PPX: Zuma's First Month
Episode twelve: Fun at the Beach is Within our Reach
Paleclaw's hideout was shown with Zuma, who was six at the time, shown to be eating some weird brown goop with Paleclaw sitting next to him. The food tasted awful, and both of them couldn't stand hearing the other members fighting. "Maybe if you'd listened to me back there, we would've finished the heist!"
Zuma and Paleclaw looked to see a male Rottweiler and female Terrier going at it at the next table. "If I'd listened to you, I would've gotten my blade scratched! You must be crazy if you think I'm gonna let that happen!"
The rottweiler snapped back with Zuma trying his best to ignore it as he went back to eating. "That's all you care about is your stupid blade!"
"As if any of you give me a reason to care!" The Terrier shot back, leaving Paleclaw to comfort Zuma with a paw on his shoulder. "If Bloodfreak wasn't in charge, I would've killed you in the first week!"
Zuma started to talk to Paleclaw about this, since he knew no one else would be able to hear him. "This sucks Paleclaw. I know it's stupid, but we're supposed to be fwiends here, wight? Why does them fighting bother me when I can't stand them?"
"I think we're the only real friends here Zuma." Paleclaw admitted with a nervous laugh, leaving Zuma to sigh as Paleclaw then brought up a positive to this. "As far as I know, real friends don't fight like that." Zuma looked at Paleclaw with curiosity after hearing that, leaving Paleclaw to shrug while admitting to something else. "That said, you're the only friend I've ever had, and we never fight. As far as I know, real friends don't fight at all."
Zuma felt that made sense, and then he looked over to the fighting dogs once again as he asked about it. "Ya weally think so?"
Paleclaw looked at Zuma as with a laugh while reminding him of another reason that thought came to mind. "It makes the most sense to me at least. We're the only two who're never at each others throats." Zuma and Paleclaw went back to eating, leaving Zuma to hope that he never had to witness an incident of fighting like that between real friends.
The flashback ended on the night of day fifteen of Zuma's life in Advneture Bay with Zuma revealed to have been thinking about that moment while watching Tv with the others. 'Did Chase and Wocky's fight weally twigger those memowies? But why would a fight between them twigger flashbacks of those gang fights? They're nothing like Bloodfweak's gang!'
Ryder was applying some creme to Chase's butt to help it feel better from the camping trip, leaving him to moan with satisfaction. "Oh yes. How can something so steaming hot feel so freaking cool?"
"Too much information Chase." Rocky deadpanned, and then he saw Zuma looking a little spaced out and snapped his fingers. That snapped Zuma out of it, no pun intended, and Rocky then asked about what just happened. "You okay Zuma?"
"Yeah, just thinking about stuff." Zuma answered, and then he snickered as be brought up a more light hearted moment on his mind. "Like if Nicky's still in the shower after Chase's last bathwoom bweak in the fowest." Rocky couldn't help snickering as he thought about that, and Zuma did his best to get back to watching the movie. The last thing he wanted was to end today with another dose of bad memories. Rocky put a paw on his shoulder, and that managed to make Zuma smile when he felt it. Rocky just wondered what could be on Zuma's mind right now.
On day sixteen of Zuma's life in Adventure Bay, Zuma and the others were shown having fun at the beach to make up for Nicky ruining yesterday's camping trip. Zuma for one, being a lover of the ocean, and water in general, was more than excited as he looked over the beach with his pirate hat on. "Captain Zuma weady to sail the sea that's in Adventuwe Bay!"
Zuma rushed out onto the beach with Rocky speaking up about how well his plan worked as he and the others followed suit. "Nothing like water filled fun to please Zuma!" As the rest of the pups rushed out onto the beach, Ryder and Richie started setting up their relaxation posts. While they were doing this, Zuma was getting a look at the wet sand and pressed his paw into it. He loved seeing how well his paw print could stick in the sand. Rocky joined him after setting up his chair to see what he wanted to do. "So what do you wanna do first Zuma?"
