Out of all the things DJ expected to happen today, running into his long-lost brother was not one of them. "It's you…" He stared at Domino. "I.. I…"
They instantly hugged. "Oh, I missed you so much brother!" Domino buried his tear-stained muzzle into DJ's chest. "Not a day goes by where I don't think about you!"
"Me neither!" He barked. "Oh, I have a name now. My family calls me DJ."
"DJ?" Domino titled his head, staring at his collar and headset. "I can see why…"
He hummed. "I make music for a living! Play a few gigs, sometimes I make songs for some of my performing siblings." Oh I can't wait to tell Domino what everyone's up to! "It's not just me who's here, there's Dakota, Disco, Doris, Diamond, and a few others!"
"Oh, wow!" Domino barked. "You guys got lucky to get humans who live close to each other!"
DJ could only laugh. "Ah, silly bro. My family doesn't have humans." He gestured to a few of his siblings, Diesel and Dusty were digging, Triple D was practicing singing, and Donna-Maria was playing tug-of-war with Dubaku. "See everyone here? We don't have humans."
"You're part of the weird dalmatian family with no humans?" Domino frowned. "How do you pay taxes or pay the water bills?"
"Mum and Dad do! Or Dawkins fixes stuff himself." DJ reported. "Oh, that reminds me! I was going to head home early to help him and Dolly with cleaning, I just came to the park to help Dylan corral the crowd."
"Dylan? Dolly? Dawkins?" Domino was more puzzled with each name spoken. "Mum and Dad? I don't remember us having a littermate named Dawkins, or a dad!"
The music making pup rolled his eyes. "Dom, you know what adoption is right?" He teased. "It's when someone signs a paper to get a child if they can't make one."
"I know that!" Domino blushed. "But… I don't wanna run off, my humans will worry about me. They're already concerned about hearing that people are gonna bug them because of-" He got cut off by his brother groaning. "Dude!"
"Uhg. Being with humans has turned you into a pet." DJ rolled his eyes. "I can just bring you back to the hotel they're staying at when we're done catching up."
Domino looked hesitant, but he nodded. "Okay, but I'm gonna tell Diggs first."
"Diggs?" DJ raised an eyebrow. "Who's Diggs?"
"The other dog my humans have!" Domino replied. "He helped me settle in when I got adopted, he's more of Karmi's dog than the twins, but I've been bonding with her lately-"
"Who's Karmi?"
"I'll tell you later!"
Diggs didn't expect Domino to come back with one of his littermates, but he was proud that his idea of his fellow canine to try meeting the dalmatian family had gone so well. "I told you so." The german shepherd grinned at him.
"Oh, shut up. He's taking me to his house to hang." Domino replied. "Pass that message onto our humans."
"I'll try, but you know that they aren't the best with charades." He shrugged.
"Karmi's good at charades!"
"I just have one question." DJ was staring at Baymax in awe. "Why is there a giant walking marshmallow?"
"Hello." Baymax waved at the pup.
Diggs snorted at his gaping mouth. "That's Baymax, he's like a robot nurse. Karmi got him after her accident back home."
"What accident?"
Diggs winced. "You don't want to know…" Domino didn't know the details of whatever happened that made Karmi take a break from college, but considering he heard some of the stuff Molly and Zachary said about the city, he could sense it wasn't good.
Meanwhile with Karmi…
Going out was a mistake. She was starting to hate going to the park, the chatter of humans and dogs and being left alone to her thoughts didn't help. Haley and Ryan were playing near their parents so she didn't feel as if she had to watch over them.
Speaking of her parents, Karmi noticed her mother kept shooting her a few wary looks. If she was in a better mood, she'd write it off as mere motherly concern.
But of course her mind went to a worse-case scenario. Even your own mother doesn't trust you. Then again she shouldn't trust a monster. The voice in her head hissed at her. She hated that voice, which sounded suspiciously like her boss. Especially one that had attacked her own friends-
Nope nope nope brain do not remind me of that! Karmi groaned, trying to focus on feeling the grass and dirt in her hands. Don't think about Di, don't think about her capturing you or forcing you to hurt Hiro and-
Too late, Karmi shivered, her chest hammering like it was about to explode as she curled up into a ball. She tried to lean against the tree, arms to her chest, trying to keep the pain in her chest from hurting so much, and hoped no one would hear the small sniffles that escaped her throat.
But that type of pain didn't go away so easily, the pain that someone you had looked up to and admired, someone you were able to work together with every day, had just been using you for their own gain. Karmi didn't even get to meet the real Liv, but she had been betrayed and manipulated by an imposter, an imposter that had sunk her claws into her and her friends, and caused them so much pain.
"Arf?" She looked up, and a puppy had heard her sniffles. It was a dalmatian that was chubbier and smaller than Domino, with larger, triangular-shaped ears, redder eyes, and a slightly dirty coat. He pawed the hem of her skirt. "Arf-arf?"
He was asking if she was fine, wasn't he? "It's okay little guy." She didn't want to bug the pup, feeling guilty she worried him with her tears. "Just a little sad, it's okay, you don't have to check up on me-"
He ignored her, the pup choosing to slowly approach and hopped into her lap. "Ruff!" He nuzzled one of her arms, as if trying to cheer her up. It did work, feeling the warmth in the dalmatian's actions as he nuzzled her with his soft fur caused Karmi to relax.
"Thank you…" She looked at his dirty brown collar, the name fairly readable. "Diesel? Is that your name?" He nodded. "It's nice to meet you Diesel, you're a really sweet pup."
"Bark!" She could tell he was happy that his plan worked. Diesel didn't seem to need to go anywhere, so Karmi allowed him to chill on her lap while she tried to write a little. Working on her Big Hero 6 fanfiction always cheered her up whenever she was feeling down, as if Captain Cutie himself was saving her from the feeling of despair.
