Hello all! With the first interlude chapter out of the way, it's time to resume the story.

Please enjoy! I own nothing.


Caretaker

Chapter 9-Reason

"Chase? Chase, please open the door- we need to talk." Marshall knocked on the pup house door for who knew how many times in the past twenty minutes. The same thing always happened- Chase refusing to open the door despite him being in the pup house, Marshall's hopes falling yet again, and Rocky... well, Rocky just trying not to snap and bang down the door.

For the most part, Rocky had long since lost his patience with Chase. Out of respect for Marshall, he bit back his words, but he couldn't stand seeing the dally so close to falling apart because his best friend had his head stuck in the clouds. So he stuck around for about ten minutes, then went to the restroom, checked in with Rubble, Skye and Zuma, then returned back to Marshall since he knew he had to update their medic on Ryder.

When he had returned, Marshall was slumped on the cold hard concrete, upset and defeated. Rocky bit his bottom lip- there was a LOT he was getting ready to say, whether Chase wanted to hear it or not, but he was also certain the words spinning around his head, said as it was- raw, unfiltered, no holding back- would get Chase angry enough to kill him. So he plopped next to Marshall quietly, still working out what he wanted to say in his mind. He stared at Marshall's defeated form and huffed out a long breath, raising his paw and opening his mouth to speak.

"Why won't he answer the door?" Marshall sadly wondered aloud. "I know he's in there, and he needs to talk to us!"

Rocky instantly shut his mouth and lowered his paw. He struggled with his words for a moment longer. "It- well, because- ah, Marshall..."

Patting his friend's head, he offered the most reassuring smile he could before his eyes flickered back to the tightly closed door. "Its Chase." He finally answered, uncertainty lacing his voice but needing a solid answer to their defecto leader's behavior. Even if it was an unsure one.

"Wh-what?" Marshall asked. "What... does that mean?"

Rocky hopelessly shrugged. I-I don't know, Marshall! I guess, maybe all this, I don't know-" he stopped when he realized he was rambling. But within the rambling, Rocky realized he had at least part of what he truly wanted to say finally planned out, and he smiled softly.

"Chase really does care, you know? He's always had a hard time showing it, well, showing ANY emotion, really. It's never been his strong suit. And with Ryder, the only person who knew how to translate that kind of pup down and out, I mean... Chase is just taking EVERYTHING hard. He's trying his best, really. It's just..."

Standing up and turning around to go inside, Rocky continued. "I guess what I'm saying is that maybe Chase just needs some time to process all this. He's been running around like he was Ryder for four days straight, and he's been taking care of us and making sure we're holding up alright. He never had much time to himself; maybe it's what he needs."

Marshall suddenly shot up, defiant and upset. "N-No! No! That's not what he needs, Rocky! That can't be what he needs!"

Rocky was a bit startled and paused mid-way in his walking. "M-Marshall?"

"Chase, h-he... he's so... so STUPID! And he's so stubborn, it's... it's crazy!" Marshall had angry tears running down his cheeks, and Rocky was beginning to see that Chase wasn't the only one taking things hard for the past few days.

"Marshall, wait-"

"No! We are trying out BEST to help Ryder, and Chase seems to think WE can do it, that we can do it ALL! But we CAN'T, Rocky! Ryder is SICK- not normal sick, he's really, really SICK! This isn't something we can do ourselves, and I'm tired of having that looming over my head that if I don't stay there, if I don't-don't monitor him every minute, he could stop breathing or choke on something, or-or-"

Rocky slowly advanced forward, his new goal to get Marshall to his pup house to calm him down. "M-Marshall, that isn't-"

"I'm tired, Rocky! I'm tired of feeling like I'm not good enough, and I'm tired of Chase being such a stupid idiot that he can't see what's happening yet AGAIN! Ryder needs that hospital! It was because of that call Ryder was THIS close to death the day the accident happened!" Marshall brought his two front paws together until there was about two centimeters between them.

For a moment, there was nothing but the frustrated panting of Marshall and the near silent gasp of Rocky. He completely froze, the memory coming back hard despite hoping that it would never come back, despite hoping Marshall would never say those words... because he knew they were true, and he had no doubt that the stubborn pup locked in his pup house knew it, too.

