My first fic of 2020, as always enjoy and leave reviews. I read them even if I'm not very responsive.
It had been three months since that terrible incident, Dawkins was in his room hard at work on a new invention. He wasn't sure it was possible, but he wanted to try. The inventor pondered if this was even a good idea.
Dante entered the room, he was curious as to what the inventor was up to. "What are you up to, Dawk?" The goth pup replied, having gone back to the fur dye. He did tone his antics down a bit, but he just felt the fur dye looked cool.
"I have been working on a new machine, I'm not sure it'll work though," Dawkins shared with the goth who cocked his head to the side. "What's it gonna do? Time travel?" Dante asked, thinking of the possibilities that could entail.
"No, it's… Alright, this is gonna sound odd. But, it's a resurrection machine," the inventor told Dante, the goth blinked as he processed the information. "Wait, bro. You mean to tell me, you are trying to build a machine to bring back the dead?" Dante asked in confusion.
"It's an idea, I'm not sure it will work. This is all built on speculation, and I need a mechanic to help with some of the parts," Dawkins shared with his confounded brother. "What if someone tries to build a zombie army with it?" The goth asked quizzically, the inventor waved a paw around.
"Dante, there's no such thing as zombies. Besides, I'm not sure how this is gonna work," Dawkins told the goth, skeptical of Dante's fears. "How exactly did you construct this?" the goth asked the inventor, curious about his brother's invention.
"I read up on some research on theories involving reviving a living being, I have guessed on everything. But, I need someone with experience working on different machines. This is a secret from Dylan, he's been too focused on chores," Dawkins admitted to Dante.
"Who else do you know that can help?" The goth asked still curious about the machine, Dawkins shook his head. "None, and I need someone who can crawl through a tight space," the inventor told his brother with an exasperated sigh.
"Well, maybe Fergus knows someone. Let's go talk to him," Dante told the inventor, wanting an excuse to get outside. "Yes, I guess we could. I haven't since he and Dolly…" Dawkins said remembering them breaking up.
"Yes, but it's been a couple weeks. They're still friends, let's get going. You need to get outside for a bit," the goth told his brother who seemed to agree. Making their way out of the house, they past by their many siblings who were getting ready to go to the park.
"Where are you two going?" Dylan asked the two as he counted pups, Dante and Dawkins shrugged, having no reason to lie. "We're going to see Fergus, we need his help with something," Dawkins told his older brother, Dylan nodded and let them go.
Dante waved to Dolly as he passed her, the tomboy was busy talking with Dizzy and Dee Dee. The goth decided not to bother his sister, who gave him a nod to acknowledge him. The two brothers exited the doggy door and began walking towards the bridge the fox was often at.
"For the record, I still think this is a terrible idea," Dante told the inventor, Dawkins looked at his brother with a curious gaze. "Then, why are you willing to help me?" Dawkins asked the goth, who grimaced as he looked around.
"Someone has to make sure you don't go all 'Dr. Frankenstein' on us," Dante joked with some truth in his statement. "Don't worry, Dante. The worst that can happen is nothing," Dawkins reassured his brother.
The inventor was worried his brother may be right, it did feel wrong from a moral sense. The thought of bringing someone back from the dead, something from fantasy. Part of him hoped it would fail, he felt as if it was going too far.
The nagging feeling continued in his head, as the two brothers walked in silence. He remembered when Dante pulled the prank with Portia to teach Dylan a lesson, the inventor wondered if the goth was thinking of a similar plan.
"Are you sure about doing this, Dawkins? We've come a long way, what if… This causes us more unnecessary grief?" Dante looked to the inventor for an answer, Dawkins couldn't find a suitable answer.
They were about to walk by the park when they noticed a familiar looking fox digging through the trash. "Fergus, we have a question," Dawkins told the fox, who's ears perked up. "It wasn't me! I mean, what's the question?" Fergus asked surprised by the two pups, and falling deeper into the trash can.
"Do you know anyone who can help work on machinery?" Dawkins asked the fox, who grinned at the inventor. "Why I know just the pup, a little new in town. But, she's always messing with old bikes and gadgets, you two would get along great," Fergus told the two brothers.
The fox got out and lead the two to a scrapyard. He brought them through a broken part of the fence, rusting old cars and mechanical parts littered the dirt land. "So, what happened between you and Dolly again?" Dawkins asked curious as to what happened between them.
"Oh, uh, I guess we just couldn't quite work out some issues. We just needed to take a break essentially," Fergus told them, not caring to get into the details. Dawkins left it at that, not wanting to pry further.
They approached a Dalmatian close to Dawkins' age. Her fur a mix of black spots and grease stains. Dawkins watched her excitedly putting together an engine, he was curious as to why. He also noticed a splotch on her right eye and a black left ear.
He noted she wasn't wearing a collar, noting that she must be a stray. He looked her over, from nose to tail. He didn't realize he was staring until a paw shook him out of it, he looked to see Dante smirking.
"If you're done staring, let's introduce ourselves," the goth said as Fergus went over to the mechanic. Stopping what she was doing, she looked up at the three confused as she wondered why they were there.
"Hey, Detroit. These two are are friends of mine, and want your help with something," Fergus told the mechanic, who looked towards the two. "Yeah, not my kind of job," Detroit told the fox who had stifle his laughter.
