(A/N: I do not own Paw Patrol, enjoy!)

Shockingly Crispy

"Good Morning pups!" Marshall spoke into his pup tag. It was Saturday morning, and the Light Force 25 crews were back at the station after their morning exercise routine at the waterfront park. Back at the lookout, the pups were taking a quick break from their weekly training.

"Hi Marshall" came an almost complete chorus of replies. One voice was surprisingly absent; Everest's.

"How is everyone doing?" Marshall asked his teammates, pushing curiosity about Everest from his head for the moment. She could be using the bathroom or getting a drink of water.

"Gweat dude!" Zuma responded first, "We awe going to the beach today once Chase is done beating us up!"

"I'm not beating you up" Chase chimed in, "You're the one who volunteered be the training assistant for Pup-Takedowns!"

"He's got you there bro" Rocky added with a smile.

"And he's tossing you on the cushioned mat and not on the muy duro concrete" Tracker added.

"That doesn't mean it doesn't huwt!" Zuma shot back, rubbing his shore shoulders.

"That is just because you are so soft Zoom" Skye teased, "you have to learn to roll with your landings instead of going splat!"

"I can't help how Chase tosses me!" Zuma retorted.

"Actually," Chase cut in with a smile, "if you fought back less, you would land better."

"I thought I was supposed to be fighting back?!" Zuma asked, confused.

"Up until you are airborne buddy" Rocky smirked at him, "once you lose contact with the ground or feel Chase swiping your paws out from under you, just let Chase do his thing."

"Works for me all the time" Skye added, giving her boyfriend a flirty wink which cause him to blush.

"No, not like that!" Zuma, Rocky, Rubble and Tracker cried out in unison, covering their eyes and ears with their paws, causing Skye to giggle.

"Anyway," Rocky added, quickly changing the subject, how are you doing bro?"

"Busy, tired but good" Marshall replied.

"We saw a picture of you in the news" Rubble chimed in, "Who was that other Dalmatian with you?

Everest, who was lurking out of sight behind the other pups, mentally patted herself on the back. Getting Rubble to ask the questions she wanted answers to was a genius idea. And the bulldog had no idea of her ulterior motives.

"Oh, that is Cinder," Marshall replied with a bigger smile, "She is our new trainee fire captain. She is super cool, you guys will love her!"

Everest's heart sank at Marshall's words. What does he mean that we will love her? Is she coming over? Does Ryder have a visit planned? That doesn't make sense, he'll be home soon. If we were going to go, we would have gone three weeks ago at the half way point. But then why would she come here? No! It can't be, can it?!

"In fact," Marshall continued, unaware of the angst his words had caused Everest, "Let me go get her, she is just doing paperwork. You guys will never guess this but…"

Marshall was cut off by the first station alarm going off.

"WE HAVE A REPORT OF A PERSON HAVING BEEN ELECTRICALY SHOCKED AT THE BAYSIDE SOLAR POWER PLANT, ALL UNITS RESPOND CODE 3."

"I gotta go guys" Marshall quickly interjected, "I miss you guys and can't wait to see you in a few weeks, be safe!"

"Bye Marshall" all the pups, except Everest, called out as Marshall hung up.

"Ok pups, break time is over" Chase roused them, "Time to continue training!"

"Oh no, Rocky can be the assistant now!" Zuma said as he dived behind the mixed breed.

"Ok Zuma, I'll do it, just for you pal" Rocky laughed as he stood up and headed outside, revealing a shivering ball of chocolate fur behind where he had been sitting.

The rest of the pups laughed too as they headed outside. Skye was about to follow when she saw Everest was still lying on the floor, looking like something was bothering her. "We'll be out in a minute officer" Skye whispered in Chase's ear, nodding towards Everest, "go ahead and continue without us."

Chase nodded as he padded outside.

"You ok Everest?" Skye asked, walking over to her husky best friend.

"I'm too late" Everest whimpered back.

"Too late for what?" Skye asked, confused.

"For Marshall" Everest continued to whimper, tears threatening to form in her eyes.

"What makes you say that?" Skye queried.

