"Here we are." Tigger trotted along slowly, waiting for the slower pup. Kara tried her best to walk fast, but it was difficult! Her paws were really big! And she kept tripping over them! And she was tired!
"Come on, just a bit more, pup." Tigger panted encouragingly. Kara didn't even mind when Tigger circled around and nudged her butt with his nose. She just slumped bonelessly to the ground.
"I'm tiiiiired…" Kara whimpered. Tigger sighed, bending down and grabbing her by the scruff of her neck and continuing on at a brisk trot. By Kara's calculations, they had been walking for a good three blocks!
"You shouldn't run away from your owner." Kara swung her head this way and that to try to look at Tigger. "You're really far from the park."
Tigger huffed, speaking past a mouthful of puppy fur. "This is my territory. I need to make sure it's patrolled and protected."
They finally arrived at the dog park which was unfenced and packed. There were at least like, a bajillion dogs! Kara's tail started wagging furiously, her love for dogs not having diminished in the slightest in dog form. As soon as Tigger was back in the park though, a big Doberman Pinscher ran at them, pointy ears forward, barrelling towards them at an intense speed.
"AH!" Kara wriggled in the German Shepherd's grasp, but was unable to get free. Thankfully, the Doberman did a quick duck to the right, continuing past, then circling around to run at them again several times, with Tigger not moving at all. Finally, the Doberman stopped in front of them, head low on the ground and butt wiggling playfully.
"Tigger! Time to play! Time to-what is that?" The Doberman jumped back up, eyes focusing on Kara.
"I found a lost puppy. I'm helping!" Tigger let Kara down gently and she quickly backed up until she was under Tigger's chest.
"Hello, puppy." The Doberman leaned forward and snuffled at Kara in a friendly manner. "What's your name?"
Kara looked up at Tigger who gave her a little 'boof' that conveyed that it was okay to talk to this new, very dangerous looking dog.
"Kara." Kara said shyly.
"Hello, Kara." The other big dog's voice was like velvet, it's smooth dulcet tones making Kara's tail wag a bit. "I'm Bella."
Kara looked up at the Doberman and wagged her tail furiously. "You're so big!"
"Well, if you're a good girl and you eat all your food, you can be as big as me, too!" Bella leaned in closer and nudged Kara a bit, completely enchanted with this baby dog.
"We're trying to find her owner." Tigger kept an eye on Kara as she wandered out from between his front legs and went over to Bella to sniff her warily.
"Well, we can watch out for her until then." Bella wagged her stubby tail, panting happily. "We can play until your human comes back, Tigger."
"Where did she go?" Tigger craned his neck and looked this way and that, whining low in his throat.
"She went to look for you. You need to stop running away." Bella raised a paw and smacked Tigger playfully in the chest.
"I'm patrolling. Not running away." Tigger growled. "I always come back!"
The three joined the pack of dogs racing around joyously. Kara wanted to really join in, but Bella kept her corralled, safe between Tigger and her and let younger dogs come to sniff at the youngster and attempt to play with Kara. Bigger more anxious dogs, and small, bitey dogs they kept away with warning growls.
"I wanna go play!" Kara's butt was wiggling so hard she was having a hard time keeping upright, barking excitedly at a little shiba inu puppy that had just arrived at the park. Even as a puppy herself, Kara loved puppies!
"There you are!"
Kara paused her exuberance to watch Tigger go off like a shot, whining barks coming up out of his throat as he howled about his "moon and stars" and "giver of food", acting as if he hadn't seen the young girl-who was obviously his owner-in ages.
"You dummy!" The girl scolded, hugging the dog close to her. "Where've you been? I'm not letting you off leash anymore if you keep running off! You could get hit by a car!"
"I love you! I love you!" Tigger totally wasn't hearing anything Kara was saying, concentrating on licking the girl's face as she giggled.
"That's his human. Mary." Bella chuckled. She watched in amusement as Kara lost interest, her eyes on the little Shiba Inu who was bounding forward towards Kara confidently, then screeching to a stop in front of Kara to play bow in front of her, butt wiggling cutely in the air. Bella would melt if she could at the sight of the two puppies suddenly sniffing at each other.
"Those your dogs?"
Bella's ears perked up, head swivelling to watch a man standing there talking to Mary. Tigger was also looking on, his eyes on the taller human, alert.
"Just Tigger, here." Mary rubbed the German Shepherd's head. Tigger allowed a few faint tail wags before stopping to keep his attention on the man. They didn't recognize him in the park and he didn't seem to have a dog with him. Bella and Tigger were regulars here and knew every dog that was there presently, and the dogs' humans. He was not the human of any of the dogs present.
"Hm." The man's eyes were locked on little Kara. Bella's hackles were bristling.
"Which one's yours?" Mary asked inquisitively.
"Hm. That one. Over there." He pointed to Kara, who was loping about with the little Shiba Inu.
