Sorry for the delay, something came up literley 30 seconds before I was about to post this, and I had some other things that to do that took priority over this.
But hey, at least I got it up today.
Enjoy
Joey was sitting in his chair, listening to Lester and some of his other weird friends argue over something. He had lost track of what that something was a long time ago. All he heard was D&D this, bad anime translation that, it was always the same things they argued over.
And Joey was tired of it.
Whenever they got together to do anything recently, it always ends up being an argument about something. Joey couldn’t even understand why they cared about most of the stuff they argued about in the first place.
So he just got up and walked out. No one noticed him leave.
At least Squeak will be glad to have me around.
“Joey! You’re back early!”
“Hi Squeak.” She is always glad to see me. I wish some of my friends were like that. “My friends all started arguing again. I decided that I would rather spend the time with you then listen to them argue. They probably haven’t even noticed that I’m gone.”
“Oh, it’s ok.” Squeak said as Joey lifted her to his shoulder. “I notice every time that you’re gone, and I always miss you until you come back.” Then she gave him a kiss on the cheek when she was close enough.
“Thank you Squeak, you always know how to make me feel better.”
“That’s why you love me.” Suddenly Squeak’s face lit up as she remembered something she wanted to tell Joey. “Oh, did you hear the news?”
Joey was interested. Whenever Squeak wanted to share news with him, it was big. “No, I don’t think so.”
“There was a rumor that Ralph, Kevin and Fido were seen coming out of the woods yesterday, and they looked to be in rough shape.”
“Do you mean like training accidents? They go there to train sometimes.”
Squeak shook her head. “I don’t think so. Fido looked like he had a twisted ankle, which could have happened by accident during training, but Kevin was holding his head and Ralph looked like he took a really hard hit to his stomach. They may take training seriously, and any one of them could have accidently twisted there ankle, but Ralph would never let them train hard enough that Kevin would give himself a concussion. Or that he himself would take a hard hit to his stomach. Not to mention that if one of them got hurt, he would stop immediately, not keep going until all three of them were injured.”
Joey was impressed. “Interesting. Can you explain the injuries then?”
“I sure can.” Squeak said matter-of-factley. “No one besides the police dogs were seen coming out of the woods, but I think that there was another dog with them. The fact that all three of them were hurt makes me think that they were training with another dog, and that dog showed them a thing or two.”
Joey was impressed. “Wow, you figured all of that out?”
“Well, some of the mice overheard them talking as they came out of the woods. But I figured the first part on my own.”
Joey smiled. “Well, you’re still smart for figuring that part out.”
Squeak has her friends that tell her what is going on in the town. Mine would be lucky to notice that the house right next to them burned down. If it’s not related to D&D or something they like, then they would never know anything.
“Joey?”
“Wha- Oh, Squeak. Sorry, I kind of… zoned I guess.”
“Maybe you should go out for some air. It’s not like you to zone like that.”
Joey took her off of his shoulder and asked “Will you be okay if I go?”
Squeak crossed her arms and said “Joey, worry about yourself for once. It’s ok to be selfish every once and a while.”
“Thank you Squeak.” He said as he hugged her as best as a dog could hug a mouse.
Before they broke the hug, Squeak said “But to answer your question anyway, I will be fine.”
-----
“Who was that guy?” Kevin asked.
“I don’t know, but he got us good. He even beat Ralph in one on one close combat. There’s not a dog in the police force that can do that. Even the trainers at the academy can’t beat him.”
The three police dogs were all sitting in Fido’s room, talking about what had happened yesterday.
Ralph, who was looking out of the window, turned to Fido, who was in his bed, and Kevin, who was sitting on the floor leaning on the bed, and said “It was unnatural the way he blocked all of my punches. I stayed close and punched with quick, precise hits, but he blocked every one of them.”
“Except for that last one as he got you.” Fido said.
“Yes.” Ralph said. “But he let that one hit him. He blocked every other punch as if he knew where they were going to land. It’s like he could read my mind.”
“Well, dogs can’t read minds, right?” Kevin asked.
“Uhhh… Right.” Fido said.
Normal dogs can’t, but who said this guy is normal? I need to go talk to Sabrina. If this guy can read minds, she probably knows about him.
Fido tried to stand up, but nearly fell over when he put weight on the ankle that he twisted yesterday.
“Stay off of that leg and that is an order.” Ralph said. “The doc said to stay off of it for at least two or three days.”
“Sorry.” Fido said as Kevin helped him back into the bed.
I guess that it can wait. That guy was probably showing off more than anything. Besides, Tarot can see into the future. If he was planning to do anything that would be a major concern, Tarot would know by now. There is nothing to worry about.
“Something bothers me.” Kevin said.
“What’s that?” Ralph asked.
“Well, he wasn’t wearing a collar or tags. But he was too clean and seemed like he ate too well to be a stray. Why wouldn’t he have tags then?”
“I don’t know.” Ralph said. “But the next time I see him, I am going to have a few words with him.”
-----
“So, did you talk with Bino yesterday?”
