pretended to check his temperature by placing a forepaw on his back. He lowered his eyelids mockingly and glanced back at the others. "Nah, he ain't done yet. It'll take 'bout twenty more minutes. Then there's the whole cool-off phase, an' then y'gotta make sure he ain't burned, and by then he'll cut like butter."

"Very smooth." Angel lowered her own eyelids and smirked.

Scamp snickered. Rose giggled. Afghanna smiled but rolled her eyes.

"Whatever." Skip sat up and shook himself up. "I'll come." He lowered his eyebrows at Fang contemptuously. "Since you're begging."
 

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

"Next time," Scamp groaned, hooking a front paw onto his head and rubbing with one eye squinted up at the palm tree behind him, "watch where you're rolling those things."

"C'mon, Chew Toy," Fang sniggered as he hopped down from a rock. "How we gonna play 'keep away' when there ain't a ball t'play it with?"

"And your big idea was..." Afghanna panted as she joined them, "...a coconut? Genius, Fang."

"You got somethin' better, Affy?" Fang asked.

"Anything's better than this," Angel added, gasping for air as she came up beside Afghanna. "That coconut's way too heavy."

"Yeah," Rose agreed with a huff as she sat down beside Scamp, who was scratching at his ear with a hind paw.

"Any idea where we are?" Skip added as he joined their little group.

"Sure." Fang nodded.

"Oh, yeah? Where?" Skip challenged angrily.

"We're..." Fang shrugged carefreely. "Y'know, here."

Afghanna exchanged a dry look with Angel. "How can you feel anything but pity for a dog like this?"

"I hear you." Angel grunted.

"You mean we're lost?" Rose asked frantically, springing to a stand and stepping around with a nervous look on her face as she glanced over her shoulders.

"Nah," Fang swept a forepaw as if tapping at something to the left. "Yer with me, princess, we ain't lost." He hopped down from the rock he was currently on now. "And we ain't in any danger."

"Oh, I wouldn't say any danger," came a growl from the bushes.

The pups clustered together, Fang and Scamp in front. Scamp swallowed hard. Fang's eyes widened. Whatever that was, it sounded nasty-mean. Fang screwed his face up in what he hoped looked intimidating.

"C'mon out, hotshot, y'know yer dyin' to." Fang growled.

The palmetto bushes rustled and a black-and-white-spotted, shaggy-eared pup slunk out. He had flashing orange eyes and sharp teeth--perhaps not quite as sharp as Fang's, but they looked deadly.

A few other pups came up behind him. They were all mutts of various colors. Including the first black and white pup, there were five of them in all. One was all white, with a pink-black nose, a male. Two others were twin brown-and-black males. One girl pup, black with short, messy gray-black fur, long, flowing ears, with silver-white underbelly fur and paws, a pointed, refined nose and glittering aqua-colored eyes.

They all wore multicolored collars with no liscenses on them. The look on their muzzles made Scamp and Angel think they were worse than most Street Dogs back home.

"How's pickin's, House Pets?" Fang suddenly greeted the newcomers.

All eyes of the mutt-group widened and then the eyebrows lowered, a unanimous growl erupting like thunder from their throats.

The first black-and-white dog with droopy ears, almost like Scamp's, but a bit smaller, sprang down from the boulder they were all standing on.

He prowled up to meet Fang, shoving his nose against the Golden Retriever's and squinting, still growling low. "We," he said slowly, "are not House Pets. We live here."

"What, in the woods?" Afghanna muttered. "Fat chance."

"Yeah," snarled one of the twin pups. "We do. Y'gotta pro'lem with it?"

"She didn't say that," Angel said quickly. She looked angry at the new pups' rudeness, but she didn't want a fight.

"I'll handle this," Fang informed them. He strolled in a circle around the black-and-white pup. "What's yer handle, newbie?"

"They call me Blizzard. Blitz to the crew," he informed them sneeringly. He didn't move as Fang circled him, only sinking his head low beneath his shoulders and curling his lip in a mocking smirk, eyes flicking to the left as Fang moved.

"Crew, 'uh?" Fang snorted. "I guess that means those thug wannabes, eh?" he jerked his head toward the group on the rocks.

