Chapter Text
If there is one thing that these pups love more than running around playing, it would be their parents. The love that they show for them is truly something to behold, with countless hugs and puppy piles, which is exactly what happened when Doug came home from work today.
The pups were playing in the hallway and jumping around when Doug got back, and as usual, he came home covered head to paw in soot.
"Honeys, I'm home." said Doug as he opened the door, which made all the pups start repeating, "Dad!" in excitement.
"Hello, Doug." said Dawkins with a smile as the pups jumped onto Doug, making soot go everywhere.
"Welcome home, Doug." I say while sitting at the bottom of the stairs, which Dylan was in the process of cleaning wearing gloves and a duster tied to his tail.
"So, I got news." said Doug with a chuckle as the pups got off him to listen.
"Turns out tomorrow's "take your kids to work" day." said Doug with excitement, as the pups all just stared blankly at him.
"Who wants to come to work with your old dad?" asked Doug, which immediately made all the pups start saying, "Me!" in hopes of getting to go with him to the fire station.
"Hmm. Firehouse full of fur, or stay home on my own? Yeah, no-brainer." said Dylan as he weighed his options and quickly came to a decision.
"Uh, try to keep it down on your way out in the morning. I plan to sleep in on...Dylan Day." said Dylan as he walked up the stairs to go rest, dropping the duster on his way up.
"Okay, okay, okay. I-I-I..I obviously didn't think this through." said Doug before clearing his throat as he looked around nervously at all the pups who wanted to come with him.
"Uh, well, the thing is my sweet spotty dotties...uh..." said Doug with a nervous chuckle as every pup waited expectedly.
"Wh-What I meant to say was, uh, there's only room in the fire truck for one." finished Doug as all the pups let out an, Aw!" in disappointment.
"I call front seat on the fire truck!" said Diesel as he bounced around excitedly.
"Backsy-backsy!" said Delgado as he ran up and interrupted Diesel, which he didn't like.
"Hey!" said Dizzy and Deedee in disappointment as Dorothy yipped.
Soon after, all the pups started clamoring, trying to convince Doug that they should be the one to go with him to the fire station, which all left Doug looking very nervous.
Before the fighting could get too intense though, I whistled to get everyone's attention, which made them all stop fighting.
"Don't worry everyone, I have a way to help your father decide." I say to them as I motion them over to the kitchen.
In the kitchen, Dawkins had retrofitted the old washing machine into what I can only describe as a giant mechanical bingo cage. Instead of balls with numbers, the inside of this machine had 99 balls with paw prints on them, each one having the name of one of the pups written on them. Me and Doug both agreed that this would be the most fair way to decide.
"And that pup's..." said Doug as he showed off the machine excitedly, to which Dawkins pushed a big red button on top, which made a loud ding and popped open a slot on the bottom revealing one of the balls, a blue one.
"...name begins with a "D."" said Doug as he picked up the ball, which made all the pups wag their tails in anticipation.
"It's a dog..." continued Doug, which made all the pups' eyes go wide with excitement.
"One of my honeys..." continued Doug, which this time made all the pups say, "Dad!", as they just wanted to know who got picked.
"Okay, okay. It's...It's D...Dolly!" he finally said, which made Dolly throw up her paw to the sides of her face in shock and then start clapping in excitement, while all the other pups just said, "Aw!" in disappointment.
"Feeling disappointment." said Dawkins as he too looked upset.
"Finally! I get to see you in action!" says Dolly in excitement as she rushes over to Doug's side, to which she then backs off in a playful pose and asks, "Can I be your sidekick?"
"Sidekick?" asked Doug in a confused tone.
"Yeah. Every action hero has one" said Dolly as she threw her arms up in excitement.
"Action hero? Sidekick?" asked all the pups in confusion, before all of them said, "Aw!" once again in disappointment.
"Uh, consolation hugs for the rest?" asked Doug as he threw his arms up, to which Dolly and Dawkins quickly got out of the way before Doug got buried in a puppy pile.
"This is gonna be the most action-packed day of my life!" said Dolly, whose eyes went wide with the prospect of seeing the fire station.
