Another day of watching the pups… Dylan groaned as he walked down the street. He was going on another supply run while Dolly stayed back and watched the pups. And I'm going to come home to a mess, aren't I?

Least for him, going shopping wasn't much of an issue. The market his family bought from respected that they didn't need a human to get stuff for them.

On his way back however, carrying the bag of goodies and treats and extras toys and blankets, he saw a familiar fox poking through the trash. "Hey, Fergus!" Fergus was a darkish-orange fox with a cream belly, dark paws and ears, and a brown tail with white on the end.

Fergus poked his head from the trash, his amber eyes delighted to see him. "Hey Dyl, how's it hanging?" He padded over. "Went shopping?"

"Yeah, just some toys and extra snacks." Dylan nodded. "The other day, some of the pups were playing dodgeball, but a lot of balls went in Clarissa's yard and she wouldn't give it back to the 'ruff-raff.'" He curled his lip, imitating the snooty corgi's tone.

The fox twitched his ears in sympathy. "Man, every time I hear about that dog, she just gets worse and worse. Sid could cut the power to her house for a night if it'll cheer you guys up."

"Normally I'd tell you that's bad, buuuut-" Dylan trailed off.

"It's Clarissa, D-Dawg, you don't need that negative energy in your life."

The dog nodded. "Right, while I was at the store, I got something for you." He dropped his bag and took out a large dog-sized treat. "As thanks for looking after Dakota."

"It's no problem, your little sister's a blast to be around! One of these days I should invite her to the Canal Crew." Fergus happily took the treat and began munching it.
Dylan recalled the one time he tried "going wild" and failed miserably. "Please don't, bad enough we've got humans in the mix lately-"

The fox paused from eating his treat. "Humans?"

Oops, did not mean to say that. "Long story, my little brother DJ's littermate Domino is visiting town with his humans, and since then they've been hanging around my family. Dolly isn't happy about that, and I'm not sure how to feel about all this-" He exhaled. "I don't hate humans like she does, but ever since Hunter and that time Hugo called animal control on us, I can't really trust them, y'know?"

Fergus nodded. "Totally feel ya D-Dawg. I can see how you and Dolly feel." He was close to Dolly, and she had talked about why humans were especially a sore subject to her, so he understood that both of them were mostly worried for their siblings. "But I also can relate. Y'see, I've been kind of hanging with a human as of late-"

"What?!" Dylan exclaimed. "What happened to being wild and free as you always said?!"

"You make it sound like I'm their pet." Fergus scoffed. "Look, they're harmless as a fly. They feed squirrels at the park and they catch live spiders and release them outside. Trust me, I wouldn't be around them otherwise."

The dog tsked. "Fair point, it's kind of weird how we've both got humans in our lives now."

"Yeah, if you told me that a few months ago D-Dawg, I would've thought you had catnip!"

"Wonder if they've run into each other at some point."

"Hm, hey where's Domino's family staying?"

"Thunderbolt Lodge, why do you ask?"

Fergus replied with a grin. "I've got an idea that'll help you and Dolly sleep more at night."

Teen Dorks Squad group chat:

Meg: So Karms, what kind of research have you been doing?

Karms: Oh, well! I have a lot of free time I don't know what to do with, so it's why I've been studying superheroes

Karms: Hiro suggested studying the superheroes of NYC to start off!

June: Oh, did he?

Hiro: bc my cousins live there?

June: Understandable, have a nice day

Rach: I used to live in NYC, you can't go one street w/o seeing a superhero or villain

Rach: We used to have Avengers Insurance that kicked one time when dad's car got destroyed by Iron Man

Karms: I did not know that NYC has an insurance policy for superhero incidents

Meg: Y'know that would come in handy back here

Meg: ouch,jpeg

Meg: Exhibit A: this was all done by 1 flamey boi

June: djsjdjjxjsj flamey boi sdjsjdjsjx

Hiro: omg megan why

Karms: also this research comes in handy for my bh6 fanfiction n.n

Rach: Are you updating this week btw?

Karms: 8C

Rach: I mean that's really cool!

