Chapter 2: Malicious System

The lavender feline sat on the far left of the couch..elbow rested on the arm rest. Her left paw cupped her corresponding cheek. Her eyes closed as she unintentionally drifted off to dreamland. Her dreams had carried her to the previous night to the moment where she had her reunion with a close friend. They laughed the night away remembering all the good times that they shared with everyone..their parents..or even their moments alone. Deep in Grape's heart she missed those little moments and would wait anxiously to be awoken by her friend. Sometimes she wouldn't even be sleep..just lying awake just to here his voice.

Last night had made her return more better than she could ever imagine. First the information of the Edge Race Tournament were released...then the night with Peanut even if it was short lived..then the small party that the others had thrown for her returning.

In the midst of her sleep a small smile had begin to emerge on her face as in her dream the brown pointer mix had nervously looked away from her. Grape giggled as she put an arm around his and inched closer to him. The lavender cat caught a glimpse of Peanut's face and could clearly see a blush forming across his face. Grape always knew that he had a crush on her sometimes even played with the fact that he did. She knew playing with his feelings were wrong but in a way..she loved the attention he would give her. The feline laid her head on his shoulder looking toward their old house.

Crimson flames started to rise from the inside of the house engulfing the entirety of its foundation. Grape gasped as she looked toward her left and saw Peanut missing from her grasp and in place a security officer who donned in a gray uniform and sported a badge of an organization that was once more fearful than PETA. Upon looking at the badge fear had shot through her heart as she remembered clearly. The day of no returned happened. She didn't want to relive it. How can she go back? The letters that were etched on the badge spelled out B.G.G.E. It stood for Babylon Garden Game Enforcer and when they enforced..they did it with no means necessary.

Not soon after she found herself in the grasp of the officer. She kicked and thrashed about trying to escape the hold he had on her. He walked toward a truck that held animals in the back.

"Let me go!" Grape cried out loud. "MOM! DAD! ANYONE!" Both owners were on the floor..still visibly breathing just unconscious.

"LET HER GO!" Peanut yelled out at the top of her lungs. He lunged forward running at full speed toward the officer. Tears running down his face with every step he took. "TAKE ME!"

With that being said another officer who seem to come out of no where had caught the pointer mix in a hold. Peanut was never a fighter..he was gentle at heart and would never hurt a fly. So seeing him thrash about trying to bite..claw..or whatever else in his power to get loose for he could save her. Grape's tears finally had shed as she was thrown in the back of the truck. She quickly tried to escape but total shock had stopped her. Before her...her best friend..the fun loving pup that he was..Peanut was unconscious over the officer's shoulder.

As much as she wanted she couldn't look away. Peanut's body was limp and motionless..the always moving tail ceased and the one thing she couldn't bare to see was his blue lifeless eyes that shined no longer. As the back doors of the truck closed the lavender cat had finally lost it. If she was holding anything in..it had came out in a shrieking cry. She had lost everything in a form of a day and she was scared frighten. She wanted someone to save her..someone who would come and tell her everything was going to be alright.

A faint muffled voice was barely heard as the truck's engine over powered anything of the outside. In the middle of the ride..Grape had moved to the farthest corner of the truck away from the doors. Paws on her head as her mind replayed the situation over and over again. The cat's head pounded...huge headaches started to accumulate as it brought more tears to her eyes as the pain intensified.

The vehicle soon took its stop and the back doors opened. Light had pierced the inside of the truck illuminating it. "Come with me little one...Your life is now in our hands!"

Grape looked toward the light as she saw a middle aged women with white curly hair donned in a pick blouse and a pink skirt that was a little above her knees. Her hand outstretched toward the cat.

"Where's Peanut? What did you do to him!?" Grape yelled through her tears.

"You mean the dog? Oh don't worry he's right here." The woman stepped aside to show the dog laying on a stretcher still unconscious. "This might be the last time you two might witness each other in tranquility. Is he friend or is he foe?"

The lavender feline could do nothing but to yell his name repeatedly. The two guards that opened the truck doors had grabbed Grape by both her arms.

"PEANUT!...PEANUT!"

"WAKE UP!" Max had yelled causing Grape to wake up as she broke out in sweat. "Whoa..are you alright? You were yelling in your sleep and everything?"

