Chapter 3: Come Back

Tommy sat by the clock happily. He was waiting for Spike to come back so he could hear how Spike's adventures in the wild were. After all, Tommy knew that Spike wouldn't want him to miss out on anything. It was four o' clock in the afternoon now. Tommy had been sitting in the same spot for an hour.

Meanwhile, Chuckie, Danny, and Tucker were glancing at each other nervously. They all knew Spike couldn't find his way back home by himself. They just were wondering which one of them was going to break the bad news to their friend.

Danny and Tucker jumped out of their seats as Stu walked in. He sighed as he plopped down on the living room couch. "Any luck, Mr. Pickles?" Tucker asked hopefully.

Stu shook his head. "I looked everywhere, but I just couldn't find him."

Danny sighed, and sat down next to him. "Poor Tommy. He doesn't have a clue."

Stu sadly nodded. "If we can't find him tonight, he'll probably be upset. He's always playing with Spike."

Danny nodded as well. "I know."

As the day went on, the search for Spike continued. Danny took Roy and Woody on a walk, seeing if they could try and sniff him out. The robins flew above the skies seeing if they could find him from a distance. Stu and Tucker even thought to search the park where the Pickles family always took Spike to play Frisbee. But, no matter how hard they searched, they couldn't find Spike anywhere.

It was nine o' clock in the evening by the time they all got home. Didi had returned from the hospital to find a note saying that Tommy and Chuckie were taking a nap while the rest of the boys went to search for Spike.

"Did you find him?" Didi asked eagerly, as she stepped aside to let them in.

Stu shook his head sadly.

Didi frowned as well.

"We tried everything." Tucker explained.

"Nobody's seen him around." Stu added.

"Well," Didi sighed, "Danny and Tucker's parent's are here to pick them up. And Chas came to pick up Chuckie awhile ago. Tommy fell asleep next to the coffee table. He must've been looking for Spike. He's never been so still before."

Danny immediately walked into the living room after Didi had said that. And sure enough, Tommy was lying on his side against the floor. He silently sat beside his playmate. Tommy always looked so peaceful when he was sleeping. It was too bad he was going to wake up from a pleasant dream to find out that his dog still wasn't there. Danny slowly rubbed his hand against Tommy's nearly bald head. Tommy chuckled in his sleep.

Danny carefully picked up his playmate, and walked him upstairs to his room. As he set Tommy under the covers of his bed, Tommy chuckled once more and mumbled, "Good boy, Spike."

Danny stroked his playmate's head once more and whispered, "Sweet dreams, Tommy. I'll be here tomorrow when you wake up." And with that, he left the room.

Tommy was running through the woods happily with Spike at his side. He didn't know where he was going, and he didn't care. All he knew was that he had a dog treat and a ball and that he and his best doggy friend were having a blast. Tommy squeaked the red ball and tossed it into the woods. "Go get it, Spike!" he shouted with excitement.

With that, Spike raced after the ball.

Suddenly, dark, gray clouds loomed across the sky toward Tommy. The woods turned dark and eerie. Tommy waited for a few minutes for Spike to return to him with the ball so he could reward his pet with a treat, but nothing happened. He then decided to go and search for his dog. He toddled into the woods.

"Spike!" he called.

Nothing but a slight breeze answered him.

He walked a few more steps. "Spike!"

Nothing but a little more wind blowing through his few hairs.

Tommy decided now to call a bit louder this time. "SPIKE!"

The birds in the trees flew away, startled by Tommy's voice. The wind grew more intense, and pretty soon thunder began to crack. Tommy ran deeper into the woods calling Spike's name along the way. But, no matter how far he ran, the woods never seemed to end. And Spike wouldn't respond to his calls.

As Tommy ran even deeper into the woods, he tripped over one of the huge tree roots. He stumbled and fell on his stomach. He turned around and was about to stand up when he saw a huge shadow. He didn't know what it was, but it was very creepy looking. "SPIKE!" he yelled once more.

Suddenly, the shadow started talking to him. "Tommy…Tommy…"

It was really interesting because Tommy thought the shadow sounded a lot like Danny. But wait a minute…

"Tommy…"

Tommy opened his eyes to see Danny sitting up in front of him in his pajamas. "Are you alright?" he asked. "You were squirming in your sleep."

