The swinging punching bags had been avoided by the skin of her teeth. All Karmi had to do now was get past the greasy balance beam, and victory against the obstacle course would be hers.
"You got this!" Eleanor cheered from the sidelines, while Kirby flashed her a thumbs up.
Karmi smiled at her friend's support, took a deep breath, then jumped onto the beam. She took careful steps until getting to the greased part, the part that had caused her to slip and fall into the mud last time.
"How's she gonna get past this?" Kirby muttered. It looked impossible to complete short of a miracle.
Then to their surprise, Karmi kneeled down and gripped the wooden balance beam, and began to crawl across. there were a few moments where the grease almost got her, but she was able to wrap her body around the beam and keep her from falling down into the mud again.
When she reached the end of the course, Karmi sighed with relief and took a bow. "I didn't think that'd work." She muttered.
"You did it!" Eleanor ran over to give her a hug, but Karmi held her somewhat greasy hand up. "Oh right, but you did it and that was so awesome!"
Karmi nervously chuckled. "I didn't think that'd work, I mean I could've tried jumping, but I might've ended up landing on a greasy spot."
Kirby winced at the thought. "That sounds painful."
"I know which is why that one was a last resort."
The teens chattering quieted down as Cobra approached, slowly clapping. "Congrats on completing the obstacle course." She told Karmi. "Between that and the rescue you pulled off the other day, I'd say you're well onto your way into superheroism."
Words could not describe the smile that was on the biotech major's face. "Thanks I-"
Knock-knock-knock
"Karmi, are you there?" Her eyes widened as she recognized her mother's voice.
"Gee, wonder what your mom wants." Eleanor wondered.
"Wonder later, if my mom sees me like this-" Karmi gestured to her superhero attire. "She'll ground me for the rest of my life!"
Kirby and Eleanor's eyes widened. "Mom quick, distract the parent!" The jock turned to their mother.
"Alright, but you kids should hurry." Felicia watched for a moment as they scrambled into the house and up the stairs, then she opened the door to see both of Karmi's parents waiting patiently. "Ah hello, you must be Karmi's parents."
She held her hand for a handshake, which Zachary took. "And you must be Kirby's parent, it's nice to meet you." He greeted her with a smile.
"May we see Karmi? We're going to a festival that's happening in town today." Molly explained.
Felicia nodded. "Ah yes, she should be down soon…" She trailed off. A few moments later Karmi came scrambling down the stairs, hastily adjusting her cream-colored sweater with Kirby and Eleanor following behind, trying to make their best "I've done nothing wrong today" faces. They could use some work.
"Hi Mom!" Karmi nervously waved. "What's up?"
"Did you forget we were going to the festival in town today?" Molly raised an eyebrow at her eldest.
The biotech major sweatdropped. "No…?"
"Ooh you guys are going to the Winter's End festival?" Eleanor beamed. "My grandpa always has a sample stand there right by the petting zoo!"
Both parents look intrigued. "Oh is that the name of the festival?" Zachary blinked.
The healthcare companion behind them spoke up. "According to my recent search, the Winter's End festival celebrates the ending of the winter season with food, entertainment, and lots of canine-themed decorations."
"That's Camden for you, we really love our dog friends here." Kirby chuckled.
Felcia glanced at her watch "I could've sworn the festival doesn't start until another hour…"
"Word is that they're opening some stuff early so we're going to enjoy it before the full crowd comes in." Zachary explained.
"Eh, it's not that great." Kirby thought otherwise. "None of the good stuff is open!"
Eleanor glared at them. "But the petting zoo is open early!"
"Hey, do you guys wanna come with us?" Karmi offered. It would be amazing to enjoy the festival with her two friends by her side.
Her mother however, did not look as excited. "It's sweet you want to invite your friends, but I was thinking we could enjoy the festival as a family."
"What's wrong with having my friends tag along too?" She argued.
Molly couldn't find any fault with that. "None at all, just could you stick by us for a while before you plan on going off on your own?"
"Uhg, fine." Her mother could be such a buzzkill sometimes.
Friendship Circle group chat:
Karmi K: Guess who's going to the Winter's End festival today!
