User blog:InklingBear/Life of Pets - Fame & Watch

Story #20 - Fame & Watch
 10:45am

It's a somewhat windy day down in the nice, warm neighborhood of Royal Woods with absolutely no chance of any clouds storming in. It was only a humid day as Lincoln came outside with a camcorder and a couple of his Ace Savvy comics before he approached Charles' doghouse.

Charles heard the child approach him as he emerged from his doghouse to stare at the kid. Soon after, he sat still as he wagged his tail. Curiosity quickly overcame the animal as he wondered what the nine year old titular character was doing. Lincoln set a camcorder down on top of his few Ace Savvy comics before he switched the power on. A second passed before a small red light came flashing towards the baffled dog. He stared deep into the lens as Lincoln filmed each and every second of him.

"Look how big he is," Lincoln said. "C'mon Charles, why don't you do that trick for me?"

The dog stood there as he ignored the boy's task. He tilted his head as if he didn't understand the kid. Lincoln grew a little impatient. He didn't have the time to constantly repeat himself to get Charles to do something for the camera.

Lana walked up to the two as she wondered what they were doing together. "Whatcha doin'?" she asked.

Lincoln sighed. "What does it look like I'm doing, Lana?" he bluntly answered. "I'm trying to get Charles to do that trick I taught him just a few days ago."

"Like, that trick where ya get him to lick peanut butter off of anywhere you put it on?" she sincerely wondered.

"What? No, the new trick!" Lincoln corrected as Charles panted. "It took me hours just to get him to do it aside from pooping in the house and I want to make this a long lasting memory for Mom and Dad!"

Lana lightened up. It seemed like a potential idea to her in the least. "Oh, okay then."

Lincoln returned to videotaping a stationary Charles. The animal still wouldn't budge an inch from where he rested. To the nine year old child, either the dog was confused on what the kid was saying, or he was seriously that incompetent.

Lincoln was desperate. "Charles, please?" he kindly asked.

Curiosity filled the tomboy. "What do you think he's gonna do?" Lana asked.

"Trust me when I say, you've got to see it to believe it!" Lincoln confidently answered his younger sister. "C'mon Charles!"

"You can do it!" Lana added.

The kids praised the dog on for a shot bit of time as Charles stared on in confusion. Some time soon after, the dog walked towards the boy before he stuck his nose directly on the camera lens as he frantically sniffed about. Lincoln was confused as to what the pup was doing as he made a daring attempt to scold him.

"No, Charles!" Lincoln exclaimed. "Stop doing that!"

"You're gonna mess up the lens, boy!" Lana quickly added.

Charles inhaled deeply as he continued to gather in tons of fumes of the outside world. In his own little mind, he could be picking up something that may be more important than what the kids wanted him to do. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case at all. Charles just wanted to sniff the camera thanks to his curiosity.

Lincoln continued to tell him off. "Charles, stop!" he commanded before Charles finally managed to heed the boy's words. He backed off without having to hesitate. "Better!"

The boy lightened up. "Mom and Dad, I think you're gonna love this!" he said as he smiled.

A second later, Charles was the one growing impatient. He gave off a irritated expression before he snatched the camcorder from the boy's hands with his mouth and ran about in the backyard as the camcorder still filmed every frame, much to Lincoln and Lana's unexpected shock.

Lincoln let out a yelp before he chased after the dog, worrying that he would damage it. "Charles, no!" he yelled. "Get back here!"

"Charles, c'mere boy!" Lana added as he followed Lincoln soon after.

Geo and Walt were at the computer desk in the living room as they snickered and laughed at the video they observed.

"Dog's such a classic." Geo said.

"I'll say." Walt agreed. "As much as I really don't want to admit, he might have a short attention span but he sure knows how to provide some entertainment."

Without warning, Charles and Cliff came from behind as the latter held the camcorder. Curiosity filled them both as they observed their activity.

"Hey you!" Charles uttered as it grabbed the hamster and the bird's attention before the latter quickly pecked the power button as it shut the screen off. "Whatcha doin'?"

"Oh nothing," Geo said. "Just watching a little something."

"It ain't nothin' weird ain't it?" Cliff asked.

Walt rolled his eyes. "No. Whatever made you assume that?"

