"Should we catch up with Cherry?" Cathleen asked Ruby.
"If you want, but she might be a little scary for your liking." Ruby warned.
"I've known Cherry for a long time," Cathleen nodded. "...Well, maybe not as long as Atticus has at least."
"Well, she's changed a bit since she came around Storybrooke..." Ruby said. "Like finding out who her parents actually are."
There was soon the sound of a high-pitched scream in the alley.
"Cherry!" Cathleen yelped and ran toward the dark alley and Ruby went after her.
"Cathleen, wait!" Ruby cried out.
"All right, Whale," Cherry smirked as she was shown to be using a shadow to dangle Whale by his ankle very high up in the air. "I'll ask you one more time... Why are you doing this to the Cartoon Network people? What will you strike next? Nickelodeon? Disney? PBS? Discovery Kids?"
"I told you, it's not me, Cherry!" Whale begged. "Now put me down and let me go!"
"Hmm... Nah..." Cherry smirked before she made the shadow let go of Whale and made him fall into an ACME Dumpster. "TALK!" she then snapped as Cathleen and Ruby made it into the alley.
"Cherry, stop this, please!" Cathleen begged.
The shadow soon came to life and grabbed Whale before throwing him up in the air as he screamed. Cherry grinned darkly as she watched that, relishing in his misfortune.
"Cherry! This isn't you!" Cathleen said, putting her hands on her friend's shoulders, making them look at each other. "Cherry!"
Cherry glared at her at first before looking soft. "Cath...?" she asked softly as Whale screamed in the background as he was being dragged around and tossed in the air by two other shadows like a toy ball.
"Cherry, what did we talk about?" Ruby asked.
Cherry sighed and shook her head. "I guess I'll have to talk to Gold about this..." she then said.
"So, did Dr. Whale know anything?" Ruby asked.
"No, I guess he didn't..." Cherry shrugged. "I guess I should let him go."
Whale was still screaming in the background as he was being terrorized.
"In a few hours." Cherry then smirked.
"Cherry..." Ruby warned firmly.
Ruby narrowed her eyes before they turned golden briefly.
"Aw, fine..." Cherry groaned before she snapped her fingers.
The shadows soon disappeared and Whale was screaming and falling through the air. Cherry then walked off for a moment and pulled out a trampoline and Whale soon landed hard on it and bounced a few times before groaning and sighing in relief.
"I think my heart just jumped into my throat..." Whale groaned as he tried to calm himself down.
"All right then, I guess I could go to try to look for that book at the library again." Cherry then shrugged as she walked off ahead of Ruby and Cathleen.
"I think that's a good idea." Cathleen replied as they walked away.
Whale groaned in agony as he slowly came off of the trampoline and cracked his back, going over to the hospital. He looked to be in deep pain and distress.
The girls soon came back into the library, hoping to find a book on The History of Cartoon Network.
"So, I guess Mystery Inc doesn't exist anymore?" Cathleen asked. "That sounds rough."
"Yes, without Shaggy, Velma, Daphne, Fred, and Scooby-Doo solving mysteries, it feels wrong," Ruby replied. "Sorta like how we once had Sherlock Holmes back in our original Storybrooke."
"Sherlock Holmes too?" Cathleen asked.
"Basically, any fictional story you can think of in the world has been in Storybrooke," Cherry told Cathleen. "Like Whale being Frankenstein, Ruby was Little Red Riding Hood, Belle was Beauty from Beauty and the Beast..."
"I think I can guess who her beast was..." Cathleen remarked.
"Yeah, genius..." Cherry rolled her eyes slightly.
"Any ideas once we find out what happened to Cartoon Network?" Ruby asked Cherry.
"The best idea I've got is that we round up as many classic characters as we can and take down whoever caused this mess," Cherry said. "I also doubt that Rumple did it. He promised me he'd be good and he'd help me control my own darkness."
"I think you should ask for help on that again," Ruby advised. "You could've killed Dr. Whale."
"Would that really be so terrible?" Cherry shrugged bashfully.
Cathleen and Ruby both gave her a firm look.
"Okay, I guess it would be..." Cherry then narrowed her eyes.
Belle soon came by with a small smile. "Can I help you ladies find anything special?" she then asked.
"Just a book about the history of... Uh... Well... Them..." Cherry said before whispering as she gestured to Velma when she said "them".
