Chapter 3

Scruffy and Splotch happened to be marching back towards the Lookout for not the first time that day. The silence between them was not comforting or tense, but more understanding: they were looking for a few old friends, and that was all.

Suddenly, Marshall could be heard from behind shouting, "Hey Mom! Dad! Wait up!"

Both dalmatians turned and saw Marshall running up to them with a cockapoo and a Shiba inu following. Scruffy sighed. "Well, here she is," the older female muttered.

Splotch frowned. Why did his wife have to be so judgemental with someone she'd just met? He never understood that...

Scruffy rolled her eyes, but put on a brave face, which was more of a fake smile. "Hey pups," she said.

Utsu again didn't like the idea of being called a 'pup,' but she decided to keep her reactions to a minimum since she was already under hot water with Scruffy. "Um… Haikei again," she said with a dip of her head. "It seems someone else wants to meet you."

"Oh...really?" Scruffy asked.

"Yep, it's Skye!" Marshall gestured grandly to the tiny cockapoo at his side.

Skye nods. "You're the original fire pup, right Mrs. Marshall?"

Scruffy grinned, her pride being stroked as she spoke, "Indeed I was, and the best one at the time. And you're the aviation pup, right?"

Skye did a backflip. "Yep! This pup's gotta fly!"

"Well, it's nice to meet you." She clicked her tongue. It'd be lovely if it was her Marshall liked, rather than that Japanese pup… She's hyper but sweet... "And I also hear that you have a thing for the current police pup."

Skye put a paw over her mouth, trying to control a giggle, "You mean Chase? Yeah, this'll be our first Christmas as a couple, and I'm really excited."

"I could imagine. And how is he by the way?"

"He's great. It's not serious, like that one incident with Swift a while back…" she wiggled her ear uncertainly, "he just slipped over himself while trying to impress me."

"That's good," Splotch noted. "Not the hurting himself bit, but the fact that he's recovering."

"Yeah… And, well, I guess you know about Marshall and Utsu." Skye giggled as the pair of them, one confused and the other annoyed, looked at her.

"Yeah…" Scruffy eyed Utsukushi warily.

"Don't they look cute together?" Skye swooned.

After much hesitation and scrutinization, Scruffy replied, slowly, "Yes, they're the cutest couple in all of Adventure Bay..."

Utsu tried to hold a lump in her throat. She could see the sarcasm in Scruffy's voice the moment she said "cutest couple." Not a comforting thought, but if need be, she could hold her own in the sarcastic department. Dealing with overdramatic, harsh models gave her the necessary experience.

"So where's the rest of your team?" Skye asked.

"Well, golly…" Splotch tried to think. "Well…"

"Forgot me already?" a voice said as it got closer. Both parents and pups turned around, surprised at the sight of a tall, dark chocolate lab with gold eyes that were too similar to Zuma's to be a coincidence. "Now that's just hurtful." The female dog shook her head and smirked.

Scruffy's eyes narrowed as Splotch's widened. "Gemini?"

"Of course, you show up." Scruffy rolled her eyes. "Why aren't you with the alley dogs? Did you get sick of them?" Her voice was bitingly cold.

Gemini grinned, showing her yellowing and sharp teeth. "Oh dear Scruffler… Don't you pretend that you weren't upset to see me go."

"You had a choice, and you chose to leave us."

"And like I said when I left, I just wasn't feeling it."

"You skived us off for some muttley friends…"

Gem's ear twitched. "At least they had more adventure than you could ever offer."

"As if… what about the annual trips to Europe, ah? Those weren't adventurous enough for ya?!"

"I was still bound by rules then."

"But there was nothing wrong with our rules," Splotch pointed out.

"Exactly! Thank you, Splotch. Now, if we've determined that you aren't PAW Patrol material, why are you here?!"

Gem shook her head with a smirk, "Don't I have the right to see my son? It is Christmas after all."

"Strays don't celebrate Christmas, they don't have a culture like that," Scruffy hissed through clenched teeth.

"Oh you'd be surprised. After all, when was the last time you checked out the alleys?"

"Guys, I think we should calm down…" Splotch suggested.

"Do you notice this badge that I'm wearing?" Scruffy demanded, pointing to her silver badge. "It gives me authority over grimy butts like yours. If you do something wrong, put so much as one toe out of line-"

"You can't touch me." A smirk still covered Gemini's muzzle.

"I can prosecute you to the full extent of the law, I can!"

"Well isn't it funny that while you're willing to prosecute me, you allowed another alley dog onto your team?"

The surprised look on the pups' face was enough to get Gemini to let out a husky laugh. "Oh, news travels like wildfire on the streets. I know all about the Aussie shepherd, and the onslaught of random members to this ragtag team."

The gold eyes that looked so much sharper than Zuma's, but were clones the other way, suddenly shifted to the pups there. She frowned. "Where is the alley dog anyway?"

"Not here," Skye piped up. She looked very uncertain as to what she had just watched. Really, the argument was petty, in her eyes, but there were strong reasons for it… and it really wasn't petty when she thought about it.

"Well, that's rather unfortunate." Gemini turned back to Scruffy. "But still, I don't want you to throw that 'holier than thou' attitude at me while she's still on the team. I have the hypocrite card, y'know."

"The only reason why she's on the team is because she earned her position," Scruffy growled, "And she definitely wouldn't abandon us now."

"And how do you know that she won't now?" Gem challenged.

"She isn't like you."

"And how do you know that?"

"Because she was forced into that life," Skye barked. When both female dogs' heads whipped to the cockapoo, she meekly ducked her head and stared at her paws. "I-I mean… her owners abandoned her when they moved. She had no choice..."