"Oh, that's always the hawdest pawt for me. There's just so much to do!" Zuma admitted, always having a lot of stuff he wanted to do while at the beach. After a few seconds of thought, he remembered something he wanted to bring and asked Rocky about it. "I wemembered to bwing my suwfboard with us, wight?"
"Right here Zuma." Richie chimed in, setting the surfboard down close to Zuma where it was safe. "Just be careful out there."
"You got it. Thanks Wichie!" Zuma happily picked up the surfboard and rushed out onto the water after hopping onto it. He started paddling to get some good distance while calling back to the others with an idea. "If you guys are up for it, you could stawt wecording me in case I pull off a cool twick out here!"
Chase took his phone out and started recording with Skye taking notice and smiling at how quick he was to do that. Chase noticed and shrugged, feeling that it was the least he could do. "I figured that if at least one of us would actually record him, it should be me. Consider it my atonement for cheating in the race yesterday." Chase started recording Zuma, hoping he would be okay out in the ocean as he did.
After Zuma paddled for a couple seconds longer, he started to feel some small waves and held onto his surfboard to avoid being knocked off. He looked back to shore and saw that Chase was recording him, and he decided to have some fun with that as he stood up on his surfboard. He made sure to do it slowly, and he smiled when he saw that he managed to stnad up just right. "Alwight; I did it!" Zuma laughed a bit, despite wobbling a little,and called out to the others with excitement over his skill. "Just wait until I'm doing this with actual waves!"
Just then, the waves became a bit too much for Zuma and moved his board forward without him noticing, calling him to fall backwards. "Whoa!" Zuma ended up hitting the back of his head on the surfboard, making Chase and Rocky worry as they saw, and then Zuma rubbed it as he lied down on his surfboard. "Ow."
Zuma made sure to hold on as his surfboard brought him back to shore, and Rocky instantly ran up to him once he got back. "Are you okay Zuma!?"
"I think so." Zuma responded, and then he saw up and rubbed the back of his head some more, admitting that his head didn't feel very good. "That fall didn't feel good though. Is that what a concussion is?"
"It might've been." Chase answered, helping Zuma off of his surfboard, and then carrying it for him as Rocky helped him over to the others just in case. "You're not bleeding, so that's a good sign. Let's have Ryder check it out just in case." Zuma smiled when seeing Chase and Rocky cooperating. This was much better than seeing them fight.
Ryder was getting a look at Zuma's head, and it didn't look too bad, but he did have a noticeable bruise and a small bump. He figured it was best to make some adjustments to Zuma's board until he got more practice. "You should be okay Zuma. As a safety precaution however, maybe your surfboard should have four fins on it for the time being."
"Works for me." Zuma said in response, and then Rocky handed him a pineapple soda, which he quickly cracked open. "Thanks Wocky." Zuma did have a thought in mind about how worried Chase and Rocky were after he hit his head. "Don't take this the wrong way, but it's... kinda nice seeing you guys wowwy about me."
The others had a feeling they knew what Zuma was getting at, and Chase was quick to assure him that it wasn't out of obligation. "You're our friend Zuma. Of course we'd worry if you got hurt."
Zuma always loved seeing that he had genuine friends now, at least now that he couldn't see Claw anymore, and Paleclaw was a rare meeting. Something then came to his mind that he hoped the others wouldn't mind him opening up about. "This is the fiwst time it's been a whole gwoup."
Chase, Rocky, and Ryder felt bad for Zuma as they heard that with Rocky offered to help Zuma with it. "Do you wanna talk about it?"
Zuma thought about that for a bit, and he decided that it was best to wait until after the fun was over. "Maybe later. Today is supposed to be fun after all." Rocky could respect that. There was no point in letting Zuma's thoughts linger for too long when it was supposed to be a fun and happy day. Zuma then got up, ready for what the others wanted to do next. "Now let's go see if Skye and Wichie set up that volleyball net!" The others were fully on board with this, running off to have some fun in the sun.
