C.A.W. Fanfic #2- Belladonna's Halloween Horror

[Charlie Wolf]

HAPPY [glow=Black,6,666]HALLOWEEN!!!!!![/glow]It's my BIGGEST fanfic yet; ENJOY!!!!!!

"An All Dogs Go to Heaven Official C.A.W. Fanfic: Belladonna's Halloween Horror"
A fanfic by: Charlie A. Wolf, completed by- 10/31/08.
Starring (in the order of appearance):
SATAN,
Belladonna,
Charles "Charlie" B. Barkin,
Itchiford "Itchy" Dachshund,
Sasha LaFleur Barkin,
Winifred "Bess" Dachshund,
Carface V. Malone,
Killer C. (exact last name unknown...),
ALL of Belladonna's new, evil henchmen,
a "runaway" boy (similar to David, but for an apparently MUCH different motive.....!) named Zachary "Zach" Baxter,
David,
Anne-Marie,
other various party guests (mostly other dogs),
San Franscisco metro area civilians and tourists,
Mayor Willie Lewis Brown, Jr. of San Francisco (1996),
a plague of evil, literally Hell-spawned ghosts and ghouls to aid Belladonna from SATAN,
various members of the U.S. Coast Guard, Marines, and Army,
Governor Pete Wilson of California (1996),
U.S. President Bill Clinton (1996),
Annabelle (of course), and
Red.

*A Highly Satanic Prelude to a Horrifically Hellish Halloween.*
Over 59 years after an embarrassingly indirect evil scheme's defeat by Charlie Barkin on the 4th of July way long ago in the summer of 1939, back in Hell yet again, an ever-vindictive SATAN and Belladonna seek to avenge themselves once again, but this time on what they all consider to be the most evil day of the year- October 31st (Halloween). "I cannot BELIEVE that we lost to such a puny little whelp as Charles Burt Barkin!!!!!! CURSE HIS SOUL SO UNDENIABLY HARSHLY!!!!!!" an anguishing SATAN exclaims to Belladonna, angrily. "Well, maybe I would have done a bit better if YOU had gave me more henchmen, demonic power, and high-tech weaponry than what you did give me, cretin!!!!!!" she responds to him, greatly irritated by his previous response. "Don't you DARE insult ME, my foolish hellhound minion!!!!!!" he shouts back at her furiously before afflicting her briefly with a moderately powerful electric shock (approx. 15,000 V). After recovering from the bolt, she apologizes before pausing to ponder pacifically for a passing moment or so.
A few minutes thereafter, she finally proclaims, "EUREKA!!!!!! Now, my lord, tell me, what millions upon millions of young American children flock house-to-house gleefully to attain each and every year come Halloween night?" "Why, candy, of course!!!!!!" he answers. "EXACTLY!!!!!! Now, my LATEST schematics revolve almost completely around its production, distribution, and seemingly inevitable consumption of it shortly proceding its long-awaited acquisition!!!!!!" reveals Belladonna. "Let me guess... you want me to resurrect your physical format (aka her body), return you back to Earth, and there you'll begin to commence your new, evil concoction of a plan while I continuously provide you which PLENTY of faithful minions, necessary equipment and structures, more-devastating naturally demonic abilities, and more-lethal, higher-tech weaponry, correct???" SATAN asks her, confident that he is indeed right. "Correct!!!!!!" she answers him, eagerly awaiting further orders to carry out her newest, fiendish plot of doom. After receiving permission from him to inact her wicked ideas, she menacingly whispers to herself the following soliloquy before laughing maniacally at its eventual end as she prepares to head back to Earth once again: "EXCELLENT!!!!!! Now, my exceedingly annoying little mortal, do-goody adversaries (aka Charlie Barkin and Co.), I hope you're all prepared for what's about to occur, because ready or not, HERE COMES BELLADONNA AGAIN, BABY!!!!!! HA HA HA HA HA HA!!!!!!"

Chapter I: Charlie Barkin's Pre-Halloween Festivity Preparations.
Back on Earth once again, in a modern-day version of 1998 San Francisco, Charlie Barkin and Itchy Dachshund are hastily making the finishing touches to their self-titled "Greatest Halloween Party EVER!!!!!" at their house for tomorrow evening. "Are we all done yet, Buddy?!?" Itchy asks Charlie, eagerly. "Hmm... let's see... Decarations, check! Costumes, check! Creepy music player with creepy music CD, check! And finally, umm... oops!!! Not quite." Charlie replies after looking around the room at all of the various items just mentioned as he "checked" them off a list mentally. "We just need to get what will probably be the most important thing of all, after ME, of course- the candy itself!!!!!" "And where exactly will we GET that candy from, 'Most Important Thing of All?'" asks an ever-curious Itchy. "Why, at a store, of course, Silly!!!" returns Charlie. Before Itchy gets the chance to respond again, an especially stunning Sasha Barkin walks briskly into the room. Upon noticing her entrance, Charlie lowers his tone somewhat before asking Itchy, "Is it hot in here, or is it just me?" "Ha ha, very funny, Charlie." Sasha remarks sarcastically before rolling her eyes briefly and continuing her previous statement with "So, when are you two boys going to head over to the store and get that essential candy before all of the local stores run out?" "Right about..... NOW!!!!!" Charlie tells her before grabbing Itchy by the paw, rushing him over to the door out, opening it, and shoving Itchy out of it before quickly pausing to say, "We're leaving now, be back soon, catch ya' later, BYE!!!!!" He then pecks her on the cheek and resumes in his running to the nearest store along with Itchy as fast as they can go. As Sasha stands there in the open doorway for a moment, slightly stunned, an equally stellar Bess trots up beside her and exclaims, "You know, Sasha, if they wouldn't have hurried out so fast, they probably would have remembered to just check the local phone book listings for a store's number and call one of them up instead." "Yes, I know, but you know how the saying goes: 'Boys will be boys, and girls will be girls.'" Sasha reminds her, smiling.

Chapter II: Belladonna's Fiendish Plot Revealed.
As she immediately begins remodeling the large, abandoned pretzel factory just outside of town (San Francisco) that the "Father of Evil" (aka SATAN) provided her with, Belladonna hastily begins rallying up her troops, which now consists of Carface, Killer, Carface's fellow gang members and crew (all other dogs of different ranks), her small fire imps (the kind first encountered by Charlie and Itchy in the Christmas Carol television episode), large fire imps (a flying, somewhat larger, more powerful, and a bit more demonic looking little imp variant), fire hounds (medium-sized [40-60 lbs.], dog-like, fire-breathing aliens that Belladonna acquired from a fictional, distant planet nicknamed "Singe", courtesy of you-know-who.....!), and large, robotic mechanoids of various sizes, abilities, and ranks themselves. Add all of that to a sizeably formidable artillery, munition, and vehicle cache, and you've got a definitely lethal force to be reckoned with!!!!!! After assessing her vastly new wealth of infantry and weaponry at her disposal for a few moments, Belladonna, an evil grin steadily forming upon her face, then asks the following question to her two, main "commanders" (aka Carface and Killer) simultaneously: "So now, boys, are the rest of my many troops ready to engage in immediate combat should they be needed at ANY time?" "Heh heh heh heh, yep, they're all ready!!!!!!" replies an equally vengeful and ambitious Carface. "Excellent!!!!!!" she responds back to him. "Now, get the labor imps ready for work, and tell then that they'll begin making my secretly-poisoned yet EXTREMELY and irresistably addictive candy to be dispersed among the local residents' children come sundown tomorrow at ONCE!!!!!!" Belladonna then laughs maniacally for a short period of time thereafter before proudly remarking, "HA!!!!!! I've a feeling that finally, this time, I WILL NOT LOSE TO BARKIN!!!!!! HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!!!!!!!!!"

