Chapter 1: Bringing Out the Pain

Rocky stood in a field, alone, out of sight from any of the others. He wore a look that wasn't of a normal essence of the nature of himself. He looked depressed, upset and agitated. He stared at the rusted knife towards the left side of him, tears streaking down his grey fur. It took a mere few minute for him to decide what to do. He picked up the knife and held it up against his throat, ready to take his life.

-Some Hours Before-

"Zuma!" Rocky shouted as he and the others ran besides the lab, as he was being rolled away into one of the emergency rooms, "don't worry, you're going to be okay." Zuma, barely able to keep his eyes open, smiled weakly at the mix, and slowly shook his head.

"...no, I'm...not...Wocky..." He said, his words hardly understandable to the mix, who stared at Zuma with dread-filled eyes. He felt the warm liquid dripping down his cheeks, "..but it will...be fine, Wocky.."

Rocky shook his head, "No, it's not going to fine...not without you." Tears streaked down his fur as Zuma kept his smile on, never leaving eye contact with the mix
"...yes...it will," Zuma proclaimed, "because..we'll see each...other again."

Rocky stared at the pup, the tears unable to stop. They landed on the floor, and some sprinkled across the bed Zuma was lying in.

They approached a set of doors where the nurses pushing the bed told Rocky and the others to wait outside, until the operation was finished. Rocky denied, trying to force his way through, until Ryder had to drag him to the waiting room. Even in the room, Rocky wasn't himself, as he paced around in circles, muttering to himself, and worrying the others.

"What does he mean that 'it'll be fine?' How will it be fine without him?" Rocky whispered, keeping his pace. He made eye contact with no one, and his worry emerging ever more.

An hour or two before this incident, the pups were sent to do a mission to save a lonesome seal, which had gotten trapped in the river. The weather condition wasn't the greatest, as a matter of fact, it was horrendous. The wind was ferocious and the rain poured down in gallons, making it difficult to see anything at all!

When the team had arrived at the river, they could see nothing but blackness and the tiny particles of the tears of the sky falling past their faces. They heard nothing but the sounds of the crashing waves smacking against rocks and metal. It wasn't for a while until Rocky heard a faint squeal coming from some distance to their right.
"Ryder! To the right! I can hear something!" Rocky shouted as loudly as he could.

"Thanks, Rocky!" the leader yelled back, before driving to the right, with all the other members of the team following behind.

Zuma, being the only one who could traverse in the water, apart from Ryder, rode in the middle of the river, not too fast as he didn't want to hit anything with much velocity. Suddenly, a lightning bolt struck down, right in front of Zuma's vehicle, temporarily blinding the pup. He swerved quickly to his right, and hit a rock, where he, along with his hovercraft were flung forward, and landed on the muddy ground.

He hit the earth hard, and knew he was hurt, due to the great amount of pain in his upper chest. He saw the others rushing to his aid, and quickly stated, "I'm okay."
"You sure?" Ryder asked, kneeling beside the pup.

"Yeah, let's just focus on finding that seal," Zuma replied, wanting to complete the mission.

Ryder was glad that his pup was thinking on the safety of others, "Okay, quickly, climb on!"

Zuma jumped aboard the leader's ATV, and they sped off, the seals yapps of help growing louder and louder.

The lab stared frantically at the water, desperately searching for any trace of the troubled seal, until he eventually saw it, trapped between two large rocks.

"Wyder, ovew thewe!" Zuma shouted, pointing towards the direction of the seal.

Before Ryder could stop his ATV, Zuma leaped off and ran to the edge of the water, prepping his gear.

"Zuma, wait!" Ryder began, but was too late, as the lab jumped into the river, and started towards the seal.

He swam quickly against the strong current, directly towards the stuck creature. When he was just about to reach his paw over to the seal, a wake drug him under, and pushed him a distance down the river. He soon collided with a rock, which was smooth, but pain still erupting on his side.

Zuma didn't need the light to know that he was bleeding, because when he coughed, a thick substance shot out of his throat. And from his experience with Marshall, he knew that that could only mean one thing: internal bleeding.

He became worried, but quickly snapped back to reality. He had a job to do, and a little blood wouldn't keep him was fulfilling it.

He climbed the top of the rock he had collided with, despite the pain, and jumped to the other side of the river. When he landed, pain shot through his left paw, causing him to whimper and fall down. He stood up, pushing the pain beside him and ran, going only so fast with his hurt leg, towards the seal again.

When he reached the destination, he tried reaching out, but was still too far away. He had only one option, so he dived back into the treacherous water, and headed for the creature. He stopped in front of it, and started pushing as hard as he could. It wouldn't budge, however, so Zuma dove underneath and pushed from there.

It seemed to have been easier, as the seal appeared to have popped out of the rocks.

Both pups resurfaced, and began swimming back to Ryder and the others. Since the seal pup wasn't badly injured, it swam farther and quicker, having no trouble with the reaching the shore. Zuma however, had a large issue. He was in pain, still coughing out blood, and was losing vision. He moved sluggishly, worrying Ryder and the others deeply.

"Zuma! Are you okay?" He shouted, already knowing the answer

Zuma barely heard the boy, but replied, "Y-yeah, I'm f-fine."

Ryder knew this false by the way his pup was speaking and his movement being abnormal. He knew something was wrong, so he ran to the edge of the river and was about to get in to swim to Zuma, when another wave came crashing down onto the pup.

It eventually smashed him into another, sharper rock. Zuma thought the first rock hurt, but this one pierced his flesh, causing even more bleeding and pain. The pain was too unbearable, Zuma could barely keep his eyes open, but he had to get out of the water. So, even though each small movement shot great amounts of pain, he slowly, but surely got onto the rock, losing consciousness shortly after.

He slowly opened his eyes to see his friends gathered around him. They were all in a box-like structure. He was lying on a bed, and by the bumps and movements, he guessed he was in an ambulance. He could still feel this pain. How horrible the pain felt, and he could do nothing to stop it.

The nurses came back out, startling Rocky and the others. They signaled for RYder to go to them, and judging by what they had said, it wasn't good news, for Ryder's face turned pale, and he shook his head. ROcky saw a few tear drops drip down his cheeks, ad the nurses hugged the boy.

When they departed, Ryder turned back towards the others, tears streaking down his face.

"What happened?" Skye asked, on the verge of tears herself

"Is Zuma okay?" Rubble sobbed.

"Please tell me he's okay," Marshall whimpered, giving Ryder a look.

Ryder slowly shook his head, "no, Zuma's...Zuma's g-g-gone..."

A chorus of sobs erupted in the room. The only one who remained silent due to shock, had been Rocky. He stood where he was settled, wide-eyed, breathing heavy, and his entire body trembling.

Until he lost control, screaming and cursing the world for letting Zuma pass. He cursed the seal and the weather for being the cause of Zuma's death, and even cursed Ryder for allowing the lab to go out into the river by himself.

But as quickly as the anger came, it subdued, and Rocky was brought to tears, He'd lost his friend, so-worker, and the love of his life in the matter of hours. His heart shattered, and at that moment, he realized that he had nothing to live for anymore.

-Back to Reality-

Still holding the knife against his throat, Rocky whispered, "Here I come Zuma."

And just like that, he was gone.