great time. Leave us alone.”
  Meph, taking a big loop around them, chuckled gruffly. “Alright, I’ll leave you two alone; you guys can watch me swim in the meantime.” He smirked, going into the ocean. Zero looked at Duncan, seeing his buddy’s slightly oversized ears drooped.
  “Hey, come on Duncan. Don’t be upset, he’s just a bit of a showoff is all.”
  “He’s probably right though… I’ve never been good at much.” Duncan said dejectedly. “I mean, Dad paid a lot of attention to him when he took up boxing at first, and he probably thinks he’s loved more. He has more confidence than I do because he has someone who’s proud of him…”
  Zero ruffled the teen’s head fur, making Duncan look at him. “You have Zak, we both know that. He’s as good as any dad.” Said the young German Shepherd. “Your dad is proud of you too, did you know that?”
  Duncan’s ears perked a bit and he slowly shook his head.
  “He’s proud that you’ve become more confident yourself. You might not have realized it, but you are pretty tough, even more than when you were a pup.” Zero continued. “Joey knows how difficult it was for you, and he’s always telling me about it and always praises Zak for his good work with helping boost your confidence. That and how he manages to survive a hangover that could kill an elephant.”
  At that last comment, Duncan started to laugh, tail wagging. “Yeah, everyone wonders how he gets by those.” He added with a big smile. “You’re right Uncle Zero. Thanks.”
  Meph, about halfway in the ocean, his recent cuts stinging from the salt water, watched the two canines on the shore. He was frowning as he watched them, wondering what they were talking about. He figured it was none of his business, and he didn’t care. At least he thought he didn’t, as his heart pounded with even more jealousy with how carefree those two could be.
  Before he could think anything else, a big wave suddenly toppled over him, pulling him back into deep water. His eyes shut tight, having heard how much salt water burned them, and panic suddenly surged through his mind: he couldn’t swim! He tried kicking his paws, but he couldn’t figure out how to move. He only got his nose tip above the water for a second, taking in a quick breath, before he slid back under due to his feeble swimming attempt, instead sucking down the stinging water into his nose.
   Duncan and Zero looked out, and were alarmed when they didn’t see Meph anywhere. Duncan’s ears rang with the words his brother had said: it’d be my first time. Worried beyond belief, he dashed for the water, calling over his shoulder, “Zero, go get someone to help!”
  “I can’t leave you here by yourself!” Zero called back, but nonetheless he began to run off, knowing he was too small to help Duncan get his brother out of the water, but he kept an eye on the young mutt over his shoulder to make sure he didn’t go down. He didn’t get far off the beach before he ran into a thick chest, and, recognizing the tan form, he gasped out. “Zak! What’re you doing here?”
  “Well I got over my hangover and wanted to hang out with you guys. You looked scared Zero, what’s wrong?” Zak looked from Zero back to the ocean. Before Zero could speak, he looked past the Shepherd and saw Duncan frantically looking in the shallows of the ocean, but suddenly he dived down into the deep water. Alarm bells going off in his skull, he let out a booming bark and dashed forward, sand flying when his paws touched the beach.
  Underneath the silent gloom of the water, Duncan felt himself pushed and pulled by the waves above. His paws pushed powerfully in wide arcs, and he snapped his jaws from one side to the other around him, ignoring the bitter taste of the sea. He was trying to use his arcing paws and teeth to hunt for his brother, and he thought he had lost him. Just when he was about to give up, his left paw grazed rough fur, and he quickly grabbed it.
  Meph, down under, felt his tail grabbed and squirmed, but he was tugged up, and he felt a paw get under his front left leg. He didn’t dare see what had him at the risk of burning his eyes, but whatever it was pushed firmly up, and he felt the pressure around him decreasing. He was running low on air, not sure how much longer he could hold it.
  Just as he thought he wouldn’t make it, his head, and his rescuer’s, broke the surface, and he heard heavy panting to his right. He shook his head furiously, clearing it of water, and opened his eyes, looking at his savior. His jaw nearly dropped back into the water when he saw it was his brother. He didn’t have time to ask any questions as Zak swam up.
