Chapter eighteen: Fun Boost!
Chase eventually stood up, practically hopping up onto his paws and shaking his body out; the smiling giggle across his face remaining still, when he looked up at them.
"You're-.. laughing?" Rocky said,.. confused looks spreading throughout the group.
"So.. that wipe out didn't hurt?" Chester mentioned.
"I guess not.." Chase shrugged. "Or.. maybe I was more distracted than I thought."
"Or maybe you're finally starting to truly get better now." Marshall reasoned, grinning.
"Huoh.. that's good." Billy sighed, sharing it with a few others among him. "For a second there I thought you'd gotten really hurt. When you weren't moving and-.."
"Oh,.. right.. heh heh.. oops.." Chase noted awkwardly, his gaze wandering away momentarily.
"Just don't do that again, ok." Maggie requested softly, coming to kneel beside him and place a hand on his back.
"Heh heh,.. um..yeah..uh..sure thing." Chase chuckled offly, slightly and quite noticeably embarrassed by this as she stood up again.
"Ok, now that everything's ok again, you can resume your exploring.." Billy decided.
"Carefully." He emphasized, barely moments later.
The group strode away, leaving all the pups on the floor; who turned their attention to Chase again.
"Wow, Chase!" Skyler squeaked. "You must really be feeling better, if you're laughing after a crash like that!"
"Ok,..-well.. maybe not quite that good yet." Chase replied, smirking just a bit at the humorous remark. "But.. I guess I'm getting there."
"Hey,.. I'll take it,.. over all the loom and gloom you've been fighting with lately." Marshall decided.
"And let's see if we can boost that just a little higher, shall we?" Rayla hinted, a knowing grin crossing her face, lifting it up.
"You're on." Chase smirked. "Let's leap!"
"Oh! How 'bout a game!" Skyler gushed. "Let's play.. follow the leader. All you have to do is do what I do. Ready?" And all the pups nodded.
"Ok,.. try this!.." Starting with one paw, then the other, she hit the trampoline under her like she were beating a drum. And the pups around her found it rather entertaining to watch, but also quite enjoyable to do.
"Ok now this!" And she began bouncing both her front paws on it together, and again the pups copied.
When Skyler began to hop,.. the pups began to hop,.. And when they were in a full on bounce even Chase had to admit his initial fears were beginning to melt away. And what was replacing it,.. he found, was more positive than he'd anticipated.
Pretty soon, they were leaping from one tramp to another, scattering across the floor in a race to the other side. Leaping up onto the hard platform, he stumbled forward; but recovered and straightened up to run blindly forward when the ground suddenly dropped out from under him.
Hearing him cry out, the pups raced over and peered over the edge in worry; searching around to find him. Suddenly he popped back up out of the pit of foamy cubes, a smile on his face with an amused giggle to come with it.
"Softest landing ever!" He chuckled. And the pups all sighed deeply, then laughed with him in taking the dive themselves. Ryder and his human company joined in as all their silly pups splashed one another with the cubes, as if playing in a pool; some retreating to avoid the spray and others doing the spraying. Chase dove down and tunneled through the multi-colored cubes, making his way through them then working his way up again.
"Hey.." Chester realized, stopping them all in the moment. "Where did Chase go?"
"Boo!" Cried Chase, popping up right next to his brother from the depths and scattering some of the cubes, which bounced off Chester's head and shoulder when he braced for impact.
"Where'd you come from?!" Chester asked, after the splash subsided and he could turn and look at his brother.
"Got you!" Chase smirked proudly.
"Why you.." Chester began, faking a growing anger and Chase noticed this in time to turn and pull himself up out of the pit and run away to the trampoline floor as his brother shouted. "Come back here!"
"No way! I know you're gonna tickle me for it!" Chase called over his shoulder as he ran.
"Not a chance." Chess called back innocently.
"I don't believe you!" Chase returned, zig-zagging across a couple tramps on his way.
"Come back here and I'll show you!" Chess shouted.
"No way!" Chase answered. And Chester just powered forward beginning to gain on him.
"Too bad! Gotcha!" Chester finally hopped onto his brother and they rolled for a short way. And the halt tossed Chase forward into the tramped wall, and he slid down it laughing till he almost couldn't breathe.
"Told ya,.. haHA!"
"NO!" Chase squirmed against his brother's leveraged grasp and trying to get away from his fur-ruffling paws on his belly. Chase finally engaged his back paws to catch a grip and push his brother off him; rolling over his taped shoulder with no problems.
"Uh oh, Chase." Rayla noted, as the other pups finally caught up to them. "Looks like you're losing your support."
"It's ok." Chase shrugged. "I feel fine now." He reached back to take hold of the stray piece of tape and began to yank. A couple tugs and the long strip snapped and released the wrappings on his shoulder and fell to the floor at his feet. Stepping his paw out of it, he stood on it fully and lifted his head for a more confident stance.
"Well, at least you look good again." Marshall reasoned. "But the big question is do you feel good?"
"I just took two tumbles without pain today.." Chase mentioned. "I'm good."
"Yeah well that's because everything in here is soft.." Marshall reminded him. "The real test is gonna be if you can handle a crash on harder ground if you were to fall at any point."
"Haugh.. Marshall." Chase sighed deeply, frustration evident.
"I know, I know.. I'm sorry I have to be the bad cop here.." Marshall apologized. "But I have to make sure you heal as best you possibly can. And I'm glad you're not feeling any pain right now. But I'm still just erring on the side of caution for now,.. for your sake if not mine." And Chase just sighed again.
"I'm glad you have my back." He sighed finally, reluctant yet meaningful. "Now can we get back to playing already? Before we all get crushed by the weight of.. whatever this is?"
