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

Fire in the Blood

It was a bright sun shiny day in Adventure Bay. The pups were out playing freeze tag in the yard. "I'm gonna get you!" Everest chortled as she chased down her quarry.

"Not today fluffy!" Cinder softly asserted back. The Dalmatian dodged, ducked, dipped, dived and dodged to avoid the Husky.

"You can do it Everest!" Marshall called from where he was watching, earning him a dirty look from his twin.

"I mean, run Cinder, you've got this!" Marshall swiftly corrected himself.

"Hey, whose side are you on?" Everest yipped accusingly at him.

"I mean, go family go!" Marshall corrected himself one last time.

"That'll work" Everest and Cinder giggled in unison as they continued their battle.

"I don't think Marshall knows which one to cheer for" Skye giggled.

"So he cheers for them both" Chased added with a laugh.

Taking advantage of the distraction, Cinder bolted towards the German Shepherd and Cockapoo. Skye noticed and scattered.

"Wait, where did you go Skye?" Chase asked, looking around.

"Run!" Skye yelled back at him.

"Huh?" Chase said in confusion. At that moment, Cinder sprinted past him, spinning him like a top. "Whoa!" Chase said as the came to a stop.

"I have you now!" Everest cackled as she tagged him.

"Darn it!" Chase said as he froze.

"That's my girl" Marshall cheered.

Meanwhile, Julia and Julius were in the chemistry lab at school. It was their first day in the lab dealing with real chemicals. "Now today, students," the teacher began, " we are going to demonstrate why you must be careful with chemistry. Chemicals are very complex and have many different properties. But when combined, many things can happen. For instance, take ordinary table sugar."

The teach held up a clear beaker full of a white powder. "Perfectly tasty under normal circumstances, and relatively harness. But, it f you mix it with Potassium Chlorate, commonly used to generate oxygen and in a variety of industrial applications."

The teacher took a small tablespoon of both white powdery solids and put them in a separate beaker and suspended it over the sink. "And now, we add a drop of sulfuric acid, commonly used in fertilizer and in the making of other chemicals."

The teacher carefully used a eye dropper to release a single drop of sulfuric acid into the beaker with the Potassium Chlorate and sugar. Almost instantly, a gout of blue and purple flame shot out of the beaker.

"Whoa!" All the students gasped as the tounge of flame licked upwards, and then immediately died out.

"And that was just a small amount of all the reagents" the teacher said, "imagine what could happen if larger amounts were mixed on accident. This is why you must always be careful when working with chemicals in the lab."

The children's all nodded in understanding. "And now," the teacher smiled, "you will each get to try this very same experiment under supervision." Cheers erupted from the class and the teacher smiled.

Back at the Lookout, Everest's had managed to freeze every pup except Cinder. Both pups were running hard as the tried to outmaneuver each other

*Bleep bleep* "Paw Patrol, to the lookout!"

"Ryder needs us!" All the pups exclaimed, turning and dashing for the elevator.

"This isn't over Cinder!" Everest called out.

"I'm counting on it!" Cinder softly called back.

Marshall was already up and walking towards the elevator because he couldn't run. He didn't notice the two pups coming up behind him.

Everest and Cinder were paying too much attention to each other and not enough on what they were about to do. Both of them dove down, intending to come up with Marshall on their back. Instead, each of them was supporting one side of the startled light duty Dalmatian.

"Whoa!" Marshall yelped at the new configuration as Cinder and Everest struggled to get the balance right.

"Uh oh" Rocky yelped.

"Lookout!" Chase cried but of course it was too late.

*Crash*

Heads poked out of the pile of pups. "Sorry guys," Marshall apologized, "it seems my legs are not quite attached to my brain."

The pups all laughed as the doors closed and the elevator took them to the control room.

The pups jumped into their spots in line. Cinder was on the end, next to Everest and wearing a set of Marshall's spare fire gear.

"Paw Patrol ready for action Ryder sir!" Chase sounded off.

"Thanks for hurrying pups" Ryder said as he began the briefing, "we have a fire in the chemistry lab at the school."

All the pups gasped. "We need to hurry over and put the fire out" Ryder continued, "for this mission I'll need Marshall and Cinder." Ryder clicked on the icon for the fire pups. "A bit of role reversal for you two, Cinder you'll attack the fire while Marshall you monitor the situation."

"I'm fired up!" Marshall sounded off.

