"Did you have to kill the fox?" Cherry asked Cathleen in disbelief as they wandered away from Jellystone Park while Harley and Hard Luck got some sleep for the night.
"Hey, would you rather I let him live and he keeps going after that cute little duckling?" Cathleen retorted.
"I would just rather you didn't solve your problems with violence and freak out about finding an animal cute." Cherry rolled her eyes.
"You think bats are cute and I think wolf cubs are cute, why would I find a cute and fuzzy animal cute like your pony friend Shutterfly?" Cathleen defended.
"Fluttershy." Cherry corrected.
"Whatever." Cathleen replied.
Cherry sighed sharply and shook her head as they continued onward to the next spot in the cartoon storybook she was given.
"So, what's our next big mission?" Cathleen asked.
"Well, I guess if you're at least gonna try to help, we're looking for a poodle in Rome." Cherry explained.
"How oddly specific." Cathleen commented.
"Yeah, it's like when you start a conversation by eating a piece of raw, bloody meat right in front of me just to show you can." Cherry replied in a snarky voice.
"I'm a meatarian, I only eat meat." Cathleen reminded Cherry.
"Because that's so relevant to what I just said." Cherry deadpanned.
Cathleen pulled a bit of a face until the two girls suddenly came to a stop. "Say, what's this?" she then wondered.
"Well, it appears to be a sign," Cherry stated bluntly before smirking as Cathleen gave her a look for that before she glanced at the sign again to see what it was all about seeing a pair of poodles, one who had a harp and another who appeared to have a microphone. "'Tonight only! Shake and Georgette'."
"Shake and Georgette?" Cathleen wondered before she beamed. "Oh! I know! Shake is that poodle who gets tortured by a flea named Flick! I guess Georgette is his sister or something." she then explained to Cherry.
"Yeah, okay," Cherry shrugged. "Well, we better go see them and see what's up."
"Great! I love a new adventure." Cathleen grinned.
Cherry rolled her eyes before she and Cathleen went to go into the city of what looked like Ancient Rome to see the poodle siblings and soon found a colliseum.
Meanwhile, the abforementioned poodles were in a dressing room, reading a magazine together called Modern Rome while getting their fur dried under hooded dryers.
"Georgette and Shake? You're on." A stage hand told them, coming into the dressing room before leaving.
"Well, Shake, this is it," Georgette told her brother. "Our big moment."
"Break two legs, Sis." Shake beamed.
"You too, my dear brotehr," Georgette sighed before she sighed dreamily and took out a framed photograph of what looked like a charming and debonair version of Scooby-Doo. "Oh, Rex, if only you were here to see my big moment~" she then swooned before smooching the photograph on the cheeks, French style.
Shake nodded before he twitched a little bit, moving the hooded dryers from his and his sister's heads, showing his puffball fur and her hair that looked like human hair and even had a pink ribbon. The two poodle siblings came on stage and soon applauded them as they tried to keep under the spotlight before they in front of a microphone and a chaise couch that had the harp on it.
"Well, there's Shake and Georgette." Cathleen whispered to Cherry from the audience.
"So I see," Cherry replied. "I'm just not sure how much we can help here honestly."
"Well, I dunno about you, but I'd like to squash a flea so he doesn't ruin anything for Shake and Georgette." Cathleen suggested.
"Whatever." Cherry shrugged, not sure how to respond to that.
Georgette and Shake soon took their positions by her microphone and his chaise as piano music played for them. Georgette began to sing a song she called "Perfect Isn't Easy" as her brother Shake strummed his harp strings. Soon, a flea hopped over behind Shake and then jumped into his fur while Georgette sang perfectly to the piano music so far. Cathleen snarled as her eyes turned into red slits as she could tell that they had to stop the flea somehow.
"I'm gonna get some air." Cherry told Cathleen suddenly.
"Huh? Well, okay." Cathleen shrugged before she kept her eyes set on the flea before they turned into red slits again.
Cherry soon got up and left the arena to sit on a hill and contemplate a bit.
"What was wrong with Cherry?" A young voice suddenly asked, interrupting the story for a moment.
Weasel and the others looked over at Macy who had asked the question.
"I mean, what does this have to do with anything?" Macy asked.
"Well, you see, young Macy, this was around when Cherry was beginning to feel like Cathleen wasn't really much of a friend," Weasel explained. "She never really thought about how important friendship used to be until she went on certain adventures in another universe where friendship is a very vital and useful tool."
Some of the other kids mumbled at how cheesy that sounded.
"Now, now, I know that sounds hokey to you all, but you must learn how important it is to have real friends," Weasel told the children in his group. "Especially with Cherry's quest as The Toon Savior to save our Animation Nation with people she can depend and rely on."
The kids just continued to stare at Weasel blankly in response.
"Anyway, let's continue with the story..." Weasel said as he turned the page. "'And so, young Cherry went out to think and reflect on her life thus far about her adventures'..." he then started to say.
Cherry continued to sit on the hill, lost and deep in thought. "Why does Cathleen have to do everything in the violent and aggressive way?" she then sulked. "I know I can be dark and gloomy once in a while, but even I have standards."
"Penny for your thoughts?" A voice asked before Cherry turned around to see that a certain warlock had come to see her.
"Hey, Drell..." Cherry greeted with a flat tone of voice.
"I thought maybe you would enjoy this kind of adventure," Drell said before he decided to sit down next to her. "What're you looking at anyway?"