Chapter III: Charlie Eavesdrops on Belladonna's Clandestine Plans.
By this time, Charlie and Itchy have checked out virtually every candy retailer in town, but have STILL failed to acquire the perfect-yet-particularly elusive candy that Charlie so strongly desires to attain. "Ch- Charlie, oh, Charlie," Itchy says, panting heavily after all of their manic darting around the city that night, "may we PLEASE head home now? I'm sure we have the girls worried sick by now, and I really don't wanna disappoint them after leaving so abruptly earlier, 'cause then they might think that..." "Oh, Itchy, Itchy, Itchy, will you ever learn that I don't care what the girls think about us and this specific issue???" Charlie rudely interrupts Itchy. "Now, c'mon, we'll take the long way home." However, as they begin heading home the "long" way, they pass by the front of a large and mysteriously abandoned building, which is, unbeknownst to the both of them, Belladonna's hidden hideout headquarters. "Hey, Itch, look over there." Charlie says. "Whoa, would you look at that!" Itchy tells Charlie before noticing a strange, brightly-glowing, orange creature vanish along the eastern wall of the building- a fire hound. "Uh... Charlie, w... wasn't that old plant there supposed to be vacated now?!?" asks Itchy, now getting a bit on edge after eyeing the oddly-located, distant alien. "Yeah. Why?" replies Charlie. "Because I think I just saw something enter it!!!" exclaims Itchy. "Oh really??? Well now, looks like we'll have to go in after it now, huh? C'mon, let's go see what it was!!!" Charlie reponds. "No, Charlie, PLEASE no, Charlie, uh... uh... oh, I know!!! Let's don't and say we did now, O.K.? O.K.?!?!?!" pleads a now-mentally unstable and freaked out Itchy. However, Charlie simply ignores Itchy's desperately anguishing request and, with Itchy's paw in hand, prepares to stealthily "storm" the factory. Upon reaching the eastern wall, Charlie orders Itchy to stay put (albeit VERY reluctantly) and wait for him while he investigates the strongly foreboding structure from within. After sneaking through the eastern entrance and popping his head out around the corner to make sure that the coast is clear in the adjacent hallway of all assumedly hostile contacts, Charlie decides to further infiltrate the massive piece of crudely modern architecture alone. After around what seemed like hours cautiously traversing through abandoned corridors and along dank, darkened maintenance staircases, he eventually arrives at what he correctly deduces to be the 6th floor of the factory's central sanctum, he slowly peeks his head around the corner, only to discover the factory really is occupied, and by none other than the vile villainess herself, Belladonna!!!!!! Thankfully, though, she does not initially notice his highly offensive presence, but rather is occupied with further describing her wicked plans to take place the following evening to Carface and Killer in what she intended to be a private conversation.
Nevertheless, and although Charlie cannot hear most of what she tells the two gangsters over the roar of the nearby conveyor belts and other various machinery hastily transporting crate after crate after crate of the toxically tainted candy, he does make out enough of Belladonna's verbiage to piece together a shocking conclusion, such as "I'm planning to... poisoned candy... sell to stores... San Franscisco... trick-or-treat... kill children!!!!!!" The last phrase alone was enough to teporarily drive Charlie over the edge to the uncontrollable point of accidentally screaming out to her loudly, "YOU WON'T GET AWAY WITH THIS, BELLADONNA!!!!!!!" in a short fit of hatred and rage. Almost instantaneously after perceiving Charlie's voice, Belladonna looks up towards him at once and yells back, "HA!!! BARKIN!!! I thought I sensed your putrid presence, you oversized, scum-sucking whelp, you!!!!!! Killer, RAISE THE ALARM, NOW!!!!!!" "O.K., B... Boss!!!" a hesitant Killer responds before doing just that a moment later. Suddenly, a gunshot rings out as a pistol bullet just narrowly misses Charlie's forehead, courtesy of a now-angered Carface. "Yikes!!! Time to leave!!!" he points out before making a break for the nearest exit. However, as soon as he does, Belladonna produces her wings and flies up to in front of where Charlie just was on the ledge above, hovers in midair, and commands her troops with, "My precious minions, after him, NOW, I repeat, NOW!!!!!!" Shortly afterwards, a small fire imp enters through an elevator door that Charlie had not noticed before, indirectly revealing to him a way out. Charlie then immediately charges through the door, kicks the pesky imp out, and hits the buttons to head back down to the ground floor and close the door ASAP. In a futile, last-ditch attempt to thwart Charlie's imminent escapade, the fire imp forms and subsequently launches a small, semi-rounded fireball towards Charlie's tail (just like in the Christmas Carol) while snickering sinisterly. This time, though, Charlie readily sees it coming at him and pulls his tail out of the way just in time as the fiery projectile harmlessly impacts and dissipates onto the nearby inside, metallic elevator wall. "Nice try, Bub, but you ain't gonna singe ol' Charlie Barkin's tail THIS time!!!!!" he announces smugly before sticking his tongue out and mocking the little imp as the elevator's door closes. Finally, upon reaching the ground floor, he sprints out of the now-open elevator on all fours, runs back outside the factory, shouts at Itchy to follow him posthaste, and together returned back to their home at top speed to tell Sasha and Bess about EVERYTHING that had just transpired that night.

Chapter IV: Charlie and Itchy Explain the Devilish Scheme to Sasha and Bess.
As soon as they arrive back at their house, Charlie and Itchy waste no time in telling their sweethearts what had just occurred only moments before. After successfully doing so, Sasha finally comments, "Wow! Who ever knew that Belladonna was capable of so much evil, and in just one night?!?!?! Well, nonetheless, we simply MUST do something about it all; we can't just sit here tomorrow and party all night long while Belladonna gives out her poisonous candy to an innumerable number of innocent children!!!!!!!" "I agree with you wholeheartedly, Sasha; we should certainly foil such wicked plans as these!!!!!!!" replies Bess. "Well, it's up to us to stop her then." states Charlie. "Yep, exactly!!!!!!!" agrees Itchy. "But first, though, you two had better take a bath before you decide to hit the sack, lest you both prefer to sleep alone tonight, right, Bess?" Sasha reminds them, a sly look forming upon her face. "Uh-huh!!!" Bess replies, also forming that same sly grin shortly afterwards. "Hey, Itch, I just remembered, we absolutely LOVE baths now, don't we?" Charlie says quickly after hearing the girls' warning to them. "Why, yes, yes we do!!!" answers Itchy somewhat hastily as well. As they both went off to prepare and take their baths, Sasha looks over at Bess momentarily, raises an eyebrow, an reminds her, "See, Bess, just like I said earlier, boys will always be boys!!!!!" "Uh-huh, you are indeed so right!!!!!" Bess admits. Eventually, all four of them ended up taking baths that night, and once they were finally in bed for the night, Sasha whispers Charlie one more question regarding Belladonna's evil scheme. "Darling, do you TRULY think that you can honestly take Belladonna and ALL of her minions on alone?!?" "No, Honey, I don't, but I know that I simply MUST try to stop her, God willing, for if I don't, then who will???" With that said and with all things considered, the Barkin and Dachshund couples got some much-needed rest for the chaos that was to come with the rising (or, should I say, setting.....!) of the sun the next day, October 31st- HALLOWEEN!!!!!!

