The next morning...

Balin and Loona walked over to I.M.P for another day of both work and school. Loona drank a caramel latte in her paws while she bought Balin a donut, with pink icing and rainbow sprinkles.

"Hmm..." Loona had a somewhat naughty expression on her face. "Say, kiddo, does that donut remind you of anything?"

"Umm..." the boy curiously examined his donut, like Shakespeare with a skull. "Oh! The Simpsons!"

"HA! I knew you were still trying to watch those shows!" chucked Loona.

"What? No, I'm not." he flushed in defence.

But underneath that red, there was a little lying green in his face. And secretly, Balin knew it too.

"What am I going to do with you, huh?" Loona teased softly some more. "Am I gonna have to start growling at 'every' cartoon you watch now?"

"You'll have to catch me first!" Balin teased back as he began running along the footpath.

The little human boy laughed as he ran a few feet away from her, thinking she was running after him. But she wasn't. He then slowed down a little bit to look behind him and see she wasn't even using her super-speed.

"Sorry, kiddo. Can't text, drink coffee, and sprint at once." she chuckled again.

"Okay. Sorry." Balin pressed on.

"No need for that." Loona then cheekily replied, scooping him into her arms before he could have a chance to run this time. "Because I just finished my coffee!"

Balin just giggled as she then tickled his tummy with her snout. "You got me, Loona!"

"Of course I did. Hellhounds are dog and wolf-like demons, after all." shrugged Loona. "If there's two things were are, it's vigilant, yet... playful."

The little boy proved her right, as Loona then felt him nuzzle into her furry chest like a cat or a hellpup would. This made her flush, knowing she was still out in public.

"Hehehehehe."

With that, she set off for work once more, carrying the boy in her arms like a baby.

"Loona? Aren't you going to put me down?" asked Balin.

"Nope." replied Loona straight. "I actually like carrying you like this."

As humiliating and embarrassing as she thought carrying this kid in her arms like she was his mother would still look, all that bottled-up personality started cracking piece-by-piece once again.

...

A few moments later...

Loona kicked open the I.M.P office door, scaring the hell out of Moxxie and half his paperwork, dropping the rest into the now-jammed shredder.

"Ugh...! PLEASE stop kicking down the doors!" he groaned with an eye-roll just like her. "It's bad enough that we have ass- I-I mean, buttholes barging through our walls like the goddamn Kool-Aid guy on Earth!"

"Wow, McFatty. A double quarter-pounder?" Loona said sternly. "You owe me TWO bucks this time."

Moxxie moaned again, handing her two coins for the swear jar.

Blitzø soon waltzed into the office, nudging Balin's shoulder.

"Morning, champ!" he greeted him energetically and ruffled his hair. "Ready for your first I.M.P mission?"

"Already?" Balin showed a surprised look. "But I have school today."

"Yeah, Blitzø." added Loona flatly. "I told you we have to find more of an opportunity to talk too."

"Yeah. After school today!" replied Blitzø, keeping his smile. "I'm just so excited to have heard those five words yesterday."

"What five words?" asked Balin unsurely.

"Balin, Balin, Balin." chucked Blitzø. "Can you come with us."

"Then cool it, dad." Loona sighed in defeat. "We'll make it an afternoon thing, if he decides to do an easy job. But as long as he has his fur bracelet, I can sniff it as it moves, so you'll be okay, won't you kiddo?"

Balin then looked at the fur bracelet he still had around his wrist, and took a few seconds of thinking before he replied.

"Okay. We'll see what we can do."

"SPLENDID!" Blitzø celebrated. "Then we'll see YOU after SCHOOL!" he then skated into the office in his mood, with roller-skates!

Moxxie looked back at the moment flabbergasted, while Loona sat at her desk opening a portal to Earth for the boy.

"Since when did you get rollerblades, sir?!" he shouted to the boss, before figuring it out. "Oooh, right. I knew I should've spent my pay check on Infused God."

