Chase sat under a tree near the lookout. He had told Skye to meet him there after a mission. He tried his best to calm his nerves. Today was the day. The day he'd confess to Skye the feelings he had hidden for so long.

After a few minutes alone with his own thoughts, he heard someone approaching. He didn't even need to look to see who it was.

"So what did you want to talk about, Chase?"

His heart's pace instantly picked up. How was he already thrown for a loop just by hearing her voice? Her high-pitched, angelic, beautiful voice... He could listen to it for hours, hear her say her catchphrase a thousand times before he ever thought about getting tired of it...

Chase mentally slapped himself, realizing he needed to focus.

"Oh, you're here."

"Of course I'm here, you asked me to come!" Skye sat next to him, "And I just can't say no to you."

He blushed. How could a pup be so precious?

Chase chuckled, "I wouldn't have wanted the girl I like to have not come."

"Yeah..." The Cockapoo giggled before letting out a squeak, "Wait, what?"

"I think you heard me right." The Shepherd looked at her with a smile warmer than the sun, "I like you."

"Like, as in like, like?" Her tail began to wag.

Chase nodded, "I really like you, Skye."

"I-I like you too!" Skye suddenly tackled the bigger dog, resulting in them tumbling on the ground for a few feet.

The two pups stopped, Chase noticing that Skye was on top of him.

Chase chuckled, "I guess you really do feel the same."

"Of course..." Skye nuzzled into his chest, "...I'm so glad..."

Chase then used one of his paws to lift her chin so that they were eye to eye. The Shepherd began leaning in. Chase was seizing his moment now. He had seen thousands of romance movies, doing what he was planning couldn't be so hard right? Just a simple...

...Kiss...

He saw Skye close her eyes.

Just mere centimeters apart, Chase was about to cross the final distance until—

He woke up.

"Biscuits." The Shepherd cursed in his head, "It seemed so real..."

The dream he was having almost seemed like it was happening in a completely different reality. Maybe Skye hadn't been taken and Chase decided to confess despite his worries. But he knew that was never gonna happen. Again, he wasn't risking the dynamic and efficiency of the team for his own personal gain.

He wasn't going to lie, it sure did hurt. But he took an oath to the PAW Patrol, and would want nothing more but to make sure it flourishes in the coming years and maybe even after Ryder and the pups get too old for rescues. Perhaps then, he'd be able to confess to his crush.

But that seemed a really long time away...

He took a moment to register his surroundings. He was currently laid on the seats in the Air Patroller, a blanket covering most of his body. It was apparently the middle of the night, as the inside as well as the outside were completely dark, only the moonlight from outside illuminating small areas of the interior.

He looked at Marshall, who was covered in a red liquid he hadn't remembered seeing before. The white areas of his fur were stained with it, and the Dally was fast asleep.

"Marsh—"

Chase tried to speak, but yelped in pain the second the muscles in his face moved ever so slightly.

He put his paw up to the area where it hurt the most, realizing that there was a large bandage on his right cheek.

"Oww... What happened to me...?" Chase wondered, gently rubbing the bandage.

That's right, he was slashed with a sword. Then he hit the floor. Everything after that was a mixture of red and black.

The Shepherd hopped off of the seats and began making his way over to Marshall. The Dalmatian seemed exhausted, dark circles forming under his eyes to give his usual white fur beneath his eyes a slight gray hue.

How long had he been up taking care of Chase?

"Thanks, Marsh..." The Shepherd put a paw on his head.

The sudden touch made Marshall stir. The Dally opened his eyes and looked at the Shepherd.

"Chase...?"

"Hey..."

"CHASE!" Marshall shot up and hugged his best friend.

The Dalmatian gently nuzzled his left cheek against Chase's uninjured cheek. The Shepherd hadn't even realized what happened until he felt the shaky breaths of his best friend brush against the fur on his face.

"Marshall...?"

"I was so scared..." Marshall spoke, hugging him tighter, "I thought you weren't going to make it."

"It was just a scratch, wasn't it?"

Breaking the hug, the firefighter pup shook his head, "After you passed out from shock, there was blood everywhere."

"Blood...?" Chase was a bit confused, "You mean that red stuff?"

Despite being a police officer himself, Chase wasn't exactly familiar with injuries. That, and he was still just a pup. Blood and gore was never something Chase had ever thought of. Sure he has seen others injured, like that time he and Jake were exploring a cave, but Adventure Bay was generally tame. Skinned knees, maybe. Sprained limbs, absolutely, but the red stuff? That aspect was very new to him.