"Oh yeah! How old is he? She?"
"He's like… four months." The man shrugged. He strode forward, startling Kara who froze at the appearance of this large man in front of her.
"Alright, time to go-"
Bella snarled, lunging forward and nipping at the strange man's hands before he could grab Kara.
"Bella!" Mary shouted in alarm.
"Bella!" A woman was fast approaching, Bella's human, Michelle. But Bella picked up Kara by the scruff of her neck and retreated, growling low in her throat.
"Bella, no! Drop that puppy!" Michelle turned to the man to apologize. "Sorry, she's usually not like that."
"Well, she has my dog, so you better get YOUR dog under control." The man pointed a beefy finger at Bella's human. That looked way too aggressive for Bella's taste and she dropped Kara to the ground before lunging at the man again, forcing him back.
"Bella, no, bad dog!" Bella strained against her human's restraining hand, ears flat against her head, not liking being called 'bad dog' but not liking this strange man more.
"No, Tigger, NO!" The German Shepherd had tucked Kara between his front legs and now bared his teeth at the man intent on grabbing Kara. A couple other humans came along, familiar with the two big dogs, making a human barrier as Tigger's human got a hold of his collar and pulled him away.
"Sorry, mister." Mary apologized, pulling him away from Kara as he whined loudly. Kara cried out in kind, trying to run after one of the two dogs that had been protecting her, but found herself picked up into a rough hold that was super uncomfortable.
"Finally. Your dogs are a menace, they need to be put down." The man huffed. Kara growled low in her throat, not liking what he was saying about her friends and maybe she had been in this body for too long, because she suddenly found herself sinking puppy teeth into a beefy hand that tasted like stale tobacco.
"OW! You fucking piece of-"
"Let go of my dog." Alex's voice, low and deadly made Kara perk up and start whimpering.
"This is my dog." The man snarled at Alex, trying to use his size to intimidate Alex. Kara had seen Alex take down aliens twice the size of this man so she wasn't worried… that much. Who was she kidding, she would always worry about Alex.
"Oh?" Alex crossed her arms, a smirk on her face. "What's the dog's name?"
"His name's Buddy."
Alex scoffed. "You're an idiot. HER name is Kara."
Kara let out a couple of excited barks at the name, hoping that that would give weight to Alex's claim. Bella and Tigger's humans were frowning at the man now.
"Bella wouldn't snap at people, usually." Michelle narrowed her eyes at the man.
Mary nodded. "Tigger wouldn't act like this either."
The man suddenly realized he was surrounded by a bunch of curious dog-owners who were muttering amongst themselves. One was already dialing the police.
"Out of my way-" The man made the wrong choice to swing at Alex, who ducked easily and returned with a perfect uppercut, knocking him flat on his ass. In the process, Bella was already leaping to gently grab Kara around her middle and Tigger was darting in to tug the man's pants so he fell backwards instead of forwards.
"Gotcha!" Bella set Kara gently down on the ground, licking at the puppy as Kara whimpered, more shocked than actually hurt.
"Kara!" Alex was on her knees, arms open for Kara to stumble into her, whimpering with relief that Alex had found her. "I've got you, I've got you, puppy."
"I've called the police," Someone called out. "They'll be here soon."
"Been some dog-napping happening around here."
"Didn't think we'd actually have something like this at this park."
Tigger trotted forward, nosing the little Golden Retriever in Alex's arms.
"I'm fine!" Kara yipped, tail wagging at the scent of her sister. "I'm fine! Meet Alex! She's the best!"
Bella sniffed at Alex in a friendly manner and gave her a lick, satisfied that this person was definitely Kara's human.
"Aw, Bella, I'm sorry baby!" Michelle fussed with the big dog. "You were being a good girl! Yes you were!"
"Treats for you!" Mary was tugging out bacon strips from her pocket and feeding it to Tigger. "You're a good boy, yes you are!"
"Thank you," Alex held out her hand to Michelle and Mary for a handshake each. "And thank your dogs for me, I don't know what I would do if Kara went missing."
"She wants to shake your paws!" Kara barked at the two big dogs. Bella and Tigger both held out their paws in a 'shake' gesture. Alex, bemused, shook both canines paws, to the wonder of their humans.
"Excellent work. Good dogs."
"What should we do with him?" Michelle nudged the down and out would-be dognapper gently with her foot.
"Well, I'll stick around and get him processed." Alex pulled out her handy FBI identifications. "This dog is definitely not his. She works with the FBI. With a little bit more training, is on her way to being one of the best service animals we have."
"Oh wow! That's amazing!" Mary cooed.
"She just needs to learns to wait for me when she needs to go for a walk." Alex raised an eyebrow at Kara. Kara responded by licking her sister's face from her chin to her nose, then using her paws to try to cover her sister's eyes.