*bang* *bang*
Chase was startled awake by two loud knocks on his door.
"Ughhh... what time is it?" Chase groaned quietly to himself as he couldn't quite make out the time on the clock across the room.
*bang* *bang*
"I'm up! I'm up..." Chase yelled before rolling out of bed onto his paws. His eyes were still half closed as he grabbed his put tag off the bedside table, he put it around his neck and switched it on.
*beep* *beep* *beep*
"Right, she still has my charger." Chase thought to himself, remembering how Skye had borrowed his charger two days ago, as his pup tag gave off a low battery warning via three quick beeps.
*bang* *bang*
"I get it!" Chase yelled back as he sluggishly moved towards the door. He opened the door and immediately got blinded by the bright sun shining straight into his pup house.
"Finally, you're awake. It's basically lunch sleepy head." Chase could hear Skye say before his eyes adjusted.
"Oh good, I needed to talk to you actually." Chase said in a hoarse voice as he stretched out his back.
"You do?" Skye asked curiously.
"Yeah, I need my pup tag charger back" Chase said as he rubbed his eye.
"Oh, right." Skye realized.
"I can go get it now." Skye said as she began walking off towards her pup house. Chase closed his door and caught up with Skye.
"Oh, hi." Skye greeted as she didn't think he was going to come with.
"Let's get it quick, I'm starving." Chase said as they reached her pup house.
"Uh, yeah okay." Skye said as she slid her door open. She walked inside as she tried to remember where she put his charger.
"I thought yours was broken?" Chase said, seeing her charger plugged into the wall next to her bed.
"Oh, uhm. I got it to work yesterday." Skye lied.
"Oh right, so where's mine?" Chase asked as he didn't see it.
"I think I put it in here." Skye said as she pulled open a drawer, quickly spotting the charging pad with the cord attached.
"Here you go." Skye said as she handed over the charger.
"Thanks, my was about to die." Chase said before turning around and quickly heading back to his pup house. He put his tag on the charger before walking back out and shutting the door.
"So, uhm, breakfast?" Skye asked, she was standing just outside Chase's pup house.
"Didn't you say it was 'basically lunch'" Chase repeated what she had said.
"Well yeah, but I haven't had breakfast yet." Skye said.
"Why not?" Chase asked, curious about her unusual behavior, Skye always ate breakfast as she said it was the most important meal of the day. Although he wasn't working right now; his brain never seemed interested in just letting stuff go, there was always something behind people's reasonings.
"Oh, well..." Skye began.
"I was waiting for you. But I... I can't say that."
"... I don't know, just wasn't hungry this morning; then I got a little busy." Skye said, her answer seemingly appeasing his curious mind.
"Yeah, I get like that too sometimes." Chase said. They both headed to and walked through the lookout door; grabbing their food before sitting down by the beanbags. No one was on the first floor of the tower, but faint music could be heard from upstairs.
As Chase was eating, his unoccupied mind began rolling back through recent memories; trying to find something to entertain itself with. Shortly thereafter it seemingly found something, a statement in his head carrying no context. It didn't seem very interesting or important, but who was Chase to deny his mind some free time; as it was an important tool for investigations so he best keep it well-oiled.
"What were you busy with." Chase spoke before taking another bite of food. Skye furrowed her brows in confusion as her eyes moved to the side of as if she was trying to recall information to help her understand what he was referring to.
"You said that you weren't hungry at first; then you got a little busy." Chase reiterated what she had said just a few minutes earlier.
"You make it so hard to just tell a white lie." Skye thought.
"Just thinking about yesterday." Skye said, she wasn't exactly lying.
"Yeah, yesterday was fun, but very exhausting." Chase said, again seemingly appeased by her answer.
"Definitely, I fell asleep as soon as we got back." Skye agreed. Both their eyes caught the sound of the lookout doors sliding open, and through them came Marshall.
"Look who's awake." Marshall said as he saw Chase sitting there.
"Hey, I'm almost always awake first." Chase said.
"Well, today you weren't." Marshall smiled as he walked over to both of them by the beanbags.
"Come on Marshall, why..." Skye mentally groaned as Marshall came over. She had nothing against him, just... why did he have to come right now.
"Where's Everest?" Skye suddenly blurted out.
"I think she's still in her pup house." Marshall said as he sat down by them.
"Why aren't you with her?" Skye asked, trying to not sound like she wanted him gone right now.
"Well everyone needs some alone time sometimes, and balance is good. We don't need to be around each other all day every day, we're our own individuals." Marshall said, surprising Skye with the words leaving his mouth.
"Since when was he so insightful?" Skye questioned herself.
"Yeah, of course." Skye agreed still a little stunned at his words.
"Have you seen Rocky?" Marshall asked, as he turned his attention to Chase.
"No, I haven't seen anyone besides you and Skye today." Chase said, looking around the room even though he knew it was empty; he could hear it.
"I saw him and Zuma around earlier, but I'm not sure where they went." Marshall said.
"I mean, it sounds like someone's on the top floor." Chase pointed out as if he listened closely he could hear music playing.
"Oh, yeah." Marshall said, he could hear faint music as well.
"Zuma's probably playing pup-pup boogie, which means Rocky is presumably there too." Chase assumed.
"Let's go get him then." Marshall said before standing back up.
"Wait, why?" Skye asked, jumping into the conversation questioningly as she was seemingly missing context.
"Oh right, we were gonna do something today." Chase explained as he remembered his conversation with Marshall before.
"Oh... you guys have plans today." Skye said.
"Well yeah, but none that Rocky know of; but he'll have to come along anyways." Marshall smiled.
"Yeah, Rocky isn't the biggest chatter so he would have probably declined." Chase said.
"Well, at least besides with Zuma. If he declines we'll just have to carry him away." Marshall joked.
"Let's see if he actually is up there." Marshall said, standing up.
"Okay, just give me a second." Chase said before quickly finishing his food.
"Right." Chase said as he stood up and walked with Marshall towards the elevator. Chase realized that Skye wasn't following; so turned around.
"Are you coming with? I'm sure Zuma would like some company." Chase said as he saw her still sitting where she sat before.
"Oh uhm, no I think I'm just going to head back to my pup house." Skye said.
"Oh, okay, have fun?." Chase said.
"Yeah, something like that." Skye chuckled awkwardly as Chase stepped into the elevator with Marshall waiting for him.
"So fun! We haven't hung out just us three in ages." Marshall couldn't help but be excited as they were bound for the top floor.
"Oh uh, yeah." Chase agreed although his head was in other places. As the elevator reached the top floor they both saw something neither expected.
"Rocky is playing pup-pup boogie?!" Marshall exclaimed in surprise just before the glass elevator doors opened.
"Yeah, I thought he didn't like to dance." Chase said as he was looking at Rocky and Zuma faced away from them; playing pup-pup boogie on the big screen. One of the scores was significantly higher as Rocky seemed to be struggling to put his paws in the right place; at times just looking like an angry horse as he wildly stepped around.
