It was a normal morning in Adventure Bay. Ryder was reading the morning news paper while the pups were outside playing magicians. Rubble had the best power ever. It was an opportunity to eat anything. Sounds silly, but think for yourself, you could try any food you want and eat it as much as you want!
"Hey Zuma, you got hit by lightning!" Chase yelled, pointing his paw towards the Labrador. "I'm an electro wizard!"
"Hah, I'm a water pup! Water has immune to electricity!" Zuma chuckled.
"I wonder what would happen if we really had superpowers?" Skye said.
"I don't know, but we would be completely different." Rocky answered.
"I wonder what it would be like if I had the power of fire, could I make popcorn in my mouth?" Marshall asked, causing the pups to laugh at his question.
Meanwhile, Ryder came across the news of a new exhibits in the museum. There were seven of them and the boy wanted to take a look on these new things. He noticed a book. On the photo, this book was sparkling and generally looked like it was about to explode. This alarmed Ryder, because photographs on relics never add special effects. Suddenly, his pup pad rang. He took it out of his pocket and touched the screen. A frightened Mayor Goodway appeared on it.
"Hello Mayor Goodway, what happened?" Ryder asked. His suspicions were true.
"Ryder! The museum! It's BURNING!" Mayor Goodway was panicking. "There are still people inside!"
"Don't worry, we'll rescue them. No job is to big no pup is to small!" Then he called for the pups. "Paw Patrol, to the Lookout!"
"Ryder needs us!" The pups exclaimed in chorus, and rushed to the elevator. Strange enough, Marshall was the first who got to the elevator and didn't knock anyone down.
"Hmm, that's weird." The Dalmatian commented. "Usually others wait for me here. Probably everyone has already gathered at the top, and didn't even wait for me."
Marshall activated the elevator and the doors closed. Unfortunately, he didn't notice that all the remaining pups were coming, but as soon as they were about to run inside, the doors closed, and the pups all bumped into each other.
"Marshall!" The remaining pups said looking at the Dalmatian.
"Oh, you are here." Marshall chuckled nervously as he opened the doors.
"Well, how where we supposed to know that you are in the elevator before us, but then again the crush still would have been inevitable." Chase chuckled.
The elevator then took the pups to the top floor. Once the elevator reached the top floor, and when elevator doors opened all the pups jumped out wearing their uniforms.
"Paw Patrol is ready for action Ryder sir!" Chase said.
"Thanks for getting here so quickly pups." Ryder said. "We have a terrible problem today. The adventure bay museum is on fire, and there are people still inside!" The pups gasped. "Our task is to eliminate the fire and rescue the people who are still stuck inside the museum." He slid a finger over the phone then Chase's icon appeared on the big screen. "Chase, your job is to keep everyone away of the museum. We don't want anyone else to get hurt."
"Chase is on the case!" Chase said seriously.
"Next I'll need Skye, the firefighter brigade has already been called, so I'll need you to show them the quickest route to the museum." Ryder commanded.
"This pups gotta fly!" Skye yelled while doing a backflip.
"And Marshall. Once we get to the museum you, and I will go inside to help those who are stuck inside to get out." Ryder finished.
"I'm ready for a ruf-ruf-rescue Ryder!" Marshall answered.
"Alright, Paw Patrol is on the roll!" Ryder said and went downstairs to his ATV. He and the pups quickly arrived to the museum. Skye went in search of the squad of firefighters, Chase began keeping people away from the museum. Allowing Marshall and Ryder to go to the main entrance. Marshall then gave Ryder a gas mask and a oxygen canister.
"Marshall everybody is on the second floor." Ryder reported.
"Okay then we'll go up using the main staircase. Which is the largest and most durable." Marshall said pointing out.
Ryder nodded and the duo entered the burning building. It wasn't difficult to find the main staircase, it was really huge, and was almost impossible to walk past it without noticing. Climbing to the second floor Ryder an Marshall split up to quickly find all the museum visitors. Marshall found three people, and Ryder was spotted by the other four. Once Ryder and Marshall found the rest of the museum visitors they headed for the exit, but when they got near the main staircase they found that the passage to the outside was blocked with burning boards.