Cliff shrugged. "Oh I dunno, ya seemed ta turn the computer off the second we got here."

"Yer hidin' somethin' aren't cha?" Charles asked with a light scowl.

"We're not hiding anything!" Geo reacted.

Those four words influenced the dog to squint his eyes. He figured they might be up to something. "Den youse two step aside." he bitterly requested.

Without even having to hesitate for a second, Walt and Geo slowly gave the computer some distance. Charles hopped up on the chair that sat in front of the computer and flicked the computer screen back on. It flashed the same video that the hamster and the bird were watching a few seconds ago. He soon lightened up as he saw himself staring right into the camera. To him, it was like looking directly into a mirror.

"Wowzers," Charles reacted as the bird gave a confused look. "I think I remember this!"

"Who still says that?" Walt whispered.

"Lotsa people, bird." Cliff answered.

"This is the video where I snatched dat camera away from my boy, ain't it?" Charles asked. The video showed him doing just that a split second later. Clearly, he was inevitably correct. He smiled as he wagged his tail. "It is!"

Charles' curiosity ensued about another video stored onto the computer. He scanned around the screen as he attempted to look for it. "Ooh, what about dat prank I took part in?" the dog said. "It's gotta be somewhere in here."

Walt and Geo looked confused for a second. The dog managed to find the video clip, putting a smile on his face as he double-clicked on it. "Aha! Found it!"

Lana and Luan were just outside Lincoln's bedroom door as they discussed about a prank they just pulled on the middle child.

"You drenched Lincoln's underwear in bacon grease?" Lana asked with concern while Luan smiled and nodded. "That is so wrong. Funny, but wrong."

"At least it'll teach him a lesson not to strip down to his underwear at night!" Luan laughed as Lana sighed. "To complete this little prank I have, all we need now is Charles!"

A couple minutes later, Luan was at the boy's door as she prepared to open it while Lana grabbed hold of a panting Charles. The dog was smelling some bacon, he could barely wait to dig deep into that breakfast meat. His hopes skyrocketed as he happily wagged his tail and omitted some soft whines.

"Release the hound!" Luan whispered as she opened the door. Lana took her hands off of Charles on command as the animal came rushing in Lincoln's room. The boy didn't know it, but his butt was about to become Charles' next meal.


 * CHOMP*

"Yaaaah!" Lincoln exclaimed in pain as he quickly exited his room with a small tear on the backside of his underwear. He was being chased down by the savage white dog. He still wasn't done with him in the slightest. Luan was too busy laughing her mind off from the prank she had to pull on her little brother. Lana smirked as she would soon be overcome with some snickers.

The video clip ended with Lincoln still being chased around by an enthusiastic Charles.

The dog smiled as he let out a little chuckle. "Ah, good times." Charles said. "Ain't dat right, cat?"

"Yep, I remember dat like it was a day ago." Cliff added. He let out a small gasp as that sentence of his reminded him of something. "Speakin' of a day ago, ya gotta check out somethin' I saw."

The cat jumped up on the chair next to Charles as he typed away on the keyboard. As usual, curiosity filled the rest of the pets, but not before sharing a glance towards each other.

"What is it, cat?" Charles asked.

"You'll see in a second dere, pal." Cliff answered with a smile. "It's called 'Slappy Cat' and I'm pretty sure it'll getcha laughin' for sure." He pulled up a site that contained several recent pet videos uploaded onto a site titled Mewtube. Not long after, he clicked on the one that he had on his feline mind. It was loading for a few seconds as Geo spotted something regarding the website.

"Mewtube?" Geo said. "Where have I heard that before?"

The video finally loaded up on the computer. The four pets sat back as they all observed a cat glaring menacingly at her ruthless owner.

She read the man's lips as her tranquil fury continued to build. The owner, Mr. Delite, had a thing or two to say about his troublesome pet.

"So, I've decided to get rid of this little beast that's been getting on my nerves for the past two months." the man said. "She's completely ungrateful, unremorseful, tearing up my entire household, she makes my life an eternal-"


 * SLAP*

The cat hissed as she delivered her sense into the man in question. Mr. Delite was speechless. Getting slapped by his own pet would be the last thing he thought the feline would do. He let out a bloodcurdling scream as if this was some sort of nightmare.

