A few days had passed since the 'Storm Incident' as Marshall, Rocky, Zuma, and Ryder began referring to it as. Things were calm, and after the incident, things seemed to go back to normal. Something had changed since then, though. Marshall and Rocky's relationship had improved.

While Rocky and Marshall weren't as close as Rocky was with Zuma, or as close as Marshall was with Chase, their relationship was certainly better than it was before they had gone onto the Sea Patroller.

One of the pups, Rocky, was at the top of the lookout. He was looking up at the large flat screen usually used to display information about a mission while Ryder debriefed the team on the details of it. The eco pup was watching the news. Not the news of Adventure Bay, but the news of Adventure City. After their mission in Adventure City, the mixed breed occasionally took some time aside to catch up on what was happening in the bustling location. It was the team's second official location, after all.

Meanwhile, the other pups were eating their breakfasts in the same room. The pups loved eating at the top of the lookout. It was one of the biggest areas, and the view was amazing.

Walking over to Rocky was Chase, who had been the first to finish his breakfast, "You've hardly eaten your breakfast, Rocky."

"Huh?" The mixed breed took his eyes off of the TV to look down. Sitting in front of his paws was a green bowl filled nearly to the brim with his uneaten food, "Oh, I guess I got a little too wrapped up in what I was watching..."

"This is why Ryder doesn't usually let us watch TV while we eat..." The German Shepherd pup commented as he watched Rocky lean down to eat his food, "Why are you even watching the news?"

After taking a few bites, the eco pup sat back up straight to answer his question, "Just catching up on Adventure City. I can't help but to be concerned about it, especially after what happened with Humdinger."

"I still can't believe Humdinger is walking free after all that he did!" Marshall exclaimed, joining the conversation, "Didn't you bust him for dognapping, gross negligence, and all that other stuff?" He turned to Chase, who nodded.

"I guess it is kind of strange how he started showing up in Adventure Bay not too long after we got back..." Skye walked over to the small group.

Rocky turned to her, "A little strange? It's like he never went to jail at all."

"But without Humdinger, a good amount of the rescues we've been on would've never happened, right?" Rubble asked confusedly, wanting to put his two cents into the conversation.

Skye looked at the younger pup, "I'm not exactly sure that him causing problems is a good thing."

"That's just how Humdinger is. He causes problems, and he won't change..." Rocky looked down at his food, "Sometimes he does some really bad things, like that time he drilled into the ground under City Hall and almost caused it to sink into the ground..."

"Oh! The Ultimate Rescue!" Zuma joined in, "It was pretty awesome how you came up with that plan so quickly. I wasn't sure what to do. Building is not my thing."

"I still question the structural integrity of doing such a thing..." Rocky looked away for a moment, "But it wasn't like we had much of a choice."

"You know, what Mayor Humdinger said got me to think..." Rubble spoke up once more.

Zuma interjected, holding back a snicker, "You thought about something other than digging and food, dude?"

This earned a laugh from the six before Rubble continued, "He wanted those bones so bad... I bet they were worth about a kajillion dollars!"

"You might be onto something, Rubble..." Marshall nodded, "Get us some of those, and we'd be living nice!"

Chase was quick to interject, "You two know stealing is bad, right?"

"Well, yeah stealing is bad..." The Dalmatian looked away for just a moment, "But would it be a bad guy thing if you were doing it for the good of the ones you love?"

"Marshall, there are good guys and bad guys. Guys like Humdinger steal and cheat, that's what makes them bad guys, you know?" The police pup explained, "Pups like us make sure everything is fair and right for everyone. We're not stooping down to a bad guy's level."

Chase was always a stickler for doing the right thing. That's one of the main reasons Ryder picked him to be the second in command of their team. Marshall smiled faintly to himself. Of course he'd be quick to see the world as it is. Good guys and bad guys. Marshall knew this all too well. There were good guys and bad guys, you do bad things, and you're a bad guy, do good things, and you're a good guy.

Marshall nodded, a smile spreading across his face, "Yeah, you're right."

Meanwhile, Ryder was out grocery shopping. After Rubble got into the food, it was only a matter of time before he had to stop procrastinating and get to shopping for some more food. Maybe he needed a better hiding place for the dog food.

Sighing, he loaded two bags into his shopping cart as he continued down the pet aisle. What else did he need for the pups? The young leader shrugged, he'd probably just remember the instant he finished his shopping anyway.

