Chase and Marshall were currently on their way back to the lookout. The Dally's ambulance was blasting music as they rolled down the road on their way back.
"PAW Patrol!"
"PAW Patrol!"
"We'll be there on the double!"
"Whenever there's a problem... Chase!" Marshall pointed at his best friend.
"...'Round Adventure Bay!" The Shepherd embarrassedly smiled
"That's it!" Marshall laughed, "Ryder and his team of pups are here to save the day!"
"Marshall! Rubble!" Chase pointed to Marshall.
"Chase! Rocky!" The Dally then pointed back.
"Zuma!"
"...Skye..."
"They're on their way?" Marshall tilted his head confusedly before realizing, "Maybe I should've saved PAW Patrol karaoke for another time..."
"No, I was having fun." Chase smiled, "It just... Well... Isn't a good time to think of all the members being okay and well, ready to save the day."
"Good point..." The EMT pup turned down his music.
"We should be getting there soon. Then we'll be able to start looking into what happened to Skye."
Chase looked down at his paws. They still had the bandages over them to allow them to recover from what had happened the previous day. All of that digging, just for Marshall to find her tag moments after he had finished getting her helicopter out of the snow.
He wondered how they were going to retrieve her helicopter and bring it back to the lookout. They left it back at Jake's cabin after Chase used his winch to pull it near Everest's pup house.
There was no way he was going to let that helicopter stay there for too long.
Back at the lookout, Ryder was in the middle of reviewing the footage from their most recent rescue. Just as Rocky had told him, they all cut out at exactly the same point, continuing when the storm lightened a bit.
He wiped his forehead. The only clues they had left were with Chase and Marshall. Did they know about the cameras? How would they react to finding out? What if they–
His pup pad suddenly went off, interrupting his train of thought.
"Ryder here." He answered quickly.
"Oh Ryder, it's horrible!" A woman cried, "Chickaletta and I were making our way to shore after a fishing trip when a rockslide blocked it off."
"You can't row your boat around the rocks, Mayor Goodway?" Ryder was a bit confused.
"About that..." She turned her camera towards the sea, where her oars were floating.
"That's not good..." The boy frowned before swiping on his pup pad, "But don't worry. No Mayor is too stranded, no pup is too small!"
He wasn't sure how he felt answering the Mayor's request for help. He had bigger fish to fry than the Mayor getting into trouble again. While he had never given it a second thought in the past, he had no choice but to think about his missing pup. What was he going to do?
He had to think about that later, as lost pup or not, it was still their duty to protect and watch the residents of Adventure Bay.
"PAW Patrol, to the lookout!"
Zuma, Rocky, and Rubble received the notification, as well as Chase and Marshall.
"Ryder needs us!" Chase and Marshall exclaimed in unison,
The Shepherd looked down at Skye's tag, which had lit up along with his own, "Hang in there, Skye..."
Rocky walked into the elevator behind Zuma and Rubble, a sense of emptiness growing in their minds as well as the elevator. Without Marshall to crash into them or Chase to declare they were ready for action, the team dynamic had a noticeable shift.
The trio went up the elevator and jumped over to where they would receive their mission assignment.
Lining up, the three remained silent and looked at Ryder. Zuma then looked over to Rocky and gently tapped the mixed breed.
"What is it?"
"After Chase, Marshall, and Skye is you."
Rocky's ears perked up, "Oh... Right." He cleared his throat, "PAW Patrol–"
"Ready for action Ryder, Sir!"
"Huh?"
The three pups whipped their heads around at the familiar voice. It was a gently smiling Chase, who was followed by a waving Marshall. Chase, now back in his original police uniform after spending so long in his spy gear, was ready to begin the mission and do the best he could to finish it quickly. After all, he had a crush to find.
Rocky, Zuma, and Rubble's tails wagged furiously as Marshall and Chase walked up, glad to see two of their friends returned in one piece. While Skye was still missing from their line, it was at least nice to know that they hadn't lost half of the team.
"Thanks for coming so quickly, pups. Especially Chase and Marshall." Ryder gave the two a quick pat on their heads before returning to his usual standing position, "The Mayor just called me, and told me that she lost her oars while on a fishing trip with Chickaletta, and can't get to shore because of a buildup of large boulders on the shore where she was planning to beach on."