The pets were trying their absolute best to hold in that laughter of theirs. After witnessing something this unexpected, they couldn't seem to hold it in for another second. It was unanimously funny for them as if it was a good stand up comedy.

"Pure gold, eh guys?" Cliff said.

"That terrible man had it comin', ta be honest with youse." Charles said with a smile.

"Nice." Walt smirked.

"What you said, bird." Geo added.

Charles took a look at the video information on the page for a good second or two. The moment he laid his canine eyes upon the number of views it received, the dog was nonplussed.

"Whoa!" he exclaimed. "It's over a hundred thousand hits already?"

"Yep, baskin' in all dat glory dere dog." Cliff said. "It'd be nice if dat were ta happen ta us."

Suddenly, a potential thought had occurred in the mind of the white family dog. "That's it!" Charles exclaimed. "I've gots an idear."

Cliff had a feeling he knew where the dog was going when he uttered those words. "We're gonna get some fame?"

"That's exactly what I'm talkin' about, cat!" Charles answered in a snap.

Walt intervened. He figured he'd give the two pets some useful advice. "Now hold on a second." he said as the dog and the cat glanced over to the bird. "You can't just assure that you're going to get some recognition just by uploading some silly video doing whatever. I mean, it's one thing doing so back maybe a decade ago, but it's kinda hard to get yourself discovered on the web nowadays. Over hundreds hours of content is provided every minute-"

"Yeah yeah yeah," Charles interrupted. "That's why we're going down the trendin' route!"

Walt was lightly irritated. "Oh, don't be that kind of animal..."

Cliff shrugged. "Why not? If everyone else is doin' it, I don't see why we can't."

Geo stepped in to make a little suggestion. "What about making something a little unique and not cliche? Everybody's special in their own little way!"

Charles and Cliff stared the hamster down for a split second before they made their decision. "Well yer not wrong dere, Ham." Cliff agreed.

"In all seriousness, following these dumb trends is pretty stupid and boring." Walt said. "It's like participating in a joke that's probably not even funny in the slightest hence why they die out so quickly in some cases. I mean, look at that boring toy for example, or maybe that moth's quest for-"

"Yeah yeah yeah," Charles interrupted the bird yet again as he glared deeply at the dog. "Now c'mon ya guys, let's get ta filmin'!"

The four pets were sitting in the kitchen now. Geo and Walt sat right next to Charles as he adjusted the camera, attempting to get a good, quality focus on the actions Cliff was about to perform for the camera. The feline sat there patiently, waiting carefully for his cue. He tapped his foot as he stared face to face at the camera wondering if that command from the canine will ever reach the light.

Charles finished setting the camera up now. He was ready to capture some frames. "Alright cat," the dog said as he prepared himself to hit the record button. "Road ta stardom, take one!"

Charles pressed the button as a red light came flashing in the cat's perspective view. "Action!" he exclaimed.

Cliff popped some of his knuckles. He was an undaunted black feline who was ready to show the web what he's made of. He pulled a boombox right into the shot and pushed a button. It was blasting a popular hardcore metal song with amazing guitar leads that was sure to blow anybody away. The cat stood proud as he began to pretend he was shredding those notes on an air guitar.

He continued that act for a several amount of time as Charles, Geo, and Walt all provided a dumbstruck expression. It was something they did not see coming at all. Given the cat's determined face, it became evident that this was his intent.

Two seconds in, the music stopped, along with the cat. He turned to the three pets as he wondered about their verdict. "So, how about dem apples?"

"Nice." Walt said.

"That'll get you far." Geo added.

"My turn, cat!" Charles said as he rushed over to Cliff. The dog was going to do a balancing act for the camera. He placed a ball on the tip of his nose, putting a good amount of effort into keeping the toy from falling off.

Walt gave a yawn as Geo and Cliff continued to observe the pup work his magic. "Gee, how unique." the bird uttered.

Charles spotted some sarcasm in the bird's sentence. "Okay den," he responded. "How about dis?"

The dog sent the ball on his nose flying as he pulled out some berries as he juggled them around. The act of his had the three pets' attention locked on target. It was something to remember a good while. Up and down the berries juggle, before Charles threw them up high as they all fell into his mouth, one by one. He chewed them up for a good second before he swallowed, followed by licking his lips not long after.

