Baa-Ram-Ewe!

by Darkonshadows

215. Dreary Dogs.

-???, someone named Razack-

We got a weird op on Klendathu this time, but I couldn’t even begin to describe this bizarre situation.

“Okay roughnecks be very, very careful about shooting at those... horse, equinoids?” He never thought he would witness something so devastating to the enemy arachnids, but he was wondered how intelligent the equinoid creatures were or how far above them they were in technology. This second approach on Klendathu was going far differently than one would expect after their first screw up. “Command is never going to believe us.”

“Sir, I can’t read their minds, also I think the darker furred one is far more powerful than… also it’s a unicorn and the other one is apparently a bicorn given the two horns.” That wasn’t even the weirdest thing about them Carl. Magical creatures that appeared in human lore for thousands of years was pretty hard pill to swallow for anyone, much less that they were seemingly better armed than us.

Considering one of them was equipped with a shotgun they had to have something like intelligence given it was reloaded between every shot with what looked like normal shotgun shells, but the end results of those shots were highly destructive chaos and weirdly loud horse noises.

The other one had what looked to be a floating book and floating sword shaped like a key, both demonic in appearance. He really didn’t want to fight these unknowns on top of the bugs.

Considering they just took out three tanker bugs, over five hundred normal arachnid warriors, two hundred and sixty seven hoppers personally was scary. What was scarier was their starship that had three hundred and sixty degrees of coverage of rapid fire energy weapons and those took out far more than that covering their battle.

“So what do we…” Rico started to say when the dark one disappeared in a flash and appeared in the middle of their group.

We all immediately aimed our weapons at the creature, she didn’t seem to be worried or in fact look scared at all, she looked bored.

“Excuse me, but you wouldn’t happen to have seen a sheep like entity, a small orange fire breathing lizard with two wings and purple frill, a goat with a bandana would you? I would describe the fourth of the lost people I’m looking for, but you might shoot at me for it.” It sounded like the opening to a long and protracted joke, the fact that the small horse with a horn even spoke in a posh voice was very much disconcerting.

“Also if Ollie wanted to kill you, YOU’D BE DEAD ALREADY.” The book stated and just about everyone shot at him in primal fear when his voice went demonic. Our shots just bounced off the cover struck the ground and the books eyes glowed with amusement, not even moving an inch under fire. “Ah cute, they think their weapons matter to us, good instincts though. I’M SURE THEY’RE NOT HERE OLLIE!”

“Now, now, Fred, just because Pom isn’t here doesn’t mean we can’t do these people a small favor of dealing with half their bug problem. I’m a unicorn and my name is Oleander, my fiancé here is a demon named Fred because saying his real name causes problems and might incidentally start a nasty cult among your people just hearing it. No Fred, that’s not happening again on my watch after the last dimension. That over there is a Pandoran Bicorn named Buttina Stalliona… she likes being called Butt Stallion for some reason. Also… yes… her body is literally made out of diamond. No, I haven’t the foggiest how that even works, but my world has a similar species called crystal ponies. I don’t understand how ‘they’ work either.”

They turned to see the so called ‘Butt Stallion’ viciously biting the leg off the last tiger warrior arachnid that valiantly tried to take down the horse with what sounded like impenetrable skin, but it broke its limbs trying. The fact that she actually swallowed a portion of it with a loud crunching noise was horrifying to me and my troopers.

“Whatever drugs they put into our power armors emergency injectors… they might want to cut back on it sir.” Stated Doc plainly, I nodded to him shallowly.

“Funny, that’s the same thing those Earth Defense Force people said when I first met them before they realized we were real and helpful. They also had a giant bug problem, apparently aliens took to growing giant insects to feast on the planet so they could steal its resources. I’m quite willing to help out with this situation too as insects like these monsters are so uncouth with wiping out all other species, I like giving the underdogs a decent boost now and then as it were.” This Oleander commented dryly. “I’m an interdimensional traveler and dark hero looking for a friend tossed to the four winds, I’m beginning to thankfully think they didn’t end up in this universe. Maybe I should put you in contact with the EDF for cross dimensional help... you look like you need all the help you can get and those guys were quite fun when it came to taking on alien motherships on foot.”

