Zuma and Liberty ran as far as their legs could carry them. They quickly lost their other friends. Whether they'd already been caught was up for debate. Stopping for a breath, Liberty thought to herself. Chase's earlier pressing left her quite on edge. But so did their pursuer.

"We gotta get help," panted Zuma.

"How? We can't call anyone. Chase and Rubble could already be dead, for all we know."

"Don't say that," demanded Zuma. "We have to keep a cleaw head on this. What is a mountain lion afwaid of?"

"No idea."

"We could always stawt a fiwe," suggested the water pup. "That scawes any cat!"

"How are we gonna start a..."

Liberty cut herself short when she heard a twig snap behind. She turned, now seeing the great cat as it poorly hid against the bushes. But it didn't matter. He was here. And he was going to tear them limb from limb.

"Yipe!" exclaimed Liberty as Zuma hoisted her onto his back just like at the airport, and sped off. The mountain lion gave chase, bounding behind them. He could catch up to them any second he wanted to, but that wouldn't be any fun to him. This was all a game in the hellcat's mind. They were the prey, and he was the predator. But the worse part of the pursuit came when the mountain lion sang. He sang an old song he heard from memories long ago, taunting his prey.

Run, rabbit

Run, rabbit

Run, run, run

"No!" shouted Zuma fearfully. He would not allow himself to be the rabbit of a metaphorical hunt.

Bang, bang, bang

Goes the farmer's gun

The beast sang in his cold, monotone voice. The two pups were terrified, as Zuma ran as far as his weary paws could take him.

No, he thought. I won't die like this. Running. Clawing for a chance to escape.

Suddenly stopping in his tracks and using all the momentum he had, Zuma thrusted his backside upwards, tossing Liberty up into the air. She flew up for a moment, flailing around and screaming profanities, before landing safely in a tree branch. Zuma now turned, facing down the mountain lion.

"Oh, change of heart, I see. You are a bold one, chocolate pup. But that won't save you."

"You talk too much," said Zuma with a small grin.

"Eager for your death?" asked the wild cat, now getting closer and closer to his prey.

"No. Just tiwed of heawing you jaw on about death."

Liberty quickly realized what Zuma was doing. He was stalling, just in case Rubble or Chase came to back him up. And he'd tossed her up into the tree for safety.

Chase, Rubble, hurry up, Zuma thought desperately. I can only stall for so long.

"Just know, little one. I do not admire your bravery. It is futile. Worthless in the grand scheme of things." At this, the mountain lion lunged at his prey, but Zuma quickly ducked, running the other way as the beast landed on his face. Quickly getting up, he saw Zuma running away before his eyes turned to Liberty. She sat up in the tree branch, doing her best not to fall from it. He slowly walked up to the tree before sitting underneath Liberty's perch. "It's funny how just one weak little branch can cause a very bad tumble," said the wild cat, now snarling as he leapt up and swung at the branch, clawing it hard and causing it to shake ever so slightly.

"Le-Leave me alone!" Liberty cried out.

Ignoring her plea, the predator leapt up to shake the branch again, before a brown figure leapt from the bushes and tackled him to the ground. The mountain lion landed near the hill a few yards away from the tree. Any further and he'd have tumbled down it, onto the rocky bottom. He cringed at the thought, before getting up and looking at his attacker. Zuma stood now between the predator and Liberty, growling. His yellow eyes seemed to pierce him like a flaming torch. The great cat was silent for a moment before rising to his paws, towering over the pup by a full three feet. They did not speak, but gave each other glares and growls. It was as if they were having a mental battle between one another. Communicating without words.

"I'm just gonna say one thing," said Zuma in a low growl.

"What?"

"This is gonna huwt."

Suddenly turning, the great cat was nearly met with a log to the face, but he was able to duck just in time as it struck a tree nearby. Turning, the mountain lion saw that Rubble was the one who tried to hit him with the log. "That could never have hit me," snarled the mountain cat.

"I know," Rubble said simply. Confused, the great cat now asked.

"Then why do it?"

"Oh, you know," shrugged Rubble. "Distraction."

The mountain lion was too late to escape this time. As he quickly turned he had no time to counteract, as a log connected to a vine swung low, striking him in the face. Searing pain shot through the mountain lion's head as he was sent backwards from the blow, landing near a grassy hillside. Chase leapt down from the tree, panting. "I told you that would work."

"I can't tie things with my teeth, gimme a break," said the bulldog in an irritated tone.

"You guys weally-" Zuma was interrupted by the roar of the predator. He was now running towards them, angrier than ever. He would not allow himself to be beaten so easily. By pups, nonetheless. Leaping, he was intent on landing down hard on Rubble, before Zuma and Chase instinctively tackled him down in midair. The three were sent tumbling down the rocky hillside, leaving behind Rubble and Liberty.

