Chapter 17: Learning Self-Defence
It had been a few days after my sleepover at Mackenzie's home and over the course of that time, my friendship with the collie was slowly but surely getting better. Not a day went by without Bluey coming home from school telling me about Mackenzie telling her and the others about me and how "cool" I was. It was almost like he idolized me like a celebrity.
I couldn't help but chuckle at the thought as I continued along the road, not too far from the Heeler's neighbourhood. Chilli had forgotten a few things from when she went shopping and was busy with work and so was Bandit, so I offered to pick up the things for them. The store, or shop as they referred it to wasn't too far away so I didn't see any issues with the task.
At least that's what I thought until a roadblock ahead of me stopped me in my tracks. The road ahead was blocked by a few police cars, an ambulance and a regular car with the front slightly dented, the bus stop shelter it seemed to have collided into was a whole different story. Among the scene, I saw two dogs conversing with each other, one of them in what was evidently a police outfit, possibly an interrogation on what caused the crash.
I do remember having crossed this part of the road so the crash must've very likely happened when I was in the store and with the amount of vehicles present along with the crime scene tape, no one would be able to go along said road for a while.
Looking around for an alternate path, my eyes stopped when I looked to my left to find a walkway between two of the buildings, almost like some kind of alleyway. Now normally I don't go through alleyways, especially for shortcuts, but another look around the area left me with no other option, so with my fingers clenched around the handle of the grocery bag I held, I proceeded inside.
I should be thankful that it was midday, the sunlight providing enough light inside the alleyway which made me feel a little safer. The said path seemed to stretch for possibly three rows of buildings but I doubted that any crazed person would spring out in the middle of the day, that would be too easy for them to get spotted.
"Well, look who's still alive…"
I immediately froze in place as a voice in a very icy tone rang out, like a wolf cornering a rabbit that it was ready to kill. But what made me freeze for longer was that the voice sounded familiar… Feminine…
No, it couldn't be…
"HEY! Don't you know it's rude to ignore a lady?! Turn around and greet my girlfriend, monkey!"
Another voice screamed out at me from behind, this one was more masculine but not as familiar as the former. Not wanting to escalate any hostility, I turned around and was met with two faces I thought I would never see again.
It was Hailey and that great dane, Daniel, the one she had deliberately stood me up for as some sick joke, both their faces in a snarl of disapproval.
"I thought I told you that you weren't welcome here." The husky growled as she and her mate slowly started to approach me.
"W-Woah woah, please, I don't want any trouble." Immediately my hands were up defensively as I quickly started to back away, fearing what these two were going to do to me next if they got close enough.
"Yeah, well neither do we, but then you came in and that's when our troubles began." Daniel quipped up, getting closer to me than Hailey. This wasn't working, I had to be smart with what I said next.
"L-Look, I'm sorry I crash landed here, really. But just take it easy and maybe we can talk things ou-"
I was immediately cut off the second I felt Daniel's hand against my chest, pushing me up against a nearby wall.
"You know what the CPIA should've done with immigrant scum like you?" Hailey took a turn to speak again, it was in that very tone she had used right before she had slapped me, all the while, Daniel's muzzle was just inches away from my face, it felt like he was going to bite me at any second.
"No? Then how about we show you?"
I didn't even get a second to respond as I felt a sharp blunt pain in my stomach where Daniel had just delivered a fist to. The punch was so hard it had knocked all of the wind out of me but he clearly wasn't finished yet as I felt the same fist drive right into my left cheek, the force being enough to knock me to my knees. Then I was bludgeoned by kicks, not just from Daniel but Hailey also. It only took a second for every part of my body to sting with pain as the two dogs delivered swift painful kicks to any part that belonged to me, my face, my arms and one of those kicks even managed to strike me in the groin which only added to the pain I was feeling.
For what felt like hours but must have only been a minute or so, I no longer felt a foot strike me. My vision was blurred and I could not move a muscle at all. I could however hear the laughing and jeering from my two assailants as I heard their footsteps slowly fade to nothing, meaning they were just going to leave me here.
Unable to move or handle any more shock from the blows I had received, my eyes fluttered until I saw nothing but black.
…
…
…
I felt stiff.
I had most likely been unconscious for a good while and the only thing that my body registered before I attempted to open my eyes was that my back didn't feel the cold hard ground of the alleyway but rather something soft and padded. My blurred vision when I finally gained the strength in my eyelids took a moment to fix itself as I soon found myself to be staring at a light pastel blue ceiling.
