Chapter 7 – My Fair Tommy – Part 1

It had only been yesterday when Tommy and his friends met the Dalmatian family and as the babies as usual spent their time in the playpen, Tommy couldn't help but wonder what the family of dogs were currently up to.

"Man, Didi never takes this long to get my food ready. Breakfast time's almost over." Spike commented as he laid on the floor near the playpen, the babies still able to understand what he was saying with the translator devices in their ears.

...Well, except for one.

"What did Spike say, Tommy?" Chuckie asked, having only heard whines come from Spike.

"Oh, he's just wodering when his brekfist is. Why do you ask, Chuckie?" Tommy responded before ending with a question of his own.

"Yeah. That thingie in your ear should let you hear what the doggies are saying." Phil said, referring to the translator devices.

"The thingie?" Chuckie asked before sticking his finger in his ear. His eyes widened as he felt nothing inside it.

"G-Guys! My talking dog thingie is gone!" Chuckie exclaimed in horror.

Meanwhile, it was a whole cacophony of barks, yells, laughter and other dog noises in the Dalmatian household's backyard as Dolly as you'd expect was in on the fun, racing towards a trampoline alongside Dizzy and Dee Dee before leaping up on it to do various pose-jumps.

The backyard next door was rather the opposite in regards to noise levels. The only sound being the chatter between three adults, two of which were Charlotte and Drew Pickles who were conversing with the owner of the house, Hugo whilst his dog, a pampered, snobby and overly spoiled corgi known as Clarissa was sat silently at a table under the backyard's gazebo with a Lhasa Apso and a Pug.

"Honestly, I would've never guessed that I would one day make friends with people from America, let alone one who is such a prime CEO!" Hugo complimented the two, obviously expressing a lot of admiration for Charlotte and her position with a company. The latter however was currently too preoccupied conversing on her cell phone to have acknowledged even a letter to come out of Hugo's mouth.

"Ah hah, well I can certainly say that London is a rather nice place to live in. I can only bet that only the richest of people could possibly live there. I bet that's my brother's dream when he puts "Pickles Toys" on the map." Drew replied, smirking as he mentioned Stu and his current ambition.

Clarissa meanwhile had been barking at Hugo to try and get his attention and to demand him to hurry up with her and her friends' meal to no avail with her owner being occupied with Drew and Charlotte. With her patience run dry, she excused her friends and stormed inside to fetch their food herself.

Near the backdoor of Clarissa's house, Angelica was pacing around as she looked at the many flower beds that surrounded the patio before looking up at the house in question with a grin as she looked down at her doll.

"Breadtaking, isn't it, Cynthia? When I finally become pincess, I'm gonna have a big house like this with so many flours and I'll make those dumb babies water them envyday!" Angelica said to her doll with a chuckle when she noticed something out of the corner of her eye just next to the fence, which sported a hole large enough for someone to fit a finger through. She knelt down and picked it up to get a better look, immediately recognising it.

"What is uncle Stu's inbenshun doing here?" Angelica wondered to herself before sticking it into her ear to see if it worked.

"Honestly, if one is to get her daily supplements especially on a day with her companions, then one should NOT have to do everything herself!" Angelica suddenly heard an uptight lady's voice behind her, making her turn around to see who it was that spoke but only saw Clarissa glancing back at Hugo with a scowl on her face.

"Just as I thoght, Cynthia. This dumb inbenshun is broked like all other of uncle Stu's inbenshun. It's making me hear peoples that aren't there!" Angelica groaned at her doll in frustration.

"...What on earth are you talking about? And why are you conversing with a plastic doll?" Angelica immediately froze as she noticed Clarissa's mouth move in sync with the words she just heard.

"Did-Did you just talk?!" Angelica stammered out, pointing at Clarissa with a stunned look on her face.

"Well, who else would've spoken other than myself? And you should know that it's rude to point!" Clarissa retorted, confirming Angelica's question. The corgi was about to head for the backdoor when the realisation hit her like a wall of bricks.

"...Did you say you heard me talk?" It was Clarissa's turn to look astonished as she faced Angelica once more. The human girl nodded before pulling the device out of her ear and looking at it.

"Hey, I guess uncle Stu's inbenshun works after all!" Angelica noted before putting the device back in.

"What even is an "inbenshun"?" Clarissa cocked an eyebrow as she asked this, dumbfounded by Angelica's broken speech.

