"Are you sure you want to do this?"

"Yeah."

"We can't turn back after this, you can stay here. I don't want you getting in trouble for me."

"Too late! you're stuck with me, Chase!"

The Shepherd exhaled faintly. A glare developed on his face. This truly was the point of no return. The door to the Air Patroller was opening, allowing the two pups to step on the soil of Adventure Bay once again.

Chase looked back, "Robo-Dog, we need you to drive the PAW Patroller, please."

With a robotic bark, Robo-Dog followed behind the two pups.

"Whoo!" Marshall exclaimed, "The three of us are on a roll!"

"Quiet!" Chase shushed him, "If the other pups see me with this then it's game over."

The Shepherd pointed at the large bandage placed on his cheek. Marshall was still a bit unsettled to look at Chase's bandage after having to treat it so quickly and so crudely with little first-aid materials to work with.

"So what's the plan?" Marshall tilted his head.

"You need to grab your medical pup pack and some food that can last for at least three days."

Marshall sat up and saluted, "Sir yes sir!"

Chase chuckled, "Meanwhile, I'm going to grab my spy pack and food. As well as an important possession of mine."

Marshall nodded, "Sounds like a plan."

"Robo-Dog, can you head to the PAW Patroller and get it ready to move when we're both packed up?"

Robo-Dog barked before heading to the vehicle in question.

Chase and Marshall gave the other a high-paw before heading off in separate directions.

Marshall sneakily walked into the lookout, quiet as a mouse. He was confused when he realized nobody was around. The Dally peered his head into the television room. He would have at least expected Rubble to be there watching Apollo the Super Pup. Regardless, it was better for him and Chase if nobody was around.

"Maybe they're all out on a mission..." Marshall sighed faintly, "I've got to go to the top of the lookout for that food... And my pack."

Meanwhile, Chase made his way to his pup house.

It felt like forever since he's seen or even slept in his pup house. He felt a bit tired just looking at it. It reminded him of much simpler times. Sure the last time things were normal was five days ago, but between visiting Barkingburg, meeting the knights allied with Sweetie, getting injured, and even beginning to defect against Ryder's order to call him if things went wrong, it was almost like an eternity passed since everything started.

Chase sighed faintly. He couldn't even begin to fathom the trouble he was going to be in once Ryder found out that he continued on with the mission after being injured without informing him, but that was a chance he wasn't willing to take.

Being the first ever pup Ryder had owned, it was clear to Chase that his owner put the safety of the pups before missions any day. If one of the pups were revealed to be sick before a mission started, they would be forced to stay at the lookout, no matter how much they insisted they would be okay.

"Ryder, I'm so sorry..." He closed his eyes, bowing his head to the very pup house his owner built for him, "But I won't leave this mission to anybody else!"

Chase looked back up and walked into his pup house. He dug through his items before pulling out a picture frame. The Shepherd smiled gently at the picture within the frame.

With a twinkle of determination, the Shepherd's eyes darted back up, "We'll get back there."

Marshall, on the other paw, was making sure to stock up on food. As he began to leave, the Dalmatian tripped, rolling into the command center and crashing into the control panel with a thud.

"Ow..." Marshall groaned.

Ryder watched as Everest took her first steps out of the cabin for the first time in days. Rubble, Rocky, and Zuma cheered for the Husky as she smiled with determination.

"Back in action!" Everest exclaimed, "Ice or snow, I'm ready to—"

"Not so fast, Everest." Ryder interrupted, "You still need more rest before you can do anything."

"Aw, but Ryder!" The Husky pouted before looking at Jake, "Jake, is—"

"Cool it, Everest..." Jake gently pet her head so as to not ruin the bandaging around it, "You'll be back doing rescues before you know it."

As Everest sighed, Ryder received a call on his pup pad.

"Is it an emergency?" Rubble asked, running up to his owner.

Ryder looked a bit confused, "It's a call from the lookout?"

"Who's at the lookout?" Rocky asked, "All of the available PAW Patrol members are here."

The boy genius answered the call, "Hello— Marshall!?"

The four pups' interests instantly rose. Marshall was at the lookout? Was Chase there too? Did they find Skye? Thousands of questions ran through their minds as they crowded around Ryder.

Ryder had his own questions as well. For example, why exactly was Marshall's Mission PAW outfit destroyed? What was all of that red stuff staining some of his fur, and why did the pup look so tired?

Most of all, where was Chase?

Marshall, who was facing away from the screen, turned around upon hearing the voice.

"Oh dog this is bad..." The Dally gulped, "H-Hey Ryder. Where are you guys?"

"We're at Jake's Mountain..." Ryder answered, "Everest woke up yesterday."

