Everyone then fell asleep as Lil put her soccer ball away for right now so that she could start fresh in the morning. Unfortunately, the group found themselves beset by a swarm of mosquitoes, which killed any plans for sleeping that night. They soon got up and decided to go sleep in the RV, it might've been a terrible vehicle for a vacation, but at least it wasn't outside. By the time they woke up the next morning, Kimi's new dog had torn through half the contents of the RV, including LJ's sketchbook.
"Oh..." Akito started.
"My..." Estelle added.
"Gosh!" The Fudo twins concluded in unison.
Pumpkin soon jumped up, grabbing Phil's backpack to chew on next.
"No!" LJ wailed, dropping to his knees and screaming up to the sky. "No...no...NOOOOOOOOOO!"
Kimberly and Chrissy frowned as they came beside LJ out of comfort since his best work had nearly been destroyed.
"Hey, it's fine, we can just get you a new book." Sara shrugged.
"You can replace the book..." LJ sobbed. "But ye cannae replace the artistic genius captured within its pages."
"LJ, I'm so sorry." Kimberly frowned.
"Hmm..." Akito paused before smiling in thought. "Hmm!"
Chrissy patted LJ on the back as Akito came over.
"Maybe some Wiccan magic can help." Akito smiled to LJ.
"You really think so?" LJ asked curiously.
"It couldn't hurt... Now, let me see..." Akito said as he took out his spell book, flipping through the pages.
LJ glanced on, looking desperate.
"Aha!" Akito smiled as he found the spell. "Let me see your book."
LJ soon handed over his sketchbook.
Akito looked at the spell and soon took out his official wand from school due to graduating from his own Magic Class with Felicity, Estelle, and Vincent. "'Libraria Reparo'." he then said before using his wand and fixed the sketchbook and it was good as new while also looking like how it used to before the dog got to it.
"Saaaaay...awesome!" LJ exclaimed, giving Akito a bear-hug.
"What're friends/cousins for?" Akito smiled, hugging LJ back.
"Aww... So sweet." Mo smiled to her younger son's generosity.
LJ patted Akito on the back as he finished hugging him. Akito smiled before looking to Pumpkin, shaking his head at the dog slightly. Kira had a firm look on her face as if she knew her daughter had something to do with this. Kimi smiled and chuckled nervously.
"I don't speak parent, but I believe that's code-word for busted." David noted.
A lot of the others agreed to that as it seemed like Pumpkin wasn't going to stay with them for much longer. Akito and Estelle soon helped tidy up the mess that Pumpkin left behind before they could go back on the road.
"Kimi, I'm sorry, but you can't keep him." Kira told her daughter.
"Yeah. He's a troublemaker, and I doubt Aki can do the same spell again." LJ added.
"I probably could, but... I'm sorry, Kimi," Akito replied. "Besides, you can probably hang out with Fifi or her and Spike's puppies?"
"I guess..." Kimi smiled bashfully.
"Alright, let's ditch Fido here and get some eats." David replied.
They soon made Pumpkin go outside as they went to get something to eat before going back on the road.
"Because of this morning's...dog incident," Didi explained, putting out a road map. "we're a little off-schedule, so I mapped out a tour of the most amazing natural wonders you'll ever see."
"You'll have exactly six minutes at each site or we're takin' off without ya!" Betty called back to the kids.
"Hmm... Fair enough... Looks good, Mrs. Pickles." Kimberly said as she looked at the map with the others.
And so, they went to six natural sites before they arrived at this bridge.
"Well...that was more tolerable than I thought..." LJ noted.
"Not bad, I have to admit." Zofia agreed with her brother.
"Ooh, la, la~" Raul smirked as he saw a cute redhead at the end of the bridge.
However, it seemed like Chuckie had beat him to the punch.
"Chuckie!" Raul glared.
"Shh~" Jenny said, holding him back, trying to calm him down.
"Hi, my name's Chuckie, I'm traveling across the-" Chuckie smirked as he sat on the bridge to flirt with the redhead.
"'Ello, mate!" The redhead smiled and waved, sounding like an older woman or a drag queen.
Chuckie yelped in surprise and fell off the bridge.