Karmi glanced back at Diesel, maybe she didn't have Captain Cutie today, but she had a very adorable puppy, which was equally just as good, if not greater.
"Ruff?!" Then another pup showed up, this one was smaller with rounded ears, browner spots, and grey-blue eyes. I wonder if that's Diesel's littermate. Karmi noticed that the newcomer was staring at Diesel with concern and was glancing between him and the biotech major, while Diesel himself was still loafing around and didn't seem bothered by his sibling's pestering.
Karmi watched the interaction in silence until the other pup glared at her, as if he was accusing her of going to do something to his sibling. "I'm not doing anything to Diesel."
She told him. "He's just helping me feel better, I don't feel well so he just gave me a hug and now we're just chilling-"
Bark! Bark! Bark!
As soon as she said the word "hug", the barks of dozens of pups were heard, and before she could blink, Karmi found herself in a dog pile.
It was very soft, like being hugged by a cloud, but also Karmi felt like she was in a very fluffy oven as she had been tackled by very warm puppies, also she couldn't see anything but spots so that was concerning. I can't even see Diesel or his littermate what is happening today?! How had she gone from feeling sad in the park to being dragged into a puppy pile?
It was kind of awkward but also cute, something that needed to be memorized as it did make her day a little brighter. So she couldn't help but snap a photo of the situation, even if she was confused, the puppy pile did lift her spirits a little.
Teen Dork Squad group chat:
Karms: I have a problem
Hiro: OMG ARE YOU OKAY?!
June: Did someone say something to you?!
Ari: Who do we need to kill!
Rach: Ariiiiii!
Ari: I don't condone murder except if someone is mean to my friends!
Karms: omg guys chill it's not a big problem
Karms: dogs,jpeg
Karms: This is my problem lol
Meg:
Hiro:
Rach:
June:
Ari:
Hiro: Why are there so many dogs
Karms: idk help
Ari: YOU'RE THE ONE THEY'RE DOGPILING
June: Oh my god I envy you
June: I wanna be cuddled by dozens of puppies
Karms: I don't know how to get outttt
Meg: The answer is you don't!
Rach: I sent this picture to my mom and she just started laughing hysterically
Rach: This may as well be a Rumblr meme
"Huh." DJ's ears tilted upward. "I feel as if I missed a hug."
Domino snorted. "What?" The two had been chatting as they walked to 101 Dalmatian Street, where DJ's family lived. They had talked enough for Domino to talk about his humans more to DJ, though his brother didn't like the twins for being the ones who had adopted him.
In return, DJ mentioned some of his siblings, an artsy sister named Da Vinci, a therapy guru named Deepak, and the baby of the family named Dorothy. He also brought up some "trigger words" like "breakfast," "park," and "hug."
"Uh, your family isn't going to barrel down the street, right?" Domino glanced behind him. "Right?"
"Nahhh." DJ reassured him. "The pups aren't that sharp at hearing." They finally stopped at a house that had paint splattered on the walls. "Aight, we're here." DJ walked to the door, which had a paw scanner that locked it.
Ohh so that's how they keep humans out. Domino watched in awe as his littermate placed his black front paws on the scanner, and it unlocked for them. "Who set this up?"
"I think Mum hired a guy. This was set up when I came here." DJ shrugged as they both walked inside. "Welcome to my home!"
Domino saw that the house was pretty well-kept. "Oh thank biscuits it's not like the hoarder house…" There was plenty of room, he could smell a kitchen, bedrooms, bathrooms, and even a backyard. "Seeing your family at the park was the first I've seen our breed since… y'know."
"I know that feeling, it took me and the others a while to adjust." DJ nodded in understanding.
"It's not like that place, there's food and toys, right?"
"Too many toys! And we're never gonna run out of food, or kibble. Dylan buys some human food since some of us can cook, mostly for the holidays." DJ licked his lips. "Mhmmm, Dumpling can make a really good turkey."
"Sounds good." Domino's mouth watered at the idea of food. "Should we grab a snack?"
"Sure. Gotta ask Dolly first." DJ stuck his nose in the air to sniff her out. "She's helping Dawkins in the basement, follow me."
The basement was just a room where they seemed to keep other toys, pillows, and blankets. There was a "KEEP OUT" section of the basement where the door to the circuitry and wires was open, a runty pup was fixing wires, his spots were focused around his forehead, he also had freckles and brown eyes.
He was assisted by a larger adolescent dalmatian with black leggings, large triangular ears, and blue eyes.
"I'm back from helping Dylan." DJ told them, both dogs turned around.
"Welcome back, DJ!" The female adolescent, who had to be Dolly, grinned at him. "Finally, helping Dawkins with the wires is driving me nuts!"
"We'd get done faster if you ran check-ups on the power more often." Dawkins pointed out, his eyes flickered to Domino. "Oh, you're not one of the pups, are you a stray staying over?"
"I'm Domino…" He greeted them. "DJ's littermate?"
Both dogs gave each other looks. "Wait, Domino as in the same pup that was from the same house DJ and few others were in? That Domino?" Dawkins questioned. "You're a lot smaller than I thought you'd be."
"Gee, thanks." Domino deadpanned. "Not as if I lived up to your expectations or anything."
Dolly bounced over to the two. "Well, welcome to the family!" She grinned. "DJ and I can give you a tour of the house and what bed to sleep in, and the house rules-"
"Slow down Dolly." DJ held up a paw. "Domino isn't moving in. He's already got his own place." He shot his littermate a look. "With humans."
The reaction was more dramatic than Domino expected. "Humans?" Dawkins blinked in surprise. "You're a pet?"
