Chapter fifty-four: Pups Ahoy!
"Avast me hearties and batten down the hatches!" Chase declared, standing at the front of the oddly shaped pile of pillows and holding a flag, which he seemed to have gotten from nowhere. "There be dragons in these waters.. and the skyrays aflyin' overhead be diving on down to get us. But ye never know when ye scallywags of the Jebbity mountains be coming aknockin'.."
"Aye aye Captain Chase! I shall tighten the ropes, secure the cannons, batten the hatches and prepare for battle! These creatures of the sea best not mess with us, or they be swimming back to the bottom of the deep blue! Aaarrrg!" Ned cheered as he playfully did his best to make sure he, Chase and the pillow ship stood a fighting chance against whatever was in the pretend waters.
"Uhh, what's wrong with this picture?" Zuma wondered, everyone among him including himself staring with various levels of confusion.
"Aye, matey!" Chase confirmed, turning to him formally. "Battle it shall be! *cough* But keep us on course! We cannot lose our claim to Mount Carmelotta and dishonor the Floppy Dwarfs without bathing ourselves with its rich golden waves! Onwards! To battle! Aaarrrrrrgg!"
"Aaarrrggg! To battle! And if we can sail back, we be swimming in riches, food, and appreciation! But now to battle! Aaaarrrgg!" Ned agreed, holding a rubber tube as if he were holding a sword in his paws.
"I think Chase's medicine just kicked in. Remember the campfire?" Snowflake said to the other pups.
"Oh man, not again!" Marshall sighed deeply, rolling his head back. "I guess we better go put him back to bed."
"You mean medicine, yes. Talk him into bed, I don't know if that will work. He and Ned are busy being on their adventure," Snowflake replied, before pointing to the goofy situation in front of them.
"Yeah.. he seems to be having fun." Skye said. "Ryder?"
"Hm.. Well.. maybe we can indulge him for a little bit.." the boy supposed. "But we can't wear him out like this.. or he'll wake up in a bit of a huff tomorrow."
"Yeah, but not completely. Otherwise he'll be sore for weeks.. again!" Snowflake emphasized.
"Exactly." Ryder said. "Keep an eye on him, Marshall.. we'll let him have a little fun, but then he needs to go lay back down."
"You got it, Ryder." The Dalmatian confirmed as the boy wandered away.
"Hark! Ye gentlepups land abroad along the coast of Fableton and commandeer mi craft out of home and high water! How dare thee steal mi pirate booty with only a snare to restrain me to port.. or was it starbird which you hung me about! Strap me to the stern and drown me in my own pride!"
"Chase, that's enough you're not getting humiliated.. you're just out of it.." Chester told his brother. "Come back to bed."
"No! Great scotts! How dare you insult me, peasant! I'll not be removed of my command till those rust-bucket rattlers are ejected back into the stone age! Whatever that means.." he thought out loud, while lowering his gaze away from them momentarily.
"Besides!.." he exclaimed, snapping back to attention. "We have to ensure that the package is secured."
"Uh.. package?" Marshall echoed, then rolled eyes dryly.
"Precisely!" Chase confirmed grandly. He muffled a snort like some form of restrained cough and stumbled down into the makeshift deck of the ship and pulled up a box.
"Dare I ask.." Chester sighed flatly. "What is it, Captain Black fur?"
"Black fur!" Chase scoffed. "Bless me to balderdash! You insult me, Colonial!"
"So now you're a colonial?" Skye mumbled to the group, and Chester shrugged.
"My name.. is Captain Brownpaw! Scurvy sailor of the jelly oceans of Panula Corner! The conqueror of the wild winds! Surely you've heard of me?" Chase replied with the most dynamic in his tone they'd ever heard.
"Captain Brownpaw, shall I teach these scoundrels a lesson for jumping aboard uninvited? Or would ye rather them WALK THE PLANK?!" Ned replied before pointing to the side of the pillow boat.
