AN: Not gonna talk much. Please read on

Disclaimer: I don't own Paw Patrol

Everest Gone Missing

By HavocHound

Act 2 Part 8: The Riverborn Wolves Part 2

There had been times when Zuma knew he was seriously screwed. That time he broke Rocky's invention for the young genius competition. The time he was sleep walking and peed on Skye's house. And the time he accidently walked into the girls changing room in a gym when he got lost finding the boys room. Each event had Zuma get that feeling that fate was telling him he messed up big time and was going to pay the price. Seeing a bunch of angry and glaring wolves who were ready to tear him limb from limb made Zuma wonder if he should be reciting prayers or cursing out loud about his bad luck.

"I don't know what you are doing on our territory, dog," said the leader of the group. He looked like an older version of the puppy wolf he saved except for the fact he had brown markings on his forehead. "But I do not take someone threating my son lightly."

Before Zuma could defend himself, the little pup he rescued rushed out of his mother's embrace and dashed forward. He sat between Zuma and his father, who looked confused, before the little pup raise his paws. "Dad! Wait! He did not do anything to me! He saved my life!"

This made the wolves look at each other and whisper as the leader raised his eyebrows in surprise. "Is this true, Aegen?"

"Y-yes," Aegen said, pawing the ground while lowing her head in shame. "I…I saw this dog and his group, and I decided to spy on them. Thinking I could find out what they were doing…"

So, we were being spied on! Huh, never noticed the little dude, Zuma thought.

"But then I fell from my hiding spot and fell into the Blue Serpent River!" Aegen said, which got his mother to stomp over and lightly knocking him on the head with her paw. "Ow!"

"Aegen! We have told you over a hundred times not to go near the river! You are not strong enough to face the rapids, and you fell in?! You could have died!" Aegen's mother shouted both with worry and anger. It reminded Zuma a lot of Ryder whenever he was angry at the pups for doing something reckless. Yet, the look in her eyes was enough to make Zuma see that she was so relieved that her boy was still here.

"I know! I'm sorry! I just wanted to prove myself!" Aegen whined, sniffing as he looked down in shame. Then he looked at Zuma and gave a small smile. "But this dog, Zuma, saved me! He swam just as good as any of us! He even handled the rapids like it was nothing!"

Aegen's father walked forward and looked at Zuma straight in the eye as the chocolate lab gulped. "Dog...Is this true?"

"Y-Yeah," Zuma answered.

To his surprise, the wolf closed his eyes and bowed as did the others who followed their leader. "Then I owe you a great debt for saving my foolish son."

"Dad," Aegen whined but his mother's glare shut him up.

"It's okay, dude," Zuma said, rubbing the back of his head. "That's kind my thing. I am a rescue pup. I save others like your son."

"A noble goal," Aegen's father said, nodding with a smile. "And to survive swimming in the Blue Serpent River? You must be a particularly good swimmer."

Zuma couldn't help but puff his chest up a bit. "Well, I don't like to brag, but I'm the best swimmer where I come from. Say, you guys must be the Riverborn Pack?"

"We are," Aegen's father said, nodding. "I am Tylus, leader of the pack. This is my mate, Shora. You've met my youngest, Aegen."

"We thank you again for saving him. And apologize for his actions," Shora said, bowing her head.

"Hey, no big deal," Zuma said as Aegen rushed over to him with a wagging tail. "You'd be surprised how often I have to save troublemakers."

"What's this thing you have over your fur? Is it a shell?" Aegen asked, checking Zuma out. "How did you learn to swim so fast while being so young? What is that thing on your neck? Is that one of those collar things I hear dogs like to wear?"

"Woah, little dude," Zuma said, chuckling. "One question at a time."

"What does…'dude' mean?" Aegen asked, tilting his head.

"Oh, it means friend or buddy. You say that to people you like or know," Zuma answered.

"Oh, sounds neat, uh, dude!" Aegen said, wagging his tail.

"As amusing at this is," Tylus said, interrupting them. "I would like to know why you are in our territory. Or in Wintergreen at all."

Sighing, Zuma answered, "It's a long story, but right now my team and I are making a bridge to cross the river. We're trying to find the Icebane Pack in the mountains."

"Clan Icebane?" Tylus asked in surprise. "I know that they are more friendly with dogs considering their past, but how are you related to them?"

"One of our friends, Everest, she's part of the pack. It's a long story, but my human, Ryder, he can give you the details," Zuma said, hoping that this pack of wolves would be nicer than the previous ones.

Tylus looked deep in thought before turning to some of his wolves. "Half of you head back and let the others know what's going on. Tell them not to approach us unless we return, or something happens. We'll go talk with the dogs and humans."

Half of them bowed and left, some of them glancing at Zuma with mixed reactions of curiosity or distrust. Once Tylus was sure of his remaining wolves, he turned to Zuma and said, "Lead the way, Zuma."