The boy flipped the screen so that he was faced with Everest. The Husky audibly gasped upon seeing the Dalmatian, "Marshall, what happened? What's going on? Are you okay?"

Marshall was blown away by the onslaught of interrogating, "You're awake, Everest..."

Everest shook her head, "Yes I am, but what happened?"

Ryder, Rubble, Zuma, and Rocky watched on with shock as the normally goofy grin of Marshall was replaced by an anxious grimace. It was clear that something was amiss with the Dalmatian.

"Marshall, where's Chase?" Ryder suddenly asked, piling on the pressure.

Marshall felt the weight of the world on his shoulders. Here he stood alone, standing in front of the screen as he was questioned about his and Chase's condition. He had two choices. Follow Chase's orders or follow Ryder's.

He's been through way too much to go for option two.

"He's... He's..."

"He's what?"

"Marshall!" Chase called from outside of the screen, "Ready to go?"

Thank dog...

"Y-Yeah!" Marshall called back, "Let's go get her!"

The Dally turned around to head off with Chase.

"Marshall, don't you dare!" Everest shouted from the screen, "There's no way I'm going to watch you run off to who knows where!"

Marshall stopped. He had never heard Everest so angry. Not when dealing with Mayor Humdinger, not when handling Harold during their Mighty Missions, not even when he accidentally knocked her vehicle down a snowy hill during a normal everyday mission.

"Everest's right!" Zuma joined, "You're way in over your head, dude!"

Rubble and Rocky joined in, further making the situation worse for Marshall. Hearing the desperate and confused cries of his friends sent him into a state of absolute agony. He knew what he had to do, he knew that revealing too much would be the end of the mission. There was no way he was going to let Chase down.

Ryder held up his hand, signaling the pups to be quiet, "Marshall... What happened to you?"

Marshall looked at Chase, who looked back at him.

Chase nodded and lowered his head. He was well aware of the position Marshall was put in. He wouldn't have been angry had Marshall told Ryder and the pups everything. Sure the Shepherd would have left regardless, with or without the Dally, but it would be a lot harder in the case Marshall let Ryder know about their situation.

The Dalmatian gave Chase a smile, "Don't be ashamed to show your face, Chase. We're going to find her."

"Huh?" Chase looked confused.

Marshall looked back at the screen, "Barkingburg was a bit of a bust... But we're hot on Sweetie's trail! We're heading back out now! Marshall, over and out!"

With that, Marshall ran off and out of the screen's field of vision.

There was a loud banging on Skye's carrier, spurring the Cockapoo to weakly open her eyes. It was Sweetie, who gave her a devious smile, "We've arrived!"

"Where...?" Skye faintly asked.

"Where else? Adventure City!"

The Cockapoo got up, looking outside of the carrier at the sights. Indeed, they were in Adventure City. Towering buildings, bustling streets, and smells of different foods littering the air. She could really go for some food. Over the course of the past five days, she has barely had any food. She was starving, weak, cold, not to mention bored out of her mind.

To Sweetie, it seemed like Skye had finally given up. The Terrier was well aware that she had won.

But that proved to be a fatal mistake.

"The victor is not victorious if the vanquished does not consider himself so."

Skye wasn't sure when she first heard this statement, but it proved to be more true than any other point in her life. On the outside, it seemed like she was completely down for the count, yet she had been thinking the entire time, thinking of an escape plan. And it looked like she was able to cook up something really nice.

But all she needed was an opportunity.

Sweetie landed her vehicle, allowing it to transform into a land-oriented version of itself. This shook the inside of it and knocked a few things down. One of them being Busby.

Skye was completely aware how much Sweetie loved her little toy. She was going to have to pull a Rocky. She needed his skills in using others' weaknesses to get to her goal.

"Busby, no napping on the job!" Sweetie began to reach for her toy before seeing it swiped by Skye, who had slipped her paw between the bars of the cage to grab it.

"Gotcha! You're my ticket to freedom!" The Cockapoo gratefully cuddled Busby.

"Unhand Busby this instant, mutt!" Sweetie instantly banged her paw on the carrier holding Skye.

"Come and get him then..." Skye teasingly brandished off her toy.

Sweetie growled. How dare she treat her loyal servant this way? There was no way she would stand for this. The Terrier tried to reach her paw in to grab Busby, but Skye backed all the way up in the carrier so that she couldn't reach her through the bars.

There was only one way she was getting Busby back. But there was no way she was going to risk her whole mission for—

Squeak!

Sweetie looked to Skye, who had put Busby in her mouth and began to squeeze it and play with it.

Oh no she didn't!