"Hey, consider this bullet dodged, cous." Martin remarked.
"Thanks, guys." Raul said on relief.
"Hey, no problem, we take care of ya." Jenny smiled.
Chuckie soon climbed out of the water before his friends rushed over to help him out.
"Whoof," Tommy cringed. "Could this trip get any worse?"
"Aaaaand...jinxed." LJ sighed.
"Look at what we found at the gift shop!" Betty called as she and Charlotte wore hats and they soon put the same hats on their kids. "Matching hats!"
"Doesn't this just scream tourist in a kind of tacky, yet trendy kind of way?" Charlotte smiled as she also wore one.
"Oh, it's a scream alright." Mo smirked.
"It screams something, but I can't say what in front of small children." LJ remarked as they snapped the picture.
"Oh, yeah," Chuckie groaned. "This'll really help me with the ladies."
They soon took more and more pictures all the way through the trip to exotic landmarks.
"Ah, the Grand Canyon," Didi smiled at the sight. "You know, Tommy, it takes 4,000,000,000 years for Mother Nature to make a rock tower like that."
"And you're gonna stand here and make me watch her, are ya?" Tommy asked dryly.
Lil kept on bouncing her soccer ball as Kimi tried to keep Pumpkin from causing more trouble. Pumpkin soon began to tackle Phil, trying to get his backpack again.
"Stop!" Vincent cried out. "Uh, heel! Sit! Ugh... I am not a dog person..."
Pumpkin growled as he kept trying to get Phil's backpack as Mo came up behind the dog.
"Mom! Help!" Vincent cried out in misfortune.
Pumpkin barked a bit aggressively which seemed to frustrate Vincent.
"Hey, whoa!" Mo called out in a sharp tone.
Pumpkin soon quieted down and stopped doing what he was doing.
"Well, at least he didn't bite Phil in the butt..." LJ shrugged.
Pumpkin looked over.
"Don't even. Think. About it." Mo told the dog.
Pumpkin then whined and sat down on the ground.
Phil had accidentally knocked down Tommy and then picked up his video camera and looked into the lens. "Whoa, I love this movie!"
Didi looked over. "Movie?" she asked.
"Didi, I thought the kids weren't supposed to zone out on this trip." Lucy said to the woman.
"Tommy!" Didi called firmly.
"Uh... Speaking of Moms..." Zofia smiled nervously and soon dialed a number and held out her phone to LJ so they could talk with their own mother as she didn't like where this was going.
"Good idea..." LJ remarked.
Zofia grinned eagerly as the phone began to ring.
Cherry soon came on after a while.
"Mother... Hello..." Zofia smiled. "How's it going down there?"
"Your father is helping Wednesday and Pugsley with a prank on a snooty new couple who moved down the street," Cherry replied. "They remind me of a demented version of The Brady Bunch."
"Heh, classic Dad," LJ chuckled. "So, what are these happy sunshine-y weirdos like?"
"You kids doing okay?" Cherry asked with a small smile.
"Yeah, even though the trip is kinda lame," LJ replied. "But Aunt Mo is awesome! We went to Vegas!"
"Oh, Mother, it was fabulous!" Zofia added. "So many exotic sights and sounds!"
"Ah, Las Vegas..." Cherry sighed with a small smile. "I've had plenty of nice adventures down there."
"Seriously? Awesome!" LJ exclaimed. "You and Dad must've had some crazy times there!"
"Yeah..." Cherry said before smiling bashfully. "Especially with meeting a couple of magicians I've been dying to meet for the longest time until your father talked them into playing a card game and playing a trading game with Spider-Man and Deadpool..."
LJ smirked. "That must've been fun!" he remarked. "Definitely more than all the lame tourist spots we've been going to..."
"Well, I'm sorry if it's a bust..." Cherry rolled her eyes. "I thought Mrs. DeVille of all people would show you guys exciting stuff. She seems like she'd be a Wild Hog."
"Heh, maybe..." LJ shrugged. "We'll talk to you and Dad later."
"You kids try to make the most of it," Cherry said. "We'll talk later."
"Okay, bye." Zofia said softly.
"Bye, Mom." LJ replied as they hung up.
