Sweetie was in a crisis. A risky crisis that required her to steal a valuable necklace from its exhibit to call it her own. She stole things all the time, so stealing the necklace wouldn't be the problem. The real problem was getting caught. At one point, someone would notice that the necklace was missing, so she would need to hide in time so people wouldn't suspect that it was her. 

She only arrived in the town that morning. People didn't even know she was there until she actively traveled through the town, so it would be unlikely for anyone to suspect that it was her who stole the necklace. In order to steal it, she'd have to wait patiently for lunch hour so no one would see her. Of course, she would have to pay attention for cameras, but no matter what, she vowed to herself that she was going to swipe the necklace. She looked up at a vintage clock fastened to the wall of the exhibit room. It marked that it was twelve twenty-nine PM, which meant one thing. 

Lunch hour would start in a minute. 

She only knew this because outside the museum doors, there was a wooden sign that had the opening and closing hours engraved in it, but never mind about that. She was more focused on the second hand of the clock, moving every second. "Three . . . two . . . one," she mumbled as the second hand reached the twelve roman numeral, marking twelve thirty. 

She quickly leapt behind a large painting of Adventure Bay's town hall years ago, peeking at the rim of it. Everyone abandoned the room as a man with a strong French accent, which was actually François, announced closing time. "Everyone, please evacuated the premises. The museum will reopen in an hour," he projected his voice. 

Once everyone was gone, François' cousin, Captain Turbot entered the room. "I'll be at the beach for lunch hour, so before I go, let's make sure that we have security. You make sure the necklace exhibit is locked while I check the others."

"D'accord, cousine," François recited in French as he walked towards the exhibit. He made sure the glass surrounding the necklace was secure by adjusting it and he locked it with a key. Once they were both finished, they dimmed the room's lights. 

"That's should be fine, let's go," he motioned his cousin out of the room to exit the museum. Once they were completely out of sight and nothing could be heard, Sweetie carefully walked out from behind the large painting and gulped. She was taking a huge risk, but in her opinion, it was completely worth it. 

"Busby," she commanded her toy minion as she shook her collar, "get in my backpack while I get the necklace." The minion did as it was commanded as her backpack, which was fastened to her back opened up so Busby could jump in. Once that was taken care of, Sweetie decided it was time to face the music. 

She snuck her way across the room to the exhibit, careful not to make any noise. It wasn't a long way to the exhibit, so she reached it in no time. Lucky for her, there weren't any booby traps activated in the glass, so it wouldn't be too hard to retrieve the necklace. The only problem was that she'd have to break the glass in order to have the necklace. She didn't have the key to unlock the exhibit, so this would be her only choice. 

"What in the world will I use to break this glass with?" The Terrier mused. She scanned the room, trying to find something strong to break the glass with. There didn't seem to be anything she could just carry, and it would be risky to just do it with her paws, so she wondered around the room seeking for something. By the door frame, there were several bronze sticks for some reason. They weren't quite what she was looking for, but it was her only choice.

"Claw, activate," she commanded as she grasped her collar. The claw burst out from her backpack and picked up one of the bronze sticks. Sweetie sauntered back to the tall exhibit. From her view, it was tall enough for an average-sized nine-year-old to reach. She was a dog, so there was no way that she could reach with her paws alone, but to her luck, her claw with the stick could. She stepped back, nearly bumping into some other exhibit. In order to break the glass, she would have to run towards it so the stick could break it. 

She ran the fastest she ever has, her paws burning through the carpeted floor. The stick punctured into the glass, causing it to shatter and collapse to the spotless carpet. There was still glass remaining, but there was enough gone for her to capture the necklace. She commanded her claw to let go of the stick so she could swipe what she wanted. The beauty was placed on a mannequin neck, so it wasn't too difficult for her to grab it. 

Once the necklace was in front of her, she gasped, already falling in love with how shiny it was. She just wanted to wear it, but she couldn't just yet. If the mayor saw the necklace on her, she would snitch to the PAW Patrol that she stole it, so she stored it in her backpack for safe-keeping. In the meantime, she continued to wear the necklace she took from the Princess on her neck. It was still pretty, but in her opinion, the one she stole recently was much better. 

The Terrier glanced at the clock. It was twelve forty-six. Lunch hour wouldn't end for another forty or so minutes, but  she already wanted to leave the museum so she could escape to a less-populated area in town to hide. She didn't know her way around the town, so a map would definitely help. On her way inside the museum, she did see a couple of pocket maps, so she planned on taking one of them and settling off somewhere. 

She rushed out of the room and went down the broad corridor to the exit. There was a small, wooden accent table with the maps o a stand. She activated her claw to retrieve one and quickly opened it. It was a tri-fold, so she scanned each section. The Terrier spotted what seemed like a farm. There was a barn, corn maze, and near it, there was plenty of arable land. She figured that this would be the most reasonable place to settle to since she assumed that not a lot of people lived there. 

For now, she planned on hiding there then coming back to town to see if there were any more goodies for her to swipe. A proud smile formed across her face. Her life was already getting better and she was loving it. 