"Hey guys." Chase spoke as the song had just finished. Zuma and Rocky turned around at the sound of his voice.
"Hi Chase, Mawshall." Zuma greeted.
"I didn't know you played." Marshall said, looking at Rocky.
"Oh well, I wouldn't really call it playing, I don't know what I'm doing." Rocky chuckled a little awkwardly.
"But he's twying his best." Zuma smiled causing Rocky to bashfully look away.
"Anyways, me and Chase were going to hang out a little and we thought you wanted to come as well; like old times." Marshall said with an excited smile.
"Oh, I uhm.. what were you planning on doing?" Rocky asked.
"Just chat a little and maybe play some cards." Chase answered.
"Yeah." Marshall confirmed with a smile.
"Uhm, well I was, uh, playing this right now." Rocky said.
"Come on Rocky, it's gonna be fun. Remember all those nights back at the house." Marshall tried convincing him.
"That sounds like fun Wocky, you should definitely spend some time with youw bwos." Zuma said as he playfully bumped Rocky's shoulder. The contact sent a shock through Rocky's body.
"I-I uhm, okay i-if you say so." Rocky suddenly agreed without further struggle.
"Sweet!" Marshall said happily.
"Alright, let's go guys." Chase said.
"Bye Zuma." Rocky said before he walked towards the two close by the elevator.
"Have fun." Zuma smiled before turning back around towards the screen. As the three walked towards the elevator Rocky glanced over his shoulder before disappearing down the elevator, leaving Zuma alone on the top floor.
"Wish I had siblings." Zuma sighed to himself as he looked back at the screen. Even though obviously not biological siblings, Zuma coveted their bond. Not that Zuma and Rocky weren't close, but it felt like both Marshall and Chase could just get Rocky talking just like that.
"I guess they are the first ones he can remember treating him well." Zuma thought back on what Rocky had told him on the beach. A little saddened at the reason behind their bond Zuma shook his head to get his mind off the matter.
"Well, I don't feel like playing alone." Zuma thought to himself before turning off the game. He looked around the empty lookout floor and decided to walk out on the balcony surrounding the tower. A gust of air hit him as he stepped outside, carrying with it the briny smell he had grown to love. Walking over to the railing, he looked over it at the calm ocean in the distance; letting out a relaxed sigh as he emptied his head for a moment.
"I'm so glad my parents let me do this. I can't even imagine what my life would be like without this place." Zuma took a moment to just appreciate everything; his family, his friends, his best friend, and everything else he could see or think of.
"I don't need siblings..." Zuma smiled.
"But I need to find something to do." Zuma thought before he turned back around and walked towards the elevator. Calling it back up as he wondered what he could do now.
"Okay, Chase, Marshall, and Rocky are busy. So maybe Rubble wants to do something?" Zuma was thinking as he walked into the elevator.
"Or maybe Skye?" He wasn't entirely sure what to do as he was usually with Rocky. As the elevator reached the bottom floor he glanced around the room seeing Rubble in front of the TV and Skye walking back in through the lookout doors.
"S-" Zuma was about to call out to Skye but just as he did, he saw Tundra through Ryder's door standing there talking to the boy. Zuma stepped away from the elevator and a little closer to the door, but as he did, Ryder petted Tundra on the head before she walked out. Because of where Zuma was standing she completely missed him, walking straight past him and seemingly towards the door. But as she got to the middle of the room she stopped.
"Uhm, guys, I'm leaving now, I need to get back to my parents." Tundra said to Rubble and Skye who she saw in the room.
"Oh, right, she did say that she was only staying for the party; then she had to go back." Zuma remembered.
"Okay, have a good one then." Rubble said from the beanbags.
"Come and visit again soon." Skye smiled as she walked over and hugged Tundra. As she accepted the hug, she caught a glimpse of Zuma standing a distance away. Her mind immediately went back to yesterday as their gazes met.
"Should I say something?" Zuma wondered as he met eyes with her.
"Y-Yeah, that sounds fun." Tundra answered as she broke the hug.
"But I gotta go say bye to the rest now." Tundra said as she took her eyes off Zuma.
"Yeah, of course, bye." Skye said.
"Bye." Tundra replied as Skye walked back to where she was before. Tundra stood still and turned her head to Zuma, giving him a shy wave goodbye after a second.
"Probably not." Zuma thought. Instead, he just gave a bright smile and a friendly wave goodbye.
"Maybe he doesn't actually care about what happened yesterday." Tundra thought, seeing the happy careless smile on the Labrador's face; it made her feel a little better at least. She smiled back before turning around and walking towards the doors; taking one last glance over her shoulders at the smiling Labrador before disappearing towards Everest's pup house.
"I guess I might be coming back here again then." She said quietly to herself in a relieved tone as she walked up to Everest's pup house. As she got there she could see her through the open door.
"Hi." She greeted, getting the attention of Everest.
"Hi, tundra. I thought you were heading home?" Everest asked.
"I am, I just wanted to say goodbye to Chase, Marshall, and Rocky. But I don't know where they are, I was wondering if you did?" Tundra said.
"Oh yeah, they basically just walked past. I think they were going to Chase's." Everest said.
"Thanks." Tundra thanked before looking toward the blue pup house
"No problem." Everest responded as Tundra walked off. She walked across the asphalt and knocked on his door and after a short second; it opened.
"Oh, hey, what's up?" Chase asked upon opening the door.
"I was just saying goodbye to everyone, I've gotta get back to my parents." She explained as she glanced into the room. She saw Marshall and Rocky sitting on beanbag chairs by the bed, there was also one empty beanbag.
"You're leaving already?" Marshall asked from the other side of the room.
"I was only planning on staying until the party, besides; I haven't seen my parents in a while now." Tundra said.
"Oh right, well, take care then." Marshall said.
"Yeah, stay safe." Chase spoke.
"Have a good day." Rocky smiled from the beanbag.
"Thanks guys, see you around." Tundra said before turning around and seemingly heading back to Everest's before Chase closed the door again.
"He's feeling... uhm, better." Marshall thought to himself as he looked at Rocky. He was acting completely different from yesterday; he was talking to her with a smile.
"So, did you guys actually have anything in mind, or did you bring me here just because." Rocky asked as they hadn't done anything yet; granted they were interrupted by Tundra almost immediately.
"Well no, not really. We could always play cards though, like old times." Chase said.
"Poker?" Rocky asked.
"No poker!" Marshall and Chase quickly said in unison.
"Aww." Rocky sighed.
"We literally cannot win against you, you're always counting cards." Marshall said.
"Math is part of the game." Rocky argued.
"And that's why we don't play poker anymore." Chase said.
"Let's play spades instead." Marshall suggested.
"Sure." Rocky agreed.
"It's even easier to count cards in that." Rocky smiled internally to himself. Chase grabbed the pack of cards out of the drawer and began shuffling them.
"Hmm... I wonder what Zuma thinks of Tundra leaving?" Marshall seemingly spoke his thoughts aloud during the short silence.
