Finally back to the lookout, Ryder was currently trying his best to explain the current situation to Zuma, Rocky, and Rubble, "Skye is currently missing, as you know."
"Poor Skye..." Rubble whimpered faintly.
"But there were a few things I haven't told you about..." The boy bit his lower lip.
The three pups let out a noise of confusion.
"Somehow during the same storm, Everest was injured..." Ryder told the trio calmly, "She has, according to Marshall, a pretty rough concussion."
"Wait... Where IS Marshall?" Rubble suddenly interjected.
"And Chase too!" Rocky looked around as though he would see one of them right behind him.
"I was getting to that." Ryder sighed, "Chase and Marshall volunteered to go out into the blizzard and search for Skye longer than what they were supposed to. Marshall was fine, but Chase came back with a slight frostbite."
"Oh no..."
"I hope he's okay..."
"On top of that, when Chase failed to find Skye or her pup tag, he..." The boy paused, wondering if he really had to tell the others this part, "...Had an emotional breakdown."
"What!?" The three pups chorused.
"Was it bad?"
"From what Marshall told me, pretty bad." He answered, getting looks of sympathy from the three pups, "Anyways, Chase, Marshall, and Everest are still at Jake's Mountain. I decided it would be best to have the boys stay there and process all of this for a little while."
"Poor Chase..." Rubble whimpered faintly.
"All of them must have gone through some wild stuff." Zuma remarked.
"And we were just sitting here..." Rocky thought, looking at Ryder, "Can we call them?"
The young genius nodded, "I don't see why not."
Ryder quickly contacted the best pup to contact out of the three, Marshall. The Dally soon answered, and smiled faintly when he saw Ryder and the three other pups.
"Marshall!" Rubble, Rocky, and Zuma grinned, their tails wagging excitedly.
"Are you guys okay over there?"
"How's Everest doing?"
"Is the storm still bad?"
"Is Chase okay?"
"Did you find out anything about Skye?"
"You got enough food over there?"
Ryder laughed as the three bombarded Marshall with various questions, "Pups, one at a time, I'm sure that Marshall will answer whatever he can."
"Hey pups, hey Ryder." The Dally greeted them, "The storm's calming down much more after what happened, but still no sign of Skye."
"Are Chase and Everest okay?" Rubble asked him.
"Everest is still out after what happened..." Marshall's smile fell a bit, "She's stable, but I don't know how long it'll be until she wakes up... Whatever hit her was pretty heavy."
"And Chase?"
"A few bandages around his paws and he's fine." Marshall answered, "Actually, he's taking a bit of a nap right now..."
Marshall turned his pup tag camera over to Chase, who was fast asleep on his side. His paws, as Marshall had told them, were bandaged up. That didn't stop him from holding something in them, however.
"Is that Skye's pup tag?" Rocky asked, a smirk growing on his face.
The pups, as well as Ryder began childishly giggling at the sight. Chase was cuddling the small pup tag close to himself, his tail wagging faintly as he slept.
"It's like officer bear all over again." Zuma snickered.
"T-That's enough, pups..." Ryder chuckled, putting a hand over his mouth to stop his laughter, "Let's leave him to sleep..."
"Anyways..." Marshall turned the camera back to himself, "I think after some rest, everything will be okay."
The Dally tried to give one of his signature goofy grins, but Rocky and Ryder were instantly able to discern that it was somewhat forced. His eyes were slightly more squinted as he looked at the two, his eyebrows furrowing slightly as he looked at the two.
Something then clicked in Rocky's head, "Skye's pup tag!"
A while ago, he was able to discover the files containing all of the camera footage from each of the pup tags. All he would have to do is make sure that the footage was actually on the same laptop that he was using to show evidence to team Skase.
Rocky turned around, "I think I left something in my pup house... I'll be right back."
Zuma and Rubble looked at the other with confusion in their eyes. Rocky leaves everything in his pup house, why would he forget anything specific there? And since when was everyone in the PAW Patrol so secretive?
The mixed breed soon left the lookout, quickly running to the PAW Patroller.
Rocky climbed in, closing the door behind him afterwards. He checked to see if he had been followed, and once realizing that he was in the clear, instructed Robo-Dog to turn off the lights within the large vehicle to avoid suspicion.
"Okay, let's see..." Rocky hummed, opening up the laptop and scrolling through the files, "There you are... Skye's pup tag..."
Rocky hadn't really spent much time with Skye, now that he was really thinking about it. They were good friends and all, but they often spent most of their time outside of missions doing things separate from one another. While the aviation pup played a... to be honest unhealthy amount of Pup-Pup Boogie, Rocky was never much for the game. He still played it and enjoyed it, but didn't want to memorize every song like the Cockapoo had.
He preferred to work on new modifications for his pup pack, or watch Apollo with Rubble. Rocky had always noticed the small cliques that had developed within the PAW Patrol. While they weren't separate, often intertwining more than just sometimes, he knew which pup preferred spending the most time with who.
