It felt slightly strange to the pups for Ryder to be on the elevator with them as they reported to the Lookout's top floor for their duties. Usually it was just them and whatever objects Marshall had brought in with him from his most recent wipeout. But now, Ryder was standing tall, looking surprisingly eager to get to the rescue. It didn't take long for the pups to change into their gear and jump out after Ryder ran to the head of the room to take his place in front of the screen.
"Paw Patrol ready for action, Ryder, sir!" Chase cried happily.
"I'd hope so, Chase!" Ryder replied. "So. We all know what the problem is. Cali. In the park. Up a tree. Simple, right?"
"Right!" the pups replied.
"But things are gonna be a little different this time." Ryder looked down at his Pup Pad and moved to Chase's icon. "Chase. We'll need you and your net in case anything goes wrong getting Cali down."
"Chase is on the case!"
"And… that should be it." Ryder concluded. "Let's go."
Immediately, the rest of the pups shifted into looks of shock and indignation, looking at Ryder like he had just insulted the entire group. Chase, especially, given that it was now looking like he would have to rescue Cali all by himself. And Marshall felt his heart beginning to break again...
"...gotcha!"
And immediately, the atmosphere was flipped on its head. The pups all burst out laughing uncontrollably at Ryder's prank, most of them being barely able to look at the boy with the smug smile plastered across his face.
"Oh, my-!" Marshall choked through his laughter. "You can't… You can't DO that, Ryder!"
"Y-You had… had us going!" Skye laughed.
"Y-You… You jerk!" Everest chuckled.
Even Ryder began giggling. As much as he wanted to try and remain stoic in the face of his pups chastising him for scaring them, their joy was highly-infectious, and Ryder quickly succumbed. It took a few minutes before he was ready to speak again.
"Ha ha ha, OK, OK..." Ryder giggled, using a finger to wipe a tear from his eye. "Back on track."
Ryder waited for the pups to cease their laughing before eventually carrying on. "Pups. I know how badly getting the news a few days ago hit you all. And I know that this next rescue is gonna worry a lot of you..."
The pups' eyes widened, causing them all to start shooting befuddled glances at one another.
"...thaaat's right, I saw it in your eyes. I know all of you better than you think. And that goes for you, too, Everest and Tracker."
The two pups addressed quickly looked at each other with spooked expressions. They had to wonder just how far Ryder's knowledge of them all went. And if he really had grown to know them so well despite their different owners.
"Anyway. Not the point." Ryder continued. "The point is, I know you're all gonna wanna see this. You'll all wanna know if this goes well. You're all gonna wanna know if a certain someone can pull this off. I mean, I know I can, he knows he can, and you all know he can. But you need to see it for yourselves. You need to be reassured that he… WE can all do it. Our courage has been in the toilet the last few days, and we all need a good reality check. So everyone is gonna come on this rescue. Not just Chase. But every single one of you."
Ryder started looking over the pups one by one.
"Rocky. Skye. Rubble. Zuma. Everest. Tracker. All of you are gonna be with us for this rescue. All of you are gonna get to see that we can still pull it off."
Suddenly, the pups were looking far happier. Ryder knew exactly what they wanted. And that was to have their nerves allayed. After one of their own never came back from a rescue, they all wanted to ensure that they would come home safe this time. They wanted to know that a random tragedy wouldn't simply blow a hole in the team again.
"And Marshall."
Marshall, feeling somewhat ignored at this point, perked up very quickly at hearing his name. Though upon looking at Ryder, it was clear that he had something that he desperately wanted to tell his pup. And that perhaps he was avoiding mentioning the dalmatian's name up until this point for this reason.
"Front and centre."
Suddenly, the spotted pup felt all of the eyes in the room on him. But as nervous as he was, he wasn't about to refuse Ryder's command. Slowly, he moved forward while constantly trying to remind himself to breathe. His chest felt tight from the anticipation. But soon after he reached Ryder, the boy was able to dispel all of the pup's fear and nervousness with a single touch. Kneeling down, Ryder laid one hand on top of Marshall's head, and the other on his just like that, Marshall started to breathe far easier.