Cherry waved before hanging up on them. Zofia gave a small sigh.
"Nice to know Mom and Dad are okay..." LJ replied as they turned back to face the others.
"Yeah..." Zofia said softly. "It's good for them to have some alone time together anyway."
The two teens turned back to face the group. It seemed like all of the moms were getting into arguments now.
"Ex-CUSE me, but have we forgotten what this trip is FOR?" Susie asked.
"To make you even more insufferably perfect than you already are?" Angelica deadpanned.
"And to promote the good work of America's hardworking cheese producers." Susie then reminded with a smile, letting Angelica's comment slide.
"And it was about us moms getting closer to you guys." Didi added in with a smile.
"Well, I'm sick of getting close!" Tommy glared. "I'm sick of being told what to do! And I'm sick of having a mom!"
Gaz's eyes widened before she glared towards him. "At least you HAVE a mom!"
Everyone gasped at that. Kimberly and Sara decided to back off slowly, choosing not to get involved in this, and I can't say I blame them.
Didi looked broken, but tried not to let that bother her. "Maybe we should get going?"
"Mrs. Pickles... I'm so sorry..." Gaz said which was a bit shocking.
Dib looked surprised to see his sister apologizing.
"I just wanted to come on this trip because I thought of being around you moms wouldn't make me feel so bad about not having one!" Gaz cried as she began to show other emotions than bitterness. "I've always wanted to have a mom, but I can't remember what it was like! It was just me, Dib, and Dad, and Dad's barely even around!"
Dib wasn't used to seeing Gaz so emotionally vulnerable, but he hugged her nevertheless. Gaz looked up to her brother before hugging him back with tears in her eyes.
"Oh, it's all right, Gaz, I'm sure Tommy just needs to blow off some steam." Didi said before chucking a pebble behind her back which made the Grand Canyon crumble and fall on their way out.
Later that night, the kids were gathered around a campfire, but nobody was talking and David and Theo were roasting marshmallows and hot dogs.
"Ah... Camping... Ya gotta love it or hate it." Jenny said.
"I'm split down the middle sometimes." Sara commented.
"What you said to Mom about not needing her, T? Harsh." Dill stated.
"Yeah, well, wait 'til you're older..." Tommy scoffed as he stared into the fire. "You'll understand."
"I've gotten mad at my old man before, but that was just cold." Akito said to Tommy.
"Cold? More like brutal," LJ replied. "I've never been that pissed at my parents."
"Hey, you guys coming to see the Curtain of Tears tonight?" A boy's voice asked as he soon came out to see them. "I'm trying to catch a ride."
"Curtain of Tears?" Kimi replied with a smile. "What's that?"
"Oh, man, you've never heard of it?" The boy replied.
The group then shook their heads at him.
"The story is, this Indian Princess, Soyiani ditched out some bogus dude her dad wanted her to marry," The boy began to explain. "So her tribe left him behind to starve to death on the Red Rocks, not too far from here."
"Whoa, talk about harsh." Dill remarked.
"They say she cried so many tears that a geyser was made on that spot," The strange boy continued, telling them the story. "Every year at this night, it blows and you can see the princess rise in the mist. You can hear her screams echoing in the rocks."
The group felt surprised and entranced by the story. The boy soon walked off, a bit mysteriously after telling them what he knew.
"Well...that's sufficiently creepy." LJ noted.
"I'm not sure if I like it, but I'm definitely intrigued." Zofia said to her brother.
"Guys, did you hear that?" Dil smiled in excitement. "An genuine Appreciation Site with water feature!"
"Finally, something we wanna do!" Tommy beamed.
"Our moms aren't gonna let us go out in the desert at midnight." Lil stated.
"Oh, yeah" Phil agreed. "We might 'touch' something."
"We can always sneak out after they've gone to sleep." Tommy suggested with a smile.
"Sneak out?" Theo frowned. "I don't know if I could ever do that. Timmy does that all the time whenever Grandpa comes over."
"And from what I've seen, your brother isn't exactly the most squeaky clean, reputation-wise." LJ added.
"You have no idea," Theo said. "I also hope Mom's okay... She's had to go to the doctor a log and she's really tired a lot more."
