AN: Hey guys, I'm back. I think I'll finally be able to catch up on the all the paw patrol episodes I missed soon. I really do want to see the new characters that have shown up. Anyway, here is the next chapter. Enjoy.
Disclaimer: I do not own anything Paw Patrol related.
Guarding a cave was boring. At least in the eyes of Longfang, one of the Bloodstar Moon guards who was watching an empty path with his partner, Firepaw. The two were assigned to guard one of the various pools of water that the caves had which connected to the river below. Why he was ordered to do it he had no idea but he suspected it was just to place him randomly. It's not like anyone is going to swim underneath and come up this way. They would have to be a fish to do that.
When Longfang was assigned to this group, he had hoped for some adventure and action for glory and honor. He had only ever served back at the home den for patrol and guard duty and the black furred wolf saw this as his chance. Instead, all he was doing was helping keep some brat under their paws until his parents surrendered.
In fairness, it was good that they were surrendering, but Longfang still wanted a battle to happen. He wasn't afraid to fight and die for the greater good of his clan. Should he parish it would be one worthy of the ancestors to take him to the afterlife. Then again, if he did die, he wouldn't be able to ask Leli to be his mate when he got back.
Turning to Firepaw, a light brown wolf who had been born in the former Burnwood clan before they officially joined Bloodstar, and saw him licking his orange fur paws and snorting. "Cleaning yourself now of all times?"
"Do you see anything else to do?" Firepaw asked, eyebrow raised. "I've counted the sparkling rocks in this cave half a dozen times already and nothing else is happening."
"You could always start naming them," Longfang suggested.
"Sure, and then I'll be labeled as mad as Vexia," Firepaw pointed out.
"Nobody can be as mad as that she-wolf," Longfang said with a shutter. If even half the stories about that female were true it made him wonder if she was born with rabies in her blood or something. "But I'll agree with you on this. I'm bored as bored can be."
"Got any suggestions?" Firepaw asked, shrugging. "'Cause I would love to hear them."
"Other than a request to be sent to the front lines after this is over? Not really," Longfang answered while shaking his head.
"You want to be in the front lines? Against Clan Icebane? You want to freeze your tail off on that mountain?" Firepaw asked in disbelief. "Not to mention a lot of us are dying in droves there. It wasn't even this bad when Ghost was the Alpha Heir leading them. Now that Half-Breed Bitch comes around and suddenly the Icebane are calling her Winter's Wraith."
"Damn half breed," Longfang growled in disgust. There was no greater abomination then a noble wolf mating with an inferior slave dog and having some kind of freak pup with it. It was long believed that both her and that bitch of a mother were dead until the pup appeared months ago not long after her older brother had fallen to his death. Everyone assumed with her back, and helping lead the Icebane forces, that it would be an easy victory and the mountain would be theirs.
Only the Half-Breed Bitch was talented in war and leading her clan to near endless amounts of victory. So many respectful warriors of their clan perished in the weeks since she arrived. They even managed to regain a lot of their old ground as time went on. "I'm not helping the clan by staying out here in the middle of nowhere. I need to be where the action is so I can bring glory to our clan. Who knows? Maybe the ancestors will bless me with the ability to kill the bitch."
"Sure," Firepaw snorted before rolling his eyes. "And I'm going to be Alpha Leader of my own clan with dozens of mates at my beck and call." He turned around and made for the room where the pool was. "I need to defecate. Be right back."
"Thanks, I really needed to know that," Longfang said as he rolled his eyes. He continued to wait for his partner to come back while thinking of the various ways he wished he had the half breed in his jaw to rip out her throat and neck until he heard a large splash of water which made Longfang snort. "That was a big one. Did you eat a log or something?"
There was no answer which made Longfang tilt his head. "Firepaw? You there?" After waiting for a few more minutes, there was no answer again which made him sigh. "Seriously, did you fall in there and need me to help you up?"
He walked into the room with the pool and was surprised to find nobody there. There was nothing save for the small ripples in the water. Curious, he looked around closer to the pool while trying to sniff for his friend. "Seriously, this is not funny. Where are you?"
He was about to turn when Longfang spotted something in the water. Curious, he lowered his head where he saw his own reflection...right before some kind of watery jaw leaped out and grabbed him by the nose. Longfang didn't even have time to let out a yelp as he was dragged into the pool. A series of bubbles appeared on the surface and then stopped.
All was quiet.
The job should have been easy at first since Ryder's first plan was to use his pup pad to track Aegen down via the pup tag he was wearing. However, as soon as they got into the caves, something was jamming the radar and the genius figure the satellite just couldn't get through well enough for an accurate reading. Meaning they had to do this the hard way.
