Chapter 8: Regrouping


Twenty minutes went by before Chase, Tracker, and a now awake Everest made it back to the beach.

"Hey! I see a light!" Rocky exclaimed.

"It's Chase! They're back!" Skye cried out, relieved.

"We were worried about you guys!" Marshall said as he walked up to them. Chase put down Marshall's helmet which he had been holding in his teeth.

"We thought the laser guy got to you." Rubble whimpered.

Marshall leaned over to Chase, "Rubble thought the laser guy got to you," he whispered. Then he returned to a normal voice, "What did happen? Are you guys okay?" Marshall looked them up and down. "What happened to Everest?"

"I don't know what happened. I just felt really sleepy all of a sudden," Everest explained. Chase was about to say something when Tracker jumped in with an answer to the other part of Marshall's question.

"We were attacked by a puma!" Everyone gasped in horror,

"How did you escape? Are you hurt?" Skye asked worriedly.

"Tracker saved us!" Chase proceeded to tell everyone what had happened. They were all both horrified and amazed, and they congratulated him as a hero.

"So, it just fell asleep?" Rubble questioned, confused.

"It didn't just fall asleep; it was shot by this tranquilizer dart," Chase said, grabbing it from inside Marshall's hat where he had put it.

"Oy-oy-oy! You took the dart?! ¡No puedo creer que hayas hecho eso!"

"It was safe," Chase reasoned, "The puma was knocked out after all, and I figured you guys would want to see it."

"I definitely would!" Rocky exclaimed, "It's proof there's someone else on this island!"

"What, my word isn't enough?" Everest teased the mixed breed.

"Okay, I'll amend that. It's proof there's civilization and technology on this island." He walked up to Chase, "Ruff! Claw!" His claw came out of his pup pack, which he used to take the tranquilizer dart from Chase. He held it up in front of his face to examine it. "It's too dark, I can't see it very well."

"It looks like it's almost night time," Everest yawned, "We should get to bed soon."

"Good idea," Skye replied, "We have a shelter of sorts built. We didn't see the need to build too much of a wall or a roof, since there's barely any wind and no rain."

"I still don't like that," piped in Rubble.

"But wait," Everest said, her voice full of concern, "there's no rain? But, if there's no rain, then there's no streams. Where will we get water from?"

"Oh, don't worry about that," Marshall replied, "The beach water is freshwater."

This caught everyone completely off-guard. They all stared at Marshall, mouths agape.

"If the ocean is freshwater, then where on earth are we? Is that not the ocean?" Rocky asked.

"Why didn't you tell us sooner? I've been thirsty all evening!" Rubble said. He raced over to the water's edge and took a drink. "Wow, it is fresh! That's so weird!"

"How did you find out?" Chase queried.

"Well, uh, I was walking by the beach when I slipped on a piece of metal from the Air Patroller and tumbled into the water," Marshall confessed.

Zuma emerged from a hut built by the edge of the forest and beach about 5 yards to their north. It was constructed of four logs for the corners, four more logs for the edge of the roof, and a bunch of palm leaves as the walls and the roof. "So is that not the ocean?" He asked, approaching them.

"Hey, welcome back!" smiled Skye. "How are you feeling?"

"Woah, Zuma! You shouldn't be here! Go back to bed! You have a concussion," Marshall stepped in, pointing his casted paw back to the shelter. "Doctor's orders."

"But I feel better and I couldn't go back to sleep!" Zuma whined. "What do you dudes mean that's not the ocean?"

"Marshall says it's freshwater. So that makes it impossible to be the ocean," Skye explained.

"No way dude! That's freshwater? Are we at one of the Great Lakes?"

"It can't be. We were nowhere near the great lakes... Were we?" Everest inquired.

"Nope," Chase replied.

Tracker looked at Rocky, "Rocky, what pup packs did you get working? I'd like to wear mine tonight in case el puma comes back..."

"I was able to get almost everything fixed, but one of your cables was broken beyond my current repair skills... Sorry."

"It's okay. No problema. One cable is better than none."

"So does that mean you were able to get some of your jetpacks working?" Everest asked hopefully.

Rocky looked down, "No... They all got destroyed. Even yours and Tracker's. Ryder must have been keeping them as a surprise. It's too bad you never got to use them..." He looked up, smiling slightly, "I think you would have liked them. They were pretty cool."

"It's okay," Everest comforted him, "We'll get to use them some day when we get back to Adventure Bay!"

Zuma yawned. "How can we get back when we don't know where we are?"

"Ryder will think of something," Chase said confidently. "He always does."

"Until then, you need to get some rest. All of us do in fact. But especially you; you still have a concussion," Marshall reasoned.

"But I don't have a headache anymore," countered the Labrador.

"Here," Marshall said, "I'll check again." He grabbed the flashlight from his helmet and shone it into Zuma's eyes. After a few seconds of examination he set it down. "Huh, it looks like you don't have a concussion anymore," the Dalmatian said in confusion. "I'll keep an eye on you, but that doesn't mean you don't need rest. Off to bed everyone! No more excitement for tonight! Doctor's orders," he chuckled.

After shooing everyone in the direction of their shelter, Marshall followed. When he was almost there, he slipped on a palm leaf and tripped over his cast. "Wooooahhhh!" he cried as he crashed into everyone in the room.

"Oh Marshall!" Rubble laughed, "Didn't you hear what the doctor said about no more excitement?"

"Heh, sorry guys," replied the clumsy canine before they all went off to sleep.


This chapter is relatively simple and calm, especially compared to the last one. I used it to tie up a bunch of the loose ends hanging around with the pups being separated all day. Zuma has a speedy recovery in this chapter for numerous reasons, one of which is that I felt bad for leaving him out of the last few. Their shelter is complete, Ryder is stuck there with a broken leg and concussion still, and the pups have the island to explore all to themselves in the morning. Well, almost...