(A/N: I don't own Paw Patrol, enjoy!)
Chapter 2: Getting a training day started
As the girls walked outside, they found most of the pups trying to get out of the morning routine.
"I know we do it every morning, that's why we can skip today, its Saturday morning at 6 am for treats sakes!" moaned Rubble.
"Yeah," chimed in Zuma "why can't we just sleep in until breakfast and then get all this nerdy training stuff started and over with?"
"You wouldn't be so tired if you weren't out all night with my herding nemesis and every other female pup you can sweet talk into a date" Replied Chase.
"Low blow dude, considering your girl lives precisely one pup house over" retorted a marginally offended Zuma "You're just jealous because she is better than you at herding and has a cuter butt."
"Score one for Zuma" laughed Rocky.
"I like Chase's butt just the way it is, thank you" chimed in Skye, causing all the boys to whip around and Chase to turn an interesting shade of pink. "However, because some of you spend more time eating pup treats than working out or yoga, you don't have perfectly defined bodies like Chase which is why we're are up to do yoga and workout this morning."
The boy pups all looked at each other sheepishly as they quickly fell into yoga formation with Skye in front to lead with Chase, Ruble, Rocky and Marshall in the front row facing her and Tracker, Zuma and Everest in the back row. Everest decided to start messing with her crush now so as she ran to her spot she leaned over and whispered into his ear "don't worry, your butt is already perfect" which caused his ears and tail to shoot straight up in shock. Everest giggled as she found her spot and they got started. Surprisingly, Marshall managed to find his spot without crashing into anything or any pup.
"Alright pups, today will be 30 minutes of yoga followed by 25 minutes of cardio and a 5 min cool down" started Skye as she led them into the first few poses. There was the usual chorus of groans from various pups as they worked all the tension out of their joints. Though Marshall thought he heard the occasional moan from behind him. *Everest must be more sore than normal* he thought as they continue, though he started looking back at her more just in case she hurt herself.
*That's it, just keep stealing those glances back here* thought Everest as she stretched herself out. She was indead more sore than normal as she didn't work out quite like the pups at the tower. Though as she looked around, she saw that Tracker was having the most trouble despite being the youngest as his joints started popping like popcorn. Rubble also seemed to have given up on his flexibility half-heartedly tried to complete some of the poses around his much larger muscles.
Finally, they came to the last pose which also happened to be from Pup-Fu, the tail sit. Difficult in that it required the pup to get up onto the tip of their tail and balance, it was harder than a tail spin from Pup-Pup-Boogie because there was no momentum to help the pup keep balance. Everest in particular struggled because of all the fluffiness in her tail. She finally got up and then looked over at Marshall who seemed to be in a trance on his tail. *Wow* thought Everest *I wonder how he does that, and what other uses that might haveā¦* Finally, Skye had everyone stop and they flopped down onto the grass already sweat and tired.
"Ok lazy bones" yelled Skye, "this morning's run will be two laps around Adventure Bay, now everyone get in line as this will be a last-pup up run for the first lap!"
All the pups groaned because a last pup run requires whoever is last to sprint to the front. This repeats when that pup reaches the front with the pup now at the end doing their own sprint to the front. As the pups got in line, Everest walked next to her crush and whispered "Enjoy the view" causing him to freeze in shock for a split second as the other pups got in line.
Once everyone was lined up, Skye let the pups down the hill toward the town. As soon as they started the first lap she called "Last Pup Up!"
Marshall, who was in the back, started his sprint to the front and managed not to crash on the way. When he got to the front he called "Last Pup Up!" and Rocky started his sprint to the front. Rocky called it right as he got barely ahead of Marshall, who had picked up the pace for the group, and was already panting as he slowed the team down to a more moderate pace. While Chase ran his sprint up to the front, Everest thought to herself *you know, when I said 'enjoy the view' I thought he would be enjoying the view but it turns out I get to enjoy it more*
Skye however was less amused as being the shortest pup, she couldn't see much past Marshall's and Rocky's legs. *drat* she thought *I was hoping to keep Chase in front of me, now I'm stuck looking at him through a bunch of legs! At least Marshall is tall enough that I can see clear under him but Rocky is such an inconvenient height! *
As the pups finished the first lap, Ryder called down from the top of the lookout "Keep it up pups, let's see what you got!"
Freed from the group run, Marshall and Chase took off at high speed with Zuma, Everest, Tracker, and Rocky tailing them with Skye and Rubble following at measured, sustainable paces.