Ari: I'm back!

June: Is your kitchen clean now?

Ari: ….

Ari: kitchen,jpeg

Hiro: MOCHI WHY

June: WHY IS THERE SO MUCH DESTRUCTION PACKED INTO THIS FLUFFY BOI

Dylan and Fergus were hiding bushes at the park. "A'ight, tell me when you see her, and I'll give the signal." The fox whispered.

"Got it." He sniffed the air, but there were so many humans and dogs in the park, he couldn't pick up Domino or his humans. "Maybe they're not here today."

"Ah please, this is the best place in Camden!" Fergus gestured to the park.

"You're only saying that because there's the best food found in here." Dylan pointed out.

The fox shrugged. "True." Fergus' ears then twitched up. "Hey, you said one of the dogs is a G-Shep, right?"

"Yeah?"

Fergus pointed his paw to a familiar german shepherd that was dragging a smaller dalmatian by the tail. "That's your dog?"

"That's Diggs and Domino!" Dylan exclaimed. He looked around with his eyes instead of his nose, and finally noticed that Karmi was sitting on one of the park benches. "There she is!"

The fox looked up at one of the trees in the park. Where Sid and Big Fee were waiting for the signal. He lifted up his tail and tapped it against the tree bark, both rodents nodded and scrambled to another tree. "Alright, it's go time."

"I really hope this works." Dylan grumbled as he walked out of the bush. "Otherwise Mom and Dad are going to be so mad at me…"

"Dom, I've told you again and again, please don't dig up the park flowers." Karmi gently scolded the dalmatian pup as he pouted. Diggs was holding him by the tail as he found the pup trying to get into the flowers. "What is with your fixation of digging there, anyways?"

"Diesel said there was treasure buried there!" Domino protested.

Karmi blinked. "What?"

Diggs placed the pup down so he could try explaining. "Someone told him to."

The biotech major still looked confused. "Sorry, I'm not getting that."

"Uhhhhhg." Domino groaned. "You understood me yesterday!"

"Sorry buddy, I know I'm really good at figuring out what you're trying to say, but I can't speak fluent dog." Karmi could at least sense his frustration and patted him on the head. "Just keep out of the flower patch, alright? I don't want you to get in trouble."

The pup pouted. "Alright, I'll try…" Domino then scampered off.

"I'll make sure he doesn't get into any trouble." Diggs barked before following after him.

Once the dogs were gone, Karmi sighed. "I know Dad said I should keep an eye on the dogs while here, but Diggs and Domino can take care of themselves…"

Her dad insisted she get some fresh air while he and her mom were meeting with the Dalmatian family's parents at some cafe-place she wasn't interested in going to. Haley and Ryan were in eyesight, playing on the swings near where the dogs were playing. Not to mention that Baymax was looking after them at the moment.

So she had plenty of time to go on her phone and work on her Big Hero 6 fanfiction. "If I hadn't had writer's block, this would be done by now."

Karmi was at the climax of this chapter, where Lab Lady had rescued Captain Cutie in a very dramatic fashion of catching him as he fell out of a window, but for some reason, it was difficult writing Captain Cutie himself. She didn't know why, and it gave her a headache when trying to think about it.

"Bark!" She looked up from her phone, scrambling on top of the park bench was a dalmatian with a red collar and a star tag.

"Oh, hi." Karmi waved, racking her brain to remember which dog she was talking to. "Dylan right?"

He nodded, and she internally sighed with relief. "Wasn't sure, there's about a hundred and one of you guys running around so I'm bound to get dogs mixed up!"

"Yeah, I feel that." He barked in sympathy, his shoulders sagging and his tail drooping.

Karmi picked up on that. "Hey, are you alright? You look like you're feeling down."

Dog, I forgot she's good at understanding canines. Dylan paled, he was feeling a little guilty for the plan. What do I do now?!

In his panic, he forgot although Karmi was a good dog whisperer, she wasn't an expert like Hunter was. "Stressed from managing your little siblings? I can relate, Haley and Ryan drove me crazy before I went to college." She rambled. "Do dogs around here go to college? Or do online classes count, I'm not sure if those classes require having Zype or something."