Tommy nodded, relieved that that terrible nightmare was over. His eyes widened. "Spike!" he exclaimed. "Is he back yet?"

Danny shook his head sadly. "Sorry, Tommy." Seeing the disappointed look on Tommy's face, he quickly added, "But we're gonna keep searching. I'm pretty sure your dad said that he's going to the pound to see if he could find him there."

Tommy nodded.

Danny quickly hugged his playmate. "Don't worry, Tommy. We'll find him."

Tommy smiled up at him. "You really think so?"

"I know so."

Tommy grinned, jumped out of his bed, and ran out of his room.

Danny frowned as he watched Tommy leave. 'Sure I'm sure we're probably going to find Spike eventually,' he thought, 'but I don't want to give his hopes up.'

Roy and Woody who had to head back home before their owners got worried, were sitting back in their Super Pups headquarters. But, unfortunately, it wasn't a very pleasant meeting.

Buddy was staring at the two Labradors, anger in his eyes. He didn't know that two of the best dogs in the Super Pups Corporation were going to disobey him. He could hardly believe his ears when he heard the news. And he was now teaching them a lesson.

"First you guys talk to a human," Buddy was saying, "then, you get strict orders to abort the mission which you don't follow, and then Spike runs off without a trace!" He sighed, then glared at the dogs once more. "Do you two have any idea of how disastrous this is going to be? We're going to have to be more careful of where we go now, without the humans worrying about us!"

"Yes." Woody replied. "And we're sorry."

"Sorry?" Buddy asked. "Sorry! You guys nearly blow our cover to everyone on the planet, and you tell me you're sorry?"

"Sure!" Roy rolled his eyes. "We talked to one five-year-old boy! He's sure going to blow our cover!"

"He almost did when he tried telling his friend."

"Yeah, well it didn't work out very well, now did it?"

Buddy growled.

"Look," Woody interrupted his brother before he and Buddy started a riot, "you don't know how helpful Danny has been to us. He's kept our cover a secret other than when he tried to tell his friend Tucker about it earlier. He thinks well, he's smart, and he is always caring about others. We think he'll do great things someday."

Buddy smirked. "That's just great, Woody!" he exclaimed. "Just great! What is a small, little human going to do to change the world?"

It was Roy's turn to get mad at Buddy now. Nobody picked on his older brother like that! "Without Danny's help, we never would've been able to learn about Tommy and why he was going to release Spike into the wild!"

"But Spike ran off, now didn't he? That little baby boy doesn't care enough about his own pet to throw him out there into the unknown!"

Woody was starting to get angry now. "Tommy doesn't know any better! He doesn't know what's out there! He's only a year old!"

"And it isn't Danny's fault either!" Roy added. "He's still learning about boosting his confidence!"

"And you think I don't know that?" Buddy demanded. "Huh? THIS ISN'T ABOUT THE HUMANS HERE!"

Woody was now glaring at the dashboard angrily. "I think it is." he murmured.

"What was that, Woody?"

"I said, I think it is!" He slid off the chair he was sitting in, and glared up at Buddy. "Let me tell you something. There is a little boy out there who's starting to miss his dog. I saw him yesterday sitting by the clock staring at it for hours on end, waiting for Spike to come back and tell him about his adventures!"

"And another thing," Roy added, "no matter what Tommy did, Danny was always by his side. That also includes Chuckie and Tucker. So, don't even think about telling us that this was the kids' faults!"

Roy and Woody turned around and headed toward the exit.

"If you even think about walking away from me Roy and Woody, you'll be kicked out of the Department Agency of Super Pups!" Buddy smirked in his triumph.

Woody glared back at him once more. "You don't have to." he said, pulling the alert system from his collar, and slamming it to the ground. "I quit!"

"Me too!" Roy exclaimed, doing the same thing to his alert system.

Buddy stared at the Labradors wide eyed. After all, that was unexpected. "Fine!" he yelled. "Go ahead! See if I care!"

"Bye, Buddy!" Roy said angrily as he and his brother zoomed up the exit.

