Buttons & Rusty: Growing Up

Buttons and Rusty: Growing Up is an animated television mini-series produced by Chucklewood Productions. It is a continuation of Welcome to Chucklewood.

Plot
This series will focus on serious life changing topics. Some of the topics include... Most of the episodes will consist of discussion episodes related to the topics where Miss Love talks to real-life people.
 * Baby's First Steps
 * Daycare
 * Puberty
 * Starting School
 * Divorce
 * Death
 * Marriage
 * Starting a New Job
 * Graduation
 * Adulthood
 * Getting Your Drivers License

Minor Characters
Sophia (voiced by Jessica McKenna): Medora’s daughter and Freddie’s girlfriend. She usually blows raspberries on Freddie’s stomach. She wears a ocean blue crop top and blue shorts similar to her mother. Her swimwear is an ocean blue bikini.

Omar (voiced by Dana Snyder): A possum and a minister.

Lt. Scott Hamilton (voiced by Jeff Bennett): Chief Sue's little brother. The chief officer of the police department's Suburban Critters Division (SCD), which mostly consists of critters that live in the suburb. He is Tobey's teammate and closest human friend since he was introduced to Tobey by his big sister.

Morlock, Thump, Orco, Spyler and Syco are the only villains being carried over from Welcome to Chucklewood. Randal the Wizard goes to a supporting character.

Episodes

 * 1) Miss Love Talks With Parents About School (Discussion Episode) - Miss Love talks to parents with children about their first day of school experiences. This includes clips from the first episode of Sarah's School Days as well as a preview of the series itself which centers around Sarah attending school at the Little Critter School.
 * 2) Vixey's Firsts - The episode begins with the words "One year ago..." appear. A replay of the final scene of The Villains Club's Last Stand is shown. This is followed by the boy cubs returning to the cave with Vixey. Upon arriving they see a newspaper headline reading "RUSTY: BIG BROTHER" with a picture of him holding Vixey, and a few congratulations cards from all the good critters such as Frisky, Skeeter and Freddie. After showing Vixey the cave, Rosie teaches Rusty the lessons of a baby such as how to feed, bath time, changing diapers, and walking in a crib. Six months later, Lester invites the family over to Crystal Bayou for Vixey's baptism where a friend of Lester's named Omar (a possum) who is a minister will be officiating. Along the way, Quacker then tells the news that Zak Vaderman, Galton Gourmad, Delilah Denara, Patty Parker, Dario, Reg, Zazzy Zeke and Harry Wescott have died. He then tells the older fox cub that the Villains Club drank a poison pruno made by Claude. Claude was then sentenced to death row. This spreads the joy of all the Chucklewood and suburb population. The baptism ceremony is attended by Rusty's family and the good critters whom also celebrate the death of the Villains Club. A newspaper headline reads "ZAK VADERMAN AND VILLIANS CLUB DEAD. CLAUDE E. COYOTE SENTENCED TO DEATH ROW. CHUCKLEWOOD CRITTERS CELEBRATE!" Six months later, Vixey took her first steps and the rest of the family celebrates her first birthday. As the days went by, Rosie teaches her how to talk, eat independently and use the potty.
 * 3) Miss Love Talks With Parents About Daycare (Discussion Episode) - Miss Love, George and Rosie talk to parents about raising a baby as well as daycare.
 * 4) Growing Up: From A Cub To An Adult - Miss Love and Dave Coonier talk to viewers about puberty; how Buttons, Rusty, Bearbette, Frisky, Turner, Skeeter and Freddie transition from young critters to adult critters.
 * 5) Miss Love Talks With Parents About Friendship (Discussion Episode) - Miss Love talks to parents about how friendship works accompanied by clips of previous episodes and the original series with a simulation of a fox and a dog form a friendship but didn't know who were supposed to be enemies. She later informs them that even when a friend moves away, friendship never ends. This includes a short preview of the next episode which explains about moving away.
