Author's Note (A/N): Thank you all for stopping by. These chapters are kind of short- but I'm working to establish things now. It won't be like this forever!

The previous chapter was a flashback type of thing- but now we're picking up in the story's present-day.

Hope you enjoy- more on the way :

Chapter 1• Standby

*Present Day*

That was a full month ago.

For what it's worth, their nautical rescue went off without a hitch. Some teenagers had gotten into their parents' whiskey cabinet, and one was coherent enough to remove one rope that attached their 12-horsepower yacht to ONE wooden dock support (which I made) but not the other.

By the time they had all passed out, the Yacht had ripped half of the dock off of its supports. It was a miracle that nothing bad happened over the night, accounting for the obvious risk of alcohol poisoning.

By morning, however, it was a different story.

The drifting boat hit a reef and the back half burst into flames. By the time the others had reached the scene, it was already on fire. But Ryder had accounted for that (as he always does).

It was over within minutes. Everyone did their job. Zuma plucked them from the boat one by one, Marshall made sure they were okay for the most part (aside from hellacious hangovers that Marshall was not obligated to assist with), and Rubble constructed a new concrete dock support. Chase called for there to be increased police patrols in the area at night and their actions were witnessed by the proud and impressed crowds on the beachfront.

The boat was saved- most of it anyway.

In the end, the teenagers were sent to the police station, where they would face the mercy of their parents in time.

Long time Adventure Bay residents still found satisfaction in watching our operations go smoothly, much in the same way I do. Even then, I could hear their cheers in my head.

Unfortunately, I was watching from the lookout telescope. A practice I would soon abandon out of some combination of resentment and jealousy.

I wasn't mad at them, but it was hard to be the only one not called into action.

With Adventure Bay's increase in size, there was a push to "fill in the gaps", so to speak.

There was now an entire force of police humans and dogs alike keeping the peace to help Chase out.

Rubble had a large congregation of construction pups and humans constantly at work.

Marshall too could rely on a fire/rescue force comprised of members of both species.

Human lifeguards still held control of the beaches and waterfronts alongside Zuma.

It wasn't until social media started to explode that the actions of the PAW Patrol could be seen worldwide. It served as a beacon for humans and dogs that wanted to do good.

However, there was no replacing the originals. These "helpers", both human and canine, made up a "neighborhood watch force". We were still the same old PAW Patrol.

Although Chase did the same work he'd always done, he was respected at the level of a police Chief.

Despite him constantly reminding the public that Chief was an honor he had not yet earned, this didn't stop Zuma from giving Chase "Chief" as a nickname.

At first Chase would laugh, but as time went on his reactions turned to scoffs and groans.

Zuma would always laugh.

So would Skye, although she'd laugh extra hard.

There was something satisfying about seeing Chase's hard exterior become soft, if only for moments at a time.

Pretty soon, pups and humans with ski/snowboard/alpine rescue training went to Jake's Mountain with Everest.

Those who favored hotter climates and/or archaeology would join Tracker and Carlos in the jungle.

Everyone knew what the PAW Patrol was about.

Everything was changing, except for what wasn't.

Every day since then I would fall into a vicious cycle, lining up at first thing in the morning, hearing the situations which normally called for a singular pup's expertise, or maybe a duo.

You wouldn't send Rubble to put out a fire, that's for sure.

But the common denominator always seemed to be my services, or rather the lack of my services.

I knew everyone had noticed, but they didn't say anything. We all still played together, ate together, laid down as the sun sank below the tree line together. So, what was there to talk about?

What hurt the worse were the "Rocky, stay here and hold down the fort"- missions.

Those did all the necessary talking and then some.

"We need everyone but you, stay out of the way".

No one ever said that, but it didn't matter.

And so, it continued, day after day. The forgotten 6th member sits in his pup-house staring at the alarm clock- staring at the 11:59am teetering on the edge between morning and afternoon.

A Chillhop livestream would have been making me feel better if my tablet had been charged, but I'd forgotten to do it.

By that point, 8am wasn't necessary.

Of course, whenever my pup-tag bleeped to life I would rush with the greatest speed I could muster. But it was almost like buying flowers in hopes of wooing a married woman- too much effort for already knowing the answer.

I'm a professional, I thought to myself. Everyone has down-time, and that's okay.

A month of down-time seemed cruel to me, but who knows, maybe I'd look back and hope for another chance for times to be like this.

I had no idea how right I would end up being.