“Yes, and I don’t like the way he was. I think that your talk with him a few days ago changed him, but not the way we wanted.”
“He’s becoming a better dog.”
“He’s afraid of you. He’s not doing it to become a better dog; he’s doing it so you won’t beat him to a pulp.”
“Oh, well that’s good. I thought I would have to talk to him a second time before he took me seriously.”
“That’s good!? At what point does fear turn into the desire to be a better dog?”
“When he lets it.”
“Whatever. I’ve got to go. I have things to do.”
“I think I’ll go for a walk. The one I took yesterday didn’t last very long.”
-----
Joey was walking down the street, thinking about what Squeak had said.
Be a little selfish once and awhile? I know that I like to help other animals out, but do I do it at my personal expense?
As he was thinking, a tan dog walked by him.
That dog was not wearing a collar. At my personal expense or not, I should help him out.
-----
Prowler was finally walking around town. He had wanted to for a while now, he wanted to get used to the town before things started happening.
Suddenly, he heard someone from behind him yelling. “Hey, wait up!”
Prowler turned his head and saw a dog that sort of looked like the dog he followed into the woods yesterday. Except this dog was kind of short and had blue eyes.
“Hi there. My name is Joey. I noticed that you weren’t wearing a collar. You should go put one on, or you might get taken to the shelter.”
He probably won’t go away unless I tell him something. Prowler thought.
“My collar is… special to me. I can’t where it or something might happen to it.”
Prowler started to walk away, but Joey called him again. “Wait! Why is it special to you?”
Great, this guy just won’t leave me alone “Ummm… I would rather not tell you.”
“Fair enough.” Joey said.
Prowler turned to walk away, but before he could take a step, Joey said. “You know, I have some collars and blank tags at my house. I could give you a new collar and tag to keep. You really do need them around here.”
Boy, will he ever leave me alone? I guess he is trying to help someone though. I should probably get a collar anyway. I wouldn’t want to end up at the shelter. All of my hard work would be ruined if I did. Plus it can keep the suspicion off of me at the same time.
“If I agree to go get a collar, it won’t take too long, right?” Prowler asked.
“It shouldn’t.” Joey said as he started in the direction of his house. “Ten minutes at the most.”
They both went to Joey’s house.
“Squeak? I’m back.” Joey said. He looked around and found a note. He read it, then turned to Prowler and said “It looks like Squeak went out for a little while.”
“Squeak?” Prowler asked.
“Oh, right. She’s a mouse that lives with me.”
“Whatever.” Prowler said. “Can we get to the collar now?”
“I’m getting to it right now.” Joey said as he pulled a kit about the size of a briefcase out from under his bed.
He set it on a table and opened it. Inside there were collars and tags of shapes and sizes.
If Prowler was surprised or impressed, he didn’t show it. However, he did cross his arms and ask “Why do you have so many collars and tags? This seems like a lot for one dog.”
Joey answered “Pets lose or break their collars around here more than you would think. They would usually come to me because I roll play a lot and they thought I could loan them one until their parents bought them a new one. It happened so often that my dad got me this so I could just give them a permanent one if they wanted.”
“I see.” Prowler said with little change in his voice, showing that he was bored. “So which collar do I get?”
“Go ahead and chose your own.” Joey said with a smile. “Take any one that you like, as long as it’s not a cat collar. Oh, and choose a tag too.”
Prowler took a close look at all of the collars. There were all different kinds of styles, sizes, colors, and more to choose from. He took out a basic red collar that would fit perfectly around his neck. Next he looked at the tags. There were a lot of different tags to choose from too. He picked out a tag that looked like this.
- Prowler's collar.PNG (6 KiB) Viewed 15045 times
Joey took the tag and said “I’m going to need the standard information that goes on a tag. You know, name, address, things like that.”
“Just put Prowler on it. I’ll have the rest done another time.” He said with a kind of authoritative tone.
Joey did what Prowler said, he didn’t want to ask why.
He took out a special stamping kit and began to carefully stamp Prowler’s name on it.
When Joey was done, Prowler took the tag and looked at it. The letters were all straight, neatly spaced, level; it looked like a machine had done it.
Joey said “That is a special ink. It’s dry enough to wear now, but after an hour or so, it will be completely dry and will never come off again.”
Prowler clipped the tag on the collar, looked at it for a second, and then put the collar on. “Ummm… Thanks I guess.”
Before he started to walk out, Joey asked “So I guess that you are new around here, right?”
Now Prowler was really starting to get annoyed, but he hid it as he said “Yes I am. I was going for a walk around town to become familiar with it when you came up to me.”
“Well I hope that you enjoy it here.” Joey said. “Everyone is real friendly and you should have no problem making friends.”
“Thanks.” Prowler muttered.
I don’t need any friends. They only get in the way. Then he walked out to continue his walk around town.
-----
How could someone have such eyes?
Max was in his room. He had been there ever since his encounter with Prowler.
His eyes, what could they have seen? I nearly go blind just thinking about it. How could he get those eyes without going insane? And that fire in the pupil. I swear that fire looked right into my soul.
