The drive to Chase's "place to talk" was long, yet quiet. Now that Marshall had calmed down slightly, he had a faint idea of where Chase was talking about. But he still couldn't stop thinking about the hurtful words thrown at him in his dream. Nor could he stop whimpering at the painful memories of the river that nearly killed him.

As focused on the road as Chase was, he could hear Marshall's whimpers very clearly. It was enough to make him want to join in. From what little he could gather from Marshall's tearful babbling earlier, he had to have been dreaming about something pretty horrible, if a little predictable. Soon, Chase had parked his truck in a familiar location to him and Marshall and taken off his gear.

"We're here, Marshall. C'mon." Chase instructed gently.

"So the place you were talking about..." Marshall replied.

"Yep. I always did say this beach was a great place to go to relax. When I need a little time to myself. Or, heck, to wait for a miracle."

Marshall giggled slightly at Chase's last sentence as he shadowed the shepherd to the beach. Something told him that Chase would be holding the beach even closer to his heart than before, thanks to it hosting their reunion a couple of nights ago. Soon, the moonlit sea came into view, with the stars dotting the night sky as the moon smiled benevolently down them. The waves lapped gently at the sandy shores, and there wasn't a single other soul in sight. Strangely, Marshall felt more relaxed already.

"Brings back memories..." Marshall whispered as he walked to the centre of the beach where Chase waited and laid down next to him.

"Memories of a couple days ago, you mean." Chase replied lightheartedly, prompting giggling from the pair of them. "But you're right. I couldn't think of a better place to try to make you feel better when you did the same thing for me."

Marshall couldn't keep the smile off his face. Already, he was becoming convinced that his bad dream was just that. With no truth to it at all.

"OK, hotshot." Chase interrupted Marshall's thoughts with a surprisingly-serious tone. "What did you dream about that made you act like that?"

Marshall took a slow breath in as he prepared to recount his horrifying dream. "Well… you probably know where this is going, but..."

Marshall spared no detail in telling his dream to Chase, who stared at him with a wide-eyed expression of horror the whole time. As unsurprised as he was at what he was told, it didn't lessen the impact any. The moment Marshall repeated what Chase's dream version had said, the shepherd protectively threw his arms around Marshall, doing his best to stop himself from launching into yet another long speech about how wrong his dream was.

"I only woke up when… when I saw a rock coming at me..." Marshall whined. "...and… and I felt like… I was about to… d-drown..."

"Hey, hey… Shhhh… Shhhh… It's OK… None of it was real..." Chase whispered soothingly. "I know it hit close to home, but it was obviously totally wrong." Chase leaned in and nuzzled Marshall. "Remember how I cried with you when you came back? When I found out you were alive? Would I have done that if I thought you were useless? That we were better off without you? And heck, everyone else thought the same way. Think about it. How did Skye react when she came up to see you yesterday?"

"By nearly breaking my spine..." Marshall replied with great amusement.

Chase chuckled under his breath. "And what about Rocky? Rubble? Zuma?"

"Well… a whole lot of crying..."

"Sounds like they really hate you, right?" Chase asked sarcastically.

Marshall paused for a second, before sighing sadly and burying his face in Chase's neck. "I'm such a chicken..." he whimpered. "How could I have scared so easy? From just a stupid dream? I'm supposed to be braver than this..."

Chase gently licked Marshall in response.

"I get scared too, you know? We're all scared of something. I mean, Rubble's got spiders, Rocky's got water, Skye's got eagles, Zuma's got ghosts. But I've got losing my friendship with you guys. I mean, I don't know my breeder or my parents, Ryder's grandpa adopted me that early. So you guys are all the family I have… I've had bad dreams before about losing you guys, but I..."

Chase stopped for a while, seemingly unable to continue on for a second. "…I didn't actually realise how much it scared me until it came true..."

Marshall could only whine sympathetically.

"And now I know what it's like to lose a family member… Heck, if I'd known that this is what losing you felt like, I probably would've thrown myself into the river with you..."

Almost immediately, Marshall bolted upright with a horrified expression. "Chase!" Marshall barked.

"Scold me if you want!" Chase shot back, holding firm. "That's how I felt… Nothing's gonna change that… I… I don't want to go through losing someone like that again… Not you, not Ryder, not Skye… no-one. Ever."

Marshall quickly simmered down. "I… I had no idea…"

"There you go. We all love you too much to say stuff like that about you… And us losing you… Well, I'm not gonna lie… The team probably could've fallen apart over it… We need you, Marshall… I need you… One of us dying is just too much for any of us to take..."