***

When lunch hour was finished, Mayor Goodway, François, and Captain Turbot went to the museum to open the museum back up for the rest of the day. The mayor planned on giving a presentation about her family history using the necklace, but little did she know that it was actually missing. The three filed down the hall one by one, the Turbot cousins boasting about everything that's been happening at the museum involving precious exhibits. 

"Mayor, we've been doing a spectacular job keeping all of the exhibits safe, especially your grandmother's necklace," Captain Turbot boasted with a chuckle.

"I'm sure you two have been," the Mayor laughed as they reached the room, her voice echoing through the high ceiling. She reached towards the wall to turn the lights on, expecting to see an unbothered display case with her grandmother's necklace inside, but no. The display case was actually broken and the necklace was no where to be seen. Sharp pieces of glass invaded the ground around the exhibit. She gasped, ready to faint. 

"Wait a minute . . . where's the necklace?" Captain Turbot panicked, shooting a dirty look to François. "It was your responsibility to make sure everything was secure, François."

"I did, Tur-bow," he said in his French accent. "Someone must've broken into the glass, but how?"

"The doors were locked from the outside, so someone stayed behind to steal the necklace," Captain Turbot reasoned, digging a hand onto his forehead. "Mayor Goodway, we apologize for all this." 

"It wasn't your fault. We just need to get to the bottom of this," she tried not to appear distressed. "Let's look at the security cameras for footage." 

François led the way to the break room of the museum, where all the security cameras were. He examined the one that was in the room where the necklace was and rewound the camera back to around twelve thirty. François and his cousin left the museum around five minutes after closing time, so he rewound the camera to twelve thirty-five.

Captain Turbot and Mayor Goodway stood behind him, anxiously waiting for anything to appear on the screen. From what they could all see, there was a white pup in a black outfit sneaking towards the exhibit. They watched her smash the glass a few minutes later and swipe the necklace. This time, the Mayor was truly ready to faint, but she resisted as Chickaletta clucked from her purse. 

"I know who that pup is," she planted a finger on her chin. "That pup is Sweetie, or Queen Sweetie as she'd like to be called," she rolled her eyes as she continued. "That's the pup that came to town today. She seemed quite suspicious when I encountered her earlier today."

"Have you seen her after this time frame? If so, we can use that as a clue," Captain Turbot questioned. 

"I don't think I have, unfortunately," Mayor Goodway sighed. "The PAW Patrol is on their vacation, but I need them this time. I'm going to call Ryder." She took out her phone from her purse, but the first things she saw on it was Corn Niblet Crush, Chickaletta's favorite game. She shook her head as she mustered a smile, but it faded away as she searched her contacts for Ryder's number to call him. 

"Please pick up," she wished as the phone rang. It continued to ring, but there was no pick up. She already gave up hope and got ready to cancel the call, but before she had the chance, the head of the PAW Patrol picked up. 

"Hey, Mayor Goodway. It's been a few days. Is there a problem?" Ryder questioned. "We're actually already on a mission of finding a pup, but we can still help if there's a problem."

"So you're finding a pup . . . The funny thing is, we are, too. We're finding a white-furred pup who goes by the name . . . Sweetie? She's not from around here," Mayor Goodway informed him, completely convinced that it was a coincidence. 

"Wow, that's actually the pup we're looking for. She allegedly went missing this morning from Barkingburg's castle. Has she been causing problems down in Adventure Bay?" Ryder raised an eyebrow. 

"Yes, she actually stole my grandmother's necklace from the museum and went missing," the Mayor groaned. "I hope you don't mind coming down all the way down here just to find her and get the necklace back."

"It's no problem. We've had no hints or clues of where she went so far, but now that we know, we'll be there," Ryder stated before he signed off from the call. The mayor sighed with relief, hoping that the necklace would be found soon. 

Meanwhile in Barkingburg, Ryder let all the pups know that they would have to get in the Air Patroller to travel to Adventure Bay to continue the mission. They weren't so happy about it, but they had no choice. 

"Does this mean our vacation is ending early, Ryder, sir?" Chase questioned as they all gathered in the aircraft. 

"No, not at all. We know for sure that Sweetie is somewhere in town, so once we find her and get Mayor Goodway's necklace back, we can get back here," Ryder informed everyone assuringly. "Robo-dog, take us to Adventure Bay on stealth mode, please."

Robo-dog obeyed his command as the door of the aircraft closed so they could soar into the sky. All the pups' vehicles were already loaded there, so they had everything they needed for the mission. The ride to town from Barkingburg would take a while, even with stealth mode activated on the aircraft, so Marshall turned to Everest, who unfortunately already fell asleep. The majority of the pups were already fixing to go to sleep in the meantime, so he was one of the only pups awake. 

"She's so cute when she's asleep," he whispered to himself with a murmur. 

In his mind, he thought that no one else could hear him since he whispered, but no, he actually wasn't the only one. 

"What did you just say?" The voice beside him questioned. 

It was Rubble, an innocent smile plastered across his face. Marshall dug his paws onto his face in embarrassment. What he said wasn't intended for anyone else to hear, but Rubble heard it, unfortunately. "Hey, Rubble. I said nothing," he plastered a smile on his face.

