Another afternoon wake-up. As much as most of the Paw Patrol prided themselves on being fairly punctual wakers, they could probably be forgiven for sleeping in so late after such an emotionally-harrowing few days. At least, that's how Marshall chose to view it as he made out Ryder's alarm clock, now reading 1:37PM.
The first thing Marshall noticed was that Ryder was still fast asleep with the other three pups.
"(Wait. Three?)" Marshall thought drowsily.
Willing his brain into action to perform a quick headcount, he quickly came to the conclusion that Rocky, Zuma and Rubble remained cuddled up next to Ryder, still deep in Dreamland, with Chase and Skye mysteriously being absent altogether. Now that he was wondering where in the world they could've gone, there was no way he'd settle back down. He knew that he'd have to get up and look for them to slake his burning curiosity, but even though a small part of him wanted to, he couldn't leave Ryder.
Especially not when Ryder was currently hugging him for dear life in his sleep. Marshall was just grateful that he was able to turn himself to the side to avoid suffocating.
On the Lookout's ground floor, Chase had managed to rouse himself enough to go downstairs somewhat earlier than everyone else. But instead of finding anything to do, Chase was too busy ambling around aimlessly, wondering what in the world to do. It was clear to him that Ryder, his ever-fearless and kind leader, wasn't just upset – he was downright traumatised. Not even Marshall, Rocky or himself had suffered nightmares as intense as Ryder's most likely was.
How long had he even been suffering? How badly had he damaged his body by shutting himself off and refusing to eat or socialise? Chase was feeling terrible. He felt even more like he should've been able to be there for his family, and yet he'd tucked into his shell just like Ryder had.
"(Like owner, like pet...)" Chase thought ruefully.
But then, something told Chase that losing his baby brother wasn't going to be something that he forgot easily. Like he'd said, he had no idea how much he truly feared his greatest nightmare until it had actually come true. Chase settled on the floor just in front of the door to the Lookout to stare out at the grey, rainy sky. His thoughts began to drift to the alternate reality where Marshall had truly died and never returned. But these thoughts were short-lived as the sound of the elevator behind him sent him into a more-apprehensive state.
"Trouble sleeping?" a familiar female voice asked behind him.
Chase sighed, without turning around. "You know me too well..."
Skye padded up next to Chase before sitting down next to him.
"Skye… will we ever be happy again?" Chase asked, his head still lowered.
Skye sighed. "We can't keep moping forever, Chase… Though, that's easier to say since Marshall came back."
"Try telling that to Ryder… he's worse than I thought… way worse."
Skye leaned her head on Chase's shoulder, who closed his eyes and leaned closer to Skye in turn.
"Me too." Skye whispered. "I mean, I guess it hit all of us pretty hard… him, most of all. I mean, Ryder's kind of like our dad in a lot of ways, right? Imagine how it feels for a dad to see his kid die right in front of him… I'd bet good treats that that's close to how Ryder feels about the whole thing."
"Not just him, though… losing you guys… scares me worse than anything… I was scared of the dentist, once… But that's nothing compared to my brother dying..." Chase had his eyes squeezed shut, desperately trying to fight back tears.
"You say that like you're alone… I'd take all the eagles in the world over going through that again..."
"Well, I kind of was alone! I locked myself away when everyone needed me! You, Ryder… everyone! And I hurt you! I hurt you when you needed me, who's to say I didn't do the same to Ryder?!"
For a moment, Skye paused, struggling to come up with a way to counter Chase's self-deprecation. Clearly, the shepherd hadn't stopped beating himself up over what had happened a few days ago.
"Chase..." Skye began. "You can't change what's happened. If I could do that, I'd make it so Marshall never fell into the river to begin with… But I just can't do that…"
"I know..."
"So you can't keep living in the past. Especially not since Marshall's back now. So the best thing for you to do is to learn from your mistakes. Heck, we've already buried the hatchet, right? So you're on your way. And all we can do for Ryder is take care of him. I've been slacking there too, y'know?"
"But… can we? You saw how he was last night… I don't know if we're even up to the task..."
"Up to the task or not, we can't just sit around and wait for things to get better anymore… We're his pups, right? He's always taken care of us, heard us out when we're feeling bad, made a fuss when we get hurt… The least we can do now is to return the favor."
Skye turned around to look Chase in the eye, who now looked at least slightly calmer.
"So to answer your question: We'll only be happy again if we fight to make it that way."
For a moment, there was silence and stillness. Until the moment that Chase smiled slightly.
