When The Sky Grows Bleak

Hey guys, Charisma here! All I have to say is, sorry for the agonizingly long wait, here is the story! Or at least the prologue, lol.

Prologue: Why You Left Us

"Chase, it's late. Where are you going?" Chase's mother asked him as he put on a small satchel and proceeded to head out the door to their family's small cardboard house. She was worried for him. He hadn't been acting the same lately, reserving himself from the rest of them, all twenty-three. Three generations of German Shepherds living in this lowly alleyway in the southern edge of Adventure City, scrounging through the garbage in dumpsters and trash cans for food, and even occasionally stealing pastries from the nearby French cafe right from under the noses of those dining outdoors on the vendetta. They all lived in various assortments of boxes, large cans and wood drawers, and even one family -her son and daughter, no less- lived in a big metal safe.

"Out." Chase replied, not wanting to worry her. She was always worried about something, he knew, and father said it was one of her most charming traits, but as of late it only served to annoy Chase. She had been constantly pestering him the last two weeks, saying she was "worried he was becoming too much of an introvert." What was wrong with that? The truth was, he didn't like this life. Digging through mounds of trash in search of anything edible, running dangerously through traffic and narrowly dodging the Pound for a measly piece of a sandwich -it had no end, no purpose to him. He wanted to do something with his life. Something big. Something meaningful. Unlike him, his brother and four sisters were perfectly fine and even well-suited to the life of a street dog, with quick reflexes, large size, and sharp teeth. They were older though by a few months, as they were of his parent's previous litter. Chase had had siblings of the same litter too, but they had all died within a week of birth. He was the sole survivor. He knew that was one of the reasons his mother was so intent on figuring out why he was acting the way he was lately, but he never saw her acting like that to his older brother Dinamite, one of those perfectly equipped and cut out for the job of stealing croissants and running from dog catchers.

Dinamite was tall for his age, not skinny but definitely not fat. He had both street smarts and book smarts. He was good with the ladies, which, if you think about it, were all his sisters and aunts. And he had a sense of humour and yet an air of superiority and seriousness about him at the same time. He only had one brother actually still living with him at home, and that was Chase. They were like best friends, inseparably paired. Except Chase had started to not want to hang out, and instead would wander around the nearby woods farther south of the block the alley was situated in. This hurt Dinamite's heart, and he would constantly ask Chase if he wanted to go "find" some food, or go to the park, or something, anything together. But Chase would rather go off by himself.

Speaking of which, Chase had headed out the door, leaving behind his mother's ever worried mumbling and his brothers disappointed and even hurt expression. He loved the time by himself. He wasn't an introvert, he knew that. He was planning something bigger. He was training. Training to be something better. Training to be a cop. He had found a cop's manual one day after stealing the officer's donut, and since then had been trying to perfect his commanding voice, his reflexes, even his permanent expression of serious determination. He had set up a training area in a secluded part of the forest, with a mirror, a homemade training sandbag made of a couple broken broomsticks, a trash can lid, and a scarecrow's head he found in a dumpster next to a farmers field, among other things.

It was dark out, but he knew his way there by heart. He walked for a couple minutes, turned right, then crossed the river. Except, something wasn't right here. There was no river on the way to his training site. He backtracked across the river, then went farther this time into the woods before turning right. Again, he ran into the river, so he backtracked again and decided to head left. He knew there was a hill there behind the pastry bakery, maybe he could get a better view of where he was supposed to go there. He turned and headed to his left, east, for a full five minutes before realizing there was no hill. He began to get worried as he backtracked again and attempted to head back the opposite way, west, till he found the river so he could get his bearings. However, he kept walking and never saw it. At this point he was on the verge of hysteria. He was lost! In the woods! At NIGHT! This was terrible!

Three hours later

"Where is that boy!?" Mother choked, on the verge of hysteria. "He should be back by now!"

"Relax, dearest. He probably just lost track of time and is almost home right now." Father assured her, now even starting to worry himself. Where was that boy? He should be back by now! Once he got home, he was getting a talking to for sure.