It was taking everything in Zuma's willpower to keep sneaking through the caves while letting Ryder and Marshall lead on. Marshall, being the master of stealth, always took the first run to see if there were any wolves coming before siginaly to Ryder how many there were. After which, Ryder, armed with a tranquilizer pistol he had brought for their mission, would knock the wolves out with well placed shots before Zuma helped him hide the bodies.
So far they had checked sixteen different areas and knocked out at least fourteen wolves who would be sleeping for a few hours. Zuma had wanted nothing more than to tear out their throats in their sleep, but Ryder prevented him in fear of the wolves smelling the blood.
"This is taking too long," Zuma pointed out as they hid another body. "We need to know where Aegen is and fast. Maybe we can interrogate one of the wolves?"
"I doubt they'll be willing to talk," Marshall said, shaking his head. "They're very loyal and would rather die than hurt their comrades."
"If only there was a way Aegen could tell us where he is..." Ryder whispered to himself before he snapped his fingers. "I got it."
Taking his pup pad, Ryder called the pup tag that Aegen still had on him.
Aegen nearly jumped when the pup tag lit up but he soon turned it on and saw Ryder, Zuma, and Marshall on the holographic screen. "You guys are inside!"
"Yeah, but we still don't know where you are, Aegen. But I got a plan. Could you howl as loud as you can so we can pick up your hearing?"
"Sure!" Aegen shouted as he prepared himself and then started howling as loudly as possible. He let out a few more howls before one of the guard wolves looked down at him and growled.
"Hey! Quiet down there!" the wolf shouted. "Some of us are trying to relax, you brat!"
"Make me! I'll howl as long as I want to!" Aegen shouted back before howling again despite the repeated yelling from the wolf telling him to shut up.
Sure enough, the howl of Aegen echoed across the cave which made some of the guards spooked at first, thinking it was from one of them, but soon recognized it as a pup's howl. Confusion began to spread from some thinking the pup was calling for help, dying, or just singing a bad tune.
"What is going on out there?!" Talon shouted to his two Delta Captains who bowed. "Who is howling? I don't recognize that tone and pitch."
"It appears to be from the Riverborn Alpha Heir, sir," One of the Delta's said. "We don't know why but he started howling for some reason."
"Grrr, annoying little...get someone to shut him up! I don't care if you have to drop a rock on his head, but get him to stop howling!" Talons shouted before he turned back the way he came.
Aegen's howling continued as the pups held their ears up as high as they could to listen in. It took a few seconds, but Zuma pointed his head in the right direction.
"I hear him! Come on!" Zuma said as he took the lead with Marshall and Ryder right behind him.
Thankfully, it sounded like they were close as the three made their way further into the caverns. Eventually they got to a big area where there were three Bloodmoon Star wolves with one of them yelling at what appeared to be a large hole and a large pool of water nearby. The wolf near the hoel was shouting at Aegen who continued to howl.
"Will you shut up you little brat! If don't I'm going to drop a rock onto your head and-"
"Not a chance you jerk!" Zuma shouted as he and the others arrived much to the shock of the wolves.
"What the?! How did you get here?!" One of the wolves shouted in disbelief.
"Forget that! Kill the pup and howl the alarm!" The other shouted, however, he was soon cut off when Ryder shot him with a dart and knocked him out cold.
Marshall reacted next and rushed towards the closest wolf while Zuma dashed over to the one near the hole. The dally jumped and kicked the wolf with such a blow that he sent the stunned canine towards the big water hole where he moaned while trying to feel his jaw again. Zuma had jumped onto the other wolf's back before biting onto his forehead.
Howling, the Bloodmoon Star wolf ran back and forth, trying to get Zuma off of his back but the little pup held on with his teeth digging deep and drawing blood. Ryder saw his chance and quickly rushed over to the hole where he took out some rope from his backpack and tossed it down to Aegen. "Bite the rope! I'll bring you up!"
Aegen proceeded to do so and in a few minutes he was safe in Ryder's arms and licking his face. "You saved me!"
"Hehehe, it's what we do," Ryder said with a smile before looking at Zuma and the other wolf. "Zuma, we got him!"
Zuma didn't answer as he just kept his bite going strong until the wolf tripped. Zuma noticed that his head started making for a small stalagmite and quickly let go to jump off as the wolf slammed head first into it. He let out a small yelp as the sharp pointy rock went right through his jaw and up his skull before piercing the brain. The wolf's eyes rolled to the back of his head as his nose and ears started bleeding out. Aegen looked away in disgust while Zuma just huffed at the corpse before rushing over to his little wolf brother.
"Aegen! You okay, Dude?!" Zuma asked as Aegen, tears in his eyes, jumped onto Zuma and held him tight.
"I'm...I'm so happy you came...thank you, big brother! Thank you!" Aegen wept as he nuzzled his teary-eyed face into Zuma's chest. "I wanna go home! Please?!"
"Don't worry, we're going to get you back to your pawents," Zuma whispered as he then turned to Marshall. "Can you check him to make sure he's okay?"
