Ryder ended up having to leave the arcade with his proverbial tail between his legs.
Despite all his bluster and braggadocio, he ended up failing to beat Rocky's Tailgunner score by a mere 2,000 points. Listening to Rocky gloat did not feel good, but at the same time, Ryder had to admit that he deserved it. He boasted that he'd smoke Rocky, but the only one getting smoked was him. Still, he stayed at the arcade for a little longer before bidding Rocky goodbye to head to his next destination: Sunny Springs, the shopping district of Solstice Island with a dizzying array of shops offering their wares. Ignoring the large amount of restaurants, there was something for everyone there, from toys to apparel to even homeware. But Ryder wasn't going to be interested in many of the high-end shops. Nor was Skye, who he was set to be meeting for a shopping trip. But he'd been waiting for a couple of minutes outside the towering gateway that lead onto the tree-lined avenue, and there was still no sign of her, even though she said she'd be there for the time they'd arranged. Ryder took out his Pup Pad and looked at the time, grumbling after seeing that it had been about five minutes.
"Where the heck is she?" Ryder mumbled aloud.
Putting his Pup Pad away and looking back up, Ryder let out a sigh. It wasn't like Skye to be late. Then again, it wasn't like any of them to be late...
"RAGH-!"
"AAAAAAGGGHHH!"
...but Ryder didn't have time to consider that as he came face to face with a snarling pink dragon! The boy was so shocked he fell backwards and landed on his rump, not really noticing the dragon backflipping off his shoulder and landing gracefully on its... paws? Ryder looked back up to notice that the dragon's body was not only unusually hairy, but the wrong colour on top of that. Instead of having pink scales, it had golden-brown fur. Then he noticed that the dragon was howling with laughter. Laughter that sounded oddly familiar. Laughter that sounded like...
"Oh, for the love of-"
With his fright turned to annoyance, Ryder picked himself up, and moved over to pull off the mask Skye was wearing to reveal tiny, mirthful tears in her eyes.
"You scared the heck out of me!"
Skye didn't react other than continuing to laugh herself silly. And Ryder only felt his annoyance grow as he looked over at the mask. The eyes were huge, round and decidedly non-threatening. The snout was big and the horns were short and stubby. Ryder ended up being scared of the most adorable mask he'd seen in a while. A distant observer might think he was about to burst as his entire head turned red in sheer embarrassment. He had to admit, Skye got him good. It took a second for them both to get over their respective emotions and for Ryder to see the funny side of things as Skye got her breath back.
"So... dressing up as a dragon. That's a new one." Ryder remarked dryly with a smirk.
"I gotta keep things fresh, right? Glad there's a costume store around here! And heck, you should've seen Chase a couple of days ago!"
Ryder rolled his eyes. Skye's habit of playing pranks was only a recent thing for her, but she took it surprisingly seriously. But it wasn't too much of a concern, considering that she limited it to scaring and confusing people rather than anything harmful.
"'Keeping things fresh'? Is that why you went totally postal in the slime fight a couple days ago?"
In the blink of an eye, the smile was wiped straight off Skye's face. She went stiff as a statue at Ryder's question, looking more like a deer in the headlights than a pup.
"Uhhhh... y-you... you know about that?"
"Well, yeah. News like that travels fast, you know? Especially when Rocky was the last pup I spoke to!"
Skye stared wide-eyed at the floor. Ryder had to assume that, under all her fur, her face was as red as his moments ago.
"Yeah, uhh... I... k-kinda got lost in the moment and, uh..."
"What, turned into the Psycho Slime Slinger? Did you drink Silly Juice or something before you went in there?"
Skye didn't reply. One pause later, and Ryder got the hint that his teasing had gone far enough, bending down to put the dragon mask back on her head, flipping it up so her face was still visible.
"OK, OK, that's enough about that. What else have you been up to lately?"
Skye perked up immmediately. "Oh! A whole bunch! See..."
Skye was happy to change to change the subject to what else she did in the last two days. From her experiences with the fish encyclopaedia on four paws known as Zuma, to her time watching movies with Marshall. And as Ryder began to go over his own experiences, the two decided to start making their move into Sunny Springs, walking down the busy avenue as he finished his story.
"Wow, Ryder. I'm a little surprised you haven't done any shopping of your own yet." Skye said.