"Ryder, the entrance is blocked!" Marshall shouted, giving a gas mask to several people so that they wouldn't suffocate from the lack of oxygen. "What should we do?"
"I'll think of something." Ryder said letting the victims breathe oxygen. Then Ryder got an idea when he saw a large cabinet.
"Marshall there's a large cabinet opposite of the stair case we should throw this cabinet on this barricade!" Ryder pointed to the burning boards.
Marshall understood and nodded. Marshall then took the gas mask along with the oxygen canister. The visitors of the museum followed the rescuer's to the cabinet. Once Ryder and Marshall got there they started pushing the cabinet towards the stairs, but it went very slowly.
"Ryder this cabinet is really heavy. I don't think we'll be able to move it." Marshall said tired.
Seeing that the rescuers couldn't move the heavy cabinet. The visitors decided to help them, and they also began pushing the cabinet. It took all of them about 3 seconds to knock it over, and force it to punch a huge hole in the barricade of burning planks.
"Alright everyone follow me!" Ryder shouted leading the visitors to the exit.
Going down to the first floor, he directed the victims to the exit, Marshall followed from behind so that no one be left behind. Suddenly Ryder noticed something that caused the blood in his veins to freeze. Through the glass of his gas mask, and through the fire he saw that Marshall wasn't wearing his gas mask. He was without smoke protection. Hearing a cough, he shouted to the visitors to hurry. The last victim got out of the museum, and only Ryder and Marshall remained. Suddenly one of the explosive canisters exploded somewhere, this caused the building to shake. Marshall then noticed a huge bookcase with a burning book and was about to fall on Ryder, but was to discouraged by the impact due to being quite close to the explosion.
"Ryder! Watch out!" Marshall jumped over to his owner and pushed him out of the way.
The wooden bookshelf fell on the Dalmatian with a crash. Ryder's heart shattered. "Marshall!" Ryder screamed. He quickly jumped to his feet and tried to lift the bookcase, but it was too heavy. After several unsuccessful attempts the boy was able to lift it. Marshall could hardly crawl out from under the bookcase, and Ryder lifted it up to help him. There was a burning book on Marshall. Ryder tried to throw it off the Dalmatian to keep it from burning him, but as soon as he touched the book it turned to ash, and covered the pup's fur with fire. The pup let out a squeal of pain and fell unconscious. At that moment a dispatch of rescuers and firefighters ran into the museum.
"Hey kid you need to get out of here!" One of the firefighters said pushing Ryder out of the way.
"I'm not leaving with out Marshall!" Ryder said angry.
"It's okay I'll get him, and we'll be right behind you." A female paramedic said.
Ryder then ran out into the street. Ryder then looked back to see the female paramedic with Marshall in her arms.
"Is he going to be okay?" Ryder asked the female paramedic.
"We'll have to take him to hospital to run some tests." She said.
Ryder begged the medics to let him come with them, but instead they asked him to stay with the rest of his pups and help the victims of the fire. Ryder was incredibly upset, but he realized that there was really nothing he could help Marshall right now any way. So Ryder stayed providing medical assistance to the visitors of the museum, because they suffered much less than Marshall. Marshall was then delivered to the hospital alone.
"Where am I?" Marshall asked in pain.
When Marshall woke up he had a terrible burning sensation in his chest. Everything seemed blurry, he saw the lamps flickering above his head, someone was taking him somewhere. The burning he felt was so strong that it seemed to him that he was about to die. However he could do nothing but pass out again. Everything went black ...
The next day... Ryder went to the hospital to check to see how Marshall was. When Ryder walked in to the hospital a nurse walked up, and asked him if he was here to see Marshall. Ryder shock his head yes. The nurse then took him to the room that Marshall was in. When Ryder arrive at the room he could see Marshall laying on a bed covered in bandages with several machines attached to him, and the doctor standing there.
"Doctor how is he?" Ryder asked looking at Marshall. "Will he be okay?"