The pups listened tentatively.
"For this mission, I'm going to need... Rubble." He tapped on his pup tag, resulting in the Bulldog's construction emblem to appear on the screen, "I need you to move those rocks to somewhere else less populated than Adventure Beach."
"Rubble on the double!"
"Zuma." Ryder tapped on the screen, causing his anchor emblem to appear, "I need you and your life preserver to pull the Mayor and Chickaletta back to shore."
"Let's dive in!"
"All right, PAW Patrol is on a roll!"
The five pups howled as Ryder ran past. Rubble and Zuma made their way to the slide and went down it, beginning their mission.
This left Chase, Marshall, and Rocky in the lookout to wait for Ryder to call on them if needed.
Rocky's eyes instantly darted over at Chase. The mixed breed could easily see Skye's pup tag, which had been tucked into the German Shepherd's collar. Rocky soon stood up from his sitting position and walked the short distance over to Chase, who had moved to sit closer to the screen.
Marshall noticed Rocky's gaze, curious as to what he was thinking. Even Marshall himself was hesitant to approach Chase, as his demeanor shifted to a more serious attitude, even outside of missions. The only time he was able to shake that demeanor was when they were on the way back singing karaoke, and he had to bargain his next treat for it.
Deciding to bite his tongue, the inquisitive Dally watched as Rocky sat next to Chase.
"Hey, Chase."
"Hm?"
"Ryder and I found a way to figure out what happened to Skye during the storm." The mixed breed told him, looking down at the pink pup tag sticking out of Chase's collar.
The Shepherd's eyes immediately switched from the screen to the pup sitting beside him, "What is it, and why haven't you done it yet?"
"We haven't done it yet because we need two items." Rocky explained, "The first is a hard drive that is currently in the PAW Patroller. The second is Skye's pup tag."
"Then let's go to the PAW Patroller!" Chase shouted impatiently, standing up, "We have to find her!"
Rocky began to reach for Skye's pup tag, "That's the answer I was hoping for–"
Instinctively, Chase reeled back, swatting the mixed breed's paw away from himself. He couldn't help but to let a low growl slip from his lips.
Both Rocky and Marshall looked at him with shock.
Chase was just as shocked as they were. He slowly pulled Skye's tag from his collar, looking down at it. That was all he had left related to Skye. Sure he had the suspicious bathing cap tucked away in his pup house, but the tag was essentially her identity. The one item telling her apart between an owned dog and a wild pup. He was so willing to find out where she was and what happened to her, yet he couldn't give his friend the key to the door they needed to unlock.
"C-Come on..." Chase began walking out of the top floor of the lookout, "Let's get to the PAW Patroller."
Chase, Marshall, and Rocky walked inside of the PAW Patroller, Rocky a bit more on his toes than the former two. He knew it was risky showing Chase a place where team Skase could operate, but at this point in time, he had bigger fish to fry than that. He had to help Chase and Marshall uncover what happened to Skye, and perhaps Everest.
Speaking of which...
"Marshall, what did you say happened to Everest again?" The mixed breed suddenly asked, turning around to face him.
"She had a concussion from some blunt force trauma, I suspect..." Marshall's eyelids fell, thinking about the injured Husky, "But from what or when, I can't give you an answer."
Chase spoke up, "Maybe while we look into Skye's disappearance, we could see what happened to Everest."
"But to do that, we would need Skye's pup tag, wouldn't we?" Rocky's eyes darted to the Shepherd, who wasn't expecting that question.
Rocky had no idea what he and Marshall could've gone through to obtain her tag. He couldn't just say that he could take it and possibly take it apart for information. But what he did know was that Skye's tag was their one and only clue leading them to answers.
Chase knew this as well, taking her tag from the space between his neck and collar. Thinking back on it, he had always been protective of the aviation specialist of the team. But looking down at her tag, he realized that he could only be so protective of her until the point where it would hinder the progress of the team.
Marshall put a paw on the Shepherd's shoulder. Between himself and Chase, he knew that the police pup wasn't exactly one for being in tune with his emotions, good or bad. But the Dally knew that he could be that for him if he needed to be.
"Let's find her, together."
Chase slowly handed over the tag to Marshall, who then passed it to Rocky.