"I've gotta get better… I've gotta make sure something like this never happens again… I mean, the thought of you all falling apart because I can't stay on my ladder is just… just-!"

"Hey, any of us would've panicked if a cat blinded us while stood on a ladder! Even me!" Chase interrupted, before sighing. "But you know that we'll help you out. Just like always. We'll be there to make sure you get better. I mean, you helped me get better, too. All you gotta do is say the word."

Marshall only responded by nuzzling Chase and licking his cheek, to which Chase only squeezed him tighter. Chase had thought for the longest time that this kind of moment between the pair of them would never happen again, but now that he could be there for Marshall once more, he was hoping that it never ended. He didn't even care that he was getting sand in his fur once again. The moment of him lying on a tranquil beach with the pup he loved like a brother was an utterly magical one to him.

The two had to be lying on the beach for about five minutes before Chase exhaled through his nose and broke the hug, standing up and turning to the footpath that led to the beach.

"Guys, you know I can smell you, right?"

Suddenly, a faint, annoyed voice came from the footpath.

"Ugh! I TOLD you he'd sniff us out!"

And then, from behind the mounds and trees came the remaining pups, minus Everest and Tracker, who approached the pair lying on the beach, who both quickly stood up.

"Guys?" Marshall asked in surprised confusion. "How did you find us?"

"We used the periscope. Well, I did, anyway." Skye replied. "But more importantly, are you OK? That was some reaction you had back there..."

"I am now..." Marshall sighed. "You can thank Chase for that."

"You sure?" Rocky added. "I haven't seen you get like that since all three of us had nightmares that one time."

"I'm sure. As horrible as it was, I'm OK now."

"What a welief..." Zuma sighed, before turning to Chase. "Chase, why didn't you tell us where you were going? You saw how scawed we all got!"

Chase lowered his head. "I'm sorry, Zuma… But… I thought we'd lost Marshall again… And all because of a nightmare..."

"Do we… even wanna know what kind of nightmare makes someone get like that?" Rubble asked tentatively.

Chase and Marshall shared a look between each other.

"You want me to take this one, buddy?" Chase asked.

"If you don't mind..."

Chase took a breath in. "Alright… Well, apparently..."

Predictably, the pups were just as horrified as Chase was upon hearing about Marshall's nightmare. Chase could only recall one other time when he saw this much collective horror at once. He could tell that all of the pups were itching to shout out and interrupt him.

"...And that's when he woke up." Chase concluded.

"Mawshall! How could you think I'd say something so mean?!" Zuma shouted immediately with tears in his eyes.

Rubble, for his part, had bolted forward and tackled Marshall into one of the tightest hugs he could muster. "THERE'S NO WAY I'D EVER THINK THAT! NOT EVER! WHY WOULD YOU EVER THINK I'D SAY SOMETHING LIKE THAT?!" he screamed.

"How many times have I told you, Marshall?! I can't hate you no matter how many times you get me wet!" Rocky yelled, leaping at Marshall and joining in on Rubble's hug. "I'd NEVER want you to die on us just because you got me wet! That's… HORRIBLE!"

"You're wrong, mister!" Skye shouted waveringly. "WRONG! Don't you dare think that we'd want you gone just for being you, you hear me?!"

"GUYS!" Chase yelled in the most authoritative way he could manage, immediately stopping the racket and drawing all attention to him. "Look, Marshall's nightmare was scary and awful. He knows that. And so do we. Yelling at him's not gonna make anyone feel better. Besides, we all had nightmares, right?"

There was a period of silence as everyone comprehended what Chase had just said. Rubble and Rocky still had yet to let Marshall go, but the dalmatian was listening just as intently, even as he watched their tears dry up.

"Chase… h-how… how did you know that?" Zuma asked falteringly.

"Come on, I've known all of you since we were little!" Chase replied with slight incredulity. "I know what you're all like. All of you looked like you'd seen a ghost. Breathing heavy, wide-eyed, and, heck, that's not counting Marshall waking us up by thrashing around like he was."

Marshall's eyebrows arched, before he looked away in shame, which was greeted by Rubble and Rocky both nuzzling him at once. The spotted pup couldn't keep the soft smile off of his face.

"I… guess you're right..." Skye whispered. "But, Chase, didn't YOU get bad dreams too? Your eyes were redder than normal when you woke up."

Chase was surprised. How could Skye have picked out such a small detail in that darkness? "Guilty..." he replied.

