Story and Watchdog and Tortilla belong to me. ;P

Littil belongs to  littilwood

Littil had always been small and a bit defenceless. When he saw a girl fighting her way through the bullies, he HAD to find out who her teacher was. Does his grey mutt look familiar to anyone? x3








Littil couldn't believe that it was all happening again. After the months of discipline and training at the dojo, his sensei telling him so many times how gifted he was, and he was once again knocked to the ground with a bruised cheek. It wouldn't have been as embarrassing if the black squirrel hadn't been cocky and pushed these guys on. He barely had kicked at he big guy, Jeffery, before he was slugged, bitch-slapped, and pulled down to the ground by his large hoody, which was now almost ripped in half next to him.

"Ha! Dude, Littil's bleeding!"

"Just a bloody nose, the punk can't even take a hit. Hey Jeff, you think he's the one that narced on ya last week with the Mary-Jane in your locker?"

"Probably... he got me suspended for three days. That's what happens when poor little orphan boys don't have mommy to show them their manners, and they grow up in orphan homes and a couple of fuckin cops."

Littil hated being thought of as nothing but a squealer and a narc, and he wanted to show them he was more than a little punk would went and told authorities whenever there was trouble. He wanted to take care of it himself! He stood up, lifting his hands once more, even as his legs shook. He couldn't win, his training had been a bunch of lies, but he couldn't just lie down...

"Jeremy, looks like the brat wants another. Haha! Want me to do him in?"

"No. Punk's gotta learn."

Jeremy shadowed over Littil like a monster. It didn't help that the squirrel was already small for his age, but Jeremy was a huge fat ugly panda. The squirrel gulped and tried to get ready, but felt himself flinch as he saw the bear's arm swing back for the hit.
"Hyah!" A high pitched voice rang out of seemingly nowhere, and Jeremy fell back hard as the back of his knee was kicked hard! A girl wearing an extra large long-sleeved flannel shirt jumped over next to Littil and put HER hands up to fight. By her long bushy tail and flicking small ears, she was obviously another squirrel, but she was even shorter than Littil and was white furred. She yelled as Jeremy started to stand up, red faced. "You buncha butt faces can't even fight someone your class! WIMP!" Just as Jeremy got his balance, the girl ran at him and jumped up to land on his chest horizontally. Her leg kicked up to smash his jaw shut over his tongue, and she flipped back onto her feet and grabbed Littil's hand. "RUN!"

Littil squeaked as he was pulled hard into a run that went all over the school. He was pulled into the gym, which had no class in it, and under the bleachers. The rest of Jeremy's friends ran straight by, and the girl slipped back out to stand on her tiptoes, looking out into the halls through the door window.

Littil was out of breath, sitting in his undershirt under the bleachers. His mind raced for a while about what happed so quickly in front of him seconds ago. "Wh...Where did...hah... where did you learn to...to do that? Hah..."

The white squirrel turned to Littil and blew a raspberry with her tongue. "Wouldn't you like to know? How does it feel to be saved by a girl?" With that she opened the door and walked into the hallways of the school, aimed at leaving before lunch was over. She had intended to simply leave, but she seemed to have a shadow now as the black squirrel she saved kept right behind her, following her every step.

"Come on; just tell me where you learned that stuff..." Littil whispered as they went down halls, and sped up as the girl turned down halls and tried to leave the following boy behind. "Look, I've been taking self defense for months and I obviously haven't learned a thing. Just show me where you get taught and I'll leave you alone, honest!"

"Just go away! I wouldn't waste my teacher's time with you anyways, you're too scrawny, and a chicken. Just drop it."

"But you're even smaller than me! Besides, I'm not a chicken, it's not like I was running away."

"Maybe you should have. Now leave me alone!"

This back and forth between the two squirrels kept up for a long time. Littil kept begging, but she would just blow him off and try to make him leave. As they argued, they walked further and further from the school until they were in a large quiet neighborhood where all the houses were at least two stories tall and had healthy lawns and large trees.

As they approached one of the houses, the girl turned while rolling her eyes. "Fiiiiine! Look, I'll introduce you to my teacher. If he says no, you have to leave us alone, got it?"

