(A/N) Hey guys! Back with the last chapter before the, I guess, the section finale. Again I am so sorry I have to go on hiatus, but it wont be very long so please have patience.
Welcome back to Paw Patrol: The Ballad of Dally!
Chapter 16: Acceptance of Grief
It had been an hour since Chase and Rubble left and Zuma was still crying his eyes out. He wanted to go with them as he felt that he needed to find Rocky himself, but Chase instructed him to stay and calm himself before he joined the search. Skye offered to stay behind and help him. Norman heard the commotion and went down to investigate. By that time, Chase and Rubble had already gone and just saw a hysterical crying Zuma and a crying Ember all by herself.
After subduing her and feeding her some hot milk, Norman rocked her back to sleep and went upstairs to put her in Ryder's room, on his bed so she wouldn't be disturbed. Once he was sure that she was alright, he went back down to help Skye with Zuma.
The young chocolate lab hadn't gotten much better for he was still sobbing immensely. He had stopped screaming and hollering at least, but he was crying his eyes out, as if Rocky had died right in front of him. Skye was laying next to him on the bean bag and repeatedly nuzzled him in an effort to soothe him. It wasn't doing much as the lab continued to cry for his friend. Norman went to the other side and petted from his head to his body to hopefully do the same, but it wasn't doing much.
"I-I don't know whewe he is." Zuma repeated. "I-I don't know whewe he i-is. Waaaaaah ha ha aaaaa!"
"Zuma, please. Calm down." Skye cooled. "Chase and Rubble are out there right now. They'll find him. I'm sure of it. Especially if Chase is out there. He'll definitely find him."
"I Sh-Sh-Should be out thewe tho!" Zuma protested in between his sobs. "I-I'm his b-best fwiend! He needs me!"
"I know son, but you're not well right now." Norman stated. "You need to just stay calm."
"I can't…..W-Wocky could be anywhewe! He could be huwting himself wight now!"
Skye shook her head in surprise. "What? Zuma don't say that. Rocky couldn't possibly do that, that's too extreme for him to do. There's no way he would do something like that."
"Yes he would Skye! I don't know if you noticed, but Wocky is an emotional wreck wight now! He could do anything he wouldn't normally do! That's why I have to find him! I don't wanna lose another fweind!"
"You won't lose him, Zuma. We all don't want to lose him. Trust me. Chase and Rubble will not happen." Skye said with a soothing tone.
"But what-hic-if-he's-hic-too-hic-late! What if he allweady-hic-did it be-hic-fowe they could find him?" Zuma responded, calming down a little to where he was not shuttering.
"Don't say that Zuma. It hasn't happened yet, or at least not discovered. You can't know for sure until they get back, so you need to stop thinking about it and not let it consume you."
"...But I can't. I can't stop-hic-thinking ab-hic-out Rocky." Zuma confessed. "He's too sensitive wight-hic-now."
Norman found it very curious about Rocky's state of mind. Besides, it may help the lab calm down. He softly asked. "Zuma, how was he this morning? Did anything seem off to you?"
Zuma shook his head. "Nuh-uh. He was very up beat this morning. In fact, It was his idea to go to the beach."
"Oh really?" Norman said in response.
"Y-Yeah. He came to me and said that he wanted to make up for ditching me yesterday. I of couwse said yes and we went stwaight to the beach."
"I see, what did you do?" Norman asked.
"Huh? Um…..you know. Beach stuff. We mostly played in the sand, but he got closer to the watew than befowe. We even played and swam."
"Wow. That's…...surprising. We could hardly get him to stand on the wet sand." Skye commented.
Norman chuckled a little, "Yes indeed." He then had a serious face. "I'm going to ask you this Zuma, when did you notice he was gone."
Zuma swallowed nervously. "Well..(sniff) we built a sand castle and I went to get some seashells to decowate it with. I-I went in the watew and went undew to find some, but when I came back up,...he was…..gone."