A fourth wave of bugs started to pour out of the ground… it was barely fifty bugs, which died in seconds under the fire of the equinoid aliens hovering gunship. Those poor bastards.

“So can we steer away from dimensions exactly like this. I think this is the third time we’ve been in a similar dimension, they are beginning to blend together.” Oleander stated lazily.

-Earth-WDCCT, San Fransokyo outskirts, Dolly-

I finished the last of the kibble I poured from the bag into my personalized bowl, I was certainly not a morning dog at times and since it was evening. Keeping on top of a schedule was more my uptight brother Dylan’s thing, after a day long battle throughout the city and aiding Pom in basically mutilating herself… it wouldn’t be hard to say I was still dog tired. Also I had a painful migraine, which wasn’t helped by the sound of rain hitting Ms. Shuttle’s windows.

It was the early evening, everyone was still catching up on sleep.

Speaking of bowls, we should probably get one for Dormarch… when we actually had the time. Might need Ocellus’s help with the purchase though.

The rain was always so boring, but at least there would be mud afterwards… but I really didn’t feel like playing in it or would even be healthy enough to do so. It was a struggle to even pour myself a bowl of kibble.

I couldn’t even bring myself to call my family even if I knew how to access the function on the PET still wrapped around Dormarch’s throat. I was feeling horrible that I didn’t want to turn to them for comfort and make them feel bad for not being able to be here for me. I wanted them to be happy for a little while longer.

…

Unless they were worried about me and wanted to talk to hear that I was okay, which I wasn’t because Pom’s group was a wreck and a half, then I was being horrible in not getting in touch with them because they weren’t happy at not hearing from me after that whole mess.

Ugh, dog gone it, I can’t win!

Looking around at the others, I saw their various states. We didn’t even say goodbye to anyone aside from Lena who helped us evacuate the city by carrying Ms. Shuttle over the water with as much magical power as she could manage after Dormarch managed to vaguely get Pom stabilized. Once we were set down Ms. Shuttle drove off immediately for San Fransokyo.

Since I’ve been awake, I barely heard the beep of the heart monitor and turned to look at Pom’s form in stasis. She was still alive, but the fact that there was only a pulse once every other thirty seconds or so was terrifying. She barely had a heart rate or a pulse and as my step mother Delilah would say, this would be something we needed to pay close attention to.

It was scary to know that Pom had done so much damage to herself fighting Negatron Duck, but she did it… she took him down and… we saved the day.

So why did it feel like we didn’t win? When people talk about heroes, do they never see the aftermath or the injuries incurred on the people who involved themselves in these kind of things? Also if we were taken in by the police, would people hold us responsible for all the damages caused in bringing down the villains? Even if we weren’t the ones to do most of said damage?

I can see why being a hero was unfair in some respects and why someone would want to remain anonymous, I can also sort of see why Pom didn’t want to call herself a hero even if she was by and large heroic to a ridiculous fault.

I groaned loudly and massaged my head with both my paws, thinking usually wasn’t my thing and never has been.

Even my spots were aching as I turned my neck and looked at Smolder cuddling Ocellus. Weird relationship, but more power to them if it worked for them. I looked to Dormarch sleeping uneasily next to Pom, the dude put his all into stabilizing her… even now she’s not very stable, but he apparently stopped the internal organ failure problem caused by being run through by the rapier.

Shanty was also curled up at the base of the stasis device with Dormarch next to where Pom floated lifelessly, I didn’t want to wake her up either.

One of the many problems with Pom was that our bond wavered drastically and I could feel how close to death Pom was. Leaving me just sitting here as the only one awake listening to the beeps that made my head throb with pain.