Chapter V: An Amazing Sunrise of a Presumably Terrifying Day.
Early the next day, at around 7:15 in the morning, Charlie, Itchy, Sasha, and Bess all went to the Golden Gate bridge to watch the sunrise over the bay. As they do, just after the sun has fully risen over the eastern horizon, Sasha remarks to Charlie, "You know what, Charlie? I don't think that I've ever seen a more beautiful sunrise in my entire life, and do you know what else? I don't think that there's anyone else in the whole universe besides you whom I'd rather be with to observe." He then places an arm around her back and holds her close to him, saying the following back to her: "And you know what else, too? I love you more than any other dog that's ever lived, even myself." "Awwww, that's so sweet, Charlie!" Sasha replies to him before looking into his eyes and kissing him. They then smile at on another for another moment before Itchy does the same tender act with Bess. After approximately ten minutes of enjoying the wonderful, sunny vista before them, they all four head on over to Sasha's cafe and begin to set up shop there for the day. Next, once Sasha prepares a big breakfast for themselves, especially for Charlie and Itchy, as she places a hefty plate of food for both of the boys to share (mostly Charlie, of course, due to his naturally MUCH bigger appetite than Itchy), she tells them, "Eat up, boys, 'cause you're both going to need the energy for that treacherous excursion of Belladonna's heavily-defended factory later today." "No problem doing that now, right, Itch?" Charlie says before Itchy answers him with, "Yep! No problem doing that now at all!" Upon finishing their big meal, Charlie and Itchy say goodbye to Sasha and Bess for the time being and head off to the local gun shop for some much-needed supplies.
While there, they purchase their own, respective gun licenses, a .510 magnum bolt-action rifle for Charlie, a 10X-zoom scope for it, 12 boxes of 24 .510-caliber bullets each, a 12-gauge pump shotgun for Charlie, 7 boxes of 10 12-gauge shells each, a .457 revolver for Itchy, 20 packages of five 10-bullet .457 cartridges each, two good-size hunting backpacks (a large one for Charlie, and a smaller one for Itchy), two hunting, water canteens (again, a larger one for Charlie, and a smaller one for Itchy), a long-range walkie-talkie for both of them, and 7 medical kits to help treat wounds properly and efficiently (5 for Charlie, the rest for Itchy). After they finish making their purchases there, they then head over to a small, local fireworks retailer and acquire 5 large fireworks mortar "cakes" (similar to the ones that they were going to use for the 4th of July celebration decades earlier, but much more modern), 50 illegal M-80s (super-powerful fireworks that are nothing short of small grenades minus all of the smoke and shrapnel that the owner only secretly gave them after they explained their usage plans for them; 35 for Charlie, the rest for Itchy), 12 smoke screen-producing fireworks (8 for Charlie, the rest for Itchy), and 10 portable fireworks lighters (7 for Charlie, the rest for Itchy). Finally, after stowing all of this in their backpacks (except for the mortar "cakes", which they carry with a small wagon instead), they head off to Belladonna's factory for the biggest showdown of their lives... so far.....!

Chapter VI: Belladonna's Despicably Evil Candy Distribution Begins.
During the time that Charlie and Itchy are out making there errands, Belladonna is busy overseeing the deporting of her toxic treats via transport truck to stock up all of the local Wal-marts, K-marts, Targets, and other various Halloween candy retailers with her lethal candies of doom. At the biggest Wal-mart around (a newly-erected Supercenter version) at the very heart of downtown San Francisco, she sends a 13-year old "runaway" boy determined to be "bad to the bone" for fun named Zachary Baxter to encourage other children shopping that day to beg their parents into buying Belladonna's new candy for them (although he has absolutely no clue whatsoever that the sweets are to be tainted with deadly ingredients...). At first, he's not very successful, but after school ends that day, all the kids come pouring into the store with their parents trying to take advantage of those last-minute discount sales, and he entices many more unsuspecting victims to purchase the candy. "Excellent!!!!!! My plans are working perfectly!!!!!! Keep up the good work, Sonny!!!!!!" Belladonna praises Zach over a long-range walkie-talkie. "Don't worry, I will!!!!!!" he assures her, confidently.

[Charlie Wolf]

Chapter VII: Charlie and Itchy's Mission Begins.
By the time that our two heroes reach their unforgiving destination, they arrive just before the final trucks for the day begin to leave the large factory garage and just as the sun is starting to set. "O.K. now, Itchy, get ready to fire at will on those approaching truck tires as they get nearer to us so as to stop them dead in their tracks." Charlie commands Itchy. "Sure thing, pal." Itchy assures him. Charlie, now mostly hidden behind some still-intact fall foliage, tree trunks, and bushes with Itchy at his side, then attaches the scope to his rifle, zooms in on the first truck's front-right tire, aims, and fires. The high-velocity bullet easily penetrates the tire's moderately thick rubber covering and causes the truck's driver, a large bulldog around Carface's size, to immediately halt the lumbering vehicle's progress any farther, get out of it, and look to see what's wrong with the truck. As he stands stationary for a short moment staring at the recently-flattened tire, Charlie takes that brief-yet-precious time to place a nice, thick, .510 magnum round into the unwary dog's central forehead. "Truck #1. and Bogey #1. down, I repeat, targets down." Charlie whispers to Itchy over his walkie-talkie. Itchy, who has now moved about 30 feet from Charlie's current position, takes cover behind a large, wild-growing blackberry bush and readies his revolver just in case he is discovered by a hostile contact. "I've moved in position, Charlie, and aside from the fact that these blackberries over here are really tasty, it looks like a couple of the smaller fire imps and one of the larger, flying ones is approaching the truck from the factory's west side at a movement rate of approximately 5 feet per second even as I speak to you now." he alerts Charlie over his own portable communications device (walkie-talkie). "Thanks for the detailed reconassaince report there, Itch, and don't worry- I'll take 'em down." Charlie responds before doing just that only seconds afterwards. With a candy transport truck out of commission and 4 fellow minions already down, things immediately begin to get hairy for our heroic canine pair as the second truck begins to depart from the large, factory garage and Belladonna gets word of what has happened just outside of her base of operations. "Oh Charlie Barkin, I just knew that you'd be back for more, and if you want a battle to fight tonight, then I'll give you a full-blown, all-out WAR!!!!!!" Belladonna thinks to herself before ordering her troops to be scrambled, locked, loaded, and ready to engage at will. And, consequently, she sends out a relatively small force of 6 more small fire imps, 3 more of the larger variety, a fire hound, and a .270 deer-hunting rifle, frag (NOT fragmentation...) grenade, and light armor-toting Rottweiler soldier to deal with "the tenacious little whelp scum squad" (aka Charlie and Itchy) at once.
"Well, well, well, would you look at that! I guess it's party time!" Charlie quite sarcastically reveals to Itchy regarding the small squad looking for them. Then, just after noticing a few of the small fire imps and one of the larger versions steadily approaching Itchy's secret position, Charlie warns him with, "Itchy! Look out! You've got multiple contacts incoming on your six right now; prepare to engage the enemy, over." "Roger that!" Itchy replies, readying his fireworks lighter next to the exposed wick of an M-80. Suddenly, once the miniature imp squad enters within Itchy's maximium M-80 throwing range, he quietly tells Charlie to "Watch this!!!", lights his M-80, and chucks it just over the top of the berry bush in front of him. Charlie then looks over just in time to see the 4 smaller fire imps get blown away to oblivion and the larger, flying one to receive a nicely-aimed, .457 round between the eyes. "Nice throw and shot there, buddy!!!" Charlie congratulates him before sniping out the opposing Rottweiler before he can even notice him. Then, with only a pair each of small fire imps and larger fire imps and the lone fire hound remaining intact on the battlefield, Charlie hastily succeeds in headshotting all three of them. Next, the boys get a taste of Belladonna's next tricky trap to avoid- her vehicle units. Only seconds after the fire hound died, a small squad of 3 ATVs, a stolen, chain-gun mounted military jeep, and the third and final candy truck emerge from the garage with rapid speed, a large, stolen, military transport helicopter descends from above to deploy more troops for the two friends to deal with, and the second truck finally began closing in on Charlie's location little by little. "Look out for hostile vehicles now, buddy. Charlie out." Itchy receives over his walkie-talkie from Charlie. "No prob', Char. No prob' at all." he responds back to Charlie. Within the next minute or so, Charlie successfully halts the second truck's progress by popping all four tires and "blacking up" the windshield with a couple of well-placed M-80s, snipes out the driver and passenger of 2 of the ATVs, reloads his rifle for the first time, snipes out the driver and passenger of the remaining ATV, snipes out the driver, passenger, and chain-gunner of the jeep, snipes out all 6 canine troopers dropped off by the helicopter, and finishes it all off with another swift reload of his rifle. All that, in turn, forces the now passenger-less helicopter to return back to its home base (a large helipad located just behind the factory) and also causes all other troops in the area to pull back to the safety of the factory's internal shipping and development facilities.
However, the ex-driver of the truck that Charlie parked prematurely decides to investigate what appears to be a large dog's tail protruding from behind the tree in front of his "dead" truck's still-activated headlights. "Well, what have we here?!?" he says to himself softly before crouching down on all fours and slowly sneaking up behind his new-found target- Charlie Barkin. Then, the driver, a large Doberman Pinscher, pulls out a small pocketknife and is just about to silently slit Charlie's throat from behind when he accidentally steps onto a razor-sharp pine needle jutting out from near the base of the tree in front of him. "YEEEOOOOOOOW!!!!!!!" he screams before dropping his handheld blade and frantically jumping up and down holding his wounded hindpaw. "AH!!!!!" Charlie yells surprisingly before calming down enough to whip out his 12-gauge from his backpack and pump the unlucky Doberman full of lead to the gut at point-blank range. "That was close. TOO close." he notifies Itchy. After retrieving the small knife, closing it, and placing inside his backpack, Charlie then proceeds to insert a replacement shell into his shotgun, thingy it, lock it, and place it back into his pack with the rest of his important equipment. With everyone now currently dead on the battlefield ahead of them, both Charlie and Itchy leave their cover, meet up near the center of the open field, and check each other's status (which includes not only checking their supply count [which also includes those 5 fireworks mortar "cakes" that are still being towed along with them via wagon by Charlie] but also taking a drink from their hydration canteens, regaining their composure, etc.). They also decide to scavenge around the battlefield for any necessary additional munitions, which, in doing so, proves to pay off particularly well, for the boys gain all of the following items to their respective inventories: 4 frag grenades (which lack shrapnel and significant power but have a blast radius nearly twice as large as a fragmentation's, thus making pinpoint accuracy much less necessary when throwing them; Charlie and Itchy both split them between each other [2 grenades apiece]), a fragmentation grenade (which has barely half the blast radius size of the basic frag grenade's but contains shrapnel and connects with a force nearly three times more powerful than a frag does, too; Charlie acquires this handy weapon), 2 gas grenades (grenades that contain and release a rapidly asphyxiating, poisonous gas for up to around 6 seconds or so; Charlie and Itchy split these between themselves as well [1 each]), 3 smoke grenades (Charlie receives 2 of them, Itchy 1), 6 light grenades (aka flares; Charlie receives 4 of them, while Itchy gets 2), a flaregun (Charlie gets this), 3 AK-47 sub-machine guns (Charlie receives 2 of them, Itchy 1), an additonal 30 clips of ammo for them (roughly 10 per gun; Charlie receives 20 of the 30 clips, Itchy the remaining 10), an assault rifle (Charlie receives this specifically for himself), and 8 clips of ammo for it (Charlie receives these, too, of course, seeing that he already has the corresponding weapon for them).
Finally, after making sure that no one is following them, Charlie gets behind the wheel of the illegally stolen military jeep, as he's the only one of the two who can actually reach the vehicle's gas pedal with his foot from a sitting position in the driver's seat, while Itchy mans the large, 50-caliber turret on the back of the war machine for him; together, the pair now heads off towards the garage, annihilates the final truck that's driver foolishly stopped to observe the aforementioned, exciting battle engagement that occurred only moments before with Itchy's chaingun, and ultimately drive around to the still-open garage side of the factory to continue their furious raid on Belladonna's ill-gotten property.