"You heard him, we are going to love Cinder" Everest laid out her thoughts, "Why would he say that if she wasn't coming here? I know we aren't going there between now and when he comes home. And why would he bring a city pup back with him unless she was his girlfriend?" Everest was on the verge of tears.

"We don't know that" Skye said gently, "And while I'm curious about what Marshall was going to say, he didn't say he was dating her. If he was, he would have blurted it out, he is terrible at hiding his feelings as you know. And he's only known her a week, I doubt that Marshall would have worked up the confidence to ask any girl pup out in a week when he hasn't worked up the courage to ask you out for who knows how many months."

"You have a point there" Everest conceded. "Unless he doesn't like me" she added, fighting back the tears for the moment.

"Don't doubt yourself like that sis, we both know he really likes you. Plus, it isn't like any of the pictures we've seen with both of them suggest any sort of romantic relationship."

"Except the one in the cover of the newspaper I showed you last week" Everest softly replied.

"That was a publicity shot and you know it" Skye countered, "Just like the one you and I did a while back. That didn't mean we were dating did it?"

"Well, no" Everest acknowledged, "I'm still bothered by it though."

"That's ok, we can talk more about it tonight" Skye replied, putting a paw on her best friend's head, "But for now, let's get back to training. You need to know how to throw Marshall around when he comes back so he doesn't escape you!"

Everest let out a half-hearted laugh as the two pups headed outside to rejoin the others.

Meanwhile, Marshall, Cinder and the rest of the morning crew had reached to solar power station. The shift manager met them at the door. "This way, quickly" he said "he became unresponsive right after they said you were on your way. I have two technicians performing CPR now."

Marshall grabbed the AED and slung it over his shoulder while he and Kevin ran down the corridor with the shift manager. Mike and the rest of the team got the stretcher and rest of the gear. "What did he get shocked by?" Marshall asked the shift manager as they were running.

"He had just finished maintenance on a de-energized power transformer. When he went to close the access panel, the transformer behind him across the walkway arc flashed across him and into the grounding strap on the de-energzied transformer. Each transformer is rated at 480 VAC and can output over 200 Amps."

Marshall swore under his breath, a current of 0.1 Amp was enough to kill a person in two seconds, which could be provided by as low as 30 Volts. Doing some rough mental math, Marshall figured that the technician would have experienced between 0.48 and 1.6 Amps. Since the initial shock hadn't killed him, they still had a chance to save him.

As Marshall, Kevin and the shift manager ran around a corner, they saw the man on the floor between the two power transformers with two other technicians hunched over him performing CPR. "Keep going while we hook up the AED" Marshall instructed the two technicians who nodded and continued CPR. Marshall quickly cut the man's shirt open while Kevin quickly shaved two spots for the AED pads on the man's chest using a disposable razor from their kit bag. Marshall smiled as he heard the technician humming "Staying Alive" to ensure he maintained the correct rhythm. Marshall and Kevin each applied an AED pad and connected both pads to the AED. "Ok, stand clear after this cycle" Marshall said, his paw hovering over the "Analyze" button the on AED. The technicians finished the cycle, waved their hands clear and Marshall pressed the button.

"Analyzing patient" the AED intoned.

Cinder and the rest of the team arrived with the stretcher and stood back, waiting for direction. Cinder smelled burnt flesh, burnt electrical components but another smell seemed to flirt in and out of her nose. "Sadie, Axel, you smell that?" Cinder softly asked the two fire pups.

"Burnt flesh and electronics, oh yeah" Axel, the morning shift Dalmatian, replied, wrinkling his nose.

"Or that other burnt smell?" Sadie, the female Australian Shepard, asked.

"The other burnt smell" Cinder softly confirmed, "see you can find where it is coming from."

The two fire pups nodded and started to sniff while Cinder turned to the shift manager, "is power secured in here?"

"To everything except the lights" the shift manager replied, "As soon as the shock happened, we stopped generating power and shut everything down except the control consoles and the lights."

"Good, because something else may have caught fire" Cinder told him, "can you please check and see if any alarms are going off."

