So far, all of the questions I've had suggested to me present interest. I will use each of the ones I got so far, just not right away. I have Marshall, Rubble, and Zuma. Also, if you'd like to see any of your OCs in a later chapter in an alternate reality, please let me know and tell me his/her name with any information that could be important. (Their backstories may change since they don't exist in reality prime, which is what I'll call the real world.) From now on, I will use different text to differentiate what's happening on the ARW and what's happening in reality prime.
ARW world.
Reality prime
"Okay, ARW," Everest said, getting ready to ask her question, "what would happen if the PAW Patrol was an international rescue team?" As soon as she finished her question, Ryder pulled the lever on top and joined the others in watching. Truth be told, he already felt as though his team was an international team, since he helped the princess in Barkingburg often enough. And he would help in any country that needed help. Still, it would be nice to see how his team would do in performing rescues in other countries. Some of the team was a little disappointed that the first question was such a serious one, but watched in anticipation nonetheless.
The ARW was done calibrating and showed an image. It was a much bigger lookout with many more dogs running around. There were dozens of Air Patrollers and Paw Patrollers lined up behind the lookout. The screen zoomed in through the front door, and the team was in awe. There were dozens of pups running around the base, doing different tasks. It went up the main elevator to Ryder, who was wearing a much longer jacket, almost down to his knees.
Ryder pushed a button on his pup pad. "Alpha Squadron, to the lookout," he pushed another button on his pad. "Domino Squadron, to the lookout." The ARW showed a split screen of Chase and Marshall.
"Ryder needs us!" they both shouted. It now showed just Marshall, running up to a few other pups who were sitting at a table. "Domino Squadron! Suit up!" Four of the five pups jumped from the table and took off after Marshall, who was running for one of the elevators. Upon closer inspection, you could see Everest among the group. Chase, who was with another set of pups, were already waiting in the elevator. Marshall tripped and rolled into Chase as he always does.
"Wait a minute," Chase said. Marshall was catching onto what he was thinking.
"Are we leading…" Marshall continued.
"…our own teams?" they finished at the same time. They looked at each other and grinned. "AWESOME!" they shouted, giving each other a high paw.
"Why don't I lead my own team?" Everest whined, seeing she was following Marshall.
"Well you did join the PAW Patrol way later than any of us did." Rocky pointed out.
"Maybe it's the same thewe," Zuma stated. Everest shrugged and continued watching.
"That's our leader," Everest laughed. "A true domino." Marshall just laughed and got off of Chase, who was laying on his belly. All ten pups lined up on opposite sides of the elevator as it rose up the lookout. A quick stop at the locker rooms, and all of them were suited up. Once the elevator made it to the top, Marshall and Chase stepped forward, with their respective teams lined up behind them.
"Alpha Squadron, geared up and ready, Ryder, sir!" Chase shouted.
"Domino Squadron, ready for a ruff and tumble rescue, Ryder, sir!" Marshall shouted.
"Good hustle, pups," Ryder complimented. He pushed a button on his pup pad and a hologram showed up in the middle of the room of a bunch of rocks.
"Alpha Squadron, there's been an avalanche in Germany, and a group of tourists have been caught in it. I need you five to head out and find any survivors. Your vehicles and equipment are already loaded onto Air Patroller C8. The robodog is already loaded with predetermined coordinates. Wheels up in five."
"We're on it, Ryder, sir!" Chase declared. Alpha Squadron jumped down the slide one at a time. Ryder turned to Domino Squadron, who waited expectantly for their assignment.
"Domino Squadron," he pushed a button and this time it was a forest on fire. "Our satellites picked this up in Japan. We need you to contain the fire and clear the area of wildlife. Your equipment is on Air Patroller A7. The robodog is loaded with rough coordinates, but with the forest fire spreading, you'll have to manually find a safe landing spot,"
"We're on it, Ryder, sir!" Marshall said, jumping onto the slide. His team followed him down the slide, in a much more rapid manner than Alpha Squadron. Once they reached the bottom, they each were bumped off the slide by the next in line and fell in a pile on the ground. The pups near the bottom looked at the team in amazement.
