Author's Note: Hey, guys. I'm very sorry for sharing these chapters (Chapters 4, 5, and 6) with you all so late. My exams just finished yesterday, and during some time I've had, I've been writing as much as I can. Last Sunday, I did everything I needed to do; I just needed to publish it today. So again, apologies for the late publishing, and please be patient yet again for the next chapters. In the meantime, here's where we left off from that cliffhanger in the last chapter. Enjoy.

Ryder, Chase, Rocky, and Marshall were still walking through their tunnel when they heard the rumbling. They stopped and looked around, trying to locate the source of the sound. Suddenly, it got louder, and the ground beneath them shook violently.

Ryder held onto the tunnel's wall for support. He saw Marshall and Rocky doing the same and noticed Chase was still standing on the shaking floor, looking around for something to hold onto.

"Chase, hold onto me!" yelled Ryder over the loud rumbling. Chase heard him and ran towards him and gripped his leg tightly. Ryder felt the pup's fear and wanted to comfort him, but he needed both hands on the wall to steady himself and the German Shepherd. Fortunately, the shaking and rumbling didn't last long, and soon, the team was able to stand normally again.

Ryder knelt in front of Chase, who had let go of his leg but was still shaking. Ryder placed a reassuring hand on Chase's head. "It's okay, Chase," he said calmly. "Everything's okay now."

Once Chase managed to calm down, Marshall asked, "What was that, Ryder?"

"It must have been a rock avalanche," explained Ryder.

"But where are the rocks?" asked Rocky.

"Well, the rumbling was very bad, so it might have fallen somewhere in the cave."

"At the entrance?" inquired Marshall.

"Probably not," replied Ryder. "The noise seemed to come from somewhere around here..."

Chase suddenly gasped. "Ryder, what if the avalanche fell in Skye's tunnel? Skye could be in trouble!"

"What about Lily, Rubble, and Zuma?" Rocky added. "Did you forget about them?"

"Oh, yeah..." said Chase. "But they could still be in danger! All of them! And Skye! Ryder, we need to check if they're okay!"

"I'll try to contact them, Chase, don't worry," said Ryder as he pulled out his pup pad, now feeling glad he had it with him.

In the right tunnel, the avalanche had also subsided, allowing Lily and Skye to get up. Lily had protected Skye from the rock fall and was nearly covered in ash. Her veil miraculously stayed on her head, though it was completely covered in ash. Skye, meanwhile, had ash covered on her here and there but was more spotless compared to Lily. She looked up and saw her heroine coughing as she removed her veil and tried to get the ash off. It went off, but it fell near where Skye was, and she coughed also.

"Sorry, Skye," said Lily. She put her veil back on and turned around. "It appears we've got a problem," she told Skye.

The cockapoo turned in Lily's direction and gasped. Where there had been a way through, there was now a wall of rocks. The ashy smoke cleared, and Skye walked over to the rocks. She tried to move them, but they wouldn't budge.

"You won't be able to move them, Skye," said Lily. "They're way too heavy."

Skye stopped and pounded on the rocks. "Hello?" she called out. "Rubble? Zuma?"

Through a small gap between two large boulders, she saw an eye the colour of amber peek through. It saw her, and Zuma's voice cried, "Skye!"

"Zuma!" said Skye. "Are you and Rubble okay?"

"We're fine, Skye, just -" Zuma coughed, "- covered in a lot of ash."

Skye brainstormed for a while, then asked, "Zuma, do you think Rubble could use his jackhammer to bust through these boulders?"

Zuma pondered this idea for a moment. "Hold on," he said, and his eye disappeared from the gap. The chocolate labrador had probably gone to ask Rubble about it.

Suddenly, Lily's phone rang. She pulled it out of her pocket and answered the call. "Hello?" she said.

"Hello, Lily," Ryder's voice came out.

Skye turned to the phone. "Ryder!" she exclaimed.

"Skye! Hey there!"

Skye barked joyfully, and Ryder and Lily laughed. They stopped when Ryder asked Lily, "Lily, is everyone okay?"

"Yes, Ryder, everyone's fine," replied Lily. "But there was a rock avalanche, and it's created a wall blocking our path."

"Are you able to get to the exit?" asked Ryder.

"Skye and I can't," said Lily. "The avalanche separated us from Zuma and Rubble. Only they can get out."

"I see. Can I hang up for a moment? I'll call again later."

"Alright," said Lily, and Ryder hung up from the call. Just then, Zuma returned and called to Skye, "Rubble says he'll try to break through the rocks. It might take a while, though."

"Then perhaps me and Skye should continue through the tunnel," said Lily. "Remember what we came here for."

"The time capsule," Skye answered. Lily nodded.

"If that's the case, then we'll be waiting here," said Zuma.

"Okay, then," said Lily. "See you soon."

Zuma bid them farewell and returned to Rubble. Lily turned to Skye. "Come on, Skye. I'll inform Ryder that we're moving on."

Skye nodded and continued through the tunnel with Lily by her side, who had taken her phone out to call Ryder again. She dialled him, and almost at once, he answered.

"Lily, hi!"

"Ryder, hi," replied Lily. "Skye and I are going to move on through the tunnel and see if we can find the time capsule."

"Ah, okay. We just hit a dead end in our tunnel. I think the pups and I should go find Zuma and Rubble."

"That would be great. See you soon, Ryder."

"You too. Take care."

