Chapter 26: Bonding in the Pink

"Are you serious?!"

"No way!"

"He's gotta be joking!"

Those were the responses I got from the majority of Coco's eight older siblings, namely her oldest brother whom the top fluff on his head was styled almost like a pompadour, Quiffy, and two twins whom were the third youngest of the poodle family, Minnie and Lily. The only way to tell those two apart were the hair clippings they wore like Coco; Minnie had a clip shaped like a flower with Lily having one of a star.

Her other five siblings being her youngest, Lolo, the fourth youngest, Molly, whom almost resembled Coco, but had a shorter snout, ears, and deeper colours. Then there was Coco's other brother, Marcus, his fur color almost matching his dad's and was always seen with a pair of purple glasses and more often than not a victim of teasing from Coco's second oldest brother, Bennett, who was a bit of a rebel, almost like the Bart Simpson of the Poodles.

And then there was her oldest sister, Megan. Whilst the other poodles all had fur puffs on their heads with ears at the side, her head fur was instead long and hung down to her shoulder like actual hair.

Coco's mom, Bella was kind of enough to give me a photo of her family when Coco was a baby for visiting, which I took the opportunity to write the names of her kids with them in case if I ever got mixed up.

As for what they were reacting in shock to, well it's a bit of a long story…

A few hours ago…

It had started when I was going through my usual martial arts training regime. Hachi was once again coaching me, but I was also accompanied by Bluey who also had her Gi outfit on and was watching from the side, her eyes were focused on my every move with a look of very obvious admiration on her face.

Today's training was to improve my endurance and in order to do that, Hachi and I were doing a practice spar. With it having been a month or so since I began training, Hachi had said that I had improved more greatly than he thought I would with Harley even giving me the blue belt. I was practically catching up to her at this point, but even then, I still felt like I was a bit of a greenhorn, like I still had a lot left to learn before I could even consider myself an expert martial artist.

Both of us were a little scuffed up with a few grazes, but neither of us were showing any signs of exhaustion. Hachi then suddenly leaned back to deliver a roundhouse kick, I was lucky enough to quickly halt his leg with an outward block before countering with a reverse punch to his ribs. To my surprise, the blow was enough to actually knock some wind out of him, I'd be concerned but Hachi had made it clear that he did NOT want me to go easy on him.

"Nnhh… Getting better, mate. Now look out for this!" Hachi suddenly gave me a quick warning before lunging his hand out which was outstretched like a chop but I was not ready for it that time as I cringed from his fingers jabbing into my stomach, giving him an opening for another roundhouse kick. Thankfully, I just managed to lean back and miss the kick to the face just by the skin of my teeth before quickly retaliating with a roundhouse kick of my own to the side of his head, a direct hit as he grunted and fell to his knees, rubbing where I had just struck him.

"Hah… Haah… Okay, I think we'll break for now." Hachi heaved out from tiredness, finally throwing in the towel as I went to help him up.

"Augh come on, you really gonna whinge like that after a few minutes, Hachi? What have you been doing all these years out of your training, ya bludger!" Both of us froze a little at the sudden presence of a new voice, which sounded like a typical cranky old man.

Turned out I was somewhat correct, as we turned to find an Akita just like Hachi and Harley, only clearly an elder judging by the faded fur colour and the grey hairs on his head and snout.

"Granddad!" Harley squeaked excitedly as she ran up to the old Akita who smiled down and patted her head.

"You should be taking lessons from your little sister, you know!" He said before approaching me.

"So, you're the human ambassador of this bloomin' place, am I right?" He asked as he was looking me up and down.

"Oh, that's right, sir. It's nice to meet you." I replied before greeting him with a handshake.

"Pleasure's all mine, kid. Name's Konan. Take it you've already made friends with my bumblin' grandson."

"Really happy to see you too, old man." Hachi said with a bit of a groan, clearly a bit miffed from Konan's words, the latter only responding to him with a glare that said "Watch it, you".

"Did you come to see Nathan's marshmallow arts, Harley's granddad?" Bluey asked, now having joined our conversation.

