Hi! I'm pleased to say that at last, I've got the next chapter up and ready. I must say, this one was quite daunting to write since there is so much happening in this little bit of time, and I wanted to make sure that I got to cover everything that needed to be covered at this point. But at last, it's done now! Thanks so much to XLR8 the Fox and Evil-Copper for their favorites/follows/reviews, and as always, Lady and the Tramp and 101 Dalmatians belong to Disney.
Chapter 28 – Inside The Lair
"What?" Patch asked, aghast. "You're joking!"
"No, I'm serious guys," Lucky said concernedly. "Mooch, Whizzer and Dipstick have joined up with the wild dogs. It's them, I know it!"
"I shouldn't be surprised," Cadpig sighed sadly, shaking her head. "I tried my best with him before, but it's in Mooch's inner nature to find pleasure in hurting others, and as for Whizzer and Dipstick, it's in their nature to be lackeys and followers."
"That doesn't mean they're bad though!" Two-Tone replied. "They've just … Went the wrong way, just like I did! Before I … Really got to know you Lucky and all you guys, and know what true love and friendship were!" Sighing and turning to the others, Two-Tone said, "I get why Mooch'd join up with them … But I don't think Whizzer and Dipstick would on their own … I've just gotta bring them back to us … Or else …"
But then, they suddenly heard snickers mysteriously coming from above. Petrified, they looked at each other in terror, as Lucky shouted, "Who's there?"
Hearing only snickers in response, they looked up and saw that from the ceiling, two chihuahuas had jumped out at them from above and landed right in front of them, smiling broadly. "Well well well, looks like we've struck kibble," the first one said in a greasy, raspy voice, "You fakes are very naughty."
"Don't get any ideas!" the other chihuahua shot back in a similar tone. "I heard them first."
"Where … Where did you come from?" Scamp asked, before looking up and gasping, seeing the answer right before his eyes. "You were spying on us in the pipes!"
"Yes, yes, you fools. You shoulda known this place would be under constant surveillance! Housedogs tried breaking in so many times that we're more than prepared for that! But in the end, they always get caught by our spy force! Thank you though for making me today's top dog, and hey, if you guys are on the wanted list … "
But at that moment, a red blur flew out behind the pipes, and bouncing off the wall, XL flew down and tackled the first chihuahua to the dirt pit underneath. The second turned to attack XL, teeth bared and claws out, but hurriedly, a brown blur swept down, pinning the chihuahua to the ground and breathing intensely, Collette stood angrily on top of him. "Don't you even think about it," she said warningly, and the two of them hurriedly stepped onto the chihuahuas' muzzles.
"All clear!" Collette called out above, and within seconds, Annette, Penny, Scavenger, and after a few seconds of squeezing through, Rolly jumped through. Remembering Scavenger's penchant for finding things, Cadpig said, "Scavenger? Can you find anything on a string around?"
Scavenger quickly obliged, and dug up a small key stashed in the dirt. Throwing it over to Cadpig, Cadpig dangled it in front of their faces as she said, "You are getting very sleepy …. Sleepy … Sleepy …"
Collette and XL then let go of the chihuahuas, who looked thoroughly dazed and slumped over to the ground, entranced.
"Where's Rebecca?" Penny asked, noticing her absence. "Did anything happen to her? Her cover didn't get blown, did it?"
"She's fine, but why are you guys here?" Patch asked bewilderedly.
"It's my fault," Collette said. "XL didn't come back, and I was concerned for him … So we followed … It turned out okay though, no one got hurt. Actually, better than okay, as XL found out something."
"Yeah," XL said excitedly. "I heard some barks and howls downstairs. I think that must be where they're keeping all the prisoners."
"We've got to figure out a way how to get down," Danielle said determinedly, but at that moment, the door opened, revealing a black lab. Eyeing the slumped forms of the entranced chihuahuas and the undisguised housedogs, he shouted, "Fakes!"
"You are getting sleepy," Cadpig said, quickly fixing her attention on the lab, and leaving him entranced in a matter of seconds. "Subconscious mind tricks," Cadpig explained to the others with a wink. "They always work."
Turning to face the chihuahuas and lab, still entranced and slumped over, Cadpig asked, "What are your names?"
"Fuego," the first chihuahua said
"Fierno," added the second.
"Crusher," said the lab, all with the same, monotone voice.
"It's nice to meet you," Cadpig said happily. "What have you been doing?"
"Spying," the chihuahuas answered, while the lab answered, "Patrolling halls."
"Are you the only ones on duty?" Cadpig asked determinedly.
"Yes," they all moaned.
Looking at them satisfied, Cadpig turned to the others. "Looks clear, no one else is spying on us."
