After Ryder had left, and the three pups he needed - Marshall, Chase, and Skye - went down the slide, Rubble sighed and headed towards the elevator.
"Whewe awe you going, Wubble?" Zuma asked, curious.
"Yeah, aren't you going to stay in case Ryder needs us?" His mate, Rocky, asked, raising an eyebrow. That got Rubble to pause and bit his lip, torn.
"I was going to head down to the beach, to meet up with a friend of mine." He said, blushing when he caught the smug look on Zuma's face.
"Oh? Is it a giwl pup?" He teased. Rubble swallowed, the blush on his face getting darker, and slowly nodded his head. This caused the grin on Zuma's face to widen more, as Rocky tilted his head.
"I thought so. Why don't you just bwing hew ovew hewe? I'd love to meet hew."
"Rather, you want to interrogate her." Rocky said, rolling his eyes as Rubble's eyes went wide at the accusation. Zuma tisked, pawing at his mate's nose, which caused Rocky to wrinkle his nose in annoyance.
"That is not at all twue, Wocky. How dawe you accuse me of such things?" Zuma said, before glancing over at Rubble with a smile on his face. "But no, sewiously, you should bwing hew ovew. That way, you'll have a playmate AND be weady fow when Wydew needs you."
Rubble thought about it, but then shook his head.
"I don't know. She's very shy, and she doesn't like to socialize much. I kept telling her she has nothing to worry about, but I don't know." He said.
"Is she a stray, Rubble?" Rocky asked.
"Yep, she lives down at the beach. Her owner went MIA, and well, from what she's told me, it sounds like no one is willing to adopt her." Rubble said, frowning slightly. This caused the others to frown too.
"Really? Why?"
"She's a Rottweiler, so that really doesn't put her in a good light. Then, she has this teeny, tiny scar on her face that you'll barely even notice unless you were close to her. She said she's been in a fight, and that's one of the main reasons why people are put off about her." Rubble answered.
"That's tewwible." Zuma commented, a deep frown on his face.
"That's not a good enough reason to not adopt a dog! That's downright discriminating!" Rocky said, narrowing his eyes, anger in his tone. Hearing that, Zuma nuzzled him slightly on the head, still looking at Rubble.
"Maybe Wydew will adopt hew. He did it for us, so maybe he'll do it fow hew too." Zuma said.
"That's what I said! She seems willing, so maybe I should bring her over to the lookout, just so you guys can meet her and stuff!" Rubble said. Rocky hummed, closing his eyes as he nuzzled Zuma back before looking over at Rubble again.
"What's her name, Rubble? How old is she?" He asked.
"Her name's Diamond, and she's about my age. I really hope Ryder would adopt her, the last thing I'd want to is to make a liar out of myself." Rubble said, before shuffling on his paws and looking anxiously back at the door. "I got to go. I'm just going to make sure she's okay, and run this idea by her so maybe she'll finally have a home to go to."
Before either of the pups could say anything, Rubble was already heading towards the elevator, and headed down the tower. It was quiet for a moment when Zuma began sniffling. Concern, Rocky turned to him.
"Zuma? You okay?" He asked, worried. Zuma continued to sniffle.
"I'm okay, it's just," He sniffled once more. "Ouw little Wubble is all gwon up!" He bailed, tears pouring down his face.
Rocky shook his head, rolling his eyes.
Meanwhile, Rubble began rushing down towards the beach where Diamond was, and to his surprise, she was still decorating the sandcastle.
"You're having fun, I see." He said, startling the Rottie. Diamond turned her head to the side, shrugged her shoulders, before placing a bright, blue shell on the last building of the castle.
"Yeah. This is kind of cool. I wonder why I've never done this before." She asked herself, and Rubble couldn't help but tease her.
"I'm wondering how on earth could you live on the beach and never made a sandcastle, either." He said, snickering as Diamond shoved him. He took a glance at the castle, however. "There's a lot of purple shells. Is purple your favorite color?"
"Yes, actually. Purple and blue are my two favorite colors." Diamond said. Rubble nodded.
"I see. And very little pink."
"I hate pink." Diamond said with an edge in her voice. Rubble wanted to question that, but decided against it. For whatever reason, she really, really didn't like the color pink, and while Rubble was curious, he knew danger when he sees one. "There. Do you like it?" She asked, looking over at him with a nervous glint in her eyes. Rubble smiled at her.
"It's beautiful."
"You aren't even looking!" She huffed, her face turning red when she realized Rubble was looking at her.
"Do I have to? I'm sure whatever you've created is going to turn out great, just like you." He said, smiling as her blush deepen. She covered her face with her paws.
"You're embarrassing. Stop joking around, and tell me how you really feel." She whined, causing Rubble to chuckle and turned around to face the castle. It was like any sandcastle, but more beautiful, since it was decorated with pretty colorful shells that seemed to glisten in the sunlight. Not to mention, there was a lot of purple, blue, and a little bit of yellows as well.
"It looks like something you'll find out a storybook. I have a sense of royalty when I look at this castle. Was that something you were aiming for?" Rubble asked, eyeing Diamond, who slowly looked up from her paws.
"Kind of...I remember seeing this castle, I'm not sure if from a storybook or if it's actually a castle...but I remember thinking how beautiful it was. It was mostly purple with some blues, grey and silvers, and I think...I think was crystalize as well. It was so beautiful, and I had always wanted to live in something like that." She said, looking down at the sand.
"Is the yellow suppose to represent the greys and silvers?" Rubble asked. Diamond blushed and shook her head.
"No...they just remind me of you." She said. This made Rubble blush and an awkward silence fell between the two, with Diamond looking at the ground and Rubble looking at her. It took a moment before Rubble coughed, gaining Diamond's attention.
"So, I talked to the other pups. Well, pups being Rocky and Zuma, and they seemed excited of wanting to meet you. I would really like for you to them, and the rest of my family as well. I know you aren't comfortable about socializing, but I think, living with us, you'll get better at it. I...I have no right to ask you of this, but...please? Just consider it?" He asked, near whimpering at the end. Diamond bit her lip.
"Okay. Take me to your leader." She said, smiling awkwardly as Rubble looked at her with wide and excited eyes.
"R-really? I can?!"
She nodded.
Rubble couldn't help but jump for joy, giving her a hug, which startled the Rottie, before breaking up and began pulling on her paw.
"Come on! You won't regret this, I promise!" He said with a giant smile on his face. Diamond knew she had lost the battle the moment he smiled at her like that, and without much reluctance, began following Rubble to the lookout.