Chase was running as hard as he could but he knew he couldn't keep up with Marshall, he was just too fast. While both were very fit, Marshall spent more time on endurance and functional fitness while Chase worked best in aggressive bursts of strength and speed. By the Time Marshall got half way around, Chase had fallen back and he couldn't even see the rest of the team. Zuma and Everest were setting a good pace, a bit faster than Chase and were slowly closing the initial gap with Tracker right behind. Rocky wasn't feeling so good and had set a measured pace and was encouraging Skye and Rubble to keep up with him.
As Marshall approach the lookout, Ryder called down to him "You are doing great Marshall, think you can catch Rubble before he finishes?"
"I'm Fired Up!" yelled Marshall as he took off on his third lap, seemingly turning into a streak of black and white.
As Chase approach the lookout, he heard Everest, Tracker and Zuma catching up to him. It sounded like they were going to catch him before the lookout so he gave it his biggest burst of speed that he had and managed to stay barely ahead of them. Everest finished next followed by Tracker and Zuma neck in neck.
"Whoohoo!" Everest cheered as she started her cooldown jog around the lookout. Tracker and Zuma looked at each other and silently wondered how Everest was doing so well with all her fluffy husky fur insulating her.
As the four of them finished their first cooldown lap, Everest said "Hey, where is Marshall, he was out in front of Chase."
"I don't know" Chase replied "He's probably all done with his cooldown with how fast he was moving."
"Not quite" laughed Ryder as he came out to greet his pups "I had him do another lap since he was doing so well to see if he can catch Rubble."
"Wow dude" remarked Zuma "he is one fast pup."
"You said it" replied Everest and Tracker together before looking at each other in surprise and laughing.
About two thirds of the way through his second lap, Rocky was not feeling good at all when Marshall caught up to him.
"You alright?" Marshall called as he caught up to Rocky.
"Not quite" Rocky replied "my right paw is a little sore, I think I stepped on something."
"Let me take a look" Marshall said, bending down to look at Rocky's paw pad. "Yup, you stepped on a sharp rock it looks like, let me take care of that for you."
In less than a minute Marshall had the rock out of Rocky's pad and had it taped up.
"Thanks bud" said Rocky.
"Anytime" said Marshall, "want to try and catch Rubble with me?"
"Absolutely!" said Rocky and they took off at a sprint.
By this time Skye had reach the tower and was walking her cooldown laps with Chase.
"Remind me why I make us do this again?" she panted at her boyfriend.
"To keep your perfect figure my dear" he replied "and in case you ever need to do something more than sit in your comfy pilot's couch during a rescue" he teased.
"Hey no fair" she responded "I'd like to see you try and fly my helicopter with the same precision that I do!"
"No contest" he laughed.
Then everyone looked and saw Rubble come up, with Rocky and Marshall closing fast.
"Hey Rubble, you get second breakfast if Marshall and Rocky don't catch you!" Ryder called.
"Second Breakfast!?" Rubble shouted as he gave it all he had.
Marshall and Rocky heard too and started sprinting even faster. All the pups were cheering their team mates on. Rocky maxed out on speed and Marshall started to get ahead when Marshall tripped and started cartwheeling toward the finish line. Everyone held their breath as the cartwheeling Marshall still was closing on Rubble who was now also running as fast as he could to avoid behind run over.
"Uh dudes, we might wanna..." Zuma started to say but it was too late. Marshall crashed into Rubble catching him up in his cartwheel across the line before running into the other pups in a massive dog pile.
"You guys ok?" Rocky yelped as he ran up.
A course of groans answered him while from the bottom of a pile a distinctive "I'm good!" was heard from Marshall.
All the pups laughed and got back into formation for their cooldown stretch. Everest led this time with Skye, shooting seductive looks at her crush the whole time. Chase noticed but he saw Skye shooting him seductive looks too. *Oh boy, it's going to be one of those days* he though with a shiver. He spared a second to glance at his brother pup *you might not have plans for today bro but she may not give you a choice* he laughed to himself.
After the pups were all stretched out and had plenty to drink, Ryder called them all inside for breakfast.
"Do I get my second breakfast?" asked Rubble Hopefully?
Ryder laughed "Well you didn't cross on your own power but you were on the leading edge of Marshall's cartwheel so I'm going to say yes.
"Whoohoo" Rubble cheered as all the other pups laughed.
"Ok pups, I'll give you an hour or so to relax before we start todays training at 8" called Ryder as he walked out to set things up.
Marshall finished his breakfast next and walked out to help Ryder setup.
"Wonder what today's training is" mused Everest.
"I don't know, but it does involve Marshall somehow" replied Zuma
"I hope it's not more firefighting or water drills, I don't want to get wet today" said Rocky with a shiver
"Maybe it is search and rescue" said Skye "so we can cover more missions at once."
Chase, who knew exactly what the training was on, left the other pups to their speculations with a knowing grin as he finished up his breakfast.