"Maybe I shouldn't have said that..." Marshall thought, glancing over at Rocky. He did have a slightly off expression, but Marshall couldn't understand it—it wasn't what he was expecting; it seemed indecisive almost.
"This again? You saw them together once, and now you're convinced." Chase spoke, he wasn't really interested in digging into Zuma's private matters, nor was he convinced that they were actually together.
"Not just once, but fine you win." Marshall said, trying to steer the conversation off that topic. Glancing back to Rocky he still had the same subtle expression.
"Wait, why'd he give up so fast?" Chase thought. Something about that wasn't normal for his best friend.
"Chase is right, they aren't together." Rocky finally said. He had been debating whether to say anything about it or not but decided to do so. After all, there weren't many more whom he trusted more than his brothers.
"Really?!" Marshall exclaimed.
"Uh, yeah." Rocky confirmed. Chase leaned back in the beanbag with a smug smile.
"How do you know?" Marshall asked.
"How do you think he knows Marshall?" Chase responded.
"... Oh right, best friend and all." Marshall realized after a second.
"Yeah..." Rocky answered.
"That must be why he's fine all of a sudden." Marshall thought as a warm smile formed on his face; happy that his brother was feeling better.
"What are you so happy about?" Chase asked, seeing the unintentionally goofy-like smile on Marshall's face.
"Wh- oh, nothing." Marshall said, quickly snapping out of the smile.
"Hmm..." Chase recognized the odd manner Marshall was acting again.
"Pass the cards already." Rocky said as Chase had been passively shuffling them the entire conversation.
"Oh right." Chase chuckled as he looked down at his paws shuffling the cards. He stopped and started tossing the cards onto the floor in front of each of his friends.
"So anything fun going on with you guys?" Marshall said, attempting to start a conversation as he picked up his cards.
"Marshall, we all live here, I think everyone is fairly caught up." Chase said.
"Well, sometimes we don't talk about everything. For example me and Everest, or R- I-I mean uhm, just that; no other examples." Marshall quickly corrected himself. Even though you couldn't tell from Rocky's face, his heart skipped a beat as he knew exactly what Marshall almost said.
"You've been acting weird this whole conversation. You see it too right?" Chase finally spoke his suspicions, looking at Rocky for an answer to his question.
"Be smart about this Rocky." Rocky thought to himself, he noticed his heartbeat slow as he felt a temporary calm wash over him. He felt the 'focus mode' or whatever Zuma called it that one time turn on. He knew Chase was always one for the subtle details, especially now that he had some kind of suspicion.
"No? Not really, but I mean you're the investigator." Rocky chose his words carefully; an unsure no, followed by a recognition of his inferior conversational skills.
"Hm. Still, what's up? What were you going to say?" Chase turned his head back to Marshall, who wasn't doing the best to look composed.
"That, u-uhm, uh." Marshall couldn't think of a single thing else to say. But then, something snapped to his mind.
"You and Skye for example, you don't talk about her at all." Marshall spoke, managing a slight smirk.
"W-What?! What's that supposed to mean?" Chase quickly blurted out.
"I don't know Chase, what does it mean?" Marshall said with a sly shrug.
"I didn't think he could do it." Rocky sighed internally as he felt relieved that Marshall had managed to put Chase on the defensive. But what was he relieved for? He wasn't scared of it anymore, he had accepted it. And besides, these were his brothers.
"Maybe it's because I should tell Zuma first, before anyone else." Rocky rationalized in his head. He didn't even think Zuma felt the same, so what was the point in telling others.
"Maybe I should talk to Zuma..."
"N-Nothing." Chase answered Marshall.
"If you say so." Marshall said in a nonchalant tone, masking the immense relief of him somehow pulling it all together. He probably shouldn't tell everyone what he knew, that Rocky had not even wanted to tell him.
"Maybe I should at least talk to Rocky about that later." Marshall thought. After all, his brother wasn't the most emotionally experienced individual so to speak.
The conversation fell silent much to the relief of everyone, for different, but the same reason. Chase placed out the first card causing the game to commence. The silence allowed Chase to calm himself a little and think properly again.
"They don't... I'm not... It's not that obvious, right?" Chase thought as he didn't think that anyone had noticed his... feelings.
"It doesn't matter anyways, I can't date a member of the team." Chase once again asserted, putting himself in place. His mind put that thought to the side.
"Marshall... did he not want to bring it up for me? Is that why he stopped mid-sentence?" Chase thought about his friend's sentence from before.
"Wait... I couldn't read him, I don't know if he was trying to be nice originally or if he brought up Skye to cover something up. I can always see exactly what Marshall is feeling. Hmm... This... This doesn't feel right. He is never a good liar, and he spoke like he always did when he was playing around. But something felt off." Chase's mental ramble was interrupted by Rocky.
"Have you guys realized that we haven't had any missions lately?" Rocky pointed out.
"Yeah, I've thought about that too. I don't think we've had this much time for ourselves in a while." Chase said.
"Oh yeah, it has been very quiet." Marshall said.
"NOO!" Chase suddenly yelled, barely letting Marshall finish his sentence.
"Ah! W-What!" Marshall jumped in his seat at the sudden noise. Rocky; initially slightly startled quickly realized what happened and rolled his eyes, before going back to memorizing the count.
"Why would you say the 'Q' word!" Chase spoke in an almost anxious tone.
"W-What?" Marshall asked, very confused and slightly worried.
"Chase is worried because you said qui- I mean Q-U-I-E-T. He believes that saying that word in the context of workload will cause a massive amount of missions appear. It is a common first responder superstition." Rocky explained with a sigh.
"It's not a superstition, it's true." Chase asserted.
"Okay." Rocky simply said as he really didn't feel like explaining probability to Chase again.
"Sorry?" Marshall said, a little unsure about what was actually going on.
"Just, don't say that word." Chase said as he looked at his pup tag on the charger pad on his bedside table.
"Come on Chase, it's not more likely to ring now than it was before. Let's just play some cards." Rocky said.
"Fine, we'll continue playing, just don't get too comfortable." Chase said as he looked back at the cards in his hand.
"I'm sure it's f-" Marshall was interrupted by a beep and a red, green, and blue glow.
"Paw patrol to the lookout!" Ryder's voice was heard over the three tags.
"Damnit!" Chase said through gritted teeth as he threw down the cards.
"That timing was... actually never mind, nope." Rocky simply gave up, putting the cards to the floor before running after Chase out of the pup house with Marshall following behind. They sprinted back into the lookout, Chase and Rocky lined up next to everyone else with Marshall slightly behind.
"Whoa!" Marshall slipped and tumbled towards the elevator. Chase bumped Rocky to the side and caught Marshall before he slid by all the way to the back of the elevator.
"I'm good." Marshall said as he stood back up.
"Thanks Chase." Rocky thanked.
"No problem." Chase said as the elevator started ascending.
"I guess youw hangout got cut showt." Zuma said.
"Yeah, but someone needs our help." Rocky said as the elevator reached the emblem. After a short second they all appeared above it, Rocky and Marshall were in suits only Rocky recognized.