"Oh, my uncle Stu's an inbentor. He makes stuff and is trying to get rich from it or something." Angelica answered.

"Inventor… And so perhaps he made that… thing you have in your ear that somehow allows one to understand dogs like me?" Clarissa was beginning to put the pieces together as Angelica smiled a little.

"Yeah! He made some of these thingies… Only those dumb babies have the others." Angelica said before her smile turned into a snarl at the mention of Tommy and his friends.

"Babies?" Clarissa pondered as she overheard Angelica mention them.

"Just a bunch of annoying, stinky babies who cry, poop and don't know nuthin'! Tommy with the blue shirt and the so-called braveliest baby, my cousin. The gross and disgusting twins, Phil and Lil. The dumb 'fraidy-cat, Chuckie with the orange hair and now Tommy's got an icky drooly baby brother!" Angelica listed the babies, her ire growing slightly as she described them.

'Hmph. They seem like a bunch of immature and repulsive ruff-raff!' Clarissa thought with a disgusted frown on her face as she was reminded of her noisy and childish neighbour family.

That was when Clarissa suddenly remembered. It happened yesterday when the babies first met the Dalmatian family. The corgi was out in the back garden awaiting to be pampered when she heard the crash and saw the large dust cloud from behind the fence. Aggravated at her peace being disturbed, she was marching up to the fence with the full intent of telling the family off when the sight of Chuckie running around in panic without his glasses made her fall silent. Alongside Chuckie, she also saw Tommy, Phil and Lil and Dil. Up until this morning, she had wondered why they had humans with them and now it seemed like she had her answer.

"One believes she's seen these "dumb babies" before with the ruff-raff neighbours of mine." Clarissa said to Angelica with a smug chuckle.

"You've seen them before?!" Angelica said, a little astounded.

"Oh yes! They were with them yesterday as a matter of fact. Tell me, young human. What do you humans consider as a treat?" Clarissa asked as she moved the sliding door open.

"Well, if there's one food I can't say "No" to, it's cookies. And my name's Angelica." Angelica replied with a grin on her face.

"Well then, dear Angelica. One who is known as Clarissa can say it's a pleasure to meet you and one would love to hear more stories of your unwanted endurances with your own ruff-raff over some cookies~" The corgi offered with a civil smile.

"Now you're speaking my langwich!" Angelica replied with an even bigger grin as she followed Clarissa into her house.

"Don't worry, Chuckie! We'll find your ear thingie!" Tommy reassured his close friend as the babies were now back at the Dalmatian family's backyard, with Phil and Lil helping to carry Dil with them.

"Tommy and his friends are back!" One of the pups exclaimed excitedly as they and the many others dog-piled onto the babies, earning a laugh from them.

"Bow Whacka Wow!" Dolly cried out ecstatically as she landed in front of the infants with a grin on her face. "I was beginning to wonder when you guys would show up. You GOTTA see what I can do on the trampoline!" She eagerly suggested.

"But Dolly-!" Tommy tried to say but Dolly was already back onto the trampoline, laughing as she changed air-poses with every leap, the many pups cheering her on.

"What did she say, Tommy?!" Chuckie had to yell through the puppies cheering in order to for Tommy to hear him. Before Tommy could answer however, he was surrounded by Dizzy and Dee Dee.

"Will you play with us, Tommy? Pleeeeeeeease!" The two begged, giving the infant the biggest set of puppy eyes before tugging at his shirt and diaper, not even waiting for an answer as all Tommy could do was give Chuckie and apologetic look as he was dragged away.

"Welp, I'm saturnsfried! Let's eat some mud!" Phil recommended, having completely forgotten why they had come to the Dalmatian household in the first place before walking off to another area with Lil and the Dimitri Trio following behind, the latter chuckling.

"Oh great…!" Chuckie exclaimed in frustration. It was going to take all day for them to find Chuckie's dog translator.

"Oh hey, Chuckie. ...Something the matter?" Da Vinci walked up to Chuckie, but all he heard from her was concerned barks and yips.

"Oh… Sorry, Dabinchi but I don't know what you're sayin'. I lost the thingie that helps me hear what dogs say." Chuckie said despondently as Da Vinci's eyes widened with slight shock before her face fell with concern. She placed a front paw on Chuckie's leg and gave him a hopeful smile.

