Remember Who You Are

(October 14th right after Bones in Battle. Open to 101 Dalmatian characters but LET DIPSTICK POST FIRST.)

"C'MON DUDE. You're getting too big fer this." Mooch had Dipstick's Arabian collar tight in his teeth as he pulled the scrambling and scrounging canine back to the pridelands. Mooch wasn't even sure why he was doing this. Dipstick had attacked him, had said he was a human villain! Mooch shout have let 627 finish him off right there. But in his heart Mooch knew his dimwitted follower was also his dimwitted friend. He was a sweet little dumb butt and Mooch hated to see him hurt.

But HE'D NEVER admit that.

Now he tossed Dipstick roughly on the ground in front of the tent where the sick went. He shook his head remembering how many bloody times he'd been there with a hurt dalmatian. He let out a loud bark, a deeper more adult bark and tried to alert a medic to Dipstick's condition.

"Oohhh, ohhh ohhhhhh the pain the horrible pain I uh.. I mean you'll ohhhh never take me alive you Pridelands hero!! I'm not your slave! I-" And then he was tossed in front of a tent. Covered in acid burns it was difficult for the doofy dog to even get to his feet. But he managed. He tossed a glance at the medical tent and then looked back at Mooch with an expression of sudden tired defeat. "Ok well you have me so do with me as you will. Uhh are you gonna torment me some more or what?" Cuz he definately didn't like that idea. The acid burns were painful enough.

He hadn't looked at himself yet but Dipstick was quite a sight. On his back and parts of the back of his shoulder and thighs most of his fur had burned off where 627's acidic saliva had sloughed it away, leaving him with a large bare patch of skin on his back and sides that was turning red.

The male gave a groan and a roll of his eyes. Dipstick's condition was making him more than sick to his stomach so he hoped and prayed that a nurse would show up soon. But he seemed to be just aching at this point and just making noise at this point so Mooch didn't see the need to keep baying at the tent. His ears raised as he face pawed with one of his large thick paws.

"YOU were tormenting ME with your stupid before we got in this mess," Mooch said with a growl, "I just brought you back home to get patched up and maybe some SENSE knocked into your dip-tailed behind."

"Uhhh would you stop calling me stupid?!" Not remembering he was the subservient of the dog before him made Dipstick uncharacteristically bold. "I'm not uhhh, stupid!! Nasira gave me an important mission!! I mean..." He facepawed and then moaned as the action caused his burns to chafe. "I mean I didn't say anything about a mission. It was mostly my idea anyway. I mean..!" Dang. "Uhhh you didn't hear that."

He frowned at Mooch. "Who ARE you anyway? Why do you uh keep acting like you know me? It's like we were .. uhh friends or something." A cold wind blew by, causing Dipstick to shiver and a few tiny needles of pain to shoot up and down his back. Dang that burn hurt. Where had it even COME from anyway? One minute he was handing this strange Hero his tail on a silver platter and then there was glop on his back that apparently burned people. And uhhh... dogs too. Yup apparently dogs too. He'd forgotten all about Dottie being there completely.

Mooch was growing even more annoyed with the spotted pup before him. Dipstick was still smaller than him and if he wasn't already in pain from the burns Mooch would have given him a slap upside the head. He stalked around the male, thin body stepping over him to look a little more intimidating. Was Dipstick faking it? It didn't seem like it but Mooch wasn't so sure. His amber yellow orbs narrowed darkly.

"Did you hit your head or something?" He sneered, "Mooch. I'm MOOCH. Your gang leader, your pal. And you're gonna start pissing me off eveen more if you don't tell me why you can't remember WHO I am."

Despite himself Dipstick couldn't help cowering to the ground a little when Mooch stepped over him. It might have awakened some far-away memory in the back of the dip-tailed dog's mind. Or maybe it was that he was hurt and a perceived enemy was hovering over him ready to take a chunk out of his burned back. "Uhhh sorry Mr. Dog I don't recognize you .. uhh .... I mean Mooch." He was silent a moment when Mooch essentially demanded he tell him why he couldn't remember him. That took some thought.

