UPDATE 12/06/2019: A cover image has been recently added to this fic, made as a gift by Zojak. Thank you so much for taking the time out of your day to make this for me. It means more than you might think that you took the time to make something for me like this. Anyway: on with the show.

Silence.

Usually, the Lookout wasn't this quiet. There wasn't a single wisp of wind or a single chirp of a bird. There was absolutely nothing to greet Rubble as he slowly woke himself up. Even his alarm hadn't seemed to go off. For once, Rubble woke up with nothing but questions:

Why is it so quiet?
What time is it?
Why can't I move?
Why does my house feel so soft?
Why am I so cold?

Almost afraid of what the answers might be, Rubble very slowly opened his eyes with great difficulty. He must have been in a far deeper sleep than he had thought. His head was swimming and his surprisingly achey body struggled to do much of anything. He certainly didn't remember doing anything strenuous yesterday. The questions he had only multiplied when he found that he was staring up at the ceiling of a log cabin.

Rubble was unable to suppress a groan as he woke up. A combination of confusion and exhaustion that had escaped through his mouth. As much as his head was hurting and as groggy as he was, he was still surprised to hear a gasp cut through the silence.

"Rubble!"

The voice was familiar enough. It could only have been Everest. But what in the world was she doing here? For that matter, where in the world was he?

"Ev… Ev… er… esh…?" Rubble slurred, as a familiar face appeared in his field of view.

"You're awake! Oh, thank goodness! How do you feel?!" Everest barked with a worried, if relieved, look on her face,

All that greeted Everest's question was a series of soft moans. Rubble was very confused, but couldn't find the words or the strength to reply to Everest's questions.

"Oh, jeez, the hypothermia must've hit him like a truck!"

A different voice this time. Oddly hoarse though it may be, Rubble could easily identify the voice as Marshall's. But what the heck was he talking about? Hyper-what-now?

"I guess so..." Everest turned away and looked into the distance. "...he's awake sooner than I thought!"

"Me, too!" came Marshall's reply. It'll take a little while for his body to go back to normal, though."

"Right. Hypothermia happens quick, but it takes a while to recover from."

Something had obviously gone horribly wrong. And it had involved him. But he'd just woken up! What could he have done to result in Marshall and Everest panicking like this?

"Wh… wh… ere…?" Rubble slurred.

"Shhh. Easy, Rubble." Marshall whispered, now trying to calm him. Rubble felt the bed that it was now clear he was in being pushed further down as the dalmatian walked up to him dressed in his EMT gear.

"You're in the guest room at the resort. You need to rest up. You've been through a lot."

Rubble decided to just lie still as Marshall brought out his X-ray screen and ran it over him, agonizing about matters that Rubble couldn't quite comprehend.

"Well, the good news is that he's recovering at least..." Marshall concluded with a note of solemnness to his voice. "...but he's still got a long way to go."

"He won't be leaving bed any time soon." Everest replied.

"Absolutely not." Marshall shook his head frantically. "I need to stay with him. Can you let the others know he's awake, Everest?"

"Gladly. Can everyone else come and see him? You know they want to."

"Tell them to give it ten minutes. He's really out of it right now."

"Want me to check on Zuma, too?"

"No, if he's still asleep, then let him rest. I don't care how used to the cold he says he is, he's getting rest whether he likes it or not!"

Everest giggled slightly at Marshall's unusually forceful remark. "I'm on it, doctor!" Her response caused Marshall to give a small smile before Everest looked down at Rubble and nuzzled him with a surprising amount of enthusiasm.

"I'm so glad you're OK!" Everest whispered, further confusing the bulldog before she leapt down and out of sight.

Marshall sat in silence for a while with a paw on Rubble's head. A couple of times, it sounded like Marshall was swallowing back tears. Now Rubble was starting to grow worried as he steadily found the energy to talk more.

"Marshall… what's going on?" Rubble whispered.

Marshall shot Rubble a look. "What do you mean, 'what's going on'?!"