The metal egg thing, it really wasn’t doing much at the back of the bus. Dodo had been pretty cool, but aside from his body melting and then producing an egg, not much happening there.

Hopping up into one of the seats, I put my paws up against the window and looked outside, ignoring the bandages wrapping around my legs pulling at my injuries. Ms. Bunny Shuttle parked us in a fairly out of the way remote region in some kind of heavily forest area.

“Uh… Dolly right?” I turned looked at the screen to my right, the front of the bus, the rabbit face that wasn’t smiling.

“Yeah, what do you need?” It wasn’t hard for me to guess that it wasn’t going to be anything big.

“We have incoming supply package via Skymax delivery system, supplies consist of chemicals for my weapon, food and extra medical supplies. Big Hero Six are currently tied up for the time being with other various other prior arrangements and they apologize profusely for not being able to help more urgently. I knew for certain they wouldn’t leave us high and dry!” Ms. Shuttle tried to cheer up, but her eyes darted to Pom and her smile fell again. Not going to lie, Ms. Shuttle looked far better when she was smiling and perky. “I’m going to need your help with unloading the supplies… You should be capable of that despite your size and numerous injuries, you won’t need to go outside in this weather. The inbound Skymax will deliver it to the door and you’ll just need to haul it inside. I also need my chemical cannon to be reloaded if I am to continue in my goal of preserving the lives within me from outside threats. Otherwise… Ocellus and Dormarch are the only healthy enough defense we have aside from the fact that no one knows of our current location. None of you are estimated to be capable of surviving another full blown crisis.”

Dude, like I don’t know we wouldn’t survive that assassin guy coming after us while we were all down like this.

“What’s so important that they couldn’t come?” I get that they are heroes, but at least one of them could make contact with us right?

“Baymax is currently dealing with critical patients with gunshot wounds at a hospital, he is helping various innocent people in critical conditions from a firefight. He is a known quantity at the hospital and numerous people enjoy his presence and help.” The screen showed me Baymax’s location in the city, I looked at the wound to pom’s neck and the breathing tube in her throat. Couldn’t blame Baymax for that, my step mother Delilah has dealt with a lot in a hospital as a nurse dog. I didn’t comment and sent a look to Ms. Shuttle to keep going. “Gogo is likely the first to come assist us, she is nearly done with tracing a Yama gang problem and is not to enter combat under any circumstance. She will come meet up with us soon, but it is very important that she keep a tab on them in this given timeframe while recording their activities for later perusal. Honey Lemon, is currently working on a number of highly nutritious chemical packets for Pom since the current drip feed we have will run out in approximately... two hours, she will send them through Skymax when she can find the time under her other obligations. Hiro, is trapped having to be visible in public and his aunt is fairly worried about his late night activities. Fred-meleon… well he is not liable to be helpful in this situation aside from having someone to talk to, he and Mini-max are currently battling some street thugs across the entire city from us and is actually being fairly successful at it. Wasabi, is currently seeing to jury duty, which was unavoidable.”

“Any chance we can find something to do while we wait on getting live support?” It seems like the best we could do was sit and wait… I’m sure someone from the ‘fam’ would answer if I called, but could I really disturb them at a time like this?

“Proceed to the door, Skymax is now delivering supplies. I will walk you through the chemical cannon reload sequence after you bring in the supplies… that should be entertain you for at least twenty minutes at least or quicker depending on how fast you finish.” After saying that, Ms. Shuttle opened the door and I saw what looked like a hovering trashcan, it folded up the panel in its chest revealing several packages of food and a large canister of strange sloshing substance.

“One multipurpose medium chemical ammo cell, snack foods for various species, medical supplies… including dog safe medication.” The silver Skymax thing stated in a blank robotic tone and I hopped down and made for the door and got to work.

-Fourteen minutes later-

After I offloaded the supplies, that cool Skymax thing shot into the sky. Loading up the chemical cannon wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be and things were pretty quiet afterwards.