"You shouldn't eat that stuff, Moxx." teased Loona. "It's unhealthy."

"Your dad shouldn't be gay." Moxxie snapped back at her. "It's uninspired."

"HA-HA!" laughed Blitzø, while Loona just let out a slight snicker of amusement.

AN HOUR LATER...

At Holy Water School, Balin settled into his homeroom with Matt as the other kids chatted and played to their little hearts' content, until Mrs. Briggs entered.

"Good morning...!" she sang.

"Good morning, Mrs. Briggs." replied the children, sitting in their chairs.

"Now, I hope some of you did your homework." she smiled. "Because while the rest focus on that, I've bene thinking, since we're nearing to the end of the school year, Christmas break, why not have some fun, and... do some fun things!"

"Oooh!" the kids then went, including Balin and Matt.

"So, for our first activity of the countdown, why not... watch a movie!"

"Aaahhh!" the kids then went again, making Mrs. Briggs laugh.

"I'm glad you agree, nicely for a change, because I've got two movies waving in my hands." the ditzy teacher continued. "Inside Out, or, Bratz!"

Seeing the DVDs, everyone in the class murmured to each other while Balin widened his eyes, feeling something take over him.

The teacher soon heard a little soft growling, then a bark or two, as she walked over to the DVD player.

"Fuck." she sighed to herself, before speaking aloud again. "Buzz and Leni Caster, I know that kinda bark. Even my cocker spaniel craps out loud ones at movies he hates."

"Uhm, Ms.? That wasn't us." said Buzz uncomfortably.

"Yeah..." Leni said suspiciously, looking around the classroom.

The kids were a little suspicious as to where those sounds came from too, but only Balin knew as he sat frozen in his chair.

"What the heck was that?" Matt asked him in a whisper. "Is there a dog in the school? Is Loona in the school?"

"...Somewhere." Balin wanted to say, but could only speak in his mind.

...

First Class: P.E:

As everyone in Balin's P.E class got changed into their sports uniforms, including the little boy himself, the P.E teacher lined them up at the starting line of the school courtyard.

"Alright, you little speed-demons!" he announced. "You all know the drill!"

"I was born ready!" said one of the girls in the class, a year older than the rest with bushy brown hair.

"Love the attitude, Lynn." the teacher snapped his fingers at her in respect. "Ready! Set! GO!"

And the kids were now running at full speed in the courtyard, from the starting line at the left side of the school to the finish line at the other.

But something went awry again.

Balin saw his shadow as he ran across the grass and the sun shone, and it soon made him yap at it and chase it like a puppy chasing its tail.

Thankfully, the students didn't see it. But the P.E teacher did.

"What the fuck...?" he whispered to himself.

A few seconds into the act, Balin stopped chasing the shadow and slowly snapped back to reality.

"Whoa!" he panted like a dog. "What just happen-?" he then gasped at the panting as well, shocked at where both came from.

...

Second Class: SCIENCE:

Soon, Balin was in Earth & Environmental Science class, where he learnt about the different kind of bugs in the world, and how they provide it with pure protein.

The teacher even brought in a few flies and bees to demonstrate, which of course were kept locked away from the students of course.

But one fly managed to get into Balin's head without him or the classmates knowing, and before he knew it, he felt the urge to scratch.

"Ms.? Can I please go to the bathroom?" he asked sheepishly.

"Meh, take a hall pass, kid." she answered blankly.

"Thank you!" Balin grabbed a hall-pass from the desk and bolted a few feet away from the classrooms where no-one could see him.

He then got down on his knees and began scratching at his ear like a normal dog, making him sigh in heavenly relief. But he also wondered, what was making him act so weird?

What the fuck was wrong with him?

...

LUNCH TIME:

Soon, Balin walked over to the tuck-shop to grab his lunch order, and at the first sight of his freshly-made garlic bread, he started salivating and licking at it excessively.

"Garlic bread! I love you. I love you, I love you!" he panted between licks.

