Chapter 2 is served! Next comes the scene of the Rat Race, and Charlie's return, but what he's really excited for is to see his little Oaklyn again! Well... and Carface too XD Enjoy and review!

New Orleans, Louisiana, 1939

The swamps of New Orleans are always mucky, stinky, and just downright nasty. However, there's a place where neighborhood strays or bored housedogs sometimes go to have some fun...

In the Louisiana bayou, an old ship was anchored to the ground underwater, with a short wooden walkway leading inside. On a tree in the mucky waters, a white sign with peeling paint reads, "Carface and Charlie's." But 'Charlie' was crossed out.

Sounds of cheering (while faint) come from inside. Why, you may be wondering? Well, you'll just have to see.

"On your mark... get-... set-" POW. "And they're off!!"

What's going on, you might be asking? Why is the name 'Charlie' crossed off on the sign? It's a long story. You'll figure it out soon.

Inside the ship, dozens of dogs are smoking, yelling, barking, and drinking as they all watched the daily Rat Race, in which they bet money on which rat they believe will win each race. "It ain't the same, y'know," one dog tells his friend as they enter, "without Charlie here." His New Orleans accent made him pronounce the casino's half-owner's name as "Chawlee," kind of like a lot of dogs did: Itchy, Carface- most of them did.

The smallest rat in the group, Squad Car, is keeping up with the rest of them, but he can't get though because of their big, pounding feet. The announcer is talking so fast that he's hard to understand, but some of his statements were actually comprehenseable.

'It's a spectacular line-up with Mighty Morris taking an early lead! Rat O' War is second by a head, and Secretary Rat trails by a half. What an amazing race, ladies and gentlemen!"

Of course, Squad Car's at the way back. There's one dog, though, that's not enjoying the festivities in the least.

This dog was sitting by the stands, but not in them, and was kind of just staring at the track as the rats went by. Why was she so... well, depressed looking? Charlie was her best friend, along with Itchy. And she wholeheartedly believed Charlie was dead now that he'd been at the pound for a couple months.

Her name's Oaklyn. By appearance, she's a small, fluffy white Pomeranian. Non-threatening, cute. A dog like her probably wouldn't be at a place like this typically, but, hey- it was a way to get money. If only Carface would leave her alone...

Sure, she looks cute and sweet and cuddly, but... I mean- she's sweet, but only to those she trusts and cares for. She's not a mean-spirited dog, but she will defend herself when if some dude offers to buy her a drink, or poke her tail, or even get too close. Even better, her pretty blue eyes made her look even more innocent. Some jerk'll be in for a surprise when they find out she's no common broad.

That was pretty much the sole reason Charlie'd befriended her. That and the fact that she was adorable. But her fierceness? Charlie loved it. He thought it was super cute, but he'd never admit it. Especially not to her. That's why his nickname for her was Snowflake; she was small, cute, and special to him. Why not?

The Rat Race continued anyway, even if Oaklyn wasn't paying attention. She missed Charlie. Even if there wasa chance he was alive, it was slim. She tried not to dwell on it, but... she missed him. Even if he got on her nerves sometimes.

"Out of the turn, it's Mighty Morris, with Rat O' War charging up from behind! In the second turn, Mighty Morris and Rat O' War fight it out while Squad Car trails the pack!" the announcer babbles. "Now it's Rat O' War by a nose- Secretary Rat is second by a head, with Mighty Morris back at third!!"

(Btw, I'm getting all of the announcer's commentary from the race from a website, so if it's wrong, I don't care too much; it doesn't have to be perfect!)

"-but wait! Squad Car is making his move in the rear! He tries to the right, he tries to the left, but it's no good, folks! It's rat-eat-rat out there, and they're just not gonna let him through!" Oaklyn sighed, resting her head on one paw.

Hey- come to think of it, where did Itchy go? She hadn't seen him in a couple hours, at least.

The announcer doesn't stop even for a breath. "But what's this? Squad Car's coming through the middle!" The little black rat is suddenly sandwiched between two much larger rats. "Oh!! He's caught in a pinch!" Oaklyn's ears perked up a little, but she didn't really react. Would be more fun if Charlie was here...

"Oh my gosh! But now he's climbing out! And he's- he's- he's riding on top of Cheese Whiz!! And up to the loop-de-loop, it's Squad Car on Cheese Whiz, bringing up the rear as they enter the oil slick!!!"