  “Come on Duncan; help me get him back to shore.” The big Doberman panted, getting his own paw under Meph’s right foreleg. Duncan nodded, and he and his uncle began to kick back towards shore, where Zero was watching with worry. The dark-furred canine seemed so still to him from this distance he wondered if he had drowned or was unconscious.
  Duncan and Zak dragged Meph up to the shallows, where he managed to stand shakily. Zero heaved a sigh of relief, relaxing with his heart pounding. The soaking wet trio approached, the youngest two shaking; Meph with shock and Duncan with adrenaline. When the green-eyed dog got to the sand, he flopped onto his belly, looking at Duncan. “I’m… Alive.” He said blankly, ears drooped.
  “Yeah. Glad you’re okay bro.” Duncan panted, giving a slight smile.
  Thinking, Meph’s eyes lowered. “You should have let me drown Duncan… After all I’ve always said about you, and how weak I was I couldn’t even swim…”
  The red-eyed mix shook his head. “You just didn’t know how. I mean, I worked it out because I wanted to save you, but you didn’t have anything really… Besides, I love you bro, and all that stuff you said is behind us.”
  “You… You still love me?” Meph said. For once, his tough growl cracked a bit, and he slowly sat up.
  “We all do Meph.” Zak added, dusting sand off Meph’s coat as he got up. “We just wish you’d notice and would let us.”
  The tough mix was struck with how much they cared. He always thought that they didn’t like him because he was such a vicious pup. Maybe he wasn’t as bad as he thought he was, and they definitely deserved a chance to get to know him after this.
  “Well… Thank you Uncle Zak, Duncan.” Meph sighed, a slight smile appearing on his scarred faced. Before he could object, as if he wanted to at the moment due to his tough attitude fading for the day, his family hugged him, and all on the beach laughed off the scare of the day. Ever since that day, Meph would get along with his relatives better.

  Later on, during the night, Meph was pulling overtime with his street fights. A little ocean scare wouldn’t stop the toughest fighting dog in the city, not even his huge opponent, an unknown mix breed. The guy was huge, with a short but wide muzzle, huge paws, merciless black eyes, and a hulking form. He was slow, but he was strong, as evidenced by Meph’s bleeding arm and side, leaving him panting.
  But Meph had gotten a lot more shots in due to his speed, and with how big the unknown canine was he was worn out, panting so hard that drool was spat on the ground every breath. The green-eyed mutt liked a challenge, and he knew this guy was his toughest opponent yet. He never got cocky when it came to fights, he was always wary.
  But he made a fatal mistake this time. He jumped forward, canine fangs exposed, jumping for his foe’s throat. The dog took a step back, barely dodging the teeth and only getting a sliver of skin nipped off, and one of his huge paws came from above, slashing down Meph’s face. Two of his claws raked down the left and right side of Meph’s forehead, leaving scars above his eyes, and with the pull down he also caught Meph’s left eye, causing the mix to howl in agony as the lid was scarred as well.
  Meph, not wanting to lose, dived forward once more, catching the dog by the throat. He couldn’t see out of his eye, and he thought that it had just been blocked off, but he didn’t have time to worry. The mix gave a deep growl, and his opponent was still. Both were exhausted, and couldn’t fight anymore. So the huge mutt turned onto his back, saying only two words gruffly. “You win.”
  Dropping the dog, Meph wordlessly went up to the old canine that gave out the prizes and took his usual bag of bones, feeling all of the dogs staring at him, seeing their looks of horror out of the corner of his right eye, and he fled the scene fast. He needed to clean up his wounds and clear up his eye. He could feel it blinking, but the sight remained black. He was sure a dip in the park pond would clean it up. What he didn’t realize was his eye was now a milky white, blinded for good.

  At the same time as Meph was fighting, his sister Melanie was walking home, a bag in her maw. She had been sent by her dad and his friend Koko to fetch some food for the apartment they all lived in, and she had went with confidence. But now, with it being dark, she was starting to get nervous. But she had nothing to worry about, nobody was around, and she continued to stay confident.
  But not far behind her,