A/N: Chapter two! It's a long one, so get your popcorn ready :) I'm going to try and keep these author notes a bit shorter form now on, they were getting pretty lengthy XD. Once again, my uploading is far from consistent, so I apologize if I keep anyone waiting. Enjoy :)

*Responses to reviews are at the bottom*

Chase sat in front of his pup bowl staring at the wall. While Ryder and the pups were gobbling down their food, Chase's mind was set on the ceremony that the Mayor was planning for them. Nobody had ever honoured them like that before and sure he was excited, but he began sinking deeper into his thoughts. Should us pups really be honoured for this? I mean, Ryder created the Paw Patrol, and he's the brains behind it… Doesn't he deserve the credit? Chase pondered.

The german shepherd pup glanced over to Ryder, who was taking a sip of his water, and smiled. They boy had done so much for them ever since day one, and Chase was grateful. In fact, if Ryder hadn't adopted them, not only would the Paw Patrol cease to exist, but none of them would have a home. No one to feed them, no one to play with them, and no one to love them. Then the idea struck Chase like a sack of bricks.

That's it! His eyes and smile grew bigger. Us pups should write a speech for him. Chase figured it was the least they could do for him. After all, the point of the ceremony was honouring the Paw Patrol, and Ryder is the leader. His thought process continued as he began brainstorming topics to write about, but was interrupted by none other than…

"What's wrong Chase?" Ryder inquired, "You've hardly touched your food and the others are already done."

Chase snapped back into reality and looked around. He didn't even notice, but all the pups had already left. Not to mention, most of his food was still in his bowl as well.

"Sorry Ryder sir," the pup apologized, "I guess I got lost my thoughts or something.."

"Thinking about anyone in particular?" the boy winked.

Chase was confused at first until Ryder distinctly focused his eyes on Skye who was in the next room watching TV with the others.

"Skye..?" questioned Chase.

"Don't you remember outside?" Ryder recalled, "You two were pretty occupied," he chuckled.

"Ryyyderrr…" Chase blushed of embarrassment.

"Aww I'm only teasing you Chase," Ryder comforted, rubbing the top of his head, "I love watching you pups grow up."

Chase smiled and panted joyfully at the soft stroking of Ryder's hand atop his head. The boy took notice of this and decided to spoil him. He moved both of his hands down to Chase's belly causing the german shepherd pup to sprawl out on his back and anticipate a belly rub. Ryder didn't fail to meet Chase's expectation as he began contentiously rubbing his hands up and down Chase's chest. Chase giggled throughout the course of the belly rub until Ryder figured that he had enough.

"You enjoyed that, didn't you" the boy smiled.

"What do you think," Chase chuckled. He came closer to Ryder and gave him a lick on the cheek. "Thanks Ryder," he said while nuzzling the boy.

"Anything for my pups," He smiled and put his arm around the shepherd, giving him a warm, friendly hug. "Now, you better finish that food before it gets cold," he advised.

"Good call," Chase observed, "Catch you later Ryder!"

The boy gave him a friendly wave before exiting the room. Chase took Ryder's advice and began eating his food, all while thinking of what to say in their speech for Ryder. He wanted it to be perfect, but pure and straight from their hearts. After thinking a bit more, he figured he should finish his dinner and converse with the other pups before he could establish anything else, so he cleared his mind for now and focused on eating.

X

The clock struck 7:30, and the pups were highly anticipating their favourite show, Apollo the Super Pup. Every day after dinner, all six pups would gather in the lounge and watch TV until the program came on. Marshall sat next to Rubble, who was in his usual Apollo the Super Pup costume. Behind them was where the rest of the pups typically sat. Rocky and Zuma shared a bean bag as did Chase and Skye, only this time the cockapoo was alone as Chase was nowhere to be seen.

A few moments later the opening theme began to play, causing Marshall and Rubble to howl in excitement. "Finally it's starting!" Marshall howled.

"I know! This is my favourite part of the day!" Rubble wagged his tail, "Well, except for breakfast… and lunch.. and dinner too." Rubble's remark caused the other's to laugh.

After quieting down, the pups finally focused their attention onto the screen when it suddenly shut off. "Hey! What's the big idea?" Rubble demanded. The rest of the pups were just as confused as he was, exchanging puzzled looks with each other. Then, a voice was heard at the entrance of the room.

