Disclaimer: I do not own PAW Patrol or any of its characters. I only own Blight.
Epilogue
Blight didn't know how he opened his eyes.
Dead men usually had their eyes closed, don't they?
But as he weakly raised his eyelids, he saw a blinding light above him and heard voices around him as he slowly came to his senses.
"The wolf's awake!"
"Call the PAW Patrol."
Usually, if the first thing you heard after you woke up is something along the lines of 'call the emergency service', you'd be worried. But Blight didn't care.
Either his allies cared about him enough that they wanted to see him recover, or he's being thrown into jail.
Either way, Blight was rather sure that he successfully eliminated Blood Rend and survived the process.
He could live with that.
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"Why is he still unconscious?" I asked as I stared at the wolf in the bed. He was laying down and his eyes were closed, his breathing steady. Never did I think I would see Blight this at peace.
"He showed signs of awakening earlier," the doctor explained. "It is natural for patients in such dire physical state to fall unconscious shortly after regaining it. Honestly, it's a miracle that he's still breathing at all."
The PAW Patrol had retrieved Blight's body under the rubbles of the burnt down factory that was once the base of Blood Rend. The body was miraculously not burnt to crisp, and they thought that it meant Blight will at least get a full burial. But when Marshall sensed that the wolf still had a pulse, he was sent to The Pups and Humans Hospital in record time.
"Damaged spine, severe internal bleeding, carbon monoxide poisoning... And that's only a small fraction of injuries that he had sustained!" the doctor continued. "I learned the physiology of dogs, not wolves. But if I am a bettor, I'd bet that the wolf is genetically mutated or something."
Chase chuckled nervously, unsure if Blight would like it if he told the doctor he'd have won money if he actually betted.
The PAW Patrol returned to the hideout to tend to their duties after the doctor assured them that Blight would be safe. Chase went to the police station to check the reports of the police that worked on this case.
"Officer Chase," the head officer greeted him. "Here to review the files on Blood Rend? I have to say, amazing fieldwork out there."
"It wasn't just me."
"Yes, of course," the head officer chuckled. "Always nice to have a good team backing you up, eh?"
Chase smiled back in response. "It is."
"Anyways, you're here for the files, right?" the head officer flipped through some files. "To give you a quick summary, we managed to track down the remaining gang members quite easily. Without Zane, the entire organization collapsed into itself."
"Loot?"
"Pretty much as expected," he replied. "Tons of drugs, the weight measure, mind you, were found. All sorts of different kinds too. I'd say that we cut off most supplies for a lot of drug dealers in the process if the records are to be trusted. A lot of illegal weaponry and a boatload of money too. However..."
"What?"
"There was a big transaction recently," the head officer said. "500,000 dollars transferred to an unknown bank account. We haven't even been able to track down the account yet."
500,000 was a large sum, but it was minuscule compared to the vast amount of money Zane was hoarding. Chase suspected that a few days will pass before the police gave up on trying to track the account down. Maybe Blight can track it somehow.
"Thanks," Chase said. "I'll be taking my leave now."
"Bon voyage," the head officer joked. "and stay frosty, Chase. You're a good cop, don't forget that."
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Skye loved watching stars.
They decorated the otherwise dull, black night sky and shone brightly even in darkest nights.
"Watching the sky again?" she heard a voice behind her.
She knew who was talking to her without needing to turn her head, "How did the police handle things, Chase?"
"The usual," the German Shepherd sat next to her. "Capturing the remaining members, collecting the evidence, et cetera. Blood Rend will be done in a day or two, at least for a while."
"Who is this pessimistic pup that I'm talking to?" Skye jokingly punched Chase's shoulder. "You're spending way too much time with Blight."
"Blight will argue that it's pragmatism." Chase rubbed the spot from where he was punched before muttering under his breath. "Unkillable, lucky, son of a bitch..."
"You seem angry that he's alive," Skye smiled.
"I'm just angry at him in general," Chase said. "Who does he think he is? Doing that stupid, cliché, heroic sacrifice thing."
"He didn't die," Skye noted.
"The way he was talking, that bastard probably didn't even think that he'd survive," Chase rolled his eyes.
For a while, silence coated between the two.
"So, you know," Chase broke the silence. "Speaking of Blight, he did ask me to do something..."
"What is it?"
"So, I-uh..." Chase blushed visibly. "I'm wondering i-if we can go out s-sometime. L-like, just the two of us."
It took Skye a few seconds to piece together what Chase was implying. "You mean like a date?"
"You don't have to if you don't want to," Chase said hurriedly. "It's j-just that if you wanted to..."