"I know what I did yesterday wasn't right." Ryder began gently. "I know it was uncalled for. I had no right to yell at you the way I did. But you wanna know the truth? When you wanted to come with us… I was scared out of my mind. And I was so scared of losing you again that… well, you know the story, I'm sure."
With a sad expression, Marshall nodded.
"I know how much being a fire pup means to you. And thinking about it, when I yelled at you, it probably sounded like I didn't think you could do it anymore. But I'm gonna say it right now: Nothing could be further from the truth. And I'm so sorry I'd make you think that for even a few seconds." Ryder placed a hand under Marshall's chin and made sure the pup was looking him in the eyes. "I trust you, Marshall. I believe in you. I know you can do it. And deep down, so does everyone else. You know what you've gotta do. All I want – no – what we ALL want is for you to show us that you're ready again. So… you up to it?"
Marshall couldn't help but feel his eyes water slightly as an uncontrollably-wide smile spread across his face. His owner had just expressed total faith in him, rendering his angry tirade from the last day moot. Marshall had to fight back how choked up he was before he could give a coherent response.
"...I won't let you down, Ryder, sir!" Marshall wavered.
"Wrong answer..." Ryder replied liltingly, giving the speckled pup a knowing smirk.
He didn't think it possible, but Marshall smiled even more widely.
"...I'M FIRED UP!" Marshall shouted, to barks and cheers of approval behind him.
"Absolutely right, Marshall!" Ryder replied firmly, smiling back at the dalmatian before standing up. "Now… are all of you?!"
"Yes sir, Ryder, sir!" the pups all shouted back.
"Alright! Paw Patrol is on a roll!"
The cheering that followed Ryder as he ran for the pole was near-deafening. Though this only served to fill Ryder with even more vigour as he leapt at it and slid down it as per usual, in stark contrast to his glum drop down it the day before. And as Marshall stole a look back at the group behind him, their tails wagging ferociously, Chase looked at Marshall and jerked his head towards the slide, continuing to smile at him. Barking in joy, Marshall charged towards the slide, only to stumble and trip down it as per usual. And yet, he had never felt as overjoyed to trip down the slide as he had now.
And when Marshall landed in the driver's seat, he started to feel right at home once more. It felt like this was one of the final steps towards making things right once again. And to cement this step being taken, he put his paw down to the accelerator with gusto…
...only to yelp in surprise as his fire truck shot backwards and noisily crashed into the wall of the Lookout. Marshall looked around in a panic, only for his eyes to settle on the gear stick.
"Whoops! Heh, had the silly thing in reverse!" Marshall chuckled to no-one in particular.
Shifting the gear stick to its proper position, Marshall let out a triumphant howl as his truck moved ahead, with Chase following not long after. The pair looked at each other and grinned as they moved towards the bridge, followed closely behind by the other pups, with Skye's helicopter flying high above them. And as if on cue, as if he was waiting for them, the garage door opened to reveal Ryder sitting proudly atop his ATV. As he rolled forward, he stole a glance back at the pups.
"You two are forgetting something..." Ryder said liltingly, looking back and forth at Chase and Marshall.
"Huh? Forgetting?" Marshall parroted.
"Oh, I know!" Chase cried, putting his siren on.
"Oh! Of course!" Marshall replied, moving to do the same.
With a proud nod and smile, Ryder turned back to the road and lead the charge, driving down the road with the entire Paw Patrol at his back, with the sirens of the police and fire pups blaring loud and proud. Just as they always had done.
The drive to the park took place in silence, but this time, the group was feeling far more jubilant than they had in previous days. Whereas the last few times the group had set out, the silence was morose and suffocating, now the atmosphere was light and joyful. And some had even stopped to cheer for the group driving full-tilt down the road and flying through the air. Adventure Bay knew it as well as the group did: The Paw Patrol was back.
