Roughly two miles away outside, a fleeing German shepherd tore through the soggy marshes of the island, kicking up grass and water as he shot through. Mist was fogging up his vision, so irritatingly potent he half-relied on smell returning to the airship.

"So... the Jungle Oasis?" Amata said to him.

"Yep, been there plenty of times," came Chase's labored voice in response, wincing as reeds hit his face. "I don't know what it was the navigation showed me, it just looked like some random clearing."

"Perhaps a meetup point for something deeper in the jungle?"

"That's what I was thinking," Chase jumped across stones in a river, weaving around logs and trees. "I think I might know someone there who can help us with this, someone who knows the jungle territories."

"Can they be safely considered an ally?"

"I'm... not sure," the shepherd hated to admit it. "But he's kinda off-the-grid, I doubt he knows what's going on down here; unless Ryder sent out a mass message or something."

"Very well, lead the way."

"You aren't like... disturbed at all?" the shepherd asked his AI. "We just learned that Evcon and Justin Martyr are doing all kinds of bad shit and you're just... calm? He killed his own dog! Matilda wasn't some lab rat, she was his actual pet! He hooked her up to those machines just like the hundreds of others!"

"Yes, it's deeply disturbing, but my emotional reactions are limited, being artificial and all."

"But he created you, your own creator is a murderer and a dog trafficker!"

"Yes, I know, I was there when you read the documents," came her mild sarcasm. "But my loyalty is to you, Chase, not my manufacturers. Didn't you say those exact words to me a while ago? My loyalty was to you, and you alone?"

A few idle Companion Canines were still wandering like wayward spirits, hobbling near the airship but not showing visible threat. They almost blended with the marsh with all the slathered nature infesting their metal corpses. Chase wove around them quickly and jumped for the airship.

Until a blur of chocolate brown fur crashed into him from the side, intercepting the shepherd and slamming to the floor. "Got you!" Zuma barked in triumph, crashing down on Chase's body and pinning him into the dirt.

"Ahh- Zuma! Get off me!" Chase shook the water from his face, squirming in the mud.

"You think you can just backstab us? Run off with your AI-generated bravado and cause chaos!?" the Lab snarled through his teeth, "I knew you'd come back here, I can read you like a book!"

Struggling against his grip in the wet mud, Chase batted his arms against Zuma's face, trying to deter them. "If you knew that, why come yourself!? Why not bring the others?!"

"Because I have my own worth to prove, not everything is about you!"

"This is my mission, not yours, Labrador!" Chase extended his paw to the Companion Canines, reaching for their neural networks. His vision phased through their metal shells, breathing into dead programming and striking code with life. He uttered their new command, sending his voice through their heads.

The mangled robots stopped in place, as if someone had called their name. Then they straightened their postures, all in union, turning their gutted, blood-lusting eyes toward Zuma. Moving like soldiers, they turned in place, walking like zombies toward the dogs.

"Wh- huh?" Zuma saw them approaching, his inner fire dying away in sudden fear. His grip loosened in Chase for a half a second, all the shepherd needed to punch his attacker from below, a solid attack to knock him away.

"No hard feelings," Chase said with a wince, pushing up his sore body. Leaving the now-frightened Zuma to the wolves, he jumped into the Air Patroller and placed his paws on the center console.

"What're you doing!?" the Lab began backing up, gradually surrounded by the robotic corpses. Trivial, Chase couldn't help but laugh in his head, such intensity only to burn away the moment he was outnumbered. Pathetic.

It wasn't nearly as difficult the second time, linking his abilities through the airship and igniting its engines. The hull lowered, sealing him in and powering up for takeoff. Zuma would be fine, he told himself, if he was so special like he claimed, then he'd surely have no problems running from a few robots. That idiot wasn't gonna actually try fighting them, was he?

"Why are you acting hysterical?" the robot uttered in its broken voice, lunging for Zuma like a predator in the night.