"...I suppose I could take you somewhere," Belle replied. "In the forbidden section... Like where we keep the Stephen King novels so that the kids don't find them and get scared."
"Belle, you can trust me," Cherry reminded. "We lived together for almost a full year."
"Yes, Cherry, I remember," Belle said before she went to take the others over to a top-secret location in the library and soon moved a framed portrait of a famous author from long ago, tilting its frame a bit which triggered a bookcase to open up right in front of them like in an old horror movie. "Before you vanished."
Cherry swallowed thickly before nodding. Eventually, after the bookcase was opened, the women stepped inside and the bookcase closed behind them. Velma looked around as she thought she heard something before shrugging and she glanced out the window to see Johnny Bravo doing his usual thing, though he seemed to have a hammer like Thor from The Avengers and she sighed dreamily at the sight of him.
The four were soon in an underground room which had a collection of dusty old books that looked like they hadn't been touched in over 20 years.
"Where did those books come from?" Cherry asked.
"A place called Paranormal Bookstore," Belle replied. "I think it might be from where the classic characters came from. I even asked Rumple to do a bit of research on them for me. There should be what you're looking for in there."
"Let's see..." Cherry said as she came to check the collection of books that were all very different.
The Witch's Ghost of Oakhaven by Ben Ravencroft
The Scare-Your-Pants-Off book series by E. A. DePoe
The Glowing by William Denbrough
Horrendously Horrible Happenings by Persimmony Glitchet
The History of Cartoon Network by Anonymous
"There it is!" Cherry said as she swiped a book right off of the shelf. It was mostly yellow colored and had black and white checkers on it around the words "Cartoon Network".
"Well, that was easy." Cathleen had to admit.
"You can read it for a while unless you want to check it out and do research on what you're looking for," Belle said to them. "Which will it be?"
"Yeah, we'll borrow this book for right now," Cherry replied. "It might be good to keep around for a while."
"Like Henry's old storybook from school." Ruby added.
"Yeah, like that." Cherry nodded.
Eventually, Belle brought them back up to the upper ground of the bookstore and they had to stop as Johnny and Velma were talking as Velma did her best to keep cool and calm around the muscleman she had strong feelings for. At least in this timeline.
"So, when do you think that formula you made for me will be ready?" Johnny asked.
"Oh, I don't know, hopefully soon," Velma replied bashfully. "I'll be at the Research Lab though if you happen to come by. I'm sure that you'll like it, Johnny."
"Excellent," Johnny nodded before he left the library. "Well, see ya!"
"Lost in the world of books with no interest in them," Belle sighed a bit. "Just reminds me of my arranged marriage to Gaston before I met Rumple."
"Oh, hi, Belle," Velma said as she looked over to the woman who gave a small smile. "Where'd you run off to?"
"I had to help these people find a book they were looking for, but I'm going to help them check out right now if you don't mind." Belle informed with a small smile.
"No, not at all, you saw them first." Velma nodded.
Eventually, Belle helped Cherry, Cathleen, and Ruby check out the book as Ruby used her library card to help the former two check the book out. Belle did the usual "Have a nice day!" and the book would be due back in two weeks, hoping that would be enough time for them to use it for whatever they would need before letting them go and they soon left the library.
"See you at dinner, Cherry," Belle smiled at the perky goth. "I'm really looking forward to it. Ruby, would you and Dorothy mind coming by to look after Aurelia for dinner tonight?"
"Sure, I wouldn't mind that," Ruby replied before looking at Cathleen. "Is that alright with you too?"
"Babysitting?" Cathleen asked before shrugging. "Well, I guess that would be fine... I have two young nieces that are a handful."
"Oh, Aurelia won't be much trouble," Belle smiled warmly. "She's usually pretty calm and quiet and playing with her dolls."
"Well, okay then," Cathleen said. "See ya, Belle."
"Yeah, see ya at dinner." Cherry added as they left the library.
Belle smiled warmly and soon walked off.
"Speaking of Dorothy..." Ruby muttered as she took out her phone and began to text someone.
"Dorothy?" Cathleen asked Cherry.
"Dorothy Gale," Cherry replied. "As in Dorothy Gale from The Wizard of Oz. Ruby's girlfriend."
"Ohh... Okay then..." Cathleen said, nodding in understanding. "I guess that shouldn't surprise me."
"I like to call them RubySlippers sometimes." Cherry then smirked.