"Cali! Oh, Cali… Please come down!"
Meanwhile, in the park, Katie was stood at the bottom of the tree feeling thoroughly defeated and somewhat disgusted. She wasn't exactly happy at getting the dubious honour of being the first person to be outright refused rescue by the Paw Patrol, but more than that, not only did it seem that Ryder hadn't gotten better after all, but Cali was now stuck up a tree with no way down.
And from the bushes, four pairs of eyes watched eagerly.
"Jake, are you sure this is gonna work?" Carlos whispered. "I've never seen Ryder straight up say 'no' to someone in danger before."
"He's even rescued ME a lot." Mayor Humdinger added quietly. "He can't hate someone THAT much, can he?"
"That's not gonna last long, dudes." Jake replied. "I've talked to Ev a couple nights ago, and she said that Marshall asked her not to hate Cali for all this. And Carlos, didn't you say that Tracker doesn't hate Cali, either? Those three ain't gonna let that slide."
"I hope you're right, Jake..." Mayor Goodway whispered worriedly. "Not only will Ryder feel even worse if this goes wrong, but I don't know if we can get Cali down ourselves!"
But as they heard the wail of sirens, their spirits began to raise.
"Is… that…?" Carlos whispered.
And upon turning to look at the source of the noise, Jake beamed.
"Told ya!" Jake said proudly.
"Cali! Ohhh..." Katie sighed, after several minutes of trying to call her cat down from the tree. "How could Ryder just turn his back on me like that…?"
"I've been asking the same thing all the way here."
Katie's heart stopped at the familiar voice behind her. And turning around only jolted it back into action from the gasp borne of the shock she got at seeing a familiar brown-haired boy standing in front of her, with a huge fleet of colourful vehicles behind him.
"Ryder!" Katie cried. "You… You changed your mind?!"
"Well..." Ryder gave a sad smile and turned around to look at the group of pups behind him. "...I did. But I had help. I didn't change it all by myself."
"Urgh, well even if you did, how could you just… refuse to help someone like that?!" Katie demanded, her surprise turning into an angry glare.
Ryder's smile melted away into a sad expression. "I know, Katie. I shouldn't have yelled at you at all... I was out of line… WAY out of line. I'm really sorry… But, you know? I think I've been out of line for the last few days straight. I mean, you've been trying to help me for so long… And I keep pushing you away..."
Katie calmed down after a while and adopted a sympathetic expression, moving forward to place a hand on Ryder's shoulder as he looked down sadly. But now, Ryder didn't try to push Katie's hand off.
"Maybe." she began softly. "But even if you have, I can see that you've been trying to get back IN line. You look way better, for one thing. And if you want to keep going, then you can start by leading this rescue, right?"
Ryder looked back up at her with a grin of determination. "Right! So I'm not gonna waste any more time." Ryder looked back behind him. "Chase?"
"Gotcha." Chase replied. "Ruff! Net!"
And at Chase's command, the net flew forth from his Pup Pack and landed at the foot of the tree right below Cali, who was looking surprisingly-bewildered. But none of the pups cared to look towards her knowing what was coming up next. Instead, they were all focused on a dalmatian wearing a blank expression. Nobody could seem to get a read on how he was feeling.
"Marshall..." Ryder began. "...you know what to do. Right?"
"Yup." Marshall replied bluntly, moving his truck into position below the tree.
"Marshall, are you… sure you wanna go through with this?" Katie asked, the memory of the news of her cat causing Marshall's accident in the first place still fresh in her mind. "You don't look like you do..."
"Just focused." Marshall replied. "I'm not taking my eyes off the ball now. Not after last time."
"Be careful, Marshall..." Skye called worriedly.
"Don't worry about me, Skye. Arf, arf! Ladder!"
