Well, if you enjoyed the previous chapter, I'm sure you're going to enjoy this one! Got nothing else to say other than, enjoy!
After countless hours of playing their games, the pups were exhausted. They weren't strident anymore, and their enthusiasm and excitement went with the flow. Ryder was inside the Lookout, playing games on his Pup Pad. The pups were watching one of their favorite shows, Apollo the Super Pup. They all enjoyed it, especially Rubble and Marshall. They both would put on their superhero costume and pretend to be the heroes of Adventure Bay though, watching the show. The others would get popcorn, usually with Rubble eating more than a big bowl, and still ravenous after a meal. Marshall wasn't exactly a big eater, neither the pups. But the pup that ate the most after Rubble was Marshall. There was no eating competition against Rubble, because all the pups knew he had a big appetite and he'd invariably win.
As the pups were watching the show, Everest made an entrance. The pups were delighted to see her, especially Marshall, even if he hung out with her everyday. He adored Everest so much.
"Everest!" They all chorused.
"Hey pups, what'cha doin'?" Everest took a quick glimpse at what they were viewing. She smiled. "I remember the show before all this began."
"Yep, Apollo the Super Pup show never seems to die. They keep making more and more and more episodes. They never seem to stop!" Rubble said, with excitement in his voice. "That's the good thing. If they did stop, I don't know what I'd do. I would cry and snuggle myself with some witty bitty kitties!" They all laughed at this.
"So, Everest, what brings you to our humble home?" Rocky questions happily to see her.
"Oh, you know, just a visit. Jake will be back from a tourist attraction any moment."
"Tourist attraction?" Rubble inquired.
"Yeah, it's pretty far. But once he gets back, I might as well head home too. Or stay if you pups don't mind?"
"Everest, you can stay for as long as you want, girl!" The pups looked at Marshall with concern. They were also puzzled.
"Girl?" Chase was out of answers.
"Yeah, why?"
"Oh, it's something Marshall calls me now. I guess after hanging out with each other and helping too developed our friendship. I guess you can call us...a strong friendship bond." Everest explicated simply to the pups. They were nodding their heads when hearing this.
"Yeah."
"So..." Rocky thought this was awkward at the moment. "What do you call Marshall?"
"Marsh." Everest replied. "You know, for short."
Rocky nodded. "I know, I know." He knew something suspicious was going on, and he was gonna get to the bottom of it. He had a thoughts of them being spy's but he knew that couldn't be true. It would've been too much of a secret to keep. And it would've been a really important duty to follow. While Rocky was pondering over all this, Chase was waving his paw in front of Rocky's face.
"Hello?! Earth to Rocky."
Rocky came back to the real world, not lost in thoughts anymore.
"Where were you a minute ago?" Chase asked, pretty suspicious himself. Rocky decided to keep it to himself and excused himself outside.
Rocky took a deep breath and calmed down. "It's okay, Rocky. You're smart all the time, you know what to do." He said, speaking to himself. Luckily, when he turned around no one was there. He guessed they took this 'excuse me' thing serious. "I'll get to the bottom of it. Marshall and Everest. Everest and Marshall. Hmm..." He put on his thinking cap. Then a voice met with his.
"Rocky, you out here?" It was Marshall. Rocky sighed, and turned round. "Oh, there you are. Aren't you coming back in?"
"What's going on?" Rocky asked. He hated interrogations as much as everyone else but this time he had a bad feeling about something.
Marshall gulped a bit. He looked back at the entrance, knowing no one was perceiving them. He glanced back at Rocky. "Uh, buddy. W-What are you t-talking about?"
Rocky raised an eyebrow in suspicion. He walked forward to Marshall. "Oh, you know what I'm talking about." He said, getting closer to Marshall and pointing his paw. Marshall gulped louder this time. "Seriously, the gulping needs to stop."
"Uh..."
Rocky raised an eyebrow once again and before opening his mouth to speak, Chase called them over. "Guys! C'mon and join us in the Apollo The Super Pup marathon."
"Apollo the Super Pup! Ta da!" They heard Rubble from inside intimidating the voice with excitement.
Marshall chuckled once. Rocky stepped forward. "This isn't over...buddy." Rocky said, walking inside the Lookout.
'What's his problem? He can't find out...no one can. Maybe I should spend more time with the pups than Everest. Yes. That's it. So they won't get suspicious about me and my-'
"Marshall, come on! It's the queen spider episode!" He heard Rubble calling him. He took a deep breath and walked in, following Rocky one minute after.
The pups were too busy watching the t.v and only Everest noticed Marshall coming in. She pointed her paw to a cushion beside her and smiled at him. Marshall didn't want to reject Everest's offer but he didn't want the pups getting suspicious so he denied it. He sadly shook his head and took a spot beside Rubble and tried not making eye contact with Everest. Everest took this in, and was confused for a moment, but then realized she was watching the show. She turned her head and continued watching.
After watching for an hour, the pups were tired. Ryder came down from the Observation Room and saw the pups sleeping. "Good night, pups." He switched the lights off and went into his room. He stripped off his clothes and put on his pj's. He got into bed and went onto his Pup Pad, curious to see what the pups were doing all day. He flicked through all the CCTV cameras that he currently installed. After countless flicks, he got to the last one with the last footage. He seen Marshall and Rocky talking. He turned on the mic but then he remembered. He forgot to install them to the cameras.