"Marshall... I-I don't know what to say..." Rocky really didn't think there was anything he could say to make things better. Marshall felt a little better now that he ranted, but guilt quickly took over when he realized what he had just said. Slowly, a paw raised to cover his mouth, his waterworks still running.

"I-I don't... I don't mean it. I didn't want to think it was true... but Chase saw that blood, too... h-he knew I couldn't do anything except make the pain less for him..." Marshall was whispering as the memories came back for him as well. "Chase should have let me taken him to the hospital right away, not stall for three whole days, Ryder was-"

The next thing Rocky knew, the pup house door flew open, a growling, dark brown blur flew past him, and two best friends were practically rolling around, both growling at one another.

"STOP! Just stop talking, Marshall!" Chase was snarling with rage as he slapped the dally across his face. "You have no idea what I'm dealing with! You had no idea what I had to do then, either! And you think you're in the position to blame ME?!"

Marshall let out a scream as he pushed back against Chase, shoving him off before he charged after him, head butting him in the chest with all the power he could manage. "Well, you're not proving me wrong! Ryder could die again, and you're putting him through this for WHAT?! Huh, Chase?!" Struggling against the weight that suddenly slammed into his ribs, Marshall yelped as he rolled painfully in the grass, secretly thankful all those wipeouts strengthened his head and his back.

Chase was seething with anger, Marshall noted. He could feel it radiating off him. But Marshall wasn't deterred- in fact, it was the most emotion he'd seen with Chase and he was going to get some answers one way or another. He stood up, amazed he wasn't as hurt as he was expecting to be, and stared at Chase, trying to rein in his anger and slowly failing.

"Well?! Why are you acting so stupid, Chase?! Answer me!" Marshall demanded.

By now, Skye and Zuma has heard some of the commotion and had ran down to see what was happening. Upon seeing the two best friends growling at one another, Chase's teeth actually bared, Zuma felt scared- it was rare that Chase was that angry, and Marshall being upset was new altogether. He snapped out of the shock and raced forward, wondering what was happening and why no one was stopping them. That plan was halted when he felt something yank on his collar and tug him forcefully back. He stumbled and landed flat on his rear, and looked up at Rocky, whose expression wasn't making things any better.

"W-Wocky, wha-? A-Awe you CWAZY?! We need to stop this befowe some pup gets weally huwt!" Zuma exclaimed as he struggled against Rocky. The mixed pup was worried about two of his friends already, and refused to add a third one to the mix. He tugged harder on Zuma's collar, pushing the young flailing pup behind him.

"J-Just stay here, Zuma!" Rocky hissed. Zuma couldn't believe what Rocky was doing. Still struggling, Zuma looked to Skye for assistance, knowing those two were her closest friends and hoping she could make them stop before things got out hand.

"Skye, you know Chase will huwt him! Please, you have to stop this!" he pleaded. "Whatever it is, they shouldn't be-"

Skye shook her head and sided with Rocky, keeping Zuma away from them. She looked at them with a careful eye, view switching between the two growling pups.

"Its alright. They're too close to let this go on for much longer, and if it does, we'll stop them. Just give them a moment, you understand?" she explained. Zuma's jaw dropped in shock- of all the pups, he'd at least thought Skye would've seen that Marshall and Chase were beating on each other and stop it!

'Wyder's sick for a few days and evewyone just decides to beat up each othew?! What the heck is going on with those two?!'

As for Chase, he was too angry to listen to his tired body. He didn't even feel tired anymore, not when Marshall kept pushing buttons he had no right to push. He ran at him again, tackling him and sending brown, white and black rolling into a growling and yelling furball. Zuma gasped and looked away, not wanting to see his friends fighting at a time like this.

"Aarrghhh! G-Get off me, Chase!" Marshall struggled to push the heavier pup off his chest, but Chase wasn't budging. He felt crushed under his weight and emotional stress, but somewhere in the back of his mind, Marshall suspected that wasn't even the tip of the iceberg. But he wouldn't know until he could get Chase to calm down.

"C-Chase! I-I can't breathe...! Get off!" Marshall gasped as he hit his side, his face, anywhere to get him to unpin him. "Chase, get OFF!"

Chase was still seeing red, but slowly, he could hear strange echoes and a funny noise that sounded a lot like...