With these words, the ladder extended from Marshall's truck, slowly reaching towards Cali in the tree. Cali's shocked expression never changed even as the ladder finally reached her. Marshall hopped to the ladder's base, and prepared himself to start climbing. And feeling the fear radiating off of the group, Marshall turned back to them.
"Guys… You've got nothing to worry about. I'm going to be fine."
"Easy for YOU to say..." Rocky retorted.
"I'm gonna make SURE nothing happens this time. Believe me." Marshall replied.
"And what if something does happen?" Chase asked.
"Isn't that why you're here right now?" Marshall countered.
"You want us to catch you if you fall off?" Rubble offered.
"What I WANT… is for you to trust me."
Offering his trademark cheerful grin, Marshall turned back to climb his ladder, slowly taking things one step at a time. The way he moved was practically-catlike in and of itself. Throughout the whole thing, Cali's eyes looked ready to fall out of her head as Marshall got closer, before finally standing before her.
"We've REALLY gotta stop meeting up like this, Cali." Marshall joked. "People are already saying stuff."
Cali didn't move. It was as if Marshall was talking to a statue.
"I know, I know, people saying stuff is the problem, huh? But hey, it's all OK, now. You can come down."
To Marshall's surprise, Cali vigorously shook her head. It was one thing for Ryder to refuse to rescue someone. It was another for someone to refuse to be rescued.
"Cali? Wh-What's wrong?"
Cali stared at Marshall further.
"Is… Is it my fur? Too spotty? Not spotty enough?"
An unimpressed look from the cat proved that Marshall's attempt at defusing the tension had fallen flat. In truth, Marshall knew full well why Cali didn't want to try coming down Marshall's ladder again. After all, that was where everything had gone wrong in the past. Marshall knew he'd have to do some more work to get Cali down.
"This is about a few days ago, isn't it? You're scared of me falling off my ladder again? And I guess being stuck in a tree doesn't help, huh?"
Cali's continued silence, along with her arched back, told all. Marshall desperately wanted to tell Cali that what happened days ago wasn't her fault. But then, he knew that he'd be lying.
"Look, Cali… I don't blame you for what happened. At all. I know you were just scared. You needed rescuing just like anyone else. And hey, I was scared, too! I mean, just looking at that river was making my head spin!"
Down below, everyone stared up at Marshall talking to Cali, hanging on his every word,
"What's he doing up thewe?" Zuma asked uncertainly.
"He's… trying to calm her down, by the looks of it." Everest replied.
"It does looks like Cali's a little scared." Tracker observed.
"Well, if it looked like I'd ended up getting someone killed last time they rescued me, I'd be scared of something happening, too." Skye observed snidely.
"C'mon, Skye..." Rubble protested. "Don't be like that… Marshall already told us to stop hating her, didn't he?
Skye sighed heavily. "That's a little easier said than done, Rubble..."
"C'mon, Marshall..." Rocky muttered. "You can do it..."
"That's right, Marshall..." Ryder whispered to himself. "Calm her down first..."
"Looks like he's got this, huh?" Katie offered.
Chase, however, was completely quiet. He had already left his truck and had walked to the base of Marshall's truck, staring up at him like a hawk, seemingly waiting for anything to go wrong. The worry was written all over the shepherd's face.
"But that was days ago. It's all in the past, now. I'm here to save you just like I've always done. And right now I'm ready for anything." Marshall continued.
Cali's back wasn't arched anymore. And slowly, her eyes narrowed a little. The dalmatian's words were clearly causing the cat to relax a little.
"That's the spirit..." Marshall gently reassured. "I know what I'm doing now, and you don't have anything to worry about. All you need to do is just hop on to my ladder. You've got this. You can do it."
Everything about Cali seemed far more relaxed and less surprised.
"Everything's gonna be fine." Marshall reiterated.
