Chapter four: The Search

"Come on Marshall, where are you?" Skye mumbled to herself, adjusting her goggles again for a better view.

"Skye!! Down here!!" The aviator pup finally caught sight of him, she almost didn't hear him as fast as she was going.

"Ryder, I found him!" The Cockapoo squeaked brightly. "He's in a ravine just ahead of you." Ryder slid to a stop and hopped off again. Racing to the edge, he peered down; the pup slowly looking up at him.

"*grunt* hi Ryder." Marshall mumbled rather sheepishly.

"Don't worry Marshall, we'll get you out." Ryder reassured. "Can you move?"

"I think so, but the slope's too steep." The fire pup in red returned.

"Not a problem. I'll just grab my tow cable and connect it to my ATV." Ryder said.

"Ok. I'll give it a try." Marshall decided. Ryder took out the cable and tied it to his vehicle.

"It's all you, Skye." Ryder said, holding the clip end of the cable up.

"I'm on it!" The Cockapoo dove down to retrieve the clip and jetted down the slope. She landed just long enough to clip the cable onto the Dalmatian's pup-pack; then took to the skies once more.

"Ok Marshall, try it again. I'll help pull from up here." Ryder instructed. The pup slowly began his climb, the brush and unsteady ground tripping him up; but Ryder held strong.

"Ouch!" Marshall slipped and fell.

"You ok, Marshall?" Skye asked, clearly concerned, as she hovered closer.

"-Yeah,- I'm good." Marshall stiffly continued, and Ryder hauled him up, once he was able to reach him. "You're a little scratched up but let's get you to Katie's just in case."

"But what about Chase?" Marshall protested sadly, a hint of guilt poking through his tone. "I left him back at the tree all by himself!!"

"It's ok, Marshall." Ryder soothed, pulling his pup in to him. "He's already been rescued; and we'll meet him there. Rubble? We're ready for pickup. Are you in position?" Rushing wind clued them in on the answer.

"You bet, Ryder!" The bulldog responded a moment later.

"Then let's get out of here." The boy decided. The claw dropped and clamped down onto Ryder's ATV, and Ryder and Marshall hopped onto it; holding tightly, as they rose from the air.

XXXX

"Chase?" Marshall called, as he hurried into the pet parlor; as best he could manage.

"It's ok Marshall." Katie smiled stepping aside to reveal the German Shepard laying next to Rocky. "He'll be fine." Chase stood up, as she said this and strode toward him. New bandages wrapped his chest and covered small scrapes on his back and legs.

"What happened out there Marshall? I was so worried. You look terrible." Chase told him, worry boldly ringing in his tone.

"Oh, uh... I'm fine. I just.. fell into a ravine at the side of the path and got stuck there." Marshall explained loosely, as if it were no big deal. "I'm sorry I left you there all by yourself." He continued, becoming sheepish. "I know, now, that I shouldn't have done that."

"It's ok Marshall." Chase shrugged. "You were worried about me. I get it... I was kinda worried about you too, myself; for a little while anyway." Marshall and Chase hugged each other.

"Ouch!" Chase grimaced and recoiled, holding his left side.

"Sorry! Sorry!" Marshall cried, shrinking back quickly.

"No-.. it's ok." Chase groaned, recovering once more. "I'll be ok. It turns out it wasn't too bad after all. One of the sharp branches was poking me in the side. And every time I moved it dug deeper, which is why it hurt more and more."

"See, I told you to hold still." Marshall criticized; being both humorous and serious. The two chuckled for a bit, and Chase began to cough uncomfortably.

"Please-.. don't make me laugh.." Chase gasped, trying to hide a smile. "It hurts- when I laugh."

"Sorry." Marshall snickered, holding a paw to his lips to try and cover up his giggles. Chase coughed once more, as the laughter finally died down. The Marshall noticed that Rocky had on a bandage of his own; and Zuma an ice pack.

"What happened to you guys?" He asked curiously, craning his head around Chase to look at them both.

"I got buried by rocks and got my paw stuck." Rocky explained.

"And I bumped my head on the way down a sinkhole." Zuma answered after him.

"After Ryder got me out, I rescued Rocky from the rocks and then together we went to help Zuma." Rubble put in, recounting the earlier events.

"And while they did that, me and Ryder headed off to find you guys." Skye added. "We found Chase alone, and had Rocky and Rubble take him and your trucks back to town with the Air Patroller. Then we went looking for you."

"Oh, ok." Marshall said, still holding onto a bit of guilt.

"Don't feel bad, dude." Zuma encouraged patting his friend's shoulder lovingly. "We all know you were trying to help Chase."

"And now that I'm ok, we can finish helping the town with any storm damages." Chase said.

"I don't think so, Chase." Katie said in a stern voice. "You'll be ok, but you'll have to sit out of this one and rest for a while. Besides, your wounds are probably way too tender for you to be working right now."

"*sigh* ok." The German Shepard gave in. "Guess I'm not going to help."

"Hey, don't feel bad either, dude." Zuma said, encouraging him now. "Rocky's gotta sit out too, ya know."

"Yeah, we can sit out together." Rocky said, patting the space of pup-bed next to him. Chase heavily strode over to him and laid down gingerly.

XXXX

"Are you sure you'll be ok, Zuma?" Katie asked, as the remaining pups prepared to leave with Ryder, to finish scouring the town for anyone needing their help. "You did bump your head after all."