The black feline looked deeply in her eyes seeing tears brimming. Grape's paws covered her eyes not letting the black cat see her cry. For as long as she remembered that nightmare haven't reached her. She wondered if it had anything to do with seeing Peanut the other night. What seemed like a nice beautiful night with a friend turned into a nightmare. Her head started to pain again as a single phrase kept ringing in the back of her head.

"Is he friend or is he foe?"

Max had embraced Grape in a hug as she laid her head on his shoulder. The purple feline felt as if she couldn't let it out. All the feelings that had built up during that moment was at its peak and ready to burst. She then picked her head up to look at Max's face. It was him..she couldn't cry in front of him..not in front of her own Maxie.

The lavender cat backed out of the embrace and stood. "I-I'm sorry Max. I have to go."

"You know you can talk to me if anything right? Why don't you take a moment to relax? You've just woken up from what apparently seemed like a nightmare." Max reassured.

The small roof door had opened as an orange cat's head popped in. "Um...you guys might want to see this." Marvin stated as his head popped right back out.

Grape was about to head out until Max but a paw on her shoulder. Just a shake of his head had gave notification for her to just sit back this time. Sighing in defeat..Grape did just that. Max then went out of the hideout's door as he came to sight that he wasn't fond of.

"So the cats finally came out to play? Rumor has it that your star player has returned."

Max hissed out of pure annoyance. "Bino! What are you doing here?"

"Just scoping out the competition..right gang?" The brown mutt said as he turned to his teammates.

"Right boss" Rex had answered.

"Hey Rex..baked any cakes lately?" Marvin retaliated with a hint of sarcasm in his voice.

"You're the one to talk Marvin." The gray husky stated.

"Fox..you should keep quiet." A voice called out from atop of the building next to the hideout. The all black feline wall-ran off of a billboard and onto the roof where everyone was standing. "Or I'll tell everyone that you fantasize about certain things. But it's pretty obvious and I bet half of the pets already know about it."

"How did you know?" Fox asked actually surprised of this information. Bino's face was met with his hand as he knew what trap his husky friend gotten himself into.

"If it wasn't for Tarot I would have said that you've just told me." Sabrina chuckled as she stood before her teammates facing the dogs. "Anymore? I have loads of where that came from."

"Awe forget it. We was just seeing if the rumors were true."

"It is!" Grape emerged from their hideout as she stared at all three dogs as if the they stepped on sacred holy grounds. All the other three felines looked and saw that Grape was not feeling like herself..especially Max. This was not the time to bug her and knowing Bino...

"So you've finally came out of hiding?" The brown mutt started slowly applauding as he continued. "Let me be the first to congratulate you on "not" winning this years Edge Race... 'Speed Queen'." With the mention of Speed Queen he throw up air quotes. "But while you were hiding Team Bino have been practicing to take the gold. So I hope you're ready to lose your title."

Without hesitation the purple cat got up personal to Bino. "If you want to make this little visit an exhibition race then all you had to do was ask! Stop beating around the bush. If you want me to beat you in a race to show how unprepared you are then we can race right now!"

It seemed her eyes weren't showing other any emotions other than the determination of bringing down this clown from his lonely cloud 9. It was as if any other emotions from earlier had dissolved into many particles and form this border line headstrong attitude that her team knew so well.

Grape's team backed her up as grins appeared on the three felines' faces.

Bino dared to laugh out loud in the lavender cat's face. "I'm not trying to make this a grudge match. I have some bigger fish to fry. You cats don't mean anything to us. I'm going after my brother Fido. I'll finally get out of his shadow." The brown mutt stated as he and his team turned their backs to the cats.

Sabrina's eyes widen. "Fido have enough on his plate as it is. Don't do this to him!"

A chuckle came from the leader of Team Bino and with a little turn of his head. "Then I hope my brother's ready for another full course meal." That what was left before the team of canines took their leave.

Meanwhile down at the police office three of the four police dogs were wrapped in thought of what happened the previous night.

"If only I was there! They would have gotten their moneys worth." The Doberman assured as he tightly gripped his right fist with his left paw.

"I'm not sure we could've done anything about the situation. If Jata hadn't come..that wolf would've did some major damage." Sergent Ralph mentioned.

"I haven't been on the field to see any of this. But by what you guys are telling me..there must be something more deeper than just this race." Terrence...the Home Base..for Team Devastation had said while giving both Kevin and Ralph a bottle of water.

"It does.." Ralph thought back to the scuffle on the shoreline and how his comrade had lost it. "To be honest I've never seen Officer Fido go off the deep end. Only one other time but it only showed for a split second."

