The JY Dogs

"C'mon kid, keep up!" Pru called out to him.

"I'm not a kid! I'm a heck of a lot older than you!" Apollo ran, he was as unsecure as he could have ever been and he was so unstable he continuously fell.

"But you're also a human… what's in this briefcase anyway?" Pru dropped the case and grabbed Apollo by the scruff of his neck. "Climb up and then keep balanced!"

"That case has information for a case I'm working on as a human, and it has some other things, important things in it…" Apollo leapt from his position onto the Ridgeback's back, he fell on his first attempt and had managed to hook his tiny paws over her spine and clamber up. "Where are we going?"

"You'll see…"

The clock struck two p.m. Apollo's ears burned at the sound that he would normally ignore.

"Here we are Squirt…"

"Um… Is this a junk yard?" Apollo looked on with fright at the smashed cars, wrecked appliances and tyres.

"It's no so bad, go on then!" She used her paw to force him through the gate.

"Guys I'm back!" Pru called. "I've got some one here with me!"

"What's that I hear? Pru has brought along another?" Apollo heard the laugh from behind the tallest mountain of rubbish he could see.

"Ah, but this one's special, he isn't a dog at all, he's a human – a rock star and an ace attorney!" Pru replied clearly knowing where to talk. "His name's Apollo Justice!"

"How'd you know that I was an attorney and a musician? And who'd you know my last name?" Apollo asked intrigued.

"A newcomer came not so long ago, you'll get to meet her soon enough, Squirt. Her old master was a fan of the band you play in." She whispered in Apollo's ear. "Shouldn't we introduce ourselves?" She called.

"I suppose we should…" The source of the voice emerged on the top of the rubbish before sliding down on the broken bonnet of a disused car. Apollo jumped back in shock before smiling.

"That was pretty cool!" He smiled.

"Thanks, you don't look like you're 22 human years old." He commented. The dog was probably slightly taller than Pru and had a curled tail, his fur was long. "To help you out we'll tell you our age in human years, what breed we are and tell you where we are and why we're out here."

"Alright thank you…"

"First, I'm Axel, I'm a 5 year old Japanese Akita. I'm here because I was not wanted when I was a puppy; I was adopted once but thrown out a couple of months later by the nutcase old lady who adopted me." He nudged Apollo slightly with his nose. "I'm the leader of the JY Dogs."

"JY?" Apollo said the letters slowly as if they had significance.

"The Junk Yard Dogs." Axel replied.

"Howdy there youngster!" A huge dog that probably stood to Apollo's waist as a human towered over the three dogs. "I wish I was as lucky as you, 22 years and you're still a puppy, the wonder of youth…" He sounds like someone's Grand dad…

"I don't think I'm all that lucky." Apollo replied truthfully.

"Well, I'm Setter an Irish wolfhound, I was shipped over here from Ireland with my master but he never collected me from the airport so I was tossed onto the streets. I'm 12 years old and am the founder of the JY Dogs; I gave my power to Axel as he is a younger fitter dog." He held out his paw for Apollo to tap it like Pru had done. "If you don't want to call me Setter call me Tramp, like the dog from the movie."

"I'm Kane, A greyhound!" A large dog sped towards Apollo and stopped just before smashing into him. "I'm 4; I was thrown out because I was classed as being too old to carry on racing."

"I'm Angel. A pit bull, my master threw me out so I wouldn't be killed by the police, I'm 4." The dog gave Apollo a 'you'd better not forget' look.

"I'm Pedro!" A Chihuahua jumped from the drum of a broken washing machine in front of Apollo; he was no bigger than poor Polly so Apollo felt quite relaxed. "I'm a 7 year old from Mexico who was thrown out by my master for stealing his sausages."

"I'm Bruiser. A Rottweiler." The size and bulk of the dog made Apollo cower with fear. "Don't worry I won't hurt ya! My master was a boxer and threw me out because he was going away and couldn't take care of me."

"Where's Lady?" Setter pressed his nose to the ground. "Oops, hehe I mean Chloe!"

"I'm here!" the dog sauntered towards them. She clearly hadn't been a stray for very long. "YOUR band was the reason MY master left me!" She snarled.

"Don't blame it on him, it isn't his fault!" Axel warned. "You need to learn to cool down a little!"

"I need to? Ha!" She broke a chuckle from her throat. "I'm way more important than you are!"

"You're still a stray!" Pru hissed. "You're no different to the rest of us!"

"Well anyway…" She glared at Pru who snarled back. "I'm Chloe! A Cocker Spaniel! My mistress became obsessed with your band and wanted to follow you around the country on tour in a few months, her mother made her pick between me and the band, and she picked the band!"

"I wouldn't have picked you either if I were a human to be honest." Pru said calmly.

"Nor I, you're too stuck up and prissy!" Angel added.