"Actually kid, I'm here for another reason…" Konan began before putting his focus back on me.

"When I first found out there was a human in our turf, I was a little surprised but then I soon learnt that he managed to take down a Great Dane all by himself at just a yellow belt. In all my years, I've seen and known those kinds of dogs to be the most brutal when it comes to fighting and to think that a meek fourteen year old actually stood his ground against one and walked away the winner made me realise that he's got a lot more guts than I thought he did, which is why I've come to tell him personally to get ready for the upcoming fight."

Wait, what?!

"A-A fight… What do you…?" I stammered out, a little worried at what Konan was suggesting.

"Ya heard me, a full on karate battle at the Queensland arena. You're gonna be butting heads with someone in front of millions of other dogs."

"WOW!" Harley and Bluey exclaimed excitedly, both of their tails wagging.

"B-But sir, I only chose to be trained into martial arts just to defend myself, not beat up guys for sport." I tried to reason with the old dog, recalling the one dog who had brutalised me and likely would've done again had I not taken up karate. I only saw that as a last resort or if someone who was harassing me began to get physical, not as a bloodsport.

"Well let me tell ya, kid, I don't think this is a battle you can simply walk out of… Because there's a very good reason why you were chosen." Konan retorted before beginning his explanation.

"Ya see Faulkner, Harley wasn't the first of my family to get into karate…"

…

"I was."

I blinked a little but remained silent to allow him to continue.

"I started my first training back when I was your age, this was a time when adults told their kids to not rely on them and that they would have to fend for themselves, helps them kids to teach themselves to toughen up for when they grow older. I was one of those kids, and like you, I had my fair share of bullies, and one of them in particular was this Spitz called Muramasa. His fur black all over which perfectly matched his personality, a real mean son of a gun who wasn't above leaving me in bandages. Must've been my seventh beating from him that I decided to take matters into my own hands and get into karate myself. I trained day and night under the strictest and strongest of mentors for years, until at long last I finally qualified for the brown belt. …Then the tournament happened."

I had noticed Konan's tone darken a little as he said something about a tournament just before he resumed.

"To get the black belt, I would have to compete in a tournament against the second strongest brown belt and win. …Just my luck that my opponent would be Muramasa, how would I have known that he was also trained in martial arts? The fight felt like it lasted for hours, so many blows exchanged and blocked, both of us bleeding from the mouth and nose… And then I ended up making a blunder."

Konan exhaled slightly, making it clear he didn't like bringing up whatever it was that had happened to him that day, and I was about to find out just what that was.

"I went in for a roundhouse kick, put every inch of my body weight and strength into it to put Muramasa in his place for good, but he managed to block it just at the last second. That was when I heard the snap. The severe pain I felt seconds later was probably the worst I've ever experienced as I had realised that my leg had fractured upon hitting his arm. Everyone cheered for Muramasa as he became the clear winner whilst I just laid there in agony and humiliation. And every day up to this point whenever he spots me, he makes sure that I NEVER forget that moment, rubbing his victory in my face all he wants."

…I looked down at the floor in compassion, imagine if something like that had happened to me during my fight against Daniel, he would've no doubt killed me on the spot.

"I'm sorry, Konan." I gently put a hand to his shoulder as glanced back at me.

"Eh, don't blame yourself, kid, I got cocky. But…" His tone was filled with a bit of dread as he turned around to face me.

"Muramasa now has a grandkid of his own, looks exactly like him but sixteen years old. Goes by the name of Kurou. And he's just been promoted to red belt. And… here's the real shocker, you know that Great Dane you won against that got kidnapped by someone or something?" I nodded to his question.

…

…

…

"…He was Kurou's best friend. And like him, Kurou's just as nasty and has a real ire against humans. He knows that you got Daniel arrested which led to his disappearance… And he wants to take you down like his granddad did me to avenge him."

That last sentence was so hard for me to stomach. All this time, I thought the only one who was on Daniel's side was Hailey, I hadn't thought for even a second he would have other friends that believed they were superior over humans. And now, this Kurou dog wanted revenge against me for Daniel going missing. Recalling what Muramasa had done to Konan, there was no way of knowing what Kurou could do to me.