"Sure, just let me inform Ryder that we're coming," Zuma said as he activated his pup tag. The wolves leaned back in shock upon seeing the tag lit up but leaned forward with curiosity. Aegen was ecstatic as he just stared at the glowing orange tag like it was magic.

"Zuma to Ryder. Come in?"

"Hey, Zuma. I was just about to call you," Ryder said on the other end. "Chase just arrived a few minutes ago. Where are you?"

"Woah, a voice is coming out of it!" Aegen said with awe.

"Fascinating," Shora said with a tilted head.

"Well, I'm alright, but, uhm, I met some new friends," Zuma said as he started to explain everything.

Ryder was very worried when he first heard Zuma saying he met with the Riverborn wolves, but upon hearing him say they weren't going to harm them and wanted to just talk, he relaxed a little more. He had everyone stop what they were doing and prepare to greet their guests which didn't take long. Twenty minutes after ending the call, he saw Zuma coming towards them with around eight wolves by his side; one of them being a pup even younger then Rubble.

The wolves were in awe at the giant vehicles that his pups were using earlier including the Paw Patroller. The littlest one kept asking Zuma questions who answered with a smile. The one leading them, who seemed to be the Alpha, walked over, and stood as tall as he could. "I am Tylus. Head Alpha of the Riverborn Wolf Clan. This is my mate, Shora, and my youngest son Aegen."

"My name is Ryder," He said introducing himself as he stepped forward. "I'm the leader of the Paw Patrol. The pups that you see before you are Chase, Marshall, Skye, Rocky, Rubble, and you already met Zuma."

"You claim to be the leader, but this human is older than you," Tylus pointed out, nodding to Jake.

"I might be older, but Ryder's the real leader here," Jake said, pointing to Ryder. "I'm just a friend."

"I see," Tylus answered before turning back to Ryder. "Normally, we don't like intruders on our land, but considering your dog, Zuma, saved my son's life I should hear you out before deeming you a threat or not."

"We haven't come here to cause any harm," Ryder said, raising his hands. "We're just looking to cross the river and be on our way. We are not here to harm you or your territory. I promise."

"I see," Tylus paced around a bit. "You will forgive me for being cautious. Humans and wolves do not get along well."

"Yeah, we've kinda noticed," Marshall said, sighing. "But we don't want to cause trouble. We're looking for our friend, Everest."

"Right, the half-breed heir," Tylus said, rubbing his chin. "I have personally never met her, but I have heard of her. I assumed for years she was dead after the Bloodmoon Star's attack on their home, but months ago we learned she was now helping her father lead pack Icebane."

"Alpha! Come take a look at this!"

Everyone turned their attention to one of the wolves who was standing on the starting point of their bridge. He touched the wood in awe as he looked down upon the water. "How is it that this…construction hasn't collapsed by the might of the river?!"

"It's a bridge," Rocky said, before getting all the wolves eyes on him. Nervously, he shuffled his paws before calmly answering, "It is a method that which you can use to cross over rivers, lakes, canyons, gaps, and more. They can be made from wood, rocks, steel, or other methods. Some are so long they can go for miles."

"And this…bridge is what you are building to cross the river?" Shora asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes, I hope this isn't a problem," Ryder said.

"No, in fact…this may benefit us as well," Tylus said, rubbing his chin more. "Is there a place where we can talk privately?"

"Sure, we can talk in the Paw Patroller," Ryder said, motioning the wolves, Jake and Chase to follow him. Upon reaching the door, it opened and Robodog, with a chef's hat, barked while showing a tray of fresh baked cinnamon and oatmeal cookies.

"By the ancestor's! What is that?!" One of the wolves shouted in fear.

"Its fur is so shiny! Its eyes are unnatural?! Is it a spirit?!" Another cried out.

"No, that's just Robodog!" Rubble said with a chuckle. "Ryder made him."

"You…can make a machine version…of a living creature?" Shora asked in both fear and awe.

"Well, kinda. Don't worry, Robodog's harmless. In fact, he made cookies," Ryder said as he took a cookie, patted Robodog, and ate it. "Everyone's free to have one."

The pups and Jake were quick to take one, but the wolves were hesitant at first. However, the warm smell won them over and one by one they had one in their mouths. Their tunes changed in an instant as they began smiling and moaning at the strange and delicious taste.

"Oh, these are good," One wolf moaned, rubbing his stomach.

"This is better than fresh deer!" Another shouted.

"You get to eat this all the time?!" Aegen asked as he licked his lips.

"Not all the time. You'd get too fat if you eat cookies every day," Zuma said, smiling. "Just once and awhile is good or you end up getting pudgy like Rubble."

"Hey!" Rubble pouted as the other pups giggled.

"What creature did you kill to make such a thing?" Tylus asked licking the crumbs off his maw.

"Nothing. It's made with a few ingredients," Ryder said, taking another one. "Not all food is killed or grown. Sometimes we mix and process stuff together by cooking to get new foods."

"And I was told human food was disgusting," One wolf said, licking his chops. "I'd like them to take a bite out of these sweet things."