"W-Wha… what..." Finally, Chase began to get off his rage. He blinked slowly, then turned his head a little to the left. Marshall was staring back at him, his paw at his throat as he tried to take in air that his lungs nearly stopped receiving for good. Chase groaned, his paw to his thumping head- and then he gasped as he remembered what had happened.

"W-Wait, Marshall, I-"

"Marshall!" His ears flattened against his head as he heard Rocky, Skye and Zuma yell out his best friend's name. They all ran over to them, Zuma looking Marshall up and down before he turned angrily to Chase. He stomped towards him, not knowing what he was going to do, but needing to do something.

"What the heck wewe you thinking, Chase?!" Zuma demanded, his calm and laid back demeanor gone. "Wyder would punish you if he saw that! You'we our LEADER! Why did you attack Mawshall like that?!"

"W-Wa...Wait a moment, Zuma..." Marshall tried to interject. "You don't know-"

"Zuma's right!" Rocky jumped in. He'd had enough of Chase's attitude the past few days since Ryder fell ill. "Marshall's been trying to talk to you, you keep snapping at ANYONE who suggests taking Ryder to a DOCTOR, and making poor choices isn't exactly that of a great leader! Not to mention you keep hiding some weird little secret that you need to explain to us right now!"

Chase shook his head at the angry accusations being thrown his way. "G-Guys, wait, I-" he tried again, but Zuma and Rocky were yelling and yelling and weren't letting him speak!

"SHUT UP FOR A MINUTE AND LET ME TALK!"

Zuma and Rocky both stopped. Chase was panting, the rage building up again. "If you just SHUT UP, I could explain something! But you keep getting on my case when I'm only doing what Ryder made me promise to him the last time!"

"Oh, really?" Rocky challenged sarcastically, rolling his eyes. "So what was this oh so great secret Ryder asked you to keep? Hmmm?"

Skye pushed Rocky back when Chase started growling at him- although with her tiny stature, she had to ask Zuma to help her out- and Marshall placed a paw on Chase's shoulder and tugged on him hard.

"What?! What do you want! What the heck does everyone want from me!" Chase snapped, his paw thrown in the air in complete frustration. He roughly shrugged Marshall off and slunk off to his puphouse, leaving the tension thicker than ever amongst them. Marshall looked between the other pups and Chase, torn between who he should check on first. Rocky turned away from them, equally angry and tense, and headed for Rubble so he could check on Ryder and calm down. That left Skye, Zuma and a crestfallen Marshall.

"I-I don't... w-what just happened...?" Marshall wondered glumly. He let out a small whimper as he heard Chase slam his pup house door slam. "W-We were just supposed to talk to him! Now he... he's just going to take on everything all by himself..."

Before either Skye or Zuma could answer, Rubble's voice came over. "Guys, Farmer Al and Farmer Yumi are almost here. They're gonna drive Ryder to the hospital. Marshall, Yumi said she needs all the notes you took on Ryder's flu so she can give it to the doctor. I don't remember where they are, though-"

"Hang on, Rubble. We'll be up soon." Skye quickly replied before ending the call. Jerking her head, Skye silently urged Zuma to go back upstairs and check on Rocky. Zuma stole one last sad look at them both before he headed off.

"Marshall... Rocky, he-"

His head shot up, and he looked at her with anger re-sparked in his eyes. "Rocky and Zuma shouldn't have yelled at him! He had a reason for what he did, and Ryder clearly trusted him to keep that secret because of that!" he snapped. Skye's eyes widnened a little but she didn't reply or flinch. Marshall quickly reeled in his attitude when he realized he was snapping at the wrong pup.

"... sorry, Skye. I didn't mean to sound like that."

Skye didn't know what had happened prior to her and Zuma running downstairs. She bit her lip as she tried to think of something that could comfort him. "M-Marshall... I don't know what to say..." she quietly settled on as she looked away. Marshall briefly glanced at her and let out a long sigh, getting up and shaking off some more loose dirt before he walked past her and back to the Lookout.

"Come on. We've gotta get things ready for Yumi."


The pups had everything ready- a bag filled with a change of clothes, socks and shoes for Ryder, along with all the notes Marshall, Skye and Rocky had taken over the four days they had monitored him. Each pup was some level of nervous and a bit scared as the reality finally set in- Ryder was that bad that he needed to be in a hospital again!