Down the aisle, Ryder recognized a familiar face. The one he saw was a girl with blonde hair, and a pink outfit. She was quite easily recognizable at a glance. Nobody else he knew looked like she did. One of a kind. The girl picked up a small mouse-like toy from one of the shelves, squeaking it twice to check if it worked.

Katie, the girl Ryder was currently looking at, was another young citizen of Adventure Bay with big aspirations. She worked as a pet groomer as well as a doctor at the local pet parlor. The girl was a trusted friend, also occasionally serving as the vet of the PAW Patrol. She often pup-sat for Ryder when he needed to leave to do things by himself, and on one particular occasion, subbed in for the young leader when trouble brewed in Adventure Bay while he was away.

She smiled at the toy. Her pet, a cat named Cali, would certainly love the toy. Her eyes soon glanced away from the toy and to her right. He couldn't help but to have the feeling that she was being watched.

And well... She was.

"Ryder?"

The young leader cringed to himself. He was just about to greet the young vet when she turned around and saw him, creating the illusion that he had just been watching her in silence for who knows how long. Now what was he supposed to say?

"Getting food for the pups?" Katie asked with her usual smile that seemed effortless for her to give, "Let me guess, Rubble got into the food again?"

"No... Yeah..."

The two shared a quick laugh.

"I don't know how he does it, really!" Ryder's laughter slowed, "It's like he was born with a radar to the nearest food in his head. It's actually impressive... And a little terrifying..."

Katie's eyes suddenly lit up, remembering something, "Speaking of the pups, though, they have a check-up scheduled in about a week."

"It's already been two months?"

"Time really flies, huh?"

"You can say that again!" The young leader gently rubbed the back of his head with his left hand, "Don't they have their baths scheduled soon too?"

"Right, their baths..." Katie's face grew blank, staring off into space. The faint sounds of furious splashing and screaming filled her mind. There was no way she'd ever forget the last time the pups were scheduled for a bath. The other pups weren't an issue, as per usual. But Rocky... Katie's eyes grew a bit wider at the memory, a small gulp slipping down her throat.

Ryder snapped twice in front of her face, "Katie!"

"What? Huh?" The young blonde blinked twice, her mind landing back on Earth.

"You okay? You've been staring into space for a while..."

"Oh, I'm fine, no need to worry!" Katie gave her friend a slightly crooked smile, "Just... Thinking about what shampoo I'm gonna use for the pups is all!"

The two began making their way to the checkout aisles, discussing various topics along the way.

As Ryder and Katie left the store, Ryder exhaled heavily. He was carrying two heavy bags of dog food. Any dog owner would know that those weren't exactly the lightest things in the world.

"Need some help?" Asked Katie, a faint giggle coming out of her mouth.

"No... No I got it..." He fumbled with the bags, trying to find a comfortable way to hold his bags that didn't threaten to give him back problems before he even entered his teens.

"Are you sure, Ryder? Don't be afraid to yelp for help!" The young vet echoed what she had heard her friend say so many times.

After a brief silence, the inventor let out a sigh, "Help me..."

"There!" Katie grabbed one of the bags from Ryder, "Was that so hard—Woah!" The sudden weight shift threw off her balance a little, making her lean forward. The blonde leaned back to try and compensate, but went too far and stumbled backwards.

Before she could fall, though, something stabilized her legs. Katie blinked twice before her eyes drifted down to see what— or who— had saved her. Upon looking down, both Katie and Ryder's eyes lit up, smiles spreading across their faces.

Back at the lookout, Marshall yawned faintly. It was a pretty slow morning. For some reason, Ryder was taking longer than usual with his store run. Sure, he didn't bring his ATV that day, opting to take a nice walk through Adventure Bay on his way instead, but it had been hours since their leader had left.

Marshall lazed around, watching countless episodes of "Apollo the Super Pup", Rubble's favorite show, with the Bulldog. After all, there wasn't much to do at the moment, and the Dally wanted nothing more than to relax for a day. His back still ached from his decision to make that leap of faith during the storm incident.

Did he regret it? Not for a second.

"Woah!" Rubble's eyes lit up as they usually would whenever they watched a new episode, "Did you see that, Marshall!?"

The Dalmatian blinked twice. He hadn't, in fact, saw that. He needed to stop spacing out during the usually high-paced TV show, "...Yeah! I saw!"

