-???, Oleander-
“I have to ask, is Flonne evil?” I asked as the angel continued talking about love. “I can’t tell.”
“Can we please get away from this ‘love freak’ Ollie?” Fred asked politely. “Also she’s half angelic… and angels were eldritch abominations with multiple eyes so technically… look let’s just go Ollie.”
“Yes, I think I’d much prefer dealing with Etna to her at this point.” I turned and trotted off with Fred floating at my side and eventually came to a room where we saw Song Ender sitting on the throne and the local overlord Laharl’s broken body was on the floor. “Seriously Song Ender, are you going to be like this around Pom?”
Song Ender barked twice and wagged his tail at seeing me, the positively charge graffiti dog had the title of overlord floating over his head now.
“Fine… have your fun Song Ender.” I sighed loudly. “Want to go hire some Prinnies for fun and violence Fred?”
“WOULD I?!” Fred seemed ecstatic at the idea.
I had to find Pom quickly or else things were going to go to Tartarus for her, quite liberally.
-Earth, Edge of Camden Town, high in the skies, Dolly-
I was a normal dog this morning.
I would know, I checked.
I’m still the same Dalmatian I was a little more than a week ago when I met and bonded with an alien, but the circumstances involving me being shot at by multiple robots piloting science fiction weapons was not what I was expecting to ever happen.
Avoiding those shots was even harder when you were being swarmed by at least eight of them, didn’t exactly have a peaceful moment to count them as I was swerving around everywhere. Still, making one of them crash into the airship was kind of cool, if I wasn’t currently covered in scratches and scorch marks from the various near misses.
At least I was wearing a helmet and my board was covering my backside in case I took a direct hit.
Also this flying vehicle was started to smoke as it flew, which was somewhat of a good thing as they hadn’t hit anything vital yet and the smoke was throwing off their aim.
I’ve heard of dog fighting once or twice, but this is ridiculous.
“Oh my dog, hurry up Pom!” I sent her my feelings of distress as much as I could, because I was outnumbered, outgunned, mildly injured and this flying machine was about to explode out from under me.
Cruella had been far less dangerous than all the stuff I’m currently doing, another blast made the vehicle shake. Yeah, I wasn’t an expert, but this thing won’t be able to fly for much longer, at least I was dealing damage to the airship and it had stopped over the canal.
At least when it crashes down, it won’t do as much damage to the surrounding area.
-Inside Dr. M’s 'Arpeggio Acquisitioned' Automated Airship, Pom-
The door opened and I galloped in to see him face to face.
“So we finally meet. My mandrill machines were somewhat made on a budget as I’m sure you might be able to guess by now given how easy they are to break when they are not on the offensive and using their impressive strength to deal with their opponents.” Dr. M had his hands behind his back, I didn’t approach him and looked him over. Mandrill wearing a short lab coat, blue shorts and blue gloves. Aside from the purple fur that’s about it really, nothing especially unique aside from apparently being able to build machines. “Tell me, of whom I am dealing with, because I seriously doubt I can kill you at this stage and you have proven to me that I really should have gone with the mutants.”
I pointed at my throat opened my mouth and made some vague raspy noises and shrugged at him.
“Ah, you’re mute… how quaint… so you couldn’t tell me even if you wanted to.” He seemed angry about that, but then he calmly sighed. “Instead of fighting me, I could use an incredible individual such as yourself. I have plans, yes, oh so many plans, we might even be able to take the world. I’m sure you’re a smart individual given how well you dealt with my turrets and tore apart my machines with ruthless efficiency, so why not join me?”
I gave him a flat look, I shook my head no and spread my legs slightly for a leap. I didn’t trust this guy and I’m pretty sure he was about to…
“Bah, your one of those noble hearted types like Conner aren’t you! We could have stolen from everyone and nobody would have stopped us, but then he had to go and find a woman and have a child!” What was this guy ranting about? “I’m so glad I sold him out and gave his location to Clockwork, there’s no money in having a soft heart!”
I tilted my head at him and gave him a curious look.
“Right, I forgot myself for a moment, now if you’ll excuse me… and die!” He pulled out a pair of weapons and I was already on the ceiling and running as he hit the wall behind me several times with a series of energy blast spreading outward as if he expected me to dart around them and at straight him. “What the…”
I threw myself at him from the ceiling and slammed into him leading with my front hooves, this knocked the two weapons he pulled on me went skidding off to the floor.