"How are they one of our best teams?" one of them whispered to another.
"I hear it's mainly thanks to Captain Marshall's experience and Everest's natural talent these days," another one responded. "They're even starting to catch up to Alpha Squadron."
"My team's starting to catch up, Chase," Marshall teased his friend. "You better watch out."
"You heard that pup. It's mainly thanks to Everest," he argued, grinning.
Once on the Air Patroller, Domino Squadron geared up for prepped for their assignment. One of the pups was filling up the water cannons on his pup pack. Everest was getting her grappling hook loaded properly into her pup pack. Although she probably wasn't going to need it, she was always glad to have it.
"I always respect how you're more prepped than the rest of the team." Marshall stated, surprising her. She turned around to face him. "Eighty percent of our missions, you don't ever use that, but you always have it ready." Everest smiled.
"Isn't it common sense that I'm ready for anything?" Everest asked rhetorically.
"We live in a world where common sense isn't very common," he chuckled. Everest knew it was true. Some of the rescues they've conducted were to save people who have made very basic mistakes. Who accidentally throws their only map into a fire, anyway? "I still find it impressive that you got Rocky to modify your pack to be able to use that as a secondary attachment."
"It was originally a favor." Everest said. "Then I told him that if it works, we could modify our pup packs to be more adaptable." Thanks to that, all of the pup packs now had detachable gadgets. It made it so they could attach a water cannon for one mission, then change it to have a shovel and drill the next mission.
"It was a good idea," Marshall admitted. "I never pictured that as Fire and EMT Pup, I would start practicing using construction equipment too."
"You're way different in this, Marshall," Rubble said. "You're usually not that serious."
"You should see him when he has to lead." Skye said, remembering one of the few times when Marshall had to take charge. "He drops the jokes and is down to business."
"Being a leader does that to you," Chase agreed.
"Hey, Ryder," Rocky said. "Do you think we could make our pup packs like that?" Ryder thought about it.
"We could try, but I'm pretty sure you have a lot more resources in that place than we do." He said.
"Attention," a voice called from the speaker. "We're about to reach our coordinates. Captain, you might want to see this."
"On my way, Fives," Marshall called out. Fives was given his nickname as the 55th pup to join the PAW Patrol. He was Marshall's second-in-command whenever needed, since he was the second oldest member of the team. He turned toward one of the other pups. "Echo, would you mind filling up my pack as well? I'm sorry, I should've been doing it myself."
"No problem, Marshall, sir," the one named Echo replied, walking to the red pup pack and filling it up with water. It's a good thing the Air Patrollers come with vast water reserves. Not having any more prep work to be done, Everest joined Marshall in the cockpit of the plane.
"What's up, Fives?" Marshall asked, before looking out the window. One quick glance was enough to make him say, "Nevermind." The fire had already spread to cover over a hundred feet in diameter. The smoke was so dense, it was hard to see very far. The cliffs overlooking the fire were probably the only place not on fire.
"I don't see an obvious landing spot." Fives said. "I could land on the cliffs."
"Don't," Everest interrupted. "Sorry, but landing that high over the fire is dangerous. The smoke will be too thick for us to act properly."
"She's right," Marshall said, backing up her claim. "Get the water landing gear ready. We'll land on the lake over there." Fives nodded and did as he said. Marshall ran back to the team, ready to give orders. "Bad news, team. The fire's already spread pretty far. We won't have a close landing spot, so once we touch down, we need to act fast. Echo," he turned toward the youngest pup, who was already done filling up the pup pack. "Once we land, get started on the fireline. We'll need to quickly strangle the fire as soon as possible. Don't cut any corners, but we need to hurry." Echo saluted Marshall, who nodded in response. "Everest, you, Fives, and Jogger will keep the fire back. Your number one goal is to make sure it doesn't spread. The fireline is to be twenty feet out. Any closer and it could start too soon. Any farther, and it will take too long. I'll go in and try to find any wildlife that hasn't gotten out yet." Echo was looking nervous and Marshall could tell. "Something on your mind, pup?"
