Chapter 7: Painful Revelations
The pair walked inside to see the host who was none other than Mr. Porter's grandson, Alex.
"Hi Chase and...who are you?"
"Alex this is Everest. We found her in Antarctica when we went to help Jake" said Chase, answering for her.
"Wow Antarctica that must have been FREEZING!"
"Yeah it was cold but I managed" giggled Everest.
"Why were you there?"
"Uhh...I prefer not to talk about that"
Chase noticed her anxious response to his question but decided to leave it alone.
"Anyway, Alex can we get a table" said Chase breaking the awkward silence
"Oh yeah right this way" He said, leading the pups to a table.
Once they sat down Alex began handing them the menus.
"My grandpa will be here to take your orders soon. Enjoy"
With that said Alex walked back to the door to help the next customers.
"So what's good here?" asked Everest as she began looking at the menu.
"I prefer Mr. Porter's meatballs but there are other good things too. If I remember correctly you like liver right?" asked Chase.
"Yeah I still like that. Why?"
"Mr Porter has meatballs that he adds liver to for dogs"
"Really! That's awesome!" said Everest excitedly.
Chase laughed to himself.
"You haven't changed a bit"
"What? I'm sorry that food makes me excited. If you don't remember I've been stuck in Antarctica eating only animal meat" joked Everest.
"Yeah Yeah I know"
Mr. Porter then walked over to their table.
"Hello Chase, how are you today?"
"My paw still hurts a bit but otherwise I'm good"
"And who is the lucky lady here" said Mr. Porter referring to Everest. Both pups then became bright red.
"No we're not on a date we're just friends. Her name is Everest"
"Oh well my mistake. Nice to meet you Everest I'm Mr. Porter"
"Nice to meet you too," said Everest, still slightly red from the assumption.
"Are you pups ready to order?"
"Yeah we're ready" responded Chase, "I'll have the meatballs and Everest will have the liver meatballs"
"Great. Your food will be out shortly"
Mr. Porter then left the pair to prepare their food.
"So Eve, how are you liking Adventure Bay so far?"
"Well, it's a lot warmer here than I'm used to but I like it. It's a nice change of scenery"
"That's great. Also I'm sorry that you got forced into immediately training for some random job"
"Hey no one forced me into it. I offered to do it"
"Okay just making sure you didn't feel pressured into doing it"
Both pups then waited for their food in silence until Chase spoke up.
"I know you didn't want to talk about it earlier but how did you end up in the Arctic?"
"Oh uh hey look our food is here" said Everest quickly changing the topic.
Chase once again took notice of this but decided to let it go, for now.
"Okay so we have the meatballs for Chase and the liver meatballs for Everest. Enjoy"
The pups then thanked Mr. Porter and ate their meals. By the time they were done the sun had started to set. They had just gotten their leftovers to go, well Chase's leftovers that Rubble would probably eat later, and called over Mr. Porter.
"Thank you for the food Mr. Porter, it was delicious. We're ready for the check"
"Don't worry about the check. Think of it as a thank you for saving my truck"
"Okay thank you Mr. Porter have a good night"
The pups then got back into Chase's truck and started to drive back to the lookout. Once they were back they parked Chase's truck and jumped out but Chase, due to his sprained paw, landed wrong when he hopped out and fell to the ground.
"Damn it!" yelled Chase as he hurt his paw
"Chase are you ok!?" yelled Everest as she ran over to him.
"Yeah, I think I'm okay. This injury is gonna be annoying though"
"Come on let's go see what the others are up to" said Everest helping up the shepherd.
Once they walked into the living room they were greeted by all the pups except for Rubble who was glued to the tv because his favorite show was on, Apollo the Super-Pup.
"Hey guys so how was training" asked Skye
"It went well. It seems like Everest is getting the hang of it" replied Chase
"That's great" said Rocky
"So what are you guys watching?" asked Everest.
"Apollo the Super-Pup" answered Rubble without taking his eyes off the screen.
"What's that?" asked Everest.
"What!? You don't know Apollo the Super-Pup?" yelled Rubble, "It's the best show in the world! Let me explain it to you"
As Rubble excitedly explained the show to Everest, Marshall and Rocky motioned for Chase to follow them out of the room. Once they were out of the room Marshall began talking.
"Chase can we ask you something?"
"Uh Sure what's up?"
"We've noticed that you've been acting strange recently" said Rocky.
"I don't know what you're talking about"
Chase then began to walk out trying to avoid the conversation. Before Chase could walk out Marshall stepped in front of him.
"Chase before we went to Antarctica I heard you yell in your pup-house and on top of that you were lost in thought before you fell into that pothole. You're always the most focused on missions."
"Look I don't want to talk about this now so can I please go back inside before we miss anything" said Chase trying to get around Marshall.
"Chase, you and I both know we've all seen that episode hundreds of times. So what gives?"
"I just want to sit down I've been up all day that's all"
Chase wouldn't budge so Rocky had to drop the bomb.
"Chase we saw what happened last night"
"W-what are you talking about?" asked Chase trying to play dumb.
"We saw you on the beach and what you were about to do until Everest stepped in and don't think we didn't notice the cut on your neck. You didn't get that from the pothole. What happened?" said Rocky once again.
"*sigh* I don't know what happened or why I did it. I was just...sad"
"About what?" asked Marshall in a calming voice.
"My time before the Paw Patrol was never really a happy one. I mean, there were some moments but they never lasted. I knew Everest before the Paw Patrol, but like the other times, I lost her along with a chunk of my happiness. Since then, I've been relatively happy but the memories have stuck with me and I can't seem to shake them"
"Wow" said Marshall at a loss for words. Chase never really was open about things like this so it left the two pups shocked.
"Chase your past may have had more downs than ups but you should have known that you can talk to any of us about these things. We could have helped you" said Rocky.
"I know I just didn't think anyone would understand how I feel"
"Chase, I was a stray for most of my life until I was adopted by Ryder. I know the pain you probably feel about losing people. When you lose them you lose part of yourself. Just remember that you'll always have the good memories with them. You shouldn't always focus on the bad ones" said Rocky.
"I also know how it feels to be alone. I was kicked out of my old firehouse because I was too clumsy and they said I would never be a good firedog. After that I was by myself until Ryder found me. Chase we both know how you feel and if you ever need to talk to someone just ask" said Marshall.
"I'm sorry, I never knew we were so similar. I just wish we were similar in a different way. Thank you for talking to me about this. It means a lot" said Chase as he hugged them both. They returned the hug and once they were out of each other's embrace they went back into the living room.