Chapter 13: Bad Dog Throw Down

As one snot-colored bowl was filled -and the one dirty, unclean dish was left abandoned and empty- the arrogant pug peered tauntingly up at a vexed Ralph.

"Ooh, sorry, Ralph," Gene cooed, sounding anything but apologetic as he sharply stated the obvious just to add salt the large wound. "That finished off the container."

Of course it did, you jerk, Ralph growled, his internal voice beyond embittered. In fact, you made sure that would happen because you're the main sleazeball making my life miserable!!

Shaking his large head he was so furious, the mastiff forced his eyes off Gene before he snapped the pug's head off. Nearly making his tongue bleed he was biting it so hard, Ralph sighed out slowly his nose.

Sure, he'd been irritated by the pug's treatment of him before, but most of it was more verbal; no real harm was ever really done. Mostly, at least.

But this... this crossed the line. The already-paper-thin line.

It was like pure animal decency wasn't even there in Gene's mind anymore when it came to Ralph- no concern, no boundaries. All the mastiff was in the pug's mess-up, bias mind was a stupid bad dog who deserved nothing good and no one good.

The only thing the mastiff did seem to deserve is to be treated like trash, like an object with no feelings... and even considered to bearly be a fellow animal, of course.

But Ralph wasn't just a piece of trash, nor was he an object to toss around or ignore as being alive. He was a dog of deep emotions- feelings that got semi-numbed after so long of being hurt and disregarded repeatedly, but still there nonetheless...

And, more than anything, Ralph was no stupid bad dog. Not ever again.

And boy, was he ever getting sick of being treated like he was. Getting sick of it fast.

Gulping down the impossibly strong urge to snarl at the smirking source of his anger, Ralph forced his blood-shot eyes shut- obviously trying to keep from exploding in uncontrolled yet valid rage.

No, not again, he quickly reminded himself, exhaling deeply. Stay calm. Gene's obviously just trying to get the best of you. Don't let him win this time!...

Allowing a slow breath to escape his nose once more, Ralph blinked open his eyes, feeling ever so slightly a bit more in control of his emotions...

But that didn't mean the still upset mastiff wouldn't make it quite clear just how aggravated he was. He was being unfairly treated- and was about to make that clearly known.

The large, heavy dog purposely flopped his rear end down onto the pet shop floor, this time actually liking how doing so made the whole place shake with force. At the mini-earthquake befalling their pet shop, almost everyone abandoned digging into their bowls and looked in Ralph's direction- and all became clearly startled by what they saw.

There sat the very guard dog of the pet shop, with his head held low...and a look of anger screaming from his twitching, narrowed eyes. His ears were plastered up against his head, and he was physically heaving in wrath- all honestly things they had rarely ever seen Ralph do...

Except when Ralph was really angry. Possibly explosively, bad dog angry.

And the slight look of fear and nervousness coming over everyone's faces -even Gene's face- when they realized just how mad he was getting was for once a refreshing sight for the mastiff.

In his place near the front of the circle, Felix couldn't help but look up midbite from his food bowl as it too was shaken from Ralph's rough plopping. Noticing the clear anger written on Ralph's face -and the near killer looks he was giving Gene- the corgi felt himself squirm a bit as he worriedly tucked his ears back.

He hadn't really seen what had transpired between Ralph and Gene, but the small dog could still tell that whatever it was had really gotten under mastiff's skin. Even more than Gene usually did.

Quickly swallowing the mouthful of treats he still had in his mouth, Felix danced around his extra-good food bowl and cautiously crawled over to Ralph...

Which in all honesty was the last thing the mastiff needed to happen. The too-good, too-perfect corgi's presence was beyond irritating- and just made Ralph tense up in annoyance that much more.

"You seem a little, er... aggravated, Ralph," Felix began softly, trying to peer into Ralph's narrowed eyes. "Is every-"

"No, everything is not ok, Felix," the mastiff interrupted pointedly, shifting his weight from one cosmic front paw to the next. "I wasn't able to get any of the new duck-flavored treats."

When Ralph purposely turned to glare down at a certain pug now innocently munching on his bowl of treats, Felix immediately got the hint.

His ears flattening even more, the kind-hearted corgi winced for Ralph's pain- which somehow made everything worse.

"I- I'm sorry that happened, Ralph," Felix mentioned softly, his voice the most sincere and genuine it had been all evening. His darkened face lightened as an idea came to him. "I think we have some bacon-flavored treats in the back-"

"I've never been real fond of bacon," Ralph cut in again, his agitation clearly growing as a nasty scowl stretched across his face. And, surprisingly, he felt somewhat bad for how harsh his voice sounded.