Trying to sit up was a struggle, especially considering that my body was still aching from the beat-down I had received though to my luck, they weren't as severe as before. I had to rely on my own arms for support and was about to push myself up with them, until that was when I noticed that parts of them were wrapped in gauze. One look at my chest and I could see that some parts of it were covered in band aids and some gauze as well, the rest of my body was covered in a blanket.
Initially, I had assumed that Bandit or Chilli had found me after noticing that I hadn't yet come back and had patched me up the best I could, but one good look around the room I was in quickly disproved that theory.
The living room I was in was nothing like the Heeler's. The shape of the room, the wall colour, even the sofa I was laying on, it was all different.
Among my visual inspection of the room, something stuck out enough to catch my attention.
Above the TV on the wall behind it was a framed photograph of a dog in some kind of white gown, their fur colour being bluish dark grey with a white muzzle. On their hand was what looked like a hand puppet of a long eared animal, maybe a rabbit with a yellow belt around it's waist.
"Oh, you're awake!"
I nearly jumped at the sudden voice of a young girl that was no doubt speaking to me. Looking down at the front of the couch standing beside me, I saw another dog that looked exactly the same as the one on the photo, only I now had a better view of her full body.
Her body shape was very similar to Bingo's and judging by her size, she was no doubt around the same age as her. I could also make out a white patch on her chest and both her hands were the same white as her muzzle.
"Yeah… Hi there." I grunted through my teeth as I used every inch of effort I had in me at the moment to finally sit up as the young dog's look of excitement turned to one of concern.
"...Are you okay?"
"I'll be fine. Did you patch me up by the way?" I asked, just to be sure that I wouldn't end up giving my thanks to the wrong person, the small girl dog just shook her head.
"My dad did, but I helped!" The little dog smiled again as she mentioned her assistance in my first aid.
"Heh, well thanks for that. I'm Nathan, by the way." I held my hand out to her as I introduced myself to which she shook with her own.
"I know. Bingo told me lots about you in Kindie! I'm Harley!" The little dog whom I now knew as Harley replied before climbing up onto the couch and sitting on the edge, possibly to avoid sitting on any of my injuries.
"Oh really? What has she told you about me?" I enquired with a playful smirk.
"Well… She said that you were really fun to play with and that you're really brave when exploring that alien ocean planet on your Switch thing…! And that she and Bluey love you very much."
That last statement was enough to tug at my heart a little as my smirk turned into a full heartfelt smile.
"Nathan…? Why were you hurt so badly?"
I probably should've expected a question like that. Even though I felt that it would upset her a little, it wouldn't be fair to leave her in the dark about how I ended up like this, especially when she helped to tend to my wounds.
"It's a long story…" I said with a sigh before dropping the bomb as clearly as possible for her to understand.
…
…
"Oh… That's really bad! And just mean!" Harley whined a little in contempt. It was clear that she had a full grasp of my whole situation with Hailey and her boyfriend and she wasn't liking it one bit.
"...Didn't you fight back?" Harley then asked to which I just shook my head "No".
"Daniel got me off-guard, I barely had any time to recollect myself. ...To tell you the truth, I never did fight back against anyone especially those who bullied me. It just felt wrong, like I'd become like them I did so much as throw a punch back."
I admitted, and it was true. For as long as I could remember, one of my standards was to not fight back as doing so would've made me just as much of a bully as they were.
"...It's not wrong to def… deff… deefend yourself." Harley spoke up, struggling a little with the word she was looking for.
With those words in mind, I looked back at the photograph of her and the hand puppet, the more I looked, the sooner I came to realize what the white gown Harley was wearing actually was alongside the belt the puppet had.
"You seem capable to defending yourself though." I pointed out as Harley beamed in response as she looked at the photograph as well.
"Oh yeah! I'm actually a red belt in karate right now!" She told me before pointing at the hand puppet in the photo. "And Bob Bilby is a yellow belt." She added. Well at least I knew the puppet's name and what animal it, or rather he was.
Harley then looked down in thought for a moment before her face suddenly sprung back up as if she just realised something.
"Hey! I got an idea!" Harley exclaimed before jumping off the couch and beckoning me to follow her.
Before I even thought about moving from my current spot, I gently lifted the blanket up to look at myself further to find the only clothing item on me being… my underwear.
"Um… Can I have my clothes back first?"
The training dojo Harley had taken me to was about as traditional as it could get. Tatami lined floor, wooden frames and sliding doors of paper and wood lattice. I learnt that her dad had rented it so that she'd be able to use it for any practice sessions.
As for my clothes, my shirt and pants were stained from the scuffle and would have to be washed for the time being. Luckily, Harley's dad had found a tank top and some extra pants that were my size, both black coloured.
