Chapter 03 - Dr Fang
After months of 'will-they-won't-they', Alya and Nino had decided to put a stop to the rumours around them and would try to go out on an official date. They kept it casual, just a trip to the local park and had stated before that if things didn't work out, they would go back to friends and no hard feelings would be felt. But as the afternoon together went on, and they sat eating hot dogs in a park, they knew something was there between them.
Just as Nino was preparing to suggest they made a move, they heard a small whine behind them, Alya quickly looking back behind their bench. She soon spotted a small face looking at them out a bush, nose sniffing the air and eyes locked on the last of her hot dog. She smiled at him. "Hello there." She said, standing and walking around the bench to look at the dog, small and cute, it's coat white with brown splodges on it. Its eyes were still on the food as it licked its lips.
Nino chuckled. "I think he's hungry."
"Yeah." Alya said, picking off the onions from the sausage and throwing it to the dog who snapped it up in mid-air.
The boy followed with the last of his, giving the dog a once over. "No collar."
"Yeah, and look at his coat, he's filthy." Alya sighed, tossing her bun in the bin and kneeling down beside him. The dog shied away a little from her touch but after a careful sniff, it stepped forwards and allowed the contact.
Nino frowned as he looked at her. "Alya, he's limping."
"Oh the poor thing. You think he got out?"
"Maybe." He sighed. "Is there a vet around here? He might be micro-chipped. Could find the owner."
"Great idea. But… how we gonna get him there? He can't walk."
Shrugging off his jacket, Nino knelt beside the dog and, after letting him sniff it, wrapped it around him, careful of his bad leg and lifted him up. The dog struggled for a bit but once comfortable, settled with his head on Nino's shoulder.
They walked towards a vet, the dog silent as it was carried, Nino petting and stroking him as they went. Alya smiled at him. "Never knew you were a dog fella Nino." She teased.
Nino shrugged. "Always wanted a dog but mom said I wasn't responsible enough."
She smiled at him before they arrived at the vets, Nino sitting down with the dog while Alya spoke to the receptionist. Luckily the surgery was quiet and they were seen after only a few minutes. The vet in a white lab coat smiled at them. "Hello there. And who do we have here?"
"We don't know. We found him in the park. We hoped you could tell us his owner." Alya explained as Nino put the dog down.
"He won't put any weight on his back leg either." Nino explained, stroking the dog's face as he did.
The vet nodded and looked at the leg. "He's got some nasty bites here… might have been attacked by another dog. I'll bandage it up but it doesn't look too bad." He picked up a small device and scanned it over the dog's neck. When the machine bleeped, he took the code and sent it to his computer.
Alya, sharp eyed, caught the address on the screen and frowned. "Hey, wait up."
"What is it?" The vet said as he turned to bandage the leg.
"That address, its fake. I live on that road and there's no house number 37. It stops at 24."
The vet frowned then turned to the computer, taking the phone number on the file and calling it before putting the phone down. "A fake number too."
Nino grimaced as he looked at the dog. "So… what happens now?"
The man sighed. "He'll have to be treated as a stray… and once he's better, if no one claims him… he'll have to go to the pound."
Alya gasped as she looked at the dog who was unaware of the problems around him and was busy licking Nino's face. Nino turned to the doctor then looked at the animal, smiling at him. "What if… I took him in?"
"What?"
"I'm earning from my DJing now, and our apartment takes dogs… so what if I look after him."
"Are you sure?" The vet questioned. "This is not a choice to be taken lightly."
Nino looked back at the animal and nodded. "I've grown attached to the little dude." He laughed, scratching behind his ear. "I'll check with my mom but… I bet she'll be cool."
"Young man, this dog has already been abandoned once. You have to be completely serious about looking after him."
"I am, I swear, I'll look after him." Nino promised. "Look, I'll do whatever it takes. Promise!"
The man took a moment before sighing and nodding in agreement. "Okay then, I'll get you a collar for him and then we have some paperwork to fill out."
"Thank you." Alya and Nino replied together, watching the man leave the examination room and going to play with the pup while the vet made his way to a store room, sighing as he did.
He stood in the small room and looked at the collection of collars they had before picking out a dark blue one, but froze as he stood holding it. "How could someone do that to a dog?" He muttered, "How can someone be so cruel?"
A butterfly soon merged with the collar in his hands and a voice started in his ears. How right you Dr. Fang. My name is Hawk Moth, a friend to all animals. How could someone abandon a beloved pet? A companion? A child's best friend!? Help me and I can give you the power to change all of that. All I need in return is a little favour when the time is right. Do we have an agreement?.
