Spike trotted a good distance away where he walked off the somewhat busy sidewalk and onto some grass nearby where he finished up the last bit of his prize. The dog licked his snout once he finished and looked around the area a bit.

Lost… Great.

Spike huffed and laid down in the grass tiredly. Closing his eyes for a bit, Spike's thoughts drifted into a food-filled wonderland. Oblivious to the two figures that exited a vehicle nearby.

The two dog catchers carefully approached the resting dog, trying not to wake him.

“Hehehe. Got you now you little thief,” the lead dog catcher said in a hushed tone. He took one more step closer as he readied his Ketch-All pole.

Snap.

The lead dog catcher and his partner froze at the sound. They both slowly looked down to see that a branch had been the source of the sound.

They then both slowly drifted their eyes back to Spike who was alerted by the sound and had woken up. He was now eyeing the two men warily.

“Dang it, Tony,” Jim said in an exasperated tone.

“Would you shut up Jim,” the man's superior and partner, now identified as Tony, bit back.

Spike let out a low warning growl as the two men had a stand-off with the dog.

“H-hey their pal,” Tony spoke in a friendly voice. “We’re just going to need you to come with us.”

Spike let out a loud bark as he got closer before taking.

“He's going rabid. Get him boss,” Jim exclaimed as they both flinched back slightly and sweatdropped.

Tony “tsked,” as he gave the dog a defiant look. “Alright, you! Hold still,” the dog catcher exclaimed as he lept towards Spike, narrowly missing him as the dog leaped onto the man's back before pouncing off and making a run for it. 

“Oh no you don’t,” Jim shouted warningly as he stepped in front of Spike with his Ketch-All pole in hand. SPike growled before lunging forward and biting the man on his right ankle. Not enough to cause any real damage, but it still hurt like no tomorrow.

“YEEEHOWWW,” Jim howled in pain as he dropped the pole and hopped around on his left foot while holding his right.

Some of the pedestrians passing by would occasionally stop and snicker at the scene while taking photos.

Spike immediately took off full speed while the two dog catchers were getting their baring leaving a dust cloud in his wake.

“H-hey! Get back here you little animal,” Tony shouted after the dog as he and Jim stood up and proceeded to give chase on foot.

Max and Anna arrived at the scene shortly after panting for breath. “H-hey… wait,” Max weekly called as the dog catchers disappeared down the sidewalk.

Max turned her head behind her at the sound of a form hitting the grind to see Anna lying down back first while breathing heavily. 

“MaxMax. Anna can't run anymore,” the girl huffed out between breaths.

Max silently agreed with her. It was moments like these were she wished she had brought her car instead. 

‘Please, whatever deities lie above. Give us something to help us get that dog so I can strangle the life out of him before the dog catchers get to him,’ Max thought with exasperation. As if answering her silent prayer, a delivery driver pulled up on an electric in front of some apartment buildings across the street. 

Max watched the driver get off and remove some items from the back of the scooter, which she could only assume to be food, and hit a ringer before being let into the building two-minutes later. It looked like he left the scooter running.

Max formed a contemplative look on her face as she thought something over before letting out a long shaky breath. “Iiiii’ve… got an idea.”

The way in which she said this caused Anna to glance up at her with a questioning look.

“Thank you for the delivery. I shall notify the customers that it has arrived,” a female Auto Droid who acted as the apartment complexes front desk clerk said to the delivery driver, a young man with side-swept dark brown hair and light freckles. 

“No problem,” the man replied as he headed back out while picking up his next delivery off of his phone.

“Alright, day is going smooth so far…” His voice trailed off as he walked outside and saw his scooter gone. He stared at the empty space where it was with his jaw slacked, completely perplexed as he let the hand that held his phone go limp at his side.

‘Not again,’ he thought glumly to himself.

Max sped down the street trying to get a bead on where Spike and the catchers went as Anna held onto her tightly.

“Uh, MaxMax, are you sure it was ok for us to take this thing,” Anna questioned wearily.

“Oh, of course. It belongs to an old friend of mine so he’ll be fine with us borrowing it,” Max lied as naturally as she breathed. “Now to find that damn dog before those two do.”