"This is different." Marshall said as his gear was only slightly different from usual.
"I was wondering when we were going to need these." Rocky said, looking down at his firefighting outfit, a green fire retardant suit. On his back was his usual pup pack but there was a metal gas tube attached to it; with a tube running to the mask hanging around his neck.
"Did you make these too?" Chase asked.
"Yep, fire retardant suits with an SCBA, and masks." Rocky said as the elevator reached to top. They all jumped out of the elevator and quickly lined up next to each other in front of the screen.
"Ready for action, Ryder sir!" Chase said.
"Thanks for coming so quickly." Ryder said as he turned on the big screen. Infographics started playing.
"There has been a rapport of a fire aboard a fishing boat. The person who called said that they hadn't seen anyone leave the boat so they may be stuck below deck, so we need to hurry. Zuma, Rocky, and Marshall; I need you, I'll brief you on the way." Ryder spoke.
"I'm fired up!"
"Green means go!"
"Let's dive in!"
"PAW Patrol is on a roll!" Ryder said as he ran towards the pole. The three rescuers ran towards the slide and one by one landed in their vehicles. As they all drove down the driveway where they all caught up with Ryder.
"Zuma, you're coming with us over the bridge, we'll need your hovercraft soon." Ryder said over the comms.
"Okay." Zuma responded.
"Right, as you can see; you two have the new fire suits. You'll need to get on Zuma's hovercraft once we reach the beach and then ride out to the boat. Rocky will explain how to work the mask on the way. Once there I need you Marshall to check for anyone trapped. And Rocky, you'll use your tools to help him get through any possibly locked doors or other obstacles." Ryder explained as they passed over the bridge.
"Got it." Rocky confirmed.
"Wight." Zuma replied.
"Okay." Marshall responded as they turned out of Adventure Bay. They drove down the empty coastal road. A long beach runs along the entirety. And after not so long; Rocky spotted something.
"There's someone waving us down up ahead." He said over the comms.
"I see him, that's the caller. You guys turn off onto the beach and follow the plan, I'll go talk to him." Ryder responded.
"We'we on it!" Zuma said as he turned onto the sand followed by the green and red vehicles.
"Guys, come on." Zuma said, motioning for them to get on as their vehicles came to a stop just by the water.
"It's fine Rocky, just stay calm." Rocky thought as he cautiously jumped up into the back seat.
"Uhm, guys? How am I supposed to fit up there?" Marshall asked as he looked up into the hovercraft. Zuma turned his head and looked at the full hovercraft, realizing the issue.
"Uh, wight, someone will have to sit in fwont with me, the seat is much lawgew." Zuma said.
"Get in front Rocky." Marshall quickly said.
"W-What?! Why me!?" Rocky quickly asked.
"You're the shortest." Marshall said.
"I'm not that much shorter." Rocky retorted.
"Well that means you're still shorter, so move, quick." Marshall said as he began climbing up.
"F-Fine." Rocky knew this wasn't the right time to argue. Zuma scooted to the side slightly; still close enough to reach the steering wheel. Rocky quickly moved out of the way for Marshall and climbed over the front seat.
"Let's go!" Zuma exclaimed as Marshall got in his seat, he pressed down on the accelerator and sped off onto the water. Rocky who hadn't even had time to fully sit down was thrust back into the seat; squeezed in between Zuma and the hovercraft interior wall.
"This is awesome!" Marshall yelled over the wind blowing in his face as they went over the small waves.
"Not awesome!" Rocky thought as he hugged the side of the hovercraft interior with closed eyes as if he were going to fly out. His heart was racing as he heard the waves splashing as Zuma drove over them toward the location marked on his navigation system at a high speed. Apparently, the vessel was still running and according to the map was slowly moving away from the shore.
Marshall looked at Rocky tightly hugging the hovercraft interior to his side. His head pressed against the metal and his eyes were tightly shut. Marshall leaned forward and put his paw on Rocky's shoulder, before leaning in his head right next to Rocky's ear with the healed cut.
"There's something better to hug on your right." Marshall spoke relatively quietly into Rocky's ear over the loud wind and splashing. Marshall saw how Rocky's good ear tensed up as his face turned red, yet he didn't move his head nor open his eyes.
Marshall's few words had made Rocky bring some of his attention off the sound of the water and realize how pressed up against Zuma he was. His fur was rubbing against Zuma's as the hovercraft bounced over the waves. His shorter fur finding its way in between Rocky's.
"I see the boat, we'we almost thewe dudes." Zuma said, pointing to a now very visible pillar of smoke. It was rising from what looked to be a fairly big fishing boat, the flames were towering from parts of the deck. It had a big empty net hanging over the deck, that was partially melted from the heat; handing over the flames. The boat looked very old and had clear rust marks over the hull. It very clearly had a lot of space below the deck by how it was resting in the water, presumably to store fish in. There was therefore a lot of space where someone could be trapped.
"How are we supposed to get up on there?" Marshall was looking at the fairly tall boat, not entirely sure how they would get up on it; especially when parts of it were on fire.
"Uhm. Wocky? Got any bwight ideas?" Zuma asked. As the hovercraft slowed down, Rocky lifted his head and looked at the boat, he could feel the heat against his uncovered face. Focus.
"That's definitely too high to climb." Rocky thought, his mind hyper-fixated on the problem. His eyes quickly scanned over everything in his vicinity, before fixating on the small compartment at the front of the hovercraft.
"Maybe... High-density polyethylene, 120 to 130 Celsius, definitely strong enough line..." Rocky thought.
"Wocky?" Zuma spoke again.
"Shoot your life buoy onto the safety railing." Rocky said, pointing to a specific spot on the railing away from the worst of the fire.
"Got it!" Zuma said, pressing a button on his steering wheel causing the compartment to open and launching the buoy. It flew up towards the boat and caught behind the railing, close enough to where Rocky pointed.
"You ready to walk a tightrope?" Rocky said looking back at Marshall.
"Uhh." Marshall uttered.
"You'll be fine, I've seen what you can do on missions; and not to mention pup-fu. Just use your tail to balance." Rocky said as Marshall climbed out to the side of the hovercraft and moved towards the front.
"Zuma put it in reverse, stretch the line." Rocky said, getting out on the side but letting Marshall go first across the line.
"You sure about this Rocky?" Marshall asked.
"Yes, that line is rated for magnitudes your weight, and you have great balance if that's the worry." Rocky said.
"If you say so." Marshall said, taking a cautious step onto the thick line, beginning to walk up the slight incline. He felt the heat against his face intensify as he took careful step after step closer to the railing, until he was close enough to the boat and jumped off the line and onto the metal deck.
"Nice wowk Mawshall!" Zuma shouted. Rocky moved along the side of the hovercraft and put one paw onto the line. He looked down at the water below as a cold feeling washed over him—despite the hot flames lighting his face, it was like he had already fallen back into the water.
"You got it Wocky." Zuma encouraged, seeing his friend seemingly frozen by the line.