 * 6) Moving Out Is Hard To Do - After Vixey celebrated her second birthday and transitioned from sleeping in a crib to a bed, as well as Buttons and Rusty now full grown, the boy cubs' folks decide it is time to go. After receiving a telegram from Francine, Bridgette learns that Gram is in hospice care. She must move to Sweet Water Valley to be with her. Abner elects to move back into his old neighborhood. George elected to convert the boy cubs' bedroom into Rusty's bedroom, Buttons' folks bedroom into Vixey's bedroom and the secret shortcut into Buttons' apartment. Meanwhile, at the girl cubs cave, after a serious argument between Darwin and Bearnadine, they decided to divorce. While the now-grown up girl cubs return home from their walk, they see a note from Bearnadine saying that "Bearbette: Your father and I have been divorced. I have no idea where your father is right now. I have moved to my very own place in Chucklewood. You and Frisky are now the women of the cave now. I will see you again soon. I hope. - Mama." Unfortunately, Darwin and Bearnadine's divorce was soon realized to be a big mistake, as Morlock, who escaped from prison, having had enough of the now-dissolved Villains Club's gripes, has captured Darwin for ransom. One day as Bearbette takes Sarah home from school, she sees her father being placed in a tree and tied up in ropes. As she feels him, his entire body (except for his heart) is not moving. Randal then approaches her and tells her that he witnessed this and that Morlock captured him for ransom and now he must look for an antidote to undo this. After a few minutes of searching, Morlock appears and captures Randal in a cage. But Randal manages to break the bars using his bar removal spell and then uses his sleep spell to put Morlock into a deep sleep. Randal then continues his search for an antidote and finds one. He applies the antidote on Darwin who then wakes up and gets reunited with her daughter. Darwin then takes Bearbette to his new home and explains the reason why he and Bearnadine got divorced. However, Darwin and Bearnadine later reconcile and get remarried but the two of them remain in separate caves (Darwin was given advice by Buttons that even though his parents now live in seperate places, they remain married). The episode ends that night with Buttons and Rusty [now in separate bedrooms] dreaming about their future.
 * 7) Miss Love Talks With Parents About Divorce (Discussion Episode) - Miss Love and Rosie offer parents insight and advice regarding young children dealing with and understanding divorce.
 * 8) Daydream Believer Of The Homecoming Queen - The now fully grown cub couples visit Johnny and Robin’s school to help build a float for their Homecoming parade. They also learn that they are on the Homecoming Court with Robin's friend Barbara. Sarah then approaches them and asks if she wants to help. Rusty tells her that she is too young but that she can watch. While eating dinner, Syco appears and begins to rip the pomps. Then he went inside Sarah (through her dress) wraps his body around her waist. Just as Syco chews on her rear end, she performs her trademark scream and frightened him away. The boys then chase the snake around the school ultimately setting the fire alarm, and causing damage to the gym and football field. Chief and Lt. Hamilton witnesses this and Principal Pines reviewed the videotape. Unfortunately, the Homecoming festivities will not happen until the school is repaired. While Rusty and Frisky take Sarah to the critter hospital to examine her injuries, Buttons and Bearbette went to Randal’s for help. He happens to find a solution which he can help repair the school. Meanwhile, at the critter hospital, Dr. Macquire examines Sarah. She looks at bite marks throughout her body, as well as poison on her stomach. The poison comes from Syco's lick. Macquire tells Rusty and Frisky that they won't be able to rub not even kiss Sarah's lucky belly for quite some time until the injuries have been healed. She then tells them that Sarah needs to spend the next couple of days in the hospital and possibly miss the Homecoming festivities. Rusty then reports this to Sarah's parents who then write an excuse to Miss Love that Sarah will have to miss school for a few days. The next day, the High School Football Association investigates the damage done to the school. At a press conference with the coaches, Pines, the officials and the police department tell then that if the school is not repaired by Saturday, the football game will be forfeited. That afternoon, after-school, Johnny, Robin, Randal and the cub couples come up with a plan to repair all the damage as well as rebuilding the float that was damaged by Syco. ... Afterwards, a montage (set to Daydream Believer by The Monkees) is shown as they repair the damage, rebuild the float and Johnny and Robin participating in the Homecoming Court rehearsal. The next day, while the parade is getting lined-up, a critter covered up in a blanket walks up to Johnny and Robin's class' float. Rusty hears a familiar giggle coming from the blanket. He thinks it's Sarah's giggle. Rusty and Frisky lift up the blanket only to see a stomach. Rusty then looks closely at it. He thinks it looked like Sarah's. He puts an ice pack on the middle of the stomach to make the it cold, rubs it and the rest of the blanket reveals to be a fully recovered Sarah wearing a cheerleader outfit. Rusty then tells her that it's fall weather and you need to wear a sweater to cover up her stomach. Sarah then replied that her lucky belly is fully recovered. Rusty then gives her a sweater and she joins him on the class float. At halftime of the football game, Robin is crowned Homecoming Queen.
