Paw Patrol X: What Makes A Hero

Part Four: Chase's Breakdown

The morning after the first Paw Patrol rescue in Adventure City, Liberty was alive and awake, opening the door to the car she slept in while showing she was ready for the day. After closing the door, she went over to the nearest puddle of water and looked into it. She looked good, outside of her right ear being over her head. She shook her head, only for her left ear to be over with her right ear back in place. After this, she shook again, resulting in both ears being where they were supposed to be. And after that, she walked over to her wagon.

"Let's go Wheely!" She started pushing the wagon before hopping in and rode off into the city, making sure to turn to the left when she did.

Nearby was a fruit stand vendor named Tony, who was humming to himself as he set up a crate of watermelons for the day. He heard Liberty's wagon, giving her a friendly greeting as she played with the handle while rolling over to him. "Liberty! I hear that sound, and I know it's you. Heh." Liberty stopped in front of the fruit stand as Tony mimicked the sound of her squeaky wheel.

Liberty wasn't bothered however. She found the sound quite charming, expressing that as she hopped out of the wagon. "That's what happens when you have one chatty wheel riding with three brooding ones." Liberty nudged her wheel with her nose before starting conversation. "So. How's the fruit business Tony?"

"Well it'd be better if I wasn't always giving ya free fruit." Tony answered happily before tossing her a strawberry, which she caught and ate after jumping up. "Hey, you hear about that fireworks fiasco last night?"

"I didn't just hear about it. I was there!" Liberty exclaimed, being more than excited to talk about her time with the Paw Patrol. "Honestly Tony, it was the best night of my life. For a few hours, it was like I was a real member of the Paw Patrol."

Tony liked the sound of that, putting up another fruit box as he talked about it. "Imagine that. The newest member of the Paw Patrol. Liberty!"

"Yeah right. I wish." Liberty admitted, getting a little more melancholic, but trying to keep her spirits up. "To be with them full time would be amazing! Especially Wave. She's the best!" Tony listened in as Liberty started gushing about Wave. "She's so friendly, and honest, and determined to help everyone in every way she can, and I managed to spend the whole day with her, and she never got scared off!" Talking about Wave started to get her spirits up as she then stated what she got from Wave. "For the first time, I feel like I'm with someone who understands me."

Tony laughed a bit as he started assuring Liberty that Wave wasn't the only one. "Lots of people here understand ya. How can't they? You help out around the city all the time!"

"I know, and I love all of your guys' company, but this is my first time spending longer than an hour with someone and... loving it. We even decided to spend the morning together!" Liberty explained, and Tony understood what she was saying as Liberty then expressed how hard it was to feel like people wanted her around. "It's... hard for me to talk about my life before, but basically, Wave makes me finally feel like I'm capable of having friends."

Tony smiled when seeing Liberty as happy as she was, in addition to when she mentioned something else. "And it might be a stretch, but she also makes me feel I could have what it takes... to be a hero."

Just then, Liberty and Tony heard someone's fire truck honking, and Liberty looked to find Wave driving down the street and over to her and Tony. She called over to Liberty, being excited to see her so early in the morning. "Morning Liberty!"

Liberty started cheering as Wave came over to them, and when she stopped nearby, she happily greeted her. "Wave! Good morning!" Liberty then looked to Tony to introduce her to Wave. "This is Wave, the dog I was telling you about!" Wave hopped out of her truck and walked over to Liberty's wagon as Liberty gushed about her. "She's the greatest dog in the entire world."

Wave giggled a bit, helping Liberty pick up her wagon so they could put it into her trunk. "Nah. I'm just Wave."

Wave and Liberty put the wagon into Wave's trunk as Tony remembered something he had to tell Liberty. "Oh yeah! I heard that new mayor is monkeying with the Subway now. You kiddos better stay off those trains. Stick to your rides."

"Thanks for the tip Tony." Liberty replied, gagging at the sound of more Mayor Humdinger shenanigans. "How that jerk ever became mayor material is beyond me."