Meanwhile, I was just in complete awe of the dojo itself. It was like I was in one of those martial arts movies filmed in Japan itself.
It wasn't long until Harley poked my leg to get my attention as I looked down to find her wearing her white karate suit and her red belt.
"Before I teach you, there is something my teacher tells me that me, you and anyone else that knows karate must remember. Do you know what it is?" Harley asked me, possibly a secret phrase or something. I thought hard, but unable to think of a suitable answer, I threw in a guess.
"Wax on, wax off?" Harley laughed a little at my answer before composing herself.
"No, silly! He said that karate must never be used for evil and always know when your… opo… opho… op-po-nent has had enough." She corrected. I probably should've known that from the start but no matter, now was a good time as any to learn.
Firstly, Harley instructed that we bow first before our training which we both did so mutually, then we started off by knowing how to block by raising our arms in front of us, hands pointed outward. Though I had to bend down so Harley would be able to reach me in order to throw some practice punches to allow me to get grips on blocking.
After a few solid minutes of blocking, it was now time to learn a one arm shoulder throw, but that was when our training got into a bit of a standstill.
Because of my size and weight, it was practically impossible for Harley to throw me over her shoulder, even if she pulled my arm with all her might, I didn't move an inch. After a few more tugs and strained grunts, she finally gave up.
"Okay, maybe you should try me." Harley suggested and I IMMEDIATELY protested. There was no way I was going to use such a move on a child. Knowing her possible age, there were so many ways this could go wrong for her.
"It's a part of learning, I'll be okay!" Harley reassured me, but again, I still didn't want to go through with it. But after some more pressing from the little girl dog which made it clear she wasn't going to stop asking, I reluctantly got down on my knees and took a firm but fair hold on one of her arms and pulled her over my shoulder, trying to use as less force as possible.
My heart stopped the second I heard Harley's body impact on the floor alongside her pained grunt, my head instantly whipping up to see her lying on her back, her face scrunched up in obvious pain.
"O-OH MY GOD, ARE YOU ALRIGHT?! I'M SO SORRY!" I stammered out in horror as I scrambled over to Harley, whom seconds later sat up and rubbed her back a little before looking up at me with an impressed smile.
"You're a good thrower."
It must've been hours when the training soon came to an end and the orange light of the setting sun outside the dojo further proved this. Over the course of said training, I had picked up and learnt a few more moves and even though I was still rusty at the end of the day, Harley knew there was some progress here and there. It would very well take several more training sessions until I got the hang of it.
After Harley packed away her karate suit, she reached into the closet and pulled out something before walking over to me and holding it up. It was a yellow belt like the one Bob Bilby was wearing in that photo, only bigger so that it would go around my waist.
"For you." Harley said with a smile which I soon returned before taking the belt and tying it around my waist.
"Next time you come over, we'll practice some more." Harley promised before bowing respectfully.
"...Thanks, Harley." I said in a heartfelt tone before kneeling down and hugging the little Akita to which she returned the gesture.
Remembering that evening was upon us, I exchanged farewells with Harley and her dad before quickly making my way back to the Heeler's home. Bluey and Bingo must be worried sick by now.
The streets were empty as I continued onward, not a single soul was outside, whether it be because the child dogs were calming down before bedtime or the adults were just spending the evening indoors.
With no traffic or any signs of further roadblocks, this should be easy for me. I'll just hurry to the Heeler's neighbourhood, explain what happened and get the groceries again tomorrow.
"Wow. He's back again… and he looks even more ridiculous than before." A groan from a recognisable male voice stopped me in my tracks. It took a lot of willpower to stop a groan of my own from escaping my throat as I turned around this time, to find Daniel, alone this time leaning against a telephone pole in the middle of the small grass field near me. A lit cigarette in his mouth which leaked some of the inhaled smoke before the great dane turned to me with a scowl.
"You really have a lot of nerve waltzing around in our territory, fit as a butterfly. If I were you, I'd just go back to that trashed plane and die there with your parents." The great dane spat out at me before taking out his cigarette and dropping it, crushing it under his foot to put it out.
"You're probably wondering where Hailey is, aren't you? Well, she's busy and whatever she does is none of your damn business, monkey. So how about you stop contaminating Canistralia with your presence and just leave already."
At this point, I just couldn't hold back my frustration any more. That frustration had turned into anger the very second the dog in front of me mentioned my own mom and dad, which was a line that no person should ever cross. So without any hesitation, I finally spoke back in the most blunt tone imaginable.
