Vigilante PAW

Chapter Forty: Back in Blood

"Marshall!"

"Marshall!!"

An eerily familiar voice called out to the Dalmatian, who was submerged in a bleak, nearly silent realm of unconsciousness. Where was he? What was going on? Various questions filled Marshall's mind as the various shouts from beyond the realm of his dreams began to draw him closer to the light, closer to waking once more.

"Wake up!" The voice shouted once more, "C'mon, we don't have much time!"

The out-of-body experience, or rather, the experience of being trapped within his body, caged in his mind, came to an end once he was able to feel his heavy eyelids begin to twitch. One by one, each and every ine of his senses began to return to his body. His ears were able to pick up the sound of screeching tires, as well as the sound of a running engine. His nose twitched, a heavy scent of dog fur filling his nostrils. Strangely enough, though, the scent of dog fur was not his own. He could feel his tongue shift around within his mouth. He cringed to himself, tasting the unfamiliar, but recognizable metallic flavor of blood. He could feel his limbs begin to shift, sliding across a cold surface as his eyelids slowly parted.

His sight, although blurry at first, allowed him to see how dim the area he had somehow ended up in was. Using his paws to rub his eyes, the Dalmatian opened them once more, a more clear image allowing itself to be seen. He looked around, greeted by the familiar sight of thin, metal bars in front of him. Once again, he had somehow found himself trapped in a dog cage, just like he had when he faced off against Humdinger.

Wait... Humdinger!

The former firefighter's eyes widened, a stray puzzle piece in his mind finally finding its place. One of the last things he remembered was confronting Humdinger on the part he played in Hood's initial arrival to Adventure Bay. After that, though? He wasn't too sure...

"You okay?" A voice asked from behind Marshall. It was that same voice from earlier. That strangely familiar voice that seemed to unsettle him more and more with each syllable uttered.

Turning around, the Dalmatian's eyes widened upon seeing who was waiting there for him.

From the moment Marshall decided to leave the lookout, he had gone through many different challenges. Finally tracking Hood down for the first time, leading to their fight in the alley. Asking himself if he could ever be the same again following everything that happened to him. Combating a natural disaster only because he made a promise to help those that needed it. While, of course, some challenges were harder to get through, there was always that one challenge in which he was completely helpless while trying to deal with it.

That challenge being fighting against Chase, the very pup that he found himself sitting in front of.

"Woah!!" Marshall immediately pushed himself back and away from the Shepherd pup in front of him, "How'd you find—oof!" The Dally quickly crashed into the back of the cage, the cage he soon realized they were both in.

Chase, his expression unreadable, let out a faint exhale through his nose, "I'm not gonna do anything to you. There's nothing I can do here..."

Marshall's brows furrowed with befuddlement, "...You're in here too? How?"

"You don't remember?" The police pup asked.

This earned a quick, yet hesitant, head shake from the Dalmatian in front of him, "Not a thing."

"I'll explain."

Hours Prior

It was almost completely dark as Chase slowly pulled up to the center of Foggy Bottom. Following his departure from the lookout, he arrived to the scene of the crash, where he was informed that Humdinger, who had long since left the crash site, had something to do with what happened on that road. After ensuring that everything else was alright, he decided to head down to Foggy Bottom in order to ask the mischievous mayor a few questions.