"Chase!" came the panicked Lab's voice as a machine grabbed him by the shoulders and flung him into the mud. He landed with a great splash, blinding him in thick mud with the gurgled screeching of broken androids going for his throat. "Help!"

A shadow responded to his cries, emerging through the marshes and punching the Canine so violently through the head it smashed through the metal. Fillings, hardware, and flung wires peppered in all directions, the now-headless machine falling for the last time. The other Canines turned at the new threat, Zuma wiped the mud from his eyes and looked to his faceless savior.

Emitting a digitized growl, Alpha gave him a dismissive look, kicking away his kill. The other Companion Canines made a valiant effort, reaching for Alpha with death in their gutted eyes. Zuma flinched and covered his face, the sounds of tearing metal and smashing electronics overwhelming his senses. Corpses fell to the marshes, he opened his eyes to see Alpha gripping a Canine, one paw on its shoulder and the other on its neck. With ruthless strength, he tore the machine's head from the torso, tossing away both pieces in boredom.

Chase was already several feet in the air before the last Canine was destroyed. Making final adjustments in his mental programming, he adhered to the coordinates of the Jungle Oasis, ready for flight.

Jumping off a tree, Alpha came down like an angel from the heavens, latching onto the front window of the airship. His sudden appearance punched Chase from his trance, interrupting his entire train of thought.

"Ahh- shit!" the shepherd flinched, his focus on the controls breaking and spiraling with random commands. The Air Patroller immediately accelerated, igniting full power in the engines and soaring directly forward. Like a flaming meteor they crashed through trees, the airship becoming a bullet through the foliage. Abrasive collisions began beating against its hull, knocking Chase off-balance and nearly removing his paws from the controls. Alpha kept his balance, although wavering from the explosive movement, sharply held in place by the magnets in his paws.

"Another prototype!?" Chase fought to control the ship, panicking as nature assaulted it head-on. Wood and branches were flying everywhere, the vehicle carving a jagged line through Foggy Bottom.

"That's... that's not a prototype!" Amata had to shout over the chaos. "That's... that's really him! That's the actual Alpha!"

"He's here?!" the shepherd grimaced. "I figured the PAW Patrol followed me, given Zuma's friendly encounter, but Justin Martyr must be with them! They really are all working together!"

Roaring its vocoded might, Alpha drew back his paw and punched directly at the window, shocking the hull with his raw strength. A crack formed in the glass, fracturing the reinforced layer strong enough to resist even the most oppressive of air pressure. Rebalancing itself against the unstable ride, Alpha locked eyes with Chase and drew back its paw again, ready to smash in the window and retrieve his prey.

"Hyyahhh!" Chase barked, commanding the airship to sharply veer to the right and hit the brakes in unison. The world came to a quick and abrasive stop, its speed hitting zero in mere seconds. Chase was thrown from the pilot's seat and collided with the window, smacking off it and landing in a crumpled heap. Flung from the window, Alpha made a split-second decision and twirled in his flight path, reaching to grab branches and propel himself forward. Conserving his momentum, he slowed his travel speed until able to firmly jump for the ground. He landed gracefully a small distance away, turning back as the Air Patroller came to a crashing stop.

"Chase! Drive!" Amata called to the dazed puppy. "Oh forget it-" taking remote control of his abilities, she took initiative and piloted the ship herself. The engines roared fire, dragging the accelerating ship through the ground before taking to the skies. It burst through the tree line, soaring off and escaping Foggy Bottom.

Alpha watched the ship go, infuriatingly out of his grasp. He stared up with his faceless shell, reflecting off the sickly green and brown of the marshes, his code burning with gritted malice. He stood there for a long while, as if arguing with himself in his own mind, digging his black metal paws into the mud.

"You lost him?" Zuma walked up, pushing his nose through the reeds. He'd been following from a distance, not fast enough to chase a speeding airship but more than capable following a trail of destruction. The machine gave him no response, still glaring into the sky.

