that…”
  “No…” Chandler sounded a bit offended. “No, I chose myself. Zero said he wasn’t proud of what I did and that he still loved me as a brother, but I’m making the choice to tell what I did when I can make up for it.”
  “My apologies then.”
  Duncan wanted to listen more, but suddenly bit down on his thick scruff and swung him into the air, making him freeze in shock and fear.
  “Gotcha little buddy!” Came a deep, hearty growl from around the closed maw on his scruff. Duncan looked up, seeing his huge, tan Uncle holding him, grinning. “Odd place to hide, but I never thought you’d be over here!”
  “You scared me half to death Uncle!” Duncan yipped, smiling in relief that it wasn’t just some strange dog that had bitten him. “Well, now that you’ve found me, I say we get home, your date should be waiting.” Zak set his Nephew down and nodded, smiling as he started to lead the way.
  Duncan followed, wondering who he should tell when he got home. He didn’t want to tell his Uncle and make him worried just before his date, so he had to tell someone who wasn’t planning something. Suddenly it hit him who he should tell: Zero.

  It was an hour later, Blade and Chandler walking down the street, talking to each other. Blade recognized the way they were going, but he couldn’t put his paw on why it was familiar. They turned down an alley, continuing on about how they could fix Chandler’s life. Moments after they sat at the end, a bunch of dogs jumped out of the dumpster and garbage can lying around, surrounding the two.
  “Nice job Blade.” Came a growl from the crowd, and Guy stepped forward, eyes flashing. Suddenly, the Collie knew why this place was familiar: this was where he was instructed to take Chandler when he had the chance, and he had followed the instructions without realizing it. Blade glanced at Chandler, who was staring at him in disbelief.
  “Blade…” He said, ears pinning. Blade looked at the crowd of dogs slowly coming towards them, teeth bared and growling lowly at Chandler, knowing what he had done because of Guy. He got in front of Chandler, tail flicking and surprising Guy.
  “Blade, what are you doing?!” The Kelpie barked, eyes narrowing.

  What nobody knew was that Duncan had started to follow the two dogs to see what was going on, and when he saw that Chandler and Blade had been cornered he turned and ran. But not in fear, he was going to go get help, and fast. He flew on his four little paws, longer legs adding to a speed that as a frightened puppy he could never reach. He mentally urged himself to go faster, towards the apartment, to get all his friends.
  As soon as he saw the building, he rushed in and began to bark his semi-deep bark around the entrance, the deepness coming from his father’s deep, booming sound. After a few barks, he heard noises from upstairs, and he saw his parents running down, Zero and his girlfriend Mishka close behind, with Charlie and Itchy following in the rear. From the kitchen came Will, Koko, and Espee, who was about to start a drinking contest but came when they heard the noise.
  “Duncan, why are you barking so loudly?” Rosa asked, trying to calm her pup down but he kept bouncing out of arms reach. When he was sure everyone was there, he stopped, and quickly started to explain what was going on.
  “… And we gotta get to those two now before they get killed! Blade might last awhile but we need to go!” He ended, frantically darting from the door back to his original position, looking worried.
  All the dogs looked surprise at this development, and looked at each other. They couldn’t believe that someone could hold that much of a grudge against Chandler enough to want him killed. Finally, Mishka was the one who spoke up. “Are we going to go help them or what!”
  All the dogs gave a nod, Will cracking his paws, Zero giving a deep growl of anger, before Duncan hopped up onto his powerful father’s back. “Go dad! Go!” He yelped, all the dogs rushing out the door, letting Joey take the lead. Duncan directed them to the alley, where there was a loud commotion, obviously fighting. The young dog got scared that it was too late.
  They came down the alley, where Chandler and Blade were fighting off the dogs, all of them cut and bleeding from parts of their furry bodies. Duncan hopped off Joey’s back so he could fight in his boxing style with Will, running up and biting a dog on the leg from behind, making sure the dogs knew full well that his family and friends had joined the melee.