"Ah finally!" Rocky suddenly burst into a cackle, "Now I can finally destroy Skye's tag!"
"What!?" Chase's ears flattened against his head.
The mixed breed looked at him with lowered eyelids, "Kidding."
Calming down, the Shepherd watched as Rocky placed her pup tag down on a seat. Rocky pulled out the laptop from beneath his seat and placed it next to the tag.
"Now all I need is a cord to connect the pup tag..." Rocky hummed, "Be right back, there should be something in my pup house I can use."
~~Ryder~~
Another rescue, finished without a hitch.
Ryder watched as Zuma and Rubble played along the beach. After their rescue, the construction and aquatic rescue pups begged him to let them play. It was a bit harder for the boy to accept this request. Knowing that Chase and Marshall have returned to the lookout with Skye's lost pup tag in tow, he wanted nothing more but to go and look into her disappearance.
He couldn't blame the two pups for wanting to finally kick back and play, as in the wake of Skye's disappearance, the pups hadn't been as playful as they usually were.
"Zuma! Rubble!" He called out to the two.
The two stopped playing to look over at Ryder.
"I'm heading back to the lookout, be sure to come home before sunset at the latest!"
"Okay, Ryder!" The two replied obediently.
Ryder hopped onto his ATV, "Such good pups."
Cranking the handlebars, the boy was soon on his way back to the lookout. He held a hope that Chase and Marshall were feeling better after what happened at Jake's mountain. The two were always good at hiding their emotions until a dangerous boiling point. For example, Chase's breakdown the previous day. For Marshall, it was back when he left the PAW Patrol after thinking that the other pups were badmouthing him.
He remembered the Dally explaining how he wanted to take a break from the PAW Patrol. What a day...
After bringing Marshall back to the lookout, Ryder brought the Dally upstairs to address the day's events with him. The other pups, including Marshall, knew what this was about. It wasn't just a simple misunderstanding. It was hinting at something deeper, Ryder assumed.
"Marshall, why did you think that the others wanted you gone?"
"I heard them talking about that villain on Apollo, and I thought they were talking about me..."
"What did they say?"
"That he can't do anything right."
"And why do you think that they were talking about you?" Ryder inquired, "Do you think you can't do anything right?"
Marshall remained quiet. He hadn't been expecting that question. Of course he knew that he could do things right, but he didn't exactly feel as though he represented that fact enough. Enough so that he would actually believe that the pups would say that about him.
He was a klutz, to be frank. He couldn't get down his ladder without hitting his but several times, unable to walk into the elevator without tripping or slipping over the object of the day, couldn't do the simplest things without messing up.
"What can I do right...?" Marshall asked his owner with a faint whimper.
Ryder was surprised by the answer to his question. He would have never guessed that one of his pups would have such a self-esteem issue, considering that they spend most of their time doing wonders for the community. He felt guilty, cursing himself for not noticing this sooner.
"Marshall..." Ryder kneeled down to him, gently petting his head, "You can do lots of things right."
"Huh?" The Dalmatian looked up at him.
"You're a firefighter and an EMT, two really hard jobs. You may be clumsy, but you do those two jobs effortlessly." The boy told him, "You're one of the only pups on this team who even have more than one job. In some cases, you could say that you do more than what the others usually do."
Marshall nodded, but remained quiet.
"I know my words may seem hollow to you while you're in this headspace, but I want you to take some time to think about them." Ryder stood up, "Now go and relax, dog knows you need it."
The Dalmatian walked toward the elevator, which would take him downstairs. He walked in, his eyes tracing along the floor.
"And Marshall?"
The Dally looked up at Ryder, who had his back turned to Marshall as he worked on something.
"Yes...?"
"You're not the only Marshall on this team, understand?"
Marshall, who really didn't understand what he was trying to say, went down the elevator with more to think about than he had expected to receive. Not the only Marshall? But there was only one him. Did he mean his breed? There was only one of each pup on the team, it couldn't be. Whatever Ryder had meant, it seemed to cheer the Dalmatian up more than he expected it to.
The boy could see the lookout getting closer and closer by the second. He couldn't help but to start thinking about Skye. He hoped that she was doing okay and staying strong, wherever she was. When the aviation pup went missing, he noticed that things around the lookout seemed to be more bare. The pups, especially Chase and Marshall, stopped playing outside as much, spending more time watching television or sleeping.
