//------------------------------// // 101. Dalmatians. // Story: Baa-Ram-Ewe! // by Darkonshadows //------------------------------// -Earth, approximately somewhere in Africa, Dolly- Okay so ending up here was kind of giving me… okay, not going to lie to myself here, I was having a panic attack. At least Pom would be able to… I looked at her. She was a mess, I could see spots on her wool that were dyed red and after all the crazy stuff she did… she needed a break. “Are you okay Pom?” My voice hitched slightly, I ignored the other animals talking around us as Pom shook her head no. “Maybe you should sit down and eat something.” My stomach gurgled and given that I had missed lunch, which was more kibble unless Pom cooked something she was willing to share, well I had an idea about how 'boned' we currently were. We were in the middle of nowhere and had no idea where we were going from here. At least it was safe as the animals around us weren’t predators. Pom looked pale and dazed, I also think she finally realized something. I was still glued to the wool on her back. I felt a shift and I stood up and quickly hopped off taking my skateboard with me. Unhooking my helmet with my paws I looked at it and grimaced at the damage that had been done to it, I remember blacking out at one point after the tongue struck me. Had I not been wearing this helmet I would be one dead Dalmatian, I checked over my skateboard and it was perfectly fine. I hugged my skateboard and wagged my tail at how happy I was that it survived all of that! Looking to Pom, she was doing the same thing I was in looking over her satchel that was a bit damaged. She reached in and pulled out a slightly mashed banana, she then peeled it and broke it in half, offering me a half of it in her left hoof. I quickly took it in my paws and sat down next to her and bit into it… this, wasn’t a normal banana. The taste was a bit off-putting at first for a banana, but it wasn’t bad. Wait… did she just give me an alien banana? … So cool! -The flight to Britain, hijacked airliner, Spot- I finished checking the radios and rushed to the First Class doors and opened it wide, the sight was… unpleasant is an understatement. Being a detective chicken since the Dearly’s likely bought the farm, I have seen a lot of messes like this one. Sly came up behind me staring at the sight, everyone in First Class was dead. Including the hijackers. “What the…” Sly started slowly. “We need to get to the cockpit immediately, also no jokes about roosters, this isn’t a joking situation!” I ran into the room full of dead bodies, I noted off each one mentally and their wounds and the surroundings. None of these wounds were inflicted by armor piercing rounds, I stopped and checked one of the rifles and pulled a clip from it, more armor piercing rounds and my suspicions about the truth of this flight went up another notch. I slammed the clip back into the weapon and placed it back down exactly as it was found. Pullet Marlow was on the case and that case was everyone in First Class including the terrorist that Bentley stated ‘might’ be Russian Mafia... were all dead. I looked around at the bodies as I slowly made my way to First Class, none of them were snow leopards… so this was definitely Sabu Taj’s doing. “Sabu Taj did this.” I stated firmly once things started connecting in my head, I moved to reach up for the door with my right wing and stopped, Sly went to move towards it in an effort to help me open it. “Stop!” “Why do you think she did all this?” Sly was looking back at all the dead with concern and then narrowed his eyes at the door. “Bentley says she specializes in sabotage right?” The door had to be trapped and Sabu was likely no longer anywhere on the plane, if she had a locator beacon she could be in the middle of being picked up by a boat by now. “So you wouldn’t put it past her to have sabotaged the door." Sly was looking at the door to the very front of the plane warily. "I figured that out when you told me to stop.” “I think this was a doomed to fail plan, whatever it was, and she was setting up all these guys for a fall. If they somehow survived finding out they were on a runaway plane on autopilot.” Opening the door and the controls to the plane could be destroyed… that or a bomb goes off. “Open the door… carefully. If you can get wide enough that I might be able to squeeze through, then we might be good.” While Sly got to work on that, Shanty came up to me looking at all the bleeding corpses and the horrid smell filtering through First Class. I’m glad we moved everyone from Business Class to Economy, otherwise they’d panic at this sight. “Will they be burying all of them?” Shanty sounded hollow and less chipper as she came up to me. “Sorry you had to see this kid, sometimes our world isn’t so pleasant. At least we saved Economy and Business, but it’s far too late for First Class. Rest assured they will be respected properly should we all survive this. Oh and don’t touch any of the bodies, evidence for the international police. I can get away with it because my wings don’t leave any identifiable markings and nobody would believe an animal chicken is involved with anything approaching intelligent thought.” The thing I discovered from the radios is that they were on a time delay to malfunction and while they were made for short range