  Charlie and Itchy worked together, Itchy using his small size to trip some dogs up and allowing Charlie to give them a swift attack, Koko and Espee went right into the middle of the brawl and began dealing bites and scratches left and right, working back to back so they couldn’t be attacked from behind. Zero, Rosa, and Mishka rushed through the crowd, getting to their injured companions. They started to drag them out, but Guy noticed them from his fight with Koko and backtracked, getting in their way and leaving one of the dogs he had brought to take his place.
  Guy wanted Chandler to pay for that Mack’s life, he wanted him to pay for his lies and he wanted him to pay for not even making an attempt to make up for it. He didn’t know that Blade had talked to him about it, but he wasn’t about to let his prey get away. Zero, seeing the Kelpie trying to intercept them, pounced him with an angry bark, knowing from Duncan he had started this. The two dogs rolled around on the ground, getting stepped on by fighting dogs, biting and scratching each other in their own fury. Soon they were in the middle of the fight, surrounded by dogs.
  “Leave my brother alone!” Zero barked, seeing Guy’s eyes darting to the injured dog trying to get somewhere safe.
  “Why should I? He killed a dog and lied about it! He killed someone!” Guy snarled. “He deserves to be punished for it!”
  “Do you even know how guilty he feels about that?!”  The German Shepherd pulled his lips back, revealing his teeth in anger. Guy was tired of the conversation, and figured Chandler would lie even to his own brother, and felt Zero was an obstacle right now. Guy tackled Zero, biting deeply into his thick-furred shoulder, drawing blood and snarling. The black dog flipped him over with his footpaws, clawing at his neck as he went over.
  The Kelpie rolled up just as Zero jumped towards him, catching his chest with his forepaws and toppling him over, making them roll again as he used his claws to cut into his fur and skin. Guy managed to get on top of Zero, paws on his chest, and was about to go in for a fatal bite. Joey, noticing, swiftly knocked out a dog he was battling with a swift punch and tossed the unconscious hound at Guy, knocking him over and getting the two jumbled up and allowing Zero to get up.
  A Greyhound tried to sneak up on the Doberman to get him, but Will neatly cracked him on the back of his skull to get him out of commission. “Watch your back son!” Will barked out, Joey turning as another dog came at him and began to box him down.
  After recovering, Zero and Guy went back at it, keeping an eye out for openings they were sure to give. Both dogs were fueled by two different things: sibling affection, and war dog fury. Neither wanted to kill the other, both feeling that the other had been led astray somehow, and Chandler watched through a black, swelling eye as the match went on, wondering how to stop this. While he was down, he quickly tried to think of something, and then he realized why this fighting was going on: all his friends knew he had lied and had forgiven him for it, but these dogs on Guy’s side didn’t know that he had already acknowledged he had done wrong.
  Just as he saw Guy bite Zero’s side and his brother bite his old war buddy’s arm, he knew he had to rush in and tell everyone now. He quickly got up and darted away from the females, who called to him and wondered why he was going back in injured. “Stop! Everyone stop!” He began to bark and howl furiously over and over. His friends, hearing the call, joined into it, making the fighting come to a halt as they looked at the fake war dog. When Guy and Zero refused to stop, both sides dragged them apart until they calmed down.
  “Everyone… Listen…” Chandler glanced around at everyone. “All of you know that I lied. I lied, and I carry these tags as if I did something heroic when I didn’t at all.” He heard growls at that, and continued, voice shaking in sorrow, “But I know I didn’t do anything special, and these things aren’t medals for me.”
  “These medals… They’re just shiny objects, bloody reminders of what I did wrong. I don’t keep them to congratulate myself on false deeds or anything like that. I keep them to remind me of Mack, and what I can do in my life to make up for him.” He looked at all the dogs again. “I’m… I’m sorry… For everything…”
  Guy seemed a bit skeptical, but hearing the sad tone in Chandler’s voice that he had never heard before he relented, heart paining that he had hurt someone who really was trying to do his best. When they knew it was safe, the two dogs were released. The duo walked towards Chandler, who looked at them sadly. After a few seconds of staring, Guy offered his paw.
  “I