Chapter eight: Pupsicles!
Paws touched the cool flow of crystal blue,.. and even the reflection they looked down into was a bit of a relief.
"Please tell me this means we're done with bed sheets for a while." Chase remarked, looking up from the water.
"Haha. You looked like a cute blue ghost, though," Snowflake commented.
"Good thing I grabbed that blue sheet from Rocky's truck. Sorry for borrowing it without asking Rocky," Ned added.
"No worries." Rocky smiled, then flinched at a sudden splash of the gurgling water dripping his way.
Zuma and Rubble dunked themselves under and came back up a little cleaner than before, rubbing the stickier places to help remove the squished berry from their coats.
Snowflake and Ned also washed the berry juice off.
"It is nice to not feel sticky anymore." Snowflake said.
"Oof! You said it!" Chase breathed, shuttering.
"What's wrong, dude?" Zuma wondered, maintaining a smile. "Don't you like smelling fruity?"
"Not when it throws me off." Chase shook his head. Sniffing a couple times, he searched back towards the path that led away from the river, while remaining in the water. "What if we can't find our way back?"
"Um.. bro? It's daylight." Chester corrected his brother with some amount of sarcastic flair. "I think we'll be able to find our way.. Even if you can't smell your way back."
"That's what we have Skye here for.." Rocky added, smiling a bit awkwardly at the Cockapoo.
"They don't call me the sky-high scout for nothing." Skye beamed. "Plus,.. I.. kinda need to get all this.. fruity slime off."
"You and me both, sister!" Chester chimed.
"Oh please, Chess, talk normal!" Chase groaned, obviously embarrassed.
"Heh, heh, got him!" Chester murmured to the other pups, more specifically Skye.
"Huh? Heee heee! Hahahahaha! S-something .. is ... tickling me! Hahahaha!" Snowflake said as she tried not to laugh.
At first, the pups looked up at her with an odd look, but when something began to rise up from the water a few of them became attentive.
"Hey, it's just a turtle.." Rocky said, as they all drew near.
"Aww,.." the pups swooned, all looking closely at the little turtle on the husky's back.
"She's so cute!" Skye gushed.
"And check out that cool star on her shell." Zuma noted.
"Wait.." Chase said, catching something about Zuma's statement.
The turtle looked up at them and made a noise that very well could've been a laugh, as it tickled the pup under her one last brief moment.
"Star?!" Chase gasped.
"What?" the pups vocalized. Then suddenly another head shot up from the surface of the water making them all jump. Pretty soon a total of eight heads had surfaced and they all turned toward the pups with little chirping noises and they swam toward them.
"Uh.. what is happening?" Rubble asked, as they all edge back away from them.
"Relax guys.." Chase told them, strolling toward them from another direction. "Don't you recognize these guys?"
Then taking another look, the expressions on their faces finally cleared the way for a new one.
"The turtles!" the pups gasped.
Snowflake and Ned looked at the pups with confusion.
"You pups know these turtles?" Snowflake asked, not understanding why the pups would be so excited about turtles.
"How do you know they aren't just a different turtle with the same shell pattern?" Ned asked cautiously. Snowflake glared at her brother for being rude until she thought about it. She opened her mouth to object but then closed it.
"Fair point. Though you don't have to be rude about it," Snowflake commented to Ned.
"I'm sorry," Ned quickly apologized, realizing his mistake. His ears folding back and regretting how he had asked the question.
"Heh heh! No problem, guys." Skye giggled. "But yes.. we do know these turtles."
"They came to us for help, when their pond was dried up by a clog in the pipeline that brought water to it." Rocky said.
"They got up in our houses?.. our pup bowls.." Chase explained.
"And in our devices and juice glasses.." Marshall added, shooting a humorous glance to Chase at the last part of his statement.
"And up in our vests." Zuma added, sending a knowingly humorous grin at Chase, who shuddered with a smile on his face.
"Yeah.." he said, maintaining his small smile.
"So what do we do with the turtles? Let them tickle us?" Snowflake asked curiously.
The pups just laughed.
"No, dude." Zuma chuckled.
Suddenly one turtle began to squeak at Skye and she just paid it the attention it seemed to want.
"I think it wants something from us." The cockapoo guessed.
"Like what?" Chester wondered.
Chase suddenly felt something climbing up his leg and looked down.
"Ah,..ha ha.. Hey! That's attached." He snickered at the turtle tugging on the collar of his vest. The little creature hopped down and started swimming downstream.
"I think Joey wants us to follow him?" Chase announced to the group. "Let's go!"
Chase started wading after the turtle, while the pups watched for a moment. Then seeing all the other turtles begin to follow, the pups finally felt inclined to do the same.
"Are we sure this is a good idea?" Chester wondered to Marshall, earning attention from more than just him. "I mean, if you haven't noticed, our track record with adventuring hasn't really been a spotless one lately."
"Huh?,..hwah!" Chase's voice followed by a splash came back to freeze them all.
"Ugh! See what I mean?" Chester groaned. "Chase?!" He took off from the group and after another brief daze of confusion, they all followed.
