Chapter 7: Homeward Bound

The sun rose over Adventure Bay, indicating that today was going to be a good day, meteorologically speaking. The cleanup and repair efforts from the tornado that had struck the town had finally finished. It went a lot quicker once Rubble was released from the hospital; he was able to take care of the remaining buildings in one day.

"How long has it been since they were separated from you?" Katie asked over the phone.

"It happened three days ago, four days after the tornado," Ryder said. He and his pups had gone to look for Rocky, Chase and Skye the past two days to no avail. "They must be further from home than we had originally thought."

Without three of his pups, morale at the Lookout had been pretty fragile. None of the other pups were trained for handling rescues that otherwise would have been handled by Rocky, Chase or Skye, so Foggy Bottom's police department volunteered to help out where it could.

Rubble's return to the Lookout was very much welcome, a bright spot in the team's lives that was so desperately needed.

Marshall spent every available moment looking for Chase. Ryder didn't interfere either; he knew how important the German shepherd was to the dalmatian. The two had grown up together and their parents were best friends. When Marshall's parents died tragically in a large fire, Chase was the big keystone in the dalmatian's recovery from that loss.

Zuma also spent a lot of time seeking out the missing pups. Rocky was far and away his best friend, and he so desperately wanted to find him. He had also grown really close with Chase the past few rescues. Chase was someone everyone on the team, especially Zuma, looked up to. The police pup was very mature for his age, very considerate of others, and very intentional with his relationships with the others. Zuma admired all of this very much and would strive to be more like Chase.

"Is there anything I can do to help?" Katie continued.

"Not at the moment," Ryder answered. "But I'll let you know if something comes up."

Katie gave a sad smile before ending the call. Ryder was about to go downstairs to prepare breakfast when his pup pad rang again. Humming to himself inquisitively, he accepted the call.

"Hello, Ryder here."

"Ryder, it's Mayor Goodway."

"Hi, Mayor. How can we help?"

"The traffic light downtown at Main Street and Bay Drive is out. We need your help to fix the light and make sure no accidents happen."

"Don't worry Mayor, we'll see what we can do. No job is too big, no pup is too small." Despite longing for his missing pups to return, Ryder still got excited whenever they got the chance to work as a team. Pressing the button on his pup pad, he summoned his pups.

"PAW Patrol, to the Lookout!"

The sleeping pups were awakened to the sound of their pup tags going off, Rubble being a little irritated that his beauty sleep was interrupted.

"Ryder needs us," the three pups said before racing to the Lookout. Of course, Marshall performed one of his signature wipeouts, and try as they might, Zuma and Rubble were unable to avoid it.

The elevator ascended, and halfway up, the pups changed into their gear, although they were a bit confused with the wardrobe changing things up on them.

"PAW Patrol, ready for action Ryder sir," Marshall said in as good of a Chase impression as he could. "But why am I wearing Chase's police pack?"

"And why do I have Rocky's pup pack?" Rubble asked.

"Thanks for hurrying pups," Ryder said. "You guys have their old pup packs, which work just as well, since their current ones are with them who knows where."

"So what's the emergency?" Zuma asked.

"The traffic light at Main and Bay stopped working. We need to get down there to fix it and to direct traffic," Ryder said. "Marshall, you will use Chase's pack to direct traffic. I'll help you walk through it."

"Marshall…is on the case?"

"Rubble, you'll use Rocky's pack to help me and Zuma fix the traffic light."

"Rubble on the double!"

"Let's dive in!"

"We'll have to make do with what we have, and if we need backup, Foggy Bottom is only twenty minutes away. PAW Patrol is on a roll!"

Ryder ran over to the pole and jumped down while Marshall, Zuma and Rubble dashed towards the slide. Each of the pups were glad that all three of them were going on this mission. In no time, they were in their vehicles speeding towards downtown Adventure Bay.

"Marshall?" Chase said out loud. He was standing in front of the dalmatian's pup house. The door was closed, locked perhaps, but the German shepherd could hear quiet sobs coming from the other side of the door. "Marshall, it's me buddy."

"Go away!" Marshall shouted in between sobs.

"Just let me talk to you," Chase pleaded.