"Huh?" Marshall piped up, getting to his paws. "Chase, you never told me YOU had nightmares, too!"

"No offence, Marshall, but I kind of had more to worry about than that. But… lemme guess, you really wanna know what I dreamed about, right?"

Marshall walked over to Chase. "Not just you. Everyone. Chase, you heard me out already. The least I can do is hear you out, too."

Chase sighed. This was going to be a long night. But then, it was just like Marshall to make a fuss over them when they were feeling bad. He was the team's medic for a reason, after all.

"OK, Marshall… If you really wanna know… I dreamed… about watching you fall in the river again… But this time… everyone was there, and… you were screaming for us to help you… you sounded so scared and- and when the ledge was about to break, you screamed that you hated us… and that we betrayed you…"

Marshall felt like he'd been impaled through the chest. Now he knew how it felt when he told the other pups about the hateful words they'd spewed towards him in his dream.

"After it happened… Everyone turned on me… Beat me up… Screamed at me about being… worthless..." Chase couldn't hide a tear rolling down his cheek. "And then when they were all done… they kicked me into the river, too..."

When Chase had managed to successfully fight back his tears, he noticed Marshall weeping and staring at him with abject horror on his face.

"Oh, Chase!" Marshall sobbed, tackling the shepherd off his feet, wrapping himself around him in a crushing bearhug. "Th-That wasn't true at all! That… There's no way ANYONE would do that to you!"

Marshall's words prompted an outpouring from the rest of the pups.

"No way! Nevew!"

"I'd never do that, Chase!"

"It wasn't your fault at all!"

"Chase, that's awful!"

Marshall continued sobbing. "See, Chase?! SEE?! There's no way they'd do that to you! And-and I didn't think you'd b-betrayed me at all! IT! WASN'T! YOUR! FAULT!"

"Heh, heh… OK, OK, firecracker..." Chase whispered. "I get it, already..."

But even Chase couldn't help but notice that he had yet more tears rolling down his face. But these, once more, weren't tears of sadness at all. Quite the opposite, in fact. Marshall really hadn't changed. Kicking up an emotional fuss the moment he heard that something was wrong with his friends. Slowly, Marshall calmed back down enough to clamber off of Chase.

"Err, uhh… S-Sorry about that." Marshall stammered.

"Heh…" Chase chuckled, before licking Marshall's cheek, only to recoil. "BLEGH-! Urgh-! Salty...!"

The whiplash was intense enough to cause the pups to default to deep belly laughs, Marshall included. Even Chase couldn't stop himself from laughing once he'd finished shivering in disgust.

"OK, OK..." Marshall whispered after he'd finished laughing. "What about the rest of you?"

And just like that, the atmosphere shifted downwards yet again, as all of the pups looked downwards at their paws.

"I guess I'll start us off..." Skye began quietly. "I... dreamed about your funeral… And that I had to give a speech… But I didn't get a few seconds in before the town turned on me… The last thing I remember is an angry mob closing in on me… And… the rest of you weren't anywhere to be found."

"I… kinda dreamed of the same thing…" Rubble piped up. "Only… Marshall… climbed out of a coffin as a zombie… And… I had to watch him… Tear everyone apart… I only woke up when he was about to rip my throat out..."

"And I dweamed about twying to save you..." Zuma added. "Only my hovercwaft… Well, it didn't exactly handle the wiver well… You kept scweaming… and scweaming, begging me to help you… But I only woke up when my hovercwaft tipped ovew when it hit a wock..."

Marshall whined. "Oh, man… This is all… worse than I thought… But how come the rest of you don't seem all that bothered by your dreams?"

"Like Chase said, we kinda had more to worry about than that." Rocky replied. "I mean, I dreamed that I was in the river with you… I tried to keep you with me, but then we ended up getting separated when the river forked in two… it was really scary, but when you ran out, honestly I was more scared of losing you again. But then again, you've actually lived your dream."

Marshall couldn't deny Rocky's logic. Nor could Chase, even though he'd been having the same dream the entire time that Marshall had been gone. It only stopped after Marshall had come back. But he had to wonder why they slept so well the night before, but not tonight. Chase could only theorise that the stress of hearing about Ryder not getting any better had made them all feel bad enough to suffer bad dreams again.

"Well..." Chase finally piped up. "It doesn't really matter anymore. They were all just bad dreams. And we all know that. We've got nothing to worry about. Plus, I don't know about all of you, but I'm happy I got all that off my chest."