"Yes! Oh thank you thank you!" Littil grinned from ear to ear and followed the girl inside the house. As the girl was taking off her shoes just inside, Littil did the same. The girl also took off her hooded sweater, but Littil's was still ripped up at school, probably thrown away by the janitor by then. The black squirrel waited for his host as he looked around the landing. Up the stairs seemed to be a kitchen area and downstairs looked like a living room, a big screen TV hanging on the wall. He looked up to see the girl stretching her arms into the air, and his eyes went wide for a moment.

Apparently the girl wore very little under her sweater. In fact, she didn't have an undershirt on at all, her breasts only covered by her thick coat of fur. It seemed reasonable since as she stretched she was showing off large webbing over her arms pulling down to her legs. Littil hadn't noticed she was a FLYING squirrel, and he guessed that why she wore such a big hoody.

The girl went down stairs and Littil followed. A small fridge held glass bottled sodas, but as the girl took one out, she glared at Littil as if to dare him to try and take one. He held his hands in his pockets until she closed the fridge and went to sit on the couch. Silence hung in the air as Littil began rocking back and forth on his feet. He had been standing for quite a while as the girl silently drank her soda before he opened his mouth to ask what they were waiting for, but the answer came quickly.
The roar of an engine shook the front door as someone parked just outside and only moments later the door opened. A large grey k9 who looked old enough to maybe just have graduated college stepped inside and kicked off a pair of large brown boots, his jeans and dark green undershirt dusty and torn around the edges. The dog came downstairs and looked at the boy for a moment before shaking his head in confusion and peeking further in to see the girl.

When the mutt spoke, his voice was loud but friendly. "Hey, Tilla, where's your sister?"

"Your room, probably."

"Who's this?"

"This is a guy who got beat up; he wants you to teach him to fight."

"Ah... I'll talk to him. You go get your sister and look at the car. The engine is too loud, I'd rather loose some power for something quieter, and I asked her to take the airbag out, it still needs to be done. It's already deployed, and my nose hurts because of it." Before the girl could answer, the mutt cleared his throat loudly and pointed. She rolled her eyes and got up off of the couch to run upstairs.

The dog came further into the living room and grinned as he sat in a small recliner. "Hey, sorry about that. My name's Eddy. Have a seat, what's your name?"

Eddy interviewed Littil for what seemed like hours. Besides the occasional engine roar from outside, it was a constant question and answer between the two, the dog asking almost everything there was to know about the squirrel and the squirrel answering everything as best as he could. He told the man that he was an orphan and that he lived with a cop couple until he could get a job and afford his own place. He explained that he tried to learn to defend himself on his own, why he felt he shouldn't run from fights, everything. Eddy listened intently nodding from time to time until he thought he had heard everything he needed.

"Let me get it all straight... You're picked on because you're small and live with police officers, you've tried avoiding confrontation but don't feel you should run from danger because the violence would only spread to others, you tried to learn self defense at a dojo but learned very little, then after you saw Tortilla in action you decided you wanted to be able to fight like her?"

Littil tilted his head. "Tortilla?"
"That's the girl. My little cousin."

"You're related!?" Littil looked behind him toward the stairs, imagining the girl just outside, as small as she was, related to this 6 foot muscled mutt.

"Yeah, she and her sister are runts, but we're related. But am I right?"

"Yes sir."

Eddy nodded and leaned back in the recliner closing his eyes. He thought for a moment while Littil waited, his feet dangling under him as he wrung his hands, nervously waiting for the dog's answer. Finally, Eddy opened his eyes and grinned. "Okay, normally I wouldn't take on a student to teach them just to fight or anything. I only taught Tortilla anything because she's family, but that's why I've decided to help you."

Littil grinned wide, his large tail twitching behind him. "You have? Thank you! I won't let you down!"

"Well, that's not up to you. See, I want you to help Tortilla." Eddy reached for the half full soda bottle the girl had left and took a drink. "See, my little cousin is a hard headed knucklehead with a chip on each shoulder. She's talented, but stubborn as a bull and doesn't work with others. Period. But that's going to change. You're going to be her partner."