"Can't… Can't we tell the police?" I muttered, hoping for a way to back out.

"I'm afraid not. Believe me, kid, I don't like this as much as you but the tournament has already been settled and they're not letting us back out… Besides, even if you do walk away, there's always the possibility that Kurou will scope out for you when you're the most vulnerable."

I looked at my hands in contemplation, could I possibly win against someone who was two belts higher than me? Daniel was bigger than me, but he had stuck to the basic fighting style of punches to the face, the usual street fight method. The possibility that Kurou would hospitalize me in front of so many dogs and they couldn't even do anything to stop it was still in the air which was what I feared the most.

That was when I felt a hand on my leg, said hand belonged to Bluey who looked up at me with a look that said one thing:

"You can do this."

With a deep intake of air, I slowly looked back up at Konan with a firm expression.

"I'll do it. I'll train all I can so that I'm ready for him."

"That's the spirit, kid. Just don't get too carried away or you'll exert yourself." Konan instructed me with a smirk.

"Exert yourself? Or is the old man just saying that to stop you from realizing you'll essentially become better at him in karate." Hachi suddenly butted in with a chuckle, I swear I could see Konan's head turn red with anger.

"WHY YOU-! DON'T YOU KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT RESPECTING YOUR ELDERS, YOU LITTLE GALAH!" Konan suddenly screamed at Hachi, whacking him on the head repeatedly with a stick, the latter yelling out in pain. It was like I was watching a scene from an anime.

"Yikes, Hachi's granddad is kind of mean." Bluey squirmed uncomfortably the scene.

"He came before the 80's, Bluey. Parents were no doubt a lot meaner back them." I uttered back, remembering the punishments Bandit told me he used to receive as a kid whenever he misbehaved.

"That's exactly what he said." I told them truthfully. "Which means I'm gonna have to train twice as hard in time for the tournament in two weeks."

"Pfft, that sook is just digging his own grave by challenging you. If it were me, I bet I'd knock all his teeth out in less than a minute!" Bennett scoffed with a roll of his eyes and a smug smile on his face.

"Yeah, right after you piss yourself in fear, maybe." Megan was quick to say with a bit of a snark in her tone, her eyes not leaving the screen of her phone she was typing away at.

"Well if I were you, I'd shut my own mouth since I only ever use it to give gobbys to my growing army of boyfriends I text to non-stop!" Bennett immediately shot back, making my face fall a little in disgust at him having no sense of decency as Megan growled and tackled her brother in a scuff.

"Natey, what's a "gobby"?" Molly asked curiously as she looked up at me.

"You don't wanna know. At least not until you're an adult." I groaned out, having the misfortune of knowing the meaning of that slang word during a past moment of me reading up on some Australian vocabulary to make myself fit in better in this country.

As Quiffy tried to get between Megan and Bennett who were still literally swinging their arms at each other in a brawl, Coco poked my arm and gestured me to follow her. Wanting to get away from the family drama myself, I complied as Minnie, Lily and Marcus followed us.

"Apologies about that, I feel like our older siblings besides Quiffy practically can't live through one day without getting at each other's throats." Marcus apologised, pinching the bridge of his snout in slight aggravation.

"How does your mom put up with that? It must be stressful for her and your dad sometimes to raise so many kids." I asked. Out of the many questions in life I had, it was how parents had the willpower to raise more than three kids, especially if a few of them or, lord have mercy, ALL of them became dysfunctional.

"Mummy does get really grumpy with Bennett and Megan sometimes, but she loves us all no matter what."

"Yeah, and Bennett is the only one who teases us." Lily and Minnie answered for me.

"Especially when he makes us do what he wants to do." Coco muttered in annoyance, crossing her arms.

Noticing this, I knelt down to the poodle.

"Coco, do your parents tend to spoil Bennett?"

"Spoil?"

"What he means is, do our parents allow Bennett to do whatever he wants with little to no consequence. But to answer your question; No, thankfully they don't. We're all loved and disciplined as equally as possible." Marcus would both explain to Coco and answer my question.

