Chapter six: The Journey Begins
"Looks good on you, little bro." Chester smirked as he strode up through the group of pups. "Just be careful, maybe I'll enter the competition just so I can beat you."
"*scoff* as if." Chase scoffed sarcastically, clearly not believing him.
"I'd like to enter to.." Zuma remarked excitedly, his smile fading a moment later. "But I probably wouldn't be any good at it."
"You should go for it, Zuma." Chase encouraged his friend meaningfully.
"Nah, that's ok." The Chocolate Lab shrugged. "Besides I'm not as good as you, and I don't wanna ruin your first real competition."
"You may not be as good as me.." Chase repeated slowly. "But you don't have to be."
"Chase is right." Skye agreed. "All that matters is that you give it your best shot." The other pups nodded together looking to their friend with a smile.
"You should go for it." Chase reinforced. "Even if you don't get very far. Besides.. who else will give me a challenge during the competition." Chase shot him a knowing grin at this last statement.
"In that case.." Zuma thought for a moment longer. "You're on dude!" Chase and Zuma shared a high five as the other pups cheered. "So what'do we do now?" The Chocolate Lab wondered looking around the circle of pups.
"We start training." Chase decided bounding off toward a nearby tree. "We did this with some of the other pups in my unit, when I was training at the academy." The German Shepherd explained hopping up to get a hold of the branch. He attempted to pull his chin above the branch, but his shoulder trembled just seconds before twinging; and the pup lost his grip and fell flat on his back.
"Chase!!" The pups cried, Mariana immediately taking off to be next to her pup. Chase rolled over his hurt shoulder to get up, as his mother reached him. She took him up by the scruff of his neck and set him upright again.
"I'm fine, ya know." Chase insisted, stepping his paw under himself more; a hint of frustration in his tone.
"We know, Chase." Mariana told him tenderly. "But we were just.. worried about you there for a second. That's all."
"But you don't have to be worried about me anymore." Chase protested shifting away from her to face her better. "I'm safe now. And I feel fine. You don't have to always worry about me."
"It's ok, Chase." Billy spoke up gently. "No one said we were always worried about you."
"Ya didn't have to." Chase replied rather bluntly. "I can tell by how you're all still watching me, all the time. I'm not gonna fall apart like some breakable glass figure. I can handle myself." He slowly marched through the crowd of pups and people, to head for the Lookout, leaving everyone to stare after him in surprise.
"That was just weird." Skye remarked displeasurefully, raising an eyebrow in Chase's direction.
"Oh.. I'm sure he's just a little frustrated with what just happened." Frank guessed simply.
"Yeah,.. maybe he'll be better tomorrow." Maggie supposed kinda flatly. But Boomerang saw the distraught look in Mariana's eyes and it got him thinking to himself.
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Chase tossed and turned, rolled this way and that… but sleep would not come to his aid. Could it be too much energy? Or was it because he could stop thinking? Maybe he was overly excited about the journey ahead? Or maybe he was just afraid of what sleeping meant. Noises and voices rang out in his mind. Some good.. some not so good. As his thoughts wandered, he finally began to feel the heaviness of sleep begin its infiltration into his body and mind; bringing it to rest. Though he lay on his back, making everything appear to be upside down, he had this inkling of insecurity hinting in the back of his mind; though he paid it no mind. But when he finally entered into sleep, he realized that he was wrong to have done so.
In the darkness he lay, a wisp of a cold breeze whisked past him, and the chill of it was enough to rouse him to his feet. Now seeming to be fully awake, he crouched low in a tense prowl; peering around the pure darkness that surrounded him. Suddenly two red shapes like eyes opened to peer at him. They only stared, until out of nowhere a piece of this darkness split away to attack, then morphed away as quickly as it'd come. Now lying flat on the ground, he glanced about for whatever had caused his brief tumble; but only found the pitch blackness of before. An off-tone growl sounded and Chase was on his paws again, another attacker whisked passed him seeming to leave a mark on his left shoulder as it went passed; but it vanished as soon as it appeared. Pain came as a wave with it, but it, too, faded to nothing once the wound was gone again. The sensation of claws stung his skin with another attack briskly diving under his chin; making him lift his head and step back a couple paces. Then, somehow, it was behind him and bashed him to the ground when he turned a shoulder to it. Sliding across the ground, Chase glared toward the direction of the shape he'd seen; which recoiled into the abyss of black to sneak around him once again. The familiar growl rumbled in as the eyes glared, then the darkness split to give wait to a pearly white CHOMP!!...