"You're already contaminating it with your smokes."
Daniel let out a growl in response to that before shoving me to the ground, glaring down at me.
"Very funny, monkey. But I think it'll be funnier when I leave you as nothing but a god damn stain on the ground." Immediately after Daniel said that, he lifted one foot over me with the clear intent of stomping on my chest but I instinctively just managed to roll away in time before climbing back up onto my feet and bringing my fists in front of me in a defensive stance which only made Daniel chuckle.
"So that's how you wanna play it, monkey?"
…
"...Then come and get me, ya fleshy bugger."
Daniel quickly rushed first and threw a flurry of punches directed at my face, but I managed to swing my arms up and block every blow just in the nick of time, a few close calls where the great dane's fists just reached inches near my face, one just managed to graze my cheek but it barely even stung. Daniel quickly figured out what I was doing however and managed to strike a full blow to my stomach like before, it hurt just as much as before but I had to fight through the pain to not let him get the upper hand. With a strain, I reached down and grabbed Daniel's wrist before spinning around, using all of my strength to lift the great dane over my shoulder and slam him down onto the ground, forcing a low grunt out of him before he got up and turned to face me again.
This time he rushed with his hands stretched out, aimed for my neck but I just managed to grab him by both wrists before his fingers could even touch me but Daniel was quick to react this time and lunged his head forward, delivering a swift headbutt to my face, knocking me back a step and forcing me to let go. Before I could recollect myself, I felt the weight of Daniel's whole body launch into me and shove me into the ground. I was pinned under as he was sat on my chest before throwing a fist which impacted right into my mouth.
In a newfound fit of adrenaline from that punch, I just managed to grab his fist before he could throw a second punch. He tried again with his other fist but I was ready this time and managed to grab it very firmly.
With both of Daniel's fists locked in my hands, I jerked forward, forcing Daniel's fists to go up to his own cheeks, the blow of the double fists enough to make him stagger up a little off my chest and with my legs now free, I lifted one up and shot my foot forward, giving Daniel a full blown kick to the stomach.
As I got back up, I watched as Daniel was bent over, coughing a little as he clutched his stomach. That kick must've hit him harder than I imagined but it didn't take long for him to look back up at me and I swear I could see red in his eyes. He was getting even more angrier but was starting to show signs of exhaustion. It wouldn't be long before he would finally have to give in.
Daniel pulled back a fist, ready to strike me in the torso again and I quickly lifted an arm to block it, but it turned out to be a fake-out as he stopped his punch halfway and used my moment of distraction to kick at one of my legs, just about almost making me collapse to my knees when Daniel grabbed me by both arms and swung his knee into my chest. Multiple blows I could not block until I saw that he was using only one of his legs to deliver the kicks. Fighting through the added repeated blows of pain, I swung my leg towards the one that was stationary and with Daniel's other leg currently up in the air, he easily lost his balance and was about to fall on top of me.
Out of a bit of panic and quick instinct, I threw a fist towards, hoping that whatever I did would stop Daniel from colliding onto me.
…
Seconds later, I heard the sound of a body falling to the ground. Standing up straight, I looked ahead and found that the source of the noise had been Daniel who lay there on the ground, not moving.
At least not for a few seconds, until he twitched a little and slowly turned his head to look at me. His nose was leaking with blood, some of which dripped onto the ground. My mouth was bleeding too from when it had received a punch from Daniel but it was only a dribble of red compared to his flooding muzzle.
"H-Heh… You… You have no idea just how much you've screwed yourself over…" Daniel only chuckled as he sluggishly sat upright. "When the CPIA learns about this… This land will have one less human… So… enjoy your time here while you can, monkey…"
"Oh, I already know. And I know the truth behind it." A stern voice beside us grabbed our attention as I looked over to see Andrew and that Dachshund, Danielle both giving Daniel a look of disapproval.
"We got a call from a witness that not only you, but your "girlfriend" had assaulted our human ambassador and it seems to me that you engaged in an attack against him again." Andrew explained as another dog in a police outfit arrived on the scene, picking up Daniel and cuffing his hands behind his back.
"I think you'll find that any strong act of humanaphobia, such as assault is a VERY serious offense. You're coming with me. And we'll make sure that this Husky mate of yours gets the same justice." The police dog said sternly at Daniel, before leading him away with Andrew following behind, but not before Daniel gave me one last look of humiliation.
"Nathan, honey… Would you like me to drive you back?" Danielle said to me as she put a hand on my shoulder.
Without any protest, I looked over at her and nodded.
"Yes, I'd like that, miss."
