Happy 2021 guys! Is it just me, or have you never been so happy to see a year end? So, of course, I had to update today! (couldn't leave you guys hanging, now could I?) Enjoy!

That night, temperatures dropped below -15 degrees. It was so cold that Ryder told the pups to come into the Lookout for the night. But just as quickly as the temps went down, the temps rose, going from -20 that night to 50 degrees that morning.

"Hey, Rocky!" said Chase passing by the eco-pup. Rocky was currently working on Ryder's Pup Pad, well, his new one. Marshall, being the clumsy, adorable pup that he is, tripped and fell. Ryder instinctively threw his Pup Pad into the air to catch him. There was a loud crash as it fell. It broke into so many pieces, that it all had to be thrown away. Ryder was very sad about it, and Marshall looked like he was afraid Ryder would kick him, but he stayed at his owner's feet, spouting profuse apologies.

"I'm sorry Ryder. I'm such a stupid pup. If I wasn't so clumsy, you'd still have your pup pad." he cried.

"No, Marshall, it's not your fault. I should've just let you fall," said Ryder, still very upset with the dalmatian. "Then I'd still have my Pup Pad." Marshall looked up at his with tear-filled eyes, then ran out of the room, sobbing. Rocky had been eavesdropping on the conversation.

I'll build him a new one, even better than the one he had before! Rocky thought, rushing off to his pup house. He pulled out the best spare parts he had and got to work. The incident had happened last night, and Rocky was too upset about what had happened at the hospital to sleep.

So all night, he worked on Ryder's pup pad.

"Do you wanna come ice-skating with me and the rest of the pups?" Chase asked, peering into Rocky's pup house.

"In a minute," called Rocky from its depths. "I'm almost done with my latest invention."

"What is it?" questioned Chase, stepping inside. Rocky came from the back and gently pushed him out.

"You'll see soon," he said, smiling a bit. "I'm not letting anyone know about it yet."

"Ok, but don't stay too long. The Bay's frozen over, and it might melt soon," he said, padding away. Rocky went into the back to retrieve the master chip for the whole pad. It was as small as an ant, and Rocky got his smallest pair of tweezers to place it directly in the center. He had the pup pad hooked up to a monitor. It was spitting out code very quickly, so quickly that even the best coders couldn't read it. Except for Rocky. He had always been a genius when it came to coding. Rocky paused the code and entered more seemingly random lines into it.

Then Zuma came inside.

"Hi, Wocky! Whatcha doing?" he asked.

"Look, I'm making a new pup pad for Ryder. He is very upset about his old one breaking and all," he said proudly. Oh, wait, no one was supposed to know about this yet. But I strangely don't mind Zuma knowing about it. What's going on? Rocky thought trying to orient his thoughts. Zuma licked him on the cheek as he passed by him, making Rocky blush.

"Wow! It looks so cool!" he exclaimed.

"Thanks," Rocky mumbled shyly, blushing ever harder, looking down at his paws.

"When will it be done?" Zuma asked turning to face Rocky.

"I just need to add a couple more paragraphs of code into it, and I'll be done," he murmured.

"Can I help?" asked Zuma.

"Why don't you skate with the other pups? I'm sure they've asked you to go ice shaking with them. Besides, you love ice skating." Rocky asked, surprised.

"I just weally.. want to help you today." Zuma stammered, not meeting Rocky's eye.

"Well, okay. You can put in the last paragraphs of code in," said Rocky, stepping away from the Pup Pad.

"I don't know one thing about coding," said Zuma, perplexed.

"Oh, it's easy when you know what you're doing. I'll teach you what to do," said Rocky. So for the next hour, Rocky taught Zuma how to do some basic coding. Rocky could've had the program ready in 5 minutes, but Zuma looked really interested in it. And he loved teaching him.

"Thewe! That's the last line!" said Zuma, puffing out his chest. Zuma had done a total of 10 lines.

"That's awesome Zuma!" said Rocky happily.

"I wonder how many lines of code there are…" mused Zuma scrolling to the top of the page. Zuma's eyes got really big. There were hundreds of pages.

"You...did all this?" asked Zuma, looking at Rocky amazedly.

"Yeah, it took me all night," said Rocky, yawning. "Normally, I'm faster, but, I had a lot on my mind, I couldn't focus."

Zuma looked from the screen to Rocky, and back again.

"You'we a genius…" he said, in awe. Rocky just looked down at his paws and blushed some more. "But why is it so small. It looks like a watch.

"You'll see," said Rocky, eyes twinkling."Come on, let's go get Ryder," he said, unplugging his creation from the monitor. Rocky gently caught it between his teeth and ran out of his pup house, Zuma right behind him. They ran into the elevator. It automatically took them up. Rocky continued to hold the button, taking them past the lockers, and up to the highest floor. Ryder was on the ground, tinkering with the control panel up under the monitor.

