Cat picked up his story and said, "Here, Read mine; I think you'll find it a lot better."
Dog chirped, "Okay!"
Dog began reading.
On a cliffside overlooking Nearsburg, there was a house that looked to be part fish and part bone. This house belonged to none other than the conjoined twin brothers Cat and Dog, as well as Winslow, the tiny mouse. Cat was trying to clean up the inside a bit. Dog was munching on flakey chips.
Cat scolded, "Dog, will you stop munching whenever I vacuum? I'm trying to keep the carpet clean!"
The Dog whimpered, "Aw, come on, Cat, I'm hungry now!"
Cat sighed, "Your crumbs will attract unnecessary pests!"
Dog said, "No, it won't. Don't be so silly!"
Cat sighed and continued cleaning. Winslow was sitting on the couch watching this exchange.
Winslow asked, "Do you guys even like being together?"
Cat stopped cleaning and asked, "What do you mean?"
Winslow retorted, "Don't you ever get tired of being attached at the hip?'
"Oh Winslow, it's not so bad," Dog said and then sang, "Attached at the hip!
It's a grand old time!
We're attached at the hip!
Nothing is better!
When you're attached at the hip, you can do everything together."
Cat sang as he put the vacuum away, "It's not like we have much of a choice.
We were born like this.
When we left our frog father and yeti mother.
All we had was each other.
We're attached at the hip!
It's a curse on your life!
We're attached at the hip!
It's not what it's cracked up to be!
We're attached at the hip!
It's great in theory, but in practice, it's a nightmare!
Especially if you have a messy mutt,
Instead of a tail and a butt."
Dog sang, "At least you're not attached to an uptight feline!
I am consistently enforcing the rules despite my boundaries.
Dog and Cat sang, "Attached at the hip!
We only have each other!
We were attached at the hip!
Some days, I wish I didn't have a brother!
We were attached at the hip!
Everywhere we go, I have to tolerate him!"
"Well," Winslow asked, "What if you didn't have to?"
Cat retorted, "What are you talking about?"
Winslow explained, "There's this neat new procedure called a Nickectomy!"
He held up a little pamphlet for Cat to study.
Winslow explained, "Apparently, this guy named Phil figured that all the weird stuff we didn't like our world. As in you two, due to this element called Nickleodeon-ium! If you get rid of it, all our problems will be solved!"
Dog asked, "Are you sure it's safe to remove that stuff?"
Cat said, looking at the pamphlet, "Are you kidding? This could be my ticket to finally making something of myself without you."
Dog whimpered, "I guess there's no talking you out of it."
Winslow said, getting off the couch, "Come on, I'll take you there!"
They came to a rather large building, and Winslow brought them inside to a lobby.
Winslow set the pamphlet on the front desk, and within moments, a trapdoor opened beneath CatDog. They fell into a tube that slid down, then up, then around and round and around. They were shouting the whole time. It then shot them onto a conveyor belt, where they landed on their belly. They had only a moment to calm themselves. Then, they were quickly strapped by the paws to the belt; Dog was sent down the line while the Cat was pinned to the start. Their body started stretching longer and longer. A machine was wheeled in and was aimed right at their now very elongated bodies. A sharp pain started stabbing them right smack dab in the middle of them both. There was an orange goo that started to ooze from their body.
Cat moaned in agony, "What's happening to us?"
Dog replied, "I don't know, I feel so. much. pain!"
Then, all at once, their body snapped in half as the machine took the orange ooze. Dog was now an ordinary dog, and Cat was now just an ordinary Cat.
Dog chirped, "Hey, it worked!"
Cat cheered, "Woo! Finally free!"
Then, they both passed out from pain.
Hours later, Dog woke with a jump; he realized he was on the deck of a cruise ship. He looked around, and he was alone, except for strangers.
Dog sighed, "Oh, I guess it was all just a dream. I'm not really attached to some huffy cat. I'm my own Dog!"
Dog sang a little song to celebrate, "I'm Dog Alone!
At long last, I'm on my own!
It's just me, myself, and I!
Just the way nature intended, I'm just a regular dog guy!
I'm Dog Alone!"
