IMPORTANT NOTE: This is Disney so it need not make total sense. In this reality, dogs can live twice as long as dogs in our reality, 50 years at most. After all, death was not in creation's design to begin with. In this world, dogs mature within 5 years but can live to be up to 50 at least. That's my story because I hate that dogs have such short lifespans.

101 Dalmatians: Hell Hall

I - Taken

00000

It was a nightmare. It had to be a nightmare.

But it wasn't.

The rank stench of the sack made it quite clear that Patch and his siblings had been taken in the dark of the night, against their will, to places unknown.

It was such a peaceful night. They had just been watching the Thunderbolt Hour together with their mum and dad. At the show's conclusion, their parents went for a walk in the park with their pets, leaving them in the care of their dearest Nanny Cook.

If only Mum and Dad hadn't left. If only they had taken us with them.

Two men the Fifteen have never seen before came into their house and took them away. They were awoken from their slumber by some kind of commotion. It sounded like Nanny and she sounded right upset.

Cadpig, being so insightful and discerning, sensed that something was wrong the moment Mum and Dad went for a walk. She made that clear as we were dozing off to sleep.

But even she couldn't predict what would happen next.

00000

Earlier...

"What's going on?" Lucky groaned tiredly as he stirred from his spot in the basket.

Patch yawned. "Sounds like Nanny."

Roly sniffed the air and a most peculiar expression appeared on his face. "That doesn't smell like Roger or Anita."

Patch looked at his portly brother. "Huh?"

"Someone is in the house, I can smell them."

The remaining fifteen began to wake, some with looks of confusion or apprehension.

The sound of Nanny raising her voice was heard.

She sounded angry.

And then they heard the voice of a man they didn't recognize.

Cadpig started whimpering fearfully. "Oh no. Oh no."

"Hey hey Caddy?" Penny said consolingly, crawling over to her youngest sister. "It's ok."

"I knew it," Cadpig whispered apprehensively. "I knew it. I knew something was wrong."

All of a sudden, they heard the door leading to the hall open. And then what followed was a rank smell and the sound of worn out shoes.

Before any of the pups had time to react, the curtain to their basket was pulled back and a hand reached in, snatching one pup after another and putting them into a black sack.

The portly man grabbed Spotty first. He squealed in fear and distress. Then Freckles. And then Thunder. He put up a really good fight.

The thug reached for Penny next. She shrunk back but did not leave Cadpig's side, who was shaking and whimpering.

Shaking with fear and rage, (but mostly rage) Patch leapt in front of his sisters to shield them from this villain.

Only to be accosted himself and bagged.

00000

"Caddy, are you ok?"

Cadpig sniffled. "No."

"Ow!" Patch cried. "Stop kicking me Roly!"

"I'm sorry, I get twitchy when I'm hungry."

Freckles groaned. "You're always hungry."

"Stop squirming Freckles," Patch said. "And get your tail out of my face."

"Can't move," Freckles said. "This sack is barely big enough for us."

"I'll say," Pepper said.

Cadpig was crying. She couldn't help it. She was scared.

"Caddy," Penny said. "Don't cry. It'll be ok. Mum and Dad will save us."

Penny tried to worm her way to her sister, but she and her siblings were too compacted in this sack that she could barely move.

"Two-Tone. Dipstick. Can you both move over?"

"Would if we could Penny," Dipstick said. "But it's too tight here."

"Least there's enough room to breathe," Two-Tone said. "I gotta say, not what I expected to wake up to."

"This is not the time for jokes Two-Tone!" Penny snapped.

"Where are they taking us?" Lucky cried.

"How should I know?!" Freckles exclaimed.

"Oi!" said a new voice that none of the pups recognized. This one sounded bullish and clumsy. "Stop squirming in there!" The sack of which the Fifteen were contained started to shake violently but quickly stopped.

"Easy Horace," said the voice they heard earlier. "Don't damage the merchandise. We still got a job to do."

Then the pups heard what sounded like a car engine and judging by the way it popped it sounded like it was about to break apart any moment now.

"We're in a car!" Lucky cried. "How are Mum and Dad going to find us now?!"

"Lucky calm down," Penny said. "Now's not the time to panic."

Freckles did not agree. "This is the perfect time to panic!"

00000

How long has it been? It feels like hours. Patch was still learning how to tell the time. But it was clear that they had been in this sack for quite some time.

He was exhausted but he dare not sleep. Not when his family was at stake.

