In Adventure Bay, Ryder was watching Everest, Rocky, Zuma, and Rubble play with a ball after another rescue well done from the top balcony of the lookout. Everest took Chase's job and performed it perfectly, while Zuma took Marshall's job to near-perfection. There were a few bumps, but nothing the PAW Patrol couldn't handle. He did notice that Everest wanted to take Marshall's job instead, but that was denied as Zuma had a bit more experience with the job.
He hoped that everything with Chase and Marshall were doing alright. If only there was a way to contact them... He noticed that their pup tags went offline, but he chalked it up to them being too far from Adventure Bay to connect through their pup tags.
Wait... Robo-Dog!
Ryder ran over to the supercomputer in front of the large screen, beginning to type things down. He had been so busy managing to fill the gaps in the absence of Chase, Marshall, and Skye that he forgot about the various tracking methods he had on all of his technology, including Robo-Dog.
Pressing down on a singular key, he was able to access all of the files from Robo-Dog, up until... Two days ago!?
The boy genius could have sworn that he set Robo-Dog to record constantly. Going to the final half hour of Robo-Dog's recording, he watched and listened, grabbing a chair to sit down.
He could hear the familiar voices of Chase and Marshall in the background, seemingly furious at the other. He heard traces of what was being talked about, but the rest was intelligible screaming and shouting.
"...Skye was taken... you... too busy chilling out!"
"Oh... you... me for it?"
"I... know, Everest was injured... Skye was taken... under whose nose? Yours!"
"What... to it not being... fault?"
"What... while Skye and Everest... out there?"
"I... taking care of the... we rescued!"
"You would've... had you not only been... Skye, give... a shake!"
"I'm... focused... Skye!"
Ryder's eyes narrowed. Whatever was going on, it didn't sound good. Robo-Dog's eyes, however, were focused on the road, unflinching to the commotion behind him. Ryder planned to stop the footage there, but gasped with surprise when Robo-Dog's eyes suddenly darted from the road to his right, where a pup, dawning what seemed like knight's gear, suddenly jabbed his sword forward and at Robo-Dog's neck area.
As Robo-Dog's alarms began going off, the robotic head slammed against the ground, and the PAW Patroller began swerving. In the corner of the screen, he could see a few more of the knight pups communicating with one another.
Ryder's heart dropped as the audio cut back in.
"We have them right where we want!" One of the pups declared, "Take those pups down, and then we'll be able to go back home!"
The other knights cheered with excitement before running out of view.
A while later, the PAW Patroller crashed, leaving Robo-Dog's point of view completely dark.
The boy, on the other hand, was feeling a bit sick. These knights were after Chase and Marshall? Why? When the PAW Patroller crashed, did they manage to escape? If so, where were they, and where was Skye?
This was getting out of hand.
Meanwhile, Everest laughed as Zuma tried to stand on the ball using his hind legs.
"Look here!" The Chocolate Lab exclaimed, "I'm pulling a Marshall!"
After playing for a while, the pups had decided to have an impression contest. They would try their best impressions of Chase, Skye, Marshall, and even Tracker. Most points by the end of the round would be the judge for the next round.
Everest won the previous round with her spot on—no pun intended— Marshall impression, by managing to make herself look like a Husky-Dalmatian mix with the help of some unused flour from the kitchen.
She also made a joke akin to what Marshall would usually make, back when they were all still in Adventure Bay. The Husky still missed Marshall, but at least giving as best of an impression of her crush was helping her. It was helping all of them.
Zuma hopped off of the ball and let it rest as he walked back over to Rocky.
"Nice one, Zuma!" Rocky laughed before running off in another direction. Coming back, the mongrel wore a police cap on his head, "These paws uphold the laws!"
"You think that's something?" Rubble, who had somehow managed to climb up a tree, asked, "Watch this! This pup's gotta fly!"
The Bulldog jumped off the branch, making the other three pups gasp. Rubble, meanwhile, had a plan.
He landed on the ball Zuma was using for his Marshall impression before performing a swift backflip, landing on his paws with a smile, "Let's take to the skies!"
Zuma, Everest, and Rocky howled for their friend, who had done one of the best impressions they had seen during the game.