Dylan D: oh nice
Dawkins D: It'll be great seeing you there!
Kirby G: You guys are going too?
Dolly D: Triple D has their own stand and some of the other pups do their own little things. Like Da Vinci does face painting
Eleanor M: Awww that is so cute!
Dylan D: bad news we have to help them but good news our Papa Dandy is going to watch the other pups for us while we're gone!
Karmi K: You guys have 2 dads? Why have I not heard abt this?
Dolly D: He's a town away
Dolly D: Which sucks but he's got a yoga thing to run so not like he can visit all the time
Dylan D: Maybe after the festival you can meet him
Karmi K: That'd be cool
Eleanor G: gee how come you guys get to have 2 dads?
Dawkins D: Because Dalmatians rule 8I)
Kirby G: Dude that is so cursed
Dolly D: DAWKINS
Dolly D: W H Y
Baymax 2: I do not recognize that emoticon in my database
Dawkins D: I was trying to do a sunglasses one…
Karmi K: rip
"It's not that I don't want you to spend time with your friends Karms, but you have been spending a lot of time with them on this family trip." Karmi had the urge to jump out of the window as her mother continued speaking.
"Mom, I think you're being a little mean! Karmi still spends time with us!" Haley argued in her defense.
"I didn't mean it like that." Molly frowned.
Karmi scoffed. "Well, that's what it sounds like."
"I detect that you are both stressed." Baymax pointed out.
Molly frowned at the robot, but he had a point. "It's just… we won't be in Camden forever, I don't want you to be too upset when we go back home." Her mother explained. "You hadn't been happy when we visited Zachary's family because you missed your friends in San Fransokyo."
She had to bring that up… "The difference is that I got to choose visiting Camden, I didn't get to choose leaving San Fransokyo." As much as she appreciated the time to heal, Karmi would've liked to have made that choice for herself, thank you very much!
"Molly, you know how much Karmi loved going to SFIT." Zachary added.
Her mother sighed. "I know, I just don't want you to get hurt again, sweetie." Molly glanced back at her eldest. "I've been hearing a lot of things happen in that city, and it worries me…"
"I know, it worries me too, but that's why I wanna go back, so I can learn how to help people at SFIT." Technically, Karmi was telling the truth. The reason she studied biotech was because she wanted to use it to help people. But how am I supposed to tell my parents I'm planning on being a superhero?
She knew they would find out eventually, but telling them was a lot harder than she expected.
"Mom… I know you worry about me a lot, but I'm sixteen now, I don't need you to baby me anymore." Karmi fiddled with her bracelets as she spoke. "I can take care of myself, without getting into trouble."
Molly winced. She was never going to hear the end of that… "You have matured a lot since attending SFIT."
"Finally you noticed."
"Oh look, we're here!" Zachary cut the tense mood by parking the car and pointing to the entrance of the festival. It was a flat plot of land that was near the Dalmatian Plantation, with the hill leading up to the farmland being a few minutes away, but it was still close to town.
Haley squealed at the dog shaped balloons in front of the entrance. "It's so cool!"
"I wanna get so many plushies!" Ryan exclaimed.
"Kids, no more plushies!" Molly followed the kids as they ran into the festival.
Karmi chuckled at her sibling's energy, they were just as hyperactive as ever. "Are things alright with you and your mom?" Her step-father had a look of concern on his face.
"Yeah, it's just I've been thinking some things and I don't know how to say them to you guys because I know she'll overreact." Karmi grumbled. "I love her but… I'm not a baby, sheesh!"
"There, there." Baymax patted her shoulder to try and comfort her.
Karmi chuckled at the robot. "Thanks buddy."
"Well I'm sure it'll be alright, your mom might not show it well sometimes, but she wants you to be happy." Zachary explained.
She smiled at her step-dad, even if things between her and her mom got tense at times, they still cared about each other. "Speaking of her, we should probably catch up to her and the twins."
"We definitely should."
When hearing that the festival had canine-themed decorations, Karmi did not expect the entire festival to go all out with said decorations. "Wow, they really are milking it here."