"Y-Yeah." Rocky snapped out of it. Looking straight forward before taking a hesitant step forward on the line, and then another, and another.
"Caweful." Zuma said quietly to himself as Rocky walked on the line over the water. Rocky knew exactly how to balance most efficiently, but still, his knees couldn't help but feel unsteady and shake the rescue line ever so slightly.
"Just stay calm and everything will be fine." Rocky whispered to himself. Taking step after step until he reached the railing and jumped down onto the deck.
"Let's move Marshall." Rocky said as he pulled up the mask from around his neck. Putting the mouthpiece over his mouth as the big glass visor fully sealed his fire suit.
"You never showed me how the mask works." Marshall said as he pushed up the mask with one paw.
"Right. It's easy, just tighten it around your face and it should turn on automatically, if not press the button on your SCBA." Rocky said, muffled by the mask he was tightening.
"Uh, okay." Marshall said before starting to tighten the mask around his face.
"That feels like it's turned on." Marshall thought as with every breath he felt new cold air enter the mouthpiece.
"I'm good." Marshall said as he pulled a little more on one of the straps.
"Let's hurry." Rocky said before both of them ran out of view from Zuma who was still in his hovercraft. He pressed on the pup tag hanging around his neck.
"Wyder, they awe on the boat now." Zuma said over his pup tag.
"Have you found anyone yet?" Ryder asked.
"Not yet, they awe going below deck to look." Zuma said.
"Hm, okay keep me posted. I was talking to the caller and there's something that's not right about that boat." Ryder said.
"Hmm? What do you mean?" Zuma asked, a little confused by Ryder's tone of voice.
"The caller is a dockworker, he said he had seen the boat multiple times in a dock not far from here. But apparently, it had never brought anything back to the dock, even though it's a fishing boat." Ryder said.
"Maybe they just didn't catch anything." Zuma said.
"Tell me if they find anybody." Ryder said.
"Okay." Zuma said.
Meanwhile
Sparks were flying from the door, thankfully the glass visor was stopping them from hitting Rocky straight in the face.
"Ruff! Angle grinder." Rocky called out causing the tool to go back inside his pup pack. He pushed on the metal door causing it to swing open. A wall of smoke wafted past the two.
"I'm glad we've got these masks." Marshall said.
"What?!" Rocky yelled as he couldn't hear a word of what Marshall said through his mask.
"I said-!" Marshall was cut off.
"Turn on the communicator!" Rocky yelled.
"What?!" Marshall yelled back.
"Tu-! Hold on!" Rocky pressed a button on Marshall's mask.
"Sorry, forgot to tell you about that." Rocky said, now being clearly heard through the small speakers next to Marshall's ears in the suit.
"Let's go." Marshall said, a lot of the smoke had cleared out and he could somewhat see a set of metal stairs just after the door. Rocky followed closely behind as they walked down the stairs. The below deck was dark, the lightbulbs had shattered from the heat. The room was flooded, and the water appeared to be slowly rising.
"I'm so glad I got the expensive fire retardant cloth, it's waterproof too. I love synthetic fibers." Rocky thought as he stepped into the thigh-high water.
"I don't see any fire down here." Rocky said as he looked around the dark room.
"I don't see much of anything." Marshall said as he tried to look for a door.
"Here." Rocky said as he flicked on the flashlight on Marshall's mask before doing the same on his.
"The smoke is coming through the ventilation." Marshall pointed out as he saw smoke coming out of a vent in the ceiling.
"This way." Rocky said as he spotted a short corridor with a few doors.
"I'll take the left and you right." Marshall said as he sprinted towards the corridor.
"Got it" Rocky said as he ran towards the first door on the right. He pushed open the ajar door, inside was an empty sleeping quarter. There were six beds but only two had actual mattresses and sheets in them.
Marshall opened his first door, and the sudden influx of air caused flames to erupt from the door momentarily.
"Jeez!" Marshall was startled by the flames.
"What?" Rocky asked over the communicator as he walked to the next door.
"I think I found where the fire started." Marshall said. Looking into a room that strangely reminded him of a workshop, or a laboratory perhaps, but that didn't make any sense to Marshall. There were flasks on countertops, and on the floor was what looked to be remnants of a portable gas burner; presumably the cause of the fire.
"I'm going to the next room." Marshall said as he shut the door, deeming the room to be empty, or if it wasn't, they were long gone.
Marshall sprinted as fast as he could in the rising water toward the next door. He twisted the bulkhead hand wheel before pushing the door open. There was no resistance as the room was dry, the water from the corridor rushed inside; pushing the door wide open.
"Uh, Rocky?" Marshall asked in an uncertain voice.
"Yeah? Found someone?" Rocky answered as he came out of the last room on his side of the corridor.
"Come look at this." Marshall said, ignoring Rocky's question.
"Okay." Rocky said as he walked as fast as he could through the water.
"What's up?" Rocky asked as he made it next to Marshall. Marshall gestured into the room. Rocky poked his head past the door and looked inside. He saw a small room with tables, and on the tables were big ziplock bags filled with pink, blue, green, and white pills. There must have been at least a hundred bags on tables and scattered on the floor. There was a scale with one of the bags on top of it, next to a cabinet of more glass flasks and some other stuff Marshall saw in the other room.
"This isn't a fishing boat Marshall." Rocky said.
"Uh-huh." Marshall simply said.
"There's no one aboard, let's get off this before something goes wrong." Rocky said.
"Yeah." Marshall agreed. Rocky began walking through the water that now went up past his legs with Marshall following behind.
"We're those...?" Marshall began.
"Drugs? Most likely, yeah." Rocky said as they began walking up the stairs. And upon reaching the top they could see the orange afternoon sky, and the tall flames from the other side of the boat.
"Let's get off this hot mess." Marshall said before they sprinted towards where Zuma had shot his buoy. And as they reached the railing Rocky pulled off his mask.
"Come closer!" Rocky yelled before putting the mask back on to keep away from the intensifying heat. He grabbed the buoy and unstuck it from behind the railing, then throwing it overboard as Zuma moved in closer to the boat.
"Marshall, we're gonna drop down." Rocky said as he looked over the edge at Zuma parked right below; reeling in his buoy.
"Do it quickly, it's starting to get real hot in this suit." Marshall said.
"Yeah it's bound to, insulation goes both ways." Rocky said as he climbed over the railing.
"Watch out Zuma, I'm dropping!" Rocky yelled down as he was lining himself up with the back seat.
"Okay just kick away from the wall." Rocky thought as he hesitated for a second.
"Uhm, Rocky I'm basically spit-roasting my tail up here." Marshall said.
"Right." Rocky said before letting go, falling for a split second before landing somewhat neatly in the back seat. Except for the fact that he bounced off the seat onto the floor.
"You alwight dude?" Zuma asked as Rocky quickly stood up.
"Yeah." Rocky groaned slightly, climbing over the front seat to give Marshall space to land.
"Whoa." Marshall exclaimed before he landed on the backseat with a soft thud.