The Cruise Ship set anchor and Dog left to start his travel across the world. He traveled across Holland bicycling the rolling hills of tulips, across China climbing the Great Wall, and across Japan riding an E-scooter while taking in all the neon. Finally, he traveled across Egypt on a camel. All the while, he was shoving his weird dream into the back of his mind and fighting the ever-growing sense that there was something (or rather someone) missing.
Dog was singing the whole time, "I'm Dog Alone!
I don't need anyone else!
At long last, I'm on my own!
I'm a lone wolf! Awoo!
It's just me, myself, and I!
I prefer to be by myself while I have fun!
Just the way nature intended, I'm just a regular dog guy!
Nobody by my side.
I'm Dog Alone!"
He came to the Pyramids and sat down in their shade to finish his song, "I'm Dog Alone!
All alone!
Nobody to travel with me to make sure I'm okay.
It's just me, Myself and me.
Is this what it's like to be free?
It's so lonely."
Dog whimpered sadly as the sun set on the days. Dog fell asleep right at the foot of the smallest pyramid, his heart aching. That night, as Dog slept, the pyramid made a green ooze that squirted right onto Dog's sleeping form in a burst of snot-like goo. Dog woke with a jump at the sound. He was first a little disgusted at the sight, but then he felt a sort of comforting presence fill him. The ooze sank into his body, weirdly relaxing him again, and he was able to fall back to sleep.
The ooze bound itself to Dog's being; the slime slunk its way up into Dog's mind. So, Dog may have a significant dream.
The message was simple, "Go home, your brother needs you."
Dog woke up the following day feeling rejuvenated and with a new sense of purpose. He took the first plane he could to Nearsburg.
Dog declared on the plane, "I will find my brother, whoever that is."
He landed in Nearsburg and was a bit disoriented.
Dog said, "Wow, this place sure feels different after my travels."
Dog then spotted a television with a commercial on.
"Hey you," A familiar voice chirped said, "Are you searching for a missing person? Trying to find out the future? Or do you want to contact a dead relative from beyond the veil? Well, look no further!"
A Cat person with cool shades appeared after a puff of pink smoke.
The being sang, "I'm Cat the Clairvoyant!
Pyscic extraordinare!
I can help you find what you're looking for!
Do you have problems?
I can help with that.
Because I'm the Clairvoyant Cat!"
Cat explained, "I'll be performing my miracles live at the outdoor theater. Be there, and I will help you!"
Dog said, "Hey, I bet he can help me find my brother."
Dog rushed off to the outdoor theater. He paid the fee for admission. He was among a long line of others who came to see Cat the Clairvoyant.
Cat was practically speed running helping everyone who came to him for his advice. Then he came to Dog.
Cat asked, "So what bringings you to me?"
Dog began, "Well, I,"
Cat interrupted, "Wait, don't tell me; let me use my superior Psychic powers."
Cat waved a hand over Dog. Dog felt the slime now inside him twitch anxiously, causing Dog himself to shake a bit.
Cat's jaw dropped, and he slowly removed his sunglasses.
Cat asked, concerned, "You're looking for your brother too?"
"Yep," Dog said and then asked, "Wait a minute, who else is looking for their brother?"
Cat countered, "Would you believe it if I said me?"
Dog said, "Oh, I see."
Cat and Dog said at the same time, realization dawning on both of them, "You don't think we could be looking for each other?"
Cat said, "I have a lot I need to do, but I'm almost done. Do you want to grab some tacos later?"
Dog replied, "I'd like that."
At the Taco Shack, the two of them sat at a table to eat.
"So let me get this straight," Cat said, then asked, "Some green slime splashed on you, and that's why you came looking for me?"
Dog said, "Well, yeah! I was feeling so lonely just traveling alone. I guess it wanted to see us together again."
Cat asked, "Do you remember how we got separated?"
Dog shook his head.
Cat said, "Weird, Neither do I."
Dog put lots of hot sauce on his taco and ate it. Suddenly, Cat spewed out a fire. Cat quickly looked under the table. His tail, hind legs, and butt were still there.
He came back up and said, "Dog, this is going to sound crazy. But I tasted the spice from your taco!"
Dog asked, "Have our bodies reconnected?"
Cat said, "Well, no. But I think if we spend enough time together. They just might!"
Dog asked excitedly, "Really? Oh boy!"