Chase shot up and hit his head on the roof of his house, the impact enough to make him a little dizzy. Holding his head til the pain went down and the dizziness subsided, he slid his paw down off it and sighed at the ground. And the extra thing to hit the ground after his paw… was a few single drops like rain to the ground.
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Warmth.. calm.. peace.. quiet.. For once Marshall felt he could rest easy. Though the reason was beyond him, he cared little about it. All that mattered to him in this moment was the calm, quiet, stillness that the world had finally granted him. Even the warm glow of dawn could not deter him from his blissful slumber; even when it rose up to sting his pupils through his closed eyes.
"Come on, dude, wake up!" He heard Zuma cry. Marshall stirred. Was he talking to him? But why did he sound so far away? Was he even outside? Marshall didn't want to look, but curiosity finally overtook him and he cracked an eye open to vaguely see the Chocolate Lab by the dark blue pup house, rousing a little brown lump laying within it. Chase groaned and shifted, but made no attempt to stir. Zuma nudged him again and Chase responded the same way.
"Come Chase, it's time to wake up! You're usually awake by now." The young Lab coaxed.
"*yawn* having trouble waking Chase this morning?" Marshall asked, yawning deeply as he slowly hobbled over sleepily to join him.
"Yeah.. but he doesn't seem to want to get up today. That's weird, right?" Zuma peered at his friend in red curiously, hoping he wasn't the only one to notice this.
"Chase's sleeping patterns have changed since he got back." Marshall reasoned. "Maybe it's just another one of those days."
"Yeah.. ok. Maybe you're right." Zuma complied with a shrug, dropping his gaze to Chase again.
"Come on.. let's let him sleep for a little while longer." Marshall continued turning to leave. "Looks like he needs it." And when he bounded off toward the Lookout doors, Zuma soon followed suit after the Dalmatian.
Finally, they're gone. Chase's mind thought, as their footsteps faded away. Now they can't see how messed up I really am. One single tear moistened his cheek, disappearing into the crack between his face and his foreleg; which his cheek was rested upon.
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The door creaked open and Chase slowly strolled inside. Every pup looked in his direction at the sound of his entry, a smile coming across their faces at the sight of him.
"Chase, you made it!" Kylie smiled happily, her tail wagging lightly.
"You're looking better." Chase smiled flatly. "Does this mean you're feeling better too?"
"I've come to terms with what has happened, if that's what you mean." Kylie replied, loosely; her eyes falling to the floor, with a positive glow in her eye. "But I am coping better than I was."
"Whatever Boomerang said.. it worked." Ci Ci half joked, giving him a genuinely happy smirk.
"Yeah.. and now everyone's coming out of their shells.." Tiny stated brightly. "Even me!"
"Wow, what universe did I just step into?" Chase wondered sarcastically. "Kylie's finally happy and talking more, and Ci Ci is actually making jokes and smiling; and Tiny's having a good day for once."
"Run a little late, did ya?" A voice from his left implied humorously. Rayla stood there, having just come out from around the mini indoor playset, a mischievous grin staring him in the face.
"How do you-"
"Beat ya here, for once." Rayla cut him off, reading his mind near immediately.
"I see that, but-.. how?" Chase asked.
"As I said.. did you run a little late today?" The Golden Lab wondered simply. "Haven't you been able to come sooner than now?"
"Well-.. yeah I guess but-.."
"Then I guess you were a little slow today." Rayla snickered proudly. Chase just watched her blankly; not sure how to respond.
"Looks like she missed you." Tiny whispered to him ever so subtly. Chase shot him a curious look then lifted it back up to Rayla. Then the door opened once more, earning all their attention once again.
