It was risky to leave the resort abandoned for two weeks during peak winter months.
Jake might not have been an genius entrepreneur, but even he knew that leaving the resort empty for two weeks at the height of snowboarding season wasn't great for business. The amount of visitors the cabin sees during the winter months was easily twice what the other three seasons saw combined. Jake didn't have many expenses, but closing off his main source of income for two weeks during the busiest season of the year was objectively a bad business decision.
It also wasn't great for safety. As the main rescuers of skiers whenever they got in trouble on the slopes, it was dangerous for Jake and Everest to step away for longer than a few days at a time. Jake tried to make it as clear as possible to skiers that the usual rescue team would be out of town and that they skied at their own risk, but there was only so much he could do.
The people of Adventure Bay called it Jake's Mountain. As far as anyone seemed to care, that mountain was his property. And his responsibility.
As risky as it was to turn down free money and leave skiers out of luck for two weeks, Jake didn't seem to care. Some things were more important than business.
Such as his husky, excitedly running laps around the resort as they prepared to winterize the cabin. The husky who had become his closest friend in the world.
"Today's the daaaaaaay!"
Jake smiled to himself as he walked around the resort, unplugging everything he could find to get rid of fire hazards. There weren't a ton of electrical appliances in the resort, but in a wooden cabin, so much as a spark could set the whole building ablaze with no one around to put it out. It wasn't a chance Jake wanted to take. Marshall would be proud, he thought.
"Ican'twaitIcan'twait–"
"Easy, Everest," Jake laughed.
The husky's excitement wasn't unexpected. He prided himself on knowing her better than anyone else, and when he and Ryder mentioned the idea of them visiting Adventure Bay and bunking in the Lookout for Christmas, Everest barely let them finish their sentences before howling in excitement.
Jake smiled. It wasn't that long before that he was a lonely college kid, who tripped and fell into an inheritance. A ski resort his grandfather built and left to the family when he died. Jake's parents had long since left Adventure Bay, but Jake was happy to take the cabin and renovate it. After the job was done, though, he found himself alone, in the middle of the woods, with only the occasional snowboarder to talk to, or, if he was lucky, stay the night with.
But one trip to Antarctica later, he had a new best friend. One to talk to, to play with, to help him with rescues.
Everest was one of the best things to ever happen to him. Not to mention the rescue team that brought them together.
"We'regonnaseeMarshallandChaseandSkyeandRubbleandRyderand–"
Jake's smile widened. He loved the Paw Patrol and the pups that made it up as much as Everest did. They had helped him countless times with skiers in need, to say nothing of the many times they had saved him personally. He had missed them as much as she did, even if Everest's excitement was more visible.
All that stood between them was how fast he could get the cabin ready.
"We'll hit the road soon, Ev. We just gotta prepare the resort first. Or I do, anyway," he added quietly. The husky wasn't usually much help with winterizing. It was hard for her to focus on anything that wasn't seeing her friends on the Patrol. "Have you finished packing?"
"Oh yeah," Everest said. "I forgot to do that."
"I'm sure you did," Jake chuckled. He figured she would. "There's a pile of your stuff in the bedroom, stuff you might wanna bring. You can throw everything you need in your snow plow and leave the rest there while we're gone. You cool with driving down the mountain to Adventure Bay?"
"You know it!" Everest said as she ran towards the bedroom. If they were going to spend two weeks at the Lookout, she had to prepare. What do I need to bring?
On the bed and floor were most of Everest's possessions. Spare jackets, hats, collars, gloves, boots. Mittens she didn't use. Earmuffs that no longer fit. Things she needed and things she didn't. But how do I decide what I'll need and what I won't?
Everest critically eyed the pile in front of her.
Maybe I should just take all of it.
The husky nodded, proud of herself.
All of it. So I'll never be worried that I left something behind!
As Jake double-checked that the oven was closed and the microwave was off, Everest dragged a suspiciously large bag of clothes, hats, tools, and other random items through the cabin, out the door, across the driveway, and into her snow plow, throwing it in the back. Everest tried to close the trunk but found that she couldn't, with the bag overflowing out of the top.
"Hrm," she muttered, trying to slam the lid down to no avail. Her second and third tries were no better. After the fourth try, she tiredly sat down on the ground. Maybe I packed too much, she thought. Maybe I don't really need everything in here . . .
She shook her head.
Nah, I totally need everything in here.
She stood up and slammed the trunk down again, only for it to pop open again. Everest growled. Very few things annoyed her, but this was starting to top the list. She slammed it again. It popped open again. Everest barked in frustration. The bag was beating her at her own game.
"Having trouble?" Jake called, locking the door of the resort and walking up to the husky with his suitcase of clothes, which was much smaller than what his dog seemed to be bringing. "What's with the sad face, Ev? Is everything cool?"
"Everything's lovely," Everest muttered, pushing down on the bag again. Jake picked up on her tone immediately.
