Slowly, the rays of the morning sun began to filter through the window into the bedroom where Marshall was sleeping. Slowly, the dalmatian came back to the waking world as he realised that the bed where he shared possibly the nicest dream he'd had in weeks with his father was now empty. And as his blue eyes slowly creaked partway open, he made out the blurry image of an older dalmatian smiling softly down at him.
"Morning, sleepyhead." a very awake Ash whispered.
"Mmmmmm... n-nooo..." Marshall groaned, screwing his eyes shut again and tucking his head in. "...please, just... just five more minutes...
Ash chuckled. "Sorry, kiddo. No can do. Gage always gets up at 7AM. No sleeping in allowed."
"Mmmmrrrrrggghhhh..." Marshall grumbled sleepily, the news of the time not exactly being music to his ears.
Ash smirked and shook his head. "Well, you look like you slept well, anyway! No bad dreams or anything?"
Marshall paused and thought back to the previous night's dreams. Despite scrubbing his memories for the tiniest hint of sadness or fear, what Marshall found in the way of negativity managed to astonish him back to full alertness.
Absolutely nothing.
"No, sir..." Marshall whispered in disbelief.
Ash beamed from ear to ear, clearly having slept fantastically. "Great! Now, up you get! Breakfast is almost ready!"
Not quite knowing what to say in response, Marshall simply followed his dad out of the dog door to their room. The hallway wasn't much to look at, save for a couple of sketches adorning the cream-coloured walls, but what did catch Marshall's eye was the crowd of seemingly-zombified canines to his side as he left his room. Canines who were soon joined by a dazed-looking young boy.
"Errr... morning, pups! Er, early morning, huh?" Marshall greeted.
But all that met him in return was sleepy moans and unintelligible mumbling, along with Ryder reaching up and rubbing his eyes in a vain effort to try and focus his vision, complete with an involuntary yawn.
"Pfft! Kids these days!" Ash scoffed, barely holding back laughter. "No vigour to them at all!"
"Sorry..." Ryder mumbled, looking in the vague direction of Ash. "...our sleep pattern's been kinda... wrecked for a while."
The pups wished that they had their trademark pep at a time like this, but right now, all they wanted to do was crawl back into their nice, tight pile and go back to the peaceful sleep that they missed for so long. After what had happened to Marshall a month ago, any semblance of a sleeping pattern that they may have had was mercilessly destroyed.
But eventually, much stumbling later, everyone had shuffled their way to the kitchen. Much to everyone's shock, Gage had gone to the trouble of making every one of them a massive stack of pancakes. Rubble nearly fainted on the spot, leaving him murmuring in unintelligible joy. No-one knew why Gage was being so kind to a bunch of kids that he'd never met, but this did help to explain why Ash adored the man so.
After Gage politely declined Ryder's offer to do something in return for him making them breakfast, everyone quickly set about their food.
"So... what do you all plan to do today?" Ash asked, looking over at the pups between mouthfuls.
Everyone gained the same look of uncertainty. No-one had really put any thought into the day ahead, and didn't quite know how to answer him. But after a while, Chase responded.
"Hmmm... we'll probably play around for a while, for one thing. But only if you join us, Ash!"
Ash's eyes widened. "Me?"
"Yeah! It wouldn't be any fun without you, Ash!" Zuma added.
Ash blinked. He hadn't played with other dogs in years, so the offer had really caught him off-guard. Yet at the same time, it gave him a warm, fuzzy feeling in his aged heart.
"Well... aww, why not?" Ash replied, smiling widely. "But fair warning, these old bones of mine ain't what they used to be!"
Ash's response was met with laughter and assurances that he would be fine. Including from Gage.
"Well I wanna see the rest of the village, too!" Marshall chimed in when things quietened down. "There's so much we haven't seen!"
"Well, Redcreek's never had a lot going on, my boy, but I'd be happy to give you a guided tour at some point today!" Ash offered.