"He slipped away while you were in the water?" Skye asked.
Zuma nodded slowly as he sniffed. "Mmh-hm. I went to ouw castle and called out to him, but I didn't get anything, and his twuck was gone. I searched evewywhewe fow him but I couldn't find him. I went to tell you all immediately. Oh Wocky! Whewe awe you?!"
"Right here pal." A voice sounded off.
Zuma perked up and shot his head over to the lookout doors. He saw Rocky standing in front of the door with a reluctant and embarrassed look on his face. Chase and Rubble followed behind, standing on either side of the mixed breed.
Zuma stood up and launched over to the pup, colliding with the mixed breed and wrapped his arms around with a very tight hug.
"Wocky! Wewe you?!" Zuma whined. "I was totally wowwied!"
Rocky hugged the lab back. "I-I was at Marshall's spot. I'm so sorry pal."
Zuma let go of Rocky to look at him. "Wha-What wewe you doing there?"
Rocky looked back at Zuma but he had a little trouble keeping his pupils on Zuma. "I...uh….I just had something on my mind and…..had to sort it out.
That's all."
Zuma was very skeptical of Rocky's reasons, mostly one thing. "But wha-why did you wun off? You could've just talked to me? You didn't have to go by youwself. Why didn't you at least tell me Wocky?"
"I-I-I didn't want to bother you about it pal. You were having so much fun and I didn't want to ruin it." Rocky explained, hoping Zuma would buy it and understand.
Zuam wasn't convinced all the way though, one thing stuck to his mind like glue, and one look at Rocky's posture told him something. "Wocky. What else happened? Did you do anything else?"
Rocky started to get a little nervous. Zuma probably saw right through him. Still, Rocky strengthened his barrier more, as he wasn't going down without a fight. "No Zuma. Nothing else happened. I just sat there and watched the sky."
Zuma gave an unconvinced look. "Wocky…be honest with me. I promise that I won't be supew mad at you."
Rocky tried his best to look Zuma in the eyes and answer him. "I'm telling you the truth, Zuma. I didn't do anything else. I promise."
Although Zuma trusted Rocky, he still wasn't convinced all the way. He looked at Chase with a questionable look. "Chase, is it twue? Is that weally all that happened? Please don't lie to me."
Rocky held his breath as it took Chase a bit to answer. He didn't know whether or not Chase would tell the truth or not. Especially since Chase was the worst liar in the world. He was ready for the death hug that he was soon to get, hoping if he would even survive it.
"Yes Zuma. He's telling the truth. That is all that happened. I swear."
Rocky was immediately shocked by this. Chase's lie wasn't that bad. In fact, it wasn't bad at all. Even if it was a short statement, he would usually scan his eyeballs around and would cave in at the faintest of pressure. But he didn't, and he didn't make it sound very suspicious at all.
Zuma had no other reason to doubt Rocky, if Chase said that it happened that way, then it must be true. Although he still had some doubts, he decided to let it go for now. He hugged Rocky again. "I believe you Wocky. Just please…." Tears formed in the eyes. "Don't wun off on me again. Talk to me next time."
Rocky buried his face in Zuma's shoulder. "I will Zuma. I'm so sorry."
"It's okay Wocky. As long as you're safe. I'm okay." Zuma cooed, as he hugged Rocky again, with the mixed breed hugging him back.
While this was happening, Chase went to Skye, who was still laying on the bean bag, looking very tired. "You look like you need a nap."
Skye smiled a little. "It is getting late, Chase." She then yawns. "Hoohaah. I'm about to fall asleep right now."
"I think I'll do that as well, I'm already exhausted." Chase agreed with a yawn of his own.
Skye then looks at Chase curiously. "Chase? What really happened with Rocky? What was he doing when you found him?"
Chase looked at Skye nervously. "I told the truth Sky."
SKye popped an eyebrow at Chase. Chase caught on that she knew he was lying but he wasn't giving in. "What?"