“Well played, didn’t know you were capable of doing that!” He threw his left fist at me and I easily blocked it with my right leg, I hit him in the face dazing him with my left hoof. I was about to hit him a second time to knock him out, but he opened his left hand grabbed my right leg and then quickly flung me over himself into the floor using his feet to leverage me off the floor before I could stick to him. I was already halfway to my hooves and, instead of going for the energy weapons, he darted out of the door to the room. “I know when I’m beat, catch me if you can Leap Lamb. Activate rear engines overheat sequence, code phrase ‘Cooper is a fool’!”
I was already on my hooves and chasing after him into the corridor as red lights started going off and sirens were blaring everywhere.
Inhaled and exhaled to burst after him and then slammed into something as he opened a panel on a wall and hit a button, I looked at Dr. M and the field of energy separating us.
“If you can get out before this thing crashes and burns… well good on you, but I have contingencies for just this occasion where I’ve met my match!” A door opened up in the wall, he smiled again. “I hope you die in the crash and that we never meet again. Since you’re so fond of leaping into heroics, I’ll just use that as a name for you, so long Leap Lamb!”
Dr. M started cackling as he entered the door and it shut behind him, I heard something explode on the other side.
I turned and started trying to find my way back towards the ladder that brought me inside this strange airship. Who builds an airship with the balloon envelope in several places around the boat itself?
Well sure the multiple balloons were made of a pretty flexible metallic looking material, but still…
Was the entire ship tilting? Starting to gallop, I tracked my own sent back through the ship and as soon as the angle started getting steep. I started to cling to the floor and continued rushing to get out.
I felt heat wash over the corridor behind me and I saw a wall fire coming from the way I just came, I must have been by the back end of the ship.
-Dolly-
If that was a news chopper nearby, then my family could be watching. I hope they don’t see me crash and burn. I veered hard for the right side of the ship and heard something.
“Again, farewell Leap Lamb, I hope my robots deal with you after they are done with your ridiculous capering canine!” Dr. M said over some loudspeakers as a small boat shaped aircraft flew away from the airship at high speeds. “You may have foiled me this day, but at least I will live to rebuild!”
No way, was that guy getting away with… the back end of the ship exploded, drawing my attention as I veered away from it and it caught three of my chasers making them fall out of the air. That still left me with five flying headaches to deal with still trying to tag me.
All the propellers above the airship stopped and the flying boat started tilting backwards, pointing its smoking rear end at the ground. I could feel Pom’s location as she moved through the ship like a fire was lit under her butt, which was likely from what I was seeing out here.
I steered the floating vehicle up and towards the front where the open hatch and ladder was, I was close enough to the ship that if I crashed I could jump onto it.
I still had to shift to the left and right, a chunk of glass was blasted out of the window in front of my and struck my head, I fell back onto the platform section of the flying vehicle as and looked up at the blade like piece of glass now sticking out of my skating helmet.
I was never going to be dissing any safety gear again after this. I rolled to the side as a blast struck the vehicle and created a small crater where I was laying.
-Camden News Team-
“The sheep, that is calling herself Leap Lamb, is still inside and the dog known as Caper Canine is dancing around the shots of several of the deadly robots. Will these two make it out of this alive?!” The camera zoomed in on Dolly leaping for the controls of the flying scooter and jerked the controls to the left. Several shots rained down and damage the vehicle even further. “That has to be one of the luckiest dogs I’ve ever seen… or is that dog doing it on purpose?”
The dog looked up at the several vehicles swooping down on her and she hit something on the vehicle and flipped it around and through a mass of energy converging on her, she hit the same button and did something with the left handle of the bar and was now flying straight towards the airship.
“Well the dog is being called Caper Canine, maybe it’s been taught a few tricks by the super hero that showed up at the bank to stop the robbery by the one calling himself Dr. M who has escaped swearing vengeance.” The scene showed a close up of Dolly looking prepared to jump from the machine she was on as she climbed up onto the controls. “The situation is currently looking grim for the two would be heroes that are still under assault or are inside of a burning and crashing airship. What is that dog doing now?”
The dog glared at the five machines bunching up behind her and she slapped both her left paws on two different buttons at the same time and then kicked off of the flying machine for the airship that was in the middle of going vertical.
The camera focuses on the machine the dog left behind as it started glowing and it exploded violently taking out the other five robots and their vehicles.
“That might be one seriously smart dog, do you think it’s an animalistic?” One of the news casters queried.
“Could be.” Another person stated in wonderment as the dog hit the deck in a roll and started immediately running towards the nose of the ship. “Now there’s a Dalmatian that knows how to run.”