Wave offered Tony a palm shake, which he accepted as Wave responded to Liberty's statement. "That's politics for ya. It's basically one big dirtbag contest."

Wave and Liberty then waved goodbye to Tony, who tossed Liberty two strawberries; one for her, and one for Wave. "Hey; kids! Take some for the road."

Wave caught her strawberry in her paw, with Liberty catching hers in her mouth, thanking Tony in sync after she swallowed. "Thanks Tony!" Wave then drove off, leaving Liberty to strap herself in as the two of them headed into the city.

Speaking of the Subway, Humdinger was watching with Ruben, Butch, and the scientist Liberty mentioned, an African American in a lab coat named Kendra, as the Cloud Catcher sucked up another cloud. A small meter on it rose from the second lowest level to one level higher. Mayor Humdinger sighed of relief as he commented on how sunny it was in town. "Another perfect day in Adventure City. Enjoy that sun beam kitties." The kitties were relaxing with shades on, and one of them was drinking a soda.

Kendra saw the meter rise on her tablet, quickly informing Mayor Humdinger of the potential danger. "Mister Mayor! The Cloud Catchers hygrometer is overloading the capacity of it's pressurized internal containment chamber!"

Mayor Humdinger gave a dumbfounded look as he responded. "What? Do I look like a scientist to you?"

Kendra spoke in more common terms to help him understand. "We need to bring the Cloud Catcher down, stat!"

"And ruin this perfect weather?" Mayor Humdinger asked, scoffing as he refused to do so. "I think not!"

"You don't understand! The Cloud Catcher wasn't designed to run non-stop!" Kendra informed Mayor Humdinger, hoping she could get him to understand. "If we don't stop it now, it could lead to disaster!"

"Nonsense! As long as I'm Mayor, the sun will always shine on Adventure City." Mayor Humdinger declared, not getting why Kendra was telling him to stop. "Now get her out of here." Ruben and Butch did as instructed pointing to where they wanted Kendra to go. She groaned in frustration, unable to believe she was working with such an egomaniac.

Mayor Humdinger walked up to a podium that was now built on the Subway station as he got ready for an announcement. He turned around in front of a big purple curtain as he began. "Citizens of Adventure City! As your new, and already favorite mayor, I proudly present the next step in my plan to put the adventure, in Adventure City!" One of the kittens pulled on a rope, leading to a big roller coaster being revealed in replacement of the Subway. "The Humdinger Hyperloop! The cookiest, swoopdiest, loop-de-loopdiest Subway the world has ever seen!"

The camerawoman behind Vernon nodded her head no as she expressed her distaste in this attraction. "I am not riding that thing."

Marty had his own words for this attraction. "Mister Mayor, Mister Mayor. Have you considered the possibility that this is the single, dumbest idea that has ever been conceived by the human mind, ever?"

"I'm an unqualified elected official!" Mayor Humdinger boasted, despite openly admitting that he has no business being a Mayor. "What's the worst that could happen?" Mayor Humdinger then got excited as the train came over. "Oh, look! Here comes the Express Train now!"

Wave and Liberty were driving around as they came across the loop-de-loop. They instantly figured out what happened with Wave being the first to mention it. "This must be what Tony was talking about."

"One of Mayor Humdinger's attempts to rob this city of what it is." Liberty vented, pointing out his flawed reasoning behind putting the adventure in Adventure City. "Too bad the city isn't one big roller coaster." The Subway Train ended up riding right onto the loop-de-loop with the people inside panicking as they were thrust back and upside down by the gravity shifting. Wave and Liberty were horrified when they saw it, and they saw Humdinger cheering to himself above. This infuriated both of them, especially Liberty. "You could kill people with that you psycho!"

The second hoop broke, leading to the train skidding a bit and going slightly faster on the third hoop. By the time it stopped, it was already at the top of the third hoop. When the people inside started panicking, Humdinger realized how much trouble he was in. "Ooooh. That, is not good."

Wave instantly got to calling Ryder about this, and when she did, he came up on the monitor of her truck. "Ryder! Humdinger turned the Subway Train into a roller coaster, and it ended up trapping a bunch of people upside down! We have to save them before they become a train sandwich!"