Little did she know she was most likely not going to see much action at all. You see, I've been to fire stations before, and most of the time it is essentially a home for the fire fighters while they wait and practice for when they get called into action. I could only hope that Dolly understands.
The next morning, Doug wakes up with a yawn and walks towards the stairs before sitting down and yelling out, "Let's hit the road, Dolly!"
Then, just as he said that, Dolly came out onto the top of the stairs with the biggest smile I had ever seen wearing small fire boots, a helmet with googles, and a cape made of a blanket.
As she walked down the stairs though, one of the boots caught on her cape and she tumbled the rest of the way down, landing at the bottom of the stairs with a thud.
"I didn't mean literally." said Doug as Dolly groaned in pain.
"You'll teach me all your action-hero moves, right, Dad?" Dolly asked as she got up, grabbed Doug's face in her paws, and raised her paw for a high five.
"Yea...no" said Doug, making Dolly frown for a second before he continued, "But I'll happily teach you all there is to know about fire hose maintenance." with a big smile on his face.
"Now, what, now?" asked Dolly with a confused look on her face.
"Don't worry Dolly, I'll help explain it to you on our way there, because I'm gonna come with you." I said, making Doug look at me with surprise.
"Are you sure Lugh?" asked Doug with concern, "There's only room for Dolly in the firetruck."
"It's okay Doug, I can just run alongside the firetruck. " I answer as I do a slight stretch, "I need the exercise anyway."
"Okay, if you say so." says Doug as he motions us over to the door, opening it so we can head to the fire station.
"So, Dolly, Lugh, this is the fire station." said Doug as he stepped to the side, revealing the fire station and making Dolly's eyes go wide with wonder.
It was a pretty modest sized station, with 3 bays for the fire trucks and overall a very modern look to it, much more modern than the one I saw when I was young.
"And one of the most important things you'll learn today is to keep the station neat and tidy." said Doug as he walked into one of the bays and past the fire trucks, making Dolly stare in awe at the trucks, as well as the fire pole in the very back.
Dolly stared in awe at the fire pole as she placed one of her paws on it before running over the rack where the uniforms were, which included a pair of boots that were still smoldering.
After looking at the uniforms, me and Dolly then continued to follow Doug into a hallway filled with medals, display cases, and picture frames, while explaining how each one was important.
While I was paying attention to Doug, Dolly stopped at a fire helmet on display, getting up close to it in amazement as Doug was explaining the history of a fire hose reel that was also on display, one that was apparently all the way from Japan.
As Dolly stopped to look at the hose, Doug then cleared his throat, getting Dolly's attention.
"Dolly, Lugh, meet Captain Walker." said Doug as he stepped aside and revealed the captain at the top of the stairs as he closed his eyes in respect.
As she walked down, Dolly's mind raced to imagine the heroic figure before her, before the captain took off her helmet and revealed a very tired woman with light brown hair and glasses.
"Huh?" was all Dolly could say as she looked across the room to see other firemen who also looked bored, all of whom were looking at the front of the room to the captain, as well as a colorful poster that said, "Welcome Children.", which just made it painfully clear that none of the other firemen had brought their kids.
"Uh, Dad, what's not happening?" asked Dolly in confusion.
"I am relieved--I mean..." started Captain Walker as she cleared her throat and crumpled up the poster, "so sorry to see that no one brought their children."
It was then that Captain Walker looked to her right and noticed me and Dolly as she said, "Oh. How cute. A puppy. And wearing a costume, no less.", in possibly the most condescending tone I had ever heard, before she then turned to me and said, "Who invited the fossil."
I have to say, that remark did start to get under my fur, but thankfully it didn't last long as Captain Walker turned back to Dolly as she said, "Hi, Captain, I'm Dolly. I am way stoked...", but unfortunately forgot once again that humans can't understand dogs.
"Puppy, fetch." said Captain Walker as she threw the crumpled up poster out of the room, making Doug and Dolly's expressions turn confused, and mine turn to one of displeasure.
"She wants me to fetch her trash?" asked Dolly in shock and confusion.
