ULTIMATE DANGER
Being the firefighter of the Paw Patrol has a lot that comes with the territory. One of these things being the sheer danger that you can get into. And when a forest fire breaks out, Marshall summons his courage to lead the team in putting out the blaze. But a rescue like this can have many twists and turns, even when he has Chase by his side all the way.
"How's it looking up there, Skye?" Marshall asked.
"There's only a couple of pockets of fire left, Marshall." Skye replied from the air. "One to the east and one to the west. You're coming up on the east one, now."
"Keep the west one in check. We'll be right there."
"Roger."
The Paw Patrol were used to dealing with small-scale disasters. From someone losing something important, to something going wrong that required specialist help. But when Ryder had put together the Ultimate Rescue vehicles, it was almost as if they were growing up, ready to take on much bigger problems.
But they weren't expecting something as deadly and destructive as a forest fire. The people of Adventure Bay had started to notice something off about the day when they saw a large, black, smoky plume rising into the sky. The day was already hotter than average, but Mayor Goodway, who'd headed to the forest for a picnic, had been the one to call the Paw Patrol in when she noticed the smell of something burning. Thankfully, one application of the Ultimate Fire Truck's claw courtesy of Rubble managed to get her and Chickaletta to safe ground, allowing the group to start tackling the fire.
The sky had been tinted a shade of orange and clogged up with smoke as the fire's crimson tendrils snaked through the once-peaceful forest. The scale of the disaster had frightened even Marshall, who was usually hard to faze when it came to the subject of fires. But the pup knew that he had to swallow his fear and step up in the face of extreme danger. And he was eternally grateful for the oxygen masks that Ryder had gone to the trouble of kitting them out with. So far, Skye had been dropping fire suppressant from the air while the rest of the team worked to contain the flames as best they could. And as of right now, it looked like the fire was going to be beaten before dinner time.
"Make this quick, everyone!" Marshall commanded. "We've still got another fire to put out! Rocky, Zuma, you take my left! Rubble, Ryder, take it from here! Chase, come with me!"
"Got it!" Everyone shouted as Marshall turned to head to the other side of the danger zone, with Chase following closely behind him.
"Pincer movement?" Chase asked.
"Yep."
Marshall always had a serious side to him. He may have been known as the fun-loving, clumsy joker of the team, but even he knew when things had gotten grim. He was the team's fire pup for a reason, and he knew when the time for joking had passed. And this was one such time. Not least because, being an Ultimate Rescue, he was in charge for a change.
Soon, he and Chase had arrived at the location of the fire, barked out their extinguishers, and set to work fighting the blaze. The two were on constant watch for anything going wrong as they sprayed down the raging inferno. The two had made good progress in fighting the fire, and Marshall was hopeful that they'd be able to move on to the final pocket of fire before long.
"Guys, water check." Marshall said over his Pup Tag.
"Still got plenty." Chase replied.
"I'm good here." Rocky added.
"Me too." Zuma added.
"I'm fine." Rubble added.
"Everything's fine here, too." Ryder added.
"Uhh..." The chain was soon broken by an uncertain voice.
"Skye? What's wrong?" Ryder asked on his line.
"Well, I've got enough suppressant, but I think I saw Danny in the fire!" Skye answered worriedly.
"WHAT?!" the team yelled.
"(Please, no...)" Marshall thought.
"I don't think he can get out!" Skye continued.
"Are you sure, Skye?" Marshall asked.
"Someone wearing yellow is in there, and it's not Rubble!" Skye squinted through her goggles in a bid to identify the obviously-human figure stuck in the raging fire. "He's wearing a helmet at least… And is that… some kinda scooter?"
"(It IS Danny…)" Marshall concluded to himself with great disappointment. "(That kid has a screw loose, I swear!)"
"How does he look?" Ryder asked.
"I can't really see. There's a lot of smoke, but I don't think he can get out!" Skye said.
