Disclaimer: I do not own Danny Phantom or any of the characters. Danny Phantom is the sole property of Butch Hartman, Nickelodeon and Paramount global.
Barked
Chapter 15: The Club goes to the Dogs
The large ghost dog remained motionless. However the green dog was still breathing, despite being a ghost.
"Cujo!..." Fifi barked, as she hid behind Cujo.
She tried to push him into waking up but she didn't know what to do. Stella didn't understand what she was trying to do. She remained confused and fearing that the worst was about to happen.
Thinking that her precious pet was frozen in fear, Stella gasped and she motioned for her dog and for her kids.
"Mom? What are you doing?..." Star asked, as her mother chose to act brave at the worst possible time.
"Star, take your brother and hide someplace safe! Keep each other safe until I get back!..." Stella said as she handed her baby boy to her biological daughter.
Before Star could respond, her mother went after Fifi.
"Wait, you don't have to-...Aaand she gone while leaving me to look after Pierre with ghosts and ghost hunters on the run..." Star said, as she began to fear that she and her mother may or may not be getting too used to this routine of theirs by now.
All the while, her mother kept trying to "rescue" her pet poodle.
"Fifi, come back here, young lady!..."Stella said as she ran after her, trying to get her precious dog to come back with her.
"Mom, no!..."Star called out, but her mother didn't seem to hear her.
"Fifi!..." Stella reached out for her.
Fifi, due to all the stress from this experience, did something even she never expected to do.
She growled...at Stella
"GR-RR-RR!..." The poodle let out, shocking her owner.
"F-Fifi?!..." Stella exclaimed, not expecting this.
Fifi felt guilty for growling at her owner, but she also knew that Cujo needed her right now.
"I'm sorry, Madame... but I can't go with you..." She thought as she climbed her way out.
"Fifi?!..." Stella questioned, as the poodle jumped out from her owner's hold and ran towards her friend.
"CUJO! Cujo can you hear me?!..."Fifi barked as she tried to get his attention by shaking his head.
He did not move.
"Please be okay!..." She pleaded but that is when Jean-Luc shot him again.
"And that's how it's done! That mongrel wasn't so tough!..." Jean Luc said arrogantly, clearly not seeing how the others reacted.
He then removed his spector deflector and threw it away.
"Jean Luc, why did you take it off?!..." Stella asked, concerned for him.
"This green beast is down and I refuse to continue wearing this ugly accessory made by those ghost hunting peasants in front of my esteemed friends. This ridiculous thing is more fitting in some old sci-fi movie. Besides, it doesn't look good with my suit..." He said arrogantly, as he tossed the device away, thinking he no longer needed it.
He also did not see the distress he caused Fifi or the angry looks our the female poodle was glaring at him with.
Danny and Star couldn't help but glare at the man who had the gall to boast shooting a DOG of all things, a ghost dog but still a dog no less.
"Just when I think I couldn't hate him even more..." Danny muttered.
"This is where Colette got her talent for getting on people's nerves..." Star said, glaring at her so called step father.
Before anyone else could say anything they all heard a menacing growl.
"GRR-RR-RRRRR..."
To Stella's surprise she saw that Fifi was baring her teeth at her owner's husband.
"Fifi?..." She asked as she watched her beloved pet approach her husband.
Jean Luc saw her and didn't expect her to look at him the same way women who rejected his advances looked at him. He raised a brow at his current wife dog, he didn't expect that hostility.
He frowned and began to boss her around again.
"Oh stop this nonsensical behavior, Fifi. Sit!.." He snobbishly commanded, as he reached for her.
Big mistake, as this is where Fifi snapped.
"ARRRROOOOOOOUUUUUUGGGGGGHHHHHH!..."
The poodle then chomped down on Jean Luc's leg and quite hard, shocking everyone. Especially her owners.
"AAGH! MY LEG! LET GO OF MY FRAGILE LEG, YOU CRAZY FEMALE DOG!..." The French man yelled out in pain, sounding like his leg was broke in a overly dramatic fashion.
However no one showed any signs of believing in his performance, not even his Stella or Pierre looked remotely convinced. Still, she was stunned by her pets behavior.
"FIFI?!..."Stella let out in horror as she ran to help her husband.
Star and Danny, as well as the others did no such act.
"Serves him right..."Danny said, and the others nodded in agreement.
"You said it..." Star said, as the Bevier's tried to pry their pet off Jean Luc.
"Okay, I am starting to see what Star was talking about earlier..."Sam said, her opinion on the poodle sky rocketing right now.
"No duh, even a dog can see what a jerk that French version of Vlad is..." Jazz commented.
"You can say that again..." Tucker said, as Jean Luc started cursing in his native language now.
Meanwhile
The guys in white saw this before they laughed at the rude French man's misfortune, until they remembered why they were out here to begin with.
They lost any interest in pretending to care about civilian casualties and wanted to get back to their job.
"Hurry, while these idiots are distracted trying to reign in their misbehaving mutt, let's get this dumb ghost mutt and go..." K said.
"Affirmative, time to earn back our old positions and show the others who's boss!..."O said, nodding.
"Still...part of me does wish I had brought my camera, that dog bite was hilarious when it happens to someone else..." He added, enjoying Jean-Luc's misery.
"You said it..." K said, massaging where Cujo bit him prior.
Unfortunately for them, Cujo began to wake up. He regenerate from his earlier wound but recalled what happened to his loved one.
