Skye and Zuma were currently in the middle of their 60 to 60 tiebreaker. The round had been going on for quite some time, the others watching beginning to get impressed with their seemingly limitless endurance. The two competitive pups continued to dance onto the latter half of the round, really trying to win this specific round.

Skye glanced over at Chase, who seemed impressed by the display. The Cockapoo begun dancing a bit more actively, noticing that the Shepherd was watching her.

"You can do it, Skye!" Chase cheered, not noticing her glance.

Chase had always been impressed with Skye's proficiency when it came to games like Pup-Pup Boogie. The way she moved, the way her floppy ears swayed with every movement. He could've sworn that he was being hypnotized, so much so that he had even forgotten the pups right next to him, Marshall and Rocky.

They didn't play dumb to the fact that Chase had just proved their point concerning his favoritism toward Skye.

Rocky snickered softly, "What happened to not taking sides?"

The Shepherd's eyes bulged open, "I-I just thought that their friendly rivalry was pretty entertaining so I had to take sides..."

Marshall laughed, "Sure..."

Before they could push any further, they were interrupted by a familiar noise below their heads.

"PAW Patrol, to the lookout!"

"Ryder needs us!" The team exclaimed.

Before they could move, however, they soon realized that they were already where they needed to be. Chase slowly turned around to see Ryder chuckling faintly.

The pups laughed as well, making their way over to line up as they usually did. Marshall, who was heading over to his spot, tripped over Skye's Pup-Pup Boogie pad and crashed into the other pups.

Marshall chuckled nervously, "I guess you can call that a Hip-Flop..."

The pups, as well as Ryder shared a laugh.

"PAW Patrol, ready for action Ryder, sir!" Chase declared as the pups finally lined up.

"Thanks for tumbling over so quickly pups..." The boy chuckled a bit before regaining his composure, "We have an emergency."

The pups tentatively listened to whatever he was about to tell them.

"Two snowboarders got into a pretty bad situation over at Jake's mountain. They fell into a crevice and can't get out. Also, a storm is closing in and fast. Time is of the essence."

"Are any of them injured?" Marshall asked.

"We don't know, and that's why I need you, Marshall." Ryder tapped on his pup pad, a red emblem with flames on it appearing on the screen, "I need you to check the injuries of the snowboarders after we get them out."

"I'm ready for a ruff-ruff rescue!"

"And Skye, I'll need you to use your harness to pull the snowboarders out."

"Let's take to the skies!"

"And we need one more pup for this job." swiped the screen to switch to a light blue pup tag.

"Everest!" The pups cheered.

"What's up, Ryder? Hey pups!" A Husky, whose face was now on the big screen, greeted them.

Everest, despite being a part of the PAW Patrol, didn't live with the others. Instead, she comfortably lived in a cabin atop a frigid, snowy mountain with her own owner, Jake. Living with only Jake had its upsides and downsides. One of the biggest downsides was that she wasn't able to play with the other pups whenever she wanted. Sure there was a short drive between Jake's mountain and the lookout, but it just wasn't the same.

"Everest, we have an emergency." The boy addressed the Husky, "We have two snowboarders trapped in a crevice. We might need you to help Marshall navigate his ambulance through the snow."

"Ice or snow, I'm ready to go!" Everest grinned.

"Alright, PAW Patrol is on a roll!" Ryder exclaimed, the howls of his pups following soon after. Marshall made his way over to the slide.

Skye began walking over to join him, but stopped when she saw Chase staring at her.

The Shepherd knew it was too late to avoid her gaze, "B-Be careful out there. You know what happened last time you were piloting in such weather."

Skye couldn't help but smile, "I'll be okay, Chase. I'll be back before you can say Chase is on the case!"

Waving him goodbye, the Cockapoo quickly made her way over to the slide. The Shepherd watched with a faint smile as he watched her head sink below floor level. His eyes then darted over to Rocky, hoping that he didn't just see that exchange.

"Awww!" Rocky teasingly cooed.

Zuma chimed in, "Chase has puppy love!"

This time around, Chase's dark fur wasn't enough to hide the blush rising on his face. The Shepherd was completely aware that he had a thing for the aviation pup, but he had no intention of letting the others know about it.

"C-Cut it out, you two..."