Dylan shook his head. "Nah, we just were homeschooled or self-taught." Dawkins was one of the few pups in the household that took a few hours of the day to read on schoolwork or study in the treehouse. In the corner of his eye, he noticed small fuzzy shapes moving by the park bench and winced. "Uh, Karmi word in advance… I'm really sorry about this."

Karmi saw the guilty expression on his face and frowned. "Are you okay?" That's when she felt something fuzzy brush against her arm. The biotech major turned around and saw two rodents on the park bench.

Her phone was in the squirrel's hands. "Hey! You can't just take-" The squirrel sprinted. "Get back here!"

"Fergus, go long!" Dylan watched as Sid tossed the phone to the fox like a game of football, once the phone was in his jaws, Fergus started booking it half-across the park.

"Give me back my phone you fuzzy bandits!"

Dylan sighed, watching Karmi chase after his friend, and then hopped off of the park bench to follow suit.

"The answer is no, neither of you are digging these flowerbeds." Diggs was glaring at two twins.

"Awww Diggs, but we saw Domino do it earlier!" Haley pouted. She just wanted to go digging with her brother and Domino, but the german shepherd put his foot down on the matter.

He wasn't going to allow them to get themselves in trouble. "I'll say it once and I'll say it again, no digging in the park."

"You're a very boring dog, you know that?" Domino complained.

"I am not boring!" Diggs huffed. "I'm just a responsible adult-"

"Fergus I think we should stop now-!"

"Get back here you jerks!"

Everyone looked up to see Karmi chasing after a fox, two rodents, and Dylan was running to catch up to them. "Oh no." Baymax stated. "The fox has stolen Karmi's phone."

"We gotta help big sis out-ow!" Haley yelped as Diggs held her back. "Meanie!"

Diggs grumbled under his breath. The things I do for these kids…

Karmi didn't know why a random fox and two rodents tried stealing her phone, but she was not going to let them get away with it! "I will call animal control on you punks if you don't return my property!"

The fox seemed to grin at that and laugh, she couldn't tell since he was holding her phone, but Karmi knew a smug smirk when she saw one.

Dylan, who was running behind her, seemed to have gotten his second wind and ran in front of the fox. "Fergus, that's enough!" He barked. "I don't know what point you're trying to prove, but you're going to get the police called if you don't stop it now!"

"I just need a bit more time…" Fergus glanced around, his ears went up as he saw someone enter the park. "Ah-ha!"

He ran left. "Oh no, you're not escaping that easily!" Karmi bolted after him, too focused on getting her phone to watch where she was going. "Get-"

Crash!

She ran into something and was knock backed onto the grass. "Owwww!" There was a heavy weight on top of her.

"You're telling me." A deepish voice grumbled. Karmi felt the weight get off of her. "Do you need help?"

There was a hand reaching for her, and she took it. "Thanks I-"

David's face was staring at her. The same kind smile and facial expressions that were a softer version than his mother. "What are you doing here?! I thought you were back in San Fransokyo!"

He tilted his head. "I'm sorry, have we met before?" There was a frown. "I've never been to this San Fransokyo, I've lived in Camden my whole life."

Karmi rubbed her eyes. The David-look alike had green eyes, albeit a similar shade like Momakase's, but appeared to be around her age. Their hair was more fluffed, some of it in a ponytail, had a small fang poking from their mouth, ears were slightly bigger, and was wearing a blue striped shirt with grey shorts. "Sorry." Embarrassment flushed her cheeks. "You look like someone I know."

"Apology accepted, deja vu might be my favorite of Triple D, but she's not my favorite thing to feel." They grinned. "My name's Eleanor, who did you think I was?"

"I thought you were my classmate David." Karmi explained. "Mind if I ask your pronouns?"

"Not at all!" Eleanor beamed. "I don't stick to a specific kind, so you can use any you'd like, but sometimes I feel like using a certain one so I've been going by they/them this week!"

