Chapter 3: "A shadow from the past"

A/N: Sorry for the wait! I've had enough to do with school for my future job. In addition to that I have to apologize to everyone who might felt insulted by my comment at the end of the last chapter. Watching it again I saw that he didn't force Skye to give away her favorite toy. But he would have taken away the ball so the baby eagles wouldn't have anything to play with if it wasn't for Everest. So, sorry again. But back to the story.

?'s POV:

'Good, I've found her. Once I get her into trouble it's back to the streets again like it used to be in the good old times. Preferable right before Christmas.'

Narrator:

The female Great Dane following Sweetie didn't notice that she was followed herself by a grey and pink helicopter.

Skye's POV:

While the discussion went on I noticed that Sweetie wasn't there anymore. Signaling that to Marshall I hoped nobody else would notice. We were lucky. When I saw him nodding I retracted from the discussion to head towards my helicopter. I could go looking for Sweetie knowing that Marshall will be defending her better than I ever could. 'Well' I thought, 'he might be a better help now but there are some things she only could talk about with me. I'm still the only girl in the main team.' Luckily, nobody heard me starting my helicopter because they were too much into that discussion. 'How much luck do we have left?' I asked myself.

It didn't take long to spot her snow white fur against the dark grey of the streets. 'We're lucky that it hasn't snowed until now' I thought. There it was again. LUCK! I always hated depending on luck. Looking down I noticed something strange. There was another dog following Sweetie trying to stay hidden. I didn't feel very comfortable seeing this but I couldn't do anything. Right then I didn't want to call Ryder due to his reaction to her help earlier this morning. I couldn't call out to Sweetie either because it would force the other dog to take action and surprise Sweetie. So all I could do was watching the scene and hoping that she would be alright.

Half her way to the lookout she must have noticed something because she suddenly turned around surprising the other dog and me. Her cover blown the other dog started to attack Sweetie but Sweetie didn't wait until she was in reach. Sweetie turned around again and darted away straight to the lookout. I knew exactly what she was trying to do. She was going for the emergency lock I told her about earlier. Seeing how much ahead she was, and still getting even further ahead, I decided to call Ryder. "Ryder, please come" I said into my pup tag. "What is it, Skye?" "There is something going on here. Sweetie is being attacked by another dog. I think she will be okay but could you please come to the lookout?" "Don't worry, Skye. We'll be right there!"

Sweetie's POV:

'What is she doing here and how did she find me?' I asked myself running top speed to the lookout to lock me in. Luckily Skye mentioned the emergency lock I remembered. 'Gah, luck! Luck is the only thing you can't plan with' I thought. Running through the door and activating the lock-up-function I saw that she still had some distance to go to get here. I sat there with a smirk on my face watching the doors closing and hearing the lock to activate. The same kind of smirk she had on her face back then when she abandoned me during the dogcatcher incident. But this time I felt safer inside all alone than outside with her.

Seeing she won't make it in time she pulled out something green. I didn't even know where she hid it but with her getting nearer I easily recognized the shape of it. No, I meant him. What she got there was my favorite toy, Busby. When she noticed me recognizing him she smiled. No, grinning evilly would be a better phrase. I knew that grin. It was the same grin she gave every other street dog before taking away their food. When she lowered him to the ground I could see I was right with him being my favorite toy back when… Well, since I was with my parents. As far as I can remember I had him with me every single stage of my life.

'What is she planning to do with him? Without my collar she won't get him to do anything.' At least that was what I thought. Right when I heard sirens she put her paw down trying to break him. The only thing I could do was watching him giving in due to brute force meant only to destroy him and me at the same time. I can't tell how long I just sat there looking at the pieces which were my favorite toy just moments ago. The first thing I remember clearly afterwards was Ryder kneeling in front of me asking me if I was alright. "What happened here?" he asked his voice filled with concern. It would have felt great if I couldn't see in his eyes that he already knew. 'I don't get him' I thought. 'On the one hand he doesn't want me to help, on the other hand he seems to want to help me.' I decided to tell him the part of my story related to that dog that just broke my whole past into little pieces. Well, the most visual part of my past. I did so, just in case he talked to Chase afterwards and might get the wrong impression.

Ryder's POV:

After hearing Sweetie's story and knowing what happened here thanks to Skye, Sweetie didn't mention this incident, I felt bad to test out which pup trusted her then. "It's okay, Sweetie. I am sure I can fix him." Looking into her eyes filled with hope I knew why the princess forgave her so often. She really looks adorable. "Ryder, sir. I hate to admit it but there really was another dog here but she must have left the island while I was checking the surrounding area of the lookout." "It is okay, Chase. Come on, pups. I give you your breakfast now. And after that I start to repair your toy, Sweetie. Is that okay?" I knew I had to do something beforehand.

"Listen, pups." I started knowing that now was the time. "You all know what happened here. And although I don't like to admit it, it somehow was my fault. I'm sorry, Sweetie. You are a good pup, too." With that sentence I saw her tail wagging a bit but her face was still in a very sad tone. "Forget what I said right after the mission. It was a really silly test. If I hadn't come up with that test Sweetie wouldn't have left all alone and all of this wouldn't have happened."

"By the way, who was that dog and why was she after Sweetie?" I heard Chase asking his voice still very suspicious. Sweetie sighed. "She helped me to learn to care for myself back when I lived on the streets with nothing belonging to me than Busby. Even back then he was my favorite toy and my only friend. Nothing could separate us. That's why she knew exactly how to hurt me most." "Okay, and what is her name?" "Chase, this isn't an interrogation!" I decided to interrupt. "No, Ryder. It is okay. I can't tell you her name even if I wanted to. She used different names for different approaches to make the impression that there were a whole bunch of dogs ruling the streets. That's why I think the name she told me was a fake name, too. And before you can ask: No, I haven't seen her since I was caught by a dogcatcher. Well, up until today that is. In two weeks time I wouldn't have seen her for three years straight." "But in two weeks is Chwistmas!" "Precisely. On Christmas three years ago was the last time I saw her. Until today." Wow, that was more information than she gave me earlier.

"What are we going to do now?" Rocky asked. "That other dog could still be out there maybe even waiting to hurt her even more." "I know." Marshall suddenly said. "We could all spend time with her taking turns with it. So she won't be alone even if she happens to come across that dog again. Plus, we can get to know each other." "That is a good idea, Marshall." I knew I could count on him to help me. "But we can only do that if Sweetie is okay with it. What do you say?" I hoped that she would accept it. I decided that we will do it no matter what. But if she accepts it we won't have to do it in secret. "Do I have to spend time with everyone then?" she huffed but I could easily tell she wasn't serious about it. "I'm afraid so." I answered. "Well, I guess you can't have everything. But I'd rather spend time with pups who hate me than face her alone. Therefore I gladly accept the offer."

With that cleared I brought out their breakfast giving them an extra portion of food. When Sweetie realized what was in her bowl she had a disgusted look on her face. "Puppy food? Yuck!" she said which sent us all into fits of laughter. "You really are all good pups. Without exception" I said.

A/N: Wow, Ryder was just testing them! When I wrote it first I didn't expect that. I had to fill in a narrator. Next chapter will contain the Winter Wonder Show. Stay with me, please.