"I heard Fifi in trouble! WHO HURT HER?!..."He questioned as he started snarling.
Cujo began to growl furiously. He saw Fifi biting down on her owner's awful idiot husband.
The couple managed to remove Fifi but she was still growling at snarling at Jean Luc, part of his pants now in her mouth.
"Fifi? What's become of you? I've never seen you so... wild..." Stella said, as she was starting to see a side of her beloved pet that she never seen before.
Her husband, on the other hand, was livid.
"What's the matter with you, you little mutt?! HOW DARE YOU BITE THE HAND THAT FEEDS YOU PRIME RIB! I JUST SAVED YOUR LIFE!..."He shouted as he tried to shake her off, still in pain but was clearly exaggerating it.
"More like you almost hurt her, you jerk!..." Danny pointed out as he, Star and the others did nothing to help him.
"No one's talking to you, peasant boy!..." The rich man snapped in anger, his patience long past gone.
"Hey, you can't talk to Danny that way!..." Star said, glaring at him.
"Unlike you, he saved Fifi's life! If it wasn't for him, we could have had a worse situation in our hands! Fifi could have been seriously hurt OR worse because of your reckless shooting!..." She shouted.
"I can talk to him anyway I want!..." Jean-Luc said still trying to control his wife's poodle off of him and almost raised a violent hand on the dog.
Before any regrettable action could happen, the angry French man heard something that made his blood run cold.
"GRRRRRRRRRR!..."
Suddenly he heard another growl, this one sounded far more sinister and mad to the adults in the room, but not the teenagers.
Jean-Luc turned around to be face to face with the ghost dog that had turned back to his monstrous size, glaring angrily at the puny human that had shot him and was about to harm his beloved Fifi.
"Where is that ugly ghost belt?!..." Jean Luc asked, panicking and regretting removing it.
"You threw it away, remember!..." Danny loudly reminded.
Jean-Luc tried to find it but it was too late as the ghost dog glared down at him. Stella panicked but noticed that her Spector deflector wasn't working.
"What's wrong with this thing?!..." She shouted, only to see that it was low on power.
"What?! I thought for sure that I charged it last night, didn't I?..." Stella asked, panicking and wondering what went wrong.
FLASHBACK
Last Night
Stella had just arrived home from her spa appointment. She paid Alyssa who then left for home.
Now Stella was checking everything, as well as dote on her child.
"Okay...Fifi has been fed and groomed, Pierre has been fed, burped and bathed, and is already for bed...and oh, can't forget to charge these babies..." Stella said, as she placed her lipstick laser and several specter deflector to charge them, using most of the outlets in the living room.
"Glad Maddie was able to provide it...and let me customize it..." Stella said, as she went to tuck her son for bed.
Unknown to her, her husband had just come out of his office and frowned when he noticed his phone was on low battery...due to alk the "activity" he did when he wasn't working.
"I do enjoy these private chats with Mon cheri...but I best charge this..." He thought as he tried to find a nearby outlet but saw that they occupied, most by most by Stella's stuff and her ghost hunting equipment.
He rolled his eyes.
"Nobody needs this and I do not need my wife to look like one of those colorful rangers fighters on television..." He said as he randomly disconnected one of the Spector deflector and immediately charged his phone.
He soon left for his room to wait, while his wife kept trying to lull the their son to sleep, as he expected from her.
Unaware of what her husband just did.
End of flashback
Present Time
Stella had no way of knowing that.
All she did now is that her Specter Deflector is no longer working and her husband foolishly tossed away his and they were now at the mercy of the ghost dog.
"Jean Luc, please...do something helpful!..." Stella screamed as she clung to her husband, the same husband who pulled her closer and clung to her.
Cujo got in his face, teeth in his view and god breath filled his nose.
"STAY AWAY FROM FIFI!..." Cujo barked out angrily, the force of his bark sent a powerful gust that blew the rich couple's hair back.
Stella stood there frozen while Jean Luc finally moved as he decided to act like the coward he is but pretended to make sure to walk away with some dignity.
Not that he had much left anyway.
"MONSTRE! SAUVE-MOI! JE SUIS TROP BEAU ET TROP IMPORTANT POUR MOURIR!..."He shouted as swung his arms out wildly as he and his wife ran in opposite directions.
However, the ghost dog ignored Stella and just went after her snobby husband.
"RUN JEAN LUC! Run like your life depends on it, because it does!..." Stella screamed as she tried to make a break for it.
Fifi saw this but her tail wagged since only one thing mattered to her.
"Cujo, you're okay!..." Fifi barked happily, while he chased Jean Luc like he was some mailman.
Danny, Star and the others stood by and watched this.
"Should we do something to stop this? I mean...I hate the guy...but isn't it our job to do something at times like this?..." Jazz asked but did nothing to aid the snobby French man.
"Not it. It's his fault that my parents broke up and why I got cursed with Colette as a stepsister in the first place!..." Star said, refusing to aid him.
"I'm not doing anything to help a guy who not only represents everything I despise about the upper class, but who also feels no shame in shooting an innocent animal, even if it IS a ghost!..."Sam said, arms crossed.
"Not it. I don't feel like running and risk getting bit or slobbered over by Cujo for that guy..." Tucker said as he looked at his PDA.
That left Danny and Jazz.
"Not it!..." They both went but blinked.
"You are the one who brought it up..." Danny said.
