Chapter sixteen: Crystals And Hugs
The odd barking came again and finally the shadows became flesh and blubber, which gleamed with smiling faces and cheery tones.
"Wally dude!" Zuma gasped. "And you brought Walinda and your little baby!"
"How's it hanging, dude?" The chocolate lab went on smoothly.
"Ar ar!" Wally responded, making Zuma smile more.
"That's what I thought." He smirked.
"Phew! Nice to meet you," Snowflake said as she swam to the walrus family.
"You speak walrus?" the husky questioned the chocolate lab.
"Not exactly,.." Zuma admitted. "But I try my best."
"Okay," Snowflake replied before checking out the other walruses.
"How are you?" Snowflake asked Walinda.
The female walrus barked, then swam in a circular motion that could've been considered an underwater backflip.
"Heh heh, must be pretty good." Zuma chuckled, floating closer to Snowflake in saying this.
"Yes," Snowflake agreed.
The walrus pup paddled forward toward Snowflake, then studying her for a moment he zipped around her a few times barking with its little voice, then took off and disappeared.
"He he ha! Arooo!" Zuma howled, stroking after him.
"Hey, wait up, little guy!" Snowflake called out, as she swam after the pup.
They both swam around a rock after the pup and met each other on the other side, with no pup in sight.
"Where did he go?" Zuma wondered, looking around.
"Hello? Walrus pup?" Snowflake called out.
No response..
"Oh well.. looks like we'll have to do this the fun way.." Zuma reeled. "An adventure!"
"Okay. What did you have in mind?" Snowflake responded.
"The best out of the book." Zuma replied cheekily, then swam away. Searching anywhere he could find a space, he barely peeked in before moving on, knowing he'd know when he found the pup.
"Wally jr.!" He called, leading Snowflake around another rock. "Where aarrree you?"
"Wally jr?" Snowflake said, as she too looked around some rocks.
"Heh heh,.. well.. I guess that could be his name.. since we don't exactly know a real name to call him." Zuma chuckled lightly.
"True," Snowflake replied.
"Ar ar!"
The two pups looked to one side at a slight angle downwards, to find the little walrus swimming back up towards them.
"Oh hey, there you are!" Zuma beamed. "Where'd you get to, little buddy?"
"Yeah, we were looking for you," Snowflake added.
"Ar ar! Ar!" The little walrus barked, then took off again.
"Hey wait up, little guy!" Zuma cried, paddling quickly after it and Snowflake followed.
Staying right on the little animal's tail, they just barely caught him swimming round a rock and swam along them until they turned into a cave.
The pups halted as soon as they saw it.
"A cave?" Snowflake said in surprise.
"Looks like it." Zuma confirmed looking to his friend. "Ready to check it out?" But before she could answer, echoes of the walrus's beckoning call rippled back out to them.
And Zuma's intrigued grin came her way again.
"What?" Snowflake said, slightly confused.
"Last one in is a clam shell?" Zuma asked, grinning wider even through the device feeding him the air he needed.
Snowflake swam into the cave.
"Hey, wait for me!" Zuma cried, paddling after her. He finally caught up with her, as they both searched the walls while swimming through. Eventually Zuma barked out his jets and let them take over by propelling him through the water, egging Snowflake on to doing it herself.
"Arf! Propellers," the husky said. Soon, propellers came out of her pup pack and she caught up to Zuma.
"Woah, dude, this is so cool!" Zuma marveled, studying the tunnel overhead. "How did I not know this was here?"
"Maybe because you didn't have any rescues in this area of the bay?" Snowflake suggested.
"Mm.. maybe." Zuma shrugged loosely. "Or maybe I just haven't spent a lot of time down here for fun!"
Snowflake shrugged.
The cave opened up and Zuma noticed the fluctuating nature of the water above and began to swim up towards it, until they burst forth into air.
"Woah.." the two pups awed, as their pup packs retracted. They reached the water's edge and pulled themselves up out of it onto dry land.
"An underwater cavern!" Zuma gasped, and they couldn't help but marvel at all the bursts of light within the dark, stone-crusted cavern sporting shiny crystals of varying colors.
"It's like a geod exploded in here!" The chocolate lab remarked, as they strode further into the dimly lit room.
"Yeah. Like a crystal nightlight that never stops glowing!" Snowflake added.
Suddenly the baby walrus appeared from the surface of a pool not far from them, and it smiled at them with pride.
"Is this your little hideout place, little dude?" Zuma asked.
"Ar ar!" The small creature responded and he seemed to nod.