"Well… Whenever we play a game outside, it always has to be what Bennett wants to play. He never lets us do what we want, he always has to be in charge. He's no fair." Coco then explained, slumping a little.

I think I understood now why Bluey and Winton once said how Coco used to change the rules of the game to benefit herself alone or how she would often want the other kids to play whatever game she wanted even if they protested. They say that parents are required to set an example for their kids, and while that's true, kids will always often look up to their older siblings and may learn a few things from them, bad or good.

"He's extra mean to Marcus though…" Lily said, her tone laced with a bit of sympathy.

"He always calls him names like "Nerd", "Puffball", or even "Girly boy"." Minnie continued for her twin.

One look at Marcus and it was rather easy to tell where the name, "Girly boy" came from.

I sighed internally as I was reminded of one student in my school who often wore a hot pink button shirt, I think he was from England. We never really talked, but I do know that besides me, he was a very popular target for bullies because of that shirt alone, with them calling him similar names like "Mangirl", "Camp boy"…One of them once even called him a… Well, a particular F-word that I'd never bring myself to say before he shoved him into the girl's bathroom and laughed as the few girls who were in there screamed and beat the living hell out of him, mistaking him for a pervert.

Honestly, I think judging people for their association with specific colors regardless of their gender was just dumb. Who even said that it was illegal for guys to like pink anyway?

"Sometimes I wish I was born a different color…" Marcus sighed sadly, readjusting his glasses before I put a hand on his shoulder.

"Marcus, don't worry about Bennett making fun of you for your color. Your still a good dog whether you're red, orange, black or white. And you know… Believe it or not, humans used to be awful to other humans for their color." I explained, as all four poodles looked up at me.

"Really?" Coco was the first to ask, curious.

"We don't just have humans with my skin color, there are humans with darker skin from other places. And many years ago, long before I was born, white humans like me treated them like garbage. But then, a hero we call Martin Luther King Jr. decided he had enough and stood up on the podium, and changed the whole world with one of the greatest speeches in human history. He had a dream… that one day, black and white humans would live together in harmony. And that dream came true."

All four of the poodles, especially Coco were in awe of the story about the end of human racism.

"So you see, Marcus, it doesn't matter if you're black, white, pink, yellow, you're still a person… err, dog at the end of the day. And there's one other person who, if he was still around, would indeed tell you that as well."

"Who would that be?" Marcus questioned as I pulled out my phone.

"One of the greatest human singers in all of history. Coco, do you have a plug-in speaker?"

It only took a minute or so for the poodle in question to return with what I had requested as I plugged it into my phone and tapped on a song.

"Are you gonna sing for us?!" Minnie squeed eagerly.

"Sing! Sing!" Lily chipped in, wanting me to do so.

"Well… Alright, why not!" I laughed with a shrug as the song began to play, replicating the dance moves the singer of this tune was known for.

'I took my baby on a Saturday bang'

'Boy is that girl with you? Yes we're one and the same'

'Now I believe in miracles and a miracle has happened tonight'

'But, if you're thinkin' about my baby, It don't matter if you're black or white'

'They print my message in the Saturday Sun'

'I had to tell them I ain't second to none'

'And I told about equality and it's true, either you're wrong or you're right'

'But, if you're thinkin' about my baby, It don't matter if you're black or white'

At this moment, Coco and her three other siblings were already trying to replicate the dance moves I was pulling off with grins on their faces, getting into the song themselves.

'I am tired of this devil'

'I am tired of this stuff'

'I am tired of this business'

'Sew when the going gets rough'

'I ain't scared of your brother'

'I ain't scared of no sheets'

'I ain't scared of nobody'

'Girl, when the going gets mean'

'Protection, for gangs, clubs, and nations causing grief in human relations'

'It's a turf war on a global scale, I'd rather hear both sides of the tale'

'See, it's not about races; just places, faces'

'Where your blood comes from is were your space is'

'I've seen the bright get duller, I'm not going to spend my life being a color'

'Don't tell me you agree with me, when I saw you kicking dirt in my eye'

'But, if you're thinkin' about my baby, it don't matter if you're black or white'

'I said if you're thinkin' of being my baby, it don't matter if you're black or white'

'I said if you're thinkin' of being my brother, it don't matter if you're black or white'

Megan, Quiffy and even their parents had overheard the song with Quiffy and Megan joining in on the dance whilst Bella and her husband, Stefan clapped along to the song.