Chapter VIII: The Halloween Party Commences without Charlie and Itchy.
Back home, Sasha and Bess are just beginning to greet their guests for the night who are arriving promptly at 7:00 P.M., the first two of which are David (dressed up as a skeleton) and Anne-Marie (dressed up as a little princess). "Hey there, girls! What's up?" David tells Sasha and Bess, excitedly. "Oh, not much. Just beginning to start the big party tonight, I guess." Sasha replies. "Hey, guys, where're Charlie and Itchy at?!?!? It's really unlike Charlie to miss a party like this, 'cause he's like the 'partiest' dog around!!!!!" Anne-Marie points out. Sasha sighs at the very mentioning of that depressing fact and sulks to herself for a moment while Bess rallies in some more guests, including a larger mutt carrying a large Wal-mart grocery bag in his hands. Upon noticing the large carrying sack, Bess politely inquires of the mutt what exactly is in his bag. "Candy, and a whole lot of it, and boy, am I lucky or what, 'cause that ole' retailing store down the road a few blocks or so was being SOOOOO generous with its last-minute discount sales prices that this here bag of candy was SOOOOO cheap, it was virtually completely FREE!!!!!!" he describes to her. After remembering Charlie's warning about Belladonna's candy from the previous night, Sasha immediately asks him to take the candy bag out of the larger Wal-mart bag containing it and expel the bag's contents into a large, empty, plastic bowl that she has reserved solely for the candy that Charlie and Itchy were supposed to get for them yesterday. He does so, and in turn exposes a large bunch of, of all colors, PURPLE-wrapped candy chewies. Even more conspicuous is the fact that the candy's brand name reads as "Ann O. Dalleb's Halloween Candy Company"- a new company never heard or seen of anywhere else on the known candy-making market before. "Hmmm...," Sasha ponders, "What kind of name is 'Ann O. Dalleb', anyway?!?!?!"
After thinking for a moment more, she suddenly concludes, "Ah-ha!!! I get it!!! The name Ann O. Dalleb = the palindrome (Link: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palindrome.) of the name Belladonna!!!!!! Well, that certainly figures now, doesn't it, girlfriend (herself)?" "Yep!!! Just as I suspected- these candies are TOXIC!!!!!!" she alerts everybody present all at once. Her and Bess then explain their highly factual query that they received from the boys just the other night to each and every one of their party guests collectively before eventually proving to the few cynics in the room that the candy truly is potently lethal by grinding up one of the many large, chewable candies inside of a blender, mixing it with some water, blending it all up some more, and finally pouring the deadly mixture onto the surrounding soil of a large oak tree just outside of their house. The result: Within a mere 13 seconds after depositing the acursed liquid onto the bare soil surrounding the hardy oak, the poison seeped through the soil via capillary action down to just a few of the mighty plant's many roots, entered the tree's vascular system by "forcing" itself inside those few tree's roots, fully diffused itself into the water, glucose, and other et cetera chemical elements composing the tree's makeshift "bloodstream", and rapidly shutting down ALL of the tree's vital functions, ultimately killing it outright and on the spot in front of their very eyes. "NOW do you believe us???" Sasha rhetorically questions the few now ex-doubters among the large spectating bunch before them. Finally, as their last fluid actions of the evening, they all gladly dispose of the poisoned candy by burning it all away, quite literally for good, and decide to conjoinedly spend the rest of the evening contacting local authorities via telephone regarding the highly despicable candy.

