Rover (TLKOE) and Cody (The Rescuers Down Under)

The forest was like a second home to Cody which was why he was always at ease when he explored it. The other animals in the forest were nice too.

He stopped dead in his tracks when he saw the paw print on the ground of an unfamiliar animal. The paw print was shaped like a wolf's, but it was WAY too big. He was fearful, yet excited at the possibility of a new animal and began following the tracks. The tracks soon led Cody into a cave where the young blond took out a flashlight and began to navigate through the darkness. Then he saw what appeared to be a blue-furred animal that was a combination of a bear and a dog. The enormous animal was asleep, its head lying on its crossed forelegs and its body heaving up and down as it snored. Cody took a few steps back and hid behind a large rock, not knowing if this was a hostile or friendly animal.

The monster dog, named Rover, was having a nice dream of chasing bunnies and cats. This was evident to those watching as Rover started kicking happily in his sleep. Rover's nostrils flared as he caught the scent of a human; he started to have an even more fun dream of chasing one. His long, red tongue came lolling out of his mouth, wet with slobber. His eyes opened halfway, his right ear flattened and his tail started wagging.

The blond kid giggled as he peeked out of his hiding spot to see the blue beast with a goofy expression. He was oblivious that his scent was what was making the creature excited.

Rover woofed and rumbled deep in his throat before inhaling deeply. He was restless now, he fully opened his eyes and stood up with his large tail still wagging. Rover sniffed the air then lowered his snout to the ground and started to hunt for the nearby human.

Cody gasped when he saw that the blue monster was now fully awake and was sniffing the area, probably looking for him. He looked around for the exit, trying to remember where he came in. In a situation like this, he would try to retrace his steps but he couldn't do that because of that thing nearby.

His thoughts of a plan came to a halt when he felt something breathe heavily on the back of his head. He slowly turned around to find himself face to face with the large, blue monster dog, which had its dripping tongue hanging out.

Rover let out a large bark which frightened Cody. The blond boy turned and ran. Rover wagged his tail at this; he loved it when humans ran and happily gave chase.

By some miracle, Cody found the exit of the cave and made his way through the forest. He stepped on twigs, pushed through hedges, and leapt over fallen logs. He felt the monster's warm breath blowing onto the back of his head as it panted; this was followed by playful nips at his shirt which made Cody run desperately faster.

Rover could have caught the human easily, but he liked giving humans more time to run, so he kept a pace that was only fast enough to stay on the humans's tail.

Cody was unable to jump over a particularly large log and was about to trip and crash into the ground. The blond kid braced himself. Rover saw this and immediately grabbed the boy by his red shirt with his teeth. The pace and the angle he was in made Rover tumble as well.

He pulled the tiny human into his chest with his massive paws and rolled across the forest floor, making sure his back was hitting the ground and not the boy tucked in his fore paws. Rover wouldn't be hurt by the crash but the monster knew that the tiny human would. Eventually, the rolling stopped, with Rover on his back and Cody's laying on the monster dog's chest. Cody's eyes were spinning as he was dizzied by the impact.

Just as he recovered. He felt a large tongue swipe against his cheek.

"Gross!" Cody squealed in disgust. He wiped the drool off his cheek before jumping as Rover let out a deep bark. He stared cautiously down at the blue monster who was looking at him happily with his dripping tongue lolling out the side of his mouth. This somewhat put the blond boy at ease and he slowly got off the monster's chest while still maintaining eye contact.

Rover flipped on to his paws, shaking the ground and causing Cody to stumble on to his bottom. Rover took advantage of this; he pounced upon Cody and started licking him. His tongue was large enough to cover Cody's entire face.

"MMMMMMMMPH!" Cody's arm flailed as the tongue kept dragging up his face. Every time the tongue flicked off, Cody was given a few seconds to breathe before Rover repeated the motion. Cody then had the idea to turn his face to the side, now only forced to close one eye as the massive tongue rolled his cheek up.

"Hey, cut it out! That tickles!" Cody laughed as he tried to push Rover's head away. But Rover didn't stop as he moved his head to lick at Cody's other cheek. Now Cody could only open his other eye as he giggled at the affection this strange animals was giving him.

After what felt, like hours Rover finally stopped his tongue assault but still stood over the blond child, panting happily down at him.

"Huh, guess your a friendly animal." Cody said with a smile as he reached up to scratch under the mutated dog's chin. He then furrowed his eyebrows as he saw something buried underneath the blue fur of Rover's neck. He reached for it; it was a collar that said the creature's name; there was no address.

"Where'd you come from, Rover?"

In response, Rover lowered his head and snuffled at the boy's face. Cody giggled and started scratching Rover behind the ears. He didn't know where Rover came from or what kind of animal he was but he was big, slobbery, and friendly.

Cody realized that the Sun was about to set and that he needed to return home. He wished he could take Rover home with him but he knew that his mom would freak out if she saw him.

"Sorry, boy. I gotta go home."

Rover whimpered and stared at him with puppy-dog eyes. The boy couldn't say no to that face but he had to or his mother would ground him.

"I know, Rover. But if I don't, I'll get in trouble and wont be aloud to visit the forest." Cody explained sadly as he cupped Rover's chin.

"I promise I'll come play with you tomorrow, first thing in the morning." He said with a smile. Rover dragged his tongue up the boy's face, coating in in slobber once more. Cody giggled and wiped his face with the back of his hand. He got confused when Rover circled behind him, nudged his head under Cody's legs and pushed him up onto his back.

"Whoa!" Cody yelled, amazed that he was now riding Rover. The mutated dog stared back at him with a panting grin as if asking him where to go.

"I live that way." Cody said, pointing forward. Rover took off with Cody hanging on, leaving behind a cloud of dust. The boy lowered his head and nestled it on Rover's back as he scratched at his new playmate's side.

”Wow, Rover, you’re really fast.” Cody complimented as he slid off the beast’s back. His face was immediately slammed by the monster’s slobbery tongue which dragged up his face from chin to forehead. The strength of the tongue lifted Cody off his tippy toes and lifted him into the air, dropping him on to his back.

Cody then felt nothing but the blue fur and the slobbery tongue as Rover pounced on him.

”No, Rover, No!” Cody laughed, while trying to evade the monster dog’s affection with his face scrunched up. “Down, down!”

Rover did not stop and proceeded to make his affection even more slobbery. He got the boy’s arms when he tried to block his sloppy tongue, he got both sides of cheeks, his hair, and especially the front of his face.

When Rover felt that his new playmate had enough, he got off him and stared down adoringly at the boy.

Cody was too ticklish to looked annoyed at how soaked he was. His clothes were wet, his hair was slicked backward, and his skin was sticky.

”Rover, how am I supposed to explain this to my Mom!” Cody giggled as he tried to wipe the saliva off.