Chase typed a bit on a laptop that was left in Ryder's Adventure City bedroom. He had managed to crudely connect Busby to the laptop through a collection of wires. He managed to connect that to the hologram map layout of Adventure City, and was working on accessing Busby's files to see how it worked.
Liberty and Marshall watched from behind as the police pup struggled.
He wasn't as much of a tech wiz as Rocky or Ryder. This was getting difficult. The Shepherd let out a growl to himself. He only had gotten so far as making the hologram appear.
Liberty peered over his shoulder, "Lemme see that."
"No, I think I got it." Chase, stubborn as ever, continued to try and fiddle with it.
The Dachshund raised an eyebrow, "You wanna see Skye today or next week?"
Taking a moment to think that question over, he soon passed the laptop to Liberty, who began typing on it.
Soon, she managed to access Busby's data.
"...How'd you do that?" Chase asked, in complete shock.
"I don't tell you guys everything about my life." She replied with a confident smirk, "Now what do you want to do with this?"
"See if it's connected to any of Sweetie's possessions."
After a few minutes, Liberty stood up as a small red blip appeared on the Adventure City hologram.
"Apparently, the thing that's connected to her toy is near... Here." Liberty squinted at the hologram, able to recall certain locations because of her vast knowledge of Adventure City, "But I've never seen this building before..."
"You do know where it is though, right?" Chase asked.
Liberty smiled, "You know it."
"Alright, you guys, let's gear up!" Marshall cheered, "It'll be nice to finally be back in clothing."
"You guys had clothing?" Liberty looked at the two pups, seeing that they had nothing but the broken pup tags and bandages on them. Marshall had his medical pup pack on, but the straps looked like they were going to snap at any moment, barely being held on by threads.
Skye, Jack, Siren, Grandpa, and Marcy met in front of Jack's doghouse.
"So, what's the plan Skye?" Jack asked.
"Me?" The Cockapoo asked, surprised.
"Were you not the one that brought this whole idea of an escape up?"
"Good point."
Skye thought for a moment, "Well, our main issue is that we can't leave this room, and the humans watching us only come in when taking our bowls in or out. Even then, they have a system for doing that, which prevents escapes."
Siren raised a paw, "So we would have to find a way for them to come in here instead?"
"Very good, Siren!" Skye gave him a kind smile, "That's exactly what we need to figure out!"
"And how would we do that?" Marcy inquired.
"Jack, Grandpa, I'd assume you two were here the longest. Is there any way humans come in if they're not taking bowls or giving us bowls?"
"Maybe when a dog dies..." Jack replied, "The humans are inhumane, but they at least have the sense to take dogs that die out of the rooms."
Grandpa raised a paw, "I could die."
"WHAT!?" Siren shot up.
"Relax, boy, it'll only be pretend." The Yorkshire Terrier gently patted his head, "If the humans come to get me, I could escape and get you guys a way out."
"That's very risky..." Skye looked at the elderly dog with concern, "I wouldn't want you to have to—"
Grandpa was already walking to the door, "C'mon, let's get on with it before I actually die."
The Terrier soon flopped down in front of the door.
"How will they know to get him?" Skye looked at Jack.
The matured German Shepherd thought for a moment, "Siren, use your special talent."
"But you and Marcy said I wasn't supposed to—"
"Siren, howl."
Skye looked between Jack and Siren with confusion as Marcy took a few steps back.
As the humans who were charged with the maintenance of the dogs worked, they discussed the recent arrivals. A Cockapoo and a Terrier. Things were peaceful, until they were forced to instantly cover their ears. A loud howling noise echoed through the halls and into their ears.
"Damn it!" One of the workers cried, covering his ears, "It's that pup again!"
"I thought it had its voice under control!"
Skye groaned as she covered her ears, huddled into her pup house, "This is what he was talking about...?"
She closed her eyes. She would just have to endure this for just a bit longer, and she'd be back with her friends again.
The door suddenly swung open, revealing a human wearing some protective black gear. His eyes instantly trained onto Siren, who was out of breath from howling so much. He didn't even notice that the human was paying Grandpa no attention.
"We told you, pup!" The human reached forward and picked up Siren by the scruff of his neck, "It's time we deal with you, for good."
"W-What?" Siren whimpered as he was swiftly taken from the room.
Jack ran forward, biting the man's ankle, "Let him go!"
"Great... Now the other dogs are on me." The man grabbed something from his waist, something that Skye was easily able to recognize.
A baton?
The man swung the baton into Jack's side, making him yelp and let go. The German Shepherd rolled on the ground, stopping near a nearby wall.
Sweetie, meanwhile, who had been watching the whole interaction, was beginning to grow restless. The door was wide open, beckoning her to go and reach freedom. Skye and the other dogs seemed like a good enough distraction. She was definitely going to make a break for it—
She then heard a shill yelp.
The Terrier looked over to see who and where it came from, just to see Grandpa on the floor, completely still.
