The sun began to slowly rise up in Adventure Bay, it was quiet, it almost seemed peaceful but nothing lasts forever. Chase tossed and turned the entire night but managed to get some amount of sleep, the same can be said with Ryder, Catherine on the other hand barely got any sleep due to watching over the trio and guarding them in case anything happened.
And something did happen.
Catherine rushed to Chase and kept shaking him, quietly yelling into his ear to wake up and wake up, he did.
The wolfified German Shepherd immediately got up and into a defensive position but was stopped by Catherine, who was making a gesture for him to be quiet.
Chase gave her a perplexed look and she responded by pointing to a sleeping Skye, who was somehow back to her normal self, at least that's what it looked like.
The German Shepherd looked in shock, he didn't know what happened, one night she's close to being wolfified and the next she's back to her old self.
Chase slowly walked up to the cockapoo and put his paw on her.
"Any idea to how this happened?" Chase asked.
"No idea, anyway, she and Ryder should be waking up soon. I just want to get out of this feral infested town." Catherine said.
"Yeah me too, the Lookout is far from here but if we can make it to the bridge, we should be fine." Chase said to the Golden Retriever.
"Ok, anyway how are you feeling today? Is your back feeling better?" Catherine asked as she approached the Shepherd.
"It's still causing some problems, sleeping wasn't really working out." Chase answered.
"Here, let me help you ease the pain." Catherine said as she put her paws on Chase's back and began to massage it.
The two sat in silence until Chase asked Catherine a question.
"Hey, what happened last night with you and Ryder? I started to think you two weren't gonna make it." Chase said.
"Oh about that, things kind of went out of hand when I found him, he didn't trust me at first but he didn't have a choice when there was a pack of ferals chasing us. We got surrounded and he dove through a window to get away from them, we barricaded it and thought we were safe, there was another feral in a room and he took it down with his tranquilizer. Once that was all done, we made our way back." Catherine explained to the Shepherd.
"It's a good thing that you two made it back safe, if anything happened to Ryder, I don't know what I'd do." The wolfified Shepherd looked at the two. "He and the pups are all I've got." Chase stated.
"You don't think you'll fail, do you Chase?" Catherine asked.
"That's what I'm afraid of...I'm afraid of failing them." Chase answered sincerely.
"You'll get through this Chase, I know you will." Catherine reassured the pup.
Their conversation was brought to an end when they noticed Skye waking up, Chase immediately wanted to get up and hug the pup but was stopped by Catherine.
"Chase wait! We don't know if she's still feral or not." Catherine said.
"But..." Chase listened to the pup and stayed back.
"Where...where am I?" Skye finally said.
Chase smiled and ran up to the pup, hugging her.
"Skye! You're-you're back and not feral anymore, I can't believe this!" Chase said with happiness in his voice.
Skye took a step back from Chase, she was still adjusting herself to everything and seeing a wolfified version of Chase in front of her wasn't going to make it any easier.
"Chase? Wha-what happened to you?" Skye asked.
"I-uh-it's a long story, I'm just so glad you're back to your old self!" Chase hugged the pup again, who hugged back after seeing the pup so happy.
"What happened to me?" Skye asked the wolfified pup.
"Well...you were infected, you went feral and was with Blizzard for a while, do you not remember anything?" Chase replied.
Skye tried to remember almost everything but couldn't, only vivid scenes.
"I remember...talking to Rocky and...and attacking some pup, but that's it." Skye said.
"Can you remember a little bit more? Like where you and Rocky were?" Chase asked.
"Um...yeah...we were in this room and were both chained up, that's all I could remember Chase." Skye answered.
"That's fine, I'm just glad you're back, Ryder should wake up in a few and when he does, we have to get out of here." Chase said.
Screams of pain echoed throughout the room. Maverick barely took any breaks when it came to torturing Rocky.
The poor mix had his fur all ruffled and had bruises around his body, it was a surprise that he was still breathing at this point.
"So, Rocky, have you had enough yet? Or do you need another shock session?" Maverick said as he flashed the remote in front of Rocky.
"I've...I've told you before...I'd rather die...than help you." Rocky barely managed to say.
"Rocky look, you're really testing my patience here, do you really want to die here? Right in front of Marshall? Don't you want revenge on Chase for what he did to Aurora?" Maverick said.