"How did I… end up here?" Rubble's eyes quickly shot open as he remembered that his movement was being restricted by something. "Wait! Why can't I move?! Where- AAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGHHHH! My… leg!"

Rubble felt one of his back legs ignite into utter agony as he tried to wriggle around. Enough to bring tears to his eyes as he grit his teeth. The pile of questions and worries grew more with each passing minute: Rubble was unusually cold, unusually sore, one of his legs hurt more than anything and everyone was acting as if he'd just woken up from the dead.

"Rubble, don't move!" Marshall barked forcefully, pressing down on Rubble's torso with his paws. And as the pain died down, Rubble finally noticed that he had been wrapped up in a series of thick blankets, prohibiting him from moving.

It took a couple of seconds for Marshall's expression to soften again as Rubble laid still again, staring up at him in shock. "Do you… not remember anything?"

"Wh-what is there to remember?" Rubble stammered, answering Marshall's question nicely. The dalmatian stared down at the bulldog with a flabbergasted look.

"What's… the last thing you remember?"

"Well, going to bed last night. What the heck happened in between?

Marshall emitted a consternated whine. "Oh, man… I should've seen that coming… Let's see, where to begin… ah. OK, Rubble, I hope you're comfortable. If you don't remember anything, then we've got a lot of catching up to do."

"'Catching up'?"

"Well, we had a rescue in the mountains today..."

"And… done! That's some fine plow work, if I do say so, myself!" Everest said, admiring her handiwork.

"Nice one, Everest!" Ryder replied. "Let's not waste any more time, pups."

Ryder led the pack on the way to free some mountain climbers trapped in a caved-in tunnel. With Jake at a snowboarding competition, it was a small miracle that Everest happened to be nearby to call the emergency in after hearing their muffled cries for help through the wall of rocks. Having brought Rubble to dig through the debris and Marshall to check if the climbers were hurt or not, all seemed to be fairly routine. Everest had just finished clearing away a large amount of snow that was too dangerous for the group to drive over. And with it out of the way, the Paw Patrol could continue.

"This is it, Ryder. Their voices came from in here." Everest said.

"Oh, boy. This cave must be pretty unstable." Ryder said, looking the massive pile of debris up and down.

"Looks like a rocky situation, huh?" Marshall joked, to giggling from the group.

"Well, no worries. We've brought our secret weapon." Ryder replied. "Rubble?"

"Rubble on the double!" Rubble proclaimed, driving his bulldozer towards the mass of snowy boulders.

The crunching and crumbling sound of Rubble's scoop echoed across the snowy mountains. Little by little, the debris fell away, revealing the cave's inky-black maw. Rubble gulped at how dark it was in there. Who knows what kind of beasts could be in there?

"Well… Ulp… It's clear..." Rubble said shakily.

"Good job, Rubble!" Ryder congratulated. "Now. Time for part two. Let's go find those climbers!"

"Don't worry, Rubble." Marshall reassured. "We're with you. If there are any spiders around, we won't let them touch you!"

Rubble smiled at his friend's reassurance. "Thanks, Marshall." Rubble replied warmly, as the trio advanced into the dark cave.

"Pretty dark, huh?" Ryder asked. "Let's light it up, pups!"

Ryder drew a flashlight from his jacket and flicked it on. The pups replied by barking out their own flashlights. A team of rescuers couldn't be caught dead without them if things went dark, after all.

The cave was far too quiet. Not a creature in sight, except for the flurry of bats that nearly bowled over the group as they scrambled to get away from the blinding onslaught of light. Marshall suggesting that maybe some DJ music would calm them down helped keep Rubble's nerves in check, however.

"Hello?! Is anyone out there?!"

"Hey, you hear that?" Everest asked.

"Sure did!" Marshall replied.

"It must've been those climbers!" Rubble added.

"Let's move!" Ryder instructed, as they ran further down the cave. "Hello?! Sit tight! Help is on the way!"

