"So who is this Sweetie?" Amata spoke up, breaking the silence of ocean waves and beach winds.

Chase's expression curled in a sneer, "the royal pursedog to the princess of Barkingburg, it's a whole thing. She's nothing but trouble," he glanced to the side. "A lot of dogs there are, I notice. The files didn't say what she actually did for Evcon, but she certainly had a paw in it."

"I presume we're going to Barkingburg, then?"

"Right you are," he let out a sigh. "I'm going all over the world today."

"A long way for the greater good."

"I've encountered Sweetie's antics plenty of times," Chase said, rolling his eyes. "I'm not gonna lie... we actually dated once."

Amata sounded as if she were stifling a laugh, "oh my."

"We were too busy for each other, unfortunately," he explained, tone dipping slightly. "Shame, I actually felt genuine for her, but I guess the only thing she ever looks at is the royal crown. Her owner is an airheaded idiot too busy drowning in her own money and royal power to realize her dog is trying to dethrone her. And I keep telling her, 'just because you have the crown doesn't make you the ruler of Barkingburg,' but she can't wrap her stupid head around it. She doesn't understand how a monarchy even works."

"This is true," said the AI on his collar. "A crown is only a physical symbol of power, it alone is not the power itself."

"Thank you, captain obvious," Chase replied with a note of sass. "I can never tell if she's- ... wait a minute."

A new sound drifted across his hearing, something different than before. He stopped in the sand, ears turning in the direction of the distant hideout. The sound of mewing networks echoed in the sky, faintly transmitting a broken, static-filled conversation. Narrowing his eyes, Chase flicked his paw and turned his senses into the network, drifting his hearing through the electric highways until it hung off the microphone of an active tablet. They were too far away to properly intercept the full call, but two voices flickered in the void that made Chase's blood boil.

"Tracker," his muzzle curled into a snarl. "He just spoke to Ryder, I thought I could trust him!"

"We must act fast," the AI said. "Get to the Air Patroller!"

Breaking into a run, Chase kicked up sand as he beelined through the jungle, the once-soft atmosphere of the beach now broken into action-packed intensity. "Not yet, Tracker's coming with me! And if he really knew Matilda, I'm about to kill two birds with one stone!"

Only a short mile away, the young explorer dog knew with a sinking feeling things were about to get real. Out of fear for his own safety he abandoned his mission, no longer feeling safe on his own island. Cramming the most he could into a backpack, Tracker spoke frantically into his mission tablet. "Mission log number- uh... oh forget it! I'm abandoning the mission, no time to explain! An external factor has... become known to me, I'm not safe here anymore!"

The small dog tightened his bag as much as possible, then ran back to conclude his briefing. Standing over the tablet, heat burning his fur and nearly leaving puddles of sweat, he reached to stop the recording. "This is Tracker, signing o-"

A concentrated explosion of glass and sparks erupted from the small machine, detonating directly into the chihuahua. Tracker yelled out in surprise as his body was thrown backward, shards of glass lacerating red streaks in his face, although quickly singed closed by the blast of fire. He landed in a crumpled, whimpered heap of smoke across the room, the stench of burned metal and singed flesh intoxicating the area.

"Wha-" Tracker coughed, terrified to open his eyes. "¿Qué pasó?"

Standing in the doorway, Chase lowered his paw with a pleased expression; he dared to think the explosion was almost a little entertaining. "Thought I could trust you, Tracker."

"Chase- wait!"

"I thought you were different," the shepherd stalked over to the crumpled chihuahua, expression darkened. His held a usual friendly demeanor, but something sinister was rearing its head. "Figures the one time I give anything a chance, I regret it."

Tracker wearily opened his eyes, holding up one arm in a feeble defense, "Wait- wait wait wait- Chase please!"

"Please this, please that," Chase rolled his eyes, tone remarkably casual. "You sound just like everyone else, funny how that comes to mind, eh?"

"Don't hurt me!"

"We're past that," the shepherd growled, fully baring his teeth. "Tell me about Matilda."

"I told you- I know nothing-"

He never finished his sentence, Chase lunged a few inches and shoved his paw into the chihuahua's burned chest, forcefully pinning him down. "Cut the shit, Tracker! A good friend of mine said you worked together, and I trust her a helluva lot more than I trust you!"

Squeezing agony pressing into his ribcage, Tracker cried out and grabbed Chase's wrist, looking up at him as if he were staring into death itself. "I don't know anything about Evcon's dealings, but..." he loudly groaned as Chase applied more pressure. "I did know Matilda! We were- friends!"

"Friends?"

"She was a black and white Dachshund!" cried the small dog. "I didn't know anything about her work, but we met in a wildlife exhibit! I guess we sorta friends, I thought-"

"I don't give a shit about your little dates," Chase's voice vibrated through his snarl. "But if you were friends, then wouldn't she share her own work? Maybe... a hideout? A laboratory?"

He leaned down in the explorer's face, snarling with maddened ferocity. "I need a decryption key, Tracker. If you're all that stands between me and that, I'm gonna start ripping your teeth out and use them to stud my collar!"