Marshall hastily barked away his thermometer and told Rocky the new temperature. "Grrr!" he growled. "It's going up! Now it's at 103.4!"

The others couldn't do anything more until Yumi and Al arrived. The way Ryder was squirming in bed, moaning and mumbling in his twilight slumber made Marshall in particular worry. "It's not normal... no one should have a fever that high and still be-"

"Don't say it, Marshall." Rocky warned. He, too, was worried- Ryder's fever kept fluctuating but wouldn't go down, and with no voice, the pups wondered how they were able to even care for him up until now. "We... we can see that he's pretty bad. Thanks to a certain someone..." he angrily mumbled the last part. Marshall eyed Rocky warily.

"Come on, Rocky. Ease up on him, alright?" Rocky huffed but didn't say a word more. Just then, they heard a loud car horn, and Farmer Al's worried voice.

"Yuuuumi! Wait up, honey! Please wait for me!"

"Hurry up, Al! Ryder sounded pretty bad and we can't waste a second!" Yumi was pretty focused as she jogged the short distance to the entrance of the Lookout. Rubble hopped off the bed and headed for the control room to open the door.

"Farmer Yumi! I opened the door- take the elevator to the third floor, and then make a right! Ryder's room door is open!" Rubble called from his tag. Yumi followed the directions, and in no time, she arrived. Rubble arrived a few minutes later, gasping for air as he had to run at the fastest speed possible to get back to the bedroom.

"Ryder! Oh my goodness..." she whispered, her hand covering her mouth in shock. She knew Ryder had been unwell, but the last time she physically saw him was nearly five days ago.

Now, as she walked into the room and really took the poor boy's weak, terrible state in, she scolded herself for not coming up sooner, for not pushing the pups to get him to a proper doctor. 'They're only children, the pups are just children! Even though Marshall is their medic, he wouldn't know about anything this severe... why didn't they tell me sooner so I could drive him to the hospital?'

"Hey, Farmer Yumi..." Marshall felt relieved, a LOT of stress melting off his shoulders just by seeing her here. Now with an adult here, Ryder could get the care he desperately needed. "Ryder hadn't eaten in three days- the last time he tried to eat your soup, he got sick and threw it all up. None of us can get anything in him, and his fever... it's climbing up little by little."

"Is that so?" She whispered sadly as she knelt next to his bed. She placed a hand on his forehead, and almost instantly, Ryder leaned into the touch. Marshall smiled slightly. "Yeah... that's the most he's able to manage. His voice is shot, too, and... well, it's a LONG list."

Yumi's worry level increased. "Pups... I don't understand. What happened? Why didn't you tell me sooner?"

All five pups hesitated before looking away in various directions, none answering her or looking her in the face. Rocky made to open his mouth, but Marshall's near death stomp on his paw, followed by a warning glare, once again made him reconsider his words and his mouth snapped shut. The mixed breed rolled his eyes and huffed quietly in place.

Their discomfort told her something had happened, and it became far more apparent when she noticed a pup was missing. "Hold on. Where's Chase? Isn't he acting leader? How come he isn't here?"

Rocky's twitching eye caught Yumi's attention, and the strange, tense aura she was feeling told her something not so pleasant happened, something that was probably going to take longer to explain that what she had time to for.

"...alright then. You pups need to explain that to me later. Right now, Al's waiting for a sick little hard worker, so let's get him all set, understand?"

Suddenly, like a switch, the aura around the pups flipped into their more normal professional selves. They scrambled to get their vests and pup packs on so they could meet up with Al outside. All except for Marshall, who was trying to rouse Ryder awake to at least fill him in on what was happening, even if he was too trapped in his fever to really process it.

"Uurgh... wha'yawa't..." Ryder mumbled softly, his eyes still closed. Marshall lightly giggled at the odd structured sentence before he licked his cheek.

"Hey, Ryder. I know you're exhausted, but can you open your eyes for me? Farmer Yumi's here." Marshall whispered in a soothing manner, not wanting to increase whatever pain the poor boy might be in. Ryder tried his best to open his eyes, but it was too much energy his ill-ridden body did not have.

"...too... 'ire..." Ryder turned his head away from him and tried to go back to Dreamland. Marshall whined sadly and nuzzled his cheek.