"Sorry for interrupting pups," Chase apologized as he walked into the room with the remote in his paw.

"Hey Chase!" Skye smiled.

"So it was you who turned off the TV," Rubble glanced at the TV remote, clearly a bit annoyed, "What was that for?"

"We may have to skip movie night tonight pups," informed Chase, "This is really important."

The pups recognized Chase's seriousness and came closer to him.

"What's up Chase?" Rocky inquired.

"I was kind of deep in thought when we were eating dinner, hence why I was late, and I began thinking about Ryder," he began.

"What about him?" Marshall tilted his head.

"Well, if you really think about it, he's done so much for us over the past few years and we haven't really given him anything in return as a 'thank you'," the shepherd explained, "I mean, he feeds us, he cares for us, he gave us a home. Not to mention, the Paw Patrol wouldn't be possible without him." Chase's statement made the other's begin to reflect on this as well. It was the truth, Ryder loved them and did everything he could to keep them healthy, safe, and happy.

"Yeah you're right…" Zuma began to realize, earning nods of agreement from the other pups.

"Okay.. but what are you trying to get at here?" questioned Rocky.

"Tomorrow is the ceremony that the Mayor is throwing for us right?" Chase checked with them, "Well, I was thinking at some point we should go on stage and give speech for Ryder. You know, showing how thankful we are to have him and how much we love him," he suggested.

The pups exchanged glances and smiled at Chase's proposal, agreeing that it was a great idea.

"I don't know how you think of these things Chase, but boy you have good ideas," complemented Zuma.

"Yeah, that's a perfect way to show our gratitude!" agreed Rocky.

"You guys really think it's a good idea?" Chase contently double-checked.

"Yeah! I think Ryder will really appreciate it!" reassured Marshall, earning nods from Rubble and Skye.

"Well what are we waiting for? Let's go make a speech!" Chase declared, leading them to the elevator.

X

Rubble, Zuma, Skye, and Rocky made themselves comfy upstairs while Chase went to go find a pen and paper. They all lied in a circle upstairs where they'd usually be assigned to missions, brainstorming things to write in their speech. Moments later, the elevator dinged, from which Chase and Marshall emerged.

"Yippee! You're back!" Skye barked, "We thought of some good idea to write for Ryder's speech."

"Alright good!" Chase smiled, dropping the pen and piece of paper in front of them, "In that case we should get started as soon as possible."

"Any sign of Ryder?" Zuma added.

"He's in his room," Marshall answered, "He looked to be doing something important at his desk, so we should be fine up here."

"So what do you guys got so far?" questioned Chase.

"Well, we figured we should firstly talk about how talented he is and how well-structured he made the Paw Patrol," proposed Rocky, "After all, that is what the ceremony is about."

"Okay, that's a good start!" Chase said as he began jotting down notes on his paper.

"But we also think we should talk about everything he's done for us," added Rubble, "You know, feed us, give us a home."

"Yeah! And then we could end it saying how thankful we are for that!" Marshall suggested.

The pups came up with a few more suggestions which Chase continued to write down. Once he had finished he reviewed everything and gave a satisfied grin.

"Alright, we have a good structure," Chase declared, "Now all we need to do is put it together nicely."

For the next hour or so, the pups took all their ideas and wrote it into one piece, making corrections and more suggestions along the way. After deliberating and looking over their speech a few more times, the pups were satisfied with what they had composed.

In the end, it turned out like this:

First off, all the pups and myself are so incredibly grateful for you guys to honour us like this. Never did we expect anything in return for doing our job, nor did we necessarily want anything as huge as this. Regardless, we'd like to thank Mayor Goodway for this huge event, it really means a lot. Although this ceremony is to honour the Paw Patrol, we feel that we don't necessarily deserve the credit. So I think I'm speaking for all the pups when I say this, but we'd like to recognize Ryder as opposed to us pups. Ryder built the Paw Patrol from the ground up. From building the Lookout to all of our cool gadgets, Ryder's creativity and determination hasn't failed us in the past and certainly won't in the future. Not only that, but he is an outstanding leader. He always knows what's right, and he gives us the confidence to do our jobs exquisitely. We couldn't ask for a better leader.

