This story takes place immediately after the events of 'Ace of Spades'

I highly recommend going to read that story first before reading this one.

Shortly after Sierra found out Locke had failed.

1 year ago.

A pure white husky rushed into the apartment and frantically looked around before finally grabbing a pair of scissors and a few bottles of hair dye and racing to the sink in her apartment.

She quickly trimmed her hair and colored it so she no longer looked like a husky; she now resembled a German Shepherd. She wasn't sure if anyone would be fooled by it, but it was her only chance of blending in. Next, she rushed back to the main room and picked up her passport and ID, which had her name listed. She wasn't sure if Ace had told anyone her identity, but she wasn't taking any chances. She grabbed a lighter and lit the papers on fire, reducing them to ashes. When they were completely gone, she held her customized pup tag and called the tag number she never thought she'd have to call again

"Hello, This is Wilhelm Ju-" The voice on the other end got cut off.

"Hey, Juniper. I need to cash in a few favors, can you secure me with a false identity?" Sierra asked him.

"Yes, I think I can do that. Why though? If I may ask." Juniper asked.

"The reason why isn't important right now, I just desperately need one." Sierra responded.

"Alright, I'll try to get you one." Juniper said.

"Thanks." Sierra replied, she sat there in silence until Juniper hung up.

Sierra went to the mirror in her apartment to see how she now looked. It wasn't amazing, any other shepherds likely wouldn't be fooled by it, but she was sure it'd fool most other breeds.

Present day.

Ace woke up in his room early in the morning, as he always did. Before getting up, he glanced around his room and spotted something left on his bedside table; he got up and picked it up, examining it more closely. It was a small box of some sort. As he was examining it, he noticed it said 'From Chase' on it. Ace sighed before opening the box, and when he saw what it contained, a smile grew across his face.

"Thanks, dad." Ace whispered, he then stood up and got his gear on before leaving his room. When he entered the hallway that connected all their rooms and the elevator, he saw Chase standing in front of the elevator with Skye next to him; she was clearly just woken up and tired.

"Hey Ace." Skye said, sounding like she was about to pass out once again.

"Hi, Didn't get much sleep?" Ace asked.

"No, I did. It's just someone had to so rudely interrupt my nap." Skye said while jokingly pushing Chase.

"Sorry about that." Chase apologized, he then called out his megaphone. "Ace, you and Skye should probably go ahead and go upstairs before you lose your hearing."

Skye quickly agreed before hopping into the elevator, Ace slowly following. They both ascended up to the first floor, when they left the elevator, they heard Chase tell all the other pups to wake up through the megaphone.

"That megaphone is so damn loud!" Skye exclaimed.

"I mean, it is a megaphone. That is their purpose." Ace responded.

So far, during his time in the PAW Patrol, Ace had picked up traits from the other pups. Namely Chase's seriousness and dedication, and Zuma's sarcasm, which resulted in some of the pups not liking him as much as others. None of them ever voiced it, but they did make it clear.

Soon, Ace and Skye saw the rest of the pups leaving the elevator. When Chase saw them, he walked over to them and sat down next to them.

"And now, we wait." Ace said while looking up at the ceiling.

"Yep, Ryder sure does love sleeping in." Chase replied.

"I mean, can you blame him? We only go on missions we get selected for, he has to go on them all. Must be exhausting." Skye responded.

"Yeah, fair point." Chase said.

After about fifteen more minutes, Ryder finally arrived on the elevator. He left the elevator and went to the main room, with all the pups following. They all got into formation as Ryder picked up a clipboard and began calling names.

"Chase." Ryder called.

"Here." Chase responded.

"Marshall." Ryder called.

"I'm here." Marshall responded.

"Skye." Ryder called.

"Also here." Skye responded, clearly still tired.

"Only barely by the sounds of it." Ryder muttered, gigging a little. "Rocky." Ryder called.

"Present." Rocky responded.

"Zuma." Ryder called.

"Hewe." Zuma responded.

"Rubble." Ryder called.

"Here and ready." Rubble responded.

"And finally, Ace." Ryder called out.