It didn't take much running to find what they were looking for: a pair of mountain climbers, belt-lights aglow and dressed to explore, with one with black hair kneeling over his supine, brown-haired friend, his face contorted in pain and his leg propped up on a rock.

"Oh, thank goodness! Are you guys here to help us?" the black-haired climber asked.

"We sure are!" Ryder replied. "I'm Ryder, and these are Everest, Rubble and Marshall. Are you two OK?"

"Agh… I think I hurt my leg… it's tough to walk..." The injured climber replied.

"Don't worry! Leave it to me!" Marshall announced. "Arf arf! X-ray screen!"

At Marshall's command, the screen extended from his Pup Pack, and he went to work examining the injured climber.

"What were you two doing in this cave, anyway?" Everest asked. "It's pretty remote, you know?"

"Well, that's kinda what we do." The black-haired climber replied. "I'm Damian and this is my partner, Glen. We run a photography blog, and we were devoting this month to cave pictures. I guess this'll teach us to look into caves before going in, huh?"

"I should hope so!" Ryder replied. "You're really lucky that Everest here heard you yelling."

"You… called them for us?" Glen asked the husky as Marshall ran the screen over him.

"Yep! Good thing you weren't too deep into the cave, huh?" Everest replied, looking down at a large rock lying next to Glen. "Did this have anything to do with it?"

"Yeah, this cave seems pretty unstable." Damian opined. "Wish we knew that before we went in! This rock came down on us and Glen pushed me out of the way. Hit him right in the knee… had to go further in to find somewhere to prop up his leg."

"You two got pretty lucky, huh?" Rubble added. "We better get you out of here. If this cave is dropping rocks, who knows where it might collapse next?"

"Well, Glen: The bad news is your knee is definitely broken." Marshall concluded. "But the good news is the break isn't too bad. You two really are lucky. I'll patch you up for now and we'll help you out of here. Go see a doctor and get that looked at properly, OK?"

"You're a lifesaver, little guy..." Glen replied.

With Glen's leg safely bandaged, the group started to venture out of the cave, the Paw Patrol content that they'd accomplished another rescue. With the cave entrance in sight, however, the contentment vanished in a hurry as a rumbling shook the cave, and with it the souls of those within.

"Wh-whoa!" Marshall yelled.

"CAVE-IN!" Rubble screamed, prompting everyone to move as fast as they could. Damian and Ryder desperately tried to support Glen as they hobbled behind the pups as fast they could.

Marshall and Everest moved fast enough to clear the cave entrance. Rubble was close behind, until he felt something strike his back. Rubble cried out as he tumbled to the floor from the force, the blow cushioned by his Pup Pack, which proceeded to shatter into pieces.

"Rubble!" Ryder cried in fear, as he and the climbers came up close behind him.

Rubble wanted to assure his owner that he was OK, if a little bruised, but all he could think about was the sheer amount of rocks falling around him. Silently, Rubble desperately dragged himself to his paws and summoned all of his strength to attempt to push forward once more, only to be cut off by another rock falling in front of him as Ryder passed him by. And another. Reflexively, Rubble then jumped the only way he could as his only means of escape was cut off: backwards. And in that moment, everything went black.

"RUBBLE! NOOOOOOO!" Ryder screamed at the top of his voice, pulling away from the climbers.

In that moment, Ryder prayed that he was only dreaming. That one of his darkest nightmares hadn't just come to life. For just then, for the next few minutes, the world started to fade around him. All sounds became muffled noise. His bones grew heavy and his stomach turned to stone. One of his pups had seemingly had the life crushed out of him.

Letting out a collective, uncontrolled scream of horror, Marshall and Everest charged forward, desperately clawing at the mass of rocks that blocked the cave entrance. The two cursed themselves for how unprepared they were. The one thing neither of them accounted for was one of their friends being killed on a mission like this. The Paw Patrol had just lost one of their own to something as unpredictable as a cave-in. Neither pup could accept this as they feebly clawed at the stone seperating them and Rubble.

"Come on! Come! On! Come! On! COME! ON! WHY?! ISN'T?! IT?! WORKING?!" Marshall screamed as he attempted to dig through the rock.