The sound of metal footsteps split the tension, snapping both dogs out of their pressurized conversation. Upon hearing the mechanical clicking following each step, Chase knew right away what was approaching outside. His expression sunk with pained realization, hundreds of bruises and migraines flaring their once-suppressed agony. How many times would he have to do this, these metal jerks just never backed down. They were getting quicker to respond, he noticed, how foolish to ever trust Tracker in the beginning.

"Shit," the officer spiked his fur, dropping his captive. He motioned toward the door but shot a glare back at the petrified chihuahua. "I'm not done with you, for your sake, your better watch your back-"

He should've watched his own, because then Chase probably would've seen Alpha flying toward the door with both arms outstretched. A bludgeoning shockwave of ripped wood and oppressive metal slammed him so hard he slurred his words, showering the shepherd with debris. He couldn't even react, Alpha targeted him before the final pieces of wood hit the ground, snatching Chase by the neck and lifting him into the air.

There wasn't any time for this, Chase snarled against the machine's grip, yet a piece of him knew it was futile. At the corner of his eye he spotted Tracker escaping, slipping out the door as if the devil himself were chasing behind.

"Tracker!" Chase yelled, wrenching his paw free and charging electric interference through his paws. Not this time, he wasn't about to get shoved into the dirt by this infernal robot a second time. Focusing on Alpha's chest before whatever lethal attack it was priming could hit him, he twitched his paw and sent a shockwave of overclocked data through its system.

A flurry of electric sparks staggered Alpha, forcing a grunt of exertion, "hrrrg-" it recovered quickly, shooting Chase a dirty look and flinging him by the arm directly through the window of Tracker's hut. The shepherd smashed through the glass, crumbling outside in the grass with broken shards raining around him.

Then the window multiplied its damage in a single punch, Alpha smashing through the wall with its bare fist, sending wooden shrapnel across the ground. This thing had quite the hard-on for causing collateral damage, Chase noted; how dramatic. Scanning his surroundings, he noticed a power generator against the wall, likely the source of Tracker's electricity; interfering with something as powerful as that could cause a rather sizable detonation.

"How'd that shock feel!?" Chase shouted into the dust, jumping back to his feet with a challenging stance. "I know you felt that!"

The dust hovered around the arena for a tense moment, carving Alpha's stalking shadow stepping through the wreckage to face its prey. Its body flickered with sparks and electric instability; no doubt hindered by Chase's attack. Flashing the shepherd a cold, expressionless glare through its mask, it straightened its posture with digitized growls.

"Guess you're not so perfect after all," Chase said with a sneering grin.

"You know nothing of perfection," came Alpha's sudden voice, vocalizing through the mask. "You're a puppy playing with powers you don't understand, in time I won't even need to kill you."

The robot emitted an amused chuckle, "because I'm sure you'll do it yourself, I won't even have to lift a paw."

Chase stuttered, his stance hesitating with surprise. Alpha could speak? Never mind that, why was its voice so feminine?

"Don't think I don't know you, Chase," Alpha growled her words, a vague accent slipping through. "I know more about you than you could ever dream of," she bared her razored claws and shifted into a menacing stance, primed to kill. "I'll take pleasure in reducing you to ribbons."

Roaring with mechanized fury, Alpha lunged for her prey.

In their rabid scuffle she managed to grab Chase's tail and yank him back into the grass, sending a pull of stinging pain through his spine. He landed in a roll, easily recovering his footing although the sting lingered. He'd done this before; he should know better than to fail so easily. Shaking the pain away, Chase grimaced at his opponent and braced himself. No foolish tactics this time, he knew exactly what Alpha was capable of and wasn't keen on being the receiving end. The machine was relentless, lunging for Chase and swiping its claws at anything that could connect.

Evasion was key, attempting to block hits like these would go straight through his bones and trying to counter anything would be the death of him. Chase was creating dust clouds as he narrowly dodged swings aimed for his skull, his body siphoning its own strength just to pull off the movements. He couldn't do this forever, exhaustion was already slowing him and beating labored breaths from his lungs.

To Alpha, exhaustion was a joke.

The robot managed to catch Chase's neck in its black claws, intercepting what was supposed to be a dodge.

"Hnnik!" the shepherd squirmed and lashed his teeth, kicking against the droid with the remainder of his strength. Thinking quickly, he slammed his own paw on Alpha's faceless shell and spread his senses for anything it could possibly reach. Upon first contact, something in Alpha's shoulder blades, Chase immediately focused his abilities into a prominent overcharge. The mental strain was immense, overwhelming pulls on every edge of his brain. "Hyaahh!"

"Hrrng- geh," Alpha groaned in exertion, electrocuted into a debilitating seizure, sparks flying out of her joints.

She was staggered, the moment was now. Chase reared everything he had and centered an attack straight into her.

The hit connected spectacularly, sending a splitting impact directly across Alpha's face. It couldn't have been more grandiose, fracturing a hole in the machine's helmet and sending black shards across the grass. Alpha collapsed backward, hitting the ground in a blast of dust and robotic snarling. It was liberating to see the robot so damaged, but Chase stopped himself from running to finish the job. A perfect opportunity, but equally an easy facade of weakness to lure a false sense of confidence. The shepherd held his breath, narrowing his eyes and watching his opponent.