The rats all slip and stumble on the oil with their tiny feet, but all of them keep going and get past the puddle of black liquid. "Ohhhhh- my gosh! Look out! But what's this?! Squad Car playing hopscotch in the back stretch! Sixth! Fifth! Fourth! Third!!! I don't believe it!"

At this point, Oaklyn wasn't listening. She didn't think about Charlie's absence too much during the day, but at night there was less to distract her. Now she just felt kind of lonely. She was also beginning to wonder where the heck Itchy was. She thought about going to look for him, but decided against it in the end.

"Into the obstacle, Squad Car takes the lead! It's Squad Car by a length, Rat O' War second by a head, and Cheese Whiz moving into third!" All of the rats reach a mattress with springs sticking out of it, but Squad Car gets stuck in one when he almost gets to the end. "But wait a minute! He's... he's... he's stuck! Squad Car is stuck! What a nightmare!!"

Squad Car grabs the tail of one of the rats that were hopping on top of him to get by, but that one kind of just runs in place for a few seconds. "Wait a minute!!" The announced quickly pulls away from his microphone to pant heavily, but instantly turns back to it as Squad Car goes flying across the track. "It's Squad Car by a tail! Ohhhhh, my gosh! Look out!"

He flys through the air and past all the other rats, rocketing through the finish line as the camera snaps a photo. "It's Squad Car springing to the finish!!!!" A couple of large paws grab the black rat as the others crash down into their respective cages. "What an incredible race!!!" The one who caught Squad Car, a hound wearing a policemen's hat, gives him a big kiss for his victory and raises him into the air, as the tiny rodent pumps his arms in victory.

"Booooo! Boooo!" the crowd yells, while some of them actually are cheering. They begin to disperse, going to do other things in the casino. "But don't go away, folks! We have plenty more action coming up in our next heat!" the announcer calls, pulling at the band around his neck.

One dog, who's walking away with his friend and looking really unhappy says, "Well, if you ask me, I think the house is rigged." Yeah... nobody betted on Squad Car because he's so small and usually didn't win races... so nobody won anything at all.

Another mutt has a golden ticket in his paw, but he doesn't look excited. "That does it for me-! I'm busted!" he groans, ripping it in half and slamming his head onto the metal tub serving as a desktop.

A shaky little Chihuahua is trotting happily over to a booth worker, ticket in his teeth. "This'll be one to tell your friends-..." the announcer calls as he reaches the booth.

"I win!!" he chirped, chuckling in disbelief. The bulldog who was at that particular booth slaps a weird looking steak into the Chihuahua's paw. "There ya go!" he chuckles.

The Chihuahua takes a sniff at it, cringes a little, muttering, "ooh! Bad meat!"

As he walks away with his... uh, 'prize,' another orangeish furred dog is standing at the other booth. "What's the odds on Terrible Tom?" he asked the Doberman worker.

"Terrible."

"Oh... well then, uh, gimme a 'Large Mike' to win!" The worker gives him a ticket as a Corgi gambler comes over from behind the other dog. He drops a dirty, broken blue collar in front of the booth worker.

"Large Mike to win!"

The Doberman grabs the collar and tosses it back at him. "No markers, tailpipe. Come back here when you've got some food."

At this point, Oaklyn is debating whether or not she's going to find Itchy. Wonder where he went, anyway.

A high pitched trumpeting alerts everyone that the next race is beginning. A dog shoots a pistol, and the cages open. The announcer begins babbling again, but he's interrupted by a long, loud howl.

"AWOOOOOOOOOO!!!"

Charlie's standing at the entrance with Itchy. "Hi, guys! Whaddya know, whaddya say?"

Itchy takes his hat off to wave at everybody. "Yeah, whaddya say, whaddya know?"

Charlie laughed, dropping onto all fours from an upright stand. "Haha! Itchy, do we detect a look of surprise here?" he joked as everybody, including Oaklyn, stared with an indescribable shock at the shepherd. The Rat Race had halted.

Charlie smiled as Itchy said, "hey, boss! Maybe we should go out and come back in- again!"

Charlie and Itchy both laugh loudly as Smiley walks up. "Charlie...? Ain't you s'posed to be on death row?" Offended, Charlie growls. "No! I ain't supposed to be on death row." Itchy, looking just as offended, retorted, "Hey! I got him out!"