"Ahf! *cough*cough*.. I'm ok!" Chase called, recovering from the plunge rather quickly. "Woah.." He marveled, looking out from where he'd landed.
The rest of the group reached the edge of the small waterfall, then looked up from where they saw him.
"Oh.." they said.
"A pond. Heh heh.." Zuma lightly chuckled. "That makes sense."
"We'll be right down." Chester told his brother. "Stay there." Then disappearing from Chase's view, he started to lead the pups down the slope to the ground level below them.
"Whatever you say,.." Chase answered seemingly unphased by his otherwise brotherly request, as the pup lay back to float.
"I'm good." he said, allowing the soft current to float him along toward the shore. And somehow it brought him there at about the same time as the pups slid to a stop at the water's edge. Chase giggled, and swam his paws around to keep floating.
"How can you still be enjoying the water by now?" Rocky asked him, as they all tracked his movements, like watching a laser beam toy wander around.
"Not everyone is afraid of water like you are, Rocky." Chase answered, floating with his eyes shut by now,.. as though he were resting on the waves of a lazy river.
"Yeah, but you don't enjoy water this much." Rocky emphasized, glancing oddly at the other pups.
"Maybe it's hot and soothing? Let's give it a try," Snowflake said before carefully jumping into the pond.
"Geronimo!" the husky pup called, as she splashed into the water.
"Wahooo!" Ned said as he also jumped in, the water accidentally splashing Rocky. The husky pups came up for air, but upon doing so, they got a surprise.
"Yes! So nice- Gah! Ah! Brrrr! My face and paws! Cold! Cold! Cold!" Snowflake exclaimed as she quickly realized the water was cold. She and Ned may have had thick fur, but the face and paws weren't as thick-furred, so the cold temperature was noticeable.
"Ahhhh. So relax- Yikes! Why is it cold?!" Ned cried out, as he too noticed how cold the water was.
He then turned back to the pups, only to see a soaked, gray, mixed breed frowning at him.
"Oops. Sorry Rocky," Ned apologized.
"Brrr!" Rocky shivered, shaking out his wet coat. "That's cold!"
"Cold! Cold water! Must get out!" Ned stuttered before swimming to shore.
"Who made the water freezing?! Is this some kind of joke?!" Snowflake wondered as she too swam to shore. Once Ned's paws touched solid ground, he jumped out of the cold water before shaking it off.
Snowflake also crawled out of the water and shook herself off.
Whoosh! The wind suddenly blew past them then stopped.
"Gah! Not the wind!" Ned cried, getting colder from the breeze.
"Brrrr! Why? Why is nature trying to turn us into pupsicles?! I may like winter, but this is not fun!" Snowflake commented, clearly not happy with the situation.
And Chase just rolled his eyes and sighed, as he closed his eyes again to continue floating.
Zuma dipped a paw in the water.
"Woah!" he gasped, hopping back from it. "He's right!"
"Then how?.." Marshall's eyes shot over to Chase, still enjoying his floating fun; and then it clicked.
"Zuma!" He cried, looking to him urgently. And without hesitation, the chocolate lab acted.
"Ruff, Ruff, Buoy!"
"What?" Chase vocalized, straightening up in just the right way for the buoy to come down around him from behind. His instinct for when the buoy hit his chest was to grab it, and soon he could feel a tug on the floatation device that drifted him backwards toward the shore.
Marshall paced anxiously while he waited and watched his friend draw closer. And as soon as he was in reach, Rocky and Marshall took him by the collar to drag him out of the water.
"Oof! Hey! What was that all about?" Chase protested, but instead of an answer he got a paw across his forehead and another tossing a shiny blanket over him.
"You're so cold!" Marshall gasped. "It's lucky you're not hypothermic!"
"Hypo-what? Don't be ridiculous!" Chase countered nudging him away.
Standing up, he shook so that both the water on his coat and the silvery, thermal blanket, which covered him, fell off.
"I'm watching you." Marshall told him sternly. "The last thing we need is for you to get sick."
"I'm fine." Chase protested in annoyance.
"How did this happen?" Chester wondered, stepping toward Chase so that he ended up next to Marshall. "You'd think it'd be a shock to hit such freezing, ice-cold water."
Chase still stared at Marshall in his distaste, even when Marshall broke their gaze to meet Chester's.
"A bit of a shock? YOU THINK?!" Snowflake snapped, with both her and Ned's legs shaking from the same coldness Chase had dealt with.
"It must have been the cave," the Dalmatian figured. "It must have been so cold down there that he got used to it somehow,.. and now the water from the river feels warm to him.. which can be bad because of the light breeze we have going."
"But then.. why isn't he shivering? Even a little bit?" Skye wondered. "He should've at least been cold when he made it out of there.."
"The rest of us have our long sleeves ready for when we get out of the water.. But I believe Chase left his at camp." Marshall said.
"I'll fly back to get it!" Skye offered, then took off immediately.
"Great! Thanks Skye!" Marshall called after her.