The six had already divided themselves into teams of three: Rocky, Zuma, and Richie for one team, and Chase, Skye, and Ryder for the other. Chase knocked the ball into the air over the net after Ryder passed it over to him, and then Richie dove down, barely managing to stop it from hitting the sand. Zuma then passed it to Rocky, who hit it over the net with his best strike. Ryder got prepared for this however, and attempted to spike the ball into the sand. Zuma was quick to respond and dove down, stopping the ball from hitting the sand and passing it to Richie.
Richie then passed the ball to Rocky, who knocked it into the air with Skye being the first to pass it up. She sent it over to Chase, who sent it to Ryder, leading to them getting it over the net again. Zuma couldn't help smiling over how much fun he was having as Rocky passed the ball to him. He then bumped it up to Richie, who jumped up and hit it with a powerful spike right towards the ground. Chase and Skye both dove for it, only to bonk each other on the head and miss the ball completely.
Chase and Skye laughed after shaking their heads, leaving Skye to go get the ball as she called out the point. "Well I guess you guys are winning for now."
"Bwing it dudette! We'll win for the west of the game too!" Zuma taunted playfully, and Rocky could tell just by looking at him that he was having fun with the game. Skye brought the ball back onto the court with Zuma making it clear that he was ready for whatever he had for the other team. So Skye got ready to serve the ball, tossing it into the air for the first hit just as it went right over the sun.
The sun was shown in the sky before Zuma was shown biting into what looked like a strawberry jelly and banana sandwich. As he dug into it, Chase brought up how proud he was of his volleyball game victory. "There was no doubt in my mind we were gonna win Skye. I'm just too good at Volleyball to make even a tie worth predicting."
"I wouldn't go THAT far." Skye replied with a smiling eye roll, glad that Chase was at least not hamming it up this time. "Still, you were pretty impressive with that winning shot. Now I know who to trust with the ball when we need one last point to win."
Chase smiled in a way that told Skye he had her back there, and Zuma had just finished the sandwich he was eating. He couldn't resist patting his belly as he spoke up. "Gotta love that fwuit and jam."
Zuma then let out a cute little burp that made him giggle. Rocky then took the chance to bring up how fast Zuma ate that sandwich. "You must've been really hungry Zuma."
"Nah, I just didn't want it to go to waste." Zuma admitted, bringing something else up that further motivated him to finish the sandwich quickly. "And I know what I just ate isn't something you cook per say, but this is still way better than what I was eating before coming to Adventure Bay."
Ryder then chimed in with a positive thing involving his past homes. "Well, at least we know your past homes were nice enough to make you food."
Zuma shrugged, not really looking back fondly on what he had to eat before. "I guess. The only thing I could stand to eat at the owphanage was the pizza. And even then, they bought that." The Chocolate Lab then shuddered as he thought about the food from Bloodfreak's gang. "The less said about the food made for me and those psychos Paleclaw and I used to live with, the better."
Skye still found herself flattered to be the best cook Zuma knew, even with the reasons why. "In that case, I'm glad I could outrank the rest! Even if it's mainly by process of elimination." Zuma gave Skye a thumbs up with Rocky unable to help thinking about the way Zuma described his former gang members.
After lunch, Rocky and Zuma were building a sand castle together with Zuma patting his bucket for the start of another tower. After he got it to stay standing, he showed it to Rocky excitedly, as it looked similarly to a real royal tower. "Check it out Wocky! It looks like a weal castle!"
Rocky got a good look at the tower and smiled when he saw it. He could tell that Zuma was really into this. "That looks great Zuma! You're really getting the hang of this."
Zuma smiled from Rocky's compliment as he gathered some more sand to continue adding some towers. "You think we can make the other towers like this? And how many do you think we should add?"
"We probably could. And four should be enough." Rocky answered clearly, and with the answers to both questions made, Zuma got to work on the next tower. A thought crossed Zuma's mind however, and when Rocky noticed, he instantly caught onto what it was about. "Let me guess. You're thinking about Bloodfreak's gang again."
Zuma flinched upon the mention of his thoughts, and wanted to know how Rocky guessed that. "How'd you know?"