"It's just…" Echo began and then sighed. "We've never handled a fire this big. What if I can't handle it?" Marshall walked straight in front of him.
"I know you can handle it," he reassured the young pup. "I trained you for this." The confident look in his eyes gave Echo what he needed.
"Marshall, why don't you always show that level of confidence?" Skye asked. "It's pretty attractive."
"Yeah, it's weird," Everest said. "I know you can do it, you just don't,"
"I usually don't have to since I'm not the leader," he said. "Leading isn't a game. If I don't have confidence in myself, who else would?" Skye and Everest could see some similarities between the two sides of Marshall and realized this could really have happened. Everest blushed, seeing this side of Marshall was attractive, but she preferred it when he was being himself.
"Landing in three… two… one…" Fives said. "LET'S MOVE OUT!" As soon as he said that, all five pups ran out of the plane, pup packs and breathing masks on. Marshall ran straight into the fire, much to the dismay of his team. They trusted their leader, but sometimes they found him to be reckless. Everest and Fives started to spray the surrounding trees and grass with their water cannons, making sure it was as drenched as possible to avoid ignition. Jogger kept spraying the fire, keeping the flames at bay. Echo was digging a trench with his shovel attachment to fill with twigs, leaves, and oil. He moved as fast as he could, but made sure that it was still as safe as possible. Marshall was running through the fire, picking up small bunnies and herding deer along with him. Periodically, he ran out of the fire, bringing all of the animals with him to drop them off where it's safe and ran back in. After thirty minutes of this routine, the fireline was three quarters of the way done.
"Marshall, we're almost done with the fireline. Do you have all of the animals out yet?" Everest said over the pup tags.
"I think so, but I'm going to do one more sweep, just to be sure." Marshall said. "Double back and make sure the fire hasn't spread too far. Fives and Jogger, keep focused." They did as told and he ran through the already doomed forest, intent on making sure all the critters were evacuated. However, close to where he started, there was a bear cub just outside of a cave. Marshall was about to try to guide it out of the fire, but noticed a burning tree was about to fall on it. "Look out!" he ran and tackled the cub back into the cave, just as the tree came down. Everest had just come by and saw the whole thing.
"No, Marshall!" Everest shouted, scared that her friend might have died. The others were starting to have similar worries, knowing this wasn't just a TV show with clichés. This is another way things could have turned out. It was real in a way.
"I think I made it into the cave." Marshall said, hopefully, getting close to the TV. The team was watching in anticipation, wondering what became of the other version of their friend.
"Marshall!" she shouted, running up to the mouth of the cave, now covered in a burning tree. She put out the blazing tree with the water cannon and tried to contact her captain. "Marshall, come in! Marshall, can you hear me?"
"Eve… I'm fine… Focus… mission first!" his voice came in choppy, probably due to the combination of the heat and the rocks blocking the signal.
"Attention, Dominoes," Everest called. "Marshall's trapped in a cave."
"What?!" Fives shouted. "We've gotta help him!"
"Negative," Everest said, surprising the team. "We need to put out this fire first. We don't have the time or resources to save him and put out the fire. Once it's out, I can use the claws on the snow plow to move the tree that's blocking it."
"But it's Marshall!" Jogger disagreed. "He's our friend!"
"And our friend will scold us if the forest is still on fire when he gets out of there," Fives argued. "She's right. Besides, we all heard him. He's fine for now."
"I'll keep the fire at bay over here. Everest out." She turned off her tag and used her water cannon to keep the fire at bay.
"How could you leave Mawshall like that?!" Zuma exclaimed.
"I didn't!" Everest defended herself. She pointed to the Everest on the ARW. "She did."
"She made the right call," Marshall stated. All of the other pups looked at him in shock. "A tree that big, she would've needed vehicles to move it and none of them would get through safely with all that fire."
"She even put out the fire that would eat up his oxygen," Ryder added.