Nobody replied other than moving in for a group hug with him and Marshall, which the two pups readily accepted. Chase was right. They were nothing more than bad dreams to be discarded and forgotten. Because the reality was far sweeter. Marshall was back with them, and they no longer had anything to fear.

Except for perhaps one thing.

"Guys?" Marshall piped up after a few minutes. "There's still one thing that's bugging me."

"It's Ryder, isn't it?" Chase guessed.

"Yep. I mean, if we had bad dreams like that, how do you think Ryder's doing?"

"Marshall, wait." Skye interjected. "I'm not so sure talking to Ryder's a good idea right now… You heard what Jake said, right? There's a chance that if we don't talk to him, we'll just make things worse..."

"No." Chase replied sharply. "Ryder needs his family. He's shut himself off for too long, now."

"The only thing that's gonna make it worse is if we just sit around doing nothing!" Marshall declared. "He's been a mess from the word 'Go'! He's gonna talk, even if we've gotta make him!"

"But how, guys?" Rocky asked. "He's had his door locked all day! The last time I tried to talk to him, he just screamed at me!"

"Maybe it'll be a little better now that Marshall's back with us?" Rubble countered hopefully.

"Maybe he's not even asleep!" Zuma added. "Maybe he actually WANTS to talk to us!"

"That's pushing it a little, Zuma..." Skye added uncertainly. "I'll go with you guys… But I'm still not sure about this..."

"There's nothing to be sure about, Skye." Chase replied. "But I'm not gonna sit on my butt and do nothing anymore! I've been in my shell for too long now!"

"Then let's go!" Marshall declared. "But er… Chase, could you… gimme a ride back to the Lookout, please?"

Chase turned around and beamed at the speckled pup, punctuating his words with a military salute. "Chase is on the case!"

As Chase drove Marshall back to the Lookout, with the other pups in their own vehicles, minus Skye, who had hitched a ride with Rocky, tailing him, he couldn't help but wonder about something as he tapped his Pup Tag, opening a line to Skye.

"What's up, Chase?" Skye asked.

"I'm a little curious, Skye." Chase replied. "Where are Everest and Tracker? I didn't see them at all. I didn't even smell them."

"Well, they said they were gonna stay out of it. Said it was something for us to handle?"

"I thought we told them that 'us' means them, too?"

"They just said that they needed their own owners tonight after what happened."

Chase grumbled. Evidently, Skye's speech hadn't quite landed the way she'd hoped. Or the way any of them had hoped, for that matter.

"I guess we all need each other tonight." he concluded.

"Guess so." she replied.

The trip back to the Lookout was completed in silence the rest of the way, with none of the pups daring to say anything to each other. All that was on their minds at that point was Ryder, even as they passed Jake and Carlos' tents, which Everest and Tracker were no doubt sleeping in, with Jake and Carlos somehow not noticing Marshall running away in panic. As the pups boarded the elevator to take them up to Ryder, the atmosphere was thick enough to cut with a knife. But the pups never noticed that Rocky had put his gear on until they were partway to Ryder's door.

"Huh? Rocky?" Skye whispered. "Why are you wearing your gear?"

"In case Ryder has the door locked." Rocky replied quietly. "Desperate times, desperate measures. Besides, I'd probably get sent to get my gear if the door was lo-"

"Guys. Shh." Chase interrupted. "You hear that?"

The pups immediately fell quiet and listened. They had just arrived outside of Ryder's door, but his voice was unmistakable. Even though Ryder was being too quiet and muffled to make out, Chase still managed to pick up on his emotions.

"He sounds… stressed." Marshall whispered.

"He's gotta be having a nightmawe, wight?" Zuma asked.

"It's gotta be." Rubble replied. "I can't really hear him, but he sounds… scared."

"Oh, crud..." Skye hissed. "Rocky, get this door open, now!"

"I'm going, I'm going!" Rocky replied, deciding to check the dog door first, pushing against it with his paws, only to be surprised when it moved with barely any effort on his part.

"Hey! It's not locked!"

"Then what are we waiting for?!" Chase hissed. "Move it, pups!"

Everyone was quick to act on Chase's order, hopping through the dog door to Ryder's room one by one. And now, Ryder's voice was crystal clear. As was the utter terror in it.

"Urgh… Urgh-! Marshall-! No…!"

Marshall froze up. "Wait, what did I do?!" he hissed.

"I think Ryder's talking in his sleep." Chase replied. "Someone get the light?"

