Marshall woke up and looked at the clock on the table next to him, it was 7:34. He quickly got up, ready for the day ahead of him, and left his room, making his way toward the resort kitchen. When he entered, he saw Jake making everyone food, with Everest and Sarah already sitting at the table, having a conversation.

"Morning Marshall." Everest greeted the Dalmatian as he entered the room. Sarah turned around and also greeted him.

"Morning." Marshall responded.

Marshall sat down at the table and waited. Soon, Jake put plates of breakfast in front of the three pups before making himself a plate.

"So, you two have any plans today? Other then rehearsing?" Sarah asked.

"I think we've done all the rehearsing we need to, we spent almost all of yesterday rehearsing." Everest replied. "But to answer your question, no, not really."

"We could go visit that lake again, we haven't gone there in awhile." Marshall proposed.

"Sure, I'd love to go there again." Everest responded.

"I'ma stay behind, me and Eve already went down there a few days ago." Sarah said.

"Oh alright." Marshall said, trying to think of something all three of them could do.

"You two could go there by yourselves, I don't mind staying behind." Sarah told him.

"Really? You sure you wouldn't have an issue with being left out?" Marshall asked.

"Yeah, There's still plenty for me to do by myself here." Sarah replied. Everest glared at her, knowing exactly what she was doing.

"Alright then. Everest, you still want to go visit that lake with me?" Marshall asked the husky next to him.

"Uhh s-sure." Everest replied, still glaring at Sarah out of the corner of her eye.

They soon finished eating and after having one more short conversation with Sarah, the two left the kitchen to get ready.

"Have a nice trip you two." Jake called out to them as they left the room.

"We will." Everest called back.

Jake and Sarah then turned to one another. "Do you think they'll get together before Christmas?" Sarah asked.

"Likely. With Everest though? I wouldn't be surprised if they weren't together by new year with how nervous she always is around him." Jake replied.

Everest and Marshall were in the lobby, getting their jackets on and grabbing their pup packs, just in case. When they were done getting ready, Sarah entered the lobby and walked over to Everest before they left.

"Have fun on your romantic trip to the lake." Sarah whispered to her, with a smug grin on her face.

Everest rolled her eyes before following Marshall out the door.


Meanwhile, at the lookout

The pups were all in a circle around Ace as he was telling them stories about his time in the kriegshunde. Even Ryder was sitting on the couch, listening.

Eventually, one of the pups asked how he got his scar. Ace went silent for a moment before replying. He lifted his right leg with his other paw and looked down at the ground.

"During one of my missions, my squad and I were engaging the enemy when... during said battle, I took a bullet to the leg. It almost completely shattered the bone and my medic had to bring me to base, where I was medevaced. As you know, this injury eventually led to my medical discharge. Luckily for me, it did eventually heal." Ace explained.

The pups all looked at him, with faces that Ace could tell meant they felt sorry for him. Some of them walked up to him to comfort him, while the rest sat in place, not wanting to overcrowd him. AL, curious, asked if the bullet was ever removed.

"No, the doctors decided it was better to leave it, as apparently trying to remove it could cause more complications." Ace replied.

"So, it'll just be with you? for life?" AL asked.

"As far as I'm aware, yes." Ace replied.

He then asked everyone to back up as they were crowding him a bit. He continued telling them small stories he had from serving for the next hour or so. Eventually, he ran out of stories he could remember off the top of his head, and the pups all separated to do different things.

Chase, Skye, Zuma, and Ace went outside to play freeze tag once again while Rocky descended to the basement before heading down the hallway to a door at the end that led into the garage, where Ryder parked his SUV but Ace had also parked the Fuchs so it could be checked over. Rocky grabbed a nearby toolbox that was always sitting in the garage to repair the vehicles and he went to work checking them over.


On the mountain

Marshall and Everest were at the frozen lake that sat at the end of the trail. They were standing at the edge of the lake, talking and laughing about the stuff they all used to do as pups, such as Marshall's clumsiness (which hadn't fully disappeared but he did get better at controlling it), Rocky's obsession with taking things apart and hoarding whatever he could in his puphouse, and Rubble's constant love of food (wait, that's still a thing).

"I still remember me almost every time, without fail, slamming into everyone at the elevator. Man, you guys must've hated me back then." Marshall said while giggling.

"Don't worry Marshall, we didn't hate you, it was actually hilarious sometimes." Everest responded. "And I honestly found it kind of cute." Everest whispered.

"What?" Marshall asked, not exactly hearing the end very well.

"N-Nothing!" Everest replied, realizing she said it outloud. Marshall shrugged and they continued their conversation. Eventually, they began walking around the lake and saw the hearts they carved into the ice all that time ago.

"Hey, look! The hearts are still here." Marshall said as he went up to them.

"Yeah, they are." Everest said, slowly following behind.

They both looked down at them for a few minutes before Marshall grabbed a nearby stick, sharpened it, and carved a 'M' into the right heart, then handed the stick to Everest.

"What?" Everest questioned.

"Doing something we didn't do all those years ago, carving our initials into the middle of the hearts." Marshall replied while smiling.