"I do not understand what you mean by that." Baymax blinked in confusion.
"She means that they're really pushing the canine aesthetic, I mean I love dogs but this is the third time the Winter's End festival has been canine-themed." Kirby explained.
The twins didn't seem to mind though, they thought it was adorable. "I wanna get one of the dog ice creams!" Haley exclaimed.
"After lunch." Molly promised. "Let's check out some of the games first."
"Maybe we'll get some prizes from those." Ryan smirked.
Sadly he was wrong, as unfortunately for her little brother, carnival games were not as easy to beat as arcade games. "What's sad is this isn't even rigged, it's just so painful." Eleanor sighed as the young boy failed again at the ring toss.
"The water balloon toss at the targets was fun." Haley was trying to encourage her brother to give up the game. "Don't you wanna do that again?"
"One of the prizes for winning this is a stuffed Minecraft ocelot and I need that ocelot, Haley!" Ryan demanded. "I will get it or die trying!"
"I would not recommend that course of action." Baymax pointed out.
"You will not." Zachary crossed his arms.
Karmi rolled her eyes at her brother's dramatics. "We can always get one at home, Ryan."
"It's not the same though, It won't be from a festival game!" He crossed his arms.
Seeing as her brother wasn't going to budge on this, Karmi glanced at the ring toss. "Can I have a try?" She asked the man at the booth.
"Go ahead kid." He shrugged.
She cracked her knuckles before picking up a ring, then tossed it with not much force put into it, the ring missed the target. "Aw, you were close!" Haley exclaimed.
"It's okay I've got two more tries." The second one had a lot more force to it, and it missed its mark way more than the second one. "And I've got this game figured out."
The trick it seemed, was to use the right amount of force to get the ring into the target, too little or too much would make you miss. So when Karmi did her third throw, it managed to get in.
Ryan perked up once the man at the booth handed him the ocelot plushie. "It's so square and cute!" He giggled. "I think I'm gonna name him Lukas."
"Can I pet him?" Haley reached over to touch the plushie but Ryan whacked her hand.
"No he's mine and mine alone!"
"Aww but just one pet!"
Ryan started to run away, plushie in hand. "You'll never take me alive!"
Haley ran after him. "Kids!" Molly groaned as the two bolted across the festival, she turned to Karmi. "You and your friends can wander, meet us back at the food tent for lunch." Then she ran after the twins.
"That was nice of Mom." Karmi noted. A part of her thought her mother was going to keep her glued to her and the twins the entire festival.
"Yeah, well I guess what you said to her on the way here got through a little." Zachary chuckled, he waved to her and her friends before following after Molly.
Baymax waved at the trio as he was following the two parents. "Goodbye."
Kirby pumped up their fist in excitement. "Alright! No adults supervising us! What do you guys wanna do first?"
Eleanor had wanted to see the petting zoo, even though Kirby protested, they couldn't resist after seeing the animal whisperer's puppy eyes. The petting zoo had the usual animals you'd see, baby goats, sheep, and other small friendly animals that wouldn't steal a kid's fingers for the crime of petting them.
"I wonder what the animals talk about." Karmi wondered. She knew that Eleanor could speak to animals, was that why he loved visiting the petting zoo so much? She turned to him, eyes full of curiosity.
He chuckled. "Well, they don't say much, but sometimes they talk about funny stories about the staff."
"LIke what? Brittney from cleanup stole Matthew's cookies and he got his revenge by putting laxatives in them?" She gestured sarcastically.
Eleanor nodded. "Pretty much, yeah."
Karmi blinked. "Oh." Note to self, don't ever ramble about your problems in front of animals you don't know ever again. She wondered if the birds that loitered on SFIT campus gossiped about the students at all.
"Guys you have got to feel these goat's fur, it's so soft!" Kirby gestured to the goats. "And they're so cute!"
One of the goats bleated, like they were agreeing with the jock's statement.
"Alright, alright." Karmi gently petted the goat's head, and they were right, the fur was very thick and soft. "Oh wow, it's like feeling a warm blanket."
