A German Shepherd was stacking logs to use as firewood for the coming winter, rumor had it that this winter would be far below freezing, so he volunteered to gather wood for his friends to last through the season. He wasn't alone; another, older shepherd joined him to help. The other shepherd, named Chase, grabbed the log from him and dropped it into the pile.
"Alright, this should be enough." Chase said, turning to the younger shepherd and smiling. "You did a good job Ace."
"It's not much." Ace responded. "Just moving logs into a pile."
"It's still helpful. This wood will keep us warm through the winter." Chase said to him, Ace stood there in silence for a few seconds.
"Thanks for helping." Ace said to him.
"No problem! Now come on, we should probably get inside before the others worry about us." Chase responded.
"Yeah, I swear uncle spots worries too much." Ace said.
"He is the medic, it's his job to worry about us and make sure we're okay." Chase said to him.
The two shepherds then entered the Lookout. Almost immediately, Marshall ran over to Ace to check on him.
"Ace, are you alright?" Marshall asked him.
"Yes uncle, I've only been gone for a few minutes." Ace replied while rolling his eyes.
"Don't worry Marshall, I was keeping an eye on him." Chase told him.
The three of them then walked further into the lookout and entered the main lobby, where a large variety of different canines were sitting around chatting with one another. One of the canines, a Cockapoo, noticed the three enter and walked over to them.
"Hello Guy's!" The Cockapoo greeted them.
"Hey Skye." Chase said to her.
"Hello Skye." Marshall said.
"Hi Skye." Ace responded.
The cockapoo smiled before leading them back to where everyone else was sitting in a half-circle around the fireplace. A human named Ryder had thrown a few logs onto the fire and now lit it.
"So, Ace. It's been a year since you joined the PAW Patrol now." Rocky informed the shepherd.
"Yeah?" Ace responded, curious with where he was taking this.
"Since we can't do much outside due to the temperature and we haven't had a mission in forever, why don't you tell us your story before you joined us?" Rocky proposed.
"Hmm... Sure, why not." Ace responded after a few seconds. "Where do you guys want me to begin? My time in Deutschland? When you guys saved me?"
"How about when you first arrived in Adventure Bay?" Skye asked.
"Wow, that's quite awhile ago. Alright then." Ace said, he then began telling the story.
A little over a year ago.
A young German Shepherd pup arrived in a small town called Adventure Bay. He had just finished a long boat ride. By the time he reached the North American continent, it was already getting dark and he was starving. The pup wandered around the small town, looking for anything he could eat. Eventually, he found Mr. Porter's Cafe, where he explained his situation to Mr. Porter. The human owner of the cafe kindly gave the pup some food, allowing him to finally eat.
After he was done eating, the pup thanked him and left the cafe. Upon leaving, he saw a familiar-looking shepherd driving a blue truck, a dalmatian driving a red truck, and a human driving an ATV zoom past him down the street. Ace watched them as they started helping with a situation down the road that he couldn't quite see. After asking Mr. Porter what that was about, he was informed about a group called the PAW Patrol that acted as the town's emergency services. Ace was impressed as he watched the group work together; after a few minutes, the group of canines were done and started driving back to the large tower in the distance.
As Ace continued walking down the sidewalk, occasionally glancing at the tower in the far distance, he eventually arrived in front of a place called Katie's Pet Parlor. He noticed another truck parked outside, this one being green. Deciding to enter the pet parlor, he walked through the door and bumped into a grey pup as they were leaving.
"I'm so sorry, sir." Ace apologized.
"No need to apologize, I'm fine." The pup responded before laughing it off and getting into his truck.
Ace watched as the pup drove off, he noticed a symbol on the side of the truck that looked similar to the symbol he saw on the blue truck earlier.
"Oh hello, who are you?" Ace heard someone ask him, he turned around and saw a human standing a few meters away looking at him.
"Oh uhh hi, my name's Ace." Ace said to her.
"Hello Ace, My names Katie. What do you need?" Katie asked.
"I-I dunno, I'm just wondering around town." Ace said.
Katie examined him for a few seconds. "You're covered in mud, do you want a bath?" Katie asked.
"Uhh, sure?" Ace replied before following her to the back of the parlor.
Katie cleaned off all the mud and made him look nicer then he had ever thought he would. He got out and looked at himself in a nearby mirror.
"Wow, all I'd need is a tuxedo and I'd rival Juniper." Ace said jokingly.
"Juniper? Is he a friend of yours?" Katie asked.