Skye kissed Chase in the cheek suddenly, surprising the German Shepherd. "I'd love to," she chuckled.
"Umm, yeah. Great..." Chase said, still recovering from the shock of Skye's sudden kiss.
Two pups watched this exchange from a distance, chuckling at Chase's reaction. One was a Dalmatian while the other was a Husky.
"Aww, Chase finally asked Skye out," Everest smiled.
"Took him long enough, too," Marshall remarked. "He had a crush on her since day one."
"Isn't it so romantic," Everest said dreamily. "To have someone confess love to you in a starry night like this one?"
"Uh, yeah," Marshall said distractedly while staring at the Husky, his mind working overtime to figure out if there's a hidden meaning behind the sentence.
When Everest looked back at Marshall strangely, he finally realized that he had been staring at her for a long time.
"WaitIthinkRyderneedssomehelpwithstufformaybeBlight'sdoctorneedshelpormaybeChickalettaneedshelpohyeahohyesGOTTAGO!" Marshall said hurriedly before leaving the scene, his face beet red.
Everest chuckled at the Dalmatian's antiques before returning her attention to Skye and Chase.
"Maybe next time," she whispered. "Next time."
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Kyle was strapped for cash and out of luck.
He didn't suffer under Blood Rend's tyranny by choice, his wife's cancer didn't leave him much choice in the matter.
However, even he knew when to nope out, and when a wolf was involved, that was a definite red flag.
Watching the news channel right now, he was glad that he left when he did. Kyle was sure that he'd end up like his former colleagues if he had stayed. However, that didn't solve his problems.
Which is why he's currently standing outside his wife's doctor's office nervously, contemplating how he should explain that he still didn't have the money to pay his wife's medical bills.
However, when he finally mustered enough courage to step into the office, he was greeted by a bright smile.
"Mr. Warren!" the doctor greeted him. "I have received payment for your wife's treatment. Rest assured, she'll be as healthy as a horse in no time."
Upon seeing Kyle's confusion, the doctor simply showed him a record of a bank transaction on his computer, showing that 500,000 dollars have been transferred to the hospital with a note:
For the treatment of Mrs. Warren
Consider the rest as a donation to the hospital if there's extra, I guess.
Kyle couldn't believe his eyes, but when the doctor assured him (for the umpteenth time) that the treatment will go underway in a week, he was filled with tears of joy.
His wife will be safe.
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One week after the fall of Blood Rend...
Blight gave Chase his tablet, his most prized possession. "Keep it safe for me, will you?"
"Why are you giving me this?" Chase asked as he inspected the wolf. Just a week ago, he was indistinguishable from a corpse. But now, he's up and running yet again, his wounds already fully recovered.
Chase was no doctor, but he knew that broken ribs don't heal so quickly.
"It contains a lot of information about the different gangs that I have encountered," Blight said. "If any of them causes trouble here, there might be something you can use in there."
"I also keep a log there as well," Blight continued. "A journal of some sort. Recordings that I made."
"I'll keep it safe," Chase promised. "Won't let anything happen to it."
"You'd better," Chase had known Blight enough at that point to here the unvoiced threat.
"Why don't you stay?" Chase asked. "The PAW Patrol can really use more paws."
"I don't do groups," Blight said. "And not because I'm a loner or some cliché crap like that, I just don't work well in groups. Besides, your townspeople probably won't give me a warm welcome after I broke their rules for the umpteenth time."
"Blood Rend ain't the only people going around causing misery," Blight said. "And if no one does anything about them, lots of innocent people are gonna get hurt. You might be content defending this town, but I don't have any roots holding me in one place."
"Alright," Chase chuckled "Be safe out there, and whenever you're in trouble, just yelp for help!"
Blight grinned before getting ready to take his leave.
"Wait," Chase said. "One more thing..."
Blight stopped in his tracks and turned around to face the German Shepherd.
"Don't ever say that no tears will be shed in your funeral," Chase said. "You do have friends."
"Perhaps I do, Chase," Blight grinned. "Perhaps I do."
On that note, the wolf left Adventure Bay as quickly as he had come. Venturing forth into the unknown.
And that concludes the story 'Digital'. Thank you so much for bearing with this story until the end. I know that my writing skills are sub-par when compared to the other authors on this site and sticking with this story until the end means a lot to me.
If you have anything to say about my story or my writing skill, please leave a review. It'll help a lot more than you'd think.
If you're interested about the recordings Chase received from Blight, stick around. I'll be writing a prequel to Blight's story in the (hopefully) near future.
Once again, thanks for reading my fanfic and I hope that you all have an amazing 2020.