"You're sure they're telling the truth?" Scamp asked.
"Yeah, they're in a deep sleep," Cadpig answered. "Hopefully I'll be able to work some of the aggression out of them in the meantime."
"We've got to hurry," Puffball said. "They're bound to send reinforcements as soon as they realize something's wrong."
"Cadpig, may I have the key for a second?" Penny asked.
"Okay," Cadpig agreed, tossing it to her before returning her attention to her hypnotized subjects. Leaping up to the door, Penny stuck the key in the keyhole, checking to see that the key fit. Seeing that it did, Penny pulled it out and gave it back to Cadpig. "This is the room's key, so all of us undisguised puppies will be safe here as long as we keep the room locked. We'll wait for you here while you guys look around."
"Problem is, we've got to get out somehow," Rolly moaned. "And there's no way I can climb up that wall."
"Not even if we offer you a rope of sausages?" Cadpig winked at him.
At that moment, Patch got an idea. "Hey … With all these dogs around, there's gotta be a rope around somewhere for tug-of-war games!"
"I'll try," Scavenger said, slipping off his collar and sniffing determinedly. "Yeah, I can definitely smell some rope somewhere around here."
"We'll find the rope," Collette said. "While you're investigating, we'll throw the rope up the pipe and climb up ourselves and wait for you to get back."
"Except for me," Cadpig said. "I need to make sure these guys stay hidden and hypnotized, and because of the noise you'll be making to get up the pies, you need someone to answer the door to prevent them from checking it out themselves."
"What'll you say to them?" Lucky asked.
"Hmm… I'll say that I'm chasing rats," Cadpig suggested. "It'd make noise and keep me in the room. Plus it'd be natural for them to be there, since they have some work to do in the housekeeping department."
"You can say that again," Rolly snickered.
"I think we're all set then," Scamp said determinedly.
Lucky nodded. "Let's try to cover the place as quick as possible."
Remembering their agreed upon partnerships, Scamp and Patch, Angel and Danielle, and Lucky and Puffball got together. Two-Tone, however looked at Cadpig. "I can't stay here with you, I've gotta get Whizzer and Dipstick back."
"I knew you were going to say that," Cadpig smiled. "And you're right, if anyone can bring Whizzer and Dipstick back, you can."
"Scamp and I will be nearby in case you need help," Patch said.
"I'll distract Mooch," Scamp said determinedly. "Then you can get to Whizzer and Dipstick without him butting in," as Two-Tone nodded understandingly.
So quietly, the undercover puppies except Cadpig filed out of the room. To their immense relief, the hallway was otherwise deserted. As soon as they did, Cadpig gave Penny the key again as she promptly shut and locked the door.
"Looks like Cadpig got to tell them the truth, no one else is patrolling," Scamp said, astounded.
"I know, she's great at this hypnosis stuff," Lucky replied.
Meandering through the hallway past many rooms, they couldn't help but notice how abandoned they all seemed.
"They'd all be out in the main complex," Puffball said. "The guards normally shoo out any stragglers for the day."
"Makes it all the better how there aren't any then," Danielle added. "Otherwise they'd be even surer to check out our room."
The soft sound of their footsteps hitting the dirt floor were the only sounds heard for a while, but a sound was coming from somewhere straight ahead. Proceeding onward, they walked past a brightly lit corridor jutting to the side and passed more sleeping quarters before seeing that a couple guard dogs were stationed there, blocking the path and plainly expressing that this area was off limits. Knowing they had to leave it alone for now if they wanted to check the rest of the hideout without suspicion, they turned back and darted into the bright hallway.
"Nobody really knew what was in that room," Puffball said cautiously.
"Do you think some stairs could be back there?" Patch asked.
"Maybe," Lucky answered. "We've got to let the others know and check it out at some point."
"Guys," Danielle gasped, and pointed at the wall, upon which, everyone's hearts suddenly jolted. A wanted poster, just like the one in Vendella's office, was hanging up on the wall, except that it was blown up to span several yards.
"Whoa, they're really after us," Lucky exclaimed, shaking his head.
"I don't remember these photos," Scamp whispered, looking at his picture sinisterly staring back at him. "Where do you think they got them?"
"Well, they took over the vet's," Angel pointed out. "They're probably photos from when we got our shots."
"No wonder we look like that!" Danielle said, shaking her head. "Still, they've got a tough operation. And it's easy to see why'd they'd hate us, we look like evil mutant aliens in those photos!"
Trying to ignore their mugshot-like photographs eerily staring back at them, they kept on going to which the noise in the background got louder and louder.