The goat she was petting gave her a suspicious look. "She meant it as a compliment, not saying to turn you into a blanket or anything." Eleanor shook his head at the goat. "Besides, doesn't your fur grow back?"
Another bleat came from the goat. "Huh, surprised the animals aren't confused that you can understand them." Karmi noted. She remembered that Dylan freaked out hard when finding out Eleanor's abilities.
"Well, I come here a lot!" Eleanor chuckled. "When the petting zoo isn't here, it's at the normal zoo, I love going there!"
Karmi wasn't surprised by that, since the animal whisperer could understand all the creatures in a zoo, it must've made his zoo trips way more interesting. "Man, I wish I was a Disney Princess like you."
He blushed. "Aww shucks, you're such a flatterer Karmi, you must have caught the eye of a few people back home!"
That got her to blush now. "Not really, almost all of my classmates are older than me, remember?" Karmi explained. Hiro was an exception but she was not going to talk about her mixed feelings about him to her friends today!
"Hey Ellie, look, your favorite kind of giraffe is here." Kirby pointed to another section of the petting zoo.
Eleanor gasped and ran over to the edge of the fence, a big smile on his face. "Oh I love seeing the arctic giraffes!"
"They are such an enigma…" Karmi frowned. Even though the arctic giraffe species had been discovered a couple centuries ago, there still wasn't much known about their origins or why their biology was so strange, or how they could even thrive in the tundra! "It's like they poofed out of nowhere."
"Like magic!" Kirby teased.
She rolled her eyes at the jock. "Magic isn't real, what you people call 'magic' is just a superpowered form of energy."
"Isn't that what magic is?"
"It's not real, it's a fictional concept!"
Eleanor took that time to chime in. "The giraffes say otherwise."
Both of them stopped bickering and turned to stare at the animal whisperer. "The giraffes?" Karmi murmured.
"Yeah, they hold all kinds of secrets! I'm kind of bound by ancient law so I can't reveal most of them but I can share a few." Eleanor chuckled. "I mean you weren't wrong when you said they poofed out of nowhere…"
Suddenly the biotech major felt afraid of what kinds of knowledge Eleanor may possess. "The things you know scare me." Kirby gulped.
"Aww that's the nicest thing you've ever told me!" He beamed in response.
"Dog, this is so boring!" Dolly groaned. They had been at the stall for ages! She wanted to check out all the cool festival stuff but nooo, they had to babysit Triple D because they couldn't run their own stall!
Dylan could relate to her. "Dolly, it's not that bad, the festival is for a couple days, I'm sure we can check stuff out during another day."
"Yeah but I wanna check out stuff now!" Some things in the festival were exclusive to one day only, like the petting zoo!
"Well, at least we're not managing stuff by ourselves…" Diggs and Domino had volunteered to help out, their newest brother was assisting Deja Vu in setting out dog-sized dresses they would sell to customers.
Seeing the two help the triplets sparked a lightbulb in Dolly's head. "Maybe they could take over for a little bit?" She grinned.
Her brother groaned. "Dolly that's so mean…"
"C'mon it doesn't have to be for the whole festival! Just enough so we can check out a couple things and then head back." She compromised. Okay maybe she would procrastinate a little but hey, being bossed around by your diva little sisters all day was not fun.
It seemed to win Dylan over at least. "Okay, I guess it wouldn't hurt to take a little break…" He walked over to Diggs. "Hey can you guys take charge for a bit? Dolly and I are gonna check out the festivities."
"No problem, take all the time you need." Diggs smiled.
"We'll be sure to-oof!" Dolly got nudged in the shoulder by her brother, the skater sent him a glare but he whistled innocently the other way.
She decided to let it go for now, the festival was now theirs at last!
They tried as much as they could, goofy carnival games, seeing the petting zoo, even won a few prizes for the dogs handling the stall for them!
"I bet Dawkins is going to love this." Dylan had a green feline-like martian plush in his backpack. "It's from the same show as Princess Positron."
"Now his princess has a plush friend!" Dolly giggled. They noticed that they were walking past a clear area where humans were setting up chairs next to a big stage. "Wonder what that's about."