Why COULDN'T he remember this dog? This one that insisted so vehemently that he knew Dipstick? "Uhhh I don't know." That was the honest truth. He didn't know WHY he apparently couldn't remember Mooch. "I uh ..." He hesitated a moment. Should he divulge so much information to an enemy? It was entirely possible this was all a trick to get him to divulge vital information! He tried to stand up in defiance, but instead succeeded only in stretching his burns, moaning and falling back to the ground. "Uhhh..oohhhhh.. you.. you uhh... you won't fool me with this weird.... whatever you're doing! I won't tell no human villain secrets! You can count on that!!" A sudden frown crossed the teen pup's face as he stared up at Mooch. "That's what this is isn't it? You're uhhh gonna trick me into revealing something so you can tell your higher ups!! Well I'm not gonna, uh, fall for it!!"

Eyes narrowed as the canine stuck his nose against Dipstick's almost equally large nose. "You don't RECOGNIZE ME?!" He barked, "You spent almost every day with me on the farm! You, me, Two-Tone and Wizzer! We'd break into Nanny's pantry together!" He rolled his eyes as he pressed his paw into Dipstick's chest, not caring if he hurt him.

"Uhhh..oohhhhh.. you.. you uhh... you won't fool me with this weird.... whatever you're doing! I won't tell no human villain secrets! You can count on that!!" Mooch gave a snarl. "That's what this is isn't it? You're uhhh gonna trick me into revealing something so you can tell your higher ups!! Well I'm not gonna, uh, fall for it!!"

"I don't CARE you idiot!" He snapped, "Sure, later maybe you can tell us what you know but right now you have to remember who and WHAT you are." He gave another snarl. "You are one of 101 Dalmatians, one of the COOLER ones because you hang out with me." He snorted.

"Maybe if I hit you on the head you'll remember..."

Dipstick cowered, covering his boxy head with his paws as best he could, scrunching his eyes shut. "Uhh please don't hit me Mr. Mooch, I uh..." THAT sparked a memory. Several memories in fact, of cowering this exact same way and saying almost the exact same thing ... and getting hit anyway because he was apparently being stupid. The sudden flash of memory made him angry. "Wait .. I uh, I DO remember. You always used to uh hit me!!" Paws lowered to the ground and a furious expression crossed Dipstick's face as he looked up at Mooch, muzzle rippling and blunt teeth showing in a snarl. "You called me stupid!! You uh ... you hit me!! All the time!!"

He tried and this time succeeded in getting up, arching his back suddenly to throw Mooch off despite it hurting like MAD and causing him to moan in pain. He took a moment to get over this wave of burning pain, eyes scrunched shut, and then opened furious black orbs, still snarling, still showing teeth. "You were MEAN to me!! MOOCH!"

"You were MEAN to me!! MOOCH!"

"Oh c'mon! That's not true!" Okay, maybe it was. Mooch did take a backhand to Dipstick sometimes when he was overly stupid. When he spit on him and when his lost marbles caused Mooch annoyance and pain. But he wasn't MEAN was he? Though the war had caused him to reflect on his bullying he never considered that what he did to Dipstick, Two-Tone and Wizzer was bullying per say. He just gave them a few friendly jabs! Right?

"I did not hit you all the time! And I was not mean! We had fun! Remember? Spitwad nine, uhhhhh, corner of the MASH tent!" Mooch hocked a spitwad to the corner of the tent.

"C'mon! I was not mean! We'd have fun all the time!"

The snarl loosened and faded from Dipstick's face entirely as Mooch spat at the corner of the tent, being replaced with a wide-eyed, almost heartbroken expression. That was familiar. VERY familiar. He.. remembered doing that. "Uhh yeah but you.." There was a sudden flash of "GGrrrrr. DIPSTICK, over the BARN, across the CORN FIELD..." The snarl returned. "Yeah!! You got mad cuz I .. I don't remember!! But you got mad at me! Cuz I spit or something!!" They... had fun? Who was 'they'? Dipstick wasn't sure he knew or wanted to find out. Not if they'd been mean to him like Mooch had.