'It's black, it's white'

'It's tough for you to get by'

'It's black, it's white'

'It's black, it's white'

'It's tough for you to get by'

'It's black, it's white'

As soon as the song died down, all of Coco's siblings applauded me, even Bennett was clapping at one of the windows with an impressed smile, the youngest chanting my name in celebration.

A few hours had passed as I was stood at an upstairs balcony of the Poodle's home, looking over the view of Canistralia when I suddenly looked down at the backyard, noticing Bennett and Marcus playing together, only this time, it seemed like both of them were having fun. And when the latter tripped over, causing his glasses to fall off, Bennett quickly retrieved them and handed them back to his younger brother.

Seemed like even those two were able to get along sometimes.

That was when I noticed where the sun was, and realized that my time was running short, so I took the opportunity to do a few practice jabs and kicks in place, making sure not to hit anything until a voice got my attention.

"I gotta admit, you made this day pretty ripper. And you got Bennett to be just a little less of a bugger than he already is." Megan chuckled as she walked over to me.

"I think Bingo once said that I'm a magic human." I joked, recalling how my actions or even my presence was able to settle disputes. Megan laughed half-heartedly before looking over at the balcony, her face now looking like she was in deep thought.

"Megan?" Coco's teenage sister blinked before looking at me, her expression now having a hint of worry.

"…You said your opponent was Kurou, didn't you?" Megan asked, the hint of dread in her voice barely noticeable.

"That's what Hachi's grandpa told me, yes." I confirmed with a nod, which caused Megan to inhale.

"Nathan… You're with two kids who love you deeply and never want anything to happen to you… Are you sure you want to go against him? Why don't you just tell the CPIA?"

Even after Konan had told me that the tournament had already been settled, it left me wondering why the Canistralia government were allowing their own human ambassador to risk his own skin against someone to hated his guts…

…And just minutes after I left the dojo, I got my answer.

"This is why." I said, pulling out my phone and showing her a text message I had received from Korou himself. Lord knows how he even got my number.

"You're going to pay for what happened to Daniel. And I'll make very well damn sure that you pay with your own blood."

"And if you even think about getting that tub of lard, Bandit or his bimbo wife to get the cops, or that nosey German Shepherd involved… I'll make sure my grandfather contacts the human UN one way or another and he'll say that they used you for a taxidermy project."

"You wouldn't want your fellow furless apes to make Canistralia become the next Hiroshima, wouldn't you? If you value those dogs' lives, then you'll keep your mouth shut."

That's right. Kurou had threatened that he and Muramasa would find a way to communicate with the United Nations and lie that they had tortured and killed me in order to get them to retaliate via nuclear war.

And after what Mackenzie and his family had been put through, that was the LAST thing I'd ever want to happen to them.

Megan let out a snarl as she read those texts before kicking the balcony.

"Grrrrr, that sick BASTARD, WHY DID I EVER…?!" Megan paused to breathe to try and calm herself down before turning towards me again and firmly gripping my hands.

"Nathan, listen to me. No matter what happens, DON'T let Kurou rip you apart. He is DANGEROUS, especially when he's angry. Not just for me, but for Coco's friends."

I inhaled and nodded, but finally decided to ask her the ultimate question.

"Megan… How do you know about Kurou?" Megan's face fell like she was recalling something horrible, it was like she was desperately trying to give me an answer but something was holding her back.

But after a few seconds, she finally gave me that answer.

"…Because me and him used to date."

Author's Note:

To answer your question, TheWriterOfGod42, I'd say the moment where Bandit goes Chad mode and rips the sign off the grass would be my favourite part.