"Doing what the captain says is pretty important. I know I can count on you, Dolly." said Doug, who was trying to cheer Dolly up.
"Okay." said Dolly with a very confused tone as she ran to go get the poster.
Once Dolly was gone, Captain Walker got out a laptop and opened it, plugging a cable into it as she and Doug got to the front desk.
"And now, for my personal favorite, multi-incident rescues." said Captain Walker in a very bored tone while Doug just continued to smile.
"I wonder how long this can go on before Dolly realizes the truth." I ask myself as I sit to listen to the lecture.
As it turns out, it didn't take Dolly long at all before she realized. In fact, she started noticing that today wasn't what she expected by the time she got back with the crumpled up poster. When she got back, Doug was clicking through the slides with his paw as the firemen watched on with boredom.
"Uh..." said Dolly as she watched Doug click through the slides.
"Rock-star fetching, Dolly. Now, how about my...clicking?" asked Doug as he continued clicking through the slides with his paw while smiling smugly.
"Dad, seriously?" asked Dolly with one of her eyebrows raised, "What about the trampoline? And the ladder? And what time does the bell go off so we can put out a real fire?"
"Yeah, we usually hope that doesn't go off." said Doug.
"What?" asked Dolly in confusion.
"Well, real fires are, I don't know, kind of dangerous." said Doug, who waved his paw for emphasis.
"But, Dad, I thought you did cool stuff all day?" said Dolly, who was starting to realize this wasn't the adventure she signed up for.
"This...ain't that." said Dolly, gesturing her paw toward the rest of the firemen.
"Well, Dolly, not everything is an adventure. In between action, there's usually not much for them to do besides this. They basically live here while not on the job." I say, making Dolly groan in frustration.
"But I thought you were psyched to share in my world." said Doug as he started to whimper while doing puppy dog eyes.
"Aw, d-don't feel bad, Dad." said Dolly as she tried to figure out how to make it up to Doug.
"Um, 'cause..." started Dolly, before she got a determined look and said, "I'm about to rock your world!"
"Oh no." was all I had time to say before Dolly went over to the laptop and pressed one of the keys, causing it to start playing rock music.
"With an 80's soundtrack?" asked Doug in confusion before Dolly put her cape on Doug, and then started jumping all around the station, making the firemen chase after her, including up ladders and down the fire pole, all while barking along with the music.
She even sprayed them, all with the hose and bounced on the trampoline while holding one of their phones while laughing, all while the firemen tried and failed to catch her. At the end, all the firemen, including Captain Walker and Doug, collapsed from exhaustion onto a gurney as Dolly howled in triumph.
"Nailed it, you legends..." said Dolly, before she then noticed the results of her playfulness as she said, "Whoo-hoo...Uh...Huh?"
"They overdosed on Dolly." said Dolly as she started to look guilty.
"Yeah, they did. They usually don't see this much action, even when on the job." I say as we leave the firemen to rest.
After me and Dolly looked around the rest of the fire station, she eventually had to concede and went back to the laptop to start going through the slides herself with a sigh.
"Fire trucks must be equipped with respirators, nozzle attachments, a hydrant wrench, and an escape rope ladder." said Dolly in a very bored tone and tired expression as she clicked through the slides.
"And now let's move on..." said Dolly with a yawn, "to multi-incident rescues."
"I know this may seem boring Dolly, but excitement can be found anywhere if you know where to look." I say, trying to cheer her up.
"Oh really?" said Dolly in a very mocking tone, "How is there excitement in this?"
"Well, for example, the fire hose nozzle can shoot out water at 250 psi, which coupled with the 1.5 inch diameter of the nozzle can lift up to 442 pounds." I say while showing her the specification for the fire hose nozzle.
"Wow, really?" asks Dolly in excitement.
"Yeah. I know this may all seem boring, but the truth is that all of this is necessary for when..." I start to say, but get interrupted as the fire alarm begins to go off, and the screen starts flashing showing the location of the fire.
"Finally! A real fire! On..." says Dolly, but then we both start panicking once we notice where the fire is.
