Chapter 2

A dumbstruck Rocky and Smoky stared at Zuma. Their mouths hung wide open, showing all of their well-developed canines and molars (they brushed every day). Yes, it was already known that there were dogs who left the PAW Patrol, but they didn't know that Zuma's mother was one of them. It was practically unheard of for a mother to turn on her own family, even more so to turn back to them after the fact.

"And she's coming here?!" Smoky finally asked, incredulously. For once, he was the first one to snap out of the stupor.

The labrador nodded, a worried look across his little puppy features. "And I'm afwaid that they'll ruin everything."

"That would be hard to swallow," Rocky replied, cringing at the idea. "But what can we do about it?"

"Maybe keep them from getting together," Smoky offered.

"Yeah, but that's gonna be impossible… We'd have to do it for sevewal days!" Zuma shook his head. "They'd notice and get mad."

"Well, technically we'd have to do it for-" Rocky's voice trailed off as he started counting on his paws. When he finished, he continued, "Three or four days."

"That's still a long time," Zuma replied, almost moaning.

"Yes, I agree with Zuma," Smoky said, his green eyes flitting between the two older pups. We should think of something else." Smoky said.

"But what?" Rocky asked, a skeptical frown on his muzzle.

"I… don't know, but we'll need help." Zuma said, shaking his head. His floppy ears swung from side to side as he did so.

"Not to mention they'll both want to see you, Zuma." That gave Rocky an idea. "Hey, what if they saw you separately?"

"How can I do that? They'll eventually meet each othew."

"I know, but maybe, just maybe, we could get them to do things separately."

"But what?"

"Taking a tour of the town, maybe?"

"That would work," Zuma said, "Except both were members of the PAW Patwol, and Mom's been living in the alleys."

Smoky winced, "Ouch… She really had to move to the alleys?"

"No, she chose to live there," Zuma answered, as if it were obvious. He sounded distressed nonetheless.

"Oh…"

Elsewhere, Marshall changed the final light at town hall. He smiled at his work, and started down the ladder.

"Hey kiddo! How's the weather up there?"

Marshall looked down. He saw two dalmatians, one male and one female. He squinted and saw that female dalmatian, Scruffy, wore the standard PAW Patrol tag, both with a gold frame rather than silver, just like Pace's. Then there was the male dalmatian, Splotch, who wore a plain collar, but again had a gold frame. Marshall immediately recognized the dalmatian pair.

He exclaimed, "Mom! Dad!"

He tried to trot quickly down the ladder, but slipped and slid down the ladder with a, "Ow! Oh! Ee! Ow!" He landed at the bottom in his seat. The visor of his helmet covered his eyes; after he nudged it up, he grinned shyly. "I'm okay."

The female shot a bemused look between the two males. "Like father like son, huh Splotch?"

Splotch chuckled at her remark. "Yeah, but his skin is as thick as his mother."

"I swear, the clumsy gene is dominant…" Scruffy smirked as she turned to her son. "How are you, Marshall?"

Marshall hopped out of his vehicle and skipped over to them. "I'm great. Missions have been exciting, my teammates have been awesome, and…" Marshall looked down. For some reason, he was always a bit flustered when he mentioned her. "I met someone."

Scruffy started with, "As in… a-"

Splotch interrupted, "A cat?"

Marshall tilted his head. "Huh? What? No, not even close. No! I mean a g-"

"Gerbil?" Splotch suggested. His tail wagged, as if it was a fun guessing game.

"No, a-"

"Gorilla?!" Splotch exclaimed, suddenly straightening out and looking shocked. "What have I told you about associating with rogue gorillas, son?!"

"No, not a gorilla! A girl!"

Scruffy's ears twitched. "Did you say a girl?"

"Yeah. Her name is Oot, uh… I'm not sure how to pronounce it, but I call her Utsu for short."

Scruffy suddenly laid down to Marshall's level. Her paws rested on her cheeks. "What is she like? This 'Utsu?'"

"Um… She's nice, and great to play with, and a terrific translator..." That look his mother was giving him was extremely awkward. It was difficult to describe her truthfully; it was tough to put it into words. "Maybe I'll introduce you to her!"

"Okay then. Let's go," Scruffy said as she walked away, her body language suddenly moderately aggressive and. Marshall looked at Scruffy with a weird look.

"Uh… Okay then… Let's go…" Splotch followed his mate.