"You're a horrible liar Chase." Skye said quietly. "Zuma might not have caught on to it, but I have. He tried to kill himself, did he?"
Chase sighed sadly as he nodded. "Yes….he did….. and I had to catch him. I'll tell you more about it later, I promise. Just please….."
Don't worry Chase. I won't tell Zuma." Skye assured. "It's up to Rocky on whether or not to tell Zuma, I also don't want to put more stress on him than he already has, but we have to tell Ryder. He has to know."
Chase sighed again at Skye's request. Normally, he would tell Ryder, but besides the promise he made to Rocky about not telling anyone, Chase thought that Ryder knowing about Rocky's incident would be the last thing he needed to know about, given Ryder's current mental state.
"To be honest Skye, I don't think Ryder needs to know right now." Chase admitted.
Skye was about to protest until Rubble sounded off in the distance.
"Ember?! Ember! Where is she?! Oh no! Where did she go!"
"Relax son." Norman said firmly. "She's upstairs in Ryder's bed. I suggest you not disturb her for she is sleeping."
"Oh thank goodness, I thought I had lost her." Rubble relaxed. "If I did, I didn't think her parents would forgive me. Nor would I."
"Alright pups, I think you all need to get some sleep. It's getting late and you all have an important event tomorrow." Norman pointed out. "Marshall's funeral."
As soon as that was said, all of the pups suddenly froze up. None of them responded in any way. The weight of tomorrow's events hit them like a tractor trailer.
"M-M-Mawshall's funewal….Is to-tomowow?" Zuma breathed, feeling very distraught.
Chase lowered his head. "It-It is, isn't it?"
All of the pups whined at the acceptance of grief. Some of them nearly forgot about the funeral, mostly because they wanted to.
"I-I can't believe we're going to say g-goodbye to Marshall tomorrow." Skye weakly slurred.
"You say that. I can't believe we have to live without Marshall." Rocky added, his head at his paws.
"Li-Li-Live o-on…" Zuma stammered with tears. "Wi-Without M-M-Mawshall? I don't think I can't do that."
"I don't think I can either." Skye added, bout ready to bawl.
"M-Marshall….Marshall….Oh Marshall, why! Waaaaah!" Rubble cried as he collapsed to his belly and started wailing.
One by one, the rest of the pup went from whimpering to full on cries. Norman wanted to stop them and calm them, but couldn't think of what to say. It was probably best to let them cry it all out. The sight himself almost brought him to tears.
It was a troubling sight to say the least. Each member of the Paw Patrol had been broken down to crying balls. It was a crying session for the ages. Chase kept his face averted from the others, looking at the wall as cried, Rocky and Zuma were embracing each other, crying on each other's shoulders. Rubble was rolling on the floor having a tantrum, and Skye was soaking the bean bag she was on.
Then, Ryder finally walked in.
His heart fell at the sight he had walked into. He felt that it was the aftermath of a very horrible fight that went down right in the lookout.
Once Zuma saw Ryder, he let go of Rocky and ran to his owner. "W-WYDER!"
The others soon followed suit once they realized he was there. Ryder was overrun by his pup, as he fell backwards onto his bottom. He did the only thing he could do, wrap his arms around his pups, as they drench his clothes with tears.
"Pups….." Ryder managed to get out. "What's wrong?"
Zuma did the best he could to answer. "W-Wyder, p-please t-tell u-u-us that w-we d-don't h-have t-to say go-goodbye to Mawshall! Please!"
"Zu-Zuma, I-I'm…" Ryder began before he was cut off by Rubble.
"Please! This has to b-be a really, really bad dream! I want to wake up! I don't want to say goodbye! I DON'T WANNA!"
Ryder tried to speak but Skye spoke before he could. "Why Marshall! Why did you have to go! Marshall WHY!"
Even Chase wasn't immune to the despair, as he was sobbing so much that all he could say was one thing over and over and over. "Maaarsshaaaall don't go! Marshall don't go! Marshall don't go! Don't go without saying goodbye!"