"Urrrrrgh..." Marshall let off a long, annoyed groan.
"You said it..." Chase said.
"Marshall! We'll have to split up! One team has to save Danny!" Ryder instructed.
"Hold on, I just need to think..." Marshall froze, contorting his face into an expression of thought. As stupid as he was, a person in distress was still a person in distress. After a little while, Marshall thumped the ground with his paw.
"OK, got it!" Marshall declared. "Everyone stay here except Chase!"
"(Huh? Me?)" Chase thought in surprise.
"Skye! Keep doing what you're doing! Chase, come with me!" The dalmatian in red moved to leave the way he came. He and Chase had made enough of a dent in the fire for the others to mop up easily.
"Marshall, wait!" Ryder cried, stopping him. "I'm not so sure about that!"
"Ryder, sir! Do you trust me?"
"Wha-? Trust, I-"
"Do you?"
"Well, y-yes, but-"
"Then keep at it! We'll be back!"
A long silence ensued. It seemed that Ryder was very tempted to try and veto a plan that only involved the pair of them and no-one else. Marshall was in charge, but in the end, Ryder was the final arbiter of any decisions made. After the silence, an audible sigh came over Ryder's line.
"...OK, Marshall… BE. CAREFUL. Both of you."
"We will." Marshall replied, before turning back to the shepherd. "Chase, we'll take the mini-cart."
"Let's go!" Chase barked as the two charged towards the Ultimate Fire Truck.
While the truck was visible when Chase and Marshall finally arrived, Ryder and Rubble were not. Clearly, the two were still tackling the fire from their size. Hopefully they wouldn't keep them waiting too long. After a quick water refill, the two took off. Much to the two's dismay, they'd forgotten that the cart was a single-seater in their haste, forcing Chase to hold on to the back for dear life as Marshall drove them to the scene of the fire.
"So where are we going, Marshall?" Chase asked around the hose in his mouth.
"Simple." Marshall replied, moving to activate his Pup Tag. "We just follow the smoke." The pup soon established a connection to their eyes in the air.
"Skye, listen up. Me and Chase are on our way to get Danny out of there. Are we close to him?"
"Uhh…" Skye scanned the environment, and sure enough, saw a bright red cart moving towards the fire. Unfortunately, not the side that Danny was on. "No, Danny's on the other side in a clearing. But there's no way around to it." Skye decided that she'd ask about the shepherd gripping the hose in his mouth later on.
"Then we'll have to push through it, right?" Chase asked, his voice still muffled.
"You got it." Marshall replied.
Skye felt a pit in her stomach as she overheard the pair's conversation. It sounded suspiciously like a suicide mission to her. "Guys are you… sure about that?"
"Can you fly down and get him out of there?" Marshall asked bluntly. Skye recoiled a little at Marshall's question.
"What?! You realise I'm smaller than the pair of you, right?" Skye responded, unamused.
"Then we don't really have a choice, do we? Don't worry about us, just focus on making an opening in the fire for us, and we'll focus on getting Danny out!" Skye swallowed at Marshall's instructions, fearing the worst.
"R-roger..."
Orders were orders. Skye carefully lined herself up with the approaching cart and let another cloud of red powder loose from her Pup Pack. The spectacular sight soon disappeared, and the flames blocking their route flickered and sputtered.
"Nice! Good work, Skye! We can take the rescue from here!" Marshall praised. Skye, for her part, turned to keep flying and attacking the fire from above however she could, praying for the pair's safety.
"Alright, Marshall. Where do we start?" Chase asked, having finally let go of the hose.
"First, we've gotta make an opening. All that fire's gonna make it impossible for us to get to Danny in the first place. I'll use the cart's sprayer, you use your extinguisher."
"Roger."
Chase hopped down from the cart, rubbing his jaw.
"Ahhh… There's gotta be a less dangerous way of doing that..." Chase groused to himself, before stretching and shaking himself off.
"Ahem. Ruff! Extinguisher!"
