Scarlett-Whitecross20 and Bluewolfbat present…

A PAW Patrol Prequel adventure starring…

Snowflake and Chester; our OC pals returning for a third time.

PAW Patrol: The Wounds We Heal

Chapter one: Reflections

"Hahh, finally!" Chase sighed, as Katie entered with a nurse by her side. "We're finally getting outta here!"

"You sound more excited than Ryder." Marshall smirked, while Katie cleared the way for them to bring the wheelchair they had with them around to the boy's left side. "And he was the one who actually had to stay here."

"Yeah well being stuck here under mandatory supervision wasn't any picnic either, you know." Chase sighed dryly, surprisedly squirming when hands picked him up off the right side of the bed. And looking back, he noticed it to be Jake, who just smiled then nodded to Katie to proceed.

"After all, I was practically climbing the walls in the first couple days let alone this whole WEEK!" He finished as Jake then decided to set him down now.

"And yet you survived." Chester joked, catching Marshall's humorous glance and the Dalmatian concealed a chuckle into his paw.

Katie pulled back the covers and then helped Ryder to carefully sit up and turn him so his legs hung off the side of the bed.

"Either way, at least you're both doing a lot better than you were almost a week and a half ago." Rocky mentioned. "That whole mansion fiasco was something to remember; that's for sure."

"I'd be glad if I never saw that place ever again!" Chase breathed, shivering at the chill running up and down his spine at just the mere memories of it all.

"At least they're all just memories now." Marshall reasoned.

"Yeah,.. memories I'd like to forget!" Chase sighed.

Katie held Ryder's slinged arm as he eased himself down into the wheelchair, and she patted his shoulder gently; before leaving him to head over to the few bags and a pup bed that'd been brought there for them.

"I'm just glad you weren't too badly hurt from your unexpected parasailing adventure." Katie mentioned, bending down to pick a bag up, and proceed to set it on the cart they'd brought with them that Rocky had built for the occasion.

"Yeah,.. thank goodness.." Chase sighed, another shiver running up his spine. Especially when he recalled telling about it just a week earlier.. leading up to the choice they'd made against his own preferences..

XXXX

"Hey pups, what took you?" Ryder asked, the group having finally returned from their earlier escapades with Katie and Farmer Yumi in tow. "Katie said something about you needing to rush off on a rescue?"

"Um,.. yeah,.. uh,.. about that.." Marshall began slightly, cocking his glance over to Snowflake, hoping she'd have an idea of what to say.

"More like saving the parachute so it wouldn't cause more trouble," Snowflake chimed in.

"Apparently Chase got blown away with the parachute and got stuck in a tree." Marshall went on.

"What?!" The four humans of the group gasped.

"Was this after you left my farm?" Farmer Yumi wondered.

"Long after.." Rocky answered her. "See.. Rubble and I headed to Town Hall where we met up with Zuma and Ned, who was already there waiting for us when we got there. The three of us pups joined him in cleaning up the area, while Skye, Marshall, Snowflake, and Chester headed up to Jake's mountain to help Everest with a.. bit of tree trouble.."

Snowflake shuddered at the thought.

"Yeah. Not pleasant," the husky pup said.

"A tree fell on the chair lift and I had to call for help to get it off there." Everest mentioned. "Also some people were trapped in a shed that nearly collapsed in on them, because of the tree and we had to make sure it wouldn't crush them when we moved the tree."

"And after we got the tree off the chair lift, it kinda got away from us,.." Skye added. "And it nearly dragged Chester and Chase's truck off the edge of the cliff below the bottom of the slope."

"What?!" Chase gasped, and the five pups that were involved with the incident cringed.

"I thought we said we weren't gonna mention that!" Chester hissed, daring himself not to meet his brother's gaze now.

"Oops.." Skye renounced, awkwardly looking away in a sheepish manner to distract from the attention on her; given mainly by Chester.

"-uh-Either way,.. we handled it." Everest recovered quickly, turning back to the group; and especially Chase. "I used my grapple to help stabilize the tree till the rest of the pups could come and help after rescuing the two people trapped in the shed.."

"And you talked about me getting into trouble while I was by myself.." Chase criticized, standing right in Chester's face with a dry look upon his own, which practically demanded he meet it head on.

"Yeah,.. well.. I wasn't actually alone, you know." Chester reasoned. "Everest and some of the other pups were there too."

"Yeah, but you still got into trouble by yourself.. and got rescued again!" Chase returned sternly. "Honestly, how does this keep happening to us? Every time! Something fun goes awry?! -Where does this come from?"

"I don't know, little bro." Chester admitted. "But.. hey,.. it's not our fault.. stuff just happens, I guess. And.. there's nothing we can do to change it,.. we just gotta get good at adapting to it."

