CHAPTER 2

During the ride, Dimitri 1 couldn't help but admit that as annoying as Triple D could be, their nagging sure got them results; if they wanted the best, comfiest ride there was, then with enough brattiness, they got it. Ditch all the pink and girly junk, and he would be having the time of his life.

Just too bad he also wasn't alone at the moment.

"Let go!" he growled around the pink pillow he had sunken his teeth into. He had been using it to try to relax during their trip and forget the irritating morning he had when someone was stupid enough to swipe it from him.

That idiot was Dimitri 2 who responded to his brother's order with a firm tug of the pillow, a slight tear appearing in its side. With a grunt of effort, Dimitri 1 dug his paws into the seat, not budging one bit in their impromptu game of tug-of-war with that weakling. So what if he'd finished the last bit of the middle triplet's drink after snatching it out of his paws? Dimitri 2 had already drank up most of it, so any kind of revenge was as idiotic as he was.

"I said let go!" the first pup repeated with a good yank that further damaged the pillow. Forget being comfy; he wasn't going to let Dimitri 2 get away with his little stunt. Besides, it was stupid to think he'd actually get to relax with those two nearby.

"Make me." Dimitri 2 managed to form a smirk around the pillow. If he actually thought he could win at a test of strength against his older brother, then the latter guessed the beating he gave him earlier wasn't enough.

Just when Dimitri 1 thought was was going to win, the limo suddenly came to a stop, and the door opened causing the two of them to tumble out with a yelp. Both he and his opponent maintained their hold on the pillow as they fell and only pulled even harder when they recovered. The slightly dusty pillow ripped once more, Dimitri 1 hoping that if it did split, he'd get the bigger half.

"Oi! Knock it off!"

Dimitri 1 ignored the command, his eyes locking with his opponent's. In the middle of their stalemate, Dimitri 3 suddenly appeared, jumping from inside the limo and landing perfectly on the pillow, the force of it knocking it out of their grip and knocking them on their backs. Rubbing the back of his head, Dimitri 1 raised it and met the middle triplet's smirk before the latter tossed the ruined pillow back into the equally trashed interior of their ride.

"I wanna get this think over with. Don't you?" Dimitri 3 asked, Dimitri 1 and the other fallen pup scowling at him in response. As much as he hated it, even he couldn't help but agree with him that the quicker he got out of this mess, the better.

Without waiting for a reply, Dimitri 3 made his way towards the studio entrance, Dimitri's 1 and 2 picking themselves up and following suit shortly afterwards. Just like before, heart-collared pup walked sporting an angry frown and looking anywhere but at the two dogs next to him.

Luckily, there were plenty of other things to gaze at. Once at the entryway, the Dalmatians froze and, for the second time that day, stared in wide-eyed wonder at the sights before them. The studio was packed, filled with bright lights and speakers and cameras and dog knows what else. It wasn't just that; humans were everywhere carrying equipment, barking out orders, looking up forms, whatever it was they did to make a commercial happen.

It was at that moment that realization struck Dimitri 1. Even though it sucked having to work together with those two losers and get all dolled up, he was actually going to be on TV! So what if the whole world was gonna think he was Destiny? It would still be his face on the big screen, a feat only three others in their family had pulled off. It was his big chance to show everyone just how awesome he was.

There were just two things standing in his way.

"You two better not mess this up." he suddenly said, his brothers turning to face him neither looking happy at all.

"Could say the same to you." Dimitri 2 replied with a dismissive snort. "If you make me look stupid on camera-"

"You mean stupider than you already do?" Dimitri 3 cut in with a snicker. He then blew a raspberry when Dimitri 2 glared at him.

"Heh, you two should be lucky I got enough cool in me for the three of us." Dimitri 1 remarked puffing his chest out.

"Pfft, yeah right." Dimitri 3 shot back. "You two're just riding off my awesomeness."

Did he seriously believe that? Dimitri 1 figured that maybe he did hit him hard enough. "Your awesomeness? Get real." Dimitri 2 smirked in his brother's face. "We all know you're the worst one here."

"What?!" Dimitri 3 bared his teeth. "What makes you two think you're any better than me?"

"Well I am number one." Dimitri 1's smirk twitched upon lifting a paw up to his collar and remembering that it wasn't a 1 dangling off his neck at the moment.

"And I'm number two."

The third triplet rolled his eyes. "Please, I make you both in the bathroom every morning."

It took about five seconds for Dimitri 1 to figure it out. The instant it did, he thought he would literally explode from the white hot fury blazing in him. "WHY YOU LITTLE-"

"Girls! Girls! There you are!"

Before he could smack Dimitri 3 right in his stupid face, a man ran up to them. He wore a black sweater vest over a red shirt and a part of brown pants. He crouched over looking far more excited than the pups did. He must be one of the staff working at the studio.

"How're you girls doing today?" It was amazing how humans could never tell dogs apart, those lame idiots. He reached out and grabbed Dimitri 3 head with both hands scratching and rubbing all around cooing and babbling about how cute he was. It took nearly everything Dimitri 1 had to burst out laughing.

