Chapter thirty-six: Further Apart
Once at a distance, he quietly recorded the two sheet covered pups with a camera.
Marshall futzed around with it for a little while, minding the fact that Chase was asleep to his knowledge and eventually found where Ned had tied it.
"Aha! Ihn.. rgh,.. nah!.. un-.. uah! Ehn.. almost.."
Please get us out, please get us out. Chase's thoughts prayed, keeping his eyes closed while maintaining the illusion of sleep.
Marshall strained, bending his foreleg a little bit past its normal limit, but ended up successfully fitting his paw through the gap in the tied points of the sheet. And as soon as he did this, he was able to feel around for the ends of the tied sheet corners and tried to pull just one of 'em. But seeing as how that became a fruitless gambit. He then tried to reach both paws over the sleeping Chase, but the lack of support sent him tumbling over him until he lay on his back and Chase lay on top of him.. And their chest to chest contact was enough for him to feel Chase's heartbeat pounding against his.
Looking up, he realized he was now close enough to his objective, that he then reached both paws through the holes of the tied sheet, so he could pull it in just enough for him to see it. And then figured a strategic sequence of pulling that finally let him kick the sheet off him to reveal the two pups piled on top of each other.
Thank goodness! Chase sighed, laying upon his friend with the peaceful mask of sleep remaining unchanged. He didn't need my help!
"Whooph!" Marshall gasped, shaking his head to get his ears out of his face. "Finally!"
Ned watched from outside and was surprised. Then he went inside.
Suddenly a gust of wind blew from the open doors, causing the blue sheet to go flying on the two pups again.
"Ugh! I give up!" Marshall sighed, laying his head back and not even attempting to get the sheet off him at this point.
'Hehe Marshall' Ned thought humorously. He ran over to help, but the wind made the sheet corners fly around. He grabbed them and pulled. Unfortunately, the wind had blown the corners around in a twist of fabric, and when Ned pulled, he had trapped the pups in the blue sheet, forming a sheet bag again.
'Whoops. I didn't mean to tie them up again!' Ned thought, as he realized his mistake. Upon closer look, the knot in the sheet looked smaller, meaning the sheet was tied up tight.
'Stupid wind!'
"Um,.. ih!.. I think you're gonna have to cut us out of this thing." Marshall sighed finally, trying to lift the sheet off him while almost balancing Chase on top of him at the same time; to keep him from falling off.
"The wind tied it, not me! Besides, you two look like ghosts. Oooooooo!" Ned said. Ned went to check the camera to make sure it was still recording; it was.
Suddenly, Ned thought of something. Looking around he found the blue sheet tent and grabbed it before running outside.
"Hi pups. I could use help with this," Ned said, as he approached his friends.
Skye and Rubble both rolled off their backs to look at him as he approached, and one of them rose to greet him.
"Sure, what do you need?" Skye wondered, approaching him, Rubble soon following.
"I was debating on whether to keep the sheet tent a.. well, a tent. Or maybe you could help me pull it apart so it's three separate sheets again," Ned explained honestly.
"Well,.. They were sewn together right?" Rubble recalled.
"Yes," Ned replied.
"Then you'd probably need to take the stitches out,.." Skye thought. "And that would take a while.. if you have the right tools.. Not even sure who would have those.. And I don't think Ryder does."
"Me neither." Rubble agreed.
"Oh. Okay. What are you pups doing?" Ned asked curiously
"We were just laying on our pretend sand, and trying to imagine when summer does come again," Skye said as she came to lay on the tannish comforter they'd been laying on. And the two pups went back to laying on their backs. Closing their eyes, they released a deep cleansing sigh, just thinking about the warmer season.
"It almost makes you feel like you're there." Skye swooned dreamily. "The warm sun, the sand, the fresh cool water?.."
"Ice cream and puppy pops.." Rubble mused, licking his lips with an 'mmm' for good measure. "Gotta love it!"
"And don't forget playing Volleyball on the beach, while Zuma takes Marshall parasailing!" Skye added brightly. "Hah, wouldn't that be fun?"
"Sounds nice. Speaking of, has Marshall or anybody ever got trapped in the parasail?" Ned asked curiously, as he went over and joined them, dragging the sheet nearby.
"Probably,.. I mean we've all had a fail or two when it comes to those kinds of activities." Skye shrugged, meeting glances with Rubble mid-sentence, who nodded in agreement.
"Could we tell you one example.." Rubble continued. "Probably not right of hand-er paw.."
"Of course," Ned said. "Any example is fine with me,"
Skye and Rubble exchanged glances again.
"But,.. isn't there something you came in here to do?" Rubble asked the husky pup.
"No, why?" Ned responded.
"Oh,.." Rubble answered, looking to Skye who shrugged. "We thought you came in here to do something. Where's Marshall?"
"He's watching Chase. But quietly," Ned said.