Half an hour later

"Alright that's it! Dinamite, grab my coat! Oh, and the flashlight!" Dinamite hurried to his parents area of their small maze of cardboard boxes that was their home. Fathers coat consisted of a flimsy piece of Jean cloth sewn messily together. Everyone's coat looked almost the same.

"You sure honey? What if you get lost? I can't raise our children by myself!"

"Marion, quit worrying! We'll be fine!" Father said sternly. This shut up mother instantly; if Father ever called her by her real name, he was dead serious, and there was no point in arguing with him. He had made up his mind.

Dinamite came back with Father's coat and flashlight, I along with his own coat. "Here you go Father."

"Good. Thanks Din. Now let's go. It'll be pitch black before we know it."

The two of them wandered about for an hour, calling out Chase's name and trying to catch his scent. The night got so dark they couldn't see anything without the flashlight, and it got mighty cold, "Probably five degrees out. Celsius of course." Father guessed. Soon he was shivering, his breath laboured, his internal temperature slowly dropping. Dinamite noticed this.
"Father, maybe you should go back home. It's getting cold, and you look ill." Dinamite said to his Father, who was now shaking uncontrollably.

"Yeah, maybe you're right. You're fine by yourself out here?" His Father said, handing his son the flashlight, which he had been holding in his mouth the whole time. His jaw ached a lot now, but he wasn't about to show or admit that.

"Yeah, and got it. I know how to get home. I'll be fine. I don't need another Mother." Dinamite said jokingly, and Father chuckled.

"Yeah, she's a worry wart, that's true. But that's what makes her so endearing. Alright, take care son." He said, chuckling and giving Dinamite a playful shove before heading back the way he came.

"Will do." Dinamite called back, then turned himself forward and reset his task of finding his younger brother.

Chase had been wandering for hours, or so he guessed. He had no way to tell time. He looked around for about the millionth time for any sign of familiarity, but all seemed foreign to him. He could see a vast expanse of stars overhead, but he didn't know how to navigate using them, so they were of no use to him at the moment. He'd have to get his sister Erin to teach him. He shook his head as he continued walking blindly on. But then, something. He heard something. Not the usual rustling of leaves in the night breeze, or the hoot of an owl, or a mouse scurrying back and forth along the forest floor; no, this was a voice. There it was again!

"Hey!" Chase screamed out, not caring who it was behind the distant voice, he just wanted to get out of this nightmare and find his way home. If he had to do so with the help of a stranger, so be it. "HEY!" Chase screeched, trying to project his voice to the direction he thought the voice had come from. And then, he heard his brother's voice, calling out his name. "Dinamite! I'm over here!" Chase screamed, and began running in his direction, kicking up dirt as he flew over the protruding tree roots.

"Chase!? Chase!" Dinamite exclaimed once he heard Chase call out his name, and began running towards his brothers voice, who kept calling out his own name.

Soon they were in sight of each other, and ran all the harder until they collided in a loving embrace. "I'm so sorry Din! I just...wanted to be alone! *sniff* and then I got lost, *sniff* so I tried to backtrack, but then *sniff* I got more lost, *sniff* a-a-and then I-I couldn't s-s-see-"

"Hey, hey, it's okay! You'll be alright! You're fine! I'm fine! Everything's gonna turn out. You're safe now, okay?" Chase nodded up at his loving brother, who smiled a big toothy grin before turning back. "Now let's go home before we both catch a cold.
"O-okay." Chase whimpered, happy and relieved, as he slowly trotted after his brother.

Another Half Hour Later

Things were going well. They were almost back at home. However, Dinamite noticed something that put him on high alert. It was quiet. Too quiet. He swiveled his ears to get an audio reading of the area, but there was no sound other than the breeze. And then Chase spoke up.

"D-Dinamite. Help." He whispered almost inaudibly. Chase was pinned beneath the claws of the silent but deadly Mountain Cat looming on top of him, growling and bristling. Dinamite looked behind him, expecting something like a scary shadow shape to be the cause of his little bro's fear. But he was met with a surprise. He froze as he saw the gleaming eyes and teeth, glistening with saliva. He slowly turned around, Chase's captor growling and snarling at him the whole time. Dinamite knew what this brute cat had beneath his massive black paws. He eyed his brother, making sure to watch the cat at the same time, considering what to do. He lowered his profile, growling, assessing his opponent.