"Uhhhg! That's awful!" Dolly told him. "How could you live like that?!"
A growl came up his throat. "They're good humans!" Domino glared at the adolescent pup. "No offense to you dogs as you seem to like your own lifestyles and doing your own taxes, but you don't know Haley, Ryan, or Karmi like I do! They all have their own baggage and I'm there to help them! So shut your muzzle if you keep insulting my family!"
He panted from his little rant, ignoring the gaping jaws of the three other dogs, or DJ's hurt look when he called his humans his family.
They just don't get it, they only know bad humans. They wouldn't understand Haley's love of dancing as she showed him and Diggs, they wouldn't understand Ryan letting Domino sit on his lap as he played, even showing him how to use the controller, and they wouldn't understand how Karmi would read her fanfiction to him and take his feedback seriously.
"Okay…" Dawkins spoke up. "You two should show Domino the house, I'm gonna need some privacy working on this."
"Okay Dawkins." Both Dolly and DJ chorused, they looked taken aback by the rant and silently walked up the basement.
Domino gave the technician pup a look. "Uh, I'm not sorry for what I said but sorry for raising my voice." He explained. "Do all of you hate humans?"
"I don't, my father has a human himself." Dawkins explained. "Well, my birth-father to be specific. You know why your littermate is distrustful, but Dolly's situation is more complicated, it's a sensitive subject she doesn't like talking about."
"Okay." Domino nodded. "Nice meeting you Dawkins."
"Nice to meet you too." He then went back to checking the wires, so Domino exited the basement.
He saw DJ and Dolly waiting for him. "I'm sorry for hurting your feelings bro." DJ bowed his head down. "I just don't know why you like your humans so much, they separated us…"
"It was the humans at the shelter, they couldn't ship all of us to England." Domino pointed out. "Besides, we both found good families in the end and got to reunite."
"True. Maybe there's a way we can keep in contact after your trip." His littermate smiled. "I mean if humans can do it, why can't we?"
"That's the spirit!" Domino grinned. "Now show off your cool house, I wanna make sure the infamous Dalmatians live up the hype."
The tour started off in the kitchen, Dolly filled half of a bowl with kibble and pawed it to him. "This is the brand most of the pups eat, enjoy." She barked at him.
"Thanks." Domino took one bite and instantly stuck his head in the bowl to devour more kibble. "Oh biscuits, this is so good!"
"Knew he'd like it." DJ chuckled. "Kanine Krunchies is the best brand of all time."
Dolly nodded in agreement. "Totes! Finally someone with good taste!"
The conversation ended as he finished eating. "Is there any way you can ship this stuff to my house?" Domino teased.
"We'll talk about that later." DJ promised him. "On with the tour!"
The tour continued as Dolly showed him where the pups, where their parents slept, where she and her brother Dylan, the other "Top Dog" of the house slept. "How'd you get a human bed in here?" Domino raised an eyebrow at the bed, where the dalmatian family's matriarchs slept. It was a snug room with a closet that had various collars, coats, dog friendly clothing, glittery nightlights, and a nightstand.
"Dunno." Dolly shrugged. "Was here when I got here."
"Who got here first- wait you weren't born here?" Domino raised an eyebrow at her.
She shook her head. "Nah, I was born in the states like you and DJ. Dad moved here when I was little, he met Mum and Papa, and the rest is history!"
"You said dad twice."
"It's a long story." DJ shrugged. "Well not very long, but ask later, we've got more rooms to show."
As they showed the other living rooms, the backyard which had a treehouse in it, "It's Dylan's, most of us aren't allowed up there." DJ told him, Domino kept his eyes focused on the pictures on the wall.
He could see Dolly, DJ, and lots of other pups on the walls. "That's the family portrait, it keeps getting updated whenever someone joins the family." Dolly explained, pointing to the largest photo on the wall. "Papa is the one who always takes the photos so that's why he's not in them."
"Who's 'papa' by the way?" Domino raised an eyebrow.
"Papa's named Dandy, he's like Mum and Dad, he's our parent." DJ explained. "They're all together."
"Ohhhh…." Domino blinked. He had heard of relationships of three or more people, mostly from Karmi when she was explaining shipping to him, he didn't really get it but as long as it was a relationship of trust and understanding he wasn't going to ask questions. "Okay."
The chat in the hallway was cut off by a male adolescent pup running from the door, he was larger than Dolly and had the same eyes as Dawkins. "Dolly we have a problem!"
He exclaimed. "Dante was right about his prediction!"
"Which one?" Dolly raised an eyebrow.
"The one about the human!"
"Ohhh, the one from a week and a half-" She then did a double-take. "Wait Dylan what are you talking about-"
They got cut off as a stampede of pups burst into the house.
It was too loud to hear the individual barks of the pups as they all got tackled over, Dylan yelped as something crashed into him. "Ow!"
Domino got up as he recognized someone. "Karmi?" He padded up to the biotech major, who had crashed onto Dylan. "How'd you get here?"
"Oww, my head." Karmi groaned, pulling herself up. Her eyes widened at Domino. "Domino? Wait, why are you here?"
He gestured to DJ. "He invited me."
His littermate facepalmed. "You know that humans can't understand-"
"Ohhh, sorry for crashing your play date." Karmi chuckled. "Um, I got dogpiled by like a hundred and one puppies and I guess they liked me to the point of bringing me home."
"We noticed." Dolly deadpanned.
Domino nuzzled his owner, noticing her red eyes. "You were crying." He frowned.
Karmi rubbed her face. "It's nothing Dom." She told him. "Just had a bad moment, I'm fine."
"If you say so…"
DJ leaned over to his siblings. "Are you seeing what I'm seeing?" He whispered. "Is Dom talking to his human?"