"A clone of Apollo? No way!"

"It's a doppelganger, Rubble..." Another voice spoke, walking into the room. The two easily recognized the voice to be Rocky, who's footsteps grew closer as time went on.

Rubble didn't take his eyes off of the show, "What's the difference?"

"Well, a clone is exactly the same as the original in every perceivable way..." The puppy brainiac explained, "A doppelganger only looks identical."

Rubble, who hadn't been listening to his friend's explanation, exclaimed in awe as the next big twist of the episode came. Rocky sighed faintly, realizing he was wasting his breath.

"Whatcha up to, Rocky?" Marshall asked, turning to look at the mixed breed.

The recycling pup smiled at the Dalmatian, "Well, I was working on some new features for my vehicle... Nothing else, really."

"Really? Get outta here... Can I see?"

"I don't see why not."

The two pups quickly left the room, leaving Rubble by himself. He didn't really care, though.

Rocky led Marshall to his pup house, but as they walked out of the lookout, they were greeted by the smiling face of their owner, Ryder, as well as their stylist and occasional vet, Katie. There was also someone else with them. Someone that made Marshall freeze almost instantly. Rocky didn't notice this change in Marshall though, only waving happily before tapping his pup pad.

Across the lookout, many tags went off with their own signature glows, "Pups! Everest is here!"

A Husky pup looked up at the lookout tower. It had sure been a while since she had been anywhere near her friends' home. She was glad to be back. When wasn't she happy to be at the lookout? That means she got to see all of her best friends!

Everest, the mountain pup, was the seventh pup, and the second girl, to join the PAW Patrol. The Husky took Chase's place as the oldest in the team, and she was a lot more independent than the other pups on the team due to how she grew up.

The first pup to run out of the lookout doors was expectedly Skye. She cried out with a cheerful yip and quickly gave a hug to her best friend.

Being the only other girl on the team for so long caused a predictable friendship with Skye. Sure, she was a lot more girly and appearance conscious than Everest was, not that she wasn't at all, but it felt nice to have someone who understood her on a different level than everyone else, including her own owner, Jake.

"Why didn't you tell me you were visiting?" The Cockapoo asked with a happy grin spread across her face.

Everest let out a faint chuckle, "I wanted it to be a surprise."

Soon after Skye had dashed out of the lookout, the other pups came out to greet the mountain pup, all passing by Marshall, who seemed to be rooted to the ground the moment Everest came onto the scene.

"Marshall?" Rocky waved a paw in front of his face, "You there?"

Once no response came from the firefighting Dally, The eco pup decided to look closer. There was a gentle pink shade growing under Marshall's fur. This confused him even further. Since he and Marshall hadn't legitimately spent any time together on their own in months, he had no idea what was going on with him. But he did know a way to snap him out of it.

"Is that bush on fire?"

"Fire!?" The Dalmatian snapped out of it, barking, "Water cannons, fire!"

He immediately regretted his decision, finding himself staring into the barrel of Marshall's water cannons. He couldn't even be mad about it, either. He quite literally asked for it.

"Wait, wait, wait!" Rocky became frantic, flailing his forepaws around rapidly, "No fire! No fire!"

Before he could plead for his life any longer, the water cannons fired, that disgusting liquid rushing right in his direction. The eco pup quickly ducked, water flying right over his head. Rocky breathed quickly, a paw over his heart.

Marshall shook his head, realizing who he had just fired out "Rocky? Sorry! Sorry! I—"

"Rocky? Marshall?"

The Dalmatian's ears and tail suddenly shot up at the voice calling them. The dysfunctional duo turned around to see Everest and the other pups looking at them.

"You guys heard?" Skye asked, "Since this is Everest's first time at the lookout in a while, we're gonna play her favorite game!"

While Rocky raised an eyebrow in confusion, Marshall gave them a smile.

"Freeze tag? Oh, it's on!"

Sitting in a circle, the team were setting rules up for the game yet to come. They hadn't had any missions for the entire day, so just in case a mission were to come up, they wanted to at least have their rules laid out so they could spend the remainder of the day actually playing the game. The pups had gotten used to always being on standby for a mission, so this was commonplace when setting up games.

The only pup who wasn't really focused on the rules for the game was Rocky. His mind was still at the moment before he was nearly blasted by Marshall's water cannons. Marshall was a strange pup, there was no denying that, but just when Rocky thought he reached the peak of his weirdness, this had to come up.