He had been like this, thinking about it nonstop. He had been trying to convince himself it was all a dream.
But he knew that it wasn’t. He knew that not even a dream could have something so terrifying. And Max knew a thing or two about terrifying dreams.
Why me? I was only trying to have some fun, but then he had to look at me with those eyes.
NO! DON’T THINK ABOUT THEM! NOT AGAIN!
-----
“Boy, someone sure got you good.”
“Spo, not right now.”
At Fido’s house, Ralph and Kevin had left.
“Man, I wish that I was there yesterday, it would have been awesome to have seen that dog kick your butts.”
Fido just sighed. “Spo, you seem to forget that I allow you to live here. And that I could very easily kick you out.”
“You and what army?” Spo said with a grin.
“Me and an army of hungry cats. Get the picture?” Fido said with a hint of annoyance in is voice.
Spo realized just how sensitive Fido was about that topic. “Sorry.”
Fido sighed again. “It’s fine.” He said. The annoyance in his voice was gone. “I just can’t figure out how he beat Ralph.”
“Didn’t you guys agree that he could read minds?” Spo asked with a sarcastic tone in his voice.
The annoyance in Fido’s voice came back. “First, no one can read minds. And second, I thought that I told you to stay away while Kevin and Ralph were here.” The look on his face became serious. “You didn’t stay away, did you?”
“Uh…” Spo became very nervous. “Well, I couldn’t help myself. The three best police dogs in the area all getting their butts kicked by one single dog, I couldn’t help myself. You understand, right?”
If Sabina ever brings me another small animal to take care of, I am going to say no. No matter how big her eyes get. Fido thought.
Then he said to Spo “Did you ever think that I might like to keep some of my life private?”
“Sorry, again.” Spo muttered.
Fido let out a long, exaggerated sigh this time. “Since you were listening anyway, can you give me something useful that you might have gotten from our conversation? Like how that dog might have beat Ralph?”
“Well…” Spo still sounded nervous. “I kind of want to know how he got you. Before he made you twist your ankle. You said something about hearing him behind you, but when you turned he wasn’t there.”
“We already figured that out.” Fido said. “It looked like he snuck around to the side of the clearing. There were some rocks there, so he must have tossed them behind me, and I mistook them for footsteps. When I spun around to trip someone who was not there, he took advantage and you know the rest.”
Spo looked like a light bulb went off in his head. “Wait, you mean that he didn’t confront you directly at first?”
Now Fido was confused. “No he didn’t, how is that important?”
“Think about it!” Spo nearly yelled. “He was being careful. If he was that strong, why not just confront you directly?”
Spo had Fido’s interest.
Spo continued. “He was strong enough to beat all three of you at once and he knew it. So why would he go through the trouble to trick you in the first place?”
Fido got a thoughtful look on his face. “Well, he did say he didn’t want any trouble with the police.”
“Well that makes even less sense. Why would he even fight you guys if he knew you were the police and he didn’t want any trouble? Something is wrong here.”
If only I could talk to Sabrina. Fido thought.
Maybe she could help me out. I could ask Spo to give her a message for me, but until I can get out of the house there is nothing I could do. This is something we would need to talk about in person. I can’t risk her coming over here with the possibility of surprise visits from anyone who might want to wish me well.
Maybe Spo can help me.
“Spo, you have a lot of connections with the mice all over town, right?” Fido asked him.
“I probably have more than any other mouse.” Spo said proudly.
“Alright, I need you to help me. Gather any information that you can about that dog. If he really was hiding something, we might want to find out before too long. Do you think that you can do it?”
Spo said “Fido, I can gather information on anyone you need me to. You’re going to have to give me a few days though, not all of the mice tell the truth. I need to find the right one, one who is willing to talk.”
“Well then, get to work. I want this info as soon as you can.” Fido said.
“Just one thing, I’m going to need a lot of cheese. Most of the mice don’t give info for free."
-----
Now that I got a collar, I can finally go for my walk around town. And I won’t get picked up and sent to the shelter if what that dog said was true.
As Prowler was thinking, Joey came running up behind him.
“Hey, uh… Prowler?”
Prowler turned around and looked to see who was asking for him.
Just great, this guy again. What could he want now?
Prowler managed to hide his annoyance once again as he said “What?”
“Well, I had an idea. You seemed kind of annoyed at the fact that you needed a collar, and I feel kind of bad about that, even if it is the law. So I thought maybe I could show you around town.” Joey seemed to get a little excited as he explained. “It’s not a big town, but it never hurts to have someone who knows there way around.”
Well… I guess having someone to show me around town won’t hurt. For now.
“Ok.” Prowler said. “But we go where I want to go, ok?”
“Alright.” Joey said.
END
I give Silentprincess828 credit for reviewing my story for mistakes.
So, a full week after I said I would have it, here it is. I hope that you all liked it
And also, bonus points for anyone who can tell me what the tag on Prowler's new collar stands for. (What culture, and what does it stand for?) If someone guesses correctley, I will give them a spoiler or something if they want one.