20 minutes earlier, the heavy rain and raging ocean in front of him matched Marshall's mood perfectly. A mix of aggression and sadness. At the rear of the Lookout, the damatian's tears continued to fade away into the rain no matter how hard he cried. He was less concerned with the fact that he felt like he was being coddled and more with the fact that it seemed that the owner he trusted and loved so much didn't trust him not to get hurt anymore. And any attempt to get him to believe otherwise just got him slapped down.

Marshall was too distraught to even think straight. Would he ever perform a rescue again? With Ryder's trust in him so obviously shattered, the answer was most likely "no". What would his life be like if he was never to rescue again? Would he be replaced after all? What would he do with himself? The questions flew around his head, but Marshall was simply crying too hard to even answer them.

Marshall's crying, however, faded slightly as he felt a wet nose poking against his side.

"Hey, Marshall..." Rocky whispered soothingly.

But despite it getting quieter, Marshall's sobbing continued, even as Rocky laid down next to him and put his paws around him. As disgusting as it was to feel their wet coats rubbing against each other, Rocky nuzzled Marshall without hesitation. Rocky at least took heart in his presence alone clearly providing some comfort.

"So..." Rocky began, unsure of quite how to begin. "...that was something, huh?"

"...something…?" Marshall whimpered. "...s-something…?"

"(Oh boy. Wrong answer.)" Rocky thought.

"SOMETHING?! RYDER'S KEEPING ME OFF THE TEAM AND ALL YOU CAN CALL THIS IS 'SOMETHING'?! H-He doesn't trust me anymore! He doesn't… doesn't want me to be a fire pup anymore!"

"Marshall..."

"Wh-What am I going to do?! R-Ryder totally hates me now! O-O-One accident and he… he doesn't w-want me to be on the team anymore!"

"Marshall..."

"Wh-What am I here for if I can't be a fire pup?! I-I don't even know if Ryder… if he even wants me here anymore!"

"Marshall."

"A-And it's all because… because I'm so CLUMSY AND STUPID that I can't stay on a ladder!

"Marshall!"

"Sh-Should I just leave?! IS THAT WHAT HE WANTS?!"

"MARSHALL!"

Rocky didn't like raising his voice, but when he had to, he sometimes surprised even himself. The mix had a deceptively-strong voice when he yelled, and thankfully it was enough to snap the ranting dalmatian out of his angry diatribe. Once the soaking-wet Marshall had fallen quiet, staring at Rocky with shining, tearful eyes, Rocky took a slow breath out, then in, and began to speak more calmly.

"That's not how Ryder feels and you know it." Rocky began. "You know Ryder. He doesn't hate any of us. Can you name a single time he's ever hated us? Ever?"

"...right now, maybe?" Marshall replied bitterly, looking down and to the side.

"Don't be silly. He doesn't hate you, me, or anyone. But there is one person he hates more than anyone right now..." Rocky paused, as if for effect, letting the rain patter down around them.

"...himself."

Marshall looked back at Rocky, still shedding tears, but with eyes of curiosity and surprise.

"...wh-what…?"

"You wanna know why Ryder screamed at you? Why he was so stuck on not letting you go with him?"

"...c-cause… cause-"

"Because he can't bear the thought of losing you again. None of us can. Why do you think we all tried to stop you coming with us the first time? The last time you went on a rescue, you nearly died! Heck, for three days we all thought you had!"

"B-But I-! I would've been careful-!"

"We know. But that's not good enough right now. Marshall, we all just got you back. It's way too soon for us to even think about sending you back out there when the last rescue nearly killed you. None of us can tell what could happen out there."

"...b-but..." Marshall whimpered. "...that's… th-that's how its always been..."

Rocky sighed heavily. "Maybe. We're all kinda jittery right now..."

Rocky stopped when he noticed the speckled pup staring at him with an unimpressed, tearful look.

"...OK, a LOT jittery, but that's not the point."

"Th-Then… Wh-What is?"

"The point is: Ryder had to watch as you fell into that river. He had to watch one of the ones he loves so much die right in front of him. And he's not blaming anyone for it but himself. We were all hurt after you fell into that river… But Ryder? Well, Ryder got hurt the worst of all. He's so angry and upset that he just… well, he's taking it out on everyone around him, even when he doesn't mean it."

Marshall sniffled. "...h-how… h… h-how do you know…?"

Rocky swallowed before whimpering. "Because I was there… While you were gone, some of us tried to talk to Ryder… But… It always ended badly."