"You can punch through robots but can't get into a ship?" the Lab scoffed at him. "Another flaw in modern-day robots. You think you're so great, you can't even-"

Alpha's arm shot out, gripping Zuma's shoulder. The Lab's voice caught in his throat, his heart plummeting to his stomach. "Woah... chill, I'm just saying-" The grip tightened, holding the dog in place while the dark machine slowly turned his head, resting its burning glare on the terrified Labrador. No mouth to speak, no eyes to narrow, only tall ears that flattened with an emotion Zuma couldn't perceive. Trying to back away only for his paws to slip in the mud, Zuma shook in Alpha's clutches, seeing his own widened eyes in Alpha's shiny metal frame.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" Zuma tried to struggle, but the machine's grip was steel. "Let me go!"

Tilting his head casually, as if studying his prey in morbid curiosity, Alpha sat down and dragged Zuma closer. He raised his other paw, making sure Zuma could see it, and extended four bladed talons, carved like knives for slaughter.

Justin Martyr came through the fog, waving his hand apathetically, "Alpha... disengage."

Faintly turning his head in Justin's direction, Alpha held his quivering prey, claws suspended over their face as if deciding what to do with them.

"He didn't mean it," repeated the boy, pushing his words through gritted teeth. "Zuma was just kidding around, right?"

Frozen in shaking terror, skin aching from Alpha's pull, Zuma frantically nodded. "Y-yeah! I was joking! It was just a joke!"

An eerie silence befell the marsh, nothing but the distant chirp of frogs and rushing waters surrounding them. Alpha's claws retracted, and he dropped Zuma with a brutish shove.

"Sorry, dog," Justin said with a flat tone, watching the Labrador stumble. "Should've been more specific with my commands, won't happen again. Lemme dust you off," he came to the small puppy, kneeling down. "See? He didn't even scratch you, quit being dramatic." came his narrowed, leering words. For someone trying to help an animal, there was a noticeable lack of care in his voice.

Ryder and the other dogs finally caught up with them, wading through the unforgivable swamps and following the jagged trail of mayhem. Reuniting as a group, everyone immediately noticed Zuma's beaten state.

"Zuma?" Marshall frowned at his friend's battered appearance. "Are you okay?"

Zuma opened his dirtied muzzle to speak but Justin cut him off, "he's fine. Stood in Alpha's way and got clipped by accident, so any idea where Chase is going?"

"Not a clue," came Ryder's hopeless sigh. "The Patroller just disappeared off my sensors, I won't be able to track it from here on out."

"How did that happen?" Justin turned to him with demanding eyes.

"Again, no idea. Given Chase's abilities, I'm sure he did something to the ship's beacon."

"Well that's just great," came Justin's agitated groan. "I guess we'll just have to sit down and do nothing, perfect, my favorite thing to do."

Ryder wasn't sharing his frustration, instead wearing a face of great concern. He gestured to his dogs, "pups, go back to the ships, I need to talk some things over with Justin."

Despite their confusion at separating, the pups nodded and collected themselves. Marshall let Zuma lean on him as they traveled away, the PAW Patrol disappearing out of sight and earshot. Ryder watched them leave, producing a sigh once the coast was clear. He turned back to Justin, "I'd like a word with you."

"We don't have time for your little anxieties," said the executive, grumbling with his arms crossed. "Your dog is running rogue with my technology, time is of the essence here."

"What could Chase have potentially seen on Humdinger's computer?" Ryder pressed his tone, coming forward. "We've been working together for a few months now; the pups don't suspect anything, but Chase may have just cracked the whole thing open."

"And I'll tell you what I've been telling you all this time, to stop worrying."

Ryder gritted his teeth, panic in his voice. "If our partnership gets exposed, Project Technosoul will be at risk, and who knows what the pups will think. There's no telling what information Humdinger had, and Chase just laid eyes on all of it! He could've learned everything by now!"

"Then what's your plan?" Justin replied with only a shrug.

"We need to deal with Chase, and fast," said the leader. "I'd rather him captured; I don't want anything... escalating," he snuck a look at Alpha's dirtied, battle-worn shell. "Any more than it already has."

