Hi everyone. What's up? I saw some information about the upcoming 10th season and the movie sequel and it looks good. I'm currently only at season 7 (I don't watch it that often to be honest). I'm also progressing with my other Paw Patrol story. I have several idea for other stories after though I'm still not sure if I'll do them or not.

As for this story, this is one of the chapters I wanted to write the most. I hope you'll like it.

Chapter 7, read and enjoy.

The Flounder tore the water apart at cruising speed as it headed straight for Adventure Bay. Captain Turbot was at the helm with François and Ryder at his side. Skye and Everest were resting on the left side of the deck while Race was sitting on a box at the end of the stern. From there, she had a good view of the sea yet her eyes were elsewhere. On something she held in her paw on which she gently passed her other paw until she saw from the corner of her eye Chase coming toward her. She quickly put it back inside her pup pack before Chase jumped next to her on the boxe without noticing anything. He had seen her alone and thought it would be a good time to talk.

"Hey, can I ask you something?" She looked at him and nodded hesitantly. "Is time travel a common thing for your team? Personally, we rarely have missions as crazy as that."

"Hum…not really. Like you, I didn't know such a thing was possible until Blaze and I found the sundial." She looked back at the sea, acting distant again.

Chase sighed. "Listen, I'm sorry."

Race looked at him, surprised. "What?"

"I know I didn't act nicely toward you at the beginning. Suspicious and all that. I guess I was mad because you escaped me. I thought maybe it was the reason you act so…distant toward us."

"Oh…no, it's…I'm not mad. It's just…I've been through a lot recently between my mission and the whole time travel thing."

Chase was relieved to hear that while also feeling sympathy for her. "Do you miss your home?"

"A lot," she confessed. Things were silent for a short moment before Race spoke again. "About our first encounter, if it's any consolation, you didn't make it easy. My magnetic hook was just faster than your zipline."

"Obviously, but I don't think it's just that. You're a good runner. Like Rubble said, it's in your name. Must be natural for you."

"Actually, It's my father who taught me."

"Your father? Then he must be talented."

"You bet." Race smiled. Something Chase, and the others, had seen her do only one time. "When I was a tiny pup, I would follow him whenever he went to train, much to my mother's chagrin. Until he agreed to train me too. Running, parkour, bodybuilding, swimming, even smell tracking. Of course, he adapted my exercises according to my age. We always had fun together and after each session, we would go to our favorite restaurant and rest while we drank juice." Race continued to smile fondly as she remembered those moments. It seemed so long ago even though it wasn't really.

"That seems nice." Chase personally never knew his parents. Not that he regretted being raised by Ryder alongside the others. Still, what Race described sounded great.

"Yeah, it was."

"Was?"

Race tone changed, becoming a mix of sadness and anger. As she spoke, her voice gradually became louder. "(Sigh) Things changed when I became a rescue pup. Suddenly, whatever I did in training, it never was good enough for him. And when I prepared for my mission, he came and double checked everything. Like he doesn't trust me anymore. We…ended up having an argument before I left. We were so close and he knew this had always been my dream. I just don't understand why." She was now almost crying. Her father's change of attitude had obviously hurt her and Chase didn't know what to say or do. He was becoming nervous. As if she just realized what she said, Race took a deep breath to calm herself. "I'm…I'm sorry. I didn't mean to say this much. I…I shouldn't have."

Chase relaxed a bit. "It's okay. Ryder always says the first step to fix a problem is to talk about it. Maybe…maybe your father was just scared."

"Scared?" Race looked at him like what he just said was the most ridiculous thing ever.

Chase sat as he explained himself. "When the Paw Patrol was founded, there was only me and Marshall on the team. Ryder hadn't adopted the others yet. During our first mission, Ryder hurt his arm. Nothing bad. When they heard this, his parents rushed here to take care of him even though it wasn't necessary. What if your father was just worried about you like Ryder's parents were for him? It's no secret jobs like ours can be dangerous."

"But my mother didn't act like that," Race countered.

"Each person, and dogs, is different. You can see it inside our own team. Then again, it's just a theory since I don't know your parents."

