Chapter Eleven
Pongo and Perdita growled fiercely and backed away from the young man in shock. Hunter almost leapt in retreat, suddenly fearful of the unfamiliar canines. "What's gotten into them?!" he asked nervously, "Was it something I said?" Dolly franticly gestured to her elders in an effort to defuse the situation, "Please stop! You don't understand. He's not like her!" Pongo then snarled at Dolly, "He's a DeVil!" Perdita snarled in kind, "They're all alike!" The adult Dalmatians crouched down, preparing to pounce on the young DeVil. Just then, a voice rang out from the direction of the house, "STOP!"
Hunter and the three dogs looked up to see Dylan rushing towards them. The pup leapt through the air and landed between Hunter and the hostile couple, crouched in a defensive position. The human showed mild relief at this display, while the elder Dalmatians stared in angry confusion. Pongo snarled, "Why are you protecting him?!" Dylan was shaking slightly but managed to speak with confidence, "I know what you must think of him. Not that long ago, you would've been right. But he's changed! He's our friend!" Dolly then leapt to Dylan's side, "It's true. He wanted to hurt us at first, but in the end, he saved us."
Pongo wasn't convinced by his descendants' claims, but Perdita relaxed her expression and stance considerably. Looking to her mate, Perdita pleaded, "Pongo, I think they mean it. Why else would they be so protective?" His mate's words were enough to ease him out of the attack pose, but Pongo still glared at the young DeVil with noticeable disdain. "Maybe he has your trust, but not mine," he said to his fellow canines.
Hunter finally broke out of his frightened silence, "Well, I take it you've had experience with my Great-Aunt Cruella then?" Pongo maintained his stare, "That Devil Woman tried to destroy our family. Nothing could make me forgive her for that!" Dylan spoke up, "She tried to do the same thing to us, and we never would've escaped without Hunter's help!" Dolly nodded in firm agreement, "He did her bidding at first, but when push came to shove, he turned on her and did the right thing!"
Seeing the emotion in the youngsters' eyes, Pongo still looked unconvinced. Meanwhile Perdita shook her head in surprise, "What do you mean 'the same thing happened to you'? You're not saying that wicked old witch is still alive?!" Dylan and Dolly exchanged concerned glances, with Dolly remarking, "She's basically a skeleton at this point, but yes." Perdita was visibly shaken by this revelation, resting her head against Pongo, who responded by gently placing his head on top of hers. Dylan spoke up, "It's ok, she's locked up in a mental institution. Even her family fortune isn't enough to get her out of there anytime soon."
Through the entire conversation, Hunter had been looking down at the Dalmatian couple with genuine empathy. Finally, he broke his silence, "I won't ask you to forgive her. She's the only family I've got, and I wouldn't speak to her again for all the money in the world. I only ask that you allow me to show you that I'm not like her." Pongo resumed his hard stare at the human, but Perdita's look of shock turned to one of sympathy. Moving out from under her mate's head, she tentatively walked towards Hunter. Making eye contact with him, she asked, "She really hurt you too, didn't she?" Hunter nodded solemnly, "She brings nothing but harm to everyone and everything." Sensing the sincerity in Hunter's voice, Perdita moved closer and nuzzled the side of his leg. Surprised yet touched, Pongo's hard stare softened, though he still kept his distance from Hunter.
Upstairs in the pups' bedroom, Dawkins was still sound asleep in his cubby. His tablet displayed an incomprehensible jumble of equations, graphs and encyclopedia articles on theories of quantum mechanics. Next to the tablet was a half-assembled device, which resembled a centrifuge with a large clockface on its center. Dawkins began tossing and turning, muttering to himself as his eyelids flickered rapidly.
All of a sudden, Dawkins's eyes shot open, and he shouted, "EUREKA!" He rushed over to the unfinished contraption and spun it around as he attached the missing components. Once the machine was in one piece, he tucked it under his arm, hurried down the ladder and out of the room. In a flash, Dawkins was in the backyard. Hunter and the four other dogs were caught off-guard by his sudden appearance, with Dylan asking, "Dawkins, what's going on?" Placing his contraption on the ground, Dawkins beamed and proudly exclaimed, "I'VE DONE IT! I'VE FIGURED IT OUT!"