Turning another corner, they saw they were standing right next to a small hallway leading to an ajar door, where another guard was situated. Instantly, the guard saw the puppies. Fortunately, this one was expecting them. "'Bout time you noobs start trainin'. Go on," and he got out of the way as the puppies followed into the door.
They entered what appeared to be a giant gymnasium that was filled with hundreds of dogs engaged in determined activity. While there were many adults working out, most of the dogs were puppies, some of them even younger than they were, as well as a few larger adults who were off to the side of the main activity who looked to be acting as coaches.
"It's pretty neat," Scamp sighed, knowing all too well the excitement he first had upon visiting the junkyard and seeing how many could easily feel the same way here. A large racetrack surrounded the premises which dogs were running aggressively around at top speeds, and within its perimeter was a pool that, while extremely filthy and smelly, appeared to be quite popular as many dogs were swimming through the water, splashing with intense effort. Within the pool was an island, only connected to the track by a couple of bridges. On it, a large, square jungle gym was located with many rusty metal bars, upon which many dogs were doing pullups on. Some punching bags were also stationed around the jungle gym, which were all being violently punched and kicked at.
Upon closer inspection however, the puppies saw some things that made them very squeamish. Wanted posters were hung up every few feet, along with posters bearing simple slogans like, "Every Dog For Himself", "No Man Is Dog's Friend", "Real Dogs Rule," "Make Dogkind Strong", "Terminate The Traitors", "Train To Kill," "Time For Revenge", "Leashes Are For Losers", "No Force Is Too Great", and "Blood Leads To Glory". Throughout, giant stuffed dogs, sporting enormous collars and decked out in frivolous hairstyles and arrogant expressions, also were stationed, which were attacked by multiple dogs at once, egged on by a coach. The coaches at the track and swimming pool were aggressively yelling at the dogs, pushing them to run and swim harder and faster, and upon looking more carefully at the running and swimming dogs, the puppies realized that they were carting weight packs on their backs amounting to absurdly high loads. Likewise, they could see that many of these puppies were uncontrollably panting, their expressions seemingly lifeless from exhaustion, and oftentimes they uncontrollably swerved off into another lane. Every now and then, a running dog pushed another runner into the pool and laughed maliciously in triumph, causing the victim to swear revenge. Even more alarming sights were on the jungle gym, where they saw dogs shoving, pushing, hitting and viciously biting each other at great heights, often with only one paw on the bars. Oftentimes, these fights resulted with the combatants screeching and recoiling in pain, and after some particularly painful blows, sometimes caused them to lose their footing altogether and to hurl downward to the hard ground. To cap off the creepy factor, random screams of pain rang out that seemingly coming from a few dark rooms on a side wall, after which, a puppy emerged, looking thoroughly pleased with themselves, who then talked to a supervisor who beamed at them in malicious approval.
"What are you doing?" the guard to the room shouted from behind them, who noticed that they were too busy watching to get started. "Get to work!"
Hesitantly, they crept away from the guard. "The wreck room's upstairs," Puffball whispered, pointing to a staircase, and Scamp, Patch, and Two-Tone headed in that direction.
Angel, Danielle, Lucky and Puffball then huddled together.
"So, where's the downstairs?" Danielle asked.
"In the back left corner," Puffball said. "Behind a fighting ring, which is behind the lounge, but I've never got through it before."
"Right," Angel said, turning to Danielle. "Wanna check that out?"
"Yeah," Danielle replied determinedly.
"Right," Lucky said. "We better work out so they'll stop watching us."
"Watch out for the pool though," Puffball cautioned, as Lucky nodded in understanding. "We better run in the lanes away from it so no bully can push us in."
"See ya round," Lucky called out.
The group split up, and as Lucky and Puffball headed toward the track while Angel and Danielle skirted around the edge, looking for the basement.
Scamp, Patch, and Two-Tone steadily approached the stairway which was located along the back wall of the room. Along the wall, they saw that there was a tall set of closed doors, guarded by another pair of guard dogs.
"The pack meeting ain't happenin' yet," one growled.
Knowing that they had to investigate the upstairs, they kept on going, but not before looking back curiously. "Something's got to be there," Patch whispered. "If they've got someone to guard it." Making a mental note to keep that in mind, the three of them rounded the corner to proceed up the flight of concrete stairs separating the floors. They emerged on a concrete-covered floor that unlike the downstairs, had windows, but were they all covered up by iron bar grids, and were greeted once again by another guard. "Hey! I know you bums ain't worked out yet, so you better get your butts back down there."
"Yes, but we're part of Rebella De Vil's pack," Two-Tone warned. "D'you really wanna mess with Vendella?"