"Ned, stop goofing off! You know Chase isn't thinking clearly and you're encouraging this!" Snowflake said, trying to snap some sense into her brother.
"You dare insult Captain Brownpaw's decisions, fluffball?! There be no need for a doctor here, and ye be best to leave or we'll make you!" Ned retorted in his pirate tone.
Snowflake just gave her brother a deadpanned look. His playful mood wasn't going to stop until Captain Brownpaw was out of Chase's mind.
"Blasphemy! Walk the plank?! Wire them up and feed them to the old barnacle jaws." Chase announced, as if sentencing a suspect in court.
"Uh, does he mean sharks?" Rubble thought, becoming a little worried.
"Hard to tell,.. I can barely understand him.." Zuma guessed, squinting toward Chase curiously. "And he's using sailing words I've heard before."
"Okay Captain Brownpaw. But first.." Ned said, before grabbing something behind him. Suddenly, Ned grabbed a big, white sheet, and threw it on top of Snowflake and the other pups!
Snowflake's eyes widened as the white sheet landed on top of them.
"Aaaaaaahhhhhhh! Help! No! Who turned out the lights?!" Snowflake exclaimed as she flailed about under the sheet.
"Arrrrrrgh! Yes, that's it! Now cast them overboard!" Chase declared.
"Oof! Chase, quit it! This is ridiculous!" Chester groaned, also trying to escape their trap.
"Help!"
"Noo!"
"Not again!" the pups cried.
"Yes sir, Captain Brownpaw!" Ned responded before going over to the sheet covered pups. He started to pull at the edges of the sheet to form the shape of a bag. Once done, Ned held the ends together before; tying the sheet edges with a rope. Now the pups were trapped inside the sheet "bag".
"Aaaaaaahhhhhh! What's going on?! Ned! Help!" Snowflake cried out, as she struggled under the trap.
"Noo! Let us out!" the pups cried.
"Alright, Captain," Ryder chimed in. "Mission accomplished."
"What?!" Chase gasped. "How can that be!?"
"The sharks have eaten them all up.." The boy said, winking at Ned and coming over to tap on whatever pup was beneath the blanket nearest to him.
"Yes! Aaaaaghh! They got me! Oooohhh Help!" Marshall moaned and groaned dramatically. Then all the pups began to dramatically grovel until no pup moved.
"You have succeeded in your quest.." Ryder mentioned, calming the motion beneath the blanket with the stroke of his hand. "You must be exhausted after such a wild battle."
"Rrrr, I suppose maybe a little bit.." Chase supposed.
"Then come relax upon this hammock I have here for you.." Ryder said, opening the flap of a material next to him.
"Mmm.. -wait! This be a trick!" Chase concluded. "Stand back, Sonny, or be joining your subordinates."
"See for yourself.." Ryder said, sliding back from it a bit.
"Stay still, Ryder's got this.." Marshall whispered as quietly as he could. "We gotta keep him convinced we're dead."
"Are you kidding me?! This is crazy! We gotta call his bluff!" Chester gasped, in his disbelief.
"Shh!" Skye hissed.
"Rrr.. I don't know.. I've never..-"
"You'll never know if you don't try." Ryder insisted lightly.
Chase eyed him a bit more dubiously for a moment, as the gears continued to turn. And he looked from Ryder to the special looking sleeping bag, then back to Ryder.
"Ugh, ok.. I'll give this new fangled contraption a try." He said, finally coming over and sliding his way into the soft material.
"Great, ok,.. I'm gonna zip you up and turn it on ok?" Ryder said. "And just relax and give it time to work."
Zipping the sides up around his neck so that it was snug, but not choking him, he flipped a switch on the cord sticking out from the base corner of the sleeping bag and Chase kind of jumped at the sudden vibration that started in on his whole body. And soon warmth began to set in as the steady vibration continued. Soon Chase was nodding off again.. and it wasn't much longer before he was fast asleep once again.
"Sweet dreams, Captain Brownpaw." Ryder smiled humorously. Then he approached the sheet and untied the bag with his both hands to finally lift it off the pups and free them from their "death" trap.