"Actually, I was planning to go buy some toys yesterday. And then that huge crate arrived... besides, I didn't wanna go shopping by myself. That'd be boring."
Skye's eyes went wide. "OH-! Oh yeah, I actually wanted to talk to you about that. I mean, I'm grateful and all, but... i-it's just so... so..."
"Out of nowhere?"
"Out of- exactly! I mean, I couldn't stop thinking about it all day yesterday no matter where I went! And I've actually thought of something. You remember we saw that Timmy Rex show, right? And Chase and Rocky were in it for some reason? I feel like it has something to do with that."
Ryder stopped and looked down at Skye.
"You know, it's funny, because not only did Marshall think the exact same thing when he woke up earlier..."
"Figured he might."
"...but I actually talked to Rocky about it, too. And you're spot-on. He says that he and Chase just found the head of a Timmy Rex suit and got drafted to replace two actors who were off sick. That care package was their pay!"
Silence. Skye's eyes were as wide as dinner plates. She obviously had no idea how to respond to something like that, and likely wouldn't have believed it if it came from anyone other than Ryder.
"That's... I... I-I don't even know what to say to that... th-that's just too crazy for words..."
"And that's not even all! At least, I don't think it is. You saw that letter. Remember what else it said?"
Skye thought hard as she remembered yesterday afternoon, and how she was the first one to find the care package. She called Ryder back to their room in search of answers, only for him to be even more confused than she was. And that was before he opened the crate to see what was inside, swearing to investigate the next day. Skye went over the letter that came with it in her head, before she remembered a particular selection of words.
"Oh, yeah... it mentioned 'compensation' and the box was something on top of that..."
"I still don't know what that is. But I'm meeting Chase back in the room before the fireworks tonight. If you see him before then, promise me you won't say anything about it?"
Skye traced her paw across her muzzle. "Oh don't worry, Ryder. My lips are sealed. I don't even know what I'd say to him!"
Ryder smiled softly, before rubbing Skye's head. "Thanks, Skye. Now, anywhere you wanted to go first?"
Skye took a second to re-familiarise herself with her surroundings. She was so deep into the subject of the mystery box that she forgot what they were originally there to do. Shoppers were everywhere, making their way up and down the street with various bags, boxes, cups and foodstuffs in their hands. The Cockapoo looked left to see a food cart giving out corn dogs and soda, then she looked right to see the open doors to a massive shop full of toys and gave out a huge gasp.
"OOH! Here! Here! Here! C'mon, c'mon, c'mon!" Skye shouted, tearing towards the doors to the Jesternaut Toy Shop.
"Whoa-! Skye! Wait up! I wanna buy toys too!" Ryder cried, hurrying after her.
Once they'd finally gotten inside, the overwhelmingly-huge store stopped them cold. It was three storeys tall, with each level having shelves upon shelves of toys. A kid could be lost here for an entire day and still not run out of things to play with. Of course, it helped that the shop, like all the others, was air-conditioned. Perfect for escaping the tropical heat.
"Whooooooaaa..." Skye whispered.
"You can say that again..."
"OK. Whoa."
Ryder snorted. "OK, Skye. Remember how much we have to spend on ourselves?"
"$1,000 each, right? And I've already spent about $60?"
"You got it. And remember we've still got a lot of days left here."
"It's all good! I won't spend too much."
"Good pup! Now, where to start..."
Skye internally asked herself the same question as she looked around the shelves. Under the circumstances, she'd been shockingly frugal until now.
"I dunno... there's so much to- OOH! What's that over there?!"
Once again, Skye was off like a shot, heading down an aisle lined with various magically-themed toys before Ryder could say anything.
"Skye-! I-! Ugh... well, guess I won't have to go too far before I find something cool..."
With that, Ryder picked a direction at random and began walking. And sure enough, he ended up proving himself right as he stumbled across an aisle full of spaceship toys all in a line. Some from various franchises, and some that seemed to be original creations. But either way, Ryder quickly found himself ensnared as he went over and started studying some of them, with the first one he picked up seeming to resemble a pirate galleon stuffed full of rocket engines. The best part is that there was an oh-so-enticing button labelled "TRY ME!". Unable to resist something like that, Ryder reached out and pressed it, to be greeted with the sound of roaring engines. The boy felt inordinately happy as he moved from ship to ship, trying them all where he could and appreciating them like a critic would appreciate fine art. Ryder soon found himself studying a huge, pyramid shaped ship that seemed more like a floating city than anything. In fact, the box even advertised its ability to open up, allowing someone to play around inside it. Ryder carefully read over the box, only to find himself nearly dropping it when he suddenly heard a loud squeak and what sounded like a twinkly projectile being fired from something.
