Chapter 23: Friends of Age

"Left. Right. Duck. And shoulder throw!"

The sound of the instructions I was given was accompanied by the sound of a body thudding against the floor as I performed the throw in question after my left and right chops and dodge as instructed. The very dog I had performed the shoulder throw on being Harley's older brother, Hachi. Like Harley, he was also an akita and had the same bluish dark grey fur. Other than the white fur spot on his left eye, he was almost a carbon copy of her younger sister.

Harley had told Hachi that I was currently in martial arts training in order to defend myself in case of any situations similar to my last encounter with Daniel. Surprisingly, he was in martial arts as well, having just become a black belt a few years ago which was what inspired Harley to take up karate herself. It was rather sweet knowing just how much Harley looked up to her older brother.

So anyway, after Hachi was given the full story, he came to the training dojo, offering to take Harley's place as teacher, which was a relief for me since I no longer had to worry about hurting Harley during training. The younger akita in question watching from one of the sides, a look of awe on her face as I bent over and helped her brother up.

"You're definitely getting better, mate! Another few weeks and I can see you becoming a red belt. Heck, maybe even a black belt like me!" Hachi complimented, accepting my offered hand and getting back onto his feet.

"Thanks, I am learning from the best after all." I replied with a grateful smile, earning a slightly miffed "Hey!" from Harley as I playflly rolled my eyes and glanced over to her. "You're the best as well, Harley." I reassured her with a chuckle before me and Hachi exchanged bows, ending today's training session.

Outside, Bluey was waiting for me, having watched the whole thing as we both headed on home. After what happened between me and Daniel, the Canistralian government had decided to employ some more units of Canistralia's police force on patrol as a precaution to decrease the chance of me getting jumped again. There was never a time when I didn't see one of these police dogs for longer than five minutes. The news of course had calmed Bandit and Chilli's worries to the point where they were willing to give me walking around in public without an adult guardian a chance, especially when there'd be times when neither of them would be available to do so.

"Hey Nathan, could I do some karate as well?" Bluey asked as, walking by my side.

"If you'd like!" I responded with an encouraging tone, making the Blue Heeler let out a small but eager "Hooray!". The silence between us didn't last long as Bluey had another question.

"Do humans do karate as well?"

"As a matter of fact, they do. There's actually different forms of martial arts besides karate that humans engage in. You've got Muay Thai, Aikido, Taekwondo… There's even tournaments dedicated to them!" I answered as I saw Bluey grin with interest.

"Ooh, that's a lot of karates. Did any of your family do marshmallow arts?" I couldn't help but laugh a little at Bluey's little mondegreen before composing myself to answer.

"Well, as far as I know, I don't think-"

"MIA, LOOK OUT!"

Bluey and I nearly flinched at the sudden panicked outburst as we both turned to the source. An Orange Belton English Setter who looked to be possibly around the same age as me, maybe a little younger was standing in the middle of a crosswalk of a road, a thousand yard stare on her face as she was facing a car that was driving very erratically towards her, as if completely out of control, swerving left to right as several of the witnessing dogs jumped away in panic.

The next few seconds felt like everything was in complete slow motion, the looks of fear on the watching dogs, the setter on the road opening her mouth to try and let out a scream which never even left her throat…

...and me who suddenly sprang to my feet without thinking and raced towards her.

…

…

The sound of the car crashing was impossible to ignore, I didn't even register the fact that my heart was beating like crazy until seconds later. All I felt was the cool concrete road against my body and my arm on some fur but no pain anywhere whatsoever which was what made me realize I was still alive.

Pushing myself up with my other arm, I looked down at the English Setter I had tackled out of the way, using my hand that was on her back to nudge her.

"M-Miss, are you alright?" I stammered worriedly, getting a small groan in response as the female dog pushed herself up.

"I-I think so, thank you so mu…" Her words fell as she turned her head to face me and realized who it was she was looking at. Her look of horror from before now replaced with that of stunned silence.

"...Nathan? The human ambassador?!" The voice of a male young adult exclaimed as I looked up to see an American Foxhound with the usual white fur, brown highlights and darker coloured back, having the same stunned look as the Setter.

"Yeah… That's me. Hi there. And you two are?" I replied, standing up and helping the English Setter get to her feet, the Foxhound not hesitating to answer.

"It's good to finally meet you, I'm Captain. And you've already met-"

"MIA!" A both excited and worried outcry from Bluey interrupted Captain's greeting as she rushed over to the English Setter in question.

"Bluey!" Mia called out a little as she and Bluey shared a hug.

"You know each other?" I asked, wondering how Mia knew her name and vice versa.

"Oh yeah, I was Bluey's school buddy once whilst Captain was with Mackenzie!" Mia looked back at me as she answered my question. It took a moment for me to figure out what she meant by that, as in having Bluey's school pair up with some older dog kids, something to do with developing social skills.

"I helped her make sure she would have a good time at big school, even writing a letter to the fairies!" Bluey explained further.

Wait a minute… Fairies…

"...That little village in those bushes at your school… You and Mia made it? I saw it before you introduced me to your friends. It's… really good." I said honestly, remembering the small village in the clearing made of sticks, leaves and other foliage.

"Aww, thank you! And… thanks for saving my life back there." Mia said with a grin.

"Yeah, you're a legend for that!" Captain said, gratefully patting my back.

"Oh, it was nothing really. I guess I just didn't want Bluey to live with the trauma of seeing a friend of hers get hurt or worse."