The guard grumbled, cursing under his breath, but allowed them through. Upon passing through, they couldn't help but notice that the atmosphere had considerably changed. While the noise downstairs included the grunts and groans of puppies working out aggressively and the yelling from the coaches, punctuated by the mysterious screams, the noise upstairs was one of wild shrieks and hollers of pure pleasure. Wondering what could cause this sudden change, they soon saw that the long hallway adorned with more wanted posters jettisoned in two ways, each with signs on them, one reading "WRECK ROOM" and the other reading "CATS".
"I'll check out the cats," Patch whispered, darting to the cat room, where another guard was standing. To Patch's surprise however, this one looked grimly gleeful, and seemed to be craning over something, not seem to even notice Patch walk into the room, until Patch walked right in front of the guard. "Move! I'm trying to watch!" the guard shouted, kicking Patch deeper into the room.
A large crowd of dogs was seated in a circle, tails wagging, and all looking away from Patch to the same point where the guard was watching and making raucous cheers and whoops of glee. Within the circle however, Patch could hear some deep, low growls and helpless cries. Not able to see anything, Patch walked around the crowd until he finally got to two puppies that he could peer over, and immediately upon doing so, he wished he hadn't. A wavy-haired red puppy with folded ears, tongue hanging out and eyes narrow like slits, was chasing a silver tabby covered in bruises and slash and bite marks, whose eyes were wide in terror as it ran around, completely surrounded by a mob of laughing, jeering wild dogs. Cornered, the cat shivered as the dog lifted up its paw triumphantly to strike. Seeing enough, Patch's stomach lurched as he heard the sound of an undoubtedly painful slash as a sickening cheer rang out from the crowd.
Walking around the circle, he noticed that at the back of the room was a jail gate blocking off the room's far side. Upon approaching it, he looked inside and couldn't help but gasp. Inside were small, cramped cages of cats, their bodies hunched tightly into the corners of their cages, ears back, and hissing loudly. "Just like at the vet's," Patch thought, and putting two and two together, he realized what the cats they had found at the vet's were there for and what their fate would have been had they not been rescued. As he sat thoughtfully, he noticed that there were two more guards stationed at the jail cell's entryway, and one of them had caught Patch's eye. Moving over, he growled, "Outta the way, pup. The line for cat torture's full."
Nodding, Patch walked around the other side of the circle, filled with disbelief and horror, as the crowd erupted into a cheer that he didn't want to fathom was for. Holding his head down to the ground to help conceal the revealing expressions that he knew were on his face, Patch took a few more steps before suddenly colliding into something warm and soft. Dazed for a moment, Patch looked up and to his surprise, the wavy-haired red puppy that had just been chasing the cats was also getting up, looking just as bewildered as he felt.
"Sorry," Patch said immediately, his heart beating rapidly.
To Patch's astonishment however, the puppy's eyes were much larger than the slits he had seen before, and his expression was in a slight smile. "My fault," he said friendlily. "Hey, I've never seen you before."
"I'm new," Patch said bewilderedly, in disbelief that this was the pup he had seen before. "Uh, nice chasing that cat."
"Oh yeah, that was fun," he said casually, as at that moment, another dog went into attack the cat. "It's a reward for hard training. You'll get a chance to do it too some time."
"Great," Patch replied, trying to muster up some enthusiasm.
"My name's Bullet," the puppy said cheerfully. "Wanna be friends?"
"Okay," Patch said, amazed that this wild dog wanted to be friends so quickly. They walked out of the cat room and into the hallway.
"C'mon, I'll show you the wreck room," Bullet said. Passing the hallway guards, they crossed into the wrecking room. Immediately, Bullet said, "What do you want to do? Rip up some refrigerators?"
"Um … How about we play some tug of war?" Patch asked. At once he wished he hadn't, for tug of war may very well have been too tame a game for these wild dogs' idea of fun.
To his shock however, Bullet jumped up and down excitedly. "You really mean that? That's my favorite! I just have that one rope in my space ... No one's asked me to play tug of war in ages!"
And quickly, Patch found a rope, and he and Bullet started pulling on. "Just don't go too hard on me!" Bullet exclaimed as Patch nodded. A warm feeling crept through his heart as they begun to tug and as he watched Bullet, who looked even more exciting doing this than attacking the cat.
"This is fun!" Patch cried out happily as Bullet nodded, amazed with how fun it was to play with this wild dog.
As they continued to tug, two male puppies, a black and tan young toy spaniel and an orange and white collie mix approached them and stared at them.
"Hi, my name's Cavalry," the spaniel said shyly.
"And mine's Ammo," the collie mix said. "Sorry to ask, but … Can we play too?"
"Sure!" Bullet exclaimed, before saying, "That's okay, right?"
