazed, of course as Clifford was a big red dog. Shackleford still spun after a while since his tail slipped out of Dorothy's hoof. They were soon all falling until Clifford caught them to safety.
"Whew." Akito sighed.
Dirk still spun around and around before exploding into fireworks, but luckily, he came down on a parachute. The crowd soon looked impressed and amazed as they thought that was part of the show.
"Whew, looks like everyone found that part of the show." Mo sighed.
"Thank, Celestia and Luna." Atticus added in relief.
Larry decided this would be the perfect moment to introduce Clifford. "Why, ladies and gentlemen, it's Big Red to the rescue!" he then smiled to the audience.
The crowd went wild and enjoyed Clifford, much to Shackleford's dismay and jealousy. Scruffy was relieved that Clifford saved the ones that would have had a rough landing.
In the tent, the other animals all celebrated Clifford's accomplishment.
"That was amazing, Clifford." Dot smiled.
"Thanks." Clifford smiled back.
"That truly was amazing." Snow White purred.
"Yeah!" Oliver added.
"That was totally rad, Big Red." Dirk smiled to the big red dog.
"That's our Clifford!" Cleo smiled back.
"The greatest!" T-Bone cheered.
"He sure is." Scruffy smiled.
"You're my hero, Clifford, thank you." Dorothy told the red dog before kissing him.
"Aw!" Colette smiled.
"Aw, thanks, I was just helping, that's all." Clifford smiled back to the others.
"Hey, well done, Clifford, my man!" Shackleford soon came in. "That was one lucky break! We were all one tail wag away from disaster. Good stuff, good stuff, but let's not let that happen again, right, team? We can't depend on an 'accident' to save the show."
"But everyone thought that was part of the act." Scruffy said.
"Right, right, right, we gotta think about next time though," Shackleford replied before facing the cow. "Dorothy, Dorothy, you know you're my girl, right? And I know that very soon, you are gonna master this act that we've been over a hundred times."
Dorothy frowned and shook her head about that.
"You just need to practice and don't look down." Shackleford told her.
'Sounds like he's trying to be bossy.' Snow White thought to herself.
Dorothy soon tried to keep herself calm about her fear of heights.
"And you, Dirk," Shackleford pointed to the skateboarding dog. "You ever hear of too much of a good thing? Now ya have! Ya gotta ease up on the throttle. Does that thing have a downshift?"
"Uh, no," Dirk glared slightly. "I got all I need for a need for speed."
"I can tell you can't contain your speed." Patch smiled.
"Not really, dude," Dirk chuckled. "I tend to go my own way."
"What about me, Shackleford, what did I do?" Rodrigo drooped his ears worriedly.
"Oh, you, my little amigo, need to focus on keeping those weights up, up, up, instead of down, down, down," Shackleford chuckled. "You almost got squashed like a tortilla!"
Rodrigo looked sad about that.
'I'm hating this guy.' Dot thought to herself.
"Shackleford?" Clifford asked. "Did we do okay?"
"Okay? Yes, you did okay!" Shackleford smiled before glaring. "We all did okay, but okay is not enough! Okay does not dazzle, okay does not delight, and okay, does not, I repeat, does not win contests! We need to be-"
"Fantastic!" Larry smiled as he soon came in.
Shackleford seemed to frown as he didn't expect that.
"Simply amazing!" Larry continued. "That was our best show ever! Big Red, you stole the show! If you guys keep up what you did out there tonight, we'll be sure to make it into that contest, and thanks to Big Red, I bet we can win it!"
Clifford smiled to Larry and licked him with his enormous tongue.
Larry chuckled before going back to his trailer before looking to the ferret. "Thanks, pal, if it weren't for you, we wouldn't have Big Red." he then ruffled up the top of his fur before leaving.
"So, do we get the Tummy Yummies now?" Clifford asked Shackleford.
Shackleford only responded by fluttering his lips.
Meanwhile back in Emily Elizabeth's neighborhood...
"Hello, I'd like to report nine missing dogs, and a kitten," Mr. Bleakman said as he talked on the phone. "The first dog is really friendly, red, and is as big as a house... No, I am not crazy!" he then glared before hanging up. He soon saw that now wasn't the time to let the person from the phone to get to him for calling him crazy.
Emily Elizabeth hung her head sadly.
"Oh, don't worry," Mr. Bleakman soothed his neighbor. "We'll find them."
"I know we will," Emily Elizabeth told him before hugging him. "Thanks, Mr. B."
Mr. Bleakman smiled down to her and hugged her back, though he didn't have any children of his own, he felt like Emily Elizabeth was like the daughter he never had right now. That night, everyone had a nice sleep, but Akito had a vision of a fight that would happen in the near future.