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

The Next Political Dynasty: And indeed, I have returned! Lol, read your email about the google search, that was funny!

Cathy: Yeah, I had almost ended the chapter that way, lol! But I didn't, obviously, lol. Keep reading!

Sunrise19: Why of course, they can't be selfish and let themselves get away without helping others, now can they? Lol. Keep reading!

Anonymous but Impressed: Thank you, and I hope you keep on reading!

narfgirl: I love Chief, I couldn't let the guy die just yet, even though getting beat in the head is not something you would normally live through, lol. Keep reading!

The Fox and the Hound 3: The Next Generation

Part One: The Younger Years

Chapter Twelve: Teamwork, Part Two

It was nearing three-thirty in the evening, and by this time, the five youngsters had managed to release a majority of the other animals. There were possums, squirrels, coons, baby deer, etc., running around all over the place. And boy were they noisy! Ace was afraid that they would attract Jeff and Marty's attention, so he was constantly trying to shush them up.

"Be quiet!" he said firmly. "The men are going to come here and lock us up again if you don't be quiet!"

But nobody seemed to be listening. They were all just glad to be free from their cages. Beulah released the final locked-up creatures, a small family of porcupines, which scurried out of their cage as quickly as possible.

"Phew!" Swift breathed slowly. "I thought we'd never get them all out."

"Yeah, but now that we're all out of the pens, how are we getting out of this shed?" Smoky wanted to know, looking at Ace.

"Don't look at me, I don't have all the answers."

We finally get a confession, Smoky thought to himself, but didn't dare say it out loud.

"If everybody doesn't stop making so much noise, the bad guys are going to come in here and—" Autumn started, but then Beulah interrupted.

"And they'll have to open the door!" she gasped. "Maybe if they come, they'll leave the door open because they'll be so busy trying to catch everyone!"

Swift shook his head. "That's ridiculous, they'll close the door so none of us can run out on them."

"Well, I don't see anybody else coming up with anything," Smoky said in Beulah's defense . . . much to Beulah's surprise!

"Uh, guys, I think somebody needs to come up with something fast," Autumn suddenly said, giving a fearful look towards the door to the outside. "Because here they come!"

"I'm telling you, something is going on in here," Marty was saying to Jeff as he opened the door. "I heard the animals and—what the?"

"How'd they get loose?" Jeff asked in a loud voice.

When they saw the humans, the animals all went bonkers and immediately began running around looking for cover. The two men quickly slammed the door, just as Swift predicted, and started trying to round them all up again.

"What do we do now, huh?" Beulah whimpered, taking cover behind Ace.

"I don't know, sis! Just run!"

Tod and Copper had been following the river for hours. They were beginning to lose hope in ever finding the children. They hadn't run into anymore tire tracks, and the two fathers were starting to think the worst had happened.

"Where on earth could they be?" Tod asked out loud. "We've been looking forever. They have to be around here somewhere."

"I know, they can't be much farther, but I just don't see where they could possibly be," Copper sighed, looking down into the water. He felt that he had failed in his purpose of life—he was born to track down animals, yet he couldn't even track down his own children!

Tod was feeling pretty miserable as well, but then an interesting sound entered his ever-listening ears. It sounded like . . . a bunch of different animals in trouble? Tod looked over at Copper.

"Hey, do you hear that?" he asked, making sure he wasn't just hearing figments of his imagination.

Copper lifted one of his long ears a little ways up to listen. "Yeah, I hear it too. You don't think . . . "

"It doesn't matter what I think, I'm going anyway!" Tod told him, and the two of them bounded through the water and tore up the hill towards the noise.

Jeff and Marty hurried around trying to grab at least one small animal to stuff back in its cage, but what with all the ruckus and motion going on, they couldn't concentrate on just one creature. Swift decided to fight back, so he rushed at Jeff and started gnawing on his leg.

"Ow, ow, what the?" he looked down to see the little fox chewing on him and scowled. "Why you menacing little–" He grabbed a nearby magazine that had been lying around, rolled it up, and raised his arm to start whipping the cub with it.

Smoky saw that Swift was about to get a beating, and although he didn't necessarily like him, he didn't want to see him get thrashed, so he came rushing at full speed and knocked Swift out of the way. They tumbled on the floor for about two seconds and Swift gave Smoky a funny look.

"Did you just . . .?"

"Uh, yeah," Smoky said, hating to admit that he just saved a "game animal". "And let's forget it happened, don't ever bring it up ever!"

Marty at this point grabbed a nearby broom and began swinging it in front of him. This made all the skittish animals become frightened, and it got them headed for the back corner. The pups and cubs were all huddled together under a table pushed up against the wall, not knowing what to expect.

"All right, you stupid animals, we're supposed to pack you up and send you to a nice home at the zoo," Jeff grinned evilly. "Now you all be nice to Uncle Jeff and Uncle Marty, and we'll make sure you end up there alive."

"I wish Daddy were here," Autumn cried.

"I want my Daddy too," Beulah sniffled, much to the embarrassment of Smoky.

"Get your head out of the clouds," the black and tan puppy told her. "Dad is miles away from here. He probably doesn't even know that we're—"

Before he could finish what he was going to say, a deep barking could be heard from outside, and before anybody (animals and humans alike) could figure out what was going on, an adult hound and fox came crashing through the door behind the humans.

Hee hee, left you with a cliffie! Yay, Tod and Copper have finally shown up to save the day! And surprisingly, Smoky actually did something nice for Swift—very important. Okay, so what will happen with Calvin since his plan is going down the drain? When's Chief going to show up? Well, hang on to your britches, I'm getting to that! Please review!