-On the streets of Camden, Dylan-
They wouldn’t be calling Dolly smart if they knew what she was like personally, I was watching the television in a store nearby to the bank with multiple bipeds watching it with rapt attention.
Dolly wasn’t exactly the brainy one in our family, but she can admittedly be fairly clever at times.
“Dylan, this stuff is wonderful! Why, the data I get from this will be absolutely fascinating, inspiring even!” Dawkins was having fun with looking at the bits of machinery we were putting into an old trolley that nobody was using. “Ooh, I can make some serious upgrades to our home’s security with this!”
The brainy type was reserved for dogs like Dawkins, who was having the time of his life picking up bits of destroyed machinery with the help of various puppies that showed up when I called for some assistance.
I was keeping a lookout and making sure nobody was paying attention to our family sneaking away with this stuff.
The bunny and the fox Interpol officers had just finished off the last robot and I quickly signaled to the pups to get Dawkins moving and out of here before they noticed our family scrounging about.
“What… but… there’s still more to…” Dawkins whined as the Puppy Pack started quickly pushing him and the used trolley away, after having collecting a smorgasbord of robot parts and some pieces from a few of those round flying platform vehicles. “Oh kibbles!”
I wasn’t about to think of them as flying saucers, oh darn it!
“Don’t worry guys, I’ll inform you of what’s happening with Dolly when I get back!” I barked after them and went back to watching Dolly doing something dangerous again. “I promise!”
At least Dolly was good at climbing, it is getting down that was the hard part.
-Dolly-
That took care of the machine minions at least, fighting a super villain wasn’t as fun as I thought it would be.
I’m tired, hungry and was in serious danger here, my bro couldn’t help me, I was freaking out and the back end of this flying boat was on fire and it was slowly coming up to where I was.
Well… I felt it was all worth it if this was this end. No regrets here, stopped a bad guy and had a very strange life of misadventures up to this point. Also a lot of lazing about, skateboard, barking, running around the park with my siblings… yeah, I’ve had a good life up to this point.
I leapt up to the hatch and grabbed onto it with my paws and climbed up on it as the airship became entirely vertical and started to slowly fall straight down rear first. I looked to my right and down the nearly horizontal tube for Pom.
The flying vehicle was a bust and this situation wasn’t any fun. My only hope and the only way I was getting out of this is unharmed was if Pom gets back quickly enough to get me before we hit the ground.
Speaking of, I looked at the ground far below and didn’t relish my chances of surviving a drop from this high up without Pom doing that fancy wing thing she did earlier when her flying vehicle blew up. I’m tired, hungry and my family was probably going to mourn me.
Ugh, what I wouldn’t do for a parachute right now!
I felt a pair of hooves wrap around me and before I knew it I was sitting in the fluff on Pom’s back and it weirdly started sticking me to it.
“Uh… do you think you can do the gliding thing with me on your back? Me and my stuff is not too heavy is it?” The look I received from Pom was one of slight panic, but she nodded yes to the first and shook her head no to the second question. “Oh thank goodness, but… how far can you glide? This thing is about to go up like those things the bipeds set off on Boom Night and I don’t want to blow up!”
I felt a serene calming feeling flow through our bond, Pom was reassuring me that everything would be fine.
She patted me on the head and then took a sharp and deep breathe… which is that thing she does before she…!?
The world was a blur for a few second and looked back to see that we would be a fair distance away from the ship crashing into the canal below. Looking down at Pom’s rear legs I saw her wool stretching between them and then her front legs which had those large wool flaps, even the wool around her head had changed slightly to resemble a helmet of some sort. Her slightly scorched satchel looked to be glued to her stomach as she carried us away.
Deepak said she was good at meditation, but I wasn’t a dog that liked to sit still. If meditation could do that for Pom then… sign me up!
In this case I’m making an exception about sitting still as I rather liked living and didn’t want to disturb Pom’s gliding.
-Camden News Team-
“Leap Lamb indeed, did you see that jump, I don’t think any normal animalistic could pull off a leap quite like that. That has got to be the world record for longest and highest leap I’ve ever seen! It seems that we’ve entirely lost track of the super hero and her canine sidekick Caper Canine, but we will keep you up to date with coverage of this startling event that has happened here in our sleepy little Camden Town area.” The mouse that was broadcasting from the helicopter looked around, but couldn’t see Pom anywhere. “The heroes have made it out safely and the only thing left to do is the cleanup, thankfully Camden Town’s finest have cleared the inevitable crash site area so no one should get hurt. We’ll expect the canal to be backed up temporarily while the wreckage is removed. This has…”
-Near the bank, Dylan-
Sighing with relief, I couldn’t help but think Dante was wrong on this one.