"I'm weirded out too." Dolly whispered back.
"I heard that!" Domino barked at them. As he was about to try and gesture the story to Karmi, Diggs suddenly ran through the door.
"Okay pups, you may have no humans but that doesn't mean you can steal mine!" Diggs snarled, he paused from baring his teeth when seeing the biotech major. "Karmi!" He ran over and gave her comforting licks.
She giggled at the german shepherd's fussing. "I'm fine, boy! Though I can cross being crowd surfed by puppies off my bucket list." Karmi teased. "Wait, weren't you with Bay-"
Pop!
Everyone in the hallway looked at the door flap. "I am stuck." Baymax pointed out.
"What in dog is that?!" Dylan exclaimed.
"Oh yeah, I forgot about him." DJ commented, pawing at his muzzle to prevent snickering. The robot did look funny stuck in the door.
Several minutes later…
The dogs helped push Baymax out of the door and let him in the house normally. "Thank you." Baymax told the dogs. "I will scan to make sure you do not have any injuries."
"Wait, scan?" Dolly raised an eyebrow. "What's with the snowman?"
"Haha, snowman." Domino giggled.
Karmi held up her hands. "Woah there Baymax, hold on the scan-"
"Scan complete."
"Oh gosh." She facepalmed. "I am so sorry doggies."
Baymax first looked at DJ. "I detect that this canine named DJ is in good health and has similar genetic make-up to Domino." Then turned to Dylan and Dolly. "All the dogs are in good health, although the canine named Dylan has uneven hair follicles, perhaps from a major flea infestation."
Dylan winced, instinctively scratching his ear. "Is my fur still that uneven?"
"You ought to visit the spa Triple D likes to fix that." DJ pointed out.
"I can't visit the spa when there's work to be done!"
Karmi shot Dylan a look of sympathy. "Ouch." She then shook her head. "Wait, Domino, are you related to this one?" She pointed to DJ.
"I have a name, human." He growled in annoyance.
"Dude!" Domino barked at him, then turned back to Karmi and nodded. "Yeah, he's my littermate."
She got the gesture. "So that means the dalmatian family is your family." Karmi realized. "Wow. And Mom said we were never going to encounter them on our trip."
"Yeah, she was wrong."
"We're gonna have to visit here more." She then froze. "Oh, jeez. I should call Mom and Dad so they know where I am."
"I can call Molly and Zachary Khan to notify them of our location." Baymax suggested.
Karmi waved it off. "No thanks, I'd rather call them." She gave Domino a look. "You should catch up with your family in the meantime."
"Oh, right!" He did want to see the rest of his littermates, and the other dogs. "Diggs, do you wanna come with me?"
"Eh, sure." Diggs shrugged.
So the dogs left the human and robot by the doorway as they headed outside, where the pups usually spent their time playing after a trip to the park.
Instantly, Dawkins ran to Dolly and Dylan. "There you two are!" He panted. "It's chaos without you, Diesel is digging up the flowerbeds, the Dimitris are going nuts and they stole Deepak's meditation ball! Even Dorothy is chewing up the grass-"
"Calm down Dawkins." Dolly reassured him. "We got this."
"I got this." Dylan huffed. He placed his paws to his mouth and whistled, instantly all the pups stopped playing and looked at him. "There's a very important announcement! Come here!"
Domino hid behind Diggs as all the puppies walked over.
"What's the thing?"
"Is it the end of the world?!"
"Did Denver do something stupid again?"
"I heard that Devon!"
Dolly raised a paw. "The paw means pause!" The chattering stopped. "First of all, who's idea was it to bring a human home?"
"Diesel." Everyone chorused.
"I told him not to!" Someone commented.
Dylan shook his head. "Thanks for your input Dusty." He walked over to a dirty pup. "Diesel, why did you bring a human home? You know Dante told us a week ago that someone bringing a human home would spell disaster."
Karmi isn't bad luck! Domino growled, he ought to have words with this "Dante" fellow.
"She was sad." Diesel pointed out. "I did what you and Dolly do when someone's sad, take them back to the house."
"I didn't mean you brought home a human!" Dylan groaned. "We'll talk later, there's someone you pups should meet."
"Is it that dog?" A pup with a black stripe to his tail pointed at Diggs.
Dolly shook her head. "No Danny. He's a friend to our mystery guest."
"Hi." Diggs waved to the pups, he got a chorus of hellos back. "Anyways, let me step aside for you guys to see the dog of the hour." Diggs walked back to the door, letting all the pups see Domino.
He flinched at the gazes. "Um, hi." Domino stared at his paws. "Some of you might recognize me." He looked up back at the crowd, already recognizing his littermates and other pups from the hoarder house, until he locked eyes with a pup with black paw tips, red eyes, and spots mostly around his neck. "Long time no see Diamond."
Some of the pups gasped. "Dom?" Diamond walked until he was inches away from him. "Is that you?"
"Yeah. It's me."
Instantly, he got tackled by several pups. "Oh my dog, Dom I've missed you!" One pup in a green bandanna cried out.
"Ahh miss you too Doris." He chuckled. "Can you not bear hug me though-"
"Oh no." DJ winced, as the pups all perked up.
"Hug? Hug! HUG!" And then Domino yelped as suddenly he was getting hugged by all of the pups.
"Trigger word!" Dolly exclaimed.
Dylan rolled his eyes. "Guys! You're gonna squish him, get off!"
Domino could only chuckle at the amount of hugs he got as the pups split up. "Ah, I feel the love-" He was cut off as he recognized the pup standing in front of him.
"Hey dude." Or rather three, the thing these three pups had in common was the black spotting that made it look like they were wearing pants, torn ears, chewed tails, and fancy chains around their necks.