He, Ryder, Marshall and Skye had just returned from Marshall's hometown. A few days ago, Ryder received the devastating news that Marshall's parents had died in a fire. Investigators confirmed the fire to had been arson, which only made Marshall feel worse. The fire rescue pup hid in his house almost constantly, only leaving for meals. Ryder had allowed Marshall to skip rescues for the time being as well, and thankfully for the rest of the team, the three they've had since then had not required a fire rescue worker.

"Chase?" a soft voice said from behind him. He turned around to see Skye. Skye had been part of the team for just a few months now. Chase had almost immediately developed a crush on her, and it seemed that Ryder and Marshall caught on rather quickly.

"I just want to talk to him," Chase said, tears in his eyes.

"Maybe you should give him some space," Skye said, gesturing to the closed door and the quiet sobs. "He'll come and find you when he's ready."

Chase reluctantly left the dalmatian to grieve on his own in his pup house. He and Skye walked into the Lookout, where Ryder was watching TV.

"Hey pups," he called out. "Would you like to join me?"

"Sure!" Skye said. She and Chase hopped up on the couch next to their owner. Skye sat in the middle, Chase and Ryder on either side of her.

"Marshall's in his pup house I'm guessing?" Ryder asked.

"Yeah," said Chase, remembering how Marshall had just shouted at him to go away. He whimpered at the memory of his best friend lashing out in his grief-fueled anger.

"Maybe he just needs some rest," Skye said. Sensing Chase's sadness, she gave him a gentle nuzzle, making the police pup blush like crazy. Ryder nodded before the three of them turned their attention back to the TV.

Before long, it was nearing bedtime for the pups. Ryder was going to say something, but he looked over and noticed that both Chase and Skye were fast asleep on the couch. He chuckled quietly before getting a blanket for the two pups, letting them sleep inside the Lookout tonight.

"That was our first time hanging out that you could call 'intimate,'" Chase said. "It happened the night before you joined the team."

"Interesting," said Rocky. He had asked Chase about the history of his crush on Skye, and the German shepherd recalled some of the more memorable instances of him being alone with his crush. He had also described a few of the instances of him being worried for Skye's well-being while on missions.

"I want nothing more than to find her," Chase said.

"And tell her how you feel?" Rocky added.

"Oh, I don't know about that."

"Why not?"

"What if she rejects me?"

"Chase, I've paid more attention to your stories and your interactions with her more than I'd like to admit. And I have the feeling that she could like you too, but you'll never know unless you tell her."

The two walked in silence for a few minutes. Chase then interrupted the silence with, "How long has it been since we were separated from Ryder?"

"Three days now," Rocky replied. In that time, the two had been living off of mostly a fruit tree along the bank of a river. Rocky was able to assemble a bag out of leaves and twigs, one for Chase and one for himself. Then they loaded up on the apples on that tree before setting off. The two had considered trying to catch a fish given how hungry they were for meat, but their attempts were unsuccessful, nor did it help that Rocky refused to get in the water to help Chase out when he had managed to get his paws on a bass.

"Mr. Porter's meatballs sound so good right now," Chase said as his stomach growled. "How many apples are you down to?"

"I have two left," Rocky said. "You?"

"I also have two left. We should either eat less often or pick up our pace. Who knows how far we're still from Adventure Bay."

"I agree," Rocky said. It was nice that Chase was concerned about other things than Skye at the moment. No offense to the police pup, but he had worn Rocky out with his constant talking about Skye. "Let's hope that we're less than a day's journey from home."

Skye had never been on her own for this long since her time before joining PAW Patrol. It had been three days since she last saw any of her teammates. She had been living off of some fruit growing in a nearby clearing along with a stream of clean water.

If I were to live by myself out in the wilderness, this wouldn't be such a terrible spot, she thought. As she sauntered onward, she couldn't help but get homesick. How she missed being at the Lookout. How she missed her three square meals a day, the comfort of her own pup house, playing Pup Pup Boogie, helping the citizens of Adventure Bay. How she missed Ryder, Everest, Marshall, Rubble, Zuma, Rocky, Chase.

Thinking about the German shepherd had practically moved her to tears. In the three days since she was separated from her crush, she couldn't help but to reflect on the many memories she made with him. She had done her best to keep her feelings for him to herself, and although Chase had worried for her every now and then, she had deemed it part of his personality and that he would've worried for any other pup the same way.