Sure enough, the two pups hit the fire with a combined blast of water, making sure to get enough coverage to provide enough room to get the two of them through the trees.
"Stop!" Marshall cried after a few minutes as his stream of water ceased. Chase, for his part, quickly did the same.
"That should do it." The dalmatian continued.
"Now we've gotta get in there, right?" Chase asked, as Marshall approached.
"Right. Put your mask back on. It's really smoky in there."
Marshall moved to reapply his oxygen mask for the trip into the haze-covered inferno. Chase didn't wait to be asked twice. Marshall and Ryder both had been quite vocal about the effects of smoke inhalation, and they'd even said that smoke is more dangerous than the fire it came from.
"Alright, I'm ready!" Chase declared after fixing his mask into place.
"Let's go!" Marshall barked, charging into the opening they'd just created with Chase close behind.
The forest was in a state unlike anything the pups had ever seen. All around them, fires were raging away, and even as they attempted to put out the fires in their way to move on ahead, the heat was immense and the smoke rendered it impossible to see anything. It was almost like a twisted depiction of the afterlife itself.
"Keep pushing! Straight ahead!" Marshall shouted.
"Marshall, watch out!" Chase yelled.
Marshall looked up to see a red-hot branch coming down on him. With a yelp, he leapt backwards to avoid getting pancaked by the burning lumber, and set his water cannons on it when he recovered.
"Whoa! Thanks!"
"I can't see anything! The smoke's really thick!" The only thing Chase could see was the shadow of a dalmatian moving in the smoke. He was only able to make out the falling branch from the shadow it cast as it approached the ground.
"Chase, behind you!" Marshall shouted. Chase whipped around to see a tree falling behind him, finally giving up from being burned too badly.
"Wuh-oh!" Chase yelped, leaping out of the way to avoid getting flattened.
"Just stick close!"
The two had been pushing forward and dodging falling debris for a couple of minutes. Growing concerned, Marshall made another call to Skye.
"Skye! How close are we?" Marshall asked.
"I don't know! I can't see you!" Skye replied, looking down at the cloud of smoke covering the air. "The smoke's too thick!"
"Crud… OK, just focus on the fire! Don't worry yourself about us! We'll be fine!"
"How can I not worry about you?! You're both in the middle of a big fire, and I'm starting to run a little low on water! Promise me you'll get out of there if things-"
"Hey! Anyone there?! Hello?!"
Marshall didn't hear any more of Skye's message as a shout cut through the smoky air.
"Huh? Was that Danny?" Chase asked.
"I think it was!" Marshall replied "Hello?! Danny?! Is that you?!"
"That's Daring Danny X!"
"Oh, whatever!" Marshall barked back indignantly, afraid his eyes might fall out of his skull from rolling them so hard. At least he had an answer to his question.
"What is this kid's major malfunction?!" Chase asked himself in annoyance.
"(Note to self: Ask Chase where he got that later!) Just hang on! We're coming!"
Running in the direction of the voice, the two finally came to a clearing. The scene was as Skye had described it. In front of the two was a scooter, heavily mangled from an obvious crash with some flaming debris. Not far away from it lay a large tree branch that currently lay atop Danny, looking as blasé as ever. It didn't take much of an imagination to figure out how the boy in yellow had gotten into that situation. He clearly saw the forest fire as a chance for some stunt riding. If the pups could concede one thing, it's that at least Danny was wearing a helmet.
"Danny! Are you injured?" Marshall asked.
"Whaddaya think, man?!" Danny replied with a cocky grin. "I still feel good! I could go for another!"
"(And Chase yells at US for getting into trouble?)" Marshall thought with an internal scoff.
"(And I yell at THEM for getting into trouble?)" Chase thought with an eye roll.
"Maybe hold off until AFTER the fire's been put out?" Chase suggested, holding back the urge to lecture the child's ears off.
"Stay still and we'll get this branch off you, OK?" Marshall said.