"Yeah," Patch said. As Ammo joined Patch and Cavalry joined with Bullet and began to tug, Patch felt even more shocked. "What could make these dogs want to attack us?" he thought. As he thought this however, he couldn't help but feel as though he was being watched …
While Patch was investigating the cat room, Scamp and Two-Tone walked into the wreck room. Passing the guard who carefully watched them, they recoiled a bit as they entered.
"It looks like Buster's old junkyard," Scamp muttered, staring at the heaps of broken and destroyed rubble and demolished furniture lying around.
Two-Tone nodded before gasping alarmedly, "Look!" Beyond most of the piles of junk, a large number of what appeared to be new couches, refrigerators, carpets, pianos, and other large pieces of furniture and appliances were being ripped up and attacked by mobs of dogs. Looking at each other, Scamp and Two-Tone realized that they were both thinking the same thing: that this was undoubtedly practice for home raids.
"Where's Mooch?" Scamp asked Two-Tone quietly. Two-Tone scanned the place, and eventually she saw Mooch, Whizzer and Dipstick, who were busy ripping up a large refrigerator near the room's corner. "There, and that's Whizzer and Dipstick."
Nodding to Two-Tone, Scamp knew what he had to do. As Two-Tone crouched down to stay out of sight, Scamp proceeded forward, passing the various puppies and walked over to Mooch, hitting his back leg.
"Hey, you," Scamp shouted aggressively. He succeeded in getting Mooch's attention, as the teenage grey dog let go of the refrigerator rack he was chewing and turned to smirk at Scamp. "What is it?"
"That's my fridge!" Scamp shouted, stomping down hard with his front paw.
"Say that again?" Mooch dared as Whizzer and Dipstick sniggered.
"It's mine, so give it back, housedog!" Scamp shouted.
Mooch leered at Scamp intimidatingly as Whizzer and Dipstick stood by him. "Fighting words, kid," he said that. "You've picked the wrong dog to mess with, but you've got guts. I like that. Tell ya what. Let's settle this with a race downstairs. You win, you get the fridge. I win, you gotta steal me some extra kibble. Got it?"
"Fine," Scamp shot out angrily.
"Ten laps?" Mooch suggested.
"No way! That's kid's stuff," Scamp replied, knowing the longer the race would take, the more time it would give Two-Tone. "How about fifty?"
"You're really askin' for it," Mooch smirked. Turning to Whizzer and Dipstick, Mooch shouted, "You two stay right there while I beat up this loser."
"Right Mooch," Whizzer and Dipstick said at once as Mooch and Scamp turned to leave downstairs. Once Mooch's back was turned, Two-Tone snuck out of hiding and crept over to Whizzer and Dipstick's refrigerator. However, Whizzer then yawned. "I'm tired."
Pausing, Two-Tone began to rip a pillow as she listened to her foster siblings.
"Me too," Dipstick said. "I'm sick of all this working out."
"Eh, it's okay as long as Mooch is there for us," Whizzer said. "And we've got all the junk we could want."
"Still, we've never been short of junk at the farm," Dipstick said. "Don't get why Mooch wanted to come."
"I dunno either," Whizzer shrugged. "Maybe he wants more stuff?"
Just then, they were interrupted as a well-muscled grey puppy with dark grey short ears, a small tuft of hair, and a lightly furred dark grey tail, green eyes, and speckles on his back swaggered through the junk and approached Whizzer and Dipstick. "What are you two doing loafing around?" he asked menacingly.
"We're waiting for our boss to get back," Dipstick answered simply.
The puppy smirked. "Get back to destroying something, idiots," he said condescendingly. "Or else I'll inform the bosses about this."
"Right Wilder," they said, and Wilder stalked off. Two-Tone gasped, and upon watching Wilder return to a broken couch, she saw the faint similarities to Puffball but still had a hard time believing that he was really Puffball's brother. Quickly however, she returned her gaze to Whizzer and Dipstick. Knowing that Scamp wouldn't be able to hold Mooch off forever, she approached her former gang members, seeing enough and knowing them well enough to know just what to do.
"Ugh, that Wilder is a real jerk, isn't he?" Two-Tone groaned.
Whizzer and Dipstick turned and looked at her, completely unrecognized to them in her black disguise. "Yeah, he sure is," Whizzer said slowly as Dipstick nodded dimly. "Whoa! Cool sunglasses."
Knowing that Whizzer and Dipstick were unlikely to catch onto leading questions, Two-Tone pressed on quietly. "Why are you guys here anyway? You don't seem like you'd like roughing it."
"No, we don't," Dipstick said, as Whizzer nodded. "Our boss said we should go, so we just followed him."
"And he didn't ask what you'd want?" Two-Tone asked slowly.