Rocky simply couldn't speak. His sobs prevented him, as he howled and wailed into Ryder's chest.
Ryder hugged his pups, as that was all he could do. He looked up at his father, who gave him a sad, firm look at him. He could hardly hear anything due to the wails of his pups in his ears so he didn't even attempt to ask his father what brought this up, even though he really didn't need to as it was pretty easy to guess.
The wailing went on as Ryder tried his best to comfort his pups. His heart was already in shambles and was now being buried in their misery. He had to do something or Ryder himself wouldn't be able to take it anymore and fall in with them, and that wasn't an option for him as he wanted to stay strong for his pups. His mind may be compromised but it didn't make him forget that these were his pups that he loved, and would do anything for them to be happy. All of them looked to him for that happiness and Ryder was going to accept that, whether he himself was okay or not.
The wailing seemed to have calmed down, Ryder took that chance to address his pups and at least get them to stop crying.
"Pups…...oh my poor, poor pups. Please. Settle down. I want to tell you all something."
It seemed to mostly work, as half of them started to go to soft whimpers. It was Skye, Rocky and Rubble who continued to cry, although they died down a little, while Chase and Zuma went to whimpers.
Zuma then spoke through his whimpers. "Wyder. I don't wanna live in this nightmawe anymowe! Please! This has to be a dweam!"
Ryder held Zuma tight as he sadly responded. "I feel the same way little buddy. But it's not. We are awake, we're alert, Marshall is gone. This is our life now pups. We have to accept it."
"But I don't want to accept that! I wanna play with Mawshall again! Wah!" Zuma started to wail again as Ryder hugged him the tightest he could.
"I know that Zuma. But there is nothing we can do except stay strong and get through tomorrow. No matter if we want to or not, we have to say goodbye to Marshall."
"But how can we!" Rocky cried back. "We don't even have a BODY to say goodbye to! How can he even hear us!"
Ryder put a hand on Rocky's head and petted it. "I know we don't Rocky. But trust me. He can still hear you. He's probably up there right now having the same thoughts as us. He has to move on too, and he's probably accepted that."
"I don't know if we can do that Ryder! Marshall was our friend! Our brother! He needs us, and we need him!" Rubble protested. "It's just not fair! He was selfless and never hurt a fly! Why did he have to go when there are so many others who could've gone instead!"
Ryder was taken aback by Rubble's aggression in his voice. Hopefully, it only will go as far as that. "I have no clue Rubble. I wish it was so different."
Skye looked at Ryder with her face soaked. "Ryder. What are we going to do? We can't just move on without Marshall. It's not right, he should be here! With us!"
Skye buried her face in Ryder's torso as Ryder wrapped his arm around the crying cockapoo. At this point, he'd only be repeating what he had said this entire conversation. Even though he thoughts this way, he felt that he needed to officially address his pups and help them through this trying time, even if he himself was so far down with him.
"Pups. Please….settle down. I need to say something that you all need to hear."
As if Ryder's had suddenly pulled a remote out and lowered the volume, every pup quieted down to listen. Some of them hiccupped due to the amount of crying they had done.
Ryder switched positions into kneeling to level with his pups as he looked at them with care. "Listen pups. I know darn well that all of you wish this isn't real, and Marshall is still alive. I know I'm thinking that as well, but despite all the tears we shed and the sobs we let out, it is. Marshall is dead. There's no way to change it. It's done." Ryder himself started to tear as he averted his eyes a little. "I'm so…...sorry pups. You all are way too young to experience something like this, and it's cruel that it happened to someone that you all considered a brother…..for me…..a son."
The pups all whine at that. Even Norman sobbed a little. Ryder looked back at his pup's sad faces. "But that doesn't mean that we will go down with him. I know it's going to be hard, and I know that some of you don't want to, but we have to move on, and Marshall's funeral is the first step to do so."