communications all they could give now was static. “We’ve incidentally boarded a plane in the middle of a deadly sabotage setup Shanty, none of this was meant for any of us. It was for the ones we took down who started this whole situation. I believe this plane is set to crash unless I can solve the problem of whatever Sabu sabotaged before it is too late.” “That not be sounding too good.” Shanty looked worried and then she looked over to Sly. “Spot, do you know how to disarm a bomb?” Walking up to Sly, I peeked through the doorway and saw several trip lines. If the door were opened any wider… “Yes, shouldn’t be too hard, it’s a good thing she didn’t sabotage the door handle itself… but this is arguably worse. Hold the door in place while I squeeze through.” I carefully squeezed through the small opening and looked around. Once again, nobody expected a detective chicken to come to the rescue or solve a number of huge problems with just a beak that has been used for absolutely everything under the sun. “Looks like a high yield explosive, she definitely didn’t want anyone surviving this to talk about it. I can possibly survive this, but you and Shanty might want to get back to Economy Class, the explosion will be big enough to take out the front of the plane if I do this wrong. I even suggest moving the mink Bentley is working on even if it would ruin her health.” Hearing them move away, I carefully looked over the bomb. Not a timer type… but it could quickly become one judging by how the trip was set up. Probably a ten count, none of that movie two minutes to live tension stuff and then disarming the bomb at the last second. I had lives counting on me to make this thing inoperable. Okay so the trip wires weren’t a problem, I was easily small enough to get around them and close the door behind me as I did so. Okay… let’s open this thing up. Using my beak, I opened up the bomb by unscrewing a few screws until I could remove the panel and got an idea of what kind of bomb I was looking at. Sabu Taj was good at sabotaging, what she was not good at was demolitions… prefabricated by someone else and if I just… I moved my head forward and gather up five wired in my beak and clenched it fast and did the same with my eyes. Seeing as I wasn’t with my friends again, I then pulled on each of the tripwires that would have set it off had a biped burst into the room. Nothing. I was thankful and disappointed at the same time. Sighing in relief, I had an idea that Bomb Voyage would called this amateur hour workmanship, but I’m thankful that Sabu wasn’t a demolitions expert on top of what else she was good at. She set up the bomb, but she obviously wasn’t an expert in the field. If it were made by Bomb Voyage, I wouldn’t have even bothered trying the door. Having gotten past the bomb, I hopped up into the nearby pilot’s seat and started to check things over, the autopilot was functioning. She didn’t seemed to have sabotage the controls, but I was fairly paranoid at this point and checked the other instruments. Ms. Taj sabotaged the radio, location transponder, the black box and upon further inspection the autopilot was randomly veering the plane left and right but still mostly flying in the general direction we wanted to go in. Though the sabotaged autopilot also wasting a ton of fuel by making so many maneuvers. I went back and to Economy, poked my head in and saw Shanty sitting there nervously. “Shanty, tell Bentley I need his help up front.” We could do this easily now that the bomb was taken care of. “We’ll make it to the ground easily at this point, but I need a technical expert to get us there.” -Camden Town, Shanty- I be cuddling against Mopsy and she be having a vacant look in her eyes as she hugged me. Everyone be surviving the landing. We were being quiet with how we escaped after the airplane landed and currently be seeing the devastation that the airship crashing into the river had caused. Pom was last seen leaping away from it. “Okay, so I’ve got what I wanted, how do we find what you want Spot?” Bentley be talking about infiltrating the crashed airship and gathering some data on Dr. M that the police might not know how to get. “That’s easy. I’m a member of the Bark Brigade, any member of it around will know the codes and respond.” As she talked, Spot scrutinized the crashed airship with anger and curled up wings. “I’ll then have a contact among the animals to direct me to where we need to go or what to look for, a Bark Brigade member always knows what’s going on in any community or in their general surroundings. So don’t think I’m going crazy or anything when I do this…” Spot let out a howl from her beak and she be sounding exactly like a dog, eventually we heard some howling back. Spot responded and received another response, she nodded. “Okay, I’ve made contact with one. There’s a Bark Brigade liaison around here and he’s a service dog for a blind horse biped by the name of Godfrey, he’s currently in the park and will be waiting for us. He might react a bit oddly to seeing that I’m a chicken, but he should be fine with it once I prove that I’m proper Bark Brigade.” Spot be waving at us with her left wing and we followed after her. “Come on, if anyone knows where Pom or any of the Dalmatians I’m looking for in the area might be, then this guy definitely would.” “I’m