"Alright Zuma, go for it!"
Zuma barked, "Water cannon!"
Wearing Marshall's firefighter pup pack, the Chocolate Lab had been dispatched on a mission to a burning building. It made sense that he would be the one to take Marshall's fire fighting spot, being the only other pup out of them to work with water. Apparently, Alex had been trying to make Mr. Porter a cake for his birthday. Being as young as he was, that led to a kitchen fire that eventually became a house fire.
Zuma made a mental note to tell Marshall that Alex was due for a kitchen fire prevention course.
"Fire!" Zuma shouted, water beginning to shoot out of the cannons.
As the cool water hit the fire, a loud sizzling noise could be heard as steam rose into the air. He sighed with relief. The Chocolate Lab felt a bit more comfortable as the fire lessened in volume.
Meanwhile, Rocky and Rubble were in the lookout, watching the beginning of an Apollo episode.
"Everest!" Rubble called, "It's about to start!"
"Coming! I'm coming!" A voice came from outside of the room, soon darting into the room with a bag of popcorn in her mouth. She jumped between the boys and put the bag of popcorn down, "Stuck the landing."
After Ryder had a talk with Jake, he had convinced him to allow Everest to come back to the lookout and help the PAW Patrol whenever there was a problem.
Everest missed Jake, sure, but staying with the other pups for an extended amount of time was a new experience to her, and she was absolutely LOVING it. There was only one thing that could possibly make it better, and that's if Marshall, Skye, and Chase were with them.
Her working with the main PAW Patrol day to day had been working extremely well, with Everest even beginning to learn how to fly Skye's helicopter... When it finally was cleared of the snow.
The Cockapoo had always loved her helicopter, sometimes to the point where she referred to it as her "steed" whenever she thought nobody was looking. Yes, maybe nobody had been, but after an event happened on the Lookout's premises and Ryder had to evaluate the cameras, he quickly found out about this by accident.
But, when the Cockapoo went missing, her helicopter had been left in the snow for a few days until Rocky helped pull it out and back to Adventure Bay with the help of Chase's winch. Skye was not going to like that once she found out.
She wondered how they were, out there who knew where searching for Skye.
"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!"
The Husky smiled faintly to herself, "Silly Marshall..."
Zuma glanced at Ryder a few times as he and his owner made their way back to the lookout after successfully stopping the fire. He wondered how he would bring up his recent thoughts with Ryder. Well, there was no time like the present.
"Hey Ryder—" Zuma began to say, but stopped himself, "Maybe it could wait for when we get home..."
Maybe there was a better time than the present...
Pulling into the Lookout, Ryder took off his helmet and placed it on a desk near his ATV. Above the helmet was a picture of himself, Chase, and Marshall back when they still lived with Ryder's parents.
He sure missed those two.
Over the years, he has given the entirety of the PAW Patrol as much love and affection as he possibly could, but it was no secret that he favored Chase. He was the first pup he ever recruited, and even owned. Marshall, being the second, also held a place in the young boy's heart. Those two were the founding members of the PAW Patrol, the ones the other pups turned to whenever things went wrong, and now they were gone, along with Skye.
It seemed like forever ago since this mission had begun.
***Eight Days Ago***
Ryder steered his ATV through the snow, keeping his eyes peeled for either Chase or Marshall, mostly Chase. The boy was well aware that in a climate of white, his chances of seeing Marshall, a mostly white Dally, would be slim to none. He mostly checked out for Chase.
He was beginning to get worried, until...
"Nothing... There's nothing!" He heard, "Why isn't she here!?"
His eyes widened. That was definitely Chase! But something about his voice seemed very off. It reminded him of what happened with the very same pup during a trip to Adventure City. How distraught he was after Ryder told him to take a break from rescues.
Ryder changed his ATV to its hover mode to prevent traction before zooming off in the direction of where he heard the screaming.
What Ryder saw afterwards utterly shocked him.
There was Chase, his first ever pup, the one who was the least emotionally vulnerable of all of the PAW Patrol pups, crying his eyes out in front of a distressed-looking Marshall.
Ryder was about to approach, but stopped once he saw his first pup slam his head into Skye's steering wheel.
Then he did it again.
And again.
And again.
The boy wanted nothing more but to run over and give the police pup a hug, but waited for Marshall to say something. The Dally had always been better at comforting Chase than Ryder,
"Chase!" The Dalmatian shouted up to him, startling the downcast Shepherd. Chase turned his head to see Marshall looking back at him.
Ryder watched as Chase jumped down from the cockpit to look at his best friend with what looked like shame. The boy was well aware of the fact that Chase never liked showing any kind of weakness, even to him or Marshall. Ryder could only see a heartwarming smile from the Dally.
Marshall spoke to Chase, which sounded faint from where Ryder was. He wasn't able to discern what they were saying exactly, but noticed Marshall hold up a paw to show his best friend something.
Skye's pup tag.
He could see Chase's eyes welling up with tears once again as he looked back up at Marshall.
By this point, both pups were in tears as Marshall said one last thing. Afterwards, 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 smiled faintly at the two pups, but his smile soon vanished as the gravity of the situation began to rear its head again. He decided to let them be for now.
After all, they had each other.
***Present***
Ryder jumped in surprise when he heard knocking on the garage holding his ATV. The boy genius lifted the garage to see a familiar Chocolate Lab looking back at him.
"Can I talk to you for a second, dude?" He asked.
"Sure, what's up?" Ryder took him into the garage before closing it once again, giving them some privacy.