The pups all raised their head at the barley hanging on ten year old. Their paws trembled with the temptation to cry again. But they continued wanting to hear every word that their owner had to say.
"Yes, we are all very vulnerable right now and still in disbelief, but we're stronger. Stronger than we ever were before. But we can't do it alone. We all need each other for this."
The pups all look at each other, processing everything that Ryder was saying.
"Marshall was a great loss to us all. None of us believe he's really gone. But I think you can believe me when I say that if he was here, he would be the first one to say this to all of us. That we are stronger than we think. At least that's what I believe."
No pup said a word during Ryder's speech, even the hiccups stopped as all eyes were Ryder. They were all in front of him in a half circle formation, looking at their owner with tears. Ryder had to think for a bit before he went on, sniffling as he went.
"Now that that's been said, I need to ask you all a very important question. A question that's been on my mind since way before the accident."
The pups all produce very intrigued faces as well as Norman who was watching carefully. Ryder closed his eyes to suppress his tears.
"I-I know these past few days have been hectic for us. Heck I would go as far as to say more like a few months. From accidents, to close calls, to faulty equipment, mistakes, and now…..death. Because of this I have been flip flopping on whether or not to continue the Paw Patrol after tomorrow."
The intrigue turned deeply concerned as the pups gasp in response to Ryder's revelation. Norman was especially concerned as he was very afraid of something like this.
"Wha? Wyder. Y-Youw not thinking of…...ending the Paw Patwol awe you?" Zuma sounded ready to burst into tears again, as his job was on the line.
Ryder drew in a breath as he responded to Zuma's worries with a sad and regretful tone. "To be honest, Zuma, I feel that I have to. I know you all think that I'm smart and a great leader, but I'm ten years old for crying out loud. Most kids my age are still in elementary school, but here, I am leading a rescue team full of pups with absolutely no experience in leadership or even life. Giving you all equipment that may or may not blow up in your faces because of an oversight that I made. It's pretty obvious now, that when I started this team, I had way, way too much confidence. I thought that as long as we had my wits and your talents, we could change the world, but that was way too ambitious of me. Marshall's death proves that."
The pups whine in sorrow as Ryder lifted the weight that had been on his shoulders for the past year. Norman was about ready to speak his own opinions until Ryder spoke again.
Ryder's heart was out and thumping in front of everyone as he went on. "But…..to tell the other honest truth, despite everything that's happened, I-I don't want it to end."
The pups all have surprised looks on their faces as they truly did not expect Ryder to flip flop so easily. Ryder eyed each of his pups before he spoke again. "I love all of you. More than everything in this darn world, and I'm so proud of you all. I've watched you grow and use your talents to help so many who needed it the most. Not to mention all the fun we've had and friends we've made. I feel that whenever we help, save, or rescue, we bond and shine brighter than anything else we do. So. No. I don't want to end it. But I may have to."
The pups whine again as Ryder doubted himself in front of them. Ryder looked at them again with more tears.
"The more I think about it though, the more I feel that it is not my decision to call. It's really up to you all. So as I ask you this question, I want you all to know that you will not be shamed because no matter what you choose, there is no wrong answer. I need you all to be completely honest with me as I am to you. I know it's a lot to think about for you pups, but I want to know for sure. Do any of you want the Paw Patrol to continue? More importantly, in another sense…." Ryder drew a breath as his pup's sad eyes drove his nerves to eleven. "Do any of you still trust me?"
The pups all look at each other in silence, wondering what the other is thinking. They were essentially presented with a very crucial fork in the road with none of them knowing where they will lead to.
A few moments passed of the pups looking at each other with curiosity, until to no one's surprise at all, Chase was the first one to step up. He stood in the middle of all, as he eyed Ryder with confident amber eyes.
"I think I speak for everyone when I say that we all knew what we were getting into, when we took the oath Ryder sir." Chase started with confidence. He didn't even blink as he continued. "Marshall knew that as well, yet we still took the oath and never stopped at anything that was in our way."