"Well, uh," Dipstick said nervously, before gasping, "Oh no! You're here to get us in trouble!"
"No," Two-Tone smiled, with a wink. "I'm here to get you out of it."
Downstairs, Lucky and Puffball walked over to the track, hoping to buy the others as much time as possible, where the nearby coach stared at them expectantly. "Come on, you plodders," the coach shouted. "Get to work!"
"We know," Lucky said exasperatedly. Heading over to the track, they felt the coach immediately place some heavy weights on their back. "100 laps!" he shouted.
Groaning, the two puppies immediately set to work. Carting the extremely heavy weight packs pressing down on them, they struggled to sustain more than a slow jog around the very long track. By the time they reached the halfway point of their first lap, they were already being taunted by many of the more athletic wild dogs working out, and Lucky and Puffball, though able to reply with some in-character comebacks at first, soon became too tired to say anything in response.
"How long have we been doing this?" Puffball growled angrily after crossing the first lap, causing the coach who placed the weights, along with several passersby, to snicker loudly.
"Ten minutes," Lucky answered as Puffball groaned. Seeing Puffball losing his cool like this made Lucky very worried, for as if their slowness wasn't conspicuous enough, he realized Puffball's complaints could self-incriminate him to the coaches, who undoubtedly have heard Puffball react similarly before. Remembering all the times he had to motivate Rolly to keep going, which usually resulted in success, Lucky whispered, "That's ten minutes that the others have been checking things out."
Puffball smiled appreciatively at Lucky as they stopped to take a drink. Although the water was chlorinated and disgustingly murky, they were parched and knew there was no point in asking the coaches for a break or a water dish. Looking very carefully to stand at a part of the edge untouched by water, Lucky drank first while Puffball watched over him to make sure no bullies were planning to push him in the pool.
Being sure to allow only his tongue to touch the water, Lucky couldn't help but notice that there was a slight glimmer coming from the water's bottom. After waiting for Puffball to drink, Lucky then told Puffball, who looked very interested.
"It could be something really important," he whispered softly. "That's why it's in the middle of the place, so everyone would see if someone tries to take it. I'd like to see someone try to sneak it out."
At that moment, they were surprised to see that coming down the stairs were Scamp and ….
"Great, it's Mooch," Lucky warned Puffball. "We better get out of the way. He loves mean pranks and will love to push us in the water."
"You take the outer lane so Mooch won't be able to smell you," Puffball whispered. "I'll tell Scamp about the shine."
Soon, Scamp and Mooch arrived at the track. Lucky and Puffball purposefully paced themselves so they'd be at the track's entrance when Scamp and Mooch arrived, and this effort paid off for they were just a little ways from getting to Scamp.
As they passed by each other, Puffball whispered to Scamp, "Look in the water."
Scamp looked curiously at Puffball, but Mooch said, "Ready to get creamed?"
"Yeah right," Scamp growled. "I'll even give you a lap's head start."
"That's a good one, but okay," Mooch laughed, who took off down the track, giving Scamp the chance to see the shine. As Lucky and Puffball pretended to collapse in exhaustion in front of Scamp to distract the others, Scamp approached the track's edge and looked in the water. Trying to stare through the cloudy water, Scamp laid his eyes on the shine, and fixated carefully on it. Then as a wiry brown grey and dog swam by, upsetting the current, Scamp saw a large blue key was attached to a keyring at the pool's bottom.
"Get a move on, loser!" a voice suddenly shouted, and Scamp felt himself pushed toward the water as Mooch passed by. His heart beating in panic, Lucky and Puffball hurriedly reached out to pull Scamp back up, but not before his blackened back paws touched the water's edge. At once, a small black cloud emerged in the water which quickly dissipated, but the black paint around his paws was gone. Worriedly glancing around him, Scamp saw that luckily no one seemed to have noticed the incident apart from Lucky and Puffball. Thankfully nodding to them, Scamp tore after Mooch, hoping with all his heart that no one would notice that anything funny had happened with the water or with his back paws …
Walking along the edge of the room, Angel and Danielle steadily headed over to the left side of the room.
"So, the basement's behind the fighting ring, which is behind the lounge," Danielle muttered as Angel nodded. With one of the nearby coaches busy putting weights on Lucky and Puffball and the other busy yelling at the dogs attacking the giant stuffed dog to bite harder, the two of them were able to walk past without any coaches being able to question their movements.
As they passed by the side of one of the mysterious dark rooms, they heard a series of fierce snarls, followed by a vaguely familiar long, low, mournful howl. Before they could react though, a grey and white schnauzer scooted out of the room. Seeing Angel and Danielle, she asked, "Hi! You two new here?"