The mastiff knew Felix was just trying to help ease the situation, ease his growing anger- but it was that sickening look of pity that the Ralph didn't appreciate. That look was getting as old as Gene's nasty antics were.

Lowering his head a little bit closer to the ground at Ralph's quip, the corgi winced again, that obnoxious look of guilt filling his face once more.

"O-oh," he stumbled out, "well, uh..."

"And, you know, another thing I hate to be picky about," Ralph suddenly added as he stood up again, shaking his head almost in a mocked amused way. "I couldn't help but notice how nasty and gross my party food bowl smells."

As if to make his point, the bull mastiff pushed his dish towards Felix a little rougher and more forceful than he had intended- yet again forgetting just how strong his front paws were.

As the dish nearly skidded into him, the startled corgi jumped back in alarm. Curious as to what Ralph meant, Felix cautiously leaned forward to peer closer into the said bowl and sniffed it gingerly. Within half a second, however, his orange and white head was retracted sharply- and his perfect mouth gagged slightly in disgust. In a strange, almost comical way, his huge, over-the-top ears flipped back and his handsome blue eyes shut spontaneously at the smell as well, somehow causing him to hold one petite paw close to his chest.

The corgi's whole ridiculously expressive reaction was almost enough to make Ralph laugh out loud- and he probably would've had it been any other given situation.

"My, that bowl sure does have some...er, interesting aroma to it," Felix quailed out, slowly backing up from the said disgusting bowl. "It's, er-"

"Gross. Just gross," Ralph mumbled out through gritted teeth before he allowed them to slowly separate. "I guess it's almost a good thing I didn't have any food in my bowl, 'cause, you know...I wouldn't want to eat out of this bowl. Would you, Felix?"

Forcing himself to hunker lower and grimace up at the clearly sarcastic, embittered mastiff, Felix just shrugged helplessly. He was so used to naturally knowing what to say, when and how to say it, how to fix every situation... but now...

Felix had no clue how to calm Ralph down or how to help him to see -or at least believe- that everything wasn't as it appeared.

"I also noticed just how different in appearance my bowl is from everyone else's, too," Ralph continued on in mock casualness, taking a few huge steps forward. Stretching his neck to get his large face into Felix' small face, the mastiff pointed out said differences in sharp obviousness. "Everyone's bowls are pretty and colorful- but mine is a dirty white and frankly ugly, really..."

"Well, uh..." Felix fumbled, backing up. Gulping down the urge to shake even slightly, the corgi just forced a small, gentle wag of his tail.

The smaller dog wasn't scared of Ralph per se. Of course, he well knew, like the others in the pet shop, just what the huge, strong, temperamental guard dog was truly capable of. Yet -unlike most of the others- Felix also knew that the kind-hearted mastiff wouldn't ever hurt another animal without cause, that Ralph really was just a gentle giant inside...

But none of that knowledge meant Felix never got intimidated by the huge, strong, temperamental mastiff... Especially as said mastiff unintentionally but literally towered over him.

Somehow sensing the corgi's uncomfortableness and even fear, though, Ralph forced himself to back up slightly, to stop taking his blunt anger out on Felix. None of this was intentionally Felix' fault, after all.

The large dog lifted his head back up- and directed his sharp glare Mary's way, who was already wearily eyeing Ralph.

"And I saw that you had some extra stickers up on the desk, Mary," Ralph mentioned, nodding back at the abandoned labels up on Mr.Litwak's desk behind him. "I guess you didn't have enough time to put any of them on my bowl, huh?"

In her place by her pretty, now almost empty lilac bowl, Mary blushed and flattened her ears back.

"Well, um..." she stumbled out as she looked away, her voice still slightly chipper. "N-no, I didn't have any time-"

"-Which is a shame," the mastiff cut her off, his anger growing stronger as he continued in his spiel. "'Cause I bet those stickers feel right bad right now at not being important enough to be placed on anything... Even something as grubby and trashy as my bowl."

Nervously eyeing the animals around, Mary just stuttered in reply to Ralph's strange yet blunt analogy. "Well, uh..."

"I bet being on my bowl would've made my- eh, their day, actually," Ralph continued, his anger and pain coming ever more clear on his twisting up face. "Because they would feel like they actually, truly belonged-"

"Oh, get off your high horse, Ralph!" Gene snarled suddenly, finishing licking off the last bit of crumbs on his face. Dismissively rolling his eyes, the pug strutted up to stand at Ralph's side- and narrowed his eyes in disgust. "We didn't even know you'd end up being apart of this party to begin with!"