"I wish! Wait, you don't know who Juniper is?" Ace asked her.
"No I don't." Katie responded.
"I guess he's not as well known around here, He's a pretty famous shepherd over in Barkingburg. I'm surprised you never heard of him, he's even well known in Deutschland." Ace said to her.
"Deutschland?" Katie asked, confused what he meant.
"Yeah? Oh I guess you don't call it that, what do you call it around here, Germany? I think?" Ace responded.
"Oh alright, I never heard of anyone call it Deutschland." Katie said to him.
"It's what we refer to it as, anyways, thanks for the bath Katie." Ace thanked her.
"You're welcome, come back if you ever need anything else!" Katie said to him.
Ace left the Pet Parlor and noticed it was already night outside, he reentered the Pet Parlor and greeted Katie again.
"Speaking of 'If you ever need anything else', Could I spend the night here? I'd prefer not roaming the streets of a foreign town I know nothing about in the pitch black." Ace asked her.
Katie thought about it for a few seconds before saying sure, Ace thanked her again and Katie laid out a small dog bed for him. Ace laid down in it and quickly fell asleep.
The next day.
Ace woke up early in the morning; he decided to lay there for a few more minutes before getting up. He looked around for Katie to thank her yet again, but couldn't find her. So, he decided to just leave a note behind, using some nearby paper and a pen, and then left the pet parlor and continued his journey. He soon came across a path that went through the nearby forest and he decided to travel it.
After a few minutes, he found himself deep within the forest, and the trail seemed as though it would never end. Eventually, he finally saw another living being - the same German Shepherd he had seen earlier in the truck. The shepherd noticed him and greeted him.
"Hello, how's your day been?" Chase asked.
"It's been good so far, My names Ace." Ace replied.
"Names Chase." Chase responded. "You don't want to go down this trail, c'mon." Chase said while trying to lead him back in the other direction.
"why not?" Ace asked.
"I sensed a bear further down the path, hence why I decided to turn around." Chase told him.
Ace also decided not to go further, not wanting to get in a fight and most likely losing. He followed Chase out of the trail and joined him on his walk back to the lookout.
"So, why are you out so early?" Ace asked.
"Going on a short walk, I do it everyday before I wake the others up." Chase replied.
"Others?" Ace asked him, curious.
"Yeah, my teammates." Chase responded, he then slowed down and glanced at Ace. "Are you new here?"
"Yep, just arrived yesterday." Ace replied.
They continued discussing his time so far in adventure bay until they eventually arrived at the lookout, Ryder came out of the lookout and walked over to Chase, noticing the new shepherd with him.
"Hey Chase, who's this?" Ryder asked.
"This is Ace, I found him while I was out walking on the trail." Chase responded.
"Hey." Ace said while waving.
"Hello Ace, welcome to the lookout." Ryder said to him, he then glanced at the puphouses surrounding the lookout before looking at Chase. "Hey Chase, can you wake up the other pups?"
"Sure Ryder!" Chase responded.
"Alright thanks Chase." Ryder said before reentering the lookout.
Chase called out his megaphone and positioned it in front of him, he warned Ace to cover his ears before he spoke into the megaphone.
"Alright pups, time to wake up!" Chase said into the megaphone.
All the other pups jumped a few feet in the air at the sudden loud noise. They then left their puphouses, groggy and annoyed.
"Why do you have to do that evewyday dude?" Zuma asked.
"Because it's quick and efficient." Chase responded, Ace giggled a little at this. "What's so funny?"
"Nothing, just reminds me of the past." Ace responded.
Chase looked at him. "How so?" Chase asked.
"Back in the barracks, they used to wake us up with this loud horn." Ace explained. "The Kriegshunde loved using them."
"You serve in the Kriegshunde?" Chase asked.
"Well, I did..." Ace responded. "But I got discharged."
"Honorable?" Chase questioned.
"Medical discharge..." Ace said as he raised his front-right leg and motioned toward it. "Got injured during deployment."
"Hmm... If I may ask, what was your rank?" Chase asked.
"Stabsgefreiter." Ace responded.
The two shepherds chatted for a bit longer before Chase's puptag went off.
PAW Patrol, to the lookout!
Then they parted ways; Chase ran off to the lookout while Ace reentered the town. He wandered through Adventure Bay for awhile before coming across the border of the town, he heard about another town nearby named Foggybottom and decided to make the trip there.