"AGH-! Wait, this thing doesn't have any weapons!"
"I do, though!"
The familiar voice prompted the boy to look around to see a grinning Cockapoo laying a chew toy that looked like a magical sceptre on the ground.
"Oh, Skye! That was quick!"
"'Quick'?! I've been looking at toys for fifteen minutes! And it looks like you have, too!"
Ryder went rigid. "Wait, seriously?!"
"Hee hee! Lost track of time, huh?"
"How did you even know what time it is?!"
Skye went silent before walking to the end of the end of the aisle and pointing to the middle of the shop.
"That."
Ryder followed her with the spaceship still in his hands and looked in the direction of Skye's paw. Sure enough, right in the middle of the shop, there was a huge, clock-like contraption that looked whimsical, but was still accurate enough to tell the time.
"Oh... how'd I miss that?"
Skye smirked, before eyeing the pyramid-shaped ship in Ryder's hands. "Hey, Is that supposed to be a spaceship?"
Ryder looked down at the toy. "Yep. Well, I think it's supposed to be a colony for people to live on, anyway."
"How in the heck does something like that stay airbourne? I mean, yeah, a big space pyramid would be cool to live on, but I don't think engines powerful enough to lift it off the Earth even exist! And surely it'd be awful to control? About as aerodynamic as a brick!"
"C'mon, Skye, it doesn't have to be realistic if it looks cool, right?"
"Well, I guess... but I'm a pilot! I can't help but notice these things!"
Ryder snorted. "Ugh, you're as bad as Rocky, I swear..."
Skye shrugged. "Eh. Guilty as charged. Anyway, I've got that cool chew toy, you find anything you wanna buy?"
"Errr... maaaaybe? I dunno... this thing's definitely on my Maybe List. I'm holding out for if anything else catches my eye."
"Well, let's go see if anything else DOES catch your eye then, huh?"
Ryder beamed. "Sounds good!"
Both boy and pup decided to make their way up a level after Ryder had put the pyramid ship back, and once they reached the top of the staircase, they were greeted with a floor that had less shelves and a lot more interactive displays for building one's ideal toy.
"Oh, it's a toy building floor!"
Skye looked at Ryder and furrowed her brow. "Uh, yeah. Didn't you see the sign?"
"Huh?"
Ryder took a look at the wall to the side of the staircase, and noticed that there was indeed signage denoting what each floor had, with this one in particular holding "Creation stations". The boy blushed and looked down.
"...oh."
Skye giggled in response. "Well, I mean, I guess it's not like we're looking at signs when there's all these-"
The Cockapoo found herself cut off by an ear-splitting gasp as Ryder's eyes shone so brightly she almost had to squint. Before she could look at what had gotten the boy's attention, he'd practically teleported over to a series of bins containing parts to build a phaser.
"OMIGOSHOMIGOSHOMIGOSH! LOOK AT ALL THIS STUFF! I'VE ALWAYS WANTED TO BUILD MY OWN ONE OF THESE!" Ryder squealed.
Skye's jaw hung open slightly. She never once in her life expected Ryder to act like an excitable little kid like this. But then, this vacation was bringing out previously different sides of people. Even in her. She took a good look at the signs surrounding the station and realised it came from a popular space opera franchise known as Galaxius 3000. Exciting enough for some, but Skye had never seen the appeal.
"Well, err... guess I've lost you for now, huh? Well, let's see what they've got around here..."
Thankfully, Skye didn't have to wonder far to find something else that caught her interest; a huge shelf full of Gorgeous Princess Catsworth playsets. Now the Cockapoo was right at home. Many of them were a lot like dollhouses, but all of them were recognisable to her. Now it was her turn to study each set as though it were a piece of art, occasionally squealing quietly to herself in excitement. Soon, time had melted away for her. Skye had no idea how long she'd spent looking at these sets and she didn't care. These were really cool! The only problem was that she had no idea which one she'd get. There were so many! Skye was completely lost in her only little world...
"HA!"
"YEEEEEK-!"