There has to be a way out. There just has to be. Mum and Dad must be worried sick at this point.

"It sure stinks in here, smells like fish and...and…" Roly paused as he tried to determine the classification of whatever that smell was. "What is that?"

"I think it's booze," Dipstick said.

"How do you know?" Two-Tone asked.

"The veterinary surgeon who was looking over Mum, he was drinking some when no one was looking but just a little." Dipstick craned his neck to look at something but the cramped volume of the bag made it almost impossible.

"Caddy's been oddly quiet," he said. "Cadpig? Are you ok?"

"She's sleeping," Penny said in a hushed tone. "Keep it down. And stop squirming Fidget, I know it's hard but we need to keep our heads."

"Before we actually lose them," Two-Tone said jokingly.

"What was that?"

"Nothing."

A sudden impact. And the entire car shook, with the pups with them.

"What the devil was that?!" Dipstick cried.

"I think that's what humans call a pothole," Freckles said.

"Jasper, you hit another pothole!" Horace shouted.

"See?"

"Shut It Horace! We're almost there."

Almost where?! Where are they taking us?!

"Oh my poor beautiful coat," Jewel lamented as she observed and smelt the condition of her fur, which was now heavy with grime and filth from the unwashed sack she was imprisoned in. "This bag is simply awful."

Two-Tone groaned, clearly annoyed. "I think we have bigger things to worry about than the state of your precious coat."

"I wonder why two men would go through all that trouble just to steal fifteen Dalmatian puppies?" Dipstick questioned aloud.

"Who cares about that?" Two-Tone said. "What we should doing right now is finding a way out of this sack, not find out why these thugs took us!"

"Easy Two-Tone," Penny said. "The situation is very bad but we need to be rational."

"What does...rash-o-nal mean?" Roly asked quite confused.

"Rational, Roly. It means we have to keep it together, remain calm."

"Do you think Nanny is ok?" Purdy asked.

"Absolutely," Penny said firmly. "Nanny is a strong woman."

No doubt about it. Dad seems to think she's part canine after all, to a degree anyway.

Whizzer began to whimper and wriggle about in the sack. Thunder and Pepper who were nearest to him took immediate notice.

"Don't," Pepper said sternly.

Whizzer moaned with almost painful anticipation.

"Whizzer, no," Thunder almost snapped. "Not here."

"You know you were supposed to go before bed!" Pepper said.

"I did go, twice!"

"Then what are you whimpering for?"

Whizzer didn't answer at first. "Well…"

"I swear to Heaven if you don't hold it in, I'll bite you," Thunder said. "And Pepper will help, right Pepper?"

"Correct."

This only made Whizzer whimper even more.

"No one's biting anyone!" Patch commanded with some heat. "Settle down and stop squabbling."

"What do we do now Patch?" Lucky asked.

Patch paused. He clicked his teeth, something he'd do whenever he was trying to put two and two together.

If they meant to do us harm, why drive so far? Dad said that Dalmatians are rare and somewhat valuable. That would mean they'd have to keep us alive. So long as we're not too daring.

"Patch?"

"We stay calm Lucky, we stick together as always. Mum and Dad will save us. I'm sure of it."

"How...how can you be sure?" Lucky stammered.

"Because…Because I am certain they'd move Heaven and earth for us…and they will."

"Patch is right," Penny said confidently. "Mum and Dad will not give up until they save us."

This seemed to calm the others. Although some of those who were still awake had the lingering sensation of fear, in their hearts they knew.

They knew how much their parents loved them.

And at that moment of revelation, Patch felt a tinge of regret.

00000

"Ol' Thunderbolt is the greatest dog in the whole world," Fidget said from his spot on the armchair.

"He's even better than dad," Patch said.

"No dog is better than dad," Penny said looking lovingly up at her father, who smiled with pride and love.

00000

I can't believe I said that. Thunderbolt is my all-time hero, but to say he's better than dad? Right in front of him too?

The epiphany of the depth of those spoken words ate at Patch's heart like a knife. The terrible events of late had given him a moment of deep reflection, causing him to realize how much he had taken his family for granted, including his own father.

True, it didn't seem to faze any members of his family when Patch has said it but the realization of it and the depth of their current as well as how much they needed their parents at this very moment made him think twice on it.

I did not know what I had said. And now...oh Dad. Did I hurt him by what I said? And he simply did not show it?

"Patch? Are you ok?"

His train of thought interrupted, Patch lifted his head with a start. "I'm fine Lucky, just trying to think."

