Wow, this is kinda awkward. I really didn't mean to take this long to update. If you want, I have a bunch of reasonable to lame excuses that I could give you for not updating sooner. Many apologizes.

But, I like to think of myself as an optimist, and so the glass is in fact half full. Which means, yeah, fine, it took my forever to update, but at least I updated at all! P Puts things in perspective now, don't it? But anyways, enough of that. Onto the chappie!

Disclaimer: I own nothing. Except for EVERYTHING!!! ...Except I don't. Seriously, I wish I did. But I don't.

Chapter 17

After enjoying a big hearty meal of grilled burgers and hot dogs, the group packed up and started up the beach. Their destination was a tall hill covered in trees, complete with a cliff that had a great outlook over the beach and the city. They were setting up camp there.

Despite being past dinner time, the sun was still hanging high in the sky, giving everyone extra bursts of energy, especially solar powered puppies.

Halfway up the walk, the puppy jumped out of Tristan's duffel bag and started running around in childish excitement. The entire group noticed how despite near dying of excitement, she never strayed too far from Tristan, always returning to him to be petted or picked up for a while.

When the group reached their campsite, a small clearing in the trees that had a great view of the beach, the boys (except Duke) started setting up tents while the girls started the fire. By the time the sun had set, the group was cozily bundled and snuggled up by the fire.

Serenity, unprepared for the quick temperature drop, quickly scampered into Tristan's lap. Tristan smiled and went into autopilot mode (read as "spoil the cute pup"). Serenity growled in utter contention as she lazily lounged in Tristan's lap.

"Nice and warm," she thought with a satisfied smile.

While Tristan's attention was solely on his pet, the rest of the crew was roasting marshmallows and stargazing; generally having an overall relaxing and enjoyable evening.

"sigh It's too bad Serenity couldn't join us. She woulda loved it," said Joey, receiving concurrence from the rest of the crew. Except Tristan. He merely slowed his petting down till his hand just rested on top of the puppy. Serenity noticed the quick change in Tristan and looked up worriedly. He had a very dour expression on with his eyes downcast, as if contemplating something very painful to him. Serenity whimpered at the sight.

"He really misses me," Serenity thought with sadness but also with a sliver of disturbing glee. He really did love her that much. She immediately perished the thought from her mind. "So not appropriate."

Seeing as how she was the root of all of his pain, Serenity felt obligated to help cheer him up. For the umpteenth time in the past few days, she re-scaled Mt. Tristan to shower him with puppy licks/kisses. And just as quickly as it had come, the cloud of sadness was wiped away with great ferocity only to be replaced with happiness.

Tristan's attention was now back to the previously ignored puppy once again.

"You do realize how spoiled you are right? Can't even go a single second without acknowledging your presence. I really should stop treating you so well, go tie you up in the middle of the woods for a few days, see how you act after that," Tristan threatened as he rubbed Keiko's furry belly. Too bad Serenity knew him all to well to know that he wouldn't even get close to going through with his threat. He was too far whipped by her invincible puppy powers.

Serenity couldn't help but ponder how what a wonderfully coincidental it was that by comforting him she would bring his attention back to focus only on her. How con-freaking-venient.

"Oh well. I guess it just comes with the job of super puppy," she thought with a smirk.

"I don't think I like that look on you," Tristan said wearily as he eyes her rather devious glint in her large eyes.

Tristan was pulled once again away from his sleep when he heard piteous whimpering right next to his ear.

"Are you kidding me? Keiko, that's the fifth time tonight!" Tristan rolled back into his sleeping bag and covered his head. But Keiko was relentless and continued to whimper loudly, gently pawing the sleeping bag until Tristan gave in.

"FINE! But it's the LAST TIME! I told you not to eat so many pieces of watermelon," Tristan continued to chastise lightly as he unzipped the tent, giving the tiny puppy with the tiny bladder another chance to go relieve herself of her seemingly endless amounts of urine.

Serenity ran towards the exit with a yelp of gratitude.

"Oh thankyouthankyouthankyoutthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou!!!" She barked happily. Serenity seemed to recall some sort of warning about what would happen if she ate too much watermelon, but she wasn't entirely sure; she was rather preoccupied with stuffing her face with watermelon and was unable to focus on anything else. Multitasking was never really a strong point for her.

