Author's Notes (reading very recommended):

This fanfic is divided in three parts, each one having a different perspective and featuring different characters.

Team M: Marshall, Skye and Tracker.

Team R: Rocky, Zuma, and Robo-Dog.

Team C: Chase, Rubble, and Everest.

In all of these three parts, the POV will be the narrator's.

These story 'parts' will occur simultaneously in the story. This means that Chapter 1 of Team C will happen at the same time as Chapter 1 of Team R and Chapter 1 of Team M; the same applies with Chapter 2, and so on. Currently, you are in the Team R part of the story.

This also means that the chapters that feature two or three of the Teams will appear on their respective parts. This very first chapter features all three of them, so it will be on the three parts. However, there will be differences on each part depending on the part you're on. These differences can range from just one word, to entire paragraphs, so it is recommended to read all of the parts despite having repeated chapters.

In this AU fanfic none of the characters know each other, except for Marshall and Skye, who happen to be childhood friends. Rubble and Tracker also are acquaintances, but nothing more than that.

Since this fic was written before Tracker officially debuted on the TV Series, his personality and traits might be a bit off, although I guess it's going to be okay since most of the characters' personalities will be very different.

Disclaimers: Story based on the Zero Escape game series. Cast based from PAW Patrol. Both of which I do not own.

[R] DISPERSION [1]

It was too dark to see anything clearly, but it could be assumed that this was quite a small room, with a large barred door from which a light from a lamp could be seen.

The floor felt very cold and uncomfortable, like if it was made from pure, cold iron. Inside this very small room, where three dog puppies were inside. Two of them were sitting in front of the door, one of them was trying to break the bars.

"Come ooooon…!" said the one who was trying to pry open a passage between two of the bars. He opened his greenish yellow eyes and panted in exhaustion. His brown like chocolate fur was starting to sweat, and he had a very particular way of talking. "Just a little mowe!"

The dog that was sitting alongside the brown dog, looking down, gave a long sigh. "It won't work." Rolling his orange, sunset colored eyes, the dog was grey colored with a darker patch of fur around his left eye. "This is reinforced steel I presume. It won't budge that easily."

The grey mutt looked back at the dog that was sitting at the back of the room. It was still, seaming lifeless, staring deeply at the floor. It had quite the looks of a toy, made out of white, blue and orange parts. His eyes were just an LCD screen which showed cute, light blue eyes. "I don't even think that robot can help us."

The pair beside the door suddenly heard a male voice from the other side of the door. "That's a big problem." It was then when they took a look at what was beyond the door. There was a very small circled room that connected to two more rooms separated by barred doors similar to those on the room the dogs were in. Following the direction of the voice, they saw a small German Shepherd pup from behind one of the other two barred rooms.

"Another pup…? What is going here…?" The mutt had a confused look in his eyes.

"Barred doors, eerie and dark atmosphere; it's pretty obvious to tell we've been kidnapped." Answered the German Shepherd.

The chocolate Labrador widely opened his eyes in shock. Kidnapped? He didn't want to accept the facts: That sounded like a CSI thriller show. Furthermore, the Labrador didn't have any reason why he would be taken by someone he knew. Even he doesn't even know any of the faces he has seen here.

Speaking of which, more faces could be seen from the Shepherd's room. There was one figure that looked like a Bulldog sitting on the far corner of that prison cell, seemingly grunting. Beside him was a more feminine dog with a somewhat purple-lavender colored fur. The fur pattern suggested that she was a Husky with deep blue eyes.

"Dude, just how many pups awe thewe?" Asked the Labrador, deeply staring at the brown dog at the other room.

"From the looks of it, nine pups in total" The German answered gazing at the seemingly empty cell. "Three in my cell, three in your cell, and I presume there are other three in that one."

"Uh, what's wrong with your voice?" A voice could be heard from what seemed to be the empty room, then a white face speckled with black spots and icy blue eyes showed up. By the looks of it, seemed to be a Dalmatian. "And yes, we are nine in total."

The Labrador bit his lip. "Well... I kinda have a speech impediment, so..."

The mutt quickly responded, interrupting him. "Rhoticism, right? It's when you can't pronounce the R sound. Most of the times it sounds like if it were to be an W sound." The chocolate dog did nothing but speechlessly nod to him, with a surprised look.