"Let's walk on the fire side" Cinder softly sounded off.

"Chase" Ryder continued as he tapped the appropriate icon, "you are on crowd control duty. Make sure everyone stays far enough back and that everyone is accounted for."

"Chase is on the case!" Chase sounded off.

"And Skye," Ryder said, swiping to her icon, "provide overwatch and let us know if the fire spreads."

"The pup's gotta fly!" Skye sounded off with her signature backflip.

"Alright, Paw Patrol is on a roll!" Ryder finished. He dashed to his fire pole and slide down to a chorus of barks.

Cinder followed Marshall to the slide. Where Marshall tripped and slid down like a loose cannonball, Cinder was the epitome of grace. The two landed side by side in Marshall's fire truck and Marshall gunned it out of the way, just in time for Chase to land in his truck and Skye in her helicopter. The three vehicles looped down and followed Ryder down the hill and across the bridge towards town.

"What did I miss?" Texas panted as she joined them in the control room. She had been resting in the lounge when she saw all the pups run into the elevator.

"There is a fire in the chemistry lab at the school" Rocky explained, "so they called the Paw Patrol to help."

"But isn't Marshall the fire pup?" Texas asked, "and since he got hurt, he can't pup out the fire!"

"Maybe he can't" Everest said with a smile, "but we know someone who can."

"Who is that?" Texas asked.

"Rocky, bring up the mission display please" Everest sweetly asked.

"You read my mind" Rocky replied with a smile. A few paw clicks later, Texas was staring in awe as the mission unfolded.

"Pretty cool, isn't it?" Everest said, walking up next to the stunned Rhodesian Ridgeback.

"It is incredible" Texas breathed. Then she saw the camera feed from Marshall's fire truck. "Is that?" she asked, not sure what she was seeing.

"It is" Everest said, a hint of pride leaking into her voice, "it just so happens that Cinder is also a fire pup."

Marshall's truck skidded to a stop in front of the school. "Just remember, everything is bark activated" Marshall reminded his sister as they jumped down.

"I remember" Cinder softly confirmed, "arf, water cannon!" The water cannon on her pack extended up, ready to combat the fire.

The chemistry lab was a separate small building from the main school building, about 50 feet away.

"Cinder" Marshall directed, "attack the fire at the doorway on the same side as the rest of the school. I'll bring my ladder over and spray water down from above."

"You got it" Cinder softly replied, "arf, water cannon on!"

Cinder moved into position and began spraying down the doorway. Marshall carefully back his truck into position. "Ruff, ladder!" Marshall rode his ladder up. "Ruff, water cannon!" Marshall directed the spray from his water cannon down onto the fire.

"Ruff, cones!" Chase barked as he drove, laying down a pattern of cones to keep everyone out.

"Ryder!" The principal flagged down their leader.

"Hi Mr. Principal" Ryder replied, "did everyone get out safely?"

"They did" the principal replied, "but there are a lot of chemicals in the lab, and the fire started as a chemical fire!"

"Got it" Ryder replied, "what chemicals?"

"Sugar, Potassium Chlorate and Sulfuric Acid started the main fire" the principal explained, "and there are at least a dozen other highly flammable chemicals in the storage lockers."

"Copy that" Ryder acknowledged, keying his pup pad "Marshall, Cinder,"

"Go ahead Ryder" the two fire pups replied in unison over their tags.

"Be aware that the original source of the fire was a chemistry experiment" Ryder informed them.

"What chemicals?" Marshall asked.

"Sugar, Potassium Chlorate and Sulfuric Acid" Ryder replied.

"Understood" Marshall replied, "Cinder…"

"Arf, Mask!" Cinder barked. The SCBA mask popped out of her pup pack and slid over her face. "Arf, Water Mist!" The pup pack water cannon changed from a solid stream of water to a fine mist of water. "I'm going in!"

Marshall covered Cinder's entry into the chemistry lab from his perch on top of his ladder. Little by little, the fire was forced back.

"Arf, fire axe!" With a hack and a slash Cinder had the door to the lab removed. As she entered, she doused everything in a fine water mist. It was not as effective against a combustibles fire, at least not compared to a hose or water cannon, but the water mist did a great job of soaking the chemicals so they they would not longer react with each other and thus stop feeding the fire. Cinder found the seat of the chemical fire on instinct and experience, and then confirmed it with her heat vision visor as she soaked it with the water mist.

