(A/N: I do not own Paw Patrol, enjoy!)
What Had Happened Was…
Marshall padded over to Cinder as she watched Gizmo pass out. Marshall quickly checked his pulse to ensure he was fast asleep, before turning towards his twin, "It's a shame we had to get the jump on him; I feel bad about tranquilizing him."
"I know, but he'll be fine," Cinder shrugged. "After all, he is trying to preserve the timeline. We'll give him the reversal agent when Marty shows up to save him."
"You're sure he'll come?" Marshall questioned; his brow furrowed.
"Of course," his sister nodded confidently. "We agreed that if the time travel test turned out to be real, then everything else would be as well, meaning we really are in an alternate universe, and Gizmo really did save Augie's life."
"I know," Marshall replied, "but are you sure Marty will show up? He might not remember, or Gizmo might not have reminded him that he needs to show up to preserve the timeline."
"Hmm… maybe," Cinder softly mused, acknowledging the possibility. "We'll have to wait and see if he comes."
"Okay. Until then, what should we do with- Huh?! He's gone?!" Marshall gasped. Cinder snapped her head towards the empty space where the Labrador retriever had been. The only trace that remained of his presence was Marshall's empty tranquilizer cartridge.
The paramedic walked over and picked it up to examine it. Then he heard a voice. "Tip number one of interdimensional time travel: Be ready for anything."
Cinder and Marshall rapidly scanned the room for the source of Gizmo's voice as he kept talking. "And when I say anything, I mean anything. For example, merpup werewolves that sprout wings during blood moons and have lightning powers. Those were nightmare fuel for a long time."
Cinder narrowed her eyes as she looked upwards, deducing that the general location his voice was coming from was a corner on the ceiling. "Gizmo, how are you awake? Don't tell me you pulled some sort of time travel stunt on us."
"Nope, no time travel," Gizmo confirmed, turning off his cloaking device. Now both Dalmatians could see him as he hung upside down from the ceiling by his electromagnetic shoes. Deftly and silently, he dropped to the ground, landing neatly on all four paws. "I figured I'd do something much more practical. Last night I took precautions in case you would try to get the jump on me again. One of the precautions was getting a hold of your tranquilizer reversal agent."
"I see," Cinder softly cut in. "So as soon as Marshall shot you, you took a dose of the antidote so you would only be asleep for a few seconds. But shouldn't you feel very lightheaded?"
"Oh…" Gizmo paused as he pondered the new information. "I thought that was just because I was hanging upside down on the ceiling. No wonder it's ten times worse than normal."
"But how did you get the antidote? After I was framed, we made sure it was impossible for anyone else to get any of it," Marshall pointed out.
"Ah, but I'm not limited to the time after when Marshall was framed," Gizmo reminded them with a smirk. "I'm so glad you guys finally remember everything again. You won't believe how hard it was to repeat these last few days."
"I think we can," Cinder softly said, allowing a small smile. "You slipped up pretty badly yesterday."
"The Time Lord slipped up?!" a female voice said with a laugh from another doorway. Right on cue, a female Dalmatian entered the room, followed by Marty. "This I have to hear about!"
"Ah, there you are," Gizmo said, ignoring the title Auburn had referred to him as. "I wondered when you two would show up. Marshall, Cinder, meet Auburn: Marty's twin sister."
"Nice to meetchya!" Auburn yipped, waving a hello to them.
"Nice to meet you too!" Cinder and Marshall replied simultaneously.
"So, what did Gizmo do wrong?" Auburn asked eagerly.
"Oh, he just said the exact same thing in this timeline as he did in the last timeline, even though he should have said something very different," Marshall informed the extra-dimensional dalmatians.
"Hah! Oh, that's funny!" Auburn snickered
"Hey! I'd like to see you have to memorize three days' worth of lines and actions, have some things switch up on you, and then see you do things perfectly!" Gizmo retorted.
"Auburn, I'm surprised you don't look anything like Marshall," Cinder softly noted with interest.
"Makes it easier to tell us apart," Auburn replied. "And you don't look exactly like Marshall either. That spot on your left ear is ever so slightly off."
"Huh? It is?" Marshall asked in alarm, running next to his sister to try to see for himself.
"Oh, wait…" Auburn paused as she did a double take. "Marshall's is different too. I guess I'm too used to my Marshall."
"One thing that's for sure," Marty spoke, "is that you and Cinder probably don't have much in common."
"Let's test it. I'm the first canine fire captain, I helped catch a serial arsonist, first female canine training officer in my department…"
"What?! You've done all that?! I just finished high school! How old are you?" Auburn gasped.