"A-and then there was that time you..." "Dang it Dipstick you ate all my popcorn! You IDIOT!!" The snarl faded, replaced by that same heartbroken expression. "You yelled at me. Cuz I uh.. cuz I ate all your popcorn. You... you treated me like crap." Dipstick's lower lip trembled, as if he were going to cry. "You're not my friend at all!"

"You spit AT ME." Mooch shuddered, remembering the doofy dog's slime oozing over his slick fur. He stuck his tongue out and shook his head but Dipstick's words haunted him slightly. His head raised, mouth parted. Okay so he HAD yelled at the puppy and he had rolled his eyes a few times before but...but he'd changed hadn't he? He'd helped comfort Dipstick when Rebbecca had died! He had

"You yelled at me. Cuz I uh.. cuz I ate all your popcorn. You... you treated me like crap.You're not my friend at all!"

"I am SO!" Mooch said, stomping his paw, his own eyes flickering and threatening tears. "C'mon Dipstick! I wasn't THAT mean to you! Wha-what about Two-Tone, huh? I was just as 'mean' to her as you!" Granted he'd been DATING Two-Tone sort of...but whatever.

"C'mon buddy, you were my only friend at home," he said with a sniff, "And here for a while...c'mon Dipstick...it wasn't so bad was it?"

"Uhhh I don't know .. you tell me." Dipstick wasn't sure if he was remembering everything, but what little he WAS remembering was not good. Not in the slightest. "Who's Two-Tone?" But even as he asked he had to think the name sounded vaguely familiar. Like he'd heard it before. Kinda like Mooch's name. So he must know her too.

"Is she your girlfriend?" That sounded right. But...why would she date Mooch, if he was mean? "Did she look up to you?" Because he suddenly remembered thinking Mooch was really cool and awesome. Why he just couldn't fathom. Mooch had never treated him right had he? "Cuz.. cuz uh.. I think I did. I don't know why."

"It WASN'T."

Mooch was trying to convince himself more than Dipstick at this point. His eyes narrowed. "Your SISTER Two-Tone. Chunky? Black ears? Green eyes?" He scoffed, lifting his head. Was he starting to recall? Was whatever dumbell brain disorder he was suffering from clearing up? His eyes settled,trying to look softer.

"She WAS," he scoffed, "Until she joined the villains. The animal villains. And of COURSE you looked up to me. I was the coolest dog on the farm! And YOU guys were cool because you hung with ME!"

Dipstick tilted his head, for the first time since he had joined Mooch's gang looking skeptical at his would-be leader. "Uhhh I don't remember it that way ... " But the truth was, his memory was sketchy at best. Little fuzzy bits and pieces were coming back, but not quite enough to make a whole lot of sense. He had a fuzzy vague memory of a wagon somewhere. Sitting and eating with Mooch and some other dalmatian. A pudgy boy who looked far too goody-four-paws joining Mooch's "gang". The last two confused him. Mainly because the latter seemed to show Mooch being moderately ... okay. Passing him a cookie. Actually throwing it into his open mouth. The other because he had no earthly clue who that fat puppy was.

"Uhhh okay, was Two-Tone fat?" Cuz this guy was fat. No wait, Mooch said Two-Tone was female. And his..sister? "No wait, I don't have any siblings!" He shook his head furiously eyes scrunched shut as if in sudden vehement denial. "No no you're making it up!! I-I'm a Human Villain! I work for Nasira! I..." was one of the 101 Dalmatians. That fact suddenly shone through clearly and confused him more. It completely contradicted what he knew to be true. "No no no!!" He cried, shaking his head even more furiously as if trying to shake the confusing information away. "It's not true!"

"No wait, I don't have any siblings!"

"If THAT isn't the understatement of the century!" Mooch barked, "You have a hundred-" His ears raised, eyes looking more sympathetic as Dipstick shook his head. It struck Mooch right then. Dipstick wasn't BSing him.

He was telling the truth. He'd actually forgotten who he was.

Mooch's maw parted. "Oh man..." He huffed, "Dipstick...you...you really forgot all about us..." How'd that happen? Mooch swallowed and decided to push it farther.

"Dipstick...do you remember...Rebecca?"