2018 REVISED EDITION

3 Hours with Zuma

So, it was a little after 5 o'clock when Everest got down to the beach to meet Zuma, and I don't think she could have ever predicted what was gonna happen there. . .

"You can say that again."

So, it was a little after 5 o'clock when Everest got down to the beach to meet Zuma-

"Marshall!"

Just kidding!

"I know. . ."

The Sun was starting to get low in the sky as Everest walked along the sandy beach. She had to admit that she liked the feeling of sand under her paws. Sand was something she had never experienced before coming to Adventure Bay, having spent most of her life in the frozen south. In fact, most of her experiences in Adventure Bay were new experiences, and they were experiences that she liked. Everest could honestly say that she preferred living on Jake's Mountain and being a part of the PAW Patrol to living all alone in an igloo.

A cool ocean breeze blew in, much to the Husky pup's delight. The breeze also carried an unmistakably familiar voice that shouted, "Ahoy, Evewest! Ovew hewe!"

Everest looked out into the ocean and saw Zuma swimming towards the shore. The chocolate lab ran excitedly towards her and said with a grin, "I'm so glad you'we hewe, Evewest! Twust me when I saw this is gonna be a moment that you will newer fowget!"

Everest couldn't help but smile back. Zuma's joy was very infectious. However, she looked around either side of Zuma and out into the open ocean, and she said, "Well, that sounds great, Zuma. But I've seen the ocean before, although where I came from the water is a lot colder. What is it that you want to show me."

Zuma stifled his excited laughter with the back of his forepaw, then he looked back up at Everest and winked. "It's a super secwet suwpwise!"

Everest nodded slowly and said, "Okay, now you got me curious. . ."

Zuma then turned and walked along the beach, stopping at where he had left his paddleboard earlier. He dragged it across the beach towards the water with his teeth, only stopping a moment to look up at Everest and motion for her to follow.

Everest stepped forward onto the moist sand, but she hesitated when she got to foamy tide. Back in the Antarctic, falling into the icy water meant doom for a pup like her. Therefore, she was never exactly fond of swimming. She wasn't as averse to water as Rocky, but she still wasn't a big-time swimmer.

"Come on, Evewest!" Zuma called out cheerfully as he hung onto the floating paddleboard some ways out in the water, "The watew feels so awesome! Twust me! Weady, set, get wet!"

Everest looked at the water lapping up on the shore, then she looked over at Zuma, smiled and said, "Sure! I trust you, Zuma! Off the trail, Everest won't fail!"

The Husky's courage and bravery overtook her base instincts and she jumped right into the sea. As she quickly paddled towards Zuma and the paddleboard, she began to fully realize how refreshing and just plain good it felt to be in the water. It wasn't icy at all, it was at a temperature that was just pleasing to her. The sensation of being suspended in space felt so freeing to her.

"That's another new experience that I liked!" Everest thought to herself as she doggy paddled her way through the water, grinning all the while as she floated her way towards Zuma.

"I told ya! Awesome, wight?" Zuma said proudly.

Everest grabbed onto the side of paddleboard and nodded, "You bet!"

"Alwight! In that case, climb on, Evewest! I've got a bunch of things to show you!"

As Everest rested on the paddleboard, Zuma pushed her along the gorgeous shore of Adventure Bay. Under the early evening light, the area seemed to take on an almost magical quality. The lapping of the surf on the shore was almost musical to Everest's ears. The only sounds of nature that she'd been used to were the howling winds of a blizzard and the cracking of ice. The ocean in Adventure Bay had a much more peaceful tone to it.

"Adventure Bay looks so. . . beautiful from the ocean," Everest said softly.

Zuma nodded and said, "Yeah, and fwagile too. The sea is so big and mighty and fiewce, and people live and build wight on its edge. It makes you think, doesn't it?"

Everest nodded silently.

Then, Zuma turned the paddleboard around and pushed it towards the open ocean.

"Zuma?" Everest asked in confusion, "Where are we going?"

Zuma simply help a forepaw in front of his mouth and said, "Shhhh. . . Secwet. . ."

And so, Everest waited in anticipation as Zuma took them out a good distance from the shore. Even Captain Turbot's house on Seal Island was far away. Eventually, in the middle of the open water, they suddenly stopped.

"We'we hewe," Zuma said as he climbed onto the paddleboard with Everest.

