After a long day of fun, nighttime came about once again. All of the pups started to make their way to their doghouses, their heads low and their tails drooping from exhaustion. "That was some day," Rubble commented before yawning loudly.
Zuma nodded, having just recovered from a yawn himself. "Yeah," he agreed. "Between the beach trip and that unexpected hike in the mountains…" He tumbled forward onto his nose. It took him a moment to say, "Ouch," in response.
Chase merely shook his head. He had to sympathize with Zuma since he himself was just as tired… but then, everyone was somnolent. Skye was practically asleep on her paws, and even Rocky, who hadn't participated in all of their games, was struggling to keep his eyes open. Maybe it was the heat that was getting to them.
The German shepherd even resigned to the idea of not figuring out who or what the "miracle" was until sometime the next night. Some tears hung in his eyes, begging him to go to sleep. Keep it going, Chase… fifty more steps…
Unfortunately, he collapsed where he was, sleep overtaking him on the spot. It wasn't long before the other pups managed to fall asleep… in their doghouses.
ACHOO!
Chase sneezed as the result of a stray seagull feather making contact with his nose. He, now wide awake, looked around and realized that he was still outside under the nighttime sky. When he finally remembered what happened, he thought, Really? I couldn't hold it together for fifty more steps? Chase shook his head with disdain at his own weakness.
He got up and started to walk over to his doghouse, but he suddenly noticed that something was off. A bit more thinking and he was sure it was about Rocky's doghouse. The structure itself was fine, but it was what was, or rather wasn't, in the doghouse: Rocky.
At first, Chase's eyes widened with alarm, as his mind ran through all of the possible scenarios. Rocky could be lost. Stolen. Bamboozled by some kind of… stray…
Miracle.
Chase's pace started to speed up as he realized what was going on. Rocky was out of his normal sleeping place, there was some "miracle" thing going on for him, and his normal behavior was off.
It didn't take a rocket scientist to put two and two and two together: Rocky was secretly seeing someone. Maybe their name was Miracle. And he'd been dreaming about them.
He narrowed his eyes and crept up to Marshall's doghouse. He put a paw on the Dalmatian's shoulder and shook it roughly. "Marshall!" he hissed.
"Don't rob me! I don't have any pockets!" the Dalmatian shouted before he realized what just happened. "Chase, you scared me half to death!" he hissed, narrowing his blue eyes. "Let me sleep!"
"Marshall, Rocky is missing," Chase retorted in a whisper. "He's doing something to do with the 'miracle,' I'm sure of it."
"He is?"
"I don't know, but I should be able to sniff him out."
"Okay."
"But I'll need you to help me spot him."
"Why?"
"Because there is the chance that he could be spotted outside of the scent trail, or he might cover his scent to keep us off of his back."
"Oh. Okay." Marshall slowly got up and stretched. "Wait. But why would he cover his scent if he didn't know we were following him?"
"Like I said, there is that chance. And he's a paranoid little pup sometimes."
"Oh."
"Now let's go before we lose him." Chase all but charged off.
Marshall bounced after him, calling in a whisper, "Hey, slow down!"
Rocky made his way down to the beach, looking around for Miracle. Alas, there was no sign of her; not even under the bench they'd been under at the last meeting. He looked up at the moon, noticing that he was still fairly early. That was a relief; he did not want to make it a habit to be tardy for the Australian shepherd.
Deciding being seen was not in his best interest, Rocky bounded under the bench before taking a seat as far away as he could from the ocean's waves. He sat there scanning the beach for any sign of Miracle.
Chase was having a hard time picking up Rocky's scent. There were tons of smells that had been left there during the day, and there was even some construction work going on near the Lookout, so some dust was stopping him from doing his magic. That said nothing of all of the other dogs who'd undoubtedly passed through that day, and it wasn't like Marshall was helping much…
"Marshall, cut it out!"
The Dalmatian looked up apologetically from a butterfly he'd been entranced by. "Heh, sorry."
"We need to focus!"
Marshall frowned. "But…" He glanced around the dark surrounding area. All he could see were the shops of the downtown area, the beach which was off in a distance, the nearby trees, the pavement which various vehicles travel on, and the sidewalk on which the pups stood. There was no sign of Rocky or the alleged stray. "It's so cool out here! I don't even remember the last time I was out at night."