"No, that's not what I meant. Ya see, Dawkins here fancies himself an inventor of sorts," Fergus told the mechanic, she looked at the two once again. "So, ones an inventor and what's with tall, dark, and gloomy?" Detroit asked half seriously, Dante smirked at Dawkins.
"You two will really get along," Dante told his brother, Dawkins shook his head in annoyance. "All I need is someone to help me work on a machine, that is all," the inventor said, trying to hide the frustration in his voice.
"What kind of machine? I could take a look at least," Detroit said and walked towards them. "Alright, follow me to my house and I'll show you," the inventor told the mechanic, she went with the group as they walked back home.
It was quiet walk aside from the usual sounds of London. Dawkins and his brother walked by the park as his family enjoyed the beautiful day. The inventor was thinking of joining his family, but he had already made up his mind.
"So, it's not too far away now. It's right up ahead," the inventor told Detroit who looked around disinterested. She had become used to London, and wasn't sure what to think of the two Dalmatians.
The mechanic was led to a colorful house that seemed out of place, she wondered about the human that owned it. They had to have a human, Detroit thought to herself as she walked up to the door.
"I've never seen a house so colorful," Detroit admitted to the three, Fergus grinned at her. "This house does have a strange charm to it, trust me on that," Fergus told the mechanic who looked at him with her curiosity piqued.
Detroit followed Dawkins to his room as he showed her the machine. The base was circular with a control panel jutted out, Four metal poles connecting glass, with a panel off to the side revealing where a power source should go.
"I see, you need me to find an engine for you, you need a way to power it," the mechanic noted as she looked over the machine. Dawkins shrugged as Detroit wasn't entirely wrong, all of this was guess work at best.
"So, how did you meet her, Fergus?" Dante asked the fox, curious about this new arrival. Fergus didn't respond at first, the goth wondered if something was up. The cunning fox pulled Dante into a hug, and grinned.
"So, there I was…" Fergus started to say recounting one of his stories, Dante just rolled his eyes. Fergus was cool, but he started understanding why his sister broke up with him. The fox would always be causing trouble, or outright lying and showed no signs of stopping soon.
"You saw her in the scrapyard and spoke to her?" Dante said just wanting cut to the chase. He wasn't concerned about the foxes tall tales, but noticed Dawkins kept looking at Detroit. He would torment his brother later, for now he'll keep playing dumb.
"I'll get back to the scrapyard and try to find an engine that will fit it, also I'll need a set of blueprints. What kind of machine is this?" Detroit spoke to Dawkins, who seemed more nervous. "It's a new project, something that I'm not sure has been tried before," Dawkins said afraid to say much else.
Detroit gave him a quizzical look, feeling he was hiding something. She decided to let it go as they'd only just met and she was only asked to help. She told the two brothers and fox goodbye and exited the house.
Dawkins watched her leave, only turn around to a couple big grins. "I see your taking a liking to her already, and you got her in your room," Fergus began teasing, the inventor groaned and looked to Dante who he suspected was going to say something smart.
"Only just met her and can't take your eyes off her, bro? Have you been that lonely, Dawk?" Dante started teasing his brother who glared daggers at him. Dawkins wanted to defend himself, and spoke up.
"I wasn't staring at her I was worried she would break my invention, I'm very particular with everyone no matter how cute they are," the inventor spoke in his haughty tone, and then he heard snickering and realized his faux pas.
"I-I didn't mean that!" Dawkins exclaimed in frustration, as he looked Dante and Fergus in the eyes. "Didn't mean what? Oh, er, hey Fergus," Dolly said entering the room, and acknowledged the fox in an awkward manner.
"Hey, Dolly. We're just messing with Dawkins a bit," Fergus told her scratching his head, not sure what to say. "We met a girl today and smarty pants couldn't take his eyes off her," Dante said still teasing his brother.
"Oooh, really? So, what's she like?" Dolly asked smirking and pulling Dawkins close. "She's a mechanic, very straightforward," Dawkins said to his older sister, he was nervous about the attention he was getting as he wasn't used to it.
"Very snarky, loves making quips, and I'll admit kinda cute. She's almost too perfect for him," Dante said smiling at his own teasing, Dolly looked at the goth with expression warning Dante to stop his teasing.
"Alright, alright… Still, he's only met her today. I guess time will tell how things go," Dante said backing off a bit, knowing when Dolly told him to stop it was too far. Fergus got up and waved goodbye.
"I guess I'll get going, see you around. Take care you three," the fox said giving one quick glance to Dolly. He wasn't sure if he was completely over her, or if she was over him. Fergus exited the house, thinking of that night under the bridge.
It felt so long ago, he wanted to help his friend and did what he could for her. The fox wondered about if it was the right thing to do. He thought about how vulnerable she was, it felt so out of place for the tomboy.
Fergus reaffirmed to himself, that he had done what was best. He wanted to get Dolly back as much as everyone else. If he hadn't talked to her, things could have gotten worse and Fergus couldn't have left Dolly like that.
The fox walked down the street, thinking of the times he hurt the family. It seemed even when he wanted to help he did more harm than good. He did regretted not being able to help when that dog tried to attack.
Fergus knew deep down he needed to change, before he hurt someone. His reckless behavior had caused enough trouble. In the end, he knew he needed to be their for his friends. "I'm gonna learn to be a better friend, Doll," Fergus said to himself as he made his way home.
I know, I know, that cliche! But, I'm gonna go with it and the next chapter, well you'll see.