Chapter forty-three: Jungle Gym!
Racing after the runaway plate, he feared he wouldn't catch it before the end of the building came. But then it wedged in a crack in the sidewalk and he tried to avoid hitting it. Instead, he got tripped up anyway and tumbled over himself, stiffening up as he landed.
Oh,.. not again. he groaned.
"Oh goodness, Chase!" Maggie gasped, having heard the skid from the crash. "Are you ok?!"
"What, no.. I'm fine." Chase insisted, sounding oddly convincing this time.
"Really." he insisted, even as she tried to recover him.
Snowflake walked over curiously and sat next to Maggie.
"Hi Chase, I saw you talk to your friend, then ran off to get the plate. Are you- wait," Snowflake commented, before seeing how Chase was standing. Her eyes narrowed.
"Chase? Did you crash again?.. Actually, is your shoulder okay? You look,.. uncomfortable."
He immediately heaved himself over off his side to stand up.
"Why do you say that?" Chase wondered, a bit more forwardly than he had wanted it to sound.
"Hey now, easy tiger." Maggie hushed, patting him on the back. His skeptical gaze, traveled between his two friends, then he realized something about them.
"Oh, hey Snowflake, this is Maggie Prescott, a friend of mine. Maggie, this is Snowflake."
"Hello." Maggie smiled at the husky, and Chase immediately took this opportunity to slip away. So he could grab the plate and take it back to the bowl to finish his task.
"Hello, nice to meet you. How do you know Chase?" Snowflake replied, wagging her tail.
"Know him?" Maggie scoffed. "Honey, I practically helped raise him in his first years. Me and Billy anyway. He's my brother."
"How 'bout you?" She asked a moment later.
The husky pup blinked with wide eyes.
"Billy has a sister? He didn't mention that when he came to visit at The Lookout. Anyways, I joined the PAW Patrol years ago and became their tracking pup. So I got to know Chase, Ryder and the pups over time. Hey, where did Chase go?!" Snowflake responded, before turning back to where the German Shepherd had been.
xxxx
Chase stepped his paws up to the counter, balancing the two dishes carefully. So he was just barely able to get them up there safely. But when he did so, he didn't open his mouth enough to clear the rim of the bowl. And his canine teeth pulled it to the edge where it fell onto his head, while the plate slid down his back and rolled away again. But no sooner had it nearly reached the door, did a foot nose right under it and popped it up into the hand that was ready to catch it.
"Thank you for the help, Chase-but,.. you didn't have to bring your dishes in to me." Mr. Porter smiled, coming over to Chase as he tipped the bowl up off his eyes.
"Oh it's ok, Mr. Porter." Chase replied, as the restaurant owner came and took the bowl off his head. "Always glad to do it."
"I know." Mr. Porter chuckled lightly, as he set the dishes in a tote with some other ones. "But you pups already do so much and.."
"Chase? What are you doing in here?" Snowflake interrupted, standing by the doorway. "I looked for you and couldn't find you. Why did you vanish?"
"Uhh to finish being helpful?" Chase replied, standing back from Mr. Porter and the dirty dishes.
"Okay. Well we better get to the fun zone. Maggie can come too if she wants," Snowflake suggested. "And don't worry, I returned my dishes when you went running off after the plate, past Maggie."
Does she think she's reading my mind? Chase wondered.
"Nah, that's ok,.." Chase replied, shrugging. "I thought she said something about taking dessert back to Billy. She's probably gotta go."
"Oh, okay. Well we better get to the fun zone!" Snowflake commented.
"Why? Are you in a hurry to have fun?" Chase wondered, following her out. "They don't close for a while."
"I hoped we could get everything done for our bonding time," Snowflake answered honestly.
"What could you possibly have planned that would keep us on a tight schedule?" the German Shepherd queried, as they continued walking down the sidewalk.
"Well, the fun zone, hanging out with Jake and Everest, and some other fun stuff!" Snowflake replied calmly.
"Umm,.. Ok?" Chase vocalized, wondering curiously on these things.
"I promise, everything planned is safe and fun. I want you to have a good time, and RELAX," Snowflake reassured him.
Relax? Why relax?! Chase's mind wondered, becoming anxious again. Is she on to me?! Has she read me like a book?! I'm not that bad at bluffing am I? WHAT IS SHE TALKING ABOUT?!
"Ok." He said, aloud giving the illusion of passive understanding.
"Oh look." he said, stopping to look up. "We're here."
"Alright!" Snowflake exclaimed before running and opening the doors. Together the two pups pushed the doors open and entered through them before they could swing closed. And while it was a strain, Chase nearly bit his lip to minimize the wince; if that was at all possible.