Above, Marshall was doing his best to keep the whole roof cool while still protecting Cinder's exit. Then the warning light on his back started flashing. "Ryder" Marshall said into his tag, 'im going to need more water!"

"Copy that Marshall" Ryder said before turning to Chase. "Chase, get the hose out of Marshall's truck and take the end up to him. I'll connect this end to a fire hydrant."

"You got it Ryder" Chase said before running over to the side compartment of Marshall's truck. Chase found the hose and brought the end up to Marshall. "More water coming soon" Chase said as he hooked the hose to Marshall's pack.

"Thanks Chase" Marshall said, taking a moment to smile at him. "Get another hose ready, Cinder will be low soon too."

At that moment, the warning started to go off on Cinder's pack as well. Her pack actually held more water than Marshall's because it didn't have all the medical gear. But the alarm was percentage based so she actually had a little more time than Marshall had before the pack ran dry. Also, using the water mist was giving her more time fighting the fire anyway.

"Ryder" Cinder softly said into her tag.

"Let me guess, you are running low on water?" Ryder replied.

"Yes" Cinder softly replied, "I have some time though so it is not any emergency."

"Chase is already on it" Ryder replied, "but you'll have to come out to connect the hose."

"Got it, no worries" Cinder softly acknowledged. She kept fighting the fire until the warning flashed critical. Then Cinder carefully backed out of the fire and into the open air.

Chase was waiting for her. "All set" he told her after plugging in the fire hose.

"Charge it up" Cinder softly directed, "I've gotten all the exposed HAZMAT pretty well soaked but there is plenty of fire still to put out. Keep feeding me hose as needed."

"You got it Cinder" Chase replied before running back to the fire hydrant. Putting both paws on the wrench, he pushed until it started turning. Letting the water fill the hose slowly, once it was pressurized he opened the fire hydrant the rest of the way before running back to support Cinder.

It did not take much longer to put the fire out. Marshall barked his ladder down and disconnected the hose before joining Cinder as she came out of the lab. "How does it look inside Cin?"

"Arf, mask!" Cinder softly barked her mask off. "Wet" the Dalmatian softly replied, "it has been a long time since I got to be the one inside the fire."

"Did you enjoy yourself?" Marshall asked with an amused smirk.

"Maaayyybe" Cinder softly giggled, "it was oddly therapeutic to not have to worry about the scene as a whole and just concentrate on fighting the fire."

"I'm glad sis" Marshall said and they shared a headbutt.

"So, Marshall" Ryder said as he and Chase joined them, "what do we need to do for HAZMAT clean up?"

"Scoop the wet powder into a metal container" Marshall replied, "and then dispose of it. Or if Rocky has a wet-dry vacuum with a HEPA filter, that would work too."

Ryder nodded before dialing his pup pad, "Rubble, Rocky."

"Here Ryder" they responded immediately.

"We need you for clean up" Ryder informed them.

"Green means go!" Rocky sounded off.

"Umm, Ryder?" Rubble said hesitantly.

"What's up Rubble?" Ryder asked the young Bulldog.

"Can Texas come too?" Rubble asked, "so she can learn about what we do as a team?"

"Me?!" Texas squeaked as the camera view widened to include her.

"If you would like to, Texas, that would be fine" Ryder said kindly, "just get her your spare pack Rubble."

"Rubble on the double!" Rubble sounded off.

"But I have no idea what I'm doing" Texas protested as Rubble dragged her out of the control room.

"Don't worry" Rubble said as they descended the stairs to the gear room, "we'll teach you."

"The start of a beautiful friendship" Everest whispered to Skye who nodded in agreement.

Rubble and Texas returned moments later, the latter looking slightly stunned from the experience of getting geared up. But fortunately Rubble's gear was not too tight on her. "And now for the best part" Rubble said happily as he led her to the slide.

"If you say so" Texas replied absentmindedly as she followed him.

"WhooHoo!" Rubble yipped as he slide down the slide.

"Are you sure this is safe?" Texas asked as she stood at the top of the slide.

"Only one way to find out" Everest said as she hip-checked the slightly smaller pup.

"Ah!" Texas yelped in surprise as she was suddenly sliding down. But her surprise had changed to enjoyment by the time she reached the bottom and plopped down next to Rubble in his rig. Rocky, Rubble and Texas then headed to the scene.