Ruby playfully rolled her eyes as she texted her girlfriend. "I'll see if she either wants to help babysit or if we should cancel our Game Night," she then said before smirking. "We play a mean game of Candyland together."
"You play Candyland?" Cathleen asked, raising an eyebrow.
Ruby smirked with a light chuckle as she nodded.
"Come on, Cathleen, let's do some thinking." Cherry said as they walked off together.
"You guys do that," Ruby nodded as she walked off. "I should probably check on Dorothy."
The three women then split up with Cherry and Cathleen going into the park and sitting on the nearby bench as the waves splashed in the background from the beach that wasn't too far from the playground and main town square.
"Now, let's see..." Cherry began as she cracked open The History of Cartoon Network book that they got from the library. "'A very long time ago back on October 1st, 1992, a world called Toonatopia was starting development and scattered many worlds together far away from the real world back on Planet Earth. A tribe of people called The Hanna-Barberas entered the atmosphere into their own section of the world claiming it as their own after being conceived by the great men known as William Hanna and Joseph Barbera. Their tribe dates back to December 1957 with the introduction of The Ruff & Reddy Show'."
"Yeah, yeah, get to the good part," Cathleen said. "Where does it say what happened to Cartoon Network that sent all of the classic characters into Storybrooke City?"
"Just a minute," Cherry told her as she skimmed through the pages. "'In 1992, when the Hanna-Barbera tribe was wearing thin on their customs and traditions, the world decided to have more original visitors into their world and thus created the tribe of What A Cartoon! where original characters would come from and some would be given a chance to deem themselves worthy, branching from Sledgehammer O'Possum, Pizza Boy, Larry & Steve, and more' starting in February 20th, 1995'."
"I remember the What a Cartoon adventure we once had that Drell sent us on," Cathleen remarked. "We met all of them and helped them get their happy endings."
"Yes, I remember that too," Cherry replied. "'Sadly, not all were successes and the lucky ones were the citizens of Cartoon Network known as Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup Utonium, Dexter: Boy Genius, Johnny Bravo, Cow and Chicken, Courage, Sheep, Robot Jones, and Mike, Lu, and Og," she then decided to read ahead a little bit. "'In May of 2007, there was an alien invasion that started after a group of aliens had witnessed the defeat of The Brocoloids from The Powerpuff Girls with the use of Kraft Cheese to take down the vegetable aliens and the other aliens decided cheese was the most powerful substance in the universe and they had to come down and take some with a select few of agents in disguise to help gain this substance somehow visiting worlds such as the Peach Creek cul-de-sac, Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends, Endsville, Camp Kidney, Acorn Flats, and Charles Darwin Middle School'."
"Aliens?" Cathleen asked.
"Huh... I guess Ruby was right..." Cherry shrugged before she heard her phone go off and she checked it to see a text from Ruby that said: I told ya so! ;P
"Maybe that's what happened..." Cathleen guessed. "Aliens invaded Cartoon Network City... What else does it say?"
Cherry turned the page to find out more only to get distracted.
"Looks like you guys are living up to your promise." Dylan said, appearing from nowhere as he stood with Eve and Henry.
"You're gonna become the Toon Saviors." Henry added.
"Kids! What the hell?!" Cherry complained. "...Why aren't you in school?"
"This is more important than our education," Dylan replied. "We told you something had changed in our world."
"Yeah, well, we're reading about it right now," Cherry reminded. "You guys had alien invaders apparently."
"Yeah, starting in May 4th, 2007," Dylan memorized. "Those aliens were trying to take everybody's cheese."
"So we've heard..." Cathleen rolled her eyes. "Aliens are weird."
"Believe me, I know." Cherry mumbled in deadpan.
"So, are you gonna do more work tonight?" Henry asked.
"I guess we'll have to see," Cathleen shrugged. "Apparently Cherry has a dinner date tonight and I have to babysit that Aurelia kid."
"Hey, you wanted to hang out with Ruby and she usually babysits for everybody," Cherry defended. "But yes... It might be time to take a break... I need time to process all of this... Weird Cartoon Network history stuff."
"I guess that's fair, but don't take too long," Dylan replied. "The one responsible could be right under our noses."
The others in the park simply nodded to that. Someone came out from the dark alley, looking right at them and narrowing their eyes mysteriously. This new mystery was only the beginning of a brand new adventure.