Littil lost a little bit of his grin, his tail slowly lowering as he began thinking what this meant. "You mean... Well, sir, I don't know. I mean, she really doesn't like me, and I don't think she'll like me any more if you make her work with someone like me... I don't know anything except what that one dojo taught me."

"Don't worry; this isn't supposed to be comfortable for her anyways. If I’m not pushing each of your comfortable limits, you'll never get stronger. Come on; let's go see how they're doing with the car. You can stay for dinner as long as you call your guardians, and I'll talk to Tortilla while we eat." Eddy didn’t even give Littil a chance to argue, gripping the kid by the shoulder and almost dragging him up the stairs and out of the house.

Outside, Littil got to meet Kayla, Eddy's other cousin. Apparently she hardly ever left Eddy's room or the garage, either reading, texting, gaming, or fixing cars. Everyone had started calling her Greasemonkey, and the name stuck to the point that it was stitched onto her work jumpsuit. She was working under Eddy's car, and decided she wanted to work on it a while more and skip dinner, so the rest of them all went inside.

Dinner was short, mostly because Tortilla was yelling through most of it. By then end, she decided training Littil would be worth it since it was that or no more training and no more free rent. Littil was allowed to stay with them as well, but he was told that he'd need to get a part time job to help pay for the rent, which he eagerly agreed to. He was sure he could find some kind of job in the next few days if he really put his mind to it, and he would be able to get permission from his guardians no problem, since he'd officially be affording his own living arrangements.


~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The training didn't start until the boy had a job, but he was able to get a weekend thing at a gas station. Not glamorous, but it was the fastest thing he could get so he took it. The training was going to be hard, especially since his teacher's helper hated his guts and wanted him to quit. The squirrels were matched up and Eddy had tortilla start with the training for the first week, getting the new guy up to speed with what they did. In the morning he was woken by being tossed out of bed, given only seconds to dress, and then dragged out into the street to run for miles. When they got back, which Tortilla claimed took twice as long as normal, they got down to their morning workouts of sit-ups and pushups and all the other ups you could do, and that was all before breakfast.

After breakfast was school, where Tortilla was told to follow Littil around and make sure that neither got into any fights. They ran when they saw punks like Jeremy, though Tortilla ignored the boy she was following around as much as she could. School was a lonely time for both of them, since neither had anyone to hang out with except each other, and they weren't yet on talking terms apparently.

After school Eddy had them do strange exercises. They both got into the gi Eddy had bought them and began punching soft piles of sand, climbing large trees and rock walls, going through home made obstacle courses, and finally fighting each other. Tortilla obviously defeated Littil easily, but she kept attacking until Eddy told her she was overdoing it. She finally turned her attack to her teacher and jumped on Eddy's back, who looked more annoyed than threatened. The white squirrel jumped onto his back and bit his head, growling as the mutt sighed.

Tortilla finally jumped off of him and crossed her arms. "I don't see why I have to fight him; he's got nothing on me. Why should I have to practice with someone who can't even stand a few taps to the chest?"

"Your 'taps' could bring most guys down to their knees in pain."

"STILL! Why can't I just fight you like I usually do?"

"I think you can learn a lot fighting someone weaker than you and watching them grown. Heck, I fought YOU for a long time, you should fight him."

The girl looked angered by the comment, turning a bit red under her white furred cheeks. "Are you suggesting I’m weak or something!?"

Eddy cracked his neck to the side as Littil scooted back still on his backside, his eyes darting from Tortilla to his teacher even as his whole body throbbed in pain. "Compared to me? Yeah, you were just nothing... you've got some bite now, but I don't think you stand as much a chance now as Littil does to you. How does that make you feel?"

Tortilla ran and jumped at Eddy again, and Littil closed his eyes s he imagined her teeth sinking in much further that they had the first time, her eyes really full of fury now! He heard a slam and slowly opened his eyes, gulping as he saw the other squirrel squirming under her cousin. The mutt had her arm twisted back and sat with one knee on the back of her neck. He held her a few moments, and then let her up. She backed away and held up her hands again, but Eddy just turned to walk away.