This put her in a mild state of confliction. The only dog to show her a shred of levity was Grandpa, who had given her some life advice recently. Not only that, this human was beginning to get on her nerves. Attacking one dog is already unforgivable, but a pup and an elderly? That was low, even for her.
The man raised his baton, ready to strike Grandpa once more, but stopped when he felt a tugging on his pant leg.
"Seize this at once, human!" Sweetie barked at him, "We have you outnumbered and outclassed, as I, Sweetie the royal pooch of—"
She couldn't say anything else, as she was quickly kicked off and into a nearby wall. The white Terrier let out a faint groan, laying down. She wasn't as used to taking damage as the pound dogs. She was sure that they had that down better than her.
Marcy ran at the human when he was not looking, and jumped on his back, startling him and causing him to drop his baton. The man, by this point, was beyond agitated by the dogs' efforts to keep him from taking Siren. He grabbed Marcy and slammed her into the ground before quickly turning to leave
The human, still carrying a kicking and shouting Siren, left the room, but not before Skye kicked the baton between the wall and door, stopping it from closing. The air rescue pup pantyed faintly, looking around at her injured comrades, including Sweetie, who had tried to stop the human from doing any more damage.
Skye's eyes suddenly darted to Grandpa. The dogs quickly made their way over to the oldest of the group.
"Why work at a pound if you hate dogs?" Sweetie questioned, walking with them.
"They do pay well here..." Grandpa weakly answered, trying to stand up, "I'd probably work here too if I weren't already retired... Or a dog."
The Yorkshire Terrier suddenly stumbled, nearly falling back to the ground.
Jack braced Grandpa with his side, "Careful, you aren't young anymore, you're not equipped for fighting."
"But we all fought bravely..." Grandpa looked at each of them, his eyes stopping at Sweetie, "Especially you, Young Sweetie. You saved my life... The little left that I have."
"I did not!" The white Terrier protested, turning her nose up at him, "I simply couldn't tolerate pesky humans trying to attack other dogs."
"You could've left if you wanted, you know?" Skye raised an eyebrow, pointing at the door, "It was wide open the whole time."
Sweetie was out of defenses, "Oh whatever."
"We have to go get Siren." Grandpa spoke up once again, coughing soon afterwards.
"There's no we." Jack bent down to pick the elderly hound up on his back, "You need to get out of here."
"You all do." Skye interjected, looking at Jack, Marcy, and Grandpa, "You guys all got injured during that fight. I'm not letting you try to go on another daring mission. That's my job. I'll go after him."
"Alone?" Jack raised an eyebrow, "How would you even make it to him by yourself?"
"Who said I was going alone?" Skye turned to Sweetie with a grin.
Sweetie was not on board with this, began to back up, "Woah, woah, you certainly can't be talking about me."
"Yes, I'm talking about you."
"But—"
"No!" The Cockapoo cut her off, "All of this wouldn't have happened if it weren't for you."
"I'm not the one who convinced them to escape!"
Skye stopped. She did have a good point. While Sweetie was the one to have got them into this situation, Skye was the one who made it worse. Siren got taken because of it.
"You're right... But we have no time to argue!" The aviation pup looked at her, "Please Sweetie, we have no other choice... Do you want a little dead pup on your conscious?"
Sweetie huffed, "Fine. Let's go."
Wearing their Adventure City gear, Chase, Marshall, and Liberty finally arrived at the area where Busby was connected to, coming across a large building that had large bold letters printed on the front of it.
"Adventure City Dog Shelter"
"Hm... I haven't been on this side of town since I was little-er..." Liberty thought out loud as she, Chase, and Marshall looked up at the large building, "They must've changed this building after all those buildings got messed up during the Humdinger Incident."
Marshall looked a bit confused, "I thought Humdinger's dog jail was the only place to do this."
"It did it to the dogs that already had owners like Chase." Liberty answered, "But there are many strays found around Adventure City, this must be where they're put."
"Skye could be in here..."
Marshall and Liberty turned to their friend, who seemed to be in a daze. The Dally really couldn't blame him. It had been a hard week and a half for both of them. From nearly getting themselves killed at every location they came across, to the different emotions they felt over the course of their mission, things hadn't exactly been easy.
Meanwhile, Chase's instincts were screaming at him, so much to the point where Chase could barely keep control of himself, falling into a state akin to a semi-catatonic state. Something was definitely wrong. His ears then shot up as he turned to his sworn brother.
"Marsh—"
The ground began rumbling.
"Oh come on, not now!" Liberty groaned with frustration.
"What's going on?" Marshall asked shakily, stumbling as he tried to keep his balance.
The Dachshund began running toward the building, "It might be an earthquake."
"Does this happen usually?" Chase inquired as he and Marshall ran behind her.
"Happens all the time."
"It didn't happen while we were here!"
"You were in Adventure City for like... Two days."
The trio arrived at the door, looking up at the greatest enemy to ever grace dog kind. A simple, yet effective device that only humans could use. Crafted by the greatest masters of locking mechanisms, this device remained a constant annoyance to anyone who wasn't a human...