"Ahh." Charles uttered. "Now wasn't dat somethin'?"

Everyone stood speechless for a bit. It's like they were impressed.

"Well, I suppose it's something." Geo commented.

"Didn't cha do somethin' like dat before?" Cliff wondered.

Charles innocently rolled his eyes. "Mmmaybe?" he said with a chuckle. "I can feel the stardom overcomin' us already guys!"

"Are you sure this is going to work, dog?" Walt asked.

Charles was quick to hop on an answer. "You can count on it, bird!" he replied. "We just need ta figure out one more thing we're gonna film."

The three pets were curious now. "And by dat, ya mean...?" Cliff said.

"Now, think real hard for a second here." Charles commanded. "Aside from all the comedy and talent, what else seems ta win the hearts a millions?"

Cliff, Geo, and Walt thought real hard on this. It may sound like a trick question but this is a type of genre the dog was trying to shoot for. One by one, they blurted out the first guess that came to their mind.

"Drama?" Cliff answered.

"Mystery?" Walt added.

"Anything cute?" Geo added.

Charles gasped. The hamster had the answer he was looking for. "That's it Ham!"

It all turned into a big montage to capture some of the most entertaining moments the cat and the dog could provide. From Cliff playing on a piano to Charles trying to steal from the pantry, it was all intense. They were confident their attempts to getting some exposure would at least work out in an instant.

The pets arrived back at the computer desk. They had a feeling they've got a good amount of footage to provide to the Mewtube website. The dog plugged the camera up to the computer before the video files popped up on the screen.

Excitement filled the dog. "Alrighty pals," Charles said. "Looks like we got lotsa clips ta choose from."

"At least check them before you put it up on the web for everyone to see." Walt said.

Cliff groaned. "Dat'll take forever!"

Geo tried to cheer the feline up. "Don't fret," he said. "We'll get through these in no time!"

"I sure hope so, Ham." Charles said. "Time's a wastin'!"

Walt sighed.

 Fifteen Minutes Later

All the pets sighed as their choices were cut down to only one option they had left.

"I guess the only one dat turned out any good is the four of us sleepin' together on the rug," Cliff said. "If it weren't fer that darn camera failin' ta focus on the action at times."

"Looks like you're treating the dog like a pillow, cat." Walt said as he stared at the still of the clip.

"My gosh, that is so cute," Geo complimented. "I don't think I can come up with anything cuter than that."

"Despite dat it's only ten seconds long, I'm sure people wouldn't mind watchin' us." Cliff said while he tilted his feline head.

"And ya know what day say," Charles said as he smiled. "People love anythin' cute!"

The dog pulled up the upload page from the website and entered some information to give people a reason to watch their video. He prepared himself to drag the file onto the window. First, the dog had a very important question to ask the other three pets.

"Ready you guys?" Charles asked with a determined expression, to which the three pets responded with a simple nod. He dragged the file to the window before it started to upload to the web. It was finished in less than a few seconds. The whole wide world now has access to the video file Charles uploaded. "And we're public!"

Cliff smirked as he held a determined face. "Great! Now watch dose humans come across us like a speedin' hedgehog!"

The four pets sat there watching the page, in hopes of people taking the time to discover them. Unfortunately, after a good five minutes, they only managed to gather in a sad seven views. At least something was better than nothing. It still didn't live up to the any of the pets' expectation.

Charles, Cliff, and Geo inevitably sighed. "Oh fer goodness sake." Charles uttered. "But hey, it's alright. It's only been a few minutes right?"

"We should probably give this some time." Geo suggested. "We'll come right back to it tomorrow."

"Sounds like a plan there, Ham." Cliff agreed as he gave the hamster a wink.

 Twenty Four Hours Later 

The pets rushed back to the computer desk. The dog of the family painted a smile on his face as he had a good feeling they would rack up on those hits.

"Alright now," Charles uttered. "It's been a full day since dat clip of us went public."

"Clearly." Walt spat.

"So how many views did we manage ta rack up in that timespan?" Cliff asked.

Charles turned to the computer as he switched the screen on. "Well, let's find out."