Those final words seemed to give the cat the courage she needed to jump to Marshall's ladder. With the spotted pup a few rungs down and slightly to the left, Cali had just enough room to land on the penultimate rung and keep her balance. Her eyes were squeezed shut for a couple of seconds, but she carefully opened them to see that she was now off the tree and on Marshall's ladder. Looking to her right, she noticed Marshall smiling warmly down at her.
"What did I tell you?" Marshall asked. "You did it!"
Cali stared at Marshall for a little while, before leaning over and rubbing her face against his leg in gratitude.
"Aww..." Marshall cooed. "Head on down, OK? Katie's waiting for you."
"Mew!"
Seeming to be happier than she had been in days, Cali swiftly hopped down the rungs one by one. And slowly, everyone's faces started to light up below.
"Cali's… coming down?" Rocky whispered.
"She's OK?" Zuma asked.
"It… looks like it..." Everest observed.
"And she even looks… happy!" Tracker added in surprise.
"And Marshall looks OK, too!" Rubble said with excitement.
"Then… that could only mean..." Skye squeaked.
The realisation began to sink in for everyone. Even Chase was starting to feel the infectious hope spreading throughout the group. Their smiles soon grew too wide for their faces to accommodate, and everyone, Ryder and Katie included, yelled at the tops of their voices.
"MARSHALL DID IT!"
As flattering and uplifting as it felt to hear everyone cheering for him, Marshall was more amused than anything. He couldn't help but feel like everyone was making too big a deal out of him saving Cali like always. And yet, it served as a testament to how much everyone needed to see him doing this. They all needed to have their doubts put to rest just as much as he needed to prove himself. And he felt like he'd knocked it out of the park. Satisfied with a job well done, Marshall began to descend from his ladder.
However, the speckled pup had only gotten a couple of rungs down before overestimating one of his steps, moving his back paw to one of the rungs, only for it to come into contact with a vast amount of nothingness.
"WHOA-!" Marshall yelped as he fought to regain his balance, leaning back a great amount. The group below gasped as Marshall began to rear up.
"MAAAAAARSHAAAAAAAAALLLL!" Chase screamed, bolting forward and flying onto Marshall's truck, tearing up the ladder to try and save his friend.
"Cha-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-ase?!" Marshall shouted waveringly as he wobbled back and forth, feeling the tremors of another presence on his ladder. Inevitably, the distraction caused by Chase had diverted Marshall's attention away from keeping his balance long enough for him to start to topple over backwards. This being, of course, as Chase had started to reach him.
Of course, the shepherd's intent was to grab on to Marshall before he toppled over, but it seemed that all he could do now was break Marshall's fall, as the black and white pillar began to fall onto him. Chase only had enough time for one phrase before impact:
"Aw, no."
And then, the inevitable. Marshall fell backwards onto Chase, smashing the shepherd against the ladder's rungs and knocking out his balance at the same time, sending the pair bouncing the down the ladder in a giant, furry boulder.
"Ow-! Ergh-! Oof-! Ack-! Eeh-! Argh-! Ugh-! UMPH!"
Then came the impact. The two pups lay in the cabin of Marshall's fire truck, seeing stars for a short while before blinking them away, quietly taking stock of what had just happened. Of the silly mistake they had both made that had ended with the pair of them sprawled at the foot of Marshall's ladder. It was oddly nostalgic. Uplifting in a way. The pair looked each other in the eyes for a while, before Marshall and Chase grew identical amused smirks.
It seemed that the longer time wore on, the funnier that this particular wipeout was. Their smirks widened into dopey grins, accompanied by snickering. Snickering that soon grew into giggling. Giggling which grew into laughter. Laughter that slowly escalated in volume and intensity. And before they knew it, Marshall and Chase were howling in hysterical, uncontrollable mirth.