There was a bit of silence, after the Cockapoo from the same cell as the Dalmatian appeared and broke it. "Maybe we should introduce ourselves, so we can know a bit about each other…" She put one of her paws to her chest, in a way of introducing herself. "My name is Skye. What are your names?"

One by one, the identities of each of the pups were revealed.

The Dalmatian was named Marshall, and the third dog that was held captive on the same cell as him and Skye was named Tracker. He was a Chihuahua with a Latin-American accent, which seemed to be Mexican.

Inside the German Shepherd's cell, whose name was Chase, were the rather buff yet young bulldog named Rubble and the lavender Husky named Everest. Her presence seemed to be quite cold, just like her name.

Finally, the grey mutt introduced himself as Rocky, and the chocolate Labrador as Zuma. However, the robot toy-like dog didn't seem to be listening to the conversation, as he wasn't answering.

"What about you, wobot dog?" Zuma decided to ask the robot himself. "What's youw name?"

The robot made a beeping sound, and his eyes turned into a spinning circle, which seemed to be like if it were to be 'processing' what he heard. In a matter of two seconds, some sounds could be heard from his bark. "Robo-Dog", he said. "Call me Robo, please."

There was a bit of an unsettling silence for a while, which made it easier for every pup to hear the footsteps coming from a hallway that connected to the prison vault. They seemed like footsteps from a human. "Oh, oh! Are we going to get rescued?" said Skye with a joyful smile.

However, the human's voice destroyed that positive thought. "Unfortunately, that's the wrong answer. Actually, I'm your enemy."

The bulldog, who had been silent all this time, spoke with a loud and low bark. "Who the hell are you?!"

The human seemed to be a man… Or not? It was hard to tell because he was wearing a dark robe with a theater 'laughter' mask. The voice seemed odd, as well, so it was very hard to determine their gender.

"You may call me Y. And I'll be your host of The Game." All of the pups were very confused. What did they mean?

Only Chase was brave enough to speak. "What game?", he replied in a very serious tone. The masked human took a few seconds governed by silence to answer. He then shows a coin that was hidden under his sleeve.

"Twenty-three days ago, a man was killed. As a result, a dog was falsely convicted to the murder and consequently sacrificed, his lawyer would later kill herself after realizing her mistake. A taxi driver had an accident along with his passenger, a vet surgeon. The puppy who awaited a critical operation also perished. The vet, due to his negligence, started a fire at his apartment, killing five people, including himself. Why did these nine people die? Because of a puppy. A single solitary puppy caused the deaths of nine people. Life is simply unfair; don't you think?"

Everyone was speechless. Nothing that the masked person just pouted out made any sense. Almost everyone who were close to the door tilt their heads in deep confusion.

"Today, the truth of these unfortunate events will be revealed, justice will finally be made, and the future will be decided. All of this will happen in The Game."

Despite Y's declaration, the pups still didn't understand what was going on, or what they've just heard. However, one thing was clear to them: They were going to play a game with the person who kidnapped them, and it would start very soon.

"I'll explain the rules of The Game now." The masked man announced as he showcased the white coin to everyone who was looking. The only ones who didn't see the coin were Robo and Everest; they weren't looking at the perpetrator, who after a few seconds proceeded to throw the coin.

The metal coin spun fast in the air, causing it to reveal its two sides. One was the white side that every pup could see. The other, which remained unknown to them, was black. With such spinning, it seemed like both colors were overlaying each other, forming a dark shade of gray. Black and white, imposing each other on each side, like light and darkness, but like a yin-yang, their destiny depended on each other.

Nevertheless, after the edge of the coin hit the floor, bouncing just one time, the man in black stepped on top of the spinning coin to stop it, hiding it under his foot.

"It is not possible to know which side was up and which one was down. But you can take a guess – in fact, you must take a guess." Said the evil human. "If you guess right, you will win the game and I will set you free."

That was very confusing, but very comforting. Zuma and Rocky let out a sigh of relief.

However, Chase was suspicious. "Are you serious you'll make me believe that?" He lowly growled.

Y looked at Chase. It was impossible to figure out the emotion behind Y's look, as it was completely hidden by the mask. The mask made them seem to be lifeless, emotionless, hopeless.

"You would sleep for twenty-three minutes and twenty-four seconds. After that, you would wake up back at the lookout in Adventure Bay as if nothing happened."

That was very specific statement. Chase still had his doubts, but he was interrupted by an impatient Rocky. "So what if we guess wrong? What if we lose?"