Dr Fang smiled. "Yes Hawk Moth." He said as the black ooze flowed over him.
Back in the examination room, Nino and Alya were going back and forth with ideas for names of their new dog when the floor began to shake, anything not bolted down trembling until it came to an edge and dropped to the floor. As Alya, Nino and the dog dove under the examination table, the roof and wall began to crumble before a white dog as big as the room stretched out, arching his head back and howled to the sky.
"What the…" Nino cried as he peaked out.
"Is that a..." Alya gasped at a loss for words, fumbling to find her phone while Dr Fang walked out of the rubble, sniffing the floor before growling and running off down the road.
Without a second hesitation, Alya snapped out her shock and had her phone out, broadcasting live as she ran after the Akuma, holding her phone as steady as she could. "Hey Lady Bloggers!" she panted as she ran, trying to keep up with the beast. "What's up? I'm… following… what seems… to be a giant dog Akuma." She tried, gasping as she hurried. "If Ladybug, Chat Noir or Royal Peacock can see this we need you stat! This puppy is a big one!"
Across the city, the moment she started blogging, the three heroes all received an alert on their phones and quickly turned to watch the introduction of the live stream. Once they got the location, they each hurried to hide and transform, running, swinging or flying towards the point of the attack.
Chat arrived first, landing in the middle of the road in front of the Akuma who was sniffing around trees that were nearly as big as him. "Whoa their doggy." He teased, drawing his sword. "Don't think there are any trees around here big enough for you so don't even think about lifting a leg."
Dr Fang snapped his head to face the hero, eyes narrow while growling before a purple mask covered his face. Get me his miraculous! Hawk Moth's voice echoed through his head and the massive beast growled at the cat themed superhero in response, showing off his canines before pouncing forwards, snapping out to swallow the cat.
With a loud yelp the cat jumped, narrowly avoiding the bite but then was faced with a large claw being swiped at him but luckily a wire wrapped around his waist and pulled him away in time.
"My lady!" He called with relief as he landed beside her.
"Hey Chat." She smiled. "Looked like you need a hand."
"From you, anytime."
Dr Fang growled as he turned in the road, hunches high and fangs on show then charged towards the pair, making them split and head up to the roofs but the dog was large enough to jump up and follow them. "Yikes!" Chat called as it followed him. "Someone give this dog a bone!"
"How about a birdie instead!" Called Peacock as she swooped down from above and kicked the Akuma in the side.
The blow caused Fang to lose his balance on the titled roof and went howling down to street level but as the trio looked down, they saw him get back up, licking his paw before looking up and growling at the trio before he began climbing back towards them.
Chat looked at his partner and glared. "Great Peacock, you really got his attention now!"
"I was getting him off your tail fur ball!"
"Less talking, more running!" Ladybug squeaked as she turned and ran while Dr Fang followed them with more gusto than before.
"We need a plan!" Peacock called.
"Let's split, he can't follow all of us!" the red hero replied as she turned from the group, the others following her led.
Fang chose to follow Peacock who groaned as she realised it. "Hate it when that cat is right." She muttered to herself before taking up the sky to try to lose the Akuma but it didn't work as the canine appeared to be able to track her and keep up.
Chat chuckled as he stood with Ladybug, watching as the dog jumped up and tried to bite Peacock only for her to swoop higher just in time. "Well, this is amusing."
"Not the time Chat."
"Yeah, I know." The black cat chuckled "You got a plan?"
"Not yet."
"Okay then, I'll go help Birdie while you come up with a plan." He offered then jumped off the roof to go join his friend.
"Hey kitty! How nice of you to show up." Peacock called from the sky before she pulled up to avoid getting bitten.
"Well I thought you might want a hand so I popped by." He replied, casually sitting on the edge of a nearby balcony.
Finding a safe spot on top of a house, Peacock glared at him. "Well, how about you get this pup off me?"
"Sure thing blue." The cat replied as he jumped down to face the Akuma, sword at the ready once more. "Hey Puppy, I think your barking up the wrong tree."
Dr Fang turned from his attack on Peacock and growled as he stalked towards Chat, fangs glaring and eyes locked on his target. Chat tried his best to hold his ground but as the dog stepped forwards once more, he quickly turned tail and ran. With a bark, Fang was after him.
Behind them, Peacock followed closely, watching as the cat led the Akuma away from the city and into a large park where the trees were much taller and older. It was in one of these that Chat Noir decided to stop and climb up to a point he would be out of the dog's reach.
Peacock swooped in and stood on a branch with him. "So… any ideas how to deal with this Akuma?"
Chat shook his head as he watched the beast jump up and snap, trying to bite at them. "Not a clue. But I would have to guess that the Akuma is in that collar he is wearing."