Now we'd like to put the Paw Patrol aside for a moment, and recognize Ryder for a different and more important reason. Ryder has done SO much for us, that 'thank you' does not even account for a fraction of it. From feeding, to playing, there's never a moment when he isn't looking out for us. But most importantly, Ryder gave all of us a home. I can't even imagine the situation myself or the other's would be in if we hadn't been adopted, but I think it's safe to say that we are much better off with Ryder. Despite all the trouble we may cause him, Ryder shows us endless amounts of love and affection, and we couldn't be more appreciative. We love you Ryder, more than you could ever imagine. And it will stay that way forever. Love, your favourite, hard-working pups.

After the pups reread their speech, they seemed pretty satisfied and proud of their work. But something was missing.

"Just one more thing," Rocky stipulated. The mixed-breed dipped his paw in some ink, and signed below the two paragraphs with his paw print.

"Ah, good idea Rocky!" Zuma complimented, while he and the rest of the pups followed Rocky's action.

"There! Now it's perfect," Chase declared, proud of himself and the pups.

"Wait, we're still forgetting something," Marshall indicated, "Who's going to read this tomorrow?"

Marshall brought up an important subject. They couldn't just write a speech and not read it, there would be no point. The team pondered about this for a moment before all five pups, besides Chase, focused their eyes on the german shepherd.

Chase took notice of this and was somewhat shocked. "Wha- me?" Chase disputed, "I can't read it, not in front of all those people!"

"But Chase, this was your idea!" Zuma pointed out.

"Yeah," agreed Rubble, "And besides, you've been with Ryder the longest, remember? He adopted you first!"

"Yeah...but-" Chase stammered.

"You're also basically second-in-command for the team," added Rocky with a comforting smile.

Chase gave an unsure look towards the pups. He wasn't the most confident when speaking in front of a crowd, but he really wanted to share his speech with Ryder and the rest of Adventure Bay. Then Skye chimed in.

"I think Ryder would be proud if you shared the speech Chase. You would be following in his footsteps, as a leader. And besides," she smiled and began walking up to him, "I think it's cute when you act all serious and be a leader," she admitted, fluttering her eyes at the shepherd.

Chase looked at her and then the other pups, and smiled. "Oh alright," he finally gave in, "If you guys insist."

Skye nuzzled him as a 'thank you', while the rest of the pups exchanged satisfied grins.

"Awesome!" exclaimed Rocky, "I think that's everything now."

"Good," Rubble yawned, "Cause boy am I getting sleepy."

This caused the other pups giggle. "I think it's time we hit the sac," presumed Chase, receiving resounding nods from the others. They filled up the elevator once again and descended to the ground floor. Each of them made their way to their puphouses, ready to finally get some shuteye after a long and hard day.

However, rather than going to her puphouse, Skye cut her trip short and stopped at Chase's puphouse instead.

The german shepherd raised a brow. "Who said you could stop by here," he playfully smirked at her.

Skye took note of Chase's sarcasm and decided to act upon it.

"Oh I just had to, 'Prince Chase'. There was a fire-breathing dragon outside my puphouse!" she fake cried, referring back to when they were role playing earlier. Chase let out a chuckle as he recalled the moment as well.

"Oh and by the way," Skye continued, "Smooth cover-up back there when Ryder came up behind us then we were 'role playing'," she teased.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Chase rolled his eyes, "At least I tried to think of an excuse," he countered.

"Doesn't make your excuse any better," she came back.

"Oh yeah? And you could have thought of a better one?" he sassed.

"Sure I could," she insisted.

"Then give me one," Chase challenged her, "I'll give you five seconds."

Chase began to count down, playfully smirking at the cockapoo who was desperately trying to think of an excuse to prove the german shepherd wrong. Just before time was up, an idea popped into Skye's head, which Chase noticed due to her facial expression. Before she could let a word escape her mouth, the police pup had pounced on top of her.

"Hey! What's the big idea?" She whined, struggling to free herself from Chase's grip. Before she had the chance to say another word, Chase began forcefully tickling her which resulted in the cockapoo to burst into laughter.

"Can't tell me your excuse if you can't talk!" Chase snickered, "And correct me if I'm wrong, but I think your five seconds are up!"

"Ahhhahahahaha!" she cried, "Ch-Chase-hahahahahaha! Please! Hahahahaha!"

"Oh you want me to stop?" he played dumb, "You need to say the magic words."

"I already said please!" she protested.

"I think the word you're looking for is,'Okay Chase, I was wrong, you win'," he proposed.

"That's seven words, not one," she smirked.

