Chapter 21: Ice Cream Cacophony


I could see it in Bandit's eyes.

Even after the words I had said to reassure him once he learned that he had forgotten my father after so long, there was still a tinge of guilt on his blank face. And I think even Stripe could notice it as well.

Telling Bandit's brother that the human kid he and his brothers had met once so many years ago just happened to be my dad definitely blew his mind and even he agreed that me meeting his family years later just had to be a coincidence.

We both had also told Chilli about the whole thing and she was just as stunned as Stripe was and I still remember spotting her gently comforting Bandit before I headed off to bed for the night.

And yet, two days later when Bandit and Stripe had decided to take me and the kids, sans Socks to another part of Canistralia for the day, Bandit still felt sad inside for having forgotten, even if he didn't show it. I was about to rest a hand on his arm to try and ease him until Bluey spoke up.

"Dad, can I have one of these?" The young heeler asked as she was holding up one of those toys with plastic pins that form in the shape of whatever you pushed against said pins such as your hand as Bluey demonstrated by pressing her muzzle against it, leaving an impression of her mouth and nose.

"Only if you pay for it yourself." Bandit bluntly replied, barely even glancing at her.

"But I haven't got any money." Bluey retorted, shaking her head.

"Well, then you can't have it." Bandit said, still with the dull tone, leading to a back and forth between the big and small blue heelers.

"Buuuuut I want it."

"Well, that's commonly called "Bad Luck"."

"Aw, that's not fair."

"It's pretty fair."

He wasn't wrong, even I knew we couldn't have everything in the world and that life isn't always going to be fair, which I definitely learned the hard way from the plane crash. I was about to gently give Bluey a small lecture on that until I was stopped by what sounded like a plastic snap followed by a scream, making us all look over to find Muffin flailing around with a toy dinosaur's jaw clamped shut on one of her ears as me and Stripe suddenly sprang in to help.

We were now walking along a riverside of the city, Bluey and Bingo beside Bandit and Stripe behind him with me tailing behind, holding Muffin in my arms, the little grey heeler having a band-aid applied to her injured ear. I took the opportunity to take in the sights of the city itself and to say that it was breathtaking would be an understatement. A large modern bridge sat in the far distance, connecting the city we were on to another across the river as the citizens who crossed it would be greeted by the neighbouring skyline. The last time I remember seeing such a bridge related view was when I was once taken to London for vacation when I was much younger and saw the tower bridge.

But then I remembered how Bandit had been acting back at the gift shop as I looked forward to the adult heeler in question, it wasn't always rare for Bandit to give out bored responses to her kids but I still knew he was still down about the whole thing with my dad and I figured that it was time to confront him about it now otherwise god knows how long Bandit was going to mentally beat himself up for it.

"Muffin, can I put you down for a moment? I need to talk with your uncle Bandit." I asked Stripe's daughter in my arms whom nodded before I gently put her down and rushed up to Bandit.

"Bandit… You know you can talk to me, right?" I reached out and held onto his wrist a little as he looked back at me.

"Nah… I'm alright, kid." Bandit merely just shrugged me off, before pulling his arm away. He was honestly just being stubborn at this point so I sternly quickened my walking pace until I was standing right in front of him, arms crossed.

"No. You're not fine, Bandit. I know what's going on. I miss him just as much as you do, and I'm not angry at you for forgetting him, just please stop feeling like you can't be forgiven. I know my dad wouldn't want you to-"

"Ice cream!"

My confrontation was cut off by the over-excited screams of Bingo as I turned to see her and Bluey run up to an ice cream stand which was run by what I guessed was an English Cocker Spaniel wearing a simple hat and apron whom greeted them both.

"Dad, let's get ice cream!" The two girls exclaimed, almost pleading, their tails wagging as fast as their bodies could allow.

"Keep walking." Bandit firmly instructed, having quickly passed me and walking right past the ice cream stand.

"Aw, can't we have an ice cream?" Bluey asked, the growing disappointment in her voice being very noticeable.

"Nope, no one's having ice cream."

"Why not?" Bluey then asked as she and Bingo caught up to their dad.

"Cause you had one yesterday, kid. It's too much sugar."

To my surprise, Bingo suddenly collapsed to the floor and groaned in despair, curling up into a fetal position.

"Oh, no fair!" Bluey stomped a foot and crossed her arms.

"It's fairly fair."