Meanwhile, Marshall shivered a bit as the frigid air hit his face. That was enough to signal that they had arrived. He grabbed his winter hat and quickly put it on before focusing on the road ahead. Despite the chilly temperature, he was fairly excited to arrive. Usually Ryder allowed the pups to stay at Jake's mountain for a while after the mission. It had been some time since he had seen Everest, and that would be a good opportunity to catch up with her. He was sure Skye felt the same.

Skye, on the other paw, was more cheerful than usual. Her brief interaction with Chase before starting the mission had been all she needed. It warmed her heart, almost enough to make her believe that she was flying over the sandy shores of Adventure Beach. She knew that Chase was always worried for the pups on the team, but never had pulled somebody aside to address it with them before the mission. It was special, and so was the police pup.

Watching Skye's helicopter slowly lift a young girl out of the crevice, a small Highland Terrier groaned with impatience from the safety of her levitating vehicle.

"When is this storm going to come, Busby?" She asked, leaning back in her seat, "I'm not much for the cold..."

Sweetie, the royal pooch of Barkingburg, was currently out on one of her usual patrols of the PAW Patrol. She was currently waiting to enact her next scheme for the misappropriation of the princess' crown. But to do that, she needed to be quick, and to be quick, she needed the right moment. Thankfully, this storm would suffice.

The PAW Patrol was constantly getting in her way, and for some reason, she would never think to handle them first before going after the crown. But this time was different. She wasn't going to allow them to mess with her any longer.

The furthest she had ever gotten to taking the crown was when she falsely accused Chase of being the thief and sent the rest of the PAW Patrol on a wild goose chase trying to find him. She was able to work in the shadows without that pesky PAW Patrol bothering her... Until they found Chase and revealed that she was actually the one who took the crown.

This time, however, she would use her first scheme and mix it up a little. With her dog cage sitting behind her in her vehicle, she was prepared to take one of the PAW Patrol and send them into a panic once again. While they were looking for their own, there would be nobody to stop her.

But there was just one problem, most of the pups weren't her size. Chase, Marshall, and Everest definitely weren't going to fit, being the three biggest on the team. Rocky and Zuma were just a bit too big to fit in a cage for her size. Rubble had a chance of fitting, but she couldn't risk the chance of the Bulldog going crazy and breaking the cage open. This only left her with one option. Skye.

Ever since being caught by the Cockapoo during her first scheme, Sweetie had always had more of a grudge against her. Things would've gone so well had Ryder not thrown some wings onto Skye's vehicle.

"How fitting that the pup to catch me during my first scheme is going to be the one to help me. Isn't it funny, Busby?" Sweetie asked, looking down at her controllable squeaky toy, "This time, we're going to get that crown, and make me the queen of Barkingburg!"

As she was going through her monologue, she noticed that the snowstorm was just beginning to close in.

