Hey guys, I'm back again. This is basically a continuation of my last one-shot Let Me Go. It takes place about eight or so months after the events of that story and you will see Storm, one of my OC's (you can see a full list of my OCs on my profile page) who is also Chase's sister. If you haven't yet read Let Me Go, I highly suggest you do if you want to be able to know what is going on here or if you need a refresher.
I do realize that I got a review telling me that I hadn't included Everest, Tracker, Tuck, Ella, or Rex. I didn't include Ella, Tuck and Rex because I just don't know enough about them to be able to write about them and feel confident that I could write their characters well. As for Everest and Tracker, I'll be honest here, I forgot about them. But I also was at a point in the story where I thought that if I added anymore to it, it would go on forever and that's not something I want. Besides, the ending wouldn't have been quite the same anyway. So forgive me for that, but they do make an appearance in this story so I hope that, whoever you are that reviewed and told me about that, you are now satiated.
Disclaimer: I do not own PAW Patrol, just my own characters that are not in any way shape or form derived from characters in other fandoms.
I wasn't able to write for about three months because of school, so that's why I didn't post. I believe I've delayed you long enough, so here's the continuation that I hope people have been waiting for.
Skye wasn't sure if her day could get much worse. By now, Chase was eight months into his tour and should have been on his way home soon. At least, that's what she hoped would happen. According to Zuma, it was going to be a lengthy process to bring Chase's team back home in one piece. But the reason why Skye's day was absolutely horrible had nothing to do with Chase. Okay, she took that back. It was because of Chase, just not in the most orthodox way possible, however predictable, practical, and organized the German Shepherd was.
Chase was a by-the-book dog who knew his rights from his wrongs and lefts and did his duty to his country without a second thought of dying. That was what Skye had trouble fathoming. How did someone go into combat without wondering if they were going to die? How did Chase do it? How did he push all his fears and the whispers in his head into a small box in his mind and learn to focus only on the task ahead and to survive the minutes ahead? Skye had a feeling that she would never know. After all, Chase rarely let anybody know what was going on in his mind, much less her.
Skye's shock of the day came when Zuma got a call from another dog. The meeting sent Skye's head spinning, but she understood enough of what was being said to know that something bad had happened to Chase.
Skye was in the Lookout, chatting with Everest who was visiting for the weekend when Zuma shot past them, Rocky on his tail.
"Yeah, I can hear you. Hold on, I'm putting you on the big screen up top." Zuma was saying to someone who was probably calling his pup tag.
Out of curiosity, Skye left Everest and followed Zuma and Rocky to the observation deck where they were deep in conversation with another dog - a female German Shepherd - whose video was on the big screen.
"Is he okay?" Zuma asked anxiously, pacing up and down, his paws seemingly moving without him thinking about it.
"I don't know! They won't let me see him without clearance, even when I showed my rank and squad to the officer there. And Jax wasn't there today, which meant that I couldn't get clearance without him authorizing it and that would have taken a few days anyway, but at least I would have a clearance slip being authorized in that time, but I need to know how he is and they won't let me see him, they won't tell me, and I don't know what to do!" The mystery dog's rant ended in a weak howl, obviously distraught.
"What's going on?" Skye interrupted, half hoping that there was no answer to give.
Zuma shook his head tiredly. "Can't say. Regulations prohibit telling a non-ranked dog the inside scoop. Sorry."
"I don't need the specifics, just a brief outline. Please?" Skye begged, and her mind went 'wait, non-ranked?'
Eventually, after a seemingly long three minute standoff, Rocky relented. "It doesn't matter anyway, Zuma. They'll have to know sooner or later."
Mystery Dog's eyes narrowed. "I don't trust her." The words were put bluntly and Skye told herself that Mystery Dog was probably just very cautious about what she said to others.
"Storm, eventually it will have to get into your head that not everyone is out to betray you." Zuma sighed, his exasperation well contained, but it showed in the way his ears were angled.
