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

The Next Political Dynasty: Ha ha ha, I didn't even think about that when I wrote it, lol! Keep reading!

Sunrise19: Glad you love it. "Not like...love!" Lol, a little Lion King 2 humor there. Keep reading!

Anonymous but Impressed: Wow, I'm glad you think it's that exciting, and now it will be even more exciting, hopefully. Keep reading!

Forever Young: Yes, it will be important to remember that scenario in the future, and as far as I am concerned there is no "grudging duty pay back" for Swift. Keep reading!

The Fox and the Hound 3: The Next Generation

Part One: The Younger Years

Chapter Thirteen: Found at Last, Part One

"Calvin Slade?" an officer asked when he came across the young man's cell. "Some men want to ask you a few questions."

Calvin sighed in annoyance and wiped his hands on his prison outfit. Questions, questions, questions . . . was there ever a time when questions were not asked? The officer escorted him to the questioning room where his lawyer and the local sheriff were waiting.

"Thank you, officer, you may leave," the sheriff bid him off. When the three were alone, Calvin asked,

"Well, what did I do this time?" he smirked, leaning back into the chair. "Poison a school of endangered catfish?"

The sheriff didn't laugh, and neither did his lawyer. Calvin saw that they were being

serious about this, so he cleared his throat nervously. Had they found out about his secret plot to poach half the wildlife and sell it to the zoo? Surely not.

"Mr. Slade, we have reason to believe that you are being involved in some shady behavior, even behind bars," the sheriff finally stated. "We got a call from your brother yesterday afternoon, saying his dogs were missing."

Calvin let out a sigh of relief, seeing that they were not asking about his scheme. "Now why would I even care about my brother's dogs? I am in jail, what would I do with hunting dogs? There's not enough room for them, plus they don't go after rats."

"Will you let me finish?" the sheriff snapped. "We know that one of the dogs, a female, used to belong to you before you were imprisoned. She had three pups with your brother's dog, and at first we assumed that you had somehow planned a kidnapping of the offspring for revenge. We sent a few boys to the property outside your brother's boundary and did some looking around about two hours ago, and they ran into a couple of traps. Professional traps."

"How do you know old Amos didn't put them out there?"

"Because, Mr. Slade, these traps were a special-made brand that is quite expensive and can only be found in Alaska. A man with your brother's income couldn't have afforded that. We did even more research to find that you had had some of those traps shipped to a couple of men by name of Jeffrey and Marty Walden. And those two have been in trouble with the law before about poaching. And with your recent history of endangering wildlife and their history of poaching, we put two and two together."

Calvin stared wide-eyed at the sheriff, not believing he just got found out. He glanced at his lawyer for help, but the man turned his eyes downward, obviously disappointed in his client. The sheriff gave a grin and said, "So, once again, you're being charged with endangering the wildlife. Now either you tell us where those animals are hiding at, or you're going to be looking at an extremely long jail sentence."

Calvin chuckled. "Phht! Yeah right."

"Try us."

"What in the mess?" Jeff shouted when he saw the two adult animals in the doorway, who were baring fangs and growling deeply. "A fox and a hound?"

Tod was the first to attack. He quickly clamped his teeth around Jeff's scrawny leg, knocking the greasy-haired man down on the ground. Marty would have helped out, but Copper went into second-wave attack, and knocked the big man to the floor, pinning him down and growling menacingly. Sadly, when Marty fell down, his huge leg kicked the door shut, so there was no way for the animals to escape anyhow. The kids noticed the two men falling and gasped when they saw their fathers having come to the rescue.

"Yeah, all right, Dad!" Swift cheered his father on.

"Get 'im, Daddy, get 'im!" Beulah chanted, bouncing up and down.

"Marty, get this mad fox off me!" Jeff pleaded as he wrestled Tod on the ground.

But the big man was too scared to move considering he had a large hound dog sitting on his chest and growling at him. "I would . . . but I don't think this dog would like it too much."

Seeing that Copper had immobilized the bad guy, Smoky's level of bravery went up, and he scampered over there yapping his head off at Marty. Copper saw his son, and was so glad to see that he was okay, his mind wandered off of Marty. The huge man saw the dog's attention divert, so he used the opportunity to sling the dog off of him. This caused Smoky to get a little spooked, so he turned tail and dived back under the table with his siblings.

Copper shook his head and bounded into the man, using claws and teeth in an attempt to partially tear him to shreds. Tod, in the meantime, had made a go at Jeff's face, which was now covered in scratches and cuts. All of the other animals had gone completely insane when the fighting began, and inside that cramped warehouse it wasn't a good thing!

"Swift, we're going to get trampled on if we don't get out of here!" Autumn cried softly, ducking her head when a baby deer jumped near them.

"But our dads are too busy fighting to get us out!" Swift reminded her.

"Maybe we should help them out?" Ace guessed, looking at the rest of the gang. They didn't reply automatically, but Smoky of course shouted,

"I'm all for that! Bonzai!" He made another rush at Marty, who was at present still engaged in wrestling with Copper. The other four kids followed his example and dove into the action as well. The boys were pretty okay with getting mean . . . they starting biting on the men's knees and ankles. The girls did all right too . . . they did a little barking in the men's ears, as well as a little chewing.

Every once in a while, they would get flung off about ten inches, but they always managed to jump back up and start again. But after flying through the air five times, they started getting tired.

"This is hopeless!" Beulah whined. "We aren't doing any good, and we'll never get out of here at this rate!"

Tod and Copper were starting to think the same thing. If they were so busy keeping the men from the kids, then how were they supposed to grab the kids to make a run for it? And the other wild animals were too busy running around like lunatics to be of any assistance. Speaking of which, a skunk had just waddled by and got spooked when Copper suddenly barked. It lifted its tail let out its nasty odor, blinding poor Copper who started gagging. Marty was affected as well, but not as much, so he flung the dog off of him and rammed him into a wall.

"Hey, nobody messes with my dad like that!" Smoky growled, running up and barking at the huge man again. "Leave my dad alone!"

Marty glanced down and grinned almost evilly at the puppy. "Well now, where did you come from, little guy?" Smoky saw him grab a net and nearly had a heart attack when he realized he was about to be captured again, when suddenly out of the clear blue sky—

Mwahaha! Left you with a cliffie! So, now a huge fight is going on, and Calvin has finally been found out! If that part confused anybody, I'm sorry, but I had to think of something to stick in there. So what came "suddenly out of the clear blue sky"? You'll have to read the next chappie to find out, so keep reading, and please review!