"It's all his fault!" She growled pointing an accusatory paw Apollo.

"No it isn't! you should have been more loyal to your mistress." Bruiser struggled with the last word.

"Yes senora!" Pedro added, struggling with the language barrier just like Klavier would.

"Chloe, I'm sorry. I can't help undo what has happened, but right now you have to accept that you are no different from the other dogs here!" Apollo barked. "Right now I have no idea what has happened to me or why it has, if anyone here is different then it's me but I don't want to be treated any differently!"

"I…guess…but…" Chloe watched as the other dogs glared evilly at her. "I'm sorry…" The dogs then headed off to entertain themselves accordingly.

"So…is this everybody?" Apollo paced beside Axel.

"There is another dog you absolutely have to meet." Axel looked over to the trash pile he climbed down from. "She's Pru's…"

"She's my daughter, Axel is her father." Pru paced behind them both scaring young Apollo. "She's still young – 3 months old and looks more like her father than me."

"Oh boy, another puppy!" Came the call from a hollow hole in the pile of trash. From the pile jumped a dog that looked mostly like Axel but had Pru's ears.

"Na kid, sorry to disappoint but that isn't a puppy, it's a person!" Axel laughed.

"But people are those tall things that hang around outside our home aren't they?" The small puppy asked.

"I don't know what happened to me, but I look like a dog and can hear you talk…" Apollo held out his paw. "I'm Apollo!"

"Papa, what's my name again?" The dog was obviously a girl as she had the gentle tone that all small girls had.

"Her name's Mi"

"Hey Mi, cute name!"

"Thanks!" She swatted Apollo's paw in a high five motion.

"Axel can I ask a favour?" Apollo asked as the Akita began to trudge away. "The case me and Pru brought with us, can we take it to my house?"

"Why would you want to do that Squirt? You'll get caught by the dog warden; your human family probably won't even recognise you." Axel replied truthfully.

"I don't care about that. It's just important the case arrives, at least my girlfriend will know something has happened to me." Apollo thought of Ema. "I know she probably won't recognise me, but it's a risk I'm willing to take."

"Alright Squirt, we'll go." Axel smiled the way only a dog could. "We'll all have to go though, especially you smaller members of the group, I won't trust Slash, Chen or Koto around you guys otherwise you won't be here when we get back."

"Who?"

"Those guys are the ruffians of the group pal." Setter towered over them, surrounding them in a shadow that added to the ominous wind.

"We'll go immediately as there are few people in the streets around now, and less chance of getting caught." Axel roared to the sky.

The dogs all stood in a long line one beside the other, Setter at one end and Pedro and the pups at the other.

"Setter, check. Bruiser, check. Angel, check. Pru, check. Chloe, check. Kane, check. Pedro, check. Me, check." Axel grabbed the case and handed it to Setter. "You're the biggest. And finally Apollo and Mi!"

"Yep!" Apollo smiled.

"Roger!" Mi shouted excitedly.

The dogs ran through the streets. Kane, being a race dog and Setter despite his old age were in front, closely followed by Axel. Bruiser and Angel were behind him, Pedro and Chloe behind them and then Pru with the small puppies.

"The streets are empty mummy, where are all the people?" Mi asked.

"Well normally people work at this time – I would be too but the trial was cancelled because I was really ill." Apollo replied to her question.

"You were…ill? Maybe that has something to do with your change…" Pru wondered.

"Maybe, anyway. Kiddies are still in school and few people go shopping at this time." Apollo finished his answer.

"Apollo! Which way kiddo?" Setter grabbed Apollo and put him on Bruiser's back before helping him onto his back. Apollo was afraid to look at the floor.

"Left!" He yelped before laying down and throwing his paws on either side of Setter's thin, bony chest. Apollo directed then the rest of the way to the Wright's apartment.

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"As he come home yet?" Lana tried to ask but she was struggling to hear through her sisters sobs down the phone.

"No! What if…if…something's happened?"

"Don't worry Klavier's gone out to look for him because he said how sick he looked, don't worry honey!" The line went dead. Before her phone clicked back to the camera mode. She wiped the smudged make up from her cheeks, because Apollo was so ill she was only working for a few hours a day so she could help him with his work. That was when the scratching began at the door.

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Setter dropped the case in front of Apollo and scratched once more at the door. The terrified Ema put her phone by the edge of the door and snapped a photo of all the dogs behind the case.

"Oh my god!" Apollo heard her cry and pushed against the case hard with his head. As it fell Ema's eyes met with his, but she couldn't see the human him, she didn't even see Apollo's bracelet. "Apollo's…" The tears streamed from her face as she snatched the case and slammed the door shut. Apollo choked back his tears and the other dogs tried desperately to comfort him. He was so distraught all he wanted to do was return to the junk yard.

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"That dog…" Ema tears stopped for a split second but soon began again making her forget her sentence.