Charlie rolls his eyes, but then his attention is caught by a small white-furred dog. He instantly felt a smile grow on his face, wagging his tail in greeting. "Snowflake!" He ran over to a shocked Oaklyn and hugged her tight, playfully picking her up off the ground as she gasped. He spun around a few times before he set her down, laughing.

"Aw, it's great to see ya, sweetheart! How ya been?" Shocked beyond words, Oaklyn blinked a couple times. "How... Itchy? That's where you were?" Itchy sheepishly rubbed his neck. "Heh, yeah. I wanted to surprise ya."

Charlie, already excited to be back, walked over to the first thing he saw; Craps. A few dogs are over there, watching him as if they were looking at a ghost.

"Things have changed, Charlie, since you've been gone-!" a female dog says, leaning on the side of the table. Charlie picks up a couple die and bounces them in his paw with that typical mischievous grin.

"Life hasn't been no 'piece of cake.'" The Chihuahua gambler from behind hops up under Charlie, clinging to the board. "Carface ain't been treatin' us too good!"

Oaklyn and Itchy stand at the side to watch, curious peering at Charlie. He kind of pays attention to the complaints, but rolls the dice down the table and jerks his arm into the air when he gets a good roll. Smiley came up beside Charlie, pulling his head under his arm as the female dog continued. "Things are tough, but we carry on..."

Charlie's face fell as he only earned two bones from the roll. "Could ya spare a couple a' bones for old times sake?" Smiley sang. Charlie glared at his, lifting his arm and swinging it over to grab the bones off the table. "Why settle for a couple a' bones when you can have the whole bag?"

Charlie walks over to a snack machine, grabs the handle and pulls it down, shoving the two bones in the slot. Then he reels back and kicks it with his hind foot, causing it to overload and spill a whole net full of meat prizes down onto the game table. Oaklyn is a bit startled, but Itchy hurries over to Charlie, who's already walking away proudly. "Charlie! Charlie, look! You hit the jackpot!"

Oaklyn joins the crowd of gathering gamblers to see Charlie and Itchy. "Atta boy, Charlie! I'm proud of ya!" Itchy bends over a little to boost Charlie up onto the stage. "Charlie, tell 'em!"

Charlie landed up on the wooden floorboards, and he began to sing. "Oh, you can't keep a good dog down!"

Itchy pulls himself up as well, sitting in front of Charlie's legs. "No, sir!!" Charlie picks him up and spins him around a few times. "No, ya can't keep a good dog down'!" Charlie himself spins around, but turns back toward the audience. "I'veseenpain and hurt!"

"That's right!"

"I've eaten dirt-!"

"That's true!"

Charlie bent over and grabbed Itchy by the paws, lifting him up a little. "It's hard to buy, but even I've been jilted by a skirt!"

"He lied!"

Itchy jumps up onto the piano stool, and Charlie spins him around again as Itchy chuckles. "And look how I'm still around! 'Cause ya can't keep a god dog down!"

Pushing Itchy up to the piano, he began to play it for background music, singing along with Charlie. "Ya can't keep a good dog down! No, no, no! Ya can't keep a good dog dooown-!"

Charlie leapt on top of the piano, of course, and bent over to address the crowd. "I've been bought and sold!" Itchy continued for him. "He's been warm and cold!"

Charlie braced himself and jumped off, landing perfectly on his feet. "But 10 to 1, I'll still be runnin' rockets when I'm old!"

Itchy put his paws on the piano and pushed hard, sliding way backward, and Charlie caught his paw to pull him off. "Not in some cage in the city pound-!"

As Oaklyn watched them, she started to smile at their silliness. What did she expect? It's Charlie and Itchy! They weren't usually serious unless something was at stake!

"'Cause ya can't keep a good dog- can't keep a good- I say, you can't keep a good dog-... down!"

Itchy kicked one paw out and clenched his fists, sort of pretending to box. "In him's... the luck of the Irish!" Charlie found a clover on the ground and put it up to his face. "The pride of the German!"

Itchy was suddenly on Charlie's other side, and he turned his head to look at him, grinning. "And even- haha-! A bit of Siamme!"

Charlie sat on the stool, holding a teacup and it's little dish. "Siamme? You see the calm of the English..." Itchy strutted over and threw his arms up, knocking the cup out of Charlie's paws. "The charm of the Spanish!" Itchy sang, rolling his tongue on 'Spanish.'

Charlie put on an angry look and grabbed Itchy by the shirt. "A pedigree certainly ain't what I am!"

