While Sonia and her dad were finishing up their chores, Matthew and Scruffles sat in the laundry room and began playing poker. The two focused on their cards. A drop of sweat slowly dripped down Matthew's face as he stared at his cards while Scruffles looked at hers casually. Here and there, her eyes peered at Matthew as he tried to concentrate. Scruffles quietly snickers as she is about to pull out a new card.
"Remember Doggy-boy," Scruffles noted, "If you lose, then... Well, you know the deal." Matthew gulped as he watched Scruffles pull out her next card. Matthew looked at his cards and saw that he had a jack, an ace of spades, a four hearts card, and a seven hearts card.
"So bud, are you in? Or ya' out?" Scruffles asked her dog partner. Matthew decided to skimp his fear and dealt himself in.
"I'm in," Matthew spoke as he placed his cards.
"BOOM!" Scruffles shouted as she dropped her cards on the table, "A Royal Flush! Yeah!" Matthew began to stammer in shock.
"Wha-?! How did you-?! I-uh-" Matthew stuttered, but Scruffles began to do the cabbage patch dance as she hummed a victory tune. Scruffles, playfully full of herself, told her dog companion, "Sorry bud, but you lost fair and square, now you gotta do the dare." Matthew was not in favor of doing Scruffles's dare. The poor dog had to place a particularly ridiculous amount of clothing on his body while wearing clown makeup and glasses from the year 2003. What made things a little more embarrassing was that Matthew had to sing the theme song of a certain brand of cat food.
"Do I really have to take part in this bloomin' nonsense?" Matthew asked, not feeling happy about this. Scruffles stood on a box saying, "Oh relax~ and live a little. Now do the thing." Matthew groaned and began to do a little dance as he sang.
"Meow meow meow meow, meow meow meow meow, meow-meow meow, meow-meow-"
"Wait," Scruffles interrupted as she took out a nearby video recorder and turned it on, "Ok continue."
"What?! You said nothing about this being recorded!" Matthew yelled.
"Ah, ah, ah. You can't back out of the bet," Scruffles came back with a smirk. However, Matthew was getting angry. The dog took the wig he had on and threw it at Scruffles, causing the cat to dodge it. Scruffles watched as Matthew growled and tried to calm him down awkwardly, "N-now buddy, c'mon.. hehhhh.... y-you know I was joking.." Scruffles gulped as she then said one last word, "Right..?" Matthew then began to bark and lunge at Scruffles, causing the cat to jump, screech and run away. Matthew chased Scruffles all around the laundry room, knocking over the poker table, running on shelves as Scruffles grabbed bottles of detergent, fabric softener, and bleach and threw them at Matthew, trying to cause him to trip. Scruffles ran to the ground, took a bottle of soap and spilled a trail of it on the ground, and Matthew ran on it, slipped, and slid, crashing into a basket of folded laundry.
An opened box of baking soda laid on a shelf as its contents sprinkled on Matthew's head like snow. Scruffles stood by the stairs and laughed until Matthew shook his head and restarted the chase. Scruffles's eyes bulged out in shock as she then ran up the stairs and into the living room. Matthew, on her trail, kept barking as he chased her. Scruffles and skid across the floor, trying not to get caught, while Matthew crashed into any objects that were unlucky to be in the chase area at the time. Sonia's dad perked up in the hope that he didn't hear any crashes. He quickly ran over to the living room and saw Scruffles and Matthew running all over the place, knocking things over and breaking or scratching nearby objects of the house. Sonia's dad's face began to boil red in anger as he then yelled at both pets. Scruffles, startled by the yelling, placed her paws and hind legs in front of her as she skids herself to a halt in front of the legs of her owner. Matthew skidded to a halt as well, but Matthew bumped into Scruffles, causing her to bump into her owner's legs. Sonia's dad grabbed Scruffles and Matthew and held them up to his face and spoke to them.
"LOOK WHAT YOU TWO DONE TO OUR LIVING ROOM!" Sonia's dad roared like a lion. He then showed the cat and dog the mess they caused. A lamp knocked over; vases were broken, a few dishes knocked down, soap all over the place, and scratches on the curtains. There is also what looks like a crack in the wall from when Matthew slammed into the wall. Scruffles whispered to Matthew, "Well it's not as bad as LAST time we accidentally destroyed the place." Matthew lowered his eyebrows in a sort of way to call Scruffles an idiot without saying anything.
"Because of you two, Sonia and I have to CLEAN UP AGAIN," Sonia's dad spoke in anger, but his pager began to beep, causing his anger to simmer down and making him sigh, "Nevermind... I have to go to work." He then called Sonia, "Sonia! I have to run to work. Try to finish what you can until I get back." Sonia walked downstairs and asked, "What's... Goin'.... on...?" Sonia then saw the mess, and her mouth dropped. Sonia then looked at her dad wondering if this was all the mess she had to clean up. Sonia's dad nodded as he walked over to the door, put on his work jacket, hat, and shoes as he is about to grab his car keys.
"I see you in a bit, sweetie. Love you," Sonia's dad said as he closed the door behind him and drove away. Sonia, Matthew, and Scruffles walked to the window and watched as Sonia's dad drove away. The next sound that is heard is Scruffles's stomach growl.
"Welp," Scruffles started as she began to walk to the kitchen, "I guess it's snack time." However, Sonia suddenly grabbed Scruffles and scolded her.
"Ohhh-hohohoh no you don't!" Sonia scolded as she grabbed Scruffles. She then gave the cat a broom and the dog a bucket of soap and water with a sponge included, then continued to speak, "You two are gonna help me clean up this mess or else I'm gonna leave you two to sleep together in the doghouse again."
"Not the dog house again!" Scruffles and Matthew complained.
"He's too fat!" Scruffles whined.
"And she scratches every time she tries to get comfy!" Matthew whined. Sonia narrowed her eyes at both of them, asserting her dominance over the cat and dog. Having no choice, Scruffles and Matthew took the items given to them and began to RE-Tidy the house with Sonia.
Meanwhile, from a portal high up into the clouds, a slithery entity flew about, disrupting the peace of the sky, and headed towards the town on its search for Sonia while barging through the minds of its denizens and temporarily ravaging their minds in the process.