"So, uh, I'm kinda new to this whole fighting thing," said Rubble to no one in particular. "Do I stay? Follow? Someone say something useful!"

Rolling down the hill, Zuma, Chase and the mountain cat grunted and yelled, tumbling down as they were all repeatedly struck against the rocks in their way. When they wearily landed at the bottom of the hill beside a river, they were all bruised from head to paw. Scars were visible all over their bodies from where they landed on every stone in their path. Chase was bleeding at his paws and sides, Zuma whined in pain as he felt his back and forelegs, now scarred and bloodied. Even the great cat didn't make it down without a few scars. Half of his left ear was missing, and he even came very close to scraping his paw pads clean off. It was Chase who stood first, followed by the mountain lion. Zuma was hurt the worst, and could only lay there whimpering. The great cat grinned despite his injuries, and began to crawl towards Zuma. Although his view of the Labrador was soon blocked by a growling German Shepherd.

"Leave. Now," Chase ordered behind his gritted teeth. "Leave us. You'll only be causing more trouble for yourself." But the mountain lion did not heed his warning. He was amused that a little pup would dare stare down a ghastly foe such as himself.

"No. No, I don't think so," replied the great cat, his grin more broad than ever before. Chase thought himself alone against the demon of a beast, wishing that when it was all over he'd at least be able to protect his friends. He was going to die here and now if it meant Zuma could at least take his chance to recuperate and run away with the others. But that night, neither dog or cat was met with death. Rubble now stood at the hill with Liberty. Grabbing rocks in their teeth, the two pups hurled as many as they could at the mountain lion. He was hit in the side. Once. Twice. He shouted and growled furiously, and only then did he move. "If I see any of you again, you won't make it out so easily! That's a promise!"

The four cheered to themselves and jeered at the great cat as he ran away, into another section of the woods. Never to be seen until he was ready to be.

Zuma weakly stood on his paws, Chase helping him up. Rubble and Liberty made their way down the rocky hill as carefully as they could. "You guys okay?" asked Liberty, looking very clearly worried.

"Yeah, pewfect," snarked Zuma. "Just neawly died. No biggie."

"You guys are all dinged up," noted Rubble. "How are we supposed to take care of this? It's really a shame Marshall isn't here."

Marshall.

The mere mention of his best friend reminded Chase of something he'd learned a while back. Getting closer to the river, the Shepherd used his paws to scrape up some dirt, firmly rubbing it onto his legs and sides.

"What you doing?" asked Zuma, limping over to the police pup.

"Little something Marshall taught me. Dirt and mud aren't the best thing to treat these wounds, but they'll have to do for now." Caked in dirt, Chase leaned his paw into the nearby water, letting the stream rid him of the brown substance staining his paw.

"You, um... you won't do that to me, will you?" Zuma inquired nervously.

"I'm afraid so," sighed Chase, now scooping up some mud. "Just please don't squirm. You're gonna make it much harder for both of us." Groaning in displeasure, Zuma lowered his head, ready for Chase's hospitality. Liberty and Rubble watched in fascination as Chase made quick work of the scars. Zuma was now more brown than he was before, if you can believe it. His fur was now dulled to the color of a well-polished hardwood floor. And he absolutely hated it. Sure, he enjoyed water-related activities, but not ones that involved being slathered in mud.

"That should do for now. It'll sort of act like a band-aid, so let it dry and don't wash or lick it off," informed Chase. The Lab just nodded along, thinking about any loopholes he could use to rid himself of the filth Chase covered him in.

"I still can't believe we evaded a mountain lion," Rubble eagerly rambled on, snapping Liberty out of her train of thought. "I was all like, 'distraction, motherpupper!' And Chase was all like-"

"Yeah, yeah, pretty cool," Liberty said, not noticing that Rubble was still talking. She seemed to be deep in thought, yet she had no thoughts audible.

"Guys, we better get a move on. We've still got a long way between us and Ryder."

"We kinda lost the way when Whiskers chased us off our trail," Rubble reminded the group, causing some temporary stress among the pups.

"Well, we could retrace our steps," Liberty suggested, "although I'm not fond of the idea of going back into the lion's den."

"We were heading East, right?" asked Chase.

"Yeah," replied Liberty. "I forgot about that. Let's just, uh..." The dachshund trailed off in realization. They could indeed retrace their steps, but not by going back into their predator's hunting grounds. Even weakened, they were not eager to face him. They could also go around the river, but they had no idea how far they would be going. Their only option was going right through it.

"What about not washing off the mud?" asked Zuma in a sarcastic tone.

"All right, how about this," began Chase, "We'll stay and rest here a while. Until our 'band-aids' dry, we'll just have to camp out or something. But we ought to take turns keeping watch in case Kit-Kat comes back."