"And you are the one who actually HAS powers and has even saved DASH of all people before..." Jazz pointed out.
Danny saw her point and sighed.
"Stupid hero complex..." He muttered.
With a groan and a head shake in reluctance, Danny walked over to help the the man who is currently frozen in fear.
Jean Luc, still paralyzed with fear of the ghostly green canine, Danny groaned again while trying to move him but was reminded at how surprisingly heavy Jean Luc is despite his lean frame.
He pulled himself out of his terrified state, the only way he knew how.
"TAKE THE BOY! He's a peasant! No one would miss him!..." Jean Luc yelled out in fear, pushing Danny in front of him.
Stella, who was trying to protect Pierre from the chaos, did not see or hear this and was unaware of what he did or what Danny said back.
"Stupid Jean-Puc. You're making it VERY easy for me to not care if you get your face mauled off..." Danny said, glaring at him.
Jean-Luc would have snapped back had he not been distracted by what came next.
Cujo began barking angrily, not scarring the ghost boy since he was more than used to this. On the other hand, the cowardly French man began to run for his life as the Ghost Dog chased after him.
"Don't eat me! I don't exercise! I am unhealthy! I'll give you food poisoning!..." He shouted various excuses not to be harmed.
"Well, he's not wrong...he is so spoiled rotten, poor Cujo might get sick..." Sam snarked, earning a snicker from the rest.
It was clear that most of them were showing more concern for the ghost dog than the male human. Except one person.
"Jean Luc!..." Stella yelled out, as she tried to pull something from her purse and gasped.
"Darn it, I left my lipstick blaster at home. Why did I listen to Jean-Luc when he insisted that I not bring it since he didn't want his friends to think we have become weird?..." She said in dread, regretting that she listened to him.
"Somebody please save my husband!..." She begged.
Unsurprisingly no one dared to lift a finger either out of cowardice or a general dislike for Jean Puke.
Stella got desperate and turned to the Guys In White.
"You two are ghost hunters! Do something!..." She demanded.
"Sorry Ma'am but our hands are pretty tied right now..." Operative O said in a sorry, not sorry attitude.
"Either that ghost boy comes to his rescue or you'll have to remain. If your husband hadn't destroyed our weapons, we would have a way and interest in helping him..." He said, scowling in Jean-Luc's direction as he only retrieve the broken blaster.
"GET THIS GIANT BEAST AWAY FROM ME! OR AT LEAST GET ME A GIANT ROLL OF NEWSPAPER!..." Jean-Luc shouted, as he kept running but Team Phantom noticed he wasn't trying to bite him right now...
More like he was just trying to chase him away.
Danny however groaned, even though he hated the cowardly idiot, he knew what he had to do. He began to walk away.
"Where are you going Danny?..." Star asked, even though she already had an idea as to where her boyfriend might be going.
"Just cover for me, Starlight. Nothing too questionable. I've got to go do a job that apparently no one else wanted to do...which means I'll save him..." He said before he looked for a spot to transform.
"Sometimes you're just too nice Danny-Boo..." She said, shaking her head as she was only doing this to both support her Boo and to stop Cujo from upsetting his stomach from biting something/someone that was truly disgusting.
"Don't I know it. And something tells me that I might regret this someday in the future, but thankfully it's not today...yet..." Danny said as he sneaked away to be the hero to someone who doesn't deserve it, but it was still the right thing to do.
Sometimes being the hero can be contradicting at times. Today just happened to be one of those times.
Thankfully, no one saw him go.
With The Beviers
The rich couple saw all the destruction and the French man was livid and was cowering under a ruined reclining chair that was upside down.
"No wonder the Mayor went on vacation!..." Jean-Luc commented. "Any excuse to stay away from this accursed town is valid!..." He shouted.
"I'd love nothing more for you to leave..and not come back..." Star muttered under her breath.
The ghost canine soon lost interest in chasing the cowardly French man and raced back towards Fifi's side again.
"Fifi!..." Cujo barked happily.
"Cujo!..." Fifi barked excitedly, her tail wagging.
"Are you okay?..." She asked.
"I'll be fine, beautiful. Just lost a bit of ectoplasm, that's all. I just need a couple minutes and I'll be good as new in no time..." Cujo said, making light of the situation.
But Fifi could tell that he was hurt and was simply acting tough for her sake.
"Don't overdo it. Now, can we go before those men try to shoot you again?..." She asked.
Cujo, by this point, had grabbed Fifi by her collar but was being gentle with her, everyone began screaming in terror.
They thought Fifi was being captured and stepped in. It was Danny who was now in his ghost form, having transformed in an abandoned juice bar.
"Stop, Cujo. Please, just put her down. I don't think she wants to play this game..."Danny said as the two agents got in his way and kept shooting at the big green ghost dog.
"Stay back, punk! That ectoplasmic mutt has already caused too many disturbances within the peaceful community of this town to ignore this point. Now it's our job to detain it and capture it. At any cost..."K said.
"Plus, that big green beast ruined our other suits and especially our pants and shoes. They're expensive. And if we can get paid to capture and detain both the ghost mutt and you, both our debts will be more than paid off..."K said, making it clear what their motives were.
Danny heard this and rolled his eyes.
"And I thought Technus was the only one to make hair-brained schemes..."Danny muttered, not impressed.
"We'll show you hair-brained, you unnatural entity of supernatural science and nature!..."K said, as he and O opened fire both they anti-ghost weapons at the ghost boy.