Chapter IX: Charlie and Itchy's Mission Continues Deep into the Bowels of Belladonna's Facility.
As Charlie pulls the jeep up to the front of the open garage, both he and Itchy not only discover more fire imps (of both varieties), fire hounds, and armed, enemy dog troops, but also Belladonna's latest weapons of potentially mass destruction and devastation- very large (precisely 666 lbs. each ), robotic, dog-shaped mechs self-piloted by members of Carface's own, rogue gang-like faction, the first three (all prototypes, the weakest, most-underdeveloped, and more common rank of mech) of which begin to assault our two heroes almost instantly after encountering them with some intense yet wildly inaccurate machine gun fire. However, while the jeep absorbs any closely incoming bullets for our two protagonists, Charlie keeps "fishtailing" and "donutting" around the open ground while Itchy decisively annihilates the opposing mechs with brutal precision and quickness. Suddenly, just as Itchy eliminates what he imagines to be the last enemy in the garage's immediate vicinity, a sneaky little fire hound comes running out of cover, immediately launching a couple of distant flame attacks with its fiery breath, the first of which just barely misses Itchy, while the remaining one nails the front-right side of the jeep, effectively catching the hood on fire and partially damaging the corresponding front-right corner of the adjacent windshield. This, in turn, causes Charlie to bail out of the vehicle immediately before Itchy does the same shortly after finishing off the hound with a few well-placed bullets from his mounted gun turret only moments before. Then, after collecting 5 more frag grenades (3 for Charlie, the rest for Itchy), 3 more gas grenades (2 for Charlie, the other for Itchy), 2 more fragmentation grenades (one for each of them), and 20 more additional AK-47 clips (the boys decide to split these between each other, too) and with no where else to go, the two canines prepare to head into the inner layers of Belladonna's veritable fortress.
Upon approaching the garage's internal doorway into the shadowy, dismal structure, the boys soon discover by quickly peeking around the next corner that they're no longer alone as what appears to be their "welcoming committee" consists of nearly 2 dozen fire imps (18 small, 5 large), 6 10-gauge shotgun and grenade-using enemy dog soldiers, 4 fire hounds, and a pair of Minor-ranking (Minor is the next ranking up from a prototype mech, with all of the same abilities and weapons as the prototype, but with thicker, more durable, exterior armor, better machine gun-firing accuracy, stronger grapple (grabbing), punching, kicking, slashing, etc. moves, an additional, built-in, dual-firing, homing rocket system, and generally more intelligent, experienced, onboard operators) mechs to now deal with. "Great, just great!!!" Charlie grumbles to Itchy, right next to him at this point, and follows that sarcastic exclamation with, "Well, you know as they say: 'When life gives ya' grenades, make explosions!!!!!'" Thus, in preparation for their imminent grenade assault, Charlie takes his only 2 fragmentation grenades at the time out of his backpack while Itchy does the same to 2 of his 4 frag grenades. Then, on Charlie's count to 3, the boys pull the pins on their first grenade, pop up around the corner for about half a second, aim very quickly, and throw their respective grenades at their chosen targets (Charlie targets the closest mech to him and does some decent damage to it by taking out one of its shoulder-mounted, auto-firing machine gun "turrets", partially weakening and/or damaging its upper-left armor section, and shaking up the "pilot" for a moment, while Itchy targets and subsequently obliterates 14 small fire imps, 3 larger ones, and 1 fire hound while also moderately injuring 2 other fire hounds, 4 of the dog guards, and just slightly weakening the armor of the other, nearby mech as well). Next, and within a very brief 3 seconds after throwing their first grenades, the boys then repeat the process with their second grenades, taking out the remainder of the small fire imps, another of the larger ones, the same 4 opposing dog guards originally targeted in the first grenade toss by Itchy, and another fire hound while simultaneously severely damaging the already somewhat-wounded mech targeted by Charlie just seconds earlier, lightly damaging the other mech, moderately wounding another rogue dog guard, and severely wounding one of the 2 remaining fire hounds- all in a single, consecutive, follow-up action.
In yet another decisive action shortly after that, Charlie momentarily looks out around the corner, plugs the moderately wounded dog right smack in the center of the neck, secretly readies one of his 3 gas grenades for activation, and mocks the only non-wounded enemy dog around with his tongue and a very annoying, random shout of "Aw, don't cry, 'cause Michael Jackson still loves you!!!!!!" before immediately swining back around the safety of the corner, pulling Itchy away from the open doorway, and strategically initiating and rolling the grenade into the doorway, filling the air with toxic, green smoke. Luckily, the remaining dog, fire hound, and flying (larger) fire imp foolishly enter that doorway, never to pass through it again. Now, with everyone but the hardy mech pair out of the way, Charlie chucks a couple of soon-active light/flare grenades in front both of the canine mechanoids individually to temporarily "blind" them, pulls out all of his and Itchy's frag grenades left (7), and throws them all at the mechs one after the other while they're currently distracted (2 at the barely "alive" mech, the rest at the only lightly wounded mech). The end result: the permanent disabling of both mechs and their internal operators for good. Finally, as usual, the boys check their individual and combined inventories and scavenge around the battlefield to claim whatever useful remains for them both to efficiently use: 9 more frag grenades (6 for Charlie, the rest for Itchy), 4 more gas grenades (3 for Charlie, the other for Itchy), 3 more fragmentation grenades (all for Charlie), 2 more smoke grenades (one for each of them), and a new type of grenade meant to be employed by the now-dead dog squad's field "commander"- a phosphorus grenade (a deadly, flame-producing grenade that catches anyone and anything in its immediate vicinity on fire [for around 10 seconds or so or until the fire loses its combustible "fuel" on which it feeds, that not only includes burning flesh, clothing, and certain weaponry but also grass, trees, other nearby plant material, fabric materials, plastic, petroleum/gasoline, oils, etc.] on contact; Charlie proudly claims this highly dangerous weapon). But even a phosphorus grenade is virtually nothing compared to what the boys stumble across next......!
In another large room about 50 yards down the long corridor that was previously ahead of them, Charlie and Itchy are both EXTREMELY happy to discover an apparently vacant room that was, as far as the eye could see, chock-full of something they both deperately need at this point- uncontrolled, unoccupied, and (temporarily....!) unoperating MECHS!!!!!!! They then access a nearby computer to check the database of mechs available, and, after carefully selecting a type of mech labeled "Spec Ops Mech Model CM-570" (the most-advance small model of them all!!!!!), they take a bit to stow their supplies inside of a small storage compartment on the back-central side of the mech (just below the machine's built-in jetpack propulsion system), get in, take the controls for a spin (which includes getting used to a distracting but extremely useful, built-in, computerized HUD [heads-up display] that features, among other things, an advanced targeting reticule, armor strength, weapon, and energy shield [yes, I DID say energy shields, which eventually recharge and protect the mech's armor from sustaining any permanent damage until the shields are (temporarily.....!) disabled] status, and a enemy-sensitive radar unit), and immediately re-enter the large hallway that they entered through, fly down to far, opposite end, and head down the next large hallway, taking out all hostile resistance along the way. "We need to hurry up, Itchy, before Belladonna does any more evil." Charlie notifies Itchy after looking at the time on a HUD-featured, digital clock that reads as "8:09". "Sure thing!" Itchy replies. Thus, the boys immediately head to the large, central chamber of the factory (the area with all of the conveyor belts in it that Charlie encountered the other day on an overlooking balcony), blow away a half-hour and a TON (nearly half of all Belladonna's remaining minions) of enemy forces with it, which now included, among other things, higher-ranking, enemy-piloted mechs, Bradley, Abrams, and MRLS Tanks (Links: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bradley_tank; en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abrams_tank; en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multiple_Launch_Rocket_System.), and even a stolen Comanche gunship stealth attack helicopter (Link: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comanche_helicopter.).The boys even come across the following infantry weaponry as well: energy grenades (fictional grenades of explosive, electrical energy that have one of the largest blast radii of any grenade on the market do concussive damage to just about anything they strike), sonic grenades (fictional-but-realistically theoretical grenades that also have very large blast radii and are one of the most powerful grenades on the market), incendiary grenades (fictional grenades that are nothing more than stronger, longer-lasting, and more powerful variants of their realistic, weaker cousins, phosphorus grenades), magma grenades (fictional grenades containing live lava), liquid nitrogen grenades (fictional grenades containing liquid nitrogen), rollers (fictional, homing, rolling bombs that have nearly 3X the power of and almost 2X the blast radii of fragmentation grenades ), plasma weaponry (fictional weaponry that fire superheated plasma as ammunition), particle beam weaponry (fictional weaponry that fire intensely condensed and highly accelerated particle beams), laser weaponry (fictional-but-theoretically realistic weaponry that fires somewhat weak but nonetheless effective, rounded laser beams), sonic weaponry (fictional weaponry that fires heavily damaging blasts of supersonic, relatively slow-traveling, energy-like soundwaves), grenade and rocket launchers, and railguns (fictional-but-theoretically realistic weapons that fire sharp, metallic projectiles from utilizing a pair of internally supermagnetic, copper rails that easily exceed speeds well beyond Mach-2).
Eventually, after searching the premises and fighting off the rest of Belladonna's accomplices for nearly another hour, the imperiled canine couple discover just what they've been looking for- Belladonna's secret control center!!!!!! Sadly, though, they also discover that Belladonna, Carface, and Killer have already abandoned the place, and, as such, have also left a little, automated, holographic message for our heroes to observe: "Dear persistent little whelps, if you're hearing this message, then you're both too late- we've already set our final, diabolical plans of the night into motion. See ya' at the town square, punkies!!!!!! HA HA HA HA HA HA!!!!!!" "Yikes!!!!! We'd better get to the town square right away, lest we allow Belladonna's final act to succeed!!!!!! Come, we leave at ONCE!!!" Charlie frantically explains to Itchy, and after taking a big breath, they power up and away to go and do just that.