Dramatically, Charlie hugged Itchy to himself. "So call me a mixed-up pup..." Itchy struggled in Charlie's grip a little. "You're a mixed-up pup!" Charlie laughed, dropping him. He made his way to the piano stool, standing on all fours on top of it. "Haha! But the only way this pup knows-... is UP!"

Itchy smiled widely, running over to push Charlie around and over to the crowd. "Ok, boys, come on! Help me lift him up! Get your 'handy man' up! Up, up, up, come on!!"

Charlie and Itchy were now on everybody's shoulders, and Charlie quick grabbed Oaklyn and wrapped her in one arm. Everybody sang along as they spun around, "Oh, ya can't keep a good dog dow-ow-ow-ow-own, ya can't keep a good dog dow-ow-ow-ow-own!"

As everyone howled in the background, Charlie put a surprised and dizzy Oaklyn down and continued singing with Itchy, and the two shook hands as they stayed up high in the air. "He's been fat and thin..."

"I've been out and in!"

Just then, a scrawny looking, orange/yellow furred schnoodle looking dog named Killer crept slowly down a wooden plank leading upstairs. "Boys?" he called. He went ignored, but tripped and fell down.

"He tried a life of virtue-!" Itchy sang. "But preferred a life of sin!" Charlie continued, and because his glasses had fallen off, Killer screamed at the sight of a very distorted Charlie and Itchy.

He fell down again, his head breaking through a beer barrel. Charlie hopped down and came over. "I'veknown hunger, I've known thirst-..." Killer sheepishly looked at him, and Charlie cast him a glare. "Lived thebestand seen the worst-!"

Charlie lifted the plank with empty beer glasses on it, as Killer's head breaking through had made it leak, filling all of them. "But the only way I know to finish, is to finishFIRST!" The beers all slid to everybody, but Oaklyn was too busy laughing to grab one. No matter how much Charlie irritated her sometimes, he was one of the most charismatic dogs she'd ever met.

Charlie jumped up on the plank as Itchy joined him. Together they skipped up to Killer. "So watch out when you hear this sound-...!"

Itchy on one side, Charlie on the other, they both howled loudly into Killer's ears as everyone else did the same below them. They walked behind him and grabbed him, jerking him in and out of the broken barrel. "'Cause ya can't keep a good dog, no ya- can't keep a good- I say yacan'tkeep a good dog down!" Charlie lifted a scared and confused Killer up, putting him in a neck hold with one arm. Itchy howled, and so did Charlie and everyone else; even Oaklyn joined in for a second.

Charlie decided to finish it off, motioning silently for Itchy to do so as well. Everybody joined in the end.

"Youcan't... keep a good... dog..."

Hopping on top of the barrel, Charlie and Itchy (mostly Charlie) held Killer up while their legs moved rapidly, as the barrel moved quickly down the row of dogs. "Dooooooooooooooowwwwn!"

They crashed into the wall, but Charlie and Itchy recovered immediately, while Killer lay on the ground for a second, too dizzy to get up. "Woof!"

As Charlie swung his arm around, laughing, Itchy was bumped back, and the wall flipped around, leaving him alone in the dark on the other side.

Charlie laughed loudly, and the gamblers came over as well, laughing just as much. Killer tried to walk away, head held up, but he was shoved back and pouted.

Oaklyn squeezed through the crowd to come over to Charlie. She grinned teasingly. "So that was your greeting, huh?" Charlie chuckled. "Oh, Snowflake, that was the best greeting I could do!" He laughed again, grabbing Oaklyn and giving her a hard rub on the head. "Ow! Charlie! Let me go!" she protested. He didn't want to, but Charlie let her go anyway. "Alright, alright!" He didn't notice that Itchy was missing with all the excitement.

Charlie smiled at her playfully. "Well, I'll catch ya later, Snowflake. I gotta pay a visit to my ol' pal Carface." Oaklyn huffed. "Oh, sure, because money's more important than your best friend!" she joked, jabbing Charlie in the chest. He smirked. "Hey, you know business ain't just gonna stop! I'll see ya later, ok?"

Oaklyn shrugged. "Yeah, ok. See ya, Charlie."

Charlie slipped away from the festivities after staying a couple minutes longer to go see his partner and- friend... who wouldn't be his friend for much longer.


Whooo- that was a lot of writing. But, y'know, I'm kinda proud of myself, XD. Please review if you enjoyed.