His tail wagged out of control.
Cat said, "Glad I could help!"
He put his shades on and said, "Come on, let's have some fun together!"
"Wait," Dog asked, "Don't you want to finish lunch?"
Cat said, "And endure more of that spice? I don't think so."
Cat crossed his arms, and Dog sighed, "I think I'm starting to remember why we separated."
Cat said, "Yeah, We're better off without each other."
Cat left the Taco Shack and began singing as he went across town, "Oh, brother.
We are just too different!
Oh brother, We just keep getting in each other's way.
Try as we might,
we always get into a fight.
Oh, brother!"
Dog finished his meal and left the Taco shack in the other direction, singing, "Oh, brother!
I wish I knew,
Why, my heart still longs for you?
Oh, brother!
I wish I knew
Why do I feel so lonely without you?
Oh, brother!
Can't you hold me one last time before I go away again?"
Cat sang his reply, "Oh, brother!
To reconnect with you will be a terrible fate!
It wouldn't end too great!
All you ever did was ignore me, and that's what I hated!
Let's stay like this. Finally, we are liberated!"
Dog sang, "Oh brother!
I wish you knew,
How much I love you.
Oh, brother!
I wish you knew,
How much I need you by my side.
Oh, brother!"
Cat came to his dressing room and sang angrily, "Oh, brother!
I built myself an empire!
I don't intend to sacrifice anything for you!
Oh, brother!
I've got my own life now!
I don't need some dirty dog to hold me down!
To hold me back!
To hold me.
Oh, brother."
Dog sang as he curled up on a newspaper in an alleyway, "Oh, brother."
They sang together, "Oh brother, how I've missed you."
Cat looked at himself in the mirror and sighed to himself, "I'm surrounded by fans, but I don't have a single friend. Every likes Cat, the Clairvoyant, but nobody loves me."
Cat lifted his sunglasses, and off the dresser, he stared at them. His own lonely, tired eyes stared back at him as he contemplated what to do next.
A familiar voice Called, "Cat! Cat!"
Cat perked up and turned to the voice, "Dog?"
His ears drooped when he realized it wasn't Dog. It was little old Winslow.
Cat grumbled, "Oh, hello, Winslow."
Winslow said breathlessly, "Cat, there you are! I've been looking all over Nearsburg for you!"
Cat asked, "Me, Why?"
Winslow said a bit sorrowfully, "I realized I had made a grave mistake. I've come to apologize."
"Apologize," Cat asked, "Whatever for?"
Winslow admitted, "Getting you and Dog separated."
Cat smashed his sunglasses on the dresser, stood up, grabbed Winslow off the ground, and snarled, "That. Was. You?"
Winslow said, "I'm sorry Cat, but I know how to fix it!"
"Really," Cat asked, "How?"
Winslow answered, "You just have to hug Dog, Grenvengo will do the rest!"
Cat asked, "And you know this, how?"
Winslow replied, "They told me!"
Cat dropped Winslow and rushed off the find Dog. Dog was whimpering as he sat on his little paper bed. Cat rushed to him and gave him a big bear hug.
Cat said sobbing, "Dog, I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to make you feel so low."
Dog replied, hugging back, "No, I'm sorry, Cat. None of this would have happened if I had just listened to you from the start!"
As they hugged, Green slime ozzed out of Dog's arms onto Cat. And in a waft of green glowing, the two became conjoined twins once more.
Cat sang "Attached at the hip!
It's a grand old time!"
Dog sang in turn, "We're attached at the hip!
Nothing is better!"
They sang in harmony, "When you're attached at the hip, you can do everything together!
I wouldn't have it any other way!"
Dog sang, 'You keep me safe from the danger."
Cat sang, you are my sunshine on a rainy day!"
They sang together as they headed back to their house, "We're attached at hip!
Brothers forever!"
The End
Dog finished reading and said, "I didn't know you liked musicals, Cat."
Cat said, "It's the highest form of art!"
Dog said, "Well, it's kind of sappy."
Dog handed Cat back the story and picked his own story.
Cat snapped, "It's better than your mess of Fantasy and Sci-Fi."
Dog said, "Did you notice we both incorporated some kind of slime deity?"
Cat said, "Don't over think it."