"Oh, I'm actually good." Marshall smiled as he realized that he had landed perfectly fine. Rocky quickly climbed back over the seat to the back.
"It's a bit full back here." Marshall said as he was squeezed back in his seat by Rocky.
"Zuma needs to be able to drive, besides we're not going far." Rocky quickly reasoned. Marshall just looked at Rocky with an expression clearly stating his mind 'Seriously?' Before rolling his eyes.
"Was thewe no one on that entiwe boat? And awen't we going to put it out?" Zuma asked as he pulled away from the boat.
"Talk to me when we get home." Marshall whispered to Rocky.
"The fire is too big to put out before it sinks, and there is no one onboard. So, letting it sink will solve the fire problem since we can't do anything about the sinking 'til the fire's out. But there was also some... other stuff in there." Marshall said.
"Othew stuff?" Zuma asked.
"That boat was a mobile drug lab, or that's what it looks like at least." Rocky explained, and before Zuma could respond Rocky was already pressing the radio on his pup tag.
"Ryder, the boat was empty, but we found something else. A room filled with tens of bags filled with pills." Rocky said over his tag.
"I knew there was something not right with that boat." Ryder said.
"You know something we don't?" Rocky asked.
"Yeah, Zuma will catch you two up. I've gotta call Chase." Ryder said.
"Got it, out." Rocky said before ceasing communications.
"Sir, can you stay here please." Ryder asked, looking at the man who called.
"Yeah." He responded.
"Okay, we just need you to answer some questions in a minute." Ryder said before turning away from the man and radioing Chase on his pup pad.
"Chase, come in." Ryder spoke over the radio.
"Ryder, sir!" Chase quickly responded.
"I need you over here, we've got a possible narcotics case." Ryder said.
"On my way." Chase responded, you could hear him quickly standing up before he stopped sending audio.
After a short while Ryder could see Zuma's hovercraft pull up by the green and red vehicles parked by the shore. Two figures climbed out at the same time from the small back seat and jumped down. He saw one of them tumble and end up on his back before quickly popping back up and correcting his helmet. They got into their separate vehicles and drove over to Ryder.
"Hey Wydew." Zuma said as he stopped a short distance away.
"Hey pups, Chase should be here any minute." Ryder said, and as if on cue they all noticed flashing lights coming down the road not too far away. He quickly pulled up close to the rest.
"Ruff! Notepad. What's the situation?" Chase asked as he jumped out of his vehicle with the notepad from his pup pack extended.
"Rocky, Marshall." Ryder said.
"We found a room filled with ziplock bags of pills, alongside a bunch of glass flasks and such." Rocky explained what he saw.
"And I also saw a room that looked like a laboratory, there were a bunch of those flasks in there but they looked to be in use." Marshall added.
"Hmm, okay. Do you know what caused the fire, Marshall?" Chase asked as he was writing down something in the notepad.
"I can't be entirely sure but there was a gas burner on the floor in the lab-looking room. It was the only room below deck that was on fire so my current assessment would suggest that the gas burner fell over and lit something on fire." Marshall said.
"How come that was the only room on fire below deck?" Chase asked.
"The door was closed and I assume the fire got out through a rust hole in the ceiling. The boat wasn't the most modern." Marshall said.
"Anything else?" Chase asked without looking away from the notepad.
"The boat was sinking, so it probably hit something." Rocky pointed out.
"Okay, thank you." Chase said as he flipped a page in the notepad. He turned and walked over towards who he assumed was the caller; he was standing a little bit away on his phone.
"Sir?" Chase got the attention of the man.
"Yep." The man simply acknowledged as he put his phone away.
"I'm gonna need to ask you a few questions." Chase said.
"Go for it." The man seemed unbothered.
"First of all, can I get your name and a means of contact?" Chase asked.
"Yeah it's James Gall, and I should be reachable on 425-387-7981 most of the time." The man said.
"Okay, thank you James. Now, do you have any information about the boat you called in about?" Chase asked.
"Well as I said to him over there." James pointed to Ryder.
"I've seen the boat around the dock I work at a couple of times. Every time I've seen it come to port it's never had any fish." James said.
"Makes sense." Chase thought.
"Do you know who owns the boat?" Chase asked.
"No idea." James responded.
"Any identification you can remember." Chase continued.
"No." James answered.
"This isn't going anywhere." Chase thought.
"Okay, you're free to leave, we may contact you for further statements." Chase said as he retracted his notepad.
"Okay, have a good one." He said, walking back towards his car by the road.
"You too sir." Chase sighed under his breath.
"I need to talk to Ryder, maybe he got something from him." Chase thought as he turned his attention to Ryder and the rest.
"Do we know who owns the boat? Do we have any evidence? The bags?" Chase asked, interrupting a conversation between Ryder and Marshall.
"No, it's all still on the boat." Rocky said.
"And no we don't know who owns it." Ryder said.
"Hmm... well we definitely need the suspected narcotics if this is going to go anywhere, and an owner ID is a good start. Zuma can you bring me out to the boat?" Chase asked.
"Uhm, dude. It's sunk by now, the smoke is gone." Zuma said, pointing towards the ocean.
"Well, then I'll have to use your scuba gear." Chase said.
"Chase, you'we not expewienced enough to wweck dive solo, especially not at night dude." Zuma said.
"Yeah, Zuma's right." Ryder agreed.
"I need to get on that boat." Chase said.
"Hmm..." Ryder thought for a second.
"Alright, Rocky? You think you can fix up one of Zuma's old pup packs?" Ryder asked.
"Easy." Rocky responded.
"Okay great. Zuma, you and Chase will dive down together tomorrow when it's light out." Ryder said.
"That works for me." Chase said.
"Do you still wemembew the basics?" Zuma asked, looking at Chase.
"Yeah." Chase spoke confidently.
"Okay, then that wowks fow me too." Zuma said.
"Rocky I need you to start working on that pack then." Ryder said, turning towards Rocky.
"On it." Rocky said, beginning to walk towards his vehicle.
"Let's get home pups." Ryder said as he stepped onto his ATV.
"I need to layout what I've got so far." Chase thought as he stepped into his cruiser.
"Hey Ryder? Can you bring the corkboard to my pup house?" Chase asked.
"Good idea." Ryder agreed before turning his ignition. All five of them drove off on the shoreside road back towards Adventure Bay—and the lookout.
A short while later
Rocky pulled into his parking space and jumped out of his truck. Transforming it as Zuma, Chase, and Marshall pulled into their own respective spaces as well. Marshall saw from his fire truck how Rocky disappeared into his pup house. But shortly thereafter Zuma also got out of his vehicle and followed Rocky into his pup house.
"Hmm, this seems counterintuitive; but I need to speak with Rocky." Marshall thought as he had a plan in mind. Looking to his other side he saw Ryder walking over to Chase's pup house—carrying the corkboard he had asked for. Marshall waited as Ryder handed it to Chase before he walked back towards the lookout leaving Chase alone in the blue pup house.