"Do you ever worry that Chase, Skye, and Marshall will be gone forever?"
Ryder was thrown off by this question, "What do you mean?"
"I know Chase and Marshall are out looking for her, but we haven't heard from them for days. I trust them, but I can't help but worry about them."
Zuma was by far one of the most relaxed pups in the PAW Patrol, but over the last few days, he's found himself worrying about his friends. He hasn't had a proper challenge in Pup-Pup Boogie since his last set of games with Skye. He missed playing with the three.
Chase, despite being a bit hard to help loosen up, was a good friend and role model all around. He couldn't help but look to the Shepherd for advice whenever something didn't go his way.
Marshall was always the second-most out of the PAW Patrol who loved anything aquatic. Surfing, swimming, diving, whatever it was, the Dalmatian was fired up for it. Rocky was his best friend, but the mongrel absolutely hated water.
Skye was his rival in all senses of the word, challenging him to improve at things like Pup-Pup Boogie and his speed for races.
"Trust me, Zuma. I worry about them every day." Ryder sighed softly, "But I always think about if I had gone missing instead of Skye. Would I just have expected you pups to stay at the Lookout and hopefully escape on my own? Would you guys have gone after me?"
"Of course we would go after you, you're our owner!" The Chocolate lab replied.
"Exactly. Skye is our teammate. I wouldn't have been surprised had all of you tried to go after her."
"Right..."
"And then he told me to not think too much about it." Zuma finished explaining the details of his brief talk with Ryder.
Zuma, Rocky, Rubble, and Everest were currently sitting in the highest room of the Lookout, the same place they would usually be briefed on missions. They had decided to meet there, since each of their pup houses couldn't fit four pups and the PAW Patroller was currently away from the lookout.
"I appreciate Ryder, but it seems like he's carrying way too much on his shoulders..." Everest remarked, twiddling her paws, "I think everyone is..."
"Still thinking about Chase and Marshall?" Rocky asked.
Everest nodded, "It just doesn't feel right. Marshall keeps making me worry..."
A silence soon followed.
"And Chase too, right?" Rubble questioned.
"...Sorry huh?" The Husky pup asked, blinking twice, "I said him too, didn't I?"
Rocky and Zuma exchanged a glance. They both had the same thing on their minds.
Suspicion.
"No you didn't, dude." The Lab raised an eyebrow, "I know Marshall's the one you talked to that day, but why does it feel like you're more worried about just him rather than him and Chase. Is that just me?"
Rocky shook his head, "No, no, you've got a point."
Everest's heart began pounding. She had always had a soft spot for Marshall, which had slowly developed into a crush on the goofy Dally. But she was far from ready to admit to it. She wasn't ashamed of it, not by a long shot, but it was just way too embarrassing for her to admit.
Marshall was always the clumsy, "class clown" of the PAW Patrol, who was loved dearly by the other pups. Everest enjoyed his jokes and laughed with him whenever he would do something clumsy, but it never really sparked any different emotion than it did with the other pups.
That was until she watched Marshall on a mission for the first time.
"Marshall, Callie's still in there!" Ryder shouted through the Dalmatian's pup tag.
Marshall was currently spraying a forest with water, running through it with a concerned Everest following behind. They were looking for Katie's cat, Callie, who had gotten lost when the fire began.
"I'm out of water, Ryder!" He replied, "When's Skye gonna be here with the rest of the water?"
"She should be there in a few minutes, just do whatever you can to keep Callie safe."
Marshall exhaled heavily, "I'll try my best and forget the rest!"
Everest watched as the Dally's usually normal expression toughened, his blue eyes darting around like a predator searching for an unnoticing prey. She had never seen this side of him before. Calm in the face of adversity despite the overwhelming odds stacked up against him. It surprised her. He had always seemed like the last who would act like this, even Rubble seeming more likely. It was—
Wait was he running into the fire!?
It was brave, it was dumb, but Everest was smitten.
"What are you guys talking about?" Everest asked, trying to save herself, "Of course I'm worried for Chase. We all are!"
"I'm not saying that you don't, dude." Zuma backed up a bit, holding his paws in the air, "All I'm saying is that you're acting pretty strange about Marshall."
"I can't be worried about him?" Everest asked, trying to deflect, "You worry about Rocky all the time, and he worries for you. Does that mean there's something strange with you two?"
The mongrel and Lab looked at the other, quickly looking back at Everest.
"I don't walk with that leash..."
"I don't play in that park, dude..."
Rubble, who had been listening to the conversation quietly the whole time, finally spoke up, "Does Everest like Marshall?"
It was almost like she could hear Chase in her ear, declaring in an authoritative tone that she was caught red pawed and was being taken downtown. The Husky pup gulped faintly as her cheeks began heating up. It grew into a stinging pain as Everest tried her best to look in any direction but at the pups.
"I think we have our answer, team." Zuma leaned back, giving Rocky and Rubble a quick high paw.
The snow rescue pup let out an embarrassed huff, "D-Don't ever, and I mean EVER—"
"Tell Marshall?" Rocky cut him off, "Wasn't planning on it. But if you think it would be easy for us to even bring it up, you'd be wrong. Marshall's like the densest pup around."
Zuma laughed at this statement, "Yeah! Remember when he thought he could play a round of Pup-Pup Boogie blindfolded?"
"I think it took Marshall weeks of doing odd jobs to fix that screen." Rubble added, making all four pups laugh with amusement.
Everest giggled, "Silly Marshall..."