"Totally awesome digs, pal." Zuma commented. "Wouldn't I like to have a place like this!"
The walrus pup barked and flopped over to Zuma, nuzzling him gently with a smile all the while.
"Yeah. This is so cool!" Snowflake chimed in.
Wally jr. nuzzled him once more and then hurried away again, splashing down into a puddle then barking while pointing a flipper down.
Zuma and Snowflake looked at each other, before making their way across the ridged stone floor, then peered down into what looked to be a hole.
Zuma stared long enough to see something, then instinctively dove his head right in. And when he came back up, he almost choked on the water with the object now in his mouth.
Red in color and transparent as ice, the prismal shape caught very little light; but it was enough to make it kinda glow.
"A crystal?" Snowflake asked.
Zuma then dropped it at his feet.
"Just like the ones on the walls." He said.
"Cool!" He gushed, jumping down into a crouching stance. "Are you saying we get to keep some, little Wally dude?"
"Ar ar!" The Walrus pup answered.
"I'll take that as a yes." Zuma smiled, "come on Snowflake! Let's diiive in!" Then burying his head in the little pool once again, his tail continued to wag.
Snowflake looked into the hole and searched under the water. Lots of crystals lit the sides and bottom of the pond. Being careful as she could, the husky pup picked out some blue, green, white, and orange crystals. Once she was done, she popped her head out of the pond.
"Zuma? Like my teeth?" Snowflake asked in a muffled voice.
The water rescue pup looked up from dropping more crystals onto their pile, and expressed a few different faces of confusion before bending into a smile.
"Oh! Heh heh, yeah.. haha, nice!" He chuckled.
Snowflake smiled with the crystals she had gathered in her mouth. The crystals forming colorful "teeth" in her mouth.
"See?... Pah! Ah! Not tasty though. Just pretty." Snowflake said as she carefully spit the crystals out of her mouth. She then rinsed her mouth with water.
"Hahahahaha! Sure looked fun though." Zuma reasoned, then he looked at their pile. "We might need something to carry these crystals out with us.. good thing there's a special feature to these pups packs.. Arf! Storage compartment." The shifting of mechanisms opened a part of the pup pack and Zuma tossed a couple crystals back to precisely land them into it with a stunning accuracy that even surprised himself.
"Woah! Usually Chase has the sweet catches!" He gasped.
"Storage compartment!" Snowflake commanded. The pup pack opened up and Snowflake put the other crystals into the open section of the pup pack.
"Ok, I think that's all of 'em." Zuma announced, as their pup packs closed their compartments. But before he could continue they heard another noise, a gurgling bark warbled by the fluctuating waters.
"Ope, sounds like the little dude's gotta go back." Zuma mentioned, as the walrus pup flopped passed them and dove into the water toward the exit. "Come on, let's follow him before we get left in here!" Then as soon as they leapt for the water, their scuba breathers retracted out just in time for the dive.
xxxx
Ned looked for any sign of the German Shepard pup, but Chase wasn't making it easy for him. However, he eventually spotted him on the beach, and he walked over to apologize.
"Chase? Wait!" Ned called out.
Chase finally slowed to a stop on the beach, his gaze downcast even as his paws thanked him for the relief.
Ned soon caught up to Chase and sat next to him, encouraging him to do the same.
Ned took a deep breath before talking.
"Chase, I know you probably don't want to talk, but I came to apologize. I shouldn't have teased you the way I did. You were upset by what happened, and even though I was just trying to have fun and be silly, I took things too far. I really should have stopped, but I didn't. When you left, my sister helped me see how I was trying to have fun, but not for you. I hate how I can get carried away with fun activities and amusing myself, even at the expense of others when THEY aren't having a good time. I'm sorry, Chase. I'm really, really sorry. I understand if you don't want to talk, and you have every right to hate me," Ned told his friend sincerely.
The husky hung his head in shame, thinking about what he did.
Chase's gaze slowly snuck over to him, a slight furrow of his brow accompanying his otherwise soft expression.
"I don't hate you." he said. "It would take a lot more than that for me to hate you.. only one I hate are pups like Rex." He sighed, letting his ears go back even as they sat there together.
"Rex? Nevermind. But still, I wanted to let you know I'm sorry," Ned retorted. By now the reality of his actions was hitting Ned mentally. Without warning, Ned started to hit himself in the forehead with his paw. The guilt taking over him emotionally.
"I'm such an idiot! Stupid! Stupid! Stupid! Snow always warns me about this stuff and I NEVER LISTEN! Ugh!" Ned said to himself, as he smacked his forehead.