"You know? You're right, Skye." Chase replied warmly. "I've spent too long tucked away in my Pup House. But… no more. We WILL be happy again. I'll make sure of it, myself."
Skye burst into a huge grin. "Hey, there's the old Chase! We've missed you!"
And just like that, Chase couldn't keep from laughing. "Honestly? It feels great to be back."
Skye soon calmed down, only to adopt a serious expression. "But you better make good on your words, you hear?" She jabbed a paw in Chase's direction. "You start moping about this again, and I'll stick you in my helicopter's harness and fly your sorry butt through the clouds, mister!"
"I'll hold you to that." Chase replied with a smirk.
Skye leaned in and nuzzled the shepherd, to which he quickly returned the favour. Chase, for a split second, kicked himself even harder. How could he have shut himself off when he had a family who he could depend on so? Chase had faced down a lot. And with Marshall back with them, Chase could face down this period of darkness, too. For a while, Chase and Skye leaned against each other in a state of contentment. Oddly, the rain had gone from feeling depressing to feeling soothing, until Skye spoke up again.
"You know… I wonder if everyone's still asleep up there?"
"Maybe." Chase replied. "This is gonna wreck our sleep patterns..."
"Don't act like we don't need the rest, though."
"I never said that. But maybe we should go wake them. We don't want anyone coming down and thinking we were kissing or something."
Skye smirked wickedly. "Awww… You feewing wonwey, Chase?" she cooed. "All you had to do was say!"
The cockapoo quickly jumped at Chase, who quickly realised what Skye was attempting to do, moving to push her away while she made kissy faces at him. A task not made any easier by her pressing a paw into his sensitive belly.
"AH-! Hey-! Hee hee hee! Get off me! Skye! Qu-Quit it!" Chase giggled, grinning widely as he attempted to push her away.
"I'm warning you, Chase! I'm known for my pup cooties!" Skye cautioned with an evil grin.
"You really want my germs that badly, huh?!" Chase barked back, quickly reversing the roles and pushing Skye to the ground, making false attempts at kissing her.
"Ack-! Hee hee! Chase-! Hee hee hee! G-Get away! B-Back off! Hee hee!" Skye squealed helplessly, as Chase dug a paw into her stomach and pushed his face close with Skye trying to push him off.
"Hey, now..."
The two pups froze immediately. Almost as if someone had pressed the pause button. For the voice that stopped the two's playing was one that they didn't know that they didn't want to hear until now. Praying that their ears deceived them, the two separated and looked to the source of the voice. Their worst fears were confirmed when it turned out to belong to a dalmatian with the face of someone who had just been exposed to the fruits of Cap'n Turbot's fishing journeys; their voices evidently drowning out the sounds of the elevator.
"...what… are… you… guys… doing?"
"M-Marshall-!" Skye spluttered, standing bolt upright. "Wh-wh-where did you come from?!"
"Marshall, whatever you're thinking, it's totally NOT that!" Chase shouted quickly, with eyes the size of dinner plates.
"...Don't tell me… You two… You were… actually..." Marshall replied disgustedly, clearly choking on his own sentence.
"Marshall, it's not what it looks like-!" Skye stammered.
"Y-You're getting the wrong idea!" Chase babbled.
Marshall's eyebrows slowly furrowed into a glare. "Y-You… You… YOU-!" He quickly stomped his paws into the ground, directing a look of horrified, repulsed anger at Chase. "YOU DIRTY, ROTTEN MUTT! YOU GUYS ARE UNDERAGE!"
Marshall's accusation seemed to awaken something in Chase. Something that caused his face to go a brilliant shade of crimson underneath his fur. Something that caused him bolt up, run over to Marshall and aggressively press his head against the dalmatian's.
"EXCUSE YOU?!" Chase bellowed. "THIS FROM THE PUP WHO SPENDS HIS TIME HANGING AROUND EVEREST?!"
"DON'T YOU BRING HER INTO THIS, YOU LITTLE FLEABAG!" Marshall roared back. "YOU TWO WERE KISSING!"
"NO WE WEREN'T! GET YOUR MIND OUT OF THE GUTTER! DON'T YOU KNOW PLAYING WHEN YOU SEE IT?!"
"OH, PFF, YEAH, SURE, 'PLAYING'! YOU TWO'VE GOT A FUNNY IDEA OF THAT!"
"I DON'T LIKE SKYE THAT WAY! THAT'S JUST WRONG! LIKE YOU!"
"OH, SO YOU CAN DISH IT OUT, BUT YOU CAN'T TAKE IT?!"