Marshall blinked several times. "Uh, guys. Last I heard, she went with some friends to Hoss."

"Oh, okay. Would you mind leading the way, son?" Splotch asked.

Marshall nodded before walking in a different direction. Both of his parents followed.

Miracle and Skye were searching through the racks of Hoss while Utsukushi simply watched. She couldn't bear to touch any of those dirty, old clothes… well, they've never been worn, but still, they were old, by almost a year. Even the smell of the old clothes was getting to her.

"Hey girls, are you done yet?" she asked tentatively, but also slightly disgustedly.

"No…" Miracle replied, absentmindedly as pulled yet another jacket from the rack. "Oh wow, this looks amazing, wouldn't you agree Skye?"

Skye looked the jacket Miracle was holding. She grinned, "Oh yes! That would look great on you!"

Utsukushi sighed harshly. That was the fifth time asked if it was time to go, and nothing was happening! She was just about ready to just wait outside, at least she'd be away from the smell.

Just then, she spotted Marshall walking into the store. "Well, at least there was something to make this better," she thought. But then, she noticed that a couple of dalmatians were following him. "Who are those two?"

She walked up to the trio with a concerned look on her face. She got up to Marshall's ear and whispered, "Hey Marshall, don't panic, but there are two strange dogs standing right behind you."

"Huh?" Marshal looked behind him, then back at Utsukushi, "Oh, no, those are my parents."

Her eyes widened. "Nani?" She looked at the two. She immediately noticed the collars which had the gold frame, along with Scruffy's PAW Patrol badge, a fire helmet. "Oh. Uh… My mistake." She stepped forward to his parents, "Haikei, Marshall's parents. It is an honor to meet you." She followed it with a bow.

"Oh...Um… Hello…" Marshall's mother greeted back, "It's nice to meet you…"

"The pleasure is mine." Utsukushi smiled.

"You're foreign, right?" Scruffy interrupted.

"Yes," Utsu said, not missing a beat and not looking the slightest bit discomforted by the name.

"And… Uh… What's your name?"

"Oh, of course. My name is Utsukushi. What are yours?"

"My name's Scruffy, and this is my mate, Splotch."

"Splucsh, Sluptch… Splotch?"

"Yeah," Splotch affirmed.

"Oh, I see. And I see Scruffy was in the PAW Patrol as well."

Scruffy gasped. "In it? My team was nothing without me!"

"Uh, didn't Pace-"

"Yeah, but Scruffy was the best member on the team," Marshall interrupted. He whispered in her ear, "And she won't see it any other way."

"Oh… I see…!" Utsukushi nodded politely. "And I take it you were a fire pup."

"That's right. I never tire when there's fire."

"I imagine you were quite a hero in your day," Utsu went on.

"Oh yeah, then I retired due to fact that someone was getting a little too nervous," Scruffy's smirked as she focused her gaze on Splotch.

"That's not true," Splotch laughed, "You quit because of the flood."

"I heard that was terrible," Utsukushi said, her ears slicking down and her countenance becoming strained.

"More than you know, pup," Scruffy answered.

Utsukushi cleared her throat. She wasn't sure how she took to being called a 'pup.' "There have been earthquakes and tsunamis of all sorts in Japan," she replied in a dignified voice, "But never have I even heard of a flood that devastated an entire bay."

"It took half the island, and part of it is still submerged."

"My word…" Utsukushi put a paw over her mouth, all memories of being called 'pup' forgotten. "That's terrible."

"That it is," Splotch replied, "And if I remember correctly, it left Pace with a pretty big injury."

"It did," Scruffy said, "It damaged his hip, and while it did heal for the most part, it became arthritic."

"Oh… I see… And who was Pace again?"

"He was the first member of the PAW Patrol and Chase's father," Marshall answered.

Utsu blushed. "Oh, right. I forgot."

"Yeah. So what do you do?"

"Well… I work as a model… so, I… I'm not quite fond of this establishment."

"A model you say?" Scruffy raised an eyebrow.

She nodded.

She looked at Marshall with a wide grin. "Look at my little boy, going for someone way up there."

"Mom, what do you mean?" Marshall asked, frowning.

Utsukushi giggled, Marshall always looked so cute. "Well...I'm not really 'up there,' as you put it. Marshall's just so wonderful."

"I see… Um… Will you excuse us for a moment?" Scruffy asked.

