Eventually, it was time for everyone to go and Atticus went to his computer, looking for Cherry's name on video chat and found her name. "Good... You're online..." he then said before clicking onto Cherry's page to call her.
And where after some time, Cherry answered.
"What?" Cherry said.
"Hey." Atticus smiled.
"...Hi." Cherry blinked.
"Are you okay?" Atticus asked.
"Meh... I guess so..." Cherry said. "I don't see what the big fuss is over Imaginary Man..."
"Well, he's an imaginary superhero." Atticus replied.
"Yeah... I haven't seen that before..." Cherry rolled her eyes.
"Oh, Cherry, you're not jealous, are you?" Atticus asked.
"Jealous?" Cherry narrowed her eyes. "That's ridiculous!"
"I was just asking." Atticus said.
Cherry looked to him.
"Cherry... Talk to me..." Atticus said. "What's going on?"
"...Okay, maybe I'm a little jealous." Cherry said.
"Why are you jealous?" Atticus asked.
"Well, no offense, but you guys were kind of zombies around Imaginary Man," Cherry said. "Especially Mac."
"True." Atticus said.
"I thought you forgot about me." Cherry frowned.
"Oh, Cherry, I'd never forget about you," Atticus said. "You're my sister!"
"Yeah, and you're my brother." Cherry replied.
"I won't ever forget about you, Cherry," Atticus smiled. "I won't let you. I'll tell you every single day."
"Mush." Cherry muttered.
"Really, I won't ever forget you, Cherry." Atticus told her.
"Hmm... Okay..." Cherry said. "I guess you couldn't forget about me."
"How could I?" Atticus asked.
"I'unno..." Cherry said.
"La, la, la, la la~" Atticus soon sang out loud.
"What? Oh... No!" Cherry said. "Stop!"
"You're my best friend, Best of all friends, Don't you wish you had a best friend too?~" Atticus smiled.
"Oi." Cherry groaned.
"You tickle in my tummy, you're so yummy, aren't I your best friend too?~" Atticus continued.
"You're my best friend." Cherry said to play along.
Patch could already tell this song would possibly go on for a while.
"Are you done yet?" Cherry asked.
"The point is, I'm sorry if you felt ignored," Atticus told Cherry. "Is there a way I can make it up to you?"
"Oh... I don't know..." Cherry shrugged. "I'll be fine. Don't worry about me."
"No, really, is there a way I can make it up to you?" Atticus asked.
"Well... I guess I could have a milkshake?" Cherry shrugged.
"Then I'll get you a milkshake." Atticus said.
"Fries too?" Cherry asked.
"Can't eat a milkshake without fries." Atticus said with a smile since that's what she liked to eat.
Patch smiled as he could tell that after this Cherry would be alright.
"I think we're good until tomorrow, boy." Atticus said after the video call soon ended.
"That's good." Patch smiled.
"Tell me about it," Atticus replied. "I guess we have been fussing over Imaginary Man just a bit."
"Yeah, I guess." Patch said.
"I'll make it up to her..." Atticus said. "Hopefully Mac doesn't forget about Bloo either."
"Same here." Patch said.
Atticus soon went to do some homework with Patch before he would go to bed.
"Well, that was nice..." Cherry hid a small smile after hanging up on Atticus. "I guess I should be lucky to have a friend like that."
The next day...
Cherry was sound asleep since there wasn't any school today.
"Cherry? You have company?" Michelle's voice rang from downstairs.
Cherry blinked, sitting up and rubbing her eyes, and came downstairs after changing her clothes, and saw Atticus there with a milkshake with an order of french fries and a bacon cheeseburger.
"I didn't know if you wanted a burger or not, so I brought that too." Atticus smiled.
"Thanks." Cherry smirked.
They soon sat down together at the dinner table to eat together.
"So, what do you wanna do today?" Atticus asked.
"I guess we could go to Foster's for a little bit." Cherry shrugged.
"Yeah, and let's hope Mac and Bloo are finishing up on their tree house." Atticus said.
"I sure hope so..." Cherry said before eating her cheeseburger and her eyes widened. "You got the bacon right too!"
"I wanted it to be just right." Atticus smiled.
"You succeed!" Cherry replied.
"Is that happiness?" Atticus asked.
"...No." Cherry obviously lied.