The doorknob.
Chase stood at the door, "Stack up!"
Marshall, not missing a beat, hopped onto Chase's back, who let out a yelp, "Injury! Injury!"
The continuous shaking of the ground, coupled with Chase's reaction to his wound being stepped on proved to be a terrible match. The two wobbled and fell onto the ground, groaning faintly.
Liberty, on the other paw, remained where she was standing. "That... Was sad."
As Chase and Marshall got back on their feet, the door swung open, a few humans running out afterwards. Liberty managed to stop the door, raising an eyebrow at both Chase and Marshall.
"That was luck."
The Dachshund walked into the building, "I prefer to call it... Situational convenience."
Marshall rolled his eyes as he followed behind.
"Let's hurry up, guys..." Chase walked in last, "This earthquake doesn't seem to be letting up."
"Let go of me!" The trio heard a voice shout as they were looking around the pound. The voice sounded young, not to mention absolutely terrified.
Not sharing a word between them, they instantly rushed to where they heard the screaming. They ran in to see a little Labrador Retriever being strapped down to a table by one human, another human preparing a syringe.
"I really don't want to know what that's for..." Marshall remarked.
"We won't have to find out!" Chase stated firmly in a hushed voice, "Marsh, distraction."
The Dally let loose a bark, "Water cannon!"
Marshall's signature item came from his pack, soon spraying towards the men.
"What the—?" One of the men asked as he put his hands in front of his face.
"The PAW Patrol?" The other man asked, completely confused
"The PAW Patrol!?" Siren echoed, his tail beginning to wag erratically.
"You okay, little guy?" Liberty asked as she and Chase ran over to the retrained pup.
"You guys are on the PAW Patrol? Did you guys come to get Skye?" The Lab asked, looking at Chase.
The Shepherd's eyes became the size of saucers, "Yes, I—" The three stumbled as the rumbling beneath the building increased. Chase let out a sigh before turning to Liberty, "I need you and Marshall to take this pup back to the lookout. I'll be right behind you."
Liberty immediately understood what Chase was going to do, nodding softly.
"Why not just come with us?" Siren asked, "We might meet Skye when we get out!"
Chase found himself between a rock and a hard place. On one paw, he desperately wanted to see Skye again. She was the very reason he was even out there on an unexpected visit to Adventure City in the first place. It's not like he adored being there. It was tolerable after his first time back in Adventure City, but still unfavorable. On the other paw, he gave an oath to protect and watch those he was supposed to, and that included the residents of Adventure City as well.
With a sharp exhale, Chase sat down and clenched his left paw over his heart, "Because we're the PAW Patrol."
The newly built PAW Patroller 2.0 raced down the road with the destination of Adventure City. They had recently just left the area where the original PAW Patroller crashed, Zuma having to use some of Marshall's gear to put out the fire that had started on it.
In the process, they were able to discover that Marshall and Chase weren't in the PAW Patroller, so they decided to leave it up to chance and hope that they were in Adventure City.
"This isn't good..." Ryder rubbed the bridge of his nose as he looked down at his pup pad.
There were various reports of an earthquake spreading through Adventure City. Luckily, they were already on their way there, but the earthquake seemed to have no decrease ever since it started half an hour ago.
He swiped on his pup pad before sliding open a separate compartment. He pressed the button that was there.
"PAW Patrol, to the meeting room!"
"Ryder needs us!" He heard from another section of the PAW Patroller.
A few seconds later, Rocky, Rubble, Zuma, and Everest sat on the seats between Ryder. Zuma and Rocky on the right, Everest and Rubble on the left. Everest was the only one of the four still wearing her Adventure Bay gear, as the Adventure City lookout only has spaces and gear for the original six.
"Green means go for action, Ryder Sir!"
"Alright pups, things aren't looking good in Adventure City." Ryder announced, instantly getting the attention, "An earthquake started, and things have only been getting progressively worse since it started. We need to put together a game plan to get all of the people of Adventure City out of there."
The four nodded.
"What if Chase, Skye, and Marshall aren't there?" Rocky asked, "How would we even do it with just the five of us?"
"We'll find a way. Even if they're not there, we still have to try our best with whatever we have left."
The pups exchanged glances, smiles growing between them.
"He's right." Rubble added, "After all, we're the PAW Patrol!"
Zuma looked out of the window, thinking of his lost friends.
The Shepherd knew it was too late to avoid her gaze, "B-Be careful out there. You know what happened last time you were piloting in such weather."
Skye couldn't help but smile, "I'll be okay, Chase. I'll be back before you can say Chase is on the case!"
Waving him goodbye, the Cockapoo quickly made her way over to the slide. The Shepherd watched with a faint smile as he watched her head sink below floor level. His eyes then darted over to Rocky, hoping that he didn't just see that exchange.
"Awww!" Rocky teasingly cooed.
Zuma chimed in, "Chase has puppy love!"
The Chocolate Lab smiled at the memory, "We'll all play and tease each other again... No matter what."