Chase and Cinder had just finished cleaning up the fire gear when the trio arrived. Marshall was uncharacteristically sitting in his truck doing nothing, with Ryder standing next to him. "This feels unnatural" Marshall was whining to Ryder.

"You've done more than you should have already" Ryder consoled the Dalmatian as Cinder and Chase finished putting the hoses away.

"Yeah, let me work with my own paws for once" Cinder teased her twin.

"Don't make me paw cuff you to your truck" Chase added with a smirk.

Marshall was about to utter a spicy retort when Rocky interjected, "we are here, what do you need?"

"HAZMAT clean up" Marshall explained, "damp white powder, metal sealed container, HEPA filter if you use a vacuum."

"Multiple chemicals mixed?" Rocky asked to which Marshall nodded in affirmation. "Let me see what I have in the truck." With that, the grey mix jumped down and started rummaging through the back of his truck.

"We'll get started then" Rubble said as he jumped down. Texas jumped uncertainly down beside him. "Ruff, HAZMAT suit!" Rubble's pack placed special protective equipment over Rubble's paws and torso before putting a respirator in his mouth. All of it was white with a yellow stripe. "Now, you try Texas" Rubble instructed.

"Arf, HAZMAT suit?" Texas barked hesitantly. Her loaner pup pack obeyed, kitting her out with identical protective gear.

"Follow me" Rubble said and the two pups headed into the lab.

Their boots squished as they stepped through the wet lab. "Ok, let's collect all the white powder into one area" Rubble said, "if any of it isn't damp, let me know so we can have Cinder soak it down again."

"Ok, how?" Texas asked.

"Ruff, shovel!" Rubble barked in reply. The bulldog got to work.

"Arf, shovel" Texas barked, "umm, how do I work this thing?"

"Just think about what you want it to do" Rubble said.

"Umm, ok…" Texas replied. She looked at the shovel sticking out of the pup pack on her back and at some of the damp powder of the floor. Super helpful Rubble the Rhodesian Ridgeback thought to herself, what am I supposed to do, think scoop? When she thought that, the scoop on the shovel scooped the air. Well, I guess so Texas thought.

She turned towards the nearest pile of powder and thought about scooping it. The shovel rotated and scooped the pile. Texas then walked over to where Rubble was piling the powder and thought about dumping the scooped powder on the pile. The shovel performed the action. "This is wierd" she said to the bulldog.

"You'll get used to it" Rubble said with a smile.

"All the pups packs work the same way" Rocky said as he walked in. His HAZMAT suit was white with green stripes. "But you need to be more precise with some of them."

"Rocky swiped Marshall's pup pack once and tried to get Marshall back for all the times Marshall accidentally sprayed him" Rubble told the story, "but ended up spraying himself instead!"

"It was a yucky wet lesson" Rocky added, "I hate being wet."

Texas couldn't help but giggle slightly at the irony of the story.

"Anyway" Rocky said, getting them back on track, "I put together a vacuum with a HEPA filter so we can get this done faster."

"Great" Rubble said, "we'll keep bringing powder here so it is easier for you."

The three pups worked together and soon all the hazardous materials were cleaned up. Rocky then took the material away to dispose of it while Rubble and Texas made sure the structure of the building was stable.

"That was fun" Rubble said as they emerged from the lab and barked off their gear.

"I don't know about fun, but definitely fulfilling" Texas replied.

"Thank you Ryder and Paw Patrol" the principal said.

"No problem, whenever your lab catches fire, just yelp for help!" Ryder declared. "Let's go home pups."

"You looked like you were having fun" Everest said to Cinder after they parked and jumped down.

"Maybe" Cinder softly and coyly replied, "but I need a shower now."

"What if I like my Dalmatians smelling like fire?" Everest asked teasingly.

"And Marshall," Cinder turned to her twin who was walking beside her, ignoring Everest's quip, "you need to clean you gear, it has been too long."

"I haven't used that gear in years, since I became an EMT," Marshall replied, "the last one to use it would have been you or Everest…"

"You should have cleaned your gear after either of us used it" Cinder softly clarified, prompting a laugh from Everest and a sigh of defeat from her brother.

"So what did you think about going on a mission?" Rubble asked Texas.

"It was different" Texas replied, "but I definitely feel like I did something really useful and helpful."

"It's a gweat feeling, isn't it?" Zuma asked.

"I think so" Texas replied, "but, like Cinder said, I think it is time to get cleaned up."