"Nope, I'll be fine." Zuma replied in a care-free, confident manner.

"Ok." Katie sighed in defeat. "But come back here as soon as you can, if you ever start to feel dizzy."

"You bet." The Chocolate Lab smiled compliantly.

"Alright pups, let's go finish what we started." Ryder said finally.

XXXX

"Found Farmer Yumi's weather-vane!" Skye called, plucking it out of a nearby tree.

"And I think this is Capt'n Turbot's wind sock." Marshall shouted over his shoulder, pulling the sock out of some bushes. Metal creaked and crashed.

"One more lamppost back up." Rubble reported retracting his crane from it. A construction worker welded it into place and they moved on to the next one. Zuma strode after a line of ducklings following their mother.

"Found these little dudes stuck in a storm drain." He said, ushering them onto the grass.

"Great work pups." Ryder praised. "We're nearly done here. Marshall, take the wind sock back to Capt'n Turbot. And Skye, fly the weather-vane back to Farmer Yumi."

"You got it!" The two pups responded.

"Ok, once those lampposts are repaired I think we'll be done." The boy concluded.

"Um, Ryder.. how am I going to fly the weather-vane back to the farm?" Skye wondered looking from him to the vane, then back again. "I crashed my copter, remember? And the weather-vane is too heavy for me to carry with just my wings."

"I guess, we'll have to use the Air Patroller." Ryder shrugged.

"Oh and I found a couple chairs.." the Cockapoo went on. "I think they belong to the chair lift on Jake's mountain."

"Wait you found them?" Marshall said, shooting her a curious look.

"Yeah, that's what I was doing when I crashed." The aviator pup replied. "I saw something shiny and went down to see what it was, when two trees fell down and knocked me out of the sky."

"No problem." Ryder said. "We can handle that with the Air Patroller too. Let's go pups!" With that, they all scattered to do their jobs.

XXXX

"Phew! What a long day." Marshall gasped, as they finally entered the Pet Parlor; the sun beginning to set behind them.

"You said it." Ryder agreed, brushing a hand across his brow.

"How did it go?" Chase asked, raising his head up to them as he spoke.

"Fine. Thankfully there were no more problems during the mission." Ryder told him.

"Oh, well, that's good." Chase nodded, laying his head down again. Rocky was still snoozing away just beyond him.

"So..uh-.. how ya feelin'?" Marshall asked sheepishly.

"Pretty good, I guess." Chase responded, testing his shoulder; as if to check. "But what about you?" The German Shepard noticed. "You're kinda dirty; and you've got a lot of scratches that need tending to."

"Who me? Nah, I'm fine." Marshall has been able to successfully mask his injuries up to this point; but after a long hard day, he was starting to lose that ability.

"Nope! You got overly worked up about me earlier. It's my turn." Chase decided, standing to come over to him. "You need medical attention right now." The pup told the Dalmatian firmly, staring pointedly into his ocean blue eyes.

"Fine." Marshall gave in finally; rolling his eyes in annoyance, as he hobbled toward Katie to be examined.

XXXX

"Good news everybody." Katie said, when she'd finished her initial exam. "Marshall's gonna be fine. Just a bunch of scraps and bruises; and a slight concussion. He'll be off of missions for a few days to rest with Chase and Rocky, but otherwise he'll be ok."

"See, told you I was fine." Marshall stated sarcastically to Chase.

"See, told you, you should've gotten checked out." Chase shot back, half jokingly; a pleasureful smirk crossing his face. Marshall couldn't stay grumpy for long with his best friend staring at him like that; and he cracked a smile, which he still tried to fight(and lost miserably).

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, whatever." Marshall sang loosely, batting Chase's shoulder.

"Ow, careful." Chase smirked, rubbing his side tenderly; still laughing a bit.

"Well at least everyone is ok. And Adventure Bay is back to normal." Ryder stated grandly. "It's time we head back to the Lookout, pups. We can all ride home in the Air Patroller. And tomorrow, I'll fix Skye's copter."

"Yay!" The Cockapoo cheered with a backflip.

"Bye Katie!" Ryder said, as all the pups got up to head for the door. "Thanks for taking care of the pups." Zuma walked by Rocky in case his friend needed him. And Chase and Marshall walked(more like hobbled), near each other to the Air Patroller.

"Happy to help." Katie smiled as they left. "Goodbye, PAW Patrol!" The Air Patroller lifted steadily from the ground and jettisoned off toward the Lookout. The sky was pigmented with all shades of fire; red,.. orange,.. yellow,.. and were even accompanied by shades of pink and purple towards the opposite horizon. The sunlight waved goodbye as it sank away into the night, and the moon waved its hello; as it peaked its head up from the depths, from which it would reappear many times after this. The sun and moon traded places in a smooth transition that would soon put, all who abide by its natural sense of time, to rest for the night. Encouraging them to sleep in preparation for another day, to arise with the sun's return; giving them the ablilty to live to see another gorgeous day in Adventure Bay.

~After The Storm~

Hey guys, here's the final chapter!! Can't wait to see what you guys think of it!! I'll mark it completed when I can, but til then... enjoy!! Thank you all so much for reading through this!! And I'd say this was a much more successful story than Chase, the... Pilot?!, so thanks for that!! Words can hardly describe how proud I am of this one, and I'm glad you feel the same!! Thx!!!