Chapter twenty-one: Long Night
Chester studied the group carefully.
"Well?.." he implied, waiting for an answer.
"Sure.. why not." Rocky shrugged, hopping up onto the pillow and laying down.
Ned did the same rolling motion with his paws on Rocky's shoulders and back, moving his paws slowly along the mixed breed's body.
"Oh!" Rocky gasped, surprised by the initial shock of the new sensation. "Ok then.. Ooo.. ahhh.. yes!" He sighed and sunk into the pillow more.
Ned kept massaging Rocky's back calmly. He watched as the pup enjoyed the relaxing sensation.
"Relax Rocky. Picture yourself on the lawn, on a sunny day. All your recycled tools are organized, the pups are with you, and you are all drinking a refreshing beverage. Ryder is nearby, laying on a chair," Ned said calmly, helping Rocky to picture the peaceful scene.
"You relaxed Rocky?" Snowflake asked curiously.
"Ahhh, yes.." Rocky sighed, his paw waving at her in slow motion, giving off the immense ease he was exhibiting.
"You're lucky he's not in his 'playful spooky story' mood. That can be scary sometimes," Snowflake commented with a shudder.
"Why's that?" Chester wondered, unsure if he wanted to know the answer.
"Let's just say telling scary stories in a playful mood while inside a dark closet with a flashlight is... Creepy. Plus getting stuck under bed sheets doesn't help either," Snowflake answered.
Ned smirked
"Hey, it's fun! Remember the Tale of Huggable Haunts? Or The Ghost of Midnight? When the clock strikes twelve, the ghost shall roam the halls looking for fun, while the kids run away hoping not to get caught in the sheet unless ye want to be haunt!" Ned said in a spooky voice.
"Ned! Not now! But yeah, we used to do that. Sometimes the stories were nice like Peaceful Winter, or Comfort of Friends," Snowflake replied.
"Oh,.. well where we're those stories when we were camping?" Chester wondered.
"Oh. Sorry. It's just we told you about Snowflake's sleepover that I guess I forgot about the spooky stories. Then again, we did do the werepuppy one," Ned retorted.
"Yeah, the werepuppy one was fun. But it would have been fun to do spooky stories. Later though since it is getting late," Snowflake added.
"Then how about a nice silly one? A song in fact!" Ned said before he started to sing.
"My tummy is hungry and grumbling! So let us prepare a feast! We got pretzels, burgers and berries, ice cream and pizzas galore! We got so much to celebrate, so sit down and enjoy! And if you would like to join us, you may come and sing jubilee!" Ned sang gleefully, pretending to be a chef.
Snowflake smacked her forehead with her paw.
"The Happy Feast of Food? Really? You pick that to sing?" Snowflake exclaimed in shock.
"Why not? It's a good song!" Ned answered.
Chester restrained himself from laughing.
"What?!" He huffed, unable to hide a smile.
"It's a real food song we heard growing up. It was in a commercial or show," Ned explained.
"Sounds like a real class act." Chester smirked, and he knew Chase would very likely be unamused by his comment, which made him enjoy it that much more.
And it was at this time that Chase's head lifted, then plopped down on its other side.
"Sort of," Ned replied.
"You pups want to hear about the hike Rocky and I had?" Snowflake asked.
"Absolutely!" Marshall answered, as they all found a spot to lie down on some pillows.
"Well we were hiking until we saw the sunset. So we stopped to enjoy it," Snowflake began.
"Yeah! It was so pretty!" Rocky gushed. "I thought I'd fall asleep there, watching the sky turn all those colors." The mixed breed stretched out and laid his head to the side in contentment.
"You relaxed or want me to keep massaging?" Ned asked curiously.
"Hahh, Nope.. I'm good." Rocky sighed, stretching once more to prop his head up on one paw. "But it was very relaxing. Almost as relaxing as walking down the path while the colors of the sky continued to change."
"We got so distracted that we didn't notice how dark it got. We tried to follow the path but got lost," Snowflake continued.
"And it got so dark,.." Rocky added. "That we ended up getting really lost."
All the pups gasped.
"Oh don't worry." Rocky said, putting them slightly at ease. "We figured a way out of that.. heh,.. with some help."
"Yeah. Little Hootie and his mom found us and guided us back to our vehicles. After that, we drove back here," Snowflake said, finishing the story.
"Seems so short when you put it all that way." Zuma noted, exchanging glances with Marshall, who nodded.
"Well it felt like forever!" Rocky cried, falling forward dramatically, which made the pups snicker a little bit.
Chase shifted sides and reached a paw over across his body to claw at a disturbance, then heaved a heavy sigh that kept him asleep.