"Well, why does Muffin get an ice cream?" Bluey then asked.

"Muffin's not getting an ice cream." Bandit retorted just as bluntly whilst I turned my head back and true to Bluey's word…

"Uh… Bandit?" I merely piped up as I gestured behind myself with a thumb to the aforementioned grey heeler who ran over with a waffle cone filled with a rainbow colored scoop.

"See?!" Bluey exclaimed, putting her hands on her hips indignantly.

"Ugh. Thanks, mate." Bandit groaned to Stripe in very obvious sarcasm.

"Look kids, Muffin gets an ice cream cause she got a dinosaur stuck on her head." Stripe pointed out, figuring that it would make up for her injury.

"It was a velociwaptow." Muffin explained, making me a little surprised that she knew about some specific dinosaurs at the age of three.

"Aw, no fair!" Bluey repeated, her voice in more of a complaining tone than before, only for Muffin to fire back with "It's TOTALLY fair!".

"Maybe Muffin will give you a lick of hers?" Bandit suggested, only for Stripe to disagree. Bluey decided to ask anyway, holding her hands together and asking as nicely as possible…

…only for Muffin to suddenly pull the ice cream and growl aggressively at Bluey like an actual feral dog protecting it's food, making Bluey flinch. I had almost recoiled a little as well, having almost forgotten that bipedal dogs could still have a tendency to act like feral dogs once in a while.

"Daaad!" Bluey yelled out in a complaining whine, pointing at Muffin's ice cream as Bandit sighed in exasperation.

"Okay, okay. You can have an ice cream." Bluey's dad groaned out in defeat as Bingo got up off the ground and she and Bluey raised their arms in celebration.

"Yay, ice cream!"

"Um, yay, I guess." I mumbled awkwardly, having grown used to cheering with the two girls on occasion.


"Look, they got mango!"

"This is the happiest day of my life!"

Bluey and Bingo exclaimed respectively, their excitement had not dwindled one bit as we were all standing back at the ice cream cart, Bandit standing with a look that was the stark opposite of the two girls'.

"Oh! Our ferry's here, Muffin! See you later, girls and see ya, Nate!" Stripe called out as I turned to Bandit's brother and exchanged farewells with him when I felt something poke my leg, making me look down to see Muffin looking back up at me with a grin on her face as I knelt down to her.

"Yes, Muffi-?"

Muffin gave me no time to finish as she grabbed a fist full of the ice cream she had and shoved it into my mouth, my tongue was hit with the taste of rainbow sherbet and cream before she ran back over to her dad. Even though she wouldn't let Bluey have a lick, she was willing to sneak me a piece of her ice cream.

Real sneaky, Muffin.

"Hey, kids. Uncle Stripe and Muffin are saying goodbye!" Bandit said to the girls in a hushed tone, but neither Bluey or Bingo averted their gazes from the selection of ice cream flavours.

"Oh! Bye, Muffin! Bye, Uncle Strawberry!" Bluey called out with her focus still on the ice cream, it took a bit of effort for me to not chuckle at the misnaming and accidentally choke on the bit of Muffin's ice cream as I swallowed it down.

"Okay, one mango please." Bandit requested to the ice cream server.

"An extra big size!" Bingo inputted.

"Extra small size, thanks." Bandit however corrected, much to Bingo's disappointment.

"Aw, no fair."

"Highly fair. Bluey, what about you?" I looked over to see Bluey mulling over two of the options.

"I can't decide. I want either mango like Bingo, or strawberry. Can I have two flavors?" Bluey's question would of course be shut down by Bandit as she once again protested with "Oh, no fair!" with her dad replying with "Very fair." before Bingo was given her requested scoop and was already licking away at it.

"Okay, I'll get strawberry, please, in a cone. I can always have a lick of Bingo's!"

Bluey and I both looked down at her sister whom suddenly stopped licking and stared silently at her older sibling.

"And you know… I've decided to do a discount for our human ambassador here, if he's interested!" The serving Spaniel got my attention as I looked back at her to see her giving me a friendly grin. I looked over at Bandit to see if it was okay with him and he nodded at me with a half smile as I shrugged.

"In that case, I'll have a chocolate in a cup, please." I asked kindly as the serving dog got out a paper cup and placed a scoop my requested flavor in it before handing it to me.