"You're lying." Atticus said.
"So?" Cherry replied, looking away from him.
"It's bad to lie." Atticus said, looking that way now.
"I do it better than you do." Cherry said, looking the other way now.
"That's true." Atticus said, looking that way now.
"You could learn a lot from me." Cherry said before looking in his eyes, allowing them to look each other in the eye.
"No thanks," Atticus replied. "I choose detective."
"Batman's a detective too." Cherry smirked.
"True." Atticus said.
Cherry smirked.
"Does he have superpowers though?" Atticus smirked back.
"He stole Lois Lane from Superman." Cherry smirked.
"Touché." Atticus said.
Cherry stuck her tongue out a bit.
The two soon left her house and were on their way to Foster's, Cherry taking her milkshake with her, and once there, they heard something going on at where the tree house was being built.
"Ah, Mac, I knew you'd work on the tree-house with Bloo!" Atticus smiled with high hopes.
"Um, if he's working on the tree-house with Bloo, then why do I see Bloo coming out of Foster's and rushing to the tree-house with a smile?" Cherry asked.
"Huh?" Atticus asked before looking over.
"Hey, guys, you here to see the most awesomest tree-house in the history of the world?" Bloo smirked as he came toward them with World.
"But Bloo, if you're out here with World, who's helping Mac with the tree-house?" Cherry asked.
Bloo shrugged. Cherry and Atticus looked to each other and took a look inside the tree-house as it looked like a superhero's headquarters.
"What is this, the Fortress of Solitude?" Atticus muttered.
"You know what this means, right?" Cherry asked Atticus with a sigh.
"He didn't listen to me..." Atticus replied. "Mac's gonna be Imaginary Man's sidekick."
"Exactly." Cherry said.
"Mac Attack, what have you discovered, my prodigy?" Imaginary Man asked the boy.
"Holy Havidashari, Imaginary Man!" Mac piped up.
"Ugh..." Cherry face-palmed.
"Uh, what?" Imaginary Man asked out of confusion.
"Holy Havadashari!" Mac smiled. "I found a catchphrase database on the internet! Every proper sidekick should have a catchphrase, right?"
"Yes... Is it?" Cherry smirked to Atticus.
"Only in the comics." Atticus glared.
Cherry snickered to him.
"What do you think of 'Holy Haverdasheri'?" Mac asked Imaginary Man as he printed out a list of catchphrases.
"Uh, you might wanna keep trying," Imaginary Man suggested. "Now, what about that other thing?"
"Oh, right," Mac said, going back on the laptop. "According to my calculations, Nemesis has a weakness of her very own!"
"Of course she does, obviously." Atticus rolled his eyes.
"Astonishing!" Imaginary Man beamed.
"Huh, that's different." Cherry said.
"How do you know?" Imaginary Man asked Mac.
"You see, yesterday when we were fighting her, I noticed something really weird," Mac explained. "When you got her hairdo all wet with the orange soda, she momentarily lost all of her powers. So that made me think: 'Hey! Her giant, humongous hairdo must be the source of all of her powers, and if that's the source of all her powers, she's gonna have to get it fixed, right?'. So, I figured she might wanna go to the prissiest, foofiest, most expensive place in town, which just so happens to be where my mom goes!"
"Wow." Atticus said.
"Not bad for a kid of eight, I gotta admit." Cherry commented, drinking her milkshake.
"Salon de Sissy!" Imaginary Man glared.
"De Sissé." Mac corrected with a French inflection.
"Mac Attack, you're brilliant!" Imaginary Man smiled to his new sidekick.
"He really is smart." Atticus said.
"If my hunch is correct, Nemesis is there right now, having her hair styled." Mac told Imaginary Man.
"Then we haven't a moment to lose!" Imaginary Man told Mac. "Let's go, Mac Attack!"
"Okay, we should stop Mac from going with Imaginary Man now." Cherry said.
Imaginary Man soon stepped on the hatch, shutting them out. Cherry whimpered as her fingers got caught and she yelled out of pain. Atticus glared before he pushed the hatch open. Cherry whimpered as her fingers throbbed a bit from the pain.
"Hooplah! Arial! We ride!" Mac called out as he soon took off with Imaginary Man.
"We have to tell his mom; maybe she can talk some sense into him." Cherry said.
