-Earth, Sobaka, Cooper Van Roof, Shanty-
I had a song in my heart, it was about the sorrows in my life. It was about the strife… but also the lights that came into it. I be still having a heart after so many heartless things be happening to me, mostly because I don’t want anyone to be ending up like me. Being homeless was being very bad.
A lullaby, a familiar tune, sung to me by someone I’ve almost forgotten. I reached up and ran my hoof over my headband.
“When we met in that burning village, on that day not long ago~.” I leaned against what was still left of Dodo and was tilting my head back and forth. “Oh, has it really been that long, at least I’d like to think so~.”
I be running my hoof over what was currently Dodo.
“I didn’t know what to think, when you stood over me so imposing~. Nothing lasts forever, at least we’ve had some fun~.” A few tears be dropping from my eyes. “Your current fate, your life at stake~. I need you back, like Pom after saving me from that heart attack~. Even if you couldn’t move, so much as make a single snack, I’d still be wanting my beloved Dodo back~.”
I fed Dodo my energy, but it didn’t seem to be doing more than be going into the void of our bond. His melted body wasn’t repairing.
I wanted to sing about all the loss in my life, so I did.
-An island-
“My story it starts on an island, I think I barely be even two, and, not knowing what was going on or… not even what to do~.”
A baby goat sat crying in the dirt tied to a piece of driftwood, the destroyed remains of a boat nearby washing up on the shore around her in the rain.
“That’s when they came up to me, they saved the lost babies life~. If, only I had known what was coming, that was just the beginning of my strife~.”
A shadow appeared and the sniffling baby goat was soon picked up.
Carried into a house and there were blurry memories of the sound of a humming lullaby and someone caring for Shanty, a little goat toddling after her caretaker.
“It wasn’t long, before I had to grow strong, since my home burned down… and that was the end my adoptive mom~.”
A young Shanty had a headband tied around her head, she sat in the cold wet dirt with a piece of wood next to her watching her home burn down. It was a very familiar feeling.
“I have to ask, what was seriously up with me, what be up with all the mis-er-y~?”
Nobody would take the little goat in, she tried to worm her way into some place warm, but nobody cared about her.
“Being alone and hungry on the streets, it wasn’t being very nice~. And, nobody would take me in, I guess nobody be paying the price~.”
I be trying to find someone to help but they be leaving me cold out in the streets, I be at least sitting under an awning looking up at the sky as it rained.
“If there’s one thing that I know, that’s truly inherent to me… its, nothing lasts forever, I should’ve drowned at sea~.”
Shanty looked at the rotten piece of fruit in her hooves, she swallowed and opened her mouth to bite down on it.
“The name Shanty, is strange you see~. It’s a name I got, from humming this familiar melody~.”
A goat sat on the docks looking out to see drinking rum from the broken bottom of a bottle that landed near her from a tavern bar fight, the top portion broke off and she managed to save the remaining liquids. Her first taste of rum, she got hooked on the flavor, it was one moment brightness in a dark life.
That’s when a ship sailed in with several goats disembarked. One looked at her and said something about her humming, tossed her an apple and then moved on. Shanty just sat up looking at the fresh apple in her hoof and at the retreating goat with large hats back humming her tune.
“An act of kindness, a few strangers from the sea, it be making me become what I currently be~!”
Shanty watched as the group of goat pirates partied and eventually set sail, but left her behind. She clearly didn’t understand the world well enough yet to know why there was only that one act of kindness… and then they just be leaving her there.
“So I had a lot to become, I still had a lot to learn, but, by life I’ve been horribly burned and quite badly spurned~.”
The pirates visited every now and then, but they still wouldn’t take her. They at least checked up on her and tossed her some fresh food when she hummed for them.
“If there was one lesson I took to heart, it always stayed with me~. That, you give life a black eye, by trying to live it as free as possibly~!”
The pirates caught her stealing from them, but the captain made a motion to not hurt her, seeing as she had technically got away with it having already eaten the food. The other pirates grumbled at their failure, but the captain laughed and ask for the tune she hummed whenever they came in to dock.
“A life not lived, is not a life that’s great, I’m not making that, the greatest of mistakes~! Still quite a naïve goat, did I ever truly make, and that’s how I ended up with my current fate~.”
Climbing up to the roof to attack the cultist, then everything that lead up to Dodo flashed in sequence.
-Cooper Van-
“Having actual friends, traveling this cosmic sea, and, I never really thought that something great could ever come from me~.”
Pom teaching me how to fight and I be soaking it up like a sponge, she actually cared about me and… she be reminding me of the one who took me into their home and left me with the headband. My heart opened up again, darn the consequences.
