Why the Sky Grows Bleak
Heyo! It is I! The laziest piece of shit on this entire planet! I have no excuse for it being this long between chapters (nearly 5 months XD). So yeah, here it is, Chapter 3, in all its terrible, awful glory. Hope you enjoy….somehow. :D
Chapter 3: Your Deeds Torment Me
"Whoa!" Ryder shouted, nearly toppling off his ladder. The ground was a good twenty feet below. Lots of broken bones from this height.
Marshall woke up slowly, eyes half asleep, before feeling his fire truck rocking back and forth, a little at first, then more and more. He sat up in his seat, and turned around to see what the problem was. Only then did he see Ryder and remember he was helping him out with….whatever he needed help with. He wasn't one to question Ryder's authority, after all.
He saw the boy on the top of the ladder, slowly swaying back and forth. The wind had picked up in the small time he had been asleep, and it wasn't helping glanced down at Marshall, more than a little scared.
"Marshall! Lower the ladder!" He shouted, wind wasn't showing any signs of slowing down either.
Marshall was panicking inside. The pressure! He turned back around, stressed, as Ryder nearly fell off again. "Hurry Marshall!" He yelled, now laying down on his back on the rugs to keep better balance. Marshall looked at his controls, wide-eyed, took a deep breath, and found the ladder down lever. He pulled it quickly, and Ryder nearly fell off a third time in surprise as the ladder suddenly and violently started coming back down to the earth. Marshall jumped out of his seat to the ground so Ryder could land safely in his fire truck's seat, though it was a little on the small side for Ryder. As he landed on the cushion, his legs curled up to his chest. Ryder huffed in relief and chuckled. "This seat is smaller than I remember…" He said, climbing out now from his awkward sitting position. Marshall was too antsy to share a laugh, but calmed down a little when his boy patted and pet his head. "Thanks Marshall." Ryder said, earning a pant and a giggle from the Dally.
"You're welcome!" Marshall said, back to his happy, care-free self. He giggled. He loved Ryder. He was so cool, and loved his pups and town a lot. Marshall admired that deeply. And his hair always looked great. He used a lot of gel though. And Axe body spray, he reeked of it everyday to the point where standing next to him for longer than ten minutes would spell suffocation for lack of oxygen. He couldn't imagine how Chase felt about it. "He's probably nose-blind to it by now." He shook his head. Focus! "Hey Ryder…" Marshall said, realising now that Ryder had stopped petting him and started shaking his head, muttering, with a worried expression on his face. Marshall began to wonder. "...Why did you need my lad-"
WHAM! The wind blew the heavy steel door that was the Paw Patrol logo, and the cover for the Mighty Meteor, against the side of the Lookout, sending shockwaves of vibrations through and around the Lookout's yard area.
"Aaahhhh!" Marshall yelped, jumping up into Ryder's arms, quivering. "What was that!?" He whimpered. "Thunder?"
Ryder chuckled. "Naw, that was the Paw Patrol logo slamming shut. The wind is picking up. We should…" He trailed off, much to Marshall's added confusion.
"Ryder? What's wrong?" He said, licking his boy's cheek. He knew Ryder. This wasn't like him, so out of it and unfocused. It was…..wrong. So wrong.
Ryder's face became a placid white sheet of fear, eyes wide and lips dried out as his heavily gelled hair slowly and stiffly waved in the ever increasing wind. "Somehow, half of the Mighty Meteor is gone, Marshall." He said, forehead wrinkled in concentrated worry.
Marshall was half stunned, half asleep. Ryder's arms were really comfy. He could tell though that the boy was getting tired of holding him. "Focus!" He screamed to himself.
Then the full realisation hit him. Half of the Mighty Meteor? Simply….gone? "What!? How?" He said, jumping down from Ryder's embrace, looking back up at him. Now he was worried. He hated being worried. That was Ryder's job anyway, no offence to him. He was supposed to be the happy, care-free Dally pup. That title had no mention of worry whatsoever. "Dang I am so tired. I keep losing focus! Argh!" He said angrily to himself. He stomped his paw down on the asphalt in silent frustration, and Ryder glanced over with a confused and curious expression, but said nothing. "Focus, damnit!" "W-what're we gonna do?" He enquired.
Ryder shook his head, making his hair wave even more than it already was with the strong breeze. It was getting cold. "I'm…..not entirely sure Marshall. One thing's for sure though; we need to get it back!" He took out his Pup Pad, pulled out that repurposed flip phone keyboard, and pressed the call button. "Paw Patrol, to the Lookout!" He said, shivering a little mid callout.
(Again, I'm gonna be skipping this. We all know how this goes. If you don't then….why are you here? XD)
"Paw Patrol is on a roll!" Ryder said, finger pointed at the sky in confidence, and he ran towards his firepole and slid down, the pups cheering. Their mission this evening: Spread out and try to find clues to where the other half of the Mighty Meteor went. Skye was tasked to fly over and around Jake's Mountain, and Chase was to take the switchbacks up the mountain road to search for anything that way. Rocky and Zuma were assigned the beachfront area, while Rubble and Marshall were to scout around the rest of town and the roads leading to Foggy Bottom.