"You want to help me find it?" Da Vinci responded to Chuckie's question with a simple nod which made the orange haired infant smile with newfound positivity as he stood up and started to search the area with the paint stained pup.

Back at Clarissa's garden, Angelica was sat with said corgi and her friends, conversing with the dogs having the most expensive brand of kibble and Angelica having a plate full of chocolate chip cookies.

"So I told Chuckie to come back and get those stupid cuffs off of me and he just walked away! I could have starbed to deaf because of that dumb baby!" Angelica spat in frustration with her cheeks full of chewed cookies. The dogs gasped in horror at this story.

"Such a callous monster!" The Pug, Prunella gasped with disgust.

"Who knew that your own ruff-raff were so cruel!" Clarissa put a front paw to her forehead, looking like she was about to faint.

"And they're friends… with those wild creatures that Clarissa has to share a neighbourhood with!" The Lhasa Apso, Arabella realised with severe dread.

"Huh?" That last statement got Angelica's attention as she turned to the fence to see Dolly appear above behind the fence with Phil and Lil, courtesy of their trampoline.

"So that's where those diaperbags were yes sir day!" Angelica said with a snarl, aggravated at the fact on how she had searched high and low for the babies and yet they were right under her nose. If only she had chosen to check the Dalmatian household.

"Yes… How unfortunately tragic that such young absent-minded humans are quick and non-hesitant to ally with some with simply no petiquette!" Clarissa empathised with Angelica with a tone of disgust.

"Oh, here we go!" Dolly groaned with unamusement as she appeared over the fence again, having overhead Clarissa complain.

"There was already so many of them, it's like a growing army of lice!" Clarissa seethed with such animosity.

"...You throwing shade at my fam and new friends now?!" Dolly had overheard that one as she climbed up onto the fence to confront the corgi on her insults towards her siblings and the infants with her.

"Lowering the tone of the neighbourhood. But what can one expect from…" Clarissa paused before turning to Dolly and finished her sentence in a haughtily tone. "Dalmatians with a bunch of "dumb babies"?"

"HEY! Just as good as you!" Dolly fired back with growing anger, several of the nearby pups had come to witness the ongoing clash between their eldest sister and the corgi. Clarissa merely just laughed.

"Can you show me the evidence? I bet you can't!" Clarissa further mocked, now with a smug smirk on her face.

"Can't? Can't?! Ugh-Dalmatians can do anything! And I bet a human baby could as well!" Dolly affirmed which only made Angelica laugh alongside Clarissa.

"Well then, maybe you'll have no problem participating in this afternoon's Little Miss Pooch and Baby Face Pageant Cup!" Clarissa challenged as she gave a wink to Angelica who tossed a piece of paper to Dolly who caught it with her mouth and looked through it.

'LITTLE MISS POOCH AND BABY FACE PAGEANT CUP'

'First Prize is a boat load of toys for the little girl, the father or legal guardian a Kingfisher 9000 fishing boat and for the pup, a life-time supply of Kibbler's Golden Supreme Kibble!'

"Participate! Ha! I'll WIN it!" Dolly scoffed, her determined smug grin making it clear that she was gonna bust Clarissa good at the contest.

"Well, good look finding a girl baby for the comtest, floppy!" Angelica snarked with a laugh alonside Clarissa.

"Floppy?! Oh, it is so on!" Dolly growled, infuriated by the nickname Angelica had come up for her before hopping down from the fence and padding over to Lil.

"Say Lil, how would you feel like winning a contest with me and getting so many toys, eh?" She offered, leaning her head against the female twin's who put a finger to her mouth in thought.

"No. I think me and Phil have enough toys aready." Lil declined before picking up a stretchy green dinosaur toy.

"But-!" Dolly was quickly interrupted as Phil stormed over and tried to wrench the toy out of Lil's hands.

"That's MY Reptar, Lillian!"

"Is not, Phillip!"

"Is… TOO, LILLIAN!"

Dolly groaned in frustration after losing Lil to another one of her arguments with Phil when she overheard Tommy talking to Dizzy and Dee Dee.

"...And then my grandpa once said that he was out in the middle of the wake on a small boat and then he caught the biggest fish he ever seed! He said that it was even biggerer than Spike!" Tommy was telling the two pups a story about one of Grandpa Lou's old fishing adventures as they "Ooh"'d in wonderment.

Dolly blinked as she looked back down at the flier for the contest, remembering that one of the first prizes was a fishing boat for the father or guardian before sighing.