"I'd say raising five boys is a challenge enough." Estelle commented before eating a veggie dog.
"True that." LJ replied.
"Guys, we gotta go." Kimi said.
"Uh, go where?" David asked.
"To see a real live dead Indian princess," Kimi smiled. "Out in the desert!"
"Sounds epic, but I dunno if it's such a good idea," Susie replied. "I gotta sing in New York in four days and I don't even have my song down yet!"
"Yeah, and what if the van and RV take off, leaving us behind?" asked David.
"Usually we only drive Mom's car in emergencies." Vincent replied.
"Huh..." David replied. "Still, if they don't know where we are, they might leave us behind."
"Yeah, you can never tell with parents," Akito said before smirking. "I drive though."
"Fair enough." Estelle playfully rolled her eyes.
"Well, maybe Susie's right..." Tommy sighed. "We don't even know how to get there."
"Kids?" Didi called.
The group turned to face their mothers.
"We want to apologize." Lucy said.
"We haven't been listening to what you guys wanna do." Didi added.
"So tonight, we're going to a real southwestern fiesta!" Betty beamed.
"Okay...that doesn't sound too bad," LJ replied. "We might even be able to score some decent eats there."
"Let's go check it out then." Theo gave a small smile.
There was a Mariachi band with dancers with loud and happy music playing. Kira wanted to get in on it, but Kimi held down her mother and urged her to not go with them. Two dancers then jumped down and encouraged audience participation. The others then smiled and joined the band on stage and danced with them.
"Shake your groove thing, Shake your groove thing, baby~" Mo sang to herself as she danced.
"Okay...it's not THAT bad, right?" LJ asked curiously.
"I don't think it is," Estelle said. "Sure it was embarrassing when Mom helped out at one dance and Tammi Sparks made fun of her, but I didn't mind. It was just nice to see Mom having fun."
"It can't be worse than when Star Butterfly messes around with Marco Diaz." Vincent smiled softly.
"Oh, that's it, we have to get away from our moms." Tommy said to the others.
"I don't see why," Gaz shrugged as she ate several plates worth of cheesy enchiladas. "They're just having fun."
"You just don't understand, Gaz." Tommy told her.
"...No... I guess I don't." Gaz replied with a sharp sigh.
Dib rolled his eyes at that. Raul seemed to enjoy a bit of the dancing and smirked to some of the girls who were there. Martin and Jenny rolled their eyes at that.
"You... Look familiar..." A brown-haired girl said to Raul.
"...Yeah... You do too..." Raul said to her. "You look like that girl that came to Día de Muertos that my parents hosted one time..."
The two seemed to look to each other as they had some sort of connection with each other. The two shrugged at that.
"Why don't you two start over?" Theo suggested.
"All right," Raul smirked. "My name is Raul Manuel Joshua Wendell Rivera."
"Hola, soy Dora Márquez," The brown-haired girl replied. "I live in the city of Playa Verde."
"Dora...?" Martin blinked. "Oh...I remember. She had the whole 'explorer' thing going for a good while..."
"Heh... Yeah..." Dora replied. "That was a long time ago."
"You were also there when we were told about The Book of Life..." Raul remembered now. "Gosh, were you a loud kid."
"Yeah, but I mellowed out over time." Dora replied casually.
"Um... It's good to see you again..." Raul smiled sheepishly. "You liking the city?"
"It's nice, yes," Dora smiled back softly. "I sometimes miss my old friends, but I have some cool new friends in the city."
"That's good to hear." Raul replied.
"Haven't seen you in a while..." Dora said. "Um... I guess I better get going now."
"Uh, no, no, you can stay," Raul said bashfully. "I mean... Hang out with us a while."
"Oh. Well...okay." Dora replied after brief hesitancy.
"I mean... Only if you want to..." Raul bit his lip. "Or if you're busy..."
"What's this? Raul is at a loss for words over a girl?" Zofia whispered to herself.
"Looks like he has a crush!" LJ replied.
Raul gave a bashful smile to Dora as they began to bond with each other.
"Maybe we don't need to sneak out..." LJ remarked.