"Come on then." Atticus replied.
Cherry soon got some ice for her hands and went to go with Atticus to see Mac's mother even though she was at work. Bloo, on the other hand, had a different idea in mind. Cherry and Atticus soon left Foster's.
"Should we get Mo and Patch?" Cherry asked him on the way to his car to get to the bank.
"We would, but Patch is on a Pound Puppy mission and Mo is spending time with Gloriosa." Atticus told her.
"All right, I guess it's up to us then." Cherry said.
"Don't worry," Atticus said as they got into his car. "I'm sure we can get a hold of Mac's mother... Even if she might be mad at Mac for not telling her about him going to Foster's every day after school and sometimes on the weekend."
They soon drove off to the bank.
They soon walked in and looked around as it seemed to be a normal, quiet day so far.
Grace was behind a desk as the two came to her. "Welcome to the National Bank, would you like to make a deposit?" she then asked since it was her job as a teller.
"Um, not exactly." Atticus said.
Grace looked down. "Oh... Cherry... Atticus..." She said in surprise.
"We need to talk to you about your son." Cherry said.
"What did Terrence do now?" Grace groaned slightly.
"No, no, this time it has nothing to do with Terrence." Atticus said.
"Mac did something...?" Grace asked out of surprise and concern since Mac was her nicer and kinder boy.
Cherry and Atticus nodded.
"One moment, please." Grace told them before going in the back room.
"Take your time." Cherry said.
The two soon waited in the waiting section as other people came by.
Grace soon came to see them and talk with them after getting permission from her boss. "What's going on?" she soon asked.
"It's a bit of a long story." Cherry said.
"I've got time." Grace said.
"Well... Okay... We were told by Mac once that you told him to give up Bloo." Cherry said.
"Yes, because he was getting too old for an imaginary friend," Grace replied. "I mean, I had one once too when I was little, but Mac and Bloo cause a lot of trouble whenever I'm out for work or errands and Terrence is in charge, but that was a long time ago."
"Actually... Mac's been still seeing Bloo." Atticus said.
"Tell me everything." Grace said.
Cherry and Atticus soon explained everything to Grace about how Mac and Bloo were going to be separated and how they found out about Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends which Mac sent Bloo to live in, but Mac had to go over every day after school so that Bloo wouldn't be put up for adoption, though every kid just wanted him for themselves, and Mac kept it a secret so that his mother wouldn't get mad at him for seeing Bloo all the time.
"I guess I might have been wrong about what age Mac would be ready to let Bloo go at." Grace said.
"We're sorry, Mrs. Snyder..." Cherry said.
"I suppose I should be sorry," Grace replied. "My friends in my book club suggested that Mac was too old for an imaginary friend. I guess I let them get to me."
"So, you think you'll let Bloo move back in?" Atticus asked.
"I don't know about all of that yet, but I guess I could talk to Mac about this," Grace said. "...I guess he's at that Foster's place?"
"That's another story..." Cherry said to her.
"It's the other reason why we're here." Atticus added.
"What happened?" Grace asked.
"Well, there's a new superhero imaginary friend named Imaginary Man," Cherry said. "He's cool and all, I guess, but Mac keeps paying so much attention to him instead of Bloo."
"And where he finished the tree-house they were going to finish together and turned into a Fortress of Solitude." Atticus said.
"Hmm... Interesting..." Grace replied. "That doesn't sound like Mac to forget about Bloo though. Bloo's been with us since Mac was three."
"So mind talking to him?" Cherry asked.
"But of course I will," Grace replied. "Thank you so much for telling me."
"No problem." Atticus smiled.
"You're not mad about the Foster's thing, are you?" Cherry asked.
"Well... I don't like that Mac was doing that behind my back, but I guess I can't blame him for wanting to be with Bloo again like that," Grace sighed. "Also, I'm sorry that Mac is hanging around this Imaginary Man more. I mean, can't he play with his own kid?"
"We don't think he has one anymore." Atticus shrugged.
"Yeah, he seems to just have friends at Foster's and us and Mo and Patch as well as Casper and Darla." Cherry said.
"So I see..." Grace replied. "I guess Imaginary Man sees Mac like the kid who created him, Scott."
"Scott...?" Cherry and Atticus asked.