"Wait...where did you get those?! I thought Cujo ate your toys?..."Danny asked.
"We had to run back to our van and get this little surprise..." K said, patting their new weapon and glad that they kept some spares.
"Now prepare to be knocked out and get ready for experiments! Lots and lots of painful experiments for you and your not so little dog too!..." O said, slightly panting from all the running he's been doing today.
"Really? You're making that movie reference while making a change to it that isn't very unique?..." Danny asked, raising a brow.
"It seemed appropriate..." O said while his partner sent him an annoyed look.
"More like uncreative, criggey and a bit cliche.." K snarked while his partner glared at him.
"Let's just get these freaks and get paid already!..." O shouted.
"Fine by me!..." K said as he opened fire.
This was nothing new to Danny as he dodge and swirled out of the way of the rapid firing of the GiW, since he's had plenty of patience of doing so today.
The ghost boy was beginning to lose a bit of his patience with these government guys and used a ghost shield to block all their blasts and push back.
"I so don't have time for this..." He muttered, showing little concern as the agents opened fire, shots returned and making the two do odd dance poses to avoid being hit.
"And you said those disco lessons were a waste..." O said.
"One scenario where we used those moves for reasons unrelated to why we took them doesn't make me change my mind..." K stated.
"Just keep firing! I'll go high, you go low..." He shouted while his partner nodded.
They both kept blasting away in hopes of landing a critical hit on their target, while Danny kept evading their long range attacks without breaking so much as a sweat.
"Huh... I guess disco isn't dead if they're as hard to his as me..." He said under his breath as the "battle" continued.
Elsewhere
As Danny dealt with the two moronic agents, Fifi saw this as an opportunity for her and Cujo to make a quick getaway.
However, Cujo had a different idea, since he was sick and tried these two GiW agents too. He phased through Danny's shield with some difficulty at first, but the process actually made him seem even more threatening in his giant from than before.
"This seemed much easier to past through when I went through that roundish metal doggy door underneath my biggest friend's house..." Cujo said, having some difficulty phasing through the shield.
He then saw red.
"THEY'LL PAY!..."Cujo growled, more than ever.
Once Cujo's head popped through, he immediately bit off the GiW's anti-ghost weapons in half. Leaving them both at the mercy of the ghost boy and his fear inducing ghost dog.
"That's bad!..." K said.
"It's worse!..." O said, wanting the last word.
Cujo inches closer, snarling viciously at them.
"Call off your crazy ghost mutt already!..." K said, hating that they no longer had any upper hands.
"Or at least make another stronger shield!..." O said, as both agents didn't have any spare anti-ghost blasters left.
While all their other gadgets with make to trap ghosts in them, not use them to combat ghost.
"He is not MY dog. He's a stray and I'm kind of not interested in stopping him right now..." Danny said, tired of people thinking Cujo was his.
"Who cares?! Stop him from mauling us!..." K yelled.
"Hey, none of this would have happened if you two idiots and the human skunk didn't try to hurt Cujo and mess with his girlfriend..." Danny reminded, glaring at them.
"If he's saying that you jerks are okay for me to chase like squirrels, then that's right!..." Cujo said, knowing Danny couldn't understand him.
"Your choice, run away like the cowards you are... or stay and be dog food..." Danny said, while his unofficial pet kept growling and barring his teeth at the pathetic ghost hunters.
The Guys in White looked at one another and immediately decided to retreat for now.
"This isn't over!..." One of them yelled.
"We'll get you both for this! The dog first..." The other yelled, as they fled.
Danny rolled his eyes.
"Figures, but they're the least of my worries...for now..." He muttered, before he went back to trying to reign in Cujo.
The ghost dog had done enough damage for a week. But this was not the end of whatever was making him rampage.
Danny groaned as he tried to calm down the dog but knew from personal experience that its easier said than done.
Meanwhile
Jean-Luc was still crying in pain from Fifi's bite and exhausted from being chased around by Cujo.
Normally this would be funny, but poodles had surprisingly sharp teeth. Not to mention a scary, snapping bite.
"Pourquoi ai-je laissé ma femme me convaincre de laisser ce rongeur envahi par la végétation entrer chez nous?!..." He muttered silently, holding onto where he was bitten.
He sucked in air through his nose, trying his best not to lose his temper again.
"Maudits chiens!..." He whined, forgetting he wasn't in France and not caring if other high-class people heard him.
He just wanted to survive. Which of course was easier said than done, seeing as everyone around the Frenchman had a dislike for him, not that his ego would let him see that.
His wife was the only one worried for him, while their son still seemed to be blissfully unaware of what was happening.
"Jean-Luc! We need to go!..." Stella said as she ran after her current husband.
Nobody else did.
Even his son, who was still in his favorite sister's arms and oblivious to the danger, only smiled brightly at the sight of her,this and paid no attention to his father whatsoever.
"Oui!..." Pierre said without understanding the situation as he giggled and simply babbled away.
If anything, the baby was probably the only person who's not having a bad day.
He continued to giggle innocently as his parents tried to both protect him and themselves from even more chaos...as well as his sister knowing Cujo wasn't the real threat, but the GIW were making him wild.
All the while, Star saw her mother leave and ran after her because if there was one thing she knew, it was that ghosts always brought unpredictable results. Even Danny's ghostly allies weren't the exception to the rule.