Ryder was on the other end, assuring Wave that they would be right over there. "Don't worry Wave! We're on our way." Luckily, some of the other Paw Patrol members were already there; specifically Chase, Skye, Marshall, and Rubble. When Ryder turned around, he was glad to see them all there. "Just the dogs I need! Mayor Humdinger's new roller coaster Subway has turned into a disaster. We have to save the people in the Subway car before it comes crashing down." The pups all became determined as Ryder called out. "Paw Patrol, is on a roll!"

As Skye, Marshall, and Rubble went for their vehicles, Ryder got Chase's attention. "Chase." Chase looked back at Ryder, who checked on him to make sure he was okay after last night. "Are you okay?"

Chase thought for a moment, and thanks to his talk with Marshall, he was at least able to avoid feeling any stress for now. That made him confident in the answer he gave to Ryder. "I can't say I'm 'fond of' this place yet, but Marshall and I talked last night. I think I can at least handle this rescue."

"Okay. Just let me know if you feel overwhelmed. If you can that is." Ryder requested, and Chase nodded in response before running off to his vehicle. Ryder was concerned for Chase, but he decided to trust his word and continued onward to his ATV.

Meanwhile, Wave and Liberty were on the news as Wave spoke about how the Paw Patrol were gonna save the day. "Mayor Humdinger doesn't have what it takes to be the Mayor of worms if he wanted to, but no amount of incompetence is gonna stop the Paw Patrol from helping everyone in this city!" Wave then offered Liberty to wrap her arm around her, which she accepted as the Dalmatian gave her a role in the mission. "And their honorary member is gonna help!"

Liberty gasped in joy, looking at Wave as she checked to make sure she hard that right. "Honorary member? As in... ME honorary member!?"

"That's right! We could use someone with your city smarts." Wave encouraged Liberty, glad to see her in as high spirits as she'd hoped. "And I think you could become a full time member too once you get the right training."

Liberty started to get giddy just as the other members called started coming by to help out. The four members who weren't with Ryder also joined just in case. And once they arrived, Wave and Liberty drove over to them, and Ryder commented on Humdinger's idea in disdain. "I can't believe Humdinger thought THIS was a good idea."

"The Subway's wild enough without a stinkin loop-de-loop!" Liberty yelled with her hatred of unexpected changes being even more apparent here.

Skye was happy to see Liberty, making it clear as she greeted her from up above. "Good morning Liberty!"

"Good morning Skye! Liberty... whatever my last name is, reporting for duty!" Liberty declared, looking at Ryder as she told him what Wave said. "Unofficially of course. Wave said I could help. You know, like an honorary member."

"Fine with me. Just leave the big stuff to us." Ryder requested, and Liberty gave a thumbs up to show that she was on it.

The roller coaster started to creak with the citizens on it still panicking, making Liberty state a smaller reason she had for hating this change. "This, is part of why I hate when something unexpectedly changes my morning routine."

Ryder immediately got onto making the rescue happen, calling out what he needed the Paw Patrol dogs to do. "Rocky, I need you to stabilize that loop! Rubble, see if you can lock it in place with some quick dry cement!"

"We're on it!" Rocky and Rubble said in sync, smiling to each other before driving out into action.

Ryder then looked up for a command he had for Skye. "Skye, I need you to secure that loop from the air!"

"Let's take to the sky!" Skye called out, leaving Liberty to start getting giddy again as she squeed at hearing Skye's call out.

Wave and Liberty saw some people rushing over, and Liberty hopped out of Wave's truck while advising everyone to keep their distance. "Don't worry guys. I've got crowd control, under control!" And that was exactly what she proved. "Stand back! Give them some space! Paw Patrol at work!" Liberty's crowd control was working, and Wave smiled to Ryder with a wink, giving Ryder an idea on what she was trying to do. "I am an honorary member at the moment, but my authority should still be respected!"

