A/N: Just how far south is this story gonna go? Sooouuuuttthhhhhh. . .
Dylan and Dolly carried Fergus back to the Canal with Big Fee and Sid tailing behind them. They had rested Fergus against a wall and, not long after, Fergus stirred awake. The fox blinked a few times, his head feeling like it was full of dynamite, then looked up at the two dalmatians and two rodents blankly. "Fergus, how you feeling buddy?" Dylan asked, his voice laced with concern.
Fergus tilted his head. "My head hurts. . . badly. Do you have some aspirin or something?" He responded in a neutral voice. Dylan and Dolly exchanged worried glances, then looked back at Fergus.
"Do you know where you are?" Dolly asked next.
"Hmm. . . " Fergus tapped his chin and took in his surroundings. His eyes squinted as he thought for several moments. "Nope. Not a clue!" He then said in a chipper tone of voice.
Sid and Big Fee both let out a gasp. "Ferg, d-do. . . " The words caught in his throat and he choked trying to say them. "Do you k-k-know. . . who we are?" Sid asked tentatively, twiddling his thumbs.
"I don't see why I would. I've never seen any of you's in my entire life," replied Fergus innocently before giving a closed-eye smile.
"You've got to remember, Fergy. Remember when we used to clash with the strays of the river canal? How we won over the territory and chased off those scoundrels?" Big Fee tried.
Fergus' eyes widened at the revelation. His friends' expressions had a shimmer of hope in them as they watched Fergus intently. Then, Fergus said, "wowzers! That sounds ridiculous! But those dogs sounded super duper mean and I'm happy they went away."
"Dude, what are you on about? You live here!" Dolly blurted out with mild annoyance.
"Really? This place is a complete dump! I wouldn't live here even if you paid me a million pounds," responded Fergus as his face contorted in revulsion. Not just at the idea, but because he started to pick up on the awful stench of the canal with how unkempt and littered it was.
Then he suddenly had the gall to ask, "do you guys live here, by chance?"
Dolly and Dylan both appeared taken aback, while Big Fee and Sid on the other hand had a look of pride at the assumption. "Me? No way, bro, never gonna happen," replied Dolly sounding slightly offended that Fergus would even think that.
"Me neither. I'm happy being a house dog," responded Dylan in a brighter tone of voice than his sister's.
"This is our pad, Fergus! We're a whole crew, a whole family together," said Big Fee with a flourish.
"While I'm flattered, I think a nice hot mug of cider would be nice right about now. Maybe snuggled up in a lounging robe watching soap operas," cooed Fergus. Big Fee and Sid's jaws dropped at this. That wasn't like the Fergus they knew and loved at all. Whatever happened to the old Fergus, they needed answers now.
"Okay, well there has to be something you do know. So, I'mma ask you something simple," started Dolly. She then held up three fingers. "How many fingers am I holding up?" She asked raising an eyebrow.
Fergus squinted his eyes and then murmured as he counted. He then guessed, "uuhh. . . forty-six?" Everyone facepalmed. Even the old Fergus could count, at least when he was making a steak run at the butcher shop.
"Time to call in the expert," said Dylan in an adamant tone of voice.
Dylan then breathed in and tossed his head back — to let out a loud howl. The howl was sent to the world wide wolf from dog-to-dog. Dogs stuck their heads out their windows to howl a howl that traveled across Camden. The message had reached its destination at last, the Dalmatian residence.
Back at the canal, Dawkins studied Fergus with a calculated expression. They had done a run down of all the questions once more and the outcome had been the same as before. Dylan and Dolly had explained how Fergus was hit in the head several times. Dawkins nodded forlornly with a slight frown. "Yes. . . it seems to be the case alright, zero probability for doubt. Fergus here appears to have suffered a brain reset, aka, amnesia," explained Dawkins scientifically.
"Can I go now? I don't wanna get bitten by fleas from rolling around down here too long," whined Fergus impatiently.
The news hit everyone like a train, but most of all, Big Fee and Sid. Without a leader, they felt lost and without direction. "Say it ain't so, wiz kid. The canal crew isn't the canal crew without Fergy," said Sid in a sorrowful tone of voice, looking at Dawkins with pleading eyes.
Dawkins only looked over his shoulder at them and said nothing. His face said it all. "The damage is done."
Dolly wasn't as perturbed as the others, and was nonchalant about it. She didn't get how no one saw the obvious. "How's about we try rebuilding Fergus' memories, y'know, like they did in Star Trek? It'll be easy. All he needs is to remember how much he loved living wild, then he'll have to revert back to his old self," suggested Dolly.
"That could actually work, repeating his natural habits could trigger a memory retrieval," replied Dawkins with a shadow of hope in his voice.
"Alrighty, then Fergus, you're coming with us," said Dylan with a conspiratorial smile.
"Say what again?" Fergus' eyes widened in confusion.
A/N: It would've been nice if they did more episodes with the dalmatians and the canal crew getting into trouble with each other. A real shame that they ended the show early.