Paws' Tale: A Pit Bull's Story

## The Characters

Ace- Gray-white spotted American Staffordshire terrier. Confident, strong, and leader of the pack, though his aggression sometimes come out. He is also extremely loyal to family and will do anything to protect them.

(pictures up to down- Ace, Basil, Jade, Paws, and Kit. Also based on size)

**OMG SPOILERZ DO NOT READZ-** Ace is shot by Pound Republic, saving Jade, dying afterwards. **END OF SPOILDERZ- I WARNED YOU!!!**

Basil- Brown-brindle AmStaff terrier. Independent, stubborn, and sly. Along with Ace, is master planner of the pups' mischief.

Jade- Brown AmStaff with pretty green eyes. Kind, loyal, but sometimes a bit pushy. Tends to get short-tempered around the younger and smaller pups, Kit and Paws. Speaking of which...

Paws- Brown-black AmStaff. Brave, compassionate, yet naive. The main character and usually the one narrating the chapters. **SPOILZERS-** Left her beach home and family to explore and gets lost first in Oregon, then Utah and Nevada, but eventually returns to help her family from Pound Republic (a kill shelter, more on them later).

Kit- White AmStaff. The smallest of the five. Childish, stubborn, and usually the more timid of the group. This causes the rest of the litter to abuse him, sending him on the hardest missions around the house and the last to receive food. Paws thinks of him as her own pup, however, and avoids abusing him if she can.

**SPOILZERS- THESE CHARACTERS WILL BE ADDED LATER, AND SO MAY CONTAIN SPOILZERS, PPLZ**

Pound Rebublic- A kill shelter who has two locations, one in Utah and one in California. One of the officers, Officer Jerald, tries to shoot Jade after rescuing Timber from the euthanization room, but Ace blocks her and he has no choice but to shoot him. The main bad guys.

Timber- A nosy, young, and bold German Shepherd and Paw's best friend who is not family. Gets taken by P.R after losing his collar and ID tag, gets saved by Jade, and witnesses Ace's death. Lived in Oregon before going to California.

Bud- Golden retriever who lived in Nevada before returning to California. Loyal, kind, and smart, though easily gets confused, so when they have to navigate through thick woods he is likely to get lost. Another one of Paw's friends.

Bella- Sassy, stubborn, yet clever beagle with an excellent nose. Lived in Utah. Killed by a coyote in an attempt to save a confused Bud. Timber helped fight the coyote, named Ice, after Bella's death.

## Chapter One-

The four pups turned to the largest one, Ace, for instruction. Ace’s legs stiffened, trying to seem as big as possible. His ears went straight up, his expression alert as he listened for their mother. The second largest suddenly stood up. Staring directly at Ace, his once limp tail went straight up.

"I’m not afraid of you, Ace. I’m leaving to go figure this out myself."

It was the brown female who stopped him. Paw blocking where the second-largest was trying to go, her message was clear.

"You’re being stupid, Basil."

"Can’t you see, Jade?" Basil retorted. "Ace is trying to force us into doing something. Who said he was leader?"

The smallest one, a white male named Kit, started howling and joining in with Basil.

"None of you know what to do! When mama catches us, she’ll be so mad…"

"Get a hold of yourself, Kit!" Exclaimed Jade.

Paws had been listening to them argue the whole time they had made their way from the dog den in the corner to where they saw their mother go. The entrance was open just a crack, not big enough for large Ace and heavy-shouldered Jade to sneak through. Once again, Paws and Kit were clumped together to sneak into the new room and see what was up. Kit’s ears were flat against his head, his tail tucked between his legs, and he uttered small whines here and there.

"Be quiet!" Warned Paws. "I hear something!"

What?

Paws no longer felt the harsh texture of the floor beneath her; she was too excited. She heard clanking and the sound of- eating.

"I smell… food," Kit motioned. "Follow me."

Paws noticed Kit was getting more confident with each step.

Behind a large chunk of furniture Paws noticed a wagging tail. It was gray with a white tip, like snow on a rock. Slowly Paws crept forward, but when she noticed Kit wasn't following she spun around, eyes fixed on Kit. Kit was sitting down, his face wrinkled and his tail curled around him. It was obvious he wouldn't budge.

*Fine,* thought Paws. *I'll do it myself.*

With the energy of a rabbit being chased by a greyhound, she sprinted around and came face-to-tail with- her mom.

*Oh no,* she thought. *I never actually thought this through.*

"Pup!" She growled. "Why are you here?"

Paws gulped.

"Well," she started. "Y-You d-disappeared, so A-Ace decided to send Kit and I to see why you were gone."

The mother-dog didn't know what to say.

"Paws," she began slowly, "Just because I'm not in the same room as you, doesn't mean you need to follow me. You pups are getting to the point that you don't have to be attached to me anymore."

"But that's bad," Paws replied. "You still haven't taught us everything."

"Well, it is up to you to discover it. You know, I have an idea. How about I take you and your littermates outside for a walk tomorrow? I think you need to see the world."

"Sure!"

Paws crept back to Kit, and they returned to Ace, Basil, and Jade. After Paws broke the news, they settled in their little nest in the corner and went to sleep, most of them dreaming of their future when they become adult dogs.

Ace was walking down the sidewalk, each step rippling with power. With him were the Police-Humans that the mother mentioned once. He was helping them solve crimes, being the wonderful hero-dog that his mother wanted him to be.

Basil was a lone dog, running through the woods. He was far from the disgusting city he was born in, and took pride in running free.

Jade had three pups- Sadie, Xylo and Shadow. She wanted to be just like her mother.

Kit was in a safe apartment with a kind owner and where no one could hurt him.

Paws was on a boat in the ocean, with a kind Sailor-Human who treated her well.

Little did they know the world wasn't always perfect.

## Chapter 2

"Come on, Kit! Keep up- Ace and Basil are already far ahead of us!" Jade said. They were all having the best time they had ever had. Even though the new white surface burned from the summer sun and hurt their soft pads, they were seeing a whole new world beyond the den! Paws, at Jade's voice, looked up from the ground to see three shapes, two tiny and one huge, in the distance. She could barely make out Basil's gray-brown patched fur and Ace's stiff white tail with a gray top. She took off running, her eyes blinking off the dust flying in all directions.