"I... I don't know Ryder..." The doctor replied. "His body temperature is much higher than the lethal mark. He is still alive, but we don't know for how long..."
"Was he like this yesterday?" Ryder asked
"No ... Yesterday we found no other injuries other than serious burns." The doctor said
Silence reigned in the room for a whole minute no one dared to say a word. The doctor and Ryder were simply looking at the pup whose fate was still in question. Finally the doctor dared to start a conversation.
"Ryder, I know you are very worried about Marshall, and we will do everything we can to save him." The boy didn't stop looking at the Dalmatian. "I think you should do something relaxing so that you can forget about yesterday's fire for a while."
"I... I'll try..." Ryder sighed heavily. "Please let me know when Marshall wakes up, and I'll try to get here quickly."
"Okay, but try not to think about it." The doctor said.
Ryder nodded and headed for the exit. Leaving the hospital he felt something burning. Something burned inside him. The burning he felt, it was shame. As if that weren't enough he heard a familiar voice.
"I thought the Paw Patrol leader never makes mistakes..." Ryder turned his head to see Harold. "However, but now I see that the once great leader has lost one of his pups." Harold said. This phrase infuriated Ryder.
"MARSHALL WILL SURVIVE!!!" "I AM READY TO GIVE ANYTHING FOR HIM TO SURVIVE!" Ryder screamed.
"Hmm... Looks like you're not sure if Marshall is even capable of returning to the team after such... Uh, such a backstab."
"What?.." Ryder was surprised. "What do you mean?"
"I mean that he trusted you..." Harold began. "He trusted you completely, but you sent him on a mission that was his last. You yourself sent Marshall to certain death. No leader, and no matter how terrible has ever done that before." Harold turned around and headed off somewhere else.
These words hurt Ryder a lot. Harold was right, Ryder did put his pup in mortal danger, but Marshall's injury wasn't the boy's fault. However, Ryder was still blaming himself for what happened.
Ryder returned to the Lookout in a bad mood. All the pups quickly noticed this and tried to cheer him up. However, the boy didn't want to spoil the pups mood and he had no particular desire to communicate that day. But that evening, Chase managed to persuaded Ryder to talk. They met in the boy's room. Chase opened the door and walked in slowly, and closing the door behind him. Ryder was sitting on his bed and then Chase climbed up.
"Ryder sir. How are you feeling?" He asked.
"I... I don't know Chase..." Ryder replied. "I... I feel like this is all my fault for what happened to Marshall. A good leader would never let anyone on his team get hurt. The leader is primarily responsible for the safety an wellness of his team. I sent Marshall on a mission that could have be his last!" He sighed heavily. "I'm just terrible... I'm not worthy of being a leader."
"What?!" Chase was surprised. "I've heard a lot of ridiculous things, but this is the most ridiculous one! Ryder you are a great leader! Think about this even if you forbade Marshall to try to save someone. You know he would still follow you! This is his duty, this is his job, this is the thing that he likes! It's not your fault."
However, these words didn't make Ryder feel better. Then Chase came up with something that could really hurt Ryder, but he knew what he was doing.
"Ryder sir, if that terrible accident would have happen to you, and you were now in the hospital instead of him. Marshall wouldn't be able to forgive himself! He would think it was his fault, and think that you hated him! He would probably abandon the Paw Patrol, or he might end up contemplating suicide! "
It did have a huge impact on Ryder, but the impact was positive. He realized that if Marshall survived then he would be happy to know that everything was fine with his owner. However, one condition terrified Ryder madly. "IF" Marshall survives. The simple thought that no one would ever see Marshall again sent him into a panic. Ryder grabbed Chase and hugged him barely holding back tears. When he calmed down, he thanked Chase for his support, but the thought of the possibly of losing Marshall didn't leave him.
The next day, Ryder felt much better. For a while he forgot about the possibility of losing one of the pups and was more or less calm. The day passed without incidents, and in the evening the leader of the Paw Patrol remembered Marshall. Going up to the top floor. Ryder then called the doctor who monitored the pup's health. Finally, after a brief wait that seemed like an eternity to Ryder, the doctor appeared on the screen.