"Not a bad idea," Zuma shrugged before weakly crawling up the hill with Rubble. Chase sighed softly, watching his friends depart from the riverbank. To his surprise, Liberty did not follow. She stayed beside him, clearly wanting to say something. The Shepherd looked at Liberty in a questioning manner. "Something wrong?"

"Um, uh... course not!" Liberty quickly responded.

"Okay," shrugged Chase before turning towards the hill to follow his friends. Liberty, realizing enough was enough, finally said what was on her mind.

"Edmond."

Turning and looking at the dachshund with a great deal of confusion in his eyes, Chase asked. "What?"

"Edmond. That was my, uh, old owner's name," Liberty said, looking down. "I was his, um... I was his lapdog, of sorts. I was the runt of my litter back in Adventure City, so my parents easily gave me up to him. Didn't wanna lug me around as 'dead weight,' or whatever it is they called me."

Chase's mind was now devoid of any thought as Liberty finally told him what he wanted to hear.

"Anyway, I found out one night when he returned home later than usual... he was working for the cartel, just to say the least." Liberty's mood softened as her head filled with old memories. She no longer seemed endearing as usual, but fragile. Hurt by every second she spent on this earth. "And he, uh, said that I should join him, just to get a piece of what it was like. And he thought after I went on a 'ride along' as he called it, I wouldn't tell anyone or testify against him if it ever came to that." She paused, now fighting back a tear that threatened to leak from her eye. "He um, got a call from his boss to go take down this one guy who had been giving him trouble for quite some time. Of course, I went with him just because he didn't give me a choice. He said if I helped him well enough, he'd get me some extra treats later. I was a little pup, I couldn't say no to that, ya know?" Liberty asked, letting out a small chuckle to ease the tension. Chase simply nodded. "So then, we go to this guy's house, and I have to watch my own owner..." Liberty paused, clearly not wanting to go into much detail. "He got him down, and he gave me a knife and said... 'Finish him off. Be Daddy's good girl.'" The dachshund couldn't help it anymore, as several tears flowed freely down her cheeks while her voice wavered every now and then. "I did it. I don't know why, and I wasn't proud, but I did it."

Chase felt absolutely mortified. His own friend had just admitted to a murder. Were he in Adventure Bay and with solid evidence, he could legally have turned her in right then and there. But he didn't. That wasn't his objective here, nor in his current train of thought.

"He made me do it... several more times," Liberty admitted, sobbing softly. "But I couldn't do it anymore. I turned him in. And I haven't seen him in eight years. I just sorta became homeless after that, you know? Wandering Adventure City, not knowing if anyone would ever care for me the way Edmond did." Liberty could no longer bring herself to words, as her sobs became uncontrollable. Chase only came forward and hugged her, wrapping his paws around her back and thereby covering her in some of his 'band-aid'. She in turn drenched him in tears, hugging him back tightly.

"I..." Liberty's voice cracked. "I'm a bad pup, Chase."

"No. No, you're not-"

"Yes! Yes I am. I can't even forgive myself."

"A bad pup wouldn't be sitting here, feeling bad for something they've done," explained Chase. The dachshund did seem to heed his words, as she let go of him and sniffled. "Thanks for understanding. I'm sorry I snapped earlier. It's just... it's something I've never told anyone. Ever."

"So that's why you're always trying to keep up conversation with everybody, huh?" asked Chase. "You wanna know that they aren't like your old owner. You might lose hope they're still on your side."

"You just read me like a book," Liberty scoffed.

"I'm the police pup for a reason. Now, listen. I get that what you did was wrong. But there's nothing wrong about putting it behind you. And looking forward to accomplish great things. That's what makes heroes who they are. They keep going, even if it's hard."

Liberty suddenly looked up at Chase, a grin slowly spreading across her muzzle. A light in the darkness. "I taught you well, huh?"

"You sure did. And because of that, we're both going to move on and not see you for what you've done, but what you're going to do. Deal?" Chase asked, raising his paw.

"Deal," Liberty agreed, high pawing Chase.

"What do you think they're talking about down there?" asked Rubble.

"I dunno," shrugged Zuma. "But there's a good chance one of them confessed something."

"Oh, nuh-uh!" Rubble exclaimed. "You're just gonna let her swoop in and steal your man?"

"Dude, I... what?"

"It's obvious. You and Chase are an item."

Completely dumbfounded, Zuma stuttered. "N-no we'we not! I bet you five pup tweats they'll come up hewe and announce that they'we a couple."

"I bet you ten that I'll catch you and Chase smooching later tonight," Rubble added smugly.

"Well, uh... none of us have pup tweats, so ha ha!"

Sitting and thinking to himself, Rubble thought aloud. "This is gonna be a long night."