"Dig harder, Marshall!" Everest yelled back. "We can't lose Rubble! WE CAN'T!"

The two were in denial. For all they knew, their friend had just been buried alive in an instant and there was absolutely nothing they could do about it but swipe at the rocks that had fallen before them in a vain attempt to break them as total despair started to set in for the pair of them.

Suddenly, their frantic, panicked screams were cut off by the sound of pained crying. Everyone froze in place at the muffled sobs of agony eminating through the rocks.

"Is… that..." Marshall stammered.

"Rubble! Come in! Please! Answer me!" Everest yelled as she activated her Pup Tag. After what felt like an eternity, something happened that took them all aback. Rubble answered.

"Rubble! Talk to me! Are you OK?! What happened?!" Everest shouted down her Tag.

"M-my… my l-g… It h-rts! I-it… -t… hu-ts! I… c-n't move!" Rubble sobbed, obviously in great pain. His voice came out crackling and laden with static, his Pup Tag having been damaged from his landing.

Marshall felt his heart sink. One of his friends was in total agony with a broken leg, and for once, he was incapable of doing a single thing about it.

"Don't cry, Marshall… Don't cry! Don't cry! DO! NOT! CRY!" he yelled at himself internally. He found it exceedingly hard to heed his own instructions when he felt so helpless.

"Rubble, just sit tight!" Ryder yelled behind Everest, having snapped out of his momentary stupor. "W-we'll think of something!"

"R-R-der… H-lp me… ple-se..." Rubble sobbed despondently.

Ryder had to fight back his own tears at hearing one of his pups in such a helpless state. He swore to never allow his pups to get into a life-or-death situation like this, and just now, he'd completely failed. And despite being the one to come up with the plans, this time, he was drawing a blank. Even if they'd managed to destroy the wreckage – a feat now impossible with Rubble leaving his bulldozer in the cave entrance, getting it crushed into uselessness, how could they get Rubble safely out without the risk of another cave-in?

After a pause of a few seconds, Ryder knew that the other pups would be needed, but how? The situation looked decidedly hopeless. Even Rocky's truck wouldn't have much in it to safely get Rubble out.

"Ryder?" Everest piped up. "This cave… There's a chance that there could be other ways out… There usually are, but… but…"

"How would Rubble be able to get out, though?! His leg sounds really badly broken!" Marshall interjected.

"G-ys..." Rubble's shaky voice came over Everest's Pup Tag. "I can w-lk! I c-n move!"

These words prompted a gasp from the three. "Rubble, you're moving?!" Ryder asked, amazed.

"Y-ah!" Rubble replied. "I c-n… kin-a move! I can wa- AAA-AAA-GHH!" Rubble cut himself off with a scream of pain.

"Rubble! That sounds really bad!" Marshall shouted. "You shouldn't move! Try to rest your leg!"

"I c-n't do that M-rshall!" Rubble replied. "I d-n't like h-w th-s cave so-nds! Who kn-ws when it might c-ve in ag-in?! B-sides, didn't y-u just s-y th-re could be a w-y o-t? I c-n m-ke it, bad l-g or no!"

Silence. The three of them tried to find the words to raise an objection to Rubble's plan, but at this point, they all had nothing. It was a choice none of them wanted to make: have Rubble look for a way out and risk his leg worsening, or leave him there, try to dig him out and risk the cave collapsing altogether? Ryder remained kneeled in the snow as his brain went into overdrive.

"Rubble…" Ryder finally spoke. "…stay put for now! We'll think of something! Don't go wandering off in the dark until we come back with a plan!"

"R-der…" Rubble stammered. "Pl-ase h-rry! I d-n't -na d- -re! C-l t-e -rs! -n-t! -e -a-!"

The signal finally died altogether with Rubble's cry for help. The next sound anyone heard was Ryder muttering encouragement to himself, trying to keep his spirits up despite his confidence currently being six feet under.

