With a startling mechanical clatter, the gigantic bots bolted forward on their spinning treads to surround Rolo, Zira, and Riffa. Rolo panicked as an ensign bot swung a wide hoop net down toward him. Zira rushed to protect him, but it was futile—the hoop came down around her too, trapping both of them in the glowing energy net.

Riffa lunged for the net and tried to pry it off the ground. “Let them go! You can’t do this!” she yelled. But the massive hoop was immovable.

Quiggles hurled his last firework at the bot. It struck its face with a ding, then fell to the ground and sputtered pathetic sparks and wispy smoke. The bots were unimpressed.

A petty officer bot slid open the reinforced hatch doors in its towering torso, a containment cell to hold the wild, feral Rolo.

In the nearby treetops, several squirlers watched the spectacle with glee, pointing at Rolo with their little paws, and cackling manically with little squeaks.

Meanwhile, Smuffins and Yoola were home sitting on their front porch overlooking the earthling park. Yoola noticed the five colossal bots in the distance, but that’s all she saw.

“Oh look,” she said, “it’s your buddies the earthling catchers! Better not run away again.” She smiled mockingly and pointed to the blinking tracking device strapped around Smuffins’s neck.

“Ha ha,” he sarcasticated.

Then Yoola noticed something else. “Look, that’s Rolo! We need to help him!”

Smuffins instantly devised a solution. He said in all seriousness, “Let’s get … the toys!”

Yoola grabbed her bazooka-shaped automatic ball launcher. She cocked it, and the air squeaked as the chamber pressurized.

Smuffins powered up his hover drone with an ominous hum. He put on the piloting helmet with a heads-up display. The drone elevated, and its eight red laser pointers converged on a single focal point.

Meanwhile, Rolo tried to claw his way through the net as it scooped him and Zira off the ground.

Smuffins and Yoola ran toward the park with toys in hand. As they passed by Fabli’s house, they saw him in the window.

“Fabli,” hollered Yoola, “come help. We need to save Rolo!”

“But my competition is tomorrow!” yelled Fabli.

Rolo attempted to climb out the top of the net, but it was too high off the ground. The massive bot pivoted, swinging them in the net toward the petty officer’s containment cell. Zira screamed.

Quiggles tipped over a nearby garbage can, spilling the contents and throwing them at the bots one at a time—paper cups, soda cans, water bottles, a chewed-up blizbee, and a bag of fast food scraps.

The net extended forward, slowly enclosing Rolo and Zira in the containment cell.

Suddenly, a drone flew around the bots’ heads, aiming red lasers at their optical sensors. Smuffins stood nearby, piloting the drone and shouting to them, “Now let’s see if you can catch the red dot!”

A laser dot landed on the commander bot’s face. Another ensign took action and swatted its massive grappler at the elusive spec, slapping the commander with a clang. The commander slowly swiveled its head and looked at the ensign derisively. The ensign looked away innocently, suddenly taking great interest in the beautiful stars above.

Yoola charged in with her automatic ball launcher and fired trennis balls at their heads, aiming for their ear holes. With each shot, she yelled, “Fetch this! Fetch! Fetch! Fetch!”

Even the squirlers joined the fray. They weren’t on anyone’s side; as rogents of chaos, they simply liked to stir up mayhem. With cheek-fulls of acorns, they scrambled up the giant bots’ bodies and slipped inside through their cracks and crevices, tickling them.

The bots were fazed and frazzled. They swiveled and wobbled, knocking into each other, and dropped the net. Rolo and Zira scrambled out of the containment cell and down the net handle, then ran between the bots’ legs and escaped into the park, along with Riffa and Quiggles.

The bots rolled out to pursue, but they were too dizzy and disoriented, leaning and listing left and right. They cocked their heads sideways and hopped up and down to shake the trennis balls and acorns out of their ears. The squirlers cheered from within.

Rolo, Zira, Riffa, and Quiggles raced across the field toward home, joined by Smuffins and Yoola. But now that the bots had cleared their heads, they were closing in too quickly.

At that moment, Fabli hurdled over the fence and dashed in front of the bots, knifing his arms through the air like a speed-runner.

“Split up!” he yelled.

They did, each running in a separate direction. The bots focused their pursuit only on the four earthlings, but they couldn’t tell them apart, so they split up to catch them all.

Two bots chased Fabli as he ran to the obstacle course. He scrambled through the tunnel, jumped through the hoop, and ran up and down the ramps. He got so focused on the agility course that he ran back through the poles, weaving side to side, then leaped over the high jump bar, now racing directly toward the bots.

The bots stared at him and cocked their heads.

“Fabli, focus!” yelled Yoola as she ran by.

He looked up at the bots—“Oh yeah”—then ran off.

The massive machines pivoted and spun their treads to chase Fabli, splashing mud and grass on him.

“My hair!” he squealed.

Rolo and Quiggles rejoined Riffa and Zira. They had a clear path home now. While four of the bots were busy chasing the wrong earthlings, one was gaining on them quickly.

“We can make it!” yelled Zira.

Riffa looked over her shoulder. “No, they’re too close. This way!” She turned and led them toward a different corner of the park.

By now, the other bots realized Yoola, Smuffins, and Fabli were not the fugitive earthling, so they rolled into formation in pursuit of Rolo.

“Where are we going?!” Zira yelled.

Rolo was confused too. Why weren’t they going home?

“You’ll see,” said Riffa.

She picked up Rolo and hopped over the earthling-sized fence, and Zira and Quiggles followed. Undeterred, the five giant bots plowed through the fence, shredding it into metal scraps.

Riffa led the others into the woods outside the park, passing between the tall trunks, beneath the dark canopy of leaves.

The colossal bots skidded to a halt. The trees were too dense for them to pass.

“Commander, what do we do now?” asked the petty officer in a deep voice.

The commander swiveled its head in disbelief. In a deeper voice, it said, “We wait.”

They stood guard at the edge of the woods, looking quite stoic and intimidating. Until they all started squirming. From deep within their metal bowels echoed squeaky, maniacal laughs from the cheeky squirlers.

···

Back in the Command Center, Colonel C-4 watched every moment of the chase on the large wall monitors. Realizing defeat, he growled and smashed his fist down on the console. “Scrap metal!”

But then the gears in his head started turning. The colonel was optimized for the Animal Control Force—he lived for the conquest and the thrill of the chase. And today was the most exhilarating battle he had fought since his glory days in the robot wars. Most earthlings didn’t put up much of a fight, and they were easy to catch—too easy. But Rolo and his crafty crew of rebel allies proved to be a most worthy adversary, and the colonel was genuinely impressed. His mouth twisted upward into something resembling a smile, and he chuckled.

“You magnificent mongrel,” he yelled quietly to himself.