Along with wanting to make sure that her mother does not get herself into any trouble with Cujo, since Star didn't know how well her mother might get along with the ghost dog or not.
"Come on Pierre, our mom might need me to save her just in case things get hairy..." Star said, as she held her baby brother protectively.
"Fifi..." Pierre giggled, still blissfully unaware of the danger.
"That's right, we'll try to save Fifi too. And Cujo..." Star said, already having an idea of what's going on between Fifi and Cujo.
The problem was making her mother understand.
"Uhhh...great...now I have to play dumb... present for a couple of dogs, and one's a ghost..."Star groaned.
Moments like these sometimes made Star miss the days she didn't believe ghosts were real, even if she hated how she was back then. However, once she stared at Danny, Star knew that she didn't really think this that her life was alll that bad, especially not right now with her one and only Boo.
"I do more good knowing about ghosts than not..." She said to herself, before deciding to play innocent.
"OMG, it's THE Danny Phantom! I'm such a huge fan. Any chance that I could get you to sign my sketches after this is over?..." Star said, sounding both shocked and amazed to meet Amity Park's local teen superhero.
Danny could obviously see that his girlfriend was acting like they rarely ever meet in person, in order to keep his secret identity under warps, and decided to play along with her.
"Sorry local citizen, but this town's friendly neighborhood superhero can't stop to sign an autograph from every attractive civilian I save. Not while trouble is brewing. Besides, my lovely ladyfriend would take issue with me spending time with another..." Danny said in his heroic tone shifted voice.
While the ghost boy was getting some brief deja vu feelings from the last time the two of them acted in front of a small audience.
They did their best to stifle laughter from this situation.
The rest of Team Phantom saw this and began asking the obvious. Namely about the two operatives, O and K.
"Shouldn't we be worried about the two GiW doing more harm than good at this point?..." Tucker asked.
"The guys in white are even less of a threat now than ever and Danny can handle Cujo. My only concern is if any animal gets harmed during all this and those creeps get away with it..." Sam said, wishing she had prepared or brought a recording device for this and or any first aid kits.
"We'll check on Cujo's wellbeing as soon as we can get him to calm down enough to let us..." Jazz said, making sure that no one else could heard their private discussion.
While that was done, the rest of team Phantom channel their respective inner actor/actress and played along with Danny and Star's acting routine.
Star did her best and tried not to act too familiar with the ghost boy in his supernatural hero alter ego.
"Thank you for saving us, Danny Phantom..." She said, before refocusing on her current situation.
"Oh. Uh...you're welcome..." Danny went, momentarily off guard when he recalled he was with her in the presence of others.
"I always feel like Danny and I are back on stage doing another performance whenever were both in public with Danny in his ghost from and then I have pretend not to know him. I hope that'll change someday soon..."She thought, before she immediately shook her head and refocused on what was currently important right now.
Star immediately went back to track down Fifi and try to keep her away from danger.
"Times like these, I wish Mom got one of those tracker collar things for her..."She thought, spotting her from afar.
"Fifi. Here girl. Time to take you home and away from all this..."Star reached out carefully with one hand.
"Come on, before we have to deal with another ghost fight..."She tried.
Fifi could sense that her Madame's eldest offspring was trying to restrain her and possibly keep her away from Cujo.
"What could Madame's first offspring be thinking? She should know better than to follow a runaway dog into the unknown..." She thought, wondering why Star was chasing her.
Fifi then heavily relied on her well-trained doggy senses a bit more, making sure not to get too far away from Cujo while also looking out for Stella and her offsprings.
Which was easier said than done as Cujo growled intensely, signaling another brawl. And Danny was still having trouble containing the fight.
While the fighting continues onwards, Fifi instinctively guards Star and little Pierre from either of the government guys in white that may try to hurt them and being extra sure that no harm comes to those that she cared for and truly sees as family.
However, it was then that Fifi saw the guys in white heading in their direction.
"I swear those two cruel humans in very bright clothing will NOT harm either of Madame's offsprings. Not while I have any say in the matter..." Fifi promised herself.
Fifi recalled all the trouble those agents caused. Thinking that they were about to attack Star and her family, Fifi got into protective mode.
"Stay far away from my Madame's precious offsprings or I swear that I'll bite you so hard that you feel it until next year!..." Fifi barked, protecting Star and baby Pierre with everything she's got left within her.
The two agents saw her and glared at her.
"Not you again! You and your boyfriend caused us enough trouble, you little mutt!..." K yelled.
Star glared at them.
"Don't you dare call Fifi a mutt!..." Star shouted at them.
"If this is your dog, we should detain this mutt and your family for interfering with government business!..." O shouted, wanting to blame the closest target they could find.
Star was not intimidated, just annoyed.
"As if I'd ever be afraid of a threat from a spy wannabe. You two aren't even convincing dog catchers!..." She snarked, while Fifi kept growling and showing off her white fangs that were clearly willing to bite at the first sign of danger to her loved ones.
This did not go unnoticed by anyone else, especially her owner.
"Fifi..." Stella shouted but was ignored again.
The tiny poodle kept barking, focused on the fight as she backed away, herding Star and Pierre. Her shrillish yelps barely echo in the explosive clamors of the supernatural fight.
"Fifi!..."Stella yelled.
"Mom! I think Fifi's just trying to protect us..."Star said.
"I don't-actually, I do care about that. And while I'm happy to see this, I still can't have her getting ruined in this...this..."Stella stared at the brawl as Danny punched Operative O.