The last loop was starting to break out of the ground at that moment. Luckily, Rocky arrived just in time and barked for his arms. "Hydraulic arm!" Rocky skidded right over to the loop and used his hydraulic arms to keep it in place. "Gotcha!"

Skye used a grappling hook on the loop and flew right above it as she got ready to steady it. "Time for a little more air power!" Skye pressed a button and got some turbo boosters started, and they started boosting up to increase the stability. "Astro burst!" She moved it into place, and after helping Rocky adjust the loop, she called down to Rubble with her speaker. "Alright Rubble! Let her rip!"

"I'm on it Skye! Rubble on the double!" Rubble announced, pressing his paw on the front to start off the cement carrier on his dozer. He sprayed the cement on the somewhat broken ground, and it dried quickly as instructed. However, Rubble almost forgot the last one, which he noticed last minute. " Oop, missed one." He got that one too, glad he spotted it before it was too late. "The track is secure!"

Wave, Marshall, Chase, and Ryder drove up to the sight as Ryder congratulated Rubble on his work. "Nice work Rubble!" Rubble gave a thumbs up before Ryder spoke to Chase. "Chase. We've gotta rescue those people." He took his helmet off so he could look at Chase directly. "Are you up for it?"

"Chase is on the case!" Chase said tenaciously for his answer, jumping over his hood with a front flip and sliding over said hood to reach the ground. He then made his way into a building close by, knowing he had to go above for this to work.

Chase came out of the same exit from his nightmare, which gave him a bit of deja vu. And not in a good way. He shook it off the best he could before taking a hook he had and running over to the edge of the roof with it. He latched it around one of the pillar tops and jumped onto the edge, readying himself for what he had to do. He looked down, and then looked back at the subway train. He wasn't about to let these people die. "Hang on! You're gonna be okay!" Chase then barked for his zip-line, "Zip-line!" sending it right over to latch onto the train.

Chase then looked down again as the people started cheering for him to make sure he knew where to guide Wave and Marshall's ladders. As he did however, his nightmare flashed back into his head as Ryder spoke to him. "How're you holding up Chase?"

"I'm fine." Chase lied, doing his best to stay confident in these trying times.

"Are you sure?" Ryder asked, knowing Chase's current state wasn't the best for this situation.

"I can do this." Chase assured Ryder, and then he looked across from himself and saw the people cheering for him. "I can do this." But then, they started to slow down, confusing him a lot. "I can... do this?" Chase then started having his nightmare from last night flash before his eyes. The window wipers stuck on the scaffolding, his zip-line breaking as soon as he reached them, and when a bit of the building broke off from his paw... he looked down, and saw an image of himself falling. He started breathing quickly when he saw this.

What really kicked it for Chase however, was when he continued to watch his dream-self fall. He fell faster. And faster. And faster. And in turn, Chase's breathing got more intense. His heart started beating faster, and he could barely see anything other than the nightmare. And then, it happened.

SMASH!

Dream Chase fell onto the car... and died upon impact. The nightmare recreating vision ended at the same point, but Chase's heartbeat and breathing started increasing drastically. He started panicking as he backed up, barely able to see what was around him. He didn't even hear Ryder asking if he copied because he was so trapped in his own fear. He held his paw on his chest, he breathed faster than he'd ever breathed before, and the look of fear on his face was unlike anything else. He knew his fear of Adventure City was bad.

But his panic attack showed just how serious this was.

Skye saw what was happening and pressed a button on her propellers to make them go away. That sent her vehicle into hover mode, allowing her to avoid making Chase's situation worse. She saw how hard his panic attack was affecting him and informed Ryder. The fear and concern for Chase in her voice was made all the more clear. "Ryder! Chase is having a panic attack on the roof ledge! I'm going in to help him!"

Ryder took out his binoculars in a panic and used them to check for Chase. When he saw him on the roof, he seconded that. "Bring him down here once you've calmed him down!" Wave and Marshall nodded to each other in sync, driving over to the multi-floor parking lot and heading up to ready their ladders.