Chase, on the other paw, replied, "For all we know, he could be in danger. This is no time for sightseeing."
"But I thought you said he was meeting a miracle-worker."
"I said he was meeting someone named Miracle," Chase corrected with an irritated groan. "Or someone he calls Miracle. Who knows who this miracle is? It could be someone bad."
"Miracle wouldn't sound like a miracle then," Marshall said. "Why would someone call someone Miracle if they weren't nice?"
"Why would I be named Chase if I wasn't a search and rescue dog?"
"True."
The two pups got going again, but it wasn't ten steps until Chase's nose finally picked up something. With a smile, Chase said, "Got him."
"You're right about our names though," Marshall said. "I ought to start calling you 'Officer'."
Chase gave Marshall an annoyed look. "I would rather be called Chase."
"Or maybe I should call you 'Grump,' because that's what you're being tonight…"
"Let's just GO!
Miracle slowly made her way to the bench. There was no sign of Rocky, which wasn't really a surprise considering that he was late the first night. She started to look for a place to stay hidden for the moment when she heard a "Psst."
She gasped, jumping in a 180 degree angle. "Rocky?" she exclaimed in a hushed voice.
"In the fur," he said, walking out of the shadows, "Got here a little early, so I decided to stay out of sight just in case."
"Good idea, but at least whisper my name next time," Miracle snapped. "It could have been anyone saying 'psst.' Even the dog catcher."
"Oh, right." Rocky lowered his ears sheepishly.
"But now that I know it's you, what're we going to do?"
"I don't really know."
"Well, the talking will get boring after a while, so we need to think of something. We'll think about it tomorrow, though. It's better not to stay up late thinking too much."
"But what're we gonna do?"
"I can show you around the neighborhood, if you want."
"Nah, too many familiar sights."
"But do you know the stray spots? The ones that petties don't know about?"
"Petties? Is that what you call pets?"
"Me and other strays."
"Okay... So what all spots are there that other dogs don't know about?"
"Oh there are plenty, but first... I want you to swear that you'll never tell anyone."
Chase and Marshall finally found Rocky. They were able to hear some female dog tell Rocky that he must be sworn into secrecy. They didn't, however, hear what it was exactly.
The two pups both watched intently as an Australian shepherd spoke to their mutt friend. Rocky was giving her a perplexed look. "Okay, well how DO I promise?"
"What are they doing?" Marshall asked in a whisper.
"It looks like she's making him vow an oath," Chase answered. His lips were curled in the beginnings of a snarl. "We have to stop him before he promises whatever it is."
"What if it's something good?"
"He's already sneaking out to see this dog and masking his scent to throw us off. She must be trying to trick him into quitting the PAW Patrol; you never know with these stray types."
"You don't know that."
"But my dad does, and he said that he lost members in his squad that way. We can't let this happen."
"Raise your right paw," Miracle said to Rocky.
Rocky obeyed hesitantly.
"I, state your name."
"We have to stop him now! On the count of three…"
"I, state your name."
That caused Miracle to giggle. "I meant for you to say your name."
"One…"
"Oh. Sorry," Rocky blushed. "I, Rocky."
"Two…" Chase and Marshall's muscles tensed under their coats.
"Promise to keep secret-"
"Three!"
Marshall and Chase lunged out of their leafy cover. "Freeze! You're under arrest!" Chase yowled.
"For what?!" Miracle asked. Her lips curled back in a snarl, and she spread her paws wide in battle stance. Who were those strangers?
Rocky took his right paw and facepawed.
"Rocky, it's us!" Marshall exclaimed. "Marshall and Chase!"
"I know," Rocky retorted flatly, not removing his paw from his face. "What are you two doing here?"
"We're here to rescue you from that vile, vile villain!" Chase yipped, growling at Miracle.
"Vile villain?! What crime have I committed, Officer?!"
"That should have been his name, but it's not," Marshall snapped. "He prefers Chase."
"Be quiet Marshall! We're arresting this criminal!"
"Oh, right."
"For what?" Both Rocky and Miracle asked.
