Ryder stood his ground against the two men in suits, he was worried that they were after his pups but thankfully they weren't.

At least not those pups.

"I'll answer your questions just as long as you tell me your names and why you're here." Ryder persuaded.

"Fair enough. I'm Agent Rich and this is Agent Ramirez, Federal Bureau of Investigation, we're looking into a case about a German Shepherd named Chase, sources say that he was a part of this little posse, so if you have any information regarding it, you have to tell us." Agent Rich stated.

"And if I don't?" Ryder asked.

"Then the Paw Patrol will be shut down, no more funding, no more rescuing cats or whatever you little pups do." Agent Ramirez answered.

Ryder looked at Rocky, who nodded in agreement about the situation.

"Alright, but the pups are coming with me." Ryder stated.

"Of course, the extra help would be useful in this investigation."

"Rich? What're you doing? We can't trust these pups!" Ramirez pulled aside.

"You know what they had, they were close with the Shepherd, they can help us nail this guy!" Rich stated. "Besides, what's a kid and his little pups gonna do?"

"Guess you're right, alright fine." Ramirez agreed. "All of you, in the car."

Ryder hopped in the rather large SUV with the pups as they still had their gear on from earlier.

"Check out the gear, Ramirez, just like Decker's." Agent Rich examined.

"Uhhh, who's Decker?" Marshall asked.

"We'll answer your questions when we get there, it'll be some time before we do however." Agent Rich stated. "Just get comfortable."

<><><><>

Hours passed as Chase walked around the city, looking for his way back to a place he used to call home, rain started to drizzle down as the pup sighed in annoyance, he wasn't going to dodge the rain by standing directly in it. The pup decided to hunker down under one of those umbrellas that some restaurants have for outside dining.

The Shepherd thought to himself.

Was it really going to be worth it? What if he didn't even make it there before he just bites the dust?

The pup looked through his small duffel bag, noticing the picture of him, Ryder, and the pups huddled together.

"It's worth it." The pup sighed to himself.

He realized that not doing anything wasn't going to help him, the Shepherd decided to keep going, pushing through the rain.

As more time passed, walking through crowds of people, some strays noticed the Shepherd, eyeing his bag.

Chase immediately had a bad feeling, he knew he was being followed but decided to not confront them yet.

After some time, he led them into an alleyway.

"Look what we got here fellas. Hand over the bag, mutt." The lead stray ordered.

"Not a chance." Chase sternly stated.

"I don't think you know how things work here. You don't hand over that bag, there's gonna be an accident, a big bloody messy accident." The leader advised.

"Let's just get this over with." Chase tightened the bag around him as he got into a defensive position.

"Looks like he wants to do this the hard way boys! Get him!" The strays rushed Chase but couldn't land a hit on him, he was too fast for them, he managed to scratch the leader as he got away from the strays.

"You got fight in you! I'll give you that!"  The strays rushed Chase again but this time, the Shepherd hopped onto a dumpster and kicked one of the small trash cans into one of the strays, knocking them over.

"That all you got?! Come on!" Chase yelled out as he scratched one of the other strays.

The strays surrounded the dumpster he was on and the Shepherd knew he wasn't going to be able to handle them from every direction.

"Hey pup!" He heard a female voice call to him. "Yeah you! Come on, over here!"

Chase noticed a Golden Retriever motioning for him to follow, the pup jumped off the dumpster and over the fence that separated the alleyway.

Chase landed on his paws, albeit stumbling over in the process but recovered.

"This ain't over you stupid pup! We'll get ya!" Chase heard the leader yell from the other side.

"I wouldn't count on it!" Chase replied as the Golden Retriever was motioning for him to follow.

"Hey, come on! We should get away from them while we still can." The Retriever suggested.

"Yeah, let's go." Chase agreed as he followed soon after.

The two ran past the streets and eventually stopped, catching their breath.

"That was close, what were you doing trying to fight those strays?" The Retriever asked.

"Didn't leave me a choice, thanks for the help, I gotta get going." Chase soon walked away but was stopped by the Retriever.

"Wait! Who are you? You look...familiar." The Retriever said as she got a closer look at Chase.

"I just got a familiar face, look I really gotta get going." Chase tried brushing the Retriever off.

"Wait just a second! Where are you headed to anyway?" The Retriever asked.

"Nowhere interesting." Chase said as his stomach started growling.

"Not interesting huh? Regardless, sounds like you're hungry, I know a place where you can get some food and...get some rest, you look like a mess." The Retriever stated.

Chase was still skeptical on trusting the Retriever but decided to go along with her, she did save him after all.

"Alright, lead the way." Chase sighed.

The Retriever smiled and lead Chase behind her.

"You're welcome by the way." The Retriever smiled.

"Thanks...uh..." Chase trailed off.

"Mavis, my names Mavis." She answered.

"Thanks, Mavis." Chase thanked.

"So...what's your name?" Mavis asked.

"My name is...Isaac." Chase lied.