Fully mystified, Everest looked around and asked, "But. . . where's here?"

Zuma smiled mysteriously and said, "Let me tell you a story. . . it's called the Legend of the Mer-pup."

Everest cocked her head in confusion. "Mer-pup?" she repeated.

"A Mer-pup is a pup with the body of a nowmal pup, but the tail of a fish," Zuma explained, "They live deep in the ocean, they speak theiw own mystewious language, and they hide from suwface dwellews." Zuma's eyes glazed over as he stared into space and said, "But most of all, they have this magical, amazing singing voice. . ."

Everest noticed that Zuma was spacing out a bit, and she gently tapped him on the shoulder, "Uh, Zuma? Are you there?"

Zuma snapped out of his trance and said, "Oh, yeah! Um, sowwy. Anyway. . . legend says when the full moon wises exactly at sunset, it becomes the magical Mer-moon, and under its mystical light, the touch of a Mer-pup can tuwn you into one on that night only, and just until the sun rises."

Zuma then sat on his haunches and raised his forelegs high as he recited mystically, "That is the tale, tall or twue, and that is the mawvelous, maybe even magical, Mer-pup-moon!"

Everest's eyes were wide with wonder at the story, and she said in a hushed tone, "Is the legend. . . true?"

Zuma was silent for a long, tense moment. He stared right into Everest's eyes. Everest stared back, determined not to blink. Then, Zuma grinned and said, "Yes."

This caused Everest to lose the staring contest in shock, and she blinked her eyes and gasped, "Really?"

Zuma nodded, "Weally, Evewest. You see, the PAW Patrol rescued a Mer-pup once."

Everest jaw dropped, "Really! No way!"

Zuma laid down comfortably on the paddleboard, "Yes way, actually. Let me tell you all about it. . ."

Everest was completely captivated by Zuma's story. The water rescue pup was very detailed in explaining the events of that magical night, leaving nothing out. He even related the events from the point of view of the pups in the diving bell. Everest felt her imagination run wild when Zuma described how he, Skye, and Rocky were turned into Mer-pups. She laughed when Zuma told her how Skye as a Mer-pup caused Chase to faint. She even felt her heart race a bit when Zuma related how he was trapped inside the sunken ship with time quickly running out. By the time Zuma finished the tale, Everest had felt like she had been a part of the adventure herself.

". . . and that's how the pups saved a Mer-pup!" Zuma concluded with a small smile, looking a bit out of breath himself.

Everest was speechless for a moment, and Zuma looked on, slightly nervous. Everest found her voice eventually, and she said in an awestruck tone, "You are an amazing storyteller!" She then motioned to surrounding ocean and said, "And the setting you picked helped a lot too."

Zuma chuckled and looked away bashfully, "Well, I don't know. . ." Then he looked back up at Everest and asked timidly, "You. . . you believe me, don't you Evewest?"

Everest nodded with certainty and said, "Yes, Zuma. Of course, I do. Not that I wouldn't like a good made up story, but I can tell with the details you gave and just the way you spoke that everything you said really happened. You might not have any proof, and I'll probably never see a real Mer-pup, but I believe you Zuma, and I know that Mer-pups are real."

This appeared to fill Zuma with cheer to the point that he was overflowing with it. Then, much to Everest's surprise, Zuma threw back his head and howled. However, it wasn't at all normal howling. There was something. . .more to it. It was almost like singing. It was sad yet sweet, mournful yet hopeful. It was a song that seemed to beg for a reply.

As Zuma howled, or sang, Everest suddenly noticed the beautiful sunset in the distance, and realized that Zuma's story had caused her to lose track of the time. But she let all that go as Zuma's howling caught her attention. She wanted to ask why he was howling like this, but something kept her from interrupting him.

Before long, Zuma was finished, and the sea became eerily silent.

Everest was afraid to speak at first, but after about a minute, she couldn't hold it in any long, and she opened her mouth to speak.

SPLASH!

Everest looked up fast as two figures leapt over the paddleboard. She nearly went into shock as the two visitors splashed down on the other side of the paddleboard, and then popped back up out of the water, smiling at her and Zuma.

With wide eyes, Everest took in the appearance of the two creatures in. One was bigger than the other, and they slightly resembled Skye's appearance except they had dark grey and white fur instead of the more golden colors of Skye's fur. Visible through the clear waters were their sideways fish tails that were yellow with a jagged purple stripe around the middle and purple markings on their tail fins. They also wore black collars with pup tags made of pure gold.

