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

The Next Political Dynasty: I know, poor thing! Keep reading!

Sunrise19: Yes, I feel for them too, obviously, since I wrote this, lol. You'll find out what happened to "Uncle" Chief in this chappie!

Anonymous but Impressed: Glad you liked! Here's some more for ya!

The Fox and the Hound 3: The Next Generation

Part One: The Younger Years

Chapter Ten: Ace's Idea

"Hello?" Jeff answered when he picked up the phone. He and Marty were sitting by the phone in their "office" that was right beside the warehouse which contained the poached animals.

"Jeff? Have you gotten all of those animals yet?" a familiar voice asked.

"Sure did, Mr. Slade, sir, they're all locked up good and tight in the shed. Fed them and everything," Jeff answered.

"Good, good," Calvin muttered. "All right, here's what to do. At seven o'clock tonight there is a train stopping at the depot at Dart's Creek. You two need to get the animals back in the truck at around five o'clock, because it is almost a two hour drive up there. When you do get there, there will be a man named Kerry Kent waiting for you. He works for the zoo, and he's going to have a check for over half a million dollars. Take the check, then at exactly nine o'clock in the evening, I will call you at your office. Trust me, if you decide not to answer, I will tip the cops off and lead them to you."

"Uh . . . sure thing, Mr. Slade. You can count on us."

About half an hour crawled by in the sweltering summer heat. The surrounding animals were busy snapping at flies that happened along, and many of the babies were complaining of hunger again. Smoky and Swift were still pretty much ignoring each other, and Beulah and Autumn were talking to each other about home in order to keep from being bored. Ace was pacing back and forth in the "cell", trying to devise a plan of escape.

But he really couldn't think about it right then. His mind kept wandering to Smoky's apologies for what all had happened in the course of two days. He seemed sincere about it, and Ace was sure that he was. Nobody could fake tears like that. The hound pup felt a little regretful for having blamed his brother for everything, but he couldn't think about that right now—he had to focus on getting them all out of there first. There would be time for apologies later.

His little brown eyes did a quick study of the pen they were all contained in, looking at everything from the chain-linked wire to the baseboards. The baseboards . . . Ace squinted closer at a pair that was not too far from the door hinges. They appeared to be a little loose, just loose enough for maybe three puppies and two fox cubs could break open . . .

"Hey, guys!" he said out loud. "I think I just figured out how we can get out of here!"

Beulah and Autumn bounded up to him as soon as he said the words. Swift poked his head up and perked up his ears, but didn't move from his spot. Smoky didn't budge, didn't even look interested.

"What it is, Ace, what did you find?" Beulah asked excitedly.

The boy pup pointed his paw at the baseboards. "See those? They're awful loose, and I was thinking that maybe if we could all work together to pull them apart, we could make a hole. The smallest of us could squeeze through the hole to crawl out." He fixed his eyes on the door latch. "And then, somehow maybe they could manage to unlatch the door and get us all out of here."

"That's a great idea," Autumn applauded. "But . . . what about the other animals?" They all looked around at the rest of the imprisoned creatures in the shed. Ace hadn't thought of them, sad to say, but he replied,

"Easy. When we're all out, we can set them free. No big deal."

"Just one question?" Swift decided to ask. "Who's going to be the one who crawls out first? I mean, who's the smallest?"

They all thought about it for a minute, then slowly all of their eyes fixated on Autumn. The female cub didn't notice at first, but then realized everybody was looking at her. Her ears folded down on her head.

"Heh, heh. What?"

It was around noontime deep in the forest, and unusually quiet. Birds weren't chirping, crickets and grasshoppers weren't singing—only the wind could be heard whistling it's way through the trees. It seemed that there was no life present in that neck of the woods.

That is . . . until a sign of life did appear. Over in a nearby ditch, a seemingly lifeless animal slowly started regaining consciousness from an earlier blow to his head. The sunlight beamed into his eyes, causing him to flinch a little bit. He suddenly realized how bad his body was aching, and when he tried to get up, he felt weak in the knees and collapsed again.

What happened? Chief thought briefly as he started coughing hoarsely, once again trying to lift himself off the ground. His memory was a little hazy, and he tried remembering why exactly he was out in the woods, and in so much pain—and why the heck was he still attached to his doghouse?

He shook the vapors out of his mind, causing it to suddenly throb, and he tensed up at the pain. Suddenly, he remembered how he came to be out there—the kids! Ace, Smoky, Beulah—he looked around him and saw that there was absolutely no sign of the pups, the two men, or the truck anywhere in sight. The men . . . they must have somehow knocked him senseless and stolen the kids while he was out cold!

Why those dirty, good-for-nothings . . . I got to find those kids, he told himself firmly. What a minute . . . he didn't even now where to begin. His vision was still a little out of focus, not a good thing to happen to a sight hound, and furthermore . . . and furthermore he was still attached to his blasted barrel.

Muttering a little under his breath, he placed a paw on the rope and started tugging on his collar trying to remove it from around his neck—which thankfully popped off without too much of a hassle. Now he could concentrate on finding his "niece and nephews". Since his eyes were helping him out much, he was going to have to rely on his sense of smell—something he hadn't used in a while. That was always Copper's specialty . . .

What a minute—Copper! Copper had been here, he could smell it in the air. Perfect, maybe Copper had discovered what had gone on and decided to find the kids too. And of course, he was going to need help with this—besides Chief was feeling guilty for having let the pups wander off in the first place. And so the old dog used what little sense of smell he had left following Copper's trail, doggedly determined to be of help.

Yay! So Chief really is alive! And it looks like Ace has come up with an interesting escape idea! But will they get out before Jeff and Marty start loading them up for Dart's Creek? Keep reading to find out, and please review!