He recognized the trio of triplets, and last time Domino encountered them, it didn't end well. "Dimitris…" Of all the dogs, why these three?! He internally groaned. "What do you want?"
"Nothing major!" Dimitri 1 cracked a toothy grin. He had a torn right ear, brown eyes except for the orange eye that was circled by his left black eye.
"We just wanted to say something." Dimitri 2 nodded. He had a torn left ear and the orange eye was by his right black eye.
"And that's to apologize." Dimitri 3 bowed his head. He had two orange eyes and a torn right ear like the eldest triplet.
Domino frowned. "You? Apologize?"
"Yeah!" Dimitri 2 grinned. "I know it might seem weird to you."
"But we've changed!" Dimitri 1 explained. "Turned a new leaf, water under the bridge."
Dimitri 3 smirked. "Mhm! All good?"
"Well…" Domino did not want to deal with this right now. But also… it had been months since he last saw the Dimitrio. "I don't know if I can forgive you yet, but I'm okay with just tolerating each other for now, is that fine?"
"Yeah all fine!"
"All good!"
"That's fair to me!"
And as the Dimitrio trotted off, Domino sighed with relief. Phew, still I would've preferred seeing Dakota than those tail biters.
Speaking of the devil- "Aaaaaah Dom!" A short-furred, long-legged puppy crashed into him, and all it took were her few brown spots and mischievous green eyes to recognize her. "I missed you a lot!"
"Missed you too Dakota." Domino chuckled. He noticed that her yellow collar was torn as her pointed ears, and she still had a scrap of cloth wrapped around her torso. "You haven't changed a bit."
"Neither did you!" Dakota giggled. "You got a lot more spots!"
"And he got fat." His back fur bristled as he recognized that scathing tone.
Domino turned to see a pup with greyish fur, a torn ear, and purple eyes narrowed at him. "Great seeing you too Ditto."
"Hey, I'm just being brutally honest." Ditto huffed.
He rolled his eyes. "Well I don't care, why do you care about my weight? We're dogs!"
But as Ditto opened his mouth to speak, a little pup with red eyes and a black tail bounced up to him. "Dom!"
"Hi Diana." He greeted her, and the conversation started all over again.
He continued to reunite with his fellow pups and littermates. Doris was looking much healthier and she seemed to take a shine taking care of the other little pups instead of just Diana and Disco. Dapple and Dubaku were part of a club that consisted of fellow pups with obviously mixed heritage and unusual coats, such as Dapple's brown and black spotted coat and Dubaku's sheepdog scruff and pelt pattern.
Even Diamond, his second close littermate, was enjoying time spent with his siblings.
"It's nice to meet you." One of the pink collared, curly-furred triplets hanging around Diamond barked at him. "Diamond talks a lot about you."
"Yeah." Another one with a gem shaped collar beamed. "You seem like a cool dude."
"Diamond talks about you so of course that's true!"
Domino just waved at the triplets. "These three are Destiny, Dallas, and Deja Vu, you'll probably hear about them a lot."
"Cause we're famous!" Destiny pointed out.
"And cute." Dallas smirked.
Deja Vu looked at her sisters before speaking up again. "Yeah, both of those!"
"Okay then." Domino shrugged. He felt his social battery drain as more pups introduced themselves, pups that had been with the Dalmatians for months, even other spotted pups that liked hanging around the family.
Speaking of family, I hope that phone call Karmi's making isn't awkward.
"So, let me get this straight." Karmi winced at her mother's sweet sounding tone, the kind she used when Haley and Ryan were talking about their wild adventures in the backyard. "You didn't tell us you were leaving the park because the wild dalmatians took you to their house, and our dalmatian is related to some of them?"
She sighed. "Yes, Mom."
"Are you sure you didn't exaggerate the details?" Molly hummed. "You have quite the imagination Karmi."
"Mom, I'm not lying!"
"Sure, sweetie."
"Look Baymax did the scan and he agrees with me that-"
"Karmi Khan!" Yikes. Her mother sounded angry on the other line. "We will finish wrapping up at the park, you best head on home, no more of this silly talk of dalmatians. Do I make myself clear?"
But Karmi wasn't going to give up that easily, not today when she had such an exciting adventure. "No."
A surprised scoff was heard on the other line. "Excuse me?!"
"I'm telling the truth! Look I'm standing outside their house on 101 Dalmatian Street, if you bother to actually listen to me you'll find I'm telling the truth!"
"Do not yell at your moth-" She was too full of fire to stop now.
"Domino is busy reuniting with his family, and I'm gonna be there as he could use a familiar face, I'm not leaving him alone and you can come pick me up!" Before she could hear another argument, Karmi hung up the phone.
She took a deep breath, sinking to her knees as she sat on the steps. "Karmi, are you alright?" Baymax asked her.
"I just don't know why she never believes me…"
The healthcare companion awkwardly patted her shoulder. "There, there."
She smiled at him. "Thanks, Baymax. Uhg, I hope I don't get grounded for this. Why does my mom have to act like she has a stick up her- uhg!" Baymax narrowed her eyes. "What? Was it something I said?"
He looked back up. "I detect two dalmatians heading this way."
Karmi looked up and lo and behold, there were two adult dogs walking down the street. One of them was definitely a mixed breed, based on how his entire back was covered in black spots and bulky build was unusual for a dalmatian, the other one looked a lot like two of the pups hanging with Domino, and both of them reminded her of the other pup Diesel.
"Hello, I am Baymax." Baymax waved first. "Your personal healthcare companion."
One of the dogs who had a medical collar and a vest perked one of her large ears up. "Hi." Karmi waved. "My dog Domino, who's a dalmatian, ran into some of his littermates who live here, and they're catching up inside. Are you two the parents of the pups running around?"