Skye couldn't contain herself. The sight of her brothers getting into a childish argument caused her to seize up and fall over laughing her head off, curling into a ball of hysterical cackling on the ground. The lull in Chase and Marshall's argument caused them both to register Skye's laughter. Both pups whipped around with glares on their faces.
"WHAT?!" they both snapped.
"Y-you-! You guys…! You…! You're both… both ridiculous!" Skye guffawed, mirthful tears streaming down her face. "Ar- Ar… Arguing like… just like you used to over… over silly stuff like that-!"
Slowly, the aggression melted away from the two pups. Skye was right. They were arguing like they used to. Arguing over the most trivial of things that always ended in the two laughing and playfully punching each other's arms. Just as brothers would. Marshall quickly found himself giggling, which upgraded into being paralysed with laughter as he dropped to the floor in hysterics. He was soon joined by Chase, who only barely managed to stay on his feet from laughing so hard.
"Oh, for-!" Marshall shouted through his laughter. "Wh-What is wrong with us-?!"
"Hey-!" Chase yelled back, still laughing himself. "You're the one who came down and started yelling! Don't drag me into this!"
"Th-Then why were you trying to kiss her-?!"
"She started it!"
"Wha-?!" Skye barked through her laughter. "No I didn't-! You shouldn't have given me ideas!"
"So you admit it WAS your idea-!" Chase laughed even louder.
"Only because of you!" Skye howled.
The pups were far more than simple colleagues. Having been working and living together for so long, they'd become more of a close-knit group of siblings. A fact that all of them were reminded of as they all laughed until they grew lightheaded and slowly calmed down, finally being able to wipe the mirthful tears from their eyes.
"...just like old times, right?" Skye whispered.
"Sure is..." Chase wheezed. "Maybe things are going back to normal faster than I thought?"
"Huh?" Marshall asked. "What do you mean?"
"I wondered if we were ever gonna be happy again." Chase replied. "But with stuff like this happening, maybe we will..."
Marshall paused to think about Chase's words. It wasn't long ago that he'd asked the same question after all.
"Hey… You're right!" Marshall declared. "I mean, you're back on track with Skye, you've both stopped moping, and I had a great time with the other pups yesterday!"
"Easy, Marshall." Skye cautioned. "We're back on track, but it's gonna take more than a couple days to get over losing one of us."
"But the fact that we're on the right track in the first place means something, right?" Chase asked.
"Yep! 'Sides… patching things up with your girlfriend is a good start." Marshall sneered.
If Chase's face wasn't covered in fur, it would have been easy to be able to see it turn as red as a traffic light.
"...THAT'S IT! YOU'RE HISTORY, BUCKO!" Chase roared, practically having steam clouds of pure embarrassment fizzing from his ears.
He charged forward so quickly that you could believe that he'd gotten his superpowers back. Seeing this coming, Marshall shrieked and bolted to the other end of the room, before circling around to the door and zipping out past Skye, who'd thrown herself onto her back howling with laughter again. Even then, however, she could still clearly hear the two pups locked in a high-speed chase in the rain.
"WHERE DO YOU THINK YOU'RE GOING?!" Chase yelled.
"Away from you!" Marshall shouted, continuing to laugh.
"STOP IN THE NAME OF THE LAW!"
"What law?!"
"THE LAW OF THE CHEEKY DALMATIAN!"
The pups had to have been running around the rainy Lookout for at least three minutes arguing all the while before they were stopped by a thoroughly unimpressed-looking Jake and Carlos, having been woken up from their sleep. At least Tracker and Everest found the whole thing amusing. As did the other pups when they finally came down to see what all of the shouting was about.
But perhaps the most shocking thing about it is that they were joined by Ryder, who still looked thoroughly beaten-down. But even he was giggling at the sight of Jake and Carlos scolding Marshall and Chase over running around yelling in the rain. Though after Jake and Carlos had finished reprimanding the rowdy pups, they quickly moved over to Ryder, who, much to their shock, was at least slightly willing to talk. He was still quiet and sad, but less so than yesterday. After the two took him to the kitchen to get some food and refill the pups' bowls, all three of them disappeared up the elevator.
"Dudes, you two got SO busted!" Zuma observed, looking at the two soaked pups with embarrassed grins while holding back his laughter.
"He started it!" Marshall and Chase shot back simultaneously, pointing at each other with their paws.
"It doesn't matter who started it, as long you keep those wet coats far away from me!" Rocky replied.
Skye burst out laughing again, coughing from the strain on her body. "P-P-Please, guys-!" she choked. "S-Stop already…! I-I've got nothing left…!"
Rubble giggled. "You know? This all feels so… normal."