He didn't angry. He went back to when Marshall came outside. A minute later, he saw Rocky pointing his paw in Marshall's direction and walking slowly towards him. "What is he...?" He played the footage back again and tried to lip read what Rocky said. "You know what..." He played the footage back once more. "I'm...talking about." He said, scratching his head. What did Rocky mean by that? Ryder himself began getting suspicious. He shut the Pup Pad off and laid it beside his bed on a drawer. He turned off the lamp and went to sleep.
It was morning and the pups, one by one woke up from drifting off to sleep the night before. Ryder didn't really care about what happened in the footage last night. He knew it might've been a little argument he shouldn't bring himself into and try find out what caused it.
Rocky walked to Marshall as he was drinking from his bowl. "Hey, Marshall." Rocky said, lifting his paw.
"Oh, hey, Rocky."
"Listen, about last night, it was stupid. Usually when I'm really curious about something I tend to throw all my generosity out the window and get angry pretty quick."
"What can I say? I can sometimes be air-headed while you're hot-headed." Rocky chuckled at this.
"So, I guess we all have our secrets. You have the rights to your secrets while I have the rights to mine." Rocky said. "So, sorry about that."
"No need to apologize, Rocky." Marshal stated, continuing to drink from his water. Rocky saw Everest come over.
"Alright, I'll see you later, and don't worry, I won't stick my nose anywhere where I shouldn't." Rocky walked away to a nearby tree. He then peaked and saw Marshall and Everest speaking to each other. "Oh, but I will." He chuckled. "Cause whenever Rocky wants something, Rocky gets."
Whenever Rocky did get curious about something, there was no stopping him, not even a fight. Even if someone had a secret, he'd do all that he can in his power to try and obtain the right information. Rocky was the smart one, and the constant curious one. He'd never give up, no matter what. He knew Marshall had a secret. And there was nobody that can stop him from revealing Marshall's secret. Actually, there was one person. Ryder. He did try before to find out Chase's secret about Skye but Ryder permitted him doing so. Ryder would usually tell him to stop, or bad things will happen to him in the future. He'd listen and stop what he was doing, but if something else caught his eye, he'd try to withdraw it to him before Ryder could find out. Ryder stopped him twice, and told him if he kept on doing what he was doing, then the 'bad stuff', were getting closer to him. He didn't care, he just wanted to find the secret. And to do it, he needed to do it silently without Ryder knowing, or it would be all over. And he couldn't let Marshall know either.
Ryder was inside eating breakfast. The usual bacon and eggs type. He sometimes wondered if the pups were growing a lot quicker, but he'd tell himself it was just his imagination but he knew that wasn't the truth, no matter what he thought. He hated seeing the pups grow, because it meant less fun to them and him. But maturity is what Ryder wanted them to be.
As he was eating his breakfast, he began thinking about what Rocky said to Marshall the night before. What did Rocky find out? Ryder hoped it wasn't Rocky attempting to find Marshall's secret, because he thought Rocky ceased doing all that. But then he sighed. Rocky was Rocky, you couldn't change him. Ryder got up from his table and walked out. He searched for Rocky but couldn't find him, then he saw him. Just as Ryder began walking up to him, the other pups beat him to it. He let the pups enjoy what they were doing, and decided to confront Rocky later.
Ryder knew there was no motivation of getting angry or disappointed with Rocky. It's something Ryder expected from Rocky whether he liked to, and Rocky being the genius pup made Ryder happy. Each pup had their own unique talent. Chase's talent was accuracy most of the time, which was a whole success every time he had to rescue someone with his gadgets. He was also really serious which Ryder loved about him, and him being direct is something else he enjoyed. And him being a true, born leader is something Ryder really admired. Marshall was born with gift of love. His love was greater than all the others. He loved his family no matter what the subsequent will be. He was also the class clown of the group, and the pups were really lucky having him, despite his clumsiness. Skye's talent of flying was something Ryder was really impressed with, which is why he recruited her to the PAW patrol. Her smile always ended with a grace. Rocky was the inventor and recycling pup who was brilliant at his job. He was also smart. Zuma was a master at surfing, while Rubble was a constructive pup and a digger which was a unique talent. Everest loved snow and ice, and everything that was close to that. She had a talent, and that was rescuing people. She was considered as one of the best rescuers from PAW patrol.
Ryder went inside the Lookout. The pups were all playing soccer, except for one pup. Rocky. He was thinking and thinking and thinking. He knew it was wrong of him to stick his nose in other pups' lives but he was curious. One of the most curious out of all the pups actually. The only person close to him was Everest, but she was a really good secret keeper. Rocky really wasn't. He was determined to know if the pups were curious of him acting in a weird way, but he saw no expressions leading to that yet. "I'll think later. I'll join in with the pups and their soccer game, I guess. I don't wanna feel left out." He then went off.
As the soccer game was playing, Marshall was watching Rocky coming over attentively. 'Something's wrong with Rocky. I just know it. I'll find out later...'