Aggravated at his business partner's frequent worries, Justin narrowed his eyes and leaned in. "Then I suggest we stop talking and spend more time finding out where the hell Chase went! Alpha, follow." He beckoned with his finger, commanding his loyal pet machine to escort him through the fog. Although his face twitched in boiled annoyance, Ryder shook his head and followed his partner.

Several miles away over the open ocean, a lone airship flew over the waters like a free spirit. There was no living driver, Amata took the front seat for this particular flight given the shepherd's critical condition. Chase struck the window when the ship crashed in Foggy Bottom, headfirst and hard enough to knock him to the floor. An everyday dog would've developed a concussion, but Chase no longer had that luxury. The blow to the forehead shot an impact through his brain, disturbing the stabilized, contained programming left by the Nueroband. It shattered to pieces like dropped Chinaware, its abilities spiraling out of control trying to piece itself back together. Different commands were screaming all at once, voices overlapping one another, thousands of digital hands clawing for their segments. Frantic numbers and programming scuttled like frightened mice, overwhelming all five of Chase senses until it was impossible for him to feel anything.

Coded dreams descended upon Chase's mind, his brain swarming with numbers like digital wasps, prodding his electric signals with their pixelated stingers. "Hngh-" his body stirred, gradually reawakening from the abrasive landing. His head stung, screamed even, screamed from the numbers and letters, formats and algorithms winding through the very cells of his body. Clouded vision stagnated in his eyes, digital codes typing themselves out in his field of sight. They were all just strings of mindless letter and number combinations, like someone banging on a keyboard, and busily they kept going, typing and typing until they ran off Chase's eyes and wrapped to his eardrums. Numbers, numbers, nothing but numbers, sounds of plucking instruments and fingernails tapping finely cut wood.

"Uhh- huh?" the shepherd's mind finally cleared, the dream seemingly ending. But he wasn't asleep, was he? If it hadn't been a dream, all the noise and digital programming swarming his head, then what was it really?

"You're awake," Amata said. "You hit your head pretty hard."

"Head..." came Chase's slurred speech. "Hit... hard."

"Give yourself a minute, won't you? Don't worry, I'm flying the ship."

Flying. That funny word repeated itself in Chase's glitching mind. Fly, fly like the birds free from the chains of the ground, fly like nothing can hurt you. His vision blurred over, colors blending into a sickly grey of flashing lights. The lights twisted in the shape of numbers, multiplying off one another and fitting like puzzle pieces until they formed birds. Great, majestic birds, flapping the glitchy wings with starry eyes of code. A bird opened its beak and emitted a low, vastly echoed squeal, thickly vocoded. Then they flew away, soaring into the grey sky and rupturing like grand fireworks, raining digital shrapnel that bled into colors. Chase felt himself falling, voices whispering in his ears things he'd never remember.

He briefly came to for only a few seconds, long enough to his see his own front paws reaching out, trying to call out in a voice that wouldn't form. Again he fell, the light blackening around him in his plummeting, splashing into a watery void where lines of data wandered like spirits. Marshall was there; Chase tried to cry out for help, but the Dalmatian's body shrunk until he was but a pinprick in the darkness. His memories were dragged out like slaves for execution, forming each one of his friends until they circled him. They stared in disapproval, bodies bleeding with barely held-together code before all rupturing at once, their colors and eyes swirling into a tornado of glitched images. Life and death stood at each side, towering figures were they, looking upon Chase in bewilderment. Neither knew what to do with him, and instead merely watched in silence as the shepherd was overwhelmed in a violent, convulsing seizure.

Like a light from the heavens, a tiny note of silence illuminated in Chase's brain, spreading quickly. The digital noise quieted, the panicked scuttling of numbers hushed, his vision slowly returning. He was back to normal, the chaos in his mind tempered and at peace.

"What...?" he stirred on the floor of the airship. "What... happened to me...?"

"Welcome back, Chase," Amata said joyfully. "We are fifteen minutes from the Jungle Oasis."