Entering into the main cafe area, they made their way up the stairs and stopped right at the edge of the trampoline field. Chase stared down, frozen in time. The memories of before returning.. and the feelings both physically and emotionally beginning to resurface.
"You want to bounce or me?" Snowflake asked kindly. Her voice suddenly yanked him back into focus and he tried not to shake himself out of it to let her in on his mental state. But then he looked up again and made a decision.
"I will." he decided, then jumped off the edge, taking care to land as softly as he could. Restraining a grunt, he let himself ride the subtle bounce until it subsided.
"See?" He said, craning his neck around to look at her. "I got this."
"Good, now my turn. Geronimo!" Snowflake exclaimed, before jumping onto a nearby trampoline that was separate, but next to the one Chase landed on.
Chase jumped, noticeably startled by this, but he hoped she wouldn't see. And when she landed on the trampoline next to him, he was rather relieved.
"So.. now what?" he wondered, as they were now standing side by side on the trampolines.
"We jump on the trampolines and have fun. Plus we have other fun activities too," Snowflake retorted before she started jumping again.
While hopping, he continued to land as softly as he could. But he could only do so much the higher he tried to go to keep up with Snowflake, so she wouldn't be suspicious.
The last thing I need is for her to get concerned. He thought. But ouch!
"'You having fun Chase?" Snowflake asked as she carefully bounced next to him. She was jumping at a good height, but not too high since she didn't want Chase to get tired.
"Uh,.. yeah.." Chase huffed, through soft panting breaths, normal for their activity. "You?"
"Yes. Just let me know when you want to do something different," the husky pup commented.
Yes Please! He thought deeply, but instead he stopped jumping slowly and let himself ride the bouncing tramp to a standstill.
"Like what?" he wondered openly.
"Well there's all those activities in the gym. We can pick something out. Race you!" Snowflake replied, before she bounced her way to the landing platform above them, and waited for Chase to get off the trampolines.
The German Shepherd slowly clambered up after her, and as soon as he did he tried hard to keep pace with her as they made their way across the bouncy floor towards the far left corner of the building, nearly opposite the trampoline field.
"Race you to the gym!" Snowflake said, before running off ahead of him.
"*sigh* can't we just leisurely stroll anywhere?" Chase wondered, wishing and even hoping he'd thought this a little quieter.
"We've been walking all day! Where's the fun in that?! We can stroll around later!... Unless, you need to take it easy. You're not hurt again, are you?" Snowflake replied, stopping and looking back at her friend.
"What?! Whoever said anything about that? I sure didn't" Chase wondered, trying not to sound too defensive. "After all, we did get up early this morning.. Aren't you even a little bit tired already? Plus what if we get too tired and end up returning home early without finishing all the stuff you have planned?"
But hopefully there's not much left. He was thinking in the back of his mind.
Snowflake tilted her head.
"Ummmm. No, why? Are you tired? If you hate my activities Chase, just say it. I can tell you're trying to get us to go home for some reason," Snowflake replied before her ears folded back and she whined, her tail tucked between her legs.
"What, no! I didn't say that!" Chase gasped. Did she read my mind?! And now he felt a heavy guilt drop on him, nearly pulling his heart through his chest to the floor.
"I just meant,.. We need to be careful so we don't get tired so we don't have to go home early." he recovered.
"I understand. Thank you. I was concerned you weren't having a good time. Anyways, let's go to the gym," Snowflake replied before running in said direction.
"Ok." He nodded, and followed suit.
Snowflake ran ahead and into the gym. Spotting the rainbow parachute, she unraveled it and threw it towards the entrance to the gym. The parachute draped over a metal beam above the entrance, making it impossible to go forward without the parachute falling on someone. The husky pup carefully crawled under and poked her head out.
"Come on Chase! We can play with cubes!" Snowflake called out, waiting for the German Shepherd. She then crawled out of the parachute covered entrance and waited.
Chase suddenly poked his head under the material.
"But what's this for?" he wondered. "We're not playing sheet ghost again are we?"
"Huh? How did you not run into the parachute?" Snowflake asked, surprised her plan didn't work.
"Um,.. you've done quite a number of things along those lines." Chase reasoned. "At this point, I've just learned to expect it."
"You mean my brother Ned," Snowflake corrected before giving Chase a hug. Upon hugging the parachute slipped and fell down. Snowflake jumped back as the parachute covered Chase completely.
Chase struggled for a moment, then found a place to poke his head out.
"Right,.. and things just happen when it's just you." Chase sighed dryly, despite a hint of a smile still remaining.
"Rrrriiiiggghhhht. At least you enjoyed getting stuck under the parachute," Snowflake retorted.
"Whoever said I enjoyed it?" Chase wondered, and his expression appeared completely innocent but also a little confused.