"And you think that's relevant? The appeal of a stray comes with having no random rules to limit you. Are you sure she just didn't make that-"

"Enough," another voice barked, the voice commanding. Everyone looked at the source of the voice: it was usually jolly-enough old Pace, though he was glaring daggers at both Scruffy and Gemini. "Is it really necessary to argue just two days before Christmas?"

Scruffy growled at Gemini, who let out a warning bark.

"Now, I don't condone what Gemini did, but there is no call to make a spectacle right here in front of everyone!"

"Well, technically not everyone," Splotch muttered. He looked a lot more ashamed than the actual perpetrators.

"It doesn't matter." Pace turned his head to Gemini. "And you, I would much rather that you cleaned yourself up before you came here, but it is Christmas after all, and you do have the right to see your son."

Gem's glare lingered on Scruffy for a moment before she briefly flitted her eyes towards Pace. "I don't need your permission, but thanks, I guess."

"But for Zuma's sake, I hope you and Thala don't argue like this right in front of him. Believe me, he is a strong pup, but he can only take so much. I suggest you don't test his limits."

Gemini didn't respond for a long time. But finally, she muttered, "Fine. By the way, where is this new member."

Both Utsu and Skye looked at each other and said in unison, "Uh oh." Without another word, they both sped off to Hoss.

Smoky and Rocky were standing only a few yards away from the arguers. Rocky's jaw was hanging down, and Smoky's ears were pricked abnormally.

The darker-furred of the two was the first to regain footing. "Wow, and that's Zuma's mom," Smoky asked.

"'Parently," Rocky nodded. It was undeniable, considering her physical resemblance. The fighty dog didn't even come close to the calm and somewhat pacifistic pup he knew. "And if she fights like that, then no wonder Zuma has a problem with his parents showing up."

"Any ideas?"

"Well, kind of… We just need to get the warning out to Thala, he's probably more grounded than… than her." He bumped his cap with his paw. "We oughta keep an eye out for him…"

"Okey Smoky."

"Hmm…"

Chase "hmmed" to himself as he looked over his work: the roaring fireplace that didn't actually contain fire. Decorations of tinsel and lights were already surrounding the brick part, as per Ryder's work (though the shepherd proudly had decided what went where). Wreaths covered in bows were on either side of the fireplace.

He gave the rest of the room a once-over. The entire room, the second floor with the pet beds for guests, had been covered by his own work. The only traditional thing missing was the Christmas tree, which Ryder was hoping to get that afternoon. Really, it looked like something out of a movie! Not even a broken leg could get him down for the holidays. Christmas was his favorite time of the year.

"Oh no…"

A feather was fluttering through the air, high over his head. The shepherd turned tail and run as quickly as he could with his cast as casty as it ever was, mainly around the couch that'd been pulled out for the occasion but occasionally straying towards the pet beds or the big talking snowman he'd set up in one corner (it laughed merrily and said, "Happy birthday!" gleefully). The feather chased him wherever he went.

In a feat of clumsiness that would do Marshall proud Chase tripped, falling good leg first into a box filled with packing peanuts.

That accursed white feather flew onto his nose, and...

"Ah… CHOO!"

The force of his sneeze was enough to cause the box to slide a bit across the room and fall over.

As if his humiliation couldn't get any worse, the door to the floor opened up.

Even worse, Skye, Utsukushi and Marshall who came in to their leading PAW Patrol pup, inside a box, with packing peanuts on his head.

Marshall looked amused, Utsukushi's chest fur fluffed out, and Skye giggled. "You missed a spot, Chase," the cockapoo called out in singsong, as she walked up to him. Seemingly out of nowhere, she pulled a Santa hat out and put it over his ears.

"...Hi Skye."

"What happened here?" Marshall's blue eyes wandered between the feather, the fireplace, and his friend.

"An encounter with a feather." Chase got up, his leg mercifully not doing anything out of the ordinary. Miracle had put it on so thickly that he couldn't move his joint, and then some. She would flip out if all of her hard work was ruined. "What's goin' on?"

"Some of the parents of the PAW Patrol have arrived, e to," Utsu said.

"Oh, wow, that was quick. Who all is here?"

"Mine so far. Zuma's mom is here, too." Marshall and Skye exchanged a worried glance.

That didn't escape Chase's notice. "What's with Zuma's mom?"

"She left the PAW Patrol for the low life of being a stray," Skye said, shaking her head sadly. "She argued with Marshall's mom."

Utsukushi looked considerably put off by the mention of Scruffy. That also didn't escape Chase's notice, though he didn't comment on the translator. "Ohhhh… How come?"

Another interruption came: Ryder came along, decked out with a Santa hat and a Santa coat, carrying along a rather large fir tree. Skye bounced and squeaked. "It's here, it's here, it's heeeeeere!"

"What is?" Utsukushi asked, turning around on her feet. "Oh, you mean Santa."

Ryder chuckled, pushing a few strands of his funky-rad hair out of his eyes. "Nah, just me. I have the tree, though."

Skye bounced up and down repeatedly. "I wanna start decorating it RIGHT NOW!"

"Me too! Me too!" Marshall exclaimed.t He jumped up, but stumbled on his face and chuckled nervously.

"Me three!" Rubble exclaimed. He still had a helmet on; while all of what had been happening, he had just come in from a hockey game with Lightning.

"Okay, pups. Just give me a minute to get this set up."

He walked further into the room, Katie lifting the top side of the tree, when Chase exclaimed, "This is gonna be the best Christmas EVER!"