"It was you...you killed her, not Chase." Rocky said as he was shocked again.
"Wrong answer! Tell me again. Who killed Tundra?" Maverick asked as he made Rocky look at him.
Rocky didn't answer to the pup, he just sat there, taking the pain.
"The poor pup had a liking to you, too bad Chase had to cut it short for you two. You couldn't do nothing about it then but you can now if you help me." Maverick tried getting into the mix's head as he glanced at Sweetie. "See if you can change his mind." Blizzard told Sweetie as he left the room.
Rocky coughed and spat a bit of blood on the floor as Sweetie approached him.
"You know he'll keep doing this until you help us." Sweetie said as she sat down in front of the pup. "I think you should just do it, let him stop hurting you Rocky, it's...it's not right." Sweetie said as she looked away from the injured pup.
"It's...not right?" Rocky said weakly. "Then how come...you're helping him?" Rocky asked.
Sweetie didn't respond to injured pup and just sighed.
"You know it's wrong Sweetie, please just let us go and come with us." Rocky pleaded with the Terrier who was still silent. "He's crazy Sweetie, he's going to kill people if we don't stop him."
Another shock went through Rocky's body as Sweetie pressed the button.
"I've made my decision Rocky." Sweetie said as she left the room and let Maverick back in.
"Isn't she a feisty pup? Don't try convincing her next time." Maverick threatened.
"I know...you're just tricking her...into doing your work." Rocky said between breaths.
"No. no. no. Rocky, you see I've actually grown to trust the little pup and she seems to trust me, you know. She has the right idea helping me. Maybe you should too." Blizzard said as he grabbed the remote again.
"Now back to what we were doing earlier..."
"You really think leaving Adventure Bay is a good idea?" Ryder questioned.
"Well, I don't see we have any other choice right now." Chase got up and looked down the road to where Ryder's ATV was located at. "If we can make a distraction long enough for Ryder to get to his ATV then he should be able to go back to the Lookout and come back with the Paw Patroller." Chase suggested to everyone.
"The road looks clear enough for it so it should work." Catherine added as she looked down the road with Chase.
"So how what's the distraction we're doing?" Skye asked.
"Well, there are still some cars around the town, I'm thinking if we set off alarms away from the ATV. It should give Ryder enough time to go to it and get back to the Lookout, once we set off the alarms we need to hunker down somewhere inside one of the buildings until Ryder gets back. What do you think?" Chase asked.
"Can't think of a better idea. I'm ready whenever you two are." Catherine said to Chase and Skye.
"Alright let's go, once you start hearing alarms Ryder, just head to the ATV, no hesitations." Chase said before he and the two pups left to attempt their plan.
The trio made their way across the streets as silently as they could, dodging packs of feral pups on the way.
The three made it to some cars that still had windows intact, Chase got his tennis launcher out and aimed.
"Get ready to run." Chase said as he began shooting the windows of the cars causing the alarms to go off for every single one of them.
Chase, along with Catherine and Skye ran away from the area and found a spot to lie low for a while, the trio heard howling approach the cars, indicating that their plan worked.
Once Ryder heard the alarms go off, he hopped over the fence and ran towards his ATV, letting a couple of stragglers wander off towards the alarms. He hopped on and drove back to the Lookout.
Once Ryder reached the Lookout, he got off his ATV and headed to the door calling Mayor Goodway and the pups.
"Ryder you're back, where's Cha-?" Zuma was cut off by the boy.
"No time, you pups stay here, I'm getting the Paw Patroller!" Ryder ordered.
Zuma didn't have time to ask Ryder anything and just let him be.
Ryder got inside and ordered Robo-Dog to head back into the feral infested town. He stopped by where they were before and saw the three pups running towards them, he opened the doors and yelled out to them.
"Come on you three, we gotta go, they'll be back any second!" Ryder yelled out.
The trio were almost at the Paw Patroller but Catherine took a misstep and fell to the ground, dropping her bag in the process.
"Catherine come on,just leave it!" Chase yelled out as he helped Catherine back up.
"No,no I can't, I have something important in that bag!" Catherine got the wolfified Shepherd off her and grabbed went back to grab her bag Chase motioned for Skye to keep going but as she ran she noticed some of the feral pups beginning sneak up on Ryder.
"Ryder, watch out!" Skye yelled out.