"Wooph! Finally!" Chester breathed thankfully.
"Thanks Ryder," Snowflake said before looking to Ned. The male husky pup jumped off the pillow boat and went over to Chase.
"Chase, want to be ghosts later?" Ned whispered curiously.
Snowflake just rolled her eyes at her brother's request.
"Ghosts?.." Chase yawned lightly. "How many ghosties count all the way to.." And his statement was trailed off by a light snore that kept him under the influence of the soft motion seducing him to sleep.
"With any luck that'll buy him some more time to recharge." Marshall supposed, looking up to Ryder.
"I can't believe he bought that." Chester breathed. "Not in a million years, would I have guessed he'd go for that in his state of mind just now."
"You and us both." Marshall agreed, turning back to Ryder. "How'd you do that?"
"I just had to be very convincing that it was something he wanted." Ryder replied simply.
"A relaxing sleeping bag sounds fun! But I still want to play ghosties," Ned said now concerned his fun with Loopy Chase was over.
"You trapped us in the sheet so it's your own fault!" Snowflake retorted back.
"Yeah, but Captain Brownpaw was fun too. I want to play some more," Ned exclaimed calmly.
"Noo way! He needs to rest up and get better. I'm tired of watching him struggle like this." Rocky said.
"You said it, Rocky." Chester agreed. "This has gone WAY too far! I'm ready for it to be over and have our old Chase back."
"Us too," Snowflake agreed, nodding her head.
"As much as I like being a goofball, Chase DOES keep me in check. So yeah," Ned commented despite Loopy Chase sleeping.
"More like your sister keeps you in check.." Chester pointed out in looking over at him. Then straightened his neck out to the pups in front of him to finish.
"Kinda how Chase does me."
"So..uh.. Now that Chase is back in bed, what do we wanna do now?" Rubble asked, as they all wandered around the elevator away from their sleeping German Shepherd.
"Well,.. We could-" bumping into something at her feet, the cockapoo looked down to discover a pumpkin sitting just next to her left forepaw. And looking up, she discovered a few more set up next to a box and she saw an opportunity.
"Pumpkins away!" Skye called, then batting the pumpkin, she watched gleefully as it rolled over and scattered the others in one smooth hit.
"Strike!" The pup called, backflipping happily.
"Pumpkin bowling? Okay!" Snowflake responded with interest.
"I'll go reset the pumpkins." Skye said, taking off immediately.
"So who's next?" Marshall asked.
"Don't look at me." Chester shrugged calmly. "I don't care who goes next."
"I'll be next," Snowflake insisted, raising a paw.
"Go for it, Snowflake!" Skye called, after resetting five pumpkins like bowling pins.
"You can do it!" She added, rolling an additional pumpkin her way.
Snowflake received the fake pumpkin and focused. After a moment, she rolled the pumpkin towards the ones that were still.
The pumpkin rolled until all five were knocked down.
"Another strike!" the pups gasped.
"Wow,.. nice shot.." Chester marveled.
"Thanks, who's next to bowl?" Snowflake asked, looking at the pups with her.
Rocky and Zuma locked eyes, one more gleeful than the other. Zuma rolled his eyes with a smile and a sigh.
"Go ahead, dude," the chocolate lab complied humorously.
"Yes!" the mixed breed reeled, hopping into his playful crouch.
"All set, Rocky." Skye said, sending the extra pumpkin towards him. However it veered off away from Rocky and rolled at Zuma who stepped a paw onto it to stop it and nudged it over to the mixed breed.
"Thanks.." Rocky smiled. Then turning front, he squinted for focus as he concentrated on the five-pumpkin triangle waiting opposite him. Then timing himself carefully he swatted the pumpkin and sent it bouncing a bit into a roll that only took out three of the pins.
"Ugh! So close!" the mixed breed groaned.
"Good try, dude." Zuma praised his friend. "At least you got some of them down."
"True.." Rocky supposed. "Alright, who's next?"
