Rock Dog: The Retold Story

Chapter 0 - Party Animal

Far from the bustling city lies a series of snow-capped mountains. One of those mountains is Snow Mountain, home of a small village. There lie two sides of the village. On one side, a small population of lambs live, taken care of by an old yak. A family of Mastiffs lived on the other end.

The lambs lived in the main village at one side with houses upon houses upon houses of sheep and their long-time resident, Fleetwood Yak. Fleetwood may be old, but he still had the energy to herd the sheep out to the fields and to herd them back to their homes for sleep.

The Mastiffs themselves lived on a small, but comfortable brick house, which connects them to the lambs by a stone path. Khampa, the village head and 4th descendant of his family of lamb protectors, lives there with Karli, his wife.

Both lived in peace and had rarely set foot for the modern Mengcheng, also known as the Dream City, just an hour away by driving. As stated, Khampa himself is a 4th generation Sheep Protector with the power to emit a blue fireball called the "Fire". According to the mastiff's ancient manuscript, they can only use it when under attack by enemies.

Then, it happened. The birth of Khampa's new successor.

Bodi arrived with a big smile and wore a soft, woolly hat most of the time. The village celebrated with loud traditional music heard from a distance. Finally, the successor to the "Fire" had arrived, and they welcomed him to the world with so much fanfare.

However, there was just one problem: he could not stop enjoying music.

During the parade on that day, baby Bodi just could not gaze his eyes off on the musical instruments played by the lambs. Naturally, Khampa and Karli were pretty concerned. Usually, when a baby Mastiff was born in the village, all they cared about is to teach their sons and daughters to use their "Fire". But this was different.

Regardless, Khampa and Karli nurtured Bodi with due care and diligence and never set their eyes away from him. Sometimes, Bodi would play to a beat of surrounding sound with his paws when they were not looking.

On his second birthday, uncle Fleetwood Yak (despite Fleetwood not biologically related) brought Bodi a makeshift guitar as a birthday. The family, Fleetwood and some lambs gathered inside the Mastiff's home to celebrate a joyous occasion of baby Bodi strumming his very first guitar.

Naturally, Khampa was furious his old friend gave Bodi something that was against the "Fire" manuscript. Still, he kept his cool as he watched his son and the lambs with a jamming session.

During the party, Khampa and Fleetwood got to a secluded spot to address an issue.

"Look, Fleetwood, this isn't right," told the elder Mastiff. "Giving my son a guitar would be a huge mistake."

Fleetwood countered: "A mistake, Khampa? Just giving him a guitar would allow him to relax. That would not hinder his progress to ignite his 'Fire' at all."

"The manuscript does not include 'they can distress from the training', remember? You should know better than me."