 * 9) Robin's First Job - After spending her last allowance from her father, Robin decides it is time to find the best way to earn money: A job. Robin spends the weekend studying for job opportunities. While in the library, she looks at a sign saying "HELP WANTED. Temporary Librarian for a week. Hours are 4-7pm Tuesday and Thursday and Saturday from 10am-4pm." LeMar is going on vacation for a week and he needs somebody to run the library when he is away. Robin decides to apply for the job there who was then hired at the last second. LeMar teaches her how to look-up books, shelve books correctly, check out books and maintain and clean the library. On Tuesday, Krabs the Clown stops by the library and entertains Robin to promote Krabs' first indoor restaurant and he is looking for people with flexible schedules and working around school schedules. The restaurant would be opening in approximately three weeks. As Krabs leaves, he trips over a bookcase which causes the books to fall down. Randal arrived at the last second as he is checking out a new spell book. He then uses his clean-up book spell to put the books back on their shelves. On Thursday, Sarah, Lisa and Cody visit the library to read books and sing a song called Baby Whale (a spoof of Baby Shark). But as they begin to dance to the song, it distracts Robin. She asks the three to be quiet in the library and directs them to the Sensory Room. On Saturday, as LeMar returns from vacation, he and Robin begin to laugh continuously. Even all of the other patrons begin laughing. This is because laughing gas was piped into the climate control system. He then calls Lt. Hamilton and Tobey for help. As Tobey carefully looks at the system, he sees a potion called "Laughing Gas". Hamilton then takes the potion off and throws it away. He then grabs a vaporizer to remove laughing gas. He, LeMar and Robin went to the security camera system to review the videotape. They see that Lord Morlock, Thump, Orcro and Spyler raided the climate control system to put the laughing gas there. After LeMar gives Robin her pay, she then begins applying for Krabs’ first indoor restaurant.
 * 10) Untitled Christmas Crossover - This episode takes place following the Christmas episode of Sarah's School Days. It’s the day before Johnny and Robin’s last holiday break and the High School holds their annual Christmas Holiday Celebration which is presented by the Honor Society which Johnny and Robin are in. The celebration includes caroling by the choir, movies, video games, a basketball tournament and a gift swapping. After taking Sarah home from the Christmas party at the Little Critter School, the cub couples spend the evening with the Honor Society setting up for the event.