"Uh… Hai. I need to go and check on Skye and Miracle, anyway." Utsukushi bowed, "It was nice to meet you."

"It was nice meeting you, too."

When Marshall was out of hearing range and they were outside of the store, Scruffy said to her mate, "I don't like her with Marshall."

A surprised Splotch asked, "Why not? She looks decent."

"Because, she's a model, she's foreign-"

Splotch glared at her. "Way to not sound racist…"

Scruffy rolled her eyes, "What I mean to say is that he's probably just interested in her because she's not someone he'd normally see. She's way out of his league."

"Oh come on! You should know your son better than that."

"And what if she's using him for whatever reason?"

"No, Marshall's got a good judge of character, and I'm sure there'd be more to this story than you thi-"

"Well, color me skeptical, then. She will break his heart, Splotch. I know it."

"Let's just sit back and watch. Maybe she'll surprise you."

"For his sake, I hope you're right."

"C'mon, Utsukushi, my mom doesn't hate you," Marshall assured her, grinning a bit sheepishly. His paw was patting her shoulder.

"No, I could tell. It really became apparent when I told her I was a model." Utsu shook her long fur out. She looked distressed for sure at the prospect.

"What does that have to do with anything?" the Dalmatian questioned, rocking a bit on the spot.

"No doubt she was thinking about how I would hurt you… Even when I could never, ever do that to you."

"Then why do you think that she would think that?" Marshall was baffled. "I mean what makes modelling so bad? All it is is putting on clothes and taking pictures."

"You remember those other models?"

"Oh yeah… But still. What do we do? How do we let her know you won't hurt me?"

"I know… And I obviously can't just tell her… So… I guess I'll have to show her." Utsu suddenly looked determined.

Marshall gave her a puzzled look. "Show her? How?"

"That's the thing, I don't know." She deflated a bit, then asked, "Any ideas?"

"Well… Uh… Hey! Miracle and Skye are in the store, and they're girls who are dating. Maybe they have some ideas."

"Perhaps… But, let me see what I can come up with, first. Okay?"

Marshall tilted his head. "But you asked me for ideas, didn't you?"

"I know, but let's just keep this to ourselves for now." The truth was, Utsukushi didn't want to ask the others for help. She and Marshall could figure this out on their own, right? And who wanted to give that prim-and-proper Miracle or that giggly Skye the idea that they could help her?

Having always been an intuitive pup who picked up somewhat on the thoughts of his friend, he stuttered "O-okay…" while watching the approaching Skye.

"Marshall," the cockapoo exclaimed as she approached him, "We didn't expect to see you here."

Both pups jolted. They turned to Skye with exaggerated smiles on their faces. "Hey Skye," Marshall said, "I finally got those lights fixed."

"That's good, Marshall," Skye grinned, giggling. "We just finished our Christmas shopping."

"Awesome. Too bad you missed my parents though!" The Dalmatian chucked nervously.

Skye blinked. "Wait, your parents are here?"

"Well, they just left the store a few seconds ago, but yep."

"Oh, maybe I can catch up with them. C'mon, Miracle!"

"Um…" Miracle looked at the items that she had yet to pay for. "I should pay for these first, you go on ahead."

"Okey dokey!" Skye leapt up and got skipping away.

"I'll go with you, Skye." Marshall offered, hurrying up to flank her. The two ignored any further comment as they rushed up to catch the quickly-disappearing older dogs.

"Oh! Uhh…"

Marshall bounded back; Skye stopped and gazed curiously in his direction. "Utsu, d'ya want to come along and ask my parents for a plan? They might be able to help…"

The Shiba Inu looked confused. "Err… You don't need to ask me."

"I know...but I feel a bit bad."

"Why would you feel bad, Marshall?" Miracle asked.

Marshall froze. "Um… B-because I don't like leaving pups all alone without their consent."

Utsu nearly scoffed. "Why not?"

"But...um…" Marshall tried to think of a reason.

"Marshall, I just need to go," Utsu cut across, "This place is giving me allergies."

"Oh, uh… Okay." Marshall wagged his tail. "See you around!"

"Bye!"

Utsukushi, Marshall, Skye, and the parents had disappeared. It took Miracle a moment to realize: she was all alone, had a mountain of things to buy, and Utsu was the one with the money.

"Oh biscuits," she murmured, shaking her head.