"OK, Ryder… It'll be fine… Don't panic… You can do this… We'll get him out… Be strong… Fear is the mind-killer…"

Marshall and Everest shared terrified looks. Of all the people to get so badly scared, they never thought Ryder of all people would be among them. But eventually, Ryder fell silent, the vacant look of horror on his face shifting to one of determination for a few moments until he rose and stood on his feet.

"Pups..." he began. "I know we're all scared… but we can't lose our cool, now. Rubble needs us. I thought we'd just lost him… but now we have a chance. Do NOT waste it. Clear?"

"Like glass." Marshall replied.

"Crystal." Everest added.

"Good." Ryder went on, drawing his Pup Pad. "Because ready or not, here we go."

"Oh, Rubble… I'm so sorry I can't help you…" Marshall thought to himself, on the verge of tears. "Please… don't die on us… Please come back safe..."

"Rubble..." Everest thought, trying her best to keep her fear in check. "Don't you dare do this to us… please..."

"Paw Patrol! Lookout! Now! Hustle!" Ryder shouted down the Pup Pad, causing the pups at the Lookout to immediately snap to attention. Ryder never took that kind of tone when summoning them on a mission, so the anxiety didn't take long in setting in.

"Whoa, Wyder?" Zuma said with his eyes bugging out.

"Oh, boy..." Rocky muttered.

"Huh? Ulp..." Skye squeaked.

"'Hustle'? Uh-oh..." Chase mumbled to himself.

The pups didn't take long in blazing a trail to the elevator. It didn't take a genius to figure out that things had gotten dire. Despite this, Skye still had the time to stand outside the elevator with a perplexed expression.

"Er, Skye?" Chase asked, giving her a funny look.

"Uhh…" Skye replied.

By now, the pups were so used to Marshall doing something silly and smashing into all of them that it felt like there was a gaping hole in their routine. But the empty feeling was most uncomfortable to Skye. And with the feeling of something going very wrong indeed, the pups felt like they needed a little extra levity. Feeling like she had to fill the gap, she launched herself at the elevator with a loud yelp, landing with a resounding crash and scattering the pups across the elevator floor. Despite her efforts, all she could bring herself to do was give a vacant sigh as the other pups stared at her with a mix of amusement and shock.

"Not the same, huh, Skye?" Chase asked.

"Nope. Not even close..." Skye muttered, as the elevator began to ascend.

The four remaining pups leapt out of the elevator with Chase leading the charge in his spy gear. Unlike most occasions, Ryder watched them from the screen at the head of the room. Also unlike most occasions, Ryder wore a deathly-serious scowl, sending shivers down the spines of everyone present. As much as they all wanted to openly shudder, they all swallowed back their fear as Chase spoke up.

"Paw Patrol ready for action, Ryder, sir!"

"Pups…" Ryder began. "I won't sugarcoat it… Things have gone south."

"Coulda fooled me." Zuma quipped internally.

"Huh? How?" Skye asked with a hint of worry to her voice.

"This rescue's taken a turn for the worst. We got the climbers out OK, but we went into the cave to dig them out and… well..." Ryder began to slow down, becoming wary of breaking the news.

"W-What?! What happened?!" Rocky asked fearfully.

"The entrance collapsed while Rubble was still in there!" Ryder blurted out. "He's trapped!"

It was a small miracle that nothing in the room moved with the force of the collective gasp that rose from the pups. Of course, they were no stranger to those in their own ranks getting into trouble, but rarely anything as life-threatening as a teammate getting trapped in a freezing cave. As if death itself cast a shadow over the team, a chill of dread spread to all four of them.

"NOOO!" Chase screamed in unrestrained horror, a cold feeling of utter failure seeping into his gut. "Tell me he's OK at least!"

"I want to say he is, but some of the debris crushed his leg!" Ryder replied, amplifying the dreadful feeling in the room.

"Oh, no…" Skye mumbled in terror. "And Marshall can't even reach him to help him! He must be in so much pain!"

"Why is this happening?!" Zuma shouted, fighting the temptation to start crying. "Wubble didn't do anything to desewve this!"