"Sounds like some sound advice there, dude." Jake nodded in agreement.

"Whatever the case, you need to be more careful, Chess." Chase continued, forwardly standing before his older brother.

"You don't gotta tell me twice!" Chester agreed. "That kind of excitement is something I'd rather only do once."

"And yet it somewhat happened twice anyway!" Chase sighed.

"Either way,.." Marshall spoke up, bravely stepping between the quarreling brothers. "Everything was handled. And we're all ok,.. and the town is all cleaned up. End of story."

"Except for it's not.." Katie spoke up again. "You still haven't fully explained what happened when you left to help Chase, when you all met up outside the hospital with me."

And the pups exchanged glances once again, searching each other for words to say in order to begin.

"Well, Chase called us through our pup tags and we went to go help him down from the tree," Snowflake began.

"Really?" Farmer Yumi vocalized, quite intrigued by this.

"Yeah,.. and.. I kinda had a bit of an unorthodox way of doing it." Chase mentioned lightly, thinking back on how he'd made the call.

"And how's that?" Jake wondered. And Chase began to recall in greater detail..

xxxx

'Come on.. come on!' Chase groaned to himself, straining to gain more reach. His paw could fully touch the twig sticking up off the branch he was standing on, but was just far enough out of reach that he had to strain against the restriction on his body in order to break it free.

"Almost,..- there!.." he managed to say out loud. "Woah!"

Falling forward, he feared he'd ACTUALLY fall and was relieved he didn't until he heard the flash of his pup tag on the grass below him.

"Yes!" He cried, his inner self rejoicing..

xxxx

"Yeah, it was awfully tough." Chase recalled aloud as his story faded away. "But I was pretty glad it worked, and I didn't fall out of the tree. My shoulder hurt enough by then."

"And now?" Marshall wondered, only slightly concerned when turning to face him.

"Ok I guess." Chase shrugged. "Could use a break off it, but.. at least it's just an ache and not a real pain."

"*snort* not a real pain.." Chester smirked to himself. "Do you know how funny that sounds?.." And Chase just rolled his eyes with an unamused smile, before bounding up to the bed and clambering up onto it with a little help from Ryder's hand.

"Well,.. in any case.." Farmer Yumi sighed, as Chase snuggled down next to the boy, so he could lay his hand on the pup's back. "I'm glad you're all ok."

"Thanks, Farmer Yumi." Ryder smiled. "It was nice of you to stop by."

"No problem." Yumi beamed.

"Well I better be going.." She continued, turning to leave. "The animals need feeding before it gets too dark out. See ya later, guys!"

"Oh! Farmer Yumi!" Skye realized, racing after her, who stopped right in the doorway. "You can't forget your weathervane! Rocky and I can help you put it back up before it gets too dark."

"That would be great, Skye!" Yumi agreed. "Thank you!"

"You're welcome." The Cockapoo grinned. "Come on, Rocky. Let's go get it!"

"Right behind you, Skye." The mixed breed called, racing after her to lead the way for the Farmer. "Our trucks are waiting in the PAW Patroller. You can fly me to the farm while I hold onto the weather vane!"

"Well ok,.. that takes care of that, I guess." Chester mentioned. "So what'cha say we watch some tv for a bit, bro?... Chase?"

And when they looked up at him, they found that Chase had fallen fast asleep with Ryder's hand still laying upon his back; and had even resorted to a light rub. The pup's head lay on his paws, leaning on his left cheek against Ryder's leg, and it seemed to make him look much younger than he was in the moment.

Snowflake smiled at seeing Chase asleep.

"Aww!" Skye beamed sweetly.

"Guess all that parachute excitement tuckered him right out!" Jake smirked. And Ryder chuckled when reaching down further to rub his head, barely making him stir, but stay asleep.

"So what now?" Zuma wondered, glancing around the room thoughtfully.

"I don't know about you guys, but I'm ready to hit the hay!" Chester sighed, plopping down where he stood between the two beds. "Today has been crazy!"

"These whole few days have been crazy!" Rubble corrected.

"You're right, Rubble." Katie agreed. "Come on, pups." And when she started walking to the door, the pups all stared at her quizzically.

"Go? But.. what about Chase?" Marshall wondered. And their gazes all turned to the sleeping pup.

"He can stay here.." Katie replied, turning around in the doorway to face them. "I've already okayed it with the hospital staff. After all he's been through,..it's.. probably better he stay where someone can safely keep an eye on him. Plus.. he needs the rest."

"Oh,.. yeah.. you're probably right." Marshall nodded thoughtfully, his gaze wandering a bit.

"Hey, uh.. there you are, Chess.." A young man greeted, entering the room with a smile.