Both dogs nodded, they seemed more relaxed once she explained herself. The bulky dog hopped up to the door to open it while the other stared at her with concern in her eyes. "Ruff?" She looked up, the bulky one gesturing if she wanted to come inside.
Well, I guess it beats waiting outside feeling sorry for myself. It'd be rude if she said no, and it was getting cold. "Thank you."
The bulky dog flashed her a goofy grin in response.
The pups continued to fawn over Domino even after he reunited with all his littermates, siblings, and other pups that were from the same hoarder house. DJ's ears perked up as he heard the door open. "Pups, we're home!" Their dad's voice rang as he entered the yard.
Instantly the pups turned their attention from his littermate to the firefighter. "DAD! DAD! DAD!" Doug gave a hearty chuckle as he was buried in dozens of pups and felt their little paws wrap around him. "Missed you too, pups!"
"Dad!" Dylan and Dolly ran up to him.
DJ was the only pup to not rush to their dad's side, opting to stick Domino. "Oh, that's your dad?" His littermate raised an eyebrow. "He's kind of goofy… for a dad." Then again Zachary was like that as well. Maybe all dads turn really goofy when it comes to their kids.
"Yeah, but that's why we love him." DJ wrapped a paw around his shoulder. "C'mon, he'll love to meet you."
But as they walked over, Dolly was already introducing them. "Oh and there he is!" She waved them over. "Dad, this is Domino. He's DJ's littermate, the one with a human."
Domino shot her a glare. "Nice to meet you, Domino!" Doug moved out of the puppy pile to greet him. He was bigger than Diggs, had the same blue eyes as Dolly, and a warm smile. "I'm Doug, but you can call me Dad if you'd like!"
"I think I'll stick to Doug for now." Domino sheepishly chuckled. "Um… speaking of humans, did you-"
"Oh, Delilah and I saw your human by the door, we let her in since it was getting cold and it's time for supper." The firefighter answered.
Hm, I guess no one took Dante's warning of letting humans in seriously. "Did you see the walking marshmallow?" DJ asked him.
"Talk about it later, kids?" Doug turned to the pups. "It's time for dinner!"
"Dinner?" Diesel perked up.
"Dinner!" Dumpling beamed.
Then their voices were drowned out by the rest of their siblings screaming "DINNER! DINNER! DINNER!" as they ran into the kitchen.
Domino blinked. "...What on earth do you feed those pups?" He turned to his littermate.
"Hey, I didn't look at the ingredient list of my kibble." DJ shrugged. "Food is food."
Despite having his littermate as company as they followed Dylan and Dolly into the kitchen, Domino felt his nerves shoot up at the sound of pups barking excitedly for food.
"You okay buddy?" Diggs, who had been napping in the yard while he spoke to the pups, had gotten up to join the group heading to the kitchen. "Too loud?"
"Yeah." He yelped as something soft went over his ears, a bit of hard plastic bumping into his head a little. "What the?!"
DJ grinned at him, his headphones removed from his head to Domino's. "That helps me with noise a little."
"Thanks." Domino told him.
His littermate's tail started wagging. "No problem, now let's go eat!"
They passed by Baymax in the hallway, who was sitting down trying to conserve battery power. "Hello." The robot waved, they waved back at him.
"He still looks like a walking marshmallow to me." DJ snorted.
"He's a healthcare companion." Diggs corrected him.
"Still a marshmallow."
When they walked in, Domino perked up at the sight of his human sitting by the tabled flanked by curious pups. "Karmi!" He hopped onto her lap, tail wagging. "Hi!"
She beamed. "Hi, Dom."
"How'd the phone call go?" He titled his head. "You looked stressed."
Karmi frowned. "Well if you're wondering about the phone call, Mom didn't believe me. I don't want to talk about it."
Ouch. Domino winced. They looked up as Dolly was holding a pump in his mouth. "You might wanna duck for the kibble pump." DJ warned him.
"Kibble what-"
Pow! Kibble spewed out of the pump like a weapon, not even aiming for the bowls it just went everywhere. "I think that thing needs its power lowered." Karmi commented. Just as she said a blast of kibble went flying in their direction and hit her smack in the face. "OW!"
"Oh, sorry!" Dolly shouted out, but from the gleam in her blue eyes, Domino knew it wasn't an accident.
Karmi got up, the kibble dripping on her hair and cheeks. "Uhhhg, that hit was worse than the plane ride here."
Diggs pushed his paws up to reach her neck, licking some of the kibble off. "Mmh, chicken, not bad." He quipped. "You okay?"
"I'm fine." She giggled as the german shepherd kept licking the kibble off her neck. Karmi looked around the table to see the other pups eyeing her with watery mouths. "Um, you guys are free to help lick this stuff off just don't try and bury me in spots-" That was the cue for around half of the table to hop over and help get the kibble off of the biotech major. "Thanks."
The pups barked their thanks, and Domino realized the ones who went over to help were either his siblings, or the other pups from the hoarder house.
Maybe not all of the family hates humans. He still shot a glare at Dolly, who was getting chewed out by Dylan for firing the kibble pump at his human. What the heck is her deal?
As Domino dug into his meal while Delilah finally handed Karmi a plate of human food for her to eat, he noticed two pups had been staring at them for quite awhile.
One pup had large black patches on his legs, body, and his face, a brown and blue eye, and a tired but calm expression on his face. His brother was the opposite of a typical dalmatian in appearance, black fur and white spots, but the spots on his left ear, paws, and tail tip were dyed purple and he had the same blue eyes as Dolly but more intense.
Deepak and Dante… Domino recognized them from the brief introduction of all the pups in the backyard. Dante was the one who said bringing a human in the house would cause trouble…
It can't be Karmi, she's the opposite of trouble, but why are they so scared of humans if the people here know not to bug them?