And it all started with Everest's appearance...

The mixed breed shook his head. He needed more data. Focusing back on the conversation in front of him. The group was still talking about who was going to be it. It seemed like a few different pups, being Zuma, Skye, and Everest, wanted to be the tagger for this game.

"Skye, your legs are too short to catch any of us, dude..." Zuma gibed, letting out a small snicker.

The Cockapoo's cheeks turned a faint shade of pink at the teasing, more a ticked off than embarrassed, "My legs are long enough, thank you very much!"

Rocky couldn't help but chuckle a little. When weren't Skye and Zuma trying to compete?

"Why don't you two try to see who gets caught first between you guys?" Everest proposed, unintentionally putting gasoline on the fire that was the two's pride.

"I'll be it."

With a smile on their face, the sudden new volunteer of the role of 'it' stepped forward. This instantly put the rest of the team on their guard. They would be in for a pretty intense game if they were to accept the volunteer as it.

As you might've guessed, the happy volunteer was Chase.

Chase was probably the most overpowered pup among the seven of them. Lightning quick reflexes, a sharp nose, speed, strength, endurance, what couldn't the second in command of the team do!?

"Okay, Chase. I like a challenge, dude!" Zuma was the first to grin, "Bring it on, no holds barred!"

The recycling pup smiled faintly. Zuma, being the competitive pup that he was, would never shy away from any type of competition, especially one from one of the other guys. Was it instinct? Pride? Pure stupidity? He wasn't sure. But whatever it was, he admired the Chocolate Lab's confidence.

"But how exactly do we win?" Rubble asked, catching the attention of everyone else, "I know we usually keep the game going until everyone is frozen... But what if we could win?"

Everest smiled at the Bulldog's proposition, "That's actually a really good idea! I like it!"

"So... How do we win?"

Chase turned around, beginning to walk to the other side of the back yard, "Five minutes."

The six pups all seemed confused by the statement. Chase seemed to notice this, opening his mouth to clarify, "The game lasts five minutes. You'll have twenty seconds to spit up. Anything goes. You can hide too. I don't mind. If all of you are tagged before five minutes are up, I win."

Marshall couldn't help but to gulp. Why did Chase always have to get like this when challenged? The Dalmatian soon shook his head, "Run!"

The others had no objections, beginning to run in different directions as they heard Chase begin to count.

By the time Chase had made it to fifteen, the large backyard had grown silent. Sure, they were playing freeze tag, but that didn't mean they couldn't hide until time was up. After all, it was a six versus one. Chase couldn't hunt down all six of them in five minutes, right?

Right?

Marshall was the only one who wasn't able to find a hiding spot. Looking around, the Dalmatian began to panic. He didn't want to be the first one to be caught. He didn't want to let the team down that quickly.

"I'M COMING, PUPS!"

In that instant, Marshall's heart immediately sank. He had announced that he had finished counting? He must've been really confident about this game. He frantically looked around faster. He needed a place to hide. Now.

Rocky, who had a pretty unorthodox hiding spot, looked down at Marshall from his spot. He was standing on two plungers stuck on the side of the lookout building. The laws of physics were always a bit strange in Adventure Bay, but it was something Rocky could learn and understand. As he watched the Dally scramble around, the eco pup shut his eyes tight.

"Poor Marshall."

Opening his eyes once more, Marshall had disappeared from sight. Okay, the physics in Adventure Bay were strange, but according to his data, pups didn't just disappear out of thin air. Sure they could talk for some unexplained reason, but not teleport. The recycling pup shook his head.

"I'm getting too wrapped up in my thoughts again..."

Down below, Marshall had been grabbed and pulled into a bush by one of his teammates. The Dalmatian let out a yelp, confused as to what was going on. Marshall wiped a few leaves and twigs off of his face before opening his eyes to look at who saved him from his inevitable fate of getting caught.

Sitting in front of him was Everest. The Dalmatian hoped that the darkness of the bush was dark enough to conceal the shade of red rising on his face as he stared right at the Husky, who was looking at him with a friendly smile on her face.

That damn smile...

Okay, he couldn't lie. He liked Everest. A lot. Like... A LOT. He wasn't sure when it happened, or why he was feeling these feelings as a pup, but he was an EMT. He knew good and well how the body reacts to different stimuli, including the stimuli revolving around those with crushes. He did have to look a few things up to make sure he wasn't ill for sure, but once he was sure that he wasn't sick, he began to notice more and more about her by the day.