"What can I call this?..."She asked.
"Normal?..."Star immediately regretted the choice of words as they left her mouth.
The problem was how right that felt in the town of Amity Park. Since the ghost attacks were now routine...well, she did not want to think how that would impact the future.
"Can we please call it something else?..."Stella asked, feeling the same sense of dread.
"Karma, poetic justice, reaping what they sew?..."Star snarked as she handed Pierre back to her.
Stella deadpanned at her daughter. She looked at her son and sighed.
"I hope Pierre doesn't remember this when he grows up, or get too used to chaos or he might need a psychologist..." Stella thought, concerned about her baby who thankfully didn't seem to be aware of the danger.
She then turned to her daughter, still upset over what they just discussed.
"How about we leave and discuss this later?..."She said.
"Good idea..."Stella turned to Fifi, who was still barking.
"Come on, Fifi. Time to go..."She tried.
Fifi did her absolute best to make sure to protect her Madame and her human pups. Her attention was still on the fight as Danny held back Cujo was going wild and the Guys in White from possibly making things worse.
Which was easier task said then done for the ghost boy.
"Times like these I wish I kept a steak or something to lure him away..." He thought, struggling to pull him back.
Cujo scratched at the ground like a bull, snorting out his nostrils as he eyed the open operative. He kicked so hard as he was launched, the dirt flew back, hitting Fifi.
He heard the poodle yelp, turning his attention away from the government agents. But in doing so, let his guard down as a blast hit him square in the jaw.
"Target down! Time to contain this freak!..."Operative O shouted.
Operative K was currently trying to get a lock on Cujo for a greater chance of successfully capturing him and finally ending this self-assigned mission of theirs.
"Ready?!..." Operative K went.
"Aim... and-..."
Unfortunately, he never got the chance to fire at the green ghost dog. Since K had managed to let his guard down so low that he got his butt bitten by an enraged poodle.
Fifi then ripped off a piece of cloth from one of the GiW agents, causing much panic from the neat, freakish government agent. A loud tear was heard as she pulled back and tore herself a small white trophy, courtesy of the agent's pants.
"I've never felt so alive!..." Fifi went as the courageous poodle continued to stand her ground.
The agent turned to see a comically large tear in his pants. He was lucky it was just a leg and not the rear, but he did not want to try his chances on that happening.
"I REALLY HATE DOGS!..."He yelled, more concerned at how much the GiW's tailors will bill both of them for these damages.
As this happened, the Barrington-Upham saw Fifi behave so unrefined for her purebred status and how dirty she was getting.
They had been hiding and cowering inside a nearby towel closet the entire battle and just now noticed the danger, the horrid state the GiW agents looked and how unbecoming Fifi appeared to them.
"Oh my, how unbecoming for a pure breaded French poodle and a show dog..."Madame Barrington-Upham said in a snooty tone.
"How do these idiotic humans think that I would ever even want to be breed with a dog that rolls around in the filthy dirt and hangs out with that monster?!..."Winthrop said, intimidated as the female poodle kept barring her fangs and fighting!
"As if I'd ever waste my time on the likes of you!..." Fifi barked at him, making him cower.
"Mommy?! She is almost as terrifying as that green beast!..." He whimpered, hiding behind one of his human owners.
His cowardice was not reprimanded by his owners, but most others didn't share the same sentiment.
Cujo, who was currently sending him a look that warned Winthrop that he was watching him, even causing the wimpy dog to nearly soil himself out of fear.
The snobby show dog then cowered behind his owners to avoid eye contact with the green ghost dog.
"Some dog. You make cats look admirable..." Cujo snarked, earning an insulted look from the poodle.
The ghost dog was having a hard time believing that the snobby show dog is an actual dog.
"You take that back!..." He snapped, but regretted it as Cujo slightly snarled at him in response.
"Make me, shrimp!..." He challenged.
"Umm… please?..." Winthrop asked weakly.
When the cowering show dog made eye contact with the ghost dog, Winthrop mistakenly thought he saw anger in Cujo's eyes. The cowardly show dog returned to hiding behind his owners in hopes of not being seen.
"Eh... no..." Cujo went before barking loudly, making him run away.
Cujo just stared into cowering eyes of at the snobby show dog, thinking that this show dogs was simply pathetic. Winthrop even shuddered out of fear.
"Well… okay…" He said.
The Barrington's dog ran away in a cowardly fashion, with his tail tucked between his legs. As did his owners.
"Hmph… so much for him..." Cujo said.
He then resumed his to provide doggy medical aid on himself, which meant licking his wounds until it felt better.
However, that would have to wait due to his desire to find Fifi and protect her
Elsewhere
Once the chaos started to settle down, Stella looked for her beloved dog.
"Fifi?!..." Stella called out, hoping that she didn't attained too many scratches or scar from that bizarre trouble.
Fifi was overjoyed to see that Madame and her human pups with alright, though not so much Madame's mate.
"Ugh... you're still here?..." She went with snarl.
"Mind yourself, you little rate..." Jean Luc said, having called her a rat in French.
"Jean Luc?!..." Stella went, as her husband continue to berate their pet.
"You are a disgrace. Purebreds don't associate themselves with strays, much less a monstrous stray at that!..." He shouted, angered she bit him earlier.
Fifi growled in a threatening manner as a warning to the extremely rude French man. This caused him to jump back.
