Liberating A Dog

Liberating a Dog Start

November 2021

It was the first night of the Moon Troupe's performance of Out of This World at the Majestic Theater. Nana was arriving at the theater in a limo, and was both surprised and proud to see Buster make it to the big leagues after all. She came inside with the koala to congratulate the new troupe with a bow. When the show was about to begin, the lights dimmed and Buster, Nana, Norman, Alfonso, and Miss Crawley got seated in a special box to watch. The little koala looked on the same way he did when he first discovered his love for the theater when he was six. He certainly has come a long way. This seems too good to be true...

And that may be just the case.

"Alright, that's a wrap, everyone!" a live-action director called through his megaphone as the cameras stopped rolling. That's right, Sing 2 was another motion picture being filmed with all the characters playing fictional versions of themselves, and it was finally complete.

At this time, the entire animated cast and live-action crew applauded for all the successful work they've put into this now-complete, ambitious project. Well, all except for one cast member, and that was the Saluki talent scout, Suki Lane, and that was because she had been powered down by a technician. You see, unlike the other animated characters, she was completely artificially-manufactured to look like a cartoon dog. In other words, she was a robot dog.

As everyone congratulated each other for their film, the technician and a couple others, carefully carried her and placed her on a dolly, wheeling her back to the prop department.

The director said, "Okay, spectacular job, everyone. Now, make sure to fill out your I-9s, and we'll see you on the next one. Drive safely."

Everyone then headed out the set to go home. The animated cast can't wait for announcement of the third one.

April 2023 (ignoring the actual April 2023)

The head of Universal Studios had gathered the main and supporting Sing toons in his office to tell them the big news. "Well, everyone, Sing 3's officially ordered by the studio."

The characters all cheered in excitement for the news.

The CEO chuckled, "Alright, alright, settle down. Now, I can't say too much of what we'll be doing right now, but it will involve characters from the first film being taken to a new world."

The characters murmured. They wonder what kind of new world this would be.

"And I want to point out that some of you from the second film may not show up."

The ones who appeared in the sequel looked down in disappointment, but Nooshy then shrugged, "Well, I guess sacrifices need to be made. We could always come back in a possible fourth one."

"Oh, and I'm glad you brought up sacrifices, Nooshy, because there is one in particular from the franchise I should mention before you leave," the CEO said. "The execs have voted, and we have no intentions to use Suki again."

Some of them were confused and puzzled.

"Wha---not use her again?" asked Porsha in disbelief.

"Yeah, we just doesn't find her entertaining enough to use again. The kids in the test audiences don't like her, and she's too attractive for the sight of the parents of those kids. And frankly, she's too expensive."

"So what's to become of her?" Buster asked in concern, unsure he liked where this was going.

The CEO said, "The same thing became of the other out-of-place/one-shot technology characters: she'll be sent to the furnace, burned and melted."

The characters gasped in shock.

"B-burned and melted?!" Johnny protested. "That's a bit extreme, don't you think?"

Meena protested in agreement, "Yeah, just for the fact that she's not liked by the kids or parents? Can't you maybe sell her off?"

"Well, we could but then there'd be a mob of fans fighting over her and nearly killing each other, and we don't want that," the CEO explained. "Look, I'm sorry, guys, but my hands are tied. I can't do anything to reverse the order. Plus, we've got a strike in progress right now, we can't focus on something minor as this dog machine."

It seemed that the protests for this side character were all for naught. The toons decided it was best not to argue with the boss and accept the dog's fate.

"So when's she scheduled to be melted?" asked Porsha.

"First thing tomorrow morning," confirmed the CEO.

"Aw man," she groaned.

Outside, a young janitor was listening in, without anyone knowing he was there. He was an animated cat/dog/fox/otter mixture and he was devastated to hear this news. He cared deeply about the Saluki machine that he happened to take care of.

He exclaimed in horror, "No! This can't be! They're going to burn her tomorrow morning just to save money! And the cast doesn't even try harder to do anything about it?" He then dropped his mop with a deep, steely glare. "Well not if JK can help it!"

This young janitor, whose name is JK, will make sure no one burns that dog.