The spotted pup perked right up, setting his tail in motion behind him. "Ooh, thanks, Dad!"
"Yeah, I can take you around, we can talk to some of the villagers..."
But despite watching on with a smile, Ryder was far away. The only thing he could bring himself to do was stare at the adult dalmatian happily explaining the bright spots of the village to his son. In Ryder's mind, one memory played on repeat. One from years ago that had Ash telling him something that he'd never quite forgotten all throughout the tragedy of a month ago.
Thankfully, Ryder had already finished most of his pancakes, as trying to finish the rest would've proven to be a struggle thanks to the sense of guilt growing in his gut. And once everyone had finished, the pups had swiftly run outside to play, with Gage heading out to tend to the animals in the farm.
The only ones left inside now were Ryder, who still had yet to move from his seat, and Ash, who had decided to grab some water before heading out. And when he was finished, Ash stretched his neck a little before exhaling and moving to the back door...
"Ash!"
...only to be stopped dead by Ryder's call. And judging from Ryder's tone, it couldn't wait. The dalmatian turned to face the boy.
"B-Before you go... I-I need to talk to you... about what happened with Marshall..."
And as if Ash needed any more proof that Ryder had something heavy to discuss, the boy's look of total despondency gave his feelings away immediately. Something was very clearly eating Ryder alive from within.
"That you do, Ryder, my boy..." Ash whispered solemnly, before walking up close and sitting patiently in front of him, ready to listen to what he was sure was going to be very painful for the boy.
"Wh-when I was... sitting in my room after it happened..." Ryder stammered, his brown eyes clearly beginning to water. "I thought about you... a-and what you said to me the day Marshall joined the Paw Patrol..."
Ash had to admit, he didn't quite remember all of the details of their conversation from five years ago, but Ryder remembered it clearly. The memory was fuzzy, but Ash did his best to comb through it. Marshall had just decided to join the then-nascent Paw Patrol, Ryder wanted to make sure Ash was OK, Ash gave his blessings on the condition that his son would be happy... and then Ash remembered one thing that he'd said:
"And if something happens to my boy, you better hope I don't hear about it, or you'll be sorry."
With a mumbled "Oh..." Ash quietly nodded, allowing Ryder to go on.
"It... it was all my fault... I thought I was a better leader than that... b-but..." Ryder was clearly working himself into a crying fit. "...Marshall was in danger, and I couldn't do a single thing to save him..."
Ash's expression was unreadable as Ryder slipped further and further into tears of remorse.
"I-I... I shouldn't be... so helpless and... a-and USELESS when it really counts! A-And... b-because of that, your kid nearly died on my watch-! And... a-and-!"
Tears gushed down Ryder's face as he shook in place violently.
"I AM SO SORRY!"
But before Ryder could really start bawling, he felt something on his knee. Rubbing some of the tears from his eyes, Ryder eventually focused enough to notice that Ash was painlessly resting his teeth on Ryder's knee, looking straight into his eyes all the while with an expression of sympathy. Ash allowed Ryder to stare in confusion for a while, continuing to sob before he spoke up.
"Simmer down, OK?" Ash whispered gently, having slipped back into full-on Father Mode. "Before you say another word, I need you to calm down for me... just take some deep breaths..."
"B-BUT-!"
"Shhhhhh..."
Slowly, Ash moved forward and pressed his head into Ryder's torso, placing a paw on one of the boy's legs. And in turn, Ryder automatically wrapped his arms around the dalmatian's head, leaning into him as he fought to get his breathing back under control.
Since Ryder didn't have anything resembling a father figure now, it was clear that Ash had to step up. But then, after all the kindness Ryder had shown both him and his son five years ago, Ash was delighted to have a chance to return the favour after all this time.
Ash's presence was clearly helping as well. Slowly, Ryder calmed down to the point of merely sniffling and whimpering as Ash turned around to look the boy in the eye.