The chase lead Spike and the two dog catchers through the streets of the city with Max and Anna closing in behind them on the “accommodated” scooter. Spike cut right, charging into a street market. The dog catchers nearrowly missed the dog's sudden change in direction as they skidded into one of the stalls.

“Hey boss,” Jim wheezed from under Tony’s posterior. “You’re crushing me.”

Tony hoped up and hoisted his partner up off of the ground. “Get a grip man! The dog is getting away,” Tony shouted as he brushed the man off then gave him a little shove as the two continued their chase.

Max and Anna drifted to a halt in front of the street market entrance as they saw the two dog catchers get up from a collapsed stand and continue their chase. Some of the bystanders watched the scene with a mix of amusement, confusion, and annoyance at all the ruckus they were causing. 

“Hang on,” Max shouted to Anna as she revved the scooter's engine.

“Ok.. wait WHAT,” Anna exclaimed as Max hit the gas and sped into the street market, narrowly missing pedestrians and stalls alike.

“Sorry, sorry, excuse me! Coming through here!”

Two officers who had been buying ramen at a nearby stall heard all the commission and turned their heads to see the pair speed right past, nearly hitting a bunch of stuff on their way.

“What the hell,” the youngest of the two muttered in surprise. “This city just keeps getting weirder and weirder the longer I’m here, Gar.”

The young officer, Andrew Baughn, looked over to his superior and partner he seemed to ignore the spectacle as he continued ordering his ramen. 

“Uh, Gar?”

“Hm, what is it boy,” Officer Garfield responded cooley.

“Shouldn’t we do something about that,” Baughn asked as he gestured towards the direction Max and Anna sped towards with a point of his right thumb. Garfield sighed and scratched at the slight stubble on his face.

“Fine,” he muttered with a hint of annoyance before looking back at the ramen stall owners. “Can you hold those orders for us,” he said with a soft smile towards an elderly woman and her son.

“Oh of course we can my dear boy,” she responded sweetly. 

“Maaaaax, I think this is a bad ideeeeaa,” Anna shouted fearfully towards the woman as the sped through the street market.

“We’ll be fine, trust me,” Max shouted back. She jerked the scooter off to the side suddenly causing it to wobble unsteadily a bit before she straightened it out. 

“Phew,” she huffed. “I got this perfectly under control see.”

Tony and Tim had Spike in their sights. “Come on,” Tony huffed breathlessly to Jim. “Get the lead out, Jimbo. He’s… right… there.” Tony sarted to slow down a bit till he came to a complete stop and began taking deep breathes as he hunched over and placed his hands on his knees.

“Phew, this little devil's making me work up a sweat,” he said whipping away some of the perspiration on his forehead. “This Californian heat ant helpin either.”

“You ok boss,” Jim asked as he backtracked towards the man. Jim himself still seemed full of energy despite the sweat forming on his body. 

“Yeah, yeah. Just….” 

Tony trailed off as both he and Jim were called by a voice. 

“HEY, MOVE IT!”

The two looked back to see a young woman with a raven black bob and a gingered-haired girl on a scooter rapidly approaching them. The two went wide-eyed.

“GET OUT THE WAY,” Max exclaimed once more.

The two dog catchers screamed in unison before dodging in opposite directions last minute as Max and Anna sped through.

“SORRY,” Anna shouted back.

The pair saw Spike running in the middle of the market. Upon seeing him Max formed a furious look and leaned fpward is if it would make the vehicle go faster.

“SpiiiiiIIIIIIIIIIIIIIKKKKEE!” The aforementioned dog slowed and looked back upon hearing the familiar voice. Once he saw who it was he turned around fully and pounced upwards happily as Max leaned down while still controlling the scooter and swiped him up. 

Once she had him she immediately started laying into the dog. She removed her hands completely from the stirring mechanism and started shaking him viciously in the air. “YOU LITTLE FURRY BASTARD! WHY I OUTTA!”

“MAAAAAX,” Anna shouted deterring the woman's attention from Spike.