Dolly would be back home soon before we knew it, Pom could do that floating thing and everything would be fine.
So why do I still feel this sense of dread?
I mean I know Dante’s prediction are purely accurate now, but…
-Pom-
So I was becoming a bundle of neuroses, what else could go wrong today? I’m surprised Dolly is okay, after all she was put through and she has an alarming bit of glass sticking out of her helmet.
Once we land, I’m going to check her over to make sure she’s mostly alright. At the moment Dolly Dalmatian was my responsibility.
I felt my satchel get painfully slapped against my stomach, we just hit something large and I quickly clung to whatever it was before I slid too far back on it, I looked down and saw that were on a large white flying machine that was moving incredibly fast through the air.
“Uh, Pom… did we just seriously land on top of an airliner?” Dolly seemed to be panicking a bit and I was too, I didn’t even know what an airliner was. I knew what an airship was, but this was new to me. “Please don’t let go, of me or this plane. I’ve had enough excitement for today, thank you!”
I’m Right here with you Dolly, though I wished I could ask what an airliner was. I think the answer would be the fairly obvious thing beneath us.
“Don’t worry, it could be flying to London and we could be landing soon and then we can just walk back to Camden.” Knowing our luck Dolly, that is the best possible outcome… which is why it’s not going to happen.
I know my luck, I’ve been dealing with it these last few months.
-Haiti, Cooper Van, Sly-
“Whoa… that had to be Shanty’s caretaker Pom!” I stated with wide eyes.
“Looks like it Sly, the attack happened in the Camden Town area in Britain not too long ago, the news about the super heroes Leap Lamb and her sidekick Caper Canine is going viral.” Bentley was already neck deep in the information, we had been just idly looking into news from Britain to see what the atmosphere was like after our takedown of Raleigh. “An old associate of your father assaulted a bank there with mechanical minions.”
“That Dalmatian looked a lot like a bigger Cadpig, certainly doesn’t seem to have her personality though. This is just making me really miss the time I spent around Rolly.” Spot stared blankly from where she was seated and staring at the TV with what had to be a wistful look. She then turned to me with narrowed eyes. “We have to go there so I can investigate the Dalmatians in the area to see if there’s been a recent drop in population!”
“Shanty is about ready to check out anyway, so are we on the next flight to Britain?” Murray asked jovially.
“Speaking of going to Britain… what do you know about this Dr. M.” I turned to the chicken to see what she had to say, she knew a lot about my father and I don’t think I was going to get any help on that unless I went to see his comrades. “You knew my father’s gang Spot, so if you know something…”
“That guy… well… wait… the night of the incident… THAT GUY!” Spot suddenly shouted with an angry clack of her beak and a furious look in her eyes. “I wished he had gotten caught, he’s the only one that could have betrayed your father’s location to Clockwork! I certainly didn’t and I knew you back when you were baby!”
“W-w-what?!” That mandrill did what now?!
“Well it certainly wasn’t the biped walrus Jim McSweeney, he was like a brother to your father and I heard he turned himself in and is currently doing his time. You might want to look him up later and have a talk with him about your father.” Spot was an odd chicken, I mean a chicken that wanted to be a Dalmatian growing up and actually managed to achieve it once. “The only other one who knew where Conner Cooper lived when he left the gang was Dr. M, that mandrill was probably the one that sold your father out to the Fiendish Five and what led to that night even happening. Your father was a cautious guy, Ruby didn’t divine your family’s location because of the protections against divining where the home even was through magic. I would know if it were her, I’ve been stuck with Ruby for years! Ruby just sought out a way through the defenses on the house.”
I clenched my fist, it seemed I had another criminal to bring to Carmelita's form of justice eventually.
-Duckberg, the (mostly) abandoned beachside amphitheater, Smolder-
“Thanks again for being here to watch out for me and Ocellus, Lena.” This morning was going pretty well, but I thought Ocellus was in need of fresh air.
I was tired of being cooped up in a laboratory with mad scientists, after the previous world I didn’t want to deal with more dangerous robots.
“Don’t mention… whoa… uh… you said your caretaker looks like a sheep, but isn’t?” Lena sat up, the magical shadow duck was looking at her device.
“Yeah, they are sometimes hard to tell apart from sheep… why do you ask?” She had my complete and undivided attention as she showed me her device. “That’s Pom, where is this!”