The Leader of the Cat Pack - Eliminated!

Part 2

The next day, Rory and Shade had gotten back from their mission. They were surprised to see Leo back so early. They were even more surprised that Wild was not with him.

"Where's Wild, Leo?" Rory pressed.

"I don't know," Leo lied.

"What do you mean you don't know? You were the last one with him," Shade narrowed her eyes.

"Uhhh....okay, fine. He's on a secret mission," Leo said finally.

"A secret mission? You expect us to believe..."

"Why did he tell only you and not us?" Rory interjected, eager to know details.

"I'm his best friend. He gave me this as a token of our friendship," Leo said as he shakily presented a small silver key on a chain.

"Huh." Rory was impressed. However, Shade didn't seem as convinced. "I still think there's more to this 'secret mission' than you're letting on," she stated skeptically.

Leo's eyes darted nervously between his friends. "I'm telling the truth," he insisted, hoping they would believe him. "This was supposed to be a dangerous solo and he didn't want to worry you guys." Leo's voice wavered as he spoke.

"Okay." Shade still wasn't convinced, but Rory seemed to be buying Leo's explanation.

"What should we do now?" Leo asked, trying to keep their mind off of Wild.

"Let's visit the PAW Patrol!" Rory suggested excitedly.

"Ooh, great idea, Rory," Shade agreed.

"Uh, maybe they're on a rescue mission right now," Leo added, hoping to steer the conversation away from their suspicions. "We can always check later."

"Nope. We're going to the Lookout Tower right now," Rory declared, already heading in that direction. 

"Fine, but I still don't trust Leo," Shade muttered under her breath as she hopped into her vehicle.

"Oh, no," Leo groaned. "I've got to think of something fast..."

"What's that, Leo?" Shade asked.

"Just so you two know, I'm the temporary leader now," Leo blurted, trying to divert attention.

"Excuse me? Who made you leader over us? Wild's the leader," Rory pointed out.

"Yeah, but he said I could be temporary leader while he's on this secret mission," Leo lied.

Rory and Shade exchanged confused glances before nodding in agreement. "Alright, lead the way then," Shade said, giving Leo a skeptical look.

At the Lookout, the pups and Ryder greeted them. "Where's Wild?" Chase asked, noticing his buddy wasn't among them. 

Leo hesitated for a moment before replying, "He's...uh...taking care of something important."

The pups exchanged worried glances, sensing that something was off.

"Yeah, he's on a secret mission. Isn't that right, Leo?" Shade asked, shooting him a knocking glance.

Leo grinned sheepishly. "Oh yeah, top secret stuff. Can't really talk about it."

"Gee, I hope he's okay," Skye said softly.

"Yeah, that dude is the leader of the Cat Pack!" Rubble exclaimed.

"Wait," Marshall held up a paw. "Who's the leader for now?"

"I am," Leo declared confidently. "But Wild will return soon, so there's no need to worry."

The pups sighed with relief.

I don't think that there's a lot of hope for that, Leo thought.

"So let's play on the trampoline first!" Zuma suggested enthusiastically. "Yeah, that sounds like a great idea," Rocky agreed.

"No, let's play volleyball!" Chase insisted.

"No, I want to have a Pup Pup Boogie challenge!" Skye suggested with a grin.

"Let's do all three of those things!" Rocky said decidedly. 

"But I wanted to watch the new Apollo the Super Pup movie," Rubble whined.

"We can do that after we play some games," Marshall suggested.

The three remaining Cat Pack members looked at one another with uncertainty. "So many options," Shade mused.

"I just don't want to sit still and do nothing," Rory added. "Let's just do something!"

Just then, Leo's cat tag beeped. "I'm just gonna ignore that," he laughed sheepishly.

"Uh, Leo, aren't you going to answer that?" Chase tilted his head.

Leo nodded, "Yeah, but not right now. It's not important."

The real reason Leo disregarded his cat tag was because he knew Wild had somehow escaped from the locked closet and contacted him.

What should I do now? Oh no, this is a disaster, Leo thought, feeling a sudden wave of panic.