As the computer screen finally popped up, Charles accessed the page to where their video can be found. The stats show that the views barely increased. They only got a total of fifty nine views. This kind of information was just enough to fill Charles and Cliff with sadness to influence the two animals to throw their heads down.

"Bah, a heckin' fifty nine views?" Cliff said. "This stinks!"

"All that filmin' fer nothin'?" Charles added. "Where did we go wrong?"

"At least you got some bit of publicity?" Geo said in an attempt to cheer up the two pets.

"At least you two could learn something from this." Walt said.

The bird's sentence grabbed Charles' and Cliff's attention. They glanced over to Walt with puzzled faces. "What are ya talkin' about bird?" Charles curiously asked.

Walt prepared his answer. He only had to hope this time neither Charles of Cliff would try to interrupt the bird. "I understand the pain you guys are feeling right now. But, you do have to realize that getting the spotlight isn't going to happen in an instant just like that. It's all just a matter of time. One of these days, we'll grow to become one of the most iconic group of pets to take the website by storm. It's not like your life is on the line or anything, it's more on the lines of a lot of people worldwide work hard for their life long dream, but it's really not meant for everybody."

Cliff glared at the reader. "Unlike some people dat just use autotune or somethin' like that ta cheat their way to the top." he whispered.

"Well, if dat's really how it is, why didn't cha say somethin' before?" Charles asked.

"I would've told you that, but no, you just had to keep interrupting me!" Walt angrily replied. "So I just decided to not say another word and let this drag on just to see if it would hit you in the back of your head. As it turns out, it obviously didn't."

Charles and Cliff looked towards each other for a second before they sighed together in unison. They soon realized that no matter how hard they tried, it would always come out with the same exact result. Being underrated to the web was a brand new experience to them. It was like being swept away with the rest of the potential.

They had to learn that today wasn't their time. Even though it sounded unfair to them.

"Bird, yer right." Charles said. "Getting fame is overrated."

"I have ta agree with ya, dog." Cliff added. "Getting popular on the web ain't everythin'. I think it's just better ta stay a hidden piece, just waitin' ta be found."

"There you go." Walt said.

"Hey, at least we had a lot of fun filming yesterday!" Geo said. "Why not look over some of our videos one more time?"

That question had Cliff thinking. "Hmm. We did shoot some interestin' stuff."

"Heck, I'm down!" Charles agreed. "But first, let's grab some popcorn!"

Charles made his way to the kitchen to grab the snack he had a craving for as Cliff, Geo, and Walt followed him close behind. Before any of the animals knew it, the numbers of their uploaded video slowly started to increase gradually. Could this be their time to shine after all?

 Thirty Minutes Later 

The pets looked over their footage that they shot just yesterday. They all shared their thoughts and comments on the setup of the camera and the talents that Charles and Cliff have performed.

"If only the camera focused at dis part, dat woulda been perfect!" Charles said.

"I honestly had no idea you could shred, cat." Walt complimented.

"What can I say," Cliff replied. "Life in dis house is a big mystery!"

"Next time, I'll take care of the camera whenever we decide to do this again." Geo said.

"Yeah sure, whateva." Cliff answered.

As they continued watching their work on the computer, the television behind them flashed a news article about a video of the week. The segment flashed the four pets sleeping together. It turned out, Charles and Cliff's little dream came true.

''"This just in, one of the cutest videos to ever hit Mewtube!" the reporter stated loud and clear. "It's D'awwing! It's trending! You won't wanna miss out on these ten seconds of these four animals melting your heart away. It's come across over three hundred and fifty thousand viewers in the past twenty five hours and I don't think anybody's gonna get enough of these furry little friends here! Go ahead, get on your gadgets and show these pets some good ol' fashioned love!"''

~End~

Trivia

 * The story title is a pun on Game & Watch.
 * The premise is somewhat based on a We Bare Bears episode.
 * The beginning portion of this story references an episode of Rocko's Modern Life.
 * Luan's prank on Lincoln references the 2003 movie, Cheaper By The Dozen.
 * Cliff's line "like a speedin' hedgehog", is a dead ringer to Sonic the Hedgehog.
 * Mewtube is a pun on both Mewtwo from Pokemon, and YouTube.