Dylan hummed, going into the pamphlet he picked up that was a map of the festival's activities. "According to this, it's a-"
"Sign up for the Canine Talent Show!" A man on the speaker announced. "To go along with our canine theme, your beloved dog companions can enter and win prizes, they don't even have to be on the leaderboard to win something!"
Dolly wagged her tail. "Oooh Dyl we gotta try this!"
"But don't we have to get back to the stand?" He pointed out.
"I'm sure Triple D will understand, they love talent shows!" It was how they skyrocketed to popularity, after-all.
"You have a point, let's do it!"
A loud scoff from behind made them curl their lips. "Oh, one thinks they can enter the Canine Talent Show?" It was Clarissa, their resident Karen in corgi form. "As if!"
"Worried I'll kick your stump of a tail with my mad skate skills?" Dolly taunted.
The corgi huffed. "As if! But one needs a human to enter, and last I checked… oh! You ruff-raff don't have humans!"
Both their eyes widened. "That's not fair!" Dylan exclaimed. "Shows during the last festivals weren't like that!"
"Oh, but considering how problematic one's neighbors are, I made sure Hugo changed things up this year." Clarrisa's smug smirk said it all. "Have fun watching one win this show, perhaps you mutts can participate next year!"
She walked away with that snooty laugh of hers. "Ohhh that corgi!" Dolly growled. "She makes me so mad!"
Dylan bowed his head. "Aw, the others are gonna be so bummed out." Triple D weren't the only Dalmatians that loved entering talent shows, their family had tons of talented individuals in the family, they deserved a chance to shine. "Maybe we could host our own after the festival."
"It won't be the same." Dolly sighed.
But her ears perked up as she heard a familiar voice. "What won't be the same?" Another corgi approached the group, he had a golden-brown and white coat, with a patch over his left eye, unlike Clarissa, he had a long fluffy tail and wore a simple red collar with a yellow dot on it.
"Prince Corgi!" Dolly smiled seeing him, then cleared her throat. "I mean Prince Max- I mean Maximus er I mean-"
"You can just call me Max, or Prince Max in front of company." Prince Max chuckled. "What seems to be the problem?"
Dylan blinked, surprised that one of the royal corgis was interested in hearing them out. But then remembered that Dolly was close with this member of the royal family through their shared interest in skating. "Well, we were planning on entering the talent show but-"
"That jerk corgi who I told you about said we can't join because we don't have humans." Dolly grumbled.
Prince Max frowned. "Oh that posh pampered priss's human did unfortunately make it so, and it would be a messy affair trying to undo it, but I figured out a loophole to their rules." He pulled out a piece of paper that had the rules of the contest. "It does say that a dog needs a human to enter, but it doesn't say it has to be their owner, you could just bring a human and you'd be golden to compete!"
"Oh boy, that brings back bad memories." Dolly, in one of her worst moments, had done the thing to one-up Clarissa in a contest but almost left the family because of it.
"It won't be like that, we know humans, remember?" Dylan pulled out his phone. "I'm sure they won't mind helping out a little…"
Friendship Circle group chat:
Dylan D: Heyy Karmi we need help
Karmi K: Trouble running the stall?
Dolly D: I wish
Dolly D: We need a human to enter the Canine Talent Show
Dawkins D: What?! That hasn't been the case for the last festival shows
Dylan D: Blame Clarissa
Karmi K: I'm not your owner tho, will it still work?
Dylan D: Yes, yes it will
Eleanor M: Did u guys say Talent Show?
Baymax 2: Yes, they did
Dolly D: I'm gonna enter with my skate skills!
Kirby G: If u guys need extra humans to help enter we got ur back n.n
Dylan D: Aww you guys
Eleanor M: I'm confused how it's Clarissa's fault
Dylan D: She got her human to ban non-owned dogs, guess she was scared we'd win bc she has no talent
Kirby G: Ooooh snap
Karmi K: I am SO motivated to help you guys defeat Karen dog now
"According to this pamphlet about the contest, there's a limit to how many dogs can enter." Thankfully, Karmi's mother was on-board with her daughter helping the Dalmatians out when they met up for lunch, but she also told them of a roadblock.