"You- you- you're- you are-," Everest stammered out as she looked from one to the other, backing up absentmindedly, "M- Mer- Mer-."

Everest took one step backwards too many and ended up falling into the water. Quick as a flash, the two Mer-pups dived under the water and pulled Everest up to the surface.

Everest looked at the two of them, amazement stamped on her face as she continued to stammer, "I- I- Oh my gosh! This is incredible!"

Zuma smiled with satisfaction and said, "I sang out to them, asking if they'd let a good fwiend of mine see them. Looks like they said yes."

As the baby Mer-pup nuzzled Everest's cheek sweetly, Everest looked up at Zuma with tears of joy in her eyes and said, "Oh Zuma. . .I don't know how to thank you!"

Zuma shook his head and said, "You don't have to. You desewve it Evewest. And. . . well. . .they can't turn you into a Mer-pup like when we wescued the baby. Not tonight, anyway. And they kinda have to go, like, soon."

"No problem! I'm more than thrilled enough already!" Everest cheered, then she turned to the mama Mer-pup and said, "Thank you for coming here and letting me see you. And don't you worry. I promise to never tell anyone. Your secret is safe with me."

The Mer-pup smiled at this and barked out a reply. Then, she rubbed her cheek against Everest's cheek, and dived into the water. The baby followed suit, and just when Everest thought it was over, she suddenly saw the two Mer-pups leap out of the sea from far away, singing the sweetest song Everest ever heard.

"That was a moment I'll never forget," Everest said, nearly breathless from pure amazement, as she stepped from the paddleboard and onto the beach.

"Told ya so!" Zuma said.

Everest shook the water out of her fur, and then said, "I can't believe you got them to reveal themselves though."

Zuma grinned and said, "Well, we did save the baby Mer-pup, aftew all!"

Although Zuma was smiling on the outside, the black oil spill of sadness in the ocean of his heart that he had burned off to fuel his sad howl-songs seemed to return bigger and blacker than ever now that the exhilaration of seeing the Mer-pups was over. "It was mostly because they undewstood the pain of losing someone very close. . ." he thought.

"This day has been amazing!" Everest cried out, jumping around energetically, "Short of Jake being here, I couldn't imagine it getting any better than this!"

"Everest!"

Everest and Zuma turned to see Marshall running up towards them. The Dalmatian skidded to a halt, accidentally sending sand flying to Zuma's face.

"Pfft! Mawshall!" Zuma cried out in frustration after spitting out sand.

Marshall chuckled nervously and said, "Oops, sorry, Zuma."

Zuma spat out more sand and said, "Oh, it's okay. It was an accident. Well, I gotta put my paddleboawd away now. See you two latew!"

As Zuma left rather quickly, which puzzled Everest a bit. But the sound of Marshall clearing his throat loudly got her attention. She turned to look him, and saw that he looked very determined, at the moment, as if he had something of the utmost importance to say.

Marshall looked at Everest, and he immediately felt his legs grow weak. He swallowed hard and repeated the mantra Skye gave him his head. Then he put on a smiled, albeit a nervous one, and said, "Okay. . . um, Everest. . . I'd kinda like to . . . ask you something. . ."

Meanwhile, deep in the open ocean, the little Mer-pup floated up in front of her mother and asked, "(Mama, will that surface pup turn into sea foam?)"

The mother chuckled and shook her head, and explained kindly, "(No, dear. Only Mer-pups turn into sea foam.)"

"(Oh. . .)" the child said, then he asked, "(So what do they do when it's time for them to go to the waters above?)"

The mother patted her child on the head and said, "(Now, now, you are too young to think of those things. We have helped a friend; and helped to enrich the life of a friend of our friend. That's all you need to know. Focus on the amazing life that you have and be happy.)"

The child nuzzled her mother and said, "(Okay, mama! Can we play Find the Clam together now?)"

The mother smiled playfully and asked, "(Did you eat all of your algae?)"

"(Aww, mom!)" the child groaned.

Next is the part where I'm nervous!

" . . . "

Aren't you gonna say anything?

"No spoilers!"

But I just said that-

"I think I'm a better judge of how you exactly were."

. . . So, I wasn't nervous?

"No spoilers!"

Oh, alright.