"It's pretty obvious. You already brought it up twice today." Rocky pointed out, and Zuma sighed as he started forming the other tower. Rocky tried to be a good friend and let Zuma vent about whatever it was that was bothering him. "Do you wanna talk about it? Zuma thought for a moment with Rocky assuring him that he didn't have to. "You don't have to. Just, when you're ready."
"Maybe later." Zuma suggested, wanting the rest of the day to be fun. "I don't wanna wuin anyone's day." Rocky could respect that and nodded before getting back to the castle with Zuma. Rocky then started to wonder if this had something to do with Zuma's panic attack yesterday.
Rocky and Zuma were relaxing in the shade together on the beach chairs they brought with them. Zuma's chair was pirate themed, which fit with the theme of his pirate hat. Rocky's was themed with a pattern of tools and gears, indicating that it was representing of his love for engineering and fixing things. The two pups loved the feel of the nice umbrella shade, especially Zuma, who couldn't believe how relaxing it was. "This is nice. And somehow, way more welaxing than lying on the couch at home."
"Well, considering that you currently sleep on the couch, that's not too astonishing of a fact." Rocky admitted, and Zuma couldn't help snickering as he pointed it out.
"Dude; some of the words you use are so weird." Zuma laughed a bit more with Rocky shrugging with a smile before Zuma realized what he just said. "Did I just use the word dude?"
Rocky laughed a bit in response. Thankfully, he saw this as Zuma discovering his way of talking. "Yeah. I think it suits you."
Zuma thought for a moment and realized that Rocky was right. After all, he did love the beach, and stuff like his love for music, surfing, and so on, helped empathize that. "Maybe." Zuma then tried to test it out to see if it really clicked with him. "Dude. Duuuuude." Zuma snickered at how that second 'dude' sounded. It made Rocky laugh as well. "Stonew voice." Rocky stopped laughing after a couple seconds, but he still liked how this was going. Zuma was becoming more comfortable in his own skin day by day, and he was more than happy to see it.
Chase and Skye then came over to where Rocky and Zuma were to let them know that they were done for the day. "Hey guys. Ryder just told us that it's about time to be packing up to head home." Rocky and Zuma nodded to each other and hopped off of their chairs with Chase hoping that today went well in Zuma's eyes. "So. Zuma. Would you say today was a worthy replacement for yesterday's camping trip?"
"You bet I would!" Zuma gladly informed Chase, always happy to have some beach fun with his friend. "And no laxative pwanks to make us end the twip early this time."
Chase snickered a bit at that jab to yesterday with Skye barking a bit before jumping back flipping as she in excitement. "That's great!" As Skye was in the air however, her butt was pointed directly at a diving seagull as she suddenly released...
PFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFT
...a loud and bassy ten second fart that made her spin in a circle of multiple front flips. This caused her to surround herself with her fart, along with Chase, who was unaffected, and also hitting Rocky and Zuma, who wafted away the green cloud of burnt bacon coming from Skye's vibrating butt. She also knocked out the seagull, who fell to the ground next to Chase, since the fart started right into it's face. Skye landed on her butt as soon as the fart ended, leading to her letting out another fart...
PFFFFFT
...a loud and squeaky three second fart that let out a green cloud of peanut butter, making Rocky flinch and blush as he wafted the fart away. Zuma snickered and lifted his right hind leg, cracking a loud and bassy...
BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT
...fifteen second fart that unleashed a big green cloud of moldy bananas and made the Chocolate Labrador's butt vibrate. Skye and Rocky could see this turning into gassy fun that they weren't anticipating, especially after Chase smirked with his butt being shown as he unleashed...
PHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHT
...a loud and bassy thirty second fart that made Chase's butt vibrate as a big yellow cloud of rotten eggs began to surround the beach. The four then decided to get back to packing so they didn't quarantine the beach.