“It is truly as I sing, knowing what I do now… nothing lasts forever, at least we’ve had some fun~.”
Dodo bonding to Shanty and Shanty finally feeling for once in her life, that someone would follow her no matter where she go or what she wanted to do they’d be by her side.
“The reapers grasp, is closing fast, but Dodo I know, that this is not quite your ultimate last~. You can fight and kick, this is not the end of it, I’m your captain and I order you not, to, quit~!”
I fed Dodo as much energy as I could, I be eating twice my body weight again after this.
“I’ve already lost too much to life, I’m not letting this one go, oh, definitely hell not and a big freaking N-O~!”
Hugging Dodo’s melted body, I cuddled it tenderly, not knowing if what I was doing would even help.
“Oh you think you’ve won, but this won’t split the sea, Dodo will be getting better and he’ll be staying with me~!”
Waving an angry hoof at the sky, the clouds broke apart and sunlight bathed me in its radiant glow as I held my head high.
“You’re not alone, with friends your home, no matter where you go, or whence you choose to roam~.”
Ocellus climbed up onto the vehicle with me as she sang and sat beside me.
“I like you, you loon, we should really talk real soon, but I’d like to join you for this simple tune~!”
Ocellus put a hoof on Dodo and be closing her eyes.
“I come from a hive, and I’ve known for all my life, that, other races hate us, some just want us to die~.”
I really be looking at Ocellus when she be singing that.
“We stowed away our fangs, with what the magic that friendship brings, knowing, that things can’t last forever, there will always be some change~.”
Ocellus looked to the sky.
“It is not always so bad, I just want you to know~. That having met you in time, it just makes me feel like my heart should be aglow~.”
Ocellus pulled me into a hug and I felt warmth be flooding my body.
“That you lasted so long, despite needing a place to go, you’re an inspiration to everyone that you know~!”
I smiled at Ocellus be hugging her back.
“We all have our sorrows, we all have our own strife’s, but, at the end of some days, we should be happy just to have our lives~!”
We sang together in a duet, perfectly in tune with one another.
“We may be a wandering mess, and at the winds behest, but, at least we know in the end 'that' we all will have done our best~!”
We both looked at Dodo sadly.
“Life they say, is just that way, bad on some days, and a mentality breaking maze~.”
We could feel each other’s moods.
“Push through that pain, see the end of the rain, and we’ll all move forward happily again~!”
I be humming the tune and Ocellus be joining me in humming it once she knew the song, the lullaby that was sung to me.
“Sweet Dodo when we met, you were quite surprised I bet~. That, we didn’t even know each other yet and you still chose this bond to get~.” I sat with Ocellus humming the tune next to me as I sang. “If there is this is one thing I know, that my heart will always remember… nothing lasts forever, at least we’ve had some fun~!”
“All those good memories, should not be forgot you see, there’s a vast lasting sea of dreams, beyond all the miseries~.” I leaned back and rested my head. “If you were to perish now, Dodo I’d carry you in my heart, but you better not yet die and disembark~!”
The tune continued on the wind and I tried to remember the face of the one that took me in.
“You be coming because of my negative emotions?” I asked and continued humming the tune to myself, Glad I not be the only one crying.
“I’ll always come for my friends Shanty. I have to be the one that keeps the morale up for all of us, because Pom certainly has issues with doing that.” Yeah, that be mostly true Ocellus. “Just call me the cheer-leader of the group.”
“You are being horrible Ocellus.” I be rolling me eyes and be pulling another bottle of rum from behind my back.
There were already four empty bottles of rum on the ground next to the van, Shanty wished she could get drunk like other people to stop feeling the pain. Yet her favorite drink could never take her mind, like it would others.
After finished the bottle, Ocellus continued humming the tune. I slowly started to fall asleep and I could finally remember the true face of my caretaker…
It was a colorful changeling that been tossed out of her hive, she be finding a quiet place to live and struggled to get by… that’s why the house be being burned down.
I be sitting behind the crowd watching it happen, unable to do a thing when she made a mistake.
Always thought my memory be a bit hazy and not being able to remember a single face of the one that took me in, for she be having many faces and she be using them all to cheer me up. I had almost forgotten her face, sorrow be a good reminder of the things we still have and the things we’ve lost along the way.
The tune she hummed, she’d sometimes buzz out with her wings, maybe… I could be asking Ocellus to do that for me to help me sleep tonight?
-Behind the two-
A few parts of the melted metal crumpled inward slightly, the melted pile of metal shrunk a little and barely made any noise doing so.