"Either way.. I'm mainly just glad we got back safely." Rocky continued, smiling.
"Same here," Snowflake agreed.
"By the way Ryder, what time is it?" the husky pup asked the boy.
Ryder took out his pup-pad and pressed a button on the screen.
"Oh." He blurted out, his eyes widening. "It looks like it's late.. 10:30 pups, time to go to bed."
"Okay," Ned and Snowflake said as they both got up.
Everyone began crossing the floor to exit the Lookout, when a certain pup nearly stood up in his sleep and plopped down on his other side again; sighing once more.
"Man, 'must be some dream.." Chester thought.
"What makes you say that?" Marshall wondered.
"Don't you guys know?" Chester answered, turning to them. "He's never that restless if he's not having some crazy dream."
"Maybe he's dreaming about roller coasters!" Rubble suggested openly. But opening his eyes, he found everyone staring at him.
"What?.. he could be." The bulldog shrugged innocently.
"Yeah, no.. he's probably dreaming of something else.." Chester decided, his glance falling upon his sleeping brother again. "Something way different.. hm.."
"A free pup massage? Given by yours truly," Ned said, gesturing to himself.
"No, maybe running after a ball or on a rescue?" Snowflake guessed.
"Who knows.." Chester shrugged. "'Guess we never will. Come on, let's go hit the hay, as they say."
"Who's 'they'?" Rubble wondered, the naivety of his statement only slightly amusing those around him.
And with that they all scattered to their pup houses, Chester taking up a spot near Chase and curling up to sleep.
"Goodnight pups." Ryder said, looking them all over as they dispersed.
"Goodnight Ryder." The pups all yawned. Then Ryder headed back inside.
"Goodnight Chester." The boy said.
"Night." Chess smiled, slightly lifting his head when opening his eyes to him, then closed them when laying back down. Ryder smiled then his gaze dropped a little to the lump right next to the older German Shepherd.
"Goodnight, Chase." He murmured, then finally entered the elevator to head up to bed himself. And little did he know the twitching ears of the smaller German Shepherd, who would occasionally fidget and try to scratch at the tape with a few clawing sweeps here and there.
xxxx
Toss, turn, toss, turn, when will it end?
Toss, turn, toss, turn, getting later and later!
The clock strikes one hour after another, the time keeps ticking on. How come I'm the only one who can't fall under or stay there all night?!
An angry shift and the semi-awake pup growled. His head tightened to his shoulder and he dug in again.
Please come, PLEASE COME!
When it happened, he wouldn't know.. but waiting for it seemed forever long..
xxxx
Gentle rays stung his eyes.. the brightness growing outside rousing the Dalmatian from his dreams.
Oh man what a night?! His thoughts gasped, breathing to life his consciousness. His blue eyes slowly revealed themselves beneath the steady blinking of his heavy eyelids. And when they'd finally lifted he was met with the pleasing glow of dawn's great wonder.
He yawned deeply, and loudly, as he stretched his body out of the ball he'd made of himself and stood up to shake his shoulders loose again.
Looking around everything was still quiet.
Weird.. usually at least somebody's awake around this time.. he thought, and his mind automatically went to a certain police pup, but he also knew that that wouldn't be likely as of recently.
Sliding out of his pup house, he stopped to stretch in a downward motion, then started to walk around toward the Lookout entrance. Every pup house he passed was empty, and when he approached the Lookout doors; he suddenly stopped when hearing a noise. Scanning everything behind him, he found nothing but a sleeping Snowflake in her pup house. He was about to turn back and step toward the doors when a set of paws grabbed him and pulled him back behind the support of the Lookout's outer structure.
"Ah!..arg ugh!..d-hey!-.."
"Geez, dude, relax." Chester whispered in a low yet audible voice.
"Chester? -What are you-.." he looked just beyond him and found the rest of the pups sitting there.
"What are you guys doing out here?" Marshall finally finished.
"Shh.." Chester hushed. "Just look.."
Every pup peered around the structure, and Chester pointed. Through the window, they could see Ryder lying fast asleep near a sleeping Chase, who still fidgeted and suddenly shifted sides.
"Yeah?.. and?.." Marshall voiced, turning to the pups. Chester's expression dropped to a dry frown and he pulled Marshall back behind the structure again.
"Isn't it just a little weird that Ryder's down here?" Chester murmured. "I mean I watched him go up the elevator last night.. and then suddenly he's down here again? I mean what gives?"
Ned looked at Chester with a deadpan look.
"So you're saying Ryder can't go up and down to different floors... in the elevator... in his own home. Really?" Ned stated in a matter-of-fact voice.