The pups were now bathing back home after their little gas fest at the beach with Chase being the last to shower for obvious reasons. Zuma left the bathroom and gave Chase the go ahead to enter, which he did, allowing Zuma to head on over to Rocky. He saw him tinkering with some kind of gadget and got a good look at it when he sat next to Rocky on the couch. Zuma decided not to interrupt, since Rocky looked incredibly focused, and he didn't want to break that concentration. Rocky finished then and there with Zuma then getting a look at what the device was.
Rocky started explaining what the device was to Zuma upon noticing him and showed him what looked like a pair of headphones. "Hey Zuma. I was just finishing up this pair of unlimited range headphones I had on my mind for my next invention!"
Zuma thought that sounded really cool and hoped Rocky wouldn't mind demonstrating it. "That sounds super cool. You mind letting me twy?"
Rocky was more than excited to have Zuma test his work, but remembered what they talked about earlier and decided to bring that up. "Not at all, but before we do... are you okay with talking about what you went through with that Bloodfreak guy?" Zuma's mood shifted upon the mention of Bloodfreak, even though he knew Rocky wanted to help him. "Only if you want to. I understand if you need time."
"No, I can talk now." Zuma answered, feeling that it was only fair to talk about it, since it was clear that Rocky cared about him. "Hopefully I can tell the othews too someday."
Rocky was glad to see Zuma willing to open up to him, but kept caution as he asked Zuma a question. "Then let me start this off with a question." This was one he hoped didn't hit Zuma too hard. "Does your time with Bloodfreak's gang have anything to do with your panic attack from yesterday?"
Zuma nodded his head yes in response, and then he went into more detail on that as he Rocky put a paw on his shoulder for support. "Paleclaw and I witnessed the dogs we wowked with fighting pwetty much all the time. I never got why they did that. I mean, they were supposed to be fwiends, wight? And Bloodfweak always pweached about being a family." Zuma then explained why Chase and Rocky's fight from yesterday triggered his panic attack. "Your fight with Chase wasn't as bad... but I still got scawed and thought you were stawting to become like them."
Rocky felt horrible as he let Zuma talk about this. He still couldn't believe he was a direct cause of reviving his trauma. "Zuma. I'm so sorry."
"It's fine. I couldn't expect you to know." Zuma assured Rocky, knowing it wouldn't be fair to blame him for something he never talked about before. "Even though I wasn't afwaid to defend myself at the owphanage, the fighting in Paleclaw's gang just had this way of setting me off. We never knew when it was going to happen, just that we would have to heaw it no matter what."
Rocky had another question in mind for Zuma, and he hoped he'd be okay with answering it. Even if he struggled to describe Bloodfreak's gang members properly. "Was your time with Bloodfreak your first exposure to... two or more individuals, who interact frequently, fighting?" Zuma nodded his head yes in response, making it clear to Rocky that Zuma not knowing that friends fight sometimes had something to do with his panic attack. "They certainly don't sound like friends. Still. At least the panic attack you had yesterday makes more sense now."
Zuma smiled when he heard Rocky say he was understanding his anxiety better. He also brought up something else that brought his mood back up. "You guys were the fiwst weal fwiend gwoup I had." That fact definitely made Rocky smile. Zuma then talked about said fact more with glee. "And even though the fight scawed me, I think you can tell how I felt when you and Chase made up. Even if that day ended with Nicky spiking Chase's dwink."
"Hehe. Yeah." Rocky responded, and then he asked about why Nicky was still around, and he sounded somewhat conflicted as he did. It was almost as if he was keeping his feelings about something in. "Why do we still hang out with Nicky anyway?"
Zuma became worried about how Rocky was feeling, wishing he knew why his mood suddenly changed. He had a feeling it was because of his failed relationship with Nicky, but he didn't know much beyond that. Was Rocky that bothered by staying friends with Nicky? If so... then why? "Good question. Maybe we should ask him the next time we DO hang out with him." Rocky felt that was fair. At least if Nicky screwed up again. Zuma then changed the subject in an attempt to ease the tension. "So... can I please twy your unlimited wange headphones now?"