At first, the others didn't view what had happened to be quite as funny as Chase and Marshall both did. But slowly, the two's joy started to infect everyone, as the entire group went from giggling, to laughing, to shrieking hysterically. Even Ryder wasn't immune, as he cried and his face turned scarlet for the second time in days. Only this time, he was overwhelmingly-happy, bending over and clutching his stomach, straining himself from laughing so hard. Some of the pups hammered their steering wheels as they laughed, others draped themselves over the sides of their vehicles, and a couple fell out altogether, flailing their limbs in the air as they laughed. And Katie found herself giggling like a madwoman as her greatest wish had come to life before her: The Paw Patrol were back to their old selves again.
And from the distance in the bushes, four faces smiled warmly as they looked on at the Paw Patrol's first successful mission in days.
"Nailed it." Jake whispered fondly.
"Well done, Jake!" Goodway congratulated, slapping Jake on the back.
"Looks like I figured you all wrong." Humdinger replied happily.
"Oh, menos mal… Thank goodness..." Carlos sighed.
The group was still laughing when they saw Katie and Cali off and headed back to the Lookout. And even on the drive back, a few had to pull over from time to time thanks to them all wearing themselves out from laughing so hard. But eventually, the entire group made it back to the Lookout and had managed to calm down, with everyone stumbling clumsily into the Lookout and flopping down around Ryder, who himself had flopped down in a beanbag in the corner. Everyone had to take a few moments to collect themselves before Ryder finally spoke.
"That… was a job well done..." Ryder wheezed. "...REALLY well done… I'd say… the Paw Patrol… is officially back..."
"After what just happened?" Marshall sighed. "I can't disagree."
"Maybe now… things are totally back to normal…?" Chase gasped.
The pups all made scattered noises of agreement in response. All except one. But no-one noticed Skye's lack of agreement as Marshall clambered on top of Ryder, who responded with a tight hug and a kiss to Marshall's head.
"And it's all because YOU'RE back, Marshall." Ryder whispered as he embraced his pup.
"Hey, don't sell yourself short, Ryder." Marshall replied, happily nuzzling the boy. "It's not the Paw Patrol without you leading us. And maybe we talked you into coming back, but in the end, it was your choice to get back out there..."
Every pup present wagged their tail happily at the sight. Marshall had managed to say what they were all thinking. In the end, the Paw Patrol wasn't complete without Ryder at the helm. And all of them were beyond happy that all of the holes in their team had been filled. But for one of them, the spectre of what was to come still hung over their heads, even if the other pups weren't calling attention to it. But this pup decided to wait for a while before bringing it up. About five minutes passed of the pups and Ryder basking in the warmth of the moment they shared before Everest spoke up.
"So, er… what now? We just… go back to the way things were before last week? We can't just get over what happened just like that, can we?"
"Who says we're over it?" Chase asked. "We're gonna be feeling this for a long time… But I think we're gonna have an easier time getting past what happened after today, right guys?"
Chase turned to the rest of the pups, who all nodded eagerly.
"I hate to be that pup, Chase, but aren't we all forgetting something?" Skye piped up.
Suddenly, an air of confusion engulfed the Lookout.
"¿Olvidando? Forgetting? ¿Que?" Tracker asked.
"Are we?" Rocky added.
"Uhh… I'm sowwy Skye, but I have no idea." Zuma conceded.
"Me neither." Rubble chimed in.
"Me three." Everest concurred.
Chase giggled mirthlessly and quietly. "I guess the last couple of days have been kinda hectic. Easy enough to forget, huh?"
"You're talking about the funeral, aren't you?" Ryder asked, deciding to cut to the chase.
And just like that, the mood plummeted. Indeed, the pups had completely forgotten about the funeral that was coming up. Skye was one of the only exceptions, having been the one who was the most heavily involved in its planning aside from Mayor Goodway. Most of the pups were reduced to sad whining.
"Mmm-hmm..." Skye sighed sadly.
"Aww, man..." Marshall whispered. "...I totally forgot about that..."
"From the sounds of it, we all did." Ryder replied. "What's even going on with that, anyway? I, er… I haven't really been around to ask about it."