Lily hung up and led Skye through the tunnel, lighting up the way with the flashlight. Skye looked around at the walls, thinking about the cave painting they saw back at the cave earlier. Perhaps there would be more? Marshall wasn't the only one who had been very curious about the painting of the round capsule. Like the Dalmatian, Skye had also tried to take a double take on the painting but was worried Chase, who although was up at the front, would see her. Skye didn't know why she felt that way, but she fought the feeling off anyway. But maybe Chase wouldn't have minded... would he have done the same?

Skye's mind flashed back to when she stayed back from the group to talk to Chase. Chase had told her to be careful, and that moment when they laughed together... Skye sighed as she remembered it. That was one of the things Skye loved about Chase and the reason she had a crush on him. It was that the police pup always cared for every one of them and always reminded them to look before they leapt.

Yeah, she thought. He cares so much about us...

As Skye got lost in her thoughts, Lily was now looking at her phone again, trying to track the capsule. Its coordinates were close; that was how she knew it was somewhere in the cave and the reason she had her phone out for almost the entire walk. She glanced at the screen again and saw that they were getting much closer to the capsule. She felt a rush of excitement. This was it. She was finally going to solve the mysteries of her ancestors. What would the other Walkers say when they cracked the Ancient Walkers' puzzle?

She turned around to tell Skye. "Skye, we're very close to the capsule; isn't that exciting?"

This broke Skye out of her daydream. "What?" she said hastily. "Oh, yeah, it is."

Lily frowned at her. "Are you okay?" she asked.

"Uh, yeah, I'm fine," said Skye. She smiled widely and gestured down the tunnel. "Let's find that time capsule!" she said energetically.

Lily smiled back, and they walked on.

While this was happening, Ryder, Chase, Marshall, and Rocky joined Zuma and Rubble on the opposite side of the avalanche. Following Skye's instructions, Rubble was using his jackhammer to break apart the rocks, while Ryder supervised the construction. The other pups stood behind them, watching their efforts to remove the boulders.

As Chase watched, he couldn't stop thinking about Skye. He knew she was okay and even sighed in relief when he heard her bark in response to Ryder's call. Still, he couldn't shake off his worry about her. Would she be alright? Despite being with Lily, who looked like she knew her way around the cave, Chase felt as though something was going to happen very soon.

Thinking about Skye made him remember the moment they shared before entering the tunnels. He knew that the caves could be very dangerous, which was why he had warned her. Skye, however, seemed confident that everything would be fine. That was something Chase admired about her. She always managed to find light in any situation, even in the darkest of them.

Yeah, he thought. She's incredible...

"Um, Chase? Chase, hello?"

Chase blinked. Rocky was waving his paw over his face, looking quite disturbed.

"Hello?" the mixed breed repeated.

"Uh, yeah, Rocky, I'm here," replied Chase quickly.

"What's wrong, Chase?" asked Zuma. "You were looking so far away."

"N - nothing," Chase stammered.

"What were you thinking about?" inquired Marshall. Then the fire pup had a thought. "Were you thinking about Skye?"

"No," Chase lied. "Why would I?"

"I dunno," said Marshall. "You could be thinking about anything."

As they continued talking, the pups failed to notice Ryder watching them and thinking about their conversation. He recalled the thought he had when Chase had joined them in the left tunnel after staying back for something he hadn't told them about. Ryder strongly knew that the pup had feelings for Skye and believed that Chase had stayed back to talk to her, perhaps to tell her something he didn't want to say in front of the team. Reflecting on Chase's behaviour when he joined them, Ryder felt that the pup might not have shared his feelings with Skye, or his reaction to their questions would have been entirely different.

Suddenly, a loud rumble shook Ryder out of his thoughts. He looked up, thinking that another avalanche was falling.

"Yes!" exclaimed Rubble. "Ryder, look!"

Confused, Ryder turned to Rubble, who was standing next to where the fallen avalanche should have been, but wasn't. All Ryder could see were rocks and boulders scattered around, creating a way that continued through the tunnel. Ryder gasped.

"Rubble," he began. "You - you did it!"

"It was nothing," admitted Rubble.

Ryder turned around to see Chase, Marshall, Rocky, and Zuma, all with their mouths wide open, gasping at what Rubble had just achieved.

"Whoa," said Zuma. "You did it, dude!"

"Great job!" Marshall commented.

"Thanks," replied Rubble with a satisfied grin.

"Now, come on, pups," said Ryder, recovering. "We've got to find Lily and Skye!"

"Yes!" exclaimed Chase. "Let's go, go, go!" He ran fast down the tunnel, leaving the others behind.

"Chase!" Marshall called to him. "Wait up!" He ran after the German Shepherd, and the rest followed behind him.

"Lily, is that...?"

"Yes. It is."

Lily and Skye had broken through the tunnel into a massive cavern that opened up to the sky. There were vines, grass and moss everywhere they looked. A moat of sparkling water surrounded a small island that was typically in the middle of the cavern. But Lily and Skye weren't looking at the island. Their eyes were fixed on what was on it.

There was a large disk-like object that stood upright on the grassy surface. It was covered thoroughly in moss, but several pictures were visible, engraved on the circle. There was a clear picture of a person in a mask, and what looked like a house with two doors and a window. But what caught Lily and Skye's attention was a symbol in the middle of it all: two letters, A and W, intertwined.

They had found the time capsule of the Ancient Walkers.