Sweetie instantly swung the carrier door open for the first time in days, reaching to grab Busby. Skye, with her toy still in her mouth, charged at her and pushed the Terrier away. The Cockapoo jumped out of the carrier, free at last!

Her adrenaline went into overdrive, Skye not realizing that she still had Busby clenched tight between her teeth. For the first time in five days, she wasn't cooped up in that cursed carrier. And because of that reason, she wasn't prepared for how quickly her legs buckled and tripped her.

The Cockapoo fell onto the sidewalks of Adventure City, a pained yelp slipping from her lips. She accidentally dropped Busby in the process, which bounced into the street. Sweetie, meanwhile, was not willing to let Skye go. Not after all she's been through to make this plan work.

The Terrier jumped off of her vehicle and onto Skye, pinning her to the ground, "You're not leaving!"

Skye let loose an antagonistic growl, glaring at Sweetie. This was the very pup to keep her under lock and key for the past five days, the one to keep her away from the pups, from Everest, from Ryder, from Chase. Skye was always known as one of the most kind and empathetic of the pups, but after everything Sweetie had put her through, she couldn't help but to see red.

Skye grabbed Sweetie by her collar, using it to throw the royal pooch off of her. This ripped her collar off in the process, Sweetie yelping in pain from the pressure. The Cockapoo jumped onto her and bit down on her arm.

Their struggle had become less about Skye's freedom, and more about getting back at the other. Skye was livid that Sweetie pupnapped her and took her all the way to Adventure City for who knows what. Five whole days of her life had been wasted because somebody else wanted to be selfish. Sweetie, on the other paw, had always held a sense of hostility toward the PAW Patrol beginning all the way back when she first tried to take the crown. And then there were the ones who foiled that scheme. Chase, and more importantly, Skye. The two became rabid animals over the course of their altercation. Clawing, punching, biting, kicking, whatever they could do to the other, they would do it.

They seemed a bit TOO wild, as many of the people on the sidewalks of Adventure City watched the two dogs fight in horror.

One man in particular, who was enjoying a nice outdoor afternoon lunch at his favorite restaurant, saw the altercation unfolding. Quickly grabbing his phone, he dialed Adventure City Animal Control and explained that there were two stray dogs, presumably with rabies, were fighting in the middle of the sidewalk.

Skye and Sweetie circled the other, glaring daggers. By this point, all of Sweetie's Mission PAW attire had been torn off, along with her collar and crown. Both pups were entirely bereft of any identifying attire. No collars, no clothes, no hats, just their messy and tattered fur, as well as the bruises and cuts caused by the other.

Skye let out another growl, "Look at you, now you're no better than I am."

"Don't ever compare me to you, commoner pup!" Sweetie retorted.

"We'll stop you, just like we've always done..." Skye used a paw to brush one of her ears out of her face, "You'll never win against us."

"We? Us?" Sweetie asked mockingly, "Last I checked, you're the only pup here."

"Chase and the others will find me!" Skye growled.

The Terrier rolled her eyes, "Or, they could've already found a replacement."

The Cockapoo barked with hostility, lunging at Sweetie. Skye tried to claw at her face, but Sweetie, with an undying will to not have her face be messed with in any way, was quick to push the aviation pup off of her.

The two female pups tried to attack the other once again, but quickly came to a stop once they noticed that a large net had been thrown over them. Skye and Sweetie took their attention off of each other for the first time to try and struggle against it.

"Take this net off of me at once!" Sweetie demanded, her head whipping in the direction the net came from.

"What's going on?" Skye asked nobody in particular as she looked around.

The enemies then saw the large white van with the letters "ACAC" printed on the side in bold letters.

Sweetie, who was new to Adventure City, was confused, "What in dog's name is the ACAC?"

"Animal control..." Skye's eyes fell.

"But we aren't wild animals!" Sweetie tried to argue, "Why are they treating us like strays?"

"We are strays!" Skye suddenly shouted, "We have no collars, no identifying markers saying we have owners, not to mention that our owners don't know where we are. We basically fit the agenda."

"Oh dog..."

"Let me out of here this instant!" Sweetie shouted, banging against the bars of her small cage, "I'll have you know that I'm the royal pooch of Barkingburg!"

Silence.

"Are you even listening to me you scoundrels!?"

Silence.

"Just wait until the Princess finds out about this! She'll—"

"Sweetie, stop..." Skye, who was in a separate cage, told her solemnly.

"Stop!?" The Terrier looked over at the aviation pup, "There's no way I'm letting these humans drag me off to who knows where!"

"They're not going to listen to us." Skye sighed, "We just have to be quiet..."