"AHHH! Has the whole world gone mad?!..." Jean Luc shouted, afraid to get bitten again.
"Go cheat on Mom somewhere else! That's the only thing you're good at!..." She went, while Jean Luc looked insulted and Stella looked uncomfortable.
Fifi turned away from his snobbish owner, she then race to help someone else that was starting to become precious to her.
All to help Cujo.
She went to him, glad that he was okay. She notice a scratch on him and began licking the wound, and act that began to calm the ghost dog down.
Seeing that made Stella come to a realization.
"She does like him..."She said as the gears in her mind beginning to turn.
Her husband heard this and got angry, since his day was already ruined and didn't have the patience for anything else in his life to go wrong.
"Preposterous! Nobody likes a monster. And that thing is a monster unworthy of affections..." Jean-Luc said, while his step daughter sent him a glare.
"It's called love, something you only have a tiny understanding on..." Star said, before she pointed a finger in his face in a threatening manner.
"And if you even think about interfere with Fifi's happiness, I promise you that I'm not gonna stop Cujo from treating you like a chew toy! I'll just cover you in barbecue sauce so that you're easier on his tongue!..."She threatened.
Jean-Luc was taken aback by this threat, before looking to Stella.
"S-Stella?! Aren't you going to reprimand your daughter?!..." He questioned.
Before Stella could say anything, a sound caught her attention.
Something scratching the floor loudly. It was then the Guys in White returned, bringing with them a bigger weapon.
"I told you we should have gotten this thing on wheels!..." O went.
"And I told you it's too heavy for wheels!..."K responded.
"Them again?! Are they serious?!..." Star exclaimed.
Danny, who was about to make a quip about the french man would've tasted spoiled regardless of topping to Cujo, saw this and groaned.
"I guess they don't know when to quit..." He muttered.
"At the very least their persistent." Jazz said, unsure if this trait is good or bad from a psychological point of view.
The two GIW agents settled Jazz's doubts since they decided to go all out.
"This new cannon is designed to take out any ghost with one hit! Fire!..." Operative O shouted.
K pulled the trigger and fired.
In response, Cujo returned to his smaller form, avoiding the shot entirely.
The ceiling, however, lacked anything that would have allowed it to be out of range, causing it to break open and catch fire. As that happened, both operatives glanced at each other. Realizing that they messed up big time.
"So...I'm now realizing...we spent so much times on how this would affect ghosts...we never bothered to check how it affected everything else..."K admitted.
Realizing that they made a big mistake, both idiot agents looked at each other with the same opinion of what they should do next.
"Bury this thing and agree we never saw it?..."O asked.
"Bury this thing and agree we never saw it..."K confirmed as they took the cannon and made a break for it.
The broken ceiling dropped a support beam, separating the dogs from the humans.
"Fifi!..." Stella cried out in shock.
The ceiling came tumbling down, breaking into pieces that blocked everyone's view of each other.
"Madame!..." Fifi barked out of fear for the life of her owner all the others she cares about.
With Stella unable to see her dog, Fifi panicked until Cujo gave her a lift when he grew in size.
"Fifi! Wait up, I've got your back!..." Cujo shouted, trying his best to help Fifi, her owner and his friends out of harm's way from the GiW.
"I'll get us out of here!..." He said as he phased through the rubble with Fifi on his back.
"The mutt is escaping!…"Operative O shouted and pointed, bringing out a large weapon. "Using prototype white out net launcher…"He shouted.
"White out net launcher?…"Operative K said with a raised brow. "I'm going to petition for a review in the names we give for weapons..." He added.
"Agreed. Fire!…"O said as he pulled the trigger.
The bazooka like weapon whirred to life with bright lights. But then, sparks flew as the net launcher shook like an earthquake.
"IT'S MALFUNCTIONING! EVERYONE, EVACUATE!…"He shouted.
Everyone jumped out of the way as the net launcher was thrown to the middle of the battlefield. The device erupted into a huge explosion as the surrounding people ran at full speed, but it was not enough to escape the shockwave as everything was pushed back.
Pierre, who was being shielded by his currently stunned parents, got curious and soon spotted someone he wanted to play with.
"Fifi..." Pierre said noticing his canine friend was nearby.
As everything else was going on, Pierre slowly crawled from his semi unconcious mother, blissfully unaware of the danger.
"Fifi..." He went playfully as he crawled towards her.
The baby didn't notice he was crawling to his doom. Even worse, as he crawled, his specter deflector, which already wasn't fitting him too well due to his small size, slid off and fell.
If only it hadn't been so loose, it might not have slipped off but it was clearly too big for him, but that's that happens when custom made anti-ghost isn't pre-measured before being made.
And now he was in danger because of it.
Meanwhile
Stella groaned, huddled into a cocoon-like position as she got up.
She looked over to see Star was fine, but that was the end of her blessings as she noticed a lack of an infant joy in her arms that was supposed to be huddled inside her.
"Pierre?!..." She called out.
"I don't see him..." Star said, getting worried.
"Pierre?!..." Stella called out, not seeing him anywhere. "Where's Pierre? Where is my baby?!..." She shouted on a panic.
Team Phantom and the Beviers tried to look for the baby but the area is really unstable, even more after the idiots in white latest stunt.
"He's over there!..." Star yelled out, horrified by the danger her little brother found himself in.
Everyone looked at the direction Star was pointing and they were equally horrified of the sight before them.