"Rubble wins! Rubble wins no doubt!" The Husky pup cheered.
Rubble let out a yip, akin to the ones Skye would usually vocalize, "Thanks!"
The pups laughed at this before the pup tags chimed, glowing their signature colors.
"PAW Patrol, to the lookout!"
"Ryder needs us!" The four chorused, running to the lookout's sliding doors.
Zuma followed them before accidentally tripping on the ball he and Rubble used for their impressions. Trying to balance himself on his hind legs, the Chocolate Lab rolled into the lookout.
"Hey, where's Zuma?" Rocky asked, looking around.
"Coming in hot, dudes!" Zuma crashed into the three other pups, the ball bouncing out soon afterwards.
The Chocolate Lab shook his head to rid of the dizziness he felt, "Sorry, pups... Guess I'm still pulling a Marshall."
Rubble, Rocky, and Everest laughed with amusement at the Lab's joke as the elevator began to rise.
"Green means go for action, Ryder Sir!"
Rocky had never gotten used to saying Chase's phrase for him when they assembled in the lookout. He eventually decided to revise his own version of the phrase, feeling a bit strange replacing Chase. Besides, that was a job Rubble wanted to take on, not him.
"Thanks for coming so quickly, pups..." Ryder, who was facing away from them, said, "We have a big problem..."
"You okay, Ryder?" Zuma asked, raising an eyebrow, "You look like you've just seen a ghost."
"Well... Worst case scenario, we might have two ghosts on our hands and paws."
The four pups tilted their heads in confusion at once, not knowing what Ryder was getting at.
"While Chase and Marshall were on their way to Adventure City to find Skye, they were attacked by some weird knight pups. They managed to board the PAW Patroller, and destroyed Robo-Dog."
"Not Robo-Dog!" Rocky exclaimed, looking a bit angry, "Do they have any idea how long it takes to fix him just right!?"
Ryder gulped, "Not only that, but the PAW Patroller crashed."
"WHAT!?" The four remaining pups looked shocked.
"They got out though, right?" Everest asked, obviously worried for a specific pup. Ryder grit his teeth beneath his mouth, not knowing the answer. He lowered his head, not wanting to face his pups.
The Husky pup let out a soft whimper, "...Right?"
"I don't know." Ryder finally spoke, looking back up at them, "But we're going to find out."
"Huh?"
"I'm calling Mayor Goodway. This isn't going to go on much longer." Ryder began typing on the keys in front of the big screen, "The five of us are going to leave Adventure Bay and find them. All of them. And we're not coming back home without them."
"But how would we get there?" Rocky asked, "Our vehicles aren't equipped for long distances as far as where they were, and the PAW Patroller is down for the count."
"Luckily, I've been working on some upgrades for the PAW Patroller, and needed to build another in order to test them, so with a few tweaks, we could get the PAW Patroller 2.0 out and ready!"
The pups let loose a howl with great excitement.
"Alright pups, PAW Patrol is on a roll!"
Trudging into Adventure City were two familiar pups, a German Shepherd and a Dalmatian. It had been a long and rough couple of days traveling from their crash point all the way to Adventure City, especially with the injuries they had sustained.
There was Chase's right cheek, where a large bandage rested. During their exursion to their first place, the wealthy and well-off area of Barkingburg, Chase and Marshall had their first meeting with the "Pups of the Roundtable" as Chase and Marshall began referring to them, where they were confronted with the monumental task at hand, and the stakes that came along with it.
The Shepherd suffered a deep cut on his right cheek while trying to fend off the knights, passing out from the shock of the injury soon afterwards, leaving Marshall to fight the knights, escape with Chase, and tend to his injuries.
The wound on his right cheek always served as a reminder to remain vigalant on a mission as daring as the one they were currently embarking on, though that later proved to result in more harm than good.
Chase's growing anxiety and fear when it came to their mission reared its ugly head when it resulted in getting into a fight with Marshall and not noticing when the PAW Patroller got hijacked by the knights. This led to his second injury, his slightly sprained right paw.
Soon afterwards came his third and greatest injury, his back.