It's on Dalmatian Street, specifically 99 Dalmatian Street, where Constantine lives.
"Aah! Dad, wake up!" yells Dolly as she turns to the gurney where Doug and the firemen are.
"Hmm? Dolly?" asks Doug as he wakes up.
"Dad! Fire! On Dalmatian Street!" says Dolly as she runs over the gurney.
"We need to move right now!" I say as I start getting the equipment ready.
"Ooh! I need to wake up the crew." said Doug as he barks and howls, waking up the crew.
"Action stations, everybody!" shouts Captain Walker, waking the rest of the crew up.
"Uniforms on! Ready the truck!" shouts Captain Walker as they all start getting ready.
Once the call is made, they rush like mad to get everything ready, which makes Dolly finally understand.
"Okay, I get it now." said Dolly as she starts perking up, "You guys study up so you're always super prepped!"
"That's right." I say as I'm loading equipment onto the fire truck, "I'm glad you finally understand now."
"Dad, I'm sorry. Let me help." said Dolly as she started gathering equipment.
"Respirator. Nozzle attachments. Escape rope ladder. Hydrant wrench. Fire hose checked!" said Dolly as she gathered everything they needed into the fire truck.
"Open the garage door." said Dolly as she presses a button to open the garage while the crew starts the fire truck.
As Dolly and Doug get into the fire truck, they turn and look at me.
"Are you coming, Lugh?" asked Dolly.
"You go on ahead, I'll meet you there." I say as the fire truck starts heading off.
As the fire truck leaves the fire station, with Dolly and Doug howling in tune with the siren, I run alongside them and split off onto a shortcut back to the Dalmatian house.
After a few seconds, I make it to the rear of the Dalmatian's house and climb the fence into Constantine's yard, where I saw lots of smoke, and what I found isn't quite what I expected.
Instead of a raging fire like I was worrying about, I instead saw dozens of flaming origami cranes, some flying around the yard and some hanging from strings, with various cats in sashimi's hiding in fear, and Dylan up in his treehouse suffering from his cat allergy.
"Don't worry, the fire department is on their way." I say as I start to jump and catch some of the burning origami cranes to put them out.
After a minute or two, Dolly and Doug arrive with the fire department with confused looks on their faces.
"Glad you're here, I could use a paw." I say as I catch one of the origami cranes.
"Cat on the runway." said Doug as he pointed out a cat hanging on a pile of rocks.
"Cat on the fence." said Dolly as she pointed out Constantine hanging from his sashimi on a coat rack.
"Cat in a box." said Doug as he points out a cat running around with a box covering its body.
"Dylan in a tree?" asks Dolly in confusion as she sees Dylan in his treehouse surrounded by lots of panicking cats.
"It's about time! Incident rescue!" says Doug as he turns to Dolly, "Dolly, make like back at the station."
Dolly then runs to the fire truck and grabs the fire hose, then runs back and puts it down in front of Captain Walker, who pets her for doing a good job.
Captain Walkers then uses the hose to put out the rest of the burning origami cranes as the rest of the firemen run to rescue the cats, which is strikingly similar to the trouble Dolly put them through at the station as she barks encouragingly. They even push the ladder up to the side of the tree house as Doug and Dolly run up and bring Dylan back down using a thermal blanket.
"My heroes." said Dylan with a sneeze.
"My hero." said Dolly as she and Doug hugged Dylan.
But then, a burning origami crane floats by Dolly as she says, "Fire!", and goes to grab the hose.
Dolly then uses the hose to put out the cane and smiles, but then gasps as she realizes that she soaked Captain Walker.
"I hate "bring your kids to work" day." said Captain Walker as she stares angrily at Dolly.
"Oops." said Dolly in regret.
"It's okay, I always come prepared." I say as I bring Captain Walker a towel, which she uses to dry off.
"Huh, you're pretty fast for an old timer." said Captain Walker as she realized how quickly I got here.
That one line from Captain Walker though made Dylan, Dolly, and Doug pause.
She was right, Lugh got here quicker than a Pomeranian ever could.
Much quicker than any dog ever could actually.