"Seven dollars and fifty cents, please." The lady asked before pulling out a small credit card reader and presumably typing in the amount.

"What flavour are you getting, dad?" Bluey asked, briefly pausing her tongue massacre on her strawberry ice cream.

"I'm not getting one. Gotta stay in shape." Bandit merely replied, taking out his credit card and presenting it to the reader.

I watched, taking in slow scoops of my chocolate ice cream with the provided wooden spoon as the reader was taking it's sweet time to accept the payment, making the moment rather awkward for me and Bandit, whom looked over at Bluey and Bingo and then at me with a bit of a pained expression, the moment dragging out for quite a while until the reader beeped, signalling that it was now functioning.

"Oh, go on, give us a double chocolate in a cup, extra large." Bandit suddenly asked rather quickly, pulling away his card, inciting a "Hooray!" from the two girls as Bandit slumped.

"...I've got a problem."


"Thanks, Bandit!" I thanked Bandit for paying for my ice cream before taking in another scoop.

"No problem, Nate. Everyone else happy?" Bandit asked, receiving a "Yep!" from both girls.

"Is yours nice, Nathan?" Bluey then asked me.

"Oh, you bet it is, can never go wrong with chocolate!" I replied, earning a grin from Bandit.

"Bingo, can I have a lick of your mango?" Bluey then averted her attention to the red heeler.

"Okay, but only if I can have a lick of yours." Bingo answered, a little firmly, receiving a "Sure!" from Bluey as Bingo held her ice cream out to her, only to quickly pull it back just as Bluey was about to take a lick, complaining that Bluey was trying to take a big lick whom tried to argue that she wasn't.

"Your tongue was all the way out!"

"No, it wasn't!"

"It was! It was like this!" Bingo then stuck out her tongue, letting out a long "Blaaaaaaaah!" as she did so.

"No, it was only out this far!" Bluey mirrored Bingo's action, letting out a quick "Bleh!"

The arguing between the girls continued to the point of Bingo even taking Bluey's tongue between her fingers and pushing it back in a little, saying that it had to be that far out before finally holding her cone out to Bluey whom leaned in to lick.

"Hang on, if I lick first and you lick second, you could just take a bigger lick than me!"

Aaaand the girls were back to arguing again, this time it was Bluey who was protectively holding her ice cream away from Bingo but at this point, I finally decided to speak out.

"Alright girls, the more you argue about this, the quicker your ice creams are going to melt, you have to come to a compromise." I gently but firmly told them both, before taking in another scoop of my own ice cream.

"Nate's right, kids. Come on, sort it out." Bandit agreed before bringing his attention back to his own ice cream.

The two thought deeply for a moment until Bingo lit up with a smile.

"Let's lick them at the same time!"

Bluey agreed that it was a good idea before she and Bingo briefly discussed about their tongues being out before giving each other the "Okay" and both leaned forward.

But then Bluey started to pull her ice cream away, claiming Bingo's tongue was too far out with the latter doing the same as they both tried to reach for each other's ice creams, causing them to both spin around in circles.

"Kids, what are you doing?" Bandit asked, genuinely confused as his attention had just been grabbed by what the two were up to, their spinning causing them to drift down the riverside path, still pointing out to each other that "their tongues were too far out".

"Well, this should be interesting." I said out loud to Bandit as me and him followed the two girls.

The girls unknowingly led us both to a stairway up to a small artificial beach, occupied by several other bipedal dogs, one of which was standing at the shore in an outfit, probably the life guard. Some of the dogs there had taken notice of me as all I could do was wave to them. Some of them did wave back whilst others got back to what they were doing as Bandit and I continued to follow his girls whom had now directed us to a water park play area, both girls were heading for a series of water fountains on the ground which thankfully turned off before either of them would get soaked to my relief. The two kids present watched with amusement before noticing me and giving me a friendly grin as did one of the kid dog's mother to which I greeted with a nod.

The next thing we knew, we were all now passing under a pathway adorned by wooden arches connected by strings of pink flowers and it seemed like I was the only one who had noticed the path of melted splats of mango and strawberry the two girls were starting to leave behind. I could only hope that whoever was responsible for cleaning the area wouldn't be too ticked off about having to clean up a trail of melted ice cream drops when I noticed a familiar face from Bluey's school, Winton was with what I assumed was his father looking at a statue of a golden dog levitating with only a hand on a bamboo stick.

At least it looked liked a statue.