Chase, to be specific, was nowhere near the same. Ryder could easily see through the front that his first pup was putting up. It seemed as though the police pup was fine aside from the bandages wrapped on his paws and a slightly downcast attitude. But the leader of the team was able to tell that Chase had changed more than he was letting on.
Pulling into his garage and walking out, Ryder began to look for the pups. They were nowhere to be seen. He took a look in each of their pup houses, finding nothing at Chase's and Marshall's.
When he went to look in Rocky's pup house, he saw various different items scattered outside of it. This only happened whenever Rocky was searching for an item to use during missions or whenever planning to fix something.
It had begun to rain, dampening Ryder's shirt as he searched for the pups.
"NO!"
Ryder flipped around, startled by the scream.
The door to the PAW Patroller opened, Chase running out of it soon afterwards. He didn't make it too far, however, as he was soon tackled down to the grass by a frantic Marshall and Rocky.
"Chase, you need to calm down!" Marshall shouted at him.
Rocky chimed in, "We're not going to get anywhere if you freak out!"
"Let me go!" The Shepherd shouted back, his teeth bared at nobody in particular.
"Chase, you can't just—"
Rocky's sentence was cut short, realizing that the Shepherd was beginning to stand up despite being held down by both Marshall and himself.
"If anything happens to her, I'll... I'll...!" Chase struggled to stand under the weight of the two pups.
"You'll what?"
The three struggling pups stopped, slowly turning their heads to see a confused and concerned Ryder. The boy instantly zeroed his attention onto Chase, who seemed mildly stressed. Ryder walked over to the three and kneeled down near them.
"What's going on?" He asked.
Chase stared at Ryder, "We know what happened to Skye."
Meanwhile, Zuma and Rubble were just making their way back to the lookout.
"Phew, I'm worn out!" Zuma exhaled tiredly.
Rubble nodded in agreement, "I can't wait to get inside and watch that new episode of Apollo!" He grinned, "...After my mid-afternoon snack."
"Mid-afternoon?" The Lab raised an eyebrow, "How many snack breaks do you have?"
"Well there's the early afternoon, late afternoon, post breakfast, pre dinner, and–"
"PAW Patrol, to the Air Patroller!" The two's pup tags chimed.
"Ryder's calling!"
"Ready for action Ryder, Sir!" Chase declared, stomping his right forepaw on the cushioned seat he was sitting on.
"Thanks for coming so quickly, pups." Ryder paced back and forth in front of them, "Marshall, Rocky, Chase, and I found out what happened to Skye."
"So that means we can go and get her?" Rubble asked excitedly, his tail beginning to wag.
Ryder nodded, "Yes, but that might be a little harder than we thought..."
"What do you mean by that, Ryder?" Zuma inquired, confused.
The boy continued to pace in front of the pups, "The person, or pup, I should say, that took Skye, is Sweetie."
"Sweetie!?" Zuma looked completely confused, "What would she want with Skye?"
Rubble remarked, "Yeah, it's not like Skye's the crown of Barkingburg."
The pups, with the exception of a silent Chase, giggled at the comment.
Their owner chuckled softly, "...But whatever the reason, I'm sure that it has something to do with the crown." Ryder told them.
"So does that mean...?" Marshall began to smile.
Rocky continued, "...We have a...?"
"Mission PAW!"
Before Ryder could command Robo-Dog to take off, he received a call on his pup pad.
"Hi, Ryder here."
"Ryder, we need a little bit of help!" The familiar, southern voice of farmer Al came from the pad, "The barn fell... Again... And the storm is bringing a flood in from the bay."
"Oh no... That doesn't sound good..." Ryder's mouth turned into a light frown.
"And to make things worse, it pulled in a large sea animal along with the flood."
"Don't worry, Farmer Al, no flood is too big, no pup is too small!"
Hanging up the call, the pups watched as Ryder looked out of the window, a solemn expression spread across his face.
"Wait... We're not going after Skye?" Rubble asked, a faint whimper coming from his mouth.
Ryder continued to look out the window, "We're not, but..."
He turned to Chase, "You are."
"Wait... What?" The Shepherd was elated, but more so surprised. His tail began to wag.