"Plus, if the mama bear's in there, she probably wouldn't have reacted very well to the forest on fire. He's probably safer with her in there than he would be with her out there," Chase finished. All the other pups thought about it and knew that they were right. Still, it didn't sit right with them to leave a member of the team alone.
Twenty minutes later, the fireline was complete and burning. The team sat back and watched as the line strangled the larger forest fire, depleting all of its incoming oxygen. Within minutes the first fire was out, the second one following close behind.
"Now that that's done," Echo said, turning to Everest. "Let's get our capt… Everest?" He looked around and didn't see her. He heard a noise, however, and looked toward the Air Patroller, where the snow plow was driving from. Everest had already been on her way to it before the fire even started. She drove straight to the cave she saw Marshall dive into with a bear cub, preying he was still alright. She picked up the trees with the plow's retractable claws and moved them, clearing the way for her to get in.
"Marshall!" she called. "Are you in there?" Suddenly, she heard a growl from inside. Before she could react, a much bigger bear came out, ready to attack. Everest was getting scared, thinking that this bear must have eaten Marshall. She was about to scream and run, but she heard a voice from farther in the cave.
"Oh no, I'm about to die!" she shouted, scared for her other self. "Don't hurt me!" Unsure of what else to do, Marshall and Rocky, who were the closest to her, wrapped her in a hug to calm her down. After a few seconds, her breathing slowed, and she calmed down. "Thanks, guys."
"No problem, Ev," Rocky said.
"Yeah," Marshall said. "Besides, if a bear really did attack you, it would have to get through all of us to do it," Everest smiled, glad she had so many good friends these days.
"Stop!" she heard Marshall say. "She's my friend." She looked behind the bear and there he was, riding on the back of the bear cub she saw earlier. The cub stepped in between his mother and Everest, keeping her safe. The mama bear, realizing Everest meant no harm, went back into the cave. By this time, Domino Squadron had already come up to the cave. Marshall turned to face them. "Hey, team." He looked around at the forest, now turned halfway to ash. "Excellent work with the fire."
"Marshall," Everest said, still in shock. "Did you just stop a big grizzly bear from killing me?"
"Yeah," he said as if it wasn't anything important. "I think she was grateful for me saving her cub."
"That brings me to my question," Jogger interrupted. "Why are you riding on its back?" Marshall sat up, showing his back paw to the team. It had black burn marks on his left leg, along with his paw wrapped in bandages.
"When the tree came down, it hit my leg and broke my paw," he answered. He pet the bear cub, making it sigh. "It was worth it. This little guy is so cool,"
"Only Marshall could stop a big grizzly bear with a couple words," Chase said. "ride on the back of its cub who is two and half times his size, and then pet the cub like a cat and call him 'little guy', all while still making sense." The other could only nod.
After saying goodbye to the bears, the team got back onto the Air Patroller, Marshall driving the snow plow since he couldn't walk yet. He sat there during the entire ride home, the team coming up to him to ask and answer questions.
Once everything was finished, he called Everest up to his seat. She walked up, curious as to what he had to say.
"Everyone here is telling me how well you took control of the situation." He said. She blushed, rubbing the back of her head.
"It wasn't anything special," Everest said sheepishly. "I just considered what you would do and said it over the comm links,"
"You acted with a calm head and thought rationally when you had every reason to panic." Marshall said. "Don't pass it off as no big deal."
"You ran into a blazing inferno to save the forest animals," Everest said argumentatively. "If I complimented that, you wouldn't be acting as if that was a big deal." Marshall chuckled.
"True," Marshall admitted. "but that's expected of me. As a leader, I'm supposed to rise above and beyond the call of duty. As a friend, I do that plus ten percent, so no one else has to. Yet you stood your ground against Fives, who is your commanding officer, and did what needed to be done."
"It's as you say sometimes. The strongest orders don't come from up the chain of command, but come from experience, wisdom, and heart." Marshall just smiled.
"You are a great rescue pup. And you'll only get better from here on." He complimented. "Go take a rest. You've earned it." Everest nodded and went to a small mattress.
Skye and Everest could only blush, realizing that this strong, confident, courageous leader, was really Marshall. It's still hard for them to wrap their heads around.