The Terrier smirked, "Let us begin!"

~~~Meanwhile~~~

"There you go!" Marshall spoke as he wrapped a bandage around a small girl's leg, "Your leg is a bit sprained, so make sure to get plenty of rest, okay?"

The young girl nodded, a smile spreading onto her face, "Okay, thank you, Marshall! Thank you, PAW Patrol!"

Ryder nodded at this, "Whenever there's trouble, just yelp for–"

"Help!"

Ryder and Marshall whipped their heads over to where the shout had come from.

"Was that Everest?" The Dalmatian quickly ran over to the voice.

Just as Marshall thought, it was the seventh pup of the PAW Patrol stumbling as she approached him. Everest came to a stop in front of him, staring into his eyes. The Dally could instantly discern that something was amiss with her. The Husky's fur was messy in different areas, and the way she looked at him seemed bereft of any light in a way he couldn't ascertain.

"Skye... She... She..." The Husky's eyes soon got heavy, her legs buckling and giving out under her.

"Everest!" Marshall cried out, catching her before she could face-plant into the snow, "Oh no... Ryder! Jake!"

Everest was gently placed on her dog bed, bandages wrapped around her head and ears. Marshall sat silently, staring at the unconscious Husky. Marshall was in a bit of disbelief. This couldn't be real. The PAW Patrol has had to deal with injuries before, but there wasn't anything worse than a simple sprained limb despite how dangerous things got sometimes. The Dally was hoping that he would wake up from this nightmare to see Skye and Everest fine and okay. How could this happen? When did this happen? And most importantly...

Marshall turned to look at Ryder, tears pricking the corners of his eyes, "Who did this?"

"I don't know..." He replied, seemingly in a daze as he looked outside of the window of Jake's cabin.

Ryder wasn't sure how to act in such a situation. Everest was hurt, Skye was missing, and seemingly without her pup tag, as she hadn't replied to any of his calls. He needed to think, to mull over the details in his mind. Has Skye crashed her helicopter? How would he have known? There wasn't any smoke rising from what he would assume to be a broken part of her helicopter. There wasn't any audible indication either. Where was she?

Jake put a blanket over the unconscious Husky, "I can't believe someone would do this to a pup, man. Majorly uncool."

Ryder stared outside of the window, pressing his pup pad once more, "Skye, come in... Please..."

Marshall, the oftentimes less serious of the group, was having a hard time putting a positive spin on this. He had no idea of what to do, and broke out into a cold sweat thinking about how the other pups would react.

In fact, how would CHASE react?

Ryder, with a defeated expression, tapped on his pup pad.

"Chase. We need you and your spy gear at Jake's Mountain, immediately. We have a missing pup."

Chase replied, "A missing pup? Who?"

Ryder's voice shook with hesitation, "...Skye is missing."

Skye is missing.

Chase's blood ran cold. There was no way. No possible way that she could have gone missing while she was with Marshall, Everest, and Ryder. Last time, sure, she was alone, but this time there couldn't be any fathomable way that she would just disappear out of the air like that.

Whatever the case, he was going to find out.

"I'm on my way."

Switching from his usual police outfit to his spy gear, Chase bolted over and bounded down the slide. He landed in his spy-police vehicle and sped from the lookout.

Rocky, Zuma and Rubble all watched as his vehicle disappeared from view. Zuma allowed a faint whimper to slip from between his lips.

"It's gonna be okay." Rocky looked at the Lab, trying to give a supportive smile. His smile soon faded however, as the gravity of the situation made his smile fall, "...I hope."

It didn't take long for Chase to arrive at the mountain. The Shepherd rushed in, completely out of breath. His gaze switched between Ryder, to Jake, to the unconscious Husky in her pup bed, and rested on Marshall.

The atmosphere in the room was bleak, to say the least. It was completely silent.

Chase made his way over to Marshall, who looked progressively more guilty each step he took. The Shepherd wore an apologetic expression, realizing what was probably running through his best friend's head.

Marshall broke out into a sweat as Chase's sight trained onto him. The Shepherd's expression was either unreadable, or he was beginning to learn that he was terrible at reading face expressions.

Chase sighed, "I know you're worried for Everest."

"Of course I am, but forget that!" Marshall replied in a hushed shout, "I'm sorry about–"

"It's not your fault, if that's what you were thinking."

"I wasn't there to make sure she was okay..." The Dally explained, "I just kind of assumed that she would be fine. But..."

The Shepherd shook uis head, "She's okay... She just has to be... She's a tough pup."

"Are you gonna go look for her?" Asked Marshall.

"Are you coming with me?"

"Do I have a choice?"

"Of course you do."

"No, I don't. As the EMT here I need to make sure you don't freeze out there. Now let's go find Skye."

"Ryder, sir?" Chase turned to look at the young boy, "I'm going to go and look with Marshall."

Ryder gave him a nod, "Just be safe and watch each other. I don't know what I'd do if one of you two went missing..."

The two pups made their way to the door, but were stopped by Jake standing in front of them, "Woah, slow down there you two. That gnarly weather out there is getting pretty rough. You've gotta wear the right attire."