"Y-yes, well," Tylus said, coughing into his paw. "We thank you for the treat. As well as you…metal dog spirit."

"Arf! Arf!" Robotdog said with a happy tone.

"Um, he's not a sp-" Chase was but off by Skye who shook her head.

"Let them call him that. Might be less confusing that way."

After getting inside the Paw Patroller, and helping themselves to some more cookies, Ryder and Tylus sat down with Chase and Jake on the former side while Tylus had his mate, Aegen, and two Beta guards beside him. Things were quiet for a bit until Tylus cleared his throat and asked, "This bridge. What do you intend to do with it when you complete it?"

"Honestly, we were just going to leave it there," Ryder answered. "Is that a problem?"

"No, honestly, we would be grateful if you didn't remove it," Tylus said with a heavy sigh. "My kind has traveled across the river both as a rite of passage, but also as means to continue migrating around our territory. The river is important to us. It gives us life, protection, and is where we sent our dead to rest. However, something has caused the river to be…more violent than usual."

"Like what?" Chase asked, tilting his head. "It doesn't look different from any other river."

"Perhaps to you, who come from the homes of bricks and steel, this river looks normal, but for us Riverborn, who were born near it, blessed by it, we feel that something has caused it to act violently," Tylus said, shaking his head. "Our shamans have tried communicating with our ancestors to see what is wrong, but their visions are shaky."

Chase was tempted to roll his eyes as the superstitious nonsense but decided to hold back. This was the first pack of wolves who were being civil with them and he did not want to mess that up.

"At first, we thought it was the humans again," Tylus admitted, staring at Jake and Ryder with a bit of a narrow glare. "Your kind seems to love putting their trash in places where it doesn't belong." Ryder and Jake, shamefully, could not disagree with that statement. Even though both were all for saving the environment there were still other humans who did not feel that way.

"However, one of our shamans believe something else is causing it," Tylus sighed, shaking his head. "What do you know of the Bloodmoon Star clan?"

Everyone on Chase's side narrowed their eyes upon hearing that name. "They attacked our town. Killed innocent people. They have tried to kill us too. Trust me, we're not friends with them."

"I'd be very surprise if you were," Tylus said, shaking his head. "For the past few years, Bloodmoon has been forcing other clans to join their clan or die. Entire packs have either been destroyed to the very last pup or were forced to submit to their rule and give up their traditions and names for new ones."

"The large amount of death they have spread, both to wolves and humans, has been felt by nature itself," Shora said, looking down. "Despite our feelings for each other, humans are part of nature too. As much as they hurt it or abuse it, they are part of it."

"Bloodstar Moon seeks to erase all humans from Sirus Island in order to create a wolf only island. One that he believes will preserve nature, but at the cost of so much death that it would cause a disaster instead," Tylus said.

"How?" Jake asked, scratching his head.

"All living beings have a spirit in them. I do not know where humans or dogs go upon death, but when a wolf dies, they go the spirit ream to join the ancestors in peace. However, wolves who are violently killed or cannot accept their deaths, continue to roam and haunt the living world. Causing disruption and chaos for their spirits cannot find peace."

Now Chase was really holding it back. It was not that Chase didn't believe in things like the afterlife or even magic, he had seen the latter in the past, but the idea that ghosts were causing a river to go haywire was going too far. "Do you have any other proof?" Chase asked, trying not to sound in disbelief too much.

"There is little game to hunt anymore. The animals are deathly quiet. Strange sounds, unnatural and otherworldly, can be heard at night," Shora replied, shivering. "Perhaps it's just because we know this forest better then you but trust us when we say that the loss of life is causing disruption in nature."

"Well, besides all that, what can you tell us why Bloodmoon Star is doing all this?" Ryder asked, seriously. "What could cause a pack of wolves to suddenly declare war on the entire island and go on a mass killing spree?"

"If you were to hear Balfour, their Head Alpha, go on about his reasoning it would be about making the world a better place for wolves and to save nature from the sins of humanity and dogs," Tylus said, rolling his eyes. "However, I knew Balfour long before he did this. While he was always a wolf who distrusted non-wolves, he still had reason in his mind. That sadly all ended when his mate was killed by a human. This is just revenge for a wolf who lost the love of his life. Nothing more and nothing less."

Figures, Chase thought, snorting. There is always a selfish reason for a villain.

"Well, we have a saying where we come from," Ryder said, holding his hand out. "The enemy of my enemy is my friend. Since neither of us are friends with Bloodstar Moon, and the bridge benefits us both, I propose we work together to see that we can both cross safely."

Tylus looked at the hand in deep thought before Aegen touched his father's paw and smiled at him brightly. A small smile decorated Tylus' muzzle before he took the hand and shook it. "Very well, I agree to this alliance."

"Great, now that the boring grown up talk is over can we have more cookies?!" Aegen asked, eagerly as everyone laughed at the young pup's excitement.