"For attempting to corrupt a member of the PAW Patrol." Chase snarled.
Rocky and Miracle stopped and looked at each other. There was a brief moment of silence before they both burst into laughter.
"What are you laughing at?!" Chase demanded. "These paws uphold the laws!"
Marshall burst into laughter.
"Yes, but what all did you actually hear?" Rocky asked, grinning as he held back the urge to laugh more.
"She was making you promise somethin- Stop laughing, Marshall! And you were going to do it! She was going to make you leave the PAW Patrol!"
Rocky laughed even harder. "Sorry to disappoint you, but I'm not leaving the PAW Patrol."
Chase blinked, raising an eyebrow. "Are you sure?"
"Yeah, all she was doing was swearing me into secrecy so she could show me some new spots that only the strays know about. Why would I want to leave?"
"Because we squirted you with water this morning to get you up," Marshall chirped.
"Well, that was annoying, but not enough to make me leave."
"They squirted you with water to get you up?" Miracle echoed incredulously.
"Well, I DID sleep in a little late, and they DID try everything."
"Oh... Sorry. Guess I had you up too late."
"Uh… so, this dog was just going to show you a few things?"
"Yep, that was all she was going to do until you two pounced at her."
"Oh! Uh… then, my apologies, ma'am." Chase cleared his throat and glanced down at his paws awkwardly.
"You can just call me Miracle. That's my name."
"Yeah, I kinda figured that when Rocky blurted it out when we woke him."
"You were dreaming about me?" Miracle asked Rocky, smiling a touch mischievously.
Rocky's eyes widened, and he was sure he turned red under his coat. "I never said that," he quickly replied.
Miracle chuckled. "I dreamed about you, you know."
"Y- You did?"
"Yeah." She smiled just a touch shyly. "I don't remember anything else, though."
"Oh. Well, I guess I can't say much there... But I can say that it was the second one that was good. The first one..." Rocky took a breath. "Something was about to happen to you."
"Oh?" Miracle's smile started to fade.
"I guess it was built up from the concern that I had for you at the time, but... You were caught between a human with a baseball bat and this cliff face. And an avalanche of rocks was about to crush you, but you couldn't run without the human hurting you." Rocky's neck fur stood on end. "It was a horrible dream…"
"I bet, but what happened to me hurts more than a baseball bat and an avalanche."
"If it did, why don't you yelp for help?" Chase asked, frowning. "It sounds like something bad happened. Ryder would know how to fix it."
"Yeah... About that..." Rocky started, "She..."
"I don't trust humans," Miracle said, "Not after what my previous owners did to me."
"Previous owners?" Chase and Rocky asked in unison.
Miracle nodded. "But I don't want to talk about it."
"Of course not," Chase agreed. "Um…"
Marshall yawned. "I'm tired."
"Yeah, I think I better get going before I end up sleeping right here," Chase added, remembering with shame what had happened earlier. "Rocky, will you be fine to come home alone later, or do you want to join us?"
Rocky glanced between his fellow PAW Patrol members and Miracle before responding, "I think I'll check out the stray secrets with Miracle. You guys go on ahead."
"Okay. Just don't stay out too late."
"Don't remind me. I don't want a repeat of this morning. Just the thought of it," Rocky said before shuddering.
"Okay then. We'll see you in the morning."
"Okay, see ya then."
With that, Chase and Marshall made their way back to the Lookout while Rocky walked back to Miracle. "Now, where were we?"
"You were about to be sworn to secrecy," Miracle answered.
"Right." Rocky raised his right paw.
"I, state your name," Miracle started.
"I, Rocky…"
"...Promise to keep secret the sights that are known only to strays."
"...Promise to keep secret the sights that are known only to strays."
"Never am I to tell any pets…"
"Never am I to tell any pets..."
"...Or humans..."
"...Or humans..."
"...About what I see tonight."
"...About what I see tonight."
"If I should break this oath..."
"If I should break this oath..."
"...May the dog catcher take me away."
"...May the dog catcher take me away."
"It is done," Miracle finished.
"It is done," Rocky repeated before both pups laughed.
"So, shall we?"
"That we shall."
Both pups then walked into the night, ready for the new sights that awaited them.