Chapter 8:

Now with all the revelations Pete had been having he felt that nothing would faze him anymore. He'd been reincarnated, reunited with his love, turned into a quadruped and given the power to apparently hop into Tazusa's dreams. Pete Pumps was ready for anything…

"Hey, Petey boy let's go shopping!"

…anything but that.

After learning about Maya Pete just wanted sometime alone with Tenshi to question the thing. How the heck was he supposed to be doing that when Tazusa was taking him to a shopping district?!

For some reason Tenshi had left them once they exited the park. It fluttered away under the pretense of 'letting some new souls into heaven', but Pete thought that this was too coincidental. So Tenshi just HAD to leave right when it had found out about Maya, just perfect, Pete thought.

Tazusa was pulling his jump rope leash tighter and tighter. They had entered a very busy street and now Pete could only venture a foot away from his owner before the rope yanked him back. He trotted grumpily at the ice princess' heels, too sullen to bother to look at the surroundings, as his mind focused on what Maya had said.

"I gave up his love." Her strange statement kept replaying over and over in Pete's mind. How do you give up someone's love? Did Kei forget everything about Maya? And how torn must Maya have felt to resort to doing that? Why did she even bother getting back to Earth if it meant that she'd be forgotten?

"Let's get you a collar." Tazusa hummed absentmindedly. "You know, you remind me of someone I loved, Pete."

At this, Pete was immediately snapped out of his daze as he craned his head back to look up at the former stone-hearted skater. Her eyes were glazed over with a look that he'd seen before; it was the same look he got when he thought about her. He gave an inquisitive whine as Tazusa stopped walking. When she didn't respond he yipped at her and nibbled at her socks.

"Oh," Tazusa gasped. She looked around for a while, as if she was wondering where she was, then she shook her head and took a deep breath. "Sorry about that Pete. Anyway, like I was saying, you make me think of someone I loved once. He had to go away, but I'm sure that wherever he is, he's waiting for me to come and join him."

"Nope, some of your stubbornness must have rubbed off on me because I got to impatient and came to you instead." Pete replied, painfully aware that all she heard were yaps and barks.

"He came from a place called Canada," Tazusa continued. "You see, they've got a red flag over there, so I'm thinking I should get you a red collar. Does that sound good to you?"

"Yeap!" Pete barked happily, swinging his tail back and forth in an involuntary wag.

Tazusa smiled and walked him into a pet store.

If you think a pet store's smelly when you sniff at it with a human nose, try it with one that's five to ten times stronger, for this is what Pete was now experiencing. His nose tingled as it adjusted to the myriad of smells, so much so that his mind got muddled up with trying to sort through them. Therefore he didn't know how to react once a curious Chihuahua sniffed his fanny.

"Hey!" Pete shrieked, jumping a foot into the air (and that's impressive when you're barely a foot tall). Once he landed his legs got snared in his already-too-short leash and fell muzzle-first onto the hard, unforgiving floor. Groaning he got up and growled at the offensive Chihuahua. "What the heck was that for?"

"Heh?" it squeaked. "What I do?"

Peering at its dog tag Pete saw its name and deduced that it was actually a she, all the more embarrassing. "So, Rica," Pete said, mentioning the name engraved onto the tag. "Would you please tell me why you were sniffing my but?"

"What you mean?" she asked. "I just greet you. Then you jump high and fall. What wrong with you? And how you know who I am?"

"I read your dog tag." Pete stated. "And what do you mean you greeted me?"

"How many moons do you have? You old enough to know how to greet dogs." Then the tiny Chihuahua realized something. "You know to read? My master teach me that once, very hard. How you know to read and not to greet? Very strange pup."

"Rica!" called a voice from across the room.

"Bye bye strange pup." Rica yipped, before turning tail and racing over to her owner, who scooped her up and walked over to the counter where Tazusa was waiting.

"Sorry for that miss," the salesman chided. "Rica over here is supposed to be resting in the back room. Could I just place her there before I fetch your items?"