"A limit?" Eleanor raised an eyebrow.
Molly showed him the pamphlet. "It's one dog per owner, between you three, only three Dalmatians can enter."
"Oh no." Baymax blinked. "That will be problematic if more than three dogs want to enter the contest."
"We could help them enter, couldn't we Molls?" Zachary offered, turning to his wife.
At her step-dad's suggestion, Karmi's eyes lit up. "Oh that's a great idea! More the merrier, amiright?"
"I guess, but we would miss the rest of the faire if we entered." Molly pointed out.
Karmi pouted. "C'mon Mom! It's to help them deal with their mean neighbor!"
"I wanna help too!" Haley exclaimed.
Molly couldn't argue with her girl's pleading faces. "Ryan, are you okay with this?"
"Yeah I got my plushie so I'm cool with it." Ryan nodded.
"Dylan and Dolly are going to be so happy about this." Kirby noted.
Bark! Bark!
Zachary chuckled as he saw some dogs by their table. "I think they know already."
Not only the two older pups were there, but so were Diggs and Domino. "You guys are helping with the contest thing?" Diggs twitched an ear.
"It's the least we can do since the Dalmatians have been kind to us during our stay in Camden." Molly explained after Eleanor translated for him.
"That's great, guys!" Domino's response sounded enthusiastic to the humans, but the dogs could sense a hint of sadness in his voice.
Dolly twitched an ear at him. "You good?"
"Just tired." He lied. A part of Domino wanted to enter to show his talent himself. He was practicing his writing skills on a typewriter that Da Vinci found for him, he wanted to show people that he could be a good writer like Karmi, who inspired him to write in the first place.
But the Dalmatians didn't have humans, and it wouldn't be fair for him to take the place of one of them just so he could enter a contest like ones he could enter back home.
"Considering Dolly made you help Triple D this morning, that's understandable." Dylan loved his little sisters but they were exhausting sometimes.
"They weren't that bad, it was fun working with them!" Domino shrugged. "I don't know why you're making such a big deal."
Both siblings gasped dramatically and Dolly even placed a paw to his head to check if he had a fever.
As the evening sky hung over the Winter's End Festival, dog owners and dog lovers alike gathered under the banner of the Canine Talent Show. "Welcome folks to the annual Canine Talent Show!" The announcer, a man in a blue bowtie announced on the stage. "This year, we have a very special guest!"
The spotlight shone on the judge's table, where three canines sat. "As you know our usual judges are the fabulous Lady PawPaw and the strict Simon Growl, but this year our third guest is none other than the royal corgi himself, Prince Maximus!"
Cheers, human and canine alike went to the royal corgi sitting at the right side of the table. "Aww, you all are too much…" Prince Max muttered.
"You get used to it." Simon grumbled, already used to the fanfare.
As the announcer began reciting the rules, backstage the participants got ready. "I'm so ready to rock the stage!" Dolly prepped her skateboard.
"Hmph! As if proper dogs would be impressed by such a slobbish activity." Clarissa huffed from the corner, her two minions giggling beside her.
Dolly bared her teeth at the insult. "Ignore her, she's just jealous about how talented you are." Eleanor tried to cheer her up.
Clarissa's owner was looking at his reflection in the mirror, not noticing what his pet was up to. "Is that the guy who called animal control on you guys?" Domino pointed to him.
"Yep, that's him, Hugo spoils her rotten." Dylan sighed.
The conversation paused as the host announced who would take the stage. "And first up, is a dog who knows some sick tricks, Dolly!"
"That's me!" Dolly perked up. "C'mon Ellie, we got people to impress!"
Eleanor chuckled as he followed Dolly to the stage. "Chill, humans aren't as fast as dogs y'know."
Clarissa frowned as she watched the two disappear behind the curtains. "They shouldn't even be here in the first place…" In her mind, dogs that had no humans were no better than the strays and filthy mutts that plagued Camden. Then again the "ruff-raff" had plenty of mutts in their family.
A cruel plan came to mind on how to remove the dalmatians from the competition, and victory would be hers…
"Go Dolly! Go Dolly!" The pups in the crowd cheered as they watched their sister skate on stage.