Everest looked at the stick before grabbing it and slowly carving an 'E' into the left heart. She then backed up and they both looked at the hearts, Everest began blushing a bit, while Marshall was still unaware.

"Cute." They both heard someone say behind them, they turned around and saw a wolf standing in the distance, at the edge of the tree line. Everest almost fell backward upon seeing them.

"Y-You're the wolf from a few days ago." Everest said. Upon hearing this, Marshall jumped in front of her, ready to fight.

"1) Yes, I am. 2) Relax, I don't intend to cause harm to you or your girlfriend here." The wolf said to them while walking up to them.

"Well 1) She's not my girlfriend. Though I do wish she was. 2) I was informed that you tried to attack her back on sunday." Marshall said to him.

"Sure she isn't... and I don't have a response to the second one, but I swear I'm not here to harm you two." The wolf told them. "Name's Tyrannus." Tyrannus greeted them as he held out his paw.

Marshall and Everest were hesitant to trust him but eventually they accepted, and shook his paw. "Name's Marshall." Marshall introduced himself.

"My name's Everest." Everest introduced herself, still suspicious of him.

"So, what are you two doing out here? In the frozen tundra of this mountain? By yourselves?" Tyrannus asked them.

"We're traveling down the trai-" Marshall got cut off.

"We live in the resort up the mountain." Everest replied, Marshall was confused why she said 'we' when only she lived up here and he was merely visiting but he decided to go along with it.

"Do you now? Why would a short coat canine, such at this Dalmatian, live in such a cold environment?" Tyrannus asked.

"Uhh, Because I wanted to?" Marshall replied.

Tyrannus stared at him for a couple of minutes, clearly thinking about his response. "Alright then, weird but not like it's against the rules of nature." Tyrannus said. "Just so you know, you two are in wolf territory, and I'm sure the rest of the pack wouldn't appreciate visitors, or be as forgiving as I am about you just entering our territory."

"Could you please move then so we could return home?" Everest asked, just wanting to not be near a wolf.

"Ehh, sure. You two be sure to be careful around this area." Tyrannus said to them as he started walking back toward the woods.

"We will..." Everest responded before almost dragging Marshall back up the trail to the resort.

Twenty minutes later, when they got back to the resort, they both decided that maybe they could rehearse the play for a bit longer. It would be much better than returning to the trails currently.


At the lookout

Rocky was still working on the Fuchs in the garage, he was underneath the APC so he didn't see when Ace walked into the garage.

"How's it going?" Ace asked, the suddenness of him being there startling Rocky and causing him to jump and slam his head into the bottom of the Fuchs, Ace then ran over to him as he slid out from underneath and sat up.

"Jesus Ace, can you please not do that?" Rocky said to him.

"Sorry, didn't mean to startle you." Ace apologized.

"It's alright. To answer your question, it's going well. I haven't found any major issues with it." Rocky told him.

"Was anything wrong with it at all?" Ace asked.

"One of the tires was low on air. Apparently, when you were driving through the snow, you drove over something. And whatever it was, was pissed off about it and decided to stab the tire as you drove over it." Rocky replied.

"Maybe it was a stick?" Ace questioned.

"Could've been. Could've also been anything else under the sun." Rocky responded. "But I replaced the tire and it's now good, I haven't found any other issues so I think it's good now. How did your guy's game go?" Rocky asked.

"Went well, I managed to catch Chase again, through cleverness!" Ace replied.

"The power of being clever." Rocky said, jokingly. "Anything else you need?"

"Nah, that was all, thanks Rocky." Ace thanked him.

"No problem." Rocky responded.

Rocky then left the garage, leaving Ace there alone. Ace hopped into the Fuchs, planning to move it back to its normal location but stopped as soon as he sat down behind the wheel. He leaned back in the driver's seat and decided that today was mostly calm, it was already like 4 PM, and the chances of a mission happening were slim to none. Plus, he was exhausted, so he laid there and decided to take a nap while he wasn't actively working.


Several hours later...

A pup was awake late at night, looking at their phone, waiting for someone to answer. They waited and waited until finally, someone answered the call.

"Hello, what do you need ma'am?" The person on the other end asked.

"Are you aware of what you are to do?" The pup asked them.

"Yes ma'am, you want the shepherd dead." The person replied.

"I want Ace Schäfer specifically. I also don't want you to harm the others, I want Ace dead but I'm not willing to harm the PAW Patrol to do it." The pup told them.

"Understood. Are you a hundred percent sure? Once I end this call, there'll be no going back." The person asked.

"Yes, I'm sure. I won't let him get away with what he did." The pup confirmed.

"Alright then, it'll be done tomorrow. Pleasure doing business with you." The person said before ending the call.

The pup sat there, holding the phone in silence. She then opened a nearby drawer and tossed the phone in it before closing it, lying down, and going to sleep.


That's the end of Chapter 7.

Another very short chapter; don't worry, the next chapter will also be longer than normal to make up for it, just like chapter 5. It should be done in a couple of days, but I can't give a guaranteed timeframe.

Anyway, thanks for reading so far, bye everyone!

-König der Könige