Chapter X: The City Mayor's Halloween Festivities Disrupted.
At the very heart of the very large city of San Francisco is a large town square, and in this town square that night, the city's many residents and tourists, as well as the big man of the city himself, Mayor Willie Lewis Brown, Jr., are thoroughly enjoying the annual Halloween party that the city accommodates its local citizens with each year. "Just looks at all these happy people!" the Mayor thinks to himself, merrily. "Yet again, every worked out JUST fine!!!" Or so he THINKS.....! Only about a block and a half away, Belladonna is making much haste to insure that her plans work out perfectly for ONCE. "Send the boy (Zach) out there now, and get the mechs up and running- I'm NOT going to fail THIS time!!!!!! she forcefully orders Carface and Killer. Then, in the midst of all of the celebrating going on at the time, Zach goes up to the Mayor, has him prepare a brief announcement towards the people of the city, and proclaims over a microphone, "Thank you ever so much for another great party once again, Mr. Mayor, and in your prestigious honor of doing so, would you please accept this free sample of Ann O. Dalleb Candy Co. candy?!?!?!" Next, as the vast bulk of the crowd watches from all around, he hands the candy off to the Mayor, who politely refuses and hands it back (he strongly dislikes chewy candy, for his teeth's sake). Zach presumably asks him again, but still to no avail. Finally, after a third refusal by the Mayor, Zach grows impatient enough to the point of unwrapping the candy piece and trying to shove it into the Mayor's mouth when security pulls him off the stands and begins to question the young lad. Suddenly, after finding out that Zach failed to have to Mayor ingest the candy, Belladonna herself grows so impatient with him that she finally screams to herself mentally, "THAT'S IT!!!!!! I'M TIRED OF HIDING ANYMORE!!!!!!" and runs right out into the crowd, past security, and onto the Mayor's speaking platform- right in front of the still-watching crowd!!!!!! "Hello there, Mr. Mayor; having a good evening???" she questions him, not expecting to get an initial answer. The now ever-gathering crowd gasps as the Mayor stands there, momentarily stunned at the sight of the talking, purple, leather and spike-clad whippet in front of him, before finally hesitating to say, "Oh my dear Lord in Heaven above, is... is this strange dog actually ARTICULATING with me?!?!?!" Belladonna then comes back with "Yes, Mayor, she is, and might I ask you, what's that on your face right there?!?!?!" before standing up on two legs and swiping the Mayor right across the left cheek with her particularly sharpened claws.
Immediately at the sight of the Mayor being struck, his nearby security guards spring into defensive action, pulling out their pistols and being ready to fire. However, they bravely order Belladonna to stand down and give it up just before they decide to fire on her. This allows her to yell back at them a resounding "NEVER!!!!!!" before vanishing into thin air, cackling maniacally as she does so and spawning several (6) new fire hounds to fight for her- right in front of the entire, exposed crowd!!!!!! Nevertheless, although they have absolutely no clue as to what they are shooting towards, the guards open fire on the hounds anyway, resulting in 3 dead fire hounds and one moderately wounded one. Next, though, they briefly pause to reload, which gives the surviving fire hounds the chance to reciprocate in kind, albeit with intense fire blasts instead of measly pistol bullets, therefore resulting in the deaths of 4 guards and the severe wounding of the other 3. The fire hounds then assault and eliminate the rest of the remaining guards, giving them free reign to attack the crowd at will. Once the crowd realizes they are virtually defenseless against such an unexpected assault, extreme panic and disarray sweeps throughout all of the surrounding bystanders, predictably filling the air with men yelling, women screaming, and children crying galore. Then, just when everyone thought that things couldn't get any worse, a plague of thousands of hellish Halloween-inspired creatures, including ACTUAL living mummies, skeletons, zombies, ghosts, goblins, vampires, witches, wizards, giant spiders, etc. to attack the already panicking crowd, as well as more fire imps (both small and large) and fire hounds. In direct response, the Mayor, now in a public telephone booth somewhere off behind his speaking podium, desperately calls for the one thing he thinks can even stand a CHANCE in stopping this monstrous abomination from continuing any further- the United States military. "Call in the Marine Corps, the Coast Guard, and the Army, and hurry," he pleads Washington [D.C.] beggingly, "for I don't think that we can beat all this without them!!!"