Snarling, Ralph quickly turned to the pug at his side and narrowed his eyes at him in return.

"Yeah, 'cause no one ever thought to even invite me in the first place!" he pointed out, his tone embittered.

Choking down a huge, uncomfortable knot forming in his throat, Felix watched wide-eyed as the mastiff and the pug shared a look of pure disdain for the other: Gene, near growling with clear repulsive in Ralph's face; Ralph, near snapping in pure loathing and frustration in Gene's face.

"Uh... Let's all just eat our treats!" the peace-loving corgi called out desperately, trying in vain to break up the squabble and the tense situation. "Ralph, why don't you and I go make sure we don't have any extra duck-flavored treats in the back-"

"And why do you think we didn't want to invite you in the first place, hm?" Gene ignored Felix and continued to stare down the mastiff in his face. "Because this is an anniversary party for our pet shop! OUR pet shop! Which-"

"Are you implying that I'm not apart of the pet shop?!" Ralph hissed ridiculously in reply, feeling his paws push a little harder into the pet shop floor. " 'Cause, news flash: Mr.Litwak is my owner, too, Gene! I'm just as apart as this pet shop as any of you guys are- but especially as much as Felix is!"

"Um- liver!" Felix suddenly voiced a little too loudly, his ears smushed up against his small skull yet again. He forced out a painful smile, his eyes seeping with his growing worry. "I know for a fact that we've got liver-flavored Dent-A-Sticks in the back, Ralph! Why don't we-"

"Actually, when you think about," the mastiff continued after thinking, yet again ignoring the corgi. Glaring even harsher down at Gene, Ralph's folded ears flopped forward. "This is not even technically your pet shop, Gene."

At his sudden realization, the mastiff turned to look at every other animal around, all keeping their safe, hesitant distance from the guard dog. They could tell his bad dog anger was coming...

And once it got started, there was no real way of stopping it.

"None of you guys really live here, not permanently, at least!" Ralph exclaimed what was indeed true. "You all are simply waiting here to get ADOPTED OUT! Felix and I are the only animals Mr.Litwak technically owns as his pets! How dare you guys act like you have more place here than I do!"

As everyone stood somewhat slack-jawed at the mastiff' abrupt, candid words, Ralph made them gasp a little bit more when he tactlessly muttered under his breath a sharp afterthought: "It's not my fault you guys haven't been adopted in the five years we've been open..."

"Uh, you're wrong there, Butt Mutt," Gene's already squished up face got even more squished as he became enraged, shaking his head roughly. "You chase away half the potential customers from the pet shop, you sorry excuse as a canine! A squirrel would serve as a better watch dog than you!"

"Hey, it's not my fault half of those 'potential customers' look shifty!" Ralph cried defensively as he narrowed his eyes back at Gene, blushing slightly at the pug's dig. "I can't help but be a little overprotective of this place, especially after what happened several months ago-"

"THERE'S NOTHING LITTLE ABOUT YOU!" Gene instantly screeched in frustration, fully being shaken off the pet shop floor for a split second at his angry outburst. "Why do you think you broke the doggy door, huh? Why do you think we all seem so dwarfed in comparison to you? Why do you think no one wants to be around you?! It's because you're a monster, and you're clumsy, and- and you're bad!"

Almost everyone in the circle on animals gasped in unison, their eyes wide at Gene's words. Each pet looked around at one another in horror, no one sure what to say or even think- causing every creature to freeze in place...

"CHICKEN!!" Felix unevenly screamed out in a panic- causing every pair of eyes to slowely turn and look at him oddly. Desperately clearing his dry throat, the corgi ventured towards the two arguing dogs, the agonizing look of anxiety written on his small, nervous face.

Shifting his eyes between Ralph and Mr.Litwak's desk, the awkward corgi forced a stiff smile.

"I think we have some chicken-flavored snacks behind the desk, 'ole buddy!!" the small dog mentioned, his blue eyes practically pleading with an eye-twitching Ralph to just give in and follow him. "Please, let's go get them, ok?!"

But Ralph couldn't answer; he could feel himself starting to breathe too deeply for comfort.

There he was, being isolated by everyone again. Being mistreated and yelled at by Gene again.

Being called bad again...

No, Ralph wasn't a bad dog. Not now- and not ever again.

Not seeming to care that the mastiff was seething with anger, Gene leaned closer to Ralph's face again- pushing dangerous buttons Ralph didn't even know he had.

"You're so bad, in fact, that if it weren't for Felix being our mascot, you would've run this pet shop into the ground within a week!" the pug hissed as he gestured towards the corgi. "Felix is what's keeping this petshop afloat!"