horrified that things can possibly get even weirder or scarier.” Mopsy said blankly as she draped a hoof over my back, she had been throwing up in the river before this. She not be taking the dead bodies as well as I did, I be seeing a lot of those growing up and be burying all the more important ones. Once my friends… and family… were all together again, we’d be surviving everything together once more. I’d be there to protect them and they’d be there to protect me. Mopsy just wasn’t Pom, but I still took comfort in that she was being here for me no matter the situation. -Camden Town Park, evening, Spot- Entering Camden Town Park, it was evening. Sly, Murray and Bentley were going over their next move and whatever information Bentley managed to scrounge up about Pom or Dr. M’s and their fight. They were also planning out their trip to China to find Panda King, Dr. M wasn’t an immediate concern for them. I was trying to find out what eventually became of my old friends, Lucky, Cadpig and Rolly. Mopsy and Shanty were needing a more civilian place to relax after they saw that sight on the plane, bodies with bloody holes in their hearts, heads and that one guy with a hole in their pelvis. Sabu must not have liked what that one guy said to her in the slightest. I eventually saw a blind man on a bench and the golden retriever service dog with him, Bark Brigade classic position. A service to all, proudly willing to aid anyone in need. I made my way up to him. “Excuse me, I’m the one that called you on the… what do they call it these days? Ah yes, the World Wide Woof, the names Sergeant Spot Irma Chicken and I have some questions that you might be able to answer.” I nodded my head to the old dog and bowed slightly in respect to his age. I looked young, but I wasn’t exactly a spring chicken and was well past my expiration date, by a lot. “Also let me just say that you are doing an exemplary service here and it is an honor to meet you Godfrey.” “Right, it has been a long time since I’ve heard of an odd animal like you being in the Bark Brigade, but we do allow cats, horses and all manner of those willing to learn and aid the world in being a better place. I remember hearing tales of Tibbs and how he bravely fending off two humans to save hundreds of puppies… kind of like the ones I tend to see around here. Most decorated cat in the Bark Brigade, peacefully died with honor and a high ranking.” Ah yes, good old Sergeant Tibbs, back when I was a cadet we loved him far more than Lieutenant Pug. When a bunch of Dalmatians would rather have a cat lead them, then you know Pug was a huge jerk. He was our jerk though, so it evened out eventually. “Brave cat he was, a well honored member to this very day. What is it that you need to know Sergeant Spot?” “I’m a bit of an odd case, but I have held true to the principles of the Bark Brigade… no matter much it hurts...” It hurt a lot saving my friends from Cruella and I’m quite sorry I couldn’t find my way back to them, they probably thought I died from that. “Anyway, do you know where a mass of Dalmatians live and… if they have any interest in Bark Brigade training. I am here to see if I can aid in bringing back interest in the organization and I am currently raising awareness.” “You know… I’ve never actually asked them about it… but you seem like a spry young thing, maybe you could offer them your services as a trainer! I’m too old to do the run whole around, but I do occasionally hold contests around here and there that would make all the locals closer to meeting Bark Brigade standards without putting them through any ‘real’ training.” Oh Godfrey, I intended to do just that and more. If they were related to the Pongo-Dearly family, then it was a sure thing from that point forward. “You would be needing to look for one oh one Dalmatian Street, rather ironic considering there are a hundred and one Dalmatians living there… though there might be one less if news of one of them going missing is true.” Well if that just didn’t cause a pit to form in my stomach, then I realized that the one missing was with Pom. Shanty spins a few good yarns about Pom as a survival expert that taught Shanty how to both survive off the land and how to fight in case they were ever separated. “It’s surely just a coincidence, as I think the street was named after a rather infamous incident before they ended up there.” The incident that was the most infamous one no doubt, so the Dalmatians were likely all holding up in the old Dearly-Pongo home. Well if they were here, then I had no reason to go out to Suffolk. “So… directions?” I had to keep up the act at least. “Huh, oh right, yes, terribly sorry… it should be down that way and take a right, a lot of good dogs on that street I’ll have you know. It’ll be the house covered in colorful spots, one of them is a brilliant artist by the name of Da Vinci… nice girl, if a bit quiet and sensitive. She talks to me about how colorful and amazing our world really is.” Godfrey gave me a nod of dismissal, as I started to turn away with Shanty and Mopsy. Godfrey looked at Mopsy in confusion. “Oh… excuse me… wait… oh… that’s not Pom. Never mind, a case of mistaken identity. Her smell is completely different, carry on Sergeant.” “Well, I just confirmed that Pom was here and she’s apparently knows the dogs in the area, some of the