"That doesn't sound like a happy husky to me," Jake said.
"This stupid bag won't fit in the stupid trunk," Everest grunted.
"Language," Jake said, looking at her bag. "That . . . seems like a lot you're bringing."
"I'm only bringing the essentials!"
"All of that is essential for two weeks in Adventure Bay?"
"I didn't pack anything that wasn't essential! Promise!"
"If that's mostly clothes, you don't need to bring so many. Ryder has a washing machine somewhere in the Lookout," Jake said, patting Everest on the head. Her bad mood seemed to melt as quickly as it came.
"I know. Chickaletta got stuck in it during an event once. That was hard to forget."
"You don't need to bring quite this much is all I'm saying," Jake laughed. "When's the last time you went through any of this, anyway? Do half these coats even still fit you?"
Everest frowned. She probably hadn't looked at most of it since the day they got back from Adventure Bay the year before. "I'm sure they still fit. I don't grow much."
"Do you really need to bring three different hats?"
"I like to style myself! I have a lot of moods to represent!"
"Do you really need two different books about snowflakes?"
"Yes!" Everest whined, hovering over her bag protectively. "How else will I remember all the facts about snowflakes I'm gonna impress everyone with? I've been waiting all year to tell the other pups about snow and all the stuff I've learned!"
Jake laughed again. His husky apparently had a hoarding problem. Or maybe she just had to set her priorities straight.
"How many facts could there possibly be about snowflakes to fill two separate books?" Jake laughed. "They say no two are alike. I think that's all there is to know about them."
"There actually can be two identical ones!" Everest said, wagging excitedly. "I read about it once! Some scientist, I forget his name, he found two identical ones, in nature! Not in a lab!"
"I'd have to see it to believe it," Jake chuckled. "We're gonna have to leave something behind to fit this bag in. That, or you're just gonna have to wear three of these hats at once," he added sarcastically, regretting it immediately.
"I'll wear three of those hats at once!"
I should've seen that coming, Jake facepalmed. The pup has no impulse control.
Everest took three hats out and put them all on, one on top of the other. With that, she stuffed the bag in with all of her might, slamming the trunk down with such force that the whole snow plow rattled. This time, it finally stayed closed. Jake was impressed.
"Good job," he said as he climbed into the passenger's seat. "You showed that bag who's boss."
"You know it!" Everest said, hopping into the driver's seat. "You buckled in? Let's get this show on the road!"
And then they were off, down the mountain at a leisurely ten miles-per-hour. Everest could have driven faster, but didn't want to freak Jake out. It was the first time she could remember ever driving him anywhere and she didn't want to come across as a bad driver.
After five quiet minutes on the road, a few flurries fell from the sky, dusting the mountain in a light snow.
It's snowing, the husky thought. It's snowing! That means . . .
Snowflakes gingerly fell on the windshield. Everest was suddenly reminded of what Jake had said. No two snowflakes were alike. Everyone knew that. But Everest knew better. She knew she was right. She read about it in a book, and the book never lies. There were such things as identical snowflakes. And she would prove it.
I'm one of a kind, the husky thought. Jake said so himself!
Everest pulled her goggles on over her three hats as she drove down the mountain. If anyone can do it, it's me. I'm gonna find two identical snowflakes, and show them to Jake, and he'll be so impressed and he'll give me ten pup treats, and they'll write about me in a scientific journal. Yeah. I'm the best.
"You're thinking about something."
"Huh?" Everest said. "How can you tell?"
"Because I know you," Jake smiled. "Better than anyone, probably. I can tell when you're thinking about something. And right now, I know you're thinking about some sort of mischief."
"Not really. Just thinking about how wrong you are about snowflakes."
"You're one stubborn pup," Jake laughed. "I'm not as well read as you, I'll admit. I don't own multiple books on snowflake science like some of us here. I'm just not sure that two can really be the same. I've seen a lot of snow in my life, never two identical snowflakes."
"What about those two on the windshield?"
Everest pointed excitedly to two snowflakes side-by-side on the snow plow's windshield. Jake had to admit, they were strikingly similar. They both had six prongs that each forked twice. They were even about the same size. But the inner structure wasn't quite a match. One was hexagonal and the other was circular.
"They're close," Jake offered, leaning forward to examine them. "But not quite."
"They're close enough! They're basically the same!"
"Close isn't identical, Ev. They gotta be perfect matches."
"Hrm," the husky said, undeterred. Minor setback. There had to be two identical ones, just waiting to be found. And she would find them. "Just you wait. I'm gonna find two that match," she said, pulling the snow plow over and hopping out. Jake watched as she ran around the slope, lined on either side by trees with a downhill clearing between them.
"Be careful!"
"I'm always careful!"