Ryder listened on with pride as he police pup went on.
"Now I do not speak for anyone here when it comes to the decision you are wanting us to make right now, but I do speak for myself when I say that it is a no brainer to me on the future of Paw Patrol."
Chase drew his nerves to his stomach as he continued. "I love the Paw Patrol Ryder. It lets me do my one purpose in life, and that's to protect and serve the ones who can't protect themselves." Tears suddenly formed in his eyes. "The one purpose that my father would be proud of." Chase had to pause at that as the memory of his father flooded his mind. He pushed it all back to continue his statement. "As for trusting you Ryder sir. You should know the answer to that question before you even ask it. Since I've known you, You've always been there for me, and I've always been there for you. That will never change, especially now. As long as blood is still pumping in me, Chase will always be on the case, for you."
After Chase was done, Ryder was absolutely flattered. He shook his head as he suddenly embraced Chase. The boy cried in his pup's fur as Chase gracefully hugged back. "Th-Thank you so much Chase. That means so much Chase. That means so much to me. I love you so much."
Chase had tears himself as he stated warmly. "I love you too Ryder sir."
The two hugged for what seemed like hours to them. Crying on each other's shoulders. During that time, another pup stood in front of them, this time, it was Rocky.
The recycling pups stood with his nerves at eleven as all eyes were suddenly on him. Nevertheless, he still spoke from his heart. "Ryder, I think I know from experience what it means to want to change a world that's too big for you. I had that silly dream as well." Rocky then formed tears as he went on. "I've been through so much in my life already. Stuff that a pup my age should never go through. I've also done a lot of things that I was never proud of. But I had to, to survive."
Ryder looked on with sympathy as Rocky continued. "When I came here, I joined only because Marshall was here, and I wanted to be friends again and recover what I had lost in my heart, I didn't care about anyone else but him. But the longer I stayed, the more friends I made, the more I learned to be and trust others, and the more fun I've had. Not to mention the fact that in this team, I actually mean something. My purpose was realized here, and it's telling me that this is what I was always meant to do. That's what the Paw Patrol has given me as well. More like what you've given me. I can't degrade that no matter how much I'll try. For the longest time I've been very against having an owner. Thanks to my first owner being so abusive to me, which led me to run away and start my journey. I also didn't trust humans and thought that they were nothing more than really mean and only had dogs to do their dirty work and we were stupid to believe that we could be free, but you changed that for me. You showed me that having an owner could make me more free than I felt when I was alone. You made me trust humans again Ryder, and I couldn't be more grateful for what you did. I wanna stay with you forever. So take it from me, I don't want to just give up. After all we've built here, we can't lose it at all. We've got to reuse it."
Rocky then thrusted forward with a bark and joined Chase and Ryder's hug. Ryder hugged his two pups. He was overwhelmed by the trust and loved that Rocky and Chase were emitting soon enough, another pup stepped forward, Rubble.
The bulldog nearly cringed as he was in the hot spot now. He didn't really get this nervous, but in a situation like this, who wouldn't?
"I know I haven't been on the team long enough to know Marshall as long as you all have, but that doesn't mean that it doesn't hurt so much."
The pups whimpered at Rubble's sadness as he went on. "Before the Paw Patrol…..I had no one, and for a while, I was okay with that. I had no family, no friends, not even an owner. All I had was myself. I didn't think that I needed anyone. But all that changed when I met you all. In just two months, I learned what it means to have friends, and ended up wanting something I never knew that I wanted. A family."
Rubble had a small smile accompanying his tears. "You gave that to me Ryder. You showed me that no matter how alone I can feel sometimes, I'm not. I didn't realize that until recently."
Rubble's smile faded as he continued his thoughts, whimpering as he went along. "If the Paw Patrol were to go away, I may lose the friends I grew to love these past two months. I want Paw Patrol to last forever ,and with you and all my friends with me, I will totally dig that."