"You bet you can!" Rocky assured Zuma, and he held up the USB drive to plug it in with after he confirmed that. "We just need something to plug this into. Maybe Ryder's Pup-Pad could work." Zuma liked the sound of that. He did wonder what kind of music Ryder liked.
Zuma was testing out Rocky's headphones as Ryder held his Pup Pad while sitting with Richie and Rocky on the balcony of the top floor. After a few seconds of listening, he gave a thumbs up to the others, who gave thumbs up to him in return. Richie could sense that Rocky was having some emotional trouble however. His paw tapping on his lap was a clear indicator to that, and Richie was quick to point it out. "Let me guess." Rocky looked at Richie in surprise as he finished. "It's about Nicky."
Rocky rubbed his shoulder as he admitted to that, having not expected these thoughts to have come back. "I thought hanging out with Zuma would make the thoughts stop." He stopped rubbing his arm when Richie rubbed his head for comfort. "It did at first, at least after he defended me when Nicky attacked me. But the thoughts came back while I was talking to Zuma about his gang life."
Ryder went to comfort Rocky as well, letting him know he could talk to him as he chimed in on the conversation. "Was Nicky mentioned during that conversation?"
"Yeah. He was." Rocky admitted, being worried about how Zuma would react if he told him. "Zuma doesn't know yet. I don't want him to feel like I'm blaming him if I talk to him about this."
"Hey, come on. Zuma wouldn't think that." Richie assured Rocky, knowing that Zuma wasn't the type to think stuff like that. "And even if he did, I know he'd be okay with doing anything that made you happy."
Rocky was well aware of that. He just wished he knew what to do. "The thing is... I kind of wish Nicky and I could be friends too." Ryder and Richie were surprised by that, but they knew where it was coming from. Rocky obviously still cared about Nicky, and didn't want him to be alone. "I know Zuma would feel like he failed if Nicky's behavior kept us from staying on good terms. That's why I agreed to keep him around." There was more to it than that however, and Rocky was quick to bring it up. "But also because... I don't want to force Nicky to be all alone."
Ryder and Richie couldn't blame Rocky for that. He had a good heart, so doing stuff like this was hard for him. It was hard for all of his friends too. Still, Richie had some tough love advice for him that he hoped he'd take. "It can be hard to make moves like this Rocky. But it's not your responsibility to make sure Nicky's okay. He can't be helped if he doesn't want to be helped." Rocky needed to hear that, despite still being conflicted on the matter. "And Zuma has to know it's not his responsibility either."
Rocky didn't even think about that part. Did Zuma really feel obligated to help Nicky? Considering the places he used to live in the past, it made more sense than he originally thought. He had a really important question for Ryder and Richie, hoping that they would have an answer for him. "Should I... should I talk to him about Nicky?"
"It would be good for him to know, so he has the bigger picture." Ryder advised Rocky, and then he let him know that he didn't have to rush it. "You don't have to do it right now if you don't want to. Do it when you think it's right." Rocky took note of that and looked at Zuma as he continued listening to the music. He knew he had to do what was best for both him, and Zuma.
Zuma then came out onto the balcony and handed Rocky his headphones, indicating that he was done with them for now. "Thanks Wocky. Thanks Wyder. These headphones are awesome!" Rocky smiled in response, glad that he was able to give Zuma an invention that gave him a good time. Even if the idea of him feeling responsible for helping Nicky was true, at least he knew he could help him have a good time, even if that part didn't work out.
Zuma was getting ready for bed later that night with Ryder coming into the living room to check on him as he was playing his guitar. He noticed Ryder sitting down next to him and kept playing as he addressed him, since he didn't want to lose the groove he had. "Hey Wyder."
"Hey Zuma." Ryder listened to Zuma play for a bit, and then he started talking about how Zuma felt after today. "So I take it today was a good replacement for yesterday's camping trip."
"You bet it was." Zuma answered excitedly, making sure to be quiet so he didn't wake up Chase and Skye by accident. "I weally need to work on my suwfing skills though." Just then, thoughts about the conversation he had with Rocky earlier entered his mind. He stopped playing and set his guitar down in the hopes that Rocky was doing alright. "Do you think Wocky's okay?"
