PAW Patrol: A Recollection || FF Book One

(C8) Fire Rising

Smoke ran further into the fire, trying to listen for the firefighters she works with or any survivors, she knew she would likely die out here with the fire raging stronger than ever, but to her, nothing would match her resolve to be with Marshall and Blaze again, not even the forces of nature itself.

Listening again, Smoke focused her hearing and heard some laughter? "That's strange" she thought to herself, was this the work of an arson? But she had no time to ponder this as a fireball rose into the sky, signalling some kind of an explosion, but as she looked behind herself, she saw a tree falling. Moving out of the way, she dodged the tree and continued moving, but not without a bit of confusion on her part. "What the... what happened to cause that tree to fall? There was no fire around it so the base didn't burn... Strange" she thought to herself as she kept moving.

But eventually, Smoke found the six firefighters she left with walking as a group with four survivors. Smoke assumed the worst fate for anyone else who might be in here, considering the intensity of the fire but the smoke around her was really starting to put severe strain on her lungs and she coughed violently, seeing a bit of blood splatter onto the ground in front of her. "Oh no, no, I need to get out of here right now!" Smoke called out to herself as she began to run in the directions the firefighters and survivors were going, still wearing her gear, but by this point the usually bright red and black paint of her gear was a charred red and black, and mud and dirt was covering her fur from pretty much head to tail.

But as Smoke neared the tree line of the forest, her lungs once again felt like they were burning, and unwilling, her body succumbed to the exhaustion and pain, but as her eyes closed for what she thought was the final time, she could only whisper one tear filled phrase as her presumed final words. "Marshall... Blaze... Everyone.. I-I'm sorry. This is the end for me, Blaze, keep Marshall safe, please. I love you. Marshall... I love you as well, you're a clumsy little ball of sunshine in this world, this is the end for me... but please stay safe..." she was firmly in a coughing and crying fit during the entire phrase, but as she finished the last words, she laid on her side, her eyes firmly closed as the fire continued raging around her.

But as the firefighters and the survivors came out, the chief looked around where they told Smoke to stay and realized Smoke was missing, "Team where's Smoke? She was right here when we went in, RIGHT?" The chief called out her name multiple times before one of the rookie firefighters noticed a dog laying on their side right outside the fire. The firefighters ran over as the four survivors went to the ambulance that had parked on the grass, fully ready to drive off.

"Chief? The dog we found is Smoke" the rookie firefighter said as they pointed to her charred gear and muddy fur, her face was also tear stained but she was still breathing, but it was extremely strained.

The chief ran over and picked up Smoke, and as fast as he could, ran over to the ambulance. "Medics, this firedog of ours is named Smoke, she needs a vets attention immediately!" He passed Smoke over to the medic in the back as she was set down onto the ambulance floor slowly and carefully.

"Copy that chief, we'll get her to the nearest veterinarian, good luck with dealing with that fire" the medic said as the ambulance closed its doors, driving off into the distance to save Smoke's life and the four survivors, who somehow, took far less damage than Smoke did.

Back at the fire station, Marshall was firmly nuzzled into Blaze's side, his tears running onto Blaze's chest as he continued to worry for his mom, despite what Blaze said earlier. It had been nearly twelve hours since the team left, but Blaze had heard nothing from them, he didn't want to assume the worst for them, but with the intensity of the fire, how could someone not assume the worst?

Blaze knew Marshall had every reason to be worried, but when he told Marshall that Smoke would make sure she's careful in and near that fire, he did mean it. They've been mates for nearly six years at this point, and both have been firedogs for longer. And it wasn't like she'd be in the forest while it's burning.. right?

Shaking off the thoughts and what if's, Blaze closed his eyes and curled lightly around Marshall, warming up the young pup while he waited for a call from any of the team about how things were going.

Blaze then had an idea after a few minutes of staying like this. "Marshall, why don't we watch a movie or something? We have a TV with a remote us dogs can use if you want to" he offered, hoping his idea to lighten the mood even slightly would work.

Marshall stopped crying for a moment as he considered this. Thinking for about two minutes, he provided an answer. "S-Su-Sure... dad, I'd like that" as soon as Marshall answered, Blaze chuckled lightly as he playfully rubbed Marshall's head with his left front paw then walked upstairs, happy they could get some father pup bonding time until Smoke got back to get his and Marshall's mind off of what's going on right now.

Stopping his recollection right there, Marshall began crying in the present. He didn't remember much about his mom, because she died when he was only two years old, but what he did remember were only positive memories. Looking down to the floor, Marshall continued to cry as Ryder walked slowly up to him.

Stopping right in front of Marshall, Ryder took a moment before speaking "H-Hey Marshall, like we said, take everything at your own pace... okay?" He paused as Marshall looked up, wiping a tear out of his face with a paw as he continued to listen. "We're behind you and Everest all the way, so if you need to stop for right now... please do" Ryder assured as Marshall dashed forward, rubbing his tear stained fur into Ryder's vest.

Walking backwards a bit after crying, Marshall sat back down next to Everest. "Thanks guys... I'm going to take a break for now, but I promise I'll get back to it" Marshall then silently walked out of the room, knowing where he was planning to go when he left Katie's, the pups, Katie and Ryder were only more confused when Everest walked out as well, following Marshall, as if they both had a plan.

Ryder could only look forward as the two pups left, Skye did walk up to him and asked: "Ryder? Aren't we going to follow them to make sure they're okay? Marshall seemed... almost scared after he stopped recollecting what happened to him at that point" Skye and the others were deeply concerned for the two of them, but Ryder thought it would be best to let the two of them speak to themselves.

"Skye, Marshall and Everest, at least right now, have their pup tags on, I think we should let them speak to themselves, but you're right, Marshall did seem pretty troubled"