Mystery Dog - Storm - snarled at what Skye hoped to be nothing and the cockapoo had a feeling that if Zuma hadn't spoken up, she would have been the one at the other end of the shepherd's sharp tongue.
"Fine. But wait for me before you started explaining everything." With that, the screen went dark as Storm disconnected from the call.
"Who-" Skye's question was cut off by Zuma as he padded past her, indicating with his tail for her to follow him. Rocky brought up the tail end of their "pup train".
"Storm is Chase's sister. I knew her through Chase and he knew me through Rocky. Rocky knew Chase through a now-unclassified joint mission between the Marines' Third Battalion and Navy's Team Six in Iraq. Any other questions?"
"What's going-" Skye started again.
"Classified. Even Storm doesn't know the details. All we know is that Chase is injured. We don't know how bad off he is or where he was shot either." Rocky said shortly.
Skye had a thought nagging at the back of her mind telling her that the last sentence was probably not for her ears, so she gave no indication that she had heard.
By this time, the three of them had gotten downstairs and were just exiting the Lookout when a pup-sized decommissioned military Humvee cruised to a stop at the end of the driveway.
"Good. She's here. We can explain everything now." Zuma visibly relaxed as he spoke.
"Storm? Is that you?" Everest called from behind Skye.
"Hi Everest." Storm slumped against the side of her vehicle, sounding like she wanted to be anywhere but at the Lookout.
"Wait one second. How do you two know each other?" Skye demanded, her urge to know what was going on rising with every second that the others weren't answering.
"We're all military. The difference between me and everyone else other than maybe Zuma is that I haven't seen combat. I've only been stateside." Everest explained.
"So when you said that you were lost at the South Pole, that was a lie?" Skye asked, hurt building in her chest at the thought of Everest lying to her.
"Skye, I had to. What I was doing is still classified to the general public even today." The husky said, sounding apologetic.
By now, Marshall and Rubble had joined the group, hanging on the outskirts when Storm turned to stare at the aforementioned dalmatian.
"Marshall." Storm growled coldly in greeting.
Marshall nodded curtly in response and didn't meet her eye.
"Did-did we miss something?" Rocky blinked in surprise at the tension between the two.
"Yes, yes, you did and I'm not going to explain." Storm said bitterly.
"I think the better question is did Skye and I miss anything?" Rubble wondered aloud.
The others, save for the aforementioned cockapoo and bulldog, all looked at each other awkwardly.
"Everest, you're Delta, aren't you?" Rocky asked, fully aware that Storm and Marshall were glaring daggers at him for bringing up the very well known rivalry within the military between the Navy Seals and Delta Force.
"Yeah. Ella and Tuck were Ranger, Tracker was 3rd Battalion-" Everest agreed and continued talking.
"-With Rocky, I was Coast Guard, Marshall, Storm, and Chase are all Navy." Zuma interrupted Everest to finish.
"So to sum it up, all of you were military and Rubble and I didn't know." Skye concluded.
Cue awkward silence number two.
"...Yes." Marshall took the liberty of answering the question.
"I see." Skye said shortly.
At that moment, Storm's tag buzzed with an incoming message and she turned away to take the call.
"Storm here. Jax? You got it? Thank you! You're amazing and I owe you one. Right, see you soon. Bye." Storm's tail flicked in excitement and her paws did a mini tap dance almost on their own accord.
"Clearance got through?" Zuma yipped eagerly while Rocky spun in a circle chasing his tail for a moment.
"Yeah. Zuma, I can bring someone with me and you're cleared too, so who wants to come with us?" Storm asked the group at large.
Skye hesitated before answering. "I kind of want to go." she admitted.
"You can ride with me." Storm offered, though Skye heard just a tinge of sharpness in her voice, which was probably just Storm being her own cautious self. "It's easier than taking three vehicles."
Also, I'm probably going to turn this into a multichapter because I can't leave this hanging like this, so we'll see when I get another chance to write.
-Mafiapartner2 out