"Jungle..." the shepherd said absently, her words lost on him. Standing up on his four weak legs, he hobbled to a passenger's seat and carefully rested on its cushion. "Amata... the ship."

"I'm flying it this time, rest now."

The puppy released a groan, bringing a paw to his forehead. "God... my head. What happened to me back there?"

"You hit your head on the ship's window," said Amata. "Quite violently, I should say. Hard enough to make your abilities malfunction, I assume you just went through a very bad experience. Your mind... needed to reboot itself, and you were unable to physically function in the process.

"You mean..." Chase swayed slightly in the chair. "I was... dead?"

"Comatose, technically speaking," answered the AI. "Your heart and lungs were the only things functioning, all your other bodily processes shut down for a few hours."

"Are my... powers... okay?"

"I'm not sure. They seem to be in working order, but sort of... glitchy, even after the reboot. You may experience slight sensory disturbances for a while, I can only tell you that."

The shepherd shook his head of the static, trying to regain his composure. "It... doesn't matter to me. Ryder and Justin could still be tracking us, we need to keep moving no matter what."

With Amata taking up the piloting, he could at least relax for a little bit, leaning against the window of the airship and gazing out into the blue sky. A flock of white doves were flying alongside them, seemingly following the ship like angels guiding the lost. They soon fell behind, vanishing from sight completely. Their odd appearance marked the approach to their destination, the wilds of Adventure Bay coming into view through the clouds.

They landed down in the dense forest right as Chase's head finally stopped ringing. Powering down the ship, he rubbed the final twinkles of light from his weary eyes and moved to exit the vehicle.

Stepping out into the thick greenery of the Jungle Oasis, Chase was washed over with a wave of humidity, the smells of vast plants and rivers catching his nose. Not at all the first time he'd been here, yet every entering step into the thick foliage felt like the first, a deep dive into the rich mysteries the jungle had to offer. Regardless of the heat or vast mazes of trees and vines flaring with danger, it was a monumental improvement from the depressing atmosphere of Foggy Bottom. The memories of the marsh's' dull colors were long gone, replaced by the brightest greens nature could offer.

"My, it's pretty out here," Amata chirped from her dog tag.

"Yeah, but I don't see anything," Chase looked around. "And these are exact coordinates... you were probably right; this was some crossroad for something not on the records."

"And this friend you mentioned?"

"A dimwitted Chihuahua named Tracker," he said. "Has the intelligence of a dented can of beans, yet weirdly skilled at not dying in the open wilds. He knows the jungles like the back of his paw, he can help us."

"Splendid," Amata replied. "But what if he doesn't want to help?"

"You think I'm worried about that? He should get pretty excited when I tell him we're talking down a corrupt corporation. And if not, I'll just do to him what I did to Humdinger." Walking along the open trail of the prospering nature, Chase's gaze wandered to a far tree, something catching his attention.

Four pure white doves were sitting in a pretty line on a tree branch, looking down at Chase with expectant eyes. He looked back at them, tilting his head in confusion. Rather strange for doves of such bright color to show up in a place like this. Did they follow the ship here, or was this a whole new flock? The birds ruffled their feathers, sunlight bending around their glitchy forms. They held together for a while before spreading their wings and dissolving into code like stardust wished from the sky.

Chase was taken aback, "A-Amata, did you see that?"

"See what? I'm currently seeing a lot out here."

"I- I saw," his voice cut off mid-sentence, a faint sting tingling on his eyes. The shepherd scrunched his face and shook his head rapidly, shaking away the flickers of data from his sight. "Nothing just... seeing things, ignore me. Tracker has a hideout somewhere north; if we hurry, we could get there before Ryder picks up on our trail any further. And also... the sun is going down," he looked up at the orange-tinted sky. "I really don't want to be stumbling through the jungle in the dead of night."

The rustling of distant shrubbery drew Chase's attention, he turned his head to see a flock of white doves taking flight from the bushes, soaring up in the sky before vanishing from sight. Barely suppressing his whimper, Chase shook the dizziness from his head and pressed on into the jungle.