Then, Rubble joined the group as he whimpered and hugged Ryder. "Please…..I want to stay." Rubble whined as he buried his face in Ryder's side, nuzzling it as Ryder put an arm around him to bring him in closer. He kissed him on the nose and snuggled him.
Zuma looked at Skye who hadn't moved at all since Ryder asked the question. He was well surprised that she hadn't stepped ahead and given her answer. He wanted to wait until she went but she stayed absolutely still. Staring at the four. This worried him a little bit as he wondered if Skye would ever speak. When he was sure that Skye wasn't stepping forward, which worried him greatly, Zuma took it upon himself to be the next one to make his decision.
He stood in front of Ryder and the others with a sad look. "W-Wyder?"
Ryder immediately looked over to the chocolate lab, with very comforting eyes which were locked on Zuma.
"I…..I don't weally have a lot to say except that you all awe my family. Mine abandoned me befowe I even had a choice to be with ow not."
Zuma almost lost it as his speech continued. "If-If-If the Pa-Pa-Paw Pat-Patrol goies-a-awya, so-so does my heart and soul…."
Zuma was barely holding it in at this point. "P-Please Wyder. I-I twust you mowe than I twust anyone else. Don't disband the Paw Patrol!"
Zuma started to bawl as he ran straight for Ryder and buried his face into Ryder's chest. With Chase and Rocky hugging the poor lab as well.
The five all cried and wailed together as they wished for the hug to last forever. Everyone of them wanted to stay together and make their family stronger than ever before, which absolutely pleasantly surprised Ryder. He didn't think that he would still have this much love and support from his pups. He regained his confidence a little bit, as maybe, he wasn't a bad owner after all.
But there was still one last pups, who remained silent by herself, looking very conflicted herself.
Skye had a troubled look and face as she sat and stared at everyone, unsure of what she wanted to do. Ryder noticed this as he looked at his pilot with curious worry.
"Skye? What do you say?" Ryder asked warmly. "There's no shame whatever you do. I don't want to make this hard on you sweetie."
Skye shook as the pressure was on. Chase notices this as well as he looks at the cockapoo with concerned eyes. "Skye? Are you okay?"
The cockapoo dipped her head, as tears forced their way out of her eyes, her voice shook as she finally answered. "I-I don't know if I can do it Ryder. I-I don't know if I can move on."
The pups all directed their eyes towards the cockapoo nearly shocked at what she said. Zuma felt as if he was very hurt at what Skye was saying.
"S-Skye? What's wwong? Don't cha want to be with us?"
"I….I do Zuma…..I really want to." Skye sobbed. "But….I'm sorry….I-I just don't know." as she said that, Skye suddenly ran out the lookout, not saying another word. Sobbing on the way.
The pups's hearts were shattered by this as they didn't expect Skye to react that way. Chase pushed himself from the group, and proceeded to run after her. But Ryder stopped him from doing so.
"B-But Ryder…" Chase objected hastingly.
"This is for her to figure out by herself. We can't force her to make a decision."
Chase really didn't want to let her go like that, but decided to cease his protesting. Unlike all the other pups, he had a very good idea as to what was going on to Skye. He just hoped that it wasn't enough to take her away from them. More importantly…...from him.
(A/N): Oh man. Looks like Skye is having conflicting thoughts about either trusting Ryder or continuing Paw Patrol. Hopefully, this doesn't spell the end for her on the team...at least.
Chapter 17 will be up soon. It maybe next week it maybe the week after, I can't know for sure so to be safe, I'll just say 6/4/21, but I will try to get it up by next Friday.
Question of the Chapter: What decision do you think Skye will go with?
let me know in your review!
Please review and tell me your favorite parts and if you have any questions about the story or anything else, just put it in your review or pm me and l'll get back with you as soon as I can.
This Is Sean Thames of Dragonsfire Entertainment signing off!