~~~

It was late when the helicopter finally made it back to port, at least midnight, maybe even one in the morning. Most normal people would’ve been in bed, but the media wasn’t most normal people, which is why there were dozens of reporters and photographers and camera-dogs all lying down on the grass next to the aunties’ boats.

‘How could they possibly know we’d be coming?’ asked Cha Cha, peering out of the helicopter window as it descended to the ground.

‘They follow my schedule religiously…’ said Chi Hua Bi Bi. ‘You’d know that if you were actually important.’

‘I don’t want to see them,’ said Wu Dog Yan quietly.

‘Nuut, of course you don’t.’

‘I need time alone.’

‘It’s okay,’ said Cha Cha. ‘we’ll act as your bodyguards, they won’t get near you. Right, Zade?’

‘The police are here...’ said Zade, ignoring her.

‘What?’

‘They must’ve heard somehow…’

‘Who cares about the police?’ said Chi Hua Bi Bi, tying her hair back and putting on her sunglasses. Then taking them off. Then putting them back on again. ‘Just tell them those two dogs went crazy, killed each other.’

‘They might not believe us.’

‘That’s your problem. They wouldn’t dare touch me.’

As the helicopter landed, both the police and the media moved forward, the media reporters slightly faster. Chi Hua Bi Bi shoved Cha Cha and Luco out of the way and pulled open the door, raising her paws in the air as if she were the president before jumping down onto the grass.

As predicted, the police let her move past, and soon enough she was surrounded by the reporters and camera-dogs, telling them how she had bravely rescued her good friend Wu Dog Yan from falling drunkenly off a cliff, and then witnessed Dog Lee and Dog Hood fight to the death on Ratko’s Jump.

The reporters took pictures and asked about two questions before they truly understood what she’d just said, at which point their jaws dropped and their paws accidentally took pictures of their own knees.

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Wu Dog Yan tried to slip out of the helicopter and off to the side, assisted by Cha Cha and Luco, but the reporters spotted her and quickly recovered their senses.

‘Is it true, is Dog Lee dead? Did Dog Hood kill him?’

‘Did they kill each other?’

‘Who started it?’

‘Was it an even fight?’

‘Bow, knife or paw?’

‘What were they wearing?’

‘Who died first?’

‘Jumpsuits?’

Wu Dog Yan paused, frowning, then closed her eyes. When she opened them again, she said one line. ‘Dog Hood is a hero, he saved my life.’

The reporters looked at each other then moved closer, fighting for space to ask her more questions. ‘What about Dog Lee, is he a hero too? Were they protecting you? Were you dating one of them? Were you dating both of them? Did you cheat on Dog Lee? Is that why they were fighting?’

One of the reporters got a little bit too close and shoved into Wu Dog Yan, prompting Zade to step forward and say, ‘hey, back up a bit, she’s still in shock.’

The reporter stared up at the tiger, almost fainted then, out of some kind of instinct, asked Wu Dog Yan if the tiger had killed Dog Lee.

‘What?’ said Zade, almost growling. ‘I didn’t do anything, I was in the…’ He stopped quickly, but it was too late. He knew what was coming next.

The taser hit him on the side of the head and made him lose balance. Sadly, they’d all just stepped off the grass and were now on the concrete, so Zade hit the ground hard. Cha Cha ran in front of him and started waving her arms to stop any more tasering, while Luco shouted, ‘hey, you can’t do that.’

The police dog who’d fired the taser calmly handed it to one of the other dogs and pulled out his gun. ‘Next time it’s real,’ he said, aiming at Zade's head.

Cha Cha froze, so did Luco.

‘Stay down tiger, or I start shooting.’

Zade was too concussed from the taser to hear what was said and started to lift his head. The police dog took a step forward, shouted ‘down, NOW!’ and was about to pull the trigger when another police dog appeared at the side of him. With one swipe of his paw he pushed the gun away, then followed up with a Dog Lee judo chop to the neck.

The police dog went down choking.

‘Okay you three…’ said the judo cop, scanning the scene in front of him. ‘…and you two ladies over there. How about we go back to the station and you tell me what happened to my good friend Dog Lee?’

Luco waved his paw at the psycho holding his neck on the ground. ‘You’re not gonna arrest that police dog for nearly shooting us?’

‘Nuut.’

‘This is ridiculous…’

The judo star/superior ranking officer turned to his colleagues and told them to arrest everyone, starting with the tiger.

‘You can’t arrest me…’ said Chi Hua Bi Bi, pulling her paws away when one of the police dogs tried to put handcuffs on her.

‘You are a person of interest…’

‘They’re the ones who were in the castle, not me. Arrest them.’

Wu Dog Yan walked past her, already in handcuffs. ‘You really are a rat…’

‘Shut your face, unibrow.’

‘Okay, okay, stop making such a scene about it. Everyone in the police van. Let’s go.’

Zade, with Cha Cha and Luco holding onto his legs, was dragged over to the van and thrown in the back.

Both Wu Dog Yan and Chi Hua Bi Bi were guided gently to the same van, the police dogs very aware of who they were dealing with. One of them even leaned into Wu Dog Yan as he was closing the door, saying he’d go easy on her if she agreed to a date sometime in the near future.

‘I don’t date thugs,’ she said back, her face emotionless.