Disclaimer: The Fox and the Hound is the property of Daniel P. Mannix and Walt Disney Studios, not mine.

Forever Young: I know, mothers always are the ones left to deal with stress!! Hm, we'll see if you're right about Tod and Copper!

sunrise19: Thanks for reading! I'm not going to come out and say if Chief is dead or not, you'll have to keep on reading in order to find out!

Anonymous but Impressed: Thank very much. It's funny, your positive reviews always seem to give me self-confidence in my writing, so I thank you for that. And keep reading!

The Fox and the Hound 3: The Next Generation

Part One: The Younger Years

Chapter Six: Figuring It Out

As Copper made his way through the forest, he would stop every once and while to see if he could sniff the pups out. He had managed to find their tracks, which was a good lead, and pressed on. He hoped nothing too terrible had happened!

After a while, he came upon some pushed down grass that looked like it had been pushed aside by . . . a barrel perhaps? Was it possible the pups had entered the forest, and then Chief—still attached to his barrel—had been forced to come out here as well? Copper knew the old dog wouldn't do anything like that unless it was an emergency—except in the case of when he was chasing young Tod around the farm and over the river almost two years ago.

Getting more worried than he already was, Copper used both the footprints and the pushed over grass trails to lead him to a clearing. The footprints he had identified as being his children's became mixed in with two other sets of prints—fox maybe?—and then there were no footprints at all. And he didn't know what happened with the barrel, for he couldn't see it anywhere. What had happened?

It was then the hound thought he heard something rustle in the bushes next to him. He tensed up his muscles, hoping it wasn't anything too dangerous. Personally, he hoped it was maybe one of the pups, but he knew that couldn't be the case. Instead, what popped out was . . .

Tod continued racing through the trees, jumping over sticking up roots from trees andjagged boulders along his way. He had found a set of tiny footprints, and according to his nose, they belonged to either one of the cubs. He didn't know how far away they were but he was determined to find them no matter what!

He slowed to a trot when he came upon a huge boulder, one big enough for a poacher to hide behind. He had learned the many tricks of the trade when it came to survival, and he knew he couldn't trust certain rocks. When he figured that it was safe to continue, Tod walked forward . . . then stopped. He saw something very metallic shining through some old leaves from the past fall. He blew the leaves away and realized he had come across a trap, one probably set there by a poacher—considering that it wasn't hunting season yet.

"Oh, I hope the cubs didn't get caught in one of those!" he muttered to himself as he hopped over the trap.

The fox continued along his way and finally encountered a pair of prints that he knew belonged to his kids. He also saw some faint squirrel tracks, so he figured they must have been after one. Adorable.

He jumped through a bush that was in front of him and gasped when he saw who he had just run into . . . Neither of them said anything for a minute until at last Tod said,

"Copper?"

"Tod?" asked the hound. "Wow, you nearly gave me a heart attack. How's it been for you?"

"Fine, I suppose. It's just, my two cubs—Autumn and Swift—they snuck off sometime this morning and now I can't find them."

Copper looked surprised. "You're kidding me. My three pups were missing when I got

home just a few minutes ago, and Chief's missing too."

"You've got kids?"

"Yeah, two boys and girl—Ace, Smoky, and Beulah. The Master took me and Belle to town earlier and we left Chief in charge of babysitting. But when we got back, the pups were gone, and so was Chief—barrel and all. I traced the tracks here, but that's as far as I got."

"Really? I found my kids' tracks too and they stopped here, too," the fox told him. "Hey, you don't think our kids' met up with each other do you?"

Copper thought about it. "It's a possibility. That would be kind of weird though. Hope they like each other."

"Them not getting along would be the least of our worries," Tod pointed out. "There's been poachers around here for a while. I just found one of their traps not far from here. I've got a bad feeling that perhaps they got caught in a trap and were taken away."

"But . . . why would they take three hunting dog puppies?"

"Because, if they were hanging around with my kids, who are foxes, then maybe they just thought all five of them were foxes. It would be an honest mistake."

"Oh brother, this is so weird. But that doesn't explain why Chief is still missing. I mean, I'm sure the reason he came out here was because the kids may have been in trouble with some poachers, but where is he now?"

"Maybe he chased them down in their truck or something," Tod said.

"How do you know they had a truck?"

"Hello! The tire tracks are right over there," the fox told him, pointing his paw behind the dog. Copper turned his head and saw that there was indeed some tire tracks there. Funny . . . why hadn't he seen those?

Tod bounded ahead. "Come on, let's follow them before they get too far!"

Yay, Tod and Copper meet up again once more! Will they find the children? Will they find out what happened to Chief? Is he even alive? And how are the kids getting along with each other? Where are they? The questions answered and more when we return!