dogs might confuse you for her Mopsy.” Several dogs approached Mopsy, but turned away and lost interest after sniffing her. “Just let them get your scent and you’ll be good to go. If they bother you, tell me and I will tell them off. Now follow me!” -House 101, Dalmatian Street- So this was it, it was fairly obviously no bipeds lived here. The paint on the home was done by the artistic Dalmatian given how it was applied by paw. I could almost hear the havoc going on inside from a hundred playful dogs being in an enclosed space, the door had a paw scanner so these Dalmatians were smart enough to keep up with technology at least. Wondered how well their security system actually worked and if Cruella found a way around it. I motioned for Mopsy to knock on the door, eventually a female dog that reminded me of Pongo and Perdita mixed together poked her head out and looked at us. She was wearing a nursing dog identification on her collar, a hospital worker. “Pom? No… different eyes, different smell, but she looks so much like her.” The Dalmatian then looked to me. “Excuse me ma’am, but you wouldn’t happen to be related to the Pongo’s would you?” She looked a little surprised, how many generations have passed since I’ve become a world wandering nearly immortal chicken? “I have a bit of an interesting history that I need to get off my chest, my name is Spot Irma Chicken or Pullet Marlow if I’m on the job. I’m a sergeant in the Bark Brigade and your family has had members in it before, if we can talk inside that would be great.” “My name is Delilah Dalmatian, while I might be interested in letting you in..." Delilah looked over me and to Mopsy and Shanty. "I’m wondering about those two.” “Does she be understanding us?” Shanty asked immediately with a hasty and hopeful tone, I nodded. “I’m one of Pom’s chil... er... friends, I be Shanty… and I am being through quite a bit to get here.” “Can you do magic?” Delilah asked, I had to translate. Shanty swung out her left hoof and a small arc of water bursts from it. “Huh, smells like the sea… this is going to be quite interesting and I like tropical smells. Come in, all of you.” Delilah motioned a paw and we walked into a house filled with Dalmatians, yep the family has been busy as they ever were. I think I saw a dog with no hind legs in a wheelchair zipping about, it reminded me of Tripod. Might even be one of his descendants. “We have water for guests and at least an amount of fruits, vegetables and other completely dog safe snacks like carrots… don’t mind the mess, it’s like this near constantly despite my son’s best efforts.” -Five minutes later- “So you have no idea where Dolly and Pom are now, because they haven’t come back?” Shanty drooped. “At least I know she be capable of surviving a fall from that high up.” “Mom, Dolly and Pom are on the news again!” It didn’t even take a second for Delilah to react to hearing one of her children, she was definitely a direct descendant of Perdita. The flood of puppies that carried us into the living room to watch the television was just like old times, the TV was showing a news report. “Leap Lamb and Caper Canine were last seen leaving the airship of criminal Dr. M wanted by international police for various crimes, not too long afterwards they were spotted fighting this monster on a plane heading towards Africa.” The screen showed Pom’s leg being grabbed by an adult gremlin, she looked so much like Mopsy that it was uncanny that they weren’t sisters. What happened next was Pom looking up and her eyes sweeping across all the people in the plane, she looked down and I knew right then and there that she'd make a drastic decision. “Leap Lamb successfully took the monster with her off the plane and it has managed to land with the damaged engine, it is unknown where Leap Lamb and Caper Canine are now should they have survived the fall.” “Pom is already being a hero long before they be giving her a super hero name.” The comment earned the attention of the numerous puppies in the room, they all quickly cuddled up to Shanty and started to sniff her. “She be alive and is being through worse!” They could practically smell Pom on her and then they started asking about magic, they were an excitable bunch. “She doesn’t understand you, all she’s hearing is barking… but if you want to know about magic. It should be me you should be asking. I’m an old family friend… real old…” I looked away while rubbing my left shoulder with my right wing, I then addressed Delilah. “Ma’am what was the most recent incident with Cruella like and did she actually hurt anyone?” “You know about…” Delilah looked confused. “When I say old, I mean I was alive when Pongo and Perdita were still around… and my best friends were Lucky ‘the survivor’, Cadpig ‘the politics pooch’ and Rolly ‘the plump’ who was a star for ‘Kanine Krunchies’ commercials and refused to eat chicken... for reasons. I even personally knew Patch, Thunderbolt’s sidekick.” I just had to know what that mortal demon had gotten up to. “If you have to ask, magic is weird and Cruella’s attempts at killing me failed spectacularly. You’re families history is far more bizarre than you would actually believe. Cruella was basically your ancestor’s next door neighbor, ‘for years’, and she never got a single Dalmatian.” “This... explains even more.” Delilah intoned softly.