Marshall nodded, "Yes, the red stuff..."

"Am I okay?" The Shepherd began to get a bit scared.

"You're stable, so I guess that's a good thing..." The Dalmatian's eyes remained glued to the floor.

Chase's ears then perked, "Wait, how'd you even get us out of there?"

"Right, right."

***Six Hours Ago***

A knight pup was suddenly launched out of the room by a strong stream of water, hitting the wall adjacent to the doorway.

"Hah! Take that!"

"Sir Growlahad!" Sir Pupcival cried out before turning his attention back to the furious Dalmatian.

Marshall's eyes narrowed. Three more pups to fend off. Maybe that would give him an opportunity to get to Sweetie's pup bed. He still wondered why Chase wanted him to get under it, but he had no other choice. Either way, he trusted his best friend, and wouldn't doubt him for a second.

"Come on!" Marshall bellowed, jumping forward and landing on his right forepaw in a handstand, "Launcher, engage!"

He was glad he had been practicing his Pup-Pup Boogie skills, especially on a specific song that required him to learn a specific skill to win at it. Sure it was a crazy plan, but it would give them enough time for him to grab Chase and make a run for it.

Breakdancing.

The Dally got onto his stomach before spinning himself around, splashing his high powered water cannon in all directions around himself and the unconscious Chase. This plan managed to send the remaining three knights flying into the nearby walls.

Marshall then sat back up, his eyes swirling. Maybe he should have focused on keeping himself from being dizzy.

"Looks like that plan really spun into something bad..." He quipped before focusing his vision.

Wobbling over to Chase, he picked the Shepherd up and carried him over to Sweetie's pup bed.

"I hope you were right about this..."

With a shout, Marshall turned around and used his hind legs to buck the pup bed off of where it had been originally sitting. This led to Marshall discovering that there was a secret tunnel placed under Sweetie's bed. He didn't know where it led, but it was better than where they were.

"They're getting away!"

Well, it's now or never.

Marshall grabbed Case and jumped down the tunnel.

***Present***

"Where'd the tunnel lead?" Chase inquired.

"Sweetie's pup house outside the castle." Marshall answered, "There were papers and drawings scattered everywhere. There might have been some clues as to where Sweetie took Skye."

"Please tell me you didn't leave them there..."

The Dalmatian smirked, "Check your pup pack."

Chase slammed his pack onto the floor of the Air Patroller, opening it up soon afterwards. His pup pack was bursting with different papers picked up. The Shepherd could've sworn that it was Christmas, seeing all of the papers stuffed in his pack.

Now all they had to do was look through it.

...All of it.

"I found something!"

Chase whipped his head around to look over at a grinning Marshall.

"What'd you find?"

"Check it out!" Marshall began to walk toward Chase, but slipped over a stray piece of paper before he crashed into his best friend, "...I'm good."

"But I'm not..." Chase, who was beneath the Dally, groaned.

"Whoops, my bad..." He chuckled.

Marshall had always wondered why he was so clumsy at some of the most important moments. He even wondered how he had never had any injuries from all of his slips. It seemed like he was the only one not being injured by his clumsy actions.

"So, what did you find?" Chase asked, getting up from the floor.

"In a lot of the papers I was looking at, I kept seeing a place called Rufftopolis mentioned."

Chase suddenly darted to the cockpit of the Air Patroller, "Robo-Dog, where are we headed?"

The cybernetic pet barked before pointing at a screen. It appeared that they were on course to head back to Adventure Bay.

"What...?" The Shepherd asked quietly.

"Chase... We're going home." Marshall told him hesitantly, standing behind his best friend, "We'll talk with Ryder, and come up with a new plan."

"But why?" Chase asked loudly, "Why go home when we're right on Sweetie's trail!?"

"We could've died back in Barkingburg!" Marshall retorted, "You of all pups should know that the more responsible thing to do would be to tell Ryder!"

The two pups had found themselves in a strange situation. For the first time in their lives, Marshall was being the more responsible of the two, while Chase acted on emotion. Usually, it would be the other way around, with Marshall having a big heart willing to act for anything and Chase having a headstrong non-partial way of dealing with things.