"Twenty; in our universe pups age like humans. But we can handle things much sooner, which is how I'm in a position that a human would not hold until they were roughly 35 or so. …but I'm surprised the Time Lord didn't tell you about that himself," Cinder softly responded.
"Oh, come on. It's bad enough having her call me that. Don't tell me you're going to call me that too, Cinder," Gizmo groaned.
"And why not?" Cinder softly inquired, "It suits you. I'm guessing there's a story behind it?"
"Yes! It bugs him and I find it hilarious," Auburn exclaimed with a devious chuckle, prompting an exasperated sigh from the black Lab.
"I'm not a Time Lord. All I did was finish the work my parents started and build a time machine."
"Which you've now used it to change the past and bring someone back to life. If that doesn't make you a Time Lord, I don't know what would." Then Auburn whispered to Cinder so Gizmo couldn't hear her, "But if I really want to get under his fur, I call him Gizzy instead."
Cinder's silvery giggled echoed through the room.
"That can't be good" Gizmo muttered darkly to Marty, who shook his head in surrender.
"So, what happens next?" Cinder softly queried.
"That's just it, we have no idea" Gizmo admitted with a sigh. "Even though we could look to see what might have happened next, it doesn't matter. The butterfly effect has already gone into full swing in this new timeline, so we don't have a good prediction of what will happen."
"What triggered it to happen?" Marshall asked curiously.
Gizmo looked between Marshall and Cinder. "It happened when Cinder kissed Augie on live TV" Gizmo admitted.
"Whoops" Cinder apologized softly. "Well, I guess we have to go back and fix that."
"Wait, what do you mean?" Gizmo questioned; his brow furrowed in immediate concern.
"Don't we need to keep this new timeline as stable as possible?" Cinder softly asked. "Which means I need to redo that day and not kiss Augie on live TV."
"Woah, woah, woah. Don't get ahead of yourself," the Labrador cautioned. "First of all, fixing that is going to be a major pain if you wake up and think it's a dream again. Second, all you'd be doing at that point is delaying the inevitable or possibly even making it worse. It was going to happen at one point or another."
"The question remains, what do we do next?" Marshall asked.
"That's one of the nice things," Gizmo said chipperly. "You live your life normally and see what happens. Your future is your own, with no expectation of what should happen. In terms of our research project, if you're still up for it, we can figure out times for us to meet and learn about your gift."
"Don't forget, we have to tell our Ryder what happened," Marty interjected.
"Yeah, I know," Gizmo acquiesced with a sigh.
"Do you really this this is possible?" Auburn asked quietly.
"Which part?" Marty and Marshall said at the same time, cocking their heads in opposite directions.
"Ok, that's just freaky," Auburn said with a shudder.
"Just wait until I'm doing it too," Cinder said with a soft giggle. "I resisted this time."
Auburn shook her head in defeat. "That's just it though; Cinder, you and Marshall are psychically linked. And my Marshall- I mean, 'Marty,' can hear you. I don't feel any of that."
"I can't talk or do anything else," Marty pointed out objectively.
"But hearing is still something," Auburn said, clearly frustrated. "And super genius 'not Time Lord' has no idea how any of it works."
"That really isn't any better," Gizmo groaned. "But I understand your frustration, Auburn. The structure and order of Marshall's and Cinder's link is unmistakable, even if occasionally limited by their own perception. I'm starting to form a hypothesis, but still can't deny that I have no idea how it works. It's like I have the rule book for a game, but I don't have the game board, pieces or even know what any of it looks like."
"Interesting way to put that," Cinder noted softly.
"Auburn," Marshall said gently, taking his alternate reality twin by her paw. Auburn tried to pull her paw back but didn't have the physical distance. "We may not know how it works, or even if anything is possible. But that doesn't mean we won't try." Auburn was avoiding his gaze so Marshall tilted her head with his own paw until her blue and brown eyes met his own tranquil blue eyes. "I promise we will do everything we can to help you, from one Paw Patrol pup to another."
"Please let me go," Auburn plaintively whined. Marshall immediately released her and the fluffy female Dalmatian quickly recoiled before almost flying past Marshall to Marty's side. "I'll see you later," she said in passing before heading out the door back to her own universe.
"Okay…?" Marty said, clearly confused.
"Is she ok?" Cinder softly asked, clearly concerned.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to upset her," Marshall apologized. Cinder could see Marshall replaying the encounter in his mind, as well as feel his stress at having clearly upset Auburn.
Wait… Cinder thought in surprise.
"I see it too," Marty said in surprise.