Just then, Chase's zip-line broke off, because the train started to fall. This caused him to panic even harder, and he breathed even faster than he ever thought he could before. Wave and Marshall saw this, and they could feel his fear and distress. But they knew they had to focus on the mission. They pressed two buttons, allowing their ladders to disconnect and make one big ladder for everyone to climb onto. Once it reached the Subway train, Marshall spoke to the citizens trapped up there. "Please leave the train and proceed down the ladder!"

Wave added something to that, giving a confident smile as she pressed a button that gave the citizens a slide down the ladder. "And for those of you who want an addition of adventure that CAN'T kill you, here's your very own ladder slide, brought to you by the Paw Patrol themselves!"

The first citizen got ready to go down, feeling it looked like a lot of fun. "Here goes nothing!" The first citizen went down and landed on the trampoline Wave and Marshall set there for the landing, allowing her to hop off safely.

Ryder praised Wave and Marshall as the citizens continued to go down. "Nice work you two!"

Skye hovered over to Chase, making sure her helicopter wasn't too loud as she landed on the roof. His panic attack was still in high gear, and at this point, he was almost ready to pass out! Just before he did however, he heard the voice of the love of his life. "Chase!" Chase looked and saw Skye hopping down to talk to him, making sure not to get too close until he was able to breathe normally again. "I'm here to save you." Skye reached her paw out slowly, giving Chase the time he needed to grab it. "When you're calm, just grab my paw. It'll be okay."

Chase needed more time after that to grab her paw, so Skye calmly spoke to him about what happened. "What's wrong Chase? Tell me what happened."

"I! Don't! Know!" Chase exclaimed, still breathing, despite it slowing down from before. "I! Just! Froze!"

Skye saw that his heartbeat was getting slower, meaning that his panic attack was reaching its end. "It's okay. Everyone's safe. And you're safe. I'll make sure of it." Chase managed to stop breathing so heavily after that, being incredibly soothed by Skye's voice. He struggled a bit, but he had the courage to grab her paw and stand up with her. He still felt horrible for how things went, but Skye was there to make sure he was okay. "Let's get you down." Chase climbed over the roof wall with Skye as carefully as they could before going over to the helicopter.

Chase was now in Skye's helicopter, looking down as he saw everyone safe and sound. No thanks to him that is. As they slid down the ladder slide, Chase could only think about how he failed everyone. The citizens didn't see it that way, but he felt he let them all down. And he hated letting others down more than anything. The fact that he failed to save them made him doubt himself even more. He already doubted his ability to handle Adventure City. But now, he was nearing his limit. To him, all he could hope for was that by some miracle... he was worth it.

Ryder was still watching through his binoculars, watching as the last of the trapped citizens came down the ladder slide. Relieved, Ryder started to announce a successful rescue. "Okay. That's all of them." Ryder put his binoculars on his ATV before he saw Chase standing before him. Chase was watching with his self worth issues being shown in clear disappointment in himself, and sadness. Ryder was overjoyed, being ready to show Chase how glad he was that he made it. "Chase!"

Ryder rushed over to Chase to hug him, and Chase expressed his disbelief over his panic attack while also failing to hug Ryder back. He didn't feel he deserved to after he failed so hard. "I don't know what happened."

"I'm just glad you're okay." Ryder assured Chase upon letting go.

Chase still felt awful about how he handled the mission though, and made that clear as he looked down at the ground. "I'm sorry."

"No, it's my fault." Ryder assured Chase, firmly believing that he put too much pressure on Chase. "I thought you'd be okay in Adventure City. But it's still too much for you."

Chase didn't want to let Ryder down, assuring him that he could handle the city no problem as the others came to check on him. "I'll be fine. I-I just need to-"

"You're not fine. You need to take a break." Ryder told Chase, assuring him that he and the others would take over rescues for the time being. "We'll take care of the rescues for a while."

Chase was stunned to hear that, and not wanting to let Ryder down, he objected to his call. "What? No! I-it's been almost sixteen years; I can handle it!"

Ryder felt bad for doing this, but he knew Chase needed to adjust to the city better before he continued with rescues. "I'm sorry Chase. I know it's hard. But I'm not gonna make you confront your past anymore." Due to Chase not thinking clearly, he was unable to interpret Ryder's wording as intended. "Not until you're ready."