"You want to beat me someday, Tilla? Train him up, learn with him, and let him become your equal. Only then will I teach you how you can become even stronger than me." With that, Eddy closed the back door behind him, leaving the squirrels to themselves, Tilla filled with anger, and Littil with fear.

Both would push their fear and anger away as they trained for days, weeks, months together. Every day Littil got stronger, able to keep up with everything Tilla did, trying his best to reach her and be her equal, and every day Tilla pushed herself harder trying her best to keep one step ahead. Eddy watched and let his students motivate each other as they both became stronger and stronger for it.

Finally the day came when Littil found himself kneeling by Tilla, his hand gripping her gi, fist raised to strike as she lay on her back. He panted and quickly stood and backed away. He had won, finally beaten his sparing partner. Eddy applauded and laughed as his little cousin got up and demanded a rematch. It was to her surprise when the little black squirrel who was nothing but a scrawny little no one before grinned and took off his shirt, tossing it aside as he readied for another bout. His arms and chest were larger and defined, and he looked determined and proud, not like the puny quite thing he was only months ago. Eddy allowed them to fight on, and for days they went on, each taking their victories when they could get them. They were finally equals, both striving to be the better.

One late night, Littil and Tilla were both upstairs in the girl's room laughing at videos online as the black squirrel lay with his arm in a sling. They had become closer, rivals as much as they were now friends, but this had been as close as they came so far, and both were enjoying the other's company.

Tortilla made a glance at the boy's slinged arm as a video loaded. "Hey, you feel better? I didn't mean to throw you that hard."

"Nah nah, I’m fine. I should have rolled better anyways. You got me good, though; I won't fall for it again." Littil stuck his tongue out, the other squirrel mirroring him before turning to see the video. A large roar outside made Littil turn to the window, the black squirrel crawling to the window.

"Hey, you're missing the vid!"

"I'll be right there. Is Eddy out this late? It’s like, 5am!? Man, we're up late..."

"Shhh, this is cool. This guy says he got footage of a guy in a mask beating up a gang all by himself!"

"Hey, it is Eddy. Looks like the garage door isn't opening, hehe. Maybe I should go help... "

"Littil, get you ass over here!" Littil sighed and crawled back over to look over Tortilla's shoulder and looked, his jaw dropping a bit as what he was watching as it finally sunk in. The masked guy in the video wasn't just some masked guy. It looked just like...

Both the squirrels rushed to the window, Tortilla peeking through the bottom while Littil crawled almost on top of her to see from above. Eddy had gotten out of his car and was using the button on the door to open the garage up before getting back inside. He was wearing a large black coat and a mask. The two looked at each other dumbstruck for a moment. Then they both squealed in delight and gossiped through the morning about this "hero" and what needed to do about it.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

When Eddy came outside for his morning exercises, he was surprised to find Littil and Tilla waiting for him, wearing their full Gi. They grinned wide as Eddy tilted his head in confusion, and whispered to each other when he slipped into his own sparring Gi.

“Okay, guys, what’s up? You’re way too chipper this morning…”

Littil and Tilla looked over at each other and then both charged at their teacher, ready for the spar to begin. Eddy was quick to ready himself and defend, but wasn’t ready for their seamless team-work. All that night they had been waiting for this and have decided that more than rivals, they should be partners. They knew each other’s fighting in and out, and it took them no time to weave together a battle plan to take down their teacher and show how awesome they were. By the time Tilla had jumped at Eddy’s chest, forcing him to block and loose track of Littil, the Black squirrel slipped around and threw his body into the back of the mutt’s knees and tripping him onto his back! Tilla’s weigh slammed the dog down, and Littil soon joined her on his chest, their fists raised to strike.

Tilla grinned at her downed cousin. “We win!”

Littil didn’t get up either, excitedly adding, “You should let us be your sidekicks!”

Eddy took a moment to process everything. He was taken down by these couple of kids and… sidekicks!? “Um, what do you mean?”

