"Who would've thought th a life could get so much better in the matter of . . . less than a day, Busby?" Sweetie exclaimed to herself with a prideful grin.
She held her necklace with her paw gently, as if she was holding a newborn baby's hand. The necklace may have been vintage, but that didn't make it any less better. It was valuable like a gem.
At the moment, she was hiding in the outskirts of town at a lake. The Terrier was uncomfortably squeezing in between a couple of wild bushes and shrubs near the dock. Mobs of dragonflies and mosquitoes buzzed around her, causing her to constantly swat them away with a free paw.
Sweetie was not used to bugs or uncomfortable places, considering she spent most of her life in Barkingburg's grand castle. She'd much rather be somewhere else, but for now, she figured that everyone was searching for her. By now, they would've figured out that the necklace has been stolen. Heck, by now, the Princess was probably looking for her pet.
Going back to town would be too risky for her liking, so for now, she'd have to stay until she was ready to face everyone.
Meanwhile, the PAW Patrol were searching the outskirts of town from top to bottom, left to right. The entire crew would much rather be in Barkingburg, enjoying the last bits of their vacation, but duty called. Ryder instructed Chase to send his drone over the sky to find possible clues of where Sweetie could've been that Skye could not see from her helicopter. Everyone else, in contrast, was directed to many locations in pairs of two—or even individually—to contribute to the search.
Marshall and Everest paired together, walking through a barely visible path in the woods that led to the area across the farm. Sunlight from above peeked into the trees to light the way. Dirt stuck to their paws as they walked through the woods as bugs buzzed past them. Neither of them didn't see why Sweetie would want to hide there. It was dirty and mucky, but it was worth looking.
"I just want to get back to Barkingburg," Everest said as they walked. "It's too bad that we couldn't finish our walk from earlier."
Marshall nodded in agreement as he bowed his head, flashing a flashlight through the bushes in case someone was hiding in them. There wasn't anyone there—or anywhere, in fact—besides squirrels and other wild animals.
He began to think about his encounter with Sweetie last night. The puzzle pieces were beginning to attach to each other nicely. Sweetie did say that she was going somewhere. She also insisted that money and riches can solve problems, which is probably why Mayor Goodway's necklace was stolen. Everything was beginning to make sense clearly.
Marshall could've told Ryder what he knew about Sweetie going off to town, but there was no point now. They already had enough information to know where the Terrier was—and to their wishes—still is.
To their luck, their pup tags rang.
"Pups, Chase's drone found Sweetie," Ryder said as he leapt onto his ATV to follow Chase. "She's at the lake, so meet we're going back to town hall to return the necklace. Meet us there."
"It was about time," Marshall muttered as he made a full turn to the opposite direction with a gesture. "Let's get out of here."
"Finally," Everest remarked. "I'll race you to our vehicles."
Marshall was up to the challenge, so he ran like he was on fire. They weren't far into the woods, so it only took a couple of moments to get to their veichles, which where parked at the side of the road. Marshall kept getting ahead of Everest, and she did the same. It was nearly a tie, but Everest ended up winning.
"Better luck next time, Marshall," she smirked as she leapt into her snow plow.
The Dalmatian couldn't help but laugh as he hopped into his firetruck. The two made a journey to town hall, which didn't take long. Everyone reached there within a few minutes, only to see an aggravated Mayor Goodway crossing her arms as if someone ruined her precious tulips.
"Sweetie, you shouldn't have taken the necklace. Give it back," Ryder instructed as he held out his hand.
The Terrier groaned as she rolled her eyes. She took it off and placed it on his hand with her backpack's built-in claw. She didn't want to accept defeat just yet. Sweetie still had her plan to stick to—and she wasn't going to give up already. Ryder, however, returned the necklace to Mayor Goodway, who was thankful for Ryder and the PAW Patrol. He turned to Sweetie after, his arms crossed.
"The Princess has been looking for you. What made you want to come all the way over here and cause all this ruckus?" He raised an eyebrow.
"It's a long story," Sweetie replied as she shook her head, dusting a leaf off her fur.
"Well, everyone get into the Air Patroller. We're going back to Barkingburg," Ryder placed a hand on his forehead.
Everyone gathered into the air craft, including Sweetie. She didn't want to be there, but there wasn't much of a choice at this point. If she ran away, they'd catch her. Even if they didn't, they'd find search and search until they'd find her.
There was nothing she could do about it, and it bothered her. The ride back to he kingdom was awkwardly long, even with stealth mode. Even though every on chatted among themselves, Sweetie remained silent. Her arms stayed crossed up until the end of the ride.
She sauntered to the castle slowly as Ryder escorted her there. The Terrier sucked her teeth quietly as soon as she saw the Princess. This was the last place she wanted to be at because of her.
"Sweetie, my precious pooch!" The Princess lifted Sweetie up from the ground to hug her. "I missed you dearly."
The Terrier rolled her eyes, but hugged back. The few hours of freedom she had was fun when it lasted, especially since she wouldn't be able to eat as many burgers as she wanted anymore. The thought made her stomach rumble. There was only one option of food to eat—pup food.
Ryder and the pups excused themselves from the castle to let the two talk privately. Based on the way the conversation was going, it was ideal.
"Sweetie, you naughty pup. Why did you go all the way to Adventure Bay during the night?" The Princess planted her hands on her hips, her eyebrows furrowed.
The Terrier was ready to spit it all out. She couldn't hide it in anymore, so she shrieked, "It's because of you . . . and everyone else in this kingdom. Everyone makes me feel so . . . unworthy."
