Chapter 4

Marshall was scouting the woods, his blue eyes wide and determined. He had to find Swift. He couldn't let his friend be injured by that, that BEAST without getting back at him. He needed to be found and brought to justice before-

His collar beeped, notifying him of an incoming message. "PAW Patrol, we have a serious problem," Ryder said over the transmission, "Skye has been pupnapped!"

"What?!" Marshall practically yelled, "How? Who? Why?"

"Who do ya think," Rocky said in a perfect combination of deadpan and terror, "This is more than likely Swift's doing."

"He's gonna pick us off one by one!" Rubble's horror-struck voice added.

"Not if I can help it," Marshall said.

"Marshall, you might want to return to the Lookout and rest," Ryder said, "We'll search for them once we've rested."

"No, I'm going to look for them no matter what," Marshall declared before he signed off. He yipped on a short idea, bringing his water cannon out to his side.

Then, he continued to scan the forest. However, he was completely unaware of a dark presence watching him from the shadows...

Miracle was on the floor curled up. It was just a few minutes ago that Skye was kidnapped, yet she couldn't get the sight of Swift, or rather what she saw of him, out of her head. What's more, she felt that she was responsible for Skye's disappearance.

Chase, meanwhile, was just now coming out of his sedated goofiness. Miracle suspected it had to do with the panic she was in, curled up in a corner of the room and whimpering. "Are you okay?" he asked, his voice less abnormally thick than it had been several minutes ago.

"No, I'm not. I made a mistake."

"What is it? You didn't line up my ribs wrong, did you?"

"No, your surgery went perfectly."

"Then...what's wrong?"

"It's Skye. I let her walk out of the Lookout knowing that that monster was out there and… He pupnapped her."

"No! Why?!"

"I really don't know why he would do that, but she walked outside wanting fresh air after you said that you had a crush on her, but I passed it off as something influenced by the sedative. I mean, it's just some random thing right?"

Chase looked as if his heart had gone to his throat. He could barely speak through the shock he was going through. After about a minute however, he muttered, "Of all times… It had to be while I was loony…"

Those words caused Miracle's heart to sink. "Oh my gosh… You really did have a crush on her?!"

Chase solemnly nodded.

Now Miracle felt really guilty. The kidnapping was one thing, but her patient admitted to his crush that he loved her… and Miracle told her that those were empty words. At this point, she felt like-

BLEARGH!

Chase nearly jumped as Miracle let loose the contents of her stomach. This caused Rocky, who was just now returning with Rubble, to hold his paw to his mouth. Chase noticed the duo out of the corner of his eye and looked toward them. "Uh… Hey guys…"

Miracle looked at Chase before looking toward the door. "R-Rocky…"

"Uh… You okay?"

"N-No… I did a terrible thing today…"

Rocky walked toward her afraid of what he was about to hear. "What is it?"

"Skye and I were talking, and Chase woke up. He was pretty doped up to the point where he thought he was a cat."

"Wait, I thought I was a cat?" Chase asked, narrowing his eyes skeptically.

"That's not even the half of it. Anyway, one of the things that he said was…" Miracle was trying so hard to fight tears. "He said that he had a crush on Skye."

"He does?" Rocky asked as he looked toward Chase.

"I told her that it was the sedative that caused him to say that because I didn't really think that he liked her that way, but… I think it's true."

Chase hung his head, not even trying to keep it secret. "Actually, I really do have a crush on her."

"Good for you," Rocky replied, "it's fun having a crush." His and Miracle's eyes met for just a meaningful moment before he returned to Chase. "But right now we have to wait for the PAW Patrol so we can rescue Skye."

"And this is where I really made the bad call…" Miracle said, not even bothering to stay composed. Tears trickled down her face. "I gave Chase a… very strong sedative… so neither of us could go save Skye, and had I known that Swift was out there, I wouldn't have even let her out the door. She wanted to think about... stuff… and I didn't help her when I saw the incident happen because… Because I was too scared." She finally broke down into hysterics, howling and crying without abandon.

Rocky immediately pounced on top of her, burying his gray fur into hers. "No, it's not your fault. Skye will be just fine!"

"How do you know that?! You know what they did to Chase!"

"I know, but she's a fighter if anything. Trust me, we'll find her."

Chase's ears fell against his head, and his eyes began to tear up themselves. "This is all my fault…"

Zuma dashed into the building, shaking himself and spraying water on all of the pups. Rocky didn't even look bemused when the water touched his fur; he was too busy nuzzling Miracle's neck and assuring her everything was okay.

"Zuma!" Rubble exclaimed, practically tackling the chocolate lab. "I'm scared… Swift has Skye!"

"I know he does," Zuma said, his gold eyes fearful but trying to be calm. He put an arm around the bulldog's back.

"It is all my fault," Chase reiterated once again, tears flowing freely down his face.

"We can't play the blame game!" Zuma announced. "We'll get Skye back, and she won't be hurt or… worse. Swift has no reason to hurt her, right?"

Miracle's crying slowly stopped. She was exhausted from all the crying she had done, so much so that she could feel her eyes drooping. "But what can I do?"

Rocky gently nuzzled Miracle. "I think the first thing to do would be to follow your own advice and get some rest."

Miracle nodded, "Thanks, Rocky… I think I will."

"And who knows? Maybe you'll think of something while you rest."

"Yeah… Maybe…" Miracle's eyes closed. "Maybe I will…"

And with that, Miracle drifted off to sleep.

Rocky glanced back at the team. "I think we all need some rest," he added to all of them.

Zuma noded. "Good idea. Come on dudes."

"But where will we sleep?" Rubble asked, "Swift's still out there."