-Nearby roof, Pom-
“Look I was trying to meditate can you go bother someone else?” I asked because Bonkers wouldn’t leave me alone, he apparently thought I’d jump from the roof and could almost feel the anxiety and depression coming off of me.
I needed a good cry when even a police officer can notice my mental state without Ocellus or Dormarch commenting on it.
“Yeah, what she said, buzz off!” Dolly was actively barking at him.
“Yes, Dolly, but what would he do with the cucumber once it’s there?” The way I lead into non-sequitur made Dolly pause and just looked at me with confusion.
“Well if it became a pickle, then we’d know his imaginary wife is real!” Dolly made me start giggling when she fired back with something equally weird.
“I get the feeling that I’ve just been horribly insulted.” Bonkers said with his fist on his hips.
“What, no… of course not officer. Though Dolly does need to stop asking for a flea bath.” After saying that I watched Dolly started rubbing up against Bonkers in an overly friendly manner.
“Gah!” Bonkers backed away from Dolly. “Ma’am can I ask that you and your dog not somehow start a three person comedy act with me? I used to be a comedian, on top of being an actor, and I know what you’re doing.”
“What, my dog? What makes you think I own her? Never met her before in my life.” At my words Dolly overreacted by going onto her side and putting the back of her paw against her head in a dramatic matter.
“That she’s actually knows how to react to your words perfectly and you knew her name.” Bonkers pointed out Dolly who quickly sat up and started acting innocently with a toothy grin.
“Come on Pom, can I flick his nose? It’s quite tempting!” Dolly asked with a grin while looking behind the biped bobcat.
“No, I don’t think he’d know what that is Dolly, but it’s certainly coming up right behind him!” Bonkers turned around hastily when I pointed my left hoof at his back. When he turned back I was performing a balancing act with Dolly, when we noticed him we quickly separated away from each other with flips and started acting normally with big grins on our faces. “Wow that thing was incredibly fast, you just missed it! Oh there it is again!”
“Okay, why are the two of you messing with me?” Did you really need to ask Bonkers? You’re the one that came up here in the first place, I was just trying to find a way to relax and meditate.
“I just need some levity in my dreary life, also you could just leave there’s the door!” He turned for a half a second and when he turned back he saw Dolly sitting upside down on my head in a perfect headstand and we were both making big cheeked faces at him by holding our breathes.
Pretending to notice him after looking at us for a few seconds, we stopped holding our breaths and Dolly quickly rolled off my head to land on her paws looking almost as innocent as I did.
“I'm beginning to believe that you two are not normal.” Good, you were at least proving to be a really observant person Bonkers.
“Is he implying that we are goofing around?” Dolly knew we were playing a game and she smiled as she put a paw on her chest. “Us?”
“No, I don’t believe he can, ‘Row’.” I said in return.
“Row? Row wh…?” Bonkers was confused as ever.
“Your boat gently down the stream~.” Snorting at Dolly making Bonkers jump when she sang that as she thrust her paws out wide, I had to stifle my giggles and keep a straight face. She tapped danced on her hind legs as she sang the next part and ended it with jazz paws. “Merrily, Merrily, Merrily, I like to steal the scene~!”
“Did that dog just sing and dance?” Now pointing his gloved finger at Dolly in surprise, Bonkers was wide eyed and quite fairly alert now as Dolly looked at him in a bored manner.
“Yeah it’s getting her stop that’s the problem.” I said with a knowing nod.
“Doughnut rings are done, doughnut rings are done, I'm having fun, I'm having fun, I work at the Burger Thief, making flame broiled coppers, I swear by their meat filled vats~!” Dolly sang with a cheerful smile as she sat before the bobcat, people could only understand her when she was singing and that was a fun thing to know.
“Does she actually work at Burger Thief?” Bonkers asked in surprise.
“Wait… you can understand that?” I said with a feigned shock expression on my face. “Wow… and here I thought it was just her howling really quite off key and randomly today.”
“What, but she just…?” He pointed at Dolly and she immediately reacted when his attention was back on her.
“Hello you dummy, I’m a dog that’s funny, hello my feline pal~!” Dolly went up on to her hind legs and started dancing while gesturing with her paws as if she had a hat and cane. “This beauitful sheep has a voice like a lyre, I’ll have you know she’s quite the horrible liar~. Maybe you’ve confused me for something else profusely, just know the sheep was never here and I just wanted to tell you that we’re currently here on our own~!”
“Are you sure you’re not hearing her… uh…” He hadn’t noticed me slipping away.
-Dolly-
My forward successful forward slide sold the musical number I just put on, nailed it perfectly even.
Yeah, Pom didn’t want to deal with this guy and neither did I, Pom needed some peace and quiet. It’s actually kind of fun to watch her actively be playful, she’s always so serious and anxious.