Alpha looked up, gazing through the massive hole smashed in her mask.

He wasn't prepared for what he'd see, Chase's eyes widened, captivated by the two narrowed blue eyes glaring daggers at him. They looked real, too real, those eyes were not metal. Could it be?

"Justin said you were fully machine," Chase spoke, taking a step back.

Alpha glanced aside, slight apprehension on her newly exposed eyes. Was that black fur Chase saw, hiding behind the sharpened fragments of the broken helmet?

"Not all of me," she said with her vocoded voice, audible strain from their battle. "But there isn't much of my old self left."

"You're alive," Chase said, expression spread with disbelief.

"Not as alive as I used to be," Alpha replied, wheezing through the dust clouds. "Justin Martyr may have been a madman, but his engineering skills are masterful."

"Wait a minute, you're-" the shepherd squinted at the lethal machine. "You're one of his victims, aren't you? I never thought I'd meet-" he shook his head, all drive to fight lost and replaced with questions. "Holy hell, this means I'm right! The Technosoul project, it's all real! Did you know Matilda?"

"Matilda? Ha!" Alpha roared with a laugh. "Yeah I knew her, she died just like the rest of us. Fractured against Justin's machines, although a failed one at that. Her body is probably rotting in a sewer somewhere."

"You remember your old self?" Chase tilted his head, "then why be loyal to him if he did these things!?"

"Because true dogs are loyal to their masters," Alpha snarled in response, narrowing her eyes. "Matilda was weak, everyone else was weak! That's why they were thrown away… and I was to ascend."

Chase only had one last question on his mind, "so... what's your name?"

"Nothing I care to tell you, and you're starting to bore me." She started coming forward, flexing her claws. "Keep running around playing with your little powers, you can't stop Evcon Industries!"

Launching for the kill, she screeched her digital warcry to the air. "You can't stop Justin Martyr!"

She was unbalanced, Chase sidestepped from the attack and kicked the robot backward against Tracker's hut. Its frame slammed against the wall, hard enough to rock the hut. Turning his attention to the generator hooked up to the structure, just a few inches away from Alpha's impact, Chase got a sudden idea.

"This is gonna be loud," he winced, holding up his paw to the high-powered generator. "God, this is gonna be so fucking loud."

A high-pitched wailing screeched from the large, boxy machine, a streaming river of sparks and fire were a split-second warning of impending doom. Alpha shook off the paralysis and took one look at the active bomb primed next to her, a jolt of realization kicking her body.

Chase whipped around in a panic and ran for the jungle trees, "time to go!"

The island shook as a massive shockwave tore across the jungle, followed by a geyser of flames and smashed debris raining across the land. The explosive was grandiose, annihilating Tracker's lookout and burning away a good several yards of trees and plants. Chase felt it go off even as he ran, the sonic blast slapping through his body as if he were made of paper.

"That seemed effective," Amata said, mild impression in her voice.

"Shove it, we need to get out of here!" Chase was staggered, trying to shake the ringing in his ears. "The Air Patroller isn't too far away... and why have you been so quiet lately!? You didn't say anything to Tracker, let alone to Alpha, who apparently isn't fully robotic!"

"If I spoke in front of Alpha, it would expose me as Evcon tech in the paws of an enemy," she answered.

"So what? If they could remotely shut you down, don't you think they would've done that a long time ago?" came his confused response. "Whatever, let's just go things get worse!"

In addition to trapping Alpha in a massive explosion, the generator blast also doubled as a beacon for those actively hunting Chase.

Ryder, Justin, and the PAW Patrol had just found Tracker; Marshall wasted no time tending to his injuries while Ryder peppered him with questions. Alpha had gone ahead, Justin was muttering under his breath something about results with growing agitation. The rest of pups were mortified at Tracker's condition, Zuma was fuming with hostility while Skye and Rocky just looked heartbroken. Rubble wasn't even there, deciding to stay home after the encounters in Foggy Bottom spooked him.

Then the blast happened.

All six of them were knocked off their feet from the shockwave, bludgeoned to the ground without warning under a sky of raining flames and ashes. Justin was the first to speak, pushing himself up with a strained grimace. "I think Alpha found them!"

"Oh, you think!?" Ryder shot back in reply.

"What was that!?" came Skye's cry, lying on her side with spiked fur.

"The consequences of our actions," said Justin's groan. "Now hurry, we have to catch him!"

A graveyard of flames and ruined junk was all that was left of Tracker's hideout. Within the small wasteland of ashy wood and concrete, a pile of flaming debris burned idlily in the clearing. It was motionless for a moment, before a mechanical screech roared through the fires in enraged defiance. A robotic paw of black metal, now heated to a bright, molten orange, punched through the caging debris. Alpha emerged from the furnace, her shell glowing like fragments of the hottest lava.

She stood tall above the fires with glowing, burning rage, a broken mask wasn't going to stop something as relentless as her. No more failures; the next time she and Chase crossed paths, only one would be left alive.