"Still breathing." Ace responded.

"Alright, everyone go play. I'll call you when we have a mission." Ryder said before returning to the elevator.

"Well, roll call's over. You guys have fun; I'm gonna go sit over here," Chase said before hopping onto a nearby couch. Ace followed after him shortly afterward, as all the other pups went about their normal activities. Ace and Chase started discussing plans they had for Christmas, especially an idea for a certain dalmatian. Eventually, they decided to go ahead and get the supplies needed for their plan, so they got their jackets on then left the lookout and wandered toward the town.

It only took them a few minutes to arrive in Adventure Bay; it had changed a lot since Ace first arrived. The town was much larger and denser, though nowhere near as large as Adventure City. And they also now had normal emergency services, though they were still very small, so the PAW Patrol still helped out a lot. Chase would volunteer at the nearby ABPD station to help train new pups working there, and Marshall would occasionally help train new pups working at the fire department. Ace, on the other hand, spent most of his time 'helping' his dad train new pups at the station. In reality, he was one of the pups being trained.

The two german shepherds were walking down the sideway looking for a certain store that sold the stuff they needed.

"I feel like everytime I enter this town now, it just keeps getting larger." Chase said.

"Me too, it's hard to find anything at this point. Well, except town hall." Ace said to him.

"That's only cause there's a massive golden chicken outside." Chase responded. "It's kinda hard to miss it."

"Also due to it being bright white while being surrounded by brick and grey concrete buildings." Ace replied, jokingly.

"That too." Chase said.

Eventually, they finally found the place they were looking for, they entered and grabbed a basket before they started searching around for the items they needed. While they were searching around the store they stopped in front of a bunch of leaves with red bowties holding them together.

"Do you think we should get one of these?" Ace asked.

"What is it?" Chase asked while walking over to him, he then noticed them and a smile grew across his face. "That'd be evil." Chase said while giggling.

"I know, that's why I'm asking." Ace responded, cloning Chase's smile.

"Sure, let's get one." Chase said as he picked one up and tossed it into the basket. "Marshall is going to kill us on the 26th." Chase whispered to him.

"I know." Ace whispered back. "But he'll thank us on the 27th."

They soon had all the items they needed, Chase paid for the items and they started returning to the lookout. On the way back they realized an issue, how were they going to get these items back to Chase's room without any of the others knowing. After a few minutes, Chase had an idea. He pressed his puptag and called the tag number '04'.

"Hey Rocky, can you do me a favor." Chase asked.

"Uhh sure, what do you need?" Rocky asked.

"I need a way to get something to my room without Marshall or anyone who might tell him from knowing, I need you to keep the other pups distracted for me." Chase said.

"Okay... What are yo- Actually, don't tell me, I don't want to know. Sure I'll do that." Rocky responded.

"Alright thanks." Chase thanked him before ending the call.

"Why did you call Rocky specifically?" Ace asked.

"Because he won't say a thing about it to the others." Chase responded.

They continued on their way toward the lookout and, after around ten minutes, they arrived. They saw everyone piled up in the main room, allowing them to sneak past unnoticed toward the elevator. They quickly went down to the basement, where their rooms were. Chase then pressed his puptag and notified Rocky that he had made it past. The two shepherds then brought all the items into Chase's room.

"Mission Successful." Ace said, trying to mimic Ryder's voice.

Chase went through the bags and pulled out the the items before hiding them inside a large container he had hidden in his closet. "Alright, they'll never find it in here."

"You sure?" Ace asked.

"Yes? Why would anyone other then Ryder be in here?" Chase responded.

Ace looked around the room before pointing at himself. "My name isn't Ryder yet I'm in here."

"You're my son, you're allowed in here whenever you want." Chase said to him.

Ace and Chase then left the room and went back up in the elevator so the other pups wouldn't get suspicious. When they left the elevator, they saw all the pups sitting around the room watching TV, only a few of them had noticed the two, and those who did soon returned to watching the TV. The two pups simply walked past them and exited the building.

"Do you think any of them suspect anything?" Ace asked.