"Everyone." He nodded, raising a hand for a subtle wave to the group in greeting. "Katie gave me a call on where to find Chester.." He turned to Chess. "Seems you've been all over, pal."

"You could say that." The German Shepherd shrugged.

"What'd you do to your brother this time?" The man wondered, tipping his chin to the German Shepherd copy of Chester still lying fast asleep next to Ryder. "Run him ragged again?"

"Again.. you could say that.." Chester repeated, smirking. "He'll be fine."

"I don't doubt." The man smiled, his brown eyes warm.

"Uh... I'm sorry, but who are you?" Snowflake asked, trying to be polite.

The man blinked at seeing her, but seemed to keep his head in registering her question.

"Oh..uh,.. sorry.. yes.." He said, shaking his head like knocking himself out of a daze. "I'm Billy Prescott,.. William.. but..uh.. everyone calls me, Billy."

"He's my guy." Chester joked, smirking as Billy gave him a humorous look.

"You'll think so, you little rascal." Billy chuckled, pulling him in with one big arm and ruffling the pup's furry head.

"But, um, yeah.." Billy went on. "I..uh,.. I've known Ryder and the PAW Patrol for..um.. Eh.. a couple years I guess. Hard to say for sure how long with all we've been through already."

"Chase and I used to live with him and the Prescotts back on a small farm outside of Barkingburg, if you could believe it." Chester added. "Then Chase fell into a box and well.. the rest is history."

"A while ago, we visited Adventure Bay with the potential thought of moving back. And when we found out Chase was here, we've been here ever since."

"The Prescotts have been re-building their puppy breeding business from Barkingburg, here in Adventure Bay." Chester mentioned. "And it's been going quite well."

"Awww. That's sweet. Wait, puppy breeding?" Snowflake retorted.

"Yeah,.. that's how I got here.." Chess went on. "Chase too. Without the Prescotts neither of us would exist. And,.. I guess in some ways,.. neither would the PAW Patrol too."

"And I assure you, we handle all of it in the best of our professional abilities." Billy said. "Though my Dad handles most of it, my sister and I help out as best we can. We have for years,.. since we were young."

"So you and your family took care of Chase and Chester before they left?" Ned asked to clarify.

"In a manner of speaking,.. Yes.. But Chester still remains with us." Billy slightly corrected. "We didn't have the heart to give him up after all that had happened with him and his litter. And when Chase came along, we knew he was also special.. Just,.. wasn't fully sure how at the time. And they got so close, Chase and Chester,..- It was hard on all of us when Chase suddenly disappeared."

"And a great joy when we found him again." Chester put in, to liven up the mood.

"Got it," Ned said.

"Anyway,.. it's getting late." Billy said, changing gears once again. "Ready, Chess."

"Yeah, I guess." Chester nodded.

"Take it easy, guys." Billy smiled, waving a hand to both the patients in the room. But then he stopped mid-turn to approach the bed and softly place his hand upon Chase's head, with a gentle rub for good measure.

"Rest up, you guys." He added when heading back to the door, where Chester stood. And cued him to jump up, so he could catch him with one arm and hold him securely against his side.

"Adventure Bay needs its heroes, you know." He finished, adjusting his grip a bit for comfort.

"Yes sir." Ryder smiled, saluting with the two fingers of his other hand lightly. Then Billy turned to exit once again.

"And don't worry you guys,.." Chester spoke up, making Billy turn around again. "I'll probably be back tomorrow. 'Can't get rid of me that easily, ya know."

"Okay. Have a good night," Snowflake replied kindly.

"Sure." Billy smiled.

"Bye…" Chester waved. And they finally turned and left, hearing Billy's footsteps fading away down the quiet hallway. And the memory finally began to fade away.

xxxx

"I still can't believe you didn't wake me to see Billy!" Chase complained lightly, staring hard at his brother, even though he wore a smile.

"Hey, I wanted to.." Chester defended himself innocently. "But then you looked so wiped out,.. I.. just didn't have the heart.."

"Oh is that all.." Chase nodded loosely, giving a wayward disappointment to his demeanor.

"Thank you.." He finally said, reluctant to do so.

"No problem, little bro." Chester smiled, laying a paw on his little brother's shoulder.

Hey everyone here we are again! And in a whole new story no less.. as I mentioned at the end of The Road Back, this will be a continuation of the story, which will kinda take place in a different format than the previous two. While there'll still be the continuity of the last two stories there'll be a direction entirely new for this story.

And who knows.. maybe the number of chapters will surpass The Road Back, like it had done for Spooky Pups.

Either way, we can't wait to see what you all think of this story and hope to see you,.. in the next chapter! Thx!