Chapter 2: „Making a good impression?"
A/N: Hey, there. I'm back with the promised first mission including Sweetie.
Marshall's POV:
'Oh, great! I knew I shouldn't have told the others about the little talk I had with Sweetie last night.' But I couldn't stick with not telling them, at least not with my wish of helping her whether she likes it or not. In addition to my own wish Ryder gave me the task to watch her condition. And by that I don't only mean her physical condition. That's why I was kind of sad that half of the main team was against giving her this chance. Well, I didn't expect Chase to like having her nearby, I'm not that stupid, but I thought I would get more than Rubble and Skye. 'Well, better some than no pup.'
The moment Sweetie came around I knew she was angry but I couldn't put my paw on the reason. 'Is she angry because she feels left out? But if so, why didn't she just show herself?' My thoughts were interrupted by a rumbling noise. 'Of course she's hungry. She didn't eat anything since this whole incident started.' "I think it would be better if I showed you our treat dispenser first." Skye said giggling. 'Thanks, Skye' I thought. 'That will buy us some time to decide how to act around Sweetie or in better words for the other three to accept the fact that Ryder wants to trust her. And so do I.'
The next minutes I kept on thinking. I didn't want to force my help on her but I didn't want to abandon my task either. Besides, I wanted to get to know the true Sweetie. Well, I knew she was the princess' pet but besides that I knew nothing. About her, I meant. Suddenly my thinking was interrupted by a beeping sound. "Ryder needs us!" Chase yelled and darted away to the lookout followed by Zuma, Rocky and Rubble. 'Well, I guess I can think about it later. Right now we have a mission.' I thought.
'So far, so good.' I said to myself arriving at the door to the lookout without any incident. "Wait for me, guys! I'm coming!" I was so focused on getting into the elevator that I didn't notice the food bowl standing right in front of me. My world started spinning when I tripped over it. 'Not again!' I thought knowing the impression I make. With the usual wipe out it stopped and I, somehow, was sitting upright with the food bowl in front of me. "Is it time for breakfast already?" I asked to lighten the mood which sent everypup, except for Chase, into fits of giggles. I was relieved to see Sweetie laugh wholeheartedly seemingly for the first time in her life. 'She really needs all the help she could get.'
With us getting apart from each other the elevator started moving upwards only stopping to let us stepping into our mission outfits with Chase being a spy and me with my medic outfit. Don't ask me how it works but somehow we always know which outfit, that also means which profession, is required. Arriving at the top level the elevator stopped and opened its doors for us to jump out of it and into our places in line for briefing. Unlike the rest of us Sweetie stepped out slowly apparently not knowing what to do. Before I could react Skye called Sweetie over to sit next to her an invitation she gladly accepted. 'Well, I hoped she would sit next to me but if she's on friendly terms with Skye already it's okay with me' I thought. Looking over to her I noticed Chase giving her some icy glares before he turned his head back to look at Ryder. "Paw Patrol, and Sweetie, ready for action, Ryder, sir." Chase said.
"Thanks for heading here so fast" Ryder said. "I know it's still early in the morning and you hadn't had your breakfast yet but there is an emergency at Katie's. You remember Precious' brother and his friends?" "Yeah, they were so cute" Rubble said. 'He can say that. He wasn't the one who had to try and catch them' I thought. "I know, Rubble. Problem is they were at Katie's to spend the night and ran away earlier." "Again?" I couldn't resist the urge to ask. "Yes, Marshall, again. Our mission is to find them and stall them until their owners come back. For this mission I need Skye. I need your helicopter and goggles to find them." "This puppy's gotta fly!" she exclaimed with her usual backflip. "Chase, I need your drone to search small areas where Skye can't fly. We might also need your net to catch them." "Spy Chase is on the case" he said. "Zuma, I want you to search Adventure Beach in case one of them is there." "Let's dive in" the water-loving Labrador said. "Rocky, I want you to build something to put them in. Rubble, I want you to help him." "Green means go!"/"Rubble on the double!" both pups said simultaneously. "And last one: Marshall, I want you to head to Katie's and check the health of the kittens once they get there." "I'm ready for a ruff-ruff rescue!" I said my catchphrase. "Okay, Paw Patrol is on a roll!" "Wait, Ryder. You forgot one pup." I stopped Ryder before he could get to the pole. "Oh, right. I'm sorry, Sweetie. I forgot you there. Would one of you please give her a ride and explain her everything?" "Of course I can." I hastily said beating Skye to it. "You can come with me." I smiled to Sweetie only to see her looking angry. 'What did I do this time?'
A few moments later we were in my EMT-truck heading to Katie's. "Why does it keep happening?" a sad looking Sweetie sat next to me whispering to herself. "What do you mean? What is still happening? Can I help?" I asked only to get another angry glare from her. But the angry expression soon changed in a very sad tone again. "No, Marshall. You can't help. Or can you change the fact that people keep forgetting or abandoning me?" "Sweetie, I don't think Ryder did it on purpose but…" "Of course he didn't do it on purpose!" Sweetie snapped at me, almost literally. "Like, my parents didn't forget me when they moved leaving me all alone. Or the dog who helped me to get around the streets didn't abandon me when she watched the dogcatcher getting me. They never do these things on purpose." I gulped feeling the tears to start flowing. I wished I could get to know her better but this is a lot to take in. 'I won't tell the others about that' I swore to myself remembering the angry look she could give. Someday she will be ready to tell the others.