Chase backed up a little, his emotions spiraling out of control as he started to lash out in sadness and betrayal. "I knew I wasn't good enough!" Ryder flinched in shock along with the others as Chase said that. As Chase continued, he expressed how badly he wanted to prevent what he thought was happening. "I didn't even wanna come back to Adventure City! I only came because I wanted to prove to you that I would be okay!" Ryder was heartbroken as Chase spoke about his internal struggles. "But... I'm NOT okay. I know I need to be okay!"

Ryder had never seen Chase this upset before. He wasn't entirely sure what he should do. "Chase, I promise you; you aren't letting me down my taking time off!"

"It's not just taking time off!" Chase shouted, unable to bottle up what's been inside of him for the past sixteen years. "...It's everything." Chase looked at Ryder as he explained what he meant. "Every step I take in this city... makes me feel like I'm that scared little puppy you found that day. I can't feel good about anything I do. I can't perform rescues right, I can't sleep, I can barely keep myself together in the day... I can't even eat without fearing something will make me choke!"

Ryder was about to speak again, but Chase cut him off to continue with what he had to say. He backed up more as he did, not out of disdain for Ryder... but for himself. "All I've ever wanted since you found me... was to feel good about myself. But I don't know how." Skye and Marshall looked crushed at seeing Chase express these feelings. "Even after you gave me a purpose, I just can't do it." Wave and Liberty looked crushed as well with Liberty looking at Wave with concern and confusion. "No matter how confident I look on the field... I'm still broken inside."

Chase clenched his fists after taking another step back, expressing the very core of his internal struggles. "You've all seen it at least once. Ever since I was abandoned by my former owners, I've... hated myself! And even after meeting you, and Skye, and Marshall, and Wave, and everyone else... even after everything you've all done help me be happy... even in the moments when I AM happy, I'm still thinking about what happened that day, striving to be as great as I can be so I can avoid that ever happening again."

"I was never going to abandon you Chase." Ryder assured Chase, making sure to avoid yelling, despite his own emotional state. "I meant what I said the day I took you in." Chase's heartbroken look and bottled up anger towards himself made it clear this was deeper than that. "I'll look after you for as long as I need to."

"I'm talking about ME!" Chase stated, taking another step back as he spilled his guts over not wanting to lose himself. "You gave me hope that I can feel good about myself. Love myself. And little by little, I started to develop into someone who felt like the real me. The me I want to be." Chase held back his tears as he thought about the tragedy he saw in what he was thinking. "But as real as it felt... I can't be that Canine." That hurt Chase the most of all. He really felt he couldn't be the dog he's become since Ryder found him. "I'm still that scared little puppy."

"No you're not." Wave protested, knowing that Chase had grown much more than he was giving himself credit for. Ryder let Wave speak to prove he wasn't the only one who believed in Chase. "We fought off Charm together." Charm silently mouthed 'long story' to Liberty, who silently mouthed back 'I know' in response. "We fought off Slash's demon army together. We took down Miranda." Wave attempted to reach out, stepping forward as she assured Chase he was the dog he wanted to be. "A scared little puppy wouldn't do all that. You're a hero Chase."

Chase sighed, taking another step back as his mental state prevented him from believing those words. "No I'm not Wave." Chase took off his Pup-Tag, removing his Pup-Suit in the process due to his Pup-Tag being what made the suit, and shocking everyone. Especially Ryder. "I'm not the hero I thought I was. I'm just a scared, worthless Canine who doesn't even want himself."

Chase's heartbreak caused him to drop his Pup-Tag before finishing what he had to say. "This job is too big..." That last part was what hit the most. "AND I'M TOO SMALL!" There was a brief pause after that as Chase's last words cried throughout the city. All Chase could do, was hold back his tears before taking one more step back in shame and sadness.

Chase ran off as fast as he could, leaving Ryder to run after him along with the others. "Chase, wait!" But Chase didn't listen. And as Ryder picked up his Pup-Tag while chasing after him, Chase remained too distraught to look back.