Stranded in a cave during a thunderstorm, Chase and Marshall had the misfortune of running into a bear, who seemed out for blood. While the Shepherd was distracted, trying to grab a weapon from beneath Marshall's pup pack, the bear attacked, and Marshall pushed him out of the way. This resulted in Marshall's greatest and sole injury, the three gashes left on his left cheek from the bear's claws, which were currently covered by a bandage similar to Chase's.
Seeing Marshall in danger, Chase leaped forward and shielded Marshall with his body, getting a deep cut on his back from the bear. His reason for this was to make sure the EMT would be able to do his job, and the brotherly feelings shared between the duo. With Chase at three injuries, and Marshall donning one, many would expect that they would be finished.
But they were still standing.
They were still raring to go.
They weren't going to let Ryder down, they weren't going to let the other pups down, and they certainly weren't going to let Skye down. Just a little bit further, and their job would be done. They could make it.
"Alright, Liberty should be somewhere around here..." Chase thought out loud, walking towards a small vendor that sold fruit.
The man at the vendor looked down at the Shepherd and Dally, "Oh! You're Liberty's friends, those PAW Patrol pups!"
"We know that Liberty frequents this fruit stand." Chase told him, his professionalism shooting all the way up, "We're here to wait for her."
Marshall stifled a laugh. He was glad to see that despite everything they had been through, Chase still had that funny switch in tone whenever he was talking to somebody that wasn't a friend or Ryder himself.
"Where's your owner?" The man at the fruit stand looked around, "And what's with all the bandages?"
"Official PAW Patrol business!" Chase declared, sitting up straight next to the stand, "I urge you to not worry yourself over it, Sir."
The man wanted to question further, but turned his head when he heard the familiar jingling of a collar nearby.
It was a familiar Dachshund, wearing nothing but her collar. As she approached, she didn't notice Chase and Marshall sitting right there next to the stand.
"Mornin' my guy!" Liberty greeted, a pep in her step.
"Morning, Liberty!" The man greeted with a smile, "How's the street patrol going?"
"Everyone's under control!" The Dachshund smiled confidently, "It's so nice seeing the streets nice and clean. Especially after that thunderstorm..."
Liberty was one of the newest recruits to the PAW Patrol. She spent most of her life in Adventure City, while the other pups grew up in Adventure Bay. This especially became apparent when Liberty noticed how much more confrontational she was compared to her teammates because of how she grew up. After Mayor Humdinger became mayor of Adventure City, she had called the PAW Patrol in hopes that they would come and put a stop to whatever dubious plot he was coming up with. To her surprise and excitement, they came, and she even got to help them out as a self-proclaimed honorary member.
As their time in Adventure City went on, the PAW Patrol slowly recruited Liberty onto the team.
"You got that right!" Marshall suddenly interjected, "That storm was so bad I'm surprised Rocky was even willing to go out there."
Liberty whipped her head over to where the voice had come from, seeing Chase and Marshall standing there with smiles.
"You guys!" Liberty jumped at them, wrapping her arms around both of their necks, "What happened to you? I tried calling but you wouldn't answer, and when y'all didn't show up when Chase told me y'all would, I got scared!"
The boys immediately began choking, as their necks were being squeezed by their friend's arms.
"L-Liberty, you're..." Marshall tried to say.
"...Choking us..." Chase croaked out, "You're hugging us too tight!"
"No I'm not."
After getting a fruit each from the man at the stand, and tearing through them since they hadn't eaten proper food for days, Chase and Marshall explained what had happened after their last call with Liberty.
"This is a straight up movie level adventure!" Liberty exclaimed, "You two ended up stranded and walked here!? And along the way you guys fought and won against a bear!?"
"Yeah.. That's kind of the gist of it..." Chase looked away awkwardly.
The Dachshund grinned, "Pawsome!"
"It'll be a lot less pawsome when we have time to process all of this..." Marshall let out a nervous chuckle, "All of this seems kindaaaa traumatic..."
"Fair." Liberty thought about it for a moment, "Anyway, what's the plan? How are we gonna find Skye?"
Chase quickly answered, "We'll have to start looking around for clues. Maybe I can use scent."
"Luckily, Chase should be very familiar with how Skye smells..." Marshall snickered, wiggling his eyebrows at his sworn brother.
