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

The Next Political Dynasty: You'll find out soon, I promise, so keep reading! And hope you had a good birthday yesterday!

SunRise19: The trick is that I write all the chapters for a one-week span during the weekend, then on Monday when I have no homework I put all the chapters up onto document manager and keep them there until I'm ready to update the story. It's much easier and less stressful!

narfgirl: It's very sad, I should know, I had to watch my dog suffer the exact same thing. Glad you like the name Blaze, I always rather liked it! Actually, that was going to be Swift's original name, but I decided I liked Swift better b/c that was the name of the fox on a tv show I used to watch as a kid.

Anonymous but Impressed: Thank you, oh boy dynamite, lol! Keep reading!

The Fox and the Hound 3: The Next Generation

Part Two: The Older Years

Chapter Eighteen: A-Hunting We Will Go, Part One

The next day, Smoky was awakened by his sister tugging on his ear in attempts to get him up. Groggily he held his head up and shook himself awake, not knowing what on earth she could possibly want.

"Smoky, wake up already, we're going to go hunting!" Beulah said in a bouncy voice.

"Say what?" Smoky asked, not sure if he heard her right. "The Master wants to go hunting now?"

"Yep, but it's just going to be us and Ace. Momma and Daddy are staying here. The Master wants us to see how we do on our own," she explained.

Smoky registered all of this in his brain as he rose to all fours and stretched himself in his barrel doghouse. He didn't understand why the Master suddenly was out of his depressed state and wanting to go hunting, but he wasn't going to complain. He needed to get away from there for a few hours.

Ace was already in the jeep, barking at his two younger siblings to get moving. Beulah skipped over there and hopped in beside him, Smoky trailing behind. Watching them, Copper and Belle felt a sense of pride. Their babies were going off on their own.

"Oh, Copper, but I'm so worried," Belle had to confess. "What if something goes wrong? One of them could get hurt, or lost, or—"

"Stop worrying," Copper chuckled. "Everything's going to be fine. We taught them everything we know, which is a darn lot. Trust me, they're going to come home safe and sound."

"I hope you're right, but still I can't help but think something awful is going to happen . . . "

Copper gave her a kiss. "You're such a mother."

Tod and Vixey woke up in time to see their three younger daughters engage themselves in trying to catch a butterfly. One of them would jump up to grab the delicate creature, when another one would do the exact same thing and they would all end up hitting each other on the head and come crashing down in giggles. Autumn was laughing along with them of course, Blaze was laughing at them, and Swift looked on boredly. Tod noticed this, being the observant father that he is.

"What's wrong, Swift, not having fun?"

"You call this fun?" the younger fox replied, rolling his eyes slightly. "I'm bored out of my mind, Dad."

Tod had known for a while that Swift got pretty restless after spending all his days helping babysit the four new additions to the family. It was quite typical of his oldest son to be that way—he had always been the adventurous one. Perhaps it was time to let him take some time off.

"I'll tell you what," Tod began. "I'll let you take the day off—"

"Day off?" Swift replied, his ears perking up. "You're joking, right? Day off?"

"Let me finish. I'll let you take the day off, but I don't want you running around the woods doing absolutely nothing. You go out and find some food for the cubs, and I might think about letting you help out in that department from now on."

Swift stared at his father for a second, then jumped up and said, "That is way better than what I'm doing now. Okay, just bring back something to eat, huh? No problem, see you later!"

Nice, Belle's having foreboding senses of doom, and now the hound pups and Swift are going hunting at the same time! Are they going to run into each other, and if they do what will happen? Keep reading to find out and please review!