I don't own anything other than OCs

CH5

It was close to eleven now. Chase sat on his stomach in his pup house watching outside for any movement, his pup pack and uniform still on. Aside from the occasional cricket it was quiet, there was no wind present.

Most of the pups were already asleep by now but he wanted to wait until 11:30 for good measure. He originally was going to at leave twelve but he wanted to buy some more time to search the restricted area. His pup pack contained his light, grappling hook, and a multi tool he took from the garage. He figured it would come in handy since it had both a screwdriver and a blade, the later he doesn't intend to use.

He usually didn't stay up this late but the anxiety was help keeping him awake, the nap he got earlier helped too.

After half an hour, Chase slowly stood up. He creeped out of his pup house to see all the lights were now off and his ears could make out soft snoring coming from some of the pup houses. Now was the time.

He creeped out of the Lookout and waited until he was on the main road to go into a hasty trot. He planned to go on foot since he didn't want risk waking everyone with one of his vehicles, another reason why he left early. At the pace he was going, it would take him a little over an hour to get to the general area the hole was at and the same amount of time to get back to the Lookout.

Chase kept on the road, it was just a straight walk from here until he got close to the hole that was off to the left in a wooded patch. It was a moonless night so it was a little more dark than Chase was used to, though the stars were bright. If he wasn't in a hurry he would stop to gaze at them.

The road had been virtually empty. An owl hooted on a branch off to his left, startling him but not slowing him either. It was the only sound he had heard on the road aside from the distant traffic near Adventure City. Adventure Bay wasn't nearly as busy at night considering most places here have a curfew.

The farther he traveled from the Lookout, the more a creeping fear began to set in. He had never been out by himself before at night, at least not for an extended period. He had left his pup tag back in his pup house out of suspension that Ryder could track it. If anything happened to him out here, he was on his own.

He began to wonder what kinds of predators were out here hunting. He new Adventure Bay had wolves and bears but they mostly stayed up near the mountain and were known to be docile, at least according to Everest. The thought came to him now because of the sudden feeling of being watched came over him. He stopped and listened, no sound but the wind echoing in the distance. He sniffed the air but the only thing filling his nostrils was the distant scent of roadkill. He repulsed before looking over his shoulder, no other animal in sight. He turned back to the road and went into a full sprint.

Chase finally arrived at the spot where yesterday he veered off the road to chase Gasket. He had to stop to catch his breath, he had jogged the rest of the way when his stamina wore off from the sprint. He then gazed at the moon and could tell by it's position that it was well past twelve but not quite one.

Perfect timing, he thought.

He noticed the set of tire tracks just off the road in the dirt and knew he was in the right place, all he had to do now was to follow the tracks. The tracks led him through a patch of trees and out into a clearing.

Crash!

Chase jumped and snapped his head to the sound, it came from the trees behind him. It was the sound of something hitting the foliage on the ground. Branch, maybe?

…

A couple of minutes passed and still no more sounds. No following crunches of leaves from something stalking him and no eyes shining back at him. He hesitantly turned and continued, even though his nerves were on edge and the feeling of something watching him stronger.

That better had been a branch… please be a branch.

He wasn't far now, just had to find this small hole in a few hundred meter long series of tire tracks from him, Gasket, and Ryder.

"Chase!" A voice called from behind him.

Chase jumped. "F&@%!"

He whipped around to see Skye staring at him Shock, probably from what he just said.

"Gah! Skye!? What are you…" He stopped himself but it was too late.

"What are YOU doing out here!?" She countered.

Chase sat down and let out an exhausted exhale. There was no lying to Skye, but he couldn't pull himself to answer that right now.

"Did… did you follow me all the way from the Lookout?" He asked, dodging her question.

"Yes because I was worried!" She answered in concern. "Ever since you had your accident you and Ryder have been acting strange and it's kept me up all night!… and then I saw you leave." She explained.

"I'm sorry Skye… I didn't know." Chase apologized.

Skye only glared. "You keep dodging my question and I'll go back and tell Ryder what you're doing and that you cursed!"

"No!" Chase barked in fear, his eyes wide. She seemed to recoil slightly at his response but kept her hard gaze. Chase sighed and prepared himself. Here it goes.

"When I hit that hole, you remember how I told you I had to crawl down it to get my pup tag, and the thing I saw in the tunnels right?" Chase reminded.

Skye nodded, listening closely.

Chase explained everything Ryder had told him between his first reaction that day and their conversation later that evening. Skye's face was filled with confusion and fright but she listened with interest and never interrupted.

"And that's why I left the Lookout and came back here, to get to the bottom of it." Chase finished.

There was a long pause between the two as the information set in with Skye. She eventually sighed and managed a reply.

"Okay."

Chase raised an eyebrow. "You don't doubt me?"

"I've never doubted you before, why now?" She asked.

Chase looked away to hide his blush. "Look just… you can't tell the other pups about this or you know what might happen."

"I know." Skye acknowledged. "So, you ready to go see what's up with these tunnels?" She asked, a grin growing.

Chase's tail started to wag. "You're coming with?"

"It could be dangerous, we'll be safer if there's two of us." She answered and nodded.

"Well yeah, let's go." He ordered happily, he knew they wasted enough time already. They continued together along the sets of tire tracks, Chase tilted his head when he glanced over and noticed Skye had a visible scratch on her face. It wasn't bleeding but it had cut through the skin under the fur.

"What?" Skye asked when she noticed Chase was looking at her.

"That scratch on your face." Chase pointed.

Skye felt the cut with her paw and winced. "Must have been when that branch had snapped below me back there and that other branch hit me."

"So that was you back there, staying high up?" Chase asked.

"Yeah using my wings to jump from branch to branch to rock." She answered, nodding to her pup pack.

"Well that explains why couldn't see you, little stalker." Chase laughed.

"Oh shut it you potty mouth!" Skye playfully scolded.

They found the hole after a few more minutes of searching. Chase stared down it nervously, it was now or never.

"You actually crawled through that little hole?" Skye asked in bewilderment after looking down the hole.

"Yeah but if I can fit through with my pack on so can you." Chase said.

Chase braced himself and crawled down into it first with Skye going in behind him. They weren't sure if they were ready for whatever awaited them down there.

AN: So that will be it until probably mid January but the next chapter will be longer than the rest.