"I'll do it." Rocky whispered. "Claw arm. Arf."

Rocky moved towards the lamp on Ryder's bedside table and barked out his claw arm as quietly as he could, happy that his Pup Pack was of some use after all. But when the light illuminated most of the room and Ryder's face along with it, the pups very quickly wished that Chase hadn't asked Rocky to turn the light on.

Ryder, to put it lightly, was not relaxed at all. It was plain to see that he was asleep, but his eyes were screwed up tightly, and he was breathing incredibly rapidly. Far more rapidly than was normal. The boy's forehead was utterly drenched with sweat and he was thrashing around where he lay. It went without saying to the pups. Their owner was locked in a horrific nightmare.

"Don't… go! Please-! Don't… leave me-!"

Marshall wanted to cry again at seeing the obvious pain his owner was in. He thought his nightmare was bad, if predictable. But Ryder's was even more so. And Marshall didn't need to wake the boy to know that.

"Oh, man..." Marshall whined. "What do we do?"

"No-!" Ryder whispered fearfully, still asleep. "Marshall-! Don't… die! I… can't go on… without you!"

"We've gotta wake him!" Marshall continued.

"Wait." Chase instructed, as much as it pained him to do so. "Before we do that, we've gotta get something. Rocky?"

"I'll make it fast." Rocky replied, turning and bolting out of the room.

"Huh? Where's Rocky going?" Skye asked.

"Ryder always said a glass of warm milk helps him sleep. Helps calm him down." Chase explained. "I just hope he makes it quick..."

The pups all turned back to Ryder.

"How…? How could I… I've… I've failed you, Marshall… I've failed… everyone..."

"Chase, it's getting REALLY hard to hold back right now..." Marshall said quietly.

"C'mon, Rocky..." Chase whispered.

"Pups… No-! Please! I-I… tried! I'm so sorry-!" Ryder whimpered in his sleep.

It was like a car wreck. Horrible and stomach-churning to watch, but impossible to look away from. Chase was looking noticeably queasy as he watched Ryder thrash around.

"Pups! Please-! Don't-! Don't do this!"

"Do what?!" Zuma demanded under his breath.

"We're not… hurting him… are we?" Chase asked distantly.

"M-Marshall-?"

"'Marshall'?" Rubble echoed quietly. "What's he talking about?"

"But I'm… already… dead… in his dream… right?" Marshall asked falteringly, slowly putting two and two together.

"Marshall… no… no, no, no..."

"What are you thinking, Marshall?" Chase asked, seeing the terrified look on his brother-figure's face.

"I think… I might be… about to come back from the dead in Ryder's dream..."

"Huh?" Skye said in confusion. "But isn't that a good thing?"

Surprisingly, both Rubble and Marshall turned to look at her.

"Err… no." they both replied in unison.

"Marshall-?! Wh-wha-?! What's going-?! No! Please!" Ryder babbled in terror.

"That's it!" Marshall declared, storming forward. "I'm waking him and I'm waking him NOW!"

Marshall quickly hopped up onto Ryder's bed.

"I'm so sorry-!" Ryder cried in his sleep. "P-Please-! I tried to…!"

"Ryder!" Marshall hissed, shaking the boy's head with his paws. "Snap out of it! You're having a nightmare!"

"G-Get away-! P-Please-! D-Don't hurt me-!"

"Ryder! C'mon!" Marshall intensified his shaking. "It's just a bad dream! Wake up!"

"Marshall-!" Ryder started thrashing even more violently. "Please don't kill me-!"

"RYDER! WAKE UP!" Marshall screamed at the top of his voice.

Finally, Ryder's eyes flicked open, and perhaps not unexpectedly, Ryder began screaming, jolting Marshall off of the bed as he thrashed around in terror while screaming his head off. A sight the pups had to watch for fifteen seconds before he started to calm down even slightly. Slowly, Ryder's terrified screaming ebbed away, until finally it was replaced with extremely rapid, shallow breaths, leaving the boy a hyperventilating, frightened mess.

The pups stared on, enraptured in the worst way. Even Marshall stared up at Ryder, feeling like crying himself. Not once had he ever seen Ryder in such a state. But internally, Marshall knew he was right. Ryder needed his family. Marshall just didn't think he needed them that badly. Steeling himself, Marshall jumped back onto Ryder's bed after watching him sit up in bed.