 * 11) Freddie Boy - Philbert takes Freddie to Fort Caulderdale to to visit Medora. Upon arriving at Medora’s home, they see her swimming in her pool. The first time Freddie saw Medora, he gives a remark of her bikini and her stomach. He thought it’s gonna be for him. Actually, Medora is going to be Philbert’s bride-to-be. Her daughter, Sophia is going to be Freddie’s step-sister. Medora then invites the boys to swim with her and Sophia beginning with the latter blowing raspberries on Freddie’s stomach. Freddie then recognizes Sophia (in a clip from Critterpaited), as the girl who dated her. The next day, Medora and Sophia take Freddie and Philbert to the fishing pier where Medora works which includes a tour of the pier itself. Then, Medora takes them snorkeling in a cove to explore the underwater world. Philbert ultimately gets pierced in the heart by a stingray. Returning to shore, Medora performs CPR on him. Suddenly, she sees the attack on his chest. He is rushed to the critter hospital where Dr. Macquire's experts try to perform him. Just then, Philbert suddenly wakes up for a little bit and whispers “Freddie, from the day you were born. You were a good critter. I remember the time we moved to Chuckewood when your mom died. I remember taking you on a ride on Leappinwolf. I remember we defeated Zak Vaderman and his gang. But you are now grown up. You’re the man of the house now. And now, we must go on our separate ways. Goodbye, Freddie. I love you. I love you.” and dies. Freddie, Medora and Sophia then head to Chucklewood to tell about the death of Philbert and the funeral will be held in Fort Caulderdale. After the funeral, grieving over his father's death, Freddie walked around his home thinking about the times he and his father did (with clips from earlier episodes as well as a clip from the original Chucklewood Critters episode An Eye for a Tooth). Father Time appears and explains that the stingray that killed Philbert was sent in by Lord Morlock and that to stop the stingray is by communicating with his past self to break the stingray's glass container from Australia. Freddie then opens his father's garage and sees Leappinwolf. He asks himself "How would I be able to ride Leappinwolf?" Returning to Medora's, Medora then suggests that he should get a motorcycle license. She takes him to motorcycle school to learn about riding a motorcycle and road safety. As the weeks went by, Freddie trained harder (accompanied by a montage set to Gonna Fly Now from Rocky) on riding a motorcycle. Then, Freddie managed to pass the motorcycle test on his first attempt and earned his motorcycle license. The montage ends with Freddie, Medora and Sophia riding Leappinwolf to Fort Caulderdale and all celebrating on the beach with a victory run and yelling to his father in heaven "YO, POP! I DID IT!" A vision of Philbert appears smiling at Freddie. Then, Freddie covers up Medora and Sophia‘s stomachs with sand and washing them off with ocean water. Sophia blows raspberries on Freddie‘s stomach and the two hug and make love on the sand. The next day, Father Time arrives with the Time Communicator (the same one from Rebel Without a Paw) and Freddie contacts his past self just before Morlock can enter the land Down Under. In the soon-to-be-altered past, he uses his critter phone to contact the boy cubs, who were helping Professor Al in experimenting with molten salt. The molten salt was then teleported to Freddie, via the professor's teleporting machine. Freddie with the molten salt was then teleported to Australia by Randal the Wizard with a spell, "Australia Orientalia!" Once teleported there, he sees Morlock, Orcro and Thump fishing for some stingrays just before he could take them to Fort Caulderdale. While Morlock is talking with Orcro and Thump, they do not see Freddie behind them, pouring the molten salt into the stingrays' tank until it is too late, as the full-on, powerful explosion in the tank shatters it into pieces and kills the stingrays inside. The episode ends, returning to the present with Freddie, Sophia and Buttons riding Leappinwolf to Philbert’s grave. A voice is heard saying “Freddie, you are a Freddie Boy.”
 * 12) Miss Love Talks With Parents About Death (Discussion Episode) - Miss Love, Lester and Medora talk to parents about death. This includes clips from Mirror, Mirror On The Wall... and the previous episode. [NOTE: Due to subject matter, parental discretion is advised.]
 * 13) Miss Love Talks With Parents About Drugs and Alcohol - Miss Love and Bob Badget talk to parents as well as teens about drugs and alcoholism. This includes clips from Smokin Tounges and Viva Mas Regas. [NOTE: Viewer and parental discretion are advised.]