"Just staring at the moon and night sky," Cherry explained with a shrug. "I always do that when I need to sit down and think for a minute."
"I see you invited Cathleen along on your adventures lately." Drell then said.
"Yeah, right, I invited her," Cherry snorted. "She mostly invites herself over nowadays."
"Yes, this seems like a good adventure for her, but she decided to destroy that fox just by killing and eating him over a cute little duckling." Drell remarked.
"Ugh..." Cherry grimaced and shuddered.
"What's the matter?" Drell teased. "The girl with vampire powers suddenly afraid of blood?"
"You know I only drink blood if I need to keep my energy up and even then it's from a source I can trust like Lionel or Atticus," Cherry reminded him. "I can't even take Cathleen's blood, it just smells like wet dog to me."
"Yeah, just among the many reasons why vampires and werewolves can't really get along," Drell nodded. "You two tried to break a barrier when you met Selene, but lately it seems like you two are falling out."
"Yeah, I don't wanna admit it, but it's been rough with her recently," Cherry admitted. "Plus she always craves attention, not to mention how she told Atticus he wasn't gonna steal her spotlight with that time we met Rocky and Bullwinkle. I don't even know what's going on with these cartoon characters."
"Well, I didn't wanna tell you this until later, but... a threat known as Dr. X is loose," Drell explained. "I know you all haven't met him, but he's pretty dangerous, even worse than King Sombra."
"How can you be so sure Dr. X will come after us now?" Cherry asked. "He probably doesn't even know we exist."
"We can't risk anything," Drell replied. "I don't wanna endanger your lives in this city much longer. I should've done more research when my Oracle told me about this place."
"Drell, are you scared?" Cherry asked suspiciously.
"A little bit." Drell admitted.
"Well, he can't be worse than those Sanderson sisters you're always talking about," Cherry shrugged a bit. "I'm sure we can handle him and any of his foes he's rounded up with him."
"I sure hope so." Drell nodded, but still sounded unsure.
"So, what's gonna happen when we all meet up?" Cherry asked.
"Probably leave the city." Drell said.
"But we just got here!" Cherry said.
"I don't think you and the others are well trained enough to stay any longer with Dr. X loose..." Drell said. "Not to mention those Shadowpuff Girls."
"I'm sure we got this," Cherry replied. "You know me and Atticus have trained with Superman and Batman plenty of times."
"Yes, but this is different," Drell reminded her. "You're not ready to fight him."
"I know Cath's gonna wanna rebel to you from that." Cherry rolled her eyes.
"Cath needs to learn how to grow up." Drell replied.
"I know," Cherry grumbled. "She's one of my best friends, but she's been a bit of a spoiled brat lately."
But unknown to them, Cathleen had come outside and stopped and overheard them talking and her eyes widened as a tear fell down her face.
"Yeah, I know, I think the same thing too sometimes." Drell said to the perky goth.
"Is that what you think about me?" Cathleen whispered dramatically.
Cherry soon went back to looking through the book.
"Better go see what's going on with the others..." Drell said, going to get his own phone before looking to Cathleen. "Well, look who's here."
"Oh, uh, hey, Cath." Cherry greeted as she looked up too.
"Did you get your air?" Cathleen asked bitterly.
"Uh, let's not worry about that right now," Cherry replied. "So, um, how did Shake and Georgette's show go?"
"It was fine, I killed that flea so he wouldn't steal Shake and Georgette's spotlight," Cathleen explained, sounding angry now. "Spoiled brat, huh? You know, I might be a werewolf, but I have feelings too!" she then added as tears ran down her face.
"Cath, you know we didn't mean it." Cherry said, trying to calm her friend down.
"'Ooh, I wanna be the star of an adventure, Atticus gets to do all of this, I wanna be noticed'." Drell said to Cathleen.
"Well, those are good points, but you don't have to be rude." Cherry said.
"So you think I'm a spoiled brat too?" Cathleen asked Cherry.
Cherry then took out her own phone and went to answer it, though it didn't ring. "Hey, Mom, what's up?"
Cathleen narrowed her eyes at that. "If that's what you think of me, then I'm gonna stay here with some new friends," she then said sternly. "They don't talk about me behind my back." she then added before she ran away crying suddenly.
"Cath, wait!" Cherry cried out, but it was too late.
"Let her go and cool down for a while," Drell told Cherry. "She'll be back."
"For once, I hope you're right," Cherry replied as she seemed a bit concerned about losing one of her friends while she held onto herself before she looked at the ruined arena and found the remains of Flick the Flea. "Why does there have to be murder when someone annoys you?" she then sighed and shook her head before finding the next portal and wondered whether to go in or not to her next task, not liking where this was going.
"Remember, Cherry, it's up to you on what you do on your adventures, especially with what's going on with Dr. X and what he has in store for this Animation Nation," Drell told the perky goth. "I'll let you have a minute to decide what you do next."
"What do you mean?" Cherry asked him. "Like go home and forget all about these adventures or go on without one of my best friends who invited herself on this trip?"
"Yes, it's up to you," Drell nodded. "You can either lose people who say they're your best friends or you can lose the best friends you've made by spending your whole life watching cartoons and wanting adventures like theirs." he then added before he disappeared suddenly.
Cherry watched him go and soon looked torn before bowing her head a bit emotionally. What was she to do now?