"Come on, Ryder. Just for a moment, and then you can go back to sleep, alright?" Marshall pleaded. "Please? For me?"

Ryder tried again, somehow hearing words that sounded like begging. He really wanted to see what was going on out there, he wanted to see his pups, but he was so, so exhausted. Whatever this illness was, it was worse than even the flu, he was convinced. After a few more feeble attempts, eyelids finally fluttered open, brown orbs barely visable. Ryder whimpered in pain- the little light that was in the room felt like it was burning his eyes out. He wanted to shut them again, but a paw touched his cheek.

'A... p-paw... pups... m-my pups... Mar... shall... is... that you?' Ryder knew that his thoughts weren't really sensible. He didn't care. He just felt a paw and knew his pups needed him. He needed to be there already, darn it! Why wouldn't his body listen to him?!

"M...ar... shall?" Ryder's voice was so soft and raspy Yumi almost missed it. She realized just how bad Ryder was and nodded to Marshall to update him since he seemed to recognize him the most. Marshall swallowed back his heartbreak at seeing the poor boy fighting just to keep his eyes open and leaned close to his ear.

"We're taking you to the hospital, understand? You're very sick and need more help." he started. "Farmer Yumi and Farmer Al are going to drive us there. Just hang on and stay strong, Ryder. Alright?"

As he pulled back, Marshall waited to see if anything he said clicked into Ryder's brain. Ryder's head slowly moved to look at Marshall's general direction, and he stared blankly at him. Marshall shuddered- why did it seem like Ryder's eyes were looking through him, not at him...?

'That look on his face... it's so... creepy... like he's seeing something in me or behind me or whatever! Creeeeeeppyyyy!' he sung in his head. "Uhhh… R-Ryder...?"

"H-Hosp...ital... b-bad... place..." Ryder breathed. "Don'... w-wanna... wanna go..."

Marshall looked at Yumi. Yumi didn't waste any time- she collected the overnight bag the pups packed for the boy, stuck the information about his condition inside of it, and wrapped Ryder in the dirty blanket he'd been living under for the last five days. "Let's go. Ryder's starting to sound strange."

"Y-Yeah..." Marshall hopped off the bed and jogged after her, tripping a bit over his two front paws and falling down, but thankfully not hurting himself a second time.

"Tehehe! Don't worry, I'm good, Farmer Yumi!" he assured her as he faked a smile. Yumi flashed one back before she hustled out of the room with patient in tow. Once she left, Marshall frowned.

"Ryder said the hospital was... a bad place? Why would he say that?" He mused to himself, concerned that the fever was messing with his head. "I wonder if that was what Chase was talking about. Speaking of which, we should call him... but he's going to be so angry we defied him."

As soon as he gathered his bearings, he sprinted out of the room and met up with the other pups. Rubble was driving his construction rig, and Skye, Zuma and Marshall were going to ride with Yumi and Al.

"Hey, guys? What about Chase?"

"He hates doctors and places like the hospital. We'll call him later- let's hurry and get Ryder some help!" Rocky answered, sounding more irked than inpatient. Yumi and Al looked at each other, and Yumi could only shrug. She still felt something was very wrong, and Chase was at the center of it, but there wasn't time to worry about any of it.

Al turned on the ignition, and Yumi carefully positioned Ryder close to her and kept the blanket wrapped as tightly as she could manage. Zuma and Marshall flanked either side of Yumi and Ryder, and Skye hopped in the passage seat. Rubble pulled out of his parking space and stopped alongside the red pickup.

"Step on it, Al!" Yumi ordered. The usually clumsy farmer fixed his farmer's cap, adjusted his mirror, and burned rubber as he drove down to the bridge, razor focused as Rubble followed close behind. He quickly stole one glance over his shoulder at the retreating Lookout Tower and shook his head.

"Chase, I sure hope you come to your senses soon! Ryder needs you there, too!"


And complete! I'm not the best at writing bickering/arguing scenes, and I've seen so many talented authors do it and make it look so easy! Even so, I'm hoping I at least made this readable for you.

Side note, I'm also doing an origin story right after this little project as well, so I do hope you'll stick around for that!

Please leave your thoughts, comments, concerns, advice, etc.

Until next chapter!