“WHAT,” she shouted back before seeing Annas outstretched hand pointed towards an incoming flower stand. The pair shouted in unison, holding each other with Spike smushed in between them.

The stand's owner, an elderly oriental man with a long, graying, mustache was just finishing up a sale when he noticed the scooter hurtling right towards him.

He squinted his eyes a bit and rubbed them to make sure he wasn’t seeing anything in his old age before realizing that it was no illusion. The man he just made his recent sell to running away was all the confirmation he needed. 

“No, no, no, NO!” The man ran in front of his stall as if hoping to shield it with his body and began waving his hands frantically. “STOOOOOOOP!”

When the scooter showed no sign of slowing he willed himself to jump out of the way as it and its passengers smashed into his stall sending flowers of various colors sorting to the wind along with broken wood.

The man sat up from his tucked position and looked back at his stall as a few tears began to form in the corners of his eyes.

“MY FLOWERS! Oh ho ho noooooo.” He had spent a lot of time and effort growing and caring for those flowers. Gardening had always been a passion of his ever since his mother introduced him to it when he was a little boy. Being able to grow and sell his own flowers and flower seeds to others was like a dream come true.

A dream that now lay scattered and crushed under a battery-operated scooter and the three trouble makers who slowly picked themselves up out of it.

Max and Anna picked themselves up from the rubble rubbing their aching bodies. Max felt a bit of wait on her stomach and looked down to see Spike staring at her, perfectly unharmed from the crash and his tongue hanging from his mouth. He tilted his head.

“Youuuuuu,” Max growled. Spike, oblivious to her anger and the fact that he was the cause of it, trotted up to her body and began placing kisses on her face. Max sighed, too mentally done to remain angry, and laied back down. 

Spike looked over to the ground next to Max's head and spotted a blue flower that caught his attention. He hope off of Max and stared down at it, giving the flower a sniff before picking it up.

After a moment of lying there, Max got up and checked on Anna to see if she was ok. The girl gave her a wry smile and a thumbs up to which Max let out a sigh of relief.

Anna looked over to Spike as the dog approached her and held the flower out as if to show her it. She stared wide-eyed at the flower for a moment, eyeing its familiar shape and color. 

“A blue pansy,” Anna said softly as she took the flower from Spike's mouth.

“A what,” Max asked in confusion.

“They're the one's officers,” they heard a man exclaim. The trio looked over towards the direction of the voice to see an elderly man with tears streaming down his face and a furious look accompanied by to SCPD officers.

‘Oh no,’ Max thought in a panic.

“Alright, you… Maxine?” Max looked at the source of the voice and widened her eyes in surprise before sending nervous and embraced smile the officer's way.

“H-hey. Gar. What's up, old buddy.”

Garfield stared at the woman for a bit before shifting his eyes towards Anna who averted her eyes and scratched her head feeling uncomfortable under his gaze, then to Spike who sat next to Anna. Finally, he observed the destruction they caused before sighing. 

“Let’s go you three,” he finally said as he rubbed his lids.

“GIVE THEM LIFE BEHIND BARS OFFICER,” the elderly man shouted out suddenly. Garfield ignored him as he move forward and cuffed Max.

“Awe, common Jason,” Max whined.

“That’s Officer Garfield, to you.”

Baughn moved to cuff Anna. “Sorry about this kid.” Anna didn’t respond, feeling ashamed, embarrassed, and uncomfortable with having this unfamiliar man near her like this. The officers had the two stand up once they were cuffed.

“I’ll take these two to the car. Get the dog,” Garfield ordered. 

Baughn nodded and carefully approached Spike. The dog growled and backed away wearily. That is until Baughn pulled out a small bag of beef jerky he was saving as a snack from his back pocket. 

“You want some,” he asked with a smirk as he waved around the dog's face, becoming amused by the way Spike tracked the pouched meat snack. Baughn opened the back and took one out. 

He looked at Spike, then to the food item, then back to the dog as he flicked it. Spike pounced up slightly catching it effortlessly in his mount and immediately downing it. Baughn shook the bag provocatively as he began moving back towards the direction of their patrol car with Spike following him. Not once did he take his eyes off of the snack.