"'Normal'?" Everest asked, looking at the bulldog with a raised eyebrow.
"I mean, it feels like nothing ever changed. Chase and Marshall arguing about silly junk? Skye being happy and talking to Chase again? It… feels like everything went back to normal all of a sudden..."
Nobody seemed sure of how to reply until Tracker spoke up.
"I guess it kind of has, amigo. And hey, maybe that's a good thing. We're not gonna forget losing Marshall, that much is true. But he's home and dry now, and we can have fun with him again just like before, verdad?"
"I agree with Tracker." Chase replied. "Apart from one thing, things kind of HAVE gone back to normal. And I don't know about all of you, but I couldn't be happier about that."
The remaining pups all nodded to each other, making scattered noises of agreement. It was true that none of them wanted the last few days of mourning and despair to have happened in the first place, but Tracker had a point. If they had Marshall back, then things could go back to normal, and they could all have fun again. But despite this, thoughts of the traumatised Ryder still lingered at the backs of their minds.
"So, er… What now?" Skye asked, looking around, realising that going out would be out of the question in this rain.
Everyone fell silent, realising that none of them had any plans for the day and that crowding Ryder wouldn't be in anyone's best interests. Until Marshall suddenly perked up.
"Hey! I know something we could do!" he cried. "But first, ah… We've got towels, right?"
"I think we keep 'em in storage..." Rocky replied.
"Any idea where?" Chase asked.
"Even if I did, there's no way I'm gonna find out if it means going anywhere near a pair of soggy pups!"
The two pups rolled their eyes and grumbled as the room erupted in giggling from everyone except them and Rocky.
It took a little while, but eventually, the two had managed to find a pair of towels in the Lookout's storage cabinets built into the walls and dry themselves off as best they could, getting mostly dry after shaking the remainder of the water from their fur.
"So what did you have in mind, Marshall?" Chase asked.
"Simple." he replied. "Remember when I got sick and couldn't get out of bed?"
Chase was able to piece together what Marshall meant when he saw him move over to where their books were kept. "You wanna go through some albums?"
"Yup!" Marshall carefully studied the spines of the books. "I always feel better after looking over our good times! Plus, even if we could play outside, would you really wanna play pupball or something?"
"NO THANK YOU, WAY TOO DANGEROUS!" Rocky shouted, much to everyone's shock.
"See? I'm right." Marshall replied dryly.
"Well, what did you expect?" Skye asked. "Anything where you might get hurt again is out of the question!"
Marshall didn't bother answering. He simply grabbed a pair of books out of the cabinet. The burgundy-bound books both had a different title in golden writing.
"HUMBLE BEGINNINGS"
"SILLY PUPS"
"Aw, no..." Chase groaned. "You really got THAT one?" gesturing to the thicker "SILLY PUPS" album with a smile.
"What?" Marshall replied in confusion. "It's gonna show the rest of us, too!"
"But it's embarrassing!" Chase whined.
"Hey, I'm due for being embarrassed too, you know! And so's everyone else!"
Marshall began moving towards the rest of the pups with the two books.
"This is gonna be good!" Everest said excitedly. "We'll get to see how the Paw Patrol started out!"
"And how silly we can get..." Skye added, cringing.
"You mean, mowe than we usually are?" Zuma asked.
"OK, settle down, guys." Chase instructed. "There's more than enough embarrassment to go around."
Without further ado, Marshall waited for the other pups to finish crowding around him before pulling the "HUMBLE BEGINNINGS" album off of the stack and laying it down in the middle of them.
"If I've got this right..." Marshall began, pulling the book open with his paw. "...then… Yup! I thought this would be the first thing we saw!"
The photo that greeted the group was of a far-smaller trio of Ryder, Chase and Marshall, with all three giving grins of confidence and happiness.
"Aww!" Everest cooed. "This was how it all started?"
"Sure was!" Chase replied. "Look how pudgy I was!"
"Oh, that's just puppy fat, amigo." Tracker replied. "I had it too, long ago. But you were all so… small… It's a little hard to believe that's you."
"Hey, when we first saw it, we didn't believe it either!" Rocky added.
"I mean, they were already a little bigger than that when I joined the team." Skye said. "I think they'd been together about a year by then."
"And everyone already had a growth spurt when I joined them." Rubble said. "I didn't get bigger until after everyone else. Even Zuma!"
"We all gwow diffewently, dude." Zuma reassured the bulldog. "It's a little surpwising I gwew so fast, actually."