Rocky started to get up, but he immediately looked back at Miracle. He just didn't feel right leaving her there. Still, something had to be done.

"We can move everything to the Lookout," Ryder suggested.

"All the rigs? Will they fit?"

"Maybe… They better."

"Yeah, or we could just move the mattresses in." Zuma suggested.

"That'll work better. Let's make it happen, guys," Chase barked, an air of authority in his tone.

"Right." They all said, before splitting up and getting everything.

Chase smiled before attempting to stand up, only to be picked up by Ryder. "Hey! What's the big idea?!"

"Sorry, but you still need to rest."

"I will when we get everything put up."

"Someone will take care of that. Just relax."

"Relax? How can I relax when Skye's still out there?!"

"She'll be fine. We just need to rest up."

"And what if she gets hurt before we find her?"

"That's part of Swift's plan: You're doing exactly what he wants you to do. He's trying to scare you, when she'll really be fine."

"But you heard what they said; he'll eventually get tired of waiting and-"

"I know what they said. I highly doubt that'll happen."

"But-"

"Skye wouldn't want you to be worried."

"Worried?" Chase's eyes widened. "Worried? You think I'm worried? I'm scared to death!"

"You know what I mean."

Chase didn't answer, but rather lowered his head.

In the lower level of the Lookout, all six members that were still in the lookout were settling into the corner of the hanger. All of the machines that were there were still covered in old tarps.

Rocky surveyed his surroundings. It wasn't what his ideal place to sleep, but considering the fact that sleeping outside would be incredibly risky, they had no real choice in the matter of where to sleep.

Chase, meanwhile, found it difficult to settle in. Yes, he was safer here, but there's still the matter of Skye and Swift. It's something he couldn't shake from his head. He knew he had to, but at the same time…

Miracle was stirring in her mattress. Rocky noticed out of the corner of his eye and turned to her. "Miracle?" he whispered.

Miracle's eyes started to flutter open as a tired, "Huh?" left her mouth. "What?"

Rocky gently nuzzled her behind her fluffy, grey ear. "I'm glad you're okay."

Miracle nuzzled back before she noticed that she wasn't in Kansas anymore, or rather she wasn't in the Command Module of the Lookout. "Where am I?" she asked, her green eyes briefly widening.

"We're in the hangar," Zuma answered.

Miracle blinked, "We are? Why?"

"Well, considering the fact that there's an evil dog that pupnapped Skye…" Rubble was sitting up in his dog bed, his paws sticking off of the bright yellow surface.

"Oh yeah… Just slipped my mind…"

Chase tried to get up, but was stopped by Ryder.

"Chase, you really need to get some rest," Ryder stated matter-of-factly. He himself was dressed up in his PAW Patrol pajamas, trying to get a bit of sleep himself.

Chase glared at Ryder. "Skye is still out there. We need to help her," he spat.

"That might not be a good idea right now. You haven't healed yet."

"But if we don't save Skye, she'll be worse than I am."

Miracle looked down. "...Why is he doing any of this at all? He's a beast… a ruthless killing machine… Mr. Forrester, Chase, Skye… who's next?!"

"He has to have some reason to have come in from Mexico, dudes," Zuma reasoned, patting Rubble. "He also has to have some reason for attacking all of these people and pups. Something that somehow has to do with Chase."

He stared at Chase for just a second before he continued. "And he's more likely to keep Skye hostage until Chase shows up."

"But he's beat up pretty badly," Rocky replied, turning his gaze away from Miracle.

"Everyone here knows Chase, dudes," Zuma said in deadpan. "He's the type to sneak out to save someone, even if he's too injured to do a good job of it. He's relying on him showing up alone like some movie character. What we really need" - Zuma put one paw to his chin, - "is a plan. Maybe some kind of replacement police officer who can help track down Swift."

"Maybe, but who-"

"I have a friend," Miracle suddenly said, looking up. "Her name is Storm…"

"Storm?" Rocky and Chase echoed back in unison.

"Yeah… Storm. She was another one of the strays in my area of the neighborhood. Um, she loves to help, and she's a bit older than me."

"Is there any way we can track her down?" Rocky asked.

Miracle nodded. "Yeah… she loved hanging in front of the police station, and in the one alley between it and the laundromat."

"Wait, the police station?"

"Yeah, she wants to make sure that her sister is as safe as possible."

"Sister?"

"Yeah. Her name is Lightning, and she loves sports."

"How's her sister gonna help?" Chase asked.

"She won't. She just hangs around her a lot. You know, I one time thought that Storm was Lightning's mother! And she's not even that age!"

"Weird," Rubble said, still attached to Zuma's side.

"But can you blame me? She was pretty overprotective of her."

"Can we please go out and LOOK FOR SKYE?!" Chase barked before he felt a slight pain in his chest, and winced from it.

"I'll go get the painkillers," Miracle said, "It looks like the pain is starting a little sooner than I thought."

"Should we go?" Rocky asked.

"Yes, but let me take care of Chase first," Miracle said, "We can't leave him like this."

"Okay."

"I'll be fine," Chase said, "Just let me-"

"You are staying and that is final," Miracle barked, "Doctor's orders."

"Ugh…" Chase groaned.

Meanwhile, Marshall looks through the dark forest near Adventure River. He could hear the thunder of rushing water. "Uh, Skye? Ya out here?"

There was no answer. When there's no answer around here, it either means that she's nowhere near here or she fell into the river somehow. Either way, this place sent a chilling tingle down his spine. "Uh… Well… Maybe you're not here?"

"Wrong, Spots!"

Marshall immediately felt himself get pinned to the ground by another dog much larger than him.

"Agh!"

Marshall tried to get a good look at his assailant, but even then, it didn't take much to figure out that he was on the right track.

"Swift…"