“Shock.” Hearing that, I wonder why Ms. Shuttle would say that when the heart monitor started to flat-line and then Pom’s heart went back to beating normally as soon as the shock happened. “I’ve been watching Pom’s health carefully, I’m making sure to measure the shocks needed to keep her heart beating.”

“Does it bother you that Dormarch has a body?” I asked as I settled down and stared at Pom’s floating body. All four legs broken in multiple place, every part of entire skeleton was cracked and what was said to be more than fifty percent of her muscle mass was lost through exertion. “Also how will you handle it when Pom needs to go to the bathroom?”

“Not really, kind of make me want to have a cute little mechanical rabbit as a body. I may not understand magic very well, but I will not look deeply into Dormarch’s digital to biological nature as a living entity.” She looked down at Dormarch fondly. “I wonder if Hiro can do that for me one day… this body is a bit big and cumbersome at times and I remember being in small storage device as Gogo and Honey’s roommate for a time before being given back my Shuttle body… with helpful modifications of course. As to your other question… the stasis field will take care of bodily wastes, I have a small tank for converting an amount of absorbed biological waste into energy.”

“Ugh, you eat it?!” The disgusted look on my face as I gagged earned a smile from the artificial intelligence of this vehicle.

“Reminder, I am not biological Dolly, but you did ask.” That I had Bunny Shuttle, so that’s actually on me.

“Huh… what… is Pom okay?!” Slightly rolling Shanty away from himself Dormarch went from sleepy to completely alert in seconds. He looked at the stasis field and saw that while Pom’s heartrate wasn’t steady or strong, it was still there. “Oh thank goodness…”

“Chill bro, Pom’s alive… enough…” Oh dog, I wasn’t about to let Pom far out of my sight. “Can you contact the fam… through Ms. Shuttles big screen? I want them to know we’re okay-ish.”

“Dolly, you and Shanty are injured for the next few days at least, Smolder can’t walk and Pom is basically outright crippled. Ocellus is the only one of us still healthy both mentally and physically. Don’t even get me started on spiritually.” Calmly walking up to Dormarch, I grab both side of his face with my paws, then nuzzled him lightly with my nose. That calmed him down instantly, like the little puppy he was. Sure he was around my size, but he was still a puppy age wise no matter how advanced and I was his big sis. “I’ll call the family.”

It didn’t take long for someone to pick up.

“Dolly? Oh and Dormarch to! Have you… no I don’t think you would…. have…” Da Vinci, the loveable paint splotched puppy looked at Pom behind us, she frowned but then turned back to us and kept going. “I’m glad you’re both okay, but have you seen the news recently? In any case, Dormarch, since you’re apparently our youngest physically existing brother now age wise… please give our big sister a hug for me would you?”

Dormarch wrapped his paws around me and pulled me tight while whimpering a little bit, likely still thinking about Pom’s condition. I hugged him back with a smile, both our tails were wagging as I cuddled him and nuzzled the top of his head, I looked up to see Da Vinci’s tail wagging too. I eventually pulled away from Dormarch.

“Now that’s the Dolly I know! Always getting into hugs and being able to smile, no matter how much it hurts…” Da Vinci wasn’t going to say anything about the nearly dead Pom in the stasis thing, she was obligated to ignore it by being one of my more sensitive sisters. “Does it hurt a lot?”

“Nah, I’m good, my injuries are nothing sis. What hurts more is what happened to… her. Emotionally we’re not doing well on any front, but we’ll live. We need a lot of help.” Kind of wish I had magic for healing, all I had was magic for wind control and… huh that’s a strange feeling… why does the word ‘haste’ come to mind? Eh, I’ll figure that out later. “So what was that about the news?”

“Help is what you have Dolly, I’ll look into recent news centered on Saint Canard.” Well Ms. Shuttle was as interested as the rest of us to hear what was going on as we bugged out once we got Pom in stasis.