"Ryder..." he began quietly. "...when I got the news about what happened to Marshall, the only time I thought about you was when I was thinking about all the people Marshall would've left behind. Including you."
Ryder's eyes widened. He thought that Ash would've resented him at least slightly for going back on his word to keep his son safe. Ryder certainly was sorry that something had happened to Marshall, and it seemed that Ash knew it as well. But the boy wasn't expecting that to be enough for the older dog.
"That pup means the whole world to me..." Ash went on. "...but when I thought about the rest of you... well, I only cried harder. And I'm not ashamed to admit that I cried at losing my only family. Just like you, I bet."
Ryder hung his head in shame, slowly nodding in sadness.
"The point being: I never blamed you in the first place. If I WAS mad at you at any time, then I assure you it didn't last any more than ten minutes. I forgave you a long time ago. And all I want from you is to do the same thing."
"B-But-"
"No 'buts', mister." Ash retorted with a note of sternness. "I don't to see the past to know how badly this hurt you. I can see it in your face. There's no way a boy your age should be that pale."
"I-I..."
Ash sighed. Now was the time to go big or go home. Ryder obviously wouldn't improve unless he was directly questioned.
"Look. Did you directly push Marshall into that river?"
Ryder's head snapped back up. "Huh?! NO!" he yelled in a mix of horror and offense.
"Did you ignore him when he yelled for help?"
"NO!" Ryder screamed angrily.
"And when you think back on it, was there anything - anything at all – you could've done to stop it?" Ash concluded firmly, using his best tone of fatherly confrontation.
And this tone clearly pierced straight through the flimsy defences that the boy had erected around himself. Feeling smaller than he had in a long time, Ryder's vocal cords went through a period of stasis for a while before he finally dropped his head down again and squeaked out a single word.
"...n-no..."
"There you have it, then." Ash replied, returning to his previous, gentle voice. "There's absolutely no point in blaming yourself for all this. I mean, I don't, and I'm sure Marshall doesn't, either."
Ash leaned in and licked Ryder's cheek, successfully repressing his revulsion at the overwhelming salty taste.
"Moving on isn't easy to do, I get that. But if you don't at least try, you won't get anywhere." Ash leaned in again and nuzzled Ryder's face. "All I want you to do is try. Do you think you can do that for me, Ryder?"
Ryder's reply wasn't verbal, but physical. After a contemplative pause, he simply hugged Ash again, squeezing the dalmatian with all of his might. Ash simply sat still and let himself be hugged, occasionally nuzzling the boy for a while, listening as his breathing slowed to a more regular pace.
"Thank you, Ash... thank you, thank you, thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou..."
Ash chuckled as Ryder devolved into a mess of quietly-babbled gratitude, his heart warming at the fact that he'd helped to bring back Ryder's smile.
"Sounds like a 'yes', then... heh, heh, heh..."
"I'll do everything I can... I swear." Ryder affirmed.
"I know you do..." Ash whispered with obvious pride. "Now are we gonna stand here and mope, or are we gonna go out and play?
Save for some easily-quelled questions about their delay, thankfully, the pups didn't press the pair too hard when they finally left the kitchen. Despite still smelling some tears on him, Chase was happy to take Ash's account of what happened as proof that Ryder was feeling better.
And with everything squared away for now, the pups decided to play a game of knights in the yard. And much to everyone's surprise, Ryder was quick to offer himself up as a villainous wizard for their game.
"AHH! SAVE ME, BRAVE KNIGHTS!" Princess Skye screamed from the grasp of the Evil Wizard Ryderox.
"Yaaahahahahaha! You will never see your princess again, feeble pups! Go, my dragon!" Ryderox cackled.
Ash only agreed to take a role that involved limited movement, and the role of the Dark Dragon Ashro was modified accordingly. Slowly, Ashro plodded out with a glare in his eyes.