Race thought about what he said for a few minutes. It did seem to be a plausible explanation. And by far not the worst one. But was it true? If so, did it excuse his behavior? Even if Race hadn't meant for this conversation to go this far, it felt good to talk about it with someone else than Blaze. As much as he had wanted to help her, her best friend wasn't good with stuff like that. Seeing she was still silent, Chase tried to offer some comfort.

"You…can always ask him when you get back. And after seeing you in action two times, I'm confident you can do it, even without our help," he said, putting her paw on her shoulder with a gentle smile.

Race couldn't help but smile in return. Hearing those words, it meant a lot to her. What she feared the most since her arrival was turning out to be helpful in a way she hadn't imagined. The situation almost made her laugh at its irony. Yet, as much as she loved this, she could feel her defenses dangerously weakening. If she didn't do anything quick, she'd crack for sure so she abruptly changed the subject.

"L…let's hope not. It would be a shame for you all to miss a mission like this. Let's go see what Ryder has planned to catch Jeremy."

"Right after you ma'am."

From where she rested, Skye watched as Chase and Race walked together toward Ryder and the Turbots. While she couldn't hear what was said between them, she saw them talking and something just didn't feel right. Something…just made her want to growl.

"Hey Skye," Everest said next to her. "Wanna do something while waiting to reach Adventure Bay? I'm bored."

"Uh? Sorry, but I'm not in the mood."

Everest raised her eyebrow and followed Skye's eyes to see what the problem was. All she saw were Chase and Race climbing the stairs leading to the helm.

"What's the problem?"

"To be frank, I'm not sure. Chase and Race were talking earlier. I rarely saw him act like that."

"So?"

"I told you. I don't know. I just suddenly have a bad feeling about that pup."

"Now that I think about it, we don't know anything about her outside of what she told us. She could easily be hiding something."

"True. Or maybe I'm just imagining things. We don't have any real reason to doubt her."

"As fast as I'm concerned, a bad feeling is never to be ignored. We'll keep an eye on her if you want. Just in case."

Skye looked at her friend and smiled. "Thanks Everest. Now, what were you saying about doing something?"

Ryder was talking with Captain Turbot and François when Chase and Race joined them.

"Sir, Race and I were wondering how we're going to cap…" Race hit him with her elbow in the flank. It didn't hurt, but the message was clear. Chase wasn't sure why but he wasn't going to argue here. "...I mean going to accomplish our other mission."

Ryder, who had noticed it, acted as if nothing had happened. "Good question. I have to verify something first."

He excused himself and left the helm with the two pups. They walked to the other side of the boat. Seeing this, Skye and Everest followed them. Once out of earshot, Ryder took out his pup pad and called Rocky.

Inside the Lookout, Rocky was working inside Ryder's workshop. Marshall and Zuma were sitting at the room door while Rubble was going back and forth around the elevator. Walking in a weird fashion, two paws at the time. The dalmatian and chocolate labrador looked at each other before asking the bulldog what he was doing.

"Standing guard," he answered, "just like soldiers in movies. After all, we're in charge of the Lookout protection until Ryder comes back."

The two pups thought about it and, two seconds later, Zuma was walking behind Rubble, imitating him. Marshall snickered at how ridiculous they looked though a part of him wondered if he should join them.

Inside the workshop, Rocky tag lit up.

"Rocky, it's Ryder. How are things going on your side?"

Hearing Ryder's voice, Marshall walked in.

"Good," Rocky answered. "I detected a residue of energy inside the sundial. It is the same kind as the one of the meteorite that temporarily gave us super powers. I activated the object, just to see if it would decrease, and it did. The sundial didn't stay active however. My theory is that he doesn't have enough energy to work anymore. Just like the meteorite after it was drained."

"It's a valid theory. If you're right, then the sundial should recharge itself over time like the meteorite did."

"That might take a long time. And there's always the possibility for me to be wrong."

"Isn't there a way to recharge it ourselves," Race asked, obviously not liking the idea of staying here too long.

"Maybe. I honestly don't know," Rocky answered.

"And about Jeremy, any sign of him," Ryder asked.

"No. Rubble and Zuma are standing guard around the elevator and I'm staying close to Rocky," this time Marshall answered.

None of the pups or Ryder knew if this was a good sign or not.

"Copy that. As for the sundial, I think we should concentrate our efforts on the inscriptions on it and I know who could help us."

"Wait, you want to involve someone else in this?"