But Chase was able to understand how Marshall would feel in these instances. His mind became a battlefield. It seemed that the desires of his heart began a siege on the fortress that was the Shepherd's mind. He had always been the most loyal and obedient of the pups, yet here he was, getting ready to tell Marshall that he didn't want to follow Ryder's orders. He couldn't bear to be taken off the mission because of his injury, knowing that Ryder would not have him continue with this.

"Marshall, I want to keep going."

"What?"

Chase gulped, "I can't just stop trying to find her after all this."

"But what about Ryder?" Marshall asked, "He's going to be worried if we head back to Adventure Bay and he sees us like this."

"See us like what?"

"Have you even taken a look at either of us?"

The police pup took a moment to look at his best friend. He was covered in bruises, some of his white fur had been stained with Chase's blood, not to mention that his Mission PAW gear was in shambles. Also, his Hydro Launcher was broken, sticking a bit out of his pup pack.

Chase then looked at his own body. His fur was messy and unkempt, his Mission PAW gear was also destroyed, and that wasn't even beginning to address the wound on Chase's cheek covered by the large bandage Marshall put on top of it.

So much had happened that he really did neglect to realize the condition they were in. Last he checked, they hadn't even eaten for a whole day. Was he being selfish again? Maybe. But he couldn't stand being on the sidelines for much longer.

"I know it's dumb, but if we go home, and Ryder sees me like this, I won't be on the mission anymore..." Chase's voice shook, "I don't doubt any of you guys' abilities when it comes to rescues, but I don't want to be the one cooped up at home praying that everything turns out okay."

Marshall remained quiet as he listened to his best friend speak.

"I'm sorry, I just want to see her again, and—"

"I understand."

"Huh?" Chase finally looked back up to see a sympathetic smile from Marshall.

"I said I understand." Marshall walked closer to him, sitting down in front of the Shepherd, "If our roles were reversed, and Everest was the one kidnapped, I'd surely be out of my mind by now. But you're keeping it together the best you can in order to complete this mission."

"Yeah..." The Shepherd nodded.

Wait...

Chase looked at Marshall with widened eyes, "Everest?"

Marshall's cheeks instantly turned a bright shade of red, which was easy for Chase to spot because of his best friend's white fur. The Shepherd smirked at the Dally's reaction to his question, glad to finally see Marshall squirm over a girl for a change.

"Forget I said that!" The Dalmatian demanded.

"You like Everest, don't 'cha?"

"N-No! I meant like a friend and stuff! Like Rocky and Zuma!"

Chase raised an eyebrow, "Like Rocky and Zuma?"

"Okay maybe that's not the best example..."

Chase snickered.

"Okay I like her, jeez!" Marshall groaned, slumping down.

"And here you were talking about me. This whole time you had a crush on Everest. The nerve of some pups!" Chase stuck his nose up as though he were some high-class pup.

The best friends broke into laughter. Somehow, even in the darkest of times the two were able to make the other laugh. The two were exhausted, hungry, and beaten, but their spirits seemed as though they were rejuvenated by their simple and light toned jokes.

As the laughter slowed, Chase's smile fell once again, "So... I guess we're going back to Adventure Bay."

Marshall nodded, "Yeah, we are."

"Right..."

The Dalmatian then gave him a smile, "...For a quick pit stop before heading to Rufftopolis on the PAW Patroller."

Chase's ears perked up, his tail beginning to wag, "Really!?"

"Yeah! We're just getting started!" The Dally exclaimed, "I know you don't want to be taken off this mission, and maybe we'll be grounded for it, but I know you're doing what you judge to be right. I trust you."

"Right... Grounded..." The Shepherd instantly began to feel bad.

It was one thing for Chase to accept getting into trouble himself, but getting Marshall into trouble was a different story. He was the responsible one, yet he expressed the desire to be selfish. But if he could do it just once, he'd do it for Skye.

"Hey." Marshall smiled, "Let's get grounded together."

"Marshall?" Chase asked, "Am I being selfish?"

"Selfish!?"

This was the most confusing question Chase could have ever asked the Dalmatian. Marshall had always known that Chase would do anything for his team, and if that meant going against orders and getting in trouble for it, he'd do it no matter what. Sacrifice whatever he had to. Be it his life, job, or even trust...

Just like when they were just starting the PAW Patrol.

"Hey Chase!" A younger Marshall called out to him, "Watch how high I can bounce!"

Marshall and Chase were in Ryder's childhood home, where they spent the first year and a half before going to Adventure Bay. Marshall was bouncing on Ryder's couch, laughing cheerfully as he tried to do a trick.

