Season 4 Episode 2: Reflected Memories In The Surface Of The Sea!
June 10th, 2030
Zuma and Rocky grinned as they sat in the life guard chairs at the beach, watching the waves crash on the shore of the beach. Ben sat on a beach chair in between them. "Gotta say, you were really brave, Rocky. I remember when you were scared of the slightest drop of water! You've come a long way since then." Ben remarked.
"Wocky used to be super duper terrified of water? That sounds even worse than when we first met!" Zuma commented.
"Oh yeah, water used to make me freeze up in terror! Ben, you wanna tell Zuma the story of my first rainy day with you?" Rocky suggested.
A smile spread across their owner's face. "Well, ain't that quite a tale! It all started…" Ben began.
Set sometime during the six months between Rocky and Zuma joining…
It was a cloudy overcast day in Adventure Bay. Ben and Rocky were walking in the park together, enjoying the nice temperatures and brisk breezes. "Rocky, I've been wanting to ask this for a while now, but do you remember much about your parents?" Ben asked.
Rocky tilted his head and thought about it for a minute before shaking his head no. He sniffled as a particularly strong memory surfaced. "I… remember my mom carrying me by the scruff of my neck, and I remember her licking me good night. I remember her howling me a lullaby and telling me that even though I was different than most other pups, she would always be proud of me." Rocky sighed, his tail wagging.
His mom had passed away a few months before he met Ben. Ben paused and thought about how Rocky's mother said he was different. "What did she mean when she said you were different?" Ben wondered.
Rocky did his best to perform a shrug. "I'm not completely sure, but when she said that, she sounded like she had been through it herself." Rocky commented.
At that, the wheels in Ben's head started turning. Rocky was indeed different from Skye, Marshall, and Chase. While the first three liked to play, Rocky preferred to read. Rocky also tended to look more so past the surface of something and take a closer inspection. This manifested in several aspects of daily life. Rocky ate his food slower, chewing more times than the other pups. He also had a bit more trouble understanding canine concepts that the other paw patrol members grasped easily, such as playing fetch. The first time that Ryder and Ben threw the ball past Rocky, his tail wagged, but he looked back at Ben and Ryder in confusion. "Come on Rocky! Go get the ball and bring it back!" Ben encouraged him.
Rocky nodded his head and ran through the grass, picking it up and bringing it back to Ryder. The spiky haired boy threw it again, and Rocky was even more perplexed. "I just brought it back." Rocky pointed out.
"Yup! It's fetch." Ryder answered.
"So you just chase after the ball and bring it back over and over again until you get tired? Isn't there better ways to use your energy than just repeating the same task over and over again?" Rocky asked.
There was also the fact that Rocky had a sort of wisdom about him that the other pups lacked. Rocky was able to comprehend advanced technology and had a rather large vocabulary. He was the only one of the pups who could understand what Captain Turbot was saying. Even Ryder occasionally had difficulty with piecing together the meaning of Horatio's words. The sailor tended to use words that were often unknown to them, causing them to look at each other with mystified expressions on their muzzles. Rocky was their medium, their translator: he dumbed down what the captain was saying.
The feeling of something hitting his head brought Ben out of his thoughts. There wasn't a single ray of sunlight that was escaping the clouds. Now, the sky was completely covered with them… and they were rather dark in color. Another something hit Ben's head, and another. Looking down at the sidewalk he saw splotches of water staining the pavement. It must be starting to rain. "AUGH! WATER! GET IT AWAY! AAAAAH!" Rocky shrieked, ducking in between Ben's legs and trying to stay dry.
Ben quickly realized what was going on. The poor mixed breed must still have mental trauma from his near drowning in the river that he had told his owner about. Quickly, Ben scooped up Rocky and wrapped him in his coat, running through the park as the rain started to pour down on him. He hunched over, trying to keep the bundled puppy as dry as possible. When they got inside the Lookout, Ben removed his jacket from Rocky and saw that the pup was shivering in fear. "Poor Rocky…" Ben sighed as the mixed breed whimpered. They needed to find a way to fight this.
"We eventually taught Rocky that the rain wasn't something to be afraid of, but he was still afraid of water. Then you came along. You and Rocky hit it off rather well, you two were real close. Heck, the two of you were practically inseparable those first few days! The only activities that Rocky didn't do with you were sleeping and swimming." Ben chuckled.
"And then I helped him get over his fear of water! Duuude, I remember it like it was yesterday." Zuma remarked.