"Easy for you to say!" Sweetie cried, "You have no idea how it feels to be taken against your own will and shoved in a small cage with little food or water!"

The Cockapoo looked at her with a deadpan stare, "...Seriously?"

"Yes, seriously!" The Terrier defended her previous statement, "My life is just so hard! Isn't that right, Busby?"

The back of the van they were in went silent once again.

"Wait, where's Busby?" Sweetie began looking around.

Skye shrugged, "It must've been dropped when I escaped. It's probably still on the sidewalk or something."

"Busby! Busby! My loyal servant is still out there!" Sweetie began banging on her cage, trying to break it open, "Stop this van! Now!"

Skye covered her ears, as Sweetie got progressively louder.

"It's just a toy!" The Cockapoo shouted, "You can get another one!"

"Shut up!" Sweetie glared at Skye, beginning to hyperventilate, "I can't just leave him out there!"

"Well IT is lost!" Skye continued, "Why are you so angry over that toy?"

"You wouldn't understand."

***Years Ago***

A large storm had hit Barkingburg.

The wind howled above as lightning crackled, followed by the boom of thunder. A small white West Highland Terrier shivered as she snuggled in the corner of her pup house with her blanket. As another boom echoed above her head, the Terrier yelped loudly and stood up. She instantly dashed out of her pup house and into the rain.

She then rounded the small corner leading to the stairs, which went to the entrance of the castle.

Meanwhile, the Princess was out cold in her bed. She had always loved stormy nights. With the comfort of a whole castle surrounding her and a few butlers as well as the Earl sleeping in their own quarters, she didn't feel threatened or even scared by the thunder and lightning. It was soothing.

The sounds of the rain hitting the top of the castle that only resulted in faint thumps, barely audible to those inside. It was truly the perfect conditions for a good night's rest—

"Princess! Princess!"

Huh?

The Princess sat up, hearing the frightened cries from outside her door. She automatically knew who it was, and got herself ready for what was to come next.

"Princess!" The small Terrier burst through her door, immediately jumping towards her and ramming her head into the Princess' stomach.

"Oof–!" The Princess grunted, feeling the pain of being hit by her pup, "...Aw... What's wrong my little Sweetie?"

"I-I cant sleep!" Sweetie replied, shaking and crying wildly, "I-I'm so scared!"

"I know, I know..." She pet her pup's head.

"Can I sleep with you? In your bed?"

"Sweetie... This is the fourth time you've come in here and asked me to sleep with you." The Princess started, "You need to learn how to sleep on your own."

"H-How?" The Terrier asked, clinging to her owner's shirt, "I-It's so scary at night... Especially when it's stormy outside!"

"Look here..." The Princess stood up, walking over to her dresser. She opened the top drawer before pulling out a small frog toy with a knight's helmet.

"What's that?" Sweetie followed behind her owner.

The Princess kneeled down to her, "This here, is Busby. He serves to protect whoever holds him. Go ahead and say hi."

"H-Hello Busby..." Sweetie leaned closer and gave the toy a sniff. It smelled a lot like her owner. A familiar scent.

"Busby will protect you while you sleep, because he doesn't need to sleep."

"But everybody needs to sleep..." Sweetie innocently replied, "Busby, I order you to sleep!"

The Princess lightly shook Busby so that his helmet fell down.

The Terrier's eyes lit up, "Wow! It followed my order!"

"Like a servant, right?" The Princess giggled.

Sweetie took Busby from the Princess, holding it close to her, "My loyal servant..."

***Present***

Sweetie repeatedly beat against her cage, growling angrily. It had been years since she had been apart from her servant. Sure she ordered him around, but Busby was the only one in this whole world who ever understood how she felt all of the time, comforted her whenever schemes would go wrong, and helped her out when coming up with new plans.

Busby wasn't only her servant, but her best friend, second only to the Princess herself.

Skye watched confusedly, not understanding why Sweetie was getting so riled up over her lost toy. She was even more confused to see that Sweetie still had some energy left over after their fight and being forced into cages.

The Cockapoo hated that she enjoyed seeing Sweetie get distraught over a lost friend. Skye had been taken from her friends, now Sweetie lost her own.

Karma really was a—

"Female dog, stop screaming! We're here." One of the men driving the van called to Sweetie, shutting her up.

"...Did he just call me female dog?" Sweetie asked.

"It's not like they know our names."

Skye and Sweetie watched as the back doors of the van opened, gulping with fear. Where were they being taken? Sweetie let out a faint whimper while Skye glared forward. Wherever they were going to end up, Skye wasn't giving up her hope. Now that she wasn't being held captive by Sweetie, she could actually start making progress to getting her true freedom back.

She was getting home, no matter what.