The Retriever was unsure about the name, she could tell if it was a lie or not but regardless, she had to help the Shepherd out.

"Alright, nice to meet you...Isaac." Mavis smiled. "Welcome to Boroughton!"

<><><><>

After some time driving, the group finally reached a safe house of a sort. The SUV finally came to a stop as Ryder and the pups got out and stretched.

"Here we are, FBI safe house, I'll brief you inside." Agent Rich gestured for Ryder and the pups to follow.

As they entered, the first thing that caught their eyes was the big board that had multiple pictures, documents and all sorts of stuff on it. The main picture was that of Chase, leading it up to a mysterious figure that none of the agents identified yet.

"Alright, it's time I ask you some questions." Agent Rich sat down with the group.

"Don't touch anything while you're here." Agent Ramirez reminded.

"Alright, we got multiple reports of Chase being sighted in Adventure Bay, running with your little band of pups. After we finally got there, he's gone. Any idea where he went Ryder?" Agent Rich asked.

"No clue." Ryder sighed.

"Was he not close to you? Any of you?" Agent Ramirez asked.

"He was until he decided to just leave us!" Marshall stated.

"For the past couple of days, he was on edge, a paranoid mess. It got worse when he ran into this dog that claimed that he knew him." Ryder explained.

"Wait, a dog? Remember any details about the dog?" Agent Rich asked.

"Yeah, it was Great Dane, pretty sure he had a scar across his muzzle. He also had a thick accent." Ryder added.

Ears twitched at the description the boy said, a dog went up to Ryder and started asking him questions of his own.

"Wait, hold on a second mate, you didn't hear the name Ajax at all did you?" The dog asked.

Ryder looked at the dog, it was an German Shepherd/Border Collie mix with a strong Aussie accent.

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure." Ryder assured.

"So he knows Chase? Pretty odd considering that he has no enemies, because they're all dead...except Chase." The mix said.

"Ryder, this is Decker, he's helping out in this investigation. He's our dog that has the most information on Chase, he's a valuable asset to this investigation." Agent Rich stated.

"Thanks, mate." Decker smiled.

"Alright, back to the questions. Ryder? What was the reason Chase was acting so paranoid?" Agent Rich asked.

"I'm not too sure, the pups would know more about it. Pups?" Ryder looked at the group.

The pups were quiet, shuffling side to side, trying to dodge the question.

"If you mutts know anything that the boy doesn't know, you gotta say something, ain't really got a choice here." Agent Ramirez reminded.

"Well, it started a couple of days ago. Chase was more aggressive and paranoid towards us, we never really knew why. We tried to help him but he brushed us aside and when we forced him to, he said that he lost someone he cared about, how a certain line of work is good for one thing, getting you killed. After that encounter with that dog, Ajax, he was getting worse but then come the next day, he said it was over. He said it was over and he played us like fools." Rocky explained.

"The bugger really pulled one over your eyes." Decker said.

"Yeah..." Rocky lowered his ears as he noticed Skye, keeping to herself. "Skye? You have anything to add?"

Skye stood silent, still maintaining her depressed mood rather than her optimistic one.

"Hey! Small pup! If you know something, you gotta say it!" Agent Ramirez reminded yet again.

"Do you ever shut up dude?" Zuma asked as Decker snickered.

"You better watch your mouth, lab!" Agent Ramirez threatened.

"Oooh, scary! What're you gonna—?" Zuma was cut off.

"Alright, enough! We're here to find Chase! Not argue!" Ryder reminded.

"A pendant..." Skye murmured.

"What?" Ryder asked.

"He had a pendant." Skye spoke out to everyone in the area.

<><><><>

"Come on, Isaac! We're almost there!" Mavis intrigued for the Shepherd to keep following.

"You said that about an hour ago!" Chase panted.

"It'll be worth it, I swear!" Mavis said optimistically.

As Mavis lead on, Chase followed and noticed the familiar sight he once was accustomed to seeing before.

He finally made it back to The Den, all he had to do now was find his old owner and give him what he wanted.

But the Shepherd knew it wasn't going to be that simple.

As the two reached the entrance, they were stopped by a Pitbull, preventing them from moving inside.

"Hey, Mavis. Who's the new pup?" The Pitbull asked.

"Someone I saved, you gonna step aside or not?" Mavis asked with annoyance.

"No can do, Ajax's orders still stand, no new dogs allowed. Sorry Mavis." The Pitbull apologized.

"Come on, Saxton! This is my home! You can't just lock me out!" Mavis was getting angry at this point.

"Look, Saxton, I won't be here long. Just let us in for a bit." Chase tried persuading.

"Was I talking to you? Ajax's orders still—." Saxton was cut off.

"Saxton, let him in. We can trust him." A voice ordered.

"What? You know this Shepherd?" Saxton asked.

"Yeah, I do. He was my goddamn associate." The dog stepped out to reveal himself to Chase.

"Avery..."