Disclaimer: I do not own Milo Murphy's Law, or anything associated with it. It belongs to Disney. I only own my OCs.
I credit the idea of this one-shot to AndiKaneUnderwood, who was very supportive of the idea of a sequel to "Cavencat", and helped brainstorm how this would work out.
Balthazar fumed as he stomped his way towards Swamp City's park.
That had to be one of the worst missions ever. Pistachios ruined, an oddly-themed mini golf course, a giant floating baby head, that Milo Murphy boy, and paint brushes that act as putters? How do all of those even make sense together?
Just the idea of a mission failure being so nonsensical drove Balthazar Cavendish to the brink of his calmness. He didn't blame Vinnie for the mission's failure, as he and the cat faithfully watched the pistachios and were unable to prevent their destruction, but if he tried to keep his cool while still in the room with Vinnie, he was going to blow a gasket.
So, he took a walk to clear his head.
He now found himself in Swamp City park, and sat on a nearby bench.
Don't blame Dakota, he's a good partner. The cat is okay too; at least the cat is able to keep Dakota in line when I is unable to.
Cavendish wasn't too keen on the idea of a team pet in the beginning, especially one that seemed to mock his appearance and mannerisms. The cat, Cavencat, was surprisingly helpful in its first few missions with them, hissing at potential troublemakers for the operation or providing a distraction for people while he and Vinnie obtained the pistachios. As far as Cavendish was concerned, the cat had earned its keep.
The only drawbacks to the cat were there being another mouth to feed in their little team, the cat had a litterbox that regularly needed cleaning, and they had to move their base camp to a place where pets were allowed. Dakota said that they could just keep hush-hush about having a cat with them at their old place since cats were naturally quiet, but Balthazar was having none of that, not wanting to be fined a fee for having a pet when it was against building regulation or having to deal with the hassle of hiding the feline.
He shook his head.
He had to think about their mission so he could fill out the mission report. At the moment, he could safely say that he and his teammates were at the correct location for their mission, and were guarding the pistachios there. Obviously, Milo Murphy and his entourage were there as well, a product of their ever-coincidental timing, but what didn't make sense to Cavendish was the giant floating baby head and the paint brush golf clubs. How does a person even use a paint brush as a golf club? Even though the brushes were drastically enlarged to match human size, the entire concept didn't make any sense. It would've made sense, he supposed, if the golf course was art-themed, but it wasn't.
The time traveler put one hand to his forehead. This whole thing was a headache and a half.
The only thing Balthazar was certain of was that Dakota was not at fault.
As Cavendish sat there, mentally drafting the mission report and wondering where the mission went wrong, he was vaguely aware of a brown shape coming up and sitting next to him. The shape made chewing noises, like whenever Vinnie chewed with his mouth open. Cavendish opened his mouth to speak, turning to the figure, and paused when he saw the figure.
Sitting next to him, on the ground, and gnawing at some kind of bone was a brown-furred, gold-collared dog.
He couldn't believe his eyes.
This… this can't possibly be the same dog Dakota and I saw that day we met Cavencat. Can it? I thought I was seeing things.
Balthazar recalled Dakota's smug look, that Dakota had been right, and his own insistence that they did not see a dog that looked like him after the already near-impossible meeting of Cavencat. Dakota had wanted to go after the dog so they could save it from the butcher, and for the sake of a matching set, he argued.
He remembered putting his foot down on that discussion too, and actually winning that time. Yet, here the dog was again. This had to be sheer coincidence.
Cavendish got up to leave, and began to walk away, not wanting anything to do with the canine. As he walked away though, he felt a nagging voice inside his mind telling him he was forgetting something. He glanced back, and stared at the dog.
You wouldn't leave Dakota out here if he was a dog, would you? That dog is a spitting image of Dakota if he were one.
The time traveler shook his head, and walked away a bit more before pausing a second time.
"Matching set," Dakota's voice practically sang like when they discussed the dog that day they took in Cavencat.
Balthazar groaned, tilting his head up towards the heavens.
In Cavendish and Dakota's temporary housing, which they referred to as base, Dakota lounged on the couch with Cavencat perched on the armrest. The pair occupied themselves after their mission with the best stress reliever known to mankind, watching television.