It was no use, the feral pups bit Ryder's arm and leg, deeply wounding it. The young boy managed to shake one off while Skye got the other off. Chase and Catherine finally made it in the Paw Patroller along with Skye.
"Is everyone ok?" Chase asked as he noticed Ryder lean back against the wall holding his already bleeding arm. "Oh no. Ryder! Robo-Dog get us back to the Lookout!" Chase yelled out to the mechanical pup.
Robo-Dog had to go around the block to cross the bridge but eventually they made it back to the Lookout.
The Paw Patroller opened its doors and Chase ran out calling Katie and Mayor Goodway's name, the two came out along with the rest of the pups and saw Ryder's injuries, they carried him into the Lookout and placed him down.
Chase saw the wounds on his owner, he didn't believe it was happening but it was, for the first time in a while, he was truly scared.
"Where do you pups keep the first aid kits?" Katie asked.
Chase didn't answer, he drowned out all the sounds around him.
"Chase!" Katie finally caught the pups attention. "Where do you keep the first aid kits?!"
"I don't know, we usually have Marshall for this!" Chase answered worryingly.
"There's...there's a first aid kit in the garage right next...to the workbench." Ryder said wincing at the pain.
"Ok, Chase go get the first aid kit, Mayor Goodway and I will do what we can until you get back." Katie ordered.
The wolfified pup ran out the Lookout and into the garage as fast as he can, numerous thoughts clouding him, he scanned the room and saw the first aid kit on the wall, he grabbed it and headed back to the others.
"Thanks Chase, hold on, Ryder you're gonna be fine." Katie assured.
She rolled up his bloody sleeve and began to examine it.
"Pups, it's going to be a while but I have to stitch his wounds, I'm no expert at it but what other choice do we have?" Katie asked as she began unpacking the first aid kit. "You pups might wanna leave for now, I'll call you when I'm done."
The pups did as they were told and left the Lookout, all of them with worried looks.
"That was too close of a call dudes." Zuma said with a slightly raised voice.
"I know, we almost lost Ryder, if we weren't there a second sooner..." Chase trailed off and started thinking about those possibilities. Skye noticed the pups behavior and comforted him.
"Don't think about that Chase, he's still with us, Katie and Mayor Goodway know what they're doing." Skye said as she placed a paw on the pups back.
Chase began to calm down more and noticed that Catherine wasn't with the group, he looked around and saw her by a tree all by herself. Chase had a strange feeling about that pup now and he went to go fix it.
"I'll be back." Chase said with a stern voice to the pups as he headed towards Catherine.
"Oh no."
"This isn't gonna be good, amigos."
"It's best if we keep keep our distance for now." Everest suggested.
"Yeah, I'm with Everest." Zuma said.
Chase reached the Golden Retriever who was looking at the once thriving town.
"Hey." Chase called out in a stern voice.
"What is it, Chase?" Catherine kept her eye on the town.
"What was that back there? Back on the street? Why couldn't you let go of the bag?" Chase asked.
"I couldn't Chase...I couldn't leave my bag out there." Catherine answered.
"Well now thanks to your little stop, Ryder almost died!" Chase started to raise his voice. "What was so important Catherine, that my owner, my friend, almost died for?"
Catherine reached into her bag and pulled out a teddy bear, showing it to Chase.
"A teddy bear? Ryder almost died for a teddy bear? What the hell is the matter with you?!" Chase yelled.
"It's not just a random teddy bear, it was one my owner gave me before she passed away, ok?! It was the only thing I had left and I couldn't lose it." Catherine said back at Chase.
Chase fell silent after that, he still thought that it was not right to risk Ryder's life for something like a teddy bear even if it was a memento from someone you cared about. Had he known prior to what happened, he probably would've been less harsher.
"Look...I'm sorry Catherine...I-uh-I didn't-." Chase was cut off.
"It's ok, you didn't know." Catherine said as she looked at the teddy bear.
"I'm going to head back to the pups, you should too." Chase suggested.
"I'll catch up with you, let me just rest here for a couple more minutes, ok?" Catherine questioned.
"Ok that's fine." Chase was about to leave the pup but stopped for a quick second. "Sorry again for how I acted." The pup left the Golden Retriever by herself.