She nodded. "Alright."

"What pronouns do you prefer?"

"Mine are she/her." That's when Karmi recalled why she bumped into Eleanor in the first place. "I'd love to stay and chat, but a fox stole my phone and I gotta-"

"Yip!"

The fox was sitting across from them, giving a happy toothy grin. Her phone was in Dylan's paws, the pup awkwardly padded up to her. "Sorry, really sorry." He looked apologetic. "At least it didn't crack, right?"

Karmi was more focused on the fox than trying to translate what Dylan said. "You jerk!" She pointed to the fox. "Why the heck did you try taking my phone, you could've asked if you needed to use it y'know!"

The fox gave her a shrug. "Oh, hi Fergus!" Eleanor waved to the fox, and Karmi gave them a wide-eyed look. "Why did you steal her phone? That's not like you."

"Well I had to get you two to meet somehow!" Fergus explained.

Dylan raised an eyebrow at Eleanor, then back to Fergus. "Ferg, I don't know how this human knows your name, but I doubt she can pick up what you-"

"Fergus, if this was another harebrained scheme to try and get me to know new people, can you pick another method?" Eleanor complained. "I mean I'm thankful you helped me meet Kirby, but I'm not a huge fan of crashing into people."

He rolled her eyes. "C'mon, where's the fun in that! The Canal Crew likes to live on the wild side of things!"

"Yes yes, you, Sid, and Big Fee have told me about your club motto dozens of times." Eleanor gestured. "But please don't steal people's phones, I don't want you to get in trouble with Pearl!"

Karmi cleared her throat. "Wait, stop." She pointed to Fergus, then to Eleanor. "You know this fox?"

"That's the part you're going to focus on?!" Dylan exclaimed.

Eleanor ignored the dog's protests. "Yeah, he lives around my neighborhood." They explained. "I don't really have friends outside my family, so I befriended the more fuzzier neighbors, Fergus tells me a lot of stories about him and his club, the Canal Crew's adventures."

"Wow." Karmi was still angry about the phone, but her opinion of the fox and his rodent friends got a little more positive. "You're really good at guessing what they say, huh? I'm jealous."

That's when her new acquaintance started stammering. "W-Well not exactly?" Eleanor blushed. "I don't guess what they say, I can hear what they say." They tugged at their sleeves. "Y'know, they speak and I hear words come out?"

Karmi blinked.

Dylan blinked.

Fergus snickered, so did Sid and Big Fee.

"What?! Another one?!" Heads turned at Dylan's shout. "First Hunter, now this one?!" He ran to Fergus and grabbed him by the paws. "Why didn't you tell me you knew a human that understood us! Do you know what this means?!"

"Hey, Ellie's shy. I'm only introducing them to you now so you and Dolly are less stressed out about your sibling's human." Fergus pushed him away a little. "They're not like that Hunter kid, I don't think they could even if they tried!"

"Who's Hunter?" Eleanor frowned.

"Who's what?" Karmi was thrown out of the loop. "Nevermind, but that's really cool Eleanor!"

They raised an eyebrow. "You really think so?" There was another blush on their face. "Most people don't believe me when I try to tell them… but I swear I do!"

"Well, logically I'm still confused. But it's easy to conclude you're telling the truth after seeing your conversation with Fergus." Karmi may not have understood it yet, but she would. Besides, it wasn't weirder than fungi-animal plant hybrids. "But I don't think Dylan knew that, which confuses me. I thought the Dalmatians would like meeting a human that they don't have to play charades with."

"Fergus explained earlier that I'm shy, which I am…" Eleanor stammered. "I might be able to speak to animals, but I have my limits in social interactions."

Karmi could relate. "Mood, but that's so awesome you can speak to animals, you're like a real life Disney Princess!" She gushed.

"You think so?" If Eleanor could, they would melt into a puddle right now.

"Yeah!" An idea then formed in the biotech major's mind. "Do you think you could help me with something?"

"Bark, bark, bark, bark!"

"Mhmm, and that's what you said?"

"Ruff! Bark!"

"Uh-huh."