"Ok ok, simmer down sally!.." Chase soothed, hoping he'd stop hitting himself. "But.. your.. name's not- sally.. never mind.. the point is.. you don't have to literally beat yourself up. A really wise friend of mine always says that 'putting mistakes behind you is the bravest thing you can do, and changing how you do things is what makes you stronger.'"
Ned stopped himself and listened. It took a while to take in what Chase said. He then turned to Chase with a concerned look.
"How? I can't help getting amused by silly situations, but I've done this many times. What if I never change? What if I do something amusing but someone gets hurt badly? It would be all my fault! I want to change, but it's hard!" Ned's eyes watered and tears started to pour down his furry face.
"I'm sorry, Chase, I'm so sorry!" Ned exclaimed, before hugging Chase and crying into his fur. However, after a minute of crying, Ned realized something.
"Wait, why am I crying? You're the one who should be upset, not me!... I'm so confused! Ahhhhhhhh!" Ned exclaimed as he kept crying.
"O-kay, you can relax now." Chase asserted as the husky pup finally started to wipe away his tears. "It's just like how you guys were trying to encourage Chester.. he knows he messed up too, back on Halloween Night. And he still wants to punish himself a million times over for it. But what we keep telling him and what I'm telling you is that we can't hold on to those mistakes and instead do what we can to fix it. It's not gonna be easy,.. but it's worth fighting for."
"I know. Thanks" Ned retorted as he calmed down, wiping away his tears then hugged Chase again.
Chase returned the hug, right as a splash occurred, breaking up the embrace and shattering the moment between them.
"Ah! Hey!" Ned gasped until he saw who made the splash.
"Oops. Sorry Ned. Sorry Chase," Snowflake apologized, as the two pups shook the water from their coats.
"Well.. that was refreshing." Chase deadpanned, looking from Ned to Snowflake. "So where've you been?"
"Underwater, playing with Wally and his family," Snowflake responded.
"Yeah! And check this out!" Zuma gushed. "Arf! Storage!" At this time his pup pack shifted parts again and a hose retracted out of it so a vacuum could drop the pretty cave gems onto the sand in front of them.
"Woah,.." the two pups marveled as others drew near with them.
"Where'd you find those?" Marshall wondered, startling Chase and Ned when peering over between them.
"In a cavern underwater. Even Zuma didn't know the cave existed," Snowflake answered
"Hi guys," Ned commented as he saw the others.
"Where did you guys come from?" Chase wondered, looking back, as the remaining pups joined them. "You about gave me a heart attack!"
"Yes," Ned agreed.
"Well we watched you guys go, remember." Marshall reasoned.
"And since Zuma and Snowflake were busy, hi by the way," Rocky added, waving briefly. "We thought we'd bring stuff down for some beach fun." Then looking over, Rubble was just pulling a volleyball out of the back of Rocky's rig.
"Oh. Okay!" Ned replied.
"Yeah, but Zuma and I need to dry off," Snowflake commented.
"Then look no further!" Rocky announced, heading back over to his truck. "Because I came prepared!" diving in for a moment, he tossed a few items out in order to reach whatever it was he was searching for, then finally tossed some fluffy objects into a stack. Hopping down now, he strode over to the stack and took one by a corner then thrust it up in the air so that it would unfold in mid-air for him to lay out across the sand.
"Big, fluffy beach towels, don't leave home without them.. At least for a beach day,.. Ick!" his shudder made the other pups snicker, and he couldn't resist a smile.
Snowflake and Ned laughed at Rocky's comment too, then Snowflake went to one of the beach towels and started to dry off.
Setting out two more, Rocky and Zuma each took places on one of the three and Zuma began to roll around on the towel.
"Ahhh.. so soft.." Zuma mused, now laying on his back. "You're right, Rocky dude. These are soft."
"They'd probably feel a lot softer if you'd take off your gear." Rocky mentioned and Zuma then realized that he was still in full scuba attire.
"Oh! Heh heh, yeah, um.. right." The water pup replied humorously. Then rolling off his back, he began to remove his gear.
"Oops," Snowflake added, forgetting she also had her scuba gear on. She laid the towel flat before taking her gear off too.
Hey what's up, you guys! Another chapter, WAH-HOO! Keeping this story going for the fifth day in a row! Not too shabby if I do say so myself.. Especially since I've been TERRIBLE with consistency lately(and on multiple fronts lol ;D)! Hope you're still digging this thing and I look forward to hearing your thoughts! Thx!