Now all she wanted was to see him again and hold him tightly in her arms. At this point she didn't care if it revealed her feelings for him, she was reaching a point of desperation.

A twig snapping nearby interrupted Skye's thoughts. Stopping in her tracks, she turned to the source of the noise. It seemed to have come from a bush about fifty yards away from her. Chase? she thought. She wouldn't know how to react if it happened to be the German shepherd who had stolen her heart.

The bush continued to rustle for a couple seconds. Skye's heart beat faster, out of hope for Chase to appear and out of fear for something hiding that had eyed her for dinner. After what felt like an eternity, the creature behind the bush revealed itself, though only in a way that would serve as nightmare fuel.

Skye gasped as a big, black wolf leapt out from the bush, right towards Skye. The cockapoo managed to dodge the attack, the wolf getting a paw full of grass. Wasting no time, Skye booked it as fast as she could go. Howling, the wolf chased after her. Skye's back right leg immediately started throbbing, but Skye ignored the pain and focused on losing the wolf.

She knew she had to find a place to hide and quickly, there was no way she could outrun this wolf forever. Come on, come on, she pleaded, looking left and right for somewhere to hide. And that's when she saw it. A hole in the ground. It wasn't super big, but it certainly looked big enough for her to fit into.

She peeked behind her and noticed that the wolf was still in pursuit of her. Using what remaining strength she had left in her fragile body, she leapt for the hole in the ground. She squeezed her tiny body through the opening and, just like she had done at the jungle gym during the tornado a week prior, moved as far inside as she could.

The wolf clawed and stretched its front leg inside in a vain attempt to snatch her up, but Skye had moved back more than enough to avoid its grasp. The wolf snarled before letting out a piercing howl. Skye could hear the sound of retreating footsteps, thinking that the wolf may have given up on her and sought dinner elsewhere. She knew better than to tempt fate and decided to stay in the hole.

The gravity of the situation, on top of everything else that happened the past seven days, was starting to weigh pretty heavily on the poor cockapoo's shoulders. She collapsed on the ground and cried. She was in such a state of emotional distress that she needed to let it all out. Her tears stained the fur around her eyes and the smallest of puddles was beginning to form below her head on the ground.

"Chase," she said in between sobs. "Where are you?" Her mind raced back to the distant past as a core memory began replaying inside her head.

"Almost done here!" Chase said. It was a much needed day off for the pups, as they were all deployed to a fire at Mr. Porter's yesterday. Marshall, still not completely through grieving the loss of his parents, spent the day in his pup house. It had been a few months since he lost his parents, and since then, Rocky, Zuma and Rubble had all joined the team. All six pups were at Mr. Porter's fighting the massive fire for hours. Foggy Bottom even had to dispatch their firemen to assist. Rubble, Zuma and Rocky were in the living room playing Pup Pup Boogie to enjoy their day off.

Chase, after checking in on Marshall, had volunteered to go on a brief patrol of the area, specifically near Jake's lodge. There had been complaints about raccoons and unstable ground in the area, a combination that no one in the PAW Patrol would've ever imagined hearing.

"That was too easy!" Skye said, walking up next to him and his vehicle. Normally she would be asleep in her pup house due to being exhausted from yesterday's rescue. However, she jumped at the opportunity for one-on-one time with Chase.

The cockapoo wasn't sure when or how exactly it happened, but she had caught feelings for the team's police pup. Her mind screamed at the possibility of her and him becoming an item, though she was unsure of if he felt the same way she did.

"I kinda wish I had a drone so that I could see stuff that's further away," Chase said to her, interrupting her thoughts. "That way I wouldn't have to rely solely on walking or driving everywhere.

"Maybe you should ask Ryder about it," she said in a sweet tone.

She and Chase inspected the area for the raccoons and sure enough, they found them. A family of four was living in a burrow near the lodge, so Rubble was asked to help relocate them to the meadows near Farmer Yumi's. After the bulldog had left with the raccoons safely loaded into a pet carrier, the two pups sat on the hill overlooking Adventure Bay.

"You know, you were really brave yesterday," Skye said, interrupting the silence.

"Thanks!" Chase smiled at her. "You were pretty brave too."