"Me please," Ned said as he raised his paw.
Once the pumpkins were reset the bowling pumpkin was rolled over to him.
Ned grabbed the pumpkin and focused. He playfully crouched, then rolled the pumpkin towards the ones that were in a triangular shape.
All the pumpkins fell down except for one that was still upright and had only wobbled.
"Oh, 'almost got all of them!" Ned said with enthusiasm.
"Oo! So close!" Skye commentated, having watched it roll right through the pumpkins she'd set up. "Don't worry, you'll get it next time."
"Yeah. Who's next?" Ned replied, looking at the pups.
"Me! I'll go!" Rubble decided. But when he received the pumpkin, he over calculated his shot cause when he hit the pumpkin it missed the pumpkin pins completely.
"Aww.." Rubble sighed in disappointment.
"It's ok, Rubble." Skye told him. "You'll get it next time."
"I know," the bulldog smiled. "I'll just try again later."
"That's the spirit!" Marshall smiled.
"I think it's Marshall's turn now. Unless someone else wants to bowl," Snowflake said thoughtfully.
"Nah, Marshall's good." Chester nodded. "It's just him and me left to try yet, but I don't mind waiting."
Snowflake just nodded.
Marshall stepped up when Rubble moved aside and he was immediately met with a pumpkin to roll. The Dalmatian didn't waste any time, but he only got four pumpkins down.
"Oh well," the pup shrugged. "Guess it's your turn, Chess."
"Yeah it is." The German Shepherd grinned. "But no scoring ok? I got some pretty bad aiming skills sometimes. Not when I'm busy saving lives of course, but for some reason when I'm not in a tight spot or my life or safety isn't at risk I have the worst luck with hitting my mark."
Concentrating on the pumpkins, he made his best calculation but alas he got all but one.
"Well.. not great.. but not terrible. Mission accomplished." Chester decided.
"Good job. I think I know a way you can knock all the pumpkins down. Just roll on your side towards them. Roll like a log, and your body becomes the ball," Ned complimented.
"Let's..not and say we did?" Chester suggested, shaking his head.
"Hey pups, here's something else fun you could do." Ryder said, wandering back over with something in his hand.
"Yes Ryder?" Snowflake wondered, turning to the boy.
"Suit yourself.. Weeeeee.." Ned said before rolling on his back and belly before knocking all the fake pumpkins over.
Ryder seemed to pause for dramatic effect, cause it was only when the pups all gathered round did he turn the paper in his hand around.
"We could paint turkeys," he said, and when the pups looked at the picture they noticed the shape of a hand.
"Your hand is the turkey? But, we don't eat hands for Thanksgiving," Ned commented. Snowflake smacked her forehead with her paw.
"He means we make fake turkeys using the shape of our hands- uh, paws." Snowflake corrected her brother.
"You made a turkey from your hand?" Skye asked.
"Cool idea, Ryder dude!" Zuma gushed.
"Yeah, I'm in!" Rocky agreed.
"Sure, what the heck." Chester complied.
And they all headed off after Ryder, who led them to where he had things set up.
Hey guys.. What a way to come back swinging! Or should I say, sailing.. Lol! XD
What a wild effect it seems to have on Chase to have pain meds! Mind you, this isn't made randomly.. There is in fact a method to this kind of madness.. Chase is a very healthy and active pup, which means there's no need for him to need medicine of this caliber.. a point made at some point in the story I believe. This being said.. With the exception of the two episodes and any fanfictions.. Chase.. Or any of the pups don't get sick and/or injured all that often and therefore don't need medication to manage pain..
So,.. because of this Chase's body doesn't know what to do with this type of medication(though not crazy strong or addictive like codeine or opioids), it therefore creates these strange chemical reactions within his system that causes this "loopy" nature.. A normal reaction in many people's case.. Like that you would get at the dentist for operations..
In conclusion.. WHAT FUN THIS HAS BEEN! Hope you had as much fun with it as we did. And we'll see you next week! Thx!