answered:
Pencil (alternatively here) is a super basic starter program. It’s free and has what you’d need to make simple animations (very similar to Flash). If you are looking for professional quality stuff, you’re going to have to spend some money. TVPaint and ToonBoom are going to be the higher end programs. They are better, which means they are also more expensive.
Then there’s always good old Adobe Flash; still expensive but it’s the basic stuff. (No one uses it for the project though)
Hopefully that was helpful, and good luck! :)
-Kaylynn (shout out to Andy for helping me!)