"Something wrong Deja Vu?" the human asked with a tilt of his head. The dog pretending to be Deja Vu forced out a grin. Dimitri 1 had to use a paw to muffle his snickers at the display, at seeing that loser being treated like some pet. From the corner of his eye, he could see that Dimitri 2 was doing the same.

"There we go." Finally, the man pulled away and stood up, Dimitri 3 looking away and making a retching sound. "This way girls; come now, we need to get you ready."

As he walked away babbling about whatever, Dimitri 2 padded after him pausing for a bit to sneer at Dimitri 3. Dimitri 1 waited until he thought the human was out of earshot before finally lowering his paw and throwing his head back.

"HAHAHAHAHAHA! Who's awesome now 'Deja Vu?'! HAHA!" he cried out pounding the ground in in laughter." He creaked an eye open to see a scarlet-faced, fuming Dimitri 3 looking about two inches away from snapping.

The sight only made Dimitri 1 laugh harder as he stumbled forward to follow the human. "W-Want me to scratch your head?! Put some glitter on you?! HAHAHAHA-OOF!"

His laughter suddenly ended when he tilted forward and painfully smacked himself face-first against the concrete floor. Head spinning, he looked up to see a cackling Dimitri 3 retract the leg he stuck out and run away. The pain was instantly gone as his rage returned full force.

"Get back here!" he growled through gritted teeth before chasing after him. As they left for a spot some distance away from the main studio area, he caught up with Dimitri 3 and leaped. The latter yelped as his brother crashed into him, the force sending the two of them tumbling into Dimitri 2. Through the tangled mess of black and white, Dimitri 1 found his target and prepared to give him the thrashing of his life when he suddenly took a kick to the side.

"Hey that hurt!" the second tripled yelled kicking Dimitri 1 in the side once more. In place of a reply, Dimitri 1 picked up Dimitri 3 and flung him at the middle pup before jumping into the fray the other two got into.

"Take that back!" Dimitri 1 wrapped his arms around Dimitri 3's chest and pulled him into the most crushing grip he could while ignoring the rain of furious blows Dimitri 2 was unleashing on his siblings.

"Make me!" Dimitri 1 let out a gasp as Dimitri 3 elbowed him in the gut and shoved him away. He recovered from the blow quickly, just in time to see Dimitri 3 get smacked across the face and shove Dimitri 2 away.

Face reddening and slightly sore, Dimitri 1 shook his head. In all of their past games, races and play fights, he always fought the hardest, never willing to admit that either of the two were any stronger or faster or cooler than he was. OK so he did wind up losing every now and then, but it was never any of his fault! Those two just got lucky sometimes.

Dimitri 1 glared daggers at the other two eager for another round. Luck was not gonna save the this time. Plus there weren't any Top Dogs to interfere either. This was the moment he showed them why he should've been the one to launch the rocket, that they were the reason they were in this mess in the first place, that they should just shut their traps and go along with who was clearly the best one among them.

With a roar, they pounced towards each other, Dimitri 1 ready to beat those ideas into their skulls.

"Girls?"

Dimitri 1 and his brothers of them suddenly halted in mid air for a split second, their faces frozen with alarm, then went splat against the ground. Legs splayed all over the place, his eyes traveled to the puzzled looking man who he just remembered was right next to them. "Everything OK?"

The Dimitri's instantly shot upright, each one grinning like the little angels they were trying and nearly failing to pose as. The instant the man smiled and turned around, they snapped back to normal, growling and baring their teeth at each other.

"Anyway, we're here girls." Again, Dimitri 1 was prevented from going another round with the others. "Chris'll take a moment to get here, so you three can relax for a while 'till he gets here."

Dimitri 1 scoffed when he pulled out his phone and sat down on a nearby chair. If he could just leave, he'd be able go back to teaching his brothers a lesson, but no. He had to actually behave in front of him to keep the charade up. Well whatever, but like in the limo, there was no way he'd get any kind of relaxation with those two dunderheads around.

Still bitter about everything, the three of them split up to explore the place. Dimitri 1 spotted a mirror and jumped on top of the table in front of it instantly frowning at the sight of the make up kits and fur care products surrounding him and shuddering at the idea of all of that being on him. As if things couldn't get any worse, he looked up into the mirror and groaned remembering just how lame he appeared.

"Ugh...Dog I hate this thing." he grumbled pulling at his collar and wishing he could rip it off and throw it in the trash.

"So how cool d'you look now?" Dimitri 2 called out mockingly. Dimitri 1 made to argue but was knocked aside when the former jumped on the table as well. Stopping himself from knocking a few bottles over, he saw him run digit over the diamonds on his collar looking proud despite how girly he appeared. "Well, even with this stupid thing, I still look way better than you."

"Pfft, that's not much then." Dimitri 3 leaped on top the table as well and shoved the middle triplet aside. "But stupid collar or not, you're both still jerks."

"You're the jerk for not doing what I want." Dimitri 1 shouted getting back on his feet.

"Why should I? Just 'cuz you're the oldest one here?" Dimitri 2 shot a glare at him.

"Uh...duh." he answered like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"That doesn't make you any better than me."