The Princess bent down to pat Sweetie's head. "Sweetie, if you hadn't done so many bad things, like steal the crown, everyone wouldn't treat you like such. That doesn't mean that they all dislike you."
"You say that as if you're not included," Sweetie sneered as her nose wrinkled. "The reason why I stole all those wishes was not only because I favored them. It was also because of you, and how you treat me."
The Princess raised an eyebrow. Her ears couldn't believe what her pet was talking about. She didn't even know what she was talking about in the first place. It wasn't simple. It was far from simple and would take quite some thinking.
"Don't play dumb or anything," the Terrier shook her head to her owner's expression. "You put everyone above me—even if I'm your pet. You prefer Chase over me—actually, no, the entire PAW Patrol. Let's not forget the royal kitties."
She swept a paw to the spotless, marble ground. She could practically see her reflection in it if she looked hard enough. Sweetie saw herself, a broken expression laid on her face. Everything was falling apart before her own eyes.
The Princess, in comparison, did the same. Her heart sunk as her stomach began to churn. It was all making sense now. Everyone neglected her—and she was the main culprit behind it all. Her mind reflected back to the countless times where she did so—but she shook it all off. The thoughts were invading her brain, like a swarm of bees. Once they were there, they wouldn't go anytime soon. The same could be said about the current situation.
She began to envision how it would feel like to be Sweetie, being called someone's second favorite pup by her own owner. It gave her chills, the same one anyone would get on a chilly day. The feeling was new to her . . . but she didn't know the name of it. It was the feeling anyone could get when they understand a feeling of someone else.
Empathy was its name.
Princess opened her mouth, but no words came out. None that anyone could understand, anyway. "Sweetie . . . I . . . you—" she gurgled, like a baby attempting to mutter their first words.
"Get to the point," the Terrier tapped her foot against the ground impatiently. Sweetie was not in the mood to hear a long response of apologies that in her opinion, could've been fake.
"Sweetie, my precious pooch, I apologize . . ." The Princess dug her hands into her face before she looked into the Terrier's eyes. "I apologize for how I acted towards you. It was wrong of me and should've known better. I didn't know that it would all feel this bad."
"As if," Sweetie scoffed. "If you knew better, you'd do better." She was fed up with everything and prepared to make her departure from the castle. Nothing seemed real anymore. Everything seemed so . . . black and white. "Come along, Busby."
"Wait! Please don't leave," the Princess whisper-shouted as she waved a hand up in the air. "I'm truly sorry. It was all wrong of me and I didn't think about how it would feel on your end."
Sweetie had so many questions, but instead, she challenged, "It'll take a while for me to accept your apology, however, I'll only eventually accept it if you let me eat hamburgers for dinner for a month and give me new jewelry. Oh, and don't forget to throw in a new, shiny tiara. I'd prefer if it look kind of like your crown."
"I'll have all that arranged for you," the Princess patted the Terrier's, her fingers touching grains of dirt along the way. "I think you need a bath, Sweetie."
Sweetie nodded her head in agreement enthusiastically, but added, "I think I need a spa day."
"Alright, follow me," the Princess laughed as she gestured Sweetie to the stairwell.
***
The remaining days of the PAW Patrol's vacation to Barkingburg flew by quickly. The pups wanted to stay back in the kingdom for just a few days, but Ryder insisted that they had to go back home to be present for any missions. It made sense and none of the pups complained. They could always get free time when they weren't on missions.
Tracker went back home to the jungle, and Everest went back to Jake's Mountain. Marshall was immensely disappointed, but he kept reminding himself that they could always visit. The Lookout tower wasn't far from Jake's Chalet.
After unpacking all his belongings and souveneirs from the trip, Marshall was exhausted. Instead of joining the other pups, he laid down in his pup house, staring down at the ripe, tomato red color of his walls. They were unusually empty, even if there were plenty of pictures up there. All the pictures he had with Chase were gone and done with.
The day he ripped them all up, he thought it would be easy to stare at the walls without them, but in contrast, it was. The Dalmatian began to miss all the fun moments he shared with his former ex-best friend, but those days were over.
He sighed as he ripped a paper out from a notebook stored in the back of his pup house. He figured that he'd have to get his mind off of the Shepherd some way, so he began to think—or in this case, daydream about Everest. Spending an entire week with her was the highlight of his entire summer so far.
Marshall wanted to cherish it all, so he began to write on the loose piece of paper about her for safe-keeping. It sounded weird, but it would pass the time. It was kind of like an excerpt of a diary. Just like a diary or a personal journal, he'd keep it to himself. He made amends to himself to keep it safe from everyone else.
His pen glided gracefully across the paper as he wrote his thoughts. It was cheesy, but it made good use of the time, at least. It was like he was writing a letter to Everest, but he wasn't. Marshall was convinced that he wasn't a good writer, but that didn't matter. It wasn't like he was going to give Everest the note.
By the time he finished, Ryder called the group up to the mission control room for dinner. Marshall stuck the note into his pocket for safe-keeping since he was quite hungry. He figured that he'd store it somewhere safe later on.
As he rushed towards the Lookout tower, the unthinkable happened as he tripped over a dog toy. The note flew out of his pocket as he slipped over a toy bone without him noticing.
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Thank you so much for reading.
I wanted to let you all know that I finally ,ade an Instagram account for spoilers and all that jazz. My account is @sunshinefrombelow. Be there or be square. :)