Chapter 37: Courage

Blinking up at the screen blankly yet again, Felix became completely and utterly slack-jawed. He took multiple double takes for a solid minute, in the pure case he had just imagined it.

No. There was no way that the bull mastiff sitting near the female officer was Ralph. No way.

But as the cameraman panned out even further from the policewoman- and down at the vested, pudgy pooch sitting anxiously beside her...with his slightly perturbed and bewildered face, with his fawn colored fur and wide, brown eyes...

There was no doubt about it in Felix' mind. He had seen right.

There, right before his large, round corgi eyes... right there on the television screen sat Ralph.

The petshop's missing guard dog.

The reporter was still talking with the officer, who was gesturing towards Ralph... and something else. As the camera zoomed out further, it revealed that the mastiff was surrounded by a tough group of near savage-looking police dogs, all looking ready to obey any and all commands from the officers around them.

But Felix' eyes stayed glued the bull mastiff, to Ralph -his thoughts still trying to get a full grasp on it all.

Th- there's Ralph.

THERE'S RALPH!

As the revelation suddenly sank deeper into Felix' mind, the corgi shook- only this time with pure happiness. Unable to stand still, he began jumping around, skipping joyfully as his stubby tail overtook his back end. He had never been so happy to see anyone in his life.

Ralph is okay! the jubilant corgi cried in his head, play bowing in pure joy as a huge smile came upon his face. AND he was still in town! By golly, that great!!! And-and-

...Wait...he's on K-9 unit of police dogs now?

Suddenly stopping in his happy, carefree skipping, the corgi froze for a brief moment to think curiously and dumbfoundedly.

How in the boo did he did do that?!

Forgiving himself for his mental potty mouth, Felix quickly raced up closer the where the tv sat, and stood up on his hind feet to place his head closer to the tv. He stuck his big, rounded ears as close to the screen as possible to hear better.

Officer...Croft, was it? was speaking into the extended mic yet again.

"We're going to send these animals ahead of us into the building," she told the ones in the audience, "to find the greatest cluster of the mutated scorpions. Then, once found..."

Wait...what?!

Forgetting all about his wondering how Ralph got on the elite K-9 unit in the first place, Felix quickly realized that there was a much larger question that needed to be addressed.

Is Ralph really about to be sent inside that hospital...to help find some vicious mutated scorpions?!

Stumbling backward and flopping down hard on his behind with a thud, the corgi shook his head.

Ralph's not trained for any of that! He quickly panicked. Those scorpions will find him and-and KILL him in an instant!

Staring back up at the tv, right back at the quivering bull mastiff...the little corgi knew immediately what he needed to do.

I've got Mr.Litwak in here to see this, Felix quickly decided, so that he can go rescue Ralph before he gets pushed into that mutated scorpions invested buildin'!

Finding his legs again, the dog quickly raced over to the shut door of the break...and started to bark as absolute loudly as he could muster up.

Unfortunately, his little feeble barks - which wasn't any louder than a broken squeak toy on its last squeak- were barely heard through the heavy, closed door. Not giving up, the corgi resorted to frantically scratching at the bottom of the door, whining and howling loudly as he did.

Digging his nails into the base of the door, he threw glances over his shoulder towards the tv occasionally, just to make sure it was still showing the police dogs- particularly Ralph.

At one point, the scene had cut to a live shot of Ralph standing (and noticeably shaking) at the entrance doors of the hospital, right about to be sent inside...

Why aren't Litwak and Stefanie comin'?! There's no way they can't hear me! Felix thought frantically as he dug and howled, his nails starting to ache. They've got to hurry and get their behinds in here so that they see that Ralph on the tv and-

"Felix, what are you doing?" Stefanie asked rather annoyed as the break room door was opened suddenly. She lost her stern look quickly and chuckled as the cute corgi tripped over his feet at the door being open, bonking his white-furred chin on the hard floor.

Quickly bouncing up again and shaking off his fall, Felix' giant ears slapped the sides of his face. Ignoring the sting on his chin, the corgi raced over to television as fast as his little legs would let him to madly motioned towards the screen...

Only to look up and see in horror that the tv no longer was picturing Ralph. It had changed from the hospital scene- and was now showing a close up picture of a mutated scorpion instead.

"What's wrong, little guy?" Stefanie cooed innocently to the corgi as she approached. "Those mutated scorpions got you all jumpy? Awe, it's okay. They get me jumpy and creeped out, too."

She chuckled again as the corgi contiuned to gawk in horror.

"Here, I'll turn it off for you, pal," she tried assuaged his seeming fear. "Cute little naive pups like you shouldn't even be watching the news."

Frozen in panic for a split moment, Felix felt his blue eyes go huge and his ears plaster to the side of his face.

I can't just let her turn the tv off! He thought frantically. What if they show Ralph again? This could be our only chance of findin' him and bringin' him home alive! DO SOMETHIN', FELIX!

And in that moment, something snapped in the corgi. A switch had been turned on in his all at once...

Thus leading him to do something he had never even thought of doing before.

Planting his feet firmly in front of the tv, he placed his too large ears squarely behind his head. And with usually soft, baby blue eyes now narrowed and scrunched down almost clear down to his nose...