"Mawshall, you'we making the west of us boys look bad," Zuma complained.
"Sorry," he said. "I'm kind of good at it."
"We can tell it's you," Rubble said. "but it's like something horrible happened that made you step up and be the leader others needed you to be,"
"Rubble, that only happens in movies," Chase said. "Marshall can and always can be like that."
When they got back to headquarters, Ryder and a team of medics were waiting for Domino Squadron. The medics checked on Marshall, while Ryder led Everest back to the command center of the lookout. Everest was unsure what the chief of the PAW Patrol was going to say. Perhaps he was unhappy with her orders to partially leave her friend behind. Even if it turned out alright, she wasn't completely happy with it herself, either.
"Four months ago, you joined Domino Squadron, as per Marshall's request." He said, finally. "I have my doubts when decisions are made by favoritism, especially after you know what happened." He turned to her, a sad look in his eyes. Everest nodded, knowing what he was referring to.
"Rubble was a good troop." She said. "I've heard the story a hundred times from Domino Squadron. And I don't think he would've changed what happened if he had the chance."
Everyone silenced. The video paused, sensing that this needed to process in their heads for a moment. In another reality, Rubble had died during a rescue. Finally, one of them spoke.
"Well," Rubble started glumly, "I called it,"
"Marshall still is a good leader, regardless," Chase said.
"Do you think that made it any easier for Marshall?" Ryder asked. Everest shook her head sadly, knowing the loss that resulted. "Anyway, I've had my doubts when you joined the team. A rookie that beat all of the tests in record time and was asked to join a squad by a friend. It was almost a repeat. You have dashed out every single doubt I had, though." Everest smiled and wagged her tail. "Still, I was surprised when a month ago, I was looking for potential captains for teams and Marshal recommended you." And then her jaw hit the floor.
"He recommended me?" she said, completely in shock.
"He usually recommends Fives, but he turns down the offer every time I ask him, saying Domino is where he belongs." He took out a clipboard with information on it. "You're probably the fastest rookie to be recommended for a captain, so I asked Marshall to watch you for a month and make one hundred percent sure that he recommended you. Fives was in on it as well."
"He recommended ME?" she repeated, still trying to process that. She never dreamed of making captain so early, but now it was happening. Ryder ignored this, completely understanding her shock.
"They've been sure for a while, but they both said that your actions from this mission solidified it." He looked away from his clipboard and looked Everest in the eye. "If you choose to deny this promotion, you return to Domino Squadron. Nothing changes, you go on doing your job as if this meeting never happened. No one will think less of you, knowing how much pressure there would be to lead your own team. If you choose to accept it, however, you will spend the next two months leading the Domino Squadron to train for your own while Marshall's out of commission. You will also be training your replacement on Domino Squadron. Once it's done, you will look through the reserves and pick out four pups to be put on your team." Everest was in shock. Still, she knew what to do.
"I accept." She stated proudly. Ryder smiled, glad that he was seeing such a promising rookie move up so fast. "It will be called the Flurry Squadron,"
The ARW turned off, leaving all the pups in awe, except for Everest, who was cheering.
"I made captain in record time!" she cheered. "That is awesome!" Marshall, breaking from his shock, walked over to Everest.
"Congratulations, Everest," he said to her, breaking her from her cheering. She turned around to hug him.
"Thank you, Marshall!" she shouted. She was starting to forget that didn't actually happen to her, but it didn't matter. She was happy.
"I still can't believe I died," Rubble said. "Still, at least I probably saved a lot of lives."
"Just don't ever make the choice during a rescue," Chase ordered. "I don't think any of us would be able to deal with it."
"Yes, sir," he said.
"Okay, who's next?" Ryder said. Marshall raised his paw.
"I've got one," he walked up to the machine. "Okay, ARW, what would have happened if…"
Well this came up longer than I meant it to. I started typing and as I went along, I got more into it. I think this will be a fun project for me. I know this came up kind of dark for a moment, but tell me if this was a good one.
If you have any requests for a future alternate reality, please let me know.