Marshall jumped out of his fire truck and transformed it, before walking over to Chase's door. He raised his paw and knocked on the door.
"Come in Marshall." Chase said loudly to be heard through the door.
"What..." Marshall was confused about how he had known that it was him. Marshall opened the door and saw Chase hanging up the large corkboard on the back wall.
"How'd you know it was me?" Marshall asked.
"Well first off, Rocky immediately went into his pup house and Zuma was going in that direction too when I went inside; so they were off the table. Secondly, Everest, Skye, and Rubble were still on the top floor when I walked inside, I could hear the pup-pup boogie music and their voices; leaving them no time to already be down here. Thirdly, Ryder was just here, so it would be unlikely for him to return, and also knock since he was just here. So that leaves you, and the fact that I heard your fire truck just transform would suggest you were the one knocking." Chase said without turning around as he fixed the corner to the wall.
"Oh..." Marshall simply said, impressed by Chase's deductions. Chase turned around with the board now being fixed to the wall.
"And then there's also the fact that you always knock with two knocks then a short pause before a last tap." Chase chuckled.
"Oh." Marshall said in a much less impressed tone.
"Anyways, what's up?" Chase asked.
"Oh right, I need a favor." Marshall said.
"Shoot." Chase said, waiting for Marshall to explain what he needed.
"I need you to tell Zuma that you want him to explain over the scuba basics again." Marshall said.
"W-" Chase was about to ask why, but he saw the look Marshall was giving. It was a look he, Marshall, and Rocky were all aware of, but they never talked about it. It was subtle. Chase knew to just trust Marshall, like he and Rocky had done for him when he needed.
"Sure." Chase simply responded, no questions asked.
"Thanks." Marshall said as he walked out of Chase's and into his own, leaving the door open.
He heard Chase walk past and towards Rocky's, and then he heard a set of firm knocks before the door slid open. A short exchange took place, Marshall couldn't quite hear any of the words clearly. Two sets of footsteps came closer before another door opened, this time closer. A short silence. The door shut again and Marshall saw Chase and Zuma walk past his open door, presumably towards the blue pup house. Zuma was carrying what Marshall recognized as the nonfunctional scuba gear they had all trained with at one point.
"Thanks Chase." Marshall said quietly to himself as he stood back up and walked out of his doorway. The sky was quickly darkening, on one side of the sky the sun was just barely lighting it up with its last orange rays, whilst on the other side the stars were faintly visible as the atmosphere became clear in the dark.
Marshall walked over to the green pup house and saw the door still open from when Zuma left. He walked inside and closed the door behind him, it shut softly with the dampeners Rocky had installed. Marshall turned around and saw Rocky faced away working on something on top of his desk, seemingly unaware that Marshall was behind him.
"Rocky." Marshall chuckled at how the name still held true. He walked over to Rocky's bed and laid down in it, first then as he was partially in front of Rocky did he notice him.
"Hey Marshall." Rocky said, moving his attention back to whatever the—to Marshall—complicated device on his table was.
"Hey, what are you doing?" Marshall asked.
"Fixing up Zuma's old regulator. It needs a new mouthpiece to fit Chase too." Rocky said as he split apart something cylindrical on his desk.
"Sounds interesting." Marshall said, not entirely sure what that meant.
"Yeah." Rocky said in an absent voice as he wrote something down.
"So... Zuma wasn't dating Tundra, huh?" Marshall said. The tip of Rocky's pencil snapped off.
"I-I, uhm yeah." Rocky cleared his throat before he opened a drawer and looked for a pencil sharpener.
"You wanna talk about it?" Marshall asked. Rocky stopped rooting in the drawer and was silent for a moment.
"I... I..." Rocky began but didn't know what to say.
"When are you going to tell him?" Marshall asked softly.
"How... how do I know if he, u-uhm, l-likes me back?" Rocky asked.
"You won't until you ask him." Marshall said.
"B-But what if I mess everything up?" Rocky asked quietly, staring straight through his desk.
"W-What if he thinks I'm weird?" Rocky continued.
"Of all dogs—you think Zuma would think you're weird?" Marshall asked.
"N-No, I mean l-like... we've been friends for so long and- and, I-I don't want to mess something up." Rocky said, nervously swallowing as he rolled a screwdriver between his paws. Marshall stood up from the bed.
"I'm sure you won't." Marshall said as he leaned against the side of Rocky's desk.
"I... I don't think I can do it." Rocky's said, his voice becoming unsteady.
"There's that word 'Think', that's your head messing with you. But what do you want to do?" Marshall asked, poking Rocky straight in the chest.
"I-I don't know." Rocky said, tears welling in his eyes. Not knowing something that felt so familiar was scary to Rocky.
"You don't know—you feel." Marshall said, emphasizing the last part as he poked him right over his heart. Rocky could feel his nose sting a little as he listened to Marshall's words.
"...I-I, I wanna hug him! I w-wanna hold his paw!" Rocky burst out crying.
"Good job, bro..." Marshall said, tightly embracing his brother. Rocky buried his face in Marshall's shoulder as he hugged him back, needing something to hold onto.
"...feelings are hard sometimes." Marshall continued as he was gently rubbing Rocky's back.
"I- I- I-" Rocky was taking shallow sharp breaths. It felt like he was physically hurt, having a hard time to breathe properly. He was scared that his own body was doing this to him.
"It's okay, just breathe." Marshall said softly.
"I love him! I really do!" Rocky cried out into Marshall's shoulder.
"I know you do." Marshall said emphatically.
"I-I want to tell him." Rocky's voice was muffled by Marshall's shoulder.
"Then you need to do that, listen to your heart." Marshall encouraged. Suddenly Marshall's pup tag briefly lit up blue with a beep.
"Shit, uhm, ah..." Marshall quickly triple-tapped his pup tag.
Chase's pup tag briefly lit up red with a beep.
"Uhm, uhm, uhm." Chase slightly panicked before pulling himself back together. He quickly sprinted out his door and stopped just outside.
"Hey Zuma!" He yelled, getting the attention of the Chocolate Labrador that was walking back towards the green pup house.
"Yeah?" Zuma asked.
"I just have a quick question." Chase stalled.
"Suwe." Zuma said, walking back towards Chase so he didn't have to yell.
"What's up dude?" Zuma asked.
"You said that you dive with compressed air, right?" Chase was drawing out the question.
"Yeah, most of the time, since we nevew weally have to go supew deep. Why?" Zuma asked.
"How deep can you go with compressed air again?" Chase remembered his whole explanation perfectly, but he hoped Zuma would go and over-explain it again.
"Compwessed aiw divews are limited at fowty-five metews. It's because oxygen has a toxic effect at highew pressuwes, and nitwogen essentially becomes a nawcotic—it'll knock you out. That's why you need to use an oxygen-helium mix fow extended dives ow if you need to go deepew." Zuma explained.
"Why didn't he just summarize it like that the first time." Chase couldn't think of anything else to ask.
"Do you undewstand?" Zuma asked.
"Yeah, thanks." Chase gave a smile.
