Vigilante PAW

Chapter Twenty-Eight: Forest Fury

The sun had long since gone down over the horizon when Marshall was finished treating Axel, the pup they found trapped under a fallen tree that day. Proud of himself and ready to finally go to sleep after such a long day, the scarved Dalmatian cautiously shifted through the valley and toward the gate he had entered through hours prior. He hoped with every fiber of his being that he wouldn't be seen. The dogs of this little village seemed to be a lot more hostile toward him and his friends.

As he walked, his mind kept going back to various instances where life on the wild proved to be more difficult than his own. Yes, back when he was still a part of the PAW Patrol, he'd have to drop whatever he was doing to rescue somebody, but at least when he was done he had a nice soft bed to lay down on. When he was done being a hero to the people of Adventure Bay, he would have a nice bowl of food to eat alongside his best friends in the whole world.

Does that really make him a hero, though?

He had everything a pup could ever want while living with the PAW Patrol. Food, toys, friends, nonstop adventures. There wasn't ever something the Dalmatian really needed for his survival. Everything was just right there for him to indulge in. After a mission, he would be fed treats and was allowed to go back to playing. That was the everyday life of being a member of the team.

But here, living in the valley, it seemed that the only thing the dogs had were eachother. They had places to go back to at the end of the day to rest their heads, sure, but food? It seemed like there was never enough. Everyday life for the Canine Valley was littered with hunger, stress, and a constant feeling of gloom over it once the sun went down. After all, the moment the sun went down, they had mostly the moon above to illuminate their surroundings. Was that why they hurried to go inside once the sun finished setting?

It put things into perspective for Marshall. Hood had been stealing from Adventure Bay, simply because they had the luxury to be stolen from. It had nothing to do with being malicious or intentionally framing Marshall, he was just doing what he felt was right.

He was just making sure that... Everything is fair and right for everyone.

The Dally breathed out, his eyes widening. It had been so long since he had been with the PAW Patrol, yet one of the last things Chase taught him about being a hero seemed to echo in his mind again and again.

Fair and right for everyone.

He allowed his eyes to roam around as he walked through the silent village of hounds. The shabby buildings made from wood, the ever so faint growls of either empty stomachs or from the wild animals outside the unfinished wall surrounding the valley, as well as the pained moans from inside the Medical Bay behind him.

This didn't seem fair. It didn't seem right. Hood was making sure that everything here was fair and right for those he lived with. For his home. His own Adventure Bay. Would that make him more of a hero than he was? But, as Chase told him before, those that steal and cheat are bad.

Marshall's eyebrows furrowed. If stealing is bad, then why does it feel wrong to say that Hood can't? Stealing was bad. It had always been bad. But this particular instance felt odd to him. If there are good guys and bad guys in this world, then what would that make Hood?

He was a thief.

He was a savior to those more unfortunate than Adventure Bay's citizens.

Stealing is wrong, but isn't giving to the poor right? Do they somehow cancel one another out? Marshall's brain seemed to dart from one extreme to the other, trying its best to rationalize everything he had seen and been told. It didn't make sense to him. He couldn't fathom this concept. He wanted to understand. He needed to understand, but this felt new. This experience felt new to him.