"I'm stayin'." Danny shrugged.
One quick application of water cannons later, the smouldering branch was safe to touch. Without the Ultimate Fire Truck's claw, however, they'd have to settle for trying to lift the branch themselves. Without thinking, the two moved to push the heavy branch off of the boy's body.
"Alright, Chase, push on three." Marshall instructed over his Pup Tag.
"Got it."
"...THREE!"
With Marshall's command, the pushed as hard as they could, slowly but surely moving the branch from the boy's back to his legs. Soon, it was only a matter of Danny working his feet free from the branch.
"Danny…! Move…!" Chase strained.
"Ugh… I'm- KOFF! KOFF! ...clear..." Danny coughed, doing as he was told and finally getting free from the branch, only to choke on the smoke as he got to his feet.
"Danny, get down!" Marshall yelled.
Again, Danny did as he was told, dropping down and lying on his belly. One of Marshall's instructions was that smoke rises, and if they find themselves with no mask, then get as low to the floor as possible to breathe in less of it. The mask-clad Marshall swiftly moved over to Danny, still grateful that the branch was light enough for the pair of them to move.
"Arf, arf! Oxygen mask!" Marshall barked, his call answered by a spare oxygen mask being produced from his Pup Pack. The arm holding it moved towards Danny.
"Here, take this, and don't take it off." Marshall instructed. "Put it over your mouth and nose." Danny did so. If there was anything to be grateful for, it's that he was at least capable of following instructions. Even if he did look like a sullen toddler as he did so.
"Alright. Head down that way and don't stop." Marshall gestured to the path they just carved with his paw. "Follow the trail we've made."
And for the first time, Danny didn't follow instructions. Instead he just stood there, looking back and forth at the trail that Marshall and Chase had painstakingly carved, and the mangled remnants of his scooter.
"Forget the scooter!" Chase snapped, finally losing his patience. "Your life's more important! Move your extreme butt!"
Defeated, Danny made towards the trail, looking thoroughly disappointed that he had to leave without his scooter. The two could only watch on in bewilderment. Even after all the times they had to save Danny, they still found themselves amazed that someone could have so little regard for their own life.
"He's gonna get himself killed one of these days..." Marshall mumbled, glaring.
"So are we if we don't get out of here!" Chase replied sharply, jolting Marshall back to reality.
"You're right. Move it! We'll meet up with the others when we're out of here!" Marshall commanded, not wasting any time as he and Chase made their way back the way they came.
At this point, it was basically a race against the clock. With most of the fires quenched, it was simply a matter of getting back to the entrance. As they ran, they saw no sign of Danny. They only prayed that he hadn't gotten distracted by the opportunity for more extreme stunts. Though as they ran, a loud crack rang out from beside them. A glance to the right revealed a large tree coming down right in the middle of the trail that they'd made.
"Whoa-!" Marshall yelped, leaping backwards.
"Look out!" Chase yelled simultaneously, doing the same as the tree impacted the ground with an almighty crash, barring their way through.
"We've gotta get over this thing!" Marshall said, shrugging off what just happened. "Help me put it out! Arf, arf! Water cannon!"
"Ruff! Extinguisher!"
The two set about extinguishing yet another burning tree that day. Fortunately for them, the tree had no shortage of climbable branches, and they were able to put it out in short order.
"That should do it!" Marshall declared.
"After you." Chase offered.
As much as Marshall would've loved to argue about Chase choosing to let him go first, he decided that it wasn't really the time for that. Instead, he just hoped that Chase was close behind him as he hopped up the branches and on top of the fallen tree. Marshall squinted, looking for a way down, before catching sight of some more branches. It wouldn't be easy, but Marshall was happy to take any option that didn't end in him breaking his legs.
But as Marshall moved to the branches, he failed to notice another tree falling on top of the extinguished one that he was walking on. The tree impacted the fallen one with an almighty crash.