His ears perking back up a little bit at the mention of his name, Felix sighed shakily. Gulping, he knew it was time to do something he should've been doing all this time.

Actually standing up for Ralph.

"That- that's not true, Gene," Felix finally found his voice -as weak as it came out- in the crowd of bystanders of the fight. Wincing, he was ashamed at how soft and pathetic his tone sounded as he continued. "R-Ralph is an important part of the pet shop, too..."

"Oh, really?" Gene asked the corgi ridiculously, cocking his head at him. "Then why are you getting a new collar tomorrow from Mr.Litwak and Ralph's not?"

At such an ill-timed revelation of news, Ralph blinked, then felt his eye twitch. His stomach did a summersault before crashing into the cool floor below his feet.

No, he had not just heard what he thought he heard.

Ralph hadn't gotten a new collar since Litwak found him... yet Felix was getting a brand new collar- for the second time in a few weeks?

"Wait- what?! You're getting a new collar?! Already?!" the bull mastiff crowed, looking at Felix with wide, hurt, almost betrayed eyes. "You just got a new one, Felix- like a couple of weeks ago!"

His own eyes growing wide, Felix shrunk even lower towards the floor.

"Mr.Litwak said it's a special one," he admitted softly, his ears falling in shame as much as Ralph was. "For the 5th year anniversary."

"See? If you were really a precious part of this pet shop, Mr.Litwak would've gotten you a new collar, too!" Gene growled at the distraught mastiff, adding a pound of salt to Ralph's wound.

"And if you weren't so big and clumsy and bad," the pug continued in rage, stomping to stand before Ralph and the mastiff's nasty bowl, "I bet you anything Mr.Litwak would actually let you live inside the pet shop with us! But that will never happen! Because you're just the bad dog who guards building!"

Seeing red, Ralph stiffly shook his head, his body heaving. His already stretched-thin patience was dangerously running out fast- and he was honestly scared of what he would do when pushed past this level.

But he was not a bad dog. Not again.

"No, I'm not, Gene," he suddenly found his voice and growled viciously back, his face leaning way too close to Gene's. "I am not a bad dog."

"Yes, you are!" The unimitated pinched-face pug growled in response- and in his own moment of rage, harshly flipped Ralph's empty party bowl over will one wipe of his small paw.

As his unsightly bowl crashed upside down onto the floor, Ralph felt something he rarely felt rising deep inside his chest, in his gut...

A near sickening feeling of pure, utter unrestraint.

The bull mastiff was done. Done with the injustice, with the namecalling, with the mistreatment. Done with Gene, with nasty party bowls, with good dog collars given to pets who just got one.

He was done with not feeling like he belonged, like he was hated, like he was a smelly, rejected, worthless piece of trash.

He was done staying calm, pretending like none of this was getting under his skin- like all of this wasn't cutting into himself like some sort of knife to the bone.

After five long years, Ralph the guard dog was done with being the bad dog of his pet shop- and was pushed to the point of making that undeniably, terrifyingly and absolutely clear as day.

"No, I'm NOT!!!" Ralph snapped and bellowed loudly at the pug before him, his voice causing everyone -even Gene and Felix- to jump in alarm.

Blinded with rage, the mastiff then charged a few feet over to where the middle of the room was. With great power and strength, he mightly pushed over the heavy, large water fountain bowl with seeming ease- causing a few dozen of gallons of water to come pouring out all over the floor.

The water quickly splashed over everyone unfortunately close by in its path, drenching them straight to their skin. If it wasn't spilling onto an animal, the liquid was leaking in an almost flood-like state, spreading out evenly all over the petshop's main room. Nothing and no one on the ground was spared from its wet effects.

As the water slowly stopped spreading and began to form a big puddle, some of the pet shop' animals stood either dripping or in an inch of water- but all were equally shivering in a state of shocked silence.

As some of the sopping animals started to shake off their impromptu bath, Ralph's eyes quit flashing red, his heart stopped racing- and he finally understood the unfortunate scope of the mess he had created. Looking around, the mastiff blushed beet red and hung his head in shame, embarrassed that he allowed himself to be pushed to that extent.

Before him, though, still stood Gene...but although he was perhaps the dog that had gotten the wettest, the pug didn't look angry or upset. He almost looked slightly pleased he had pushed Ralph as far as he did.

The pug seemed to had accomplished his goal, Ralph knew: undeniably making the mastiff look like a fool. Like an idiot...

Like a bad dog. Yet again.

As water dripped off his smug snout, the pug echoed his own words, no doubt what almost all the others were thinking, anyway.

"Yes...you... are."