Sweetie's POV:
"They never do these things on purpose." I said feeling tears starting to build up. 'Oh, no. I won't cry in front of one of the Paw Patrol' I thought. Noticing we didn't move anymore I looked over to Marshall only to see him crying while looking at me. 'Wait, why is he the one crying? Is he crying because of my background stories? No, that can't be. No pup is of that kind. Well, maybe he just hurt his paw. He's the clumsy pup after all. But if he's going to tell the others he will feel real pain, I swear.' "Don't we have to hurry? We're still on a mission." I said trying to change subjects and wanting to get the mission done. "Don't worry, Sweetie. We still have time until they bring in the kittens." he said still crying. 'Great, I'm bound to this white and black water draining valve called a pup.' "Well then, why don't we head there and prepare for the time they come in?" I asked. "That's a really great idea, Sweetie" Marshall said with a big smile. Really, I didn't know that someone could change from nearly broken down into such a big smile in the blink of an eye. 'I guess I'll have to watch my tongue if I don't want my secrets to be revealed. I don't want anyone to know too much about me.' I only told what I told Marshall the princess once. And what happened? She kicked me out. Not only out of the castle but out of the whole kingdom. I don't want that to happen again.
At Katie's I was shortly introduced to her (and vice versa of course) and Marshall began preparing his equipment for the check-up on the kittens. I was stunned how professional this normally clumsy pup could handle this easy to break equipment. Every paw step was in the right place and with the right strength. Because I couldn't do anything I decided on talking to Katie. "So, you're running this place all by yourself?" I asked still watching Marshall. "Actually I do. And I heard you are a naughty pup. How comes you're with the Paw Patrol?" Before I could even answer that (most likely with words I would regret later on) Marshall took a turn to speak. "She's with us because right now she has nowhere to stay and without a chance of getting back to her old life she won't be naughty anymore. At least that's what I think." Wow, that definitely was something. 'Maybe being good isn't too bad.' "Sorry, Marshall. I didn't want to hurt someone's feelings. All I say is that I was told that she never is up to anything good." Katie tried to explain herself. "Let me guess, you talked to Chase before?" Seeing her nodding Marshall just sighed and turned back to his equipment. "Sometimes this pup is too much even for me" he muttered to himself. 'That's strange. I always thought they were best friends even more like brothers but this didn't sound like that.' "By the way, Ryder decided to give her the chance to train being a good pup" he said finishing his preparations. Seeing Katie's reaction I easily could tell there was something going on between her and Ryder. 'Sweet. Now there are two couples around me as long as I stay with the Paw Patrol? Maybe I can mess around a bit with them.' Problem was I didn't even know how to mess with Chase and Skye. And Katie and Ryder were even more out of limits.
Five minutes later the first kitty arrived at Katie's delivered by Ryder. It accepted the check-up. Luckily, Rocky and Rubble brought the 'Kitten Stalling Device' as called by Rocky. The kitten didn't let them put it into that thing that looked like an oversized crib. 'Well, I wouldn't like it either' I thought. After watching the others trying to get it in I started to get bored and decided to help. "Okay, kitten! Stop it! I won't tell you twice, you hear?" Surprised by that the kitten stopped running around. So did the others by the way. I used the surprise to get the kitten and put it into the stalling device. The same thing happened with the other kittens. Proud to be of help I waited for the things to come. Ryder came to us and patted Chase' head. "You're all good pups" he said making me even more proud than I was until then. "All of you, except for Sweetie." My pride broke into pieces the moment he said that. "You can't talk to little kittens like that." "What do you want? Trying to help is wrong now? If I hadn't helped it would make me a naughty pup, too." "Well, Ryder, she's got a point there. Even though she could have been nicer to them the kittens would still be running around. And you can't scold someone who just wanted to help." Skye, again, came to defend me. "No, Skye, Ryder is right. She should have been nicer to them. You said so, too" Chase answered. All I could do was growling at him. "Please, don't fight. Granted, she could have been nicer to those kittens but on the other hand she's new to this being-a-good-pup-part and she did a good job. So, why can't we just say she's been a good pup, too" Marshall asked. "It's okay, Marshall" I sighed trying to interrupt him before he could reveal my past as much as he knows about it. "If Ryder doesn't want me to help he should just say so." "No, Sweetie. It's not fair of Ryder to nearly call you a naughty pup just because you tried to help." Hearing the voice I turned around seeing the green-themed eco-pup walking up to me. "Don't get me wrong, I, too, think you should have been nicer to them but you helped using your own way of thinking and talking. And by the look of it, your way was effective."
'Could it be? Is that really the beginning of a new … No way! I know what they are trying to do. They apparently just want to make sure that I feel safe or even home so it will hurt even more when they'll kick me out. With Christmas around the corner I can't 'wait' for this present to happen.' While the others were still discussing I left the scene heading to the lookout. 'Skye and Marshall are still on my side. So, why did it hurt so much when Ryder told me that I wasn't a good pup?' This thought kept me busy so I didn't notice the shadow following me.
A/N: Man, I'm tired from typing and rereading this chapter twice. But I like way my story develops. I'm sure some of you might think Ryder won't say such words but by watching the episodes closely I noticed that he did some things that I still don't get (deciding to give Skye's toy mouse to the eagles when they just could have bought a new ball). Besides, thanks for staying with me.