He grabbed two scarves and wrapped them around both pups' necks. He also grabbed some canine mittens to slide over their paws.

"Thanks, Jake." Marshall placed his right forepaw on the wooden floor, resulting in a faint, but audible creek.

"No prob, guys."

Jake stepped away from the door, allowing the two pups to pass by and head out of the door. Chase gently closed the door behind them, taking one last peek at Ryder. He was typing on his pup pad with solemn eyes.

Chase's resolve to find Skye only grew greater. The Shepherd allowed the door to completely shut.

"Umm... Chase?" He heard Marshall whimper faintly.

Chase turned around to ask what was wrong, only to immediately receive his answer. Nothing but a winter hell awaited them, snow falling in seemingly every direction. Marshall's ambulance was up to the side windows with snow, rendering it unusable for the time being.

Chase turned to see the state of his vehicle. Because he had only recently arrived, snow was only up to the tires.

"C'mon, let's hurry!" Chase rushed over to his vehicle, "I need my drone!"

Marshall followed his lead as he watched the Shepherd bark out his drone and send it into the air. It was pretty rough to see what the drone was seeing, as it only appeared white. Chase let out an impatient groan as he tried to navigate through it.

Chase's pup tag then chimed, "Chase, be on the lookout for a pink light. I've set Skye's pup tag to emit light and beep."

"Thanks Ryder, sir." He replied, looking down at the pup tag.

"Chase look!" Marshall suddenly yelled, pointing at the screen. It was Skye's helicopter which strangely landed on the ground to near perfection. Since it had been snowing hard, her helicopter had been buried up to the top, only the propellers sticking out of it.

"Where is it from here?" Asked Marshall, looking around as if he could see more than three feet in front of himself.

"According to the drone... This way!" Chase pointed to his left, "I'll turn on the siren so it could be easier to find."

Marshall looked at the spiraling tufts of snow still falling, "Wait..."

Chase quickly turned the siren on, jumped down and began to run in the direction the drone had gone in.

"Chase!" The Dally quickly tackled his friend to the snow, looking down at him, "What if we lose each other?"

"We don't have time, just follow the siren!" The Shepherd impatiently rushed off.

Marshall tried to follow him, "Your sense of smell and hearing are better than–woah!" The Dally slipped and face planted into the snow, "...I'm good..."

Sitting back up, Marshall looked around to realize that Chase had vanished from sight, leaving him alone in the storm. He groaned faintly before running in the direction Chase had a few moments prior.

The Dally closed his eyes as he walked, focusing all of his attention to his ears. He could faintly make out the siren of Chase's drone, but the sound was faint to the point where he wasn't even sure he was hearing it.

Meanwhile, Chase approached Skye's helicopter, beginning to dig, "Skye! Are you in there?"

The Shepherd stopped digging for a moment. He looked down at his own paws. The mittens that Jake had put on his paws weren't doing good for his digging skills. Putting his forepaws up to his muzzle, he quickly took them off and began digging through the large amounts of snow to try and get to the helicopter's cockpit.

After a few minutes of digging, Chase yelped loudly. The snow had begun to get under his claws, constantly cooling them down to the point where it stung to continue. The Shepherd put his forepaws in his mouth in a desperate attempt to warm them up. This accomplished its goal somewhat, but he still couldn't shake the burning feeling that rose from his paws.

As much as his paws hurt, he couldn't imagine what Skye was going through. For all he knew, Skye could be underneath the snow in the cockpit, struggling to cling to the last bits of heat and life she had left.

He wasn't going to just stand idly by and let that happen. Never in a million years. He hadn't even had the opportunity to tell her how he felt. He liked her, like-liked her, even. All of the pups were young, romance was a foreign concept to them, but Chase was able to understand how he was feeling. But that didn't mean he was ready to admit it.

He was Chase, the brave and sensible second in command of the PAW Patrol! His feelings would only serve to get in the way of his duties, and burden the team. How ironic... Arguably the bravest pup on the team was too much of a coward to admit his feelings, partly because of the status he had on that same very team.

His arms shook with both pain and hesitancy as they approached the snow once more to dig.

Ryder, on the other hand, was feeling like the worst leader to ever have leader-ed. He was just sitting in his friend's cabin, an injured pup no more than a room across from him, and he was still struggling with his state of shock to go out and do anything.

Chase and Marshall volunteered to go into the storm to find Skye, yet he couldn't work up the courage to leave the front door. But why? Courage had never been a problem for the boy, especially when it came to his pups. But, looking at the still unconscious Everest gave him a different impression. Had he failed as a leader today? Perhaps he was so wrapped up in that very thought to the point where he felt like a liability to the same team he was supposed to lead.

