Wow! I never would've expected such a great response from the first chapter! To all of those who came out and read it, thank you very much. The reviews that I'm getting are all positive so far, so that's another plus :-D . I plan for this story to be about 10-15 chapters, but I oftentimes like to put a number to something and just totally overshoot it :-P. We'll see what happens though! As a new writer, i have a question for you guys: would you rather have me post a chapter for this story every day, or should i post every other day, and start another story for on those off days between chapters? Please pm me or drop a review with any suggestions! Without further ado, here's Chapter 2!


(Scene has shifted, with Skye now joining the other pups in the Lookout)

"Why does Chase have to be like that?" Rocky asked.

"Yeah, dude," Zuma agreed. "It's not cool to boss evewyone around."

"I don't know what's gotten into him," Skye shook her head while looking down at the ground. "I mean, he's always liked to enforce the rules, but never anything like today. Today, he took it too far."

"So, what are you saying?" Marshall urged.

"I'm saying that until he stops policing everyone and sticking his nose where it isn't needed, I'm no longer interested in him."

"Do you think it'll get through to him?" Rocky questioned.

"I hope so. At any other time he's one of the most caring and respectful pups that I know. The way he acted today was unbelievable."

"So...are we gonna do something else? Because I'm bored!" Rubble thumped his paws on the floor, eagerly awaiting a response.

"Yeah, let's go. How 'bout some Pup Pup Boogie?" Rocky suggested.

"All right!" Rubble cheered.

The pups then started their way to the Lookout elevator. Well, that is, all except for one of them.

"Hey, Mawshall, awen't you coming?" Zuma turned to ask him.

"No, I'm, uh, not feeling very well," he responded.

"Oh, sowwy to heaw that. Get well soon, dude."

Zuma turned and left to rejoin the other pups in the elevator. Once Marshall saw the elevator reach the top, he exited the Lookout and decided to take a walk along the edge of the driveway.

What he said to Zuma wasn't a lie; he really wasn't feeling well. As he was surrounded by only silence, he finally allowed himself to speak his mind.

"Chase didn't deserve what happened to him. I mean, yeah, he did try to take charge of the situation, but that's what he does. That's who Chase is."

Marshall was taken aback by Skye's reaction to Chase's bossiness. And the more he thought about it, the more he saw how stupid the whole situation was.

"Why did she react so strongly?" he asked himself. "He's a German Shepherd! Of course he wants to protect his friends! It's in his blood!"

Marshall really felt bad for Chase. Skye was being irrational, and now he had to suffer. It just wasn't fair for the shepherd.

"I-I wonder how Chase is handling all of this," he said aloud. "Man, he's probably hurt pretty bad."

Marshall hung his head low as he thought about Chase, and how sad and confused he must be.

"Come, on, Marshall. He's not probably hurt, he is hurt! I've gotta go see if he's okay."

Marshall bounded back towards the volleyball net, where Chase was ripped to shreds only a short time ago. But before he got there, he perked his ears up.

"I-I hear something..." he whispered to himself.

As Marshall approached the net, the sound came into focus.

"It sounds like...someone's crying."

He carefully listened to and followed the sound across the yard. After a few minutes, the source of the sound was found. He walked over to the big oak tree that the pups often used to escape the summer heat. The pups had many great memories with the tree, and it has been a part of the Lookout since, well, before the Lookout.

But when he reached the tree, all he felt underneath it...was sadness. In front of the dalmatian was his best friend, the shepherd, who was nothing but a sad, wet pile of pup slumped on the ground, sniffling and covering his eyes.

Marshall approached him carefully, and laid down next to him.

"Hey, Chase," Marshall greeted softly.

Chase's response was a sniffle and a sad little whimper.

"I heard what happened. About you and Skye. I'm really sorry that happened. I was just coming over to see how you're doing." Marshall chose his words thoughtfully, and in doing so, he was able to work a response out of the shepherd.

*sniff* "How do you THINK I feel?" Chase shouted at Marshall before beginning to sob again.

Marshall attempted to comfort his friend.

"It's ok, Chase." Marshall gently put his paw on Chase's shoulder. "I'm here for you."

Chase violently shrugged Marshall off and spun around to face him.

"You're just like the rest of them!" Chase cried. "You hate who I am and what I do! So I push the pups to follow the rules, what has that done? Has anyone in Adventure Bay ever been carelessly hurt! Do you know why? Rules have a purpose: to keep everyone safe. Why can't we just listen to them!?"

At this point Chase was in hysterics, pounding his paw on the ground and taking an assertive posture.

Marshall saw the rage in his eyes, and tried to talk Chase down from it.

"Chase, try to calm down. Being angry won't solve anything."

"What would you know about anger?! You're the most carefree pup in the entire bay!" Chase said sarcastically.

"That might be true, but Chase, you know I hate seeing you like this. Please, Chase; I'm your friend; I just wanna help you."

"Just stop trying to understand! Because you can't! You have NO idea what its like to lose the love of your life over something as dumb as rules! You know what? Just go play with the others. Then I'll have no one telling me how to feel."

Chase's anger broke away, and fell into a sadness. Marshall recognized that as requested, Chase should be left alone. So Marshall went to do what was asked of him, and join the other pups in the Lookout.

Before he got too far away, he turned towards his best friend. With a tear in his eye, he quietly told him...

"I'm sorry I couldn't be a better friend."

And with that, Marshall slowly made his way back to the Lookout. Once Marshall got far enough away from Chase, he broke down. He started crying tears of anger, of sympathy, of caring. And he didn't stop until he reached the Lookout elevator.

The poor dalmatian felt so useless, not being able to help his best friend feel better. All he seemed to do was make it worse. After letting his feelings and emotions run rampant on his spotted body, he swallowed, took a deep breath, and entered the elevator, now being forced to return to his normal life. If only Chase knew how much he hurt his best friend.

After Marshall was out of his sight, Chase's anger managed to grab hold of him one last time. He was infuriated by Skye, and her ridiculous breakup with him, and Marshall, because he couldn't possibly understand what he was going through. He tried desperately to find something, anything, to be angry about. But he was all alone, with nothing to keep him company but his emotions. With no target at which to release his anger, Chase finally succumbed to his feelings, and quietly sobbed himself to sleep.