"Sure thing," Marshall said as he went into EMT mode and started checking Aegen with his x-ray screen. "Nothing looks wrong. I think he's fine."
"Good, then let's let the others know," Ryder said as he pressed his pup pad and called Chase. "Chase? This is Ryder. We got Aegen. Proceed with the attack!."
"Ruff! Roger, sir!"
"We got word that Aegen is safe!" Chase shouted like a commander to the armies before him. "Rocky! You know what to do!"
"Roger that!" Rocky shouted as he finished adding the latest of his inventions into his truck: A stink bomb launcher that would send a foul smell to the entrance to distract the guards while giving the Riverborn wolves the time they needed to rush towards the entrance. Thankfully, the gas would only last a minute which the mixed-breed calculated was enough time for them to reach the area.
Pressing the controls on his truck, Rocky aimed and shouted, "Fire in the hole!"
Like a series of cannons, the stink bombs were unleashed into the air and soon fell down upon the entrance of the caves much to the confusion of the wolves who started howling in despair from the smell. Some were digging their noses into the dirt while the others were rushing into the caves in confusion.
"Riverborn wolves! Charge!" Tylus shouted as he and his mate led the charge. The clan howled with fury and bloodlust as they rushed through the field like a wave of fur and teeth.
Skye was flying above them and keeping an eye out while Rubble, Rocky, Chase, and Jake were following them in their respective vehicles.
The Bloodmoon Star wolves soon found themselves under attack by the Riverborn wolves and the opening moments were a one sided battle. Riverborn worked together to take down each wolf with small group tactics such as going for the legs, knocking them down and finishing them off with bites and rips to the throat and belly. Others were smashed with paws and forced to the ground before having their chests ripped open by the mighty jaws of the Riverborn and left to bleed to death or have their organs ripped out.
Eventually, more Bloodmoon wolves started to come out of the entrance to help their packmates, but it was clear that the advantage was on the Riverborn. Things got worse for the enemy as Chase arrived with his vehicle and started firing his mounted machine guns while Jake backed him up with gunfire from his double barrel shotgun. Rubble and Rocky placed their vehicles in key locations to prevent the bad wolves from escaping and kept them trapped in their one location while Skye made sure to keep Ryder updated on what was going on.
This was a disaster. A complete disaster! Talon wanted to kick himself for allowing his plan to fall apart so easily. Once the attack started, he howled for the guards to kill the Alpha Heir, but there was no return howl. Meaning they somehow got to him, but how?! There is only one entrance and exit save for the river below via the pools of water and...and...no way...
Could it have been possible that they swam through the river to get inside? That's impossible! Not even the Riverborn can hold their breath for that long!
"Sir, what do we do?!" One of his Beta's asked with fear.
"Damnit, if we're going down then we go down with honor!" Talon shouted to his surrounding troops. "My brothers and sisters! Our time has come! But we will not die without fighting to the last! Take down as many of the enemy as you can so that our ancestors will welcome us with glory in the next world! May our pack avenge us in the future by slaying all who would deny us the vision of our great alpha! Die with honor and glory! Die for Bloodmoon Star! Die for our dream! For the pack!"
"For the pack!"
"Alright, Skye. Thanks," Ryder said, nodding to his pup pad before he shut it off. Turning the pups he said, "The attack is going smoothly. The Bloodmoon Star has no way out so they'll hopefully surrender."
"No, they won't," Aegen said, shaking his head. "The Bloodmoon Star wolves will die before they do that."
"Well, I'm not going to cwy any tears for their passing," Zuma snorted. "Let's get back to our vehicles and get out of here."
The group was about to leave when the one remaining Bloodmoon Star wolf slowly got up and barked a few times to get their attention. "You're going nowhere! I'm not going to just lie around and let a bunch of pups and a human beat me!" What he didn't notice, that the other soon did, was that the pool of water was bubbling behind him. "So face me cowards!"
Ryder and the others' eyes widened as they saw something emerging from the pool of water and slowly taking form. The sound of shifting water alerted the wolf who turned around and slowly went pale upon what he saw. The water was, for lack of a better word, alive as it started rising up and shifting its body into that of a large watery wolf with white eyes, sharp teeth and whips of water coming out of it's back.
The wolf was so stunned he barely had time to register the whips wrapping around him and keeping him in place. "W-what?! Stop!" The wolf then summoned water from the pool and had it shoot straight into the mouth of the wolf who struggled to get it to stop, but the water continued to stream in without end.
The wolf's face slowly started to turn blue from the lack of oxygen. His lungs filled with water as his eyes rolled to the back of his head as his struggles became less and less motion filled until finally he stopped moving all together. The watery wolf slowly dropped the drowned corpse and turned to the stunned four before unleashing an unnatural howl that sounded like a demonic scream from under the surface of the ocean.
And that scream was soon followed by others.