Few hours later...
Zuma was in a large, dark room. Tied to a chair after having been knocked unconscious with a crowbar, which was lying on a table beside him. The chocolate labrador slowly began opening his eyes as he regained consciousness, noticing a canine cloaked in shadow standing a couple meters away.
"W-What h-happened?" Zuma asked, still dazed from being struck in the head. He noticed the canine turn their head toward him before speaking.
"Ah, you're awake. Took you long enough." The canine replied. Zuma looked around and examined his surroundings, noticing the chair he was tied to and the lightbulb hanging above him, which was seemingly the only source of light in the room.
"Ugh! Why is my head killing me!?" Zuma asked, lying his head back and looking up at the light.
"Yeah, I apologize for that." The canine replied, entering the range of the light, revealing them to be a very familiar shepherd. "I needed that briefcase, and I couldn't risk you informing the others about it's existence." As the shepherd spoke, Zuma began remembering what had happened. Including having been struck by the crowbar.
"What? Chase!?" Zuma exclaimed, shocked that the one that he saw as one of his best friends would harm him, especially over something so small. The shepherd looked back at him and smirked.
"Once again, I apologize. I'll be sure to make sure you don't get harmed any further. Afterall, it's the least I could do to thank you for bringing me the briefcase." The shepherd told him before grabbing the briefcase and heading for the exit, leaving Zuma alone.
Zuma sat there with his head lowered, the severity of his situation finally hitting him head on. He then noticed his puptag was missing, and when he glanced around looking for it, he saw it on the table, smashed into a hundred pieces.
Why would Chase do this? Zuma thought to himself, extremely confused about the situation. He began questioning everything as he sat there, stuck in the mostly dark room.
At the lookout
Sierra was on the equipment floor of the lookout, working on Marshall's improved puppack, which would combine his firepack and medicalpack into one. It was ambitious and required an entirely new, larger frame to fit it all. It also came with a reduced water tank capacity, but that wasn't considered an issue as Marshall rarely ever used even half of the current tank capacity in one mission.
As Sierra was working, she heard someone leaving the elevator and walking over to her. Sierra put down the tools and sighed, expecting it to be Ryder coming to check on her. But when she turned around, she saw Ace, which immediately caused Sierra to begin feeling nervous.
"H-Hey Ace." Sierra greeted the shepherd, putting on a smile. "I thought you were at the station still."
"I was, but we were once again getting nowhere." Ace told her, clearly upset that he was failing in protecting the town of Adventure Bay.
"Really? How? No case is unsolvable." Sierra asked, wondering how no one had made any progress over the last two weeks.
"Well this one seems to be. There's no evidence at all that could tell us the identity of the killer. The only thing we have is their voice, and we haven't been able to match it to any individual." Ace replied, convinced that the case was unsolvable at this point.
Sierra sat and listened as Ace told her about the struggles they faced, wishing she could help in some way, but upon hearing that they had the killers voice, she thought of something. "Could I listen to the tape? Maybe I'll be able to recognize who it is." Sierra asked, wanting to help Ace somehow.
"Sure, but Artemis currently has the tape, and she's already left the station. So we'll have to wait until tomorrow." Ace replied.
Sierra accepted this and asked Ace to wake her up before he left to the station tomorrow, which Ace said he would. She then thanked him before returning to working on Marshall's new puppack, with Ace assisting her.
On the nearby mountain
Everest was doing a final sweep of one of the paths, making sure no one was in trouble and helping the occasional animal that got stuck. She had already checked all the other paths and concluded they were all clear; this was the last one she had to check before the day ended.
While she was traversing the trail however, she arrived at a very familiar cave. She thought about it carefully before deciding to check it out, promising herself that she wouldn't stray too far from the path. Upon entering the cave, she immediately noticed small amounts of blood, still stained on the floor. Likely from the bullet that struck Tyrannus when Ace pulled the trigger.
Everest looked around, noticing many paw prints around the cave. She went up to a trail heading toward the entrance, and upon examining it, noticed that it looked recent. She quickly raised her head and went to leave the cave, but she was too late, as she noticed the silhouette of a canine approaching the cave.