"Race, I know you want to keep this mission low-profiled, but we couldn't find any information about this language on the Internet. And none of us has the knowledge to understand it. You know it's our best bet to find answers to our questions regarding its energy and how to use the sundial."

"Don't worry," Rocky tried to reassure her. "I know who Ryder is thinking about and you can trust him as much as you trust us…You do trust us, right?"

On the boat, Race looked at Chase who nodded, smiling. This was seen by Skye who didn't like it one bit.

With a small smile, Race spoke. "I do…Fine."

"Thank you. Rocky, can you call him right away for me?"

"No problem Ryder.."

"Thanks. Ryder out."

The call ended and Rocky jumped off Ryder's chair he was sitting on without forgetting to take the sundial with him using his mechanical claw.

"Rocky," Marshall asked as he followed him. "I didn't understand. Who is the person you and Ryder were talking about?"

Rocky stopped and turned to look at Marshall. "Think Marshall. Who do we know is specialized in ancient civilisations and spends his time studying them?"

"The only one I can think of is Ca…Carlos, of course. But isn't he specialized in jungle civilisations? I can't remember where Race said she and her partner found the sundial."

Rocky blinked as he tried to remember too, but couldn't. "I don't think she told us," he realized.

Was it a mistake? Or intentional? Rocky wasn't sure. Marshall wasn't either, but being the gentle pup he was he didn't want to assume the worst about their new friend. Out of curiosity, they agreed to ask her once she and the others will be back.

"Either way," Rocky continued, "Carlos still is our best shot. Can't hurt to ask. I don't know why Race was so worried about that."

Marshall simply shrugged. Rocky briefly frowned. They left the workroom and went into the elevator. Rubble asked them where they were going and once Marshall told them, he and Zuma decided to accompany them. Better to stay grouped. Once at the top floor, Rocky dialed Carlos' number. The call went straight to voicemail so he decided to leave a message.

"Hi Carlos, hi Tracker, it's Rocky. We discovered a strange ancient artifact this morning with unknown inscriptions on it and we wondered if Carlos could help us understand what it is. If you could call us back as soon as you can, Ryder will have more information to share with you. Thanks, bye."

The message was registered. Rocky turned to the others.

"That's done. Now what?"

"If you're finished then back to standing guard while waiting, I suppose," Marshall answered.

During this time, the Flounder had arrived at Adventure Bay dock. Ryder and the pups got off the boat.

"Thanks again for the ride, Captain and François," Ryder thanked them followed by the pups.

"No problem. Good luck with your mission," Captain Turbot responded while François detached Ryder's ATV and Skye took her helicopter out of the boat.

They all said goodbye as the Turbots sailed away. The group then went back to where they had parked Chase's police truck and Everest's snowmobile. Once there, Ryder spoke.

"Pups, we need to figure out a new strategy to find Jeremy, since the Turbots robbery was a dead end."

"Let's not forget Adventure Bay is a big place if we include the countryside and he can turn invisible," Chase recalled.

Everest suddenly had an idea. "That may be true, but if I'm not mistaken, he came here like Race. By accident."

"Yeah, so," Race asked, raising her eyebrow.

"So, unless his bracelets include a snack compartment, he must have been hungry and thirsty like you were until Ryder fed you and gave you water at lunchtime. Since he's a thief in another time period, I doubt he would pay for it. The Turbots' snacks weren't taken by him, but maybe he stole things elsewhere."

The others' eyes widened as they realized the husky may have been onto something. Chase wished he would have thought of that sooner. As the police pup, it was his role after all. Skye congratulated her friend for her idea and the two high pawed. Even Race was impressed.

"You're right Everest," Ryder exclaimed. "Okay, here's how we're going to proceed."

So, did you guessed which the part I wanted to write? I bet you did. I loved giving Race a bit of a backstory and showing her and Chase becoming friends. I hope you felt a bit bad for her like I did I when I wrote this. And yes, what Skye is feeling toward her is jealousy. But as I said in an earlier chapter, they are too young to understand what these feelings truly are. Rocky is also becoming suspicious of what Race is telling them. Oh oh.

The chase continue in the next chapter (sorry, easy pun but still enjoyable). There will be more action then. Don't hesitate to leave reviews and show you like the story.

Take care, until next time.