Vigilante PAW

Chapter Nine: Marshall vs. Adventure Bay- Part Two

"Former PAW Patrol member, Marshall, is Adventure Bay's thief!?"

Reading the newspaper that had spread like wildfire through the streets of Adventure Bay was a familiar blonde, who had a hard time believing what was right in front of her.

Marshall? A thief?

Katie shook her head. There was no possible way a pup as honest as Marshall was a thief. There had to be some other explanation for this. There just had to have been. She looked over at Cali, who had a copy of the newspaper of her own. The cat yowled as she ripped up the newspaper.

"You don't really believe it either, Cali?"

The blonde's feline companion only licked her paw as she walked away from the shredded paper. Cali knew the PAW Patrol. She knew every single member. And while the cat wasn't able to speak like those pups were, that didn't mean that there were no thoughts in her head at all. She had been saved by Marshall more times than she could count. The Dalmatian was a kind soul. A thief? Preposterous! She wouldn't stand for such meaningless slander.

Katie, seeming to have understood the thoughts of her pet, nodded, "Yeah... I want to know for myself if anything. I'll call Ryder."

She quickly did as she said she would, contacting her friend and waiting for him to pick up. Once he did, she heard that same greeting she had grown to like.

"Ryder here."

His voice didn't seem the same as usual. Usually whenever Ryder would answer with that same phrase, it would be with a controlled enthusiasm, ready for anything to come his way. As the boy answered her call, his voice sounded more dull, empty.

"Hey Ryder, It's Katie... I don't have an emergency, but I wanted to talk to you."

"Okay, what's up?"

"I... Heard the news about Marshall."

"You... What?"

"There's newspapers all over town saying that Marshall is a thief..." The young stylist sat down in a chair, "What happened?"

"Newspapers? But I only told the mayor, because she needs to know everything about the PAW Patrol."

"You do know that Goodway is a bit of a gossip, right?"

The young leader thought for a moment before nodding, "...Yeah, that makes sense."

"So...?" Katie asked expectantly.

"I don't know what you want me to say..." Ryder sighed, "Chase and I know what we saw."

"What did you see then?"

"I'll send it over."

Meanwhile, Marshall laid in his pup house, tossing and turning. He was tired. Extremely tired. But sleep never came. Every time he closed his eyes, relaxed for just a second, his eyes would shoot back open when remembering how the townsfolk treated him upon reading the news article. He wanted to read more of it, to see what was said in the paper, but Everest decided against leaving him with it. He was thankful that Everest wanted to shield him from what was going on around them, but it wasn't like he was already aware of what Adventure Bay thought of him.

He was already in the thick of it. What was she trying to protect him from?

The silent Dally rolled onto his back to look up at the ceiling. The fur on his face was still damp from the water splashed on him earlier. His eyelids lowered as he stared at the top of his pup house. Why were Rocky and Everest working so hard to prove his innocence? According to that video, to most of Adventure Bay, he was a thief. A criminal. They didn't have to suffer through this.