Ryder then bolted from the window, threw on some winter wear, and rushed out of the cabin as quickly as he could. How could he be a liability to a team if there was no team left to lead? If he was going to feel useless to the team, then it at least had to be the entirety of the team he would have to apologize to. Skye was missing, and he was going to do something about it.

Pushing large amounts of snow off of his ATV, Ryder vaulted onto the cold seat and began to track both Marshall and Chase's pup tags.

Looking at both of their locations, Ryder got a bit confused. By the looks of it, Skye's pup tag had gone completely offline right where Chase was. Meanwhile, Marshall was separated from Chase, a slight distance away from where he was headed.

He quickly decided to head toward Marshall, grab him, and head over to Chase.

Ryder set his ATV to a hover mode to avoid slipping on the snow before heading in the direction of Marshall.

Arriving where Marshall was supposed to be, Ryder became even more confused. He was right where Marshall was reported to be. The boy took a moment to think before it clicked.

"The storm is messing with the connection."

Ryder turned his ATV around before heading to Chase's last reported location.

Marshall slipped on a bit of snow before gathering his bearings and continuing on. The Dally shivered in the frigid temperatures. He was by no means a winter kind of pup. He loved playing in the snow and making snowmen that he would inevitably crash into, but it was the cold that stopped it from being his favorite season. And when you get too cold, you'd get sick. Judging by how long he and Chase had been outside of the cabin, their chances of getting back to the lookout healthy were looking pretty slim.

The Dally's ears then perked up when he realized that the siren from Chase's drone had gotten louder while he was walking. Marshall excitedly dashed towards the sound, stumbling a few times on the way. Eventually, he heard a familiar howl. Chase. The howl seemed a bit pained, prompting Marshall to pick up his pace.

The Dalmatian stumbled over to where he heard his best friend howl, and his mouth instantly went agape.

"Chase..." Marshall started in disbelief, "There's no way you dug through all of that..."

In front of him was a completely uncovered pink helicopter. In the cockpit was a frantic Chase, who was looking around desperately. He hadn't noticed that his best friend had finally caught up to him, his attention centered on searching his crush's vehicle.

"Nothing... There's nothing!" The Shepherd bellowed, his eyes facing the sky, "Why isn't she here!?"

Marshall remained quiet. He had never seen Chase like this. He seemed to be confused, distraught, and in heaps of pain. Before he could try to go and help them, the Shepherd barked aggressively, repeatedly slamming his paws into the controls of the cockpit. The Dally couldn't help but whimper faintly out of fear. His best friend had never been prone to spouts of anger, often dealing with personal issues with a sense of confidence and maturity.

He then saw something he would have never expected.

Chase, the very pup he looked up to as a good role model. The unshakable and headstrong leader that he had learned to call a best friend, the first pup that Ryder had enlisted to the PAW Patrol, was gradually slowing down with his repeated beating of Skye's cockpit.

He was crying.

Marshall's ears then perked at a sound. He looked to where the sound was coming from, right beneath him. He recognized a pink light flashing beneath his forepaws. Sticking his paw in to grab the object, a bleak smile spread across his face.

Chase cried, louder than he ever had before. He had hit a dead end. He spent who knows how long digging out Skye's helicopter just to find nothing but an empty cockpit. His paws stung with the pain of what was presumably frostbite, and his eyes stung from the warm tears falling from them as he laid his head on the cockpit's steering wheel.

What kind of second in command was he? One of his teammates, his crush, for that matter was gone. There was no trace of her anywhere along this trail that seemed to run cold, and now he had to face the reality of not knowing where she was in the slightest. For all he knew, she could be halfway across the world by now. What was he going to do?

He failed, hadn't he?

The Shepherd wasn't thinking straight any longer, which proved evident when he slammed his own head into the steering wheel.

Then he did it again.

And again.

And again.

Marshall wasn't sure what to do, but he couldn't allow Chase to go any further with this.

"Chase!" A familiar voice shouted up to him, startling the downcast Shepherd. Looking down, he saw Marshall standing there.

Chase jumped down from the cockpit to look at his best friend with shame. He had assumed that Marshall saw his burst of anger a few moments prior. Instead of the judgemental expression Chase had expected, he was greeted with a comforting smile.

"I want you to look at this." The Dally opened up his paw to show what he had found.

Skye's pup tag.

Chase's eyes welled up with tears once again as he looked back up at Marshall.

The Dally had also shed a few tears, seeing his best friend in such a state, "We'll find her. I know we can."

The Shepherd immediately threw his forepaws around Marshall, pulling him into a tight hug. Marshall returned the hug tightly, closing his eyes as the two shared the bleak bonding moment.

Ryder, who had pulled up to the scene not too long ago, decided to give the two a minute, as they didn't seem in the mood to return back to the lookout just yet.