Catherine looked around making sure she wasn't being watched by anyone and placed the teddy bear back in her bag, covering the small syringes inside. The syringes rattled and she took note of this.
Catherine sighed at the sight. "That sob story isn't going to last forever..." She couldn't tell the pups, all she had to do was wait.
Chase walked up to the pups who saw the whole thing from where they were.
"So...who's that Chase?" Zuma asked.
"Some pup that saved me and Skye a a few days ago, honestly if it wasn't for her, we wouldn't have been alive."
"I went up to her and asked about why she stopped for her bag earlier, turns out it was something her owner gave her before she passed away, she didn't want to lose it and I can't fully blame her for that." Chase explained.
"Yes you can, Ryder got hurt badly because of that, you're willing to just let that slide?" Everest questioned.
"I don't think you understood the word 'fully' Everest, I'm not letting it slide." Chase answered. "Yes it is her fault Ryder got hurt, but if something like that happens again, where she chooses herself over us, I won't hesitate to leave her." Chase said that last part coldly.
"Woah amigo, you don't mean that right?" Tracker asked in a shocked tone.
"If something like that happens again? I'm not going to risk my neck for her." Chase answered.
"And what if it was one of us doing that?" Skye asked.
Chase didn't answer the question.
"Exactly, she saved us and you can't even do the same? What's the matter with you? That's not the pup I fell in love with!" Skye raised her voice at Chase.
"Maybe things change Skye! Ever thought of that? Or were you too busy being Maverick's little helper?" Chase countered.
Everest saw the tension rise and got between the two. "Woah, woah stop it you two! Now is not the time for that! We need to figure out how to fix this whole thing and yelling at each other isn't going to fix it! Ryder is in the Lookout right now and he's hurt and what do you two decide to do? Let's just yell at each other and make us feel bad while our owner is hurt, because that'll fix things won't it?!"
"Everest is right, we need to figure out how to fix all of this!" Zuma sided.
The two pups calmed down after realizing that the husky was right.
"I'm...I'm sorry Skye." Chase said lowering his ears.
"I'm sorry too." Skye got closer to Chase and the Shepherd pulled her into a hug.
"Thanks you two, but what's the plan from here on out?" Everest asked.
"I'll explain everything when we can talk to Ryder, he needs to know about this also, so does Mayor Goodway and Katie." Chase answered.
"Ok, I hope Ryder's ok." Everest said as she peered behind Chase and into the Lookout.
"He's going to be ok, Katie knows what she's doing." Zuma assured.
The pups sat around while waiting, Chase decided to close his eyes and rest up for a bit while the others laid next to him.
After a while Catherine came back to the pups and Katie finally called the pups to come back inside, all of them immediately went in.
They got inside and saw Ryder with bandages on his wounds, other than that he looked pretty fine.
"Give him some space pups, he's still going to feel pain on his arm and leg for a while." Katie warned.
The pups acknowledged this and approached Ryder. The boy petted the pups as much as he could've and looked at Chase.
"So pal, are you going to tell us your plan or what?" Ryder smiled.
"Oh right." Chase chuckled. "Ok everyone gather up."
Everyone did as they were told and waited to hear the pups plan.
"First things first, you pups have to leave Adventure Bay." Chase said.
"What? Chase, no, we can't just leave." Zuma said with a shocked voice.
"We don't have another choice here, it's not me he's after, it's all of you. he wants all of you pups so he can infect you." Chase stated.
"We're not leaving Chase, we can't just let you take them all on by yourself, you'll get killed!" Ryder said.
"We're with you Chase, always." Everest stepped up and so did everyone else.
Chase couldn't believe it but at the same time he could, no matter what they stuck by him, if they were gonna fix all this, they would have to do it together.
"Ok...if that's the case, then we have a plan for that, I had a feeling you all were persistent. Anyway, first things first, we find any remaining people that are still here and get them out. After that's all done, we find out where Maverick is and get Rocky and Marshall back. Got it?" Chase asked.
"Got it!" Everyone else said in unison.
"Wait, what if the Lookout gets compromised?" Ryder asked.
"If that happens then we don't have any choice to stay, we fall back somewhere quiet, you think Farmer Yumi's place has been overrun yet?" Chase asked.
"I don't think so, it is pretty far from the town." Mayor Goodway replied.