Marshall had a feeling that his presence would be met with terror. And Ryder gasping as Marshall appeared in his cone of vision confirmed it. His breathing had completely stopped as Marshall slowly drew near with a look of sympathy on his face.

"M-M-M… M-M-Mar… M-Marshall-?" Ryder stuttered in fright. "I-I… Wh- I… B-But-"

The boy found himself getting cut off as Marshall gently placed a paw over Ryder's mouth for a few seconds. As Marshall took his paw away, he moved up even closer to Ryder before pushing himself up onto his hind legs and draping his arms over Ryder's shoulders, squeezing him as tightly as he could manage.

In that moment, the boy seemed to shut down altogether, staring ahead with the same terrified expression on his face. But it only took a few seconds before Ryder swiftly threw his arms around his pup, clinging to him for dear life and shaking all the while, still not losing his expression of raw, wide-eyed fear, even letting the odd tear of terror slip down his face.

The sight was heartbreaking for the remainder of the pups. It was truly astounding as to how much Ryder looked his age in that moment. He'd always been a brave, friendly and surprisingly-mature child. But a moment such as this served to remind them all that Ryder was just that: a child. A child with fears, weaknesses and doubts all his own. A child who had never looked quite as scared and vulnerable as he did now. And a child who hadn't received nearly as much attention as he so obviously needed. But Marshall hugging him while gently licking his cheek was a good start. A reminder that Ryder held a special place in all of their hearts. Just as all of them held a special place in his.

The pups, sans Marshall, were all then distracted by a noise coming from behind them. They turned to see Rocky's claw arm holding a glass of milk slowly extending through the door, followed by the mixed breed gingerly stepping through the dog door. But when Rocky finally registered what was going on, he couldn't stop himself from whimpering at the sight. He practically glided across the floor towards Ryder's bed, stopping when he reached the side.

"Ryder, it's OK…" Rocky said soothingly. "Here… this is for you..."

The pup's claw arm extended up towards Ryder, still holding the glass of milk. With both hands, Ryder slowly extended his shaking hands towards the warm glass, gingerly taking it and slowly moving it towards his lips, obviously still as frightened as ever, with Marshall not letting go of him for so much as a second.

Slowly, the liquid in the glass disappeared as Ryder drank it all. Until finally, it was all gone. Ryder seemed slightly more relaxed, but was otherwise as scared as ever. His eyes weren't quite as wide as before, and his shaking had slowed down, but both were still there as he wrapped his arms back around the dalmatian in front of him. Ryder was clearly still too frightened to speak a word, even as Rocky gently took the empty glass from him and set it down in the corner of his room.

Rocky quickly detached his Pup Pack and disrobed, removing his vest and cap before moving over to Ryder's bed, hopping up to it and lying down next to Marshall. Soon, Ryder's breathing began to slow to a more reasonable pace. Now it was clear that Ryder was relaxing more than before. And the rest of the pups, watching from the sidelines, took this as their cue to join Marshall and Rocky.

Everyone quickly trotted to Ryder's bed and jumped up on it, moving as close as they could manage to the boy and snuggling close to him. And Ryder, feeling more tired and at ease than he was before, fell back down into bed, landing with his head on the pillow and falling asleep once more, still not letting go of Marshall. And one by one, the pups followed, all falling asleep with him as the clock hit 1:00AM, exhausted from the long, harrowing night that they shared.

The stresses of the day had been phenomenal. From Marshall getting over his newfound hydrophobia, to Chase and Skye finally making amends, to finally getting to see their owner for the first time in a long time only to see him in a terrified stupor. The progress towards healing from Marshall's accident was sadly slow.

But as far as the pups were all concerned, any progress was good progress.

And so concludes phase 2 of 4. At last, Ryder is back on... screen? But any improvement he may have undergone is decidedly-marginal. And Marshall's still suffering the aftershocks of his incident in the forest, but with Chase and the pups around, they're not destined to last long.

We're now entering into phase three. It has already been a long journey, and this fic has even far-surpassed my former-longest work, Primary Fears, in terms of length, upload time and, debatably, scope. But the next three chapters coming up will be the ones that were written by who I'd say was my co-writer throughout the whole thing: Zojak. He's been the one keeping me sane all throughout writing this monster, and the three chapters coming up had his feedback and input. For that, I'm eternally grateful.

And yep, Ryder reappears at long last. He's been gone a long time, huh?

I hope you'll enjoy what's to come. And as always if you enjoyed this, then please don't hesitate to leave a review or send a favourite or follow my way. Thanks for listening. Hope to see you Saturday.