"Oh what was that? You want me to continue tickling you?" he asked sarcastically.

"Fine! Fine," she sighed and rolled her eyes, "You win."

"Glad to hear it!" He arrogantly grinned in her face as he let go of her.

"Don't get too cocky there," Skye warned, "You and I both know that you're very ticklish too."

"Fair enough," he compromised. Now that their little 'dispute' was settled, they could focus on more important things.

"So, you excited for the party tomorrow!" she changed the subject.

"Boy am I," exclaimed Chase.

"I remember the first party we went to a few months ago," Skye recollected, "Don't you?"

"I sure do," he chuckled, "That was probably the most frustrating and stressful night of my life, not gonna lie. But it was all worth it in the end," he smiled and nuzzled her.

"That was probably the best night of my life," the cockapoo declared, "Hopefully tomorrow night will be as fun. Do you think there will be dancing?"

"I'm sure there will be, after all, it is a party," Chase indicated.

"Well in that case, we better get some sleep," suggested Skye, "If we're going to own the dance floor like last time, then we better get some rest," she winked at him.

"True that," he yawned, "I'm guessing you're spending the night here?"

Skye made her answer clear by stretching and laying down on top of the german shepherd's bed. Chase took that as a 'yes' and responded by turning off the light and then laying down next to her, gently resting his head atop her's, as she snuggled into his side. Their eyes eventually eased shut and they both slowly drifted off to sleep.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the Lookout, Rocky and Zuma sat outside their puphouses discussing tomorrow night.

"I'm so pumped for tomorrow dude!" anticipated Zuma, "It's going to be sick!"

"Yeah I'm sure it will.." mumbled Rocky who was slouched on his belly, resting his head on top of his paws.

"Especially the dancing," the chocolate lab continued, "This time I'm determined to outshine Chase and Skye, I've been working hard on my pup-pup-boogie moves!"

"Hm, cool," the mixed breed muttered.

Zuma glared at Rocky, "Something the matter dude? Why are you acting so glum?" he questioned.

"Oh, sorry Zuma. I was kind of out of it.." Rocky admitted.

"What's on your mind?" Zuma tilted his head.

Rocky gave a slight frown at his own inability to explain what was wrong. He wasn't trying to hide anything from Zuma, he literally just didn't know how to explain it. Frankly, because he didn't even know what was wrong.

"Well.. uhh," he struggled to answer his friend's question, "I honestly don't really know why but... I just don't have a good feeling about tomorrow."

Zuma was quite surprised at this. All the other pups were excited for the party tomorrow; it was going to be a great night. He couldn't think of any reason why anything bad would happen tomorrow.

"What drew you to that conclusion?" he gave a perplexed look at the mixed breed.

Rocky shivered at the thought. It was really out of the ordinary for this to happen, it was almost spooky. He sighed and began to explain to Zuma what happened.

"You know those nightmares that I have sometimes?" asked Rocky.

"About your hydrophobia? Yeah, what about them?" the lab raised a brow.

"Well they came back recently.." Rocky dejectedly informed him. However Zuma was still confused as this was an occasional occurrence.

"Okay, but they happen every so often. There's nothing to worry about, it's normal." Zuma tried reasoning.

"That's the thing though, 'every so often'," indicated Rocky, "Zuma, I've been having them all week and last night it was really bad. I can only imagine what tonight will bring upon me. Something bad is going to happen and soon, I can sense it."

Zuma could see Rocky was getting tense and worked up, so he decided to calm him down and think of a logical explanation so that he could stop panicking.

He walked up to the mixed breed and patted his back. "Hey now, don't get yourself all worked up over this," comforted Zuma, "It's probably just your hormones acting up. Your body realizes you have a fear of water and maybe it's trying to help you overcome them by creating these dreams."

Rocky took Zuma's explanation into consideration. It did make sense, and he felt a lot better believing that rather than some catastrophic future event. He looked back up at his friend and smiled.

"Yeah, I guess you're right," Rocky concluded, "At least, I sure hope you are."

"See, there's nothing to be afraid of," Zuma reiterated, "How about you sleep in my puphouse for tonight. If you have another nightmare, just wake me up and we can talk about it, and maybe I make you feel better."

On the inside, Rocky was beaming. He expected to have another dream tonight based on the past few days, and he felt a lot more comfortable sleeping with someone rather than alone. He managed to keep a lid on it and responded to Zuma.