"Or me." Dimitri 3 added with a snarl. "You guys think you're soooo awesome, but you're both just big jerks!"

"Me?!" Dimitri 2 shouted incredulously. "You're the ones who wouldn't let me launch Dawkins' rocket. If you just let me do it, we wouldn't even be here!"

"You're the ones who wouldn't respects my dibs!"

"And you're the ones who should've listened to me!" Dimitri 1 cut in. His words were met with an eye roll and an angry huff from his brothers. At their display, he stomped his paw, the bottles surrounding him rattling slightly. "Both of you, I'm your big brother, and that means back that then and right now, I'm in charge!"

His words got no reply from the other two. He had never played his oldest triplet card before, never having needed it, but the two of them were driving him nuts. All three of them hated every time the Top Dogs (mostly Dylan) stepped in and ruined their fun. They had to listen to them simply because they were older,

Honestly, they should be grateful he wasn't pushy with the rules like Dylan was. He was a cool big brother who loved to get into hijinks with his younger siblings. He was the one who had the best plans, the mind behind all their awesome pranks, and they always listened to him then. Now they decided to defy him?

Seriously, was it really so hard for them to say they're sorry? That he was right and they were wrong? It was just two lousy words; two lousy words, and he'd let it all slide. They'd pull this commercial thing off, wind up on TV and get outta trouble. And then they could go back to stunts and pranking like they used to. Was all that not worth it?

Well that was fine. If they weren't willing to apologize to him for everything, then they weren't getting any niceness out of him. If they didn't want things to go back to like they were before, then that was all on them.

"Now there you girls are!"

A new voice interrupted Dimitri 1's brooding. Looking over his shoulder, he saw a new blonde human in a checked vest approach them. "Time to get you all rea-"

He suddenly paused right in front of him and the other two and sniffed the air before suddenly letting out a sneeze. "What is that on you?" he asked yanking out a handkerchief to wipe his nose.

Dimitri 1 lifted a foreleg and gave it a sniff as well and realized that there was a slight burnt scent and something dusty clinging to his fur. He must still have some ash and soot on him from when the rocket took off.

Thankfully there was a simple solution. Unfortunately it looked like Dimitri 2 thought of it first seeing as he stood up on all fours and, with his usual grin that always came before any mischief, shook himself from head to tail sending out a small dust cloud.

"*cough!*cough!* Hey watch it" Dimitri 1 yelled out sputtering. On his other side, Dimitri 3 covered his nose and backed away with a glare.

"Oops. My bad." Dimitri 2 said with a sneer. "Here; lemme-"

He merely turned around and shook himself again, sending another wave of dirt at his siblings. Dimitri 1 hacked and spat as he got a face-full and backed away some more while Dimitri 3 jumped off the table. "What's wrong guys? Can't handle a little dirt?"

He burst out laughing when they both bared their teeth. Hungry for payback and ignoring the tickling in his nose, Dimitri 1 reached out and grabbed the nearest bottle and took aim at the howling pup's infuriating grin. "Say you're sorry you...you...ACHOO!"

Dimitri 1 suddenly felt himself lose balance due to the force of the sneeze and right at the edge of the table too. His rage out and vanished replaced by panicking and flailing his arms about. "Whoa-Whoa-WHOA-AH!"

With that pathetic cry, he fell and once again got a face to face meeting with the concrete floor. Though his head was spinning, the laughter echoing in his head was clear as day. Forcing himself up, he saw those two rolling on their backs clutching themselves, cackling at his little tumble. He slowly rose glare, ready to leap when he heard a gasp.

"Destiny are you alright?"

The new blonde human with the black tie rushed over to him. To Dimitri 1's horror, a pair of hairless hands grabbed him and hoisted him up until he was eye to eye with the human. Panicking and resisting the urge to struggle free, he forced the biggest grin he muster at the man narrowing his eyes at him.

"Hmm...well nothing on that pretty face of yours." he piped up before scrunching his nose. "Though you do stink; in fact, all three of you do!"

Without warning, he scooped up Dimitri's 2 and 3, the two pups' laughter cutting off with a yelp. All three of them squirmed within the human's grip, clear looks of discomfort on all three of them. "Eugh, and I was petting Deja Vu all over Chris." the other human said grimacing at his palms and dusting them on his pants. "Just what were you three up to?"

"Don't wanna talk about it." Dimitri 1 replied wiggling a bit to get away from the other two dogs though to the humans it came out as a few grumpy barks.

"They don't look too happy; you know how they get when they get all filthy."

Dimitri 1 felt the human holding him shudder against his back at his words. "You're right; good thing we still got plenty of time help these girls out."

Dimitri 1 stopped struggling as Chris walked off with the Dalmatians in two. "Don't worry girls; I know just the thing you three need right now."

It took a few seconds for Dimitri 1 to realize what was going to happen before he froze in horror; in hindsight, it should've been obvious right from the start. The smell, the dust, Triple D's fussiness about being dirty, this was all leading to one thing, and judging by how the other two stiffened in, they figured it out as well.

"All right girls; bath time!"