Chapter XI: The United States Military, the People of San Francisco, Charlie Barkin, and Itchy Dachshund Vs. Belladonna, Carface, Killer, and ALL Her Many Minions.
Just before the full force of the federal military is upon her, Belladonna "teleports" back to her original position on top of the speaker's podium, but this time carrying a large railgun classified as a "Rail CLVR" (aka "Rail Cannon"), all the ammunition she can carry for it (22.2 clips of 30, or exactly 666 shots), and 6 rollers, 6 incendiary grenades, 6 energy grenades, 6 sonic grenades, 6 liquid nitrogen grenades, and 6 magma/lava grenades. Finally, on top of all her so-called "sixcess" (six + excess, a clever Belladonna portmanteau [Link: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portmanteau.]), she is sporting a "built-in", superfast-recharging, 6X-energy shield system secretly implanted underneath the skin of her chest to "power-up" her entire body with the protective shielding. She then begins to annihilate the crowd mercilessly with her miniature weapons of mass destruction, starting with those closest to her and moving backwards through the crowd. "NOW YOU SHALL SEE MY FURYYYYYY!!!!!!" she screams at the crowd sadistically as she fires on them all relentlessly. Thankfully, just 15 seconds after that, the military in the form of the U.S. Marine Corps, the U.S. Coast Guard, and the U.S. Army finally arrives, dropping off troops every which way in order to fight off the demonically wicked threat as best they can. Then, shortly after they arrive, Carface and Killer land right on top of the center of the crowd piloting gigantic, towering still dog-shaped mechs that are nearly 6 stories (60 feet) high and have fully-authorized access to exploiting, among other things, a huge, homing missile-shooting battery mounted on each shoulder for usse against their many, ant-sized targets. "Alright now, Killer, LET 'EM HAVE IT!!!!!!" Carface orders him before doing the same himself a second later. "Uh... O.... K...., B... B... Boss!!!" Killer very nervously assures him. Finally, after nearly 6 minutes have elapsed since Zach first tryed to force the Mayor to reluctantly accept the toxic candy atop his central speaking podium, Charlie and Itchy arrive, and, still being in their mechs, are struck pale at the horrific sight before him. "It looks like someone's literally opened the gates of Hell tonight now, doesn't it???" Charlie remarks to Itchy in awe. "Yeah." a still-stunned Itchy replies. They both regain their individual composures before charging into the chaotic fray, guns a' blazin'.
It isn't long before Belladonna notices what appears to her at first to be a pair of her own, renegade troops methodically wasting away at her unbelievably limited forces. "Traitors now, eh?!? Well then, boys (Carface and Killer), DESTROY THEM BOTH, NOW, I REPEAT, NOW!!!!!!" However, before they can even begin to try to attack the two supposed "traitors", Carface discovers to his dismay that both of his giant missile batteries are permanently offline, while Killer correctly guesses that the two "traitors" are actually Charlie and Itchy. Killer, now genuinely terrified by the sight of the dead and screaming victims being massacred all around him, gets a mental flashback to the words that Charlie gave him after joining the good side that 4th of July evening so long ago: "Thanks a lot, pal; I couldn't have asked for more from a great, trustworthy dog who almost ALWAYS does the right thing in the end!!!!!!!" (For this quote, re-read the part of my 4th of July fanfic that this quote originates from [it's in the 5th chapter].) This, along with the fact that innocent people are being slaughtered just for Belladonna and Carface's vengeful enjoyment, is enough to drive Killer back over the edge and give his pristinely undamaged, giant mech over to Charlie and instead use his much-smaller mech to fight with instead. Shocked by Killer's sudden change of heart, Charlie quickly thanks him and immediately swaps mechs with him as fast as he can. Meanwhile, Itchy is slowly whittling away at Carface's mech's "health" and is just about to blow out a now-exposed, primary, internal hydraulic lift of the huge mech's left arm when he gets caught off guard for a few precious seconds and gets smacked down out of the air and down, down, down into the roof of a certain, small, family owned and operated, temporarily closed business- Sasha's cafe!!!!!! "Ha, ha, ha, eat THAT, Barkin scum!!!!!!" Carface smugly proclaims before noticing that Charlie is now residing in what was once Killer's mech only moments before and shooting at him from the relative safety that it provides for him. "WHAT THE?!?!?!? BARKIN?!?!?!? But... but HOW?!?!?!? Never mind that now, though, because you're gonna DIE!!!!!!" However, when he tries to swing a heavy blow at Charlie's mech with his mech's left arm when he realizes that there's nothing there to swing with, for sure enough, while he was recovering from the sight of seeing Charlie alive and well again, Killer has removed Carface's mech's left arm with relative ease (thanks to his own, in-depth, scientific knowledge of high-profile technology and weaponry). "Oh POO!!!!!!" he curses to himself before Charlie punches right through the newly-weakened front of the mech to Carface's central viewing and control center within the very heart of the mech itself, grabs him with it, pulls him out, looks him straight in the eye from his own mech's external, control center "window", and exclaims, "You know what, Carface??? You never learn the one, definitively important fact of this universe- that good beats evil one way or another EVERYTIME!!!!!!!" He then slams Carface into the ground has hard as he, through the mech, of course, can, leaving a large, 6-foot deep crater in the pavement below him.
Now, with virtually every hellish minion in the area defeated by the combined forces of 3 domestic U.S. military branches and even a few civilians here-and-there who had no choice but to patriotically defend themselves, their families, and their homeland from the evil invasion from below, Carface out of the way, and Killer back on the good side once again, only one antagonist remains- the demonic, egotistical, megalomaniac-of-a-villainess herself, BELLADONNA!!!!!!

Chapter XII: Belladonna's One-Way Ticket Back to Hell Again.
By now, although she's burned through roughly all of her railgun ammo, grenades, and explosives (save for a spare pair of rollers), Belladonna has one last trick up her sleeve of manifested, supernatural, SATANically-provided power- a visit from the legendary personification of Death himself, the dreaded GRIM REAPER!!!!!! As the Reaper appears, Belladonna and the last of her extraterrestrial fire hounds howl in unison in an eerily wolf-like manner. While, luckily, Charlie, Itchy, and Killer are all immune from the effects of the Reaper's power (or so they THINK.....!), the remaining U.S. infantry and civilians in the immediate vicinity are absolutely NOT, and seeing as the Reaper is invulnerable to virtually anything imaginable, he begins to slowly (he picks up the pace dramatically in time.....!) skulk through the crowd of mixed civilians and soldiers, "reaping" lives and souls as he goes, until who-knows-when. "Dear God in Heaven above help us, it's the GRIM REAPER!!!!!!" Charlie points out as the crowd below him speedily aknowledges the sheerly apparent wisdom of clearing the area ASAP. With know known thought on how to directly remove the Reaper, Charlie formulates the only idea that makes sense- eliminate Belladonna, and you will inadvertantly "eliminate" the Reaper as well (by taking him back to Hell with her). It seems like the only valid option, and as such, he reveals his pondering's rational result to Killer, who then relays it, in turn, to the humans on the ground below. While the people and soldiers immediately begin to evacuate the town square until farther notice, Charlie and Killer focus all their limited power on Belladonna, pumping round after round into her extremely resilient energy shielding, lasering/electrocuting her as often as possible, and firing entire barrages of homing missiles at her as best they can. Unfortunately, this doesn't seem to work, for after Charlie and Killer have burned up ALL of their strictly limited ammo and battery power, and also as the Reaper begins to slice with perfect ease through the incredibly and thickly alloyed armor of Charlie's mech, into the internally hydraulic system of each leg of the gargantuan mech, and consequently causing his mech to actually collapse from beneath his very feet, Charlie is caught back out onto the open square's streets with the Reaper, who's moving amazingly fast by this point (think a good 30 mph or so), breathing down his neck at virtually all times and Killer is stuck, trapped on the inside of a powerless, weaponless, and ultimately non-functioning mech upside-down (meaning he can't get out without some very strong, additional assistance!!!).
Suddenly, just when all hope seems lost for our favorite canine hero, he notices something- Zach Baxter is still around, watching the action from the safety of a nearby, closed-down dollar store undergoing structural repairs!!! Perhaps, now, Charlie could just get the boy to side with him for a moment or to, but before he can even think that, little Miss Impatient-Pants Belladonna grows exceedingly and overwhemingly impatient yet AGAIN, this time with the Reaper himself!!! "Stupid Reaper, even you're too slow to catch this pathetic, little whelp!!!!!!" she yells out in mental anguish (he [the Reaper] has been chasing Charlie around the square for quite some time now). She then takes matters into her own hands/paws by ordering the Reaper to give it up, return to her, and willingly hand her over his scythe. However, he does not initially obey until Belladonna's demonic, pure form begins to show through her voice, eyes, and overall attitude, from which he then gives her his scythe, disappears back to whence he came (Hell), and leaves her to finish the job alone. Now, armed with the Reaper's infamously symbolic, lethal tool of death and destruction, Belladonna finally corners Charlie in a back alley, when out of the blue comes Zach, and, in a completely unexpected turn of events, runs up to Belladonna from behind, jumps onto her back with his full-force, and knocks her down, giving Charlie the golden opportunity to instantly run back behind the now distracted, wicked witch and grab the supernaturally-powered scythe for himself. She then immediately gets back up on her feet, and, temporarily forgetting about both Charlie and the scythe, grabs Zach up by the [shirt] collar, and yells into his face, "YOU WORTHLESS, TREACHEROUS, VILE, SCUM-SUCKING, LITTLE HUMAN WHELP, YOU!!!!!! FOR BETRAYING ME LIKE THIS, AND AT SUCH A CRITICAL MOMENT, I'M GOING TO RIP OUT YOUR HEART AND FEED IT TO YOUR UGLY, LITTLE FACE ALIVE!!!!!! HA HA HA HA HA HA!!!!!!" She is just about to do so when Zach asks for one final request- to say just one more word. She agrees to it, seeing that he's about to gruesomely die anyway, and he, now allowed to say his supposed "final" word, shouts out to Charlie, "NOW!!!!!" He then rapidly swings the Reaper's blade into the center of Belladonna's back, searing through her entire energy shield system like it was nothing, and penetrating deep into her spinal cord. She then screams a most horrid, demonic shriek of death that echoes around the city for miles beyond as her entire evil body, spirit, and soul dissipate into the cool, autumn air of the heavily darkened alleyway. Finally, the clock on the face of the First National Bank of San Francisco's main building strikes the 12 strokes of midnight, indicating that the devilish storm had passed away from the face of the planet for good.