"I don't know, Marshall..." Chase looked at him with worry, "What if you fall and break something?"

"I'll be fine, Chase!"

"I wasn't talking about your bones, you never get hurt somehow." The young Shepherd used his paw to gently scratch his neck, "I was talking about the things around you."

"I've been working on my clumsiness, I'm not clumsy anymore!"

Chase looked at his best friend with disbelief. He didn't know if he was crazy or not, but he could've sworn that he saw Marshall sneeze during breakfast. It would of been fine it it was just a sneeze, but that caused him to step on his food bowl and send his breakfast flying. Some of his dog food landed on the floor and caused Ryder to slip and fall on the ground, the rest of his dog food hit a light, causing it to burst and send glass flying.

And it didn't exactly end there.

The glass flew and broke a nearby window, the glass shards landing outside. This scared a nearby stray cat, that ran right into the glass shards and cut her paws on them. The cat proceeded to yelp and cry in pain, running straight into their back balcony and breaking one of the rails on it.

What was he thinking about again? Oh right, Marshall was most likely lying.

"I don't think this is a good idea, Marshall..." Chase looked away.

Marshall shook his head, "No way, watch this!"

The Dalmatian jumped up high before trying to do a backflip. Had landing on his face been his goal, Chase would have considered it successful. Marshall then bounced off of the couch and hit a nearby lamp, knocking it down.

Chase winced at the sound of shattering.

"BOYS!"

The two pups exchanged a worried look, more so Marshall. The Dally looked ready to cry, knowing that he'd get a stern talking to and possibly a worse punishment. Chase felt empathetic for his best friend, who had just gotten out of trouble last week after breaking a window. Not the one from breakfast, but one in Ryder's room.

Marshall was quite good at breaking windows back in the day.

Chase shook his head, "Marshall, go and get something to eat."

"But what about the lamp?"

"I'll handle it, just go."

"But..."

"Go, get out!"

Marshall yelped, scurrying from the room. Chase, meanwhile, got to setting up the crime scene. The young pup looked around and saw that the glass had shattered, spreading in a diagonal line from the back corner of the dresser it was set on.

Chase moved to the other corner, making it seem as though he bumped into it and knocked the lamp over.

Not a moment later, Ryder and a bigger human entered the room.

"Chase!" The older man shouted, making him flinch in surprise, "What did you do?"

The Shepherd looked down, closing his eyes, "Sorry, Norman Sir. I got carried away while playing with my ball and crashed into the dresser."

"How many times do we have to tell you pups not to play ball in the house?" Norman asked, sharp daggers being glared into Chase's back, "I'd expect this from Marshall, but not you Chase! You're supposed to be better than this. If you want to be the second in command of the PAW Patrol then you have to show that you can follow the simplest of directions, like not playing ball in the house."

"I know, I'm sorry."

Chase by far wasn't a great liar. But with evidence like this, even fumbling his performance wouldn't dispute what he said.

Marshall, meanwhile, was listening to the tongue lashing Chase was receiving for the crime he never committed. He didn't know what Chase was thinking when he told Marshall to leave, but now it was clear that he was taking a dive for his sake.

He performance could have needed a bit more practice, but who was really keeping track of that.

Ryder kneeled down to Chase, "Chase, I know that getting in trouble is rare for you, but that doesn't mean we're going to treat you any differently from when I'm punishing Marshall."

He nodded.

"You're grounded until further notice..." Norman told him, "That, and it's going to take some time for you be be considered as trustworthy enough for the position of second in command."

Chase clenched his teeth, "Yes sir."

Marshall winced. That was a brutal blow! They all knew that being the second in command is all Chase ever aspired to be. The Dalmatian couldn't let this go any further.

"Chase—" Marshall began to walk out from the doorway, but was met with a harsh glare from the to-be police pup.

Almost as if saying with his eyes; 'Don't you dare move!', Chase didn't want to see Marshall in trouble again like this. But this was only a one time thing. The little Dally needed a break from his own mistakes.

Marshall wore a heartfelt smile, thinking of the childhood memory, "You've always been looking out for me, and I think it's about time that I return the favor and and help you find your princess."

"P-Princess!?" Chase's face turned a hot pink.

Marshall held out a paw for him to shake, "Let me get in trouble for you... Just this once."

The Shepherd took a breath, "Okay..."

Chase reached out and shook his paw.

"Let's find her, together!"