"Okay, let's hope Wocky can upgwade my old wegulatow 'til tomowwow." Zuma said as he turned around towards the green pup house again.
"Yeah." Chase said.
"I hope that was long enough for whatever you're doing." Chase thought as he looked at Zuma walk off before Chase stepped back into his own pup house.
"Ruff! Notepad." Chase called out his notepad as he stared at the corkboard in front of him.
"Okay, I need to identify the ship and its owner. It might possibly be stolen?" Chase wrote it down in his notepad before ripping out the page and hanging it on the board with a thumbtack.
"I need to test at least one of the bags on the ship." He wrote it down and hung it up.
"There isn't much else to go off right now." Chase stood in thought as he stared at the pieces of paper in the corner of the corkboard.
"Hey." A familiar cheery voice called out from behind him.
"Oh, hey Skye." Chase responded as he turned around to face her. She was standing in his open doorway—he must've forgotten to close it.
"Whatcha up to?" She asked.
"Working on a case." Chase responded.
"Oh right, the boat thing, Ryder told us about that." Skye said.
"Yeah." Chase said as he glanced back at the corkboard.
"Do you have any suspects?" Skye asked.
"No, right now I haven't got a thing. Me and Zuma are supposed to be diving down to the boat tomorrow." Chase explained.
"Oh, so you don't have any work to do right now?" Skye asked.
"No, not really." Chase said.
"Great! Let's do something, I'm bored." Skye said happily.
"S-Sure, I uhm, but what though?" Chase asked.
"What were you doing with Rocky and Marshall earlier?" Skye asked.
"Well, we tried to play some cards but—you know." Chase said as he pointed to the messy pile of cards that were hastily thrown to the floor earlier.
"Let's play then." Skye said as she threw herself down on one of the beanbags.
"Okay, but what do you want to play." Chase asked as he walked over to the cards on the floor.
"Teach me something." Skye said.
"How about blackjack?" Chase asked as he gathered up the cards.
"Is it hard?" Skye asked.
"Not if you can count to twenty-one." Chase chuckled slightly.
"Okay let's do that then." Skye smiled.
"The whole premise of the game is to get to twenty-one but not go over ..." Chase began explaining the game to Skye.
"Thanks Chase." Marshall whispered quietly to himself, looking into the blue pup house—not wanting to interrupt. He turned around and walked towards the lookout door, but as he passed by the green pup house he walked a little slower and listened.
"You okay dude?" He heard Zuma ask through the slightly ajar door.
"Y-Yeah, why?" Rocky asked hurriedly.
"You'we eyes awe wed." Zuma pointed out.
"O-Oh, I, I, uhm, I just accidentally g-got some valve lubricant in them when I was taking the regulator apart." Rocky lied.
"Oh no! Isn't that bad?!" Zuma asked worriedly.
"No, no! It's fine, you could probably drink it if you wanted. It just stung a little." Rocky quickly assured him.
"He's got it." Marshall thought to himself as Rocky's lies seemed convincing enough.
"Hm, I wonder what Everest has been up to today?" Marshall wondered as he picked up his pace again—heading for the door. He walked into the lookout and at the same time, Everest and Rubble came down the elevator.
"Marshy!" Everest excitedly called out as the elevator door opened. She ran over to him and nuzzled his cheek.
"Hi." Marshall said quietly as his cheeks flushed a little and a small giddy smile grew on his lips.
"I missed you." Everest said.
"It's only been a few hours... but I missed you too." Marshall said.
"Have you eaten yet?" Everest asked.
"No, I'm hungry." Marshall said.
"Me too, let's eat." Everest suggested, nudging Marshall along as she began walking towards the food dispenser. Marshall grabbed his red bowl and filled it up, followed by Everest with a gray guest bowl.
"Where do you wanna sit?" Marshall asked as they walked back over to the common area.
"Mmm... you decide." Everest said.
"How about here then." Marshall said as they walked over to a part of the carpet in the center of the room. They sat down next to each other, and Marshall who had eaten way too little for lunch quickly dug in.
"Calm down, you're gonna choke." Everest giggled.
"I'm fi-*gck* *cough*" Marshall momentarily choked on a piece of food.
"I told you." Everest tried not to laugh.
"Yep, sorry, you're right." Marshall spoke a little hoarsely.
"You okay?" She asked.
"Yeah, thanks." Marshall answered. He couldn't help but just to look at her next to him as she ate. Everything was just perfect, her cute fluffy ears, soft well-groomed fur, and warm smile. Everything was so vibrant in Marshall's eyes, but then, the dull gray bowl—sitting next to his bright red one.
"Hm." Marshall let out a quick sound as he thought.
"What?" Everest thought she heard him say something so raised her head back up and looked at him.
"Oh, uh it was nothing." Marshall said.
"That's a lie." Everest said blankly.
"Sorry, I was just thinking about something, it just isn't important." Marshall corrected himself.
"Thanks." Everest smiled before lowering her head for some more food.
Marshall was stuck in his head, just thinking, about nothing in particular. Having a nice quiet time as he finished his food. His eyes wandered around the room, reminiscing about all the nice memories from just this room alone. But then his eyes glanced over to the corner where Zuma and Rocky usually sat, it reminded him of the conversation he had with Rocky just before.
"You can do it bro." Marshall thought, but he couldn't help but to worry for his brother. Rocky had a big brain, sometimes a little too big for his own good.
"What's wrong?" Everest had been looking at Marshall for a while, but he had been too lost in thought to notice. She saw the worried expression on his face as he stared off to somewhere in the room.
"I'm fine, it's just... about a secret I promised to keep." Marshall said.
"Oh, I see, as long as you are okay." Everest didn't question it any further.
"Thank you." Marshall thanked as she didn't ask any further. Everest gave a small reassuring smile.
"Well, I'm done." Everest said before looking through one of the windows.
"And it's getting late." She pointed out.
"Should probably head to bed." Marshall said.
"Yep, I was thinking the same." Everest agreed. They stood up together and returned their bowls before heading out of the lookout. As they were walking, Everest suddenly snorted.
"Hey, marshy look." Everest said in a hushed tone and pointed somewhere. Marshall traced her point to Chase's pup house, and through the door, he saw Chase and Skye passed out in beanbags opposite each other—Chase appeared to have been holding the entire deck as there were cards all over and around him.
"How?" Marshall was perplexed how Chase had managed to fall asleep like that.
"Cute." Everest said.
"Yeah." Marshall agreed with a chuckle. He walked over to the blue pup house and shut the door.
"Now, sleep." Marshall yawned.
"Okay." Everest agreed as she followed Marshall walking to his door. He opened it and was about to turn around and say goodnight but Everest walked right past him into his house.
"Uh, okay." Marshall thought as he blushed a little again. He closed his door and turned around, seeing Everest already getting into his bed.
"Are you coming? I thought you were tired." Everest said.
"Y-Yeah." Marshall quickly stepped over to the bed and laid down. Everest cuddled up a little closer to him. Marshall had a warm smile on his face as he shut his eyes.