"I don't think so; as long as Marshall doesn't suspect anything, we should be fine." Chase replied.

"What if Everest finds out?" Ace asked him.

"I doubt she will. Even if she does, I bet she'd join in on the plan." Chase responded as he looked over at the mountain.

Ace joined him in staring at the mountain. "Don't you just wonder how life up there is for her sometimes? Knowing you're pretty much the only living being within miles." Ace asked.

"She not entirely alone, she has Jake up there with her." Chase responded.

"Yeah, I guess so." Ace said.

They stayed outside for a bit longer before deciding to return; when they did finally return, they sat down with all the other pups and tried to pretend nothing was happening. Most of the other pups that did notice them being weirdly sneaky just attributed it up to them spending father-son time together and not wanting the other pups to interrupt it.

Meanwhile, on the Mountain.

A lavender husky was waking up late in the morning, she had stayed up later then normal the day before, rescuing people on the mountain with Jake. Along with Adventure Bay, the Snowboarding Resort had also grown, being larger and containing more rooms due to an increase in the amount of people climbing the mountain. This also resulted in more rescues needed around the mountain, so much more recently that it had started to exhaust the human and the husky, named Everest, that ran the resort.

Everest got up and went to the main lobby of the resort, where Jake was already making breakfast. She went to her food bowl and began eating; once she was done, both she and Jake heard a knock at the door. Everest jumped up and ran over to see who it was; it was regular for it to be far below freezing outside, so both Everest and Jake were quick to help anyone stuck in the weather.

When she opened the door she was greeted by what seemed to be a German Shepherd, she quickly brought her inside and Jake began getting a room ready for her.

"Are you okay?" Everest asked, worried due to the shepherd clearing shivering from the cold.

"Y-Yeah, just a little chilly. Don't worry, I'm used to worse weather." The shepherd assured her.

"Do you want a room?" Jake asked.

"Yes, please." The shepherd responded.

There was a long silence as Jake went to get a room key for the new guest, Everest decided to engage a conversation while they waited.

"Hello, My name's Everest. What's yours?" Everest said to her with a friendly smile.

The shepherd looked over at her. "My name is S-Sarah." Sarah responded, smiling back.

"Welcome to the resort Sarah." Everest said to her.

Jake then returned with a room key and gave it to Sarah, informing her which room it corresponded to. The three of them then had a short conversation.

"So, where are you from Sarah?" Everest asked.

"Polska, you?" Sarah replied.

"I'm technically from the USSR, But I consider myself from Antarctica because I spent most of my early life there." Everest told her. Jake thought he heard something, so he stood up and walked to a small radio nearby.

"How did you go from the USSR to Antarctica?" Sarah asked while giggling a little. "Or better question, how did you end up getting here from Antarctica?"

"For the first one, I... honestly don't remember." Everest responded. "To answer the second one, Jake brought me here after saving me. How did you end up here?"

"I came here from Polska a few years ago by boat, I didn't think it was safe for me to stay there anymore after the collapse." Sarah replied.

"How many years have you been here?" Everest asked.

"5? I think?" Sarah responded.

"Sorry to interrupt your conversation Eve, but we gotta go help someone." Jake told her while putting his jacket on. Sarah looked at them confused.

"Alright Jake." Everest said as she jumped up and grabbed her puppack. She then noticed Sarah's confused expression. "Someone's stuck somewhere on the mountain and called us to assist them." Everest informed her.

"O-Oh okay, I'll just hang out in my room while you're gone." Sarah responded.

"We'll be back soon, you stay safe Sarah." Jake told the shepherd.

"I will, bye you two." Sarah said to them before heading off to her room.

Jake and Everest then left the resort as Jake led them to the location of the person that called for help.

Back in the Lookout.

Most of the pups were upstairs, doing whatever they do all day, but Rocky was in the basement working on something. It was an improvement to their puppacks, adding new equipment to them to assist them in the more dangerous missions they had been given recently and generally giving them more options in helping the people of Adventure Bay.

Rocky was currently enhancing Chase's puppack, with Skye's and Zuma's laying on the ground a few meters away waiting to be worked on.