Rocky was aware that Chase, Marshall, and Rubble were a good combination, with Rubble taking inspiration from the two oldest members of the team. Chase and Marshall appeared to enjoy the Bulldog's company, as things to teach him concerning the ins and outs of PAW Patrol duties never seemed to run thin.
The mixed breed shook his head, realizing that his mind had drifted a bit off track. Right now, he needed to look through Skye's most recent recordings for any clues as to where she might have gone during the storm.
He scrolled to the bottom of the list, where the recording started from the beginning of that day. Sure, he could have fast-forwarded it to where he needed to, but he had a bit of time to kill before bedtime.
Surprisingly, Rocky had never questioned the morality addressing why Ryder programmed the pup tags to constantly record. He wasn't even supposed to have access to the flash drive that was currently inserted into the laptop. He just got lucky one day, finding it dropped at the top floor of the lookout where they would receive their missions.
Skipping past the morning routine, breakfast, and the other day-to-day things the pups would do, Rocky eventually arrived at the point where he, Rubble, Zuma, and Marshall began their surveillance of Skye and Chase.
Nothing really happened in Skye's eyes, Rocky realized, as she was just watching Apollo with Rubble and Chase until she was challenged to a match by Zuma. Afterwards, the two played until he heard the distress beeping on Zuma's headset from Skye's tag.
The mixed breed smiled confidently, proud that Skye hadn't really seen anything out of the ordinary. Chase might have, but it was something that the Shepherd clearly didn't want to discuss, as he dodged the question fairly quickly.
There was no way that any of this was getting out. Not unless he kept Marshall under lock and key while he's near Chase.
Wait...
Rocky gasped, his back stiffening up. Marshall and Chase were still at Jake's cabin. Alone! Once Chase wakes up, and questions Marshall about anything related to their secret mission, Marshall was sure to crack under the pressure.
The mixed breed put his head on the floor, his paws over his eyes, "No... No... It can't be over this quickly..."
Left with no other choice but to try and believe in Marshall, Rocky shook it off and continued to watch the still-playing recording.
Reaching the mission portion of the day, he got the opportunity to watch a particular scene.
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!"
Rocky chuckled a bit. Who would have known that it would have been Skye and Chase's last interaction before she went missing. It put a lot into perspective for him. The PAW Patrol spends most of their free time playing and having fun. None of their problems would last longer than half a day or the occasional full day.
But this problem seemed a bit bigger than the normal ones.
Pups going missing wasn't anything new. Skye has gone missing before during a snowstorm. Marshall has gone missing before as well. But with the current information Rocky had at his disposal, he might as well have just left it up to Chase and Marshall.
He looked closer as the mission started to see if anything out of the ordinary happened.
Then the footage suddenly stopped playing, resuming after an amount of time that he couldn't determine. Had it been hours of cut footage? Or just mere seconds?
"Maybe everyone's pup tags got dropped from the signal during that storm..."
Rocky knew that the best way to test a hypothesis was to test whether this specific case wasn't the only one.
He went onto Marshall's pup tag and reviewed the footage. It cut out at the same exact point Skye's tag had. He switched to Everest's, the same thing.
"Great, back to square one... We lost the footage." Rocky hummed, "Unless there's a way to access footage... Maybe Ryder knows... But how would I ask him knowing that I'm not supposed to have these files in the first place?"
Rocky tucked the laptop away back into its hiding place and walked back out of the PAW Patroller to go look for Ryder.
Meanwhile, Ryder was working on his ATV, trying his best to get chunks of snow out of the wheels and gears. His mind was elsewhere, more specifically, Jake's Mountain. He was still mulling over what had happened up there from Skye's disappearance, to Everest's injury, and even Chase's reported breakdown. Somehow, in just one afternoon things became more serious than just their usual missions.
Once Chase and Marshall were back at the lookout the next day, they were, without any doubt, going to resume this mission to locate Skye, wherever she was.
"Ryder?" He heard a voice ask, walking up to him.
He didn't have much trouble discerning who it was, as he spent years with the pups, "Rocky? What is it?"
"Chase and Marshall have Skye's pup tag, right?"
Ryder was a bit caught off guard by the mixed breed's sudden question. The boy was aware that all of the pups were worried for their friend, but specifically her pup tag? Ryder theorized that it could help with figuring out what had happened to her because of the cameras, but knew that none of the pups had any knowledge of this.
He placed a camera on each of their pup tags in order to check and see what had gone wrong on missions and gave ways to see what they could do better in the future. He made it a policy to delete everything outside of missions, which proved easy as he would keep the recording starting from when they would line up in front of Ryder and ending when they would return to the lookout.
But he was curious as to what the recycling pup was getting at.
"Yes, they do." Ryder answered, "Why?"
"Isn't there something on there that can help us find out where she is?"