Nodding hesitantly, the schnauzer smiled. "Nice to meet ya! Have ya had a go at the traitor scottie in there?"
"Oh yeah, we've done him loads of times," Danielle spat out nervously.
The dog smiled. "Serves 'em right, rotten housedogs, for taking away our families. See you round!" before she headed off to the jungle gym.
"What did she mean, taking away our families?" Angel asked Danielle slowly. "And ... Do you think ... that scottie ..."
"I don't know, but … I think that it's … Uncle Jock!" Danielle whispered in terror. As Angel looked at her, her fears echoed, Danielle growled, "We've gotta get him outta there!"
Danielle made a charge to the entry, but reluctantly, Angel held her back. "How can we? There's bound to be guards watching over him and we can't blow our cover," she said sadly.
"I don't care about our cover!" Danielle hissed. "Let me at 'em!"
"Danielle, please," Angel told her desperately. "This could be our only chance, so we can't blow it!" Putting her paw bracingly under Danielle's chin, Angel smiled, "We'll get Jock out, I know it, but we've got to stick together to make it happen! Now, let's find the basement so we can free him and the others once and for all." Danielle sighed and reluctantly nodded.
Flustered with the shocking encounter, Angel and Danielle did the best they could to maintain their composure as they arrived at the lounge door, only reassured by each other's company and knowing that they and the others were doing their best to infiltrate the wild dogs' headquarters.
"Ready?" Angel asked Danielle.
"You bet," Danielle replied.
They entered to find a long room where a large number of dogs were standing around and eating piles of what appeared to be rotten meat scattered throughout on the dirty floor. Flies swarmed all throughout the room.
"Ugh," Danielle whispered, gagging, for next to all of the meat was yet more waste as Angel exchanged a similar look of disgust. Trying hard to not think about the unsanitary conditions any further and stave off the smell of the rotten meat, they noticed that an apricot colored spaniel with a brown nose and thick, bulging muscles was sitting on the stool. Catching the eye of the new entries, he leaped off the chair and walked up to them with a smirk. "I ain't seen you hot chicks around. The name's Chuck, and am I your dream hunk or what?"
Forcefully reminded of Buster's endless arrogant flirting with her, Angel couldn't help but to glare at Chuck venomously, luckily the sunglasses helped conceal her expression. Knowing that it would be good to take Chuck's focus off Angel, Danielle quickly shouted "You're sure forward!"
"I have an eye for fine babes," Chuck sneered. Turning and smirking, he then said, "Tell ya what, let me show you how cool I am."
Following Chuck uncertainly, Angel and Danielle past through the piles of rotting meat before approaching a small group of puppies hiding in a huddle against the wall. In the middle lay a bulky boy basset hound, prostrated out on his belly and looking very fatigued. Nearby was a orange and white girl corgi, a chocolate and white girl pug mix, and a chestnut boy chi-weenie, all of whom were softly talking to the basset hound. "Watch and learn," he smirked. Then he approached the basset hound, who at once, made a huge retching noise and vomited right at Chuck's feet.
"How dare you," Chuck growled indignantly before turning to the whole group. "You lot! All of you! You've been here long enough. Get to work!"
"Tank's got food poisoning again," the corgi sighed as the basset hound moaned. "He needs to rest, and we need to give him company."
"Get up slackers! Back to work! 100 laps, all of you!" Chuck exclaimed.
"We can't go any farther," the chi-weenie said, shaking his head as the others murmured in agreement. "It's easy for you, you don't have short legs."
"Or flat faces," the pug mix added.
"Stupid excuses," Chuck responded. but at that point, Danielle moved in front of them. "Leave 'em alone!" she shouted.
The puppies looked aghast at Danielle, and they weren't alone. Across the room, an awkward silence ran through as puppies' heads turned to look at Danielle as Chuck leered at her. "Looks like you've cast yourself off with the losers," before turning Angel. "You're gonna come with me or what?"
"I'm not your girl," Angel smirked, feeling immense pleasure in saying that once again.
"Suit yourselves, losers," Chuck smirked before returning to his stool. As the hubbub subsided, Danielle felt herself gently tapped, and turning, Danielle felt that the corgi was looking at her expectantly.
"You're cool," she said admiringly. "New here?"
Danielle nodded, and the others smiled. "You've just got yourself in loads of trouble," the corgi continued, "And you don't even know us. Oh yeah, my name's Carrier, but Carrie for short."
"I'm Boots," the pug mix said.
"I'm Trooper," the chi-weenie said. "What about you?"
"Uh," Danielle said uncertainly, looking at Angel, who she knew was thinking the same thing – these dogs all had militaristic names. "Uh … My name's Lou, uh …."