Clearly this cat wasn't going to let go of Chase democratically, so Dinamite had only one other option facing him; a fight. This cat was also clearly wild, making him lethal in a fight. He was a death machine. He could tear both of them apart if he wanted to. Dinamite had to play this very strategically. He began circling around to the right, but the cat wasn't having any of that, and snarled and screamed, slashing at the Shepherd, barely missing his nose. Dinamite dodged over to the left, attempting to find an opening. But the cat anticipated this, and before Dinamite could even step forward, the cat had his claws bared, trying to slash at the dog. This time he hit his mark, his wicked talons raking through Dinamites right eye, tearing his eyelid and puncturing and ripping the cornea of his eye, blinding him on that side.

Dinamite screamed and cried in agony, falling backwards holding his face, which was streaming blood in copious amounts. The cat forgot all about Chase as he launched himself

onto the older dog, clawing at him. Dinamite fought back like his life depended on it, which it did.

"Run Chase!" He screamed, rolling over so he was now on top of the cat, slashing at him with his own claws, aiming especially for its eyes, where it hurt him the most. Chase heard Dinamite's command and didn't think twice before sprinting as far the opposite way as his tires little legs could go before hiding behind a tree and sobbing his heart out.
Dinamite kept clawing at the cat before landing a blow on the cats nose, causing the cat to howl in pain. "Chase is so gonna pay for this!" Dinamite thought, his anger fueling him even more as he catipulted his weak and torn body onto the cat one more time before slamming him into the ground and knocking him out cold. "Yeah! Eat it you stupid piece of shit! **** you!" He screamed in the Mountain Cat's face, which earned him a moan. He wiped his cheek of the blood that continued to stream down his face in rivulets.

Ten minutes passed of stumbling around in the dark, calling out Chase's name and eventually finding him huddled up against a tree, bawling his eyes out. He screamed when he saw Dinamite's eye, or at least where it used to be, and Dinamite lost his cool. "Oh yeah, you little twit! If you weren't out here for who knows how long, you'd be dead! And I wouldn't have my *ing right eye cut out of my skull, now would I!? You idiot Chase! Why would you do this? Why would you walk out to the forest late at night!? It's dangerous! You should know better, you, you...-you absolute bloody pillock!" In blind rage he lashed out at his younger brother, who had finally had the courage to look up at his brother, in the eye. But that was Chase's mistake. Dinamite's paw caught Chase underneath his chin, sending him out cold instantly and sending his now limp body flying a full 6 feet.
"Oh shit, Chase!" He ran over to his brother, whose nose was bleeding and who had the biggest bruise Dinamite had ever seen. Ever. It was massive. "You idiot Din! Why would you smack your own brother!" He screamed at himself, both inwardly and outwardly. It was hard enough getting Chase to do stuff with him before, but now it would be nigh impossible to get him to even look at him the same way. "Oh God, what now? Mother and Father are gonna kill me!"

He picked the limp body off of the ground, put him on his pack as gently as he could, and headed back home. He dreaded what his parents would think of their situation. He knew Chase had to wake up eventually, right? His heart was still beating after all. He would be fine.....right?

Another Another Half An Hour Later. You know what I mean.

Mother looked out the window in absolute despair. Chase had been gone for almost five hours, and now Dinamite hadn't returned for a while now. She was beginning to worry that Dinamite had gotten lost too, despite his impeccable knowledge of navigation, using the stars or landmarks. It took all her will power not to freak out and go search for them herself. But then, in through the door came none other than Dinamite himself, with Chase....on his back? "What's wrong with Chase?" She thought, but was shaken from her thoughts by her husband welcoming their son home. But then, Dinamite looked right at his mother, and she stopped. His eye! It was.....was....

"Hey Mother." He said sadly, and she paled considerably.