"How did you know there was gonna be a funeral, Ryder?" Rubble asked earnestly.
"Because we all thought Marshall was dead! It's not like we WEREN'T gonna have a funeral, right?"
"Well, I guess that makes sense." Skye said with a shrug. "Anyway, the last time I talked about the funeral was with Mayor Goodway on the day Marshall came back. She told me not to worry about it, and that she was gonna handle it from here on out. We DID wonder if we should call it off, but Marshall wanted it to go ahead anyway."
"All by herself?" Ryder asked. "Just like that?"
"Apparently!" Skye replied. "I did ask her if she was sure, and she said 'I've been through enough already' and that I 'needed a break'."
"And she was right… no thanks to me..." Chase piped up sadly.
"Don't worry about it, Chase. We've been through this, remember?" Skye asked. "Anyway. She said that the funeral's still on for Sunday."
"And it's…" Ryder paused and looked at the date on his Pup Pad. "...Thursday, now… So I guess we've got three days until the funeral, huh?"
The atmosphere was as thick as mud. Everyone had seemed to be hit with a major spell of moroseness. Nobody seemed able to look up from the floor. There was only one more loose end to tie up, but then, it was a loose end that no-one had wanted to even go near. Particularly Zuma.
"But…" Zuma began, obviously trying not to cry. "...why? It's… gonna be so sad… I… I don't wanna go..."
Ryder slowly got up with Marshall still in his arms, setting the dalmatian down on the ground and kneeling down before Zuma. "Hey, Zuma, no-one likes funerals. But you're acting like you're gonna be going alone. I want you to remember that we're all gonna be there. Yeah, it's gonna be sad, but you're NOT gonna be alone. At all."
Zuma didn't reply. He continued to stare at the floor in silence.
"So all I want you to do right now is to be brave. We'll all be with you. And we're gonna get through this together. Do you think you can do that for me, Zuma?"
"I know you can do it, Zuma. You're one of the coolest pups I know!" Marshall encouraged.
These words brought a smile back to Zuma's face. Albeit a sad one.
"Wyder… Mawshall… I'll twy my best..." Zuma whispered slowly.
"That's the spirit, Zuma. You're such a good pup..." Ryder replied fondly, giving Zuma a much-appreciated scratching behind the ear.
"So what do we do in the meantime?" Rocky asked.
Ryder stood up. "I say we take it easy until the funeral. We've all earned ourselves some rest, and I don't know about all of you, but all I wanna do is watch TV with all of you. Does that sound good?"
Looking across the entire group, every single pup was nodding vigourously. And this was all the encouragement that Ryder needed to move his beanbag next to the TV, calmly watching cartoons with his pups for the rest of the day, even being joined by Jake and Carlos when they eventually came back to the Lookout.
For the remaining time leading up to the funeral, the entire group did barely anything except for watch TV and read a few books together. At no point did they dare to separate except to go to the bathroom. Every night for that time was spent sleeping together in Ryder's bed, with nobody daring to sleep apart in case of nightmares. Once more, the Paw Patrol had fallen silent, having retreated into the Lookout to lick their wounds in the run up to what was sure to be a bruising, draining funeral.
A funeral with a twist. And a funeral that every single member was going to face together.
And a funeral that I'll be staying quiet for.
We're finally arriving at the final major chapter before the fic's wind-down and the Afterword. Yep, after this chapter, there will only be three more chapters and the Afterword before I officially finish packing my things, putting all the chairs on the tables and turning out the lights. Erm, well, that is, so to speak.
But enough about me. There's still one final hurdle to clear before this fic comes to a close. With Marshall back in action, things are almost back to normal. But as a wise man once said: "You've still got a ways to go.".
Also, fair warning, this next chapter is the absolute longest one in the whole fic. Intimidated? Yes? No? Either way, I hope to see you there. Thanks for listening.
PS: I am really sorry for the awful chapter pun.