"And mine's Tenant," Angel said quickly, covering up for Danielle's moment of hesitation.
"Neat! You two share a name!" Carrie explained.
"It's because Ang … I mean, Tenant and I are as good as sisters!" Danielle said tensely. "We found each other when we were just puppies, then we met Rebella and formed a pack before joinin' up with you guys!"
"Tell us some stories! Of your pack life!" Tank asked before letting out a wretch.
"Well, there was one time when we killed a fox …" Danielle began.
But at once, Carrie interrupted. "No, what we mean is … Tell us of some great times that you puppies have had together! You and Tenant sure are close, so tell us about your whole pack and how close to each other you are!"
Thoroughly taken aback and looking at Angel in shock, Danielle began nervously, "Tenant and I met our … friend … Scout first," she said hesitantly as Angel nodded encouragingly. "He's a real fun guy, who loves to go exploring … And get into mischief … He's kinda immature and clumsy sometimes, but we really love him and he's part of the gang, isn't he Tenant?"
"He sure is," Angel smiled.
"My boy … I mean my friend Private is really cool but he worries a lot," Danielle continued. "Platoon and Lightning have been rivals but are best buds now, after we worked a lot of our problems out with … With Rebella. Cadet is the runt, but she's got a ton of personality. And Rebella and Crossbone help keep us together, so we can keep on having fun and games and keep on loving each other as a true pack of dogs!"
The puppies looked at Danielle eagerly, while Angel said, "Speakin' of the rest of our pack, I better see where they've gotten up to."
"Cool! Can we see them?" Carrie asked.
"Yeah!" Tank said in between coughs.
"Maybe soon," Danielle said hopefully. "Once Tenant finds 'em," as Angel left. Danielle meanwhile continued, "We're a pack that gets along great, and we're together because we really like each other. We're not a pack constantly backstabbing or bullying each other. I guess that's why I talked to Chuck like that, because we don't do that in our pack."
"Don't worry, we're used to it," Boots said. "At least they're with us in trying to get revenge on the housedogs and humans for killing our parents."
"Housedogs and humans killed all your parents?" Danielle asked, shocked.
"Oh yeah," Trooper said. "That's why the bosses gave us names, because our parents never gave us any and we grew up in the pack."
"I want them to get a taste of what I'm feeling!" Tank exclaimed as he vomited again as the others nodded in fervent agreement.
Quickly wanting to change the subject, Danielle continued, "Well, we don't fight like that in our pack. We're a pack who are always there for each other when we need help, who treat each other like we'd wanna be treated, and so close with each other that we feel like family."
Sighing, Carrie said, "I wish the bosses can be more like that sometimes."
"Me too," Boots said as Trooper and Tank nodded, as Danielle watched them in disbelief. "How could they be this nice but still want to hurt Uncle Jock like that?"
Slipping past the group of puppies, Angel looked back as she stood by the back door of the lounge. Seeing that Chuck was busy ordering a group of puppies out of the lounge, Angel silently slipped through the door. At once, she noticed that she was in a small, stifling room with a wrestling ring occupying most of it. In the wrestling ring was a muscular brown dog with a black muzzle, black saddle on its back, and black ears and paws, pacing around the ring restlessly. Knowing it would be best to remain hidden, Angel rarely even glanced at this dog, but couldn't help but notice that he was sporting a chain around his neck on with an orange key attached to it. Curious but patient, she silently left the room unseen as the dog continued to pace.
To her excitement, Angel saw that upon turning she had arrived at a long wooden flight of stairs. "Here goes," Angel whispered to herself.
Making sure no one was watching her, she purposefully walked down the stairs before finally ending with another door, which was luckily ajar. Slipping through, Angel saw that the room she had entered was a very dark hallway, with a cold concrete floor. Upon her eyes adjusting to the darkness, the first thing she saw was a large steel door with a large keyhole. Walking over to it, she tried pushing the door open only to see that it was closed. Jumping up to press the handle, the handle too did not budge. Finally, she decided to look through the keyhole to see if she could see what was beyond the door, and saw only that the hallway continued from beyond it, with nothing else visible.
It was then when Angel realized that some of the noises she thought had been hearing upstairs were actually in the basement, and walking back, she realized that they were coming from her left, where another door was situated. Listening in, she could make out that a strong, angry voice was ringing through the room, followed by murmurs of what seemed to be a crowd. Wondering what this was, she was about to try to jump at the handle when …
"Attention!" A megaphone suddenly rang out, causing Angel to freeze, her heart racing. "A mandatory pack meeting will be held in the speech hall. Arrive there or else!"
Hearing the speaker and crowd stop and the sound of paws approaching her from the room, she tore up the stairs, eager to alert the others to what she found.