"AGH-! Whoa-!" Try though he might, Marshall lost his balance entirely and fell to the floor below with a crash.
"Ugh!"
Marshall grumbled as he picked himself up. Perhaps the spirits of the forest were angry about the trees being on fire and had decided to take it out on him? Though as he breathed in, he began to hack up a lung from smoke scorching his airways. Freezing in place, he reached for his oxygen mask. But what greeted his paw was a shattered mass of plastic. Glancing over at where he fell, Marshall's worst fears were confirmed: his rough landing had smashed his oxygen mask. Perhaps his sole lifeline in this situation. Marshall couldn't stop himself from voicing his thoughts on the situation.
"Uh-oh!"
Marshall took a low stance in response while trying to keep himself calm. Even though Chase only took a couple of seconds to appear over the fallen tree, it felt like an eternity. Now Marshall was running the meter. He had to evacuate and evacuate fast.
"Marshall!" Chase cried, hopping down from the branches of the tree, landing heavily. "I- koff, koff-! My mask! I…" Chase froze as he got a good look at the remnants of Marshall's destroyed oxygen mask. Marshall got a similar expression of fright on his face as he saw that Chase's mask was damaged too. The second tree had to have jolted him off as he was climbing the branches.
"Oh, no..." Chase mumbled in fright.
"'Oh, no' is right! Khack!" Marshall spluttered. "This smoke… Is way too- koff... thick!"
"Stay low?" Chase asked, moving his head closer to the ground
"Stay low! Keep moving and keep your head down!"
"R-koff-roger!"
The race against the clock had just become doubly urgent. The pups had to move slower due to them trying to keep their heads down, but if they stayed in there too long, then the smoke inhalation would prove too much for them. They tried desperately to keep these thoughts confined to the backs of their heads as the pair moved as quickly as they could
"Urgh… koff… I'm feeling… khack, koff- woozy..." Chase coughed, his voice becoming scratchy.
"Don't- koff! Don't you- khack, urghk-! Give up on me..." Marshall hacked in return.
"Wasn't… planning to… ughack, koff, koff-!"
Smoke was a killer. That's what Marshall had always told them. And this killer was rapidly entering their lungs with every breath. Adrenaline was powerful, but the smoke was taking its toll on their bodies. Their running started to slow and the world began to spin around them. But the thought of being so close to the exit and their freedom kept the two going. And indeed, their way out was now staring the two directly in the face. With hope in their hearts, the two ran with all of their might. But even that was to be cruelly snatched away from them by the all-too-familiar loud crack overhead, followed by yet another huge, flaming branch falling in front of them.
"Agh-! Euhaghck! Koff-!" Marshall weakly choked.
"No! Koff, koff, urk-! We're… so close!" Chase spluttered feebly.
Marshall stomped his paw once again. "I did not… kaff- come this far… koff, koff- to choke to death on smoke!"
Chase gave a determined glare. "Neither… koff- did I!"
"Put it out… and… koff- push through it! Arf… water… cannon- koff, koff!"
"Ruff… extin- koff- guisher!"
The two were running out of time. The smoke was starting to get to be too much. It was as if a yawning black void was opening beneath them, and one misspent second would send them tumbling down. All that kept them going was grit. Worse is that there was no time to spend climbing over the branch once the fire was out, which itself felt like it took an eternity.
"Chase… kaff- push..." Marshall coughed.
The only way past the branch was through it at this point. With the last of their strength, the two pups charged into the jagged, tapered bark and what few leaves remained on the branch, pushing through it with all of their might. And as if by some miracle, as the sharp bark stopped tearing at their skin, the two staggered out of the flames, the relatively-clean air of the safe area scorching their lungs as they frantically crawled away from the fire.
The two lay on the floor side-by-side hacking and spluttering, but very much free. Their lungs were badly-scorched by the smoke, but there was now hope that they might be OK. Hope that intensified when they saw what Danny's jaw was hanging open about. The Ultimate Fire Truck, pulling towards them at an immense speed. Chase and Marshall exchanged a look between themselves, weakly lifting their paws and slapping them together.
