Chapter seven: Tough Trials
"Ok, Chase. You ready?" Billy asked, calling the pup to join him outside the Lookout, to which the German Shepherd came bounding after him.
"Yeah I-" Chase suddenly froze when something surprising stood before him.
"Hi Chase, long time no see." A dusty blonde-haired man waved; a bright smile on his face. Exchanging it with his brunette companion.
"Marcus! Daniel! It's you!!" Chase cried, racing up to them.
"Ha ha! Been a while hasn't it, little C." The brunette chuckled, ruffling the pup's fur, as the two men knelt down to receive the excited pup.
"Little C?" Rocky echoed, as the PAW Patrol and Chester drew near.
"Yeah, back in the day, when we were pups, Marcus and Daniel came to meet us before Chase was enrolled in the academy." Chester explained. "And since our names both start with a 'C', and I'm older than Chase. They decided to nickname us Big C and Little C."
"Yup." Marcus, the blonde, confirmed. "But from the look of it.." he went on looking Chase over. "You're not so little anymore, Chase."
"That's right." Chase beamed proudly. "I've grown up a lot since you guys last saw me. I've got my police pup training and everything!"
"Way to go!" Daniel praised, giving him a thumbs up. "We always knew you would."
"Yeah.. well it didn't exactly go the way we wanted it to.." Chase admitted awkwardly. "But I got there eventually."
"So we've heard." Marcus stated. "And it also sounds like we've got a lot of work to do."
"Yeah..uh.. I guess." Chase trailed off rather dryly.
"So how bad was it?" Daniel asked, as Marcus gently lifted his collar to get a look at the pinkish mark still visible due to the small patch of fur that was missing from the wound.
"Um.. ehh.. not too bad." Chase shrugged, giving the illusion of self ease.
"Really? It seemed pretty bad from what Chris and Ryan said.. and Billy." Marcus reasoned surprisingly.
"You talked to them?" Chase realized, looking at them in surprise.
"Of course." Daniel confirmed. "They were the ones who reached out to us for Billy."
"Oh.." Chase's gaze dropped thoughtfully. "So.. you came all this way.. for me?" He lifted his curious eyes back up to look at them, a thoughtful look of confusion displayed across his face.
"Not just that.. we're here to help get you back in shape." Daniel smiled.
"Rumor has it, your training for your first Zoom-it dog competition." Marcus hinted, shooting him a knowing smirk.
"Well you heard right!" Chase smiled. "And I have the bandana to prove it!! I'll go get it!!" Then the pup bounded off toward his pup house. Reaching it, he ducked his head inside just long enough to grab the deep blue material of the bandana. And turning blindly, he stepped on the edge of the blue-starred bowl; falling forward into a puddle of clear wetness. Lifting his head, he shook it; slowly rising to shake the rest of his body in order to somewhat dry himself off. Looking down into the puddle he now stood in, he saw his own reflection. The bandana had luckily landed beyond the puddle, remaining completely dry somehow. But when he glanced back down at his reflection, he noticed the pinkish mark poking over his shoulder; resulting in a flash of Rex's bite, and he could almost swear he'd felt. Clenching his eyes closed, as he flinched at its passing; he shook his head again and took off once more, scooping up the bandana on his way by it and racing as fast as he could away from the puddle.
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"There you are, Chase." Rocky said, when they heard footsteps returning in their direction.
"What happened to you?" Marshall asked, cocking his head curiously at him. "You look kinda.. wet."
"I am.." Chase answered, slowly lowering his gaze. "But it's fine. I just tripped over my bowl, cause I wasn't paying attention." He set his bandana down in front of him and sat down, looking up at Daniel and Marcus. "See, here it is." He smiled, proudly pointing a paw at it.
"Pretty cool, little C." Marcus chimed. "But, ya know, that's not where it really belongs." Chase picked up on the knowing smirk on his face and stood up as the man knelt down to pick up the bandana and tie it around the pup's neck. "There.. that's better. Ready to get started now?"
"You bet!!" Chase barked excitedly.
"Hang on, Chase." Marshall interjected, stepping in the German Shepherd's path. "You're still recovering." He reminded him. "So first things first.. we check how well your shoulder is healing."
"*sigh* fine." Chase gave in dryly, for lack of the ability to protest.
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Marshall maneuvered Chase's foreleg around an invisible circle, as far as his range of motion would allow. Then bringing it up to stick straight up, he applied pressure. Chase felt the pressure barely sting him, but desired not to say so. Maintaining this pressure, he slowly brought his leg down to his side; then straight back up to raise it to his ear. The Dalmatian seemed very optimistic until he brought it around to stick out from his body; and Chase couldn't help but say:
"Ow." Flinching at the discomfort that it created.
"Well it is still healing well." The EMT pup reported. "But it still seems to be out of place somehow." Chase just seemed to stare at the sky above him.. as though paying him no mind at all. But in his mind all he could think was.. great.
"But.. he'll be able to practice today.. right?" Zuma asked.
"Of course he can." Marshall nodded. "But he'll probably have a bit of trouble, so he'll have to take it slow for a while."
"That's not gonna be easy, for Chase." Skye noted. "I mean.. we all know Chase."
"I'm fine, you guys." Chase insisted, rolling up to his feet again; away from Marshall's touch. "You don't need to keep worrying about me. I'm ready."
"We know, Chase." Skye spoke up. "We just wanna be sure you truly are. We don't wanna see you get hurt again.. that's all."