The raging storm was nothing short of an ill omen. But it also served as an excellent indicator of the mood in Adventure Bay. The previous day, Mayor Goodway had valiantly gone on the airwaves to give the bad news: One of the Paw Patrol was dead.

And just like that, the mood in the usually-cheerful town had taken a swift nosedive. How Mayor Goodway kept her composure when delivering such awful news was a mystery to all, but it wasn't a mystery that any were in the mood to contemplate. Especially not Rocky, who'd had his fair share of breakdowns already. But with Marshall gone forever, something told him that the breakdowns would just keep on coming as he rose to the Lookout's top floor to a flash of lightning, followed a few seconds later by a roar of thunder.

It was almost as if the sky itself was shedding tears in solidarity with the town. The rain was coming down extremely heavily, leaving Rocky in no position to go outside. Not that he'd want to, since he'd only have to look at the memorial for his dearly-departed friend and brother again. But he had someone else on his mind as well. Someone who he had the feeling was suffering more than any of them. After all, he was one of the two who was forced to watch Marshall fall to his doom right in front of them.

Ever since he'd come tearing across the driveway bawling his eyes out, Rocky had seen neither hide nor hair of Ryder. But then, it made sense. Ryder had made it clear in the past that the pups were more than pets to him; they were technically his children. When thinking about it in that way, his reaction to losing one of them made perfect sense. Not even an adult would be able to take a death in their family well.

And Ryder's mood was perfectly clear the moment the thunder subsided enough for Rocky to hear the crying from the boy's bedroom door. Even from the other side of the building, Ryder was crying loudly enough to be heard easily. But even if Rocky couldn't hear him, Ryder's pain was somehow evident to him. Somehow, knowing that Ryder was in so much pain made Rocky feel even worse than he already did.

Rocky's apprehension only grew as he drew closer to Ryder's door, and the boy's sobbing got louder. Skye had already reported speaking to Ryder, only to get yelled at like never before and driven away. Rocky could tell that Skye wanted to break down crying, but was somehow keeping her tears back. How she managed it was something that Rocky couldn't figure out. But right now, the pup was focused on speaking to his owner. No matter what Ryder said, Rocky would hold steady. That boy needed his family. And nothing was going to deter Rocky from seeing this through.

Slowly, Rocky reached Ryder's bedroom door. And despite the mixed breed's hesitance in him being at a critical level, Rocky knew he'd regret not speaking to his owner more than he would trying to avoid his potential wrath. Fighting his natural instinct to just leave him alone, Rocky slowly raised his paw and quickly rapped on the locked dog door three times. Though Ryder didn't seem to react at all to the knocks, simply continuing to cry as loudly as ever.

"R-Ryder?" Rocky stammered. "You, uh… Y-You doing OK?"

"Go away!" Ryder snapped tearfully.

Rocky couldn't deny that Ryder's retort hurt, but he swallowed his pain all the same and breathed in. "Ryder, I can't! This isn't good for you!"

"None of your business! I-I said go away!"

"It's EVERYONE'S business! Look, all of us are feeling the same way, here! We all wanna help you!"

"Th-There's no helping me! Th-This is all my fault! I know it! You know it! E-E-Everyone knows it-!"

"Ryder, none of us blame you for this! Th-This was all an accident!"

"Accident or not, i-it doesn't change what happened, a-a-and it doesn't change what a horrible leader and owner I am!"

"You're not, though!" Now the tears were beginning to spill from Rocky's eyes. "W-We all feel horrible, b-but nobody blames anyone for losing Marshall, but-"

"DON'T SAY THAT NAME!"

And just like that, Rocky froze in place. His heart only barely managed to beat for fear of crumbling to pieces and the mixed breed's stomach seized up completely as his tears intensified from Ryder screaming so hatefully at him.

"You're trying to help?! Then why are you so dead-set on bringing up me getting a pup killed?! Nothing you say is gonna bring anyone back, or get rid of my screw-ups or make me a better person! I don't need you reminding me how weak I am! I know that already! Marshall is only dead because of me! Every word out of your mouth is making everything worse! And things are only going to get even worse the longer you stay here, because that's all you're good for! NOW LEAVE! ME! ALONE!"

And with Ryder's final words, Rocky's vow to himself crumbled, along with his fragile heart. Unable to stop himself, Rocky completely broke down sobbing, struggling under the weight of his own grief to even move away from Ryder's door, the boy now having fallen entirely silent save for some laboured breathing. As if the mix needed any further sadness as he slowly dragged himself towards the elevator again, crying the entire way, now he had to deal with the fact that his attempt to get through to his despondent owner had completely and utterly failed.