"You can run, but you can't hide," Rubble insisted. "You said that Everest is cute when she sleeps. Do you like her or something?"

That was the moment where the Dalmatian realized the his friend had already figured out everything, so there was no point in hiding anymore. After all, he always kept his feelings to himself to be swarmed inside of his brain. He hadn't talked about his crush on Everest to anyone in so long, so this was his chance to let it off his chest. 

"Alright, alright, Rubble, you got me. I did say that and I do like her, but . . . just don't go around telling everyone," he whispered. "I loved her for so long and I'll take any chance I have to hang out with her. I want to tell her one of these days . . . but looks like this is another case where I lack tons of confidence."

"It's okay, Marshall. You're smart and funny and nice to hang out with, so you should tell her," Rubble insisted, plastering an innocent smile on his face once again. "Just don't think about the what ifs."

"I guess," the Dalmatian agreed, pulling him towards him for a brief hug. "Thanks, Rubble." 

"It's no problem, buddy," the Bulldog acknowledged with a grin. 

Around thirty minutes later, the group arrived at Adventure Bay. Ryder added all the other pups that weren't on the mission to it to scatter around town to cover as much land as possible. Skye was assigned to search all around town with her helicopter. This time, instead of using her Mission PAW helicopter, she got to use her regular one, which see missed for the past few days. It felt amazing to reunite with it, but she was bummed about the mission. 

It could've taken place after the vacation. It could've taken place before, but why did it have to be during their vacation? Her, the rest of the PAW Patrol, and the Princess had no clue and it was yet to be known. Based on what the Cockapoo saw while soaring through the unfolding sky, Sweetie was still no where to be seen. She wasn't at the beach, near the lookout, or at the train station. She wasn't in the heavily populated areas of town either. She was impatient at this point, so she had no choice but to tell Ryder that she couldn't be seen.

"Thanks for trying, anyway, Skye. Maybe search the outskirts of town," Ryder instructed. "You know, near Farmer Al and Farmer Yumi's farm. The chances of her being there may be slim since I assume Sweetie doesn't know her way around Adventure Bay, but I'd still take a look there." 

"Roger, Ryder," Skye obeyed as she made a full U-turn. She was near the train station, so it would only take a few minutes by air to get to the outskirts of town. The Cockapoo heavily doubted that she would be there, however, there needed to be an all-clear before anyone made sure of it. 

As she soared through the sky, the wind blew against her golden fur. The weather was reasonable for a summer day. It wasn't scorching hot to the point where everyone decided to take a day off and hang out to the beach, but it wasn't warm like it would be on a late spring day. Puffy clouds dotted the sky here and there, but the sky was a baby blue hue. 

Once she reached the farm, the first thing she saw was the barn and Farmer Al leading his cows into it. He could've possibly seen the missing pup recently, so Skye got ready to land her helicopter to ask him. The landing was so sudden, so it startled the cows the man was leading into the barn into it. 

"Howdy, Skye. Thanks for getting my cows into the barn. I was having a bit of trouble," Farmer Al pulled the barn's doors from one side to meet the other. "It must be this nice weather that made them want to stay out here. What brings you here?"

"Hi, Farmer Al. I'm on a mission right now of finding a pup named Sweetie. She's white-furred and she's about my size," she informed. "Have you seen her anywhere?"

"A pup is on the loose? Golly!" The man said with his mouth dangled open. "I haven't seen any pups around here, actually. I've mostly been inside, but Farmer Yumi might know since she was out here managing the garden. Want me to go in and ask her?"

"Yes, please," the Cockapoo said politely. The farmer disappeared towards the house, walking inside to call his wife from the door. She responded, but in Skye's ears, her response was faint. Within a few moments, they both sauntered over to the pup with genuine grins. 

"Hey, Skye. Farmer Al says that you have something to ask. What is it?" Farmer Yumi questioned as she adjusted her tan sunhat. 

"Have you seen a pup around here today by any chance?" 

The woman planted a finger on her chin. "I have, actually. When I was picking some bell peppers from the garden, I saw what looked like a pup rush by on an ATV . . . or something like that. I wasn't paying attention to it's features that well, but it's probably the pup you're looking for." 

"Thank you for the information. I'll tell Ryder now," the Cockapoo acknowledged as she got ready to contact the head of the group. "Ryder, Sweetie is somewhere around here. Farmer Yumi says that she's seen a pup, but isn't sure if it's her."

"It might be. I'll send Chase's drone to observe the area, so you stay put," he instructed before he signed off from the call. "We'll get to the bottom of this." 

//

Merry Christmas eve, everyone! As you can see, this is my gift to you-- a 3.2k-word chapter. It's the longest I've done for this story. Originally, this chapter was supposed to go further, but it was becoming too long, so everything else will be in the next chapter.

I've been actively updating this story for about two chapters now, and I'm proud of myself. Although, I will be entering a new semester soon which will keep me busy, but my goal is to complete this story (and my original ongoing story) before my second semester is over so I can start a new one sometime in the summer. 

Enough of me talking-- if you celebrate Christmas, what gifts are you looking forward to getting?