Something had happened to the dalmatian family in the past, and Domino was going to find out what.
By the time her parents drove to 101 Dalmatian Street, Karmi had been covered in dozens of puppy slobber, but at least she got most if not all of the kibble out of her hair. She'd probably have to take a shower when getting back to the hotel but it was worth it.
Ding-dong! "That's probably my parents." She told the adult dogs. Doug and Delilah, her brain corrected her. Dawkins, another one of the pups, had pulled out a tablet to use as communication to introduce some of the family.
They also chatted and gave him her number in case he wanted to talk more, as the pup showed an interest in the field of science. She was still mad at Dolly for the kibble pump, considering Dylan and Domino's reactions, Dolly did not seem to like having a human in the house.
Baymax, who had been sitting outside the hallway to preserve battery, got up to answer the door. "Hello, Molly and Zachary-"
"Where is my daughter?!" The dogs in the house winced as her voice went up an octave. Karmi instantly got up and poked her head out of the hallway to see Molly in hysterics. "Where is she?! I told her to come back to the park and she didn't, so what did you do to her?!"
"Karmi is alright, please calm down." Baymax held up a hand to prevent her mother from charging into the house. "Did Karmi not call you to explain your whereabouts?"
"She didn't listen." Zachary sighed. "Molly, I know you care about our daughter, but Karmi is well-enough to be fine for herself for a few hours." He placed a hand on her shoulder to try and calm her down. "Sides, she had Domino and Diggs, and hey, look on the bright side! Our dog's extended family has a colorful house."
"If Karmi was okay going off on her own, what happened at San Fransokyo wouldn't have happened in the first place."
Painful thorns of doubt prickled into Karmi's chest. Baymax tilted his head and appeared to scan how the words instantly brought her down to the ground, Diggs and Domino nuzzled her in concern.
"Please do not say comments like that." Baymax looked down at her mother. "They are detrimental to Karmi's self-esteem and will impact her recovery." The robot's tone was neutral as ever, but the words had an intended bite to them.
A bite that had slapped Molly in the face once realizing what her words implied. Her red eyes widened and she looked down at the doorstep, realizing the effect of her rash actions. "Karmi? Can you come here?" Zachary called out. "We're going to head back to the hotel."
"Coming…" Karmi tip-toed to the front door, her dogs by her side. She knew her mother wouldn't have said what she said if she knew her daughter was listening, a part of her reasoned, but the fact that she thought such a thing made it worse than hearing it. So Karmi ignored her mother as she hugged her dad. "I wasn't joking when I said Dom is related to the dalmatians, well a few, at least by blood."
"Ah found family, the best kind of family." Zachary chuckled, he shot a wave to the eavesdropping puppies and the parents. "Maybe we should talk tomorrow, it's been a long day."
"That would be an excellent idea." Baymax brought up a calendar on his screen. "Shall I set up an appointment?"
While her dad set up a meet-and-greet with the parents, Karmi walked with Diggs to the car, Domino wanting to say a few goodbyes to the dalmatians first. "Karmi!" Haley and Ryan greeted her. "Are you okay?" Her little sister could sense her mood.
"Why are you covered in dog slobber?" Ryan shot Haley a glare as he changed the subject.
"I got struck by kibble." Karmi chuckled. "Um, I really don't want to talk right now, can I be left alone?"
"Okay." Both twins nodded and instead bugged Diggs for details, and Karmi watched with a small smile on her face.
Teen Dorks Squad group chat:
Ari: So that's why I'm banned from Saiddit
June: I can't believe you became the cult leader of the Saiddit forum about me and mama
Hiro: DON'T remind me I still remember that set up in the closet
Karms: Hi
Hiro: Hello!
Ari: everyone KARMI'S BACK
Rach: We noticed
Meg: Sup
Karms: I'm back at the hotel room and ignoring anyone.
Karms: Also Baymax
Baymax: Hello Karmi. Are you okay?
Karms: It's a long story, I don't wanna call about it so give me a min
Rach: I scrolled up and Ari did what
Hiro: Yeah so apparently Juniper and her mom have a Saiddit forum dedicated to them
June: We were quite the popular performers in our crime lives : )
Hiro: Yeah and YOU told my sister and since she knows about you, she instantly became leader of the forum for knowing personal info about HV
Hiro: Imagine my surprise when one day, I came home to see my sister stealing my computer, surrounded by candles looking like a cult leader in the closet
Rach: Wowwwww
Ari: I will not apologize for wanting to see more videos of HV performances u.u
Karms: ok guys so remember when I posted that picture of the puppy pile? Yeah the pups are a group of wild dalmatians that the local people allow to run free bc apparently they have a house and I think are descendants of the dalmatians from the 15 dalmatians from the 101 story? But that's a wild guess idk how to explain wild dogs running a whole household.
Karms: Yeah I got an invite to their house and my dog Domino is related to some of them. when I called my mom to tell her we got into an argument and when she picked me up she said a comment about SF along the lines of if I was so good about being independent I wouldn't have had what happened to happen at all.
Karms: in her defence she said it while in overprotective-parent mode but it's not the first time I've heard a comment from her since I went to SFIT, so it really sucks that my mom doesn't think I can be independent without getting into trouble
Baymax: oh
Ari: O_O
Hiro: omg I'm so sorry that happened
Meg: D :
Rach: Oof
June: ...I wanna fight your mom now
Karms: plz don't
Baymax: What happened was not your fault. I suggest talking to your mother about how her comments make you feel, but it is understandable if you want to wait awhile before having that conversation
Hiro: Yeah also you don't have to forgive her for said comments right after bc that is kind of Yikes
Ari: ^
Meg: ^
June: ^
Rach: ^ yeah and take care of yourself, she's wrong you can handle yourself just fine 3
Karms: Thanks guys.