"Why are you here?" The silhouette asked as they entered the cave, revealing themself to be a wolf.
"I-I'm just exploring, I don't mean harm." Everest replied, backing away as the wolf approached her.
"We don't appreciate people venturing into our territory to explore places you shouldn't!" The wolf growled at the husky, barring her teeth.
"Lupus! Stand down!" They both heard someone yell from the cave entrance. Lupus rolled her eyes before backing away while Everest turned to see who it was, noticing Tyrannus standing at the entrance.
"Lupus, don't attack at her, she's friendly." Tyrannus told her, he then turned to Everest and apologized for her. "I'm sorry, some of the pack members just don't understand how to be peaceful." Tyrannus said while glaring at Lupus.
"It's alright, can I leave now?" Everest asked, not wanting to stay around anymore. Especially with Lupus giving her a murderous look.
"Sure, go back to your home. It's probably for the best anyway." Tyrannus replied, standing between her and Lupus to prevent Lupus from attacking her. Everest quickly ran past them out of the cave and began following the path once more.
As she was walking back to the resort, she came across a cliff standing next to the path. Ahead, she saw another silhouette of a wolf. This wolf didn't notice her at first, but she couldn't go around thanks to the cliff. So she slowly tried to sneak past. She was doing well for a while, getting halfway passed them unnoticed. Until she stepped on a stick; this caused the wolf to turn its head toward her.
Oh great, this is how I die. Everest thought to herself, sure that the wolf was about to attack her. But she was surprised when the wolf simply greeted her.
"Oh, hey! Who are you?" The wolf asked, tilting her head. She swore she could recognize the husky standing before her, but she couldn't figure out from where.
"I'm Everest..." Everest replied nervously, trying her best to pass by and get away, back to the resort. The wolf thought about the name she was given for a moment, before suddenly remembering who she was.
"Everest!? Is it really you?" The wolf asked, shocked to meet her. Everest stood there, confused for a moment, before responding.
"Uhh, yes?" Everest replied, even more confused about how this wolf knew her name.
"It's been so long since I've seen you!" The wolf exclaimed, jumping over to Everest and giving her a smile.
"It has? I'm sorry, am I supposed to know who you are?" Everest asked, not recognizing who she was. She tried to remember any wolves she may had met before, but none came to mind.
"Yeah? You helped me find my pup a few years ago. Thanks for that by the way." The wolf replied, turning her head away as she thanked her.
"Oh, that was you? Yeah, that was a really long time ago now. Also, no problem. It is my job to help others." Everest responded, finally recognizing her as the parent of the wolf pup she had helped all those years ago.
"So, how's life been? I've heard a lot has changed since we last met." The wolf asked, curious how the husky has been.
"It's been good. You're right, everything has changed since then. Stuff has expanded and more people are visiting now." Everest replied.
"Oh yeah, we've seen a lot more people in our territory recently. Some people just don't understand that some areas aren't safe to venture into. Tyrannus does warn anyone he encounters, which is good for them, hopefully they'll learn." The wolf explained, surprising Everest.
"You and Tyrannus are in the same pack?" Everest asked.
"Yeah, he's the one in charge of the pack, though I assume you already figured that out if you've met him before." The wolf replied, smiling again as she spoke.
The two of them continued speaking as Everest walked down the path, with the wolf following her. Both of then discussing more about what's changed since they met all those years ago. Which Everest was happy to do, as she loved meeting people she helped in the past.
Meanwhile, not too far down the mountain
Marshall was driving up the mountain in his truck, intending to comfort Everest, who sounded extremely nervous and slightly scared about something when she called him. He didn't want her to stay on that mountain alone if something was bothering her, especially with those seemingly aggressive wolves roaming around. He took Tyrannus's warning seriously, even though he hadn't been attacked yet.
He soon arrived outside the resort and quickly parked his truck outside. Immediately hopping out and entering the resort, expecting to see Everest waiting inside, but he didn't see her anywhere when he entered. He grabbed his puptag and called Everest, becoming a bit worried.
Back with Everest
Everest and the wolf were still walking up the mountain together, on the way to the resort, when Everest received a call on her puptag. The wolf tilted her head at Everest as the husky held her puptag, seeing that it was Marshall calling her.