There was a short silence, but Y gave an emotionless response. "The game will not end until at least six of you die."

Everyone except Robo and Chase gasped. Rocky and Skye had a more shocked expression than the other pups. Chase maintained his serious look, whilst Robo's look was still lifeless. The masked man called Y opened his arms wide open.

"So, what it will be? Will it be white? Or black?"

The pups started arguing. Zuma, Marshall and Rubble took a wild guess right away and said their preferred option: "It's black!", "No, it's going to be white!", "It'll be white!"

Rocky, Skye and Tracker said that it was very risky, that there was a 50% chance of guessing right. Chase, Everest and Robo merely didn't say anything.

Y stopped the argument, taking the attention again, by yelling the name of a certain dog.

"...Chase. What's it going to be?" Y asked. "You will choose for the entire team. You have to."

Marshall and Zuma yelled: "Choose white!", "Choose black!", respectively, at the same time. The pups started yelling again, encouraging him to take a decision.

Rocky was deeply gazing at Chase, who started sweating due to the tense atmosphere and the riskiness of his choice. The Shepherd started looking frenetically at all dogs.

After a couple of dozens of seconds, Chase finally let an answer.

"...White."

The pups stopped quarreling, now deeply looking at him. Marshall didn't quite hear his answer: "Sorry, what?" He asked.

"...It's going to be white!" Chase yelled with determination and authority. He started clenching his teeth.

All of the pups now gazed at Y's foot. What they felt in a matter of seconds, which felt like minutes, were huge waves of pure fear and tension, despairingly hoping for the white side of the coin to be up. Their hearts were racing like they had never experienced. They were sweating heavily. Except for Robo, who was just emitting some smoke, apparently his body temperature was rising heavily.

There was just a fifty percent chance that the shiny, light white side of the coin would be up. At first it seemed like a very high chance of that they would guess it right. However, now that Chase gave an answer, that number seemed to be very small. It seemed like it would be more likely that the cold and dark black side of the coin would be up.

Every pup in the metallic cell rooms felt like their heart skipped a beat when the foot of the dark man started revealing the coin…

The side that was up… was black.

It seemed like time returned back to normal. Rocky, Zuma and Tracker gave out a huge gasp, with shocked eyes. Marshall had a somewhat grossed-out kind of look. Rubble and Skye deeply stared at Chase, with a very angered expression. The German Shepherd looked down, with a very guilty expression. Everest looked sad after hearing the dogs' reaction. Robo started beeping, like he was yelping in shock.

"Damn you, Chase!" The bulldog Rubble cursed the Shepherd, hitting his back paws on the floor.

That wasn't right for Rocky. "Don't blame him!" He replied to Rubble. "There was a 50% of chance of getting it right. We were just… Unlucky."

Silence, again, apart from the constant beeps of Robo. Rubble, annoyed, let out a huge roar. "Tell that iron dog to shut the fuck up!"

The beeps were gone. One second after that, Y finally spoke again.

"You have lost the coin toss. Therefore, The Game will continue until at least six of you are dead." The masked man revealed from the sleeve where the coin was not hidden in, a remote with a yellow button. "Now, it is time for you to sleep. When next you wake, I will keep explaining the rules of The Game."

Marshall extended one paw, passing through the metallic gate, but it was way too short to reach the masked man's legs. Despite that, he yelled. "W-wait! This can't be over ye-"

A click could be heard. That evil masked man pushed the yellow button. Half a second after that, he mentioned his last words before turning back, heading straight to the dark hallway.

"Sleep well, pups."

Hissing sounds came from above the center of the room. It looked like it was coming from a circular hole that no puppy had noticed before, at the ceiling of the circular center room.

Suddenly, Rocky and Zuma started feeling tired. Their legs shook, feeling weak. Eyelids half closed, Zuma stretched his paw, trying to get to the lock of the metal grate. "D-damn you, Y..." Those were his last words before falling asleep.

Rocky managed to hold his need for sleep a little longer. He took a look at the room, it seemed like a bunch of puppies had succumbed to slumber, too. The mutt then gazed at Robo. He didn't have those cute blue-ish eyes anymore, and looked even more dead than it was before. So it seemed like, even for a dog machine, whatever caused them to fall asleep also affected him in a way.

The grey dog's eyelids started feeling very heavy, and his legs didn't seem like they would be able to hold his weight anymore. Even if he never gave up, he eventually fell asleep, putting him in a long slumber.