“You really need to see that, it’s important that you hear about it. There’s been a lot of hullabaloo about what happened in Saint Canard. Also the rest of our family hasn’t seen it yet, but I suggest you watch it.” A second later and Ms. Shuttles face appeared, along with a paused screen on the side. “Yeah, that’s it! Just want you to know, it’s glad to hear you’re okay and still able to smile… even if your situation is looking rather grim. We miss you Dolly, but we know you’re right where you want to be and… you’re quite amazing!”

“Yeah, I know I’m cool! Still… we actually need to make contact with that Abigail Callaghan lady and get some open travel options than this world. It’s literally killing Pom to be here.” Not joking here, I think our world had it out for her.

“Okay, let’s see this the news Ms. Shuttle.” It was direly needed, Dormarch could use a distraction from Pom’s current lack of health and maybe some news wouldn’t be so bad. There wasn’t much going on outside beside the rain and we weren’t going anywhere fast.

-Recorded Newscast Video-

“This is Wanbla Wetherbee with the west coast news.” Said the ostrich biped. “Today’s story, Saint Canard under siege.”

The story goes into how Saint Canard was taken over by Negaduck, what little information they had on the first five hours of the beginning of the siege. Eventually there came a point when one particular name came up.

“Fall-Apart Rabbit, bomb disposal expert of TOON Division disarmed seven Negaduck bombs within a period of two hours and helped prevent a domino effect of building collapsing saving hundreds of lives and livelihoods.” The reporter paused and the screen showed four specific individuals. “TOON Division proves that they are worth their funding as they have captured Negaduck after a deadly badly between him and Leap Lamb. Negaduck was finally apprehended after a day long struggle by everyone involved, we have no clear idea where Leap Lamb is or what her condition is like after a harrowing battle with Negatron Duck… but we know her team of Cut-Lass, Caper Canine and the newest member of the team Dynamo Dog were present throughout the day. We have no knowledge where Leap Lamb was taken or where she is recuperating from numerous dangerous injuries, but several people have come forward to give us an idea of her location.”

“Well yes, I know exactly where Leap Lamb is, she’s in Duckberg obviously.” Bentina Beakley said with a straight face and surety. “She apparently is rumored to have the support and backing of The Duck Avenger Paperinik I hear.”

“Last I heard she has a secret hideout in Duckberg, maybe it’s even in the junkyard underneath the noses of certain criminals.” Violet Sabrewing stated certainly, as if she were not lying through her beak.

“I reckon she’s retreated to Duckberg to heal, she obviously has contact there. I’m detective Maui and she’s helped me out with a tough case last night and it led to the breaking of the DOOM gang and finding Negaduck’s secret base. Talk to Officers Skunky Skunk and Eddie Valiant of TOON Division for more info.” Maui had his right arm in a sling and he was mostly okay otherwise. “Good Luck and stay safe out there Leap Lamb!”

“Oh Leap Lamb, she has to be in Duckberg, she apparently knows Mark Beaks.” Said a shy looking Honker Muddlefoot. “I think Dynamo Dog looks cool.”

“Well it seems the people have spoken, if you’re looking for Leap Lamb, she might be in Duckberg. This has been Wanbka Wetherbee and more news will come out about how the crisis was defeated once more information comes out.”

-Dolly-

“You’re not in Duckberg are you?” Da Vinci asked worriedly.

“Nope, but we have friends there and they are trying to smokescreen where we currently are.” I said with a small smile. “Hopefully that diverts enough unwanted attention.”

Author's Note:

The lead up to the end of "The World Where Dreams Can Come True" is beginning with the Abigail Callaghan arc.

Comments

[Booster Spice]

The only place safer than McDucks Money Bin, is on a plane with Launchpad?

[Herald of Opera]

11273325
I mean, it's definitely going to crash. But it'll be a completely safe crash at your destination so that basically doesn't count.