Felix the corgi growled. For the first time in his life.

He bared his little teeth and growled as 'viciously' as he could...

Which only briefly startled Stefanie for a moment before she started laughing.

"Felix!" she said between giggles. "Why are you growling?! You never growl, boy!"

Unfazed, she reached clear over his head...and switched off the tv.

Just as the screen went black again, Mr.Litwak appeared at the door, eyeing his niece with concern. "What's going on, Stef?"

The young girl just laughed and motioned down at Felix with a jerk of her head.

"I'm not sure, Uncle Litwak. Mr.Scarry Squeaktoy here just decided to growl at me all off a sudden!"

But Mr.Litwak didn't share in her laughter at all as his eyes widened.

"What?" he asked in shock as he quickly knelt down to the ground, motioning Felix to come closer to him...which the corgi uncharacteristically refused to obey.

"Why on earth would he growl?" the man scratched the back of his balding head in confusion and looked down at Felix- who looked like was in utter dispair.

Shaking his head, Mr.Litwak felt his heart and stomach now intertwined- his worry just skyrocketing all the more so.

"What's gotten into everyone lately?"

-O-O-O-O-O-

After his failed attempts in the break room, Felix and his bed were moved back into the main room of the pet shop. A now very worried Mr.Litwak said he needed to 'keep an eye' on the corgi, to make sure he wasn't acting 'any weirder' by the end of the day- and if Felix was, that Mr.Litwak was going to take the dog to the vet first thing in the morning.

And as if all of that wasn't enough to terrify the corgi to his core, Stefanie ended up having a full-blown convulsing fit- 'induced by stress', Mr.Litwak immediately concluded. Only this one episode was so bad that the poor teenager had do be picked by her mother and rushed home promptly.

So, once again, Felix laid his head down sickeningly on his paws in his little bed- his mind and heart pounding in anger and frustation...and gut-wrenching fear and worry.

His attempts to show his owner that Ralph was at the hospital -and was about to get pushed into a building with mutated scorpions in it- had proved unsuccessful...

Stefaine was having had bad episodes again, just when the doctors thought they were waning...

And on top of all that, now Felix could even end up at the vet, of all horrible places.

Placing his paws over his eyes, the corgi whimpered. He couldn't believe how badly this day had gotten; it had gone even worse than he imagined it would've.

He had blown his chance to save Ralph and their pet shop...

And for the first time in his life, Felix realized he had failed.

He had failed his beloved pet shop. His friends. His owner. His beloved Stefaine.

He had failed Ralph.

He had failed himself, even.

The petshop was practically doomed, done for. Ralph was practically doomed, done for- with no chance of survival.

And now there was nothing Felix or anyone else could do about it...

Or is there?

Scrunching his eyebrows together as he thought hard, Felix pealed his paws from off his eyes and placed them back down on his bed. For a moment, he lifted his head and stared at the tips of his little corgi paws- a new thought striking him hard.

Who says that Mr.Litwak has to be the one who saves Ralph?...

Could...could I be the one to do it instead?

The new thought suddenly becoming terrifying to him, the corgi shook his head free- his whole body shaking from bad to worse.

No! What are you sayin', Felix? He crowed inwardly. Who are you kiddin'?

You can't possibly save Ralph yourself! We're dealin' the great, wide town of Arcadia! There is no telling how many dangers are out there for a little corgi like yourself! And-and not to mention that mutated scorpions are involved, for Great Dane's sake!

Rejecting the thought altogether, Felix bit his lip.

No, there's no way you could ever face all that...its better to just wait here with Mr.Litwak and help Stefanie and-and...

A sudden jolt rippled through the corgi's brain, a jolt so strong it almost physically caused his heart to explode.

No...I can't...

I can't -we can't- afford to 'just wait'...

He couldn't just wait here and let his colleague -no, dare he say...his friend get killed by some savage mutated creatures.

He couldn't just wait here and let his pet shop close down.

He couldn't just reject what he demanding instincts were telling him to do. He couldn't just swallow or force back what his demanding thinking was egging him on to do.

Felix the corgi couldn't just hide and shake in fear and watch the pet shop to get broken into...

As he had all those months ago.

No, now is time to stop shakin' and stand up! The corgi plainly told himself, his heart pounding incredibly hard.To fight back and defend my rights and those whom I love! I have to at this point- there's no other choice...

Even if it meant the corgi had to leave the safety of the pet shop... the safety of Mr.Litwak's arms... for a while, if not for the next two days or longer in order to get Ralph back to the pet shop alive...

Even if the corgi was putting his own life at risk...or even if he had no idea what was in store for him...

Others were depending on Felix- and he just couldn't bare let them down.

Sitting up in his cozy bed, Felix straightened his tiny back as straight as a pole. A look of clear, strong, unafraid determination was in his eyes.

He looked up and set his eyes on the front door, on the "Closed" sign just in the window for the outside world to see...and knew what he had to do.

Just how he was going to do it, Felix had no real clue...but that he had to do it nonetheless.

Now was the time to be the good dog and friend everyone thought Felix was...and to have just an ounce of courage and heroicness that Ralph obviously had.