"Sure." Marshall nodded, understandably sighing.
"So what do you wanna do now?" Rayla wondered as they headed back across the tramp floor.
"Well first, I think I'm gonna grab a drink of water." Chase decided, hopping up to climb onto the platform above the tramp floor. So he could then approach the bowls that lined the opposite edge, where the metal bars of the banister stood to protect against the four foot drop on the other side of it; where there was seating for people to relax in.
"And now?" Rayla wondered, after they all took a quick drink.
"Dunno." The German Shepherd shrugged. "There's so much to explore here.. and so many things we could do!"
"There sure is.." Rocky mentioned in agreement. "Isn't it great?!"
"Sure is.." Chase agreed, when they'd all made it back onto the platform next to the pits. "Well then.. let's get back to it!"
"Ok." Chester shrugged, strolling over to his brother. "Starting with you." Then placing his paws on Chase's shoulders, he pushed him backwards so he landed in the pit of cubes. At first Chase was stunned,.. but then his brother's smirk was enough for him to roll over onto his paws and double back toward him.
"And not without you!" He called, popping himself up out of the pit long enough to grab Chester by the foreleg and pull him in with him.
And even though his shoulder hurt a little with the initial act of pulling his brother into the pit with him, it was nothing compared to the joy and happiness that came with dragging Chester into the fun. And he, for once, could laugh instead of cry.
"Oo! Cannonball contest!" Skyler bellowed giving a hop at the first part, and howling after the last. Then taking the plunge, she leapt off the platform and tightened herself into a ball to hit the ocean of cubes enough to scatter them from her dive. Chase and Chester shielded their faces from the foamy spray, and when they looked again the sheepdog popped up from the depths with a chuckle.
"Come on, guys!" Skyler called cheekily. "Who's next?! Bet you no one can top that!"
"Challenge accepted." Rayla announced, stepping up so her paws were just barely on the edge of the platform. "Ready guys?" She went on turning to the remaining pups. And when they nodded for her to proceed..
"A Ten-hut!" Rayla barked and the pups all hopped back in a straight line together; the PAW Patrol pups catching on a bit later than the others.
"Forward hop!" Rayla commanded, walking down the line of erect pups. "Hup!.. hup!.. hup!.." And with each 'hup' a pup hopped forward to stand at the very edge of the pit.
"Company march! Dive, dive, dive!" Rayla called and the pups jumped off, one after the other, in a domino effect like what you see of the military; and the three pups already in the pit looked up at the shadows rising over them.
"Incoming!" Skyler called to her two friends, and they all tried their best to dive out of the way as their friends came crashing down in a heaping bounce of foam cubes. And when they all came up from it, their laughter filled the air.
XXXX
"Ci Ci,.. forward march! Two steps, go!" Rayla delegated from her end of their pretend battlefield.
"Yes, captain!" the wolfdog replied, hopping forward twice she landed on the second one hard enough to knock Rocky off his paws.
"Aw man!" Rocky sighed, rising with a bit of a giggle. "Guess that means I'm out, huh?"
"It sure does.." Rayla smiled. "Sorry Rocky."
Then the mixed breed turned to retreat back across the battlefield, to then hop up onto the solid platform next to Chase.
"That means we still have our commander and I'm still out of the game. Giving us still a chance at winning." Chase told his friend.
"Why? Don't you wanna be in the game?" Rocky wondered.
"In this case, no.." Chase shook his head. "The goal of the game is to take down the other team.. in any way you can. It's a big risk as the captain to enter the game when they don't have to, because that gives the other team a bigger chance to take out the whole team. According to the rules of the game, the captain is not supposed to enter the battlefield unless the commander has been captured by the other team.. Whether that be blocked in somehow,.. or they get taken out of the game. Because if the captain gets into the game, and the captain and the commander get caught,.. or at least the captain,.. the whole team loses; cause there's no one to assume command of the team.
"Ohhh.." Rocky realized, nodding his understanding.
"Ok, great! So now can you give your next orders, captain?" Rayla called. "Our team can't win any faster over here.."
"Oh right!" Chase realized. "And don't count your victories till their won, captain!" He called back challengingly. "You may find you won't have one, once I get done with you!"
"Oo.. those sound like fighting words to me.." Rayla taunted, cringing at the 'Oo..' part. "Let's see if you can back it up!"
And this challenge ignited something in him that seemed to make everything else fade away in the moment.
Oh it's on! He thought to himself gleefully.
What-up guys, here I am again! A new chapter finally out and ready.. And for the purpose of suspense.. ha-Ha! I've cut this chapter just slightly short! But don't worry.. hopefully what I have planned will make it go fast and I'll be able to put the rest of it out soon! Thx so much for all the love and support.. And for bearing with me on this one!
Also I wanna say that I also have another story going that you may or may not have heard of going on right now.. And it's called The Road Back.. now granted I'll warn you that.. You should probably read my story Spooky Pups first in order for the events of The Road Back to make sense.. But anyway yeah,... that story(The Road Back) is nearing completion and will be picking up with another right after that..
My partner on the project, and I are so looking forward to hearing from all those who read it! Especially since we didn't initially realize how far this story has come until it made it this far! XD
Also, real quick,.. just so you know.. the game they're playing at the end of this chapter, leading into the next one,.. is a game based on Chess but a little different. I call it Pup-Chess. but so its applicable to other stories with other shows or whatever.. it can also be known as Captains and Lieutenants,.. just so ya know. ;D
But anyway,.. Enough of that! On to the next chapter! And hopefully I'll see you there! Thx!