"The wedding right?" Kevin asked.

"Correct. But he quickly gained control of himself again and was able to save Jata instead of letting him drown. But this time..something happened and Fido went off. 'He kept saying..they were there.' or 'They did it.' It's a good thing he's resting now." Ralph then looked at the white dogged spotted with brown spots.

"Terrance..you said that Team Backlash's profiles were uploaded?"

"Yes sir." The brown spotted white dog had sat in front of his computer. "I'm guessing they uploaded their profiles once they have gotten on that plane. But something is bugging me."

"What is it T?" Kevin asked as he put a paw on the back of Terrance's chair.

"Call it a hunch but I feel as if there's something missing. I'm not entirely sure about it though."

Ralph stood still watching the screen. "Trust your instincts for now. We have no other information. But see if you can run a routine check on those three. Check their background..their family history if possible..criminal records..Wait! Check the wolf's criminal record first."

"Alright Serge!" Terrance's fingers glided across the keys on his keyboard as he imputed codes for the records could show.

"You think you've found something out Sergent?" Kevin asked as he looked toward his superior.

"We can probably find out what have gotten Officer Fido on his toes about. Two years ago something occurred that would've effected all of us here in Babylon Gardens. Whether it was the suburban area or the downtown area where we all moved. The wolf was caught and put in custody but no one knows exactly why. The one person who knows wound up...you know."

"That means they'll come after Fido!?" Terrance questioned as he turned around in his chair to face the German Shepard and the Doberman.

"That's just the thing. They could've had him right then. The big question is why not? Is it because they can tie a war into all of this? And why war?" All three canines wrapped tried to wrapped their brains around the situation. They failed to notice a little figure appeared on Kevin's shoulder.

"That's an easy one. Cause the big cat was bluffing."

"Spo!?" All three dogs yelled in surprised.

"That's right. Did everyone forgot that I was still on Fido's scalp after that one piece from big guy over here?" The small mouse tapped on the side of Kevin's head. "Anyway the big royal cat was bluffing."

"How do you know that?" Ralph questioned as the thought of an actual bluff never crossed his mind.

"Remember at the wedding? Jata went full force against the Milton Wolves and Fido himself. From that you can see that he doesn't depend on anyone to fight his battles. Trail By Combat...you know the thing he yells before a fight. Besides..the sheer mention of war breaks both people and pets down. Since Ralph and Fido were already in a broken state he used the method of the bluff to get his fallen friends out of danger." Spo had moved to the head of Kevin as he looked toward the German Shepard. "I mean come on America's army must be like twelve times as much bigger..tougher..and probably more skilled than that micro-nation's army. By the way..how does Jata have jurisdiction over here in America?"

Both Kevin and Ralph's senses had spiked to an all time high. "He must have someone on the inside whose helping him." Spo assumed.

Ralph's fist clenched as Kevin's teeth gritted as they thought of how can he be fooled by something so simple and wasn't able to deduce it in time. Or something even worst..a traitor in their midst. "That clears up the war question. But that doesn't cover all of it? Terrance I want you to still search up everything that happened two years ago."

"Sir!" Terrance saluted as he turned back to the computer and worked.

"Spo..is there anything else did you catch during the scuffle?" Ralph asked Spo since he basically a witness and spectator.

"Not much. The only other thing that I did catch was that he wants to be the one to race Fido in the Edge Race Tournament." Spo answered.

"That only means we have to switch things up even more than we did last year. We can't have Fido race either the wolf or the jaguar. The safest best is to not have him race at all during that race."

"We can take it right Sergent." Kevin assured as he flexed his arms. This brought a little smile to Ralph's face.

Kevin stretched his arm out putting an inviting paw out. "For protecting Fido...on three" Ralph followed suit by putting his paw on Kevin's and Terrance being the last one. With the countdown from Kevin the three canines said in unison. "For Protecting Fido!"

In the other room Fido sat in the lamb lit room looking at a journal that had a picture of himself and the black feline Sabrina.

At around noon another team had taken the liberty to use the roof tops as a practice course. In the back of the group was a orange colored canine with a purple collar and a tag with the letter "M" adorned on it. Right before him a female dog that is donned with a pink collar..a pink heart pendant..and her cream colored fur that blends in with brown at the both sets of paws. In front of her..a brown mutt that sported blue goggles and collar with a green tag. In front of the pack the brown Canadian Pointer Mix...Peanut!