Chapter XIII: The Adaptation of Charlie Barkin: National Hero.
Early the next morning, at around 7:00 A.M., after Governor Pete Wilson of California gives a great deal of praise to "the greatest dog who ever lived" at an honorary speech held in Charlie's honor in downtown San Francisco on worldwide T.V., radio, and even Internet broadcasting, U.S. President Bill Clinton ends the speech with a short word of thanks to our canine friend: "I have met and heard of many dogs throughout my life, but no other [dog] resembles the true spirit of American courage, loyalty, and patriotism, than the dog right here before us now, Charlie B. Barkin!!!!! Congratulations!!!!!" The crowd then goes wild with tons of celebratory cheering, whistling, and even a group of kids near the front row chanting, "Charlie! Charlie! Charlie! Charlie! Charlie!" over and over again to their hearts' content. As a token of appreciation, Charlie proudly receives all of the following rewards for his incredibly indescribable and unforgettable duty to America: a large, name-inscripted platinum medallion of courage and honor for his country, national and international fame and prestige, over $50,000,000 in reward money and gifts, a timeless statue of him in that sam town square in San Francisco, and possibly most interesting of all, a small-but-rapidly-growing-soon-thereafter-its-naming-city officially called "Barkin City" in the county that was newly renamed as "Charlie County" in California (along the beautiful Pacific coastline). Itchy, Sasha, Killer, and Bess received smaller, individual sums of cash and golden medallions, but still nothing compared to Charlie's unbelievable gifts!!!!! Finally, at the end of the speech, Annabelle herself makes a public appearance to Charlie for all the world to see and grants him a new, permanent ability and a new, permanent promise- the ability being that he could now conjure and utilize up to 7 supernatural, God-given miracles a day (but still within certain parameters, of course...), and the promise being that he could not only now freely call on Annabelle or any other available angel whenever he wished to, provided that he actually NEEDS them for something important, but also that he was now an OFFICIAL, full-time angel of Heaven, meaning that if he died prematurely by artificial means (such as murder or sacrificial/accidental death, etc.), he would simply be "resurrected" back from the dead again to continue his vitally important "career", but if he died by natural means (such as old age [which, for his bravery, would now be extended to a full 70 years among not only him but also Itchy, Sasha, Bess, and Killer as well guaranteed!!!!!!!] or disease, etc.), then he'd not come back again until he was absolutely and/or specifically needed for something highly important, and, upon completing the task at hand, he would inevitably retun back to Heaven once again.
Finally, although, ironically as it may seem, exactly 666 human beings of all ages utterly perished to that wicked demoness Belladonna on that fateful night,even MORE ironic is the fact that absolutely nobody died from the actual toxic candy that Belladonna was producing and shipping, for as it turns out, Zachary Baxter admitted to secretly eavedropping on Belladonna, Carface, and Killer that very same night that Charlie first did (on the overlooking balcony ledge, remember???), meaning that he knew that the candy was tainted, and, as a result secretly went through and replaced each of the 100 boxes of candy later that early morning with 100 boxes of candy that his father, who was actually a candy-maker himself, freely let him borrow to stop the horrible plot that Belladonna had inadvertantly told him about. Thus, the "poisonous" candy that he helped sell to all the fellow kids and their parents at the Wal-mart were actually not even "poisonous" at all!!!!!!! While trying to leave the factory later on that morning, Belladonna discovered him trespassing on "her" property, forced him into her large band of evil rebels, and from there he simply "played along" with Belladonna's evil scheme, tricking her into thinking that her treats were actually poisonous. And as for Sasha's poisonous "test" candy??? The dog that brought the "free" candy in from the Wal-Mart store earlier that day had actually pulled the previously unknown 101st bag- the "test" bag of actual poisoned candy that Belladonna shipped earlier that day as a "test" to see whether or not the store would actually even supply her candy (they WOULD have, of course, for they accepted this one without a second thought). That dog at Sasha's party just so-happened to pull that one off of the store shelves as his "free gift" for the day and bring it to the party, that's all. Oh, and just in case you were wondering whatever happened to those mortar "cakes" that Charlie had purchased at the fireworks store, on the evening of the day of the speech (November 1st), Charlie and Itchy went back to the old, empty pretzel factory, recovered the fireworks, and blew them off that night in their own little victory celebration. The remaining, centuries-advanced technology at the factory boosted scientific weapons research like never before, and in light of the current events that had happened concerning the "demonicity" of the recent crisis, a new government program was sparked that created a brand new federal department called the "Department of Demonic Detection", with Charlie Barkin as its head and primary spokesperson, being the first (and only) government position ever to have given its leadership entirely to an animal. Eventually, after repairing the damages to their cafe, Charlie and Sasha (as well as Itchy and Bess) both settled down enough to have and begin raising a total of 12 puppies each (Charlie and Sasha had lucky 7, while Itchy and Bess had the remaining 5)!!!!!!!!!!!! And it is only proper to say that, at least for the time being, Charlie, Sasha, Itchy, Bess, and all of their new puppies (as well as Killer) live happily ever after!!!!!!!

*A Highly Satanic Epilogue to a Horrifically Hellish Halloween.*
Back in the depths of Hell, Belladonna was being totured severely for failing yet AGAIN, and with what seemed like PLENTY of extra minions and supplies, too. Meanwhile, however, a now EXTREMELY rampant SATAN was still searching for the perfect demon for the task of annihilating Charlie Barkin, or at least his family and friends, for GOOD (or, should I say, EVIL?!?!?!). "I don't understand- where must I search for the perfect demon to carry out my pre-Apocalyptic plans SUCCESSFULLY?!?!?!" "No farther then HERE, my lord!!!!!!" said a voice from the surrounding darkness. SATAN then turned to face the voice, and, upon seeing who his new accomplice was, said, "Yes, yes, of course, I'll send you, my precious, an old aquaintance of Barkin's, and MUCH more crafty than Belladonna could EVER hope to be!!!!!!" The new devilish agent then replied back to him, "Yes, master, I shall obey, for not even Charlie Barkin or, dare I say, Annabelle, can stand against I, RED, THE DEMONIC FELINE OF DOOM!!!!!! HA HA HA HA HA HA!!!!!!"
The End!!!!!

P.S. Check out this here for the absolute PERFECT song (in my opinion) to describe the relationship between Charlie and Belladonna, sepecifically when he first met her and, most of ALL, in "The Big Fetch" cartoon episode!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[wonderdog]

Another loooooooooong fanfic Charlie Wolf?! WHOA! LOOOOONG! LOL! I might make a story devoted to Hallow'een too! Its good, but it took me forever to read it!