Patch shut his eyes and grinded his teeth in concentration before speaking further. "Anyone got any ideas?"

Before anyone could answer, they noticed the motion they were in slowing down and going off-road.

"I think we arrived at our destination," Dipstick said.

"Well here we are Horace, home sweet home."

"If you can call Hell Hall a home."

Hell Hall? That sounds oddly familiar.

"Charming name for a house," Jewel said ironically.

00000

None so gently, the Fifteen were dumped out of the bag onto a hard, unkempt wooden floor. They shook themselves off of the filth from the bag.

They were about to make a move to flee until, on instinct, they looked about and observed their new surroundings.

The walls were painted red, like blood. There were hallways that stretched far, so far the pups could not see the end of it. And even if they could, many of them were cluttered with what looked like rubble and debris. This house was clearly an old one and had not been kept well.

Despite the detrimental state of this place, Whizzer wasted no time finding a private place to do his business.

The two men did not make any attempt to stop him.

But why? Wouldn't they make sure he didn't try to escape if they went through so much trouble to steal us?

"Eeeaghhh," Jewel groaned in disgust. "This place looks like it has been cleaned in months. How horrid!"

That was certainly true. The house, this Hell Hall, had not been maintained for a long while. The blood-red walls were faded and peeling in certain sections. The decor, from its paintings to its suits of armor were covered with dust and shrouded by cobwebs.

It was as though it had been turned from a residence to a crypt.

Then they heard the sound of barking. Puppy barking. Multitudes of them.

What?! How many more have these villains stolen?!

"That sounds like puppies, lots of them," Lucky said.

"Yes, I can hear them too," Two-Tone said.

"Alright mutts, move it along," Jasper snapped. "Into the living room, now!"

00000

I didn't know there were so many Dalmatians in the world, much less in England.

There were multitudes of pups indeed, all Dalmatians even. However, most of them barely had their spots.

"They don't look much older than a couple of months," Dipstick said in awe. "What would these men want with so many?"

"I-I-I don't know i-i-if I want to fi-fi-find out," Fidget stammered, nervous as he often was in anxious situations. And this was indeed the most dangerous situation he and his siblings have ever been in and thus perhaps he was due to some stuttering.

"Hey, you must be the new ones."

The Fifteen looked and saw a Dalmatian pup, clearly one of the older ones approach. He was missing one of his forelegs.

"You're wearing collars," he said. "So you're not from the petshops."

"No," Patch said curtly. "We were stolen."

The look on the three-legged pup's face became sympathetic but unsurprised. "I see. Where'd you get picked up?"

"London."

The three-legged pup let out an impressed whistle. "Then you're a long way from home."

A cold feeling went through Patch and his siblings like a dreadful ghost. "Where are we?"

"This place is called Hell Hall, lovely name huh?"

"We heard," Penny said with some hardness. "And where is Hell Hall exactly?"

The three-legged pup stared at them. He sighed and then spoke. "Do you know where Suffolk is?"

That statement had the same effect as though the pups had been engulfed in a sudden freeze. Shocked, their mouths hung open as they stared at the three-legged pup.

"What did you say?" Penny asked as though she did not hear correctly.

"Suffolk," the three-legged pup said with grin finality. "We're in the heart of Suffolk."

Young they were, but the Fifteen Pongo's were well-learned and well-taught by their mother and father. While they did not entirely know and understand the geographical readout of England, they at least knew its regions well enough to know where Suffolk was.

"How far is the nearest town?" Patch asked.

"Couldn't tell you, there's nothing for miles. Just country."

"What did you say your name was?" Lucky asked.

"I didn't and I don't have one. But the other pups call me Three-Legs."

Patch furrowed his brow. Obvious really but seems kind of insensitive. "Is there a window?"

Three-Legs pointed towards a large window which was shrouded by curtain. The Fifteen wasted no time approaching it.

Two-Tone, as spirited as she was, was the first to make leap and crawl behind the curtain to see the landscape of their captivity.

She became rigid at once. "Ohhhhhh myyyyyyy."

Penny looked out the window next and she gasped sharply.

"What do you see?" Patch asked even though he already knew the answer.

"Nothing," Penny said in a manner that sounded defeated and hopeless. "Nothing but hills and rivers. We're in the middle of nowhere. Nothing for miles."

Patch's mind was in disarray but he hid it well. If Mum and Dad are going to save us, they'll have a long way to go.

End of Chapter I