Winton soon noticed me from the corner of his eye and waved at me with a smile which I returned with my own before quickly catching back up to Bandit and the kids.

"Arrgh, get out of it!" Bandit yelled at a group of black headed long beaked birds whom were scavenging in a dining area Bluey and Bingo had circled into, the entire place was an absolute mess compared to the trail of melted milk, cream and sugar the girls were leaving. Now I just felt a little more bad for whoever had to clean up the area.

It wouldn't be long until we ended up right back at the riverside bench we had been sitting on minutes ago, yet I was rather stumped that the girls had unintentionally led us around in a complete circle, but that would be the least of their worries now as I looked over at their cones.

"Aah! My ice cream, it's melted!" Bluey exclaimed in horror, staring at her now empty cone as did Bingo.

"Mine too!"

"They're both melted!" Bingo yelled after she and Bluey squealed in shock before desperately licking away at their cones and fingers for any remaining ice cream before they both ran up to Bandit, whom had sat himself back on the bench as they let him know of their current dilemma.

"It's a hot day, kid. You had 'em out in the sun. The sun melts ice creams." Bandit explained.

"But that's not fair!" Bluey whined once more, slumping a little.

"It's about as fair as it gets actually." Bandit replied, barely reacting to Bluey's complaining. Bingo held out her empty cone and asked if Bandit would buy them more.

"Zero chance." Was all Bandit said, causing Bingo to fall and curl up again like she had done so before.

"You see, this is what I was talking about. You two needed to compromise, yet you were too focused on the size of your licks to even notice they were melting until it was too late. I hate to say I told you so, but…" I told the two girls as I briefly noticed Bandit nod to them in agreement.

"So, we get… nothing?!" Bluey then asked, putting a hand to her head a little dramatically.

"Well, you do get a valuable life lesson." Bandit replied. I secretly did hope that the girls would learn something from this. If you can't work things out with another, then things won't end well.

"I don't want a valuable lime lesson! I just want an ice cream…" Bluey mumbled, her voice breaking a little in sadness as she finished her sentence before falling onto her rump and sitting down sadly as Bingo howled.

Now as somewhat unreasonable and a bit demanding as the two had acted, I couldn't help but feel bad for the two girls as they just stayed there downtrodden, they were still just kids at the end of day. One look at Bandit and I could tell he felt the same way.

I then looked down at my own ice cream and noticed that I hadn't eaten even half of it as I stared at it and thought for a moment.

"You know what? You can have mine." I offered with a small smile, the two getting back up on their feet in response.

"Really?!"

"Yeah, go on." I said with an affirmative nod as they cheered and ran up, gratefully taking the cup and were about to eat until both girls had a hand on the wooden spoon, making them stare at each other.

Oh no, are they gonna-

"Let's take turns. You go first, have as much as you want!" Bluey decided letting go and pushing the bowl towards Bingo whom happily ate a spoonful before letting Bluey take a bite of her own, the two alternating between taking a spoonful each as they sat back down on the bench on my left whilst Bandit sat on my right.

"I'm sorry you don't get an ice cream, Nathan." Bluey said a little sheepishly before gulping down her next spoonful.

"Don't worry about it, I think I've had my share anyway." I shrugged, not caring too much just as long as the two girls were happy.

"Well, actually it's your job to give us your ice cream." Bingo then said in a bit of a matter-of-fact tone which made me blink as I turned and chuckled a little.

"Oh yeah, and why is that?" I asked with a bit of a playfully fake annoyed voice, crossing my arms with a smirk.

"Cause you're our big brother!"

That certainly took me by surprise, as did Bingo when she realized what she had just said.

"Oh wait, I mean…" She tried to rephrase before I pulled Bingo into a one arm hug.

"I know. I get what you mean." I said with a laugh before feeling Bandit's hand ruffle my hair a little.

"Well done, kid."


Author's Note:

Special thanks to Anonymous Reader for the genius idea for this chapter and several ideas that may very well be used in later chapters.

Also to answer their question; if you recall in the earlier chapters, the dogs and humans being forbidden from co-existing would not happen until after the New Zealand war which would happen very long after Bandit and James would meet.

Also, for those who haven't seen it yet, I started a new fanfic not too long ago based on Animal Crossing called 'Bygone Home'. If you wish to check it out, you can find it on my FanFiction profile or on my Wattpad.