Karms: I swear my mom is a good parent but sometimes she can be mean.
June: I'd like to believe you buuuut… I just worry
Ari: UM before we get into more Yikes territory are you doing okay now?
Karms: ye. I'm gonna talk with my dad rn, brb
Rach: While you do that, I'm gonna google how old you can be to legally adopt someone
Meg: Why
Rach: ; )
Karmi ended up speaking with her dad outside the hotel room, while her mom put the twins to bed. "I heard what she said, about me being independent." Karmi looked down at her shows. "Does Mom blame me for what happened?"
"No!" Zachary frowned. "I will talk to her about that, but neither of us blame you for what happened at Sycorax, it wasn't ever your fault."
Except it was Dad… She wanted to say. Di used me to lure Hiro in and kidnap him. "But she doesn't think I can handle the big scary world because I'm technically still a teenager." Karmi curled her lip. "I didn't ask to be babied this vacation!"
"Karms, we both worry about you." Her dad sighed. "I know you think time off will help, but San Fransokyo has a track record of having bad things happen, I mean besides the monsters there was the star, and that whole portal incident caused by the former dean of your school!"
"Don't bring up the attack on Krei-Tech." Karmi shot him a glare. Just thinking about that reminded her of Hiro, and his late brother. "It's not about that, look I'll never take an internship for the rest of my college experience if it makes you happy. But I wasn't happy at home, I was happy at SFIT." While she did love her family, they did tend to wrap her in a bubble and was keen on sheltering her from the outside world, she didn't have to worry about that in San Fransokyo, where she could be free.
Zachary looked at her in surprise. "Well, if I'm honest. I was really worried about you that first year when you transferred, and then all of a sudden you started coming out of your shell more and more, and even now you spend a lot of your time texting your group chat."
"In my defence, last semester was crazy." Karmi pointed out. Between meeting Hiro and Ari, writing Big Hero 6 fanfiction, Akuma Island, the whole monster thing, and her actions ending up being the downfall of the monster artist of Sycorax, a lot had happened. "And I'm trying to recover from that, but Mom making her comments about me being unable to hack it isn't going to help. I'll talk to her about it later, but not right now."
Her dad smiled. "Attagirl, when you're ready, maybe you two can go out for coffee or something. Whatever mother-daughter bonding looks like these days."
"Well back in San Fransokyo it was-"
"Please don't mention those crime-dancers, one of my co-workers has an obsession with their music and it got stuck in my head for weeks."
Karmi laughed so hard until her gut ached from the giggles. "Well they're doing less criminal things these days!"
Their laughter echoed across the hallway, and for once since they got to England, Karmi felt like she was starting to get better.
As for the dalmatians, the pups kept chatting about Domino and his family as they went to bed. DJ and his littermates were eager to catch up with their long-lost sibling, and the others were excited to get to know the new dogs, and even Dawkins was interested about their human since they chatted a bit during dinner.
Except… Dante was staying awake in his bed with Deepak. "Brother?" His littermate turned to him. "You appear unwell, is it because of your prediction about a human bringing destruction?"
"Yeah." The black-furred pup thought Domino's human would be a threat, but when he was around her presence, he didn't see any future where she put the family in danger. "Something's off about her though."
"It's her aura, I can sense she went through a lot." Deepak explained. "Is she dangerous?"
"Not to us, except if the kibble incident at dinner is alarm ringing." Dante sighed. "Man, I know something bad's gonna happen to us, I just don't know what!"
Deepak patted his littermate on the shoulder. "Brother, your predictions have helped us in the past, I'm sure whatever's in the future will easily be defeated as well." The guru smiled. "I mean if we could get past that Hunter kid, anything's a breeze!"
"Yeah, that kid was weird." Dante had sensed nothing but dark vibes around the blonde teenager with a crazed grin. He wasn't good at sensing aura's like Deepak, but they were the most spiritual of the family for a reason. "Uhg, I predict he's gonna be brought up again."
"Well if any of us tell Domino." Deepak hummed. "How do you feel about him and his human?"
Dante mused over the question. "He definitely was something I didn't see coming, but I predict he and his human are going to change this family, for better or worse."
"Hopefully better!"
"Or maybe they are foreshadowing the downfall of our fam-" Dante paused at seeing the guru's glare. "Just joking! I mean the story just got started after-all."
The guru rolled his eyes. "Save it for the morning brother. I can tell tomorrow is going to be an adventure itself."
Originally this was going to be split into two chapters but then I was like "y'know what I wanna beef chapters now. BRING IT!" and kept it as one big chapter, hope you enjoy!
Anyways there's a lot that goes on in this one, crossover galore! As much as I wanna add all 101 Dalmatians, that would be too many but I'll sprinkle in names as much as I can, some might even be stars of the show in a few chapters!
If you've been on my tumblr, Dandy (or Dandy Dot) is the name I have for the bio dad of Dylan and Dawkins, I thought it'd be nice if he was involved in the life of the pups, even if he doesn't live in the same town, and yeah, he's in a long-distance relationship with Doug and Delilah, the 101 pups deserve 2 dads as a treat :3
He will be showing up in this fic, but it won't be for awhile, word of warning.
I feel like y'all are gonna be hating on Molly for this chapter and I wouldn't blame you, she was not cool in this chapter but her actions aren't out of malice, she's just worried about her daughter's safety and wellbeing, but that doesn't mean what she says and does isn't hurting, but she's not an evil parent
Thank you so much for reading, don't forget to check out Fallen From Power, which takes place the same time as this story, and see you guys next time!