Dolly was having the time of her life showing off her tricks to the audience and the judges. "Bow waka wow!"
Prince Max leaned over to his fellow judges. "That's her skating catchphrase."
"How cute!" PawPaw giggled.
But unknown to the judges, they had no idea Clarissa was lurking in the shadows on-stage, a rock in her hand. "How cute indeed…" She smirked. As Dolly was going for the grand finale, she tossed the rock.
"Dolly watch out!" Dante was the only one who sensed it coming.
But unfortunately like most of his predictions… "Huh what-?"
Crash!
It was too late to change them.
"Oh snap!" The host winced. "Talk about a total wipeout!"
Dolly had tripped over her skateboard and ended up eating the floor, she rubbed her nose in pain, thankfully she wasn't bleeding but she did have bruises.
"We'll have to dock points for that, but it was good showing before the slip-up." Growl commented as the judges began typing their scores.
Prince Max frowned at the scene. "Hmm that's odd, Dolly wouldn't slip like that…" He sensed something weird was going on, but maybe it was his imagination.
The royal corgi wasn't the only one who sensed something off. "Hey, Clarissa messed up the act!" Domino realized.
"She did what?!" Dylan turned to him.
"Didn't you see her in the corner of the stage as Dolly performed?" Domino explained. "She messed up her act because she's salty you got past her loophole!"
Dylan glared daggers at the corgi when she walked back to her human. "What's with the face? One should know not to mess with true talent." Clarissa huffed.
"You cheated!" Domino pointed a paw at her. "You're not talented, you're just a dirty cheater!"
His barking had gotten the attention of his human. "Woah Dom, are you okay?" Karmi approached him.
"It's not okay! That rotten jerk sabotaged Dolly!" Domino snarled.
Luckily Eleanor had returned with the downtrodden Dolly so he was able to translate for the biotech major. "Not like we can tell her owner, he'd brush us off." The animal whisperer pointed out.
"Maybe we could tell the judges?" Karmi suggested.
Dylan's eyes lit up. "Yeah, Dolly! Prince Max would believe you, he knows how good you are at skating, and since Domino witnessed it we can call Clarissa out!"
"Wait Dolly, you know one of the royal corgis?!" Eleanor exclaimed.
Dolly blushed. "Well, it's a long story but yeah."
"I'm not even surprised." Karmi shook her head. Leave it to the Dalmatian family to become buddies with canine royalty.
Thankfully, Clarissa didn't try to sabotage any of the other Dalmatian family's acts so the family was free to perform without worry. Triple D got to show off their stunt performances, DJ played a tune for the audience. Een Deepak competed by demonstrating his feline-like flexibility, which the audience was very impressed with.
There was one last Dalmatian who had yet to perform, and funny enough it was the last act of the show. "We just have one last pup up, and it's another dalmatian!" The host explained. "Our spotted friends sure love competing in this contest, don't they?"
The audience at the joke, Domino sighed as he saw the crowd. I wish I could perform… But he couldn't take that away from Da Vinci.
Speaking of the artist, she poked Domino with a paw. "You okay? You're spacing out there." Her green eyes were full of concern.
"Oh uh, it's nothing!" He tried to play it off, but one glare from Da Vinci made him confess. "Well, I kinda wish I could show off my writing skills, but maybe in the next contest."
"What's wrong with showing them off at this one?"
Domino made a face. "I can't take the chance away from you! Who knows when you'll get another chance thanks to your Karen neighbor!"
"Dom, if I'm honest, crowds aren't my thing." Da Vinci fiddled with her paws. "Last time I was put into the spotlight it made my anxiety worse, if you wanna perform, then go for it!"
"Are you sure?" He hesitated.
Da Vinci smiled. "I'm sure."
Domino took a deep breath, and looked up to his human who was his ticket to getting on stage. "Guess it's now or never."
"So give it up for Da Vinci!"
Karmi chuckled at the speaker. "That host is so dramatic." She turned to the two dogs. "You ready to go, Da Vinci?"
"I'll help you out." Da Vinci whispered to Domino, she had noticed a typewriter backstage.
