Marshall was a tense dog throughout the rescue. His instructions are short and there was a bite in his words.

The others had put it down on the stress of handling such a big fire, but the truth is that the feeling of doom had intensified and it was driving Marshall crazy. No matter how much he told himself that everything will be fine, he still couldn't shake off the feeling that one of them won't be coming back alive.

Marshall was shaken off from his thoughts by a call from Skye.

"Ryder, Marshall, there's a climber stuck in a clearing, and the fire's heading that way!" the cockapoo reported from her fire copter.

"Roger that, Skye! I'm sending in Marshall to get him out," Ryder replied. "In the meantime, stay away from the smoke and continue scouting, okay?"

"Okay, Ryder. But be quick, the fire's coming in fast!"

As the call from Skye ended, Ryder turned to the jittery dalmatian beside him. "Marshall, go get that climber out. I'll take it from here."

Marshall barked out in agreement and went towards the direction of the clearing, where he found the climber pacing among the trees.

"Hello, sir. I'm Marshall of the Paw Patrol, and I'm here to lead you out of this forest," the dalmatian announced from his position.

"Oh, thank goodness. I was worried I'll get burned with this forest," the climber said in relief. "By the way, the name's Robert. Have you found my best friend, Vincent?"

"No," Marshall replied. "But don't worry, we'll find him. Just focus on getting out of this fire."

"Okay, but how do we get out?" Robert asked him.

"Just drop down on the floor and follow me."

On their way back to the entrance, Marshall had contacted Ryder about the other climber, and he was assured that they would find him. However, when they were already near the truck, Marshall heard a scream from the fire.

"Vincent!" Robert shouted and ran towards the direction of the scream.

"No! Robert, come back!" Marshall shouted after him. When he received no response, he irritably snarled and contacted Ryder once again.

"Ryder? Marshall here."

"Marshall?" Ryder's face appeared on a holographic screen. "What's wrong?"

"We heard a scream from the fire and Robert ran towards it, thinking it was his best friend," he reported. "I'm on my way to follow him."

"I'll send Chase to help you," the brunette said. "You need all the help that you can get."

"Alright," Marshall conceded before ending the call.

The large german shepherd arrived moments after the call ended, and Marshall guided him towards the direction where Robert ran.

They found the two climbers near a fallen branch, dropped down on the floor.

"Robert! Vincent! Are you both okay?" the dalmatian called as he rushed over to them.

"I'm fine, but Vincent here is injured," Robert said as Vincent winced in pain.

Marshall looked at the injury and saw that Vincent's leg was badly burned.

"I won't be able to treat him here. The smoke's too thick. We need to get you both out of here as fast as possible," the dally said worriedly. "Chase, can you find us the quickest way out?"

"Sure can." Chase sniffed the ground and pointed at the direction where he could smell the closest fresh air. "This way!"

The two dogs led the climbers out of the forest as fast as they could. They were almost near Ryder when...

"Look out!" Marshall shouted as a large branch started creaking above them.

They all tried to speed up, but the burning branch fell on them as soon as the dalmatian stopped speaking.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

As much as Ryder wanted to believe his own words, there was a lingering thought on the back of his mind that maybe, Marshall was right.

And he was. Ryder watched in horror as the large branch fell onto the climber and two of his precious pups. The 14-year-old brunette screamed and dropped the hose he was holding as he rushed towards them.

His breath hitched when he saw Chase and the climbers struggling to get the branch off them. As he commanded Rubble to use the claw in the fire truck to help them, he couldn't help but feel dread creeping up from his stomach.

Where was Marshall?

Finally, the branch was lifted and Chase and the climbers crawled away.

"Are you all alright?" Ryder asked the three to which they all shook their heads yes.

"We're fine, though I don't think I can walk anymore," Vincent winced as he tried to move his leg.

"Marshall can fix that," Chase said before looking around. "Speaking of Marshall, where is he? He was just right behind us."

"Um, guys?" Rubble squeaked. "You might want to see this."

The english bulldog hadn't moved from his position by the fallen branch when Ryder and Chase got to him.

"What's up, Rubble?" Ryder asked.

"More like what's down Ryder," Rubble whimpered, tears gathering in his eyes.

Ryder wished he hadn't looked down. Because on the ground was the broken and burned body of his beloved dalmatian.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

And Marshall dies first. The randomizer was a blessing in disguise because I need to have him die before Chase does. Mostly because he's the medic pup.

Anyway, sorry for the long wait. I simply didn't have the motivation to write in the past few days.

Perhaps I can explain the reason why I thought of making 55 chapters at maximum. I intend to give focus to every member of the Paw Patrol gang, including Jake and Carlos.