Fondly looking into his reflection in the ocean's surface, he sighed as the memories flowed back…
One week after Zuma had joined…
"Wocky, I've been wondewing. You nevew go swimming with me. Why is that?" Zuma wondered.
Rocky started to sweat nervously. He didn't want to admit this, but he knew he had to eventually. Zuma was a member of the team, he was going to find out sooner or later. With a sigh, Rocky looked down at the ground and his ears folded, embarrassed by what he was about to admit. "I'm… afraid… of the water." Rocky sniffled.
"Afwaid of water? Why are you afwaid of the water?" Zuma wondered, looking at Rocky with curiosity. Rocky's mind filled with the experience of him flailing in the river, yelping as he went under the surface suddenly and inhaled a lung full of water. He remembered hacking up all of the liquid he had swallowed, and gasping for air as he laid on the sandy shore. The mixed breed began hyperventilating as the memories flooded his brain. "Wocky!? WOCKY!" Zuma shouted, shaking the gray pup back to reality.
"I… I almost drowned, Zuma. That's why I'm afraid of the water. Every time I even get wet, the memories come back and I get so scared…" Rocky sniffled, starting to cry now.
Zuma felt so bad for his new friend. He wanted to help his buddy, and he was pretty sure that he knew how. Zuma pulled Rocky in for a puppy hug, letting the mixed breed cry on his shoulder. "Shh, dude, it's okay! Dude, it's okay. Weally." Zuma comforted him.
"N-no it isn't! You love the water! I'm t-t-terrified of it! Y-you must hate me now…" Rocky sobbed.
Zuma shook his head no and hugged Rocky even tighter. "Wocky, it would take a LOT more than that to make me hate you. You're one of the coolest, kindest pups I've ever met!" Zuma assured.
Rocky started bawling even more than before. "Y-you really think that?" He cried out.
"Absolutely!" Zuma answered.
Rocky's sobs died down and he pulled his head out of Zuma's chest. "I'm r-really lucky to have you as a friend, Zuma." Rocky sniffled, smiling softly. "Wight back at you, dude." Zuma chuckled, giving him a grin.
Later that day, as they were drinking from their water bowls, Zuma had an idea. "You know you're not gonna be afwaid of the water fowever, wight Wocky?" Zuma asked.
Rocky stopped drinking his water and hesitated before shaking his head no. "I don't know, Zoom. I really don't…" Rocky sadly said.
"My owner, before he died… he told me that I couldn't wun away fwom my feaws fowever. You gotta face them. Control them befowe they control you." Zuma told his pup pal.
"How do I do that?" Rocky wondered.
"Well, you've alweady started. You're dwinking water right now." Zuma pointed out with a chuckle.
Rocky looked down at his water bowl and noticed the drops dripping from his muzzle. He smiled sheepishly. "I guess so." Rocky chuckled.
The chocolate lab radioed Ben and told him to get the plan ready. Zuma led Rocky out of the Lookout, where there was a small blue cylindrical object large enough to hold up to six pups. "Come on, dude, let's get in!" Zuma suggested.
Rocky giggled at Zuma's curiosity and got in the cylindrical object with him. "What is this?" Rocky wondered before noticing that the bottom of the object was filled with a small amount of water.
Instinctively, he wanted to recoil and get out of it. But Zuma's pleading expression made him stay. He didn't want to disappoint his new friend. Slowly, he fought down the panic, and took deep breaths, with Zuma stroking his fur tenderly. "See? It's not gonna bite you, Wocky." Zuma softly said.
The mixed breed chuckled nervously. If it weren't for Zuma, he'd be flailing and jumping out of the pool instantly. He managed to last about five minutes before quickly leaping out of the pool. "Wet, wet, WET!" The grey puppy grimaced.
"Dude, you did great! I'm weally pwoud of you, Wocky." Zuma earnestly said.
"Proud of me!? For what!?" Rocky scoffed. Ben came up, checking his watch.
"You stayed in there for about five minutes. That's rather impressive." Ben commented.
"Yeah, dude! I thought you'd last only two." Zuma agreed.
Rocky felt a sudden swelling of pride within his chest. He had beat their expectations. "You've taken the first step to overcome your fear of water, Rocky. How do you feel about that?" Ryder inquired.
Rocky tilted his head to think about it for a few minutes before responding. "...Honestly? I'm feeling pretty proud of myself. And I know I can keep improving." Rocky admitted.