"Raaaar! I'm a scary, hungry dragon! You will never get past me!" Ashro declared, somewhat flatly.
"We'll see about that!" Sir Marshall shouted boldly. "HYAAAAAAAGH-!"
With immense bravery, Sir Marshall charged full-tilt towards Ashro, only to stop dead in front of him and spring onto his hind legs in a bid to push the dragon to the floor. Even with how slow he was, Ashro was able to deftly sidestep the attempted attack and roll Sir Marshall onto his back with his head.
"MUCH too slow, little pup!" Ashro sneered.
Grinning evilly as he stood over Sir Marshall, Ashro reared back, opened his mouth and lunged forward to consume the knight, starting with his belly.
"AGGGHHHM NOM NOM NOM-!"
"AAAAHHH-! HAHAHAHAHA-! HEHEHE HEEEEELLLP! THE- HAHAHAHA-! THE DRAGON'S EEEE-HEE HEE HEE HEE HEE HEE EATING MEEEEEE-!" Sir Marshall squealed, while not making any effort to fight back against the dragon eating him.
"I'll save you, Sir Marshall!" Sir Chase declared. "Chaaaarge!"
With no hesitation, Sir Chase flew towards Ashro and gently shoved him to the side.
"UURRRRRRRGGGGHHH-! Aaaaaggghhhh... you got meeeee..."
Ashro galumphed off to the side and rolled into a crumpled heap from Sir Chase's gentle push, falling completely still as the knight hopped on top of the dragon, holding him down.
"I'll hold down the dragon! Save the princess, knights!" Sir Chase called to his allies.
"Come, Sir Zuma and Sir Rubble!" Sir Rocky cried. "We will take the wizard together!"
Chase only watched briefly as the three remaining pups charged after their owner before turning his attention back to the motionless dalmatians. The shepherd was beaming. He was enjoying himself now more than he had in a long time.
"This is fun, huh, Marshall?" Chase asked, as he looked over at the dalmatian lying further away from him with his limbs stiffly sticking up in the air.
"Sorry, can't hear you. I've been eaten by the dragon." Marshall quickly replied, obviously trying not to smile.
"And you tasted so good, too!" Ash interjected, looking over at his son.
"Hush, beast!" Chase demanded playfully, bringing a paw down on Ash's neck.
"Uuuuugggghhh..." Ash gurgled, unhurt, but still happily playing along.
Eventually, the pups came to the end of their game. Princess Skye had been saved, and Ryderox had fallen. Both Sir Chase and Sir Marshall had gone back over to the pups to chat and wonder what they were going to do next.
"Mawshall, you got caught by Ash on puwpose, didn't you?" Zuma asked, smirking.
Marshall's eyebrows arched. "How did you know?"
"Well, knights generally don't have that much fun when they're being eaten." Skye replied for him.
"A sentence I did not expect to hear today." Rocky quipped.
Off in the distance from the pups sharing a laugh with each other, Ryder stood watching them proudly. He had to admit, just the act of playing with his pups made him feel much better after the last month of misery and drama. And it seems that playing together had made them feel much better as well.
"Hey, Ryder? Ya got a minute?"
But Ryder's attention was quickly grabbed by Gage, who was standing near his pig pen with Ash having moved over to his side.
"Gage? Ash? What's up?" Ryder asked, walking towards the pair. They looked oddly serious, with Ash looking like he had something on his mind for a change.
The two adults glanced over at each other, with the farmer making a gesture towards Ash, who then looked back to Ryder.
"I've actually got something to ask you. Something that's been bugging me from last night." he began. "About your surname."
Ryder gained a quizzical expression. "Huh? What's wrong with Chapman?"
"Nothing's 'wrong', Ryder." Ash quickly reassured. "But... I still remember meeting you after Chase took me to that huge tower of yours. And I was wondering what kind of family would build a rescue organisation based in a massive tower in a small town like Adventure Bay. And one made up of dogs, no less."