"Really?" Skye cocked her head. "That doesn't sound like Marshall."
"Yeah. Actually I suggested playing with a blue sheet, but he didn't want to. I trapped him in it with Chase so they could work together, and they got out. But then the wind blew and when I tried to help them.. they got trapped again," Ned admitted.
"Do they need help?" Rubble asked. "Is that what you came in here for?"
"They're fine. I just came to see what you pups are doing," Ned said.
Then Rubble and Skye looked at each other one more time before..
"Hang on, Marshall!" The two pups called, racing around Ned to exit the Lookout in order to find their friends.
Blinking in confusion, Ned stared, before grabbing the blue sheet and running after them.
Skye and Rubble were just pulling the sheet off Marshall and Chase, when Ned arrived to watch.
"Oof! Thanks!" Marshall sighed.
Finally, Chase stretched with a big yawn.
"Hahh!" He yawned, rubbing an eye. "Hey.. pups.. *yawn* What's going on?"
"Wait,.. you slept through that?!" Skye gasped.
"Um.. through what?" Chase wondered, but actually his thoughts screamed; Please don't see through me!
"Uuhh, You were just trapped in a sheet with Marshall." Rubble pointed out. Then Chase looked down at the Dalmatian under him.
"Really?" he replied with a hint of attitude as he stood up and hopped off of Marshall. "I hadn't noticed." Then wandering off he strode right to his pup house, slid in and closed the door.
And at this, Marshall began to feel a literal 'fire' being put into the term 'fire pup' as he finally stood up again.
"I hope Snowflake can loosen him up." Marshall said, looking over at the other pups with a frown.
Ned walked over with the blue sheet in his mouth.
"I'm sorry, I thought you guys working to get out would work. I just wanted you two to be friends again," Ned said before whining.
"Well until somebody gets all his kinks ironed out, I don't think that's gonna happen." Marshall sighed grumpily. "We gotta get through to him.. one way or another.."
"I know. I thought having you guys work to get out of the blue sheet would have helped from the arguing from earlier. I'm trying to bring joy to the pups of PAW Patrol, but you keep refusing," Ned said, singing the last part.
Just then, the sound of a vehicle registered in their ears as coming towards them, and when they looked, a parasailing Zuma seemed to pull the green recycling truck of their favorite mixed breed up from below their view of the driveway. And it stopped nearby where Zuma could expertly land. And as the pups began to approach them, even Chase opened his pup house door to peer out at them.
"You made it!" Skye exclaimed.
"How was parasailing?" Marshall asked, a lighter tone to his face now, then leaned in to Snowflake ever so slightly.
"Please tell me you have a plan for Chase!" He whispered a bit loudly. And even though Chase didn't quite hear, he still turned back into his pup house and closed the door again.
"He took my place. I was parasailing before, but my plan.. it backfired. Horribly," the husky responded.
"And I have a plan, but I still need to put some ideas into action," she whispered.
"Great cause he's only getting worse!" Marshall said. "He just acted like he didn't even care that I existed! And on top of it.. he didn't even seem to know I was there!"
Snowflake was shocked.
"What?! But he's your best friend! How could he forget you?!" Snowflake whispered, her eyes watering before giving Marshall a hug.
"Shh!" Skye hissed to the two pups. "He'll hear you!"
xxxx
But what they may never know was that every word said, was every word known by the lonely ears that heard it. And it still made his heart ache while his eyes glazed and pooled..
xxxx
"Either way,.. we're glad you're all safe." Skye smiled.
"Yeah! It's a miracle,.. we survived!" Chester breathed. "But of course not before the embarrassment of the worst epic wipeout ever!"
"Again,.. sorry! Major design flaw!" Rocky announced to the whole group. "If I'd have tested it myself I probably would've figured it out sooner."
"But at least we know it's probably not a good idea for right now." Chester added. "Phew!"
"No Rocky, it's MY fault. I should have told you what I wanted to do. You couldn't have predicted the device would fail!" Snowflake said, as she kept hugging Marshall.
"Sure I could've.." Rocky countered gently. "I build stuff all the time!" And then he realized something.
"Aoh! I could've asked Ryder for help! Rrgh,.. why didn't I think of that!" The recycling pup groaned.
Marshall sniffled, and everyone immediately looked to him.
"You ok, Marshall?" Skye asked sensitively, extending a paw to touch his shoulder.
The Dalmatian sniffled again and lifted his sorrowful eyes to her, which almost shocked them all.
"Oh, don't cry, Marshall!" The Cockapoo gasped, piling onto him affectionately, leading the others to do the same.
"I.. I know but.. Chase has never pushed us away this hard before!" Marshall whined. "Why does he still do this to us?! Even after everything we've been through together?!" Then falling forward onto his paws, he finally broke down sobbing and the other pups crowded in closer, beginning to tear up themselves as they watched him.
