Diary of a Neapolitan Mastiff V: A New Era

"*After three years of not writing in diaries, the Neapolitan Mastiff Danny decides to make a fifth diary after an epic adventure.*

*Three years after IV: A Mastiff Hope, Princess Ava uses the Pocketpedia to choose a pet for Robert, a boy in the big city. The lurcher: Pally, is chosen. However, Pally lives on an island quite a distance from Pocketville. William, Danny and Magic are dispatched to get him, but on the way they run into the Petbuster, who has managed to return to Pocket Kingdom*" - Blurb (incorrect story outline).

***Diary of a Neapolitan Mastiff V: A New Era***, or ***Mastiff Book V*** or simply ***Mastiff V***, is the fifth book in the series and the first in the Sequel Quadrilogy. Three years after *A Mastiff Hope*, the Petbuster returns seeking to capture Ava again. Meanwhile, Ava chooses the lurcher dog Pally for a boy on earth called Robert, but they have a hard time identifying him. The blurb was written before the book and therefore is a slightly outdated and incorrect plot.

## Plot

Three years later, Danny voluntarily writes a new diary, now enjoying doing so, revealing some things such as Princess Ava being happy, Eva still missing, Soul and Gourt still in custody and Kate's infrequent visits as a result of studying; Magic can now use the Red Friendship Heart to travel to and from Pocket Kingdom on his own. The viral 'death curse' still continues amongst the residents, and PK laws decide to prohibit access to the burnt field. Danny has also since been demoted to third in the PK laws ranking, succeeded by William in second and Ava first, succeeding Balloon, Meela, Magic and Kate as fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh respectively. Danny laments how some friendship ceremonies have negative consequences, such as employees now being absent from businesses and so on. Once such example is their most recent mission: sending the lurcher dog Pally to Earth, who had been running a restaurant business.

Princess Ava discovers a boy named Robert, moving school and unable to socialise, becoming lonely as a result. Via the Pocketpedia, she finds a suitable pet: Pally the lurcher is chosen, for his remarkable way of bringing people together, though Ava cannot identify him. A widespread investigation begins with everybody attempting to locate Pally; every citizen is summoned to the fountain and the Blue Friendship Heart is able to pinpoint and levitate Pallu up to Ava. Suddenly, the Petbuster summons and fires an electrical weapon at Ava, leaving her injured and the blue heart broken. The Petbuster teleports away, and Ava dies in hospital after giving William the broken heart; Ava's death coupled with the high voltage seemingly permanently destroyed the Blue Friendship Heart, not able to be fixed by the Red variant that Magic possesses. A storm starts and a funeral is held for Ava, her grave modelled after the fountain. William tapes together the Blue Heart and wears it around his neck, and teams up with Magic, Danny and Pally to fulfill William's promise to Ava to bring justice to the Petbuster.

Two days later, the team learn from residents that the Petbuster was hiding on Pally's home island, and plan an assault. Walking ten miles toward the docks, the crew find the bridge destroyed, but use a nearby dinghy. The Perbuster notices them and fires his electrical weapon at them, but misses. Arriving on the island at the factory, the four prepare to capture him, but the Petbuster sets his gun to stun and detains all of them, teleporting with them back to Earth and locking them up. The Petbuster takes possession of both Friendship Hearts, and Danny notices Wallis outside the window. Via the Red Heart, the Petbuster is able to communicate with the dogs, and reveals he meant to stun and capture Ava in another attempt to sell her, but had forgotten to set his gun to stun and accidentally killed her. The Petbuster instead puts the four dogs up for auction, and multiple bidders turn up.

## Trivia

* The blurb on the back of the book is slightly incorrect, using an older draft of the plot.
* The first half of the book is in black ink, and the second half is in blue ink. The front and back cover are also blue.