"We've got to get him out of there! Please tell me you have a plan, Ryder!" Rocky pleaded.

"I have a plan, Rocky!" Ryder retorted. "But panicking isn't going to help! Before I tell you anything, we all have to calm down!"

A few seconds passed as everyone caught their breath in silence. Hard though it was to keep their fear under control with one of their own in danger like that, their minds soon turned to the matter of it being down to them to rescue their trapped friend, and their faces turned to more focused ones.

"That's better." Ryder said. "I know this is a scary situation, but if we lose our cool now, we're more likely to screw up. And we can't afford that now. So it goes without saying that we're gonna need all paws on deck for this one. And as I said, I have a plan. Starting with…" Ryder began to slide his finger across the screen. "Rocky. I'll need you to find something in your truck to clear the debris from the cave entrance."

"Green means go!" Rocky barked, with perhaps a little more enthusiasm than intended.

"Spy Chase." Ryder continued. "Once that's done, you'll fly your drone into the cave so we can guide Rubble out of there."

"Super spy Chase is on the case!" Chase exclaimed, stomping his paws into the ground.

"Speaking of which…" Ryder slid a finger across the screen once more. "Skye. You're on scout duty. I'll need you to fly around the mountain to look for any other ways out of the cave. If you see anything, call us."

"This pup's gotta fly!" Skye proclaimed, forgoing her usual flip in favor of standing there rigidly.

"Don't get careless, Skye." Ryder cautioned. "The weather over here is terrible. The wind speed is higher than ever. PLEASE fly carefully, OK? If it gets too rough, pull out of there at once."

"Don't worry about me, Ryder, sir." Skye replied, not dropping her serious expression. "I've made plans for that since last time."

"Marshall and Everest already have their tasks." Ryder went on. "They're going to go together to check on Rubble and get him to safety when he's out of that cave."

"Not needed, huh?" Zuma thought to himself. "I guess that's good. For once, I don't think I wanna be part of a rescue…"

"And finally: Zuma..." Ryder added."

"…ah." Zuma thought. "Eh, whatever! Rubble needs us! I can't let him down!"

"…I need you with me." Ryder continued. "The way things have gone already, I'm sure we're gonna need an extra set of paws."

"Just tell me where to be, Wyder, sir!" Zuma replied.

"OK, pups. Remember this is for Rubble. We're getting him out of that cave and he's coming back home with us! Don't let him down!" Ryder commanded, to near-deafening agreement from his pups. Rubble was in a tight spot, so now it was time for the pups to do what they do best: help him out.

"Alright. Paw Patrol… move out!" Ryder yelled authoritively, eschewing his usual catchphrase and further reinforcing the severity of the situation.

The pups practically crushed one another as they tried to get onto the slide. The emergency was simply too dire to think about anything that wasn't Rubble. With as much speed as they could get away with, the remaining four pups blazed a trail for Jake's Mountain, praying the entire way that they weren't already too late.

Greetings. As much as it may surprise you all, I'm not dead. I'd like to apologise for taking so long in getting this out. Life has gotten... hectic in the month of December for me. As nice as it sounds, I can't really afford to spend every waking hour writing when I have a 9-5 job with staff shortages. Whenever I got home, I was simply too drained to even think about writing. Once more, I'm very sorry for keeping anyone who was waiting for this... well, waiting.

This one wasn't easy to write, either. Rubble's a surprisingly hard pup to write about. Contributed to a lot of cases of writer's block. Now aren't you glad I don't update as I write? Would've left you hanging for a long time waiting for chapters, I think. Honestly, this makes me slightly glad I have only one more fic left on my list to write before vanishing (more on that in a later chapter's note).

On the subject of which, my schedule will be different when uploading this one. In this case, I'll be uploading once every TWO days rather than once every SINGLE day. That way I won't be watching the clock for the exact right minute to upload. I hope you all enjoy it, despite the difficulties I had writing it. Thanks for listening. See you in two days.