But as Rocky laid down in the middle of the elevator floor, finally proving unable to stand anymore, he could swear that he could hear a distant sound. Even over his own crying, Rocky knew that he could hear something.

Something that sounded like deep, grief-wracked sobbing.


Marshall's tears had finally dried as Rocky finished his tale. But the spotted pup's bloodshot eyes were close to falling out of his head.

"Rocky… I-I had no idea..." Marshall whispered in horror.

"Now do you get it? You see why Ryder put his foot down the way he did?" Rocky replied sadly.

"Because he was feeling like that?"

"You got it. I don't think he's stopped feeling like that even since you came back..."

Marshall fell silent for a second. "...you know? I think you're right. I mean, he hasn't stopped avoiding us ever since he went back to the Lookout a couple days ago..."

"And he's obviously had a lot of nightmares..."

"And the couple of times he's talked to anyone, he's just lashed out at them..."

"And he obviously feels terrible about it all..."

"And that's not counting all the time he's spent taking it out on himself..."

Marshall let out a long, sad whine. He was still upset that Ryder would scream at him the way he did, but somehow knowing the reason behind it made him feel even worse. Now it was crystal-clear that Ryder needed help more than anyone else. Marshall felt like they were neglecting him somehow, and the fact that Ryder was actively forgoing contact with anyone was cold comfort to him.

"We've gotta do something..." Marshall concluded.

"But… we've been trying for days now…" Rocky countered sadly. "Heck, last night was as close as we'd gotten to getting through to him! Jake and Carlos have been stopping us from seeing him and while you were gone he just screamed at us when we tried to talk to him!"

"What, you don't want him to feel better?"

"Of course I want him to feel better! But I'm just saying we've been trying and failing for days! I… I don't know if we can get through to him, anymore..."

"We can and will." Marshall shot back immediately. "When Ryder gets back, I'm gonna give it a little while, and I'm going to talk to him, whether he likes it or not."

"B-But Marshall, then… then you might get yelled at..."

"Don't care. He's already yelled at me once. Ryder needs us. More than ever. And I'm gonna make him see that."

Rocky could only stare at Marshall with his brown eyes wider than ever. He was amazed at how stubborn Marshall could be. Losing his brother-figure seemed to make him forget that. But despite it all, Rocky was proud of Marshall. Maybe their stubborn fire pup could finally crack Ryder's shell after all.

"Marshall… You're really something, you know that?" Rocky asked warmly, squeezing Marshall even more tightly. "I'm… I'm so happy you came back…"

Marshall worked his front paws free and squeezed Rocky back. "Hey, so am I… And you know I live for helping people."

"Can't keep a good pup down, right?"

"Right… But, er… Do you wanna go inside? I mean, how're you out here with me in all this rain?"

Rocky snorted. "Bah, I don't care about that. It's just rain. When my friends are feeling sad, that's way more important."

In shock, Marshall broke their hug and took a couple of clumsy steps backwards. "Err… Rocky… you OK? You sound feverish. Should I go get my EMT Pack?"

Rocky giggled. "Well, if it'll make you feel any better..."

Perhaps quicker than he intended, Marshall made a hasty turn and quickly trotted towards the Lookout with Rocky in tow. But upon arrival inside, he was greeted with a sea of concerned faces.

"Marshall..." Everest whispered.

And upon realising what had happened to give them such concern, Marshall's eyes shot open, before he cringed heavily, turning his head away from them and looking at the floor.

"Agh- Ohh, man… I-I totally ran out on you all… I-I'm so sorry..." Marshall whispered.

"Oh, olvídalo, Marshall. Forget it." Tracker replied. "All we're worried about right now is whether you're OK."

Marshall sighed, before giving a soft smile to the group. "I'm good."

"You sure about that?" Rubble interjected. "I don't think I've ever seen Ryder get like that before..."

"Guys, it's fine. Really." Rocky cut in, walking in behind Marshall. "We both talked it out, and Marshall's feeling way better. Right, man?"

Marshall looked at Rocky. "Right!"

Zuma sighed with relief, along with the other pups. "Well, dudes, it's good that Mawshall's OK again, but you might wanna get some towels. You look like a couple of dwowned wats!"

"Wait… We do?" Rocky asked, looking at himself and pawing at his coat. "But… we were… out… talking… the rain-!"