“We saw you on YouTube yesterday.” Tilla stuck her tongue out. “Didn’t think you could just sneak in and out of the garage every night without being seen eventually, did you?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about…”

Littil shook his head, not buying it for a second. “Hey hey, we SAW you last night. You had your car, you were in a mask, and you had just taken out some gang on the east side of town. It was you! You’re a superhero! We wanna be your sidekicks! And we beat you, so we’re obviously good enough, so let us help you!”

Eddy chuckled and laid his head down on the ground. “Heh, well my secret is out. But I can’t believe you call this beating me.” Without warning, Eddy’s arms flew up, rolling the squirrels off of his chest. Before they were able to glace back to him, the mutt was already standing and had dashed a good few yards away. “I’m going to give you this warning and only once.” He waited until the two squirrels stood up and raised their arms in a show of ready. “I am the Watchdog. This is secret and a burden that I carry. My duty is not one of fun and frolic; it’s a pain and a responsibility. Once the mask is drawn over my eyes, I am not Eddy, I am a hero of the night, destined to ward off evil, putting myself in dangers path to save those weaker than myself. If you want to join me, you have to be able to defeat me as an enemy first. I will NOT hold back, and you WILL be hurt. If you can’t strike me until I cannot fight back, then you will not be ready for the field.” Eddy cracked his neck to one side, his arms lowering. “If you still want to join me on the cold streets to fight… then come at me now.”

The squirrels didn’t hesitate, their minds already set since before they fell asleep the night before. They began their second assault, Tilla in front and Littil in back, charging at their teacher. This time, they both wordlessly decided together, they would attack for real, and they would hit for real. They weren’t afraid of Eddy, who was always the gentle giant anyways, since they knew they could just dodge and roll away with anything he could possibly dish out. The moment before the contacted with Eddy’s defense, Tilla jumped high while Littil ducked low to attack Eddy’s middle.

Tilla didn’t see Eddy’s arms rise, but felt his fingers grip hard into her sides. She swore she could feel her ribs creaking under the strength of his fingers and squeaked in pain just before she was tossed aside, Eddy’s full weight crashing her into the wall of the house! As he turned into the throw, Eddy’s foot rose, catching Littil just under his arm and sending him crashing into the dirt, rolling until he hit a tree.

Eddy stood and looked at his students, both groaning, tears streaking their cheeks as they held their sides, shivering in pain. He sighed and walked back to the house. He didn’t say a word, though inside he was sorry for having to teach them that hard lesson. He didn’t expect to see them the next day.

Indeed, Eddy was surprised to see his cousin and her friend running like they did every morning from outside his window. They had odd limps from their injuries, no doubt heavily bruised, but both ran hard like they had before if not harder. This made the mutt grin and rub the back of his neck. He needed to get ready, since after their morning exercises, it would be time to spar.

The squirrels ate, they worked out, and they put on their Gi. They covered the large bruises on their sides and nodded at each other before going outside. Even when they fought each other, they would not care for the injuries, and attack like they have always done. This weakness wouldn’t slow them down, and they wouldn’t go easy on each other. As they went out into the sun, Eddy was waiting for them.

“I see you’re back. Have you given up your immature ignorant wanting to join me on the streets? Or have you come to fight me again?”

Littil and Tilla both clenched their teeth, walking to their corners of the yards designated sparing area, the black squirrel speaking for both of them. “We’re going to keep training, and keep getting better until we’re better than you. Then, whether you let us join you or not, we’ll be our own heroes.”

Eddy nodded and watched as the two prepared to fight each other. Before they began, however, he tossed a small paper bag in-between them. “You both have talent and skill. You’re becoming more humble, and you’ve learned to work as a team. You work hard, and I’m sure you’ll grow stronger and stronger, even someday surpassing me. What you lack is experience.” He walked between them, looking over to each of them in turn with a small grin. “Be ready for a long night.”

As Eddy went into the house, Tilla and Littil walked to the bag and opened it, looking inside. They looked at each other wide-eyed and grinned, reaching inside to pull out two fitted masks, one white and one black. A note was written and left with the masks that read, “Welcome to the League of the Watchdog.”