Chapter 9

Swift slowly walked up to Chase. He knew that Chase wouldn't be able to do much in his condition. Add to the fact that Skye and Marshall were without their gear, they would definitely be easy game. There was the problem of Pace and that human...but if he kept one of the pups as a hostage, they'd have to obey.

"Stop… Right… There…"

Swift looked in that direction. It was Rocky. His mechanical arm was deployed and holding a good-sized rock. His teeth were bared as if he were about to pounce Swift.

"So, you're gonna hit me with a rock? Is that the best you can manage? Patetico."

"I have no idea what that means, but if you take one more step… I will be forced to take a page out of your playbook."

"Oh? And what would that be? How can you possibly know what my 'playbook' is?"

"Considering what you did," Storm said as she appeared from behind, "It should be obvious."

"Ah, some ACTUAL competition. Not bad…" Swift crouched, preparing to jump towards Storm.

Storm got into position preparing to do the same. Tense moments passed as the two stood there, preparing to lunge at the other, or brace for an attack.

Pace was preparing to jump upon Swift, but he couldn't bring himself to do it. Swift was still his son, he couldn't inflict harm upon him... He finally huffed and turned away.

But finally, after what felt like an eternity, Swift kept up at Storm. Storm reacted, and leapt out of the way. Swift only managed to get a pawful of dirt, but snarled at Storm. Storm got into a defensive stance, "Rocky, go down to your friends. I'll handle Swift."

Rocky hesitated, he wanted to help, but nodded and ran down.

Swift and Storm carefully studied their opponent, looking the other one over, looking for anything that might help give them an advantage. Unfortunately, while Storm was doing this, Swift suddenly jumped and instantly dug his claws into her side.

Storm scoffed and said, "I've seen pups do better than that."

Swift glared at her. "And what make you so seguro to say that?"

"Because you're not the only one with street smarts."

She used her upper body strength and managed to push Swift off. She still had claw marks to show for the incident, but they weren't deep enough to be a concern.

Swift quickly recovered, but not before Storm had jumped on him, and pinned him to the ground, biting his ear. "Give up!"

Swift raised a paw. "I said now!" He lashed it against her face, causing her to jump back with a paw covering her eye and yelping in pain.

"GAH! My eye! My eye!"

Swift lunged again, but he suddenly felt another pup lunge onto him grabbing the scruff of his neck. Swift couldn't see who it was, but twisted his body in such a way, and kicked the pup off.

Skye flew through the air before taking a tumble on the ground.

When Swift saw who it was, he sneered, "Really? You? The weakest member of Adventure Bay's little rescue squad, tries and attacks me? How dumb are you?"

Skye got to her feet and got into a defensive stance. "So says the one who injured his own brother."

"Skye, what do you think you're doing," Chase barked.

"Letting you get away." Skye shouted back.

"No, we're not leaving without you."

"Just go!" Skye dodged a lunge from Swift.

"Skye, go now!" Storm cried out, "Don't do this!"

"I have to do this."

"You are way out of your league!" Swift quickly swiped at Skye.

She started taunting Swift into a direction away from the others. However, she didn't realize that she was backing into Adventure River. In fact, she didn't realize where she was going until she felt the ledge. 'Oh no…'

Swift smirks as he creeps closer to the cockapoo, nearing the edge of the cliff that fell hundereds of feet down into the water.. "And checkmate. Did you really think that you would get rid of me just like that?"

Skye started to shake, she had to do this right.

"But don't worry, I'll make sure your amor joins you very soon."

Just as Pace pushes her off, he felt small teeth dig into his paw with a great amount of force. "Wha-?!" Swift looked down and saw Skye biting his paw.

In addition to this, the gravitational force from his attempt caused him to lean closer towards the edge until he felt himself going over the edge. Both canines fall down the ledge. Skye was too far down the ledge to hear Chase say, "Skye! No!"

Chase was once again at the lookout, being watched by Shayla. He would have had Miracle watching him, but Skye would need medical attention, that is if she survived the fall. It was difficult without Skye up in the air, but they had enough vehicles to cover the island.

"Chase?"

Chase didn't respond.

"She's still out there. You just have to have faith."

Chase still remained silent.

Shayla sighed, "And even if she really is gone, then just know that she's in a better place."

Finally, "But...I want her with me…"

"But think about what she did. She was willing to lure Swift away from you so that you could get away."

"But…" Tears started to form into Chase's eyes, "I should've done it… I wish it was me. I wish I had sacrificed myself… If it meant Skye would be…"

"And then Skye would feel the same way you're feeling right now."

Chase couldn't respond.

Shayla continued, "A lot of people, and yes, pups, have different opinions on what love is, but what I've been reminded time and time again is that true love is putting someone else's needs before your own. Skye knew that you were in no condition to fight Swift, and she wanted you to live."

"But…" Chase closed his eyes, "Why did Swift have to do this? Why couldn't he leave me alone…"

"I wish I had an answer for you, but based on what Skye did to stop him, something tells me that she loved you just as much as you loved her."

The two were interrupted when they saw Miracle's ambulance pulling up. Chase bit his lip, he felt so many waves of emotions, he felt himself break into tears again.

'Please be okay,' Chase thought.

The fact that the ambulance went into the medical bay did not bode well.

Before he knew it, he felt himself practically charging inside the Lookout. He completely ignored the pain in his sides. "Skye! Please, tell me Skye's okay?! Please?!"

"Whoa! Easy there Dude!" Zuma said, "Calm down."

"Is she okay?!"

