*rises from the dead* O_o Raaaaaaaaaaa........ Heh-heh, just joshin'. I will have you guys know I apologize profusely for the delay. CURSE YOU, WRITER'S BLOCK!!! Believe me, I tried and tried to write this thing, but I got STUCK!!!! Anyhoo, here's the next chapter, although it's not as long as some of the others...

Disclaimer: They ain't mine.

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Chapter 4: Trouble in Paradise

His ears flapping in the wind, Boss looked around at the surrounding field and held onto his hat with one paw. A strong gust of wind blew the grass around like crazy. Boss braced his arms and legs and tried to hang onto the ground to keep from blowing away. He lifted his head, almost swearing that he had heard someone calling his name.

"Boss!!"

"Daddy?"

"Boss?"

"Dad! Mom! Over here!"

Upon spotting their son crouched on the ground in the distance, Snap and Charity hurried over to him. He looked up at them, his eyes wide with fear as he tried to keep from blowing away. Snap came and stood on all fours over him, relieving a bit from his struggles. "Are you okay?" he asked his son.

Boss panted a little and looked up at him. "U-Uh-huh."

They looked up and around at the wind whipping the grass violently as they heard the thunder roll. Rain began to fall. "N-Now, don't be scared, son…" Snap said, glancing down at the young figure under him.

"I-I'm not scared…" Boss said. Suddenly, a great clap of thunder boomed loudly. Boss yelped and threw his arms around one of his dad's arms.

Snap looked up to Charity. "This storm is really picking up! It's only gonna get worse!" he yelled so he could be heard over the wind and thunder. "I think we should definitely head for home now!"

"You're right…" Charity said. "Let's hurry!" she turned and began back towards the forest.

Boss allowed Snap to pick him up by the scruff with his teeth and then turn into the raging wind.

When they finally reached the edge of the forest, the many trees curtailed the force of the wind and rain a bit, or a least enough for little Boss to withstand it on his own. As he was put down onto the ground, he shook the rainwater off of his fur. "Blecch…" he moaned. "I HATE the rain." he said to his dad.

"Well, sweetie…" Charity said with a little smile, "that's April in the good ol' woodlands."

A flash of lightning lighted the sky. Snap looked out to the fields and furrowed his brow. "It's a good thing we got in here when we did. This thing is really picking up."

"Hold up, Ben Franklin." Charity said to her husband. "You'll remember that being in the woods in a lightning storm is dangerous as well as being in the middle of a field in one. We'll be safe if we hurry and get underground." She crawled into their tunnel under the giant oak tree.

Boss and Snap started to follow her, assured that absolutely everything was safe for them again.

Suddenly and unexpectedly, a gust of powerful wind blew through the trees right at them. Boss stumbled back, but Snap managed to grab him in time. But, when he did, the wind instead grabbed Boss's yellow hat, rapidly carrying it back out to the fields.

"Ahh!!" Boss yelled. He took a leap at it in desperation, but missed. Then, before he knew it, he chased it back out to the field.

"Boss, no!!!" Snap shouted. "Come back!!"

Charity poked back out of the tunnel and gasped, then jumped to Snap's side. "Boss!!"

In the field, Boss realized he had made a BIG mistake. Forgetting entirely about his hat, he clawed onto the ground as hard and fast as he could.

Without hesitation, Snap leapt out into the field to rescue his young son.

The storm was only getting worse, and was testing Boss's strength to its limit. And to top it off, he couldn't so much as move without the wind dragging him back. He gritted his teeth. He was the type that didn't give up so easily without a fight. And, if he could help it, he never called out for his parents when he had a problem without trying to fix it himself first. The least he could do right now was try. He grunted and pulled himself across the ground. After some struggling, he hoisted his forebody up onto a rock and clutched on. He looked around to see if he could see either of his parents or the edge of the forest.

Meanwhile, Snap was enduring the wind himself, looking around frantically and calling Boss's name. A flash of lightning caused him to flinch.

Boss clambered across the ground and eventually found his way underneath a solitary tree that stood out away from the forest. Upon feeling the force of the wind lift from him, he collapsed onto the ground under the tree in exhaustion, forgetting for the moment that it was one of the most dangerous places to be in a storm as bad as this.

Soaked and having to use all that his powerful legs could give him, Snap clutched onto the rock and climbed up onto it to see if he could locate his young son. Through the pouring rain, he could barely make out his figure under the solitary tree. "BOSS!!" he yelled. "GET OUT OF THERE QUICKLY!!"

But, because of the roar of the wind, the thunder, and the rain, Boss couldn't hear Snap calling for him.

As quick as he could, Snap scaled down the rock and fought his way towards the tree. "Boss, don't stand under there!! Get outta there!!!" he yelled.

Boss glanced up and noticed Snap through the rain. "Dad?"

"Go!! Run!!"

"Dad!!" Boss jumped up. "Over here!"

"NO! GET OUTTA THERE!!"

But before he could react, Boss suddenly shuddered upon feeling the tingling sensation of his fur standing on end.

A sudden flash of blinding light accompanied by a loud BOOM made him yell in surprise and stagger. As he stumbled back, the wind shoved him harshly along and tossed him back into a large boulder with a shout. At the hard impact of the rock on his skull, his vision began to spin and blur up.

The last thing he saw was a sudden blur of orange light before he completely blacked out.

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C'mon, brain.... Make me proud!! *starts writing next chappy, hoping writer's block won't catch her*