Upon running into an alleyway, Chase continued running, not looking back as the sadness and fear stayed with him. He kept moving forward, feeling he couldn't turn back now. He jumped onto a dumpster and front flipped over it before running forward again immediately after landing. Even as he started running past people in the city, he didn't stop moving. As much as Chase wanted to go back, he just didn't feel like he deserved it. In his eyes, he was still that scared little puppy from before. Feeling like he'd never grown, Chase saw himself as pathetic.

Chase even started running through the still traffic during a red light, even running into Butch and Ruben. As they tried to catch him for Mayor Humdinger, Chase punched Butch in the gut and dodged Ruben's grab, punching him in the face before running off again. If only Chase could see what that meant. As much as he looked down on himself, there was still a part of him that felt worthy of love and happiness. He was just so surrounded by fear, sadness, and self worth issues, that he missed it completely.

Meanwhile, the rest of the Paw Patrol, along with Liberty, were still looking for Chase, with Ryder calling out to him. "Chase!? Chase!?"

The rest of the team were calling out for him too, and Skye did so as well once she jumped onto a newspaper box. "Chase!" She may not be a puppy anymore, but she was still talented enough in agility to stand on it no problem.

Marshall was looking all around as well, calling to Chase in desperation to find him. "Come on buddy, where are ya!? Where'd you go Chase!? Chase!?"

Wave and Liberty were looking as well, and Liberty started blaming herself for what happened. "This is all my fault." That caught Wave's attention, stopping along with the sad pup to help her with her dilemma. "If I hadn't called you guys-"

"Hey; none of this is on you Liberty." Wave assured Liberty, knowing she couldn't have predicted any of this. "Your call is what brought us here, but you didn't know anything about Chase's history with Adventure City until now. And, who can predict a panic attack during a rescue?" Wave took Liberty's paws, assuring her that she did do good for this city. "You calling us helped save so many lives. If you hadn't, Humdinger's firework disaster, and Subway disaster, would've led to dozens of people dying right now. But your call to us, led to us saving them."

Liberty felt comforted by Wave's words, and Wave showed that she understood who she really was. "You're not just a weirdo Liberty. Quirky, yes. But you're also a sweet, cheerful, friendly, helpful, and brave dog. In just the time since we met yesterday, you guided us through the city to the firework disaster, and helped keep people away from today's danger." Wave's smile to Liberty showed her how genuine her words were. "You're a hero too Liberty. And I know this city would agree."

That's when Liberty realized how much this city had been there for her too. The sacked lunches, the pills for her dietary choices, and one of them recently helping her work on being more social, Liberty saw how much this city cared about her. Even after spending so much time with her, Wave saw more in her than just the parts of her that made her look like a 'weirdo'. More than her hyperfixations, her struggle to get social cues, and loud noises setting her off. Wave saw her true self too. And she even helped her realize that the city saw them too.

Wave truly helped her feel... understood. "They really would. Wouldn't they." Wave nodded her head yes to confirm it. Liberty then asked Wave a genuine question about her lingering concerns. "Is it weird that I'm still worried about potentially scaring away others?"

"Of course not. This stuff doesn't just go away, and I'm just one dog. I can't speak for everyone. Even so, I'll help you through it. Through and through." Wave assured Liberty, making her smile before the two of them got back on track. "Anyway, we've spent enough time in one spot. We gotta keep looking for Chase."

"Yes ma'am!" Liberty responded, running off with Wave, who made sure not to run too fast so she could keep up. Chase had to be somewhere in Adventure City, and they weren't gonna give up on finding him.

Speaking of Chase, he was now walking on the sidewalk of Adventure City. And he was exactly where he was before meeting Ryder. Alone. He continued onward as he then arrived at Liberty's alleyway. It was her sign that caught his attention. Particularly the words it said. The Home of Liberty. Liberty's face on the banner also caught his attention. She really had the time to paint this and put it up. It made him curious to look and see what she did. What he saw upon doing so, shocked him to no end.