That night, while everyone slept, a shadow crept across the lawn of the lookout. With nowhere to hide, the shadow moved quickly, finally making it to the safety of the shadows around the lookout. Jumping from shadow to shadow, the intruder spared a moment to look inside a red pup house.

It took everything in the shadow's power to just look. Inside, the object of his anger lay sleeping, cuddled up soundly with two other pups. Cinder. That dastardly Dalmatian that was ruining all of his plans. And here she was, totally vulnerable as she lay sleeping with her brother and his girlfriend. He could end her here and now and be done with it.

But despite all the satisfaction that would bring him, he needed to destroy her, which meant she needed to remain alive to experience that destruction. Hearing the noise of a pup stirring, the shadow darted back into the cover of darkness and held his breath.

Chase poked his head out of his pup house and looked around, sniffing the air. He thought he had heard something, or maybe smelled something on the breeze. But he must have imagined it he thought to himself as he heard nothing and smelled nothing out of the ordinary. Satisfied that nothing was amiss, the sleepy police pup turned around and went back to bed.

The shadow exhaled the breath that he had been holding slowly. That had been closer than he wanted but not danger close. The shadow made it the last couple hops to the doorway of the lookout. He popped the cover off of the maintenance access panel and examined the inside.

Wiring and circuit boards, neatly arranged greeted his eyes. This is going to be tricky the shadow thought to himself as he got to work. With some intricate coaxing, the door opened. The shadow slipped inside and let the door shut behind him. Then he noticed another pup, one he didn't recognize. And worse, the pup was stirring.

Texas was asleep inside the lounge in the lookout when something stirred her. She awoke and saw the glass doors close, but no pup in sight. In the few days she had been there, the only middle of the night visitor had been Rubble to get a snack. Feeling slightly peakish, she decided to head to the kitchen to see if she could snag a bite as well.

The shadow's pulse quickened as the unknown pup slowly walked closer. He didn't have much time to disappear. And, he couldn't use any of his many tricks without risking being discovered. Being unfamiliar with the interior layout of the Lookout beyond basic, publicly available information, he tried his best to slowly move into the darkest corners and make himself unseen.

Texas ambled into the kitchen and found it empty. Huh, no one is here she thought to herself, I must have seen the door closing after he left. Unwilling to leave empty pawed, she activated the treat dispenser the way that she had seen the other pups activate it, snagging a couple of treats for herself. Tummy satisfied, she made her way back into the lounge, curled up in her bed, and went back to sleep.

The shadow could feel his heart pounding in his chest as he tried to force himself to relax. The unknown pup, a young female Rhodesian Ridgeback by the look of her, had passed by within feet of him and he had managed to stay hidden. Not trusting his luck to last, the shadow knew he couldn't just try random doors to find what he was looking for. And he could definitely not afford to just hang around the ground floor. So up the stairs he went.

Suddenly, the shadow's head poked up into the control room. While he would have loved to mess around with their systems and create havoc, he would most certainly be caught as there was no covering shadows anywhere. With a sigh of slight vexation, the shadow headed back down. He was unwilling to call his mission a failure but he also had nothing to show for it.

By accident, his hand grazed an unlit door in the stairwell. Initially recoiling, his curiosity almost immediately got the better of him as he tried to open the door. It was unlocked and opened with nothing more than a click of the latch. The shadow slipped inside the dark room.

Carefully closing the door behind him, the shadow paused for a moment. The room had no lights on, which meant he could either turn a light on himself, or fumble about in the dark hoping nothing bad happened. But if he turned on a light, all of his covering darkness would vanish. The shadow decided to flick on a small hand light to try and get the best of both worlds.

A small beam of light shown out from his hand a moment later, revealing the contents of the room. The shadow smiled, by total accident he had found the room he needed. Without further delay, he got to work.

A short time later, the shadow slipped back into the stairwell. He carefully made his way back down to ground level. Quickly checking to see that the coast was clear, he darted to the door. The doors whooshed open with their customary speed and the shadow vanished into the night.

A/N: Special thanks to PawPatrolAllStars for the time and talent of his character Texas.

A/N: Before y'all get excited that I've shifted to a chapter a week, this is the disclaimer saying that I got a lot done and don't count on me posting every week. With some of these chapters being shorter, I might be able to post weekly on occasion when the stars align and everything goes right. But please continue to be patient as I keep working! Have a wonderful weekend!