Suddenly the group was interrupted by humming that soon turned to singing, and it was getting... closer? Suddenly, Snowflake walked over wearing a pair of blue headphones on her head and the device clipped to her collar.
"Blue skies got me in a good mood! 'Can have fun for hours! I'm a healthy pup, no need to shower! My buddies and I will goof off all daaaaay! Eat crackers, relaxing on the sofa, we can chat while drinking chocolate mocha! Wait, what's that white thing? Oh no, it's a ghost! Wait, it's our little buddy playing bed sheets! Ghostie buddies! Yay!" sang Snowflake as she walked over to the pups as she sang, danced, and even hugged Marshall in the process. Once she separated from the hug, she waved at them.
"Hi pups! What's up?" Snowflake exclaimed as she danced.
"Snowflake! Turn off your headphones!" Ned replied.
"You want me to dance the tango? I don't know how," the female husky pup said, clueless to what her brother said.
"Shhh!" Chester hissed, covering Snowflake's mouth, then pulling off her headphones. "We're trying not to wake the rest of the team inside."
Snowflake smiled, then licked Chester's paw
"Ummm. Everyone is here, Chess. Who else is sleeping?" Snowflake said before turning the music device off.
"Ick!" Chester cried, wiping his paw on Rocky; who winced. "And Chase and Ryder are! We were just spying on them again.."
"Spying? Why? -Did something happen?" Snowflake replied now feeling concerned.
"That's what we're trying to figure out." Chester mentioned. Suddenly they heard a yawn and they all fumbled over one another to peer around the structure again. Ryder stirred and lifted his head, he looked over at Chase, who happened to be still at the time, then rubbed his eyes to sit up.
Chester and the pups exchanged glances, before slowly emerging from their hiding place and approaching the doors.
Ryder looked up once the doors shifted open, and was met with all the pups.
"Oh.. good morning pups.." the boy greeted. "All up early, I see.."
"I.. wouldn't exactly say early." Chester countered thoughtfully, a bit of hesitation in his tone.
Ryder searched around and found his pup-pad. Picking it up off the floor to his left next to Chase's lower half, he looked at the screen and found the time and his eyes grew slightly in size.
"Oh.. ok so a little late then, I guess." Ryder corrected himself.
"We tried to be quiet so we wouldn't wake you up," Snowflake said before getting nudged by Ned in the shoulder.
"We tried? You were the one singing about ghostie buddies on your headphones!" Ned commented softly.
"So I forgot to take off my headphones before falling asleep! It was an accident! Would you rather have me sing Christmas songs instead?" Snowflake retorted softly back to her brother. Ned blushed a little at the thought.
"That's what I thought," Snowflake said before turning back to Ryder.
"Well.. I appreciate that,.. I guess." Ryder smiled.
"So what happened last night?" Chess wondered, approaching the boy more forwardly. "Couldn't sleep?"
"Something like that.." Ryder shrugged. "I got up to get some water and noticed Chase was a little restless.. so I decided I'd stick around just in case he woke up.. I must've fallen asleep, cause I didn't see or hear him at all after a while."
"That's nice. At least you both are safe," Snowflake said reassuringly.
Ryder gave her a slightly odd look.
"Um.. of.. course we are." He said, and they could tell he was a bit confused.
"So what now?" Ned asked.
"Hmmmm. Well I bonded with Skye, Zuma and Rocky yesterday. Maybe I can bond with Marshall, Rubble, and Chester. Maybe Everest too if she is free to bond with," Snowflake suggested.
"Ok so.. what sort of things do you have in mind?" Chester wondered.
"I might have one." Marshall smiled, which became more of a grin when it cocked over to Snowflake.
"What's your idea?" Snowflake asked nervously.
"He he.. you'll see.." Marshall grinned further, rubbing his forepaws together.
"I think I got one too." Chester mentioned openly. "But.. I can wait till Marshall gets whatever he's cooking up out of his system."
Snowflake looked nervously at the two pups, then to Marshall.
"Marshall? Buddy, you're scaring me. What idea do you have itching in your head?" Snowflake replied with apprehension.
And after she said this, Chase moved, but no one saw the quick sweep of his paw on his shoulder, as his back was to them.
"Oh don't worry, it'll be worth the wait. A real touch and go, am I right?"
Touch.. itch.. ugh!
Oh man, this was fun! especially that morning scene with the pups! =D
Obviously, the next part is kinda fun as well, but also, I hope you're catching on to Chase's odd behavior by this point. 'Can't wait to see what you think of what is to come next. And with that, I'll see you in the next chapter! Thx!