Over the next several hours, the Paw Patrol scoured Adventure Bay and the various areas around it, like Farmer Yumi's Farm, underneath the Adventure Bay Bridge (courtesy of Zuma's hovercraft; Rocky did not tag along for that ride), and even out to the Lighthouse and Foggy Bottom. No one could find anything, not even a trace. The weather got increasingly worse, to the point where Skye could barely fly her copter, so Ryder called off the rescue mission. Not surprisingly, soon afterwards, he began to receive calls from various people around town about downed power lines, fallen trees, and the like. The Paw Patrol rushed about fixing and repairing all the damage the inclement weather was creating as fast as they could manage with the gales being what they were. The wind continued to pick up throughout the entire night that they worked, to the point where it was getting hard to even stand completely upright. The winds were reaching near-tornado speed, and Ryder issued a town-wide warning to all the residents to stay indoors, preferably in basements and got him and all his pups back to the Lookout.
The pups slept in the playroom at the base of the tower, as their puphouses were deemed reasonably unsafe in the inclimate weather. The whole team, including Ryder, tried sleeping, having blankets and bean bags brought down by Ryder from the top deck, but no one could sleep with the wind howling and large sticks, branches, and all other manner of things colliding with the outside of the Lookout's shiny surface, the sky angrier than any of them had ever seen. They all ended up watching Apollo the Super Pup; all except Chase. He sat outside the Lookout's thick windows by the glass doors, random garbage and twigs whizzing by, fast as bullets as they spiralled up into the sky. It was obvious there was a tornado, all the winds sailing up into a giant funnel slightly down the hill from the Lookout, the mass of air and debris gaining height and power. He could see all kinds of different things swirling around inside the twister; fence posts, leaves, sticks and branches, plants, a pup, a couple sheets of tin roofing, a-...wait, WHAT?!
He peered intently into the middle of the storm, a dark form staying near-stationary within the giant tirade of objects colliding in mid-air. Chase was stunned and bewildered beyond words. The mysterious figure seemed very calm, to the point where Chase wondered if he was even conscious, but then the figure, ripped cloak flying around him in broken glory, slowly turned his head to look right back at Chase, one eye clearly visible as it glowed a neon white, a speck on the pup's left side, the right side of the pup's face as dark and shrouded in mystery as the rest of his persona. He turned around, his whole body a dark silhouette, the cape still flapping about wildly. Chase just watched, speechless, completely awestruck, and slack-jawed as the mysterious figure slowly ascended into the heavens with his massive swirling roil rising up with him, the blacked-out pup patient to the point of being ominous. Chase continued to stare in shock as he continued up into the clouds, no longer seen, and the clouds all slowly began to clear out, the wind began to die down, and the sun shone through the gaps of mist like splendid halos beaming down on the Earth. The tumult was just gone, replaced by nature's beauty, though the trees did look a little bare without any of their brown leaves or branches. Chase couldn't stop staring where the enigmatic shadow had seemingly vanished into thin air.
Meanwhile the rest of the team had noticed the improving conditions outside and were gathered at the window in confused glee.
"Whewe'd the wind go?" Zuma said, voicing everyone else's thoughts. They all looked to Ryder, who just shrugged.
"I….don't know pups. But what's important is, we can all go out now and help the town now!" He unlocked the door, a small mechanical click, and the doors immediately opened to some of the most beautiful night weather they had experienced that summer. He sighed, and the pups, minus Chase of course who had walked a couple steps outside and now just had a very shocked look on his face, still staring out into the sky.
The other pups were all cheering still, running around happy as could be, giggling, and Ryder was happy for them, but he noticed Chase was definitely looking off. He knelt down next to the Shepherd.
"Hey Chase." He said quietly, and Chase jumped.
"Augh!" He yipped, jumping up a little bit. Ryder was surprised, raising his eyebrows. This isn't like Chase at all. The bewildered police pup looked over at Ryder and sighed in relief. "Oh Ryder, it's just you."
"Sorry about that Chase." Ryder chuckled. Chase smiled weakly, but didn't laugh or even look at Ryder. Now he knew something was wrong.
"Chase, what is it?" He asked tentatively. He tried turning Chase's head so he could look into his face, but Chase pulled away.
"N-n-nothing Ryder. I'm fine." Chase was observing his paws with unusual fascination. He was nervous, ashamed, scared almost.
"Chase, c'mon. I know something's up. What's wrong?" Ryder was thoroughly concerned now. He didn't like seeing Chase like this. It felt so….unnatural.
"Ryder, I'm fine." Chase's curt and almost dismissive voice tone caught Ryder off guard, but he decided now was probably not the best time to address the issue. He decided he would let it go for now, and bring it up later. Maybe then Chase would want to open up more.
"Well, alright then." The boy said as he got up and turned to gather the other pups for bed- so they could actually sleep this time. The pups weren't too happy about it, but Chase didn't care. He resumed his gazing up into the firmament, his thoughts racing a million miles an hour. Who was that arcane figure up in the sky? And how was he flying like that? Was he a Mighty Pup? Chase's mind was racing, thoughts swirling faster than that whirlwind, before Ryder came over to him and told him it was time for bed. He trotted over to his puphouse and lay down, snuggling his favourite plush toy as his boy covered him with a blanket. They said goodnight, Ryder still worried and Chase refusing to meet his eye, as the boy walked away, leaving Chase with his thoughts and the stars in the skies, shining down as the soft breeze rustled in his chocolate and tan fur.