"Too bad Tommy and Dil are boys..." She stared rather hopelessly before looking up at Tommy again.

Then she got an idea, a devious idea. Dolly got a wonderful, devious idea.

"Ohoho. Delightfully devilish, Dolly." The girl Dalmatian grinned cunningly before walking over to Tommy, Dizzy and Dee Dee.

"Hey Dolly! Me, Dizzy and Dee Dee were about to play 'splorers! Wanna join us?" Tommy offered as he noticed the Dalmatian in question walk up to him.

"No time, Tom. We got a corgi who's butt needs to be kicked at a pageant!" Dolly said rather quickly before grabbing Tommy by his shirt with her teeth and dragging him away, giving the infant no time to question her motives.

"...So let us…"

"...Get this..."

"...Straight."

The Triple D began with each of the triplets saying a fraction of the sentence before continuing.

"You want us to not only give you a fashion makeover but also make Tommy look like a girl?!" Dallas questioned, sounding the most flabbergasted at the last part of the request she had just repeated.

"Yep! You girls are the only ones I know who are experts with this whole… make-up thing." Dolly confirmed what Dallas said as Tommy just looked at her, confused.

"Well that may be totes true and everything, but what's in it for us?" Destiny replied, not wanting to have done this kind of service for free. Dolly rolled her eyes before showing the triplets the flier.

"You get a share of the lifetime supply of Supreme Kibble." Dolly offered as a form of payment. The Triple D's eyes widened as they stared at the flier.

"Kibblers Golden Supreme?! Like, why didn't you say that sooner?!" Dallas exclaimed with a huge grin on her face before she and her two others held their front paws up which held various make up tools.

"How does this one look?" Destiny asked as she displayed a dark green party dress with a purple bow in front of Tommy who had a blonde wig that also had a purple bow on.

"Nah, that's way too gaudy if I'll be real here. Honestly, Tommy, you humans wear way too many clothes." Dallas gave her comment before noticing a yellow and blue laced pant dress before displaying it in front of Tommy.

Dolly meanwhile was watching the three at their work whilst having been put through her own makeover session. All four of her legs had been painted completely black, her neck now had a ruff of fur and the fur on top of her head had been stylised into a bunch with a small purple crown holding it in place. Two spots on her forehead with the same purple as her crown and a bit of eyeshadow on her eyelids, lastly the tips of her ears were curved and sharpened a little.

"Dolly!" Dolly suddenly heard an all too recognisable voice calling out to her, making her gasp.

"Dylan…! Hide the dresses!" Dolly commanded the Triple D as they did as they were told just before Dylan came to them.

"U-Uhh hey, Dyl! What's the haps, bro?" Dolly greeted, trying to sound as chill as she normally was before glancing beside her to see Tommy still wearing the wig so she immediately yanked it off and hid it behind her before Dylan could notice.

"...Dolly? What's with the look?" Dylan asked, taken back at Dolly's makeover. His glammed-up sister stammered, trying to come up with a good enough excuse when Tommy started to talk.

"Well, I thinks Dolly wants me to enter some cotest and turn me into a-"

"AH-AH-UH—What Tommy's actually trying to say is that uhh… He wants to be one of those uh… Makeup artists when he grows up sooo… the Triple D here are um… teaching him how to do makeup and he's practising it on me, that's why I look like this!" Dolly immediately clamped a front paw over Tommy's mouth and answered Dylan's question with a heck of a bluff, giving him a sheepish grin in dire hope that he would buy it.

"Uh huh… Well anyway, it turns out Chuckie lost his dog translator and I'm trying to help him find it. Did you see it anywhere?" Dolly mentally sighed with relief before gasping.

"Whaaat? Chuckie lost that translator thing? Aww, that's too bad. Well sorry, bro but I haven't seen it." Dolly said in the best sympathetic tone she could pull off, she was just too preoccupied on winning that pageant to care about anything else.

"Okay… Well if you do see it, let me know." Dylan instructed before walking away as Dolly sighed for real this time.

"Oh no! Chuckie! I copletedly forgot!" Tommy realised as he was about to walk off to help Chuckie when Dolly grabbed him by the back of his shirt and pulled him back.

"Oh no you don't! I need you for this, Tommy!" Dolly firmly said as the blue shirted baby turned to face her.

"But Dolly, Chuckie can't know what doggies are sayin' without the-!"