"You're like a for real life superhero!" Bluey beamed up at me, her tail wagging faster than a propeller, her praise making me blush before we all looked over to see the damage of the car.

Thankfully, no one else was injured and even the driver had managed to make it unscathed. They were currently trying to explain themselves to a police dog as they were writing the driver's explanation on a note pad.

I really hope that driver had a good enough reason for their driving.

"So why aren't you two at big school?" Bluey asked as she, Mia, Captain and I were sat at a bistro table with a parasol at the front of a cafe in order for me and the two older kid dogs to get to know each other.

"Oh, we're just on a bit of a break right now so we thought we'd visit this part of Canistralia before we go back in a few days. I was actually hoping I'd get to see you again, Bluey!" Mia retorted, ruffling her head a little, getting a grin out of the little Heeler.

"So you've been living with Bluey's family ever since you came here?" Captain asked me.

"Ah, well not exactly since I came here. I originally thought I was somewhere far from any civilisation and that I would have to survive in the wilderness. It wasn't until the next day I met the Heelers." I explained as I tried to recall what had happened on that day, what with it being a few months ago. Upon hearing this, Captain nearly became slack-jawed.

"You were out in the forest for a whole day? With gators, spiders and poisonous snakes on the prowl?!"

"CAPTAIN!" Mia immediately yelled at him in frustration out of worry that he would end up scaring me, or worse, Bluey, making him exclaim out a few rapid fire "Sorry!"s.

"I mean… I did have a run in with a cave full of big spiders but I managed to get out of here just by the skin of my teeth." I replied, a little quietly so that Bluey wouldn't hear to avoid worrying her, my answer making Mia cringe a little. I didn't dare to mention the human skeleton to them which I had almost forgotten about at this point.

"Is it fun having Nate live with you?" Mia then asked Bluey in order to change the subject, the Blue Heeler was very eager to answer.

"Oh yeah! He's so much fun! And he's really cool as well. He's almost like our own big brother!"

Upon registering the last sentence, Mia and Captain shared a look with each other before looking back over to me.

"Have the Heelers thought about… you know… adopting you?" Mia asked, her voice sounding a little hopeful.

I went silent for a moment before looking over at Bluey.

"Bluey, would you mind waiting here whilst me, Captain and Mia talk in private?" Bluey responded to my question with an "Okay!" as I led the young adult dogs with me a few steps away out of earshot but close enough to see her from a distance before finally answering Mia's question.

"As far as I'm aware, no, not yet. They might still be thinking on it. Andrew of the CPIA said they have a few months to decide whether to adopt me or to have me sent into foster care." I answered truthfully, the mention of the possibility of me leaving the Heelers for foster care would've caused Bluey to get very worried hence why I had decided to answer out of her hearing range.

"...She doesn't want you to go to foster care, does she?" Captain asked, looking over at Bluey sympathetically as I nodded a little sadly.

"Both her and Bingo really want me to be their big brother. And…. To tell you the truth, I kind of want that as well. They've all been so good to me since I first stepped into their home, and who's to say I won't meet a family as nice as them? But in the end, it isn't my decision and I can't make her parents change her mind, it wouldn't be right of me. And I just know that if they decide to send me to a foster home, it would break the girls' hearts." I said, looking over at Bluey whom was occupying herself with a straw.

"You really care a lot for them." Mia pointed out, a warm smile on her muzzle. "I think that's really sweet."

I couldn't help but return a smile of my own.

It would be nearly twenty minutes later as Bluey and I were now a block away from the cafe, Mia and Captain standing opposite of us.

"So I guess this means we're friends, huh?" I asked playfully, getting a bit of a laugh from Captain.

"I guess it does, mate. Why don't we exchange numbers?" I nodded in agreement to that idea as I exchanged phone numbers with Captain and Mia, the latter exchanging one last embrace with Bluey before we all said our goodbyes with each other, Bluey and I arriving home without any other issues. As I was following Bluey to her and Bingo's room, the living room TV immediately got my attention as it appeared to be a news broadcast.

...But what made me blink in confusion was the background having photos of Hailey and Daniel.

"As of today, it has now been three days since Hailey Husky and Daniel Dane were reported missing after being incarcerated and scheduled to be sent to Canistralia's juvenile detention center for repeated hate crimes towards human ambassador, Nathan Faulkner. The perpetrators had escaped the police station nearly an hour before they vanished, judging by what was left at the end of their trail that led into the Lake Eacham woods, there may have been a struggle against someone. Aside from a few strands of loose fur and markings on the ground, there is no other evidence to rule out a possible suspect and investigators are still on the search for the two as we speak."

Missing? That's… strange. Mostly because of out of all the dogs, it just happened to be those two.

Anyone who knew of my interactions with Hailey and Daniel would very much say something like "Karma's a bitch", and yet me, the victim of their attacks couldn't help but wonder what happened.

There's no way that a wild animal like an alligator could've attacked them both, and not even leave a drop of blood as well whilst doing so.

...Could they?

Shaking my head and telling myself not to dwell on it too much, I turned the TV off and was about to rejoin Bluey and Bingo until I got a ping on my phone as I took it out of my pocket to find a text message from Mia.

"I'll be waiting for the day you become Nathan Heeler. Fingers crossed! :)"

Author's Note:

Just looked at your idea involving Rusty and Digger, Anonymous Reader and it actually does seem like a pretty good idea. Even though I've already introduced Mia and Captain to Nathan, I do in fact have plans involving Digger and maybe Tiny as well. Not sure how I'd pull off "Spike" but I'll certainly think about it.