He also had another project sitting lifelessly a few meters away, it was a larger robotic pup that sorta resembled Chase. Surrounding it was a bunch of parts and tools, as it hadn't yet been finished. Soon he finished working on Chase's puppack and laid it outside his door before calling Chase to notify him it was done. Rocky then began working on the large robotic pup once more.

"Alright you piece of scrap metal, let's begin working on you finally." Rocky said to the metal shell in front of him, not that it could hear him.

He then decided to call Ryder and ask him for assistance, noting that it'd be faster to have two brilliant minds working together than it would be for one to work alone. After a few minutes, Ryder arrived and entered the room, Immediately noticing the large robotic canine now laying lifelessly on a table.

"What is that?" Ryder asked as he walked closer to it.

"My most ambitious invention yet." Rocky responded. "Artificial life."

Meanwhile, In Adventure Bay

Zuma was walking down the sidewalk of the town; he was going to hang out with Rocky, but he was busy. So he decided to go out alone and just wander around town. He still hadn't explored all the new sections of the bay. He still remembered when it was so small, barely anyone lived there, and he could name every person who lived in that bay. Not anymore, though. As he wandered around town, he thought to himself about all the changes. He loved seeing the town he had protected and helped grow, but he also missed the small community it used to be.

He eventually arrived in front of Mr. Porter's Cafe. Even after all the changes around Adventure Bay, this place hadn't changed one bit, and it was still one of the more popular places in the bay. Zuma decided he could use a meal and entered, placing his order and then going to sit down at a free table. Eventually, his food arrived and he began eating, slowly.

"Zuma?" Zuma heard someone call his name, he looked around and saw someone familiar walking to him.

"Awwby? You live hewe now?" Zuma asked.

"Nah, just visiting. I didn't expect to see you out here, don't you have missions to complete?" Arrby replied.

"Nah, we haven't gotten a single mission today. It's been vewy quiet." Zuma said to him. "Anyway, it's nice to meet you again dude."

"Nice to meet you too, could I sit here?" Arrby asked.

"Suwe." Zuma replied, Arrby sat down and waited for his food to arrive.

"So, how's Adventure Bay doing? It's definitely changed." Arrby asked.

"Oh yeah, evewything is diffewent. But not as much as you'd think." Zuma responded. "PAW Patwol has been the exact same, at least fow me, occasionally getting a mission."

"Have you at least been needed for more of them?" Arrby asked.

"No, not weally." Zuma said.

Arrby's food then arrived and they both began talking about the past, when they would save chickens from trees and foil Humdinger's plans.

Eventually, Zuma was done and the two parted ways as Zuma began returning to the lookout. He soon returned to the lookout as the sun was beginning to approach the horizon; he entered the lookout and saw most of the pups just sitting around, not really doing anything.

"What awe you all doing?" Zuma asked.

"Sitting around, counting ceiling tiles." Ace responded.

Zuma looked up at the ceiling before looking back at him. "How many awe thewe?" Zuma asked.

"21 so far, still counting though." Ace replied.

"Y'know, we could put on a movie." Marshall pointed out.

"Okay, all in favor?" Chase said, everyone raised their paws in the air. "All opposed?" everyone then lowered their paws. "It's decided I guess."

"Finally, something maybe entertaining." Ace said.

A few hours later.

Ace sat down beside Chase, watching the TV. He was getting bored by this point; Skye had picked the movie this time, and most of the pups hated her choices. Chase, however, always dealt with it. Ace could tell he didn't like them either, based on his facial expressions during the film, but he never groaned or voiced it. Ace figured his dad wanted to be nice.

He swore however he wasn't going to be able to take anymore of this movie so he decided to get up, throw on his jacket, and go outside and just look at the stars. When he did make it outside the lookout, he went to a nearby field and just laid down on the grass, staring up at the heavens in silence. Except for the crickets.