"Wannabes?" snapped the white, pink-black-nosed male pup.

"Zip it, Harley," Blitz barked without looking at the white dog. He faced Fang. "So who're you?" he asked with a grunt. "Or don't you got a name?"

"Name's Fang," Fang lifted his chin and gave a carefree smile with lowered eyelids. "And this is the gang." He jerked his head toward Rose, Afghanna, and Skip. "Minus the House Dogs."

"And they are...?" Blizzard sneered, faking politeness.

Fang went down the line. "Angel an' Chew Toy--er, Scamp--the House Pets. This 'ere's Affy--"

"Afghanna," she corrected between clenched teeth.

"Yeah-yeah, right. An' Rose. Skip's the short one with the ugly mug."

"Hey!" Skip snapped.

"Hard truth, Skipper, but y'gotta move on," Fang teased. He glanced back to Blitz. "An' again--I'm Fang."

"Fang."  Harley snorted from the rock. "Stupid name. Don't fit you at all. You're a runt, look at ya! Why d'they call y'that?"

"Allow me t'demonstrate." Fang, without further warning, sprang at Harley and pinned him violently to the rock, giving a savage bite to the white pup's ear.

Harley yelped in pain and kicked him off, flipping onto his belly and squeezing his eyes shut as his pointy ear pulsed with pain. "Y-y-you coulda ripped it, y'jerk!"

Fang landed on all four paws, taking his sitting position beside Scamp again. He shrugged casually. "You asked."

With a snarl, Blitz flung himself at Fang and the two rolled over and over.

"Fang--stop!" Angel cried. "Get off him!"

"I ain't on 'im, doll!" Fang snapped back as Blitz kicked at him when they rolled again.

The other new dogs, Harley, the twin brown-and-black pups, and the female, all spilled down the rocks and faced off with the gang.

"Hey," Scamp  yelped. "Back off!"

One of the twins circled him and the two went round and round. Fang and Blitz were kicking up sand already. The other twin bowled Afghanna over.

Rose skidded to a halt when Harley approached her. She looked scared, but she summoned her courage and squared off with him.

When Harley growled and bunched his muscles, leaping at poor Rose, he was hit in the side with two cream-yellow paws.

As the yellow blur of a dog bit down hard on Harely's scruff, he sprang off and stepped in front of Rose, panting and curling his lip to snarl at Harley.

"Thanks, Skip!" Rose gasped.

Skip panted some more, glancing once back at her and then turning his attention to where Harley was picking himself up off the sand. "Whatever," he grumbled.

"You're gonna pay fer that!" promised Harley, advancing on Skip.

"Didn't your mommy ever teach you not to bite a girl?" Skip sneered back. "Attacking the youngest--you're a great fighter."

"Wha--" Harley began, confused. Then he lowered his eyebrows and spat, "Puh!", flinging himself onto Skip. Rose sprang onto Harley's back and nipped at his tail and ears, the sensitive spots, while the white pup pinned Skip.

Afghanna was still rolling with one of the brown twin pups, Scamp doing the same a few feet away with the other twin.

Fang kicked with his hind paws and sent Blitz flying across the sand. The black-and-white pup coughed and sprang to his paws again, attacking Fang once more.

"Step off," Angel growled. She was still facing off with the female blackish-silver pup with the aqua eyes.

"Make me," replied the spunky female.

"You asked for it!"

"Hang on a minute, hold everything, stop!" Fang snarled. Everyone froze. Everyone, that is, except Angel and the female.

The black-silver female was still pinning Angel to the sand, growling in her face as Angel tried to free herself.

"Hey, hey, don'tcha get the meanin' of heel?" Fang snapped, rushing over and grabbing the female by her liscenseless violet-pink collar, yanking her off of Angel.

The female barked loudly and faced off with Fang, glaring into his eyes.

Fang was about to snarl a reply to the bark, preparing himself, when his eyes raised to glare right back at her. He found himself staring into beautiful aqua-green eyes. His scowl fell, eyebrows raising from their angry look. His red eyes widened. His paws became weak. Her eyes glittered with confusion and still anger.

There was a long moment of silence as everyone began picking themselves up and staring at the looks Fang and this female were giving each other.

Blitz pushed between them. "Hey," he