"Hey, Balin." one of his BFFs, Ash, walked up to him. This made Balin stop before she could see him doing this. "What's up with you?"

"Oh, nothing. I'm okay." he replied nervously. "I'm just having a happy, energetic day."

"...If you say so." replied the little girl, as she grabbed her lunch order.

...

Sitting down with their friendship group, everyone started taking small bites of their food, while Balin looked up at James who had a chocolate bar in his hand, making him have the urge to crawl up to him without anyone else looking and beg for the treat with his puppy dog eyes.

"Uhh, what the heck are you doing?" James as his friend, who immediately snapped out of it in humiliation.

"Oh! Uhh! Nothing!" Balin flushed in embarrassment. "Nothing."

"He's been like this all day." whispered Matt to Amy. "I'm kinda worried."

"You think it's about Loona?" Amy asked next.

"Well you know what they say. A dog needs a boy." shrugged Matt in response.

...

Throughout the rest of the day, humiliation followed Balin in the form of hellpup urges.

He peed in one of the urinals lifting his leg up and panting in relief.

He dug into his recess like a rabidly hungry dog, or even a fox.

He nuzzled into a classmate's leg during Italian class as he heard her speak in the romantic tongue without her or anyone else knowing. Luckily, the teacher didn't know either.

And he even howled during music class, rehearsing for his variety show. He was even howling the notes in absolute perfect pitch. Thankfully, he was in one of the room's studios, so no-one was in there with him.

But someone could hear him.

"Wow, Balin! Nice howling!" said one of his classmates from afar. "I've never heard my dog howl like that. You must be a better singer than he!"

Balin then showed a shocked face, not only blushing in embarrassment, but taking that as a compliment too.

AFTER SCHOOL...

At the end of the day, Balin sat alone in the shade, shaking and hiding from everyone else as he waited for Loona. Which he hoped would be VERY soon, after that helluva day he had to go through, without letting his friends know he was now a hybrid.

Matt then walked up to his shivering BFF, now a little more worried.

"Balin?" he asked quietly. "Are you okay? You seemed to have been out of it. All day."

"Y-Y-Yeah, Matt." sighed Balin. "It's just... I'll tell you what's been going on all day when I heal from all this... humiliation. I promise."

"If it's something from... down there, I understand." said Matt thoughtfully.

Soon, Balin felt yet another urge. This time, to go full hellpup once and for all.

"Oooh gosh! I'll see you tomorrow, Matt!" he panicked, running from his BFF like he was about to puke or shit himself.

Hiding behind a secluded area of the school, he then transformed into his hellpup form and started crying as he looked at his paws and buried his face in them.

This crying only last a short time until he wiped his eyes, trying not to scratch them with his claws on his left hand. He soon used the right paw to text Loona about the problem.

"It's okay, Balin." he breathed to himself. "You just wait here for Loona to take you back to Hell, and as long as no-one sees you in this form, not even your best friends, you'll be safe."

Then there was trouble.

Using his hound ears, he then heard Amy and her posse walking straight towards the building he was hiding behind.

She did sound like they were close by, but the bend he was hiding in was rather open. A real ask for trouble moving slowly towards him.

He had to hide before any of her group could see him, so before he could do that, he tried getting out of his hellpup form. But he was once again pushing. So he couldn't do it, unless he stayed calm and imagined his human self.

But by the time he did, it was too late.

Balin was still in his hound form, with only little blue flames burning around him when Amy and the girls walked by. Seeing the little flicker of fire, they all looked with widened eyes to see the little dog he was.

He crouched down and sat on all fours like a normal one, just to play dumb. "Woof?" he said in a frail bark.

A stunned 5 second silence hung in the air, until eventually, the girls showed wry smiles and shouted at the sight of Balin.

Or as they called him; "A PUPPY DOG!" while Amy just squealed in delight.

"AAAAHHHH!" screamed Balin.

He was in real dog shit now.

A/N: See y'all in the next chapter.