"Ok, Skye and Catherine, you're with me, let's go." The trio was about to leave but was stopped by Ryder calling them.
"Chase wait! Before you go, head to the garage, there's something I've been working on ever since Rocky got captured. It's not done yet but just take it. They're new pup tags, fully untraceable by the pup pad Maverick has, I only made three so far but I'll finish making the rest. Katie, go with them." Ryder ordered.
"Yep, you got it, Ryder." Katie followed.
"Thanks Ryder." Chase said before he left with Katie and the two pups.
Chase went into the garage and saw the pup tags on the table. Katie grabbed them and placed them on the pups, removing the old ones Chase and Skye had.
"Good luck you three, be careful." Katie said as she petted the three pups.
"Do me a favor and hold on to those pup tags and please take care of Ryder while we're gone." Chase pleaded.
"Don't worry Chase, I'll take care of him, I know how he can be." Katie smiled.
With that, the trio went to the Paw Patroller and headed off to Farmer Yumi's.
"In the end...you will be the last one standing...if you play your cards right Chase."
The ride to Farmer Yumi's didn't take long but to the pups it felt like hours.
Skye noticed Chase just staring blankly at the window, concerned, she called out his name.
"Chase? Are you ok?" Skye asked.
"Wha? Yeah, yeah I'm fine Skye." Chase answered.
"I see the farm, we're almost there." Catherine advised to the two pups.
After a while, the Paw Patroller stopped near the farm and the pups stepped out. They looked around the farm with no sign of animals or anything.
"You think they got out in time?" Skye questioned.
"Oh man, I hope so, no one deserves this." Chase said as they walked towards the house.
As they made it to the door, Farmer Al popped out of one of the windows and aimed a gun at the pups.
"Woah! Farmer Al it's just us! Chase and Skye! Don't shoot!" Chase pleaded.
Farmer Al immediately stopped after hearing Chase. "Sorry about that pups, just been jumpy lately. Come inside." Farmer Al gestured the pups to go inside and so they did.
"Sorry about the gun, pups, lately some feral pups made their way to the farm and tried taking down my cattle. I wouldn't let that happen so Yumi and I stood our ground here." Farmer Al explained.
"That's what we wanted to talk to you about. Adventure Bay isn't safe for now, someone is personally trying to take us down and he doesn't care who's in his way." Chase explained.
"What's your point here, Chase?" Farmer Al asked.
"You and Farmer Yumi need to leave the farm so you two can be safe, We were wondering if while we're trying to fix this whole thing, we can use this place as a fall back location in case something happens at the Lookout." Chase hoped to reach an agreement.
"This place isn't exactly a secure but you can use it, it's the least we can do." Farmer Al agreed.
"Thanks Farmer Al, we don't know how long this'll last but hopefully we can resolve this problem fast enough." Chase said. "We'll be on our way, thanks again Farmer Al."
"No problem Chase, you pups be careful out there." Farmer Al waved goodbye to the pups and they left.
The pups got back inside the Paw Patroller and it began to make its way back to the Lookout.
The sun was setting as the pups made it back to the Lookout without any problems. They got out and went inside to tell the pups the good news.
"Ok, Farmer Al agreed that we can use his farm as a fall back location, now that that's done, our next part of the plan is to find anyone that is still in the town and get them out safely. It's getting late, let's get some rest, we got a lot to do tomorrow everyone."
Rocky was motionless, injured and tired of everything.
"Is he dead?" Maverick asked.
"Nope, he's just out cold." The large dog answered.
"Good, take him back to Marshall and chain him back up." Maverick ordered.
"Yes sir." The large dog grabbed Rocky and began to drag him to the room.
What they didn't realize was that Rocky was faking it, he was planning to escape and tonight was the night.
As the large dog continued to drag him, he stopped and opened the door, letting go of Rocky's paw in the process. The mix noticed this and got up, pushing the dog against the wall, knocking him down.
Rocky ran in a random direction and saw a door, he went through and was hit with a blast of cold air, he realized he wasn't in Adventure Bay, rather he was in a building close to the mountain.
The pup didn't make it far and fell to the ground due to the pain. The pups adrenaline wore off and he was feeling all sorts of pain.
"You made it pretty far, I'll give you that." Maverick approached the pup and lowered to his view. "But the thing is Rocky..." He made the pup face him.
"No one is coming to save you."
