Vigilante PAW

Chapter Four: Ruff Ruff Day

Marshall walked along the sidewalk of Adventure Bay. The Dalmatian wore an ever so faint smile on his face. Ryder had instructed the firefighter pup to go to Mr. Porter's café to buy some fruit. Marshall, feeling guilty about not participating in the mission the previous day, was eager to accept this task and get it done. Besides, it felt really nice to finally take a walk after sleeping in his pup house the whole day to deal with his concussion.

Just as usual, the Dalmatian didn't seem to have a care in the world. After waking up that morning, he seemed to have completely forgotten about his woes with Everest. Once he actually thought about it, all he would have to do was apologize and everything would be okay again. He wasn't sure what happened after Rocky invited him to talk over some food, but whatever it was, it must've worked wonders! He felt much more calm about his reluctance to talk to Everest now.

Was he curious about what happened between Rocky's invite and waking up that morning? Of course he was. Too bad he never got a chance to ask the recycling pup after they got back from the mission involving City Hall. It was quite late when the rest of the team returned.

Outside of Mr. Porter's little restaurant was a small child, who was slowly painting the side of the building. Wearing a red shirt and baggy shorts was Mr. Porter's Grandson, Alex Porter. Marshall couldn't help but to smile a bit. Alex was a lot like him, in a way. Rambunctious, always willing to help out.

Too bad he wasn't old enough to be in most places without a supervisor. Marshall then thought for a moment. Maybe it was better for him to be supervised at all times. Whenever Alex was left alone, something was sure to go wrong. This never irritated him, though, as he knew the little boy always aspired to be like Ryder and the PAW Patrol. He just went a little overboard from time to time.

Who knew? Maybe when Alex got a bit older, maybe when he reached Ryder's current age, he could actually become a full-fledged member of the team. He wouldn't mind another human on the team. The more people and pups willing to do whatever they can to help others and their community, the better.

"Hey Alex!" The Dally greeted as he walked up, "How have you been?"

The little boy turned to look at Marshall, stars in his eyes, "Marshall! Hi! What are you doing—?"

"Alex, bucket!!"

Alex suddenly stopped moving to see that he was inches from stepping in the bucket he was using to contain the paint he was using to paint the outside of the building. The aspiring PAW Patrol member moved the bucket to the side, putting it down beside the wall.

He then ran to Marshall, getting down on his knees to give the Dally a tight hug. The firefighter pup gave the boy a lick on his cheek, eliciting a laugh from him.

Marshall had always had a special kinship with Alex. Both members of the Porter family he knew, actually. Alex and Mr. Porter both were pretty clumsy and accident prone. Just like he was. He always enjoyed doing his best to give Alex safety tips, while also assisting Mr. Porter whenever he needed someone to pick up the fruit he would usually drop.

"What are you doing here?" Alex asked, letting go of the pup.

"Just picking up some fruit for Ryder..." He gave him a smile, "What are you doing?"

The little boy smiled in embarrassment "...I kinda scraped up one of Grandpa's walls, so he's teaching me how to paint!"

The Dalmatian's kind smile grew slightly more crooked as Alex explained. Was giving a five to six year old paint the best idea? Well, it was Alex. He always did a bit more than the other children his age.

"Am I doing a good job?" The boy asked, gesturing to the wall he had previously scraped up. Marshall's fur stood on end at the sight. He didn't know how bad Alex had scraped Mr. Porter's Café, but, in the nicest way he could put it, maybe it would've been better to leave it scraped up.