"What a team..."
"What a team..."
And with these words, everything went dark.
Marshall soon slowly woke to find himself in an unfamiliar position. As weak as he still was, he realised that things were way quieter than they once were. He was eventually able to register that he was back in the Lookout. Only he was in Ryder's room, tucked into a comfortable bed and missing his gear. It took him a little longer to register that something was over his mouth and nose. He soon found the strength to move his head.
To his left, he noticed a pair of large, white cylinders with red valves atop them, each having a clear tube coming from it snaking their way across the bed. Looking at where they were going, he noticed something alarming to his right. It was Chase, passed out completely, missing his gear and with an oxygen mask over his face, the plastic tube of one of the cylinders connected to it. Marshall's thoughts were scattered all over the place, and he could only wonder what was going on.
"Ohhh… You're finally awake..." a voice, sighing heavily with relief, came from his left.
Marshall labouredly craned his neck in the direction of the voice to see that it belonged to a worried-looking Ryder, sat against the far wall.
"Ry… der… koff, koff..." Marshall croaked, only to be cut off by another coughing fit.
"Whoa, hey, don't push it. Just keep breathing. You guys took on a lot of smoke. You've gotta stay on that oxygen for a little while."
Marshall could only do as he was told, lying in the bed and taking deep, steady breaths in a bid to try and get more precious oxygen to his lungs, and to recover his lost energy. His body was slightly sore as well, the memory of pushing through the final branch coming back to him. Eventually, however, Chase awoke, too, and was just as confused and ailed as Marshall was. Ryder only told him what he'd told Marshall. Ryder looked haunted. Frightened. He spent most of the time they had together breathing deeply. After a few more minutes of recovery, Ryder began to explain.
"So I guess you're wondering what's going on?" Ryder asked, to nodding from both of the pups.
"Well, we took care of the fire and saw you both blacked out. We gave Danny a talking-to and sent him on his way and took you down to Katie's when the fire was out. Heh, Skye was pretty mad at you two for doing all of that, you know."
The two groaned. They forgot how Skye was essentially left high and dry as they found Danny while Marshall was listening to her message, and that she was already worried about the two of them as it was. She was going to slap the pair of them silly for scaring her. But there would be time for that later.
"Now, you're both pretty scratched up." Ryder went on. "But you'll live. The smoke inhalation was the worst part of it. So you both need to be on oxygen for a couple of hours."
Chase and Marshall shared a look between each other. A look of "Skye's going to kill us.".
"We'll talk more about it later, though. For now, though, just rest up."
Eventually, the pair were able to take off their masks, now breathing freely. They wouldn't be able to exert themselves for a while, but now they could breathe comfortably without coughing. And now it was Ryder's turn to ask them about what happened. Predictably, the boy wasn't happy with how much danger the two had put themselves in.
"So you both thought it'd be a good idea to go by yourselves into a huge fire to get Danny out?" Ryder asked, unimpressed.
"Hey, we needed you to focus on the fire back there!" Marshall defended.
"But you could've brought someone else!" Ryder countered.
"It wouldn't have made a difference, though!" Chase added.
"But he could've called us if things went wrong!" Ryder shot back.
"And then what, we leave the forest to burn?! Or should we have left Danny to burn?" Marshall asked sarcastically.
"But the two of you clearly weren't enough!" Ryder barked.
"Hey, we got a little unlucky! What else could the other pups have done?!" Chase replied with force, much to Marshall's surprise. "And we got Danny out, and got ourselves out, even though our equipment got busted! I dunno about you, but I'd call that a win!"
Ryder opened his mouth to argue back, but realising the futility of it, sighed heavily, dropped his head, and moved over to the bed, sitting down heavily on it and placing a hand on their heads.
"You two are crazy, you know that?"