"Heh, most do."
"I mean, I sure did." Gage chimed in. And Ash fillin' me in on meetin' ya five years ago only left me with more questions!"
"So I was wondering." Ash continued. "You said you were raised by your grandpa. But who exactly was he?"
Ryder paused for a moment. His grandfather had died five years ago, not long after he had set up the Paw Patrol and sent his prodigy of a son to head it up, so his memories had grown a little hazy. But Ryder trawled the depths of his mind and began to put together a description of his early life.
"Well, for one thing, he was a major tycoon. Crazy rich." Ryder began. "He loved dogs, just like I do. And he was the best parent I ever could've asked for, considering my parents basically dumped me on him as a baby before they decided to live totally off-grid..."
Ryder glared as he practically spat his last few words out bitterly. In some ways, he was glad he never knew his parents if they were that irresponsible.
"...but he always wanted to help people, so he devoted his life to building and maintaining rescue organisations while running a pet care business on the side. The Paw Patrol was probably the most unique one he set up, since it was all dogs... er, plus me. Sorry, I don't remember too much..."
Ash had an expression of delighted amazement on his face, as if he'd just had a major revelation.
"I knew it! You're Jeff Chapman's grandkid!" Ash cried.
Ryder went rigid. "Wait. You know my Grandpa?!"
"Well, heard of him, anyway." Ash admitted. "But there aren't many dogs my age that don't! Chapman House stuff was everywhere in my day! Food, bowls, beds, shampoo, you name it! And news of his charity work was all over the papers, too!"
"So you were right, Ash! Looks like I owe ya treats!" Gage conceded.
Ryder blinked in disbelief. He didn't think that people would've paid much attention to the CEO of a pet care company. But on the other hand, his grandfather was the eccentric yet hardworking sort. Even then, however, the fact that some dogs paid enough attention to the news to at least hear his name was still enough to catch him off-guard.
"Why do you ask, anyway? Were you just curious?" Ryder asked.
And just like that, both Gage and Ash turned much more serious.
"Well, yes." Ash replied. "Though I DID have my suspicions from the day I laid eyes on that big tower... but there's another reason. Gage?"
Gage stepped forward, looking as if he had a major announcement to make.
"...Jeff Chapman actually has a history with this here village, if ya'd believe it."
The news nearly knocked Ryder off his feet, provoking a loud gasp from the boy.
"...you're kidding..." Ryder whispered.
How could it be? Redcreek was an isolated, tiny village. How could his grandfather have any history with somewhere as out of the way as this?
"Say, Ryder? Where were you raised before you came to Adventure Bay?" Ash asked.
"Huh? Well, Chapman House HQ was in a city called Rain... ohhh..."
And suddenly, things started to fall into place for the boy as he remembered where he'd spent his life before he went to Adventure Bay.
"Sounds like ya get it. Rainberg's a fair ways out, but it's the closest big city that this village has got." Gage explained.
"Actually, I just remembered that Grandpa liked to brag about how familiar he was with the area around Rainberg, too..." Ryder briefly slapped his palm to his temple. "So... what was his history here?"
"Well, it's kind of a long story... but I think the story might explain where Chase came from." Ash explained.
"Chase?" Ryder parroted with arched eyebrows.
Everyone cast their eyes towards Chase, who was now engaging in a game of freeze tag with the other pups. Ryder watched the police pup for a few seconds before looking back at the adults, attempting to process how it would be possible that Chase could've come from this very village.
"That can't be right, though..." Ryder eventually concluded, failing to process the information he was given. "Chase was given to me by Grandpa when I was four years old! He can't have come from here!"
"Ah, but where did Jeff GET Chase, Ryder?"
That question caused Ryder to freeze in his tracks. Every attempt at forming an answer for him from that point on simply fizzled out. He tried to explain where his grandfather had gotten Chase, but he couldn't explain what he himself couldn't understand. Ash waited until Ryder held his hands up in defeat before going on.