Everest ran around the snowy field, desperately trying to catch snowflakes in her paws to compare, but snowflakes only made up a third of the snow that was falling, the rest being random clumps of white dust. What little she could catch looked random and jagged. Not at all similar to each other. Everest huffed. Minor setback.
Jake, on the other hand, didn't seem to mind the sudden stop in the trip, watching his husky romp around the field on a seemingly impossible mission. She seemed to want to prove something to him, and he didn't feel like standing in the way of that. It's not like he could talk her out of it. She was one of the most strong-willed pups on the Patrol. It took more than a "that's scientifically impossible" to stop her from doing something.
Besides, it was warmer in the snow plot than it was outside.
"Any luck so far?" Jake called out. Everest shook her head.
"None yet," Everest said shyly, shaking the fourth set of snowflakes off her paw and trying again. Maybe I should find those books, maybe they'll teach me how, she thought, glancing over at the trunk. She suddenly remembered how difficult it was to stuff the bag in there in the first place. Everest winced. She would have to do it on her own. If she took that bag out, she wouldn't be able to put it in again.
This was a mission for Everest and Everest alone.
She ran over to the snow plow to see if any flakes had landed on them, but none had. The running engine made the outside of the plow too hot for snow to stick to. She huffed, running back to the field. She scraped snow off a nearby log, but there were no flakes to be found, only clumps of white powder. Everest whined. Maybe it really is impossible.
But it took more than a few minor setbacks to break her spirit. And so she ran. In as many circles as she could, scooping snow off of every surface she could find to look for snowflakes. What little she could find were all vastly different from each other. And even when she thought she remembered a design from earlier in her hunt, there would be no way to be sure. Those flakes had already melted. Or been thrown on the ground in frustration. One or the other. Minor setback.
So she kept running in circles, waiting for flakes to land in her paws, only for them to not match. To melt too soon. To land on the white part of her paws, making it hard to even see them in the first place. She searched and she searched, but she couldn't find any.
At last, her energy had run out. Everest sat on the ground in defeat.
She was done. She was a failure. She would have to resign from the Paw Patrol in embarrassment. Who could ever feel safe being rescued by a lousy snow pup who couldn't even find two identical snowflakes? Everest looked at the sky, in one last effort to take in the snow before having to return to her snow plow as a failure.
As she did, two flakes softly landed over her goggles. One on the left eye, and one on the right.
Wait a minute . . .
These were the ones. They were a match. They were carbon copies of each other and she had never been more sure of anything in her life. She squealed in excitement the second she realized how close they were.
"IfoundthemIfoundthem!"
"You got something?" Jake called out, turning his attention back to Everest. He had been listening to the sounds of the mountain for the ten minutes Everest had been looking around, and almost lost track of time. The husky ran over to the snow plow, taking her goggles off and tossing them gently into Jake's lap.
"Read it and weep!"
Jake squinted as the flakes stuck to the glass on her goggles.
They were close. Much closer than the ones on the windshield. They were both seven-pronged flakes that each split three times at the top. They were the same size as each other. They were even the same color. But again, the internal structure was slightly askew. He had to squint to even see them, they were so small. They melted on the glass before too long, which didn't seem to bother Everest at all.
They weren't a match. They were close, but not a match. Jake knew they wouldn't be.
"Did you see them? Did you see them?" she wagged.
But how could I deny her anything when she looks so happy?
"I did," Jake smiled. "They were identical. Two of a kind."
Everest wagged and yipped in excitement.
"I knew it! I knew I could find them!"
"You sure did," he said, patting her on the head.
She didn't find two of a kind, he knew. But it was harmless to let her think that she had. Maybe she really did think they were the same, maybe the eyes of a pup aren't as fine tuned as the eyes of a human. It made no difference to Jake. It was a harmless white lie.
Even if she couldn't find two of a kind, Jake knew she was still one of a kind.
"I gotta tell everyone!" Everest continued. "I gotta tell Marshall! And Chase! And Skye!"
"Come on," Jake said, patting the driver's seat. "Let's go see them."
And so they did. The pair drove down the mountain, Everest excitedly rambling about her great find. She rambled all the way down the mountainside and into downtown Adventure Bay, passing the familiar roads and stores. They were glad to be back. It had been far too long since either one had set foot in Adventure Bay. Whenever the Paw Patrol needed her help, it was usually the Patrol meeting them on the mountain, not so much the other way around.
Everest had missed the town. It was her second home. For Jake, it was quite literally his second home, on account of being his former home. Before they knew it, they were over the bridge and onto the Lookout's island. Ryder and the entire Patrol were already outside to meet them, yipping excitedly the second Everest and Jake had come into view.
And as the husky hopped out of the snow plow into the pile of hugs that waited for her, there was only one thing on her mind.
"You'll never guess what I found!"
A/N: This chapter is fashionably late because it went through a major, last-minute rewrite after I realized the original concept for this chapter totally didn't work at all. Hopefully the rest of this collection will be on time.