And immediately, it was as if Rocky was a different pup, thrashing around and shaking himself off in disgust.

"EUUUUGH-! Wet! Wet! Wet!"

And immediately, the room exploded into peals of laughter from all except the hydrophobic mixed breed. None of them particularly cared that they were getting showered by the wet pup frantically shaking himself off. All they cared about in that moment was the laugh that they all shared. Because once again, it somehow felt like things were, however slowly, going back to normal for the once-broken family.

"That's our Rocky!" Marshall laughed fondly.

The period of jubilation, however, was incredibly brief. After Rocky had toweled off, the mood had immediately dropped back to a sombre, anticipatory one. Inevitably, Marshall's eventual talk with Ryder was going to get incredibly ugly no matter what the dalmatian might end up saying. If Ryder had demonstrated one thing, it was that he was not emotionally-stable by any stretch of the term after what had happened in the last few days, and as prepared as Marshall was for it, something told him that he would never be ready for what Ryder was going to say in return.

Time had slowed to a crawl as the pups waited for Ryder, Chase and Skye to return. For Marshall, it felt a little like he was waiting to face his execution. Occasionally he would exchange words with the other pups, but no-one had much to say, and nothing that was said allayed his nerves any. Everyone simply laid listlessly around the Lookout's ground floor, awaiting the inevitable.

And eventually, the inevitable arrived. Ryder came walking through the Lookout first. He glanced around and caught sight of the remaining pups, but looked away quickly enough from each of them that one could be forgiven for thinking that he'd just looked straight at the sun. He was obviously fighting to keep a neutral expression as he reached the elevator and ascended to the upper level with his back turned. Soon after the elevator rose out of sight, he was followed in by a german shepherd and a cockapoo, both looking incredibly worried. And upon catching sight of the spotted pup, Chase and Skye both made a beeline for him.

"You OK?" Chase asked worriedly.

"E-Err… Kinda." Marshall replied uncertainly.

"You don't sound OK..." Skye observed sadly.

"W-Well I'm waiting to go and talk to Ryder! I'm terrified!" Marshall explained.

Chase and Skye looked at each other. "Guess you talked it out with everyone, huh?" Chase asked.

"Yeah..." Marshall replied with a sigh.

"Well, that's good, but that's not the point right now." Skye explained. "Turns out that rescue was a set up. See..."

Skye went on to elaborate on the group's intervention and how Jake and Carlos had set Ryder up to finally talk about how he felt.

"...he looked totally crushed about everything." Skye concluded. "Yelling at you, running away from everyone, how he treated… well, all of us…"

"I didn't know Jake and Carlos had it in them..." Marshall whispered in shock.

"Neither did we, but he needs this, right?" Chase replied. "We think he's gonna try and talk to you, but, well…" Chase looked down, his voice lowering with fear and sadness. "...neither of us know how it's gonna go. Something tells me that this will NOT be pretty…"

"That's what I was afraid of." Marshall said sadly. "I don't think I'm ready for this… at all..."

"None of us are, Marshall." Skye whispered. "But we're right behind you. Right now that's all we can offer... even if I do wish we could offer more..."

"I'll take whatever help I can get. Even if it is only good luck wishes." Marshall replied with a small smile.

But the speckled pup's mood immediately went back to terrified when he noticed his Pup Tag lighting up. For a while, there was simply heavy breathing, which was soon followed by a wavering voice.

"M-Marshall…?" Ryder stammered. "C-Can I- er… Y-You, er… come up… talk… to... me?"

Ryder's final word was barely audible and came out as more of a scared squeak. As their line of communication cut off, Marshall felt every pair of eyes on him, and felt like fainting from fear.

"L-Looks like it's time..." Chase stammered, afraid of what was going to happen.

"Go for it, Marshall..." Skye whispered fearfully. "We're… W-We're with you..."

As much as Marshall hated to admit it, Skye's words were completely empty to him. Ryder was obviously a mere poke away from completely erupting, and even if that was what it took to finally get the boy to open up again, there was no way that anyone could be ready for such a thing. As much as he subconsciously attempted to stop himself, Marshall pushed on. It was a herculean effort to simply get on to the elevator when it finally came, and even moreso to stop himself from attempting to bolt off of it as it rose up. Looking back, the dalmatian felt a huge amount of pairs of eyes on him once again, with all of the pups looking scared and worried. And yet somehow, he was still able to pick up on their silent encouragement.