Marshall turned over the page to see two different photos. One was of Chase directing a flock of ducks towards a pond, with Ryder looking on in pride. The other was of Marshall laying back in his firetruck with Chickaletta resting on his belly, giving the chicken a hug with Ryder giving a happy grin in the background.
"Hey! Our first rescues!" Chase cried.
"Still haven't got the hang of that ladder, though!" Marshall retorted, to giggling from the whole group.
"Wow, you've been doing this since you were THAT little?" Tracker asked.
"Yep, and it didn't go as well as you can see." Chase replied. "These photos leave out Marshall's first two tries. His butt was as red as a tomato by the end!"
All of the pups save for Marshall burst out laughing.
"Says you!" Marshall shot back. "Who was it who tried to catch a wandering duckling only to net Farmer Al? And then net himself?"
The pups laughed again, with the exception of Chase. "Darn, I was hoping you'd forgotten that..." he muttered audibly.
"So you two had a lot to get the hang of back then." Everest observed.
"Yeah, but it was more play, less work back then, right?" Skye asked.
"You got it." Chase replied. "We started getting more calls as pups joined, though. And as we got older."
"Makes sense, I mean, we knew how to handle more stuff as time went on." Zuma observed.
"We've all come a long way, huh?" Rubble asked.
"We sure have. We've taken on much bigger stuff lately, after all." Rocky replied.
Marshall wordlessly turned the page when everyone had finished talking, only for the next sight to surprise most of them. The next sight was of Ryder sat cross-legged in City Hall with an empty bottle next to him, the boy flanked by Marshall and Chase, with all of them looking in adoration at a tiny, brown-furred, sleepy-eyed bundle in Ryder's arms.
"Awwwwww!" Skye cried. "Baby Zuma!"
"Ah, jeez..." Zuma muttered, covering his eyes with his paw.
"No need to be embarrassed, Zuma!" Marshall reassured. "You were cute!"
"I-I can't..." Zuma stammered, his cheeks beginning to burn.
"There's nothing wrong with us taking care of you, man!" Chase added. "If we hadn't, you wouldn't be with us!"
"And I wouldn't have had the chance to meet you!" Rocky chimed in. "Our little choco-bowling-ball!"
Zuma looked straight at Rocky with an offended look. "Hey! My head's not THAT wound!"
"Choco-bowling-ball!" Rocky cooed.
"GWAAAAAGH!" Zuma swiftly pounced on Rocky, pushing the laughing mixed breed onto his back.
"You grew up so quick, Zuma!" Rubble said as everyone laughed.
Everest, however, was noticeably perplexed. "Guys, I don't get it." she cut in. "You always said that Skye joined after you guys. Did Zuma join before that? If that's right, why's he #7?"
"Well, that's a good question." Chase replied. "We weren't lying. But who do you think we MET after the Paw Patrol started?"
"...estoy confundido. I'm confused." Tracker piped up. "You met Skye next and she joined the Paw Patrol, didn't she?"
Marshall looked Tracker in the eyes and shook his head, slowly pointing a paw towards Zuma, who looked down at the floor, grinning in embarrassment.
"We said that Skye JOINED the Paw Patrol after Marshall did." Chase explained. "We never said that she was the first pup we MET."
"How does that work?" Everest asked. "You met Zuma before Skye, but he didn't join until way later?"
"That's the one." Marshall replied.
"I didn't actually join until after Wocky did." Zuma explained. "But even though Wyder's been taking care of Chase and Mawshall since they were weally little, he's been taking care of me ever since I was litewally a baby. Wubble's highew up than me 'cause he took to his wole weally quick. At the time, I was still getting my sea legs."
"Heh, someone's been hanging around Cap'n Turbot!" Marshall teased.
"Oh, shush." Zuma shot back with an amused smirk.
"I still remember it like it was yesterday, honestly." Chase said. "And it wasn't even us who rescued Zuma!"
NOW COMMENCING PHASE 3.
We're now in the third "phase" of the story as it were. As tempted as I am to divulge what will happen during this phrase, I think it'll be more fun for everyone if I keep my mouth shut... or my fingers away from the keys, as it were. But I will say that the next few chapters will be a little happier. And the next one in particular is going to focus on Zuma.
I feel like Zuma is the one main pup I have yet to properly write about. I mean, Rubble got a story all about him from me, but I haven't really devoted something to Zuma like that. I only hope that this next coming chapter will make up for that. But then, you probably already know what's coming already. I hope that you'll enjoy what's to come. And as always, if you have been enjoying the story, please don't hesitate to leave a review or send a favourite my way. Thanks for listening, and I hope to see you next time.