"Bark!"

Eleanor nodded as they listened to Domino. "Okay, I'll tell her." They turned to Karmi. "Domino says that he was digging up the flower beds because one of his siblings, Diesel, told him that there was buried treasure."

"Uhhhg, not again!" Dylan groaned, he had been eavesdropping on the conversation. "Dom, Diesel's just talking about his secret bone stash."

"The what?" Domino frowned in confusion.

Dylan pinched the bridge of his nose. "It's where Diesel stores his collection of bones he gets from doing odd digging jobs for dogs." While he wished his younger brother would curb his digging habit with the amount of incidents that occurred in the household, Diesel did use his powers for a force of good at times. "He was probably trying to be nice and share some, since you're new."

"Ohhhhhh." Domino nodded in realization. "I don't like bones though."

Dylan gasped. "You what-?!"

On the human end of the conversation, Karmi winced seeing Dylan bark at her friend. "What's got him so mad?"

"He's shocked that Domino doesn't like bones." Eleanor explained. "To be honest, I find that odd too."

"My mother considers it a blessing, some bones like chicken bones could splinter and cause damage to his organs if he swallowed the bits." Karmi thought otherwise.

Eleanor blinked. "Really?"

She nodded. "Wait, you didn't know that?"

The animal whisperer shook their head. "Hey, I might be able to understand animals, but I don't know everything about animals yet." Eleanor then blushed. "And… my mum's allergic to dogs."

"Ouch." Karmi winced in sympathy. "Thanks for helping me figure out the issue with Domino."

They smiled. "You're welcome!"

"Karmi-!" The biotech major noticed that her two little siblings were stuck in a tree with Baymax, and Diggs was staring at them in confusion, wondering how they had gotten into this situation in the first place. "Help!"

She groaned. "I better go help them." Karmi took a few steps forward, but she turned back to Eleanor. "Do you want to meet up again sometime?"

"I'd love to!" The animal whisperer had stars in their eyes.

They exchanged phone numbers, and went their separate ways.

Teen Dorks Squad group chat:

Meg: Mistakes have been made

Hiro: that's a mood

Ari: What happened?!

Meg: Uh so I was *trying* to interview bh6 after they saved a runaway trolley

Meg: AND FLAMEY BOI STOLE MY MEMORY FILE

June: He got revenge for being called flamey boi

Meg: : (

Ari: So does that mean you're going to give up your whole superhero identity search?

Meg: A reporter never gives up!

Hiro: Nice try Ari, nice try, but I honestly think a story about sports would be easier

Meg: Uch

Ari: What's wrong with sports?

Karms: Hey gang!

Hiro: Hi Karms!

Ari: KARMI

June: Hey what's up

Karms: You'll NEVER guess what happened today

Baymax: Your phone was stolen by a fox?

Karms:

Karms: h o w

Baymax: I have been exchanging information with my twin for healthcare purposes

Baymax: He mentioned that there was an incident

Karms: I should rly call your twin Twinmax or something

Hiro: O-O

Ari: How'd you get your phone back?!

Karms: The phone thief was a conspiracy

Karms: Fergus, the fox, and his rodent friends decided to steal my phone at that exact time so I'd bump into a human friend of theirs, and they got Dylan to distract me so they'd snatch my phone!

Hiro: Who's Dylan?

Karms: One of the dalmatians, he's one of the oldest siblings so he's important

Karms: but least I met Eleanor out of that whole mess, they're cool

Ari: New friend? OwO

Hiro: Ari

June: Huh, how so?

Meg: Ari please dont ever make that face again?

Ari: UwU

Meg: STOP

Hiro: Karms?

Karms: Oh sorry I had to text Eleanor if I could tell you this

Karms: They can speak to animals, which helped me solve a problem I was having with Dom today

Karms: Though I was more shocked about the fact they looked a lot like David tbh, I feel so embarrassed for mistaking them as him tho.

June: Can we go back to the speaking animals part

Rach: You have made Katie very happy

Ari: GAH

Hiro: Where did you come from?!