"Sure," Tazusa said. "But be quick about it."

The salesman nodded before dashing into a door hidden from behind the counter. He returned a few minutes later with a small wooden box and a bright red collar. Pete was plopped onto the countertop so Tazusa could fasten the leather strap around his neck. Once it was on Pete scratched at with his hind leg, then immediately stopped when he realized what he was doing. Come on Pete! You're not really a dog; you're just in the body of one. At least that's what he kept thinking to himself.

"Miss, you wanted this design for the tag?" the storeowner asked, revealing the content of the box.

He opened it up to hold out a shining silver medal, the kind pilots receive once they earn the right to fly in the sky. It was a simple circular disc with wings jutting out of its sides and a cross embossed on its surface. Engraved on it in neat print was his name, and then below it was a small quote scrawled in loopy cursive;

We are all connected through the sky.

Love will wait till your wings can fly

Tazusa paid the salesman and exited the store with Pete in her arms. "Come on Petey boy, let's go get you groomed."

But not even this daunting thought was enough to dent the well of emotion that Pete was feeling at the moment…or so he thought.

Pete was yanked out of his stupor as his paw pads touched the cold tiles of the salon. After the rough cement road this was a welcome change, I never thought I'd miss shoes so much, he thought to himself idly. Looking around he saw that they were in a plain white-walled lobby. Tazusa was leading him to a tall counter where she stopped to talk to a lady who must have been the receptionist.

"Hello, I'd like to have my puppy groomed?"

Pete groaned and busied himself with inspecting the lobby more. A lounge was nestled in the opposite corner of the room, a set of colorless couches that practically blended into the walls. Not the best idea because now whoever tried to sit on them would look like they were sitting on air. And for some reason, no one was getting their pet groomed in the White Wonderland Grooming Salon. I wonder why? Pete asked himself.

A pair of hands cupped themselves around Pete's middle section as he was lifted onto the counter. From this high vantage point the puppy could see that the entire room was white, not just the furniture and the walls but the tiles, ceiling and lights were white too. The only color in the room came from the glass doors leading outside and a few gurgling fountains.

"And what's your name, puppy?" the receptionist asked.

"Pete," Tazusa answered for him as he yipped an affirmative. "He's going to have a bath, a haircut and a makeover."

Pete whined as he rose on his hind paws and tried to beg at Tazusa. "Tazusa, if you love me you won't do this," he said, forgetting for a while that she couldn't understand a word he was saying.

Tazusa paid him no attention and thrust Pete into the receptionist's open arms. He squirmed in the stranger's arms as Tazusa walked away. "I'll be back when you're done," she waved. "So be a good boy and listen to the groomers!"

With a final good-bye she left through the doors and into the beautiful colorful outside world. "COME BACK!!" Pete whined. He squirmed until he got a good look at the receptionist that held him prisoner…his ears pressed themselves flat against his skull as his tail swished between his legs.

And even if you didn't know that in dog body language that meant that Pete was scared, you'd still see the apparent fear in his eyes. The lady was dressed entirely in white; from alabaster skin to French tipped nails the darkest thing she had on her were her dark, dark brown eyes.

Human Pete would have screamed like a girl at the freakishness of this all.

Ghost Pete would have thanked god that he was already dead.

Puppy Pete happened to have peed himself.

"I can understand if you're scared," the receptionist said in a sickeningly sweet voice. "You're mama left you here all alone. Don't worry; you'll make a bunch of new friends here!"

And with that Pete was brought into a long corridor with, you guessed it, white walls. The receptionist turned left, then right, then left and another left and kept turning until Pete was dizzy, until finally they arrived in a large surprisingly white room to which Pete was unceremoniously dumped in.

He instinctively shook his fur as the occupants of the room gathered around him. When he looked up he saw a very large dog looming over him, maybe ten times his size, possibly bigger.

Human Pete: Use opposable thumbs to turn doorknob and escape.

Ghost Pete: Float away unharmed.

Puppy Pete: Whimper, tuck tail between legs and pee again.