After a few minutes of just stargazing, he noticed a bright white object flying across the sky. He smiled and closed his eyes, then made a wish. Like Chase, he also didn't believe in anything supernatural or superstitious, but he did still join in on the off-chance that it was true. After he was done making his wish, he opened his eyes and glanced at the lookout doors, noticing Marshall standing there, looking at the bright object as it flew by. He soon opened his eyes again and began walking over to Ace.

"You also get tired of the movie?" Ace asked.

"Yeah... I'm not exactly keen on romantic movies, just not my type of thing." Marshall replied.

"You don't seem to do well with anything even slightly romantic judging by how many times you camouflage to match your uniform." Ace said to him before turning back to the sky.

"H-Hey! I don't turn that red." Marshall exclaimed.

"You sure? Need me to get a camera next time?" Ace responded.

"He has a point, I didn't even know you wewe pawt chameleon until last week." Zuma added as he wondered toward the two.

"Is everyone coming outside now or what?" Ace asked.

"Nah, the othews awe eithew hypnotized by the movie ow being held hostage against theiw will by a cockapoo that needs to be sent to an insane asylum." Zuma responded.

"How did you two get out?" Ace questioned.

"Mawshall got out by using the excuse of coming to check on you." Zuma told him.

"And you?" Ace asked.

"I just said 'I'm going to make sure Ace doesn't kill that Dalmatian' and was given no wesistance." Zuma said.

"I'm not going to kill him, he's my uncle!" Ace said to him. "He's just a little overprotective."

"I'm standing right here you know." Marshall informed them.

"We're aware." Both the pups replied.

"So, what are you two going to do out here over then join me, stargazing." Ace asked.

"Dunno." Zuma said.

"Is there much we can do? It is getting late, Ryder's going to call us inside to sleep soon anyways." Marshall pointed out.

"Fair point, I'm going to go ahead to get to my room. Need to wake up early tomorrow." Ace said as he got up.

"For what?" Marshall asked, thinking maybe he forgot some big event or something.

Ace stood there and stared at him, trying to think of a good response. He didn't want to tell him about his and Chase's plan since he was sorta the 'victim' of said plan. "U-Uhh, training... At the police department... yeah." Ace said to him.

"Alright." Marshall replied before walking back to the lookout, Zuma and Ace exchanged looks as the Dalmatian entered the lookout.

"I don't know what you got planned, and I don't weally cawe. But what I do know is that he's definitely not the bwightest bulb in the chandeliew." Zuma said to him, causing Ace to giggle a little as he began walking back to the lookout as well. Zuma looked up at the sky for a second before returned inside as well.

Ace entered the lookout and got in the elevator before going down to the basement, as he entered the basement he saw Ryder leaving Rocky's room.

"Hey Ace." Ryder greeted him.

"Hallo Mannschaftskapitän." Ace responded as he walked to his room, not even realizing Ryder didn't understand him.

"Uhh what?" Ryder said, confused.

"Hmm? Oh sorry, Hello captain." Ace corrected himself.

"It's alright, what do you need?" Ryder asked.

"I'm just heading to my room to get some sleep." Ace replied before walking to his room.

"Oh, good night Ace." Ryder said before walking toward the elevator.

"Night Ryder." Ace said before entering his room.

Ace hopped into his bed and stared at the ceiling, thinking about the plan. He was sure Marshall wouldn't find out, but he wasn't sure Everest wouldn't. He spent a few more minutes thinking about different backup plans in case something went wrong, but eventually, he fell asleep.

On the Mountain.

Jake and Everest entered the resort once again; they had spent almost the entire day responding to call after call to help people either stuck or lost. Both of them were tired and ready to finally get some rest; they took off their jackets and entered their room. Jake almost immediately passed out, while Everest sat in her bed for a long time before she could fall asleep. She was thinking about the other Shepherd that had arrived earlier. Something about Sarah was just…off to her, but she couldn't quite figure out what. Eventually, however, sleep claimed her and she closed her eyes.

That's the end of Chapter 1, sorry for the long wait. I'm admittedly horrible at writing beginnings and I didn't want it to start off horribly, so I rewrote and rewrote sections of it until it was somewhat decent.

Anyways, until the next chapter releases, bye everyone!

-König Der Könige