Ned smiled, until he then realized he was in the same boat.
"Skye! Wait! I don't have long sleeves either!" Ned cried out. This was true since he had stayed with Chase at the raspberry bush earlier.
Skye momentarily stopped to look at them.
"Don't worry, I got this!" She said, then jettisoned off.
"Even if Chase is used to the cold, we should still get warm, and head back to camp," Snowflake reasoned.
"Snowflake's right," Marshall concurred, turning everyone's attention to Chase, who still acted unimpressed with their intervention. "He may not feel cold, but this could be bad if not handled properly."
"How on earth are you not freezing? Are you a polar bear in disguise?" Snowflake added, studying Chase suspiciously.
"Yes, we should get back to camp," Ned agreed. He then looked at his sister, and then at Chase.
"She's right; you don't seem as cold as us. Brrr!" Ned said as he and his sister shuddered, remembering their jump into the cold water.
"Well,.. of course I'm.. *light shudder* not." Chase answered.
"Dude, you just took the plunge of your life!" Zuma marveled, glancing at the cold water and then at the huskies as he came up beside them.
"You mean we just took the POLAR plunge," Ned joked back to the chocolate lab.
"Not th-th-th-th-the time N-N-Ned!" Snowflake commented, before quickly hugging Zuma in an attempt to get warm. Ned did the same. Now poor Zuma was being hugged tight by two shivering, ice-cold pups.
"Ah! No! That's cold! Ahh!" Zuma cried, trying to wriggle out from between them.
"Sorry Zuma! Hey, Marshall, you have any more thermal blankets?" Snowflake said before turning to the Dalmatian.
"Or big regular blankets?" Ned added.
"Sorry, guys,.." Marshall told them regretfully.
"That's the only one I have." He finished gesturing to Chase, who by now was standing in more of a huddle under the blanket.
"You ok?" Marshall asked, drawing closer to his friend.
"What?!" Chase gasped, jolting upright just a little bit from his sunken posture. "Are you crazy?! Ye-e-es!"
"I got it!" Ned said, coming up with an idea.
"Sis, Zuma, get over here!" Ned commented. Both Zuma and Snowflake went over to Chase and Ned. Ned then quickly took the thermal blanket and threw it over Chase, Snowflake, Zuma and himself completely. Once they were all under the thermal blanket, he twisted the blanket around them so the four pups were completely trapped under the blanket.
"Ummm, Ned? How is THIS supposed to help?" Snowflake asked in a confused voice.
"Behold my polar pals! We're a thermal ghost. Boooooo! May the cold fear our warm blanket! Ye shall be filled with warmth and cuddles! Oooooooo!" Ned commented pretending to be a ghost.
"Ahh! What is happening!" Zuma cried, trying to peer around.
Snowflake smacked her forehead with her paw.
"Ned! You're the biggest goofball I've ever known! Besides, we're ALL FREEZING!" the husky pup retorted, annoyed by her brother's antics.
Snowflake's movements shifted the other pups toward Chase, and the surface of their cold skin against his, caused him to wince and shudder.
"No we aren't. This blanket will keep us warm, and we should feel cozy as we get back to camp,.." Ned answered.
"Sounds good. We may have to be carried, though. How else-" Snowflake said until she realized something. Thinking fast, she pressed her pup tag.
"Ryder? Katie? Jake? Come in! This is Snowflake!" the husky reported.
xxxx
Ryder's pup-pad rang and soon Snowflake's voice came through it.
"Hey Snowflake.." the boy greeted, when he answered. "What's up?" And even Jake and Katie's interest was peaked into coming closer to listen in on the call.
"Ryder? Katie? Jake? The pups and I were hanging out with some turtles after we got washed up. But when we went swimming in the pond, it was freezing cold! Chase, Ned, Zuma and I are cold, the others are fine though. But we need more thermal blankets. I was thinking you guys could start a fire at camp, so we can get warm faster. Please?" Snowflake explained.
"I'M NOT COLD!" Chase wailed, though his voice kind of shook.
"Yay! More blankets!" Ned cheered.
"Uh!.. No kidding, dude!" Zuma huffed, snuggling in a little deeper.
"Yes, and getting back to camp will help too. Please hurry. We only have one thermal blanket," Snowflake said, continuing the call.
"Skye is on her way toward you,.." Marshall added, speaking into Snowflake's pup-tag. "She's going back to get Chase and Ned's long sleeve gear. She should be getting there soon."
"Ok,.. I'll send Jake out." Ryder said, remaining propped up against the log around the unlit fire pit. "Once Skye gets here, we'll have her lead him back to you. I'll have him drive my ATV out there with the wagon on it."
"And bring more blankets!" Ned and Zuma cried together.
"Sounds good!" Ryder said. "Help is on the way, just hang tight!"
"Okay, thanks," Snowflake said, before dropping the call.
Yay, another chapter! You guys, I gotta tell you,.. this chapter was probably one of the most entertaining ones we've done yet! And if you're reading this note, you may understand what I'm talking about!
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