"I think I'll accept that offer, just for tonight though," he insisted, "I don't want to keep you up every night."

"Whatever floats your boat!" the chocolate lab smiled, "I think we should go now though. Ryder should be coming to check on us any minute now," indicated Zuma, receiving a nod from Rocky.

"Thanks again Zuma," appreciated Rocky, "You're such a good friend."

"You can always count on me buddy," Zuma winked as he lead the recycling pup to his puphouse. The two made themselves comfortable and drifted off into a deep sleep. They were going to need lots of energy for the highly anticipated party tomorrow night.

X

Back inside the Lookout...

"Really dude?! Aw man, that's awesome!" exclaimed Jake.

Ryder had just shared the news of the ceremony with Jake, and was delighted to see his ecstatic reaction through the screen on his pup-pad.

"It is, isn't it?" chuckled Ryder, "Are you going to tell Everest?"

"Nah, she's already asleep, I couldn't wake her up now. But don't worry, I'll tell her first thing tomorrow morning," promised Jake, "She's going to be so excited!"

"I'm sure she will be," anticipated Ryder, "Just don't forget!"

"You can count on me!" insisted Jake, "So what time is it again?"

"Tomorrow at 6 p.m., at City Hall," informed Ryder.

"Alright, sounds good bro," Jake grinned, "Hate to cut the conversation short, but it's getting pretty late."

"Yeah, no worries. I was getting kind of tired too," admitted Ryder, "I'll see you tomorrow Jake!"

"Catch you later bro!" he signed off.

Ryder hopped up from his bed and made his way toward his desk, putting his pup-pad down and picking up a piece of paper. He smiled as his eyes scanned the paper. Little did the pups know, Ryder had prepared a speech for his pups too, and he had just finished it before he called Jake.

The pups filled Ryder with joy and happiness. They're the most trustworthy and caring pups he could ever ask for. He had such fond memories with them, ones he will cherish for the rest of his life. Not only that, but they also indirectly made him who he was. Without the pups, he may never have learned how to be responsible, how to problem solve, and most importantly, how to be a leader. Ryder had to thank them for all they've done for him, whether it was direct or not.

After reading the final sentence to his speech, Ryder concluded that it was perfect. The boy tucked it on his top shelf, ensuring that none of the pups could get a hold of it. Not that his pups were ones to snoop around Ryder's room, he just wanted to be sure it was a surprise.

Subsequently, Ryder checked his watch and figured he should make sure the pups were going to sleep. He descended in the elevator and circled the Lookout while quietly peering into each of the puphouses. A smile appeared on his face after checking each pup. Sometimes the cuteness was just too much for him.

However, his heart sank a little when he looked in Skye's puphouse only to find nobody there. Worrying a little, he continued on to the final puphouse which happened to be Chase's. A wave of relief hit him at the sight of Skye cuddled up next to Chase. He wiped a drip of sweat off his forehead, glad to know his pups were safe and sound.

Although he didn't mind the two pups kind of having a thing for each other, Ryder didn't really condone Skye sleeping with one of the male pups, but he couldn't help but notice and smile at how cute the two pups were. He just didn't want anything too inappropriate to happen, not at least until they were fully mature. He decided to let it slide this time seeing as the pups were already fast asleep, and he knew he could trust them.

Nevertheless, all the pups seemed sound asleep so the boy made his way back to his room, ready to get some sleep for himself.

Wasn't the most exciting chapter, but filled with some heartwarming moments from the pup and even Ryder which I do enjoy myself ;). Any suggestions/corrections/critiques that you may have, be sure to let me know!

Josh DD: Thank you once again for all the support you've given me! You keep up the good work as well ;)

Energyn: I'm glad you're enjoying it! Hopefully you enjoyed this chapter too, there's many more to come :)

TechWolf2.0: Glad to hear it! I hope you enjoy this one as much as the last! :)

Briairlight77: Oh my, what a compliment :] That made my day! Happy to know you're enjoying it so far :)

A: Thank you for that :) And don't you worry, once I start a story, I intend to finish it, no matter how long it takes. I won't let you down ;)

Guests: Thank you for all your wonderful comments and suggestions, I'll try my best to comply with you all!

Welp, that's two chapters over with, but there's much more where that came from? Think you know what's going to happen next? Take a guess, I'm interested to see XD. Hope ya'll are having a nice day, catch ya later!

~SwarmX