“Where’d she go?” Looking up at the bobcat innocently, I barked a bunch of gibberish. “I’m horribly confused, can you talk or not?”
I walked up to him and patted him gently on the leg and the hummed to myself as I made for the door which I leapt up and opened, walked through, then closed it behind me.
“Hold on, come back here!” He started to follow after me through the door and I started running while laughing my rear off as I slid down the stairs spiraling bannisters. “Stop right there and explain to me what just happened here!”
I stopped at the entrance, nobody around, okay let’s do this thing!
I looked to Pom and she nodded, we waited for Bonkers to show up.
“I’m/she’s the dog of chorus, we hoped you liked our show.” I sang with Pom, as we dance Pom opened the door and gestured out it with a hoof. “We know you’re rooting for us, but now you have to go~!”
“Oh, well alright then… they were quite nice and entertaining.” Bonkers walked out the front door, after moment of walking out onto the sidewalk he paused with one foot raised in the air. “Hey… wait minute!”
Too late dude, we were already on our way back to our hotel room and I got Pom to cheer up and laugh.
Score one for me!
-Pom-
“You know... I can’t actually believe he fell for that.” Also we really shouldn’t have treated him like that, but I needed a good laugh.
“That was hilarious!” A cheery Dolly said as we made our way back to our hotel room. “Still, I can kind of understand why he would jump to the conclusion that you might jump from the roof.”
“Yeah, I know… but do you think we’ll ever see him again?” Despite my giggles, I never wanted to be mean. “I want to apologize to him, he just wanted to know I was alright and I was meditating on the edge of the building Dolly.”
“I’m sure he’ll be fine!” Dolly waved her right paw at me in a gesture that she was okay with what just happened personally. “I got you to cheer up and laugh, so everything is alright. Plus the guy seemed like he had a sense of humor, I’m sure he won’t be too mad at us for that.”
-An hour or so later-
Of course he would eventually end up in our hotel room, booked for a family of four. We had a lot more people than that living in it right now.
“I am so mad at you for that, but it was pretty funny!” Bonkers stated as he showed up in our hotel room. “Also that was some pretty great ventriloquism, still don’t know how you got a dog to do choreography like that. So how do you know Ms. Fox, Hopps and Wilde?”
“Is that what he thinks that was?” Snickering, Dolly put a paw to mouth and just shook her head. “If only he knew.”
“We helped them on an important case, so you their ride to the nearest airport?” Sobaka didn’t have one and it was fairly small place with a large number of dogs, I’m still kind of on edge from being here…. reminds me too much of the Yellow Dog territories in the last world.
“Yeah, but how did a ventriloquist and her well trained dog help Interpol Officers?” Bonkers was curious.
“It’s better that you don’t ask.” I muttered “It’s a long convoluted story.”
“Officer Bobcat, I agree with her statement that it’s better that you don’t ask too many questions.” Carmelita still looked upset about the Cooper gang getting a pass.
- A little while later-
We got some news from Maui about Launchpad assuring us he that could take off from Sobaka’s outskirts perfectly fine without damaging anything. Oh I’d certainly believe that perfectly fine, it’s just where we’re landing that I’m worried about.
There wasn’t an open flight plan to Duckburg or San Fransokyo at the moment, but there was one for Saint Canard, Drake Mallard’s home turf. He openly said he’d show us around when we arrived.
Carmelita and the other officers went off on their merry way, but she told us, Team Leap Lamb specifically, to not get caught by law enforcement doing anything illegal. What was weird was when Judy and Nick agreed with her, while Ocellus knows she should not have revealed our being interdimensional aliens… these officers were good people.
There was one last thing we needed to do, but we found something odd when we went to check Dodo’s body on the roof of the van the morning we planned to leave. Nobody had noticed anything off about the melted pile yesterday except it that might have been slightly smaller than it previously was.
“He be an egg now?” Shanty smiled brightly at the large smooth metal egg resting on top of the Cooper van as she clambered up to it and hugged it. “You may not be able to hear me now, but we’ll make sure you hatch Dodo!”
Okay so aside from transporting Smolder, we had also to protect a metal egg now… not questioining how Dodo managed it and glad that he has a chance to come back to Shanty. Though we now had to carry all of our stuff ourselves, glad I told Ocellus, Smolder and Shanty to be light on the souvenirs.
“Nothing is ever easy with us...” I groaned.
We now needed to drive out to where the plane was and officially say our goodbyes to the Cooper Gang, then set out for Saint Canard.
What form of misery awaits us?
Sarcastically considering plant creatures, demonics toys, psychos with chainsaws or maybe a living water monster.