"Wyder, look what Wocky and I made!" explained Zuma, bouncing around on his paws.

"Ok, pups. Give me a second," said Ryder, wiggling from up under the console. Rocky padded over to him and placed the Pup Pad in front of Ryder.

"Oh, this is a very nice watch Rocky. Thank you very much." Ryder said strapping it to his wrist.

"No silly, it not a watch. It's your new and improved Pup Pad," said Rocky, rolling his eyes.

"I'm not sure I follow," Ryder said, wrinkling his forehead.

"Fine, I'll show you," said Rocky. He tapped the screen twice with his nose. The watch quickly unfurled into Ryders regular-sized Pad. "I did a couple of upgrades to the internal software. It can now handle 10 calls simultaneously. I also upgraded the screens resolution, pictures will be much more clear now. And I also added so tactical upgrades as well such as..." Rocky stopped himself, realizing he was rambling. No one really understood devices the way he did.

"When...how...why…" Ryder stuttered, looking at all the new features on it.

"I built it last night. I imputed the code this morning, and Zuma helped with that," said Rocky modestly.

"Wow, this is the best gift I've ever received. It's awesome Rocky and Zuma. Thanks so much!" he gushed, looking like a little kid in a candy store, told he could get as much candy as he wanted.

Ryder tapped it twice, and it shrank down to its default size. He hugged the pups tightly.

"I've got something for you, hang on," said Ryder, going down his pole.

"What do you think it is?" asked Rocky.

"No idea," replied Zuma.

Ryder came up to the elevator, hands behind his back. Then he tossed something on the ground. Rocky and Zuma's eyes bulged out their eye sockets. Normally, when they did well on a mission, Ryder would give them the standard-issue treats. But if they did really well, he'd give them the chicken flavored ones, which all the pups died for. But that was nothing compared to this. Ryder gave them a bone that was a whole foot long. It was also still covered in meat. It was the holy grail of bones. Rocky and Zuma began to drool just looking at it...but were hesitant to go near it. They looked at Ryder for confirmation.

"Yep, it's all for you two. Enjoy!" he said, sliding back up under the console to continue tinkering with whatever he was working on. Zuma and Rocky looked at each other, then high-pawed.

"JACKPOT!" they shouted. Rocky and Zuma picked it up in their teeth and took the elevator down. They decided to eat it later, and Rocky placed it in a dark corner of his room.

"Let's go skating now!" said Zuma running towards the beach, Rocky right beside him.


"Hi, guys! Check this out!" said Marshall went they got there. He began to spin super fast on his hindpaws. "Whoooaaaaa!" he shouted, spinning right into Skye, knocking her over.

"Marshall, you silly pup!" she giggled.

"Sorry!" said Marshall untangling himself from her, smiling. Zuma hit the ice at a full run, spinning and twirling around. Of all the pups, Zuma was the complete best. Be could hit figure eight's skate backward, and hit a backflip while making it look easy. Rocky just stood on the edge of the beach, not doing anything. Chase skated towards him.

"Come on, Rocky. Join the fun!" she said, as he spun by. Rocky just sighed and looked down. While Zuma was the best, he was the complete worst at ice skating. He just couldn't seem to stand upright, and he tripped over his own paws every few seconds. Zuma noticed Rocky sitting on the sidelines, drawing mathematical expressions into the sand. Zuma skidded to a stop.

"What's wrong Wocky?" he said, sitting next to him, watching the other pups have fun on the ice.

"Nothing," he mumbled sadly.

"I know you bettew than that. You can tell me," said Zuma, glancing in his direction.

"I'm no good, okay? I can't skate. My paws get all tangled up." he said, looking away.

"Get up, Wocky. After today, you will never say that again." Zuma said firmly, helping Rocky to his paws, dragging him onto the ice. Rocky immediately fell down.

"Hewe, let me help you," Zuma said. He held Rocky up, slipping his paws around his waist. "Place your paws on my shoulders," he commanded. Rocky did as he was told. Zuma began to skate backward, Rocky sliding after him. "Wocky, ice skating is like walking, but instead of picking your feet up, you push them off the gwound. Lean into it, don't fight it. Try it." Zuma said, still slowly moving them backward. Rocky was wobbly at first, but Zuma's paws never left his waist, holding him upright. Then, slowly, almost magically, Rocky began to get into a rhythm.

"Wait, I think I'm getting it," said Rocky beaming. He pushed off the ice, increasing their speed. "This is really fun, now I know why you like it.

'You're doing great, Rocky!" commented Rubble. The pups cleared a space in the middle, skating circles around the two. After a while, Rocky's movements were perfectly synced with his partners.

"Okay, I'm going to let go now. Keep doing what you'we doing," said Zuma, letting go of Rocky, quickly skating away from him. Rocky's sides felt unnaturally cold, as the heat from Zuma's paws dissipated. He wobbled a bit but soon regained his balance, that is, until Marshall slipped on his own paws, then broke the ring the pups had made and careered right into him. Rocky went down immediately, sliding across the ice all the way to the sand. Zuma rushed over to him.