He turned to the chocolate labrador with a determined expression on his muzzle. "Can we… do this again tomorrow? Having you with me was a really big help." Rocky asked.
Zuma gave him a big grin. "Totally, dude! I'd love to!" Zuma answered.
Rocky sighed in relief. He would never have even considered getting wet like that again if Zuma wasn't with him. And so began a daily ritual. Every day, around that same time, they would sit in the pool, and Rocky gradually increased the amount of time that he would stand being wet, as well as how much water was in the pool. It was a gradual increase. At first he only stuck around for five or so more seconds every day, then it extended to a quarter of a minute, to half of a minute, and finally to additional full minutes. Two months after the pool sessions started, Rocky was able to withstand twenty-five minutes in the pool with Zuma, and up to his stomach deep in water.
Ben was so proud of Rocky for it that final day. He was swimming and kicking around with ease, Zuma coaching him on how to doggy paddle. "This is great! I don't feel scared anymore! I can actually swim! …Though, the wet dog smell is always gonna bother me." Rocky cheered, before sighing about the smell.
Katie came over to the Lookout for a visit, having been giving Rocky regular check-ups as part of his 'therapy'. She had been making notes and observations, and she had come to a pretty big conclusion. Gathering Zuma, Rocky, Ryder, and Ben in the living room of the Lookout, she broke her discovery. "Rocky has autism." She announced.
Ben immediately gasped. Those words hit close to home, because he had the same diagnosis. Rocky… was just like him. "What's autism!? Am I going to die!? What's wrong with me?!" Rocky nervously said.
Ben immediately picked up Rocky and patted his head. "Absolutely nothing!" The fifteen year old insisted.
Rocky looked surprised to see Ben get so insistent and defensive. Katie nodded her head in agreement. "Ben's absolutely right, there's nothing wrong with having autism or any other sort of neurodivergent condition!" Katie quickly amended. "Neuro-what?" Zuma wondered.
Ryder chuckled as Zuma struggled to understand the word. The spiky haired fourteen year old boy decided that he'd explain it to the two pups in simple terms. They were still so young, and although Rocky knew about the brain and other things, Zuma didn't. "Zuma, Rocky, you see, there's this part of your body inside your head that's called the brain. The brain is the part of your body that does the thinking!" Ryder began, tapping a finger gently on the brown canine's head.
At that part, Zuma started to cry. It reminded him all too much of the day his owner sat him down to explain what cancer was, and that he didn't have much longer left in this world. "D-does that mean W-W-Wocky's gonna d-d-die?! L-like m-m-my old o-o-owner?" Zuma sobbed, tears streaming down his face.
Ben gasped at this. Ryder scooped Zuma up into his arms and hugged him. "Not at all, Zuma! Don't worry, none of us are going to die. Autism just means that Rocky's brain works differently than most other people!" Ryder reassured.
"Yeah, Zuma. Rocky's not going to be going anywhere. You wanna know why?" Ben promised.
Zuma was too emotionally distressed to speak, so he simply nodded his head in response. "I have the same condition as Rocky. And I'm fifteen. Rocky is three. Autism won't kill him. I swear." Ben comforted Zuma.
"O-okay…" Zuma sniffled.
"That day was quite hectic, the one where I overcame that fear and Katie gave me my diagnosis." Rocky mused.
"But it brought us all closer together." Ben commented.
Zuma nodded in agreement. The chocolate labrador couldn't help but think of his own new fear: drowning. "You helped me three years ago, Zoom. Now, it's my turn to help you beat your own fear. I'll stick by your side no matter what. If you're gonna get in the ocean, I'll be going with you. I'll even get wet if it means helping you out, and giving you a shoulder to lean on." Rocky determinedly answered.
Zuma's jaw dropped. "Y-you really mean it, Rocky!? Really really mean it?!" Zuma stammered.
Rocky's head bobbed up and down to confirm it. "Absolutely! It's my turn to repay the favor. I know that together, we can overcome anything! And you won't just have me helping you. I know that Rubble, Chase, Skye, and Marshall are gonna be willing to lend a helping paw too!" Rocky assured.
"Don't forget me and Ryder's very capable hands!" Ben chimed in.
Rocky and Zuma laughed at Ben's remark, before they embraced. "Thanks a ton, dude. I'm really glad to have you in my life." Zuma sighed happily.
"You too Zoom… you too." Rocky replied, and the two pups shared a kiss.