"We can't afford to have Skye gone for any longer." Ryder explained to the five, "Which means we have to split up the team. I'll have Rocky, Rubble, Zuma, and Marshall deal with this emergency in Adventure Bay. And as for Chase..."
The Shepherd's ears perked up more than they usually were.
The boy walked over to the middle of the Air Patroller's seating area, "Officer Chase, front and center."
"Yes sir!" The police pup hurriedly hopped out of his seat.
"Going on a Mission PAW alone is nothing new to you, right?" Ryder asked, soliciting a nod from his first pup, "That means that you are the sole pup I can entrust with the responsibility of finding Skye and bringing her back home."
"Yes sir."
"Officer Chase, you are hereby in charge of this Mission PAW. I know you can do it."
Chase barked cheerfully, "Chase is on the—"
"Wait, Chase!"
"You did not just interrupt my callout."
"About time I got you back!" Marshall joked before looking back at Ryder, "I want to go with him."
"You want to go too, Marshall?" The boy was a bit surprised.
"Chase is the second in command, sure, but there are things he just can't handle by himself. This is one of them."
"What's that supposed to mean–?"
"Let me finish... Please."
Chase nodded obediently, letting his best friend speak, "Out of everyone, Chase has it the hardest. He already feels bad that he couldn't find Skye or her pup tag, and I don't want him to feel any worse or stressed out."
The Shepherd was surprised at his usually goofy friend's maturity.
Marshall exhaled softly, "That's why I'm going with him."
Ryder smiled, glad that somebody was looking out for Chase, "Marshall, front and center."
The Dalmatian trotted over, sitting next to his best friend.
"Lieutenant Marshall, you are tasked with the assignment of making sure that Chase is able, physically and mentally, to carry out his duty as lead on this mission."
"I'm ready for a ruff-ruff rescue!"
"Lieutenant...?" Zuma asked in a whisper to Rocky.
Rocky whispered back, "Firefighters with red hats are Lieutenants."
"I thought Marshall was a... You know, a fire Marshal."
"That's the blue hat I think..."
"There's more than just one color!?" Rubble joined in the whisper exchange.
Ryder noticed the three whispering pups, "While Chase and Marshall look for Skye, we'll watch over Adventure Bay. Speaking of, there's an emergency on our paws!"
"I'll brief you three on what you have to do on the way!" Ryder pointed to the exit of the Air Patroller, "PAW Patrol, is on a roll!"
Zuma, Rocky, and Rubble howled enthusiastically as they ran toward the exit. Rubble then stopped, causing Zuma and Rocky to bump into him.
"What's wrong, Rubble?" Ryder was a bit confused.
The Bulldog turned around and ran at Chase and Marshall. He tackled them both to the floor, hugging them tightly, "We'll miss you guys..." He whimpered.
Rocky and Zuma exchanged a smile before joining the group hug.
After getting their goodbyes out of the way, Rocky, Rubble, and Zuma headed towards Farmer Al's farm while Ryder kneeled down to Chase and Marshall.
"You two are really good pups..." He put a hand on both of their heads, petting the two softly, "I want you to stay safe, and to look out for each other.
"Marshall, I'm really proud of you for taking this on, I'm glad to call you third in command..."
"Thanks, Ryder."
"Chase, you're always making me proud. And now you're rushing into possible danger just to bring one of your teammates back home."
"Anything for Skye— the PAW Patrol!" Chase quickly corrected himself.
"If you two get in too over your heads, I'm one call away." Ryder stood up, "After all, whenever you're in trouble–"
"Just yelp for help!" The pups finished for him.
Ryder went to leave, Chase and Marshall watching his back. The Shepherd looked down at the floor. A faint mutter escaped the police's pup's mouth.
"...I love you."
The boy didn't turn around, seemingly not hearing the words that had just been spoken. Chase and Marshall watched as the door to the aircraft closed.
"Alright Chase!" Marshall went to buckle up, "Let's get Skye back!"
Chase barked over to Robo-Dog, "Time for take off, Robo-Dog!"
The electronic pet barked in reply, the aircraft beginning to lift up.
Marshall stifled a giggle, "I guess you could say that we're... Fired up for this case?"
The two laughed before high fiving the other.
"Mission PAW is on a roll!"
