Are you sure humans are really what you want? You're too young to know what you really want.

Mel stared at the television. The same program was playing over and over again. "Officials still do not know what happened that moment." Explained the reporter. "The Kidnapping of Xavier is truly a mystery yet to be solved. More breaking news soon, on Big City News." Ever since his kidnapping a week ago, Mel has begun putting her faith in the police and the other officials, but lately, she's started to doubt.

His father, Officer Ketchum, was never home anymore. Aside from his job, he was frequently called to police stations for investigations or interrogations. When he was, he would take care of Mel; leaving food and water in her dish is all he would do, since Xavier was gone. He would never usually have to do it too often, as her dish was almost never empty. Mel was too worried sick to eat much. She was nervous beyond her comfort zone.

To try and calm herself down, she would sometimes remind herself that the police are doing everything they can, and that they will eventually find him. However, hearing words like "mystery" or "no information" invalidated those beliefs. She has also lately been pondering to herself. She would often look at pictures of them together, or sometimes just him, being reminded of the memories they've made and strengthening her hope.

Every single night, she would always still climb up on his bed and fall asleep there, sometimes trying very hard not to cry. She was mostly thinking of him and his well-being, and if she would ever get to see him again. She thought about if they will never run through another open field at each other's side, or if she will never catch another one of his throws. She wondered if she would ever sleep next to him, or if that horrifying image of him being dragged to his demise was the last she will ever see of him.

The next morning, Mel paced impatiently around the empty house, like she always does. She was just about to turn on the news to see if they found anything yet, though she didn't see the point of it anymore, when she suddenly heard a brief but strong singular thump on the front door. She reached up and peered out the front window. What she saw was a newspaper. She figured she could read it when Ketchum returned home later that night.

After an entire afternoon of nothing but disappointment from the news channels, Ketchum finally returned home at around nine. She was laying on the couch when she awoke to the sound of the front door opening. She saw him enter, with the newspaper in hand. He set it on the counter and immediately walked away. Mel felt a little sorry for him. She imagined the kidnapping being just as hard for him as it was for her.

She hopped onto the counter and grabbed the newspaper. However, she didn't even need to read it to know it was useless. The headline read, "Boy Kidnapped. Little Known." Mel officially gave up. She was tired of waiting for information to come to her. "It's time to take matters into my own paws." She said to herself. "Xavier, I'm coming."

She opened the back door and ran outside. It was dark, cold, and quiet. She ran across the park to the other side. It was there that she found the city. It was lit with the headlights of the numerous cars driving down the road, as well as the light from the nearby buildings. She continued to run, and stopped in front of the alleyway Xavier was horrifically dragged into. "Oh, Xavier. I'm sorry. I will find you." She said softly. "I promise." She shed a single tear before laying in the middle of the alleyway, mourning the loss of him.

She was deeply pondering about how she could help set things straight, when she then suddenly thought of a group that will help her for sure. Her feeling of sadness and hopelessness turned into determination and devotion. She stood up strong and began her trip across town, running out of the alley as fast as her will carried her.

Meanwhile at Shelter 17, the gang was hard at work. Squirt was sweeping the floors, while Cookie was discarding scattered debris, including confetti and small pieces of plastic. Niblet was packaging and storing leftover food, while Strudel was putting away her supplies. Lucky was overseeing the cleanup. Then, all of them at once came running to Lucky. "Done!" They shouted in unison. Lucky looked around and was relieved to see the spotless floors and the shining walls. "Good job, everybody! We finally cleaned up after the Woof-Bark-Tooth Day Celebration! Even if it did take us a whole week."

The gang paced around in their new clean pound. They even cheered a little that their hard work paid off. They were interrupted with a strange noise. It came from the entrance tunnel. "Help!" They heard someone shout. They all stopped making noise and turned to see what it was. "Help! You've gotta help me!" They heard again. "Who's there?" Shouted Squirt. They saw a puppy with hair parted over one eye and a scar over the other emerge from the darkness of the tunnel. The distress conveyed on her face gave the ultimate hint that it was her crying for help.

"Hold on now, pup. What do you need help with?" Asked Cookie. "My person! You need to help! He's..." She was shouting vigorously. "Whoa, slow down." Lucky told her, but then, he got a closer look at her. "Do we know you?" He asked. Squirt approached them. "Yeah, I remember you. You're Mel, that one pup we placed across town." He said to her. "Oh, yeah. Yep; that was one challenging mission we placed you on." Said Cookie. "So, why have you come here?" Asked Strudel. "My person! Xavier! He was kidnapped!" They all gasped. "I've heard about an Xavier kid being kidnapped. You mean to tell me that all those news stories were talking about your person the whole time?" Asked Squirt surprised. "Yes! And not even the police found answers. That's why I came to you." Mel's voice calmed to a sad tone.

"Finding a kidnapped child? It seems a bit above out skill level. I'm not sure we can do something like that." Strudel explained. "So, you can't help me?" Asked Mel. "Well, I do know is that we're the Pound Puppies and we always help dogs in need. We should at least try." Shouted Lucky in a devoting manner. The others shouted in agreement. Lucky looked at Mel, who he could tell was worried sick. "And Mel, I'm sorry this happened. We'll do anything we can to help. I know it's hard for you." He said softly. Mel looked back up at him. "Harder than you could ever know." She said sadly.