"And I can't win this contest without you!" Dolly quickly cut off Tommy's attempt to reason with her before she lowered down with her chin resting on the floor as she looked up at the baby.

"...Alright, I'll level with ya. We have this neighbour called Clarissa and she does nothing but act like a jerk to me and my fam. She said that we Dalmatians can't do anything that she can and I just want to win this contest with you so I can prove her wrong." Dolly finally told Tommy the truth of her motive.

"...You mean that this Carissa doggie is mean to you and your brothers and sisters and your mommy and daddy?" Tommy managed to rephrase for his own method of understanding the situation as Dolly nodded.

"...You wouldn't want me, your doggie friend to lose to a mean old corgi, would you?" Dolly then asked, giving Tommy a set of puppy eyes followed by her lower lip quivering.

"Okay… I'll help you win the cotest." Tommy finally agreed, feeling rather bad for Dolly especially since her situation with Clarissa was in a way similar to how he and his friends had to deal with Angelica.

"Oh, Tommy! You're the best!" Dolly nearly squeed before wrapping her forelegs around Tommy in a tight hug before bringing her attention back to the Triple D.

"Party dress and the wig'll be cool with me."

"Dawkins! Tell me what a "legal guardian" is!" Dolly asked her freckle-spotted brother whom wanted to question Dolly about her glammed-up look but felt that her request was more important.

"W-Well, according to a simple research, a legal guardian is someone who has the legal authority to take care of a child should anything happen to the parents. I think that usually applies to humans."

"Take care of a kid… Could a grandma or grandpa be a guardian?" Dolly then asked, hoping that the answer would be a "Yes".

"W-Well yes, if the grandparent is willing to-"

"Great, thanks!" Dolly hastily ran out with Tommy and the flier in her mouth.

"What on- Dolly, why is Tommy wearing that?!" Dawkins yelled out to her in confusion, unfortunately for him, he received no such answer.

"Hey! Grandpa! Lou! Louie! Hellooooo?!" Dolly repeatedly called out through the window of the house Tommy's parents and their friends were staying at, jumping repeatedly in clear view of the window and waving her forelegs around to try and get Grandpa Lou's attention. The pensioner in question was fast asleep on a recliner.

"It's no use, Dolly! I once herd my mommy and daddy talkin' and they said that Grandpa slept through Purr Harburr, whatever that is." Tommy told the Dalmatian who just gave him a confused look, having no idea what "Purr Harburr" was.

"Hey! Did you need Lou for something?" Dolly heard another voice as she reached up to the window and saw Tommy's dog spike inside.

"U-Uhh, yeah! You're Tommy's dog, right?" Dolly questioned, her head tilting a little.

"That's me! Come to think of it, you look a little familiar yourself… Do I know you?" Spike pondered.

"No time! I just need to talk to Tommy's grandpa!" Dolly firmly demanded. Spike blinked, a little confused before walking to the door and scratching it whilst barking to someone.

"Alright, alright! Can't a man just rest without such a racket, conflabit!" Dolly smirked as she heard the familiar yet disgruntled cranky voice of Lou as he was woken up from Spike's barking and walked to the front door before opening it, letting Spike out.

"Thanks, dude, I owe you one!" Dolly called out to Spike as he ran out to take a walk before approaching the old man himself.

"What in the dickens…? Dolly? What's with the funny look? And… is that Tommy in a dress?" Lou was dumbfounded as he saw the Dalmatian in makeup accompanied by the cross-dressed baby.

"You got that right, old timer! That's why I came to see you! We need a "legal guardian" to enter Tommy into the Little Miss Pooch and Baby Face Pageant Cup." Dolly explained, air quoting "legal guardian" with her paw-fingers.

"Pageant Cup? Now why in the name of Sam Hillens would I enter Tommy as a girl into some girl contest?" Lou was thoroughly confused on why Dolly would want to enter Tommy of all the babies into a such a contest.

"Weeeeeell, I heard that you liked fishing, right?" Dolly asked slyly to which Grandpa Lou nodded, letting Dolly continue.

"Then you wouldn't say no to a grand prize like this, huh?" Dolly asked as she showed the flier to Lou who read it and soon noticed part of the first prize.

"Kingfisher 9000… Huh? Hmm..." Lou put a finger to his chin with a smile.

"Uh-huh." Dolly affirmed with a nod, knowing that the temptation of Lou winning his own boat was working…