Chapter 5, explosion

The pups rush towards the scene as Skye keeps an eye on the building from up high in her helicopter.

'I think some people are already extinguishing the fire, i can see the white stuff from up here.' Skye reported.

'Copy that, we will make sure everything is safe, you keep an eye out from above.' Ryder said, leading the pups through the busy traffic. As the group arrives, people start coming out of their houses, wondering where that explosion came from.

'you guys are fast.' one of the citizens commented. 'That was no ordinary explosion.'

'Yeah, don't worry, we will make sure everything is safe.' Ryder reacted, parking his quad. All the pups came to Marshall's truck, ready to help. 'Rocky and Rubble, keep the people away from the building, also go past the houses close by and make sure everyone's okay.'

The two pups agreed and got to work.

'Chase and Marshall, we are going inside.' Ryder said.

'Alright, lets take some extra oxygen masks, we could have some injured inside.' Marshall reacted.

'Good idea Marshall, do you have your hospital gear with you?' Ryder asked.

'Always.' Marshall answered.

Ryder and the two pups put on the protective gear and go up the stairs to the apartment. They carefully open the door, which wasn't locked. The room had turned fully black, but the fire was put out by someone.

'Hello, Paw Patrol, is anyone in here?' Ryder called out, looking around. Something weird was going on, a huge machine was placed against the wall, with an area next to it almost fully protected by glass, Chase turned his attention to the glass protected area, something was there. Chase looked closer, it looked like, Zuma! Chase ran towards him, he was right. Marshall and Ryder quickly followed. Zuma was barely conscious, unable to move or say a word. Trying to stay awake. Marshall was quite confused as he checked Zuma's vital signs, they all seemed okay, and the glass protected him from the blast, but Zuma didn't look okay.

'What does he need?' Ryder asked

'I don't know.' Marshall said honestly and with no doubt in his mind. 'Could you have a look around Chase.'

'Sure.' Chase replied, already walking away. He looked at the huge machine, he had never seen anything like it before.

'Maybe this has something to do with it, but I have no idea what it does.' Chase commented.

Ryder came to have a closer look. 'Yeah, never seen anything like it before, it's also exploded. I could try to fix it and see what it does, but it is very complex.' Ryder said, looking at the machine closely.

'Yeah, hard choice, I'd leave that up to you.' Chase replied. 'But what are we going to do with Zuma, he doesn't look okay.'

'What do you think Marshall?' Ryder asked, turning his attention to Marshall. It stayed silent, Marshall taking his time to make a decision.

'I think it's best to take him home, and see what happens then, I don't think a hospital can do anything for him right now.' Marshall said.

'Then we do that.' Ryder replied. Turning to his pup pad to call the other pups. 'How is the situation outside.' Ryder asked them.

'All good out here Ryder, took a while for you to call.' Rocky answered.

'Yeah, got us a little worried.' Skye said.

'Yeah we have quite a situation in here, we did find zuma.' Ryder reacted.

'How is he doing?' Rocky asked, hoping his friend was all okay.

'It's a bit of a weird situation, we will take him home and see how things go there.' Ryder answered. 'Anything special out there?'

'One of the citizens here said he saw two people in white jackets run to a black car with tinted windows just outside the building.' Rocky mentioned.

'I have been looking around, the car got away.' Skye added.

'At least we know what to look for, maybe they extinguished the fire.' Ryder said, thinking out loud. 'We are going back to the lookout, you two coming as well?'

'Shortly.' Skye replied.

'Alright, be careful.' Ryder replied.

As the others left, Rocky stayed, looking at Skye hovering above. Rocky just knew what was growing through her mind. 'Why don't we park our cars somewhere safe, then have a chat.' Rocky asked Skye through his pup tag. It was silent for a bit, but then Skye agreed. The pups parked their vehicles close by and went into the apartment. Rocky looked at Skye, who could barely hold her feelings. 'Don't blame yourself.' Rocky said comforting, as he hugged Skye.

'How can I not do that, I was supposed to keep an eye on him at all times. I created a scene by using my helicopter, then he was gone.' Skye said, letting it all out. 'It is all my fault, I should've listened to him and call Ryder, but I didn't, I'm an idiot.'

'It's okay.' Rocky said.

'No it's not, you don't understand.' Skye yelled.

'No, I do, I know exactly how you feel.' Rocky said, still calm.

'How.' Skye asked, tears rolling down her face. Her heart feeling like it's left, "I failed to keep an eye on two things in two days, what kind of helicopter pup am I." She thought to herself.

'We all make these kind of mistakes, I made that one myself. I was supposed to keep an eye on the young pups that day, but I failed to notice that one pup. You know what happened.' Rocky said, trying to stay calm as he brought up past memories.

'From last summer at the beach?' Skye asked.

'Yes, we all make mistakes, sometimes mistakes we think we can't recover from. But these things happen, they are hard, but what I learned was I wasn't alone in this pain. People wanted to help me, and they will help you get over it. We as inperfect beings will always make mistakes, but you shouldn't get stuck in them. Imagine a world without mistakes, we would be so dumb. What's important is to learn from the past and accept that you can't change the past. Move on, live your life.' Rocky explained.

'How do I know it won't happen again?' Skye asked.

'You don't, you have to make the best of the situation, even when that's hard. Being negative won't help you get up, how negative everything may seem. Scars don't disappear, but they don't have to hurt as much as they did forever.' Rocky answered.

'I didn't know it was so hard on you, that you lost that puppy.' Skye said.

'Yeah, but Marshall came to me immediately. He knows how to deal with it well, and Zuma made sure I didn't even have time to think about it. Finding the right support is very important.' Rocky answered.

'Thank you for being there for me.' Skye said, now hugging Rocky.

'No problem, we are a team, we need to look out for each other.' Rocky said with a smile.

As the two pups wanted to go back to their cars, they heard footsteps.

'Quickly hide!' Rocky whispered to Skye. The two quickly hiding in a kitchen cabinet.