"You've gotta be a little stupid sometimes, right?" Chase shrugged.
"Well… I guess..." Ryder found it difficult to find a rebuttal for a statement like that.
"Are you going to punish us for this?" Marshall asked. Ryder seemed to think it over for a few seconds before answering.
"...no, I don't think this is worth punishing you two over. I mean, yeah, you both scared me, and there were probably better ways of handling this. But you both did really well. You saved Danny and managed to get yourselves out of there alive."
Ryder rubbed their heads, causing them both to smile contentedly.
"You scared the heck out of me… But I'm proud of you both. Shrugging off the odds and putting other people first. That's what being the Paw Patrol is all about."
The two lay in the bed peacefully, enjoying Ryder's praise, grateful that their leader wasn't angry with them. Until Chase let out some dry coughs.
"Thirsty?" Ryder asked with a smile. The pups both nodded.
"Thought so. Sit tight. I'll go get you both some water." Patting their heads, Ryder got up from the bed and headed for the door, only to stop shy of it and turn back to the pups with a prideful smile.
"You both did a good job, today. I think you've both earned a nice, long rest."
The pups returned Ryder's smile as the boy made his exit. The two lay in an awkward silence for a while before Chase slowly turned his tired body towards Marshall.
"Hey, Marshall? I'm curious about something."
"What's that?" Marshall replied.
"Why did you only pick me to go with you to save Danny? I mean, you could've picked anyone else, but you picked me?"
"Well, I would've thought that was obvious. You're probably the toughest pup here. Who WOULDN'T want you with them when things get rough?"
"But… the other pups are tough too, you know?" Chase countered, giving Marshall a funny look. "I mean, not that I wouldn't want to be with you in tough times, but… Anyone else would've done, right?"
"Maybe. But we know each other too well, Chase." Marshall gave the shepherd a fond smile. "We've been on a lot of rescues together, you and me. You're strong, you're brave, and most important, you never give up no matter how bad things get. You stick with a pup until the very end. And when my tail's against the wall… well, I can't think of any other pup I'd want with me."
Chase jaw hung open slightly in response to the praise. "Marshall… thank you… that… really means a lot..."
"You'd do the same for me, right?"
"You know it." Chase smiled back at the dalmatian.
"Even though I'm clumsy?"
"Well, look at it this way, Marshall. Were you clumsy back when the forest was burning?"
"...I don't… think so?" Marshall had a degree of uncertainty to his voice.
"No, you weren't. You're clumsy, but when the chips are down, you're as dependable as they come."
Now it was Marshall's turn to be caught off-guard by sudden praise."...thank you, Chase… Thank you so much..."
"Hey." Chase held his paw out to the dalmatian. "We're unstoppable together, right, Marshall?"
Marshall reached over and held his paw against the shepherd's.
"Invincible, Chase."
The two smiled at each other, basking in the glow of a job well done. Despite the odds, together, they were as they described themselves. Unstoppable. Invincible. The two lay in silence, until Chase, surprisingly, broke the atmosphere.
"Well, we'd probably be way more invincible without the looming threat of fiery death."
And now that they were finally able to do so, the two burst out laughing uncontrollably.
Can you tell that this one was MEANT to be the very last thing I wrote before I went dormant? This is the first time I've ever written something so action-oriented. I got the idea to write this when I watched Marshall's first Ultimate Rescue episode. I loved it so much I couldn't leave it be. Of course, I don't know if the show would ever do a rescue as extreme as this. By the by, my knowledge of actual firefighting is decidedly limited, so in the event of any inaccuracies, I apologise. A good challenge for me, though.
At any rate, this is officially the final one-shot in this collection. No more. I feel like some were better than others, but honestly, anthology writing SUCKS. I'll elaborate on that in the Afterword, which will be uploaded sometime between Wednesday and Sunday. If you've enjoyed this collection or any of the fics within, then I thank you deeply. So until the Afterword goes up, thanks again for reading. See you soon.