"Shut it, Marsh!" Chase turned his head to hide the blush brewing on his face, "We're not worried about that right now!"
"Worried about what?" Liberty asked, blinking a few times.
Since the last time she had seen the Adventure Bay pups was quite some time ago, Liberty was completely out of the loop when it came to Chase's feelings toward the currently MIA aviation pup.
Both Marshall and Chase looked at her with wide eyes, "Nothing!"
The Shepherd quickly shook his head, "Liberty, where were Sweetie and Skye last reported to be?"
"They were on a sidewalk near Main Street, is what the reporter said."
"Do you know how to get us there?" Marshall asked, his tail beginning to wag.
"You've got to be kidding!" Liberty began laughing at the Dally's seemingly obvious question, "Follow me, boys!"
Chase, Marshall and Liberty arrived at Main Street, where Chase was instantly able to pick something up.
His tail began wagging, "I have a scent!" His ears then fell, as well as his face, "...But I don't like the scent I found..."
"What's up?" Liberty asked.
"I have Sweetie's scent."
Marshall and Liberty both grimaced.
"It's a start." Marshall, ever the optimist, spoke, "Plus, Sweetie and Skye might still be in the same place."
"Yeah, I know, let's follow this scent!" Chase began sniffing the ground, following it.
"Chase, look out!" The Shepherd pup was soon pulled back by Marshall and Liberty, who shouted at him.
Chase blinked a few times.
Perhaps the lack of sleep was taking a toll on his abilities. Reflexes, motor skills, and everything else that he'd usually be able to do were at an all time low.
"Sorry, you two..." He apologized.
"You might need some sleep, my guy..." Liberty put a paw on his back.
Chase paused for a moment. The last time he was confronted about his completely screwed up sleeping schedule, it ended up turning into an argument between him and his sworn brother. Not only that, but it could have gotten both of them killed. Twice.
Rumble...
Rumble...
Maybe his senses were messing with him. He needed to get a grip.
"Come on, Officer Chase!" The Shepherd exhaled, "Get it together, for Skye!"
Rumble...
Rumble...
"Chase!" Liberty shouted, snapping him out of his thoughts.
Chase tried to blink away the tiredness in his eyes, "I know I need some sleep... But just a little bit further... We can make it. Please..."
"But—" Liberty tried to argue, but Marshall put a paw on her shoulder.
The Dally looked at her, "If he says he can do it, he can do it."
"You think so?" Liberty turned her head to the Dally.
"Liberty, I've seen some pretty crazy stuff during our journey." Marshall began, "But by far the craziest is seeing how far Chase would go just to bring Skye home. It's admirable, really."
"Guys, look!" Chase suddenly shouted, pointing forward and into the street.
There laid a familiar green squeaky toy that was nearly run over dozens of times as they looked at the toy.
"It's Busby!" Marshall grinned.
"Remember how Sweetie would control that thing whenever she tried to take the crown?" Chase asked, looking at the Dally, "Maybe she was controlling it with the help of something on her? And maybe the Adventure City Lookout has something in it that can use the technology inside of Busby to locate her!"
"There's only one way to find out!" Liberty looked between the two boys, "PAW Patrol, to the lookout!"
Marshall began running, "Let's go—woah!" He suddenly slipped on a banana peel that had been discarded.
"Hey, who's the wise guy that decided to litter!?" Liberty let out a growl.
"We don't have time to look around for a litter guy!" Chase picked up the peel and threw it away, "Skye needs our help!"
"I'll come back for you!" Liberty shouted into the sky as she was dragged away by Chase, "The PAW Patrol is on that case! Right after we find Skye!"
As Chase dragged Liberty away, he couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong. He had always had good senses, better than the other pups. That was one of the reasons he was a police pup in the first place, he always had a state of constant alert, no matter what he was doing.
But he wasn't sure if the lack of sleep was affecting his senses or not when it came to this.
Rumble...
Rumble...
Chase continued to walk alongside Liberty and Marshall, the conversation the two other pups were having began to fade out of his head. He was aware that he needed sleep, he desperately wanted some sleep.
Whatever. He could sleep the second Skye was in his arms again.