"Will do" the shift manager replied before heading to the control room. Cinder put her head down and joined Sadie and Axel in trying to sniff out the hidden fire.

"Shock advised, stand clear of patient" the AED advised.

"Clear!" Marshall called out, waving his paws across the patient as a visual signal before delivering the shock.

The patient jerked from the shock before coughing and trying to sit up. "It's ok, we are paramedics and we here to help you, stay calm, lie back down" Marshall gently said as he laid the man back down. He only nodded in response. "Ok," Marshall said, turning to Kevin and Mike, "Let's find the entry and exit wounds."

The three paramedics methodically examined the man for the tell-tale burn marks that would tell them where the electricity entered the patient's body and where it exited. "Here is one" Kevin reported, pointing to a charred patch of skin on the back of the patient's left shoulder blade. Mike held the patient up while Kevin applied a sterile dressing to the wound.

"Here is the other" Marshall said, finding a similarly burnt patch on the patient's left ankle, just above his safety boot. "Looks like his pants burned into the wound. Mike, can you debride it real quick before we bandage it?"

"Sure thing Marshall" Mike replied, grabbing the tweezers from the kit bag. Mike very carefully removed the burned clothing from the wound so it wouldn't become infected. When he was done, Marshall bandaged the wound with a sterile dressing.

The paramedics checked for any additional wounds and did not find any. Mike brought the stretcher over and lowered the stretched as low as it would go. Then, Mike, Kevin and Juan carefully loaded the man onto the stretcher. As Mike raised the stretcher, Marshall was about to report to Cinder when he finally realized she wasn't here with the rest of team. Looking around, he saw her, Axel and Sadie, all sniffing around different areas of the room. "Everything ok?" Marshall called as he quickly trotted over to where Cinder was.

"How is the patient?" Cinder softly asked, ignoring Marshall's question and continuing to sniff.

"Alive, level 2, about to take him to the hospital" Marshall reported, "now what are you looking for sis?"

"Fire" Cinder softly replied.

Marshall closed his eyes and took a deep sniff. He could still faintly smell the burnt flesh and burnt electronics and just a whiff of something else. "Ok, I'll stay and help" he said before trotting back over to Mike and Kevin. "You guys go ahead and transport, I'm going to stay and help here."

"Ok Marshall, see you back at the station" Mike said as he and Kevin wheeled the shock victim outside, loaded him into Medic 25 and departed for the hospital.

"You pups think that the arc flash that shocked him caught something else on fire?" LT Ken asked Marshall.

"Probably not the same arch flash" Marshall said, nose in the air sniffing, trying to find the scent. "But something else is burning or got burnt, we can smell it."

"I'm glad we have you pups to find it," LT Ken replied, "All I can smell is burnt electronics."

Marshall closed his eyes and followed his nose. He slowly walked around the room. He thought he was getting close when his nose came into contact with something wet. Marshall opened his eyes and saw his nose pressed against and identical black nose and identical pair of eyes staring back at him a. "Oh, uh, hi Cin" Marshall stammered as he pulled his nose off of his twin's.

"It is close, I can smell it" Cinder softly replied.

"Me too" Marshall confirmed. The two pups sniffed to their own right, then their own left. Deciding on Cinder's right, Marshall's left, the twin kept sniffing until they can to a large cabinet labeled "Power Distribution Cabinet # 1".

"Juan, see if you can open this" Cinder softly called across the room to the engineer. "Allison, get a CO2 extinguisher just in case."

The two firefighters came over. Juan pulled the back side of his glove back to expose the back of his hand and then moved the back of his hand in a "Z" pattern across the surface of the door, never actually touching it, to check for heat. "It definitely seems warm" he confirmed as he put his glove back on. Juan move to the same side of the cabinet as the door hinges while Allison stood opposite him. When she was ready, Allison nodded to Juan who opened the cabinet. The four of them were immediately greeted with tongues of fire. Allison immediately fired her extinguisher to beat back the flames.

"SADIE, AXEL, GET YOUR EXTINGUISHERS!" Cinder yelled to the other two pups who immediately barked a reply and dashed out of the room.

Juan ran over to another CO2 extinguisher that was mounted in the room and joined Allison in attacking the fire.