"You were smiling. So you must have enjoyed it. Even a little," Snowflake replied.
"Not enough to wanna keep doing it." Chase replied simply. "That's your thing.. well,.. yours and Ned's thing anyway."
"True. Well we can do anything in the gym. What looks interesting to you?" Snowflake responded.
Chase turned to all the structures and various equipment around them, and studied them carefully for a moment. Till something caught his eye.
"Hey, what about this?" he wondered, as he wandered away. Then coming upon some colorful shapes, he disappeared behind them and they suddenly tumbled forward.
"We could make a fun course out of these.." he said, standing within full view of her, when all the colorful, leather shapes settled where they'd landed. And as she looked she saw there were cubes of various sizes all either the same length or longer, along with some odd shapes like hexagons, cylinders, pyramids, and even a semi-circle or two.
"Those will work," Snowflake replied happily, as she too studied the colored, leather shapes.
"So how do we wanna set things up?" Chase wondered.
"Circles first, then the cone shaped ones, then rectangles and we can go from there," the husky pup suggested.
"Like how?" the German Shepherd wondered.
"Line them up," Snowflake answered before she started to line up leather circles.
"Oh-kay,.. annd do what?" he wondered further as he slowly followed her lead.
"Jump, roll, slide, crawl. Anything to get past one set of shapes and onto the next ones," Snowflake said.
They organized the various shapes in such a way as to start creating a course.
"Ok, but,.. How can we 'roll' on cones? Or slide on rectangles?" Chase wondered.
"We don't need to if it's not possible," Snowflake responded.
Then Chase's police academy training began to remind him of some things.
"Hm,.. how bout.." beginning to move pieces around with his head, he'd shift one piece into place and then another. To Snowflake it seemed random, but as he went it started to take up shape. Till he set the last piece in place.
"Something like this?" the German Shepherd finally remarked, as she now saw the specially placed pieces.
"Yes. Good job. Wait, how did you know to set them up like that?" Snowflake said in surprise.
"Academy training." Chase replied. "You have no idea how many tracks and courses I was trained on when I was at the academy for K-9 police training. Then Ryder took over from there after I ended up with him here in Adventure Bay."
"Okay. So we start at one end of the course and go through to the end?" Snowflake asked as she tried to understand.
"Exactly." Chase smiled.
"Is there a time limit or just have fun?" Snowflake asked.
"Well I was always timed." Chase shrugged. "But we don't have to do that."
"Okay, we can just do the course," Snowflake replied.
"Sure." Chase replied, shrugging.
"Let's get started!" Snowflake suggested.
"Right.. So it goes like this.." Chase hopped over the first rectangle and crawled carefully under the first arch, which he barely fit under. Jumping over another rectangle, he wound himself around a cone and hopped up onto a wide yet short cylinder. And hopping off it he tenderly ran around another cone where he could crawl under another arch, hop over two more rectangles with some effort, and knock over a long, skinny cylinder.
Shifting it to lay parallel with the ramped triangle shape he nosed it up the incline and rolled it off over the edge. Then cautiously hopping down himself, landing as softly as he possibly could, he jumped another rectangle and jumped onto the second long cylinder. Rolling the cylinder by carefully walking along the top of it as it moved underneath him. And he couldn't help but think, 'Ouch!' but was relieved to reach the marked tape that was velcroed to the floor just inside the white tape permanently painted onto the bouncy floor.
"Got it?" He wondered, turning around once he'd finished.
"Got it," Snowflake said as she too started the obstacle course.
She hopped over the rectangle, crawled under the arch, ran and jumped over the second rectangle, then ran around the cone. After that, she jumped over the cylinder, ran around another cone, crawled under a second arch, and jumped over the two rectangles in front of her. She saw another cylinder before knocking it on it's side.
She carefully pushed it up the incline, but was surprised when it dropped. The husky pup dropped down before jumping over a rectangle, then like Chase, layed the cylinder on its side before hopping on it. She struggled a little, but made the cylinder go forward with her legs running backwards.
"Ahhhhhh! This is weird!.. And kinda fun!" Snowflake said as she got close to the taped velcro. Suddenly, she dropped to her belly while the cylinder rolled, moving her along with it.
"Weeeeeeee! Hahaha!" Snowflake said before finishing the course.
"Done," the husky pup said to Chase.
"Good job." Chase smiled.
Hey guys. We have returned with a new chapter at last! Been awhile, I know,.. but worth it cause we've gotten some more stuff done with this story. We're currently trying to remain at least ten chapters ahead(cause sometimes we get a little caught up in the writing ;D XD).. So every time we complete a new chapter or two.. we try to post a new one for you to read. And so far it's been working well.
That's our little update, so hope you enjoyed this chapter and we'll see you next time! Thx!