30 minutes later
Ace arrived in a town called Foggybottom; he immediately noticed that the town wasn't as bright and colorful as Adventure Bay. It was made of a load of old bricks and rusted metal. He roamed the streets for quite a while before coming across a building that gave him a weird feeling. It wasn't too different from the others, being made of the same old bricks, but Ace could just feel an aura emanating from it. He argued with himself internally, trying to decide whether he should enter or not. Eventually, he decided to enter.
He noticed it looked like an old office building; it was mostly empty, except for several old metal desks. He could tell it wasn't abandoned, as there was power and he heard people talking upstairs. It was just unkempt. He eventually found some stairs that led to a second floor. He climbed them and started looking around; he soon came across a door that led into an office. He hesitated for a moment before knocking on the door. There was a long silence before he heard someone say, 'Come in.' He opened the door and entered.
Ace saw a cockapoo sitting at the desk, he could've swore he recognized them but he couldn't quite put his paw on where from. The cockapoo looked up at him, Ace could tell the cockapoo recognized him as well due to the expression on his face.
"You look... familiar, who are you?" The cockapoo asked, his voice sounding like he smoked 5 cigars a day for 10 years straight.
"My name's Ace, you also look fa-" Ace got cut off.
"Wait, Stabsgefreiter!?" The cockapoo exclaimed, he flipped on a lamp that was on his desk.
"Oberst Locke?" Ace asked. "I didn't know you'd be here, sir."
"Well I am, I moved here after my service contract expired." Locke said to him, Ace noticed the scar over his left eye.
"Still got that scar, sir?" Ace asked, jokingly.
Locke felt the scar with his paw before looking back at him. "Yeah, I swear I'll kill the husky that gave me it." Locke said. "Anyways, what brings you here? Stabsgefreiter?"
"Just exploring, I moved out of Deutschland not too long ago and decided to move here." Ace responded. "Why did you choose Foggybottom instead of Adventure Bay, sir?"
"I just liked the feel of Foggybottom more, I hate how the people in Adventure Bay are. They all act like their lives are carefree and then there's that damned PAW Patrol." Locke said, when he named the PAW Patrol his voice was filled with hatred.
"What did the PAW Patrol do to you, sir? They seemed nice. at least to me." Ace asked.
Locke turned around to see a large portrait on the wall behind him. It depicted a cockapoo that resembled him, except for the scar and with blue eyes instead of red ones. "I-I don't want to talk about it." Locke told the shepherd.
"Is there something wrong, sir?" Ace asked, noticing Locke's normally serious and harsh personality melted upon looking at the portrait.
"No, Stabsgefreiter. Everything's fine." Locke said while turning back to the shepherd. His expression immediately returned to the serious one he normally held. They both just sat there in silence as an idea crossed Locke's mind, he hated the PAW Patrol for an unknown reason and wanted them broken apart. "Ace, Y'know how we used to work together back in Deutschland?" Locke asked him.
"Of course, sir." Ace responded.
"Well, you see. The PAW Patrol may seem all nice and friendly on the outside, but they hold a dark secret." Locke told the shepherd.
"A dark secret?" Ace questioned.
"Y-Yes... I can't explain it but I want to make you an offer. We work together to break those mutts apart, and then we'll bring Adventure Bay into the light!" Locke said to him. "So, do you accept?"
Anyone else would have clearly known that he was lying through his teeth, but Ace had been trained by the Kriegshunde since he was a week old to follow commands from above, no matter how crazy they might seem. And Ace was sure Locke wouldn't lie to him; after all, they had known each other for years and had always been truthful to one another. Ace stood there in silence for a few seconds, processing what Locke had just told him.
"Of course, sir!" Ace responded, deciding to trust his old commander.
"Gut, sehr gut." Locke said, he then opened a drawer on his desk and pulled out a grey collar and a puptag disguised as the Iron Cross. He then tossed them to the shepherd. "Here's a puptag and a collar to attach it to."
Ace put on the collar (after a few seconds of struggling) and attached the puptag to it. He then stood there and waited for his first orders, like he used to back in the Kriegshunde.
"For your first order under my command, once again, I want you to go investigate and find whatever you can about the PAW Patrol. We need to know everything we can if we're going to defeat them." Locke told him.
"Yes sir." Ace said before beginning his return to Adventure Bay.
Locke turned around to look at the portrait once again and hovered one of his paws over it, he lowered his head and Ace heard him whisper one more thing before shutting the door.
"I'll break that gang apart just for you, Kaye."