"I'm glad you were able to find Mr. Porter in his restaurant before anything bad happened to him."

"Yeah, and it's a good thing he wasn't injured or anything."

The German shepherd and the cockapoo made eye contact and smiled at each other. Skye's heart began racing as the two of them continued to look at each other, their smiles not fading. Unfortunately, they did not hear Jake approaching from behind them.

"I take it the raccoons are on their way to Farmer Yumi's," he said, startling the two pups.

"They sure are," Chase said. "Thanks for the call Jake!"

"No problem dude, and thank you two for coming up to scout the area out. Now, as far as the unstable ground goes, did you find anything?"

"The ground out past the generator is a little soft," Skye said.

"But it doesn't seem like it needs to be closed off just yet," Chase added. "But to err on the side of caution maybe a sign could be put down telling people to be mindful of the area."

"Right on," Jake said. He bid the two pups farewell before retreating to his cabin.

"We should probably head back soon," Chase said, turning back to face the cockapoo.

"I was actually thinking…" Skye started.

"Yeah?" Chase said, curious to know what it was.

"Maybe we could watch the sunset up here, since it's almost time," Skye said shyly. She avoided eye contact and started fiddling with a pebble in front of her paws.

"That sounds like a great idea!" Chase said. Skye immediately perked up when she heard this and her tail began wagging.

"Really?" she said eagerly.

"Of course! With a view like this too, we totally should! I'm sure Ryder wouldn't mind either, just as long as he knows where we're at."

"Yayyy!" she said, doing a backflip.

So she and Chase, with Ryder's permission of course, watched the sunset that evening from their spot on the hill. A cold breeze was flowing through the air, causing the cockapoo to shiver. Chase took notice of this and sidled up right next to her.

Skye grasped at the opportunity presented before her and leaned up against the German shepherd, whose fur was soft and warm. Resting her head against his shoulder, she did her best to hide the blush growing on her face. She wasn't too familiar with this sort of physical intimacy, but she welcomed it, heck, she even wanted more moments like this in the future. The smile on her face grew bigger as she felt Chase lean his head gently against hers, reciprocating her actions.

The wind kept blowing, making the air even more frigid. The sun disappearing over the horizon certainly didn't help either. Despite leaning up against and into Chase's warm fur, Skye was still shivering. Chase ran over to his vehicle, which was parked only a few feet away. He returned shortly thereafter with his blanket. He made it a habit to bring it with him whenever he made trips to Jake's Mountain, either for recreational use like now or for someone the PAW Patrol just rescued that would have been in need of some warmth.

Skye watched as Chase carefully draped the blanket over her with one half. Then he draped the other half of the blanket over himself so that he could stay warm too. She could feel the temperature in her cheeks rising as she once again nestled in next to the German shepherd.

Once again, she leaned her head gently against Chase's shoulder as they watched the remainder of the sunset. The sky was a bright orange and the town below them was gold in color. She wanted this moment to last forever.

Unfortunately for Skye, all good things must come to an end. Just as she and Chase were getting ready to hop in the police pup's vehicle, they heard a loud, shrill, piercing howl that made their fur stand up on end.

"W-w-what was that?" Skye said fearfully. Whatever it was, it sounded dangerous to her.

"It sounds like a wolf," Chase said. "We should get out of here before we become dinner." He helped Skye into his police cruiser before hopping in himself and driving back home to the Lookout.

"Dog biscuits," Skye said as she opened her eyes. She stretched her legs before analyzing her surroundings. She was still in the hole in the ground. Slowly, quietly, carefully, she crept forward towards the entrance. She hoped that the wolf had given up on trying her for dinner and ran off elsewhere.

She peeked her head out of the hole and looked every which way, listening for any indication that the wolf was still around and ready to pounce. When she saw that the coast was clear, she crept out of the hole. It was then that she realized she had a new problem to deal with.

"Which way did I come from?" she asked. She looked this way and that, but all around her were trees and grass. It all looked the same to her. She whimpered and looked down, catching a glimpse of Chase's pup tag that was hanging around her neck. Sighing, she took the tag in her paw and looked at it. It smelled like Chase, and that was enough to keep her going. Trusting her gut, she picked a direction that she felt was the right one and pressed on.