She seemed to always know what she wanted to do. And when she came to a decision, she wouldn't hesitate to act on it. She had confidence. Confidence that he had severely lacked. Ever since that day he thought the other pups were speaking bad about him, he and Ryder talked about it, coming to a simultaneous realization that Marshall struggled with his confidence and low self-esteem.

Marshall also noticed how determined and adventurous she was. She lived up in the mountains, for dog's sake! She most likely had gone on countless amazing adventures on her own while he and the rest of the PAW Patrol were dealing with things in Adventure Bay. She loved to explore places and admire nature for what it was.

And that wasn't even beginning to address how attractive Marshall found her. From her radiant, sapphire blue eyes, to her fluffy fur that always seemed to carry the scent of fresh pine in the wintertime, That adorable beanie she wore wherever she went, and one of Marshall's personal favorites, her soft, cushion-like front paws. He had always wondered what it would be like to have his face between them, to nestle his face into them, would they feel like cotton candy on his face? Or marshmallows gently roasted by a fire, slightly more soft, but not exactly gooey?

Also—

"Are you okay, Marshall?" Everest asked, slightly tilting her head to the left in confusion.

The Dally's heart skipped a beat. Her voice was like listening to an angel.

"I-I'm okay... You just startled me a bit..."

"What do you think of my hiding spot?" The Husky pup asked, inadvertently reminding Marshall to get his head in the game and to crush later.

Marshall spoke in a hushed voice, "Want me to be honest?" He asked, earning a nod from his crush.

"We're not gonna last five minutes here..." He explained, causing Everest's ears to lower ever so slightly, "Chase is a hide and seek champ. We might even have a better chance outrunning him than hiding in the same spot for five minutes. It's only a matter of time before—"

"Found you!"

The two went dead silent, their eyes widening in shock.

"Aw come on!" A voice complained in the distance, "Just tag me, I'm not even gonna try to outrun you."

Luckily for them, and not for Rubble, the voice had come from another area in the backyard. Everest began to see Marshall's point, and began to think.

"I got an idea!" Her eyes sparkled as she leaned closer, "Do you trust me?"

Marshall leaned back a bit out of instinct, his eyes darting around in every other direction possible, "I-I... Um..."

"We don't have much time! Do you trust me?"

The flustered firefighter decided to just shut his mouth and nod as a reply.

"Good. Now..." She suddenly threw Marshall outside of the bush, jumping out right after him. The Dally didn't have much time to react, landing on his face.

The confident smile Everest had on her face quickly dissipated as she looked down at the downed Dalmatian, "Oh my god I'm sorry! Are you okay?"

"I'm good..." A muffled voice came from the grass below.

After she helped Marshall up, apologizing once more, she looked around. Eventually, she spotted Rubble, who was frozen in place in a pretty comfortable position, "Okay, you distract Chase, and I'll go to tag Rubble, okay?"

Marshall couldn't really argue, as the Husky had already run off to tag Rubble and get him back in the game. As he watched her approach Rubble, the Dalmatian smiled faintly. She was pretty headstrong, wasn't she?

As he dreamily stared at the pup, another pup was approaching from behind.

"Marshall, look out!"

"Huh?" He turned around, the first thing he saw being the familiar face of his best friend, "Woah!" He took a step back.

Chase reached out to tag him, but as Marshall stepped back, the Dally stepped on his own tail, proceeding to trip and fall backwards. The clumsy pup decided to use the accident to his advantage, getting up as quick as he could and breaking out into a sprint. Chase followed in hot pursuit.

The Shepherd smiled as he chased his best friend. The only pup on the team that could really give him a run for his money— no pun intended— was Marshall. His lanky legs gave the Dally an unnaturally long stride, and ever since he started training more actively after some incident on the Sea Patroller, the firefighting pup had gotten faster.

As Marshall began to widen the gap, he made a fatal mistake. He stopped focusing on where he was running, suddenly tripping over his paws and sending himself flying. While the gap between him and Chase had widened substantially because of this, the Dalmatian went soaring into Everest, resulting in a loud crash.

"Ugh..." Everest moaned with pain.

Marshall immediately got off of her, "Oh no! Sorry! Sorry!"

"I'm okay..." Everest slowly stood up, rubbing her own head with a paw, "At least we didn't get caught—"

A paw on both of their shoulders made the two freeze.