"What in God's World happened to your eye!?" She exclaimed, grabbing his face as best a dog can with paws and thoroughly examining it.

"It...I...we..." He stammered, as Father just stood there speechless, staring at the hole where his son's right eye used to be.

"Spit it out boy!" Mother exclaimed, flustered as ever. Probably more than normal. Maybe. "I think I just might faint."

"Marion, sit! We don't need another medical emergency on our hands." Mother sat.
Chase gasped, looking around in confusion, before seeing his Mother and Father looking at him in shock and surprise. He looked down to find he was on someone's back. "Hey little bro." He heard his Dinamite's voice, and it dawned on him. Dinamite had brought him home! But he was with Dinamite!
He yelped and hopped off of Dinamite's back, a Yelp escaping his maw as he scurried to the farthest corner away from the bigger dog that was supposed to be his loving brother. Right? He still loved him, right?

"You hurt me!" Chase screamed, tears falling down his face again. "Why? I loved you!" He sobbed, as his Father and Mother came over to the puppy, consoling him and holding him close while looking up at their elder son in confusion and concern.
That last sentence hurt the most to Dinamite. He had saved his little brother from imminent death! And now he was being accused of something he did, yea, but did only because that little brat wandered around in the woods at night by himself! He turned to his parents. And told them the whole story, sparing no expense and leaving nothing important out, not even the part where he hurt Chase. Reckless and idiotic he was, but a liar he was not.
After he finished explaining, Father and Mother Looked at each other again in shock. A Mountain Cat? Battle? Dinamite hurting Chase on purpose? This was all unheard of in their community!
"Din....Why?" Father was simply lost for words. He couldn't believe Dinamite would ever hurt his only younger brother, and in that manner? Horrifying!
"I....I blamed Chase for everything. If he hadn't gone out this late, we'd be fine! But no, this little scoundrel"- he spit in Chase's direction, earning a disgusted look from both Mother and Father- "Decided he needed to go out now!"

"He's just young! He doesn't know any better!" Father said, standing up now. "You of all people should know about knowing better. I can't believe you hurt him!" He gestured to the quivering Chase, huddled up in his mothers arms, crying softly whilst still looking at Dinamite with as much contempt as he could muster. "We never hurt each other! That's the number one rule in our community! Everyone is not for themselves, we are all one, and we fight for each other!"

"Father! You don't get it! You were always the perfect child! You wouldn't understand lack of attention! You guys favour him over me and the girls, even though we so far more than he does. Heck, he doesn't even wanna be in our family. He wants to be a cop!"

Chase was shocked! He hasn't told Dinamite any of that! "H-w-how...? He stuttered, unable to create a sensible sentence.

"Oh yeah, Chase. I saw your little hideout. The little scarecrow thing, the mirror where you practice your serious face, all of it! You're so pathetic!" He exclaimed, sending another spitball Chase's way. Now Mother was standing.

"Do you have any idea of what's gojng on here!? You hurt him and now blame him for everything that's happened, even though you are the one who hurt him! And you stalk him and his personal life! It's your duty as an older sibling to stand up for your younger siblings. You hear me? An obligation! You should be happy you lost an eye for him, and not snooping around him!" Mother exclaimed, sitting back down even more pale than before.

"As if he has a life..." Dinamite mumbled, and Father stomped his foot in anger.

"Din, get out. Now." He said, gesturing towards the front door. "Go think about what you're saying, and what you've done. Marion, could you grab him a cloth for his eye?"

"That's alright Father." Dinamite said coldly, staring down his Father with hate burning in his one eye. "I don't need anything from you guys. Besides, you only care about Chase, right? What do I matter to you?" And with that, he stormed out of the room, his parents calling after him as he wandered off to the woods, but this time, he had absolutely no intention of returning. Not now. Not ever. But as he walked on through the now quiet morning, the dawn breaking forth its splendour, he knew this was a new day. A new dawn. A new life.

A/N And that's that! Set the stage! Won't say anymore than necessary here, so stay safe everyone, drink plenty of water or apple juice or whatever you drink, and make sure to wear your seatbelt! Byeeeee!