"Oh, hey Marshall!" Everest greeted the Dalmatian, smiling. The wolf smiled with her, trying to be friendly, but also trying to remember who Marshall was.
"Hey Eve, I'm at the resort, but I don't see you anywhere. Where are you?" Marshall asked, clearly sounding worried, but also confused at how calm Everest was sounding now.
"Don't worry, I'm on the way. I'm sorry it's taking so long, I just met someone we helped a few years ago on the way and got distracted." Everest replied, apologizing for taking so long to get back.
"Alright, I'll just wait here for you. Please don't stay out there for too long." Marshall said, understanding how much Everest loved meeting people she helped in the past, but also not wanting her to stay out for too long.
"Okay, I'll be sure to be back soon. Bye Marshy!" Everest said, picking up her pace back to the resort.
"Bye Eve." Marshall said before ending the call. Everest then let go of her puptag and glanced over at the wolf next to her, noticing she was clearly thinking hard about something.
"You okay?" Everest asked, wondering what she was thinking so hard about.
"Yeah, I'm just trying to remember who Marshall was. He was the spotted one, right?" The wolf asked, not entirely sure.
"Yes, Marshall is the Dalmatian." Everest confirmed, she then decided to ask her own question. "By the way, I never got your name. Who are you?" Everest asked, curious who the wolf was.
"Oh, I'm so sorry for not introducing myself. I'm Caelestis." Caelestis finally introduced herself, while apologizing for not doing so when they met.
"Caelestis huh? That's an interesting name." Everest said, almost tripping on a large rock sitting on the path, which caused Caelestis to silently giggle.
"You may want to pay attention to where you're walking, we don't want you getting injured before you get back home." Caelestis told her, Everest responded by getting up and playfully growling at her, which made Caelestis giggle again. The two of them then continued their walk, being able to now see the resort in the distance.
Back in Adventure Bay, location unknown
A familiar German Shepherd was standing on a rooftop, overlooking the town of Adventure Bay. He was holding a phone, having just finished a call with The Architect, who he informed of Zuma's capture, and asked what should be done with the Labrador. He then heard footsteps approaching behind him, and then heard a voice of someone very familiar to him.
"Hello sir, have you found out what to do with our new...hostage?" Sylvia asked, hesitanting when referencing Zuma's predicament.
"Yes, we'll use him to try and blackmail the others. We don't exactly have a use for him, we need the ones that have more influence and power. More specifically, Marshall or Skye." The shepherd replied, repeating what The Architect had told him.
"Sir, I understand, but Marshall and Skye aren't the ones who hold the most influence over the town. Chase would be much more helpful in accomplishing our goal." Sylvia informed him, wondering why they weren't just going for the one at the top.
"Chase would be too difficult to convince to pur side, If it was even possible to in the first place. He's too dedicated and loyal to the PAW Patrol and Ryder to join us, even if we have one of his friends hostage." The shepherd explained.
"And you think the other ones aren't dedicated and loyal? Marshall has put his life into the PAW Patrol. Not to the same level as Chase, but he still cares a lot about the organization." Sylvia asked, not exactly seeing how this would work.
"I'm aware it sounds strange, but this is what The Architect said. And afterall, they're signing my paychecks and giving me all the attention and fame I desire." The shepherd replied, acknowledging the problems with the plan, but not wanting to question The Architect's words. "Now, get my limo ready. I have a show tomorrow, and I won't miss it."
"Yes sir." Sylvia muttered as she walked away, clearly hesitant about the plan. She was happy to help The Architect, but kidnapping and harming the PAW Patrol was a step too far for her. She knew what she had to do now, she had to warn the others, and help them stop The Architect.
That was the end of Chapter 11.
I apologize for the long wait, writer's block has been horrible recently. I'm still not sure when I'll be able to write the next chapter.
I've honestly been thinking about starting a sort of, collection of one-shots to make while I write this. As it's much easier to write shorter stories of around 1000 words, than it is to make a larger story with around 5000 words per chapter on average.
Thank you for all your patience however, and until the next chapter is done, bye everyone!
-König der Könige