"Oh..uh..yeah.. sure." Chase's meandering tone showed in his demeanor as well; as he strode through the group toward Billy and the Cason brothers, but it wasn't at all sarcastic. "I'm ready to start training.." His gaze seemed off to Billy, but he still listened mindfully to what he said. "Can we.. just focus on that for a while?" The pup requested earnestly.
"Uh.. sure." Billy complied simply, adding a shrug of innocent understanding.
"And we can start right now." Marcus announced, gesturing a hand out behind where the pups stood. The pups all turned to see what it was he was motioning to,.. and gasped with what they saw. The PAW Patrol marveled.. but Chase smiled.
"Cool!! My old training course!!" He gushed, racing onto the field of obstacles.
"Training course?" Skye echoed, as they all strode over to join him.
"Yeah." Chase smiled, peering through the window jump's rectangular hole. "Marcus, Daniel and Billy set it up for me when I was little; to get me ready to be a police pup." He scampered over to the see-saw, hopping up onto the end of it. "The academy's training program was all about courses. Zoom-it dog courses were set up too from time to time." He slowly strode forward on the see-saw as he spoke; and when his weight began to shift it over, he easily slid down to the other side landing it smoothly on the ground. Hopping off it again he raced up to the platform at the center of the course; jumping on top of it. "We trained on it all the time.. and I got really good at it… Sometimes Billy would change it up on me and had me run it, but.. it was totally easy." The pup scoffed shooting Billy a knowing grin.
"Nothing got past you.. that's for sure." Billy smirked.
"Anyway.." Chase continued when hopping down onto the grass again. "I ran this course a million times back then.. and I bet I still know how it goes."
"I bet you do.." Marcus concurred understandably. "But your injury means we need to start slow."
"I don't need to start slow." Chase returned certainly, shaking his head. "I'm fine.. see?" He leapt over the brush covered hurdle and carefully dove around the flag marker and up the catwalk. Plunging down it cautiously.. he threaded himself through the tire hoop easily and flew through the tunnel under the runged wall. Whipping himself around, he hopped up onto the wall, managing to get his paws over the top of it to pull himself over it.. But his shoulder twinged and he found he couldn't keep his grip, knocking him to the ground in a tumbling heap.
"Chase!" Skye squeaked, as Marshall darted toward him.
"You need to be careful, Chase.." the Dalmatian told him helping his friend up again. "You need to-"
"Ok, ok, I get it.. I'm not ready yet." Chase interrupted, pushing his friend's paw away and strolling away sadly. Everyone froze as Chase left, a surprised look coming over all of their faces, but Marshall's couldn't help but frown in a thoughtfully suspicious expression. What is going on with him? He had to ask himself
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"Come one, Chase.." Daniel encouraged. "With a little work you'll be back in peak condition in no time!!"
"Exactly!" Marcus concurred. "We don't have all that much to work on.. you've already shown us you can handle most of it. It's just that stubborn shoulder that we've gotta work on."
"Stubborn! Heh.. that's putting it lightly." The German Shepherd mumbled dryly, avoiding their glance as he stared into his bowl of water hopelessly. Everyone's expressions shifting to looks of complete and utter bewilderment.
"Chase.. why are you being this way?" Ryder asked innocently, his heart troubled by this change in his beloved pup's demeanor.
"*sigh* it's nothing." Chase sighed deeply. "I guess I just need some sleep." He finished, as he strode away to exit the Lookout.
"That was soo weird, right??" Zuma stated, looking about at the others around him.
"What's up with Chase?" Skye wondered aloud.
"His shoulder's not getting better like he wants it to be." Billy pointed out. "I think he's just getting frustrated with not being fine.. even though he desperately wants to be."
"He's using this attitude as a way to distract from something else." Maggie thought aloud. "But what?" And Boomerang developed another suspicious expression.
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Chase lay in his pup house, staring listlessly out at the course set before him. His mind longed for the good old days, when he hadn't gotten hurt and he could still move without worrying about pain in his shoulder and stiffness in that same leg. That he didn't have to wake up in the mornings so stiff, at times, he could hardly move at all. What kind of pup have I become? He thought sadly. That I have suffered such a loss? What deed have I failed to fulfill that has gotten me such a cruel punishment? What's wrong with me?! Pawsteps sounded, and he forcefully swallowed his pride around the building lump in his throat; and quieted his thoughts for fear that whoever was coming would hear them.
"Seems a little early for a pup like you to turn in for the night." The old Australian Shepherd remarked simply, beginning to draw closer once again.
"I'm just.. really tired today." Chase lied, shifting his head away from him.
"I hardly believe that that's the only reason." Boomerang reasoned. "What's wrong, Chase?" The old Shepherd pried gently.
"I just…" The pup sat up. "Wanna be able to.. not hurt anymore,.. ya know?" Chase complained, finding the courage to look him in the eyes.
"I understand…" Boomerang nodded tenderly. "Injuries are hard to come back from.. but part of recovery is accepting what has happened to you in order to get past it." Chase perked up at this and finally turned his way again; and he could immediately see the genuine meaning he was hinting at.
"Yeah.. I guess." The pup responded, turning away to lay his head down again with his body.
"Just think about it…" Boomerang told him, standing to his feet gingerly. "You may find how much of a difference it'd make." Then he strode away to leave the pup with his thoughts. Unbeknownst to him, though, the pup's eyes glazed and he silently sniffled, covering his eyes with his paws.
Hey everybody!! I'm back with another new chapter!! Been trying to get back into the swing of things, since life's been a bit crazy lately. But.. have no fear more is yet to come! And yes, I know I sound crazy when I say that; but don't worry!! Hopefully it'll be worth it in the end. Thx!!!