Chase smiled at them, "Got you. Four more pups to go."

The German Shepherd pup turned to Rubble, who had decided to not let Marshall and Everest's sacrifice go to waste. Instead of chasing after the English Bulldog, Chase decided that it would be a more strategic move to look for Rocky, Zuma, and Skye, who he hadn't seen yet.

As the police pup went running off to continue his search, Rocky's paws had begun to get sore from standing on the two plungers for so long. He looked over at Marshall and Everest, who were frozen in place. The eco pup closed his eyes.

"Judging by all that's happened so far, I'd have to assume that it's already been about two and a half minutes. That means we've already reached the halfway point. If Chase still hasn't found Zuma and Skye, then by this point, he would have to begin scrambling to find them before time is up. Which means..."

Rocky suddenly dropped down, taking the two plungers with him. Because of his sheer height, the mixed breed hit the grass below hard, having to cover his muzzle with a paw to avoid whimpering in pain. Standing up, he quickly began running over to his frozen allies.

"...The more chaos happening around Chase, the more he'll panic!"

Chase's nose suddenly twitched. A familiar scent had grown stronger from where he had just been. Rocky's.

"He didn't—!"

The German Shepherd pup went darting in the direction he had just come from. Just as he suspected, Rocky was on the scene, putting his paw on both Marshall and Everest. The duo smiled at the recycling pup, until Rocky turned to look at him.

"Run!" He could hear Rocky yell.

As Chase began to close in on the three, they scrambled to get away.

In his panic, Marshall tripped over his right paw. The Dalmatian's legs gave out as he fell to the ground, taking Everest down with him in the process.

"Ow, Marshall!" Screamed Everest.

Next thing they knew, the three were frozen in place. Marshall glanced at the Husky pup, his tail drooping as he realized she wasn't even looking his way. She wasn't even looking like she was enjoying her favorite game. It was all his fault. He messed up her opportunity to get away. Looking a bit closer, he noticed that she was covering her right wrist with her left paw.

"Everest, are you—?"

She quickly cut him off, "It's fine, Marshall."

Chase ended up winning that game. Zuma was the last to be tagged, and had less than a minute left to evade capture. He got tired of all the running though, and once he ran out of energy, Chase swooped in to win the game. But Marshall couldn't care less about all of that. His mind kept replying the way Everest screamed when he crashed into her. For the second time. Had he hurt her? Maybe he deserved this for what happened.

First Rocky, and now Everest? Rocky getting mad at him was one thing, but he had a crush on Everest. All of those feelings came bubbling up as he wiped a tear out of his eyes. All of this because he was a clumsy pup. Sometimes he wished that he wasn't plagued with the tendency to be clumsy. What else was he supposed to call it? If he wasn't so clumsy, then Rocky would've never been mad at him. Everest wouldn't have been either.

The Dalmatian was currently hiding in his pup house. The embarrassment was too much for him to handle. Whenever another one of the pups would check up on him, with the exception of Everest, of course, he would just tell them he had gotten a little tired out from all the running around, and was going to take a nap.

Next up to try and break through Marshall was Rocky.

The mixed breed knocked on his door, which opened soon afterwards. The mixed breed decided to stay outside, though.

"Marshall, it's Rocky."

"Hey, Rocky!" A cheerful voice greeted from inside, "What's up?"

"What's up with you? Chase is worried."

"Worried? Why would he be worried?" The voice from inside the pup house replied, feigning confusion, "It's not the first time I've taken a nap before, you know? I'll be ready to go in about... Six hours give or take?"

"...Are you waiting for Everest to leave?"

"Why would I?"

"Look, I don't know you as well as Chase does, but I do know you wouldn't want to pass up hanging out with Everest."

A dry laugh came from inside, "That's funny... You say you don't know me as well as Chase does, but you're the first to say something like that?"

"So... Am I right?"

"You aren't the smartest for no reason, Rocky... You got me..." He sighed, "It's about Everest."

"Wanna tell me what's been up with her?" The mixed breed asked, "...Maybe over some snacks at Porter's?"

"I'm fired up!" Marshall suddenly ran out of his pup house. He definitely was hungry after such a strenuous game of freeze tag.

Rocky smiled a bit as Marshall blushed in embarrassment.

"Guess I'm more fired up for the food..." He gave his friend an awkward smile.