"Thank you." He whispered back.
There were a few moments before the next contestant went on stage. "I wonder what's taking so long." Simon grumbled.
"Maybe last-minute jitters?" PawPaw suggested. "It is the last act."
Then, a dalmatian walked on stage, or rather two dalmatians. The one that was called to perform was holding a typewriter. "Er, there's been a change of participants." Karmi walked onto the stage. "Da Vinci wanted to give my buddy Domino a chance to perform."
That got the audience to murmur amongst themselves. "That can't be allowed!" Clarissa protested.
"Well ain't this a surprise!" The host chuckled. "Well if you wanna perform Domino, then go ahead and show us what you got!"
Domino gulped, this was it, this was his moment. Da Vinci gave him this chance and he wasn't going to waste it.
He cracked his knuckles and began typing away on the typewriter the artist was holding. As he typed, Karmi leaned down to read what he was writing. "It was dark, the moon was hidden by the dense trees of the forest, alone was the cowardly pup as it stumbled through the night…"
"Ooh this is interesting." PawPaw clapped. "We've never gotten a live reading before."
"Eh seems a bit rushed." Simon grumbled.
Still, Karmi continued to narrate Domino's story as it continued the story of the poor cowardly pup wandering through the dark and scary woods, the audience had gasped when a wolf with glowing red eyes entered the picture.
The audience expected that to be the end of the story, where the wolf would gobble up the unlucky pup, but instead, the story took a kind turn when the wolf offered to guide the pup home.
Prince Max had been in awe during that. "Woah what a twist!"
"Shhh." Both judges shushed him, they wanted to hear the end of the story.
The end of the story had been as the wolf guided the pup home, it inspired the pup as he had found kindness in such an unknown and frightening place, and vowed to be just as kind as the wolf.
Karmi stepping away from the typewriter and the click-click-click of the machine ceasing indicated that the story was over. The audience had gone wild when it ended as they cheered for the young writer. "Look who's popular!" Da Vinci teased, nudging Domino.
"They, they like me?" Domino didn't expect such a response.
"Why wouldn't they? You're a good storyteller." The artist chuckled.
All three judges were clapping. "Wow, that was very interesting!" PawPaw exclaimed.
"Some spots needed work but it was a very simple and sweet short story." Simon added.
But it was Prince Max's compliment that got Domino to cry from joy. "Do you think I could get a copy of that story? I want to read it again and again!"
"Wow, the judges look like they liked your story." Karmi noted, but then she noticed her dog was crying. "Dom, are you okay?!"
"N-Never been better." Domino sobbed, he was just happy he got to show his writing skills.
Clarissa of course complained. "This should not be allowed!" She protested. "He didn't even sign-up! He should be disquali-"
She got cut off by a strong glare by Diggs. "Stop talking." He growled. "You're one to talk about unfairness after what you did to Dolly."
"Brute!" Clarissa hissed.
Luckily the corgi was the only naysayer in the crowd, so her voice was drowned out by the chatter of people talking about the talent show and other entries. Even if Domino did hear her grumbles, he wouldn't care.
Because at that moment, he felt like he was on top of the world.
However… unknown to the citizens of Camden, there was darkness looming over ahead.
"Camden, good to be back!" A long-haired boy holding a net gun exclaimed.
But that darkness was targeted towards one family specifically.
"Time for hashtag revenge!"
The Dalmatian family, for Hunter De Vil had returned.
AN: Uh ohhh, Hunter's finally back in town! It took him a few chapters but he's here
But that's next chapter's problem!
When I said Camden in this universe loves their canines I mean it lmao
Fun fact the name Ryan gave to the ocelot plushie is a reference to the character Lukas from Minecraft Story Mode, who was part of a group called the Ocelots
The arctic giraffes are mean to be reference to be an Owl House reference to how apparently giraffes are from the Demon Realm so I decided to be creative with that concept and boom, arctic giraffes! They're such a fun animal.
The dog judges names I got from some of the judge characters in the Pup Star movie franchises and yes. they did parody other celebrity names in that, but the songs from those movies are p' good.