...until she was startled back to reality by the sound of shouting and what seemed to be laser fire. Nearly banging her head on the upper shelf, Skye whipped around in terror, only to deflate upon seeing a grinning Ryder pointing something at her.
"Ugh, Ryder!"
"Two can play at THAT game, missy!" Ryder smugly taunted.
"Urrrgh... touche... uh..."
Skye went rigid again. For a moment, she was angry, but a moment was all she could muster as she finally caught sight of what made that zapping noise, only to nearly fall over from tilting her head so hard at the sight of whatever Ryder was holding. It must have been whatever he was making at the Galaxius 3000 station, but she didn't think even the characters in the movies would wield something like that.
"What the..."
"I know, I'm an artist."
"Well, I guess that makes sense! I can't make any sense of that's even supposed to BE!"
Skye took a closer look. Ryder's phaser was built like a rifle with a gigantic stock at the back and what looked like a gatling gun's seven barrels at the front, along with a stand built-in to lay the phaser down flat. In the middle was the trigger and grip, which all made some semblance of sense. But that didn't explain the massive sniper scope Ryder had put on the top.
"I'm... no weapon expert, but... wouldn't you put your eye out firing that thing looking down that huge scope?"
"Well, duh... it's for scouting ahead!"
Ryder was far too into this. And far too proud of his hare-brained concoction. But then, he was enjoying himself, and who was Skye to take that away?
"Oh-! And this is the best part!"
Ryder unfolded the stock to reveal a huge scythe blade on the end of a telescoping arm that lit up a bright red at the touch of a button.
"Whoa!" Skye had to admit being impressed.
"Yep! This phaser also has a custom-built, collapsible, high-impact crescent energy melee implement!"
The Cockapoo gave another wide-eyed look of confusion as she tilted her head again. Ryder may as well have been speaking another language for all the good that technobabble-laden explanation did.
"Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh... wwwwwhaaaaa...?"
Ryder turned the scythe blade off and folded it away.
"It's also a scythe."
Skye gasped. "Ohhhhhhhh..."
Ryder flashed a prideful grin before looking over at the shelves.
"Huh... is that the, uhh... don't tell me... Aurora Fortress?"
Skye flinched back in shock. "Wh-?! Wha?! Ryder?! You... you recognise this?!"
"E-Err, y-yeah... I-I mean, I, er... I saw you watching it... s-sometimes?"
Ryder had suddenly broken eye contact with his pup, and was obviously looking uncomfortable as he stammered out the words. Skye simply gave her owner an unimpressed stare. It seemed the pups all got their habits of lying poorly from the same source. And it didn't take long for Ryder to crack as he looked at the floor.
"OK, I... I've actually watched the show in my own time..."
"Ha! I knew it!"
"Shhhh-! Not so loud, Skye!"
"Oh, you're fine! Do you know how many boys like Princess Catsworth?! I'm so happy I'll have someone to watch it with me who's not called Everest!"
"Wait. Boys like Princess Catsworth?"
"Yeah! There's a ton of boys who watch it, in fact! Even Marshall! Maybe once I tell him you like it too, he won't be so shy about watching it with me!"
"Huh. I never would've gue- Marshall watches it too?!"
"Yeah, but he'll never admit it... unless you get him in a game of Truth or Dare like we did one time."
Ryder didn't say anything in response, instead electing to stare at the Aurora Fortress playset that Skye was looking at. He was starting to feel incredibly silly about being so hesitant to watch Princess Catsworth knowing that other boys apparently liked it too, and even moreso knowing that Marshall numbered among them. Granted, he still wouldn't exactly bring it up at the dinner table, but he couldn't help but giggle slightly. Knowing that he was at the very least in good company was a load off his mind.
"Then that settles it. When we get back, let's both talk to Marshall. Then maybe we can have a viewing party with Everest!"
Skye only gasped with her eyes shining as Ryder's smile grew. But they had shopping to do, and several minutes later, both boy and pup finished their shopping and left with Ryder carrying a large bag that held all sorts of things such as Skye's magic wand chew toy, Ryder's newly-built phaser-scythe mess, and a spaceship playset for Rocky.
"Man, he's gonna freak when he sees this!" Ryder enthused.
"Well, you said you'd buy him something nice, and that DEFINITELY counts. He's probably gonna do more flips than me!"
"Yeah, then he's gonna start going on about how it wouldn't be airworthy. Then he'll start playing with it and forget all about it. It's not my first rodeo!"