The little puppy, as excited as she was, came to an abrupt halt when she reached the end of tent. She cautiously peeked her tiny, furry head out of the tent to check the surroundings. She quickly scampered back into the tent and looked to Tristan, a puppy pout forming on her face as a pathetic whimper rose from her throat.

"Trrrriiiiiisssssttttttttaaaaaannnnnn!!!!! I'm scared!" the little dog whined. Tristan merely stared at her with a blank expression.

"You. Can't. Be. Serious." Tristan deadpanned as he realized what she wanted him to do.

"But it's all dark and scary outside!" More whimpering came from the little dog, this time much louder. "Please?"

"No. I told you what would happen if you didn't listen to me. So now, you can go to the bathroom by yourself," Tristan said.

"Pretty please?" Keiko then played her trump card. She started to lick his face while whining and whimpering in as pathetic a voice as she could make.

But Tristan's resolve was firm and unwavering…for about two seconds. Tristan slumped his head and heaved a great sigh.

"I am so whipped," he thought dejectedly. But hey, he was getting better at resisting. He beat his previous record by two whole seconds.

He slowly stood up and exited the tent with a very happy but impatient puppy following close at his heels.

The pair walked into the forest, going deep into the forest to ensure privacy. They finally reached a spot so thick that not even the rays of the full moon could penetrate the thicket. Yet even still, Keiko refused to go until Tristan turned around.

Tristan just couldn't understand the finicky puppy.

"I've never seen any puppy as high maintenance as you, you know," he muttered. Keiko merely barked an indignant response before focusing on her current task of reliving herself before her bladder exploded.

After a few moments of awkward silence, Keiko finally finished her business and started to turn around and head back for Tristan when a noise caught her attention.

Serenity turned her head to the right, hearing a light rustling coming from the bushes in that direction. The noise was so subtle that she barely heard it.

"Probably some wind," Serenity thought, and brushed it from her mind. Except she heard it again, this time much louder.

"I definitely did not imagine that one."

To say the least, Serenity's curiosity was peaked. She decided that it wouldn't hurt just to see what the noise was. So the human-turn-puppy changed her direction and headed for the bushes, intent on just taking a peak at what was making the sound.

Serenity wove through the thick bushes and after a minute or two of struggling; she came through the other side of the bush. What she hadn't anticipated was that directly behind the bush was a steep hill, causing her to trip and fall down the slope.

After being on the receiving end of a harsh landing, Serenity slowly picked herself back up.

"Oh crap. Now what?"

As the puppy was surveying her surroundings, trying to find a way back to Tristan, she heard a noise directly behind her. This time though, it wasn't some subtle rustle of the leaves that she heard. Instead, it was a low-pitched growl that resonated throughout her body, making her shiver in anticipating fear.

Cautiously, she turned around and was met with the sight of two bright, menacing, and hungry pair of eyes.

Serenity immediately backed up as quickly as possible until she was at the foot of the hill, being unable to distance herself any further from the beast.

As the huge figure loomed closer and closer, a mean of moonlight forced its way through the treetops, just barely illuminating the beast, revealing the figure of a very large and very dangerous mountain lion creeping towards her.

Serenity was completely frozen in shock.

"Run! Hurry up and move away! RUN!" But her body would not cooperate and just stood there as the lion swaggered up to its midnight snack. It wasn't until the lion pounced that Serenity made a run for it. Her quick little legs pushed her off the ground just as the lion reached her, letting her escape with little more than a deep scratch. This time, Serenity's body followed her mind as she ran like crazy, barking and yelping as loud as her lungs allowed.

"HELP! Someone, anyone help me!"

The lion quickly started to gain on her, it's giant leaps proving too much for Serenity's little steps. Serenity just ran harder as she caught sight of the lion getting closer. Suddenly, while she was looking back at the lion, she tripped on a pebble and rolled along the ground as she fell. She ended up falling into a small crevice in the hillside, just squeezing past the entrance and finding sanctuary in its tight confines. The lion swiped futilely at the crack, trying its best to reach the tasty little morsel. Serenity knew, however, that her safe house was only temporary and curled up dejectedly as far into the crack as she could.

"Tristan, please come save me," she whimpered.

Wow, I really didn't mean to end it like that. Does that count as a cliffhanger? Well, I guess we'll see what's going to happen to poor Serenity/Keiko.

coughshe gets eaten!cough

Oh my, excuse me! P

Seriously, who knows what will happen next?