"Paul Wilson has just moved up to first place!" A race announcer declared as the spectators screeched in amazement.
"Mandy, this is insane! We're not just best friends, we're sisters! Twin sisters!" A young, teenage girl squealed.
"Have faith in Red, Blue, Green, and Nora!" A cartoon's theme jingle played.
Cavencat mumbled, resting on its belly.
Vinnie rolled his eyes at the cat. "Fine, I'll stick to one channel." He clicked the remote one more time.
At that moment, Cavendish walked in the door.
Seeing his partner was back, Vinnie rose from the couch. "Hey, how was your walk?" he asked, only for his own question to be answered moments later.
Cavendish closed the door with one hand, and locked it while his other hand grasped the brown-furred dog's gold-colored collar. The dog was still gnawing on the bone Cavendish found him with.
Dakota stared at the dog for a few moments, and eventually processed what he was seeing. He opened his mouth to say something, but Cavencat beat him to it.
The cat screeched on the armrest, jumping down to the floor and racing towards the dog. Continuing to gnaw, the dog was ignorant to the feline's advances. Before the cat could launch an attack, Vinnie picked the cat up off the floor.
"Easy, pal." Dakota ran a hand down Cavencat's back, holding him close. "Easy… calm down."
Cavencat's tense rumbling as he flailed his limbs quieted, and eventually he stopped flailing. Vinnie's actions put him into a calm state.
With the team cat taken care of, Dakota glanced up at his partner. "So, the dog, apparently we weren't seeing things that day then?"
"Apparently," Balthazar agreed, releasing his hand from the dog collar. The dog settled down on the floor, and started licking at his treat. "Found him at the park while I was on my walk."
"Oh, cool." Dakota nodded, still caressing Cavencat. "So, does he have identification on him?"
The gray-haired time traveler shook his head. "I checked, and no he does not, he's a free dog."
"Cool," Vinnie said once more, glancing down at the canine. A grin started to form on his face. "I'm sorry, it's just so cool that we actually found an animal that looks just like me! It was rad that we found Cavencat, but to find a dog that looks like me is awesome! We've gotta keep him!"
Hearing this, Cavencat looked at him, hissing his protest at the idea.
Cavendish rolled his eyes at his partner. "I had a feeling you'd say that. Unfortunately for me I suppose, we're keeping the mutt."
"Really?!" The brown-haired of the two humans beamed.
"Yes, really. I can't seem to bear the idea of sending him elsewhere for some reason." Oh, he knew the reason, but there was no reason for him to let Dakota know that.
Dakota pumped a fist in the air. "Awesome, now we've got two animal partners! With these two watching our backs, we can probably succeed in a mission with that Milo kid involved."
Balthazar groaned at the name. "Could you please not bring him up so soon after the last mission?"
"Sorry."
Taking another look at the dog, Vinnie reached out a hand, and petted the dog on the head. "So, you found him. What're you going to name him?"
Cavendish adjusted his hat. "Actually, I've already given it some thought, and since you insist on the cat's name, I thought it'd be best and that you'd probably support it, that we name the dog, Dogkota."
"Dogkota?" Dakota perked up.
"It was either that, or Dakodog, and I don't want to end up sounding like I'm saying 'Taco Dog'," Cavendish explained.
Vinnie chuckled, "Dogkota, it is. I like it!" Releasing Cavencat on the floor, he kneeled down on the floor to be eye level with the newly-named dog. "Hey, buddy? Want something to eat? We've got some pretty good stuff around here waiting to be eaten up. You want some of that?"
Dogkota seemed to understand more food than the bone was being offered, and his canine heart began to race. He gave a short, affirmative bark, and licked his chops.
"I knew you'd be up for it. Come on, kitchen's over here!" Dakota led the dog over to the kitchen area.
Watching as his partner got the new team pet something to eat, Balthazar picked up Cavencat as the gray feline sauntered over to him. "I can just see our unit's food budget deteriorate rapidly, can't you?" He asked the cat.
The cat meowed in agreement, and begrudgingly let his human lookalike pet him.