Ryder's joke got some more laughter out of Skye before she spoke again.
"So. What next? Got somewhere in mind?
"Well, yeah. The concierge desk! I am NOT lugging all this around all day!"
"Oh yeah, that's fair..."
"Heh heh... if you're talking about after, I was thinking of clothes shopping? I mean, it's just not a vacation without tacky t-shirts!"
"Ooh!"
Ryder smirked as Skye started eyeing him up, clearly trying to envision his ideal outfit. He immediately remembered some of the cartoons he watched having a montage of characters trying different outfits on for an observer outside of a changing booth. He never once considered that he'd be playing the part of the prospective model.
"Besides, I'm probably gonna need new clothes anyway. The next pup I see after this is Rubble, and I promised I'd go around the Solar Citadel with him. He sounded SUPER pumped, so I'm probably not gonna get a break from going on rides, which prooooobably means I'm gonna be sick at least once."
"Oh, hah. Yeah. Been there. You shouldn't have to worry about that. If you don't eat something big and heavy like a sundae before going on a ride, you should be A-OK. Trust me. I'm speaking from experience."
"Heh, well, that big breakfast I ate earlier's still keeping me going, so no worries there."
An awkward silence hung briefly in the air. Ryder still had something he wanted to say to Skye, but they were having so much fun already, and he was afraid of possibly ruining it with something heavy.
"Ryder? What's wrong? Something on your mind?"
Not that it wasn't written all over his face. With no choice left, Ryder took a breath in.
"Well... it's... it's probably gonna sound totally stupid, but... I... I wanted to thank you... just because... w-well..."
Skye knew perfectly well where this was going. And she had something she wanted to say as well. But since Ryder had started them off, she was a lot more comfortable broaching the subject than he was. She stopped the stammering boy in his tracks by walking up and pressing her head against his legs.
"No, Ryder. Thank YOU. I wasn't sure about bringing this up, but... I know. Ever since that whole episode of nearly losing Marshall in that river... things between us... well, they've sucked. No nice way of saying that. It's been tough on both of us, and... I regret a lot of it..."
Skye whimpered sadly as the bad memories briefly came back to her. The memories of her being forced into a leadership role she didn't want and knew she couldn't live up to. Memories of having to put her own grief aside and try to steer the sinking ship as best she could. But Skye shrugged these off as she remembered everything good that had come out of the last couple of days. And so far, there was a lot to smile about.
"...but even after all that, you're still looking out for us. You're still pulling out all the stops to give us the time of our lives! I don't even wanna KNOW how much you spent on us, I mean $1,000 just for me is enough to make me a little dizzy, and that's gotta be only a little bit of it! And you're doing all this even after all the hard times we've given each other... you wanna thank me? Well, right back at you."
With Skye's last word, Ryder immediately bent down and threw his arms around his pup, who started joyously licking his cheek in turn. If Skye could see it, she notice Ryder shedding a joyful tear as his emotions overflowed.
"Skye... how did you know what I was thinking?"
Skye giggled. "I dunno. Call it a girl's intuition."
Ryder gave no reply other than continuing his hug. And Skye simply stayed quiet, enjoying her owner's warm embrace in the knowledge that she'd just told him exactly what he needed to hear. The crowds had to simply move around the pair for a while before they broke the hug and got back up.
"Well... wanna get on with shopping?" Ryder invited.
"You bet! Oh, but, er, before we go to concierge..."
Skye reached up with her paw and pulled the pink dragon mask back down over her face.
"Grrrrr! Tank yoo bewy much!"
Ryder burst out laughing at Skye's silly dragon voice, but in reality, the boy's heart was soaring higher than the heavens. Skye had just made him happier than he thought possible. And as he reached down and rubbed her head vigorously before they moved to get on with their shopping, he had the feeling he'd been doing the same thing for them lately. Something he was made even more sure of by the noticeable bounce in Skye's step.
...is it me, or is Skye way more of a prankster in this story than she is anywhere outside of it? Anyway, it's odd, when I went to Disney World in 2019, I could swear there was a bin for building your own lightsaber, which is what I based some of this off of. But it wasn't there in 2022! Crying shame, but that's just how the cookie crumbles, I suppose.
If you enjoyed this chapter, please don't hesitate to favourite, follow and/or leave a review. Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed, and I hope to see you next time. Take care.
Next story: RyRu - Fast, Not Furious