Rach: I showed her this and she said "FINALLY!" and is doing a little cat prance

June: bc Katie's a cat that can understand humans, and now she knows there's a human that can understand animals?

Rach: ^^^

Karms: speaking of that Dylan mentioned he met another person like Eleanor, but he didn't want to talk about it so I think that guy wasn't very nice

Karms: It was really cool meeting Eleanor tho, they're like an irl Disney Princess

Hiro: Which one, Sleeping Beauty?

Karms: I texted them and they said they'd prefer to be like Snow White, minus the evil stepmom and getting poisoned by an apple thing

June: Understandable, have a nice day

Rach: prance,vid

Karms: awwwwww

Rach: I haven't seen Katie this happy since Sparkles got arrested and tbh it scares me

"So, what did you think of Ellie?" Fergus asked Dylan as he walked the dog back to his house.

He shrugged. "They seem okay, you sure they're a good person?" Dylan was wary though. "I mean… what if they end up like Hunter?"

"Pfffft, they won't! They're a total softie, and you saw them at the park today, nothing to worry about from Ellie." Fergus reassured him.

Dylan nodded. "Alright, I trust you, how'd you meet them in the first place?"

"Good question! Remember months ago after I stayed over at your place after my accident?" Fergus questioned.

"You mean when you tried faking the fact you recovered to take advantage of everyone's hospitality?" He narrowed his eyes.

"Hey! A fox likes being pampered from time to time, sue me." He scoffed. "So anyways, a few days after that I got into this nasty fight with cat-"

"And stay out ya mutt!" Fergus rubbed his nose as he ran with his tail between his legs. Internally cursing at the feline smugly guarding the trash. Would it kill that pampered cat to share some of his owner's garbage?

He snuck behind another house, letting the rain cool his stinging face. The cat had left a few scratches there, and he felt his left paw itching in pain. Fergus gave it a lick, yep, it didn't look good. A part of him worried he sprained it, but he wasn't a doctor like Dylan's mum.

"I really should've listened to Sid…" The squirrel warned him about that crazy cat, but he waved it off as the rodent was just scared of one of his predators. The fox would never underestimate that small tabby ever again.

The back sliding door of the house opened, and a young human stepped out. Fergus felt a hiss boil in his throat, not in the mood to get chased off at the moment. Instead, they looked at his injuries and ran back inside. Fergus figured he scared them until the human came back with a first aid kit.

"You poor guy, who did this to you?" The human warily approached with the first aid kit.

Fergus raised an eyebrow, not as if they could understand anyways but he didn't mind humans that tried talking to him. "Just a tabby, nothing too terrible for a member of the Canal Crew!"

"Ah, that cat's been all the birds, that's so mean of him. He has food, he doesn't have to eat innocent birds." The human mumbled. "What's the Canal Crew?"

The fox blinked. "You understood me?" That was impossible. "I mean, it's not like you can guess my name is Fergus."

"Yeah, I did." They smiled. "I'm Eleanor, it's nice to meet you, Fergus."

If it wasn't for his stinging battle wounds or the cold rain, Fergus would've passed out from shock.

"Okay, I guess I can give them a chance." If Fergus trusted Eleanor, then so would Dylan. "Thanks, Ferg. I feel a lot more relaxed now."

The fox grinned, ruffling his head fur a little. "No problem-o D-Dawg!"

Dylan chuckled. "Hey!" He reached to try and mess with Fergus' head fur, and the two were goofing around the way back to the Dalmatian household.

AN: omg omg I am SO excited I got to this chapter!

Introducing Eleanor! I had to have Karmi befriend some humans in Camden and I am REALLY excited for you guys to get to know them better, and on the plus side, they're a human who understands animals! Perfect friend material!

Also I had a lot of fun writing Fergus and the Canal Crew, they're pretty cool characters and I like their adventures with the Dalmatian family, even if they sometimes are the troublemakers in episodes

Next chapter will actually introduce another human friend ;3, and cover actually one of the canon episodes!

So see you next time and don't forget to check out Fallen From Power next week, which takes place the same time as this story!