"Ruff, Water Cannon!" Marshall barked as he go behind Allison and Juan.

NO! Cinder thought, don't use water, it could short everything out and shock us!

Don't worry, I'll only use water if we can't control it Cinder heard Marshall think back to her. The two pups looked at each other in surprise before turning their attention back to the fire.

Allison's and Juan's extinguishers were almost empty. Cinder was about to tell Marshall to activate his water cannon when Sadie and Axel came running back in. The pup fire extinguisher packs looked very similar to the SCBA packs that pups wore, a single tank on a backpack. But, instead of a mask on a hose, the extinguisher packs had a hose with a discharge nozzle. The nozzle mounted to the side of the pack but could also be removed and directed by the pup, just like a hose. Sadie came up behind Allison to reliever her while Axel did the same for Juan.

When the last of their current extinguishers discharged, the two firefighters swapped with the fire pups. Juan and Allison laid the expended extinguishers down and out of the way before running to get two fresh ones.

By the time Juan and Allison came back, Sadie and Axel had managed to extinguish the fire. Juan grabbed a rake and started to overhaul the fire. He moved all the burnt debris around, looking for any hidden fires or smoldering spots. There was one hot spot, which was quickly cooled.

Satisfied that the fire was out and that no other fires where hidden, the crew ventilated the smoke, cleaned up all their gear and then headed back to the station.

That night, after another full day of rescues, the twins finally laid down to talk.

"So, I heard your thoughts for the first time since we've been back together" Cinder softly said to Marshall.

"Yeah, and I wasn't even trying to send them to you" Marshall replied.

"Me neither, what happened when you consciously tried to send them today" Cinder softly asked. The two pups always tired multiple times each day to send thoughts to each other twin.

"Radio silence" Marshall replied with a small smile.

"Same" Cinder softly answered.

"Great," Marshall said with a sad shake of his head, "we can only share our thoughts when we aren't trying to."

"It isn't all bad Marsh" Cinder softly responded, "We know that happens as we get closer to being able to control it, so we are making progress. If memory serves, that usually doesn't happen until two or three weeks. So that fact that we have gotten it to happen in one week is a big deal. With any luck, the rest of the neural linkage will come faster too."

"Yeah, you are right, Cin" Marshall replied, a smile returning to his face. "I just want to skip to the part where it is established. Thanks for reminding me to stay positive."

"Anytime, twin of mine" Cinder softly cooed, pressing her head against his muzzle.

The two pups shared a long moment of sibling love before they yawned in perfect unison.

"I guess it is bed time" Marshall said with a little laugh.

"I guess so" Cinder softly confirmed with a smile.

"Good night sister dearest" Marshall said as he hopped into his bed and laid down.

"Good night dear brother" Cinder softly answered as she hopped into her bed and laid down.

Many miles away in Adventure Bay, a Husky who had spent the last few hours trying to work up the courage to call her favorite Dalmatian, finally gave up in defeat, laid down in her bed and whimpered herself to sleep, dreaming that one day she would be able to hold him and call him her own, praying that she wasn't too late.

(A/N: Marshall did some quick math and triaging that bears some more explanation. There are three main components when talking about electricity: Voltage, Current and Resistance. Voltage is basically the power level of the electricity, measured in Volts. Current is how much electricity is flowing, measured in Amperage. Resistance is the ability of the conductive material to counteract the Current, just like friction for tactile movement, measured in Ohms. Using Ohm's law, if you take the voltage, 480 in this case, and divide by the resistance of the human body, typically between 300 to 1,000 ohms, the result will be the current that could pass through the human body. 480 1000 = 0.48 amps 480 300 = 1.6 amps. Both are strong enough to kill a person instantaneously, but they represent the maximum possible shock and not necessarily the shock received. The technician was conscious after the shock, indicating that the shock he actually received only disrupted the cardiac rhythm of his heart and did not electrically fry all of his internal organs. This is called fibrillation which is why Marshall was able to use an Automatic External Defibrillator (AED) to resuscitate the patient. I know, I'm a nerd, hope you still enjoyed the story!