"I had a friend growing up named Scott," Grace explained. "He just loved all things superheros. He wanted to be Superman when he grew up and was always pretending to be one, especially when we were in grade school."
Cherry gave playful smirk to Atticus, crossing her arms.
"And I believe he had a sister who created an imaginary friend too named Nemesis, short for Nemesister." Grace said.
"Nemesister..." Atticus said before face-palming. "That makes so much sense."
"Lucy was always so dark and mysterious," Grace said. "She meant well and nice, even if she was dark and spooky on the outside."
Atticus soon smirked to Cherry from that.
"They sure do have unique imaginations." Cherry smirked.
"Yes... Quite..." Atticus smirked back.
"I haven't seen them in so long..." Grace replied. "It seems like only yesterday we were all best friends and hanging out together every day after school. They really made me feel like a sister of theirs too with the way we hung out."
"Well, right now, Nemesis is at Salon De Sissé." Cherry said.
"Ah, yes, I sometimes go there when I can, like for my birthday." Grace replied.
"And Imaginary Man and Mac are going to be there to fight her." Atticus said.
"I see..." Grace remarked to them. "I think Mac and I need to have a little talk tonight. Hopefully my boss will let me come home early. I haven't had dinner with Mac and Terrence in quite sometime."
Atticus and Cherry hoped Grace's boss would let her go home early. After talking with her boss, Grace came back to her post.
"I have to go back to work right now, but I'll be home by 4:00 today." Grace said to Cherry and Atticus.
"Great!" Atticus and Cherry smiled.
They soon left the bank.
"Well, that wasn't so bad." Cherry had to admit.
"See? She was understanding." Atticus smiled.
"Well, that's good," Cherry said. "Let's just hope Mac doesn't freak out when he realizes his mother finds out about him going to Foster's."
"That I can not promise." Atticus said.
"So, what do we do now?" Cherry asked him.
"Just go and see how this plays out." Atticus said.
"Fair enough..." Cherry replied. "Hey, you don't think there's a chance we could find Imaginary Man and Nemesis's creators, do you?"
"Hmm... Well, with some help from the internet, we just might." Atticus said.
They soon drove away from the bank and went to Atticus's house. Cherry turned on the TV in the background while Atticus went on the computer, and where he typed Imaginary Man's and Nemesis's creators' names.
"Scott and Lucy..." Atticus said to himself, looking through the name search which had more results than he expected.
Cherry soon went to join him as they found many people who shared those names who were either married or siblings which would take longer than expected.
"Uh, Atticus? I think that might be them?" Cherry pointed out.
"What makes you think that's them?" Atticus replied.
"I dunno, lucky guess?" Cherry remarked.
They soon saw two grown adults with brown hair. The man had a red shirt with white pants, and blue and white shoes, the same colors of Imaginary Man's get-up, and the woman had a black shirt with a pink skirt with black boots, the same colors of Nemesis's design.
"Yep, that must be them." Atticus nodded.
"Anything we need to know?" Cherry asked.
"Let's see..." Atticus said. "They both seem to have children now. They live about four states away... You think we should call them?"
"'Hey, we have your old imaginary friends, come get them, bye'," Cherry smirked. She soon saw that Atticus wasn't impressed. "Well, what do you suggest?" she then shrugged.
Atticus soon called the number, but soon got an answering machine and left a message. "Hello, you don't know me, but my name is Atticus Fudo," he then said. "Listen, I know this may sound strange, but we know where Imaginary Man and Nemesister are, and they now live in Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends at 1123 Wilson Way, and if you could come pick them up, we would appreciate it. Goodbye." he then said before hanging up.
"Okay, that's got to sound much better than mine." Cherry pouted.
"Oh, Cherry... What am I going to do with you?" Atticus sighed.
"Keep me?" Cherry smirked.
Atticus simply rolled his eyes playfully. Cherry shrugged modestly.
"At least we have a lead," Atticus smiled. "Also, it might be nice if their kids adopt Imaginary Man and Nemesister."
"Yeah." Cherry nodded.
"Hopefully they come." Atticus said.
"I hope so too." Cherry replied.
"Now what?" Atticus asked.
Cherry shrugged to him. They soon went to visit Foster's as Bloo sulked without Mac and World tried to comfort him like a good friend would.