Ryder had a feeling he knew why Zuma asked this, since he and Richie talked to Rocky earlier. "I hope so. He's been doing great at handling his post-break up with Nicky."
Zuma was glad to hear Rocky handling the break up well. However, that played a big part in his question. "Yeah. That's, actually why I asked." Ryder listened closely with Zuma telling him about the talk he had with Rocky earlier. "We were talking about the life I had with Bloodfweak's gang earlier, and how it caused my panic attack yestewday. When I told him how good I felt seeing that he and Chase made up, I bwought up what Nicky did, and I think it huwt him to wemember that."
Ryder knew this was something that Rocky had to tell Zuma himself, but he felt he could at least give him an idea of what happened. "You probably know by now that Rocky and Nicky's relationship was one that didn't work out." Zuma nodded his head yes, having that thought already with Ryder then bringing up another detail. "And also that Rocky's the one who was brave enough to admit it."
Zuma nodded his head yes again, starting to feel bad about having convinced the others to give Nicky a chance. If that was really hurting Rocky, then he didn't want to keep doing it. The last thing he wanted now was to hurt Rocky. It filled him with thoughts that he didn't even know he had before. Not like when he was on his own. "Wyder?" Ryder put a paw on Zuma's shoulder after seeing how much this was hitting Zuma, who then asked a question that Ryder knew he wasn't the one to answer, despite Zuma's concern. "What exactly was Wocky and Nicky's welationship like?"
Ryder didn't want to disappoint Zuma, but he knew he couldn't answer this question for him. He knew it wasn't his place to speak up about it, as he would be at risk of giving Zuma toe rong idea if he did. Rocky was just the best pick for Zuma to hear about this from. He knew he'd understand, but he also knew it'd disappoint him. "That's something you'll have to ask Rocky yourself." Zuma got that, despite wishing he could know now so he could help Rocky. "And he may not be ready to talk about it yet."
"Then when WILL he be weady to talk about it?" Zuma asked, worried that this kind of stuff was unhealthy for Rocky to keep to himself.
"Hard to say Zuma. I think for now, we should let him know we're there for him." Ryder answered, and Zuma hugged Ryder after he said that, leading to Ryder wrapping his arms around him. He knew this must be hard for Zuma, especially since Rocky was the best friend he had in Adventure Bay after he officially moved here. As much as Ryder wanted to give Zuma closure, he knew it would be best if he heard about this from Rocky. He just hoped everything would be okay by the time Zuma found out. And that Zuma's friendship anxiety wouldn't hurt their friendship from it
Back at Mayor Goodway's house, Rocky was getting ready for bed, and was looking into the closet of Richie's room. When he reached for it, the thing he was looking at was revealed to be a picture of Rocky and Nicky enjoying themselves at a Valentine's Day festival. When he flipped it over, the picture said 'my first boyfriend'. It was clear from that alone that this was when Rocky and Nicky got together. The date was even in the same year he met Zuma. When he turned the photo back over, he saw how happy he and Nicky looked, and it made him more conflicted.
Richie entered the room and saw what Rocky was doing, closing the door before walking over to him with concern. Rocky spoke up about it, with it being clear what parts were on his mind. "There were good times too Richie." Rocky then looked at Richie to see if he knew what to do. "Did I end things too soon?"
Richie knelt down to Rocky and rubbed his head, making it clear that he made the right call. "What happened in that relationship was wrong Rocky. It wasn't your fault." Richie knew more about this than anyone else, at least outside of when Nicky beat Rocky up the day Zuma arrived in Adventure Bay. "You made the right call. I know it."
Rocky hugged Richie, and the half demon wrapped his arms around him as he did. Rocky's face made it clear that he didn't know what to do. And of course he didn't; he was just a kid. Richie just hoped he could help him make the right call. As the two embraced each other, Rocky continued to contemplate when to tell Zuma everything about Nicky as the screen faded to black, ending the episode off.