"Hi guys!!" The Black Sheepdog exclaimed with her high squeaky voice.
"Annnd Skyler's back." Tiny sighed with a roll of his eyes, earning him an elbow by Rayla. "What?! I'm kidding!" The chihuahua protested, innocently surrendering.
"Guess what, guess what, guess what?!?!" The Border Collie gushed running circles around them as usual; ending by tackling Chase onto his back.
"*slight grunt* I don't know.." Chase responded dryly. "What?" He developed a humorous smile at her endless enthusiasm.
"I heard about the Zoom-it Dog competition and I'm sooooo glad you're gonna be in it, Chase!!!" The sheepdog smiled, her tail violently wagging; almost creating a breeze.
"Wait, you know what Zoom-it dogs are?" Chase asked, blindsided to know this.
"Of course!" Skyler replied, finally stepping off of him. "I used to run with a pack of Sheepdogs that were Zoom-it dogs. They never officially competed though; we just had our own little competitions for fun. Us and our people, that is."
"Soo.. what happened?" Chase asked, getting up again.
"My owner got really sick." Skyler sighed unfortunately, dropping her head down and sideways a bit. "He couldn't take care of me anymore. It was the hardest decision he ever had to make. But we both knew it had to be done."
"Didn't he have a family member you could stay with?" Tiny asked, unbelieving of this information.
"No.. not that had the time or ability to do it, that is." Skyler informed them. "His parents weren't in the best of health either and his siblings all had families of their own. And none of his friends wanted to take me in, some because they couldn't.. others because they didn't want to. I was put in a shelter, when Mrs. CorDan adopted me for my black and white coloring."
"And we all know the rest." Rayla finished for her.
"Exactly." The sheepdog confirmed.
"I'm so sorry that happened to you, Skyler." Chase apologized sadly. "That must've been hard to deal with."
"It was.." Skyler agreed with a slight nod. "But it's ok… I got through it.. just like we all got through being Mrs. CorDan's trophy pups, for whatever reason."
"At least some of us were her trophy pups." Rayla stayed dryly looking at Chase.
"What do you mean by that?" Chase wondered catching her gaze immediately.
"She wasn't as harsh toward you when she first brought you to the mansion, as she was with most of us." Rayla explained. "And.. strangely enough.. she actually treated you way better than she did any of us when we first came."
"Really?" Chase breathed, hardly able to believe it.
"Yeah.. crazy thing right?" Rayla returned, half-jokingly.
"I can't imagine what it'd been like for you guys." Chase told them sorrowfully, shrinking down a little. "It can't have been good, if that's what really happened."
"It's ok." Rayla soothed sensitively. "It's not your fault.. And we don't begrudge you for it. You got what you got, and in the end you got the worst treatment from her. But none of it was your fault. And now we're all safe and sound because of you."
"I know but-"
"We don't blame you." Kylie cut him off gently.
"If anything we feel kinda embarrassed for what you went through for us." Tiny admitted sheepishly.
"Why?" The German Shepherd questioned with a forceful emphasis of curiosity in his tone.
"Well.. because you tried to escape the mansion to get someone to come free us.. and ended up taking a beating for it." Tiny explained loosely.
"And might I add a terrible one." Rayla put in. "You're neck was sore for weeks and your shoulder still bothers you from time to time. Rex nearly tore you apart.. and you still have the marks to prove it."
"And it's all because of us." Kylie added.
"I told you guys.. I wanted to do it." Chase insisted again, rolling his eyes in exasperation. "I wasn't gonna sit idly by and let Mrs. CorDan get away with how she was treating us.. or Rex. They had no right to do what they did. I did it because I knew what they were doing was wrong."
"We know.." Ci Ci spoke up understandingly. "We just.. need some time to fully come to terms with that fact." The pups all nodded turning their attention to Chase once more; who just stared at them, unsure of how to respond.
Well here's the next chapter already. I apologize for how sporadic my posting is. But I'll try to do better about that in the future once I get caught up on a few things. Anyway enjoy this new chapter!! Thx!!!