That was the best possible question he could think of. Something that sounds inquisitive, but hopeful for an answer.
"There are cameras on each pup tag."
Rocky nodded, "Then let's go get Skye's tag."
"How long have you known about the cameras?"
The mixed breed's eyes widened.
"W-What?" Rocky turned his head to look at his owner with a nervous smile.
"Rocky, you might be one of the more intelligent members of the PAW Patrol, but I'm still your owner." Ryder told him, "You're witty, whether it be finding a way to rescue a pineapple without touching the water during lifeguard training or fixing things a pup honestly shouldn't be able to fix, you're smart. Do I need to ask you again?"
"I found out a few weeks ago... There was a hard drive dropped on the ground."
"All right." Ryder let out a faint exhale, "I'll tell you what I know."
"Hm?"
"When a pup tag goes offline, or is disconnected from the signal, the camera continues to record." The boy kneeled down to Rocky, "The only way to get the footage is to directly connect the pup tag to whatever is holding the footage. That means we need two items. The hard drive, and Skye's pup tag."
Rocky nodded, following his explanation.
"Right now, we only have that hard drive."
"We have to wait for Chase and Marshall to get back, don't we?" Rocky asked, earning a nod from Ryder, "...Or we could go up there and take it from Chase?"
"I know you're worried about Skye, but she's a tough pup." Ryder pet his head, "She'll be able to hold out for a bit longer."
He wasn't sure if he was reassuring Rocky, or himself. He didn't have much of a choice but to leave things how they are. When it came to search and rescue, most of the pups he would use for it were gone. Skye, the air rescue specialist, was missing. Chase and Marshall weren't exactly in the correct state for it, leaving Zuma, who only specialized in water rescue.
He didn't want to have to dispatch Chase and Marshall just yet, but it didn't look like he had much choice.
Back at Jake's cabin, Chase watched from the balcony as the sun began to set. It had been hours since Skye had gone missing, yet he didn't feel any better. He couldn't possibly imagine how she was feeling, wherever she was.
Chase then felt her eyes sting a bit, "No come on... Officer Chase, I command you to stop crying right this instant!"
Hearing someone approaching, the Shepherd rubbed his eyes and turned around.
"Hey, Marshall." Chase greeted, trying to act as though he hadn't just stopped himself from crying.
"You... Doing okay?" The Dally questioned nervously, unsure of how to approach his best friend.
How crazy was that? He was scared to approach his best friend after just one emotional outburst? Not only was he supposed to be there for him, he was supposed to be the one comforting Chase.
"I'll be honest with you, Marshall. I'm not okay..."
Marshall put a paw on his back, "I know."
"Can I tell you something?" The Shepherd asked, his voice sheepish and thin, "But you'll have to promise me you'll keep this at the cabin."
"Anything, Chase."
"You promise?"
Marshall raised his right paw, "I pup promise."
"Marshall, I... I like Skye!" He whimpered faintly, only to be met with silence, "...Like, you know... Like-like her."
"Chase, I know. Everyone aside from Skye knows."
"I know that!" The Shepherd shouted, making Marshall flinch, "It's just... Hard, you know? The boys tease me all the time, and we know that it's just good fun but I really, really like her!"
"Chase..." He smiled empathetically at his lovesick friend, "Maybe when we find her, you can tell her how you feel."
"I can't tell her. I can never tell her."
"Wait what?"
"Marshall, I'm the second in command, might I remind you." Chase explained, "If my feelings for her get out then the whole team dynamic will shift! Like, if she finds out everything will get all awkward, especially when she rejects me!"
"Reject you?" Marshall sounded confused, "But Chase, who would turn you down, you're–"
"Please don't do all that." The Shepherd waved a paw, "I don't need to be told about how nice of a guy I am or how lucky she would have to have me as a boyfriend or whatever..."
"How'd you know what I was gonna say?"
"I watch romance movies from time to time with Zuma and Skye. Those two really got me into the genre..."
He looked down at Skye's pup tag. His strong sense of smell was able to pick up the familiar scent of Skye. He wished she was still there standing in front of them. He couldn't have cared less if she had heard his confession, he just wanted to know she was okay.
"I just want to go find her... More than anything, Marshall!"
"Then let's go."
"Huh?"
"We'll head back to the lookout, find out what happened to Skye, and go find her."
"Yeah... I guess we could..." Chase developed a small smile.
"We'll ask Ryder for permission too!"
The Shepherd's ears perked up, "Yeah!"
"We'll bring whoever or whatever took Skye to justice!"
"Yeah!" Chase's tail began wagging.
"And you'll confess to Skye!"
"Yeah!" He exclaimed loudly before pausing, "Hey...!"
The two pups burst into laughter. Chase was glad that he had Marshall there to lighten the spirit within the cabin. Marshall was glad that he was able to comfort Chase successfully and lighten his spirits. After such a stressful day, laughter really was the best medicine.
