Raising a Wolf | A Paw Patrol Story

Chapter 17: Epilogue

It was close to sunset, and everyone who remotely loved and cared for Skye was at the lookout. Except Snowball and Everest. Skye had multiple surgeries and physiotherapy sessions. Now, it was time to see if she regained her ability to walk or not. "Are you ready Skye?" Corral asked. "I don't know, cuz. I was hoping Snowball will come." Skye said looking down in sadness. "Don't worry Skye. They will come soon." Ella said. "I hope you are right." Skye said. "He is your son Skye. There is no way he will miss this." Marshall said, putting his paw on her shoulder. Soon the whole team was around her, including the Cat Pack, Sweetie and so on. They gave her emotional support as they were waiting for Ryder to come with Katie. They arrived after a few moments and the time has come to see if all the struggle was worth it.

The group of pups and cats gave them some space while in the meantime, Rocky and Ryder begin to detach her from the wheelchair. It was a fast process and Katie was holding her as Ryder put the wheelchair away. "Okay, Skye. Are you ready?" The girl asked. Skye looked around and saw her friends smile, radiating positive energy towards her. Chase stepped right next to her and nodded. Skye looked in his eye, since the other one that was missing was covered, and smiled. So she nodded, and Katie let her go. Skye's back legs were trembling from the weight they were not used to anymore. Chase, Ryder and Katie were ready to catch her in case of her falling. "No, it's okay! I can do this." She yelled as she forced herself to stay stable. Her trembling stopped and she stood stable. The team cheered as they saw this and Skye was happy herself. "Do you think you can try walking around?" Chase asked, still staying by her side. Skye nodded and took a step forward and looked back to see if her leg would listen to her. She tried moving her hind legs and even if only slowly but she was able to move them, and also walking around. The happiness was off the charts. Everyone surrounded her and hugged her as she sat down. They happiness of the group could be heard from a far as everyone was howling in joy.

The pups took a few steps back to let her breathe, and as she looked around, her eyes stopped on Snowball and Everest, who saw everything. "Snowball..." Skye let out as she stood back up and made her way slowly towards the wolf. Snowball was not about to let her walk toward her like that, so he ran up to her and hugged her, and she returned it. "You have no idea how much I missed you." Skye said. "I know. But I had no courage to face you after what I did. I'm sorry, mom." He responded as he started crying. The group just looked at the scene as their opinion on the wolf after the incident started shifting. "It's okay honey. I'm not mad at you." She said as she let him go. The wolf laid down to be on eye level with the small pup and Skye whipped his tears from his eyes. Just then, she noticed the blood on his fur, and Snowball noticed that. "Don't worry. I'm fine. This is the result of my revenge." He said. "Wait. You killed the bear?" Ryder asked. Snowball nodded. "Everest helped me. If she was not there. I would have died." He said. Skye turned towards the husky and just said thank you to her. Everest just nodded and said that they saved each other as Snowball was the one who saved her initially. Marshall walked up to her and gave her a big hug. "Glad you are okay, Everest." Marshall said. "So am I." She responded. Skye turned back to her son, who was about to cry again. "Don't cry, sweetie. I'm not mad at you." Skye said. "I can't forgive myself." He said, looking down. Skye put her forehead on his and whispered: "You will eventually. Give it some time." Snowball looked at her and saw Chase in the background. Skye turned around, then let Snowball go talk to him.

Snowball walked up to Chase and looked him into his eye. The atmosphere shifted from wholesome to a heavy, uncomfortable one. Nobody knew what to expect. The two stared at each other for a few moments, then to everyone's surprise Snowball laid down in front of Chase in an act of submission, recognizing his authority over him. "He recognized Chase as his superior." Rocky whispered into Tuck's ear. "I know. It's shocking." He responded. Chase stood there looking down on the wolf until he spoke up. "Get up. There is no need for you to submit to me." Snowball sat up and looked at him. "You bit the crap out of me..." Chase begin. "And I apologize. There is no excuse for what I did. I hope you can forgive me." Snowball cut him off, closing his eyes in shame. "Look at me, Snowball." Chase said. Snowball opened his eyes and looked at the shepherd, and he was surprised to see Chase had removed the cover from his eye, revealing that his fake eye was the same color as one of Snowball's, that being red. "I hope you can see that I did forgive you." Chase chuckled. "I can't believe this." Snowball said. "Listen, son. I always loved you. But I only recently realized that I failed to express this love. I should be the one to apologize. So I'm gonna do it. Sorry for not showing love towards you for so long." Chase said. Snowball didn't say anything. Instead, he hugged him, and Chase hugged back. The group smiled, and the two in response invited everyone to join, and they did. For the first time in a while, the Paw Patrol was reunited.

The hug ended after a few moments as Chase wanted to ask a question. "So what do you say? Do you want to take my place as the 2nd in command?" He asked. Snowball's look of joy turned into a look af sadness. "Sorry, but no." This shocked everyone. "Why?" Ryder asked. "It's not your fault guys. It's about me. I don't belong here." He explained. "But Snowball..." Skye said in distress. "That is not all." He cut her off. "I'll have to take care of something else. Something that will take a lot of my time away." He finished. This was so vague that only one pup understood what he was talking about. "What's her name?" Chase asked. Snowball smiled and said: "Zoey. And we expect puppies." Skye was shocked. "That's my boy!" Chase said proudly. "Tell me everything." Skye said as she came back to her senses. "She will introduce herself soon. I'm teaching her English. But she is pretty and kind." He said. "Aww..." The pups let out. "So this means we have to let you go, right?" Skye asked. "I know it's hard, but I can't live here anymore." He said. "It's okay, Snowball. We understand. And we are happy for you. Just promise us you come to visit us often." Ryder said and the pups nodded in agreement. "I will." He said. The pups and now Ryder hugged one more time, and the wolf said his goodbyes one by one and left the group. The wolf ran through the town, greeting everyone he met while Chase and Skye looked from the lookout as the wolf reached the forest. Marshall and Everest walked right next to them and looked on as the wolf disappeared into the distance. "Thank you, Everest." Skye said. "Yes, thanks for raising him." Chase said. "You did the big part of the work. I just finished the job." Everest smiled. "Now it's our time to give this a try." Marshall said. The group giggled in response.

As Snowball was about to enter the forest, he turned around to take one more look at the town and the lookout in the distance. "Thanks for everything. See you soon." He said they he turned around once again as a female white wolf was waiting for him. Snowball smiled and entered the forest so his new life could begin.

The End!