"Chase, we need you to calm down" Ryder said, "We managed to find Skye, but we brought her into the medical center because she's not responding, but Miracle-"

Before Ryder could finish that sentence, Chase darted toward the medical center. She couldn't be gone. She had to be alive. Every part of Chase wanted her to be alive.

He came right to the medical center, where Storm sat at the door wearing an eyepatch. Chase was about to barge in, but Storm stopped her. "I'm afraid I can't let you in, Chase."

Chase panted, "Please, I have to see her."

"Miracle's doing everything she can, Chase, you have to wait."

"Please."

"Chase, all I can tell you is that she's in a coma... It's looking..." Storm took a deep breath, "Just... Hold out for her, okay?"

Chase nodded, "May I wait here?"

"Sure."

Chase sat next to her. He looked at Storm, or rather her eyepatch. "So how's that eye?"

"Well, he got it pretty good. Miracle said it should recover, but it might have some permanent effects.'

"Oh..." Chase exhaled hard, "Storm?"

"Hmm?"

"...I...hate him."

"Who?"

"Swift..." Chase sighed, "I know he's my brother, but... I hate him, I hate him so much, I... I really, really hope he's dead."

"I know what you mean, but let's not dwell on that. He's gone now, and-"

"You don't know that. He might have fallen out of there, but he could still be out there."

"And if he is... What are you gonna do?"

"I'll hunt him down, and...and..." Chase muttered, "Kill him..."

"Uh-huh… You'd take a life, just like that?"

Chase bit his lip, "You saw what he did. Why should he be allowed to live?"

"Because if others saw you doing that, they they'd label you as a murderer. I don't know much about the PAW Patrol, but is this anyway one of your teammates should conduct himself?"

"But-"

"And what would Skye say if she heard you say that? What would she think?"

Chase couldn't reply. What would Skye do? He knew she wouldn't like it. She wouldn't want Chase to kill anyone out of revenge... "Storm... I think I need some air..."

"Okay. I'll let you know if-"

The door suddenly opened, and Miracle peaked through, "Chase?"

Chase looked at Miracle, his heart racing millions of miles an hour, "Is she okay?"

Miracle smiled, "She'll need a lot of rest for a couple weeks... But yes. She's okay."

Chase felt like doing a backflip, "May I see her?"

"Yes. But only for a bit."

Chase slowly walked into the room, finally starting to notice the pain, but at this point, he could care less. He just had to see her. Miracle led him to one of the small beds, and there lay Skye, her eyes were closed, and there were numerous bandages around her body, but she was breathing. "She's asleep now, so please don't try and wake her."

Chase nodded, and Miracle left Chase alone with Skye. Chase looked at her. She was going to be okay. That was what really mattered, not his aching sides, not Swift, nothing mattered, nothing except-

Skye was seen stirring. There was no possible way that Chase woke her up. He took every precaution necessary. Was she doing it on her own? Was she waking up on her own?

Her eyes opened. Those beautiful golden eyes fluttered awake. She looked around a bit, before her eyes finally met with Chase's. "Chase?"

Chase didn't know what to say, except for, "Skye…"

Skye looked around, trying to figure out where she was.

"You're in the medical clinic. Miracle just patched you up."

"Oh… I remember dragging Swift down...and falling… What happened to him?"

"Well… I really don't know. They never found him."

"Oh. I thought he would have… you know…"

"You also gave everyone a big scare."

"Oh...I'm sorry...I didn't want to scare anyone…"

"But you know who was really scared?"

"The pup who has a crush on me?" Skye lightly smiled.

Chase blushed heavily at that comment. "Yeah, that pup."

"Well, I don't think he has anything to worry about; I'm not going anywhere."

"Well, that's good. Listen, I want you to hear this before anything else happens."

"What?"

Chase took a deep breath. It was going to be hard to tell her up front, but she had to know. Eventually, "Skye, I look at you as more than just a teammate. In fact, I really like- No, I love you."

"Chase…"

"I've been feeling this way for a very long time, and I keep telling myself that I'd have a chance to tell you later, but this incident showed me that I might not get another chance, so this is why I needed to tell you now before something else happens to either of us." He took one of her paws with two of his. "If you feel that I'm not the right pup then that's fine. It'll take me a while to move on, but the choice is yours."

Skye looked at him for a few moments, before she smiled, "Well… I kinda already knew...even before you said it after your surgery. Well, I suspected it, but… Anyway, Chase, I do like you. A lot, and I'm kinda glad you feel the same way about me… But I'm worried it'll affect the team…"

"Yeah, that's been a concern of mine as well, and that is another reason why I tried to contain myself, but after what happened, I don't think we'll have to worry about that."

Meanwhile, Miracle and Storm were listening in through the door. A smile crept upon Miracle's face as she muttered, "Finally."

"What are you doing," Rocky asked as he walked up.

Miracle's tail went down, and her eyes widened, "Nothing."

"Oh really? Well why was your ear against the door?"

"No reason…"

"Uh huh… So how's Skye?"

"Well, she responded well to the surgery, and she just woke up."

"Thats good."

"And Chase is in there right now."

"Ah…" Rocky deviously smiled, "You know, I know why you're eavesdropping."

"Well...c'mon, can you blame me?"

"Anyway, what did they say?"

"That they like each other…"

"Oh. Well that's interesting. Maybe- Wait, they did?"

"Yep, they did."

"Wow. 'Bout time."

"Yes it is…"

"You know we can hear you, right," Chase barked from inside the room.

All three pups, especially Miracle and Rocky, blushed.