"Awe you ok?" he asked worriedly.

"Yeah, I'm fine." he groaned.

"Sorry!" Marshall cried, skating over to him.

"It's okay, I'm fine," said Rocky, licking him on the cheek in forgiveness. Marshall looked relieved, then went back to join the other pups. Zuma and Rocky held on to each other again, getting back the rhythm Rocky had lost.

"Ok, I'm going to let go again," said Zuma, withdrawing his paws. Rocky held tighter to his neck.

"No, I don't want you to let go," he said.

"Why not, you're doing it perfectly," Zuma questioned.

"It's more fun doing it with you," whispered Rocky, looking away.

"Well, okay," said Zuma, wrapping his paws around Rocky's soft side again. Rocky suddenly threw himself to the right, and the two began to spin around, Zuma laughing the whole time.

"Now you'we getting it," he said. Zuma quickly went to an extremely tight spin, letting go of Rocky's sides and grabbing onto his paws. Rocky felt his paws lift up off the ground.

"Whee!" he shouted. The other pups stopped skating and stared open-mouthed at the duo.

"Wow… they're good," commented Chase.

"No kidding," said Skye, slack-jawed.

Rocky's paws hit the ice after a short time and used the combined momentum of the two (plus a little of his powers) and threw Zuma into the air. Zuma did two backflips before being caught by the paws by Rocky. Rocky's eyes began to glow very faintly. Zuma didn't notice it yet. A cool winter wind began to blow, and a few snowflakes began to fall.

"Rocky, you're powers are coming out again." hissed Zuma quietly. Rocky looked away from him, trying to think about something else. It was very hard, but the wind stopped, and his eyes stopped glowing. But then he looked into Zuma's semi-golden ones. And he lost himself in them, Zuma doing the same thing. Time seemed to stop and the two best friends skated, looking into the very portal to the soul. Rocky began to blush, and very timidly began to smile. Zuma began to blush too. Then Rocky pressed his forehead to Zuma's.

"Thanks for teaching me to skate," he murmured.

"Anytime," Zuma replied, still staring into Rocky's now glowing green orbs. Once again, his snout came very close to Rocky's and Rocky's tail began to wag. Is he trying to kiss me? No...he doesn't like me like that. I don't like him like that. But the image is appealing. Rocky thought, imagining Zuma's lips pressed against his own. Zuma looked away at the last moment, blushing madly. They slowly came to a stop and let go of each other, looking away, embarrassed.

"That was awesome!" chorused the pups.

"Where do you learn to skate so well?" asked Chase.

"I taught myself," replied Zuma modestly.

"And then he taught me," said Rocky shyly. As aforementioned, Rocky was not a pup for attention.

"That flip would make Skye proud!" said Chase, smirking.

"Yes, it sure did. How'd you go so high?" she asked.

"It's a secret!" said Rocky.

"Yeah, gweat performers never tell evewything about theiw act," said Zuma, walking away.

"Let's go eat our bone," said Rocky running after him.

"Wait, what bone?" asked Marshall, smacking his lips.

"Don't wowwy about it!" said Zuma, smirking at him.


Rocky and Zuma laid side by side, pelts touching, each gnawing on an end. The meat was tough to bite off, but it was wonderfully juicy and tasty on the way down. And they hadn't even gotten to the bone yet. They slurped and sucked on the bone, enjoying themselves immensely.

"Wocky, you weally need to leawn to contwol your emotions. Youw eyes are still glowing."

"That's because I'm still happy. Besides, we're the only ones here right now. I promise I'll work on it though."

"Well, ok. Just looking out for you." conceded Zuma.

"And I do appreciate it," said Rocky, shyly looking at him before going back to tearing the bone apart. Then the pups' tags rang.

"Paw Patrol, to the Lookout!"

"Ryder needs us!" chorused the pups.

Aww...so cute; those two! Ryder rewards the two pups for making him a new Pup Pad. They eat it happily at the end of this chapter. Rocky just can't seem to figure out ice skating, so of course, his bestie lends him a paw. It is revealed that Rocky has a soft spot for Zuma and that he makes him very happy. His eyes reflect this, causing Zuma to tell him to calm down. Rocky promises to try. (He won't have much luck, I'll tell you that right now.) This chapter was written primarily so you could see Rocky and Zuma's friendship grow. Yes, yes, those of you who are still trying to figure out who Jessie is will be pacified next chapter. Some of you may've already figured it out. Good for you! Those of you who haven't will be surprised. (Hint: it's one of the Paw Patrol Members.) Okay, I'd better stop rambling and start writing the next chapter. I try to keep it around 2000 words each. Peace!

(P.S) Shout out to Richmountain112, Marshall V2018, and bsassan0378 for their reviews last month. Your reviews keep me motivated.