"It might not be true, but the possibility is there... and I can't stop thinking about it. I hate to ask you to do this, Ryder. I mean, you're OUR guests, after all, but... if you looked into this, it would do a lot to put my mind at ease."
Gage tapped Ryder's shoulder with a wry smirk. "I think Ash secretly wants to be CHASE'S dad, too, y'know..."
"(Gage!)" Ash hissed, before making an overly-wide, strained smile in Ryder's direction. "Uh... th-that's just silly! I-I mean, it's not like him being Marshall's first friend has made me see Chase as the second son I never had or anything, ha, ha, ha, ha!"
Ryder smirked at Ash, seeing that Marshall's poor lying ability was something else that got handed down from his parents. But the amusement didn't last long as Ryder's mind also began to wander.
"Ugh, curiosity is contagious... now I wanna know, too." Ryder grumbled.
"Figured ya might. But we think this is somethin' best kept between us..." Gage whispered.
Ryder decided not to question things at this point. "So what's the plan?"
"Easy." Ash explained. "I take the pups around the village, say hello to some of the villagers, that kind of thing. And while they're distracted, Gage will take you to the place. It's not gonna be nice, I mean, I wanted to puke when Gage told me the story that led to Jeff's showing up in Redcreek in the first place... but I think you can handle it. And when you come back, I'll help you however I can if you need it."
The whole thing sounded like the setup to a bad slasher movie. Ryder had no idea where Gage wanted to take him, or even if he was just blowing hot air. And the whole thing sounded like it was utterly dripping with coincidence. But the worst part was that Ryder couldn't disprove any of it. And his curiosity was eating away at him. Gage was a nice enough man, and Ash was absolutely trustworthy. And now that the chance to fill a gap in his mind had been presented to him, Ryder couldn't let it pass him by.
"Whaddaya say, young'un?" Gage asked.
"I say it sounds a little fishy..." Ryder replied with some suspicion. "...but I trust you two."
Ash exhaled deeply with relief. He wasn't sure if Ryder would say yes to such an odd request, but the boy's trust in both him and Gage had done a lot to put him at ease.
"Thank you so much, Ryder... truly." Ash said gratefully.
Gage smiled, before explaining further. "So, in a little while..."
But little did the three know that the chatter regarding Chase had caught some unwanted attention from the police pup. Having calling time out for himself, Chase stood a little ways away, listening carefully to the conversation. From the moment he'd heard his name, Chase couldn't help but eavesdrop.
And now that he'd caught on, he wasn't going to be able to keep himself away.
Yep. Now it's time to delve into Chase's backstory. As well as Ryder's. As it happens, this little village? Chase may have had history with it. Oh yes, and Ryder also gets some time with Ash to vent his feelings on what happened a month back.
But what in the world could Chase have had to do with Redcreek? Answers are forthcoming. You just have to tune in... But fair warning, things get... kind of heavy in the next chapter. Since it features an animal welfare problem that also exists in the real world...
Anyway, onwards and upwards, yes? I hope you enjoyed this chapter, please review/favourite/follow if you did, and I hope to see you next time.
OC KEY
Ash – a male Dalmatian and Marshall's father. Was adopted years ago whilst his son stayed behind with Chase and Ryder to form the Paw Patrol. Sent a letter in the hopes of drawing his son and his friends to Redcreek. Old and wizened, but also about as clumsy as his offspring.
Gage – Ash's artistic owner. Was part of a large farming family, but is now the sole remaining member after everyone else went to the big city to pursue loftier ambitions. Kindly and patient, if romantically unlucky.
Jeff Chapman – Ryder's somewhat-eccentric grandfather and legal guardian. Died of an illness not long after he set up the Paw Patrol. A philanthropist who built a number of rescue organisations across the country and ran a pet care business – Chapman House – to keep himself funded.