"Now, come on!" Woody said to his brother determinedly. "We have some unfinished business to take care of!"

After Danny was all dressed and ready, he walked downstairs to find Tommy sitting by clock once again. Danny shook his head and chuckled for the first time since yesterday afternoon. "Sitting there watching the clock all day isn't going to make Spike come home any faster you know."

Tommy grinned, not taking his eyes off of the clock. "How do you knows it won't?"

Danny was about to answer Tommy's question when he heard two familiar wining sounds at the front door. He quickly dashed over to the door to open it. Sure enough, Roy and Woody were smiling up at him.

"What's happening, Danny?" Woody asked, cheerfully.

"Did you miss us?" Roy asked, eagerly.

Danny grinned at the two Labradors. "I thought you guys went home to comfort your owners and because you had to abort the mission!"

Woody nodded. "And you're right. Our owners were just about to feed us dinner just as we got back. They thought we were playing up in the woods all day."

"Well, at least you didn't worry them."

Roy smiled. "Yeah." And then out of the blue, "Oh, and the visit with Buddy didn't go so well."

Danny frowned. "You guys didn't get into any huge trouble did you?"

"Actually," Woody chuckled, "we're no longer a part of the Super Pups Agency."

Danny gasped. "Oh my gosh! I'm so sorry you guys! I hope we didn't do anything to cause you to get fired!"

Roy waved his paws to cut Danny off. "Oh, no, no! You and the babies didn't have anything to do with it!" He laughed. "We quit."

"You quit?" Danny couldn't help showing the mixed shocked and surprised expression on his face. "But, I thought you loved being members of the Super Pups!"

"Correction." Woody replied. "We did love being members of the Super Pups. But, we found out that Buddy is a huge jerk."

"Yeah!" Roy exclaimed. "He thinks that all of the humans are mental or something. He thinks all humans don't take care of their pets." He raised his front paws up in the air in frustration. "The Super Pups Agency is all a huge stereotype!"

Danny sighed. "Gee, that's too bad. I'm sorry to hear that."

"Are you kidding?" Woody asked. "Last night was one of the best nights of my entire life!"

"Really?"

Woody nodded. "We found out what our true calling is. And that is, helping people in our own way!"

Roy grinned. "No rules and regulations!"

"No pets left behind." Woody added.

"No gadgets."

"No gizmos."

"No bosses."

"And absolutely helping humans out in taking care of or finding their pets, no matter what the cause!"

Danny grinned. "I'm proud of you guys!"

"So are we!" Roy exclaimed.

Three more days passed, and Spike still hadn't returned to the Pickles' house. Stu had tried calling five different pounds and visited each and every one of them. Danny and Tucker made hundreds of LOST DOG signs in the school library during recess. Roy and Woody even took some time to sniff around the town some more in case they missed something. But, they still couldn't find a trace of where Spike went. Everyone was starting to lose hope.

Everyone except Tommy that is. "Spike's gonna come back." he had said to Danny earlier one day. "He's just having too much fun in the wild, that he hasn't had the chance yet! He'll comes back soon!"

Another three days passed. This time, Stu and Didi took the time to call everyone they knew in town. But it was still no use.

Pretty soon, it was late Friday evening. Danny walked up to Tommy who had a gloomy look on his face. Roy and Woody were comforting him. "We tried calling everybody in town, Tommy."

Tommy glanced at his playmate eagerly. "What did they say?"

Danny frowned sadly. "Nothing. They haven't seen Spike around either."

"Tries some mores!"

Danny sighed. "I'm sorry, Tommy. I just don't think we're gonna find him."

"You said we would!"

"I'm sorry, Tommy! I really thought we'd find him by now!"

"Is he gonna comes back home?"

Danny was silent for a moment.

"Danny?"

Still silence.

"Danny?" Tears were welling up in Tommy's eyes now.

Danny sighed once more. "I don't think he's going to be able to find his way home, Tommy. I'm sorry!"

Tommy plopped down on the floor, and started crying. Danny bent down to hug his playmate.

After a few minutes of tears and comforting, Tommy sniffed and whispered, "Comes back, Spike. Comes back."