"What is it?" Gizmo asked, concern mixed with curiosity.
"It's in her eyes," Marshall said softly.
"I've never seen it before," Marty said in confusion.
"It's fear," Cinder softly said, "raw, uncontrolled, emotional, fear."
"But I wasn't threatening her, was I?" Marshall softly replied, even more confused.
"I think you triggered something," Cinder softly said, turning to Marty and Gizmo. "Like a reminder or memory something that has previously happened…"
Marty and Gizmo looked at each other.
"She's never liked physical touch very much, but I just assumed that was all. I don't know of anything that could have happened," Marty explained.
"Alright. I'll do the research. Unless, of course, you want to do it yourself. You're more than welcome," Gizmo offered.
"Thanks, but I think I'll let you do this one," Marty replied. "It's for the best. Besides, I should go catch up to her."
"Alright. I'll let you know if I find something out," Gizmo promised. Marty nodded in thanks before running through the door to his universe, chasing after his sister. When he had gone, Gizmo looked back at the two remaining Dalmatians. "You should probably get back to your Lookout as well. I should make preparations to investigate what happened."
"Okay, but what about helping Marty and Auburn?" Cinder questioned.
"We can figure something out later," the black dog remarked. "It might be a while because I have to get things set up, but when I'm ready I'll let you know."
"But what if we need to contact you?" Marshall asked.
"Normally I'd give you a device that can summon me whenever you need help, but I've recently encountered… issues with that system," the Lab explained, chuckling nervously. "Instead, just come to this cabin. I probably won't be here, but you'll be able to contact me from here in case of an emergency. But only do it for emergencies. And when I say 'emergency,' I mean, 'Oh, surely Adventure Bay wasn't a nuclear wasteland before we went to bed last night,' type of emergency."
Cinder laughed softly. "Okay. Thank you for everything, Gizmo. We'll see you soon."
Waving farewell, Marshall and Cinder left through the doorway to their own universe and jumped into Marshall's firetruck.
"So now what?" Marshall asked as started the drive back to the lookout.
"We live our lives" Cinder softly said. "All we can do is our best, and forget the rest." Both pups smiled as they leaned against each other.
The sun was just starting to set as the two Dalmatians drove up to the Lookout. None of the other pups were in sight. "I wonder where everyone is" Cinder softly wondered as they jumped down from Marshall's fire pup house.
Perfectly on cue, Chase poked his head over the railing. "Marshall, Cinder, your presence is requested in the control room."
"I guess that answers that question" Marshall softly said with a laugh. "We'll be right up" he called up to his police pup brother.
The twins were quiet as they rode the elevator up. A quiet ding heralded their arrival.
As they stepped out, Cinder noticed a dark shape in the front of the main control console. The shape had all of their paws bound together, and was positively shaking in fear.
"Augie!" Cinder softly yipped as she took a bound forward. The lithe female Dalmatian only took one bound before her path was blocked.
"I'm sorry, Cinder," Chase sternly said as he blocked her path. "I can't let you near the prisoner."
"Prisoner?" Cinder softly gasped.
"What's going on Chase?" Marshall asked slowly as he leaned around Cinder to look at Chase.
"You had to know we would find out," a deep baritone male voice said from behind them.
Marshall and Cinder both froze, their fur blanching.
"You had to know we would come," a silky soft female voice added darkly.
Marshall and Cinder slowly turned to face the voices. They saw the rest of the Paw Patrol pups, plus Gasket and Dwayne lined up on the far side of the elevator, sitting at attention. Ever more surprising was Ryder standing behind them, his back straight, feet shoulder width apart, with his hands clapped behind his back. In front of the elevator stood two adult canines.
The first, a male, radiated a commanding presence as he stood stoically. His dark brown eyes seemed to pierce through whatever they rested upon. His body, angled across the elevator, was fit and trim, lean but muscular. His all-back tail, contrasting from his mostly white body, stood out behind him, raised confidently as it refused to sway in the gentle breeze that blew through the control room.
The female stood at an opposite angle to her mate. Where he was muscular, she was supple and limber. Everything about her exuded confident grace. Her fur looked as soft as satin as the evening light reflected off of her small black spots on a white background. The light carried into her blue eyes which shone brightly as she rested her head across her mate's neck. Her tail swished back and forth methodically.
"You know why we are here" the female Dalmatian said softly.
"To correct some behavioral deficiencies" the male Dalmatian added darkly.
Marshall and Cinder gulped.
A/N: Special thanks to RodentRacer for bringing his OCs Gizmo and crew into this world and his help writing and proofing this chapter!