"Hello, Doctor." Ryder said. "I just wanted to ask, how is everything with Marshall?"
"Hello Ryder, I..." The doctor sighed heavily. "I don't know how to tell you this. It's worse than yesterday. I don't want to scare you, but Marshall probably won't make it and won't be able go home with you... I'm sorry."
"I... It's okay, you're not sure, are you?"
"No I'm not, but there is a chance that everything will be fine with him, but considering that his health deteriorates every day, I'm not sure if his chances are really big."
It was very difficult for Ryder to sleep that night. He had nightmares. But still he was able to fell asleep. He hoped everything would be okay and Marshall would return home completely healthy. The next day Ryder was calmer, and endless support from the pups helped to improve his mood. However, somewhere closer to noon some very terrible news awaited for him. After lunch Ryder then received a call from the hospital where Marshall was staying.
"Hello doctor, is something wrong? Did Marshall recover?" Ryder's eyes were shining with hope.
"Ryder... Our team, it... Failed..."
Ryder gasped. "What do you mean?!"
"Marshall, he... He didn't make it... I'm sorry..." The doctor was sad.
Ryder's heart shattered. He didn't want to believe it. He instantly went to the hospital to make sure there was no hope left.
"Ryder is everything okay?" The pups asked worried.
"I'm not sure. But I want all of you to stay at the lookout until I get back." Ryder said.
The pups were alarmed by Ryder's strange behavior. None of the pups dared to object. When Ryder arrived at the hospital, he immediately rushed to the pup's room. He opened the door and saw that the heart rate monitor showed no signs of life for the Dalmatian, and the doctor was sitting on a chair with his head down. He raised his head and looked at Ryder.
"I'm so sorry Ryder..." The doctor said. "We did everything we could."
"It's not your fault, plus you did your best." Ryder said as he walked over to his beloved fire pup who was lying on the hospital bed. He put his hand on Marshall's paw and... then Ryder broke down. Tears flowed from his eyes and he dropped his head on Marshall's chest. The blow was so strong that Marshall began to cough out all the ashes he had in his throat since he was in the hospital. Suddenly, the pup began to move and cough. Ashes flew out from his mouth. Marshall was alive! Ryder was shocked, but happy. He hugged Marshall in an instant. The doctor was amazed, but he was happy too.
"Marshall! You're alive! I'm so sorry. Please forgive me for my mistakes!" Ryder pleaded, hugging the Dalmatian tight in his arms.
"Ryder what's wrong?" The pup asked, he didn't know what the boy was upset about.
Ryder had to tell everything that happened to Marshall. Marshall was very surprised, but still happy to be back. After some time, Ryder and Marshall went home, after thanking all the doctors in the hospital. And so after they left, the doctor returned to the room where Marshall had been staying for some time and began to check the health monitoring devices, it was strange that they didn't show that the pup was alive. However, when he was checking the functionality of things, he found that almost all the wires that were connected to Marshall were melted. It was incredibly strange, but he decided to remain silent about it.
As Ryder and Marshall were on their way to the Lookout, Ryder felt the ATV seat start to get very hot.
"Heated seats will need to be fixed." Ryder thought.
As soon as they arrived to the Lookout, Marshall immediately ran to the rest of the pups to surprise them with his return. And Ryder started repairing his ATV, but suddenly he found that the heating system was completely melted and wasn't able to work at all. But then, why was the seat hot? At that moment, he received a call from Mayor Goodway.
"Hello Mayor, how are you?" Ryder asked.
"Hello Ryder, I just wanted to say that we were able to identify the cause of the fire in the museum." Mayor Goodway answered. "The fire was caused by the same magic book that was in the paper!" Then Mayor Goodway showed a video of how the fire began.
At that moment, Ryder realized that the book was really magical. It turned to ash and settled on Marshall's fur. Its magical properties were transferred to Marshall!
A huge shoutout and thank you goes to G0ldenFang for helping me with my first chapter.