Pierre was crawling in an area that looked like it was about to collapse at any moment.
"PIERRE!.." Stella screamed out in terror, while her husband crawled out of his hiding spot.
"Pierre! Get back here! Don't make me go over there!..." Jean Puke bellowed in a commanding tone.
The ghost boy meanwhile rolled his eyes.
"Even when his own son is in danger, he fails to do anything but expects his infant son to understand him? Father of the year right there..." Danny thought with heavy sarcasm.
"Get back here or you're in a time out, Pierre! DO YOU HEAR ME?!..." Jean Puke shouted.
Pierre ignored his father's pathetic attempt to get the situation under control and simply kept crawling towards Fifi.
"Fifi!..." Pierre giggled, oblivious to the chaos.
"That's it! You can forget about that little golden rattle I was gonna get you for your birthday!..." Jean Puke said, but his anger was less compared to his worry.
He saw falling debris and panicked.
"NOOOOOOOO, Mon petit fils! My boy! Papa is coming!.." He screamed as he ran after him in a panic.
However, his concern was cut short before he was knocked out by a piece of ceiling landing on his head.
"Sacre...bleu..." He let out before passing out.
Stella was the only one worried for Jean Puke's safety since he was left unconscious but was soon more worried about Pierre. Everyone else like Danny and Star were satisfied that the Frenchman was no longer being a nuisance.
"He had that coming..." Star said.
"No duh..." Danny agreed, seeing Jean-Puke as a nuisance. "Still, at least he didn't seem like he was faking being worried..." He admitted.
Star sighed.
"Yeah...he is still a jerk but I guess Pierre is one of the few things he cares about more than himself..." She admitted before recalling the situation at hand.
The falling debris continue and the area became even more unstable.
Not only did they see it, but someone quadrupedal did too.
"Little one!..."Fifi shouted in worry as her madame's baby was in harm's way of catastrophe from the GiW.
Fifi saw this and felt some sort of inner protective maternal instinct kick in inside of her. The female French poodle sped through the humans like a speeding bullet in order to reach the baby.
"MUST. PROTECT. LITTLE ONE!..."She thought as she ran to him, without even thinking first, her body instantly moved on her own.
Fifi managed to grabbed the baby by the back of his shirt and got Pierre out of the way, right before multiple pieces of debris fell where he was.
"PIERRE! FIFI!..." Stella bellowed horrified by what was happening before her very eyes.
Fifi was now disheveled and only slightly panting from pushing her physical limits earlier, her fancy clothes were ruined and covered in dirt, but she looked more majestic as she gently and carefully carried Pierre back to his mother.
Cujo especially couldn't help but see her as an angel.
"If she was pretty before, now she's beautiful..." The ghost dog said as he saw the poodle longingly.
That's when the roof came falling down, and he snapped out of it and recalled the danger present.
"FIFI!..." Cujo shout, as his mind went blank and his entire body moved on its own out of pure primal instinct to defend what he cares about towards any and all length.
"My baby! And my canine baby!..." Stella cried out, as she tried to run to save them but tripped over some debris.
Danny, who was using his powers to stabilize the area and keep the debris from hitting his Team, Star and the others, saw this and tried to deal with the situation as best as he can.
Trying to save the baby.
The ghost boy tried to make a duplicate of himself as fast as he could to send in to save the baby and the female poodle.
"Don't worry, Mrs. Bev-..." He tried to fly to Pierre to save him but their surroundings were a bit more unstable than he thought.
The half ghost duplicate flew as quickly as he could while trying not to cause any more damage to the surrounding area. However, moving around the debris took a split second too long.
Sadly, Danny is too late as the rubble fell, deeply shocking everyone silent until one person screamed out their thoughts.
"NOOOO!..." Stella cried out As everything came crashing down.
-To be continued-
Next time on Barked
An Unexpected Hero
A/N(1): I dedicate this chapter to my family, my friends and my love for God :)
A/N(2): Special thanks to Jay The Average Fanboy, BeConfuzzled Writer, Invader Johnny, Luiz4200 and NeoMark or all their help. You guys rock :)
A/N(3): Good news, CMR Rosa just commissioned a pic of Yolanda from Blackmailed, which is now on DragonRex1's Deviantart account and it is awesome. He also commissioned a pic for Cassandra Evergreen, which will be ready in a few weeks. I can't wait :)
REPLIES to my loyal and totally awesome reviewer:
Jebest4781: Thank you :)
Invader Johnny: Yeah.
Danifan3000: I guess that we will have to wait and see what happens.
Luiz4200: No, it was Helga who appeared in Girls Night Out.
Phantom Fan 21: Well said.
JDF Legacier Morphicon: Thank you :)
Here are my responses to your questions:
1) No.
2) Maybe.
3) Bad. Very bad.
4) It be messed up, since I don't think they would make good role models for Danny.
5) Not sure.
Soggy Fysher Woods: Thank you :)
Jay The Average Fanboy: Thank you :)
Here are my responses to your questions:
1) Not sure.
2) Maybe in the Ghost Zone.
3) I guess I see some similarities.
4) Yes.
5) Sorry, no spoilers. I guess that we will have to wait and see.
6) Maybe.
7) They are classmates and they get along well.
8) Not since Found when they rescued Danielle.
9) She is on her schools gymnastic teams, is one of the senior popular kids and loves throwing parties.
10) Maybe.
:) I hope you enjoyed this! Remember to read and review :)