The farmer, Dan, only looked shocked after Tod's surprise attack for a short bit before he raised his gun to deal with this other fox intruding upon his property. "Sir, you shoot and you'll have more trouble than you do already!". Dan turned towards the voice and found a young park ranger, probably not older than eighteen, walking up. He sighed.
"Hey look, it's my master!" Clover said, "he must'a somehow followed us or Copper over here". The park ranger, Todd, frowned as he walked up. "Please don't tell me that little kit in the cage is the same fox you said the two puppies helped you ward off" he said in disbelief. Dan frowned, "What are you doing snooping around here anyway?" he asked.
"I'm not" Todd replied, "I want looking for mine and my friend, Andy's, two puppies and in following the tracks of both them and Mr. Slade's dog stumbled upon this situation! Now pleased explain yourself!" he stated firmly. Dan frowned once more, "I don't gotta tell you nothin'. That fox was after my chickens and I got a right to".
"Sir, there is no hunting allowance in the world that would justify you shooting down a young fox kit, and definitely not one that would allow you to keep him pinned up!".
As this argument raged, Copper and Cash could relax a bit and try once more to coax Tod awake. The fox was already beginning to stir from having hit the wall. "I...it's just such a shock to see you suddenly after so long" Copper admitted as Tod came around a bit. Cash chuckled slightly, "You're telling me, last I saw you two you weren't much higher than my knee and now...".
Tod shook his head as he came to full consciousness. "Wha-what?" he began to ask, then he remembered the past occurrences, "Binx!" he exclaimed in shock, leaping up, "I've got to...". It was then that Tod noticed Cash as well. His eyes went wide, "No...way".
" 'fraid so" Copper said with a grin, "looks like we've bumped into the whole gang again" he added, turning to look at where Dixie, Waylon and Floyd were as well.
"Wait a minute, if you attacked the farmer then...is that your son in the cage?!" Cash asked Tod in shock. The fox nodded, "Yep, he was going after some chic--".
"Oh the kids already explained that whole tale to us" Dixie said, coming over as well as she noticed this reunion. "How you two doing?" she asked with a grin. "Now I know they aint your kin, but are either of those two puppies over there also associated with you?" she asked Copper knowingly. The hound smiled a bit, "Little spaniel's my charge and I'm helping teach her to hunt". Dixie shook her head in amusement.
"Wow, this is almost creepily similar" Cash said, "that we'd get pulled into helping a group of kids that just happen to be connected to you two".
"Except I'm not sure you were helping last time" Tod replied with a small smirk. It took only a few moments for the whole party to realize he was kidding and just poking fun at himself for his hostile attitude when he was a kit.
Cash glanced down, " 'fraid I'm guilt as charged of taking advantage of ya as a pup for my own advantages" he told Copper, "not that you haven't already figured that out". The hound smiled, "Hey, you got desperate and lost your head a bit, it's ok" he said.
Back with the two humans, the park ranger, Todd, walked over and lifted the cage down from the hook it was suspended on. "So...I believe I'll just confiscate this little fox kit and solve your little problem for you" he said. Dan looked agitated for a bit, then let out a slow huff of a breath. It wasn't worth getting a citation against him, he realized. "Fine, take the little thief away, but I warn you that little kit's more trouble than he looks like, you're in for a surprise!"
"I think I can handle it" Todd replied nonchalantly and started for the entrance of the barn. Chipi and the other kids looked at each other and realized that in one action, Clover's master had solved the problem. "Well, that was easy" Midnight commented from where he was currently crouched down hidden behind some hay when Clover's master had arrived. With a short whistle, and waiting to see if it would work, Todd whistled for Clover and hopefully also Chipi to follow him out. To his surprised, the two puppies padded after him.
"Good riddance!" Tiny barked after them in still annoyed parting.
As Tod watched his same named park ranger leave, he glanced over to Copper once more, "He's...trustworthy right?" he asked. Copper smiled, "Definitely, he's going to just go let him go somewhere, or maybe even take him back to the ranger station of he doesn't want to do that without knowing who the parents are, but either way he wouldn't hurt him". Tod nodded satisfied.
"Come on Copper, let's get you back to Mr. Slade" the park ranger next called. Copper slowly began to follow after. He noticed Tod slink off to the shadows and immediately understood his friends plan, he was going to follow after them secretly and be there when the park ranger let his son go, if it went that smoothly.
It looked like everything was taken care of, when suddenly a loop was thrown in. With a loud bellow, Dan's bull broke from his pen and charged straight for the group of strangers walking away from his territory. He had no idea they were leaving of their own accord, and was determined to make sure they were leaving. Cash and the other Singing Hounds started forward to try and dispel the situation and Dan and Lloyd had only just turned their attention to the situation, with no time to be able to help. Their eyes went wide in shock as they realized this fact.
Tiny looked as shocked as everyone else was, and then his ears suddenly went back in determination as he started forward himself to help. Even the little toy fox terrier puppy had no idea why he was suddenly helping both the fox kit that took his master's chicken and his friends in cahoots with him, but within a half a second span of time his entire attitude was flipped around and upside down and he was now rushing forward to help.
Had it been any other bull, and one who didn't belong to his master, Tiny wouldn't have had a chance; but this was no ordinary bull. "Terrance, you freeze right there!" the little toy fox terrier puppy exclaimed, rushing out in front of the ranger and other dogs and facing the bull. The bull, Terrance, skidded to a halt rather suddenly. "Wha--get on out of here kid, this is between me and the intruders!" he exclaimed in a deep voice.
"They're not intruders" Tiny found himself saying, "They just came to remove the little fox that stole some chickens, and frankly since I don't want to ever see him again, you just let them do it!" the little puppy demanded. Binx looked confused at the almost insult within the puppy's statement, but Chipi smiled a bit to herself at Tiny's excuse for sticking up for them.
Terrance frowned, yet knew he couldn't charge and injure this dog of the farmers who kept him feed. "Well...as long as they're leaving" he finally said in order to save his own pride as he turned and headed back towards the fence. It looked strange to see the bull next standing within the field calmly as a broken fence stood there and yet the bull stayed within the field. Dan slowly took this opportunity to walk up and see if he could attempt to fix the fence.
Lloyd rushed forward to hug his Singing Strays, thankful that they hadn't been hurt. Todd had yet to move, still shocked after the bull had charged them and they turned away after a few barks from a small puppy just a bit bigger than his foot.
As for the animals, they were all just stunned at Tiny's sudden defense of them. The toy fox terrier turned slowly to look at them unsurely after this defense and Chipi smiled at him. "Thanks a lot" she said gratefully.