"I think so too. But with him trying to eat us, how are we going to get it?"
"We need to distract him."
Peacock gave him a smirk. "Could always give him a cat shaped chew toy."
"He looks more of a bird boy to me." Chat teased back just as quickly. "But seriously, we need to get out of here somehow."
Dr Fang was still continuing to snap and claw at them in hopes of claiming one as a prize.
"Hey puppy! Go bark up some other tree will you!" Chat shouted down at the Akuma.
That didn't help much as he only continued to bark at them before pulling away and instead turned to dig at the roots, making the whole tree shake and threaten to topple over. Clinging tight to a branch, the cat looked back down. "Hey! Hey! Watch it! Cat stuck up a tree here!"
Peacock rolled her eyes at his joke as she held to the tree. "Seriously?"
He grinned at her but then the tree shook once more so he turned to holding on tighter. As the tree shook once more, a whistle filled the air and everyone, including Dr Fang turning to see what had caused the noise. Ladybug was stood on top of a statue while in her hands was a large red and black spotted beach ball. She grinned as she saw the Akuma's eyes light up with excitement, tracking every move she made with the ball. The superhero turned it to the left then to the right, grinning as she captured the Akuma's attention before throwing it off into the distance with a loud 'FETCH!'
The Akuma bound off to collect the item while Ladybug looked up at the two stranded heroes. "You two alright?"
"Peachy." Peacock scoffed.
"I have an idea on how to get the Akuma!"
"How?"
"We need to get him to that brick wall, over there. Chat, use Cataclysm and make a hole in the middle. Peacock, use an illusion on the other side. Got it?"
Both of the heroes in the tree nodded, looking where she was pointing before jumping from tree to tree, heading to where she had pointed. Just as they arrived and got to work, Ladybug felt the ground bounce as the Akuma came back, ball in his mouth which he dropped at her feet, bowing forwards in excitement. Looking at the slobber covered ball, Ladybug wasn't overly excited about picking it up again but when she didn't Dr Fang bounced forwards and licked her instead. Being as large as he was, one swipe of his tongue was more or less the whole of Ladybug's body and she found herself completely soaked, her hair sticking up into the air from the force she had been licked.
"Eww." She moaned as she looked at the Akuma. "That... was gross." She complained, stiffly walking over to the lucky charm before picking it up and throwing it towards the wall where Chat and Peacock had been working. A moment later the ball bounced through the hole in the wall and Dr Fang hurried to get his chew toy.
As soon as his head was inside the hole, an illusion shifted away to reveal it was a lot smaller than first believed and when Fang tried to pull back, his head was too big to get out.
Chat and Peacock came down from their hiding place as they saw how he was stuck, grinning at the simplicity of the plan. Chat smirked as he looked at the Akuma. "Looks like someone needs to 'let the dog out'"
Peacock glared at him. "Bad Cat." She scolded before looking at the very slimy Ladybug. "Oh... Ladybug... you... umm, you've got a little..."
"Yeah, I know." She grunted. "Let's just get the Akuma so I can fix all this."
"I'll get the collar." Peacock said, sliding up one of her blades from her fan and throwing it across the street. Without harming the giant dog, it cut the collar off from his neck, letting it fall to the floor where it broke against the ground; a small black butterfly soon flitting away.
Stiffly, still cover in dog slobber, Ladybug captured it and released the pure white butterfly. Chat was kind enough to retrieve the ball for her and with it sent up into the sky, everything was cleaned, fixed and where a dog with his head in the wall was now a very confused looking vet.
With the mess Dr Fang had created cleaned up, Paris found itself back to normality and began counting down to the next Akuma attack. But until it came, they lived their lives in as much normality as they could manage.
Alya and Nino decided that their 'date' had been and overall success and made it official, inviting the other two couples they knew, even if one was 'unofficial' to a picnic lunch date as the park. It was also at this time and place that they introduce 'Fang' the little pup Nino had adopted and Alya had named after the Akuma.
As the group met up for their date, everyone was gushing over how cute Fang was and how he rolled over for belly rubs. Although Annamarie and Louie got a fair bit of the dog's attention, Fang appeared to love Marinette, often going over and trying to lick her face.
Oddly however, Marinette wasn't so keen on being 'licked' by the pup.
A/N: Okay, I will confess, not my best chapter but I wanted an animal themed Akuma and… you are never going to see Fang again… I think he is going to live on a farm. But thank you to everyone who has reviewed, it really makes my day. I love ever since of one of them.
Thank you.
And I hope you all have an amazing Christmas and New Year.