"M-M-Marshall, d-don't give up! P-Please! I'm going to try and help Chase. I promise! M-Marshall, I promise I'll help, buddy! AAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAHHHHHH! AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!" Snowflake said, hugging the Dalmatian before breaking down herself.
Ned looked at his heart-broken friend, then ran off to find Ryder.
"Ryder? Ryder?!" Ned called out as he looked inside The Lookout. No Ryder on the bottom floor, top floor, or outside. Ned looked in all the rooms before heading to the basement.
"Ryder? Are you down here?" Ned called out.
Suddenly a crash was followed with an 'ouch' and he followed the sound till he turned a corner and there was Ryder. He sat on the floor with a large box on half his lap, and he held his slinged arm gingerly as if it would ease the pain from likely bumping it on the box somehow.
"Ryder?! Are you okay? What were you doing?" Ned asked as he approached.
"Well,.. You kinda scared me, Ned..-" Ryder replied, grunting as he started to get up again by bracing his free hand to the ground, leaning on that side and pushing himself up again.
"I was just standing on this stool.." he said, gesturing to the three-legged stool laying on its side at his feet. "And looking in a box when you called out for me,.. I guess I was startled by the sudden noise that I lost my balance and fell. And I guess I brought the box with me." and he finished this by nudging the box aside with his foot.
"Yeah. I was looking for you because we need you. Marshall's really upset that Chase keeps pushing us away when we try to help. Snow is hugging him as we speak," Ned explained. The dynamic of Ryder's expression changed as his focus instantly shifted.
"Ok, let's go check on him." He said, beginning to head for the elevator.
"Follow me," Ned said before running to the elevator. Once he reached it he stopped and smiled. His smile vanished as he looked to Ryder.
"Wait, doesn't your shoulder hurt when you walk?" Ned asked in confusion.
"Not really.." Ryder said, catching up to him slowly, while rolling the shoulder that the sling rested on a couple times. "Just a little sore from the sling digging in a little. I'll go rest it later. After we figure this all out."
"Right," Ned said as the elevator went up. Ned looked around nervously before seeing a rope hanging from above.
"Ummm. Ryder?" Ned said, as he pointed to the rope. A paper tag was attached to it that read 'For Ryder only'.
Ryder appeared confused, but reached up to take the note anyway.
Ned waited nervously.
The rest of the note read 'for Ryder, pull the rope for a surprise'.
Looking over at Ned quizzically and then at the rope, he put the note in the slinged hand and pulled the rope.
Suddenly, a card fell into Ryder's hand. It read 'we love you Ryder. Hope you get better. - From the Pups'.
"Oh,.. Thanks, Ned." Ryder smiled, turning to him thankfully.
"You're welcome. I made it since I figured the pups would want to give you something. But there was no time since things have been sad and crazy," Ned replied.
"Why not pull on the rope again to make sure there's nothing else,"
Ryder looked at the rope again and hesitated before pulling it again. Ned waited.
Suddenly another card floated down. It read 'Enjoy this blue present as a gift for everything you've done,'.
Out of nowhere, a blue box dropped down. And setting aside both the notes, he knelt down to open the box. It was a piece of paper. The top read 'hold up to light to read'. And lifting it up he squinted as if to see better.
In the light, was a colored picture of all the pups, with the outlines being in the signature colors. Below the picture words started forming.
"You might have to stand up to read it. The less light, the fainter the image," Ned suggested.
Standing up with a little effort, he looked a bit closer. The words formed slowly to read 'You're a winner... pull the rope again for one last surprise'.
Not even looking this time, he reached over, while his other hand held the note for him to look at. And as soon as he pulled the rope, he looked up again.
Suddenly, a big, blue sheet floated down, and covered Ryder completely! Ned jumped back.
Shortly after, colorful balloons floated down, with words like 'Best Owner', 'Hugs', and 'Best Buddy' written on them.
Unfortunately, the blue sheet had covered Ryder, so he saw none of the balloons.
"Oof! I think a party just exploded in here." the boy remarked, working on pulling the sheet off himself.
"Huh? How did you figure that out? You're under the sheet! Sorry, I meant for the sheet to release the balloons; not fall on you," Ned remarked.
"Well-" Ryder grunted, finally pulling off the sheet. "Thank you for that,.. but,.. aren't we supposed to be helping the pups?"
"Yes. I got carried away. Come on," Ned said as he ran.
Hey guys! And here we are with another chapter!.. This one was certainly a mixed bag but all the more fun. I hope you liked the part with Skye and Rubble hurrying to rescue Marshall and Chase.. LOL! XD I know that was my favorite part! As was the whole 'Marshall escapes the sheet by himself' part. ;D
As always your comments are greatly appreciated! And I can't wait to hear your thoughts on what is here and what is yet to come. Thx!