 * 14) Dark Friday: Violence and Tragedies (90 Minute Episode) - The episode begins with Miss Love and LeMar giving a disclaimer to viewers about the subject of this episode and recommends that it may not be suitable for children to watch alone.  While Johnny is working out in the weight room in gym class, a series of gun shots was heard from upstairs. He hears people screaming from upstairs. The entire classes from upstairs quickly ran downstairs. Johnny then reports this to Principal Pines. As they do this, the fire alarm went off and the entire school district was evacuated. The police department, paramedics and fire department arrived just a short minutes later later. Robin then alerts Pines that Mr. Cann, the physics teacher and Mrs. Smiley, the Biology teacher were wounded while Robin’s physics class are working on an experiments. As the school district investigates, in Chucklewood, while Rusty is bathing Vixey, he hears a gunshot from Buttons’ apartment. He thought Buttons was watching a movie. Just then, Quacker stops into the cave and alert the critters that Franklin had been shot. Jonsey and Dr. Macquire are out on the scene. As they do so, Freddie then tells the critters that Franklin is dead. Bearbette stops him and scolds him that it has not yet been confirmed yet. Macquire rushes Franklin to the critter hospital where her crew performed dozens of actions. Back at the high school, Chief Hamilton sees a bomb threat in the bathrooms and a series of bullets (blood is not shown). After a lengthy conversation with Hamilton, Pines made the decision to have an early dismissal while the school is under investigation. On the way home, Johnny and Robin receive a telegram from an unknown critter named Walter that Franklin had been shot while he was on his way to a convention of owls. However there are rumors that Franklin is dead. According to an eyewittness, the shooter was previously seen at the high school before making the run to Chucklewood. At the Little Critter School, while the kids are at recces time, the shooter ultimately performs a hostage at the playground by sneaking in, hitting Miss Love on the head with the gun, asking him to leave the school and then points her gun throughout the playground then shooting it towards the playground equipment. As the class fled from the school, Sarah quickly called 911 from Miss Love's critter phone which the police and paramedics went to the scene. Miss Love was then taken to the critter hospital to get examined. Mr. Mabor arrived and informs the class that school will be early dismissed so that they can investigate. Meanwhile, at the Ranger Station, the critters, Jonesy, Johnny and Robin talk to Walter (a possum) who has witnessed the events and rumors. Dr. Macquire then informs Chucklewood that Miss Love is in fair condition due to being hit in the head. Franklin is not dead yet but it is critical condition but the experts are working hard. In Fort Caulderdale, Sophia spend the night on the beach daydreaming about Freddie. The shooter appears and captures Sophia and placed her in a bag. At the last second, the police department klonks the shooter with their gun and arrested him. The next morning, Johnny and Robin learn that Mr. Cann and Mrs. Smiley were in the hospital and both of them are in stable condition and the shooter has been arrested and is awaiting trial. In Chucklewood, Miss Love is released from the critter hospital and class has been resumed. That afternoon, Walter then tells the critters that the flash from Macquire is apparently official “Franklin...” During each interval of the episode, Miss Love and LeMar (in wraparound segments) talk to parents about violence in the media (such as the assassination of President Kennedy, the Columbine High School Shooting, 9/11 and The Tree of Life Synagauge Shooting in Pittsburgh) and what should happen to kids when they witness events.
 * 15) Will You Marry Me? (Prom Episode) -
 * 16) The Prize Is Great - Johnny and Robin audition for a game show where they can win cash and fabulous prizes. [Special Guests Stars: Drew Carey, Wayne Brady, Jonathan Mangum, Rachel Reynolds and Melissa Ordway]
 * 17) Cat Eat Cat - Freddie auditions to be on a game show with dares and trivia challenges for $50,000 called Cat Eat Cat (a spoof of Dog Eat Dog) hosted by Kiara Karnes. [Special Guest Star: Brooke Burns]
 * 18) Miss Love Talks With Parents About Adulthood (Discussion Episode) - Miss Love talks to parents of seniors in High School about getting ready for adulthood which includes previews of the next three episodes.
 * 19) The Long and Winding Road
 * 20) Graduation -
 * 21) Retirement -
 * 22) Marriage -
 * 23) Series Finale: Goodbye, Chucklewood -